Twilight Sparkle, known to Equestria as the Princess of Friendship, Alicorn of Magic, and member of the Elements of Harmony, hummed as she organized what books survived the destruction of her old home, the Golden Oaks Library... which, surprisingly, was nearly two-thirds of the old library's stock. She was waiting on a shipment of replacement books and some more to fill up the archives of her castle.
It had been a week since the events at Our Town, where Twilight and her friends met with a unicorn named Starlight Glimmer, who had developed a spell able to remove cutie marks. Such a spell was dangerous, as it stripped a pony of what made them special and unique.
Twilight didn't want to think of the long term consequences of such a spell, because the psychological trauma would have eventually worn a pony down to suicide by lack of will to live.
Twilight was jolted out of her thoughts as a by now familiar sensation from her flank made itself clear; she was being called for an emergency by the ever mysterious magical map table that came with her new castle.
Twilight quickly finished sorting her books before running to the throne room, where the table that acted as the meeting place for her and her friends resided. Heading to look at the map, Twilight was surprised it was just her cutie mark appearing on the holographic surface of the table and that it was centered on the castle in the Everfree Forest.
"The old castle? And why me alone? What kind of emergency am I being sent for?," Twilight asked herself. Her curiosity now roused she left a quick note for Spike and the rest of her friends before heading out to the Everfree Forest. Now that it had been a year since she gained her wings, Twilight was able to avoid most of the forest's usual hazards, and soon spotted the old castle her and her friends had spent some time restoring for the past seven months. Though for some reason, the castle looked even more restored than when Twilight and her friends had last been there.
Being cautious, Twilight landed, and slowly and silently entered before cautiously moving through the castle. Her ears twitched, her mind on trying to see who was in the castle to be restoring it after twilight and her friends.
Twilight couldn't help but notice the castle was slowly being restored to when Luna had become Nightmare Moon. In fact, outside of of some rubble and missing sections in the walls, it nearly looked as it did over a thousand years ago. Which was about 85% of the castle? Though it looked like the secret passages had been used recently by the way the dust looked.
Twilight was so deep in thought, she didn't notice that, when she entered the room that Nightmare Moon had been defeated in, another being in a similar state was about to collide with her from pacing the room... which was the cause of what was about to happen.
Both hit each other and instinctively used magic, but with their horns crossed, Twilight only had time to see green eyes that looked startled as her before a flash of light blinded her and whoever the green eyes belonged to.
With that, Twilight fell unconscious, unaware what happened was going to change her life, and that of Equestria, for the next decade.
When she came to, she felt... odd, like something was vastly different, before noticing she was no longer in the former throne room, but instead what must have once been the infirmary of the old castle. What surprised her was the ten changelings moving about, checking medical supplies and tending to injured changelings.
"Ah, you're awake... My queen? Uhh... well, this is odd." said a changeling that looked about in between Chrysalis' height and Twilight's own. She, if the tone of voice was anything to go by, sounded incredibly confused.
"Weaver, what happened, and why are you looking at me like that?!," a very familiar voice said, but Twilight realized the sounds came from her own mouth even as her face entered a stern expression, before it shifted to confusion from Twilight's own emotion.
"Wait, what? Chrysalis? How are you..?" Twilight asked before feeling shock not her own register in her head, and become just as confused as she was.
"Sparkle? What in the name of the eclipse? Weaver, what in the hive happened?," said Chrysalis, before Twilight felt her eyes focus on the now awkwardly nervous changeling.
"To be honest, I'm not sure my queen, but, um... it looks like you have been merged with another being and are now sharing a body together. I have never seen anything like it before, and I don't know how it happened. We just sensed the magic surge earlier last night, and brought you here. It was dark, so we didn't notice your current state until now," said Weaver as she pulled over a mirror and raised it so Twilight could see what had happened.
She felt both eyes go wide-eyed, and couldn't blame Chrysalis, for she would have done the same thing. They had indeed been fused together. Her fur had darkened from lavender to a dark purple color, with her chest, lower forearms, and head covered in what seemed to be armor, with a long black horn similar to Twilight's horn in shape poking out of a teal tinted indigo mane as long as Chrysalis' own, but in Twilight's style, with the armor parting the bangs at the side of her face so it was seen clearly where one violet eye and one green eye stared back. Her wings were a kind of a mix between Twilight's alicorn wings and the insectile wings of a changeling. They resembled a pair of transparent bat wings with feathers covering the backside of the membrane, which matched the darker fur coat. Her hind legs were those of a changeling, being black chitin stopping just under her flank, where her familiar cutie mark was shown, only now outlined by the green fire of changeling magic. Blinking, Twilight felt the face of this reflection open, revealing fangs set in the upper half of her mouth. Set just behind the horn was a black crown, and Twilight felt her ear twitch.
"What in Equestria?!"
The voice that came out of their mouth was now a mix of both of theirs, being mainly Twilight's with a tone and buzz from Chrysalis. Apparently, the two were on the same page, and agreed that what they were seeing was hard to believe, but it was staring right there at them and couldn't be denied.
"My queen, please tell us what happened last night. It might help us to fix this mess," asked Weaver, snapping their focus back on the matter at hand.
"I was thinking on how long it was going to take to finish renovation before we would move back to the hive, and trying to figure out who was previously restoring the castle before we came across it. I was in such deep thought, I didn't notice someone entered the room, and the next thing I know, I'm seeing a bright light and waking up like this," said Chrysalis.
"I can answer that one. It was me and my friends who were restoring the castle. This was where Celestia and Luna lived before Luna became Nightmare Moon. We were fixing it up for both of them... But then Tirek appeared, and we were dealing with the aftermath. And I had to move into a new place, since Tirek destroyed my old home. We were about halfway done when that happened," said Twilight.
"Really? That explains a lot. Saved us most of the trouble, though those secret passages had us confused for a moment," said Chrysalis, surprised.
"As for what I was doing last night, one of the new artifacts in my new home is a table with a map of Equestria, attuned to me and my friends and showing our cutie marks where we are needed. Last night, it sent me here, but I honestly didn't know why. Once I noticed the state of the castle, I was deep in thought trying to figure out who was here, when I guess we collided together in our states. I remember our horns crossed as we both accidentally channeled magic, from being startled by the collision. That might be when we fused." said Twilight.
"Well, then, now that brings up a new problem; how to separate you both. As I said before, I've never seen anything like this before, and it's obvious my queen hasn't either, which only makes this worse. I've never seen two beings like this in my life," said Weaver with a sigh.
"I have seen something like this before, actually, but that was by a stage magician being boosted by the Alicorn Amulet, and just fused two unicorns together by just their horns; nothing at all like this current state. It was easy to fix the previous incident, but not this time. And Chrysalis, I know you're not going to like what I'm about to suggest, but we need to see if Celestia has encountered anything like this. As good at magic as I am, Celestia has more experience then I do." said Twilight nodding their head in understanding.
"Your right. I don't like that suggestion... but you have a point. Celestia might know something about this situation," said Chrysalis, and Twilight felt a bit scared to see a scowl on her face.
"But first, you both need to learn how to move in that body. As you both are, your motor functions are out of order. You both seem to take turns with the head but the rest of you is another story" said Weaver sternly.
"Now I remember why you're the royal physician, Weaver. You're the most skilled in biology in the hive, so I'll defer to your expertise to get past this hurdle... And see what exactly has changed between both of us," said Chrysalis.
"I'll see if I can convince Fluttershy to help. Her job as a vet means she is used to unusual biology. She takes care of the injured residents of the Everfree, and she's tamed a cockatrice before. If anypony can help figure out this body's biology, it's her," said Twilight confident in her assessment.
"Looks like we know what our plan is now; to contact the solar princess for help, and then figure out this body to see if there is a clue to separate us. Weaver, have operations here finished as soon as possible, then join us in Ponyville to meet Fluttershy and see about getting this incident fixed. I don't like being stuck with the one mare I found the most irritating in my time as queen," said Chrysalis.
"To be fair, you didn't look into Cadence's history or my brother's that well, or you would have known about how close I was to Cadence. I grew up with Cadence, so I could tell something was off back then. Though I am still ticked my brother didn't tell me he was dating Cadence, or that he was going to get married, until I got the invite. That really blindsided me, I'll admit." Twilight deadpanned.
"Wait, you didn't know at all that day? Even I knew of the relationship before the wedding, thanks to some scouts. Didn't even know your brother hadn't bothered to prepare you in advance, so it was all last minute for you, then? Explains why you, while seeing through my facade, were so off in trying to warn the others... Odd, this is the longest time I haven't felt the hunger of the changelings," said Chrysalis, surprised.
"Now that you mention it, I can't feel it either. It's like something is spreading love through the hive's link, and feeding every changeling in the hive?," said Weaver, after sending a changeling to relay her queen's orders.
"Might be me, then. In our current state, my emotions must be transmitting through Chrysalis, ending her hunger and thus the hive's. Though, I'm sure ordinary pony hunger is still there," said Twilight, shrugging.
"Right, once the castle is finished being restored, the changelings here will return to the hive, and I'll help you back to Ponyville at night to prevent panic. Then, the next morning, we will contact Celestia. While we wait for her, we should try to see how much work is going to be needed to separate the two of you. So, for now, you two are to stay in that bed until its time to go," said Weaver, and Twilight nodded for both of them.
"Guess in the meantime, you and I are going to be getting to know each other. Like it or not, we have to work together until this situation is fixed," said Twilight, sighing. Chrysalis nodded grudgingly at that.
"It will be interesting, seeing as thanks to you, my hive was saved from Tirek. Without our magic, we would be dead, so I at least owe you for that." said chrysalis.
"I'll leave it to you both, then. I'll send a changeling to pick up some food for you after what happened," said Weaver, going back to her job.
With that, they settled down, hoping they could finish this as soon as possible... unaware that this event was going to change the history of Equestria.