//------------------------------//
// Sufficiently Advanced Magic 
// Story: Piece of Parchment 
// by Metemponychosis 
//------------------------------//

Twilight sat at her chair, facing Chrysalis from the other side of the desk. The door had been locked and a creepy yellow changeling walked around behind her. He had one of those weird mustaches the changelings had, but his was longer, thinner, and his eyes were too small, with a smile that was too big. He was simply creepy, and Twilight hoped to whatever gods might be listening she wasn’t left alone with him.

But, then again, she didn’t want to be left alone with the queen either, so she supposed she was just done for. At least, she had managed to regain her mental composure. Mostly.

The room was dark but had enough light from the crystals on the walls that Twilight could see who she was with, and it also had the tray with those revulsive things Chrysalis had been eating when she arrived. They were gone now, and whatever cheese had remained in the tray was dry and even less appetizing than before.

The changelings and the pony have been there for some time, and that was an interrogation technique Twilight was well aware of. They wanted to wear her down with repeated questions, incorrect assumptions, and perhaps catch her in a lie, as soon she stated that their original intention was seeing their historical records of the Age of the Two Royal Sisters.

It came to a point Twilight felt like she had spent the whole night in this game… She felt tired and frustrated. Most of all, she felt angry at the changeling that wouldn’t stop pacing around.

“So, you say that Princess Cadance sent you to look for the Queen?” He now moved around the desk, behind the queen. She knew what he was doing… He was trying to catch her in a lie, but Twilight was fine with it. She told them no lies. She completely and repentantly told them the whole truth. Including that she knew that she shouldn’t have entered that place. She didn’t apologize, though… It wasn’t the time for that. Now was the time for a dry and brutally honest conversation. Still… She kept to herself her reservations about the changeling castes or the queen’s position.

Of course, there was something that was freaking her out of her mind. The Changeling Queen herself. She simply remained there, staring at Twilight, listening to her talk to the creepy changeling. As if she was judging Twilight. Though, she probably was judging Twilight… She had a creepy and weird aura about her… Maybe it was the images that kept forcing themselves into Twilight’s mind’s eye. She could even see the places in the joints of her black carapace where those… Tubes stuck to her and her belly was a bit soft.

Twilight felt like screaming, and her skin crawled while she tried to force these things out of her head and remain calm and collected.

“No.” She replied as calmly as she could, but she was getting tired and his pacing was making her even more nervous. “Princess Cadance told me about the document and showed it to me. It prompted both of us to look for access to the archive, so that we could verify the information in it.”

“Are you seriously telling us that you came from Ponville just to look at climate records, pony? For pointless historical records of the griffons, of all creatures? That is the sort of thing you send your subjects to do!” The creepy changeling almost yelled at her. “I think you may have fabricated this letter simply to be given entrance to the hive for an innocent reason and then snoop around! Like in the Queen’s Spawning Pool!”

“I did not! I swear!” His raised voice scared Twilight. He had been creepy, but eerily calm the whole time. “I just wanted to see the climate records to confirm that the letter is legitimate! I wanted to make sure the whole thing was, at least, grounded in reality!”

“Twilight Sparkle…” The queen finally said in her creepy voice. It startled the pony even more than the other changeling’s yelling, making her tremble a little, fixating the pony’s attention on her. “Would Princess Celestia try to sabotage the reproduction process of the Swarm?”

Something about the queen seemed off.

“I am certain I have never seen Princess Celestia resorting to sabotage in any situation before.” Of course, the changelings had to have set-up the room with all sorts of lie-detection spells… She couldn’t feel them because of the stupid ring in her horn, but Twilight wouldn’t risk saying something she couldn’t be sure of. She might trigger a few of the many spells she knew they might be using. And, somehow knowing that made her all the more nervous. “Why would the princess do that, though?”

“We ask the questions here, pony.” The creepy changeling said, back to his calm demeanor, and walking one side to the other; but Twilight noticed something odd. Chrysalis seemed spent, tired. She thought back to what she saw in the Spawning Pool, and no wonder she must feel tired. The pony couldn’t help thinking of Cadance when Flurry Heart was born… She felt a very hurtful pang in her chest… She had intruded into a mother’s… Privacy? Sanctity? She had equated Chrysalis’ job of generating eggs to Celestia’s duty of raising the Sun. Did the Princess feel like that? Like it was a personal thing that ponies constantly intruded on? Worse than anxiety, Twilight realized what loomed over her head was shame, like a black cloak of darkness smearing her thoughts.

And, for an instant, she thought that she may have ruined everything Princess Celestia had achieved with the Changeling Queen.

“Why didn’t you talk to King Thorax, princess?” The creepy changeling asked, moving back to the other side, behind Twilight.

“Because he ran past us!” She said, looking at him, from the side of her eyes. “We heard the doctor-changeling yelling at him and he ran outside and past us. Then he was gone. The soldier, Xipho, said we could go inside and talk to the doctor changeling.” As she spoke, she paid attention to the changeling queen… Was she breathing too fast? Twilight knew of her underhanded ways… When she asked her question, it seemed like something too direct for what Twilight would expect. Was she unwell?

Chrysalis’ head swayed from one side to the other, subtly waving her mane around. Her eyes half-closed and Twilight feared she would faint. Even worse, this might be her fault. It was her fault. Her heart skipped a beat and she felt that cold stone in her stomach again. Her ears fell flat and her throat was dry… Twilight would never want to hurt somepony. Especially the Changeling Queen, after all the doctor told her of how changelings work and after she and Celestia had signed the Heartmend Treaty. Maybe she was still a little worked up from her walk in the corridor, but her eyes even watered a bit.

“Your majesty… You don’t look well. I… I’m sorry. I didn’t want to disturb you… I was curious and did something I shouldn’t have. I came here just to have a look at historical records for the griffons and the temperature changes… Forgive me? Please? Pretty please?” She said with her hooves together, pleadingly. She almost considered surrendering her thoughts about the queen’s position.

“Very well, then. I believe you.” Chrysalis immediately looked perfectly fine. “I thought I was going to stop having headaches when seeing you and your friends after that treaty. I don’t like any of this, but at least I may not have to start a war, all over again, because of your stupidity.”

Twilight needed a couple of seconds to understand what had just happened, as she stared at nothing in particular, feeling somewhat confused. Somewhat used. But she supposed it was fair enough. Not only that, but despite what she said, Twilight had gotten the feeling that the queen wasn’t entirely honest with her… She said that she believed her, but Twilight wasn’t convinced that she did, so she kept her guard up.

“Myrmyrex, get Thorax, release her friends and escort them into the vaults. I’ll be in my office, if you need something.” The queen said as she got up and walked around the desk. Twilight followed her with her eyes and she looked as strong as she’d ever been. In fact, she looked ready to win a fight with a bull.

“Are you sure, my queen? The vaults?” The changeling looked at her as she walked past him.

“Don’t question me, Myrmyrex… Do as I say.” She replied uninterested in anything he could have to say now that she had given him an order. And then, she was gone.

But something about the way they spoke tipped Twilight off that they were using codes, or something like that. Or maybe she was just tired and seeing things where there were none. She’d rather be careful, just in case.

“Well, then…” The creepy changeling said as Twilight left her chair. “Thank you for your cooperation, Princess. As the Queen wishes, I’ll take you to the archives. Though I suppose we should release your friends first?”

“That would be preferable. Thank you.” She said and he gestured towards the door, following her out.

Twilight didn’t resent the queen for playing with her feelings any more than she resented Chrysalis for leaving her with this creep that insisted on walking behind her. In a way, she deserved it. The playing with her feelings, not the creepy changeling. Still, things are moving forward. For real, this time.

The corridor looked much less scary and dark this time. She had to wonder if it was because her mind felt lighter or if it was because the changelings actually changed the illumination. In a certain way, everything felt like a mind game ever since she awoke in her cell with Cadance. She didn’t see it at the time, but why was the changeling doctor explaining anything at all to her? Was she really sad that she had yelled at Twilight and the others? Or did Chrysalis put her to it?

Everything in this place seemed like a half-truth!

Twilight’s walk came to a halt… Why did Princess Celestia sign a treaty with the changelings that only the changelings benefited from? Maybe Cadance was right, after all, at the ship, Twilight didn’t know Chrysalis still had any sort of power. Sure, Twilight thought that the Swarm was annexed into Celestia’s rule, but she still wasn’t sure what they had gained from the whole thing. The changeling mentioned that Cadance’s magic reinvigorated them. She mentioned that they still die a lot and will need a lot of love, like what they’re getting through the inclusion programs in the deal, including her own school. Was this pure… Generosity?

The purple alicorn frowned a bit. The common pony might think so, but Twilight knew Celestia. She was kind and generous… But she wasn’t stupid, and she certainly wouldn’t come out of anything losing, or let Equestria come out of it losing. Besides the typical ‘you gain more by being generous than by being selfish’, she was sure there was more to the deal than what was apparent. Something was going on, behind the curtains, and it was worrying Twilight. Ever since she embarked in this whole adventure, she felt like she was poking at secrets.

“Something wrong, princess?” Myrmyrex asked, next to her and she smiled as pleasantly as she could.

“No. Everything is fine. I was thinking.” She said and resumed walking, followed by the changeling.

“Good. Thinking is very advisable, princess.” He said in a neutral to friendly tone, it was the way he seemed to always communicate in, but this particular time, it felt especially creepy. Twilight must’ve been imagining things. Her whole conversation with the two of them must’ve left her edgy.

Without delay, they’ve arrived at her friends’ cell and, while they were released and celebrated, another changeling brought Cadance. Finally, the two princesses had their hornrings removed and the whole group was reunited with Pharynx, Spike, Shining Armor and Starlight Glimmer on a corridor along the way. Finally, Thorax brought to Cadance the briefcase.

Twilight was now happy, as were the others, because this time things really seemed to be flowing nicely. But, one thing had drawn her attention: they were going down, and she could clearly remember Xipho saying that down was the way to Chrysalis’ laboratory. After what she had experienced in her period within the hive, she wasn’t sure she should be excited or worried about it. Perhaps it would be better if she ignored it altogether. She could try…

“I’m terribly sorry for everything, Twilight.” Thorax said. “I was kinda worried about Chrissy. This whole thing is complicated.”

“Aw, did you just call her Chrissy?” Cadance giggled. “How cute.”

“It’s okay, Thorax.” Twilight chuckled. “It was all my fault.”

“I’m glad not much damage was made.” Fluttershy chirped walking behind them and Applejack chuckled too.

“Well, I’m just glad Twilight didn’t restart a war on account of her curriosity.” She said in her typical accent and caused the others to giggle, except Twilight, who let out a sarcastic ‘ha ha’.

They took some time, going down the happy and colorful halls of the Changeling Rock, ever swarming with the happy and energetic colorful changelings. Twilight felt a small pang of sorrow knowing that they weren’t, necessarily healthy changelings, but a caste of changelings… Then, another question dawned in her mind: how did the queen control which caste each changeling would be born into? Was it like cutie marks? Except nopony can control their cutie mark. Maybe the queen knew some magic that sorted them into these castes as needed? The changeling doctor mentioned that the queen secreted some sort of substance that informed the changelings which caste they should be born into. How did that work? Like a potion? Was it under Chrysalis’ control? It must’ve been, since all the changelings were black before.

Well she mentioned too that ‘the magic that makes ponies work doesn’t do very well with the changelings. Maybe it’s not magic, but something else entirely. It must be some amazing power that the Queen has… Almost as if the Princess could give ponies their cutie marks.

Actually… It was a little scary.

Twilight was jerked out of her thoughts when the group reached a dead end. A section of the corridor had collapsed and there was no way they could proceed through the black rubble. It even had sharp edges from the crystalline rock that made the changeling home. It occurred to Twilight that everything in this place was more dangerous than it seemed.

“Hum…” Thorax said, nervously looking to one side and another.

“How unfortunate.” Myrmyrex said and Twilight was ready to hear him lament that they, unfortunately couldn’t reach the archives and thus, see the records they had asked. Chrysalis was feigning good-will and now things made perfect sense in Twilight’s head.

“What now?” Rainbow Dash asked, with her wings raised and looking frustrated.

“It seems we must take another route.” The creepy changeling surprised Twilight. “There is another way. Through the Queen’s laboratory.”

“Uh…” Thorax looked at Myrmyrex. “That’s a bad idea. Chrysalis is gonna flip if she hears of this.”

Twilight’s heart surged. And next to her, Cadance giggled awkwardly, poking her with a hoof. “We promise we won’t touch anything this time.”

Myrmyrex looked at Cadance and then at Thorax. “Well, the ponies should behave and the queen did order me to take them to the archives.”

***




The walk to what Myrmyrex said was Chrysalis’ laboratory was a short one and devoid of anything special. It was in an inconspicuous corridor, that wasn’t very used, as it lacked all the festive decorations the changelings had been spreading all over the rock. Likely, the military changelings would keep them away.

She still hadn’t gotten used to the idea, but it wasn’t for her to judge. She couldn’t deny that the changelings are happier now than they were before. She had to remind herself that Chrysalis wasn’t necessarily evil and that Thorax would likely keep her in check. The things she had done were because she felt it was how her changelings would have a better chance to survive. She couldn’t forget either that Chrysalis had sought a peaceful end to their cold war.

Or, on the other hoof, that she might very well have murdered her own family.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Rarity spoke to her, right next to her left side. “Darling. You are very quiet. Are you still blaming yourself for what happened?”

“It was my fault, Rarity.” Her ears fell a little. “It’s just that…”

“Don’t punish yourself too much.” Rarity said sympathetically. “You have a tendency of doing that and nothing too bad happened. The doctor talked to us.”

“I’m sorry, Rarity. I think I’m keeping a lot of things in my head… I’ll tell you guys after we’re done here.” She motioned to the changeling in front of the group with her head. “I don’t want to talk too much here.”

Rarity emitted a small and low hum, feeling her own investigative vein stroked. She remained stoic, though, leaving Twilight to her own thoughts. She hadn’t seen anything particularly strange. But, then again, Twilight had been doing a lot more snooping around than she had.

Eventually, they arrived at the entrance to the highly anticipated Queen’s Laboratory. It was a simple door. Not even a guard standing around and that picked Twilight’s common sense. It would dictate that Chrysalis would put at least one guard by the entrance.

That notwithstanding, Myrmyrex opened the door and Twilight was taken by a foreboding sense of something being out of place. It was simply too much of a coincidence that the direct path to the archives happened to be blocked and, because of that, they had to go through the laboratory. Was it just a coincidence that Xipho had mentioned the laboratory while escorting them earlier? She wasn’t sure of anything anymore.

Still, she followed the changelings with the group and, passing the door, they saw themselves in a sort of anteroom with four different open doors, but, most importantly, it had guards. That, somewhat, put Twilight’s mind at ease. At least, things didn’t look so weird anymore. Additionally, those weren’t the ‘Xipho-style’ guards, but they were the far scarier ‘tall-double-sword’ kind of guards. Not only that, but they behaved in a way Twilight would expect guards to act: they looked at the newcomers with less than friendly faces, and then they stared at Myrmyrex and Thorax quite angrily.

“They can’t enter. This belongs to the Queen and the Queen alone.” One of the three said, which made Twilight think it was the commander, or something. “What is going on?”

It sounded female. Twilight was mildly surprised and their guide stopped in front of them, drawing their attention to him. “I’m terribly sorry to disturb your work ma’am, but the direct way to the Archives has been blocked.”

Thorax just let Myrmyrex talk.

“Blocked?” The ‘commander’ didn’t seem particularly convinced or happy.

“Yes. Blocked. A cave-in.” Myrmyrex explained with a hoof gesture, as though he was talking to a child.

For an instant, Twilight thought that they would simply turn them away, but the female in charge turned to one of her subordinates. “Bollocks. Check it.”

“Ma’am!” One of them said before he secured his sword to his side, point-first, and briskly trotted off the door they had just came in.

Then silence took in. Twilight didn’t feel like small talk, and apparently neither did all the ponies and changelings around her. She examined the tall changelings curiously, however. They seemed professional, even if their weapons looked strange to Twilight. In her mind, spears would be better suited weapons for the kind of environment they had to protect. She wished she could, or felt like, asking Shining Armor. He would know.

But Shinning Armor looked tense, next to Cadance and Flurry Heart. And if he was nervous, then Twilight realized that she was becoming extra nervous again. But that didn’t keep Pinkie from walking up to ‘the commander’.

“Hi!” She said and was promptly ignored by the tall female changeling. Then she insisted. “Hiya! Hello! Greetings! Oi! Hola! Hej! Salut!”

The changeling closed her eyes and sighed in defeat. “Hi…”

“Do you like cupcakes?” Pinkie asked excitedly.

“No. I do not like cupcakes, ma’am.” The changeling seemed intent at not looking at the pony.

“What about…” Pinkie started, but the changeling quickly cut her off.

“I do not enjoy any kind of sweet confections whatsoever. Ma’am.” The commander seemed to be trying very hard not to be explicitly offensive, and that earned her a couple of points with Twilight.

But Pinkie didn’t relent. “Oh! What about sour ones? Or bittersweet ones? How about…”

“Ma’am, please do not disturb the queen’s guard.” She said in an almost robotic voice that made Twilight picture the chirper changelings relentlessly trying to be friendly all the time.

“Oh, okay.” Pinkie deflated as she returned to their midst, to be comforted by Fluttershy.

Fortunately, it didn’t take long before the changeling returned. “The way is blocked, ma’am.”

The commander became angry now. “How did a bloody cave-in just happen? I heard nothing of it!”

“I have no idea, ma’am’. All I know is that the corridor has collapsed.” While the two discussed, Myrmyrex stared at the commander, expecting her to acknowledge his presence, which she seemed intent on ignoring.

Finally, Thorax cleared his throat, not looking very friendly right now. “I believe I should have the authority to tell you to stop harassing these ponies and let us go to the archives, commander.”

“Fine! In you go, ponies. Don’t touch anything and go straight through.” She said, exasperated. “If the Queen kills me, I’ll find you and haunt you.”

Satisfied, Thorax nodded and Myrmyrex turned to Twilight and friends. “After me, please.”

The ponies obeyed and quickly followed while Rainbow Dash talked to Pinkie in a hushed voice. “Gee. Talk about hostile work environment…”

Looking irritated, Pinkie agreed silently and mater of factly, while Applejack did Twilight the favor of shushing them. Shining took the lead of the group, leaving Cadance and Flurry Heart with Twilight near the middle of the group and Rarity brought up the rear, cautiously looking at everything. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash remained slightly in front of Twilight and the others and going after Myrmyrex and Thorax through the left most door, they were in a strange place.

The walls retained the glass-like smoothness and clinically clean appearance that Twilight saw before she entered the Spawning Pool. But it was larger, and instead of an angry changeling doctor, and magical images, this room had four large, green, resin-like structures which reminded Twilight of cocoons with a transparent side so that one could see what was inside. They were empty, left resting on their side, on the ground. They also seemed like they have been opened from the outside at some time and, at present time, they seemed to be slowly disintegrating with a strong smell, like chlorine.

Not only that, but a few shelves had a few strange instruments. They seemed magical in nature, made of noble metals like tin, gold and with diamonds and emeralds. Twilight and Cadance knew, the sort of gems and metals that would work well with magic. They had no idea what they did, though: whatever magic animated them before was gone. Likely because they were unpowered. They both recognized the arcane technology as pony in origin, so they either stole it… Or Chrysalis got them from Celestia.

The pods were another thing of interest. They, each, looked large enough to contain a big male pony, but the princesses had no clue as to what they were used for and thought it best not to ask. Their attention wasn’t the only one drawn to the things, though. The other ponies looked at them too, and Twilight internally thanked them for not asking questions. Rarity though, looked particularly interested in them.

Not stopping, Myrmyrex quickly took them to the next room, which had two doors. One on the side and another on the far end. Additionally, the room had what looked like a stone table that rose from the floor next to a pulpit and a small wood table with a tray. On a passing glance, Twilight saw nothing special about the room and simply followed Myrmyrex until he stopped at the door in the far end of the room. It had what Twilight quickly identified as a magical force field and it completely closed the door.

“Well… It’s locked…” Myrmyrex said in a fake disappointed tone.

“Don’t worry, I can open it.” Thorax said, more to the other changeling than to the ponies and immediately went to work on it.

Twilight deliberately paid no attention to what he was doing, not willing to be misinterpreted, while ponies made themselves more comfortable, looking at each other, spreading around a bit, rather than remaining in the tight pack they were. Shining Armor looked at Cadance and at their baby and Rainbow Dash talked silently to the others. Twilight didn’t hear what she said as her attention had directed itself at the stone table and pulpit.

The pulpit held nothing, as did the stone table, but the tray in the other table held metal surgical instruments. They were clean, Twilight believed. This must be a dissection room. 
Cadance approached her and spoke in a low tone, confirming Twilight’s thoughts. “This looks like a dissection room.”

Twilight simply kept a critical eye over the place. “The poor things. I hope she at least dealt humanely with them.”

Chrysalis could very well be dissecting creatures here and studying their anatomy. Maybe it was important to the changelings… They both had no idea, but if ponies would do the same, she couldn’t think of any reason the changelings wouldn’t.

“Twilight!” Rarity called Twilight, in her most hushed voice, and gestured with a hoof for her to come near the other door, where Rarity was.

She didn’t think much of it and went to her friend, while Cadance returned to Shining Armor, and as soon as she came close, she could smell decomposition, despite immediately feeling and identifying a dampening spell in the area. Rarity had a white, embroidered, handkerchief to her muzzle as she pointed inside with a nod.

At first Twilight didn’t understand what she saw, then she realized that there were the bodies of three creatures inside, like they’ve been carefully deposited there. They were covered in white cloths that were stained in caked blood and other bodily fluids which also pooled around them. That wasn’t a good practice… If Chrysalis was dissecting creatures, she ought to be preserving their carcasses and anatomical pieces in ether or glycerin, instead of dumping what looked like whole bodies in another room. They looked big, too. Odd.

Even more odd that the room was illuminated. Maybe it was some quirk of their goo-filled crystals that their light couldn’t be extinguished… But it still felt strange to Twilight that the poor things were unceremoniously dumped in the next room, but still covered in sheets, while clearly illuminated, right next to the room where they would need to stop and open the force-field.

It felt… Contrived. Rarity looked at Twilight as she looked at the blood-stained sheets. Chrysalis was taunting her to look at them. But for what purpose? Twilight was confused. Was this some sort of test? Did Chrysalis really suspect her of being sent to disrupt the Spawning Pool and was offering something that Twilight might not resist investigating if she was working under Celestia’s orders? She did ask if Twilight had been sent as a saboteur, after all.

It would be the easiest thing in the world for her to reach with her magic and lift one of those sheets. Would she find a deer? Or some other animal? Perhaps dead changelings? Dead ponies. Some sort of golems? Like, prototypes for these larger changelings? Anything seemed possible. Still, she consciously decided not to disturb whatever those were.

“What do you figure they are?” Rarity whispered.

“I don’t know what is going on here, Rarity.” She replied, equally in a whisper. “But don’t disturb them… Chrysalis is baiting us, for some reason. The sooner we get out of here, the better. This whole thing took an unnecessary detour because of me and I don’t want to make things worse. Or stumble into something I’d rather not know.”

It sounded ironic, but Twilight felt like she didn’t want to endanger the treaty. Even if Chrysalis might be doing something wrong.

Rarity simply agreed silently with a nod and kept a low voice. “Did you notice those pods in the other room? They were the same ones the changelings used to keep us that time Starlight and the other saved us.”

Twilight hummed… Yes… That was where she had seen them. But still preferred not to make a scene, and both of them distanced themselves from the door, returning to the midst of the group. It didn’t take long for Thorax to finish magically fiddling with the obstacle and, as he finished, they followed him into a corridor, with another door, this time a simple wooden door which opened to a large room with nooks on the walls where rolled scrolls were stored, as well as large bookcases toward the deeper parts of the room. A large and long hall filled with books and scrolls.

“This it?” Rainbow asked, looking up the tall walls filled with scrolls.

“Yes.” Thorax said, looking around. “Where is the librarian?”

A shadow moved between the ponies and the girls let out a collective shriek while a dark green and black changeling walked from their midst. “What do you need? I can find anything in the Archives!”

Not a particularly big changeling, she was somewhat petit and had big eyes behind giant round glasses which made her purple eyes seem even bigger as she stared intently at the king, who raised an insecure hoof. “Uh… Twilight?”

The princess cleared her throat. “Do you happen to have information about the Holy Griffon Empire, or Emperor Gregor?”

“Who?” The changeling looked weirdly at her.

Twilight sighed. “Nevermind… What about climate records for the Age of The Two Royal Sisters.”

“Oh! Those we have that at the hoof!” The small changeling chimed happily and surprised the ponies by running up the shelves with the scrolls like she was an actual bug.

After some more careful looking around, she grabbed one of the scrolls and brought it down, holding it with one of her legs, and then the changeling carefully deposited it over a table. Twilight took a second to fully comprehend what she was looking at: it was not the actual scroll, but it’s casing. It was a thin and black, metallic casing, adorned with the symbol of the Swarm, Chrysalis’ jagged horn and a pair of changeling wings, spread over the length of the cylinder, and on its ends, black metal rods that stuck out. In its length, it was bigger than a pony, and in its girth, it was as large as her leg.

Under her curious gaze, Twilight could identify many spells at work, including the typical ones that old artifacts usually had, to ensure they would last, but it did draw her curiosity that this one carried ancient magic. That isn’t particularly interesting because most ancient artifacts that were made to last would be protected by magic as old as they were. What drew Twilight’s attention was that she recognized that magic as Chrysalis’ magic. If that thing was that old… Was she alive at the time? Maybe she just renovated its magic as time passed and she inherited it from her mother?

“Whoooa… That thing is huuuge.” Pinkie said next to her while Twilight was still collecting her wits.

“So… The technology of breaking up scrolls into different pieces hasn’t arrived to the changelings yet?” Rainbow said, looking at the thing.

Twilight grunted in annoyance, and Cadance explained patiently. “It’s not big because they can’t cut it, Rainbow. It’s like this because it’s special. They made something grandiose because it was important.”

Flurry Heart, on her back, was already getting bored and the big thing didn’t interest in the least.

“That is quite right!” The changeling librarian agreed enthusiastically. “Queen Chrysalis personally created this one and the following ones. My antecessor said that she heard from her antecessor and theirs that she would make one for each age and only certain changelings would know the spell to unlock them. But as time went on, the wards waned and now, even though they are preserved, they can be read as any normal scroll.”

Twilight beheld the thing with a sense of reverence. So, she did create it. That thing could be as old as what passes for present Equestria. Then she looked at the librarian again, letting the other obvious question slip from her mind. “May we see it?”

Cadance almost giggled at Twilight’s respect for the thing. Even if she did have some reverence too, for the meaning of that scroll. So she let Twilight with her new toy.

And Flurry wished she had her toys.

“Of course!” Changeling librarian answered happily. “Just be careful! Though I don’t think I’d have to tell you that.”

Twilight held the big scroll in her magic and its own magic flooded her senses. Its protective spell was ancient and powerful. Much more than needed to protect it from the ravages of time. It probably was a remnant of whatever magic was used to keep it sealed from the wrong eyes, and whatever effect it was supposed to have was gone, but it did fill Twilight with a strange sense of how old the events in that thing were. And the letter Cadance had found put its meaning in a very interesting context.

She did open the scroll, though, pulling lightly at its protective rod at the edge of the parchment. It rolled inside and the strip of parchment came out smoothly. Like the letter, it didn’t seem like the vegetal parchment ponies typically used, but it also didn’t seem like the typical animal skin the letter seemed to be made from. Maybe it was for the best that Twilight didn’t know what that thing was made of.

More important, the scroll did have the information she wanted. It was a well-organized table, ordered by the date as defined by the Changeling calendar, and it contained information about the time of sunrise and sunset, the mean temperature of the day, along with highest and lowest.

It was exactly what Twilight needed, and she had a satisfied grin, staring down at the thing next to her sister-in-law.

“Well, I’ll leave you to it, then. I’m sure my queen needs me.” The creepy changeling, Myrmyrex said, and left without waiting for anything.

***


It was a monumental effort, though one Twilight and Cadance were well capable of. Translation required a conversion of the old changeling dating system to the modern equestrian one. Not surprisingly, the changelings had a different calendar, and adopted a new one when Chrysalis took charge of the swarm, which lent more credence to the legend of Mother Farfalla, but also meant Chrysalis could indeed be as old as Equestria itself.

Twilight wasn’t sure how to feel about it, and her brain was more preoccupied with more immediate things, such as correctly converting dates, translating months and converting temperature measurements to the current system, which, curiously, was already used by the gryphons of Gregor’s time. It probably was because Equestria already used their present system at the time and it was the changelings that had a different one. Comprehensible, since the changelings had a very specific need and would prefer to keep their information secure if it was found by the wrong creatures at the time.

Still, it would be much harder to find the specific records they needed if the changelings hadn’t been as thorough as they were. Twilight immediately found them as soon as her eyes met them. It was subtle in the beginning, but there was a pattern, like the one described in the letter.

“Oh my gosh!” She said with huge eyes. Suddenly all her tiredness was gone. “This is it!”

Immediately, all the other bored ponies and changelings in the room went to her as she pointed at it with her reading stick. “It’s right here! It started precisely one hundred years before our recorded arrival of Princesses Celestia and Luna! The precise times for sunrise and set began varying wildly, sometimes with hours of difference from the typical times, and the mean temperature got as high as one hundred and ten in areas it should be around sixty. There are even side notes of discrepant stellar positions, vanishing stars and the angular size of the sun increasing!”

“This is insane!” Cadance gawked at the same records while the others huddled around to see. “Ponies must have been dying of exposure.”

“This sounds scary…” Pinkie said next to Twilight, frowning down at the parchment. Not that she could decipher what it said, but she believed Twlight.

“Twilight…” Fluttershy’s voice made her look up. “What could cause this sort of thing?”

“Princess Celestia and Princess Luna can deal with the sun and the stars trivially, but before them… It’s possible that the unicorns were becoming weaker and weaker as the effort drained their magic and soon, they began losing their ability. Or… Maybe, it became harder as time passed.” That was what she was taught, after all, and believed without a second thought for most of her life.

“This doesn’t make a lick of sense.” They all looked at Applejack’s frowning stare and she stared back at them. At Twilight, precisely. “I had never thought about it, but… For how long had the unicorns been moving the sun and the moon? I mean… Suppose it drained their magic, sure, but for how long does a unicorn live? Two hundred years? For how long the world has existed? All that time, they’re all high and mighty, doing their thing, and suddenly, in just one hundred years, things get wacked.”

The ponies stared at each other for a few seconds. Applejack was right. It didn’t make any sense. Ponies like Twilight and Cadance certainly thought of it before, but seeing these records, it’s like staring straight at a liar that can’t keep up.

“With the right magic, one could live for as long as they held their enchantments.” Twilight frowned, a little unsure of her next words. “Princess Celestia has been alive for thousands of years...”

Twilight should know if Princess Celestia used such spells. To be sure, she did light up like a Hearthwarming tree when Twilight peeked at the magic around the Princess and she had so many layers of protective spells on her all the time that simply trying to figure them out would give Twilight a headache… But she should have mentioned such things, especially since her mentor had taught her a lot of such spells and that sort of spell were, not exactly banned, but frowned upon.

“Could a pony live forever? With these spells?” Rarity looked at the two princesses with curiosity.

“No…” Cadance answered a little distracted while Twilight was busy thinking. “There comes a point when the soul would lose all its ability to retain magic.”

“Because they would be casting spells that are too strong?” Pinkie asked and Cadance shook her head.

“No, that’s not it. It’s simply because the soul becomes…Tired. Some ponies are born with powerful souls that can store huge amounts of magic and they are replenished while they use it because they absorb it from the world. But as they get old, they start replenishing their magic less efficiently. Just like older ponies may have trouble casting some spells that require too much power.”

Cadance started making gestures with her hooves, explaining what she was saying. “It flows. From ponies and to them. To and from Equestria, reaching a sort of balance. So, ponies aren’t supposed to live for too long because they’d be, kind of, clogging the system.”

“How does that explain ponies like Princess Celestia and Luna? And Chrysalis, for that matter?” Rarity asked. “I figure she’s pretty old.”

Twilight’s jaw dropped. Did Princess Celestia’s magic directly feed off the sun or something like that? Maybe ruling Equestria was her way of bleeding off that magic to it. It was what ponies did… Following their destinies, living their lives, putting their talents to their personal betterment and that of their communities. Maybe… The simple act of raising the sun every day had a much deeper meaning than simply giving its light and making the day? Was she… Their connection to the sun, which was their source of energy?

The others must’ve been thinking the same thing because Pinkie stared suspiciously at her. “Twilight? Have you been stealing friendship from us?”

“Uh… Not that I’m aware of!” She defended herself.

“I don’t think that’s how it works, Pinkie.” Shining said. “I mean… Changelings feed of love because their magic is wacked. Cadance’s magic is fine so she creates love…”

“Sooooo…” Rainbow looked like she was about to fry her brain. “Twilight creates friendship?”

“I suppose we all would, Rainbow.” Applejack said with a weirded out expression.

Twilight felt somewhat like she did staring at the magical images outside the Spawning Pool… Like she was poking at something she didn’t fully understand, and its real meaning escaped her. And all this talking wasn’t helping. None of them knew one third of what she knew of magic. She frowned… How much of it did she know compared to Princess Celestia?

Like… Everypony knew that ponies needed plants to eat and they needed the sun’s energy by their simple biology, like ponies needed food… But everything in Equestria had a magical edge to it… Then… If the unicorns were trying to control the sun but couldn’t… Things still didn’t fit. Applejack was right. This whole affair didn’t seem like a natural system. For starters, the amount of energy involved in the Sun’s output… How did that translate to magic? How many unicorns did they try to use? For how long did they last? What went wrong? Was their magic incompatible, or something?

Did it simply overwhelm them with its sheer magical output? How can Princess Celestia simply deal with it then? Twilight never tried anything similar, but she knew that her magic connected with the magic in things around her when she cast a spell over them… If that thing in the sky outputs so much magical power, it must feedback ridiculously powerful and complex magic. Enough to damage a pony’s inherent magic?

To be entirely honest, the sun really should be working on its own. Period. It would fix everything and if this system had any logic to it, that is what it would’ve been doing!

Maybe something happened and unicorns had to take control of the sun, but they failed and… Equestria’s magic reacted. Maybe, magically, things were collapsing, and it had to save itself from imploding. But that implied that it had some sort of awareness and agency. And didn’t explain why it didn’t react by simply fixing what was wrong or by giving the unicorns the right magic.

None of it made any sense!

“My point…” Applejack went on and Twilight heard her over her thoughts. Their conversation was a mess and Twilight was having trouble focusing. “Is that this thing had been working as intended for generations before it began going haywire. Then, when things, precisely, became unbearable, the Princesses appeared and got things under control.”

Yeah… Makes sense, Twilight thought.

“We may be trying to see too deep a meaning where there is none.” Rarity offered with a hoof. “Maybe it was Discord that damaged the unicorn’s ability to control the sun and moon. Then… Uh…

“Magic?” Rainbow said. “It reacted with the princesses; they fixed the whole thing. Like us. We met and got the Elements just in time to stop Nightmare Moon.”

“You got it wrong, Rarity.” Starlight countered. “The Princesses came before Discord.”

“Not according to Gregor’s letter.” Cadance said with a raised hoof and Starlight agreed with a hoof on her chin.

The changeling librarian spoke then. “We do have records of Discord’s arrival. I’ll fetch them for you.”

Efficiently, the changeling brought them a book, which she promptly opened and started looking for something. Soon she found what she was looking for and turned the book to the princesses. Twilight was lost in thought… A deep pit of fear had begun to grow in the back of her mind, but Cadance stared at the book, squinting a little and oblivious to Twilight’s thoughts.

“Collated reports by our spies on Discord.” The librarian added. “Says here that Discord made himself friends with the ponies, but as time went on, he began causing so much chaos that Equestria’s society began to collapse and they had to leave. No mention of the princesses… It seems they only heard of them a couple of centuries later. It implies it was after we recovered from the damage Discord caused.”

“The date corresponds with Gregor’s letter.” Cadance said, looking over their notes with a weird expression. “I guess… It’s all a mess. About one hundred years before our records… But in time to be some sort of reaction to the damage. I think.”

“What the hay!” Shinning frowned. “If the ponies beat Discord, why didn’t, whatever they did, fix the problem with the sun?”

“So… I think we may have been right that magic, or whatever, sent the princesses to fix the problem.” Rainbow said hesitantly and the others followed, adding support or their own versions of what must have happened.

For a few instants, Twilight stood silent at the table, staring down at it. A sense of dread crept up her spine like a cold spider, delighting itself in torturing her. This whole story wouldn’t fit even if they could blame Discord for messing with the whole system. It appeared as though the changelings misinterpreted the sun acting up as Discord’s doing. The actual problem seemed to be an ancient one. Older than Equestria, because unicorns had, supposedly, been controlling the sun since… Forever. And, even if Discord could be blamed for everything that happened, it still wouldn’t explain other things like Gregor and his non-existing empire Equestria has never heard of. The discrepancies in the records with things, literally, clear as the day…

Through all the wonder at the theories of how Celestia’s magic worked, at the center of it all, it seemed like somepony had tried to hide something important about how Equestria worked in a very intimate level. Something happened that changed the way things worked and the unicorns couldn’t keep up. Things happened in the past, different from what their history told them and there was one pony that lived through it all. One single pony in the perfect position to withhold and adulterate information from that time. This implied all sorts of things Twilight would rather not think about…

This train of thought terrified Twilight Sparkle more than that of an angry sun going berserk. She didn’t want to think of it before, but it was staring her in the face right now, like a plateful of quesadillas. One single pony in the position to change everything, from whatever deep magic coursed through Equestria, whatever happened in that period that vanished, and that happened to sit atop the world, uncontested. Capable of doing whatever she wanted, including shady deals with changelings and messing with their line of succession.

Twilight didn’t even know the name for that, but she was sure it was wrong.

It had occurred to her that she could spend days in this library looking for records of Equestria, as told by the changelings that had infiltrated her and would give their home a real account of what they saw. She imagined what she would see… But she also imagined she didn’t have much time before ‘somepony’ realized she was poking at things she wasn’t meant to. She needed answers and needed them fast so that she could figure out what to do.

Her voice rang among the other discussing voices, as she raised her eyes from the table and spoke with a certain authority the others weren’t used to hear in her voice. “Thorax. I need to speak to Chrysalis.”

“Hum…” He hesitated… She scared him a little. He’d never seem her so serious and with such a hard stare. “I think she’s not very friendly right now, Twilight.”

“I demand it.” She said calmly. “Under my authority as a Princess of Equestria… I suspect another Princess of corruption.”

In another situation, Twilight might’ve found the collective gasp around her comical.

***