Celestia blinked as she noticed Elfilis coming up the stairs from the dungeons. It appeared he had beat her to it.

"Elfilis? What did you find down there? Are you- Your hands are bleeding, what did you do this time?" When she first got to know him, she worried he was going to make her go gray with stress. That concern was born of an understanding that he was a creature who didn't understand how to grasp his own powerful abilities. Now she worried Elfilis was going to dig his own grave before he could learn.

"I... I'm fine, for the moment." He held his hands out to her as he spoke. "If you could help with this, I could explain what I think went wrong." The Princess just sighed as she used her magic to begin unwrapping the bandages. "Thank you... To start from the beginning, I wasn't in my right mind after I saw Beta Knight's injury. When I made Galacta Knight." Elfilis flinched as a shard was carefully slid out of palm.

"Yes, I remember Luna said she was worried about you. You didn't seem yourself."

"...I don't think I made Galacta Knight with the intention of capturing Chrysalis." Celestia looked up at his face as she let go of his hands for a moment. In the end, she just sighed and went back to plucking debris out his hands. "... I really expected you to start laying into me by now. Not just for Galacta, but all the other crap I pulled with the Hive."

"Trust me, there is much I could be saying about your recklessness and lack of control. But you are clearly more upset about it than I. And it wouldn't feel right criticizing someone who looks like they were burned at the stake." He winced as he looked down at his blackened front. "Besides, I imagine Carina will not have the same restraint once you go see her."

"Ha, fair enough. Alright, where was I? Galacta Knight was made to kill Chrysalis. After I recovered a bit though, I confirmed with him that she needed to be captured alive. He said he could do it, and then I passed out. Few days later, I get news from Carina that she got your letter about Chrysalis's transport to Canterlot."

"Are you explaining all this to make a point? I feel you are treading old ground." She wrapped one of his hands in temporary magic binds before moving to the next as Elfilis nodded.

"I am making a point. I heard from Carina, who heard from Spike, who received a letter from you, who saw but didn't really know what happened when Chrysalis was captured." Celestia cocked an eyebrow at that. "I think we ended up playing a big game of telephone. Had I seen for myself how Chrysalis was captured, or heard it explained by you personally, or read Spikes letter myself, maybe then I could've told you that her prison was powered by Love."

"...Fuck. You're sure?" He nodded as she bound his other hand.

"I'm sure. The heart spears weren't just decorative or symbolic. The original heart spears were used to seal away a God of destruction in Dream Land. Kirby used the remnants of their power to turn enemies into allies on one of his adventures. It didn't occur to me at the time that Galacta Knight was the one who used heart spears to capture others, because, once again-"

"Capturing wasn't originally the point. So we basically put a ticking time bomb under Canterlot. Chrysalis ate her own prison."

"I'm sorry Princess... This is..." He closed his eyes as he spoke.

"I'm not mad at you. Nor am I disappointed. You have no learning experience to guide you, and I do truly believe that you have done your best to help us." Celestia gently pulled Elfilis towards her and began walking him out of the dungeons proper. "We have much to discuss, but for now, I believe you may wish to see something."

Luna looked on as five of the six elements crowded the window to the new mother's room. She caught them trying to sneak into Twilights room again, but they had thankfully distracted themselves when they noticed Chrysalis's room. It was Rarity who spoke first.

"It goes without saying that the mother certainly needs some work, but that foal is positively dazzling." Applejack pitched in after a moment.

"Ah' suppose 'dazzling' is as good a word as any."

"... I think it's cute." No one heard the shy pegasus whispered this. It was at this point that her sister returned, with Elfilis in tow.

"Tia. Elfilis. Did you find anything?" The older sister just shook her head as she walked her friend down the hall towards their group.

"Later Luna. For now, I believe Elfilis should see the newborn." Said man perked up a little from his sad slump as he heard her words. Pinkie Pie picked up the conversation before he could however.

"Isn't it amazing!? A new years baby on the night of the Grand Galloping Gala!"

"Uh, sugarcube? We're in the middle of August."

"And?!" Rainbow Dash finally decided to throw her own words out for them to hear.

"Is no one else disturbed by the weird bug pony thing giving birth?"

"Rainbow, I am dating the 'weird bug pony thing's' sister." The pegasus shied away from Elfilis stare.

"Well, yeah. But she's like... a cool bug pony thing, or whatever..." He just shook his head.

"Uh huh. The baby is already born? I wasn't gone for long." Elfilis felt his confusion grow as all the mares turned to look at him. Celestia was the one to speak up.

"Her water broke an hour ago. That's more than enough time to birth a foal."

"...Really?" Luna was the first to respond to him.

"Well, what do you believe foalbirth is supposed to be like?" Eflilis began to fidget as as his crowd got more curious.

"Uh, several hours of extremely agonizing labor?" They just continued to stare for a moment before Celestia spoke up.

"If that were the case, I think ponies would've gone extinct a long time ago. No, it takes half an hour at most and is supposed to be a relatively painless experience should there be no complications."

"Alright, alright, I'm an idiot. Just let me see the baby already."

I walked past the crowd of horrified and/or snickering ponies as I made my way to the window they were all standing around. The first thing I spotted was Chrysalis, still wrapped up in spider silk, but her antlers now had some strange manacles snapped onto them which chained her to the wall. And then, I gasped as I saw the foal. Now, I could wax poetic about the beauty of a new life, the purity of innocence, the brightness of a baby's future, blah blah blah. None of that was what went through my head.

No, the first thought I had was-

"A golden baby?" And it was true. A tiny changeling, less like Chrysalis's twisted form and more like Carina's smooth silhouette, whose entire body looked as if it had been smelted out of solid gold. It's eyes were half lidded as it suckled out its mother's teats, but what little I could see made it look like two blue polished gemstones affixed in their places. It was a literally, objectively stunning baby. And to think, I'd almost screwed this all up in the worst way possible. "That's amazing..." I just watched in awe of the little foal as it crawled all over Chrysalis's body, who finally seemed to have calmed down or fallen asleep. Luna stepped up next to me.

"It's a boy, and from what we can tell, he is quite healthy. If we wish to know more, however, we will likely have to consult Queen Culicidae."

"Hmm. I can take us there whenever. Just say the word." The solar sister cut in before Luna could respond.

"Are you sure? We can wait for you to recover, or make the trip ourselves."

"I know. But we should get this done, for his sake. Just say the... Is that Toby?" I just spotted him walk into the room from a side door, and he was wearing a circular mirror on his head, a pair of glasses, and a white lab coat over his pink body.

His pink body. Toby was purple.

"Did you... did you seriously let Toby help deliver the baby? His Doctor Ability is less about healing and more about mixing dangerous chemicals together to make explosives." All I got was silence as my answer. Toby waved and said hi as he spotted me, sending pink droplets everywhere. Finally, Applejack cut the uncomfortable atmosphere.

"Uh, I may be missing sumthin, but ah'm pretty sure calling that ability of his a doctor is a bit misleading. Ah mean, he's got the coat and the tools and everything. What else is he supposed to be a doctor of?" Surprisingly, it was Pinkie who answered.

"Uh, duh! He must've studied for a PhD. in BOOM, silly Applejack!"

Queen Culicidae was seriously considering taping the mouths of all of her councilors muzzles shut as they screamed and hollered over each other. She didn't remember what it was they were fighting about, and she was sure they didn't really remember either. Something about the amount of space each changeling had to themselves, as if they didn't live in a giant, ever expanding structure. They literally had, all of the room. And they hadn't even needed to build upwards yet. She didn't know how her children managed without her.

"Enough... Enough!... SHUT THE FUCK UP!" She breathed a sigh of relief as the yelling stopped, but her temper quickly got the better of her again. "You are all going to share and play nice! I don't give a shit about who started digging into whose room first! Just stop doing it! We live in the middle of fucking no where! If you want more space, just make a new fucking space! It isn't that hard a concept! FFFFFFFFuck!"

"... Is now a bad time?" She didn't even look up see her her uninvited guest.

"Fuck you too Elfilis... Are you here to bring me my daughter back? Because if you aren't, I am going to drop the entire chamber on you." A snort was heard, but it wasn't from who Culicidae was expecting from the sound of it. She looked up and her eyes widened in surprise as she saw that the two pony Princesses were also now stood in her chamber. "... Council is dismissed." A few changelings started to complain. "DISMISSED!" There were no more complaints as the buzzing of wings and hurried hoofsteps started up and quickly faded as the uppity changelings evacuated. "Princess Celestia, Princess Luna. You should've sent a letter. I am not prepared for guests." Elfilis huffed a laugh at her.

"You're never ready for guests." He ignored her hiss, simply making his way over to her via levitation. The first thing Culicidae noticed were his injuries, numerous as they were even if he acted as if they were not there. The next thing she noticed was the unfamiliar changeling slung over his shoulders, her dark green having blended in with the dark hive walls.

"Is that her? My, how you've let yourself go my daughter..." The tall pain-in-her-neck lifted the unconscious Chrysalis up and over his head and placed her at the foot of the throne. Culicidae looked on sadly at her daughter's new form. Armored, plated, antlers in place of a horn. Not because it was a sign of sickness, or neglect, but because it reminded her of better times. Celestia interrupted her thoughts.

"I hope you realize, that your daughter is not the only one who has crimes to answer for." The queen snarled in contempt.

"And what crimes would those be, princess?" Luna took over for her sister.

"The neutering of your species."

"... I will face justice for that crime when it is no longer a necessity." Efilis looked at her with those intense eyes that she had once had nightmares about, but she breathed a sigh of relief as they disappeared.

"In what world is such a thing necessary?" Culicidae tried her hardest to choke down her feelings on the topic as she brought her harshest memories to her mind. She never thought she would have to talk about this, but she had the leaders of a nation in her home, demanding answers.

"... The Changeling empire is from before the time of ponies." She didn't bother to notice the attention of the Princesses sharpening. "We were close neighbors with the deer and the minotaurs, and ponies had only just started forming their own empire. Their own land. We all pitched in. The deer gave you their foods, the minotaur gave you your tools. We gave you our land. It took many, many generations for the ponies to truly pick up steam. However, as was inevitable, you would all begin to create your own culture, your own stories and songs. Pony art became renowned for its color, and it was attributed to your similarities to us." The younger sister finally cut in, as she had been wanting to since the story started.

"I do not remember this in our studies. There is no mention of this in our history."

"Your history starts where mine ends. Despite all the praise, all the success the ponies had with creating a home for themselves, they began to fracture. The unicorns did not want the arts to be accredited to the pegasus and the common pony. The pegasus would not let the unicorns and land walkers take credit for the bountiful harvests. The earth ponies wanted a larger cut of the wealth earned in their country, as they believed they had to put the most effort into creating the lands they lived in. Eventually, they all split. What was once one singular growing country became three stagnating states that were always at each others necks" The elder sister felt the need to confirm something, once again interrupting.

"You are talking about the time before hearths warming." Culicidae snarled before she could stop herself.

"Yes. The changelings were a force of love and unity. We could be whatever we wanted to be, love whoever we wanted to love. Except ponies. Your country, split as it was, was still reluctantly reliant on one another. It didn't matter what form we took, we were always subject to an overwhelming scorn we had never experienced before. We needed the warmth of love to survive, and our neighbors had become unbearable cold spots. And then winter came." She finally looked at her audience. She needed to see that they understood.

"Your species scorn for itself attracted the Wendigos of the north. When that storm came, of cold hate and loathing, it swept right over us. We were all starving within days as the Wendigos stole our warmth to fuel their stampede onto your lands. When they left, the few survivors that remained had no more Love to give. Our hearts had darkened, and our bodies along with them. It was a slaughter. Father against father, mother against mother. All fighting for the scraps of Love that we had been accumulating for centuries." Culicidae refused to cry as she watched the tears build in the ponies eyes.

"I was only seventeen. On the cusp of marehood. My brother was the one who cared for me. He stole and he killed and he did everything he could to keep me fed and to take me out of this wasteland our home had become. The Wendigos had long since been driven off, and he planned to cross over the border to our allies for help. We came across the deer, pleading and begging. They did not recognize us as their loving allies, and they fired upon us. My brother... My brother was injured while we made our escape. His last act was to give me everything he had left for himself. He knew he would not survive his injuries even if he were to take all of my Love for himself. He... passed. And a week later, I laid my first clutch." The room was as quiet as the grave as she ended her story. It was appropriate, she felt. Queen Cilucidae felt no need to explain further. She knew they could connect the dots, and she was far too exhausted to speak to them any longer. Unfortunately, after a long silence, Celestia still wished to speak.

"There is more, that you may wish to see."

"...What... is it then?" Culicidae tried her hardest not to lunge at them, to steal away what made them so brave so that she may feed her children. All of her anger disappeared as the Princess slowly lifted a wrapped bundle from her back, and revealed to her something she never thought she would see again. A small, healthy, changeling child. Born naturally instead of hatched from an egg. She didn't notice the tear run down her cheek. He was a brilliant gold, just like her brother had once been. And then she panicked. "Get him out of here!"

"What-!"

"My children will rip him apart! Go! Leave! Do not let me see him here again! I said GO!" And in an instant, they were gone, leaving a grieving queen with her daughter. She never thought she would see the day, and now that she had, she didn't know what to do.

Author's Note

Happy new years Fimfiction. Have a sad lore dump.

April 1st 2023 Edit: changed Applejacks "It's November" to August, to better match the future timeline. August was actually the month I intended originally, but I still have to sing the damn song to remember the order of the months sometimes and Ill still get it wrong. School system sucks etc.