Starswirl slowly opened his eyes, the sound of a fly buzzing nearby waking him from his sleep. The last thing he remembered was a unicorn with an orange mane asking if she could take a picture with him, and everything after the green flash of her camera was blank in his memories. He tried to get up but found his hooves were tied by a rope, and something was preventing him from using his magic.
He looked around. He was lying on the ground near what looked like some kind of swamp, green water pooling around a large rotting black tree with a crack on the side. Large green-and-black flies buzzed around the tree, some of them resting on the white bones poking out where the water was less deep. The place appeared to be inside some sort of cavern, the only source of light a hole above the tree. It all seemed weirdly familiar to Starswirl, although he couldn't quite figure out why.
He tried to turn around to get a better understanding of what was happening, but he was suddenly distracted by a female voice speaking from somewhere above him.
"You're finally awake I see."
Starswirl looked up. A large, bug-like creature was crawling on the ceiling. Her body was mostly black in colour, except for the green-blue of her back and of her tattered mane and tail. Her wings and limbs appeared equally damaged, with large holes all over them, and her horn was twisted and curved. A crown sat on her head, as twisted as the rest of her, what had once been a beautiful jewel now bent and reshaped by the creature's dark magic. She turned her head towards him, a sickening noise coming from her neck as she executed the unnatural motion, and Starswirl got a good look at her piercing green eyes and at the sharp fangs inside her maws.
"Hi dad," Chrysalis said.
"Hi," Starswirl replied out of instinct. He hadn't exactly expected those words to come out of the creature's mouth, and it took him a couple of seconds to process what exactly she'd just said. "Excuse me, what did you just say? And for that matter, who are you? And where am I?" he asked.
"I'm your daughter," Chrysalis replied, descending towards him, her head remaining still while her body rotated, "my name is Chrysalis. This is where I was born. It's where you met my mother, remember?"
"No," Starswirl said. He slowly began to jerkily move his body away from the creature.
"Oh, I can understand that. It's been a long time after all. But I'm sure mum still remembers about it. Isn't that right mother?" Chrysalis asked, turning towards the tree.
The tree, being a tree, did not answer back. It would have been a rather weird occurrence if it had. It would have also raised a series of questions as to why it had never talked to Chrysalis after she'd been born. Chrysalis managed to somehow be disappointed by the silence anyway.
"Forgive her, she doesn't like to talk much," she said, turning back to Starswirl.
The unicorn had followed Chrysalis's gaze. "Were you talking to the tree?" he asked, confused.
"Who else?" Chrysalis replied.
Starswirl remained confused. "So wait, you're saying that I'm your father, and that tree over there is your mother? And wait, are you that Chrysalis? Queen Chrysalis the changeling, the one Celestia told me about, the one who tried to take over Equestria multiple times?"
Yep, that's me," the changeling said, nodding. "But I'm trying to be better. My therapist told me that I'm evil because of my problematic relationship with my parents, so I decided to get you two together so we could talk about our family."
"I'm still not sure of how you came to the conclusion that I'm your father and that tree is your mother," Starswirl said, still trying to move away from Chrysalis.
"Because you are!" Chrysalis took out an old and consumed wooden sign with a nail in the top, the writing impossible to read after the thing had seemingly been left to suffer the weather for centuries. "Remember this? You gave this to my mother before you left. That's how I was born, you nailed this into her and we changelings popped out of the crack in her bark."
Starswirl studied the sign. "Oh! Now I remember! So wait, you're telling me that changelings came out of that tree, and that's how your race was born?"
Chrysalis nodded, smiling.
"Well, I can see why you consider the tree to be your mother then."
"Exactly! And you're my father." Chrysalis walked up to Starswirl's body and lifted him up with her magic. "And now that you're finally back we can be a family again! We'll do all the things we didn't get to do when I was young, and you and mum will love each other and love me, and then I'll finally be good!" Chrysalis sat and opened her hooves wide, ready to hug Starswirl. "So, what do you say?"
"I'm still don't think that makes me your fa-"
"I will eat you if you refuse."
"I mean, of course I'll be your father, my dear!" Starswirl nervously exclaimed.
"Awesome!" Chrysalis cried out, tightly hugging Starswirl.
The unicorn began to gasp for breath.
"So what do you want to do first? Wanna go shopping? Or go to the park? Maybe play a game together? Or maybe you and mum can read me a bedtime story! What do you say, dad? ...Dad?"
Starswirl didn't answer, having passed out from the lack of oxygen.
"Sorry dad. Mum, I'm leaving him here for a while, watch him. I'll prepare all the stuff we need for our first family trip."
The tree was still a tree, and therefore it remained silent.
"It's a shame mum couldn't come. But we'll bring her a present when we go back," Chrysalis said.
"Of course, dear," Starswirl replied, panting for breath.
The ponies all around them watched from a distance, halfway between curious and frightened.
"Excuse me," a voice called from behind the couple, "what is happening?"
Starswirl slowly turned around.
"Me and my dad are visiting the city," Chrysalis replied from atop the unicorn's shoulders, an innocent smile on her face.
"Oh..." Princess Luna replied. "...Okay then. I'll leave you two to your business," she said, then she turned around and flew away.
Starswirl silently mouthed the words 'save me', but he was too out of breath from carrying his daughter around like she was a little filly and nopony heard him.
