Chrysalis ran through the forest without aim or care. She had no set goal, all she wanted was to get away. Panic raced through her mind as she recalled those looks, those fearful looks upon the faces of the two ponies who had shown her nothing but kindness.
XXX
A while earlier…
Chrysalis froze in place as she felt Spring’s eyes upon her.
“Crystal?” Spring managed.
Chrysalis’s eyes fluttered as she took in the reality of her situation. At first, she thought she was dreaming, or at least a trick of the mind, but it was clear she was back in her original changeling form. The same wings, the same carapace, everything. Even her sickly green mane of hair.
“Spring I-” Chrysalis began but was cut off as she heard a familiar voice.
“Alright, you two love birds have you-what the hay!?” Summer said as she stepped back into the camp.
“Summer I…” Chrysalis trailed off. She didn’t know what to say. What could she say about the situation?
And so the former queen of the changelings did the only thing she could think of: she ran.
“Crystal wait!” She heard Spring’s voice call, but she was too far off to heed it.
XXX
Chrysalis came to a stop if only to catch her breath. It took a few moments for her to do so, reflecting on what had just happened. She gazed upon her form once more. It became too undeniable to avoid that she no longer saw the form of Crystal Hoof, but the ferocious visage of Queen Chrysalis. And another thing Chrysalis couldn’t deny was that she hated it. She silently cursed, wanted to scream out, to rage against the heavens for the injustice that had been thrown upon her.
Why had the spell reversed? From what she had read the spell was a done deal, she was stuck in the form granted to her. Unless whoever cast the spell reversed it. That was plausible, but that begged the bigger question of who had cast it? Her thoughts returned to her earlier theory of Discord. This whole situation had his handiwork written all over it. After all, he had played her, Tirek, and Cozy Glow for fools by pretending to be Grogar, so it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that he would play this sick joke upon her. Was it a form of torture? Some addition to her punishment? It almost made her want to cry, it wasn’t fair, it just wasn’t fair. She had something, something she had long rejected, only for it to be snatched away from her.
“My my, it seems the reincarnation spell has been reversed,” Chrysalis let out a tiny gasp as she heard a voice speaking through the darkness, between the many trees that dotted the landscape, “Or perhaps there was a time limit? Never mind, it’s over, and you’re back to how you should be.”
Chrysalis took a cautious stance. That voice, had she heard it somewhere before?
“Who’s there?” Chrysalis asked, her voice quiet and somewhat timid.
“Really? Meekness?” The voice scoffed, “That’s not how I taught you to behave.”
Before Chrysalis could ask again, she saw a figure move through the trees. The moonlight parted from the clouds revealing the figure in full form, and when Chrysalis laid eyes upon it, she let out another gasp. The same sunken in features, the same bony outline, and the aged visage that belied the evil that lay underneath.
“Mother?” Chrysalis found herself uttering the very words she had dreaded to say as a child.
Queen Cocoon flashed a devilish grin, “Hello daughter. So nice to see you again.”
XXX
“Spring slow down!”
Summer’s pleads fell on deaf ears as the stallion continued his pursuit.
“Where is she?” Spring asked, “Crystal!”
Summer was incredulous at her brother’s choice of words, “Crystal? Spring we need to talk about what we just saw!”
“It’s too dark to see anything!” Spring lamented, “Crystal where are you!?”
“Spring!” Summer said nearly pulling her brother away.
The two siblings looked at one another, both expressions as different as night and day.
“We...need...to...talk!” Summer emphasized.
Spring put on a straight face and said, “Fine, let’s talk.”
Summer flashed a brief look of surprise upon her face as if she wasn’t expecting her brother to relent so easily.
“Okay, firstly I think we need to discuss our “guest”,” Summer stated.
“What about her?” Spring said, his voice growing all the more defensive.
“Oh, I don’t know? Like maybe the fact that all this time we were housing Queen Chrysalis!” Summer stated.
“That could have been anyone!” Spring retorted.
“Are you serious!?” Summer exasperated.
“Okay fine that was Chrysalis,” Spring couldn’t deny it anymore.
Though the two siblings had never seen the former Changeling Queen, they had seen enough images and heard enough stories to know what she looked like. And from the stories they had heard, Chrysalis was truly a ruthless villain. Her assault on Canterlot during the Royal Wedding was inscribed in everypony’s memories. That and how she, Tirek, and Cozy Glow had nearly conquered Equestria. It had taken every race in Equestria, pony or otherwise to band against the three villains, stripping them of their stolen power and trapping them in stone. That was years ago. By now Princess Twilight had been reigning over Equestria for many years, and the Mean Three as they had collectively been known as, was history. It was still said they lay as statues in the Canterlot Gardens. But that appeared to not be true, for Queen Chrysalis had been with them all this time.
“And? You aren’t the least bit disturbed!?” Summer demanded.
“What? Why?”
“Like how one of the biggest villains in Equestria was living in our home! Eating our food! Sleeping in the same vicinity as us,” Summer shook her head, clearly trying to understand it all, “Was this all part of some kind of scheme? I mean what was she hoping to gain from us? Was she feeding on our love? Do I look weaker? Are my colors faded?”
“Summer, I don’t think she was tricking us.” Spring suddenly said.
Summer cocked her head back in shock over her brother’s words, “How can you say that?”
Spring remained silent for a moment, he looked down at the ground before uttering another word, “Did you look at her eyes?”
“Her eyes? What are you-”
“She was scared,”
“Yeah probably because she was found out!”
“No! She was really scared as if she didn’t know what was happening to her!” Spring’s voice was full of concern and at that moment Summer fell silent.
Without saying another word, Spring headed further into the forest, leaving Summer to stare. She had always felt her brother acted more with his emotions rather than his mind, but in a sense that was a good thing, and it told her one thing: her brother honestly cared for her.
Though still confused as to what was going on, and she had lingering doubts in her mind, she followed after her brother, being the ever-loyal sister she was. Even she had to admit, she enjoyed having “Crystal Hoof” around. And even she couldn’t deny the fear that had been in the Changeling’s eyes.
Whatever the case, Crystal, Chrysalis, or whatever she was called was still their patient, and as doctors, they had to help her. Some would view it as a foolhardy flaw, but it was what their late father had taught them. At least she and Spring shared their father’s compassion.
XXX
Chrysalis couldn’t deny it, but her mother was standing right in front of her. Two former queens of the Changelings staring each other down. While one looked shocked, the other was smug.
“No words for me daughter? No greetings?” Cocoon asked her daughter.
Chrysalis stammered a little as memories of her childhood flooded past her. Once more she was a frightened little grub, staring in the face of her queen and life-giver.
“How, how can this be?” Chrysalis finally found herself being able to ask.
Cocoon only grinned further, “Why are you so surprised daughter? After all, you’ve been thinking of me haven’t you?”
This further shocked Chrysalis. She would have backed away, but kept herself firmly in place, “But I haven’t-”
“Oh don’t deny it!” Cocoon accused, “I’ve been in your thoughts ever since you stepped hoof in this dung heap of a village.”
The elderly changeling moved, suddenly circling her daughter. Chrysalis remained fixed in place. Even though she wasn’t looking at her mother, she knew the latter was looking at her.
“Yes, and I see this village has already done its work upon you,” Cocoon stated disapprovingly.
Chrysalis gulped, her former childhood fears gripping her, “What-whatever do you mean Mother?”
“Just look at this!” Chrysalis suddenly felt a sharp tug upon her right wing, “Take a look at your wings!”
Chrysalis hesitantly craned her neck behind her and gazed upon her wings. What she was was something that had escaped her notice: her wings were now sparkly, very much like how Thorax’s was before his ascension to the Changeling King. She had noticed it when he, Discord, Starlight, and that pony whose name escaped her arrived to rescue their friends. It wasn’t anything to note before, but she had found it peculiar. It was then he along with the rest of her hive transformed. And it was then Starlight offered her another way, a way she had refused.
She had vowed the deepest revenge upon her and made that her lifelong goal, only to fail spectacularly. Not even teaming up with Tirek or Cozy Glow had granted her victory, only a stone prison, a prison that was broken years later apparently.
“Yes they have certainly seen the taint of friendship,” Cocoon stated the “F” word with such distaste.
Hearing it sent chills down Chrysalis’s spine, at least it would have had she heard it before being turned to stone. Now? She felt a different feeling.
“Honestly I had hoped better for you daughter!” Cocoon stated that with such disdain.
“Mother I-”
“DO NOT INTERRUPT YOUR QUEEN!!!” Cocoon’s voice cut through the forest, spurring a whimper from Chrysalis, the very same she had uttered as a child, “Really, all those years of training you, teaching you all I know, only for you to squander it away by falling in love with some medical practitioner!”
“Medical? Do you mean Spring? But how did-”
“Have you been listening to anything I’ve said daughter? Don’t deny it, you care for that doctor, more so than anyone, I can feel the love for him radiating from your heart. It’s so sickening! Love was what brought down your kingdom!”
“It wasn’t my fault,” Chrysalis whimpered.
The response she received was a peal of shrill laughter, “Not your fault? Oh my dear how long are you going to delude yourself? It wasn’t Thorax, or Starlight that stole your kingdom, it was your failure to invoke fear from your subjects that caused you to fail!”
Chrysalis felt her mother's hot breath, laden with the stench of hookah smoke, breathe upon her. It sent tingles through her body, and she recalled all of those past moments so vividly. The forest before her transformed into the Changeling palace. Guards standing at attention, while her mother instructed her with another lesson. More than often her mother would fly into a rage, berating her, growing louder if tears fell, even resorting to physical punishments if it proved too irritating for her mother. There was no love, no kindness, no warmth, only fear and an instilled sense to obey. It made her wonder if her subjects had felt this way? Though they had been eager to follow her plan to invade Canterlot, and again to replace the most respected ponies in Equestria, only now could she understand they simply followed her out of fear, not respect.
And only now did she no longer feel any pride in that.
“Crystal!”
Chrysalis let out a gasp as the palace transformed back into the forest. Swiftly she turned around and was face to face with the two ponies who had grown on her since they found her.
“Spring? Summer?” Chrysalis exclaimed, almost hopefully.
The two siblings came to a halt as they gazed upon the one they had called “Crystal”. Both of them held visible expressions of disbelief. But that disbelief turned to acceptance as they realized the truth of the situation. But then it turned to shock as they noticed the second changeling in their midst.
“There’s another one!?” Summer exclaimed.
Spring was too busy focusing his attention upon Chrysalis he didn’t address Cocoon.
“Crystal? What’s going on?” Spring’s question was innocent.
Cocoon let out a mocking laugh, “Crystal!? Are you honestly going to drown yourself in that facade? It was a lie, a trick she used to deceive you!”
The hurt spread momentarily upon Spring’s face, but it quickly switched to defiance, “That’s not true!”
“Open your eyes you mewling little grub! You were a toy, a tool, something for my daughter to amuse herself with!” Cocoon spat.
“That’s not true Spring! You and Summer were never-”
“But now I see so long as you exist, my daughter will forever be tainted by the stain of friendship,” Cocoon’s horn began to glow furiously.
Spring’s eyes widened in shock as he could see the forming magic. Summer stood protectively in front of her brother but that did nothing to deter the magic that was forming upon Cocoon’s horn. Chrysalis herself watched with wide fearful eyes as the magic prepped itself, growing bigger until it reached its zenith.
“DIE WORMS!” Cocoon shouted as she unleashed the magic upon the two pony siblings.