𒄈 For the first time you watch raptly like a child, eager to consume and to be filled without much of a judgment or even a passing thought. Being guided by feelings and presumptions, all you are expecting is to see how it unravels.

But after that comes something else... You widen your mind's eye... You see the design. You see how pieces, floating in the unknown, become familiar to you. At long last, your urge to explain and see connections becomes warranted.

The nature of the world is apparent to all. Everything has its own conflict. Everything can have its own harmony. Day and night, Light and Dark, Order and Chaos, heat and cold, magic and logic, pleasure and pain, good and evil, love and hate—all woven into the fabric of the universe, and within all lies the essence of true power: balance. It will sway back and forth like the pendulum of a clock, with opposites to contrast against, never completely stagnant.

One must be mindful of the allure of the extremes, to not be consumed by them, and to not forget true purpose.

But even while Celestia was a witness to the grand clockwork of the universe, she believed it couldn't be that simple... It couldn't be that categorical... It can't be that comprehendible.

It just can't. It shouldn't adhere to her more or less equine comprehension of the world... These opposites and their juxtapositions... shouldn't there be something more, something beyond it?

There was supposed to be an elusive grasp on something associated with childhood innocence, and it was now long lost to her... Was she incapable of witnessing the scope of the full picture? A solemn dissatisfaction tormented her, a gentle and patient yearning for enlightenment.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Both apprehension and curiosity rang in Chrysalis' voice. She grinned. "Admiring your work?"

"Not exactly." Celestia wrinkled her snout. "You should adopt a more approachable look."

Chrysalis' terrible wounds were still mending, as if she was constantly slowly shifting back into her original form. Her jagged foreleg was rubbing at the damaged eye socket. A bright green color shone in its depth.

Celestia slightly tilted her head, measuring how fast the Queen could rejuvenate, and how far she needed to be brought down for it to stop being relevant. At the very least it finally explained how she survived their battles of the ages past. The gathered intelligence never could provide a concrete answer to it, not even when coupled with magical scrying, so it was always assumed that either a fake was destroyed or some other Queen was later emerging from a defanged Hive, carrying the same likeness and the same curse of hunger. After all, the changelings always looked similar to ponies' eyes.

"Where shall we go?" Chrysalis' chipper voice broke the tense silence. She traced her foreleg down from the top of her head, and new silken hair sprouted straight from the scorched skull. "Do you want to show my new demesne?"

"You will see," Celestia replied calmly. "For now all that I need is for you to remain inconspicuous. Can you manage?"

Chrysalis cackled at this jab and leaned closer. "Appearances are everything, right?... Oh, by the way..." She pressed into Celestia's chest. The alicorn suppressed the urge to flinch. "You all covered in me."

"I think it suits you," Chrysalis continued with a playful whisper. "Want me to clean it up?"

Celestia let flames course through her body. The changeling gasped and quickly retracted the burned limb, shaking it wildly. The spilled blood had been seared away, leaving a small burnt patch.

"Nice." Chrysalis bit on her hoof and then wilted a little under Celestia's direct gaze. "Fine. Watch me." She stood straight, summoning her powers.

The witchfire concealed her in a raging pillar, evaporating as suddenly as it came into existence. What was left after it was a scrawny black-feathered kite. Its trembling fourfold tuft mirrored the Queen's crown-shaped crest, located on the head of her true form.

The bird flapped her wings and perched on Celestia's back, placing her sharp talons with unexpected care. The alicorn did not move, however.

Bringing up another sheath of bright green magic, Chrysalis wreathed herself in warm yellow and hot red, appearing similar to Philomena. Her voice slithered from the beak: "Ah, Celestia, that reminds me... Have you ever paid attention to how your ponies have predator eyes? Always facing their goal... They might as well be born killers, just like you and me."

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𒄈 "-and since nature remains in a constant continuous renewal, and nothing is truly gone, they are now become one with the magic of Equestria. One day they shall return to us as newborns, as dictated by the cycles of nature... Praise be the everlasting Sun, the giver of life, and praise be the Moon and the stars. Let them all aid in their journey, so they reach safely their next destination," the mortician finished his speech and gave space for a pony who wished to give a eulogy. A lengthy line remained behind him. The oral tradition of remembering the deeds of the dead remained relevant to ponies ever since before the founding of Equestria.

Celestia lost count of how many of these she had witnessed over the years. As always, she kept her head solemnly lowered, pressing her hoof against the breastplate.

Chrysalis remained on her shoulder. Sometimes she was procuring a small echoing giggle.

A sizable crowd had gathered at the town square not far from the Hospital, while remaining under the watchful surveillance of the guards. At first, Celestia intended to disperse it, as it was going against the curfew, but then it became obvious she couldn't do so in good conscience.

With mostly none of the immediate threats remaining, the ponies turned their attention to the recently deceased. Their search for the missing relatives and their consequent identifying grew into a full-blown sermon, and the morticians and undertakers of the Canterlow were forced to take the situation into their hooves.

The citizens were in demand of some semblance of closure, and of addressing the occurred tragedy. The Canterlot's morgue wasn't capable of hosting the required amount of bodies, so they were mostly transported directly to the memorial gardens.

Celestia stood amid common ponies and grieved with them, but her thoughts never remained still, and her concerns carried them to the other matters. Among other things, she was bothered by the reports of windigos sightings. They could amass and feast on this disharmony, so every discrepancy must've been solved as quick as possible.

The ice spirits were drawn to conflict and were always trying to bolster their ranks by ripping away untethered souls—or simply badly tethered, like with newborns and the elderly. Their presence was supposed to be diminished at summer, not to say their attention was usually directed elsewhere, and only recently they began to return to the sun-blessed lands.

The ponies could do little to oppose them. If those who were supposed to keep wendigos at bay did their duty, life would've been easier for every denizen of Equestria...

The mortician had given her a cue. She needed to lend her voice to the sermon, and so she did, lowering her head a little more. That voice of hers, usually powerful and sonorous, sounded appropriately bleak, "It is a great transgression. A terrible tragedy... Let the stars guide them so they shall rest peacefully with their ancestors at their side."

No one had noticed that the stars had changed. Most ponies do not bother to look at the sky that often, after all.

Someone was loudly crying nearby. Every word was coming to her with great effort. Celestia subdued the choky feeling in her throat, trying not to show too much weakness and only the right amount of emotion.

"Every moment of life is a greatest miracle, and they were robbed of it. To me, they are all like poor, wronged children... Their lives were snuffed away too soon... Their potential and dreams were extinguished in an instant." She steadied her breath and squeezed out final words, full of genuine pain, "It was a grave injustice. I weep with you, my little ponies."

The ancient alicorn always felt at a loss in situations like this. No words of sincerity were enough to convey her great compassion, and since she never got accustomed to these sensations, she never knew what to say and how to say it.

Celestia fervently wished for Luna to be here, as her presence would've given her the necessary strength, the assurance that something is still right in this world. Despite everything they had done and all they achieved, the history was mercilessly repeating itself. Celestia subdued another shaky sigh and turned, slowly made her way to the edge of the scattered crowd. What else she could say to them? What else she could do? She knew what they felt, since a long time ago she was forced to treat her Sister as if she was dead, too... She wished to tell them that one day their grief will fade away and they will be free to live at peace with this burden, not being defined by it.

Of course, she couldn't do so. While it was the truth, from her it also would be almost a blatant lie.

Chrysalis' voice crept into existence from behind her ear. "Tell me, how do you feel?... Share with me everything. Facing your fears is liberating, is it not?" A feral delight was in it, as if she expected the alicorn to be already broken.

"No..." Celestia exhaled. "It just makes me sad and hurt." She allowed herself a small, crooked smirk. "Do you want to see me sad and hurt, Chrysalis?"

"Are you—" Chrysalis abruptly cut herself off, and after a brief silence, drawled, "Really, now."

Celestia observed the town square from aside. No one bothered to take down various decorations, nor even to clean up that much. The former celebration of life and union was now deeply, disturbingly entwined with a macabre brutality of destruction of death. Celestia barely turned her head to the unsolicited passenger on her back, asking, "Why all you want is only to bring more suffering into the world?"

"What about them, then?" Celestia observed the changeling bodies that were dropped into a messy heap. The guards still were busy collecting those with the intent to transport them later to a remote location on the outskirts of the Everfree. The foul emanations of those were inviting all sorts of dark energies, at least according to Celestia's estimation. No one would bother to bury them, not to say to lay them to rest at a memorial garden. All will be burned.

"What about them?" Chrysalis chuckled. "Is that why you dragged me out here? What a bore..."

The Queen needed to be confronted directly, it seemed. Celestia steeled herself. "Chrysalis, why are you like this? Why do you hate ponies so much?"

There was another amused chuckle. "What, are you not satiated that I am your foe? Why is there must be anything else to it?" Chrysalis leaned closer. "Be a good pony and remain ignorant, just like your subjects would. Some questions are better to be left unanswered."

"And yet it was you who urged others to learn more... Let's say that I agree, I've followed that advice and decided to know you," Celestia conceded. "So, let me be strict. Why all this?"

"Who would've known that you might be just as irritating as that little purple pet of yours," Chrysalis hissed, but then added, contemplating, "Though, I suppose, she had to learn it from somepony."

"You see, it had come to my attention that we never tried to discuss any of it." Celestia shrugged. "Instead of talking you always preferred to hide from me or berate me from a safe distance. Sometimes you tried to do both."

Chrysalis laughed. Her voice was almost carefree in its mirthfulness, "I knew you just pretended to not hear me!"

Celestia's ear twitched. "Your motives can't be about the supremacy of your own kind—as far as I am concerned, you think of your species even less than of others."

"My species?" Chrysalis slowly uttered with a disdainful scoff. "Such arrogance. This sense of entitlement of yours... How full of yourself you must feel, trying to define everything through the scope of your own limited existence."

Celestia pursed her lips. "Despite what you may try to imply, I saw merely an equine insectoid."

"I am a changeling, a shapeshifter!" The Queen rose her head high. "An eclectic being. I appear however it suits me, and that form is most natural to me. Didn't you see?" A smile resounded in her voice. "That was me. I like being me..."

"Are you trying to divert this conversation?" Celestia gave a pointed look to the bird on her back. "Don't you understand what this is all about? You are a creature that revels in the freedom of not trying to conform. Bearing such an appearance and announcing yourself a Queen is the last thing you'd ever want."

"Conformity, right," Chrysalis huffed dismissively. "When I will defeat you, I'll redefine everything to my liking."

Celestia made a short, courteous laugh. "Are you delusional? You'll just get bored with it, and, as you seem to be inclined, will burn everything down. I've seen enough to ascertain that you'd run from responsibility like from a wildfire. Disregarding your ignoble fantasies, tell me, have you ever acted like a Queen even once, like a real Queen, not mimicking one?" The Princess kept smiling. "I'd guess not, as a mimic is all that you are. Even in that 'form', as you say, you are trying to appear similar to an alicorn... Now that's a curious choice, to say the least. So many shapes to choose from, and that's your favorite..."

"Oh, is it? It seems to me, with you everything is always about you or your ponies..." Chrysalis cackled. "You can wipe that smug expression, my dearest burnt marshmallow, as I'm not trying to appear like you. I've told my goals and reasons to all of you creatures many times already. It is hunger. Satisfaction. Power. And maybe, just maybe, I take that form only because it is the most unnerving thing to ponies. See, how simple is that?" The Queen almost whispered in her ear. "There are no purposes and no hidden meanings. Accept it. Not everything should revolve around you or cater to your oh-so-important destiny."

She took a deep breath and let the calm embrace her. An ethereal wind soothed her, streaming down her mane. Despite all the pain and emotions, a certain stillness remained in the world around her, as well as inside her divine soul.

Chrysalis was taken by surprise. For a few long seconds she was dead silent, until she regained her bearings and uttered, "And yet, we remain."

Celestia sighed deeply, looking at the dead. "Chrysalis... Can't you ever think of anyone other than yourself?"

"I can think about us, and how we are still clinging, despite all this fragility... Quite a feat, is it not?" Chrysalis asked smugly, but then her voice turned bitter. "We prevailed against all possible odds... Don't you think it is beautiful?"

Celestia raised her eyebrow. "And what about all those who wanted to live too? They have just as much rights for it as we do."

"Are you trying to appeal to my conscience? Why do you even try? This is something that always fascinated me about your kind. The dead are useless, and yet you always run around and treat them like they're special. Just look at those ponies, look how they wallow in their misery and self-importance, how they cry and try to find value in life only when it is suddenly snatched away by glorious beasts such as I. 'Oh-oh-oh just look at us, look how we're dying, look!'," the Queen mocked, laughing. "It's what they want, no, it's what they need, for others to notice and to indulge in their suffering, to pity them! It's just so, so-o-o pathetic, especially when you consider that their memory of the dead is even more fickle than their love for themselves and for each other!" The Queen's eyes glowed with malicious fire. "Take ten, fifty, one hundred years, nothing for creatures like you and me, and nothing would be remembered by them, nothing would be left of those who died, nothing but a faint memory that slips away with each passing day!... You've seen them dying by thousands during your reign, and each next one was less significant than the other, is it not?... Don't blame yourself... It's only natural, Celestia. Even your ponies are not so different. They are happy to forget anything that might darken their little insignificant days... And you know what?..." The Queen suddenly made a pause, and then her voice fell to dramatic half-whisper. "They won't remember you just as well... Don't you feel angry about that?... Don't you see injustice in it, that for all the good you've ever done, if you cease to exist today, nothing will remain of you? What will be your legacy, a few dusty books to your name? Oh, maybe a lousy statue!? I've seen a lot of statues around Canterlot, so much that they just might be another type of decor, so let me ask you, what does each one of them represent? Even you don't know, do you? Is each one supposed to be yet another self-sacrificial fool who was lost to the passage of time? Another brick in the foundation of this realm, so those cretins could keep ignorantly waddling around?"

Celestia exhaled a white smoke that quickly evaporated from the corner of her mouth.

Chrysalis kept whispering, insistent, insolent, discordant, "Every good deed, all the lessons you've taught, all the ponies you've helped... Just think of it... It all amounts to nothing. You don't have any heirs now to carry on your futile philosophies. When you are gone, your real self and all that you stood for will be swept away by rumors and speculations. The whole world would know you as a pitiable, weak—"

"It is better to be a self-sacrificial fool than a self-serving cynic," Celestia growled, and the Queen finally shut her running mouth. It bought for Celestia a few seconds to think, as well as allowing her to stove away another retort from her mind. It was just too miserable to say out loud... Still, her strained voice fell a few octaves. "When you die, they won't remember you just as well. I can see it clearly now... They must heal from your presence and move on, and you and your kind must fall into obscurity. That would satisfy me greatly."

"Yes, they will heal," Chrysalis spoke slowly and maliciously. "But it doesn't matter whether you want it or not, as to forget is in their nature, and to remember is in ours. It is a burden for creatures like us..." She gave her a brief, but exceptionally sly look. "Well, maybe it's more your burden than mine... You know... Your ponies are so full of love... What will happen when someone leaves them unchecked? Maybe they will proceed to breed like the vermin they are?" Chrysalis giggled, satisfied by her rationale. "Now that's something to consider, isn't it? What if my ravaging of your kind has a purpose after all—to keep it from spreading all over the world like an infectious disease?"

Celestia huffed, indulging this line of thought, and then smirked stalwartly. "What an excuse to be absolutely abysmal. No, you are too petty. You're saying that only because I had compared you to a cancer earlier."

"Well, you know," the Queen laughed, "you wanted an explanation why I exist? Here it is, what's not to like?"

"Besides, it's wrong," Celestia demurred. "Most of my ponies simply aren't an adventurous sort. They seek to enjoy simple pleasures that make their lives fulfilling, so they prefer to remain homely and improve their surroundings. Their population can be self-contained and stable over the hundreds of years. They don't want much because they don't need much, and my society can be safely called as one where competition is unnecessary because the resources are in abundance."

Chrysalis snorted. The sound was completely inequine-like. "You really think that way?..."

She saw in the corner of her eye how Chrysalis turned her head away in sheer disgust. "Harmony..." She glanced back. "What an idiocy. Harmony is a fallacy, and I'd expect you to know why. Come on, now. Say it."

"You know what I mean..." Chrysalis sneered with insistence. "Surely you've noticed it over a millennium of your reign? You can't be that daft..."

"Indulge me. I am a mare of many talents, but I am still yet to learn to become a telepath."

"Fine. I'll spell it out for you..." Chrysalis licked her beak with a small tongue. The changeling was savoring incoming words. "You see, dear, you are the only creature in the entire world gullible enough to believe that Harmony can be even remotely achieved. Even your ponies do not believe in it. Not all. Not really. Any of them would consider it a fantasy of some senile mare, who means well, but... You know... In their eyes, she hasn't had a day of real hardship in her life, isn't she?... Some Princess... She must have a tunnel vision, chasing her hazy, ardent dreams, and willing to lull naive and foolhardy into obedience. What a joke you are. A pretty picture of power, and nothing more."

"Yes, I see..." Celestia smirked again. A glimmer was in her eyes. "I'll let you know, then, that only one believer is enough, even if it is only me. Even one can be a spark from which the flames are born."

"You can't seriously be like this. Leave these fantasies for moldable children, will you?" There was derisiveness in the Queen's voice. A sheer disbelief.

"The Harmony is a fundamental concept of the world," Celestia replied calmly, raising her head. "Strictly saying, it isn't even a matter of mine beliefs. The path toward it is indeed a difficult one, but if I need to reiterate it as something I believe in, then I will do it as many times as necessary, and it would suffice. Try to dissuade me, Queen, and you will fail."

"Have you ever noticed how this world strives for order?" Celestia kept talking quietly. "Did you ever look at the night sky with its constellations, at what they represented before your reckless gamble with the powers of destiny? Have you ever laid your eyes on the shape of a snowflake? Have you ever pondered the sacred symmetry of our existence, and how all the flaws are embedded into it by the design, in things both great and small? The world demands balance, and even while not everything can be achieved by nature's will alone, we living beings are all remain a part of it. I can say to you with certainty: we are all enacting this will through our actions. We remain a part of this living whole." She steadied her breath. "Even if it is only but a hazy dream, let me ask you, since we are all in this together, why not strive to be kind and considerate to one another? Is it really so bad—despite everything that had defined us in the past, despite all doubts—to try?"

Chrysalis kept being silent for a few seconds, as if allowing Celestia to keep going.

Then, the alicorn felt how the Queen leaned onto her back, burying herself in the mist-like mane. Grasping Celestia's neck, Chrysalis muttered in her ear in a hoarse and breathless whisper, "Ah, how I adore you..."

She didn't reply instantly, so the Queen continued to unravel her thoughts, "I never expected that talking to you can be so odd..."

"There's really no one like you out there. Even your sister and nieces, or whatever you call the other alicorns, they didn't impress me as much... and believe me, I've come to know some of them rather intimately."

"You see... talking to you is like talking to a living star. You really are the Sun, sometimes serene, detached and warm, and yet... compelling."

"That is not an original praise," Celestia replied slowly. "Besides, you know the truth of my existence—in many ways, I am the same entity as the Sun.

"Yes, you are... I can't help but wonder, how can it be possible?" The Queen's whispers became almost wistful. "Were you dragged down from the sky by the reach of some invisible hand and placed to watch over mortals?... And what of other alicorns? What are they?"

"Maybe you shouldn't indulge in such thoughts," unfettered, Celestia turned to meet Chrysalis' eyes. "It won't save you when we'll fight."

"You are quite a mystery to be solved, demigoddess," the bird giggled, and then suddenly took off.

Chrysalis flew barely a few hoofsteps. A green flame of transformation flared, but before it managed to draw attention, Celestia concealed them both with an invisibility field. Still acting in this spontaneity, she pushed the incessantly laughing Queen into the nearest alleyway.

"What?... Why the sour look? What else did you expect? It's you who is bound to the ponies' expectations, not I!"

"I won't tolerate you inciting even more panic and rumors. You've done enough. Let them grieve in peace."

"You want to hide me away like some embarrassing family secret, do you? Your anger is exquisite..." Chrysalis gave the last giggle, and then her lips pressed into a thin line. "Now, jokes aside... Celestia, why did you bring me out here, if not for a spectacle? Do you seriously think you can break me by speeches?"

Celestia regarded her with a stern look, still fuming. "I was observing you. I refuse to believe that you're some magical beast that learned to talk, spawn, and shapeshift, and then simply proceeded to use these abilities to her ill will. There must be a greater reason behind your actions."

"Ah, this again... Why do I need a reason?" Chrysalis arched a brow, beginning to sound irritated. "Why can't I be just compelled to slaughter?"

"This doesn't explain the hatred. Moreover, you are too... astute, I suppose... and extravagant, for an insane rabid beast," Celestia admitted begrudgingly. "No, there must be something that goes beyond banal urges. Are you beholden to some vendetta against my ponies?"

"All this attention from you, my powerful Sun, is enough to make a girl melt," Chrysalis intoned smugly. "I've noticed something interesting about you too. You're far more composed than I'd expect. You do not care about the demise of your ponies that much after all, do you?"

Celestia ignored the provocation. "Why is this hatred?" She was staring piercingly, unmoving. "What is the source of your pain?"

"Pain!? Why pain?" Chrysalis growled. "Why my hatred must be born out of pain? Mare, I am enjoying doing what I do! Some of us have to!"

"It doesn't exactly align with what you were saying last night..." Celestia narrowed her eyes, making Chrysalis even more uneasy. "I do not appreciate you trying to fool me. I can read you, creature. Do keep in mind that I was a politician longer than you even existed."

"Oh do you, now?..." Chrysalis snidely replied. Her wings trembled. "A politician, are you?... Not a leader?..."

"Well, I haven't meant it's a bad thing..." Chrysalis cackled. "I get it... I've told you before that easy answers bore me, and it's true, they leave me cold, but isn't it rude to pry a girl like you do?"

"So you want me to ask nicely?" Celestia snorted. "And here I thought that you'd be thrilled to talk about yourself. I've never heard of coy monsters."

"What can I say?" Chrysalis grinned. "I'm a wildflower. I bloom when I please, not when the seasons decide for me."

She moved closer in a swift fluid step, and Celestia caught a scent of her breath—sweet and welcoming, even if unnaturally so. She suddenly became aware of how close they are.

"With all this insistence you're forgetting something else, something even more simple..." said Chrysalis warmly. "What if violence just really turns me on?"

Something inside Celestia tied into a knot. Her horn sparkled, and her voice fell to a low growl, "Do not touch me... You're still intending to deceive me, changeling. There's nothing sexual to your feeding practices, not usually. You're treating it like an animal would, as something that you need for sustenance."

What outsider in their right mind could be attracted to any of her ponies, anyway? What a wicked and unnatural thought.

Chrysalis was certainly sharing it. "It's not often personal, it's true." She pulled back. "Mostly the exhilaration of hunt and kill... Of cutting down when they're up high... Those pathetic little morsels do not deserve me at my best."

Celestia all tensed up, but then slowly let it go. "...So what now? Will you remain tight-lipped? This is laughable... My ponies do not even harm anyone. They are meant to co-habit with others, to be pleasant." Celestia shook her head, sounding almost desperate. This shouldn't bear so much significance... "I do not understand why my species deserve hate..."

"Why are you so defensive?" Celestia slightly scowled. "Is it because you aware that your hatred is irrational?"

Chrysalis was just peering into the distance. "Ponies, ponies, ponies... Hate for ponies, love for ponies... Ponies hurting, ponies grieving... It's all you on about, do you?" she hissed and turned to face the Princess. The corner of her lips trembled, suppressing a smile. "Don't you ever have something more fun on your mind, besides the fates of those pesky ingrates? I've already told you I won't be feeding on them, isn't that enough?... Ah, don't bother answering... We could've been doing so many more pleasant things. No one to look at us right now... Why not seize the opportunity?"

"Are you still trying to be vile and base?" Celestia couldn't help but sound disappointed.

A coil of witchfire sprouted from beneath her. Magical energy coalesced, then surged. Celestia jerked back, ready for anything—and she saw something white and pure, golden and colorful, rising above.

Her shadow covered Celestia. The beat of powerful wings sent the gust of wind that made her reverently bow her head and squint at such sight. Words died in her throat. Being overwhelmed, she backed away even more.

The mystical stars shone in her mane. She was nimble and free like the wind, bright and dangerous like the open flame, and was bearing an impossible look of piercing, judgmental eyes. She was bigger than any pony Celestia had ever seen. She was like the old magic... A slight scowl was regaling her features, that were accentuated by a motherly side, reminiscent of a proud, expectant, but just and virtuous parent. Celestia felt her soul stripped bare of all of the sin of flesh, and so, she trembled maybe for the first time in her life.

"This is me. This is how others see me. Is this how she sees me?... Is this another attempt to deceive?"

Her doppelganger rose to the nearest roof and disappeared from sight with a swift and dainty flick of her tail. Celestia slumped against the stone wall, reeling, trying to calm her spinning head. She was a rational pony, or at least she thought she was. A part of her screamed to stop Chrysalis, to rush out there and prevent whatever she was about to do.

"They battered the capital of our glorious kingdom with their meager attempts to bring us down, but we stood tall and did not bend an inch. We stood together! We remained indomitable! Whatever they throw at us, we prevail!"

Celestia groaned, burying her muzzle in fetlocks, and slumped down harder. Her ears became red from a soul-churning shame.

"Yes, the attack had bereft us of many close ones. Even I, Celestia, had lost someone very dear... But if the invader Queen thinks she can hurt you and get away unburned... If she shows her ugly mug on our doorstep ever again... Is she dares to threaten any of you!... I will lift this golden hoof and shove it down her throat so hard!" Here must've been some crude pantomime. "Her malignant bile will pour straight out of her ass! The Princess of the Sun had spoken! And remember: Friendship! Harmony! Peace!"

Celestia heard how tiles of the roof burst from beneath the hooves of the impostor, and quickly stood up, panting. Chrysalis landed under the invisibility shroud right in front of her, and somehow it leveled everything back into a relative normality.

"How do you even handle this meaty rump?" Chrysalis twirled, inspecting her improbably long legs, and struck the raunchiest glance from underneath the disheveled mane. It was frightening how naturally she could pull it off. "My, I have to take your form more often! One can only wonder what types of things you can get away with..."

Celestia rubbed her temples, wishing for a glass of cold orange juice and a few minutes of quiet.

"So?" Her other self leaned closer, grinning mischievously. "Would you say that I finally got under your skin? How was my performance? Do you like it? Do you love it? Tell me! Come on!"

Celestia laughed nervously. She heard her own voice, and it sounded so... young? It was surreal... "You... What do you... It was a childish nonsense."

"Oh..." The second alicorn froze up for a moment and then threw her head back in a fit of laughter. The green witchfire quickly enveloped her, erasing the borrowed features. "Do you think they cared?" Chrysalis asked, her verdant eyes staring with boundless amusement. "What is the difference if the deed is done?"

"There's nothing behind your illusions!" Celestia knitted her brows. "It won't stand any scrutiny... It reeked of desperation and mediocrity. A tawdry parody!"

"Ah, but Celestia..." Chrysalis giggled. "A little mislead won't hurt anyone if it is done for the purposes of good, right?... No one knows it better than you do, remember?... What, when I am doing the same thing as you, is it somehow bad, now?"

"Enough!..." Celestia pursed her lips, examining the happy muzzle of her opponent. Her great wings involuntarily stretched and then moved back. "There is a big difference between deception and withholding information until others are ready. I was intending to tell everything to Twilight. You, on the other hoof, will lie endlessly to your benefit, and only yours."

"'I was... I would...' All are simply words. You didn't. That's what counts, my precious. Ah, how could you look into her innocent eyes, knowing the burden you will put on her?" Chrysalis moved her hoof to her lips in a mocking gesture. "How cold-hearted of you!"

This was leading nowhere. "You don't understand..." Celestia managed to center herself, becoming less exasperated. "No, rather, you understand precisely what you're doing. You know that my ponies aren't some warband to make such speeches to them."

"And what does that matter?" Chrysalis scoffed. "They saw you and they saw a majestic, powerful leader that they can get behind. What else could you possibly want, you mare?"

"So you want to facilitate violence!? Turn them against... against whom, exactly—your own kind!?"

"I must ask you again. Why do you want to bring more suffering into the world?"

"All beings deserve to be loved and to love. All beings deserve to feel safe and to live free of fear." Celestia remained visibly calm, even if cold guilt firmly gripped her heart. "What is violence itself but not a sign of weakness?"

"Platitudes!" Chrysalis snapped, but then her voice became smooth like silk. "It's all like I suspected. Under your altruistic facade, you simply enjoy seeing your ponies weak, do you?... Just admit it."

Celestia sighed. "Leading is not a competition, and strength is not everything." She regarded Chrysalis with a stern look. "You won't speak like that to them ever again."

"You are not me! They are in my charge, Chrysalis!" Celestia raised her brow. "You have your own kin to look after, and considering that you're doing an awful job with it, I wouldn't entrust to you a single living being." Celestia noticed how the Queen continued to become riled up, smirked, and made an exaggerated glance in the direction of Royal Palace. "Speaking of which... I know that several of your progeny were following us all this time. They masquerade as four earth ponies, am I correct?"

Chrysalis' expression betrayed her surprise. Nonetheless, she asked back archly, "Aren't you a sly one... So what if this is true?"

"Then I am not impressed with you," replied Celestia coldly. "You said that you would remove them from the city, and yet you kept those on a short leash."

Chrysalis puffed and swayed to the side to sneak a peek for herself. Having lost the trail of their target and without a good lead, the changelings remained mostly in plain view. Chrysalis' body language had shown everything that Celestia needed: she was struggling to control her minions. "So what of it?" The Queen repeated, arrogant and cutting. "Those grubs were spawned not too long ago. They still do not know how affection differs from obedience."

For a long second Celestia couldn't regain her ability to speak. "...You mean to tell those little ones followed you because they care about you?"

"How is that—" Celestia needed to clear her throat. "How is the fact that they view you as a mother is bad?"

"Affection can make one act unpredictably." Chrysalis grinned, enjoying the pain written on alicorn's muzzle. "Moreover, it creates a sense of ownership, and I can't have that, can I?... I do not belong to them. They belong to me. Subjects, not children."

"Oh no, no, what they think their individuality is, is only but a shadow of my mind, projected into chambers of their empty skulls." Chrysalis chuckled. "Ah, if only I could refine the process of their spawning to make the strains completely submissive to my will... Although... It's more fun when they try to rebel, I'll be honest."

"Who knows, dear..." Chrysalis replied with a sly grin. "Maybe I am just compelled to spawn."

"No, I mean... I thought that the lack of ability of your species to... exude positive emotions... to love and to be empathetic... is precisely the reason why you've been forced to feed on the love of others. But it isn't so. Chrysalis, you not only devour them, you willfully decide for them to be predators. They could've built a perfect, symbiotic, self-sustained relationship... If you didn't..." Celestia's eyes widened. "If you didn't exist."

Chrysalis snickered and then broke into cutting highborn laughter. "Oh, you're so amusing, my alicorn!..." Her eyes gleamed with happiness. "Only you and your blind desire for harmonious revelry could concoct something so charmingly deluded! This is just precious!... They bring me love that they extract, it's true, and I don't need them for anything else."

"You are an even worse monster than I assumed," Celestia said quietly, not knowing if she should be excited or deeply disturbed. "You've earned your name. You are a chrysalis."

Celestia frowned, bewildered. There was some elusive foul play that she couldn't pinpoint right now...

"What's wrong?" Chrysalis tilted her head, eyeing Celestia curiously. "Are you not entertained by your answers? I've warned that you won't like all of them, did I?"

"I want to see your minions up close." Celestia decided to go to the deep end. "Summon them."

═════════════════════════════ 𒀭𒀭𒀭 ═════════════════════════════

𒄈 There was a point this creature tried to prove to her, Celestia thought. In her cynical approach, she wanted to break down the alicorn's beliefs. To test them.

They moved deeper into the partially deserted city, further from every possible prying eye. In any other situation, Celestia would've thought twice before doing so, but the changelings looked so meek and pathetic that they hardly would've made any difference.

They were clearly malnourished and half-baked. Their carapace, if it could've been even called as such, was soft and thin enough to underline most of their bones and showcase their outer blood vessel system. Celestia was pretty sure she could discern internal organs if she tried hard enough.

Their procession stopped and the Queen turned to their convoy. She took a firm step closer. A sadistic grin grew on her muzzle.

The changelings went into a servile bow, some almost falling to the ground, all while not daring to make eye contact with their leader.

The Queen slowly made a circle around them. She moved with lazy fluidness. No rush.

Celestia felt more and more disturbed. The Queen didn't use any magic, or commanding voice, or even her bewitching eyes... Celestia's worst predictions were coming true.

"You're lacking." Chrysalis struck the closest one with a hoof. He fell with a whimper, covering his bruised head. Others scattered, but didn't go far, still too afraid to look directly at the Queen. "Weaklings!... You are unfit to be my soldiers... For your transgression against me... there will be a sacrifice." Even in the broad daylight, the shine of her horn soaked Chrysalis' muzzle in sinister green.

"Do not interfere!" Chrysalis growled. "They disobeyed me, they were seen, and this is the only way they'll learn." Her pointy teeth flashed in a crooked grin, which then turned into a full-blown bestial snarl.

"Chrysalis, that is enough," Celestia demanded again, and her horn surged with energy. She glimpsed the startled looks from the drones. "They are—"

"They are harmless, inadept, useless and weak... A liability. Don't you, vermin? Say, Celestia... Don't you want to toss these ones to your ponies? Let them get it all out on my minions, for a change. After all, they are at fault for all the death and pain, don't they? Do you?" Chrysalis pinned the same minion down, smiling with cruel joy.

"No, we are only beginning... Look at the sheer naivety of this pony. Just like the rest of them, she thinks that you are something more than disappointing sacks of flesh and viscera." Chrysalis twisted her hoof on the lying one, and he cried. "In her ignorance, she thinks that you deserve love simply for existing. Tell her, grub, who are you, and what is your purpose?"

"I am no one. No one! I am fulfilling... my purpose as a changeling... My entire existence is dedicated to your glory... and to the Hive. This is what it means to be a changeling..."

"A part of one living whole..." Chrysalis trembled in laughter. "You do not exist without me!" She leaned down to the pinned creature. Her maw widened, as she inched closely to the muzzle of the little beast.

"The pony still doesn't understand. She presumes that her weak ideals mean something!" Chrysalis cackled. "Tell her, are you happy?"

"All that you are, all your life, and all your significance begins and ends with me!" Chrysalis exclaimed. "I am the Hive! I am your Queen!"

The Queen grunted, pushing against it. Her big eyes narrowed, seething with rage.

Celestia was walking forward, doubling the pressure. The wall began to be covered with cracks, and Celestia feared that she would collapse the entire building. Using this indecisiveness, the Queen broke free and lunged at the same time as the alicorn.

Their horns clashed. A flash, a resounding power was between them. Celestia winced in pain and hurled the Queen aside, while being propelled backwards herself. Her hooves scraped against the pavement as she landed between Chrysalis and her changelings.

The Queen quickly rose from the ground. "You stagnate, infertile stot!" she roared furiously, lowering her horn for another charge.

"No!" Celestia bellowed in a thunderous voice; the air darkened around her as her coat shone with radiant light. "No more bloodshed!"

Chrysalis hissed, being forced to shield her eyes. She still was growling like a raving maniac, "They are mine. They belong to me! No one will take them from me. No one!"

The Queen could bark all she wanted... Letting the intensity of the magic gradually die down, Celestia glanced back at the changelings. They were extremely terrified, but what mattered even more, they definitely had feelings. They had minds of their own. They weren't some golems, or homunculi, or any other type of magical constructs. Celestia could see it clearly now.

"This is just un-be-lievable." She heard Chrysalis' malicious voice. The Queen seemed to be, at the very least, appalled. "Now you step in? Because of them!?"

"I will slay you, Celestia. Mark these words. Maybe not now, but one day you're bound to lower your guard around me..." Chrysalis was already approaching, keeping her eerie eyes open wide and unblinking. "In your calmest moments, don't you ever forget who I am..."

"Chrysalis... I have all the rights to protect them." Celestia had found her voice.

"You seek dominion over Equestria and my ponies, but if I acknowledge you as you wish, then by the same right of marriage I can deem myself eligible to claim your changelings."

Chrysalis stopped completely. She blinked in surprise. Her mouth hung open in dumbfounded silence.

"Call me the second Changeling Queen!" Celestia flared her wings for further effect. Despite all the severity of the situation, a genuinely stumped look on Chrysalis' muzzle almost made it worth it.

"You... Wh-why? What!?" The Queen quickly recovered. She snarled, taking another step to the alicorn, hunched, tail lashing. "Usurper!!... This is unf—I will take everything that you own by the right of conquest!"

"Not before you bring me down, first." Celestia lifted Chrysalis' chin with a hoof, staring down her green eyes, soaking in her impotent rage. "Can you even do it? Can you really slay yours most precious and cherished thing for the sake of your inane designs?"

Hate, fear, admiration, disgust, envy, anger, and scorn—all vied for dominance in the Queen, but most of all there was defiance. She batted away the hoof, and with a raspy voice, muttered through clenched teeth, "I will murder everyone you know."

"You already going back on your promise to not harm ponies, then?" Celestia clicked her tongue in mock disappointment. "As I expected. Of course you lied about it, you want to live without compromises, after all. You want to hurt everyone, all the time... You even want to hurt yourself. You've become accustomed to the pain too much to imagine life without it, don't you? What a rotten way to live..."

Maybe the first time, but Chrysalis was lost for words. Irritated beyond belief, she jerked away from Celestia and glanced at the other changelings.

Celestia's voice was calm and clear. "I won't sit idly by and let you continue to terrorize any sapient species. They deserve to be free of you."

"My sweet, foolish Celestia..." Chrysalis growled like a cornered animal. "There are more ways to harm others than bodily harm. Really, why would I ever bother to maim such a beautiful thing as you? You're already broken by your duties and affections, I wouldn't even need to try that hard..." Chrysalis almost pressed their muzzles, staring viciously. "What will happen when you become demystified? How quickly your subjects would stop believing in you, demigoddess? What would they think when they see that you're just like them—scared, powerless, doubting, alone?" Chrysalis snidely grinned. "How quickly will they turn away from you, abandon you?... Just imagine the pain of this knowledge, that you're not their better, that you can be barely called a guardian..."

"I can do such things to you and to your image..." Chrysalis whispered sultrily, with perverse tenderness moving her forehoof down the alicorn's neck. "To all Princesses, really. I am in charge of a legion of shapeshifters who feed on love, and there's nothing low enough for me. I can ruin you and all your legacy, mare, and all I would need for it is a little... creativity. Just imagine how many ponies might want to bring a Princess, even if a fake one, to her knees, and do to her whatever they want... And even if your soft ponies aren't up to the task, how many creatures all over the world might be willing to do the same?" She giggled in amusement. "Ah, my ancient enemy... Who knows? Maybe many had done that already."

The Queen had achieved her goal. Her words conjured pretty vivid things in Celestia's mind. Her cheeks burned. She sucked in the air through clenched teeth, trying to calm herself down. When the tenseness of her silence became unbearable, she spoke in a quiet, very quiet tone, "The audacity..." She gave Chrysalis a scorching, derisive look. "What a pitiful beast you are, riddled with such debasing thoughts... I know that you would never let your minions take the form of a real alicorn. You are too selfish and cowardly to allow them any action that can breed dissent."

"You sound quite sure there, Princess." Chrysalis sneered with cold fury. "Do you think that I care? Do you think that they care? That anyone? Just look at—"

Celestia had enough. "You aren't something unfathomable yourself! The changelings and the ponies, all living creatures ought to learn that you're nothing to be afraid of and that everything you do is a posture, that you can care about something, and you can be hurt. You are not a scion of darkness you try to be seen as. I am not a stranger to the Dark, and I saw that while you're able to use it to further your goals, you..." Celestia took a quick breath, and concluded sullenly, "...for all your heinousness, you're still something different."

"Conceal thine teeth in my presence," Celestia ordered, "lest I will shatter them again."

"You will know your place," Chrysalis vehemently growled, contorting her muzzle only further. "You arrogant prey... You will know why fear comes easier than love."

"What else is there to know?" Celestia snorted. "You are an impudent insect, full of theatrics. You define yourself as a predator, but you act like a constantly misleading prey. You are an immature creature that is flailing at the world not knowing how it works, and then throwing a tantrum when it doesn't cater to her whims."

Chrysalis hissed. Her response was measured, threatening, "That's rich. When was the last time you willingly scraped your rump off of the throne? What would you know about how the world works, being cooped up all the time in your closeted toy city, judging everyone from its lofty towers, surrounded by hooflickers? You and your moronic altruism, this unconditional love, and all these retching talks about harmony and friendship... How delusional can a mare be?"

Celestia thought about whom Chrysalis alluded to—about common ponies. Can it be that she really is so distant from them? Still, there was little room for doubt now. "Crawling around in your dirt didn't gave you a better view of the world, but only alienated you from what's truly important. It filled you with hatred and misery, and now you project it on them!" In a more encompassing gesture than she intended, she bobbed her head toward the changelings. "You are a lowly sadist that is unfit to be called a Queen."

The Darkness finally began oozing from Chrysalis like pus, covering the alleyway around with a thick dark shroud. Keeping a wide stance, she growled like a beast would, with a maddened gleam in her eyes.

An explosive flame went around them. The air trembled from the suffocating heat. The walls became covered with scorching marks.

It ended just as quickly as it began. As Chrysalis was unable to hold her gaze for long, tears appeared in her strained eyes, and with a silent curse, she averted them, unable to withstand the radiance.

Celestia glanced around, regally and slowly. The changelings had moved further away from the danger. Clearly, they had more common sense than their so-called 'Queen'.

"Look at us..." Chrysalis quietly chirruped. She seemed to have calmed down considerably. "We are married barely for a day, and we are already fighting in front of the kids."

Celestia felt the urge to roll her eyes. "So you say..." She lips were dry. "I have to know. Does your spawn have souls?"

For a few long seconds Celestia was calming down too. She needed time to process this. The things were quickly becoming even more convoluted. "You create genuine life..." she clarified. "You can't be allowed to create life... This should not be possible."

"I never asked for anyone's permission..." Chrysalis clearly hasn't seen anything special in it. She took great pleasure in Celestia's building bewilderment, though.

"I am." Chrysalis inched closer. Her glare was voracious. "My sweet, they are everything that your ponies are, and even more. The same soul, the spirit, and the guts," she licked her lips. "Without any downsides, really... Better than yours in every way, and all mine... Are you jealous, Celestia?"

"Then you have failed miserably... What do you even actually have of your own, Queen? With all your power, your ability to change, what did you choose to be? You are a tyrant who needs to prey on compassion and innocence to survive. Pathetic," scoffed Celestia and moved her muzzle away. "Listen, all four of you! You are under my protection now. Your former Queen will never harm you again. I forbid it."

"You have no right to say any of this! They are mine!" Chrysalis was bearing a wide grin, but she couldn't conceal growing rage. She tensed up. The trembling green fire devoured her from inside. "They are of my Hive! Mine!"

"I am not going through your caprices again," replied Celestia coldly. "My word is final."

Chrysalis hissed through the clenched teeth, "Is that so?..." She took a step back. "Fool... They always return to me." She turned to the scared changelings. "You will see the true nature and allegiance of these... traitors."

The creatures were completely miserable, tucking their bodies in some recess as far away from the scorching fire as possible. "Maybe they better off dead," Celestia thought glumly, and then caressed the bridge of the muzzle, frowning hard. "Patience. Thoughts like these lead nowhere."

"Once a traitor, always a traitor," growled Chrysalis, and gave Celestia a crooked smirk. "Besides, I can always create more... I haven't yet tried to spawn using your essence. I'd bet that our children would be extraordinary... Don't you agree? Even I am afraid of what can come from our union... Do you want to find out?"

Staring dead in the eye, Chrysalis slowly lifted her holey foreleg to her maw. The sharp teeth opened up, ready to bite. She was extremely off-putting, and she knew it perfectly.

"No." Celestia's own forelegs twitched in an obvious display of weakness. A truly strange mix of emotions overcame her, but mostly it was disgust. "No. Never. You won't be bringing more living creatures into the world just to torment them. Not for mine expense."

Smug and vindictive, Chrysalis chuckled, narrowing her eyes. "Ah, but dear, don't you want to be a real mother, not to pose yourself as one?"

"What's this on your muzzle?... Did I make high and mighty Celestia blush again?"

Chrysalis swayed, standing straight. "How I've missed all of this..." She stepped closer. "With you, everything is like for the first time..."

"How can you even speak like that?..." Celestia, in turn, stepped back. Her wings defensively flared. "Chrysalis... You... Don't you understand that your terror of your species won't hold for much longer? It is effectively over now. How can you expect to control them if they would be forced to live among my ponies? What do you think will happen to them next, to all of your Hive?"

Chrysalis' expressive muzzle changed almost imperceptibly. She blinked in confusion, puzzled by the alicorn's words: a rare sight, for what it's worth... She pulled away, stiffly but just as compulsive as she did almost everything else, and began walking down the alley.

The changeling Queen ignored her. Her body was wreathed in witchfire, her shape changed into that of a kite, and she flew away.

How dare she... The arrogance. Good riddance. Celestia had no intention to try and follow. The presence of Chrysalis in the past few days was overbearing enough as it is...

All of a sudden Celestia wondered when her feelings on the matter became so complicated. There were things to do besides dealings with some insolent pest, ravaging her lands. Celestia will meet her in battle later, anyway...

The Princess turned to the changelings and regarded them with a stern look. They were in distress, but also curious to what was going on. Their little muzzles weren't so different from that of ponies, and on a second glance, it was clear that their blue eyes could carry a familiar and discernable emotion.

Celestia waited until she became confident enough to pull off a perfect motherly smile. There was no monsters here, not anymore. Only her and the... subjects.

She kept examining them. Ultimately, the Queen had been driven away, and it was an opportunity to build rapport.

"I am Princess Celestia, the ruler of Canterlot." Her voice became soft and finely tuned to the right cadence. "It caught my attention that you four are very special boys. You have nothing to fear now... Please, if you allow me, I would like to know your names." She smiled. "Why don't we start with that?"

The first step was always to let them open up. It wasn't unlike taming wild animals—or so Celestia had heard. To achieve it, they needed to be given something, and so she shared with the creatures a little bit of her warmth. It was like an investment, that with a little patience, subtlety, and coercion, could provide certain benefits. After all, Celestia, the alicorn Princess, is never a threat to anyone... She is never loud... She is a friend to all living things. She is the beacon of light that dispels the nightmares of the waking world.

She saw how quickly they became distracted from the preceding violent encounter, and wished for a similar child-like power for herself.

So they had names... It was a progress. The other three slowly, with hesitance, followed suit.

Celestia nodded, deep in thought. The naming convention was odd, but she had seen much worse. Twilight would've been ecstatic to dig into it... The Princess turned to the injured one. "Gaster. Do you require any help?"

"You can feed without the help of a Queen, can you?" asked back Celestia, curious for an answer.

"Without a Queen?" said Thorax-2 with a half-whimper, as if she offered him to commit a sacrilege. "Without the mistress?"

_{"She is our mistress now."

"No, she isn't! This isn't how it works... I think."}

They seemed to be not that thrilled by the prospect... Celestia pondered her next words. "Don't you want to have friends?"

"I am not the one to tell you what you should do or shouldn't," Celestia spoke calmly. "Go on and return into the servitude of your mistress if you wish, but for now I see that you are at a crossroads of your fate. You have a rare opportunity—a choice between your old life, and the cessation of living like animals."

The creatures again fell into an awkward silence, and Celestia suppressed a sigh. She didn't had time for this, and yet occurred events demanded her to show responsibility. Her gaze wandered, as she quickly processed the possible approaches.

"It is an... It is an enemy!" replied Thorax-1 again. He seemed to be the most quick from the bunch, but not necessarily the most quick-witted.

"I see." Celestia nodded calmly. "Ponies can't be your enemies, little one. Before this day, most of them weren't even aware that you exist."

_{"Ponies hate us... Despise us..."

"They are afraid."

"They are food."

"Always are..."

"It is normal for food to be afraid."

"They are weaker."}

The voices of the creatures of the dark were like disjointed, fleeting whispers...

"The ponies will hunt us all if they know who we are, mistress." Guster frowned.

"Excommunication... Fear... Learned helplessness. Chrysalis had generations to mold them to her liking." Celestia wasn't sure anymore if she was doing the right thing. Even disregarding all the possible hindrances, the creatures before her still were changelings, and they still were Chrysalis' spawn. She needed to be careful.

There was almost no possibility of stopping or influencing the hatred and fear that ponies would feel towards the changelings. Does it even need to be stopped? What are the alternatives?... All her thoughts led her back to the repetition of history. Inescapable, inexorable repetition.

Even if the course of the fate of the entire world had been changed, there's still was a necessity for scared, beguiled children to exist and to commit atrocities. The world was full of them, of someone's sons and daughters, of someone's hopes, forced at each others' throat.

"It would be better for you to find a safe place far from your mistress and stay quiet." Celestia smiled. "I implore you, do not hunt or hurt my ponies. They are simply confused and unnerved, just like you. If you show a little patience, we will find a way to alleviate your needs without violence or deception. When the next day comes, I require you to find a Princess and talk to her. Any alicorn Princess of Equestria would suffice. Talk to them of what had transpired. They will understand."

The most quiet one, Suture, looked at her perceptively. "I can recognize your emotion. I almost feel it..."

_{"Isn't it good when ponies are like that?"

"No, it's... Not in this case."

"The mistress was the same, too..."}

"Speak plainly," Celestia demanded, but then softened, seeing how they were startled. "Please. Why do you compare us?"

_{"It is hard to put into words..."

"More a sensation? Yes."

"A taste. A smell."}

"I see." Celestia pursed her lips. "Still, it is pointless to worry for her, and more so for me. Her worthless fate had been sealed when she stepped into the bounds of my realm will ill intent, and I will never go down without a proper fight. Leave your concerns for whatever comes after."

"Even if you are somehow mistaken... about us or about her... we still wish you luck in this fight, bright lady."

The Queen of the Dark Ch. I

by Forcalor

Step 14 — "The reach of" — Princess Celestia — Day 2, afternoon