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Transformation

Of Changelings and Alicorns
by kyttypony

Chapter Two: Transformation

Twilight and the other two alicorns stood on a ledge above the thousands of sleeping Changelings, all of whom had fallen into a deep sleep on the hard, crystalline floor. Stamping her hoof on the ground, Twilight decided now was as good a time as any to press for answers. "Could somepony please tell me what's going on?!"
Grinning slyly, Luna nudged her sister. "Celestia?"
"Yes?"
Luna cocked an eyebrow suggestively. "There are Changelings..."
"Yes? What about them?"
"I know 'twas not me, and it couldn't have been in any case since I was stuck on the moon, so it must have been thee..." Luna let the implication hang in the air between them.
Celestia's eyes widened, as did Luna's evil grin.
"Celestia?" Luna asked devilishly.
"...Yes?" Celestia bit her lip, knowing what her sister was about to ask.
"Who was he?"
Turning away, Celestia blushed bright red.
"WHY DOES EVERYPONY REFUSE TO TELL ME ANYTHING ABOUT THIS?!" Twilight yelled in frustration.
Luna grinned. "Well, when an Alicorn and a pony love each other ve - mmph!" She was interrupted by a golden-shod hoof.
"No," Celestia insisted. "You are NOT going into detail."
Luna's ears drooped. "Fine..."
Twilight frowned, disappointed at the lack of an answer. "Okay...Well, what happens now?"
Celestia turned to her former student. "Now? We give the Changelings love."
"What?" Twilight asked, continuing to be dumbfounded by her mentor’s evasiveness. "How? Why?"
"They need it for this part of the process," Celestia explained.
Twilight swore that her mane was beginning to smoke. "What process?"
"The changing," Celestia said, as if that were all that needed to be said.
Sparks were beginning to form in Twilight’s mane, and she was sure it would burst into flame any moment. "What is the changing?"
"Thou shalt see," replied Luna smugly.
"Ugh. Fine," Twilight conceded, her head hanging low in defeat. "How do we give them love?"
"It's like a spell," Celestia directed. "Close your eyes and imagine a stream of love flowing from you to them. Imagine it however you like; when you don't know what it looks like yet, I found it easiest to imagine floating hearts."
Twilight dubiously did as Celestia told her. "Can I open my eyes now?"
"Of course. It's not actually necessary, but closing your eyes helps you focus."
Twilight opened her eyes to see a ribbon of reddish-pink magic flowing from her horn. It split into many ribbons further along its length; each ribbon ended at a changeling's horn. Soon, two more sets of reddish-pink ribbons joined hers, and each awakening changeling was now connected to a stream of love.
"Do you remember when you asked why the Changelings were so pale?" Celestia breathed.
"Yes," Twilight whispered.
"Have you ever seen a lizard or snake about to shed?"
"Yes, their scales are a lot paler,” Twilight responded. Her head jerked, as if something had just struck her. “Wait, are you saying the Changelings are going to shed?"
"Exactly,” Celestia affirmed, winking at her student.
This gave Twilight pause. "Well, why do we need to give them love?"
"They need it," Celestia said matter-of-factly. "Otherwise, they'll shed, but it will be very painful, and they will still be Changelings when it's over."
Twilight gasped. "So the Changelings are going to become something else?"
"Yes," Celestia said, excitement plain upon her features. "Look, it's starting! Watch, because you won't get another chance to for who knows how long!"
Before their eyes, a tear appeared in the chitin of one Changeling. He turned his head, the ribbon still attached to his horn, and began gently ripping off the pale grey shell with his teeth. Underneath it...
Fur. Bright orange fur. Twilight couldn't believe it.
The changeling continued to tear his chitin off himself, revealing a feathered wing that had been hidden underneath the armor. An orange hoof, still hole-ridden. A white mane and tail, also with holes. An orange horn. A flank, with the clear absence of a cutie mark. A - wait. He had wings...and a horn?
An orange, blank-flanked Alicorn, filled with holes, stood shakily in a pile of discarded grey chitin.
Now, the fact that the Changelings were getting fur seemed entirely insignificant.
Twilight turned slowly to her mentor, her mind whirling with the implications of what she was about to ask. "Celestia?"
"Yes, Twilight?" Celestia gave her student a motherly look of patience as she entertained Twilight’s curiosity.
Twilight considered her words carefully for a moment before asking, "Are all the Changelings going to turn into Alicorns?"
"Yes, Twilight." Celestia chuckled. "I'm glad you figured that out."
"WHAT?!" Over two thousand Alicorns in Equestria?! Twilight couldn't believe it!
Celestia smiled. "Don't worry. Equestria isn't going to be filled with Alicorns from now until eternity. If that were going to be the case, it would have already happened. You see, most of the former Changelings are actually mortal."
"Most?" Twilight cocked her head to the side.
"Yes,” Celestia said. “Most, but not all. Now keep watching."
Twilight turned her gaze back to the Changelings. More and more were discarding their chitin in favor of brightly-colored fur...Suddenly, her eyes were drawn to one Changeling in particular: Queen Chrysalis. Her body slid slowly and luxuriantly out of the chitinous shell, and she stretched each limb as it emerged as if she were just waking up from a particularly satisfying nap. She ran one such newly emerged pale blue foreleg across her cheek, biting her lip and rolling her eyes back as she felt the texture of her new fur. When her new mane and tail burst through, they still looked as if they were made of a teal, gossamer material, but were thicker and seemed to flow in an invisible current. Finally, she finished peeling off her chitin and stood up, towering over the rest of her newly metamorphosed kin.
Looking down on them, Celestia smiled gently. "And thus the race of Changeling has vanished from Equestria." She ended her spell, followed shortly by Luna and Twilight.
Luna grinned. "At least until another Alicorn -" Once again, she was interrupted by a golden horseshoe.
Twilight glanced at Chrysalis again. "Celestia? You said that most of these Alicorns would be mortal..."
Celestia looked down at her student, a bemused expression on her face. "Yes, and...?"
Twilight took in the sight of the majestic blue Alicorn in the midst of her subjects, her mane and tail floating in some ethereal current, unlike that of any of the other former Changelings. "Is Chrysalis the exception?"
Celestia nodded silently.
"But why will she be immortal, and not any of the others?" Twilight asked. "I didn't even know that Alicorns could be mortal."
Celestia smiled warmly at her former student. "I'll explain everything soon."
Still marveling at her new fur, Chrysalis trotted over to them. "I - I - wow. I'm an Alicorn!" Her voice no longer had the soft, buzzing undertone it had once had.
Luna grinned. "What didst thou expect?"
The new Alicorn shook her head in disbelief. "I don't know. But...wow."
Celestia nodded. "I remember vividly how it felt...It's not really something you can forget, is it?"
Chrysalis smiled. "I don't think I'll ever be able to forget this."
"Trust me, you won't."
Something clicked inside Twilight's brain. "Celestia, you were a Changeling?! Was Luna one, too?!"
Luna snickered. "We weren't Changelings, Twilight. We were Bugs."
"bu...what?" Twilight wasn't sure she had heard right.
Celestia sighed in exasperation. "Will you ever stop pestering me about that, Luna? Okay, so I used to have almost no imagination. So I thought we looked like insects. It's been millennia!"
Chrysalis giggled. "Bugs? At least my name was somewhat creative!"
Luna snorted. "Changelings. Right. Thou simply namedest them after some ability that you all had."
"Well, it's better than Bugs!"
Celestia coughed, changing the subject before the discussion devolved into an argument about which name was stupider. "So. Chrysalis."
The Alicorn turned at the sound of her name. "Yes?" Suddenly, her mane, tail, and face fell. Wide-eyed, she stroked her mane, flat once more. "W-what happened? Was there a - a mistake or something? D-did I do something wrong?" she worriedly stammered.
Luna shook her head gently, a soft, sympathetic smile on her muzzle. "Do not worry, my niece. Thou hath done nothing wrong. It has happened to each of us: myself, my sister, your cousin, and now thee. Tis normal. The love spell that completed thy transformation also gave thee much more power than thou wouldst normally have, although if thou didst not notice it, t'would be understandable; thou hadst focused on thy other changes, I am sure."
"Maybe," Chrysalis admitted sheepishly. "But then, why don't I still have that power? It's not like I've used any spells since that point so far."
Luna rolled her eyes. "Hast thou not noticed how thou hast fewer holes than before, and that those that remain are smaller?"
"...Oh." Chrysalis coughed awkwardly. Suddenly, her eyes narrowed as she recalled something else her aunt mentioned. "Please, don't talk about my cousin," she hissed, spitting the final word.
Luna frowned. "What dost thou have against my daughter?"
"You have a daughter?" Twilight interjected.
Chrysalis ignored Twilight's question. "...Trust me. We don't get along, and I doubt we ever will."
Luna sighed. "Fine; I shan't pursue the matter further, though I do hope you two can make amends at some point."
"Luna has a daughter?" Twilight asked Celestia, bewildered.
Celestia stifled a chuckle. "Did you think Cadence was our sister?"
Twilight blinked. "...Oh. That makes sense. Why didn't I think of that?"
Shrugging, Celestia smiled wryly. "To tell the truth, few ponies wish to see Alicorns as anything less than godly. Therefore, even after I clearly had a niece - and Luna, even more clearly, had a daughter - nopony really believed it. They couldn't. Everypony simply thought that Luna had adopted, or some similar nonsense. Even now, nearly nopony seems to be able to wrap their head around the concept."
Twilight simply nodded thoughtfully, her question answered.
After a short lull in the Alicorns' conversations, Luna shifted her hooves, glancing once more at her niece. "Chrysalis...does the conflict between thee and Cadence have anything to do with her wedding?"
"I thought you said you were going to drop the subject," Chrysalis growled roughly.
Luna scowled. "Thou couldst at least be polite."
Chrysalis looked away, turning from her aunt's gaze. "We'll talk about this later. Maybe. If ever."
With that, the conversation relapsed back into silence. This time, it was interrupted by a cough; all eyes immediately fell on the culprit: Princess Celestia.
"Now that you'll be a Princess, I'm assuming you'll want to change your name?" Celestia attempted, in an effort to break through the nearly tangible awkwardness filling the room.
Chrysalis blinked, surprised by the question. "Of course! I mean, I don't think Chrysalis fits anymore, and besides, the ponies of Canterlot might have a bad reaction to a Princess Chrysalis. Bad memories and all." She bit her lip. "My name should have to do with my talent, right?"
"Exactly," Celestia confirmed.
Chrysalis frowned. "Well, is it a problem that I don't know what it is?"