"I asked a question! Where is my child?!"

The two monsters were staring at each other. Pepper, alert despite showing signs of fatigue, was sitting on the throne. Her posture was unorthodox for a pony as she held candy in her left hoof. She kept control by using a magical forcefield. Chrysalis paced around it like a lion in a cage, her murderous gaze throwing daggers at the mare in anticipation of any mistakes that could turn the situation to her advantage.

Pepper deployed a little more magic to answer the question. The candy below her hooves pulsed with magic, then rolled out of the protective dome. Five seconds later, the changeling returned to their former shape, looking haggard. Pepper raised the hoof in which she held the other candy pointing towards Chrysalis. "In order for your daughter to survive, you will make them leave and do not let them return until our conversation is over."

Chrysalis conceded to the demand. She slammed her teeth furiously as the changeling fled the room.

"I can imagine that, as the Queen, you have to worry about your subjects, but what about your daughter? Do you care as much about her well-being?"

"Of course I care about her," Chrysalis replied without hesitation. "I care with all my heart, but I have a duty, a responsibility to my subjects. Should I tell them that the good of one of them should come before the good of the whole hive?"

"And if I tell you that she has been suffering? That her heart is filled with despair at not knowing whether you would return from your meeting with the one outside?"

"We are desperate! Death lurks outside, we have no food, and now there is you!" the queen screamed with rage, staring into the eyes of her interlocutor. "No one can feel what we feel! I'll do anything! Anything for them! We are not like ponies. An apple is not enough to fill our stomachs. We are here in the Badlands because it is the only region where we could live in the open, before the siege." She smiled sarcastically. "In the darkness, you must have confused generosity of the heart with hunger of the stomach."

"I know exactly what I am to you, Chrysalis, but if you want to play predator and prey, then this is a game I have been playing since even before I was able to cast spells." The white-coated mare looked at the candy in her hoof, licking her upper lip before looking back at Chrysalis. "This treat looks really delicious."

"As another predator on the same territory, I can at least respect you. We could find some common ground. What do you want?"

"Oh, almost nothing," Pepper said, looking at the gratifying queen with a sarcastic smile. "I love stories, and the story of this little queen changeling confined to her room by her mother piques my curiosity. Tell it to me, and I will release your daughter."

Chrysalis was stunned by the demand. All this charade to hear that story? It seemed unbelievable. But if an explanation would be enough to give her back her daughter, she would agree without batting an eyelid to trade her status as a manipulative queen to become a simple storyteller. "Once upon a time, there was a race that fed on the feelings of others. From Timbucktu to Trot, it moved for the sole purpose of feeding itself, without taking heed of the consequences of their insatiable hunger. Destiny soon barred its path in the form of the Princess of the Sun and her loyal lackeys. As punishment, the swarm was trapped in a volcano, its salvation only due to the stupidity of a dragon with a brain melted by his own flaming spit. The swarm then decided to leave Equestria for the time being. It was unprepared to face an alicorn and needed time to hone its skills. The predators who had previously hunted without restraint learned stealth and to hold back their hunger for their own good. Centuries passed. At some point, the desire to return to Equestria was too strong due to their growing desire for an icy cold revenge. To avoid another imprisonment, a hive was built in the Badlands. The drones collecting love from Equestria merged into the mass of ponies and kept a low profile. Time passed, and a chance came along. A marriage of love. The Princess of the Sun married the filly she had adopted to the captain of the guard, the brother of the spoilsport, Twilight Sparkle. Through her fault, this day, which was going to be perfect, was ruined, as were my next attempts to get revenge. Despite the failures, my life took an unexpected turn when my daughter was born. She was the first changeling to which I gave birth, a queen, my jewel, my diamond in the rough. Her smiles, her first words. You should have seen her-"

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A loud noise interrupted Chrysalis. Pepper had just hit the throne’s armrest with the back of her free foreleg. She grimaced under an overwhelming, throbbing pain. Her expression twisted with difficulty into a smile as her ruby eyes stared back at Chrysalis. "Keep going."

"She was gifted, intelligent, her mother's worthy daughter. But still so young, too innocent in her heart—the heart she got from her father. I tried to protect her from the problems of the hive, from the death that loomed on our doorstep. She wasn't ready. Will she ever be ready? I will probably never know. Now almost all my remaining subjects are sleeping for a soon to be eternal sleep. Our reserves of love are at their lowest. And that's where the problem lies. My daughter was the only source of love within reach. What do you think my subjects thought when their stomachs rumbled? Their instincts took over. They almost all gave in to the idea of an easy meal at the expense of her life. And I, the queen, her mother, kept chasing them away. Chased them away, again and again, always further from that door that separated her from us. As much as I wanted to protect her, in the end, I was just another changeling. I gave in too. I gave in to my hunger and became the monster that wanted to eat my daughter's life. I snuck into her room. But when I saw her asleep, when the monster that I am saw her asleep, I—who drained countless hearts—felt filthy, disgusted of myself for the first time in my life. That night, I couldn't feed on my daughter. That night, something stopped me. I don't know what it was."

"Your will is admirable. Believe me, I sincerely respect you for this," Pepper commented, now lost in thought. While she played with the candy, Chrysalis's revelation forced her to confront her own crimes. "I could not hold back," she admitted, yet she was unable to feel any remorse. “Never could,” she said, before she swallowed the candy and started to chew, looking directly at the monarch.

"Aglowing Shell!" Chrysalis screamed in horror as she threw herself against Pepper's shield, pounding her hooves with all her might, thundering it with magic beams before collapsing from exhaustion. Tears welled up in her eyes. She was powerless. Pepper had just consumed her daughter in front of her eyes.It was only now that she started to comprehend the feelings that she had towards Aglowing Shell.

Pepper rolled her eyes and swallowed before lifting her gaze to the crystal above Chrysalis. "Seriously, she is in tears. If this is not enough proof of love yet, I can not do any better," she said with a shrug.

That was too much! Ardent rage bubbled up inside her, taking over from the sadness she felt. Pepper was going to pay! She was going to suffer! Chrysalis lifted her body with what was left of her lifeforce, no longer even trying to understand the words of the monster facing her. She was going to get past that shield. She would throw herself at her, then break every one of her ribs before tearing out her heart. The queen was about to take action, when a drop of water fell on her snout, cutting her off her anger. Then, another one fell. She did not understand where this water could come from, so deep beneath the desert of the badlands. She looked to where it had come from.

The water came from a crystal that looked no different from the others. It was a common crystal. Intact and inert. Another drop hit her snout. The queen closed her dark green eyes and saw that the light was twisting around the crystal like a mirage above the desert sands. The illusion suddenly ended, revealing Aglowing Shell in tears, her horn crackling with magic. She was shouting something at her. Though no sound came from the bubble, Chrysalis perfectly recognized what her daughter was saying, again and again. A simple word: “Mother.”

Chrysalis looked at Pepper, confused, while her rage clashed with her joy at seeing her daughter safe and sound.

Pepper simply tapped her horn with her left hoof. "Spell of dissimulation. She can see, hear, and come out whenever she wants. But as long as she is within that bubble, she does not exist to the outside world. Except if you know where exactly to focus your attention, that is."

When she heard these explanations, Aglowing immediately jumped off her perch to join her mother, clinging to her neck.

"But what about the candy?" asked Chrysalis.

"The candy?" Pepper extinguished the shield, then used her magic to open a gate slightly bigger than the candy she pulled through with her telekinesis. “Licorice mint. Do you want one? They are made in Ponyville by an extraordinary earth pony..." Seeing no reaction from the queen, she ate the candy herself. "You must know of her. She is crazy, has a strange passion for party cannons, and is a friend of that spoilsport of yours."

Pepper was exhausted. She had partially solved the despair of the little changeling. She could rest for a moment. To see the daughter who loved her mother and was loved in return made her look away. Even though she was stripped of all emotions, she felt a heartache. Gamine was reviving herself again. She closed her eyes for a moment, just for a moment, in the hope to pause the parasite's awakening by ceasing to look at the mother-daughter reunion.