Friendship Was Magic

by Deceius

Reunited

Dread seemed to be a feeling I was becoming more and more acquainted with. I felt an all too familiar chill descend upon me. It seemed cruel that life had given my friends and I another chance but had taken away a piece of us. We weren't whole anymore. There would be a reckoning soon, but for now there was only grief and an emptiness that would swallow us whole if we didn't band together.

"I want to see her with the rest of my friends," I told Luna. She merely nodded and stood aside; unwilling to deny such a request.

Hesitant steps brought the girls and I to the door marked with Rainbow Dash's cutie mark. How long had it taken all of this to be rebuilt? How long had it taken for us to be rebuilt? I quickly banished these thoughts from my mind. It wasn't the time or the place; I had a friend to see. I turned to the girls. I turned to my friends, my companions who had been there with me through thick and thin, unsure of what to say or how to proceed. Here we were, still standing, while one of our group was still hurt and might never be fully healed.

"Ready?" I ask, voice quivering with emotion.

"None ah us have seen her yet Twi," Applejack whispers. "We were waitin' for you so that we could do this together." The others nod. "We ahl thought this was sumthing that we should wait for you fer. Last I remember she was right next to you." The others nodded again. I had forgotten that the memories weren't there, not that anyone should have to remember death.

With a trembling hoof, I stretched forward and nudged the door open. A sliver of light dazzles into existence in the cold dark room. I can't see anything in the crack, not that I should really expect to the rational part of my brain rants. With a quick, steadying breath I push the rest of the door open.

She seems so peaceful. Suspended in the ball of light like I was, she was disconnected from the worlds troubles. A slight smile played itself across her features. A happy dream perhaps or the feeling of friends in the room. It was clear that she wasn't conscious. The real question was 'Is she breathing?' and I couldn't muster the voice to ask. A thousand stones filled my stomach and throat.

Luna spoke first, "She has been comatose for quite a while now and I haven't yet found a way to wake her. She sleeps on in her dream while the sphere heals her wounds."

The group finally moves into the room. My entire body is numb. In front of me was someone who put herself through bodily harm so that I might save the rest of Canterlot and I had failed her. If there was one thing I knew she hated, it was failure. I made a promise to myself then and there that I would fix this. I would go back. I would clear out the changelings and toss the queen from her perch. The ice that had sheathed my heart all day today hardened into granite. I had a job to do and I had left it unfinished. Rainbow can sleep, the others can rest, but I had some preparing to do.

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Chrysalis could hardly believe her good fortune. Her hive had been so close to starvation, her generals had told her the plan was foolhardy and a huge risk. 'Let them burn' she thought, 'I have saved my people. I couldn't consider the cost to the other races, exitus acta probat. Still, a pang of regret is logged deep inside me. Why does the queen always have to make the hard decisions and why do I feel like this is the wrong one?'

Her eyes floated over the newly remodeled throne room. The scorch marks had been scrubbed away and painted over. The holes in the carpet had been resown. The huge stained glass window had been repaired by her best glass smiths. She looked at the pony's throne room that she currently inhabited. The irony was not lost on her. She was just filling the void before the real owners returned.

She may be killed and her people may be scattered but at least they had food and shelter for now. Chrysalis would have to think of a new land, a new food source. She had all this to think about but she couldn't. She looked down at her hooves. They were a deep maroon. She had refused to have them washed. A reminder to herself and all other changelings what this had cost. 'Exitus acta probat, right Chrysalis?'

The blood had stained her shell and was visible even when she changed forms. Her horn had turned a grotesque lavender, the leftover magic from a soul leaving the body had been absorbed on accident and stained it. Her chest had a white circle about 3 hooves in diameter. A stark testament to the power of the lavender unicorn. The fight had nearly ended Chrysalis. She had spent the days after in the regenerative cocoon that her hive was know for. 'The other races never understood us' thought Chrysalis,' and now we shall go down in history as invaders, conquerors, and killers. This wasn't the right thing to do but my people needed this. A hundred year famine has cut my hive in half, most were too weak and had to be flown here by the left overs first waves just to feast and regain their strength.'

Chrysalis stepped down from Celestia's throne and moved to the balcony. Her green eyes taking in the sights. The ponies had been moved to a far edge of the city and blocked off from the rest of the city with a wall. Her changelings were hard at work repairing the city. It's streets, shops, and house had been damaged in the battle. 'When we are evicted, we will send a message. The walls will be repaired and the streets cleaned. The ponies cared for and the damage undone. We will show the world that we aren't the monsters...Maybe this venture really was a mistake.'