//------------------------------// // The Monarch, Part 3 // Story: Who We Choose To Be // by milesprower06 //------------------------------// Starlight popped out onto the expansive prairie surrounding the changeling hive. The sunset behind her draped everything in the elongated shadows of the forest up on the cliffs. She immediately set out towards the towering rock formation that was the home of the changeling kingdom. She saw Pharynx out front, standing watch. "Who goes there? Oh, Starlight! Wow, that was fast, Thorax only sent that letter last night," the Patrol Captain greeted astonishingly. "Come in, I'll go get him." Pharynx finished, rushing inside, leaving Starlight to enter the hive on her own. She was barely twenty feet inside before Pharynx returned with his towering younger brother. "Starlight! Wow, you're nothing if not expedient." Her friend greeted. "Thorax, I came as soon as I could. Is everything alright? Is this about Chrysalis?" The unicorn asked urgently. The towering lime green changeling nodded. "I was wondering if something like this would come up. When we took her in, we gave her a burrow, and I explained how things had changed; how we don't hoard love anymore, we share it throughout the day with each other in small amounts. It's become second nature, really." Thorax explained. "I'll take your word for it, as a pony, I'll never experience changeling magic firsthoof. But go on, I'm listening." "I stressed to the hive that we shouldn't shun her, regardless of what she's done, that we needed to prove to her how much better life has gotten here since the Metamorphosis. So that's what we did. The open nature of our magic has sustained her, she's never felt hungry, and whenever she'd go out to explore more of how the hive has transformed, we'd decorate her room more, make it more colorful." "Has it helped her... Temperament? I remember she seemed rather defeated and reluctant when she agreed to stay." Starlight commented. "I think so. Don't get me wrong, she's still quite... Reserved, but she does seem to be coming around. Last night, she came to the Feelings Forum, for the first time. She thanked us for how we had decorated her room, that she was beginning to see the beauty in everything around her and..." Thorax trailed off. "Yes, and?" Starlight asked, urging him to continue. "She broke down... completely into tears, and ran and shut herself in her room. She hasn't been out since, and when I asked if there was anything we could do, the only thing she asked for, is you." Thorax told her, as they came to her burrow. The passage was big enough to walk through standing up, and curved sharply to the left, giving burrows some semblance of privacy. "She's just through there. Let us know if you need anything." Thorax said. Taking a deep breath, Starlight stepped into the small tunnel, and turned into the burrow. It had been decorated with all manner of colorful flowers, and would meet any changeling's bare necessities. There, on the bed, turned away from her towards the far wall, laid Chrysalis. "Chrysalis? Is everything alright?" Starlight asked, announcing her presence. "Starlight Glimmer... The pony I hated more than anything, and still you drop everything and come halfway down the continent for me. I wonder if I'll ever get used to what friendship has done to others. I certainly don't like what it has done to me." Chrysalis greeted sorrowfully, turning to her. "What do you mean? What's wrong?" Starlight asked, sitting down in front of her. "A pain in my stomach. It won't go away. It's not hunger, I haven't been so much as peckish since I came here. And when I look at my former underlings, it only gets worse! Especially when I come back to my burrow to things like this..." Chrysalis said, her horn lighting up and levitating up a piece of parchment over to Starlight, who looked at the crude drawing attentively. "From Thorax's 'craft time'. It's a youngling's impression of what she thinks I could look like if I ever transform." The queen told her, sorrow filling her voice. Starlight certainly saw what the youngling was going for now; a changeling, taller than most, no holes, flowing hair, and certainly colorful. "I'd say things like this, and not to mention the way your room looks, that they're accepting you being here, and they want to help you. Given your past, I can certainly understand why it would bring on chest and stomach pains. That would be some pretty severe guilt, Chrysalis. I would know, because I'm afraid I've been there." Starlight told her as she gently returned the drawing to her nightstand. "Then please tell me how to make this go away." The disposed changeling ruler pleaded. "It's a highly personal matter of dealing with things, though. There's no one way." Starlight told her. "What did you do to feel like this?" "I created a cutie markless cult. Forced my villagers to give up what made them special. No individual talents. All equal... Except me." Starlight told her. Chrysalis could tell that talking about it bothered the mare. "Twilight came and exposed what I had done, and I spent months plotting revenge against her. With my abilities, I was meddling with magic that should stay untouched. Thankfully, she was able to talk me down before I did something irreversibly catastrophic. Then, when she offered me a home, and lessons in what she knew... Then the guilt set in." "How did you deal with it?" "It wasn't easy, and I can't imagine it ever is, for anycreature. Sleepless nights, stomach pains, losing my appetite. But it's a process, it's something you have to confront in order to start feeling better. Asking those you wronged for forgiveness... Asking yourself for forgiveness. And accepting that the time you spent in the wrong, isn't time you'll get back. But once you do, you'll start feeling better. A little bit each and every day," the unicorn told her. "I still don't completely understand it, nowhere close. The hatred I held for you... It was what fueled me for months. But now that I've seen what you helped them do... I've let that go, and now I feel so empty." Chrysalis confessed. "I felt the exact same way when I took Twilight's hoof in friendship. Empty, scared... But not alone. I wasn't alone, and neither are you. You can now fill that emptiness inside you with something better." With that, Starlight offered Chrysalis her hoof, and they were both reminded of when they stood at the top of the hive, both of them remembering how it had ended then. Chrysalis' last words to her there echoed in her mind. 'There is no revenge you could ever conceive of that will come close to what I will exact upon you one day, Starlight Glimmer!' Those words rang so hollow now as she lifted a quivering, incomplete hoof, and placed it gently on the unicorn's. "I'm so sorry, Starlight Glimmer. I truly am." Chrysalis offered as tears ran down her face. "Apology accepted, Chrysalis. I forgive you." Starlight immediately replied. With those six words, Chrysalis felt an impossible weight lift from her shoulders, and as she drew in her next breath, she felt herself be levitated up, before a bright white light blocked her vision. Another moment passed, and she felt Starlight's hoof pull away, as the levitating feeling was replaced by one of being embraced... Cradled... Starlight took a few steps back as the changeling in front of her was enveloped by a cocoon of white-blue light, slowly rising off the ground. She smiled as she shielded her eyes while the metamorphosis took place. When the light faded, she lowered the hoof from her face, and gazed upon the reformed ruler. "Starlight...?" Chrysalis asked, unsure of what had just happened. Starlight took another step back, lit her horn up, and cast imago, creating a floating mirror portal in the middle of the room, letting Chrysalis see herself. She gazed into her reflection, and couldn't stop the tears from spilling over again as her eyes widened at the reflection that stared back at her. What used to be a charcoal chitin was now a gradient peach color. The carapace on her back was now a rich purple. A soft orange scarf of fur now wrapped around her barrel. Her hair was now full, and a lush lime green, going closer to the original teal the closer it got to the root. Her wings were vibrant and full, as was her horn, and legs. She looked strikingly similar to the drawing on her nightstand. She took a step towards the portal, raised a hoof, and touched the hoof of her reflection, before turning to Starlight. "I... I was beginning to fear that I would never transform. That I would be forever be separated from the others who have taken me in." Chrysalis wept. "But all it took was hearing your forgiveness." "Sometimes that's all that's needed to take that first step. You look absolutely beautiful, Chrysalis." Starlight told her, coming in for a hug. Not sure what to make of it at first, it took the changeling a few moments to return the embrace, after wiping her eyes. "Are you ready to show the others?" The unicorn asked softly. Sniffling, Chrysalis nodded, and she nervously followed Starlight out of her burrow, where Thorax and Pharynx were waiting. "Chrysalis, you've done it!" Thorax exclaimed happily upon seeing her transformation. "Congratulations, Chrysalis." Pharynx likewise offered. "Thank you so much, Starlight Glimmer. But, this was just a first step. What's the next one?" Chrysalis asked the mare. "Taking it one step, and one day at a time. Tomorrow, I bet you'll feel a little bit better than you did today." Starlight replied. "I've been thinking for the past few days about what to do when this happened." Thorax began. "Now I'm not saying it's the next step, but I am wondering if you'd eventually like to play a part in the hive's decision making process." Thorax offered. Chrysalis' heart skipped a beat. "I am flattered and honored, Thorax, but actually, no. Leading the hive is a position you have undoubtedly earned, just as your brother earned his role in protecting it. But rest assured, I will eventually find a way to contribute to the community," she stated, bowing respectfully to Thorax and his brother, before turning again to Starlight. "I don't believe I can ever properly express my gratitude to you, Starlight Glimmer. You have absolutely changed my life. Thank you so much." Starlight smiled at her. "Well, you're already doing a pretty decent job of expressing it, and you'll only get better with time. I'm happy to help, and I'm very proud to have you as a new friend, Chrysalis." Celestia sipped at her hot cup of chamomile tea as she turned the page of her current book as she sat by the fireplace. She had cracked a window to let the cool evening breeze in as she relaxed in the den of the cabin she and Luna had purchased on the outskirts of Silver Shoals. The former ruler of Equestria glanced up from her book when she thought she heard hoofsteps outside, and her suspicions were confirmed when there was a gentle knock on the front door. She set her tea and book down on the end table, and went to answer it. She wasn't sure who to expect at this evening hour, but it certainly wasn't her former pupil, looking up at her with tears streaming down her face. "Twilight? Is everything alright?" She asked, surprise and concern filling her voice. The Princess of Friendship had clearly done a bit of crying on the way here. "Princess Celestia," Twilight began, sniffling and wiping her eyes. "I need your advice again."