• Published 19th May 2012
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The Rule of King Cocoon of the Changelings - Hooves Like Jagger



A human finds himself in Equestria as the monarch of a changeling swarm.

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23rd: Slow Show

The Rule of King Cocoon of the Changelings

One might think falling from an impossible height would be the greatest among my worries when I suddenly come back around to reality; however, this isn’t the case. I have a brief moment to feel like I’ve been gone for a while, a second to notice my current downward velocity, and then I got to notice the incredible, crushing pressure in body. I’m running out of food at an alarming rate, and I know why: Wearing this armor is killing me quickly.

“What’s the point of remembering if I die here?” Here is our hero (even if there are those who would disagree), plummeting to the ground in a sure-death fall as his life force is sucked from him by his own armor. How will he escape this one?

Dear readers, a little help would be rather gracious of you every once and a while.

While I’m busy calculating whether I’ll be a pancake before a prune or the other way around, I notice that there is a green streak flying right towards me. Remembering what I just remembered, I reach out for it. It’s my only salvation right now.

“C’mere, Draco!”

The star hits me with the restorative power of a thousand meatball sandwiches. It may sound ridiculous, but all at once I feel alive and charged again. My armor stops draining my life and we enter into a symbiotic relationship. As energy courses through my veins at an accelerated rate, I feel like I could forge another star in seconds. I feel as if I could fire a thousand lightning bolts. I feel like I could go toe to scaly toe with Dnaglefreed again. I feel like I’m flying!

Upon looking again, I find I am flying.

“What? How long has this been a thing?” I ask only myself. Whether or not I know how, I am now suspended in mid-air by nothing more than what seems to be the power of pure coincidence. It probably has something to do with the star inside my armor, but I’m a little too excited to think straight.

“Alright, enough fooling around. I have to find Chrysalis and the Forbidden Aracacaol… call… uh, the book!” At the risk of further embarrassing myself, I start my ascent back to the castle. I keep my eyes peeled for the Princesses along with Lou and Summitplunge, but they are either too high up to see or they have assumed I fell to my death. I would love to assume the latter, but I doubt they missed the star whizzing past them to save me.

Whatever they’re up to, the top floor isn’t my target. I head towards a window on a lower level so I can get back to the sealed off room. I fly right into the crash, not needing to care about broken glass because I’m covered in armor. I touch down on the marble floor and look around. The coast is clear.

Unfortunately, I just realized I don’t know how to get to the sealed off room. I know it’s probably down, but I don’t know which way to go if I wanna go down. Having a lot of my memories back is nice, but a map would be cool too. I decide just to go left and take off running.

Despite my map woes, I am glad to remember. I can’t believe I forgot all about Olivia and Roger. I can’t believe I forgot I was Starswirl the Bearded. I’m not surprised I forgot this Reverse Memory Wipe spell because it is complicated. While a lot of details surrounding my past as a human still feel fuzzy and I can’t remember any specifics of being Starswirl, just knowing what I know has brought me great peace. Once I get to Chrysalis, I hope I’ll be able to unearth some more memories.

“Halt!” There are guards here, go figure. I suppose I couldn’t go too long without seeing them. Well, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t eager to flex my new guns. On top of that, I think I left myself a present before I forgot everything. “King Cocoon, we have orders to capture you. If you resist, we will be forced to terminate you.”

“Aww, c’mon you guys. Why don’t you just… chill out?” I point my finger and say the magic words. “Arcane Freezing!” A beam of searing cold jumps off my fingertip, striking one of the guards directly in the torso. Ice begins to incase him, wrapping around his torso and down his front legs. It isn’t much, but it’s effective enough to immobilize the pegasus.

“We warned you!” the other guard yells, charging at me.

“I think somepony needs to… chill out!” I set another pun and another beam of ice free, incasing the second guard’s entire right side in ice. He topples over, unable to move. “I don’t mean to be cold, but I’ve gotta run. Stay frosty!” Humor makes everything better.

“Cocoon, stop right there!”

Before I can make another ice based pun, there are more guards running down the hallway towards me. I fire a sustained blast of cold at the floor, turning into a slick layer of ice. Although I’m skeptical about it working, I forgot that fast horses don’t mix. The layer of ice causes several guards to pile up, biding me enough time to take off in the opposite direction.

“Agh, why couldn’t I remember a spell that makes me invisible or a spell that temporarily turns ponies into fish? Those would have been a bit more useful.” It figures that as soon as I’m starting to remember, I’m already complaining about it. This is a classic example of beggars can’t be choosers, so I shut my mouth and keep running.

I pass by the window I entered in rather quickly, but after passing it I’m in unknown territory. At the end of this hallways is a set of doors. It’s my only option, so I blast them with lightning and run out into the night.

“Give it up. We have you surrounded!” I’m in a statue garden, but there are more guards here than statues. They’ve been waiting for me, that much is clear.

“Man, how are you all finding me so fast?”

*jingle*

Why am I covered in bells? This is the least stealthy outfit that was ever created. In a fit of frustration, I cast off my mantle and take off my helmet. I don’t feel any effects on my magic flow as a result, so I throw the helmet to the wayside. I wouldn’t have to worry about head injuries if I didn’t sound like Santa’s freaking sleigh while running down the hallway.

“This is your last chance to submit peacefully,” one of the guards shouts at me. “We will attack at the first sign of resistance.”

I make sure my first sign of resistance is a good one. I teleport to the guard who called me out and slug him right across the face. My armored fist lights up like a sickly fireball, sending the poor stallion rocketing across the courtyard. Now this is power.

“Get him!”

With plenty of energy at my disposal, I teleport without care several times in a row until I’m floating above the fray upside down. I hold up my hands to the ground and send out several bolts of lightning in rapid succession. I touch down lightly on the ground, where there isn’t a conscious threat left to be found.

“Dang, this new armor is way too awesome,” I say, looking myself over. “How did I even do this?”

“A fair question, King Cocoon.”

I know that voice. I turn back to the entrance to the garden and see him standing there in full regalia. It’s Shining Armor, the Captain of the Guard. It seems fate has seen fit to bring us together for another round. It didn’t go so well last time, but I’m feeling pretty good today.

“Hey there, Shining Armor. How’s the wife?”

“I never thought I’d see the day,” he says, totally ignoring my question. “Will my troubles with changelings never end?”

“You could walk away,” I tell him. “Even though my word seems to be no good around here, I promise that I wouldn’t attack a retreating foe.”

“What is it with you and asking for ponies to simply forfeit?” Shining Armor asks, stepping into the courtyard with me. “It’s insulting to be asked something like that when the battle has already reached its boiling point. If you’re so keen on avoiding a fight, why not retreat yourself?”

“I have things I gotta do here.”

“Like what?”

“Gotta pick up my Princess, go to the library.”

“The library.”

“I gotta get a book,” I tell him. “The Forbidden Arcacol. I hear it’s a real page turner.”

“Why would something like you want a thing like that?” he asks, which is a fair question. “Does this have anything to do with the Starswirl nonsense you were spouting earlier? Stealing his books won’t convince anypony that you’re him.”

“Nah, I’ve moved beyond that.” I’ll never convince anypony in a thousand years anyway. “I was just thinking of trying to hook up with your sister. I hear she hangs out with changelings now, so I figure as long as I pretend to be bookish and interested in friendship I’ll be golden.”

“Let’s leave wives and sisters out of this, Cocoon,” he says. “It won’t kill you to stop trying to be witty and charming.”

“Oh, have I struck a sensitive chord?” I ask, just stringing him along at this point. “But of course, you turned an entire army around when I threatened your sister. I wonder how far you’d go for your precious bride, hmm?”

“You’re really going to stand there and make me angry, aren’t you?”

“That’s what we antagonists do, Shining Armor. We make you hate us so you can feel justified in attacking us. Besides, I’m just trying to lighten the mood. You’re always so grumpy when you’re working.” I take a few steps back, preparing for the detonation for the bomb I’m about to light. “And if anybody here should be offended, it really should be me. I mean, you slept with our Queen!”

Shining Armor is just as quick as ever, firing off a shot faster than any unicorn I’ve encountered thus far. The magical bullets he fires from his horn just barely miss me as I teleport as far out of the way as seems practical. This doesn’t stop his barrage, however, and I have to keep up my teleportation stream to stay out of the way. Little by little, I weave my way towards him. I make the jump into striking range from farther away than he anticipates, opening up for a straight punch to his chest.

My fist impacts magic, shattering the small and sturdy barrier Shining Armor managed to throw out to cushion the blow. I still hit him, but the effect is drastically minimized. It was a nice attempt on his part, but it’s my turn to attack now. I follow up with two more straight punches, snapping back quickly when he manages to weave out of the way. I raise my right foot and kick up into his jaw, knocking him back again. He stumbles dazed, staying open as I bring down my heel like a streak of fire.

My foot shatters the ground beneath it, but Shining Armor is gone out of my sight. I look around, but he isn’t anywhere I can see him. It then occurs to me he could have gone the one place unicorns don’t usually go. I don’t take any risks when it hits me that I’m standing in a shadow.

I jump back out of the way as Shining Armor and his shield smash the ground where I was just standing. Shining Armor dashes at me with his barrier up, so I charge him with every intention of crushing it. I pull a fist back before I’m within striking distance, but I’m hit right in that instant.

I tumble backwards, rolling back onto my feet. I don’t know what just hit me, but Shining Armor is still charging. I get up and put up a defense, but before he even reaches me his shield suddenly expands. I can only watch as my barrier is crushed and I’m left with little more to defend myself than my own arms. The impact hits me like a bus, sending my off my feet and into the wall behind me with enough force that I break through. Despite not wearing a helmet, my head is somehow still in one piece.

I get up and knock the rubble off of myself, but then I notice what this rubble is: books. I’m in a library. I take a look behind me and notice the giant hourglass statue, indicating that I’m in the Starswirl the Bearded Wing. That book I’m looking for is somewhere in here.

Looking for it at my leisure isn’t in the cards, however, as Shining Armor climbs in through the hole we made in the library together. Without missing a beat, he starts firing at me. His aim is really low, probably because he’s trying to reduce collateral damage to the books and scrolls here. This is the break I need to get away on foot. I duck behind a shelf, and as I predicted he doesn’t try and shoot me through it. He’s hot on my tail, however, so I make haste.

It would really help if I remembered how to read, but it seems that wasn’t in the cards. It isn’t easy running for your life and looking for a book when you can’t read. Even if I could, I’m not sure if it would be under “A” for Arcacol or “F” for Forbidden.

I round the corner around the bookshelf, narrowly avoiding a few shots from Shining Armor. I grab the shelf on my way out and give it a good pull. It topples over, closing the passageway through which Shining Armor was chasing me. I know I’ve bought myself a little time, but if he’s anything like his sister he’ll get through those books in no time.

I begin my search in earnest, considering that something labeled “Forbidden” wouldn’t be shelved with everything else. There really isn’t anything out by itself in this library, but the walls of shelves do lead into a sort of foreboding darkness in the way back. I know if I was going to put a forbidden spell tome somewhere, it would be there. I can already hear Shining Armor digging himself out, so I really don’t have much of a choice.

As there begins to get darker and darker along my path, I hold up a hand to light the way. In the green glow, I can see a book on a pedestal at the end of the hallway. Seeing as it’s my only prospect, I pick it up once I reach it. From behind me, Shining Armor starts firing shots into the dark of the hallway. Instead of dodging, I vote to teleport out of the library and back into the courtyard. I’m putting all my money on this book being the right one.

Looking down at the cover, I can’t tell what it’s supposed to be. It’s just a brown, bound book with a picture of a golden flame on the front. For all I know, this is the manual on fire safety in Equestria, but I doubt it would be so thick if that were the case. I don’t have time to worry too long, so I take a deep breath and open up to a random page.

“… No way…”

The Forbidden Arcacol… The Forbidden Arcane Collection… the heavily encrypted book of dangerous and powerful spells… is written in plain English.

“Cocoon!”

It works for me. Already, I can feel my knowledge return to me. I did tell myself I should remember it, so it’s time to put theory into practice. I extend my hand and focus the spell on the page.

“Arcane Monument!”

Shining Armor fires a bolt of magic from his horn as the earth shakes violently. Out from the ground sprouts an enormous, towering slab of stone. Shining Armor’s spell glances off the smooth stone without so much as exploding. He fires again and again, but the solid barrier between the two of us holds.

“Now that’s cool.” I waste no time in flipping through the pages of the Arcacol. I remember these spells, or at least I remember how to do them. I have no idea how I came up with them or how one even goes about constructing a spell, but like muscle memory the way to perform them is not lost in my mind. I only need to glance across the text to recall them. I search for a spell to finish things up here. I’d like to keep Shining Armor from chasing me without killing him or hurting him too much. You might that would be a simple task for somebody holding the very secrets of the arcane in his hands, but there are a ton of nasty spells in here.

There is, however, one I find that seems feasible.

“Come out and face me, Cocoon!” Shining Armor shouts at me. “Don’t be such a coward, hiding behind your wall!”

“Well, you were the one who started with the barriers,” I call back at him, closing the Arcacol and tucking it beneath my arm. “I bet you wish you could conjure such a sturdy defense, don’t you?” There is a brief pause.

“… I’ve never seen something like this before. You took something from the library, didn’t you?” he asks, just as astute as I give him credit for. “What did you take?”

“Would you like to see?” I step out from behind my shelter and face him. I can see his eyes flick to the Arcacol under my arm. “This is The Forbidden Arcane Collection, my dear boy. Would you test its might?”

“Your tales just keep getting more colorful and colorful,” he says, skeptical for reasons I can understand. “I’m supposed to believe that not only can you read and understand the book, but within seconds of acquiring it you’ve already mastered its contents? That seems unlikely.”

“So you admit it’s possible?”

“Many things are possible, but I wouldn’t count on them all happening.”

“Well put, Shining Armor. I’m glad I could mine you for that nugget of wisdom before putting an end to our fight. Get ready to believe the unlikely,” I tell him. I extend my hand towards him, gathering magic in it. He braces himself, putting up a shield before I can act; however, I had anticipated this. This battle will end a little too appropriately. “Arcane Fortification.”

My spell jumps out and wraps itself around Shining Armor’s shield, turning it from violet to green. Shining Armor is shocked by this, quickly retaliating by firing a shot at his own barrier. Much to his surprise, his blast ricochets off and begins bouncing around his bubble. It strikes the ground harmlessly, but I can tell he learned his lesson. He reaches out a hoof and taps the side of the barrier, finding it is completely solid.

“… Well played Cocoon… well played.” Even if he says this, he doesn’t look pleased by the outcome. “But you’re no more able to get in than I am to get out, or perhaps you already knew this.”

“It’s been a real blast, Shining Armor,” I say to him with an exaggerated bow. “But I’ve got places to be and things to do. I’ve defeated you once and you defeated me once. We’ll call it a tie and leave it at that.”

“When this wears off, I’m coming after you again.”

“When that wears off, I hope to be far, far away from here,” I tell him, turning and leaving the way I came. “But it is a rare day indeed when I get what I want.”


“Arcane Cloak.”

I am nothing but a shadow passing through these hallways. Canterlot Castle is still very much in a panic, so avoiding detection is very important right now. I’m better equipped to fight an army right now, but I can’t take any chances right now. No, now is not the time to risk everything. I’ve finally made some real, measurable progress. I need to collect Chrysalis and get out of here.

Navigating the castle is proving hard, but I’ve finally found what looks like the door leading to the basement. I slip through unseen, retreating into the safety of a mostly untouched section of the castle. I take to my heels and dash down the stairs, making more noise than a shadow should. If I can find Chrysalis, it won’t matter. I’ll just bust out and fly on to the hive. After that, I can plan my next move.

I slow my run to a jog. I maintain it briefly, but I slow to a walk. I hear something faint… a voice. Somepony is talking down here, very clearly now. I can see the busted door to the sealed room, but there is a voice I don’t recognize coming from the darkness inside. Cautiously, I move in to investigate.

“He’s here… I know it.”

A unicorn lights his horn, and the room lights up a sickly green I know all too well. It’s that unicorn, or rather changeling, I’ve heard so much about recently. Even if he can’t see me, he looks straight at me.

“I’ll show myself if you show yourself,” I say, becoming a speaking shadow. He hears my order, but he hesitates. He pauses, but then reverts to changeling form. Aside from being a smidge bigger than the average changeling, he looks as ordinary as any drone. True to my word, I snap my fingers and make myself visible in the light. His eyes get wide at my approach. He is afraid of me, this much I can tell.

“So… it’s really you,” he says, as if he has been waiting for this moment. I certainly don’t view him in the same light. If he wants to delay me or stop me, I’m going to push him aside.

“Seen a little changeling around here?” I ask him, focusing on the task at hand. A horn lights up behind the changeling, revealing Chrysalis’s location on the floor in front of the mirror. In the dim light, I can see she’s been tied up. The situation is a bit more complicated than before. “Alright, you’ve got my attention. What can I do for you… mister…”

“Havoc.”

“… Mr. Havoc. Perhaps you’d better start from the beginning then. Why free Sweet Tea and betray your entire race?” I ask him, getting right at the heart of the matter. I can’t figure out his motive, not matter how hard I try. If he is a fresh drone, he shouldn’t have the mental capacity for mutiny. If he is not, he must be very old to be so fed up with the way things are. I’m ready for an answer, no matter how shocking.

“Sweet Tea told me what you are,” he says. “And what you have in common with her, we also have in common.”

“… Ah, that explains everything.” Of course it’s another human who has come to throw a wrench in my plans. It’s pretty clear where he stands on the going home issue from current and past actions; however, that’s no longer a problem. “So, Havoc is an agent of Discord sent to screw with me, am I right?”

“I’m here to stop you.”

“Then you haven’t got the memo, have you?” It seems Discord was quick to abandon his disciples. He doesn’t seem much for becoming attached to somepony or someone. “Discord’s ultimate plan was a flop. I’m afraid this is the end of the line for you.”

“What are you going to do, kill me?” he says, laughing without knowing the irony. “If your goal is to send us all home, you can’t do much more than put me in a cage like you did with Sweet Tea. You might wander the world and expand your collection, but all you’ll be doing is gathering the army of your own demise.”

“And what if I told you I know to send you home? What if I could send you home right now?”

“Saying ‘what if’ doesn’t mean anything.”

“Alright, if you want to play that way.” I point a finger at him. “I know how to send you home. I’m going to send you home right now.”

“… Just becau-”

“I’m serious.”

There is a long pause before Havoc speaks up again. I’m sure he’s somewhere between not believing me and not wanting to believe me. Either way, he’s bound to be skeptical.

“And, if I might ask, how do you intend to do it?”

“By killing you.”

My own words echo off the walls, as if I’m supposed to realize how nuts what I’ve just said is; however, the proof is clear in my head again. Olivia never wanted to come back, but she came back anyway. She lived a full life in Equestria, died, returned to Earth, and her despair ended her life on Earth. Olivia had to die twice, once with in the warmth of a life well lived and once in the chill of a life long forgotten. I swore that would never happen again, and this is me keeping my promise.

“You’re completely crazy.”

I could argue against him, but I suddenly don’t see the point. His living represents an obstacle from getting home and his death represents honoring my grieving promise. If there was ever a time for me to kill, it’s now.

“Then say goodnight to the crazy man!”

I can see green. It is green, green, green as far as the eye can see. I can’t see all that far or concentrate through all the pain. I’m on my back now and I can’t remember how. All I know is that I am panicking and getting back to my feet to throw up my defense, but a beam of searing heat breaks through my flimsy shield and throws me aside. The Arcacol flies out of my hands.

This time I lay on the floor belly down and I take the opportunity to think. A changeling’s food is love. A changeling who has consumed lots of love is on par with Equestria’s strongest. I have firsthand knowledge of these facts. Havoc has been living among the ponies, gathering their love. When I get back up, I’ll have to keep that in mind.

Before he can nail me with another freight train of an attack, I put up a monument between us. Even under the incredible force of his attack it holds strong. I put some light in my hand and look around for the Arcacol. Unfortunately, I can’t see where it went. I’ll be restricted to the spells I’ve already learned. I run down the frighteningly short list of very passive spells I took the time to remember while Havoc keeps wailing on my shield. Becoming invisible or teleporting won’t too much good, seeing as he knows intuitively where I am.

“I guess we’re doing this the old fashioned way,” I say to myself before bolting out of cover. A beam of energy trails after me, flying past me as I sprint on by to the next piece of cover in the room. The stack of boxes doesn’t hold up very well against Havoc’s attacks, but it’s enough to protect me while I look around for my tome. I dart out of cover once again empty handed and once again having a close shave with the wrong end of a magic attack. I seem to have on obvious advantage in this battle: this isn’t my first one. Havoc’s sloppy firing, while explosive and painful, is a blessing for me.

I scrounge around for the Arcacol while dancing around attacks, but my search is getting me nowhere. As much as I’d like to march up to Havoc and sock him one in the face, getting that close wouldn’t be smart. My search comes full circle, bringing me back to where I set my monument. I crouch behind it, taking refuge in its safety.

“I thought you were going to kill me,” Havoc shouts at me, ceasing his firing for the time being. “You can run around all day, but I’ve got love to spare. What do you have? Who would feel concern for you?”

“Who indeed,” I say, playing along with this intermission’s conversation. “Even if she sees me as a tool of sorts, Chrysalis cares.”

Yeah… I suppose she does.

“She complains and bellyaches about everything I do, but she’s stuck to my side like glue ever since we crossed paths. Like I said, I’m a tool to her, but I’m her favorite tool. That counts for something, doesn’t it? We’re not so different, her and I. Maybe we hate each other, but we needed one another. There is no one quite so important as the one you need.”

“… Chrysalis, huh?” Havoc sounds confused. “So she is still alive. The girls told me she caused a lot of trouble too. Is she the one pulling your strings? If that’s so, where is she and why can’t I sense her?”

“Ah, I guess we didn’t exactly advertise it to the world.” Thinking back, Chrysalis being a kid again was a shock for me too. I knew her before I woke as Cocoon. There’s an enigma I’ve still yet to solve. “Chrysalis is your captive behind you.”

“But she’s too young,” Havoc shouts back at me. “If that’s her, what happened?”

“I’d like to find out too,” I tell him. “But she taught me what I needed to know about being a Changeling ruler. For all her help, I think I owe her an explanation at least.”

“… You’re telling the truth, aren’t you? This changeling is Chrysalis,” he says, getting much quieter all of a sudden. “No… whether or not she is Chrysalis, she is royalty too. One day, she’ll grow into a ruler like you…”

I don’t like where this is going. I come out from behind the monument. Havoc has Chrysalis levitate before himself. I sprint towards him, my foot kicking something on the way, but I ignore it. Like a nightmare, I can’t move fast enough. Time passes in snapshots as Havoc lets a bolt fly from his horn. It hits Chrysalis so hard her bindings come off and she pirouettes out of his grasp in slow motion.

I’m frozen where I stand for a moment that lasts for a sickening long while. My eyes glance at the floor where the Arcacol is sitting at my feet. I bend down and pick it up. I remember putting a particularly nasty spell here on page… ah, there it is. It’s right where I left it. I start walking towards Havoc, who is taking more shots at me now. Somehow I am not being hit, but I can’t say how. I’m walking through a fog while the same image keeps getting played over and over in my brain.

What I am about to do, I’m not doing because it’s justified. My end is death and my means are murder and violence. There is no justification here or even a sense of security in what will follow Havoc’s death. No, what I do is fueled by something far more primal now: revenge.

“Arcane Well.”

The ground around Havoc’s feet fractures as he crumples down into his belly. He groans and grunts in an attempt to lift himself, but he is pinned to the ground by a force he cannot see. Above him, the ceiling begins to crack.

“Why would you do such a thing?” I can’t hear any anger or sadness in my voice. That would require too much effort.

“Now you know… how it feels,” Havoc strains to say. “Now you know pain.” He’s being petty. Where did this eye for an eye attitude come from? Is Havoc that kind of person who would throw away one life just to hurt someone? Is this unhealthy attitude a result of being in Equestria? Is this my fault, again? Is this the Equestria I have formed?

Of course… the worst pain is the one you’ve given to yourself.

“… Man… and I can’t even hurt you back.”

The ceiling caves in, sending a solid chunk of rubble crashing down into Havoc. The dust can’t even rise up under the intense gravity, but as the influence of my magic starts to fade it does rise. Havoc has left for where I cannot follow; he left me to wonder if anyone really won this fight.

“… Co… Cocoon!” Her voice is quiet, but I can hear it in the silence.

I rush over to her, dropping the Arcacol to the wayside. Even before I see her shattered body, I know there is nothing in there that will help me. Her frame is warped and frayed on the edges like a sheet of paper torn too slowly on the perforations. Her holes have developed cracks, bright green and oozing. I scoop her up gently, unsure if touching her will hurt or help her. Looking closely at her wounds, she should be in pieces right now. She’s keeping herself together somehow.

“Don’t worry, I can fix this…”

“You ca… can’t… not this time, Cocoon,” she says managing to speak despite the state she’s in. Her eyes don’t focus up at me, but stare blankly at the ceiling. Despite what she says, I try and channel my energy into her; however, the wounds refuse to close. The best I can do is hold her together, but I can feel her slipping slowly. Nevertheless, I keep it up. If I can stave it off just a while longer, maybe I can figure something out. “This is your fault, you know? You kept me in your stupid head for too long and I got jumped. What were you thinking, running off on your own without me? Going crazy? You’d better be ready to accept the consequences.”

“Yeah, anytime PC.”

“Good, good,” she says, smiling. “Tell me this wasn’t for nothing. Did you remember anything important?”

“… I’m suppose to use this Reverse Memory Wipe spell on you,” I tell her with a bit of hesitation. Even at the end, I’m asking for her help. I swallow my pride and put my finger to Chrysalis’s horn. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah, do it. There are a few things I’d like to remember.”

I put my finger to her horn and begin the spell. Even if I know it, many of its facets and inner machinations are a mystery to me. I fall through the performance, tracing the footsteps of a pattern a left in the snow. At the end of the line, I can feel something tugging. As I tug back, its strength multiplies. I coax and I coerce with magic and might, but what I’m removing from Chrysalis has unprecedented magnitude.

This is not a stone or a stain, but these are shackles that spread across days, months, and years. I draw my hand back and the restraints fall slack. Our bond breaks. Through the haze in her eyes, a spark of clarity can be seen. Now she is smiling earnestly, and I could have never imagined why until she spoke.

“Oh, my dearest… it seems your ambition exceeds mine,” she says, her tone of voice making a jarring change. She’s speaking to me like a mother comforting their child, with tenderness and care. “It seems my selfish dream has come to a close, so I won’t bar you from your final goal, my love.”

I’m speechless. Chrysalis is fading in my hands while laughing to herself. I can’t wrap my brain around all of this. What have I done? What did she remember?

“Those eyes… it seems you didn’t remember who I am,” she says, her smile becoming more strained. “But that is my own doing. I will die while my love looks on with the eyes of a stranger nearby. Our time is short, but our task is great.”

“No, no we’ve got time! Just keep calm and say what you need to!” I am pouring energy into her, but all I’m doing is pouring into a fractured cup. I cannot fill it faster than it empties without causing into to explode along the fault lines.

“Mmm, perhaps it’s good you don’t remember me. If you did, you’d surely hate me for what I’ve done to you. You said you wouldn’t be angry, but I know you. You’re too set in your ways to accept what I tried to do,” Chrysalis says, but she still isn’t making any sense. “Listen to me rambling on. I may as well come out and say it now. I am Queen Mantis of the Changelings, and I am the one who shrouded your memories.”

It appears I now know why I had myself do this.

“You see, I knew Starswirl the Bearded very well. We traveled Equestria together and had many adventures. I guess we came together because we were both fish out of water, but I know I stuck to you because nopony in Equestria was quite like you. History agrees with me nowadays. I grew fond of you, accustomed to you even; however, I grew too attached. I’d never felt such love from another before, but I mistook your friendship for romantic feelings. I was alarmed at first because I knew I could never love that way, especially somepony in your situation.

“But, I kept entertaining the idea. I could avoid it because you were there everyday, and then I wondered about a life without you. Suddenly, I needed to do everything I couldn’t do. In order to keep you around, I needed to return your feelings before you grew tired of waiting. I realized that was very much love, but I was stubborn about my own feelings right until the very end. I’ve never felt such bliss as the moment I revealed it all to you… and I never felt a colder sting then when you turned me down.

“And so we parted ways with you on your own and me on my own. I’ve been told absence makes the heart grows fonder, and sure enough my love turned into obsession. There was only one thing standing between us coming together: your desire to return home. If you accepted Equestria as your home, I thought that perhaps you would give up and stay with me in peace. You’re so hard-headed and obstinate when it comes to your home, so I knew you’d have to forget about it entirely before you would give up on it. I devised a plan, one only I could carry out. I knew I could use memory altering magic, but there was no way a unicorn as powerful as you were could be bent under a mere changeling. I waited patiently until you were an old pony at death’s door.

“You were expecting me, oddly enough. You knew I would come and devour you, turning you into a changeling heir. That’s what I did, and from that point on I spent all my time and energy ensuring that I too could be reborn alongside you one day. While you were dormant, I began altering your memories. It was no small task and I turned the changelings into a fearsome empire just to gather the love needed to carry the task out.

“I made you forget about your life as a human; however, I could not stop there. What I took away was too big and my magic was too unstable. I began removing pieces of your life as Starswirl away as well. At first it was just a few things here and there, then entire months and years, and then your memory of being Starswirl was no more either. I turned you into a blank slate. I had myself sealed away just like you by my heir, and we slept for many, many years.

“I awoke as Chrysalis, the reborn and knowledgeable Mother Mantis. When I became Queen Chrysalis, I made sure you woke next. When you came to, you were Prince Mangle. I looked for a spark of your old self inside him, but I saw only the dull eyes of an angry and confused changeling. Prince Mangle was not Starswirl the Bearded. Like any changeling princeling, you set off on your own, but I kept an eye on you. Even when you couldn’t remember anything at all, you had a fascination with the Elements of Harmony. You seemed to know they were coming even before they did, and you watched them for a long time.

“But I wanted Starswirl back. I wanted my love back, but I couldn’t do it without power. I stepped up and challenged Canterlot itself, and this was a fatal mistake. The attack that expelled us from Canterlot tampered with your memories. You recalled everything and began to fight against the restraints I placed on you. You were too weak to repair yourself in the short time you had, so you did something I didn’t even know was possible: you permanently altered your physical form. When I tried to stop you, you turned me into a child and locked my memories as Mantis away. You forged a body that was unmistakably human, causing your brain to begin breaking down the barriers I set up.”

That’s… a lot to take in. It does explain a lot. I mean, it puts me unconscious in the forest without my memories intact. The whole story is lined up before me: Cooper departs from Earth with Roger, he explores the world as Starswirl the Bearded, Mantis turns him into Prince Mangle, and he regains his memories long enough to become King Cocoon. The story of King Cocoon is one I’m very familiar with. Even if I can’t fully recall it all, I remember now. There is just one thing I need to know.

“How was I able to transform myself like that?”

“Mmm, I knew you would ask that. Yes, you’re almost the pony I loved. I’ll tell you what you want to know, but you need to promise you’ll repay me afterwards.”

“Anything you want, I’ll do it.” I owe her that much. Perhaps she’s right that I’m angry with her for putting me through all of this. If I wasn’t angry, I probably wouldn’t have gone so far as to turn her into a child and wipe her memories. Holding on to a grudge won’t do either of us any good at this point. We don’t have much time left, and it’s only proper to make that time pleasant for her.

“Then I’ll hold you to it,” she says, still smiling a gentle smile I never saw on Chrysalis. Even when she didn’t remember her love, she stuck by my side. She protected me and told me which way was up more than once. I am in this mess because of her, but I’ve made it through this mess because of her. I’m going to count on her for one last time. “You were waiting for me when I came for you. Starswirl the Bearded had turned into an old, spiteful stallion in his elder years. They say he wrote in a language he made up on his own and prattled on about monsters and star energy like the senile grump he was. He ate enough salt to strike a whole regiment of guards dead. He was a geezer who never got to go home.

“However, he had found the way home.”

“There’s a way home?” I ask, unable to keep myself from asking. “How? How!?”

“You told me you could return the same way you came if you could restore your original body. You knew that the Elements of Harmony would restore it if you could somehow occupy the body of a true monster. A changeling’s body is malleable enough to external change that you found it would be possible if you could acquire enough astral energy. When you told me this, I thought you’d simply gone off your rocker. You’d tried endlessly to harness the rawest form of energy stars give off in the past, but all those experiments were flukes. The best you could do was feed on the residual magical energies they give off.

“There is a way to harness it, and you had been doing it your whole life. The essence of stars is in all living things and trapped inside crystals. Simply by living and eating you gathered this energy. You said many other crazy things about the nature of souls and their link to stars and a corporeal form’s dependency on their soul, but it all boiled down to one thing: gather enough of the stars’ essence and a changeling could warp its body into something else entirely.

“Crystals and gems captured particularly large amounts of this energy, which you theorized made dragons change so rapidly and drastically under the right conditions. Being incapable of eating and digesting a dragon’s diet, you needed to find a sort of crystal that you could eat. If you hadn’t already guessed it, that crystal was salt. It wasn’t near as high as in gems, but it was the best you could do. You began storing up for a whole year, and the result got you as far as you are now.

“That’s the way home, my love. Gather energy until you can undergo an intense and dramatic change. If you can do that, the Elements of Harmony will separate your soul from its vastly alien body and give it a new, proper one. After that, you need only ask properly to be sent home.”

The last pieces of the puzzle have fallen into place. Not only is the past back in one piece, but the future is coming into view now. I know what I have to do. The time has come to return home. It’s time to pay for the ticket back.

“Now, I believe you owe me a request,” Mantis says. She’s very weak now, from talking and losing energy. There isn’t much left of her. “I’ve got a question I want you to answer. This isn’t a question for Starswirl or Cocoon or Mangle, but for Cooper. As Cooper, I’d like you to answer… a question for me.”

“Whatever you want to know.”

“Thank you.” She closes her eyes, her chest moving slower and slower as she takes soft breathes. “If you had to, what kind of life would you make for yourself here in Equestria? If you couldn’t return home, what would you do?”

“…”

“Now, don’t… tell me you never considered it,” she says. “Paint me a picture.”

“… If I had to make a life here, it wouldn’t be as King of the Changelings.”

“Hehe… I see.”

“I’d probably do something laid back, like be a musician or something. When I was a kid, sometimes I thought it would be cool to be a rockstar. I didn’t have all that much talent or that much drive, so I never really pursued that dream. It could be fun, though, here in Equestria. I could live the simple life of a bard, traveling from town to town playing my songs.”

“Mmhm… that sounds… just like you.”

“Does it? It sounds lazy to me. I mean, as Starswirl and Cocoon I really stirred things up. If there was something wrong going on, I wouldn’t be able to keep my head out of it no matter what. I would tell myself just to live carefree and ignore it, but somehow I keep ending up in trouble. No doubt this traveling muse would get himself caught in some kind of turmoil.”

“Yes… your nose for trouble got us… into a lot…”

“Yeah, but even if I do get in trouble I get out okay. It would just be another story to tell when I get old, and I expect to be just as lazy in my old age as my youth. I’d just sit back and make passes at all the pretty girls… except they would be ponies… sheesh, you’re all just kinda adorable to me.”

“Ha… some things never… change…”

“Really, I just want to live a life free of regrets. I don’t want to leave any bad blood when I go or have there be anything I regret not doing. That would be a nice life.”

“Ah… it does… sound nice…”

“Do you have any regrets?”

“… I shouldn’t… have erased… them…”

“Hey, I’m not all that upset, really. It must have been tough for you. If I had to live a peaceful life here in Equestria, I’d gladly keep you around.”

“Haa… that’s… what I… to hear…”

“I’m not just saying it. If I cared for you like you said I did, it would have been romance in any other situation; however, I have to go home. You’ve been a better companion than I could ask for. I’m sorry my thoughts and feelings caused you pain.”

“I won’t… apologize…”

“…”

“For… loving you…”

“… Thank you.”

“…”

I wrap her in a sheet and set her at the foot of the monument with the Arcacol. When I leave the room, I leave it like I found it: sealed. Pointed in the right direction, I set foot on the path that leads home; however, I can no longer ignore all this blood strewn alongside it.