"Chryssi Cross!" Cadance rushed forward to her old friend and quickly wrapped both forelegs around the mare. "It has been… almost a year? What did you do? You haven't been at school or anything!" Something felt odd to Cadance, her introverted friend was usually a little more outgoing, with her at least.
"I had… family to take care of." Chrysalis finally gave a sigh and returned the hug. Scared scared scared scared. What will she do? Will she freak out? "Cadance, I have something I have to show you, and tell you. Promise you won't freak out?"
Cadance drew back from her friend. "What's the matter Chryssi? Are you in trouble?" She brought a wing out and up, touching her friend's shoulder in concern.
"Not me. Equestria." Chrysalis scanned the room, spotting the door—still chocked and bolted—she looked up at Cadance. "Do you promise?"
"Of course I promise, what is-" Cadance's words died in her throat. Her best friend caught fire, green flames pouring around her, flooding over her body. She pulled back from Chrysalis. "C-C-Chryssi?" The creature looked less pony, and more insect. "What…?" Cadance's vision wavered a little but she stopped, centered herself and opened eyes she had forgotten she had closed. "What are you, Chryssi?"
Her strength failed her, Chrysalis, queen of the changelings, started to cry. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"
Cadance rushed back to her friend, ignoring the sharp fangs, the long, hole-filled legs. Wrapping both forelegs and both wings around her friend, Cadance pulled Chrysalis into a hug. "I promised I wouldn't freak out, I didn't mean to break it."
The hug was a catalyst, or maybe fuel for the tears that the changeling shed. She sobbed and cried, hugging her friend and let out a flood of negative emotions that were eating her alive. She cried and cried until even her time spent laying eggs felt productive compared to her time in the room with Cadance.
Hearing her friend's tears slow, Cadance drew back barely a few inches, enough to look into those big, green eyes. "You said Equestria was in trouble?"
Chrysalis nodded, sniffing sharply. "Twilight and her friends saved us once… I tried talking to… to Princess Celestia." Cadance nodded to her friend, remembering Chrysalis' brief time as a researcher. "She is ignoring it, all of it. There are creatures, monsters that she and Princess Luna beat and locked up. Their jails are weak, too weak!"
"What has this got to do with you? Why don't you tell Princess Celestia?" Cadance tried to guide her friend to a couch to lay on. "We can call her here right now."
"No, she is the problem! I was dismissed because I had found one, the draconequus. Discord." Chrysalis fell onto the couch, but the truth was the love pouring to her from her friend surged into her. "I warned the Princess, I told her all about him, about what he would do… she told me I was no longer needed!"
"You are just about the smartest pony I know of, Chryssi… that is your name right?" Cadance tilted her head, drawing one hoof down to tilt her friend's face up.
"Chrysalis, but… but please, call me Chryssi." Chrysalis was practically drowning in love, but she didn't care, not for an ounce of it. "You have to believe that time we were all together… at school…" Her attention drifted, remembering the wonderful days when things outside school and their house just didn't matter.
"Chryssi!" Cadance giggled. "You are the same mare I became friends with. So what are you going to do about this? I could organize a meeting with Princess Celestia-"
"That… that is what I need. I have a feeling something is going to happen, something soon. I am so scared Twilight and her friends aren't going to be so lucky this time." As Chrysalis said the unicorn's name, Cadance's eyes widened.
"Twilight? Twilight Sparkle?" Cadance's eyes widened more as Chryssi nodded. "I used to foalsit for her, she was Princess Celestia's personal student… Shiny's little sister. What has this all got to do with her?"
"Celestia should have stood up to her sister. Rallied the Elements of Harmony and sent her back to the moon. I… I cannot fault her as a mare, for wanting her sister back," Chrysalis gave a half smile to her friend, suddenly thinking on what she would do for Cadance, "but she put all of Equestria at risk for it. Twilight and her friends were in terrible danger, everywhere was. I… I took my foals, we made ready to fight if need be." Chrysalis knew what she would do for Cadance, she would invade Equestria.
"Your foals?" Cadance blinked, eyes wide. She closed them then, started working a spell, a spell that would trace and show lines of love. "C-C-Chrissi… what… I am starting to freak again. How many foals do you have?"
"Two hundred and twenty." Chrysalis knew them all, she had personally made each of their eggs, had been there as each came free and opened their eyes. "I sent a letter to Twilight, begging her that if she ever needs help, to call me…"
"You would give yourself away for her?" Cadance smiled at the mare. "You met her, I take it?" Now she saw Chrysalis smile.
"She was so brave, she faced down Nightmare Moon! She managed to put the facts together and even, at the last moment, figured out how to use the Elements." Chrysalis looked up at Cadance, stared into her friend's eyes. "What if, next time, she isn't that lucky? What if the Elements aren't nearby, what if her friends are taken out of the equation first?" Chrysalis didn't even notice the slight tick in Cadance's eyes when she mentioned the Elements of Harmony.
"If she isn't lucky… then we…" Cadance took a steadying breath. "You have told Aunt Celestia?" She mentally cursed herself for calling the Princess her "aunt," it had become a habit. "What are you going to do?"
"I am going to get you to convince her to see me, and I… I am going to ask her, beg her, to let me and my foals protect Equestria. A young mare shouldn't have to deal with this, not the way Twilight has been thrown into it!"
"You… you're right." Cadance closed her eyes. "Give me two days, I will get a meeting with Princess Celestia… wait, can you change like that, into other ponies?" Chrysalis nodded. "There… there is something else. Celestia has the Elements. Tomorrow, meet me here, before dawn. We will get those, send them to Twilight for safe keeping." Cadance's heart was thundering like a freight train. "Then the day after we meet, you tell her… you tell her your army will defend Equestria."
Chrysalis leaned up and hugged the pink alicorn, squeezing tightly. "I knew I could trust you." She squeezed more, when more tears came they were of relief.
Outside, in the lovely sunny day that was Celestia's gift to all ponies, three young voices shouted…
"It's confusion!"
"Evil!"
"Chaos!"
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
A blue flash appeared before Chrysalis in the dark tower room. She blinked at it, trembling nervously. "Cadance?"
"Of course it is me… uh, Chryssi?" Cadance looked at the alabaster alicorn a moment. "That is amazing, you could do anypony like that?" She reached a wing out, checking to see if the Princess Celestia before her was some kind of illusion.
"I can. I can't believe she was keeping the Elements here, they aren't tied to her anymore." Chrysalis followed the pink alicorn as she walked through the empty hall. "Twilight must have them, and close. If anything terrible happens she needs to be able to grab them and use them!"
"Shh, keep it down a little, Chryssi. Okay, this door here is locked with a combination of Celestia's magic and her horn. I can fool the magic part, but you have to have her horn perfect." Cadance started her magic, reaching out toward the lock. "Celestia took me on to tutor me in being a princess, but it isn't the only teaching I got…"
Chrysalis nodded and leaned forward, pushing her horn, or at least Celestia's horn, into the lock. There was a thunk and light burst everywhere, then the case was visible. "It worked!"
"Of course it did. I'll…" Cadance suddenly sighed. "I don't suppose you can get these to Ponyville?" She levitated the elements out and into a hollowed out book she had prepared.
"Easy, nopony will even know it was me." Chrysalis grinned and flared with green fire, becoming a duplicate of Twilight Sparkle. A little melancholy flowed over her while she wore the disguise of the mare she admired. "Let's get out of here before Celestia returns."
Sounds of doors opening, of the two princesses returning, echoed in the empty tower room. Her eyes widening, Chrysalis burnt power, a lot of power. Ripping a circle of travel into being, she grabbed Cadance and dragged her through it.
"What was… wow that was cool." Cadance's heart was pounding, she looked to her friend. "Can you do that all the way to Ponyville?"
Drained a bit, but recovering, Chrysalis shook her head. "That… takes a bit from me." Hefting the book, she tucked it in the saddlebag she had slung on her back.
"Where… you weren't wearing that before!" Cadance gestured with a hoof at "Twilight's" back. "Where did you get it from?"
"When I shift… you saw all the regalia I was wearing, as Celestia?" Chrysalis blinked at Cadance and then giggled. "You completely forgot about that, didn't you? She wears it all the time!"
"So you can make stuff?" Cadance poked the bags with a hoof. Chrysalis nodded. "Huh, neat. Well, if you can't teleport there, how will you get to Ponyville?"
Chrysalis snorted and shook her head. "Train, of course. Don't have to use magic for everything. Wish me luck… not that I need it." She was grabbed in a hug, Cadance pulling her smaller body into a tight squeeze.
"Good luck, Chryssi Cross." Cadance kissed her friend on the forehead. "I trust you with Equestria's future. Princess Celestia will too, you will see."
"You…" Chrysalis froze a moment, then bowed down to a knee. "I promise not to misplace your trust. Everything I do, I do for Equestria." She looked up and saw a smiling friend and an offered hoof. Taking the hoof, Chrysalis smiled, fire rippling around her as she became her normal self once more.
She left her friend and the castle behind in the early morning sun. Nopony stopped Chrysalis on her way to the train station, nor while buying a ticket. Full of love and with a purpose and task, it feels good to have something to do… that isn't egg related. She looked around and then froze, there was a whole crowd of ponies around her and it suddenly felt like they were squeezing in. She closed her eyes and focused on numbers. Orderly rows, neat columns.
"One, seven, two, five, four, nine, six…" Chrysalis closed her snout and smiled, she was in a happy world where there were no ponies rushing around her. She was building up more and more complex puzzles when a single voice cut through the numerical daydream.
"All aboard!"
Chrysalis, imagining a swirling shield of numbers around herself, boarded the train and found a seat. The countryside soon passed her by and Chrysalis realized she liked being on the train. There were not a lot of other ponies onboard and she could really see outside a long way. The clock-tower was the first she saw of the town, poking over a hill, then the train pulled around and she saw it all. Ponyville.
Thankfully, of all the ponies that got on the train, only Chrysalis was departing. Stepping off the platform she looked around town. "Excuse me!" A gray and blonde pegasus mare—wearing the simple uniform and saddlebags of a mailmare—was collecting letters. "Uh, excuse me?" She stepped closer.
"Oh, hi! Are you new in town?" The mare looked around, left and right, then under her mailbag.
"Uh, yeah. Just dropping a book off for Twilight Sparkle." Chrysalis slid the fake book out a little. "Could you tell me where she lives?"
"Of course! If you follow that path," the mare gestured toward the center of town, "you will soon find a big old tree. You can't miss it!" She lifted a hoof up. "I'm Derpy. Pleased to meet you."
Chrysalis couldn't help but smile at the mare, lifting her own hoof to bop against the pegasus'. "I am Chryssi, thanks so much, Derpy!"
Turning back to her mail, Derpy suddenly stiffened. "Oh, and if a pink pony finds you, tell her you are just visiting and can't stay long. If you can stay, you really should let her throw you a party." The warning made the gray pony giggle.
"P-Party?" Chrysalis had to bring back her numbers to ignore that feeling from earlier. If only they were family, I don't have this problem with all the new nymphs. "Okay…" Chrysalis made her way from the quirky mailmare and the train-station. She followed the directions given in a little daze. This town is so small, but spread out. There is barely anypony ar-
"Hi!"
"Hi!"
"Hi!"
Chrysalis froze and looked at the three tiny forms; for a split second she imagined them as her own nymphs. A rush of certainty, that what she was doing was very "right", flooded her. Crouching down and laying on the ground, she was much closer to eye-level with the fillies. "Hi there," Chrysalis grinned a mile wide, "and to who do I have the pleasure of speaking?"
"We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" All three little voices raised and the fillies jostled around in obvious delight at being able to shout it together. The little yellow filly continued. "I'm Apple Bloom, this is Sweetie Belle, and that's Scootaloo."
"No cutie marks yet, huh?" Chrysalis was already in their world, their affection and love for life as a whole was amazingly infectious—particularly to a changeling. "Well, have you tried any things out? What are you all good at?" All three began talking at once, leaving a giggling Chrysalis to stop them with a hoof to two of the fillies' snouts. "Scootaloo first."
"I can go really fast on my scooter!" Scootaloo produced said scooter from thin air. "Nopony can go as fast as I can… except Rainbow Dash!"
The hoof came away from Sweetie Belle's grinning face next. "I can sing really clearly, Rarity says I will be really good at it."
The last hoof came from Apple Bloom's snout. "I am really good with potions! I once made one that made the ground…" The filly trailed off, her eyes widening. "We forgot something important!" The other two looked at her in shock. "We didn't ask her her name!"
"I am," Chrysalis couldn't stop herself, "Chrysalis. But I am trying to arrange a present for Twilight Sparkle, so you mustn't tell anypony I was here. Do you know if she is home?" It was all the truth, more truth than Chrysalis wanted to give, but the three fillies were impossible for her to really lie to.
"Her house is right over there, we could check for you?" Sweetie Belle gestured at the tree-library with a little hoof.
"That would be perfect, if you could come back and tell me if she is home. Then I can sneak in and leave her present!" Chrysalis felt all the better for not involving the fillies beyond a basic task. All three, giggling and bouncing, dashed off toward the library.
There was much shouting and knocking, and soon the fillies raced back to a still-laying-down Chrysalis.
"Nopony is home, not even Spike!" Apple Bloom managed to shout both the loudest and first. "You want us to help sneak in? We could get our cutie marks in it!"
It was utterly impossible for Chrysalis to deny the fillies anything. Am I this easy to manipulate? She got up and nodded. Yup. "Come on then, we need to be quiet." Chrysalis looked about as suspicious as she ever could and still be disguised. She slunk from building to building, badly. She dove for cover and hid whenever another pony looked at her. The only thing keeping anypony from approaching was that there were three fillies copying her every move. Plenty of ponies turned and looked, but all smiled.
"We are here, how do we proceed?" Scootaloo had her back pressed to the door, leaning and resting her ear against it.
"Well, first I take out the present." Chrysalis used her green magic to lift the book from her pack. It was heavy, the weight of Equestria's future within it. "Can you open the door, Sweetie?" The filly in question's eyes widened and she gave a little nod. Reaching a hoof up, she opened the door to the library.
"Oh, hello girls." Twilight Sparkle met the three fillies who as one, squealed at having been discovered. "And who is your friend?"
"Twilight!" Apple Bloom raced into the house, diving around the unicorn mare. "What's this book?" She reached for one at random, lifting out a dictionary.
Rolling her eyes and winking to Chrysalis, Twilight Sparkle trotted over to explain what Apple Bloom needed to have explained. "Well, that is the dictionary, it is like a look-up table of all the words you could ever use."
As Twilight was explaining, Chrysalis hefted the big fake book up and stowed it on a high shelf, hidden among its twins. She turned, having placed the Elements of Harmony in the unicorn's library, and beamed at Apple Bloom.
"Well, that's interesting Twilight, thanks!" Turning, Apple Bloom trotted for the exit and with her friends to help, quickly herded Chrysalis out and closed the door behind them. "That was close! You are really good with your magic, Chrysalis!"
"Thanks!" Chrysalis was almost in a complete panic. It totally worked. If I hadn't been nice to the fillies and brought them along I would have had that clever mare with only me to focus on. She took a deep breath. "You fillies are really clever and quick. Thanks Apple Bloom."
"Aww, that's alright!" Apple Bloom blushed a little under the attention. "WAIT!"
Chrysalis froze in terror, wondering if she was about to be given away. "W-W-What?"
Three fillies slowly turned and inspected their flanks, a collective "Awww" betrayed the fact that they had not gotten their cutie marks in being amazingly stealthy.
"Better luck next time?" Chrysalis felt the pang each filly did, not having their cutie marks was a hole in their little lives that they all desperately worked to fill. "Maybe you could come and wait with me, for the train to return?"
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other, but it was Scootaloo who spoke. "You two go, I know your sisters wanted you to help them today. I can wait with Chrysalis."
Something isn't right there, a filly shouldn't have that much "rejection" inside them. "Sure can!" Chrysalis wanted to help, wanted to be there for this one pony. "So," the changeling waited until Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had both left, "what's up?"
"Alone, mostly." The little orange filly buzzed her wings, further reinforcing the "nymph" vibe for Chrysalis. "They both had to help their families today." Scootaloo walked slowly beside the "unicorn."
"What about yours?" The moment Chrysalis asked she felt pain and guilt stab at her, self blame mixed into the horrible feelings in the filly. She couldn't stop herself from lifting Scootaloo up and hugging her tightly. "Lost them?" There was a nod against her neck, Chrysalis felt some tears dampen her disguise's fur. "I lost my mom a long time ago."
Scootaloo looked up at the unicorn. "Lost her?" The mare nodded. "What happened?"
"She was old, she didn't want to hurt me by being around when… when her end came." Chrysalis gave the filly a tighter squeeze, got a tighter one back herself. "I just," stupid tears, why does this affect me now? "I just wish I could have said something more, thanked her."
"Me too." Scootaloo squeezed the mare tightly, feeling a bond just as tight as the one she shared with her fellow Crusaders; this bond was different, but strong. "Hey, maybe we can be sisters?"
"Sisters?" Chrysalis looked at the filly and couldn't stop herself. She leaned in and rubbed her nose to Scootaloo's. "I would love to be your sister, but," Chrysalis pressed a hoof gently to the filly's snout to stop her from talking, "I have a better idea. I am going to show you something Scootaloo, something very important and very special. Do you promise not to tell anypony?"
The filly's eyes were wide, she didn't feel the soft hoof pull away from her snout, so she just nodded.
"Where do you live?" Chrysalis followed Scootaloo's hoof when it pointed. "You live alone?" There was a tiny nod. "Not for much longer." This is a bad idea, the worst, but I can't leave her here alone. She set Scootaloo on her brown-furred back and started walking toward the house. "You promise not to freak out at something really crazy, if I show you?"
Scootaloo shook her head, eyes wide. She had seen Rarity carry Sweetie like this, even Applejack carry Apple Bloom. She relaxed and nodded. "I won't freak out!"
Carrying Scootaloo felt more like a sacred duty to Chrysalis than a simple task. The filly had basically flopped in place and hadn't moved. Entering the little house, she walked on through to the hallway at the center of the building. "Two bedrooms?" A little nod met her question, a hoof raised to point at one. "Well, this will be best in the other one."
"Okay…" Scootaloo was unsure what was going on, but Chrysalis seemed so easy to trust, she felt "right." Green magic picked her up and set her on the bed. She looked up and gasped as green fire took away Chrysalis, leaving her with a much larger creature, all darkness and iridescent colored wings. "Are… are you a princess?"
"No, I am a queen." Chrysalis lay down on the floor and began something that she hadn't planned to, that she knew she shouldn't. "Will you do two things for me, Scootaloo?"
Scootaloo was frozen, watching the nice mare, Chrysalis, expelling something from her body. It was big, elongated. "Is that an egg?"
"Clever, very clever. And you know who is inside it?" Chrysalis reigned in her body's desire to make more eggs, to keep making more and more until she flooded Ponyville in changelings. The filly shook her head. "Your little sister is in there."
"My little…" Scootaloo's attention was completely on the egg. "There is a pony inside?" She climbed off the bed, laying on the opposite side of the egg from Chrysalis, both looked down at it.
"Not a pony, Scootaloo, a changeling. She will grow up slowly compared to most, did you know my other foals grow from tiny little eggs like this, to full grown changelings in just a month?" Chrysalis was hypnotized by the sense of wonder pouring from the filly. "But there is more. Scootaloo, your little sister will grow up into a changeling just like me, but she will need to be looked after, need to be able to follow somepony."
"I will be the best big sister!" Scootaloo was on her hooves, fire in her eyes. "I will take the best care of… of… " She tilted her head to the side. "What's her name?"
"You need to decide that, but the important thing is, you will need to be like her, Scootaloo. It takes a changeling to raise a queen." Chrysalis saw uncertainty in the filly's eyes. "You are young, your change will be quick and then, like me you will be able to disguise as a pony. As yourself."
"And my friends?" Scootaloo suddenly thought of Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. "I can't lie to them!"
"Your mom brought your little sister, you need to look after her." Chrysalis reached a hoof out to the filly and smiled as Scootaloo didn't lean away from the affection. "And I did. As for you, ponies will see the filly they know, they won't expect you to be anything diff-"
"I'll do it!" Scootaloo cut in on Chrysalis. "What do I do?" She looked up at the big mare. When Chrysalis smiled wide and leaned down, she stood her ground.
"Open your mouth, this takes a special touch my little princess." And with that Chrysalis pressed her lips to Scootaloo's and let go of the love—of the royal honey.
Scootaloo wasn't ready at first, coughed and gurgled around the flood of warm, thick liquid. But it was sweet, relaxing, and in a moment she closed her eyes and gulped it down. With her belly starting to bulge, Scootaloo felt the flow stop. "What… what was that?"
"Changeling honey. You are young, this won't take-" Chrysalis stopped, watching as the filly started to fall over, her eyes wide. Reaching with green magic, Chrysalis caught Scootaloo, the unconscious filly's legs already darkening, her fur thickening and melding together into black chitin.