Things Change

by Equimorto

Hello me

"So, what did you want to tell me?" Chrysalis asked Celestia.

The two of them were inside the hall where Celestia had first found Chrysalis. After she'd woken up Celestia had told her she intended to have a conversation with her, and now was finally time.

Celestia sighed as she looked at the changeling-shaped hole in the window, giving her back to the one who'd left it. Luna and Twilight were in the room too, the first one visibly tired while the second was reading a book.

"Chrysalis," Celestia began, "It is time for me to finally tell you about your past and about who you were before your amnesia."

Somewhere behind them the sound of Luna's body hitting the ground was heard. Twilight paused briefly to look at the now sleeping alicorn, then went back to her book. Chrysalis walked up to Celestia.

"You see," the white alicorn continued as she turned to the changeling, "you are not actually a pony."

"I'm... not?" asked Chrysalis, somewhat confused.

"No. You're actually a changeling."

"What's that?"

"You see, Chrysalis, a changeling is a creature capable of transforming into any object or creature they wish. They can use magic and fly like ponies while in their normal shapes, but they don't have a cutie mark. The one you saw when you woke up from your stasis was another changeling. Also, you feed on love rather than food."

"But he was all colourful and he didn't have any holes. Why am I so different?"

"That's because..." Celestia hesitated. "That's because you're actually a changeling queen."

Twilight stopped reading and looked up at the other alicorn.

Chrysalis was surprised. "A queen? Me? I'm a queen?"

"You are, my dear."

"But... But why didn't you tell me this sooner? Why did you lie to me?" Chrysalis asked, confused.

Celestia looked at her, the changeling looking somewhat hurt. "We were... We were afraid this could be a trick. We feared some other changeling was pretending to be you, using amnesia as an excuse for why they didn't know how they were supposed to act so that we would teach them and they could replace you. There was the possibility someone had captured the real you."

"But why would someone do that? Are there evil changelings? Or do they hate me for some reason? Was I a bad queen?" asked Chrysalis, disoriented.

"Evil changelings? Sadly, yes, some members of your kind are evil, but it has nothing to do with you. You were always a good queen, beloved by your subjects and by your allies."

The sound of Twilight's face colliding with the cover of her book echoed from behind Chrysalis, but the changeling was too excited by the news to notice it. "I was good? That's great to hear! Wait, if you're a princess and I am a queen, and we knew each other... Were we friends before?"

"Of course we were. The best of friends, in fact."

Twilight's book hit the wall behind her, the purple alicorn's face still attached to it.

"Really? Can you tell me about the things we used to do together? Or about the things I did when I was a queen?"

"Well, there was that time you inv-hem, you visited the city of Timbucktu. It was a great pegasus city built among the clouds. That was actually the time when you received your title of queen."

"How did it happen?" asked Chrysalis excitedly.

"You see, while you and your changelings were visiting the city someone attacked it. The ponies were being defeated, but thanks to your help and your strategy they were able to win. King Orion was so impressed that he gave you his crown."

Twilight levitated her body out of the room in frustration.

"Oh... Wait, my crown! I think I left it in your room. Can you go get it for me?"

"We can send Twilight. Right Twilight?" Celestia looked but saw the purple alicorn had disappeared. "Luna?" she asked then.

"...Insanity, spinning faster, sending you back..." mumbled Luna between snores.

"Well it looks like I'll have to go myself." Celestia disappeared with a flash and she returned after a couple of seconds, holding a slice of cake in her magic.

Chrysalis looked at her, expectation in her eyes.

"Oh, right. Your crown." Celestia disappeared again and returned with the crown, which Chrysalis immediately put on her head.

"Now can you tell me more?"

"Well, there was that time when you liberated the city of Trot from Emperor Incitatus. It was a fierce battle, but in the end you managed to win, thanks to my help, and the city was freed. After that, I personally rewarded you with a vacation. Unfortunately your stay there was interrupted by a dragon, but you were able to defeat him all on your own."

Chrysalis stared wide-eyed. "Tell me more, please."

"There was the time you attended the wedding of Twilight's brother and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. That one was a really fun time, you got all your changelings to attend the ceremony and you even pulled a couple of pranks on us by pretending you were the bride. And you were so kind to let Cadence relax while you impersonated her and checked the preparatives yourself."

"Did I really do that? Was I really that kind?"

"You did. And it's not even the best thing you did. Not too long ago you replaced all princesses and all the element bearers with changelings in disguise so that we could all spend some time together in your castle. When Twilight's other friends found out they showed up and we all had a big party together."

"Wow. What is my castle like?"

"Oh, err... It was unfortunately destroyed some time after that. I don't know if it's already been rebuilt."

"Oh." Chrysalis looked around. "Where do changelings come from?"

Celestia almost spat out her cake. "I... don't actually know that one. I mean, you lay eggs, but if you're talking about changelings as a species then you'll have to ask Twilight. I think she mentioned something about a tree once. Something you told her. You two used to be very close ever since the wedding."

"We did?"

"You did. It almost looked like you had a thing for her, with all the posters and writings on the wall in your cell-I mean, in your room. Although after that party in your castle it seems you started to care more for Starlight, Twilight's student."

There was a brief pause while Chrysalis reflected on what she'd been told.

"Can you tell me more?" she proceeded to ask.

"I'm afraid you'll have to ask Twilight for more. I know of a time when you took the Cutie Mark Crusaders on a visit to a castle and then asked her to become your student, or that you helped her when King Sombra came back again, but I wasn't present in either of those circumstances so she will have to tell you more about them. I can go look for her if you want."

"Yes, please." Chrysalis looked at one of her hooves. "You said I can shape-shift, right?"

"I did, yes."

Chrysalis's hoof was slowly transformed into that of a white pony by a green fire-like aura travelling from the tip up to her shoulder. The same green energy slowly passed across all of the changeling's body and after a few moments she had transformed into a copy of the white alicorn in front of her. She ran a hoof through her mane, taking her time to look at it.

Celestia spoke, distracting the changeling. "I'm going to look for Twilight, she was supposed to explain to you how to feed on love after all. Come back here in a couple of hours, I have a favour to ask her and it will take some time."

"Can I pretend to be you with your guards?" asked Chrysalis in Celestia's voice.

"Only if you reveal yourself afterwards. Don't transform into either Luna or Twilight without their consent though. They might not want it."

"And what about other ponies? What if they don't want me to?" Chrysalis asked.

"Their opinion doesn't matter. You're a queen, you can do whatever you want. It's not like they're going to start a revolution, after all. I mean, we're the only alicorns around and we're all on the same page, they'd have no one else to rule them. Goodbye, Chrysalis, and try not to scare too many guards."

"Goodbye," said Chrysalis, and she walked out of the room while Celestia teleported away.

---

"I knew I would have found you here in the library, Twilight," Celestia said as she approached her student, "I have a favour to ask."

"What is it?" barked Twilight, not taking her eyes away from her book.

"Could you please go through the archives and modify our official records of history to match what I told Chrysalis? I wouldn't want her to find out the truth."

Twilight sighed and she closed her book. "Are you serious about this?"

"Of course I am. This is a great opportunity, Twilight, think about it. Chrysalis, the Changeling Queen, finally on our side. We're writing history."

"Technically, we're rewriting history. But do you really think it will work? Do you really think she won't find out the truth when her attack on Canterlot is something we teach in schools?"

"You'll just have to be really fast at rewriting those books, then."

"Celestia, that's-" Twilight turned towards her "- That's not the point. The point is, ponies remember her. They're afraid of her. How long will it take before she starts to question why?"

"Then I'll order them to lie."

"Celestia, they hate her."

"That's never stopped them from pretending they like me out of fear, I don't see why it would be any different with her."

"I guess you're- Wait, you mean you know they hate you?"

"What? You think I eat all this cake just because I like it? It's clearly a symptom of depression."

Twilight stared at her with a shocked expression. "And I thought you were too stupid to notice. maybe you didn't make it here just because you're immortal and-"

"Of course not! Now if only I could figure out why those ungrateful ponies don't throw themselves at my hooves in worshipful adoration at the notion of how I allow their lives to continue."

"-Never mind."

Comments

[N4rwh41]

Well, that got dark quickly.

[Sigmacipher]

Okay yeah Celestia is very OOC actually noticing ponies reaction and making jokes about it...we think she's joking.

Seriously I don't think she realizes how dumb so many of decisions she made were...the bases of my head canon that she is isolated from the real world as pre-S1 twilight was.

[Perteks]

This getting better and better

[GamePlayer64]

I still wonder what causes Chrysalis to turn into a villain? My best bet is being betrayed by ponies or refused help from ponies by her looks. The sow only shows cute and beautiful things... no accepting anything scary or ugly.

[fractalman]

I'm with twilight. Damnit Celestia.

[Kage no Brony]

9159527

Zecora was kind of scary when she was introduced. Discord was amusing, but has terrifying implications. Also I wouldn't say he's particularly cute.

[nioniosbbbb]

All of my wat.

[AyanamiRei]

Wait...what is this,.,what just happened?

[link4]

9165390
basically, celly is a self absorbed glutton who is lazy. and apparently is a moron. hmmmmmm

[JazzyWaffles]

Celestia looked at her, the changeling looking somewhat hurt. "We were... We were afraid this could be a trick. We feared some other changeling was pretending to be you, using amnesia as an excuse for why they didn't know how they were supposed to act so that we would teach them and they could replace you. There was the possibility someone had captured the real you."

Cover your lie with more lies! Comedy abound!

Twilight levitated her body out of the room in frustration.

Pffft

[LordOfMemory]

Well I feel for you you twily this celestia is truly a troll among trolls. also I think my brain just burned out

[Silence_EXE]

All I can say is...

[Sozmioi]

I had been wondering if someone swapped the villain settings for the two, but if she was that way all along then never mind.

[Nutella-warrior]

I dislike the celestia in this universe.

[Animatorsnake]

...for some reason this version of Celestia reminds me of a short comic series a friend of mine made of a Pharaoh version of Celestia... who was basically a dictator... though I find this funny enough with this version of Celestia