With a sharp gasp, Cozy Glow breathed in deeply, and then, she breathed outwards rather calmly. It felt as if she were sweating all over, and yet, she wasn't actually sweating a single drop. The shaking and the rumbling that was happening all around her had slowly ceased to be, and although she could still loosely recall what she was doing moments ago, all of those memories were withering away as well. Those fresh memories of everything that had happened in her life not minutes ago began to vanish just as she attempted to think back on them. Cozy blinked hazily, but then strained her eyes tightly. She could just barely make out a brilliant, but blinding light shining violently downwards at her, and that was when she realized that she had been tilting her head way up towards the sky, and her vision was pointed right at the all too bright, and potentially blinding sun.
She lowered her head, and brought her line of sight away from the somewhat painful glare only to begin to see clouds. There were so many clouds way up above Cozy Glow, and far, far below her, too. It was almost enough to make her head spin, but she somehow managed to keep from falling off of the platform that she found herself upon. Soon enough, after backing away from the paper thin edge, Cozy came to find out that she somehow was on top of a gigantic playing card. By the looks of it, she was on what appeared to be a red ace, and the more she looked all around herself, the more and more Cozy Glow felt confused as to where she might've truly been at the time.
Playing cards trailed off with and after one another. They proceeded to gently pop a few pink and blue balloons as they gracefully floated and whooshed by, and Cozy watched as bubbles loftily went along a seemingly random path that bent and looped in circles a few times. Chess pieces could also be seen floating in mid air all over. Some were huge, and some were regular sized. Some of them sat on playing boards that were suspended upside down amongst all of the clouds in the sky, and a few if not most of those boards were playing themselves somehow.
Cozy gulped, and the more oddities she saw, the more she began to cower where she stood. "Am I... Dreaming?" She asked herself slowly. "This... has to be a dream."
Using one of her hooves, she pinched herself, but at first, that didn't seem to be working, and then, she felt a sharp, but all too welcomed shake on her right shoulder. The bubble that had formed upon her muzzle popped audibly, and she woke back up with a slight gasp. Next to her sat Ocellus, and her left hoof still rested peacefully on Cozy's somewhat quivering shoulder. The two sat on their sides together within their booth, and Ocellus's right hoof had also been holding onto both of Cozy's practically the entire train ride.
"Cozy? Were you asleep?"
Rubbing her eyes, and then bringing her hoof back down to Ocellus's, she admitted with an embarrassed nod, "I was dreaming pretty hard."
Ocellus remarked, "You've been pretty active these last few days. Attempting to reform Tirek is a humongous challenge all on its own. I'm not surprised you're having deep dreams." Cozy nodded once again, and watched outside the window as towns, and houses appeared and then quickly disappeared behind them. Ocellus looked over towards Cozy Glow, and mentioned, "You're behaving very maturely about this, by the way."
Glancing over, Cozy smiled at her friend, and said, "Thanks... I guess I'm just nervous. That's all." She gave a brief thought towards how Rarity might react had she known what Cozy Glow was up to, but Cozy Glow planned to be back within the Carousel Boutique before the end of the day.
She hoofed some of her stresses away, and then continued to watch the windows for a few more minutes only to fall asleep once again soon after. The dreams came and went during their trip to and from the changeling colony, but within only an hour after their departure, the two would arrive at their destination, and Ocellus began leading the way. Cozy stayed close to her friend during the trot, but the whole way there, the two of them hardly said a word during their journey. It wasn't until they reached what at first appeared to be a hollow cave that Ocellus finally said, "It's this way."
Cozy gulped, and while pointing, asked, "That's where the changelings are? It's dark in there."
Giggles from Ocellus could be heard coming from within, and then the changeling said, "It's fine! You'll see, Cozy Glow. Come on inside."
Worry and hesitation nearly gripped, and held Cozy Glow back, but bravely, she began to trot with little regard for her silly instincts. Through the tunnel she went, and as she proceeded, she could loosely begin to see the rocks above her and below her glisten with light that shined hazily from the other side. The closer and closer Cozy Glow got to the ending of this mysterious tunnel, the more and more luminous the cave became. Coming out of the darkness was a whole new experience for the filly. She had never needed to wait so long in her life in order for her eyes to adjust, and once she was with Ocellus again, Cozy Glow still had immense trouble seeing anything else except for Ocellus. Slowly, and finally, Cozy squinted less and less until she could see everything around herself.
Most of the native changelings busily went about their day. Only a few of them stopped briefly to glance towards Ocellus as she entered a clearing followed by Cozy. The pegasus got more and more attention as the two of them trotted along throughout the hidden village, but she didn't say a word about it. She merely stayed right next to Ocellus during the uphill journey, and nervously, Cozy Glow only asked once, "Are you sure... it's okay that I'm here...?"
Ocellus replied, "Most of us... like I said, aren't going to be exactly willing to accepting your actions, but..." She stopped, and turned slowly to say, "We all love her regardless, because she's not just our queen to us. She's our mother... You see, Cozy Glow... It's what's keeping her alive.
Cozy's eyes widened, and she asked, "You mean...?"
Nodding quietly, Ocellus took a moment before saying her next line. Cozy could hear the sounds of the lively village as they stood together in a tiny walkway staring at one another. Two other changelings passed them, and then Ocellus spoke softly. "Every time a filly changeling, or even Thorax... Whenever any of us visits her statue, we always give her our love. Even though... even after everything she's done... We can't help it. It's how we are now." Smiling with innocently blushing cheeks, Ocellus said, "We're just too loving to stay mad at her for long."
She blinked, and as she did, Cozy could see that her friendly changeling was holding back tears. Cozy glanced away with a sigh, and nodded. "Let's... go see Thorax, then, and... thanks, Ocellus."
While walking next to her side, Cozy Glow heard Ocellus question, "For what?"
Cozy Glow replied happily, "For telling me about how all of you have actually been keeping Chrysalis alive. You don't suppose she knows about it, do you?"
Thorax sat within a spacious hut located half way up the massive hill. He meditated to himself from within while occasionally conversing with anypony that might visit. Incense dimly lit and scented the room. Cozy Glow trotted slowly through the entrance while she timidly followed Ocellus, and with his shadow against the wall, Thorax greeted the two with the gesture of a hoof. "Hey, Ocellus.... and... Cozy Glow..."
He gulped while they came up even though he knew Cozy Glow didn't mean him any harm. Cozy spoke up just before Ocellus did, and said, "I, uh... don't mean to cause you trouble. Not in the slightest... but, uh..."
Thorax blinked with some stress showing in his eyes, and said, "It's... alright, actually, Cozy. I know what you're here for."
The room became calm, and Cozy soon found herself sitting with Thorax rather than standing. "What... exactly do you think I'm here for?"
"You intend on releasing our Queen, of course. It's... well, a lot of us here in the villages don't think that doing this is necessary. Besides..." Thorax then said something Cozy Glow hadn't yet anticipated. "Where do we even begin with something like that?" The room became even more quieter all except Cozy Glow who periodically hummed to herself. For this next move, she desperately needed to take her time. When she stopped humming, however, is when the others finally glanced back in her direction.
"We, uh... Well... That depends." She looked first at Ocellus, and then upwards towards Thorax. Although, more specifically, she seemed to be inspecting their horns. She then asked, "You're... not like the other Changelings, are you? Can you... perform magic, Thorax? As in... other than changing your form, I mean." Thorax just stared as he listened to Cozy while she asked him her question, but he couldn't really bring himself to answer her right away.
Thorax seemed torn towards answering her question. He stared at her with uncertainty. In time, he'd finally say, "I haven't... told anypony about it, but... I'm not like the others. My magic isn't great, and when I was first trying to teach myself how to use it, I fumbled most of the spells over and over again... But..."
Cozy asked, "But?"
Thorax felt his lips quiver, and he nodded. "I... pretty much know how to do all sorts of spells by now."
Ocellus could be heard gasping with surprise from behind Cozy Glow, and Cozy asked her, "You... didn't know?"
Ocellus ignored Cozy's question, and asked Thorax, "How long have you been doing this and behind our backs, too? None of the others ever found out! You can... use magic?"
Thorax raised his hoof to his lips, and made an audible, "Shhh..." He then gulped, and mostly looking at Ocellus, he told them, "The reason why nopony knows is because... Well, it's situational, actually."
Cozy Glow cynically asked thorax, "What's so situational about it?"
"The timing, actually," Thorax replied. "I planned to have my magic mastered before teaching the others, but that happened... can you guess?"
Cozy glow was quick to respond, "It was shortly after your queen was turned to stone... wasn't it?"
Thorax nodded, and said, "Very perceptive, Cozy. That's why only I know how to do it... If the others found out, and considering most changelings oppose Queen Chrysalis being freed, and you were released, and especially after Tirek was freed, too... That's why I chose to keep that a secret."
Cozy understood, and said, "I think what you did was the best course of action, but if it's alright, I need your magic now."
Thorax blinked at Cozy while expecting her to say something further, but when she didn't, he asked, "Huh?"
"I'll... need you along as well, I think. It's for my plan! That is... you can put us into contact with Queen Chrysalis, right?"
The request was a bit much to take in, and it showed as Thorax asked the anxious filly, "You mean... you don't intend on just releasing her? Is that what you did to Tirek?" Cozy Glow just nodded, and Thorax sighed as he processed this knowledge while scratching the back of his neck. "S-sure, I can do that... it's just..."
"What?" asked Cozy.
Thorax gave another lofty sigh, and said while looking down at Cozy, "My magic... I've noticed that It's not exactly the same as when ponies cast spells. Just a fair warning."
Cozy curled her brow at the suspicious statement, but she also figured she'd see what he meant soon enough. Cozy gestured with a hoof, and said, "Fine..." She kept her forearm extended, and said, "Let's go right now, Thorax... If it's alright with you."
A circular, bright green and orange portal formed before the statue of Queen Chrysalis. Through it came Thorax followed by Ocellus, and then Cozy Glow. The portal closed rather quietly behind the three, but Cozy Glow wasn't exactly counting on there being a thick downpour looming over Canterlot that day. Without hardly any winds to help break up the drench, it rained down constantly, painting the saddest picture of the three approaching the petrified changeling mother.
Chrysalis almost couldn't be seen because of how grey the water was. It sounded like pure static, so much that the three visitors could hardly hear anything else, so at first, they didn't say a word to one another, either. They just listened, and watched, and felt the rain coming down. Everything around the statue seemed otherworldly somehow thanks to the rain, as if that was going to take care of Queen Chrysalis's rage, and wash all of her anger and hatred away. Cozy Glow couldn't even hear, or feel herself breathing anymore. She halfway panicked, and cleared her throat.
"Oh," Thorax sighed sadly. "Right," he said, looking down at Cozy. "Sorry... I'll cast the spell now."
All Cozy felt like doing further while caught in the middle of this rain was watch as Thorax began using his magic. The glow of his horn combined with the liquid that fell all around him. It became this ominous, but brilliant color that Cozy Glow had never seen before, and then everything around her turned nearly pitch black save for the white outline of everything and everypony.
The statue of Chrysalis as she lunged herself forwards violently was gone, and in its place, the Queen could visibly be spotted underneath a tree just a few steps away. Thorax stood next to Cozy, and Ocellus was behind them. She felt nervous as she saw her mother from a distance, but the white outlining of everything helped Chrysalis stand out from Equestria's basic environment.
"Queen... Chrysalis?" Cozy glow asked. Her majesty's back was turned, but as she heard Cozy Glow call out to her, she slowly began to turn.
"That voice sounds familiar," she commented. "Cozy Glow? H-how?" She soon enough saw Thorax, and Ocellus as well, and then, things became quiet for a while. They all just stared at Queen Chrysalis while she simply stared back, but finally breaking the silence, Queen Chrysalis demandingly asked, "What's going on here?"
Cozy was quick to respond. "This... might... feel really, really weird, and awkward at first to hear..." Chrysalis didn't interrupt, so Cozy kept speaking. "But, uh... I forgot everything." She shrugged as she ended that sentence. Chrysalis merely took a step back, but she still didn't say anything. "So, a whole lot has happened since then, but the reason we're here..."
Chrysalis finally made a noise. "Tch! Go on... I'm listening..."
Cozy gulped before saying, "I've... already released Tirek... I've basically befriended him, actually... I think... so that left just you to worry." Cozy kept her gaze locked tightly on the mare before her. She even tried to crack a smile no matter how worried she really felt deep down inside.
Chrysalis surprisingly didn't say anything at first after hearing this news. She just kept on sneering mostly at Cozy Glow and her messy mane. Soon enough, however, she'd ask, "Forgotten everything? So now you're good?" She shook her head in disappointment, and then also rhetorically asked, "And you said that... Tirek is even giving you ponies a chance as well?" Cozy just stared at the queen, wondering what she should say next. "That's... absurd, and did you just say that you're worried about me?"
Cozy Glow by now felt just as intimidated as when she very first encountered Tirek, but just like last time, she ignored those sinister feelings of regret and doubt, and trotted a ways nearer towards Chrysalis. Stopping only a couple steps away, Cozy Glow looked up at her, and said, "I can't help it..." The air around the two of them became thin, and all Thorax and Ocellus could do now was watch from the background. "Do you... even realize what sort of situation you're in?"
Chrysalis looked away, but only for a moment. "What're you going on about, traitor?"
Cozy shook her head at that vain remark, and boldly stated, "You're... literally a statue right now..." Chrysalis's face became a bit more animated rather than full of anger after hearing this.
"I'm a... what?"
Cozy didn't repeat herself. Instead, she resumed what she was saying. "This... it's all gotten so out of control that I had to threaten Tirek's statue just in order to get that stupid, stubborn centaur to come around, and listen to reason..." After hearing these daunting, and almost threatening words, Chrysalis chose that it might be best to keep her big mouth shut for a change. Cozy quickly considered what else there was to say, and then pleaded, "It's either that, or we're leaving you here as a statue forever."
The rain was still pouring heavily, and as it did, Chrysalis thought about how to proceed if at all with this conversation. "So I only have those two choices...? Remain a statue forever, or crumble?"
Cozy shook her head, and corrected the mare. "You have three choices, actually."
What came next was not the move Cozy was hoping for. Chrysalis had glanced downwards so that some of her hair could hide her face. Looking back up, and into Cozy Glow's hopeful eyes, she said, "No... I don't."
Cozy blinked after hearing those words, and asked, "Y-yes... you do... You can try being our friend. Wh-why don't you..." She stopped only for a second as she thought that Chrysalis wasn't going to listen for much longer. "Why don't you... try loving somepony? It can be anypony!"
"That's enough," Chrysalis said while trying to dodge the question. "Changelings are superior to ponies in every way, and it was not us who needed to provide them the love, but the other way around!" Cozy Glow had heard just about all she could stand, and she wasn't going to allow her majesty to banter on like that for very much longer.
"No!" Cozy Glow raised her voice. "You don't know how wrong you are! The ponies behind me... They're proof that you're wrong!"
"Those two? Over there?" Chrysalis pointed with one of her hooves. "They've become weak as soldiers. If they had to, they'd never find any food in the wilderness." Chrysalis's eyes became dark as she spoke. "Back when we were a group... weak ones like these held the rest of us behind. We had to drag changelings like them the whole way."
Cozy could hear Ocellus softly speaking, and saying, "I... I hate it when she treats us so uncaringly."
Looking back, Cozy Glow sighed powerfully. It was then and there that Cozy Glow decided that her patience with the salty mare had reached its limit. She glared equally hauntingly at Queen Chrysalis, and said, "Y'know what? You're right about just one thing... Enough really is enough..."
Chrysalis leaned in, but only a little as she tried to ask, "What was th-"
However, Cozy Glow clarified, "Enough of this game of yours! Aren't you their mother?! We're talking about your children! They just... they don't learn, or receive anything from scavenging just to get by, and... a-and neither do you!" This whole time, Chrysalis had been scowling, but after that, her eyebrows raised. She gave a slight chuckle, and shook her head at the filly.
"I know how you must feel, Cozy Glow. You seem... so much more gentle now that you've lost your memory, and you don't wish to hurt anypony." Cozy's lips parted as Chrysalis resumed, "Yet... you're still willing to fight for what you think is right..." Chrysalis sighed as she told Cozy, "But there are some ponies who your kind, and noble words... simply can't reach." Cozy couldn't hide the sorrow that was crossing her face, and then, Chrysalis said, "Let this go."
From the corner of her eye, Cozy saw Ocellus turn, and walk away. Cozy's mouth hung ajar, and slowly, she gave Chrysalis her attention once more. Birds flew off, and in front of Cozy and Chrysalis, chirping as they went as they tried to fly against the rain and the current of the winds.
Cozy grimaced, and gave into her overwhelming emotions. Chrysalis had never seen Cozy so saddened before let alone crying. Tears drizzled down her cheeks, mixing with all of the rain water that dripped from her cheeks and chin. "Y-you're right," Cozy Glow confessed, and somehow smiling while also frowning. "Now... I love life, and do you wanna know something else? I'd give anything... anything just to save Equestria." She blinked a couple of times, and then sniffled before furiously shaking her head in disbelief at the irrational changeling queen's poisonous words. "I just... I don't want this to be your fate..."
The time had come for Cozy to end this distress. She would do it with only one forward question followed by one forward statement, too. "Do you know... that it's your own children that's feeding you love?"
A pause, and Queen Chrysalis failed to reply to the filly. By now, the rain had died down, and was coming to an end.
"So you knew... which means you must not love your children after all."
Chrysalis was stricken with nearly utter silence after hearing Cozy Glow's own harsh words. "I..."
Although, that's all that left the queen's lips. She wasn't about to admit that Cozy Glow was right, but at the same time, she couldn't tell her that she was wrong, either, so she just stood there like a fool, watching as Cozy began to turn, and leave. Before disappearing from Chrysalis's sight for good, though, Cozy said one last thing before she left the scene. "Fine... I don't think that I could've listen to this craziness for much longer anyways."
All that was left was Thorax, but he really didn't have anything to say to his mother. He was far too heartbroken by this event like Ocellus to say much of anything except, "G-goodbye... Chrysalis..."
He solemnly began following Cozy Glow down the hill, and without his magic to sustain the spell, it ended. Queen Chrysalis was once again left all alone as a stone statue to think about everything that had transpired. Bringing a hoof up to her chest, Chrysalis asked aloud from within her darkest place, "Did she really just... say that to me?"
Her mind replayed Cozy's voice over and over again, and slowly, Chrysalis started to shake, and quiver. "Do I... love them? My own children?" This time, with tears forming in her eyes, "I c-can't just admit it... b-because if I do... I-if I do, I'll become like them, won't I?"
She shook her head, and denied gifting her love for as long as she could, but thoughts of her past came fluttering into her head. "Do I... even need to say the words?" She brought her hoof up to cover her muzzle and tried with all her might just to fight back the salty tears that were coming, but sooner than she wished, they escaped. As she made an audible groan of emotional pain, she collapsed to the grass bellow her podium. Chrysalis was freed, and she had transformed. Whether she wanted it or not, she was now just like all the other changelings in Equestria.
She arose, and looked around at first, but she then looked down at the mud to find her hooves to be silvery white, and the holes within her hooves were completely gone, and filled. Her wings were now full, colorful, and immensely more beautiful with shimmers dazzling as they reflected rays coming from the sun. She stared at them in amazement, and held one in her unsteady hooves for quite a while before coming to her senses. She hastily looked all around, and soon, Chrysalis spotted a nearby pond.
Galloping down the hill, and for the first time in months, feeling the grass and the wind as she went, she felt as if her heart were skipping beats. Once she came up to the water, and straining to breathe, Chrysalis peered at her murky image, and gasped, but she didn't look away. While she also took her time washing the fresh dirt off, she just kept on inspecting herself because her breath had been taken away by how much more lovely she looked.
Her eyes weren't green anymore, but instead, they were a mystic blue as well as her mane. No longer could she even intimidate herself let alone anyone else. Again, there were tears, and as the queen sat there, watching her reflection move with the waves, she began to wonder what was next for her. That was when she heard a noise coming directly from her left side, and as she jumped, and glanced that way, she was startled to see Ocellus, and Thorax coming up to her.
She didn't react kindly at first. Queen Chrysalis just kept sneering at them, wanting desperately to say something vile or uncalled for, but those words seemed so distant from her all of the sudden. Her eyelids, and her brow gradually relaxed, and she looked down at the ground with a regretful expression. She stopped baring her teeth at them so much, and as she continued to cry, she came loosely trotting towards them.
She embraced Thorax and Ocellus, and as the two of them hugged her back, they began shedding tears of their own. Cozy merely watched from the nearby road that lead into Canterlot, and sighed, thankful that her task with Chrysalis was over. She began to turn in order to start heading for the palace, but she then saw Twilight walking towards her. She wore a fairly bewildered face, and coming up to the filly, she asked, "Is... that who I think it is?"
Cozy looked back at the three changelings, and then back at Twilight, and simply said, "Yep..."
Twilight slowly glanced at Cozy with impressed eyes. Smiling, she complimented the filly on a job well done. "You did something really good today... I'm proud of you." Twilight then offered generously, "Do you need to stay the night?"
Cozy's attention was redirected to the statue's empty podium. Her heart felt lighter than ever, and it was the most beautiful feeling to her at the time. "I... think so, actually... I was planning on going home this evening, but since you're offering... could you let Rarity know?"
Twilight nodded as she stroked a few strands of Cozy's unruly mane. "Of course," Twilight replied, leading the filly along the cobblestone path. "Leave everything else to me."