Fluttershy slept a dreamless sleep, for the first time in a long time. The combination of the fact that the CMC telling everyone wouldn't be too bad with all her friends backing her up as well as Trixie calming down her nerves regarding the dangers of her transformation meant that for once her mind wasn't buzzing like a changeling hive.
The next day, Trixie walked with Fluttershy through town, disguised as her usual pompous self. The town was peaceful. Evidently, Rarity or somepony else had headed off the Cutie Mark Crusaders before they were able to spread any rumors. "Fluttershy, you need to realize something." Trixie was saying, gesturing around her, "There are -ahem- 'ponies' like us everywhere," she explained.
As they walked, Fluttershy noticed a few of the ponies she knew passing by. Minuette was talking with her friend, Sea Swirl. Meanwhile, flying by were Sassaflash and Parasol, chatting about the most recent gossip from Canterlot.
Trixie turned to Fluttershy, and kept talking. "You see, a lot of us are quite adept at hiding ourselves, but not all of us have the ability of the Great and Powerful Trixie." For some reason, Trixie gestured at Parasol. "Some of us haven't yet been able to do more than just use a familiar form, and alter the colors a little," she said, quietly, to Fluttershy. Fluttershy didn't quite follow, but Trixie kept walking.
"Others are better than that, able to have truly unique forms, such as myself, but they, erm..." Trixie scratched her head as they passed by the school, and Cheerilee's voice could be heard emanating from within, as school was in session, and the warm weather meant the door was kept open. "They aren't quite able to come up with their own unique voice," she said.
Trixie stopped as they reached a large field on the outskirts of Ponyville. Whirling around, she faced Fluttershy. "You aren't alone, no matter where you are. I may be the only one in your hive, but..." Trixie sounded sincere as she spoke, stopping to think her words through carefully. "I'm not the only changeling who can help you if you have problems," she said, obviously not at all used to speaking from the heart like this.
Fluttershy blinked in surprise, then smiled gently at Trixie. "Thank you, Trixie," she said.
The two changelings stood there in the field, neither of them looking particularly buggy at the moment. The wind blew clean, fresh air, the sky was blue, without a cloud in the sky. Fluttershy almost forgot the events of the previous few days as she stared up at a flock of birds flying through the air.
She realized suddenly that birds of different species don't usually flock together like that, and not in such great numbers, unless...
"T-trixie, we might want to leave..." Fluttershy spoke, quietly, as she began to fear the worst. A great number of panicking birds were heading over the two changelings, retreating from something ahead of them. "Something is wrong..."
Trixie had only a few moments to look at Fluttershy with a puzzled expression before the trees at the far edge of the clearing began to crystallize. The natural forms of the trees becoming rigid and jagged. A creeping dread took them as they saw the ground slowly undergoing the same fate, the phenomenon moving like a wave towards them. The wave slowed, then seemed to stop, as it got closer to them.
"D-did it sto-" Fluttershy started to ask, but as she turned to Trixie, she was terrified to see that Trixie looked even more frightened than Fluttershy felt.
Trixie slowly turned her head to look at Fluttershy. "Not again," she said. Her horn glowed, and she suddenly teleported away in a bright green flash.
Fluttershy was left standing in the field, a few hundred feet away from the crystalline ground. Trixie had teleported away with green magic, meaning she was so panicked she hadn't even bothered to keep her magic disguised. Fluttershy moved slowly towards the line where the crystal grass was, and carefully looked at it. It hadn't stopped. It was slowly moving towards her. It would likely reach Ponyville in only a matter of hours if it kept at this pace...
---
"SPARKLE!" yelled Trixie, appearing with a massive green flash in the middle of the library. She had overdone the teleportation spell in her panic, as Spike rushed around, patting out little green fires around the room.
"What in the name of Equestria? Trixie?" Twilight asked, startled from her reading of 'Celestia's Travel Memoirs, Vol. MXVII' "I was just getting to Celestia's visit to Saddl-" she stopped talking as she saw Trixie rush over to her bookcases and start throwing books on the ground, frantically searching for something. "Trixie, what in..." she trailed off, as Trixie gave her a serious glare before returning to her search.
"No... No... NO!" she said, throwing aside book after book. She turned, and rushed over to Twilight. "Sparkle! Where do you keep your books of ancient history?" she said, her eyes bulging with fear.
Twilight stared at Trixie for a moment, then nodded. Trixie's face told her that she didn't have time to argue, she'd have to hear the story afterwards. "Spike, show Trixie to the books on ancient history, I'll finish putting out the fires," she said, and began to move around the room, while Spike moved to a corner of the room.
"Here it-" Spike started to say, as he held up a book, before the book was yanked away from his grasp. "Hey!" he said, watching as Trixie ran over to the table, setting the book on it before frantically flipping through it.
"No... no... Yes! No!" she shouted, first in annoyance, then triumph, then fear as she realized the implications. "Sparkle! We have no time to lose. I'm taking you to Fluttershy," she said, her horn glowing a sickly green.
"Trixie, you're a cha-" Twilight started, before getting cut off by the rush of magic. Spike rushed over to where they were just standing, sighed, and started trying to put out the green fires that had reignited.
---
Fluttershy was now quite far from the line, but felt that she had to keep an eye on it, since nopony else was around. She had retreated so far that she was pressed up against the back of the school building. In front of her, a bright green flash heralded Trixie's arrival. Twilight was with her.
With relief, Fluttershy quickly galloped over to them "T-trixie, thank goodness you came back..." she said.
Twilight stared out at the crystalline landscape ahead of her. "T-trixie..." Twilight said, realizing why Trixie had been so panicked. "A-are those crystals?"
Trixie nodded, and slammed the book down onto the grass, open to a certain page discussing events that took place in the far past. "Trixie has heard of this before. Changeling lore keeps record of things from this time period exceptionally well," she explained, and pointed a hoof at the book. "Long ago, before Equestria, there was a time when power was split between a large number of Princesses," she began to explain. "Each of them had great power, thanks to ancient artifacts they held that allowed them to do immense magic."
"One day, the artifacts were stolen by a great lava monster, who used the combined power of all the artifacts to turn himself and everything else into crystal." Trixie said, and glanced at Twilight, who was open-mouthed. "I see you understand my point, Sparkle." Trixie said. She turned to her other companion. "Queen Fluttershy, the fact that the world itself appears to be turning into crystal means that something with at least as much power as a multitude of princesses is behind this, and I don't think we can stop it."
She paused. "You might be able to do something to stall it, however," she said, and pointed at the book. "While it took the power of all the princess ponies combined to undo the horrible magic, the crystallization itself is a loss of all magic in an area." Trixie said. "If... If you transform into your true form, you would be able to re-energize the area around us, giving us at least a few more days. In that amount of time, we should be able to enlist the help of the princesses, and even some of the other Queens!"
Fluttershy looked at Trixie, unsure of what to do. "B-but, I don't even know how to transform... I've never done it!"
Trixie sighed. The crystallization process was picking up again. "We don't have time for this! Just... picture the hive under your hut! Imagine it's much larger, with hundreds of changelings living in it!" Trixie said, frantically.
"I'll go notify the Princess, Trixie! Fluttershy, I'm counting on you," Twilight said, her horn glowing as she teleported away.
Fluttershy looked nervous, but saw the encroaching crystal. "O-okay," she said. She pictured it in her mind. Hundreds of changelings, all standing to attention in a dark, dimly lit room. There were hundreds of them, all watching Fluttershy, as she stood there, a Queen.
Green flames shot up around her. That's right. She's a Queen. How DARE anything try to subvert her authority! She felt a new emotion fill her. It was a cockiness she'd never known in her life. Even Iron Will hadn't caused this great of a reaction. She was a Queen!
The green flames continued to rise, swelling into towering infernos.
Then, it was done. Fluttershy stood there, now a Changeling Queen. The flames died down. Fluttershy looked around the area, her eyes scanning the ground, as she wore a rather smug expression upon her insectoid visage. Even Trixie hadn't been prepared for the amount of power that Fluttershy must have possessed, as the Changeling Queen who stood before her was a titanic creature, towering over Ponyville like an Ursa Major.
Then, as Fluttershy surveyed the ground at her massive hooves with distant eyes, her horn began to glow. The glow grew brighter and brighter, before becoming a great green flash, which flooded over the entire area.
Fluttershy was standing there when the flare died down. She was still a changeling queen, but a much more appropriately sized one, with a much more normal expression on her face. The land, which was formerly a cold crystal, shone with vibrant life as far as they could see.
Trixie looked at Fluttershy, a look of pure awe on her face. "Queen Fluttershy, you've done it... and I had no idea you had that much power stored up inside you..." She turned to look at the field. "The land is rich with life. This should buy us enough time for us to stop this for good." She was about to say something else, when a sudden noise broke the quiet.
"WHAAAAT WAAAAS THAAAAAAAT?" They heard a tremendous shout come from the direction of downtown Ponyville, as a pink streak shot out of one of the distant buildings, before rushing over to the two changelings. Pinkie Pie landed between them, the ground under her hooves smoking. "I FEEEEEEL GREEEEEAT!!!" she yelled, launching herself back into the air.
Trixie and Fluttershy watched as Pinkie zoomed around the town. "I guess you gave everyone a boost there, Queen Fluttershy." Trixie said, mouth agape.
Fluttershy nodded, but wasn't thinking about anything except what just happened. She had felt so powerful, so superior...
She didn't like it. She didn't like it at all.