Chrysalis’s mind slowly rose from the deep darkness it had fallen into, her eyes clearing and revealing to her that she was in a hospital room, wrapped in clean linen sheets and, from what she could see, several bloody bandages surrounding her horn.
“Ye nearly died ye ken,” said a voice near her bed, and before she could even speak, she was immediately surrounded by a shimmering field, one which began to sooth some of the aches in her body.
“You have always been a stubborn wee lassie,” chided her mother, “but this is going too far, ye know ye canno’ suppress the voices my wee bairn, it only leads to more pain.”
“I know that mother,” said Chrysalis with a groan, “but I could not handle the memories of their last moments, you know what has been happening to them of late.”
“I do ken,” said her mother, “but repressing their memories only speeds up the mental degradation of the hive mind my bairn, and ye have reached the point of no return, which means its time…”
“NO!” cried Chrysalis, who tried to get out of her bed, only to be pinned down by her mother’s magic.
“Chrysalis plea…”
“YOU CANNOT MAKE ME DO IT!” roared Chrysalis, struggling against her mother’s hold as she tried to escape. “YOU CANNOT MAKE ME KILL THEM, NOT WHEN WE ARE SO CLOSE!”
“So close to wha’,” asked her mother in exasperation, “Even when the child is born she will have a hive mind o’ her own, one with its own voices which will be unwilling to share their mother with ye. I ken ye have fought hard to keep your children alive my wee bairn, but there time has come and gone…so ye must let them go.”
Chrysalis began to sob, tugging at the magic holding her, but now there was barely any force behind her tugs. She knew her mother was right, but she still didn’t want to, for it meant giving up what made her important to the hive.
“What about my remaining children,” asked Chrysalis in between sobs, “…wha…what will happen to them?”
“They will grow old and die, as all things do, but when they die, they will no’ return to ye, they will instead take the next step on the great journey…to the great beyond.”
Chrysalis simply stared at her a long moment, then nodded her head with a final sigh, closing her eyes and falling within herself. After a long while, she found the core of the hive mind, nestled deep within her consciousness.
She took it gently within her hooves, and then, like a great ball of yarn, she began to unravel it, crying as she did so.
On the outside, the shimmering field that was her mother’s current form watched as her daughter’s form began to glow, and then watched as her mouth opened, and thousands of lights began to flood from her body, passing through her mother before disappearing with little cries of joy.
When it was finally over, Chrysalis opened her eyes, tears falling from them as she looked into the shimmering mist which was her mother and spoke. “So…so what happens now, I assume the court has made it decision on what to do with me.”
“Yes they have,” said the mist, “but luckily for ye, your fainting spell seems to have swayed the court in your favor, for they have decided to clear ye o’ all charges.”
“What, but why?”
The mist chuckled at that, “well ye see, when ye passed out from the pain ye were in, the voices of your hive started speaking through ye, and wha’ they said caused many in the court room to change their minds about ye, saying it must have been madness which drove ye to attack them.”
“I…I see,” said Chrysalis, still trying to keep from simply balling due to the lack of the familiar song she was so used to hearing in the back of her mind. “Is…is there any other news…anything about Twilight?”
“We have had news,” said the mist, “but it is no’ something ye should be hearing right now…”
“Why,” said Chrysalis, starting to look concerned, “what is happening that you do not want to tell me?”
The mist seemed to hesitate, and then it sighed, before finally working up the nerve to speak. “It seems that news of wha’ is going on here has reached the ears of the young prince o’ the Crystal Empire, and he has moved a force o’ raiders to attack the town o’ Ponyville, which is now under siege by him and his raiders.”
Chrysalis immediately sat up in her bed, her eyes wide as panic began to set in. “What…when did this happen?!”
“Shortly after ye passed out…and it has continued for a full day, for nopony has been able to get past the mighty barrier that has been erected there, no' even the princesses.”
Chrysalis stared for a long moment, and then got out of bed, her horn beginning to glow as she conjured armor from thin air.
“And where do ye think ye are going?”
“I am going to help Twilight mother, I will not leave her in the hands of her brother when he is so determined to slaughter us…who knows what he might do.”
With that she took wing and left out a window, leaving her mother to sigh as she began solidifying her form. “I guess this confrontation was inevitable…let’s just hope ye see the true cause of this problem…before it be too late for the good stallion.”