//------------------------------//
// 2014 Retelling: The Magic of Life 
// Story: Queen No More 
// by BlackWater 
//------------------------------//









The nerve!” Spike huffed as he ran as fast as he could from shelf to shelf. The Golden Oaks Library would normally be a nice place to be since it was his home as much as it was Twilight's. The situation, however, called for less comfort. He was finally handling the changeling's presence with more calm but he was incensed now over the carriage fare. The blasted stallions had demanded an extra fifty percent extra on top of the full price for passage to Fillydelphia when they hadn't even gone there in the first place. It was compensation because of the changeling “cargo” as they had called it.
“Just focus, Spike,” Twilight ordered from her place across the room. She was laying on the floor with Chrysalis' head resting in her hooves. “We can file a grievance after somepony's life isn't in danger.”
“Somepony?” Spike cocked a brow and kept grabbing each of the books the unicorn called for. “And how do we know when her life isn't in danger? Do we give her a thermometer or something?”
“Very funny,” Twilight's tone said it was everything but. Chrysalis was not currently awake but she could feel steady breathing. “That's why I need those books. Even if her respiratory system has stabilized, there's no telling how everything else is doing. I keep finding new wounds every time I move her. I don't even know if I'm supposed to move her.”
Spike nearly fell over due to the weight and size of the tower of books he was carrying. “What's a res...resp...?”
“Respiratory system,” Twilight provided as she levitated a blank scroll, quill, and ink pot from her desk. She began hastily writing up a letter. “It's what you use to breath.”
“So it's important?” he asked and nearly toppled over again when he set the pile of books next to Twilight, who had been multi-tasking with magic since the second they had come into the library.
“Yeah, important,” Twilight barely deadpanned as she struck a quick signature and flung the scroll at Spike. “Send this to Princess Celestia and then go get the doctor. Remember not to tell him she's a changeling. Just say she's hurt really badly.”
“It's past midnight,” Spike commented more to himself than the mare as he disintegrated the scroll with his special magic and rushed back to the door. “I'm sleeping overtime after this is over.”









Twilight's best guess was that the changeling was doing better, but every scrap of medical knowledge she managed to pull from her book-reading memory failed to back that up sufficiently. The books helped less than she had hoped and, anyways, there was no telling how much pony medicine was applicable to changelings. The only encouragement she had that she was doing something that was helping her patient was the faint green glow that continued to pulse on Chrysalis' horn. She assumed that was a good thing.
When Spike came back with the tired looking unicorn doctor, he didn't come back with only the doctor. He clutched a scroll in his claws that bore Celestia's seal. Needless to say, it was snatched in a purple haze so fast that it nearly pulled the dragon along with it. Once again, Twilight found herself splitting her attention dramatically. 
“How much of an emer-?!” Doctor Horse started and then nearly choked himself to death upon seeing the changeling. He had heard of what had happened in Canterlot – there were few that didn't only hours after the event – and word of invasion was more than enough to make him wary.
“Hey,” Spike remarked in amazement. “I really thought you'd pass out or run away or something...”
The doctor recomposed himself with an “ahem” and then proceeded to the large pseudo-pony. “I'm a doctor, not some greenhorn med student. A patient is a patient regardless of race or nationality. I was just a little...surprised is all.”
“Thank Celestia,” Twilight sighed deeply and levitated the read letter to her desk. She then repositioned herself without letting go of Chrysalis' head. “Can you help her?”
“Hmm,” the doctor mused as he swung a medical pack off of his back and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Taking a quick look around the body, which was tall and thus rather spread out, he settled down on the floor near her chest. He immediately set about poking, prodding, and retrieving his instruments for a basic body assessment as he began his usual bout of patient-relaxing banter. “You're lucky. I just got back from a charity trip outside of Equestria. Doctors Without Borders and all that. Treated a centaur, minotaur, sea serpent, and about a hundred griffons. Even a few crystal crabs – long story on that one. Never treated a changeling but I had a head physician that did back when I was apprenticing.”
“Really?” Twilight perked up in hope.
“Oh, yes,” the doctor continued, more awake now. He put some tools away and grabbed some metal sticks and cast wrappings. “He was far more proactive than me. Spent years on end abroad. Said he had a hard time coming back and dealing with Equestrians that worried and whined over little bruises and papercuts. But then again, he used to be a war med.”
Twilight's ulcer-inducing worries were already subsiding and being forgotten altogether, even the ones about whether or not she could handle the changeling after the healing process was over. Whatever training Doctor Horse had in calming patients and their caretakers was quite good.
“Hmm,” he concluded as he unwound some of the wrapping and set it aside. There were some dim flashes of light as he used some kind of diagnostic magic and he then got some bottles and assorted swabs from his heavy looking bag. “Well, you'll be happy to know your friend here will live bar unforeseen complications. There may be some memory confusion for two or three weeks but it should clear up. The concussion caused it, I think. Maybe some permanent memory loss but I don't think it'll be much. Just small random spots. She should still recall recent events after she recovers. One major bone fracture. Various minor bone fractures and dislocated joints. Maybe some scarring on the deeper cuts. Don't know why but there seems to be some magical reinforcement around the lungs and primary arteries. I'm guessing it's changeling healing magic, but I've never actually seen it before.”
“Friend?” Twilight echoed, breaking his summary. The word was not exactly accurate.
“Not a friend?” he furrowed a brow and then lifted it. “Well,” he laughed, “should be after recovery. Saving one's life means the world regardless of culture, you know? In fact, I'd say Equestrians have the lowest of any life debt sentiment. She'll be grateful, I assure you.”
“How can you say that?” Spike grumped as he peered at the doctor's splayed out tools with mild curiosity. “She attacked Celestia for Pete's sake.”
Twilight gazed intensely for the answer.
Doctor Horse shrugged and went about cleaning the wounds with the swabs and a liquid from one of the bottles. “Some lines are never crossed, even between heated enemies. Learned that when I was on my graduating tour of practice. That H.P. I mentioned had some stories, I tell you. He'd treat both sides in a war and nopony and nothing wanted to touch him. That's called 'respect for the neutral' or something like that. Way he told it made it sound like they just respected him personally, though. Anyways, she's going to rely on you too much to bother with embitterment.”
“What do you mean?” Twilight pursed her lips. “I was thinking she'd take off the first chance she got, if she couldn't fight me head-on anyways.”
The doctor grabbed the fractured rear leg with is magic and gently moved it to feel for the underlying structure. He was having to use quite a bit of his medical magic for such a late emergency but his focus was still everything his experience declared for him. “A changeling?” he titled his head for a moment. “Even I know something as basic as their digestive system. They live off emotion and yours was about ninety percent of what's in her right now. I'm assuming. There seem to be a few similarities with other species I've dealt with.”
“What?!” Twilight failed to catch her voice before it rang out loud.
There was no time for a response from the male because it was in that moment that he suddenly jerked the changeling's back leg. There was a cracking sound and Chrysalis awoke with eyes as big a dinner plates.
“Gah!” the changeling's voice buzzed out in shear pain, nearly passing back into unconsciousness.
“Aligned,” Doctor Horse reported as he quickly assembled some interconnecting metal sticks and weaved the wrapping material through them. The from-scratch construction was wound around the leg and past the joint where it squeezed the parts into obedience. “Now for the DBs and monitors. We're almost done. Don't talk,” he added to keep the changeling from saying anything to him. "You're in bad shape. You just need to rest and heal."
Chrysalis was crying now like a hatchling because of the shock that kept traveling up her maniacal nerves. She only glanced to the doctor once and then looked up to Twilight, who met her eyes. It made the unicorn uncomfortable in the extreme to have someone she had considered a monster not twenty-four hours ago now held in her hooves. Chrysalis was looking up at her with the eyes of a hurt foal looking to its mother.
What seemed to be two dozen new bandages levitated out of the doctor's bag and affixed themselves all over the changeling's body. She was looking more like a mummy every second. A few more flashes of Horse's magic accompanied the act.
“You're helping me?” Chrysalis half buzzed and half groaned, glancing to the stallion.
“That's what friends do,” Twilight tried to keep the words from coming out with her own embitterment. “Or at least if we were friends.”
“Please?” Chrysalis moaned with pain. What she was asking for was unclear.
“All done,” Doctor Horse concluded. “Now I'm going to get some sleep before my shift at the hospital.”
The stallion laughed but did indeed start gathering his equipment back into his bag before hovering it onto his back.
“So she's going to be okay?” Twilight rushed to reconfirm.
“Yes, yes,” he assured. “Just keep her in bed for a few days and keep her fed. I'll stop by to check up on her and tell you when the injuries are healed enough to get her walking again. I won't report this to the hospital, so you don't need to worry about...complications.”
He bit back whatever else he was going to say.
"Take it easy," he smiled and nodded straight at Chrysalis.
The pony mare tried to dismiss the idea of feeding a changeling from her mind. She hadn't planned on that. “I don't know how I can ever thank you enough for this,” she expressed her appreciation.
“How about you buy me a new x-ray machine?” he laughed again in good humor. “Goodnight, Miss Sparkle. And...?”
“Chrysalis,” Twilight answered for the changeling.
“Chrysalis,” he nodded and made his way out of the library back into the moonlit night.
The former queen made some kind of humming buzz. What it was for was unknown to the unicorn. She didn't precisely have an intimate knowledge of changeling communication norms.
“Please what?” Twilight looked back to the changeling, resuming whatever the shape-shifter was getting at before.
“Keep helping me,” Chrysalis replied.
“And why should I?” Twilight cocked a brow, not really serious about the idea of ceasing her assistance but curious at the answer her question begged. Spike offered his approval of it from where he stood, a respectable distance from the scary looking black being.
“You saved me,” Chrysalis tried.
That made Twilight sigh. “Because I don't want to be a monster – like you were at my brother's wedding. But I'm not going to enable some villain so she can do even more terrible things.”
“But I won't!” the changeling coughed on her words, making Twilight move a hoof over and rub her back to calm her down. “I have no reason to anymore.”
“And why would I believe that?”
“Because my hive exiled me.” 
Twilight's eyes narrowed. Had she heard that right? “Changelings are a hive with a queen. Why would they exile their queen?”
“There are others,” Chrysalis snarled at remembering it. “Upstarts. The occupation failed so they decided another would lead them better.”
“I'm supposed to believe this? From the one that impersonated my sister-in-law?” Twilight remained half cold. She still intended to take care of Chrysalis, but only long enough to see her leave and never come back. As bold as she had been so far in saving her life, she wasn't as sure about keeping a wayward changeling around.
“Please...I have nothing...” the changeling swallowed hard. "And we...we were going to get married. Don't you still love me?"
The words made the unicorn grimace. This had to be the memory confusion the doctor mentioned. She frowned, thought hard, and kept thinking hard even as she started moving Chrysalis up to her bedroom. It was still difficult to move her, especially in her injured and bandaged form, but she knew she could make it and the guest bed would suffice for her stay. Spike followed behind and fidgeted the whole way.









It still nagged at her four days later. She had kept Chrysalis' presence a secret from all but Celestia and planned only to tell her friends after she was confident about it. But she continued to struggle with whether or not to trust Chrysalis. She could come up with no facts to back up the changeling's trustworthiness. She had every reason to believe the whole thing was a sham. Perhaps the queen, or former queen, would even go as far as inflicting those injuries to herself to reinforce her story.
But every day she also spent with her friends outside of the library. It made her worry that she was pushing away all the wisdom she had gained through her friendships. Perhaps it was those very friendships that had convinced her to save Chrysalis in the first place. So it came down to using her head or her heart. That fourth night was when she decided between the two.
Chrysalis was doing far better mentally and had regained much of her sensibility. She was still unable to walk, but Twilight decided to get her to the library balcony so she could get some fresh air. It was night, nopony was about, and the angle of the balcony wouldn't allow anypony to see the occupants laying down upon it. It was after she had gotten the changeling to the balcony that she realized the night had gotten rather chilly.
“Just a moment,” Twilight said as she headed back into the treehome. She came back shortly thereafter with a large throw blanket. “It's getting cold.”
Chrysalis looked at the unicorn with sleepy half-open eyes. She felt far stronger than she had that first day, but a nagging unease had settled over her. The realization that her hive was gone from her forever was something she had been numb to accept. Would she be like this forever? Never seeing or hearing another changeling for the rest of her life? The hivemind she was so used to in her head was silent and the emptiness brought a cold tear to each of her eyes.
“Here,” Twilight smiled politely as she stretched one side of the blanket over her long-term guest. “Rarity got the constellations right this time,” she added with a giggle.
It took a lazy glance at the sheet for Chrysalis to realize it was some kind of dark blue or purple with white, yellow, and light blue dots scattered across it. She looked back up to the night sky and found the two to be similar. The blanket must have been designed with the night sky particularly in mind.
“I don't understand,” Chrysalis said quietly in her buzzy voice.
“Luna positioned them like that,” Twilight tried to answer. “I don't know how she decided on each one. You'd have to ask her yourself. But I think it's extremely beautiful...”
“I meant I don't understand why you're so kind to me,” the changeling looked the pony straight in the eyes. It was an empty look.
Twilight sighed and then moved over so that she could get under the blanket next to Chrysalis. As a sort of habit she had developed, she put a hoof around Chrysalis' shoulder and closed her eyes for a second in concentration. The magical monitors the doctor had placed made it far easier for her to ensure there was nothing physically wrong with the shape-shifter. She opened her eyes again, content that the regular check-up went without startling incident.
“I like to think that I get it from Fluttershy,” Twilight began and gazed up at the stars she so enjoyed.. “She is the Element of Kindness, after all.”
“The yellow pegasus at the wedding,” Chrysalis spoke softly to herself. Her unicorn host had talked to her much over her stay and she had heard quite a bit about Twilight's five closest friends. She hardly needed to hear about Spike since he talked to her regularly on his own. His fear of her had all but dropped entirely in the last two days.
“Maybe it was just late and I lost my sanity,” Twilight continued, “but I don't think I'll ever forget that night. Honestly, I think I wouldn't have saved you if it wasn't for that...that spark. It was like I had gone back in time to the moment my friends and I defeated Nightmare Moon. I guess I just remembered that there's more to life than my own wants and desires.”
“What does that mean?” Chrysalis asked for clarity with something of a broken tone. She felt alone, not understanding the pony in the slightest.
Twilight looked back over to the changeling that, in spite of laying down next to her, was still much taller. “If I had gotten what I wanted back then, I would never have gone to Ponyville. I would never have met my friends and I would have just kept on like I always had. Maybe I wouldn't have felt like I was alone and missing out, but that's exactly what the case would be. I'm much better off now because Princess Celestia forced me to consider others before myself.”
Chrysalis looked down to the wooden boards beneath her, a tinge of shame on her face.
“That's why,” Twilight emphasized as she brushed her forehoof over the changeling's back in encouragement. “When I saw you there on the road, everything I had learned came back to me. I knew, in spite of how crazy it felt, that I had to be true to the me that I've become. What I wanted at first was punishment and justice, but I knew that would only lead to your death. I'd be ashamed if I looked back on that moment and admitted that I acted out of fear or hatred. Now I'm proud to say I acted out of friendship and hope. Hope for you, Chrysalis. And you know what?”
Chrysalis looked back up to her.
“I'm glad I did,” Twilight smiled warmly and sincerely as she hugged the changeling sideways.
“You mean that you want to be my friend?” Chrysalis would have asked wide-eyed if her heart was not so heavy.
“As an Element of Harmony, I'd have to say yes. But as just plain old me,” the unicorn leaned back so she could look up into Chrysalis' eyes, “I want to say yes.”
Chrysalis bowed her head so that she nuzzled the unicorn. “Thank you, Twilight,” she showed her appreciation even as one of her tears streaked down her face. “Thank you for letting me live.”
The former queen knew that she was just that. Former. No longer a queen. She was just a regular changeling with no hive and one small pony to keep her alive. But she decided then with the faint green glow of her jagged horn and emotional nourishment that seeped into her body that Twilight was all she needed.
Something stirred in Twilight's own heart. She didn't know what it was but she did know that it was powerful. The reality of the moment sunk in and she couldn't help but brighten up at the possibilities that opened to her. Maybe if she could change a hostile changeling queen into a loving friend then she could change the very world. But no, she reminded herself. Right now, this was her world and it had already changed.
“They are beautiful,” Chrysalis remarked as she gazed up at the dark sky lit only by the moon and tiny pinpoints of the stars.
“I told you,” Twilight joked beside her.
Chrysalis smiled faintly. “It's been a very long time since I've been able to enjoy the sky like this. The Spinner must have blessed me to give me the ability to do so again.”
“The Spinner?” Twilight questioned as she also stargazed.
“Just an old changeling's tale,” Chrysalis dismissed it.
The unicorn was not so quick to do the same. “I'll want to hear about it when you're ready to tell me. I have a lot of questions.”
“I know...”
Hearing the sad tone, Twilight moved to cheer her up. She rubbed the changeling's back again. “No, I didn't mean some interrogation. I just want to know more about you on your time. Like what you like and dislike. What your favorite foods are. That sort of thing.”
“My favorite food is love,” Chrysalis smiled wide, bearing both of her fangs in a way that was more goofy than scary.
Twilight blushed. “I know changelings feed off emotion...” she remarked, coming off far lamer than she wanted.
The shape-shifter felt elated for some reason at getting such a reaction out of the pony. “It was your friendship, though, that I've been feeding from. It's not as strong as the love I tasted from Shining Armor but it's so much more pure now that it's directed at me.”
“My friendship, huh?” Twilight mused. All along it had been that one thing that had driven her and her fellow Elements of Harmony. That such a thing had saved this changeling did not escape her as being ironic.
“It's warm,” Chrysalis commented as she nuzzled Twilight again.
“I guess you could describe friendship that way...”
“No,” the changeling corrected. “I meant the blanket. Thank you for it.”
Twilight laughed quietly. “Well, I was cold too, you know.”
They both kept laying there for a while, looking up at the stars and not saying anything. After some vague amount of time, Twilight noticed something unusual. Chrysalis' body was nestled beside her own and had a faint but comfortable warmth to it that radiated from the changeling's carapace. It had struck her as unsettling before that the species had insectile characteristics, but that didn't affect her now. Perhaps it was because she had been taking care of Chrysalis for the last several days to keep her from death's door.
A sudden nightly breeze swept over the balcony, making the old wooden planks beneath them creak just shy of the worrisome point. With the gust of wind was the aroma of leafy plants and a tinge of dirt. It was the Earthy smell that Ponyville often had and one that Twilight had gotten used to for the most part. The unicorn did, however, pull in the blanket to wrap around her tighter. The movement caused the sheet to shift on the changeling.
“We can go back inside if it's too cold,” Chrysalis offered generously. If she was back in her old hive then she might not have been so concerned about such a thing but circumstances had changed and her old self had to be put to rest. She knew she had to be as considerate as possible if not just to ensure her host's survival then to ensure she was happy. This friendship was what was most important to her now.
Twilight shivered but didn't accept the invitation. “No, I'm fine. Really. Not every night is as clear as this. I want to savor it.”
Chrysalis didn't know how much it'd help but she slowly lifted one of her long forelegs over Twilight's midsection. It was nowhere near as hurtful as it had once been to do so but she took it easy all the same to prevent unnecessary pain. Finally, she hugged the mare sideways.
Twilight looked back from the sky to her new hole-ridden companion. The changeling's leg was so much longer than her own that it easily draped around her. It reminded her somewhat of Princess Celestia's whenever she would hug her as a filly to encourage her in some difficult task. It was nearly shocking for one to remind her of the other and she certainly never would have imagined it before she had saved Chrysalis.
“I like the taste of this friendship,” the changeling said to herself as she glanced up at her faintly glowing horn. “It's so...peaceful.”
“Yeah,” Twilight breathed out evenly as she resumed her stargazing once more. “According to my last analysis, I've had fewer breakdowns since I came to Ponyville. I've narrowed it down to a ninety-three percent probability of being an effect of the friendships I've developed since then.”
“Probability?” Chrysalis raised a brow.
“Oh!” the unicorn exclaimed in a wild realization. “Maybe we can read some books together on probability. Won't that be fun?”
Chrysalis shook her head at the excited squeak in Twilight's voice. She had most definitely been saved by the most extraordinary pony. “Perhaps we might read one on love as well.”
“Why love?” Twilight cocked her head.
The tall pseudo-pony sighed as she concentrated on one star that was shining fainter than all the others. “Because I want to know what it's like. Real love, not stolen. It must be nice.”
Twilight's excitement dampened, taking note of her stargazing companion's solemn disposition. She said nothing for a long while, enjoying the stars and moon while shirking away from the small cold gusts of wind that tried getting beneath the blanket. The moon was moving along its course but did so just as slowly as it was supposed to.
Eventually, she glanced over to Chrysalis to find her not looking at the stars anymore. She was wincing and looked distraught. Fearing some physical problem, Twilight used her magic to check the changeling's vitals. Nothing wrong.
“What is it?” Twilight asked outright. It didn't look at all as if the shape-shifter was doing well.
“They're gone,” Chrysalis whispered sadly. “I don't hear anything.”
It was like they were back in the carriage again, Chrysalis' mind veering from one thing to another in some broken daze. And she had been recovering so well...
“No, I'm right here,” the unicorn tried uplifting her. “Who's gone?”
No response.
Twilight reached up and cupped the changeling's chin to point her face towards her. “Who's gone, Chrysalis?”
“My children,” she turned horrified again. “They banished me.”
Twilight sighed as quietly as she could. This was going to take a lot of time and a lot of patience. It seemed that changeling queens did not take well to exile and, really, Twilight couldn't even begin to comprehend what it might feel like. Her understanding of hive societies was quite limited.
“It's going to be okay,” the purple mare reiterated. “I'm not going to banish you.”
Chrysalis leaned in again for a hug, never feeling like it was enough. Her mind, usually abuzz with a thousand voices of her children, was as silent as the grave. It irked her. It scared her. It ate away at her inside.
“I'll get a book on love,” Twilight offered even as they hugged beneath the soft starry blanket. “We'll read it together.”
“I want it,” Chrysalis felt the emotions come back without relent. She couldn't control it. “I need to know what real love feels like...”
The ache in the changeling's distraught voice was something that everything of the medical world couldn't fix and Twilight knew it. She knew she could do nothing but what she already was, hugging Chrysalis and telling her that it would be okay. Maybe the hive was still out there but it was dead as far as its former queen would ever know. There was no going back and now the path forward was filled with a void that neither knew whether or not could be filled again.
Twilight felt small for a new reason other than comparative physical size. Everything was out of her hooves. Life, death, love. The only thing that wasn't was the trembling changeling currently in them. She didn't know the future, but she desperately wanted it to be something better.
“I want it too,” Twilight finally said against Chrysalis' neck. She kept holding her tight as she glanced to the stars above them. “I want to know what true love feels like.”