//------------------------------//
// 106 - The Conversation 
// Story: Re:Harmony 
// by starcross7 
//------------------------------//

Twilight did not know who she should feel sorry for, but she knew this: Applejack would exhaust herself or have a cardiac arrest if she did not stop beating the nigh-invulnerable Queen Chrysalis. 
 
The unicorn flash-teleported herself free from her cocoon-like restraints and onto the cold steel floor.  Immediately her head and body riddled from the pain from magic overuse, and she nearly lost her balance in this cavernous storage room lined with the Changeling Queen's slimy green webbing.  For a while, she fought against passing out.  She regained full control of her body and mind after reminding herself, as the Everlasting Darkness had said, that her friend was in danger. 
 
"Applejack!" Her hoarse voice could not reach her, and if she attempted to physically restrain her, Applejack would have accidentally thrown her back.  Twilight had one more spell she could cast, a calming spell to be exact, but the method of doing so was also dangerous. 
 
She had no choice.  As Applejack lifted her foreleg for another blow, Twilight quickly galloped in front of her.  She quickly pressed her chest against her friend's, wrapped her front legs around her body, and tapped her horn onto Applejack's forehead. 
 
The spell had been cast.  Twilight felt her energy flow from her body, through her horn, and into Applejack.  The rebel mare gradually calmed down as her breathing slowed.  Her body slumped onto Twilight's shoulders, and their hearts soon synched with one another. 
 
"Twi?" Applejack said.  "I… she…"
 
"It's okay," smiled Twilight. 
 
"Is it really you?" 
 
"It's me." 
 
"Let go.  I don't deserve this." 
 
"Shh." 
 
They continued hugging, and the hateful tears eventually dried from Applejack's eyes.
 
"Ho, that's cute."
 
"Who said that?" Applejack asked. 
 
"Wasn't me," said Twilight.   This place did not have any closed trunks, and nopony sneezed. 
 
"Down here. The mangled Changeling Queen laying down by your hooves."
 
She could still talk.  Applejack broke the Queen's jaw, but a frightful dread broke and disrupted Twilight's tender moment with her best friend.  Just like she herself had said, Chrysalis lay mangled by their hooves, her crooked horn pulsated as she "spoke". 
 
"I didn't mean to interrupt," Chrysalis smiled as best she could without wincing in pain.  "Continue."
 
Applejack tried to raise her hoof for another punch, but Twilight gently pushed her away so she could further cool down.  While it pleased the Changeling Queen, the furious furrow remained on Twilight and she stared dead on to Chrysalis's eyes. 
 
"Look, Queen," said Twilight.  "You better watch what you say or I'm going to break your horn." 
 
"Fine, I'll behave," said the Queen. 
 
"We can't trust her to do so," said Applejack.  "I pummeled the wench hard, so she won't be able to get up for a while.  We gotta use this chance to skedaddle out of here."
 
"We can't leave her," said Twilight.  "Even if she is the enemy, we owe it to ourselves to treat her wounds and move her to a safer place."
 
"Are you serious?  That witch over there mind-raped me!  I say we leave her here so that she won't cause any more trouble us."
 
"Sure, leave me here," said Chrysalis.  "Then when the guards find me, I can say that there are eight intruders are prowling the factory: two unicorns, two earth ponies, three pegasi, and one alicorn. That's if I haven't fully healed from the barrage silly Applejack dealt to me.  Honestly, what kind of friend are you?  This Twilight girl knows what she's doing."
 
"What's she jabberin' about?"
 
"It means that we have to take her as our prisoner so she won't alert the guards."
 
"Fine.  At least we tie this bug queen up."
 
Twilight left the bondage method up for Applejack to choose, and predictably she tied up Chrysalis like a hog.  Whether this was ethical or degrading, the unicorn did not care.  The Changeling Queen deserved this after imprisoning the ponies in the Chemical Storage Chamber and what she did to poor Applejack.  Chrysalis had drained a little color off of the orange mare and made her appear a little gaunter. 
 
It took some time and effort to remove Applejack's Element of Truth and her Stetson hat from the cocoon that stuck on the wall.  Twilight had to give Applejack kudos for busting out of her own cocoon.  Hitting only caused it to wobble, but applying some heat magic caused it to gradually melt into a dark greenish paste.  It smelled bad, but it was surprisingly strong when it dried into a rubbery texture.
 
Twilight summoned the Factory's floor plan out from her Tele-Orb to lay it out on the floor.  Even if the map was not exact, she had an idea where she and Applejack had ended up.  She remembered passing through the Hall of Kings and emerging out in a large foyer where she encountered Chrysalis and lost the battle against her.  More than likely, they had traversed straight across Cloud 2 and ended up closer to its western edges.  Now the obstacle was to figure out how to reunite with their friends while evading the roaming guards. 
 
"You'll want to curve around the assembly plant and go two floors up," Chrysalis spoke through her magic. 
 
Twilight tried ignoring her. 
 
"I highly recommend it. You can hide in one of the guest quarters reserved for the Lord Generals.  That's the last place the guards will check."
 
"And that's the last place you'll spring a trap on us," said Applejack.  "I ain't buyin' it." 
 
"Really, Applejack?  Do you not value your friend's judgment that much?"
 
"She didn't say anythin' yet."
 
"She might have a point," said Twilight.  "Pegasopolis's Tenets highly value authority, and entering a Lord General's chambers without permission constitutes treason.  Still, I don't know why you would be helping us."
 
"Given my appearance, do you think the pegasi of Pegasopolis would tolerate me?" asked Chrysalis. "They are just as xenophobic as the earth ponies of Gaea, if not more so. After all, they are the ones who abandoned your race to the Gaean death camps, culminating in the ultimate betrayal in history. But I digress.  Take my advice or don't.  I'll eventually heal up and worm my way out of these pitiful restraints."
 
"If I may be so kind, Twi," said Applejack, "the Bug Queen probably will transform herself back into a pegasus and rat us out."
 
"We have no other choice but to take her advice," said Twilight.  "We will, however, keep a close eye on her.  Miss Chrysalis, try not to do anything funny.  I have my horn charged up, and I won't hesitate to shoot out one of your eyes."
 
That was a lie.  She was so drained of magic that at best she would only tickle the Changeling Queen.  Twilight only needed to put up a threatening front just to keep Chrysalis in line.  She was sure Applejack would agree with her methods of intimidation, but whether Chrysalis accepted the threat was unknown. Even with a broken jaw, she still retained the coy arrogance she displayed in her guise as Crystal Clear.
 
Neither Twilight nor Applejack were in shape to carry the Changeling Queen on their backs.  As Twilight plotted their next course, Applejack tore out some metal sheets off the wall and fashioned a makeshift sled, complete with a rope made from the slave clothing they still had on her back.  Carelessly, she shoved Chrysalis onto the metal sled and hitched herself and Twilight on the ropes.  With their first step forward, the metal sled shrieked. 
 
"That might be a problem," spoke Chrysalis.  "Here, I'll cast a silence barrier so that we'll be able to evade the guards much more easily."
 
The Changeling Queen's horn glowed, and a green dome enveloped the trio.  As far as Twilight could surmise, they weren't hypnotized.  The properties of this silence barrier was similar to her Aegis Shield, but she doubted Chrysalis's true intent of this spell. 
 
Either way, they had to move.  Per Chrysalis's instructions, they curved around a large manufacturing area of the Factory and used all their strength to move the Changeling Queen up two long flights of stairs.  Only a few times pegasus guards whizzed close by, and in one instance, a couple of guards stopped right in front of them on a crossway.  Miraculously, they did not see the two mares and their changeling captive, and they flew away after complaining about a terrible smell. 
 
Instead of a silence barrier, Chrysalis had cast a cloaking spell, but Twilight was not sure if she did it right as the two guards approached them.  Twilight was not ready to thank her just yet, not at least until they reached the Lord General's quarters.  They finally made it, but Twilight still did not want to thank the Changeling Queen. 
 
Inside, the large room had the right temperature and a soft cloud floor.  It was well furnished with three luxurious velvet couches.  The tables were made of marble and stood on ionic columns.  The expansive bathtub could be seen in a different room, and a refrigerator made of gold and polished iron hummed quietly. 
 
The notion of food made the stomachs growl from within the earth pony and the unicorn.  Applejack opened the refrigerator and saw pies and cider.  She took one long whiff of one of the pies before she dug her hooves into one of them for a quick taste.
 
"This is definitely Apple family-grown," said Applejack.  "Darn those pegasi.  They must be workin' the rest of my kin like slaves to grow them."
 
"Hate to break it to you, but none of your relatives had survived the Appleloosa bombing," spoke Chrysalis.  "They only enslaved the surviving farmhands, stole the trees, and stole the recipe." 
 
"They have to be alive.  Braeburn, Apple Fritter, everypony."
 
"Wishful thinking does absolve you from the responsibilities as the last of the Apples.  I only speak facts."
 
"Why the hay would I wanna believe a creature who takes the form of other ponies?  You're living liars, that’s what you are."
 
"Calm down, Applejack," said Twilight.  "You need to rest yourself while I write a message to our friends.  You can use the bathroom to clean up."
 
Applejack's stomach growled again.  Her eyes gravitated towards the stack of apple pies, but she turned away right as she slammed the refrigerator door shut. 
 
"I ain't gonna eat them," said Applejack.  "I won't eat them unless they were made by free ponies.  Twi, I'll leave the door open while I patch myself up.  And try not to get sucked into another one of the bug queen's lies."
 
Applejack did not want to leave Twilight alone, but just as she said, she left the bathroom door cracked open.  The bathtub faucet sprayed out, and the rebel mare set her Stetson aside as she bathed herself. 
 
Twilight kept her distance from the wounded Chrysalis as she laid her paper and pencil on the marble desk by the corner.  She knew that she should not have her back turned on her, but she did not want to turn the desk around to face her.  Rather, she hated facing her, and she only necessitated turning her head once in a while just to make sure she did not do anything. 
 
All these anxieties made it difficult to write her note to transport to her friends' respective Tele-Orbs.  In addition, her stomach was growling. 
 
"You're not going to eat them too?" asked Chrysalis. 
 
"If they were made with slave labor, it would be unethical," replied Twilight.  "And immoral."
 
"Suit yourself.  I would not mind eating them if my jaw wasn't still broken, but for me, pony-made food are but mere condiments to the emotional sustenance you ponies provide."
 
"Please, I'm trying to pen a letter to my friends."
 
"I'll be quiet."
 
Unfortunately, Chrysalis's silence made Twilight even more nervous, and it made it necessary for the unicorn to turn and look at her more frequently.  She could barely write, and she turned around with an accusing glare at the Changeling Queen. 
 
"I didn't say anything."
 
"That's just it!" Twilight exclaimed.  "You're not saying anything!  At least with you talking, I know that you're still in the room!"
 
"Twi, is that she-bug botherin' you?" Applejack asked as she poked her head out of the bathroom. 
 
"I'm fine!"  Twilight slumped further into her chair with a heavy sigh, and made note of Applejack slowly retreating behind the bathroom door with her glare glued on the Changeling Queen.  Twilight eventually regained her composure, and after a deep breath, she braved facing the "well-behaved" Chrysalis once more.  By now, the water stopped flowing, and the sound of a full grown mare settling into the water could be heard. 
 
“You can hear me, right?” Twilight spoke through her magical telepathy. 
 
“You have yet to break my horn," replied Chrysalis. "So, yes."
 
"There is still one thing I can't get over in my head.  When you captured me, you didn't cast your Lotus Dream spell on me like you did with Applejack." 
 
"I had to use you as a hostage.”
 
"That doesn't make sense.  Changelings are supposed to be feed on the love produced by other ponies.  You could have had me under your spell very easily."
 
"Do you really want me to tell you?"
 
“Tell me what?”
 
The Queen could not suppress her chuckle, both physical and telepathic. 
 
“You poor filly,” said Chrysalis.  “There is a simple reason why I did not cast that spell on you. There was no love I can drain.”
 
“What?”
 
“Sure, you might have love for your friends and family, but those relationships are but mere appetizers.  No, they barely amount to breadcrumbs.  The Queen of the Changelings deserves the purer forms of love; romantic love to be exact.  Sadly, you do not possess any, and I'm starting to doubt that you are capable of romance.  You really shouldn't be surprised."
 
"I am surprised, but I am also insulted by all this."
 
"The look of innocence is written all over your face, and when I mean by 'innocence', I mean that you are still a virgin in more ways than one."
 
"I didn’t have time for boyfriends growing up in my village.  And I certainly do not have time for one right now when I'm busy saving the world, especially in front of a changeling like yourself."
 
"You never even touched yourself."
 
"Why, you…"
 
The bathroom door opened and slammed against the wall.  Applejack leapt out drenched with towel covering her mane.  Despite the tense situation, Twilight was glad her friend had finished bathing, and she stormed off of her chair. 
 
"What did she say to you?" Applejack asked. 
 
"Nothing."
 
"It's obvious she said something judgin' by the look on your face."
 
"I need to be alone for a while."
 
"What about the message?"
 
"I'll write it in the bathroom."
 
The unicorn magicked her paper, pencil, and the Tele-Orb off the desk as she entered the bathroom.  She removed her bandages and splashed down into the lukewarm tub water while trying to calmly close the door.  Twilight cracked it open part way, and she could see Applejack lying on one of the couches with her eyes on Chrysalis.    
 
She had said she would finish the message in the bathroom, but in reality, she wanted to get away from Chrysalis.  How would a changeling know about her love life?  Incapable of love?  Twilight was more than capable of it.  She did not just read through enough old scrolls written by her ancestors, but also a lot of self-help books she found washed up in the shores of Unicornia's underground river. 
 
After a few minutes in the water, it started to make her worry.  Chrysalis might be right, or she could be manipulating her.  She struck Twilight directly.  Growing up, Twilight had experienced arousal when she looked at Gaea's old pornographic magazines, but she had never gone further than that.  The shadow of her mother's authority prevented her from doing so.  During religious service, she witnessed Velvet doling out public punishments of colts and fillies who had inappropriately shamed themselves in the eyes of the gods. Even now she shuddered whenever an atom of inappropriate and illicit thought entered her mind.  Some mares in her age managed to get away with it, though in Twilight's case, her mother ruled her over romantic life, if she had any.  Twilight had always assumed that if she remained in Unicornia, her mother would have chosen a partner for her just like she did with countless couples before, and perhaps Twilight would eventually grow to fall in love with him. 
 
If she had a choice in life partners, she would prefer it to be somepony like her brother: strong, courageous, and dependable (save for his abrupt departure from Unicornia).  Even in his youth, he set the bar very high as the ideal unicorn stallion, and a lot of girls in the village certainly swooned over him.  In some ways, that did isolate Twilight from the rest of her peers, because she was always looked upon as not just Twilight Velvet's daughter, but also as Shining Armor's obstructing little sister. 
 
There might have been colts expressing their crush for Twilight Sparkle, and if there were, she had likely brushed them aside inadvertently from all the pain she suffered under her own mother's tutelage.  Twilight Velvet would certainly not approve of her having a boyfriend during her youth, and it was likely she sent Twilight's suitors scurrying off before they could even approach her. 
 
Velvet would most certainly not approve of her daughter having a marefriend.  Sunny likes me, Twilight repeated in her mind.  A lot.  Sunny's incessant closeness to Twilight could be described as clingy, but the unicorn could only see her as a child or a lost older sister.  Still, Twilight Sparkle devilishly entertained the idea of a hookup with Sunny to spite her mother for all those years of harsh training.  Then again, Velvet might actually allow it since Sunny was a legendary alicorn. 
 
"Maybe Chrysalis is right," Twilight sighed, "and I have plenty of excuses; not the right time, or the right pony did not show up."
 
Funnily enough, her acceptance of this saddened realization made it easier to write her messages.  All it said was to rendezvous in the Lord General's guest quarters in the western wing of the Factory.  She initiated the transmission by burning each note with flint derived from Spike's scales. 
 
The wait began.  Twilight toweled herself dry and went back into the main room to join up with Applejack hoping that she would not have beaten Chrysalis up again.  Instead, she found her with a sad look in her eyes and crumbs on her cheeks.  On the table was an empty plate and an empty wooden stein. 
 
"All right, I'm a damn hypocrite!" Applejack cried.  "I was really hungry, and the pie smelled so good."
 
Twilight's stomach rumbled.  "Count me in as well, but I'll only eat a slice."
 
"Maybe Chrissy would want some too."
 
"Very funny," spoke Chrysalis.  "My jaw is still broken thanks to you, mud pony."
 
The unicorn and the earth pony shared a brief laugh as they shared a meal.  It wasn't as if they did not carry any food with them; delicious apple pie compared favorably against a dry oat bar.  It would be a waste to pass one up. 
 
Twilight and Applejack ended up eating two pie's worth and drinking several steins of apple cider.  They then decided to take turns guarding the door with one of them taking a rest on the couch.  Chrysalis had been quiet the whole time, but at least now the two ponies tolerated her presence. 
 
During the wait, Twilight received messages from Rainbow Dash that she was on their way.  Another note popped out of the Tele-Orb, and it was written by Fluttershy.  On it, she wrote that she rescued some slaves and that she would be arriving a little late.  She had yet to receive messages from Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Sunny, and Flitter, and several worrisome minutes had passed without any further responses. 
A loud bang and a mare's cry startled Twilight and Applejack in their hooves.  In normal circumstances, Twilight would immediately bolt out the room to check, but with this being Pegasopolis, she could not afford to express empathy.  Chrysalis remained oddly quiet, and Applejack drew forth her Sword of Truth to keep her in line should the Changeling Queen revolt against her captors. 
 
Seconds later, a body pounded against chamber's door.  Twilight peered through the peephole, and where it should be clear as glass, she saw blood.  Against her better judgment, she threw open the door and found Flitter laying on the ground with several wounds on her body. 
 
"You have to help," gasped Flitter.  "Sunny… she's in danger… She stayed behind… as a distraction…"
 
All the rest and calm she built up in the past half-hour had vanished when Twilight heard Flitter utter Sunny's name.  She wanted to be skeptical.  She wanted to be cautious, but when she heard the thunder and explosions far down the hall, the pace of her heart increased.  That could be anypony else, thought Twilight, but then she saw the angelic white blur of a familiar alicorn being chased by several armored pegasi. 
 
Ignoring Applejack's protest, Twilight bolted down the hall as fast as she could.  She did not have the time to go over all possible what if scenarios, and she did not think about verifying Flitter’s veracity.  The words Sunny likes me repeated in her mind, and Chrysalis’s accusation that the unicorn was incapable of love got her more worried than usual.  I do love Sunny, thought Twilight, but not in that way. I think.  Even so, the logical side of Twilight convinced her that whatever the reasoning, Sunny was in danger. 
 
She arrived, and Twilight found a disaster--a disaster for the pegasi guards.  Sunny, with her horn still hidden with her magic, stood on top of a pile of unconscious pegasus bodies surrounded by unconscious pegasus bodies.  The sight of blood on Sunny's body prompted Twilight to clamber up the pile of bodies and hug her alicorn friend. 
 
"Sunny!" cried Twilight.  "You're okay!"
 
"Why wouldn't I be?" Sunny asked. 

"But you're bleeding!"
 
"It's not my blood.  They're from the poor soldiers who suffered from friendly fire due to their misuse of Atmos Arts."
 
“Finally, I reached you two,” huffed Applejack.  “Twi, you shouldn’t have run off like that.”
 
“I’m sorry,” said Twilight.  “Flitter told me that Sunny was in danger.”
 
"Flitter?” asked Sunny.   “She's with you?"
 
Applejack's jaw dropped, and a deep furrow appeared on her face.  She gnashed her teeth angrily, but not towards Sunny.  She slammed her Stetson hat on the floor before slamming it back on the top of her head.  Then she galloped off to head back to the Lord General's quarters. 
 
Twilight did not hesitate to follow after Applejack, knowing full well that Sunny was able to run and keep up with her.  How could she had been so stupid?  She was not sure about Applejack's feelings about the matter, but Twilight felt angry with herself for not realizing the deception.  The signs had been there throughout their mission into Cloud 2.  It was that smell that was in their slaver ship, and it was the same smell in the Lord General's quarters.  Chrysalis's smell was much stronger and it obviously masked the other changeling's odor.  All Twilight could ever hope for that they would made it in time. 
 
But they did not.  She and Sunny arrived back in the Lord General's quarters and found not only Applejack, but also a panic-stricken Rainbow Dash standing over the remains of Applejack's rope. 
 
"Girls," said Dash.  "We have a big problem."