Twilight chose not to broach the subject of Celestia going behind her back with Crystarium as they had dinner together as usual, it was a conversation that was no longer necessary and she was already conflicted enough. Celestia picked up on it, though.
“I’m sure you already know this, but I am sorry we tried to hide it from you…” She started and was going to go on before Twilight stopped her with a hand.
“You were right, I probably would have refused it… I just hope we made the right decision, that she made the right decision.” The queen sighed and set her fork down. She had only picked at her food and was in no mood to finish it. Celestia quickly tried to change the subject.
“Well then, how goes your research? I Understand Queen Bela made a discovery recently?” She asked, hoping to get Twilight’s mind back on something that would keep her happy. It only partially worked.
“She found another ancient hive, not quite as old as the first, but this one had intact archives. What little information that is relevant we already knew or just further reinforced the wall we’ve hit. Unless Efialtis has some miracle for us, we’re stuck like this... “ Twilight said. She continued softly, more to herself, but Celestia caught it and it terrified her.
“Our hive cannot thrive while the two of us live…”
It was a whisper, but Celestia heard it. She heard the pain in the voice too. The particular subject had come up once or twice, but it was always waved away. It wasn’t a secret that the only way for the hive to prosper again in full was for there to be one queen again, and with Twilight’s ability to produce love so important it was only ever going to end one way. Twilight couldn’t do it though, she refused to even think about it. At least until now.
“What happened today made me realize something, Celestia… This whole thing is a desperate attempt, grasping at straws that we don’t even know are there, to avoid what has to be done… But it has to be done…” She said solemnly, almost darkly. She stood at that and turned to leave. Celestia quickly stood with her and walked over to put a hand on her shoulder. She had a bad feeling at where this was going.
“Twilight, where are you going? You know you have up to a year now to think about this. To find other ways…” Celestia started, but she slowly tapered off. That was it. That was the whole reason for all of this.
“You wanted to go so you would be forced to find another way in the Abyss, but now that Crystarium has gone on this fool’s errand in your place…” She couldn’t finish as she slowly removed her hand from Twilight’s shoulder. The Queen turned around. There was sorrow in her eyes, sorrow for what she knew she had to do.
“I don’t know when I can bring myself to do it… but I’ll get back in touch when it’s done… For now I think the hive might be crippled by my sorrow for a day or two, I can’t seem to stop it. I love you, Celestia… I’ll see you soon.” The queen said in almost a whisper as she lethargically hugged the Princess, but before Celestia could return it she pulled away and left the dining hall.
“Your friends and your family will always be here for you, Twilight. Just call us if you need us.” Celestia said with a sad smile. Twilight didn’t give any acknowledgement, but she knew she was heard. She was surprised to be embraced from behind, only to find Chrys there. There were tears running down her cheeks but she was smiling.
“Queen Twilight is a little too conflicted to think properly right now, so I thought I’d come over to make sure you know she just wants to be alone for a while, she meant no insult or offense.” The girl said with a sniffle. Celestia smiled and put her hands on the girls shoulders after she pulled away.
“Losing Chrysalis will be devastating for her, as you well know… Just make sure that she’s surrounded by friends again as soon as possible, even if she doesn’t think she needs it. I’ll be taking a leave to travel to Ponyville to inspect our newest outpost, so we should all be nearby.” The Princess said, rebuilding her composure for the young diplomat. The girl nodded and turned to return to whatever it was she was doing.
Twilight was beyond distraught. She had been thinking about this since Crystarium left, and the more she thought the more she realized it had to be done. She couldn’t justify sacrificing herself to let Chrysalis live and return to being a queen, the risk of the curse returning in full and having the vast population of the hive turn feral was too much of a risk, and the potential of love producing changelings was too great to pass up.
So the only thing to do was to sacrifice Chrysalis, so that their hive could live on. The journey into the abyss to find Efialtis was ultimately a fool’s errand anyways. Even if they somehow found something out about their race to lift the curse, they’d still be parasites. Even if Chrysalis would awake again, Twilight knew she would insist endlessly that she be properly recycled as it should have been when Twilight was originally turned. She didn’t trust her wings to take her in this state and she couldn’t stand being away from her sleeping partner any longer at the moment and so she teleported directly to her chambers.
For three days straight she stayed there, food and drink were brought to her, and whenever anyone came into the room they made sure to hug her or hold her and infuse as much love as possible into the food. Sometimes they even had to feed it to her. With so much love from her brood, though, it was on the fourth day she finally acted.
The pod was already prepared, but she had it double checked as she carefully picked up her sleeping queen and made her way to the isolated birthing chamber she was originally rebirthed in. She couldn’t risk a simple rebirth, even into a royal or a simple drone, it would either destroy her personality or she’d maintain the connection that’s causing the whole situation in the first place. Chrysalis would be gone, her body recycled into organic material to be used for the hive. Her mental manifestation would fade, the ashlands that was her forest would crumble, and even her singular tree would wilt away. The roots decayed. The only remnants of the sleeping queen would be the leftover love signature and genetics in the older drones, but even that too would fade away as more generations were born.
Twilight stared at the open pod for minutes before she turned. Her Wraiths were there, as well as the heads of all her departments, as well as a horde of drones. The room was filled practically to the brim, the only space left was the space around the pod. Without even a ping in the Hive mind to tell them, as many as physically possible rushed forward and engulfed Twilight in a loving embrace, even though they could not generate the love. They were careful not to crush Chrysalis. It seemed like that was what Twilight finally needed to continue, though, as the group backed off and she slowly stepped partially into the pod. She hesitated, though. She stared down at the sleeping queen in her arms and pulled her a little closer.
Without a word or a peep on the hive mind, she stepped fully into the pod. When she did finally speak, it was a ping in the hive mind to tell the caretakers what to do. They immediately followed her commands, but the whole hive had tears in their eyes at the command.
They were to convert the pod into a rebirthing pod rather than a recycling pod, and she was going to stay in there.
“What shall we tell the equestrians?” Nilan asked, stifling a sob.
“I’m sure you’ll think of something.” Twilight said as tears of her own started forming again. The pod was quickly sealed as the fluid starting flowing in. She could feel the tingling sensation as the fluid both numbed her nerves and started dissolving the carapace of her legs. She slid down the back of the pod, Chrysalis in her arms, and was stunned into silence as the unthinkable happened.
Chrysalis opened her eyes.
“So you finally went through with it, Twilight?” The queen rasped out, her voice going unused for months. Her lips formed a weak smile as she looked to the clear part of the pod, expecting to see Twilight there, but was shocked to find her absent.
“I knew you were waiting for something… this little bit of energy…” Twilight said softly, pulling Chrysalis closer. Chrysalis was stunned herself at the situation, but quickly fell into a smile.
“We will be as one, then…” She wheezed, putting a hand up to hold Twilight’s face. The liquid had nearly reached her chest by then, though, at Twilight’s waist and the arm couldn’t hold for long before sinew and muscle dissolved and the arm fell. Movement on the outside caused Chrysalis to look back through the transparent wall of the pod as the light was slowly being blocked.
A single hand, from a Drone she recognized as one of Twilight’s wraiths, was immediately followed by as many as possible. The mass of their children on the outside were touching the pod, wishing they could express their love as Twilight could. The act still touched Chrysalis, they hadn’t forgotten their first mother. With a weak smile she tried to lift her other arm to meet their hands on the translucent material, but it refused to listen to her. Her breathing got heavy as the fluid got through the chitin on her chest and neck and it was getting harder to breathe. Twilight grabbed Chrysalis’ arm and held it up to the window, her other hand doing the same.
“We will be as one…” Twilight echoed weakly, the fluid now nearing her chest as it passed Chrysalis’ head.
“We’ll be waiting for you.” The horde outside said in unison as time seemed to freeze for them as their queens lost consciousness, and within the hour were completely dissolved. In fact, time seemed to freeze for much longer. The hive was silent, still.
“We’ll be waiting…” echoed around the halls as nobody moved or said anything, it was through the hive mind the statement echoed.
“We’ll be waiting.”