We Will Always Remember

by SilverMuse


Chapter 1: The Queen is Dead

The Queen was dead.
Mirage stared down at the limp, bedraggled form of their beloved mother Chrysalis. Though the Queen’s chest had stop rising and falling some time ago, Mirage reached out and nudged Chrysalis’ wing encouragingly, as if that small gesture might somehow wake her from her death sleep. Already Chrysalis’ legs had started to stiffen…already her once magnificent black carapace had taken on a horrible pallor. Though the changelings begged, pleaded, and screamed for their mother to return, it was not to be.
Chrysalis was dead.
Their mother…was dead.
Changelings sobbed all around Mirage as they held a watery vigil over Chrysalis’ body. The scent of blood and death filled Mirage’s nose, and she knew in her heart that they would have to bury the bodies of the dead before long otherwise the vultures, or worse, disease might set in and claim the rest of them. So many of her brethren were still weak and injured; though Chrysalis’ sacrifice had fed them, it had not healed their wounds. They needed the menders of their hive to take care of them, but home seemed so far away.
Mirage looked around then glanced at the changelings immediately to her left and right.
Silverfang hung his head low, his single, silver tooth shining and wet with his tears. Mist Rider, his pale blue wings pressed tightly against his sides, turned his scarred face away as he tried bravely to hold back his tears. Despite his valiant efforts, several trickled down his cheeks and splattered on the dirt in front of him. He was one of the bravest of them all, and still he wept like a babe.
“Mist Rider,” Mirage whispered, her voice forcing him to look her way. “We have to bury them and return to the hive. We can’t let her sacrifice be in vain.”
Mist Rider sucked in a trembling breath, both good and blind eyes blinking back the tears. “I know. It seems so wrong, though, to bury her without the rest of the hive.”
“We can’t carry her back,” Mirage said regretfully and felt the sorrow constrict her throat. “Her weight will slow us down, and we might be hunted. We can bury her now, and once we’ve healed and recovered, we can have a proper funeral for her with the rest of the hive.”
Mist Rider stared at her miserably, but he did not refuse.
Silverfang, however, whirled on Mirage with anger in his eyes. “You want us to bury our Queen and mother in this barren wasteland? Where her carcass can be feasted upon by any matters of beasts?” His wings buzzed with stress and agitation. “How can you even suggest it, Mirage? She would carry all of us on her back if it meant we could be buried with the hive, where we belong.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” Mirage hissed angrily. “Of us all, I know that the most, but we have to think about the hive, now. She would want us to leave her behind so that we can all return to the hive and to our families alive. I’m not saying it’s right, Silverfang, but we have to survive.” She pointed at their fallen brethren, the changelings that had died during the fight against Canterlot. “Unless you wish to join them in this dusty plane?”
Silverfang fell silent, his eyes darting to the dead changelings. So many had been killed upon impact, their heads, necks, or limbs breaking as they were thrown to the ground or against jagged cliffs. If only that bloody alicorn’s magic had thrown them a little further, maybe they would have landed in water, or someplace softer. But no, stone and dirt had greeted them, and so stone and dirt would act as their final resting place.
Mirage touched Silverfang’s back and walked away from Chrysalis’ corpse. She shuddered at the thought, unable to truly comprehend that their mother was dead. With a grunt, she jumped onto a large bolder, her purple wings flaring to help support herself when her tired legs slid. She turned to face the changelings and called to them. “My brothers and sisters…our mother gave her life so that we might live and carry on her name and her purpose. I know that it is tradition to bury our fallen with the rest of the hive, but we are weak, and we are injured. We must bury them here and return to our families before we too join our mother in death.”
Cries of anger and anguish arose all around her, but slowly, reason dawned on them, and the yells ebbed until only a few shouted or sobbed. Mirage bowed her head and looked at her beloved brothers and sisters.
“It pains me to leave Mother behind, but we will have a proper memorial for her once we make it home alive.” She swallowed and leaned forward. “Use what magic you have to dig holes and bury our friends. Write names on stones so that we remember where they are buried and can show their resting places to their families.” She looked around and her heart grew as firm as the boulder on which she stood. “This shall be hallowed changeling ground now. We will make it so no pony or beast will ever step upon the resting places of our families. I swear it.”
The changelings cried out in agreement and determination. Resolutely, they turned and began the painstaking task of pulling the bodies of the fallen towards Chrysalis and digging death beds for them all.
Mirage leapt down and walked towards Silverfang and Mist Rider. “We will bury Mother last so that we may all do it together,” she told them then stepped away on weary legs. She moved along the bodies, watching the changelings perform their tired and sad duties. Mirage leaned down and picked up a small changeling to place on her back.
Zapper…son of Cocoon and Quick Flit. His twin sister Zipper would be wondering where he was now. Zipper, as one of their healers, had stayed behind to tend to the pregnant changelings and the wounded. Had she felt her brother’s death? Had his parents? He’d died from a broken neck, and his leg had been shattered in the fall too it seemed. It bounced uselessly and awkwardly against her side as she brought him closer to their Queen.
Mirage committed his name and death to memory. She used magic and her hooves to open up a shallow hole that would serve as his resting place. Reverently, she placed him inside and crossed his hooves over his chest. “Rest, now, brother. The hive lives on.” Holding back the tears as best she could, she pushed the soil over the body until a mound covered him and hid him away from predators. She picked up a rock and used a little magic to carve his name into the stone before placing it at the head of his grave. As the tears filled her eyes again, she bowed her head and touched her nose to the stone. “I’m sorry.”
One by one the changelings gathered the dead and buried them, speaking silent prayers and asking the spirit of Queen Chrysalis to watch over them. Mirage buried her own fair share of siblings and repeated the names over and over again so that she would not forget them.
Zapper…Lil’ Wing…Virtue…Emerald Wave…Blue Eye…Secret….
The list of names went on and on, and as more were put to rest, Mirage walked along the stones and tried to commit those names to memory as well, but there were just too many.
I’m sorry, she said more times than she could count. I’m so sorry.
When it seemed as if their work was done, the changelings turned to the hardest task of all: burying their Queen.
Mirage lingered at the edge of the group as the changelings once more surrounded Chrysalis. By then, the sun had faded and night had started to set in. Wearily, the changelings called on their magic so that their horns glowed and provided an eerie, green light, like a handful of candles held up in reverence.
Mist Rider broke through the gathered changelings and looked at Mirage. “You should be at the front with us. She would have wanted that.”
“I don’t deserve that honor,” Mirage whispered to him as he stopped at her side.
He leaned over and nuzzled her cheek as a brother might do. “Yes you do, and the other changelings know it. It’ll be your responsibility to look after us now.” He reached down and tugged on her leg. “Come on.”
Resignedly, Mirage followed him through the group to where Silverfang sat beside Chrysalis’ head. They’d already crossed her legs and closed her eyes so that she looked as if she was lost in a peaceful sleep rather than an eternal one. Mirage could hardly look at Chrysalis’ face as she touched a hoof to the fallen Queen’s cheek. With a heavy heart, she looked up at the darkened sky, her tears blurring the blinking stars, and spoke.
“Begin digging.”
It was a silent affair, the changelings all working as one to dig the biggest grave of them all. Neither wound nor exhaustion could slow them in their task. They became a single unit and tossed the dirt off to the side, though not one speckle struck their Queen.
When at last it seemed the hole was deep enough, they gathered once more around Chrysalis and looked at each other. Slowly, their eyes turned to Mirage for guidance. She bit her lip hard and touched Chrysalis’ head. “Together. We’ll lower her down together.”
An emerald hue surrounded Chrysalis’ body, bathing and embracing her in a beautiful light. Each changeling offered power, miniscule as it might be. Mirage leant her own, and once all the changelings had a firm hold, they lifted their beloved Queen and lowered her body into the ground. The dull thud of her limp form settling on the dirt sent a shiver down Mirage’s back. She withdrew her magic, and one by one, the green lights blinked out until only moon and starlight shone down upon Chrysalis’ body.
No command was given; the changelings moved forward and began to push dirt down over their Queen. Mirage moved automatically, her mind still refusing to believe that this was it. This would be the last time that she would ever see her mother.
Inch by inch, foot by foot, the grave was filled with dirt. The mound reached the surface then rose higher as if none of the changelings wanted to finish their work because, then, Chrysalis would truly be gone. It was as they started to gather stones to place over the dirt that Mirage finally lit her horn and looked around at the changelings.
“Enough,” she said to them. “Let our mother sleep.”
The changelings shuffled away from the grave, save for Mist Rider who brought a large stone towards Mirage. “We…thought that we could use this as a headstone,” he said quietly.
Mirage looked at it and nodded. She lowered her horn and began to write Chrysalis’ name, using as much care as possible to make sure that every letter was in place. When she carved the last one, she sat back and stared at her work.
“Leave your marks,” she said.
With tiny blasts of power, the changelings left notches along the stone, symbols of who they were. The ponies might have cutie marks, but the changelings had symbols or scripts that belonged to just them.
Mirage picked up the stone and placed it next to the grave. She wished that she could put moonflowers beside it, but this land was so desolate, that the gift would have to wait until they returned to their hive. She placed a hoof on the mound then looked at the tired changelings. “We need to go home,” she told them.
There was no time to rest or to lick their wounds. They’d perhaps wasted that on burying the dead, but Mirage didn’t see it like that. They needed closure, and they needed time to come to terms and mourn, otherwise they would crumble on their long journey home.
Mirage took to the front and began walking with Mist Rider and Silverfang on either side of her. “Make sure that every brother and sister keeps up,” Mirage called behind her shoulder. “No changeling will be left behind.”
And so they began their long trek across the dusty, forgotten land. Mirage looked ahead, unable to see very much save for what the moon and stars illuminated. Chrysalis would watch over them this night, and Mirage hoped that their mother would help safely guide them home.
Silverfang limped along beside her, his eyes sad and focused on the ground before him. He flicked his ears back and tucked his wings tightly against his sides. “It’s too quiet,” he whispered to her. “And something feels like it’s missing. Something…wasn’t right about burying Chrysalis.”
“I feel the same,” Mist Rider said and glanced at Mirage. “Back at the hive, we always told stories of the brothers and sisters that died. I feel as if we should have done that for Mother.”
“There was no time,” Mirage said. “We spent enough of it burying them.”
Silverfang was quiet for a moment before he tilted his muzzle towards her. “We have a long way to go…there’s time now, isn’t there?”
Mirage blinked and looked at him then at Mist Rider. They watched her with hopeful eyes. When she glanced over her shoulder, she saw similar anticipation in the eyes of the other changelings.
Closure…I said we needed closure. Perhaps this will provide it as well.
Mirage sighed to herself and allowed a tiny smile to touch her lips. “Mother would have wanted it,” she said. She looked at Silverfang and touched his side. “You go first.”
Silverfang grinned and lifted his head to look up into the diamond-filled sky. “I want to talk about the time when Mother first brought me under her wing…when I first understood what it means to be a changeling…”