Shining stared in disbelief at Chrysalis, his eyes not wanting to accept what he saw before him. The markings that had appeared on Twilight when she had become one with the element of magic now covered Chrysalis’s body, mimicking Twilight’s markings to the slightest detail, down to the streaks in her hair.
“You…you stole my sister's…”
“We stole nothing,” said Chrysalis, her voice carrying the echo of Twilights as she glared at him. “We have simply borrowed her power, so that we may help you.”
“Help me,” spat Shining, “you don’t want to help me; you just want to enslave me, again!”
“We never wanted to enslave you Shining Armor,” said Chrysalis, “and we are sorry for what we did to you. But we were starving, and were not in control of our actions when we…”
“Do you really think I am going to buy that bullshit?” spat Shining, shooting out a dark magic blast which was deftly blocked, which made him growl.
“We don’t expect you to believe our words,” said Chrysalis plainly, “But from what we know of what Twilight has shown us, this is not you…so we shall help you, whether you want it or not.”
Shining made to blast her again, but before he could, Chrysalis spread her wings wide, rainbow light blasting from her form and washing over the stallion, rendering him unconscious.
After he fell, Chrysalis dispelled her magic, letting Twilights magic leave her with a slight sigh of relief as she turned to see said alicorn getting up. “Check him, I’ll go see if I can help your friend not slip away from us.”
Twilight nodded, running past Chrysalis as she moved over to where the others where crowding around Rainbow, ignoring the shouts as the crystal guard began thawing out the raiders one by one and locking them in irons.
When she finally got a good look at Rainbow, she had to lift a hoof to keep herself from gasping in despair. There was a gaping hole in Rainbow’s chest, blood oozing from it slowly as her damaged heart kept on pumping. The only thing keeping her alive was a green glow radiating around the wound, which was being caused by the changeling who Chrysalis had asked to be the voice of the hive.
“Teacher,” she said, wrapping the weakened drone in her forelegs and nuzzling her, “why does it always have to be you?”
“Because I am a stubborn ass…” said Teacher with a cough, before turning away from Chrysalis to look at Rainbow. "…She’s dying.”
“I know…but so are you,” said Chrysalis, before sighing as she petted the changelings mane. "You know what needs to be done…right?”
The changeling nodded, “Of course…do you really think I would…would shirk the responsibility owed to those we…we open to our power. Just…just please don’t cry for me mother, you have shed enough tear for us already.”
“I shall try my child,” said Chrysalis before kissing her between the eyes, “now go, join your sisters in paradise…”
Teacher nodded, and then closed her eyes, breathing out her last breath in a slow, determined manner. When at last the breath left her body; Chrysalis watched as the life left her child’s body, watching it float over to Rainbow’s gaping wound and merging with it, erasing it from existence.
When she finally managed to look up, she was greeted with the horror struck faces of Twilight’s friends, all of them looking at the changeling with tears in their eyes, till one of them finally spoke, “She…did she just…?”
“Chrysalis,” said a voice behind them, causing the former queen to look up, seeing Twilight looking at her with concern as she held her brother in her forelegs.
Chrysalis got up, passing the body of her now dead child into the care of Twilight’s friends, walking over to her and sitting down, before looking at Shining and seeing what had caused Twilight’s concern.
“What is…?”
“Let me see it child.”
Both Chrysalis and Twilight looked up, and Twilight had to suppress a gasp, for the being standing behind her was like none she had ever seen. The being was certainly a changeling, for like all changelings, her belly was segmented and covered in a kind of transparent carapace, and wings were hidden underneath two protective coverings which kept them safe. However, the rest of her body was covered in a very shaggy white coat, complimenting her flowing pink main and tail quite well.
But what shocked Twilight most was her eyes, for they looked exactly like Celestia’s, which meant she could only be one being.
“Mother,” cried Chrysalis, getting up and walking over to hug her, only to start giggling when she made contact with the mare’s coat. “By Equi’ mother, did you forget to shed your winter coat?”
“Neigh my sweet bairn,” said the large changeling, “but your grandmother and I have been living in the polar region for these past few years, and so we have ha’ to keep our winter coats.”
The furred changeling then looked past her daughter to Twilight, smiling at her before speaking in a calm voice. “And ye young one must be Twilight Sparkle, ruler of this fair town.”
“Ye…yes,” said Twilight, still in shock over the being before her.
“My name is Celestine, daughter o’ Celestia an’ former queen o’ the changelings. If ye can give me your permission, I would like to see if I can help your brother.”
Twilight hesitated for a moment, and then nodded her head, allowing the large pony to sit down next to her and examine her brother.
Celestine examined Shining closely, not finding anything till she saw his eyes, and immediately she lifted her head and glared at Chrysalis. “Daughter, will ye please come here?”
She approached cautiously, standing next to her mother and looking down to see what had caused her to glare, and looking horrified.
“Tell me my bairn,” said Celestine coldly, “what methods did ye use on the prince to make him believe ye were his betrothed?”
“I…mother I wasn’t myself when…”
“What method did ye use!?”
“C…compulsion…I used compulsion on him…”
The moment the words had left her mouth Celestine’s face became livid, the larger changeling getting up and beginning to pace as she fumed. “Compulsion! By Equi’ ye daft little…do ye realize wha’ kind o’ trouble ye could have been in if we had been a full coven o’ queens?”
The word coven caught Twilight’s attention, for she had never heard that word used to reference anything besides the earth pony witches of the Shetland Islands, and to hear it now used in conjunction with the changeling queens got her really curious, but she managed to stave it, knowing answers would most likely come later.
“I know what would have happened mother, but I was starving and saw no other way to get what I needed, for he didn’t believe that I was Cadance.”
“That be no excuse my bairn, compulsion is dangerous to ponies and ye ken it.”
“Dangerous?”
Celestine looked at Twilight a moment, smiling the same way Celestia would when she had realized she had not told Twilight something important. “I be sorry Twilight, I shall try and explain as best I can. Our form of compulsion, unlike the magical version I know you unicorns can use, is a special kind of poison which is excreted from our lips. Over a short period of time, and I mean short, it is not dangerous. But over a long period, as in days, it builds up in a ponies system and can cause…dangerous side effects.”
“Dangerous…you mean he could…could die?”
“No nothing like that,” said Celestine, knowing where Twilights mind was going and stopping her before she reached that conclusion. “However, it does cause a pony to lose certain inhibitions, making them act upon certain thoughts that they would otherwise grudgingly ignore.”
Twilight stared at her a moment, then looked down at Shining, his eyes closed and his chest rising and falling gently, till she finally opened her mouth to speak. “Will…will you be able to help him?”
Celestine nodded, “O’ course, but it will take some time. For now though, ye have your own kingdom to be looking after, so ye best get to it.”
It had been two hours since the battle had finally been stopped, and everypony was setting about the task of assessing the damage that had been done to their home. The raiders had all been finally thawed out, and were now being guarded by a combination of Changeling drones and Crystal guard, who had used their regained abilities to encase the unicorns horns in crystal, as well as binding the pegasi’s wings so they couldn’t get away.
In regards to Rainbow, she had recently woken up, and much to the surprise of all her friends, had become extremely distraught upon the sight of Teacher lying dead nearby. She had wrapped up the changeling in her wings, and then without saying anything she grabbed the changeling and flew into the sky, leaving a trail of tears behind.
Chrysalis had kept the others from chasing her, saying that she would need to be alone for a time, so that she could grieve. When asked why, Chrysalis equated it to when a unicorn mage lost their familiar, which immediately humbled both Twilight and Rarity, who explained to the others to simply imagine if they had lost their own foal.
Now everypony was getting to work trying to repair everything, but for once in Twilights life, she did not feel optimistic about what they had to do. Many of the spells Shining’s raiders had sent against the wall had been reflected, getting flung into the surrounding buildings and causing massive damage, resulting in many buildings being beyond normal repair, and in some cases even magical repair.
Oddly though, Chrysalis’s mother didn’t look concerned, and when asked why, she simply smiled. “This can be easily fixed, but firs’ I need to ask, be there any breezies left in this land?”
Twilight nodded, revealing that there was a group of breezies had taken up residence in the forest, which caused Celestine to smile, before she lifted her head and began to whistle, the sound carrying out beyond the town, till she finally stopped as a swarm of breezies surrounded her.
“Hello little ones,” said Celestine sweetly, giggling a bit as the breezies flew around her and occasionally nuzzled her, all of them knowing what she was due to tales that had been passed down through the ages. “I can assume you know what I called you here for?”
They all nodded, causing her to smile, “Then link with me little ones, and let us show these ponies the lost art of tree forging.”
The breezies all giggled happily, and then glowed brightly, linking with the old changeling before zooming off as they began to sing.
As they flew over the ruins of Ponyville they began flinging seeds onto the ground as their voices filled the air. When they flew back, they moved to where the seeds had spread, and, much to the surprise of everypony watching, caused them to begin to grow at a rapid pace.
As the ponies watched, the breezies began to make the now forming trees take shape, forming them into houses similar to the one Twilight had lived in before it got destroyed, but with unique differences that set them apart from the old library.
“Holy hayseed…” said Applejack, watching with the others as all the damaged homes were replaced with literal tree houses as the breezies continued to sing, before gasping in shock when the breezies moved to the center of town, and caused a massive tree to spring from where the old town hall once stood, before flying back to rest within Celestine’s fur.
“I…” started Twilight, “…how is this possible?”
“All will be explained in time young one, but for now I think it is best ye get your people settled in their new homes, for I expect today’s events will have scared them greatly.”
Twilight hesitated at this, and then nodded her head, gathering the citizens and then leading them to their new homes, many of the residents staring in wonder at their new homes, especially Rarity, who found that the tree which made her new home magically produced silk for her use. “This….this is amazing, I never knew breezies could do things like this, this is extraordinary.”
She wasn’t the only one who found their house was fitted to their needs, and after a quick magical scan, Twilight found out why. Her palace had spread long roots under the entire town of Ponyville, and contained a great deal of knowledge from its ruler, Twilight herself. During her scan, she had seen that the roots of the tree houses had merged with the roots of her great palace, and her palace had imparted knowledge to each of the trees, tailoring them to each citizens needs so that they would feel right at home.
It was simply…magical, and it had cost them nothing, all because of the being who was now resting outside in the open grass, her body wrapped protectively around the breezies who had come to her call, which made Twilight wonder. If with changeling magic breezies could form such great structures like her old tree home of old, and the crystal ponies could erect various structures on command, as well as pegasi gaining an even higher mastery over the weather…what could the other races do?
“I’m sure I’ll get my answers later,” she thought, “for now though I need some sleep…something tells me tomorrow is not going to go horribly.”