A Kindled Beginning

by Darkevony

Chapters

Chapter 1: To do what we must,
Chapter 2: And shake off the rust,
Chapter 3: We pool our power to cast,
Chapter 4: A spell aimed at the distant past.
Chapter 5: We'll find where we belong,
Chapter 6: As we go along,
Chapter 7: With Fate's grand design,
Extra: Yesteryear
Finale: Chapter 8: To Live Free and to Save all of Our Kind.

Chapter 1: To do what we must,

Author's Note

All illustrations seen throughout the chapters are made by the wonderful Mutter_Butter for the story.

Also, if you care to hear my self-made audio recording for this chapter, you can find it in this link right here.

Chapter 1: To do what we must,

A Kindled Beginning

Chapter 1:

To do what we must,

Life is a bundle of surprises. In just a few days, it could change dramatically in what feels like the blink of an eye. One moment, you’re destitute in complete darkness for more than half of your life and escaping that stranglehold into the world above, the next you’re sinking back into its grips to save everyone you love by adorning the heavy crown of a broken people.

Changelings in this case.

Yet, despite the harrowing adventure you might’ve lived in that time, how was it that you were never as clammy, never as anxious, and never as nervous as the moment you walked into your first day of class? Was this some hidden, sinister effect of this... ‘school’ everyone talked about? Even just standing in front of the door and being left to wait with all the eerie, foreboding tension in the world to be introduced to a sizeable class of miniature pony-folk, there was little doubt that adults had a sadistic way of teaching lessons. Was this some elaborate prank perhaps?

Chrys wondered this as she took her first steps into what would essentially become her new normal every day for the foreseeable future. In getting up to the elevated platform in front of the classroom, she had to part the overflowing bright green of her hair from her eyes to see the tall commanding figure of the imposing Miss. Cheerilee. She had been given extremely strict instructions to follow every beck and call of this pony mare before her.

Or well, all that had been said was, “Make sure you listen to your teacher, okay?”

For Chrys however, this might as well have been meant as an imperative life-or-death order. As a creature with no social experience and not even being able to discern the gravity of importance in other’s words, the poor little changeling was a bundle of nerves as she considered the possibility of every worst-case scenario. How does one do well in school? What if she could not make friends like she was told to? Would she be abandoned again if she failed in these tasks? Was she already abandoned for having failed in some way shape or form without having known how?

It took every ounce of willpower to hold her tears back as she remembered Twilight Sparkle walking away after having dropped her off at school. As a Changeling, her very body struggled to stay intact in her original form, her skin looking like it was stuttering and shaking in waves. Much as she had grown emotionally, she still instinctively felt the need to change her form in her panic. But her promise to the purple alicorn was incredibly important to her, so she did not yield even as she turned to face the rest of the faces of her new classmates at Miss Cheerilee’s signal. Her deeply amber eyes immediately fell to the floor to distract her from the gazes.

Oh boy. This was going to be quite the difficult promise to keep, she already thought.

There was an immediate buzz of excitement, wonder, and even fear in the air with every single tiny pony exclaiming their surprise at the sight of her, whispering amongst themselves aggressively as Miss. Cheerilee left them to talk for a bit. Twilight had discussed the situation with Cheerilee prior to this, and to what Chrys could guess at from looking at her satisfied expression and the amusement in the flame of her soul, was that this was the exact reaction she had been gunning for. Shock therapy for a wounded reputation amongst races.

“Alright, settle down boys and girls. It’s time to introduce our new friend here.” Miss Cheerilee shushed the class with some rather soft words. She hadn’t had to shout or even finish the sentence before every pony became quiet in order to listen in with curiosity. “As you can see with your own eyes, our friend is very special. Would you like to say a few words to introduce yourself?” She said, gesturing over to Chrys who was now looking at her wide-eyed in horror. Her smile did NOT help the poor girl.

Chrys turned her head over to the class and pawed the ground gingerly, trying to muster her courage. As she opened her mouth, nothing came out. She felt frozen with terror as the seconds ticked by, hoping she’d be saved by the teacher. But in the silence, she could feel that Miss. Cheerilee would not budge on this. How cruel.

“Name. Chrys. I am.” She managed to ink out after many agonizing moments in total quiet. “Race. Um. Changeling... Transfer!” She squeaked out the last bit of her introduction in a high-pitched tone, getting spooked by the looks that the class gave her. Now within the mix of emotions in the air was confusion as every pony couldn’t tell if her speech pattern was a joke or a product of nervousness.

Chrys turned to look at the sound of hooves clapping together, Miss Cheerilee applauding her with a bright smile and adding to the confusion for everyone involved. “That was pretty wonderful Chrys, thank you.” She said while draping a foreleg over the anxious changeling. “So there you have it boys and girls, our new transfer student is Chrys, a changeling under the tutelage and care of Princess Twilight. I hope we can all get along with her. I’m sure you all have a lot of questions and concerns about her, so for today’s lesson, we’ll talk about the changeling race so we can learn more about our new friend.” Miss Cheerilee brought a chair for Chrys to sit in while still being in front of the class, much to her chagrin and began the special lesson in front of everyone. “Any questions?”

Tons of hooves, wings, and horns shot up at that moment. The teacher began scanning the room to select one of her own choosing. Chrys couldn’t see what was happening while she hid her face underneath her hair to look down at the ground in her shame. The first to answer was the haughty tone of a particularly pink and self-serving filly.

“Aren’t changelings dangerous? Why is Princess Twilight taking care of her?”

It was never going to be easy. Even as Twilight had explained the concept of school to Chrys, she knew it had been a bad idea from the start. Just her first real meeting with Twilight and her friends, who were more open and tolerating than most other ponies, had been catastrophic as she had seen the scars her race had created. She had been reminded of them just this morning in fact, when she saw the faces and fires of onlookers while walking down towards the school for the first time in public with Twilight. But to hear that question be asked directly right in front of her... well it hurt. It really did. Especially now that she was out here like this trying to make a change. For her own sake and especially for the sake of her kind.

Much as she had hated the idea to start with, Twilight had spoken too much sense to the point of being unable to deny it. If Chrys was to rehabilitate her people into the life and freedom of the outside world, she would need to work on making a home for them. It was her duty as the Changeling Princess to create the roads that led to peaceful cohabitation by making friends of the pony race. However, the first step towards this road began with proper communication, and talking straight was something she was still not capable of especially after a lifetime of living in isolation within total darkness.

These were all the pieces of the puzzle Twilight thought to connect by making Chrys go to school. It not only served to help her work on her speaking ability, but it would also allow her to make friends with ponies who could help increase the reputation and rapport of changelings. While she worked to sway public opinion in her capacity as newly crowned Princess, Chrys would make the beginning steps towards the freedom she sought for her kind.

What the purple bookworm could not understand in the heat of that excitement, however, was that Chrys was still very young and quite sensitive. She had a similar disposition and temperament to Fluttershy, and her serious personality and incredibly strong emotions made her prone to misunderstandings. The little changeling Princess could also read every creature’s true nature and meaning in their words by looking at the heart of their souls, a living flame in everyone. This was a unique ability only afforded to her, but it meant that as sensitive as she was... being able to understand the real thoughts in others only spelled disaster.

To prove this point, even as Miss. Cheerilee had denied that changelings were dangerous, Chrys could easily see how little that answer had done to disway anyone from that idea. The teacher had purposely chosen that particular pony knowing she would ask it too in an act to emphasize it. But even Miss. Cheerilee’s flame wavered when she spoke, and Chrys was saddened by knowing that she did not fully mean her own words from the bottom of her heart.

Unbeknownst to Twilight, she had cast her into the fiercest battleground of emotions known to pony kind... or really any sentient race for that matter. The dreaded ‘school’ where kids were relentless both on the inside and on the outside. To make matters worse, beyond her special eyes and sensitive personality, as royalty to the changelings of all things, a race who fed on emotions, her magic vessel and aptitude were enormous. Chrys’ magical powers had the capacity to rival even the extremities of Equestria such as the Elements of Harmony, who had been powerless to stop Queen Chrysalis when she had fed on her negative feelings. This was undoubtedly a ticking time bomb waiting to go off.

Shouldering her new reality, Chrys held back tears and struggled to stay in her original form. After finally having been reunited with Twilight, it was obvious how much she meant to her, and how much she wanted to honor her expectations of her. The responsibility she carried had made her see this simple task of 'going to school and making friends' that much more important and daunting.

For everyone’s sake. She thought in her head. Miss Cheerilee had moved on to teaching every pony in the class a mythicized version of how the changelings fell to ruin, and how it was their collective ‘sacrifice’ that had imprisoned them underground when trying to fight off the powers that ruined their kingdom. It was very far from the truth, but Chrys figured this was part of Twilight’s plan to ease pony society into accepting changelings gradually over time since the current generation of Equestrians only knew of their initial invasion of Canterlot during a royal wedding.

Children were not as clueless as adults thought they were. They had surely heard of the invasion and the details surrounding it. They knew of the mad Queen Chrysalis, and her bid to rule Equestria. It was why the question that was first asked had even surfaced to begin with. Thankfully, Chrys’ saving grace at this point in time was that they were none-the-wiser about her origins as a Princess, and the direct predecessor to the queen. Even if told directly, they would’ve thought of it as a joke to consider that the scared little girl in front of them was anything more special than just another changeling.

Even so, there were still a few bright minds amongst the ponies who could see the puzzle pieces themselves. Why her name resembled the Queen’s so closely. Why she was the only changeling they were seeing in Ponyville for the first time. And why it was that she was under the supervision of Princess Twilight. Sure, they didn’t have any proof to back up their suspicions, but they understood something fishier was afoot with her appearance here and now. They were not at all scared at the prospect of finding out the truth. Their adventurous spirit made them that much more excited to uncover it. Who were these special little ponies who had come to this conclusion on barely the first day of Chrys’ arrival?

Well, who knows. Chrys didn’t. She was counting down the seconds trying to distract her mind until the end of school as the conversation floated from topic to topic about changelings this, changelings that. Thankfully, Twilight had, had some sense and foresight. She had waited to introduce Chrys to school on one of its shorter days so as to not overwhelm her with her first experience. With the bell ringing early, the Princess herself was waiting outside to pick her up, and the little changeling just about bolted to the door in her absolute relief that she hadn’t been abandoned and happiness of the day being done.

Twilight and Chrys spent that afternoon furthering her vocal lessons at her home in the library. They practiced formulating complete sentences with little success.

“Thank you. Very. Much.” Said the sleepy visage of the changeling princess as the sun was beginning to set.

Twilight very gently used her wings to wipe away at the sleep forming on Chrys’ eyes and smiled at her with all the warmth in the world. “That’s a start Chrys! I’m proud of you.” She said sincerely. “For more than just creating that sentence. Thank you for following along with my idea of going to school. It’s never easy meeting new ponies but I know you’ll do just fine.” She said as she brought her forehead to hers. Twilight had not forgotten how to read the little changeling princess at all and she could easily see the anxiety in her heart.

“Mm.” Chrys allowed herself to sink into Twilight’s hug to be enveloped by her warmth, yawning at the exhaustion from today’s events.

Before she realized it, Chrys had fallen asleep in that embrace. She awoke to the rocking of Twilight’s back as they walked through the rocky, uneven lands of the Everfree forest towards a familiar cave, her two wings securing her in place.

“You woke up just in time Chrys, we’re already home.” Twilight said, noticing the shuffling from the confused changeling on her back. “Same time tomorrow okay? I’ll be right here.” The purple alicorn got to her knees to allow the small girl to disembark easily, her amber eyes groggily fluttering open and trying to make sense of her surroundings, straightening up in doing so.

“Mm!” Chrys said enthusiastically. If nothing else, she was happy to hear that she would get to see Twilight again. That single promise alone made going to school worth it. They exchanged one last hug before Chrys slinked back into the pitch-black darkness of the cave, and down, down the cold winding corridors of those ancient tunnels.

As she walked, she could see more crystals having appeared since the last time she had faced the Queen in earnest to save her friends. Their emerald green glow was still faded and dim, but they grew stronger the more she traveled the length of those echoing halls. Finally, she reached a familiar room where her mother slept.

“Go. I. To school. Met lots. Ponies. Saw Twilight. Happy.” Chrys said with enthusiasm while sitting down beside the bed where the unconscious body of Queen Chrysalis lay.

She continued to practice her vocal lessons as she spoke about her day to the Queen in as much detail as she could muster. Finished with this task, in walking away to move out of the room, Chrys felt the queen’s body restlessly shift within her deep sleep as if troubled by something. She walked over to her to place their foreheads together, much like she had done with Twilight. It was initially a spell that the purple mare had taught her, but it had also become Chrys’ personal sign of affection.

Inside her head, she recited the chant needed for a particular spell and her horn lit up with the power of her golden Fate, her magic, and it enveloped the two in a soothing warmth. Queen Chrysalis began to breathe easier now that her night terrors had been cast away. Chrys turned around one last time before exiting the room to make sure that the queen was feeling better, and in seeing that she was, she left to go handle the rest of her duties.

There was still a lot she needed to do. She needed to repeat that spell for every single one of the fallen changelings who had been consumed by the madness of the past. Had she really learned anything about the history of changelings if she was still living in those times? She wondered as the night grew older and her powers a little weaker with the exhaustion that came from overusing it.

Finally done, she retired to her own chambers to give her own restless soul time to relax. Even if she had been a little disappointed in herself for having handled the day poorly, she had been beside herself with joy at being able to spend more time with Twilight. More than that, now it felt like she was making real progress towards helping her kind. It certainly beat being that lost little child that had wondered if darkness was the only thing she was ever going to get to know. She wasn’t that same changeling that had thoughtlessly abandoned her duties and almost brought ruin to everyone in her weakness. She was no longer running away from her problems and from herself now that she was taking all of her feelings and emotions in stride.

She had already promised herself many times before. She would do everything in her power to carry those responsibilities to the very end, wherever the road finished. She would brave school, find some friends, and possibly maybe hopefully... Not burn out as a result.

I mean... It was just grade school, right? Can’t be too hard... she thought.

Chapter 2: And shake off the rust,

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Chapter 3: We pool our power to cast,

Chapter 3:

We pool our power to cast,

Chrys awoke in a cold sweat having dreamt of her troubled past. Her breathing slowed and she relaxed her body, only to immediately get quite the jump after finally realizing that she had fallen asleep next to the queen. Queen Chrysalis had a habit of moving in her sleep, so Chrys had awoken to one of her forelegs wrapped around her body.

She hated having felt so scared over something so innocently mundane. Queen Chrysalis was her predecessor for goodness’ sake. For all intents and purposes, she was her mother. She had been... so long ago. More than that, the Queen had been placed into a deep almost unbreakable slumber that would take years to undo.

But even in just shaking her leg away to escape free from her unconscious grasp, Chrys was reminded all over again of the monster that slept within her. The cold chill that ran down the length of her spine just looking at her sleeping face was unmistakable.

It was just one more reason to want to step forward into tomorrow. Chrys’ ultimate goal was to save her mother. To save all of the changelings afflicted with madness. That was the solemn duty of a single little girl with nary the spine to even stand up for herself. There was something to be said when talking about real ‘strength’. Was strength the ability to move mountains, or to move mountains despite not having the ability to? With Chrys walking out of her cave into the world above to start a new day, her heart trembling in worry, anxiety, and excitement, it wasn’t hard to see which one of them it was.

The only thing different this time, however, was that Twilight had already arrived to pick her up. She had been standing near the entrance, counting the time despite the early, early morning. So early, that the sun had barely started breaking through the horizon with the sleepy world beginning to rouse. Upon spotting the changeling princess, she just smiled as though it were no issue at all to have been there at that time.

“Twilight!” Chrys exclaimed as she ran up to the purple alicorn to give her a hug. “Why. here. now?” Chrys was pleasantly surprised to see her here so early, and a bit worried.

“I was just thinking of waking up earlier is all,” Twilight said, trying to brush aside the issue to no avail, seeing that the little changeling would not budge on the question. ”The thought of you going through the Everfree forest alone scared me.” She whispered this under her breath after fake-coughing and looking away with embarrassment. “Besides, this way, we can start the day together.” She yawned at this and got down on her knees to allow Chrys to embark on her back.

While Chrys was very happy to see her so early in the morning after Twilight had gone out of her way to pick her up personally, she felt a little sorry that she had made her do this. After all, if there was one creature alive that would not be fooled by words alone, it was Chrys who could easily see the exhaustion of the forceful sputtering flame in Twilight’s soul trying its best to maintain itself despite the trials and tribulations of her busy life as newly crowned Princess.

To secure herself on Twilight’s back, she had to wrap her forelegs around Twilight in a hug, and in feeling sorry for what she was doing to her, the little changeling hugged her a little harder than usual apologetically. Unfortunately, Twilight was a relatively new flier and was almost entirely focused on keeping her altitude, so she hadn’t noticed this small sign of affection from Chrys.

“Twilight. Want. Ask.” Chrys spoke up during the middle of their flight.

“Oh? What is it, Chrys?” This was rare. The changeling had never asked for much before.

“Want to. sleep. home.”

“Oh no, are you still tired? I’m sorry, I’ll turn around now.” Before she could, she noticed Chrys rubbing her face on her back to indicate to her that she was shaking her head to refuse this.

“Sleep, at night. Home. Twilight Home. Yours.” The little changeling finally managed to say.

“Wait? Really?! Of course!!” Twilight exclaimed enthusiastically and almost lost focus on her flying in her excitement, which made her double back on her expression in her shame and embarrassment at having had such an outburst. She cleared her throat in trying to compose herself. “Ahem. Yes. Of course, Chrys.” She said a lot more straight-laced. “I would love for you to sleep over.”

It hadn’t been long since they had reunited and this plan of theirs for Chrys to go to school had been hatched. She had never really asked for much before, so this was a very rare opportunity indeed. As things were, the relationship between them was still in the air. Which is why Twilight had been beside herself when the little changeling girl had asked her to sleep over at night. As much as she knew of her, there were still many things she could not know from simple words alone and she had really grown to care deeply about her.

Having her sleepover meant that she could keep a closer eye on her safety too. Twilight was still very much afraid of leaving her to her own, especially when remembering the time when she first met Chrys in the woods in the shape of a pony and was badly injured. Twilight remembered how small and helpless she was when she first saw her cry, finally in her original form and weak from a fever. Then she remembered the moment when she had panicked in front of them, deathly afraid of the magic Twilight had used...

She didn’t understand why, but it scared her from the bottom of her heart to think that it could happen to Chrys again. It hurt to see her so lonely, so sad, so afraid. It hurt to see her hurt. Twilight knew she wasn’t as powerless as she looked. The little changeling’s magic rivaled if not surpassed hers. She also had the incredible ability to transform into powerful beasts, having seen her transform into a number of animals. In that show of mimicry, she had even shifted her form into an adult phoenix of all things! If nothing else, she could trust that Chrys would be fine if the worst came to pass. But... for her sake, she didn’t want her to even have to face those dangers to begin with if she could help it.

The morning passed by as usual with the only difference being Twilight had looked a little happier. She couldn’t help the smile that would plaster her face while thinking about the question between the two. So much so that even Spike had noticed the shift in mood on the purple alicorn.

“What’s got you in a tizzy, Twilight?” He asked her after breakfast was over, seeing her hum happily while dishwashing which was something she normally didn’t do. Happily, that is.

“Huh? What? Oh. Uhm.” Twilight beckoned the small dragon to come closer with one hoof so she could whisper into his ears. “Chrys asked if she could sleep here through the nights. I’ll finally get to have a sleepover buddy every day! I’m just thinking of what I should do to make the nights more fun.”

“Yeah uh... great. But where is she going to sleep? We gave away the guest bed and my basket is a little too small for her.” He whispered back.

Whisper all they might, Chrys’ hearing caught everything. She walked over to them and dropped her head apologetically.

“Um sleep. Sorry. Floor. Fine.” She said while she clacked her hooves on the ground once. This had been the first real show to Twilight of how good her hearing was, having taken them both by surprise at answering the whispered questions.

“Nuh-uh. No way. We can’t let you do that.” Spike responded first.

“Spike is right, Chrys. We’ll get the bed situation sorted out later. For tonight, would you be okay sleeping beside me? We’re no strangers to it after all.” Twilight followed up by gently patting the troubled changeling.

“Mm.” She nodded her response.

“That settles it then.” Twilight smiled at her almost instant response. “I’ll have to stop by the workshop today and request a new bed frame. Spike, today do you think you can head down to Fluttershy’s and ask her if she could start collecting some down for some new pillows and to Rarity’s for the sheets, quilts, and pillow casings?”

“You got it, boss,” Spike exclaimed with a salute to her.

“In the meantime, I’ll go ask Rainbow Dash to look out for any dense clouds we can use for the mattress fluff and to Applejack’s to see if she has any free hay for the bedding.” Twilight had begun writing everything down in the form of a list on a large scroll. “And Chrys?” She looked around to find that the small girl had disappeared from beside her. “Chrys?” She said a little louder scanning everywhere around her and feeling a bit relieved after spotting her standing like a statue beside the door to the outside.

“Yes. I. Chrys. Hello.” The little changeling said at the call of her name, waiting to go to school.

“Oh! I forgot to mention. There’s no school today Chrys, it’s a weekend!” Twilight laughed sheepishly, which made Chrys tilt her head toward her in confusion. “Ponies get to play and do what they want on Saturdays and Sundays.”

The small changeling girl just sat there, not knowing what she should be doing. No school today? That was a bit of a relief. But now there was nothing for her to do. She sat by the door quietly tapping her hooves while Twilight walked over to her to comfort the unsurety in her heart.

“But say, want to follow along with Spike today? You could help him and my friends gather the materials for the bed. Sound like fun?” Twilight asked her which prompted her to look over at the little dragon who had a thumbs-up pointed in her direction with a smile.

“Mm!” She beamed, happy to have something to do.

“That’s the spirit. Alright, so now we’ve got a bit to do today. Shall we head out?” Twilight opened the door to the outside to let the early morning in. “Spike, you know what to do if anything happens. Just send word for me.” With that, she took off into the air with her wings.

“Aye aye!” Shouted Spike over at Twilight, now a fair distance away. “Alright Chrys, let’s get to it. First stop: Fluttershy’s.”

While they walked, Spike told her embellished stories of his accomplishments to pass the time. The very tip of his flame flickered with each half-truth from what the little changeling could see. That alone was amusing and Chrys couldn’t help but smile in his direction. She liked the way Spike spoke of his tales and loved the way he looked happier after seeing that they were being listened to so intently. It was still early morning so there were hardly any pony-folk to stare at her. That morning jaunt was pleasant all the way to Fluttershy’s home, a home which sat on top of a small hill and decorated with many birdhouses and greenery with moss growing on her roof.

Spike walked up towards the half-doors that were at the front of the house and knocked on them with a bit of heft that sent a couple of easily spooked squirrels and other animals scattering in the near proximity. Chrys being empathetic as she was, whispered a sorry to them under her breath and lowered her head towards them, to the little dragon’s confusion while they awaited some response from the door.

“Um, who is it?” A shy mare popped open the top half door only to be met with nothing. “Hello?” She said with a hint of fear in her tone, immediately defaulting into thinking that she was being haunted by a ghost.

“Fluttershy, it’s me!” Spike shouted up at her which made her jump quite a bit. After she realized who it was, she finally composed herself and opened up the bottom door to reveal the baby dragon and the small changeling girl.

“Oh Spike, you gave me quite the scare.” She brought a hoof to her chest to try to slow down her heart. “And hello Chrys, it has been quite a while. Twilight told me you had returned. It’s good to see you again.” She bowed to the little changeling which prompted Chrys to bow back, which then made her bow a little back and vice-versa until diminishing returns eventually made them both stop. “What can I do for you two today?”

“Chrys is going to be sleeping over at our place, so we thought to make a new bed for her since we don’t have an extra. We came to ask you if it was possible to get some down for the pillows and to see if we could help you collect some.” Spike spoke up.

“Oh uhm... Yes, I think it’s possible. It’s good timing too. The southern birds just returned for the winter wrap-up. It’s the only time of year we get to see the waterfowl that magically produce too much down that it sheds off naturally. There should already be a good bit of it floating around my pond already. Follow me.” She said as she guided them towards the back of her house where a rather large pool of water rested nearby.

“Wow, you weren’t kidding, Fluttershy!” Spike exclaimed at the sight of small grey tufts floating along the banks and in the middle of the water.

“It’s been unusually heavy this time of year and it was becoming a real problem for the other migrating birds since they like to use this pond as a watering hole before they move on, but since the down tends to cling onto them, they’ve been leaving covered in it. It’s a real help to get some extra hooves and hands to help me.” She walked over near the pond’s edge and grabbed a small net with her mouth in order to fling it across the water. It collected a lot of the tufts in its return. “That’s how you do it. Think you got it down, you two?” She looked over at the two.

“Psh, easy. We’ll be done in no time.” Said Spike as Chrys nodded along.

Chrys couldn’t help but wonder why Fluttershy hadn’t just flown the net over the pond with her wings, but she figured that the yellow pegasus was more comfortable with her feet on the ground. It was a sentiment that she understood well. The one time she herself had transformed into that big fiery bird, she had almost plummeted to the ground in her instability from not having known how to fly. She was a little afraid of having to use her wings again, especially the ones on her back since they did not inspire confidence with their delicate, crystalline appearance.

Some time had passed before the three of them had collected a decent amount. Spike was already done in by that point and he lay sprawling on the floor exhausted. The pond had been a bit bigger than he had imagined it to be and casting the net as far as he could into the water had required more strength and physical labor than he had expected. Even Chrys and Fluttershy were worn out, and they were now casting their own nets slower and slower.

“Jeez, Fluttershy... I see what you mean. This is some hard work!” Said the pooped little dragon. Even Fluttershy stopped at this and took a look around to see how much they had collected.

“I think this is good enough for today, you two can stop now. This should be good enough for about three pillows and a bit extra in case you need to re-fluff them.” Fluttershy said in her efforts to be considerate to the two tired kids, even with many tufts still in the pond.

“Hmm? You heard Fluttershy right? It’s okay to stop now. We’ve got what we came for.” Spike called over to Chrys after he noticed the little changeling still casting out nets. “Chrys?”

“No, stop. Help birds. Migrate. Down bad, for birds.” She said a bit muffled with a net in her mouth as she cast yet another one into the water.

Spiked rubbed the scales on his head and sighed, Fluttershy looking at him with expressive concern. “Well, you heard her, ‘Shy. Let’s get this done.” He gestured rolling up the sleeves of some invisible shirt.

They were finally done after several more moments had gone by, and the three of them collapsed on the ground for a breather.

“Oh thank you. I’m so happy for the help. I’m sure my bird friends will be too.” Fluttershy said after taking a look at their handy work.

“It was *pant* nothing *pant*.” Said the baby dragon.

“Easy.” Smiled a cheeky Chrys looking over at the grunting Spike.

After collecting themselves from the tiredness, and before heading out towards their next destination with the down in hand, Chrys walked over to Fluttershy. She motioned a hoof to the yellow mare to have her tilt her head down towards her as if to whisper something in her ear. To Fluttershy’s surprise, instead, the little changeling touched her forehead with her own.

“Fluttershy. Thank.” She said after pulling away and finally leaving with spike, leaving the yellow pegasus quite happy.

She had been quite touched by that expression. Fluttershy had only ever heard of Chrys doing it to Twilight who had a much stronger bond with her. It was Chrys’ personal sign of affection, and it was something she only did with the ones she trusted most. But it seemed like the little changeling had been cooking up that gesture for her for a while now, as it felt predetermined. Fluttershy thought that, perhaps because she had been the one to nurse Chrys when she was feverish all that time ago, the small changeling girl had not forgotten that gesture of kindness and wanted to repay her in some way. Fluttershy couldn’t but think how bright of a child she was despite her black changeling coat while she watched Chrys wave goodbye enthusiastically at her before leaving with Spike.

“Alright. Last thing we gotta do today is to go check-up with the prettiest pony in Ponyville.” Spike checked off one of the only two things he had on his list.

Spike wasn’t at all reserved talking about the white unicorn. He spoke up a storm of flattering things for her. It seemed that Spike had grown to trust Chrys somewhat, or at the very least, believed she could keep a secret. Not like his behavior towards the white unicorn was a secret to anyone, but it mattered that he thought so and thought to make her a part of them.

Before he could lose himself in talking about her, however, a cloud shot down from above towards them and exploded into a mist when it hit the floor near them, startling the two silly. They had both fallen to the floor like two easily spooked goats. What followed behind it was the distinct cyan and rainbow colors of the sporty pegasus and Twilight who had been struggling to keep up with her.

“Oh hey! Chrys, was it? Sorry, here let me help you.” Rainbow Dash reached a hoof out to help her up off the ground, laughing with amusement. She reached another hoof over to Spike to help him up as well. “And you too Spike. Bahaha. Shoulda seen the look on your faces.”

“Rainbow Dash! Oh, look at what you did. Your pranks are almost borderline mean sometimes.” Twilight immediately flew down to the little changeling to hug her, brushing her hair that had been blown back and disturbed by the wind pressure. “Are you alright, Chrys?” Said a worried purple alicorn with confusion after seeing her laugh in the kind of hiccupy cute way the changeling knew how to laugh.

“It okay! Rainbow Dash, fun.” She said in-between laughs. Twilight was not amused. She shot a mean look at Rainbow Dash regardless.

“Okay okay, I’ll be more careful next time.” Said a sly pegasus amused at Twilight’s stink eye. “I didn’t do it on purpose though, Twilight. I was trying to check the cloud for its density like you asked me to.”

“By kicking it towards the ground?” Twilight said with suspicion.

“How else do you check for that then? Miss New-At-Flying.”

“Alright, you got me beat there. I’ll let it slide this time. But...” Twilight motioned one hoof from her eyes to Rainbow Dash’s to signal that she was watching her every move.

“You guys are a riot.” Said the cyan pegasus at this.

Chrys had made herself busy imitating Twilight’s actions on Spike by fixing his ‘hair’, or in this case, his scales much to the confusion of the baby dragon as he wondered what this meant. After feeling confident that she had helped him, Chrys moved back to face the cyan pegasus. She walked right in front of her in between their conversations to stare her down.

“Heya squirt, what’s up?” Rainbow Dash finally asked as she noticed the stare. After a bit of silence, it finally occurred to the Pegasus what the little changeling wanted, and as she motioned one of her wings upwards to stretch it, so did Chrys.

Chrys sorely wished to fly after all, even if she was scared to start doing it now. From the bottom of her heart, she wished to learn how, and there was no pegasus more respectable for flying than Rainbow Dash herself. You could easily tell how distant and unpracticed the flight of Twilight and Fluttershy was. They did not naturally incorporate their wings into their day-to-day lives. Rainbow Dash on the other hand was entirely different. She used her wings for everything. Heck, she would often fly instead of walk since it was more natural to her. Even down to the small facial and conversational gestures where others would use a hoof to express themselves, Rainbow Dash used her wings. Like in the way she pointed at things, she would point toward something in the distance with both her hoof and her wing. Or if she was thinking, she’d use her wing to rub her chin instead of the alternative.

Indeed, like most young ponies, Chrys too admired the colorful, athletic tomboy. For a while, Chrys kept imitating Rainbow Dash’s display of wing mastery to the best of her ability, until she finally got turned around and defeated by one move so complex, it left her a little dizzy, and slowly composed herself again. This had now been the second time that Chrys had done this, to the utter amusement of Rainbow Dash. She found it very fun to watch the little changeling follow along with her movements.

“What’s up with her?” Asked Spiked as he watched all of it go down like some weird interpretive dance between the two.

“Dunno, but she’s fun. I like her.” Said a bright-looking and satisfied Rainbow Dash looking over at Twilight who was helping Chrys stay upright from her spun dizziness.

“There’s not a lot of young ponies in Ponyville that don’t look up to Rainbow Dash. Maybe Chrys is the same?” Said Twilight, trying to figure her out while they talked right in front of her as though she wasn’t listening in on their gossip about her.

“Dash, cool.” Finally spoke up the small girl after she gathered her bearings. “Want, fly. Like Dash.”

“Oooohhhh.” Everyone said in unison, finally understanding what this was all about.

“For sure, I’m always down to teach ya!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, excited about the prospect of having a new student. A rather entertaining one at that. Strangely, however, Chrys pawed the ground gingerly showing that she did not fully agree with this idea.

“What’s wrong, Chrys? Don’t you want to learn how to fly?” Twilight asked after noticing this. Chrys shook her head and refused to answer with her words.

“She wants to learn but maybe Rainbow Dash just scares her.” Spike chimed in, making the cyan pegasus upset at him. Chrys shook her head again.

“I’m sorry, Chrys. If I would’ve known, I would’ve helped you learn but I’m not good at flying myself just yet.” Twilight spoke up.

“No um.” She had a hard time inking the words out. “Scared, flying. Wings. Mine. Not work, well.” She said, trying to hide away her shame by hiding her face in her hair and looking away from them.

“Twilight, come here a sec.” Rainbow Dash beckoned her over as they began whispering, still not fully aware of how good the changeling princess’ hearing was.

Rainbow Dash had already suspected as much from when she had seen Chrys fall from the sky after transforming into a phoenix from before. If anyone knew an inexperienced and unsteady flight pattern, it was the cyan pegasus, so she had already sensed what her worry was about before she had even said anything. Explaining this to Twilight, she ended their hushed talk by saying, “Leave this to me, I got it.”

“Hey Chrys, you wanna learn how to fly for real? No maybes or buts. Just a yes or no.” Rainbow Dash yelled out to her after taking a strong stance right in front of the small girl.

“Mm,” The little changeling nodded having her decision be forcibly dwindled down to the two options. If she had to choose, the answer was obvious.

“Then don’t you worry about a thing. I’ll whip you into shape so that your wings are strong enough to fly you anywhere you wanna go. That’s a promise!” Rainbow Dash held out both her hoof and her wing in a sort of duo fist-bump to her.

A little hesitant at first, Chrys swallowed her fears and met both of hers with Dash’s, sealing their promise in.

“That’s wonderful, Chrys,” Twilight said, hugely proud of her for having overcome a fear. “How about tomorrow then, Rainbow Dash? No school on Sunday either, so that’ll give you guys plenty of time to get some practice in.”

“Any time, any place.” Said the cyan Pegasus as she stretched her wings. Chrys nodded enthusiastically as well, a little happier now.

“For now, we’ve gotta finish rounding up these clouds for the mattress. Say, do you want to help us out Chrys? I think it would be some nice practice for your magic control.” Asked Twilight after remembering the task at hand and also considering that she was in the middle of teaching the little changeling her own special curriculum on the intricacies of magic. Chrys was more than happy to do anything with Twilight, so she nodded without hesitation.

“Alright, let me know when you’re done. I’m gonna go sit in the shade.” Spike went to go lay back on a nearby tree and closed his eyes to catch more rest.

A bit more of the day went by as both Rainbow Dash and Twilight flew off to catch a few dense clouds to kick them in order to see if they wouldn’t just burst immediately. They returned with quite the bundle under their wings.

“Alright, Chrys. No particular spell, all you gotta do is infuse a bit of magic into the clouds. That way, their physical structure will change into a more concrete chemical composition that we can u-” Twilight had begun to explain before getting interrupted by Rainbow Dash.

“What the dork is trying to say is that, if you add magic to the clouds, you can get them to become like cotton candy. Then we can stuff that mattress of yours with them and wullah! The best darn sleep you’ll have in ages.” She explained.

“Cotton. Candy?” The little changeling tilted her head again in the confusion of never having heard of such a thing. She had finished infusing the rest of the clouds with her magic and was touching them lightly to feel their texture while trying to imagine what that unknown thing might feel like.

“Oh my, Twilight. Tsk tsk. For shame. She doesn’t even know what cotton candy is. I don’t want to be the one to tell you how to care for someone but... I certainly can’t say you’re doing well.” Rainbow Dash whistled her sarcastic jeers at the alicorn.

“I get it.” Twilight sighed and looked at her with annoyance. “Chrys, after you and Spike finish up the thing with Rarity, we’ll go to the bakery where Pinkie Pie works at so you can try all sorts of sweets. Does that sound good?”

Chrys didn’t really know what any of this meant, never having had anything of the sort. But she assumed that it was good by the sound of it. ‘Sweets’. It sounded a bit like the pancakes she had, had the day prior. She nodded towards Twilight a bit unsure still, but eager all the same.

“Alright, then I’ll pick you up near the library once I’m done going to Applejack’s for the straw.” Twilight signaled Spike to come over who had woken up just a short bit ago and was patiently waiting for their talk to be over. “Did you finish getting enough down for the pillows, Spike?”

“All good. Check it out” He presented the large bag with the down to her. “It was a lot of hard work, but we got it done!”

“I bet. That looks like a lot of work. Very good you two, I’m very proud of you.” She patted both lightly, happy to see that their work had paid off. “I’ll make sure to thank Fluttershy later. See you in a bit!” She said, finally taking off to her next destination with Rainbow Dash.

“Okay, enough detours. Let’s go visit Rarity!” The little dragon exclaimed commandingly with enthusiasm.

It hadn’t taken them long to reach her boutique, but what had taken them quite a while was just getting inside it as a lot of ponies waited in line outside. When Spike asked one of them what the line was for, they found out that it was for almost every pony in town wanting to get Rarity’s new spring line-up of clothing. She had gained quite some traction and renown as a seamstress it seemed. This meant that the poor unicorn was absolutely crowded up to the ears with requests that she alone could not keep up.

Unfortunately, Chrys wasn’t handling the crowd very well. She could hear the whispers and the gazes piercing through her after some of them spotted her in line. Thankfully, she was saved by a rather rambunctious young filly that had been going up and down the line organizing the waiting ponies for her sister.

Sweetie Belle popped up from behind a customer suddenly. “Chrys, Spike? That you? Hey! What’cha doing here?”

“Heya Sweetie Belle. We came to see Rarity for some business, but it looks like she’s busy today. We’ll come another time. I don’t think Chrys is doing too good here.” Spike said in trying to be considerate to the poor changeling who was struggling to contain herself from running away.

Sweetie Belle thought a bit at this, “I can take you to her if you’re willing to help out. When she gets this overworked, she makes use of anyone that’s around her. Right now she has Opal all wrapped up like a Christmas tree with all her tools. I’m sure she’d appreciate the extra help!”

“I don’t mind. What do you think Chrys, wanna help her out?” He asked her, getting an immediate nod since she just wanted to get out of the crowd herself. “Sounds like a yes. But wait, why aren’t you in there helping, Sweetie?” He looked suspiciously at her.

“And be strung up like Opal? No thanks. Now go on, get to it.” Sweetie Belle pushed the two past the line and into the backdoor of the boutique so they could enter uninterrupted.

“Snip snip snip, gotta work gotta work.” Spike and Chrys heard the muffled voice of a VERY focused unicorn say as they were practically thrown into the boutique and the door locked behind them, preventing their escape.

“Um, Rarity?” Spike spoke up, not being able to distract her from the crazy pile of cloth in front of her. “Helloooo Rarity. Chrys and I came here to help you out.”

Immediately the sound of her sewing machine ground to a halt and she turned around in an instant.

“Oh! Spike! Why didn’t you say so? You’re a godsend you know that, dear?” She said, making him blush a bit. His enthusiasm at being complimented by his favorite pony immediately fell when a pair of scissors magically stuck to his hands at that moment and he got a list flown at his face with a bunch of different ingredients and textiles written on it. “No time to waste my wonderful little dragon, please fetch me all of these things from the upstairs attic where I keep the inventory. With haste!” She yelled out after him, rushing him more than he was already rushing himself to help her.

“Aye aye” His voice trailed off into the distance.

Her eyes were in a state of predation but immediately fell to normalcy when she finally eyed the changeling princess standing in the corner, waiting to hear some instructions for her.

“Chrys! Oh you wonderful gem, you’ve come back to us.” She immediately rushed to hug her in a tight embrace. “I was beside myself when you were sealed back into that nasty cave, darling. It must’ve been so foul. I was happy to hear Twilight had freed you again. But you know what this means right?” She smiled a huge smile at her. Strangely enough, even without any sinister motive behind it, Chrys felt a chill run down her spine. “I can finally make dresses for you! I dreamed of the day I’d get to see you again so I could start working on them. Your beautiful wings, your luscious hair, that wonderful dichotomy between your amber eyes and dark coat...”

The customer that had been waiting patiently in front of them coughed in an attempt to interrupt her thoughts. Rarity had almost lost herself in the touching reunion. She reluctantly let Chrys go and composed herself again.

“Fooey. It’ll have to wait for another time.” She furrowed her brows at the customer, which evidently upset them. Rarity was none too pressed by this, however, and she turned back to the little changeling. “But Spike said something about you being here to help, is that true, Chrys?” Rarity jumped up with excitement when Chrys nodded. The white unicorn proceeded to unload a couple of things onto her to hold. “You’re a diamond on the inside and out. Alright, if you can’t handle it, let me know okay?” She said with all the care in the world before diving back into her work.

She occasionally asked for things from Chrys like a surgeon’s assistant, the little changeling doing her best to keep up with her demands. While it seemed easy at first, the requests became more gradual and faster, only occasionally paused by a concerned Rarity who was trying to be extra mindful of her. Chrys refused to stop no matter how hectic it got within the store, and after several moments and with the help of Spike who had been trucking the materials to and fro, they finally got the work done by some miracle towards the end of the day, the sun now beginning its descent.

“Well well! I can’t believe we actually finished all of that in one day. What did I do to deserve such wonderful little creatures in my boutique today?” She asked the two tired kids after finally turning her open sign to the closed side, with no more ponies waiting outside.

“Maow.” Sounded the poor tied-up Opal in the corner, which made them all laugh and prompted Rarity to untie her. The haughty cat scoffed and walked back upstairs with attitude in her step.

“We came to ask for help on making the sheets, quilts, and pillow casings for a new mattress we were building for Chrys, but you looked busy so we wanted to help,” Spike spoke up. It would’ve been easy for him to take the credit for this idea, but the fact that he had shared it with Chrys meant the little dragon had quite a lot of integrity and had come to respect her too. Still, Chrys could tell what the white unicorn meant to Spike, and how much he wanted to please her, so she thought to help him at that moment as well.

“Mm. Help, Rarity! Friend. Spike, idea.” She said, making both of them quite happy at this statement.

“You consider us friends?! Why I’m honored. Come here you wonderful little you.” Rarity hugged her in a tight embrace, pulling Spike in against his will after she noticed she had left him out. ‘Against his will’ was a little strong, especially considering the baby dragon flushed in the embrace all the same. “Thank you both for today. I’ll get started right away on those things.” She thought about it for a bit then had an idea. “I have some special material somewhere around here, it would be just perfect! Don’t you worry, Rarity will get it done before the day is up! Feel free to run along now.” She said as she pulled out a rather special roll of cloth and began focusing intently on it.

“Let’s go over to the library, Chrys. Twilight might already be waiting for us there.” Spike guided her out of the boutique to leave the white unicorn to her devices.

Once the door had closed behind them, Spike turned to look away from Chrys as he voiced out ”thanks” under his breath and then walked ahead silently, leaving the changeling girl to smile at him from behind. They continued towards the library in this kind of silence until they both began to feel a trembling in the earth. Their balance had been shaken and stirred by the increasing tremors to the point they had trouble standing upright.

Suddenly, a lot of the pony-folk began to panic all around them. with many of them diving for their homes and shops to close up in a hurry. In an instant, it had become a whirlpool of negative emotions all around Chrys as she could sense their anguish. More than that, there was a massive wave of negativity approaching the town fast. So much so that it physically hurt her to stay standing once she’d begun to feed her magic on them. She wanted to cut those feelings off right there and then and go back on her own promise to herself, but she would not allow it even if it killed her.

It had become so incredibly tasking on her small body, however, that the force of those emotions had physically pushed her to the ground. She struggled with all her might to stand up, but there was little that she could do in her own capacity. Meanwhile, Spike was yelling with all he had to get her to get up. After a while, he finally realized that she would not be able to by some strange happening outside of her control. In his own panic, he grabbed the little changeling and began to pull her with his strength toward the library.

Over the horizon, Chrys saw Twilight’s body come into view flying over to the town as fast as she could along with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. They were in a bit of a panic themselves, and Chrys could feel their stress and emotions from all that distance away. It felt like she was reliving her past all over again. It felt like that moment she thought that all hope had been lost when they had faced Queen Chrysalis in all her madness and power. It hurt her immensely to see and sense these emotions in Twilight and her friends.

Chrys brought both of her hooves towards the ground and pushed against Spike, who had lost his balance due to the shaking, and let her go as he fell to his stomach.

“Spike, sorry.” Chrys had shouted over to him amidst the din of panicked pony voices while struggling to stay standing and using her magic to substitute her strength and equilibrium.

“Wait, Chrys!” He yelled out after her as he saw her run in Twilight’s direction.

Rainbow Dash was the first to reach her but flew right past her having not noticed her, towards the direction of the town to start yelling at the top of her lungs. “Stampede! We can’t stop it!! Every pony, evacuate!!!”

From the horizon and over a hill, a mass swarm of cattle was approaching the town, all deathly afraid of something and panicking in unison. Now the town had gone into an uproar with every pony running out of the town with all their might. The maelstrom of negativity was now pushing down on Chrys from both sides their feelings stabbing at her like spears, but she ran towards Twilight nonetheless... towards the stampede.

At the front of the herd, she could see the distinct color of Applejack desperately trying to pull and wrangle the leading cow with her lasso, but to no avail. The mighty bovine had been too large and too powerful to budge from her panicked sprint. Even though Twilight desperately tried to subdue her with her alicorn magic, she could not win against the wave of emotions that counteracted the lulling effect of her spell.

They had been consumed by madness.

“Chrys!!” Twilight yelled in horror as she spotted the changeling princess running up toward the herd.

Before she could speed towards her to save her, she saw Chrys’ unique golden magic weave around her after she came to a halt only a small distance away from the steadily approaching stampede. The energies of her magic had reached their critical point and a massive beacon of light exploded into the sky, the glowing saber from her horn crackling with sheer power.

Twilight rushed to her side and started trying to pull her away from the overpowering forces of this magic. She knew from experience how incredibly dangerous this amount of magic could be. “Chrys! You need to stop! You’ll get hurt!!” As if to agree with her, the very earth beneath them began to crack and Twilight was pushed away a few feet by the pulsing mass of power.

Twilight struggled with every ounce of her being against the waves that fought against her from reaching the little changeling. Finally getting close enough to touch her, Twilight hung onto her in a tight hug. The magic began to disperse almost at once after their physical connection, and the glowing eventually subsided leaving the two weakened. Mentally, physically, and emotionally. They dropped to the floor from their exhaustion.

“Chrys...” Twilight called out to the little girl with weariness. “Are you okay?”

“Mm.” She called back to her much the same.

Twilight began to laugh and brought her forehead onto hers amidst being sprawled on the ground, making them both smile. With a start, Twilight finally remembered what this was all about, and she immediately found the strength to get up in a panic.

“The stampede!” She looked back to see what had resulted from all of this, and to her pleasant surprise, the bovines had been calmed and were now talking to Applejack about why they had been spooked... again.

“Oh deary me. It was sooo scary. I thought we were seeing deer, or maybe a donkey? Goat? But then we were sure we saw a snake, and you know how we are about snakes don’t cha Applejack? But we learned our lesson from last time. Don’t overreact Bertha, I told myself. But then we saw quite some shady figures trailing about that thing behind it and all bets were off! We’re so so sorry we disturbed Ponyville again, eh?”

“If it helps you relax any, my gals and I will investigate what you saw later. How’s that sound?” Applejack asked her.

“Would you, dear? That’d be lovely yes. If we panic again, I’ll be sure to steer clear from this place ok-ey?”

“Sounds like a deal Bertha, don’t be a stranger none. But not in this capacity.” Applejack waved them off and then slowly stepped up to Twilight and Chrys who were barely regaining themselves again, trailed by Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash who had finished advising the townsfolk that everything had returned to normal.

“Quite the bad time for Winona to be sick! Poor gal. So sorry about the mess ya’ll” Applejack started off with. “But thankfully, we’ve got quite the pair of hooves to help us out now in case of emergencies!” She smiled brightly at Chrys after Twilight had helped the changeling princess off the ground. “I kid, of course, I don’t think I ever wanna put you through that again, sugarcube. My heart almost dun fell out of my chest.”

“But talk about power! Did you all see that?! That was incredible. It reminds me of what happened back in the cave with Chr-” Rainbow Dash stopped herself from talking about what they considered a sensitive subject. She got stink eyed by the rest of the mare friends.

“Twilight! Chrys!” The little purple dragon tripped and fell in his haste to reach them while running. Spike slid on the ground in a rather comical way, making everyone chuckle and forget what had almost been said. “Thank goodness! You have no idea how scary that was watching all of that from a distance.”

“Trust me, Spike, I know,” Twilight sighed in relief.

“I can’t stop shaking myself. I’m just happy nothing happened to Chrys.” Fluttershy spoke up.

“What’s all the ruckus? I was working on the things you asked of me, Twilight, when the whole town went up in a panic.” Rarity’s voice came into earshot as she eyed the group after having approached them. “Oh dear no no no! Look at you.” Rarity began shaking the dirt out of Chrys’ hair. “You’re all messed up. What in heaven’s name happened here.”

“Seems like some kinda creature got the ol’ girls all tied up last night and they started stampeding towards the town. Winona is out for the count right now so it was going to be next to impossible to get them to calm down. Luckily, our little gal here has quite the party trick.” Applejack gestured over to Chrys, making her mighty shy at this comment but being unable to hide it from her magical exhaustion.

“I need her to be my model for my new changeling line-up. I swear if you let her get even one hair on her head out of place again! " Rarity said with concern, trying to hide it with her ‘selfish’ intentions.

“I don’t know what I’d do myself at that point Rarity. It was terribly nerve-wracking as it was.” Twilight pressed her body to the changeling again, stuck to her like glue in her concern. Emotions were still running pretty high at this point.

“Oh! But that reminds me. In better news, I finished the things you asked of me Twilight, at the behest of my little helpers.” Rarity magically produced the items for the bed.

“Wonderfully done Rarity but wait...” Twilight eyed the materials carefully. “Isn’t this magical silk? Are you sure? It’s very expen-”

“Nonsense!” She cut her off. “It’s a gift for Chrys. For Ponyville’s heroine, no? Besides, you forget who you’re speaking to. I’m one of the best seamstresses in Equestria, dear. I can get this stuff easily.” She dismissed it altogether. Everyone smiled at her obvious fib.

Perhaps from the tiring events of the day, or maybe some other strange mechanism working in her mind, Chrys’ thought fell on one particular subject that was addling her mind. To no one in particular, she exclaimed the words that filled her head in that moment.

“Cotton. Candy!” She jumped, startled by the words that burst out of her involuntarily, which made her turn away in embarrassment as all their gazes turned to her.

“Bahaha!” Rainbow Dash dropped to the floor in her laughter. “You heard her Twilight! Her mind is in one place right now. What say you?”

“She more than deserves it at this point. What do you say, girls? Spike? Wanna throw a little party right now before the day ends?”

“You needn’t ask, darling.” Rarity was the first to agree.

“To the bakery then?” Spike asked, prompting Twilight to nod.

Twilight took the time to drape the tired changeling over her back as she asked her to hold on while they all walked over to the bakery. It embarrassed her a bit to be seen like this by others, but she loved clinging to Twilight like this and she was still emotionally exhausted from the day, so she didn’t complain.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t seen Pinkie Pie all day. Where could she be? She’s usually the first one I spot in my rounds.” Twilight mused to herself.

“No idea Twi’. That one is a mystery in a handbasket.” Applejack replied with her peculiar colloquialisms.

Strangely, knocking on the bakery door yielded no answer except the immediate clatter of falling pots, pans, utensils, and plates that could be heard behind the door.

“Wait wait! In a minute!” Exclaimed the voice from within.

“Pinkie? You okay in there?” Twilight asked with a bit of concern.

Chrys was catching a strong scent of food coming from inside. Multiple things, very sweet in nature. The allure was extremely compelling to her newly adapted pallet.

Finally, the doors burst open after a bit with a very exhausted Pinkie Pie breathing heavily and trying her best to compose herself, blowing on a little party horn to try and do her usual party welcoming gesture.

*Bfft* Sounded the uncharacteristically weak little toot.

“Uhm. Are you sure you’re okay, Pinkie? What’s got you so run down?” Asked Rainbow Dash.

Pinkie Pie’s expression fell at this question, and her hair deflated almost completely, straightening out. She sat on the ground defeatedly and sniffled her remorse back. Then she rolled back into the door of the bakery, shutting it behind her in this strange gesture of hers. The party of friends walked into the bakery to see what ailed their pink friend and noticed a very densely packed scenery of snacks, sweets, confections, streamers, and party decorations.

Most of them ruined.

“So I heard Dashy and Twilight talk about Chrys coming over later for cotton candy and I thought I should throw the biggest coolest party ever for her and it took forever to get everything ready and then the ground started to shake shake shake and wham bam everything fell to the ground and in a hurry I tried putting everything back together but some stuff had already been on the ground and I was like ew no no one is gonna wanna eat that and so I threw a lot of it out and all that’s left is the ugly but clean stuff that got ruined in the shaking and now I couldn’t make the awesomest party for Chrys like I wanted to and now everything is ruined and I’m so sorry.” She said all in one rushed, breath.

“Oh Pinkie, we’re sorry. We had some trouble with a stampede earlier and it must’ve messed up your whole plans! But don’t worry, we can always have another party later. I’m sure Chrys wouldn’t mind.” Twilight tried to reason with her. She looked over her shoulder to see the expression of the little changeling in case she had been disappointed, readied to comfort her. But she was missing. Instead, they were all met by the squeaking delight of the changeling princess as she dug into the ugly-looking ruined cakes and cookies in the corner, having been naturally called to them.

Well obviously.

What did Chrys know about presentable confections and parties? For all she knew, this was normal for a ‘party’. The chaotic mess of bright colors and wonderfully sweet food was making her quite happy regardless of how broken it might’ve seemed to the average pony. In moving on to the next set of sweets on the table, she stepped onto multiple party poppers that had been shaken to the floor and popped them inadvertently, spooking her but then delighting her at the wonderful little display of confetti that shot out of them.

Yes, all alone, the little changeling was having a party of her own. Everyone looked on in awed wonder and silence at the strange creature enjoying herself immensely. The pink in Pinkie Pie’s coat seemed to return to her at the sight of this, and she was the first to go join her in this wacky way of partying. Slowly but surely, every other pony shrugged off their preconceived notions of what a typical party ‘should’ be and started to liven the mood in this wonderfully weird atmosphere they had created.

During one of their party games to pin the tail on the pony, Spike slid on some cake that had fallen on the floor which caused uproarious laughter. The punch was full of small little balls that had been party decorations that fell in the earthquake, and Chrys had a delicious blast trying to fish them out with her mouth, to the dismay of Rarity who had strongly advised her not to ruin her mane. They even tried making a tossing game with the inedible cookies that had been spoiled by the shaking and having been thrown to the ground.

She finally got to try out cotton candy for the first time too, and she loved every bit of it, now with a deeper understanding of what Rainbow Dash had said about the clouds.

Once night had fallen and the party ended, Chrys asked Applejack to stay behind after every other mare took their leave and Spike left for the library. Doing the same thing she had done to Fluttershy, she took her by surprise when she pressed her forehead onto hers.

“Why thank you, sugarcube. This is a mighty fine gift.” Applejack tipped her hat to her. “We’re friends forever and always.” She ruffled her hair with a hoof before departing herself, leaving a giggly Chrys behind with Twilight and Spike.

“Mm!” Chrys exclaimed after her.

With that, the day had come to an end, and all that was left to do now was to return back to the cave and cast the spell she was destined to do.

Before she had sunk into the cave, however, Chrys looked back at Twilight and opened her mouth to speak but said nothing. She had trouble saying what she had in her heart. Chrys could feel the mental block on the words she wanted to speak, afraid from the bottom of her heart to utter them.

“Chrys, what’s wrong?” Twilight asked her with worry in her tone as she was still nervous about leaving the changeling on her own.

“Twilight. Please.” Chrys finally said after she mustered her courage. This made Twilight perk up with a start. She was asking for something very sincerely... This required her full attention. “Come, with, me. Help me. Please.” She reached out one hoof towards Twilight, asking her to take it.

Twilight was stunned. For more than just the almost complete sentence she had made. What she was asking of her was a very big deal... This was a step forward for both of them. This was them facing the past together. She was asking for help with that. OF COURSE Twilight took that hoof as fast she could. How could she not?

Walking down the corridors she had once walked through to help Chrys, Twilight felt incredibly nervous. She didn’t know what the little changeling was thinking. It was hard to imagine what this request was. It had been almost a month since they had reunited after Twilight had finally convinced the guardian to open his mouth to free the Changeling Princess, but she had refused for a long time to even leave. She could only hazard a guess as to why. It probably had something to do with the Queen. The last moment she had seen of her before being separated for quite a while was Chrys holding onto her body.

She had only ever asked for help once before. A desperate cry for help at that. Chrys had asked her to teach her a spell.

”Twilight. Please. Want spell. Make bad thoughts. Leave.”

Walking into the chamber where the body of Queen Chrysalis lay, Twilight felt her heart almost break at the sight of the little changing having sat down beside the Queen’s bed, recounting the tale of her day to the one creature who could not listen to her words. Had she been doing this every day? Was she practicing talking by doing this, or was there something deeper in this expression of hers? The mad Queen had mentioned that Chrys had been her daughter, so it all made such solemn, sad sense. It took a lot to keep herself from crying. She didn’t want to worry Chrys while she was in the middle of doing this.

After her tale ended, Chrys put her forehead to the Queen’s and began to cast that familiar spell.

Twilight knew what this was all about now. She had guessed every detail about the changeling princess correctly. She was trying to, slowly but surely, rid the madness that had consumed her kin. This was the reason why Twilight hadn’t seen another changeling since Princess Chrys’ release. This was why she had agreed to go to school, and to her plan to get ponies to accept her kind...

The cataclysm that had left the changelings in utter ruin... the grief that had driven them to insanity... their rampage and hatred that followed... and their inevitable imprisonment and release after many years in this destitute darkness...

This girl... this wonderful little soul... was shouldering all of that on her tiny shoulders as she worked to free them from that.

But there was only so much one small, frail changeling could do. Only so much a single soul could give of itself before it burned out completely. Twilight watched her spell fizzle out before she could complete it, tired and exhausted from having overused her magic that day. Chrys had foreseen this coming before she had even attempted it, and she had asked for her help out of desperation and necessity. That is why Twilight was allowed to be here... why she was allowed to witness this...

Twilight united her forehead to the Queen’s and to Chrys’ before the little changeling could pull away, and cast the remainder of that spell with the three of them connected. The changeling princess smiled weakly in her exhaustion, having so strongly trusted that Twilight would help her in this.

Chrys signaled to her that there was still more work to do with one tired hoof. Twilight nodded and draped the exhausted girl over her body. She was guided down the hall by her and into a large chamber where the rest of her brethren lay.

Chrys was taken aback as Twilight used the same spell they’d used to a much bigger area of effect, having filled the entire room with its power without having to touch anyone’s forehead, much like Chrys herself had done to the bovine in her desperation without understanding how or why. Afterward, they finally began walking back towards the exit to leave for Twilight’s home. Twilight could feel her become sleepier and sleepier on her back. She yawned from the exhaustion of that day, being lulled asleep by the rocking of her steps.

“Twilight. please. teach. spell” Chrys said as she fell into her dreams on that cold, starry night.

Chapter 4: A spell aimed at the distant past.

Chapter 4:

A spell aimed at the distant past.

The warm, golden gentle rays of the early dawn had a way of creating magical moments. Seeping in through the window, they dimly lit up a portion of the room and bounced off the walls, only really illuminating a bit of dust that floated in the air. With a chill to the room from the not-yet-spring winter breeze, it was hard to get up in this kind of scene. Wrapped in a cozying warmth and peering out with one eye from beneath the bedsheets, it was like a moment frozen in time as it felt like it could go on forever.

Chrys definitely didn’t want to leave this moment either. For the warmth that enraptured her was not her own, but Twilight’s as she slept peacefully and soundly beside her so close she could feel the wind from her own breath hitting the purple alicorn’s chest. Besides, what had Twilight said? Something about no school today either. It was okay to sleep a bit longer today, she thought while she wrapped her forelegs around her in a hug to be completely enveloped by the moment.

Unfortunately for Chrys, as all well-rested children are, she found she could not fall back to sleep. The boundless energies of her youthful soul were urging her to be expended, and she had to reluctantly abide by her circadian rhythm. She huffed with exasperation at the restlessness in her body having denied her this pleasant scenery.

Slipping away as cleanly and quietly from the bed as possible, she carefully walked downstairs to begin an important personal project of her own while the rest of the home slept on.

Twilight hadn’t had such a pleasant wake-up, however, having roused awake in a mild panic after scanning the bed with one foreleg half-asleep and being met with nothing but the faint, still-lingering warmth of a missing changeling princess. After sitting up with a start and before she could yell out her name in a panic, Twilight sensed the residue of Chrys’ unique magic in the space around her and the sounds of clattering and clinking in a room downstairs.

“Chrys? What are you up to?” Twilight asked her, walking in at the exact moment the girl had been done with whatever she was doing, to a scene of just the changeling princess standing alone in the middle of the room staring blankly and inquisitively at her not having understood the question. Scanning the room gave her no clue either. Nothing was out of place even by a single hair. Mighty suspicious. If she was anything like the crusaders, Twilight knew children had a habit of getting up to something outside the purview of adults.

“Twilight! Morning. Good.” She paused to shake her head and tried that statement again. “Good morning, Twilight.” She finally said after talking very slowly and carefully piecing them together.

Whatever that something was, it had been completely blown away by the excitement and pride Twilight felt at watching her improve right before her eyes. What miraculous progress she was making! She did not think Chrys would reach this point so early. Twilight had estimated in her head it would take her at least three to four months for her to have a semblance of orderly speech, guessing by the changeling’s age and demeanor until now. Her incredibly fast improvement probably stemmed from all the practice that she was putting in on her own every night when talking to the Qu-

Ah, yes. The Queen. Twilight had forgotten about it in the heat of the excitement. She did not let her concern show and congratulated the little changeling on her achievement. Afterward, she invited her to breakfast like usual, but all throughout the cooking process Twilight shot peeks at the girl who did not at all look bothered by having her most intimate secret revealed. Her reality was heavy, and even Twilight as an adult was having a hard time behaving and acting normally under the pressure it brought.

The small girl had busied herself in completing her ‘homework’, a special assignment created just for her by Miss Cheerilee to help her integrate better with ponies. She was tasked to draw a scene she really liked, and hadn’t had the chance to complete it due to the craziness of the day prior. Chrys hummed quietly to herself contentedly while she drew a crude picture of light breaking through a window. While watching her act normally, Twilight could not help but think how strong she was, and how strange fate worked.

How could she continue to walk forward? Any lesser soul would have been crushed by it. She had not complained nor even asked for much at all. It felt wrong... to see her this way. Children were meant to live life greedily. They were meant to play and cry and laugh and want for things and live without a care in the world. Not just kids, but every adult too. Every sentient race. Every living thing in all of Equestria, from the ants to the mighty dragons... they were meant to be free.

But freedom came at a cost as it turned out, and the one paying for it was one small changeling.

In the swirl of these negative emotions and thoughts Twilight couldn’t help but feel, every time she looked at or even pictured the changeling princess in her mind, she couldn’t erase the picture of the invisible chains that bound her. So much so that she brought both of her hooves to her head to press together her temples that’d begun to physically hurt in the overwhelming concern.

Thankfully for Twilight, the little changeling she was worrying so much about and feeling so much despair for... well she had already overcome those feelings. She had accepted them, fed them to her magic, and nurtured her want and will to keep moving forwards. Plus, she also had some rather special eyes and she could read Twilight like one of her own books.

What resulted was a very tender moment between the two. The changeling princess had stopped what she was doing to touch Twilight’s forehead with her own. She didn’t do this just as an expression of affection like she usually did. Chrys cast the spell she had used many times before for her kin. The spell that Twilight had taught her in order to get rid of bad thoughts and bring levity to the troubled heart. A spell that now meant so much more than just that effect alone. And at that moment, the little changeling recited the few words she had only said once before, to a very special someone so long ago.

“It’s okay. I’m okay. We’re okay.” The words that had been used to subdue the mad Queen. The words of a beautiful soul.

When the spell ended and Chrys hugged the now calmed Twilight, it was the purple alicorn’s turn to feel the floodgates open. She dug her face into the shoulder of the changeling princess to cry her heart out in quiet resignation and subsequent acceptance. To the utter confusion and concern of a sleepy baby dragon who had walked into the surreal scene of Twilight being sincerely comforted by the small girl.

“Do I want to ask?” He asked sarcastically before seeing Twilight’s genuine moment of weakness after she pulled away from the shoulder she was crying on, wiping away at the remaining tears. “You okay, Twilight?” He asked now noticeably troubled by the scene.

“Mm, okay! Good, morning, Spike!” Chrys said with enthusiasm on Twilight’s behest, still a bit choppy but now with more complete sentences. He looked to Twilight for confirmation and shrugged when she silently nodded at him with a smile to indicate that she was feeling better.

“Well, if you say so...” He said with suspicion in his tone. “But hey! Good morning to you too, Chrys. I see that you’re improving!”

“Mm.” She nodded in gracious acknowledgment and proceeded to get off the table to go fetch Spike the breakfast that they had prepared for him which prompted the little dragon to thank her in return.

Twilight spent the rest of that morning thinking happier thoughts while she watched Chrys put her all into drawing the rest of her assignment. Mostly, she was thinking about what she had to do. For Chrys. She had felt the want and the need to protect the little changeling before, but now that feeling had grown tenfold. It wasn’t just a matter of principles in helping Chrys’ benevolent cause. No, this ran much deeper now. More than any sense of duty or moral obligation, Twilight was feeling the desperate desire to see her happy, safe, and loved.

“Spike, what you, think.” She said as she slid her drawing over to the baby dragon before he had finished eating.

“What’s it supposed to be?” He asked as he looked it up and down.

“Light. From, window.” She put a hoof to the empty space on the page. “Dark.” She put the other towards the black squiggles that likely indicated shadows. “Morning, pretty. I, draw, it.”

“Oooh, I can see it now yeah.” He thought for a bit. “I think you could improve the drawing though. Want some help?”

“Mm.” She nodded, happy about the offer. Spike taught her how to show light through a window on a drawing by shading the shadows better on the things around it. It still turned out a bit crude considering it was the work of two kids, but it was a lot more understandable, and Chrys was finally able to complete her assignment with that.

Twilight watched all of it go down like a fleeting moment in life that passed by way too fast, happy to have witnessed it and sad that it was gone. Even just watching her be heartened the purple alicorn. Unfortunately for her, now the time to take care of important day-to-day tasks came and there were still things she needed to do.

There was the bed to consider, that if everything went right yesterday should be ready to be put together. She just needed to collect the frame, stuff the pillows and mattress, and... darn, she had forgotten the bedding of hay from the commotion of yesterday. It was the bottom layer of the bed that would protect and support the mattress.

“I’m sorry to keep asking this of you Spike, but could you help me take care of a few things? I need to go with Applejack to investigate what happened to the herd yesterday so I’ll be out most of the day.” She asked the purple dragon.

“You don’t even have to ask. Just tell me what it is I need to do.” He said, his nostrils flaring with pride.

“Thanks, Spike, I can always count on you. I just need you to bring Chrys over to the park so that she can train with Rainbow Dash. Afterward, I was hoping you could get the order of hay I never finished getting from Applejack’s farm. We’ll be gone so just speak to Big Mac, he should know about it already. Let me know if anything happens, anything bad at all. Even if you just SUSPECT something’s wrong, just c-”

“Call you, yeah, way ahead of you on that,” Spike noticed Twilight’s tone had shifted towards being overprotective.

Twilight was still a smidge worried, and it showed when she hesitated to leave. Eventually, she could delay it no longer with her many half-baked on-the-spot excuses, Spike growing more irritated with her and yelling at her to get going already. Starting to walk out the door himself towards the park, Spike sighed when he looked back to see the little changeling standing still and watching as Twilight faded out of view in the sky.

“Not nothing.” He whispered under his breath knowing full well that the events from that morning weren’t as unimportant as Twilight had led on. “Chrys, are you coming?” He said audibly enough once Twilight had disappeared from view, breaking the spell on the changeling and getting her to join him at that.

Walking through the town of Ponyville was different this time. Even though it was morning, the streets were buzzing with the sound of conversations galore. The kiosks and store stands were in full swing and there were many a pony shopping for their day-to-day needs. It was a Sunday, an important day of relaxation and freedom for the pony folk. Adults would use this day to prepare for the coming week, and the kids used it to play as loud and as much as they could before school began the next.

Chrys was feeling a might nervous walking through the town roads with so many pony-folk around, but to her surprise, not many of them were paying her any attention. Most of the adults were engaged in the air of commerce around them, too focused to mind the small little changeling girl trying to make herself scarcer and smaller in the corner of their view. And the kids were far too busy making the most of this day by having fun, running up and down the street, and generally annoying their parents by making a game of sliding under them like some adventure with a heavy door that’s about to close behind them.

What was also different, strangely enough, was the stares and the whispers of the few ponies who did notice the girl. Their gazes were not as piercing as before, and their voices were softer and kinder. There were now more questions than concerns in their hushed conversations. It was quite the welcome change, and it allowed her to feel a bit better about her place within pony society while they walked all the way to the park.

In getting there, they could already see the tomboy pegasus warming up mid-air, doing a quick loop mid-flight, and coming back down to stretch her wings. Chrys immediately bolted into a jog to go meet up with her, leaving the little dragon to enjoy the next few hours napping on a nearby bench.

“Rainbow Dash!” Two excitable voices said in unison, overlapping with each other.

Rainbow Dash’s two students had arrived at the same time, and they both looked at each other upon hearing the other’s voice after having been too focused on the Rainbow Pegasus herself to notice initially.

“Eh?! New kid! Er uh...” Scootaloo immediately went to go whisper a question to Rainbow Dash, a question the little changeling caught easily. “What is she doing here Rainbow Dash, I thought this was gonna be my practice...”

“I guess I forgot to tell you since it barely happened yesterday, but she said she wanted to learn how to fly, like you, and I made a promise to teach her.” Rainbow Dash whispered back, a bit amused from having understood why Scootaloo was a little concerned about this arrangement. “Aw c’mon, don’t look at me like that. She’s a good kid. She’s not the type to go airing out your secrets and using the fact you can’t fly against you. Besides, you’re both in the same boat. So let’s get some practice in!”

Scootaloo already had her suspicions of the little changeling, and now they were being drawn together in a way that left her vulnerable in case Chrys ever decided to turn tail and do evil things like humiliate her. Still, Scootaloo had done some growing of her own in the past and she knew when to swallow her pride. Especially when the one begging her for this was her idol. After all, she had finally mustered the courage to ask Rainbow Dash for these types of lessons only a few days prior. What was one more humiliation in the face of that? She walked gingerly over to the changeling princess and held out a hoof to her.

“Well um, seems like we’ll be partners for a while then while we both practice how to fly better. I’m not too good at it just yet myself. Let’s get along better, yeah?” She said, her hoof still out waiting to feel a shake or a hoof bump.

“Mm!” Chrys exclaimed enthusiastically having recognized the filly’s efforts and knocked on her hoof slowly, switching between bumping it and shaking it, not sure of what to do as she had only seen ponies make either of those expressions a few times before.

“Alright, if we’re all in accordance, get ready for some hard lessons girls. We’re gonna start off with some stretches, then go into lots of exercises, and then we’ll study aerial dynamics.” Rainbow Dash began stretching again to show them how to do it.

“Wait, so we won’t try to fly today? What’s the point of all of that?” Scootaloo asked, a bit confused. She had assumed flying was just something that came naturally to every flier, considering all manner of flight birds and creatures did so when grown enough.

“We’ll get to the actual flying part later, but it’s important to keep these lessons in mind. Not everyone is a ball of instinct ready to fly as soon as they grow their wings! If you would believe it, even I attended flight school to learn how to fly better.” She said rather matter of fact.

“Wait really?! You didn’t know how to fly either, Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo had been the one to ask it, but Chrys was also feeling that question too. Adults were full of surprises.

“Well, I did know from the get-go actually. Most of it came naturally to me. Sorry.” The rainbow Pegasus said which disheartened the poor little filly who had been excited by the prospect of sharing something in common with her idol. “But it’s true that I did go to flight school to get better at flying.”

“What do you mean?” Asked a now puzzled Scootaloo.

“I wanted to be the fastest pegasus ever, so I studied everything I could under the sun from theories to research like if I was Twilight.” She said to the amusement of the two girls, understanding the purple alicorn’s pension for studying. “I learned a lot about how and why it is that our wings carry us through the air, and also why it’s important to keep that knowledge in mind for your safety. Especially for young, inexperienced fliers like yourselves. So make sure to listen up when we go over the lessons! For now, let’s get to stretching and exercising.”

They proceeded to spend the better part of an hour running laps around the park and doing sit-ups and other seemingly un-flying-like training and muscle-building. Chrys could see Scootaloo’s frustration building from still believing that this was all just jokes and part of Rainbow Dash’s usual pranks. She didn’t want to believe that her idol would pull such a mean joke and was hoping to hear a good reason for this come lecture time. Still, her mood was rapidly declining as the grueling workout continued. Eventually, she boiled over onto the ground defeated, physically and mentally.

“Scoot, okay?” Chrys asked after going over to her to help her up seeing as she was almost on the brink of exploding.

Perhaps all she needed was a friend because at that point, the pressure in her mind relieved itself after seeing the changeling’s concern for her. A part of it had been the shame of having to work so hard for something others could do so easily. Another was feeling alone in feeling desperate and wanting to fly. Except... the hoof that extended itself out to help her up proved otherwise, and she had a newfound respect for Chrys after she looked almost as worn out as her yet not at all downtrodden by any of it. She was looking out for her even, the little changeling waving over to Rainbow Dash to let her know that they could not continue on and needed some rest.

“Dash! Sorry. I, am, tired. Like rest.” She said, despite looking like she could still go for a while. It was obvious to Scootaloo that she was doing it to protect her pride and she whispered her thanks under her breath, making the little changeling smile having caught it regardless with her great hearing.

“No worries girls, this is how it is at first. Still, what stamina you have! I was actually waiting for you two to tire out so we could begin our lessons.” Rainbow Dash beamed with pride at both of them, making Scootaloo feel way better after the compliment from her. “Okay, so I hope you’re ready to pay attention so here goes. Aerial Dynamics 101: Weight and Muscle/Bone density.”

Rainbow Dash described to them in detail the scientific research of how and why creatures were able to fly. While Chrys and Scootaloo weren’t able to understand most of the big words being tossed around, what they very much understood was this: All flying animals, ponies, or otherwise rely entirely on the strength of their wings. It takes a great deal of energy to not only take off but maintain their flight mid-air especially if the individual’s wings were smaller, or in Chrys’ case, thinner and more delicate. The exercises Rainbow Dash had them do was to train their body up to be able to do that eventually, by working the muscles on their back and training up their stamina. No doubt Scootaloo’s confidence had returned to her after understanding this.

“Conclusion, what did we learn? We learned that it’s not about flying. It’s about gliding with style. We push off the air and maintain that with our sheer willpower. Drops from high altitudes can be very dangerous, even for a Pegasus. That’s why you shouldn’t skip out on training your body every day.” Rainbow Dash finished her lessons. “It’ll still take you guys at least a few weeks before I’ll think about teachin’ ya some real flight moves. So I want you two to train your darndest in the meantime, alright?” The two young girls nodded with enthusiasm. “Good, good. That ends the lesson for today then.”

“Shouldn’t we keep training all we can then, Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo asked.

“There is such a thing as overworking your muscles, so get some rest for today and pick it up again tomorrow for as long as you think you can hold on. Like what we just did today.”

“Well, that frees up my day... I guess I’ll catch you two around, I’m gonna go ride around town! Bye Rainbow Dash, bye new kid!” Scootaloo put on her helmet and rode off on her scooter at this farewell and left the two behind.

Before Rainbow Dash could dismiss herself by saying her goodbyes, the little changeling walked up to her.

“What’s up, Chrys? Something you didn’t understand?”

From her hair, the changeling princess magically produced and levitated toward Rainbow Dash a hexagonal crystal imbued with dense magic, shining in a brilliant and lustrous red hue like a ruby. It was strikingly similar to the one that Spike had received.

“Whoa! It’s so cool...” Rainbow Dash took hold of it with one hoof. “Are you giving this to me, Chrys?” The little changeling nodded. “Where did you get this?”

“I make. Gift, for, Rainbow Dash.” She said with a beaming smile.

“You made this?” She eyed it curiously. “You’re a bag of surprises you know that? Thanks. I really like it.” She said smiling and ruffling up Chrys’ hair into a mess, making the small girl giggle. Chrys motioned for Rainbow Dash to get closer so she could whisper something in her ear. “What, there’s still more?” Rainbow Dash leaned in.

“Thank.” Chrys placed her forehead to hers for a brief moment, then ran away towards Spike so that they could depart to their next location.

Leaving the pegasus tomboy stunned in the process. She one hundred percent had not been expecting it. For her of all ponies, especially considering she had been the one to give her the rudest welcome from the group of friends when they first met the little changeling. She had initially taken the strongest stance against her especially after barely coming off of Queen Chrysalis’ Canterlot invasion. Rainbow Dash had only really warmed up to Chrys thanks to seeing how helpless she was when she was sick, and also because she found the little changeling incredibly amusing when she tried imitating her step for step, like a young filly star-struck for an idol like she herself had been with the Wonderbolts...

Now she was feeling a bit bad for ever having thought so negatively about her. The feeling of warmth from having received such a precious gift from Chrys was outweighing that guilt, however, and she figured bygones were bygones. Rainbow Dash promised she would do her best to support her as redemption. She was definitely something special, Rainbow Dash thought after she watched her leave from a distance.

“Alright, first item on the agenda, done. How was the training, Chrys? Feel any stronger?” Spike asked which made her look herself up and down only to shrug having only felt more tired as a result of her workout with Dash.

“It’s okay. You’ll get there. You watch.” He said rubbing at his own back, wishing he had wings of his own. “Let’s see now. We have to head to Applejack’s farm for the hay. Twilight said Big Mac should already know that we ordered a bail the other day so that takes care of the payment.”

Applejack’s farm was only a few minutes away from the park on foot so it hadn’t taken them long, but before they could enter it, an untoward white bunny with an attitude ran straight into Spike in its attempt to run away from something, sending the baby dragon crashing backward in a daze.

“Oh, what did I tell you about watching where you’re going... And don’t you run away from me Mister. You need to visit Dr. Fauna too.” Fluttershy’s unusually assertive tone rang out behind the rabbit as she made a quick swoop for the little man. “So sorry Spike, Angel is just being a little dramatic because we’re going to the vet today. And hello Chrys, it’s good to see you again.” She bowed and smile warmly in her direction, with the changeling princess nodding her agreement.

“Oof. A little?” Spike grunted while being helped up by Chrys who had rushed to his aid. “What are you doing over at Sweet Apples Acres anyhow, Fluttershy?”

“I came to check up on Winona for Dr. Fauna as well as Applejack’s hens. The strangest thing has been happening. A lot of my poor animal friends are getting sick one after another, but it seems most of them just need bed rest. It looks to be the case with Winona too.” She said all while the little bunny in her impossibly strong grasp was writhing to get free. “Except Angel, who REALLY needs to see a doctor, or I’ll get very mad at him.” The bunny drooped defeatedly in her grasp.

“Well, good luck with all of that Fluttershy. We just came here for some hay for the bed. Do you know where Big Mac is? We’re supposed to talk to him about it.”

“Oh yes, he’s out inspecting the oncoming harvest in the orchid right now. Just follow around behind the house and you’ll spot him straight away. Anyway, I gotta get going.” Before she could leave, Chrys had already been levitating towards her a pink hexagonal crystal with an infinite depth to its gleam. “Oh? What’s this?”

“That looks...” The little dragon licked his lips as he eyed the jewel. “Tasty. Chrys, did you make another one of those?”

“Mm! Gift, for Fluttershy.” She nodded.

“A gift for me? It’s so pretty. I didn’t know you could make these.” The crystal was snatched out of the air by the white rabbit, having been mesmerized by its luster. “Oh Angel, you shouldn’t be taking things that are not yours. Although... He does seem calmer.” She said, noticing how passive he’d become. “Anyways, thank you so much, Chrys. I’ll treasure it always.”

And with that, the pair made their exit with Chrys and Spike being left to complete the task at hand. Not even halfway through the front of Sweet Apple Orchards, a familiar little filly bolted up to them in an instant after having spotted the two from a distance.

“Chrys! Spike! Watchu’ two doin’ all the way out yonder?” Applebloom said, laying on the accent thick to amuse herself.

“Hello, Applebloom. We came to get the hay we ordered yesterday. We were looking for Big Mac to help us out with it.”

“Well, why didn’t you say so in the first place, he’s out back with Granny Smith inspecting the budding spring apples. Follow me.” She sprung towards the back of the house with haste.

“But I did ask that first, didn’t I?” Spike asked a clueless Chrys who couldn’t get a good bead on the wilds of the excitable little pony.

In following her, Chrys was able to see the ever-expanding lands that constituted Sweet Apple Orchard, chock full of barely budding apple trees with the small green nubs on their branches indicating the new harvest.

Chrys was quite lost in awe. She tried to fathom just how many trees there were, not being able to keep up the counting in her head. And she would’ve stayed lost in that scene, if not for an incredibly sharp pain that pierced right through her like heated daggers in that instant.

A pain stemming from a very powerful mixture of emotions like fear, hatred, and horror.

Emotions coming from one old-looking pony that had just about almost jumped out of her skin and had begun to yell for dear life as though the end times were upon them, all from having only taken one look at Chrys. There was also a deep stirring in the changeling’s heart that was making that reaction that much more hurtful.

“It’s that thing! The formless! They’ve come to raze the land! Help!” She yelled out, spooking everyone present. Applebloom, Big Mac, Spike... except Chrys.

After having heard those words, Chrys knew what this was about. Formless. There were only a few souls left alive who understood that name. It was a name that had been lost to the annals of time. An old pony’s tale of disaster, destruction, and ruin.

Almost immediately, the poor changeling was struck with sadness. She ran behind Spike trying her best to hide from the growing pain, tears beginning to form in her eyes with her form struggling to stay intact.

Having seen this, Applebloom was the first to come to her aid, having become angrily flustered at the old pony who was still in the middle of hysterics. She had no clue what this was about, but she could tell that there was a disconnect between Chrys and the reason why Granny Smith was beside herself.

“Granma! Calm down. Look at what you did! Chrys is my friend!”

At these words, the old pony slowly composed herself again after Appleboom placed both hoofs on her.

“Huh? What? Where am I?” She said while scanning her surroundings, having been struck out of the vivid scene from the past as her senses had been frayed in the ancient trauma.

“You’re in the orchard, Granny Smith,” Applebloom said exasperated. “Now apologize to my friend. You said some very hurtful things.”

“Wuzzat? Who?” She eyed the little changeling who was still trembling behind Spike, her forelegs hiding her eyes. “Oh dear, did I? I’m sorry young’un. I got reminded of... somethin’. Can’t remember now that I think about it.”

“Well whatever it was, you were screamin’ like a banshee Granny,” Applebloom said as she and Spike helped Chrys up off the floor, regaining herself slowly after the feelings from before having vanished from the old mare, though she was still very conscious about being seen by her. She remained behind Spike, worried that she could relapse at the sight of a changeling again.

“You said something about a ‘Formless’ when you saw her, but she’s a changeling, see?” Applebloom said, pushing Chrys directly in front of Granny Smith so she could get a closer look.

While looking away and hoping nothing worse would come of this, Chrys felt a hoof gently pass over her hair. She was being comforted by Granny Smith who now wore a much gentler, kinder smile.

“Looks like any filly to me.” The old mare laughed as though nothing had happened at all.

“Mighty sorry folks, ol’ Granny Smith has a failing memory as she gets on in age.” Reverberated the deep voice of the large red stallion behind them that until now had been looking at them with concern, not knowing what to say. “I s’pose you were here for the hay Twilight Sparkle ordered?”

“Oh! I had almost forgotten about that. That’s right.” Spike answered.

“It’s already prepared. It’s that big bale over there.” Big Mac motioned a hoof to point at the rather large haystack, far too big for two kids to carry.

“Er, how are we going to move it?” The purple dragon wondered to himself.

“You don’t, silly. Big Mac here will help ya lug it to Twilight’s.” Applebloom smacked the bottom part of his hindleg.

“Eeyup. Just give me a bit to load it up onto a cart.” He responded and went off to go do just that.

“Well uh... I guess I’ll go help him.” Spike looked back at Chrys having been pulled onto a rocking chair by Granny Smith and being petted as she looked like a lap-sized kitten. With that, he ran off in Big Mac’s direction.

Despite the hostile welcome, Chrys had spent the rest of her stay there in comfortable bliss. Granny Smith very warmly recalled the tales of her past to her and Applebloom, still not ever being able to clearly remember why she had startled the way she had over the little changeling. But Chrys could hazard a guess why. It had been the truth of the changeling’s past. A past that had long been forgotten by the newest generation of pony-kind.

The tragedy of the Formless Kingdom, the changelings of old.

The Formless had been destroyed almost overnight due to a natural cataclysm of magical veins beneath the earth erupting upwards in a tectonic shift, sundering the kingdom into desecrated ruins. Any empathetic race who had been good neighbors to the Changelings, like the ponies, had been too late to help them to any real capacity. It all had happened far too fast. But the Changelings could not see that rationality past their overwhelming grief. They had become mad with rage and had thought that they were abandoned.

Why only them? Why must they have been made to suffer? In a self-reinforcing cycle, eventually, their insanity had given way to an instinctual collective hive mind to destroy and burn the world around them. Led by the mad Queen Chrysalis, who had tried to take responsibility for all of those negative feelings and ultimately failing in this duty.

It was the nature of Changelings to fuel their magic by consuming emotions. Their own, and those given to them. But the heart and the mind are much more susceptible to those feelings as a result. The Queen could feel she was slipping into a madness of her own. So she had made a pact with the Sun’s Ruler in order to seal her kind away until they would be free from their cursed thoughts.

Chrys had been the only one to survive that time of turmoil without the madness that consumed all of her brethren, by the powerful magics of a desperate Queen Chrysalis who had used the last of her magic and the last of her right mind to protect her. A magic of unfathomable power, as she had used every ounce of grief, sorrow, anger, and hatred of the stricken Changelings and her own love for Chrys to cast it. A spell whose effect had erased Chrys’ memories and even her sense of self. A spell strong enough to stop even the very passing of time over many decades. A spell that Chrys had awoken from only a few years ago, into the maw of absolute darkness inside an ancient and slumbering cave. The prison that had served to hold back the growing insanity of the changelings.

Chrys rode on top of the bale of hay with Big Mac pulling it to the library in a very somber mood as she recalled all of it. How she had been freed from the cave by the mad Queen after she had pooled her magic over those many years, and how she had met Twilight and her friends in the small time afterward. How she had confronted Chrysalis again after her failed invasion. And how she almost brought about ruin to everyone in trying to seal her madness away and letting the mad Queen feed off of her own desperate emotions in a moment of weakness.

It was all in the past now though, and she had a need to look to the future. She shook her head to toss those thoughts away after they arrived at the library at last.

“Welp, here we are kids.” Said the red stallion, letting the bay down gently next to the library.

“Huge thanks Big Mac, we certainly wouldn’t have been able to carry this ourselves,” Spike replied only getting a quiet nod of acknowledgment from the stallion.

Before he could leave, however, the little changeling princess stood in his way. She smiled at him and held her hoof out.

“Mac. Thank!” Chrys knew that Big Mac’s hesitation to hoof-bump her had not been anything overtly negative. She could see that this small expression had made him feel a little happy and a bit embarrassed. He eventually succumbed to the little changeling and returned the gesture. Chrys felt like she could trust the reliable stallion almost implicitly. His quiet attitude was something she could deeply understand from the depths of her own personality. She magically produced another crystal from her hair and presented it to the stallion, this one in a bright orange hue. “Please help, Mac. Gift, for, Apple. Jack. Big, thank.” He took it, and silently nodded his agreement to give it over to her the next time he saw her.

“Did you make one for everyone, Chrys? When did you have the time to do that?” Spike asked after Big Mac took his leave.

“Morning!” She replied with a smile.

“Ah, so that’s what the noise was about.” Seems she had awoken the little dragon too, but unlike Twilight, he hadn’t bothered to check what the commotion was about. “Hmm, we still have a lot of time in the day. Do you still need to go hand out some?”

“Mm.” She nodded. “Rarity. Pink Pie.” She said, stumbling her words a bit at Pinkie Pie’s name.

“Always glad to have an excuse to visit Rarity, so let’s go deliver ‘em. What do you say?”

“Spike, thank!” She hopped in her happiness.

The trip to deliver the gifts had been shortened considerably when they had arrived at Rarity’s boutique, Pinkie Pie having already been in there seemingly using Rarity’s tailoring workshop to work on party decorations. Both Rarity and Pinkie Pie flew to the little changeling upon her arrival before the door had even shut behind her, the little bell at the top of it still ringing while she was embraced by two pairs of forelegs.

“My dear Chrys! So good to see you again. I suppose you’re here to try out some new clothes? Now that we have time, we can put your ensemble together.” Rarity had been first to speak.

“What? But we have so much partying still left to do!” Pinkie Pie argued. “We don’t have time for silly old clothes, we gotta get out there and have some fun!”

“Nonsense Pinkie! There is always time for you to look your best. I aim to make Chrys the brightest star in the night.”

Before they could devolve into a heated argument over how to spend Chrys’ time, Spike coughed to get their attention and make them notice that they had been pressing the poor little changeling in between them. They finally let off apologetically after calming themselves.

“Sorry girls, the day is already pretty late. We just came to deliver something Chrys wanted to give you guys.” Spike said at her behest, the little changeling taking two crystals out of her hair and magically levitating the corresponding one to each of the two mares, a light blue one and a purple one.

“Oh... oh my! What shine! What brilliance!! Why where ever did you get these?”

“I make!” Giggled the little changeling princess noticing Pinkie Pie trembling with happiness and Rarity absolutely smitten by the jewel.

“Darling, you really made these for us?” Rarity put a hoof on her chest as a show to say how truly touched she was.

And once more, Chrys surprised the two mares by doing what she had done to the rest of the group of friends in motioning them over to her as if to whisper, only to touch their foreheads with her own, this time simultaneously to the two.

“Friends. Thank!” She said. The barely contained excitement in Pinkie Pie exploded all at once at this, and she bounced a good few feet into the air, disappearing to who knows where within the boutique.

“Haha, you’ll have to forgive Pinkie Pie. She’s a bit... excitable?” Rarity said having been witness to the strange actions of the Pink one. “Oh but Chrys... you’re such a doll. I’ll treasure these gifts you’ve given me forever.” She took a bit of time to process how meaningful this gift was. “In fact, I feel a work of art coming on! I’ll incorporate it in the finest outfit I’ll own for myself!” She said as she dove into the back of her workshop to go work on it.

At that moment, a pair of customers walked into the boutique with two very young ponies on their backs. Two toddlers much younger than Chrys had ever seen. Immediately they stretched their forelegs towards her to touch her, mesmerized by the unique-looking creature before them.

“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Cake. Out for a walk with the tots?” Spike asked after noticing Chrys approach them only to be thoroughly scanned up and down by the two foals.

“Hello, Spike dearie. We just came to collect what Pinkie Pie was working on. As you know, the stampede yesterday tore up a lot of our decorations, so we asked her to make some new ones for our shop.” Mrs. Cake responded as Mr. Cake had made himself busy trying to get the tots off of Chrys who were now riding on her back and touching her wings, making her struggle not to laugh at their ticklishness.

“Pound, Pumpkin! Stop that!” He yelled to no avail.

“We were so worried about Pinkie Pie yesterday. It’s not often you see her so down about something, but it really crushed her when the party got ruined. Seems everything turned out okay in the end. Your friend is such a nice kid.” She smiled at the sight of Chrys playing with the tots, much to Mr. Cake’s relief.

“Yeah, she really is.” Spike agreed. He looked over at her to the sight of her batting her wings gently in the faces of the two foals to make them sneeze.

“Mrs. Cake!” Yelled out Pinkie Pie after having reappeared with many a bag of streamers, curtains, and other party goods. “Got what you asked for, here you go.” She said as she unloaded everything onto her back, with Mr. Cake finally resting control of the tots after they had dropped their guards for a brief moment.

“Thanks a million, Pinkie. See ya back at the bakery, dear.” Mrs. Cake walked over to the little changeling and patted her head a few times. “You too little one. You’re always welcome in our shop. Come by any time.”

With that, they were gone, and the only ones left were the two kids and Pinkie Pie waving them off at the door. She was silent for a bit in thought until she finally remembered something important, then turned back to face Chrys in a flash.

“Chrys! I’m so happy that we’re friends! The gift was so lovely I knew I had to do something for you! I made this for you.” She brought out a small stuffed doll of a pony.

“Wait, is that Twilight?” Spike asked as he looked at the uniquely purple, alicorn features of the doll.

“I figured she’d really want one, so I made it just now with the things Rarity had upstairs!”

“Wow, you work fast.” Spike said flabbergasted. “Was it okay to use her stuff without telling her?”

Pinkie did her usual snort laugh at Spike’s question. “Don’t worry about small details like that, silly. I can always pay her back. This is an important gift for Chrys!”

Meanwhile, the little changeling girl was stunned. She had never really accepted a physical gift from anyone before. But this was a small image of Twilight, and she felt such longing for the purple alicorn after not having seen her all day. It took a lot of beckoning from Pinkie Pie for her to finally take it, and she proceeded to hug the small doll very tight, her happiness pouring forth as she embraced the plushie.

“Pinkie. Pie. Thank, you.” She said as she began to cry from her happiness, throwing Spike for a loop in trying to comfort her all meanwhile Pinkie knew well what kind of tears they were.

“Pinkie? What did you do?” Rarity said with confusion after she walked in on this scene, noticing the little changeling girl crying with a bright smile on her face.

Chrys held out the small doll of Twilight for Rarity to see. “Gift! From Pinkie.” She brought it to her chest to hug it again.

“Ah, I see. Those are tears of happiness, Spike.” Rarity said, seeing the concern on the baby dragon’s face. “It seems Pinkie Pie beat me to the punch, as I too intended to give you something Chrys. I hope you like it.” She magically brought a small golden ornament to her hair with three beautiful little jewels inside of it, to clip her bangs backward so that they wouldn’t cover her face so much.

It was quite a simple, yet beautiful addition to her look, parting her flowing hair enough to show her delicate, small features. The three of them stared at her. Such a tiny change had brought such a significant difference to her appearance. Although a bit embarrassed, Chrys couldn’t help but smile from the wonderful gifts she had been given and hugged the two mares before Spike and her finally departed back to the library, the day almost coming to an end.

Back at the library, however, time was passing by almost exhaustively. Chrys was pacing up and down wondering what had happened to Twilight. Dusk was already upon them. They hadn’t had any verbal agreement or promise to go together to handle her duties, but she had been waiting for Twilight to return to make the trip back through the Everfree forest together as it was something they had always done from the start. Yet as much time passed, Twilight had not returned.

“Twilight’s fine, Chrys. She’s an alicorn, and I can sense if she’s in trouble. I’m sure she’s just running late because of the investigation. Don’t worry too much about it.” Said Spike trying to reassure her. He eventually succeeded and got her to feel calmer about this situation. With the night growing older, the baby dragon went to sleep early after being exhausted from having to help move the hay, and Chrys was left alone to wait however long she needed to wait.

Still, there were things she needed to do no matter what, and she steeled her resolve. It wasn’t good to always rely on Twilight for everything, and she was sure she had enough magic in her to complete her duties. With this in mind, the changeling princess slipped away from Twilight’s home and towards the Everfree forest.

It had been a long while since she had traveled that uneven dirt path through the forest on her own at night. The road to the cave had become second nature to her. She only needed to follow the stream of water that connected to it. In the veil of night, she remembered the first day and night she had escaped the cave after the changelings were released, having walked down this very stream just wandering in the world above, taking in the sights all around her. She had lost all of her memories back then, and she knew nothing of the world above save for a few blurry memories of the sun and moon.

The scenery all around her, even as spooky as the Everfree forest could get at times, was quite beautiful and enchanting to a creature who had spent a major part of her whole life in near-complete darkness. The moon and the stars shone brilliantly across the night sky, untouched by the light pollution of Ponyville, and reflected off the stream in such a way that she could almost picture the water as a liquid night.

In reaching a familiar pond of undisturbed water, Chrys was able to see her reflection clearly since she had received Rarity’s gift, finally being able to spot the golden hair clip she had given her. Chrys smiled the world having loved every bit of how it looked on her. She took out the Twilight plush that Pinkie had given her to levitate it in front of her so she could see herself in the reflection with Twilight, imagining it was the real one. Feeling satisfied, she stuffed it back into her hair and got ready to continue to the cave.

Before she could, suddenly, the pond began to ripple as a light tremor began to shake it. Stronger and stronger the ripples began to form higher and higher until the pond became a mess of waves bouncing off each other. Now she could physically feel the ground shake with intensity. Something was approaching.

Something big.

The noises of every single animal had gone away now. All the birds had departed, the fish had swam away, and the woodland critters had run to their homes to hide. The air was tense as the trembling became audible. In the distance, Chrys could hear trees being felled left and right. Whatever that something was, it was mowing them down with ease.

“Chrys!!” Twilight’s voice came into earshot making the little changeling jump since she had been so focused on trying to listen to what was happening. The purple alicorn had almost crashed directly into her having flown in such a hurry to get to where she was, a strong wave of concern and terror in her soul. In reaching her, Twilight immediately brought both of them down to the ground to look as small as possible as the tremor from before were RIGHT in front of them now.

The both of them eyed the threat in absolute silence as the thing from before pulled apart the trees surrounding the pond with one mighty claw.

What they saw was one massive eye looking at them, with dense fur all around it. Its hairs were unlike anything Chrys had ever seen, as its colors were translucent and transparent, with a small tint of purple to them. Within each hair somewhere deep in that coat, small lights floated inside them making their appearance almost like that of the very stars above in the night sky.

Twilight was absolutely terrified. She was lying very still indeed, hoping the creature before them would leave. To her sheer dismay, the changeling beside her on the other hand was not. In fact, the small princess had gotten up off the ground to stare back at the eye, mesmerized by the mystical coat.

Twilight immediately got over her fear after seeing the pupils of this creature dilate, and thinking that it was about to do something to the small girl, she ran up in front of her with her horn at the ready, prepared to protect her at all costs.

Strangely enough, the creature pulled away from them, giving way to its entire form as it stood back up on both of its hind legs, almost reaching the very stars in its sheer size and looking like it partially intended to integrate with them by the look of its coat. Then, silently without even so much as a second thought, it moved away towards its own home in the mountainside near the Everfree forest.

Twilight fell to her back in her relief, having been run to the very ground emotionally and mentally in the terror of the moment. That thing was a living calamity all on its own, a nightmare of incredible proportions that no pony or creature in all of Equestria could go against.

A real Ursa Major.

She remembered her one encounter with a baby Ursa Minor back in her early days in Ponyville when Trixie had boasted about defeating one. She remembered just how much power it took to subdue it into sleep and send it back to its home. She had seen a picture of it once, but nothing could prepare her for the real living thing that was an Ursa Major. She strongly exhaled the stress that had accumulated and got up to look at the small changeling that was mindlessly smiling at her after seeing her there.

“Chrys!! What were you thinking!” Twilight inadvertently found herself yelling, making the little changeling slink into the ground. This was the first time she could remember Twilight being truly angry about something. And at her no less... “You could’ve died! You should’ve waited for me!” Twilight’s emotions were understandably running very high, and she could not stop her voice from driving the small changeling girl to tears.

The cruelty of reality was that Twilight could not understand Chrys’ point of view. Chrys had not been scared from the start, because she understood the heart of the creature they had just met. She knew it did not mean to hurt them. The mama bear had just been curious about them at best. She knew this, but Twilight could not. For the first time, Chrys had upset her so much, Twilight was truly angry from the depths of her heart over this misunderstanding. It wasn’t even so much that Chrys felt that this was unfair, but that it hurt to see those feelings being directed to her, by Twilight who she very much loved.

She so sincerely wished she could apologize with her own words right there and then to keep Twilight from being angrier at her, but all she could muster at that point in time were sobbing, hiccupy cries as she hid her eyes with her forelegs to keep from having to see the fury in Twilight’s expression.

Twilight, however, had already shifted from anger to remorse in that instant. There was no way for her to understand why the little changeling had done what she’d done. Why she had thought it was okay to leave on her own to the Everfree forest or why she had been so careless in front of such a dangerous monster. But she knew she had overreacted. For a multitude of reasons. From being beside herself when she found out she was missing from the library when she got home, to the encounter with the Ursa Major, and from the overbearing nature of her love for the little changeling as she had finally come to understand just how much she really cared about her. It was the concern from that love that had made her yell to that degree.

Twilight hugged the curled-up changeling, trembling in her grasp and unable to stop her from crying.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Chrys. I didn’t mean it. I was just afraid that something bad had happened to you.” Twilight spoke softly, patting her back.

It had been twice now that Chrys had been driven to this point today, and she could not stop herself from crying out the aching in her heart anymore. Like most of the emotions of that day, this kind of sadness that Chrys was feeling well... it was coming from more than just the simple scolding or tension of the moment. The look on Twilight’s face and the emotions in her soul... while not the same, they reminded her of the first time she had revealed herself as a changeling to her. She was reminded of all those conflicting, horrible emotions of that time. Emotions that she was deathly afraid of Twilight feeling for her.

Again, it’s important to say, that we cannot help but feel what we feel, or think what we think even when all the signs point to the contrary. It’s been overstated many times, but this is the honest-to-goodness truth. It doesn’t matter if you have eyes made of the purest magic that can see the flames in every living being’s soul. It doesn’t matter if you know implicitly that this anger does not stem from the same place as the one from before. It doesn’t matter how different the circumstances may be, or how much you’ve been drawn together and trust each other.

You cannot stop the hurt. It will hurt, no matter what. That’s what being alive means.

It took quite a while before she was eventually reduced to quiet sobbing, with the last of her sorrows finally giving way to a calmer state.

“Not... angry?” She finally asked in that moment of quiet.

“No, I’m not. If anything, I’m sorry Chrys. Please forgive me.” Twilight said, hugging her a little harder.

“Mm,” Chrys said weakly within her hug.

It took many more moments after that before Chrys was able to get up to keep moving forward. It severely pained Twilight to see how much this had affected the little changeling. She didn’t speak, she didn’t look her way at all, even when walking she was slower, her enthusiasm and energy drained altogether. Even when she stood by at the Queen’s chamber to watch Chrys perform her duty, she recited her day to the Queen quieter and less lively, drooping her head to the ground on occasion, as if falling asleep. And when she began to cast her spell, the power of it fizzled out. Only for her to try harder again, fizzling out a second time. And again, a third time with nothing.

But as Twilight walked up to help her, the fourth time she tried it, the spell managed to pull off, albeit in the weak glow of her exhaustion. Twilight knelt beside her after seeing that the little changeling did not have the energy to continue, beckoning her to get on, but the small girl refused and tried walking ahead of Twilight towards the exit of the chamber on her own, only to collapse to her knees midway through, yet still urging her body forward with what little strength she had left, determined to continue. Twilight had to force herself to drape the changeling over her body, believing she would refuse. Yet she was met with no resistance. She figured that this was likely due to how tired she was, but she couldn’t have been more wrong.

It was a misunderstanding on both of their parts. Chrys still believed she was walking on eggshells with Twilight, trying her best to be more independent to keep from incurring her wrath further. And Twilight believed Chrys was angry at her over getting yelled at. But such is the way of misunderstandings, that unless you can spell it out with your words, you can’t really learn to grow past one.

Twilight had helped with the room with all the changelings since Chrys still did not know how to cast it en masse and she was far too weak to continue. All the way home they flew in silence. They labored to talk about anything at all, still very much afraid of making things worse between the two. In arriving at the library, Chrys disembarked Twilight’s back in order to walk over to the bed on her own to sleep, but the small girl stumbled and collapsed to her knees again, this time her head spinning in a strong dizziness.

The purple alicorn had noticed this, and she touched Chrys’ forehead with her own to confirm what was happening. Sure enough, she had grown a fever. Likely due to the stress of those emotions. Chrys had become this way only once before due to a similar aching in her heart.

Twilight picked up the changeling princess gently and placed her on the bed with all the care in the world, draping the cover over her. Chrys immediately fell asleep in her ailing state. At that moment, Twilight noticed Chrys make a grab for something in her hair amidst her sleep and pulled out a small doll to hug almost instinctively.

Twilight gritted her teeth with mist beginning to cloud her eyes at the sight of it, as it was in the shape of her own image.

She promised herself a very solemn promise indeed as she hugged the little changeling.

What would she do to protect her? To make her happy? To make her feel loved?

Everything, she thought.

Chapter 5: We'll find where we belong,

Chapter 5:

We’ll find where we belong,

Dawn had arrived once again, yet Twilight had not slept at all. She had been up all night tending to the small changeling while she fevered on in her sleep. Even if she thought that there had been some time to take a rest, she knew her mind would not let her. Likely from any such feeling that she’d get staring at the pained little girl hugging her doll with all her might, as weak as that hug was due to the ailing of her sickness.

Twilight had finally understood why Chrys had become ill. Both now and all that time ago when they had first met her.

It was her. Twilight herself. She was the one to do this to her. This had been the effect of breaking her heart. The result of becoming overwhelmed by the feeling of being abandoned by the ones she trusted and loved the most. The conclusion to a soul who did not stop those emotions from affecting her, allowing them in their full capacity and having felt them every day. The final drop in the bucket being the events of yesterday after Twilight had gotten angry at her for having done something reckless.

Twilight was torn up by guilt. Even if she had been rightly justified in getting upset and even if her anger had come from a good place in wanting to see Chrys safe... She had overdone it. She sincerely wished she could take back her words and rewind time, but what was said, was said and all that was left to do was live with that consequence. Take responsibility for it. All throughout that day, Twilight stayed by the side of the small girl. She reapplied Fluttershy’s salve, switched out the cold compress on her forehead, and fed her Applejack’s rice-apple gruel, the girl too weak to even have brought the spoon to her mouth. At nighttime, she performed Chrys’ duties for her, having brought along the little changeling draped on her back, hoping she’d feel relieved in witnessing that it was still getting done.

Come the following day, however, the girl’s condition had not gotten better despite the remedies that had worked almost instantly the one time before. In fact, it seemed as though she was getting worse as time went on, worrying the purple alicorn to no end. Twilight was a right mess and had begun to panic. Despite being reassured many times by her friends and Spike, she could not calm down. The incredibly strong feelings that now rested in her soul, unlike the first time Chrys had gotten sick, had made her blind to see why the little changeling ailed in the first place. Despite her book smarts on all things about changelings and Celestia’s own recounting of them when Twilight had spoken to her about their past, Twilight in her distress could not see the puzzle pieces she was desperately trying to find.

On the third day she was sick, Twilight had called for any medical professional who could help both within Ponyville and even some from Canterlot, but to no avail. None of them were familiar with changeling physiology and any normal remedies or medications did nothing to help her. Eventually, she even enlisted the help of her friend Zecora. She was an expert in all sorts of magical ailments and at this point, Twilight was hoping for anything that could help half believing it was one. Twilight paced around the room listlessly while the zebra silently inspected the small girl by opening her mouth, eyelids, and placing a hoof on her chest, wings, and back. Finally, as she touched Chrys’ forehead and thought a bit, she gave the distraught alicorn her diagnosis.

”She is a very unique child, in more ways than one.

Her eyes are very special, as they see the fire, the sun.

The heart in a pony and all living creatures, like any old book.

She has the ability to read them all. Perhaps that’s what has her so shook?” Zecora mused to herself in her distinct way of speaking.

“What does that mean Zecora? Her eyes? I don’t understand...” Twilight said, not giving Zecora time to explain herself before she already started wracking her brain over it.

”I’ve heard of a creature with them only once before.

An ancient tale, passed down in my old home’s folklore of yore.

A legend of eyes being able to see and sense all manner of truths.

The hearts, the minds, the intentions in anyone and anything that moves.

A special trait that no normal creature is born into being with. How very strange isn’t it?”

“So that’s why she...” Twilight was slowly understanding everything about the changeling princess.

Why she acted the way she did. Why she was always so considerate of others when they were troubled, despite not showing it on their face like she had done with Spike and herself. Why she didn’t complain much and hadn’t argued against things she didn’t like or didn’t want to do. Twilight remembered the first few times they walked in public together, and the first day of her school. She understood now why she was so sensitive over the smallest things even when the words that had been said to her were light and entirely hidden in pleasantries.

Twilight had spoken to random passersby to spread the word of her having accepted Chrys under her wing in order to let Ponyville know she was a friend if they ever saw her on the street. No ponies had said anything unpleasant in front of Twilight. They spoke empty expressions. Anything to appease her and to agree with her rule as the new crown Princess. Twilight had wondered what had made the little changeling so scared at that time. She’d hidden behind her while they went through the town. Twilight guessed that it was just the nerves and the nature of her shy attitude that had made her this way.

But Chrys... she was a bright child, full of warmth and love for anyone who would give her the time of day. She had, had no problems getting along with the Cutie Mark Crusaders by what Miss Cheerilee had told her, and she had won over a spiteful Spike who had initially been against her. From having heard recounts from her friends and from piecing together what she could from hearing Chrys speak about those two days to the queen, she had also made friends with a variety of ponies who had treated her well, not just among her friend group who she had already been acquainted with but also with Big Mac, Granny Smith, Mr. And Mrs. Cake, and the tots.

So then... what Twilight had initially perceived as Chrys being shy might as well have been a lie. Or perhaps a half-truth at best. If Chrys had seen the true feelings in others... If those decorated words from those random citizens had made her this way... there really was only one very sad, very unfortunate truth. In making her go to school and increasing her exposure to the public, Twilight finally realized a very important thing that she would never have heard come out of the little changeling’s mouth and she would’ve never known if this hadn’t happened the way it had.

Chrys wasn’t just living with the sad reality of the changeling’s past, present, and future. She was living with the ponies’ too. Their inherent distrust, dislike, and prejudice that had ingrained themselves, despite a generation of knowledge being lost... Those nasty feelings still lingered to this day.

If Twilight’s guilt had been the size of a mountain before, now it felt like it was as big as Equestria. Her heart ached at the thought that she had made a terrible mistake in pushing Chrys to go to school. That it was a mistake having asked her to live in the world above outside of her cave. That it was a mistake having released her from that dark prison...

”Twilight Sparkle, I know the face you make.

You’re conflicted and hurting over some form of mistake.

You think you’ve done wrong by this child, do you not?

But all I see is how much she loves you, yes, you and your lot.

We make mistakes and we grow past them. We get up and carry on.” Zecora said having read the mood and expressions on Twilight’s face.

Twilight brushed the tears of regret that were forming in her eyes after Zecora pushed her away from those thoughts. There was no way she would allow herself to think that spending time together with Chrys was a mistake. And she had promised herself that she would do the same for Chrys in that regard.

“Thank you Zecora...” Twilight said faintly, bowing her head to her. “How do we cure her of this sickness for now then?” Twilight asked after seeing Chrys huff weakly amidst her fever.

Zecora laughed heartily much to Twilight’s confusion. Despite it being spelled out to her, Twilight was still blinded by her overwhelming guilt and her saddened feelings. She hadn’t noticed the obvious solution staring at her in the face.

”What ails the girl is actually very simple.

The changeling’s heart is like a plugged-up thimble.

There is no current, no flow through her thoughts.

She’s worried, and panicked, and her mind is wrought.

By the same thing that ails you, Twilight, this much you should believe.

For changelings feast on emotions, so be careful of what you feed.”

With that, Zecora took her leave and left Twilight to contemplate what she said. For all the studying she had done, and for all the practice she had with raising and living alongside Spike... It seemed Twilight was still a long way away from being a seasoned parent. Slowly but surely, she understood. Sure enough, the answer had been incredibly simple.

“Changelings feast on emotions.” Twilight reiterated to herself, knowing now that all her panic, her worry, her guilt, her stress, and sadness... she had been subjecting Chrys to it the entire time having not moved from her bedside.

Fate was kind of cruel, wasn’t it? Thought Twilight in that moment of realization. She keeled over defeatedly and laughed weakly at the turn of events. Oh, how it had a habit of making fools of them all.

But even in knowing this, it wasn’t like she could flip a switch on her feelings immediately. It had helped no doubt, but the best thing for Twilight to do now as she had guessed, was to leave Chrys’ side for a while in order to return to her in a calm state. If Changelings fed on emotions... then Twilight also came up with an idea at that moment considering this. For the first time in those two almost three days now, Twilight left Chrys’ bedside to go talk to Spike and left out of the home herself.

Chrys had fluttered between restless sleep and being half-awake in a lucid state of mind. She had only caught a bit of the events that happened in the time since she had fallen ill and had heard very little of Twilight and Zecora’s talk before the dizziness had brought her back to her dreams. But she understood that Twilight now knew of her special ability, and Chrys had become very afraid of being abandoned by her thinking that she was some creepy child. To make matters worse, once she’d finally awoken to full consciousness, she was not met by Twilight’s face at all like she had been in the days prior. Her fever had finally broken, but so too could be said about her heart and she would’ve begun to cry had it not been for the familiar face of a small purple dragon who’d been busy switching out the compress on her forehead.

“Chrys! You’re awake! How are you feeling?” Spike helped the changeling sit up when she noticed her awake and urging her body forward, still weak from the fever’s effect.

“Twilight...” Was the first thing to come out of her mouth, making the little dragon’s face furrow in worry. Twilight had explained the details to him earlier. He was conflicted in telling her that she could not see Twilight until later, considering the plan that the purple alicorn had concocted.

“She’s a bit busy right now, but she’ll come home later okay?” Spike said very carefully and gently, pulling the doll upwards in the little changeling’s grasp up towards her chest since it had drooped in her sadness from not having seen her when she’d awoken.

“Mm.” She said faintly, fog crowding around her eyes and prompting the purple dragon to pet her and comfort her as much as he could in his capacity. It took a while for him to get Chrys to calm down again, enough so that he could finally begin Twilight’s idea to help her feel better.

“Take a look, Chrys.” He pulled out a half-eaten yellow crystal in a small box. It was displayed on top of a small red cushion of velvet. “I didn’t eat it in the end. I figured Twilight was right, and I should keep it around as long as possible. Um, you know, just for remembering the good ol’ days in the future and stuff.” He rubbed his head with embarrassment, lightening up the little changeling’s heart after having seen this. “A bit of a shame though, it was pretty tasty...” Spike began to drool as he looked at his own gift from within the box.

“I’ll, make more! Know Spike, like gem.” She said finally smiling for the first time in a few days.

“Really?!” He brought his head close to the changeling to whisper. “For real?” Chrys nodded, amused at his reaction. His eyes lit up with joy and pumped one arm with his claws in a fist. “Thank you Chrys, I’ll make it up to you if you do. Just don’t let Twilight know because I know she won’t let me eat ‘em if it's from you.” He said, still whispering and looking around.

“Mm!” She giggled.

“Oh uh, aside from that.” He coughed and composed himself again. “You have a few visitors today that have been waiting for you to wake up. I’ll call them in little by little so that they come and see you in turns. Is that okay, Chrys? Think you could handle that?”

She tilted her head inquisitively not knowing who would want to visit her but nodded all the same in agreement at Spike’s question. The first to appear before her after Spike had walked off were the familiar orange cowboy and the shy yellow pegasus.

“Applejack, Fluttershy!” Chrys exclaimed at the sight of them, getting two warm hugs from the mares. “Hello. Good, morning. Um. Afternoon? Evening?” She said, looking around towards the window to spot the time.

“Good evening, sugarcube.” Applejack responded to make it easy for her. “We heard from a purple someone that you were bedridden so we came again to see how you were holdin’ up. Seems like you’re better already.” She took out a very bright and very red apple at these words. “I went ahead and picked the best lookin’ apple in the lot for ya and a whole heap of em that I left in your kitchen. The definitive taste of Sweet Apple Orchards!” She beamed with pride while holding it aloft for Chrys to take.

Chrys ate it heartily after her first bite, not having known how deliciously sweet apples were naturally since she had only ever had their diluted taste from the apple-rice gruel. To the joy of the two mares while they watched her eat it like a small squirrel.

“But that’s not all. This here is also my thanks, for the wonderful gift you gave me the other day.” Applejack presented Chrys with a basket full of apple-oriented sweets like pies and apple fritters. She would’ve eaten them right there and then had it not been for one hoof from Applejack that got in her way. “Now hold on little missy. You’re still recovering. This here is some heavy stuff. They’ll keep for a while so wait until you’re feeling better to eat ‘em, okay?” Applejack patted the disappointed girl with one hoof. Chrys nodded and agreed nonetheless having understood Applejack’s point, not knowing if she could even stomach them yet considering the apple she’d had earlier was having a hard time staying down. “It’s not just the basket I came to give ya, it’s a symbol. This shows you’re welcome on our farm. So stop by for some desserts and good times, any time!” Chrys could understand how meaningful this gesture was by the feelings inside the mare. It made her happy to know that she would be unconditionally welcomed to their home.

“And I brought you this. For the huge help you and Spike gave me at the pond and for the wonderful gem you gifted me. Oh, I hope you like it.” Fluttershy gingerly pushed in front of her three wonderfully made picture frames created from small sticks, feathers, pebbles, and other natural nicknacks likely collected with the help of her animal friends.

They looked almost like square birds’ nests. In one of them, there was a picture of the six friends huddled together to show their friend circle. It brought Chrys a lot of joy to see it. On the second, was a picture of Twilight and Spike smiling at the camera. Chrys couldn’t help bringing the two pictures to her chest to hug them, automatically loving any paraphernalia that reminded her of Twilight.

Strangely enough, the third picture frame was empty.

“It’s just a little something to remember us by, wherever you are,” Fluttershy said, smiling sweetly at the sight of the little changing feeling quite happy at the other two pictures and looking inquisitively at the third. “That last one is for you to place a picture of your own in, so you can take a photo of yourself together with something or someone you really like.”

Chrys thought hard about it for a while in silence while she looked it up and down. A picture... she definitely wanted to include Twilight. And Spike. And all of Twilight’s friends. And all of her own friends... It was hard thinking about what to do with it.

“Well, you can always decide what to add to it later, sugarcube. No rush.” Piped up Applejack noticing the troubled expression on her face.

“Don’t forget about me! I also brought you something.” Swooped in the cyan pegasus to everyone’s surprise in that instant.

“Technically it was I who made it, but Rainbow Dash did commission me for it so the credit should go to her. Still. I wanted you to keep that in mind when you look upon my work!” Rarity bellowed from behind having walked up normally through the stairs with Pinkie Pie hopping up alongside her, to complete Twilight’s five close friends.

Pinkie Pie took out a couple of party poppers and readied them in front of Rainbow Dash in some sort of grand display for her gift, letting them rip right the moment tomboy pegasus took out her present from behind her back, a mess of colorful confetti giving way to a dark green piece of cloth in her hooves. Silence endured for a bit while the rest of the pony mares that weren’t in on this surprise and Chrys herself eyed whatever that thing was.

“Isn’t it just splendid? I worked all night to get it done. Some of my best work yet.” Rarity said to break the silence.

“Um. What’s it supposed to be?” Asked Fluttershy reaffirming what they could not make out.

“It’s a saddle, duh.” Pinkie Pie said taking it from Rainbow Dash to display it a bit better, dangling it in front of everyone.

“A flight saddle actually.” Rainbow Dash followed up. “It’ll help Chrys focus on her wings when she flies for the first time, and it doubles up as a bit of extra protection in case of a serious fall!” She said proudly. “I had one made for Scootaloo a long time ago, and your gift gave me the perfect excuse to make one for you too!”

“And of course, since I made it, it’s far more than just for functionality. It’s fashion, darling. I know it’ll look beautiful on you.” Rarity chimed in meanwhile Pinkie Pie helped Chrys into it. Sure enough, to impress what Rarity had said, the group of five stared at the little changeling in awed silence. “Magnificent! What did I tell you, everyone? Am I not the best seamstress in Equestria?” She laughed haughtily with all manner of pride before she composed herself again. “Who am I kidding. My work wouldn’t be half of what it was if it wasn’t for this little gem right here.” She petted Chrys, signaling that it was her Rarity was talking about.

It felt like the dark waters that had pooled in Chrys’ heart were slowly draining away now that she was around the warmth and the love of all of her friends in the same room.

The six of them had a pleasant afternoon together until it was finally time to meet the rest of the guests. The mares could easily see the trouble in the little changeling’s heart having not stopped worrying over something that entire time, so they all opted to stay in the room to watch over her, moving aside to give way to three small fillies who had heard that their friend was sick.

“Chrys we came to see ya!” Spoke up the distinct voice of Sweetie Belle who was the first to run up to her, trailed by her two close friends who formed the Cutie Mark Crusaders. “My sister said you’ve been sick the entire time so I asked her if we could come to visit!” She smiled as she saw Chrys light up with happiness at seeing the three consider her a friend.

“Begged more like, but I’m gracious. I wasn’t about to say no.” Rarity retorted from behind, annoying Sweetie Belle in the process.

“She’s right though. At least I know I did. We were right worried for ya after all.” Applebloom added.

“I had to train alone! You know how much of a bummer that is?” Spoke up a flustered Scootaloo who didn’t want to admit she had been worried too.

“Friends. Thank.” Chrys said with beads on the corner of her eyes, hugging the three and getting a hug from each in return.

“Oh! Oh! We brought a gift of our own too.” Sweetie Belle brought a small little emblem and a cape onto Chrys’ bed.

“I know changelings don’t get any, but since you don’t have a cutie mark either, we were thinkin’ you could join our crusader group! You could be an honorary member.” Applebloom said while Chrys eyed the blue patch with the image of a pony in its center.

“If you want to, that is,” Scootaloo mumbled, trying to be considerate of her feelings and agreeing in her own way to this decision.

“Mm!” Chrys smiled a very bright smile. It was an honor to feel like she could belong in their group.

“We also brought you these from Miss Cheerilee since you hadn’t come to school,” Scootaloo dropped a couple of worksheets Miss Cheerilee had carefully drafted for the little changeling so she didn’t miss much of the lessons being taught.

With a sudden start, Chrys’ eyes widened and she dropped her front legs to the floor outside of her bed in order to get up only for them to immediately buckle under her weight, sending the front half of her body kneeling to the ground in her fevered weakness.

This caused every pony to immediately fly into a worry, crowding around to see what had happened.

“Need. To go. School. Promise, Twilight.” Chrys said through a pained breath as she forced one of her forelegs to prop her up, wobbly from the effort.

“It’s okay, sugarcube, school is already over for today. You don’t have to force yourself like this. S’pecially when you’re sick. You’re allowed to rest.” Applejack tried to reason with her.

Before Chrys could let these words seep in, a loud thump could be heard outside at that moment, and a door from downstairs flew open.

“Twilight, you’re back! Chrys is awake, you should go see her.” She heard the faint sound of Spike’s voice calling out from the door before it shut behind him.

The other ponies had not heard this and ignored the sound outside, still worried for her while she labored to get up. But Chrys had. She had begun to use her magic to substitute her strength again having felt Twilight’s presence near. A troubled group of mares and fillies could only watch as she slowly walked downstairs with the light of her power circling around her body and towards her legs, assisting her steps. Getting to the door and before she could push on it, it slowly opened on its own to the visage of Twilight surprised to see her standing there at the very front of the steps with Spike trailing behind her.

The two looked into each other’s eyes for a bit in silence, scanning, searching, yearning, hoping...

Chrys’ magic fizzled out during that silence, and she felt her legs give out immediately. Before she had fallen to the ground, Twilight had caught her and pulled her close.

“I’m home, Chrys.” She said softly, hugging the little changeling with both her forelegs and her outstretched wings.

“Mm.” The small princess replied, rubbing her face against the purple alicorn’s coat and shivering in her relief having noticed the warmer, calmer feelings in Twilight’s flame, not minding the chillingly cold sensation from her body from her having been out and about all day.

“It’s okay, Rainbow Dash, we’re all crying here. You don’t have to hold it in.” Rarity’s voice called out from behind them, batting away her own tears.

“What? I’m not gonna cry...” Dash argued with an involuntary tear dropping from between her stern expression. “Okay, but just this once.”

With Spike initiating it, one after another every pony fell into that big, rather awkward group hug still in between the door to the outside.

“This was all Twilight’s idea, Chrys. She told us about how you’re affected by feelings, so she asked us to help you out today.” Spike said shortly into the hug and made Twilight blush. She dared not pull away from embracing Chrys, leaving her no choice but to let the dragon run his mouth as he spilled the beans. “But we didn’t do this because we were asked, a lot of us came because we wanted to.” He said on behalf of everyone, prompting their nods in agreement.

“Yeah, it took a lot to convince my sis, you know!” Sweetie Belle chimed in.

“You’re making me look like the bad guy Sweetie. I was just... worried that you’d get up to no good and make it harder for Chrys to feel better.”

“You see?!” The little filly exclaimed, making them all chuckle.

Before they could all pull away, they heard the little changeling speak very, very quietly in the muffled tone of her voice being pressed into Twilight’s chest.

“I. love. you. Thank, you. Every, one.” Is what they thought they heard, and they’d be right.

With one last squeeze from everyone in unison, they all finally pulled apart save for the two who stayed together a bit longer until they finally gave way, and Twilight was left to brush the changeling princess’ hair carefully and gently, the small girl still within her grasp to support her. With the day having gotten late, they all said their farewells now that they could trust Chrys and Twilight were feeling better. The only ones left were the three. Or just the two, Spike knowing he should make himself busy to give them room to talk by walking back into the library to go clean something or other.

Twilight took this opportunity to secure the changeling princess on her back so that they could walk to the Everfree forest to complete her duties for the day. She opted to walk instead of fly through the Everfree forest, being mindful of Chrys’ weakened state, and they continued all that way over in silence. That night had been quite windy and unexpectedly chilly, making it extra difficult to talk about anything amidst the noisy rushing of air.

“I’m, sorry,” Chrys said, finally having found the opportunity to say it, near the entrance of the cave.

Twilight didn’t say anything while she magically gathered kindling from outside and made a fire within the pitch-black cave to warm up the small girl who she could feel had begun to shiver from the unusually cold breeze of that night. Twilight stopped her stride to let her down gently next to it, and then she too sat by the fire near her.

Chrys drooped her head to the ground apologetically not having had the courage to see her expression at that moment, somehow believing she was still mad. She felt one of Twilight’s hooves place itself on her shoulder while the other one ran down her cheek, gently caressing her. In tilting her head up, she saw Twilight looking on at her with a lot of warmth and a bit of a sad smile on her face.

“It’s really okay, Chrys. You never had to apologize to me to begin with. I understand that now thanks to a friend of mine. She told me about the special gift you have, and why I made a terrible mistake in getting mad at you. I didn’t know at the time, and I was just afraid something could happen to you. With the Ursa Major and you being missing from the library... when you ran up against that herd of cows... when you ran away in a panic a long time ago... and when Chrysalis had you under her foot... All of it came back to me all at once, and it absolutely terrified me. I didn’t know what to do. I felt like I would lose you all over again, like when the cave closed behind us and you were gone for such a long time... It was such an awful feeling and I’ve been living with it this entire time.” Twilight paused. She struggled to continue with her words. “And so have you. By being next to me all this time. You’ve known about it all along, haven’t you? It’s been eating away at you too, hasn’t it?” Twilight asked.

“Mm,” Chrys said solemnly, confirming that she indeed could read her heart and had consumed those feelings in her attempt to rid Twilight of those nasty feelings.

“So you see? There’s no need for you to apologize to me, Chrys. I’m the one who’s sorry. This entire time I’ve been asking the unreasonable from you. Pushing things on you without knowing how they were affecting you. For that, I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.” Twilight bowed her head all the way to the floor with her horn touching the ground.

The fire crackled in response to Twilight’s apology as if to signify the desperation in it. Still with her horn to the floor, she heard the changeling princess get up off the ground without saying a word. In that instant, she thought Chrys had refused it, and again her emotions began to flood her. Before they could be realized, she heard her walk up closer to her to sit down at her side. Looking up, she was met with Chrys’ horn just short of reaching her own. She was not tall enough to reach her forehead like she wanted to, but this was just fine. The next step of this expression required her own want to be forgiven. Twilight fell into this familiar gesture of hers having understood what her answer was by it and she felt Chrys’ magic envelope them both as it weaved all around them.

The only emotions left in the two were relief, warmth, and love. They stayed like this until the kindled fire died out.

Afterward, they finally got up to perform Chrys’ duties, and Twilight finally got around to teaching her how to cast that spell en masse. It had turned out that the spell that Twilight had taught Chrys all that time ago had been a personal version of it. A spell whose range was made to affect only the creature who had cast it. Chrys had somehow taken that personal spell and made it work for a recipient by having a physical connection with them, in this case, touching foreheads. She was a bright little ball of surprises when it came to anything magically related. It seemed like the small changeling that had been terribly afraid of magic in the past had long been gone now, as she used it almost expertly with anything Twilight tried teaching her.

Having finished the room with the changeling horde, Chrys had still opted to use the personal version of the spell to perform her duty to the Queen. Recalling her troubles and her sickness to the queen, Twilight felt incredibly touched after Chrys ended that short little segment.

“Twilight. There, for me. She helped, me every, day, from fever. I. love. her.” The little changeling had said before returning to Twilight who had been prompted by Chrys to wait outside the chamber. She had initially thought it was for some awful reason, but after eavesdropping unintentionally, she was very much relieved and couldn’t stop the smile on her face the entire time.

Before they left for Twilight’s home, Chrys stopped by one of the rooms of the cavern to Twilight’s confusion.

It was Chrys’ room. The room she had awoken to so long ago, the one she had spent almost all of her life in within the cave. Chrys mentioned this to Twilight after she had asked her about it, but she could still not understand what there was to do in there as it was completely empty save for a few stalagmites with dripping water creating pools on the floor. All she could do was wait and see while the little changeling scanned the floor carefully, finally pawing at the ground after some moments and digging for something.

From the ground, she collected an incredibly large, perfectly translucent, and clear crystal. Before Twilight could ask, she saw the little changeling bring her horn onto its surface and all at once an incredible amount of magic exploded out of her, sending a rush of air toward Twilight and making her panic a bit. But in studying the effects of what Chrys was doing, she could see that it was the same thing she had done to the small crystal she had given Spike. Twilight could only witness in awe at the sight of this overwhelming amount of magic being absorbed by the crystal in front of her, first becoming a mix of many different colors and then being over-saturated into a darker and darker, foggier and foggier purple.

What was left was a mass of magical power infused into a densely fogged-up crystal. Twilight’s friends had shown her the crystals that Chrys had given them, so she began to question if this was even transmutation at all. What was this gift and why did it require such energies to create?

“Twilight’s gift!” Chrys said after being done, a bright smile on her face.

Twilight left the questions for another day in seeing her joy. She felt happy just knowing that Chrys had created a gift for her too, considering how she had been the last to be left out. Chrys looked a lot better already, so they were able to make the trip back home on foot while Twilight carried the gift on her back toward the library. It was surprisingly heavy, and it took a bit of Twilight’s own magical power to lessen the load.

Finally home, Twilight prepared a pedestal for her gift and thanked the little changeling again. This finally unlocked the part of her brain that she had almost forgotten about due to all the things that had happened that day. She had been calling for her friends to help Chrys feel better, but she had also been completing the bed that they had been too busy to construct over the last few days. Bringing in the large wooden frame and dropping it upstairs opposite of Twilight’s bed, it made a familiar thump as it landed on the floor. Then, she quickly put together the soft hay bedding, put the cloud mattress on top, and finally finished off the bed with the magical silk sheets, quilts, and feathery down pillows.

Twilight tucked a now sleepy changeling princess into the heavenly comforts of the highly luxurious bed created specifically for her. She felt a tug on her shoulder before she could walk away to her own for the night.

Sure enough, what was being asked of her was quite obvious.

You don’t get out of a day like this one and then just sleep in opposite beds.

The ending to this day doesn’t need to be spelled out, does it?

Very well.

Twilight and Chrys fell asleep in the warmth and the comfort of their embrace, their hearts finally at peace.

Chapter 6: As we go along,

Chapter 6:

As we go along,

The dark does not love anyone, for it does not pick a side on whom it chooses to hide. In the murky darkness, something begins to stir. Something sinister.

A quiet howl in the distance begins to shake the air, a din of everything awful. It seeps into every corridor, every crevice. It eats away at the dim glowing crystals like a black hole, consuming what little light they have left. The energies in those dark ancient tunnels shift each way and that, twisting and contorting with violence until they materialize from being drawn together into a single point. They shift into being a cloudy, tall figure with a maddening buzz, causing a cacophony of unconscious insect-like wings to follow along inspired by the noise. Inside the stillness of the guardian, the silence is replaced with the irreverence of that alien, otherworldly sound.

Then, just as quickly as it had appeared, the sounds grow quiet again and all that’s left behind is the normal night.

Yet, all the same, a small little changeling with distinct amber eyes had awoken to the sudden premonition that was quietly creeping into the lives of her and every pony in Ponyville. She could not have known the machinations of the Fate that was trying to coil at her throat, but she could sense it. Like a foreboding pit at the bottom of her stomach and a nettling in the back of her mind, it now rested in the corner of her soul somewhere deep inside.

The timing for it could not have been worse, however, for this night alone she would not allow herself to think about it. In the comforting embrace of two hearts intertwined after finally understanding one another, all other feelings were mute. Whatever may come her way, she would face it together with Twilight. Sinking back into the warmth of that hug, she carried on in her restful sleep.

That morning had not been an easy one for Twilight. All throughout breakfast her mouth could be seen opening and closing constantly in the direction of Chrys, not a word coming out of it as she did so. Even Spike could read Twilight’s ‘random’ behavior easily. The time was quickly approaching for Chrys to go to school once again, and there were still hundreds of questions she wanted to ask her. Even if she had to do so in front of Spike, Twilight needed those answers out of her before either of them could continue forward. She waited patiently and watched the little changeling eat the rest of her food before finally speaking up.

“Chrys... Are you sure you want to go to school?” Twilight asked very, very carefully.

Spike froze up at this still in the middle of eating his own meal. Twilight had explained a lot of the intricate details to him on Chrys’ behavior until now. If it had been a heavy topic for Twilight as an adult, no doubt it was a megaton one for the poor baby dragon. White as a sheet, he stood more still than even a statue. He made for an amusing sight with the fork he had been carrying over to his mouth now dribbling his food onto his lap with his open mouth only inches away from the morsel at the end of it.

“Mm.” The changeling nodded and took her plate over to the sink after having been done. This was not the answer Twilight had been looking for. There was nothing in Chrys’ voice that clued her into a resounding answer. In fact, the monotone way in which she had voiced that approval, was it? Well, it didn’t inspire anything more than an ‘okay’. In fact, Twilight had been really hoping to hear a capital ‘NO’ come out of her mouth so she could then finally have a good excuse to reevaluate the future with her best interests in mind. That or a capital ‘YES’, to feel at ease with letting her go to school per usual.

Worse yet, there was not a hint of an answer in her expression either. It felt like Chrys hadn’t even considered for a second not going, despite her reality. Which had been the case actually. Chrys had seen the promise to go to school as something that needed to be done at all costs.

So no, this was not the answer Twilight had hoped for at all.

At this point in time, Twilight was desperate to hear her complain. To hear her argue. To yell out her frustrations and to speak of what ailed her heart. Twilight needed these things to know how to diagnose her woes. Terrible luck of the draw for her that the girl she chose to concern herself with was Chrys of all creatures. For those answers would not be voiced with simple, surface-level prodding. If it had been hard enough for Twilight to ask her that simple question, the more complicated one felt almost impossible to speak out loud.

But she needed to know.

“Chrys... you’ve experienced the terrible feelings that ponies have for you, haven’t you...? With your eyes and your magic, I mean. Doesn’t it hurt you?” Twilight asked with much concern in her voice and with all the care you can imagine the purple nervous wreck to be. Both of those purple messes actually. Spike was ready to keel over in that air of drama having not been able to escape it in fear a single snag might shatter the shaky bridge the two had finally been able to construct yesterday.

The little changeling considered this question while she packed the homework sheets she’d finished earlier that same morning and the crude drawing she never had the chance to turn in, into her new saddle like some form of a backpack.

“Mm.”

“So... do you actually want to go to school Chrys? It would mean having to face that every day...” Twilight said, being more mindful of the inflections in her tone and the words she used to try to drive the idea that she wanted the honest truth out of her.

“Mm.”

.....

More half-hearted, monotone answers that did not betray the sense of duty Chrys felt. At this point, Twilight and Spike felt like they would break down from the tension. Perhaps Chrys didn’t fully understand what kind of sad things she had just confirmed for the two, and why the flame in their souls teetered wildly with guilt and sadness.

“But it’s just not fair! Chrys, why aren’t you saying no?! Forget school, stay here in the library with me. Help me with the books, cleaning, or we can just play around all day... I don’t know! Something! Don’t just accept it so easily!” Spike finally broke free from his stunned silence in a rather explosive way, his words being said on behalf of Twilight who had almost cracked too had it not been for his outburst.

Suddenly, small golden motes appeared on the noses of the two troubled creatures in the room with a familiar glow from Chrys’ magic beginning to fill the space around them. She had only learned this new version of the spell the day prior, but already she was finding a good use for it. They both looked noticeably calmer when the glow faded and the spell ended.

“Twilight, right. School, is, important. Help, um, changelings. Need go. I. Promised.” She said finally understanding that both of them needed a more concrete answer to accept this decision of hers. “It okay. I’m fine. I’ll, be, fine.” If words alone could fix a troubled heart, then Chrys would have never met them in the first place. It had helped no doubt, but they were still strongly against the idea.

For as much as they wanted to voice their complaints again, Chrys had inadvertently taught them both a very valuable lesson that morning. That they needed to stop being so sad, so angry, and so anxious about her circumstances. No one could know her like she knew herself, and even vise-versa despite the little changeling’s unique gifts. They could only stand to make her situation worse by allowing themselves to be another drop in the whirlpool of that negativity for her. She didn’t need someone speaking on her behalf. All she really needed was someone to love her. Unconditionally and always. To be a pillar of support whenever life inevitably got in the way. That’s the best thing they could do for her.

Considering this was Spike’s first time dealing with this kind of emotional ordeal, he was still none too happy with the arrangement regardless. The tiny little green fumes being exhaled from his nostrils and his soul’s flame betrayed his agreement. Thankfully for him, Chrys was very intent on keeping all of her promises.

“Forgot, homework. Twilight. Sorry.” Chrys spoke up after they were already outside of the library and about to set off for school.

“Oh it’s okay, Chrys, I’ll wait for you here,” Twilight said, not having known the cunning little plan concocted by the wily changeling princess. Or so Chrys thought. Twilight had already guessed what this was about after remembering she had already stuffed all her home assignments into her saddle.

With Chrys having gone back inside, she peered in sneakily through the half-open door at the sight of her giving Spike another magic-infused crystal for him to munch on, and ending that gesture by putting her forehead to his, making him recoil from “that mushy stuff”. Or so he had said not having realized how bright his own smile was.

Twilight gave Chrys a knowing smile as she watched the little girl practically prance in her happiness all the way to school. Perhaps this was just Chrys’ true nature. Her own form of selfish desire. She was happiest watching others be happy and reveled in the accomplishment of making that happen herself. In this, Twilight thought the little changeling reminded her of Pinkie Pie quite a lot.

Then Twilight had a strange series of ideas in her head all at once. Chrys was loving, kind, and even a tad bit timid which reminded her of Fluttershy. She was incredibly loyal to her promises, and to her friends which no doubt made her think of Dash. She was appreciative, giving, and generous, often sacrificing even her own health for others which made a certain white unicorn pop to mind. And she was deadly honest about how she handled her life and talked about its more serious issues considering everything that had happened until now. Twilight had never heard her utter a damaging lie.

Even considering her stunted speech, she could not imagine the little changeling telling a lie meant to hurt another. Chrys had so sincerely kept to the promise that Twilight had made with her to stay in her original form after all. It seemed as though she had learned a lot from her adventures in the past. To never again lie to herself about her own feelings, and about the things she needed or wanted to do. She had become a beacon of true honesty.

And finally, she remembered every little thing she’d heard from others and seen herself. Of Chrys’ inquisitive nature over learning new things. Twilight remembered the spell she’d asked for, studying it extensively to the point of mastering it. How she’d learn to use the personal version of it on others by touching them with her horn, all on her own. How she had asked Rainbow Dash to teach her how to fly. How she’d kept up with her vocal lessons every day, even going so far as to practice with the Queen... Finally, as she watched the little changeling gaze at the scenery and the ponies all around her during their walks around town with longing and wonder in her eyes, Twilight was reminded of herself.

With Chrys’ fear of magic having left her entirely since the events of the past and wielding it much more comfortably now... well, it was easy to see what this was connecting to in Twilight’s mind, no? Every creature in Equestria had the capacity to embody any one element, even multiple at a time. But never in such perfect harmony.

Twilight couldn’t shake how strange it all seemed. Fate’s grand design perhaps? Who should stumble upon this wonderful little bag of love and magic if not for her and her friends? Whatever the case, Twilight was entirely grateful just to have met her.

And vice-versa.

For impressionable children were a product of their circumstances. A changeling like Chrys having been witness to the Elements of Harmony directly in their full glory after she’d felt them, there left little room for interpreting why it was she was making the efforts to be this way. Her previous adventure had changed the little changeling dramatically. From only being able to think about herself and her own needs to subconsciously trying to encompass those very same elements she felt trying to rescue her all that time ago.

That was the immutable fact of life. Freedom. Freedom to move your limbs the way you want them. Freedom to say the words you want to say. Freedom to choose how you interact with the world. The freedom to change your own life and your own thoughts. To be the embodiment of those elements if you so wanted. Everyone has the ability to make those choices.

Twilight watched the small girl wave her off after having been left at school. That bright smile of hers had shown her what Chrys had chosen for herself. Twilight had feared that she’d made a mistake in opening that cave and allowing Chrys to experience the negativity of the world above, but she finally understood how much of a blessing her actions had really been for her. Chrys would’ve never had any of these freedoms had it not been for her actions, and now Twilight understood why it must’ve seemed so important to the little changeling princess to assume responsibility for giving that same freedom to her own kind. To free them from the madness that robbed them of that.

In the face of all of that, what was school then?

“Mm,” Twilight muttered in monotone to herself as she walked away.

Well for one, school was a lot of things. To the average young filly, school was like... being thrown into a giant tumble dryer set to high alongside a couple of small pebbles to occasionally punch at you as they were batted this way and that.

For Chrys? You might as well have put her onto a quickly shattering ship in the middle of dangerous stormy waters as it listed down into a violent vortex of infinite depth, all while the darkened heavens of that impossible maelstrom around her voiced its anger with thunderous rage, rained its displeasure heavily, and the winds knocked at her footing with every step.

A smidge of an over-exaggeration admittedly, but this is what it felt like for her while she was gawked at, whispered about with suspicion, and avoided like a plague.

Thankfully, there were now five little ponies and one adult in that classroom who did not hold those contemptuous thoughts about her, so she was able to carry on with her studies with more heart.

And of these six ponies, three of them were the adventurous sorts who would not hesitate to venture into those stormy waters with her. They no doubt made all the time in the world to include their new friend in their play sessions.

“Avast! Drop anchor and prepare to stallion your stations!” Scootaloo yelled out, standing on her hind legs with a stick in one hoof holding it out as though it were a cutlass, with the other hoof adjusting her invisible tricorn and letting her Crusader cape billow in the wind. She looked mighty impressive standing above everyone on top of a bench in that rather commanding pose.

Annoyed that the three girls in front of her did not reciprocate this order, she tapped the stick to the bench loudly. “Sweetie Belle! You’re our navigator! Get on that wheel and start navigating gobnabbit!”

“Wait... I don’t know how to steer a ship.” Sweetie voiced incredulously.

“Argh! I don’t care if you’re still green around the horn. Just turn this ship around or we’re going to fall into the vortex!” Scootaloo yelled with more exasperation, immediately forcing the unicorn to pretend to put strained effort into a large, invisible wheel that was having a hard time budging because of the strength of an imaginary current. “And you two! Don’t just stare! Put your back into adjusting the sails with the rope! We need the winds if we’re gonna make it out of this alive, ya hear?!”

“Right away cap’n, sir!” Applebloom responded in a mix between her southern accent and pirate-lingo, saluting Scootaloo and getting onto one of the bench’s seats to start tugging at some rope with her mouth. Which just looked like she’d munched on air and was swaying her head back and forth.

“Mm!” Chrys imitated Applebloom’s salute and got to the other side of the bench’s seat to do the same.

They swashbuckled, navigated, and worked tirelessly to bring those masts up to sail. All throughout, a gleam could be seen coming from three of those children’s capes. A hexagonal gemstone in a dark blue with a yellow center. A gift Chrys had given them to imitate their Crusader emblem, which they now gladly adorned on their mantles.

Suddenly, everyone but Chrys who was still taking this whole thing very seriously stopped what they were doing as they were approached by the two young colts from before. It took her a bit to get the mental memo, only stopping when Sweetie Belle nudged her with a hoof.

“It’s you two again, what d'ya want?” Applebloom was the first to ask, her brows already furrowed with annoyance.

“What you guys were playing looked like fun, can we join?” Snips asked sincerely.

“What? We weren’t playing around! This is real Cutie Mark Crusaders training. We’re finding out if any one of us is going to get our Sailing or Pirating cutie marks.” Scootaloo barked back at them.

“Wait, I thought changelings don’t get Cutie Marks. Why is um, uhhh, Chrys, training with you guys?” Snails said in his usual slovenly way.

“She’s an honorary member of the crusaders, and she’s helping us.” Sweetie Belle replied.

“We want to help. Can we pla- I mean train with you too?” Snips and Snails were still intent on joining.

“Mm!” Chrys voiced her approval before any of the Crusaders could vehemently deny them the privilege of Crusader-only activities.

The Crusaders also learned a very important lesson that day too. That Chrys was a force to be reckoned with in her own right. Just TRY and deny that bright smile of hers. Turns out, it’s really, really hard.

“Alright, fine. But be prepared to get your bones grounded to dust in the work. Snips! Take point and get to the mast! We need to be on top of the storm!” Scootaloo yelled after rubbing at her mane with frustration for a bit and then pointed her stick towards the branch of the tree the bench was under.

“Aye aye, ma’am.” He saluted.

“It’s Captain to you, scallywag!” She dug up the Crusader’s patented telescope and tossed it his way.

“Yes! Captain, ma’am!” With that, he was off racing up the tree.

Scootaloo hit the bench with her stick again to catch Snail’s attention which had already waned. “You! Cabin boy! Get to the lower decks and prepare the cannons!” She hit the bench again to indicate that the lower deck was below the bench.

“Why do we need cannons in a storm?” He asked inquisitively, lazily taking up his role.

“In these dangerous waters, anything can be lurking beneath the sea. Now stop talking and get to it!”

While Scootaloo didn’t really have much of a part to play, she took it upon herself to add to the ambiance by imitating the sounds of high winds, the bulging of the ship as it creaked from the violent waves, and the thundering of clouds. Then “CRACK, BOOM.” She exclaimed as she purposely rocked the bench to the sides to roleplay them hitting a rock.

“I think we have a problem, Captain.” Said Snails while knocking on the bench from below. “We’ve got a hull breach, I think. Um. We’re taking in water.” He said with little gravity in his voice, taking them out of the experience.

“What?! Applebloom, Chrys. Tie the ropes and go help him. Board up the hole and dig the water out if you have to! Pronto!” Scootaloo commanded, both of them going over there to do exactly that, clanking at the bench seats and pawing at the ground to simulate the behavior.

Suddenly, Scootaloo began to whistle a tune that fell deeper and deeper as it went on, to signify that things were getting dire from something very large that had just appeared and was casting a shadow over the ship.

“What is this monster?! Snips! What do you see? Where are these giant tentacles coming from?!” Scootaloo yelled up at him, trying to make him catch a clue of what she was envisioning.

“I can’t really tell Captain, its body is beneath the water but it’s massive! I think it’s a... a K-Kraken!” He hammed it up.

“Sweetie Belle! Shake this thing off already! We’re gonna sink if it drags us down!”

“I can’t! The wheel won’t turn. I think it’s got a hold of the rudders!” She tossed herself to the side as though the wheel had turned itself with such a force that her grip on it had sent her flying. “Oh no! We’re going to sink into the vortex at this rate. It’s got the wheel!”

Scootaloo dug her stick in between the bench boards where Sweetie Belle had been steering before, in a show to make it seem as though her cutlass was stopping further manipulation of the wheel.

“This will buy us some time! Are the cannons ready?!” She yelled down at the trio below.

She got three taps from three separate hoofs on the bench from below in response.

“Then on my mark, get ready to fire...” She began to count down. “7...9...err 6...5...4...3...” She stopped at this point to add to the tension. “2... 2 and a half... FIRE!”

Nothing. The trio from below didn’t quite understand how to make it seem like they had fired the cannons, so they were at a loss for what to do.

“I said fire those darn things! Fire! Blast off! Kaboom them!” She lay on the bench defeatedly, the trio popping up from beneath to shrug at her.

“Yeah, no idea what you want us to do, Scoots,” Applebloom told her.

“I don’t know, I’m the only one making the noises here. I was hoping you guys would replicate the sounds of explosions or something.” She said, not realizing Chrys wouldn’t have been able to help at all since she didn’t understand most of the things that were happening in this play session of theirs.

“Okay, but even if we did make some sounds, who would’ve voiced the Kraken after it gets hit? It needs to sound like it roared in pain. Besides, the Kraken thing was a far stretch. I just can’t picture it at all. We need props.” Sweetie Belle added from the side.

“Would take too long to get. Recess would be over by then.” Scootaloo thought for a bit.

“Why not get Chrys to morph into a squid? It’s pretty similar to a Kraken I think. Dunno actually.” Snails chimed in.

“Nice idea, Snails! That could work.” Snips replied from his tree perch.

They all turned to look at the little changeling expecting something, which made her shy away at this since she didn’t want to deny them their request. In the silence of their expecting gazes, she was going to have to explain to them why she couldn’t change her form in front of others. Or, wouldn’t, more like.

“Can’t. I promise. Twilight. No change, into pony. Or smart, race.” She said, disappointing them all which really hurt her to see.

Sweetie Belle perked up after a bit of thought. “Okay, but squids are animals, not ponies or other races. Are you allowed to transform into animals?” She asked her, hoping to find some loophole in this promise of theirs.

Chrys was quiet for a bit while she did the mental gymnastics in her head. Well, that certainly was one of the loopholes, wasn’t it? She had been fine with transforming into a rabbit to get through town that one time because she had thought it was okay. In a hesitating agreement, she nodded her head which made everyone happy again.

“But. Never, seen. Squid, not know how. Look.”

“Hmm... Transforming into the whole thing might be a bad idea anyway since you’d need water to breathe...” Sweetie Belle said after a bit more thought, making everyone feel down again. “Oh but wait, I just got another idea.” She got out the wedged cutlass stick and drew on the ground the tentacles that were supposed to be from the squid, considering they were much easier to draw. “Can changelings do partial transformations, Chrys? If you can imitate those tentacles with your hooves, we can make do with just the two since the body is supposed to be underwater anyway. We can just have you wiggle them around underneath the bench.”

Partial transformation? Chrys had never given it much thought since she didn’t often change her form, but she focused the mental image of that simple drawing in her head to carve the shape out of her foreleg into that of a tentacle, with partial success as the suction cups showed the hollowed-out parts of her foreleg.

The tentacle she had made were entirely cartoony. Chrys didn’t have a good mental image of what sea animals were like, after all. The texture was wrong since it was furry with her coat. The design was simple and cutesy because it was coming from a 2D drawing. And she couldn’t really imagine how it moved so it was as stiff as a normal hoof.

While this had made all five of Chrys’ friends happy that she was able to reciprocate their request, they had all glossed over something very, very important that entire time in their fun.

They weren’t alone.

The sheer theatrics of their display earlier had reeled in a crowd of curious and awed pony children, who were all hotly anticipating the continuation of this show they’d put on. After having witnessed this alien-like power of hers, their fear and disgust of her had only grown, having been scared off by it. Twilight had been wrong. It wasn’t just other ponies and races she should’ve avoided turning into... it was transforming at all. Just the thought of it was wholly unnatural to the pastel-colored children. If even adults feared the beauty of the Everfree forest because they thought it was not natural, then she might as well have been a monster to everyone who didn’t care to know her.

The Crusaders spent the rest of that recess comforting a shaken-up changeling princess after having felt and witnessed those emotions firsthand. Snips and Snails had made themselves busy defending Chrys in their own way by diverting the attention of Tiara and Silverspoon who had used that opportunity earlier to add fuel to the fire by commenting some very nasty, very hurtful things that a lot of the troubled onlookers latched onto mindlessly.

Unfortunately, there was no one to blame for this mess directly so they couldn’t enlist Miss Cheerilee’s help to fix this growing, awful feeling floating in every young pony’s heart. The teacher mare had certainly tried to help the only way she could, as she had tried to mend it in her own way by having a serious discussion with the class. But it had not helped. Words alone would not fix the public perception of her.

Even worse still, Miss Cheerilee’s increased attention and care for Chrys had started to grow the wedge that already existed between her classmates and her, thinking that she was brainwashing the teacher or some other terrible lie. They believed, without a second thought, all manner of falsehood that was propagated by the overly imaginative and fearful minds of pony children who did not realize what these lies could do to hurt another.

Even as her friends tried to fight those baseless rumors, nothing worked. Chrys’ position in her class, despite finally having had friends who cared for her, had only lowered that much more. Her friends were not aware of her powers either, so they couldn’t tell that the more they fought and concerned themselves for her sake, the more they were adding to that whirlpool of negativity.

So maybe those words from before were no exaggeration after all. Maybe it really did feel like being stuck in a sinking ship amidst a stormy sea. Who could say except for Chrys?

She did her best not to let it show how much it bothered her, however. If she could only make it home to Twilight and Spike, she had those that would help her walk off the hurt of the day.

Unfortunately, her problems did not end at school. For there was a new air of unease floating about the town of Ponyville. Strange happenings left and right. Whispers of odd things occurring in the dead of night. Hushed talks of inexplicable property damage as carts, stalls and even homes were left ruined. There were vandalisms of fields and gardens that were uprooted and desecrated from a burrowing something or other. There was also that recent stampede earlier too that was still in recent memory for everyone, almost having lost all of their homes in that trampling.

It was safe to say that every pony in town was on edge.

And then there were the sudden illnesses... Animals and ponies alike were falling left and right. Consumed by mental and emotional fatigue, but nothing concrete that could be remedied normally like an average sickness. They would eventually recover all on their own given time thankfully, but their testimonies of how that illness felt were concerning. Every pony who recovered would say the same thing. “I felt empty.” As though they’d been sapped of any emotion and feeling...

This was a horrible turn of events for Chrys since Twilight had busied herself with running damage control wherever she could, and they were spending less and less time together the more the days carried on. Even if Twilight had wanted to run away from this duty to be with Chrys, it was incredibly important that she work towards clearing the troubles that were cropping up in the town, and the rumors that were surfacing because of them.

Mostly because those rumors were connecting to Chrys...

She was only a child who hadn’t even hurt a single fly since she’d first arrived in town, but already the town believed she was to blame for these events. The townsfolk had only just barely slowed their concerns for her after hearing she was the one to thank for the stampede calming down in the end, but in light of the whispers and the rumors that were going around town, some ponies were beginning to doubt that was the truth.

What began as a small little scare of having used her form changing only that one time for something so innocently mundane had snowballed into the worst-case scenario. The grade school children who had spread all manner of awful rumors, unlikely how plausible or real those lies may have seemed, seeped into the normal everyday conversations for everyone with those rumors being passed from kid to kid, child to parent, and adult to adult. Now they were starting to whole-heartedly believe she’d been the one to cause the stampede, despite what Princess Twilight and her friends had said. They were thinking she was the one causing the damages, and that she was the one sucking out the emotions and feelings of the folks in town.

The pieces of the puzzle had fallen all too cleanly on this verdict too... as she was the only changeling anyone was seeing. The only creature who could’ve done something like this...

That feeling in the back of her mind and in the pit of her stomach was growing. Chrys could now feel that nettling premonition of something awful making its way to Ponyville. It loomed in the dirt, above the clouds, and rested in every home. It seeped into every corner, every crevice, and every facet of life for the ponies. And it was growing bigger and bigger every day.

It was as if the very world was growing mad...

There was also one other thing that was deeply concerning the changeling princess. It was the Queen and her brethren. Chrys knew something awful had happened simply from stepping into that cave every night. The changes that had happened to the cave were so tiny, so minute that there had been no way for Twilight to know what was transpiring. All she could do was guess from the gravely worried expression on the little changeling princess’ face that not everything was right. But even as she tried to press for answers, it turned out even Chrys could not know why these things were happening.

For the cave was strangely silent, not even with the hum of the cave’s usual atmosphere. The crystals in the corridors were entirely pale, not even illuminating an ounce in the pitch black. And the souls of every changeling and especially the Queen’s had become dimmer and weaker, barely more than whisks of flame struggling to stay alight.

The cave was dark. Very dark. Yet darker still.

Chrys shuttered as she remembered that otherworldly darkness inside the mad Queen’s all-mighty magic. Those tendrils of pure black that blotted out all light from the room. Even when their bodies had been illuminated by Twilight’s magic when she and her friends arrived to her rescue, everything else in that room had been completely black. The walls, the ceiling, the very ground beneath them. Like floating in the middle of an unnerving abyss of pure darkness.

Even though that wasn’t the case this time around, with Chrys and Twilight walking down the length of those ancient halls, it surely felt like it. It felt like the shadows of the stalagmites were reaching out to grab at their heels like the tendrils that had uncoiled to sap out their heart.

It had been over a week now since the start of those events. A week since those flames had been growing weaker and weaker. After concluding her duties for that day, Chrys could not bare being away from the cave any longer in her worry, and Twilight understood this very well after having been witness to that increasing worry of hers.

"Twilight, I need, stay. Look after, changelings. Something... wrong."

Twilight could not deny her this, no matter how strongly she wished to. There was work to be done on the problems that ailed Ponyville and precious few hours in the day to fix them. For this night alone, she had to allow it in order to afford herself the rest of that night to investigate the rumors and the happenings. In hesitating agreement, they went their separate ways for the first time in a while.

Both of them hoping against hope that tomorrow would come and yield better results.

Unfortunately, tomorrow arrived and nothing had improved. Thankfully, nothing had really worsened either. Yet... perhaps that wasn’t the whole truth as there was a strange lull in the air. In traveling to Twilight’s home in the normal hours of the morning, where there should’ve been a bustling atmosphere of ponies interacting with each other in the freedom of a weekend, there was now a deafening quietness to the streets of Ponyville with hardly a soul out and about in their usual form and factor. The warm feelings of unity and comradery had vanished entirely, and it had felt like the ponies had taken that feeling with them...

Chrys remembered the time when she had fallen from a tall tree and had severely injured herself. She remembered that voice that echoed throughout the valley almost immediately after. She remembered how her first wonderful experiences of the world above had felt like they were not being paid in full... How even the forest had become silent and empty... Blind, lost, alone, and restless, she shuttered violently at the massive shadows that were encroaching on the ship she was on...

“Chrys! What are you doing?! Get in here!” Whispered a voice from a familiar bakery. She followed it with haste after hearing the urgency in it and the emotion coming from behind the door. She was quickly pulled into it when she’d gotten close enough, with the door shutting behind her.

“Thank goodness you were okay. Something crazy is going on and my Pinkie sense has been going absolutely bonkers!” Pinkie Pie said within the dim light of the bakery, Chrys slowly adjusting to it and seeing her image first.

“It’s honestly a huge relief sugarcube, S’pecially after Twilight told us to keep an eye out for you since you weren’t sleeping over at her home today.” Applejack called out from behind her.

“Glad we have some good news for Twilight now at least. It wouldn’t bare thinking what could’ve happened to you darling.” Rarity spoke up. Chrys looked over to her only to reveal the visages of two familiar young fillies, Mr. and Mrs. Cake and the tots, and several other pony-folk that had been caught out in whatever was happening to the town.

“Where, Twilight? What, going on?” She didn’t understand the panic she was seeing in each of their flames.

“Twilight’s been handlin’ the mess out there. Nothin’s happened yet, but that’s what has everyone in such a buzz I think. Look out here, Chrys, you see ‘em small things?” Applejack walked to the window to point with her hoof at something on top of the roof of every home. She squinted to see what the orange cowboy was referring to, as those somethings were very small indeed.

Little round colorful balls with wings that just about blended into the pastel-colored houses were perched in massive numbers just about everywhere the eye could see. You could have hardly guessed they were there in their stillness, but focusing harder on any one of them and you could see them shutter awake every now and again, beating their small little dragonfly-like wings and opening their bug-like eyes for a few seconds, only to fall back to sleep.

They were kind of adorable in their own way as they slept on.

“It was her! She brought them here! They’re both bugs so it makes sense!” Some random pony said suddenly from the crowd behind them who had been staring daggers at her since she’d arrived. Chrys immediately slinked into the wall behind her, cowering from those emotions that erupted from every other unknown pony in that instant fully believing this statement.

“How dare you! You’re an adult and you’d say somethin’ like that?! First Granny Smith, then at school, and now all of you... Argh, what’s wrong with all of the ponies in this town?!?” Applebloom exploded with anger and frustration in her heart at this, getting in front of a teary-eyed Chrys to defend her.

“Now hold on Applebloom, they’re just panicked, I’m sure if we just expl-” Applejack had tried to reason before she was quickly interrupted.

“NO! Applebloom is right! This town is full of gullible dolts!” Sweetie Belle interjected.

“Sweetie Belle! A lady shouldn’t be saying such things.” Rarity tried reprimanding her with no success, as it bothered the white filly none to be seen as something else.

“I don’t care! Stay quiet sis. You have no idea how bad it’s gotten at school for Chrys. Every day we hear everyone making up lies about her. All she did was help us with our Crusader training when we asked her to transform her hoof into a tentacle, and everyone just freaked out. And now the adults are making it worse!” Sweetie Belle barked at her, giving Rarity as well as Applejack no room to fight her words considering the trio of adult mares really hadn’t known of Chrys’ dire circumstance. They’d been left out of the loop and hadn’t been purview to the rumors themselves.

“Only yellow-bellied cowards talk behind another pony’s back and believe lies they won’t confirm themselves! Here I thought you’d all learned from Zecora. But ‘guess not.” Applebloom’s eyes had furrowed quite intensely. “The parasprites aren’t even causing any damage. They haven’t moved all morning. I’m sick of this, we’re leaving! Let’s go hide out in Twilight’s library. Probably safest there for Chrys.” Applebloom motioned to Sweetie Belle to help Chrys up off the ground from where she had been quietly sobbing and moved out of the building with her in tow.

The grownups had not moved from where they were sitting, floored by the sad reality of the little changeling and trying to apologize to the townsfolk for the harsh words they’d just heard. Even if they wanted to stop them from heading outside, the two fillies had been right. They didn’t want to keep Chrys in the same room as all of these panicked ponies who had not changed their minds. Especially considering that the group of close friends had gotten the run-down from Twilight on Chrys’ unique abilities when she’d gotten sick. The only thing they could think to do was let them walk away towards some other place to hide. It was truly awful to think that this was happening to her everywhere around their town...

It’s just... something wasn’t sitting right with them. This didn’t seem like the Ponyville they knew. Surely everyone had really learned from their mistakes and their prejudices before. And maybe because the whole town was on edge, they could’ve excused a few rude remarks here and there... but it really felt like their very words had been twisted up by an outside force. They didn’t have the evidence or the proof to back it up, but now every pony of sane mind could feel the madness creeping into every inch of their lives. They could physically feel the premonition wrapping around their town too.

“Pinkie, are you sure there’s nothing we can do about the parasprites? You managed to lure them away once before, but why not now?” Chrys could hear Rarity’s voice speak from afar, still within her heightened earshot as the volume was beginning to lower with distance.

“I really did try! I had all the instruments ready just in case of a repeat like last time. But now they’re not budging. It’s like they can’t even hear the music. And my Pinkie sense is going absolutely wild... I feel something terrible is going to happen.” Their voices trailed off entirely now.

Being in the middle of the town’s roads alone, the trio of young girls felt very scared indeed. Every now and again the parasprites fluttered their wings for a second on occasion, making an insect-like buzz of from shaken air. With so many all around them, they could hear that buzz constantly and from everywhere... getting louder and louder still.

They nervously eyed the stilled creatures, the tension of the moment growing larger and looming over them.

In their distracted gazes, the three of them tripped over a couple of vases that loudly shattered with a resounding ‘CRACK’, and suddenly... every single sprite in the nearby vicinity opened their eyes to look towards them.

They were cute, sure, and weren’t in the habit of eating living creatures. But in such massive numbers like this, they might as well have looked like a monstrous swarm of preying eyes.

Sweetie Belle and Applebloom lost their cool altogether and began running away with all their might. Chrys hadn’t been too affected since she understood these creatures were pacified and didn’t mean them any harm, but the same could not be said for the other two. She chased after her two friends with all her might, trying to use her spell to calm them down but being unable to due to the distance they were putting between them. Before anything serious had happened, thankfully, they were met and stopped by the figure of the most courageous of the Crusaders, Scootaloo, having she swerved in front of them riding through town in her scooter.

The two fillies just about tackled her as they met, sending them sprawling on the floor. Chrys’ spell finally reached them and did its job while they were knocked on the ground, the two fillies easing up their terrified hearts.

“Ow, seriously, what’s up with you two?” Scootaloo shook them off.

“Sorry, Scoots, the parasprites are really scary when they all look at you...” Sweetie Belle tried to reason.

“Never mind that! Something big is afoot. More so than those sprites. I went around your houses to look for you but no one was around, so I grabbed these just in case while I was there. Put ‘em on.” Scootaloo got their cloaks out of her scooter’s basket to hand them over.

“You really want to Crusade? Right now? You got a few nuts loose, Scoots.” Applebloom said as she and the other two girls obliged her, not having realized she might’ve also had a few loose herself by not denying her request.

“Twilight asked Rainbow Dash to go investigate the perimeter of the town while she was working to find out how to get rid of the parasprites. I think something else is bothering her right now and we gotta find out what that is! The town is in danger, I can feel it in my wings. We gotta do something! Who's with me?” She put a hoof out like she didn’t already fully expect her two close friends to join in.

What Scootaloo hadn’t expected was Chrys to join in on this, considering how badly she had been treated by the town thus far, but with thankful surprise, she was greeted by her unique hoof quite promptly after the three friends had united theirs. What she also hadn’t expected was the two other hooves that joined into the pile-up. From Snips and Snails.

“Wah? What are you guys doing here?”

“We’ve got no special reason.” Snails slowly said, distracting from the severity of this promise. “Just thought it’d be nice to help.”

“Okay, but why are you even out here?” Scootaloo asked with more exasperation.

“We were hanging out at my house when we got the warning from Rainbow Dash to board up.” Snails said.

“Yeah, but Snips had nothing to eat that didn’t require cooking and his parents weren’t home to do that for us so we came to get some grub.” Snails concluded.

“You guys have to pay more attention to what’s going on, seriously.” Sweetie Belle chimed in as the Crusaders shrugged and accepted it either way. Dire times called for dire measures.

“So what’s the plan?” Snips asked.

“Ehm. Plan?” Scootaloo was at a loss. She wasn’t much of a planner.

“Yeah like, what’s our role, what are we trying to do or what.”

“...” Scootaloo thought for a bit. “Uhm let’s see... Okay, we’ll stick together for a bit while we try and find Twilight. I think the last time I saw her was... south of town towards the Appleoosian mountains. She was looking at some mounds she’d seen on one of the carrot fields. We can’t let them know we’re investigating like this because they’ll try and stop us, so keep your heads low while we figure out what’s going on. Once we do, we’ll draft up a better plan. Let’s move ponies and pony-like friends. Let’s save this town.”

“Is that what we’re doing? Oh, man. Adventure. Sounds exciting.” Snails said while they trotted along toward their destination.

“What d’ya suppose is causing all this? Any guesses anyone?” Applebloom asked.

Silence. They could not know. Even the one closest to the epicenter of it all was clueless about what was transpiring.

“That’s what we intend to find out. Here, I think the mounds are up ahead. Stick to the trees and bushes. Go go!” Scootaloo led them all pretty well, splitting the group into three in her command to make the young kids dive into the flora to hide.

Which they hadn’t had to since there was not a single pony around. Whatever Twilight was investigating, she had already moved on, the residue of her magic trailing off into the sky in the direction of Ponyville. They all reconvened in the middle of the field where the mass of mounds had been dug up.

“Alright, any guesses now?” Applebloom spoke up as everyone looked at the strange piles of dirt that were clogging up holes.

“Looks like some kind of creature has been digging tunnels underground. Lots of em.” Snips said, which got a face-hoof in response from almost everyone.

“No yeah, we can see that,” Scootaloo sighed. “Well, nothing to it. Start digging everyone. We can probably find out what’s going on faster if we manage to break through into those tunnels.”

All six of the kids began digging at the mounds around them with their hooves. It was mostly rubble and soft dirt that had clogged those holes, so it was relatively easy to push apart the top layer of it even for children, but it was looking like it would take any one of them a while to get through. And they’ve would’ve kept digging all day long until suddenly...

Everyone noticed that Chrys had clammed up, a cold sweat running down the side of her forehead.

“What’s wrong, Chrys, you okay?” Applebloom asked, being the first to notice.

She had not had the time to tell them about vibrations in the ground growing stronger and stronger as though several pairs of strong claws were weaving through the dirt. She hadn’t the time to warn them about the rapidly encroaching horrible feeling that was nesting in the soul of the creatures that those claws belonged to. No time to even speak a word, her fear stunning her when she saw the twisted, corrupted, maddened fires of those three dog-like figures appear from the ground like land sharks, eyeing up the children once, and then quickly making a dive for the Crusaders and dragging them down into the pits below.

In only a few seconds, her friends had been robbed from her. The only thing remaining was the echoes of their voices calling for help. And then, not even that when a blast of dirt quickly sealed the opening shut behind them.

“Find, grown-ups! Hurry! Please!” Chrys yelled out with absolute desperation in her voice as she took the reins and commanded the two young colts who had been petrified with fear. They immediately bolted into the distance to follow her orders. Chrys began slamming her hooves onto the ground to dig with every ounce of force in her body.

But she was digging too slowly, and those creatures from before were deadly fast underground. She could feel the strong emotions of fear from the Crusaders and the mad state of those souls quickly growing fainter and fainter as they traveled away. Any slower and her friends would’ve been lost to her forever...

In her desperation, Chrys tossed aside all of her fears.

In her love for her friends, she broke a solemn promise she had made to Twilight and herself.

Without a second thought, she clawed at the ground with ease, ripping through the ground like swimming through the air.

And down, down the pitch-black darkness of those tunnels.

Chapter 7: With Fate's grand design,

Chrys felt an immense wave of exhaustion while digging for what felt like hours in the direction of her friends with all the might afforded to her by her child-like constitution and the magic fueled by desperate panic. The paws she used to cleave at the soil in front of her were now grimy and covered in layers of dirt, struggling to stay in the shape of the sharp claws that allowed her to rend apart the underground with ease.

Keeping the form she had adopted wasn't easy. Changelings could easily shift their form if the size and complexity of the creature were one-to-one with their own body. But in her quick thinking, she hastily took the form of the biggest of the dog-like creatures in that pack believing that it would allow her to dig faster. The size difference meant that she needed to substitute the empty space in the transformation with a layer of magic constantly, and the bigger the transformation, the more mass of power required to keep it consistent.

Occasionally she would begin to slow down from the physically demanding task of constantly digging and outputting magic, but every time she did so she could feel her friends’ presences slowly inch further away from her threatening to disappear forever within the pitch-blackness of those tunnels. It was a gruesome cycle that would repeat several times before the movement of those souls had finally stopped, and she was making real progress in reaching wherever her friends were being held now.

Chrys' form dissipated almost instantly in her tiredness as she reached the first real room of the cave network where those dog-like creatures had made their home. She could sense the Crusaders right down the hall from where she had landed. Like some horrible stroke of luck, her limbs were not responding to her in the way she wanted. The fatigue in her body that she had staved off throughout the digging process had now set in all at once, and she found she could not move an inch.

Her struggle against her own body was only met with weak writhing. How she loathed her powerlessness. So many times she'd been rendered unable to move. So many times had she been plagued by something or other. She absolutely hated the feeling of not being in control. It reminded her of when she'd fallen prey to exhaustion the first time like she'd been nothing more than a pair of eyes left to spectate the world.

Her mind filled with anger for herself.

It was an opportune moment for these feelings to surface, as her panic for her friends had begun to sway now that they were at a standstill and their own panicked feelings had begun to die down now that the shock of the event had waned. In this strong emotion of anger and hatred, she found the magical strength to replace her physical one and got up again. The glow of her power circled her as it traveled downwards, grasping violently at her muscles as the jet-like ferocity of this magic forced its way through her.

"Scoot! Sweetie! Bloom!" She yelled out into the corridor, not fully understanding the danger she was in. She was traveling slowly due to the struggles of maintaining her deeply troubling feelings of anger.

"Chrys?!" The three girls yelled out with pleasant, relieved surprise from a distance out of her direct sight.

"How did you get here?!" Sweetie Belle was the first to ask.

"Never mind that! Watch out Chrys, the Diamond Dogs are still around! Hide!" Scootaloo had said all too late before Chrys even had the chance to reach midway through the corridor. The Diamond Dogs had reared up behind her through the tunnel as her shouting and her coursing magical power had alerted them to her presence.

Chrys could sense their madness from a league away and was expecting them before they had even appeared before her. These types of feelings were all too familiar to her... They didn’t feel like the natural thoughts of those dogs. Around their souls, she could see a black-green tint around their fires. Something was manipulating them. Something Chrys recognized from long ago...

The Mistress. Not Queen Chrysalis, but the monster that lay within her.

They were under the same hivemind effect as her kin had been. Just like the changelings from before, all they could do was hiss and growl nonsensical hatred, anger, and fury. Their eyes were dulled, dead, like they could see nothing in front of them save for what the hivemind wanted them to see. How could this have happened? She’d been with the Queen the night before...

Her body still lay dormant within her deep, unbreakable sleep. How could she have done this? How had her magic manifested this far? Maybe her being asleep had been a lie?

She didn’t have a lot of time to think about it before the Diamond Dogs lunged in her direction, pinning her down to the ground in a restraint. She shook them off by quickly transforming in and out of the bigger form she’d taken earlier, allowing her room to escape and run over to the Crusaders. But in getting to them, she finally saw why they hadn’t escaped or gotten to her earlier. They had been jailed.

Seeing her friends panic for her safety and get angry for her sake as the dogs pinned her down again right in front of them, she felt the surge of her fury spike.

In the wake of those thoughts, Chrys was angrier than she had ever been in her life. She felt betrayed. Like all her goodwill had been turned upside down. Had the monster finished taking over the Queen entirely? Had she done this as revenge? Not just in the Diamond Dogs before her, but back in town and even with Twilight... She knew all of the ponies’ emotions hadn’t been all natural.

All the trouble she’d gone through had been for nothing. For whom had she toiled and sludged through every day? Why was she putting up with all of the mistreatment and false rumors?

What did she owe any one of them?

This was a dark feeling she held for both the changelings and the ponies for a while now. Even Chrys could not deny how ungrateful they had been in her service to them. She did not feel this way for her friends and Twilight of course, but the feelings of anger that she was consuming to fuel her magic were making her blind to see the obvious.

For the first time, she did something she never thought she would do.

Harm another.

She hadn’t meant to. Chrys understood that these manipulated feelings of madness were not their fault. The spell she cast had been the same one she’d always used to calm such feelings, but magic was a beast she hadn’t learned to control entirely. Especially the kind of magic fueled by angered emotions.

Immediately the little changeling was horrified by what she had done. Her spell had erupted out of her with such violence and force that it had sent the three dogs flying to a nearby wall, knocking them out cold. The volatile strength of the spell had sent shockwaves of power all around her, pushing back the Crusaders too as they yelled out in fear at the sudden, blinding blast of energy they were met with. The force had even been enough to bend the rusted and weak metal bars enough for the Crusaders to fit through.

Thankfully, none of them had been seriously injured. The Diamond dogs had only passed out due to artificial madness inside of them being erased so quickly and suddenly, and the Crusaders had only been pushed back a moderate amount due to the bars taking the brunt of that power. None of them could know this truth, especially Chrys who was mortified at what she’d done.

She cried and she cried as she apologized with all of her heart in the direction of the dogs for minutes on end, her magic from her anger having gone away altogether and leaving her stranded in front of them powerless to get up.

It had taken the Crusaders a bit of courage to get up from the scare and walk over to her to comfort her, but even without words they could all sense how sincerely she meant that apology and eventually pooled next to her as they comforted her in whatever way they could.

“It’s okay, Chrys. You were just tryin’ to save us. If anyone should be sorry, it’s us for having you do this with us. If we’d been more careful from the start, we wouldn’t have been taken like this...” Applebloom tried to comfort her, failing as she devolved into quiet tears herself and wept into her hair from her side.

“We should’ve been more attentive. We should’ve just said no to this plan. We should’ve stayed at Sugarcube corner with my sister.” Sweetie Belle said in-between sobbing as she too fell into Chrys’ hair from her other side to cry her heart out.

“I... Well... If anyone should be blamed... it’s me. It’s like you two mentioned. I’m the one who made us do this. I just wanted to help Ponyville. But instead, I caused this. I’m sorry Chrys. Not just for this, but from the start. I had this dumb feeling that something was not right with you. Like there was a voice in my head telling me all these awful things I didn’t want to believe. I couldn’t help to be suspicious of you because of that. Now I got my two best friends and my new important one in danger. This is all my fault. Please forgive me, you three...” Scootaloo said as she got in front of the three girls and bowed her head to the ground until her forehead touched it. The soil beneath her was becoming damp as her tears fell into it.

Golden motes like the ones they’d seen before appeared before all three of them. Although this time, they were far dimmer and weaker, struggling to stay alight. Even in her overwhelming guilt, Chrys’ love for her friends was strong and she didn’t want them to suffer like this. The spell was working only at a fraction of its effectiveness, but the group of friends didn’t need its effect to follow what naturally came next to them all.

Scootaloo felt her front legs be swept under her as she dropped to the floor where her friends were lying next to Chrys. The other two Crusaders had pulled her to a laying down position like they’d done to be together with Chrys who was still on the floor, her physical strength drained from her. The four of them hugged it out in the quiet emptiness of that cave, all regretting what they’d done.

Chrys was beginning to understand her magic a little better. In her anger, her magic had acted like a violent fire. In crying along with the girls, she remembered a time from long, long, long ago. During the tragedy of the Formless.

More precisely, she remembered the dream she always had of that time. Of a burning landscape and struggling to breathe through the heat and smoke of the flames all around her. Of how the fire swayed with such sporadic turmoil in some form of furious dance. And finally... how the fire had eventually consumed her very sight as the flames flicked at her eyes.

Anger, hatred, and fury... Those emotions were like that rampaging fire. She had allowed them to consume her as she’d always done with every emotion until now, and what she was now realizing was that in doing so, she’d become susceptible to their effects in more than just her magic’s potency. Perhaps somewhere deep inside those feelings, she truly did mean to hurt them...

That thought alone terrified her from the very reaches of her soul. The image of the Mistress appeared in her head at that moment. The monster within the Queen...

Perhaps to the average pony, they could temper those feelings better with age and wisdom, but to a changeling whose purpose was to feast on those emotions, it left them vulnerable to their power. Chrys hadn’t had to face this type of scare before, as almost all of her magic had ultimately been fueled by panic, which had served her well in dire situations like this, but also by love which was softer and kinder than everything else in her heart. She had also felt the magic born from sadness, fear, and regret when she’d first faced the Mistress in earnest, and they had shaped her overly sensitive nature. She was feeling them now as she cried alongside her friends at the prospect that she might’ve heavily wounded those Diamond Dogs. She was remembering what she’d done to make Twilight angry, and all the hate that everyone around Ponyville felt for her...

In the mixture of those feelings... she was sensing a crack. A rift in her mind, like a split of who she was deep down inside. The magics born from these emotions seemingly had their own will and were pulling her mind in every direction now all wanting to take control.

Then, Chrys broke yet another promise and did something she didn’t think she would ever do again...

In her fear of what was happening to her, she put a lid on all of these emotions and bottled them up. She’d begun to lie to herself again. To protect her from... that rising madness within her.

Suddenly, several sounds echoed throughout the cavern in the direction of the hole she had dug to get into the cave. Just down the hall, she saw Rainbow Dash dart out of the entrance and almost smack into the wall in her haste. Even with that quick maneuvering, she was still pinned to the wall by a far more panicked Fluttershy having collided with her after surfacing, sending them both to the ground and shakily pulling themselves up.

“Rainbow Dash! Fluttershy!” Scootaloo was the first to exclaim as she brushed away her tears with speed not wanting to be caught in a moment of weakness with her idol.

“Oh! Girls! You’re safe!” Fluttershy flew over to them even faster than Dash had in her relief, and she hugged the four with a strength none of them knew she had. “You must’ve gone through something horrible... your eyes are all red. You’ve been crying haven’t you?” She said gently and tenderly, bringing her head into the group to comfort them as the other girls tried to toughen up.

“It’s a huge relief that we were able to find you thanks to that hole. We took quite the gamble following it. I’m glad you’re all safe.” Rainbow Dash said trying not to show her immense relief but failing miserably. “It’s great that we found you, but jeez, what would compel you to be out with all the stuff going on in town?!” She hadn’t meant to sound so irritable, especially seeing how shaken up the girls were, but she, herself had been a bottle of anxiety ready to burst since the moment they found out the Crusaders had been kidnapped and Chrys had gone after them.

“It’s... I...” Scootaloo was having trouble confessing her mistake and error in judgment to her role model after seeing her burst out like this. Her tears were beginning to well up again.

Before she could say anything, Chrys got up off the ground with the little strength that had returned to her and she bowed her head to Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.

“I am, sorry. Not quick, enough. Not able, to save, in time.”

“It’s not her fault! It’s mine. I was the one who suggested we leave Sugarcube corner when we were with my sister!” Applebloom called out before the two grown mares could respond.

“It’s mine as well! I should’ve known better and should’ve gone straight to the library like we said we would...” Sweetie Belle added.

“What?! NO!” Scootaloo just about exploded at this. She would not allow them to take the fall, especially after everything she’d put them through. “I’M the one who told them to go crusading with me. I’M the one that directed them to go investigate the tunnels around town so we could save Ponyville. And I’M the one who should be in trouble! Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and especially Chrys are not at fault!” She yelled out with everything in her lungs.

Before the three Crusaders could get into a heated argument about whose fault it was, Fluttershy cleared her throat pretty loudly and became a lot more commandeering in an uncharacteristic display of confidence. “You’re all equally at fault for going along with this reckless plan, girls. You were in serious danger! These are matters that you should leave to us. And you really should learn from your mistakes here.” Her voice boomed through the halls. It had made all four of them shrink down as they contemplated her words. “But...” She said a lot more gently now. “All that matters now is seeing that you’re safe. We’re not going to punish you girls. I understand your heart was in the right place, but think for a second about how you’d make us all feel if something were to happen to you. That’s worse than any mistake you could’ve made.”

“What Fluttershy said. You girls have to learn to leave the heavy lifting to us! WE’RE the Elements of Harmony bearers, not you pip-squeaks.” Rainbow Dash said as she lightly bonked the four on the head with a hoof. “Only glad that we were flying around the area trying to find the source of these tunnels for a while on Twilight’s ask. Snips and Snails clued us into what happened to you.”

“Oh my...” Fluttershy’s voice trailed off as she finally spotted the group of Diamond Dogs lying on the floor unconscious and the metal bars of the jail bent by some explosion that had gone off. She flew over to them to begin inspecting them for any wounds.

“Did you girls do this?” Rainbow Dash asked as she noticed it shortly after Fluttershy had while looking at the metal bars and the cave walls opposite the jail that’d been pushed by that mighty force.

“I did. Could not, handle, magic. Sorry. So sorry.” Chrys bowed her head, her voice almost to the point of tears again as she recited her sorries not to Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash, but to the dogs.

Before any of them could try to comfort her again in her misunderstanding, Fluttershy spoke up after she finally finished giving them a glance over.

“There’s no lacerations, minor cuts, or even bruising. Their thick hides likely cushioned any impact. This is just a guess, but they’ll be entirely fine once they wake up from whatever is happening to them. It seems to be a magic-induced coma from a dispel. I’ve been seeing similar symptoms from a lot of the sick animals around town.” She said as she opened their eyelids to check for any signs of damage from the magic’s effect, concluding that there was nothing to worry about.

Chrys let out a sigh of relief as she said so. It had been a huge weight off her back, but the damage had already spread across her psyche and her repression of emotions withstood.

“Wow ‘Shy, I didn’t expect you to know so much about Diamond Dogs considering we’ve only seen them once before.” Rainbow Dash mused out loud.

“W-well um. They’re pretty close to normal dogs like Winona so it’s not difficult to diagnose them. Whatever happened to them must’ve been what happened to the cattle herd too when they became spooked. It looks like they’ve been affected for a lot longer than them so the dispelling effect was a lot stronger in their case. U-Uhm, if I remember correctly...” Fluttershy thought for a bit as she tried to parse it in her head. “Twilight mentioned this to us after she finished investigating the cause of the stampede with Applejack. The smaller animals and even more recently some of the ponies have become drained of their emotions with this type of magic.”

“Really? I wasn’t listening to that part when she told us. But why would they kidnap the girls if they were being affected by this? Some sort of mind control?”

“Not likely, none of the animals that were afflicted showed any signs of organized thoughts. They were all boiled down to their instinctual natures. Even the ponies acted out in a form of self-perseverance before they fell into their drained emotionless state. As though they were mad...” She thought about it a bit. “Diamond Dogs are pretty greedy in nature, so I think they must’ve seen the girls once and tried to steal something precious from them but kidnapped them as a result of their madness.” Fluttershy looked them over again and spotted the Crusader’s capes, pulling them off their unconscious bodies.

“Our Crusader capes!” Sweetie went over to collect them from Fluttershy who was looking at them up and down. “They had the nerve to take them away from us! I mean, I did go through a lot of trouble to make them so I’m flattered that they thought they were precious, but these are ours!”

“They were not necessarily after the capes, Sweetie. It looks like they wanted the gem that was pinned to them.” Fluttershy said as she pointed at the crystals that Chrys had gifted the girls and they’d adorned the capes with since.

“Even worse! No way we’re letting those go.” Sweetie Belle brought a hoof to her eyelid to make a face at the unconscious Diamond Dogs.

“Uhh, so you think this is all connected to what happened back then Fluttershy? The Diamond Dogs and the cattle herd I mean.” Rainbow Dash interjected.

“These types of symptoms first started appearing even before then. About a month ago, I started seeing it happen to all sorts of animals. Dr. Fauna and I were really concerned but thankfully all the critters got better on their own.”

“Wait, so what’s going on?” Scootaloo had been the one to ask as the two adults talked amongst themselves and Sweetie returned to give them their cloaks back. “Is Ponyville in real danger?” She said more worriedly.

“N-no! No, not at all. We’ve got it under control girls.” Rainbow Dash said unconvincedly. She sighed and tussled her mane in frustration as they stared at her. “Okay, I’ll tell you what’s going on, but promise you won’t be doing this crazy hero stuff again okay? You’ll just make it harder on us if we have to go rescue you again.”

The three crusaders nodded.

On the other hoof... Chrys made no such promise. She could feel it. The premonitions and how it all connected to her and her kind. This was something she was feeling like she had to fix. Thankfully, Rainbow Dash didn’t press for her to agree as she likely glossed over her lack of response within the group.

“Okay so, from everything we’ve gathered lately from around town... it seems every pony is being pushed to the edge by something. We can’t say what because everyone is being so vague about it. We think this is Discord’s doing due to Bertha’s testimonies of what they saw when the cattle herd got spooked. No one has seen him lately and it’s likely he’s the only one with this type of magic to cause such a mental shift in every pony in town. We wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt since it was only recently that he became reformed but well... It seems all the signs are pointing at him.”

All four of the girls were feeling a sense of déjà vu. Especially Chrys. They could all see the patterns again. The scapegoating, the easy outs, the simple answers... The blame was being shifted onto someone else with little connecting evidence again...

“It is, us!” Chrys yelled out to everyone’s surprise. “Changelings, fault. Formless! Recognize, magic. Feelings of, hate, sadness.” The little changeling walked over to the Diamond Dogs to place a hoof on them. Chrys swallowed all the conflicting emotions in her heart. She was deathly tired of hearing all these ugly speculations and accusations. She empathized so strongly with the creature being blamed for this. This Discord. Without knowing him at all. How terribly sad and hurtful it was to have someone not believe in you.

Of course, Chrys couldn’t have known the history of the ponies with Discord since she was a newcomer to their lives, but she hated the prospect all the same of someone being blamed for something that was outside of their control. And even if she had to oust herself and her kind to protect this unknown someone, she would do so by spelling it out to them.

“This magic. Similar. Same feeling. Same anger. To my, mom’s...” She became silent at this.

Chrys was now shivering with sadness. She looked down at the ground to keep from having to look into the eyes of her friends. In her mind, she believed that they would immediately cast her out and abandon her at this revelation. She’d spent her whole life believing that changelings were dangerous, and nothing she’d been through had diswayed her from that idea. It had been reinforced if anything. Every time she saw the fear in ponies... or when she remembered the past with her confrontation with the Queen... or even much further back in the time of the tragedy, Chrys could not shake off the image that if their freedom meant the destruction of someone else’s...

Perhaps it wasn’t worth being free after all. All over again, that moral obligation in her heart began to shackle her again as she thought about these things. Were the changelings truly deserving of freedom especially now after they’d caused harm once again to the world of ponies and directly after betraying her goodwill? Even if the Mistress was the one to have caused all this, they’d all been complacent to her command in their madness. Even Chrys herself had done nothing to stop their invasion the first time around, incomplete as she was.

Chrys was only a child. She couldn’t handle these heavy topics of who should get to choose whose guilty or not and whether being manipulated meant that you could be absolved of your mistakes. All she could feel was that she, herself, was guilty for not having stopped something like this sooner like she promised she would. And by what Fluttershy had said, she’d already failed in this task way before she had ever surfaced from her cave...

She fully expected her friends to turn away from her in disapproval of her actions. She was ready to be shunned for being the same kind of creature that had once again brought harm to their world. This is what she felt she deserved.

Instead, however, they all crowded around her to comfort her again.

“Your mom... you mean Queen Chrysalis, right?” Fluttershy asked as she petted her again.

“Mm...” The changeling princess fell into Fluttershy’s gentle hug.

“And you’re feeling like this is your fault, aren’t you?”

Chrys hesitated to answer and quietly nodded after a while. Fluttershy was mighty perceptive. “We were all there when you got sealed back into the cave all that time ago too, you know. Twilight let us know it afterward as well. About your responsibilities as a changeling princess. I don’t think any one of us can tell you what your obligations should be, Chrys, but I don’t think you’re the one to blame for all of this. You shouldn’t feel this way either. You’ve been trying so hard after all.” Fluttershy spoke very gently as she stroked her hair.

“Yeah, you even saved every pony in town from that herd! There’s no way you should feel like you’re the one at fault. If it really is your mother’s doing, then that’s that. We’ll just confront her all over again and this time we’ll be better off with Twilight’s new power, so you can leave it to us this time!” Rainbow Dash said trying to cheer her up in her unique way by messing her hair up a bit, successfully lightening the load on the changeling’s heart.

“Wait huh? Err, what’s that about Chrys’ mom being Queen Chrysalis? Chrys was the one that saved the town from the stampede?” Sweetie Belle chimed in, the two adult mares having entirely forgotten the Crusaders were still there. “And you said, Princess?!”

“I knew you weren’t a normal changeling!” Stumbled Scootaloo forward in her surprise.

“Sorry. The truth, I not, said earlier.” Chrys bowed to them a little afraid of having hidden this fact from them, but the Crusaders didn’t seem at all downtrodden by it.

“Are you kiddin’? That’s awesome! Our friend is a magical Princess!” Applebloom’s excited exclamation looked like how they were all feeling. Young girls didn’t seem to mind what that title meant at all. They were just excitedly happy at the prospect of having a princess as a close friend. Which was a blessing in disguise for Chrys as she indulged in their momentary happiness.

“But wait, err, Queen Chrysalis is your mom, right? Then the invasion at Canterlot...”

“It’s as you can guess, girls. Chrys’ situation is a bit difficult. We thought we could make it better for her if she could go to school to make friends... but I can imagine it hasn’t been easy.” Fluttershy sighed as she’d been more keen on the rumors going around town while investigating the sickness of the animals and the ponies, having heard all sorts of whispers herself. “If this is the work of the Queen again, then things are going to become that much harder from here on out. Ponies already believed that Chrys as a changeling was the one causing all the issues around town... Chrys, are you sure this is changeling magic that we’re seeing?”

She nodded again quietly.

Rainbow Dash put a hoof to her temple to think. “Then it’s likely that the Diamond Dogs and the Parasprites are no coincidence. This might be the start of a large attack like the one we saw in Canterlot. We have to let Twilight know. Right now she’s still trying to deal with the sprites. We have to gather the rest of the group too and ready the elements. Fluttershy, I’m gonna fly on ahead and get word to her that the girls are safe. If Pinkie’s sense was correct, then I think we should call for an evacuation. What do you think?” Rainbow Dash was already formulating a plan of action as she’d heard it.

“R-right. It’s better safe than sorry especially if we’re looking at a repeat of Canterlot’s invasion. Get everyone to go towards the northernmost part of town near the railway. I’ll take the girls there and look for the rest of us.”

“Things really are looking grim...” Scootaloo’s voice trailed off as they were seeing the urgency in their voices as the adults prepared for the worst.

“Don’t worry girls, we’ll do something about this whole thing. You worry about staying safe, for yours and our sake too.” Fluttershy reassured them.

Rainbow Dash had already left back through the tunnel that Chrys had dug, trying to get back to the surface as fast as she could. Chrys lowered her head once more to apologize to the three dogs. She was the last to follow up the tunnel behind the rest of the girls.

Back up through the climb, Chrys could think of nothing save for the image of the moment her magic had gone out of control. The rift inside of her was getting larger and larger. Her heart ached as she struggled to keep in mind that they had not been seriously injured. Fluttershy had to reassure her again after they’d made it back to the surface that they were okay, and if it really concerned her, that she would personally go to visit them to make sure they’d come out fine.

From a distance and towards the town, Chrys could sense the wave of panic from the fleeing ponies as Rainbow Dash started making her rounds letting everypony know they needed to evacuate. There was an increased sense of fear from everyone as evacuating meant something truly disastrous was abound. To make the panic worse, while traveling through the town towards the railways, Fluttershy and the girls could see what had everyone even more stricken with fear.

The Parasprites were wide awake, with hundreds upon hundreds of them staring in their direction now.

They still had not moved from their perch, but they were fully awake and vibrating their wings with intensity. Every one of them in unison sounded unreal. It was a buzzing sound so intense, it pierced through their head with a maddening screech of everything awful. It penetrated their very soul as the noise shook their insides into a sickening, overwhelmingly disorientated mess. It was causing such a nauseating effect that the girls had trouble staying on their hooves as they kept tripping mid-run, eventually having to hold onto each other just trying to take steps forward.

A rush of strong magical power suddenly swept through the air and the streets of Ponyville in the form of a purple mist that wrapped around every one of the numerous parasprites. The power of this magic was trying to induce them back into sleep. It was successful in stopping the buzzing, but the parasprites were resisting the lull. Much like the bovine herd from before... Chrys could sense the madness that permeated within them now.

“This is Twilight’s magic! It’s coming from near the library!” Scootaloo said tracing the streams of visual mist down the road.

At this, the earth began to tremble and the magical mist from Twilight’s magic grew thicker and stronger almost as if she was trying to fend off... something. There were rushes of air sweeping through the ground, impacts of a battle sending shockwaves in every direction. Whatever was happening, it wasn’t good, and Chrys could feel the emotions from all of the five adults gathered in one location, struggling against something for dear life.

Struggling against a mass of magical energy... Magic born from the emotion of madness. Changeling magic.

She wasn’t fully recovered yet from her physical and magical exhaustion, but Chrys ran as fast as her legs could carry her toward Twilight’s direction. She could hear Fluttershy’s and the Crusader’s voices shouting at her from behind to return to them but she would not be stopped. It was vital that she should be there for this confrontation.

This was her duty as Changeling Princess. This was her fight. It should have never been theirs.

Finally, as she reared the corner towards the library and caught a direct line of sight to Twilight and her friends, she noticed the battle that ensued. There was a strange creature that was a mix of many different animals shooting at Twilight green magic. Chaotic magic at that. It was not like the magic ponies wielded or even that of the changeling’s emotionally driven one. It was twisted and looping in every manner of direction, making a mess of the things it touched when it’d be reflected off of Twilight’s magical barrier that she was using to shield herself and the rest of the group of friends.

Even the fire in the soul of this creature was twisted up and chaotic in a way, unlike anything she’d ever witnessed before. But even in its strange pattern, Chrys could see the dark-green hue of madness from changeling magic embedded in it. It was being manipulated too.

From what? Well, Chrys could only guess that it was the work of the magical cloud that was hovering around it, feeding its power into that amalgamed creature. It was an unholy mixture of the darkest colors Chrys was ever witness to. A vile, sickening green that looked darker than even darkness itself. And she knew she’d seen its familiar appearance before... within the crystals that adorned the cave that had sealed them in all that time ago. The further into the center of the cloud, the darker and blacker it became, and inside she could see an eldritch shadow of everything awful.

“Twilight!” Chrys yelled out to her as she was rapidly approaching her direction, narrowly dodging some of the streaks of chaotic magic being reflected in her direction.

“Chrys?! What are you doing?! It’s not safe! Gah!” One of the blasts from the creature sent her reeling backward. Twilight was strong but she was focusing on keeping the parasprites contained while putting up the barrier. She was being overwhelmed with sheer power alone. “Rainbow Dash! Applejack! Secure the girls!” She shouted between gritted teeth. The rest of them had been fending off the parasprites that were actively trying to disrupt Twilight’s spell concentration. Rarity took the helm to swap out the two that left to go follow Twilight’s command.

Rainbow Dash immediately flew past Chrys. The changeling princess turned around to see what she was going for, only to see Fluttershy trailing behind her with the Crusaders in tow. Between the two Pegasi, they managed to haul all three of them over to the barrier quickly, with Applejack slinging Chrys over her back and rushing her to safety. Finally behind Twilight’s barrier, the attacks suddenly stopped as the cloud next to the amalgamed creature began to stutter and shake in waves at the sight of Chrys.

“Twilight, what in tarnation is happening to that thing?” Applejack asked her in this strange cease-fire.

“I don’t know... but the energy signals inside of it are increasing by the second. It feels like it’s becoming angrier and angrier...”

“Not good, not good! My sense is going crazy.” Pinkie was trembling up a storm. “It’s telling me... um. Watch out for falling rocks?”

Just as suddenly, all of the parasprites began to drop like flies straight out of the sky and from their perch atop the houses. All of them were fast asleep in emotionless exhaustion. The cloud of magical mist began to tremble with power, twisting and contorting with violence. It was consuming their madness. Mindless creatures as they were, in the thousands like this they were a massive whirlpool of emotion.

Chrys could hardly stand within the surge of energy that was amassing on that cloud. She walked over to Twilight who had already stopped her initial spell of putting the parasprites to sleep in the wake of these events, and she clung to her leg to hold herself up.

“I’m so glad you’re okay, Chrys. Don’t worry. We’ll protect you.” Twilight said noticing the small changeling princess at her side, unable to directly look at her from her concentrated barrier still being up. Twilight could feel her trembling touch. “Discord... so this was your doing?!” She shouted up at the amalgam. It didn’t respond. It just looked directly at them with dead, dull eyes. The same eyes the dogs had. The same the changelings of old wore as well. Consumed by madness.

“Twilight! Not fault, Discord! It is, moms!” Chrys shouted back at her, the magical cloud becoming more irritated at her words.

The cloud shot out in every direction hundreds of pitch-black spikes from its center that didn’t reach far from where it floated. Then each of them began to wiggle and coil around itself like a ball. Each spike a familiar tendril of dark magic. Chrys and all the adults had a chill run down their spines at the sight of them.

“Your mother’s...” Twilight’s voice trailed off. She turned to look at the coiled-up ball of tendrils giving way to show the cloud had shifted and refined itself into the faceless form of a grand and powerful figure. “Queen Chrysalis...?”

“No. Not mom. It is, the Mistress...”

Twilight could feel the little changeling girl shiver in fear as she hid behind her leg.

“What do you mean, Chrys? What is this thing?”

Before Chrys could answer, the mane of the cloudy figure took a hold of Discord by the neck and split off from the main body. The piece of mist that was left behind seeped into his fur, integrating itself more deeply into Discord’s soul from what Chrys could see. The draconequus brought his lion paw to his chin and craned his neck.

“Ah, that’s better. What’s a little madness without chaos? It’s been a long time, girls. I take it you’ve been doing well?” He spoke. Discord laughed cruelly as he could see the visible confusion in every pony. “Oh pardon, I forget you’re not looking at me over there, but the me here when I speak through this thing.” He said as he pointed his appendages at the cloud.

“What are you...?” Twilight asked slowly and carefully, trying not to incite it further. She was slowly starting to understand it herself. She’d heard of a similar thing happening to powerful figures in history before. Of magic, desires, and emotions so powerful, they grew a mind of their own...

“I don’t have a name. At least not yet. And I don’t want to associate with that worthless husk witling away the rest of her life worried for her sorry lot. What was it that you called her? Yes, I remember. Mom.” Discord wagged a finger in the air and conjured an image of Queen Chrysalis with intricate smoke patterns and shot it in Chrys’ direction. The cloudy figure tilted its head backward, with Discord following suit and laughing as he did so at the sight of her cowering further. “Or you know, Chrysalis or whatever. Same trash, different smell. You have no idea how happy I was that we finally got separated. A physical body is so weak.”

“Mom...” Chrys had begun to cry. She was feeling a wave of remorse now that she understood what was happening better. Even she had incorrectly assumed that this had been the work of the Queen. She’d allowed herself to feel anger over the thought that maybe she’d been betrayed by her kind, but it couldn’t have been further from the truth. It was why their souls seemed so weak and tiny the night before. Why even the Queen looked like her flame was close to becoming ashes. She finally understood now.

The Mistress. Queen Chrysalis’ monster, born from the overwhelming grief and hatred of the past during the tragedy. The embodiment of madness. It had split from her body and taken over a physical form. All the animals that had become sick, all of the changelings, and the Queen who had been affected... she’d been feeding off of their emotions to grow her strength all this time. It had been injecting that awful feeling into every pony in town since the moment she’d arrived, preying on their natural distrust and further augmenting those feelings of turmoil to amass her power and likely seeking revenge.

“Twilight. It’s, Mistress. Mom’s monster. In her, mind. Awful feeling, grown from magic. Changeling magic. Madness!” Chrys spelled it out for her and every pony present.

“Wait, what does this mean, sugarcube?” Applejack asked, not fully understanding what was going on the way Twilight did.

“It’s a magical manifestation of Queen Chrysalis’ insanity. And it’s the real culprit behind all of this.” Twilight put it in no uncertain terms for the rest of them.

The ground began to crack with power underneath her as the last of the parasprites fell from the energy she’d consumed.

“Mistress... It’s a fine enough moniker. You’re allowed to use it if you wish to address me.” Discord's voice mused. “Oh but enough speculation, please, do that thing you were going to do from the start now that you’ve got all six of you gathered. I’ve been meaning to show you just how powerless you really are. For real this time.”

The cloudy figure of the Mistress stomped her hoof as her pitch-black tendrils expanded out towards them like a hundred arms all looking to sap their strength again. Twilight reinforced her barrier spell at the start of the impact when they lunged at it with eager anticipation of consuming their magic. The waves of energy shook everyone within, and Twilight grunted from the sheer strength of the Mistress's magic. The Crusaders screamed in terror at the events unfolding before them.

“Get behind me girls! You’ll be okay!” Rarity yelled at them as she cast an extra barrier around them to be safe.

“We’re out in the open this time! There’s no way we’ll fall for the same trick.” Rainbow Dash yelled out as she flew high above the air where the arms couldn’t reach her and dive-bombed the cloud. The Mistress split her form in an instant before Rainbow Dash connected a hoof and sent her crashing into the ground only to quickly compose herself before the arms could grab at her. “I can’t get a hit in!”

A blast from Twilight and Rarity’s magic shot toward the Mistress only to be deflected from an invisible barrier that was already shielding her.

“No, no, not this hullaballoo. You know what I meant, stop playing dumb with me, ponies. I want to see some real magic. I want to see you despair again. Show me those shiny rocks of yours.”

The tendrils amassed into a single massive spear. It lunged upwards and fell onto Twilight’s barrier with a thunderous roar that ripped at her barrier’s magical layers. Cracks began to form on it and small strips of black-like little snakes from that cascading power slipped through them, falling onto the adult mares and sucking at their energy like leeches. Yet strangely, they were leaving Chrys alone. Twilight’s barrier began to dim as multiple of them fell on top of her.

Chrys could only watch as Twilight and the rest struggled against the Mistress' magic. Her exhaustion had prevented her from being able to fight back, and even in deep panic, she could not muster the magical energy to do anything.

The rift inside her had grown.

She was strongly denying herself the ability to feel hatred, anger, or fury. Even outside of those emotions, ever since facing the dogs her emotions had felt stunted by her fear of using her magic again. She feared harming everyone present, even as she watched them slowly being subdued like this. There was a chance it could backfire and hurt everyone she loved. But if she didn’t try, then they’d all be done for either way.

Chrys could sense the intentions of the Mistress. Her hatred was so blindingly powerful, it felt like it could blot out the very sun. She intended to see everything and everyone in ruin. Chrys was becoming ever more desperate as the seconds ticked by.

She forcibly undid her shackle again. Yet it was not like any of the other times she'd overcome her fears like when she undid her magic. This was not in service of something she wanted to do. Quite opposite of that.

In allowing her anger and hatred for the Mistress to seep back in, the rift inside her grew once more.

Chrys used her magic to transform into the smallest of the Diamond Dogs and buried underground at that moment, much to the surprise of the mares save for Twilight who had full attention on keeping the barrier up. She appeared behind the Mistress and transformed back to her original form to cast the spell she had always been using up until now with every ounce of magic in her, reciting the words to perform it over and over in her head.

Her horn lit up with a powerful saber of light that teetered like a flame in her anger. She thought more and more about how this thing before her upended all of her efforts and all of the lives of every pony and the changelings just for its cruel goals. She could not stand it.

From the reaches of her heart, Chrys was desperate to find some semblance of good in the Mistress. However much she wanted to believe that this awful creation was a separate being from her mother, the horrible truth was that it wasn't. She understood this now, as her own anger had brought about that troubling realization. It might have split from the main body, but it was still a part of her soul, as twisted and ugly as it had become.

Chrys hesitated to finish the chant in her head at the very last words. With Fate's grand design... Her magic struggled to keep alight.

She couldn't say it.

"Chrys?!" Twilight said from the opposite side of the Mistress, finally noticing her and what she intended to do. The Mistress, however, hadn’t even shifted her stance to see Chrys. She only looked on ahead at the group of mares, seemingly unconcerned by what was transpiring behind her.

Suddenly, the vitriolic womanly voice of the Mistress when she had reigned over Queen Chrysalis spoke to her from within her mind.

"You'd be mad to think this would play out like last time. You think you can save anyone the way you are right now? Think I can't notice it? Your truth is mine. And mine is yours. A manifestation of the Queen's mind? Hardly. What can she do amidst her endless dreams? It seems you don't rightly know yourself as well as you wish you did. I originated from the Queen, sure, but I was given shape by you."

Chrys' magic left her altogether at these words. She became petrified in fear of what they meant. She tried refuting this claim as loudly as she could with her own internal voice, but to no avail, drowned out by the maniacal laughter of the Mistress.

"Why do you deny me so? Is this not what you intended from the start? Did you not read the fine print for what you are? I've been with you for quite a while you know. How far back do you think I've existed within you? Let's see. Maybe when you were shocked at what you'd done to those mutts? Maybe when everyone started to spread rumors about you? Or maybe it was when Twilight got angry with you and you cried your heart out. Boohoo."

Chrys shook her head as hard as she could, somehow believing that doing so would shake the Mistress out of her mind.

“It might’ve been what that little filly, Diamond Tiara, said to you. It could’ve even been when you first entered school! Or maybe the first time you walked through the town of ponies only to hear and see their horrid thoughts. Woe is you.”

Chrys had fallen to the ground and draped both of her forelegs over her head, trying her best to force that voice out with no success.

“Perhaps I was already with you the moment you saw Twilight again after so long, and your unsettled mind made you believe that Twilight was the only one with that lingering darkness in her heart out of the two of you. We both know you wanted to believe you were better than this. That you could overcome anything. Getting drunk off of a single victory is the folly of any foolish foal after all.”

Discord sneered cruelly at the imitation of the Mistress’s cloud doing so wordlessly.

“No, the truth is that I’ve been with you for a very long time now. From the moment you decided to open up to me to get a hold of something you used to fear almost all your life. The irony? If you’d only kept to your fears, your doubts, and your chains, I would’ve never made my way into you. I thought I was done for when the Queen managed to almost extinguish me with your help. But to my surprise there you were, a ripe vessel for the taking far more powerful and naïve than the rest of your lot. Oh, how sweet your loneliness was after that cave had closed for what felt like ever. How delicious that desperate brooding of anxiety and worry were. But alas, good things didn’t last forever. Eventually, these ponies found you again, and you learned a rather troublesome party trick that’s kept me at bay. Still, it was just a matter of time until you cracked and the tiny bit of me I planted inside of you would grow to this extent. But now, we’re both ready for me to take what’s rightfully mine.”

Chrys cried out in pain as she could feel the rift inside of her mind crack open all at once, separating her mind in two and pushing her further and further away from the control of her own body.

“Aren’t you happy? Aren’t you glad? You’re going to be free.”

"No... No! NO!" Chrys yelled out with the last of her right mind.

“You fiend! What are you doing to her?!” Twilight’s voice screamed out at the sight of this almost wordless exchange between the two and seeing Chrys’ turmoil becoming increasingly more intense as the little changeling yelled out her troubled refusals, the purple alicorn struggling to stay standing from the mass of black leech-like tendrils on her back draining at her strength.

“I thought I already said this once before, my dearest most faithful Twilight. It’s not about what I’m doing to her. It’s about what she is doing for me.” Discord said as his eyelids closed and his body limply fell to the ground unconscious and unresponsive.

Twilight’s heart sank to its very depths as she could only watch what happened next.

The cloud of energy swirled around the little changeling princess smaller and smaller until it disappeared altogether into her body. As she opened her eyes again with newfound malicious intent in them, Twilight tremored all over at the truly awful truth.

The Mistress had overtaken Chrys entirely.

Extra: Yesteryear

"Will you come to my talent show, Twilight?" These words were said very carefully and slowly by a frail voice still recovering from the magical induction it had suffered only a month before.

Both Twilight and Spike dropped their forks in dramatic fashion which only moments ago had been feeding them their Nth helping of pancakes. It was such a waste of food, and doubly so for the two who scrambled to pick their forks back up from their surprise, as these pancakes had been made almost entirely alone by the voice that had asked the question. You would have thought they'd be tired of them by now, but not so for this occasion no matter how flawed those cakes were. Imperfection was perfection, in this case.

"Of course, Chrys! Of course! I wouldn't miss it for the world. Consider it done." Twilight said hurriedly after returning to the small girl's direct vision from catching her fork half way to the floor mid-air with magic.

"Are you sure? Not busy?" The worried girl with bright amber eyes asked.

Twilight produced her list of duties she always made and gave it a cursory glance to imitate the idea that she was checking to see if she was free that day. She wasn't, but there was no way anything took precedence over Chrys' show, especially after she'd been asked to go by her. Chrys' worried stare didn't leave her until Twilight cleared her mind and made of show of tearing the long, long scroll into shreds with her magic.

"Well, well. Will you look at that. Seems like I'm totally free that day by some miracle." Twilight shoo'd the torn bits of scroll through the open window with a magical gust and into the breeze.

Chrys blew up her cheeks with frustration obviously catching Twilight's ruse, but was happy nonentheless that she would do everything in her power to attend, especially considering how nervous Chrys was to stand before so many ponies and needed her moral support

"Oh, oh! Unlike Twilight, I'm totally free that day! Can I come too?" Spike interjected in that moment.

"Mm!" Chrys was more than happy to hear Spike wanted to go as well.

Twilight on the other hand... she just stared at Spike with a look of betrayal. Which he just returned with a smug look as he munched on a pile of small yellow crystals for dessert, gems he'd acquired as a gift from the little changeling. It was quite the dangerous atmosphere Spike had created but was almost immediately alleviated by the squeaking giggles of an amused Chrys as she found their laid-back dynamic, fun to be around.

Now they were feeling a strong sense of normalcy that had not existed until that moment. It had been a full month since those dire events had happened, and ever since, everyone had been on edge about any number of things. For starters, they couldn't be 100% sure the Mistress was gone for good. The old Queen's act to suppress her had helped the concerns about any possible slips in her form coming back to haunt them, but magic was all sorts of wily, and the Mistress had been quite cunning indeed.

Even if, per chance, they really didn't have to worry about her return, the Mistress had done quite a lot of damage to Ponyville via the Guardian. Its stones had rained down on the city causing all manner of broken things. Thankfully by some miracle, or perhaps not, noone had been harmed despite the catapulted stones. Still, it kept the citizens on edge all month long of another possible attack all while rebuilding the damaged part of town.

The mood had definitely improved in that time, however. Random ponies could be seen bowing their heads slightly to Chrys each time she walked out into the public. They'd all had a semblance and a memory of all the awful things they'd allowed in their weakness, and all of them seemed to realize the kind of hurt they'd made the little changeling go through. It was the same thing they'd done to Zecora twice over, and a lot of them felt beyond guilty. Especially those who had done the most damage.

None of them had, had the courage to voice their regrets and give her a proper apology. It was not shame that stopped them from doing so, but a deep, deep remorse that made them feel like sorries wouldn't be nearly enough to earn them her forgiveness. Not until very recently had she had anyone give her a verbal apology, when the first to do so were two notorious fillies who had recognized their mistake. Awful as they were, they had seen something far worse and wanted nothing to do with that kind of evil. Time and contrasting experiences had afforded them the ability to reflect, and they did so in front of a public audience outside of school in the market after they spotted her walking with Twilight.

"You! Changeling girl..." Diamond Tiara had said to stop her. "Chrys, I mean. Well... I'm..." Her face contorted, struggling to say the words she meant to say. "You are forgiven!" She turned away with a flush to her cheeks. "No um, what I meant to say is sorry, yeah." She said with an airy breath that didn't sound apologetic at all.

"Yeah, I'm sorry too. Shouldn't have called you all that stuff." Followed the snide remarks of Silver Spoon, who to everyone else didn't sound nearly sincere enough to have been worth uttering.

To everyone's surprise, Chrys initiated a hug between the three of them, fully accepting their apology despite their haughty behavior. If you don't understand why this was, then you've forgotten what Chrys has been dealing with this entire time. Her amber eyes. The gifts of a sage, and her window to the world of souls. She could read their true intention like the back of her hoof, and she was deeply touched by their intentions, not their words.

After seeing how 'magnanimous' Chrys had been at that moment, more and more ponies felt the courage to voice their regrets and apologies to Chrys. In reality, none of them had ever had to voice those feelings, for the little changeling had already taken them in, in kind. Every day since those events, the townsfolk could only wonder how the small girl had the courage to walk amongst so many ponies who only days before had verbally harassed her even out in public due to false rumors. They thought her strong, immovable, and truly noble of heart. They saw her bright smile constantly and making brighter every scene she passed by, that suddenly, what only a month before had been a harbinger of doom and everything awful in her image had transformed into this saintly, angelic creature. She fought for and saved everyone. She'd forgiven them so easily. And love and joy resonated from her like a strong hearth.

Simple misunderstandings, assuredly. She was not as perfect as they were making her out to be. She still feared their gazes. She'd saved them, but just barely, and she'd abandoned her sense of duty and morals when it had been all too much to bare once in that fight. The only reason why she pulled through it all and saved them was because of her love for Twilight and her close friends, not them. Why was she constantly happy walking through town? Because she walked amongst much kinder folk, whose opinions were changing for the better and seeing her in a much brighter light. She was surrounded by positivity, when the contrast from before had been almost entirely negativity. How could she not enjoy this change of pace?

And she was walking with a much lighter load on her shoulders. No longer did the fate of the changelings haunt her every waking moment. No longer was it just her sole responsibility to wake them from their lingering madness after Twilight had ordained and organized a group of medical magical professional unicorns to upkeep their rehabilitation.

But she still had one major responsibility left. Her role as Princess. Her desire to breed a world without prejudice for her kind, so that the changelings could one day live in peace amongst the races of Equestria. She would have to do the hardest work she'd ever have to do to accomplish that, even above saving the world twice.

What kind of grueling work was it that even Chrys could not akin it to the events a month before? Public speaking. Diplomacy. Building bridges. Making friends...

And the path to that started with the truth. For her talent show, she had a rather special plan in motion that no one but her knew. Happy that the two closest to her heart would attend, she went back to working on whatever special thing she was working on, careful to stay away from prying eyes.

It took a lot of willpower from Twilight not to peek at whatever it was she was doing, wanting to give Chrys her privacy and the gift of surprise for when the show was eventually put on. She paced up and down the library constantly, doing a number of mental gymnastics in her mind about what it could be. This continued all the way until the day of the talent show, and even through it as Chrys was the last to do her presentation in front of most of the ponies of Ponyville.

The group of Twilight and her friends and even the Crusaders who had finished their own show were now in the crowd waiting expectantly. All of the ponies, dragon, and zebra who mattered most to her were in attendance for this moment too. What could it be? They'd all murmured under their breath. But something was wrong. Miss Cheerilee had already announced the winners for the talent show despite Chrys having not done her show. Was she not going to do it? But just as the show was wrapping up, Cheerilee announced to everyone to stay for one final show which she made sure to mention was very special and needed a window of its own outside of the normal contest. There was a real sense of excitement when they heard this.

Everyone's jaws dropped the moment those curtains lifted and Queen Chrysalis stood proud and tall at the front of the stage.

She looked a world different. No holes dotted her legs. Her hair was organized and shorter. And her horn was perfectly straight. She was beautiful, and a true sight to behold. Like a true fairy of legend. The friends and crusaders were reminded of the imperfect but very much alike version they'd seen of the sane Queen when they had seen her inside the Guardian.

They all held their breath to see what she would do next. The silence in the crowd was palpable. Was this another attack? What was the Queen doing here? Wasn't she supposed to be sleeping?

Behind her, a cardboard wall of crude drawings stood. On that wall was dark illustrations of a cave and its stalagmites with a lot of green dots lining it. Where those... Changeling eggs? Far to the opposite end of where the Queen stood was another cardboard cutout of a yellow egg, unlike the rest of them. The Queen silently walked over to it and placed her horn to its surface, and the bright light of her horn created an aurora of golden magic all around the stage and even in the crowd. That magic was comforting and warm, and all who felt it could sense their hearts ease as it passed by them. Then the cardboard cutout of the egg broke, and was quickly replaced by a small rendition of a baby changeling. A unique one at that with a twisted little horn and a short, light green mane that closely resembled the Queen's.

Little by little, it became apparent as to what they were seeing. The history of the changelings... And the Queen was likely...

She took this cardboard cutout and placed it onto her back and turned around to show her walking out of the cave. The wall of drawings flipped around quickly to its other side to show a background drawing of a large field with a warm orange glow peeking out from the horizon, to illustrate a sunrise. Then, she placed the cardboard down gently onto the ground, and from her mane she produced a perfectly translucent crystal which she proceeded to infuse with magic and hold it up to the cutout.

From there on, a number of scenes happened. The story they were seeing was truly something else. It had its up and downs, and it was telling the life of this small cutout. The Queen was often replaced by a number of figures. She would walk off the stage and white pony with a yellow mane and amber eyes would walk back on to act out some of those events. All of them in some silent display.

The cutout itself was replaced a number of times as those scenes played out, growing bigger and more detailed until the resemblance started to look like something they all recognized...

Then, the story took a turn for the worse. Illustrations of fires, and many of them, began to fill the stage. The cardboard wall was replaced with the ghastly sight of a ruined city, with only the skeletons of buildings surviving those events.

The final scene of this play showed the Queen standing on top of a pile of rubble and looking out to a crowd of changelings. Red lines indicated the ire of the changelings affected by this tragedy. The Queen bowed her head to them all in that moment. When she brought it back up, her horn lit up with magic. But this time, the magic was a different color. Green, a dark green. Or as dark a green as the person casting that magic could make it, which wasn't all that dark in the end. But it clearly showed that something had changed. Then, the silent play that they had all witnessed ended and the curtains closed. Out from the curtains, Chrys appeared.

She faced everyone with a solemn look to her face and bowed to her knees.

"Our tragedy became yours." She said slowly, carefully, and concisely. "Changelings were consumed by madness. Waged war. Made mess of the world. Sealed away for a long time. Our punishment. But freed and caused trouble again. Ponies pay price for our mistake."

This was the first time any of the ponies outside of those who had been inside the Guardian had heard the truth of the changeling's past. And they had just finished seeing a recreation of that past and what lead up to them becoming that way...

What were the ponies to think? For a month now, this idea that Chrys was an angel had been perpetuated until so many of them believed it, and now they'd just been witness to something truly stunning and awe inspiring that had been done by her transformational ability. It was a heavy truth, and a sad one. This story had connected her to them in a much more personal way than before, and now all of those thoughts were racing through the crowd in a sort of mass, silent reflection.

If it was Chrys' intention to rock their very worlds with such a big display in an act of trying to get public opinion on her side, then she'd succeeded. It wasn't, as all she intended was to apologize on behalf of her kin with all of her heart to every pony who had been affected. But at least for the small town of Ponyville, it was everything they needed to hear. She'd created myth and historical truth itself at the same time. She had won over the hearts of even those who still sat by the fence. She had won their empathy and their trust, and all around her you could hear the thundering sound of hooves stomping their approval like a standing ovation.

While Chrys was very happy to feel the kind of emotions coming out of the crowd in respects to her, she was deeply embarrassed by what they decided to do next. Now all of them knew that she was a Princess. And so what started from one of those ponies showing his respect by taking a knee to bow, so followed everyone else, even her close friends.

Even in the Formless Kingdom, she had never been seen as a true Princess. She never could've imagined the respect of that title the likes of which the Queen commanded in her prime being directed at her, so this feeling of reverence was new to her, and something she felt she did not deserve at all. In her flustered shame, she ran off the stage and over to Twilight, who still bowed to her.

Twilight and everyone else could see how it flustered her, but all the same, in their respect for everything she'd accomplished, they continued to bow until Twilight stood up first after so many nudges of protest from the little girl. For that night and a few days to come, she looked like a true celebrity as so many ponies lined up to voice their heartfelt opinions about her talent show and their feelings and regrets for what they had done to her.

Before that night ended, a large, tall white alicorn made her way through the crowd. Every pony made way to give her a path as she did so. Her pastel rainbow maned flowed in the wind and made for quite the sight, and Chrys' eyes widened when at the sight of her.

Chrys stared at her unflinchingly all the while she walked up to them, and to up her, and even when her tall figure bowed all the way until her long horn reached the ground.

"That was a truly wonderful show. The truth can be a sad thing, but it's important to put it out in the open if we are to move forward together. In my prime and as a regent, I'd always wondered why Queen Chrysalis placed all her hopes into you despite the dire circumstances all that time ago. But now that I'm older and wiser, I see she was entirely right about what she'd done. Even if she hadn't been, then she did it out of her love for you as any mother would. I realize now, I'd probably do the same too. I always feared I'd made so many mistakes in the way we tackled those issues in yesteryear, but you and Twilight have given me so much peace of mind now it's hard to imagine I've lived with it all this time." She brought her head up to look at the little changeling and smiled at her. "It's so very good to see you again, Princess Chrys. And so good to see you are well."

"Auntie!" Chrys hugged Princess Celestia at that moment, making for quite a heartwarming scene.

"Seems I haven't been forgotten either." She chuckled. "I owe so much to you and your predecessor. I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough to save you." She said remorsefully as she fell into Chrys hug even more. She may have had the grace to not cry at that moment, like any true ruler would, but Chrys felt her deep sorrow well up at that moment like tears from the heart.

Chrys proceeded to tap the purple crystal on her breastplate with her horn and infuse her magic into it. She placed the calming effects of her usual spell into it to help ward off those saddening emotions, and slowly, Princess Celestia regained her composure again.

"Haha." Her voice shook as she laughed weakly. "Like mother like daughter. You can probably sense this was a gift from her, can't you?" Chrys nodded up at her. "Thank you, Chrys." She composed herself and turned to Twilight. "My dearest Twilight, I cannot express how grateful I am that you've allowed me this opportunity. Thank you as well."

"It's nothing, Princess Celestia! Truly, it's nothing. Nothing would've stopped me from taking care of her." She brushed aside her own welled up tears after having witnessed this reunion between them.

Before they could lose themselves in a sea of pleasantries and circulating reminiscence, a deep voice from someone behind them spoke up.

"A truly wonderful story from beginning to end. The very signature of love encompassed throughout your lives shaping the very world around you and yourselves. Truly one worth for the strings of fate." This deep, musky voice was coming from an aged creature with long, long flowing coat hairs. His eyes were completely covered by his bushy, white brows. His mouth, by his long moustache and beard that blended together and reached almost all the way down to his knees.

Stranger yet, this was no pony. This was a creature unlike anything any of them had ever seen before. An elk. A very, very ancient one. His antlers were massive, and they branched out in every direction like a huge tree. On them, runic carvings dotted along their length in a language none of them had seen before, telling stories all throughout it. Hung from the ends and all along wherever there was space, talismans with stories in them flowed in the wind majestically.

Both Princess Celestia and Princess Twilight bowed the full way to show their utmost reverence for the creature, which made everyone else present do the same albeit not understanding why.

"Your holiness... welcome..." Princess Twilight began.

"Holy? Nonsense. I doubt we are any more special than the lives of anyone here. We are but simple chroniclers of history. Please, treats us as you would any others."

"What? But you're a Sage of Fate... we can't..." Twilight stammered.

"It's okay, Twilight. Fimbulþulr is a longtime friend of mine since I was but a filly myself." Princess Celestia chuckled.

"And yet you incentivize the rest to treat us like royalty, Celest." He huffed.

"A joke, you old goat." She laughed.

"So uh, what's a Sage of Fate? No offense, old man." Rainbow Dash asked, addressing everyone's confusion.

"None taken." He replied.

"The Sages of Fate are also known as the 'Keepers of Fate', who have long lived outside Equestria and have chronicled many of its stories. They are revered by all who still know of them as god-like entities themselves, and often thought to have a handle on the very hands of fate." Twilight explained.

"We are not gods nor can we control fate, of course, but given our long lifespan and rare appearances throughout the ages, you can see how that would inspire rumors. Many of my fellows have gotten it stuck in their empty heads too that they come with some sort of divine providence and act all mighty because of it, but they're just a bunch of senile fools if you ask me."

"So then, to what do we owe this meeting?" Twilight asked.

"Well, you've heard what we do. Care to guess what I came here for?" He chuckled in an old man's style of laughter, coughing and hacking up in the process. He pointed to Chrys with one hoof, and then moved it over to Twilight. "I came to listen to some stories and write them down too. Rest up for now, however. I shall come around again and often, so be prepared to accommodate this old man if you can."

He lowered his head over to Chrys and inched his brows up so that his eyes were now fully exposed, getting a good glance at the small girl who stared back at him with fascination. He smiled a big grin, which made for a funny sight and who made Chrys chuckle.

His eyes were deeply amber, and she saw how alike they were to her own...

"From Svássver, to Tera Amare, down to you, little Chrys. Where your eyes follow, so does a love for the world. That's how my late wife always saw it. That's how Tera would've seen it too, as I'm sure you remember. And that's how I see it in you too." The great elk ruffled her mane until it was a mess, laughed at his handiwork, and said... "Your story is truly special and will live on in not only the history of this world, but in ours too. See you soon, small miss."

Then he departed for the night, down into the thicket of trees to disappear like a phantom.

Author's Note

A Kindled Beginning will see a multitude of extra chapters when I get around to being able to do that after I finish my new story, so stay tuned for more of Chrys' life in a much calmer, better environment.

Interested in Chrys' play and what happened in it? It'll be a bit sad, and undoubtedly a tragedy, but if you still want to hear it, be sure to catch my new story "A Kindled End". I'll finally detail the past, and why Chrys cared so much about the changelings and Queen to start with. It too has some beautiful art to illustrate it, so if for nothing else, go take a look at Skyeypony's wonderful art!

EA Kindled End

Be warned. This is your tale, brought about by one tragedy. It doesn't have a happy Beginning, and it'll take nothing short of a journey to Change that. But this is the start of your life in the Kingdom of the Formless, and how it will eventually End

Darkevony · 13k words · 24 3 · 700 views

Finale: Chapter 8: To Live Free and to Save all of Our Kind.

An overwhelming power erupted from the little changeling. The Mistress’s presence within her had ushered a truly cataclysmic sight with the golden glow of her magic shifting into an intense green so saturated with malice, that despite its glow, it felt like darkness itself. Much in the same way they had faced back in their first confrontation against her, Twilight and her friends were met by the horrifying effect of her magic stretching all around them onto every surface it could touch, creating a truly surreal void-like ground beneath them.

The Mistress was theatrical in her own cruel way, purposely using the massive power she now wielded thanks to her fusion with Chrys to darken the skies with black, thundering rain clouds called forth through her magic. She wanted the ponies to know how truly defeated and helpless they were by dyeing the very world almost as black as the inside of that cave, creating the stage for her rise and doubling down on making them despair to feed on more of their troubled hearts for her magical purposes.

She got on both hind legs to raise her horn to the greatest height of Chrys’ body only to slam her front hooves down to the ground while letting one resounding blast of dark energy rush towards those whom she’d made it a personal goal to intimidate with this show of strength. Nothing of the small girl remained in her eyes, save for that familiar amber hue of her irises. The Mistress had twisted the little changeling's visage considerably, darkening even the luster of her wings and hair. Her pupils were sharp, like those of the mad Queen and the whites of her eyes had become the neon green of the Mistress’ power.

Applejack struggled against the leeching tendrils, trying to inch toward the purple alicorn. “Twilight! What do we do?!”

“I... I don’t know...” Twilight’s voice trailed off, truly in despair. “This is wrong. It’s all so wrong. Chrys! Please! If you can hear me, say something!”

A cruel smile answered that call and the little changeling’s mouth dropped open to respond. Yet, nothing came out. An uncomfortable silence lingered while The Mistress looked to be trying to say something, but finding it difficult in Chrys’ body and becoming more irritated by the second.

“Ponies, rule. No more. I, have won. Now, know despair.” The Mistress said in Chrys’ voice, finally making a modicum of sense. She shook her head in frustration, and the dark green glow of her magic exploded with fury. A green mist then coiled down from Chrys’ twisted horn and around her throat, latching on like an ethereal necklace. “Finally! How obnoxious. It’s unfortunate that such a powerful vessel comes with such inconvenient problems, but I can make do.” These words were uttered by a much deeper voice, like the one they’d heard from the mad Queen.

Twilight got up with a start, her own magic surging at these words and blasting away at the creeping darkness that fed on her power. Yet to no avail, with the pitch black from under her hooves being quick to replace the tendrils that had been lost, sending her crashing back down onto the ground.

“Already so eager to give to me what I desire. But it’s not like I don’t understand why. You’re angry that I might damage her vocal cords by forcefully inducing speech through magic. If you’re going to blame anyone for it, blame that little cretin for not trying harder.” She laughed haughtily and without remorse at seeing Twilight becoming increasingly furious, trying to tear away from the darkness with vicious force.

Twilight could not stand it. From every inch of her being, she had now let every ounce of her own anger and sadness forth, giving rise to a madness of her own. How dare she, she thought. Who was she to speak of Chrys’ efforts, not knowing how hard the little girl had tried to speak correctly. Always taking her lessons seriously and trying her best to communicate her gratitude to others. Always feeling sorry for her inability to speak properly and doubling her efforts each time.

But she was no fool. She could tell what the Mistress was trying to do with these words, inciting her into further madness with them. Twilight could see that she knew this as much as she did. For the little changeling had sat by her bedside and spoke of her days to her almost every single day. The knowing, malicious smile that spread across Chrys’ face indicated this. But even so, it made Twilight angry beyond belief to think she was purposely saying all of that in an act to berate the little changeling's desperate efforts. How dare she, indeed.

“From the moment she hatched into this world, she’d created numerous issues within the royal palace of Queen Chrysalis’ Kingdom, you know. Even in the throes of the Formless, she was the final nail in the coffin for her kind when the Queen sacrificed everything for her. Just look at her eyes!” She raised one of Chrys’ hooves to her amber eyes. “They are not even her own! They were passed down to her after she lost hers to the fire that destroyed her home. How poetic, is it not?!” She’d begun to shout with intensity, making sure every pony could hear her monologue. Her words were filled with nothing but vitriol. “Worthless, miserable bug! All that she is, and all that she was, she owes to everyone else. Truly detestable. Taking and taking. Never truly giving. Perfect for the new me. This, Chrys.”

“Don’t speak her name!” Twilight’s voice yelled out. “Chrys, don’t listen to her! This is not you!”

“Save your words! Are you dumb? Isn’t it obvious that she can’t hear you?!”

Twilight ignored the Mistress. “Don’t let this be the end! You did everything in your power to try and make those roads for your kind. Even when every pony looked at you with spite. Even when I didn’t know what you were going through, you’ve been putting up with my own troubled feelings for so long. And even when you saved us all the first time too. You did it all for our sake. Ponies and changelings. It should’ve never been your responsibility to begin with. Chrys... you’ve done more than enough!”

Applejack found the strength to stand up at Twilight’s words despite the tendrils doing their best to hold her down, the sheer strength of her athletic capabilities shining through. She pulled out the crystal Chrys had gifted to her that she’d kept in her hat, holding it out to her so that she could see it. She was fully intent on keeping her promise to Chrys. “If it wasn’t for you, Chrys, this town would’ve already been run to the ground with the stampede. I saw it with my own eyes. How you ran to the very front of that herd despite everything, with every gosh darn ounce of bravery I’ve ever seen in anyone. You helped me in my moment of weakness when it would’ve usually been Winona and I whose job it was to save the town from such a threat. So you best hear what I’m saying to you! You saved us. You saved this town. Believe in my words, sugarcube. I am the Element of Honesty, after all. So know that I won’t lie to you. I told you, that we’d be the ones to protect you. So let us do that!” Applejack’s monologue ended with those words as the tendrils pulled her back to the ground.

The Mistress scoffed after having purposely allowed the orange one to interject due to their useless efforts being mildly amusing to her at first but finding her last few words grating. “Look around you. At the squalor you call a town and its citizens. Couldn’t you see the distrust in their eyes? Their prejudice, their madness?” She waved Chrys’ foreleg over behind them in the direction of the railroad where a majority of Ponyville’s citizens were likely evacuating. “Even now, and especially with these eyes, I can see their fear of changelings. Now that we’re together like this, even your precious Chrys should know how easy it was for me to make those blocks fall. One by one on top of each other like toppling dominos, they were so easy to manipulate. It took almost nothing at all. And I can tell you this on her behalf... They’re ‘worthless’, she says. The ponies, the changelings, her work to save them. She’s feeling it so strongly right now, don’t you know? This power of mine... it’s coming from her sorrow. Sadness from feeling like it was all for naught. How worthless it all seems. Her efforts, and even herself.”

Twilight found that she could not retort. It was very likely that she was trying to get another rise out of her. But the prevailing truth had always been that one can not help but feel what they feel, or think what they think. Twilight imagined that Chrys really did believe this somewhere deep in her heart. Even Twilight herself had begun to think the same way during the previous week when she’d toiled tirelessly to quell the rumors spreading around town but making zero headway with the pony-folk. It was the sad realization that no one could be perfect enough to not think this way that had made her believe that this was Chrys’ honest truth. She felt her heart begin to ache, feeling mute to respond to the Mistress.

Even if Twilight could not bring herself to rebuke her, likely from the weight of her close relationship with the little changeling and her internal conflict because of it, to her surprise she found that Fluttershy was the one to do so in her stead. Even from where she was being pulled to the ground every pony could feel the intensity of her stare after having snapped into a fit of fury. It had even elicited a shudder of fear in the small girl’s body, despite the Mistress herself being unfazed by it.

“Glare all you want, but it won’t make a difference. It won’t change the fact that she’s worth nothing more than a-”

“That’s enough out of you!” Her voice had just about muted even the thundering heavens above, for a silence lingered in the wake of it. The Mistress had gone quiet at this, likely from an internal reaction by Chrys' body. “You. Do. Not. Pick. On my friends! And Chrys is one of them. It may seem like nothing to others, but she’s been a huge help to everyone in this town. Including my animal friends too. Had it not been for her, all of the migrating birds would’ve been left to suffer the magic fowl’s down. Her tireless effort and kind heart kept Spike and I motivated enough to finish cleaning the pond. It wasn’t just then either. I’d often see her around town taking care of all sorts of animals, stopping to feed them or help them out in whatever form they needed. She’s a truly lovely creature, and the world is much better off with her in it. Which is more than can be said for you!” Fluttershy also pulled out her own crystal and held it in front of Chrys. “This is my proof too, Chrys.”

Before the Mistress could respond, another loud voice cut off her initial words almost immediately, not wanting to give her another chance to speak ill of Chrys.

“I’d never met a more gracious creature in all my days! Never once complaining when I strung her up in making my new changeling line-up. Always with such nice things to say about each and every dress I adorned her with.” Rarity called out to her, now trying her best to strip at the darkness around herself with her magic enough so she could get her own crystal ready in a similar display. “Not forgetting how much she helped me during my Spring unveiling and the wonderful gifts she gave us all. Ponies have talked about my generosity like it had always been a natural extension of my character. To this day, I don’t quite believe that I am as selfless as they say. But you, Chrys... You’re every bit of that word. And even if that’s somehow not the truth of it, know this from one generous soul to another, your actions speak of who you are. And you, well, you are truly beautiful. Don’t let this ugly thing tell you otherwise!”

The Mistress had tried opening her mouth to argue against them, but for some reason or another, she was finding it difficult to produce the words. The magic around Chrys’ neck began to glow brighter and stronger, trying to force those words to come out of her but something within the little changeling’s body was adamantly refusing now. Like... a knot in the throat.

“It must’ve been so lonely. It must’ve been so sad. I can’t imagine what it must’ve been like.” Pinkie’s disheartened voice cut into the silence that followed. There were beads in her eyes from tearing up at the idea that Chrys had suffered so much, and had, had the weight of almost everyone in Ponyville think so negatively of her. “I wanted to believe it wasn’t true. That the ponies of this town wouldn’t just say things like that. But ever since what happened at Sugarcube Corner, I’m not so sure anymore. And to hear about you having to face that in school every day too... oh it’s just awful. It hurts just to think it could happen to someone, but for it to happen to you, Chrys...” She sniffed back her forming tears and wiped them away with her forelegs, taking out her crystal from within her hair and rejoicing a bit sadly at the sight of it, then holding it out to her too. “It’s not right. No one should have to feel like that. Especially you, who always tried so hard to make everyone close to you happy as much if not more than I have in these few days we’ve gotten to spend together. We’re finally friends now, and so please, in the name of our friendship, please know that we’d never think badly of you!” Pinkie Pie's intensely emotional words, strangely enough, sounded natural coming out of her. Her friends all nodded their agreement, all of them realizing how personal this might’ve felt to the pink pony.

The glow only grew brighter at those words, trying harder against her new host’s refusal. The Mistress was finally making headway with a few grunted growls of frustration being audible to Twilight and her friends. Twilight looked over to Rainbow Dash already getting her own crystal ready by nudging her wings out of the tendril’s grasp to hold it aloft on one of them. She smiled and nodded at her when their eyes met.

“You better leave her body, or else! That pipsqueak actually found it in her heart to forgive me despite my own prejudices against her. You think I’m just going to sit quietly and let you do as you please?! You’ve got another thing coming if you think you can take our Chrys away from us. I don’t care about any stupid responsibilities or whatever her worth is. I made a promise to her. I WILL teach her to fly. In that, she’s worth everything to me as my friend. Every one of us here. We’re all thinking the same. So get a clue and scram!”

Rainbow Dash’s words in particular had resonated with a similar young filly who had also felt the weight of her own misconcieved biases weigh her conscience. The events unfolding before them had terrified the young Crusaders so thoroughly until now, that even Scootaloo had not found the courage to say anything in light of this. But perhaps because of wanting to follow up Rainbow Dash, or more likely due to her appreciation for the little changeling for having been such a wonderful friend to train with alongside Rainbow Dash within the last week, the small filly had found the bravery necessary to struggle against the tendrils coiled around her body in order to pull her cape forward in front of her chest to show the in-lined crystal pinned to it to Chrys. The other two Crusaders saw this and found their own courage to follow Scootaloo’s lead, showing theirs to her as well.

“Please believe her, Chrys. And please, believe me too! When I say that I’m sorry for having thought so negatively of you at first. You’ve been a real friend to me all this time. I regret letting that voice convince me that you were bad. It was such an obvious lie... The moment it spoke, I knew I recognized that voice. She was the one that's been feeding the town with doubts this entire time! So don’t listen to her lies!” Scootaloo took hold of a small stick near where she’d been pinned to the ground, and held it up like a cutlass to point it at her. “This is the Kraken, Chrys. You need to fight it.”

Apple Bloom placed a hoof onto Scootaloo’s shoulder after rending one of hers free. “Look, I still don’t know what all this business with the Formless is, or why it had Granny so scared. But what I do know is that you’re our friend, Chrys. You’re an honorary member of the Crusaders. You saved us from those Diamond Dogs. You played with us all week long. You even gave us these wonderful presents. No way in heck we’re letting you think you’re not important to us!”

To complete the trio, Sweetie Belle was the last to speak while placing her hoof onto Applebloom too. “Whether you need someone to speak against Diamond Tiara, or take you with us to play outside for the first time, or get you out of a long queue, or yell at other ponies for judging you so willingly with false rumors... I already resolved to help you anytime, any day! Doesn’t matter if you’re a changeling, a Princess, or whatever, that will never change! We’ll be with you, every step of the way.”

“Enough!” Another wave of dark energy that seemingly signaled the tendrils to coil around their mouths stopped them from speaking further. The glow around Chrys' neck had grown almost too bright to look at and died back down once the Mistress could tell she had gotten through the temporary setback. “Finally, this voice is mine again. I was tiring of your prattling. As sweet as your sorrows and meaningless efforts are, there is such a thing as 'too much’, you understand? Don't take it personally. I'm just not one for sappy things. Besides, she can't really hear you. Can't you tell?”

A smile streaked across the little changeling's face. Not a cruel one either, but a bright one with all the happiness from the love she was feeling. which would've come to the Mistress' surprise had she the ability to see her reflection at that moment. Her eyes had begun to shimmer from a mist that hugged at them. Even her body shuddered and stuttered in its struggle to maintain her form from the emotion of the moment, to the completely blinded Mistress who still very much believed she was in total control.

“Nothing of her remains now, so it's best you give it up ponies and despair! No one will come to save you this time.”

“I will!” The voice of a small baby dragon could be heard yelling from the distance.

Spike had initially evacuated with the rest of the pony-folk as per Twilight's instructions, but he had felt the premonitions too and had already taken some steps towards helping out in his own way. In particular, he had been on standby and watching the events unfold from the safety of the nearby library where the Mistress' magic had not reached. He would've gone out to help sooner had it not been for another set of instructions from the purple alicorn who had asked him only moments before to produce a couple of items that rested in the library.

It seemed all of the friends were very much on the same wavelength, for she had sent Spike these instructions the moment Applejack had thought to pull out her own crystal to show to the little changeling the proof of their friendship. At that moment, everyone could see that the sight of those stones was bringing forth a break in the spell. With each one they'd shown to her, the more they could see of the old Chrys within.

Inside one claw on Spike's hands was his own gift from Chrys, still inside its box. On his back and with the other arm, he supported the very large crystal that belonged to Twilight. Using his fire breath, he cleared a path through to the girls slowly by blasting the darkness on the ground away. Each time the tendrils coiled around his legs, he would breathe his fire at his feet to clear more distance, to the annoyance of the Mistress. Spike was a little surprised at himself from having never used his dragon fire for offensive or defensive purposes and having been none too confident of his own magical aptitude to this degree. His surprise also stemmed from his belly glowing yellow each time he'd belched another round of fire. Both he and Twilight could easily guess why that was.

Now close to Twilight, Spike let down Twilight's gem onto the ground and held up his gift by opening the small box, the half-chewed crystal glowing along with Chrys' infused magic floating inside of his stomach.

“Chrys, my offer still stands! You can always just join me at the library. We can read, play, or do whatever else you want to do. You don’t have to deal with this if you don’t want to. We’re here for you. Forever and always.” At this, a mass of tendrils coiled almost instantly around Spike, enveloping him in a pitch black as they made their way to the box in his hands only to be driven back by the light of its glow having not been able to consume the heartfelt love within. The green from Spike’s fire freed him once more, showing that he would not be done in like the others thanks to the power he’d borrowed.

“Even now, Chrys. You're protecting us.” Twilight got up from the ground despite the strong pull from the tendrils. “And I’m so very proud of you. Please, come back to us.” She looked over to Spike and nodded at him. “Spike, do it.” Whatever she had silently asked him to do, Spike hesitated in doing it. The intensity in Twilight’s stare was not leaving him with many options, and his brows furrowed with concern. “It’s alright, Spike. And thank you. For believing in both of us in the end.”

At these words, the little dragon clenched his claws, puffed out his chest, and shot his fire breath in Twilight’s direction towards her back in order to strip away enough darkness to set her free from the draining effect of the tendrils enough to let her produce a protective bubble to keep more from latching on. A large part of her back had been singed, but Twilight wore the pain of it with pride. Chrys’ face had contorted to concern at the sight, again to the cluelessness of the Mistress. Twilight placed a hoof onto the crystal that Spike had left at her side, gave it a glance once over, and then turned to look at Chrys one more time.

“I never know who is saving who in the end, Chrys. But this time, let me be the one who saves you. I love you. We all do.” At Twilight’s words, the stream of tears that were on the cusp before had now begun to form on the little changeling. Hearing those three words had meant everything to Chrys. Now the Mistress could do nothing to stop the tears that clouded her vision even while she tried to stem the flow of them with magic. Nor could she hold back the smile she struggled desperately to contain.

Her pupils were now dilating back into normalcy, yet still being resisted and falling back to the cat-like eyes of the Mistress. She only needed one final push. Twilight could see the internal struggle going on now, and thought to help her the best way she knew how. She began to concentrate every ounce of magic still within her into her horn.

“To do what we must, and shake off the rust.” The purple glow of Twilight’s magic began to spiral around her horn, glowing brighter with each word uttered. “We pool our power to cast, a spell aimed at the distant past.” Down from the length of her horn, the powers encircled the entirety of Twilight’s body. “We’ll find where we belong, as we go along.” Outward from her body, the energies of her magic flew while she walked in the direction of Chrys, inching closer despite the Mistress now sending shockwaves of dark energy everywhere to fight Chrys from taking control again. Twilight’s magic tore at the darkness as it traveled along the ground, freeing up the rest of the friends who’d begun to slowly compose themselves after having been drained of their energy. “With fate’s grand design, to live our lives as was predivined.” Finally next to the little changeling, Twilight placed their foreheads together.

At the finality of the spell’s incantation, her spell became complete and enveloped everything in the melodious resonance of that familiar spell. With the spell’s effect all around the little changeling now and Twilight’s horn to Chrys', the internal struggle within Chrys grew and grew. Until suddenly her body became quite still, the effects of the Mistress’ possession remaining.

Before Twilight’s heart could sink back into despair, the magical glow around Chrys’ horn that until now had been a neon green had slowly shifted back into its usual golden color. It burned at the green magical mist around her and at the darkness that clung to her. Her pupils became their usual, loving roundness and the whites of her eyes returned to normal. The shining of her hair illuminated her mane to the same effect it always did when she’d used such potent magic, and the crystalline aspect of her wings returned to their formal glory.

To Chrys, it had felt exactly like the moment she’d first shed off her fears for Fate. The very moment she had allowed the Mistress inside her heart, funny enough. But now, she was truly casting that madness out for good. And it felt good. Great even. Like the truest sense of freedom, whatever that felt like. If that freedom felt like being surrounded by the love of your friends, and your own love for them... well, maybe that’s what freedom was.

Finally completely separated, Chrys felt the weight of her relief and the exhaustion of the intensity of those emotions hit her all at once.

In the end, I could not fight it. I never realized how weak I’d become to my own heart’s beating. Every ounce of sadness, every drop of anger, every smidge of anxiety. Every single time, it felt like I’d been run through. Even love was a heavy thing, for it shackled me to my responsibilities. In my love for Twilight, the changelings, and the ponies, I put the world on my shoulders. And it took me all too long to realize I didn’t have the strength for such a thing.

I was thrown into the dark recess of my mind. Into a familiar darkness, but a much sinister version of it. For I could feel no wind wafting, no water drops echoing, no walls to guide me. There was nothing but myself in there, and I was truly, undeniably... Alone. Lost. Restless. And blind.

Within that darkness, I was asked hundreds of questions continuously. From hundreds of different voices. Voices that were likely the changelings of old. The Mistress, you see, was a manifestation of madness. It had been created from the individual feelings of all my brethren, pooled into a single being. While it had adopted the Queen’s image in its ethereal form, each individual dot within that cloud of energy was a single maddened mind it had consumed. From that of changelings, ponies, and animals. So I’d like for you to imagine the kind of questions that a changeling like myself gets asked from other maddened changelings. Maddened ponies. And maddened animals.

Okay, you can probably guess that maddened animals just sound like a bunch of nonsensical growls, chirps, hisses, and other noises like that. It’s kind of funny now that we talk about it like this. But do not discount what their addition meant to me while I was in there. It wasn’t just the questions that I could hear. It was their emotions I could feel, and their strong desires I could see. The cacophony of their anguish mixed in with questions of why I wasn’t trying harder to save the changelings, and accusations of our kind bringing ruin to the world of ponies...

Well, I’d like for you to imagine that being in there at that moment, with my heart open, vulnerable, and empathetic as I am... It was like a living nightmare. A hell specifically designed for me. The pain that I felt while in there... that’s how the Mistress planned to siphon more of my emotional power from me all along.

It reminded me of my dreams of the past. When I was caught in the rampaging fires that broke all around the Formless Kingdom during the time of its greatest tragedy.

Still so young with only a few years to my name after being hatched, I stayed at a communal nursery where changeling children were taken care of for a few years and taught the basics before being taken to their parental homes with their guardian predecessors. Changelings do not have the same birthing rituals as ponies do, and familial bonds do not exist due to the nature of our kind. We were all connected by blood technically, incubated in the Great Nest as eggs, then only hatched and given our characteristics by the unique changeling magics of those who wished to pass down their life to another. To changelings, there are no such things as mothers and fathers. Only predecessors and successors.

Connections between parent and child existed regardless, for there are no creatures without love in this world. That much is true, no matter how twisted. Even for changelings whose impersonal attribution to their children were ‘successors’, living together in any capacity meant you were family. And having a home, like most changelings did after their nursery period, was often seen as the truest sign that you were loved.

Yet, the years rolled by and my time to leave had come and gone. I was left to live in a room where usually at least ten changeling children would sleep at a time, all alone since the egg incubation ceremonies for prospective predecessors had not arrived to renew the cycle. The whole of the nursery was silent, being left to wait for the moment when its halls would see a slew of children again.

But please, do not feel sorry for me. My circumstances were quite unique, and they could not be helped. I was Queen Chrysalis’ successor after all, and the palace was no place for a small girl who barely knew to place one hoof over the other when walking. She would visit often and on most days, despite the toils of her position and the constant nagging of her advisor. Always trying to make as much time as possible to teach me about the world and to play with me.

Perhaps a part of me felt lonely in those quiet moments, all by my lonesome, though I seldom remember much of that time. But thankfully, I also had the eldest of the nursery workers to take care of me, who would be the one to sleep in the nursery at night with me so that I wouldn’t be truly alone. She was kind to everyone and was often referred to as Mother by all of the younger kids who had come and gone.

And she was no changeling either. She was a pony. A wisened old earth pony with a white coat and a yellow mane, irises in a bright golden hue. Her stories and descriptions of pony families are likely where are all the changeling’s familial bonds originated, with many a changeling child wanting to have that same connection with their predecessors.

Although she was always nice to me, something upset me about the way she looked at me... always with concern and pity in her expressions. Her face would furrow with worry and she’d take extra care in comforting me each time.

The kids often believed that she was a witch. That she had the ability to know their mischief-making before they made it, or for being too keen on the sentimentalities of the quieter kids who did not show their emotions on their sleeves like some others. But to me, she always wore that same expression. Always looking at me with sadness in her eyes. What did she see I wonder?

I still remember her vividly. I remember the fires as they crackled all around me, my world burning. In the murky darkness of my mind with all those voices yelling their anguish and anger at me, I remember being blinded by the flicking flames, erratically stabbing at my eyes. And I remember her voice, yelling out to someone.

“Hurry! She's got to be here somewhere!”

And I hear their questions, over and over, clear as day from the changelings of that time.

“Why? Why me? Why us?” Questions with no good answers.

I hear them ask these questions, their voices tripping over each other surrounded by the ruins of their homes with the Queen at the center, standing atop rubble to speak to her people. Or so I would guess, for my memories of that time are completely dimmed, dull, and distorted, likely from the damage the fire had done to my eyes. I could only paint a foggy picture of her at the center of it all. But I could feel it. The madness of that moment. The Queen’s ultimate sacrifice. The birth of the Mistress... The hands of Fate, beginning to move.

In the final moments of these memories, I remember feeling the powerful, desperate magic of the Queen. The spell she’d used to stop my time, and protect my mind from our plight. To the side of her, I remember the old nursery Mother, waving goodbye with tears in her eyes.

And from there all I remember are... stars.

The sun, the moon. The sparkly little things in the night sky.

The Mistress had not been entirely untruthful. In the wave of this nightmarish mental torture she’d subjected Chrys to by entrapping her in her own mind, the little girl had begun to feel the absolute most dangerous feeling that a changeling could feel.

Apathy.

Her own voice was speaking questions to her now. “Why? Why me? What was all my work for? For whom? Meaningless... I changed nothing. I am... nothing.”

We have to remember that changelings are emotionally driven creatures. Whether it be rage, madness, grief, happiness, or love, a changeling is meant to live with emotion in their heart.

But apathy is no such thing. It is a depression of the mind. A sorrow so powerful, it leaves one with nothing inside. And a changeling with no emotion is just a walking husk... The fire in their souls reduced to nothing but ash.

Chrys understood this. She’d seen so many of her brethren become as so within the darkness of that cave after so long. It was a state of being that previously, she’d feared with every fiber of her being that she might one day adopt. The reason why Fate scared her so. And she understood that the apathy she was feeling was a mortally dangerous sign of her very self being stamped out for good. That her body would ultimately become the Mistress’s forever.

But that’s the thing about apathy. It creeps in like a darkness threatening to swallow the world. And where her concerns and emotions of wanting to keep moving forward would usually lie, instead, only a resounding emptiness existed. Trapped there in the corner of her mind, all the questions silenced to give center stage to three words being spoken to her by her own voice. Three words repeated verbatim over and over.

“I don’t care.”

She had been an effigy of flame. Burned to soot by those hateful emotions. And now only a few embers trickled out of her ashes. Fading... fading into the quiet dark all around her.

Before she could slip into nothing altogether, a voice spoke to her.

"Feel the world around you. Hear the sounds it makes. Take in the smells, the scents of this sweetened earth. Open your eyes and see what only you can see with them. Experience it all. It's pleasant, isn't it?”

The darkness all around her shifted into the image of the Everfree Forest, down that familiar path she’d always taken. And down the very same steps she’d made when she ventured into the outside for the first time since she’d been trapped within the cave. The sights, the sound, the smells... all over again they entranced her.

The greens of the trees and the blades of grass swayed to a gentle breeze that caressed her hair. The wind picked up the scent of moistened earth after a rain, mixed in with the smell of newly bloomed flowers and sweet tree sap. The hues of silvery fish gleamed like gemstones beneath the water after she’d dipped her head into the stream to gaze at them, the cold sensation of that rush refreshing her spirit after coming out for air.

Two firey birds then flew by her, up and down the length of the stream chasing after each other and swirling around in the air in a beautiful airborne dance, then leaving for their nest shortly after. She climbed a tall tree to look at where they had left to and saw three smaller birds being taken care of once she’d reached the top. The bigger birds flew away, and one by one, each of the smaller ones took flight toward them. The skies parted, and for the first time since she’d been out of the darkness of her cave, she saw the sun again, illuminating their plumage in a beautiful display.

But this time, she had not fallen out of the perch by some disconnect in her soul or some wailing voice. There, Chrys rested atop the tree to see the moon rise and give way to the sparkling night. And from that height, she could see the mystical purple hue of a massive bear walking through the forest and toward her den. Each step from the mother bear shook the earth, thump thump thumping to the rhythm of her heart. Suddenly, one step made her lose her grip in her carelessness, and she felt herself falling. Falling, yet slowly. Falling away from the night sky, the stars and moon becoming farther and farther out of her reach with the silhouette of the trees becoming larger and larger the closer she got to the ground. She hit the ground, although rather gently. Like if it had been made from cotton candy.

And popping into her vision, the sight of Twilight’s purple eyes appeared before her. They were speaking to her, in a desperate tone, trying to make her understand something. She couldn’t piece everything she was saying within the darkness of her mind, having been too far strung by the Mistress. But some of it was coming through, loud and clear.

“Don’t let this be the end! You did it all for our sake. You’ve done more than enough.”

Twilight’s eyes were replaced by Applejack’s, the orange of her coat reminding Chrys of her gift to the orange earth pony. One filled with comfort and security. One of honesty.

“You saved us. Believe in my words, sugarcube. Know that I won’t lie to you. I told you, that we’d be the ones to protect you. So let us do that!”

Then to that of Fluttershy, whose pink hair reminded her of the feelings of nurturing warmth and kindness she’d infused into her crystal.

“She’s been a huge help to everyone in town. She’s a truly lovely creature, and the world is much better off with her in it.”

Fluttershy did not say this to her specifically but to the Mistress. Chrys understood what she was hearing now at this. It was her friends calling out to her, fighting against the Mistress...

Sure enough, Rarity’s eyes were the ones to fill her sight next, the purple of her soul’s flame reminding her of the heartfelt gratitude and grace in her gift to her.

“Know this from one generous soul to another, your actions speak of who you are. And you, well, you are truly beautiful. Don’t let this ugly thing tell you otherwise!”

Strangely, the downtrodden eyes of Pinkie Pie were the ones that followed next, with tears forming in them. It hurt Chrys to see her so sad when usually she’d be the picture of happiness and cheer. But she could see how hard she was trying to stay intact, like Chrys herself had often tried in swallowing her own feelings of sadness and solitude. Chrys only hoped that the pink pony would carry the gift she gave her so that she could be reminded of the joys she brought others, as was the feeling she'd ingraved into it.

“We’re finally friends now, and so please, in the name of our friendship, please know that we’d never think badly of you!”

Her words were pleading, but Chrys had already etched them onto her heart before she had even said them. For she could feel and see the expression the pink pony was trying to convey the moment she thought of them.

“You’ve got another thing coming if you think you can take Chrys away from us! She’s worth everything to me as my friend. Every one of us here. We’re all thinking the same. So get a clue and scram!” She heard Rainbow Dash yell at the Mistress before her eyes had even come into sight, the reds of her irises shining the parallels of her loyalty and trust in her friends like she was so famous for.

Chrys had imbued those ideas into her gift as well. Despite her scowl and initial reaction to Chrys, it always seemed deep down Rainbow Dash had trusted Twilight’s decision when they had argued about helping her all that time ago. It might’ve seemed strange that the anxious little girl who had been too scared to be around others could adapt to the turbid personality of Rainbow Dash in an instant despite both inner and outer physical appearances indicating that she would be unwilling to be friendly, but to Chrys who could see into a pony much deeper than anyone else... Well, maybe there are unspoken truths to every moment in the story of our lives.

Three pairs of eyes were the ones to replace her. The three distinct eyes that reminded her of that familiar red and gold cape with a blue badge pinned to it. The same badge she’d colored her gifts to them in her feelings of fun, adventurous appreciation for her friends who had done so much for her already.

“Please believe her! And believe me too. When I say that I’m sorry for having thought so negatively of you at first. You’ve been a real friend to me all this time.”

“What I do know is that you’re our friend, Chrys. You’re an honorary member of the Crusaders. No way in heck we’re letting you think you’re not important to us!”

“I already resolved to help you anytime, any day! Doesn’t matter if you’re a changeling, a Princess, or whatever, that will never change! We’ll be with you, every step of the way.”

And Scootaloo’s earlier words appeared again at the end of their conversation. “This is the Kraken, Chrys. You need to fight it.”

With a start, Chrys sat up to see a familiar pool of water in the Everfree. Its waters were still and reflective, and they showed her the corrupted image of her visage from the Mistress having taken over her body. She was horrified by it, and tried batting it away with one foreleg. Yet it remained when the waters stilled again. This time, Spike stood at her side in the reflection despite no one being beside her. He had one outstretched claw towards her, with the gift she’d given him in hand.

She felt her heart clench and stop altogether the moment Spike’s image in the water turned to that of Twilight, her gift at her side.

“I never know who is saving who in the end, Chrys. But this time, let me be the one who saves you. I love you. We all do.”

The three words that had constantly been repeating in her head all this time silenced at this. The reflection in the pond had become unclear now that a steady stream of tears disturbed its waters.

Despite the ripples making it hard to see anything clearly, Chrys could make out the image of the old Queen sitting at her side and looking at her not directly like the others had done, but into the reflection as well to contemplate and see Chrys looking back at her through it.

“I don’t regret hatching you, Chrys.” Her motherly, gentle, and warm voice said from her side. It was the other voice she’d heard in the Mistress a long time ago when she spoke in reverberating doubles. “Because of my position, me choosing a successor was a big deal for our kind. And because politics can be nasty, I made the heavy decision to keep you at a foreleg’s length away from me. There were many who weren’t happy with my decision. They wanted a King, not another Queen. They wanted this, they wanted that. Always someone to complain about why you might’ve not been the right choice.” A small silence endured while she hesitated to say the next words. “But like I said. Not for a moment have I regretted choosing you. I regret not being able to do more for you. I regret not being able to give you a kingdom of your own. I regret not being next to you all this time. And I regret leaving you with our fate.”

“Mom...”

“And yet you still think of me that way.” The ripples in the pond were now too many to see anything even remotely reminiscent of figures within its reflection as a new stream of tears joined in the pool. “I really wanted it, Chrys. To give you all of that. I thought invading the ponies would give me the chance of doing so. But you made me realize that it was my mistake in thinking this way. In the end, I was thankful that our invasion of Canterlot failed. You have no idea how relieved and happy I was to hear you talk about your days with me, despite my failures as a mother. I don’t know what I did to deserve you like this, but both back then and now, my words stay true.”

The pond quieted down and now only Chrys’ image remained. Her old self, not the one made by the Mistress. The Everfree turned back into darkness at this, then into a bright, familiar purple from Twilight’s magic. Like the wind wafting by, the Queen’s final words were imparted to her before Chrys left the prison within her mind.

In the Queen’s voice, and in Twilight’s...

“I love you. We all do.”

The words she had longed for. The words she always wanted to hear. The words she heard only once before, a long time ago before she awoke to the darkness.

She opened her eyes to the sight of everyone crowding around her, with Twilight and Spike at the center of them all. Chrys had collapsed to the ground from the forceful separation, and her eyes fluttered with grogginess in the same way they would after getting up out of bed in the morning. Her expression brightened at the sight of the ponies and dragon gathered around her, and to Twilight in particular, she held out her hooves out to her motioning for a hug. This time, it was not an err of miscommunicated intentions. No shame left in either of them either. Twilight hugged her with all her might, happy beyond relief.

“Chrys! It’s you!” Exclaimed Spike when he saw this himself.

“Mm. It, me.” She said, still within Twilight’s hug and making everyone chuckle at her words. They all pulled into another group hug, all wildly relieved too. "I, love you, everyone.” She said completely audibly this time, prompting every pony to reciprocate that feeling. “I love you, Twilight.” She said in a whisper to her ear with exclusivity. Her voice had become a little raspy from the Mistress’ overwhelming magical effort forcing Chrys’ throat to speak her words, but the intention in it could not have been clearer if she tried.

“And I do to you, Chrys. I love you so very much. I’m sorry I haven’t said so until now, but I’m glad you were able to hear my words in the end. I hope you don’t get tired of them because you’ll be hearing them a lot from me from now on.” Pulling away from their hug, Twilight and Chrys fell into their expression, their horns touching each other, the both of them smiling the world.

“That villain!” Rarity shrieked, making everyone jump almost out of their coats at her outburst. Everyone immediately turned to look in the direction that a hoof of hers was pointing at. At Chrys’ neck, who’d been permanently marked by the forces of the Mistress’ magic. A burned-in scar now ran around the width of it. Rarity forcedly took the small changeling into her own hug and combed Chrys’ disturbed mane back to normal with her foreleg in her grievances. “OH! If I wasn’t mad before, now I’m fuming. That monster really went and did this to you, you poor dear.”

Chrys winced when she made a grab for her neck to feel the burn mark around it, prompting a lot of worried stares. “I’m, okay.” Her tired, grunting voice said, only helping to alleviate a tiny bit of everyone’s concerns. Especially Twilight who was worrying about everything at this point and considering the internal damage that forceful magic might’ve caused her. It took a bit from Chrys to get her to feel more at ease, slowly regaining her voice as she spoke to them about what kind of things she could hear, trapped within her own mind. “Reminded, of gifts.” She pointed at the crystals everyone now adorned with pride.

Spike was the first to ask a series of questions they all had. “Speaking of your gifts, Chrys, I understand you made them yourself with magic. Uhm, I was breathing a lot of fire back there and my belly was glowing yellow! What are they supposed to be?”

“They’re concentrations of her magic. When I saw that from you, Spike, I figured that’s what they were. I thought you were doing real transmutation the first time I saw it, Chrys. But that’s not the case, is it?” Twilight followed up.

Chrys shook her head and walked over to Twilight’s large crystal. “Changelings, put feelings, into crystals. Emotion, is magic! Uhm.” She thought a bit about the words she wanted to say next. “My feelings. Placed into, gifts. For friends.” She placed a hoof onto Twilight’s crystal. Her voice quieted in her embarrassment as she spoke her next words. “Feelings, too strong, for Twilight gift. Needed find bigger, vessel.”

Chrys continued to explain what each of their gifts meant, and the kind of feelings she’d infused into them. They were all feeling a bit touched by these gifts even more than they had been when they first received them. In reaching Twilight, she hesitated to speak of it out of embarrassment. But Twilight didn’t need words to know the kind of things that lay within that incredibly foggy gem.

“Hah...” Before they could lose themselves in the moment of triumph and jubilation, a dark voice sounded from behind them all, from a smokey black cloud barely visible clinging to Mayor Mare. “Guess now I know why it was so difficult to get under your coats. The ones I wanted revenge against the most, yet somehow you were all immune to my effects this entire time.” Behind Mayor Mare, all of Ponyville’s townsfolk walked behind her in unison, like a well-organized army of mindless drones. Their eyes dulled, dead. For all the friends knew, every pony else were supposed to be on the way out of town evacuating, but it seemed that the Mistress had already planned for this eventuality. “You infused that troublesome spell of yours into those things, didn’t you?!” The darkened heavens above thundered in her fury. “What? Don’t look so surprised. I told you, didn’t I? Only fools believe they’ve won with only one victory.”

Everyone, including the Crusaders and Spike, got in front of Chrys to protect her from the Mistress once again, noting that this fight was still not over between them. But to their surprise, Chrys cut through them to stand front and center against the Mistress.

“Please, stop.” Chrys pleaded with all of her heart.

“Stop what? This madness?! I swore to build a better world for our kind. And I will do that, even if I have to burn it down first.” Mayor Mare dropped unconscious with these words, the black mist separating from her and pooling in the air above her. Every pony who’d been affected too fell to the same effect, with more of the black mist creating a massive ball of dark energy. Regaining her powers again, the black ball gave way to the Mistress' cloudy ethereal form. Then, her whole form began to vibrate in place, eminating a very strong buzzing sound that shook everyone's ears and disturbing the air for miles, noting by the birds that could be seen trying to fly away from a long, long distance. The ground beneath every pony’s hooves began to tremble lightly at first after the sound ended, and growing in intensity by the second.

“This is bad, this is very very bad!” Pinkie Pie was trembling even more intensely than the ground below, her Pinkie sense now at the very pinnacle of its oracle. “Watch out for falling rocks!”

In the direction of the Everfree Forest, a massive dust cloud that reached the sky could be seen all from where they stood, miles and miles away. “Mom!” Chrys yelled out in panic. The cloud of smoke had come from the direction of the cave, and all the way from where she stood, she could see and feel one massive signature of madness, approaching them with speed. The trembling had now become so intense, that every pony was struggling to keep their footing and the dust cloud had been growing the more that signature got closer to Ponyville. “Twilight! Cave! Its, Guardian!”

Only Twilight knew what she meant. They had spoken about it once before in the moments after their reunion when Twilight explained to Chrys how she had freed her from the changeling’s prison after so long.

The Guardian. A living cave. Princess Celestia had explained it to her after she’d sought answers to the changeling’s fate after their confrontation with the Mistress the first time around. The truth of it was that the changelings had been imprisoned of the old Queen’s own volition, having sensed her downturn before it had happened and the madness that consumed her kind. Imprisoned inside the maws of the Guardian, a legendary beast older than any race to ever grace Equestria. A massive, mountain-like snake creature made entirely of sediments and stone that had slumbered for eons.

It had taken Twilight a considerable amount of magic to open its jaws. Magic she could only afford after becoming an Alicorn and a Princess herself. If what Chrys was saying was true, then that meant that the Mistress had pooled an unimaginable amount of power to take control of the creature. Almost as if reading her mind, the cloudy figure of the Mistress turned to face her and Chrys only momentarily before flying off in the direction of the Everfree and toward her biggest trump card.

Twilight was at a loss of what to do even when everyone turned to look at her for guidance. She could not imagine going against the Guardian. That thing was a living calamity all on its own. A nightmare of incredible proportions that no pony or creature in all of Equestria could go against. The seconds ticked by, and the tremor only worsened. From the dust clouds now so near the town, an enormous wave of rocks broke through them like a landslide to show the Guardian’s absoluteness in its size. If even a small bit of that creature visited Ponyville, it would be over for the small town and all the unconcious citizens. Before a wave of despair could hit her, however, she was brought out of her trance by Chrys.

“Gifts!” The little changeling motioned to everyone to gather around Twilight’s crystal. “Bring gifts. Need, focus!” One by one, everyone pooled over to her not entirely understanding what she needed them for and all deadly afraid of what was transpiring to their little knowledge.

“Chrys, what are you...” Twilight’s eyes widened the moment that all of the gifts from the friends, including the magic stored in Spike’s stomach, began to glow. Strings of different hued magics circled around the little changeling, seeping into her coat, absorbing the very color from the crystals given to the friends and out from Spike’s mouth, leaving the crystals pale and translucent as a result. It was all very obvious now... "Please, not again... Chrys, don’t do this. You shouldn’t have to be the one to fix this. Let me-”

“It, okay!” She shouted adamantly, stunning Twilight in the process. “Won’t, step down. Need, save mom. Changelings.” Chrys touched her horn to Twilight’s crystal, and from it, she pulled a single string of concentrated purple magic like a thread. Bit by bit, the massive energies within that crystal poured into her from that connected line, making her struggle against the sheer amount of magic she was taking into her body. Her pained grunts made it obvious to see that even she could not hold all of this magic together within herself.

“Chrys, I...”

“Can’t, save alone. Need help. Please, help me. Twilight.” She looked at her one last time, waiting for her to say something. Chrys’ body stuttered and shook in waves, struggling to keep in her original form due to her vessel spilling forth.

The answer was obvious. There was no way Twilight could say no to this, much as she wanted to refuse her allowing whatever plan she was thinking. But she wanted to trust Chrys with all her heart.

And so she did. Twilight nodded her approval.

“Destroy, crystals inside, Guardian. Release, from madness. Save mom, my kind. I’ll, protect town. Protect, everyone!” With these words, she ran alone toward the Everfree Forest and leaving everyone else to wonder how the small girl planned to stop such a mountainous creature.

They'd also been left with specific instructions that didn't make much sense. Destroy the crystals inside? But why?

Chrys could see spots of concentrated magic along the coiling body of the Guardian, so she had guessed that the Mistress had somehow used the crystals that lined its inner halls to manifest her madness directly into its soul. She had always wondered why the cave had always had a pattern to it. A rhythm, much like a heartbeat. But now in full view and very much awake, from it, she could see its massive flame being held hostage by the Mistress' magic. Perhaps that had always been the case from the start. The old Queen's good intentions twisted into the bad ones of the Mistress. Oh how it made her blood boil at the thought, but she suppressed her anger.

The love she was feeling from her friends and the trust she had in them had made every other feeling in her mute. Even fear could not break through to her with these impossible odds against her.

Now a good distance away from her friends, Chrys let go of all the magic she’d harnessed from the crystals, and all at once her changeling form vanished.

What replaced her was a sea of beautiful purple-hued, transparent hairs with tiny lights resting inside of them. A large swath of Ponyville’s road filled with the sight of night along its large main street. Even when shadowed by the darkened, thundering sky... the massive creature that Chrys had turned into was a true spectacle of unfathomable size.

An Ursa Major. The momma bear that Twilight and Chrys had seen on that fateful night.

A changeling’s form could be easily maintained if the creatures they changed into were one-to-one. But in this, the amount of magic to become an Ursa and maintain that form... was incalculable. Even with every drop of magic from all of the gifts she had made, and that of her own feelings currently inside of her during such a pivotal moment following one of the most moving moments of her life, Chrys could not maintain such an enormous transformation perfectly. A lot of stars within the pelt were missing, and the irises within the beast's eyes were her own amber-colored ones.

It was even more of a struggle to maintain her balance as she walked to meet the Guardian head-on, ready to stop its advance before reaching the town. Twilight had already been busy explaining all the information the group of friends were missing from these events and was coordinating everyone to get ready to enter the Guardian to follow Chrys’ request of saving the changelings and destroying the crystals.

“I knew she was awesome, but I didn’t think she could do THAT!” Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but exclaim at the sight of the Ursa’s back drifting away from them towards the Everfree.

“Focus, girls. We need to do everything we can as fast as possible while Chrys tries to buy us time. There is no room for failure. Do we all understand the plan?” Twilight brought Rainbow Dash back with her words.

"What about us? What can we do?" Sweetie Belle asked on the Crusader's behalf.

"You will do nothing. It's far too dangerous for you to follow us." Rarity scolded the eager filly.

"Nuh-uh, no way we're staying out of this. Chrys is our friend!" Sweetie barked back.

It wasn't just the sisters either that'd begun to bicker, but also Applejack against Apple Bloom and the rest of the girls who were entirely against the idea of endangering them. The group had devolved into in-fighting save for Twilight and the baby dragon. It was Spike who brought them back to reality at that moment.

"WE. DON'T. HAVE. THE. TIME! Settle down everypony! Chrys needs us." Spike had silenced them enough to help them see reason.

"Spike's right. I don't want to let the girls go either, but we need all the help we can get. Sometimes we just have to trust that they'll be alright..." Her words were heavy and had trailed off. She was looking on at the sight of Chrys now passing into the Everfree, inching closer to the unavoidable showdown. Her expression wore a world of worry on it, and their concerns seemed like nothing in the face of that.

Fluttershy's serious tone kicked in at this moment. "Very well, I'll allow you kids to help us. But you will only focus on the entrance of the cave. At the FIRST sign of danger, I want you four out of there immediately, do I make myself clear?!" her shouts had stunned the group of four.

"Wait, why me too? I'm a dragon, I'll be alright." Spike said, fully intent on helping Chrys to the bitter end despite trying to pass it off as machismo. The look Fluttershy gave him broke him out of any such notion, and they all reluctantly agreed. They understood the stakes and were fully intent on keeping this promise.

"They're about to meet!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed from where she was keeping eye on the advances in the sky.

"This is it, everyone! Let's get moving!" Spike said while he got up to Twilight's back to have her fly him toward Chrys.

With all honesty, Twilight could have never guessed how this would all fare out in the end. Certainly, she never expected a fight between two titans. When she took in that wounded, ailing, and weak girl all that time ago, she never imagined fate would ordain this bombastic world-shattering calamity. But here they were, running headlong into a cataclysmic battle, ready to lay down their lives for everyone's sake, and especially the sake of one small girl who had permanently altered their lives forever.

The weight of a soul. What could one little changeling do in the storm of these events? Everything, as it turned out.

They were pushed back by the rush of air from the impact of the two titans colliding at last, a gust of wind mixed with dense clouds of dirt kicking up at every swing of an arm or tail. Their sheer size meant that any action either of the two titans took was done almost in slow motion, as they needed to account for their own weight when tossing their body around. Unlearned as Chrys was with this form, the massive stature of her form was the only thing keeping their bout from being a one-sided victory for the Guardian.

Chrys was desperately trying to keep the Guardian from moving all too much. Every time it reared its front up into the air, she would quickly try to pin it back down with her claws. Her mother and the changelings were still in there after all and having it fight back for prolonged periods of time could mean the worst for them. She needed to give Twilight and her friends room to enter the Guardian somehow too, so for the entire time they fought, she spent it trying to get a good hold on the mighty beast’s head.

Beyond the unimaginable effort she was putting into learning how to simply function within the Ursa Major’s form in realtime, she was also trying her best to keep damage to the Everfree Forest down. It hurt her to see so many trees felled in the wake of their struggle, knowing it was likely the home to a lot of woodland critters and nests to birds much like those she had seen. She could only pray that none had been harmed by all of this. She knew the animals were smart enough to flee at this kind of immense danger, as they had done before, but her worry still existed.

Especially against a creature like the Guardian, a creature made of stones. Due to their enormous size, even so much as grazing it lightly meant that chunks of its rock-like body were being batted into the distance, hurtling danger into the forest no matter how careful Chrys was trying to be. The same was happening on the flip side, and she was feeling the pressure of its loose stones flying towards Ponyville behind her whenever it would try to slam into her hulking body.

Finally, she was able to get a good hold of the Guardian after a hefty tussle by draping both of the Ursa’s forelegs over the front half of its snake-like body. She pinned it to the ground by focusing all of her weight forward on top of it. Now all she had to do was signal her friends that the time to enter it was upon them. Far more loudly than she intended not accounting for the optics of her form, she roared to let them know. The noise was ear-shattering at ground zero but palatable at the distance Twilight and everyone else had been waiting in safety.

Chrys felt the Guadian still trying to writhe within her hold. She needed to trust that her friends understood the signal, and bit down on the Guardian with her massive fangs to add further grip, weight, and force into her efforts. Now, all she had to do was concentrate on keeping her form. For her to do this, she needed to channel more magic from herself. So her concentration came in the form of going back to remember everything she had gone through with Twilight and her friends, remembering every happy moment and even sad one.

Where was she to start? Perhaps with the few words that had truly changed her life forever, for the better.

”It doesn't matter what you are. I'll take my chances on you, no matter what comes our way.”

The plan was simple. The strongest and most athletic of the ponies would rush to save the changelings and Queen Chrysalis. The weaker ones would seek out all of the crystals and destroy them. The kids would too, but would stay near the mouth of the cave so they could retreat at a moment’s notice. Twilight had explained to the group of friends the intricacies of the Guardian, and she informed them of what they would likely be met with. From what she had seen before, discussed with Celestia and Chrys of their meeting with it, and what old documents she had dug up on its information, Twilight had correctly surmised that the Guardian’s inner reaches could change at will all from guessing from what they had experienced the first time inside and from Chrys' recounts of escaping it’s maw initially. If the mighty beast truly was being controlled by the Mistress, then they would be wise to expect that its maze-like structure would try and fool their steps once inside.

But reality seldom goes as planned.

Having entered the Guardian at Chrys’ signal, the ponies were immediately faced with a very dire problem. The mouth of the Guardian had closed behind them. It had been such a tiny oversight that no pony or baby dragon had thought of before entering due to the adrenaline and wild excitement of the moment, but it was too late.

To make matters worse, even Twilight’s magic was not working within the guardian. Both her and Rarity could feel that their power was being absorbed into its very walls. Any amount of light they tried to produce was quickly snuffed out by the shadows around them.

They were all trapped in darkness.

Twilight had glossed over a very important detail. The changelings had not been imprisoned inside the Guardian just to keep them out of the outside world. They had been imprisoned within it to stem the flow of their magical power. For a race able to create and store their magical power for later use within pseudo-artifact-like crystals, if given enough time they could escape from any normal prison easily. So it was, that the living mountain known as the Guardian turned out to be the ultimate prison for them.

Yet somehow, the Mistress had found a way to imbue her very madness into it and rest control despite its magic-absorbing properties. Chrys’ plan was making a lot more sense now. Those crystals she’d seen before... they’d been used to inject that madness directly into the Guardian. Breaking the crystals would free up the Mistress’ control of it, and they would likely have the chance to escape afterward.

But... things weren’t going to be nearly so easy. With no magic and no tools on hoof to guide them through the tunnels, everyone was now trapped in the total darkness that Chrys had always lived in all her life.

It didn’t take long before the infighting began, despite their best efforts to feel through the ground and make out a direction. It started with minor fights about little things like accidentally bumping into one another, or saying they’d found a way but it turned out to be a dead end. The echoing within the cave was mixing up their senses, and they were not at all accustomed to seeing the same way Chrys always had.

Suddenly, their arguments took a turn for the worse when they all threw blame around for who was at fault for this blunder. No one was safe from blame, and they all argued against one another, having almost completely forgotten what they had gone in there for.

A chill crawled down Twilight’s spine when she remembered momentarily about Chrys waiting just outside, likely still holding onto the Guardian for dear life. The gifts Chrys had given them, if what she understood from the Mistress’ words about them... They’d acted as protective staves to ward off the maddening effect of the Mistress. They had been imbued with Chrys’ spell. But now that their gifts were empty husks from Chrys having taken their power, they'd all lost their protection and were being subjected to the Mistress’ magic.

Something wasn’t adding up in her mind either. If the Guardian absorbed all and any magic, why had it allowed her and Chrys to use it so many times within its halls night after night? Perhaps, deep inside the Guardian was a gentle, kind creature whose promise with the rulers of yesteryear and the old Queen had been made purely with good intentions. Princess Celestia did say that it had asked for nothing in return when accepting this promise. It was likely it had always intended to keep this agreement, the one to only imprison the creatures within it until it could see the signs of them having overcome their madness... So then the magic Chrys had used...

She took a gamble with the magical power she was being careful not to overuse, having been exhausted from the events of that day already. She recanted that spell again, and sure enough, the spell lingered having not been absorbed by the Guardian.

Why was fate so strange? Why was Fate so weird? Magic and Destiny... What did they mean to say by all of this?

Able to illuminate the room with the light created by this spell at last, the darkness cleared to give sight to a group of ponies and Spike having calmed down while being surrounded by it. The spell hadn’t been strong enough to illuminate the rest of the room, but it did allow Twilight to see one transparent crystal jutting out of the wall near the ground. Getting closer to it to inspect it, the dim crystal lit up all at once with a green glow that only grew stronger the closer Twilight got to it. She turned her head to point her horn at it, ready to blast it with her magic, yet something stopped her.

Looking into its glow, it was unlike the green of the Mistress’ magic. Its glow was gentle, with a mixture of light blue floating inside. It was strangely beautiful and maybe because she had now opened her heart so much in the last few moments and in her time with Chrys, she could now sense the good intentions emanating from it. She felt strangely compelled to touch it with her horn and pour magic into it, to give it more strength and let it help them guide their way.

In doing so, however, the crystal did not light up a path for them to take. On the contrary, it only showed them an impassible wall. An almost flat wall, with no sign of a hall near or around it. But on this wall... something far more valuable rested. Paintings. Pictures. Stick figures. Rough, crude depictions of things and stuff. Like if a child had made them...

“That’s us!” Apple Bloom walked over to the wall and placed a hoof right beneath the depiction of three small figures with an emblem in the same shape as their Crusader badge right above the three of them. Removing her hoof showed a small little not-so-perfect mound of... something? With a little stick at the top of it. Or what Twilight assumed was a stick, considering the oval shape that looked like a leaf at the end of it.

“Yeah, that’s the sandcastle we taught Chrys how to make! I’d recognize that disaster anywhere.” Sweetie Belle chimed in.

“And this...?” Rarity’s voice trailed off, looking at another section of the wall. “It’s my gift to Chrys. The hairpin I made for her... And look!” She pointed near where her own was, showing all the many small things she’d received. The portraits, the saddle, the doll, the basket of apples, Spike’s pancakes...

Twilight felt her throat tighten when she realized what she was seeing. Every pony and baby dragon did as well with an enduring silence that indicated their realization.

Suddenly, the crystal's glow grew very bright all at once and dimmed, seemingly passing off its glow to a lot of smaller ones jutting from the ground, like one obvious trail of bait. Seeing no other way forward, they followed the crystals. They were led down a plain hall. No side paths, no labyrinths. Just one room connected to the last. And again, once inside the next room, they could see only one way forward. Twilight had made sure to warn everyone. It was an almost sure thing that they were being led down a trap.

But again, inside that next room, all that there was, was a single crystal, waiting to illuminate more plain walls. This time, the drawings showed a herd of cows. A stick of cotton candy. A stack of pancakes. A school building. A pond filled to the brim with fuzzy dots. An apple tree orchid. A wrapped-up cat. A messy cake. A bench with a mast. A big bed. Fluffy clouds. And one large bear.

Again, they were led to another room in the exact same way. To more drawings.

This time, the wall was separated in two. One pictured a town, with a lot of figures running around presumably shopping at the kiosks. And even some recognizable figures with distinct features, that Twilight could easily guess at from circumstancial evidence despite the crude drawing. Big Mac, Granny Smith, Mr and Mrs Cake and the tots, Snips and Snails, Miss Cheerilee, and even Zecora.

The other looked to be like a room filled with a bed, a nightstand with a candle, and many, many bookshelves. Six figures circled the bed, while a smaller one waited by the door.

The silence between them all was deafening. In the atmospheric din of the cave with the occasional disruption from the events happening outside, the mood had turned very somber indeed. Twilight placed more of her magic into another crystal in the next room over, with yet another awfully familiar scene.

They showed a long river across the width of the wall, connected at one end by a cave, and the other to a town. Along the river bank, there were the unique trees that could be found in the Everfree and the many animals within the forest. In the center of it all was one large pond surrounded by a grotto of trees. Almost directly after that, two large pines could be seen, one of them with a bird’s nest at the top while the other had a strange figure sitting on its branches. Five large birds hovered around them, two big, three small. To the side of them was a circle, with squiggly lines to indicate the sun. Further down the length of the drawings, they showed that strange figure dropping to the floor. The moon followed next to meet its fall. And then, it ended with the introduction of another figure, this one bigger in size.

Finally, they were led down to the room that contained the last of these pictures.

Only each of the individuals present could tell you what they were feeling at the time, for words alone could do them no justice. They were witnessing the illustrations and memories of another mind. The pictures of another soul. The very heart in a creature, and everything that mattered to it. To one little girl, who had struggled all her life to be loved.

This painting covered one massive wall, far bigger than all the rest. The drawings were split into three, separated by uneven lines. One could imagine that the entirety of it could fit into the stained glass of a historical hall with grace, from its contents alone. Looking at the desaturation and wear in its colors, they had been created at different times, with the one at the center being the oldest, the one to the right second, and the one on the left being to newest almost as if freshly painted the day prior. From left to right, this was the telling of Chrys’ life.

On the right, it showed two figures sitting by a fire, their heads connected and surrounded by darkness save for what the light touched.

“I taught her this...” Spike touched the painting with one claw, seeing Chrys’ shading handiwork. “So then... this was all made by her?”

Everyone looked to the rest of the pictures. The one in the middle was of that familiar grotto surrounding a pond. There rested one lonely figure, with darkness surrounding it like smoke. At the tip of its horn, bits of yellow could be seen tearing the darkness away.

The final picture... Only Twilight understood it well. And giving it one single glance made her heart tremble.

“Everything is on fire. Atop a mound is a creature. Below it, a sea of dots that represent more of them. Further down, a single being... alone.” Twilight described it plainly. “This must be from the tragedy of the Formless Kingdom.”

“There it is again! Will someone please explain what the Formless are?!” Apple Bloom barked angrily, frustrated by the lack of answers.

“I don’t know everything yet. I don’t think I could know everything even if I tried. They’re not happy things and it might make you see Chrys differently...” Twilight was concerned. The truth of the changeling’s madness having sundered the world above could make them come to hate Chrys if they knew the whole truth... She looked back at Apple Bloom and at everyone else, all of them ready to hear it.

Reluctantly, Twilight explained the grim truth to them. It was a heavy story indeed.

“That’s horrible...” Apple Bloom voiced all of their sentiments the moment they heard the honest, ugly truth. They were a mixture of feelings. Afraid of what changelings were capable of, and saddened deeply for their plight.

“Seeing what that thing did to Chrys... and thinking about what it did as Queen Chrysalis... It’s... scary...” Sweetie Belle’s voice disappeared into the silent din of the cavern, distraught by the conversation.

“But it’s not their fault! And it’s not Chrys’ either. If we start worrying about who's at fault, we’re going to miss our chance at helping anyone! Let alone Chrys who's out there right now fighting for our sake!” Scootaloo was the one to bring them all back to their senses.

Twilight placed a hoof on the painting of the two figures sitting by the fire, eyeing it carefully. She cleared her throat and spoke to everyone while taking in every ounce of emotion she could feel from it. “Everyone deserves second chances. The ponies of this town that made life for Chrys miserable... the Formless who tried to destroy the world... Myself included, for having wrongly assumed things about Chrys in the past and hurt her inadvertently.”

They all quietly agreed by nodding their own determination. Almost as if on cue, the crystal dimmed to give them their next destination. They all walked forward in silence until one baby dragon spoke up amidst walking through a long-winding tunnel that was taking longer to traverse than usual.

“You said this happened ages ago, right? Before the current generation of Equestrians, during Granny Smith’s time as a young filly. If Chrys drew that, then wouldn’t it mean she was there at that time? How come she’s so young still?” Spike thought about this hole in the story’s logic.

“I can’t say for sure, Spike. Princess Celestia said the old Queen had used a strong spell to protect her successor from that madness before their imprisonment. I’m admittedly not knowledgeable on changeling's social structure or their unique magic, but I also hadn’t suspected that by ‘successor’, Celestia had meant Queen Chrysalis’ daughter. In other words, Chrys. But it makes sense now that I’m seeing all the pieces together like this. It was likely a spell to stop her aging altogether. I never sensed any such magic on her, so she likely broke out of that spell at some time before we met her. But still... I can’t imagine the kind of power needed to change the very hands of time...” She pondered for a bit, looking at the shadows in the cave just outside of their illuminated path. “With how afraid Chrys was of magic at first... perhaps that kind of spell didn’t come without its repercussions and cost. She likely lived inside of the Guardian in complete darkness for a long time before she was eventually released.”

“Chrys...” Spike balled his hands, digging his claws into his scales with trembling sadness.

“She’s the most innocent one in all of this. And yet, she’s been the one to carry that burden this entire time...” Fluttershy whispered to herself in quiet contemplation.

“All because she was saved from that horrible past.” Rainbow Dash said, half replying to her in her own thoughts.

“Saved? From a kettle to a frying pan...” Applejack murmured much the same.

“And for what? She’s been out there trying to make amends for something she should’ve never been responsible for.” Rarity huffed her anger.

“Like I said, it’s unfair. She deserves better. No pony should have to go through that, especially Chrys.” Pinkie’s face scowled.

“Why her?” Sweetie Belle asked no one in particular.

“Why the changelings?” Apple Bloom followed.

“For what reason?” Scootaloo thought out loud.

“None.” Spike’s words were in a low growl of frustration. “In the face of it all... how can she continue on? How can she be so strong?” Spike asked Twilight, who had been silent while everyone else whispered their discontent.

Thankfully for them, she’d already gone through those types of feelings. She knew, that the best thing to do... was to move past them.

For Chrys’ sake. For theirs. And for everyone’s.

Then, the path ended, straight into the throne room. There, the figure of the Mistress stood, rooted to the ground in trying to control the Guardian. The room practically oozed her malice, her madness. Without a vessel or a medium, she could not speak a word. The friends waited just outside, cautious about going headlong into the room.

The more they waited, the more their guard seemed to drop. Tied up like this, she was rather helpless. Any amount of effort the Mistress could try to do now would shake her grasp on the beast, ending her conquest for good.

The whole of the room was now covered in crystals, unlike how Twilight had seen it a few days ago. It looked like one massive hall of mirrors with the sickening green glow of the Mistress’s magic. The throne itself was one massive gem dug deep into the ground, and by the channeling of her magic coursing through it, Twilight could feel just how down and all around the room that magic spread. She could only imagine the depths of its reaches into the mighty beast.

She nodded to her friends who seemingly understood this signal from her and produced the Elements of Harmony, ready to deal the finishing blow. This hadn't been the plan, but there would be no better time for it.

Now it seemed even the Guardian was on their side, as the six accessories lit up with their power of friendship without being interrupted by its magic absorption. It all seemed so anti-climactic. For all the grief the Mistress had brought, was this the way to end things once and for all? Something didn't sit right with Twilight. Something in the silent way the cloudy figure looked on at them just... felt odd.

Why had they been purposely led there to begin with?

That was the cunning of one malicious creature that had been given a long time to plot her revenge. Even if she never expected anyone to confront the Guardian in the way Chrys had, the Mistress had prepared for everything.

The moment they had walked into the throne room was the moment she sent a weak little unrecognizable signal of magic to two crystals hidden by the doorway, releasing their pent-up power and creating a wave of dark tendrils that instantly grabbed at each of them. Battles were won before they started, and in this, the Mistress was an expert at playing dirty. It hadn't taken even an ounce of effort to best them all, and Twilight could swear she could see its smugness shining clearly despite the Mistress' faceless form.

It was frustrating. So very frustrating. So close and yet so far from seeing victory. Chrys was likely still outside, waiting on them. And perhaps now... she would be waiting forever...

But Fate was weird, you see. Magic is almost like a living thing in of itself. Unlike darkness, Fate chooses favorites. It chooses the strongest of its wielders. The mightiest of its heroes. The most gifted of its pupils. And for changelings? The ones with the strongest and purest of hearts.

The dark tendrils that enveloped them gave way to the sight of something truly surreal that everyone, especially Twilight, couldn't have foreseen even more than Chrys’ fantastical form.

Queen Chrysalis.

Alive, awake, and surrounded by a powerful veil of magic. With a dense aura full of love, happiness, sadness, anger, and regret...

She truly made for a magnificent sight. Beautiful, and easily mistaken for a fairy of legend. She looked nothing like her old self from when they had faced off at the royal wedding, or during Chrys' rescue. Like night and day.

Her magical veil spread out to every corner of the room, enveloping every single crystal within it including the throne. It turned the vile green into that of the beautiful light blue mixture that they had seen of the crystals prior.

The Mistress fell to her knees as if stricken, and a great rumbling from the Guardian shook the ground beneath them.

"Queen Chrysalis, uhm." Twilight stuttered, not knowing what to say. Her figure was majestic. She wore her royalty naturally and to great effect, much like Princess Celestia. Her presence was undeniable, whether you were a pony or changeling. "Your majesty..."

"I am Queen no more, Twilight. Besides, even if I was, I owe you a world of debt. Your reverence would be a little much, especially after you’ve given me so much." She turned to her and bowed her head as far as she could go, with her long horn touching the ground. Even her voice was truly something else. It was so... warm. “You gave me a chance to see my daughter grow up. Because of you, I got to hear all sorts of stories from her directly about just how much she loves you. And you’ve given me the ability to rewrite my past and my future.” She turned to the rest of the ponies and dragon who had all bowed their head, not having understood that her words extended to them too. “This goes for all of you, you know.” Again, she bowed to everyone else’s directions so that they could get the point. “I’m sorry it was a bit manipulative, but I used your feelings for Chrys to channel my magic and awaken from my slumber. I purposely showed you her drawings to that end, but also so you too could be witness to the kind of life she lived.”

“She drew them, didn’t she...?” Chrysalis nodded with a sad smile at Twilight’s question. “But why? What was it for? And how come she’s never shown me this...”

“She never intended for anyone to see them. Ever since her first adventure with you and in the time when she was imprisoned in the darkness again, she’s been deathly afraid of forgetting any of you. Forgetting her feelings for you. She didn’t think she’d get to see you all again, so those drawings were her own desperate attempt to keep you all close to her heart. Even amidst my sleep, I could feel it, you know. The love in her heart. The sadness that it brought. And the darkness that clung to her. The Mistress, was it? She’d already split from me the moment Chrys managed to defeat her the first time. I figured something like this might happen again one day, so I pooled what little of my magic I could to break free. But the Mistress found it and took it from me. Just the day prior. I was at a loss for what to do. Thankfully, you all came and saved the day. Inadvertently, but still.”

The group of friends could see shifting from the Mistress behind Chrysalis, and before they could even warn her, the old Queen had already raised one hoof with a spell at the ready, sending a shockwave of blue energy in her direction to make her kneel further.

“You worried me at first. You were feeding your negative emotions to this thing here when you entered, but thankfully you were able to break free. And with the spell I’ve felt Chyrs use so often now.” Her smile became very large indeed, and her eyes were jovial at a thought she had. “I’m so proud of her. I was beyond worried that she would be forever afraid of magic after the tragedy of our old kingdom. She was at the epicenter of that calamity. The fires that had broken out from the magic vein that sundered our land had sadly taken her eyes, you see. But a good pony friend of mine, an old girl with a lot of heart, passed hers down to Chrys before we were all forever sealed into the Guardian. They weren’t just any normal eyes, either...”

“Eyes that can see all manner of truths. The heart in a pony, creature, and anything that moves.” Twilight murmured to herself.

“You know of them?”

“A zebra friend of mine does. Or, she said she heard it from old folklore of her homeland.”

“Yes, that checks out. The nursery mother was a very traveled pony, and even I could never guess as to her real age. One wonders what happened to her, or if she still lives even to this day. I don't doubt it. She gave up her eyes readily, suggesting they had been passed down to her once in a similar way. She spoke of it like it were some grand design by fate.”

“Fate’s grand design...” Twilight was a little slack-jawed. What was this story? Where was it going? And why did they feel like simple characters within it?

“But Chrys overcame her fear of magic.” Chrysalis continued. “And she learned to deal with her new eyes. She grew past her daily troubles. She made friends. She found purpose. She loved and cried deeply.” Tears streamed down the old Queen’s eyes as she said this, worrying everyone but remaining silent in respect. “As a mother, I could not want for more. Oh, how I’ve missed her so much. How I’ve wanted to tell her I love her. To apologize for what I’ve done, what I’ve said. For leaving her alone to face this thing.” She turned back to face the Mistress. “We should all be free to make our own choice. But because of me, Chrys never had her own. And right now, I’ll choose mine so that I can afford her that freedom.”

Chrysalis’ horn lit up with powerful magic to encase the Mistress in a very, very dense magical bubble, making sure not to miss even a tiny puff of her cloudy form.

“Que- I mean... Chrysalis, what do you intend to do? You don’t mean to...” Twilight’s new understanding of changeling magic was allowing her to see the troubling premonition of what was still yet to come. She tried to reason with the old Queen, but she was no longer hearing words now that she was finalizing a special spell.

Chrysalis turned to them one last time, sane of mind, and said those dreaded words they really didn’t want to hear. “When you see Chrys again, tell her I loved her with all my heart. And that I’m sorry for what I’ve done. I trust you will end this once and for all.” She began to walk over to the Mistress, despite the pleading from Twilight and every pony else, who could all just about guess what she planned to do.

Without a second thought, Chrysalis walked into the bubble herself and took the Mistress in again. This time, from what Twilight could see... She’d done so permanently. She had fused the Mistress into her very soul... never to split again lest both of them felled. Chrysalis’ appearance slowly darkened, and the cat-like eyes of her pupils returned.

It was obvious why she had done this. The Mistress in her ethereal form, even if confronted by the Elements of Harmony, could stow away a part of its body and regain itself again like it had this time around. At best, they would've just bought time before it recuperated again and tried some other calamitous, world-shattering tactic to bring them all to ruin.

This was made apparent at the sight of the light blue crystals surging forth a mass of tendrils in the hue of the old Queen’s magic, toward the Mistress. Struggle as she might, they brought her to the throne to sit her down.

“I will not let this be the end of my story!” She yelled in vain, unable to break free from her bonds. Her voice was now reverberating again between the Mistress’ dark tone and that of the motherly, warm one of the old Queen. Much like they had heard from her during the royal wedding. “It is time for goodbye, little ponies. Take care of Chrys for me.” The old Queen had said, forcing control of her own body against the Mistress.

Twilight decided she hated this story. She hated its twists and turns, its trials and tribulations, and fate’s constant mockery of their feelings. How could she bring herself to seal the old Queen away? Especially knowing how much she meant to Chrys, and vice-versa. Turning back to the rest of her friends, they all felt a similar way. They hesitated, rightly so.

All this talk of freedom and choices, and they were being left with none themselves. But they couldn’t help it. They needed to do this. The look in the old Queen’s eyes was begging them to, and they couldn’t just endanger all of Equestria because of their selfish desires, much as they wanted to. With sadness in their hearts, the Elements of Harmony began to shine once more.

But before the spell could be cast, the fury of the Mistress tore for control and began sending shockwaves of her magic across the room.

Have we mentioned how utterly bizarre Fate can be?

No one can explain away what happened at that moment. Like something straight out of a book. From this bouncing vile green magic, reflected off the hues of the old Queen's magic, the memories entrapped in the crystals appeared before them. Like ghosts of the past. The group of friends found themselves in the middle of the crowd of ethereal changelings watching it all unfold, passing through those figures like a mirage. Where Chrysalis sat at her throne, her own illusion sat still while the Mistress writhed within it against the tendrils. The throne room looked like an audience chamber, while the rest of the nameless changelings all looked to be chanting their praise at the ghostly figure on the throne which was now being disturbed by the real thing.

Twilight’s eye caught sight of one last figure. Somewhere deep in the corner of the room where light had not been able to touch. There cowered one familiar shape. A small little creature, shivering in fear. The illusory Chrysalis extended a hoof out to her, and slowly but surely, she stood up to answer the call. The figure walked to the center of the room and toward the Mistress, the rest of the changelings giving way. The scene that was playing out was the same from the start of Chrys’ journey. Wordlessly, these figures put on a play of that event. They showed the fear in the small girl when every changeling turned to look at her, the menace of the Mistress, and the magic mist that freed them from their prison.

Then, down the pitch-black corridor behind them, the apparition of Chrys ran out of the room. She ran further and further until nothing could be seen of its transparent, illusive figure in the total dark.

But a small glow replaced it.

The glint of some wonderfully familiar eyes. Deeply amber, and interconnected to the very story being told.

It was Chrys herself. The real one. She’d almost tackled Twilight in her relief at seeing her and all her friends okay, panting for breath after having overused her magic far more than she had ever done before and trying to get to them as fast as she could after realizing the Guardian had already been freed of the Mistress’ control and had quieted.

“Chrys! You’re safe! Are you hurt anywhere?!” Twilight had almost forgotten what was transpiring in the room had it not been for Chrys’ intense stare toward the old Queen and the Mistress being back together again.

“Mom...”

“You petulant child!” The Mistress yelled at the sight of her. “I will see to it that you suffer until your last.” She grunted and her head fell, only to return with the old Queen’s mind in control, evident by her pupils returning to their gentle form.

“My dear Chrys... You’ve become so beautiful." Her words shuttered with intense sorrow. "But this is goodbye. You understand this from my magic, don’t you?”

Chrys didn’t respond. She only stared intently into her eyes and walked up to the throne silently. Everyone knew in their heart... this moment was theirs alone.

Still saying nothing, the small girl produced from her hair her doll of Twilight. Embedded onto its back was a tiny gem unlike any other. Nothing, not even the crystals in the throne room could compare to the absoluteness of this gem. Within its infinite depth, it could hide away a plethora of magic despite its minuscule size. And by the looks of its pure white, milky sheen like a pearl, it did.

“My gift to you... when you were born. You’ve kept it all this time?”

Chrys nodded. “Reminded me, of sun. Of moon. Treasured. Always.”

The changeling princess dropped the gift to the floor. The moment it hit the ground, a crack could be seen across its surface. Whatever it was, it had always been incredibly frail if it could shatter from that type of fall. So that meant that Chrys had taken every ounce of care in the world to keep it protected along with her doll of Twilight. Her two most important gifts.

But then, she crushed the gem underneath her foot much to everyone’s surprise.

“Need, no longer.” She smiled brightly at Queen Chrysalis. ”Don’t need, reminding. Don’t need, drawings. Don’t need, gifts. And. Don’t need, say goodbye.” She said these words slowly and carefully, trying to be as concise as possible. “We’ll see each other, again.” Chrys brushed away the Queen’s tears that had formed with one gentle hoof. “No more, sacrifices. No more, hurting. I promised.” The Queen nodded her agreement to Chrys’ plan, having felt her determination and her intent.

The magical feelings that had been stored within the gem acted as one last surge of power for Chrys. With it, her horn lit up with a very powerful spell.

Yet it was not her usual spell. This one was different. Even the words that needed to be recanted to produce it were foreign to them all. It was only until much later that Twilight and her friends would find out that this spell was in fact the one that had saved Chrys herself so long ago. A spell taught to Chrysalis a long time ago, by one old, white and yellow pony with amber eyes. A spell that came from far-off lands, in times long lost. One to stop the very hands of time and protect the mind.

She’d only ever heard it once before and had only ever performed it that one time in all her life, but it spoke of Chrys’ natural calling and mastery over Fate. Fate chooses its heroines, after all. And Chrys was one of them.

Her obligation stood tall. In the face of her love, she intended to keep her promise. Even if it took until the end of time, Chrys would make sure to see her mom sane and whole again. If that meant having to use that spell everyday for years and years to come, then so be it. Its what she wanted to do, not something she had to. This was the ultimate freedom. To choose how our stories end. And Chrys well... she chose this particular ending for everyone's sake.

When the spell died down, all they could see was the unconscious body of Queen Chrysalis and a very tired, very exhausted little changeling who had just about experienced enough excitement for one lifetime.

From here, it’s hard to say what any of them were feeling. And for their sake, I refrained from asking them any more questions. Chrys herself had been so generous as to give me a wealth of knowledge on what happened, and even her personal accounts of what it felt like to be stuck within her own mind. Something that we, with smaller stakes at hoof, would most likely never get to feel.

Whatever it was they were feeling, I’m sure those emotions were strong. Walking out of their cave, they found that there was still an entire town of unconscious, emotionally ailing ponies, animals, sprites, and draconequus. Even the sky was still gloomy with the ill effects of the Mistress’ spells. With those strong emotions, Chrys was able to borrow her friend's feelings and her own to stand side by side with Twilight, who also mustered what she could of her own magic. Alone, they could do no more than a trickle of magic.

Together, they felt like they could stand up against the world. With all their friends in tow to lend their aid, they walked to the very edge of the cliff overlooking a valley, just outside where the serpent body of the Guardian had let them out near.

The golden glow of Chrys’ magic intertwined with Twilight’s purple one, and Twilight let the little changeling be the one to say the words that needed to be said for that familiar spell.

”To do what we must,
And shake off the rust.
We pool our power to cast,
A spell aimed at the distant past.

We’ll find where we belong,
As we go along,
With Fate’s grand design...

She hesitated, feeling like the last verse didn’t quite fit all that she had hoped to accomplish with this spell. But magic was tricksy, she’d come to realize. It did what it wanted, when it wanted, and for whomever it wanted. Maybe these words were a simple key to unlock the strong feelings strung up in the heart, to channel that magic better... If that was the case, then anything she said next would likely work. Well, it wouldn’t hurt to try, she supposed.

To live free and to save all of our kind."

The whole of the valley became engulfed in the energies of this gentle spell. So far it traveled, it reached every corner of Ponyville, ridding the town of its madness and helping along every ailing creature that had been done in. It covered such an amazing distance that even the heavens were touched. Their spell had rend the very sky in two, letting the gentle sunset through.

Even if we can’t know what they felt in that moment, I think it’s pretty obvious what they must have felt then. Relief. Joy. Love. And maybe a strong sense of hope?

Twilight did say this about that moment:

“I felt so powerless during that whole confrontation. Anything I tried to do, I could only be met with failure. And Chrys yet again saved us all once more. Looking at her... I figured that if you don’t like the story that’s being written about you, then it’s up to you to change it. Since then, I’ve lived my life with that sense in my heart. It’s worked out pretty great, don’t you think?”

She had said this in response to my inquiry about how she felt about the state of the Kingdom now that changelings were free and those times had long since been written into history. It truly was a more prosperous time than the kingdom had ever seen.

It hadn't happened overnight either. Even with the many great feats our protagonists accomplished, and the trust they built up in the time after, the damage the Mistress had done was extensive. It had taken many years still before Twilight and Chrys could create a good image of changelings.

Helped along by the fact their efforts were no longer being sabotaged by some ethereal manifestation of madness... Chrys' friends and all of Ponyville seemed to spread word throught the rest of the kingdom of all the wonderful, tragic, and beautiful things about the changeling race. Truths that were no longer hidden by pleasentries.

Even unlikely characters did what they could towards that end. Like one remorseful Draconequus who had been touched by the little changeling's defense towards his honor, a couple of Diamond Dogs who had been grateful to be rid of that nagging voice in their head, and a couple of snotty fillies that had since learned a thing or two about being better ponies.

And Chrys? Well, she’s likely still out there somewhere helping some pony or other, as she's always done. She has shied away from the public eye, and has declined time and again to be given a position of power and influence, despite the many changelings that revere her.

Turns out, she never really wanted to be Princess. She quite enjoyed her time living a normal life with Twilight and her friends, free from any obligation other than to live for herself and for those she loved dearly. And now that the changelings were free from their curse and even the Queen had come back to her senses after some many years of mental-magical therapy, Chrys truly was free to do all that she wanted.

I don't think anyone is born saintly, and if Chrys' life proves anything, it's that everyone has the capacity for good in their heart so long as they have the bravery and the strong desire to change for the better. In that, we could all learn a thing or two from that wonderful little girl from so long ago. A story is a story, good or bad. Still, we should try and write good stories for our sake if nothing else. So then...

What will your story tell? For whom is it for?

And most importantly...

What do you want to say?

Author's Note

And so ends another chapter of my life. I very much enjoyed finishing the original. And very very much enjoyed making this, its sequel. Working alongside Mutters to see my little girl realized was truly something else. I've written many stories in my time, but never have I cared so much about any one character more than I did Chrys.

I hope you enjoyed what it was I wrote. It's been an absolute pleasure. Signing off for now. Ciao!