That very evening Thorax and Pharynx were setting up just off the Hive. Thorax was carrying the family tree scroll, and Pharynx was looking over the spell scroll the Princesses had lent them. Thorax looked up from his spot toward the top of the Hive. When he closed his eyes he could still see the spire where the throne room once was before they'd driven out Chrysalis.
"Are you sure this is going to work for us? Maybe we should have called in Starlight." Pharynx suddenly snapped Thorax out of his momentary daydream.
"You're the one who insisted we could do this "with or without" her." Thorax replied, looking back to his brother. "We'll just see if we can use the scrying spell on our own. If we need help we can just ask for it. Again."
Pharynx shook his head and chuckled. He sort of deserved that after his outburst at their meeting. "Alright alright, I'll give it a shot, but don't blame me if we end up having to replace the scroll."
Pharynx's horn lit up as he channeled his magic into the scroll, which began to glow green as the spell was cast. A tendril of the green glow struck out like a bolt of lightning, impacting the scroll of the royal family tree, which floated into the air. It aligned perpendicular to the ground and five of the tassels seemed to spring to life, pointing in multiple direction and seeming to adjust slightly before all five suddenly snapped into one direction and the scroll suddenly plummeted. Thorax caught it with his magic just before it hit the ground. He gave the scroll a slight turn, the tassels stayed pointed in the same direction, even wrapping around the scroll as necessary to do so.
"I guess we follow it?"
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It was well into the night when Pharynx finally called for Thorax to stop their march. It had gotten dark enough that he could no longer see far enough into the distance to keep Thorax covered, even from the air.
"Oh come on, Pharynx, we're almost to the border between the re-forested area and the badlands, we can go just a bit fa-"
Thorax was cut off when he suddenly became aware that his forehoof was stepping onto thin air. In the darkness, he had not noticed the sudden decline just in front of him. It wasn't quite a cliff, but sliding down a steep hill face-first wasn't much better.
"You want to set up camp now?" Pharynx asked as he trotted down the decline behind Thorax.
"...Yeah, sure, let's do that."
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Thorax woke in the morning with a headache. Probably because he'd fallen down a steep decline. The sun's light soon gave him a welcome distraction though.
"Pharynx?"
Thorax's older brother groaned from his spot on the ground next to him.
"Pharynx the scroll is doing something."
Pharynx woke up at that.
The scroll was indeed doing something. While four of the tassels were still pointing in the same direction, one was now pointing back up the slope. The two scrambled, Thorax grabbing the scroll before they climbed back up the slope. Nothing seemed different at first, until the two took a better look at where they were. They were near a large pit-like section of ground, in the center, a large amount of the earth was clearly disturbed, as if something very large had burrowed there.
"This is where we fought the maulwurf." Pharynx stated, taking a few steps forward. "Why would the scrying spell bring us here? Was Chrysalis... watching us?"
As if on cue, the tassel that had been acting up suddenly fell limp, its purpose complete.
"I think that's a yes." Thorax replied.
"...Why?"
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Months earlier...
Chrysalis stood above the pit, watching the spectacle below. With all the commotion, it was easy for her to disguise herself as another of these "reformed" changelings while she spied on how her people interacted with Starlight Glimmer. And now, both her sons were transformed. Into these... These pastel abominations.
She could feel the bile rising in her throat. She was disgusted. Changelings giving love to each other like this... it was unheard of. Unnatural.
The moment she had a chance, Chrysalis slunk off, dropping her disguise and fleeing back into the wastes, where she would go unnoticed. There was nothing left to gain from this place.
Her sons were dead to her.