Chrysalis starts walking backwards in shock, getting as full of a view as she can of the former throne room. Most of the walls are gone, the throne is missing, and moss is starting to form on the floor.
“But… my… throne… room… this is getting confusing.”
“I know, Chrysalis. First we’re sent to when Ember and Thorax met each other without even seeing Pharynx, now we’re back to Thorax’s literal-”
Chrysalis shoves a hoof onto my mouth. “No Carve! We’re not then! We’re in the present! I can feel it.” She removes her hoof and begins walking around.
“Then why is Thorax still in power?”
Chrysalis jumps toward me in anger. “Because of you, Carve! He met Ember sooner, and therefore learned to be even more assertive than he already did! And the worst part is we don’t even have a way back!”
“That wasn’t me, okay? Spike let the whole thing out in front of Thorax. That was the event that triggered this present. But you’re right about the effects. Evidently, either he properly addressed Correal’s ordeal or it was avoided entirely. But we will find a way back. We still got Twilight’s map to go off.”
“Do we though?!?”
“Only one way to find out.” I teleport myself and Chrysalis to the back of the castle in Ponyville. Coming around quickly, we open the front door and look for Twilight.
It’s sure dark in here. I don’t know what happened to the lighting, but it’s a good thing Chrysalis and I never need it due to the way our eyes work. Every room we look in just gets creepier than the last as result of this lack of lighting, especially when we faintly hear static and a rapid-fire sound effect echoing throughout the castle. In one of the rooms, we see a flashlight pointing up from a low origin. That could be Spike.
“Spike?” I softly call as I walk into the room, Chrysalis closely following behind. “Are you in here?”
There he is: Spike. He’s at the door between two rooms, holding a funnel shaped flashlight in his right claw, and has a radio by his side, probably to communicate with Starlight; I’m not too sure of that. He turns around and shrieks when I tap him on the shoulder. “Carve? Wait, who’s that? Ins’t that the changeling that got you sucked out of Ponyville?”
“Spike, that was the portal, not Queen Chrysalis. But that’s not important now. What happened in this castle? It’s darker than the hive at night.”
“Um, Starlight and I are rationing supplies. Y’know, against my former friend.”
“Former friend? You mean Thorax? What’s Equestria doing with him?” Chrysalis asks.
“Um, let’s say he took Ember’s advice too far. Ever since that Correal incident, he’s been off his rocker. He’s been drafting changelings left and right.”
My face flushes. “Drafting?!? You mean he’s been going to WAR?!?”
Oh… it looks like Chrysalis is starting to fume at not just me.
“Where’s Princess Twilight, Spike?”
“She’s south of Appleoosa. She hasn’t been back since the map called her when this all started.” Once she hears that, Chrysalis calms down immediately. Spike picks up the radio beside him and pushes a button on the side as he talks to Starlight. “Um, Starlight?”
The radio plays a strange sound effect of a heavily filtered pulse wave before Starlight speaks. Yes Spike… The signal closes out with a split second of static.
“Carve and Chrysalis need to borrow the map. You have a minute?”
Starlight Glimmer teleports in and groans, then floats me and Chrysalis and teleports us all, sans Spike, to the throne room. “There. You’re lucky you both are technically civilians around here.” Then Starlight teleports out.
I tilt my head to the left. “What was that?”
“Starlight must’ve been through hell knowing Thorax betrayed Equestria. But at least we have the map.” Chrysalis looks around, making sure no one is around to hear her, then she sits down and looks at me, so I look back. “I would like to apologize for my behavior earlier, Carve. I might not tolerate Thorax, or Spitfire for that matter, but they would never have any interest in time travel for their goals. I just hope you can forgive my irritation. I had no idea the stress I would incur before having to cut the interview short.”
I wrap Queen Chrysalis in a hug. “I understand, Chrysalis. You’re not the only one stressed out about this.” Chrysalis’s pupils widen, hearing about me. “I’m not normally under this much pressure, and I’m sorry that was getting on your nerves. But our goal is clear now: fix the timeline, and put Pharynx in his place.”
“So when and where do we start?”
“I think I know.” I light up the map and cast the spell. We’re back to the last time we went to the past. That last present was truly a bad one, so we should avoid causing the same problem and let things play out as they did in our timeline.
From the balcony, once we see Spike first encounter Thorax unknowingly, we get swept up to the present… well, the first alternate present we visited.
Once then, this present’s Chrysalis lets us use her throne to go back to when we nearly stopped Pharynx. Chrysalis has me help her hold him still while the events below begin to play out.
“Ah! Ngh! You won’t get away with this!” Pharynx exclaims.
I step forward and look Pharynx in the eyes. “What? Like you have with messing with history?”
“Carve is right. When we are home, you are in so much trouble!”
“But I just wanted to save my brother! Is that too much to ask?!? Besides, haven’t you messed with history too, trying to prevent me from doing the same?”
I nod and point my right hoof at myself, then move it to the side as I talk. “Yes, but ONLY me, and Chrysalis and I have seen just how badly things can play out if you change the wrong event.”
“Even with all that good saving Thorax might do, you could still undo all the consequences others deserve! It’s not worth it!”
Pharynx growls then teleports as his brother begins to scream in the distance. When the two teleport back in, the portal opens up, ready to sweep me and Chrysalis up. I come up with an idea. Maybe drag Pharynx into the present.
“I may have created a bad future, but who’s to say that won’t happen with you?”
I leap and grab Pharynx as Chrysalis and I get sucked into the present. What we see isn’t even like Thorax’s hive. Holes dot the floor, and none of them are shifting like they would in, well, any hive. Foliage also covers the floor and whatever walls remain to the former throne room. Rather than the beige sky we’ve come to expect, it is the normal blue you would see in Equestria.
All I see when I approach the edge is an expanse of plant life. It’s hard to tell where the hive starts. Maybe at where the trees are, but that’s it. All this change just blows me away. I gesture the other two to come take a look, and they have the exact same reaction.