It was late in the evening when the bell in Sugarcube Corner rang. In the door stood a white-coated pegasus with a blond, straight mane. She had bandaged wings and a tired look in her eyes, yet there was a small, mischievous smile on her face. All in all she looked like a pony who had had a pretty rough day.
"Is anypony here?" she called out.
"Just a second, I’ll be right there!" a high-pitched, excited voice suddenly replied. The pegasus moved further into the room, towards a counter displaying a wide assortment of cookies. She looked at them with sneer of contempt.
"I'm here silly!" From the kitchen bounced a grinning, pink, earth pony with a pink mane and tail that, for some reason, reminded the newcomer of candy floss. When the pink pony saw the pegasus however, her grin fell. "Oh, it's you."
"Surprise?" chuckled the pegasus.
"No, you got her mane and personality wrong." said Pinkie, now without a trace of joy in her voice.
"What? You’re not making any sense... As usual."
"I'm Pinkie." said the pink pony, as if that explained everything.
"Oh, we both know that you’re not." Deadpanned the visitor.
Pinkie shot the pegasus an angry look as her mane dulled and straightened, her coat greying a bit.
"What do you want, Chrysalis?" She asked sharply.
"Why are you so angry? I only wanted to visit my beloved sister. Is that so bad? Does that justify your hate?" smirked Chrysalis, letting her eyes go to their natural green.
"No, but what you did to my friends, to the princesses, to me-YES!"
"Keep your voice down, 'Pinkie', I'm sure that you don't want your 'friends' to know about your little secret. Oh, I see it in your eyes, this fear... I wonder, what would they do if they discovered that their little 'friend', Pinkie Pie the earth pony, is really a Changeling Queen?"
Pinkie Pie sat on ground, her head dropping down.
"I lied to them, okie dokey? I lie to everypony about who… what I am." A tear fell from her eye. "I was planning to tell them, someday, but..." Sadness vanished from her voice, and in its place came anger.
" ...but thanks to you, everypony knows about changelings, and believe we are evil!"
"Oh, they already knew. Fables, stories, horrors..."
"That's not real." Pinkie retorted.
"It's enough for them to believe. And if ponies are so tolerant, then why did you take this ... shape?" Chrysalis scowled.
Pinkie was silent for a while. She had seen so often how stupid and blind ponies can be. Zecora, Appleloosa, Luna... Always the same; prejudices, pride, fear. Truth is, she had helped along the baseless fear of Zecora, but she was scared that this wise zebra would blow her cover with some brew of hers. It seemed logical to fear the reactions of the ponies around her. She sighed.
"You know why. They wouldn't accept me, looking as myself, but my friends are still my friends! And for Discord's sake, if only we had reached the Elements of Harmony, I would have stood against you. I hate you. I truly hate you. And I know you can feel it", the earth pony said with passion, her eyes betraying just how hurt she was.
Chrysalis frowned and, for first time since entering the bakery, she looked guilty.
"Sis... I'm sorry for what happened in past. I wanted to avoid that, but I was left with no choice. Your ideas were dangerous; I couldn't let you to rule by your ways. Your plan of going to Equestria to negotiate with Celestia was crazy! I was scared that you would be killed on spot! I was scared that the Swarm would be exterminated. I couldn't imagine that ponies would accept emotion-eaters. I'm afraid they still won’t." The Changeling Queen confessed.
Pinkie Pie blew her nose into a pink hanky she had grabbed from the desk.
"Chrys, I know why you did it. I knew, but it still hurts. Exiled; my throne taken from me. Accused and found guilty of betraying the Swarm. Thrown out of the hive like... a stranger. No, worse; an enemy. Abandoned. Sentenced to live alone, on my own. But I managed. I made up weird stories about my past, and found my place in Ponyville. Imagine; a rainbow showed me the way when I was lost in the wasteland. I even became the Bearer of Laughter. And the first time I saw you after so many years... you were threatening my friends, Equestria, and even hurt the brother of my close friend. On top of that you even managed to fool even me. And even when you finally revealed yourself you looked so sick and I was scared. Scared, of you and for you. I was torn apart: You and the Swarm and my friends and Equestria, that I would need to choose a side..." Pinkie wept softly.
"Sister, I'm sick. All of the Swarm is. We are running low, too low on Love. This was a desperate attempt to change everything. Conquering Equestria would have saved us. There is so much Love in its very foundation, in its ponies, in everything. But now... we are in an even worse situation than we were before. My ‘lings are scattered all over Equestria, many of them are wounded. The Princesses likely hate us all, the guards are hunting day in and day out for hiding changelings. Even you are in danger now. I failed, as a leader and as a sister."
Chrysalis abandoned her disguise. In a jet of green fire the white pegasus disappeared, and in her place stood the shape of an alicorn, shelled in damaged black chitin, with a jagged horn and holed legs, wings, tail and mane. One of hers wing looked torn. She sat, full of shame. Pinkie trotted up to her and hugged her. Chrysalis shuddered from this gesture.
"You tried you best, sis. You only wanted what was best for the Swarm. That was our responsibility. You sacrificed your own sister for them, you came up with plan to save them all, and took the hardest role; you fought with Celestia herself for them. I'm still mad at you for what you did to me, but you have been a better Queen than I have. Look at me, I forgot about everyling I left behind. Never cared what was going on back in the Swarm. Who knows, maybe it all could have been avoided if only I had returned in time. I was too conceited to listen to you when I should. And you couldn't stop that. It was my hard lesson," Pinkie winced slightly. Chrysalis hugged Pinkie back.
"Don't be sad. You have always been the cheerful and silly one."
"And you were the confident and tyrannical one. Seriously, all this 'forgive me, I was wrong' doesn’t go with that evil face, sick green eyes, damaged wings and holes." Pinkie let out a small laugh. She lifted the Queens head a little with her hoof. Chrysalis smiled slightly.
There was a small moment of silence.
"Chrys, what are you going to do now?" Pinkie asked.
"There is nothing I can do. My plans have gone south. And your old ideas are now impossible because of my pride and my stupidity. I fear and hate ponies... I fear what they will do when they discover me. I hate them because I need them. I hate them, because food shouldn't be a threat to me. I don't understand how you can live like this!"
"Like what?"
"Like a simple baker. Like a pony, an earth pony. How you never treat or look at them as food.”
"Simple baker? Silly, I'm Pinkie Pie, I'm anything but a simple baker! Everypony says about me 'she’s just being Pinkie'. It's to describe how unique, in a 'crazy but fun' way I am. I like them, and they like me. I know they wouldn't like Metamorphosis, but... I don't care about her! I'm Pinkie! And about feeding... I know everypony in Ponyville, did you know that? Seriously everypony! It’s not that hard, since I was used to knowing so many different ‘lings in the past. I know so much about them, and I care about them all from the bottom of my heart. They are not food to me, but they feed me without knowing. And they like me, they love my parties. Parties... MMMmmm, are like food contest. So many of emotions, so... live! I love to throw parties, both for food and fun. That's Pinkie Style! I'm getting love from the entire town. And nopony is hurt despite it, because with so many sources, nopony is left without emotions. From every single pony I take only a little bit, so little that they don't feel that. And it'll grow back! It's like sheep shearing." Pinkie giggled after a moment.
"What’s so funny about that? What you said sounded clever" Chrysalis asked confused.
"Oh, nothing. Only that ponies are not sheep. Imagine a pony with sheep wool. They would be sooo fluffy. One big fluff in pony size. That would look so funny!"
"Sister," Chrysalis shook her head at her sister antics. "You are just as silly as always."
"Hey, I'm the silly one! The Silly Filly! Oh, that rhymes! But that should be Silly Larva, but that doesn’t rhyme, sooo..." Pinkie Pie bounced from Chrysalis, her mane back to its regular bouncing form as well.
"Yes, you are. But you are also the wise one. You found a way to sate your hunger, without nopony noticing, without hurting them. And I was stupid to not believe you, when you said that it would be possible."
"Chrys... There is only one option left. I'm going to Celestia. To save us."
"What?!" Chrysalis rose up, shocked by Pinkies idea. "You can’t! I cannot lose you, not after today..." Chrysalis looked conflicted for a bit, but finally continued "I missed you. I missed having a sister. I missed your silliness, you weirdness, talking to someling who doesn’t care that I'm a Queen, just talking like nothing really matters."
"Sister, it’ll all end in rainbows and sunshine," Pinkie smiled. "Trust me. You will not lose me. I don't want to lose you either. And this is something I have to do. You reminded me of my responsibilities to my subjects. And if we don’t do anything the guards will catch you, or me. Or you will die from starvation... Or something even worse and, duh!, dying from starvation is pretty bad you know!"
"But... you have everything!!! Food, peace, 'friends' even, Why would you want to risk it?" burst the changeling Queen at Pinkies stubborn stupidity and from her own fear.
"Shh Chrys. You don't want to wake up the Cakes. They sleep lightly." Pinkie warned, but too late. Crying was heard from above.
"Okay, nevermind. I need to put them back to sleep," sighed the earth pony. For a while the jaw of Chrysalis was on the floor. But then she went full nuts.
"You have larves?! Are you mad, starting a hive in the middle of Equestria?"
"What? No! NoNoNo! They aren't mine. Where did you get that idea? They are foals of Missus and Mister Cake. I'm loco in the coco, but not so much to... you know…" Pinkie Pie blushed.
"I - Good" Chrysalis calmed down a bit and then she transformed back into the white pegasus. "You are silly as always. Looking after someponies foals... like a nurse." Chrysalis scowled, but it was fake one.
"Oh, just go you meanie queenie." said Pinkie with small smile.
Chrysalis was moving towards the door, but she stopped.
"Sister? Please, promise me that you won’t go to Celestia."
"I cannot promise you that." Pinkie's smile vanished.
"But I can Pinkie Promise that I'll talk with you before I go."
"Thanks... Pinkie." Chrysalis said and exited Sugarcube Corner. Both Changeling Queens had someone they needed to look after. For one, it was an entire Swarm of changelings, lacking food, desperate from hunger, and all of them looking up to their Queen. For the other it was a pair of twins, awaked by the nighttime meeting of two estranged royal sisters.
(Rev made by Kexerval Scratch)