The Troubles of Changing Times

by TeaPartyCannon

Rating: everyone
Tags: Main 6, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Changelings, Queen Chrysalis, Adventure, Discord
Length: 9190

Discord threatens the fragile peace between the ponies and changelings. The sequel to Smoke and Mirrors.

One month has passed since Queen Chrysalis and the changelings made peace with the ponies of Equestria, but all is far from well. Hatred and suspicion run high on both sides, and several groups of ponies have begun to organize themselves in order to drive the changelings out of Equestria and back into the Badlands. Add in the return of an old enemy looking to break the fragile harmony by any means necessary, and the two races find themselves trapped between a rock and a hard place with no easy way out.

All Mirror wants is for the hatred to end. As a single changeling, she knows that she cannot change anything on her own and must rely on her Queen, swarm, and friends to help change Equestria for the better. But with so many factors working to ruin any chance of harmony and friendship between the two races, is peace truly meant to last?

A sequel story to Smoke and Mirrors. Many thanks to Amethyst Hope for the amazing cover art!

Published 2013-02-23 04:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2013-06-11 02:09:06 UTC

Prologue: Dash of Chaos

“Hello Chryssy; long time no see. Did you miss me?”

Discord resisted the urge to laugh out loud as the changeling queen visibly tensed and spun around, her eyes wide with terror and panicked cry caught in her throat. He popped a chair into existence and sat down, watching with a cocky smile as the fear quickly faded and was replaced with glowering hatred. Queen Chrysalis glared at the draconequus, fangs bared and horn glowing threateningly.

“Discord!” Chrysalis finally spat, “What are you doing here?! You should still be-”

“I know, I should still be stone. But a thousand years is quite a long time for a seal to last,” Discord interrupted, “A bit of chaos here, a banishment of a moon princess there, and bam! Free to sow chaos as I please!”

Discord leaned further into his chair, his smirk growing wider as he surveyed the changeling. “Though I must say, Chrysalis, you’re looking lovely today. You’ve certainly aged well, haven’t you? I had no idea flutterpony royal- oh, sorry, changeling royalty lived so long.”

“How dare you-!” Chrysalis began again, only to cut off as Discord raised a claw in the air.

“Yes yes, how dare I make light of your species’ plight, especially when I was the one who caused it.” Discord continued for her in a bored tone of voice. “Speaking of which, how’s dear ol’ Mummy doing?”

Chrysalis’s glare narrowed further at this. After a moment of silence, she spoke in a soft, just audible tone that dripped with venom. “She’s dead.”

Discord’s eyes widened and his grin fell in a look of mock surprise. “Oh? I’m sorry to hear that. That must have been very tough on you. I hope you’re not still feeling down about it; after all, it’s not like you had anything to do with-”

The draconequus deliberately broke off, his malicious smile returning. “Oh, that’s right; you did. You killed her, after all.”

Discord clasped his claw and paw together and leaned forward. “I must congratulate you; that was quite an ingenious idea, using a spell to gain eternal life at the cost of a loved one’s soul. How far does that immortality extend? Are you just unaging, or are you literally incapable of dying now?”

Chrysalis refused to dignify him with an answer, and Discord continued as though he didn’t notice or just didn’t care about the growing aura of hate and fury radiating from the changeling. “How do you think she felt in her last moments, seeing her own daughter planning her death? Do you think she felt betrayed? Maybe she didn’t feel anything at all, being so broken. Maybe she was actually grateful, happy that somepony was going to put her out of her misery at long last-”

“SHUT UP!” Chrysalis screeched, her horn igniting in a dangerous green blaze. A jet of flame burst forth, smashing into the chair that Discord had been sitting in just a second earlier and blasting it to pieces. Discord manifested a pink umbrella and opened it normally, hovering nonchalantly as the smoldering fragments rained down around him. He smiled at Chrysalis’s livid expression.

“Don’t you… don’t you dare talk about her like that!” Chrysalis growled. The changeling queen was shaking with rage; he had clearly struck a nerve. “I’ll make you pay for what you’ve done!”

Discord continued to smile and closed his umbrella, holding it out like a sword. “Now that’ll be interesting to see. Well, if you want to fight me, go ahead. I’ll even let you have the first move. Or is this the second, counting that impromptu spell of your’s? Eh, doesn’t matter.” He said with a shrug, then went back to his previous pose. “En garde!”

Chrysalis shrieked in fury and fired another powerful burst of fire at Discord. The draconequus swung his umbrella like a bat, striking the blast and dispelling it. “Oh come now, Chryssy, you’re going to have to do much better than that if you want to hurt me.”

The queen responded with another beam, which Discord easily swatted out of the way. Whatever nerve he struck, he must have hit it harder than he thought, because the enraged changeling was making no effort to change her strategy despite the ease in which Discord ducked, dodged, rolled, and deflected her attacks. The draconequus frowned, quickly growing bored doing the same thing over and over, and decided that now was as good a time as any to end this one-sided fight.

“How like you, Chrysalis. All business, no play.” Discord sighed, sounding disappointed. He held his lion arm out and caught one of her beams in his paw, condensing it into a ball. He spun around and launched the burning orb at Chrysalis’s hooves, shocking the changeling out of her blind rage. Her eyes widened as, with a snap of Discord’s talons, dozens upon dozens of glowing energy balls of all sizes and colors appeared in the air around her, too close together to allow any kind of escape.

Discord’s smile was one of triumph as he pointed a talon down at her. “Dodge this.”

A flick of his umbrella, and the orbs shot down at once, converging upon the changeling queen. She hastily brought up a shield to defend herself, but it shattered under the barrage of the first few waves, leaving the rest to crash down on top of her. Chrysalis disappeared under the light and smoke of the exploding orbs, and when Discord waved his umbrella again to disperse the smoke, the changeling laid beaten in a large crater, groaning in pain and barely conscious.

Discord fluttered down into the crater and stood before the queen, his umbrella vanishing in a puff of smoke. He bent down and traced a talon gently along Chrysalis’s crooked horn. At his touch, a green spark traveled between his talon and her horn, and the changeling queen’s body drained of color, becoming a dull, lifeless grey. Chrysalis slowly opened her eyes and stared up at him, her gaze defeated but still full of loathing, for both him and for herself.

“It must be so hard on you, Chrysalis,” Discord said with mocking sympathy. “A thousand years of caring for your swarm, and a thousand more to come, with no way out because you’re the only thing standing between the changelings’ survival and their total extinction.”

The look in Chrysalis’s eyes never changed as she spoke. “It… it’s not my fault the changelings can’t reproduce, that I’m the only one that can lay eggs or create conversion chrysalises. It’s not my fault I’ll never have an heir…”

“Oh, is that what you think?” Discord asked, looking surprised. “Hah! You really don’t know anything, do you?”

“…What?” Chrysalis said, confusion sparking in her eyes.

“The reason why you can’t have an heir? Why, it’s your own fault, of course!” Discord said cheerfully, “You see, there’s a difference between a changeling drone and a changeling princess. Drones are born from eggs the normal way, but a princess requires an enormous amount of energy to be able to do all the things a queen can do, energy she can get only from the queen!”

“You mean…?” Chrysalis trailed off.

“Precisely! A changeling princess needs to absorb the life energy given up by her mother to be born, therefore becoming the new queen!” Discord declared. His smile briefly dropped as he looked at Chrysalis for confirmation. “Er, that is what you were going to say, correct?”

The queen stayed silent, and his smug grin soon returned. “But of course, you can’t do that, can you? I still don’t know the full extents of your immortality, but I’m willing to bet you can’t just give up your life force for a child. So in a way, your swarm’s complete dependence on you for survival… it’s all your fault, isn’t it?”

Chrysalis’s eyes widened, horror managing to cross her face despite her discorded state of mind. “You’re lying… YOU’RE LYING!”

Discord laughed as her voice reached a hysterical pitch. “You’re free to think that if you want to, but we both know the truth. It’s a shame, really; if you hadn’t been so impulsive, if you hadn’t decided to become the eternal queen of the changelings, this never would have happened, would it? You could have had an heir to take over as queen, and you could have been reunited with dear ol’ Mummy. But that’ll never happen now, will it?”

Discord leaned in close to her face, eyes narrowed and voice low and malicious. “This is what comes of a child trying to play god…”

Discord stood up straight and closed his eyes, smiling triumphantly as the changeling queen broke. Chrysalis threw her hooves over her face and cried, sobbing tearless apologies to her swarm, mother, and nonexistent child and begging hysterically for their forgiveness. Discord would have stayed to listen to her laments over her failures longer, but the sound of buzzing and cracking outside the door to the throne chamber drew his attention.

“Ah, looks like those changelings are about done breaking through that wall of marble chocolate I made.” Discord observed. He looked back down at the guilt-stricken changeling before him, so like the naive and desperate princess she was a thousand years ago. “Well, Chryssey, I’d love to stay, but I have chaos to wreak and a purple unicorn to break. Ta ta!”

Discord snapped his talons and disappeared just as the chamber doors burst open.

Discord sighed and snuggled into his hammock, floating within the dark abyss that was the inside of his stone prison. He snapped his fingers, producing a glass of strawberry milk, and drunk the glass before biting into the crunchy milk left behind. A smirk crossed his face as he reflected on his memories of the changeling queen he had visited the last time he had been free.

It was funny, really; how she had believed everything he had said, most of which was a lie. Oh no, he hadn’t lied about her not being able to have an heir, but it had nothing to do with the immortality stolen from her mother. In actuality, any common changeling that could kill the queen and take her power would be able to become the new changeling king or queen, but given how Chrysalis had built herself up as what was essentially a god to the changelings, that wasn’t going to happen. So it was still all her fault.

Poor, naive Chrysalis… Discord mused, chuckling softly, the sound reverberating in the endless abyss. He let out a long sigh and willed his hammock away, flapping his wings to stay aloft even though he had no real need to. Trifle things such as gravity did not exist in his prison; it was just another thing that made his incarceration an utter bore for the spirit of chaos.

Focusing the little power he retained in his current state, Discord closed his eyes and willed his mind and spirit past the black abyss, past the stone sealing his body, and out into the world beyond. When he opened his eyes, Discord found himself staring out at the Canterlot gardens, his stone body still in its frozen position behind him. The draconequus’s spirit spun around and stared at the horrified expression on the statue’s face.

“Shame I didn’t see this coming. I would have made sure I looked more dignified if I had,” He muttered. The draconequus shrugged and turned around, flying up to the tops of Canterlot Castle and settling down on the tip of its tallest tower. Discord stared out over the city of Canterlot, his powerless spirit invisible to the ponies below, who went about their daily lives without a care in the world. Here and there, Discord could see areas of construction, where ponies were hard at work repairing streets and buildings that had been damaged in the changeling invasion scarcely a week ago. Discord chuckled as he thought about the event and how much chaos it had caused, returning just the slightest bit of his power. At least Chrysalis had done something useful before being blasted who-knows-where by that barrier…

“Oh, what I wouldn’t give for another invasion of Canterlot…” Discord sighed as he settled down against the tower’s tip. “Then again, it’s not good to do the same thing twice. It’s not chaos if it’s expected, after all.”

After a few more boring minutes of watching the city life of Canterlot, something off in the distance caught Discord’s eye. He looked up and squinted, a pair of theatre glasses held up to his eyes to better observe the strange sight. “A rainbow… tornado. While I appreciate the oddity, I wonder what’s going on over there?”

Discord continued to watch the strange twister of color swirling around what he believed was the area around Ponyville. A small smirk crossed his face as he realized the Elements of Harmony had to be in use. “Curiouser and curiouser…”

The smirk fell away, however, after a few more seconds of observation, in which he realized that the tornado was growing quickly. Very quickly. Fear striking and instincts kicking in at the sight of the rainbow of harmony sweeping across the land toward Canterlot, Discord leapt off the tower and dove back down toward his statue. The spirit returned to the safety of his petrified body seconds before a whirlwind of color rushed over it.

Back in the black abyss, Discord created a screen projecting the scene outside of his statue. The clear blue sky was blocked out by the swirling, twisting storm of light, and Discord was glad that, in his frozen state, he could not feel the mass amounts of harmony that the rainbow was certainly exuding. But what for? That’s the question.

No more than a minute later, though, the wondrous show came to an end. The massive rainbow faded away, and the cloudless blue sky was soon visible once more. Discord stared out through the screen, taking note of the silence now that the roar of the twister had died down. A few more moments of staring was all it took for him to grow thoroughly bored of the sight.

“Well, as fun as it is being a lifeless stone statue, I think I’ll go out for a fly and see what that was all about.” Discord muttered to himself. No sooner, however, had he stuck his spirit out of his body that a painful shock ran through him. The spirit recoiled into the safety of his prison, away from the huge amounts of harmony still hanging in the air.

“On second thought, I’ll think I’ll stay a lifeless stone statue for a couple more hours,” Discord said quickly, shuddering. “I’m sure I can find something to entertain myself until then.”

And so, after several hours of crossword puzzles, rubix cube solving, and losing against himself in a game of Monopoly, the sound of hooves finally broke the monotony of his imprisonment. Pulling up the screen, Discord looked out and stared in surprise as Queen Chrysalis, of all ponies, slowly approached his statue. Looking past her, Discord could see Shining Armor and Cadance, along with several guards, standing tensely behind and glaring at the changeling queen.

A smile crossed Discord’s face as he flew closer to the screen. “Chryssy! I’m so happy to see you again! How are you doing? You didn’t get taken prisoner by Celestia, did you?” Of course, he knew she couldn’t hear him, but he still felt like trying to talk to her in an effort to relieve his boredom.

“Hello Discord, it’s so good to see you again.” Chrysalis started. Discord could practically feel the venom hidden in her voice. “How are you doing? Stone again, I see.”

Discord chuckled and tried to push down his embarrassment. “Well, we all make mistakes…”

Not hearing him, Chrysalis continued on. “I’m doing very well, thanks for asking. In fact, I’m doing better than I have in a long time. Perhaps you’d like to see how well?”

Discord raised a spiritual eyebrow at the queen’s words, watching as she engulfed herself in her changing flames. When the flames cleared, however, Discord’s jaw dropped five feet at the sight of a beautiful flutterpony standing in the changeling’s place.

“H-H-how did you?!” Discord stuttered angrily, unable to believe what he was seeing. “I got rid of that form! I made you unable to change into that form! How are you in it right now?!”

“Do you see this, Discord? You must have thought you were so clever, preventing us from taking our flutterpony forms.” Chrysalis smirked at the petrified draconequus, “Well, the joke’s on you now. The Elements of Harmony have restored our love, and we have made peace with the ponies. It will take time, but eventually, the changelings will live in harmony with the ponies, and the both of us, immortal and eternal, will be there to see it.”

“The Elements?” Discord repeated before realization struck, “Hmm, so that’s what that rainbow was for…” he muttered to himself.

Chrysalis stepped closer to the statue, her smug smile widening. “I don’t forgive you, you know. You turned us into the changelings, after all. You destroyed mother’s will to live and forced me to take over as the swarm’s queen. I lost many good friends: Morning Glory, Forget-Me-Not, Honeysuckle, all long gone thanks to you. Celestia and Luna abandoned us to our fate, but you gave us that fate in the first place. I will never forgive you for that.”

Discord rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, pouting. “Oh, don’t act all high and mighty. I broke you the last time we met, remember? Besides, you should be thanking me; changelings are so much better than flutterponies.”

Of course, Chrysalis still didn’t hear him as she went on, “And so, I’ll give you the only punishment I can. I’ll leave you here, frozen in stone, and you can watch as your last bit of influence on this world melts away and is replaced by harmony.”

Now it was Discord’s turn to be stopped cold by her words. Horror filled the draconequus as she spelled out this second realization, “The changelings will thrive, we’ll never have to hurt or steal for our love again, we’ll make peace, and you can watch as it all happens.”

And with that, Chrysalis returned to her changeling form and turned away, walking back towards the waiting ponies and conversing for a few moments before teleporting away. All the while Discord stared after her, frozen at the thought of his greatest creations becoming creatures of harmony instead of the chaos they were meant to be.

“Wha…but..I…” Slowly, the numb shock gave way to indignant anger. “Oh, you did not just give me the “reason-I-lose” speech! No one gives Discord the “reason-I-lose” speech! I won’t stand for this!”

Discord materialized a chair and sat down to fume. “Peace, huh? Harmony between ponies and changelings? That’s a laugh!” A malicious grin crossed the draconequus’s face as he spoke, “We’ll just see about your precious peace, Chryssy! Because if there’s one thing I know, it’s disharmony, and by the time I’m done, you’ll be lucky if war’s all you get!”

The draconequus reclined in his chair and rocked back and forth slowly, deep in thought. “Now, how to go about this? I certainly can’t do anything from inside this statue…!” A lit candle suddenly appeared above his head, and Discord sat up straight as he put on a devious smile. “Or can I…?”

Discord concentrated for a few moments, and a small green flame appeared in the palm of his talon. He stared down with growing excitement at the flickering light as it morphed into the form of a hissing changeling. “Add a dash of chaos, and it all falls apart…” He snuffed out the little flame in his talon. “This is going to be fun…”

Chapter 1: Inside and Out

“It doesn't look like she’s home…”

Mirror sighed forlornly, standing outside the door to Fluttershy’s cottage and disguised in her pegasus form. A strong gust of wind blew past, knocking her mane in front of her face, and she took a moment to lift it out of her eyes before turning around and walking away. Though, I suppose I shouldn't expect her to always be here. It’s not like I told her I was coming today, anyway.

“Ah, cheer up, Mirror,” Ditto chirped over their mental link, the mutant still at the hive. “She’s probably in town for that speech Queen Chrysalis is giving today.”

“...Oh yeah, that! I forgot about that.” Mirror thought back hurriedly.

“How could you forget?” Ditto asked, confused by Mirror’s shocked tone. “She mentioned it several times, and it’s all the changelings in Ponyville seem to talk about recently.”

“Hey, I just forgot, okay?! I've been busy helping out at the hive, remember?” Mirror thought back indignantly. “Er, what was the speech about again?”

Mirror could hear Ditto giggle over the link, as well as several other changelings catching bits of their conversation. “You sure you’re okay? Some of us are worried that you might have gotten brain damage after you ran into that wall in the infirmary chamber last week.”

Mirror froze, her mind blanking out and struggling to form coherent thoughts. “Th-that wasn't my fault! Morpheous startled me with that prank of his!”

“He set off your own party cannon next to you.” Ditto pointed out. Mirror could just see the mutant laughing at her.

“Oh, go put another hole in your leg!” Mirror snapped, unconsciously rubbing her head and trying to regain her composure. “A-anyway, if you or any changeling else won’t tell me what Queen Chrysalis’ speech is on, I’ll go find out for myself!”

“Come on, Mirror, don’t be like that.” Ditto flinched, “Queen Chrysalis is going to try and clear up misconceptions regarding the synthetic changelings. If it’s successful in Ponyville, she plans to go to other cities in Equestria to do the same.”

“Oh, the synthetic changelings…” Mirror thought, the term bringing to mind the image of a stern-faced Golden Harvest. A brief rush of guilt surfaced as she thought of the earth pony she had allowed to be converted into a changeling on the misguided idea that it would benefit her, but she pushed it down before any of her siblings could take notice. “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.”

“Agreed, but it’ll be starting soon, so you should really hurry to Ponyville if you want to catch it all,” Ditto advised, “Or you could just listen in through the swarm’s link, too, I suppose…”

Mirror shook her head. “Nah, it’s more fun to see things in person. I’ll be on my way, then.”

The changeling turned away from the empty cottage and took off into the sky, flying toward the town of Ponyville a short distance away. As she neared enough to see the ponies trotting about, she made a quick check over her body to make sure her disguise was still in place. Relations between the ponies and changelings were still sour since peace had been made a month ago, and most changelings felt it was easier to simply hide their true forms than to deal with the jabs and jeers of the distrustful ponies.

Mirror landed on the ground and began walking, following her siblings’ directions to go to the town square where Queen Chrysalis would hold the meeting. Not long after, however, a voice from above caught her attention.

“Mirror? Is that you?” Mirror stopped abruptly as a rainbow blur shot down in front of her. The blur landed, revealing herself as Rainbow Dash. “It is! Long time no see, Mirror!”

“Y-You too, Rainbow Dash!” Mirror squeaked, her heart skipping a beat at the pegasus’s sudden appearance.

“Yeah, I mean seriously, how long has it been? Two weeks?” Rainbow asked, “What have you been doing all this time?”

“Helping out at the hive,” Mirror answered, “I am still a scouting drone, after all; I have to put my duty to the swarm above all else.”

“I see…” Rainbow Dash said. The conversation quickly trailed off into silence, and Mirror racked her head for something to say to the pegasus that would interest her. What do we even have in common? Figures, can’t think of anything… oh!

“So anyway,” Mirror said, breaking the silence, “How’s Applejack doing? Is she practicing like I told her to?”

“Oh, yeah, definitely!” Rainbow Dash said, “She’s gotten much better since you were last here; finally got pegasi down pat!”

“That’s great!” Mirror said, clapping her hooves together. She chuckled as she recalled a memory of the half-changeling struggling to maintain her grip on a cloud with earth pony hooves, pegasus wings flapping in panic.

“Yeah, and Twilight’s convinced her to try other forms, too. You know, for research and all that. They’re working on unicorns now.” Rainbow’s grin briefly fell into a frown. “No luck with males, though.”

“Well that’s to be expected,” Mirror said, “Most changelings don’t even learn to shift gender until late in training; only thing harder is non-pony forms.”

“Most changelings?” Rainbow asked, eyebrow raised.

“Er, well, I personally figured it out a little earlier than most…” Mirror clarified, blushing lightly. Her blush deepened at the mental laughter of her siblings.

“Got that right!”

“Best in the class, huh Mirror?”

“W-What? No, I wasn’t that good…” Mirror protested weakly, muttering under her breath. Rainbow Dash cocked her head quizzically at the changeling.

“Something wrong?” she asked.

“N-No! Just thinking, is all.” Mirror stammered, trying to hide her surprise. The disguised changeling flapped her wings anxiously. “Anyway, we should get going to the town square. I don’t want to miss a minute of Queen Chrysalis’ speech!”

“Oh, right! I totally forgot about that!” Rainbow Dash said, “Let’s get going, then! Race you there!”

Without waiting for a response or even for Mirror to process the sentence, Rainbow Dash took off into the air, a rainbow trailing behind her as she flew. The changeling stared after her for a few seconds in stunned silence, eyes wide and a dismayed expression on her face as she realized what happened.

“H-Huh?! Hey, wait!” Mirror whined, spreading her wings and following at a quick, but still slower pace. “Come on, I can’t fly that fast unless I’m terrified for my life!”

The changeling quickly lost Rainbow, but still made her way to the town square, where a large crowd of ponies were gathered around the town hall. Mirror landed down at the edge of the crowd and quickly scanned around for any familiar faces. Where did they-

“Matchie!” A high-pitched voice cried out, and Mirror, recognizing it, instinctively froze and dropped down to the ground moments before a pink blur sailed overhead and crashed into the ground in front of her. Mirror quickly jumped back to her hooves and approached the pony, who was lying face-down and motionless.

“Sorry, Pinkie, you just startled me.” Mirror apologized, doing her best to ignore the cracks the pony’s impact had left in the ground. That would have hurt…

Pinkie Pie pulled her face out of the ground and took a few moments to let the world stop spinning before turning to face Mirror with a wide smile. “It’s okay, Matchie, it was my fault anyway! I’m just so happy to see you again! It feels like it’s been forever since we last met!”

“It’s been two weeks.” Mirror pointed out. Looking back the way Pinkie had come, she smiled at the sight of Fluttershy approaching her. “Fluttershy, there you are! I looked for you at your cottage, but I guess I missed you.”

“Hi, Mirror,” Fluttershy said, returning the smile. “Sorry, I've been helping out Rarity at the Carousel Boutique today. I haven’t been home since morning.”

“You don’t need to apologize, it’s no problem.” Mirror said, “You’re here now, after all, so everything’s fine.”

Fluttershy’s response was cut off by Pinkie Pie shoving a brown paper bag into Mirror’s face. “Here Matchie, a present! I knew I’d see you today, my Pinkie Sense told me so, so I made this for you!” Mirror took the bag from Pinkie and pulled out its contents, a brown cupcake covered in pink frosting and small brown dots. “It’s a choco-watermelon cupcake, your favorite!”

“Oh, thanks, Pinkie!” Mirror said, grinning and taking a bit out of the treat. “Still can’t believe these actually ended up tasting good, though.”

Pinkie laughed and bounced away toward the crowd, pushing her way past the ponies nearby. “Come on, Matchie, Fluttershy, it’s about to start! Everypony else is up front already, and we need to be up there!”

Fluttershy and Mirror followed after the pink pony without another word, slipping through the path in the crowd she had woven to reach the front. Up there, Mirror could see Queen Chrysalis, in her Sparkler unicorn guise, standing up on the town hall’s front stage behind the podium, a bored expression on her face as she waited out the last few minutes before she could begin talking. To the queen’s left, Mirror could see both Applejack and Golden Harvest, both in their original earth pony forms. Applejack stood confidently, like this was any other day for her, while Golden Harvest wore a scowl and glared down at the floor, avoiding looking at any pony in the crowd. To her right, Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash stood waiting, the Elements of Harmony book on the ground before Twilight’s hooves.

Seeing Golden Harvest, Mirror waved her hoof and shouted to catch the mare’s attention. “Hey, Golden Harvest! It’s me, Mirror!”

Golden Harvest heard her voice and looked up with an expression of surprise, but when her eyes landed on the disguised changeling, her glare returned and she looked away. Applejack spared a glance at her with slight worry as she did so.

Mirror deflated and let out a dejected sigh at the response. “Are you still trying to get her to like you?” Fluttershy asked her, concern clear on her face.

“Yeah…” Mirror said, turning to face the pegasus, “I don’t know what’s wrong! I’ve been trying to make it up to her, but lately it seems like she just dislikes me even more than before! I don’t get it, I’ve tried so much to get her to like me! I even made her cupcakes one time!”

“…You baked?” Fluttershy asked, her expression showing genuine shock.

Mirror flinched at the veiled insult to her baking abilities. “…I even got Pinkie to make me cupcakes for her one time!”

Before Fluttershy could reply, Pinkie Pie bounced up to the two. “Come on, Fluttershy! We need to get up on stage; can’t keep everypony waiting, can we?”

“N-No, of course not.” Fluttershy said, giving Mirror a quick parting smile before following the pink pony up to join the their other friends on the town hall stage. Mirror stared after them, eyebrow raised in confusion.

“W-Wait, what are you needed for?” Mirror asked, more to herself than anypony else. Regardless, a voice spoke up to answer her question.

“They’re needed for Queen Chrysalis’s presentation. The Elements of Harmony play a very important part in it.” Mirror turned to her right to see a pink unicorn who looked remarkably like Twilight approaching. High-General Double smiled pleasantly as she stood next to the younger changeling.

“Really? What for?” Mirror asked, sensing that the High-General’s more personal thoughts were once more hidden from the swarm.

Double motioned with her head toward the stage. “Just watch. They’re going to start now that all six of the Elements are here.”

Mirror turned back to the stage and saw Queen Chrysalis step out from behind the podium and move closer to the crowd. Her horn glowed briefly, and she began to speak, “ATTENTION, ATTENTION…”

Her amplified voice rang out like a siren, and the ponies and changelings alike held their hooves to their ears to block out the shrill sound. Mirror whimpered as the ringing in her ears drowned out all other noise. Chrysalis frowned and performed the spell again, then turned around to face Twilight. “Better now?”

Twilight nodded, removing her hooves from her ears and forcing her pained expression into a grin. Chrysalis nodded back in satisfaction and turned back to the crowd. “There! Now, first off, I’d like to thank you all for taking the time to come here today.”

“Not like they had any choice in the matter. Queen Chrysalis would never settle for anything less than the entirety of Ponyville.” Double said mentally. Mirror giggled in response, hoof raised to muffle the sound.

“Now, I’m well aware you all have your own lives to live, so I feel it would be better for all of us if we get to the heart of the matter right away. Now, first off…” A hoof raised in the air caused Chrysalis to trail off. She grimaced and struggled to keep the irritation out of her voice. “Er, yes, you in the front?”

“Why are you hiding behind that pony disguise? Why don’t you talk in your changeling form?” The stallion asked, and several nearby ponies voiced their agreement. Mirror bristled at the disrespect towards her queen, but a hoof placed over her own distracted her. She looked over at Double, who smiled with that sugary-sweet smile she always used to mask her own anger.

“Don’t worry, Mirror. Queen Chrysalis knows how to deal with ponies like him.” Double said, heard only by the other changelings amongst the crowd.

Chrysalis rolled her eyes in exasperation but put up a serene smile. “Oh I’m sorry, would you rather I speak to you like this?”

A column of green fire instantly burst up around the queen, and when it cleared, Queen Chrysalis stood in her changeling form, regal and terrifying before the crowd. She bared her fangs and hissed loudly, horn enshrouded in a threatening green light, and the ponies recoiled in fear. Chrysalis chuckled in sadistic satisfaction and returned back to her unicorn form before the ponies could erupt into full-blown panic.

“I didn't think so.” Chrysalis said, adjusting the glasses that were part of her pony disguise. “Now, if we’re done with pointless questions, shall I go on?” The queen took the scared silence as her cue to continue. “Wonderful…”

“Now, we’re all gathered here today to discuss the misconceptions surrounding a very important aspect of the newfound peace between ponies and changelings,” Chrysalis continued, “Synthetic changelings.”

Chrysalis turned to Applejack and Golden Harvest and gave a single nod. The two ponies looked nervous and uncomfortable, but quickly engulfing themselves in fire, revealing the changeling forms hidden beneath. A few ponies in the crowd whispered and glared, but Chrysalis began speaking once more before anything could happen.

“Now, first off, I believe there is a rumor that we changelings capture ponies and take them back to our hive to convert them into changelings themselves, and even that half our army is composed of synthetic changelings.” Chrysalis said, “So I’ll address these rumors bluntly; they are not true."

“The conversion of ponies is a process that, if carried out to such an extent, would ultimately be detrimental to our survival. In what way would we benefit from converting our food source into more mouths to feed that would require extensive conditioning just to be controlled?” Chrysalis explained, “We do not convert ponies without thought; only those who are unfortunate enough to venture too close to our hive and risk revealing its location are captured and converted so as to protect ourselves. This happens less often than you’d think, and the total number of synthetic changelings peaks in the low hundreds. This may seem like a lot now, but apply that number across a thousand years, and you’ll realize just how low it truly is.”

Chrysalis turned to look back at the two synthetic changelings behind her. “Converted ponies make up an incredibly small percentage of our numbers. In fact, I can tell you with complete certainty that Applejack and Golden Harvest here are the only synthetic changelings in the entirety of Ponyville.”

Another hoof shot up into the air at that, and Chrysalis groaned audibly. “If you want to know the number of synthetic changelings in other cities besides Ponyville, come see me afterwards. I’ll make you a list or something.” The hoof went back down. “Thank you. Continuing on…”

Queen Chrysalis turned towards the five Element bearers to her left and nodded. Twilight nodded back, and opened up the book before her, the six Elements of Harmony lifted into the air by her magic. The crown and necklaces flew to their respective bearers, and Twilight nodded again to show Chrysalis that they were ready.

Chrysalis turned back toward the crowd. “Now, I’m well aware that you all won’t be convinced by my words alone, therefore I’ve come up with another method by which to prove my truthfulness. So I say, let there be no secrets between us.”

She looked back to Twilight, and the unicorn and her friends shared knowing glances and nods of understanding. The six ponies closed their eyes, and a wind picked up around them as the Elements of Harmony began to glow with a soft light. Chrysalis’ own horn lit up as she approached Twilight, and the changeling queen slowly and gently placed her horn against the glowing jewel of the Element of Magic.

As soon as her horn made contact with the gem, the Elements of Harmony flashed brightly for a split second before a large rainbow sprung to life. The rainbow split up into seven separate colors, which shot into the crowd and weaved around the surprised ponies and changelings. Mirror shrieked and clung to Double as the blue light rushed past, Double chuckling before beginning to ease her off.

As the lights curved and hung in the air around them, a ball of soft light began to emerge from each pony and changeling. The orbs, each a different color, hovered in the air for a moment before beginning to change, growing and elongating, and then developing legs, then hooves, then a tail and neck and head. In mere moments, a glowing replica stood before each pony. A hushed silence fell over the square.

Mirror stared in silent awe at her doppelganger, not a changeling, but a light purple pony construct with enormous butterfly wings. A flutterpony…? Looking at Double, she saw the High-General looking in wonder at a pink flutterpony that floated happily in front of her. Around them, other ponies were also interacting with their spell-created copies with a mix of curiosity and caution. Mirror noticed that all the changelings hiding in the crowd had flutterpony doppelgangers as well, with not a single glowing changeling in sight.

Mirror looked back at her copy, which stared back with blazing white eyes. She took in the way its body shimmered like stardust and how it seemed to smile despite having no visible mouth. Looking closely, she could also see numerous specks of darkness like sunspots within the flutterpony’s body, which she could just vaguely see in Double’s as well. Despite the slight unease this observation brought her, Mirror couldn't help but feel a sense of calm and happiness wash over her as the copy moved closer. Is this the result of the spell, or something else…?

“There, do you see?” Mirror looked back up to the stage at Chrysalis’s voice, and saw her standing in her changeling form beside a tall flutterpony glowing with unearthly green light. “The spell I performed with the help of the Elements of Harmony creates a projection of the soul and reveals your true self.” A frown graced the queen’s face, “And before any of you complain, no, I don’t consider this an invasion of your privacy. These aren't your innermost thoughts brought out for all to see, it’s just a picture of your soul, nothing more.”

“Hehe, it’s funny because she’s lying.” Double’s mental voice brought Mirror’s attention back to the High-General, who was still looking at her own soul projection.

“Excuse me?” Mirror asked, trying to tell if any other changelings had heard the High-General. When none showed any interest in her, however, Mirror deduced that Double was speaking to her only.

“She’s lying about the spell. These aren’t projections of our souls, these are our souls.” Double grinned, “Why do you think she needed something as powerful as the Elements of Harmony to do it? This spell is dangerous and near-impossible to cast; you’d have to have power rivaling Discord himself to pull it off with so many ponies. Course, it would probably cause a panic if she admitted that, though, so I can see why she's not mentioning the whole truth.”

Mirror frowned and placed a hoof to her chest. She didn’t feel any different; she could still feel the beating of her own heart, and she didn’t feel like anything was missing. Regardless, she found herself slightly unnerved by the news. She looked up at her queen, whose thoughts were silent. “And… how do you know this?” she asked Double.

“Queen Chrysalis told me, of course,” Double said, “I am her second in command, after all.”

Mirror nodded in understanding and looked back at her own soul, which blinked and watched her with a cautious, yet curious expression mimicking her own. “In that case… what’s this black stuff in our souls?”

“Hmm… can’t say I know.” Double shook her head and frowned. “Likely our changeling essence, the remainder of Discord’s curse that keeps us changelings. You’d have to ask Queen Chrysalis to know for sure, though. By the way, she’s talking again.”

Mirror snapped her attention back to her Queen, not wanting to miss any more of Chrysalis’ speech. The changeling onstage turned her gaze toward Applejack and the orange earth pony apparition standing beside her. The black changeling magic was nearly invisible in the copy’s light. Chrysalis’s horn glowed, and Applejack, who had been focused on the copy, let out a shout of surprise as a green light surrounded her and roughly dragged her up to the front of the stage next to the changeling queen. Her soul galloped up beside her, a concerned look on its face for its body’s safety.

“See this, right here? Take a look at this pony’s soul,” Chrysalis ordered, “Doesn’t look much like a changeling, does it? High-General Double, come forth!”

“Yes, Queen Chrysalis!” Double saluted, returning to her changeling form in a flash of light and flying up onto the stage, her soul close behind.

Chrysalis held a hoof out to the glowing flutterpony next to her second-in-command. “Make no mistake, Double here is a natural-born changeling. Yet look at her soul: it’s a flutterpony. It’s a reflection of who we are on the inside. And on the inside, these two synthetic changelings right here are still ponies. Their conversions have not changed the contents of their hearts; they are still just as much ponies today as they were before, and I believe we can all agree that any malevolent changes would be reflected by the soul, would they not?”

The Queen paused briefly, scanning the crowd as they considered the question. “Don’t you ponies have a saying, ‘It’s what’s on the inside that counts?’ Well, these ponies are still ponies on the inside. So why does their physical appearance, the one that they hide for your comfort, change anything? Even we natural changelings are not monsters, as you can clearly see, so why can’t you xenophobic, ignorant masses just hurry up and understand that?!”

Chrysalis’s level, authoritative tone suddenly devolved into an agitated shriek as she reached the end of her speech, and her soul briefly flared with an angry burst of light, causing the ponies before her to draw back in fear. Mirror felt herself cringe at the tumultuous emotions her queen gave off, even though she knew that she was not the target of that rage.

It didn't take long for Chrysalis to realize the current problem. Forcing herself to relax, she backed away from the stage’s edge and glared down at the ground, her soul’s glow returning to a calmer light. The changeling queen seemed frustrated, as though she were angry with herself for letting her anger get the best of her. She brushed a hoof through her mane before looking back up to the crowd.

“…Yes, well, that’s all. I have no more to say. I just hope you can all see reason now. The changelings and ponies are at peace; there is no need for such suspicion between us anymore. Please realize that.”

Chrysalis turned her head to her projected soul, which stood diligently beside her. The changeling queen held up a hoof, which the doppelganger mirrored, and when their hooves pressed together, a flash of light briefly burst forth. When the light faded, the flutterpony was gone, and Queen Chrysalis stood alone. “To return your soul’s projection, simply do as I did. Relax your mind, open your heart, and accept it back in. It’s quite simple.”

Mirror looked uncertainly at her soul, glancing back up at the stage in time to see Double wrap her own spirit in a tight hug, the apparition vanishing in a flash of light. Applejack shared a hoofbump with her copy before it disappeared as well, and the rest of the Elements of Harmony followed suit with similar motions of farewell. Even Golden Harvest, who glared halfheartedly at the image of an orange earth pony that was her soul, soon relented and took its hoof, watching as it disappeared back into her.

Mirror looked back to her soul, which waited patiently for her to make a decision. Deciding to follow Double’s example, Mirror wrapped her forehooves around her spirit’s body and pulled it into a hug. The changeling closed her eyes and smiled as the flutterpony projection returned the gesture and a feeling of lightheartedness spread through her. Within a short moment that lasted seconds but felt like hours, the immaterial form in her hooves faded away, leaving Mirror clinging to empty air. The feeling of warmth and happiness faded, and Mirror reopened her eyes and stared at the spot where her soul had just stood.

The changeling looked back behind her at the other ponies and changelings in the crowd, where the last of them were finishing reuniting with their souls. She guessed that the ponies felt comforted in accepting back the products of the strange spell after seeing the Elements of Harmony do it first.

A subdued silence spread over the town square, no one willing to break the somber mood that had spread over everyone in the wake of the spell’s end. Queen Chrysalis took a deep breath and opened her mouth to speak before a sudden voice from the back of the crowd interrupted her.

“Woo, go Carrot Top!” Mirror turned around in time to see a grey blur shoot overhead and crash into the synthetic changeling onstage. Golden Harvest remained standing on her back hooves, wings buzzing furiously for balance, as the blur that revealed itself to be Ditzy Doo hugged her tightly and affectionately. Mirror felt a rush of jealousy at the synthetic changeling’s ability to remain on her hooves after being surprise-assaulted by a flying pony.

“Derpy, did you forget to keep track of time again?” Golden Harvest gritted through her teeth. Ditzy’s sheepish grin was all the answer she needed.

Ditzy’s sudden entrance seemed to finally break the ice surrounding the two former ponies onstage. Mirror could see ponies shrug and trot onstage to speak to Applejack and Golden Harvest, hopefully to apologize for their behavior over the past month. A mental dismissal from Queen Chrysalis sent the changelings hidden in the crowd back to their daily lives and duties, and the square gradually thinned out as changelings left and ponies continued to go onstage.

Having nothing better to do, Mirror decided to wait until her friends were done with whatever they were doing up there. Queen Chrysalis and High-General Double leapt off the stage, and Mirror flew over beside Double as the second-in-command finished congratulating her queen.

“That was an amazing speech, Queen Chrysalis!” Mirror applauded, adding her own praise. “I’m sure your words had an impact on these ponies!”

“Indeed, let’s just hope it was a good impact,” Queen Chrysalis nodded, the troubled expression still remaining on her face.

“It was very kind of you to attempt to help the synthetic changelings here, my Queen.” Double agreed, “The recent bouts of violence have made the ponies all the more cautious of changelings, lately.”

“Yes, well, no matter their origin, they are still my subjects. Besides, Rarity insisted I help ease her friend Applejack’s troubles, and it was the least I could do for her.” Chrysalis said, a fond smile gracing her face. It was quickly replaced with a more serious expression, however. “Now if you two will excuse me, I’ll be returning to the hive, before one of these ponies decides they really do want a list of all synthetic changelings in Equestria. Farewell, High-General, Mirror.”

The Queen disappeared in a burst of green light before either changeling could respond. “She never sticks around long enough to talk to anymore…” Mirror sighed.

Double quickly shifted back to her unicorn form and gave Mirror a light pat on the back. “Queen Chrysalis is very busy right now. It’s stressful, trying to maintain peace while dealing with those anti-changeling hate groups out there.”

Mirror nodded in understanding. “I know, but still! She always-”

“Hey, Matchie!” Pinkie called from behind her, the earth pony’s sudden appearance startling Mirror and leaving her clinging to Double in fear once more. Double giggled and teleported out of her grip, leaving the other changeling to fall to the ground with nothing to support her.

“Pinkie! Stop doing that! You know I can’t handle it!” Mirror whined, picking herself up and whirling to face her friend. She really hated how easily surprised she was sometimes.

“Sorry.” Pinkie said, a sheepish grin on her face. It quickly brightened back up into her usual perky smile, though. “Hey, guess what! The girls and I are having a slumber party at Sugarcube Corner tonight to celebrate today’s success! We’d really like it if you could come, Matchie!”

Double broke into the conversation before Mirror could respond. “Wait, ‘girls?’ Is Twilight included in this group?”

“Yeah, of course!” Pinkie nodded, beginning to count on her hooves. “Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and we also invited Carrot Top, but she’s still being all “Sour McPouty” and didn't want to come-”

“What?!” Double cried, shaking voice and eyes clearly showing how upset she was. Mirror instinctively inched away from her superior, not wanting to risk angering her further. “Twilight!”

Said unicorn looked in Double’s direction at the sound of her name, and quickly bid farewell to the mare speaking to her before teleporting down beside the High-General. “Is something wrong, Double?”

“I told you to call me Wish!” Double pouted. She quickly went back to her original concern, however. “Why didn’t you tell me about this sleepover? This is the first chance I've gotten to see you in more than two weeks; you promised we’d spend the day together!”

Twlight’s stare clearly showed her confusion at Double’s hysteric reaction. “Ah, right, sorry, Wish. I don’t see the problem, though; there’s still plenty of time in the day for us to spend together.” The unicorn put on a comforting smile for her lost foalhood friend. “I certainly didn't forget about you, Wish. I've arranged my schedule perfectly so that I could spend time with all my friends.”

Mirror found herself giggling at Twilight’s mention of schedules, but Double still looked concerned. “But you’re my friend…” She muttered, so quietly that only Mirror, who was right beside her, could hear it.

“Ah… oh, High-General,” Mirror spoke up, hoping to diffuse the tension she could feel building up. “Why don’t you come to the sleepover tonight? That way, you can spend the night with all of us.” Mirror turned toward her earth pony friend with a questioning glance. “Er, that is okay, right, Pinkie?”

Pinkie Pie nodded enthusiastically in response. “Absolutely! The more the merrier, I always say! Don’t worry, Wish, we’re all going to have so much fun tonight!”

Mirror nodded back, thankful for Pinkie’s agreement, but her good mood quickly faded as she caught the glare Double was directing toward her. The High-General had once again cut off her thoughts, leaving only her palpable anger to filter through their link, and despite Double being a few inches shorter than Mirror, the younger changeling felt an overwhelming desire to make herself invisible and go cower in a hole until her superior didn't want to kill her anymore.

Double’s piercing stare softened as quickly as it had come, however, and the High-General visibly relaxed. She turned to face Twilight again, a loving smile on her face and affection clear in her eyes. “Very well, I accept your offer. As long as you’re there, Twilight, then I shall be as well.”

“Alright, this is going to be the best sleepover ever!” Pinkie cheered, throwing a pile of confetti from who-knows-where up into the air for emphasis. “This is going to be so exciting; things are finally looking up for us all!”

Mirror’s smile suddenly fell into a concerned frown. “Well great, now that you've said that, something’s going to happen-”

“HERE YE, HERE YE!” A male voice shouted from right behind Mirror, accompanied by a loud blow of a trumpet. Mirror shrieked and jumped into Pinkie’s forehooves, which were outstretched in preparation for catching her. Still shivering from shock and clinging to her friend, Mirror looked to see a yellow earth pony stallion a brown mane and tail, a trumpet cutie mark and a matching instrument in his hooves smiling at them. He blew into the trumpet once more, the noise making Mirror, Double, and Twilight all cringe and cover their ears, though Pinkie didn't seem too bothered for some reason. The trumpet’s sound also served to catch the attention of all the ponies still remaining in the square.

“Here ye, here ye, I bring wonderful news to this fair town of Ponyville!” The stallion yelled in a booming voice. “Presenting the one, the only, the magnificent Theatre Troupe!”

At his call, a stage wagon tied to two other stallions pulled into the square, the announcement accompanied by the blaring of horns and the launching of light and confetti. The entire thing felt strangely similar to the shows Mirror had seen that Trixie pony put on about a month ago before she left.

Still, Mirror couldn't help but feel a strange sense of foreboding at the sight of the wagon and the two comedy-tragedy masks painted on the side. Theatre Troupe? That sounds familiar. Where have I heard that before…!

Realization hit like a brick as the answer came to mind.

…Uh-oh.