The End of the Eclipse

by Snorlaxkid

You Can Never Go Home Again

There was a search party of course. Chrysalis aided Twilight in forming it, but there were too many places to go, and very little evidence to go off of. Chrysalis couldn't tell Twilight the truth of course. Even if Twilight believed her, there was no question Solar Eclipse would know of the betrayal now. She instead kept to herself and her thoughts once the search party left, keeping herself in her room. She stared at the mural of the throne, trying to hold back the waves of guilt with happier memories. There weren't many to be had. Most were tainted now, wracked with "what if's" and "why didn't I's." Chrysalis looked at the mural. At her old throne, specifically. There was at least one memory that couldn't be tainted.

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"My queen, there was a... discovery while digging out the new chambers you requested."

Chrysalis turned, giving the drone a sideways glance. He was holding a salute, but she could see him shaking every so slightly. He was afraid of how she'd react. So it was bad news then. She didn't like having her planning interrupted. Then again, the new throne's blueprints could wait a few minutes. After all, every design she'd come up with seemed to be lacking something. "Well, out with it, drone. What's the big deal?"

"Y-Yes my queen! It's just... There's a... barrier of some kind. Our magic can't get through."

Chrysalis groaned and rolled her eyes. "There are literally hundreds of you down there! Just break through by brute force if you have to!"

"N-Not to sound insubordinate, my queen, but... I t-think it would be better if you saw this yourself."

Chrysalis rubbed her temples. "You're a messenger, drone. You aren't supposed to 'think' unless you're told to. ...But fine, lead the way."

The drone led her down to the excavation, a small chamber, just having started being carved out. The chamber's base in-progress was rough, but slowly sloped down to the center, like a bowl. At the bottom were a group of changelings, attempting to fire magic at strange black stone that had been revealed, but all their spells fizzled out before they could reach it.

"Are you kidding me? It's just a rock!" Chrysalis shouted at the drones as she entered, her footfalls heavy with rage at this delay. The drones in question flinched at her shout and stepped back as she approached. "Allow me."

She walked up, firing as powerful a blast as she could manage at the time. Just before getting to the stone the blast dissipated, become a magical mist of sparks that seemed to be pulled into the rock. This caused even Chrysalis to pause. "It's... eating it." She muttered under her breath. "Well then, let's see what happens if we make it sick."

Chrysalis knelt down and placed a hand on the abyssal stone, feeding her magic through herself. "Take it all, stone! I can outlast you." She challenged with a snarl, entering an almost trance like state as she continued to push her energy into it.

She wasn't sure how long she stayed like that, her changelings continuing to work around her as she did so. It could have been mere minutes, or hours. But for all she knew she knelt there for days, weeks, even years without movement or rest, doing nothing but feeding the stone every scrap of magical energy she could muster. Over time she could feel the stone's barrier expanding, slowly engulfing more and more of the hive as she became more and more exhausted. But she refused to stop. She was the queen of changelings! She wouldn't lose to a rock, and she certainly wasn't going to give up.

At some point, the trance ended abruptly, a blast of energy from the magic she was pushing out knocking her back. A green pulse seemed to go through the air, passing through Chrysalis into the tunnels of the hive."Haha!" She exclaimed, suddenly feeling rejuvenated in victory. "What did I tell you fools? Just break through!"

She slowly realized she was talking to an empty room. Of course, the barrier had been expanding, all of the changelings likely evacuated. She left chamber, heading up toward the entrance. As she traveled into and through the hive, she felt her steps becoming harder and harder with each passing moment. She was exhausted, there was no question. She just needed to rest a moment.

No sooner than sitting down did she notice a green glow in the distance, and the sounds of many changelings coming toward her. She waited, seeing a small platoon of her drones entering the tunnel with her.

"My queen!" The nearest drone exclaimed, bowing as he arrived. "We saw a bright flash travel across the edge of the barrier and feared the worst! It is a relief to see you are unharmed!"

Chrysalis responded by smacking him. In her exhaustion it was hard to do anything other than catch him off guard with such a blow, but it got the point across. "Idiot, of course I'm unharmed! I told you I could handle it. Your doubt is noted." She paused to catch her breath. "I see your magic works as well now? And you said the barrier is still up?" The changelings looked among each other, seemingly only just now noticing the impossibility of their magic illuminating the tunnel. "Good. Then get digging. I had an idea on what to do with that rock."

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"Chrysalis?"

The changeling queen was roused from her memories as Twilight entered her room. The princess of friendship was disheveled, haven't spent the entire day searching for any trace of her student in friendship.

"Did you find anything?" Chrysalis knew better than to hope for that. If the rune had left any trace of its work, it would be unrecognizable from the fire.

"Nothing at all." Twilight shook her head. "I'm guessing some kind of magic was used, but there's no sign of anyone else coming in, and with the fire..."

"It's impossible to tell if someone grabbed her from somewhere else."

"Exactly..." Twilight sat by Chrysalis, the two sitting there in silence for a few minutes. "Have you had any thoughts?" She eventually asked, glancing at the changeling queen.

Chrysalis paused. She had had many thoughts, but few that she could share without revealing her own involvement. Unless...

"There's one idea I have that might help." She said, a small, confident smile forming on her face. "An abduction without evidence. I can think of only one group that would have any expertise in such a thing. If anyone can find out what happened, I would believe my old hive can. They've no motive for kidnapping her either, so I would guess they'd be innocent."

Twilight's eyes practically lit up at that idea. "Of course! I'll have Spike get in contact with Thorax! We can-" Twilight stopped mid-sentence, noticing that Chrysalis had switched to an uncomfortable expression. "Right, this is probably awkward for you, isn't it?"

"More than you know." Chrysalis replied, starting to get up. "In the meantime, I think I should return to Canterlot sooner than planned. If there's someone magically kidnapping ponies, it might be best to flex our resources."

"What?! But you're supposed to be on vacation!"

Chrysalis shrugged Twilight's insistence off, starting to pack her things as the alicorn began trying to convince her to stay. She already knew she couldn't help further unless she was back in Canterlot, and she definitely wasn't going to relax any more here. Within minutes she was closing her suitcase.

"Thank you for your hospitality Twilight, but if we're going to find Starlight Glimmer, we need to use all of the help we can get." She said, shifting into a disguise and taking her suitcase. "I'm going to catch the next train to Canterlot. Keep me in the loop."

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Upon arriving in Canterlot, Solar Eclipse put Chrysalis back to work in court, giving the changeling queen little chance to send aid to Twilight. On top of that, Chrysalis was almost certain Solar Eclipse had bugged her quarters in the palace. Over time, Twilight started writing her, updating her regularly on the conditions of the search party. Chrysalis didn't bother being hopeful. And Solar Eclipse was more than willing to keep her busy. Once a month, Chrysalis would receive another rune. Sometimes she'd get a specific target, other times she'd be allowed to choose one based on simple requirements. It wasn't until the sixth victim that Chrysalis found a way to resist the process.

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Chrysalis placed the sixth rune in her outfit as she heard the door open. A guard poked his head in. "We're ready to begin sending reinforcements to Ponyville and are beginning additional patrols around Canterlot; as you requested, ma'am." It was a simple report, one Chrysalis had waited some time to hear.

"Thank you, soldier." Chrysalis said, standing up. The guard stayed in the doorway. "Is there something else?"

"You have visitors. Changeling delegates, they said they wished to report to you directly."

Chrysalis was taken off guard. She'd almost forgotten the changelings were helping Twilight investigate the kidnappings, it'd only be natural some wished to speak with her after a string of disappearances in Canterlot. "Very well, tell them I'll meet them in the gardens."

Once the guards left, Chrysalis looked around the room, knowing Solar Eclipse was listening in here. And she'd somehow known what she was up to in Ponyville. Clearly anything she owned was bugged. ...Well at least it gave her an excuse to strip, it's not like her fellow changelings would mind her being nude.

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Chrysalis entered the gardens to find a trio of reformed changelings waiting for her. Two of them, clearly acting like guards to the third, stared at her suspiciously. The third she recognized.

"Thorax. I didn't expect you to want to see me. Or any of the changelings honestly. I thought you'd go to Solar Eclipse for help before you'd speak with me." She wasn't exactly happy about the reunion, but she could possibly make use of it.

Thorax himself smiled as Chrysalis approached. It was a polite smile, not the kind that meant he was actually at all happy to see her either. "I guess we've both surprised each other then. I wasn't expecting to hear that not only had you returned but that you were working for the Equestrian court now." He frowned and shook his head. "Though, I expected you to have changed physically too, like us. Given the circumstances, I suppose that I shouldn't have. Times must be hard on you."

He motioned to the other two changelings, who left without a word, leaving Chrysalis feeling uncomfortable. She wasn't used to being trusted still. Especially not by someone she'd personally mistreated. Thorax seemed to be willing to just let the past go in an instant, something she'd tried months to do, but couldn't. Perhaps though, there was value to trusting one another...

"Thorax, there's something I must tell you about." Chrysalis said, the spark of determination flashing in her eyes.

Author's Note:

Has anyone else ever noticed that important discoveries are always unearthed in the center of a dig site? I mean, I understand that it's simpler to have it be dead center, and it feels right, but it doesn't make sense unless the center by default was going to be deeper than the rest and thus had more time to reach something important.

Just a thought.