“...and she came home happier than I’ve ever seen her,” Twilight concluded. “I guess that sums up the day’s events. Yesterday was mostly spent partying with Pinkie Pie, and nothing really happened this morning.”
Doctor Open Mind scribbled a few remarks on his notepad. “So it all turned out fine in the end, did it?”
“I guess,” Twilight admitted. “I still did something awful to Chrysalis, though, and I still feel bad for that. And on top of that, I had another breakdown! I feel like we’re taking steps backwards now!”
“Not at all,” Mind replied. “This is your first incident since you first started seeing me. All things considered, your reaction had just as much basis in rational thought as in emotion. Not that it was a stable balance, but it’s certainly not nearly as extreme as some of the past incidents you described to me.”
“I know,” Twilight agreed, “and she was quick to forgive me for it. The problem is forgiving myse—”
“Don’t do this to yourself again,” Mind interjected. “I understand your need to make it up to Rainbow Dash the last time something like this happened, but from what you’ve told me, Chrysalis didn’t stay angry. You’ve already made it up to her, so there’s not much use in dwelling on it. Just keep moving forward.”
Twilight sighed on the doctor’s couch. “I guess you’re right. It just got me so worried, though. I spent almost every moment I had with her that day snapping at her. I don’t want that to be a regular occurrence. I don’t want to think... that our friendship might have an expiration date.”
Open Mind remained quiet for a disconcertingly long time, simply writing down additional notes. He had started to become a friend to Twilight in his own right, giving his guidance and advice with the sincerity that one only saw from somepony who cared about their job and the ponies it brought them into contact with. Hearing nothing come out of his mouth for this long worried Twilight to a degree.
“Twilight,” he finally stated, catching the mare off guard. “It’s been a few weeks now. Chrysalis has been mostly peaceful since she arrived, especially towards you. You gave her a place to stay, you helped give her a way to help the survivors of her race, and she fought tooth and nail to even get to that point. She’s the one who had to fight to earn your good graces, and yet you worry that she would have cause to end the friendship?
“From what I’ve heard from you, she values your friendship too much to leave over a day’s worth of fighting.”
Twilight dwelled on her shrink’s words. He was right, of course; she’d been entirely unwilling to give Chrysalis a chance in the beginning. The consequences of that were what led to her seeing him in the first place. Her other friends were blank slates to her when they first met; it was an accomplishment to have allowed herself to forge that same bond with someone she’d previously hated with every fiber of her being. Despite all that, it was her panicking about driving the other away.
When she thought about it, the notion just seemed silly. She stifled a chuckle.
“I believe that’s all the time we have for this session,” Mind informed her with a warm smile.
“Thank you, Doctor,” Twilight replied, returning the smile with one of her own. “Same time on Thursday?”
“Your horn’s looking a lot better!” Cadance mused as she removed the bandages from Chicane’s head. “The crack’s almost gone!”
“And praise the hive for that, because I am starving!” Chicane exclaimed. “I haven’t had a decent meal of love since you were still just Shining Armor’s fiancée!”
Cadance laughed heartily at the remark. “I guess you can feed off of mine for now. You know when to stop, right?”
“You’re seriously worried?” Chicane asked. “You couldn’t get sucked dry if there were twenty of me leeching off of you!”
“Changelings really have that little appetite?”
“Kinda-sorta,” Chicane replied, “but come on. The way you took me in, the way you helped me reconnect with my queen... when it comes to love, Cadance, you’re a one-pony banquet.”
“Thanks,” Cadance stated, blushing slightly. “Can you see out of your right eye?”
“Why don’t you take the bandage off so I can find out?”
“I... did,” Cadance informed him.
“Oh,” Chicane muttered. “Guess that answers that. How bad does it look?”
Cadance closely examined the injured eye. It seemed to be glazing over in an outward pattern, starting at a large streak going right through the center, a streak that matched perfectly up to the scar on his face. It looked jarring and unnatural; the fact that he even still had an eyeball was a miracle in and of itself.
“Well... not awful,” Cadance answered sheepishly.
Chicane gave Cadance a blank stare. “Get me a mirror.”
Cadance hesitantly complied, levitating a small mirror from a table across the room. The moment Chicane saw his reflection, he grimaced and recoiled. "How do I even still have the eye!?"
"That's exactly what—" Cadance started, but her sentence was lost to a knock at the front door. "Sorry, I should really—"
"Yeah, go get it." Chicane dismissed her, still staring at his reflection. "I think I'm gonna need to cover this up again..."
With a roll of her eyes, Cadance left Chicane's side and walked to the front door. The stallion’s face that greeted her when she opened it, his mouth occupied by a small doctor’s bag, was one of the last she'd ever want to see again.
"You!" Cadance cried. "You're the doctor that wouldn't treat Chicane!"
“Not anymore,” the stallion confessed, setting the bag down. “It’s just Cardiac Arrest now. That little stunt at the hospital... once they got both sides of the story, it cost me my job. Almost lost my medical license too. Can you believe it?”
“I can’t believe you didn’t lose it,” Cadance hissed. “What in Celestia’s name are you doing here?”
“Checking up on my patient,” Cardiac informed her. “I know the way I was going about the treatment was wrong, and my superiors wouldn’t let me hear the end of it. I feel awful about it, and I wish it didn’t have to take my getting fired for that to happen.”
“Just let him in,” Chicane called out. “You can throw him right back out if he tries anything.”
After a moment’s consideration, Cadance replied, “Fine. Check up on him, then get out. And I’ll have my eye on you the whole time, so don’t—”
“Wasn’t going to,” Cardiac assured her, picking up the bag and entering the home.
The process took about an hour. Cardiac spent most of it checking Chicane’s vitals, looking over the scans and x-rays that were out on display, and asking questions to both Cadance and Chicane regarding the latter’s pain and comfort. Cadance watched his every move, but he did nothing more out-of-the-ordinary than the impromptu visit itself.
Finally, Cardiac came to a diagnosis. “His eyesight won’t ever fully return, assuming it does at all. There’s too much structural damage. I can’t be certain he’ll ever fly again either, not with his right wing in this condition, though I admit I have no idea how changeling wings work in comparison to pegasus wings.”
“Oh, the wings?” Chicane interrupted. “Those grow back. The stupid things are so flimsy, a changeling would probably be grounded for life a thousand times over if they didn’t.”
“Well, that’s one less thing you’ll have to worry about,” Cardiac relented. “Those broken bones were trying to mend themselves for a good few weeks before you were found. I heard it was a nightmare trying to make those casts fit with the way they were trying to heal. You’ll likely be able to walk again, but assuming you do, you’ll have a limp for the rest of your life.”
“I can live with that,” Chicane decided. “It’ll take some getting used to, though.”
“That’s really all you came to do?” Cadance asked, sounding less distrustful and more relieved.
“I just wanted to make sure that you were actually caring for him,” Cardiac answered as he packed up his equipment. “And that both of you knew what to expect in the healing process.”
“Actual doctors have been coming in and out of this house since I got here,” Chicane remarked. “We knew that part already.”
“One more thing,” Cardiac added. “I don’t know what that thing is, but considering how bright and colorful everything else is in here, it looks out of place.”
Cadance followed the doctor’s pointing hoof to a small table beside the couch. Its place above Chicane’s head was never of issue to anyone else, but it didn’t take long for her to realize that it wasn’t the table he was referring to. She simply gave Cardiac a knowing smile once she noticed.
Atop the table, serving as a dark decoration in a vibrant room, sat the crown of Queen Chrysalis.
“Feast your eyes, lesser ponies, upon the infinite splendor of the Great and Powerful Trixie!”
The gathered crowd of colts and fillies, all dressed in colorful and varyingly elaborate costumes, watched in awe as the blue unicorn before them summoned a dazzling display of fireworks.
“Woooooow!” a lanky orange colt uttered. “That was amazing!”
“That’s exactly like her!” his stout blue friend replied. “You’re really good at that!”
With a smug smile, Trixie surrounded herself with a brilliant pillar of green light, revealing the massive changeling she truly was when it cleared. “Thank you kindly. I have time now for one final request.”
“Princess Luna! Do Princess Luna!” The request came from the shortest colt in the crowd—Pipsqueak, if Chrysalis recalled correctly. He was dressed in a pirate costume, which she’d heard was recycled from the previous Nightmare Night.
Not wanting to disappoint, Chrysalis disappeared in another green flash, her form changing to that of the lunar princess. Once she made sure she had the kids’ attention, she cleared her throat and took a long, deep breath.
“As your princess, we declare this to officially be the best Nightmare Night ever!”
The children went wild.
Chrysalis shed her disguise with one final “Thank you!” and took a bow. Using the foals’ cheers as her soundtrack for leaving the town hall stage, she joined up with Twilight and Spike, who were watching from the side. Twilight had dressed herself in makeshift princess attire, complete with cardboard wings, and Spike was sporting a tuxedo and the world’s least convincing false mustache.
“That was far too enjoyable,” Chrysalis declared. “Why settle for one costume when I can literally be whomever I want?”
Twilight laughed. “You looked like you were having a fantastic time with them!”
Chrysalis nodded. “I never spent much time with hatchlings. Impersonal policies aside, I thought they were somewhat annoying to listen to. Meeting the Cutie Mark Crusaders was quite a different experience for me... and Pipsqueak’s actions on the night of my public reveal were unforgettable. This time spent with the young crowd tonight has shown me conclusively just how much enjoyment one can derive from playing with them and being in their company.”
“You know,” Twilight hinted, “this is exactly the sort of lesson Princess Celestia likes for us to write about in friendship reports.”
“You mean... you think I should write to her as well?”
“You should,” Twilight replied with a beaming smile. “You haven’t been here long, and you still have a lot to learn.”
It seemed so obvious to Chrysalis that it would eventually come to this. She had no real friends to speak of before making her permanent residence in Ponyville, so knowing how to conduct herself better around them would be a great asset. Not that she was being a terrible friend up to this point, but there was always room for improvement.
She could apply this knowledge elsewhere as well, as it came to her. With her fellow changelings. If she would no longer be a queen to them, she must still be a friend to them. Chicane had made that abundantly clear to her.
“Very well,” Chrysalis stated. “Spike, take a letter.”
“You’ve got it!” Spike obliged, pulling out a quill and parchment he seemed to have handy for just this sort of occasion.
Dear Princess Celestia...
After a long and harrowing search, a total of eighteen changelings, Chicane included, were found alive. The search had been called off after the bodies the Royal Guard was finding consistently stopped resembling bodies. Very few of the recovered changelings were in any physical condition to properly function outside the Canterlot hospital’s walls, and those that were would require prosthetics and extensive surgery. The changeling race was officially critically endangered, with no hope of ever recovering to its former glory.
Shining Armor returned to Canterlot in relative triumph three days prior to Hearth’s Warming, just as he’d promised, with Chrysalis, Twilight, Cadance and Chicane standing by to meet him. Cadance greeted him enthusiastically, and the royal couple shared a long and passionate kiss. After so much time spent apart, they were finally able to hold each other again, and neither could be happier.
“Do you think I’ll ever get my turn to say hello?” Twilight asked once the liplock had reached the six-minute mark.
Shining ended the kiss at the sound of his sister’s voice. “Sorry, Twily. You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to do that.”
“I’ll let her have a turn with you,” Cadance decided. “I think Chrysalis has been drooling through that whole thing anyway.”
“I have not!” Chrysalis insisted, oblivious to the strand of saliva hanging from her mouth.
Chicane was silent throughout the merriment. For the first time, he was seeing in person the pony responsible for saving his life, for saving the entire changeling race. How was he supposed to confront him and tell him how important that was to him?
Simply thanking him should suffice.
Chicane looked up to see his que—to see Chrysalis smiling down at him as the three ponies celebrated, apparently having broken away from them once the predicament entered his mind. She rested a comforting foreleg over his shoulders, pushing slightly in an effort to get him to speak up.
After a moment, he adjusted his eyepatch and cleared his throat. “Shining Armor?” he called, grabbing the Guard captain’s attention.
“What’s going on, Chicane?” Shining replied.
“I just wanted to say... thanks,” Chicane stated, limping over to the stallion. “For saving me out there in that desert. And I guess for everything else you’ve done for the changelings. I know it really doesn’t look like much, but it really means a lot to me, and when the rest wake up, I’m sure it will to them too.”
“I’m just happy to do my duty,” Shining chuckled, giving Chicane a strong pat on his bad shoulder. The changeling groaned and winced at the forceful contact.
“No, I’m serious,” Chicane insisted. “I owe you and your wife everything. I wouldn’t be here at all if you two hadn’t cared enough to care for me.”
Shining merely smiled at Chicane. “Like I said, I just did what I had to do. Let’s not get too mushy, alright? I’m not really good with big emotional speeches.”
“Yeah,” Chicane agreed. “Alright.”
“Great,” Shining replied. “And now that I’m back... who’s up for donuts?”
Princess Celestia sat upon her throne, a pair of Royal Guards on either side of her and one of her personal assistants displaying for her a stack of papers requiring her signature. As she signed, she reflected on the events that transpired since the changeling queen arrived.
Chrysalis was making admirable progress in learning about friendship, judging from the letters Twilight had started her on writing. For a moment, she wondered if she may one day surpass her own student... but she was doubtful. Twilight’s charity, compassion, devotion, integrity, optimism and leadership marked her for greater things, and it would not be long before her true destiny would be realized.
With a content smile, Celestia continued with her paperwork. At last, all was well.
“News from northern Equestria!”
Celestia looked up from her stack of papers to see a Royal Guard running towards her, a look of the utmost urgency plastered on his face. As he approached the throne, he stopped to take a bow. “Uh... Your Highness.”
Her smile faded as she saw her guard’s expression. “Yes?” she asked, dismissing her assistant.
“I am simply to tell you that... it has returned.”
Celestia gasped in shock. The message bore bittersweet tidings; on the one hoof, it heralded the return of a once-prosperous empire that had been gone for more than a thousand years. However, if the crystal ponies had reappeared, then so, too, had their wicked king. He was a tyrant artful in black magics, now more a shadow than a stallion, but if he returned to his throne...
“Find Princess Cadance and Shining Armor,” she ordered. With a quick confirmation, the three guards departed the throne room together.
Without a moment to spare, Celestia summoned a quill and a blank scroll. She’d known that Twilight’s time was coming, but this was not the catalyst she’d planned for. As she wrote, she hoped she could find a way to challenge her with this to see if she was truly ready for ascension.
My dearest Twilight, you must come to Canterlot at once.
END