Taking the Queen

Chrysalis stared at the rack of dresses that sat across from her in the cell. Her eyes traced the fabric as she practised her breathing exercises. She'd opted for something with a very short skirt today, to avoid any dripping on it. She really liked the black satin number with the thigh slit, but any white dribbles she didn't catch would stand out.

"Hey!" shouted Twilight from outside the cell, drawing Chrysalis' attention. "Are you even listening to what I have to say?"

"To be frank, I didn't even know you were here," answered Chrysalis. "How long have you been talking?"

"About ten minutes. What have you been doing all this time when you were supposed to be paying attention?"

"Thinking to myself," answered Chrysalis. "I was focusing on my diaphragm, and how that played into the last time I had interspecies sex. I have no idea what you were saying or when you arrived. Perhaps you would benefit from calling for my attention before you start talking, so that I know when you're saying something important?"

"And perhaps you should know that when I'm saying something, it has to be important," huffed Twilight. "Is it your goal to waste my time?"

"I thought we'd already established that."

"I'm doing this for your benefit, you know. I don't want to have to come down here every other day. Would it kill you to pay attention when I say something?"

"Let's find out. Start over from the beginning."

Twilight let out a long grunt of frustration. "Just tell me what I said before you stopped paying attention."

"You said you were going to take your book to be rebound."

"I never said that!"

"Yes, you did."

"When?"

"Two days ago."

"You didn't listen to anything I said today, did you?"

"Didn't you pay attention to anything I said today? I thought I made it very clear that I was paying attention to something else, and neither heard you approach, nor did I know you were standing there, talking at me."

"Talking to you."

"Talking at me. If you were talking to me, I would need to hear and understand, and respond back thusly. Right now, you are talking to me. Before I started listening, you were talking at me."

Twilight sighed. "You're making that up."

"Nonsense. Imagine you're playing a game of hoofball. If your compatriot kicks the ball toward you with you expecting to receive it, it would be kicked to you. If you are not expecting it, it will come at you instead. The difference is the recipient's expectation to catch it. If it bounces off the back of your head, you weren't planning to catch it and run."

"Fine. I'll accept that it's something changelings say. What's your point?"

"My point is, I caught none of what you said today, and you'll have to start over from the beginning."

"What's going on here?" Starlight rounded the corner and looked into the cell. "I can hear you two arguing all the way out in the hall."

"We're fine," puffed Twilight. "She's just not listening, as usual."

"I didn't hear her walk up," replied Chrysalis. "I was lost in my thoughts on your lesson from yesterday and didn't even know she was here."

Starlight sighed. "Twilight, do you remember when you were studying that treatise collection on the bo, and I came in to ask you about a rash that had showed up on Spike's underarm?"

"You're taking her side?"

"She happens to be right this time. You didn't hear what I said the first four times, until I slammed my hoof onto the page you were enthralled with and interrupted you reading about the weaponized spade. Just give her the abridged version."

"We've wasted enough of my time already," smirked Chrysalis. "Didn't you just admonish that?"

"And you," scowled Starlight, turning back to Chrysalis and holding out her paddle. "Don't make me come back down here today, or we're going to be having words."

Chrysalis shrank back. Starlight was her primary food source right now. Upsetting her would have her going hungry again. What's more, she still wasn't powerful enough to overturn Starlight's punishments. "Y-yes, ma'am..."

Twilight looked between Starlight and Chrysalis, her jaw dropping a bit more with every turn. "How did you do that?"

"Communication," answered Starlight. "She knows exactly what I said to her. She heard it and understood. And I expect her to pay attention if she ever wants to improve." Starlight's eyes stayed locked on Chrysalis the entire time, causing Chrysalis' gaze to drop to the floor.

"You'll have to teach me that later," smiled Twilight as Starlight walked off. She turned back toward Chrysalis, who was now sitting on the floor, staring at her hooves. "Are you ready to listen now?"

Chrysalis nodded and shifted forward to reposition her skirt.

"Now, the short version of what I said is that it is important that you pay attention to whoever is talking to you. You need to make sure you're listening, and you need to understand the point they're making. That way, when they're done talking, you have something better to say than "I like the way your lips move." It's very important that you have something to say in response to what they said."

Chrysalis looked up at Twilight. "I like the way your lips move."

Twilight sighed loudly. "Didn't you listen to what I just said? Even with the abridged version?"

"Okay, fine. You want a response that matches the statement? How about a question? Why did it take you ten minutes to say all of that the first time? In fact, why didn't you give the abridged version from the start? And furthermore, why did you ramble on for ten minutes about listening before confirming that I was listening? I'd say that you're the one who needs to learn about communicating. We, the changelings, have had little issues in communicating, as it is a necessity for deception. How could we possibly disguise ourselves as ponies effectively if we could not mimic your speech and body language?"

Twilight thought for a moment, then shook her head. "You need more than just deception. Communicating requires much more than that."

"Intimidation, coercion, persuasion, influence and flattery. I think you'll find that I have a great appreciation for the ability to speak in such a way that will lead to ponies giving me exactly what I want. Assuming, of course, that they are communicating in such a way that I can understand what they are saying, and they can understand what I am saying."

Chrysalis stood and walked to the bars as she spoke. When she was done, she smirked down at Twilight, her superiority clearly shining through. In evidence, she did not need to say a word for Twilight to know how she felt; her body language was more than enough to show how good she was at communicating with a willing participant. With her tail between her legs, Twilight walked off silently. She didn't receive a meal that day, but the feeling of pride Chrysalis felt was spectacular.