Zelda woke up with a deep pain in her head. The last thing she remembered was a strange cry she heard and how Ms. Trixie started to panic after it. Then everything went dark. She looked around, but the room was very gloomy. All Zelda could see were four greyish walls, some sort of green mushroom, who glowed in the dark and the big green pillow she was laying on. The young filly took a closer look. This pillow didn´t felt like a pillow. More like something liquid was inside.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Zelda screamed and jump of.
"It´s a cocoon! It´s a cocoon! Yuck! Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!" she said while running around in circles.
"What is this place? Where am I? Daddy? Ms. Trixie?" Zelda asked and looked around. As if to answer her question a hidden door behind her opened and the queen of the changelings, Chrysalis herself, entered the room. Zelda turned around and her eyes grow double in size.
"Who...who are you? Where am I?" she asked and slowly backed away. Chrysalis looked down on her and grinned devilish.
"Poor little thing! There is so much you´ve got to learn. But don´t you worry my child! The hive mind will teach you everything you´ve got to know. You maybe can´t hear it now, because you´re only a half blood and grown up so far away from us, but the longer your here, the clearer the voises in your head will become." Chrysalis explains.
Tears started to form in Zeldas eyes.
"W-w-what?...I...I don´t understand.....I wanna go home!" she whispered between sobs. Chrysalis reached out to stroke Zelda over her head, but the little filly turned away in pure fear. The queen of the changelings looked sad for a moment, but shook it of pretty fast.
"Fine! Have it your way! You should rest. You will learn to love the hive and every changeling in it soon enough." Chrysalis said cold like stone. She turned around and left the room, sealing the door behind her. Zelda laid herself in one of the dark corners of the room. Tears still running down her face.
"Daddy. Where are you?" she whispered in the dark, ignoring the voises in her head, which grow louder by every passing minute.
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Manic Moon flew as fast as he could. He had to. The Time wasn´t on his side. He had to find out, what happened to his daughter. Nopony could guess what the changelings had planned for his beloved child. But there was another fact that made him move so fast. The longer it took him to get this problem solved, the higher was the risk that his friends in Ponyville would start their own move against the changeling hive and he could risk that. He would never forgive himself if one of them would get hurt or even killen, just because this bug ponies hate him and his daughter.
"There it is! Finaly!" he said as the gigantic hive appeared. He landed behind a little hill in the near of the main entrance, making sure none of the changelings around could see him.
"Bigger than I expected. Impossible to say how many of them are inside. How should I find Zelda in this thing. I need a realy good plan or this will end in a complete disaster." he thought aloud. For a few seconds he just stared at the hive. Then he suddenly jumped up.
"BUCK IT!!! I´ll just take the front door." he screamed and stormed to the main entrance. He charged with full force at the gigantic gate, simply overrunning every changeling, who dared to get in his way. After he crashed trough the gate, he came to a sudden stop. He never saw something like this. If the hive looked big on the outside, it seemed small compared to the inside. Not only was the main room bigger than Ponyville, the ceiling was nearly as high as one of the smoky mountains. But what worried him the most were the thousands of eyes, that looked at him right now.
"Not one of my best ideas I guess. Maybe we can talk this...." he started, but was cut off by a changeling, who tried to tackle him to the ground. Manic Moon crouched under the attack and bucked two other changelings behind him. Then he jumped into the air, doing his best to avoid the changelings, which came down like burning meteorites.
"I´m fireproofed, but if they hit me it will hurt like hell." Manic said to himself. Just when he dodged another sky attack, something collided with his left side and blared him hard on the ground. Manic slowly stood up again.
"Argh! This is going to hurt even more by tomorrow. What hit me there? A train?" Manic asked. What he saw next was much worse than a train. In front of him stood a small group oversized changelings. Each of them easely as big as a buffalo, with thick armor plates on their back and an extrem long horn on the head, but without any wings.
"Great! Changelings! Now even available in bigger sizes. Just to make sure they crush your bones even better." Manic said with a silly voise. When he spread his wing to fly away and get out of the reach of the giants, a sharp pain hit him. His left wing was out of action for sure and at least two of his ribs were broken.
"So much for the flying. Okey! You guys wanna do this the hard way? Let´s do this the hard way!" Manic Moon screamed and stormed at the group of giant changelings. Manic gave his best. He even managed to take out a good dozen of changelings and three of the giant ones, but soon enough the numbers game was to much for the demon pony. Just when he was about to knock out another changeling, one of the giants swung his horn directly into Manic Moons face. The next thing he remembered was darkness.
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Manic Moon slowly opened his eyes. At first he saw nothing but a grey fog, so he closed them again to focus his mind and re-opened them. To his big surprise Manic Moon was standing in his living room.
"What?......But how?" he asked confused and looked around. Anything was normal. A fire was burning in the chimney, bringing warmness and light into the room. Anything was on it´s place. His favoring reading-chair, the little table next to it. The rack with the pictures over the fireplace and the old green couch in front of it. He looked over his shoulder und saw the dark kitchen behind him. Everything seamed in place. The next thing that catched his attention was an all to familiar voise.
"Oh no! The evil dragon has come to kidnap me. Save me Ms. Bugg Pants!" called the voise. He knew all to well, who that was. Zelda was once again playing on the carpet in front of the chimney. He couldn´t see her because the couch was covering her up. Manic made a step in her direction, when a new voise reached his ears.
"Not so loud Zelda! Your daddy will come home any second and we don´t want him to sneak up on us again. Right?" the voise said as lovely as possible. He quickly walked to the couch and looked over the backrest. And there she was.
"Octavia?" Manic asked confused and happy at the same time. The music mare was laying on his couch and peacefully watched over his daughter.
"What are you doing here? Are you sitting Zelda?" he asked, but both, Zelda and Octavia, didn´t respond to his questions. They didn´t seamed to notice him at all. Like he wasn´t realy there. He was waggling with his hooves and flapping with his wings, but they still ignored him.
"What the...?" he was about to ask, when Manic heared a voise behind him, he didn´t heared for years.
"You´ve got to save her! For me." she said. Manic Moons eyes went wide and he whirled around, but nopony was behind him.
"Light?" he asked. He looked around anywhere, but no sign of her.
"What is this all about?" the demon pony asked and turned back to the couch, just to receive a hard hit to the face. Octavia was standing in front of him, staring daggers at him.
"Wake up you stupid mistake of nature!" she screamed at him and slaped Manic again.
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This second punch brought Manic Moon back to life. Still a little bit dizzy, the first thing he saw was a changeling before him. Probably the one, who hit him. Manic tryed to attack him, but soon find himself traped in a cocoon made of green goo. Only his head was free. He had a terrible headache, his left wing still hurts like hell and he could fell like a little river of blood run down his right cheek.
"Look at me or I let them snap off your head!" an angry was screamed trough the room. Manic looked up, while the changeling stepped aside. In front of him, sitting on a big stone throne, was Queen Chrysalis. She looked down on the demon pony with pure hate in her face.
"Nice to finaly meet you Chrysalis. Even if the circumstances could be better, I guess." Manic said weak, with a fake smile on his face.
"QUIET! The only reason, why you´re still alive, is so that I can see the pain in your face when me minions rip you appart." she barked at him.
"Why?....Why are you doing all this to me? I´ve never came in the near of you or any of your changelings, just like you ordered in this letter. The only reason I´m here right now is, because one of your stupid bugs kidnaped my daughter. Is this some kind of revenge for finding your hideout and the hostages in the Everfree Forest?" Manic asked. For the first time, since Manic Moon woke up, Chrysalis started to smile.
"You fool! You still didn´t get it. The hideout in the forest, the replacing of the Ponyville ponies, even the return of Trixie, all this had only one goal. Capturing Zelda and bringing her back to the hive." she answered with an evil smile on her face. Manic looked at her in disbelieve.
"What? But...but why? I thought you hate her." he asked confused. Chrysalis stood up and walked down to Manic. She placed her hoof under Manic Moons chin, so he had to look up to her.
"Well, I guess it wouldn´t hurt to tell you the truth before you die." she answered and let go of his chin. Then she started to walk around him.
"I´m sure you´ll remember the time when I called my daughter back to the hive." she asked him. Manic nodded.
"Of course. It was the last time I saw her. She said there was an emergency in the hive and you would need her back home as soon as possible." he answered.
"That was a lie! She lied to you. But don´t be sad. She only did it to protect you. The real message said that she should return to me or I would send out me minions to kill you and take her back to me. She know if she would refuse it would mean your certain dead." Chrysalis explained.
"You monster! How could you do this to your own daughter?" Manic asked. He received a hard hit to his face from her as reward.
"What I did to her? WHAT I DID TO HER? I´ve send her out in the world to gather experience, not to fall in love with the first idiot, who gave her some love. When my spies told me about you two I just wanted to burn down all of Equestria." she said with an angry voise. She was now standing behind him and took a deep breath to calm herself down. Then Chrysalis continued.
"I forbade her to leave the hive ever again. We ended up in a big fight, but she knew better than to simply ran off. The first thing I would have done was to send out me changelings to find kill you. So she stayed in the hive. Two weeks later she found out that she was pregnant. She waited 2 more months until she found the courage to tell me about it. I told her to get rid of the egg as soon as she layed it, but she was stubborn. She said if I would do anything to the egg she would kill herself. But if I would let her keep it, she would do what I want for the rest of her life." she explained.
"So you took the opportunity and used unborn child of your daughter to get full control over her." Manic continued for her. This time his face was full of hate. Chrysalis looked like she wanted to hit him again, but stopped herself.
"Believe me, if I had known what would follow, I had never made this deal with her. Normaly a female changeling needs only one month to produce a kindle of ten male drones. Female changelings and future queens need more than 8 months. Since her child would be a cross-breed I wasn´t surprised that her pregnancy took the full 9 months. But she wasn´t laying an egg. She gave birth to a full grown foal." Chrysalis said. She was now standing with her back to Manic. Her voise was calm and sad.
"Changelings aren´t made to give birth like this. The pain and the high stress were to much for her budy. She died before she could see her daughter for the very first time." the queen of the changelings explained with a shaking voise. But anger was rising up in her again.
"You are right. I hated Zelda and at this day I was about to kill her for what she did to my daughter, but I promised Light to never hurt her child and I´m a queen of my word. So I send her to you. Making sure to never see her and you ever again." she said and turned back to Manic Moon. He could see that she just wiped of some tears.
"Over the next years I concentrated myself on my plan to role over Canterlot and all of Equestria. But when they failed last year at this stupid wedding, my life was in complete shards. My daughter was dead and every pony was aware of our existence. Royal guards searching for changelings all over the land. It would take year, maybe even centuries until this hunt would slow down any bit. By the time this would happen I would be to old to try such an attack again. So what to do? I needed a younger queen. But hatching a new daughter would simply take to much time." she explained, now face to face with Manic Moon.
"And that was the moment I remembered of my granddaughter. At first I wasn´t sure, if she was enough of a changeling to role the hive. So I took the role of her new magic teacher. And what she showed me was more than impressive. Half-blood or not, Zelda show more potential than Light ever did. With the right training she will one day be an even greater queen than I´m." Chrysalis stated with a big grin. Manic shoke his head.
"My daughter would never do such things like you did." he screamed at her.
"Yes. Right now she still believes that ponies are her friends, but the hive mind will change this very soon. Since we brought her into the colony, the voises in her head started to show her the changeling way of life. I told all my minions to use the hive mind on her. Sooner or later she will give in to them and her mind will be broken. After that the hive will be the centre of her world and she will love me like the mother she never had. You on the other side will be totaly meaningless to her." she said and sat herself back on her throne.
"Since you cost me my beloved daughter it´s only fair, when your daughter takes her place." she finaly stated. Manic Moons head hung low. His face was covered be his mane.
"So....that´s it?" he asked.
"What?....What do you mean?" she asked confused. Manic Moon looked up, tears in his eyes.
"After all this year, in which you hate her, you just change your mind and realy believe this gives you the right to take her away from her real family? All her friends, the ponies she grow up with. What kind of a cruel mother are you?" he asked enraged. Chrysalis was taken aback by his words.
"You don´t know anything about. her. How coud you? You´ve never been a part of her life. Tell me! Where did you´ve been when she was only 7 months old and got this terrible fever? he asked.
"What?...I...was.." she started, but was cute of by the demon pony.
"You were not there! I was the one who brought her into the hospital in the middle of the night. I was the one who was sitting at her bed for two long days, without any sleep, until the fever finaly went down. Or the day when she changed for the very first time. Where were you?" he asked on.
"I...ähm..." Chrysalis stammered.
"I was there! She was nearly three years old. I was waking up from a nap and she was sitting on my belly, looking like a filly version of me." Manic explained. Chrysalis was sitting on her throne like on a electric chair.
"Do you even know anything about your granddaughter? What she loves? What she hates? Her fears, favorite food or her dreams for the future." Manic asked her directly.
"I DON´T KNOW IT!!! I don´t know anything about her. That´s what you want to hear right? That I´m a terrible queen, mother and grandmother. I failed at everything I tryed. My folk is hunted all over Equestria, my daughter hated me untill she died and my granddaughter will be no difference." Chrysalis screamed, while tears formed in her eyes. She buried her face in her hooves. The moment he saw this, all of Manics rage turned into pity for Chrysalis. Maybe she wasn´t the heartless monster everypony thought she was.
Then he remembered something his grandfather told him a long time ago. Back then a single diamond dog attacked two filly demon ponies in a tunnel near the mushroom farms. He hurt them pretty bad, but the older demon ponies managed to hunt him down and kill him before he could do any more harm. Most of the adults called him a monster, who deserved his destiny. But my grandpa said he was probadly just an outsider of his tribe and nearly starved to dead when he attacked them.
"Always remember this Manic! Monsters shall made, not born. Nopony is evil by nature. There is always a cause for it." his voise echoed in Manic Moons head. He sighted.
"She never hated you." Manic said.
"W-what?" Chrysalis asked between sobs.
"I said she never hated you. I know you and your daughter had different oppinions in life, but I also know for sure that she loved you as much as she loved me." Manic stated. Chrysalis looked at him, still tears running down her face.
"Realy? She loved me?" she asked. Manic Moon nodded.
"Yes, she realy loved you. Maybe not as much as she loved me, but pretty close to it. She always told me what a great queen you are and that she hoped to be at least half as good as you one day. That you would always care for the best of the hive. She also told me how you read her the stories of the little, toothless changeling everytime she was sad as little filly." he explained. Chrysalis remembered this peaceful days. They seamed so far away. New tears formed in her eyes.
"I....I...I don´t know what to say. I....Oh Light! What have I done?" she cryed and fell on her knees.
"Look Chrysalis, I think this all don´t has to end bad. Light wouldn´t want us to fight each other. How about you get me out of this strange green gloo and give me back my daughter. And then we start new." Manic overed. Chrysalis just layed on the ground silently sobing, but after some seconds two changelings landed next to Manic Moon and released him. He walked over to her and this time he place his hoof under her chin and lifted her face up.
"Come on! It´s time to meet your granddaughter. And this time we show her your real face." Manic said with a smile. Chrysalis started to smile too.
"Now I know why my beloved daughter fell in love with you." she answered and stood up.
"Yes, I´m a real charmer. He he he he!" Manic said with a wink and punched her in the side.
"Don´t push your luck or you´re back in the goo-ball quicker than you think." Chrysalis answered with with fake anger and punched him in return.
"AU! Be careful! I´ve still got a damaged wing and some broken ribs." he said while holding his left side.
"Well, what do you expect? Who is so stupid and attacks a whole changeling hive all alone?" she asked in return.
"It´s the result that matters. Ha ha ha ha!" Manic replied.
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Zelda was still laying in a dark corner of her room. She pressed her hooves on her ears, but the voises in her mind didn´t stop talking. She didn´t knew what they were saying, she didn´t listened to them anyway.
"Leave me alone! I won´t listen! I WON´T LISTEN!" she screamed. As soon as she screamed this words the voises disappeared. There was only silence left. Zelda looked up confused.
"Can´t believe that actualy worked." she said. In this very moment the door to her room opened again. Zelda looked afraid to the door. What if the voises only went silent because the scary lady was about to come back. But when she saw, who realy stood in the door, her heart screamed of joy.
"DADDY!" was all she could say before she jumped at her father and huged him as strong as she could. Tears run down her face.
"I was so scared daddy. When I woke up in this dark room, I was all alone. I...I...daddy!" she explained before she started to cry in his arms. Manic was stroking her mane.
"Ssssh! It´s okey! Nopony will hurt you. We´re going back home." he explained in a calm voise. His daughter looked up at him.
"Realy? We can go back home?" she asked, smiling over her whole face.
"Yes, but first....there is somepony you´ve got to meet." Manic said. Zeldas smile faded a bit.
"Who?" she asked.
"She told me you´ve seen her before, but I promise she will be much more nice this time. Her name is Chrysalis and she is your grandma." Manic said with a big smile to comfort his daughter.
"I´ve got a grandma? Zelda asked confused. Manic had to hold back a laugh.
"Yes. And she realy wants to meet you and apologise for her behavior." he answered and stood up. Then he turned to the door, while Zelda hid under his belly.
"Right Chrysalis?" he asked aloud to give her a sign to come in. Chrysalis slowly walked in. Carefully to not scare of her granddaughter. She sat down in front of Manic, unsure what to do next. Zelda peeked up from her spot under Manic Moon.
"Are....are you realy my grandma?" she asked. Chysalis nodded.
"Yes. I´m your....grandma. I´m....I´m so sorry! What I nearly done to you. I can never make this up to you and your daddy." Chrysalis answered and and let her head hang down. Again tears formed in her eyes. Before she could say anything more, Chrysalis felt a tiny body started to hug her. She opened her eyes and Zelda looked up to her with a big smile on her face.
"I´ve always wanted a grandma! That´s so awesome!" the little filly stated and huged her grandma even more. A new wave of tears ran down Chrysalis face. She closed her arms around Zelda and returned the hug.
"Thank you!.....Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" the queen of the changelings repeated again and again. Manic Moon just sat there and wached them, smiling while he did so. Looks like their family had grown once again. This time they had won a grandma for Zelda.......and a couple of thousand minions too.