Chapter 3:
We pool our power to cast,
Chrys awoke in a cold sweat having dreamt of her troubled past. Her breathing slowed and she relaxed her body, only to immediately get quite the jump after finally realizing that she had fallen asleep next to the queen. Queen Chrysalis had a habit of moving in her sleep, so Chrys had awoken to one of her forelegs wrapped around her body.
She hated having felt so scared over something so innocently mundane. Queen Chrysalis was her predecessor for goodness’ sake. For all intents and purposes, she was her mother. She had been... so long ago. More than that, the Queen had been placed into a deep almost unbreakable slumber that would take years to undo.
But even in just shaking her leg away to escape free from her unconscious grasp, Chrys was reminded all over again of the monster that slept within her. The cold chill that ran down the length of her spine just looking at her sleeping face was unmistakable.
It was just one more reason to want to step forward into tomorrow. Chrys’ ultimate goal was to save her mother. To save all of the changelings afflicted with madness. That was the solemn duty of a single little girl with nary the spine to even stand up for herself. There was something to be said when talking about real ‘strength’. Was strength the ability to move mountains, or to move mountains despite not having the ability to? With Chrys walking out of her cave into the world above to start a new day, her heart trembling in worry, anxiety, and excitement, it wasn’t hard to see which one of them it was.
The only thing different this time, however, was that Twilight had already arrived to pick her up. She had been standing near the entrance, counting the time despite the early, early morning. So early, that the sun had barely started breaking through the horizon with the sleepy world beginning to rouse. Upon spotting the changeling princess, she just smiled as though it were no issue at all to have been there at that time.
“Twilight!” Chrys exclaimed as she ran up to the purple alicorn to give her a hug. “Why. here. now?” Chrys was pleasantly surprised to see her here so early, and a bit worried.
“I was just thinking of waking up earlier is all,” Twilight said, trying to brush aside the issue to no avail, seeing that the little changeling would not budge on the question. ”The thought of you going through the Everfree forest alone scared me.” She whispered this under her breath after fake-coughing and looking away with embarrassment. “Besides, this way, we can start the day together.” She yawned at this and got down on her knees to allow Chrys to embark on her back.
While Chrys was very happy to see her so early in the morning after Twilight had gone out of her way to pick her up personally, she felt a little sorry that she had made her do this. After all, if there was one creature alive that would not be fooled by words alone, it was Chrys who could easily see the exhaustion of the forceful sputtering flame in Twilight’s soul trying its best to maintain itself despite the trials and tribulations of her busy life as newly crowned Princess.
To secure herself on Twilight’s back, she had to wrap her forelegs around Twilight in a hug, and in feeling sorry for what she was doing to her, the little changeling hugged her a little harder than usual apologetically. Unfortunately, Twilight was a relatively new flier and was almost entirely focused on keeping her altitude, so she hadn’t noticed this small sign of affection from Chrys.
“Twilight. Want. Ask.” Chrys spoke up during the middle of their flight.
“Oh? What is it, Chrys?” This was rare. The changeling had never asked for much before.
“Want to. sleep. home.”
“Oh no, are you still tired? I’m sorry, I’ll turn around now.” Before she could, she noticed Chrys rubbing her face on her back to indicate to her that she was shaking her head to refuse this.
“Sleep, at night. Home. Twilight Home. Yours.” The little changeling finally managed to say.
“Wait? Really?! Of course!!” Twilight exclaimed enthusiastically and almost lost focus on her flying in her excitement, which made her double back on her expression in her shame and embarrassment at having had such an outburst. She cleared her throat in trying to compose herself. “Ahem. Yes. Of course, Chrys.” She said a lot more straight-laced. “I would love for you to sleep over.”
It hadn’t been long since they had reunited and this plan of theirs for Chrys to go to school had been hatched. She had never really asked for much before, so this was a very rare opportunity indeed. As things were, the relationship between them was still in the air. Which is why Twilight had been beside herself when the little changeling girl had asked her to sleep over at night. As much as she knew of her, there were still many things she could not know from simple words alone and she had really grown to care deeply about her.
Having her sleepover meant that she could keep a closer eye on her safety too. Twilight was still very much afraid of leaving her to her own, especially when remembering the time when she first met Chrys in the woods in the shape of a pony and was badly injured. Twilight remembered how small and helpless she was when she first saw her cry, finally in her original form and weak from a fever. Then she remembered the moment when she had panicked in front of them, deathly afraid of the magic Twilight had used...
She didn’t understand why, but it scared her from the bottom of her heart to think that it could happen to Chrys again. It hurt to see her so lonely, so sad, so afraid. It hurt to see her hurt. Twilight knew she wasn’t as powerless as she looked. The little changeling’s magic rivaled if not surpassed hers. She also had the incredible ability to transform into powerful beasts, having seen her transform into a number of animals. In that show of mimicry, she had even shifted her form into an adult phoenix of all things! If nothing else, she could trust that Chrys would be fine if the worst came to pass. But... for her sake, she didn’t want her to even have to face those dangers to begin with if she could help it.
The morning passed by as usual with the only difference being Twilight had looked a little happier. She couldn’t help the smile that would plaster her face while thinking about the question between the two. So much so that even Spike had noticed the shift in mood on the purple alicorn.
“What’s got you in a tizzy, Twilight?” He asked her after breakfast was over, seeing her hum happily while dishwashing which was something she normally didn’t do. Happily, that is.
“Huh? What? Oh. Uhm.” Twilight beckoned the small dragon to come closer with one hoof so she could whisper into his ears. “Chrys asked if she could sleep here through the nights. I’ll finally get to have a sleepover buddy every day! I’m just thinking of what I should do to make the nights more fun.”
“Yeah uh... great. But where is she going to sleep? We gave away the guest bed and my basket is a little too small for her.” He whispered back.
Whisper all they might, Chrys’ hearing caught everything. She walked over to them and dropped her head apologetically.
“Um sleep. Sorry. Floor. Fine.” She said while she clacked her hooves on the ground once. This had been the first real show to Twilight of how good her hearing was, having taken them both by surprise at answering the whispered questions.
“Nuh-uh. No way. We can’t let you do that.” Spike responded first.
“Spike is right, Chrys. We’ll get the bed situation sorted out later. For tonight, would you be okay sleeping beside me? We’re no strangers to it after all.” Twilight followed up by gently patting the troubled changeling.
“Mm.” She nodded her response.
“That settles it then.” Twilight smiled at her almost instant response. “I’ll have to stop by the workshop today and request a new bed frame. Spike, today do you think you can head down to Fluttershy’s and ask her if she could start collecting some down for some new pillows and to Rarity’s for the sheets, quilts, and pillow casings?”
“You got it, boss,” Spike exclaimed with a salute to her.
“In the meantime, I’ll go ask Rainbow Dash to look out for any dense clouds we can use for the mattress fluff and to Applejack’s to see if she has any free hay for the bedding.” Twilight had begun writing everything down in the form of a list on a large scroll. “And Chrys?” She looked around to find that the small girl had disappeared from beside her. “Chrys?” She said a little louder scanning everywhere around her and feeling a bit relieved after spotting her standing like a statue beside the door to the outside.
“Yes. I. Chrys. Hello.” The little changeling said at the call of her name, waiting to go to school.
“Oh! I forgot to mention. There’s no school today Chrys, it’s a weekend!” Twilight laughed sheepishly, which made Chrys tilt her head toward her in confusion. “Ponies get to play and do what they want on Saturdays and Sundays.”
The small changeling girl just sat there, not knowing what she should be doing. No school today? That was a bit of a relief. But now there was nothing for her to do. She sat by the door quietly tapping her hooves while Twilight walked over to her to comfort the unsurety in her heart.
“But say, want to follow along with Spike today? You could help him and my friends gather the materials for the bed. Sound like fun?” Twilight asked her which prompted her to look over at the little dragon who had a thumbs-up pointed in her direction with a smile.
“Mm!” She beamed, happy to have something to do.
“That’s the spirit. Alright, so now we’ve got a bit to do today. Shall we head out?” Twilight opened the door to the outside to let the early morning in. “Spike, you know what to do if anything happens. Just send word for me.” With that, she took off into the air with her wings.
“Aye aye!” Shouted Spike over at Twilight, now a fair distance away. “Alright Chrys, let’s get to it. First stop: Fluttershy’s.”
While they walked, Spike told her embellished stories of his accomplishments to pass the time. The very tip of his flame flickered with each half-truth from what the little changeling could see. That alone was amusing and Chrys couldn’t help but smile in his direction. She liked the way Spike spoke of his tales and loved the way he looked happier after seeing that they were being listened to so intently. It was still early morning so there were hardly any pony-folk to stare at her. That morning jaunt was pleasant all the way to Fluttershy’s home, a home which sat on top of a small hill and decorated with many birdhouses and greenery with moss growing on her roof.
Spike walked up towards the half-doors that were at the front of the house and knocked on them with a bit of heft that sent a couple of easily spooked squirrels and other animals scattering in the near proximity. Chrys being empathetic as she was, whispered a sorry to them under her breath and lowered her head towards them, to the little dragon’s confusion while they awaited some response from the door.
“Um, who is it?” A shy mare popped open the top half door only to be met with nothing. “Hello?” She said with a hint of fear in her tone, immediately defaulting into thinking that she was being haunted by a ghost.
“Fluttershy, it’s me!” Spike shouted up at her which made her jump quite a bit. After she realized who it was, she finally composed herself and opened up the bottom door to reveal the baby dragon and the small changeling girl.
“Oh Spike, you gave me quite the scare.” She brought a hoof to her chest to try to slow down her heart. “And hello Chrys, it has been quite a while. Twilight told me you had returned. It’s good to see you again.” She bowed to the little changeling which prompted Chrys to bow back, which then made her bow a little back and vice-versa until diminishing returns eventually made them both stop. “What can I do for you two today?”
“Chrys is going to be sleeping over at our place, so we thought to make a new bed for her since we don’t have an extra. We came to ask you if it was possible to get some down for the pillows and to see if we could help you collect some.” Spike spoke up.
“Oh uhm... Yes, I think it’s possible. It’s good timing too. The southern birds just returned for the winter wrap-up. It’s the only time of year we get to see the waterfowl that magically produce too much down that it sheds off naturally. There should already be a good bit of it floating around my pond already. Follow me.” She said as she guided them towards the back of her house where a rather large pool of water rested nearby.
“Wow, you weren’t kidding, Fluttershy!” Spike exclaimed at the sight of small grey tufts floating along the banks and in the middle of the water.
“It’s been unusually heavy this time of year and it was becoming a real problem for the other migrating birds since they like to use this pond as a watering hole before they move on, but since the down tends to cling onto them, they’ve been leaving covered in it. It’s a real help to get some extra hooves and hands to help me.” She walked over near the pond’s edge and grabbed a small net with her mouth in order to fling it across the water. It collected a lot of the tufts in its return. “That’s how you do it. Think you got it down, you two?” She looked over at the two.
“Psh, easy. We’ll be done in no time.” Said Spike as Chrys nodded along.
Chrys couldn’t help but wonder why Fluttershy hadn’t just flown the net over the pond with her wings, but she figured that the yellow pegasus was more comfortable with her feet on the ground. It was a sentiment that she understood well. The one time she herself had transformed into that big fiery bird, she had almost plummeted to the ground in her instability from not having known how to fly. She was a little afraid of having to use her wings again, especially the ones on her back since they did not inspire confidence with their delicate, crystalline appearance.
Some time had passed before the three of them had collected a decent amount. Spike was already done in by that point and he lay sprawling on the floor exhausted. The pond had been a bit bigger than he had imagined it to be and casting the net as far as he could into the water had required more strength and physical labor than he had expected. Even Chrys and Fluttershy were worn out, and they were now casting their own nets slower and slower.
“Jeez, Fluttershy... I see what you mean. This is some hard work!” Said the pooped little dragon. Even Fluttershy stopped at this and took a look around to see how much they had collected.
“I think this is good enough for today, you two can stop now. This should be good enough for about three pillows and a bit extra in case you need to re-fluff them.” Fluttershy said in her efforts to be considerate to the two tired kids, even with many tufts still in the pond.
“Hmm? You heard Fluttershy right? It’s okay to stop now. We’ve got what we came for.” Spike called over to Chrys after he noticed the little changeling still casting out nets. “Chrys?”
“No, stop. Help birds. Migrate. Down bad, for birds.” She said a bit muffled with a net in her mouth as she cast yet another one into the water.
Spiked rubbed the scales on his head and sighed, Fluttershy looking at him with expressive concern. “Well, you heard her, ‘Shy. Let’s get this done.” He gestured rolling up the sleeves of some invisible shirt.
They were finally done after several more moments had gone by, and the three of them collapsed on the ground for a breather.
“Oh thank you. I’m so happy for the help. I’m sure my bird friends will be too.” Fluttershy said after taking a look at their handy work.
“It was *pant* nothing *pant*.” Said the baby dragon.
“Easy.” Smiled a cheeky Chrys looking over at the grunting Spike.
After collecting themselves from the tiredness, and before heading out towards their next destination with the down in hand, Chrys walked over to Fluttershy. She motioned a hoof to the yellow mare to have her tilt her head down towards her as if to whisper something in her ear. To Fluttershy’s surprise, instead, the little changeling touched her forehead with her own.
“Fluttershy. Thank.” She said after pulling away and finally leaving with spike, leaving the yellow pegasus quite happy.
She had been quite touched by that expression. Fluttershy had only ever heard of Chrys doing it to Twilight who had a much stronger bond with her. It was Chrys’ personal sign of affection, and it was something she only did with the ones she trusted most. But it seemed like the little changeling had been cooking up that gesture for her for a while now, as it felt predetermined. Fluttershy thought that, perhaps because she had been the one to nurse Chrys when she was feverish all that time ago, the small changeling girl had not forgotten that gesture of kindness and wanted to repay her in some way. Fluttershy couldn’t but think how bright of a child she was despite her black changeling coat while she watched Chrys wave goodbye enthusiastically at her before leaving with Spike.
“Alright. Last thing we gotta do today is to go check-up with the prettiest pony in Ponyville.” Spike checked off one of the only two things he had on his list.
Spike wasn’t at all reserved talking about the white unicorn. He spoke up a storm of flattering things for her. It seemed that Spike had grown to trust Chrys somewhat, or at the very least, believed she could keep a secret. Not like his behavior towards the white unicorn was a secret to anyone, but it mattered that he thought so and thought to make her a part of them.
Before he could lose himself in talking about her, however, a cloud shot down from above towards them and exploded into a mist when it hit the floor near them, startling the two silly. They had both fallen to the floor like two easily spooked goats. What followed behind it was the distinct cyan and rainbow colors of the sporty pegasus and Twilight who had been struggling to keep up with her.
“Oh hey! Chrys, was it? Sorry, here let me help you.” Rainbow Dash reached a hoof out to help her up off the ground, laughing with amusement. She reached another hoof over to Spike to help him up as well. “And you too Spike. Bahaha. Shoulda seen the look on your faces.”
“Rainbow Dash! Oh, look at what you did. Your pranks are almost borderline mean sometimes.” Twilight immediately flew down to the little changeling to hug her, brushing her hair that had been blown back and disturbed by the wind pressure. “Are you alright, Chrys?” Said a worried purple alicorn with confusion after seeing her laugh in the kind of hiccupy cute way the changeling knew how to laugh.
“It okay! Rainbow Dash, fun.” She said in-between laughs. Twilight was not amused. She shot a mean look at Rainbow Dash regardless.
“Okay okay, I’ll be more careful next time.” Said a sly pegasus amused at Twilight’s stink eye. “I didn’t do it on purpose though, Twilight. I was trying to check the cloud for its density like you asked me to.”
“By kicking it towards the ground?” Twilight said with suspicion.
“How else do you check for that then? Miss New-At-Flying.”
“Alright, you got me beat there. I’ll let it slide this time. But...” Twilight motioned one hoof from her eyes to Rainbow Dash’s to signal that she was watching her every move.
“You guys are a riot.” Said the cyan pegasus at this.
Chrys had made herself busy imitating Twilight’s actions on Spike by fixing his ‘hair’, or in this case, his scales much to the confusion of the baby dragon as he wondered what this meant. After feeling confident that she had helped him, Chrys moved back to face the cyan pegasus. She walked right in front of her in between their conversations to stare her down.
“Heya squirt, what’s up?” Rainbow Dash finally asked as she noticed the stare. After a bit of silence, it finally occurred to the Pegasus what the little changeling wanted, and as she motioned one of her wings upwards to stretch it, so did Chrys.
Chrys sorely wished to fly after all, even if she was scared to start doing it now. From the bottom of her heart, she wished to learn how, and there was no pegasus more respectable for flying than Rainbow Dash herself. You could easily tell how distant and unpracticed the flight of Twilight and Fluttershy was. They did not naturally incorporate their wings into their day-to-day lives. Rainbow Dash on the other hand was entirely different. She used her wings for everything. Heck, she would often fly instead of walk since it was more natural to her. Even down to the small facial and conversational gestures where others would use a hoof to express themselves, Rainbow Dash used her wings. Like in the way she pointed at things, she would point toward something in the distance with both her hoof and her wing. Or if she was thinking, she’d use her wing to rub her chin instead of the alternative.
Indeed, like most young ponies, Chrys too admired the colorful, athletic tomboy. For a while, Chrys kept imitating Rainbow Dash’s display of wing mastery to the best of her ability, until she finally got turned around and defeated by one move so complex, it left her a little dizzy, and slowly composed herself again. This had now been the second time that Chrys had done this, to the utter amusement of Rainbow Dash. She found it very fun to watch the little changeling follow along with her movements.
“What’s up with her?” Asked Spiked as he watched all of it go down like some weird interpretive dance between the two.
“Dunno, but she’s fun. I like her.” Said a bright-looking and satisfied Rainbow Dash looking over at Twilight who was helping Chrys stay upright from her spun dizziness.
“There’s not a lot of young ponies in Ponyville that don’t look up to Rainbow Dash. Maybe Chrys is the same?” Said Twilight, trying to figure her out while they talked right in front of her as though she wasn’t listening in on their gossip about her.
“Dash, cool.” Finally spoke up the small girl after she gathered her bearings. “Want, fly. Like Dash.”
“Oooohhhh.” Everyone said in unison, finally understanding what this was all about.
“For sure, I’m always down to teach ya!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, excited about the prospect of having a new student. A rather entertaining one at that. Strangely, however, Chrys pawed the ground gingerly showing that she did not fully agree with this idea.
“What’s wrong, Chrys? Don’t you want to learn how to fly?” Twilight asked after noticing this. Chrys shook her head and refused to answer with her words.
“She wants to learn but maybe Rainbow Dash just scares her.” Spike chimed in, making the cyan pegasus upset at him. Chrys shook her head again.
“I’m sorry, Chrys. If I would’ve known, I would’ve helped you learn but I’m not good at flying myself just yet.” Twilight spoke up.
“No um.” She had a hard time inking the words out. “Scared, flying. Wings. Mine. Not work, well.” She said, trying to hide away her shame by hiding her face in her hair and looking away from them.
“Twilight, come here a sec.” Rainbow Dash beckoned her over as they began whispering, still not fully aware of how good the changeling princess’ hearing was.
Rainbow Dash had already suspected as much from when she had seen Chrys fall from the sky after transforming into a phoenix from before. If anyone knew an inexperienced and unsteady flight pattern, it was the cyan pegasus, so she had already sensed what her worry was about before she had even said anything. Explaining this to Twilight, she ended their hushed talk by saying, “Leave this to me, I got it.”
“Hey Chrys, you wanna learn how to fly for real? No maybes or buts. Just a yes or no.” Rainbow Dash yelled out to her after taking a strong stance right in front of the small girl.
“Mm,” The little changeling nodded having her decision be forcibly dwindled down to the two options. If she had to choose, the answer was obvious.
“Then don’t you worry about a thing. I’ll whip you into shape so that your wings are strong enough to fly you anywhere you wanna go. That’s a promise!” Rainbow Dash held out both her hoof and her wing in a sort of duo fist-bump to her.
A little hesitant at first, Chrys swallowed her fears and met both of hers with Dash’s, sealing their promise in.
“That’s wonderful, Chrys,” Twilight said, hugely proud of her for having overcome a fear. “How about tomorrow then, Rainbow Dash? No school on Sunday either, so that’ll give you guys plenty of time to get some practice in.”
“Any time, any place.” Said the cyan Pegasus as she stretched her wings. Chrys nodded enthusiastically as well, a little happier now.
“For now, we’ve gotta finish rounding up these clouds for the mattress. Say, do you want to help us out Chrys? I think it would be some nice practice for your magic control.” Asked Twilight after remembering the task at hand and also considering that she was in the middle of teaching the little changeling her own special curriculum on the intricacies of magic. Chrys was more than happy to do anything with Twilight, so she nodded without hesitation.
“Alright, let me know when you’re done. I’m gonna go sit in the shade.” Spike went to go lay back on a nearby tree and closed his eyes to catch more rest.
A bit more of the day went by as both Rainbow Dash and Twilight flew off to catch a few dense clouds to kick them in order to see if they wouldn’t just burst immediately. They returned with quite the bundle under their wings.
“Alright, Chrys. No particular spell, all you gotta do is infuse a bit of magic into the clouds. That way, their physical structure will change into a more concrete chemical composition that we can u-” Twilight had begun to explain before getting interrupted by Rainbow Dash.
“What the dork is trying to say is that, if you add magic to the clouds, you can get them to become like cotton candy. Then we can stuff that mattress of yours with them and wullah! The best darn sleep you’ll have in ages.” She explained.
“Cotton. Candy?” The little changeling tilted her head again in the confusion of never having heard of such a thing. She had finished infusing the rest of the clouds with her magic and was touching them lightly to feel their texture while trying to imagine what that unknown thing might feel like.
“Oh my, Twilight. Tsk tsk. For shame. She doesn’t even know what cotton candy is. I don’t want to be the one to tell you how to care for someone but... I certainly can’t say you’re doing well.” Rainbow Dash whistled her sarcastic jeers at the alicorn.
“I get it.” Twilight sighed and looked at her with annoyance. “Chrys, after you and Spike finish up the thing with Rarity, we’ll go to the bakery where Pinkie Pie works at so you can try all sorts of sweets. Does that sound good?”
Chrys didn’t really know what any of this meant, never having had anything of the sort. But she assumed that it was good by the sound of it. ‘Sweets’. It sounded a bit like the pancakes she had, had the day prior. She nodded towards Twilight a bit unsure still, but eager all the same.
“Alright, then I’ll pick you up near the library once I’m done going to Applejack’s for the straw.” Twilight signaled Spike to come over who had woken up just a short bit ago and was patiently waiting for their talk to be over. “Did you finish getting enough down for the pillows, Spike?”
“All good. Check it out” He presented the large bag with the down to her. “It was a lot of hard work, but we got it done!”
“I bet. That looks like a lot of work. Very good you two, I’m very proud of you.” She patted both lightly, happy to see that their work had paid off. “I’ll make sure to thank Fluttershy later. See you in a bit!” She said, finally taking off to her next destination with Rainbow Dash.
“Okay, enough detours. Let’s go visit Rarity!” The little dragon exclaimed commandingly with enthusiasm.
It hadn’t taken them long to reach her boutique, but what had taken them quite a while was just getting inside it as a lot of ponies waited in line outside. When Spike asked one of them what the line was for, they found out that it was for almost every pony in town wanting to get Rarity’s new spring line-up of clothing. She had gained quite some traction and renown as a seamstress it seemed. This meant that the poor unicorn was absolutely crowded up to the ears with requests that she alone could not keep up.
Unfortunately, Chrys wasn’t handling the crowd very well. She could hear the whispers and the gazes piercing through her after some of them spotted her in line. Thankfully, she was saved by a rather rambunctious young filly that had been going up and down the line organizing the waiting ponies for her sister.
Sweetie Belle popped up from behind a customer suddenly. “Chrys, Spike? That you? Hey! What’cha doing here?”
“Heya Sweetie Belle. We came to see Rarity for some business, but it looks like she’s busy today. We’ll come another time. I don’t think Chrys is doing too good here.” Spike said in trying to be considerate to the poor changeling who was struggling to contain herself from running away.
Sweetie Belle thought a bit at this, “I can take you to her if you’re willing to help out. When she gets this overworked, she makes use of anyone that’s around her. Right now she has Opal all wrapped up like a Christmas tree with all her tools. I’m sure she’d appreciate the extra help!”
“I don’t mind. What do you think Chrys, wanna help her out?” He asked her, getting an immediate nod since she just wanted to get out of the crowd herself. “Sounds like a yes. But wait, why aren’t you in there helping, Sweetie?” He looked suspiciously at her.
“And be strung up like Opal? No thanks. Now go on, get to it.” Sweetie Belle pushed the two past the line and into the backdoor of the boutique so they could enter uninterrupted.
“Snip snip snip, gotta work gotta work.” Spike and Chrys heard the muffled voice of a VERY focused unicorn say as they were practically thrown into the boutique and the door locked behind them, preventing their escape.
“Um, Rarity?” Spike spoke up, not being able to distract her from the crazy pile of cloth in front of her. “Helloooo Rarity. Chrys and I came here to help you out.”
Immediately the sound of her sewing machine ground to a halt and she turned around in an instant.
“Oh! Spike! Why didn’t you say so? You’re a godsend you know that, dear?” She said, making him blush a bit. His enthusiasm at being complimented by his favorite pony immediately fell when a pair of scissors magically stuck to his hands at that moment and he got a list flown at his face with a bunch of different ingredients and textiles written on it. “No time to waste my wonderful little dragon, please fetch me all of these things from the upstairs attic where I keep the inventory. With haste!” She yelled out after him, rushing him more than he was already rushing himself to help her.
“Aye aye” His voice trailed off into the distance.
Her eyes were in a state of predation but immediately fell to normalcy when she finally eyed the changeling princess standing in the corner, waiting to hear some instructions for her.
“Chrys! Oh you wonderful gem, you’ve come back to us.” She immediately rushed to hug her in a tight embrace. “I was beside myself when you were sealed back into that nasty cave, darling. It must’ve been so foul. I was happy to hear Twilight had freed you again. But you know what this means right?” She smiled a huge smile at her. Strangely enough, even without any sinister motive behind it, Chrys felt a chill run down her spine. “I can finally make dresses for you! I dreamed of the day I’d get to see you again so I could start working on them. Your beautiful wings, your luscious hair, that wonderful dichotomy between your amber eyes and dark coat...”
The customer that had been waiting patiently in front of them coughed in an attempt to interrupt her thoughts. Rarity had almost lost herself in the touching reunion. She reluctantly let Chrys go and composed herself again.
“Fooey. It’ll have to wait for another time.” She furrowed her brows at the customer, which evidently upset them. Rarity was none too pressed by this, however, and she turned back to the little changeling. “But Spike said something about you being here to help, is that true, Chrys?” Rarity jumped up with excitement when Chrys nodded. The white unicorn proceeded to unload a couple of things onto her to hold. “You’re a diamond on the inside and out. Alright, if you can’t handle it, let me know okay?” She said with all the care in the world before diving back into her work.
She occasionally asked for things from Chrys like a surgeon’s assistant, the little changeling doing her best to keep up with her demands. While it seemed easy at first, the requests became more gradual and faster, only occasionally paused by a concerned Rarity who was trying to be extra mindful of her. Chrys refused to stop no matter how hectic it got within the store, and after several moments and with the help of Spike who had been trucking the materials to and fro, they finally got the work done by some miracle towards the end of the day, the sun now beginning its descent.
“Well well! I can’t believe we actually finished all of that in one day. What did I do to deserve such wonderful little creatures in my boutique today?” She asked the two tired kids after finally turning her open sign to the closed side, with no more ponies waiting outside.
“Maow.” Sounded the poor tied-up Opal in the corner, which made them all laugh and prompted Rarity to untie her. The haughty cat scoffed and walked back upstairs with attitude in her step.
“We came to ask for help on making the sheets, quilts, and pillow casings for a new mattress we were building for Chrys, but you looked busy so we wanted to help,” Spike spoke up. It would’ve been easy for him to take the credit for this idea, but the fact that he had shared it with Chrys meant the little dragon had quite a lot of integrity and had come to respect her too. Still, Chrys could tell what the white unicorn meant to Spike, and how much he wanted to please her, so she thought to help him at that moment as well.
“Mm. Help, Rarity! Friend. Spike, idea.” She said, making both of them quite happy at this statement.
“You consider us friends?! Why I’m honored. Come here you wonderful little you.” Rarity hugged her in a tight embrace, pulling Spike in against his will after she noticed she had left him out. ‘Against his will’ was a little strong, especially considering the baby dragon flushed in the embrace all the same. “Thank you both for today. I’ll get started right away on those things.” She thought about it for a bit then had an idea. “I have some special material somewhere around here, it would be just perfect! Don’t you worry, Rarity will get it done before the day is up! Feel free to run along now.” She said as she pulled out a rather special roll of cloth and began focusing intently on it.
“Let’s go over to the library, Chrys. Twilight might already be waiting for us there.” Spike guided her out of the boutique to leave the white unicorn to her devices.
Once the door had closed behind them, Spike turned to look away from Chrys as he voiced out ”thanks” under his breath and then walked ahead silently, leaving the changeling girl to smile at him from behind. They continued towards the library in this kind of silence until they both began to feel a trembling in the earth. Their balance had been shaken and stirred by the increasing tremors to the point they had trouble standing upright.
Suddenly, a lot of the pony-folk began to panic all around them. with many of them diving for their homes and shops to close up in a hurry. In an instant, it had become a whirlpool of negative emotions all around Chrys as she could sense their anguish. More than that, there was a massive wave of negativity approaching the town fast. So much so that it physically hurt her to stay standing once she’d begun to feed her magic on them. She wanted to cut those feelings off right there and then and go back on her own promise to herself, but she would not allow it even if it killed her.
It had become so incredibly tasking on her small body, however, that the force of those emotions had physically pushed her to the ground. She struggled with all her might to stand up, but there was little that she could do in her own capacity. Meanwhile, Spike was yelling with all he had to get her to get up. After a while, he finally realized that she would not be able to by some strange happening outside of her control. In his own panic, he grabbed the little changeling and began to pull her with his strength toward the library.
Over the horizon, Chrys saw Twilight’s body come into view flying over to the town as fast as she could along with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. They were in a bit of a panic themselves, and Chrys could feel their stress and emotions from all that distance away. It felt like she was reliving her past all over again. It felt like that moment she thought that all hope had been lost when they had faced Queen Chrysalis in all her madness and power. It hurt her immensely to see and sense these emotions in Twilight and her friends.
Chrys brought both of her hooves towards the ground and pushed against Spike, who had lost his balance due to the shaking, and let her go as he fell to his stomach.
“Spike, sorry.” Chrys had shouted over to him amidst the din of panicked pony voices while struggling to stay standing and using her magic to substitute her strength and equilibrium.
“Wait, Chrys!” He yelled out after her as he saw her run in Twilight’s direction.
Rainbow Dash was the first to reach her but flew right past her having not noticed her, towards the direction of the town to start yelling at the top of her lungs. “Stampede! We can’t stop it!! Every pony, evacuate!!!”
From the horizon and over a hill, a mass swarm of cattle was approaching the town, all deathly afraid of something and panicking in unison. Now the town had gone into an uproar with every pony running out of the town with all their might. The maelstrom of negativity was now pushing down on Chrys from both sides their feelings stabbing at her like spears, but she ran towards Twilight nonetheless... towards the stampede.
At the front of the herd, she could see the distinct color of Applejack desperately trying to pull and wrangle the leading cow with her lasso, but to no avail. The mighty bovine had been too large and too powerful to budge from her panicked sprint. Even though Twilight desperately tried to subdue her with her alicorn magic, she could not win against the wave of emotions that counteracted the lulling effect of her spell.
They had been consumed by madness.
“Chrys!!” Twilight yelled in horror as she spotted the changeling princess running up toward the herd.
Before she could speed towards her to save her, she saw Chrys’ unique golden magic weave around her after she came to a halt only a small distance away from the steadily approaching stampede. The energies of her magic had reached their critical point and a massive beacon of light exploded into the sky, the glowing saber from her horn crackling with sheer power.
Twilight rushed to her side and started trying to pull her away from the overpowering forces of this magic. She knew from experience how incredibly dangerous this amount of magic could be. “Chrys! You need to stop! You’ll get hurt!!” As if to agree with her, the very earth beneath them began to crack and Twilight was pushed away a few feet by the pulsing mass of power.
Twilight struggled with every ounce of her being against the waves that fought against her from reaching the little changeling. Finally getting close enough to touch her, Twilight hung onto her in a tight hug. The magic began to disperse almost at once after their physical connection, and the glowing eventually subsided leaving the two weakened. Mentally, physically, and emotionally. They dropped to the floor from their exhaustion.
“Chrys...” Twilight called out to the little girl with weariness. “Are you okay?”
“Mm.” She called back to her much the same.
Twilight began to laugh and brought her forehead onto hers amidst being sprawled on the ground, making them both smile. With a start, Twilight finally remembered what this was all about, and she immediately found the strength to get up in a panic.
“The stampede!” She looked back to see what had resulted from all of this, and to her pleasant surprise, the bovines had been calmed and were now talking to Applejack about why they had been spooked... again.
“Oh deary me. It was sooo scary. I thought we were seeing deer, or maybe a donkey? Goat? But then we were sure we saw a snake, and you know how we are about snakes don’t cha Applejack? But we learned our lesson from last time. Don’t overreact Bertha, I told myself. But then we saw quite some shady figures trailing about that thing behind it and all bets were off! We’re so so sorry we disturbed Ponyville again, eh?”
“If it helps you relax any, my gals and I will investigate what you saw later. How’s that sound?” Applejack asked her.
“Would you, dear? That’d be lovely yes. If we panic again, I’ll be sure to steer clear from this place ok-ey?”
“Sounds like a deal Bertha, don’t be a stranger none. But not in this capacity.” Applejack waved them off and then slowly stepped up to Twilight and Chrys who were barely regaining themselves again, trailed by Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash who had finished advising the townsfolk that everything had returned to normal.
“Quite the bad time for Winona to be sick! Poor gal. So sorry about the mess ya’ll” Applejack started off with. “But thankfully, we’ve got quite the pair of hooves to help us out now in case of emergencies!” She smiled brightly at Chrys after Twilight had helped the changeling princess off the ground. “I kid, of course, I don’t think I ever wanna put you through that again, sugarcube. My heart almost dun fell out of my chest.”
“But talk about power! Did you all see that?! That was incredible. It reminds me of what happened back in the cave with Chr-” Rainbow Dash stopped herself from talking about what they considered a sensitive subject. She got stink eyed by the rest of the mare friends.
“Twilight! Chrys!” The little purple dragon tripped and fell in his haste to reach them while running. Spike slid on the ground in a rather comical way, making everyone chuckle and forget what had almost been said. “Thank goodness! You have no idea how scary that was watching all of that from a distance.”
“Trust me, Spike, I know,” Twilight sighed in relief.
“I can’t stop shaking myself. I’m just happy nothing happened to Chrys.” Fluttershy spoke up.
“What’s all the ruckus? I was working on the things you asked of me, Twilight, when the whole town went up in a panic.” Rarity’s voice came into earshot as she eyed the group after having approached them. “Oh dear no no no! Look at you.” Rarity began shaking the dirt out of Chrys’ hair. “You’re all messed up. What in heaven’s name happened here.”
“Seems like some kinda creature got the ol’ girls all tied up last night and they started stampeding towards the town. Winona is out for the count right now so it was going to be next to impossible to get them to calm down. Luckily, our little gal here has quite the party trick.” Applejack gestured over to Chrys, making her mighty shy at this comment but being unable to hide it from her magical exhaustion.
“I need her to be my model for my new changeling line-up. I swear if you let her get even one hair on her head out of place again! " Rarity said with concern, trying to hide it with her ‘selfish’ intentions.
“I don’t know what I’d do myself at that point Rarity. It was terribly nerve-wracking as it was.” Twilight pressed her body to the changeling again, stuck to her like glue in her concern. Emotions were still running pretty high at this point.
“Oh! But that reminds me. In better news, I finished the things you asked of me Twilight, at the behest of my little helpers.” Rarity magically produced the items for the bed.
“Wonderfully done Rarity but wait...” Twilight eyed the materials carefully. “Isn’t this magical silk? Are you sure? It’s very expen-”
“Nonsense!” She cut her off. “It’s a gift for Chrys. For Ponyville’s heroine, no? Besides, you forget who you’re speaking to. I’m one of the best seamstresses in Equestria, dear. I can get this stuff easily.” She dismissed it altogether. Everyone smiled at her obvious fib.
Perhaps from the tiring events of the day, or maybe some other strange mechanism working in her mind, Chrys’ thought fell on one particular subject that was addling her mind. To no one in particular, she exclaimed the words that filled her head in that moment.
“Cotton. Candy!” She jumped, startled by the words that burst out of her involuntarily, which made her turn away in embarrassment as all their gazes turned to her.
“Bahaha!” Rainbow Dash dropped to the floor in her laughter. “You heard her Twilight! Her mind is in one place right now. What say you?”
“She more than deserves it at this point. What do you say, girls? Spike? Wanna throw a little party right now before the day ends?”
“You needn’t ask, darling.” Rarity was the first to agree.
“To the bakery then?” Spike asked, prompting Twilight to nod.
Twilight took the time to drape the tired changeling over her back as she asked her to hold on while they all walked over to the bakery. It embarrassed her a bit to be seen like this by others, but she loved clinging to Twilight like this and she was still emotionally exhausted from the day, so she didn’t complain.
“Come to think of it, I haven’t seen Pinkie Pie all day. Where could she be? She’s usually the first one I spot in my rounds.” Twilight mused to herself.
“No idea Twi’. That one is a mystery in a handbasket.” Applejack replied with her peculiar colloquialisms.
Strangely, knocking on the bakery door yielded no answer except the immediate clatter of falling pots, pans, utensils, and plates that could be heard behind the door.
“Wait wait! In a minute!” Exclaimed the voice from within.
“Pinkie? You okay in there?” Twilight asked with a bit of concern.
Chrys was catching a strong scent of food coming from inside. Multiple things, very sweet in nature. The allure was extremely compelling to her newly adapted pallet.
Finally, the doors burst open after a bit with a very exhausted Pinkie Pie breathing heavily and trying her best to compose herself, blowing on a little party horn to try and do her usual party welcoming gesture.
*Bfft* Sounded the uncharacteristically weak little toot.
“Uhm. Are you sure you’re okay, Pinkie? What’s got you so run down?” Asked Rainbow Dash.
Pinkie Pie’s expression fell at this question, and her hair deflated almost completely, straightening out. She sat on the ground defeatedly and sniffled her remorse back. Then she rolled back into the door of the bakery, shutting it behind her in this strange gesture of hers. The party of friends walked into the bakery to see what ailed their pink friend and noticed a very densely packed scenery of snacks, sweets, confections, streamers, and party decorations.
Most of them ruined.
“So I heard Dashy and Twilight talk about Chrys coming over later for cotton candy and I thought I should throw the biggest coolest party ever for her and it took forever to get everything ready and then the ground started to shake shake shake and wham bam everything fell to the ground and in a hurry I tried putting everything back together but some stuff had already been on the ground and I was like ew no no one is gonna wanna eat that and so I threw a lot of it out and all that’s left is the ugly but clean stuff that got ruined in the shaking and now I couldn’t make the awesomest party for Chrys like I wanted to and now everything is ruined and I’m so sorry.” She said all in one rushed, breath.
“Oh Pinkie, we’re sorry. We had some trouble with a stampede earlier and it must’ve messed up your whole plans! But don’t worry, we can always have another party later. I’m sure Chrys wouldn’t mind.” Twilight tried to reason with her. She looked over her shoulder to see the expression of the little changeling in case she had been disappointed, readied to comfort her. But she was missing. Instead, they were all met by the squeaking delight of the changeling princess as she dug into the ugly-looking ruined cakes and cookies in the corner, having been naturally called to them.
Well obviously.
What did Chrys know about presentable confections and parties? For all she knew, this was normal for a ‘party’. The chaotic mess of bright colors and wonderfully sweet food was making her quite happy regardless of how broken it might’ve seemed to the average pony. In moving on to the next set of sweets on the table, she stepped onto multiple party poppers that had been shaken to the floor and popped them inadvertently, spooking her but then delighting her at the wonderful little display of confetti that shot out of them.
Yes, all alone, the little changeling was having a party of her own. Everyone looked on in awed wonder and silence at the strange creature enjoying herself immensely. The pink in Pinkie Pie’s coat seemed to return to her at the sight of this, and she was the first to go join her in this wacky way of partying. Slowly but surely, every other pony shrugged off their preconceived notions of what a typical party ‘should’ be and started to liven the mood in this wonderfully weird atmosphere they had created.
During one of their party games to pin the tail on the pony, Spike slid on some cake that had fallen on the floor which caused uproarious laughter. The punch was full of small little balls that had been party decorations that fell in the earthquake, and Chrys had a delicious blast trying to fish them out with her mouth, to the dismay of Rarity who had strongly advised her not to ruin her mane. They even tried making a tossing game with the inedible cookies that had been spoiled by the shaking and having been thrown to the ground.
She finally got to try out cotton candy for the first time too, and she loved every bit of it, now with a deeper understanding of what Rainbow Dash had said about the clouds.
Once night had fallen and the party ended, Chrys asked Applejack to stay behind after every other mare took their leave and Spike left for the library. Doing the same thing she had done to Fluttershy, she took her by surprise when she pressed her forehead onto hers.
“Why thank you, sugarcube. This is a mighty fine gift.” Applejack tipped her hat to her. “We’re friends forever and always.” She ruffled her hair with a hoof before departing herself, leaving a giggly Chrys behind with Twilight and Spike.
“Mm!” Chrys exclaimed after her.
With that, the day had come to an end, and all that was left to do now was to return back to the cave and cast the spell she was destined to do.
Before she had sunk into the cave, however, Chrys looked back at Twilight and opened her mouth to speak but said nothing. She had trouble saying what she had in her heart. Chrys could feel the mental block on the words she wanted to speak, afraid from the bottom of her heart to utter them.
“Chrys, what’s wrong?” Twilight asked her with worry in her tone as she was still nervous about leaving the changeling on her own.
“Twilight. Please.” Chrys finally said after she mustered her courage. This made Twilight perk up with a start. She was asking for something very sincerely... This required her full attention. “Come, with, me. Help me. Please.” She reached out one hoof towards Twilight, asking her to take it.
Twilight was stunned. For more than just the almost complete sentence she had made. What she was asking of her was a very big deal... This was a step forward for both of them. This was them facing the past together. She was asking for help with that. OF COURSE Twilight took that hoof as fast she could. How could she not?
Walking down the corridors she had once walked through to help Chrys, Twilight felt incredibly nervous. She didn’t know what the little changeling was thinking. It was hard to imagine what this request was. It had been almost a month since they had reunited after Twilight had finally convinced the guardian to open his mouth to free the Changeling Princess, but she had refused for a long time to even leave. She could only hazard a guess as to why. It probably had something to do with the Queen. The last moment she had seen of her before being separated for quite a while was Chrys holding onto her body.
She had only ever asked for help once before. A desperate cry for help at that. Chrys had asked her to teach her a spell.
”Twilight. Please. Want spell. Make bad thoughts. Leave.”
Walking into the chamber where the body of Queen Chrysalis lay, Twilight felt her heart almost break at the sight of the little changing having sat down beside the Queen’s bed, recounting the tale of her day to the one creature who could not listen to her words. Had she been doing this every day? Was she practicing talking by doing this, or was there something deeper in this expression of hers? The mad Queen had mentioned that Chrys had been her daughter, so it all made such solemn, sad sense. It took a lot to keep herself from crying. She didn’t want to worry Chrys while she was in the middle of doing this.
After her tale ended, Chrys put her forehead to the Queen’s and began to cast that familiar spell.
Twilight knew what this was all about now. She had guessed every detail about the changeling princess correctly. She was trying to, slowly but surely, rid the madness that had consumed her kin. This was the reason why Twilight hadn’t seen another changeling since Princess Chrys’ release. This was why she had agreed to go to school, and to her plan to get ponies to accept her kind...
The cataclysm that had left the changelings in utter ruin... the grief that had driven them to insanity... their rampage and hatred that followed... and their inevitable imprisonment and release after many years in this destitute darkness...
This girl... this wonderful little soul... was shouldering all of that on her tiny shoulders as she worked to free them from that.
But there was only so much one small, frail changeling could do. Only so much a single soul could give of itself before it burned out completely. Twilight watched her spell fizzle out before she could complete it, tired and exhausted from having overused her magic that day. Chrys had foreseen this coming before she had even attempted it, and she had asked for her help out of desperation and necessity. That is why Twilight was allowed to be here... why she was allowed to witness this...
Twilight united her forehead to the Queen’s and to Chrys’ before the little changeling could pull away, and cast the remainder of that spell with the three of them connected. The changeling princess smiled weakly in her exhaustion, having so strongly trusted that Twilight would help her in this.
Chrys signaled to her that there was still more work to do with one tired hoof. Twilight nodded and draped the exhausted girl over her body. She was guided down the hall by her and into a large chamber where the rest of her brethren lay.
Chrys was taken aback as Twilight used the same spell they’d used to a much bigger area of effect, having filled the entire room with its power without having to touch anyone’s forehead, much like Chrys herself had done to the bovine in her desperation without understanding how or why. Afterward, they finally began walking back towards the exit to leave for Twilight’s home. Twilight could feel her become sleepier and sleepier on her back. She yawned from the exhaustion of that day, being lulled asleep by the rocking of her steps.
“Twilight. please. teach. spell” Chrys said as she fell into her dreams on that cold, starry night.
