Chrysalis was headed into town for the day. It was growing increasingly frequent for her, and with minimal-to-no escort. She should be using this opportunity to plan an escape, or another attempt on the heart. But every time she tried to, her heart felt this annoying ache, and she thought about her friends. It was gross.

She was decked out in a scarf she picked up yesterday and some leg warmers. The later served dual purpose: the holes in her legs were slowly vanishing and it was concerning her greatly. She'd never had her body change on her own in this way...

Not since growing up.

As for today's mission: it was a simple one. A local shop served a warm, Crystal Empire dessert known as a 'crystal fudge brownie.' She was obsessed. Changelings didn't need to eat food like regular ponies, but it could serve as recreational. Or emergency love in a pinch, depending on whoever made the dish.

Her eyes caught on a semi-transparent tail. Nooo... That couldn't be! Rushing 'round the corner she was met with Femur. The pastel yellow color told her quite a bit about what he was up to. She approached him and without thinking. He saluted.

"My queen. It's good to see you're well."

"What happened to my squad, Femur. Did you get captured??"

"Long story only I did .. I went to infiltrate to get you out, but was spotted as the alert had already been raised. A stupid mistake. My apologies." She waved a hoof dismissively

"Continue."

"They uh .. Started treating me quite well.. some stuff happened.. and, I look like this now." He gestures. "I told the rest, and most of them have chosen to integrate into the Crystal Empire. We are still loyal to you! I found out you had... more or less surrendered. We figured, worst case scenario, we'd rise to aid you if you ever changed your mind." She let out a sigh as he nervously finished up.

"It is my fault for failing you then. It can't be helped. As long as you're all living well. But if they begin to treat you poorly let me know and I will raise hell unseen in these lands since the days of Sombra." Femur looked... Surprised.

"You're not mad? You... Don't want us to get revenge?" He asked with eyes wide.

"All I ever wanted for was my people to be happy. As we grew, so did my ambitions. If you are all well then I'm content knowing my hive lives.. With or without me."

She realized how she had changed already. This wasn't like the old her. She had expected betrayal in response but instead she got... Something else.

"Please excuse my insubordination, my queen, but I refuse to do that."

"What??" She hissed out. They flinched, but kept going. Good. She still was teaching them to be brave.

"There's no hive without you. We wouldn't be what we are today if it wasn't for our glorious queen. I refuse to leave you behind. Maybe you don't want to rule us anymore or something... but we want you around."

She rolled her eyes at him.

"It's best to leave relics in the past, Femur. I'm the old way. An old time. We gave it one last shot and know now there's no place for me in this new world."

"If you have a place in this world then we'll make one! We worked to free you because we believed that you are always going to be important to us."

She held up a hoof for silence.

"You freed me because, like me, you are not ready for change. If you continued to follow me, we would have stayed the way we were. You're well fed, healthy, and full of enough spunk to tell off your former queen. This was the best result."

"Only because you used your final act to make sure we all stayed free!" She blinked in surprise.

"You heard about that, hmm?..."

He nodded.

"The hive wasn't perfect, but we didn't know a better way. It's hard to find it when you feel like you're under attack at all times. Maybe you were right. Maybe we were scared to move on. But we also wanted our leader to share this new world with us. You belong with us."

There was a pause.. she didn't really have a rebuttal. Eventually she let out a little smirk.

"Look at us. These ponies have made us sappy." She said with some humor in her tone. Femur laughed.

"Perhaps. But it's not so bad in the end. I wish I had tried it sooner." She nodded.

"I'm hungry for some crystals. Let's go. I'll take you were I was planning to visit today."

The two sat in the cafe. It was an old school-style diner, with purposefully gaudy decorations. Femur's tail started up like a propeller when he tried his dessert. They talked about days of old for a while. They talked about the new world longer.

"I feel like now I'd actually feel comfortable in the new hive," Femur admitted. "I came back from a routine mission to find everything changed. I went rogue shortly after." Chrysalis nodded solemnly. "You should visit at some point."

She froze, and not from the cold wind cutting through her.

"I might have a place in this new world but I'm not sure it's with my hive. There are likely few that wish to remember me, wish to remember what we had to do."

"Ma'am," he started. (He had taken to calling her that, with "queen" off the table.) "You'd be surprised how many of us still miss you. I couldn't get any more troops because they don't want to go back to the old ways, but you're still respected."

She shrugged. "I'm not so sure."

"Ok. How about this: You have led us for a long time, and now you need to lead us a little longer. Don't give up on finding your place, and none of us will do so as well. We'll look to your lead on this."

She smiled. "That I can manage. Thank you. I should be going. Please give the others my regards."

"Wait!" he let out in a harsh whispered tone, gesturing for her to sit back down. She sighed and did so.

"My qu- ... ma'am. I've been keeping an eye on the city. Old habits die hard. And there's a growing group of individuals who are not happy about us being free to roam. Especially you. Please be careful."

She nodded thoughtfully. Now this at least, was something she understood.

Author's Note

Boom! Double update week! Also check out the new image for the fic, drawn by yours trully!

Alright, time to get proper obscure! This chapter is named after a track in the MegaMan unlimited soundtrack.