//------------------------------// // Chapter 14 Part 2 // Story: A Changeling to Remember // by Blueheartpegasus //------------------------------// Pained groans caught the friends' attentions and they all turned to see Rainbow Dash climbing to her hooves. “Oh, my everything…what did I miss?” she asked, pain in her voice. Then she looked up and focused on her friends, vision blurry. “…Pinkie, Fluttershy, why are you wearing those Mare-Do-Well costumes?” “We thought it’d be fun! Sheesh, how many times to I have to explain it to everypony?” Pinkie shook her head and sighed. "Right." Rainbow's legs started shaking beneath her. "Well, AJ, remind me never to fly through lightning again. I think I need a nap." Her legs folded under as she fell unconscious once more. Pinkie and Fluttershy rushed over to make sure she was okay, and Twilight turned to Applejack, raising an eyebrow. “Fly through lightning?” the unicorn asked. Applejack shook her head. “Don’t ask me. Ah don’t really get it either.” Ditto watched the scene with a small smile. Then she caught something out of the corner of her eye; Double was clinging to Mirror and crying. The mutant changeling didn't know what was said (it was spoken too softly), but noticed that the High-General was staring at Twilight. I wonder what's up with her, and what it has to do with Twilight? Ditto thought. Suddenly, Ditto saw Mirror quickly motioning her head towards the unconscious General Carbon. Ditto watched as Double wiped away tears and changed back to her original form. "Welcome back to the land of the living, General!" Ditto heard the high-general say, now that she was speaking louder. "Well, for now, anyways. And look who's here to see you!" Queen Chrysalis looked away from the six pony friends, trotting over to Carbon. Ditto crept a few feet closer so she could see the scene better but not close enough to draw attention to herself. She saw the general's look of surprise as his gaze fell upon the queen he had thought to be dead. “General Carbon, so good of you to finally join us.” Chrysalis said with fake happiness. “It’s a shame you missed the entirety of my explanation, but no matter; it’ll be recounted for all the swarm to hear at your trial.” “Queen Chrysalis, how-!” Carbon began in a tone of fear and amazement, but Chrysalis slammed her hoof down to interrupt him. “Silence!” Chrysalis roared, “You will speak when your Queen tells you to, and only when your Queen tells you to! Is that understood?!” Carbon nodded, and Chrysalis’s raw anger subsided, but only to the point where she glared down at the changeling with thinly-veiled resentment. “General, you of all changelings should know that in the event of my absence, only the High-General has the authority to issue any sort of militaristic command. Regardless of whether I was dead or not, your actions were a direct disobedience of my established law. That is treason, General.” “You’re a criminal!” Double told him in a sing-song manner. Chrysalis gave her a glare that silenced her. Chrysalis turned back to the general. “And in addition, you betrayed a changeling to the Canterlot guards and actively tried to kill another.” Ditto saw Chrysalis glance at her. She backed up a few inches, but stayed mostly in her spot. Ditto supposed that Mirror was the one Carbon had tried to kill, as that was who Chrysalis glanced at next. “High-General Double is right; you are a criminal. And you know the punishment for criminals…” Carbon’s eyes widened and Ditto thought for a moment he would flee. However, he closed his eyes and bowed his head before his queen. He's not begging for pity or forgiveness... Ditto thought, surprised. However, instead of surprise, Chrysalis's look was one of amusement. “Holding onto your dignity, even in the face of judgment. I’d expect nothing less from one of my generals.” Chrysalis praised, her horn glowing brightly. The green light that came from it shot towards Carbon's horn, creating a blinding light. When the light faded, Ditto saw a pile of ash in front of Carbon and a stump on his forehead where his horn used to be. “Separation from the swarm; that is the punishment for criminals under my law.” Chrysalis declared. Ditto gasped loudly, but luckily didn't draw much attention to herself. She had known that this was the punishment; it was common knowledge to every changeling. However, as she looked down at the piled of ash, she felt her own forehead where her curved horn was. She imagined what it must be like to lose all control of magic. Most changelings would be worried about separation from the hive mind, but as Ditto wasn't on the same wavelength as the others and it took effort for her to try to talk to other changelings through her magic, she would mostly be worried about losing her power. Ditto was only pulled out of her thoughts when she heard Mirror speak in a quiet voice. “Q-Queen Chrysalis?” Chrysalis turned her attention to the young changeling, an eyebrow raised. “Yes, Mirror?” “I…” Mirror trailed off, as if afraid to speak to her queen. Chrysalis came up to her and ran a hoof gently through her mane, a comforting smile on her face. “Yes, dear? What is it?” From this, Mirror seemed to gather courage and she voiced her question. “You…you seem to care for Rarity, and Applejack too, but…changelings can’t love unless they have empathy sickness, right? So, how can you, unless you also…” Queen Chrysalis with empathy sickness? Ditto expected the changeling queen to be angry at this thought, but instead, to the mutant's shock, Chrysalis spoke kindly. "I'm glad you asked that, dear." she raised her voice so the whole crowd could hear. "Changelings, I’m sure many of you are aware of the recent phenomenon within the swarm known as empathy sickness. It is a rare occurrence, and relatively new as well, the first case appearing less than twenty years ago, in our own High-General Double!” A few shocked murmurs rose up from the crowd. Even Ditto was confused and curious; Double was the first to have empathy sickness? “Ever since, I’ve searched for the cause of empathy sickness; trying to find just what could make a changeling able to love when a normal changeling can’t form a bond with a pony no matter how much time they spend with them.” Chrysalis went on. She paused briefly, smiling proudly. “And at long last, I think I’ve finally figured it out.” There was more chatter from the crowd, and Chrysalis waited for it to silence before continuing. “The key was in the two newest cases of empathy sickness; the changelings Mirror and Ditto!” Twilight’s eyes widened, and she cast a questioning look at Ditto, whispering, “You have empathy sickness?” Ditto nervously looked down at her hooves. “I…I only found out recently…” “Ahem…” Chrysalis coughed, catching Ditto's and Twilight's attention and causing them to silence so the queen could continue her explanation. “The cause of empathy sickness lies in the love of the ponies they fed on. Mirror befriended the Elements of Kindness and Laughter. Ditto bonded with the Element of Magic, as did Double all those years ago as a hatchling. And as for myself, I resided with the Element of Generosity for a time…” Ditto's mind instantly began searching through itself, the revelation completely blocking what Chrysalis said about Double from her attention. The elements caused empathy sickness... “Empathy sickness is contracted when a changeling feeds off the love of a bearer of the Elements of Harmony.” Chrysalis revealed, “I’m not sure how much love is required, though I assume that it varies among changelings. For myself, it took a few days before the first glimmers of sympathy arose. However, this explains the rarity of the sickness, as it can only be contracted from six specific ponies, as well as why it is such a new development, as these ponies are the first bearers of the Elements in over a thousand years, excluding the princesses Celestia and Luna.” Ditto whispered to herself, “So it’s true…my kindness, my being friends with Twilight, it’s all because of an illness. It’s not natural…” Twilight quickly recovered from her shock to glare up at Queen Chrysalis with suspicion. “So what, then? You’re saying you can feel love now? Are we supposed to trust you now?” Chrysalis frowned as she thought about it. “No, I suppose not. After all, you ponies can feel love, yet you’re all still remarkably intolerant and fearful of anything different from you. Keep this in mind, though; it’s not the changelings’ fault that we are incapable of empathizing with ponies.” “What do you mean?” Twilight asked curiously. Chrysalis smirked, clearly amused by the question. “I’m surprised how little Celestia’s told you. You see, we changelings were once…” Suddenly, a blinding ball of light like a miniature sun appeared. Ditto snapped out of her thought and shielded her eyes with her hooves. When she opened her purple eyes again and peeked through the holes her hooves, she saw a tall white alicorn whose multi-colored mane and tail waved in non-existent wind. She was glaring angrily at Queen Chrysalis, as if ready to attack any moment now. Chrysalis chuckled softly. “Celestia, so good to see you again. Better late than never, I suppose. How’s the horn doing?” Celestia’s eyes eyes narrowed and her horn lit with yellow threatening magic. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t get rid of you right here and now, Chrysalis.” Chrysalis mocked a look of suprise. “Such hostility; and to think you and I used to be such good friends. I guess that’s all in the past now, though, isn’t it?” Ditto blinked with surprise, removing her hooves from her face so she could see the scene better. When were Chrysalis and Celestia friends? Why hadn't she ever heard about it? “But to answer your question,” Chrysalis went on, “It’s simple, really. I have changelings stationed in every major city in Equestria, ready to wreak havoc the moment I give the order. Your guards are stretched thin as it is, and my children will be able to easily overpower them with so few numbers. And finally, there’s only one of you, and Luna will be of no help at this time of day. Do you see where I’m going with this? Equestria will be in ruins before you can do anything about it!” Celestia opened her mouth as if to say something, but Chrysalis cut her off. “And before you say anything, defeating me won’t do any good. I still have enough power from Shining Armor’s love left over to defend myself, and with the power of the Element of Generosity fueling me as well, you won’t be able to kill me before I give the order to attack. So it’s quite simple, Celestia: you kill me now and doom Equestria in the changelings’ last stand, or you listen to what I have to say. Which will it be?” Celestia's magic faded from her horn, but her look of anger remained. "What do you want, Chrysalis?” “Oh, I want a lot of things.” Chrysalis mused, “I want the changelings to be able to walk the streets of Equestria in their true forms without fear. I want us to go back to what we used to be. I want Flutter Valley to return to its former beauty. I want my mother back!” Celestia winced at the changeling’s anger and rising hysteria. “What happened to Queen Rosedust was not our fault! You were the one who killed her!” “I had no choice!” Chrysalis shouted, a strong emotion of desperation coming from her. “Mother had given up, she was just wasting away; someone needed to step up and take charge to ensure the survival of the changelings!” “And you decided to become that “someone” by gaining eternal life at the cost of her own!” Celestia retorted. “Be quiet! What right do you have to reprimand me?” Chrysalis yelled, “You and Luna brought him to our home and let him change us! You did this to us, and when we needed your help, you abandoned us to our fate!” Celestia's anger, although not entirely gone, was mostly replaced by a look of guilt. “Chrysalis, I-” “Wait!” Celestia and Chrysalis both looked up to see Twilight, who had now stepped forward, with wide eyes full of confusion. “I…I don’t understand!” Twilight said, “Princess Celestia, Queen Chrysalis, what happened?”