“COUNSELOR STARLIGHT, WHAT ARE YOU …”
Silverstream’s exclamation cuts off as she and the others witness the morphing of their counselor into the former changeling queen. “Try again,” Chrysalis slyly replies, her focus remaining on the stunned griffin.
“WHERE COUNSELOR PONY???” Yona angrily demands.
“Stunned, but no more … I’m not here for her,” Chrysalis states as she takes steps towards Gallus. “And this won’t take long, anyway.”
Sandbar and Smolder rush to Gallus to help him up; he brusquely brushes the two off and gets on all fours, his eyes locked in on Chrysalis’s. “Sooner than I anticipated,” he states, “but no matter.”
“So it’s true,” Chrysalis responds. “You and those mindless oafs are back.”
“Just me, now,” Gallus replies.
“How convenient.” Chrysalis’s horn brightens and fires another pulse at Gallus, sending him careening back towards the wall. He quickly regains his footing and smirks.
“That all you got?” he smugly suggests.
“It’s enough for you,” Chrysalis responds in kind.
“Let’s find out.”
Gallus’s beak begins to pulsate as he closes his eyes and opens his mouth. Chrysalis’s eyes grow wide as a beam of energy shoots from his mouth, hitting her full-force and carrying her back towards a bookshelf, smashing the shelf as a smattering of books fly off in every direction. Dazed, she looks up at Gallus in surprise.
“That’s impossible!” she cries out.
“How soon you forget,” Gallus states as he edges closer to the fallen former queen. “ ‘Alicorn princess’ ring a bell?”
“But … you’re a griffin now,” she stammers as she gets back on her hooves.
“Only on the outside,” he replies with a grin. “This dump hardly qualifies as a ‘library’, but it does have an interesting book on griffin physiology. It truly is amazing what a little knowledge about one’s body can do.”
Chrysalis’s horn and Gallus’s beak light up, and energy beams shoot from both simultaneously, meeting each other in a flurry of sparks as the students look on in disbelief. The meeting point of the beams edges closer towards Chrysalis, whose eye twitches just as the beam meets her horn; the force sends her flailing across the room, crashing over tables and chairs. She lands in a heap, gasping for breath as Gallus slowly closes in. She concentrates on creating another energy burst; tiny sparks emanate from her flickering horn before it goes dark. She looks up, a tear forming in one eye, as Gallus stands over her.
“As you said … this ends now.”
Gallus’s beak again begins to pulsate. He closes his eyes in anticipation … and is abruptly pulled away as his concentration breaks. He opens his eyes to see Silverstream pulling him back. “What do you think you’re DOING?” he angrily demands.
“Gallus would never do this!” the hippogriff replies.
“I’m not Gallus!” he counters as he pushes Silverstream away.
Yona quickly takes her friend’s place. “This not right!” she asserts as she shoves the griffin further from Chrysalis.
“You’re both crazy! I’m HELPING you morons!” he states.
“Targeting defenseless creatures is wrong,” Sandbar states as he joins Yona.
“Defenseless???” Gallus shouts incredulously, shoving both Sandbar and Yona aside. “You’re talking about one of the most evil creatures in all Equestria. Chrysalis has NO redemption in her!”
“Every creature deserves another chance,” Ocellus states as she stands between Gallus and Chrysalis; the latter can only observe in stunned silence, too exhausted and lost for words to speak.
“Get out of my way!” Gallus demands.
“You’re going to harm her, you’ll have to harm me,” the young changeling states.
“You’ll have to harm all of us,” Smolder adds as she joins Ocellus. Quickly, the others join them.
Gallus shakes his head in disbelief. “You’re all serious. You’re ALL willing to sacrifice everything for someone that would NEVER do such for you!”
“It’s all part of what friendship is,” Sandbar states.
“SO BE IT!”
For the final time, Gallus’s beak pulsates. Chrysalis closes her eyes tightly, bracing for the inevitable while the students collectively stare down Gallus. He closes his eyes and opens his mouth, as a jetstream of purple haze rushes out of his body. His eyes flicker open as the haze envelops the students, swirling around the group before settling in mid-air. An image forms of Headmare Twilight; she watches as the griffin’s body slumps to the group, then turns to the group white-hot with rage, even as her form begins to dissipate.
“NOOO!!! YOU FOOLS!!! YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’VE DONE! SHE DOESN’T DESERVE YOUR PITY … I don’t want to …”
…
Chrysalis opens her eyes just in time to watch the image of her creation disappear to nothingness. Still weakened by the experience, she gingerly gets on her hooves and looks on as the students rush to Gallus’s body. “Why?” she asks plainly.
Moments later, the griffin begins to stir, the others helping him to stand back up. “How’re you feeling?” Sandbar asks.
“Weird,” the griffin admits as he takes in the surroundings. “Uh, when did we come to Griffinstone … and why is Queen Chrysalis here with us?”
“It’s a long story,” Sandbar states with a chuckle. Satisfied that Gallus is none the worse for wear, the others turn towards Chrysalis, still stunned at the recent events.
“Why?” she asks again. “Why did you … did all of you …”
The students look to each other, unsure how to responds. Ocellus turns back to her former queen. “We did what we felt we had to do … for our friend.”
Chrysalis opens her mouth, but catches herself at the sound of another rushing in from the street.
“So sorry I’m late,” Starlight begins as she catches her breath, before realizing her proximity to Chrysalis. She turns her attention back to her students. “Is everything OK?”
“I think so,” Smolder asserts.
“And Gallus?”
“I’ll be OK,” he replies, still unsure how to continue, “once someone’s able to answer a few questions about the last several … how long has it been since we left the Tree of Harmony?” As he finishes, he notices several features of his fellow classmates glowing, along with Starlight’s cutie mark and …
“Now what?” Chrysalis asks, her demeanor quickly deteriorating.
“It looks like …” Starlight pauses, still unsettled at seeing her assailant sporting glowing wings. “It looks like whatever you did here worked.”
“Wonderful,” Chrysalis deadpans. She turns towards the library’s entrance to leave.
“WAIT,” Starlight calls out. “You must have taken something away from all this, right?”
“What I take away, is that your precious ‘Tree of Harmony’ is little more than a manipulative shrub!”
“WHAT???”
“Using me as bait, to lure out that treacherous nag like flies to a spider … pathetic!”
“But what about how we all saved your …” Before Silverstream can finish, Chrysalis rushes out of the building, spreads her wings and flies off. The hippogriff follows her to the library’s entrance and observes the former queen’s image as it shrinks to nothingness amid the setting sun. “YOU’RE WELCOME!” she calls out futilely.
“Seriously,” Gallus says, “someone really needs to fill me in.”
“We can explain on the way home,” Sandbar reassures.
“No more teleporting! Yona still hate water.” Yona’s comment draws a chuckle from the group.
“We won’t get back before sundown,” Starlight mentions, “but I think I’d like to hear the long version of this story myself. Follow me, everycreature.”