Silence spread across the nightmare. The dreamers and Chrysalis were each thinking their private thoughts.
For Chrysalis, reviewing the memory had brought back the old painful feelings of loss and longing that she’d buried long ago.
Celestia and Luna were deep in remembrance of Rosedust and Flutter Valley, thanks to the memory / vision.
Thorax was looking at himself and thinking back to the beautiful forms of the past Flutterponies that he’d seen just then.
The Mane Six and Starlight felt very sorry for Chrysalis: what she’d been through in the past, what her children had been through … was nothing less than horrific.
Twilight and Starlight both knew what it was like to lose something that they considered a place of familiarity and refuge: a home (Twilight lost the Golden Oak Library, Starlight lost her home in Our Town). The purple alicorn was also aghast at the loss of the Flutterponies’ magic, remembering back to when Tirek had sucked her inner magic out of her. It was a horrible experience, she thought, and shuddered.
“What happened next?” asked Applejack curiously. “I mean, we now know what happened to you and your children, and why y’all left Flutter Valley … but after that? How did you end up living in the Badlands?” Chrysalis sighed and closed her eyes again.
“Since I’ve started going down memory lane, might as well tell you all of it”, she said. The group’s surroundings faded to pale mist. The ‘wustering’ sound of the winds died down to total silence. Chrysalis cleared her throat and then started speaking.
As they listened to her, the mist formed into a series of images that were obviously more of the dark changeling’s memories.
“Once everypony had stopped cheering, I started to sort everyone into groups, and urged them to get ready for the journey.”
Ponies were hurrying this way and that, searching among the wreckage for things that they could take with them. Food that was unspoilt was packed into makeshift bags, unbroken bottles filled with stream water, and hardly-torn cloaks salvaged for use in cold nights.
Rosedust, who was overseeing the packing, tried to stop her little ponies from taking things that they couldn’t carry, but allowed them to take some of their mostly intact personal possessions. The Queen heard a sniffling, and looked down to see Blue Joke, still clutching the remains of her toy butterfly, looking miserable.
“There, there, Blue Joke”, Rosedust said soothingly. “It’ll be all right in the end. Look, I can fix that for you, see?” The Flutterpony Queen’s horn glowed, and the blue filly stared in delight as the rips and tears on her butterfly came together and then disappeared.
“Butterfly! Oh, thank you so much!” Blue Joke hugged one of Rosedust’s legs before running off to join the other colts and fillies, gambolling around and getting in everypony’s way.
Aww … thought Pinkie Pie, who’d taken a liking to Blue Joke. She loved foals, colts and fillies, and this Flutterpony filly was no exception. Chrysalis continued …
“When we were all ready, I enchanted our wings so that they’d work properly … well, work in some degree.”
Queen Rosedust’s eyes and horn both glowed bright white, sparkling streams of blue-green light sprang from her horn and touched the wings of every Flutterpony. The wings brightened in colour, not at full power but still magical. The Flutterponies cheered in unison, fluttering up into the air, one by one.
“So, we set off towards Equestria.”
Rosedust led the Flutterponies from their ruined valley, flying in a large group: the fillies, colts and foals riding on the adults’ backs.
“The journey took a few days and was very hard on all of us. We lacked most of our magic, you see, so we couldn’t fly at full speed.” The blue pegasus perked up. This sounded interesting.
“How fast exactly can you go?” Rainbow Dash asked curiously. The dark changeling suddenly looked smug. This will be good.
“Very fast … maybe fast enough to outfly you”, she said. Rainbow’s jaw dropped at the suggestion.
“What! No! I’m awesomeness itself”, the pegasus said, to the laughter of everyone there. “I can do a Sonic Rainboom. Can you?” The Element of Loyalty whooped in pride, which made everyone else laugh harder. Even Chrysalis.
The former queen found it hard to remember the last time she’d laughed in good humour. Not recently … not for centuries, I think … Twilight coughed pointedly to get Chrysalis’s attention.
“What happened next?” the purple pony said. The female changeling sighed and then resumed the narrative.
“We had to take frequent breaks because flying for long periods tired us out, especially the ponies carrying little ones. On the first day, we stopped after half an hour’s travel from Flutter Valley.”
The Flutterponies descended to the ground, looking tired and hungry. Rosedust helped to hoof out food and drink while she looked around. The sun was shining down, for it was noon: there was no shade, except for a cave in the cliff right next to them.
“Everypony, we can shelter in this cave from the sun, until we’ve rested enough to continue”, she said. The other ponies nodded and walked into the cave (after Rosedust had checked it to make sure it was safe), their Queen entering last of all.
As she turned around to go in, the watchers saw behind her … in the distance, two ponies with wings and horns were flying towards the ruined Flutter Valley: one white and one blue. Just as they passed from sight, Rosedust turned her head around suddenly; looking around suspiciously. The Flutterpony ruler then shook her head and walked into the cave.
All of the images disappeared into the mist as the royal sisters and Chrysalis seemed to be suddenly frozen in shock. Everyone else stared at them.
“This just keeps getting more and more complicated”, muttered Spike. The purple alicorn nodded at the dragon.
“Yes Spike, it is.” She then addressed Celestia, Luna and Chrysalis.
“You just missed seeing each other, I guess. A big shame … if you hadn’t turned around at that moment, Chrysalis: you would have seen your old friends.” The addressed changeling looked sad with the realization. Starlight frowned.
“Hang on, why didn’t Princess Celestia and Princess Luna see Rosedust?” she questioned.
The sisters looked at each other. Celestia spoke.
“I’m afraid that both of us must have been too engrossed in thoughts of the coming party.” Luna nodded, and joined in.
“We’re sorry, Chrysalis”, the blue alicorn said. Chrysalis acknowledged the apologies with a single nod of her head.
The dark changeling smiled a little but remained sad.
“That wasn’t the worst thing”, she said ominously. “As we journeyed towards Equestria, we discovered that the loss of most of our magic had affected more than our moods.” The mist cleared once again.
The Flutterponies were rather stressed. Their bodies were rapidly going through a horrible metamorphosis: becoming darker, harder, and more insect-like. Many of them had freaked out, amid a growing panic, kept in check by Rosedust who promised that her friends would help them. Rosedust herself had not been spared metamorphosis, but was somehow lucky: retaining more pony features than her fellow Flutterponies.
“Luckily, it wasn’t long before we reached Equestria.”
The changed Flutterponies had just arrived at the border. They were staring and goggling across at the clear blue sky, emerald green grass, and peaceful perfection of Equestria. The Flutterpony Queen let out a sigh of relief.
“We’re here at last. This is Equestria.”
A rousing cheer greeted her words. Everypony was relieved: foals began to gambol around, colts and fillies played hide and seek in the trees and bushes, adults watched over the younger ones and unpacked the bags.