It Doesn't Matter, Because You Aren't
Everything had just been driving her up the river that week. Okay, maybe she went in a little too overconfident. But it couldn't have been her fault. I mean, have you ever met her? She was her. She was Chrysalis! She was the queen!
So she made a minor mistake... two mistakes... maybe a few mistakes. She lost some of her changeling drones. She blew her cover right at the wedding's climax. Also, she wasn't quite sure, but she thought her horn had been rammed a bit out of place. It was no matter. Once she got back to her hive, she could write off this whole, awful experience as a bad hangover.
Still, she had to admit that was easier to convince herself than it was to actually follow through. She was barely moving her legs fast enough to limp along. Her wings had gone numb, so flying was out. Her underground passage spell was also a no-go, considering the growing pounding sensation in her forehead. So, she'd have to hoof it... literally.
Chrysalis sighed. She missed the days that she could steal Cadance's carriage away for a day or night out, sipping out of that captain's love like a margarita. She shook from the couple of days of withdrawal since her failure to capture Canterlot. She nearly tripped over her own hooves more than once. Clenching her teeth, she struggled onward to her home.
"Subject Q-C-17, the time has come."
The sudden booming, yet somehow gentle voice was enough to shake her entire being. Straining herself, she twisted her body to look around and up. Chrysalis could barely understand what she saw next. A dark silhouette calmly marched toward her. She spun her back legs behind her and glowered. She bared her fangs and hissed. She knew she was soon to be dead anyway, but she'd never give her assailant the satisfaction of defeating a begging and pleading foe.
"I know you are afraid, but rest assured. We will make sure you are properly cared for."
"Why don't you come closer, so I can bite your head off?" The changeling queen threatened. But as soon as she had asked, something smokey yet sharp had shoved itself against her neck.
"That will not be necessary."
Everything faded to white.
...
There was too much white. She blinked and blinked, but the whiteness wouldn't leave her vision. A hiss tried to escape her throat, but all it managed to do was trigger a coughing fit. She lifted her head, but it impacted with something invisible in the whiteness. Her head went back against the solid surface under her back as she groaned.
Something slid past her ears. She tried opening her eyes again. Blurred white lines peppered the outside of what was white. She started seeing fuzzy hazes of grays and blues. She tried rolling over to get a better sense of her current world, only to fall and slam her side against a floor below.
"Ow!" She gritted her teeth and moved a hoof to massage her right ribs.
Her eyes snapped open. Her side felt... slightly hairy. She tried shifting her form to her familiar default. However, it just resulted in a purple spark that danced off her horn and bounced once along the floor. Purple? It had always been green before. What had happened to her magic?
Chrysalis turned around slowly, standing up at the same time. A strange metal casing had glass, open sliders on it. There were some bluish, elongated egg-like containers strapped to the device. Just as she was pondering what the "oh-two" label meant, the glass sliders shut on the original metal casing. Was this an imitation of a changeling cocoon? Either way, she thought it was uncomfortably inaccurate.
Something clicked overhead and produced a hollow echo in the room she was in. Chrysalis tried to hiss at the awful noise, but what came out of her sounded more like a light pitched groan. She wasn't entirely sure what was obstructing her larynx, but she needed to find a way to alleviate that. She didn't have very much to work with in her current captivity as it was.
"Subject Q-C-17, good morning. Do you remember who you are?"
"Is that supposed to be a joke?" Chrysalis wished her voice sounded a lot more like her intimidating self and less like a disinterested mare. "I am the rightful queen of the changelings. Whatever magic you have at work cannot hold me forever."
The overhead clicked again. "It appears you are mistaken on two accounts. The second, we shall disprove immediately for it is not my magic that holds you here."
There was a low squeal from her right. The glass wall that was closing her off from the rest of this place slowly slid down into the floor. Chrysalis reached her solid hoof through the spot and found no resistance. She harrumphed and trotted out of the transparent cage completely.
"And what of the first?" she asked aloud while tilting her head upward.
"You speak the language of ultimatums, do you not? We have in the rooms ahead of you some tests for you to participate in. Agree, and we will guarantee that you will be let go and unharmed. Refuse, and we will let you stay in the room you are currently in until the full time elapses."
The queen grumbled as she considered her options. For some reason, she was stuck in a unicorn form, one that was apparently lacking in magical strength. A forced exit was out of the question. Staying here for long was also unwise, because being isolated from her subjects would mean that she had no backup reserves to her gradually diminishing love energy. She quietly growled and tried to hiss through her flat teeth. It sounded ridiculous.
"I'll take your stupid tests." She looked up at the overhead voice.
"Very good, Subject Q-C-17." A double-door on the opposite side of the room slid open. "Your first test will begin in the next area."
She mumbled, "Would it kill you to call me by my actual name?"
Chrysalis walked out of the room via the only visible exit. She found herself in another room with similarly tiled walls. When she took a few steps, she felt the floor suddenly shift under her weight. When she looked down, she pulled her hoof back from a giant red button. Upon release, something else fell out of the far side of the room.
That something turned out to be a large cube. There were dotted lines leading from the red button that led to another set of double-doors. Chrysalis looked over at the cube and rolled her eyes. She trotted over and picked it up with her magic. It felt somewhat heavy in her levitation field, almost as much as her current form.
She willed the box around the room and set it down right on top of the red button. The button pushed down, activating several lights that followed the dotted lines. The next double-door slid open and she proceeded to walk through. A low-hanging camera followed her position upon exiting. She frowned as she magically pulled the camera off its current position, along with some wires.
"Please do not destroy vital apparatuses in the testing facility."
"I said I'd take your tests." The queen flung the camera into the room behind her. "I didn't agree to any other conditions."
A cylindrical elevator carried her onward. For some reason, the walls of the elevator were lined with soft mattresses. Was their purpose to prevent victims from knocking themselves unconscious against the walls? Then why did they not also line the ceiling and floor of this moving passenger container? Ponies were ridiculous.
When the elevator opened, a pink gauntlet was attached to her hoof. She gasped and tried to pull it off, both with her teeth and with her magic. Neither method seemed to disturb the object in question.
"This next test will require an unsettling event."
"What happened to your voice?" Chrysalis shook her head. "No, before that... what the hay is this stupid thing?"
"It's an experimental rewind spell matrix. It'd probably be faster if you try it out by running into the chamber and pressing buttons rather than me lecturing you about it."
"Fine, whatever."
Chrysalis begrudgingly trotted into the room. It looked like there was a rectangle, divided by small lines that were cut into the floor immediately around the perimeter. She stood on top of the platform. It wobbled a little, but otherwise stayed still. She continued to explore the chamber until she came across a red button. When she reached up a hoof and pressed the button, the platform a few feet from her started rising up like an elevator.
"What the...? That's too fast!" She complained. "How am I supposed to reach that and hit the button at the same time?"
"Remember that there are plural buttons in there with you."
"Wait..." Chrysalis looked down at the gauntlet. "You mean this one?"
Upon tapping the button over her wrist area, it looked like the entire room was an old movie rapidly spinning backwards. She found herself back at the elevator. She looked around in bewilderment. It was when she looked back at her wrist that she noticed something different. The button had changed from a couple of leftward-facing arrows to two vertical bars. She tried tapping that again.
She somehow felt lighter and heavier at the same time. Within the next second, she watched as another weak pony that matched her current form walked out of the elevator and pretty much followed her earlier path. Still unsure, she trotted over to the platform that her other self just walked off. After a few seconds, she heard the button being pushed and up the elevator carried her.
"Whoa, that was... exhilarating." Chrysalis shook her head. "N-No! Stop. What am I saying? Puzzles aren't exciting."
"Very good, Q-C-17," congratulated the voice. "When you're ready, please proceed to the next area."
"Just one minute, Missy!" She slowly looked around. "What did you do to my head?"
There was a brief pause.
"I'm not sure I follow."
"My understanding of the world was just fine before you obviously abducted me." Chrysalis tapped a spot on her head right next to her horn. "But ever since I got here, things aren't feeling the same. What did you do to me?"
"I'm afraid that's not my department." The voice sounded almost concerned. "Someone in the last area is sure to be willing to answer any questions you may have after the tests."
Chrysalis groaned. "You ponies... only direct when you feel like it..." She shook her head and trailed over to the next door.
More puzzles took place. More time was rewound. More clones were made. Yet the clones disappeared when she left to the next areas. Time proceeded normally and wouldn't let her fiddle with the device in the intermediary hallways. After a while, the novelty grew weary.
"Okay, that's all for me," said the overhead voice. "You'll be working with another in the next room."
"What do you ponies have to gain from me going through these tests?" Chrysalis set the experimental time-and-clone bracelet in the designated bin, if only because it had gone offline and she couldn't force it back on. "As soon as I regain my true strength, I'll swear vengeance upon you all! I'm not a coward who hides behind magical devices and machines."
"Sorry... I can't really answer that right now. But I can at least say this: somepony really cares about you."
"And you're back to cryptic." Chrysalis rolled her eyes and walked ahead.
As she went through the door, it slid shut behind her. The pattern looked like one of those dumb cutie marks of the ponies. But the more she looked at it, the more it felt... familiar. Where had she seen that before? She snorted and looked forward into her new location. What she saw next made her nearly trip over herself.
It was a large room leading into a long, purple hallway. The tiled floor and the padded walls all had this same color. Standing right smack dab in the middle of this room was another unicorn.
"Twilight Sparkle..." Chrysalis grit her flat teeth.
"For your final test, Q-C-17, you are permitted to use some attack spells."
Chrysalis looked up and around. "You again. Is this some kind of trick?"
"No. It is a simple test. The objective is to see what you will do to this individual by yourself."
She laughed in the voice, but quickly stopped when the sound disgusted herself. "Oh, this has been a long-time coming. Just wish I had my wings for it."
The changeling trapped in a unicorn's mid-life crisis felt her magic surge. She unleashed a beam that appeared an inferior tint of violet, but it would have to suffice. She expected some resistance. What she had not anticipated was for Twilight Sparkle to stand there and take it. The slightly smaller unicorn grunted and slid backwards, but remained standing.
"Well, if you're just going to make it easy, then have some more!"
Chrysalis smiled wickedly as she let loose another beam, followed by another. Twilight grunted again, once for each spell's impact. She took a couple steps forward to her original position. The little pony was breathing a little more heavily. Her hide and mane were getting some ruffled hairs. Still, Twilight refused to fight back. She just looked at Chrysalis with determined eyes.
"Still haven't had enough?" Chrysalis fired another beam. "I never knew ponies could be so defiant. Let's fix that!"
Chrysalis fired a magic blast that split into three and slammed into either of Twilight's sides, along with her face. Twilight collapsed on one of her front knees. She breathed heavily. Her mane was singed black in a couple of spots. Despite wincing in pain, one of her eyes stared ahead, with a level of silent confidence.
"I've waited so long for this revenge!" Chrysalis called out while raising a hoof. "Celestia, Luna, Cadenza, your brother, and you! All of you will fall under my-"
*Drip!*
"Huh?"
Chrysalis looked down. A drop of liquid was on the floor that wasn't there earlier. Another droplet fell. The angle confused Chrysalis. She looked up. The ceiling was completely dry. She reached a hoof to her eye. When she pulled her hoof away, more of the liquid was on top of it.
"What...What is happening?"
Images started passing her mind's eye. In one, she was holding a newborn bundle against her chest. The next thing she saw was a blue stallion's face. He was leaning in really close with a puckered mouth. The next image was her hoof holding a letter of acceptance to a filly of very familiar appearance.
She furiously wiped her eyes before leaning over and holding her head. "Stop it! Stop!"
"Q-C-17, do you remember who you are?"
"Stop calling me that!" Her eyes were wet as she looked distraught at the ceiling. "My name is... Twilight... Velvet."
The injured Twilight Sparkle morphed in front of her. After swirling a few colors and features, a perfectly healthy Princess Luna stood in her place.
"You are ready. If you would, please... wake up."
Twilight Velvet struggled against a soft mass. When she opened her eyes, she sat up quickly and gasped for breath. She looked around at a place foreign to her eyes. She was on a bed, though the bed sheet that had been covering her had fallen to the floor. That was about where familiarity ended.
Surrounding her were several other beds. Some of them were empty. Others had ponies of various colors sleeping in them. Upon careful observation, they all had a few tubes and/or wires attached in some way: one near the heart area, a few around their heads, an IV tube in their hooves, and an oxygen mask over their muzzles.
Speaking of that stuff, a weird ringing was going off in Velvet's ears. She turned to her side and noticed the equipment dangling. Apparently, she had knocked it off in her moment of waking panic. The heartbeat monitor was blaring without a recipient wearing the reader. A light-blue magic grabbed a plug out of the outlet, ceasing the blaring noise.
Twilight Velvet turned to see some pony shutting off the oxygen mask that was just blowing its gas into the room without a face.
"Cadance!" She hopped off the bed, wobbling a little as her hooves felt stiff and shaking at the same time.
"Careful." Cadance swept over and caught Velvet just in time to prevent a fall. "Heh. It's been a long time, Mother-in-law. Good morning."
"What... happened?" Velvet looked at her pink alicorn daughter-in-law. "How long was I out?"
Cadance sighed. "It's been a little over two years."
"Two years?!" Velvet exclaimed. "How am I not a fermented cabbage by now?"
"Luck and love... in equal measures." Cadance motioned with her wing. "I know you just woke up, but would you mind walking with me? Luna probably already knows you're awake."
Velvet slowly turned her head. "And every pony else? Have they also been sleeping for that long?"
"Some yes, some no." Cadance started moving them both forward. "I think you need to hear Luna's part of this story as well. My take alone isn't quite complete."
"Uh... alright." Velvet let her less than cooperative legs drag-lift her along. "How is the rest of our family?"
Cadance paced herself to hold the waking patient. "Shining Armor is out in the field, leading the guard composite. Right now, Twilight should be looking after the nursery with a little help from Flurry Heart."
"Isn't Flurry Heart a little young to be working?"
"I know!" Cadance smiled. "We were surprised at how quickly she learned to do things too."
Velvet smiled a little back. "And what about Night Light?"
Cadance performed a sharp intake of air. "Dad is still unconscious. We don't know when he'll wake up."
"I see." Velvet glanced away. Then, she did a double-take. " 'Dad', huh?"
"I'm sorry. Is that wrong for me to say?" Cadance looked at her. "I only started calling him that a couple months ago."
Velvet shook her head as well as she could. "No, that's fine. It'll just take me some getting used to."
The room they stopped in had a mass of swirling lights in the center of the ceiling. Lights acted as threads, vibrating at random speeds, all leading into and through walls. The room itself was large enough to be as big as Shining Armor's guest room, as far as Velvet could recall. She lowered her head, as the mesh of colors was starting to give her a headache.
In the center on the floor, Luna was standing while holding up a dream spell aimed at the ceiling mass. She opened her eyes and glanced in the direction of Cadance and Velvet. She momentarily let her spell go. The mass of lights dimmed slightly, yet continued to swirl in their sporadic fashion.
"Good morning, Twilight Velvet." Luna slowly approached on hoof.
"Good morning, Princess." Velvet attempted to bow, but she felt gravity trying to slam her head down. Thankfully, Cadance managed to catch her and hold her back steady.
"Please." Luna shook her head. "Your daughters already know me on a familiar basis. You may drop the formalities, if not for friendship then at least to let your body avoid exerting itself."
"Okay... Luna." A little spark flickered in Velvet's eyes. "Whoa... that feels... kind of refreshing."
"I know, right?" Cadance chuckled.
"As much as I'd love to chat up a storm, we only have a few more minutes before I need to resume watching every pony's dreams." Luna cleared her throat.
It was about this time that Velvet realized how many dark bags were under Luna's eyes. When Velvet voiced her concern, Luna gave thanks, but said there was at least one matter that needed to be discussed. As it turned out, Velvet's nightmare about being a queen of a species that was sworn enemies of ponykind wasn't just a fever dream. The source was of a more sinister nature.
King Sombra.
Once, he was the tyrant that led the Crystal Ponies through an age of slavery and suffering. When the dust cleared from his defeat at the claws of Spike, and the hooves of Cadance and her new subjects, he wasn't exactly gone for good. Somehow, he regenerated, and put forth dark magic in a less direct fashion. He invaded the realm of dreams. In essence, he captured several ponies from different lands without even having to be physically present.
He trapped the victims into a deep sleep, a sleep that could not be immediately overcome with natural remedies. In these dreams, subconscious minds were more ready to believe lies and falsehoods as the norms. His dark magic corrupted the victims' perception, making them see themselves as various monsters that wanted vengeance upon ponies for one reason or another. One of these monstrosities was a race called the changelings, feeders on love instead of having any capacity to give it away freely. Perhaps Sombra sought to control the sleeping ponies through the growth of their hatred and corruption.
Unfortunately, these ponies couldn't all be saved. A few had been lost to physical malnutrition while Luna had been preparing the mass dream spell and the charms to help nudge each and every one of the sleepers back to their own selves. Cadance stepped in to apply the magic of love, generated by the memories of the ponies that loved those who were trapped in their sleep. It took the combined mental power of Twilight Sparkle, Moondancer, and a third unicorn pony to apply a magical luck charm to enhance the love magic and keep the sleeping alive for an extended time. Luna said this third pony's name was Sunburst, but Velvet didn't recognize it.
Some ponies that Sombra had woken up before any pony else could reach them were now fighting under his helms and leash. Shining Armor was leading what remained of the armies of Canterlot and the Crystal Empire to try and keep Sombra's forces at bay. At the same time, Celestia was going on a pilgrimage, a journey to convince some of the other creatures of Equestria to offer assistance where possible. Celestia had told her sister that threatening anyone with sun-related magic would be counter-intuitive in the building and sustaining of a peaceful alliance. These travels were a necessary ache to carry.
"Do you still have questions, Twilight Velvet?" Luna took a few swigs of coffee.
Velvet closed her eyes and breathed in. "Why did my dream, right after being a changeling queen, consist of a block puzzle, a time-reversing puzzle, and a fight against my daughter?"
"The charm is supposed to capture something that fascinates the original personality and allows it to latch onto something other than Sombra's lies." Luna nodded. "I believe you were a bit of an adventurer. The puzzle rooms required you to do things slightly differently than what one would normally expect.
"The process of recovering from dark magic is a long one. You probably only vaguely remember the rest of the dream's details, but suffice to say that an hour could be as long as several days... months even."
Velvet sat down. "In my case, twenty-four months."
"A little more than that, but yes." Luna stood up and did some stretches in her wings and legs. "I apologize, but I must get back to monitoring the dreams now."
"Do you... know what my husband Night Light is dreaming about?" Velvet looked at her longingly.
Luna paused before glancing back. "His identity crisis is similar to yours. Until he accepts himself again, his reference is Q-C-18." She trotted over to the center of the room and cast a spell that ran along the spiral of her horn, the dream spell.
Velvet looked down in front of her. She didn't even have the energy needed to shake her hooves in anxiety.
"Let's find you something to eat," suggested Cadance.
Velvet nodded slowly before using her as an impromptu crutch for the second time that day.
Author's Note
“How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?”
― Plato
Well, a dream requires at least one working mind in order to conjure it. Bits and pieces are taken from reality and construed as a fabricated experience.
