> A Different LIFE for a Change... ling
>  by AngelShy24
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Welcome back, Dragon Heart!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Princess Celestia,

Looking back in the past can be great, but it isn’t always a good thing; and holding a hatred grudge from the past is even worse. No pony can serve a better example of this fact than the Queen of Changelings herself, Chrysalis. For more than a decade her hatred of what ponies did to her kind in the older years has caused a major distrust to form between the two kinds. Ponies and Changelings have being hating each other’s guts for as long as I can remember and no pony could ever imagine peace coming between us again.
But one young Changeling recently changed all of that. She had a sole dream apart from the rest of her clan that one day ponies and changelings could live in peace once again; but since her Queen made it seem impossible, she felt that it was up to her to make it happen.
She faced many challenges, took many risks, and forged a unique friendship bond with a certain dragon. But no matter how hard the challenge was; no matter how hopeless it all seemed; and no matter how hard scared she felt inside, she never gave up. And after friendships were forged, and battles were fought, in the end… that changeling’s dream became reality when her Queen’s heart changed for the better.
It’s hard to believe that more than a month has passed since then and so many things have changed between us and the Changelings already. Just goes to show you that even during a period of trials and tribulations, a single spark can ignite a light through the darkness and create a new era of peace.

Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle

-----

At the C.M.C. Clubhouse in Ponyville…

“Alright girls, listen up,” shouted Apple Bloom as she paced back and forth in front of her friends Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, “Today is a very special day; do ya’ll know why?”
Sweetie Belle wildly waved her hoof in the air, “Oh, oh; is it somepony’s Birthday?!”
“No, that’s not it.”
“Are we trying something special to strive for our cutiemarks?!” said Scootaloo excitedly.
“Ah wish, but that ain’t it either.”
Sweetie then almost said something that she would regret, “Or maybe Pipsqueak will finally…” She suddenly gasped as she covered her mouth.
“Will finally what?” questioned Scootaloo with an arched eyebrow.
“N-n-nevermind.”
“Girls, come on; don’t ya remember?” questioned Apple Bloom, “Today is the day that Dragon Heart is coming back to Ponyvile to visit us!”
The other two fillies suddenly felt a little dumbfounded for not remembering that piece of information.
“Oh yeah, Dragon Heart,” shouted Scootaloo, “She’s so awesome!”
“I almost forgot about that,” said Sweetie Belle, “I can’t wait to see her again!”	
“Exactly mah point,” said Apple Bloom, “Dragon Heart maybe a changelin’ and not a pony, but she’s still a crusader like us; and as fellow crusaders, we must do everythang we can to git ready and prepare fer when she gits here.” 
Suddenly, Scootaloo looked out the window and then looked back at Apple Bloom, “Um… even if it’s right now?”
“Don’t be silly, Scoots; why would you say that?”
“Because… she’s here, like now!”
The two crusaders rushed over to the window Scotaloo was at and look up at the sky in the distance. They could see her, Dragon Heart and her other two changeling friends Razor and Dusk coming right towards to where they were; it was like they could sense where they were.
“Oh my gosh,” Sweetie gasped, “she’s here!”
“Um yeah, that’s what I said,” Scootaloo scoffed.
“C’mon, let’s go greet her!” 
All three crusaders quickly rushed out the clubhouse door and came into Dragon Heart’s view as she and her other two friends came down. The young changeling came up to them wearing a smile and gave all three of them a hoof bump.
“What’s going on, fellow crusaders?” she said excitedly.
“Wow Dragon Heart, you’re looking as good as ever,” shouted Apple Bloom, “ya know… for a changelin’! It’s so good to see ya again!”
Suddenly, Dusk coughed and straightened his throat to gain the crusaders’ attention.
“Don’t forget about us,” said Razor.
“Oh yeah, and you too, guys.” 
Dragon Heart just chuckled; she knew that they were happy to see Dusk and Razor too.
“I just thought I stop by to see my favorite pony friends!”
And then she and the other crusaders all high-hoofed each other shouting, “Up high!”
“Seriously Dragon Heart,” said Dusk shaking his head, “no offense to them, but why continue to be a cutiemark crusader when it’s obvious that we Changelings can’t gain cutiemarks?”
“Does it really matter,” Dragon Heart stated, “Besides, you know what they say…”
Dragon Heart shouted out along with the other crusaders, “Once a crusader, always a crusader!”
Razor was standing right beside Dusk wiping a tear from his eyes, “Such moving words, isn’t it beautiful?”
“Oh stop being so overly emotional,” said Dusk rolling his eyes.
Just then, Apple Bloom came up to Razor and Dusk with pleading eyes and tried to ask, “Hey, um… Dusk and Razor, right? You guys are good friends to Dragon Heart; so… wanna share the thrill and be crusaders with us too?”
Dusk just arched his eyebrow and then slightly looked away from AB’s shimmering eyes, “I-I think I’ll pass.”
“It sounds tempting,” said Razor, “but I think I’ll leave the changeling crusading to my sis here.”
All crusaders just sighed and shrugged their shoulders.
“Aw well,” said Apple Bloom, “it was worth a shot.”
“So how are things back the nest?” Sweetie asked Dragon Heart.
“Well… things aren’t completely settled down yet even though it’s been about a month since last time,” Dragon Heart responded, “but we are getting there; getting accustomed to our changed life and all.”
“And what of your Queen, Chrysalis,” said Scootaloo, “How is she doing?”
Dragon Heart, Razor and Dusk all looked at each other questionably, and then Dragon Heart said, “Oh yeah… Chrysalis; we’re doing all we can to be there for her.”
“Is something wrong?” asked Apple Bloom.
“Oh, no, everything is fine for the most part; it’s just that… well, for many long years we Changelings have listened to Chrysalis and always followed her commands; but we didn’t do it just because she was our Queen and we were loyal to her, but also because we feared her as well. Her power succeeded over all of us, and we knew that stepping out of line would result in major punishment. That’s why we never stood up to her or questioned her.”
“But that was until you finally got brave and stood up for your dream!” shouted Scootaloo.
“Yeah, that’s right; I guess I was finally fed up with everything that we had done. But you guys already know that.”
“Yeah, ya told everypony here and yer whole clan,” said Apple Bloom, “So what’s happenin’ now?”
“Well now that we have changed our colors and Chrysalis is giving the peace treaty a chance, things have been a little awkward.”
“Chrysalis has been doing her best to try and be a lot nicer to her subjects,” said Razor, “and some outcomes have been a little amusing.”
“I would hardly call her Highness embarrassing herself trying to change to be amusing, Razor,” said Dusk.
“Is it really that hard for somepony to learn to be nice and friendlier?” asked Sweetie Belle.
“Well you have to remember, Sweetie Belle,” said Apple Bloom, “Chrysalis was filled with hate and anger for most of her life; right Dragon Heart?”
“That’s right,” she responded, “but for someone who has been like that for many years, her change custom is coming along nicely. In fact… I think she’s finally ready to do it.”
All of the crusaders gasped and said at the same time, “you don’t mean…”
“That’s right… and she’s really willing to do it.”
“I’m still not sure if she’s quite ready yet,” said Dusk feeling unsure.
This was big news to the crusaders; big news indeed. However, they didn’t want to waste anymore time.
“This all sounds so cool,” said Scootaloo, “but you can’t tell us more later; I just bet that you can’t wait to see… you know who again.”
“Ooooooooooooooh,” said Apple Bloom Sweetie Belle in a teasing tone.
“Cut it out, girls,” said Dragon Heart smiling nervously, “you’re making me blush.”
Suddenly, Scootaloo smirked at Dusk who was looking at her weirdly, “Hey, you’re still cool with Dragon Heart loving our dragon friend instead of you, right?”
“Well of course I am,” Dusk scoffed, “I accepted it that very day. However, in the future if he ever does something that causes problems for her, he and I will have a serious talk.”
“Oh don’t be such a downer, Dusk,” said Dragon Heart while hugging Dusk, “I don’t think you need to worry about that. Spike is a good friend; you’ve seen that proof already.”
Dusk blushed a bit from Dragon heart’s hug and turned his head away slightly so she wouldn’t see, “Y-yeah, I know…”
Pretty soon, the original crusaders started to lead Dragon Heart, Razor and Dusk towards the main part of Ponyville where they knew Spike would be waiting; but there were other astonishing things that they would soon witness.
“Just wait until you see how Ponyville is thriving now;” said Apple Bloom excitedly, “You might be surprised.”

-----

Within the town of Ponyville at the Library tree, a certain dragon was inside doing all sorts of different things. He was going all around doing a lot of dusting and cleaning and straightening; all for when Dragon Heart comes to see him.
His pony friend, Twilight Sparkle, was looking from her writing desk and saw him going everywhere and dusting all while humming a happy little tune to himself… thinking about you know who.
“Feeling a bit exuberant are we, Spike?” she said with a smirk.
“Well of course; don’t you know who is coming to Ponyville today?”
“You mean Dragon Heart?” Twilight questioned.
“Yep, that’s the one!”
Owlicious was resting on his perch just taking a usual snooze as Spike went by him with a delightful smile on his face, “Sup Owlicious; glorious day, isn’t it?” And then he went off with a little skip.
‘Whoo’?
Twilight looked all around her surroundings and saw that the library was completely spotless, yet Spike was still going around “Um… Spike, don’t you think you’ve cleaned up enough?”
“Yeah, but there’s no harm in checking over things.” 
“You mean like you’ve already done 2 times?”
Spike froze in mid-movement and thought to himself, “Huh, I did; I never really noticed.”
Twilight smiled and shook her head, “Spike, I think that you’ve done enough; besides, cleanliness doesn’t mean anything, right?”
“I know that,” Spike replied, “but it helps.”
Suddenly, Twilight took a little whiff in the air and her nose scrunched up, “Spike, do I… smell smoke?”
“Holy gemstones,” Spike shouted, “my ruby pie!”
Spike rushed to the kitchen area and quickly opened up the oven that suddenly blew out a huge plume of smoke. Spike was coughing mildly as he reached in to get his pie; but once he got it out the whole thing already was burnt to a crisp and hardly edible any more.
“Aw man,” Spike whined, “I was going to share this with Dragon Heart.”
“Lost track of time, huh?” said Twilight.
Just then, the front doors of the Library Tree suddenly swung open and their friend Pinkie Pie suddenly jumped in feeling gleefully happy as usual, “Good morning, everypony!”
“Ah, hey Pinkie Pie,” said Twilight, “and have you ever heard of knocking.”
Pinkie took a deep sniff in the air and suddenly gasped, “Oh no, do I smell… burnt pie?!”
Spike sadly walked out from the smoking kitchen holding his ruined creation, “Yeah,you do. There go some perfectly good ruby stones gone to waste.”
“Aw, don’t frown, Spike,” said Pinkie, “surely something good will come out of this.”
Spike just glared at Pinkie, “Oh yeah, like what?”
“…Um… hmm… I don’t know, I actually haven’t thought up of anything yet.”
Twilight just rolled her eyes, “The good thing will be that Dragon Heart won’t care about the pie or an extra tidy library, she will just be happy to see you; isn’t that enough?”
“Well…” said Spike in a seldom-like tone while looking at his burnt pie, “I suppose so. I mean, a pie is just a pie I guess.”
Twilight used her magic to levitate the pie from Spike’s hands and placed it in the trash and she also casted a spell that cleared the kitchen of the rising smoke. She came over to Spike and smiled as she placed her hoof on his shoulder.
“Why don’t we take a little walk outside; maybe Dragon heart is already here.”
“Ooh, ooh; I just bet she is!” Pinkie shouted happily, “Come on Spikey, don’t you want to see your changeling friend?”
Spike just took a deep breath and let it all out with a grief sigh for his pie, and then he just let it go, “Well… yeah, you guys are right. Perhaps just my charm and good looks are enough to make her happy.”
Twilight and Pinkie both started to chuckle lightly to each other over Spike’s comment; however Spike still overheard.
“Hey, what’s so funny?!”
“You’re so cute, you that Spike?”
Spike just lowered his eyes and sighed to himself, “Why can’t anyone take me seriously?”

-----

Dragon Heart along with the rest of the Cutiemark Crusaders and Razor and Dusk, they all left the clubhouse area and were heading towards the main part of Ponyville. But before that, Dragon Heart figured that she could stop by Apple Bloom’s home, Sweet Apple Acres to see how things were doing there. As they approached the site, Applejack, Apple Bloom’s big sister saw them coming from up ahead as she waved out to them with an honest smile.
“Howdy Dragon Heart,” Applejack shouted, “nice to see ya here on our farm again… along with your 2 friends this time!”
“Nice to see you too, Applejack,” Dragon Heart responded, “You look as riled up and hard working as ever.”
This was Razor and Dusk’s first time fully seeing all the surroundings at Sweet Apple Acres and they were looking all around feeling astonished; they were impressed.
“So this is Sweet Apple Acres,” said Razor, “How do you earth ponies keep all of these apple trees so healthy all the time?”
“Patience, hard work and a whole lot of sweat,” stated Applejack, “It’s a tough job, but somepony has to do it. But of course, Ah don’t do all of this on mah own.”
Suddenly, Dragon Heart caught a glimpse behind Applejack of a big red earth stallion pushing some crates around.
“Hey Applejack,” she said, “isn’t that your big brother, Big Macintosh is it?”
Applejack looked behind her and saw him and she smiled while waving at him, “Yep, that’s him alright; good ol’ Macintosh!”
“He looks real handsome.”
“Careful now, Dragon Heart,” said Apple Bloom, “you don’t want Spike to get jealous, do ya?”
They all had a good laugh, and Dragon Heart did know better; but she also knew that it didn’t hurt to compliment on other males either.
“Hey Big Mac,” Applejack shouted out to her brother, “Granny Smith better not be in there helping you with those heavy creates.”
Big Mac froze a bit and looked at his sister and nodded, “Yup.”
Applejack just sighed, “Well… she didn’t throw her back out carrying any of them, did she?”
Big Mac shook his head, “Nope.”
Suddenly, they heard a loud shout in the barn, “Oh dear, my back; ow, cramp, craaaamp!”
Then Big Mac sighed and awkwardly said, “Yep.”
“Aw horseapples,” Applejack groaned.
The three changelings were quite surprised at this Granny of theirs, but they were also feeling a bit awkward about it too.
“Your Granny seems to think that she’s still young, huh?” said Dragon Heart to Apple Bloom.
“She sure does, but sometimes she does tend to think that a bit too much.” 
Granny Smith was suddenly walking out from the barn murmuring and groaning from the pain in her back; and then Big Mac simply came over to her, sighed and then gave her a little whack on the back that suddenly straighten her back right again.
“Whew, thanks again, sonny,” she said while patting Big Mac on the back.
“Yup,” he responded with a smile and then walked off back into the barn.
Granny Smith then turned her attention to the small crowd that was right behind her looking at her with some awkward reactions… some more awkward than others.
“Oh, howdy there, Apple Bloom,” she greeted, “Ah see that yer here with yer little friends.”
“Hey Granny Smith,” shouted Apple Bloom while waving and smiling, “you remember Dragon Heart, right; and her friends, Dusk and Razor?”
Granny Smith reached behind her and pulled out her reading glasses and placed them on as she squinted her eyes a bit to recognize Dragon Heart right away.
“Oh, ho, ho, Ah see now; the strange, odd changeling creatures that changed the course of history by bringing peace to us ponies.”
Dusk just scratched his head feeling confused, “Wait, this old pony could see her granddaughter well but she had to put on her view enhancers to recognize us?”
“They’re called ‘glasses’ genius,” Razor chuckled.
“You guys are being awfully nice to us ponies here in Poniville,” continued granny Smith, “Why just the other day some of ya strange creatures came and lended a helping hoof with our harvest collecting. Sure saved us a lot of lost time it did.”
“Oh yeah, that’s right;” said Apple Bloom, “Ah can’t believe that Ah almost forgot that!”
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were impressed feeling shocked that it actually happened.
“They really did that?!” said Scootaloo.
Applejack nodded her head in agreement, “Yep, we were a bit behind schedule in our harvesting and they were willing to help us out; that was mighty nice of them.”
A little proud smile came upon Dragon Heart’s face hearing the good news, “Well, nice to see that they were actually up to the task.”
The crusaders all looked at her with wide eyes as a lightbulb went off in their heads.
“Wait, did you send them, Dragon Heart?” questioned Sweetie Belle.
“She sure did,” Razor responded, “and they were actually glad to take her request. Just goes to show you that a lot of us Changelings were secretly very nice to begin with.” He suddenly lightly elbowed Dusk on his side smirking slyly, “Isn’t that right, Dusk?”
“Don’t push it,” said Dusk while giving Razor a little glare.
“Ya sneaky little critters are A-okay in mah noggin’,” said Granny Smith, “and ya’ll are welcome to come by here anytime ya want.”
Big Mac smirked and nodded in agreement, “Yup.” 
Dragon Heart came over to Granny Smith and shook her hoof as an act of friendship, “Well that’s mighty nice of you guys; thanks!”
Suddenly, Dusk caught a whiff of something in the air as he poked his nose up and his tummy started to grumble slightly, “Wait, do I smell… apple cobbler?”
“Apple cobbler?!” the crusaders shouted excitedly.
“That’s right,” Granny Smith responded, “yer smellin’ the sweet delightful smell of mah good ol’ classic homemade apple cobbler made from some of the finest, freshest green apples we’ve grown. Perhaps ya’ll would all like to try a slice?”
Taking in a deep smell of the wonderful aroma, Razor suddenly shouted out, “Would we?!” Then he awkwardly lowered his voice and said, “I-I-I-I mean… if it’s not too much trouble.”
“Of course it’s not,” said Apple Bloom while jumping up and down, “Everypony is welcomed to try Granny Smith’s homemade apple cobbler! It’s the rootin’est, darn tootin’est delicious apple dish in all of Ponyville!”
Everyone stood silent and were staring at Apple Bloom very awkwardly… except her family members.
“Rootin’est?” questioned Dusk.
“Tootin’est?” questioned Razor.
“Um… its southern talk,” said Applejack smirking awkwardly, “we tend to sometimes get into it more than we wish to let on.”
Scootaloo was snickering under her breath and whispered to Sweetie Belle, “She said toot; get it… toot?”
Sweetie Belle just arched her eyebrow, “Really?” 
Granny Smith turned herself around and started heading towards the house while expecting the crowd behind her to follow.
“Well, come along little youngins, come and try a taste of the cobbler; ya won’t be disappointed.”
“We’re game!” Apple Bloom and her friends said as they hopped up and down and trotted along behind Granny Smith.
“Did that old mare just call us… youngins?” said dusk confusingly.
“Just roll with it,” Razor responded amusingly, “she is pretty old.”
As the others went towards the house, Applejack came beside Dragon Heart who was taking in the sweet fresh air of the apple farm. It was obvious to her that this changeling was looking forward to something more than fresh apple cobbler.
“So, Dragon Heart, you’re here to spend some time with Spike, aren’t ya?”
Dragon Heart’s cheeks blushed red in an instant as she was trying to not make eye contact with Applejack to avoid embarrassing herself.
“Wh-wh-what… what are you are you talking about; maybe I am but I’m here for other reasons too.”
“But it’s definitely her main priority!” Razor called out from the house.
“Razor!!!” Dragon heart shouted out in frustration, “I oughta claw you!”
“Hey, were trying to learn to not deceit and lie, remember?!”
“Don’t be so embarrassed D.H,” said Applejack with an amused smile, “it never hurts anypony to be honest. As we ponies around here always say… the honest truth will set you free.”
Dragon Heart knew that they were right; after all ever since that day when everything changed, she confessed in front of everyone. So it wasn’t like she had anything to hide.
“Y-yeah, I guess you’re right,” said Dragon Heart with reformed smile, “I guess I should be more honest about my friendship with Spike…” Then she had a good chuckle, “You probably understand that more than anypony else.”

> Everypony together again
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	
(Finally, it's done... It's finally done!!! Enjoy.)



While Dragon Heart and the others were enjoying a little munch time at Sweet Apple Acres, we go back to the main section of Ponyville where Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle and Spike wandering around streets together witnessing the different little changes around them thanks to their newly formed friendship with the changelings. However, there was no signs of Dragon Heart arriving yet, and poor little Spike was slightly disappointed.
“Nope, no sign of Dragon Heart yet,” said Pinkie Pie as she was hopping along beside her friends, “but it’s such a beautiful day, isn’t it?”
Spike just sighed feeling a little let down, “Aw man, where is she?”
“Don’t worry Spike;” said Twilight, “I’m pretty sure that she’s on her way; I doubt that she forgot.”
While looking around, Pinkie just couldn’t help but continue to show a huge smile on her face. All that transpired from that glorious day up to now, it was a real treat to see Ponies and Changelings working together in peace.
“You know… sometimes I never realize just how vibrant Ponyville has gotten ever since we made peace with the Changelings,” Pinkie stated, “Why… just a couple of days ago, a couple of them wanted to help me watch over the Cake twins. It turned out that those two were real baby lovers, and it’s definitely giving me a break every once in a while when Mr. and Mrs. Cake aren't around.”
“What, really?” said Spike out of shock, “So… Pumpkin and Pound didn’t cry; they weren’t scared of them?”
“Nope, it was like they could sense that they weren’t bad and were not going to harm them; they absolutely loved them!”
“It really is quite amazing of how helpful the Changeling is willing to be;” said Twilight happily, “They’re doing everything they can to earn our loving trust, and I think it’s going well.” 
Pinkie suddenly thought of something else, “Oh, oh! I also heard that recently a female changeling who loves kids is studying over Cheerliee teaching her class, and she even plays with them sometimes and the kids learned to enjoy her company! I admit it is still a bit weird to me sometimes, but this is what Dragon Heart wanted, right?”
Thinking about Dragon Heart in his head, Spike sighed again, “Yeah… and the best part is that they’re all able to do want they always secretly wanted to do… besides their usual duties and still feed off our love without being all creepy and scary ,and forcing us into submission. It’s a win-win situation!”
Despite talking about good things from this outcome, something else was still bothering Twilight… something that she was partially worried about.
“Well… there is one thing that I am still wondering about,” she said, “Chrysalis. We haven’t heard about her ever since she changed; I hope everything is alright.”
“Maybe she needed to lay back and take it easy all this time;” said Spike, “You know, to recuperate and stuff.”	
“Of course, she needed time to change completely after hearing about the truth of her past,” said Pinkie, “I bet she’s as cuddly as a kitten now!”
Twilight looked at Pinkie kinda weird; what she said didn’t seem right to fit with Chrysalis, “Um, I wouldn’t go that far; this is Chrysalis we’re talking about.”
“I know, but you never know; life is full of surprises! For all we know Chrysalis could blow all of our minds away!”
“I’m all for Chrysalis to being nicer and all,” said Spike, “but seeing her being too nice would be… well, weird.”

(In Spike’s mind…)
‘Attention all ponies of Equestria, I am pleased to announce that I have fully changed my ways. I am no longer in need for vengeance, I want to spread nothing but love and happiness everywhere I go; I want to be your best  friend!’

Spike suddenly shuddered a bit from that thought and was almost frighten about it coming true, “Ugh, on second thought… that would be straight out creepy.”	
Just then, they all heard a voice sound out in the sky above them; one of their Pegasus friends, “Alright, see you guys later… and don’t forget to work on those fancy formations!”
It was Rainbow Dash and she was she was talking to small group of Changelings that were waving back at her.
“Sure thing, Rainbow Dash!”
“Straight up!”
Rainbow Dash looked down and saw her friends down on the ground waving at her and she swooped down to meet with them.
“Hey Dashie,” said Pinkie while hopping up and down still, “what’s up?!”
“Hey guys,” Rainbow Dash responded with a proud smirk, “I was just hangin’ out with some changeling buddies of mine. They’re pretty cool and all but they need to work on their flying skills; I can literally fly circles around them… not that I wouldn’t be able to anyway.”
Spike felt a little confused by Rainbow’s statement as he asked, “Um, Rainbow Dash, they’re Changelings; aren’t they good at flying anyway?”
“Well… yeah,” Rainbow dash sarcastically, “and we Pegasi are really good at flying too.”
Suddenly, Derpy flew by and waved while smiling, “Hey, Rainbow Dash!” But because she wasn’t watching where she was going, she ended up smashing right into tree and fell back down on the ground. She shook herself off and smiled nervously, “I-I-I’m o-okay!”
Rainbow Dash just shook her head and sighed, “Well… most of us anyway. But my point is as good of a flyer that any pony may be, you have to be even better… no, waaaaaaay better than good if you want to be… a Wonderbolt!”
There was a sudden moment of silence as no one could say anything… until Spike said in a confusing manner, “Say what now?”
Pinkie suddenly felt excited chills in her body as she was constantly wagging her tail like a dog, “Awesome, Changelings are trying out for the Wonderbolts now?!”
“Well… just those guys; I’m quite surprised that they even got in myself… they’re so lucky. Their reason for doing so is because they want to impress their clan by becoming the best Changeling flyers that Equestria has ever seen! Maybe it was their secret dream or something.”
“I did hear something about that,” said Twilight, “but I wasn’t quite sure if it was true or not; but I guess it is.”
Rainbow Dash envied those Changelings for being in the Academy, but she knew that her time would come sooner or later.
“In my book, those changelings are the coolest and bravest changeling flyers I’ve ever seen; maybe Dragon Heart and her two friends should tryout.”
Twilight was glad to know that changelings were now treading different territories besides Ponyville; the more places that accepts them the better.
“That’s wonderful,” said Twilight, “that must mean that the academy’s leader, Spitfire is fully aware of the treaty and trusts them completely.”
Rainbow Dash looked at the others while scratching her head and grinning sheepishly, “Well… she has... mostly to say the least.”
“Mostly,” said Spike, “was she still a bit suspicious of them; was she being extra tough on them?”
“Not exactly, but based on what they told me, she was being pretty strict on them at first. I wish I could’ve been there when they went on their first day.”

-----

A few weeks ago at the Wonderbolt Academy…

The Academy leader, Spitfire was all set up and flew out to the training grounds. Waiting for her there were the group of recruits that were ready to continue their training in hopes that one day they would become members of the Wonderbolts. They all stood at attention once Spitfire landed in front of them and were waiting for her orders. 
“Alright flyers, I hope you’re all wide awake because we’ll be doing a whole lot of training today! So I better see some pure determination out there and I don’t want any excuses. After all if you don’t want to work very hard, then that means you don’t want to be a Wonderbolt, now do you!”
As Spitfire walked down the line of recruits, her eye suddenly caught a glimpse of a few new ponies in the ranks. However, she couldn’t help but think that something was up with them.
“By the way, I do believe that we have some new slackers in the group; a small group of ponies who think that they have what it takes.”
Her glare was suddenly on the four suspicious ponies that were standing at attention staring forward doing their best to not give anything away. But they couldn’t help but sweat a bit feeling nervous from the leader’s stare.
“If I had 5 bits for every time I heard somepony say that, I’d be richer than Celestia!”
Spitfire stopped in front of the four ponies and they stood silent staring straight ahead of them mostly not showing any signs of fright.
“Tell me your names, maggots!”
And so they did.
“Fangblade!” (male)
“Poison!” (female)
“Fireflight!” (female)
“Cloud Diver!” (male)
Once they all sounded off, Spitfire arched an eyebrow at them, and then they all shouted…
“… mam!”
It was up to this point that Spitfire noticed something in their eyes that appeared different from the others. She couldn’t quite tell what it was, but she wasn’t fooled for a second.
“You guys are definitely interesting looking ponies… or are you?”
“M-m-maybe?” one of them answered.
And one of the others thought to himself, “Dang, she’s scary.”
Their bodies were tensing up again and more sweat was rolling down their bodies. They were afraid that she would discover their hidden secret.
“You 4 really think you have me fooled, don’t you? You don’t think I can see what’s going on?!”
The other ponies continued to stand attention staring straight forward, but they were also wondering what Spitfire was talking about. Meanwhile, the 4 certain ponies were starting to shake a bit knowing that their cover was blown.
“Well guess again… Changelings!”
All of the ponies lost their concentration as they all gasped and looked at the 4 ponies Spitfire was staring down. Suddenly, the 4 ponies dropped their disguises and showed their true changeling forms. They smiled nervously as one of them said…
“Um… surprise?”
Not a single smile was seen on Spitfire face as she continued to show her cold-hardy stare at them. To them, this pony almost seemed as intimidating as their Queen if not the exact same way.
“I knew those sign-in forms were a bit… bizarre; especially since I sensed a little green slime on one of them.”
Three of the changelings glared at the one who called herself Poison and she protested, “Hey, come on; I couldn’t help it if I was sweating a bit out of excitement of signing up!”
Spitfire turned her back to them while leaving them in the dark of what their fate was, “Changelings in my Academy, disguising themselves up like us. Do you know what I have to say about this?”
Suddenly, all 4 changelings jumped in fright as Spitfire suddenly turned around and got right in their faces, “Do you?!” 
They all quickly shook their heads feeling scared out of their wits. ‘How could one pony seem so dangerous and intimidating’ they all wondered.
“What I have about all of this is… well played guys; well played.”
The changelings were suddenly in a state of confusion hearing what she said; and when they looked up, and small little smirk was seen in her expression. They all thought to themselves… “Um… what just happened?”
“You 4 almost had me fooled for second. Not many ponies… or should I just say creatures could ever get past my watchful eyes.” Then, she got up in their faces again making them stand at alert again, “However, you tell any other pony or changeling about this and I’ll rip those wings right off of you, and then you won’t be able to fly at all, understood?!”
They all started to sweat again as they all softly said, “Y-y-yes mam.”
“Come on, I can barely hear you!” Spitfire protested, “You 4 are supposed to be Changeling soldiers who went on many dangerous missions; what would your Queen say?! Now, I said… understood?!!”
They all got themselves together and stood back up in attention and shouted, “Yes mam!!!”
“Hmph, impressive,” said Spitfire with an amused smile, “Welcome to the team; I’m expecting great things from you.”
It was obvious to the 4 changelings that Spitfire was well aware of their peace and was allowing them to participate in her academy. As far as the other recruits go, most of them were just relieved that nothing major happened, and there were a mix of gladness and suspiciousness among the rest.
“By the way,” Spitfire said suddenly looking back at the four changelings, “I’m afraid that your so-called disguises are not welcomed here! If you wish to stay in my academy and earn my trust, I want to see your true faces and come to know the real you! Excuses won’t be tolerated otherwise.”
She flashed another smile at them and said, “Think you can handle doing that, soilders?”
They all smiled back and saluted to her as they shouted, “Yes mam!”

-----

Back in the present…

“Heh, from what I heard from them,” continued Rainbow Dash, “it was quite a wild ride for them. But if Spitfire could accept their friendship, I don’t know who wouldn’t!”
“Don’t hold your breath, Rainbow,” Twilight chuckled.
Spike became a little confused on how those changeling went about to getting in the academy and asked, “Wait a minute; so… if the treaty was already, then why did they even change their appearance anyway?”
“I guess they knew about her being very strict and harsh sometimes,” Rainbow Dash responded, “and showing up the way they were might have caused her to reject them or something. But I guess even she has a heart and can be nice sometimes. Heh heh, I’m being sarcastic by the way.”
Spike shrugged his shoulders and decided to not think hard on it anymore, “It still seemed a bit pointless to me, but hey… whatever works for them.”
“So by the way,” Rainbow suddenly wondered, “is Dragon Heart here yet? If she was I’d figured she’d already be with her Spikey here.”
“Please do not call me Spikey,” retorted Spike with a low-eyed look.
“Hey, if Rarity and others can call you that, then so can I.”
“That aside,” said Twilight, “she’s not here yet as far as we know. We were actually walking around out here to see if she arrived yet ourselves.”
“But we’re still looking;” added Pinkie, “Wanna join us?!” 
Rainbow Dash agreed; seeing Dragon Heart would be great and she could see just how much cooler she’s gotten, “Sure, why not; I’ve got some time to kill.

-----

At some point, Dragon Heart and her crusader friends and changeling friends were now departing from Sweet Apple Acres after enjoying some delicious homemade apple pie, made by Granny Smith herself, and began walking together towards Ponyville, where more friends were waiting.
“Aw man,” groaned Razor in satisfaction, “your Granny can sure make a mean, tasty pie!”
“Yep,” said apple Bloom proudly, “and a whole lot of mean, tasty foods; but Ah don’t like to brag.”
“At least they don’t actually make you mean;” said Sweetie Belle as she smiled and elbowed Scootaloo on her side, “huh huh?”
Scootaloo looked at her un-amusingly and shook her head, “No.”
Obviously she didn’t think Sweetie Belle was great at making good jokes.
“By the way, Applejack,” said Dragon Heart curiously, “any reason why you decided to come along with us?”
“Nothin’ special,” Applejack answered, “Ah was done with mah chores on the farm for now anyway, and Big Mac said he didn’t need any help to finish his work. So Ah figured why not tag along with you guys and see Spike’s reaction when he sees you again.”
The crusaders were giggling again seeing Dragon Heart blush from AJ’s comment, “Applejack, please stop that.”
Razor and Dusk smirked a bit seeing Dragon Heart embarrassed; they just couldn’t wait to see her and Spike reunite again.
“So Dragon Heart,” said Apple Bloom, “wasn’t there somethang that ya wanted to fill us in on; something that happened?”
“Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I think it would be better to tell you once we find Spike and Twilight.”
“Aw, do you have to?” whined Sweetie Belle.
“Yes… we do,” Dusk quickly stated.
The three changelings were suddenly staring straight ahead for some second trying to not make eye contact to any of them.
“Maybe it’s something serious,” whispered Scootaloo, “just look at their faces.”
“They definitely look a little troubled,” said Sweetie Belle, “Maybe they a good ol’ surprise hug.”
“Great idea, Sweetie Belle,” Apple Bloom responded, “Git ready girls.”
All three crusaders crouched down and each one of them had their sights set on of the changelings in front of them.
“Ready; one… two… THREE!!!”
They all launched forward and leapt up in the air and then they all landed on each of the changelings (Apple Bloom on Dragon Heart, Sweetie Belle on Razor, and Scootaloo on Dusk) and gave them a big friendly hug.
The changelings all jumped and almost stumbled over from the fillies’ weight force, but then began to feel slightly comfort.
“Wh-wh-what’s the meaning of this?” said Dusk nervously.
“The three of ya looked a little down,” said Apple Bloom, “so we decided to give ya’ll a surprise hug to make ya feel better.”
“So… feel any better?” asked Scootaloo.
“Actually… I do feel a little better,” said Razor, “Must be the love.”
“Thanks, I guess we really did need that,” said Dragon Heart happily.
“Glad to be of service!” said Apple Bloom 
Suddenly, Dusk overheard something that was nearby, “Hey, you guys hear that?!” 
They were all wondering what he was talking about, so they all followed him as he hovered over to some nearby bushes. And sure enough, what they saw was another changeling who was talking to one of Applejack’s friends.
“Look you guys, it’s Fluttershy,” said Sweetie Belle softly, “but what are she and that changeling talking about?”
They saw the single changeling as it began to fly off, but then stopped and looked down at Fluttershy who was smiling happily and said, “Thanks a lot for this talk, Fluttershy; I just hope that I can find somepony to be my friend and accept me for who I am?”
“Of course, Flower,” Fluttershy responded, “don’t you worry about a thing. There are plenty of ponies here that would do just that, like myself. Just be yourself and everything will be fine. Just remember what Dragon Heart did and use that for inspiration; you could learn a lot from her you know.”
Flower smiled herself and blushed, “Yeah, I sure could. See you again, Fluttershy.” And with that, Flower went off into the sky.
“You too, Flower,” said Fluttershy while waving at the changeling, “You’re welcomed to come back any time.”
That was yet another changeling who was working really hard to change their image; Dragon Heart couldn’t feel any happier. Seeing that changeling seeking emotional help from one the bearers of the 6 Elements brought a joyful little tear to her eye.
Suddenly, Apple Bloom jumped out of the bushes and made their presence known to the yellow Pegasus, “Hey, Fluttershy!”
Fluttershy jumped slightly not knowing that she wasn’t alone, and she turned around to Apple Bloom and the others behind her, “Oh, hey Apple Bloom and…” Then she suddenly gasped and smiled a bit brighter seeing the young changeling that helped bring ponies and changelings back in peace again, “Dragon Heart, you’re back!”
“Sure am.”
“And… so are we,” said Razor abruptly, “Seriously, what are we, Dusk, chopped liver?”
“No,” said Dusk as he rolled his eyes, “Dragon Heart is just… special around here.”
Fluttershy suddenly felt a little flustered, “Oh , I-I-I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to neglect you. It’s nice to see you two as well.”
“Don’t worry about it; it’s not that big of a deal.”
The crusaders went over and gave Fluttershy a group hug together; it was something that they seem to do whenever they all see her.
“So what’s going on with ya today, Shy,” said Applejack, “It seemed like you were helping out a changeling there or somethang.” 
“Oh yeah, Flower; she seems to trust me a lot and I’m very glad that she thinks that way about me. But, there are other ponies here she could ask for friendship advice; I was being a little jittery.”
Fluttershy always thought that she wasn’t someone that somepony or anything else could always depend on; and having these talks with Flower made her a bit nervous of whether or she was really any help at all.
“Not to worry,” said Dragon Heart as she flew to Fluttershy’s side “I know Flower and I say that she’s doing great thanks to your advice.”
“Really?” said Fluttershy, “You think so?”
“Of course, you’re the Element of Kindness. If there’s any pony that Flower could ask about being kind and friendly, I’d say you’re a perfect candidate.”
FLuttershy blushed out of embarrassment, “Well… I don’t know about a perfect candidate, but I guess I did pretty good… and thanks for saying that.”
“We’re making our way towards the main part of Ponyville,” said Apple Bloom, “you know, so Dragon Heart can say hello to everypony… and to see a certain someone… who’s a dragon.”
“Oh yeah,” Fluttershy chuckled, “I’m sure she definitely wants to see him.”
“Oh come on,” groaned Dragon Heart, “you too?”
“Don’t be embarrassed, Dragon Heart, everypony is meant to be with somepony; no matter how bizarre it may seem to some.”
“I’m not embarrassed about being in love,” she said while blushing somemore and slightly turning her head, “I’m embarrassed about you guys pressing on the matter. I mean I’m still a little nervous, and I’m sure he’s a little nervous too.”
“Don’t worry Dragon Heart,” said Scootaloo, “We’re with you all the way! You’re a changeling; you were brave enough to fight against your own Queen for petes sake! If you and Spike really, really like each other, you’ll both get through this… and you’ll do it together.”
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other wondering what was up with their Pegasus friend being so sensitive all of a sudden.
“Oh my gosh, Scootaloo,” chuckled Apple Bloom, “since when did you become so cheesy?”
“Hey, I have my moments, alright!”
“Hey you guys!” a loud, quirky voice called out suddenly.
Fluttershy perked her ears up hearing the voice and recognized it right away, “Wait a minute, was that…”
Coming down from above was a grey Pegasus mare with a blonde mane flowing in the air. Her eyes were also a bit here and there all over the place, but she was looking in the same direction the whole time. She landed in front of the group and had a very cheerful smile to show off. 
“How are you guys doing?” she asked, “Mind if I hang a bit?”
“Oh… h-hey, Mrs. Derpy,” said Fluttershy nervously, “we weren’t expecting you to suddenly appear before us.”
“We definitely weren’t,” Scootaloo mumbled under her breath.
Applejack overheard her and gave her a little bump on her flank, “Scootaloo, be nice.”
The young mare turned her attention to CMC and was staring at them with such dawing eyes it caused the little fillies to feel a little uneasy, “Aw, aren’t the three of you just adorable; I could just eat you up!”
Applejack and Fluttershy thought that Derpy was acting pretty weird even for her, but Dragon Heart and the other two changelings knew that something suspicious was going on here. Just then, Dragon Heart saw what she needed to see to realize what was going on.
“Well hello there… Derpy,” she said while looking at her with a normal smile, “it’s nice to meet you personally.”
“Yeah, same here!” said the cheerful mare while flapping her wing happily, “Hello dear friendly changelings whom I do not know.”
“Oh give it up, Joker,” said Dusk, “we know it’s you.”
“Joker?” wondered Applejack.
“Huh?” said the CMC.
The grey mare scowled at the three changelings a bit and got into a pouting stance, “Darn it you guys, no fair; you ruined my fun.” And then the mare suddenly transformed into another changeling; a male changeling to be exact.
“I guess that hasn’t changed, now hasn’t it?” said Dragon Heart.
“Whoa, it was a changeling!” said Sweetie Bell shockingly, “I didn’t even realize it.”
“Why not,” Razor stated, “his obvious green eyes gave it away. After all, Derpy’s eyes are bright yellow, aren’t they?”
The trickster changeling realized his mistake and knocked himself on the head, “Oh man, I have got to work on that!”
All three crusaders just shook their heads and said at once, “That’s just sad.”
“Um, guys…” said Dragon heart hesitantly, “this odd friend of ours is Joker. We’ve called him that because he always loves to pull pranks on other ponies in many towns. It did prove to be useful in some of our… objectives in the past, but now he just does it for the fun of it. Although he still needs to work on his eye color thing if he wishes to trick someone completely.”
Joker was really proud of his work and wasn’t afraid to gloat about it, “Yep, that’s me! I’m the one who loves to copy as many ponies as I can! I’ve copied more forms of ponies than any changeling has ever done. As a matter of fact…”
He suddenly changed into Scootaloo posing her tomboyish grin, “I can copy you…”
Then he changed into Sweetie Belle smiling and flourishing her mane around, “I can copy you…”
And lastly, he changed into Apple Bloom; acting as wild and energetic as she is, “And… Ah can copy you! Hey howdy hey!”
All three crusader had blank stares seeing their own forms in front of them and were a bit weirded out on how the changeling was making  them like, “Wow, Freaky.”
“Oh, can you crusaders guess who Ah am now?!” Joker then changed himself into the form of a very familiar pink filly sporting a tiara on her head, “I’m like so tired of you losers. I need to like go and primp myself or something.”
All of the crusaders suddenly broke down laughing at Joker’s performance.
“Oh man, that is so Diamond Tiara!” shouted Scootaloo.
Dusk just rolled his eyes as he watched Joker continue to make fun of the rich filly even though he found it a little funny himself, “Oh brother.”
“Ooh, look at me;” Joker continued, “I’m Diamond Tiara and I’m like super rich! I’m always spoiled rotten, and I’m a nasty little… brat!”
Suddenly, Sweetie Belle drew a blank, “Wait, that didn’t rhyme with rich.”
“Oookay, Joker,” said Dragon Heart hesitantly, “I think you’ve entertained us enough for now.”
“What are you talking about; I have a whole lot more to show!” Joker suddenly turned into Pinkie Pie and was hopping up and down wearing a huge smile, “Come on, this is super duper extra fabulous fun! Fun, fun, fun!”
Applejack had a pretty good laugh, “Hey, that’s a pretty good Pinkie Pie imitation.”
“Yeah, it is;” Dusk responded, “but seriously dude, that’s enough. We have more important business to take care of.”
Joker stopped bouncing and just pouted at his changeling brethrens, “Alright, have it your way,” and then changed back into blonde, grey mare named Derpy, “but I’m going to stay in this form for a little while; this is a good pony to imitate, and the experience is really growing on me.”
Razor just sighed and shrugged his shoulders, “Whatever floats your boat, man.”
“I like him,” said Sweetie Belle, “he’s funny.”
As much as they wanted to see more of Joker’s acts, Apple Bloom knew that they needed to be elsewhere at this moment, “Come on guys, to Ponyville; we can’t waste another minute!”
“Yeah!!!” all crusaders shouted.
Everyone started to move on forward to leave Joker with his business, and then Applejack looked over at Fluttershy who was still looking at Joker in Derpy’s form; it was still quite bizarre to her.
“Ya comin’, Fluttershy?” Applejack asked.
Fluttershy jumped up and her attention went back to her earth pony friend, “O-o-oh… sure, I’m not doing anything right now.”
“Catch you later, Joker,” shouted Dragon as she looked back at the transformed changeling, “Try not to cause too much trouble.”
“No Promises!” Joker said with a mischievous smile.
Dragon Heart just rolled her eyes and shook her head as she went on ahead; she knew that Joker wouldn’t do anything mean to anypony anymore… or at least those who don’t deserve it. Once they were all gone, Joker chuckled while looking around for some harmless but mischievous fun.
“Okay, what to do next?”
Suddenly, as he walked forward… he accidentally ran into someone. When he looked up, he was quite surprised to see the very mare whose form he was copying standing right in front of his eyes.
“Uhh…”
He stood still sweating a bit while the real Derpy was curiously looking at him with her out of proportion eyes. She was wondering why she was suddenly staring at herself, unless…
“No way,” she gasped, “I have a long-lost twin?!”
Joker chuckled nervously and truly didn’t want her to seem like an idiot, so he told her, “Um, actually… I’m not your twin. I’m just a changeling posing as you.”
Derpy drew another blank for a few seconds but then realized what he said. She just smiled and lightly hoofed him on the shoulder, “Neat, wanna hang out?”
Joker didn’t quite know what could come of hanging out with this mare, but maybe making an actual friend for a change could be fun. After all, it’s what Dragon Heart wished for.  
“Sure, why not.”
And with that the Derpys… I mean, Derpy and Joker just flew off in having a good friendly time together. This could only end well.

-----

Back inside Ponyville… Rarity was running a couple of errands in the town just doing her usual business. She was also looking for someone to help her with her work back at the boutique; however she had no luck in finding who she was looking for.
After a while, she ended up running into the group made up of Twilight, Spike, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, and she greeted them in an elegant, polite tone, “Hello girls… and Spike.”
Spike was suddenly looking and acting cool in Rarity’s presence “Sup’, Rarity?”
He was done trying to attract her all the time, but that didn’t stop him to continue to try and impress her.
“What are you all up to;” Rarity asked, “taking a little stroll together?”
“Far from it,” said Rainbow Dash.
Twilight then filled her in with details, “Actually, we’re on the lookout for Dragon Heart in case she had come back already to visit you know who. Have you seen her?”
“I’m afraid that I haven’t, darling,” Rarity responded, “However, have you seen my little sister? I’m tailoring a dress for some other filly for a birthday party and Sweetie Belle is just perfect to model it out for me.”
They all shook their heads as Twilight answered, “No we haven’t, sorry.”
Rarity seemed a little disappointed, but then she had an idea, “Hmm, perhaps she’s with her crusader friends; where are they?”
“Heh, why don’t you ask them yourself,” Rainbow snickered as she pointed their attention in a certain direction.
About a little ways from where they were to their left, they finally saw her. It was Dragon Heart; she was walking by with her two changeling friends along with Applejack, Fluttershy and the crusaders. Apple Bloom was the first of them to notice the other group and became excited and waved to them to gain their attention more.
“There they are; hey guys, over here!”
Dragon Heart’s body was vibrating with happiness as she was able to see Spike in her sights again. After all this time taking care of things back at her nest home and other places, she was happy to be here once again with Spike and his friends.
“And there he is,” she thought to herself while sighing, “Wow, he hasn’t changed a bit.”
Spike saw her as well and at first he just stood there while staring at her, but then his eyes lit up as he shouted out, “Dragon Heart!”
Spike then left Twilight’s side as he suddenly sprinted towards the young changeling with open arms.
“Alright,” shouted Pinkie Pie, “go get her, Spike!”
Dragon Heart became a little startled as the young dragon was quickly rushing towards her. But as he got to her, he quickly stopped, calmed down, took a deep breath and played it cool.
“Ahem, hey Dragon Heart; nice to see you again.”
As he went forward and hugged her, Dragon Heart blushed and looked all around noticing some of the other residents looking at them at smiling. It was rather nice to finally see these two back together.
“N-n-nice to see you too,” Dragon Responded as she thought to herself, ‘Yep, he hasn’t changed a bit.’
Twilight, Rainbow, and Rarity were looking rather amused for Spike, and Pinkie was just happy that Dragon heart and Spike were back together again.
“Well, I guess this saves us the trouble of finding them,” said Rarity. 	
“Long time no see guys;” Razor called out to the other group as they approached them, “Did you miss us?”
“Of course we did,” Twilight responded, “you guys did help save Ponyville from your queen after all.”
Dusk just shrugged his shoulders, “Meh, it was nothing.”
Suddenly, Dusk jumped as Rainbow came up into his face upon hearing what he said, “What do you mean it was nothing?! What you guys did that day, especially Dragon Heart, was absolutely cool and very awesome!”
“Absolutely and positively awesome!” Pinkie Pie added.
“Uh… okay, okay,” said Dusk; he felt a little awkward after that, he got their point.
After a few more minutes of sharing conversations of what was going on since Dragon Heart and her friends came back, Twilight knew that it was time to get down to business.
“So how are things going with you guys?” she asked Dragon Heart, “I can only hope to hear you say that everything is going well so far.”
“Well of course;” Dragon Heart responded with a half-smile, “everything is going exactly as I always planned it to be… mostly.”
“Mostly?” said Spike.
“Well I’m sure her plan of peace wasn’t going to be accepted 100 percent, Spike,” said Twilight, “There’s probably still ponies who still don’t trust changelings no matter how much they may seem to change.”
Pinkie Pie suddenly came up to Dragon Heart and smiled at her slyly, “So, are you happy to see Spikey again?”
Dragon Heart freaked out again, “Wh-wh-what?! Come on, Pinkie, stop smiling at me like that! ”
“Look, you’re all great friends and it’s nice to see you all again;” said Dusk, “especially you, Spike. But… I’m afraid we’re also here because we have information that we have to share that might be important.”
Spike and all of the ponies suddenly stopped what they were doing and looked over at the changelings curiously.
“Huh?”
“Hey, does this have to do with whatever you said that you wanted to tell us about earlier?” asked Apple Bloom.
“It most definitely does,” Razor responded.
Dragon Heart was contemplating over what was on her mind and was almost afraid to tell them as her head was pointing down towards the earth.
“Is everythang alright, Dragon Heart?” asked Applejack.
“Oh yeah, everything is going great; much better than I ever thought we could do. It’s just that… something happen a couple of days ago that has us worried a bit about the peace that we’ve recreated being threatened.”
“Threaten, well doesn’t sound like anything good,” said Rarity with concern.
Spike stood up and suddenly shouted out to defend her, “No one should ever threaten your hard work; you worked too hard for it!”
“Yeah, and we all deserve a 2nd chance!” added Apple Bloom.
And the other two crusaders agreed, “Yeah!”
Dusk glared at them and raised his voice, “Well apparently someone doesn’t think that!”
They all looked at Dusk worryingly seeing how he sounded when he shouted suddenly, and he straighten out his voice and calmed down his nerves, “S-sorry about that, still a little shaken from what happened.”
“So what exactly happened that day that made this moment so important to talk about?” questioned Twilight.
Everyone listened closely as Dragon Heart told them, “It was during a moment that we were tending to our Queen and going over different possible things for the future. Afterwards, Razor, Dusk and I went out of the nest to take care of business somewhere.”
“And, and… come on, tell us;” said Sweetie Belle loudly, “the suspense is maddening!”
“Anyway…” Dragon Heart continued while leering a bit at Sweetie, “we got to this clear pasture that was a few miles from our nest and were discussing things in private. Nothing that we were trying to hide from Chrysalis and the others, just plans that we would soon put into action; after all, I am Chrysalis’ sub-general now.”
“Really,” said Spike excitedly, “congratulations! That is a good position, right?”
Twilight just chuckled at Spike cluelessness, “It is if you’re really good at that sorta thing.” 
“It can also be a dangerous position too since it makes you a very important member of the colony,” added Razor in a serious tone.
“Wh-what makes you say that?” asked Fluttershy.
Twilight, Spike and all of their friends were all quite antsy to find out just what happened to them that could’ve upset the balance of the new peace they’ve created. But soon enough, Dragon Heart revealed the answer.
“While discussing over things, we were caught off guard… we were… ambushed.”

> Disturbance
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the flashback sequences, the speech lines are color coded: Dragon Heart-Razor-Dusk-Ivory-Chrysalis
The outcome of this chapter is more amusing than you think.



About a month had passed since Dragon Heart helped change Chrysalis’ heart… mostly, and bought a second chance for Changelings and Ponies to live together in peace. She returned to Ponyville with Razor and Dusk to visit her friends and spend some time with them; as well as seeing her dragon friend, Spike. However, all reasons for them being there was not all sunshine and daisies; mainly because they had to tell them about something that happened to them. Dragon Heart told them all that a couple of days ago that they were ambushed; this struck a huge shocking surprise to them all.
“You guys were ambushed;” shouted Spike, “as in being attacked kind of ambushed?!”
“That’s terrible!” added Fluttershy.
The crusaders quickly came up to Dragon Heart and the other two to see if they looked hurt in any way.
“Are you okay, Dragon Heart;” said Sweetie Belle panicking, “please tell us that you’re all okay?!”
“You’re not seriously hurt, are ya?” asked Apple Bloom.
Dragon Heart just smiled and laughed; she thought that it was kinda cute seeing her crusader friends being so concerned for her and her changeling friends, “Well of course we’re okay; it only happened a couple of days ago after all.”
“That maybe the case,” Dusk complained while rubbing his flank, “but I can still feel some of the bruises.”
“I just can’t believe somepony would do something like this to you guys,” said Twilight, “and after everything you’ve done!”
Sweetie Belle felt confused as well of why someone had done this to their changeling friends, “But why; what was their reason?”
“Well isn’t it obvious,” said Rainbow Dash, “these ponies are nothing but a bunch of peace loving haters, if ask me.”
Dragon Heart knew of the real truth and tried to speak up, “Well actually, they were…”
“I have to agree with Rainbow Dash on that statement;” said Rarity suddenly, “To do such a thing as unfairly ambushing Dragon Heart and her friends like this is totally barbaric and makes those ponies complete cowards to boot.”
“Amen, sister!” Rainbow Dash agreed.
Dragon Heart tried to speak up again, “But… the truth is that…”
“Whoever these ponies are,” said Apple Bloom, “Ah say that they should be put on trial fer makin’ us look bad!”
“I agree!” said Scootaloo.
“Me too!” added Sweetie Belle
Dragon Heart tried to speak up one more time, “Guys, I’m trying to tell you that…”
“I’d like to meet these ungrateful ponies myself!” shouted Spike while acing all cool, “You mess with Dragon Heart, and you mess with the Spikester!”
“CAN I PLEASE SAY SOMETHING!!!?” Dragon Heart suddenly shouted out.
Everyone suddenly jumped and looked over at Dragon Heart feeling rather surprised by her raised voice.
“Excuse me;” she said while smiling nervously, “it was the only way to gain your attention.”
“Okey dokey,” said Pinkie cheerfully, “you have our undivided attention!”
“Sorry, Dragon Heart,” said Spike, “I guess that we were all a bit distracted pondering over why somepony would do such a horrible thing. So, what are your thoughts about these ponies that deliberately ambushed you, Razor and Dusk?”
“Well you see… that’s just it. The ones that ambushed us were not ponies at all, they were… other changelings… like us.”
Suddenly, everyone became silent again as they all stared wide-eyelid at her. Did they hear her correctly; that they were attacked by their own kind?! 
“Say what now!” Spike questioned.
“NO WAY!!!” all three crusaders suddenly shouted.
“Dragon Heart, are you seriously saying that you guys were attacked by your own kind?” Fluttershy asked in concern.
“Pretty much;” Razor answered, “Trust us; we’re just as shocked as you guys are.”
“This situation is more serious than we may have thought it would;” said Twilight, “This could endanger everything that Dragon Heart has worked so hard for.”
“How could these jerks even think about doing this anyway;” Rainbow protested, “it’s not like they could get away with such an act without the Princess, their Queen or any of us finding out!”
“Dang; well hopefully it can’t get any worse than that,” said Applejack.
Dusk glared at the earth pony and arched his eyebrow, “Wanna bet?”
“But Applejack is right;” said Spike hoping that he was right, “I mean… they were probably just forcing you to call back the peace treaty because they are a bunch of peace hating devils. Isn’t that all that it was about?”
Dragon Heart shook her head and said in a regretful tone, “Well, Spike… I’m afraid that there was more to their ambush than you think.”

-----

We were so deep in thought discussing over important details regarding our tactics in spreading the word of our new treaty, that we somehow didn’t even realize the group of Changelings that suddenly had us surrounded; there must have been around 20 of them at least. The one leading the group was a Changeling who we have been suspicious of before. He’s #666, but recently he picked up the name Ivory. He started to approach us wearing a snooty looking smirk.
“Well well, what do we have here… the beautiful young Dragon Heart together with her two lackies. Going over some of your little peace business?”
“Lackies?!”
We all recognized them right away… including me.
“Hey Dragon Heart, aren’t these guys…”
“Yeah they are, but what are they doing here at this moment?”
Just then, Razor made a little joke towards them.
“So are you guys here to provide us with entertainment; I heard Chrysalis promoted you to the royal fools.”
“Nice one.”
It was rather clever; it definitely rattled Ivory’s buttons.
“I’m afraid that none of you are in any position to crack jokes at us, peace huggers!”
“Um, if you guys don’t mind, we were in the middle of an important peace meeting; us being Peace huggers as you call it.”
“And that’s exactly why we are here!”
Not that we really cared or anything, but we were quite curious about their plan… and how it would fail.
“So… you’re here to do what exactly?”
“To finally put our plan into action and end your little peace project.”
“Oh really, is that what you guys are planning, to try and stop us… all three of us?”
“They’re kidding, right; even they shouldn’t be that stupid.”
“Hey, we’re all standing right here!”
“Look here, leader of the creeper club; since you’re so confident in yourself, why don’t you tell us the reason that you want to stop us.”
It wasn’t too much of a surprise.
“We’re not totally thrilled with your act of peace.”
“No kidding.”
“Yeah, our way of living and surviving was just fine for all these years! We’re Changelings; we’re creature that strike fear into the hearts of others! We survived through lies, deceit and trickery; it’s what we are! All of this peace and making friends with the ponies, it’s all a mockery for us; it ruins our image! Your way will only go so far before we’re all betrayed by ponies again; which is exactly what Chrysalis said… before you went and ruined everything! This nonsense needs to end… now!”
“Is that all; I was afraid that you were posing some serious threat.”
“What the… are you mocking me!?”
After hearing all of that, we were suddenly bored and decided ignore them and carry on with our schedule.
“Should we get back to business, guys?”
“Definitely.”
Then suddenly…
“Don’t you dare ignore us!”
Ivory shot a beam from his horn that nearly missed us. We all jumped and stepped back, and then turned our gaze at him.
“Hey, what your deal?!”
“Seriously, you guys are really starting to irritate us.”
“I was already irritated when they made themselves known.”
That he was.
“If you guys are looking for a fight, let me warn you that it won’t be a fair one; the three of us are way out of your league in fighting combat skills.”
“Oh we’re not just planning to fight you; we’re planning to wipe you all out… permanently.”
“What?!”
That’s what caught our attention; just what exactly were they planning to do?
“Don’t act like you’re so surprised; you had this coming right from the start.”
“Are you telling us that you would dare slay members of your own clan?!”
“Unfortunately it’s a necessary step to bring fear and respect back to the changelings. With Dragon Heart out of the way, things should go back to the way they were before her stupid peace theory. Although, it’s a shame her highness didn’t just kill you off in the beginning; that was her obvious mistake.”
“You guys really are idiots; Chrysalis is going to hear about this treason!”
“Oh please, her majesty is still in the middle of her little emotional rut thanks to you, and we’re about 5 flight miles from the nest. No other changeling knows about this, not even Chrysalis herself! And once she does find out, she’ll learn that Dragon Heart, Razor and Dusk were betrayed and killed by a group unknown ponies that don’t give a flying feather about any of us! Doing that should trigger Chrysalis’ angered past in her mind and she’ll forget all about making peace with those pansy ponies forever!”
“No… he wouldn’t dare.” 
“And what about Celestia, or Twilight and her friends; where were they when this happened? Did they really care about them at all?”
Ivory was really starting to push our buttons; especially me.
“And that little dragon; Spike was it? Is it possible that he really didn’t love Dragon Heart; that he played her; that he was nothing but a big, fat, selfish…”
At that point I was finally fed up and shot a beam from my own horn at Ivory and barely missed him. With that last quote he said, he crossed the line… not that I didn’t care about the rest of you guys.
“Be quiet; don’t you dare speak about Spike that way… especially in front of me!”
I was so infuriated, and so were the other two.
“Alright, that’s it; you guys wanted our attention, so you got our attention… and you’re going to regret it.”
“You guys are unbelievable; we’ll take you down one by one and have Chrysalis pour judgment upon you all!”
“Now that’s what I wanted to hear.”
“Razor, Dusk… take them down.”

-----

“Whoa, that’s pretty intense,” said Spike hearing Dragon Heart’s story, “and how dare that changeling say that about me; I’m not selfish at all… mostly.”
“So what happened after that?!” said Scootaloo, “I bet you, Razor and Dusk wiped the floor with those traitors!”
“Well of course they did, Scoots,” said Apple Bloom, “obviously they are more experienced in combat then those other ones were; you really were, right guys?”
“Does an ambiguous creature have a gender?” said Dusk trying to be a little humorous.
All three crusaders tilted their heads in confusion and said, “Huh?”
Dusk just sighed and rolled his eyes, “Never mind.”
“So just how fast did you three beat down those changelings traitors?” said rainbow Dash, “20 seconds, 10 seconds, 5 seconds?”
“Neither,” said Razor, “we decided to humor them a bit and lengthened the fight out to prove our point across.”
“Oh, I get it; you guys are pretty smooth.”
“We try.”
“So you guys eventually took them down and that was that, right?” said Twilight, “And I am sure you turned them into Chrysalis for judgment.”
Dragon Heart chuckled nervously and her face wasn’t glowing with a proud expression, “Well… it didn’t happen… that way exactly.”
“What do you mean,” said Spike, “You guys won, didn’t you?” 
“We would have, but Ivory and his lackeys planned to take us down… by cheating.”

-----

We did have them on the ropes as we expected and they were breaking a sweat… but we weren’t. They were lying on the ground almost out of breath and we were about ready to take them down and get things over with, but Ivory still had something up his sleeve… or… wing… or… oh whatever.
“Well, I guess your perfect plan to get rid of us has fallen flat… as expected.”
“Are you ready to surrender and pay for your intended crimes?”
We were just waiting for them to start groveling at our feet and beg for mercy, but Ivory wasn’t giving up that easily. 
“We’re not done just yet. You guys are going to fall beneath our claw, just you wait!”
“This is getting tiresome, Dragon Heart; lets subdue them already and then continue our business.”
“I agree, lets…”
Suddenly, Ivory and the others rose to their hooves…
“N-not just yet; now guys!”
… and then they all just dashed at us again nearly missing us by a mile.
“Whoa!”
It was no big deal, but they needed to learn when to quit while they were ahead.
“Just give it up, Ivory; you’ve already lost!”
Just then, I noticed a little smirk hiding behind Ivory’s expression as he leered at me.
“Or have we?”
“Ahh!”
And just like that, I heard both Razor and Dusk scream out in pain behind me. I turned around and I saw them on the ground and they weren’t moving; I panicked.
“Razor, Dusk! Ahh!”
But because I was so distracted, I got struck down too and fell to the ground not moving a muscle. Ivory sounded so proud of himself.
“Excellent work, just as we planned.”
I could barely move, but felt a couple of things that was sticking me in the sides. I moved one of my legs that wasn’t frozen and pulled them out, and I couldn’t believe what they were.
“Wh-what the… are these… stun needles?”
They were stun needles; the same trick that Chrysalis did to me when I fought her because only fully grown changelings could produce them.
“That’s impossible; none of you are fully grown!”
“Well duh, that’s why we stole some of them from the nest that were left over.”
“What?!”
And that definitely explained a lot.
“Did you really think that we would be stupid enough to pick a fight with you three without some sort of hidden plan?!”
“Actually, we did; it seemed obvious.”
“Silence; you three had your fun, but now it’s time for my favorite part…eliminating you all!”
“You know, killing us won’t change anything at all; you idiots do know that, right?”
“Well… I guess we’ll find out soon enough, darling… once you’re dead.”
The three of us could’ve easily beaten their butts, but then they had to go and cheat just to get their way. Since we were frozen and couldn’t move at all, they were able to knock us around in any way they saw fit. There was only one thing to say in a situation like this…
“Man, this s-s-s-sucks.”
Exactly my point.
“Well my fellow Changeling, I think they have suffered enough; let’s finish them off now!”
We couldn’t believe of how we allowed this to happen; if someone didn’t show up at that minute, it would’ve been over.
“Enjoy your peace in the afterlife; victory is ours!”
After all of that despite being confidant in assuring our short and easy victory, I felt like we were going to cease to exist before we even finish with our business. But then, fate changed for the better as an unexpected someone flew down from the sky and shielded us from those traitors. It was…
“N-n-no way, its… its…”

-----

“Whoa whoa whoa, hold on!” Spike said suddenly, “Are you saying that you three were about to have your life ended, but only to have been suddenly saved… by Chrysalis?!”
“Are you really that surprised?” asked Dragon Heart curiously.
“Well… yeah! I mean… I know that she’s trying to change and everything, but she was being that defensive for you?!”
“To be honest, we were kinda surprised ourselves,” said Razor, “she just showed up out of nowhere without any of us knowing. She was supposed to be back at the nest resting and calming her nerves, yet she found out about this whole ordeal and somehow brought herself to come and protect us. Our Queen really is something, ain’t she Dusk?”
“Y-y-yeah… she truly is,” Dusk responded hesitantly; he also appeared to be lightly blushing.
“What’s up with him,” asked Spike.
“I’m not exactly sure,” said Dragon heart, “he’s been acting rather odd around our Queen lately, but I’m sure it’s nothing.”
Twilight and her friends and the crusaders as well as Spike were rather astonished by Dragon Heart’s story about what happened to them a couple of days ago; and like a good story they wanted to hear how it ends.
“So what was Chrysalis doing there and what did she do about the situation?” asked Twilight.
Dragon Heart smiled with a glow of happiness shining from her expression, “Well, for Chrysalis… she handled the situation quite well.”

-----

When Ivory and the others realized Chrysalis’ sudden appearance and the fact that she was in their path, they had to literally stop on a dime to avoid physical damage on her. Razor, Dusk and I looked up and were quite surprised and couldn’t believe our eyes; Chrysalis just swooped in and saved us on her own will!
“Ch… Ch-Chrysalis?”
“Queen Chrysalis?”
“Y-y-y-your highness?!”
Ivory was quite surprised himself but was also a bit terrified of the possible thought of Chrysalis finding out about their plan; he did his best to act normal.
“Y-y-y-y-your majesty, what are you doing here?! Sh-shouldn’t you be back at the nest resting your mind and restoring your energy; n-n-not that we’re not happy to see you or anything.”
Chrysalis didn’t look very happy with the traitors; in fact you could say that she was… buzzing mad.
“Silence your trap, you one-minded simpleton; care to explain to me exactly of what you are doing here?!”
You wouldn’t believe the pitiful excuse that Ivory came up with.
“Oh, well you see… we’re just doing a… a little test. Yeah, a test to see if these three were ready for any kind of surprise attacked them; and if you ask me they need more training than you think."
"Do you really think I am that I am that dumb? From the looks of things it seems that you purposely ambushed them somehow and were about to take them out. Although, it's kinda hard for me to even believe of how they were taken down by you so easily; they could kick all of your sorry flanks in seconds."
Razor slightly twitched one of his hooves towards some of the needles that were lying nearby
“D-does those things answer your question, y-your highness?”
Now Chrysalis was furious; her face was literally steaming red as she glared down at those that went behind her back.
“Stun needles?! You used leftover stun needles… without my authority?!!!”
“Y-y-your highness, I can clearly explain about this.”
“Hmph, there is no need to waste your breath; I’ve already knew about your plan.”
“You… y-y-you what; you knew all along!? Pardon me for raising my voice, but how long did you know!?”
“Pretty much the entire time; you fools obviously have forgotten I can hear and sense things all over the Changeling nest. Nothing gets past me.”
So all this time she actually knew about this possibly happening; could’ve been nice if she warned us ahead of time, but then again she obviously didn’t know about the whole stealing the leftover stun needles thing. 
“However, I didn’t think some of my own soldiers would actually be foolish enough to plot a traitorous scheme behind my back; but I guess now I can see that I have proven myself wrong.”
Chrysalis then looked down at us feeling quite concerned for our health. She was trying hard to not show it off too much, but we weren’t fooled; she really cared about us.
“Are the three of you… alright?”
“We’re fine, Chrysalis; thanks.”
“Yeah, we’re a little shaken up and bruised, but okay.”
Dusk didn’t say anything at first though; he just laid there while looking at our powerful and humble Queen.
“Well Dusk… I just asked you a concerning question.”
“Oh, um… we’re all just very lucky that you showed up in time… your highness. We’re all very grateful.”
“You’re welcome.”
It was kind of an awkward moment, but it soon past after awhile.
“So… you fools were actually planning to kill these three and then make me believe a complete lie about it and then have me gain revenge for no reason; DID YOU ACTUALLY THINK THAT WOULD’VE WORKED!!!?”
“Our apologies, Chrysalis, but we just wanted to have things back to the way they were. Don’t you think that this whole peace thing is a bit too much for us? After all, who’s to say that the ponies won’t stab us in the back one day; we were doing what might have been best.”
“By what… killing off three of your own kind?!”
“Okay, maybe that wasn’t the smartest move I’ve made…”
Smartest thing he said that day.
“There is absolutely no mistake going on here; the only mistake here is your foolish actions!”
It seemed to us that Chrysalis thoughts about the past really were changing, and the idea of living through lies and deceit was fading from her morals.
“No matter what happens… I have made… a commitment; one that I wish to fulfill… and one I intend to keep. The Changelings will… do as I say, and those who don’t will be punished severely otherwise.”
As Chrysalis was continuing to stare Ivory and the others down intensely, Ivory was was getting pretty nervous and tense in his body; I think he knew that he was done for.
“Heh heh, come on Chrysalis, your highness… surely we can talk this over.”
“No… I don’t think we can.”
Chrysalis then produced a few needles of her own and shot them at Ivory; and then his entire body instantly froze and fell to the ground. I had to admit, the frozen look really suited him. 
“As for the rest of you traitorous followers, come to me; swear your allegiance to me and these three... and I will spare your pitiful lives.”
And that they did; after seeing their little ringleader get taken down there was nothing that they could do now but obey their Queen; the alternative decision might’ve not turned out pretty.
“Thanks a lot, Chrysalis; we really owe you one. It must have taken all of your strength to come out here and protect us.”
“You owe me nothing, Dragon Heart; all I did was take care of a conniving traitor that needed to be dealt with. And besides I had more than enough energy to do it anyway.”
She didn’t admit to it, but I could tell that she was a bit wiped out yet she stayed strong and showed true endurance… like a true leader.
“Whatever you say.”
Chrysalis also noticed that Dusk’s face was lightly red all over and became quite curious. 
“What is up with Dusk; is he suffering from a heat stroke?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Anyway… as your Queen, I advise you three come return to the nest; you need to heal.”
“Will do.”
As our Queen, we did comply with her order and decided to just take care of our business another day; and a special request was made for Dusk.
“And will someone please get Dusk a cool moisture bath or something.”

-----

“And that’s pretty much of what happened. After that, Chrysalis proved the strength that she gained by carrying me, Razor, Dusk and the traitorous Ivory on her back all the way back to the nest. We were eventually treated, and Ivory… trapped inside a chrysalis cocoon for as long as Chrysalis feels like it; and knowing her... that could be quite a while.”
“Ha, I told you Twilight;” shouted Pinkie suddenly, “Chrysalis is becoming nicer and nicer by the minute!”
“Yeah, but she’s still no kitty cat.”
“Kitty cat?” questioned Razor.
Spike just shook his head, “Don’t worry about it.”	  
“So is it really true,” Apple Bloom shouted, “Chrysalis really is stickin’ to her commitment?”
“I always knew she would,” said Sweetie Belle, “She promised.”
Scootaloo lightly punched Dragon Heart on her shoulders while chuckling awkwardly, “Well I’m just glad that you guys are okay after all of that; b-b-but… of course you guys are okay, you’re right here talking to us… so I wasn’t worried at all.”
Scootaloo wasn’t fooling those three.
“Aw, how sweet,” said Razor, “she was worried about us.”
“I was not!”
“So let me get this straight,” Rainbow protested, “this Ivory guy plans to kill you guys behind Chrysalis’ back and then lie to her about it, and all she basically does is put him in changeling time-out; is she crazy?!”
Dragon Heart understood what Rainbow was implying, but there was a reason behind it, “Well… I guess she understands about the way I feel about ending lives even if that someone tried to end yours. Besides… have tried staying inside a slimy cocoon for days, weeks or even years? I haven’t but I never want to find out.”
“I still say that she should have executed him,” said Rainbow, “but I guess that fine too.”
“So other than that, everything is going okay, right?” asked Twilight.
“Pretty much,” Dusk responded, “although the mutiny against our peace with the ponies doesn’t just stop with Ivory.”
“It doesn’t?” wondered Spike.
“Well of course it doesn’t,” said Razor, “it shouldn’t be too surprising that not everyone in Equestria is officially happy about us trying to make peace throughout the lands.”
“Well it doesn’t surprise me one bit,” said applejack, “darn hooligans; so hardheaded to accept the truth.”
“I say forget those guys;” said Spike suddenly as he went beside Dragon Heart, “Changelings inspired to gain love through friendship with others is the greatest thing to ever happen in my opinion! I’m sure you agree too, right Dragon Heart?”
Suddenly, he gave Dragon Heart a sweet little hug and he wouldn’t let go; he was showing just how much he cared. Dragon Heart looked at him awkwardly and softly smiled feeling his loving embrace.
“W-w-well of course I do; it was sorta my dream.”
After that there was total silence for a few seconds until Spike suddenly looked up and saw everyone looking at him and Dragon Heart making little daww faces seeing the two together again.
“Oh don’t mind us, Spike,” said Fluttershy with a sweet smile, “Just watching you two get into the moment.”
“Come on guys,” said Spike while blushing bright red, “you’re embarrassing us!”
“Aw, you know what,” Dragon Heart giggled, “you’re really cute when you act all embarrassed; it helps make my embarrassment feel a little less stressful.”
Dragon heart then grabbed Spike and wrapped him in a huge hug herself.
“Awwwwwww!” said all three crusaders; they couldn’t resist the sweet sight.
Razor sat there with the others smiling for his sister and Dusk had a little slight smile himself and he wasn’t ashamed to show it.
“Heh, glad you feel that way, Dragon Heart,” said Spike nervously.
Spike felt quite happy getting a return hug from Dragon Heart, but he still felt a little embarrassed of all of his friends staring at them like this; he felt like they were doing it on purpose.
“Why me?” he thought solemnly to himself.

> Spike and Dragon Heart
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	A lot has changed ever since that huge, eventful day in which Dragon Heart changed the fate of all changelings by making a peace pact with the ponies and winning their friendship. However, the unfortunate story in which she told her Ponyville friends more than proved that not everyone was up to the new change. It was just one of the obvious challenges that they all expect to run into sooner or later and they would have to take care of it in the best way they could.
Well… it was great and all to Dragon Heart and company to see each other again and exchange friendly words, but it was about time for a moment that was long overdue ever since Dragon Heart came to Ponyville.
“You know what I’m thinking about, ponies… and changelings?!” said Pinkie excitedly.
“What’s up, Pinkie,” asked Twilight.
“Well… this wonderful love story sequel is getting close to its end after all! So we should all amscray from Spike and Dragon Heart’s sight and let them have some nice, quality alone time together!”
The way Pinkie said her statement had everyone giving her weird looks.
“Huh? Pinkie, don’t say it like that,” said Applejack, “it didn’t sound right.”
“Wait… love story sequel;” Dragon Heart thought to herself, “What the heck is she talking about?”
"Despite Pinkie being herself," Twilight agreed, “That sounds like a great idea, Pinkie!”
“Yeah, that was Dragon heart’s main reason of coming her, right;” said Apple Bloom, “to spend time with her wittle dragon friend?”
“Well yeah,” said Dragon Heart with a blush, “that was my main reason.”
Spike blushed himself himself as well; thinking about being all alone with Dragon Heart. It is what he wanted but… he himself was still a bit nervous.
“Well… I-I don’t know, maybe we could just…”
Suddenly, Twilight rolled her eyes as she gave Spike a little push that caused him to bump into Dragon Heart, “Oh quit pretending that you have butterflies in your stomach, Spike.”
Just then, Spike looked up into Dragon Heart’s eyes and he couldn’t help but smile, “Aw, who am I kidding,” Then he gave her a hug even with everyone watching, “I’ve been waiting for this moment forever.”
“Hee hee;” chuckled Pinkie, “we all know that already, Spikey wikey.”
“Don’t ruin this moment, Pinkie,” said Spike as he slightly glared at the pink mare.
“Well… I guess we should be on our way,” said Rarity with a smile as she looked at Spike, “We’ll leave you two to have fun.”
“But not too much fun,” Pinkie added.
“Pinkie…”
Right after that, everyone started to make themselves scarce and began walking away to do whatever while Dragon Heart and Spike had some time together.
“Be nice to each other, ya hear,” said Applejack.
“We wish you luck,” Fluttershy called out.
The crusaders went by Spike and they all brightly smiled as they were leaver their presence.
“Go get her, tiger!” said Scootaloo as she lightly bumped Spike’s shoulder with her hoof.
Spike just looked at her weirdly and said, “But I’m a Dragon.”
“We’ll see ya later, Dragon Heart,” said Apple Bloom.
“Yeah, we hope Spike treats you well,” Sweetie Belle added.
Dragon Heart just had a little chuckle, “Don’t worry you guys, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”
Both Razor and Dusk decided to leave too and just roam around the town so Dragon Heart could spend some quality time with Spike.
“We’ll leave her in your claws,” said Razor as he went by.
But as Dusk went by, he gave Spike a little solemn look and made his eyes glow a little, “Don’t forget that we completely trust you with her, so don’t disappoint us.”
As they went off, Spike shuddered and said nervously, “Y-yeah… love you guys too.” He then looked over at Dragon Heart, “Seriously, is he always like that? He should really lighten up.”
“Oh, that’s just Dusk,” she responded, “You know already that he means well and that he likes you, he is just more…”
“… overprotective?” questioned Spike.
“Well yeah, that’s one way to put it.”
Pretty soon, all of their friends went their separate ways for now and Dragon Heart and Spike were now together; alone amongst the crowds in Ponyville.
Spike was twiddling his fingers and was partially looking at Dragon Heart as he nervously said, “So… what now?”
Dragon Heart smiled as she just placed her hoof around Spike’s shoulder and responded, “Let’s walk.”
Spike sighed and was no longer nervous anymore. This moment was going to be great.

-----

Like any couple of young lovebirds in Ponyville would do, Spike spent some time walking around, saying hi to other pony residents, talking about the time that went by since they last saw each other, and they even went by Sugar Cube Corner for a sweet treat; they really enjoyed having each other’s company.
Eventually their day brought them to the same bridge where they both fully expressed their feelings for each other. They both just stayed there for a while to take in the surrounding scenery.
“Well, this is nice,” said Spike, “Do you still remember running here to cry your heart out because you felt so sad and confused; and then I, Spike had to come to the rescue!”
“Yeah, I do still remember that,” Dragon Heart chuckled, “but it’s not exactly a moment that I’m proud of; that is except when you cheered me up again.”
Feeling a little awkward, Spike just responded with, “Yeah, well… what can I say, I have a gift.”
Suddenly, the blonde mare named Derpy walked by the young lover and shouted, “Hey, Spike!”
“Sup’, Derpy!” Spike called back with a pleasant smile.
Just then, another mare that looked just like Derpy went by as she shouted, “Hey, Spike,” while grinning a bit.
“Hey, Derpy.”
Suddenly, it hit Spike as he quickly turned around and saw two Derpys looking back at him smiling and waving, and both were laughing from Spike’s confused face.
“What the… two Derpys?! No, wait… its Derpy and another changeling, isn’t it?”
“Sure is; that’s joker and he’s a very mischievous one. It looks like he’s up to some clean fun with one this town’s residents.”
“Yeah, Derpy can be easily entertained; but sometimes she can be a bit of a handful.”
“I guess those two are perfect for each other,” Dragon Heart chuckled.
Suddenly, something came to Dragon Heart’s mind that she had been meaning to tell Spike, but it was about time that she did, “Hey, Spike… there’s a piece of information that I have been meaning to tell you.”
“Another secret?” said Spike suspiciously.
“N-not quite a secret, but more like… something that I didn’t tell you yet.”
“So… it’s a secret,” said Spike while folding his arms.
“Okay, maybe. Remember when I told you of how I saw you nearby at that wedding in Canterlot?”
“Yeah, you said it and I heard you loud and clear.”
“Well, there was more to it than that. You do recall throwing a candle against a Changeling’s head once, right?”
“Oh yeah, I definitely remembered that; that was soooo funny! I mean I just took a shot and ‘BAM’ right on the snout! No offense, but you should have seen its face when it got hit; it felt so good and soooo satisfying, and…”
Suddenly, Spike stopped once he saw Dragon Heart looking at him with a smirk and an eyebrow rose up. Looking at her expression, Spike’s mouth suddenly dropped and eyes grew wide, and he gasped while taking a couple of steps back out of shock.
“N… n-n-n-no way; that was you?!”
“Yep, that was me;” Dragon Heart responded, “and by the way, that really hurt.”
“Whoa, I think my mind was blown,” said Spike as he felt totally shocked, “Oh well, I guess you were just asking for it since you were helping overrunning Canterlot like that.”
Dragon Heart shrugged her shoulders and leered at Spike while smirking, “I was just following Chrysalis’ orders. And besides, out of all the changelings in the main palace room, you chose to strike at me?”
“You were the closest… I think.”
Dragon Heart was chuckling at Spike’s nervous face as he came up with an excuse for that moment, but she knew that moment meant something to her.
“Well, maybe it wasn’t so bad; if you didn’t I wouldn’t have gotten a bit ticked off at you and tackle you to get a closer look. It’s almost like it was fate.”
Spike’s eye suddenly widened and his cheeks slightly blushed; now thinking back he realized that Dragon Heart was that close on him. His heart swooned just thinking about it. 
“Fate, huh; I don’t know if we should go that far, but… I guess it was a miraculous coincidence that we met. When you first came to Ponyville and we ran into each other, even though you were in pony form, I had a strange feeling that I saw you from somewhere before. I think it was your beautiful green eyes.”
“Spike, most of us Changeling’s eyes are green,” said Dragon Heart arching her eye.
“Well… yours were special I guess.”
Dragon Heart then looked out into Ponyville where she could see and sense many Changelings within the crowds. She knew that if that things were still the way they were before, there would still be a growing hate for them from the ponies and her race would still be at their throats; she knew all along that friendship was the answer.
“Anyway, fate or not, I do feel like that this was all meant to be… in a way. If I didn’t see you during the wedding, then my eyes wouldn’t have been opened up to the truth, and then I wouldn’t have made a stand against the Chrysalis. If that didn’t happen I wouldn’t have gotten banished and then eventually bringing me here to Ponyville where I met good friends and… especially you. And then etc., etc., you know the rest; everything has led up to this moment, and I know that it’s going to get better.”
“So you’re saying that it was a good thing that you were banished,” Spike protested, “You could’ve died.”
“But I didn’t, and that’s all that matters. I brought peace to the ponies and down the road we’ll try other tribes to; the buffalos, the Gryphons, whoever we can reach! We will succeed in bringing peace to all different species; if we got this far, there is absolutely no reason to give up now!”
Spike knew that she was right; she did take many risks, but it was worth it for all of this. Suddenly, he slightly blushed again as he turned towards Dragon Heart and made a curious request.
“Say, Dragon Heart… could I, um… see your pony form again? I mean… I just haven’t seen it in quite some time.”
Dragon Heart looked at him strangely as she smiled awkwardly at him, “Really; well I don’t see why not.”
She used her morphing power to suddenly change into the young unicorn filly that Spike first became to know her as; she still had it down pat and he couldn’t tell any difference.
“So… am I more pretty like this?” Dragon Heart asked him while swishing her tail and battering her eyes.
“Wow, I totally forgot how cute you look in your originally made pony form,” said Spike as his whole face turned red and was fiddling with his claws, “It’s like starring at a beautiful rare treasure.”
“Good grief, Spike, you sure have a way with words for young ladies like me.”
“Eh, it’s a gift,” said Spike proudly, “Hmm… but you what I think looks like an even rarer treasure?”
“Huh, a rarer treasure?” Dragon Heart questioned, “What could that possibly be?”
“Your true self… as a changeling.”
Dragon Heart was suddenly at a loss for words; eyes glistened with tears of happiness as she just spoke out softly, “Spike.”
Spike suddenly began to stutter in his speech as he explained himself, “Um… I guess what I’m saying is that even though I met you as a pony… a-a-a-and you do make a really cute pony; but I know that the one who really came to love me… it isn’t the pony, it’s the Changeling hiding behind the pony illusion. So to me, that’s the only treasure I care about.”
Dragon Heart suddenly changed back to her original Changeling form; but then she couldn’t help but start laughing out loud from Spike’s cheezy comment, “Oh Spike, you’re just trying to impress me even more, aren’t you?”
“Not really, I actually mean it. No matter what anypony says, you look more beautiful as a changeling.”
Dragon  Heart gave Spike a little light hug that made the young dragon feel all fuzzy inside; he hasn’t lost his touch one bit, “Well not that I didn’t know that already, but it’s nice to hear you say that; it really makes me feel better about myself.”
“But… with that aside,” Spike said suddenly, “there has been one thing that has been pondering in my mind for a while now.”
“What is it, Spike?”
“Well… it’s just… you’re a Changeling, and I’m a young dragon… a really young dragon; and despite where we are now, we live in two completely different worlds… if you know what I mean. So… do you think that we would be able to continue to be together… to always be there for one another; could this relationship last in the coming years?”
That was definitely something deep for him to think about; but Dragon Heart had no doubt telling him her answer, “The future on the road ahead of us is always unknown, Spike. But after everything that we’ve been through, I say that we have a pretty good chance.”
“Really, you think our friendship will last?”
“I know that it will,” answered Dragon Heart as she boped Spike’s nose.
Spike felt very glad him hanging out with Dragon Heart was turning out very well; but soon, Spike was about to get a big surprise.
“Hey Spike, notice anything around us near this bridge?”
Spike looked around and didn’t realized the predicament they were in, “Um… there isn’t anything or anypony around us near this bridge.”
“Exactly.”
Spike didn’t realize what was going on, but he had a weird feeling that Dragon Heart was up to something, “I’m not sure what you’re getting at, Dragon Heart.”
“Then why don’t I show you what I mean.”
Dragon Heart suddenly walked up close to Spike and then planted a soft little kiss with her lips on his. Spike stood still with his tail frozen stiff and his eyes wide open; and his entire face was crimson red. What was happening at that moment blew Spike’s mind and wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.
After some seconds, Dragon Heart pulled her lips away from Spike’s and looked at him smiling slightly from his body’s reaction, “So… what did you think?”
It took a minute for Spike to react, but his body was soon moving again and he was just trying to get past the sudden shock, “Whoa… never in all my life so far did I think that something so weird was going to happen to me like being kissed by a Changeling… and on the lips no doubt.”
“And what’s so weird about being kissed by a changeling?” Dragon Heart questioned.
“N-nothing, it’s just that it was so… sudden; but I liked it.” Spike stepped a little closer back to Dragon Heart with a mischievous smirk, “Could you maybe… do it again?”
Dragon Heart placed her hoof on Spike’s muzzle and shook her head, “Now now, Spike, let’s not rush into things.”
Suddenly out if the blue, Spike and Dragon Heart heard some nearby rustling; and then, three young fillies came falling out of a nearby tree behind them and took them by surprise.
“What the…” said Spike.
“Oh my,” said Dragon Heart hoping that the ponies were okay.
They saw that it was their crusader friends; Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. It seemed that they were watching those two from within the tree but lost their footing at one point and fell.
“Oh man,” said Apple Bloom as they were getting up while groaning from slight pain, “we really need to learn how to hide in a tree better.”
“Seriously, you guys;” shouted Spike, “What in Equestria are you three doing?!”
“O-o-oh, hi there, Spike, Dragon Heart,” said Apple Bloom nervously, “We were just nearby and… climbing this tree, and we couldn’t help but notice you guys being all romantic.”
“And we just couldn’t help but see how it turned out,” added Sweetie Belle.
“Yeah, what they said,” said Scootaloo.
Spike just placed his claws on his face and shook his head, “You girls are impossible.”
All three crusaders came over to Dragon Heart who was quite amused of the situation; they were all very excited over what they had just witnessed.
“So Dragon Heart,” asked Sweetie Belle, “does this mean that Spike is now your official special somepony… or some… dragon… or whatever?”
Dragon Heart smiled towards Spike and hinted him to answer, “Well, what do you think, Spike?”
Spike was still leering at the three young fillies for possibly spying on him and Dragon Heart; but still, he stood up proudly and said with a smirk, “Yes, yes I am.”
“Alright, we’re so happy fer you guys;” shouted Apple Bloom excitedly, “N-not that we weren’t happy fer you guys already.”
“You two are meant for each other,” added Scootaloo.
“So, exactly what were you girls doing up in that tree anyway?” questioned Dragon Heart.
“Oh you know… just striving for cutiemark… like always,” said Apple Bloom nervously.
“Yeah, um… we were trying to be the Cutiemark Crusader… tree hangers;” stated Scootaloo, “Yeah, that’s it!”
“Yeah, right;” scoffed Spike as he folded his arms and leered at the fillies again, “More like the Cutiemark Crusader Eavesdroppers.”  
Sweetie Belle went over to Scootaloo and whispered to her, “What would a tree hanger do anyway?”
“Hang in trees, duh.” 
“So you girls saw everything…” Spike protested, “including… the kiss?”
All crusaders answered in unison, “Yep!”
“It was so sweet, and you were totally gone,” said Apple Bloom with a chuckle, “You were all like...”
Apple Bloom copied Spike body pose from when Dragon Heart kissed and the other two crusaders started to laugh along with her.
“Oh, ha ha, very funny,” said Spike, “Lets see if any of you will be laughing if I catch you having your first kiss.”
“Oh calm down, Spike,” said Apple Bloom, “we’re just havin’ some fun. By the way, Dragon Heart, Ah was wonderin’; when are ya’ll going to do that… thing? Y’know, the whole thing with Chrysalis?”
“Chrysalis?” Spike wondered, “What are they talking about?”
“Oh nothing bad or anything,” said Dragon Heart hesitantly, “It’s just that me and the others think that Chrysalis is finally ready to settle things.”
“You don’t mean…”
“Yeah… she ready to finally confront Celestia and finally make this peace treaty official. Well, it is official now anyway, but you know what I mean.” 
Hearing this was making Spike feel a little on end; he knew that this moment was coming, but knowing that it was about to happen soon made him have butterflies in his belly.
“So she’s finally ready, huh? Well… g-g-good, all this waiting was driving me crazy!”

-----

The CMC went their separate way while Spike and Dragon heart were making their way to the Library tree. It was obvious that’s where Twilight was presently at, so they went there to see how things were going. But once they got there and went inside, someone else was there with her.
“Oh… Razor, Dusk, you’re here,” said Dragon Heart from slight shock.
“Hey there, you guys,” said Razor from nearby placing some books on a shelf, “Me and Dusk weren’t quite sure what else to do here while you two had a lovely time alone, so we thought it would be a neat idea to help assist Twilight here in the library; you know, to temporarily replace Spike for the time being.”
“And by we, he means himself,” said Dusk rhetorically, “At one point he actually morphed into Spike just to amuse Twilight.”
“What was wrong with that,” said Twilight as she walked into the main room, “I thought he made a pretty good Spike; he definitely had his personality down pat.”
Just for a quick laugh, Razor changed back into the form of Spike and hopped down from the bookshelf zooming up in front of the real Spike who seemed a bit creeped out.
“Hey there, I’m Spike, Twilight’s #1 assistant! I love to hunt and eat many gems, and making friends are so much fun! I love Dragon Heart, she’s like an angel sent from above and she gives me the greatest feeling in the world. Oh Dragon Heart Dragon Heart, where art thou Dragon Heart; let me count the ways.”
Dragon Heart couldn’t help but laugh as she saw Razor over exaggerate Spike’s personality and form and Razor just rolled his eyes as he sat back and watched.
“Okay,” said Spike, “that’s not just weird, that’s downright creepy… and I do not talk like that.”
“I don’t know,” said Razor as he changed back into his original form, “I think I seemed to do it very well.”
“So, exactly how did you two lovebirds enjoy your time together,” Twilight asked while trying not laugh at Razor’s little act.
“Oh it was great,” said Dragon Heart, “Just a simple hanging out together scenario. We had a little something to eat, we strolled through the park, and we even went a couple of rounds at the Bowling Alley… and I won.”
“Hey, I let you win,” Spike chuckled.
“Sounds like you both had a good time,” said Razor sincerely, “That’s good.”
“Anything else interesting happen while you two were together?” Dusk suddenly asked suspiciously.
Remembering the sudden kiss they had, Spike began to sweat a bit and blush as Dusk laid his eyes on him, “N-n-nope, nothing else happened; heh heh, nothing at all.”  
“You’re sweating,” said Dusk as he saw the sweat rolling down Spike’s body, “and why are you blushing so much exactly?”
Spike saw Dusk’s eyes emanating as he stared at him and was worried that he was experience some serious pain, “Please don’t hurt me; we didn’t do anything, I promise!”
“Oh quit scaring him Dusk,” said Dragon Heart with a little smile, “The only other thing that happen is that I kissed Spike… on… the … lips.”
The whole room went silent and all eyes were suddenly on Spike. Spike’s whole body became tense and felt like it was all over for him.
“No way,” said Twilight.
“Dragon Heart,” Spike shouted, “why did you have to yell it out loud like that?! Now your ex… I-I-I mean your friend, Dusk is going to kill me!”
“Calm down, drama queen,” said Dusk with a small smirk, “I’m not going to kill you; as a matter of fact… I was hoping that might happen.”
“Yeah, we both did,” Razor added, “we told her to get it over with and give you the shock of a lifetime. ‘Sigh’ I sure wish we could of seen your fresh reaction.”
“Before you think that the kiss wasn’t intentional, Spike,” said Dragon Heart, “it was totally intentional; your little smooth talk just helped me pull it off.”
Spike was quite impressed overall and was just glad that Dusk wasn’t going to pound him… not that Dragon Heart would allow him to do so, “Wow, I don’t know what to say but… Awesome! I never really knew that I had it in me yet; heh, I guess I do after all.”
Twilight was quite glad that everything went well for Spike, but of course she didn’t doubt that one second. But now that Spike and Dragon Heart had their little get-together moment, Twilight knew that the young changeling and her two friends still had plenty left to do.
“With all jokes aside,” she asked, “what’s next for you guys? I’m sure that you need to get back to your nest… with your duties and all.”
Dragon heart agreed with her as she nodded her head, “You’re right, we do need to head back soon. We do still have some things to take care of together; then, we’ll come back here in two days to prepare for…”
“Yeah,” said Twilight seriously, “the matter with Chrysalis. So she’s finally ready to go through with it?”
“She was going to have to be sooner or later,” said Razor solemnly, “And the sooner the better.”
Spike’s body was shaking slightly just thinking about what was going to happen, "Well, I for one am pretty nervous about this whole thing; changed or not this is Chrysalis."
"We're all a bit nervous about this , Spike,” said Dragon Heart, “but trust me, none of us is going to be as nervous about this than Chrysalis is going to be. Isn't that right, Dusk?"
Dragon Heart and the others noticed that Dusk wasn’t looking straight at them; he appeared to be in his own little world. But when he realized what Dragon Heart said, he suddenly snapped out of it responded hesitantly with a slightly blushy expression, "Oh... y-yeah, that's definitely true... I guess."
"Man,  maybe Dusk is just as nervous as Chrysalis,” thought Spike, “Hey, Dusk, are you okay?"
Dusk quickly shook his head to get himself together; and then he looked back at them with a solemn look in his eyes, "I'm fine, I just have a lot on my mind, I suppose."
Razor suddenly glomped on top of Dusk and placed his hoof around him wearing a smile and trying to encourage him, "Well ditch those thoughts for now, cause we still have things to do!"
"Please don't do that,” said Dusk leering at Razor, “or I'll have to hurt you."
"Oops, sorry," Razor nervously said as he backed off.
Spike realized what Razor said and understood completely, but he still didn’t want his time with Dragon Heart to end, "You guys are leaving now?"
"I'm afraid so, Spike,” said Dragon Heart, “duty calls. But you'll see me again, you know that."
Trying to act smooth, Spike accepted the situation and was acting cool, "Yeah, I know. You go and do your thing, and I'll be waiting right here... well, whenever I may be but most likely here."
Suddenly, his cool act wore off as he went over to Dragon Heart and hugged her tightly while spouting a few tears, "But please, just back safely, okay; because... I-I-I'm sure the CMC will miss you too."
Dragon Heart just chuckled and hugged Spike back, "I'm sure they would."
“Hey, Spike,” said Razor, “do you think that you could come here for a second and show me the secret to your amazing ruby pie? I tasted some of the burnt one you had in the trash and it was delicious!”
“Um, gross.” said Spike awkwardly as he went over to him, “but okay.”
As Spike went over to talk to Razor, Dragon Heart just stood beside Twilight and commented of her thought of Spike, "Is Spike always naive about this sort of thing?"
"He has his moments... okay, he has a lot of them. But he is a good friend where it mainly counts. But of course you already knew that."
Indeed Dragon Heart did, and something told her that their special friendship would last longer than anyone might ever expect.

-----

After a few more moments, the three Changelings said their farewell to Twilight and Spike for now and began to fly off in the sky. They even waved goodbye to some of their other friends as they went off including the CMC, and then disappeared in the distance.
"And there they go,” said Twilight.
"And there she goes,” said Spike dreamily as they watched them fly off, “Man, this was all worth it!"
"See, you handled yourself with Dragon Heart quite well,” said Twilight, “and you didn't even need a fancy gem pie to impress her."
"Of course not…” said Spike nervously trying to not admit his misjudgment, “heh, not that I was worried or anything."
"Oh please, you were literally freaking out."
Just then, something came to Spike’s mind that he said to Twilight, “But you know, there’s still one thing that bothers me; it’s Dusk.”
“What about him?” asked Twilight.
“Its the way he was acting while we were talking about Chrysalis business; he seemed all flustered and nervous… and the tone in his voice just didn’t sound like him. He did say that he had a lot on his mind, but what exactly?”
“I’m not quite sure about that,” Twilight responded, “but I’m sure we’ll find out about that eventually… you know, if he wants us to.”
“Its quite strange,” Spike wondered to himself, “Dusk was acting the same way earlier when we were talking about Chrysalis with the others. Is it possible that Dusk is… nah, it couldn’t be, not even for him.”
Twilight placed a saddle bag on her back and was headed out the door as she looked at Spike, “I’m going over to the cafe to get something to eat; you want to come with me ?”
“Nah, I’m still quite famished from earlier; being with Dragon Heart, you know. I think I’ll stay here and take care of things while you’re out..”
“Very well,”Twilight said with a smile, “see you in a bit, Spike.”
“Will do!”
After Twilight left, Spike went up stairs to see if anything need to be organized in anyway. But as he looked around, he noticed his owl friend nearby looking at him from his perch.
‘Hoo  hoo’
“Oh, ‘sup, Owlicious.”
‘Hoo’
“What going on with me, oh just busy being madly in love. Ever fallen in love before, Owlicious?”
‘Hoo’
Spike never knew what Owlicious was saying all the time, but that never stopped him from having a male to male talk with him.
“Well if you haven’t, you should try it some time; 'sigh' its awesome.”
> A Bright Future
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


(WARNING) The following chapter contains a changed and reformed Chrysalis and her somewhat new attitude may weird some readers out. Readers' discretion is advised. 





So many things have happened ever since the very day Chrysalis banished Dragon Heart from the changeling tribe. A sole changeling went undercover in Ponyville and made many new friends. She faced hardship, loyalty, and even found love. This Changeling alone almost brought a full-on invasion to Ponyville and stood up to protect it. She even fought her ruler, Queen Chrysalis, in a powerful one-on-one battle just so she could bring respect back for her kind from the ponies. Also, thanks to the Elements of harmony, Chrysalis found out the truth behind the start of the war against ponies and the death of her parents; and in the end, she decided to grant Dragon Heart’s wish and give peace a try.
After more than a month had passed, Dragon Heart and a few of her Changeling friends came to visit their new friends of Ponyville and to fill them in on everything that has happened so far, including them being ambushed by members by their own tribe; and even worse, they planned to end their lives and place the blame on the ponies to re-ignite the hatred between the two species once again. Thankfully, Chrysalis knew about everything and saved them just in time.
Another thing, Spike and Dragon Heart had spent a little time together to catch up on things since their last meeting, and you can say that it was quite magical. Spike even got his first real kiss, and it was quite explosive. But now the day that they were all expecting sometime soon was finally here; the day when Chrysalis would finally confront Princess Celestia and exchange words with each other in a special gathering meet to permanently seal the peace deal… easier said than done.
Attending the meeting besides Chrysalis and Celestia themselves were Twilight, Spike, Dragon Heart, Dusk, Razor, Pinkie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Fluttershy. They were all approaching Canterlot Castle focused on what was ahead and were all prepared in case anything had happened. However, Dragon heart wasn’t on guard at all; she knew that everything was going to be fine. She knew that nothing was going to ruin this new peace for anyone… or at least nothing that she was aware of.
Celestia was inside her throne room waiting patiently with many soldiers around nearby. Just then, a random guard came through the room doors and ran up to the Princess to announce, “Your Highness, they have arrived.”
All of the soldiers suddenly stood at attention and Celestia showed a little gentle smile as she responded, “Excellent, send them all in.”
The throne room doors opened and everyone who was there calmly walk inside. As they went in, Razor and Dusk was taking a good look around the place that they were once at but didn’t quite appreciate at the time.
“Wow; you were right, Dragon Heart,” said Razor feeling impressed, “this place is really nice-looking without us… you know, causing a ruckus.”
“Told ya it was.”
Dragon Heart smiled as she lightly tapped Dusk on his shoulder feeling very excited, “This is going to be the greatest day of our lives; don’t you think so, Dusk?”
With something on his mind distracting him, Dusk just responded by saying, “I truly hope so.”
The tone of his voice troubled Dragon heart and was wondering why he was acting so weird, “Huh, what’s that supposed to mean?”
Dusk snapped out of his distraction daze and looked over at Dragon Heart hesitantly and said, “Oh, just… saying that anything can happen and we sh-should prepare for anything… th-that’s all.”
Dusk then looked ahead of him partially sweating leaving Dragon Heart feeling quite baffled. She knew that something was bothering him, but maybe they’ll find out in this meeting somehow of what it is.
Meanwhile just behind them, Spike was walking beside Twilight trying to hold his own, but was still very nervous and sweating rapidly, “Th-this is going to go off w-w-without a hitch, I-I-I just know it.”
“Calm down, Spike,” said Twilight, “it already has; don’t worry about it so much.”
“O-of course, you’re right,” said Spike as he straightened himself out, “I can do this; for Dragon Heart, for all Changelings, and especially…”
Suddenly, as he turned around, Spike realized that everyone who was there had entered the room… except one.
“Wait… where’s Chrysalis?”
Everyone looked behind them and Chrysalis, who was supposedly at the back of the pack wasn’t there. But luckily she was just standing near the doorway feeling very unsure of entering.
Dragon Heart sighed as she smiled and shook her head, “I’ll go get her.”
As she went to fetch Chrysalis, some of Twilight’s friends were chuckling a bit from seeing the Queen of Changeling acting in an unusual matter; but they tried their best to not show it.
“Well this is a bit awkward,” said Twilight towards Dusk and Razor.
“Come on, Chrysalis,” said Dragon Heart at the doorway looking up at her nervous leader, “no need to be shy. Everything is going to be fine; trust me.”
Everyone could see Dragon Heart as she carefully guided Chrysalis into the room and was doing her best to not offend her. Chrysalis herself felt totally embarrassed of being so nervous about a simple meeting. She figured that this wouldn’t get to her, but she proved herself wrong; she felt like an idiot in front of everyone there.
“This is downright embarrassing,” she said to Dragon Heart, “Me, being so doubtful and feeling so nervous and weak; not to mention being dragged in here by one of my own underlings.”
“Underling friend,” corrected Dragon Heart.
Chrysalis was looking all around her as she came in, and besides Twilight and the others watching her weird behavior, she noticed all of the Royal Guard solider scattered throughout the room and were all looking very serious.
“Why are there so many soldiers in here,” Chrysalis questioned, “They still don’t trust me, do they?”
“N-n-no no, that’s not it,” Dragon Heart responded nervously, “they’re just here to… watch over their Princess, that’s all.”
Chrysalis was still unsure about all of this, but she knew that this had to be done sooner or later. She found herself being led past the others by Dragon Heart and right towards Celestia... and she got more nervous inside the closer she got.
“Go get ‘em, tiger,” shouted Pinkie so suddenly making the others around her jump a bit, “Make with the peace!”
“The pink one,” said Chrysalis awkwardly to Dragon Heart, “… still as odd as ever I see.”
Dragon Heart chuckled out of amusement, “Well, that’s Pinkie Pie for you.”
Dragon Heart finally got to Celestia with Chrysalis with Dusk and Razor right behind them and Twilight and Spike not far behind. The rest of Twilight’s friends were at stand by behind them for if they ever needed them; but they were all excited to witness this event unfold.
“Princess Celestia,” said Dragon Heart bowing to the royal ruler, “I present to you… Queen Chrysalis.”
“Here we go,” said Spike still feeling unnerved.
The whole room was silent and all eyes were set on the two leaders; which didn’t help matters much for Chrysalis. She slowly approached in front of Celestia, and the Princess herself looked at her with a pleasant smile.
“Well…” Celestia started, “it’s been a while since we last met; but I’m glad that this time it’s under much different circumstances.”
Not looking at Celestia square in the eye, Chrysalis responded hesitantly saying, “I-i-it’s nice to see you too… I suppose.”
Spike leaned over to Twilight and whispered, “So far, so good.”
Twilight smiled as she just rolled her eyes.
Pretty soon, Chrysalis found her own courage to stare straight at Celestia despite her nerves, “So tell me… Princess; do some of your soldiers still despise me? Some of them are eyeing me rather strongly.”
“Oh don’t mind them,” Celestia chuckled, “they’re just here to make sure that things go smoothly.”
“I bet they are.”
“With that aside,” Celestia continued, “I am really glad that you were able to come to this meeting; we all are. I’m sure it was really stressful for you to bring yourself here… seeing as to what happened the last time you visited us.”
Chrysalis didn’t want anyone to take her nervousness seriously and tried to brush it off, “Well don’t think I’m suddenly scared or nervous around anypony here… because I’m not.”
“Oh, did I say that,” said Celestia in a slightly joking manner, “I don’t think I did.”
Chrysalis got a little embarrassed of saying what she did; she knew that she walked herself right into that one.
“Come on, Chrysalis,” said Celestia, “it’s okay if you are a little nervous; it’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
“I SAID I’M NOT NERVOUS!” Chrysalis suddenly shouted.
Everyone jumped back and the soldiers in the room turned their attention to Chrysalis in case she tried to do something. However, Celestia signaled them to stay where they were as Chrysalis calmed herself down from being angered so easily.
“O-okay… perhaps I am… a little n-nervous.”
“Good going,” whispered Dragon Heart to Chrysalis.
“Whew, I was a bit worried there for a second,” said Spike to Twilight, “She seriously needs an attitude adjustment.” 
“I understand that you can get angered a bit easily,” said Celestia towards Chrysalis, “and that’s fine; accepting one’s personality and helping them out with it is a great start when creating peace and making friends.
Chrysalis muffled a little chuckle under her breath hearing that one word, “Friends… heh. If I could fully comprehend the meaning of that word I’m pretty sure I would be hopping around like a happy little filly.”
“Can you?” said Razor jokingly.
Dusk leered at him and smacked him against the head, “Ow, what?”
“Well… isn’t Dragon Heart your friend?” Celestia questioned Chrysalis.
“I… well…”
Chrysalis still didn’t know exactly how to answer that question, so Dragon Heart steped up and answered for her, “Well of course I am, and so are Dusk and Razor, right?”
“I-I suppose,” Chrysalis responded timidly.
Dragon Heart smirked at her with an arched eyebrow seeing how pitiful she was acting, “Come on, you can do better than that.”
“Okay, yes… y-yes, they are my friends.”
Chrysalis then tilted her head toward Twilight and the others for a few seconds and then looked back at Celestia, “And I suppose that… I have other friends too.”
“Did you guys hear that,” Rainbow silently chuckled, “I think Chrysalis just called us her friends; it’s so great and messed up at the same time.”
“Listen, Chrysalis,” Celestia continued, “this meeting was all so you and I could talk things over and settle our past differences aside. You may not realize it, but you’ve gained quite a friendly reputation lately, and you have your three main officials here to thank for that.”
“Guilty,” said Dragon heart with a smile.
“Well… what else did you think we were doing?” Razor added.
Dusk however, remained silent, though no one realized it.
“That may be,” said Chrysalis nonchalantly, “but it’s not like everyone in Equestria will suddenly shower me with praise.”
“Well of course not;” said Dragon Heart. “No one said the road to peace would be easy.”
Seeing her still feeling troubled, Celestia continued her reasoning, “To tell you the truth, Chrysalis, after that day you invaded my kingdom and overpowered me, I really hated you as well as the rest of your army. After all you took advantage of my Niece’s wedding and almost ruined everything; and the same thought probably goes for everypony else.”
“Uh-oh,” Spike thought to himself.
Chrysalis gave Celestia a little un-amused glare, “Gee, thank you for making me feel so much better, Princess.”
“However, thanks to Dragon Heart, she reminded me of the harsh past of your kind and how I could’ve done something to help prevent different tragedies. I also understand that it was me who defeated your parents and took them away from you.”
Chrysalis’ expression quickly changed again remembering how she felt at that moment that she cuddled with her parents for the last time, “Y-yes… but the situation of it wasn’t what I thought it up to be. I thought my parents and others were purposely attacked and killed simply because ponies hated us and wanted us to be extinct. I guess I sorta over reacted in my anger… just like my parents did.”
“Well even so,” said Celestia with a sincere smile, “I still am sorry for the cause of your loss; I know how much your parents meant to you. So… will you find it in your newly reformed heart to forgive me; because I do forgive you.” 
Chrysalis thought hard trying to not feel anger towards Celestia every time she thought of her parents’ death; and then she took a deep breath, looked up at the Princess and responded, “If you choose to do so then yes, I shall … accept your forgiveness… and… I shall forgive you.”
It was a wondrous sight for Dragon Heart and was glad that the matter between the two rulers was resolved real well.
“Well how about that,” said Razor amusingly, “it seems we were all worried for nothing.”
“Yes! Way to go you guys!” Spike shouted excitedly.
Everyone in the room including all the guards and Chrysalis suddenly looked at Spike weirdly and the little dragon blushed and grinned as he chuckled nervously.
“I-I-I mean… good job guys; heh heh.”
“Oh Spike,” Dragon Heart chuckled, “you speak out in the most awkward of moments.”
“Y-y-yeah, that’s me; mister awkward.”
After Spike’s awkward moment, Chrysalis looked back at Celestia curious if there was something more to this meeting than just a simple apology.
“So what now; is that it?”
Celestia thought about it, but then she had a little smile on her face as something came to her mind, “Well… you know… a simple tradition of forgiving and making peace isn’t complete…” Celestia then stepped down, sat on her flank and raised her forehooves in the air, “without a nice, simple, forgiving hug.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Chrysalis groaned.
“The Princess never kids… well, mostly.”
Chrysalis rolled her eyes and sighed as she slowly went to Celestia and hesitantly reached out and wrapped her forehooves around Celestia to hug her. Everyone in the room smiled at the sight and cooed at the Queen. 
“Awwwwwwwww!”
“Oh, would you all just stop it.”
After the hug, Chrysalis released herself from Celestia and strangely… she felt somewhat comforted and satisfied inside.
“See, wasn’t that quite comforting;” asked Celestia, “It always is for me.”
“It did feel rather… decent,” said Chrysalis shyly, “It d-did calm me down a little, I guess.”
Having that been said, Celestia turned her attention to the others that were in the room, “Well, Twilight, Dragon Heart, or anypony else here; if any of you wish to say something on behalf of this peace meeting, please speak now.”
Spike and Dragon heart thought that nothing could ruin this moment, but then before anyone could respond, the throne doors swung open as a single voice called out, “Hold everything! I wish to say something.”
Everyone looked behind them and gasped as they saw someone they didn’t expect.
“Cadence?” shouted Twilight.
“Cadence?” said Celestia.
“Cadence,” said Chrysalis with a little smug expression.
Razor gulped, “Oh snap.”
“And now I’m going to freakishly pass out,” said Spike before fell unconscious on the ground.
Dragon Heart couldn’t believe it; things were finally going her way, but now… could it all be ruined?
“I didn’t expect you, Cadence,” said Celestia, “I heard that you and Shinning were a bit busy today at the Crystal Kingdom.”
“We are, but Shinning told me about what was happening today and decided handle things himself while I came here. I also figured that I would take this opportunity to settle an old grudge I had for a while.”
“Oh did you now?” said Chrysalis with an arched eyebrow.
Dragon Heart was freaking out inside and repeatedly thinking to herself, “This is not good, this is not good; this is not good.” 
“Exactly what is it that you want, dear Princess of the Crystal Kingdom?” questioned Chrysalis, “Are you still upset about what I did to you and your wittle hubby?”
“His name is Shining Armor if you had forgotten; and no, I’m not mainly upset about that anymore. However, I can’t say that I don’t still hold a little grudge against it… that I already mention.”
“We have to stop, her Twilight,” whispered Applejack to Twilight, “No offense to her, but she might endanger this whole thang.”
The rest of Twilight nodded in agreement, but Twilight just smiled not feeling worried at all.
“Don’t worry girls; I have a feeling that this will end quite well. Cadence is too smart to do something like ruin this meeting.”
Cadence looked up at Celestia and asked politely, “Permission to speak, Aunt Celestia?”
“U-um… permission granted.”
“Well… Chrysalis; I’m sure it was difficult for you to imagine anypony forgiving you of what you did. But then you get to me and… well, your thought must be envisioning me never forgiving you at all, right?”
Chrysalis looked puzzled not knowing where Cadence was going with this, “Um… perhaps; what is it to you?”
“I’m just saying that if that is what you were thinking, then you are absolutely right. Capturing me, fooling my Aunt, fooling Twilight and her friends, fooling my husband and nearly ruining the best day of my life; yeah, I totally hated you for that. I felt that I could never forgive you for that… ever.”
Cadence seemed to become more annoyed towards Chrysalis as she talked and Twilight’s friends became very worried; including Dragon Heart, Razor, Dusk… and Spike, who was already back on his feet.
“Twilight…” whispered Fluttershy.
“Just wait for it.”
“So what is your point exactly,” questioned Chrysalis, “other than bringing the past back up and making a mockery of me?”
“My point is that all of those feeling were going through me for the past few months. But then about a week ago, Dragon Heart and her friends came to my Kingdom and told me about everything.”
Chrysalis suddenly looked over at her Changeling comrades realizing what Cadence might have heard, “Everything?”
“Yeah; she told me about what happened all those years ago and what really transpired that certain fate-changing day. She even told me all about what happened when you exiled her down to when you two had a giant showdown in Ponyville, which I surprisingly had no idea about; I don’t know why I didn’t know about it then.”
Cadence then looked at Spike with a little smirk, “Although, the strangest thing to me was when she mentioned falling in love… with a certain familiar dragon.”
Spike blushed a little at first, but then wondered about something in his head, “Seriously, the Queen of Changelings is having a change of heart and is trying her best to make peace, and a Changeling falling in love with a dragon is the strangest thing to her?”
After that, Cadence continued her talk to Chrysalis, “I understand that you are trying to change the ways of your kind because of Dragon Heart and that you explained your deep, dark reason for doing what you did because of the loss of your parents. But I have one question.”
Everyone including Celestia listened closely of what Cadence was about to say; and Chrysalis didn’t really care, but she was curious herself of what it was to.
“Out of all of the stallions that you had to choose to fill your empty void… why did you have to choose Shining?”
Everone’s jaws dropped hearing Cadence’s words; all she was worried about was Chrysalis’ interests in her husband, Shining Armor.
“What?” Chrysalis said out of shock.
“Huh?” all of Twilight’s friends said at once.
“Oh boy,” Razor thought to himself; and Dusk just planted a face hoof on himself realizing just how much the situation changed.
Dragon Heart however, was actually amused; she was just glad that Cadence wasn’t going to start insulting Chrysalis
“I mean sure he’s very charming, handsome and wonderful to be around, and that’s why I fell in love with him,” Cadence continued, “But still… why him?!”
Spike solemnly looked at Twilight while pointing at Cadence, “Is she for real?”
“Are you absolutely serious?” Chrysalis chuckled, “Well to tell you the truth, I really didn’t care about any of his good qualities; in fact, I really didn’t care about him at all as you all may have already known. With such a big event taking place and the strong bond you two had shared, it was the obvious chance of a lifetime; and I certainly wasn’t going to do it to you.”
Cadence blushed out of embarrassment while grinning and scratching her head; she knew that she could’ve handled that moment better, “Oh… yeah, I-I-I guess that would make more sense; well color me pink; oh wait, I am pink… well, pinkish.”
Twilight looked at Spike to answer his earlier question, “Perhaps it’s an off day for her.”
“This is the Princess of the Crystal Kingdom?” questioned Dusk to Razor, “She seemed wiser back there.”
“Cadence, is there something else that you wanted to say?” asked Celestia.
“Oh, of course; what I was originally going to say after that was that Shining and I understood everything in Dragon heart’s story. We thought it over and decided… we’re willing to forget everything and bury everything in the past… as long as you’re true to your new oath and that this sorta thing doesn’t happen again.”
“Is that so?” said Chrysalis looking amused.
“It sure is; so what do you say, friends in progress?”
Cadence held out her hoof for Chrysalis to shake it as she stood there nervously grinning. All Chrysalis did was smile slightly while letting out a small chuckle.
“Don’t expect anything out of me just yet, Crystal Princess; but… very well, friends in progress.”
She then reached out and shook hooves in agreement with Cadence; and thus another problem was resolved.
“And make sure you continue to admire these subordinates of yours and be kind to them,” said Cadence with a smirk, “You’re very lucky to have them.”
“Heh, I suppose I am.”
“Alright,” shouted Spike once again, “I knew you guys could do it; I never doubted you for a second.”
“I’m sure you didn’t,” said Twilight suspiciously.
Following afterwards, Twilight calmly walked up to Chrysalis sporting a friendly smile doing the best of her ability to actually show the Queen some respect, “Well, Chrysalis… as awkward as I feel saying this to you, I just wanted to say that we’re all rather glad that you’ve decided to turn over a new leaf. Heck, even Rainbow Dash thinks you’re cool now.”
Twilight accepting her friendship was just grateful to Chrysalis as the way she felt towards Celestia and Cadence; but she was trying not to be too emotional about it.
“Hey, she was loyal to her own subjects here and went out of her way to protect them of her own free will,” said Rainbow Dash excitedly, “That makes anypony cool in my book!”
When Rainbow Dash thinks you’re cool, then you’re cool; Chrysalis didn’t mind to know about that and accept that status of herself now.
“I have to admit,” said Rarity, “befriending Changelings sounded a bit obscure to me at first; after all, I have sanitary issues. But now, I’ve realized that it doesn’t really matter. I’m generous enough to befriend any creature in the sake of friendship, as long as they respect me in the same way.”
Chrysalis always found herself beautiful in her own way, but thanks to Rarity she realized that beauty isn’t always everything.
“Same here,” said Applejack, “I wasn’t feelin’ 100 percent positive about this whole trustin’ the very creatures that caused so many problems in the past. But soon I figured why not. If nudged in the right direction, anyone can have kind and honest hearts; even Changelings.”
Spoken from the deepest of Applejack’s honest heart, Chrysalis completely understood her saying and agreed to remember it for days to come.
“E-e-everything about Changelings ch-chilled me to the bone ever since I learned more about them,” said Fluttershy trying her best to not be too shy in front of Chrysalis, “But then I asked myself; if a Changeling with such a caring heart like Dragon Heart was able to do what she did, what’s there to say that the same thing is possible for others?” She looked up at Chrysalis and smiled happily, “Um… and I-I’m very glad to be your friend.” 
Fluttershy’s kindness could warm anyone’s heart, and Chrysalis, even though it took a lot more time than usual, was no exception. She knew that that her kind could learn a lot from the yellow Pegasus.
“Well I didn’t care;” shouted Pinkie as she zoomed up in front of Chrysalis hopping up and down, “a peace treaty means more friends to have lots and lots of fun with! I mean sure you could be very scary sometimes; that was the objective you all had all these years after all. However, no matter how scary or how frightening somepony can be, I always do my best to make them my friend!” She then grabbed one of Chrysalis’ legs and gave it a big friendly squeeze, “So congratulations, you’re Pinkie’s newest friend!”
“Personal space, please?” said Chrysalis looking down at the pink mare.
Pinkie chuckled and said, “Okie dokie, newest friend!” as she released herself from the Queen’s leg. 
Chrysalis knew that this pony was wild and very friendly, but she found out that becoming her friend took some patience and endurance on her part as well.
Twilight looked over at Spike and gave him a little nudge to help encourage him. “Go on, Spike; isn’t there something you want to say?”
Spike slowly walked over to Chrysalis feeling a bit sheepish; but even so, he said what was on his mind. “Well… what else can I say? I may have not seen all of this coming, but meeting Dragon Heart was probably one of the luckiest days of my life; and probably hers too.”
Dragon Heart smiled with a huge heartfelt feeling from Spike’s comment.
“Plus, finding out who she really was made me change my perspective on some things; and all of those mean things that I probably said about you and… your kind after that wedding, forget that; I-I truly think that you are  a good leader if you keep on trying hard enough.” He then got on one knee and held out one of his claws up to Chrysalis and said, “So… I humbly request your friendship.”
Without much hesitation, Chrysalis complied to shaking his claw with her hoof and responded, “And… I humbly accept it… young dragon.”
Chrysalis suddenly found herself smirking at the little dragon seeing just how humble he really was, “I guess Dragon Heart really has made a wise choice in befriending you.”
“Oh stop, you’re making me blush.”
After all of that was said and done, Celestia was about to end the meeting, “So… what now, Chrysalis? Now that you’ve finally accepted friendship as fuel to lead your kind, what will you do now?”
“My… face may not truly express it right now,” Chrysalis answered timidly, “but… I really wish to push my clan in a new direction. More than a month ago I thought Dragon Heart’s notion about creating peace and making allies through friendship was a waste of time and was foolish , but… I was wrong. Thanks to her… and all of you, I’ve finally understand just how strong bonds of friendship can really be.”
Suddenly, Chrysalis’ expression changed as another thing came to her mind; something that was on her mind for quite some time now. 
“However, despite everything that I have gained now, I fear that nothing will help… with the absence of my parents; nothing could replace that.”
The room grew quiet as everyone there suddenly witness Chrysalis crying. She was shedding a few tears and didn’t seem to care who was watching. Her parents really were everything to her and were the main source of her love. Mostly everyone knew this and could understand her pain. But then suddenly, something completely unexpected happened.
“W-w-ait… my Queen,” said Dusk after being silent for most of the meeting.
Everyone suddenly placed all of their eyes on him and watched him as he was approaching Chrysalis.
“Dusk?” wondered Dragon Heart.
After Dusk stepped in front of Chrysalis, the Queen wipped some of her tears away and looked down at Dusk wondering what he wanted, “Wh-what is it, Dusk?”
“My Queen, I… I-I’ve been doing some hard thinking lately… and I didn’t know how to go about this, but…”
“What is Dusk doing?” said Razor suspiciously.
Dusk was acting rather strange while he was speaking to Chrysalis. His speech was skipping slightly and almost seemed hesitant to speak more to her.
“What are you trying to say?” asked Chrysalis.
Dusk did find the courage to speak out to her some more even though it was taking a serious toll on his nerves, “Well… I-I’ve been serving you for all of these years; I’ve always been loyal to you and never questioned your authority. But despite all of that, I was blinded from the truth. Instead, I kept trying to devote my life and my very being to Dragon Heart… even though she never returned the same kind of feeling to me.”
It was weird to everyone to see Dusk act like this. He always appeared to serious and never did crack much under pressure, but the way he was acting now changed all of those traits of his temporarily out the window. However, knowing how he was acting the other day, it was finally occurring to some of them of what might be going on.
“Wait,” said Spike, “he’s not… i-i-is he…”
“Forcing my devoted love on someone was a mistake and it did nothing but turn me into a jealous fool. But now I understand, and I am ready to make a commitment.”
By gathering all of his courage, Dusk went over and grabbed Chrysalis’ hoof booth of his and held it up while looking up in Chrysalis’ emerald eyes. 
“I know I can’t replace your parents, but… I wish to devote my love a-and my life… to you, my Queen; that is if you choose to accept.”
Once again the room grew silent as everyone looked at Dusk in shock. They were all wondering where this was suddenly coming from; was this the feeling he was hiding from everyone? Was this actually how he felt about Chrysalis, or was he just doing his best to serve his Queen again?
Chrysalis just stared at Dusk feeling very confused at first, but then released her hoof from his grasp and began slowly baking away from him, “D-Dusk… what is this all about; is this some kind of joke, because it isn’t funny?!”
“I believe it’s no joke, Chrysalis,” said Celestia with sincereness in her tone, “His heart has finally opened up to him; and now it’s allowing him to realize that his true feelings for love are for you and wishes to mainly share it… with you.”
“Sounds like a really good deal, don’t you think?” questioned Cadence with a smirk.
Chrysalis was at a loss for words; none of her followers show her this much dedication before, she was quite baffled at Dusk’s request. “I… I-I-I don’t know what to say.”
“So that’s why he was acting so weird lately,” said Spike to the others, “he just had a secret crush on Chrysalis; but he didn’t realize it until after he let go of his false feelings for Dragon Heart.”
“Well I’ll be,” said Twilight.
Feeling quite proud of Dusk, Dragon Heart approached Chrysalis smiled at her while saying, “Go ahead, Chrysalis, you know what to say.”
Chrysalis slowly walked back over to Dusk looking at his sincere and loyal eyes, and she realized that his words were of the absolute truth. Another tear trickled down the side of her face as Chrysalis slightly smiled and made a response.
“Dusk, your emotional feelings are quite weird… and the timing of your confession was so cliché; but… I-I accept, and thank you.”
She then grabbed Dusk and gave him a little hug and Dusk hugged back with no hesitation. Everyone one in the throne room smiled at the adorable sight; even the guards. It seems that Chrysalis’ heart was now fully mended and she was now at peace.
At that moment, Princess Celestia finally declared that this peace meeting… was adjourned.

-----

After the peace meeting was over, Spike went off somewhere in the Canterlot Gardens to hang out with Dragon Heart and the other Changelings while Twilight and the others were finishing up with some business with Celestia and Cadence. Everything was finally over and Twilight and her friends were happy and quite relieved about it.
Afterwards, Twilight and her friends were walking out in the castle doors talking about everything that had happened there that day and were looking forward to what happens next.
“Well how about that, girls,” said Twilight, “I guess we never needed the Elements after all.”
“Of course we didn’t,” Rainbow Dash shouted tossing her Element up and down, “there was no doubt in my mind that it was all going to go well.”
Rarity was still crying blowing her nose over Dusk’s whole proposal speech to Chrysalis and thought it was one of the most wonderful thing she had ever witnessed, “That… wonderful surprise speech, it was so beautiful, romantic and… so heartfelt. I’m still crying just thinking about it.”
“That’s right,” said Applejack while patting Rarity on the back, “let it all out, drama queen.”
“Do you think Chrysalis would let me throw her a wedding party?” questioned Pinkie Pie while bouncing in front of the others, “That would be totally off the hook!”
Applejack shook her head, “Ah wouldn’t count on it, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask Ah guess.”
The six ponies kept walking until they went into the Canterlot Gardens where the others were. Twilight soon spotted Spike who was coming towards them with Dragon Heart and Razor.
“There you are, Spike!”
“I was just hanging out and talking with Dragon Heart and the others;” Spike responded proudly, “no biggie.”
They all notice Dusk and Chrysalis up ahead and it seemed that they were caught up in a conversation with each other.
“So what exactly are those two doing now?” asked Twilight.
“Just talking things over,” said Dragon Heart with a smile, “Chrysalis is trying to get a better understanding of Dusk’s emotional feelings for her. She still feels a little awkward about it and so does Dusk,” she then gave a little chuckle, “but it’s still going well.”
“Never in my whole life did I ever think that I would find Changeling love so adorable,” said Fluttershy as she was dawing at the sight of Chrysalis and Dusk.
“So, Dragon Heart,” said Twilight, “you’ve finally achieved your dream; so what do you say to that?”
There were many mixed feelings inside Dragon Heart about that feat, but she just didn’t know what to say.
“I feel … quite satisfied; I just don’t know what to do now. Now that everything is said and done, I feel like that there is nothing left for me to do.”
“Don’t be so silly, Draggy waggy,” said Pinkie giving Dragon Heart a light noogie, “of course you do; you still have your duty to your Queen!”
Everyone smiled and nodded in agreement.
“Well yeah, there’s that.”
Spike suddenly jumped on Dragon Heart’s back and told her, “Plus, even though you’ve fulfilled your peace dream, it doesn’t have to stop there! There are many ponies, Buffalo… heck, even griffons that you haven’t even met yet! Go out and make more friends and make sure that this peace treaty of yours stays in check.”
“And of course, Dusk and I will be right there with you,” added Razor, “that is if Dusk is not too busy hanging out with his new lovebird.”
This deep, warm sensation that Dragon Heart was feeling; she remembered having that same feeling when she first arrived to Ponyville during her banishment. It was all but soothing for her; especially if it came from Spike.
“Thanks, Razor; and thank you guys a lot. You know, it may seem that everything that has happened was all because of me, but the truth is that none of this would have been possible without the support of all of you… and the crusaders, of course.”
“Well, if you ever need any extra help at all,” said Rainbow Dash, “just call us; we’ll be there in 10 seconds flat!”
“She might anyway,” said Rarity, “the rest of us would have to take a cab.”
Suddenly, Pinkie was wiggling with excitement as she was looking behind her, “Ooh ooh, here they come; here they come!”
Everyone looked over as they saw Chrysalis and Dusk coming over to them. They all gathered together to see what she had to say.
“I… just wanted to thank you ponies for everything you’ve done, and… f-for believing in Dragon Heart even when I chose not to. Thanks to her, I do believe our species will survive for generations to come.”
“Well, we were all more than happy to help, Chrysalis,” said Twilight proudly, “And if anypony puts you and your kind down, just remember to think about the friends that you do have.”
“I’ll try to keep that in mind,” Chrysalis responded in a nonchalant tone.
Just then, Pinkie found herself bouncing right up next to Chrysalis and looking up at her with a bright smile that made the Queen feel a bit uneasy.
“Soooooo… need anypony to help plan for a special event for you two?!”
“You mean… like a wedding or something?” said Dusk rather awkwardly.
“Yes… exactly!”
Chrysalis had herself a little chuckle at the pink mare, “That won’t be necessary. However, if things do come to that, we Changelings go at it in a different way.”
“Really,” wondered Pinkie, “what do you do?”
Dusk looked at the others kinda sheepishly and was blushing slightly, “It’s… Changeling business; sorry.”
“Maybe we don’t want to know,” said Spike feeling a bit worried from Dusk expression.
After rolling her eyes, Chrysalis looked up at the sun and realized the time as she prepared to take her leave of the pony crowd, “Now then; if you all don’t mind, I would like to get back to my humble abode; I've had a rather tiring and stressful day and wish to rest my body.”
“Very well; take it easy now you hear?”
“Of course;” said Chrysalis with a slight smile, “and… we shall see each other again… soon.”
Dusk smiled himself and waved good-bye at them as he began to fly off with his newly reformed Queen.
“She really has changed, hasn’t she?” said Rarity feeling impressed. 
“She sure has,” Fluttershy responded with a small giggle.
Twilight saw Spike headed toward her direction and he wasn’t even looking back at Dragon Heart who was standing behind him.
“Hey, Spike, aren’t you going to say goodbye to Dragon Heart for now?”
“Yeah, about that…” Spike responded while scratching his head, “Would it be okay if I went with them for a little bit? I became quite curious about their nest and Dragon Heart agreed to show me around a bit. Plus I wanna pay a little visit to that traitor of theirs so I can I can mock him face to face.”
The other ponies all looked at each other wondering if this was a good idea. But why in the world would they even think that?
“Um… sure,” said Twilight awkwardly, “I don’t see why not; maybe you’ll make some more Changeling friends.”
“That would be awesome!”
Dragon Heart walked up behind Spike and gave him a little noogie, “And don’t worry, Twilight, I’ll bring him back safely; you can count on that.”
“I have no doubts.”
Immediately, Spike hopped onto Dragon Heart’s back, and then waved off to the others as Dragon Heart took off along with Razor.
“Have fun, Spike, and be safe!” shouted Rarity.
“Sure thing!”
“And no making out with Dragon Heart!” said Pinkie with a sly grin.
“Ahhhhhhh; Pinkie, cut it out!” shouted Spike as he covered his face and blushed; and Dragon Heart had a good laugh at it.
As Pinkie was giggling to herself, the other 5 ponies were all giving her little low-eyed looks.
“What,” said Pinkie shrugging her shoulders, “I had to end this concluding scene with some kind of humor.”
“Wha?” said Rainbow Dash.
“There she goes again,” said Applejack shaking her head.
“Honestly, Pinkie,” said Twilight with an amused smile, “you will never make sense.”
“And I wouldn’t have it any other way!”
The six pony friends then all had a good laugh enjoying the fun moment. Meanwhile up in the sky, the small group of Changelings was flying off towards their nesting grounds with Spike along for the ride. Just what would they do after the events of today; not even they themselves would know.
“So,” said Razor slyly as he looked at Dragon Heart and Spike, “are you two still going to make out?”
“What, no way;” shouted Spike, “I’m too young for that!” He then looked over at Chrysalis and Dusk who seemed to be talking to each other again. “Although, I bet that maybe they will.”
Dusk suddenly turned a glare at Razor and said, “If you ever spy on us at anytime, then I’ll give you more holes than you already have.”
“Point taken,” said Razor chuckling nervously.
“Heh, I’m already liking you more already,” said Chrysalis trying to be a little amusing herself
Dragon Heart was smiling at the amusing sight and was enjoying the sweet peaceful company of the ones that were there with her. Seeing her beautiful smile, Spike was scratching his head while gathering up some courage to make a statement to her. Dragon Heart noticed however, and waited to see what he had to say. 
“So, uh… do you think we could… um… consider this…”
“Another date?” Dragon Heart finished as she gave Spike a little kiss on his cheek, “Consider it made.”
Spike’s heart melted once again as he weakly laid his body against the Changeling’s back and sighed to himself, “Oh yeah.”

-----

Dear Princess Celestia,



Well… you know everthing that has happened. Not only did Dragon Heart’s dream of peace become a reality, but the deal became permanently sealed when Chrysalis came to an agreement with you and Cadence… who no longer has a grudge against anymore. But none of us saw it coming when Dusk braved himself and pledged his love for Chrysalis in front of all of us; it was such a shocking yet heart-warming experience. I can only imagine how the other Changeling reacted when they found out the surprising news.
As for Spike, he had a pretty good time at the Changeling nest. Dragon Heart said that he gave Ivory a piece of his mind and Chrysalis allowed him to  mock the traitor to his heart’s content; I guess she really is warming up to Spike after all.
The girls and I are still doing our usual thing and Ponyville is gaining more friends from the Changelings as time passes. Before we know it, other places like Canterlot, Manehattan and even the Griffon Kingdom will gain a good share of Changeling allies.
Even to this day, I still never thought that someone like Chrysalis would change as I said before; but as always, through the power of friendship, it was all possible because of the love and patience of one single Changeling.
It’s still unknown to any of us if this peace treaty will last forever, or if Dragon Heart and Spike will be permanently together one day. But… you know what; I shouldn’t doubt any of this. This peace will last, and all of us will do our best to make sure of that.
This letter of friendship is dedicated to you, Cadence, Luna, Chrysalis, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Razor, Dusk, the CMC, Spike Dragon Heart… and me. Here’s to many more surprising miracles in the years to come.

Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle