Unity

It only took a single glance for Twilight Sparkle to confirm the simple fact: Queen Chrysalis did not have much time left. The truth hit her squarely, and despite the situation the unicorn felt a flare of relief flash through her. Assurances aside, her analytic mind had insisted that this was all a trap, some elaborate hoax. For the most part now, those fears had been laid to rest. While she was still exercising due caution, the sorceress was at least prepared to listen to whatever her old enemy had to say. But even as Twilight approached the sickly queen, she quickly found herself saddened by what she saw.

One of the very first things Twilight noticed was Chrysalis’ horn, much as Twilight had noticed her own after her change. Chrysalis’ horn had shrunk to the size of a young foal’s, and was no longer jagged and pointy. The second noted was the queen’s mane. Most of it had long since fallen out, leaving only a few frayed ends here and there. Her tail had gone entirely. Chrysalis’ eyes had been reduced to a dim green glow, laced with pain visible even at this distance. Her wings looked to be dissolving into thin air, leaving nothing but tattered remnants of what they had once been. As the changeling monarch slowly raised her head to look at the newcomers, Twilight also saw that she was missing a fang. Lastly, in the few moments it took to approach properly, Twilight could detect almost no magical glow within the dying changeling.

For several agonizing moments, there was complete silence within the chamber. Flicka, Lyra, and Amethyst stood off to one side of Chrysalis, seemingly content to observe what would transpire. Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, inched ever closer to Twilight. She was so close the wing on her left side brushed gently against Twilight’s coat. A quick glimpse into the Link showed Dash’s thoughts to be a muddled mess of confusion and pity, a mess Twilight was not going to attempt to breach in an effort to speak to her best friend. Nialiah stood ready off to Twilight’s other side, her expression serene and confident. Twilight felt a bubble of loving friendship well up within her. She felt safe, protected, with her closest friend and her sister there. It gave her courage, enough to stand her ground and look Chrysalis in the eye, even as the monarch began to speak at last.

“Twilight Sparkle.”  Those two simple words sent shivers arching down the unicorn’s spine. Chrysalis’ voice was so faint Twilight could barely hear it. It was hoarse, trembling with insurmountable pain. Now, more than ever, Twilight understood that she was standing before someone on the brink of death. The mere thought nearly sent her reeling. Never, in all of her years, had Twilight been this close to death. Granted, the Elements of Harmony bearers and the Crystal Heart had slain Sombra, but that had been different. Sombra had been pure evil, nothing more and nothing less. Chrysalis was a new matter all together. Despite the attempted invasion of Canterlot, Twilight didn’t see Chrysalis as evil, or full of darkness. She had only been trying to look out for her Swarm, her people. After millennia of segregation and hostility from others, it was no small wonder why the changelings had attempted to take over Equestria instead of attempting to find a more peaceful route.

“Calm yourself, child.” came Chrysalis’ next words, as she detected the rising hysteria within the purple mare. “There is naught you can do for me, and even if there was I would not accept your help. The most important thing is that you have come.”

Twilight swallowed around the lump caught within her throat. “I’m sorry. Why is that a good thing?”

Chrysalis let a faint ghost of a smile tug at her lips. “Because I am about to pass from this world, Twilight Sparkle. Transferring power over to you has almost heralded my time before I had a chance to talk to you.”

“Transferring power,” Twilight said. It was not a question. It was more like a simple statement of fact.

Chrysalis was silent for a moment, as though she were gathering her thoughts. “Do you know how we changelings came to be, Twilight?”

Taken aback by the seemingly irrelevant question, Twilight answered automatically. “No. I don’t think anypony does, except maybe the princesses. To my knowledge no accurate books of changelings exist.”

Chrysalis nodded slightly, as though she had expected this response. “At the very start of history, centuries and centuries ago, there were a total of four equine races, not the three most are familiar with today: pegasi, unicorns, earth ponies… and Flutter Ponies. During that age, we were all ruled by the chaotic being we know as Discord. He was as merciless as he was chaotic, constantly finding new ways to have a bit of what he called “fun”. The Discord you have encountered and defeated before was nothing more than a Shade of him, an echo of his full form. Everyone lived in absolute fear of him. There was no stopping him when he decided he wanted to do something, and for the most part, no one back then had a mind of their own. Even if anyone had wanted to stand up to him, they couldn’t. He’d just direct them to do something else, something that would please him.

“But then our ancient ancestors came onto the timeline: Princess Platinum, Commander Hurricane, Chancellor Puddinghead, and the Flutter Pony leader, Queen Summerdew. Back then, Flutter Pony magic was much more powerful than unicorn magic. Summerdew had enough raw power to foil the vast majority of Discord’s mind magic. She couldn’t stand up to him outright or alone, but her magic was able to keep the minds of the others clear of Discord’s influence. Together, these four unlikely heroes began to oppose Discord. Discord, naturally, fought back, going so far as to kill the family members of the Four. After countless years of fighting, countless moments of pain and suffering, Discord was laid low. No one is sure how this was possible, as Discord was practically a god; some even believe that Discord created the equine races to be his personal play toys. But in the final moments before Discord could be vanquished, he laid a curse upon Queen Summerdew and her people, and their descendants. They would become the first ever changelings.

“Queen Summerdew could feel the vile magic taking root inside of her. She knew she must flee, lest she become a pawn of Discord’s magic. Princess Platinum made a promise to search for Summerdew later, once the magic faded or proved to not be a threat. But Princess Platinum lied. She had no intention of looking for the Flutter Ponies. So Summerdew and her people fled into hiding with the belief that Platinum would offer a hoof in friendship once the worse was over. It was while in hiding that the Flutter Ponies completed their transformation into changelings. They viewed themselves as monstrosities, nothing remotely similar to the graceful and beautiful creatures they had once been. Summerdew could only hope that Platinum would keep her promise and come searching; While confused and hurt, Summerdew still had the presence of mind to understand that her and her people would likely not be welcomed with open arms. But Platinum never came. Summerdew watched from the shadows as the other three heroes fought over land, food, and magic. She watched them belittle each other, each one wanting to be in charge of everything. She watched as the windigos came. She watched as the three separate races formed an uneasy alliance. She watched the land slowly transform into what is recognized as Equestria today. And still, she waited for Platinum to remember a promise.

“But the fragile peace between the races did not last forever, and thanks to this, Discord was able to gain a foothold into the world once more. He killed them all—Princess Platinum, Commander Hurricane, and Chancellor Puddinghead. But try as he might, Discord could not find the race he had condemned to a painful fate. He did not know exactly what he had done to the Flutter Ponies, only that he had laid a curse upon them moments before he had fallen all those years ago. He had no knowledge of the changelings until Summerdew made her presence known. This is the start of where things began to look up for the changeling race. This was also the point where current scholar’s decided to start erasing old history, rewriting it to suit their needs.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight interjected quickly. The sorceress had been enthralled by this tale, despite the current situation. She had never heard it told like this.

“I mean that the reason there has been no accurate information of changelings within Equestria was because pony scholars rewrote history. They rewrote it all, erasing every mention of changelings, and the sacrifices we made in an effort to keep the equine species alive and free.”

“But… why? What historian in their right mind would do such a terrible thing?”

“I will get to that shortly. I must continue this lesson for you to understand. Now, Summerdew made her existence known to Discord. The chaotic being was greatly amused, at first. His curse had done something to the Flutter Ponies he had never dreamed possible! It changed their very nature, their entire existence! Soon, however, that amusement changed to astonishment and anger. As an entire species, the changelings were easily a match for Discord. Individually, even a single changeling could give him trouble. Discord simply could not understand it. How could some mutant stand against him? Well, as I’m sure you can guess, the answer came in the form of love. The changelings were the only creatures capable of combating Discord, and the other races loved us for it. That love fueled the power of changelings on to even greater heights. That love gave changelings so much power we could fight Discord. And while changelings couldn’t win against a being so powerful, we could at least hold our own.

“Then… Celestia and Luna appeared. They were naught but simple unicorns, but, like the changelings, they carried enough power within themselves to fight the draconequus. But unlike the changelings, Celestia and Luna did not draw power from love and compassion. They drew their power directly from the sun and the moon. To this day, there are no texts that can explain why these two unicorns possessed the power of the two heavenly bodies. I do not even think the sisters themselves know. So, together with Summerdew and her changelings, Celestia and Luna banished Discord. But banishing Discord would not be permanent. They needed an absolute way to keep the lord of chaos imprisoned. Thus, the Elements of Harmony were born, created by the sisters. They each took a part of themselves and sealed them within the artifacts. In doing so, they became elevated into the Alicorns they are today. This was the price of creating such power artifacts—artifacts powerful enough to lay low a god—the two sisters were to live forever.”

“How is being immortal a bad thing—a price? That sounds more like a reward, to me.” Rainbow Dash was the one to interrupt this time.

This time, it was Twilight who answered. “Think about it, Rainbow. The princesses never grow old. They watch over their ponies day after day, year after year, and they never grow older. They’ve watched their old family die. They’ve watched friends go old and die. They’ve watched lovers do the same. Could you live forever if it meant that you have to watch those around you fall fate to death, natural and otherwise?”

“Well, no…” Dash admitted.

“Then there is your answer,” Chrysalis spoke again. “In fact, if it had not been for the War of the Sun and Moon, my own mother, Summerdew, would still be alive.”

“Summerdew was your mother?” Twilight asked incredulously.

“Indeed she was. I am only the second queen the changelings have ever had. Changelings naturally live longer lives than most ponies do, but our queens are as immortal as any other Alicorn.”

“But if you are immortal… why are you dying now?” Twilight asked.

“Being immortal does not protect one from falling severely ill, or dying upon the field of battle. Even Celestia or Luna could potentially die from sickness or battle, although the magic of the heavenly bodies make it hard for either one to actually pass away. Seeing as the sun and the moon are always there, I would imagine that the Royal Sisters would eventually regenerate their bodies. I mentioned before that scholars rewrote history to exclude changelings. Well, the birth of Nightmare Moon, and the war that followed is the reason why. It was after Nightmare Moon appeared that my mother made a grave mistake. She sided with Nightmare Moon.”

The entire chamber went deathly silent at these words. Finally, Twilight found her voice. “Why?”

Chrysalis closed her eyes and sighed, a sound filled with infinite sadness. “Summerdew believed that she could save Luna. She believed that if she could get close enough to Nightmare Moon, she could save the sister that was trapped within the darkness. Naturally, the ponies of Equestria did not see it that way. Princess Celestia was prepared to believe Summerdew… but that began to change when changelings began to openly attack ponies. Summerdew knew that the only way to gain the trust of the nightmare was to carry out the fiend’s orders. So she did. When Moon ordered Summerdew to march against the ponies of Equestria, she did so. She did it with remorse, far more remorse than one would think possible. She did not want to attack her allies, her friends. But she had to. Equestria would not survive long without both sisters, and Summerdew was determined to bring the younger one back safe and sound.

“Yet she failed. Remorse. Sadness. Anger. Hatred. These types of emotions are poisonous to changelings. If we are exposed to it long enough, those emotions weaken us to the point we can be easily killed. In the final battle between Moon and Celestia, Summerdew was slain. She was so weak from those negative feelings. She never even had a chance to apologize for her actions, or tell Celestia what she had tried to do. I was the one to take up the legacy of the changelings, then. I ordered the Swarm to retreat. As I did so, I noticed that my mother was yet alive. I drug her with me as the changelings retreated from that killing ground. But it was already too late. I had enough time to promise her that I would fix her mistake before she passed for good. By the time I had processed everything that had happened, it was over. Celestia had used the Elements on Moon and banished the creature, never to return. I fled like the coward I am, fled back to our forests to lick our wounds. Despite my promise to my mother, I had no desire to even be in the same room as Celestia. I was a coward. I was afraid of what Celestia would do to me and my people.

“Over time, the grief over losing my mother twisted me into something else. I began to see it as Celestia’s fault my mother died. That feeling grew and grew, so that when my people began running low on food and starving, I decided to invade Canterlot, and make Celestia pay for murdering my mother by taking over Equestria. My promise to my mother would have been fulfilled: I would have led the changelings back to the glory they had before the War of the Sun and Moon. As you know, we failed. It was after that failed attack that I was poisoned. I never realized it until it was too late to do anything about it. Remember, negative emotions concentrated directly at changelings are the bane of my people. When you mix such powerful negative emotions with pure love, it creates an emotion so warped it can kill us outright. When Shining Armor and Cadance blasted us away, they injected their magic with that deadly mix. As queen of the changelings, I automatically took the brunt of it, so that my people would be unharmed. Eventually it started to kill me, to weaken me, and by then it was already too late.”

More silence greeted Chrysalis’ words. Finding her voice yet again, Twilight spoke. “But what does that have to do with me?”

Chrysalis closed her eyes, marshalling her thoughts. “When the Flutter Ponies were first transformed into changelings, Summerdew invoked the ancient, powerful magic of Sol to lay down three laws that all changelings follow. If they deviate from these supreme laws, they die. There is no stopping it. The first law states that the Queen is the highest changeling in the Swarm. Her word and her will is law. With our minds linked all the time the way they are, a changeling cannot disobey a direct order from their queen no matter how much they wish to do so. It was this law that I abused to get my forces to attack Canterlot. The vast majority of my people had no desire to be a part of this invasion, despite the promise of power. As their queen, I forced them to obey, and as a result they became nothing more than mindless drones—they could not turn against me, and they could not think for themselves.

“The second law decrees that the Swarm must always have a queen. Never a king, or a princess, or some other title. Always a queen. Without one, the changelings… well, we go crazy, or so the law says. We’d start attacking anything in sight, attacking and razing until there was nothing left. The third law—the law that involves you, Twilight Sparkle—states that, in the event of an unprecedented emergency, a non changeling can be put upon the Throne. Which is exactly what you are here for, Twilight Sparkle. You are to become the next Queen of the Changelings."