Lycaenidae limped towards the tent. The burning sun was hot on her black chitinous shell, and the desert sands that had leaked into the cracks of her armor scraped and chafed with every step. Her gossamer wings lay torn and useless at her sides.

She avoided putting weight on her right foreleg, from which arose a smell like algae on a still summer pond. It had been broken in the fall after their defeat by the ponies at Canterlot, now a week past.

She passed hundreds of her brothers and sisters, lying broken and lost and exhausted in the heat of the sun. Those closest to passing moaned and cried out. The rest stayed still and quiet. Past them lay the featureless sandy brown dunes of the desert that stretched past the edge of every horizon.

Lycaenidae reached the entrance to the tent. Entrance was barred by two guards, two of the few uninjured.

“I need to see her,” Lycaenidae said, her voice hoarse, breath painful.

“Queen Chrysalis is not taking visitors.”

Lycaenidae stood up straighter, ignoring the pain in her leg and chest. “I am the Queen’s chief lieutenant. She will see me.”

“The Queen ordered us not to let anyone inside.”

Lycaenidae ground her teeth. If she hadn’t been wounded, if she hadn’t gone a week without a meal, all it would have taken was a casual flick of her magic to cast the two drones aside. But in her current state, all she could do was shout. And so shout she would.

But just as she opened her mouth, a weak voice called from inside the tent, “Let her in.”

The two guards quickly shuffled out of her way, and Lycaenidae scowled at them as she passed inside.

The tent was bare except for a rug and a few cushions. Lycaenidae couldn’t guess at where they had been found. On the cushions lay Chrysalis, her Queen, her mother.

Chrysalis lay on her side, head rested on a cushion, her legs twisted unnaturally beneath her. The rug beneath her was wet with a liquid dark and heavy. The air felt humid and smelled of sickness.

“Lycaenidae, my beautiful daughter,” Chrysalis said, smiling.

“My Queen,” Lycaenidae spit out the word. “We have already waited here a week, and our situation is bleak. I need to know what your plans are. What are we going to do?”

“Do?” Chrysalis chuckled. “Why, nothing, of course.”

“Nothing?” Lycaenidae repeated, trying to keep her anger in check.

“Yes,” Chrysalis said.

“A thousand changelings, a thousand of your children lay bleeding and starving outside this tent,” Lycaenidae said, voice a growl. “Hundreds have already died, and you propose that we sit here and do nothing?”

“What can we do now but go quiet and die?” Chrysalis asked, raising a limp hoof off the floor.

“Traitor!” Lycaenidae shouted, stomping forward and stumbling on her leg. A horrible pain wracked her chest. “You traitor! You promised when we attacked Canterlot that our hive’s future would be secured, that our hive would live on forever. Yet we lie here defeated and destroyed!”

Chrysalis looked at her with sad, pained eyes. “My daughter, my foolish pathetic little daughter, you see so very little. Do you really think I would stake our hive’s future on such a foolish and rash plan as an open attack on the ponies’ capital? That I would reveal myself to their Princess so brazenly?”

“But… you promised,” Lycaenidae said, breathing heavily, every breath a struggle. “You promised me.”

“And you performed your role perfectly,” Chrysalis said, and laughed hoarsely. “Your pitiful failed attack on Canterlot Castle has convinced the ponies that not only have they banished all changelings from their kingdom, but that their clumsy spells can detect and defeat a disguised changeling.”

Lycaenidae's vision blurred. “It was… a ruse?”

“During my time as that simpering princess, I was able to smuggle thousands of our kind all across Equestria. They remain there now, and their children forever will, with a limitless supply of love.”

“But… what about me? I was your chief lieutenant, your first born daughter!”

“You will die,” Chrysalis said simply. “And so will I. But know that through your sacrifice, my promise will be fulfilled. Our hive will live on forever.”

“You…” Lycaenidae fell hard onto her side. Her chest felt tight. She couldn’t catch her breath. “You promised me…”

“Rest now, my wretched daughter. Your part is finished.”

Lycaenidae’s eyes closed. The sand felt cool on her cheek.