Chrysalis could tell an already-long day was going to get longer. She took a stretch, wearing yet another pair of socks due to... Strange developments with her legs. But as she did so, she snuck a look behind her.

Yeah, they were definitely following her.

A group of crystal ponies had been trailing the trio the whole day. Shining Armor declined to offer to join them, but her.. Friend... Sunset Snow was picked up and brought along with the group early on. So it was just her, the girls, and their three stalkers.

Reading their emotions she could tell they didn't mean well. Open feelings of hostility and anger, minor panic whenever they stopped as they wondered if they had been caught. It was all very trite. She couldn't believe that--

"Chrysalis?" She paused. Cadence was trying to get her attention.

"Hmmm? Yes, what is it?"

"We've... arrived." She smiled. "Are you ok?"

"Perfect, princess." She grumbled and marched her way into the furniture store. The in-store selection was fairly varied already, but she spied a large tome at the counter that presumably contained more things to order. She didn't have time for this, though. She needed to....

No. You know what? No. She was going to enjoy herself. AND keep an eye on the villains. They weren't going to ruin her day with her friends. She gave a quick look around the store. There in the distance. An open window.. Too high and small for a pony.. But for her...

"I am already overwhelmed." She sighed. This was true. She had no idea what to purchase. "I'm going to go look yonder." This was not.

"Ok, hon! I'll see if I can't suss out what you like." The Kirin nodded confidently and headed to the book, while the princess browsed the in-store stock. She had just enough time. Being careful not to run, she made her way to the window. She slithered up the wall as one of the smallest lizards in Equestria, trying to ignore the bite of cold. Once on the other side she took to the skies, a small snowy owl.

It took her mere moments to locate the group of troublemakers. Dropping in behind them, she returned to her true form, letting out a classic menacing chuckle.

"Just what do you three fools think you're doing? And don't bother lying, I can read you like a book."

They jumped at the sight of her. She could feel anger burn in their hearts.

"Keeping an eye on YOU," the blue one said, bluntly.

"It's a travesty you're allowed to walk free!" agreed green.

"Do you honestly think any of us will forgive you for making HIM appear again?? Your tricks caused us all great pain!" concluded white. The other two nodded in agreement.

"No. I don't. You don't need to forgive me for anything." The three shuffled in place, but she continued. "Nor do I expect you to follow me. Return to your lives. Leave us be."

"No. No, we're not just going to let a criminal walk around our city! Our princess is too forgiving allowing you out," said the white one. The green one growled at Chrysalis.

"And what do you intend to do about it? Do you hope to fight me? What's the point?" she scoffed.

"Maybe we will!"

Blue rushed her. She prepared to dodge easily, but found another behind her. Suddenly the two were in some dark warehouse. Blue collapsed, apparently drained from naught but a simple teleport spell. All around her she watched as horns glowed alight in the darkness.

She cracked her neck.

"So this is how it has to be, huh? Let's get this over with."

The room became a fury of white hot blasts of magic, and rocks, and other more simple weapons being thrown at her. She went low, transforming into that same gecko. Then turned into a mighty yak, headbutting along with the upward motion of her changing size. A troop of Earth ponies marched up to her, all throwing punches wildly with their forehooves. She let her body become long and thin, dodging the blows, but she had now to dodge a stampede of stomping hooves. She slithered around one pony, growing into a large basilisk, and throwing them toward the rafters where the others were.

Blasts of magic hit her now-scaly body. She groaned, returned to her true self. The melee fighters began to charge her again. Shaking it off quickly, she retched, hacking up a glob of resin, getting most of them stuck in one place. She barely had time to dodge a hit from the one who didn't. He took a practiced stance, throwing a series of punches and kicks toward her. She was doing okay, until the sounds of magical bolts filled her ears. Now she was completely on the defensive, hoping for any opening. Unfortunately, she wouldn't get it. A blast managed to catch her, and a punch connected soon afterwards. She spun a little, lying in a limp heap on the floor.

But she wasn't out yet.

She lay there, pretending she had nothing left. The others encircled her. She had her eyes closed, but from reading where the sources of emotions were, she was able to tell. She tolerated it as they kicked her supposedly passed out body. Not a single sound. She just has to wait.. Bear the humiliation until..

They dropped their guard.

Springing up she shifted into a mighty sphinx. Fierce paws and a whip-like tail sent various ponies flying about the warehouse. She approached the last one, turning to her true self. She leaned down. They flinched, but she only spoke softly to them.

"Do not try this again. You don't have to like me. It's not in your best interest. But if I'm attacked again I'll have to defend myself again. You have every right to be mad at me, but you won't get anything this way. Understood?"

They nodded.

"Good." And with no further thing to say, she began to exit the facility. Damn it, they got her leg. She would need to hide her limp, and her broken carapace.

Making her way to the main shopping area wasn't too difficult, despite not knowing where the hell she was. Once she got her bearings, she began making her way back you the furniture store, already thinking about how she could sneak back in unnoticed. Unfortunately these plans quickly evaporated as her two friends came charging up to her, bringing a wave of concern with them.

"Chrysalis! What happened.. Where did you go??" the Kirin blurted out first. She sighed. She forgot to come up with an alibi.

"I saw some individuals outside. They had been stalking us for a while... I made it clear that wasn't acceptable, and they went on their way," she said, simply. Cadence gasped softly.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Chrysalis blinked in surprise.

"Why would I? I was confident I could resolve the issue. There's no reason to alarm you." She went to take a step. A critical mistake. Her limp acted up.

She could feel their eyes like daggers.

"You're hurt!" Cried the pink one.

"Hardly."

"Chrysalis." She warned.

"I'm fine."

"Show. Me."

She rolled her eyes and dropped her disguise. Battered carapace, bruised legs, and worst of all, they had ruined her favorite pair of socks. Cadence let out a tiny gasp and started fussing over her wounds. She rolled her eyes in response.

"How did you get these? Did you get in a fight?"

"I fell."

"Chryssy!" She let out in an exasperated tone.

"Fine, fine! I had received intel a while ago from one of my bugs that various ponies in this kingdom are not pleased with my continued presence. Knowing this, I carefully monitored around us. I realized they might prove troublesome, so I snuck out and... dealt with them. Unfortunately, I underestimated their level of malice. They teleported me to a warehouse and descended upon me to attack. I defended myself and returned here. I promise that's all."

Cadence listened with wide eyes. She was mostly feeling concern. Sunset had hers tinged with anger however. She spoke up.

"So you know about these guys and didn't tell us... why?? You know we could have helped you right??"

"It's appreciated, but it's my problem stemming from my consequences. So, I dealt with it myself." That should settle matters. But Cadence spoke up, presumably channeling some love into her wounds without asking to help her heal.

"She's right, Chryssy. Part of the thing about being friends is being honest and trusting each other. If you'd told us about your problems instead of bottling them up, we could have had the guards find and disrupt this group before it came to violence."

"Do you honestly think your husband likes me enough to be bothered to do all that?" She snapped a little. She didn't really have a good retort. The princess was right, after all. But sensing her emotions, she realized she made a mistake.

"Apologies. But he really does hate me. With good reason, to be fair." She had to fight the old her, screaming in her head to never apologize to anyone ever. Times were changing and so would she. She can't go on the way she had.

Cadance let out a deep sigh.

"He doesn't.. Hate.. You. It's.. It's taking Shiny a lot longer to warm up to you. He talked to you today right?"

"You know about that?"

"Not exactly, but... he'd been thinking about it for a while. He wants to let go of our... unfortunate past. No matter what, as long as you mean well, you're a guest and a friend of the crown here. Please don't hide things from us anymore, okay? We can work though problems together."

Looking at her face, all scrunched up in concern, her heart felt like a melting cube of ice. This shit again! She preferred it when her heart was less active.

"Fine. I'm sorry. That goes double to you, Sunset. By my own terms I suppose I must disallow lies by omission. I won't give you cause to rue the day you put trust in me."

Sunset rolled her eyes. "Always so official. It's fine, we get it. It's hard for you to say things but you're sorry about it. Apology accepted."

Why was having friends so annoying. Why was she smiling as well?

She forced the unwanted gesture away.

"We can return to the task at hand. Lead the way." But Sunset lit up, excitedly taking her to see something.

"I think I've found just the perfect thing for you! Check out this Gothic recliner!"

She beheld it. Dark-stained wood, nearly black. Crystals from the empire laid into the sides, where they could decorate but stay out of the way. A bat wing motif ran throughout the chair. It was...

"Perfect. It's perfect."

"Really?" beamed the kirin. "Guess we've started to find your style after all!"

Chrysalis was used to doing things she wanted, but, somehow, was not used to knowing what she wanted. She supposed when you grew up only knowing war, you found it hard to imagine peace.

Thank the elders she had these two to show her.

Author's Note

Yeah we're back to sonic songs again! Secret rings this time.

Why am i posting this at 2am?

iunno.