“There is no revenge you could ever conceive of that will come close to what I will exact upon you one day, Starlight Glimmer!”
Queen Chrysalis backed away, a snarl on her face as she leapt backward off the edge of the rubble. Starlight rushed forward, catching sight of the ex-monarch as she soared over the barren, gray landscape.
So that’s it then, Starlight thought to herself. Her stomach tightened at the thought of what Chrysalis might have in mind should they ever see her again. A pit of anxiety boiled inside her, one that she was going to carry with her for a long time, possibly even years, as Chrysalis bided her time with plotting and scheming.
Is this what I made Twilight feel when I ran off? She wondered to herself. I can’t believe—
Suddenly the speck that was Chrysalis jerked to a stop against the horizon. Even at the distance Starlight was at, she winced. It honestly looked like the ex-queen had run into a brick wall at full speed.
Chrysalis was ripped back over to them in a heartbeat and a half, dangling in the air by one of her hind legs, hissing and screaming up a storm.
“Let me go!” Chrysalis seethed, her sickly green eyes bearing down on her. No, not her. They were looking right past Starlight.
“Uh…”
“Not likely.” Discord floated into view, his claw raised high to signify his hold on Chrysalis’ leg and his paw still wrapped around Fluttershy in their reunion hug. “You think you can just kidnap my friend like that and expect me to let you go?” He giggled with barely a hint of glee. “Oh, Chrysalis, you aren’t too smart, are you?”
“Discord?” Starlight exclaimed. The surprise in her voice must’ve been palpable, because his head rotated around to look at her, eyebrow arching off of his face.
“Yes?” he asked. Eyes darting between her and Chrysalis, Discord nodded with understanding. “Oh, I see. You wanted to be the one to catch her. Sorry, you were just taking so long that I—”
“Uh, no.” Starlight narrowed her eyes with confusion. “I wasn’t planning on catching her at all! The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind.”
“Really? But she was flying away so slowly.” Discord melted a little to exemplify the boredom he’d experienced. Turning, he glanced at everyone else. “What about all of you? Surely one of you thought to stop her from flying off like that.”
Looks were exchanged between the crowd. Discord narrowed his eyes, before popping them back up again with a realization. “Oh wait, was the plan to let her go? Sorry.”
He let his arm drop, Chrysalis falling face first into a pile of rubble. With a grunt she picked herself up and shot Discord a venomous glance.
“Well, go on then.” He gestured with his claw. “Shoo.”
Fluttershy offered a weak smile from her place in Discord's hug. "Goodbye."
Chrysalis hissed angrily and turned, wings spreading as she prepared a take off. She leapt into the air, slamming her face against the side of a blue force field that rapidly surrounded her.
“Uh, now that you mentioned it, I think you’re right, Discord,” Starlight said, sealing off the bubble that now surrounded Chrysalis. “Maybe letting her go is a bad idea.”
“Are you serious? I will not be toyed with!” Two black hooves slammed against the interior of the barrier, doing about as much good as a fly would to a window. “Release me at once!”
“Wait, so I was ahead of the curve on this one?” Discord turned around to the group behind him. “We have half a dozen ponies here with magic unparalleled and nopony thought to do anything aside from me?”
Among them, miniature debates had sprung out of the silence.
“I thought King Thorax was going to handle it,” one of the newly transformed changelings suggested, with nods of approval from his peers.
“K-King?” Thorax flinched and looked around. “I don’t— When did that happen?”
“You usurped the old ruler,” one of them replied, very matter of factly. “Also, you’re really big now, so…”
“I have not been usurped!” Chrysalis screeched. “And don’t talk about me like I’m not even here!” Sadly, very few changelings turned to acknowledge her here-ness.
“Weren’t you going to stop her?” Luna asked her sister.
Celestia merely offered a shake of her head. “I was sort of… napping in my cocoon. Hadn’t fully woken up yet to be honest. Besides, I just expected Twilight to handle it.” Both elder princesses turned to the mare in question, curious about her own thoughts on the matter.
“I hadn’t even realized we could use our magic again,” Twilight explained with a sheepish smile.
“I was holding Flurry Heart,” Cadance said.
“I was… uh…” Shining Armor blinked and looked down, trying to think of an excuse.
Flurry Heart just burped.
“Amazing,” Discord said wistfully. “Well Celly, Lulu, Twily, uh...fourth one, you can bet your bottom dollar I won’t be letting you live this down anytime soon.”
Celestia could only muster a heavy sigh in response.
Starlight looked back at her newest mortal enemy before turning back to Twilight. “Uh, so what should I do?”
“Die,” Chrysalis spat. Starlight narrowed her eyes at her.
Twilight glanced around to gauge everypony's thoughts before coming to a conclusion. “Well, since we caught her—”
“You’re welcome,” Discord interjected.
“—I guess we should at least make an effort to reform her.”
Chrysalis growled at the mere mention of the word.
"I think it's worth a try," Thorax said. His new followers immediately began murmuring their agreement, already kowtowing to their new ruler.
All the princesses nodded in agreement at the idea, save Flurry Heart, who was just giggling to herself. Starlight looked over to her friends, from Trixie, who was trying to wipe the remnants of the changeling goo from her cape, to Spike, who gave her a thumbs up.
“Hey, do you think she’s got a long lost best friend who left her behind too?” Rainbow Dash called out.
Starlight glared a few daggers her way.
“What?” Rainbow asked. “It wouldn’t hurt for it to be easy again.”
“Easy? How was reforming me easy?” Starlight exclaimed. “I turned back time and messed with history so bad that Equestria was nearly destroyed! Multiple times!”
“That’s nothing compared to my—” Chrysalis froze. “Wait, you did what?”
Starlight just winced. “None of your business.”
Chrysalis snorted. “Whatever. I bet my feats are way eviller than yours are, anyway!”
“More evil,” Twilight muttered in defense of grammar.
“You wouldn’t be able to reform me, even if you tried!” Chrysalis sneered. She cackled from inside the bubble, as if she'd somehow won something with that statement.
“Well, if that’s the case...” Twilight hooked a hoof around Starlight. “Then I think we’ve just found your next friendship lesson!”
Starlight froze, pupils shrinking. Her magic cut out, dropping Chrysalis onto the ground as the shield popped.
She struggled to get her bearings, shooting a confused glance at Starlight, who responded by shoving all of the panic and fear she could into the next word she spoke.
“Run!”