“Wow… that was… amazing…” Chrysalis panted.
“We’ll… have to thank… Twilight’s friend…” Shining Armor said, equally worn out.
“Yes… yes we will…” Chrysalis replied, giggling lightly.
Suddenly, Shining Armor sat bolt upright in bed. “Oh no! Twiley! We need to find her! If she didn’t go to Celestia…” Before his wife could reply, he was out of bed and half way to the door. How does he still have the energy to move after that…? She wondered.
“Wait, Shining! You should… shower… first…” Chrysalis’ words caught Shining Armor as he was already leaving the room, and he turned and glanced in a mirror, before leaning over and sniffing himself. He decided his wife was right – he definitely needed to shower before visiting the Princess or his sister. He walked into the bathroom, levitating a bar of soap from the counter as he turned on the shower. Part way through shampooing his mane, he felt another set of hooves join his on his head. He started a bit, looking over his shoulder to find his wife having joined him.
“You’re not the only messy one, dear,” Chrysalis replied, a sultry growl in her voice.
Upon exiting the shower an hour later, Shining Armor felt quite refreshed, but still a bit concerned over the situation with his sister. He could feel the tension in his wife as well, but couldn’t find a way to break the silence. After an awkward several seconds, Chrysalis spoke.
“I feel like we should both go to see Celestia about your sister and my apparent problem. I also feel like should we find your sister, it would be better if both of us were present. I… I’ve never heard of feeling physical pain before when a pony that loved a disguise discovered the truth. Your sister’s withdrawal of love… it hurt me, Shining. Physically. I don’t want that to happen again. Especially with Twilight… aside from you, your sister is the pony I care about most. Seeing her look at me like that, with such… betrayal and hatred in her eyes… please, Shining, let us fix this together.”
“I think that’s a good idea. You should probably change into Cadance if we’re just going to be walking the halls of the castle, though.”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Chrysalis said, her black frame burning away to reveal Cadance. “I just hope… oh, no, darn it,” she muttered, disappointed to find once again her voice remained unaltered.
“Don’t worry about it, ok? Just let me do the talking until we’re with the Princess or my sister. See? Perfect plan,” Shining said, his face once again drawing into that familiar smile that Chrysalis loved so much. She felt safe, certain; she knew he loved her when she saw that smile.
“Alright, love. I’ll let you chatter to your heart’s content,” she said, laughing a little as she kissed his cheek. “Come on, let’s go, dear.”
---
Princess Celestia was in the throne room, not alone, but not doing much of anything. Being an immortal, benevolent and beloved ruler of Equestria came with its perks, but it also came with dozens of ponies doing things for her, which in turn lead to having a lot of time with nothing on her schedule other than “sit in the throne room and hope a pony with a problem gets through the screeners so I can have someone to talk to.” This being the case, she reacted with perhaps a slightly-less-than-regal enthusiasm when there was a knock on the door.
“Please, do come in,” Celestia said. The door opened, revealing Shining Armor and Princess Cadance. “Oh, hello my little newlywed ponies! How are you doing on this fine morning? I can honestly say I didn’t expect to see you for at least a week unless something drastic happened. Unless…?” Princess Celestia adjusted her gaze from Shining Armor to his wife, the pink Alicorn giving a slight, almost imperceptible nod. “Very well. Feather Duster, Word Weaver, would you mind giving me and my subjects some privacy?”
“Yes, your highness,” the gray Pegasus and tan Unicorn replied in unison, backing out of the throne room with their heads to the ground.
“Oh, I do so wish they would be less formal around me. I guess it comes with the territory of being the ruling Princess,” Celestia said, giving a heavy sigh. “So, Shining. How was your first night as a married couple? Spare me the details, please.”
Shining Armor laughed. “It was… very… insightful. I must say, it was surprising, but both Cadance… no. Both Chrysalis and I are extremely happy. We do have a couple slight problems, however…”
“Oh? And what would those be?” Princess Celestia arched an eyebrow, fairly certain of one problem, but less certain of the other.
“Well, for one,” Shining continued, “My sister paid us an unexpected visit this morning. While Chrysalis was disguised as Cadance, Twilight was still able to figure out something was wrong – which will lead to the second issue – and ran out. She said she was going to see you, but… we got… distracted and didn’t follow her.”
Princess Celestia smirked. “Twilight did come to me. She was confused, scared, and angry, but I explained most everything to her. I sent her back to apologize – did she not make it?”
Shining Armor blushed. “We were… distracted… for some hours. Twilight had brought a cake that had some magical pheromones in it. At any rate, that’s good to hear. We’ll find her and talk to her.”
“Good, that’s good. Now, you’ve been talking a lot – I’d like to hear from Chrysalis about the second issue,” Celestia said, smiling.
“That’s exactly the issue.”
Celestia’s smile vanished immediately as she heard the changeling’s natural voice echo around the chamber.
“Chrysalis… why?”
“I don’t know, Princess. I can’t change my voice anymore. That’s how Twilight Sparkle found out, actually – I changed into Cadance to greet her, but when I spoke, my voice hadn’t changed. I suppose I can understand her reaction – given the situation, I can see how she would have thought I was trying to hide my true form again. However, Shining and I had been considering whom we needed to tell… Twilight was on the list. Please, Princess, believe me – I did not do this on purpose.”
“I believe you, Chrysalis. For such a gifted deceiver, you certainly have a penchant for genuine honesty,” Celestia said with a nod, her face still showing a look of contemplative concern. “However, this regression in your changeling abilities is alarming. If you cannot recover your voice, I would advise you seek the assistance of one of Twilight Sparkle’s friends – a zebra named Zecora, who lives in the Everfree Forest. She is extremely talented when it comes to potions, and could likely easily provide a manner for you to alter your voice to the more… expected sound.”
“Perhaps visiting her would be the best option at this point. I’ve been trying to change my voice all day, but when I try to send the change spell through my vocal chords, there’s simply no response. I feel nothing,” Chrysalis said, her face falling as if saying it out loud finally caused the realization to set in.
“Very well. I’m sure Twilight will escort you there as soon as she is able, after you find her. I wish you luck, Chrysalis, Shining Armor. I cannot express how happy I am that you two are both perfectly fine with this, but I also cannot emphasize enough how important it is to keep this information away from the public, for now at least. Chrysalis, should this condition worsen – as in, should you further lose your abilities – please see me at once, making as much haste as possible. I will be able to assist in holding your disguise, and train you in how to do so yourself with normal illusion spells. I pray it does not come to that, though.”
“Yes, your highness, thank you very much,” Chrysalis and Shining replied in unison, before turning and trotting out of the throne room.
---
Twilight Sparkle sat in the café, sipping her coffee. It was a nice day, if not a weird one. The sky was clear and blue, the sun was warm, but the faintest breath of a breeze kept her comfortably cool. She looked around at the ponies passing by – almost every single one was a unicorn, but one stuck out to her – a pink mare with an exceptionally long horn and… wings as well, accompanied by none other than her brother! Twilight’s initial elation at seeing Princess Cadance and her brother faded as the morning’s conversation came back to her. She had no reason not to believe Celestia, but at the same time, it seemed so implausible. Twilight sat frozen in place, not sure how to react.
Oh my goodness, it’s Cadance! No, it's Chrysalis… or is it… oh, I don’t know. Maybe I just dreamed that whole thing. Yeah, that must be it. I must have dreamed that. There’s no way my foalsitter was a changeling all those years. Yep. It was a dream. That’s Cadance, exactly how I remember her. Just a nightmare then.
“Twiley! Hey! How are you? How did the conversation with the Princess go?”
OhCelestiaitwasn’tadreamohnosensoryoverlo-
Twilight Sparkle’s brain decided now was a good time to shut down, and the purple mare collapsed onto the table, unconscious.
---
Twilight awoke in her bed. She looked up at the ceiling, deciding it was dark enough to still be early in the morning, when she would normally be waking up.
Oh, it was a drea- She had rolled over, to see none other than Shining Armor and Queen Chrysalis sitting next to her bed, holding hooves. The shutters were drawn, but Twilight could see through the cracks that it was most likely mid-afternoon. The lavender unicorn’s mouth opened and tried to form words, but only moved around before closed again, no sound having come out.
“Hey, Twiley,” her brother began, “Sleep well?”
“I- I… I’m sorry,” was the only reply Twilight Sparkle could stammer out.
“No, Twilight. I should be the one apologizing,” Chrysalis spoke, “I lied to you for so many years… I wanted to go completely public after the wedding, even at the risk of banishment or rejection by your brother, but then… the short version is I left the hive seventeen years ago, and the general I left in command eventually realized I wasn’t coming back, and assaulted Canterlot disguised as me. Naturally, this makes revealing myself a very bad idea. The problem is…” Chrysalis closed her eyes and flashed green, donning her Cadance image, “I can’t disguise my voice anymore, and I don’t know why. Princess Celestia said you have a friend named Zecora who may be able to help…?”
Twilight was still unable to form words, her jaw slack. However, she did process the request, and nodded. “W… we… we can… Forest… when you’re ready,” she finally managed a staggering, broken sentence.
“We’re ready to leave as soon as you are, Twiley,” Shining Armor said. Suddenly and inexplicably feeling invigorated, Twilight burst from her bed.
“Great! Just let me pack my stuff – I’ll be ready in just a few minutes, if you don’t mind waiting outside, Shining. I’d like to talk to Chrysalis alone for a moment, though.”
Shining glanced at his wife nervously, but she gave him a reassuring nod. Getting to his hooves, Shining Armor shuffled out the door.
“So, Chrysalis. I trust Celestia, and I trust my brother. You, though?” Twilight held a hoof to her face and sighed. “I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, though, and say that you were Cadance all those years. I know my brother can be a bit of a doofus, but I love him, and if he still loves you you’re clearly worthy of being loved. I… I want to see you as my foalsitter, but I’m having trouble accepting that at the moment. Please… please forgive me.”
Chrysalis smiled down. She felt the love in Twilight sparkle begin to burn again, a solitary, softly glowing coal amidst the ashes of a fire. “It’s ok, Twilight. I didn’t expect you to react nearly as well as you did, so I thank you for that. Shall we go?”
“Yes. Let’s be on our way, shall we? I think you’ll like Zecora quite a lot.”