“How is your stomach grumbling, Chryssi?” the pink mare asked after a while of asking what the bug queen thought were silly questions, some of which included picking between two eligible stallions or mares, others that had deeply intimate questions on them, even though the mare said there would be none. Although she had to admit, it was a tiny bit amusing to play along, but only because there was nothing else to do. As well, she noticed that there was a small stream of love leaking from Cadance that Chrysalis hungrily devoured.
“Don’t you feed off emotion? How can your stomach growl? Or maybe you’re ready to cuddle now because you’re hungry for affection?”
“We still need physical food,” the changeling explained. “We only feed off of emotion because food alone isn’t enough to sustain us. A good analogy would be a pony who ‘dies of a broken heart’. In the same way, we’d perish without feeding off of the emotions around us.”
“Awww, that sounds absolutely adorable!” Cadance squeed happily, putting her hooves on her cheeks as she said it. “It’s adorable that you eat my love to keep you alive! It’s the cutest thing ever!”
“Wha- that- that’s not c-cute!” Chrysalis scowled. “It’s serious business, a matter of life and death if you will! How can that possibly be cute? To call it that is an insult to changelings!”
“It's cute in the same way a romantic dinner can be cute to Shining Armor,” the mare replied. “I mean, both of us would die without food, but eating out with him is still very fun and romantic and adorable. And it’s the same with you eating my love. I bet you’re eating it right now, aren’t you cutie?”
“I- no! Absolutely not! I- just make me dinner now! Chop chop!” the queen demanded, clopping her hooves together as she said it.
“Well, I can make you dinner, but since it’s a date, that means you have to help me. We can bake something nice, like a chocolate cream pie, served with a side of spaghetti and sauce.”
“Don’t you mean that the other way around?” the bug asked. “Spaghetti with a side of chocolate cream pie?”
“Nope, I meant what I said and said what I meant. Tonight we’re gonna have dessert for dinner while I get to know you more, and then we can cuddle up and watch a funny movie. How does that sound?”
“Quite ridiculous. I’m certain Shining Armor wouldn’t subject me to this torture.”
“Oh, stop it you, you and I both know you’ll love it. Now come on, we don’t wanna waste the whole night talking.”
The queen huffed and flicked her mane before following the alicorn into the kitchen, feeling ready to do absolutely anything else. Well, almost. She did have to admit it was slightly amusing watching the mare’s attempts to woo her. She couldn’t say she remembered the last time some creature chose to try and do so on their own. It was a nice change of pace from ordering her subjects around, she had to admit.
“Amusing, and nothing else,” she told herself. “You know they’re trying to trap you into being reformed, and you can’t let them. You won't let them. They will lose out in the end and be crushed beneath your hooves and realize just how foolish this pathetic attempt was.”
“Come on, Chryssi!” Cadance called. “Stop standing there brooding and let’s get baking! We don’t have all night!”
“I told you not to call me that,” she huffed, “and I’m here. I’ll watch and you bake it and I’ll let you if it’s acceptable for a queen such as I.”
“No, you gotta help silly. It wouldn’t be much fun for you if I did all the work, would it?”
“Ugh, fine, whatever, just tell me what to do.”
“That’s the spirit! Okay! You can start by getting me… flour, sugar, and salt! And I’ll get the bowls and spoons to mix with, okay?”
“If you insist, but I can’t imagine who in their right mind would ever put salt in a pie.”
“It’s just what the recipe tells us to do, silly filly,” the mare giggled. “You’re adorable. Now go get us what we need.”
"I am not a filly, and do not call me that again," Chrysalis told her, annoyed, although she could tell her hostess wasn't paying much attention, singing a song to herself as she got stuff.
With that she left, browsing the kitchen to see if she could find what the mare was looking for. Salt was easy, and so was sugar, but flour… she had no idea what that was. Chrysalis couldn’t say she was one who knew very much about cooking, and knew she would have a hard time spotting such an ingredient even if she did know what it was. Did Cadance mean flowers? She’s never heard of such a thing going into a cake, but she did remember eating a few daisy sandwiches once or twice and thought it might taste good baked into a cake. She decided to assume that was what she meant.
It took her more than a few minutes to collect a large enough amount of flowers from outside the castle to say that she did something, but she knew she wouldn’t be surprised if Cadance sent her back out, or got angry with her for taking so long. The whole situation was quite annoying, but she made sure to keep her outward frustration to a minimum so that she could push through these activities.
Over thirty minutes had passed when she returned, her magic filled with all of the flowers she plucked from the dirt outside, as well as a bit of salt and sugar. When she got back, she saw the mare already somehow covered in white powder, stirring the batter that would become the cake.
“What took you forever, silly filly?” Cadance asked as she turned around. “I thought for a second you just up and up left! What were you doing that took so long?”
“I was doing exactly as you requested,” the changeling queen explained. “Gathering salt, sugar, and flowers, see?” As she said it, she showed off the collection of things she had, especially the flowers. Daisies and dandelions and many other types filled her grasp, so many that she was almost proud of herself. However, Cadance only giggled at the sight of it, and it made her scowl.
“What is it?” she asked, the annoyance clearly evident in her voice. “Why are you laughing at me? I did as you requested, didn’t I?”
“Well, part way,” the mare laughed. “Do you not know the difference between flower and flowers? Or were you just trying to be romantic and get me a bouquet?”
“I- no! You said flowers, and so flowers are what I got! It’s your fault for not being clear with your instructions.”
“You’re absolutely adorable,” Cadance practically squeed. “I can’t believe you don’t know what flour is. But it’s okay, because we can make a nice salad instead of spaghetti with them. How does that sound?” The mare didn’t wait for a response, going back to her mixing as she said, “Please put them in the sink so we can wash them later, then come here to help me, okay sweetie?”
“I- I’m n-not a sweetie,” Chrysalis responded, blushing quietly but doing as she was told. She plopped the flowers she gathered down into the sink and turned the water on to wash the dirt off of them before returning to Cadance, who was standing in front of the bowl with pie ingredients in it.
“Mix this bowl for me, Chryssi?” she asked, the bug flattening her ears and giving her a suspicious look. “My hooves hurt, can you do it for me?” She gave her a kind hearted smile and a tilt of her head to try and convince her, and after a few seconds of hesitation, the queen snatched the bowl and did as she was asked.
“Humph, simpleton,” Chrysalis muttered as she stirred quickly for a second before Cadance moved behind her. "I don't see why you can't do this. You're just being lazy."
“Am not! Besides, it's fun for both of us! But you’re doing it too quickly. You have to do it like this.” She demonstrated by grabbing one of the changeling’s hooves and moving it for her in a slow motion. At the same time, she placed the other on her hip and rested her head on her neck. Chrysalis squeaked and shivered slightly at the contact but didn’t say anything, greedily eating up the wall of love she gave out.
“This isn’t so bad…” she thought to herself. “I won’t fall into her trap though. I know what she’s doing, and I won’t fall into it, but taking advantage of this won’t be a bad thing to do.”
“Mmmmm you like this, don’t you?” Cadance asked, wearing a gigantic smile as she turned to look her in the eyes for a moment. “Helping me make us dinner, I mean, of course. This is fun, isn’t it?”
“I wouldn’t use the word ‘fun’ to describe this activity, but I will admit it’s not the very worst thing possible like I expected it to be.”
“Hmmmm, I see…” she said thoughtfully, helping her stir for a minute longer before stopping and closing her eyes. “What if we just stood here for a moment and enjoyed the feeling? It’s a nice one, isn’t it? Feeling the love, especially without having to trick somepony?”
The bug sighed and went along with it, closing her own eyes to take in the moment for a second. It was a very nice feeling, being held and given love while Cadance softly hummed in that second. Just one second though, not nearly long enough to let herself get caught up in the princess’s trickery. She was a queen, and certainly above such things. Besides, there were more important matters to attend to at that moment.
“You’ve had your moment, now I want us to finish preparing this meal. I’m very hungry.”