Chrysalis stood before her hive, putting on a show of being well pleased with herself. In truth she was just annoyed and wanted to get the trade over with as efficiently as possible. She was planning on having a bit of fun with it but assured herself that it was from careful necessity rather than any gleeful vindictiveness.
By her estimation both parties knew how this would work. One annoying pegasus traded for a unicorn and cursed sunstone. She had the upper hand in the negotiations since her counterparts were too goody goody to actually harm their hostage. Further, since they had henceforth gone undetected she imagined that their numbers were fairly few. Her surprise could not be overstated when it was Cadence and Shining Armor who finally approached, side by side, under a white flag with Rocky wearing a bag over his head and a contingent of twelve armored guards trailing them.
"Hmm...I know you don't I? Didn't we date once?" She asked mockingly.
"We've come to discuss a trade." Cadence seethed but ignored her barb and took charge, to Shining Armor's chagrin.
"Yes, obviously." Chrysalis rolled her eyes and looked back and up towards Rainbow Dash's limp body hanging from the tower, "But what if I've taken a liking to my decoration? It's quite...colorful. I realize that changeling hives can be a bit dreary and with my favorite unicorn gone it did need a little splash of something."
"We'll trade you Rockford for Rainbow Dash." Cadence gulped, "She's...she's still alive, isn't she?"
"How could we have a hostage trade if she weren't? I can't imagine she's very comfortable up there, though." The Changeling Queen scoffed, "But I'll have the sunstone back while we're trading. Everything you stole for what I happened upon, and you'll promise to leave my valley."
"I can't let you have the sunstone..." Shining Armor started only to be interrupted.
"Listen, I've been doing this for a lot longer than you and I've come to find this whole process very trite." Chrysalis narrowed her eyes, "First, take the bag off of his head so that I can be sure we're dealing in good faith." They did and Chrysalis asked the squinting unicorn, "What color were Crystal's eyes?"
"Blue." Rocky said.
"A lucky guess." Chrysalis conceded, "Now tell me, how long have we been sleeping together?"
"What? I...um...forget the exact, um..." the fraudulent Rocky sputtered. Chrysalis bawled laughing. Even the changeling drones found the fraud's embarrassment funny. But Chrysalis' tone darkened and all laughter ceased.
"Will the real Rockford show himself?" She growled and the false one shimmered back into an ordinary unicorn guard, pulled her double from the column and dispelled his disguise to reveal him to be a gagged and shackled Rocky.
"You will free him from his fetters. Now." She chittered to her guards and they menacingly closed in around the motionless figure of Rainbow Dash. Seeing no other option they ungagged him and removed his chains. He waved to her, groggily.
"Azure and never." Rocky said.
"Correct, and what are changelings?" Chrysalis asked.
"Parasites." He replied without thinking, drawing shocked looks from the guards, he looked to them uncomprehending and shrugged. Chrysalis laughed madly.
"Now that you've produced the true Rocky, where have you hidden the sunstone? Come now, don't try to fool me again, it won't go well." The changeling queen, by her nature, was an observer of behaviors and she'd learned long ago that most ponies when asked where something was hidden will automatically look right at it's hiding place so when several of the guards and Cadence herself looked to the Southeast she knew what it meant. She chittered under her breath a detailed set of instructions to her drones, one of whom returned to the tower to relay the message. To allay suspicious forty or more drones flew outward as if searching in all directions.
"No matter, we'll find it." She said shortly.
Half a dozen drones flew towards the cohort of soldiers, screeching. Shining Armor produced a shield and they simply buzzed by. Rocky, though, took the confusion as a chance to bolt and did so much to Chrysalis' delight. Chrysalis issued her chittering orders loudly and the drones had swooped Rocky up before his captors could react.
Cadence attempted to stop them with a raw burst of magic, but a drone bravely inserted himself between her and her target and was struck in their stead. The drone's eyes opened wide and his belly swelled as the beam discharged into him. When the beam petered out he licked his fangs happily, grabbed a brother drone to take his place. The new drone opened his mouth hungrily and pointed to it in a feed me gesture.
Cadence growled, eyes lit with anger. Her magic's power came from love itself, but she hadn't realized that it would be useless against changelings because of it. She'd powered Shining Armor's shield in Canterlot, but never directly used her magic against a changeling. In the end she felt she should have seen this coming.
"My but that was entertaining." Chrysalis said with a chuckle, "Now it's fair, right? One pegasus for one sunstone."
"We'll never let you have the sunstone!" Shining Armor yelled.
"If that's true then you have no leverage and our negotiations are at a standstill." Chrysalis said reasonably as Rocky was returned to her side by the flight of drones, "I tell you what, just as a show of good faith, which you've lacked thus far, I'll let you have the pegasus."
Chrysalis turned and signaled to her drones who cut the unconscious pegasus loose. She freefell until the spire expanded out enough, then she contacted the shingled backs and wings of the changeling swarm around the spire's circumfrence, skittered against them unabated as the spire flared into it's domed section, her ragdoll posture picking up speed the whole way.
"Rainbow Dash!" Cadence yelled and took off as fast as she could to intercept her before she hit the ground. She would have made it too, but a voice called to her from her right.
"Cadence! That's not me, it's an imposter!" Another Rainbow Dash limping through the air, pursued by half a dozen drones yelled. True to her words the previously limply falling Pegasus turned in the air, growled and crashed into Cadence savagely.
She was momentarily swarmed as was the other Rainbow Dash who was likewise becoming entangled with the drones an eighth mile distance to the Southeast. Purple beams of magic shot out from from alongside a boulder where Twilight had been hiding under a camouflage blanket. The beams held back the drones so that Rainbow was finally able to struggle over to Twilight and the drones gave up. Twilight moved to hug Rainbow in relief, but Rainbow instead grabbed Twilight's saddle bag, correctly assuming that the lump it enclosed was the sunstone, and changed back into a drone. Flying low and erratically she avoided Twilight's angry onslaught long enough to reach the safety of the hive.
The other imposter had long since extricated himself from Cadence and when the chaos died down Chrysalis was once more looking pleased with herself, but this time she had the sunstone, Rocky and Rainbow Dash. She made a signal and her drones brought out a bound and blindfolded Rainbow Dash.
"For such treachery I should teach you a lesson." She hissed, "But I'm feeling magnanimous. How about I trade this one for another element of harmony? A less self obsessed one, perhaps?"
"Hey! You watch it!" Rainbow yelled.
"Really though, she's a terrible bore and I'd prefer to be rid of her. Sadly you're all out of things to bargain with. In fact you'd be doing well to get yourselves out of here intact." Chrysalis gloated.
"What do you want?" Shining Armor asked angrily.
"I would like you all to leave, obviously." She turned to Rocky, "Rockford, how much did you tell them?"
"Everything." He admitted, "I couldn't see any particular harm in it, we're not doing anything wrong."
"Of course, I figured as much." She said and turned her focus back to the Equestrians, "So regardless of what you imagine our plans to be you do, in fact, know the truth. For the time my sole impetus is to save my race. I can't make any promises about the future, we've both proved ourselves to be deceitful today so it would be of little consequence but if you want Rainbow Dash back you'll have to leave this valley and stay out. Can we agree to that?"
Cadence considered for a moment and boldly asked, "Could we stick around and watch if we promise not to interfere?"
Chrysalis rolled her eyes and snorted, "Fine. But you'll have to go as soon as we get the stone repaired. We'll pretend we don't know you're here and you will all keep your distance, agreed?"
"Agreed." Shining Armor and Cadence conceded in dismal agreement.
"So, we done here?" Rainbow asked.
"Cut her loose." Chrysalis said simply and Rainbow was freed from her constraints and roughly shoved on her way.
One of the changeling drones turned into a copy of her, turned around and shook it's butt at her, laughing a scratchy laugh. She quickly kicked him with a hard buck, knocking him down, which delighted the other drones and made Rainbow smile for the first time since she'd been captured.
Thinking back on it later she realized it softened her walk of shame considerably and was grateful for it.
She rejoined her companions and they all turned to silently walk out of the valley through the pass, taking the long way around to maintain a semblance of stealth.
"That was anticlimactic. Why did you let Rainbow Dash go?" Rocky asked as he made the long climb to the platform once more.
"You would rather that I kept her?" Chrysalis laughed, "And you call me evil."
"You know what I mean. Using her as leverage would be a lot safer than just having a promise to go on." Rocky argued.
"Perhaps, but those pests are relentless when one of their own is in trouble. We would have had to be on guard at all times had we kept her. I had considered simply capturing them all, but again, I'd have to get all of them for certain, with no stragglers or they would turn up to sabotage our work. No, I feel far safer with a promise than with a hostage in this situation."
"Why did you agree to let them stay and watch?"
Chrysalis considered for a bit and couldn't really define any reason, "I don't know. Why did they want to see it? It's an important moment, granted, but less so to them. Maybe it just seemed like someone outside the hive should see it?"
"I'll see it." Rocky said, "I'm outside of the hive."
"Hmm...maybe. But I think perhaps you're family now." Chrysalis said without sentimentality and he noticed that she hadn't bothered to turn into Crystal Days this time.
He surmounted the staircase to arrive on the platform, sunstone already returned to it's place only a bit out of alignment, "Family, huh? I think I like that." He said as he resumed his long interrupted tasks.
"You ponies are such saps." Chrysalis said, grinning, "Soon enough you'll forget what a cruel, heartless parasite I am and go professing your love for me." Her tone got suddenly serious and she glared at him to emphasize her point, "But don't you forget, I really AM a cruel, heartless parasite, that's not just me leading you on in some insipid courtship ritual like you ponies are wont to do."
Even knowing full well that it was the truth Rocky found himself less convinced than he was outright comfortable with and he squirmed under Chrysalis' gaze and muttered something nasty under his breath.
My Faithful Student,
I have faith in your judgment. If the sunstone becomes an issue I do have certain contingency plans.
Stay safe,
HRH Princess Celestia
Having written a ten page report, or at least dictated one to Spike, the Princess' response was underwhelming, but knowing there was some manner of backup plan in the works at least took the pressure off of her a bit. Maybe Chrysalis would get banished to the moon, Twilight thought, but no, that took the elements of harmony and that would fall on their shoulders as well. What DID the Princess have as a backup plan?
She was at least grateful to get just the scroll she needed. A third hand copy, it was still old enough to predate Luna's exile and it confirmed several things. Firstly, the malignant spell on the stone was not unicorn magic, though it shared several traits with it. Reverse engineering it she realized immediately that it was cast by a meticulous artisan of spell crafting. It was, if nothing else, an extraordinarily durable spell that meshed with the stone's original faded enchantment. The most surprising part was that after some study she was able to confirm that a prominent exile to the Realm of Darkness was the original caster, for what good that did to know.
The solution was itching at the edges of her mind, but she couldn't quite grasp it.
"Did you find anything yet, Twilight?" Spike asked, yawning. She'd kept him up to an unholy hour and he'd been napping to make up for it.
"Well, I know what's going on, but not what to do about it. It might help to talk to someone about it." Twilight said grumpily. She also had a severe lack of sleep to contend with.
Spike walked over, fully intending to volunteer his ear, if he had one, but then saw the notes and diagrams Twilight had been drawing. The name 'Grogar' was written across the top and underlined twice. The interwoven lines of text and densely scribed superscript made him feel woozy and he thought better of it, "Whoa. I'm gonna get Cadence, maybe she can help."
"Thanks Spike." Twilight said genuinely as he waddled his way to find the alicorn. After a time Cadence showed up, along with Shining Armor.
Shining Armor was well schooled in major aspects of magic but he would have to admit, had he been given the chance, that his sister had delved into esoteric realms far beyond his grasp. Cadence, being an alicorn princess knew a little more than him, but still had trouble following the concept until Twilight simplified it to it's basic elements. She sat down at the head of the planning table and smoothed out her diagrams, even if they were only of any assistance to her.
"The stone's the major component of a spell that once encompassed the whole valley. It feeds into and is in turn fed by the leylines of this land. Thus the place at the top of the spire to align it just where it's meant to be so that's connected, because it looks like you can't fix the stone without fixing the valley and vice versa." Twilight began.
"That actually should make it easier to fix because it should create a feedback loop, or maybe a chain reaction according to how you go about it, but we're dealing with several different problems. The stone has a massive output, but it's storage capacity isn't so good. It looks like it would fully discharge in a day, and once it's fully discharged the capacitive spell's not strong enough to gather energy anymore."
"If it was taken into battle, and I'm not dead clear on how one one uses it as a weapon, it could easily get discharged past the point where it could replenish itself, even if you did get it back in place fast enough. It simply wasn't meant to be a weapon. In truth the terms of the original enchantment makes it a fairly cantankerous spell in it's own right, even without the curse."
"It's no trick to restart it once you know how it works. All it takes is a massive dose of love energy and a little sunlight and it would start right back up."
"Love energy?" Cadence asked, "Are you saying that it needs my magic to restart?"
"If I were doing it, yes. That's exactly what I'd do. If you're Chrysalis, who knows. They live on that energy, but isolating it and refocusing it on a stone would be extremely inefficient. I think it'd take several hives that one's size to pull it off. Maybe not even then, but I guess you never get anywhere underestimating changelings." Twilight considered, "If that unicorn really knew his stuff, he might get some sort of focusing array going...dunno."
"That's a solvable problem, though. The trouble they'll have is disentangling the misanthropic bit of spellcraft."
"You mean undo the curse, right?" Shining clarified. Twilight scowled, screwed up her face and glared at him.
"There's no such thing as curses." She growled angrily.
"Yeah, well, it sounds like a curse." Shining Armor said and stuck out his tongue.
"Well it can't be a curse because curses don't exist, Shining." Twilight barked at her brother, "We've had this argument before, we had this argument when I was seven, when are you going to get it through your head that there's no such thing as curses?"
"If it looks like a curse and smells like a curse..." Shining started with an evil smirk. Twilight got up from her seat and pummeled him with hoof blows. Cadence had seen these fights between them before and knew not to take them seriously. She began to laugh at them. Twilight's eyes darted over to her.
"Do you want to weigh in on this?" Twilight said to Cadence, daring her to choose sides.
"Oh, don't bring me into this! I'm not one to place so much importance on semantics." Cadence said, trying to keep out of the fray, but it was just the wrong thing to say.
"Semantics IS important! How will anypony know what you meant to say if you don't use your words precisely?" Twilight demanded, shook her head and settled back into her seat, "I swear you two say horrible things like that just to rile me up."
"Shh! Don't tell her!" Shining Armor stage whispered and then looked to Twilight, "So you were going to tell us how to undo the curse?"
"It's easy to dispell the dark magic affliction if you're us, we'd just have to use the elements of harmony and dose it with love to keep it from getting reinfected. Boom. Problem solved. The question and the problem is how do you do it if you're the changelings?" Twilight tapped her chin with a hoof, thinking seriously on the subject.
"Is there another way around it?" Cadence asked, "Couldn't the love energy be used to break the spell as well as charge the stone?"
"If that unicorn was very clever and everything went just right, maybe." Twilight admitted, "But things only ever go that right in books and from talking to him I do wonder how experienced he really is in practical magic? That's the trouble with this sort of thing, there's ways to make it work in theory that look great on paper and even check out mathematically, but won't work well in reality. That's where experience really counts and I have my doubts about Rocky's."
"So what would happen if he tried and failed?" Shining Armor asked.
"That part worries me quite a bit." Twilight said with deep concern etched on her brow, "I think it would backlash leaving them drained of nearly all their love energy, which I believe would kill all the changelings."
"Oh, I see. You think we should help them." Cadence stated, disappointedly.
"I...maybe?" Twilight cringed, knowing how Cadence felt about the changelings, "Because they're going to do it anyway and even if they're an evil scourge I can't really just let them get killed, can I?"
Of course it comes to this, Cadence thought. It keeps circling back to the same problem, and she so wanted Chrysalis frozen in stone, sent to the moon, she might even settle for her being divested of her evil intentions and living in peace and harmony like Luna, blah blah blah. That was not the path that continually presented itself. It would be so easy, so justifiable to be rid of the changeling menace as a whole, all they had to do was nothing, and who could really blame her?
Everyone, is who. Twilight, Celestia, Luna, Shining Armor even. Of course they would understand, forgive her and coo sweet words over her even, but they would be disappointed and would likely never see her the same way again. But what right did they have, after what Chrysalis has done, to judge her?
Her eyes watered and she sniffled, snorting in a decidedly unprincesslike manner. They'd tried to dupe the changelings and Chrysalis, in turn, played them for fools for her own amusement. In the end she had gone to great lengths, even though she had the upper hand the whole time and could have set the whole swarm against them at any moment, to give them back Rainbow Dash and balance the books. She had acted more honorably than Cadence would have had their roles been reversed, and why?
Without Rainbow the elements were nothing but costume jewelry and yet she traded her back for a simple promise that Cadence wasn't even sure she would keep.
Cadence knew the right thing to do, the only thing she could do and still look her loved ones in the face. She just hoped she could pretend to be okay with helping the changelings, even though she decidedly wasn't.
Cadence dropped her head with a thud onto the table and covered it with her forehooves. After a time she spoke from that position with only her muzzle exposed. "Maybe it would be for the best. I think we should discuss it with the girls, first, though."
"They're still out looking for Breezy, by the way." Shining Armor said as he belatedly went to his wife's side and nuzzled up against her, speaking gentle encouragements and soft words of affection.
"Oh, you don't think the changelings captured him, do you?" Twilight asked, realizing that if they had it would change the whole dynamic.
"I doubt it, but maybe we should go find him before we make any further decisions." Shining said, "The girls are searching the mountains on the outer ring, maybe we should search within the valley in case he ended up there. If we don't find him we could just ask the changelings, I suppose, but I'd like to avoid it if at all possible."
As it turned out it could not, in fact, be avoided. Searching the inner part of the mountain range they were intercepted almost immediately by a pair of changelings who instead of attacking looked at them expectantly.
It unnerved Cadence enough being so close to changelings again that she described Breezy and asked if they'd seem him, just to have something to say. They chittered and chirped to each other, discussing it and one of the pair took off. The other remained and tried to look nonchalant, while waiting, going so far as to attempt to whistle, which he failed at being able to produce a single note properly, and even went so far as to look at his watch, which of course he did not have.
Eventually the first drone reappeared, dragging along another shier little drone. Cadence went through her description again, and the changeling got excited and turned into the stallion they were after with a burst of green magic, the details and scowl uncanny. He then pointed up the mountain emphatically and reverted to his normal form.
"Up there?" Twilight asked, "I might be able to teleport there, I'm not sure, and you'd have to carry Shining Armor up and then back down. Would you feel safe going it alone?"
"I might have to carry Breezy back down, so it's probably simpler if I go alone." She turned to the changeling, "You won't hurt me, will you little guy?"
The drone made a cross my heart gesture and took off, pausing to make sure she and the other two drones were following. In truth she had considerable misgivings and felt on the verge of a panic attack, but she followed none the less, her resolve to get along with the changelings being put to it's first test.
They arrived at a spot just on the other side of the ridge line where yellow, pony sized boulders nestled together to form an incoherent pile of glacial debris. There was a void in the debris that the changeling was pointing to. When Cadence looked down she was startled by a single eye staring back at her.
"Are you okay?" She yelled.
"I'm fine, nothing broken, just fell down a hole." He groused, "You know there's a changeling beside you?"
"Yeah, well, we'll talk about that." She smiled at the changeling. "How'd you end up down there?"
"A changeling patrol was sweeping the foot of the mountain so I came up here for the cover. They saw me and came after me and I jumped down this hole hoping it went somewhere. It doesn't by the way, but they followed me down, three of them did, and I beat them quite handily so they skedaddled. The walls are slick, though and I can't get back out." Breezy climbed halfway up the wall and held himself there, legs quaking with strain. Instantly Cadence was halfway down the hole, rear legs and wings expanded to keep her from falling in and grabbed Breezy's hooves. She gradually wound herself back up, hauling him back towards the surface.
A look of sudden realization appeared on her face as his face reentered the sunlight. She unceremoniously dropped him, turned on the changelings and kicked the little one square in the face. Then she hit one of the bigger ones with a glancing blow, but he and his compatriot grabbed up the injured little changeling and took off, screeching angrily at the seemingly deranged alicorn who took off to retrieve and forewarn her friends.
She was already yelling by the time she'd crossed back over the mountain and first came into sight of her friends, "...Can't believe I trusted them, it was a trap! We've got to get back, now! Before they try something worse!"
Shining Armor couldn't make much of her ranting but her distress put him on guard, ready for an attack at any moment, a shield spell at the ready for an attack that failed to occur, "Where's Breezy?"
"I don't know." She landed hastily and sloppily and used her wings to urge Shining Armor and Twilight into a trot, "They probably have him. They tried to pass off a drone as him, but they made a mistake, his eyepatch was over his right eye so I knew it wasn't him."
"You're sure?" Shining Armor asked, increasing his speed to a light gallop.
"I'm sure." Cadence stated flatly, "That eyepatch was on the left eye before and then he conveniently fell in a hole just waiting to be rescued. How likely is that, really?"
"I don't know, this place is all full of holes. It wouldn't be that hard to fall into one if you were running in the dark." Twilight said, "I see what you mean, though, Cadence. It is suspiciously convenient."
"Also, if they could change into him it pretty much means they've captured him, wouldn't you think?" Cadence asked. Shining Armor nodded his agreement as they rushed back to their cave.
From the platform high atop the changeling hive Chrysalis had heard the drones screechy chittering from some considerable distance and had turned to listen. A minute later it's insistent volume drew Rocky's attention away from checking his calculations.
The drones arrived carrying the smaller dazed one between them. Chrysalis listened intently to their hastily conveyed story as she inspected the small drone. His armor had been cracked across the bridge of his snout and he was bleeding moderately. He sniffled, but Rocky assumed it was from bleeding or swelling in his sinus cavity rather than an emotional response as he'd never seen the drones act with any great deal of sentimentality.
Chrysalis licked her holey hoof and wiped away the smear of blood, then spoke some words of comfort in her own language before the drones took him inside to recover.
"What happened to him?" Rocky asked with concern.
"That ridiculous pink alicorn kicked him in the face." Chrysalis told him.
"Why?"
"A simple misunderstanding, I'm sure." Chrysalis said tonelessly and called to one of the drones, who came over. She gave him a long set of instructions in their own unique language after which he gathered two dozen more drones to him and led them off to the Southwest in loose formation.
"You're not starting something, are you Chrissy?" Rocky narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
"Me? No, of course not. I just thought I could help those silly ponies out with something." She said with a wicked grin.
"I don't believe you, but we shouldn't be starting anything." Rocky chastised.
"We?" Chrysalis asked, taken aback, "I don't recall you having been put in charge of the leadership of this hive and one of the things I've found most tolerable about you all this time is that you don't attempt to interfere with my decisions."
Rocky was somewhat hurt, but he figured she might be right. He might have overstepped his bounds and he'd always felt his place with the hive to be a rather tenuous arrangement at best and he'd told himself he was okay with that. But was he really? He shook his head to clear away these irrelevant meanderings, he was too deep in this now to start second guessing himself and mewling about some hurt feelings.
"It's just that it's almost time. Maybe dawn tomorrow and I need to start setting up the array. It would be better not to be riling up those ponies now is what I'm getting at."
Chrysalis shrugged, "What's done is done. Their reaction should be amusing." She left it at that, Rocky looked at her and groaned trying to put out of his head the mean spirited plans he imagined she was hatching.
"Anyway, I've got to scratch the array out in the dirt and then I have to set all those little receptor stones in the array. After that we'll be ready to do this, unless you've changed your mind?" Rocky asked. Having told her the dangers he still felt he should warn her off and give her a last chance to chicken out. Chrysalis, however, wasn't one for changing her mind out of fright.
"The drones are at your disposal, feel free to use them if they can be of any assistance." Chrysalis gestured and one of her personal guards, a sweetly dispositioned and seemingly intelligent drone, stepped forward awaiting Rocky's task.
Shortly he had a small army of changelings gouging an arcane array into the crumbling soil. They turned out to be extremely capable and even more accurate in execution then Rocky himself and he was quickly relegated to distributing the numerous mismatched gemstones and shards within the pattern. The patterns and concentric circles expanded until the ground started to become too uneven and rocky to continue and the pattern was terminated.
Rocky rechecked his and the changeling's work by the waning sun and found it to be satisfactory. There was nothing left to do but trigger it in the morning and he'd finally fulfill what he'd counted as a fated task.
Southwest of the hive, outside the ring of mountains that encircled the valley a dark brown stallion limped his way along a trail that would take him over the ridge line, down the opposite slope and directly towards the changeling hive.
His progress was slowed by his three legged gait. His left rear leg was hurt, probably fractured, and had begun to swell. He was scratched, bruised and sore as could be, at least he wasn't lost. He was, however, confused. The changelings had been acting very oddly and it was unclear at this point whose side they were on, he even had some vague notion of a coup at the hive.
The drones didn't help him on his arduous trek, but neither did they hinder him despite occasional patrols spotting him. One little drone with a mashed up face had even waved to him as they passed. Given the scarcity of patrols earlier and the odds against being spotted by chance in the vast expanse he'd come to assume that they were primarily keeping an eye on him.
He stopped, balanced himself on one front and one rear leg, reached up and scratched his dusty, scrubby black mane then scratched under and resettled his eyepatch before stomping his forehoof back down as his balance began to waver.
Gruntilngly he resumed his journey, over a field of loose, jagged rocks, up a series of eroded switchbacks and up a slope angled so steeply that he was forced to crawl up it, dragging his injured leg. Once surmounted he was rewarded with the welcome view of the mountain's slope falling away down into the valley.
The valley floor, he was surprised to see, had been scratched with geometric patterns and interlocking circles, a faint glittering at their junctures and key points as the sun sank rapidly towards the jagged horizon. Certainly this development hinted that things had progressed quite considerably in his absence.
Not for the first time he wondered what had become of his comrades. The truth was that as broad of a range as they would have to search he still should have seen some hint of their efforts, if they were indeed looking for him. This lead him to believe they weren't. The pain that every step, every breath for that matter, produced slowed and clouded his mind and the various possible implications were slow in coming.
It was possible, but unlikely, that they were driven from the valley. He'd taken off running just as soon as the charges went, though, and so couldn't know for sure. They could have been captured, but the odds were against all of their number being entrapped. They could have believed him dead or captured himself and no longer at large, but he couldn't see that being the case.
A lot of it hinged on whether or not the Cadence that came for him yesterday was real or a changeling, and if she was the genuine article, why had she turned on him and dropped him back down the hole? He'd injured his leg in that fall and it had lead to his current batch of problems.
Though it was risky to go over such terrain in his current state he couldn't gamble on the outer cave mouth, the planning room of the cave, just inside being where Cadence and her herd of hangers on would probably be. Cheyenne, though, would be at the inner cave mouth inside the valley, on watch, if she was anywhere. She tended to be where the grunt work needed to be done, something he very much admired about her, so he continued on with the sole goal of finding her.
Then if that Cadence was a changeling imposter, why had the large cohort of drones come back and pulled him out of the hole? That was all they did, however. They simply arrived, twenty five darkly gleaming drones with their unreadable turquoise eyes, proceeded to push and pull him out of his sorry predicament and then leave en masse. They hadn't ignored his questions, exactly, but they wouldn't say anything save for their chitterings and squawks either and then they were gone.
As the dark grew deeper his condition deteriorated. The pain was excruciating, his leg was throbbing hotly with every heartbeat. Confused and badly dehydrated he had overexerted his forelegs compensating for his gimpy rear one. He was stumbling more often, despite the bright glow of the moon fighting through the overbearing haze and for the past hour he'd been debating the merits of his choices.
If he stopped he would, likely as not, never be found and die in the rocky, wind blasted mountains. If he continued on he might die on his feet. The way things were going he'd be too far gone to be anything but a burden by the time he made their hidden outpost, and if he didn't make that by dawn he'd risk giving their position by going there.
While his mind debated, rebelled, negotiated and insisted on stopping immediately his feet kept dragging him inexorably forward. His shuffling zombie walk hardly breaking rhythm despite his inner turmoil.
Under an outcropping of rock that hid the narrow cave mouth sat Cheyenne, finally cleaned of her itchy camouflage and with her rusty mane and tail combed free of the burls and matting she'd been maintaining. Her cutie mark was visible as well and the soldiers waiting with her commented on it idly.
"It's an axe, innit?" One of the armored stallions speculated.
"Nah, it's a tommy-hawk." Another soldier, named Foxhole, said with his odd accent, "It's like them ol' buffalo carry 'round, 'cept they're just decorative now. They don't go 'bout scalping everypony like they used ta in the ol' days."
"You're both wrong." Masquerade, the unicorn soldier who specialized in camouflaging magic informed them, "It's a tomahawk, sure, but look at the hammer end. See how it's fluted? That's so you can put tobacco or some such thing in it and smoke out of the hole in the end of the handle."
"So it's just a glory-fied pipe? What's the point in all that then? It'd be a heck of easier and lighter just to have a reg'lar ol' pipe and save the blacksmith a whole heap o' work." Foxhole said.
"It's a peace pipe. Being shaped as a weapon of war while being an implement of peace is some kind of symbolism, that's what the buffalo used to say." Masquerade said and addressed Cheyenne who'd been staying clear of their musings on her flank, "Isn't that right, Sir?"
"Right enough, I suppose." She replied simply and returned to scanning the night with her binoculars.
"Well if'n that don't beat all." The oddly accented stallion laughed, "Our Lieutenant's special talent is runnin' away and our Sergeant's a peacemaker in the shape of a weapon o' war. That's downright ironical that is."
Cheyenne giggled, "I don't think you really ought to let Breezy hear you say that sort of thing, unless you like KP and running laps." With the tension of an impending battle more or less broken she assumed a more relaxed air and let discipline slip a bit. It was good to let the men blow off steam and to her mind it didn't hurt unit cohesiveness a bit either.
She was worried about Breezy, sure, but if the changelings had him like Cadence said he should be okay. Changelings don't tend to hurt ponies, despite their wicked looks, but rather keep them well tended so that they can be harvested for their love.
The palest tinge on the horizon indicated the imminence of the sunrise was mere minutes away. A shuffling from the cave mouth distracted the four soldiers from their posts as Shining Armor emerged.
"Cheyenne, Twilight says that she thinks the changelings will cast their spell just as soon as the sun rises so that they'll have the maximum amount of daylight to recharge it. She says the array out there's meant to drain and refocus all the changeling's love energy to uncurse and restart the sunstone, so they'll need it working to recharge themselves. It would be a perfect time to take the hive, but we've promised that option away." Shining Armor hung his head and sighed, "She also says that Rocky's spell is overly optimistic and they won't have enough love energy to pull it off."
"So nothing will happen, then, sir?" She asked.
"No. Something will happen, we can be sure of that at least." Shining Armor stated, "Twilight says that the spell will collapse and backlash and it will most likely kill all the changelings. At the very least it will leave them all drained and without the sunstone working they will die within a few hours."
"It's going to create a magical shockwave that unicorns and even pegasi are going to want to avoid, so we're going to hide out in the cave and block it off with fill in the narrow part right here. We need a couple of volunteers to stay out here and keep watch, then start digging the hole back out after the fireworks die down."
"That's harsh," Cheyenne said, neutrally, "Sir, I thought you had all decided not to hurt the changelings. What happened with that?"
"They took Breezy and held him, then tried to infiltrate us with a changeling drone after we've already come to terms. You know I'm morally against it, but there's only so much forgiveness and trust that can be freely given, so if they're going to kill themselves I don't see that it's our duty to bust our flanks to stop them." Shining Armor said coldly. He'd fought with himself over this issue and much as he wished for peace, harmony and second chances, the changeling's self destruction would be the simplest, safest solution to this whole situation and he had no great sympathy for them anyway. While he didn't match his wife's bitter and bloody minded hatred of changelings they had endangered everyone he loved and it would be so very easy to look on their passing as righteous vengeance, despite a serious tinge of guilt.
"Sir, what about Rocky? What about Breezy for that matter? Will he be alright in the hive with all this going on around him?" Cheyenne asked.
"Breezy should be fine, earth ponies should be mostly immune to the spell, even at it's epicenter." Shining Armor looked at the ground, "Rocky won't fare so well. It's hard to say for certain but minimally he'll be completely drained of love energy and suffering from the backlash. If he lives through it and we can get him to Cadence fast enough she should be able to save him, but the spell has a pretty nasty half life. It'll need to be earth ponies that go in the hive after him until we can dismantle the array."
"I volunteer, sir." Cheyenne said, coming to attention and saluting properly for once, "I'd be honored to keep watch and to go in with the rescue party."
"'Spect I'll volunteer as well, if ya don't mind, sir." Foxhole said with a proud grin.
"Granted, now come on, let's get everypony to safety and the cave mouth filled in." Shining said.
Cheyenne looked to the brightening horizon and squinted, "My saddle bag's just inside the first chamber, do you think there's time to get my eyepatch out of it?"
"Wait, what? Why would you need an eyepatch?" Shining Armor asked, stunned at the odd request.
"Cadence! Twilight!" Shining Armor yelled as he entered the cavern and the soldiers quickly started to seal up it's mouth, "We've got a big problem!"
Most of the soldiers, all the Elements of Harmony, Cadence and Spike were assembled in the wet unevenly floored cavern. Shining Armor gave Cadence a wild, panicked look, shook his head, trying to determine where to begin and eventually just started spewing words hoping they would make sense, "That pony in the hole WAS Breezy. Cheyenne just told me about the eyepatch. It turns out that Breezy has been fighting the Diamond Dogs until he came here, Cheyenne too. They're in and out of tunnels all day and it takes a while for your eyes to adjust, you know?"
"Well it's deadly to go jumping down holes and running into someone who's been down there and can see because their eyes are already acclimated, so they took to wearing eyepatches. Whenever they jumped in a dark hole they'd just switch it to their other eye and they could see again because the eyepatched eye was adjusted to being in the dark under the eyepatch. I only found out just now because she wanted one to go looking for Breezy in the changling hive, which she figured was full of dark tunnels."
"Buck!" Cadence swore the implications of this bit of news setting in, then again, "Buck! The changelings! It's too late to do anything to save them!"
"Don't blame yourself," Shining Armor embraced her and nuzzled her neck, "You couldn't have known. It's not your fault."
"It is my fault!" She wailed, tears cascading down her cheeks, "A whole species is going to be wiped off the face of the planet because I was blind to any explanation other than treachery."
A high pitched whine started building from outside the cave, shaking the dust from all the walls and causing the rock walls to creak unsettlingly. It rose to a monstrous pitch and abruptly stopped. As soon as it did hooves from outside could be heard attacking their hasty barricade and the soldiers inside took to dismantling it as quickly as possible.
The hive rattled, creaked and then fell deathly silent. Atop the platform lay the prone figures of a grey unicorn and a blue one, both with gemstone cutie marks until the blue one's color suddenly reverted to a glossy black.
Chrysalis' green blood trickled from her mouth and nose, thin rivulets joining to form a small lake. She coughed piteously and looked to where Rocky lay.
His eyelids fluttered open and he tried to stand but he was incapable. His horn was blackened at the tip and he bled from the ears. He didn't look to be badly injured, but they both knew he'd killed them both. Shamefaced he met Chrysalis' eyes.
"I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry. I don't know where I went wrong, I just..." He whimpered with difficulty. Chrysalis didn't look on him reproachfully. It was far too late for reproach and Chrysalis had long been at peace with the fate that was rapidly approaching her. Now that it was done and beyond her control she found she just couldn't be that angry. In fact she felt relieved more than anything, as if a great weight was lifted off of her.
"Failed or not you've given your life to aid us, who were on the verge of death already. All is forgiven and you have my gratitude besides." Chrysalis replied graciously, which she realized was unlike her, but what use was fury at this late juncture? She could feel the hive dying beneath her, the last sputters of energy drying up and she knew she had every right to rage but it just wasn't in her, she felt so peaceful as to wish to reassure her misguided benefactor.
Rocky grunted his thanks, struggling just to stay breathing. Every rise of his chest was a monumental battle that he would soon lose the strength to fight. His spell had come close to working, the stone had briefly resumed an amber hue and had even the barest trace of illumination lit it from within before the oily black retook it.
Chrysalis looked at him, almost tenderly, which she found rather surprising herself. Rocky loved her, that was obvious from the very beginning. At first it was a fraudulent, shameful and pathetic thing, like loving a paper doll of his wife. Had Chrysalis known his wife, been able to copy her mannerisms and speech it might have stayed that way, but she'd only been able to glean her image from his mind and the rest remained her true self. Haughty and selfish as she was he'd grown to enjoy her acid wit, vicious honesty and brutal pragmatism.
Their no holds barred verbal sparring had been the highlight of his days. He'd never met such a confident, quick witted and often laconic mare. There was, unsurprisingly, a queenly grace to her that thrilled him. In many ways she was the opposite of his wife whose body she'd assumed, but he grew to genuinely love her.
Chrysalis, for her part had explained to him that she was without the sort of love he was seeking, being devoid of it not by inclination but by her very nature. Love was food and nothing more to her. Grudging respect was about as far along the spectrum towards love as she could go. It had always been so, she thought.
A nagging thought started tickling the back of her brain when she tried to think back to her earliest days, had it really always been this way? Wasn't it different once, in a distant and long forgotten life? Her mind was a disjointed quagmire of distorted memories. The farther back she tried to think the more tattered the pieces became.
Time passed unmarked in the changeling hive and save for brief flurries of activities and various convoluted schemes to acquire more victims for her hive's sustenance one day ran into another. She was around before Discord, before Celestia and Luna had left their respective astral bodies for good to walk the earth amongst their little ponies.
The drones themselves came and went and though she knew each of her identical children well, memories of them all ran together after they were gone...save for the first drones.
She remembered now, the first drones had been live births, rather than eggs hatched in a nursery, but how could that be? They were born to others, not queens like her, but not drones either. Subjects, she remembered. They were her subjects who gave birth to the first drones but all her subjects had long since passed. She couldn't remember their faces, but she knew, unlike her drones they each had a name.
She was the one rendered ageless, the queen and mother to all the generations of drones that followed. She belonged to the hive as much as the hive belonged to her, she thought bitterly for a moment, but she had loved her subjects. All that she'd done then, all that she'd done after was out of love for them, to keep them safe and alive the only way left to her.
Chrysalis, for as long as she could remember had a sense of duty, a memory of a promise given and a great sacrifice undertaken but even now, on the edge of death she couldn't discern their precise nature and when love had become a thing only meant to sustain the hive.
She knew, though, that she wanted to love Rocky, just as she knew she was wholly incapable of doing so and the time for trying had passed. Her limbs had gone numb, her breathing shallow, she blinked slowly, taking in the grey sky and the grey unicorn before it, then she closed green her eyes for good.
Twilight used her magic liberally, recklessly and in haste to blow away the crumbly soil and the magical array it contained. Her spells would not work within it until it was dispersed somewhat so she attacked it by generating gusts and small tornadoes to erase all lingering traces.
The aura was quickly weakened though only time would dissipate it fully and the small army of ponies crossed the blasted landscape, scarves covering their snouts and wishing for goggles to guard against the stirred up dust. Applejack sprinted to the tower, followed by the bouncing pink party pony. Twilight felt woozy from the exertion and from the remnants of powerful magic. Rarity looked positively green and had to stop to retch, on several occasions as she trotted.
Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were dizzied by the magical flow and staggered often as they walked but were otherwise okay. If time were not of the essence they would have waited for the disturbances to die down.
The surroundings having been cleared was one thing, the hive structure itself was still rife with potent magics and it would test each of their constitutions to carry on through it. Not bothering to even look for a door Twilight blasted a hole through the structure's black shell and it crumbled into sand under her power. It was the last time she would be able to use her own magic until this was done.
Stepping inside a wave of nausea hit her along with the scent of tallow and peat and she emptied her guts on the polished black floor and moved on without remark. She could hear Rarity having a similar reaction behind her. The floor of the hive was littered with changeling drones, in the dark they could be living or dead, there was no way to tell. Drones still clung to the walls in all manner of awkward pose. They were still in the silent hive, their turquoise eyes eerily illuminating the huge hollow interior accented in a few places with luminescent green blood.
Twilight felt the guilt of knowing that she could have stopped this and hadn't. She hoped it wasn't already too late to redeem herself.
Her eyes burned and teared up, her horn throbbed, but she crashed forward regardless to her friends awaiting her at the spiral staircase that climbed straight to the tower. She was determined that she would make it regardless of her discomfort and stepped onto the first step woozily, preparing to soldier her way up. Fortunately the unaffected earth ponies grabbed her and Rarity both and slung them on their backs.
Pinkie's boundless energy saw Twilight to the top and Rarity was carried by Applejack's farm pony strength. Rainbow, suffering herself, still managed to help Fluttershy surmount the platform.
Breaking back into the grey daylight the six struggled to find enough room on the platform to stand. They straddled the unconscious Chrysalis and Rocky, not even taking the time to worry over them as they realized speed was their only salve. Applejack took a box from her saddlebag and distributed from it the elements of harmony. Which they all quickly donned.
"Wait, before we do this, how's blasting Chrysalis going to help anything? She's not in any shape to fight anyway." Rainbow said and pointed a hoof at the fallen changeling queen, "I don't think it's right kicking her while she's down and if we were going to she's right there. We could just, I dunno, actually kick her."
"Rainbow, are y'all serious? We're blasting the sunstone, sugarcube. Don't be going and aiming that ol' thing at Chrysalis, she's got enough problems today." Applejack chided as she finished hooking the clasp on her necklace, taking the barest moment to admire the apple shaped crystal.
"I didn't know we could aim these thing anyway!" Pinkie said and smartly turned to face the stone with her best determined glare.
"The rainbow does seem to just go where it wants to, I've noticed." Twilight admitted woozily, it was time to get this over with so she could pass out, "Everypony ready?"
"Ready!" They all agreed and Twilight let the energy build and flow through her. Her eyes glowed white as the the gems shot beams that converged on the center of the sunstone and produced a swirling rainbow. The sunstone sparkled and cleared of the black, not that it was much lighter. It was now a dull brown and no use to anyone in such a state, but the elements had done their part, even so they did not abate but instead expanded to encompass the hive then grow exponentially to cover the whole valley with a massive swirling rainbow vortex like a thousand sonic rainbooms stacked on top of each other and set spinning.
The miasma of grey that covered the valley was blown away instantly, the magic residue of the failed spell subsided and the rainbow finally collapsed and released the six mares from their thrall.
Five of the six looked to the bright sky in awe, the riot of spectral hues still burned into their retinas.
Rainbow shook Chrysalis. Her body light and unresponsive like a cicada shell, "Still dead." She announced. Twilight glared and Fluttershy gasped. Rocky was still breathing shallowly and raggedly.
"We've done what we can do, it's up to Cadence now." Rarity said.
Cadence crossed the valley in the time it took the rainbow to recede and lit on the edge of the crowded platform, shouldering her way between Pinkie who was always thrilled with physical contact and Fluttershy who was mortified, Cadence charged up her horn and channeled as much love energy as she could into the stone. It was the barest trickle compared to what the sun could do, but she hoped it was enough to kickstart the stone. She poured every bit of will she could into the beam until it sputtered away.
"It's done." Cadence announced, exhausted, "Now we wait."
Twilight signaled to her brother and the various soldiers on the ground that everything had gone alright. Fluttershy longed to stay and nurse the stallion laid out on the cold platform, but there was little to be done so she and Rainbow took off to resume the search for Breezy. It was a short search, as they found him waving from the front of their hidden cavern entrance and it gave Fluttershy someone much more appreciative of nursing skills until the medic got there.
Applejack and Pinkie left the platform carrying the still struggling Rarity between them and met Shining Armor and his various soldiers halfway across the valley and proceeded to give him what report they could come up with. Twilight refused to move, insisted that she would never be forced to move ever again and stubbornly fell asleep right on the platform. Cadence stayed to watch her as well as to watch over the recovery of the hive.
Her special talent was love itself, which had metaphysical ramifications that couldn't be imagined. She could sense and control the ethereal love energy that permeated Equestria, that was simple. She could help along a primordial love and cause it to blossom and she could, if one irritated her sufficiently, force love, however against type it seemed. This was not a power she often used and she viewed it as her deadliest weapon, to be used only in cases of direst importance, only once or twice for fun. Most pleasing to her she could sense a the channels through which the love energy flowed, the magical connection between family friends and lovers that made her world a beautiful, complicated, pulsating spiderweb.
Even drained she could see, clear as day, the affection that Rocky had for Chrysalis, it moved like an erratic torrent. What surprised her was the thread of love that the changeling queen returned. Though it wasn't a sufficient path for a torrent to flow through it was finely wrought, strong and deeply rooted. The hive below received a measure of consideration as well, all of it familial love like a mother for her children, though and entirely unlike what she felt for Rocky.
"D'aww....I didn't think a changeling COULD feel love except to feed upon it." Cadence couldn't help but smile and find her former bitter enemy cute as a kitten after feeling that. Everypony was cute when they were helpless and sleeping, she supposed.
While she didn't forgive her, exactly, and even had a fleeting thought of shoving the sleeping form off the edge of the platform it was only for the briefest of moments. Maybe this was something she could finally get past after today. Maybe even the changelings, even Chrysalis, had a right to live and to be forgiven.
On the other hoof, if the changelings went on to hurt anypony after this it would be her fault for not putting an end to the queen right here and now, was it really right to take that risk? Where she saw cute and helpless moments ago she saw weak and pathetic. It would be so much safer to take the path of suspicion. She sighed and resettled herself, forcefully quelling her vicious thoughts.
Love and tolerance, she reminded herself, was the whole of what an Equestrian princess was meant to embody, an ideal she'd dedicated her life to. If she couldn't act by that ideal now then it was meaningless, and even if it had to be an act now, in this place, maybe her ideals could grow into her actions later.
She tried to scavenge some more energy to feed the afflicted changeling but she just couldn't scrape together any more power after exhausting it so fully. There really was nothing left to do but wait and hope the stone would start feeding them soon enough. She sat down on her belly and waited silently.
Shining Armor climbed up and joined her. Not breaking her reverent silence he settled down beside her and nuzzled her lovingly. As the day wore on the sunstone began radiating warmth and love, first at a low, almost unnoticeable level, but soon the whole valley pulsed with it fostering a contentment in all all those within it's bounds. It's effects on the flora were equally pronounced. Wild grasses sprung out of the dead parched soil. Springs, freed of the valley's curse that held them at bay, welled up to feed the small creeks and fill the shallow depression around the hive. By late afternoon saplings had appeared and flowers carpeted the valley floor.
Twilight yawned and rose, startled when she realized where she was and how close to the edge she was she sidled up to the pulsing yellow stone, grinning madly.
"You did it Cadence!" She chirped.
"Yes and I believe the changelings are going to be okay too. They're absorbing the energy nicely and should be up and around any time now. Chrysalis was beginning to stir moments ago, but I figured it's best to let her sleep." Cadence said.
"They found Breezy, by the way." Shining Armor said, "The changelings went back and pulled him out of the hole after the incident, but made him walk back. He's got a broken leg and he's not in the best shape, but he'll be fine."
"What about Rockford." She said and pointed to the collapsed unicorn.
"He's stable enough now that his energy's started to restore itself, but he's suffering from the magical backlash. There's nothing to be done for him but just wait and see." Her brother said.
"Poor Rockford." Twilight said sadly, she knew just how dangerous a magical backlash really was.
"His name...." a halting voice emitted from the changeling queen, "His name is Rocky." She said, rocking stiffly as if trying and failing to regain her feet. She couldn't see and her body refused to move properly, as if it was encased in a skin of plaster. She kept rocking and muscled her way to a sitting position. Her body cracked and crackled as she moved and when she abruptly stood plates of her exoskeleton clattered to the ground and Twilight swiveled to meet her eyes. Her pink irised eyes, set in a pale yellow face which was in turn hung on a pale yellow mare. She was, like a changeling, skinnier and proportional longer legged than a normal pony, but she had large clear wings shaped like a butterfly's but iridescent like a dragonfly. She retained the majority of her stature, losing a few hooves in height. Her mane was long and pink and most shockingly of all she retained her jagged horn only it was now her new color.
The three others on the platform stared at her, eyes wide, mouths hung open.
"Do I have something on my face?" Chrysalis asked teasingly but when she raised a hoof and discovered it's new hue she was likewise perplexed. She turned to her flank and found she even had a cutie mark of three roses and some bits of surrounding foliage. Her voice had lost it's odd insectile quavering and had become a gentle lilting thing.
"You do, actually..." Twilight started to say, "Oh, no, I thought it was a leaf but it's part of your markings, though I haven't seen a cutie mark that made it clear up to a pony's face. So, um, yeah, there's a tiny leaf by your eye on either side, also, what are you now? Can you change back?"
Chrysalis strained and grunted, "It seems not." she admitted, then thought of her drones and their predicament. She leapt down the hole in the platform and slid down the rails of the staircase, using her unfamiliar wings to slow her descent. The inside of the hive had become a riot of color as pastel insect winged ponies pulled their comrades free from the changeling drone shells.
They were all smaller than pegasi, with longer legs, just like their queen. They were each and every one a blank flank despite their wildly varied ages. Their sexes were likewise varied. Instead of a chittering buzz like a confused hive would normally generate there was, instead, a murmur and then raised voices.
"My queen!" "Are you okay?" "You look so soft and yellow!" "What happened?" "I'm so...Pretty!" "My wings!" "MY HORN! WHERE'S MY HORN?" The former drones fussed until Chrysalis calmed them.
"My children!" She tried to bellow, but rather lacked the volume, all the ponies hushed and listened intently anyway, "This is to be expected. Please check on your fellows, including those who were in the cavern below us. Help them from their pods, if you will, then take time to acquaint yourselves with your hive brothers and sisters new forms. I will return shortly with new orders. You two, please go up on the platform and look after Rocky. Inform me at once should his condition change in the slightest."
Chrysalis looked up to where Twilight, Cadence and Shining Armor were following each other down the staircase in confusion. She signaled to the three with her head to hurry up and follow her outside. Twilight, seeing the ponies opened her mouth to start asking questions, "Ixnay!" Chrysalis said and motioned more emphatically before exiting herself.
Once they'd joined her outside she walked well clear of the hive through the tall grass, turned to the three. She grinned stupidly, for a time at a loss for words, "That, is by far the least likely thing that could have possibly happened, yes?"
"Agreed." "Definitely." Cadence and Shining Armor said. Twilight shrugged, "I've seen stranger, I suppose, but it's got to be right up there."
"Well...at least now I know what's been going on for the past few eons." Chrysalis said, grinding her newly yellow hoof in small circles in the grass.
"I'm glad you do, because I don't get it." Cadence said with a thoughtful scowl.
"It turns out," Chrysalis said melodramatically, "That I made a deal with a devil."