Chapter 5:
We’ll find where we belong,
Dawn had arrived once again, yet Twilight had not slept at all. She had been up all night tending to the small changeling while she fevered on in her sleep. Even if she thought that there had been some time to take a rest, she knew her mind would not let her. Likely from any such feeling that she’d get staring at the pained little girl hugging her doll with all her might, as weak as that hug was due to the ailing of her sickness.
Twilight had finally understood why Chrys had become ill. Both now and all that time ago when they had first met her.
It was her. Twilight herself. She was the one to do this to her. This had been the effect of breaking her heart. The result of becoming overwhelmed by the feeling of being abandoned by the ones she trusted and loved the most. The conclusion to a soul who did not stop those emotions from affecting her, allowing them in their full capacity and having felt them every day. The final drop in the bucket being the events of yesterday after Twilight had gotten angry at her for having done something reckless.
Twilight was torn up by guilt. Even if she had been rightly justified in getting upset and even if her anger had come from a good place in wanting to see Chrys safe... She had overdone it. She sincerely wished she could take back her words and rewind time, but what was said, was said and all that was left to do was live with that consequence. Take responsibility for it. All throughout that day, Twilight stayed by the side of the small girl. She reapplied Fluttershy’s salve, switched out the cold compress on her forehead, and fed her Applejack’s rice-apple gruel, the girl too weak to even have brought the spoon to her mouth. At nighttime, she performed Chrys’ duties for her, having brought along the little changeling draped on her back, hoping she’d feel relieved in witnessing that it was still getting done.
Come the following day, however, the girl’s condition had not gotten better despite the remedies that had worked almost instantly the one time before. In fact, it seemed as though she was getting worse as time went on, worrying the purple alicorn to no end. Twilight was a right mess and had begun to panic. Despite being reassured many times by her friends and Spike, she could not calm down. The incredibly strong feelings that now rested in her soul, unlike the first time Chrys had gotten sick, had made her blind to see why the little changeling ailed in the first place. Despite her book smarts on all things about changelings and Celestia’s own recounting of them when Twilight had spoken to her about their past, Twilight in her distress could not see the puzzle pieces she was desperately trying to find.
On the third day she was sick, Twilight had called for any medical professional who could help both within Ponyville and even some from Canterlot, but to no avail. None of them were familiar with changeling physiology and any normal remedies or medications did nothing to help her. Eventually, she even enlisted the help of her friend Zecora. She was an expert in all sorts of magical ailments and at this point, Twilight was hoping for anything that could help half believing it was one. Twilight paced around the room listlessly while the zebra silently inspected the small girl by opening her mouth, eyelids, and placing a hoof on her chest, wings, and back. Finally, as she touched Chrys’ forehead and thought a bit, she gave the distraught alicorn her diagnosis.
”She is a very unique child, in more ways than one.
Her eyes are very special, as they see the fire, the sun.
The heart in a pony and all living creatures, like any old book.
She has the ability to read them all. Perhaps that’s what has her so shook?” Zecora mused to herself in her distinct way of speaking.
“What does that mean Zecora? Her eyes? I don’t understand...” Twilight said, not giving Zecora time to explain herself before she already started wracking her brain over it.
”I’ve heard of a creature with them only once before.
An ancient tale, passed down in my old home’s folklore of yore.
A legend of eyes being able to see and sense all manner of truths.
The hearts, the minds, the intentions in anyone and anything that moves.
A special trait that no normal creature is born into being with. How very strange isn’t it?”
“So that’s why she...” Twilight was slowly understanding everything about the changeling princess.
Why she acted the way she did. Why she was always so considerate of others when they were troubled, despite not showing it on their face like she had done with Spike and herself. Why she didn’t complain much and hadn’t argued against things she didn’t like or didn’t want to do. Twilight remembered the first few times they walked in public together, and the first day of her school. She understood now why she was so sensitive over the smallest things even when the words that had been said to her were light and entirely hidden in pleasantries.
Twilight had spoken to random passersby to spread the word of her having accepted Chrys under her wing in order to let Ponyville know she was a friend if they ever saw her on the street. No ponies had said anything unpleasant in front of Twilight. They spoke empty expressions. Anything to appease her and to agree with her rule as the new crown Princess. Twilight had wondered what had made the little changeling so scared at that time. She’d hidden behind her while they went through the town. Twilight guessed that it was just the nerves and the nature of her shy attitude that had made her this way.
But Chrys... she was a bright child, full of warmth and love for anyone who would give her the time of day. She had, had no problems getting along with the Cutie Mark Crusaders by what Miss Cheerilee had told her, and she had won over a spiteful Spike who had initially been against her. From having heard recounts from her friends and from piecing together what she could from hearing Chrys speak about those two days to the queen, she had also made friends with a variety of ponies who had treated her well, not just among her friend group who she had already been acquainted with but also with Big Mac, Granny Smith, Mr. And Mrs. Cake, and the tots.
So then... what Twilight had initially perceived as Chrys being shy might as well have been a lie. Or perhaps a half-truth at best. If Chrys had seen the true feelings in others... If those decorated words from those random citizens had made her this way... there really was only one very sad, very unfortunate truth. In making her go to school and increasing her exposure to the public, Twilight finally realized a very important thing that she would never have heard come out of the little changeling’s mouth and she would’ve never known if this hadn’t happened the way it had.
Chrys wasn’t just living with the sad reality of the changeling’s past, present, and future. She was living with the ponies’ too. Their inherent distrust, dislike, and prejudice that had ingrained themselves, despite a generation of knowledge being lost... Those nasty feelings still lingered to this day.
If Twilight’s guilt had been the size of a mountain before, now it felt like it was as big as Equestria. Her heart ached at the thought that she had made a terrible mistake in pushing Chrys to go to school. That it was a mistake having asked her to live in the world above outside of her cave. That it was a mistake having released her from that dark prison...
”Twilight Sparkle, I know the face you make.
You’re conflicted and hurting over some form of mistake.
You think you’ve done wrong by this child, do you not?
But all I see is how much she loves you, yes, you and your lot.
We make mistakes and we grow past them. We get up and carry on.” Zecora said having read the mood and expressions on Twilight’s face.
Twilight brushed the tears of regret that were forming in her eyes after Zecora pushed her away from those thoughts. There was no way she would allow herself to think that spending time together with Chrys was a mistake. And she had promised herself that she would do the same for Chrys in that regard.
“Thank you Zecora...” Twilight said faintly, bowing her head to her. “How do we cure her of this sickness for now then?” Twilight asked after seeing Chrys huff weakly amidst her fever.
Zecora laughed heartily much to Twilight’s confusion. Despite it being spelled out to her, Twilight was still blinded by her overwhelming guilt and her saddened feelings. She hadn’t noticed the obvious solution staring at her in the face.
”What ails the girl is actually very simple.
The changeling’s heart is like a plugged-up thimble.
There is no current, no flow through her thoughts.
She’s worried, and panicked, and her mind is wrought.
By the same thing that ails you, Twilight, this much you should believe.
For changelings feast on emotions, so be careful of what you feed.”
With that, Zecora took her leave and left Twilight to contemplate what she said. For all the studying she had done, and for all the practice she had with raising and living alongside Spike... It seemed Twilight was still a long way away from being a seasoned parent. Slowly but surely, she understood. Sure enough, the answer had been incredibly simple.
“Changelings feast on emotions.” Twilight reiterated to herself, knowing now that all her panic, her worry, her guilt, her stress, and sadness... she had been subjecting Chrys to it the entire time having not moved from her bedside.
Fate was kind of cruel, wasn’t it? Thought Twilight in that moment of realization. She keeled over defeatedly and laughed weakly at the turn of events. Oh, how it had a habit of making fools of them all.
But even in knowing this, it wasn’t like she could flip a switch on her feelings immediately. It had helped no doubt, but the best thing for Twilight to do now as she had guessed, was to leave Chrys’ side for a while in order to return to her in a calm state. If Changelings fed on emotions... then Twilight also came up with an idea at that moment considering this. For the first time in those two almost three days now, Twilight left Chrys’ bedside to go talk to Spike and left out of the home herself.
Chrys had fluttered between restless sleep and being half-awake in a lucid state of mind. She had only caught a bit of the events that happened in the time since she had fallen ill and had heard very little of Twilight and Zecora’s talk before the dizziness had brought her back to her dreams. But she understood that Twilight now knew of her special ability, and Chrys had become very afraid of being abandoned by her thinking that she was some creepy child. To make matters worse, once she’d finally awoken to full consciousness, she was not met by Twilight’s face at all like she had been in the days prior. Her fever had finally broken, but so too could be said about her heart and she would’ve begun to cry had it not been for the familiar face of a small purple dragon who’d been busy switching out the compress on her forehead.
“Chrys! You’re awake! How are you feeling?” Spike helped the changeling sit up when she noticed her awake and urging her body forward, still weak from the fever’s effect.
“Twilight...” Was the first thing to come out of her mouth, making the little dragon’s face furrow in worry. Twilight had explained the details to him earlier. He was conflicted in telling her that she could not see Twilight until later, considering the plan that the purple alicorn had concocted.
“She’s a bit busy right now, but she’ll come home later okay?” Spike said very carefully and gently, pulling the doll upwards in the little changeling’s grasp up towards her chest since it had drooped in her sadness from not having seen her when she’d awoken.
“Mm.” She said faintly, fog crowding around her eyes and prompting the purple dragon to pet her and comfort her as much as he could in his capacity. It took a while for him to get Chrys to calm down again, enough so that he could finally begin Twilight’s idea to help her feel better.
“Take a look, Chrys.” He pulled out a half-eaten yellow crystal in a small box. It was displayed on top of a small red cushion of velvet. “I didn’t eat it in the end. I figured Twilight was right, and I should keep it around as long as possible. Um, you know, just for remembering the good ol’ days in the future and stuff.” He rubbed his head with embarrassment, lightening up the little changeling’s heart after having seen this. “A bit of a shame though, it was pretty tasty...” Spike began to drool as he looked at his own gift from within the box.
“I’ll, make more! Know Spike, like gem.” She said finally smiling for the first time in a few days.
“Really?!” He brought his head close to the changeling to whisper. “For real?” Chrys nodded, amused at his reaction. His eyes lit up with joy and pumped one arm with his claws in a fist. “Thank you Chrys, I’ll make it up to you if you do. Just don’t let Twilight know because I know she won’t let me eat ‘em if it's from you.” He said, still whispering and looking around.
“Mm!” She giggled.
“Oh uh, aside from that.” He coughed and composed himself again. “You have a few visitors today that have been waiting for you to wake up. I’ll call them in little by little so that they come and see you in turns. Is that okay, Chrys? Think you could handle that?”
She tilted her head inquisitively not knowing who would want to visit her but nodded all the same in agreement at Spike’s question. The first to appear before her after Spike had walked off were the familiar orange cowboy and the shy yellow pegasus.
“Applejack, Fluttershy!” Chrys exclaimed at the sight of them, getting two warm hugs from the mares. “Hello. Good, morning. Um. Afternoon? Evening?” She said, looking around towards the window to spot the time.
“Good evening, sugarcube.” Applejack responded to make it easy for her. “We heard from a purple someone that you were bedridden so we came again to see how you were holdin’ up. Seems like you’re better already.” She took out a very bright and very red apple at these words. “I went ahead and picked the best lookin’ apple in the lot for ya and a whole heap of em that I left in your kitchen. The definitive taste of Sweet Apple Orchards!” She beamed with pride while holding it aloft for Chrys to take.
Chrys ate it heartily after her first bite, not having known how deliciously sweet apples were naturally since she had only ever had their diluted taste from the apple-rice gruel. To the joy of the two mares while they watched her eat it like a small squirrel.
“But that’s not all. This here is also my thanks, for the wonderful gift you gave me the other day.” Applejack presented Chrys with a basket full of apple-oriented sweets like pies and apple fritters. She would’ve eaten them right there and then had it not been for one hoof from Applejack that got in her way. “Now hold on little missy. You’re still recovering. This here is some heavy stuff. They’ll keep for a while so wait until you’re feeling better to eat ‘em, okay?” Applejack patted the disappointed girl with one hoof. Chrys nodded and agreed nonetheless having understood Applejack’s point, not knowing if she could even stomach them yet considering the apple she’d had earlier was having a hard time staying down. “It’s not just the basket I came to give ya, it’s a symbol. This shows you’re welcome on our farm. So stop by for some desserts and good times, any time!” Chrys could understand how meaningful this gesture was by the feelings inside the mare. It made her happy to know that she would be unconditionally welcomed to their home.
“And I brought you this. For the huge help you and Spike gave me at the pond and for the wonderful gem you gifted me. Oh, I hope you like it.” Fluttershy gingerly pushed in front of her three wonderfully made picture frames created from small sticks, feathers, pebbles, and other natural nicknacks likely collected with the help of her animal friends.
They looked almost like square birds’ nests. In one of them, there was a picture of the six friends huddled together to show their friend circle. It brought Chrys a lot of joy to see it. On the second, was a picture of Twilight and Spike smiling at the camera. Chrys couldn’t help bringing the two pictures to her chest to hug them, automatically loving any paraphernalia that reminded her of Twilight.
Strangely enough, the third picture frame was empty.
“It’s just a little something to remember us by, wherever you are,” Fluttershy said, smiling sweetly at the sight of the little changing feeling quite happy at the other two pictures and looking inquisitively at the third. “That last one is for you to place a picture of your own in, so you can take a photo of yourself together with something or someone you really like.”
Chrys thought hard about it for a while in silence while she looked it up and down. A picture... she definitely wanted to include Twilight. And Spike. And all of Twilight’s friends. And all of her own friends... It was hard thinking about what to do with it.
“Well, you can always decide what to add to it later, sugarcube. No rush.” Piped up Applejack noticing the troubled expression on her face.
“Don’t forget about me! I also brought you something.” Swooped in the cyan pegasus to everyone’s surprise in that instant.
“Technically it was I who made it, but Rainbow Dash did commission me for it so the credit should go to her. Still. I wanted you to keep that in mind when you look upon my work!” Rarity bellowed from behind having walked up normally through the stairs with Pinkie Pie hopping up alongside her, to complete Twilight’s five close friends.
Pinkie Pie took out a couple of party poppers and readied them in front of Rainbow Dash in some sort of grand display for her gift, letting them rip right the moment tomboy pegasus took out her present from behind her back, a mess of colorful confetti giving way to a dark green piece of cloth in her hooves. Silence endured for a bit while the rest of the pony mares that weren’t in on this surprise and Chrys herself eyed whatever that thing was.
“Isn’t it just splendid? I worked all night to get it done. Some of my best work yet.” Rarity said to break the silence.
“Um. What’s it supposed to be?” Asked Fluttershy reaffirming what they could not make out.
“It’s a saddle, duh.” Pinkie Pie said taking it from Rainbow Dash to display it a bit better, dangling it in front of everyone.
“A flight saddle actually.” Rainbow Dash followed up. “It’ll help Chrys focus on her wings when she flies for the first time, and it doubles up as a bit of extra protection in case of a serious fall!” She said proudly. “I had one made for Scootaloo a long time ago, and your gift gave me the perfect excuse to make one for you too!”
“And of course, since I made it, it’s far more than just for functionality. It’s fashion, darling. I know it’ll look beautiful on you.” Rarity chimed in meanwhile Pinkie Pie helped Chrys into it. Sure enough, to impress what Rarity had said, the group of five stared at the little changeling in awed silence. “Magnificent! What did I tell you, everyone? Am I not the best seamstress in Equestria?” She laughed haughtily with all manner of pride before she composed herself again. “Who am I kidding. My work wouldn’t be half of what it was if it wasn’t for this little gem right here.” She petted Chrys, signaling that it was her Rarity was talking about.
It felt like the dark waters that had pooled in Chrys’ heart were slowly draining away now that she was around the warmth and the love of all of her friends in the same room.
The six of them had a pleasant afternoon together until it was finally time to meet the rest of the guests. The mares could easily see the trouble in the little changeling’s heart having not stopped worrying over something that entire time, so they all opted to stay in the room to watch over her, moving aside to give way to three small fillies who had heard that their friend was sick.
“Chrys we came to see ya!” Spoke up the distinct voice of Sweetie Belle who was the first to run up to her, trailed by her two close friends who formed the Cutie Mark Crusaders. “My sister said you’ve been sick the entire time so I asked her if we could come to visit!” She smiled as she saw Chrys light up with happiness at seeing the three consider her a friend.
“Begged more like, but I’m gracious. I wasn’t about to say no.” Rarity retorted from behind, annoying Sweetie Belle in the process.
“She’s right though. At least I know I did. We were right worried for ya after all.” Applebloom added.
“I had to train alone! You know how much of a bummer that is?” Spoke up a flustered Scootaloo who didn’t want to admit she had been worried too.
“Friends. Thank.” Chrys said with beads on the corner of her eyes, hugging the three and getting a hug from each in return.
“Oh! Oh! We brought a gift of our own too.” Sweetie Belle brought a small little emblem and a cape onto Chrys’ bed.
“I know changelings don’t get any, but since you don’t have a cutie mark either, we were thinkin’ you could join our crusader group! You could be an honorary member.” Applebloom said while Chrys eyed the blue patch with the image of a pony in its center.
“If you want to, that is,” Scootaloo mumbled, trying to be considerate of her feelings and agreeing in her own way to this decision.
“Mm!” Chrys smiled a very bright smile. It was an honor to feel like she could belong in their group.
“We also brought you these from Miss Cheerilee since you hadn’t come to school,” Scootaloo dropped a couple of worksheets Miss Cheerilee had carefully drafted for the little changeling so she didn’t miss much of the lessons being taught.
With a sudden start, Chrys’ eyes widened and she dropped her front legs to the floor outside of her bed in order to get up only for them to immediately buckle under her weight, sending the front half of her body kneeling to the ground in her fevered weakness.
This caused every pony to immediately fly into a worry, crowding around to see what had happened.
“Need. To go. School. Promise, Twilight.” Chrys said through a pained breath as she forced one of her forelegs to prop her up, wobbly from the effort.
“It’s okay, sugarcube, school is already over for today. You don’t have to force yourself like this. S’pecially when you’re sick. You’re allowed to rest.” Applejack tried to reason with her.
Before Chrys could let these words seep in, a loud thump could be heard outside at that moment, and a door from downstairs flew open.
“Twilight, you’re back! Chrys is awake, you should go see her.” She heard the faint sound of Spike’s voice calling out from the door before it shut behind him.
The other ponies had not heard this and ignored the sound outside, still worried for her while she labored to get up. But Chrys had. She had begun to use her magic to substitute her strength again having felt Twilight’s presence near. A troubled group of mares and fillies could only watch as she slowly walked downstairs with the light of her power circling around her body and towards her legs, assisting her steps. Getting to the door and before she could push on it, it slowly opened on its own to the visage of Twilight surprised to see her standing there at the very front of the steps with Spike trailing behind her.
The two looked into each other’s eyes for a bit in silence, scanning, searching, yearning, hoping...
Chrys’ magic fizzled out during that silence, and she felt her legs give out immediately. Before she had fallen to the ground, Twilight had caught her and pulled her close.
“I’m home, Chrys.” She said softly, hugging the little changeling with both her forelegs and her outstretched wings.
“Mm.” The small princess replied, rubbing her face against the purple alicorn’s coat and shivering in her relief having noticed the warmer, calmer feelings in Twilight’s flame, not minding the chillingly cold sensation from her body from her having been out and about all day.
“It’s okay, Rainbow Dash, we’re all crying here. You don’t have to hold it in.” Rarity’s voice called out from behind them, batting away her own tears.
“What? I’m not gonna cry...” Dash argued with an involuntary tear dropping from between her stern expression. “Okay, but just this once.”
With Spike initiating it, one after another every pony fell into that big, rather awkward group hug still in between the door to the outside.
“This was all Twilight’s idea, Chrys. She told us about how you’re affected by feelings, so she asked us to help you out today.” Spike said shortly into the hug and made Twilight blush. She dared not pull away from embracing Chrys, leaving her no choice but to let the dragon run his mouth as he spilled the beans. “But we didn’t do this because we were asked, a lot of us came because we wanted to.” He said on behalf of everyone, prompting their nods in agreement.
“Yeah, it took a lot to convince my sis, you know!” Sweetie Belle chimed in.
“You’re making me look like the bad guy Sweetie. I was just... worried that you’d get up to no good and make it harder for Chrys to feel better.”
“You see?!” The little filly exclaimed, making them all chuckle.
Before they could all pull away, they heard the little changeling speak very, very quietly in the muffled tone of her voice being pressed into Twilight’s chest.
“I. love. you. Thank, you. Every, one.” Is what they thought they heard, and they’d be right.
With one last squeeze from everyone in unison, they all finally pulled apart save for the two who stayed together a bit longer until they finally gave way, and Twilight was left to brush the changeling princess’ hair carefully and gently, the small girl still within her grasp to support her. With the day having gotten late, they all said their farewells now that they could trust Chrys and Twilight were feeling better. The only ones left were the three. Or just the two, Spike knowing he should make himself busy to give them room to talk by walking back into the library to go clean something or other.
Twilight took this opportunity to secure the changeling princess on her back so that they could walk to the Everfree forest to complete her duties for the day. She opted to walk instead of fly through the Everfree forest, being mindful of Chrys’ weakened state, and they continued all that way over in silence. That night had been quite windy and unexpectedly chilly, making it extra difficult to talk about anything amidst the noisy rushing of air.
“I’m, sorry,” Chrys said, finally having found the opportunity to say it, near the entrance of the cave.
Twilight didn’t say anything while she magically gathered kindling from outside and made a fire within the pitch-black cave to warm up the small girl who she could feel had begun to shiver from the unusually cold breeze of that night. Twilight stopped her stride to let her down gently next to it, and then she too sat by the fire near her.
Chrys drooped her head to the ground apologetically not having had the courage to see her expression at that moment, somehow believing she was still mad. She felt one of Twilight’s hooves place itself on her shoulder while the other one ran down her cheek, gently caressing her. In tilting her head up, she saw Twilight looking on at her with a lot of warmth and a bit of a sad smile on her face.
“It’s really okay, Chrys. You never had to apologize to me to begin with. I understand that now thanks to a friend of mine. She told me about the special gift you have, and why I made a terrible mistake in getting mad at you. I didn’t know at the time, and I was just afraid something could happen to you. With the Ursa Major and you being missing from the library... when you ran up against that herd of cows... when you ran away in a panic a long time ago... and when Chrysalis had you under her foot... All of it came back to me all at once, and it absolutely terrified me. I didn’t know what to do. I felt like I would lose you all over again, like when the cave closed behind us and you were gone for such a long time... It was such an awful feeling and I’ve been living with it this entire time.” Twilight paused. She struggled to continue with her words. “And so have you. By being next to me all this time. You’ve known about it all along, haven’t you? It’s been eating away at you too, hasn’t it?” Twilight asked.
“Mm,” Chrys said solemnly, confirming that she indeed could read her heart and had consumed those feelings in her attempt to rid Twilight of those nasty feelings.
“So you see? There’s no need for you to apologize to me, Chrys. I’m the one who’s sorry. This entire time I’ve been asking the unreasonable from you. Pushing things on you without knowing how they were affecting you. For that, I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.” Twilight bowed her head all the way to the floor with her horn touching the ground.
The fire crackled in response to Twilight’s apology as if to signify the desperation in it. Still with her horn to the floor, she heard the changeling princess get up off the ground without saying a word. In that instant, she thought Chrys had refused it, and again her emotions began to flood her. Before they could be realized, she heard her walk up closer to her to sit down at her side. Looking up, she was met with Chrys’ horn just short of reaching her own. She was not tall enough to reach her forehead like she wanted to, but this was just fine. The next step of this expression required her own want to be forgiven. Twilight fell into this familiar gesture of hers having understood what her answer was by it and she felt Chrys’ magic envelope them both as it weaved all around them.
The only emotions left in the two were relief, warmth, and love. They stayed like this until the kindled fire died out.
Afterward, they finally got up to perform Chrys’ duties, and Twilight finally got around to teaching her how to cast that spell en masse. It had turned out that the spell that Twilight had taught Chrys all that time ago had been a personal version of it. A spell whose range was made to affect only the creature who had cast it. Chrys had somehow taken that personal spell and made it work for a recipient by having a physical connection with them, in this case, touching foreheads. She was a bright little ball of surprises when it came to anything magically related. It seemed like the small changeling that had been terribly afraid of magic in the past had long been gone now, as she used it almost expertly with anything Twilight tried teaching her.
Having finished the room with the changeling horde, Chrys had still opted to use the personal version of the spell to perform her duty to the Queen. Recalling her troubles and her sickness to the queen, Twilight felt incredibly touched after Chrys ended that short little segment.
“Twilight. There, for me. She helped, me every, day, from fever. I. love. her.” The little changeling had said before returning to Twilight who had been prompted by Chrys to wait outside the chamber. She had initially thought it was for some awful reason, but after eavesdropping unintentionally, she was very much relieved and couldn’t stop the smile on her face the entire time.
Before they left for Twilight’s home, Chrys stopped by one of the rooms of the cavern to Twilight’s confusion.
It was Chrys’ room. The room she had awoken to so long ago, the one she had spent almost all of her life in within the cave. Chrys mentioned this to Twilight after she had asked her about it, but she could still not understand what there was to do in there as it was completely empty save for a few stalagmites with dripping water creating pools on the floor. All she could do was wait and see while the little changeling scanned the floor carefully, finally pawing at the ground after some moments and digging for something.
From the ground, she collected an incredibly large, perfectly translucent, and clear crystal. Before Twilight could ask, she saw the little changeling bring her horn onto its surface and all at once an incredible amount of magic exploded out of her, sending a rush of air toward Twilight and making her panic a bit. But in studying the effects of what Chrys was doing, she could see that it was the same thing she had done to the small crystal she had given Spike. Twilight could only witness in awe at the sight of this overwhelming amount of magic being absorbed by the crystal in front of her, first becoming a mix of many different colors and then being over-saturated into a darker and darker, foggier and foggier purple.
What was left was a mass of magical power infused into a densely fogged-up crystal. Twilight’s friends had shown her the crystals that Chrys had given them, so she began to question if this was even transmutation at all. What was this gift and why did it require such energies to create?
“Twilight’s gift!” Chrys said after being done, a bright smile on her face.
Twilight left the questions for another day in seeing her joy. She felt happy just knowing that Chrys had created a gift for her too, considering how she had been the last to be left out. Chrys looked a lot better already, so they were able to make the trip back home on foot while Twilight carried the gift on her back toward the library. It was surprisingly heavy, and it took a bit of Twilight’s own magical power to lessen the load.
Finally home, Twilight prepared a pedestal for her gift and thanked the little changeling again. This finally unlocked the part of her brain that she had almost forgotten about due to all the things that had happened that day. She had been calling for her friends to help Chrys feel better, but she had also been completing the bed that they had been too busy to construct over the last few days. Bringing in the large wooden frame and dropping it upstairs opposite of Twilight’s bed, it made a familiar thump as it landed on the floor. Then, she quickly put together the soft hay bedding, put the cloud mattress on top, and finally finished off the bed with the magical silk sheets, quilts, and feathery down pillows.
Twilight tucked a now sleepy changeling princess into the heavenly comforts of the highly luxurious bed created specifically for her. She felt a tug on her shoulder before she could walk away to her own for the night.
Sure enough, what was being asked of her was quite obvious.
You don’t get out of a day like this one and then just sleep in opposite beds.
The ending to this day doesn’t need to be spelled out, does it?
Very well.
Twilight and Chrys fell asleep in the warmth and the comfort of their embrace, their hearts finally at peace.