After the destruction of the unnamed galaxy, that she had been in for the last couple of years, Chrysalis spent the first few minutes sitting in a chair as she stared at the area that the galaxy had been resting in, reflecting over the fact that the mission that she had been on, survive the nightmare that she had found herself in, was complete. Her original mission had been to survive for as long as possible, but then, when she started to see some sort of friendship with Isaac, she turned down the only way out of this galaxy in order to break her only friend out of the area he was being contained in. Sure, she suffered more mental scars in the process when her vile mother came back from the depths of her memories, but she managed to get both herself and Isaac, along with Ellie, away from the Titan Station before it blew up. After that it was a matter of hiding until they were needed again, something that Carver and his traitorous captain told them about and promptly brought them to Tau Volantis... which was now completely destroyed, just like the rest of the galaxy that it and the other Marker infested planets had inhabited.
It was in that moment of reflection that she remembered that they had won, they had stopped the Markers and the Brethren Moons from completing their terrible task, saved a good portion of humanity in the process, and were now heading towards the other galaxies that had planets for the survivors to start over on.
"It doesn't seem real, does it?" a voice said, to which Santos and the others took the remaining seats around Chrysalis, as there had been five chairs around her when she arrived in the area that she was currently sitting in, though she stared out at the stars that they were passing by, "We spent all that time thinking that we were the only intelligent life in the galaxy, when in reality we had barely scratched the surface of the universe and the number of races that call it home. I could spend months studying the races that Ratchet's already told me about and I still would have only scratched the surface of all the new information that's available to use... even his own species, the Lombaxes as he calls them, are so fascinating that I could send days on end learning all I can about them."
"This starship is also fascinating in it's own manner," Isaac added, as that was what he had gone and looked at after they left the dead galaxy behind, because he started to explore the ship the instant that they no longer needed to focus on survival for once, "Not only was it outfitted for war, after being used as a research ship apparently, but there are enough rooms for all of us and the survivors to share without anyone being cramped, like there's more to the interior than what we can see from the outside. There's also the fact that the air vents on this ship are much smaller than the ones I'm used to seeing aboard all the other ships I've worked on, or even the ones in all the corporation buildings that I needed to work in from time to time... meaning that we'd be much safer from any sort of danger, if such a thing actually happened aboard a ship like this."
"And don't get me started on their weapons," Carver commented, as he was impressed by the power of the weapons they had used in their training sessions and was clearly eager to see what else their new surroundings held for them, and what sort of enemies he could use the new weapons against, "I traded a few words with Captain Ratchet earlier, once we started heading towards our destination, and asked him and his companion Clank if there were any armies that might be taking someone like me in, even if I had no idea what the rules or regulations are for the galaxies we're heading towards. Surprisingly enough he said that all three of the galaxies that he's been to have their own Defense Force and that all of them are actively recruiting new members, meaning that there might be a chance for me to actually make myself useful and defend what's left of humanity... and use some of those weapons that we used earlier at the same time."
"That's nice to hear." Chrysalis said, as she was happy that at least three of her friends might have found something new to do with their lives, once they dropped off the survivors on the planet that they were being taken to, though Ellie was sure to follow Isaac and continue the research she and Santos were doing on the other races.
Isaac didn't say anything to what Chrysalis said for a moment, because he was busy trying to figure out what was wrong with her, since she was clearly happy about all the lives that they had saved with the help of the gods that had come to their aid, but at the same time she seemed distracted by something else. He immediately remembered everything that he had learned about his friend, the fact that she had once been one of the two princesses to an entire kingdom and then became the queen when her mother was killed, but as those memories came back he realized what was going on. His friend had finally been rid of the one person that she hated with all her heart, her evil and vile mother, but at the same time he realized what it wasn't her mother that she was thinking about, it was actually her sister, the one spirit that she hadn't seen since the events of the Titan Station. Amaryllis hadn't shown herself since they left the moon, which was the last time Chrysalis would have been able to see her sister before they started fighting for their lives, which told Isaac that what was distracting her was the fact that she had never gotten the chance to say goodbye to her sister... just like what happened when they were alive, as she never had the opportunity to do the same thing when Amaryllis was alive.
The only other thing that he could think of was that Chrysalis wasn't looking forward to heading home, to Equus, either because of what happened before she appeared in the Kellion all those years ago, or because she didn't want to relive the memories that might be waiting for them when they got there.
"Chrysalis, what's wrong?" Santos asked, beating Isaac to the punch, as he was getting ready to ask his friend what was bugging her, but at the same time they remained silent as Santos talked, as they were interested in seeing what sort of reaction the changeling had, "You should be happy that we all survived our excursion to Tau Volantis and managed to save quite a number of people in the process."
"I am happy about that, I really am," Chrysalis said, and she meant it, because she had always put her subjects first, back when she was the ruler of the Hive, though now she was pleased that they had saved as many as they did, "the problem... the problem is that even though we'll be heading to my home planet, after we set these guys up with their new lives, I won't be staying for long. I ruled over the Hive for the last thousand years, since the day my mother was killed, and only stopped when I was overthrown and utterly defeated, though now I suspect that my changelings would rather have me disappear and leave them to their devices, with Thorax ruling over them now. The truth is that Equus holds too many bad memories for me, ones that I would relive once we spent some time in a specific location, so all I'm going to do is visit a place that is important to me and say my goodbyes... and then I'm joining Ratchet's crew, or whoever would be willing to take me with them. I was hoping that all of you would join me in exploring the vast universe we're being introduced to, because I'm saying goodbye to Equus and putting the past behind me."
Isaac was honestly surprised to hear that the planet that Chrysalis had been trying to get back to, ever since she first entered his life all those years ago, now no longer had any value to her and that she only wanted to visit one place before she left her home world. In a way it almost felt like she was admitting defeat, because going home had been her mission the entire time he had known her, but the pain of having her loved ones and family brought back had caused all the terrible memories to resurface, ones that she wanted to keep buried because of how painful they were. At the same time, however, he was quick to agree that he'd be willing to join her in her exploration of the new galaxies, planets, and races that were now open to them, as he knew that something new would put Chrysalis' mind off of everything that she had been though since she walked through the crystal mirror she kept talking about. Ellie, Santos, and Carver each agreed as well, as all three of them were interested in different aspects of the new technology that was available and the places that were now open to them... and, much to Isaac's joy, Chrysalis actually smiled when she discovered that her friends were going to come with her and see what the rest of the universe had to offer them.
Sure, that adventure wouldn't start until they had their short visit to Equus and let Chrysalis do what she needed to do, but then, when that was over and done with, the five of them would figure out which of the captains would be willing to take them on and start their next adventure.
Chrysalis spent the next few hours half listening to the plans that her friends were making, about how Santos was going to find a research team to join so she could study all of the new lifeforms that they had discovered, while Ellie decided that she would put her talents and training to use somewhere else. Isaac and Carver, both respectable fighters thanks to everything that they had been through, were planning on joining one of the military networks, like they mentioned earlier, though as they glanced at Chrysalis she knew that they wanted her to come with them, as a three man team. She still wasn't sure what she wanted to do when she left Equus behind, since that entire visit was going to be one that she was going to dislike, but she told them that she would think about it, especially since she was preoccupied with confronting the past for the last time. At the same time she was somewhat happy to see that her friends were willing to let her think about what she was going to do next, though they all insisted that she eat something to keep her energy up... which was followed by her discovering that the food that was aboard the ship was fresh and was more delicious than anything she had while she was traveling with Isaac and Ellie.
Eventually Ratchet pulled the Hyperion into a docking station on a planet called Kerwan, where the large city known as Metropolis was located, though as Chrysalis helped her friends escort the survivors outside, which was where the smaller transports were waiting to carry the survivors to the other planets that were scattered throughout the galaxy. While they did that Chrysalis discovered that Metropolis was a gigantic city with a large number of vehicles flying through the air, which immediately explained why the survivors weren't going to be living here, but what caught her interest was that there were people and robots helping the poor people out. That entailed helping them out of the RIGs that they had been wearing, and wouldn't need anymore, before outfitting them with the basics of the technology that the three galaxies used, so they could get acquainted with the new technology before showing off everything else. She even overheard that the currency for the Solana, Bogon, and Polaris Galaxies was Bolts, to which she and her friends looked at each other with some confusion on their faces, but they didn't have a lot of time to ponder that as Ratchet called them back aboard the ship so he could get underway to the area where Equus rested... which happened to be outside the three galaxies, where the group discovered that he was one of the few people that knew how to get there by using a starship.
Now that they weren't weighed down by the survivors, where Chrysalis was happy to see that they were already taking to the new information that was being given to them and the locations of where they were going to live, Ratchet activated the warpdrive and they entered the familiar space between two points... though this time he used the full power of the ship, as not a few minutes later they exited warp system and appeared near a familiar planet; Equus.
"We'll take over things from here," Celestia commented, surprising Chrysalis by her arrival, as she was sure that the two gods had been talking about something in the private room that they had been in since they left the erased galaxy, though at the same time Ratchet nodded his head in understanding, "Come along now, it's time we head down to Ponyville and see if we can't sort some things out."
Chrysalis said nothing as she, Isaac, and the rest of their group followed the gods over to the docking area, where Celestia waved her staff and surrounded all of them with one large magical bubble, though once that was done they flew out of the ship and started their descent towards the planet below them. As they got closer and closer to the planet, and her friends started to take in the sights that they could see already, Chrysalis felt the presence of a number of powerful beings from where she was standing, but as they got closer the number of signatures she felt only increased at the same time. She had to wonder what was going on, since there hadn't been this many powerful beings when she went through the mirror all those years ago, but what shocked her was that there were a select few of the powerful beings she could feel that were even stronger than the others... and, by her estimates, there were at least six extremely powerful beings down there, not counting Discord since he was living inside the castle last she checked.
When they breached the layer of clouds, however, Chrysalis' eyes widened as she looked down at Ponyville, which was the same as she remembered it, and looked at the inhabitants that were walking around at the moment... as all of them happened to have the same type of body that she and the gods did, but that didn't make sense considering that only a select few had gone through the mirror, which she had done.
"We developed a process called the 'Awakening Process'," Sunset explained, gesturing to some of the humanoid ponies that were walking around the town, all of which had pony ears, tails, and hooves where Chrysalis had them, with some having horns as well, "It's like stepping through the mirror that you stepped through, only this time they weren't thrown to another part of the galaxy and didn't have to go through an adventure to unlock their powers... rather they willingly took on these new bodies, after seeing Princess Luna do the same thing, and they gained new bodies as well, and in some cases some of them unlocked the power to tap into an element and use it in battle. I trust you remember the three fillies that called themselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders?"
"Yeah, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom." Chrysalis replied, as she remembered their names and what they had looked like the last time she had seen them, though now she was sure that their forms must have changed as well, since they all lived in Ponyville.
"Each of them has undergone the transformation process and unlocked some of their inner power," Sunset said, to which she gestured to what appeared to be a practice area near the Everfree Forest, where Chrysalis could feel the energy of at least three of the extremely powerful beings residing in that area, accompanied by four smaller ones, "just like everyone that has gone through the mirror and completed their own adventure. The same could be said for you, that you went through the mirror, transformed into your new form, and eventually unlocked a higher level of power to use against your enemies, if the need to use that power ever arose."
Chrysalis thought about the names that Discord had told her all those years ago, about the ponies that had gone through the mirror before her, and wondered just how strong they actually became, as the power she was feeling put them on the level that the Royal Sisters would have been on if either of them used their full power during a fight, which was why she was lucky to have beaten Princess Celestia when she did. She couldn't think about her thoughts for too long, as the moment they neared the ground the bubble disappeared and they all landed on their feet, or hooves in the cause of the Equestrians, though once that happened Sunset beckoned for them to follow and headed towards the area that the energy was coming from. As they walked, and Chrysalis' friends took in the scenery, Chrysalis noticed that every former pony they walked by had a level of power that had been nonexistent when she was last here, confirming what she had been told, but when they reached the training area she found four children sized pony girls, all of which were flying around the area in front of them, battling each other... while at the same time she recognized the three figures that were standing nearby as Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity, all having the same body that she did and possessed incredible energies that potentially rivaled her own higher power.
She wondered, for a moment, if their adventures were like hers, where they went on a quest of some kind, had a emotional event happen to them, and took on the level of power that they now commanded... and, at the same time, she found that she honestly didn't want the answer to that question.
"I knew that I felt someone come back from their adventure!" a voice said, to which Chrysalis and her friends jumped back a bit when Pinkie Pie appeared in front of them, out of thin air, while at the same time the gods found their expressions to be a little amusing, "Here, for all of you!"
Sure enough Pinkie had cupcakes ready for all of them before they even arrived, making Chrysalis remember that this pony had also gone through the mirror, since her body was like hers and she was wearing some strange armor with a robe of some kind over it. At the same time, however, her friends stared at Pinkie with some levels of shock, surprise, and Santos saying something about how she disregarded the laws of the universe, leading every Equestrian to tell her that it was just Pinkie being Pinkie and that she'd get used to it. Chrysalis stared at the cupcake for a moment and honestly couldn't remember the last time she ate one because she wanted to, rather instead of playing whatever role she had taken on so she could better the lives of her Hive... though thinking about them made her remember why she had bothered to come home in the first place. Instead of sticking around, like she was sure that the others would have wanted her to, she floated into the air and headed towards the one place that she wanted to visit, the only place that she could finally put the past behind her... she headed towards the Hive, so she could find the graves that she hadn't visited in a long time.
Thanks to her new power she managed to make it to the location of the Hive in ten minutes, where originally one would have to take a train for a day or something similar, though instead of heading into the actual Hive she headed towards a nearby cave and landed in front of it. From there she moved the stone boulder that was in the way and walked down into the small hidden crypt that had been constructed, while at the same time the enchanted torches came alive for the first time in a thousand years, revealing that not many changelings knew about this place, and it was possible that she was the only one who did know what was down here. There weren't any spells or enchantments to ward off intruders, rather the fury of the Hive was enough to make anyone instantly regret even considering opening this place, even though it wasn't as sacred as the Crypt of the Queens, where her mother was likely buried with the rulers that came before her. It was a place where her sister should have been buried, since she was destined for the throne before her, but in the end Amaryllis ended up someplace else... which was just fine for her, since it meant that her sister was close to the other pony that had a special place in her heart; Wildfire.
When she reached the bottom step she looked at the small chamber she was in, which was twice as tall as a queen sized changeling and didn't made her crouch or anything, but what held her attention were the two stone coffins that were in front of her, one to the left and one to the right. She had painstakingly created this place when Wildfire died, to honor the pony that had befriended her and taught her so many lessons, and also increased the size in case she ever needed to join her and was forbidden to join the other queens, though the one to the right was where her sister rested, no doubt brought here by some of the loyal changelings that had helped her take her mother down. Just thinking about Wildfire and Amaryllis caused her to take a seat between the two coffins, where she silently sat as she remembered all the good times she had with both the pony that won her heart and the sister that was her guardian angel, even in death. As she sat there, however, she let the tears flow for a while, as just being here made her also remember how each of them had died and caused the pain to come back... but this time around she was going to bury all of it inside the tomb, where she hoped that she would never have to feel the pain ever again, at least until she decided to come back, if she ever did that.
She honestly had no idea how long she spent down there, and honestly she didn't care, but when she felt that she was ready she wiped the rest of the tears from her eyes, stood up at long last, and touched both of the graves for a few seconds, before she headed towards the opening... though this time around she was leaving with her head held high as she focused on what the future held for her. When she reached the opening, however, she wasn't expecting to find Celestia standing near the opening, though the look on her face told Chrysalis that the Solar Princess felt sorry for her, while at the same time she didn't bother to ask how she found her way here as she closed the door behind her.
"I take it you're going to head back to the Hyperion and leave Equus behind?" Celestia asked, though at the same time she watched the former queen of the changeling Hive as she moved the boulder back into position, sealing the tomb once more, as it was rare to see her like this.
"That's right." Chrysalis replied, to which she sighed as the boulder slipped back into place in front of the entrance, sealing the tomb in the process, before she turned her attention towards the god that was standing in front of her, "If I were to stay on this planet, where I lost both my sister and the pony that won my heart, I'd be tempted to spend every waking moment in that tomb with them. I built it as our final resting place, for all three of us, so that way, when the world was too much for me to handle, I could end my suffering and slip into the afterlife... though right now there are people that need help and I'm sure that Ratchet has a schedule that he needs to get back to."
"Then we had best be moving along," Celestia said, forming a bubble around the two of them before they headed back towards Ponyville, where Starlight would land and collect Chrysalis when she was ready, though there was one other thing that needed to be taken care of before the changeling left Equus behind, "There is, however, the manner of the power you unlocked during your travels and your inability to actually tame it. If you continue down the road you're following at the moment, where you aren't even attempting to tame the impressive power you unlocked, you'll eventually burn yourself out and potentially kill everyone around you."
"What are you getting at?" Chrysalis asked, because she had determined all of this already, which was why she had refused to use her power in the first place, especially when they could have used that power to decimate the enemies that were in their way.
"Would you like a rematch before you go?" Celestia inquired, though she said nothing more as she focused on getting them back to Ponyville, as she was sure that Chrysalis understood what she was referring to and what she was trying to convince her to do before she left Equus behind.
Chrysalis actually grinned for a moment, because Celestia, the Solar Princess herself, was asking her if she wanted to have another battle with her, sort of like what they had back during the wedding... and the more she thought about it, and the potential danger, the more she realized that it would get the worst of her feelings towards her true power out of her system, which made her wonder what it would be like to fight the actual Celestia in battle, and not the weakened version she fought during the wedding. One thing was for sure, she wasn't about to let this chance pass her by, not when it was likely the only time she would have to calm her true power down, and she was sure she knew exactly which answer Celestia was waiting for... and she'd be in for one epic battle once they got back to Ponyville.