Chrysalis was in trouble. Her gamble had failed and before her laid a terrible mess. In the hivemind, she stood in a materialized form along with Twilight Sparkle, Midnight Strike, and the newly arrived Fluttershy.
Each seemed surprised at first but Twilight had a lightbulb moment and soon lost her look of shock, replacing it with something more along the lines of “I should have known.” Her mental embodiment strode over to the changeling with all of the calm grace that a young foal feared for the knowledge that it meant punishment. And Chrysalis did very much suspect that.
“Chrysalis,” the princess spoke evenly and seemingly without any hint of being upset. Somehow it frightened Chrysalis more. “Is this a dream?”
A gulp and then the response. “No.”
“I didn't think so,” the alicorn stated casually as she stopped right in front of the shifter's face. “But thank you for being honest with me. I wish you'd do so more often.”
“I-”
“No,” Twilight held up her hoof to Chrysalis' mouth, silencing her. “Don't worry. I'm not going to freak out like I did earlier. I'm working on my nerves. Honest.”
When the purple hoof dropped, the black non-pony spoke in a small voice. “It's okay?”
The princess sighed. “A lot of things are not okay. But I can't keep getting on your back when I'm one of those problems.”
“What? No,” Chrysalis raised her own hoof as she started to object, but the pony turned away from her. She didn't agree but then neither did she know exactly what the alicorn had meant by it.
Twilight looked at Fluttershy, who was curled into a ball of fright. Her forehooves were over her eyes as Midnight Strike was standing there silently observing the whole situation. But he looked like his mind might have been somewhere else - there really was too much for everypony to take in.
“I got it,” Twilight Sparkle explained to the changeling behind her. “I tend to do that. Understand something important when I'm doing something else totally unrelated. This time it was because of Midnight Strike. I saw and understood.”
“Understood what?” Chrysalis asked in a small worried voice.
“I know why Princess Celestia allowed me to become a princess and have these wings,” Twilight now beamed. “Though I still think there's too much going on in my life right now,” she giggled, which surprised Chrysalis. Something about her calmness and aloofness to what appeared to be chaos was not unlike the attitude that Celestia exhibited from time to time. “Have you ever experienced that? Long periods of nothing going on in your life and then everything happens at once?”
“Um...” the changeling hung up. She should be glad that Twilight was calm but it was too good to be true so she didn't want to believe it too quickly.
“The Princess always seems to know when I'm ready for something even when I don't think that I am. That's what makes a good teacher, right?” the alicorn turned back to Chrysalis. “I needed this push. I wasn't really learning anything else, just believing I was. Celestia knew I had to move on.”
The changeling spoke louder, more certain it wasn't all a trick and that Twilight had simply snapped. “Move on...?”
“Midnight Strike has been hurt by his transfer more than I could ever know without this special place,” she waved her hooves around her. “Now that I understand him completely, it's embarrassing how shallow I was in first approaching him.”
The changeling gave a quizzical look. “Understand him? Did you see his mind?” Her own view of what had happened was limited because she had lost control of the hivemind prior.
“That would be technically inaccurate,” Twilight didn't lose her smile. Something about the situation had touched her sense of enjoyment. Chrysalis hadn't one guess in all of Equestria how. “I saw his life. From his eyes. Rather an important distinction considering how everypony has their own perspective of the same events.”
Chrysalis nodded her head, not knowing the meaning. Perhaps it would be best to agree with Twilight on everything. After all, it seemed to be going in a good direction. At least she she thought it was. Hopefully.
Twilight started walking over to Fluttershy but then stopped. Her eyes shot wide. “He saw...”
Chrysalis tilted her head, wondering what the princess was talking about.
A blush rose to the alicorn's face and then burned her entire countenance red. Her head turned and eyes locked with Midnight Strike's. The stallion was out of his daze and now had a very troubled expression. He was first to act, walking with just the tiniest rush to the princess. He bowed until he was practically lying on the empty blackness that seemed to make up the floor of the mental space.
“Forgive me your Highness! I had no intention of violating your privacy!” he begged quickly. His sincerity burned through his own embarrassment.
Chrysalis was out of the loop. Not having run through all of the alicorn's memories, she couldn't know what they were so troubled about. So she stood there patiently, hoping things continued to progress in the right direction. In any case, it was all out of her hooves.
Twilight's lips moved oddly, no words coming out. She just kept blushing and some water came to her eyes. Eventually she touched the stallion's shoulder. He dared a careful look up and saw her nod minutely, indicating the apology was accepted. Or perhaps it was just a nod of understanding.
“We...” the princess whispered. “We should talk later.”
Chrysalis saw the alicorn and pegasus come out of their awkward moment. The purple one then went over to the trembling yellow ball that was the Element of Kindness. Instead of touching it with a hoof, the princess spoke gentle words. It must have had an effect but, not having heard them, Chrysalis moved closer to pick them up.
“I'm right here for you...” came the whispers of Twilight Sparkle.
Fluttershy started to uncurl and looked up, finally making her eyes visible. They locked onto Twilight, tears in them. “What is this place? Where are we? What happened to Chrysalis' sleeping ring?!” the mare shrieked swiftly.
Continuing the renewed state of calm, Twilight knelt down and surprised Chrysalis once again. She laid down against the yellow pegasus, wrapped a wing over her, and nuzzled her the same way she sometimes did with Princess Celestia.
Of course, it meant the same thing that had happened earlier with Midnight Strike. Only this time it had been intentional. Twilight meant to do it and such a thing intrigued the only one there that was a previous natural with hiveminds. It was initiative and it meant things were going as she needed them – everything was alright. At least as far as the changeling was concerned in that moment.
There was an explosion of light but, rather than being blasted apart, Twilight lit her horn and started wrestling with the raw power of the mental connection. She certainly had guts but her fast learning curve justified it. What was at question is how the princess decided that Fluttershy would be okay with sharing herself so completely. The answer was not long in coming.
For a moment after the light died down, it looked like the shy mare was going to get shoved away from the alicorn. But the moment passed and it didn't happen. The two were still together, touching. But neither was still experiencing the link.
Twilight grimaced and had a look of exhaustion. A few frazzled sparks spurt from her horn as if to indicate that it was out of order. But of more note was the fact that Fluttershy was digging her face against Twilight's neck, weeping painfully. The purple mare's wing brushed against the yellow one, holding her.
It wasn't easy for Twilight to keep up so many things in a new and strange mental space but her Element was Magic and by Celestia's sun she was going to use her talents. Fluttershy needed her.
“I knew there was something you weren't telling me,” Twilight whispered gently to her crying friend. “I knew I had to find out but I didn't know that it was like this. I'm sorry, Fluttershy...”
When the pegasus had used up enough of her tears, her soft and wobbly voice came muffled through Twilight's coat. “No, you have nothing to apologize for...”
“I'm sorry because I didn't notice earlier,” Twilight countered. “I've left you alone for so long. But I won't anymore.”
“Twilight, I-” the mare looked up to see the other's eyes, surprise starting into her tone.
“No need for words, Fluttershy. I think we know each other well enough now,” Twilight smiled down at the red-rimmed eyes below her.
Something like a combination between a smile and a sob came from the yellow mare as she leaned back into the princess. She nodded against the other's coat.
Chrysalis was getting frustrated. This was not how the hivemind was supposed to work! As a changeling, she should be able to hear what was going on regardless of where her physical representation was. She should be able to understand what the two were talking about, not being left out of the loop. Maybe Twilight was going along with the flow but there was now a problem with the flow itself.
That's when Chrysalis skid a hoof against the seemingly non-existent flooring. A random thought struck her even within the mental space. She was being antsy, moody, and a little frustrated because she wasn't the queen. She was experiencing a hivemind lead not by her but by an alicorn queen. And that thought just made her a bit more frustrated.
She had mellowed out quite a bit since coming to Ponyville but not so much that she didn't become incensed every now and then. Her plan kept yo-yo'ing from good to bad. Now it looked like it was going lukewarm. Not failing but not really going how she intended.
“Now for you,” the purple princess turned to look into the eyes of her changeling friend. “It seems I have quite a bit on my hooves right now,” she glanced to Midnight Strike and then to Fluttershy. “But what you've done takes priority.”
Chrysalis stepped towards the mare. “I only-”
“You have needs both as a changeling and also as a living breathing individual. Yes, I understand that,” Twilight interjected. “In fact, ever since you dragged me into this...place,” she motioned with a free forehoof, “I've been understanding too much too quickly. It's giving me a migraine just to piece together enough to make proper decisions.”
“If you're good at anything then it's at making an informed decision,” Chrysalis tried to flatter.
“Stop,” the alicorn commanded firmly but without hint of anger. “There's no need for you to explain further or try justifying yourself. Unlike Midnight Strike and Fluttershy, your mind is open without me having to touch you. But then I suppose the need for touch is a only requirement my own mind invented and not something of a real changeling hivemind.”
“You are quite-”
“Right,” Twilight interjected again. “I told you there is no need to explain. I can see – more feel – everything you know.”
Chrysalis finished approaching the one she considered queen and knelt onto the nothingness so she would be at eye-level with the purple pony. Without speaking, she nodded her head to test if Twilight could sense her current thoughts clearly.
She could and she did. “I am Queen of this hivemind,” Twilight stated without reservation. “I understand what that means now and I apologize for holding so many misunstandings before. I was making this position as 'Queen' to be more of a political or egotistical thing. Now I see that was simple-minded and foolish – even disrespectful – to the changeling way of life.”
It seemed that Twilight would keep speaking except that she paused and reached out with a forehoof to touch Chrysalis. Nothing happened.
“Horsefeathers,” she mumbled.
“What is it?” the shape-shifter inquired curiously.
Twilight retracted her hoof and then used it to rub Fluttershy's back. The sunny-yellow pegasus was still nestled against Twilight with her head down and pressed against the other's neck. “I seemed to connect to Midnight and Fluttershy on touch. I received your thoughts without doing anything. But I haven't shared my thoughts with you this entire time, which is why I have to keep talking like this. You can't 'hear' the others either can you?”
Chrysalis gave a buzz of agreement and the two had to move right on to other matters. She only had to think as she normally did to explain to Twilight the normal pattern of development for new hiverulers. Princesses that were given their own hiveminds could usually receive more than they were able to send. As one got used to the nature of one's own hivemind, it became easier to broadcast thoughts. Twilight got that it had something to do with the difference between the mind's “master” and it's many “slaves” but she didn't get why this hadn't applied to the two ponies she had touched.
Chrysalis spoke again, not realizing she was voicing what she was thinking at the same time. She wasn't used to hiveminds having physical representations. “How am I supposed to know the answer to that? Frankly, I'm surprised it's all been as changeling as it has been,” the holey hooves shifted under her uncomfortably. “It was a long shot on my part and the nature of non-changeling minds combined with your own magical abilities has-!”
“Altered the very rules of the hivemind,” Twilight again finished, although quieter and calmer than the changeling. “No need to shout, Chrysalis. I can hear your thoughts just fine.”
That's when Fluttershy finally looked up again. Something might have been shared through the mind between the alicorn and pegasus just then but Chrysalis was not yet privy to it and that was incredibly frustrating. As the only changeling, she hadn't even considered that she would have any problems in the new hivemind. But, as logic followed, it made sense that she did because she was now the oddball out. A changeling amongst three ponies.
The yellow mare smiled as Twilight wiped the remaining tears from her face with a purple hoof and nodded. “Tomorrow,” one Element whispered to another.
A sudden and blinding light sparkled around Fluttershy and then she was gone. Simply gone.
“What?” Chrysalis asked swiftly in confusion.
Knowing her friend's handicap, Twilight looked back to the black non-pony and spoke. “I'm putting everything in order as it should be. I'm going to have a very long letter to write to the princess this time...”
“Fluttershy...”
“Her mind is resting now as it should be, though I am still connected to her. And I will stay connected to her for as long as she sees fit. Which, at the moment, is forever.”
Chrysalis tried to keep up. “What did you two share? What did you discuss?”
Twilight stood up and began towards the guard who had been patiently standing aside as guards did so well. As the princess walked, she answered her dark friend. “Many things in a short time. Too much to tell you in one night unless we can communicate directly through the hivemind without me using these intermediary words. I will tell you as I have the time, though, because it has an effect on all members of my mind.”
Twilight gave an odd “heh” as she said that last word. “It's funny when I put it that way...”
“It is your mind,” Chrysalis stated resolutely.
The alicorn now faced Midnight Strike and she looked deep into his eyes. It must have been another hivemind exchange because Chrysalis heard nothing as the guard nodded, stepped forward gingerly, bowed, and presented his wings in a ceremonious way to the princess. Twilight lowered her head until her horn tapped the stallion's forehead. Now he too disappeared with a flash of light as Fluttershy did.
“I thought that accepting your proposal for becoming Queen might make me arrogant – the opposite of humble,” Twilight continued as she turned to fully face the last presence in the mental space. “Now I see the hivemind's Queen for the position that it really is. Not a political position. Not a way for one to rule or enslave the masses. Changelings exist on an entirely different cultural level that is hard for those of different species to understand.”
Those words were what finally put the changeling at ease. The conclusion was finally in. Forgetting how unsound things had looked for a while, the end result was good. All would be well because, even if it took some time to fix the kinks like her current handicap, she had a hivemind to belong to again. And her master was the only one she would ever want. Twilight Sparkle.
“I understand now,” Twilight smiled warmly as she emphasized the timing word. “Being Queen is, as closely as can be compared to pony cultural values, like being a mother. The word is not wholly adequate because I feel other emotions that I don't consider motherly. But it's the best I can do and, heck, I've never been a mother anyways. So how would I know?” she laughed.
Chrysalis just nodded, eager to ask one last thing. “So do you accept my offer?”
Twilight pretended to think about, taking advantage of Chrysalis' lack of ability to read her thoughts. But just two seconds was enough torture for the poor changeling. After all, nopony had been hurt by this whole ordeal and had actually been a little blessed for it.
“Yes,” the Element of Magic answered. “I will be your Queen.”
Chrysalis awoke the next morning to an empty ring. The alicorn and dragon were not there and a rumble from downstairs answered her initial wonderment as to their location. Random thought made her note that she had not been awoken by her new queen in order to “open” the clod-shielded windows.
When she got up and fixed her disheveled mane, she went downstairs to find Spike scurrying about with bundles of paper and quills. Twilight Sparkle was at her desk and she was quite simply a tornado of activity. Paper was shooting off of her workspace with every line packed with written word. Ink was draining rapidly from her ink pots and she seemed incapable of stopping the flow of her quill lest it snap and she need a new one. Spike was falling behind as the papers piled up and the desk's stack of quills drew thin.
Chrysalis was certain as to what it was all about but she decided to ask anyways. “Recording your findings from last night's little experience?”
The buzzy voice reached Twilight's ears and made one of them twitch. But the pony did not turn around. She just kept writing like a madpony and was broken in her speech when she finally responded, as if she was short on attention span. Such was entirely the case.
“I have too...much...I'm still...quill!” she suddenly shouted.
Spike, sweating from exertion, rushed to her side with the new quills, some spilling out of his arms. Twilight snatched one with magic and continued her work.
“Things from last night are still hitting me...it's too much...”
Chrysalis felt a bit guilty. It was partly her fault that her queen had been subject to an information and action overload. Sure Twilight had taken the reins from her but she couldn't help but feel responsible anyways. “I'm very sorry, my queen. I didn't mean for it to burden you so.”
The princess stopped at last. “Queen? Oh, yes. I'm your queen,” she seemed to remember and decide all over again. Still she didn't look away from the desk before her. “Late morning! Fluttershy! Midnight Strike!”
“Hm?” Chrysalis tilted her head.
But the purple pony leaped away from her desk and bolted for the door. “I'll be back as soon as I can!”
That was all she said before she was gone and out of the library. But silence didn't have a chance to befall the place of books as Spike sighed heavily and dropped to the floor in exhaustion.
“Tired?” Chrysalis asked the dragon coolly as she shook her head at her queen's rush.
A snort of smoke puffed out from him in indignation. “I should think so! Twilight's had me running around for supplies all morning. She's never torn through them so fast before. Not even when she was taking finals in advanced magic four twenty-one!”
“Did she explain everything to you?” the changeling raised a brow, knowing Twilight could sometimes get lost in the moment and forget to inform others what was going on.
“Enough,” he replied as he rolled onto his side on the floor. “But I don't want to try figuring anything out that Twilight hasn't yet. Sounds like a bunch of drama anyways,” he waved a claw to emphasize his dislike of such matters.
“Ah,” Chrysalis soothed. “You'd rather be getting yourself some more jewels, hm?”
Spike started to look interested but then stopped himself and looked bored instead. “Of course having a refill on my stash would be nice...”
“But?”
“Twilight and the others keep getting on my case about being greedy. Maybe I have been but it feels like I can't have anything anymore without somepony giving me a suspicious look. I'm going to have to pass on the jewels.”
The changeling knelt down to the dragon on the floor. Her wings buzzed a few times on her back, giving her that itch to fly that came every now and then. But she ignored it for now and brushed away a stray bang of bluish hair that fell in front of her face as she looked closely at the green and purple dragon. “So that's what that was all about. I did wonder.”
“Hmph,” Spike rolled his eyes. “It's annoying.”
“But not every dragon's jewel is his gem, if you take my meaning. Some treasure other things,” Chrysalis remarked even as she worked the gears of her hivemind-handicapped brain.
Not knowing or caring for any possible machination, Spike leaped spryly back onto his clawed feet in excitement. “Oh my gosh, really?!” his eyes widened in delicious excitement. “What do you know about dragons?!”
Chrysalis was taken aback at first, not having expected such a feverish response. This little guy really did hunger for answers. The question of who and what he was seemed always in health with him. “Ah...well...” she stalled as she gathered what she knew. Did she give it all away or hold back some? There would be no holding back if Spike fully connected with the hivemind, so she decided it was best not to conspicuously leave out anything. Spin with swift care, as one old changeling saying went. “Didn't I mention anything about it before?”
“No! No, you didn't!” Spike looked huffy.
“Well I apologize. You see my old hive once lived in the upper west mountains past the badlands. We actually lived a lot of different places over the years. Anyways, there were some dragons there. Big ones.”
The somewhat-magical dragon leapt at the changeling, a smile on his face now. He grasped the non-pony's shoulders with a sudden firmness. “What were they like? How did they look? Were they different from the ones in the last migration?!”
“Goodness,” she giggled as she brought up a hoof to ruffle his spines. “I wasn't here for the last migration, remember?”
Spike's face dropped.
“But they were different if I understand the ones you have encountered. Twilight did mention them even if it was in passing.”
The fire was rekindled in the dragon's eyes.
“Actually, it would be best to say they were quite different from each other as well. You see...there were these clan groupings and they each had their own ways. I shouldn't say 'had.' Dragons live so long that I strongly doubt any have actually died since I was a hatchling.”
Spike's eyes sparkled with so much joy that it made Chrysalis' heart flutter. It was that feeling she had forgotten about so long ago when a changeling just hatched and looked into its queen's eyes for the first time. Surely nothing could describe such a feeling with mere words. It was a thing only lived. Something experienced with the heart and not the mind.
Chrysalis smiled this time out of a warm memory. Such were few in her life.
“Clans? What are those like? How were they different?” Spike tried for more answers.
“Hm?” Chrysalis snapped back to the eager dragon's questioning. “Well, let's see. There was one clan called 'Gragoth,'” she gurgled her throat on the word. “It's hard to say properly if you're not a two hundred year old dragon,” she chuckled. “I think I missed half the name.”
“Graegonth,” Spike said cheerily, trying the word and saying it a bit differently.
Chrysalis opened her eyes wider. “That's closer,” she remarked surprised. It was still off but there was something to be said about a dragon's vocal range. Even a young one like Spike could access sounds a pony (or changeling) could not. It made Chrysalis wonder if Spike even knew that because he had only ever been taught pony words.
“I may not understand much about the ones in this part of the world but they seem very...modern from what I've heard. The ones from the upper mountains are traditionalists by comparison. They speak an old dragon dialect.”
“Dragon dialect?” Spike beamed. “There's a dialect just for dragon's?!”
Did Twilight starve this poor dragon, Chrysalis thought with a giggle. It looked like today was going to be a rather pleasant one with Spike. It had been far too long since a little one had been so eager for a tale.
“Yes, but I'm afraid I only know a few words and I butcher those. My throat just isn't made for it. Not to mention that I...” the shape-shifter stopped with a blush. Spike didn't get it and she spoke again to explain. “I sort of snuck from the hive when I was a young princess so I could eavesdrop on the elder dragons. Figuring out what they were saying was something of a guilty pleasure. I mean, I had already mastered the hivemind at that point,” she excused herself even though she had no reason to now.
“Did you ever get caught?” Spike drew back with a horrified expression.
Such an expressive dragon, Chrysalis observed. “Not really. My mother did find out but she wasn't so bad,” she answered but went no further on the topic. She didn't want to start reminiscing about that. “The elder dragons didn't much care for anyone unless they were another elder dragon. Or a leviathan. Bad blood on that front,” she rolled her eyes.
“Leviathans? What are those?!” Spike asked but it came out as more of a squeak.
This was going to be a long day. Perhaps the sleeping ring would be a more comfortable place to lay down and talk.