//------------------------------// // Deceptions are only the beginning // Story: Celestial Tortures Book III: Changes // by Rarity Belle //------------------------------// Later that night had once the moon traveled about halfway over the over the skies. Celestia had found herself deep within the Canterlotian caverns for the time being. A place where she and her sister once had set up a vault to hide the things that shouldn't be seen in the eyes of any mortal pony or immortal alicorn. Objects that could spread havoc through all of the land could be found there.         But not just any kind of object laid there though. Things that went back from before the great war that eventually led to the formation of Equestria were stored there. Unspeakable things were hiding inside of the mountain caverns but the princess of the sun was only interested in one item. An item that she knew laid around there somewhere. The question itself only happened to be: where had she placed it?         “For the love of it all, I need to categorize all of the stuff inside of this place soon enough,” the alicorn muttered to herself while she went through shelves of forbidden items. But just when she was about to give up the hope of finding where she was looking for, her head turned itself to her right. And there it stood. Her eyes widened for just a moment, fear filled her heart.         Hidden among the darkness of the caverns, never mentioned to have seen the light of day and night to begin with. The white alicorn moved herself slowly to a pedestal at the end of the makeshift hallway. A pedestal that held a glass bubble and the content inside of it was something so powerful that when landed in the wrong hooves, powers beyond anypony’s belief would be shown.         With the greatest of care and the fear for her life, she approached the red glowing necklace under the bell. Every fiber of her body wanted to just get the living hell out of there and never even look back at the cursed item. All of her body agreed except for one thing, her brain.         In her eyes she thought that perhaps a shimmer of why her sister became corrupted, or perhaps even part of the corruption itself could be found right within that very amulet. It was worth a shot of course but the question simply would be the fact if she did had enough willpower to make sure she wouldn't end like her sister?         But if she did, the land could be ravaged like no force had ever seen before. She, princess Celestia of Equestria happened to be the most powerful pony in the land –if not the universe. If something happened to her in the form of corruption, not even the prayers of a million subjects would be able to change her back. Every living being would have been doomed then.         She had seen the power, the domination that it claimed of the wearer yet still she wanted to know if the thing held any form of answer inside of it. Wearing it she had forbidden herself, she only wanted to examine the thing in her own room where the light always shined. It would be a daring operation for certain as she had not a single clue of the how’s, the why’s and the when’s.         The alicorn released a deep exhale through her nose and closed her eyes for a couple of seconds. And once they were opened again, the look of determination was spreading itself right through it up to the point where her horn charged itself into the golden aura. “Never shot is always missed,” she mumbled to herself as the magical aura started to levitate the glass bell from the pedestal. ---                       Back inside of the chambers had Starswirl released a deep sigh as he had laid his body to rest upon the bed. With the thoughts that there grinding through his mind he needed to have some place where he could just sit upon and have everything clear to him. Silence was what he needed most but the room got filled with the moans and groans of his brain working at the fullest of capacities.         The little fire wyvern was even concerned about the health of the stallion as not even the creature had ever seen so much brainpower lying behind the aged bearded pony. But if it looked over to the desk could that same maroon red piece of cloth be seen upon it and the connection was made quickly for it.         Inside of Starswirl’s head kept everything on turning and twisting. The arcane symbols appeared and disappeared from before his eyes. Symbols that spoke of tomes that he shouldn't have known, information he shouldn't have shared with a particular princess and above all, the shiver that went down the spine. Whatever the stallion was doing to not only himself, but also the surrounding he was in, it had to be severe. Because the ripples of hot air could be seen all around him. And when everypony least expected it, there was a groan which came from the stallion together with a loud yell that was deafening to say the least. Something had gone wrong, that much was true.         Orders might have been orders but that yell alone was more than enough to make two guards look up. Without actual thought did they just storm right into the room. One in which they expected to see the worst of the worst. Their eyes looked over one another before one of them just busted through the door and they could only pray that nothing bad had happened. But that thought backfired at the both of them just a little bit.         Because when they rampaged through the door, the fire wyvern ignited itself unto a ball of fire and it was just ready to throw the flames right at them. Hisses and growls of anger were being made by the creature. The two guards looked up to the thing and didn't believe what they saw. Yet one of them removed his eyes and dared to look around the room of the wizard. “Mister the Bearded, are you alright?” the guard spoke up in a deep voice as he looked over the bed.         They felt themselves a little bit cornered even though they had access to the entire castle if they wanted. But just the sheer feeling of being in one room with the most powerful unicorn and a fire wyvern was still nerve wrecking to them.         Some moans came from the bed as the aged stallion rose his head up in order to look at the commotion that had been going on. Once he saw the things that were going on released Starswirl a deep sigh through his mouth as his head started to slowly shake itself from side to side.         “We, we do apologize for busting in like we did but we heard screams so we thought that you might have been wounded,” the guard spoke again. Though he could read the disappointment in the eyes of the wizard. Starswirl wasn’t happy at all from what they did.         “Master guard,” Starswirl started while he left the bed and made a couple of silent hoofmotions to the wyvern to calm down. “That still isn't enough reason to just bust through my doors like that. The mysteries of the arcane arts are not something every single soul can learn. Sacrifices must be made in order to extract the answers one happens to be looking for.” The wizard fell a little in silence. He turned himself away from them and looked out of the many windows his room was rich. He needed to have some form of distraction in the moment.         The view was worth a kill for, but where the guards thought that he was done with the both of them, they never had been so wrong. Because even with his words already spewed out, there was still a lot more to come. “What if my wyvern had actually fired at you two? Or possibly even worse, what if I was cloaked in one of the elemental whirlwinds and you just walked in like you did? Magic, is, deadly. And therefore should be treated with respect beyond belief!”         The wizard never even looked at the two guards but the tone in his words stood on such a high level of seriousness that they only could believe them where they stood. Starswirl leaned against the chair of his desk while the eyes kept on looking to the world outside and his ears twitched a little bit. But the sounds in the room were nothing more but the breathing of four being.         “Did, did you two heard that as well?” he asked the two of them. Then he finally turned his body around to face them with worried eyes. “Please do tell me you heard it.”         The guards looked at one another with a confused looked. “I’m sorry mister The Bearded, but we hadn't heard anything. What did you hear if I may be so free to ask?” he replied to the stallion.         The stallion narrowed his eyes as he looked over to the pony who had kept himself silent all of the time. “Wings of a bug that seems to be the size of a pony…” The rims of Starswirl kept themselves locked upon the face of the silent stallion to see the changes that occurred on it.         Yet both of the guards blinked at the words and did a step closer to him with a gulp. Neither of them could believe that there was a bug that could grew into that size. It could mean a national threat if they didn't treat it with care.         But the monitoring of Starswirl didn't deliver anything. The silent guard was just what he happened to be, silent. Everything looked genuine in his eyes so it simply couldn't be one of them. “Go, go back to your stations and don’t mention this to anypony. I need to look for a couple of things.” It was a single and simple order given by the stallion, one they should heed.         “But, with all due respect sir, we have to make a report to this by the princess herself. If this is a threat then, then we must act straight away,” the guard replied in his own defense.         “No you do not have to do it. Bugs can be dealt with pretty good, if you ask me. Now go back to your stations. The words of a madstallion are not to be trusted anyway,” mumbled Starswirl to them. Something that caused a confusion by the two of them. The words that he spoke seemed to be something that nothing and nopony could have ever even come up with.         Once again they blinked to him and the wizard gave them a small chuckle. “I start to hear things lately. You two said it yourself, you didn't hear a single thing now did you?”         Those words caught the two guards more off than they should have. He was right though as it seemed that only Starswirl had heard the sound and if there really was a bug the size of a pony, the flapping of the wings would be going through marrow and bone.         “Alright then, Starswirl. Have a good night,” one of the guards spoke before the both of them made a little bow before the stallion and then made their departure through the busted door. It was odd that the two actually managed to close it again as it seemed that the eventual damage done to it was less than expected. Something that was much of a relief to him, only the lock was actually broken. With a simple magical spell would he have been able to fix such a thing.         With the two guards gone from his room looked the stallion back over to the windows as his mind never stopped repeating the sound that he did heard. He had been living in his tower in Everfree for years and knew every single creature that lived inside of it. “This is not good,” muttered Starswirl to himself. The horn charged itself up and picked up the maroon colored piece of cloth. It was brought before him and he gave one simple glance over it before it started to burn.         Flames emerged within it from the inside out and were burning both the cloth and the stone carried within it. If it were the creatures he thought it were, he needed to hide that one stone from them. “In the wrong hooves, disaster will strike and the prices to pay be too big.”         The fire wyvern looked over to the stallion with a confused gaze in the eyes before it simply gave up trying to actually understand the words that were spoken by him. The creature curled itself up within the basket as the desires to fall asleep simply had grown in it. One good night of rest, would do miracles and that little fella, was living proof if it.         But if Starswirl would be sleeping like a rose the coming night was something that had to be discovered. If his feelings were right, he was on the brink of not getting any sleep to begin with. ---                       Within the darkened streets of the Canterlot settlement, one pony had actually dared itself to be out there and didn't even seem to be caring one single bit about just who and what happened to be out there. There was a flame visible within the eyes that spoke of both hatred and power. Even in the darkness of the night was it visible as the day. Luck had to be on the being’s side as not a single pony actually happened to be out there.         Step by step did the distance between it and the castle became less and less. On the upcoming intersection it could hear the marching of the nightly patrol of guards. Yet what then happened was something that wasn't seen in decades if not centuries. Something that shouldn't have been seeing the light of day to begin with.         While the pony neared the intersection there were flames which started to emerge around it. A pattern of fire suddenly shot up and then disappeared into nothing but just thin air. On the spot where the pony used to be walking then walked a captain of the royal guard. A smirk grew on the face of the broad stallion all the while a ‘hmm’ was released through the nostrils.         Marching over the intersection with all the confidence it had, the guards that came from both the right and left side started to follow him without any questions asked. Marching guards were always a sight in and of themselves to behold and witness, but that particular squadron of guards had a scent to it. A scent of the forest that trailed them. ---                       Back inside of his chamber couldn't Starswirl place the sound of the wings by any known creature he had stored inside of his mind but the records needed to have something over it. A bug the size of a pony wasn't all that hard to miss at least not in his eyes that was. No rest for the wicket was a saying that was as old as he was. And it was right once again. All because of the notes and scrabbles he found throughout the ages about such a creature made only more and more disturbance to his mind.         It would have seemed to be just impossible that the words written so long ago, actually were the things that what was going on in the world outside. It had to be nonsense in his eyes. It was a race that shouldn't even be in existence. Nothing more but a hoax to scare fillies and colts, yet the fact of the buzzing wings ringing in his ears was still there. It was something that became all a little bit too much for him.         The wizard needed some fresh air and he needed it fast. As quick as his hooves could carry him, he galloped through the halls of the castle. All in order to go to the front entrance of the castle.         Though while the stallion was galloping and nearing the place he wanted to go, he noticed the marching guards that came in. The pace he had was reduced to nothing but a small and gentle trot. All while the distance between him and the captain became less and less.         Where the wizard kept his eyes upon the captain, he kept his always straight ahead through the hallway. Not a single motion or emotion was given to Starswirl and that caused the first signs of unrest in his body. In silence did the two groups of pony just walked past one another.         It was Starswirl himself who even stopped and looked at the squadron as it kept on marching towards the throne room itself. He simply shook it off as he needed to have some form of refreshment to clear the blockades inside of his mind. “Must be a new one,” the wizard mumbled to himself before he managed to leave the castle.         When he left the place, there was a scent that entered his nose. A scent that he knew all too well though. Because the scent that he recognized was nothing else but the free and wild nature of the woods of Everfree. Something that seemed to be highly impossible even to a mind like his.         A could quick wind measurements were taken and much to his own surprise, the wind was blowing into the direction of Everfree instead of coming out of it. The mountain itself didn't curved the wing back down as it always would curve up once it hit it. “Impossible,” was the only word that he could mumbled. The aged stallion shook his head at the conclusion he came at. It seemed to be too ridiculous for even his own mind to fully understand what was going on.         It was impossible for such creatures that he had inside of his mind to be the same as those who marched into the castle. It was just not possible in his eyes. They never would have been coming up that far into actual land ruled by ponies. Nothing made sense anymore in his mind and he started to walk again.         Fresh blood needed to be given to the brain while the hurricane of thoughts needed to do nothing but calm down. Only through that would he be able think straight again. He could be walking all over the settlement as he pleased. Starswirl would have liked but that hurricane wasn't going to lay down in his skull. It would only expand as the questions and theories kept on coming the more he made a bigger distance between him and the castle itself. A castle that was secretly under siege. ---                       Yet the captain and the squadron of guards were in fact the ever so elusive changelings and their by madness driven queen. The plan that she had forged inside of her brain had been put into motion and there wouldn't be any stopping of the train of insanity that she happens to be leading.         There would be only two possible results to the plan that the queen herself would accept. The first being it becoming a complete success while the other was a little bit more somber. It would be a total failure and she ended up somewhere in a jail never to be returned to her children again.         Chrysalis had literally gone all-in on the bet that she had made herself. Not just her reputation stood on the line but her entire life and everything she stood for. The plan simply couldn't fail or the price to pay would be far too severe.           The changed queen and her children walked through the hallways of the castle and went straight for the room where they hoped and prayed to find the one mare they were looking for. A mentally tormented Celestia whose mind would be rather easy to be molded with.         It would be reformed into something that only she could control, giving her indirect power to drop herself down upon the throne of the almighty alicorn of the sun. It was a plan calculated to in the detail but each and every single of them had to work. As even one little thing was out of the alignment everything would be devastated.         The risks were there for the changeling queen and she had taken them all.         The doors of the throne room opened themselves. The literal changing of the guard was about to happen. The guards who had been standing on duty inside of the room would be relieved by the changed guards. When the captain and the squadron made their entrance through the door, the usual ceremony was given by saluting to the captain. And then all the guards that stood on duty marched out of the room. Leaving only the army of changelings, Chrysalis and a Celestia sunken deep in her thoughts in the room. If war would break out, it was in advantage of the queen.         The signal was given by the changed Chrysalis and all of the guards assumed their positions. It would be slow for certain but haste wasn't something one needed to give to the most powerful pony in the land. While the doors of the throne room were closed, every other exit was placed under a tight security and it thus left only the queen and princess to converse with one another on their own. Something of which Chrysalis had wanted to do for a long time.         She wished for a conversation that would crush the weakened barrier of the princess her mind even more before the queen could have her little way with it and force her to become what everypony feared she could be. But as the changed captain looked over to the princess herself it became known that she held a strange looking amulet before her face and didn't even seem to have noticed the whole changing of the guards. That, or she didn't wanted to see it.         Fear and frights already had boiled up right inside of Chrysalis as thought that it would be over before it had even began. Yet even with the fear pulsing through her veins she straightened herself and walked closer towards the princess in her changed form. The eyes looked over to the windows in either side of the room and saw a sight she loved to see.         For under the right angle could not the captain of the guard be seen walking up to the princess in the glass’ reflection. Instead it was the being that Chrysalis really was. The changeling body that she was cursed to live in until the day she died ever so long ago.         It seemed to be an odd thing for certain but through the gears of time itself, the queen of the changelings had made peace with her new form. Quite frankly she didn't even had the desire to return to her old form as the blonde coated alicorn. The changeling was what she was, always had been. It was only a visual representation of the horror that was the truth.         Slowly she approached the throne and stood still a couple hooves away from the first step. The head rose itself up in order to fully get the mighty alicorn in her view before she simply stood there. She was waiting, waiting to be noticed by the alicorn princess. One who never took her visible eye off of the amulet for some reason. Things were about to be turned interesting. ---                       Meanwhile in the garden, Starswirl had taken the refuge upon a bench. The stallion had his head aimed towards the stars high in the skies. Something about them stood odd on that particular evening. The constellations weren't on their usual spot and some didn't even shine at all.         It all added up to one possible outcome. The one was that Celestia herself happened to be sitting somewhere else with that head of hers. A fact where Starswirl could be coming in well enough given the most recent circumstances. But it wasn't something that he would let go without speaking to her. The entire situation between the both of them was delicate, they were delicate.         A deep breath was taken by the stallion before he coated his horn in the magical aura and pushed his abilities probably further than he had ever done. Moans and groans were being made by the stallion as some of the guards that were patrolling the gardens saw what happened.         As much as they wanted to stop the wizard, they hadn't even a single clue on they could possibly stop him and allowed him to continue without a hitch. But they would never remove their eyes from him until he was just done with whatever it was he was doing.         Rumbles and powerful tremors could be heard high in the skies and the guards finally dared to look up and view the clear skies. Much to their own surprise they saw a thing that was thought to be just impossible for any unicorn. Even for one like Starswirl himself.         For that what the guards caught within their eyes was nothing else then the stars moving. Every single star that was placed wrong in the nightly skies hovered to its respectable place. Both of the guards were looking in both wonder and terror for the sights that were given to them. Neither of them could actually believe the facts as they were presented to them and shook their heads as if it never had happened.         Their minds simply weren't ready to witness such magical power to surge through such a unicorn, like the stallion himself. A strange, terrifying and spectacle sight it was. ---                       Back in the throne room had the changed captain already spoken harmful words against the mentally absent Celestia. The words of pure venom about that she was the one pony to whom everything could be blamed upon. Everything that went wrong in the land was her doing. Discord, Sombra and many other crises that had occurred during her time of reign.         Even though they were spoken by a poisonous mouth, the tone in which they were said was one that was still polite and filled with dignity for the ranks of the army. Perhaps that was why the alicorn hadn't reacted to anything that was spoken yet. Something that came much to the annoyance of the changed queen.         She wanted to see some life in the empty husk that remained of Celestia and prepared herself to make possibly the boldest move she had ever done in her insectoid existence. And that was nothing else then opening an old wound that was starting to close and pour salt in it, lots of it.         Celestia herself on the other end was just mesmerized by the sheer beauty that the amulet gave off. It wouldn't be something that she would openly had admitted but in her eye it could be seen. She was immobilized by it as the words of power echoed faintly through her ears. Words of power that could make her subjects love her even more if she would have liked.         Or that she would be having more than enough power to crush her enemies in one single blow so that her soldiers would be safe. All lovely little promises which the alicorn loved to see fulfilled but the whispers of her mother’s voice spoke against her that she didn't had to be doing it.         Her mother spoke about the facts that she didn't need such a hellish piece of jewelry in order to do those things. She needed a clear mind that was willing to listen and reason with any being that threatened her. Not to mention the fact that she had the power of the sun at the tips of her hooves. Only in the nights she would be mere mortal when it came down to her powers.         And let that be something that the whispers of the amulet offered. Power surging through her body of both day and night. Making her unstoppable and practically invincible for any force that would as much try to deliver a blow against her. All nice words but also as hollow as the haul of a ship. Treacherous words to which she shouldn't fall for. Yet her mind gently brought her back as the echoes of words of a third party entered her ears.         Words that didn't spoke nice about her, or a pony she cared for the most in her entire life. Celestia’s head turned itself gently over to the talking guard before she returned the words of her own. “Excuse me, captain, but what were the words that you spoke, just yet?” Her own tone was curious, ominous even as she didn't had a single clue on how, what, why or when. But she would hear the words again, one way or the other.         The captain in disguise gulped a little bit. The queen wasn't expecting her to interrupt her in the midst of her speech. However, instead of taking steps back before leaving the mighty alicorn alone, the unthinkable did happen. The words were repeated while the stallion remained firmly on the ground. “If you had taken action long before, your sister wouldn't have turned herself into such a being and therefore she wouldn't be on the moon right now. It is all your fault, my princess.” And once again they were spoken in the tone of pure venom, to tear open the wound and pour the acid right into it. Celestia just looked at him, aiming her one visible eye to him, haunting him.         Though like a fish nibbling at the bait, Celestia just took it as she rose herself up from the throne. The wings spread themselves to their furthest width as the hatred was already flowing into her one visible eye. The mane started to wave around even more then it usually did. Whether Chrysalis knew it or not, she had angered the princess to levels nopony in the room had before.         Her enormous sadness had made place for an anger that could come from the ancient gods. An anger powerful enough to start wars over just the tiniest of things. The hateful look never left the captain’s eyes as Celestia meant to have seen a shimmer of green inside of them. But her time to think wasn't there. With the amulet still in her magical aura, she huffed deeply to the captain before she spoke her words.         “You are having, no idea, what, you’re talking about!” Celestia yelled at him in a truly angry sounding tone. “You never had to do it now did you!? You never had to banish your own flesh and blood to a place where nothing could as much as even get it. You, you don’t have any idea what I’m talking about right here now do you!? Because you don’t know what it feels when you lose something that you have loved with all of your heart and life! You don’t know, the creature that she had been turned into!” When she was done, the sadness was visible through the wheezes she made.         Every word that she spoke sounded even more angry and more hateful than the last. There was a lot that she could tolerate and even would. But if as much as one pony would place the blame upon her for the events that occurred when Nightmare Moon was released, all the wires inside of her head just went haywire. No more miss pretty princess would be shown.         Yet with everything single word appeared the mane of the princess to be losing the essence in it before being replaced with something not even the changed queen could have expected. It started out as little sparks that were unnoticeable to the naked eye but the more she spewed her words in return, the more they did became visible. Until they had turned into a reddish hellfire that waved like her original mane.         The crisping sounds that it created really caught the queen on her nerves as she even felt the heat. The eyes looked at the changes that had already happened to the alicorn before they looked over to the amulet and she quickly made the connection inside of her own mind. “Impossible,” was the word that was mumbled by the changed captain.         All of the changed guards that were standing on their posts could only pray for their lives that the ending would be a good one but given the situation, that hope was gone sooner than anything else. All of the changelings that were present could only pray on the fact that the mighty alicorn wouldn't be firing any of the flames that she carried with her.         Celestia herself on the other end just stood there with the fiery mane waving over the throne as her one visible eye gained a small line of water below it. Tears were forming themselves below it and they started to travel down the cheek while she spoke up again. But that time she spoke in a calmer tone than before. A sorrowful voice filled the throne room. “I’m so sorry, but the might of the amulet, has become too strong. I need, I need to wear it. The whispers, the whispers filled my mind.” It was a plea for a help that would never arrive. “They, clouded my vision.”         Her magic had tried its utmost best to fight the whispers of the amulet but she had lost that mental battle ever since the changed queen had gotten her attention. For the events that would be happening from there on outward, only one pony was to blame and that was nopony else then queen Chrysalis.         Because the amulet was placed around her neck, which caused the golden aura to disappear from the horn and necklace while the changes began. The shoes of the princess grew in size as her chest and crown formed itself into an armor set much like Nightmare Moon. Forges were not needed to craft the pieces as her body was a massive one. The sheer heat that she irradiated together with the flames she wore for a mane and tail, burned like the sun itself.         Yet the armor and the fire weren't the only changes that happened to her. Right inside of her eyes had the pupils changed to a cat-like size and the intelligence of the princess reduced itself. More and more she became like an animal in her doings, but never lost her posture of being intimidating.         The changed captain had to do a couple of steps backwards for the intense heat that the mane were giving off and Chrysalis had not even the slightest of ideas just what she had done or what had happened to the princess of the sun. She could only assume that such a horror had to be the result of that amulet. ---                       Back in the garden of the castle smiled the wizard upon the two guards as he explained the very thing he had done to them and they left him for what he was. The last thing they wanted was to get in the biggest of troubles with that wizard and let him be. They returned to their patrol while the stallion himself, remained on the bench for a little bit longer.         His old eyes looked over the stars in the skies and just loved their natural beauty. Starswirl gave himself a small pat on the shoulder for the fact that he had done something very few could have done. A tiny tear of joy flowed out of his right eye just before it was wiped away with a sniffle.         The old bones of the stallion then started to carry him through the garden a bit more. The weather was still something nice and everything felt good in his mind. A mind that needed to cool itself down from the intense power output it had given when it relocated the many stars in the skies. Something that left him oblivious to the current state of Celestia.         With hums and whistle did their turn as he kept on walking through the wonderful looking gardens and the wind carried the many scents of the flowers with it. It was a cent that was almost priceless to smell and no amount of aromatherapy would be going up against it. As that what he smelled was just pure nature. Starswirl just loved it as the hurricane inside of his mind was finally coming to just a simple breeze of air. ---                       Yet inside of the throne room stood Celestia, still growling softly towards the changed captain with her mane waving like a hellfire. It with one powerful roar like only a beast could give it, the red and orange coloring changed itself to a light blue one with purple on the edges. The blue fires of the royals was something that all of the guards feared yet they still managed to remain on their posts.         Fear had filled the locked throne room and the captain changed itself back to the original form. Chrysalis appeared out of her disguise and she flapped her own wings a couple of time in pure joy. She didn't just found Celestia mentally devastated, she had discovered her new weapon of war. “I do not know whom you are at the moment, but I’m queen Chrysalis, queen of the changelings and ruler of the central Equestrian hive. And I have an offer for you, mighty creature,” said Chrysalis in the hope that she would be given an audience or a chance to speak the offer itself.         The eyes of the changed Celestia looked down upon the bug like creature and in a deeply changed voice of her former self, she spoke her response, “speak.” Her posture remained the same except it looked it just so much more powerful with the fires as her hair and the armor on her coat. Nopony dared to anger Celestia, and the reason because could very well be the being that the queen stood again.         Chrysalis smiled slyly at the response given to her and nodded. “I offer you, to become my weapon of destruction, in trade you shall be taken good care of by the children you see around me. The land will fear you and you shall become a being more than you could ever thought to be.”         The dices were cast. The cards laid open. The plan was revealed. All that the mighty changeling queen could do from there on out was to wait and pray on her dear little life that the words would be taken into the right gullet.