Suddenly, every light in the zone seemed to lose brightness as a gleaming form appeared from the stairs leading to the hive.
It was a shimmering pristine white quadruped, definitely equine, but the details were hard to grasp; it seemed to have wings, or at least some kind of appendages sprouting from its back, if it had a horn too it was impossible to say. It treaded lightly, without even the faintest of sounds as it came near to the centipede.
The farthest head of the guardian disappeared underground for a second before bursting out next to the other, ready to fight for its prey.
"Wasn't him disembodied?" asked Vinyl crooking her head.
"I suppose this is some kind of manifestation of his powers, I don't know..." admitted Chrysalis, rising a hoof to shield the brightness of the creature.
Both the guardian heads charged onwards to crush the newcomer, but they never reached their target: instead of smashing against a magical barrier like they did before with Cadence's, the two heads simply stopped in the midst of the attack. As if the guardian had just lost interest in the whole situation, both heads returned underground, disappearing in the darkened depths of the dungeons lower floors.
"Okay, now I'm totally lost," declared Lyra "What just happened?"
"It must be some sort of mind control, or maybe something like Fluttershy's stare..." said Bon-Bon shrugging.
"Nothing of the sort," said Ashley shaking her head.
"Then what is it?" asked Octavia raising an eyebrow.
"As Discord is the spirit of chaos and disharmony, father is the spirit of emotions and, by extension, the lack of them," explained Chrysalis.
"Yeah..." cautiously said Vinyl "Let's pretend I understood, what did he do?"
"Vinyl..." complained Octavia facehoofing.
"He removed the guardian's anger, replacing it with fatigue," patiently explained Ashley.
"Oh, now I get it!"
"My queens," called out the atone voice of the father of the hive resonating from every direction "I'll be waiting you in the growth chambers. All three of you. Farewell everypony."
After saying that much, the shining equine turned and paced away, dissolving slowly.
"Is he mad?" asked Cadence in a concerned tone.
"No," said Chrysalis.
"I'm not sure he's able to feel anger..." commented bitterly Ashley.
---
"We're here, father," announced Chrysalis entering the chamber with her sister and her sister-in-law.
The growth chamber was exactly in the middle of the hive, the place where the father of the hive created his emotion-feeding children and where he hatched his plans to see them rule; it was round shaped with the floor almost entirely covered by vats of slimy green and blue fluids and it had a huge light blue orb hanging in the middle, emitting enough light to see everything clearly.
For a minute or so, only silence reigned in the chamber, then came the spirit's atone voice: "You three are a huge pain, I would feel annoyance if I could..."
The three mares lowered their heads in embarrassment.
"That said, my life is monotone enough with your troubles, without it would be a hell. Why do you think I created the queens?"
A light chuckle resonated in the chamber, eliciting a sigh from the two changelings and a giggle from Cadence.
"Now, onto serious business: queen Mi Amore Cadenza informed me of your plans to move the hive and I approve of it, but I want to know the details and what you plan on doing with queen Ashley."
"Father, excuse me but I'm not queen anymore: I lost my title fighting with Chrysalis..." humbly said Ashley.
"Whatever, such details are uninteresting."
"Under Crystal City there are some caves, old unused mines. We were planning on moving you there to let you rebuild the hive as you please and then to move all the population," explained Cadence in a respectful tone.
"About Ashley, I didn't plan on finding her this swiftly so we hadn't made any actual plans," admitted Chrysalis "Of course, if she wants to stay she's more than welcome."
"Are you sure? I mean, I tried to kill both of you, your husband too..."
"I admit I was a little concerned," said Cadence nodding "But Chrysalis assured me that you wouldn't have done anything like that if it wasn't because you thought it was necessary for your people."
"Well, of course..."
"So, what will you do?" asked Chrysalis.
"I have been a worthless queen," declared Ashley.
"Not worse than your predecessors, trust me," commented the father of the hive.
"Anyway, I feel my place is somewhere else, moreover you two will do a fine work without me. I'll travel a bit then find a place to settle down."
"Are you sure?" asked Chrysalis, a note of sadness in her voice.
---
Thanks to Cadence's magic Ashley's wings were good as new, so, once the group of friends returned to Ponyville the time of goodbyes arrived.
Ashley decided to leave almost immediately for the wasteland where dragons lived, but not before Lyra could finally have her precious memento: a photo of the five of them, with Ashley undisguised.
After the changeling's departure, life returned to its old rhythm, mostly slow but with peaks of madness, like when Discord was freed or the day when Twilight became an alicorn.
Octavia ended up transferring to Ponyville with Vinyl, while Lyra found the courage and proposed to Bon-Bon.
And so, some months later, there she was, lying idly in her room, letting the afternoon drift away and taking a break from all the ruckus going on outside: there was a huge party, her very own marriage party, courtesy of Pinkie Pie, of course.
"You'll ruin your dress if you lie around like that, miss Rarity might kill you for this."
She raised her head to see who had talked, even if she did not need to look to recognize Bon-Bon's voice.
She was standing in the doorway, wearing a bright smile and her wedding dress. It was a white gown and lace veil, both adorned by mint green lyres, to pair with Lyra's which was ornamented by pink and blue candies.
"Oh, hi Bonnie, fancy meeting you here..."
"What are you doing in here? You'll lose our party!"
"I was just being a bit nostalgic..."
"Ah, I guess that you were hoping for her to come, uh?"
"Yeah, moreover queen Chrysalis has come too..." she said with a sigh "I guess she's still around the world somewhere..."
"It had to be expected: us changelings aren't exactly party animals," commented Bon-Bon nodding.
"I think the problem is that half Ponyville is scared of - wait, what did you say?" asked Lyra jumping up from the bed.
"That she's not much of a party animal, even though you're probably right too..."
"You said us changelings..."
"Oh, you already caught me?" lamented 'Bon-Bon' as green flames consumed her, leaving behind a much larger changeling queen smiling like a filly.
If previously she was practically her sister's clone in shades of grey, now she had both her mane and tail styled into long braids, her mane rounded around her neck; many scars were visible on her shell if the light was right, but three in particular: the two under her wings and a hoof-shaped indent on her cheek.
"Ashley!" exclaimed Lyra hugging her friend "You made it!"
"Of course, what kind of 'cousin' would I be if I had lost your marriage?" she answered with a wink.
"Wait, don't tell me you were Bon-Bon all along!"
"Of course, in particular during the kiss," joked Ashley making an exaggerated kissing gesture.
"Yeah, very funny..." said Lyra blowing her a raspberry "Anyway, where have you been? Derpy couldn't find you anywhere to give you my letters!"
"Well, almost anywhere around Equestria and the neighboring countries... And you know what I've learned?"
"What?"
"That there's no place like home."
"Oh, then you'll return in the Crystal Empire with queen Chrysalis?"
"I can hardly call Crystal City my home after what I did, don't you agree?" snickered Ashley, before resuming in a calmer tone "I've decided to turn the page, to settle down somewhere nice and sell flowers."
"Flowers? Why flowers?"
"I don't know: it simply seems right to me..."
"Uhm, Roseluck was searching for an assistant, if I remember correctly. Unfortunately, the vacant house next to mine has just been bought by somepony..."
"Yeah, I wonder who bought it..." said Ashley with a playful smirk.