My Little Queenby Pen MightierChaptersMy Little PrologueMy Little CourageMy Little GoodbyeMy Little ProtectorMy Little TwilightMy Little KiteMy Little Prologue Ponyville, Day 35 A little pool of afternoon sunlight found Twilight Sparkle, local librarian and universal standard for obsessive compulsive disorder, sitting at her desk, magic-borne quill scratching industriously across an open page of her latest masterpiece, the 'Lia Contingency List E-2.7, revision 4'. ~~□ File away previous list~~ ■ File away ashes of previous list ■ Prepare new list ■ Enchant new list with fire-proofing spell ■ Remember to enchant room with fire-proofing spell next time Lia practices her disguise spell changeling fire-magic thing ■ Clean up Lia's cocoon nest ~~□ Teach Lia to sleep in her bed, not in a cocoon~~ □ Bribe Lia to sleep in her bed, not in a cocoon □ Negotiate suitable bribe. Note to self: Sugar cubes are viable currency □ Convince Lia that she shouldn't try to mimic Owlicious □ Or Peewee □ Somehow get Lia to sit still long enough for a proper brushing and preening ~~□ Find Lia~~ □ Make sure Lia hasn't set fire to/ate/impaled anything/anypony today Twilight paused in the middle of writing, biting the tip of her quill thoughtfully. She peered up at a nearby calendar for inspiration through eyes lined by layers of dark rings, testament to the trials of the last 5 weeks of her life. The calendar's edges had been chewed quite thoroughly, testament to somepony's determined attempt to test everything in her house for edibility. Twilight would have liked to use the quiet moment to lie down a little. However with so little time to herself lately she felt she simply had to get on with the organizing her life and that of her little filly. Or try to, anyway, at least before the next big catatastrophe. But before she could write anymore a familiar mischievous little giggle caught her attention. She gave a knowing little sigh as she made a show of looking around, "I wonder where Lia is?" She mused out loud. "Over here, Twilley~" The bubbly little voice giggled some more. "Hmmm, under the desk? No, not here." Twilight peered under her desk in pretend puzzlement, "Maybe under my chair? Oh, not here either. Aah, I know, maybe in my drawer?" A bright tinkling giggle sounded from above, "Silly Twilley, I wouldn't fit in theeere!" The voice seemed beside herself with giggles of amusement. "Oh yes, I forgot what a big filly you are now." Twilight rolled her eyes. Twilight knew exactly where she was. The little filly had a special penchant for hide-and-seek and 5 weeks together had taught Twilight all of her favourite little tricks. This one was Lia's favourite by far, a trick she called the 'upsie-downie'. As the name suggested, it exploited everypony's natural blind spot, up above. Not only was it effective (at least the first few times she used it on Twilight), the little filly seemed to enjoy looking down on others. Twilight couldn't help but suspect it was the budding queen within her. Then there's off course the bonus of providing an unrivalled vantage point and there's a whole new range of faces one could really only make while upside down. "Up here, Twillie~" The voice finally invited her to look up. Twilight gave a little sigh of relief as she finally allowed herself to gaze up at the ceiling. It was hard not to. Still, she had to let the child believe she was good at hiding, allow her to build confidence in her stealth. She will need it. There, stuck to the library's high ceiling like a big dark ink drop, was a small figure of dark midnight blue. A huge pair of turquoise harlequin eyes gazed mischievously down at Twilight through a curtain of silver blonde hair punctuated by a dark blue highlight cascading down from the figure's mane. A small, jagged horn poked out from beneath the curtain like a baby lightning bolt frozen in the air. A small toothy upside down grin spread under (or above) the cute little muzzle. "Hello, Twilley~" it greeted cheerfully with a little hoofie wave. The grin very quickly turn into a cry of panic as the little creature's hooves lost its purchase on the ceiling. "I-Iaaaaaaa!" She cried, hooves flapping wildly. "Lia, your wings!" Twilight cried out, throwing her forehooves out, ready to catch the falling filly. "W-wingies! Ummm, more wingies!" There was a rush of air, a frenzied flapping. The falling figure suddenly righted itself in midair. Small dark blue wings, shaped not unlike a pegasi's, though with larger 'feathers' of flexible see-through chitin, had burst forth from the filly's back, flapping as hard and as fast as they can. But they were much too small and stubby to support her weight. With one last desperate squeak she instinctively raised her hooves into the air. Small, heart-shaped openings slid open on her hooves, much like miniature cookie-cutters. With a whooomph, a small silk web burst forth from within to form a half-coccoon, trapping air like a miniature parachute. The little filly gave a yelp as the sudden deceleration jolted her. Twilight could only sigh in relief as she watched the filly descend in a more sedate glide, bobbing from side to side under her little parachute. In her prolific reading she had read that baby spiders could use their webs to 'balloon' or 'kite' themselves through the air. Still, the wide-eyed look of disbelief on her face was telling enough. She never would have expected it to work at this scale. But then changelings, particularly the young specimen before her, did not seem to obey any laws, particularly those of physics. If anything, the little filly seemed to break natural law on a regular basis, mostly out of mischief. "Oomph." Twilight caught the heavy bundle of fur that was the little filly in her hooves and lap. "Phew." She sighed a sigh of relief, though perhaps a little too soon. A sticky greenish blue parachute fell around her face and mane like curtains on a lame sideshow. "Liaaaa," She growled, blowing out gossamer silk strands. "Ooops. Sorries, Twillie." The little filly squeaked apologetically, squirming in Twilight's lap as she endeavoured to make herself as small as she could. "So...is Lia in trouble?" She ventured timidly. "..." On the one hoof Twilight didn't want to curb the little changeling's exploration of her natural stealth abilities. If anything she encouraged it, knowing that sooner or later the child would need it, hopefully later. On the other, that stunt just then was dangerous. It never occured to her that, sometimes, punishing could be more difficult than being punished. "Well, you didn't know that was dangerous. Now you do." Twilight said, turning stern, "New rule no. 27, No more wall-stickies...." She paused as she considered this, "...any higher than the table without me around, alright?" She said, peeling off the remains of the parachute off her face. That will be a real nightmare to wash out of her hair, she thought glumly. "...alright." The little filly said, though with obvious reluctance in her voice. She would break the rule soon enough, Twilight knew. The young caretaker could only hope that when she does she'd have learned something from this particular episode. She idly stroked the little filly's soft, silky mane with a hoof, partly to reassure her that she wasn't upset, partly because it was surprisingly soothing for her too. It elicited a string of giggles from the little filly. There was a soft clunk as her hoof tapped against the band of armoured chitin hiding underneath the filly's mane. It always reminded her of the chitin 'helmet' of the armoured changeling general she had encountered once before. But unlike his 'helmet', the floral patterned chitin on the little filly's head curled like a tiara around her head, ending around her forehead and tapering into her horn. Twilight couldn't help but think how befitting it was of a little queen. The curious scholar inside her suspected the filly's mother probably had one too hidden underneath her mane, but that was a hypothesis she would never be able to confirm, not anymore. "So, have you done your writing exercises, Lia?" Twilight asked, expecting one of her playful 'no's. But much to her surprise, the little filly looked up and returned a smug, maybe even triumphant smile, as she reached back into, yes, into her silver gold carapace. It was an ornate armour-like exoskeleton that wrapped itself about the filly's body consisting of an elaborate chest piece that tapered down into a ribbed natural 'saddle'. One of the chitin plates forming her 'saddle' slid open seamlessly to reveal handy little armoured recess within from which she fished out a piece of paper. It was one of the minor peculiarities Twilight was still trying to get used to, how the little filly's round and modestly chubby silver-gold carapace featured what she supposed was what would be a corbicula or scopa on bees, otherwise known as pollen storages. Lia had her own native word for it, it sounded something like 'Meepsie', though Twilight silently suspected that was a result of the little filly's squeaky voice and verbal tic mashing up the original changeling word. While Lia obviously had no need to carry pollen, she had found many other uses for her handy internal storage spaces, such as for hiding away her homework. "See, see, Lia did aaall the exercisisisisisiees!" The little filly struggled to find the breaks on the word. "So you did." Twilight said, checking the sheet of paper over, raising a skeptical eyebrow. It was, indeed, perfect, which did nothing to help Twilight's suspicions. She had learned very early on, much to her private annoyance, that the little filly wasn't one to do assigned chores without at least a modicum of coaxing. For her to do her exercises without even being told, something was hiding in the hay. "Which begs the question, little miss Twilight Aurelia, what are you hiding?" Twilight asked, bluntly, with a knowing little smile. "Iaa...!" The little filly tensed up with a squeak on Twilight's lap, confirming her suspicions. "U-ummm...L-Lia's not hiding a-anything, Twillie." She said, as innocently as she could muster, which wasn't much. The little filly's wings had unfolded out of what Twilight suspected were meepsies of their own inside her saddle carapace and were fidgeting nervously, a telltale sign Twilight had picked up very early on. It seemed to be a natural and quite literal 'fight or flight' reflex, one that suggested the little filly was either anxious or, worse, lying. "Is that so...?" Twilight said in a slow drawl as her hooves stealthily reached around the little filly. "Y-yes.....h-honest...Lia is..." Lia said, shifting nervously. "I-Iaahahahahah!" She suddenly squealed as a pair of hooves dug lightly into the soft midnight blue fur over her unprotected tummy. "P-please!" She pleaded through peals of laughter. "Hmm? Please what?" Twilight asked, unrelenting in her ticklish onslaught. "P-please don't! Stop!" The filly squeaked, tears of laughter running down her little cheeks. "Don't stop, huh? Got it." Twilight grinned, much to Lia's horror. "Iahahahahahah!" A number of Lia's meepsies spasmed with her laughter, sliding open helplessly, unloading their precious cargo across the floor. Bright wrappers of every size, shape and colour clattered across the floor. Twilight recognized them to be all the sweets she had given the little filly over the past 5 weeks, untouched. From the looks of things, Lia had made another breakthrough in finding use for her meepsies. Candy hoarding. Twilight couldn't help but slap a hoof to her head. Possibly one of evolution's greatest masterpieces, and it was abused for such a childish purpose. Oooh, first world problems... "Lia...." Twilight began, finally stopping in her assault. "I-Iaaa..." The little filly tensed up even more, wings stiffening. "Aren't those all the sweets I gave you?" "Yessie..." Lia gave a weak little nod. "You're supposed to eat them when I give them to you." Twilight said, sternly, "Hoarding them and eating them all at once will only give you toothaches. And then the toothmare will come and you'll be really really sorry." "But Lia...umm...Lia wanted to share them all with you later, Twillie!" Lia said, wings fidgeting again, telling Twilight all she had to know. Twilight felt her heart warm up at what she knew was a lie, a lie she honestly wanted to believe. "It's not something you have to hide, Lia." Twilight said, giving in once more. "Umm...but...Lia wasn't hiding that from you, Twillie." The naive little filly said without thinking. "Sooo....what is it you're hiding then?" Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow. "Meep!" The filly fidgeted even more, "W-well...L-Lia wanted to ask for something-ish." Ah, that made more sense to Twilight's skeptical mind. So the show of obedience was the little filly buttering her up for a request. She sighed to herself, not sure whether to be impressed at her cunning at developing an understanding of bribery at such a young age or be appalled at how fleeting innocence is. Still, curious, she decided to humour the little filly. Just once wouldn't hurt, so she thought. "Alright then, my little pony, what is it?" She asked with an inviting smile. The little filly, encouraged by the smile, sat up and placed her forehooves on the desk before Twilight. With a heave and a frantic flutter of her little wings she hauled herself up onto the desk. Then she picked herself up and trotted across the desk over to the window sill before planting both little hooves up on the glass. She began humming a little tune, bobbing from side to side to the rhythm of her own music. "Say, Twillie~, you know how there's an entire worldie outside?" Her melodious hums gave way to a singsong question. "No, really, what makes you say that?" Twilight couldn't help but chuckle, watching the little filly pressing her face against the glass. "Lookie, just press your nose into the window" The little filly exclaimed excitedly. "There's so much coloury, so much light!" "Lia, it's cold and the wind still bites." Twilight chimed in. "See, the glassie isn't misting, it can't be cold now" Lia pointed out, "Just a minute, just a second would be alright The winter wrap-up ponies are clearing all the snow Lia really really wants to go outside!" "A better idea, I'll read to you by the warm fireside." Twilight offered, levitating a book hopefully, a heavy tome titled 'Orbital Pathfinding of Heavenly Bodies - A Hoofbook'. "But the booksies say there's lots to see outside!" Lia sang excitedly. "Grassy to hug and baby critters to mow Skyhigh flowers and meadows of kites!" "Okay, I'll admit, that would be quite a sight." Twilight couldn't help but giggle. "Catsies that caw and cows that meow" Lia pressed her cheeks against the cold glass yearningly, "Henpecked husbands and bristling brides Getting married, foalies, and into fights." "....why is that the only bit you got right?" Twilight sighed, shaking her head in amusement. "It rhymes~" The little filly said innocently. "Lia wants Lia's first musical number to be just right." "Fair enough." Twilight laughingly conceded as she picked up the tune. "But look, inside's so much better than outside. Books can send us around the world right here and now." "All we ever do is hole up in the library and hide" Lia sighed, tempo slowing a little. "In this paper garden there's shelves to plough and booksies to sow And Lia's not saying it's all too cramped and tight But...." "I know, I know, you want to go outside..." Twilight sighed, nodding with understanding. "The worldie outside seems so bright and wide... Oh the sunny's so close to hoof, if only in here it sank setting on mount manuscript, over paperback brook Lia'd ride Across quill hill and bookmark meadow, the sunny shines on Lia's...." She paused for a bit, little hoof on her chin, "Umm, Twilley? What rhymes with sank?" She asked, reaching a hoof out for Twilight's help. "Err...flank?" Twilight said before she could stop herself. "Yeah, flank! On Lia's flank!" The little filly said, tapping her hooves together. "Now, umm, where was Lia?" "You're going to say something about outside." Twilight said, helpfully. "Oh, yessie. But inside's...inside's just not like....outside..." She said, ending her little ballad on a long and longing note. With a little thump she let herself fall back on her rump on the window sill. She watched quietly as the foals outside help the grownups finish the last of the winter-wrap up. Twilight didn't have to look at her to know she was wearing a yearning expression. A different tune filtered in through the glass, muffled and quiet, but the two could just about make out the words, 'Winter wrap-up, Winter-wrap up, let's finish our holiday cheer~'. It sounded so distant, yet looked so close, so cheerful yet so...so melancholic. Twilight herself had missed out on Winter-wrap up with her friends. With everything going on there was just no way she could take part. The thought alone was enough to give her a little pang of longing. Celestia knows how much more the little filly was going through. "Lia..." Twilight said, putting a hoof on the little filly's slumped shoulders. "Lia knows, Lia knows..." The little filly sighed, climbing down from the window sill, "Rule no. 1, No going outsidies until Lia grows up." She said as she landed surprisingly silently on the floor, looking forlorn. "Yes." Twilight nodded, biting her lip. It was difficult. She knew it would be. It had been only a matter of time until the filly demanded to see the outside world. Now that time was running out. The books in the library could only tide over an excited, energetic little filly for so long. "Tell you what. You can build yourself another book fort and we can have a pillow fight. Then we can have our own little winter-wrap up cleaning up." "We can?!" Lia's eyes lit up like Ever-glow(TM) lamps. "And we can eat dinner and sleep in your book fort too, so make sure it's big enough for both of us." Twilight said, giving the child a loving nuzzle. "Yippeeee!" The little filly bounced away excitedly towards the section labelled 'Fanfiction - Various'. "Oh, I'm so going to regret this in the morning..." Twilight sighed to herself, feeling as if she had gained at least two decades in age. But then and there, the big warm balloon in her heart was worth it. She felt an affectionate little nip on the balloon. She felt a little soar of happiness and warmth swell up within, but at the expense of a niggling little headache knocking and making itself known at the back of her head. She frowned a little, feeling more of the pent-up exhaustion catch up with her. Her vision seemed to swirl as the world spun about her, causing her to almost stagger. The nipping feeling almost immediately ceased, as if the source sensed her headache and tiredness. It was almost immediately replaced by what felt like the distant echo of a slow, sad little tune. Twilight knew it for what it was. She had experienced it enough times by then to recognize it almost instantly. It was an emotion, guilt, strong and heavy. Twilight looked down and found little Lia, head cast down, looking the very picture of remorse. With a pained smile the exhausted mare sat down and pulled her changeling charge into a tired but sincere hug. Neither said anything. The little echoes of each other in their minds said more than any amount of words ever could. Author's Note Usual Disclaimer: My Little Pony and all its awesomeness is the intellectual property of Hasbro and the amazing Faust. The only profit I make from writing this is the immense enjoyment I get from watching Twilight and Aurelia come to life. Thanks for reading, folks! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I absolutely loved writing it. I don't think I've had this much fun writing in a long long while. Hopefully it'll last. I suppose I should mention, I'm very new to MLP fanfiction, relatively new to MLP. I only just recently caught up with the entire show and, wow, I've really missed out. At first I had planned on limiting it to the show. Then youtube linked me the 'My Little Dashie' movie. Call me a sap, but I actually really really enjoyed it. I suppose I'm hopeless when it comes to child-raising stories. I enjoyed it so much I felt I had to put pen to paper, or, rather, keyboard to monitor, and produce a little something of my own. I thought I'd try my hand at something easier, a child-raising story involving one of the main characters. And I absolutely had to have a changeling in there somewhere, 2 episodes simply wasn't enough. So I thought, why not a changeling child? It all rolled out of control from there and the story simply wrote itself. The story was originally going to start out with the trip to Appleloosa hinted at in the summary. However I had so much fun writing this bit that I decided it would make a good prologue to the story. Sorry if it came across as a little jarring for some, being plonked right in the middle. Next chapter we'll do things in a more orderly fashion. I'm pretty sure this idea's probably been done to death by now, considering we're 2 seasons down the line from Chrysallis and the wedding. It goes without saying that in no way do I ever intend to plagiarize anybody. Apologies in advance to anybody out there sporting a Chrysallis-child character in their story. And tell me about them, cause I certainly would want to meet them! Greetings once more and see you all next chapter! Chapter 1 Preview: "Apple of my eye, love of my life... To feed my people Equestria I defy In my folly I failed my hive, plunged changelingkind into a year of strife. The weak succumb, the strong survive For my idiocy the Empress decreed I die Me and the apple of my eye, the love of my life...." "Chrysallis...." "Apple of my eye, love of my life I curse myself, foalish and unwise He was under my spell, it was all lies But he loved me, my first and last I was weak, I yearned a taste of her paradise But never a moment's regret for having you, my prize Beloved apple of my eye, love of my life My Little Courage Appleloosa, Day 1, 35 Days Ago "'At least it ain't snowin' in Appleloosa, Twiligh' Applejack said. I knew I should have packed my snow boots and my snow survival guide." Twilight Sparkle, indomitable friend and Equestria's number 1 skeptic, sighed, mostly to herself. A thick puff of steam rose forth from her muzzle into the slow but constant snowfall. She pulled the gold and crimson scarf and pure white wind-breaker tighter about herself against the snowy wind. "I can summarize the entire snow survival guide for you." said Spike, number 1 assistant to Twilight Sparkle, bottomless supply of wit, walking mailbox and Equestria's number 2 skeptic, as he trailed behind his boss, leaping from hoofprint to hoofprint to avoid trudging through the thick snow. "Stay inside." "At least the snow didn't stop us seeing Chief Thunderhooves to discuss Buffalo divination. That made this trip entirely worth it." Twilight said, brightly. "Yeah. I mean, who would've thought the future lies hidden in, of all things, buffalo doo? You don't know how much that's changed my life." Spike said, spreading his paws wide as if painting a dramatic picture in the air. "Just picture it, from now on my future's aaaaall dung." "Spike, they divine the future from the patterns they see within. The best amongst them can predict finer details by watching the changes as it dries and...." Twilight began to explain. "All I saw was a load of bull." Spike muttered, before quickly changing the subject. "Think of all the more interesting things we could've been doing in Appleloosa. Like see apples, talk about apples, taste apples and try out the local sport, apple-staring. Hey, Twilight, do you know what's really really cool about apple-staring?" "No, what?" Twilight asked, with genuine curiosity. "Nothing." Spike said flatly. "Speaking of which, Fluttershy gave it a try last night. She got dragged into it by the regulars at the town saloon." Twilight said with an amused snigger at the memory. "She told me it was quite fun, actually. She won all those apples we had for breakfast." "Oh, yeah, those were surprisingly good red apples." Spike said. "They were green before." Twilight chuckled. "Fluttershy made them all blush red." "...." Spike blinked. "Riiiiiight." "Now Applejack should be wrapping up the deal on those apple tree sapplings we came for this afternoon and we should be able to return to Ponyville later in the evening. We need to make sure we get our souvenirs for the others by then." Twilight said, referring to her sizeable weatherproof checklist. "Yeah, I mean, it'll take forever to decide between apples, apples, and, yeah, apples." Spike muttered. "Pinkie? They've got some neat joke apples. They look like apples, but they are, in fact, apples. Rainbow? We can tell her it's a make-your-own-cider kit. Rarity..." Spike's eyes suddenly glazed over dreamily. "Rarity..." He sighed, wistfully. "If my heart were an apple, I'd so give it to you, Rarity.." "Well, we're definitely spoilt for choice." Twilight said quickly, pretending she hadn't noticed Spike turning all googly-eyed. "There are exactly 3.5 souvenir shops in Appleloosa selling a whole variety of the town's apple-based signature products." Twilight said, almost as if she had double and triple-checked the fact. "I double and triple-checked this last night." She added, with a touch of pride. "Wait, how exactly do you get half a souvenir shop?" Spike asked, quizzically, snapping out of his reverie. "Oh, one shop only sells souvenirs half the time. The other half it's just a regular apple store." Twilight explained. "Oooh, I get it. It's sort of, like, 'today I'm going to sell apples as souvenirs', and tomorrow it'd be sort of, like, 'today I'm just selling apples'." Spike said in mock excitement. "Anything's fine as long as we actually-oooof!" Twilight gasped as she sank all the way up to her flank in a particularly deep yet loose pile of snow. "...get there..." she muttered, aiming a glowing horn at the offending snow. They seemed to melt out of embarrassment under her stare. "Spike, add to checklist. Ask Rainbow Dash why we're delaying the Winter Wrap-up again." The young mare grumbled as she began vapourizing a trail through the snow. There were admittedly guilty occasions (just a few, honest!) when Twilight felt Equestria was, to put it bluntly, lazy. Almost every natural phenomena from sunrise to autumn leaves falling had to be in some way managed by its sentient inhabitants. But then it's their home, it's their chores, she sighed inwardly. It's the price to pay for order over chaos, and knowing chaos' power (and sense of humour), it was a small price to pay. "Can I just reuse yesterday's list, Twilight?" Spike asked innocently. "I mean, you only put that item on the list about, I don't know, 20 times yesterday? And the answer's the same. That blizzard extended all the way south to Foalida so the weather teams need to start cleaning up down there. Speaking of Foalida, you sure we're not going to end up there the way we're lost and all? I knew we should've accepted Little Strongheart's offer to guide us back to town." "Oh, Spike, we're not lost." Twilight chided her little dragon companion with a chuckle. "I memorized the map inside 'Absolutely Appleloosa, the Other Big Apple'." "Oh, the little filly and colt's guide?" Spike remarked, eyebrow at risk of snapping in its arc as he pulled the aforementioned tourist pamphlet out the saddlebags Twilight wore over her jacket, "Yeah, I think we made a wrong turn at the giant smily sun. Don't blame ya, difficult to see it behind all the big creepy red hearts around it." He said, pointing at the cartoony little map. "Spike, I assure you, we're...." Twilight looked around. There was nothing but snowy desert and the occasional spindly dead tree dotted about stretching all the way out to the horizon. In front of them rose a jagged row of rocky hills, beyond which a dark cloud sat low and menacing, hissing at them with fangs of lightning and roars of thunder. "....not lost." "Oh, I guess we don't have to worry about ending up in Foalida." Spike said, looking down at the map, "Cause there's no way we're getting through the Badlands alive." He pointed at the jagged outcroppings in the distance. "I remember Daring Do once said the name's like Equestria's biggest understatement. It's home to Equestria's biggest cragadilles, manticores, sheep, quarray eels, giant spiders and..." He gulped, "...changelings...entire hives of changelings." "Alright, I admit it, we're lost. Happy now?" Twilight said quickly, her voice just a pitch higher. "I will be..." Spike said, shivering visibly, "...when we're away from all the things that go bump and roar and..." "Meep!" There was a squee. Then silence. "Twilight..." Spike chuckled nervously, patting her comfortingly on her side, "There's no need to be that upset." "That...wasn't me." Twilight whispered stiffly. Spike froze, and most definitely not from the cold. The duo slowly edged closed together until they were tail to flank. "See anything...?" Spike whispered, voice shaking. "Err....I see hoofprints." Twilight looked down at the snow closely for the first time and noticed miniature hoofprints slowly disappearing under the falling snow. "Where do they lead?" Spike asked in an increasingly urgent whisper. Her eyes followed the little trail, pupils widening, heart quickening. Horror rose as she realized the unsteady and winding trail of hoofprints lead closer and closer. Straight to her in fact. "Me..." Twilight barely whispered. With a gulp she looked down at her forehooves. There the little trail of hoofprints ended in a small, quivering mound, almost entirely covered by snow flakes. Bits of dark blue hid under the mass of white threatening to bury it. A small pair of quivering appendages suddenly reached out of the mound and took hold of her around one forehoof. Her heart leapt into her throat, beating the yelp of fright on its way to her mouth. The tensed muscles in her legs uncoiled like a wound spring as she leapt back, bowling Spike over into the snow. She skid backwards into a standstill, digging her hooves deep into the snow. She stood on shaky hooves, stance low, ready to bolt. Obeying her unicorn instincts, she raised her horn up towards the mound, just as ready to fight. She watched, eyes narrowing, as arcane light coursed up the spiral of her horn, feeding into the tip, casting a brilliant lilac light across the snow. As she finally allowed herself a moment for her prided logic to catch up, she suddenly put 2 and 2 together. Small hoofprints, tiny mound in the snow. She almost slapped herself as she realized how she had allowed a conversation to rile her up and suppress any semblance of reason. More importantly, there might be a foal there in need of help. "A little help here..." Spike muttered, spitting out snow as he picked himself up just in time to see Twilight approach the trembling little mound. "Or, yeah, help the menacing little mound of snow." He muttered. He recognized that look on her face, it was one of curiosity, the sort she wore right before the doo hits the windmill. "Err...Twilight?" Twilight was too busy examining the mound, now almost entirely covered in white. It seemed to flinch at her approach but made no attempt to escape. Two watery pools of turquoise looked up at her. It took her a moment to register that they were eyes. It was a teeny logical jump, considering the two orbs lacked pupils of any shape or form. 'So...maybe not a foal', another thought rose up treacherously in her mind. But before she could let fear get the better of her again, she heard something. "W-Was g-grAnmE..." A tremulous little voice, every syllable full of fear and dread, rose up. The little mound of snow was visibly shaking even more. "Was grAnmE ga yorr r.h.e p-p-pwEsia....pwEsia r.w. mama!" It was a language not only foreign but entirely alien to Twilight's ears, filled with not only wide swinging variations in pitch but also throaty echoes, all woven together into a short melody. While the meaning was entirely lost upon her, Twilight could almost feel the emotion behind it - it was one of determination amidst a torrent of mortally gripping fear. "...r.w. mama! PwEsia r.w. mama!" The voice pleaded louder in desperation. "It speaks!" Spike gasped, "...and it doesn't go rawr." He added, thoughtfully. The small pair of, yes, they were tiny hooves, slowly reached out and grasped Twilight's forehooves once more. With a weak, quavering but determined tug the little creature seemed to plead for her to....come? To follow it? With a gentle probing of her magic she brushed aside the snow covering the quivering little creature. It tensed up, curling up into a protective little ball. It mewled weakly as what little determination and courage allowed it to speak out seemed to die away entirely. A little more brushing revealed a small, shuddering stubby pair of wings wrapped around the creature protectively. Then a little horn atop the creature's head came into view. It was unlike any horn she had ever encountered, being all angles and edges, lacking the usual spiral groove common to unicorn horns, ending in a narrow blunt tip. Then came the mane hugging the horn, a long, lustrous wave of silky silver white highlighted by a single streak of dark blue hair, soft and springy to the touch, so delicate and smooth it almost merged seamlessly with the snow. Beneath it were the pair of crystalline turquoise pools, now gripped in a tearful display of fear. "By golly, it's a little foal." Spike breathed. Sure he hadn't noticed the finer features that said otherwise, but from a distance it was the shape of a foal. It spoke like a foal. It acted like a foal. It was scared like a foal lost and alone in the middle of the dangerous monster-infested wilderness. Maternal instincts overrode logic as Twilight pulled off her scarf slowly. "Don't be afraid." She said, as comfortingly as she could. She put on the most reassuring smile she could as she reached down with the scarf in her forehooves, "I won't harm you, I promise." With a weak squeak and a feeble token attempt at struggling against her, the little creature was scooped up into the scarf and quickly wrapped up and pulled into Twilight's forehooves. She sat back on her haunches, struggling to cradle the weakly thrashing foal. Finally, something, probably the warmth from the scarf, probably Twilight's comforting hold, perhaps just the sheer exhaustion, calmed the little foal down. As captor and captive both calmed down Twilight allowed herself some time to assess things further. She felt soft, delicate fur underneath, which was to be expected. What she didn't expect was something hard that clunked hollowly against her hooves. She looked down and found that the little foal's chest and torso were bound in a silver gold armour. On closer inspection it looked a little too naturally hewn to be hoofmade armour, however. If anything it looked like it had grown, like an insect's carapace. Then it hit her. Pupil-less pool-like eyes, dark fur, wings and horn, insectoid carapace... "You're....a changeling." Twilight said, half-disbelieving herself. "Ch-ch-changeling?!" Spike dove for cover underneath Twilight's rear hooves. "Y-y-you're serious?!" "A changeling filly from the looks of it." Twilight said, slowly processing her own words in her head. "Her features are a little too soft for a changeling though. She's more...pony-like if anything." Twilight said, brushing the mane out of the filly's face gently with a pinch of her magic. The round tear-stained cheeks, the cute little muzzle, the little face was devoid of the angular features she had come to associate with changelings. "B-but that's what they're good at, looking like things they're not!" Spike pointed out. "Granted. But this filly doesn't look like she's trying to trick us." Twilight said, "I'm tempted to say this is her real form." As Twilight watched, the blank pools of turquoise green that were the little changeling's eyes seemed to...slide sideways? No, rather, something overlying them was. 'It's an eyelid, a third eyelid' Twilight thought to herself, her inner scientist suddenly exploding with curiosity. The third eyelids slid away horizontally, revealing the filly's real eyes beneath, a pair of lavender eyes lying on glowing turquoise pools. At their centre were catlike pupils, gleaming like jetblack harlequin gems. She had read about them, 'nictitating membranes', otherwise known as third eyelids, common to some creatures such as gryphons, phoenixes and manticores. While they were as protective as the first and second eyelids common to most creatures, they were also often transparent, allowing normal vision. "Meep..." The little filly mewled weakly, pointing a shivering hoof out towards the wilderness. "W-Was grAnmE ga yorr r.h.e...pwEsia r.w. mama." She whispered weakly, "P-PwEsia...PwEsia r.w. mama." A pair of pleading eyes locked with Twilight's once more. For such a little creature to approach a complete stranger, an entirely different species, while gripped in such soul-shaking fear....what could drive such a young child to show this much courage and determination? "'Mama', you say?" Twilight repeated the filly's words. The little filly nodded, suddenly letting out a little sob of relief as tears of happiness filled her eyes. "Yessie! Yessie! Mama!" She nodded, waving her little hoof into the distance. "....Spike, we have a mother changeling to find." Twilight suddenly declared, lifting the little filly with her magic and planting her safely on her back in between her saddle bags. "M-mother changeling?! A-are you sure, Twilight?!" Spike gasped. "We took on an entire army before. Worst case scenario, I can handle one changeling. But I daresay we won't have to worry about ourselves. This child's mother is in trouble of some sort." Twilight said, lowering her horn to the faint hoofmarks left behind in the filly's wake. They had almost entirely been obliterated by the falling snow and wind, but a simple tracking spell was all it took to make them glow a brilliant violet against the pure pristine white around them. "Come on." Twilight said to a reluctant Spike. With that, they set off. The trail wound back and forth through the frozen wilderness, showing just how panicked and aimless the little filly had been. The hoofmarks seemed to come together haphazardly in some places, splay out in others, where Twilight could only imagine the child falling over before picking herself up and struggling on with her search for help. All throughout their search the little filly remained quiet, little hooves clutching the back of Twilight's neck fearfully. From time to time Twilight heard quiet sniffling, interspersed with muffled sobs. The child had fought back tears throughout the time she was begging for help, only breaking into tears at the very end. For her to show so much courage at such a young age, Twilight couldn't help but wonder, what sort of upbringing do changeling foals go through? Much to Spike and Twilight's growing trepidation, the trail brought them closer and closer to the row of jagged mountains that heralded the beginning of the Badlands. It took all of half an hour to finally find the end of the trail. To their relief it was still far away from the foreboding mountain range. Twilight couldn't help but wonder how long the child had been labouring in her search. Hours it must have been. They came to yet another a mound in the snow, this one much bigger. The snow around it was dirtied in some places with wide dark stains. Twilight was hoping she was only imagining them to be a very dark shade of red. The little filly leapt off Twilight's back, landing with a plop in the snow. She dug herself out of the tiny crater she made with her landing and began running the remainder of the distance, albeit unsteadily, towards the mound. "Mama! Mama!" She cried in her wheezing voice. "Spike, get ready to write a letter for help." Twilight said, approaching the mound with her horn glowing. The little filly was already by its side, little hooves digging into the snow desperately. "B-but this is a changeling. Who'd help a changeling?" Spike asked, nervously. "Fluttershy and Applejack for starters." Twilight said, putting faith in her friends. With a sweep of her magic she cleared off the snow covering the mound. Twilight's eyes widened. Then narrowed. What the snow revealed summoned up memories that left a bitter taste in her already dry mouth. A feeling foul and horrid rose up from some deep dark pit she didn't even know she had, feelings that burned with both righteous fury and searing guilt. "Hold off on the letter, Spike." She barely managed to avoid screaming, lowering her voice to a low growl. "Huh?" Spike looked around, little scroll of parchment ready to be sent in his claws. Twilight watched as the little filly whimpered helplessly, nuzzling the unconscious form of her mother lying on her side. "Mama?" She mewled, "Mama, zEnva! GrAnmE ga yorr r.h.e pwEsia zEnva! Mama, zEnva!" She nudged her mother's sleeping face more and more desperately. "PwEsia....zEnva..." She sobbed, her eyes overflowing with fresh tears. She gritted her little teeth, digging her hooves into the snow and butting her horn against her mother's forehead. She strained, her face contorted into one of intense concentration. Small dark blue sparks spurted from her tiny horn. Whatever it was meant to do, the best she achieved was lighting up her mother's sleeping face, all the better for Twilight to see. The already weak little filly finally fell over, spent, her magic dimming pitifully. "Mama...." She sobbed helplessly, dragging herself hoof by hoof, as close as she could to her mother. "Mama..." She cried, pleadingly, as if hoping for some miracle. "MAMAAAAAAA!" One last desperate wail rang out across the frozen wilderness, before dissolving away into the howling wind. "Twilight, you want me to send the letter or not?" Spike asked, "Uuh...Twilight? You look like you saw a ghost." Despite the scene before her Twilight heard a low growl. She was surprised to recognize it as her own. "Worse. It's Chrysalis." Author's Note Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I certainly enjoyed writing it. There's something therapeutic about writing out Twilight. I should've gotten into MLP fanfiction sooner! I remember I put those lyrics in as a preview for chapter 1. As it turned out it looks like they'll end up a preview for chapter 2 instead. Never fear, however, chapter 2 should come sometime this weekend. I'd like to get as much of the foundation out while I've got spare time. And many thanks for the comments! I will soon figure out how to reply in the comments section, or so help me Celestia! See you all next chapter! PS: Just a teeny aside, one that doesn't really have any bearing on the story as a whole - The language Lia spoke was 'Hymnos', borrowed from the Ar Tonelico series, property of GUST studios. Rest assured that it was simply added for flavour and whenever it matters there'll be a translation immediately following...With the exception of Twilight and Lia's first encounter. That was meant to come off as completely foreign to Twilight and you, the readers. In case you're curious, the first phrase Lia said, 'Was grAnmE ga yorr r.h.e prEsia r.w. mama', means 'With a great wish and courage to protect my loved one, I want this to end soon, I beg you to please save my mother'. Curious how all of that fitted into a much shorter sentence? Just a brief explanation, Hymnos was designed to be a cross between singing and computer code with emotion quite literally built into every vowel. This was because the series' magic was run off a planetary super computer powered by singing and emotion. Thus stuffing as much emotion into as few musical words as possible was the key to creating powerful magic in the series' lore. An emotion-based language's quite fitting for the changeling race, no? 'Was grAnmE' expresses the speaker's feelings about what she's about to say. It means 'With a great wish and courage to protect my loved one'. 'Ga' expresses how long she wishes the situation to last, in this case it's 'I want this to end soon'. The rest is the actual content of what she wanted to say. The second phrase 'zEnva' means 'Arise' or 'Wake up'. My Little Goodbye WARNING: Sad chapter ahead. Big Apple Inn, Appleloosa, a few hours later The door closed with a little more force than she intended. She stared at it angrily. It felt as if she was angry at everything. Angry at the door, at the bowl of hot water and the liniments and bandages floating magically beside her, at the quaint little country inn they were staying in, at the patient lying in her bed before her, everything. But more than anything else, she was angry at herself. 'The fire of friendship lives in our hearts, as long as it burns we cannot drift apart....' Muffled carols sailed in through the shuttered window, the sounds of straggling hearthswarming-eve carollers still lingering in the festive swing. Twilight walked sedately across the parquet floor over to the sleeping form occuping her bed. The changeling mother was a little too large for the pony-size bed but there was no helping it. It wasn't like she could take her to the local infirmary. In fact she was thankful that she managed to sneak the changeling into town, all the way to her inn and through the window into her ground floor room without attracting anypony's attention. It had been a trial and a half. The distance, the burden and the unfamiliar area made the teleportation spell far too risky. She ended up resorting to half-levitating, half-dragging the mare all the way back to Appeloosa. She could only hope the snowfall covered up her tracks before anypony gets curious about the long deep tracks she left behind. But she didn't have the strength left to cover her own tracks. Two wrong turns and three wayfinder spells had left Twilight Sparkle quite exhausted. Still, 'there's no rest for the wicked' she thought to herself, and she wasn't referring to the mother's injuries. She pulled back the blanket over her bed with a smidgen of magic and regarded the mare lying underneath. The once proud and regal queen had been reduced to a disheveled wreck. Her mane, once long and lustrous as she remembered it, was not only unkempt, it was torn and mangled in places. Her gossamer wings were shredded more than before, one bent at a very unnatural and painful-looking angle. And there were few places on the mare's body that did not bear some evidence of Twilight's novice medical attention. Bandages haphazardly but thoroughly covered her patient's now clean and spotless wounds. One leg, once bent at an odd angle, had been set and splinted as best as she could. There were a few broken ribs under her painfully thin and skinny body she could do little about. But worst of all there were bruises in places like her flank and torso that she had read meant really, really bad life-threatening things were happening. She bit her lip as she removed some of the dirtied bandages and set to work cleaning the wound underneath. This was more Fluttershy's expertise. Heck, she should have long sought out a doctor. She knew they'd probably help. But could she knowingly put them at risk? Especially her best friend? 'No' she thought to herself, 'absolutely not'. 'But I'm not able to do more for her. She needs expert help.' Twilight thought to herself angrily. 'I'm going to abandon her because I'm still scared of her?' 'No, I'm scared of what she might do to others, to those I care about. Remember Shining Armour, remember Cadence, remember Celestia.' She reminded herself, anger mounting. 'That's no excuse' She argued with herself, heatedly. 'Yes it is! It's my own foalishness! I will not drag anypony else into this!' She grunted stubbornly. She had been so adamant on this that she had asked Spike to wait in his own room and to check on her every 30 minutes. 'If I was stronger....if I was as strong as Celestia or Luna, I'd be able to save her...or protect those who can save her.' She gritted her teeth as she cleaned the wounds with a vengeance. The hot water quickly turned dark red with every wash. She looked down at the little filly curled into a little ball, resting in the crook of her mother's neck, head nestled in queen's mane. She had fallen asleep on the way back, from exhaustion Twilight was sure no filly her age had ever had to go through. If anything happened to her mother, would she ever forgive her? How would she face her? What would she tell her? How would she tell her? "I'm sorry..." Twilight muttered under her breath, "I'm sorry, I'm too weak to save your mother." She squeezed the washcloth in her magic tightly, her lavender eyes watering up with tears of helplessness before she could stop herself. "To be sorry...for such a thing..." A familiar voice murmured. "You have not c-changed at all. Twilight Sparkle, wasn't it? I recognize your voice." The voice was just as proud and aloof as she remembered it. However, instead of the tone of maniacal madness that still echoed in her nightmares to that day, there was one of calm calculated composure. It barely shook amidst what Twilight could only guess was pain. If the proud queen was in pain at all, she was doing all she could to hide it, and hide it well she did. "You're awake." Twilight muttered, a lot more curtly than she intended as she quickly wiped away her tears. "My child, you speak of her. Is she here?" The mother suddenly asked, shifting nervously, before stiffening up in obvious pain. "Please, tell me, Twilight Sparkle. I fear I....I can no longer see..." She panted a little, taking as deep breaths as she dared with her broken ribs. Only then after the queen had opened them did Twilight notice the state of her eyes. Yes, those were eyes that would never ever see again. A pang of sympathy rose up from the sea of anger just long enough for Twilight to soften her tone, "Yes, she's here. She's in your arms. She's well and unharmed, though asleep from the exhaustion. She travelled a long way to find help for you." "Thank you, Twilight Sparkle, thank you so much. Maker bless your soul." The mother breathed a sigh of utmost relief, her gratitude plain and sincere. She raised her one good hoof and placed it around her sleeping daughter, caressing her mane gently, eliciting a sleepy little mewl from her. "You are much like your mentor, not one to abandon an innocent, not even the child of one you hate so." "I..." Twilight began, trying to find the words to refute that, even if she had to lie through her teeth. But no words were forthcoming. "Even without my ability to feel your heart, I can hear it in your voice as plain as day." The queen said. "While I do not relish it, I can understand it at least. Still, anypony else would have simply left me to rot." "I will admit, the thought crossed my mind." Twilight admitted, the guilt almost painful, "And for that I'm sorry. That would have been cruel, no matter who you are." "Again, it was only natural." Chrysalis said, solemnly, "And yet I, your hated enemy, feel a soft bed beneath me, a warm blanket upon my body, my wounds dressed with care. This is beyond the capability of many gods, Twilight Sparkle, and, trust me, I have known many in my time." If Twilight had any doubts left, they were almost entirely dashed. The mother before her was entirely different from that mad mare who ran amock at her brother's wedding. If it was a trick, it was certainly one she put a lot of effort into, more than she did into acting out the part of her brother's bride. Twilight to that day still maintained that it was the most awful acting she had ever seen, especially for the queen of a race of doppelgangers. "Twilight Sparkle, you are kind, too kind to a fault. I only hope this kindness does not one day return to haunt you. "Now, I am afraid I must...urgh..." The queen winced visibly for the first time in front of Twilight, "...must bring these pleasantries...to a close." She took a few slow, deep breaths, steadying herself once more. Twilight saw one of the mother's hooves clutching her tummy tenderly, right over one of the larger bruises. She couldn't help but notice that it had grown alarmingly larger. "You have treated me well enough. Unfortunately, my wounds are beyond help." "I can....I can get..." Twilight looked at the door in panic before looking back at Chrysalis, her expression hopelessly torn, "I can..." She faltered a little as her earlier resolution came back to her. But... "No. As good a caregiver as she is, your friend will not be able to save me. Neither will your empire's best healers. I assure you, Twilight Sparkle, you've done everything you can for me." Chrysalis said with a dismissive huff. If Twilight hadn't been so guarded, she might have suspected the queen of actual kindness in helping putting her guilty conscience to rest. "The only thing with any hope of saving me now is love." "Love! That's it!" Twilight's eyes lit up, "All we need is...is..." She faltered once more. It sounded so simple, so easy, but...but who would be able to...well...love her? "Indeed." The queen nodded in agreement to Twilight's unspoken words. "You will be hardpressed to find a single pony in Equestria who is even capable of looking at me, let alone love me." "There must be a way!" Twilight cried in frustration as she glanced about her room as if the answer might suddenly appear on a wall. " Hold on, I must have a book that can..." She got up to rush for her little collection of books lining her luggage in a corner of the room. She felt a trembling, weakened, but firm grip on her hoof stop her. "Twilight Sparkle, I...I have little time left." The once proud queen gave her a pleading look, "Instead, you must...no, I request of you, please, would you listen awhile to the words of a dying mother?" Twilight slowly but reluctantly settled back down onto her haunches. She was not sure she could ever bring herself to even forgive Chrysalis as a queen, as a person, but she could at the very least understand her as a mother. That much she was prepared to grant the dying mare. "Alright, Chrysalis." Twilight nodded. "I will cast a simple spell upon us. It will allow us to speak freely, uninterrupted by my...ailing body." She raised her head as if preparing to cast a spell before pausing as if a sudden thought struck her. "Would you allow me to do that, Twilight Sparkle?" She asked, suddenly asking for permission. "Whoah....wait a sec, I'm not letting you come anywhere near me with as much as a card trick, Chrysalis." Twilight was quick to pull away, stepping back cautiously. "I don't trust you. I probably never will." She said, rather bluntly, before she could even stop herself. "I understand. But this is important. My child's future, the very fate of Equestria, depends upon what I am about to tell you." The queen said, her expression as dire as the grave. "I will not harm you in any way, body mind or soul. I promise, cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a koukaru in my eye." "....where did you get that promise?" Twilight couldn't help but ask. "It is a soul-binding oath handed down from Queen to Queen, said to create a binding pact sealed by one of the elder gods whose name we never utter." Chrysalis explained patiently. But her impatience was becoming apparent in the edge in her voice. 'I've put my faith in Pinkie before and I've never gone wrong. I can't trust Chrysalis, but I can trust in Pinkie.' Twilight couldn't believe she was allowing herself such flawed logic. But it felt right for some reason, right enough for her to give in to the crazy. "Do it again, but replace the cuckoo thing with a cupcake, if you please." Twilight said. "That's our version....also overseen by somepony whose name we utter with care." "If I must." The queen was quick to agree, "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." She made the motions with her one good hoof. Twilight couldn't help but marvel at how it matched the Pinkie Promise hoof for hoof. "Now, may I?" She asked, the urgency in her voice rising. "Yes, go ahead." Twilight slowly, cautiously, approached her. "Thank you, Twilight Sparkle." The queen's horn glowed with an ominous green, bathing the entire room in its viridian radiance. "EXEC CHRYSALIS_LINKER.EXE." A voice echoed about the room. It might have been Chrysalis', but Twilight never got to find out. She was too busy falling into a sudden but very blissful slumber. To say it was emptiness and darkness would have been a cynical understatement. 'Empty space stretching all the way out to infinity' she decided was a better description. Like the night sky before the stars, like the universe before the universe, it was everything and nothing. And there she was, one with it all. No, rather, she was all of it. No, that's not right. 'No, such poor descriptions for a sensation so vast and overwhleming. Come now, Starswirl must have described this feeling before in one of his books.' She thought to herself. Then a more urgent thought arose. 'Where am I? Didn't Chrysalis cast a spell? What did it...?' Then light happened. Twilight tried to gasp in awe, then realized she didn't have a mouth, or a body for that matter, to gasp with. She decided to worry about that later. The spectacle before her was too much to be distracted from. A radiant corona of light burst forth from some unseen horizon, flooding the darkness with spectral beams of light that seemed to spiral through the emptiness. Beneath the endless sky a serene ocean, glimmering with waves of sparkles, lit up with the brilliance of a million galaxies. 'This must be what watching the first sunrise was like' Twilight mused to herself as she watched the spirals light up the universe about her, turning everything a shimmering bluish white, like a ethereal ocean where the primordial soup of the rest of the universe bubbled. Whispers filled the air. An entire chorus of voices filled the silence. The spiraling beams of light split up into many many glimmering glyphs in the sky. Slowly both the whispers and glyphs began to make sense to her mind, as if they simply bypassed her eyes and ears (neither of which she had anyway) and went straight into her mind. 'With great pleasure we welcome thee to the Animus. With great care we initialize the CHRYSALIS_LINKER protocol. Standby.' One monotonous voice, louder than the others, announced to her cryptically, as if it were reading a passage out of a book. "Ma i wa rre-yera nha Twilight Sparkle." A more familiar voice echoed across the strange world, "Was quel erra sUlAy nosaash quowjaz. Was syea ra aterra has Animus." 'With discrete impatience we summon Twilight Sparkle.' The words again went straight to her mind, suffusing her with their meaning. 'With great eagerness I carefully give her administrator rights. With great happiness I welcome her to the Animus.' "Chrysalis?" Twilight spoke out. She heard her own voice come from everywhere at once, echoing across the entire universe just like Chrysalis'. "Ah, Twilight Sparkle." Chrysalis' voice sounded much more relaxed, as if all the pain and weariness had been shed away along with her body. Twilight realized that was the whole point of this spell. "Welcome. And indeed, as we told you before, that is the whole point of this spell." "Are you reading my mind?" Twilight gasped, suddenly alarmed. "No, not so much that as our minds and hearts are now one." Chrysalis said, simply. "Now, one moment, allow me to give us both bodies to speak with." Twilight blinked. She realized for the first time that she had eyes and eyelids to blink with. She looked down and watched as more of those spiraling glyphs of light flew about her, forming the glowing outlines of hooves, limbs and the rest of her body. Then with a brief glimmer colour flooded the spectral outlines, forming her body proper. One hoof found something solid to step on. Ripples spread forth in the spectral sea beneath the hoof. 3 more hooves joined it as Twilight stepped out into the strange new world with her new body. "Better?" Twilight looked up to find Chrysalis walking towards her across the spectral sea, her body once again whole, free of all injuries. "Oh, no, my real body is still damaged beyond repair." She said, as if replying to Twilight's unspoken thoughts, "This is just a mental construct A body built by our imaginations, if you will." She chuckled with just a hint of sadness. "It will allow me to speak freely without my injuries getting in our way." "Mental constructs?" Twilight asked, looking about herself. It was then that she noticed, her 'body' wasn't perfect. It still glimmered in places as currents of glyphs spiralled underneath her skin and mane here and there. "I created these forms so that your young and inexperienced mind may feel less disoriented here. We don't normally have any need for bodies in this space." Chrysalis explained. "Wait, where is 'here'?" Twilight asked, dread and fear rising for the first time now that she had an individual body with which to feel it. "This..." Chrysalis gestured around her with a wave of her hoof, "Is the Animus, our race's shared mindscape." "Your...mind? Wait, have you brainwashed me?!" Twilight gasped, recoiling, recalling how her brother was enslaved in the most heinous of spells. "No! What pony silliness! Maker, perish the thought." Chrysalis shook her head quickly. "I promised you I would do you no harm, body mind or soul. My promises are sacred." Twilight could actually feel Chrysalis' indignation at the accusation, like a morose little tune grazing her ears. "Err...sorry, it's just...you know..." Twilight said, awkwardly tripping over herself to find the right words. But the queen before her seemed to understand what she wished to say without any need for her words. "I understand. That is only natural, given the circumstances. But rest assured, you are safe here. Perhaps even safer than in the world outside, I daresay." "So I'm in your mind now?" Twilight asked, looking around the strange, endless plane of shimmering lights and glowing glyphs. "Our mind, Twilight Sparkle." Chrysalis said with a hint of pride. "The shared mind of all changelings connected to my tonelico, my 'tree' in my language. I suppose your word for it is 'hive'." "Ah. I've read about this. It's like a hivemind that some insec-...." Twilight stopped her mouth there. But she felt the rest of her thoughts flow through the air, unimpeded. "I...didn't mean to...say that. Sorry." She whispered apologetically. "No apologies needed. In this space all thoughts on the surface is transmitted freely." The queen said, gracefully. "There are no lies here, only secrets you might choose to keep. I hope that knowledge will lend the story I am about to tell you some credibility. As for this 'hivemind' you speak of, your comparison is simplistic, but it will do for now." "You said all the changelings connected to your hive. Where are the rest?" Twilight asked, looking around the empty space, half-expecting more changelings to appear out of the woodwork. "Dead." The queen said, bluntly, "Or deserted." "Wait, we didn't..." Twilight's eyes widened as her mind flew back to the day of the wedding. "Did we...?" The very thought shook her to the core with deathly dread. Had they in their zeal to repel the invaders wiped out Chrysalis' hive? All of them? "Oh, no. All that spell did was banish us, which was admittedly an act of mercy after what we had done." Chrysalis chuckled bitterly. "No, we survived, just barely. But now there is only my daughter and I." She turned and raised a hoof. As if heeding her unspoken command a sprout burst forth from the spectral sea beneath them. Twilight watched as the little sapling grew at an incredible pace, twisting and turning, weaving itself into an rectangular form. As the shape expanded before her, the form became clearer and clearer to her. It was a foal crib, simple yet beautiful, grown from deep dark oak. Twilight cautiously approached the little foal cradle and found the now familiar little filly sleeping peacefully within, little hooves twitching as a sweet little smile spread across her serene face, obviously frolicking across some beautiful dreamland somewhere. Chrysalis sighed, a gentle smile blooming across her tired face as she raised a hoof to push the crib gently, setting it rocking to and fro to the rhythm of a faint humming. Twilight then realized it was Chrysalis, humming a soft, slow tune. "Apple of my eye, love of my life..." She sighed, "To feed my people Equestria I defy In my folly I failed my hive, plunged changelingkind into a year of strife. The weak succumb, the strong survive For my idiocy the Empress decreed I die Me and the apple of my eye, the love of my life...." She slipped back into a soft, sad little hum as she gently rocked her child back and forth. "The Empress?" Twilight asked. "A changeling queen like me, but one more powerful than any other." The mother said, grimly. "She has slowly been gathering power, carefully usurping hives and removing other queens. With each queen she kills, she and the remaining queens grow stronger. Once she is the sole remaining queen, there will be no hope for Equestria. She is ruthless, cruel..." 'Wow, if you say she's ruthless and cruel...' Twilight thought, before she could stop herself. The queen seemed to sense the thought, and, before Twilight could apologize again, she went on. "There is no excuse for my invasion. But somebody had to." Chrysalis said, gravely. Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but before she could Chrysalis raised a hoof, "Allow me a moment to explain why that is, please." Twilight gave a reluctant little nod, allowing her to continue. " "The food shortages in our homeland, the land you call the Badlands, have always been severe, but have worsened considerably of late." Chrysalis began. Twilight had noticed how thin and wasted the proud queen was, testament to an entire kingdom's starvation. "Our infiltrators inside Equestria reported increasing xenophobia amongst the nobility with rising tensions with Gryphonia, Minos and Draconia. Changelingkind felt the chances of a diplomatic plea for help was too low to risk losing our element of surprise. Prevailing public opinion amongst changelings was turning towards war, one of desperation, fueled by the Empress. I had hoped my 'invasion' would be subtler and less bloody for both parties. My plan was to infiltrate the nobility and make use of their political standing to help integrate my changelings into pony society. It was meant to be a quiet and bloodless infiltration." "That went well." Twilight couldn't help but say. "I admit I made mistakes. Many of them." The queen nodded, glumly. "Perhaps the first was losing my nerve when it came to killing the one I replaced." "You...you were going to kill Cadence?!" Twilight's rage seared forth once more from the deep dark ocean of anger that had been torrenting quietly within her. "Yes." The queen said cooly, "I understand your outrage at the thought. But it would have been the most logical approach. Except when I first caught her I...I simply couldn't do it. Some called it weakness, some called it cowardice." "You actually had some equinity left inside you?" Twilight muttered, fighting to calm herself down a little. "Perhaps, one could hope." Chrysalis nodded, sullenly. "At the very least I do not regret it. I never did." Twilight couldn't help but believe her. There was no reason for her to keep Cadence alive and trapped in that old gem mine. That and the hivemind made it rather difficult to lie. "I thought it wouldn't have affected my plans. When I was done with my plan I could have cleansed her memories and returned her to her place, none the wiser. I needn't have stayed as a noble after our plan succeeded after all. And it would have succeeded were it not for two more fatal mistakes." She shook her head. "Our people would have had a safe, stable source of love and nopony would have been harmed in the process." "So, is it true, your kind feeds on love?" Twilight suddenly interrupted, having long yearned for confirmation. "Yes." Chrysalis nodded, "But not just any love. It must be the love of another directed at ourselves. Perhaps it was incredible bad luck that I chose your sister-in-law to replace." "Bad luck?" Twilight tilted her head to one side. "Yes. Any noble would have done. But your sister was loved. Oh, how she was loved." The queen shuddered, much to Twilight's surprise. "You Equestrians have a saying, 'Love is Blind'. To us changelings, love in overwhelming quantities is blinding, like a whiff of pony-nip to our minds. And your brother's love for your sister-in-law was beyond the sweetest most intoxicating wines Equus has to offer." She gave a tremulous little sigh, "Oh how wonderful yet horrid that was." "So...you're saying you were just drunk when I met you?" Twilight had a hard time keeping her face straight. Her eyes were already twitching in their sockets. "I believe you ponies have better words for it. 'Prancing'? 'Bucked'? 'Cutie Mashed'?" Chrysalis gave her a sheepish smile, one that looked so out of place on the queen's thin, gaunt face. "That is a bit of an understatement, however. Consider it more akin to receiving a magic flux beyond what your mind is familiar with, feeling all that unlimited power crackling at your horn tips. It is enough to send even the most steady-hoofed of us into an insane rampage." "Yes...I've seen it before." Twilight nodded, recalling an incident involving a certain boastful sky blue mare and a pendant of unearthly magical power. "Well, I wouldn't say it changes anything, but I can at least understand how everything went wrong." "Indeed. My display was most unsightly, the very embarrassment keeps me up at night." The queen raised a hoof to her face and gave a light cough, clearing her throat. "So the other mistake was..." Twilight was about to mention herself. Chrysalis beat her to it. "Falling in love." Chrysalis answered, simply. Twilight's mouth fell open. "Come again?" Was all she could manage around her slack jaw. "Apple of my eye, love of my life" Chrysalis resumed her soft melody, "I curse myself, foalish and unwise He was under my spell, it was all lies But he loved me, my first and last I was weak, I yearned a taste of her paradise But never a moment's regret for having you, my prize Beloved apple of my eye, love of my life" "Wait, she...?" Twilight blinked, pointing a hoof at the little filly sleeping peacefully in the basket. As if answering her, the foal kicked a little hoof into the air, yawning wide and mewling contentedly in her sleep. "...you...." Twilight pointed at Chrysalis, "...my brother....?" Hairs had begun to twang out at awkward angles from her frizzled mane as her soft and squishy mind began to fry under the information overload. "Twilight Sparkle, I find your disbelief a little...disheartening to say the least. I am after all a most fertile mare of foal-bearing age." Chrysalis said in mock-hurt. "But....I...her...you...brother..." Smoke had begun rising from her sparking horn as she went cross-eyed with the mental burden. "I'm...I'm...I'm an aunt?!" Was all she finally managed to process. "I find it heartening that you came to the conclusion so quickly. Congratulations on becoming an aunt, Twilight Sparkle." The mother smiled sympathetically, "Or is it my condolences?" "S-she...she is..." Twilight felt like she had been blinkered all this time. The changeling filly looked like a pony because she was indeed half-pony. Another glance at the little foal only confirmed the outrageous fact. There was her own lavender eyes, her father's dark midnight blue coat mingled with the darkness of Chrysalis', her own mother's silver blonde mane, Shining's gleaming white in her carapace. And if those clues weren't enough, there was the single streak of dark blue in the little filly's silver blonde mane and tail, just like her father's. It was almost the hoofprint of House Twilight's blood. "She's...a Twilight..." She could hardly believe the words she had uttered. "Wait..." Twilight blinked, logic suddenly catching up, "The wedding was only a little more than a year ago." Chrysalis nodded to this. "But she's the size of a 6 year old filly." Twilight said, gauging by how she was about the size of her friends' little sisters. "We changelings live harsh unforgiving lives. Our foals must be born ready to fend for themselves from the moment they hatch. They are born much older than pony foals and develop faster until they reach this stage of their development." Chrysalis nodded at her little daughter. "Though I will say without boast that she far outstrips even the best and brightest of her generation." "Must be the Twilight blood." Twilight gave a teasing smile. "Hah! Perhaps!" Chrysalis laughed earnestly for the first time. "What will I tell my brother?" Twilight sighed, shaking her head with her forehead in one hoof. "No." Chrysalis suddenly said, sharply. "Huh?" "No, you will tell him nothing." Chrysalis said, her tone final. "Wait, but...why?" Twilight's eyebrows furrowed into a frown, "He's the father, he deserves to at least..." "She doesn't deserve that." Chrysalis said, nuzzling the little filly. "Apple of my eye, love of my life Please, please do not tell him and his wife I deserve no forgiveness, only their despise Them and all ponykind alike But the apple of my eye, love of my life She is innocent, she must not share in my demise She will not bear my sins, in happiness she will thrive show this child kindness, neither she nor anypony alive Should ever learn that I am her mother despised" "Please, Twilight Sparkle. I have done her no kindness. My sins are many, to both ponykind and changelingkind." Chrysalis was trembling, the faintest glimmer of tears trickling down her face. "I cannot call her my daughter. Let nopony else do her that cruelty." "...but..." Twilight bit her lip. "I am sure you will have a select few you must tell, those who will help you, your close and loyal friends for example." Chrysalis said, voice barely shaking, demonstrating what to Twilight was a shocking clarity of mind amidst her show of emotion. "But please, nopony else." "....very well, I promise." Twilight sighed, giving the relieved mother a nod, "But you're a good mother, Chrysalis." "Haha, flattery will not help me now, Twilight Sparkle. But I thank you all the same." The mother smiled bitterly. "Ah...it would appear our time together is coming to a close." She said, looking around. Twilight followed her gaze. She gasped as she noticed the world about her....shaking? Twist and warp even? As if somebody had thrown a rock in a pool, causing the entire world around them to distort disturbingly. 'With great dismay we alert thee, CHRYSALIS.SRV server stability is now compromised.' The cool, monotonous voice from earlier announced. 'With impatience we warn thee, mass desynchronization imminent." The glyphs seemed to frizzle and spark disturbingly around them. "Now, for the most important thing, Twilight Sparkle." Chrysalis said, taking a deep breath, as if preparing to deliver the biggest speech of her life. "You want me to take her in." Twilight said. Seeing the look in Chrysalis' eye, she just smiled weakly, "Hivemind. You haven't exactly been secretive with your intentions, Chrysalis." Twilight sighed, "But...I'm...I simply..." She began, uncertain. The very thought of taking in a filly, how much that would change her life, it was simply mind-shattering. She was still a student for Celestia's sake, she was still living off a royal stipend with a student loan she'd never pay off as a librarian or researcher, she hadn't even dated her entire life. All the thoughts coursed together, rushing at her, feeding her doubt like a broken dam washing away the peaceful valley beneath. There was just no way she could... "I'm sorry, Twilight Sparkle, to burden you with this." The forlorn mother reached down into the cradle, now quickly dissolving out of existence. She picked up the little filly in her forehooves just as the last of the cradle dissipated into flickers of light. "Apple of my eye, love of my heart She is innocent, untainted, unmarred T'was not her choice to be born to me A changeling, a lowly criminal escapee To inherit my sins, to be caught twain two worlds belonging to neither, no, not what she deserves!" Her lips trembled, tears welling up in her eyes as she gazed down lovingly at her daughter one last time. Even as their very world crumbled around them her gaze remained focused on the one thing that mattered to her in what was left of her life. "Apple of my eye, love of my heart She deserves better on her part If she had been born to...to him and her She'd be beloved by a father and mother A little princess adored by her empire Where is she now, just look at her My poor apple of my eye, love of my heart..." The mother touched her forehead against her child's. Tears streamed down her cheeks uncontrollably as she nuzzled them against her child's one last time. "Twilight Sparkle, I come to you now on my knees...not as the queen who wronged you, not as the mare who caused you and your loved ones no end of grief." The crying mother pleaded, lowering her head as she clutched her child tightly against her bosom. "I-I implore you, a-as a mother...please, could you find it in your heart to show this untainted child kindness?" Twilight looked back at the mother and could only see hope and fear in those tearful eyes. Fear that she would no longer be able to continue the journey alongside her daughter, hope that somepony, her, Twilight Sparkle, could continue in her place. Twilight almost fell back on her rump from the overwhelming thoughts coursing through her. All she had thought of was herself, and how the filly would change her life. But what of her? This child had done nothing to deserve her lot in life. One step, one word from her, could change this entire filly's life. There could be no doubt whatsoever about this. "Yes." Twilight finally said, giving the relieved mother a weak but determined smile, looking a lot more certain than she felt. "Yes, I promise, Chrysalis. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." "Thank you, Twilight Sparkle. Thank you. Maker bless you and your life." Chrysalis smiled perhaps the warmest, happiest smile Twilight had ever seen on any mare, even through her thick veil of tears. She surprised Twilight even further by pulling her into a tight one-hoof hug, pulling her close against her and her daughter. "I wish we had...we had met in better times. I'm sorry...sorry for everything." It was almost like a slap to the face. Twilight felt the anger surge up before she could even let any feeling of guilt smother it. This mare had stolen her brother, imprisoned her foalsitter, hurt her teacher and threatened all of Equestria. And she was sorry? Sorry?! Throwing the word around as if it was enough? As if it would make everything alright? But what little logic managed to stay afloat amidst the storm of righteous rage made itself heard, 'You'll regret it when the chance is lost forever.' And the pang of that realization quelled the storm, leaving behind a dark puddle of bitterness. She never knew 3 words could be so hard. She never knew that even such a seemingly trivial act of kindness could be so difficult. Fluttershy made it look so easy, forgiving and befriending the lord of chaos himself. The thought of Fluttershy slowly allowed the sun to pierce the clouds within her overcast self. She silently thanked her best friend for returning reason to her mind. She took a deep breath. "I forgive you, Chrysalis." Twilight said, as solemnly as she could, going so far as giving the fading mother a tight squeeze of her hoof. "I will watch over you both, even if I must cross the fires of Tartarus." Chrysalis whispered in Twilight's ear. "May your hooves hold more happiness than stars in the sky." When she finally released her, the world was already at its end. The sky had shattered revealing the pitch black darkness beyond. Beneath them the spectral ocean had leaked away, leaving a small puddle beneath them that was quickly receding. "Now...just one last thing." The mother said, wiping away her tears as a look of renewed grim determination took over. "My parting gift to both of you. I will take away what few memories she has of me." "Wait, Chrysalis..." Twilight gasped as the words sunk in, "Y-you can't! You're..." "They were not fond memories anyway. They were mostly of my anger, my negligence, of us being hounded and hunted." Chrysalis shook her head dismissively, "No filly should have to grow up with that, let alone the knowledge that she was a daughter to...to me." Her voice shook at the very end, betraying the crack in her determination. "But..." Twilight cursed herself, at how words had failed her so many times that day when she needed them most. "But you can't..." She argued weakly. "Apple of my eye, love of my life" Twilight could only watch helplessly as Chrysalis whispered to the sleeping filly, her horn taking on one last warm, comforting glow, "With naught but tears and blood I baptize With naught to give you but prayers of joy twice, thrice All I could do for you is take away this vice Your accursed roots, our blood ties With me I'll take them to Tartarus' fires So live free, Apple of my eye, love of my life" Tears ran down her cheeks as Chrysalis smiled a content and happy smile, hugging the child close. "Apple of my eye...love of my life..." the mother drew one last breath, her tearful eyes fixed on nothing but the child before her. "...this is my first and final lullaby....this is my goodbye..." Her horn shone with a blinding brilliance that consumed all. "I'm....sorry....." The silence was deafening. Twilight sat on her haunches on the floor by the bed, dazed. In her forehooves, curled up peacefully in her sleep, was the little filly she had been entrusted. How she got there Twilight couldn't even begin to recall. The little filly reached up in her sleep, little hooves curling gently about Twilight's neck, as if reaching to her for warmth and comfort. She gave a little contented whinny as Twilight numbly raised one hoof to embrace her. Twilight stiffly turned her head to look down at the bed. It was empty, save the pristine clean bandages littering its covers. The window beside it, once shuttered, had been flung wide open. Clear blue skies shone where there was once deep, heavy snow clouds, the light almost blinding her unadjusted eyes. A few early birds returning from the south flew through the sky, filling the air with birdsong, a most alien sound to Twilight's ears. The sun suddenly shone through the window, lancing one bright sunbeam squarely on the bed. A bright reflection almost blinded Twilight. She squinted down just enough to see a heart, a red crystal heart, lying amidst the strewn bandages, glimmering brightly with the radiance of an entire galaxy. '....the fire of friendship lives in our hearts, as long as it burns we cannot drift apart...' The carollers outside sang, their song now clearer than ever through the open window. "The apple of your eye, the love of your life...I'll take good care of her, I promise." Twilight muttered blankly. She suddenly burst into tears. She didn't know why but there was too much inside to contain. She cried and cried, unrelenting. The little filly in her arms quickly stirred as if sensing her upset. "Mmmm....Whalt gyAs?" The little filly asked innocently in her squeaky little voice, tilting her head to one side as she patted Twilight comfortingly on her forehead. The words were alien to her ears but not to her mind, just as it was in the hivemind. 'What's wrong?' she understood. "Whalt gyAs?" The filly asked again. She could only clutch the child, thinking she'd try to comfort her. But she realized deep down, it was her seeking comfort. And she needed it more than anything. "Was syea ra, yorr rh.e fernIa!" The little filly squeaked, thumping her forehead gently against Twilight's. 'With great happiness that I wish would last, you must cheer up!' The little filly had said. The young changeling reached up with her little hooves and began wiping away the tears on her cheeks, much to the grown unicorn's surprise. Achieving nothing but spreading the tears evenly across Twilight's face, the little filly frowned. She finally decided on latching both hooves about Twilight's neck and licking the tears away with her little tongue. 'I'm being comforted by the foal who just lost her mom.' Twilight thought to herself, still numb. She suddenly broke into a chuckle, then peals of laughter as she hugged the little filly tightly, much to the little filly's confusion. But she wasn't one to question laughter, so she decided to join in with innocent little giggles of her own. Author's Note Many thanks for reading and many many more thanks for the kind comments so far, folks! I've also noticed the kind upvote/thumbs up thing, many thanks for that as well. Writing is fun, but knowing people are enjoying what I write is even more so! See you all next chapter! PS: Yet another teensy aside. Some of you may recognize the Animus. If you don't, don't worry, it's just more borrowed flavouring that, again, will not have any major bearing on the story as a whole. No, you don't need to know the source material to enjoy the story. In case you're curious, the Animus is central to the Assassin's Creed series, property of Ubisoft. It is a system that allows people to access ancestral memories encoded in their genes. No, it doesn't do the same thing in this fic, I just like the digital effects within the virtual reality the Animus generates and I thought it was quite fitting for the hivemind. I decided to name it that because (a) it sounds cool and (b) for those who do know if it it'd lend a little extra to the imagination, or so I hope. My Little Protector Big Apple Inn, Appleloosa, a few hours later Twilight's mind was still a foggy daze. Much too much had happened much too quickly, her mind was tripping over itself just trying to catch up, let alone begin to organize everything into the neat little folders she liked to sort the whole world into. And as if that wasn't enough, she felt as if the entirety of Cloudsdale had crash landed in the pits of her heart. Just what kind of sorting can you manage amidst the smouldering fallout? And why won't it just go away no matter how she tried to rationalize it? Chrysalis wasn't even an acquaintance, let alone a relative. Why her passing had left Twilight feeling so distraught was a mystery unto itself, one Twilight simply couldn't logically suss out to quell her tears. She didn't get to ruminate on it in silence for long. For one, the filly had woken up from her short nap. With a happy little coo she had yawned widely and opened her big wide harlequin eyes, uncurling herself out of her warm little nest in Twilight's blanket before stretching her little hooves and wings luxuriously. She had bounced on her hooves a little as she tested out the bouncy new land she had found herself on. Giving a delighted squee of delight in approval, she cast her bright, curious little eyes about, taking in the wide new world for the first time. Her gaze fell upon Twilight sitting at the desk, drawing a happy coo of familiarity. The little filly didn't know why the reassuring figure looked familiar to her, but it brought with it a sense of safety, warmth and comfort. For the child that was all she needed, a secure anchor in an uncertain world, one she could return to whenever she needed it. Like all changeling fillies her first instinct was to rush up to said figure and lavish it with affection. But the deep dark and heavy tune she sensed emanating from her anchor figure told her to steer clear, at least for now. Many a changeling foal had met their ends by ignoring the telltale tunes that warned of trouble. But said figure had been crying. She didn't know why she had been crying but it wasn't something she could ignore. She knew it deep down inside, nobody should be crying. If they were, then they shouldn't be crying alone. There wasn't much she could do, she knew, but the little filly had done her best to try and help with her tears at the very least. Then there was laughter, sudden and jarring, mixed in with the tears, which she found confusing. The tune behind it hadn't changed, it was still one of deep, blue sadness, the colour of sour grapes and dying violets. It simply did not fit together with the forced laughter. But she didn't argue, deciding to laugh along happily. Perhaps the figure was trying to make herself feel happier? Maybe make the little filly feel happier? Either way, it was an improvement. And now she had woken up from her nap to find the deep dark tune still there. Nope, the laughter had not done its job, silly useless laughter. She found that odd, as sleep usually clears up most things, like darkness, thunderstorms, and most sad and angry tunes. Frowning, she decided something must be done, and soon. With a determined expression she looked about the new world for anything she might be able to offer the sorrowful one. Fruits? A lively insect? Maybe a curious-looking stone or maybe even a gem if she's lucky. Or, better, a distraction of some sort? Her bright little eyes came to rest upon long thin strips of white lying all around the soft bouncy land. Perfect! She got to work immediately like the good little filly she was. She hadn't been at work long before something interrupted her rather suddenly. And loudly too. "Hurnyaaaaaaah!" A battlecry seemed to send the door to the room flying open. Lower down stood the real culprit, a baby dragon, one clawed foot raised in a high-kick. Let it not be said that he had quietly and carefully turned the door knob before sending the door flying, like any decent little hoof-fu dragon warrior. "Alright, where's the changeling army?! Where are their battle collosi?! The dragon warrior of awesome's ready to save you, Twi! Just point me in the direction of the flank-kicking!" The little dragon bellowed, arms raised in what would have been a Hoof-Fu stance in someone with a little more limb than tummy. A little changeling filly in the middle of the room stared back at him with wide-eyed fascination, frozen mid-prance. A roll of bandaging clasped tightly in her mouth trailed bandages all across the room forming an intricate little web. In one corner The dragon's unicorn guardian sat on the crude little writing desk the inn had provided, face deep in her hooves. She seemed entirely unaware that somefilly had gone and turned her and the chair she sat in into a bandage maypole. The little dragon interpreted the situation the best way he could. "The changeling ninjas have cast their shadowy web of doom!" He gasped, "Don't worry, Twi!" He did a dive-roll towards the little filly before leaping up into a Hoof-Fu stance, one reminiscent of the 'Praying Manticore' style. "I'll protect you!" The little filly's eyes seemed to glimmer with excitement as she opened her mouth, "Pwotec!" She squeaked with an excited little hop, mimicking the dragon in her own high-pitched voice. Unfortunately it meant she opened her mouth and released the bandage gripped in her teeth. Even more unfortunately, the bandage was elastic. Ever-Lastic(TM) to be precise. The dragon gasped as the stretchy roll of bandaging zoomed away from the filly's mouth like one of Fluttershy's rabbits overdosing on sugar, picking up speed as it spun and whizzed around odd corners. He went cross-eyed, struggling to keep up with the speeding roll with his eyes. There was a ferocious twang as it slipped around one nightstand leg, whizzing around straight at him like a heartseeker missile. But the dragon warrior of awesome was more than ready. With a deft backflip (more a lopsided roll, but it's the thought that counts) he dodged it. "Hah! Your Hoof-Fu, weak!" He declared, righting himself. He felt something catch on his tail. Where his body had dodged the rampaging bandage roll, his tail hadn't been so lucky. "Oh..." He mouth formed a grim 'o' as the bandage spun round and round his tail, binding him firmly, before pulling taut. "...horseapples." He muttered. He was thrown onto his belly with a whomp. He dug his claws into the floorboards, his nails scratching across the wood as he fought for purchase, before his nails finally gave way to physics, sending him flying like a whip. "WhoaaaaaaaAAAAAAaaaoooooaaaAAAAAaaooooo..." The little dragon screamed as he zoomed around the room, tracing the entire course of the filly's web on the whims of the roll of bandage. Many, him and Twilight included, would later ponder how the little filly managed to pack that much kinetic energy into a length of bandaging by simply prancing around the room with it. Many debates and theories simply boiled down to one conclusion - the little filly loves to break rules, and not even the rules of physics were immune to her mischief. "WhoaaaaaaaAAAAAAaaaoooooaaaAAAAAaaooooo..." The little filly mimicked like a good little doppler echo. She hopped about excitedly in place as she watched Spike whizz in and around the furniture, her ears and wings twitching, her fluffy tail wiggling excitedly. It was official. She had found her new toy. "What have you done now, little one?" Twilight slowly picked herself up from her own dishevelled mane warily to glance down at the little filly. The child's ears perked up as she hopped around to look up expectantly at Twilight, glimmering eyes proud of her handiwork. Twilight looked up to see her number 1 assistant jammed underneath the ensuite bathroom door, his body tightly mummified in bandaging like the dragon pharaohs of the Neighle river. Fortunately for him the space underneath the door the bandage lead into was too tight for his tummy. Unfortunately for him it was not too tight for his rump. As if reading the disapproval brewing in Twilight's mind, the little filly's ears drooped back onto her mane, her shoulders drooping as she fell backwards onto her haunches, peering up at Twilight with what looked like wide-eyed guilt. "I'm not angry at you, little one." Twilight was quick to say, breaking into a weak smile in an attempt to reassure the child, "But that's not safe. Somepony might get hurt." She said, expecting it to be a one-sided reprimand. She really didn't expect the little filly to understand a word she said. "Huwt?" To her surprise the little filly repeated the word back to her, ears twitching with interest, cocking her head to one side, as if making an attempt to understand her. "Yes, you know, like 'ouch'." Twilight went on, feeling encouraged by the child's show of interest. She tapped her chin with a hoof, mind churning on how best to demonstrate pain. "Ouch!" She saw many little fluttershies flitting about her eyes as she unsteadily lowered the book she had magically whomped herself on the head with. "H-hurt. Ouch." Twilight murmured woozily, pointing a hoof at her head, wincing exaggeratedly for emphasis. She felt silly then, there really must have been a better way. The little filly gave a little giggle much to Twilight's indignation, forehooves cupped over her snout as she peered guiltily up at Twilight. Then she gave a gasp, "Huwt!" She raised a hoof pointing at Spike. "Huwt?!" 'Silly, but it worked.' Twilight thought to herself, nursing the sore spot on her head with a hoof. "Yes, Spike is hurt." She nodded. "You..." Twilight pointed at the filly, "Hurt Spike." She said, pointing at Spike, before shaking her head with a pained look on her face. Twilight could almost see the gears turning behind the little filly's bright eyes. "Ma quel wa zash rre hes?" She suddenly gasped. 'With earnest presence of mind, he's hurting!' Twilight felt the meaning of the little filly's words sink into her mind once more almost effortlessly, even easier than reading a book if that was even possible. "Ma gwanme wa guAwd hes!" She stomped one hoof determinedly. 'With a wish to protect, I must protect him!' she had declared. "Yes, protect." Twilight nodded. That wasn't the intended lesson. The child didn't seem to realize it was her fault, but it was a good lesson nonetheless. "Pwotec!" The little filly turned to aim what was perhaps Equestria's cutest doe-eyed deathglare ever at the evil door thing trapping the thing that was hurt. She achieved something between holding her breath and miming constipation. "Twilight, what is she...?" Came Spike's muffled voice from behind the swath of bandages around his face. "Wait wait NO-AAAAAAA!" He shrieked as the little filly began galloping towards him. "Nyaaaaaaah!" A little echo of Spike's earlier battlecry filled the room as the little filly launched herself into a high kick, wings fluttering madly, emulating the little dragon warrior's stunt flawlessly. Her hoof hit the door right above Spike's head, sending it flying open, releasing its poor draconic captive. What remained of the bandage behind the door chose that moment to snap, smacking Spike in the rump like a vengeful whip. "Geouch!" Spike yelped. "Good girl." Twilight said, reaching down to give the child a pat of approval...then paused midway before quickly pulling her hoof back, giving the filly a little smile instead, "You did well." The filly hopped in place happily at the praise, beaming with immense pride. "Just what is going on?" Spike demanded as he fought to unravel himself from the bandages. "Well, I think you've taught her how to open and close doors." Twilight sighed. "The Hoof-Fu way." She added, watching the little filly run off and flying-kick the bedroom door shut with yet another pitch-perfect 'Nyaaaaaaah!'. She winced, sympathizing with the door. "Thanks, Spike." "No, what I meant was, you were supposed to sound out every 30 minutes and you were due to report in like..." Spike studied the wall clock with a thoughtful claw on his chin, "2 and a half minutes ago. So when you didn't I got ready to Hoof-Fu your flank out of danger!" He threw out a few more hoof fu chops and punches for emphasis. "It's alright, Spike, there's no changeling army. I was just...preoccupied. Thanks, though, for flying in to my rescue." Twilight said with a tired smile. "But we will have a word about your language later." She added, not quite liking what the more recent action flicks had added to the young dragon's impressionable vocabulary. "Oh? No changeling armies? Phew, that's a relie-...I mean..." He cleared his throat while making a valiant attempt at ignoring Twilight's quip about his language, "The dragon warrior never rests. For as long the shadow ninjas of doom roam, I shall be watching." He declared as he pulled another stance, one most may recognize as the 'crane', though in Spike it was more reminiscent of a turkey. Twilight couldn't help but notice how Spike's knees were actually shaking. The poor little guy had rushed to her rescue despite his fear, all because he thought she may be in trouble. She quietly decided that he had at least earned himself an extra gem that week. "Nyaaaaaaah!" The bathroom door was slammed shut by the force of a filly-powered flying kick from inside. "Just what is she doing?" Spike asked Twilight, pointing a clawed thumb at the bathroom door. Scratching noises began to come from the other side, courtesy of the pair of small forehooves scraping on the inside. It would appear that opening doors from inside was still a bit of a closed book to the little filly. "Copying her uncle Spike." Twilight said, pulling out a blank sheet of paper absentmindedly. "Huh, yeah, her uncle Spi-...whaaaAAAT?!" Spike cried. "WhaaaAAAT?!" The little filly behind the door mimicked Spike's voice perfectly, causing Spike to almost leap out of his scales. "...I do not sound like a sissy." Spike muttered indignantly at the door. "...sissy." The door said with a giggle, as if reflecting his words back at him. "Am not!" Spike retorted. "Amm!" The door replied, giggling even louder. "Am not!" "Aamm!" The rather one-sided argument went on heatedly across the already abused bathroom door. Twilight couldn't help but remember the story of the pony who had an argument with his own echoes. How did it end? The pony fell in love with himself? Oh dear. She gave a weary little chuckle, impressed that the little filly could actually hold a coherent conversation with nothing but mimicry. That must be the way changeling foals learn, by mimicking others, she thought to herself. Watching her play without a care in the world brought Twilight to only one conclusion - Chrysalis' spell had worked. The child had no recollection of the mother she had just lost. As sad as the idea was, Twilight realized that, at least in the short term, it was for the best. "Twilight, just, what happened? I still don't understand." Spike finally asked in exasperation as he finally opened the bathroom door to let the filly out. "And where did Chrysalis go? Did she escape?" He asked, eyeing the open window suspiciously. "Tch, told you we should have written to Celestia first." "No, Spike....Chrysalis is gone." Twilight sighed. "I can write a letter now and have the royal guard down here with their changeling lanterns in 10 minutes flat." Spike said, whipping out his ever-ready parchment and quill. "They'll find her from the air lickety split." He was quick to hold his quill and parchment high up out of harms way. He didn't miss the filly watching the quill, eyes gleaming, ears and tail wiggling excitedly. "No, Spike. I mean, she's gone." Twilight said, shaking her head. "Oh..." Spike blinked, "Oooooh..." Understanding dawned. He slowly turned to face the little filly, "What...what about her?" He asked, his face the very picture of sympathy and concern. "She....doesn't remember." Twilight said, feeling a little hiccup get stuck in her throat at the thought. She had noticed that the little dragon's first concern was the filly's wellbeing. She couldn't help but feel proud of him for that. "Chrysalis cast a spell on her so that she wouldn't remember anything." She felt her lower lips quiver a little but bit it just in time. No, Twilight, no. "That's....that's just sad." Spike said, "So, where is she going to stay from no-....wait a second, when you said 'uncle Spike', you meant....?" "Yeah, she's staying with us, at least for now." Twilight said. "Who are you and what have you done with my Twilight?!" Spike demanded, lowering himself into another stance, ready to deal some Hoof-Fu style justice. "Did you take me for a foal, Chrysalis?! Or whatever changeling you are?!" "Ugh...I guess it's fair for you to suspect it. Points for quick-thinking, I suppose." Twilight sighed wearily, feeling more exhaustion well up from the now bottomless pit of tiredness. "Fine, Spike, ask me something, anything." Spike seemed to give this some thought, all while eyeing Twilight cautiously. "Hmmm, something only the real Twilight would know. Ahah, I know!" he said with a triumphant grin, "Where do I hide my Best of Alabaster Mares photobook?" "...you have a what now?" Twilight almost fell over from her chair from having been caught completely off-guard. "Hah! You don't know! But I know the real Twilight discovered where it is because I found them on TOP of my basket last week, not UNDER it where I hid it!" Spike declared triumphantly, obligatory accusatory finger aimed levelly at Twilight's nose. "....But, I honestly didn't know, Spike. That wasn't me." Twilight admitted sincerely. "Yeah, course it wasn't you. Cause you're not Twilight! Give yourself up, changeling!" Spike shouted. "Changewing!" The changeling filly giggled along happily, pointing a hoof at Twilight alongside Spike. "You're not helping." Twilight muttered at the little filly. "Umm, it must have been..." Twilight thought hard and fast, tapping her chin with a hoof, "Oh, Rarity went up there last week looking for the...fashion magazine...I....borrowed...from...her." She trailed off, raising a hoof up to her mouth. "Ooooh....Oooooooooh..." She rocked back and forth, eyes wide. Spike had quite literally frozen. Chills and reptilian cold blood did not mix well together. "We can...deal with the fallout later, Spike." Twilight murmured sympathetically, "Now, is that proof enough?" The temperature in the room had dropped a few degrees, courtesy of the Spikecicle standing frigid in the middle of the room, silent as the grave he wished he was in. "I'll take that as a yes." Twilight said, turning her attention back to the piece of paper. With a sigh she dipped a quill with her magic and began writing the header, 'Filly To-Do-List'. Then she stopped, staring blankly at the empty page, as if hoping that if she stared hard enough the rest of the list might give up and reveal itself to her. 'Gather yourself, Twilight Sparkle' She thought to herself, fiercely, digging her forehooves deep into her temples. 'I need to do something other than cry! I can't be comforted by the foal I'm supposed to be comforting! I can't be crying in front of her! And laughing just so you're not crying isn't the answer, at least not in the long term, at least not in the interest of sanity!' She looked up at the mirror hanging over the writing desk and saw a mare with a dishevelled and frizzled mane and a twitching right eyeball threatening to pop out of its socket stare back at her. '....err...what sanity I have left.' She corrected herself. 'Come on, Sparkle, let's at least write a list. A list, that's all we need. There will be a list. Then everything will be alright. Just alright.' She took in a few deep breaths to steady herself, quill drifting off absent-mindedly And then there was no quill. It had been snapped out of the air by a very eager little filly. "W-what're you writing, Twilight?" Spike finally thawed enough to say, seemingly eager for something else to talk about. He peered over the edge of the table at the list-in-progress, before rolling his eyes up at the ceiling. "I see how well you've thought this through." He said, offering a replacement quill helpfully. "Aaaaargh..." Twilight groaned weakly as she planted her face in her hooves once more. "Aaaaaargh!" The little filly mimicked her, tone-perfect, though an octave higher in her squeaky little voice, as she ravaged the poor innocent little quill in her tiny maw of doom. "Put it down." Spike said, gesturing for the filly to return the quill. There was a fwhip, a rush of air, and Spike found the quill lodged in the wall beside his head, quivering gently from the impact. "Put it down!" The changeling squeaked happily, having been more than happy to return the quill having determined quite decisively that it wasn't edible after all. "Err....Twilight, that plan had better include bullet-proof armour somewhere." Spike said, slowly, gingerly reaching up for the quill embedded in the wall. He tugged once. Then tugged again. Then gritted his teeth and gave an almighty pull. Achieving nothing, he stepped back and opted for glaring at the quill disapprovingly instead. "Bulletproof armour, got it..." Twilight murmured, absent-mindedly, pulling the quill out of the wall with her magic and dipping its frayed end in some ink. However she found her view blocked by the little filly who had decided to clamber clumsily up into her lap, standing on her rearhooves, forehooves up on the desk. She seemed intent on joining her in staring blankly at the sheet of paper. Twilight watched blearily as the little filly prodded the sheet of paper with one forehoof experimentally. Confident that it wasn't about to leap up and eat her, she attempted to pick it up in both forehooves. It slipped about elusively on the desk before her, defying her attempts at picking it up. The little princess seemed to grow impatient at the paper's display of impertinence. And like the little princess she was she was quick to show the price for impudence. She lunged forwards and rammed her horn through its feeble body, running it through in one swift show of force. "Nyaaaaaaah!" She squeed triumphantly as she looked up at Twilight, yet another expectant look on her face. Twilight stared helplessly at the sheet of paper now impaled upon her jagged little horn. The doomed sheet of paper could only rustle pathetically at her mercy. "...." Twilight planted her face flat on the desk. She let out one last moan of defeat. Then there was silence. "Look, you need to calm down, Twilight." Spike said, watching as the little filly patted Twilight's head comfortingly. "Just take a moment and write to princess Celestia for advice..." He very quickly wished he could kick himself in the plot for suggesting that. "Princess Celestia? The Princess?! Off course!" Twilight rose up from the dead. The little filly squeed happily, seemingly proud of her success at necromancy. Twilight clapped her hooves together, "Dear Princess Celestia, Queen Chrysalis has just passed away and left her only daughter in my care. Who is also my niece, because she is Shining Armour's daughter, who isn't Cadence's daughter, because she is Chrysalis'." She sang in a shaky highpitched voice. "Hold the Gryphons!" Spike's eyes were wide as saucers, "Who the what how now?" He gasped. His mind churned up nothing but errors as he tried to fit Shining Armour into the already complicated equation. But he wasn't allowed a moment to work out the geometry behind the love triangle as Twilight was quick to plough on with her wailing. "So now I will be looking after a little changeling filly which by your law is illegal as it is tantamount to harbouring a changeling and is considered treason in view of their assault upon the royal family over a year ago. Not to mention she is on the run from someone called the Empress of Changelings who is Tartarus-bent on killing every last changeling queen in Equestria. And while we're at it, can I request an increase in my royal stipend as, frankly, I'm broke as it is and having another mouth to feed and a warm body to provide for would be beyond taxing, it'd be suicide. Please let me keep my head on my shoulders, please don't banish me, please give me strength, your faithful student Twilight Sparkle who I pinkie-promise you hasn't been brainwashed by a changeling." Twilight took a long, deep breath of air as she surfaced from the ocean of despair she almost drowned herself in, "Did I miss anything?" "How about....that' you're really sorry?" Spike suggested, "With icing and bananas on top?" Twilight let out a wail of despair as she buried her face in her hooves once more. "What if she banishes me? Or throws me in a dungeon? Or banish me and then throw me in a dungeon in that place that she banishes me to?" "....I'll just do what you'd do and write to you when you're banished." Spike shrugged, rolling his eyes as he rolled with Twilight's usual runaway imagination, "Unless that place you're banished to doesn't have a post office. Though I suppose I can cough up the letters for you...but that would involve me being there with you. But...wait...I don't want to be banished and thrown in a dungeon." Spike said, logic slowly escaping him as well. "See?! See why I can't write to princess Celestia?!" Twilight wailed, wringing her hooves. "Did you run out of ink again?" An innocent little voice asked, full of heartfelt worry. "Oh dear, that would be dreadful. We wouldn't want you to start writing in your own tears again like last time. Putting out the fires took hours." Spike and Twilight rounded on the figure at the door. A familiar butter-coated pegasus peeked around the corner of the door, a pair of emerald green orbs filled with sincere concern peering at them from under her long, serene wavelets of sunset-pink hair. It was the reassuring form of their travel companion and resident care-giving expert, Fluttershy. To be in her presence was to order a big warm bowl of strawberry milk to drown oneself in. Spike visibly relaxed. Fluttershy's calming effects, unfortunately seemed entire lost upon Twilight. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt everypony or anything. I hope I wasn't being rude..." Fluttershy said in almost a whisper as she allowed herself into the room meekly with the quietest of tippyhooves. "Ummm, if you don't mind me asking, what was everypony talking about?" "Fluttershy, princess Celestia's going to banish me and then throw me in a dungeon in that place that she banishes me to!" Twilight wailed hysterically, on the verge of tearing her own mane out. This earned her another eye-roll from her loyal assistant. "Oh, oh my, that is dreadful." Fluttershy was quick to agree with an expression of sweet concern, "It'd be like that time I borrowed Philomena without asking the princess...*gasp* did you borrow Philomena without asking too, Twilight?" She asked, looking about the room for signs of the phoenix. "Worse." Twilight pointed a hoof at the filly who was sitting on her hindhooves, busy trying to lick the paper stuck to her little horn, big harlequin eyes going cross-eyed as she fought to focus on her target, forehooves up in the air pawing for purchase upon the elusive sheet. "You borrowed a filly?" Fluttershy's eyes had widened to a point that shouldn't even be anatomically possible. "Ummm...Where, if you don't mind me asking?" She asked, twiddling her hooves, "I want one. Umm, if that's alright, I mean..." Author's Note Thanks for reading again folks! Hope everone enjoyed that as always. Updates have been daily due to the fact that it was Easter holidays. Unfortunately now that they are coming to an end I won't be able to manage another update for at least a few days. I thought I'd at least get one more short chapter out before I disappear for a few days. Unfortunately it meant it wasn't as meaty in terms of actual plot (no pun intended). To (sort of, kind of, hopefully) make up for it, here's a little preview of a future song, a work in progress. Not gonna lie, writing songs for Lia is so so so much fun. Watchie, Lia's growing faster than you know Fasterier than the sound of light, Lia's so in of control Watchie out Equestria, Lia's the grownest uppest now Eyes on Lia now, Lia's getting this road on the show! A grownup's worldie is bigger than biggie (oh so free!) Lia's not letting something little like 'little' stop Lia here Cause Lia's not just grown-up, you see (really!) Lia's the grownest uppest biggie filly! (really really!") Watchie, Lia's growing faster than you know Fasterier than the sound of light, getting this road on the show! When you're grownup, you're always 'not-naughty' When everything's biggie nothing's 'silly' (but that's just silly) Well, Lia's done being told Lia's tiny! (They'll see!) Lia's gonna be 'not-naughty' like the biggies! (Teehee!) Watchie, Lia's growing faster than you know Fasterier than the sound of light, getting this road on the show! Twillie likes her proofies and ever-dense-sees! Lia just needs to prove Lia's self so she'll see! Speaking just like a grownup, 'I, I, I, me, me, me' Do the chores (sigh), pick up the mess (groan) and study Watchie, Lia's growing faster than you know Fasterier than the sound of light, getting this road on the show! Growing up's hard when you're a tiny little filly Doing all them writing exercisisisisisies perfectly Lia already eats her (eeergh) alfalfa like a biggie pony! (Sigh) How much more to go before Lia can be free...? Say....you know how there's an entire worldie outside? Cause...inside's...inside's just not like....outside... My Little Twilight Big Apple Inn, Appleloosa, a few moments later "Fluttershy?" "Yes?" "It's alright to come out now." "Is it g-gone?" "No." "T-then I'll stay u-under here i-if it's alright?" Twilight could only sigh and shake her head as she regarded the quivering bed. She peered down underneath at the pair of trembling emerald orbs glimmering with tears in the dark. "Fluttershy, it really is alright. I mean, look, does she really look harmful to you?" Twilight asked, pointing a hoof at the little filly who was running about in circles chasing the sheet of paper flapping about on her horn. "Yes." Fluttershy's voice sailed up from underneath the bed. "Very yes." "Just give it up, Fluttershy." Spike muttered. "It's Shining Armour all over again." "I'm not brainwashed!" Twilight asserted, "I'm perfectly fine!" "Shining Armour. All over again." Spike repeated for emphasis. "Gah!" Twilight growled in frustration. "Just what part of that looks like an evil brainwashing love-sapping monster?" She asked, hoof still pointing at the filly who had resumed sitting back on her haunches, pawing her hooves at the piece of paper. She leaned back so far in her epic struggle that she rolled backwards onto her back in a fit of giggles, little hooves flailing out at thin air. "A-all of her. S-she's a ch-ch-changeling." Fluttershy whispered. "And ch-changelings are scary. And d-dangerous. And very scary." "A changeling filly." Twilight sighed. "She's about as dangerous as Angel." CHOMP "Y'know, I actually don't disagree. She is as dangerous as Angel." Spike said, nodding at the little changeling filly chomping on his arm, stubby little fangs barely tickling his diamond-hard dragon scales. "Spike! It's eating Spike!" Fluttershy squeaked fearfully. "I'm....pretty sure that's her way of showing affection." Twilight murmured, weakly, watching the little filly happily chewing on Spike's arm. She was even making happy nibbling noises, something along the lines of 'Munyamunyamunyamunya'. "Sure she is." Spike rolled his eyes sceptically. "So, uh, can I start screaming now?" He asked, giving his arm an experimental tug. The little filly, however, was fastened as tightly as a small furry Ursa trap. "Or maybe...now?" "Uh, well, perhaps she's just hungry." Twilight suggested helpfully. "Great. That makes it so much better." Spike muttered, deadpan. "What if changeling-ness is contagious, you know, like zombies? What if I became a changeling dragon?!" He paused for a moment as he considered the prospect. "Y'know, that would actually be pretty cool. I could, like, transform into Rarity's ideal pony. Or the Masked Matterhorn. I'd be, like, the transformer dragon!" "We can't have that now, can we?" Twilight picked up a bowl of red apples off the room's dining table with her magic. "What, me becoming cool?" Spike blinked. "Here you go, little one. I'm pretty sure this is much better for you." Twilight said, offering Lia the biggest, shiniest apple of the bunch. "I lost to an apple. Gee, thanks." Spike muttered. "Oh, I'm free." He said, pulling his liberated arm away. The little filly's jaw had dropped wide open as she stood transfixed at the sight of the apple, releasing Spike's arm. "Pikca! Was syea ra irs mea chanti?!" The little filly's eyes glimmered brilliantly. 'Fruit! With great happiness, is it my birthday already?!' Twilight's mind translated for her. She couldn't help but feel a little pang of sympathy. What sort of life could this little filly have lived to consider fruit a once-a-year occasion? And to remain so indomitably cheerful despite all that? 'She has your resilience' Twilight couldn't help but think of Chrysalis once more. "No, little one. From now on there will be apples and everything else every single day." Twilight said, giving her a sad little smile as she pushed the fruit into the little filly's hooves. It was so big, or, rather, the filly was so small that she had to sit back on her haunches to hug the apple with all four hooves. She gave it a few experimental sniffs before cooing excitedly, "Pikca irs?", 'What fruit is this?'. Twilight, in a sudden little whim, decided to tap into her newfound reserve of changeling knowledge. It came surprisingly easy, about as easy as reading off a tourist guide, if tourist guides creepily haunted your brain like those drinking games one remembers but could never recall actually learning. "Pikca irs Aurelia.", 'This fruit is an apple'. She replied in changeling. "Whoah, you speak changeling too?" Spike gasped. "I don't remember a book on that in our library. I think I'd remember a guide to speaking creepy-nese ." "She wasn't the only thing Chrysalis left me." Twilight said, tapping her head with a hoof. "I'm not sure what else, but I've at least got a changeling dictionary in here. I sure hope Chrysalis at least catalogued everything with the Dewhoof decimal system." "Lia!" The little filly booped her nose against the apple, nuzzling it affectionately. "Teeheehee, Lia!" She rolled away in a fit of giggles while hugging the apple tightly. "So, um, if I understand what you told me, and I, uh, sort of hope I'm wrong." Fluttershy murmured, peering out from under the bed. "But poor Chrysalis has...passed away and left you with her child? And she's your niece?" "Yes." Twilight nodded. "That's....so sad." Fluttershy whispered. "So you'll be looking after her, Twilight?" "She has nopony else. She is alone in the world now." Twilight said. "And Chrysalis asked me not to tell my brother. She doesn't want anypony to know she is her daughter. She doesn't want this little one to, well, inherit her crimes." She said bitterly. "The poor thing." Fluttershy sniffled, eyes watering up. "Chrysalis...was a good pony, wasn't she?" 'Only the Element of Kindness could ever think that so easily' Twilight thought to herself. "Yes. She proved that there is good in everypony." She nodded, feeling guilty for what little bitterness she still harboured. "Even her." "I'll help." Twilight was surprised by the sudden conviction in Fluttershy's voice. "I-if that's alright with you, I mean." "Fluttershy? Aren't you, well, afraid of her?" Twilight blinked in disbelief. "I am. I'm very very afraid." Fluttershy whispered, "But when I think of how frightening it is to be all alone in the world, to grow up without even a mother, that is so so so frightening I could just scream." She gave her extremely quiet little whine of a scream as she stomped a hoof in the floor. "It's not fair! Nopony should have to be that way!" She gave her little battle cry against all the injustice in the world. "No, Twilight, she won't be alone. At the very least we'll be there for her." She said in a very surprising show of assertiveness. "Fluttershy..." Twilight felt awed by just how much her best friend was still able to surprise her, even now after so long. "Are you sure you'll be alright?" "I am frightened. But that doesn't matter. She does." Fluttershy asserted. "I'll help, Twilight. I promise." She said, giving Twilight a look of genuine determination, though her lips still quivered with the telltale signs of fear. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." She went through the motions shakily but determinedly. "Thank you, Fluttershy. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much." Twilight felt a sudden flood of relief and gratitude well up within her, one so overwhelming she couldn't help but pull her best friend into a tight hug. "I-I thought I'd have to face this alone with her. But no, you reminded me. I have you, I have everypony." She struggled to put her relief into words. "Yes, we'll be here for her, for you, Twilight." Fluttershy smiled. "No matter how frightening." "Yeah, Twi, we're all right behind you." Spike, number 1 assistant, said, patting Twilight reassuringly. "Like, 100 yards behind you." He added. "Spike...?" Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. "I'm joking, jeez." Spike rolled his eyes. "Talk about a tough crowd. Of course I'm going to help. Twilight town doesn't run on Sparkle alone." He gave Twilight a nudge to which Twilight replied with a little chuckle. "Sure, Spike." Twilight said. "That's better." Fluttershy nodded approvingly. Splat. Their little moment was interrupted by a mysterious little sound. Twilight, Fluttershy and Spike looked around at the source. They very quickly regretted it. They could only clutch their bellies and mouths as their stomach contents threatened to rebel against their tummies. The little filly had both her forehooves raised. The armour plating on her hooves had slid open just enough to reveal an array of seemingly hollow ducts characteristic of changeling hooves. Though the filly's were noticeably and inexplicably heart-shaped for some reason, reminiscent of cookie-cutters. The ducts were all aimed at the apple. Except there wasn't an apple anymore. In its place there was a greenish black cocoon, trailing thick glistening strands of what looked like spider silk up to the ducts on the little filly's hooves. The filly was twirling her hooves about the cocoon as she spun the apple about in all 4 hooves, wrapping it with more and more layers of her spider silk, or changeling silk rather. "Just....what is she doing?" Spike asked, raising an eyebrow. "She's putting her food...in a cocoon." Twilight murmured, eyebrow twitching dangerously. The little filly looked up at Twilight, smiling expectantly, as if waiting for her approval. "From what we gathered from Chrysalis, their people were starving and short on food. Maybe storing away their surplus food in cocoons is part of their way of life." Twilight thought out loud, tapping a hoof on her chin. "Maybe cocoons help preserve food? Maybe they're airtight?" The scientist inside her theorized. "Maybe you'll get to find out? You're going to be her food after all." Spike said with a grin. "Spike!" Twilight growled. "Hey, just sayin'." Spike shrugged. "Changelings feed on love, don't they?" Fluttershy said. "Chrysalis told me changelings can only feed on those who love them directly. That would explain their shapeshifting, actually." Twilight mused thoughtfully. "I wonder if she even knows how to feed?" "Well, you could always, perhaps, teach her?" Fluttershy suggested. "Yes, of course. Hey, little one, I'm your lunch." Twilight gestured at herself. "Oh my, I wouldn't put it quite like that." Fluttershy gave a little giggle, "If you think about it, mommies nurse their foalies, don't they? Isn't it just like that?" "Except it's cooler cause it's wireless." Spike added. Fluttershy and Twilight gave Spike an odd look. "Uh, sure Spike." Twilight said. "Um, do you love her?" Fluttershy finally popped the big question, twiddling her hooves together. "If you don't mind me asking, I mean." Twilight froze midway through patting the little filly as she handed her another apple. 'Do I?' Twilight thought to herself, panic rising. 'I couldn't love Chrysalis, she died.' She thought urgently as she peered down at the little filly in fear. 'What if....what if the same thing happens to the little one. Oh no!' She clutched her head in both hooves as she frantically ransacked her mind for ideas. The little filly gave a happy giggle as she clutched her own head in imitation. Smoke began to rise up as Twilight's frizzled mane began to spark. "Oh no, oh no, oh no." Her mind began to flat spin into hysteria. Again. Except her spiral was cut short by the strange but soothing sensation of something blowing on her mane gently. She looked to her shoulder and found the little filly perched there, blowing gently at the smoke pluming out of Twilight's mane. "Was granme ga, siss fayra." The little filly said with a determined smile, 'With a will to protect you, I put out the fire'. "It'll be alright, Twilight." Fluttershy said, patting Twilight comfortingly on her other shoulder. "We'll both try. Though, um..." She eyed the little filly fearfully, "I may have to try harder. A lot harder-er." She whispered, voice shaking. "Thank you, Fluttershy." Twilight gave her a grateful nod. "But if there's anypony who's gonna be lunch, it should be me." She said determinedly, picking the giggling little filly up in her hooves and placing her in her lap. She picked up the uneaten apple and, with a few skilful flourishes of her magic, she sliced it up into seedless little pieces. "Come, eat up, little one." She said, offering the bite-sized pieces to the little filly with her magic. "Does she have a name?" Fluttershy suddenly asked. "It's just a little suggestion if that's alright. It might make it easier to love her if she has a name? Maybe a cute one?" She said, watching the little filly peer at the floating apple pieces curiously, tilting her head this way and that as she pawed at them with her forehooves. Twilight popped a piece of the apple into her own mouth to demonstrate for the little filly. "See? Eat." She said, making exaggerated munching motions before making a big show of swallowing. "Here, you try." "Eat!" The little filly repeated, opening her mouth wide and devouring the nearest floating piece. "Mmmmm!" She cooed heartily, flailing her rearhooves about as she clutched her cheeks with her forehooves in obvious delight. "Yes, that's right. It's been an entire day. We can't keep on calling her 'she'." Twilight agreed, watching the little filly happily devour another piece. "Yeah, 'it' more like." Spike said. "Spiiike...." Twilight growled under her breath. "Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry." Spike muttered. Twilight levitated the foal up before her. She gave a little squeak of surprise in response but flew into yet another fit of giggles as she flailed her hooves about in the weightlessness. She eyed the apple pieces floating about her and began to make swimming motions towards the nearest one. "What shall we name you, little one?" Twilight asked. "Omomomom." The little filly answered through a mouthful of apple pieces as she floated upside down in front of Twilight. "Good idea. Let's go with that." Spike agreed. "A name is a really big thing." Fluttershy said. "It's the only thing you can truly call your own." "Yes. And it'd better be a special one." Twilight nodded, thoughtfully. "Yes, Aurelia. Aurelia. That is your name." "That's a wonderful name." Fluttershy said approvingly. "Aurelia? Huh, now that's an unusual name." Spike said. "Don't ponies like more straighforward names?" "Yes, but I think this one is fitting." Twilight said. "Does it mean something?" Fluttershy asked, curious. "'Aurelia', 'gold', but it also another word for 'Chrysalis' or 'coccoon'." Twilight said. "In her language, it means 'Fruit of the gods' or 'apple'. Chrystallis used to call her her the apple of her eye after all." "You're naming her after her mother?" Spike blinked, "But didn't she say..." "Yes, I know, Spike." Twilight said, "And I had thought about it. But she was Lia's mother. She deserves this much. And it's not the first thing that comes to mind with that name. It's too obscure." "Oh, great, you've even thought up a nickname for her." Spike groaned. "But aren't pony names kind of, what's the word, audacious?" "You mean auspicious?" Twilight giggled, much to the little filly's shared amusement. "Yes, they tend to be. The more literal ones moreso. But the neutral names are fine. I mean, I'm 'Twilight Sparkle' and I ended up a librarian in a little town. And Fluttershy..." She nodded at her best friend who gave a sheepish smile in response, "She's the best animal caretaker in the world." "Well, you're also the personal student to the Princess and the most powerful magic-wielding unicorn in 1000 years." Spike pointed out, "But nope, that has nothing to do with 'Sparkle' at all." "Alright, I agree hindsight is 20/20. But using your supreme logic, oh great pony name etymologist, what do you think 'Aurelia' might grow up to be?" Twilight demanded with a smile. "Oh, I don't know, don't call me psychic or anything, but I think she'll be...." Spike looked up in mock thoughtfulness, "A changeling queen. Of doom. Ooooor, I know, maybe....a changeling queen? Of, y'know, doom." "But, that would be horrible." Fluttershy gasped. "Please, don't." "Spike, you suck at this game." Twilight shook her head, "I think she'll grow up to be like a coccoon, a humble child whose actions will speak for her, one who nurtures, one who protects, one who will change the world." "Pwotec!" Lia giggled in between swimming after apples. "See? She agrees." Twilight said. "Yeah. Question is who she'll be protecting. Us or the changelings." Spike muttered. "Oh, so cynical, Spike." Twilight rolled her eyes as she patted Lia on the head, earning her a happy little yip from the filly. "Perhaps there will come a day when you will protect both worlds, is that not so, Lia?" Twilight asked the little filly. "Lia!" The newly christened Lia gave a loud yip of approval as she did a midair roll. ` "See?" Twilight asked. "Whatever, Twi." Spike sighed, "Now, lemme guess, I'm the one cleaning up after her from now on?" He asked pointing at the apple coccoon and the sticky changeling silk all around it. The silence from Twilight was telling. "Yep, knew it." Spike sighed, waddling off in search of the dustpan. Evening soon came, early as it always did in the winter months. Fluttershy stayed for a quick meal before retiring to her room, saying she needed to pack for the return journey. Applejack had returned from her business trip with Applebloom in tow but had gone straight to her room with a thunderous scowl on her face. Twilight didn't even get a chance to ask her what happened before her farmer friend disappeared behind her door. "Somethin' went very wrong." Applebloom had helpfully stopped to explain, "Ah had never seen cousin Braeburn lookin' that shifty like. He changed his mind on the deal and is chargin' us triple for them prize apple sapplings. Big sis blew her top and almost burned her hat. I'd better go and make sure she doesn't break her head or anythin'." She had said before quickly disappearing after her sister. "I'd better come with them tomorrow." Twilight said as she returned to her room to find Spike turning down the lanterns for bed. "It sounds worrying." She paused to toss another log into the fireplace for the night. It crackled on merrily, promising enough warmth to last the night. "If Applejack's that angry it must be." Spike nodded in agreement. "Will you have time though? Cause I'm sure you've got more to pack." His sarcasm could have probably melted away all the snow and wrapped-up winter all by itself. "You think so?" Twilight asked, looking at the mountain of items jammed atop her suitcase. There was everything from the various souvenirs, a sappling of a rare shrub she had picked up, an interesting fossil specimen, a sample of buffalo tribe divination in an airtight jar, the room's sink and wash basin, towels, blankets, the pillow, and even a token attempt at sticking a few drawers in. "Do you think I should pack more?" She asked worriedly, "I mean, just suppose, hypothetically, theoretically speaking, if we were to extend our holiday, what do you think we'd need when we get to Gryphonia? Or Minos? Or maybe Prance or Germane? Maybe I should pack warm if we go to Maregentina?" "Twi? Do we need to go over this again?" Spike raised an eyebrow as he crossed his arms impatiently. "Sorry, sorry. You're right." Twilight nodded with a sigh. "Let's get to sleep and leave everything to tomorrow." "At least we know she's ready to go." Spike said, pointing at the little filly curled up inside Twilight's scarf where it sat atop the chaos towering above the suitcase. "Did she fall asleep?" Twilight asked, trotting up to her suitcase. "I don't know. She just sat around a lot. And when I thought I lost her I find her there." Spike said. "She must think it's a nest or something." Twilight tilted her head to one side as she peered down at the snug little filly. "Let's get you to bed then, little one." She said, scooping the little filly up and carrying her in one hoof over to her bed. "Now that she's back I need to go next door to speak to Applebloom. You go on ahead, Twilight." Spike said at the door. "Just a chat. No cards, Spike. We have an early day tomorrow." Twilight called after him. "Yes, mom." Spike muttered his reply as he left. "Mom." Twilight chuckled to herself as she hopped onto the bed and curled up next to the little filly. "Iaaaa..." Lia moaned softly. "Sorry, little one, did I wake you up?" Twilight asked. The little filly looked up at her slowly, forcing a grimaced smile up at her, before snuggling up against her fur for comfort. "What's wrong?" Twilight frowned, curling a hoof around the little filly protectively. Then she felt it, a soft but niggling pang at the back of her mind, like a space pleading to be filled. She raised a hoof to her head, brows furrowing. Sure, she could pick up translations of whatever the little filly said. But feelings as well? Were they....connected somehow? Is this how the hivemind worked? Twilight's mind whizzed as she thought of the many possibilities for experimentation and applications in the field of Friendship. But the trembling little ball in her hooves quickly brought her runaway mind to a screeching halt. 'No, Lia's more important right now.' She thought to herself reproachfully. 'That empty space....was that...?' "You're hungry, aren't you?" Twilight murmured bitterly. The little filly had eaten plenty that day and still she wasn't sated. It could only mean one thing - she needed to feed on something else entirely - Love. The thought hung like a dark cloud on Twilight's mind. The solution was obvious - she had to love Lia. The question is, how do you even begin to love somepony? Does one simply decide to do so? She was barely halfway through studying friendship. How could she even begin to practice something she barely understands? Were there even books on the subject? "Iaaaa..." Lia gave another soft moan, giving her a forlorn look, her fluffy ears drooping morosely. Twilight tightened her embrace about the little filly. "I know, I know, it's difficult getting to sleep when you're hungry. But you have to. Don't you worry, I'm sure I'll find a solution. Promise." She said, inwardly cursing herself for daring to utter such hollow words. If not books then what else could she turn to? Experts? There was no way she could ask Cadence, obviously. There was a little sniffle. Twilight felt her heart sink at the sound. She looked down to find Lia's big turquoise eyes brimming with tears, her little lips quivering with obvious discomfort. The little filly still struggled to give her a watery grimace through her tears but was very obviously losing the fight. 'Such a good, brave little child.' Twilight thought, sullenly, 'She deserves better.' She gritted her teeth angrily. A sudden thought occurred to Twilight. It was a little something her mother used to do to comfort her. It always worked no matter how inconsolable Twilight used to feel as a filly. She had little else to try, might as well. She summoned up the old but word-perfect memories, of warm nights and soft cuddles under fluffy blankets, of the old lullaby that would carry her off to sleep without fail each and every night. "Twilight night, Twilight night." Twilight sang softly. "Come watch over my child tonight." Lia's fluffy ears perked up. "Go to sleep now you'll be alright Mommy'll hold your hoof, safe and tight. Ms. Moon on high will be your night light. Sleep now and let your dreams take flight." As Twilight sang her little song she couldn't help but recall her own mother. She thought of how warm, how safe and secure she'd feel in her hooves, how every soothing word felt like a comforting blanket wrapping her nice and tight. She felt a pang in her heart. Lia doesn't have anypony like that. Not anymore. To be so small and alone in such a vast, uncaring world. Fluttershy was right. It was frightening. It was beyond frightening. And nopony should have to live like that. Lia squirmed against Twilight, moaning softly as she curled her legs up into a little ball. Twilight had read it was a sign of foals experiencing 'colic' or tummy pains. In this case it was obviously hunger. Twilight bit her lip as she sang the second verse. "Twilight sleep, Twilight sleep I will make you a bed of galaxies Tuck you in a blanket of starfields lay you upon a pillow of night lillies and sow your dreams with hope seeds grow now, that fruits of love you might reap" Lia seemed to settle a little as she snuggled deeper against Twilight's chest. Twilight felt herself instinctively hold the little filly closer against herself. The little bundle of warmth felt so soft, so wonderfully warm against her. What would her own mother do? Twilight Velvet would never, ever leave anypony alone, no matter what. She even saw Spike as her very own child, giving him all the love he'd ever want or need from a mother. Wait. That's it. It hit her. It was like a sudden lightning bolt. It was so simple, so obvious. This filly needs a mother. Twilight can be her mother. No! She is her mother. And she would love her as her very own. "Twilight dream, Twilight dream Of meadows of honey and streams of cream taste the sweet evergreens and sugary sunbeams listen to the stars twinkle and the moon gleam feel the melody of this Twilight serene Forever till tomorrow, Twilight dream." It felt like a dam broke in her heart. A flood of warmth and happiness surged, filling her to bursting. It was a feeling so wonderfully fulfilling and light that she felt her heart, her entire self, rise up like a balloon. She gave Lia an experimental snuggle. The little filly gave a weary giggle in reply, squirming up against the nook of her neck. Every little giggle, every gentle show of affection, everything gave Twilight another surge of warmth. 'This....this is Love.' Twilight reeled from the overwhelming feelings. Her lips quivered, rising into a smile. Her cheeks felt warm and wet. She raised a hoof to her cheeks and was surprised to find tears; tears of happiness. She felt a soft nip on the big warm balloon. She felt it deflate a little, the surge of feelings settling into a calm flow, allowing her to bask in the warmth all the better. It was pure bliss, complete happiness. As she hugged the child against her she knew from the very core of her being that she needed nor wanted for anything else in life. This, this little filly, was everything. 'It's Shining Armour all over again.' Spike's words echoed in her mind. Uncertainty reared their ugly heads. Doubt treacherously stabbed her heart. Her mind rose up in a rebellious coup d'etat over her feelings. Worry and anxiety took over. Was she being brainwashed? Manipulated? Like her brother before her? Would she become a mindless husk unable to think for herself like he did? She was the one who saved him back then. But what of her? Who would save her? The dam slammed shut. And then the pain came like a hammer to the head. She raised a hoof to her head, wincing in absolute agony. Stars flashed in her eyes as her entire world spun. What little bit of her mind managed to think through the pain came to a horrifying conclusion - this must be the headaches Shining Armour went through when he was brainwashed. The little nip on the balloon quickly ceased. "Iaaa. Was gwanme ga, zash yor! Huwt!" Lia gasped, tapping both forehooves on Twilight's muzzle worriedly. "Twiley Huwt!" Twilight felt a pang of guilt. Was that Lia finally managing to feed? And did she just stop her from feeding? Because she worried the little filly? "No, no, I'm fine, Lia." Twilight said reassuringly, nuzzling the little filly. "And what was that you just called me?" She asked, suddenly registering what Lia had said. "Twiley!" Lia giggled, tightening her hug about Twiligh's muzzle, giving her a loving nuzzle. "Teehee Twiley Twiley!" "You're more like your father than just your appearance." Twilight joined in her giggles, booping her forehead against Lia's, eliciting a fresh fit of giggles from her. Every sound, every breath, seemed to tug at Twilight's heart, giving her yet another little dose of happiness. "I can only hope you'll....you'll grow up to be just like your mother. Just, just like me." Twilight whispered, wistfully, taking refuge in that soft, blissful feeling once more. "My little Twilight. My little Twilight Aurelia." Just for tonight at least, brainwashing or no, she'll allow herself this little bit of heaven. For her sake. Author's Note This one has been a long time coming. Many thanks for your kind patience everyone. I hope you all enjoyed that as much as I enjoyed writing it. This one went through 2 draft revisions as I struggled to get that sense of motherhood down in the most believable way possible. I decided on 'absolutely overwhelming'. Perhaps any parents amongst you might be able to enlighten me on how accurate that is. For Twilight it was like a switch. She never had to carry a foal through an 11 month pregnancy. She never got to prepare for it. It just happened out of the blue, accompanied by a landmine of a traumatic experience. For her to make that transition from 'this just happened' to 'I'm a mother' was something I debated back and forth on how to approach. I finally decided this sudden revelation was the way to go. Right, thank you to listening to me ramble on about that. Now, what's the status of this story? You guys have been great readers and you all deserve to know exactly where this story is at the moment. Yes, this was my debut story, one very close to my heart. And yes, I now have two possibly three other more successful stories in progress. And yes, I've been working on them in favour of MLQ over the past few months. So I'll level with you all and be absolutely frank, considering you've all been kind enough to read this far. I love writing. It's fun. And half the fun is also in seeing my work read, seeing people enjoy it, reading the comments and seeing people love it enough to follow it. Call me superficial, but that's frankly half of what I love about writing for you guys. I don't have much free time unfortunately. Life's quite busy, so I try to maximize returns whenever I can. Right now My Little Queen isn't doing quite as great as my other stories. In fact before I started branching out and releasing other stories, MLQ had 40 readers at chapter 4 and 20.000 words. That number creeped up to 130 through those of you kind enough to give it a try, presumably after seeing one of my other works. I know that is entirely a reflection of my own abilities and skills as a writer. I wish I could be better to do it justice. Again, I'll be absolutely frank, I have one hope - MLQ has not yet made the popular stories list or the featured stories list. I think given the exposure there it might have a chance. Provided it does well enough to make the popular stories list this time around I will gladly consider investing time in it and putting it on my active stories list. I'm not saying I'm otherwise abandoning it, far from that. I love it and you folks obviously do too to read this far. It's only fair to you guys, to this story and to myself for me to see this through. Unfortunately it'll be at a much slower pace on my slow updates list. As I said, unfortunately life's not very forgiving and I have stories that are (I suppose fortunately) doing much much better in terms of readership which deserve more of my time (but equal commitment, of course. That is my promise to all my readers). So yes, that's where we are. I apologize for the bad news, but, hey, fingers crossed. Maybe life will turn around, be kind and give me more free time. Or given the chance this might somehow outdo my other stories this time? Hey, one can dream. And a little bit of shameless self promotion. You like how adorable Lia is? How about a triple dose of Lia cuteness with no drama and feels, just full on honest-to-goodness sugar overload? Then you might like A Unicorn, a Changeling and a Bat Filly, and the Baker, the tale of 3 filly orphans, a unicorn, a changeling and a thestral, raised by a single father, a slice of life story of sugar for the sake of sugar. I have also just released a new story in tandem with today's chapter of MLQ, one titled - The Windigo Peacekeepers and the Frostfire Crystal Emperor, a story about a young crystal pony/windigo who through a series of unfortunate events ends up making friends with the most random group of ponies including princess Luna herself. My Little Kite A Galaxy Not So Far Away, Not Too Long Into the Next Day... Little Twilight Aurelia had been a very, very busy filly. She swam her way through an ocean of stardust, propelling herself along with little doggy paddles of her tiny hoofsies. She would give happy little squees as she chased down any shooting star that dared cross her path. Her big eyes would sparkle gleefully as she greeted the meandering starlets with a big, warm huggle. Before nomming them whole. Nom nom nom nyoooom~ She gave an excited coo as she cluched her cheeks with her forehooves, revelling in the yummy sweetness within. That was when a particularly large comet passed by, sprinkling sparkles in its wake, causing the little filly to scrunch her nose a little at the sudden tickle. Being the intrepid astronomical gastronaut she was, she was determined not to let a single culinary challenge go unchallenged, not even mischievous little comets. With a quick twist of her tail to steer herself, she launched herself after the comet. Paddle paddle paddle paddle~ Nothing gets away from this little filly and her expert star-ocean doggy-paddling, not even pesky little comets. With a determined grin she finally caught up with her prize. She licked her lips with relish before opening her maw wide and... CHOMP Chew chew chew... It tasted...purple. Lia gave a frown as she tried to chew on the soft, squishy yet stubbornly inedible thing in her mouth. It also gave a soft groan. Being the knowledgeable gastronaut she was, she was sure comets don't groan. They twitter. She opened her eyes to investigate this suspicious not-comet further. The comet was very purple. She was also very much asleep. But nothing gets past Lia's incredible powers of filly perception. It was Twiley! Or, to be exact, Twiley's ear! Silly Twiley, disguising herself (or is it her ear?) as a comet. What if Lia ate her? And all her ears? Huggables can't be eatables at the same time! Except for apples. Apples are allowed to be eatable and huggable at the same time, because they're awesome! But Twiley's not an apple, she’s a huggable, so Twiley's just being silly, not awesome. Alright, maybe she's a little bit awesome, because Lia's generous like that. Lia suddenly realized she was still chewing on Twiley's ear through that entire train of though. She (rather reluctantly) released what she decided was her new favourite part of Twiley. Sleeping huggables aren't as interesting as awake huggables. She considered rectifying this, possibly with her tried-and-tested rocket-boop. Then she decided that she wasn't quite that desperate for a huggable. After all, there was the rest of the world to huggle. Or nom. Or both. With that she cast her eyes around her new surroundings. That funny sea of star dust had dried up, leaving her in this bright new world. Like any intrepid explorer, she began her exploration of her new world by examining the ground beneath her hoofsies. She did this like any expert explorer would; By giving it a bounce. Then another for good measure. She tapped a hoof on her chin thoughtfully before allowing the ground a sagely nod and a hearty giggle. Yes, it was adequately bouncy, she decided. Happy with how promising the world was, she pranced onwards. She gave Twiley once last look, making sure she got her location and scent memorized. It wouldn’t do for her to lose Twiley now, would it? Satisfied with her expedition preparations, she set forth, leaping down onto the harder land beneath and prancing away in search of new objectives. The room was familiar to her. She had already explored every nook and cranny and tested everything within for potential eatables and huggables. Satisfied that nothing new had stumbled into her little world, she went straight for that big tall opening in the wall she knew led to worlds unknown. The opening was shut, but being the observant little filly she was, she had watched the trick to opening it quite carefully. Copying the motions, she quickly leapt up towards the latch and scrabbled her forehooves onto it, tugging it open with ease. "Teeheehee~" Lia giggled in triumph as she made her way out into terra incognita where no little filly had gone before. Because no filly was as brave as awesome as Lia, but everyfilly knew that. The ~~cutest~~ deadliest little predator in the universe slowly but surely prowled the shadows beyond, fluffy little ears twitching this way and that, tail wagging to and fro as if watching her back, as she inched her way forwards into the unknown. Being the great hunter she was, it didn’t take long for her to find an unsuspecting target. It was about the same size as her, even the same general shape (But Lia's more awesome, but everyfilly knew that). Its fur was a yummy honey yellow and its mane and tail was a scrumptious apple red. It was even topped with a cute red bow, all wrapped up and ready for her. It was also facing away from her, staring at a picture on the wall. There was no way Lia could resist such a tantalizingly easy target. Lia had a very simple way of approaching new things that are unfortunate enough to stumble upon her little world. She would first eat them. Or try to, anyway. Failing that, she would try and huggle them. Those foolish enough to turn her huggles down would be put to the horn for their insolence. Her horn, that is. Again and again and again until it became either eatable or huggable, whichever came first. It was a tried and tested approach, one Lia finds most profitable, as far as food and fun goes. So it was with great confidence (and appetite) that she slowly, quietly snuck up on the unsuspecting creature. Step 1: Test for eatability. She opened her little maw and chomped. Nibble nibble nibble~ It tasted like apples. Big Apple Inn, Appleloosa, a split second before... Apple Bloom, fun-sized apple farmer and resident trouble magnet, was in her normal rest state, at peace with the rest of the universe. She was, in other words, 'bored', one of two possible states for her, the other being '~~crusading~~ in trouble'. Though she may not know it, this was the better of the two, for both her and the universe at large. That was when trouble found her for once. Or, rather, bit her. She frowned as she felt something chew enthusiastically on her tail. She looked over her withers and found her tail in something, or, rather, somepony. It was the shape of a little filly, probably a unicorn judging by the rather bent horn poking out of her messy bluish silver mane. It was also hungry, judging by how determinedly it was trying to eat through her tail. She had always been told that if a stranger ever approached her, she should avoid talking to them and find the nearest grown-up. But she was never told what to do when the stranger was already eating her tail. “Umm, that’s mah tail.” Apple Bloom decided to attempt reason. It quickly became apparent that throwing reason at this filly achieved about as much as scrubbing with a whoopee cushion. “Mmm, that’sh mah tail!” The mystery filly said, like the most enthusiastic echo ever. Applebloom couldn’t help but feel somewhat impressed by how perfect the filly’s rendition was despite the mouthful of tail. That’s some dedication. “No, it’s mine.” Applebloom asserted. “Naw, it’sh mine!” The filly somehow managed to giggle through her tail. “Mine!” The argument intensified. “Mine!” The counter-argument was stronger. And gigglier. “Chase your own tail!” “Chase youw own tail!” “But that’s mah tail!” “But that’sh mah tail!” Applebloom can win arguments with brick walls, a talent she had acquired through an entire lifetime of having AJ as a sister. But brick walls generally don’t turn her arguments in circles, neither do they do so while munching on her tail. She had a feeling she had finally met her match. Action speaks louder than words, so her brother always told her (at least when he’s being particularly talkative), so she decided to give her tail an experimental tug instead. The filly’s nibbling only intensified. Frowning, Applebloom tried walking away. To her great consternation, the smaller filly followed along with her funny waddling gait. Deciding to put this filly’s willpower to the test, she broke into a sudden canter. She felt her tail pull taut but not the give she expected. Looking over her withers she found the little filly galloping along after her, giggling mirthfully. Applebloom, with speed honed through years of escaping the clutches of Miss Cherilee, Applejack and other assorted Crusading victims, would not be defeated in a test of speed by some tail-chasing filly. She put on her ‘Rawr’ face as she sped up into a full gallop. Putting on a burst of speed that would have left all but the most peeved adults in her dust, she thundered down the hall and out the front door into the snow-laden street. She knew that the chest-deep snow would be barely a hindrance to an earth pony like her but would be more than enough to slow some unicorn filly in a hoof race. Applebloom looked behind her and found that the filly was indeed not keeping up with her on hoof. She was keeping up with her in the air! The mystery filly had somehow sprouted a pair of wings that hummed gently as they flapped, lifting the filly up into the air behind her. In fact, the filly looked like a little kite the way Applebloom was pulling her along through the air, the fluffiest most stubborn kite ever. She made a right turn. The fluffy kite followed. She made a left. The fluffy kite followed. This was….actually fun! So the unicorn filly was proooooooobably not a unicorn, but she’s fun! And that’s all that mattered! Applebloom cracked a wide grin. The mystery filly mirrored it on cue. An unspoken oath of friendship was made. Together the two sped off into the sunrise. And the rest of poor, unsuspecting Appleloosa. Twilight Sparkle groaned as she turned over fitfully in her sleep. In her dark, troubled dreams Appleloosa had exploded into a mass of flaming sugar puffs. She would soon wish she never woke up…
My Little Prologue Ponyville, Day 35 A little pool of afternoon sunlight found Twilight Sparkle, local librarian and universal standard for obsessive compulsive disorder, sitting at her desk, magic-borne quill scratching industriously across an open page of her latest masterpiece, the 'Lia Contingency List E-2.7, revision 4'. ~~□ File away previous list~~ ■ File away ashes of previous list ■ Prepare new list ■ Enchant new list with fire-proofing spell ■ Remember to enchant room with fire-proofing spell next time Lia practices her disguise spell changeling fire-magic thing ■ Clean up Lia's cocoon nest ~~□ Teach Lia to sleep in her bed, not in a cocoon~~ □ Bribe Lia to sleep in her bed, not in a cocoon □ Negotiate suitable bribe. Note to self: Sugar cubes are viable currency □ Convince Lia that she shouldn't try to mimic Owlicious □ Or Peewee □ Somehow get Lia to sit still long enough for a proper brushing and preening ~~□ Find Lia~~ □ Make sure Lia hasn't set fire to/ate/impaled anything/anypony today Twilight paused in the middle of writing, biting the tip of her quill thoughtfully. She peered up at a nearby calendar for inspiration through eyes lined by layers of dark rings, testament to the trials of the last 5 weeks of her life. The calendar's edges had been chewed quite thoroughly, testament to somepony's determined attempt to test everything in her house for edibility. Twilight would have liked to use the quiet moment to lie down a little. However with so little time to herself lately she felt she simply had to get on with the organizing her life and that of her little filly. Or try to, anyway, at least before the next big catatastrophe. But before she could write anymore a familiar mischievous little giggle caught her attention. She gave a knowing little sigh as she made a show of looking around, "I wonder where Lia is?" She mused out loud. "Over here, Twilley~" The bubbly little voice giggled some more. "Hmmm, under the desk? No, not here." Twilight peered under her desk in pretend puzzlement, "Maybe under my chair? Oh, not here either. Aah, I know, maybe in my drawer?" A bright tinkling giggle sounded from above, "Silly Twilley, I wouldn't fit in theeere!" The voice seemed beside herself with giggles of amusement. "Oh yes, I forgot what a big filly you are now." Twilight rolled her eyes. Twilight knew exactly where she was. The little filly had a special penchant for hide-and-seek and 5 weeks together had taught Twilight all of her favourite little tricks. This one was Lia's favourite by far, a trick she called the 'upsie-downie'. As the name suggested, it exploited everypony's natural blind spot, up above. Not only was it effective (at least the first few times she used it on Twilight), the little filly seemed to enjoy looking down on others. Twilight couldn't help but suspect it was the budding queen within her. Then there's off course the bonus of providing an unrivalled vantage point and there's a whole new range of faces one could really only make while upside down. "Up here, Twillie~" The voice finally invited her to look up. Twilight gave a little sigh of relief as she finally allowed herself to gaze up at the ceiling. It was hard not to. Still, she had to let the child believe she was good at hiding, allow her to build confidence in her stealth. She will need it. There, stuck to the library's high ceiling like a big dark ink drop, was a small figure of dark midnight blue. A huge pair of turquoise harlequin eyes gazed mischievously down at Twilight through a curtain of silver blonde hair punctuated by a dark blue highlight cascading down from the figure's mane. A small, jagged horn poked out from beneath the curtain like a baby lightning bolt frozen in the air. A small toothy upside down grin spread under (or above) the cute little muzzle. "Hello, Twilley~" it greeted cheerfully with a little hoofie wave. The grin very quickly turn into a cry of panic as the little creature's hooves lost its purchase on the ceiling. "I-Iaaaaaaa!" She cried, hooves flapping wildly. "Lia, your wings!" Twilight cried out, throwing her forehooves out, ready to catch the falling filly. "W-wingies! Ummm, more wingies!" There was a rush of air, a frenzied flapping. The falling figure suddenly righted itself in midair. Small dark blue wings, shaped not unlike a pegasi's, though with larger 'feathers' of flexible see-through chitin, had burst forth from the filly's back, flapping as hard and as fast as they can. But they were much too small and stubby to support her weight. With one last desperate squeak she instinctively raised her hooves into the air. Small, heart-shaped openings slid open on her hooves, much like miniature cookie-cutters. With a whooomph, a small silk web burst forth from within to form a half-coccoon, trapping air like a miniature parachute. The little filly gave a yelp as the sudden deceleration jolted her. Twilight could only sigh in relief as she watched the filly descend in a more sedate glide, bobbing from side to side under her little parachute. In her prolific reading she had read that baby spiders could use their webs to 'balloon' or 'kite' themselves through the air. Still, the wide-eyed look of disbelief on her face was telling enough. She never would have expected it to work at this scale. But then changelings, particularly the young specimen before her, did not seem to obey any laws, particularly those of physics. If anything, the little filly seemed to break natural law on a regular basis, mostly out of mischief. "Oomph." Twilight caught the heavy bundle of fur that was the little filly in her hooves and lap. "Phew." She sighed a sigh of relief, though perhaps a little too soon. A sticky greenish blue parachute fell around her face and mane like curtains on a lame sideshow. "Liaaaa," She growled, blowing out gossamer silk strands. "Ooops. Sorries, Twillie." The little filly squeaked apologetically, squirming in Twilight's lap as she endeavoured to make herself as small as she could. "So...is Lia in trouble?" She ventured timidly. "..." On the one hoof Twilight didn't want to curb the little changeling's exploration of her natural stealth abilities. If anything she encouraged it, knowing that sooner or later the child would need it, hopefully later. On the other, that stunt just then was dangerous. It never occured to her that, sometimes, punishing could be more difficult than being punished. "Well, you didn't know that was dangerous. Now you do." Twilight said, turning stern, "New rule no. 27, No more wall-stickies...." She paused as she considered this, "...any higher than the table without me around, alright?" She said, peeling off the remains of the parachute off her face. That will be a real nightmare to wash out of her hair, she thought glumly. "...alright." The little filly said, though with obvious reluctance in her voice. She would break the rule soon enough, Twilight knew. The young caretaker could only hope that when she does she'd have learned something from this particular episode. She idly stroked the little filly's soft, silky mane with a hoof, partly to reassure her that she wasn't upset, partly because it was surprisingly soothing for her too. It elicited a string of giggles from the little filly. There was a soft clunk as her hoof tapped against the band of armoured chitin hiding underneath the filly's mane. It always reminded her of the chitin 'helmet' of the armoured changeling general she had encountered once before. But unlike his 'helmet', the floral patterned chitin on the little filly's head curled like a tiara around her head, ending around her forehead and tapering into her horn. Twilight couldn't help but think how befitting it was of a little queen. The curious scholar inside her suspected the filly's mother probably had one too hidden underneath her mane, but that was a hypothesis she would never be able to confirm, not anymore. "So, have you done your writing exercises, Lia?" Twilight asked, expecting one of her playful 'no's. But much to her surprise, the little filly looked up and returned a smug, maybe even triumphant smile, as she reached back into, yes, into her silver gold carapace. It was an ornate armour-like exoskeleton that wrapped itself about the filly's body consisting of an elaborate chest piece that tapered down into a ribbed natural 'saddle'. One of the chitin plates forming her 'saddle' slid open seamlessly to reveal handy little armoured recess within from which she fished out a piece of paper. It was one of the minor peculiarities Twilight was still trying to get used to, how the little filly's round and modestly chubby silver-gold carapace featured what she supposed was what would be a corbicula or scopa on bees, otherwise known as pollen storages. Lia had her own native word for it, it sounded something like 'Meepsie', though Twilight silently suspected that was a result of the little filly's squeaky voice and verbal tic mashing up the original changeling word. While Lia obviously had no need to carry pollen, she had found many other uses for her handy internal storage spaces, such as for hiding away her homework. "See, see, Lia did aaall the exercisisisisisiees!" The little filly struggled to find the breaks on the word. "So you did." Twilight said, checking the sheet of paper over, raising a skeptical eyebrow. It was, indeed, perfect, which did nothing to help Twilight's suspicions. She had learned very early on, much to her private annoyance, that the little filly wasn't one to do assigned chores without at least a modicum of coaxing. For her to do her exercises without even being told, something was hiding in the hay. "Which begs the question, little miss Twilight Aurelia, what are you hiding?" Twilight asked, bluntly, with a knowing little smile. "Iaa...!" The little filly tensed up with a squeak on Twilight's lap, confirming her suspicions. "U-ummm...L-Lia's not hiding a-anything, Twillie." She said, as innocently as she could muster, which wasn't much. The little filly's wings had unfolded out of what Twilight suspected were meepsies of their own inside her saddle carapace and were fidgeting nervously, a telltale sign Twilight had picked up very early on. It seemed to be a natural and quite literal 'fight or flight' reflex, one that suggested the little filly was either anxious or, worse, lying. "Is that so...?" Twilight said in a slow drawl as her hooves stealthily reached around the little filly. "Y-yes.....h-honest...Lia is..." Lia said, shifting nervously. "I-Iaahahahahah!" She suddenly squealed as a pair of hooves dug lightly into the soft midnight blue fur over her unprotected tummy. "P-please!" She pleaded through peals of laughter. "Hmm? Please what?" Twilight asked, unrelenting in her ticklish onslaught. "P-please don't! Stop!" The filly squeaked, tears of laughter running down her little cheeks. "Don't stop, huh? Got it." Twilight grinned, much to Lia's horror. "Iahahahahahah!" A number of Lia's meepsies spasmed with her laughter, sliding open helplessly, unloading their precious cargo across the floor. Bright wrappers of every size, shape and colour clattered across the floor. Twilight recognized them to be all the sweets she had given the little filly over the past 5 weeks, untouched. From the looks of things, Lia had made another breakthrough in finding use for her meepsies. Candy hoarding. Twilight couldn't help but slap a hoof to her head. Possibly one of evolution's greatest masterpieces, and it was abused for such a childish purpose. Oooh, first world problems... "Lia...." Twilight began, finally stopping in her assault. "I-Iaaa..." The little filly tensed up even more, wings stiffening. "Aren't those all the sweets I gave you?" "Yessie..." Lia gave a weak little nod. "You're supposed to eat them when I give them to you." Twilight said, sternly, "Hoarding them and eating them all at once will only give you toothaches. And then the toothmare will come and you'll be really really sorry." "But Lia...umm...Lia wanted to share them all with you later, Twillie!" Lia said, wings fidgeting again, telling Twilight all she had to know. Twilight felt her heart warm up at what she knew was a lie, a lie she honestly wanted to believe. "It's not something you have to hide, Lia." Twilight said, giving in once more. "Umm...but...Lia wasn't hiding that from you, Twillie." The naive little filly said without thinking. "Sooo....what is it you're hiding then?" Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow. "Meep!" The filly fidgeted even more, "W-well...L-Lia wanted to ask for something-ish." Ah, that made more sense to Twilight's skeptical mind. So the show of obedience was the little filly buttering her up for a request. She sighed to herself, not sure whether to be impressed at her cunning at developing an understanding of bribery at such a young age or be appalled at how fleeting innocence is. Still, curious, she decided to humour the little filly. Just once wouldn't hurt, so she thought. "Alright then, my little pony, what is it?" She asked with an inviting smile. The little filly, encouraged by the smile, sat up and placed her forehooves on the desk before Twilight. With a heave and a frantic flutter of her little wings she hauled herself up onto the desk. Then she picked herself up and trotted across the desk over to the window sill before planting both little hooves up on the glass. She began humming a little tune, bobbing from side to side to the rhythm of her own music. "Say, Twillie~, you know how there's an entire worldie outside?" Her melodious hums gave way to a singsong question. "No, really, what makes you say that?" Twilight couldn't help but chuckle, watching the little filly pressing her face against the glass. "Lookie, just press your nose into the window" The little filly exclaimed excitedly. "There's so much coloury, so much light!" "Lia, it's cold and the wind still bites." Twilight chimed in. "See, the glassie isn't misting, it can't be cold now" Lia pointed out, "Just a minute, just a second would be alright The winter wrap-up ponies are clearing all the snow Lia really really wants to go outside!" "A better idea, I'll read to you by the warm fireside." Twilight offered, levitating a book hopefully, a heavy tome titled 'Orbital Pathfinding of Heavenly Bodies - A Hoofbook'. "But the booksies say there's lots to see outside!" Lia sang excitedly. "Grassy to hug and baby critters to mow Skyhigh flowers and meadows of kites!" "Okay, I'll admit, that would be quite a sight." Twilight couldn't help but giggle. "Catsies that caw and cows that meow" Lia pressed her cheeks against the cold glass yearningly, "Henpecked husbands and bristling brides Getting married, foalies, and into fights." "....why is that the only bit you got right?" Twilight sighed, shaking her head in amusement. "It rhymes~" The little filly said innocently. "Lia wants Lia's first musical number to be just right." "Fair enough." Twilight laughingly conceded as she picked up the tune. "But look, inside's so much better than outside. Books can send us around the world right here and now." "All we ever do is hole up in the library and hide" Lia sighed, tempo slowing a little. "In this paper garden there's shelves to plough and booksies to sow And Lia's not saying it's all too cramped and tight But...." "I know, I know, you want to go outside..." Twilight sighed, nodding with understanding. "The worldie outside seems so bright and wide... Oh the sunny's so close to hoof, if only in here it sank setting on mount manuscript, over paperback brook Lia'd ride Across quill hill and bookmark meadow, the sunny shines on Lia's...." She paused for a bit, little hoof on her chin, "Umm, Twilley? What rhymes with sank?" She asked, reaching a hoof out for Twilight's help. "Err...flank?" Twilight said before she could stop herself. "Yeah, flank! On Lia's flank!" The little filly said, tapping her hooves together. "Now, umm, where was Lia?" "You're going to say something about outside." Twilight said, helpfully. "Oh, yessie. But inside's...inside's just not like....outside..." She said, ending her little ballad on a long and longing note. With a little thump she let herself fall back on her rump on the window sill. She watched quietly as the foals outside help the grownups finish the last of the winter-wrap up. Twilight didn't have to look at her to know she was wearing a yearning expression. A different tune filtered in through the glass, muffled and quiet, but the two could just about make out the words, 'Winter wrap-up, Winter-wrap up, let's finish our holiday cheer~'. It sounded so distant, yet looked so close, so cheerful yet so...so melancholic. Twilight herself had missed out on Winter-wrap up with her friends. With everything going on there was just no way she could take part. The thought alone was enough to give her a little pang of longing. Celestia knows how much more the little filly was going through. "Lia..." Twilight said, putting a hoof on the little filly's slumped shoulders. "Lia knows, Lia knows..." The little filly sighed, climbing down from the window sill, "Rule no. 1, No going outsidies until Lia grows up." She said as she landed surprisingly silently on the floor, looking forlorn. "Yes." Twilight nodded, biting her lip. It was difficult. She knew it would be. It had been only a matter of time until the filly demanded to see the outside world. Now that time was running out. The books in the library could only tide over an excited, energetic little filly for so long. "Tell you what. You can build yourself another book fort and we can have a pillow fight. Then we can have our own little winter-wrap up cleaning up." "We can?!" Lia's eyes lit up like Ever-glow(TM) lamps. "And we can eat dinner and sleep in your book fort too, so make sure it's big enough for both of us." Twilight said, giving the child a loving nuzzle. "Yippeeee!" The little filly bounced away excitedly towards the section labelled 'Fanfiction - Various'. "Oh, I'm so going to regret this in the morning..." Twilight sighed to herself, feeling as if she had gained at least two decades in age. But then and there, the big warm balloon in her heart was worth it. She felt an affectionate little nip on the balloon. She felt a little soar of happiness and warmth swell up within, but at the expense of a niggling little headache knocking and making itself known at the back of her head. She frowned a little, feeling more of the pent-up exhaustion catch up with her. Her vision seemed to swirl as the world spun about her, causing her to almost stagger. The nipping feeling almost immediately ceased, as if the source sensed her headache and tiredness. It was almost immediately replaced by what felt like the distant echo of a slow, sad little tune. Twilight knew it for what it was. She had experienced it enough times by then to recognize it almost instantly. It was an emotion, guilt, strong and heavy. Twilight looked down and found little Lia, head cast down, looking the very picture of remorse. With a pained smile the exhausted mare sat down and pulled her changeling charge into a tired but sincere hug. Neither said anything. The little echoes of each other in their minds said more than any amount of words ever could. Author's Note Usual Disclaimer: My Little Pony and all its awesomeness is the intellectual property of Hasbro and the amazing Faust. The only profit I make from writing this is the immense enjoyment I get from watching Twilight and Aurelia come to life. Thanks for reading, folks! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I absolutely loved writing it. I don't think I've had this much fun writing in a long long while. Hopefully it'll last. I suppose I should mention, I'm very new to MLP fanfiction, relatively new to MLP. I only just recently caught up with the entire show and, wow, I've really missed out. At first I had planned on limiting it to the show. Then youtube linked me the 'My Little Dashie' movie. Call me a sap, but I actually really really enjoyed it. I suppose I'm hopeless when it comes to child-raising stories. I enjoyed it so much I felt I had to put pen to paper, or, rather, keyboard to monitor, and produce a little something of my own. I thought I'd try my hand at something easier, a child-raising story involving one of the main characters. And I absolutely had to have a changeling in there somewhere, 2 episodes simply wasn't enough. So I thought, why not a changeling child? It all rolled out of control from there and the story simply wrote itself. The story was originally going to start out with the trip to Appleloosa hinted at in the summary. However I had so much fun writing this bit that I decided it would make a good prologue to the story. Sorry if it came across as a little jarring for some, being plonked right in the middle. Next chapter we'll do things in a more orderly fashion. I'm pretty sure this idea's probably been done to death by now, considering we're 2 seasons down the line from Chrysallis and the wedding. It goes without saying that in no way do I ever intend to plagiarize anybody. Apologies in advance to anybody out there sporting a Chrysallis-child character in their story. And tell me about them, cause I certainly would want to meet them! Greetings once more and see you all next chapter! Chapter 1 Preview: "Apple of my eye, love of my life... To feed my people Equestria I defy In my folly I failed my hive, plunged changelingkind into a year of strife. The weak succumb, the strong survive For my idiocy the Empress decreed I die Me and the apple of my eye, the love of my life...." "Chrysallis...." "Apple of my eye, love of my life I curse myself, foalish and unwise He was under my spell, it was all lies But he loved me, my first and last I was weak, I yearned a taste of her paradise But never a moment's regret for having you, my prize Beloved apple of my eye, love of my life
My Little Courage Appleloosa, Day 1, 35 Days Ago "'At least it ain't snowin' in Appleloosa, Twiligh' Applejack said. I knew I should have packed my snow boots and my snow survival guide." Twilight Sparkle, indomitable friend and Equestria's number 1 skeptic, sighed, mostly to herself. A thick puff of steam rose forth from her muzzle into the slow but constant snowfall. She pulled the gold and crimson scarf and pure white wind-breaker tighter about herself against the snowy wind. "I can summarize the entire snow survival guide for you." said Spike, number 1 assistant to Twilight Sparkle, bottomless supply of wit, walking mailbox and Equestria's number 2 skeptic, as he trailed behind his boss, leaping from hoofprint to hoofprint to avoid trudging through the thick snow. "Stay inside." "At least the snow didn't stop us seeing Chief Thunderhooves to discuss Buffalo divination. That made this trip entirely worth it." Twilight said, brightly. "Yeah. I mean, who would've thought the future lies hidden in, of all things, buffalo doo? You don't know how much that's changed my life." Spike said, spreading his paws wide as if painting a dramatic picture in the air. "Just picture it, from now on my future's aaaaall dung." "Spike, they divine the future from the patterns they see within. The best amongst them can predict finer details by watching the changes as it dries and...." Twilight began to explain. "All I saw was a load of bull." Spike muttered, before quickly changing the subject. "Think of all the more interesting things we could've been doing in Appleloosa. Like see apples, talk about apples, taste apples and try out the local sport, apple-staring. Hey, Twilight, do you know what's really really cool about apple-staring?" "No, what?" Twilight asked, with genuine curiosity. "Nothing." Spike said flatly. "Speaking of which, Fluttershy gave it a try last night. She got dragged into it by the regulars at the town saloon." Twilight said with an amused snigger at the memory. "She told me it was quite fun, actually. She won all those apples we had for breakfast." "Oh, yeah, those were surprisingly good red apples." Spike said. "They were green before." Twilight chuckled. "Fluttershy made them all blush red." "...." Spike blinked. "Riiiiiight." "Now Applejack should be wrapping up the deal on those apple tree sapplings we came for this afternoon and we should be able to return to Ponyville later in the evening. We need to make sure we get our souvenirs for the others by then." Twilight said, referring to her sizeable weatherproof checklist. "Yeah, I mean, it'll take forever to decide between apples, apples, and, yeah, apples." Spike muttered. "Pinkie? They've got some neat joke apples. They look like apples, but they are, in fact, apples. Rainbow? We can tell her it's a make-your-own-cider kit. Rarity..." Spike's eyes suddenly glazed over dreamily. "Rarity..." He sighed, wistfully. "If my heart were an apple, I'd so give it to you, Rarity.." "Well, we're definitely spoilt for choice." Twilight said quickly, pretending she hadn't noticed Spike turning all googly-eyed. "There are exactly 3.5 souvenir shops in Appleloosa selling a whole variety of the town's apple-based signature products." Twilight said, almost as if she had double and triple-checked the fact. "I double and triple-checked this last night." She added, with a touch of pride. "Wait, how exactly do you get half a souvenir shop?" Spike asked, quizzically, snapping out of his reverie. "Oh, one shop only sells souvenirs half the time. The other half it's just a regular apple store." Twilight explained. "Oooh, I get it. It's sort of, like, 'today I'm going to sell apples as souvenirs', and tomorrow it'd be sort of, like, 'today I'm just selling apples'." Spike said in mock excitement. "Anything's fine as long as we actually-oooof!" Twilight gasped as she sank all the way up to her flank in a particularly deep yet loose pile of snow. "...get there..." she muttered, aiming a glowing horn at the offending snow. They seemed to melt out of embarrassment under her stare. "Spike, add to checklist. Ask Rainbow Dash why we're delaying the Winter Wrap-up again." The young mare grumbled as she began vapourizing a trail through the snow. There were admittedly guilty occasions (just a few, honest!) when Twilight felt Equestria was, to put it bluntly, lazy. Almost every natural phenomena from sunrise to autumn leaves falling had to be in some way managed by its sentient inhabitants. But then it's their home, it's their chores, she sighed inwardly. It's the price to pay for order over chaos, and knowing chaos' power (and sense of humour), it was a small price to pay. "Can I just reuse yesterday's list, Twilight?" Spike asked innocently. "I mean, you only put that item on the list about, I don't know, 20 times yesterday? And the answer's the same. That blizzard extended all the way south to Foalida so the weather teams need to start cleaning up down there. Speaking of Foalida, you sure we're not going to end up there the way we're lost and all? I knew we should've accepted Little Strongheart's offer to guide us back to town." "Oh, Spike, we're not lost." Twilight chided her little dragon companion with a chuckle. "I memorized the map inside 'Absolutely Appleloosa, the Other Big Apple'." "Oh, the little filly and colt's guide?" Spike remarked, eyebrow at risk of snapping in its arc as he pulled the aforementioned tourist pamphlet out the saddlebags Twilight wore over her jacket, "Yeah, I think we made a wrong turn at the giant smily sun. Don't blame ya, difficult to see it behind all the big creepy red hearts around it." He said, pointing at the cartoony little map. "Spike, I assure you, we're...." Twilight looked around. There was nothing but snowy desert and the occasional spindly dead tree dotted about stretching all the way out to the horizon. In front of them rose a jagged row of rocky hills, beyond which a dark cloud sat low and menacing, hissing at them with fangs of lightning and roars of thunder. "....not lost." "Oh, I guess we don't have to worry about ending up in Foalida." Spike said, looking down at the map, "Cause there's no way we're getting through the Badlands alive." He pointed at the jagged outcroppings in the distance. "I remember Daring Do once said the name's like Equestria's biggest understatement. It's home to Equestria's biggest cragadilles, manticores, sheep, quarray eels, giant spiders and..." He gulped, "...changelings...entire hives of changelings." "Alright, I admit it, we're lost. Happy now?" Twilight said quickly, her voice just a pitch higher. "I will be..." Spike said, shivering visibly, "...when we're away from all the things that go bump and roar and..." "Meep!" There was a squee. Then silence. "Twilight..." Spike chuckled nervously, patting her comfortingly on her side, "There's no need to be that upset." "That...wasn't me." Twilight whispered stiffly. Spike froze, and most definitely not from the cold. The duo slowly edged closed together until they were tail to flank. "See anything...?" Spike whispered, voice shaking. "Err....I see hoofprints." Twilight looked down at the snow closely for the first time and noticed miniature hoofprints slowly disappearing under the falling snow. "Where do they lead?" Spike asked in an increasingly urgent whisper. Her eyes followed the little trail, pupils widening, heart quickening. Horror rose as she realized the unsteady and winding trail of hoofprints lead closer and closer. Straight to her in fact. "Me..." Twilight barely whispered. With a gulp she looked down at her forehooves. There the little trail of hoofprints ended in a small, quivering mound, almost entirely covered by snow flakes. Bits of dark blue hid under the mass of white threatening to bury it. A small pair of quivering appendages suddenly reached out of the mound and took hold of her around one forehoof. Her heart leapt into her throat, beating the yelp of fright on its way to her mouth. The tensed muscles in her legs uncoiled like a wound spring as she leapt back, bowling Spike over into the snow. She skid backwards into a standstill, digging her hooves deep into the snow. She stood on shaky hooves, stance low, ready to bolt. Obeying her unicorn instincts, she raised her horn up towards the mound, just as ready to fight. She watched, eyes narrowing, as arcane light coursed up the spiral of her horn, feeding into the tip, casting a brilliant lilac light across the snow. As she finally allowed herself a moment for her prided logic to catch up, she suddenly put 2 and 2 together. Small hoofprints, tiny mound in the snow. She almost slapped herself as she realized how she had allowed a conversation to rile her up and suppress any semblance of reason. More importantly, there might be a foal there in need of help. "A little help here..." Spike muttered, spitting out snow as he picked himself up just in time to see Twilight approach the trembling little mound. "Or, yeah, help the menacing little mound of snow." He muttered. He recognized that look on her face, it was one of curiosity, the sort she wore right before the doo hits the windmill. "Err...Twilight?" Twilight was too busy examining the mound, now almost entirely covered in white. It seemed to flinch at her approach but made no attempt to escape. Two watery pools of turquoise looked up at her. It took her a moment to register that they were eyes. It was a teeny logical jump, considering the two orbs lacked pupils of any shape or form. 'So...maybe not a foal', another thought rose up treacherously in her mind. But before she could let fear get the better of her again, she heard something. "W-Was g-grAnmE..." A tremulous little voice, every syllable full of fear and dread, rose up. The little mound of snow was visibly shaking even more. "Was grAnmE ga yorr r.h.e p-p-pwEsia....pwEsia r.w. mama!" It was a language not only foreign but entirely alien to Twilight's ears, filled with not only wide swinging variations in pitch but also throaty echoes, all woven together into a short melody. While the meaning was entirely lost upon her, Twilight could almost feel the emotion behind it - it was one of determination amidst a torrent of mortally gripping fear. "...r.w. mama! PwEsia r.w. mama!" The voice pleaded louder in desperation. "It speaks!" Spike gasped, "...and it doesn't go rawr." He added, thoughtfully. The small pair of, yes, they were tiny hooves, slowly reached out and grasped Twilight's forehooves once more. With a weak, quavering but determined tug the little creature seemed to plead for her to....come? To follow it? With a gentle probing of her magic she brushed aside the snow covering the quivering little creature. It tensed up, curling up into a protective little ball. It mewled weakly as what little determination and courage allowed it to speak out seemed to die away entirely. A little more brushing revealed a small, shuddering stubby pair of wings wrapped around the creature protectively. Then a little horn atop the creature's head came into view. It was unlike any horn she had ever encountered, being all angles and edges, lacking the usual spiral groove common to unicorn horns, ending in a narrow blunt tip. Then came the mane hugging the horn, a long, lustrous wave of silky silver white highlighted by a single streak of dark blue hair, soft and springy to the touch, so delicate and smooth it almost merged seamlessly with the snow. Beneath it were the pair of crystalline turquoise pools, now gripped in a tearful display of fear. "By golly, it's a little foal." Spike breathed. Sure he hadn't noticed the finer features that said otherwise, but from a distance it was the shape of a foal. It spoke like a foal. It acted like a foal. It was scared like a foal lost and alone in the middle of the dangerous monster-infested wilderness. Maternal instincts overrode logic as Twilight pulled off her scarf slowly. "Don't be afraid." She said, as comfortingly as she could. She put on the most reassuring smile she could as she reached down with the scarf in her forehooves, "I won't harm you, I promise." With a weak squeak and a feeble token attempt at struggling against her, the little creature was scooped up into the scarf and quickly wrapped up and pulled into Twilight's forehooves. She sat back on her haunches, struggling to cradle the weakly thrashing foal. Finally, something, probably the warmth from the scarf, probably Twilight's comforting hold, perhaps just the sheer exhaustion, calmed the little foal down. As captor and captive both calmed down Twilight allowed herself some time to assess things further. She felt soft, delicate fur underneath, which was to be expected. What she didn't expect was something hard that clunked hollowly against her hooves. She looked down and found that the little foal's chest and torso were bound in a silver gold armour. On closer inspection it looked a little too naturally hewn to be hoofmade armour, however. If anything it looked like it had grown, like an insect's carapace. Then it hit her. Pupil-less pool-like eyes, dark fur, wings and horn, insectoid carapace... "You're....a changeling." Twilight said, half-disbelieving herself. "Ch-ch-changeling?!" Spike dove for cover underneath Twilight's rear hooves. "Y-y-you're serious?!" "A changeling filly from the looks of it." Twilight said, slowly processing her own words in her head. "Her features are a little too soft for a changeling though. She's more...pony-like if anything." Twilight said, brushing the mane out of the filly's face gently with a pinch of her magic. The round tear-stained cheeks, the cute little muzzle, the little face was devoid of the angular features she had come to associate with changelings. "B-but that's what they're good at, looking like things they're not!" Spike pointed out. "Granted. But this filly doesn't look like she's trying to trick us." Twilight said, "I'm tempted to say this is her real form." As Twilight watched, the blank pools of turquoise green that were the little changeling's eyes seemed to...slide sideways? No, rather, something overlying them was. 'It's an eyelid, a third eyelid' Twilight thought to herself, her inner scientist suddenly exploding with curiosity. The third eyelids slid away horizontally, revealing the filly's real eyes beneath, a pair of lavender eyes lying on glowing turquoise pools. At their centre were catlike pupils, gleaming like jetblack harlequin gems. She had read about them, 'nictitating membranes', otherwise known as third eyelids, common to some creatures such as gryphons, phoenixes and manticores. While they were as protective as the first and second eyelids common to most creatures, they were also often transparent, allowing normal vision. "Meep..." The little filly mewled weakly, pointing a shivering hoof out towards the wilderness. "W-Was grAnmE ga yorr r.h.e...pwEsia r.w. mama." She whispered weakly, "P-PwEsia...PwEsia r.w. mama." A pair of pleading eyes locked with Twilight's once more. For such a little creature to approach a complete stranger, an entirely different species, while gripped in such soul-shaking fear....what could drive such a young child to show this much courage and determination? "'Mama', you say?" Twilight repeated the filly's words. The little filly nodded, suddenly letting out a little sob of relief as tears of happiness filled her eyes. "Yessie! Yessie! Mama!" She nodded, waving her little hoof into the distance. "....Spike, we have a mother changeling to find." Twilight suddenly declared, lifting the little filly with her magic and planting her safely on her back in between her saddle bags. "M-mother changeling?! A-are you sure, Twilight?!" Spike gasped. "We took on an entire army before. Worst case scenario, I can handle one changeling. But I daresay we won't have to worry about ourselves. This child's mother is in trouble of some sort." Twilight said, lowering her horn to the faint hoofmarks left behind in the filly's wake. They had almost entirely been obliterated by the falling snow and wind, but a simple tracking spell was all it took to make them glow a brilliant violet against the pure pristine white around them. "Come on." Twilight said to a reluctant Spike. With that, they set off. The trail wound back and forth through the frozen wilderness, showing just how panicked and aimless the little filly had been. The hoofmarks seemed to come together haphazardly in some places, splay out in others, where Twilight could only imagine the child falling over before picking herself up and struggling on with her search for help. All throughout their search the little filly remained quiet, little hooves clutching the back of Twilight's neck fearfully. From time to time Twilight heard quiet sniffling, interspersed with muffled sobs. The child had fought back tears throughout the time she was begging for help, only breaking into tears at the very end. For her to show so much courage at such a young age, Twilight couldn't help but wonder, what sort of upbringing do changeling foals go through? Much to Spike and Twilight's growing trepidation, the trail brought them closer and closer to the row of jagged mountains that heralded the beginning of the Badlands. It took all of half an hour to finally find the end of the trail. To their relief it was still far away from the foreboding mountain range. Twilight couldn't help but wonder how long the child had been labouring in her search. Hours it must have been. They came to yet another a mound in the snow, this one much bigger. The snow around it was dirtied in some places with wide dark stains. Twilight was hoping she was only imagining them to be a very dark shade of red. The little filly leapt off Twilight's back, landing with a plop in the snow. She dug herself out of the tiny crater she made with her landing and began running the remainder of the distance, albeit unsteadily, towards the mound. "Mama! Mama!" She cried in her wheezing voice. "Spike, get ready to write a letter for help." Twilight said, approaching the mound with her horn glowing. The little filly was already by its side, little hooves digging into the snow desperately. "B-but this is a changeling. Who'd help a changeling?" Spike asked, nervously. "Fluttershy and Applejack for starters." Twilight said, putting faith in her friends. With a sweep of her magic she cleared off the snow covering the mound. Twilight's eyes widened. Then narrowed. What the snow revealed summoned up memories that left a bitter taste in her already dry mouth. A feeling foul and horrid rose up from some deep dark pit she didn't even know she had, feelings that burned with both righteous fury and searing guilt. "Hold off on the letter, Spike." She barely managed to avoid screaming, lowering her voice to a low growl. "Huh?" Spike looked around, little scroll of parchment ready to be sent in his claws. Twilight watched as the little filly whimpered helplessly, nuzzling the unconscious form of her mother lying on her side. "Mama?" She mewled, "Mama, zEnva! GrAnmE ga yorr r.h.e pwEsia zEnva! Mama, zEnva!" She nudged her mother's sleeping face more and more desperately. "PwEsia....zEnva..." She sobbed, her eyes overflowing with fresh tears. She gritted her little teeth, digging her hooves into the snow and butting her horn against her mother's forehead. She strained, her face contorted into one of intense concentration. Small dark blue sparks spurted from her tiny horn. Whatever it was meant to do, the best she achieved was lighting up her mother's sleeping face, all the better for Twilight to see. The already weak little filly finally fell over, spent, her magic dimming pitifully. "Mama...." She sobbed helplessly, dragging herself hoof by hoof, as close as she could to her mother. "Mama..." She cried, pleadingly, as if hoping for some miracle. "MAMAAAAAAA!" One last desperate wail rang out across the frozen wilderness, before dissolving away into the howling wind. "Twilight, you want me to send the letter or not?" Spike asked, "Uuh...Twilight? You look like you saw a ghost." Despite the scene before her Twilight heard a low growl. She was surprised to recognize it as her own. "Worse. It's Chrysalis." Author's Note Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I certainly enjoyed writing it. There's something therapeutic about writing out Twilight. I should've gotten into MLP fanfiction sooner! I remember I put those lyrics in as a preview for chapter 1. As it turned out it looks like they'll end up a preview for chapter 2 instead. Never fear, however, chapter 2 should come sometime this weekend. I'd like to get as much of the foundation out while I've got spare time. And many thanks for the comments! I will soon figure out how to reply in the comments section, or so help me Celestia! See you all next chapter! PS: Just a teeny aside, one that doesn't really have any bearing on the story as a whole - The language Lia spoke was 'Hymnos', borrowed from the Ar Tonelico series, property of GUST studios. Rest assured that it was simply added for flavour and whenever it matters there'll be a translation immediately following...With the exception of Twilight and Lia's first encounter. That was meant to come off as completely foreign to Twilight and you, the readers. In case you're curious, the first phrase Lia said, 'Was grAnmE ga yorr r.h.e prEsia r.w. mama', means 'With a great wish and courage to protect my loved one, I want this to end soon, I beg you to please save my mother'. Curious how all of that fitted into a much shorter sentence? Just a brief explanation, Hymnos was designed to be a cross between singing and computer code with emotion quite literally built into every vowel. This was because the series' magic was run off a planetary super computer powered by singing and emotion. Thus stuffing as much emotion into as few musical words as possible was the key to creating powerful magic in the series' lore. An emotion-based language's quite fitting for the changeling race, no? 'Was grAnmE' expresses the speaker's feelings about what she's about to say. It means 'With a great wish and courage to protect my loved one'. 'Ga' expresses how long she wishes the situation to last, in this case it's 'I want this to end soon'. The rest is the actual content of what she wanted to say. The second phrase 'zEnva' means 'Arise' or 'Wake up'.
My Little Goodbye WARNING: Sad chapter ahead. Big Apple Inn, Appleloosa, a few hours later The door closed with a little more force than she intended. She stared at it angrily. It felt as if she was angry at everything. Angry at the door, at the bowl of hot water and the liniments and bandages floating magically beside her, at the quaint little country inn they were staying in, at the patient lying in her bed before her, everything. But more than anything else, she was angry at herself. 'The fire of friendship lives in our hearts, as long as it burns we cannot drift apart....' Muffled carols sailed in through the shuttered window, the sounds of straggling hearthswarming-eve carollers still lingering in the festive swing. Twilight walked sedately across the parquet floor over to the sleeping form occuping her bed. The changeling mother was a little too large for the pony-size bed but there was no helping it. It wasn't like she could take her to the local infirmary. In fact she was thankful that she managed to sneak the changeling into town, all the way to her inn and through the window into her ground floor room without attracting anypony's attention. It had been a trial and a half. The distance, the burden and the unfamiliar area made the teleportation spell far too risky. She ended up resorting to half-levitating, half-dragging the mare all the way back to Appeloosa. She could only hope the snowfall covered up her tracks before anypony gets curious about the long deep tracks she left behind. But she didn't have the strength left to cover her own tracks. Two wrong turns and three wayfinder spells had left Twilight Sparkle quite exhausted. Still, 'there's no rest for the wicked' she thought to herself, and she wasn't referring to the mother's injuries. She pulled back the blanket over her bed with a smidgen of magic and regarded the mare lying underneath. The once proud and regal queen had been reduced to a disheveled wreck. Her mane, once long and lustrous as she remembered it, was not only unkempt, it was torn and mangled in places. Her gossamer wings were shredded more than before, one bent at a very unnatural and painful-looking angle. And there were few places on the mare's body that did not bear some evidence of Twilight's novice medical attention. Bandages haphazardly but thoroughly covered her patient's now clean and spotless wounds. One leg, once bent at an odd angle, had been set and splinted as best as she could. There were a few broken ribs under her painfully thin and skinny body she could do little about. But worst of all there were bruises in places like her flank and torso that she had read meant really, really bad life-threatening things were happening. She bit her lip as she removed some of the dirtied bandages and set to work cleaning the wound underneath. This was more Fluttershy's expertise. Heck, she should have long sought out a doctor. She knew they'd probably help. But could she knowingly put them at risk? Especially her best friend? 'No' she thought to herself, 'absolutely not'. 'But I'm not able to do more for her. She needs expert help.' Twilight thought to herself angrily. 'I'm going to abandon her because I'm still scared of her?' 'No, I'm scared of what she might do to others, to those I care about. Remember Shining Armour, remember Cadence, remember Celestia.' She reminded herself, anger mounting. 'That's no excuse' She argued with herself, heatedly. 'Yes it is! It's my own foalishness! I will not drag anypony else into this!' She grunted stubbornly. She had been so adamant on this that she had asked Spike to wait in his own room and to check on her every 30 minutes. 'If I was stronger....if I was as strong as Celestia or Luna, I'd be able to save her...or protect those who can save her.' She gritted her teeth as she cleaned the wounds with a vengeance. The hot water quickly turned dark red with every wash. She looked down at the little filly curled into a little ball, resting in the crook of her mother's neck, head nestled in queen's mane. She had fallen asleep on the way back, from exhaustion Twilight was sure no filly her age had ever had to go through. If anything happened to her mother, would she ever forgive her? How would she face her? What would she tell her? How would she tell her? "I'm sorry..." Twilight muttered under her breath, "I'm sorry, I'm too weak to save your mother." She squeezed the washcloth in her magic tightly, her lavender eyes watering up with tears of helplessness before she could stop herself. "To be sorry...for such a thing..." A familiar voice murmured. "You have not c-changed at all. Twilight Sparkle, wasn't it? I recognize your voice." The voice was just as proud and aloof as she remembered it. However, instead of the tone of maniacal madness that still echoed in her nightmares to that day, there was one of calm calculated composure. It barely shook amidst what Twilight could only guess was pain. If the proud queen was in pain at all, she was doing all she could to hide it, and hide it well she did. "You're awake." Twilight muttered, a lot more curtly than she intended as she quickly wiped away her tears. "My child, you speak of her. Is she here?" The mother suddenly asked, shifting nervously, before stiffening up in obvious pain. "Please, tell me, Twilight Sparkle. I fear I....I can no longer see..." She panted a little, taking as deep breaths as she dared with her broken ribs. Only then after the queen had opened them did Twilight notice the state of her eyes. Yes, those were eyes that would never ever see again. A pang of sympathy rose up from the sea of anger just long enough for Twilight to soften her tone, "Yes, she's here. She's in your arms. She's well and unharmed, though asleep from the exhaustion. She travelled a long way to find help for you." "Thank you, Twilight Sparkle, thank you so much. Maker bless your soul." The mother breathed a sigh of utmost relief, her gratitude plain and sincere. She raised her one good hoof and placed it around her sleeping daughter, caressing her mane gently, eliciting a sleepy little mewl from her. "You are much like your mentor, not one to abandon an innocent, not even the child of one you hate so." "I..." Twilight began, trying to find the words to refute that, even if she had to lie through her teeth. But no words were forthcoming. "Even without my ability to feel your heart, I can hear it in your voice as plain as day." The queen said. "While I do not relish it, I can understand it at least. Still, anypony else would have simply left me to rot." "I will admit, the thought crossed my mind." Twilight admitted, the guilt almost painful, "And for that I'm sorry. That would have been cruel, no matter who you are." "Again, it was only natural." Chrysalis said, solemnly, "And yet I, your hated enemy, feel a soft bed beneath me, a warm blanket upon my body, my wounds dressed with care. This is beyond the capability of many gods, Twilight Sparkle, and, trust me, I have known many in my time." If Twilight had any doubts left, they were almost entirely dashed. The mother before her was entirely different from that mad mare who ran amock at her brother's wedding. If it was a trick, it was certainly one she put a lot of effort into, more than she did into acting out the part of her brother's bride. Twilight to that day still maintained that it was the most awful acting she had ever seen, especially for the queen of a race of doppelgangers. "Twilight Sparkle, you are kind, too kind to a fault. I only hope this kindness does not one day return to haunt you. "Now, I am afraid I must...urgh..." The queen winced visibly for the first time in front of Twilight, "...must bring these pleasantries...to a close." She took a few slow, deep breaths, steadying herself once more. Twilight saw one of the mother's hooves clutching her tummy tenderly, right over one of the larger bruises. She couldn't help but notice that it had grown alarmingly larger. "You have treated me well enough. Unfortunately, my wounds are beyond help." "I can....I can get..." Twilight looked at the door in panic before looking back at Chrysalis, her expression hopelessly torn, "I can..." She faltered a little as her earlier resolution came back to her. But... "No. As good a caregiver as she is, your friend will not be able to save me. Neither will your empire's best healers. I assure you, Twilight Sparkle, you've done everything you can for me." Chrysalis said with a dismissive huff. If Twilight hadn't been so guarded, she might have suspected the queen of actual kindness in helping putting her guilty conscience to rest. "The only thing with any hope of saving me now is love." "Love! That's it!" Twilight's eyes lit up, "All we need is...is..." She faltered once more. It sounded so simple, so easy, but...but who would be able to...well...love her? "Indeed." The queen nodded in agreement to Twilight's unspoken words. "You will be hardpressed to find a single pony in Equestria who is even capable of looking at me, let alone love me." "There must be a way!" Twilight cried in frustration as she glanced about her room as if the answer might suddenly appear on a wall. " Hold on, I must have a book that can..." She got up to rush for her little collection of books lining her luggage in a corner of the room. She felt a trembling, weakened, but firm grip on her hoof stop her. "Twilight Sparkle, I...I have little time left." The once proud queen gave her a pleading look, "Instead, you must...no, I request of you, please, would you listen awhile to the words of a dying mother?" Twilight slowly but reluctantly settled back down onto her haunches. She was not sure she could ever bring herself to even forgive Chrysalis as a queen, as a person, but she could at the very least understand her as a mother. That much she was prepared to grant the dying mare. "Alright, Chrysalis." Twilight nodded. "I will cast a simple spell upon us. It will allow us to speak freely, uninterrupted by my...ailing body." She raised her head as if preparing to cast a spell before pausing as if a sudden thought struck her. "Would you allow me to do that, Twilight Sparkle?" She asked, suddenly asking for permission. "Whoah....wait a sec, I'm not letting you come anywhere near me with as much as a card trick, Chrysalis." Twilight was quick to pull away, stepping back cautiously. "I don't trust you. I probably never will." She said, rather bluntly, before she could even stop herself. "I understand. But this is important. My child's future, the very fate of Equestria, depends upon what I am about to tell you." The queen said, her expression as dire as the grave. "I will not harm you in any way, body mind or soul. I promise, cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a koukaru in my eye." "....where did you get that promise?" Twilight couldn't help but ask. "It is a soul-binding oath handed down from Queen to Queen, said to create a binding pact sealed by one of the elder gods whose name we never utter." Chrysalis explained patiently. But her impatience was becoming apparent in the edge in her voice. 'I've put my faith in Pinkie before and I've never gone wrong. I can't trust Chrysalis, but I can trust in Pinkie.' Twilight couldn't believe she was allowing herself such flawed logic. But it felt right for some reason, right enough for her to give in to the crazy. "Do it again, but replace the cuckoo thing with a cupcake, if you please." Twilight said. "That's our version....also overseen by somepony whose name we utter with care." "If I must." The queen was quick to agree, "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." She made the motions with her one good hoof. Twilight couldn't help but marvel at how it matched the Pinkie Promise hoof for hoof. "Now, may I?" She asked, the urgency in her voice rising. "Yes, go ahead." Twilight slowly, cautiously, approached her. "Thank you, Twilight Sparkle." The queen's horn glowed with an ominous green, bathing the entire room in its viridian radiance. "EXEC CHRYSALIS_LINKER.EXE." A voice echoed about the room. It might have been Chrysalis', but Twilight never got to find out. She was too busy falling into a sudden but very blissful slumber. To say it was emptiness and darkness would have been a cynical understatement. 'Empty space stretching all the way out to infinity' she decided was a better description. Like the night sky before the stars, like the universe before the universe, it was everything and nothing. And there she was, one with it all. No, rather, she was all of it. No, that's not right. 'No, such poor descriptions for a sensation so vast and overwhleming. Come now, Starswirl must have described this feeling before in one of his books.' She thought to herself. Then a more urgent thought arose. 'Where am I? Didn't Chrysalis cast a spell? What did it...?' Then light happened. Twilight tried to gasp in awe, then realized she didn't have a mouth, or a body for that matter, to gasp with. She decided to worry about that later. The spectacle before her was too much to be distracted from. A radiant corona of light burst forth from some unseen horizon, flooding the darkness with spectral beams of light that seemed to spiral through the emptiness. Beneath the endless sky a serene ocean, glimmering with waves of sparkles, lit up with the brilliance of a million galaxies. 'This must be what watching the first sunrise was like' Twilight mused to herself as she watched the spirals light up the universe about her, turning everything a shimmering bluish white, like a ethereal ocean where the primordial soup of the rest of the universe bubbled. Whispers filled the air. An entire chorus of voices filled the silence. The spiraling beams of light split up into many many glimmering glyphs in the sky. Slowly both the whispers and glyphs began to make sense to her mind, as if they simply bypassed her eyes and ears (neither of which she had anyway) and went straight into her mind. 'With great pleasure we welcome thee to the Animus. With great care we initialize the CHRYSALIS_LINKER protocol. Standby.' One monotonous voice, louder than the others, announced to her cryptically, as if it were reading a passage out of a book. "Ma i wa rre-yera nha Twilight Sparkle." A more familiar voice echoed across the strange world, "Was quel erra sUlAy nosaash quowjaz. Was syea ra aterra has Animus." 'With discrete impatience we summon Twilight Sparkle.' The words again went straight to her mind, suffusing her with their meaning. 'With great eagerness I carefully give her administrator rights. With great happiness I welcome her to the Animus.' "Chrysalis?" Twilight spoke out. She heard her own voice come from everywhere at once, echoing across the entire universe just like Chrysalis'. "Ah, Twilight Sparkle." Chrysalis' voice sounded much more relaxed, as if all the pain and weariness had been shed away along with her body. Twilight realized that was the whole point of this spell. "Welcome. And indeed, as we told you before, that is the whole point of this spell." "Are you reading my mind?" Twilight gasped, suddenly alarmed. "No, not so much that as our minds and hearts are now one." Chrysalis said, simply. "Now, one moment, allow me to give us both bodies to speak with." Twilight blinked. She realized for the first time that she had eyes and eyelids to blink with. She looked down and watched as more of those spiraling glyphs of light flew about her, forming the glowing outlines of hooves, limbs and the rest of her body. Then with a brief glimmer colour flooded the spectral outlines, forming her body proper. One hoof found something solid to step on. Ripples spread forth in the spectral sea beneath the hoof. 3 more hooves joined it as Twilight stepped out into the strange new world with her new body. "Better?" Twilight looked up to find Chrysalis walking towards her across the spectral sea, her body once again whole, free of all injuries. "Oh, no, my real body is still damaged beyond repair." She said, as if replying to Twilight's unspoken thoughts, "This is just a mental construct A body built by our imaginations, if you will." She chuckled with just a hint of sadness. "It will allow me to speak freely without my injuries getting in our way." "Mental constructs?" Twilight asked, looking about herself. It was then that she noticed, her 'body' wasn't perfect. It still glimmered in places as currents of glyphs spiralled underneath her skin and mane here and there. "I created these forms so that your young and inexperienced mind may feel less disoriented here. We don't normally have any need for bodies in this space." Chrysalis explained. "Wait, where is 'here'?" Twilight asked, dread and fear rising for the first time now that she had an individual body with which to feel it. "This..." Chrysalis gestured around her with a wave of her hoof, "Is the Animus, our race's shared mindscape." "Your...mind? Wait, have you brainwashed me?!" Twilight gasped, recoiling, recalling how her brother was enslaved in the most heinous of spells. "No! What pony silliness! Maker, perish the thought." Chrysalis shook her head quickly. "I promised you I would do you no harm, body mind or soul. My promises are sacred." Twilight could actually feel Chrysalis' indignation at the accusation, like a morose little tune grazing her ears. "Err...sorry, it's just...you know..." Twilight said, awkwardly tripping over herself to find the right words. But the queen before her seemed to understand what she wished to say without any need for her words. "I understand. That is only natural, given the circumstances. But rest assured, you are safe here. Perhaps even safer than in the world outside, I daresay." "So I'm in your mind now?" Twilight asked, looking around the strange, endless plane of shimmering lights and glowing glyphs. "Our mind, Twilight Sparkle." Chrysalis said with a hint of pride. "The shared mind of all changelings connected to my tonelico, my 'tree' in my language. I suppose your word for it is 'hive'." "Ah. I've read about this. It's like a hivemind that some insec-...." Twilight stopped her mouth there. But she felt the rest of her thoughts flow through the air, unimpeded. "I...didn't mean to...say that. Sorry." She whispered apologetically. "No apologies needed. In this space all thoughts on the surface is transmitted freely." The queen said, gracefully. "There are no lies here, only secrets you might choose to keep. I hope that knowledge will lend the story I am about to tell you some credibility. As for this 'hivemind' you speak of, your comparison is simplistic, but it will do for now." "You said all the changelings connected to your hive. Where are the rest?" Twilight asked, looking around the empty space, half-expecting more changelings to appear out of the woodwork. "Dead." The queen said, bluntly, "Or deserted." "Wait, we didn't..." Twilight's eyes widened as her mind flew back to the day of the wedding. "Did we...?" The very thought shook her to the core with deathly dread. Had they in their zeal to repel the invaders wiped out Chrysalis' hive? All of them? "Oh, no. All that spell did was banish us, which was admittedly an act of mercy after what we had done." Chrysalis chuckled bitterly. "No, we survived, just barely. But now there is only my daughter and I." She turned and raised a hoof. As if heeding her unspoken command a sprout burst forth from the spectral sea beneath them. Twilight watched as the little sapling grew at an incredible pace, twisting and turning, weaving itself into an rectangular form. As the shape expanded before her, the form became clearer and clearer to her. It was a foal crib, simple yet beautiful, grown from deep dark oak. Twilight cautiously approached the little foal cradle and found the now familiar little filly sleeping peacefully within, little hooves twitching as a sweet little smile spread across her serene face, obviously frolicking across some beautiful dreamland somewhere. Chrysalis sighed, a gentle smile blooming across her tired face as she raised a hoof to push the crib gently, setting it rocking to and fro to the rhythm of a faint humming. Twilight then realized it was Chrysalis, humming a soft, slow tune. "Apple of my eye, love of my life..." She sighed, "To feed my people Equestria I defy In my folly I failed my hive, plunged changelingkind into a year of strife. The weak succumb, the strong survive For my idiocy the Empress decreed I die Me and the apple of my eye, the love of my life...." She slipped back into a soft, sad little hum as she gently rocked her child back and forth. "The Empress?" Twilight asked. "A changeling queen like me, but one more powerful than any other." The mother said, grimly. "She has slowly been gathering power, carefully usurping hives and removing other queens. With each queen she kills, she and the remaining queens grow stronger. Once she is the sole remaining queen, there will be no hope for Equestria. She is ruthless, cruel..." 'Wow, if you say she's ruthless and cruel...' Twilight thought, before she could stop herself. The queen seemed to sense the thought, and, before Twilight could apologize again, she went on. "There is no excuse for my invasion. But somebody had to." Chrysalis said, gravely. Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but before she could Chrysalis raised a hoof, "Allow me a moment to explain why that is, please." Twilight gave a reluctant little nod, allowing her to continue. " "The food shortages in our homeland, the land you call the Badlands, have always been severe, but have worsened considerably of late." Chrysalis began. Twilight had noticed how thin and wasted the proud queen was, testament to an entire kingdom's starvation. "Our infiltrators inside Equestria reported increasing xenophobia amongst the nobility with rising tensions with Gryphonia, Minos and Draconia. Changelingkind felt the chances of a diplomatic plea for help was too low to risk losing our element of surprise. Prevailing public opinion amongst changelings was turning towards war, one of desperation, fueled by the Empress. I had hoped my 'invasion' would be subtler and less bloody for both parties. My plan was to infiltrate the nobility and make use of their political standing to help integrate my changelings into pony society. It was meant to be a quiet and bloodless infiltration." "That went well." Twilight couldn't help but say. "I admit I made mistakes. Many of them." The queen nodded, glumly. "Perhaps the first was losing my nerve when it came to killing the one I replaced." "You...you were going to kill Cadence?!" Twilight's rage seared forth once more from the deep dark ocean of anger that had been torrenting quietly within her. "Yes." The queen said cooly, "I understand your outrage at the thought. But it would have been the most logical approach. Except when I first caught her I...I simply couldn't do it. Some called it weakness, some called it cowardice." "You actually had some equinity left inside you?" Twilight muttered, fighting to calm herself down a little. "Perhaps, one could hope." Chrysalis nodded, sullenly. "At the very least I do not regret it. I never did." Twilight couldn't help but believe her. There was no reason for her to keep Cadence alive and trapped in that old gem mine. That and the hivemind made it rather difficult to lie. "I thought it wouldn't have affected my plans. When I was done with my plan I could have cleansed her memories and returned her to her place, none the wiser. I needn't have stayed as a noble after our plan succeeded after all. And it would have succeeded were it not for two more fatal mistakes." She shook her head. "Our people would have had a safe, stable source of love and nopony would have been harmed in the process." "So, is it true, your kind feeds on love?" Twilight suddenly interrupted, having long yearned for confirmation. "Yes." Chrysalis nodded, "But not just any love. It must be the love of another directed at ourselves. Perhaps it was incredible bad luck that I chose your sister-in-law to replace." "Bad luck?" Twilight tilted her head to one side. "Yes. Any noble would have done. But your sister was loved. Oh, how she was loved." The queen shuddered, much to Twilight's surprise. "You Equestrians have a saying, 'Love is Blind'. To us changelings, love in overwhelming quantities is blinding, like a whiff of pony-nip to our minds. And your brother's love for your sister-in-law was beyond the sweetest most intoxicating wines Equus has to offer." She gave a tremulous little sigh, "Oh how wonderful yet horrid that was." "So...you're saying you were just drunk when I met you?" Twilight had a hard time keeping her face straight. Her eyes were already twitching in their sockets. "I believe you ponies have better words for it. 'Prancing'? 'Bucked'? 'Cutie Mashed'?" Chrysalis gave her a sheepish smile, one that looked so out of place on the queen's thin, gaunt face. "That is a bit of an understatement, however. Consider it more akin to receiving a magic flux beyond what your mind is familiar with, feeling all that unlimited power crackling at your horn tips. It is enough to send even the most steady-hoofed of us into an insane rampage." "Yes...I've seen it before." Twilight nodded, recalling an incident involving a certain boastful sky blue mare and a pendant of unearthly magical power. "Well, I wouldn't say it changes anything, but I can at least understand how everything went wrong." "Indeed. My display was most unsightly, the very embarrassment keeps me up at night." The queen raised a hoof to her face and gave a light cough, clearing her throat. "So the other mistake was..." Twilight was about to mention herself. Chrysalis beat her to it. "Falling in love." Chrysalis answered, simply. Twilight's mouth fell open. "Come again?" Was all she could manage around her slack jaw. "Apple of my eye, love of my life" Chrysalis resumed her soft melody, "I curse myself, foalish and unwise He was under my spell, it was all lies But he loved me, my first and last I was weak, I yearned a taste of her paradise But never a moment's regret for having you, my prize Beloved apple of my eye, love of my life" "Wait, she...?" Twilight blinked, pointing a hoof at the little filly sleeping peacefully in the basket. As if answering her, the foal kicked a little hoof into the air, yawning wide and mewling contentedly in her sleep. "...you...." Twilight pointed at Chrysalis, "...my brother....?" Hairs had begun to twang out at awkward angles from her frizzled mane as her soft and squishy mind began to fry under the information overload. "Twilight Sparkle, I find your disbelief a little...disheartening to say the least. I am after all a most fertile mare of foal-bearing age." Chrysalis said in mock-hurt. "But....I...her...you...brother..." Smoke had begun rising from her sparking horn as she went cross-eyed with the mental burden. "I'm...I'm...I'm an aunt?!" Was all she finally managed to process. "I find it heartening that you came to the conclusion so quickly. Congratulations on becoming an aunt, Twilight Sparkle." The mother smiled sympathetically, "Or is it my condolences?" "S-she...she is..." Twilight felt like she had been blinkered all this time. The changeling filly looked like a pony because she was indeed half-pony. Another glance at the little foal only confirmed the outrageous fact. There was her own lavender eyes, her father's dark midnight blue coat mingled with the darkness of Chrysalis', her own mother's silver blonde mane, Shining's gleaming white in her carapace. And if those clues weren't enough, there was the single streak of dark blue in the little filly's silver blonde mane and tail, just like her father's. It was almost the hoofprint of House Twilight's blood. "She's...a Twilight..." She could hardly believe the words she had uttered. "Wait..." Twilight blinked, logic suddenly catching up, "The wedding was only a little more than a year ago." Chrysalis nodded to this. "But she's the size of a 6 year old filly." Twilight said, gauging by how she was about the size of her friends' little sisters. "We changelings live harsh unforgiving lives. Our foals must be born ready to fend for themselves from the moment they hatch. They are born much older than pony foals and develop faster until they reach this stage of their development." Chrysalis nodded at her little daughter. "Though I will say without boast that she far outstrips even the best and brightest of her generation." "Must be the Twilight blood." Twilight gave a teasing smile. "Hah! Perhaps!" Chrysalis laughed earnestly for the first time. "What will I tell my brother?" Twilight sighed, shaking her head with her forehead in one hoof. "No." Chrysalis suddenly said, sharply. "Huh?" "No, you will tell him nothing." Chrysalis said, her tone final. "Wait, but...why?" Twilight's eyebrows furrowed into a frown, "He's the father, he deserves to at least..." "She doesn't deserve that." Chrysalis said, nuzzling the little filly. "Apple of my eye, love of my life Please, please do not tell him and his wife I deserve no forgiveness, only their despise Them and all ponykind alike But the apple of my eye, love of my life She is innocent, she must not share in my demise She will not bear my sins, in happiness she will thrive show this child kindness, neither she nor anypony alive Should ever learn that I am her mother despised" "Please, Twilight Sparkle. I have done her no kindness. My sins are many, to both ponykind and changelingkind." Chrysalis was trembling, the faintest glimmer of tears trickling down her face. "I cannot call her my daughter. Let nopony else do her that cruelty." "...but..." Twilight bit her lip. "I am sure you will have a select few you must tell, those who will help you, your close and loyal friends for example." Chrysalis said, voice barely shaking, demonstrating what to Twilight was a shocking clarity of mind amidst her show of emotion. "But please, nopony else." "....very well, I promise." Twilight sighed, giving the relieved mother a nod, "But you're a good mother, Chrysalis." "Haha, flattery will not help me now, Twilight Sparkle. But I thank you all the same." The mother smiled bitterly. "Ah...it would appear our time together is coming to a close." She said, looking around. Twilight followed her gaze. She gasped as she noticed the world about her....shaking? Twist and warp even? As if somebody had thrown a rock in a pool, causing the entire world around them to distort disturbingly. 'With great dismay we alert thee, CHRYSALIS.SRV server stability is now compromised.' The cool, monotonous voice from earlier announced. 'With impatience we warn thee, mass desynchronization imminent." The glyphs seemed to frizzle and spark disturbingly around them. "Now, for the most important thing, Twilight Sparkle." Chrysalis said, taking a deep breath, as if preparing to deliver the biggest speech of her life. "You want me to take her in." Twilight said. Seeing the look in Chrysalis' eye, she just smiled weakly, "Hivemind. You haven't exactly been secretive with your intentions, Chrysalis." Twilight sighed, "But...I'm...I simply..." She began, uncertain. The very thought of taking in a filly, how much that would change her life, it was simply mind-shattering. She was still a student for Celestia's sake, she was still living off a royal stipend with a student loan she'd never pay off as a librarian or researcher, she hadn't even dated her entire life. All the thoughts coursed together, rushing at her, feeding her doubt like a broken dam washing away the peaceful valley beneath. There was just no way she could... "I'm sorry, Twilight Sparkle, to burden you with this." The forlorn mother reached down into the cradle, now quickly dissolving out of existence. She picked up the little filly in her forehooves just as the last of the cradle dissipated into flickers of light. "Apple of my eye, love of my heart She is innocent, untainted, unmarred T'was not her choice to be born to me A changeling, a lowly criminal escapee To inherit my sins, to be caught twain two worlds belonging to neither, no, not what she deserves!" Her lips trembled, tears welling up in her eyes as she gazed down lovingly at her daughter one last time. Even as their very world crumbled around them her gaze remained focused on the one thing that mattered to her in what was left of her life. "Apple of my eye, love of my heart She deserves better on her part If she had been born to...to him and her She'd be beloved by a father and mother A little princess adored by her empire Where is she now, just look at her My poor apple of my eye, love of my heart..." The mother touched her forehead against her child's. Tears streamed down her cheeks uncontrollably as she nuzzled them against her child's one last time. "Twilight Sparkle, I come to you now on my knees...not as the queen who wronged you, not as the mare who caused you and your loved ones no end of grief." The crying mother pleaded, lowering her head as she clutched her child tightly against her bosom. "I-I implore you, a-as a mother...please, could you find it in your heart to show this untainted child kindness?" Twilight looked back at the mother and could only see hope and fear in those tearful eyes. Fear that she would no longer be able to continue the journey alongside her daughter, hope that somepony, her, Twilight Sparkle, could continue in her place. Twilight almost fell back on her rump from the overwhelming thoughts coursing through her. All she had thought of was herself, and how the filly would change her life. But what of her? This child had done nothing to deserve her lot in life. One step, one word from her, could change this entire filly's life. There could be no doubt whatsoever about this. "Yes." Twilight finally said, giving the relieved mother a weak but determined smile, looking a lot more certain than she felt. "Yes, I promise, Chrysalis. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." "Thank you, Twilight Sparkle. Thank you. Maker bless you and your life." Chrysalis smiled perhaps the warmest, happiest smile Twilight had ever seen on any mare, even through her thick veil of tears. She surprised Twilight even further by pulling her into a tight one-hoof hug, pulling her close against her and her daughter. "I wish we had...we had met in better times. I'm sorry...sorry for everything." It was almost like a slap to the face. Twilight felt the anger surge up before she could even let any feeling of guilt smother it. This mare had stolen her brother, imprisoned her foalsitter, hurt her teacher and threatened all of Equestria. And she was sorry? Sorry?! Throwing the word around as if it was enough? As if it would make everything alright? But what little logic managed to stay afloat amidst the storm of righteous rage made itself heard, 'You'll regret it when the chance is lost forever.' And the pang of that realization quelled the storm, leaving behind a dark puddle of bitterness. She never knew 3 words could be so hard. She never knew that even such a seemingly trivial act of kindness could be so difficult. Fluttershy made it look so easy, forgiving and befriending the lord of chaos himself. The thought of Fluttershy slowly allowed the sun to pierce the clouds within her overcast self. She silently thanked her best friend for returning reason to her mind. She took a deep breath. "I forgive you, Chrysalis." Twilight said, as solemnly as she could, going so far as giving the fading mother a tight squeeze of her hoof. "I will watch over you both, even if I must cross the fires of Tartarus." Chrysalis whispered in Twilight's ear. "May your hooves hold more happiness than stars in the sky." When she finally released her, the world was already at its end. The sky had shattered revealing the pitch black darkness beyond. Beneath them the spectral ocean had leaked away, leaving a small puddle beneath them that was quickly receding. "Now...just one last thing." The mother said, wiping away her tears as a look of renewed grim determination took over. "My parting gift to both of you. I will take away what few memories she has of me." "Wait, Chrysalis..." Twilight gasped as the words sunk in, "Y-you can't! You're..." "They were not fond memories anyway. They were mostly of my anger, my negligence, of us being hounded and hunted." Chrysalis shook her head dismissively, "No filly should have to grow up with that, let alone the knowledge that she was a daughter to...to me." Her voice shook at the very end, betraying the crack in her determination. "But..." Twilight cursed herself, at how words had failed her so many times that day when she needed them most. "But you can't..." She argued weakly. "Apple of my eye, love of my life" Twilight could only watch helplessly as Chrysalis whispered to the sleeping filly, her horn taking on one last warm, comforting glow, "With naught but tears and blood I baptize With naught to give you but prayers of joy twice, thrice All I could do for you is take away this vice Your accursed roots, our blood ties With me I'll take them to Tartarus' fires So live free, Apple of my eye, love of my life" Tears ran down her cheeks as Chrysalis smiled a content and happy smile, hugging the child close. "Apple of my eye...love of my life..." the mother drew one last breath, her tearful eyes fixed on nothing but the child before her. "...this is my first and final lullaby....this is my goodbye..." Her horn shone with a blinding brilliance that consumed all. "I'm....sorry....." The silence was deafening. Twilight sat on her haunches on the floor by the bed, dazed. In her forehooves, curled up peacefully in her sleep, was the little filly she had been entrusted. How she got there Twilight couldn't even begin to recall. The little filly reached up in her sleep, little hooves curling gently about Twilight's neck, as if reaching to her for warmth and comfort. She gave a little contented whinny as Twilight numbly raised one hoof to embrace her. Twilight stiffly turned her head to look down at the bed. It was empty, save the pristine clean bandages littering its covers. The window beside it, once shuttered, had been flung wide open. Clear blue skies shone where there was once deep, heavy snow clouds, the light almost blinding her unadjusted eyes. A few early birds returning from the south flew through the sky, filling the air with birdsong, a most alien sound to Twilight's ears. The sun suddenly shone through the window, lancing one bright sunbeam squarely on the bed. A bright reflection almost blinded Twilight. She squinted down just enough to see a heart, a red crystal heart, lying amidst the strewn bandages, glimmering brightly with the radiance of an entire galaxy. '....the fire of friendship lives in our hearts, as long as it burns we cannot drift apart...' The carollers outside sang, their song now clearer than ever through the open window. "The apple of your eye, the love of your life...I'll take good care of her, I promise." Twilight muttered blankly. She suddenly burst into tears. She didn't know why but there was too much inside to contain. She cried and cried, unrelenting. The little filly in her arms quickly stirred as if sensing her upset. "Mmmm....Whalt gyAs?" The little filly asked innocently in her squeaky little voice, tilting her head to one side as she patted Twilight comfortingly on her forehead. The words were alien to her ears but not to her mind, just as it was in the hivemind. 'What's wrong?' she understood. "Whalt gyAs?" The filly asked again. She could only clutch the child, thinking she'd try to comfort her. But she realized deep down, it was her seeking comfort. And she needed it more than anything. "Was syea ra, yorr rh.e fernIa!" The little filly squeaked, thumping her forehead gently against Twilight's. 'With great happiness that I wish would last, you must cheer up!' The little filly had said. The young changeling reached up with her little hooves and began wiping away the tears on her cheeks, much to the grown unicorn's surprise. Achieving nothing but spreading the tears evenly across Twilight's face, the little filly frowned. She finally decided on latching both hooves about Twilight's neck and licking the tears away with her little tongue. 'I'm being comforted by the foal who just lost her mom.' Twilight thought to herself, still numb. She suddenly broke into a chuckle, then peals of laughter as she hugged the little filly tightly, much to the little filly's confusion. But she wasn't one to question laughter, so she decided to join in with innocent little giggles of her own. Author's Note Many thanks for reading and many many more thanks for the kind comments so far, folks! I've also noticed the kind upvote/thumbs up thing, many thanks for that as well. Writing is fun, but knowing people are enjoying what I write is even more so! See you all next chapter! PS: Yet another teensy aside. Some of you may recognize the Animus. If you don't, don't worry, it's just more borrowed flavouring that, again, will not have any major bearing on the story as a whole. No, you don't need to know the source material to enjoy the story. In case you're curious, the Animus is central to the Assassin's Creed series, property of Ubisoft. It is a system that allows people to access ancestral memories encoded in their genes. No, it doesn't do the same thing in this fic, I just like the digital effects within the virtual reality the Animus generates and I thought it was quite fitting for the hivemind. I decided to name it that because (a) it sounds cool and (b) for those who do know if it it'd lend a little extra to the imagination, or so I hope.
My Little Protector Big Apple Inn, Appleloosa, a few hours later Twilight's mind was still a foggy daze. Much too much had happened much too quickly, her mind was tripping over itself just trying to catch up, let alone begin to organize everything into the neat little folders she liked to sort the whole world into. And as if that wasn't enough, she felt as if the entirety of Cloudsdale had crash landed in the pits of her heart. Just what kind of sorting can you manage amidst the smouldering fallout? And why won't it just go away no matter how she tried to rationalize it? Chrysalis wasn't even an acquaintance, let alone a relative. Why her passing had left Twilight feeling so distraught was a mystery unto itself, one Twilight simply couldn't logically suss out to quell her tears. She didn't get to ruminate on it in silence for long. For one, the filly had woken up from her short nap. With a happy little coo she had yawned widely and opened her big wide harlequin eyes, uncurling herself out of her warm little nest in Twilight's blanket before stretching her little hooves and wings luxuriously. She had bounced on her hooves a little as she tested out the bouncy new land she had found herself on. Giving a delighted squee of delight in approval, she cast her bright, curious little eyes about, taking in the wide new world for the first time. Her gaze fell upon Twilight sitting at the desk, drawing a happy coo of familiarity. The little filly didn't know why the reassuring figure looked familiar to her, but it brought with it a sense of safety, warmth and comfort. For the child that was all she needed, a secure anchor in an uncertain world, one she could return to whenever she needed it. Like all changeling fillies her first instinct was to rush up to said figure and lavish it with affection. But the deep dark and heavy tune she sensed emanating from her anchor figure told her to steer clear, at least for now. Many a changeling foal had met their ends by ignoring the telltale tunes that warned of trouble. But said figure had been crying. She didn't know why she had been crying but it wasn't something she could ignore. She knew it deep down inside, nobody should be crying. If they were, then they shouldn't be crying alone. There wasn't much she could do, she knew, but the little filly had done her best to try and help with her tears at the very least. Then there was laughter, sudden and jarring, mixed in with the tears, which she found confusing. The tune behind it hadn't changed, it was still one of deep, blue sadness, the colour of sour grapes and dying violets. It simply did not fit together with the forced laughter. But she didn't argue, deciding to laugh along happily. Perhaps the figure was trying to make herself feel happier? Maybe make the little filly feel happier? Either way, it was an improvement. And now she had woken up from her nap to find the deep dark tune still there. Nope, the laughter had not done its job, silly useless laughter. She found that odd, as sleep usually clears up most things, like darkness, thunderstorms, and most sad and angry tunes. Frowning, she decided something must be done, and soon. With a determined expression she looked about the new world for anything she might be able to offer the sorrowful one. Fruits? A lively insect? Maybe a curious-looking stone or maybe even a gem if she's lucky. Or, better, a distraction of some sort? Her bright little eyes came to rest upon long thin strips of white lying all around the soft bouncy land. Perfect! She got to work immediately like the good little filly she was. She hadn't been at work long before something interrupted her rather suddenly. And loudly too. "Hurnyaaaaaaah!" A battlecry seemed to send the door to the room flying open. Lower down stood the real culprit, a baby dragon, one clawed foot raised in a high-kick. Let it not be said that he had quietly and carefully turned the door knob before sending the door flying, like any decent little hoof-fu dragon warrior. "Alright, where's the changeling army?! Where are their battle collosi?! The dragon warrior of awesome's ready to save you, Twi! Just point me in the direction of the flank-kicking!" The little dragon bellowed, arms raised in what would have been a Hoof-Fu stance in someone with a little more limb than tummy. A little changeling filly in the middle of the room stared back at him with wide-eyed fascination, frozen mid-prance. A roll of bandaging clasped tightly in her mouth trailed bandages all across the room forming an intricate little web. In one corner The dragon's unicorn guardian sat on the crude little writing desk the inn had provided, face deep in her hooves. She seemed entirely unaware that somefilly had gone and turned her and the chair she sat in into a bandage maypole. The little dragon interpreted the situation the best way he could. "The changeling ninjas have cast their shadowy web of doom!" He gasped, "Don't worry, Twi!" He did a dive-roll towards the little filly before leaping up into a Hoof-Fu stance, one reminiscent of the 'Praying Manticore' style. "I'll protect you!" The little filly's eyes seemed to glimmer with excitement as she opened her mouth, "Pwotec!" She squeaked with an excited little hop, mimicking the dragon in her own high-pitched voice. Unfortunately it meant she opened her mouth and released the bandage gripped in her teeth. Even more unfortunately, the bandage was elastic. Ever-Lastic(TM) to be precise. The dragon gasped as the stretchy roll of bandaging zoomed away from the filly's mouth like one of Fluttershy's rabbits overdosing on sugar, picking up speed as it spun and whizzed around odd corners. He went cross-eyed, struggling to keep up with the speeding roll with his eyes. There was a ferocious twang as it slipped around one nightstand leg, whizzing around straight at him like a heartseeker missile. But the dragon warrior of awesome was more than ready. With a deft backflip (more a lopsided roll, but it's the thought that counts) he dodged it. "Hah! Your Hoof-Fu, weak!" He declared, righting himself. He felt something catch on his tail. Where his body had dodged the rampaging bandage roll, his tail hadn't been so lucky. "Oh..." He mouth formed a grim 'o' as the bandage spun round and round his tail, binding him firmly, before pulling taut. "...horseapples." He muttered. He was thrown onto his belly with a whomp. He dug his claws into the floorboards, his nails scratching across the wood as he fought for purchase, before his nails finally gave way to physics, sending him flying like a whip. "WhoaaaaaaaAAAAAAaaaoooooaaaAAAAAaaooooo..." The little dragon screamed as he zoomed around the room, tracing the entire course of the filly's web on the whims of the roll of bandage. Many, him and Twilight included, would later ponder how the little filly managed to pack that much kinetic energy into a length of bandaging by simply prancing around the room with it. Many debates and theories simply boiled down to one conclusion - the little filly loves to break rules, and not even the rules of physics were immune to her mischief. "WhoaaaaaaaAAAAAAaaaoooooaaaAAAAAaaooooo..." The little filly mimicked like a good little doppler echo. She hopped about excitedly in place as she watched Spike whizz in and around the furniture, her ears and wings twitching, her fluffy tail wiggling excitedly. It was official. She had found her new toy. "What have you done now, little one?" Twilight slowly picked herself up from her own dishevelled mane warily to glance down at the little filly. The child's ears perked up as she hopped around to look up expectantly at Twilight, glimmering eyes proud of her handiwork. Twilight looked up to see her number 1 assistant jammed underneath the ensuite bathroom door, his body tightly mummified in bandaging like the dragon pharaohs of the Neighle river. Fortunately for him the space underneath the door the bandage lead into was too tight for his tummy. Unfortunately for him it was not too tight for his rump. As if reading the disapproval brewing in Twilight's mind, the little filly's ears drooped back onto her mane, her shoulders drooping as she fell backwards onto her haunches, peering up at Twilight with what looked like wide-eyed guilt. "I'm not angry at you, little one." Twilight was quick to say, breaking into a weak smile in an attempt to reassure the child, "But that's not safe. Somepony might get hurt." She said, expecting it to be a one-sided reprimand. She really didn't expect the little filly to understand a word she said. "Huwt?" To her surprise the little filly repeated the word back to her, ears twitching with interest, cocking her head to one side, as if making an attempt to understand her. "Yes, you know, like 'ouch'." Twilight went on, feeling encouraged by the child's show of interest. She tapped her chin with a hoof, mind churning on how best to demonstrate pain. "Ouch!" She saw many little fluttershies flitting about her eyes as she unsteadily lowered the book she had magically whomped herself on the head with. "H-hurt. Ouch." Twilight murmured woozily, pointing a hoof at her head, wincing exaggeratedly for emphasis. She felt silly then, there really must have been a better way. The little filly gave a little giggle much to Twilight's indignation, forehooves cupped over her snout as she peered guiltily up at Twilight. Then she gave a gasp, "Huwt!" She raised a hoof pointing at Spike. "Huwt?!" 'Silly, but it worked.' Twilight thought to herself, nursing the sore spot on her head with a hoof. "Yes, Spike is hurt." She nodded. "You..." Twilight pointed at the filly, "Hurt Spike." She said, pointing at Spike, before shaking her head with a pained look on her face. Twilight could almost see the gears turning behind the little filly's bright eyes. "Ma quel wa zash rre hes?" She suddenly gasped. 'With earnest presence of mind, he's hurting!' Twilight felt the meaning of the little filly's words sink into her mind once more almost effortlessly, even easier than reading a book if that was even possible. "Ma gwanme wa guAwd hes!" She stomped one hoof determinedly. 'With a wish to protect, I must protect him!' she had declared. "Yes, protect." Twilight nodded. That wasn't the intended lesson. The child didn't seem to realize it was her fault, but it was a good lesson nonetheless. "Pwotec!" The little filly turned to aim what was perhaps Equestria's cutest doe-eyed deathglare ever at the evil door thing trapping the thing that was hurt. She achieved something between holding her breath and miming constipation. "Twilight, what is she...?" Came Spike's muffled voice from behind the swath of bandages around his face. "Wait wait NO-AAAAAAA!" He shrieked as the little filly began galloping towards him. "Nyaaaaaaah!" A little echo of Spike's earlier battlecry filled the room as the little filly launched herself into a high kick, wings fluttering madly, emulating the little dragon warrior's stunt flawlessly. Her hoof hit the door right above Spike's head, sending it flying open, releasing its poor draconic captive. What remained of the bandage behind the door chose that moment to snap, smacking Spike in the rump like a vengeful whip. "Geouch!" Spike yelped. "Good girl." Twilight said, reaching down to give the child a pat of approval...then paused midway before quickly pulling her hoof back, giving the filly a little smile instead, "You did well." The filly hopped in place happily at the praise, beaming with immense pride. "Just what is going on?" Spike demanded as he fought to unravel himself from the bandages. "Well, I think you've taught her how to open and close doors." Twilight sighed. "The Hoof-Fu way." She added, watching the little filly run off and flying-kick the bedroom door shut with yet another pitch-perfect 'Nyaaaaaaah!'. She winced, sympathizing with the door. "Thanks, Spike." "No, what I meant was, you were supposed to sound out every 30 minutes and you were due to report in like..." Spike studied the wall clock with a thoughtful claw on his chin, "2 and a half minutes ago. So when you didn't I got ready to Hoof-Fu your flank out of danger!" He threw out a few more hoof fu chops and punches for emphasis. "It's alright, Spike, there's no changeling army. I was just...preoccupied. Thanks, though, for flying in to my rescue." Twilight said with a tired smile. "But we will have a word about your language later." She added, not quite liking what the more recent action flicks had added to the young dragon's impressionable vocabulary. "Oh? No changeling armies? Phew, that's a relie-...I mean..." He cleared his throat while making a valiant attempt at ignoring Twilight's quip about his language, "The dragon warrior never rests. For as long the shadow ninjas of doom roam, I shall be watching." He declared as he pulled another stance, one most may recognize as the 'crane', though in Spike it was more reminiscent of a turkey. Twilight couldn't help but notice how Spike's knees were actually shaking. The poor little guy had rushed to her rescue despite his fear, all because he thought she may be in trouble. She quietly decided that he had at least earned himself an extra gem that week. "Nyaaaaaaah!" The bathroom door was slammed shut by the force of a filly-powered flying kick from inside. "Just what is she doing?" Spike asked Twilight, pointing a clawed thumb at the bathroom door. Scratching noises began to come from the other side, courtesy of the pair of small forehooves scraping on the inside. It would appear that opening doors from inside was still a bit of a closed book to the little filly. "Copying her uncle Spike." Twilight said, pulling out a blank sheet of paper absentmindedly. "Huh, yeah, her uncle Spi-...whaaaAAAT?!" Spike cried. "WhaaaAAAT?!" The little filly behind the door mimicked Spike's voice perfectly, causing Spike to almost leap out of his scales. "...I do not sound like a sissy." Spike muttered indignantly at the door. "...sissy." The door said with a giggle, as if reflecting his words back at him. "Am not!" Spike retorted. "Amm!" The door replied, giggling even louder. "Am not!" "Aamm!" The rather one-sided argument went on heatedly across the already abused bathroom door. Twilight couldn't help but remember the story of the pony who had an argument with his own echoes. How did it end? The pony fell in love with himself? Oh dear. She gave a weary little chuckle, impressed that the little filly could actually hold a coherent conversation with nothing but mimicry. That must be the way changeling foals learn, by mimicking others, she thought to herself. Watching her play without a care in the world brought Twilight to only one conclusion - Chrysalis' spell had worked. The child had no recollection of the mother she had just lost. As sad as the idea was, Twilight realized that, at least in the short term, it was for the best. "Twilight, just, what happened? I still don't understand." Spike finally asked in exasperation as he finally opened the bathroom door to let the filly out. "And where did Chrysalis go? Did she escape?" He asked, eyeing the open window suspiciously. "Tch, told you we should have written to Celestia first." "No, Spike....Chrysalis is gone." Twilight sighed. "I can write a letter now and have the royal guard down here with their changeling lanterns in 10 minutes flat." Spike said, whipping out his ever-ready parchment and quill. "They'll find her from the air lickety split." He was quick to hold his quill and parchment high up out of harms way. He didn't miss the filly watching the quill, eyes gleaming, ears and tail wiggling excitedly. "No, Spike. I mean, she's gone." Twilight said, shaking her head. "Oh..." Spike blinked, "Oooooh..." Understanding dawned. He slowly turned to face the little filly, "What...what about her?" He asked, his face the very picture of sympathy and concern. "She....doesn't remember." Twilight said, feeling a little hiccup get stuck in her throat at the thought. She had noticed that the little dragon's first concern was the filly's wellbeing. She couldn't help but feel proud of him for that. "Chrysalis cast a spell on her so that she wouldn't remember anything." She felt her lower lips quiver a little but bit it just in time. No, Twilight, no. "That's....that's just sad." Spike said, "So, where is she going to stay from no-....wait a second, when you said 'uncle Spike', you meant....?" "Yeah, she's staying with us, at least for now." Twilight said. "Who are you and what have you done with my Twilight?!" Spike demanded, lowering himself into another stance, ready to deal some Hoof-Fu style justice. "Did you take me for a foal, Chrysalis?! Or whatever changeling you are?!" "Ugh...I guess it's fair for you to suspect it. Points for quick-thinking, I suppose." Twilight sighed wearily, feeling more exhaustion well up from the now bottomless pit of tiredness. "Fine, Spike, ask me something, anything." Spike seemed to give this some thought, all while eyeing Twilight cautiously. "Hmmm, something only the real Twilight would know. Ahah, I know!" he said with a triumphant grin, "Where do I hide my Best of Alabaster Mares photobook?" "...you have a what now?" Twilight almost fell over from her chair from having been caught completely off-guard. "Hah! You don't know! But I know the real Twilight discovered where it is because I found them on TOP of my basket last week, not UNDER it where I hid it!" Spike declared triumphantly, obligatory accusatory finger aimed levelly at Twilight's nose. "....But, I honestly didn't know, Spike. That wasn't me." Twilight admitted sincerely. "Yeah, course it wasn't you. Cause you're not Twilight! Give yourself up, changeling!" Spike shouted. "Changewing!" The changeling filly giggled along happily, pointing a hoof at Twilight alongside Spike. "You're not helping." Twilight muttered at the little filly. "Umm, it must have been..." Twilight thought hard and fast, tapping her chin with a hoof, "Oh, Rarity went up there last week looking for the...fashion magazine...I....borrowed...from...her." She trailed off, raising a hoof up to her mouth. "Ooooh....Oooooooooh..." She rocked back and forth, eyes wide. Spike had quite literally frozen. Chills and reptilian cold blood did not mix well together. "We can...deal with the fallout later, Spike." Twilight murmured sympathetically, "Now, is that proof enough?" The temperature in the room had dropped a few degrees, courtesy of the Spikecicle standing frigid in the middle of the room, silent as the grave he wished he was in. "I'll take that as a yes." Twilight said, turning her attention back to the piece of paper. With a sigh she dipped a quill with her magic and began writing the header, 'Filly To-Do-List'. Then she stopped, staring blankly at the empty page, as if hoping that if she stared hard enough the rest of the list might give up and reveal itself to her. 'Gather yourself, Twilight Sparkle' She thought to herself, fiercely, digging her forehooves deep into her temples. 'I need to do something other than cry! I can't be comforted by the foal I'm supposed to be comforting! I can't be crying in front of her! And laughing just so you're not crying isn't the answer, at least not in the long term, at least not in the interest of sanity!' She looked up at the mirror hanging over the writing desk and saw a mare with a dishevelled and frizzled mane and a twitching right eyeball threatening to pop out of its socket stare back at her. '....err...what sanity I have left.' She corrected herself. 'Come on, Sparkle, let's at least write a list. A list, that's all we need. There will be a list. Then everything will be alright. Just alright.' She took in a few deep breaths to steady herself, quill drifting off absent-mindedly And then there was no quill. It had been snapped out of the air by a very eager little filly. "W-what're you writing, Twilight?" Spike finally thawed enough to say, seemingly eager for something else to talk about. He peered over the edge of the table at the list-in-progress, before rolling his eyes up at the ceiling. "I see how well you've thought this through." He said, offering a replacement quill helpfully. "Aaaaargh..." Twilight groaned weakly as she planted her face in her hooves once more. "Aaaaaargh!" The little filly mimicked her, tone-perfect, though an octave higher in her squeaky little voice, as she ravaged the poor innocent little quill in her tiny maw of doom. "Put it down." Spike said, gesturing for the filly to return the quill. There was a fwhip, a rush of air, and Spike found the quill lodged in the wall beside his head, quivering gently from the impact. "Put it down!" The changeling squeaked happily, having been more than happy to return the quill having determined quite decisively that it wasn't edible after all. "Err....Twilight, that plan had better include bullet-proof armour somewhere." Spike said, slowly, gingerly reaching up for the quill embedded in the wall. He tugged once. Then tugged again. Then gritted his teeth and gave an almighty pull. Achieving nothing, he stepped back and opted for glaring at the quill disapprovingly instead. "Bulletproof armour, got it..." Twilight murmured, absent-mindedly, pulling the quill out of the wall with her magic and dipping its frayed end in some ink. However she found her view blocked by the little filly who had decided to clamber clumsily up into her lap, standing on her rearhooves, forehooves up on the desk. She seemed intent on joining her in staring blankly at the sheet of paper. Twilight watched blearily as the little filly prodded the sheet of paper with one forehoof experimentally. Confident that it wasn't about to leap up and eat her, she attempted to pick it up in both forehooves. It slipped about elusively on the desk before her, defying her attempts at picking it up. The little princess seemed to grow impatient at the paper's display of impertinence. And like the little princess she was she was quick to show the price for impudence. She lunged forwards and rammed her horn through its feeble body, running it through in one swift show of force. "Nyaaaaaaah!" She squeed triumphantly as she looked up at Twilight, yet another expectant look on her face. Twilight stared helplessly at the sheet of paper now impaled upon her jagged little horn. The doomed sheet of paper could only rustle pathetically at her mercy. "...." Twilight planted her face flat on the desk. She let out one last moan of defeat. Then there was silence. "Look, you need to calm down, Twilight." Spike said, watching as the little filly patted Twilight's head comfortingly. "Just take a moment and write to princess Celestia for advice..." He very quickly wished he could kick himself in the plot for suggesting that. "Princess Celestia? The Princess?! Off course!" Twilight rose up from the dead. The little filly squeed happily, seemingly proud of her success at necromancy. Twilight clapped her hooves together, "Dear Princess Celestia, Queen Chrysalis has just passed away and left her only daughter in my care. Who is also my niece, because she is Shining Armour's daughter, who isn't Cadence's daughter, because she is Chrysalis'." She sang in a shaky highpitched voice. "Hold the Gryphons!" Spike's eyes were wide as saucers, "Who the what how now?" He gasped. His mind churned up nothing but errors as he tried to fit Shining Armour into the already complicated equation. But he wasn't allowed a moment to work out the geometry behind the love triangle as Twilight was quick to plough on with her wailing. "So now I will be looking after a little changeling filly which by your law is illegal as it is tantamount to harbouring a changeling and is considered treason in view of their assault upon the royal family over a year ago. Not to mention she is on the run from someone called the Empress of Changelings who is Tartarus-bent on killing every last changeling queen in Equestria. And while we're at it, can I request an increase in my royal stipend as, frankly, I'm broke as it is and having another mouth to feed and a warm body to provide for would be beyond taxing, it'd be suicide. Please let me keep my head on my shoulders, please don't banish me, please give me strength, your faithful student Twilight Sparkle who I pinkie-promise you hasn't been brainwashed by a changeling." Twilight took a long, deep breath of air as she surfaced from the ocean of despair she almost drowned herself in, "Did I miss anything?" "How about....that' you're really sorry?" Spike suggested, "With icing and bananas on top?" Twilight let out a wail of despair as she buried her face in her hooves once more. "What if she banishes me? Or throws me in a dungeon? Or banish me and then throw me in a dungeon in that place that she banishes me to?" "....I'll just do what you'd do and write to you when you're banished." Spike shrugged, rolling his eyes as he rolled with Twilight's usual runaway imagination, "Unless that place you're banished to doesn't have a post office. Though I suppose I can cough up the letters for you...but that would involve me being there with you. But...wait...I don't want to be banished and thrown in a dungeon." Spike said, logic slowly escaping him as well. "See?! See why I can't write to princess Celestia?!" Twilight wailed, wringing her hooves. "Did you run out of ink again?" An innocent little voice asked, full of heartfelt worry. "Oh dear, that would be dreadful. We wouldn't want you to start writing in your own tears again like last time. Putting out the fires took hours." Spike and Twilight rounded on the figure at the door. A familiar butter-coated pegasus peeked around the corner of the door, a pair of emerald green orbs filled with sincere concern peering at them from under her long, serene wavelets of sunset-pink hair. It was the reassuring form of their travel companion and resident care-giving expert, Fluttershy. To be in her presence was to order a big warm bowl of strawberry milk to drown oneself in. Spike visibly relaxed. Fluttershy's calming effects, unfortunately seemed entire lost upon Twilight. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt everypony or anything. I hope I wasn't being rude..." Fluttershy said in almost a whisper as she allowed herself into the room meekly with the quietest of tippyhooves. "Ummm, if you don't mind me asking, what was everypony talking about?" "Fluttershy, princess Celestia's going to banish me and then throw me in a dungeon in that place that she banishes me to!" Twilight wailed hysterically, on the verge of tearing her own mane out. This earned her another eye-roll from her loyal assistant. "Oh, oh my, that is dreadful." Fluttershy was quick to agree with an expression of sweet concern, "It'd be like that time I borrowed Philomena without asking the princess...*gasp* did you borrow Philomena without asking too, Twilight?" She asked, looking about the room for signs of the phoenix. "Worse." Twilight pointed a hoof at the filly who was sitting on her hindhooves, busy trying to lick the paper stuck to her little horn, big harlequin eyes going cross-eyed as she fought to focus on her target, forehooves up in the air pawing for purchase upon the elusive sheet. "You borrowed a filly?" Fluttershy's eyes had widened to a point that shouldn't even be anatomically possible. "Ummm...Where, if you don't mind me asking?" She asked, twiddling her hooves, "I want one. Umm, if that's alright, I mean..." Author's Note Thanks for reading again folks! Hope everone enjoyed that as always. Updates have been daily due to the fact that it was Easter holidays. Unfortunately now that they are coming to an end I won't be able to manage another update for at least a few days. I thought I'd at least get one more short chapter out before I disappear for a few days. Unfortunately it meant it wasn't as meaty in terms of actual plot (no pun intended). To (sort of, kind of, hopefully) make up for it, here's a little preview of a future song, a work in progress. Not gonna lie, writing songs for Lia is so so so much fun. Watchie, Lia's growing faster than you know Fasterier than the sound of light, Lia's so in of control Watchie out Equestria, Lia's the grownest uppest now Eyes on Lia now, Lia's getting this road on the show! A grownup's worldie is bigger than biggie (oh so free!) Lia's not letting something little like 'little' stop Lia here Cause Lia's not just grown-up, you see (really!) Lia's the grownest uppest biggie filly! (really really!") Watchie, Lia's growing faster than you know Fasterier than the sound of light, getting this road on the show! When you're grownup, you're always 'not-naughty' When everything's biggie nothing's 'silly' (but that's just silly) Well, Lia's done being told Lia's tiny! (They'll see!) Lia's gonna be 'not-naughty' like the biggies! (Teehee!) Watchie, Lia's growing faster than you know Fasterier than the sound of light, getting this road on the show! Twillie likes her proofies and ever-dense-sees! Lia just needs to prove Lia's self so she'll see! Speaking just like a grownup, 'I, I, I, me, me, me' Do the chores (sigh), pick up the mess (groan) and study Watchie, Lia's growing faster than you know Fasterier than the sound of light, getting this road on the show! Growing up's hard when you're a tiny little filly Doing all them writing exercisisisisisies perfectly Lia already eats her (eeergh) alfalfa like a biggie pony! (Sigh) How much more to go before Lia can be free...? Say....you know how there's an entire worldie outside? Cause...inside's...inside's just not like....outside...
My Little Twilight Big Apple Inn, Appleloosa, a few moments later "Fluttershy?" "Yes?" "It's alright to come out now." "Is it g-gone?" "No." "T-then I'll stay u-under here i-if it's alright?" Twilight could only sigh and shake her head as she regarded the quivering bed. She peered down underneath at the pair of trembling emerald orbs glimmering with tears in the dark. "Fluttershy, it really is alright. I mean, look, does she really look harmful to you?" Twilight asked, pointing a hoof at the little filly who was running about in circles chasing the sheet of paper flapping about on her horn. "Yes." Fluttershy's voice sailed up from underneath the bed. "Very yes." "Just give it up, Fluttershy." Spike muttered. "It's Shining Armour all over again." "I'm not brainwashed!" Twilight asserted, "I'm perfectly fine!" "Shining Armour. All over again." Spike repeated for emphasis. "Gah!" Twilight growled in frustration. "Just what part of that looks like an evil brainwashing love-sapping monster?" She asked, hoof still pointing at the filly who had resumed sitting back on her haunches, pawing her hooves at the piece of paper. She leaned back so far in her epic struggle that she rolled backwards onto her back in a fit of giggles, little hooves flailing out at thin air. "A-all of her. S-she's a ch-ch-changeling." Fluttershy whispered. "And ch-changelings are scary. And d-dangerous. And very scary." "A changeling filly." Twilight sighed. "She's about as dangerous as Angel." CHOMP "Y'know, I actually don't disagree. She is as dangerous as Angel." Spike said, nodding at the little changeling filly chomping on his arm, stubby little fangs barely tickling his diamond-hard dragon scales. "Spike! It's eating Spike!" Fluttershy squeaked fearfully. "I'm....pretty sure that's her way of showing affection." Twilight murmured, weakly, watching the little filly happily chewing on Spike's arm. She was even making happy nibbling noises, something along the lines of 'Munyamunyamunyamunya'. "Sure she is." Spike rolled his eyes sceptically. "So, uh, can I start screaming now?" He asked, giving his arm an experimental tug. The little filly, however, was fastened as tightly as a small furry Ursa trap. "Or maybe...now?" "Uh, well, perhaps she's just hungry." Twilight suggested helpfully. "Great. That makes it so much better." Spike muttered, deadpan. "What if changeling-ness is contagious, you know, like zombies? What if I became a changeling dragon?!" He paused for a moment as he considered the prospect. "Y'know, that would actually be pretty cool. I could, like, transform into Rarity's ideal pony. Or the Masked Matterhorn. I'd be, like, the transformer dragon!" "We can't have that now, can we?" Twilight picked up a bowl of red apples off the room's dining table with her magic. "What, me becoming cool?" Spike blinked. "Here you go, little one. I'm pretty sure this is much better for you." Twilight said, offering Lia the biggest, shiniest apple of the bunch. "I lost to an apple. Gee, thanks." Spike muttered. "Oh, I'm free." He said, pulling his liberated arm away. The little filly's jaw had dropped wide open as she stood transfixed at the sight of the apple, releasing Spike's arm. "Pikca! Was syea ra irs mea chanti?!" The little filly's eyes glimmered brilliantly. 'Fruit! With great happiness, is it my birthday already?!' Twilight's mind translated for her. She couldn't help but feel a little pang of sympathy. What sort of life could this little filly have lived to consider fruit a once-a-year occasion? And to remain so indomitably cheerful despite all that? 'She has your resilience' Twilight couldn't help but think of Chrysalis once more. "No, little one. From now on there will be apples and everything else every single day." Twilight said, giving her a sad little smile as she pushed the fruit into the little filly's hooves. It was so big, or, rather, the filly was so small that she had to sit back on her haunches to hug the apple with all four hooves. She gave it a few experimental sniffs before cooing excitedly, "Pikca irs?", 'What fruit is this?'. Twilight, in a sudden little whim, decided to tap into her newfound reserve of changeling knowledge. It came surprisingly easy, about as easy as reading off a tourist guide, if tourist guides creepily haunted your brain like those drinking games one remembers but could never recall actually learning. "Pikca irs Aurelia.", 'This fruit is an apple'. She replied in changeling. "Whoah, you speak changeling too?" Spike gasped. "I don't remember a book on that in our library. I think I'd remember a guide to speaking creepy-nese ." "She wasn't the only thing Chrysalis left me." Twilight said, tapping her head with a hoof. "I'm not sure what else, but I've at least got a changeling dictionary in here. I sure hope Chrysalis at least catalogued everything with the Dewhoof decimal system." "Lia!" The little filly booped her nose against the apple, nuzzling it affectionately. "Teeheehee, Lia!" She rolled away in a fit of giggles while hugging the apple tightly. "So, um, if I understand what you told me, and I, uh, sort of hope I'm wrong." Fluttershy murmured, peering out from under the bed. "But poor Chrysalis has...passed away and left you with her child? And she's your niece?" "Yes." Twilight nodded. "That's....so sad." Fluttershy whispered. "So you'll be looking after her, Twilight?" "She has nopony else. She is alone in the world now." Twilight said. "And Chrysalis asked me not to tell my brother. She doesn't want anypony to know she is her daughter. She doesn't want this little one to, well, inherit her crimes." She said bitterly. "The poor thing." Fluttershy sniffled, eyes watering up. "Chrysalis...was a good pony, wasn't she?" 'Only the Element of Kindness could ever think that so easily' Twilight thought to herself. "Yes. She proved that there is good in everypony." She nodded, feeling guilty for what little bitterness she still harboured. "Even her." "I'll help." Twilight was surprised by the sudden conviction in Fluttershy's voice. "I-if that's alright with you, I mean." "Fluttershy? Aren't you, well, afraid of her?" Twilight blinked in disbelief. "I am. I'm very very afraid." Fluttershy whispered, "But when I think of how frightening it is to be all alone in the world, to grow up without even a mother, that is so so so frightening I could just scream." She gave her extremely quiet little whine of a scream as she stomped a hoof in the floor. "It's not fair! Nopony should have to be that way!" She gave her little battle cry against all the injustice in the world. "No, Twilight, she won't be alone. At the very least we'll be there for her." She said in a very surprising show of assertiveness. "Fluttershy..." Twilight felt awed by just how much her best friend was still able to surprise her, even now after so long. "Are you sure you'll be alright?" "I am frightened. But that doesn't matter. She does." Fluttershy asserted. "I'll help, Twilight. I promise." She said, giving Twilight a look of genuine determination, though her lips still quivered with the telltale signs of fear. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." She went through the motions shakily but determinedly. "Thank you, Fluttershy. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much." Twilight felt a sudden flood of relief and gratitude well up within her, one so overwhelming she couldn't help but pull her best friend into a tight hug. "I-I thought I'd have to face this alone with her. But no, you reminded me. I have you, I have everypony." She struggled to put her relief into words. "Yes, we'll be here for her, for you, Twilight." Fluttershy smiled. "No matter how frightening." "Yeah, Twi, we're all right behind you." Spike, number 1 assistant, said, patting Twilight reassuringly. "Like, 100 yards behind you." He added. "Spike...?" Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. "I'm joking, jeez." Spike rolled his eyes. "Talk about a tough crowd. Of course I'm going to help. Twilight town doesn't run on Sparkle alone." He gave Twilight a nudge to which Twilight replied with a little chuckle. "Sure, Spike." Twilight said. "That's better." Fluttershy nodded approvingly. Splat. Their little moment was interrupted by a mysterious little sound. Twilight, Fluttershy and Spike looked around at the source. They very quickly regretted it. They could only clutch their bellies and mouths as their stomach contents threatened to rebel against their tummies. The little filly had both her forehooves raised. The armour plating on her hooves had slid open just enough to reveal an array of seemingly hollow ducts characteristic of changeling hooves. Though the filly's were noticeably and inexplicably heart-shaped for some reason, reminiscent of cookie-cutters. The ducts were all aimed at the apple. Except there wasn't an apple anymore. In its place there was a greenish black cocoon, trailing thick glistening strands of what looked like spider silk up to the ducts on the little filly's hooves. The filly was twirling her hooves about the cocoon as she spun the apple about in all 4 hooves, wrapping it with more and more layers of her spider silk, or changeling silk rather. "Just....what is she doing?" Spike asked, raising an eyebrow. "She's putting her food...in a cocoon." Twilight murmured, eyebrow twitching dangerously. The little filly looked up at Twilight, smiling expectantly, as if waiting for her approval. "From what we gathered from Chrysalis, their people were starving and short on food. Maybe storing away their surplus food in cocoons is part of their way of life." Twilight thought out loud, tapping a hoof on her chin. "Maybe cocoons help preserve food? Maybe they're airtight?" The scientist inside her theorized. "Maybe you'll get to find out? You're going to be her food after all." Spike said with a grin. "Spike!" Twilight growled. "Hey, just sayin'." Spike shrugged. "Changelings feed on love, don't they?" Fluttershy said. "Chrysalis told me changelings can only feed on those who love them directly. That would explain their shapeshifting, actually." Twilight mused thoughtfully. "I wonder if she even knows how to feed?" "Well, you could always, perhaps, teach her?" Fluttershy suggested. "Yes, of course. Hey, little one, I'm your lunch." Twilight gestured at herself. "Oh my, I wouldn't put it quite like that." Fluttershy gave a little giggle, "If you think about it, mommies nurse their foalies, don't they? Isn't it just like that?" "Except it's cooler cause it's wireless." Spike added. Fluttershy and Twilight gave Spike an odd look. "Uh, sure Spike." Twilight said. "Um, do you love her?" Fluttershy finally popped the big question, twiddling her hooves together. "If you don't mind me asking, I mean." Twilight froze midway through patting the little filly as she handed her another apple. 'Do I?' Twilight thought to herself, panic rising. 'I couldn't love Chrysalis, she died.' She thought urgently as she peered down at the little filly in fear. 'What if....what if the same thing happens to the little one. Oh no!' She clutched her head in both hooves as she frantically ransacked her mind for ideas. The little filly gave a happy giggle as she clutched her own head in imitation. Smoke began to rise up as Twilight's frizzled mane began to spark. "Oh no, oh no, oh no." Her mind began to flat spin into hysteria. Again. Except her spiral was cut short by the strange but soothing sensation of something blowing on her mane gently. She looked to her shoulder and found the little filly perched there, blowing gently at the smoke pluming out of Twilight's mane. "Was granme ga, siss fayra." The little filly said with a determined smile, 'With a will to protect you, I put out the fire'. "It'll be alright, Twilight." Fluttershy said, patting Twilight comfortingly on her other shoulder. "We'll both try. Though, um..." She eyed the little filly fearfully, "I may have to try harder. A lot harder-er." She whispered, voice shaking. "Thank you, Fluttershy." Twilight gave her a grateful nod. "But if there's anypony who's gonna be lunch, it should be me." She said determinedly, picking the giggling little filly up in her hooves and placing her in her lap. She picked up the uneaten apple and, with a few skilful flourishes of her magic, she sliced it up into seedless little pieces. "Come, eat up, little one." She said, offering the bite-sized pieces to the little filly with her magic. "Does she have a name?" Fluttershy suddenly asked. "It's just a little suggestion if that's alright. It might make it easier to love her if she has a name? Maybe a cute one?" She said, watching the little filly peer at the floating apple pieces curiously, tilting her head this way and that as she pawed at them with her forehooves. Twilight popped a piece of the apple into her own mouth to demonstrate for the little filly. "See? Eat." She said, making exaggerated munching motions before making a big show of swallowing. "Here, you try." "Eat!" The little filly repeated, opening her mouth wide and devouring the nearest floating piece. "Mmmmm!" She cooed heartily, flailing her rearhooves about as she clutched her cheeks with her forehooves in obvious delight. "Yes, that's right. It's been an entire day. We can't keep on calling her 'she'." Twilight agreed, watching the little filly happily devour another piece. "Yeah, 'it' more like." Spike said. "Spiiike...." Twilight growled under her breath. "Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry." Spike muttered. Twilight levitated the foal up before her. She gave a little squeak of surprise in response but flew into yet another fit of giggles as she flailed her hooves about in the weightlessness. She eyed the apple pieces floating about her and began to make swimming motions towards the nearest one. "What shall we name you, little one?" Twilight asked. "Omomomom." The little filly answered through a mouthful of apple pieces as she floated upside down in front of Twilight. "Good idea. Let's go with that." Spike agreed. "A name is a really big thing." Fluttershy said. "It's the only thing you can truly call your own." "Yes. And it'd better be a special one." Twilight nodded, thoughtfully. "Yes, Aurelia. Aurelia. That is your name." "That's a wonderful name." Fluttershy said approvingly. "Aurelia? Huh, now that's an unusual name." Spike said. "Don't ponies like more straighforward names?" "Yes, but I think this one is fitting." Twilight said. "Does it mean something?" Fluttershy asked, curious. "'Aurelia', 'gold', but it also another word for 'Chrysalis' or 'coccoon'." Twilight said. "In her language, it means 'Fruit of the gods' or 'apple'. Chrystallis used to call her her the apple of her eye after all." "You're naming her after her mother?" Spike blinked, "But didn't she say..." "Yes, I know, Spike." Twilight said, "And I had thought about it. But she was Lia's mother. She deserves this much. And it's not the first thing that comes to mind with that name. It's too obscure." "Oh, great, you've even thought up a nickname for her." Spike groaned. "But aren't pony names kind of, what's the word, audacious?" "You mean auspicious?" Twilight giggled, much to the little filly's shared amusement. "Yes, they tend to be. The more literal ones moreso. But the neutral names are fine. I mean, I'm 'Twilight Sparkle' and I ended up a librarian in a little town. And Fluttershy..." She nodded at her best friend who gave a sheepish smile in response, "She's the best animal caretaker in the world." "Well, you're also the personal student to the Princess and the most powerful magic-wielding unicorn in 1000 years." Spike pointed out, "But nope, that has nothing to do with 'Sparkle' at all." "Alright, I agree hindsight is 20/20. But using your supreme logic, oh great pony name etymologist, what do you think 'Aurelia' might grow up to be?" Twilight demanded with a smile. "Oh, I don't know, don't call me psychic or anything, but I think she'll be...." Spike looked up in mock thoughtfulness, "A changeling queen. Of doom. Ooooor, I know, maybe....a changeling queen? Of, y'know, doom." "But, that would be horrible." Fluttershy gasped. "Please, don't." "Spike, you suck at this game." Twilight shook her head, "I think she'll grow up to be like a coccoon, a humble child whose actions will speak for her, one who nurtures, one who protects, one who will change the world." "Pwotec!" Lia giggled in between swimming after apples. "See? She agrees." Twilight said. "Yeah. Question is who she'll be protecting. Us or the changelings." Spike muttered. "Oh, so cynical, Spike." Twilight rolled her eyes as she patted Lia on the head, earning her a happy little yip from the filly. "Perhaps there will come a day when you will protect both worlds, is that not so, Lia?" Twilight asked the little filly. "Lia!" The newly christened Lia gave a loud yip of approval as she did a midair roll. ` "See?" Twilight asked. "Whatever, Twi." Spike sighed, "Now, lemme guess, I'm the one cleaning up after her from now on?" He asked pointing at the apple coccoon and the sticky changeling silk all around it. The silence from Twilight was telling. "Yep, knew it." Spike sighed, waddling off in search of the dustpan. Evening soon came, early as it always did in the winter months. Fluttershy stayed for a quick meal before retiring to her room, saying she needed to pack for the return journey. Applejack had returned from her business trip with Applebloom in tow but had gone straight to her room with a thunderous scowl on her face. Twilight didn't even get a chance to ask her what happened before her farmer friend disappeared behind her door. "Somethin' went very wrong." Applebloom had helpfully stopped to explain, "Ah had never seen cousin Braeburn lookin' that shifty like. He changed his mind on the deal and is chargin' us triple for them prize apple sapplings. Big sis blew her top and almost burned her hat. I'd better go and make sure she doesn't break her head or anythin'." She had said before quickly disappearing after her sister. "I'd better come with them tomorrow." Twilight said as she returned to her room to find Spike turning down the lanterns for bed. "It sounds worrying." She paused to toss another log into the fireplace for the night. It crackled on merrily, promising enough warmth to last the night. "If Applejack's that angry it must be." Spike nodded in agreement. "Will you have time though? Cause I'm sure you've got more to pack." His sarcasm could have probably melted away all the snow and wrapped-up winter all by itself. "You think so?" Twilight asked, looking at the mountain of items jammed atop her suitcase. There was everything from the various souvenirs, a sappling of a rare shrub she had picked up, an interesting fossil specimen, a sample of buffalo tribe divination in an airtight jar, the room's sink and wash basin, towels, blankets, the pillow, and even a token attempt at sticking a few drawers in. "Do you think I should pack more?" She asked worriedly, "I mean, just suppose, hypothetically, theoretically speaking, if we were to extend our holiday, what do you think we'd need when we get to Gryphonia? Or Minos? Or maybe Prance or Germane? Maybe I should pack warm if we go to Maregentina?" "Twi? Do we need to go over this again?" Spike raised an eyebrow as he crossed his arms impatiently. "Sorry, sorry. You're right." Twilight nodded with a sigh. "Let's get to sleep and leave everything to tomorrow." "At least we know she's ready to go." Spike said, pointing at the little filly curled up inside Twilight's scarf where it sat atop the chaos towering above the suitcase. "Did she fall asleep?" Twilight asked, trotting up to her suitcase. "I don't know. She just sat around a lot. And when I thought I lost her I find her there." Spike said. "She must think it's a nest or something." Twilight tilted her head to one side as she peered down at the snug little filly. "Let's get you to bed then, little one." She said, scooping the little filly up and carrying her in one hoof over to her bed. "Now that she's back I need to go next door to speak to Applebloom. You go on ahead, Twilight." Spike said at the door. "Just a chat. No cards, Spike. We have an early day tomorrow." Twilight called after him. "Yes, mom." Spike muttered his reply as he left. "Mom." Twilight chuckled to herself as she hopped onto the bed and curled up next to the little filly. "Iaaaa..." Lia moaned softly. "Sorry, little one, did I wake you up?" Twilight asked. The little filly looked up at her slowly, forcing a grimaced smile up at her, before snuggling up against her fur for comfort. "What's wrong?" Twilight frowned, curling a hoof around the little filly protectively. Then she felt it, a soft but niggling pang at the back of her mind, like a space pleading to be filled. She raised a hoof to her head, brows furrowing. Sure, she could pick up translations of whatever the little filly said. But feelings as well? Were they....connected somehow? Is this how the hivemind worked? Twilight's mind whizzed as she thought of the many possibilities for experimentation and applications in the field of Friendship. But the trembling little ball in her hooves quickly brought her runaway mind to a screeching halt. 'No, Lia's more important right now.' She thought to herself reproachfully. 'That empty space....was that...?' "You're hungry, aren't you?" Twilight murmured bitterly. The little filly had eaten plenty that day and still she wasn't sated. It could only mean one thing - she needed to feed on something else entirely - Love. The thought hung like a dark cloud on Twilight's mind. The solution was obvious - she had to love Lia. The question is, how do you even begin to love somepony? Does one simply decide to do so? She was barely halfway through studying friendship. How could she even begin to practice something she barely understands? Were there even books on the subject? "Iaaaa..." Lia gave another soft moan, giving her a forlorn look, her fluffy ears drooping morosely. Twilight tightened her embrace about the little filly. "I know, I know, it's difficult getting to sleep when you're hungry. But you have to. Don't you worry, I'm sure I'll find a solution. Promise." She said, inwardly cursing herself for daring to utter such hollow words. If not books then what else could she turn to? Experts? There was no way she could ask Cadence, obviously. There was a little sniffle. Twilight felt her heart sink at the sound. She looked down to find Lia's big turquoise eyes brimming with tears, her little lips quivering with obvious discomfort. The little filly still struggled to give her a watery grimace through her tears but was very obviously losing the fight. 'Such a good, brave little child.' Twilight thought, sullenly, 'She deserves better.' She gritted her teeth angrily. A sudden thought occurred to Twilight. It was a little something her mother used to do to comfort her. It always worked no matter how inconsolable Twilight used to feel as a filly. She had little else to try, might as well. She summoned up the old but word-perfect memories, of warm nights and soft cuddles under fluffy blankets, of the old lullaby that would carry her off to sleep without fail each and every night. "Twilight night, Twilight night." Twilight sang softly. "Come watch over my child tonight." Lia's fluffy ears perked up. "Go to sleep now you'll be alright Mommy'll hold your hoof, safe and tight. Ms. Moon on high will be your night light. Sleep now and let your dreams take flight." As Twilight sang her little song she couldn't help but recall her own mother. She thought of how warm, how safe and secure she'd feel in her hooves, how every soothing word felt like a comforting blanket wrapping her nice and tight. She felt a pang in her heart. Lia doesn't have anypony like that. Not anymore. To be so small and alone in such a vast, uncaring world. Fluttershy was right. It was frightening. It was beyond frightening. And nopony should have to live like that. Lia squirmed against Twilight, moaning softly as she curled her legs up into a little ball. Twilight had read it was a sign of foals experiencing 'colic' or tummy pains. In this case it was obviously hunger. Twilight bit her lip as she sang the second verse. "Twilight sleep, Twilight sleep I will make you a bed of galaxies Tuck you in a blanket of starfields lay you upon a pillow of night lillies and sow your dreams with hope seeds grow now, that fruits of love you might reap" Lia seemed to settle a little as she snuggled deeper against Twilight's chest. Twilight felt herself instinctively hold the little filly closer against herself. The little bundle of warmth felt so soft, so wonderfully warm against her. What would her own mother do? Twilight Velvet would never, ever leave anypony alone, no matter what. She even saw Spike as her very own child, giving him all the love he'd ever want or need from a mother. Wait. That's it. It hit her. It was like a sudden lightning bolt. It was so simple, so obvious. This filly needs a mother. Twilight can be her mother. No! She is her mother. And she would love her as her very own. "Twilight dream, Twilight dream Of meadows of honey and streams of cream taste the sweet evergreens and sugary sunbeams listen to the stars twinkle and the moon gleam feel the melody of this Twilight serene Forever till tomorrow, Twilight dream." It felt like a dam broke in her heart. A flood of warmth and happiness surged, filling her to bursting. It was a feeling so wonderfully fulfilling and light that she felt her heart, her entire self, rise up like a balloon. She gave Lia an experimental snuggle. The little filly gave a weary giggle in reply, squirming up against the nook of her neck. Every little giggle, every gentle show of affection, everything gave Twilight another surge of warmth. 'This....this is Love.' Twilight reeled from the overwhelming feelings. Her lips quivered, rising into a smile. Her cheeks felt warm and wet. She raised a hoof to her cheeks and was surprised to find tears; tears of happiness. She felt a soft nip on the big warm balloon. She felt it deflate a little, the surge of feelings settling into a calm flow, allowing her to bask in the warmth all the better. It was pure bliss, complete happiness. As she hugged the child against her she knew from the very core of her being that she needed nor wanted for anything else in life. This, this little filly, was everything. 'It's Shining Armour all over again.' Spike's words echoed in her mind. Uncertainty reared their ugly heads. Doubt treacherously stabbed her heart. Her mind rose up in a rebellious coup d'etat over her feelings. Worry and anxiety took over. Was she being brainwashed? Manipulated? Like her brother before her? Would she become a mindless husk unable to think for herself like he did? She was the one who saved him back then. But what of her? Who would save her? The dam slammed shut. And then the pain came like a hammer to the head. She raised a hoof to her head, wincing in absolute agony. Stars flashed in her eyes as her entire world spun. What little bit of her mind managed to think through the pain came to a horrifying conclusion - this must be the headaches Shining Armour went through when he was brainwashed. The little nip on the balloon quickly ceased. "Iaaa. Was gwanme ga, zash yor! Huwt!" Lia gasped, tapping both forehooves on Twilight's muzzle worriedly. "Twiley Huwt!" Twilight felt a pang of guilt. Was that Lia finally managing to feed? And did she just stop her from feeding? Because she worried the little filly? "No, no, I'm fine, Lia." Twilight said reassuringly, nuzzling the little filly. "And what was that you just called me?" She asked, suddenly registering what Lia had said. "Twiley!" Lia giggled, tightening her hug about Twiligh's muzzle, giving her a loving nuzzle. "Teehee Twiley Twiley!" "You're more like your father than just your appearance." Twilight joined in her giggles, booping her forehead against Lia's, eliciting a fresh fit of giggles from her. Every sound, every breath, seemed to tug at Twilight's heart, giving her yet another little dose of happiness. "I can only hope you'll....you'll grow up to be just like your mother. Just, just like me." Twilight whispered, wistfully, taking refuge in that soft, blissful feeling once more. "My little Twilight. My little Twilight Aurelia." Just for tonight at least, brainwashing or no, she'll allow herself this little bit of heaven. For her sake. Author's Note This one has been a long time coming. Many thanks for your kind patience everyone. I hope you all enjoyed that as much as I enjoyed writing it. This one went through 2 draft revisions as I struggled to get that sense of motherhood down in the most believable way possible. I decided on 'absolutely overwhelming'. Perhaps any parents amongst you might be able to enlighten me on how accurate that is. For Twilight it was like a switch. She never had to carry a foal through an 11 month pregnancy. She never got to prepare for it. It just happened out of the blue, accompanied by a landmine of a traumatic experience. For her to make that transition from 'this just happened' to 'I'm a mother' was something I debated back and forth on how to approach. I finally decided this sudden revelation was the way to go. Right, thank you to listening to me ramble on about that. Now, what's the status of this story? You guys have been great readers and you all deserve to know exactly where this story is at the moment. Yes, this was my debut story, one very close to my heart. And yes, I now have two possibly three other more successful stories in progress. And yes, I've been working on them in favour of MLQ over the past few months. So I'll level with you all and be absolutely frank, considering you've all been kind enough to read this far. I love writing. It's fun. And half the fun is also in seeing my work read, seeing people enjoy it, reading the comments and seeing people love it enough to follow it. Call me superficial, but that's frankly half of what I love about writing for you guys. I don't have much free time unfortunately. Life's quite busy, so I try to maximize returns whenever I can. Right now My Little Queen isn't doing quite as great as my other stories. In fact before I started branching out and releasing other stories, MLQ had 40 readers at chapter 4 and 20.000 words. That number creeped up to 130 through those of you kind enough to give it a try, presumably after seeing one of my other works. I know that is entirely a reflection of my own abilities and skills as a writer. I wish I could be better to do it justice. Again, I'll be absolutely frank, I have one hope - MLQ has not yet made the popular stories list or the featured stories list. I think given the exposure there it might have a chance. Provided it does well enough to make the popular stories list this time around I will gladly consider investing time in it and putting it on my active stories list. I'm not saying I'm otherwise abandoning it, far from that. I love it and you folks obviously do too to read this far. It's only fair to you guys, to this story and to myself for me to see this through. Unfortunately it'll be at a much slower pace on my slow updates list. As I said, unfortunately life's not very forgiving and I have stories that are (I suppose fortunately) doing much much better in terms of readership which deserve more of my time (but equal commitment, of course. That is my promise to all my readers). So yes, that's where we are. I apologize for the bad news, but, hey, fingers crossed. Maybe life will turn around, be kind and give me more free time. Or given the chance this might somehow outdo my other stories this time? Hey, one can dream. And a little bit of shameless self promotion. You like how adorable Lia is? How about a triple dose of Lia cuteness with no drama and feels, just full on honest-to-goodness sugar overload? Then you might like A Unicorn, a Changeling and a Bat Filly, and the Baker, the tale of 3 filly orphans, a unicorn, a changeling and a thestral, raised by a single father, a slice of life story of sugar for the sake of sugar. I have also just released a new story in tandem with today's chapter of MLQ, one titled - The Windigo Peacekeepers and the Frostfire Crystal Emperor, a story about a young crystal pony/windigo who through a series of unfortunate events ends up making friends with the most random group of ponies including princess Luna herself.
My Little Kite A Galaxy Not So Far Away, Not Too Long Into the Next Day... Little Twilight Aurelia had been a very, very busy filly. She swam her way through an ocean of stardust, propelling herself along with little doggy paddles of her tiny hoofsies. She would give happy little squees as she chased down any shooting star that dared cross her path. Her big eyes would sparkle gleefully as she greeted the meandering starlets with a big, warm huggle. Before nomming them whole. Nom nom nom nyoooom~ She gave an excited coo as she cluched her cheeks with her forehooves, revelling in the yummy sweetness within. That was when a particularly large comet passed by, sprinkling sparkles in its wake, causing the little filly to scrunch her nose a little at the sudden tickle. Being the intrepid astronomical gastronaut she was, she was determined not to let a single culinary challenge go unchallenged, not even mischievous little comets. With a quick twist of her tail to steer herself, she launched herself after the comet. Paddle paddle paddle paddle~ Nothing gets away from this little filly and her expert star-ocean doggy-paddling, not even pesky little comets. With a determined grin she finally caught up with her prize. She licked her lips with relish before opening her maw wide and... CHOMP Chew chew chew... It tasted...purple. Lia gave a frown as she tried to chew on the soft, squishy yet stubbornly inedible thing in her mouth. It also gave a soft groan. Being the knowledgeable gastronaut she was, she was sure comets don't groan. They twitter. She opened her eyes to investigate this suspicious not-comet further. The comet was very purple. She was also very much asleep. But nothing gets past Lia's incredible powers of filly perception. It was Twiley! Or, to be exact, Twiley's ear! Silly Twiley, disguising herself (or is it her ear?) as a comet. What if Lia ate her? And all her ears? Huggables can't be eatables at the same time! Except for apples. Apples are allowed to be eatable and huggable at the same time, because they're awesome! But Twiley's not an apple, she’s a huggable, so Twiley's just being silly, not awesome. Alright, maybe she's a little bit awesome, because Lia's generous like that. Lia suddenly realized she was still chewing on Twiley's ear through that entire train of though. She (rather reluctantly) released what she decided was her new favourite part of Twiley. Sleeping huggables aren't as interesting as awake huggables. She considered rectifying this, possibly with her tried-and-tested rocket-boop. Then she decided that she wasn't quite that desperate for a huggable. After all, there was the rest of the world to huggle. Or nom. Or both. With that she cast her eyes around her new surroundings. That funny sea of star dust had dried up, leaving her in this bright new world. Like any intrepid explorer, she began her exploration of her new world by examining the ground beneath her hoofsies. She did this like any expert explorer would; By giving it a bounce. Then another for good measure. She tapped a hoof on her chin thoughtfully before allowing the ground a sagely nod and a hearty giggle. Yes, it was adequately bouncy, she decided. Happy with how promising the world was, she pranced onwards. She gave Twiley once last look, making sure she got her location and scent memorized. It wouldn’t do for her to lose Twiley now, would it? Satisfied with her expedition preparations, she set forth, leaping down onto the harder land beneath and prancing away in search of new objectives. The room was familiar to her. She had already explored every nook and cranny and tested everything within for potential eatables and huggables. Satisfied that nothing new had stumbled into her little world, she went straight for that big tall opening in the wall she knew led to worlds unknown. The opening was shut, but being the observant little filly she was, she had watched the trick to opening it quite carefully. Copying the motions, she quickly leapt up towards the latch and scrabbled her forehooves onto it, tugging it open with ease. "Teeheehee~" Lia giggled in triumph as she made her way out into terra incognita where no little filly had gone before. Because no filly was as brave as awesome as Lia, but everyfilly knew that. The ~~cutest~~ deadliest little predator in the universe slowly but surely prowled the shadows beyond, fluffy little ears twitching this way and that, tail wagging to and fro as if watching her back, as she inched her way forwards into the unknown. Being the great hunter she was, it didn’t take long for her to find an unsuspecting target. It was about the same size as her, even the same general shape (But Lia's more awesome, but everyfilly knew that). Its fur was a yummy honey yellow and its mane and tail was a scrumptious apple red. It was even topped with a cute red bow, all wrapped up and ready for her. It was also facing away from her, staring at a picture on the wall. There was no way Lia could resist such a tantalizingly easy target. Lia had a very simple way of approaching new things that are unfortunate enough to stumble upon her little world. She would first eat them. Or try to, anyway. Failing that, she would try and huggle them. Those foolish enough to turn her huggles down would be put to the horn for their insolence. Her horn, that is. Again and again and again until it became either eatable or huggable, whichever came first. It was a tried and tested approach, one Lia finds most profitable, as far as food and fun goes. So it was with great confidence (and appetite) that she slowly, quietly snuck up on the unsuspecting creature. Step 1: Test for eatability. She opened her little maw and chomped. Nibble nibble nibble~ It tasted like apples. Big Apple Inn, Appleloosa, a split second before... Apple Bloom, fun-sized apple farmer and resident trouble magnet, was in her normal rest state, at peace with the rest of the universe. She was, in other words, 'bored', one of two possible states for her, the other being '~~crusading~~ in trouble'. Though she may not know it, this was the better of the two, for both her and the universe at large. That was when trouble found her for once. Or, rather, bit her. She frowned as she felt something chew enthusiastically on her tail. She looked over her withers and found her tail in something, or, rather, somepony. It was the shape of a little filly, probably a unicorn judging by the rather bent horn poking out of her messy bluish silver mane. It was also hungry, judging by how determinedly it was trying to eat through her tail. She had always been told that if a stranger ever approached her, she should avoid talking to them and find the nearest grown-up. But she was never told what to do when the stranger was already eating her tail. “Umm, that’s mah tail.” Apple Bloom decided to attempt reason. It quickly became apparent that throwing reason at this filly achieved about as much as scrubbing with a whoopee cushion. “Mmm, that’sh mah tail!” The mystery filly said, like the most enthusiastic echo ever. Applebloom couldn’t help but feel somewhat impressed by how perfect the filly’s rendition was despite the mouthful of tail. That’s some dedication. “No, it’s mine.” Applebloom asserted. “Naw, it’sh mine!” The filly somehow managed to giggle through her tail. “Mine!” The argument intensified. “Mine!” The counter-argument was stronger. And gigglier. “Chase your own tail!” “Chase youw own tail!” “But that’s mah tail!” “But that’sh mah tail!” Applebloom can win arguments with brick walls, a talent she had acquired through an entire lifetime of having AJ as a sister. But brick walls generally don’t turn her arguments in circles, neither do they do so while munching on her tail. She had a feeling she had finally met her match. Action speaks louder than words, so her brother always told her (at least when he’s being particularly talkative), so she decided to give her tail an experimental tug instead. The filly’s nibbling only intensified. Frowning, Applebloom tried walking away. To her great consternation, the smaller filly followed along with her funny waddling gait. Deciding to put this filly’s willpower to the test, she broke into a sudden canter. She felt her tail pull taut but not the give she expected. Looking over her withers she found the little filly galloping along after her, giggling mirthfully. Applebloom, with speed honed through years of escaping the clutches of Miss Cherilee, Applejack and other assorted Crusading victims, would not be defeated in a test of speed by some tail-chasing filly. She put on her ‘Rawr’ face as she sped up into a full gallop. Putting on a burst of speed that would have left all but the most peeved adults in her dust, she thundered down the hall and out the front door into the snow-laden street. She knew that the chest-deep snow would be barely a hindrance to an earth pony like her but would be more than enough to slow some unicorn filly in a hoof race. Applebloom looked behind her and found that the filly was indeed not keeping up with her on hoof. She was keeping up with her in the air! The mystery filly had somehow sprouted a pair of wings that hummed gently as they flapped, lifting the filly up into the air behind her. In fact, the filly looked like a little kite the way Applebloom was pulling her along through the air, the fluffiest most stubborn kite ever. She made a right turn. The fluffy kite followed. She made a left. The fluffy kite followed. This was….actually fun! So the unicorn filly was proooooooobably not a unicorn, but she’s fun! And that’s all that mattered! Applebloom cracked a wide grin. The mystery filly mirrored it on cue. An unspoken oath of friendship was made. Together the two sped off into the sunrise. And the rest of poor, unsuspecting Appleloosa. Twilight Sparkle groaned as she turned over fitfully in her sleep. In her dark, troubled dreams Appleloosa had exploded into a mass of flaming sugar puffs. She would soon wish she never woke up…
