"Mother fu-" A wet thud broke silence of the fog shrouded forest, swiftly followed by a pained groan.

Queen Chrysalis pulled herself up from the mud with a pained wince. She shook the mud off herself, though a few clods stuck to her chitin, mane, and tail. She tried to move her wings. She hissed in pain. When she looked back, in spite of the general darkness and fog, she could see her wings were torn. With a hiss of pain, she forced her wings down to lay against her back. Normally that would be easily remedied. Normally her reserves would repair the damage.

A gurgling grumble echoed from the former queen's barrel. Chrysalis hissed in annoyance and glared at her stomach. "I know." She growled. "Of all the times for my magic to give out..."

She shook her head. With an annoyed sigh she looked around. The dense treetops made visibility drop to little more than a few feet, with the occasional gap letting through rays of silver moonlight. Through the trees were thick, there was enough space to form a rudimentary path.

"Better than nothing." She snorted and took a step. She grunted as a throb of pain shot through her leg. Shooting an angry glare at her leg, she saw that the chitin of her right leg was cracked. It wasn't terrible, merely a crack running from one hole to another, but it would make walking a tad more annoying.

"Fuck you." She swore at the cracked chitin.

The cracked chitin didn't respond.

With a snort looked back towards the crude path through the trees. She took a step forward, refusing to wince at the throb from her leg. Another step. A step thankfully not painful.

Taking it slow, Chrysalis made her way down the path. The rays of moonlight acting like beacons, directing her to Queen knows where.

The forest was strangely quiet. There was no sound of birds, nor rustle of night dwelling creatures. Then again this was the Everfree Forest. Things weren't normal here.

The path wasn't a straight one. It twisted and winded, with the occasional hill or slope. More than once an errant root would cause her to stumble. Her response was to simply swear at it and move on.

After what felt like hours of walking in not entirely silence, Chrysalis spotted something. Something glinting at the end of the path. As she got closer, she could see moonlight illuminating a mostly grassy clearing. A pond took up a large portion of it. The glinting had been from the moonlight sparkling off of the ripples in the pond. She saw something splash into the pond, causing even more ripples.

Where had that come from?

As she came to the end of the treeline, she saw something.

A pony.

An earth pony stallion by the build.

He was sitting at the edge of the pond, occasionally tossing a rock in.

His coat was a blue-ish off white. On his flank was the image of a blank unrolled scroll. His mane was a light blue-grey. Though the length and shagginess of his mane hid his eyes.

Chrysalis didn't see the small frown on his face.

She only saw-

"Food..." She hissed.

She hunkered down and slowly crept out of the trees. Fool of a stallion didn't even see her. She crept closer, eyes watching his every movement. He seemed to preoccupied with simply looking into the pond.

With a loud hiss Chrysalis pounced. The stallion only had a moment to look over before she was atop him.

She stared down at her prey... and hesitated.

Dull golden eyes ringed in dark bags stared up at her from behind a pair of glasses with a cracked left lens. The stallion's expression wasn't frightened, or surprised, or even confused. He simply silently stared blankly up at her. The only sign of anything wrong was the small frown at the edges of his lips.

"Do it." Came the quiet whisper from the stallion.

Chrysalis froze. "What?"

"Kill me, eat me, drink my blood. Do whatever. It doesn't matter." The stallion blinked.

"What?" Chrysalis's jaw hung open a bit in confusion. "No! I'm not going to do any of that pony!"

"Okay." Came the bland response.

"I'm... I'm...." Chrysalis as having a hard time even coming up good threats. This wasn't going how she expected. Normally ponies would cry, scream, beg, anything! But this... this lack of any emotional response unnerved her for some reason.

"You're what?" The stallion asked, blinking.

"Shut up!" Chrysalis snapped. "I'm thinking!"

"Okay." The stallion responded.

Chrysalis glared down at the stallion beneath her. Time to change tactics. "Who are you?! What are you doing out here?!"

"I'm Latent Dream. I live out here." Came the bland response.

"Why?!"

Latent simply shrugged. "I don't like people."

"Why were you just sitting out here?" Chrysalis couldn't maintain her venom. It just felt... oddly disproportionate to Latent's responses.

"Couldn't sleep."

"Why not?"

Latent shrugged. "Are you going to eat me?"

"What?! No!" Chrysalis snapped. "I'm going to feed on your love!"

"Okay." Latent murmured.

Chrysalis narrowed her eyes at him. Latent felt... empty. Emotionless.

"Are you okay?" There was a spark of something within the stallion. Concern.

"What? I'm fine!" Chrysalis snapped.

"But your wings." The spark of concern grew.

"I'm. Fine." She growled.

"Okay." Latent blinked. "What are you going to do with me?"

"Well... I was going to devour your love." Chrysalis mused. "But you don't seem to have any."

"I'm sorry." Latent responded.

"Stop that!" She growled pressing her muzzle into his and baring her fangs.

Latent blinked. "Okay.... What now?"

A thought popped into Chrysalis's head. A wonderful and terrible thought. "Where do you live?"

"Nearby. I have a cabin." Came the stallion's response.

"You're going to take me there." Chrysalis stated.

"Okay." Latent nodded.

"I'm going to stay with you." Chrysalis nodded, a grin forming on her face. This plan was perfect. "I'm going to take care of you. I'm going to make you love me. Then, when I've drained you of your love, I can finally take my revenge on Starlight Glimmer, Twilight Sparkle, that traitor Thorax, and all of their friends!"

"Sounds like a plan." Latent blinked.

Chrysalis narrowed her eyes at him. "Do you even care that I'm just going to use you?"

Latent shrugged. "It doesn't matter to me. I don't care about much anymore."

Chrysalis grinned down at her new prey.

"I'm going to fix that my pet. When I'm done with you, You'll only care about me!"