Twilight scooped the last of the rice onto a plate, leaving two with a very generous portion. With a spatula, she began shaping each into what she hoped was an elegant presentation. After this, she took up a clean cloth in her magic and began diligently cleaning the plate wherever there was stray sauce.

With the plates now presentable, she turned to the book she'd taken from the library. According to it, she needed specific types of beverages to go with such a meal. Wines were not something she knew much about, but the stallion at the shop had helped her find non-alcoholic varieties she hoped would fit in their place. Carefully, she opened one of the bottles she'd purchased and gave it a sniff. It didn't have the usual acrid smell she associated with alcohol, which brightened her mood some. Carefully, she began pouring a pair of glasses.

From the other room, Chrysalis waited. She was under no obligation to stay where she was, except that Twilight had asked her to at least stay out of the kitchen and dining room for a while. Survival instincts told her she should have left the library entirely, and yet she found herself intrigued.

She could sense Twilight's emotions. They wafted in as freely as the admittedly tempting smells of the food being prepared. Anxiety and stress tended to spoil the taste of her emotions though. It was thus pleasant to her when the sounds of utensils clanking together finally came to an end, and the emotions coming in seemed to stabilize. Pride and confidence worked their way in, though some uncertainty remained.

"Hey, Chrysalis." Twilight finally called out, nervous anticipation lacing into her emotions as she spoke. "Everything is ready, if you want to come in here."

Stirring in Twilight's emotions did prompt Chrysalis from her resting place. She'd been sitting on a small couch Twilight had been using as a bed, looking out of a window as the sun went down over Ponyville. Now she instinctively made her way through this pony abode towards the kitchen/ dining room, a room which held no practical use for her, and yet she'd become relatively familiar with. Through the door the queen found Twilight, nervously smiling as she held out a hoof in presentation.

"Just a little treat I threw together, since I promised to let you try my risotto after all."

Chrysalis started to the table, wondering what else had been prepared. "I don't think there was a promise in that discussion. Regardless, you realize I don't need to eat pony food, right."

Twilight's smile and emotions faltered some at those words. "I know, that's why it's just a little treat. And even if I didn't necessarily promise it, you definitely deserve something nice with how much you've been helping lately."

"What is all this?" Chrysalis now questioned as she looked over the table.

Twilight gestured. "Of course, there's my specialty risotto. But we also have an eggplant parmesan with a balsamic reduction sauce, a chop salad on the side, and I have a crème brûlée ready for dessert."

Chrysalis was confused by this. "From what Spike has told me, you're nearly useless in a kitchen. How did you pull this off?"

Twilight blushed as her mood seemed to improve. "I'm working on it. Although I will admit I bought a kit for the dessert. Spike was kind of excited about it actually, he wanted to try to use his flame to torch the tops. I had to remind him that my magic is still a little more precise for stuff like that."

"Is he not joining us for this 'little treat'?" Chrysalis inquired, noting the two plates of food.

Twilight's emotions swirled again at that. "He suddenly got an invite from the cutie mark crusaders for a sleep over. He might try to act mature, but I think he still likes hanging out with creatures his own age. I promised to save him some though, so it's fine." Chrysalis wasn't sure which parts of the statement Twilight was lying about, but it didn't seem that important at the moment. Especially as she noticed something and pulled away.

"That isn't wine is it? Honestly, I don't know why you ponies would willingly poison yourselves, especially with such a vile substance as alcohol." Chrysalis nearly hissed as she looked at the glasses between the plates.

Twilight interjected quickly. "I actually agree with you completely on that. Not only do I hate the idea of losing my higher brain functions just for a sense of 'fun', but alcohol is just so," she seemed to strain to find proper wording. "Yucky. This is non-alcoholic, but the stallion at the store said it should still pair well with the rest of the dinner."

Placated, Chrysalis lit her horn to magically pull chairs out from each side of the table. Why she did both she didn't know. "You seem to have put in a great deal of time and effort on this 'little treat'."

Some panic swirled into Twilight's emotions, which she quickly tried to suppress. "No, of course not. Like I said, I just sort of threw it all together." Her smile was much too big to be genuine, but Chrysalis decided not to comment. She had another inquiry to address first.

"Why do you have so few candles lit? Isn't it a little dark in here for a regular meal?"

Twilight answered as if she'd for some reason been expecting that question. "Oh, that was me being silly. I didn't buy enough candles the other day and my light spells are a little too bright for indoor use. It's enough for a quick, simple dinner though, so I don't mind just picking them up tomorrow."

Chrysalis just nodded, once again deciding not to figure out the half truths her rival was feeding to her. Both now seated, looking at each other in the dim candle light, Chrysalis decided to concede a bit, for the sake of stabilizing the emotions she was actually eating at the moment. "I will admit, this looks and smells good. I may not need pony food to survive, but it does have its appeals."

Twilight smiled brightly, which Chrysalis ate up readily. "I'm glad to hear it." She lit her horn to raise her wine glass. "I'm not good at these sorts of things, but as I understand it, we should do a toast before a dinner like this." Chrysalis raised her glass in acknowledgment. "To us... finding plenty of ways to help our changelings."

Chrysalis nodded, and they both took sips of their drinks. It was probably the best 'wine' Chrysalis had ever tasted, but she didn't need to share that detail right now. "So this was partially done in anticipation of opening up our search tomorrow. You ponies always need some kind of preamble to certain events."

Twilight smiled at the observation. "That's a good way of putting it. I've heard it described as 'vibes'. Setting a good tone before starting something important helps creatures during the process. There's actually some great scientific studies into it. So hopefully this will help us help our changelings."

Sensing the desire in Twilight, and knowing the payoff it would bring, Chrysalis made yet another concession for the sake of improving Twilight's mood. "All this for the sake of my hive. I believe I remember what you told me ponies do in these situations." She focused on Twilight. "Thank you for all your help."

Worth it. The flood of positive emotions from Twilight at that moment were particularly tasty. She would have just eaten them up if Twilight didn't now bashfully fill a fork with food so she could raise it to her face to try to hide a blush. "You should try your food. I'm curious, since only my family and close friends have tried my cooking. Is it really any good?"

Chrysalis raised her own fork, a nice sampling of Twilight's risotto bringing it's scent to her nose. There was something familiar in the smell, which Chrysalis decided was just ambient from the emotions in the room. There was no way for smells like that to get into pony food.

Chrysalis's eyes shot open as the bite touched her tongue. She stared at Twilight in disbelief. Twilight's smile started to shake some as Chrysalis realized she'd been staring for a while longer than was proper. She could tell Twilight wanted to know.

Hesitantly, Chrysalis finished her bite. She couldn't help but to be honest at the moment as her mind was occupied with conflicting information. "This, is the most delicious thing I have ever tasted."

Twilight's satisfaction from those words was immense, especially as Chrysalis began digging into her food almost uncontrollably. But Chrysalis didn't pay it any mind as she tried to process new information as a feeling coursed through her body with each bite of food that technically had no nutritional value for her.

Chrysalis, felt full.

Author's Note

Been a busy week, so this chapter I thought might get done early took me the full time. Initially, I felt I was going to have a hard time making it over a thousand words. It's still short, but I'm glad it started flowing for me at some point. Literally most of this was written in the last 2 hours. Especially since editing went remarkably quickly. Let me know if you catch any mistakes, because that was too smooth for me not to be suspicious. Next chapter is going to be a much more dramatic one, and I'm going to be glad to be getting back to writing an angry Chrysalis. As always, let me know what you think, good or bad.