Lunch with Cadence had become a common occurrence. And Chrysalis hated how she didn't... Really hate these meetings. She was starting to look forward to them, which made her want to cringe. But the pink princess had some wit to her.

She arrived at her usual spot early. Odd. Cadence was usually here. The mystery didn't last long. She entered the little cafe, with a tired look in her eyes, and a proper regal yawn. She smiled upon seeing her, for some reason.

"I can't tell you how glad I am to be out of that meeting," she sighed as she sat down.

"I'm glad the hive never had to do foreign relations under me. Those dignitaries can be a nightmare." Her companion nodded.

"The yaks are a delight but very... Loud. Too loud for that early in the morning." Chrysalis let out a little chuckle.

"That's yaks for you. Loud and proud as they come. They share a lot in common with dragons on the whole." Cadence rolled her eyes.

"You're doing the intel thing again," she huffed. Admittably, she had a habit of talking about subjects as if she was preparing a drone for a mission.

"That hardly counts!" she growled. The princess's laughter filled the cafe again. Sweet like chocolates on Hearts and Hooves day. Ugh. How she hated her!

"Never thought I'd be here laughing at your jokes, Chryssy, but I'm glad I am. We've come pretty far from locking me in a basement, huh?" She raised an eyebrow at her with a smirk.

"First of all. Not a joke. Secondly, in my defense, you did blast me after that."

"Great! We're even then." Big smile. Just like that she was over it? Well, maybe not just like that. It had taken her a while. Maybe these excursions served as some attempt to forgive her? She remembered her dream from the other day, and how the princess had wanted to get to know her.

By her nature, everything about herself was guarded. Information was currency, and changelings had so little to their names already. That was dangerous generosity. Or, it HAD been. She sighed.

"It's hard to imagine sharing things up openly. You now probably understand, I struggle to do so." She nodded.

"I know... But I also know you've been doing it more. I really appreciate the effort to be more open. I told you once we don't need to be enemies anymore, and I meant it." She placed her hooves on top of hers. Her heart did another one of its annoying motions it was fond of as late. Some fluttery feeling.

"In that spirit, I'll tell you I was visited by the dream walker some nights ago." They blinked.

"Princess Luna? Have you not been sleeping well?" That caused her to pause and consider. Did she ever really sleep well? How would she know the difference!

"I slept all well, as I usually do," she decided to tell her. Seemed less complicated. Cadence nodded sagely.

"Maybe we should go out and get some furniture for your room. You might sleep better if it felt more like a home." She scoffed.

"I have never decorated in my life."

"Great! Then it will be novel to you."

"Fine, fine. I know you won't drop it."

"Oh, good! You managed to get that intel on me, did you?" She smirked again. Chrysalis rolled her eyes.

"While I'm making you mad, I should just rip this band-aid off... I invited someone to join us today" she narrowed her eyes.

"What." She said. With venom.

"There's someone you have been putting off talking to, isn't there?" She tried not to look guilty.

"I have zero clue who you're talking about." That response got get another eye roll.

"It's too late for that. My 'spies' already know about Miss Snow. You know. Because you told me."

"You didn't need to invite her here!" she hissed, "A changeling never goes back to a mark. It's dangerous, and if we're ever found out, she certainly wouldn't want to see us again."

"Why are you so concerned about that if it didn't mean anything to you? There's two royals in this room. It's not like she can harm you." She waited for her to respond. But Chrysalis didn't HAVE a response. "Just give it a shot. I promise she's not coming to yell at you."

"Fine. Fine..."

Why the hell was she nervous?? The minutes felt like hours, and, after several false alarms, there she was. She walked into the store and smiled, running up to the group. Chrysalis was being restrained again.

"I'm so glad you're ok!" The Kirin blurted out. "I mean... Princess Cadence said you were, but I couldn't stop myself from worrying." She wasn't wrong. She could still feel it coming off of her.

"I don't know why you want to see me in the first place." She said bluntly. "You know our entire relationship was built on lies and manipulation. You have your chance to tell me off now, s-"

A hoof was rudely pressed to her muzzle, interrupting her.

"That doesn't matter to me. You did something bad, yeah, but you did it because you assumed doing things the right way wouldn't work. You need to do better, but I'm willing to be there with you. You might think I don't know you, but I do. I remember the moment you frankly told me to accept my journey to be myself. I saw bits and sparks of a girl I wanted to know really badly, and now the veil is gone and there's nothing stopping you from showing me."

Chrysalis was at a loss for words. She felt angry. Not at her apparent friend. But for some reason, this made her mad.

"You can't just forgive people who manipulate you like that! It's absurd and foolish to trust someone after they've broken that trust! You owe other creatures NOTHING, Sunset Snow!"

There was a pause. The other diners were looking at them now. The Kirin took a moment to reply-

"And yet, you're sitting here trying to tell me things which are in my best interest. Like you care. Even though the deception was entirely based on you not actually being my friend."

She scoffed. "You're looking too much into it. It's only because it annoys me."

"But WHY does it annoy you? If you don't care about me you shouldn't care about what I do."

"I don't know?? I'm just, nosy. It's... in my nature to stick my snout in where it doesn't belong." She knew that was a shit answer, but she didn't have a better one... What was even happening? She earned another eye roll from that annoying pink princess.

"If you were only nosy, then you would laugh about it with me later, not try to help her 'fix' problems in her life. What you're doing is putting up a wall because you're afraid to let her in. Stop it. It's time to be strong enough to be vulnerable. Be the leader your people deserved."

She panted. She needed to say something, anything! They were wrong, clearly. Chrysalis can not care about other creatures! She was a manipulative, repulsive creature who only cared about the goals of herself and her hive! She was...

Really lonely.

She let out a deep sigh.

"Fine. Fine! Well try this so-called friendship.. On MY terms. And my terms are the moment this corrosive force takes another thing out of my life, that's it! It's over!"

She sat down heavily at the table, investigating the floor. The eyes of the others might as well be flashlights in her face. She couldn't look at them. She felt the two close in on her. Cadence put a hoof on hers again. She could feel their affection... Given so freely...

She didn't feel the hidden layer of manipulation like she did with Cozy Glow. They just... Wanted her to feel better and be better.

How odd.

"That day, they took everything from me." she offered out of nowhere, putting her head on the table "That accursed Starlight came along, introduced 'friendship' and proceed to take everything I've been working on since I was a hatchling. They didn't need me anymore! I wasn't being invited, I was being offered sympathy... By a supposed better! I couldn't stand it."

"You had someone enter your home and change your way of life overnight. You made the wrong choice because you were scared. There's no shame i-" But she interrupted the pink princess.

"I'm not scared of anything." She huffed.

"Different kind of scared, hon," The Kirin offered. "Not like you're a coward but, like, something completely new had been shown to you and you weren't ready."

"Feh. Whatever. I'm not doing the reform thing. I refuse to be that colorful." She paused. "Wait why do you know about that?"

"Well, A: You just told us. And, B: I spent... the time after you were taken, learning more about you. I thought, if I could understand you we might be able to be friends again." She sighed.

"Why does every creature want to know about me all of a sudden?" she grumbled under her breath, before speaking more clearly:

"Were you mad?"

"A little at first, but I was busy being confused, and rescuing falling bugs."

"Still don't know why you did that."

"Duh? Friends? Anyways. I got a little mad afterwards, but I got over that too. It just wasn't worth it. You're really nice.. In your own way... And I wasn't going to let the false pretenses stop me."

"She showed up at my palace gates like she was ready to fight," offered the princess. "I was already thinking about finding her to arrange this little meeting, so instead she got the welcome committee." Sunset blushed.

"I thought you might be a political prisoner..."

"Even if I was, trying to take down a princess on your own is foolish. You need to be more careful."

"You know you're doing an awful lot of caring for someone who doesn't want friends" Cadence teased. The two laughed.

This friend thing was going to be annoying.

Author's Note

We're using the mega's for this week's chapter title. Great band check em out.

This one was pretty delayed huh? my editor is currently trying to cut through my entire backlog of EIGHT CHAPTERS, so uploads should pick up soon.

Their will be two chapters released this week to make up for last week, and, if i can manage it, a small surprise.