The shocked silence that followed Peridot's question was shattered by the stunned voice of the Princess of the Night: "I think I would if you could give us a reasonable explanation, Silver Feather and Golden Diamond."

Celestia leaned forward with interest and a small frown. "How, pray tell, do you know this, my little ponies? Knowledge of the Changelings is old and outdated, not to mention the fact that very few ponies have ever heard of the race." Her long horn lit up with a warm golden glow, which wrapped around her teacup and brought it to her lips.

Another long silence.

"Princesses, do you trust us?" Chrysalis asked at last. Her eyes darted to Peridot, who froze up. Her little sister's eyes were filled with self-doubt, mirroring Peridot's own feelings.

Luna studied them. "A peculiar question. Perhaps my sister would allow me to answer it." When Celestia answered with a small nod and a quelling look, she said, "Silver Feather, Golden Diamond, I think it is fair to say that Celestia and I will trust anypony in Equestria who bears no ill intention."

"Well said, sister," Celestia added, still looking curiously at the two near-strangers. "Do we have a reason to distrust you, my little ponies? I sincerely hope not."

Peridot swallowed nervously. Chrysalis seemed paralyzed, unable to speak (nerves, she guessed), so Peridot had to say it. "I hope you do not – no, will not – distrust us when I say this," she said, her voice trembling slightly. "Your Highnesses, allow me to introduce ourselves truthfully: I am Princess Peridot of the Changelings of the Wastelands, and this is my younger sister, Princess Chrysalis."

Long silence, longer silence, even longer silence. Why was everything filled with silences?

The clear shock on the two pony princesses' faces lingered.

This time, it was Celestia who broke the quiet into a million pieces. "If you really are Changeling princesses, why do you look like my little ponies?" she asked, tilting her head. Her violet eyes were . . . suspicious? No. More like a blend of suspicion and curiosity. Peridot suspected that Celestia already knew the answer to her own question.

Chrysalis's head tilted in turn. "I would have thought you'd figured that out by know, Princess Celestia," she said with a smile. Her fangs glinted – something that had not been revealed to the ponies before. "We are called Changelings for a reason, Your Highness."

That was the unseen cue. Emerald flame encircled the two Changelings, ripping their disguises away. Their pony-furred coats turned black as a starless midnight sky. Peridot's pegasus wings shed their feathers, revealing holey, insect-like, translucent blue wings. Chrysalis's unicorn horn turned long and crooked and sharp. Their hooves filled with holes, their legs growing longer. Their manes turned long, hole-riddled, ragged, and teal, Peridot's hair a bit greener than Chrysalis's. White fangs gleamed in their mouths. Their eyes turned bluish-green and slit-pupiled.

Celestia and Luna watched this stunning transformation with wide, disbelieving eyes. Neither of them made a move to attack the two fully changed Changeling princesses now standing in front of them.

"Well," Peridot said, smiling anxiously. "Do you need more proof that we are, in fact, Princesses of the Changeling Hive and Wastelands?"

It was proof enough. They didn't need any more of it.

While her sisters were in Canterlot with the pony princesses, Jade was stuck in her room back in the Hive. She was stretched out lazily on her bed, trying to think of ways to conceal Peridot's and Chrysalis's mysterious disappearances for as long as possible. Unsurprisingly, her mother was excellent at sniffing out lies. It had to be good and reasonable.

Suddenly, Jade thought of Emerald and felt guilty for not being more worried. What if Emerald was injured somewhere and unable to call for help? Had Queen Thysanura done something to her? Panicked, Jade leaped off her bed and threw open her door. I have to go look for her! Oh, where is Emerald when you really, really, really need her? Mother's probably in the War Room, though. I will ask her first.

Jade skidded to a halt at the War Room door, panting and gasping for breath. Was this really a good idea? Barging into the room to demand of her mother where Emerald was? Shaking off her doubts, Jade pushed the door open and stumbled inside.

Queen Thysanura was standing at the long, low table with Commander Amas, going over the battle plans.

Jade stormed up to her mother and fixed Amas with a steely, well-practiced glare. "Commander, you are dismissed," she said, turning back to the queen. "I must speak to my mother in private."

"Yes, my princess." Commander Amas bowed to his royalty and flew off without protest, not wanting to risk feeling the angry wrath of his princess.

Once the commander was gone, Queen Thysanura glared at her daughter. "What is the meaning of this, Jade? First your sisters disappear without a trace, then you march in here to interrupt my war planning. Do you know where Peridot and Chrysalis have gone off to?"

"I believe they have gone to dig for rare gems and crystals, Mother." Jade lied and fought to keep her voice icy and even, an illusion of calmness and composure, and lifted her chin. "I was just about to ask you the same thing. Where is Emerald, Mother?"

There was a long pause. The queen looked down her nose at her daughter. "How would I know? Emerald is always going off on her own, isn't she, Jade?" It was not an interrogative statement at all.

"No, Mother, she isn't. You should know your daughters better than that," Jade said with narrowed eyes. Emerald would never, ever leave her sisters without telling them first. Mother does know us better than that. She's faking it. She did something to Emerald. "Where is she? What did you do to her? Tell me, Mother. Now."

Queen Thysanura raised a perfectly polished hoof and studied it. "Oh, fine, if you want to know, I turned Emerald into a dragon." She said it almost casually, turning her hoof this way and that to examine it closely.

"What? You did what?" Jade shouted at her mother. "Why would you do that?! She's your daughter! Where? Where is she now!"

"You won't be able to find out soon enough, dear Jade." The Changeling queen's horn began to glow ominously, preparing to cast a spell.

Instantly, Jade threw up a magical green forcefield in front of herself, a split second before her mother's spell slammed into it and was deflected, burning a hole in the wall. The shield flickered but held. Jade recognized it as an immensely powerful banishment spell. Banishment to where? she wondered. Somewhere awful, no doubt.

A few Changeling drones peeked into the room, but they quickly scurried away under the queen's hot, angry glare.

"Why would you do that to your own daughters?" Jade screamed, trying to keep her forcefield at full strength while running through her mental list of attack and defense spells. "Don't you care at all?"

"I care about the well-being of my Hive!" Queen Thysanura snapped back at her, horn flashing.

Stone spell! Jade struggled to pour more energy into her barrier. When the queen's ray of magic hit it, gray spread rapidly across the swirling, transparent green shield, turning it to stone in a matter of seconds. After just a moment, the smooth gray stone cracked, letting iridescent green light filter through. A surge of magic rippled through Jade's forcefield, and the stone covering shattered, spilling pieces of rock everywhere.

"You don't care about your subjects!" Jade yelled. With a flare of magic, her barrier expanded, slamming her mother into a wall with a wave of green energy. Thysanura hit the wall with so much force that it cracked. "If you did, you wouldn't be sending them into this pointless war of yours!"

Queen Thysanura stood up and brushed the chips of stone from her coat. Jade faced her, ears flat against her mane, horn lit up. She was panting from the effort of keeping her shield intact and strong.

But what really astonished the queen was that the corners of Jade's eyes sparkled with tears.

Thysanura's heart softened. She lowered her head and cast another spell.

Thick green mist billowed from the tip of the Changeling queen's horn. Before Jade could react, the mist reached her, and she fell immediately into a deep, dreamless, painless sleep. Queen Thysanura allowed herself a tiny smile and levitated her daughter onto her back.

But before she left the War Room with Jade, Thysanura paused to wipe away the tears that had gathered in her once cold, unfeeling green eyes.

"Why don't you two sit down and explain," Princess Celestia said slowly. Her magic pulled two more chairs up to the pavilion table where she and Luna already sat.

"Thank you, Princess," Chrysalis said, genuinely grateful. Her hooves were tired. She sat, and after a moment of hesitation, Peridot did as well.

"Please, call us Celestia and Luna," the older pony princess said. "We are equals now, aren't we?"

"It would seem that way," Peridot agreed.

Luna quietly poured hot tea into two delicate porcelain teacups for the guests. Chrysalis breathed in the sweet, calming aroma and raised her cup to take a sip. Mmm, raspberry leaf tea – her favorite.

"Right. I'll start at the beginning," Peridot said, setting down her teacup. "Celestia, Luna, I believe you know of Princess Flitterheart's Prophecy Curse?"

Princess Luna flicked an ear. "Yes. Flitterheart was a dear friend of ours, in fact. As you may already know, she was a famous prophet in the Changeling world. She delivered her prophecy just before she died." Celestia nodded in agreement.

"It has been three thousand years since the Prophecy Curse," said Chrysalis. "And now our mother, Queen Thysanura, is planning an elaborate war against Equestria. We came here to warn you about her."

Celestia's violet eyes flicked first to Chrysalis, then to Peridot, and back again. "Why would you warn us?" she asked. "You have no reason to side with us, nor do we have any reason to believe you."

Peridot leaned forward, her gaze dead serious, and said simply, "Would you rather find out the hard way, Celestia?" She leaned back, point made, and swirled a honey-laden stirrer in her tea.

"Do you think we want this war? A war that can extinguish both of our races overnight?" Chrysalis added. "This concerns all of us. Not just the Changelings, and not just the Equestrian ponies. We're warning you because we care. If we had decided not to, where would you be now? Clueless and vulnerable to attack?"

"I agree, Chrysalis." Luna frowned. "Do the Changelings have any other allies we should know of? Anypony powerful enough to defeat us, besides your mother's own army?"

"No, my mother has no ally except for her Changeling forces," Peridot replied truthfully. "But our sister, Jade, is back in the Hive right now, trying to keep Queen Thysanura from knowing that we are gone. I do hope that she has been successful so far."

"How do we know we can trust this sister of yours?" Celestia asked suspiciously. "For all we know, she could be pretending to be on your side. Perhaps she is secretly working with the queen, and maybe she will betray you at some point."

Chrysalis gave her an icy look, trying not to be offended by the sun princess. "Everything here is a matter of trust, Celestia, isn't it?" she said, feeling very defensive of her sister. "Trust us when we say that you can trust Jade. She has never failed or betrayed us before, and we have no reason to think otherwise of her. She is one of the most trustworthy ponies – or Changelings – I know. I can assure you of that." Of course, Jade wasn't on our side before . . . Chrysalis thought, but pushed it away and kept it to herself.

"Another thing," Peridot interrupted. "We have another sister named Emerald. She disappeared before we left for Canterlot, and we have not seen her since. I'm certain that Emerald is not working with our mother – she would never do that! – but I don't think she's aware of this war. We have reason to believe that Queen Thysanura did something to her."

"Your fears may be correct," Luna said. "Who would know except for your mother? She seems to be very cunning, just like our old enemy and your ancestor, Queen Silkwing. I suppose the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, in this case."

"Jade might," Chrysalis said suddenly. "I mean, Jade might know what happened to Emerald. If she's on our side, then she might have interrogated Mother. If only we had some way to ask her. We could send a letter, but there's no way to get it to the Wastelands and the Hive fast enough."

"I may have a solution," Celestia chimed in. When they all turned to look at her, she continued, "I know a spell that can send – teleport, actually – anything to its designated receiver in less than five seconds. It's very efficient."

"Good plan! Now, do you happen to have some parchment, ink, and a quill that I could use to write the letter?" Peridot asked the pony princesses.

"Coming right up. Here, use my personal stationary," said Luna. Her long horn glowed with her soft blue magic, and a blue-tinged scroll of parchment, crystal bottle of blue ink, and blue feather quill appeared out of thin air. "Will these do, Peridot?"

"Perfectly." Peridot took the items in her own magic, unfurled the blue scroll (which had a silver-and-blue crescent moon stamped at the top), dipped the blue quill into the blue ink, and began to write. She read her words aloud as she scrawled them quickly, the quill moving across the parchment with impressive and neat speed. "Dearest sister Jade . . ."

Author's Note

When this story is finished, I'll provide you with a spoiler of the other side story's cover art before it comes out. I got the great idea for it when I wrote the chapter Family for this story! You'll just have to wait to see it.