“I have never seen anything quite like that.” Twilight exclaimed in awe. The pulsating green light shone through the corridor as it came from everywhere. The walls didn’t glow, but it seemed like they were. Even though, everything was black, it was still remarkably easy to see where someone was going.

“I know what you feel, Twilight. I was only here twice before.” Celestia said with a warm tone. They were being escorted through the tunnel until they came to something.

“EEEWWHH what is that? It looks simply horrid.” Rarity exclaimed while looking at the new substance that covered the walls and the floor. It looked like a black pulsating mush and felt like someone would walk through a bowel. The flesh, that adjourned the walls, was covered in a substance that can only be called a slushy transparent slime. “I will not walk on something this atrocious!” Rarity stated simply with a huff.

One of the changeling guards walked up to her. “Don’t you dare insult our hive.” He talked to her with narrowed eyes. “It is our home. When we were in Canterlot, we didn’t tell you how disgustingly cold and stony it was.” He started to walk away, but not before he could say one last thing. “Don’t be so disgustingly disrespectful.”

‘Even though I might have made a mistake in insulting your home, doesn’t mean that you must address me with such disrespect.’ She thought to herself and looked back to the fleshy floor. Reluctantly she placed a hoof on the slime and felt that it was warm and moist. The feeling alone would make her gag if she wouldn’t have the composure of a proper lady. Slowly she began to walk on the gooey surface, and every time she took a step that was accompanied by a slimy splash noise, felt like she would loose the control over her gag-reflex in record time.

A.J. wasn’t seriously disturbed by it and Pinkie Pie just simply jumped around, exclaiming that it felt like a trampoline. Rainbow Dash tapped the slime carefully but then just said “Cool!”. Fluttershy first didn’t want to lay a hoof on it, but was convinced quickly. Whenever some steam, gas, or goo came out of the walls, she let out a quiet eep and would trot away. Twilight seemed to be fascinated by it.

“How does it work?” She asked one of the guards, who just groaned but answered.

“It’s a parasite that also, like us, feeds on emotions. For us feeding it, it provides us with heat and comfort. It also has the ability to contact other changelings through nerve strands.” They passed through a corridor. There were fleshy openings at some points and one time one of them opened, and a changeling came out of it.

“That, what you see there, are the doors to the barracks and rooms of the other changelings. We live there and sleep there. Now back to the mail system. Every changelinghouse has a unique recognition signal that the hive knows. So if, I wanted to inform our queen of your arrival, I just need to go to my house and tell the goo there, where I want my message to be delivered to. It then latches on the target and inserts its' nerve strands in the holes in our legs, and we receive the message.”

“That’s impressive. It sounds like you have a very advanced society.” Twilight exclaimed while being impressed. The changeling turned around and looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
“What else? Did you think you were attacked by some tribal inbreeds?” Twilight slowly started to get nervous.

“N-No. It’s just… more advanced than I thought.” Shaking its’ head on Twilights’ answer, the changeling turned around and began to lead the group further into the hive. After some time, they arrived in a big hall.

“This is the gathering hall. It is the center of our hive, and from here on out, you can choose wherever to go. Shops, infirmaries, and inns are all accessible through here.”

“Wait, you have shops and inns?” Twilight quickly asked.

“Well of course, we are not the only changeling hive. Our society is much like yours. We have our main hive, which is this one, and many little hives all around the world and yes I mean the world, not Equestria. If we would count every changeling, we would outnumber you ponies by at least 20 to 1.” The guard spoke with a hint of smugness in his voice.

“But this should not be of concern since we are not here to start a war.” Celestia said, you guessed right, with a warm smile. Now they were in front of a big opening with four guards guarding it.

“This is Princess Celestia and” he looked at the group of ponies. “some other ponies. They have an appointment with our Queen.” The guards looked at the group of ponies and scanned them for weapons. When they didn’t find any, they stepped aside and let the group pass. They were now again in a high and long hallway. Celestia lowered her head to the Elements Of Harmony.

“Listen closely. We are in the territory of another empire, and we should act accordingly. Even if, the face you will see in here is not to your liking, we need to stay polite, and we can not be disrespectful. One slip up and it could cost Equestria dearly.” Celestia said with authority. All the ponies nodded and looked to the front. Now, they could see a humongous opening and behind it, was a massive hall.

It didn’t actually look different than the rest of the hive, but its’ size was simply on another level. At the end of the hall, was a mountain of that fleshy stuff that was on the floor. On top of the fleshy mountain sat a changeling with a familiar face. Upon seeing her guests, Chrysalis showed a smug smile and didn’t try to hide it. Here they were, the ones that destroyed her dream. The beings that stopped her carefully planned invasion in Canterlot.

Here they all stood, in her throne room, in her hive, in her land surrounded by thousands of her children. How could the day get any better for her? How could they be so foolish as to even think about going into enemy territory without any kind of security? Celestia walked to the front and made a short bow, to pay her respect to the emperor of the lands. The ponies followed and bowed too, except for one mare.

“Rainbow Dash, get down.” Applejack hissed through closed teeth. The queen of Changelings raised an eyebrow and seemed to have an irritated look on her face. Finally, Twilight used her magic to pull the mare down into a forced bow. She knew that this was disrespectful, but the preventing of a war with the Changelings was more important than the mares’ stubbornness. Rainbow fought the magic at the beginning, but accepted it while gritting her teeth.
‘Why do I have to bow to the one that nearly destroyed Canterlot? I should be up there so I can show her what happens if somepony attacks my friends.’ She thought angrily. Chrysalis chuckled a little.

“My my my, what do I owe the visit to, Princess Celestia?” She practically spat out the word Princess. Celestia looked Chrysalis in the eyes but didn’t say anything at the beginning. This was the hardest part, to acknowledge that they needed help from their enemies. It felt like she would forfeit some of her honor. “Well? I’m waiting.” Chrysalis muttered irritated. It’s now or never.

“Equestria needs your help.” Celestia stated matter-of- factly. Chrysalis suddenly raised both her eyebrows in a bewildered expression. Even though, she felt the need to utter the classic phrase ‘What?’ she didn’t say it and instead just smiled. Here are her enemies. Not only in the most favourable spot on the planet, but also begging for help. She felt powerful. It felt as if she could just crush them.

“Well, doesn’t that sound serious?” The sarcasm was laid on thick. She walked back to her throne and sat down. “What kind of help do you need?” She wanted to savor this as long as possible before she would destroy Celestia and the Elements Of Harmony. “What do you need? Jewels? Changelings for your experiments? Emotional energy? Tell me Celestia.” She asked with a satisfied tone in her voice.

That satisfied sound made Celestia feel even worse. She felt miserable enough about having to crawl to her enemy and beg for help, but no, the queen also enjoyed it. Celestia knew that Chrysalis knew that she has the power in this and that she loved it. Nonetheless, she needed to contain her anger for the smug Queen. “We need your powers for a battle that will happen in five years time.”

“A battle?” Chrysalis crooked an eyebrow. “Against whom?” This got interesting. She would have never thought that Equestria would want her help in a battle.

“A little over thousand years ago, a being from the multiverse called Oran came to my lands. He fought against my ponies, and we lost gravely against him. He then proceeded to cause very much damage to my little ponies and vanished after that. About two months ago, he returned to Equestria to attack us again. He gave us five years to prepare for the war against him. Equestria can’t win alone against him, that’s why I am asking you to assist us in this matter.”

Chrysalis pondered about this for a while. Something sounded familiar. She looked back to Celestia and asked. “When exactly did he fight against you ponies?” Celestia thought for a second.

“About 1001 years and 3 months ago. I don’t have the exact date.” Chrysalis eyes widened.

“If what you have said holds truth, then he also affected my fellow Changelings.” Celestia looked shocked.

“How?” She just simply asked.

“Around that time at one day, everyling, including me, seemed to have randomly died at the same time. Surprisingly, after about ten hours later, everyling was alive again.” The Elements Of Harmony couldn’t believe what they heard. Every Changeling died at the same time and got revived? Was this the same fate Equestria has befallen at that time? Everypony looked at Twilight, and she reluctantly nodded to her friends.

Now it was understandable why she didn’t want to tell them. This was just horrible. How can somepony kill everything and still sleep well at night? They didn’t even want to hear the details of how he was able to do it and why he did it. Chrysalis looked confused, but still answered.

“We don’t know how, but are we right in the assumption that he was the cause of those events?” She asked with an unrecognizable emotion. Celestia simply nodded. “Where does he currently reside?” Now it was Celestias’ time to look confused.

“He currently sits on the mountaintop of Mount Dragonborn, but can I ask why you want to know that?” Chrysalis didn’t answer and just made a hissing sound. Not a second later, a changeling guard barreled into the throne room and saluted before its’ Queen.

“Assemble all the Changeling warriors and tell General Hatebinder to start an attack on Mount Dragonborn. The target is some form of powerful entity. I think you should know, when you see it.” The guard saluted and ran out of the throne room. Celestias’ eyes widened.

“NO! You can’t attack him. He will kill everypony that you send at him. Pull them back before you loose half your hive!” She nearly screamed at the Queen who just laughed maniacally.

“Oh Celestia. I can’t believe your ignorance. Do you really think, us changelings are this weak, to be brought down by a simple entity? I only used a quarter of my army to attack Canterlot. You should know that we can not be stopped.” She continued to laugh.

“Yeah, we saw that when you got shot out of Canterlot.” Hissed some cyan Pegasus. Every eye in the room shot to Rainbow in shock.

“Rainbow!” Twilight exclaimed in a dead serious tone. Rainbow Dash just crossed her front-legs and looked away. She won’t let herself get downgraded this much from that bug freak. To everyponys’ surprise, the Queen of Changelings just laughed.

“Well it seems like we have quite a feisty one here, but let’s forget about that.” She turned to Celestia. “As you see, I just sent my help, happy?” She asked the last word with a hint of seduction.

“We don’t need your army. We need you!” Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. “Your armies will get slaughtered. Every single one of them. To fight Oran, we need your power, the power of an immortal being.” Chrysalis smiled again.

“Well, you failed to acquire it. I won’t leave my throne to take part in some petty battle just for some ponies.” Celestia shook her head.

“Please it is very important. If Oran wins, not only my ponies, but from what I’ve heard also your Changelings are in great danger. We need your help!” She shouted in desperation. For a second, it looked like Chrysalis would genuinely care and would consider this, but only for a second.

“The problem is already taken care of. My armies are on their way to eliminate this… Oran. So there should be no problem.” She smugly explained.

“Didn’t you hear what I said? All your Changelings will die. Your armies will get wiped out. Pull them back! I don’t want to see unnecessary deaths. You need to listen to me when I say that your armies won-“

“ENOUGH! I had it with your disrespectfulness. You come here into my empire, in my throne room and tell me how I have to handle my own land.” She calmed down again but had a mischievous smile on her lips. “Now, how about you stay for dinner?” Celestia realized what Chrysalis said and instantly summoned her pocket dimension and pulled out a red sphere.

“And what is-“ She instantly stopped to speak when she felt something. That sphere. It emanated love in enormous proportions. How could this be possible? “What is that?” She asked in an entranced voice. The ponies looked around and realized that they didn’t know. Aren never told them what this thing does.

“We actually don’t know. A very powerful being gave it to us and told us that we should offer it to you if you don’t want to help us.” Celestia wanted to keep secret that they have Orans’ disciple in their care. She didn’t want Chrysalis to attack Canterlot while he was in a coma.

“Well what speaks against me just taking it and throwing you in a dungeon?” That was a good question, Celestia realized. It seems like there was no other option left. She opened the pocket-dimension again, and five certain necklaces and one big-crown-thingy came out of it. When they came out, they got instantly blasted away by a green beam that was fired from the queen.

“Foolish ponies. Did you really think of me to be so ignorant that you would be able to surprise me with the Elements Of Harmony? I knew from the beginning that you won’t come to me completely harmless.” While she said that, the elements hit a wall and when they fell to the floor, got picked up by Changelings who brought the elements to Chrysalis. She laughed like a maniac and walked down from her throne while her changeling army surrounded the group of ponies.

“Well, that’s a shame.” She looked down at the sphere. “Now let’s see what’s in there.” When she used her levitation spell on the object, it suddenly got bright and red dust came out of the sphere. The red dust flew in the air and formed something. The ponies recognized the form.

“Well, it seems like we have a problem here, don’t we?” Aren asked the group of ponies. They just stood there with open jaws. When they composed themselves again, they looked worried. Twilight said something first.

“Aren, should you be up? You should still rest. Nopony can get out of coma and be fit for battle in two hours.” Aren just put a finger in his ear and drilled a little out of boredom.

“So I am in a coma huh? Why?” The ponies looked again confused.

“Well you were, up until now. Don’t you remember? You said you shared your soul with Rarity and then you fell into a coma.” Aren just looked worried and sighed.
“I did that again? Well doesn’t concern me.” He stated in a somewhat happy tone. Twilight shook her head.

“Doesn’t concern you? But you are Aren.” He looked troubled.

“Well yes and no.” Now they are confused again. “I am Aren, but not the real Aren. Before I went on the journey with you, I made a replication of myself and enchanted that sphere with it. The replication is a copy of my consciousness and acts like me but has no real power. In short, I am not your Aren, and I can only speak.”

Then he turned around and saw the Queen, who was obviously confused by what happened. “So you are Queen Chrysalis.” He looked at her from hoof to head. “Just like I imagined. Black bug thing that looks evil. Nothing special. All you emotion-eaters look somewhat the same.” He said while turning around shrugging.

Chrysalis was taken aback. How could he act so nonchalantly around her? “What do you think you’re doing? Show more respect you fool.” Suddenly the copy of Aren got close to her face and looked her deep in the eyes.

“Listen here, bitch. If I would be really here, I would threaten you with destroying your entire hive and burning down all that is important to you. I would grind your flesh until you would beg me to let you help me. Then I would hunt down every single one of your colonies and burn them to the ground until nothing else but ash remains.” He had an enraged look in his eyes. Chrysalis was taken aback by the sudden aggression and even felt fear for an exceedingly short time.

Suddenly he went back and shrugged. “But I am not here, so instead I bribe you. See this sphere?” The copy had the sphere in his hand. “This is the most expensive emotion-eater-gem I could find. It should give you enough emotional energy for your hive for around seven years. Imagine seven years without hunting for food. Just walking to the gem and sucking on the nearly endless well of love that is imbedded into it.”

Chrysalis who regained her composure now smiled. “And what hinders me to just take it?” she asked smugly. Aren smirked too.

“Try it. Try to feed on it. You won’t be able to unless I allow it.” Queen Chrysalis looked a little angry but tried it nonetheless. She lowered her horn down to the sphere and tried to feed of it. She could feel the love that was stored in there. Like a perfectly cooked stake, it was in front of her. She sucked, but nothing happened. She tried again but still nothing happened.

“Got a Problem?” Aren asked with the cockiest smirk he can muster. He whirled around Chrysalis with his ethereal body. “So do you accept to help us?” Chrysalis smiled again.

“The problem is already taken care of. I sent my armies to deal with this Oran. Mount Dragonborn isn’t far from here. My armies will start their attack in about two hours, and then everything is done for.” Aren raised an eyebrow.

“You sent your army?” he pointed with his right index finger at the Queen. “Yeah, they will be dead shortly after they arrive. Oran doesn’t take kindly to interruptions during his five year pause.” Chrysalis got furious. How could that fool underestimate her armies? Suddenly she got an idea. She lowered her head and began to dispel the enchantments on the sphere. It should be possible to feed on it if the enchantments are cancelled.

She closed her eyes and looked at the enchantments. When she saw them, she gasped. There were thousands of chains intertwined in each other. Every single chain was at least connected to three different ones. The best protectionspell she knew only mustered about a hundred chains, and to dispel it, you need to cast the right spell for every chain for getting it to disappear. When every chain is gone, the enchantment vanishes.

She didn’t even know as many spells as there were chains. There was no point in even trying to break this. She opened her eyes and looked at the interested Aren.

“Seriously, if you were able to crack those we two would be enough to handle Oran, but it seems like you can’t.” He began swimming around her with his ethereal body. “So what’s your answer?” The Queen grinded her teeth, but there was still one last thing she could do. Twilight suddenly got enveloped in a green glow and got levitated over to the queen.

“Give me that sphere, or this one dies.” Her friends gasped, and Celestia looked like she was in fear. “You can choose. Either these ponies live, or they die.” Aren looked at her and began to chuckle.

“Really? That trick? You couldn’t believe how often I saw that one. Look there are only three ways this can go. First, I give you the gem now. Then you will capture them and feed of them eternally. Second, I don’t give it to you. Then you will kill them, and I won’t give it to you because I don’t have anything to loose anymore. Third, you accept. We can leave, and you get the gem. Make your choice.” Chrysalis chuckled.

“Oh are you sure? Should I set an example?” She lowered her teeth to Twilights’ neck and bit down a little, so she was only bleeding a little stream. Aren had an expectant look in his eyes.

“Do go ahead, but go through with this. Either you kill everyone or no one. You won’t get that gem if you kill even one. I can promise that.” The elements and Celestia were shocked by his coldness. How can he throw away one of his friends? Twilight looked equally shocked. Chrysalis still looked into his eyes. After a minute, she let go of Twilight, who then ran back to her friends.

“Alright, you win. I will help you, but I don’t see the reason in it since my army will slay Oran.” She trotted to her throne and looked to the worried ponies. “You can wait at the inn. When my victorious army comes back, I will call for you.” She waved a dismissive hoof and the guards cleared the exits.

“Come, my little ponies. We should go.” Celestia said with a worried face. She didn’t want to stay here any longer, than she needed. The ponies followed with haste and let the queen and the gem stay alone in the throne room. When they were in an inn, they took the room that was reserved for them and walked in. When they closed it, they let out a withheld sigh.

“That. Was. So. Awesome!” Rainbows eyes sparkled. “Did you see his guts? No matter what Chrysalis did, he nev-“

“RAINBOW DASH!” Celestia shouted at Rainbow Dash, who instantly winced.

“That was not awesome! He played with our lives. What if Queen Chrysalis wouldn’t have listened to him and would have harmed Twilight? Would it still have been awesome?” She looked at Rainbow Dash rather angrily. Rainbow looked at the ground and sighed.

“No…” Celestia walked over to Twilight.

“Are you alright, Twilight?” She asked while placing a comforting hoof on her back. Twilight looked sadly into Celestias’ eyes and sighed.

“Yes, I’ll be fine.” She looked to the side with a pained expression. “I just wouldn’t have thought that he would play with our lives like that. So many things could have gone wrong. We could have been killed” The other elements winced by that word. They were not used to hear it in a conversation, unlike Twilight.

She looked at the ground. “I trusted him.” With tears in her eyes, she began to start sobbing. Celestia seeing this wrapped a wing around Twilight, who leaned in on her mentor. Her friends had uncomfortable looks in their eyes, everyone except one.

“I don’t think that was Aren.” Everypony turned to Rarity. “This can’t be the same pony that gave half his soul for me.” She shook her head. “I am also sure, that I never saw him this vulgar and how he threatened Chrysalis. That can’t be the real him.” Everypony thought about this in silence.

“Yeah, none of my friends could be such a grumpy-old-grumpy-mean-mean-meanie-pants. It’s just not like him.” Pinkie exclaimed while bouncing around the room. Everypony lightened up after this and made their acknowledgement in this matter. Everypony but one.

“I am really not sure if this is true.” Everyone turned to Twilight. “I talked a lot with him over the last two weeks, and I don’t know if that is his real self or not. He always helps everypony, but only if this benefits the strength of the army. He is very friendly to me and others that respect him, but he never said anything emotional like ‘I like you’ or ‘I’m worried about you’. It’s just strange.” Twilight looked at a spot in the wall.

Rarity walked up to her. “Well you can believe that, but I will trust in him. He wouldn’t have saved me while sacrificing himself like that if he wouldn’t be a gentlecolt.” Twilight smiled at Rarity.

“Maybe you’re right. I think I’m just overanalyzing things.” Everypony then made a group hug.

“Now, I think we should rest.” Said Celestia with a warm smile.

3 Hours later.

Everypony was playing a board-game, which the princess had in her pocket-dimension, when suddenly a Changeling came into the room.

“Our Queen wants to see you in the throne room immediately.” Then he walked back out. The ponies threw some worried glanced at each other and started walking to the throne room. On their way there, they passed a changeling with a red scar across his eyes. Judging by its’ looks he was extraordinarily high ranking. When they arrived in the throne hall, they bowed slightly and then waited for the reason why Chrysalis wanted them in here.

“You are arriving at the perfect time. General Hatebinder just wanted to tell me of the success of his mission.” She looked at one of her guards. “Let him in.” She ordered. The Changeling saluted and said something to the guards. Shortly after, the Changeling with the red scar entered and saluted.

“So I take it, we won?” Asked Chrysalis with a satisfied smirk.

“No.” Chrysalis perked up at that.

“What do you mean ’no’?” The general looked at her in an unreadable expression.

“Shall I make my report right now?” He asked. The Queen brought one of her hoofs up to her fore-head and rested on it while groaning.

“Go ahead.” She waved a dismissive hoof.

“Yes, your majesty.” He began to tell his tale.

Our armies arrived around three hours after our departure. We were around 800 Changelings in numbers. When we saw the mountain, we separated and searched it. Not long after, one of the groups said that they found a biped at the mountain top and that they never saw anything like it. You said we would know when we saw him, and that certainly seemed quite unique.

We gathered again and prepared ourselves for the battle. I walked up to the biped and told him that he will be executed due to your orders. He just said that we should not throw our lives away. He said that we still could turn back. I thought he was just trying to save his own hide.

I gave the order to attack, and the troops flew at him. Suddenly I was back over the forest around the mountain, about one kilometer distance. I didn’t know what happened and flew back to the mountain, but I stopped when I saw what happened. None of my troops were moving. It was as if they were frozen in the air. Suddenly the biped stood up, and lightning shot out of his palm.

I never saw that much lightning. There were hundreds, no thousands of lightning bolts coming out of it, destroying everything in a hundred meters in diameter. While releasing lightning, he then made a 360° and exterminated every single soldier with the lightning. I never saw such a demonstration of power. I then saw that it would be pointless to continue this battle alone and flew back to the hive.

Chrysalis’ face wasn’t visible. Her hoof was at her fore-head, and she was looking to the left. Nothing was heard. Even if, they didn’t like the Changelings, they still felt terribly sorry for them. How can that monster kill 800 living beings without hesitation? It was just not understandable.

“You can go now, Hatebinder.” Chrysalis said this slowly with a raspy voice. The general saluted and went out of the throne hall. The only sound audible were the steps of the general leaving the hall. When he left, absolute silence returned. This lasted several minutes until.

“I will prepare a new Queen that will rule this hive. I will come to Canterlot in around six months. It would be better if you now go.” She said this slowly again with the raspy voice and threw the Elements Of Harmony to the group. The ponies slowly left the room, before they were out of hearing range, they heard a silent whimper from behind them.

The ponies got escorted to the wasteland and started their journey back. When the ponies left the hive, the sphere that was still with Queen Chrysalis suddenly started glowing in a soft purple. The crying Chrysalis picked it up and sucked on the love between the sobs.

She needed that, because there was nothing else that showed her love…

Author's Note

The purpose for the holes in their feet finally revealed. *gasp*