> Five Score: A New Hive
>  by bossfight1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1: Well, That's Different.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 1: Well, That’s Different.

Poke. “Morning, honey.”

I woke up with a “Bweh?”, sitting straight up. I heard Liz laugh as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. “How often are you gonna wake me up like that?” I said sleepily.

“Until it stops being funny,” Liz replied simply, pecking me on the cheek. “Happy birthday.”

I smiled. “So, when I blow out my candles you want me to make a Sixteen Candles reference? Cause you’d be nine years off.”

Liz frowned. “A what?”

I sighed. “That’s another quarter for the ‘Obscure References’ jar,” I murmured. “To be honest, I haven’t even seen that movie…”

“You should cut down your time on the internet, Chris,” Liz laughed, tossing the covers off and climbing out of bed. “You’re twenty-five now, you should be focusing more on getting a house, a better job...”

“Or even a job,” I added; the job market here in Augusta was actually quite shit, at the moment.

“Whatever the case, what money you have won’t last forever...” Liz continued.

“Yes, mother...” I droned. Liz picked up a pillow that had dropped off the bed in our tossing and turning (not in THAT way...), and chucked it at my face. She entered the kitchen while I proceeded to slap the sides of my face a few times to fully wake myself up. Deciding a crap cup of coffee was in order, I clambered out of bed and left the bedroom.

Our house was ‘quaint’, a term you’d use if you were too polite to call it ‘shit.’ It was the best in our price range, though, and once we saved up enough to manage a better place we planned on ditching it as soon as possible. The floors creaked with every step, insects crawled through the occasional crack in the wall, the basement was considered a ‘forbidden zone’ that we never spoke of, and in the two months we’d lived here we still hadn’t found room to unpack the several remaining boxes from our move.

I entered the kitchen to see Liz pulling some Stonewall Kitchen out of the cupboard. “Oh, Jesus, Liz, you don’t need to...”

“Nope, none of that,” Liz said firmly, setting the can of mix aside and pulling a skillet out of a different cupboard. “It’s your birthday, I’m fixing something special for you.”

I sighed and sat at the table. Yep, seven months in, and I knew this was how things should be. Liz and I, like many other brony couples, had met at a meetup in Portland, and, as Liz would say, “it was all downhill from there.” We started dating, and five months later we decided to get a place for cheap in Augusta together. The pair of us started going to UMA, Liz practicing in Psychology, while I went for Liberal Studies (yep, I’m quite ambitious that way.)

“So, what do you want to do today?” Liz asked, pulling eggs and milk from the fridge. “See a movie? Go shopping?”

“The Council finds in favor of lazing around the house,” I said sagely.

Liz shrugged. “Yeah, I’m not up for changing out of my PJ’s.” She glanced at the TV. “Pony?”

“Sure, have a preferred episode?”

“You pick, birthday boy.” I stood from the chair and turned on the TV and my PS4. I started up Netflix and flipped through to the show.

“...If you told me ten years ago that ponies would have played such a huge part of my life, I’d have asked what you were smoking and if I could have some.” I murmured.

“So I’ve heard...” Liz said; somehow I knew she was rolling her eyes.

I browsed the episodes for a while. My eyes fell on the series finale, and I winced; it was still pretty crap, in my eyes. It just ended with Discord turning out to still be a real dick and dicking Equestria over. “Yeah, I don’t think so...” I muttered. I skimmed up a few seasons and found an appealing option. “Royal Wedding?” I called over my shoulder.

“Sure!” Liz called, a clicking sound indicating that she was lighting the stove. I started the episode and collapsed on the couch, hearing Liz quietly singing ‘BBBFF’. That was another thing I loved about Liz; her gorgeous singing. My singing dropped birds faster than disbelief would drop Tinker Bell, so it was nice to hear someone who could hold a tone.

The day went exactly as I envisioned; a day of laziness, pony and video games. Some would call this a lazy day, and while that is understandable, those days I considered it a ‘normal day’. I could practically feel my ass becoming one with the sofa by seven o’clock that night. Liz was lying on top of me, her head on my shoulder, as we watched season five. We were getting towards the infamous finale, but we couldn’t be arsed to change to a different episode, seeing as Liz had left the controller on the far side of the room. We spent many a night like this, just lazing around, but doing it together.

I absentmindedly stroked Liz’s auburn hair, enjoying having her so close. Liz was my first ‘special somepony’... Odds are, you'll always say your first girlfriend or boyfriend is your soulmate, only for the relationship to crash and burn due to some unforeseen complication, but this was real. This was what I wanted, every day, as long as I lived.

Liz was everything I wanted; she was kind, compassionate, funny, capable of putting up with some of the stupid shit I do... I honestly wondered if I even deserved her.

“Hey, babe?” Liz asked.

“Hmm?”

“Have you ever thought about what would happen if we just... moved on from ponies?”

“I have, it gives me a sick feeling in my gut every time. It’s hard to imagine leaving this fandom, even if the show takes a swan dive right back into Gen 3 territories of awful. It would just be too depressing.”

“I don’t think they’d change the show, though. It’s been too successful for them.”

“Yeah, the bronies have probably paid for three separate vacations for everyone at Hasbro--”

“Did you really think you could change things, dear Chrysie? Did you honestly think rising against me would bring your precious food back?”

“Shut up...”

“I suppose I should have seen this coming; in a world where there is only my beautiful chaos, love is swept under the rug as well as friendship and harmony and all that other tripe.”

“I... will... kill you...”

“And that will magically save your kind? Bring them back from extinction? Did you even think this through? Whatever the case, as much as I’d like to punish you for your hubris, I have other matters to attend to, so let’s just get this out of the way, hmm?

For Five Score, Divided by Four...”

“NO!!” I shrieked, sitting straight up and causing Liz to roll off of me, onto the floor.

“OW! Chris, what’s the matter with you?!”

I opened my mouth to respond, but whatever my brain had just shown me had apparently left with an air of ‘Sorry, wrong room.’ I only had the faintest grasp of what I’d just seen... It sounded like two familiar voices, one being a smug prick, the other dead-set on killing the first. I couldn’t remember what was being said, yet somehow it left a feeling of dread, fury, hate and despair stirring in my chest.

“Chris?” Liz asked, her expression softening.

“...I really don’t know...” I muttered, setting my feet on the floor. “Did I… doze off or something?”

“I don’t think so, you kinda drifted off, mid-sentence,” Liz picked herself off the floor and sat beside me. I simply sat there, trying to wrap my head around whatever that was. When I didn’t say anything, Liz gently rested an arm around my shoulders. “Chris?”

I slowly shook my head. “Let’s just… let’s just forget about it, okay?” Liz didn’t look particularly convinced, but she eventually nodded.

The rest of the night dragged on in awkward silence; we continued watching TV for another couple hours before we started feeling tired. Liz turned off the TV and clambered off of me. “Let’s head to bed, hon.”

“Sounds good…” I said with a yawn. The moment Liz disappeared down the hallway towards the bedroom, my stomach gurgled. “Right after a quick nibble.” I headed into the kitchen and pulled a cookie out of the fridge.

The moment the cookie entered my mouth, however, I suddenly gagged like I was attempting the cinnamon challenge. I bolted to the sink and spat the cookie into the drain. “Jesus fuck…” I said, wiping my mouth and scraping my tongue. I ran the tap and repeatedly rinsed out my mouth while trying to figure out why exactly I’d been bested by Chips Ahoy.

“Babe?” I heard Liz call from the bedroom.

“Be right there…” I called, rinsing my mouth out a couple more times for good measure. Leaving the barely-chewed cookie in the sink, I headed into the bedroom. Liz was propped up against her pillows, looking at me with concern.

“Are you okay? I heard you coughing in there…”

“Choked on a cookie,” I said; it wasn’t exactly a lie. “I’m on a streak of victories today, aren’t I?”

Liz rolled her eyes and flipped the blankets open for me. “Well, keep your streak to a minimum; we have classes tomorrow.” With a throaty yawn I climbed into bed and gave Liz a kiss.

“G’night, snuggly-bear.” Liz smacked me in the face with her pillow; she always hated that nickname. “Totally worth it!” I laughed, receiving another pillow bludgeon for my troubles.

Liz set her pillow on the floor and nestled up against me. “Good night…” I took her in my arms and laid into the pillow. I noticed that I was getting less hungry just before I fell asleep...

                -                -                -                -                -

I sat there, in the dark, damp abyss I called my home. The place was always silent; that’s how I liked it. Not like this though… The silence now was one of a tomb.

They were dead… They were all dead… I’d failed in my duty… I held the starved corpses of a pair of children, only hatched mere days ago… My subjects, completely and utterly starved… Our best source of food had been taken away, wiped from the face of the planet by that smug…

I ground my teeth so hard I could feel some of them cracking in the pressure. Him. He wasn’t satisfied just sending the Elements of Harmony away… He had to send all of them… Every town was empty, devoid of life. We tried to find alternatives, but anyone- pony or no- who got wind of what was happening fled to anywhere else. The only reason we stayed was out of a stubborn hope that we could find enough ponies…

By the time we realized the futility of our search, it was too late. Too late to run, too late to fight, too late to--

“No.” I gently laid the corpses to the floor. What little energy I could manage suddenly flared as I stood up and extended my wings.

It wasn’t too late to fight. I could stop him, I could return our food, and my hive would flourish once again. It had to. I glanced up at the ceiling and fired a blast of energy, opening a hole big enough to fly out of. With a hiss, I flew through the hole and in the direction of Canterlot.

With a confused “Bwuh?” I woke up. I glanced at the alarm clock on the bedside table; 4 am. Jesus, what’s with these nightmares? I wiped cold sweat from my brow and carefully removed the blankets, trying my best not to wake Liz up. I crept out of the bedroom and into the bathroom, flicking on the lights and running the tap. I cleaned my face, taking deep, steadying breaths, and looked at myself in the mirror. What I saw made my jaw drop.

My hair was roughly six inches longer, which didn’t disturb me nearly as much as the fact that the ends were changing into a sickly veridian shade. Several strands had longer streaks of discoloring than others, and my hair was hanging thickly around my head like it was wet. I felt my hair; it felt like thick, sticky webbing. On top of that, I could see a dark-red blister poking in the center of my forehead. I gave it a minor tap, and immediately felt a rather disturbing sensation of my skull being prodded.

Lastly were my eyes; once the most bland shade of brown you could imagine, now they were a poisonous green. My mouth trembled, and I stepped back from the mirror. I bumped into the toilet behind me and sat heavily on it. I never took my eyes off of my corrupted reflection.

“What the fuck…”

> Chapter 2: Hunger Pains
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 2: Hunger Pains

“Chris?”

Shit. I quickly shut the bathroom door and locked it. “Sorry, babe, did I wake you?” I called through the door.

“Is something wrong?”

“Had to use the bathroom. Don’t worry about it,” I said, trying and failing to sound nonchalant.

“...Chris, what’s wrong?” I bit my lip; Liz had known me long enough to know when I was lying. I heard her jiggling the door knob, trying to get in.

I panicked. “Liz! I’m taking a dump, all right?!” I snapped.

Liz stopped twisting the knob. “...Okay, just… Turn the fan on when you’re done.” She didn’t sound all that convinced, but she seemed to drop it as I heard her walking away. I leaned my head against the wall behind me and sighed.

Close one… I had no clue what was happening to me, but I knew Liz seeing me could yield no positive outcome. I sat on the toilet for another few minutes, trying to figure out what I should do. What can you do in a situation like this? If I told Liz, she could freak out, call the hospital, and who knows what could happen to me from there? I could leave, just grab some things and go, at least until my face started getting better, but I could never do that to Liz. My breathing became labored, erratic; there was no easy way out of this.

I gingerly felt the bump on my forehead. Whatever it was, it sent a strange sensation throughout my whole skull when I touched it. My only medical knowledge came from Surgeon Simulator, but I was fairly certain whatever was plaguing me wasn't listed in any medical records. What disease causes discoloring of hair, eyes and makes a big bump in the center of your forehead? Did this have to do with that cookie I choked on earlier? Was it contagious? Would it be permanent? Too many unknowns...

Finally, I decided to, at best, postpone the issue. I stood from the toilet and left the bathroom. I crept down the hallway and peeked through the bedroom door; Liz had gone back to bed. “Liz?” I called, softly.

“You okay?” Liz said, sitting up in bed. I quickly withdrew into the hallway.

“I think I’ve got diarrhea or something…” I said. “I’m gonna sleep in the guest room tonight, since it’s closer to the bathroom.”

Liz was quiet for a couple worrying moments. “...Okay…”

I ran my fingers through my new locks nervously. “I don’t know if I’ll be well enough for class tomorrow, so I’ll probably skip it. You can leave for the campus without me.”

“Are you sure?”

I stroked my hair with more urgency. “...Yeah, I’m pretty sure.”

“Okay… Want me to bring you some donuts or something in the morning?”

“Uh, yeah, just leave them on the kitchen table. You know how I like to sleep in. Thank you…”

“Get better…” Liz called as I shut the door. I leaned against it and sighed in relief; I may have only bought myself time, but it was time I could use to figure out a proper course of action. I headed into the guest bedroom and locked the door behind me for good measure. The guest room had a crappy queen-size bed, a bland-colored wall with no windows and a single mirror hanging opposite the bed. I approached the mirror and looked over my new features again. Nothing new had popped up, but that was small comfort. The bump on my forehead was still there; it was the kind of thing you’d see in a cartoon after a character suffered blunt head trauma. I took a shuddering breath, then noticed something in my mouth. My canines were roughly twice as long, almost vampiric. They were very sharp, as an idiotic finger-press was quick to attest.

This was too much. I slowly backed from the mirror and fell on the bed. Any hope that I could sleep this off was quickly diminishing. Whatever was happening to me wasn’t going to just go away. My breath became quickened, my eyes began to tear up. I curled up on the bed, unable to imagine what I would do, what I could do. What if I was put in quarantine or something? I might never see Liz or my family again. Despair began to cloud my mind. I quietly began to sob into the pillow, trying desperately to avoid alerting Liz. Whatever happened to me, I couldn’t let Liz get involved. So I could do nothing but lay there, alone, slowly turning into… something.

                -                -                -                -                -

My eyes slowly fluttered open. I couldn’t remember whether I dreamed or not that night. The slight presence of dark greenish-blue on the edge of my vision told me I hadn’t gotten back to normal. I sat up and lifted a hand to my face.

Whack. My hand was much more blunt than I remembered. I took a glance at it, yelped, and fell out of the bed. This was no human hand. Human hands didn’t turn into some kind of blackened stump halfway through the middle finger. My entire forearm was black with a sort of plastic feel, and several inch-wide holes dotting it. The only traces of my human hand were the pinky and ring fingers, and about a quarter of my palm. The point between my hand and the… thing was lined by an eerie green line, constantly shifting like a very small flame. Peering closely I could see that the amount of ‘human’ in my hand was very slowly diminishing. I lifted my right hand to my face, only to receive another painful smack. To my horror, my right hand was completely gone, replaced by what could only be described as…

“...a hoof…” I whimpered. I began feeling something turning over in my stomach. I bolted over to the mirror, and screamed. My face was turning black, the same black my arms and hands were becoming. The bump in my forehead was now a full-fledged horn, poking out through my veridian hair, which was now about a foot long, dangling in front of my face.

“Wha… what, what the…” I sputtered. “What the f-f-FUCK?!?!” I was gonna be sick. I backed away from the mirror and stumbled into the door. I struggled to unlock it, then barged into the hallway, no longer caring if Liz saw me. I practically tripped into the bathroom, lifted the toilet seat, and vomited. Between each heave I sobbed, resting my head on the rim. I could feel my new horn bumping against the side, sending unpleasant vibrations through my skull. A few minutes passed before I felt well enough to stand again. I turned from the toilet and faced the mirror, leaning against the counter.

“No…” I muttered, shaking my head at the corrupted visage that stared back at me. “No, you aren’t me…” I had to deny it. Stubborn denial would be less painful, easier than simply accepting this to be my new face. “This isn’t me… This. Isn’t. Me.” I grabbed my hair in fistfuls and began to tug. My scalp screamed in pain but I kept pulling. “I’m not some kind of sea witch!!” I screamed, screwing my eyes shut. I put an image of myself- my normal self- in my mind and concentrated. “This isn’t me! THIS ISN’T ME THIS ISN’T ME THIS ISN’T ME THIS ISN’T ME THIS ISN’T--”

A sudden burst of warmth around my body made me think I’d suddenly caught fire. I jumped at the sensation, feeling my hair somehow slip from my vice like grasp. I opened my eyes, and my jaw dropped.

I was me again. The hair was gone, my eyes were a normal color, I had hands again. I let out a soft laugh, running my hand down my face. “I’m back…” I said, putting a knee on the counter. “I'm fucking back!!” I climbed onto the sink and began kissing my reflection full on the lips. I got off the counter and sat on the toilet, laughing joyously.

As my laughter died down, I tried to figure out what exactly had happened. One moment I’m turning into something I wasn’t even going to seriously consider, the next I’m back to normal. The only marginally logical explanation was that my new look was all in my head, and I’d only now gotten past it. That theory was iffy, though, since I was positive I felt the slick, sickly texture of my hair.

Now what do I do? I thought. I had no way of knowing what had just happened. Was I just hallucinating? If so, why? Was I actually sick with something? Should I see a doctor? What would I tell them, 'I had long green hair for a few hours, but I shouted a lot and it went away'? Would I move on, and pray to every conceived deity that this oddity would never rear its ugly head again? And what if it did, and in a much less convenient time? If whatever this was came back, and people saw me, I'd be snagged by the CDC or whatever and be tossed into quarantine.

No, I thought. I'll be careful. I'll stay here for today, see if it comes back. I'll try and keep to myself for a while, and if this doesn't come back, I'll consider it gone. I won't be quarantined, and I can stay with Liz...

I stood up and washed my face in the sink, still relishing the fact that I had a chance at maintaining a normal life. Knowing what I could have lost, I planned on holding it closer. No more of this shitty house, first chance we’d get, Liz and I would leave, find a nice place away from the city. We’d find somewhere quiet, and when the time was right, I’d move things forward. I’d… I’d… what?

I swayed a little bit and leaned on the counter. I was suddenly winded, as if I’d suddenly just run up several flights of stairs. Not only that, but I was hungry too. I suddenly felt a dire need to eat something.

“Donuts…” I said. “Liz said she’d get donuts…” I stumbled out of the bathroom and into the kitchen. There it was, a baker’s dozen of glazed “fat pills”, as my dad called them, right on the kitchen table. With a relieved sigh I hurried forward, the emptiness in my stomach suddenly painful, and flung the box open. I grabbed a jelly-filled donut, not caring that I preferred normal glazed, and shoved it into my mouth ravenously.

I only remembered the previous night’s cookie incident a mere nanosecond before the donut touched my tongue. I spat the donut to the floor and rinsed my mouth out again. “God dammit!!” I yelled, my hunger and fatigue growing worse. “What’s the matter with me?!”

I turned my back to the counter and slid to the floor. So either I can't eat, or I can't go out in public, is that it?! I thought angrily. I slammed a fist into the counter behind me, receiving a throbbing hand for my troubles.

“Hey!” A voice yelled from outside. I stood up, turned towards the window over the sink and saw who shouted. I gave an exasperated groan; I was in no mood for this shit. I walked over to the sink and lifted the window open.

“What!” I yelled at Mrs. Bedford, who was leaning through her own window.

Bedford was pretty much your average, crotchety old lady with one of the most volatile personalities you could imagine. Odds are she was much more pleasant when her husband was alive, but honestly even being a widow didn’t excuse her attitude. She had a habit of yelling profane insults at anyone she saw walking down the street, screaming at her neighbors if she managed to hear a peep from them, and snagging our mail under the pretense that “the damn mailman messed things up again.” Bedford was one of the ‘perks’ of living in this neighborhood.

“I hear you yellin’ over there!!” Bedford croaked. “You better keep it down or I’ll call the police!!”

I scowled. “Listen, I’m not having the best morning, so why don’t we just ignore each other today, all right?”

“I won’t ignore you if you keep screaming like that!” Bedford yelled.

“Like what you do on a daily basis?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“How DARE you!!” Bedford screamed. “I should come over there and give you a whoopin’!!”

“Yeah, go ahead!” I called. “Maybe then you’d finally be taken to the home-- FUCK!!”

Without warning, a gray, furry ball of hatred and fury leapt through my window and onto my face. Gwyneth, Bedford’s vicious chartreux, shared in her master’s hatred of anything and everything outside their home. She often took the opportunity to bolt out and give you a painful scratch before running home. Bedford was either blissfully unaware of her cat’s violent tendencies, or perfectly aware and willing to let her cat spread misery to the neighborhood. And right now, this demon in cat form was latched onto my face, hissing and spitting as it sliced me. I stumbled backwards, yelling and swearing, as I could hear Bedford yelling outside.

“Get the fuck off me!!” I screamed, grabbing Gwyneth by the stomach and pulling her off my face. Gwyneth made several close attempts at slicing my face again, but I managed to toss her out the window. I pulled the window down, low enough to deter any further attacks, and saw Gwyneth running through the cat door of Bedford’s house.

“You monster!!” Bedford screeched. “You could have really hurt dear Gwynnie!!”

I was never one to take insult to injury, so my temper flared up. “You’re lucky I didn’t SKIN that fucking thing!!” I roared through the window; when I got angry, I tended to get creative with chewing someone out. I clenched the edge of the sink so hard my knuckles threatened to burst through my skin. “If that thing gets in my house again I’m gonna make it into a fucking cap!!”

A green glow from the counter made me look down. My grimace faded when I noticed a familiar green flame enveloping my fingers, dancing wildly. I could hear Bedford yelling something at me but I was so distracted her voice sounded like an adult on Charlie Brown. I relaxed my grip on the counter, and the flames flickered out. I looked up, gave Bedford one last, scathing glare, then pulled the curtains shut. I turned from the sink and stared at my hands, breathing heavily. “What’s happening to me?”

The moment of silence made me remember how hungry I was; somehow in the span of a few minutes my hunger had exacerbated from ‘haven’t eaten all day’ to ‘eat your own arm.’ My stomach let out pulses of pain. I looked to the donuts. Deciding to bite whatever bullet was preventing me from eating my favorite foods, I grabbed a cruller and bit a sizeable chunk out of it. I kept my jaw clenched when the inevitable gag reared its ugly head, chewed the donut and swallowed.

Somehow the introduction of food made the pains even worse. I fell to the floor, clutching my stomach and groaning. Whatever was wrong with me, it wasn’t limited to the changing of hair and eye color, real or hallucinated. My groaning breaths became quiet sobs. “What’s wrong with me?” I asked, the pains becoming more and more intense. I rolled to the side, curled up into a ball, and began to lose consciousness.

The last thing I remember before passing out was a familiar warmth encompassing my body.

                -                -                -                -                -

I pulled up beside the house and turned off the car. As I unplugged my iPod from the radio I grabbed the burger I’d picked up for Chris, in case he was awake and hungry when I got in. He hadn’t called all day, but I chose not to worry; whenever he was sick he liked to seal himself from the world like he was in quarantine. I climbed out of the sedan, took my backpack and headed up the porch.

“Living with a monster, she is…” I heard a voice say. I turned to notice Mrs. Bedford sitting in her rocker on her porch next door, stroking Gwyneth in her lap and staring at me.

I raised a hand in awkward greeting. “Hi, Mrs. Bedford…”

“Your boyfriend is a real asshole!” Bedford snapped at me. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes; unlike Chris I tried not to let her get to me. “Poor Gwyneth got into your house and he just tossed her out like a sack of trash!”

“I’m sure there’s more to it than that…” I said, turning and unlocking the front door. I could practically feel her glare burning into my back as I entered the house and shut the door. “Chris?” I called. “I got Micky D’s!” Silence. Frowning, I set the bag on the counter. I entered the living room and made to head for the guest room.

A large black form slumped on the floor between me and the hallway made me stop dead in my tracks. I let out a shuddering gasp at the sight. It was equine, but with a black, chitinous skin and inch-wide holes in its hooves. Its mane and tail were a sickly veridian, it had a pair of insect wings folded at its sides, a strange crown-shaped growth protruding from the top of its head, and a crooked, foot-long horn protruding from its forehead. It was clearly unconscious, its chest raising and lowering slowly with each breath.

Familiarity made me take a step back.

Queen Chrysalis was passed out in our living room.
> Chapter 3: Adjustment
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 3: Adjustments

The first thing I felt when I regained consciousness, in addition to the agonizing hunger pains, was a horrible sense of wrongness in my entire body. My arms and legs felt like they were being forced to hang horizontally in front of me, my neck felt a couple feet longer than before, and my mouth seemed a lot more spacious. My eyes popped open. My nose was much blacker than I remembered, and jutted out a good three inches from my face.

“What…” I muttered; my own voice was changed as well. It was feminine, with a mild distortion effect. I looked down my body and nearly passed out again.

The blackened bits that had been overwhelming my hands that morning had returned with a vengeance. All of my limbs were now chitinous hooves, with several inch-wide holes in them. Trying to move like a human felt like I was trying, and failing, to do the Matrix Bullet Dodge; I just didn’t have the flexibility for it.

I was, undeniably, a changeling through and through. What’s more, I wasn’t just any changeling. The feeling of some strange growth on my head, the long, transparent mane and the insect wings in my back put me far above a simple drone.

No... I thought. No, no, this isn't fair! I was back, I was normal, I wasn't... I wasn't this!!

A shuddering whimper caught my attention. I turned my head towards the doorway into the kitchen. “Liz?”

Liz stumbled back, her eyes impossibly wide with terror. Her hands covering her mouth, she fell to the floor and scurried away from me, pushing her back against the kitchen counter. “S-Stay away!”

“Liz…” I said. My stomach was aching so bad the simple act of speaking was a trial in and of itself. “It’s… It’s Chri… Chris…”

Liz got to her feet, not taking her eyes off of me, and pulled the largest knife from the knife block. “Don’t come any closer!!” She said warningly.

“Liz, baby…” I said imploringly. “Liz, it’s me… It’s Chris…”

Liz shook her head. “No, no, you’re not!” Her eyes widened as something occurred to her. “Where is he? What did you do to him?!”

“No, Liz, it’s really me!” I said, lifting my head up. “You have to believe me!”

Liz glared at me, sensing I was weak and that she held all the cards. “A legitimate villain from a TV show, one who feeds off of... off of love, shows up in my house claiming to be my boyfriend, and I’m ‘supposed’ to believe her?”

Her? I thought, before a single horrifying realization ‘pinged’ in my mind. I looked down between my new legs, towards my rear, and--

“OH SWEET BABY JESUS IN THE MANGER!!” I shrieked, rolling onto my tail and trying desperately to somehow scoot away from my discovery. Liz screamed and backed into the corner, holding the knife out in fear.

I was looking at... God, I couldn't even think of it... I wanted to vomit, to get to the toilet and just retch into it, as if doing so would purge my system of whatever was making me like... this.

I looked back up at Liz. She’d been silent while I was getting over my anatomical adjustment. “Sweetie, what the hell is happening to me??” I asked.

Liz’s eyes narrowed. She was silent for a good long time, never dropping her gaze (or the knife). Finally, after an agonizing minute (mainly due to my increasing starvation) Liz took a deep breath. “You’re really Chris?” I rapidly nodded. “Then you’ll tell me this… What was the first episode of MLP we watched together?”

“‘Luna Eclipsed’,” I said instantly. “Because Luna is best Princess.”

Liz’s expression softened, but only for a moment. “...Alright, three months ago you stood up to Dane…”

“Your twat ex-boyfriend, yeah…” I said, nodding.

“He ended up beating you senseless, and broke your arm. In how many places was your arm broken?”

“Three,” I said. “The cast I got was red, on my right arm, I had to wear it for about seven weeks. You pulled a prank on me a week in by drawing a bunch of dicks on it while I was asleep.”

She had a lot more questions than that. She asked me about our time together—where we'd eaten, what shows we'd seen, what we'd done for classes... I answered every one as best I could, adding extra details to help prove that I wasn't... her.

It was after twenty questions that the knife finally lowered a couple inches. Liz stared at me with an expression of both disbelief and confusion. Finally, she let the knife hang at her side. “What was the very first thing you said to me when we met at that meetup in Portland?”

“‘Oh, shit down the drain, I’m so sorry.’ Because I sneezed and startled you, causing you to spill your drink all down your front,” I said firmly. “I, very awkwardly, helped clean you off, we got to talking, and, as you’d say, ‘it was all downhill from there.’”

Liz stood there, completely still. For a moment, I thought she’d opt to believe that Queen Chrysalis had been spying on us for the past seven months and had only now decided to take my place. Honestly, it would make for a more plausible explanation than actually turning into her.

“...baby?”

My humorous side got back from his smoke break. “...snuggly-bear?” I asked, laughing softly.

Liz put the knife on the counter and slowly approached me. I wanted to hurry forward and pull her close, but didn’t want to startle her. I carefully stood up, my legs burning from the hunger. Liz carefully raised a hand to my new muzzle, eyes wide with wonder, and touched my face.

Instantly my hunger began to slowly fade. I felt a wonderful sensation flow from my mouth, down my throat and into my eagerly waiting stomach. The pain quickly began to die down. Liz seemed to feel something too; her eyes flashed towards her outstretched hand, as though feeling something from making physical contact with me.

She looked me in the eyes.

“...Chris!” She cried, pulling me into a tight hug. The embrace made my hunger die quicker. I fell to my new haunches and carefully wrapped my new forelegs around Liz, pulling her closer. “What happened to you?” Liz whispered.

I hesitated, choosing my words carefully. “...So, last night, it wasn’t exactly a… 'dump', per se.”

“What?” Liz looked up at me.

“I was starting to change last night,” I explained. “My hair was longer, my eyes were green… I didn’t want you to see it, cause I thought you’d freak out. I opted to sleep in the guest room and hope like hell I’d get better in the morning… I didn’t. I’d only gotten worse. I panicked; I started screaming that this wasn’t me, I thought clearly about what I really looked like, and… I did.” Liz stared at me. “I was back to normal, on the surface at least. I still couldn’t eat food, as the donut will attest…” I motioned towards the masticated jelly donut on the floor. “But the hunger got so bad, so quickly, especially when I forced myself to eat. I passed out, and…” I trailed off.

“If you were back to normal…” Liz asked. “Why are you like this now?”

“I really don’t know…” I muttered. I lifted a front hoof to my face. “I just thought really hard about being human again, and…” I imagined the hoof being a hand. A burst of green flame enveloped my hand, causing Liz to scream and back away. I yelped and waved my hoof, trying desperately to put the fire out. Within a couple seconds, the flame was gone. So was the hoof, my hand back in its rightful place.

“...Just like that…” I said. I laid the hand on my cheek. “I get it! If I concentrate I can take the form I want! I just have this body… by… default…” I looked at the rest of my body and felt a pit in my stomach. “And if I take human form I get tired…” I looked over to Liz. “...Hungry…” At some point during the awkward silence that followed, a warmth around my human hand signaled that it was a changeling leg again. Remaining in this form felt a bit more… relaxing than in human form.

So this was who I had turned into; the queen of a parasitic race of insectoid equines from a little girl's TV show. Honestly, there were more desirable events to go through in life.

Liz found her voice. “...So what do we do?”

I shook my head. “What can we do? Who do we go to in hope of fixing this?” My tail seemed to twitch on cue, tickling my hind leg as it brushed past it. The reality of what I was facing seemed to finally take hold in my mind; I was turning into the queen of a fictional race. I could look human all I wanted, but the blood in my veins would be that of a changeling. In less than a day I’d dropped headlong from a comfortable human life into an unknowable future of hiding, feeding and, hopefully, epic villain songs.

But what about Liz? God knows what was going through her mind at that point. I couldn't expect her to blindly stay with me through this. I would just complicate things to some inconceivable level for her. I couldn't ask her to stick with me through this.

Liz seemed to sense what I was thinking; she was good at that. She approached and sat at my side on the floor. “Are you still you?”

“What?” I asked, turning to her; hadn’t I proved I was me?

“I mean, are you, deep down, Chris Barton?”

“Yes…” I said, nodding slowly.

“Are you still the man I love?”

At the mention of 'man' I glanced down at my new… bits. “That’s a matter of debate, but yes, I’m still Chris.”

She kissed me on the cheek; the display of affection dropped down my throat like I’d sipped hot cocoa. “Then I’m staying with you. Whatever’s happening, we can work it out together.”

Now was the time I started returning that immense amount of love Liz had been giving me. I struggled to find words before leaning in for a kiss. Liz instinctively leaned back, for obvious reasons. I stopped. “Sorry, hang on…” I clenched my eyes and focused on an image of my normal self. A yelp from Liz and the sensation of warmth told me I’d succeeded; transformation really wasn’t that complex. I opened my eyes and joyously flexed my fingers. I looked at Liz and gave her a full kiss that she gladly accepted.

Holding a different form felt like holding a weight with your entire body, if that makes any sense. Feeding while transformed made maintaining the form about as complex as breathing, so as long as Liz was nearby, I could keep whatever form I wanted… in theory. I don’t think I could turn into Godzilla and stay that way feeding off of Liz alone. Whatever the case, this wasn’t insurmountable.

That didn’t mean I wanted to stay like this, though. Breaking off the kiss, I rubbed my chin, deep in thought. “So,” I began, thankful for my normal voice returning. “We have absolutely no clue what’s happening, there was no way of knowing this was going to happen…”

“What about that dream thing last night?”

“What?” I asked, turning to her.

“You dozed off on the couch, remember?” Liz asked. “You woke up like you were having a nightmare… Do you remember what it was?”

I shook my head. “I’ve never been one to remember dreams,” I said. “But maybe you’re right; whatever I saw had something to do with what’s happening. But it still doesn’t really help us…”

“Should we call someone?” Liz asked hesitantly.

“I don’t think there’s anyone we could call who could help us, or who wouldn’t seal me in a tube and prod me with syringes for the rest of my life,” I said. “No, it looks like we’re alone in this…”

“...Are we alone?”

“What?”

“Is this just happening to you?”

I shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not… But how would we know? It’s not like someone’s gonna madly tweet, ‘OMG OMG I’M TURNING INTO A PONY HASHTAG WHAT THE FUCK HASHTAG I HAVE HOOVES NOW,’” I said. “And even if we found someone, do you think they’d be any closer to answers than us?”

Liz sighed. “So I guess we’re screwed.”

“Eh, probably,” I said. I stood up off the floor and walked to the screen door facing the backyard on the far side of the living room. “But, hey, positives.” I turned around and clapped my hands together. “Evidently, I can still look like a human, so I don’t need to stay in the house for eternity and a day, I’ll just need to feed off of… love. Food isn’t a problem, so long as we spend plenty of time together…”

“No issue there…” Liz said.

“And maybe down the line we’ll find a lead or something. Maybe someone’s dealing with this as well, though if they’re not a changeling I shudder to think of how they’re going to get along.”

“So… That’s your plan?” Liz asked skeptically. “Your plan is to just go along with it, never eat actual food again, wear a human disguise for the rest of your life when in reality you’re a villain from a kid’s TV show?”

I raised an eyebrow. “You have a better plan?”

Liz immediately shook her head. “I just can’t believe that this is the best option available.”

I approached and put my hands on her shoulders; Liz flinched a little, which wasn’t very encouraging. “This doesn’t have to be such a major change,” I said softly. “We can get through this.”

Liz was silent at first, but then she nodded. “Okay…”

My phone on the living room table buzzed. I picked it up; it was reminding me that I had class in an hour. “Well, if I’m gonna have a pretense of a normal life, I should start by going to class…”

“What?!” Liz said, grabbing my phone. “No! You’re not just leaving this house in human skin just hours after turning into Chrysalis!!”

“But--”

“No ‘buts’!” Liz said before taking a calming breath. “At least wait a couple days before you head out, okay? Get the hang of… what you can do, see if there's anything else we should worry about, and we’ll decide if you can handle being outside. Deal?”

I opened my mouth to argue, but she had a stone-cold look of determination that told me there was no point. Every time she looked me dead in the eyes, unflinching, not needing to think of anything else to support her argument, I knew she had won. I slumped my shoulders and sighed. “Deal…”
> Chapter 4: Road Rage
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 4: Road Rage

Being locked under girlfriend-mandated house arrest was no major change to my life. The only real difference was having a new distraction; fiddling around with my new powers. Spending every night with Liz fed me enough that I could maintain human form for most of the day, but it also let me use my magic. I could only use it as Chrysalis, though, so if I wanted to, say, levitate the remote from the far side of the living room over to me I had to drop my human guise.

I found the basement to be an ideal place for practicing magic. I would spend hours mindlessly flinging boxes around, and once I learned how to fire blasts, I used the empty boxes like skeet shot targets, flinging them into the air and turning them into dust. I also had a great deal of fun taking on the form of people other than my original self, such as turning into Morgan Freeman and narrating my trips to the bathroom. A less ethical man(?) than I would abuse this power much like Chrysalis did in the Royal Wedding episodes, and, truth be told, it was a little difficult to resist ‘dressing up’ and messing with folks.

I also found that, while it was much more difficult and love-consuming, I could change into objects. I assumed that the greater the difference between a different form and my changeling form, the much more strenuous it was for me. If I changed the look of my mane, I could do it no problem. It felt good to work out these little details while Liz was either at school or working at the diner in town.

Despite the fun side of this transformation, I was still eager to get back to normal. I had absolutely no leads, though, and remaining a changeling queen was becoming more and more likely. Liz said she’d keep an eye out for anyone who was absent in classes, on the off-chance whatever was happening was a local thing and they, too, opted to stay home to get used to their new hooves.

It was on May 3rd that I could finally get out of the house again. I was practicing the art of playing LA Noire 2 Co-op by myself, levitating both controllers when Liz came barging through the door. Her abrupt entrance didn’t surprise me so much that she was home two hours early from the diner. She looked ready to smash anything at arm's length, her fists clenched and her breathing heavy. Her white shirt was stained with ketchup.

“Whoa, whoa…” I said, trying to calm her down and making to stand up like a human. I remembered too late I was still Chrysalis and, a second after trying to stand on my hind legs, promptly face-planted on the floor. I returned to human form, stood up and saw Liz sitting at the kitchen table, her head in her hands. I walked over and put my hand on her shoulder. “What’s up?”

“I got fired today…” Liz said harshly, grinding her teeth.

“Uh oh…” I said, pulling a chair beside her. “Wanna talk about it?”

Liz suddenly banged the table with her fist, making me jump. “It was Dane! That fucking asshole got me canned!!”

I furrowed my brow. Liz had dumped Dane a good three months before we’d met. He was the absolute zenith of douche-baggery, a drunk daddy’s boy whose father ran a sizeable, ‘respectable’ mining corporation, Seismic. Dane took his father’s wealth for granted, calling him up every time he was arrested for drunk driving; you’re probably asking, ‘how often did he drunk-drive?’ The better question is, ‘how often is he sober?’ The local cops seemed eager to put Dane away for reasons money couldn’t buy him out of, but even Dane was smart enough to know where to draw the line… at least in the public eye. “What happened?” I asked.

Liz took a breath. “I was finishing serving this family when I heard Dane enter the restaurant with a couple of his buddies, they’d clearly been drinking. Dane greeted me like I was a friend and they sat down in the far corner. I could hear them guffawing from the fucking kitchen, and the other customers were clearly getting annoyed as well. What’s more, I could hear Dane talking about me; he was saying how he dumped me, how I was sleeping my way through school… I begged Terry not to make me serve him, but I had no choice; everyone else was busy. So I took their orders, having to put up with Dane’s snide remarks the whole way through… Then I turned around and I felt one of them grab my ass!”

At some point I’d turned back into Chrysalis, baring my teeth and causing my horn to glow brightly. “What happened next?” I growled.

Liz seemed a bit invigorated that someone else was getting nearly as angry as her. “I swung around and I said to them, ‘Touch me again and you idiots won’t have much reason to laugh, got it?’ But they just kept laughing and I walked away. Terry went into his office, and…” She stopped and groaned. “I should have just talked to him then, told him that they should be kicked out, but I was just so angry. I didn’t bother leaving the kitchen while their food was being cooked, I couldn’t deal with them again. But when their food came I had no choice; the sooner I got them their food, the sooner they could leave.”

“So I brought the food out to them, Dane took his burger and said, ‘Hey, I said ‘no mustard’!’, even though I knew that was a fucking lie. Then he said, ‘It’s shit like this that’s why you’re working in a diner you stupid bimbo!’ Then he threw the burger at my shirt,” she motioned to the ketchup stain. “Then I lost it. I grabbed his friends’ plates and smashed his face with them. His friends laughed at him, he got pissed, then Terry showed up. They had a shouting match in the kitchen, then Terry came out, Dane was looking all smug, and…”

Her eyes filled with tears. I wrapped a foreleg around her shoulder. “It’s okay…” I said.

“No, it’s not okay!!” Liz said. “How do I get another job now? ‘Oh, I got fired from my last job cause I lost my temper with a customer and smashed his food in his face!’”

“Well, if you put it into proper context…” I began.

“Ugh, I’m just so… URGH!!” Liz stood up and threw her chair to the side. “I’m gonna take a shower.” She stomped into the bedroom and slammed the door. I stared sadly at the door before dropping my gaze to the floor. Dane was pretty much the most despicable guy you could ever know, and once again he’d found a way to make our lives difficult. The idea of him getting away with this shit made me grind my teeth.

I had to make him pay. And, looking at my hooves, it wasn’t hard to come up with a way. An idea came to mind that made a grin of pure malevolence spread across my face. I changed form.

                -                -                -                -                -

At 1am, when Liz had went into a grumbling sleep, I crept out of bed and left the house for the first time in a couple days. Tonight was as good a way to teach myself how to fly, I figured as I wavered dizzyingly through the Augusta night sky. Liz had given me a general idea of where Dane lived, and even though I didn’t have an exact address, I just had to look out for his familiar, “yolo-swagilicious” BMW. Dane lived in a small house near the Kennebec, under some pretense of wanting to look humble. I stuck to the clouds, praying it was dark enough that no passing planes could see me, and scanned every house in the area for the Douche-Mobile.

There; it was painted gold, had mirror-like rims on the tires, and horrendous decals. It was definitely Dane’s car, parked in that driveway; despite having a perfectly good garage, Dane seemed to park his car out front so everyone in the neighborhood could see it. I smiled; if everyone saw it, then everyone would know whose car it was when I followed through on my plan. Even though it was stupidly late I kept triple-checking for passing cops or nightowls before descending from the night sky and landing in the backyard of Dane’s property. I took human form, giving myself black attire to better blend in, and snuck up to the screen door.

I jiggled the handle; locked. Swearing, I peeked through the curtains. In the dim light I could barely make out the sleeping form of Dane, sitting in his pure leather recliner, several beer cans littering the floor around him. Liz had told me that a drunk, sleeping Dane was about as lively as an Easter Island Head, so waking him wouldn't be an issue. Getting in, however…

I looked down; Dane was using the old screen door method of blocking the sliding door with a long block of wood instead of a lock. I dropped my human guise and ducked to the side in case the flash of green flame woke Dane. When he didn’t move, I crept up to the door and lit up my horn. Just when I wondered if magic worked through windows, the block was enveloped in a green aura and lifted into the air. Carefully, I moved it to the side and placed it on the tiger-skin rug. I slid the door open, and slipped into the house.

The place was pretty much an exact replica of Bobby Pellit’s house from Horrible Bosses. Dane fancied himself an athlete, filling his place with exercise equipment so underused I could see a layer of dust an inch thick. The walls were lined with liquor cabinets, filled with drinks I knew Dane would never drink and only had to keep up his pretense of ‘class’. The only enviable decoration in his place was the entertainment system; on the wall he had a plasma-screen so wide I wondered if his dad had it custom designed for him. The speakers were about the size of a porta-potty and placed in the corners of the room. The TV was the only source of light in the room, playing a soccer game that Dane was probably too drunk to follow. I sneaked up to him, wincing with every deafening snore, until I was right by his side.

A wide variety of things I could do to him flooded my mind, each better than the last, but I did nothing to him; I didn't even draw a mustache on his face. No, my eyes fell on the table next to his chair. Amidst the beer cans were the keys to his car. Grinning evilly, I grabbed them in my magic and carefully lifted them up. I made to turn when I noticed something else. Get the hell out of here, I thought, fighting the urge to start cackling. A syringe was on the table, drained of its contents but clear in its purpose. I don’t know what the idiot was taking, but whatever it was couldn’t have been looked too kindly upon by the law. I took the syringe and tip-hoofed out of the room. Once outside I slid the screen door closed, replaced the block through the glass and took human form. I hurried around the side of his house and to his car.

I unlocked the car door and clambered inside. The car smelled like weed, beer, cigarette smoke and pure, unadulterated dickhead. Gagging, I popped the windows to air out the car a little bit, and tossed the syringe into the passenger seat. You only need to do this for a little bit… I told myself as I started the car. The engine roared to life; I realized that, if Dane heard his car starting, he’d report it as stolen if I drove off. I looked back at his house. After a few tense minutes and no activity from his living room, I let out a sigh of relief.

“Okay…” I said, closing my eyes and concentrating. A sensation of warmth, and I opened them again. In the rearview, Dane looked back at me. I grinned, but then looked down. I was still wearing my black outfit. “Nah, too modest…” I said. The clothes vanished and I was in tighty-whities. “Lovely… Wait, hang on, that’s a bit generous.” A slight ‘size’ adjustment. “Much better. Okay…” I grabbed the wheel with one hand and put the car into ‘drive’ with the other. “Let’s see daddy-dearest buy you out of this, twat-basket.”

I sped out of Dane’s driveway; I went from zero to sixty in a matter of seconds. I sped down the street and towards Water Street. I cranked on the radio and played the shit rap Dane had made, rolling the windows down to share his ‘art’ with everyone in earshot. When I heard the first siren, I smiled. I floored it and, making sure there wasn’t anyone on the sidewalk, I swerved off the road and plowed through a stop sign. The impact was heavier than I’d anticipated; I suspected that GTA and Saint’s Row lied to me. I kept going, plowing through more and more signs until I spotted blinking red and blue lights in my rear-view. “Perfect,” I said before swerving off the street and towards the park.

As I’d hoped, the park was completely empty, so I could do as I pleased. I plowed through the fence and through several park benches, my maniacal cackles barely audible over Dane’s repeated “Uh”s and “Bitch”s booming from the radio. I looked in the rear-view; there were at least three cop cars closing the distance behind me. I drove madly around the park, planning to attract as many cops as possible before finding a nice place to ditch the car, drop the Dane disguise and walk down the street whistling nonchalantly. A cop car sped up along my right side as I made my third lap around the park. “Pull over!!” The cop screamed, his voice somehow carrying over Dane’s godawful rhythm.

I cackled. “Fuck da poe-leece!!” I yelled back, part of me feeling annoyed at having Dane’s voice. I smashed into the cop, careful so as not to hurt him but hard enough to deal damage to the car. I spun the wheel to the left and pulled on the handbrake. The tires squealed like irate pigs as I spun to the left. I slammed the accelerator and sped past the surprised cops. I could make out five more cars speeding into the park. “Lovely,” I said. “I seem to have gotten their--”

There was a sixth car I didn’t notice, speeding from the left. He slammed into me, causing me to spin out and slamming the left side of the car into a three-foot thick poplar tree. “Fuck!” I yelled; I hadn’t planned for if the cops had caught me. I slammed the gas, but the car merely sputtered at me with an air of ‘what the fuck, man.’ Cops were getting out of their cars and sprinting up to me. Shit shit shitshitshitshitshit!! I thought, trying to open the door which was kept shut, pinned against the tree. The cops swung the passenger door open, some of them drawing their guns.

“Get out of the car!!” One of them roared. “Get out of the car right now!!” I pulled my feet back and only thought to kick out the windows just as one of the cops reached in and grabbed my bare feet. I was dragged out of the car and onto the ground. I was scared; this was a stupid idea. Either I’d go to jail disguised as Dane for several years, or I’d drop the disguise, be revealed as a shape-shifting freak… and still go to jail for several years, assuming I wasn't carted off to some government facility. I needed a way out of this.

“We got something here!” A cop yelled, picking the metal bits of the now-shattered syringe off the car floor. “Felt a bit unstoppable tonight, did you, buddy?” I was lifted not-too-gently off the ground and my hands were forced behind my back. I felt the cold metal of handcuffs snap around my wrists.

“What’s your name?” Another cop asked.

“Dane Halford,” I said instantly, trying to look drunk even though I’d never been, or even seen a drunk guy in my life. I needed to keep this act up to shift the blame on to him, or all this would have been for nothing… If it wasn’t, already.

“Dane Halford!” A cop yelled, familiarity in his voice. “Glad to see you stepped up your game, son! We got tired of watching your daddy pay for your little god complex. Get him to the car.” I was pushed towards a cop car and shoved into the back seat. The car smelled like it had seen its fair share of drunks being brought in. The cop who pushed me in turned around and walked back towards the wrecked BMW.

Now was my chance. I checked that no one was looking, dropped to the floor of the car and dropped my Dane guise. The cuffs broke off of my hooves and clattered to the floor. I peeked over the front seat and spotted the door locks on the driver-side door. I used my magic and pressed the button. The back doors unlocked; I cast another glance at the cops outside. They were still searching Dane’s car or chatting amongst themselves. I ducked down and carefully opened the far door, wincing as it popped open loudly. I climbed out of the car, not bothering to close the door, and flew up into the branches of a nearby tree. I looked down and watched as one of the cops finally looked at the car.

“He’s gone!!” He yelled, drawing the attention of every cop present.

“Find him, now!!” Another one yelled. “Call it in, I want him found within the hour!!”

“Dispatch, we need an APB on one Dane Halford…” I heard one of them saying into their radio. I had to resist the urge to laugh. They'd check his house and find the idiot passed out in his recliner. He'd have a hell of a time telling his dad he was innocent when the cops would state for a fact that they saw Dane Halford GTA-ing his way through town. Spreading my wings, I flew less-than-gracefully into the Augusta night.

                -                -                -                -                -

I watched from my window as the black and green form flew off into the night. They thought they were invisible in the night sky, but even in the darkness I could see its equine features.

A sense of hope flooded my heart; I wasn’t alone in this.

                -                -                -                -                -

I carefully closed the front door, my normal human guise restored, and crept into the kitchen. I winced with every creak in the floorboard as I headed towards the bedroom. So long as Liz was still asleep, even if she heard what had happened tonight I could still deny--

A light clicked on the living room. I slowly turned to see Liz sitting in the recliner, her arms folded and eyes filled with pure anger. “Where were you?”

I was silent; denying anything was out of the question. “Out,” I said simply.

“‘Out.’”

“Yeah, out,” I said. “Just needed some fresh air.”

“You were gone for an hour and a half.”

Fuck. “Well, uh…”

“What were you doing?”

I let out an exasperated sigh. “Liz, I’ve been cooped up in here--”

“That wasn’t a problem for you.” Liz said. “Anyway, that’s not what I meant. What did you do out there?”

I rubbed the back of my head. “...Would it be good if I said I was doing something I figured would make you happy?”

Liz’s glare intensified. “Not particularly, no.”

I sighed. “I kinda… screwed Dane over.”

“How so?” Liz asked.

“I kinda… got him in trouble with the cops…” I said, the stupidity of my plan looking more and more clear with each word. “I snagged his car, disguised myself as him, got the cops really pissed, then ran for it…” Liz stood up off the chair. For a moment, she was still.

Then she walked up and slapped me across the face. “You fucking idiot!!” She yelled. “You could have gotten arrested, discovered, even killed!! And for what? For revenge?!”

“I know, I know!!” I yelled. “I realized how stupid it was when it looked like I wouldn’t get away!”

“You think this is a game?!” Liz yelled. “You should be trying to hide this, to fix it, but instead you’re playing with it and abusing it!! I can’t believe you’d be so stupid about this!!” I avoided her gaze; I really had nothing to say, the argument was clearly one-sided. Liz shook her head. “I, I… I can’t do this.”

“What?” I looked up at her.

“I, I need some time, Chris…” Liz walked into the bedroom and shut the door. I walked up to the door and found it was locked. The light was still on in there, so I knew Liz hadn’t gone to bed.

“Liz?” I asked, knocking. No response. I spent a good couple minutes knocking before it opened again. Liz stood there, hastily dressed and carrying a…

“No, no, Liz, please…” I said, the stuffed suitcase making my heart sink. “Please, don’t…”

Liz walked right past me. “I love you, Chris, but I don’t know how I can help you if you’re not gonna take this seriously…” She walked towards the front door.

I felt an instinctive sense of panic. “Liz, wait!!” I cried. My human guise dropped and I cantered behind her. I grabbed her arm in my magic and tugged.

“Chris, stop it!” Liz said, tugging back.

“Please, don’t go!”

“Chris, you’re hurting me!!”

I dropped the magic. I’d hoped to never hear those four words from her, ever. I fell to my haunches and looked at my front hooves. For a moment, I felt as though I'd force her to...

I looked up at Liz, who was continuing towards the front door without a word. She looked back at me sadly one last time before turning and leaving the house.

I was alone.

A small twinge of hunger rang in my stomach.
> Chapter 5: Contact
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 5: Contact

I sat behind my desk, glaring at Dane. Clarice had waited a good hour after my son’s incarceration before choosing to call me, but I couldn’t blame her for not wanting to be the bearer of bad news. At 4am she called me and said my son was dragged out of his house by the police, arrested for reckless driving and escaping custody. Bail was substantially more expensive than Dane’s usual antics usually brought, and even then I had to call in a couple favors to ensure we wouldn’t hear any more of it from the courts. After Dane had been released I had him brought into my office so we could have a chat.

Dane, god bless him, was an idiot, made complacent by the wealth I’d made the mistake of sharing with him. He squandered it on booze, women and questionable substances, rather than on an education that would teach him how to run Seismic. The more trouble he got into, the less likely having a half-competent heir became. Tonight’s little stunt, however, had shown me he wasn’t fit for it. The future of this company was bleak, but it was doomed to failure if he were put in charge.

“I’ve had enough, Dane,” I said, trying to sound calm and level-headed, when in reality I wanted to toss him out on the street. “You’ve done some stupid things before, but I really didn’t think you could top them.”

“I didn’t do anything, dad!!” Dane attested desperately. “I was just sleeping at home when those pigs came barging in, yelling at me and dragging me out!”

“You went on a drug-fueled rampage through Augusta and escaped police custody!” I yelled. “They have you on camera, in your less-than-flattering briefs! Then, when you couldn’t have possibly done anything more idiotic, you returned home and fell asleep!!”

“That wasn’t me!!” Dane cried; his eyes were even tearing up. “Someone must have stolen my car!!”

“Someone who looked exactly like you?!”

“It wasn’t me…” His gaze dropped to the floor and he quietly began to sob.

My expression softened. Whenever Dane did something stupid he at least didn’t try to deny it, merely apologizing and saying he wouldn’t do it again. Tonight, however… Not only did he do something far more idiotic than I ever expected of him, but he also claimed it wasn’t him. Either he was too drunk or drugged to clearly remember, or there was more to this...

I looked behind Dane to Travis, standing stoically behind him with his arms folded. I couldn’t ask for a better ‘asset’ in Travis; he was an enormous man, yet much smarter and quieter than his size implied. For a steady forty grand a month, he would chauffeur, run security and ‘procure’ easy labor, and he was worth every penny. “Travis,” I said. “Escort my son home, and have two men on your security detail ensure he stays there.”

“Yes, Mr. Halford,” Travis said, opening the door behind him. Dane stood up and walked towards the door before looking back at me. There was none of that insufferable smugness, no confidence…

“It wasn’t me, dad…” He said before turning and walking out, Travis right behind him. I stared at the door for a moment before dialing on the phone and putting it on speaker.

“Clarice?”

“Yes, Mr. Halford?”

“Call Mr. Foster and tell him I have need of his expertise.”

                -                -                -                -                -

I sat on my bed, blankly staring at a picture of me- the human me- and Liz. The house felt so ludicrously empty now. I wasn’t even crying… What good would it do? It was my own stupid fault that Liz left. I couldn’t blame her if she never came back, if she just moved on, found some guy who wouldn’t hurt her like I did.

When I managed to stop wallowing in self-loathing, my thoughts always drifted back to the almost animalistic desire to keep Liz here, the way I’d grabbed her in my magic and refused to let go. I’d felt as though I would force her to stay if I had to. Was this what changelings were willing to do to feed? Hold people- or ponies, rather- against their will, either to feed off of them or keep them out of the way to be impersonated?

I cursed myself for thinking of feeding. Somehow my body knew I’d lost my source of food and was reacting in kind. This wasn’t hunger… It was withdrawal. Love was like a drug that didn’t waste you away, but hurt you more when you stopped taking it. A very slight pain in my stomach was the only thing I felt at the moment, but I knew, over time, it would feel like something was eating its way out of my abdomen. I needed to find something to feed off of. This meant doing what Changelings were good at… But where could I start? I could never bring myself to commit a literal form of identity theft...

A crash and a yowl outside broke me out of my stupor. I got off the bed and carefully approached the window; if I was out of food for a while, I’d need to remain in my Chrysalis form as much as possible to ration what love I had left. I pulled the curtains aside and peered down the street. Mr. Phillips, down the street, was leaning out his front door while a small form bolted away from toppled trash cans.

“Bedford!!” Mr. Phillips yelled. “If I see your cat again I’m gonna toss it into the river!!” He slammed his door, the slam echoing into the night. I focused on the silhouette of Gwyneth, retreating to the safety of Bedford’s house.

“There’s an idea…” I murmured.

                -                -                -                -                -

...a terrible idea… I amended ten minutes later, hugging the now enormous outside wall of my house and twitching my mouse nose. This seemed rather desperate- which it was- but it was really my only option at present. It was also even stupider than my little car stunt, seeing as turning into a mouse- something roughly a percentage of my natural size- was dumping my love reserves like a burst waterbed.

This is stupid this is stupid she’s gonna eat me then puke me up with all the other rodents she ate and gobbed on my porch oh my god oh my god what am I doing what am I-- there she is. I spotted a pair of eyes, glistening in the moonlight, staring directly at me from several feet away.

Stay cool… I thought. Stay cool-- OH SHIT!! The eyes suddenly bolted forward. I dropped my guise, returning to Chrysalis form.

“Surprise, you little shit,” I said, grabbing Gwyneth in my magic. I lifted the hissing and spitting cat into the air. “Oh, shut up.” I focused my horn and fired a green haze at the cat. The haze suddenly became a blob of slime that practically swallowed the cat, drowning out its yowling. The cat twitched for a few seconds before becoming still.

This was another perk I’d discovered in my little experiments with changeling magic. I could spawn this slime, likely used to hold the subjects of impersonation in a place they couldn’t interfere. Apparently it could put its victims into some kind of vegetative state, ensuring no attempts at escape, as evidenced by Gwyneth’s sudden stillness. I levitated the suddenly petrified sphere of goo and placed it carefully behind the trash bins beside the house, praying I wouldn’t forget to come back once I was finished feeding. I looked into the cat’s petrified eyes and focused. The usual warmth enveloped me and I felt myself dropping in size. I looked at my cat form and sighed. This could actually work! I thought happily. I turned and ran towards Bedford’s house, bolting through the cat door.

If I thought Bedford couldn’t become any more of a stereotype for crotchety old ladies, her house proved me wrong. It had the usual flowered wallpaper, various old dolls lining the shelves, an aged TV in the living room- everything an old lady would have in the least creative TV show. Bedford was sitting on her couch, having fallen asleep while watching TV.

Uh oh… I thought, prowling towards her. Hope I can still feed while she’s asleep… I leapt onto the couch and rubbed up beside her. A familiar flowing sensation drifted from her into me- nowhere near as much as I had gotten from Liz, but it felt welcome to stave off the withdrawal. I lay on her skinny, boney leg, and tried my hand at purring.

Bedford smiled- the first time I’d ever seen her do so- and lazily lifted a hand to stroke my head. The flow of love strengthened, and I could feel the strain of maintaining this form quickly lessening. With nothing left to do but stay and feed, I opted to quietly watch the TV. Bedford had fallen asleep watching old Western movies. Shaking my head I looked to the side and spotted the remote. I quietly pulled it over with a paw and began flicking through the channels.

Most of the channels had old interviews, documentaries and shit I could never get into, but I eventually found a local news channel. I nudged the remote away and lay my head down.

“...still no leads on the group behind the explosion in Vancouver yesterday. Investigators are struggling to discover what type of armaments explode in a red and purple color…”

Hell-o. I thought, sitting up. The screen showed the side of an apartment building in Vancouver, the wall scorched and many of its windows blasted out.

“The explosion that startled everyone in the Vancouver area set off most car alarms in the surrounding five blocks and shattered the windows of the closest apartment complex,” the reporter continued. “Authorities are still struggling to discover what type of explosive was used, but no one was injured.”

I tilted my head to the side. Given what was happening to me, it wasn’t a stretch to assume that someone else was going through the same changes as me. Whoever they were, they must have been a unicorn practicing their magic with roughly the same amount of restraint as a redneck with a shotgun.

Knowing there were others out there made the ache in my heart lessen; I wasn’t alone. Wherever these other ponies were, they were going through the same shit I was. If I could find them, maybe we could find out what was happening… and how to reverse it.

I ate my fill from Bedford before clicking the TV back to the channel I’d found it on, and leapt from the couch. I quickly, but quietly, ran out the cat door and, once a safe distance outside, returned to my Chrysalis form to ration my love. I approached the trash bins and found Gwyneth, right where I’d left her, and picked up the sphere that encased her. “Let’s see if I can get you out of there, huh, you little shit?” I murmured as I crept through the screen door.

I set the petrified cat on my couch and sat in front of it, thinking of how I could get her out without killing her. I lit up my horn and focused on the resin. Slowly I felt its hard surface soften, and saw the faintest sign of movement in Gwyneth’s eyes. “There we go…” I muttered, staying the course. Before long the sphere was malleable enough that I could reach in with my magic. With a few tugs Gwyneth came free with a loud ‘shlock!’ I set her shivering form on the floor. “I actually feel bad about that…” I said, opening the screen door and nudging my head towards the outside. “Get.”

Gwyneth staggered out the door; as she disappeared into the darkness I thought I’d made a mistake. If I needed more of Bedford’s love, I might have a harder time getting Gwyneth out of the way again. Rubbing the back of my head I decided to just head to bed with Liz--

Oh, right. My head lowered. The bed was gonna be feeling pretty empty for a while… With a heavy sigh I stood, turned off the light and walked towards the hallway.

“Found you.”

I spun around at the feminine voice, seething with hatred. I’d left the screen door open, and in its frame stood a figure I couldn’t make out in the darkness. And right now, they were looking right at my natural form. Worse yet, they didn’t seem all surprised to see a changeling.

“You did this to me,” the figure said. “And you’re going to change me back.”

“What?” I said in my infinite wisdom. The figure took a step into the house. Carefully I lifted a hoof to the side and flicked a lightswitch. I gasped. The figure seemed to be dressed for discretion, with a black wool cap, black hoodie and old jeans, but it wasn’t the outfit that took me by surprise.

The figure raised their arms to shield their eyes from the sudden light. Only, instead of hands, the figure had hooves. It was the same with their feet, bright blue hooves that barely fit in the old jeans the figure wore. They stood shakily on their legs, which looked uncomfortably warped to be more… pony-like. Beneath the wool cap I could make out a long stream of silvery hair that stretched past the figure’s shoulders. The figure lowered its hooves and I got a look at their face. It was definitely pony-like, with bright blue fur, indigo eyes and a three-inch long horn protruding from their forehead. What caused me to take a step back, though, was how their face was more like a muzzle. The figure, recovered from the flash of light, took another step towards me and scowled.

“Change. Me. Back!!” Trixie snarled.

> Chapter 6: Outburst
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 6: Outburst

“Um…” I said, continuing my streak of intelligent responses.

“If you don’t change me back, I swear to god, I will…” Trixie suddenly stumbled, her arms(?) spinning forward to find balance. Managing to stand straight again, Trixie continued to glare at me without missing a beat.

“Okay, listen…” I said. “I can’t change you back…”

I probably should have mentioned that we were in the same boat first; Trixie’s face contorted into one of blind fury. “You WITCH!!” She charged forward, waddling like she was knee-deep in muck. Raising an eyebrow I casually stepped to the side and, feeling like making a dick-move, held a hind leg out to trip my assailant. Trixie fell spectacularly to the floor with a loud crash, but she quickly rolled onto her back and swung a leg at me. The leg connected with my left foreleg, causing me to yell in pain and stumble back.

“Jesus, lady, I didn’t do--” I began, but Trixie’s rage only intensified. She stood up and tackled me, sending us both crashing to the floor. She pressed her hoof to my throat, choking me with a wild look in her eyes.

With no option left I lit up my horn. A green aura surrounded Trixie and lifted her off of me, allowing me to scurry back and get back on my hooves. “Calm down!!” I yelled.

Trixie madly flailed in my magic. “Change me back, right now!!”

“I can’t change you back because I didn’t do this to you!!” I yelled. Trixie’s flailing ceased. “I turned into Chrysalis two days ago. I don’t know why you’re still changing, but whatever’s happening to us isn’t completely different. We’re both turning into ponies, okay? And, as far as I can see, we have no way to change into humans. Attacking me won’t do us any favors.”

Trixie stared at me in utter shock; it was clear she would have preferred me being the cause of all this. Then she could have, at the very least, been close to becoming human again. “B-But you… You have to have done this…” She said, her voice quivering. “You were gonna change me back! You were gonna make me normal again… You were…” She stopped and looked at her hooves. The pain in her eyes was clear; she was stuck like this. Carefully I lowered her to the floor, though she didn’t appear to notice.

“...I’m sorry…” I said. Trixie looked up at me, her eyes full of tears. Silently, she curled into a ball and her shoulders heaved with quiet sobs. I gazed at her sadly for a moment before picking her back up in my magic and carefully carrying her into the guest room. I laid her on the bed where she continued to weep. I left the room, slowly closing the door behind me and heading into the living room.

I sat on the couch, laying my head on the throw pillow. Somehow I preferred being alone; now I had to comfort a girl (or former boy) who was dealing with the fact that their body may have made an irreversible transformation. I began to realize just how lucky I was, being a changeling. At least I had the perk of choosing whatever form I wanted; they probably had to stay indoors for the past couple days. When I got a chance, I’d have to ask them what it must have been like for them.

The night’s events seemed to catch up with me. I fell asleep before I realized just how exhausted I was.

                -                -                -                -                -

I sat next to Liz on the park bench, my arm around her shoulder. I drank in her warm, content smile and felt her long brown hair in my fingers. A wide, permanent smile lined my face.

“I’m ludicrously lucky, you know that?” I asked her.

“So you’ve said…” Liz said, rolling her eyes but smiling nonetheless.

“I’m serious,” I attested. “I’ve never been happy like this.”

Liz opened her mouth to respond, but her eyes trailed up to my forehead and she frowned. I frowned as well, raising a hand and feeling my brow. A small lump was right in the center of my forehead, growing longer and longer. My breathing became heavy as I tried to press the growth, trying to keep it from growing any more, to no avail.

I felt something drop down the sides of my head. Hair- long, sickly green hair. I fell off the bench. Liz was yelling something but I couldn’t hear her. My hands and feet were enveloped in green flame and replaced with ebon hooves. My body twisted and distorted until, within seconds of having started, it resembled that of a horse.

“Chris?” I turned to look at Liz, who looked terrified, and with good reason. The sounds of tires squealing against pavement made us look to the road. A large black van had parked on the curb. Several men in hazmat suits climbed out of the car, armed with nets, cattle prods and other means of restraint. They tentatively surrounded me, meaning to take me away, to experiment on me, or god knows what.

“Get back!” I snapped, dropping into a defensive stance. One of the goons, startled, jabbed me with the prod. The pain was small, but noticeable. I turned my head to scowl at him. My vision turned green, and my horn glowed.

The windows in the surrounding buildings all shattered. Out of each of them flew hundreds of changelings- my children. They descended upon the agents, smothering their terrified screams and obscuring them from sight. The swarm carried the poor saps into the air, encasing them in the preserving nectar.

I smiled. “Such is the fate of those who challenge my rule.” I turned to see Liz, having fallen on the ground and scurrying away from me. I slowly approached her and carefully extended a hoof towards her. She flinched away with a whimper, tears streaming from her eyes.

I looked at her with a mix of sadness and confusion. Then I narrowed my eyes. “You will feed your queen.” My vision flashed green and I heard myself snarl. Liz screamed.

                -                -                -                -                -

With an incoherent babble I woke, rolling off the couch. I fell to the floor with a painful crash, landing painfully on my left wing. Judging by the sunlight shining through the window I guessed it was morning or early afternoon. Shaking my head I stood up, getting my breathing under control. My thoughts remained stubbornly on the dream.

What’s happening to me?

A bump from the guest room drew me out of my trance. I climbed off the couch, hurried down the hall and swung the guest room door open.

Trixie had fallen off the bed and was sprawled on the floor, moving her legs in a desperate attempt to get back on her hooves. What little signs of humanity I’d seen in her hours ago was gone; the “ponyfication” was complete. Standing like a biped was completely off the table for her now. She actually looked kinda cute wearing the hoodie and jeans, though she had somehow managed to get her wool cap off and tossed it on the floor. Trixie looked up at me with a hint of embarrassment. Rolling my eyes I trotted into the room and helped her up. Trixie had some trouble finding her center of balance, but she got the hang of pony-standing.

“Okay, so long as I don’t move from this spot, I shouldn’t fall over again…” Trixie said, bitterly.

“Just imagine you’re crawling on all fours,” I suggested. “It’ll come to you. Let’s go sit in the living room and we can chat, all right?” Trixie nodded and I led her out of the guest room. My little ‘on all fours’ strategy seemed to do the trick, as she, however clumsily, managed to get down the hall and into the living room without tripping again. She collapsed into the chair and ‘Lyra-sat’ while I sat in the couch opposite her.

“So…” she said.

“So.” I said in reply.

“You didn’t cause this?” She asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“Pretty sure I didn’t, yeah,” I said. “My name’s Chris Barton.”

“Ray Bassett,” Trixie said.

I bit my lip. “...Don’t suppose ‘Ray’ was short for, I dunno, ‘Rachel’?”

The Trixie lookalike glared at me. “No.”

“Didn’t think so.” That explained why she-- he, whatever, got so pissed when I called him ‘lady’ hours ago. “Well, we’re in the same boat; both dudes who turned into ponies of the opposite gender.”

“Ponies?” Ray asked.

I stared at him. “...Yeah. Ponies.” Ray stared at me skeptically. It actually took me a good thirty awkward seconds to figure out why. “...non-brony?” I asked.

“Non-what?”

Oh, fuck me. I put my head in my hooves; I always hated explaining the fandom to someone I didn’t think would at least give it a try. I leaned back and took a breath. “Okay. So, back in 2010, the My Little Pony franchise got a new TV series, helmed by renowned cartoonist Lauren Faust. Basically, her intent was to make a show that, if a father, older brother, etcetera got stuck watching the show with a member of the intended little girl demographic, they wouldn’t be ripping their hair out in bloody clumps. Well, she overshot that ambition and the show got a fanbase, in the millions, of dudes of all ages, called ‘bronies’, who enjoyed the story, writing, animation, characters, songs… you get the idea. The show was amazing.”

I took a breath. “And we have, somehow, turned into characters from the show. You’re Trixie Lulamoon, a unicorn with a deal of talent in magic, and fan favorite.”

The look on Ray’s face wasn’t exactly one of exuberance. I smiled nervously. “Congrats?” I said with a shrug.

“So what about you?” Ray asked after a long period of silence.

“What about me?”

“When I got here last night you seemed to be fully ‘committed’ to this… pony thing, but I was still in my last stages,” Ray said.

I rested my chin on my hoof in thought, then looked at the hoof. Tilting my head, I changed it to look like my human hand. “Well, I’m not sure, but maybe what’s happening to us happened to me faster since I was turning into a changeling.”

“A what?”

“Oh, right. A changeling is a creature that can transform into anything it wishes, and feeds off of love. They usually disguise themselves as somepony else…” I ignored, yet understood, Ray’s exasperated “ugh” and continued. “...and feed off of the affection of their loved ones. Like disguising themselves as a bride at her wedding and feeding off of the groom’s love… which is how they were introduced. So whatever’s happening to us, happened to me faster since transformation isn’t so laborious for a changeling.”

“Right…” Ray said, leaning back in the chair. “So you’re no closer to finding out how to fix this than I am.”

I looked at Ray sadly. “Yeah… I’m sorry.”

Ray let out a soft laugh. “I kinda figured you were the source ‘cause I saw you at the park last night… You sped around the park across the street from my apartment and pissed off the cops to no end…” He laughed. “Then I saw you change into… that and fly off into the night. I figured, if you could change forms, you could probably change the forms of others, and you had done it to me for whatever reasons.”

“How’d you find me?” I asked. “I can’t imagine you being able to follow me discretely, even in the dead of night.”

“Wasn’t so hard,” Ray said with a smirk. “I just looked out to where you flew and headed out that way. By the time I got here I saw you change back from a cat in your backyard, carrying something round inside.” I mentally slapped myself; I needed to be more careful with my changes of ‘ensemble’. “And here I am.”

“Okay…” I said. “And you’re sure no one saw you? ...At least, no one who would bother to investigate?”

“Please,” Ray scoffed. “If I want to stay hidden, I stay hidden. Plain and simple.”

“Right,” I said, rolling my eyes. “So, it’s great that we found each other, you know, problem shared and all, but what do we do now?”

“Well, you can change forms, right?” Ray asked, as though the solution was obvious. “Just change us both into humans and we’ll be all set!”

I shook my head. “Not that simple. I can only change my form, and even then it drains the love I’ve fed off of. That’s why you saw me as a cat in my yard- I was feeding off of my bitch old lady neighbor’s love for her cat. So while I can look human, you pretty much got the short end of the stick here.”

A frown spread across Ray’s face- or, muzzle- as I explained the flaw in his plan. “So what you’re telling me…” He said, his voice wavering. “Is that I’m stuck like this while you get to keep some semblance of a normal life?”

I nodded solemnly. Ray gaped at me for a few moments before jumping off the chair. “I’m out of here.” He made for the screen door.

“Whoa, NUH-UH!” I yelled, jumping off the couch and standing in front of him. “You can’t leave here like this, especially not in broad daylight!”

“Get out of the way!” Ray snapped, annoyed.

“Give me a reason to,” I said darkly.

“Get outta my way…” Trixie growled. “Or I’m gonna… I’m gonna…”

“What?” I asked, taking a step forward. “What are you gonna do to me? Better yet, what are you gonna do if I let you pass? Walk home? Wave ‘hi’ to everyone you see? You won’t make it five blocks before a cop pulls over to ask why an azure unicorn is strutting down the sidewalk.”

“I’ll take my chances,” Ray set, lifting his nose into the air; I didn’t know him personally, but I got the vibe this wasn’t entirely Ray talking. “If you can’t help me, I have no reason to stay here. Good luck, change-thing…”

A foreign, yet disturbingly familiar anger filled me. “It’s changeling…” I said, my vision flashing green. “And I said you’re not leaving this house.” I lifted the unicorn into the air with my magic.

“Put me down!!” Ray yelled, flailing his little pony legs madly as I carried him towards the door to the basement. I opened the door and brought him downstairs into the dark cellar that made Gollum’s cave look cozy. I flicked the light on and placed the flailing Ray in the far corner before hurrying up the stairs and slamming the door shut behind me. As I heard clumsy hoof-falls climbing the stairs I grabbed a chair from the kitchen and propped it beneath the basement door’s handle, since I couldn’t lock it.

Ray banged on the door; I worried he’d be able to break it down with his new hooves. “Let me out of here!!” Ray screamed through the door.

“I will, once you calm down,” I called. “Trust me, I’m doing you a favor.”

“When I get out of here, you’re gonna regret making a fool of the Great and Powerful TRIXIE!!!”

The banging stopped. My jaw dropped; I was fairly certain Ray’s did the same. Slowly I removed the chair from the door, stepped back and opened it. Ray was standing stock-still, his face a perfect imitation of the Surprised Patrick meme. After a few moments he slowly glanced up at me.

“What did I just say?”

> Chapter 7: Labor
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 7: Labor

“This isn’t happening this isn’t happening this isn’t happening…” Ray repeated, curled up in a ball and rocking back and forth on the living room floor. I was busily flicking through Netflix to find “Boast Busters” to show him Trixie’s role on the show.

“Dude, relax…” I said, not looking at him. He’d been panicking since his “great and powerful” outburst. It seemed I wasn’t far off the mark in assuming there was less and less of Ray Bassett in the pony beside me.

“How can I relax?!” Ray cried. “Whatever’s happening isn’t stopping with changing our bodies! I said something that wasn’t… me! It was somepony else--” I looked at him and raised an eyebrow. Ray made a few incoherent noises of confused frustration. “You see?! I’d NEVER say that!!”

“Look, maybe we’re getting more and more like the ponies we’ve turned into, but we don’t need to worry about it,” I said.

“Oh yeah?” Ray asked, glaring up at me. “And what about you? What are you like on this show? Have you started acting like this… Chrysalis character?”

I frowned and bit my lip. The most ‘Chrysalis’ I’d seen was when I tried to keep Liz from leaving, and in the dream a few hours past. Other than that, though, I hadn’t felt any different. “I don’t think so.”

“Well, good for you…” Ray said, rolling his eyes. “At least you get to stay you to a sense.”

“How do you know you’re really changing?” I asked. “How do you know you weren’t an arrogant show-off before the first?”

“Please…” Ray said, tossing his head back again. “The Great and--” He paused, irritated. “I would never stoop so low as to boast. I would only announce my skills to all that would hear--”

“See, that!” I said. “Where’s that coming from? From Trixie, or from Ray?” Ray scowled, but avoided eye contact. I shook my head. “Whatever, let’s just watch the episode, okay?”

The episode began, the two of us watching in utter silence. The tension was quite palpable; I decided we had enough problems to deal with without being at each other’s throats. With a sigh I turned to him. “Look, let’s start over, okay?”

Ray was quiet for a moment, but he eventually sighed and nodded. “Yeah.”

I paused the episode. “Right. So, let’s try to get to know each other, huh? Where you from?”

“Vermont,” Ray said. “I lived in Burlington until I moved here to attend UMA.”

“Oh, you’re a student there?” I asked. “You take Intro to Sociology? We might have had some classes together.”

He shook his head. “Nah, I had that a few years back, I was getting my Master’s in Engineering. Should have gotten it next month, actually, if I hadn’t… you know.” He groaned. “Worst birthday ever…”

“It was your birthday?” I asked. “Mine was on the first… Back when this started, come to think of it.”

Ray stared at me. “...Bullshit.”

“What?”

“I started changing on my birthday, too!” He said, standing up. “When I was going to bed that night, this,” he gestured at his cutie mark. “Showed up on my side!”

“...Huh…” I said.

“How old are you?” Ray asked.

“Twenty-five…”

Ray gaped, wordlessly. After a while he found his voice. “You’re bullshitting me.”

“You’re twenty-five, too?!”

Ray shook his head. “This doesn’t smell like a coincidence, man…”

“No, no, it has to be…”

“Dude, on our twenty-fifth birthdays, which both shared the same date, we both started turning into... ponies!” Ray approached me. “How could this be a coincidence?!”

“I don’t know!” I snapped. “So, what, what’s happening is less random than suddenly spawning hooves, horns and different ‘bits’?”

Ray sat on his haunches and threw his forelegs into the air. “It’s basically all the sense we can make of this! It’s closer to any theories we could make.”

“‘Theories,’” I pointed out. “No facts, other than ‘we’ve become ponies,’ no leads, no halfway viable options. All we can do here is lay low and pray to every deity imaginable that some lead will come flying through the window.”

Ray leaned his head against the seat behind him. “...I just don’t like having no options, you know? Any progress we can make is better than just sitting here.”

“I know,” I said. “But trust me; first lead we find, we’ll pursue it. At least it’ll feel like we’re trying.”

My stomach growled; it seemed like I’d need another ‘visit’ to Bedford’s sometime soon. “I think I might need to step out for a bit--” I bent double as I felt like I’d been shivved in the stomach. “Jesus…” I groaned.

“What?” Ray asked, sitting up.

“Something’s wrong, I… URGH!!” I wrapped my forelegs around my belly, which felt as though I was gonna be the victim of a chest-burster. “God, it hurts!” I fell off the couch and knelt on the floor, my breathing painful and slow.

“Sh-should I call someone?” Ray asked before shaking his head, realizing for himself how stupid that would be.

A cold sweat began to form around my brow. “Oh god, oh god, oh go-- AUGH!!” My entire body felt wrong. The light shining through the windows was too bright, the air felt stifling, suffocating.

The room itself somehow felt wrong.

Basement… Part of my mind- an unfamiliar part- said urgently. Basement… now…

I scrambled to my hooves and threw the door open. I nearly tripped down the aged stairs and into the pitch black cellar. Ray was calling after me but I couldn’t make out what he was saying. The moment I felt the basement’s chilly, damp air, I began feeling better, save for the increasing pain in my abdomen. I bolted for the farthest corner of the basement and curled up. Ray arrived at the bottom step and flicked on the lightswitch to the side. The moment the single lightbulb dangling from the ceiling lit up, some now-apparent feral side of me made me hiss viciously at him. “NO!”

Ray, with a face like he’d walked in on a male friend performing ‘manual relief’, promptly turned the light off without a word. I’d hoped that the darkness would somehow appease the pain, would get it to stop, to leave me alone… But as the seconds passed the pain only increased. My shouts became agonized screams. Tears of pain fell down my face as I stamped on the floor. “Please, please, god, make it stop…” I sobbed, my jaw clenched tight enough to chew through steel. Suddenly a single thought entered my mind, one clear thought that cut through the pain.

I wish Liz was here…

The pain reached a crescendo. I stood on all fours- the pain seemed to be moving… downward? Towards my--

At that point I remembered what the role of a queen is in an insect, or at least insectoid, society.

“Oh, fuck my life,” I whimpered.

The next three minutes were not what you’d want to discuss with friends over drinks. Without wishing to delve into ‘icky’ territory, I’ll just say that my pain abruptly ended with three wet ‘splat’s from right behind me. The pain vanished. My breathing became normal. I fell to the floor, drenched in sweat.

“...Chris?” I heard Ray call. “...You okay?”

“Turn the light on, Ray…” I panted.

“...You sure?”

“Yes,” I said firmly. “Please.”

The light clicked on. Ray hesitantly stepped down from the bottom step and approached me, his gaze focused on the spot behind me. Knowing what was behind me, yet still completely unprepared to face it, I slowly turned around.

Behind me were a trio of foot-tall, poison-green eggs, pulsating and occasionally twitching. They were all covered in a viscous substance that I was concerned was inside me in the first place. The surface of the eggs were very slightly transparent; in each of them I could spot a still, equine form.

Ray seemed to notice the look on my face; one of horror, confusion and despair, all wrapped into one. “...So I guess it’s your turn to panic now?”

                -                -                -                -                -

I tapped my fingers impatiently against my desk as I hung behind Mr. Foster, who was sitting in my chair and busily typing at my computer. He was quickly searching through the video logs from the computer in my son’s car. He’d requested his car come pre-installed with a basic PC and webcam, so that he may record ‘vlogs’, as he called them, and post them on the internet under the impression that people cared about how much of my money he’d spent that day.

The webcam, it seemed, was going to be money well spent. The model I’d bought for him always remained on; a little agreement made between the webcam’s manufacturers and the Department of Transportation, in hopes of identifying car thieves and obtaining sufficient evidence to put them away. And right now, Foster was finishing accessing Dane’s car’s memory banks.

“Got it, sir,” he said. “It’s all right here.” A lengthy stream of video opened on screen.

“Find the footage from around 2am this morning,” I said. Foster scrolled to the given time- no one was in the driver seat. He set the footage to play at triple speed, sat back and watched. For a minute, nothing happened. I considered telling him to speed it up when the driver door opened.

The stranger got in the car, opened the window and tossed something into the passenger seat. He was a young fellow- likely in his twenties- with dark brown hair and a rather average face. He was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, yet was making no attempts to cover his face, likely not expecting the webcam to be streaming at the moment. “Okay…” he said, leaning back and closing his eyes.

He was suddenly engulfed in an emerald flame. I leaned forward in disbelief as the flames vanished, leaving my son- at least in appearance- in the driver seat. The Dane lookalike looked down at his attire. “Nah, too modest…” He became engulfed in flames again, and when they faded he was in his briefs. “Lovely…” He stared down towards his groin. “Wait, hang on, that’s a bit generous.” A pause. “Much better. Okay…” He took the wheel and began to drive off.

I took the mouse and paused the video before turning to Foster. “You will tell no one of this. You will find your payout to be much more substantial for your discretion.”

Foster nodded his head rapidly. “Yes sir. No one would believe me, anyway…” He said, sweating like he’d seen a ghost… He may as well have. He stood out of my chair and walked quickly out of my office without another word. I sat back in my chair and rewound the footage until I found the original intruder’s face, just before his first transformation.

“What are you…”

> Chapter 8: Reconcile
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 8: Reconcile

“Let it out, man,” Ray said, patting me on the pack.

“MMMMMMMMMRRRRRRRRRRPPPPPPHHHHHHHH,” I screamed, my face pressed into the bundled-up sweatshirt. We were back in the living room, sitting on the couch. After laying my ‘bundles of joy’ I’d stiffly marched upstairs, feeling the need to blow off some steam. Ray opted to take off his hoodie and hand it to me, and I’d spent the past twenty minutes venting my terror.

“So, whenever you’re finished…” Ray said carefully. “We should talk about what we’re gonna do with those things down there.”

“MMMMMMMMMRRRRRRRRRRPPPPPPHHHHHHHH!!!”

“I mean, do you want to do the changeling equivilant of an abortion? Do you want to leave em alone and hope they go away in the event we become human again? Or maybe you can do what this ‘Chrysalis’ is supposed to do…?”

“MMMMMMMMMRRRRRRRRRRPPPPPPHHHHHHHH!!!”

“Right, we’ll figure it out when you’re good and ready.” Ray sat back; I figured if he had thumbs he’d be twiddling them.

“MMMMMMMMMRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrooooookay…” I removed the hoodie from my face. “I think I’m good.”

“You sure?”

I paused, shoved my face into the hoodie and tried screaming again. “MMMMMmmmm-- yeah, I’m all burned out.”

“So, what do you want to do?” Ray asked.

I gazed at the floor. No amount of screaming would make me comfortable with the fact that, within ten minutes, I’d gone from a confused dude in a changeling queen’s body, to a full-blown mother of three. Every thought of the three eggs in the basement, now hastily covered beneath a blanket by Ray, sent a pain through my stomach.

I felt stupid for never seeing this coming. I may not have known the specifics of changeling anatomy, culture and the like, but I should’ve at least expected that I’d feel the need to procreate. Not that I wanted to, of course; if I started a hive it would complicate things- even more so. If changelings did things just like they did on the show- kidnap people (or ponies) and impersonate them to feed off their loved ones, how could I live with myself if I allowed that?

And yet there would be no other option. I didn’t like the idea of letting my unexpected children starve, especially seeing as they could pop out randomly, it seemed. And if I couldn’t feed them with the ‘identity theft’ method, what else could I do? Get on TV like Sarah McLachlan and get a charity going to give my children a home? God knows how people would react; they’d either recoil in fear or get the nearest firearms or sharp objects. Bronies around the world would probably help, but what would happen when I’d spawned too many hatchlings for all the bronies to take care of? And then there was the (potentially paranoid) thought that the government would take the hatchlings and perform experiments on them.

In place of the terror I’d screamed out, a growing sense of despair grew. “I don’t know…” I said softly. “I just don’t know…”

“Wanna go check on ‘em?”

I sighed. “Give me a minute…” Ray jumped off the sofa and descended into the basement, casting a concerned look over his shoulder as he went. I lay on the couch, wallowing in doubt. Going down there would just continue to hammer home the fact that, in an indeterminate amount of time, I’d have three slimy, love-sucking shape-shifters.

But they’d be my three slimy, love-sucking shape-shifters.

The sound of the front door opening drew me out of my trance. I immediately put on my Chris guise, but quickly remembered I couldn’t maintain it forever without…

“...Liz?” I got off the couch. She stood in the door frame, her expression neutral. She was here for one of two things; to pack up her things and move on (the smart decision), or agree to see me through this- the completely implausible decision that I put all my hopes on.

For a moment she said nothing. Then she hurried forward and hugged me tight. I responded in kind- my stomach seemed to do a flip as it drank in the flooding warmth from Liz. “I’m sorry…” I said into her ear. “I was-- I am, a complete shithead, I knew that the moment I was finished with that stunt.”

“I shouldn’t have left,” Liz said. “I should have stayed with you…”

“No, baby, you were right… I should be trying to fix this, even though I have no clue where to start… but I can’t afford to fuck around with this. No more risks, no more ‘stealth missions’ or espionage or shit like that. We’ll be careful. I promise.”

“...That’s not all we need to talk about, is it?” Liz asked. “You were kind of…”

I couldn’t think of how to respond. “...Yeah… I’m getting kinda… ‘into the role’, here…”

“I figured… I would’ve come back sooner but I was…” Her embrace tightened. “I was scared, Chris…”

“I’m scared, too…” I said. “More than you know. God, I’m fucking terrified…”

“What’s wrong?” Liz asked, looking up at me.

“B-Babe, I…” I began, when we heard hooves climbing the stairs. “Uh, by the way, it turns out I’m not alone in this…” The basement door swung open.

“Chris, you coming-- SHIT!!” Ray jumped in shock at the sight of us before swinging the door shut.

“Dude, it’s cool!” I called. “It’s me! And this is Liz, my girlfriend!” I looked at Liz, who was staring at the door in shock.

“...Did the Great and Powerful Trixie just hide in our basement?”

“That’s Ray,” I said. “He’s in the same boat as me… In an eerie number of similar ways, it turns out.” The door slowly opened. The way Ray peeked out I thought he was imitating Fluttershy, to decent results.

“Girlfriend?” Ray asked.

“Yep. Liz, this is Ray Bassett. He came here a few hours after you left.”

Ray eased up and entered the room. “Hey.”

Liz stared at him for a moment. “...You look naked without your hat and cape.” I snickered while Ray rolled his eyes.

“She’s not a brony,” I said once I stopped laughing.

Liz and Ray both raised their eyebrows at me. I glanced between them and was about to ask what was up before I realized what I’d said. “...I mean ‘he’s’ not a brony. Sorry.”

Ray glared at me for a moment before turning towards the basement. “In any case, you wanna show her your ‘product’?” Ray trotted down the stairs into the darkness.

“What’s she-- he talking about?” Liz asked.

I bit my lip. “I guess I’ve acquired all the ‘perks’ of being a changeling queen, babe.” I took Liz’s hand and led her into the basement. “Not half an hour ago I started feeling…” I began before trailing off as we entered the dank basement. I gestured at the blanket in the corner, covering the three eggs. “...contractions.”

Liz swayed a little bit. Fearing she was gonna faint, I put my arm around her shoulder to keep her standing, and guided her towards the eggs. “I know…” I said. “Not exactly what you were expecting when you came back, but this is happening.” Liz didn’t say anything as we crept closer; Trixie hung off to the side, wisely giving us space.

Leaving Liz against the wall I approached the eggs, dropping my Chris form and carefully removing the blanket. The eggs had a healthy green glow, occasionally pulsing and twitching with life- a life, a cruel little voice in my head was quick to remind me, that I had provided.

A life that I would have to take care of.

Carefully I reached out and prodded the middle egg with a hoof. Immediately I felt something pour from my stomach, through my outstretched hoof, into the egg. The affected egg glowed brighter as it drank in the warmth that flowed through me. I drew my hoof back, and the glow dimmed. I touched the other eggs and got the same result. It wasn’t hard to figure out- I was feeding them the love I’d gathered. I turned to Liz sadly. “...They’re hungry…”

Liz found her voice. “...Are you sure you want to feed them?”

My gaze fell to the floor. “...I… can’t just let ‘em starve, Liz… They’re my…” My voice failed. I’d wanted to say the word, but I couldn’t- it would just hammer home what had been dropped in my lap.

But I couldn’t deny it. “...They’re my children.” With a long breath I laid on the ground and pulled the eggs closer, like a lioness would cradle her cubs. I felt the warmth stream from my body, a sense of weariness growing within me.

I felt a hand lay on my shoulder. I turned to see Liz kneeling behind me, laying her hand on me and keeping me fed. I smiled lovingly at her before turning to the eggs. “Drink up, guys…” I said softly.

“This is, officially, the weirdest week of my life,” I heard Trixie mutter from the far corner.

                -                -                -                -                -

I awoke with a snort; for a moment I feared I may have rolled onto the eggs while I slept. I quickly sat up, only to feel the eggs shift against my stomach.

“Chris?” I heard Liz mutter sleepily from behind me. I turned to see her laying on a roll-up mat at my side. Trixie had gone back upstairs.

“It’s nothing…” I said, looking back at the eggs. Without thinking I ran a hoof along the top of them, smiling affectionately. “...You know, this might not be so bad…” I said.

“What’s that?” Liz asked, rubbing sleep out of her eyes.

“I mean, I might’ve been freaking out over nothing…” I said softly, as if afraid I’d wake the eggs. “Maybe caring for these guys won’t be too hectic. Just keep them fed and out of trouble, and we shouldn’t have too much of an issue.”

“What happens when you turn back?” Liz asked, sitting up.

“Back?” I asked, genuinely confused.

“Yeah. Back,” Liz said, raising her eyebrows. “As in, not being a changeling queen anymore?”

I nodded. “Right, right… Well, we… uh…” I looked down at the eggs.

“I mean, will they disappear when you become human again?” Liz asked. “Or will they stick around?”

I shrugged. “I dunno…” I leaned towards one of the eggs. “...s’not like taking care of them would be that hard… Just give them plenty of love and make sure they maintain a human form whenever they leave the house, and…”

“Are you saying you’re okay with having children like this?” Liz asked, astounded.

I looked back at her. “What else can I do, Liz? ...They’re my children…” I couldn’t come up with a better rationale than that. Liz gave me a perplexed look as I turned back to the eggs.

“Chris, I think you’re getting too into the whole Chrysalis thing…” she said.

“Well, when I’m human again, maybe I’ll come up with a better plan…” I said simply.

“No, I mean, I’m starting to think maybe you… don’t want to be human again.”

I turned to her. “Of course I do!” I said.

“And yet you’re considering a future for what’s essentially the product of the weirdest thing that could have happened to you?” Liz asked.

“I kinda have to…” I said. “The alternative is to let them die.”

“I don’t know about this…”

Crick.

My eyes widened. “Welp, looks like the decision’s been made.”

> Chapter 9: Triplets
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 9: Triplets

“What do we do?!” Liz said frantically, moving to the side to get a better look at the hatching eggs.

“Just watch and hope they know who Mama is,” I said, trying and failing to keep the doubt from my voice. “RAY!”

A series of frantic hoof-falls above signaled that Ray had heard. The door upstairs flung open. “What’s up?!”

“The eggs are hatching!” I called up.

“What do we do?!” Ray asked as he stumbled down the stairs.

“Sit back and watch?” I asked, turning back to the egg that had first started cracking. By now a crack was snaking around the top of the middle egg, a thick fluid leaking out. I leaned towards the hatching egg, my breath caught.

With a final crack, the egg’s top popped off. The hatchling inside wore the egg shell on its head like a cap, coughing up the thick birthing fluid and taking gasping breaths. It looked in every way like the changelings from the show, if only on a much smaller scale. It had a thin black tail, matted against its flank in birthing goo. Once it got breathing down the hatchling looked up with inquisitive blue eyes and tilted its head. A smile formed on its goo-covered muzzle.

“Mama?”

I desperately fought the urge to sprint upstairs for another hoodie-muffled scream, and put on a forced smile. “Yyyyyyep!” I said through gritted teeth.

The hatchling made an adorable chirp and made to jump out of the egg. It accidentally caused the egg to tip forward, almost falling out in the process. Instinctively I reached out with a foreleg and caught it. The hatchling chirped again and shakelly climbed out of the egg and onto the floor. It wobbled like a newborn deer, learning its sense of balance as it took in its surroundings. It looked up at Liz, whose eyes were full of wonder. The hatchling walked towards her and leaned its forelegs on her knees, sniffing at her. Liz stared at me, still unsure of how to feel about this.

I looked towards the hatchling and gave an encouraging smile. “It’ll be okay,” I mouthed. Liz breathed out through her nose and gently stroked the hatchling’s head. It made a pleased chirp and pushed its head into her hand, enjoying the gesture.

Another crackling to my left made me remember the other two eggs. I looked over to see a second egg already just about to finish hatching. The egg’s ‘lid’ popped off and fell to the side. The hatchling that popped out was a bit bigger than its sibling, with longer ears and a horn with more indentations. I looked between the two and noticed the first hatchling had more, if smaller, holes in its legs. The second hatchling climbed out of its egg with more grace than the other and sat on its haunches before me. It looked up at me with a sense of… professionalism I didn’t expect. It wasn’t being as playful and adorable as its sibling; it was no-nonsense, like it was ready to head out and start finding food. I held out a hoof tentatively towards the hatchling, and it immediately bowed down. It felt that it wasn’t in the presence of its mother, but of its queen.

“Ah! What’re you doing?” Liz asked playfully. I turned to see the first hatchling nipping adorably at Liz’s fingers, its wings buzzing excitedly. Glancing back at the new arrival I saw it gazing disapprovingly at its sibling, but it soon walked over to Liz. Smiling, I turned to the final egg, which was already starting to hatch.

This egg was reacting differently, I noticed. The cracks that formed in the egg’s surface had a soft green glow, brighter than the natural glow the eggs originally had. I sat up close with the egg, ready to meet the newborn.

I suddenly felt a minor pulse in my brain. It wasn’t painful, it was more like something was being harmlessly inserted into my brain. The pulses kept coming, and I soon realized that each time the crack in the egg lengthened, my brain pulsed.

“You’re a special one, aren’t you…” I muttered, laying down and examining the egg.

With a final crack and a pulse in my brain like someone had hit it with flash photography, the egg hatched. The newborn that popped out, unlike its siblings, had bright green eyes and a dark green mane that stuck to its head in birthing fluid. The hatchling immediately looked up at me.

(Mama?) A voice echoed in my head- the voice of a little girl. I flinched and looked around frantically.

“What?” I asked.

“What?” Liz asked, looking up from the first hatchling that was still nipping at her fingers. The second was sitting beside Liz, staring at her unflinchingly.

“Did you hear that?” I asked, continuing to look around the basement for the source of the voice.

“Nnnnnnooo?” Trixie said carefully.

(Mama?)

“There it is again!!” I said before looking at the third hatchling.

Something clicked in my head. “Is that you?” I muttered, leaning in close.

(Mama?) The hatchling shakily walked towards me, a smile dawning on its face. It nuzzled my head affectionately, smearing birthing fluid on my face.

“Okay, I could be wrong,” I announced, sitting up and holding the hatchling against me. “...but I think this thing has… telepathy, or some shit.”

A pause. “Honestly?” Trixie said. “Not the weirdest thing I’ve heard in all this.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, probably. Well, let’s get these guys upstairs and clean ‘em up, huh?” I stood up and levitated the gooey telepath onto my back. Liz cradled the first hatchling in her arms and looked to Trixie. She motioned her head towards the second hatchling, which looked a bit concerned that it looked like it was gonna be left behind. Trixie made a hesitant face before approaching the hatchling.

“Okay, come on,” she said dismissively, laying down. “Get on.” The hatchling didn’t move, staring at her warily. “Get on!” Trixie said impatiently.

“Jesus Christ...” I muttered, lifting the stubborn hatchling in my magic and placing it on Trixie’s back. “There.” I turned and led everyone up the stairs, being careful to keep the hatchling from sliding off my back.

“Here, Liz, lemme have that one, and go close the curtains,” I said, once we reached the living room. Liz nodded and laid her charge on my back. The first hatchling chirped happily at its sibling, rubbing its head against it affectionately. In spite of everything, the display made me smile.

“Ow!” I heard Trixie say as she got up the stairs. I looked to see the hatchling on her back biting harshly into her hair and tugging. “You little--”

“Okay, you know what?” I said quickly, picking up the hatchling in my magic. “Why don’t you go hang with Liz for a bit, okay? Get to know each other. I’ll handle ‘em.” I set the hatchling on my back with its siblings and hurried into the bathroom. I heard Trixie and the hatchling blow raspberries at each other before I shut the door.

I set the grubs on the floor gently and began to run the bath. “Can’t remember the last time I took a legit bath…” I said. “I’m mostly a shower girl.” I slapped a hoof over my mouth. “I meant guy. Guy!!”

(Mama?)

I turned to the hatchlings; each were staring up at me, as if waiting for me to do something. “Just… a sec, okay?” I said, smiling patiently. “Gimme a sec to fill the tub and we’ll get you cleaned off, all right?” I returned my attention to the tub, trying to make sure it was a comfortable temperature and level.

A clatter behind me made me spin around. The trio had gotten into the cupboard under the sink and were rummaging around inside. The first sibling pulled out a bottle of toilet bowl cleaner with its mouth. The trio circled around it, prodding and sniffing it curiously.

Ah… right. I thought. Should probably take some measures to childproof the house and OH SHIT THEY GOT IT OPEN. I snatched the bottle in my magic and placed it on the counter before moving the hatchlings aside.

“Okay, how about this?” I said testily. “How about you three just sit there for now and don’t move? Sound good?” I took the three stares as a ‘yes’ before grabbing a hand towel and wiping up the spilled cleaner. With that crisis averted I turned and found the tub to be filled to an adequate level. Turning off the water I turned back. “Right. Bathtime?”

I should’ve expected some resistance. While the third sibling sat obediently, the other two quickly cowered and shrank away from me. I rolled my eyes and gathered the three in my magic. “God knows what that stuff all over you is gonna smell like if I leave it on you,” I said, placing the one complacent and two struggling hatchlings in the warm water. “This won’t take long, okay?” I took some water in my magic like a Waterbender and poured it gently over each hatchling’s head, careful not to get it in their face.

For hopefully obvious reasons, the sight of these three changeling foals taking a bath together was about the cutest thing I’d ever seen. As I scrubbed the three clean and listened to their little chirps, a smile on my face grew to ludicrous proportions. The breaking point came when the first hatchling dog-paddled its way to the edge of the tub and licked my face.

I stared at the trio for a moment in silence before giving a soft laugh. I leaned forward and nuzzled each of them affectionately. I lifted them out of the tub and let it drain as I dried the grubs. With the trio cleaned I hefted them onto my back and carried them out of the bathroom.

I entered the living room to find Liz on the couch and Trixie in the chair across from her, having a chat. “All clean?” Liz asked as I approached.

“As a whistle,” I said, levitating the trio onto the couch next to her. I sat on the floor in front of them and nuzzled them again. As I looked up I noticed Liz and Trixie both giving me wary looks. “...Oh, come on, you have to admit they’re cute.”

Liz gave a small nod. “Yeah, I guess…” She reached over and pulled the first hatchling to her side. “You come up with names yet?”

“Uh…”

“Mother of the year…” Trixie said with a smirk. I shot a glare at her.

“Can it, Trixie.”

Trixie glared back at me. “That’s not my name!” She growled.

For a brief moment I was confused, then suddenly remembered. “...Right.” I turned back towards the triplets, biting my lip. I actually didn’t call her-- him, ‘Trixie’ to get under his skin; I called him by what I instinctively thought to be his name.

“Ah! What is your obsession with fingers?” Liz giggled at the first hatchling, which was going back to work at her fingers. I smiled.

“I think we’ve found this one’s name; Digit.”

“Boy or girl?” Liz asked. I bit my lip.

“Let’s… check?” I slowly reached out with my magic and lifted the newly-dubbed Digit’s hind legs.

“Girl!” I said, hastily dropping Digit’s legs once I got a clear enough glance at her ‘identification’.

“Still got two more…” Liz said teasingly, motioning towards the other two.

“What’s wrong with getting a look at their junk?” Trixie-- Ray asked. “You’re their mom, aren’t you?”

I shot a scowl at Ray, yet for a moment couldn’t fathom why. I turned back to the grubs and sighed. “Let’s get this over with.” I lifted the second hatchling up. “This one’s a boy. I'm thinking… Shift.”

“Really?” Liz asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Come on, they can’t all be winners…” I said. Shift, on the other hand, seemed to accept his name with pride, holding his head up high. I gave him a loving rub on the head before turning to the final hatchling. Its dark green mane, now dry of egg goo, hung loosely below its ears.

(Name?) I was pretty sure now that the echoing voice was coming from this particular grub, though I couldn’t fathom what purpose it served; perhaps its differences from its siblings symbolized importance in a changeling hive?

I gave the hatchling the once-over; a girl. “Now what shall we name you, Sweetie?” I asked softly, stroking the side of the grub’s head.

(Name?) The voice echoed again.

Echoed…

“Echo?” I thought, pursing my lips. “Not creative, but these names aren’t particularly creative.”

“Why ‘Echo’?” Ray asked, climbing from his chair and approaching.

“Cause of the echoing voice I’m hearing from her in my head,” I said with a completely straight face. A pause. “...Or I’ve gone crazy from turning into a changeling queen and laying eggs. Either way, it fits with me.” I turned to the trio. “Digit, Shift and Echo,” I said affectionately. Shift sprang into a salute at being addressed, making me roll my eyes.

Digit let out a yawn so adorable I was worried everyone’s heart would stop. The yawns carried around the triplets. “Think these little guys are sleepy…” I cooed. “Let’s get ‘em in for a nap, huh?” I levitated the trio onto my back and carried them into the guest room. “Hope Ray doesn’t mind sleeping on the couch…” I muttered as I laid the trio in the bed and pulled the blankets over them. The trio watched me with their big blue (and green) eyes as I smiled at them, then turned and headed for the door.

“Mama?” I heard Digit chirp. I turned to see her giving me quality puppy-dog eyes; her lip was even quivering. For a moment I didn’t move. Then with a sigh I approached the bed.

“You want your mama close, huh?” I said, laying my head down beside them. Digit leaned forward and nuzzled me affectionately. I looked over at Shift and Echo; while Echo regarded me with a sense of curiosity, Shift looked rather confused… like I wasn’t doing what he expected me to do.

How could he have an idea of what a changeling queen has to do? I thought. Instinct? Regardless I leaned in and gave him a peck on the head, which he didn’t resist. I wondered if changelings could feed off the love of other changelings- would certainly simplify things.

I looked over at Echo. She’d been silent for a while. Now what do you do in the hive? I thought, partially hoping she’d answer me. I looked between the three grubs, who didn’t seem interested in taking a nap so long as mommy was around.

The door opened. Liz entered the room quietly, shut the door behind her and leaned against the bed. “Everything okay?”

“Just waiting for ‘em to go to sleep,” I said softly.

Liz looked at the triplets and smiled. She stroked Digit’s head and began to hum a familiar tune. The grubs all looked at her.

“I dig my hole, you build a wall…”

                -                -                -                -                -

“You’re certain?” I asked Dane, who was sitting at his computer desk littered with beer cans and empty chip bags.

“Yeah, yeah, that’s him!” Dane attested, jabbing his finger at the picture of the carjacker Foster had printed out for me. I’d chosen not to mention his ‘ability’ to Dane; nothing good could come of it. “That’s Chris… Barton, I think. He’s dating my old ex, Liz.”

“I remember her,” I said, leaning on his chair. “I liked her.” Sadly she saw the folly in dating you, I thought.

“She’s a bitch,” Dane said dismissively. “So, wait, if that Chris guy stole my car, how come the cops came to my door? You said they saw me!”

“That’s not important,” I said. “All that matters is we know who this is now.” I took the picture from in front of him, folded it and stowed it in my coat pocket.

“No, no, that little shit got me arrested!” Dane snapped, standing up. I pushed him back into the chair.

“And I will handle it,” I said firmly. “Just keep your head down, Dane. He’ll answer for it.”

                        -                -                -                -                -

My eyes flickered open. I’d fallen asleep, my head laying on the guest bed. With a yawn I sat up, stretching my neck. I looked at the head of the bed; the triplets were gone. Panic seized me for a moment before I rationalized that they were with Liz and Ray in the living room. I left the guest room and headed down the hallway.

Liz and Ray were sitting in the living room, watching Echo and Shift play-fighting on the couch, nipping at each other’s ears and chirping happily. The moment they noticed I’d entered, Shift sprang up and stood at attention. “Sleep well?” Liz asked.

“It was these little guys who were supposed to take a nap…” I said, rubbing Shift’s head. I looked between him and Echo. “...Where’s Digit?”

Liz looked over at Ray, and her eyes widened. Ray looked down at his side and his eyes did the same. “She was with you!” Liz said, dumbfounded.

“How’d she get away from me?!” Ray cried, looking beneath his chair.

My heart sank. I bolted around the room, checking beneath every table, chair and loose object, panic steadily rising. “Where is she where is she where is she WHERE IS SHE WHERE IS SHE…” I repeated, my voice growing in volume.

“UH…” Ray said loudly. I looked over at him and followed his gaze to…

...the open window. With wide-eyed terror I approached the window and looked outside. I looked across the backyard to Bedford’s house. One of her windows was open.

The barest sign of a black tail streaked into the house.

> Chapter 10: Some Time Alone
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 10: Some Time Alone

“Chris, no!!” Liz cried, her arms wrapped around my stomach and desperately trying to keep me from leaping out the window.

“Digit’s in there!!” I argued, pulling against Liz’s grip. “God only knows what Bedford will do if she finds her!!”

“So you think bolting in there is gonna improve matters?!” Yelled Ray who, unlike me, was making every effort to stay out of view of the window.

I yelled in frustration. “I just need to coax her out of there! She’ll come if Mama calls!!” I paused for a moment, conflicted as to how naturally those words came out of my mouth.

“She’ll come back!” Liz assured me.

“I want her back before Bedford finds her!!” I yelled, struggling in Liz’s grip again.

(Mama?) I stopped and turned my head. Echo had perched herself on the windowsill and was looking at me expectantly. She looked between me and Bedford’s, as if asking me for…

I blinked. “You want to go in there?” I asked, confused. “You want to go find Digit?”

Echo nodded; I noted that changeling grubs were more intelligent, fresh out of their eggs.

“Wait, now you feel the solution is to send more of your children in there?” Ray asked, befuddled.

I furrowed my brow; Ray’s words rang true, but somehow sending Echo in felt like the right thing to do. Echo reared up to me and poked her front hooves at my eyes. Instinctively I closed them; when I made to open them again she just poked me again. Finally I sat on my haunches and kept my eyes shut. “Okay, what now?” I muttered.

“Chris, what are you doing…” Liz asked, but her voice faded out.

(Watch.)

Suddenly I could see, yet my eyes were closed. I could suddenly see myself from an outer perspective; everything was wavy as though I was looking through the surface of water. The perspective moved and looked at Liz and Ray, like I was watching through a camera…

Or someone else’s eyes… I realized.

(Watch.) Echo’s voice repeated. She suddenly turned towards the outside and leapt out the window. Liz and Ray gave hushed orders for Echo to return.

“No, it’s okay…” I said aloud, trying my best not to break my concentration. “Let her go…”

Echo proceeded towards Bedford’s without fear. Fluttering her wings she leapt up into the open window and entered the house. Stay hidden, I urged. Find Digit and get out of there, okay?

(Digit.) Echo replied, creeping along the hall of Bedford’s house, ducking behind every bit of cover she saw. She snuck towards the living room, sniffing the air for the scent of her sibling.

“...don’t know what you got into…” Came a familiar voice from the bathroom down the hallway. Echo peeked down and noticed Bedford kneeling at the bathtub, scrubbing with all her might at Gwyneth, who was still covered in the goo from the previous night.

That stuff stains, apparently. I thought.

A chirp drew Echo’s attention. Glancing to the left she spotted Digit on the couch, happily gnawing on a ball of yarn. Echo gave an authoritative chirp that made Digit look up. Digit gave a delighted chirp of greeting, but Echo shook her head and beckoned with a hoof. Digit lowered her head in shame and pushed the ball of yarn away. She leapt down off the couch and hurried over to Echo.

“Looks like we’re going to have to shave you…” Bedford said with a sigh. Echo cast a panicked look towards the bathroom to see Bedford getting to her knees, her ascent slowed by her arthritis.

Go, go, go go go GO GO GO… I said urgently. Echo lead Digit down the hallway and back towards the window. Echo leapt to the windowsill and waited for Digit to join her. Digit was lagging a bit, casting a nervous glance behind her in the direction Bedford was in. Sadly she wasn’t watching where she was going and smashed painfully into a nightstand, sending the vase on top of it smashing to the floor.

“What was that?” Bedford asked, startled. Echo gave an urgent chirp to Digit, who was shaking her head from the impact and gathering herself. Digit hurried to the windowsill, and Echo leapt out into the yard.

I opened my eyes, took on my human form and stood up. I leaned against the window to meet the returning hatchlings. “Come on, come on!!” I said through gritted teeth. Echo was already halfway to the house, while Digit was just climbing onto Bedford’s windowsill. Digit cast one last look behind her; a panicked look in her eye told me Bedford was seconds away from discovering her. Digit leapt clumsily from the sill and sprinted headlong towards home. By now, Echo had leapt back into the relative safety of our home.

Digit got close to the window and leapt; she misjudged her jump, however, and bumped painfully against the wall just as Bedford came into view in her window. She turned to look across the yard, looked straight at Digit, still dizzy from the impact, then looked straight up at me. Our eyes met. Her jaw dropped in confusion and awe.

Slowly I reached down, picked Digit up and took her into the house. Let it go, I thought. Let it go, you imagined it, just forget about this whole thing, please don’t be bitchy, just this once, please-- oh no.

With a look of horror Bedford withdrew into her house. “This could be very bad,” I said, outwardly calm. I looked at Digit in my arms, then at her siblings on the sofa. “Get ‘em to the basement.” Liz nodded and hastily swung the door open. Echo and Shift immediately bolted down the stairs, but Digit gave me an anxious glance. I rubbed her head. “It’ll be okay, honey.”

While she didn’t look convinced, Digit hurried downstairs to join her siblings. I looked over at Ray. “You, too.”

“Why?” Ray asked. A pause. “...Right.” He hurried into the basement; I heard him trip on the last few stairs and land painfully on the floor below, but I didn’t spare a glance as I slammed the door.

“Chris?” Liz asked urgently. I looked back to see Bedford leaving the back door of her house and crossing our interconnecting yards.

“Shit!” I yelled. I considered barricading the house shut and calling the cops, but before I could make a decision Bedford was already banging on the back door.

“Open up!!” She yelled. I ran to the back door, grateful she didn’t think to open the unlocked door.

“Nah, I’m good, thanks!” I called through the door, eyes wide with panic as I slid the deadbolt closed.

“Chris…” Liz said. “What are we gonna do?”

“That question pretty much defines the past few days, doesn’t it?” I asked.

Bedford banged on the door again. “I want to know what those are, Barton!!”

“Nothing!” I yelled. “Figments of your imagination! Why don’t you just turn around and forget about it!!”

“If you don’t open up I’m gonna call the police!”

My face paled; she always threatened to call the cops on us, but this time she’d have a legit reason to do so. “Listen, please, just forget what you saw and…”

“One!”

“Bedford, come on!!”

“Two!”

“ALL RIGHT!!” I yelled. I opened the deadbolt. The door immediately swung open and Bedford marched smartly into the house. This was clearly different; she didn’t carry that attitude of spreading misery just because she felt like it.

“Now, tell me, what was that thing in my house?” She asked, looking down her nose at me.

“Just my aunt’s cat,” I said; I had to try. “She got out the window and got into your house, then came back.”

“Don’t you lie to me!” Bedford yelled. “You think I’m so senile that I don’t know what is and isn’t a cat? Now what are you keeping here? Aliens? Demons?! Did you send it into my house to kill me?!”

“What?!” I yelled, dumbfounded. “NO! She got into your house by accident--” I slapped a hand over my mouth.

“‘She’?!” Bedford sputtered before taking a threatening step forward. “Where is it?!”

I stood my ground, removing my hand from my mouth. “None of your business. Get out.”

Bedford wasn’t deterred. “You will bring me that… thing… and tell me why it was in my house, or I will call the police!!”

“Last. Warning,” I said, teeth clenched. “Get. The FUCK. Out of my house, you goddamn crone.”

She slapped me across the face, causing me to stumble back. Recovering from the blow I slowly turned my head to look at her. Any thought of talking her down quickly gave way to the intense desire to put her in her place. Green overtook my vision. “Warned you.”

I dropped my human guise. Bedford stumbled back, startled by the green flames and the insectile equine that stood before her. Before she could even scream I fired a haze of magic at her mouth. The aura turned into a glob of goo and enveloped her mouth. I lifted her in my magic.

“Chris!!” Liz screamed, shaking me. “Chris, stop!!”

I didn’t listen, merely contemplating on what to do with the flailing old lady in my magic. She kicked and writhed, her screams muffled and eyes wide with terror.

“You think…” I said, my voice lined with a tone of righteous indignation I didn’t remember ever using. “That you can come into MY home, STRIKE me, and THREATEN MY CHILDREN?!?!”

“Chris!!” Liz shrieked, her voice filled with horror and pain as she continued to shake me.

“YOU WOULD CHALLENGE THE QUEEN?!?!”

Liz stepped in front of me and put her hands on either side of my face. “Chris, please, stop!!”

I took my eyes off of Bedford and looked at Liz. My anger was snuffed out instantly. Tears fell down Liz’s face, a look in her eyes that told me everything.

The person she’d just seen was not Chris Barton.

I looked up at Bedford and my heart dropped even further. She was clutching at her left arm.

“Oooohhh, no no no no no no…” I said, levitating Bedford close. “Noooo, no no no, she’s having a heart attack!!”

Liz spun around. “Oh god…”

“What’s going on up there?” Ray called from the basement. I ignored him and gently placed Bedford on the floor, leaned up against the wall.

I fell on my haunches and held my head in my hooves. “FUCK!!” I screamed, smacking both sides of my head. “FUCK FUCK FUUUUCK!!!” We were screwed. Bedford would die without medical attention, but if we sent her to the hospital she’d tell everyone what she’d seen here. Digit, Shift and Echo would be taken away, Ray and I would be sent to some government facility to be made the subjects of experiments straight out of a sci-fi movie, Liz would be taken god-knows where…

Maybe I could… haze her mind, or whatever? I thought. Just make the last minute… disappear in her mind? Do I even know how to do that?! What if I fuck up and make her a vegetable?! “God dammit!!” I yelled.

“What do we do, Chris?!” Liz cried, holding Bedford in her arms.

“Give me a minute to think!” I said.

“Chris, in a minute she’s gonna die!!” I looked up at them; Bedford had fearful tears streaming down her face, dripping into the goo around her mouth--

Somewhere in my mind I heard a soft ‘ding!’. I lifted Bedford in my magic. “Not the best solution, but it’s what I got.” I enveloped Bedford in a much larger haze of magic. The haze turned into a fully-encasing cocoon of goo. Bedford blinked in confusion once, and then was still.

“Chris, what’re you doing?!” Liz cried.

“It was the only way I could save her without completely fucking us over!” I said, swinging the basement door open and carrying Bedford down the stairs.

“But Bedford--” Liz argued.

“--is alive! It’s the best option we have, Liz.” I arrived in the basement. Ray poked out with the triplets from behind a large stack of boxes.

“What’s going on-- ...oh god, Chris, what’d you do?!”

“Not now!!” I said, looking around the cellar. My eyes fell on the space beneath the stairs. I placed Bedford beneath the staircase delicately, giving her unshifting gaze an apologetic look as I sticked her gooey prison on the underside of the stairs. I backed away from the stairs and sat down, rubbing my hooves nervously. “Not perfect, but better than the alternative…” I said.

The triplets approached the cocoon with curiosity. Echo looked at me, her face unreadable. Digit looked a little concerned for Bedford, nudging her cocoon with a hoof. Shift regarded Bedford hungrily, the first smile I’d seen from him dawning on his face. I carefully pulled the grubs from the cocoon. “Let’s leave her alone, kids, okay?” I said softly. “She’ll just be here until I get a better idea of what to do.”

“You could let her go?” Ray suggested. “Whatever she’s in seems to have put her in some kind of coma, she might think whatever happened upstairs was a freaky dream and we could get her to a hospital?”

“And what if she doesn’t think it was a dream?” I asked. “The cops might feel inclined to search the place if Bedford indicts me for her heart attack. I won’t put these three at risk.” I pulled the grubs closer, protectively.

“So you’re just gonna leave her like this?” Liz asked, gesturing towards Bedford.

“For now!” I clarified. “I… just need time to think, okay?”

“You’re holding a woman against her will!” Liz said.

I screwed my eyes shut; the adrenaline of the past few minutes was starting to pile up. “Please, please, be quiet for one second…”

“What’s happened to you, Chris?!”

Once again my vision flashed green as I looked up at Liz. “SILENCE!!”

Liz stumbled back, startled. My vision returned to normal; once again I found myself struggling to keep this suddenly volatile temper in check. I hadn’t had this problem until…

My insides froze, my breathing caught. I slowly moved away from Liz and Ray, both looking terrified at my outburst. “Please…” I whispered. “I need some time…” I scooted into the corner and curled up, my back to them. For a minute the pair were silent; then I heard them ascend the rickety staircase, and the door closed, shutting out what little light in the basement.

Tears stung in my eyes as I was left alone with my thoughts. I felt as though I was gonna be sick, if changelings even could.

Changing into Chrysalis over the course of twelve hours was one thing; at least I had some perks to have fun with, between transforming, magic and flight. Suddenly popping out three changeling grubs wasn’t exactly fun, but they seemed innocent enough, for the most part, that made me forgive being forced to endure the joy of motherhood.

But I never thought just how far this fucked up little rabbit hole went. It wasn’t enough that I’d look like Chrysalis on the outside. She was starting to overwrite… me. Whatever was happening, it could very well replace Chris Barton entirely, leaving me as a shapeshifting conqueror with a short fuse.

Seeing the look of fear on Liz’s face made me realize who I was becoming… and just how much that terrified me.

A nudge at my shoulder made me jump. I spun my head around to see the triplets, having never left my side. Digit looked particularly upset, her eyes flooded with tears. “My… fault?”

I wasn’t surprised at her somewhat limited speech; changeling grubs were clearly smarter, fresh out of the egg. I shook my head. “No, no, it’s okay…” Digit’s gaze fell to the ground, guilty. “Hey, hey… Come here.” I lifted Digit in my magic and placed her against my belly. I kissed her on the head. “We’ll work it out, okay?”

Digit sniffled, then curled up against me. I turned to see Echo and Shift staring at me. Echo tentatively took a step forward; smiling, I lifted her up and placed her alongside Digit. I looked back at Shift, who didn’t move.

I still didn’t quite get Shift. He seemed to be a bit more serious than his sisters, never really up for doing anything but cast disapproving glances their way. He always stared at me as though expecting me to do something, and acting confused when I didn’t do it. Did he maybe instinctively know something about changelings that I didn’t? Was I not living up to his expectations as queen? I mourned the fact that the show never quite delved into really talking about changeling culture; at least then I’d have more to work with other than what changelings did, and what they fed on.

Shift, his expression neutral, turned around and sat as though on guard duty. I gave a small smile; at least for now, he still seemed to hold loyalty to his queen. I turned back to Digit and Echo, who had curled up together and already fallen asleep. I laid my head down beside them, taking solace in what may be the only source of happiness I’d have in a while.

Because at the rate I was going, I began to wonder if Liz was regretting coming back.

> Chapter 11: Yoink
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 11: Yoink

May 10th

“It’s right here,” Ray said, pointing at the small apartment complex on the right side of the road. I pulled up to the curb and put the car in park.

“Nice place,” I commented. My gaze drifted to the park across the street; I could see tire tracks lining the grass, a little reminder of Chris’s ‘prank’.

Ray noticed what I was looking at; there was a pregnant pause. “You know, it was because of that prank that I found you guys,” he said. “I heard the racket Chris was making out there, then I saw him flee the scene when the cops ended his little joy ride. Managed to follow him home.” He giggled. “Wasn’t so hard, he doesn’t seem to have flying down quite yet.”

I gave a small smile but said nothing else, looking down at my lap. It had been days since the incident with Bedford. Chris hadn’t come out of the basement once, not even to feed. I tried to go down to the basement but he seemed to have blocked it with more of that goo. The grubs hadn’t come out either, diligently staying with their… mother.

It wasn’t hard to assume what he was going through; for the months I’d known him he’d never been the kind of guy to lose his temper like that, only doing the occasionally stupid stunt. But now… it seemed Chrysalis was taking more than his human body. The thought that I’d lose Chris to her gave me a lump in my throat. I wanted, more than anything, for things to just go back to the way they were; I’d even settle for Chris being a changeling forever, if he could remain Chris at heart.

As the days went by Ray started getting cabin fever. He wanted to head back to his place to pick up some things, including a journal he’d written the past few days, as well as his computer and other things. He even wanted his phone; he knew he couldn’t talk to his parents like this, but he expressed hope that they’d settle for communicating by text. I finally agreed to take him, in the dead of night, so long as we were extremely careful. As an extra precaution he laid in the back seat with a black blanket draped over him on the off-chance we saw someone else on the road. The night was, thankfully, empty; I thought I saw someone behind us in the rearview a couple times, but I shrugged it off as paranoia.

“Okay, so…” Ray said, drawing me out of my thoughts. “What now?”

I unbuckled my seat belt. “I’ll head inside and make sure there’s no one who’ll see you. Stay close behind me, okay?” I opened the door, got out of the car and walked casually towards the front door. Ray carefully opened his door using his magic, which he’d gotten the hang of through trial and furniture-singeing error, and crept towards me on the sidewalk, the blanket still draped over him.

I took his key from the string hanging around his neck and unlocked the front door. I peeked my head into the lobby; as expected, there was no one there. The complex was a narrow three-story affair, a set of old wooden stairs leading up to each floor and a yellow-green tiled floor. I crept inside and beckoned for Ray to follow.

We quickly, but quietly, snuck through the building to Ray’s apartment on the third floor. “Here it is,” he whispered, relieved. “Room 305. Use the brass key, the bigger one.” I quickly unlocked the door and held it open for Ray to dash through. With a sigh of relief I followed him in, shutting the door behind me.

His apartment was simple enough; a small kitchen in the corner, a nice screen door (curtains drawn, of course) in the living room, which had a simple TV. What drew my attention was the series of plaques on the wall. They each held various academic awards, whether they were for outstanding performance in classes or great achievements in school sports. Ray really seemed like what a pessimist might call an overachiever.

“Nice place,” I said aloud. When Ray didn’t respond I turned to see him looking sadly at a picture over his kitchen counter, depicted what I presumed to be the human Ray and his family. Ray fell to his haunches, taking shuddering breaths. I slowly approached and laid a hand on his back. “You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah…” Ray said, nodding as he wiped the tears from his eyes. “Listen, I think I’ll be good up here, why don’t you head down to the car? I’ll be fine getting downstairs…”

“But what if…” I began.

“It’s fine,” Ray insisted, his voice cracking. “Just… just give me a minute, okay?” He looked back at the picture without another word. I withdrew my hand and bit my lip; I was unsure about leaving him alone up here, but decided he needed his space. I turned and walked quietly from the apartment.

I mused that perhaps Ray would be all right as I walked down the stairs, seeing no one else; it was way too late for anyone to be getting off any night shifts, and it was doubtful anyone would happen to come out at exactly the worst possible moment. I left the building and looked at my car. When I saw the back right door open my mind instantly flew to a multitude of scenarios that made me curse Chris for all the horror movies he’d made me watch with him. I quickly calmed down, however, when I realized Ray hadn’t closed it when he got out. With an annoyed sigh I shut the door and walked around to the driver door.

It was then I noticed another car, parked a while down the street behind mine. It must have shown up while Ray and I were upstairs. Don’t panic, I thought, opening the door and settling inside. I leaned my head back and sighed; maybe it wasn’t a good idea to do this.

As if to affirm my statement, a figure rose from the seat behind me. A cloth fell over my mouth. With a muffled scream I flailed my arms, my right hand hitting the car horn.

                -                -                -                -                -

With a sad sigh I loaded the last of my stuff into the box; I felt grateful that I’d gotten the hang of this telekinesis. At least now I could bring this stuff downstairs without breaking my back--

HONK.

“JE-sus!!” I yelled. The sudden, brief noise made me drop the box; I winced as it hit the floor and I heard something break. Great, I thought. I quickly remembered that Liz’s car was, supposedly, the only one on the street. My heart skipping a few beats I sprinted over to the window and poked my head out.

“No, no, no, no no NO NO NO…” I said through gritted teeth as I watched a large figure dragging Liz out of the driver street. I opened my mouth to call out, to get someone to stop them, but quickly shut it again; I couldn’t risk bringing the attention to myself. The figure dragged Liz’s limp form from the car and towards another one a short way down the street, a black sedan, where another figure was opening the trunk.

Either that guy had friends to help in some sick idea of fun, or this was slightly more ‘organized’ than it seemed. In any case, I could only watch in horror as Liz was carried to the other car and dumped into the trunk. The two men shut the trunk and, without a second glance, got into the car and drove off.

I fell to my haunches, my mouth agape in shock. Not only was Liz just kidnapped before my eyes, not only had I done nothing to stop it…

I was trapped in my apartment as a pony.

Again.

                -                -                -                -                -

“Place her in there,” I directed Travis and his cohort towards the chain-link cage of the company warehouse. The pair had acted admirably; several days ago they’d located Mr. Barton and his girlfriend, Elizabeth Pierce, in their home on the eastern side of the Kennebec. They reported that Barton’s “condition” was even more complicated than I’d realized; the sudden appearance of three smaller creatures suggested that Mr. Barton could breed them. Such a resource could not be ignored, so they had opted to give Barton some incentive to have a chat with us. They’d followed Ms. Pierce downtown- performing some unknown, and irrelevant errand- and taken her.

I didn’t like having to do this, and it certainly didn’t help that I’d done it before. But a man must be willing to do what it takes to keep and maintain what he’s earned, and I had plenty of friends across the nation who would do the same thing in a heartbeat; I even enjoyed some of their services myself. And by the end of this, Mr. Barton would reap the benefits of working with my organization.

Travis placed Elizabeth, or ‘Liz’, as she’d been known, in the cage. “Ensure she is well-fed and cared for,” I said, delicately. “She might not want to be here, but never let it be said I am an ungracious host.”

“Dad?” I spun around to see Dane entering the warehouse. I scowled; Travis really needed to improve his standards on his security force. “Dad, what’s this?”

“Dane,” I said, sternly. “I told you to stay at home.”

“Dad, why is Liz here?” He asked. “I thought you were gonna get that Chris guy!”

“This is much more complicated than the mishap with your car, Dane,” I said. “I told you I’d handle it; this is me handling it.”

Dane stared at Liz in the cage before he seemed to realize what was happening. “...Did you fucking kidnap her?!”

I saw there would be no reasoning with him. “Travis, see Dane out and have him brought home.” Travis nodded and began pushing Dane out without a word.

“Dad, what the hell is happening?!” Dane cried, trying to get around Travis. “DAD!!” I could hear Dane’s protests as he was ushered out of the warehouse and to his car outside. I rubbed my temples.

“Mr. Hall, kindly procure Ms. Pierce’s cell phone, would you?”

                -                -                -                -                -

“SHIIIIIIT SHITSHITSHIT…” I said, clumsily fumbling with the steering wheel of Liz’s car as I sped down the street. Chris’s house was here, somewhere, I was sure of it. It had taken twenty horrifying minutes, but I’d managed to get to Liz’s car and drive it back to Chris’s place. I had to tell him, we had to get a plan together; he could call the cops and not risk being taken away, that was basically the best scenario I could hope for… assuming he was still… you know, Chris.

With an immense sigh of relief I spotted the familiar house. I parked, badly, in Chris’s driveway; it was then that hindsight, the jackass, poked me on the shoulder and said, ‘you know, your magic might have helped you drive better.’ With an agitated groan I flung the door open and bolted inside.

“CHRIS!!” I yelled, running through the kitchen and banging on the basement door. “CHRIS!! OPEN UP!!” I kept banging on the door until I finally heard a set of hoof-falls on the old stairs behind it. There was a minute of silence after the hoofsteps reached the top step, then the door slowly opened, dripping that strange changeling goo, now liquidated.

It took me a moment to recognize Shift; he’d grown much bigger in the four days he’d been down there. He was slightly bigger than me, and his face seemed to have grown permanent scowl-supporting features. “What is it, Trixie?” He asked with a voice scarily similar to that of Invader Zim.

“It’s Liz!” I said urgently. “She’s in trouble-- did you just call me--” I shook my head. “Never mind, LIZ!!”

Shift glared at me for a moment before turning around. “Follow me.” I quickly followed him into the basement. If I thought it was cold before, it may as well have been winter down here. The floor and walls were lined with more goo, webbing the walls and giving off an eerie green glow. As I stepped off the bottom step I felt a deal of the stuff stick to the bottom side of my hoof. With a look of disgust I tried to shake it off, with little effect.

Carefully I stepped towards the drier-looking parts of the floor and looked around. “Chris?”

“Hey, Trix.” I turned to see a pair of glowing green eyes in the corner. I gave a soft smile towards them before I noticed a mild green glow behind him, illuminating his equine form. They were oval-shaped…

“Oh, god…” I said, lifting a hoof to my mouth (too late to realize it was the goo-covered one before I got a taste of the nasty stuff).

Chris looked sadly at the eggs, then back at me. “...I tried to stop, man…” he said, his voice quivering.

> Chapter 12: Demands
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 12: Demands

Ray stared, aghast at the pile of eggs before him. “Chris…” he whispered, horrified. “This is… bad… This is really- WAH!!”

Ray suddenly bucked frantically as a black form leapt on his back. “Hi, Aunt Trixie!!” Came the squeaky voice of Digit, her forelegs wrapped tightly around Ray’s neck. In the past few days the grubs had grown substantially, now reaching roughly the average changeling size. Digit was still somewhat smaller than the average pony, with a short white mane that mostly obscured her ears.

“My name…” Ray rasped, ceasing his bucking and trying to pry Digit’s viselike grip from his neck. “Is RAY!”

“Digit, down,” I said, loudly and with authority.

Digit did so with a cheeky laugh, nuzzling Ray affectionately. “Sorry…” she giggled.

“It’s okay…” Ray said warily. His gaze fell on the eggs again. “Chris, when did you lay these?”

He took a step towards the eggs; I panicked. “Ray, WAIT--”

In an instant Ray was tackled and pinned against the wall by a furious-looking Shift, a chitinous hoof pressed against his neck. “You will not…” he began.

Before I could order him to stand down, Shift was enveloped in a green aura and pulled from the gasping Ray. From behind the batch of eggs came Echo, her face expressionless. “Shift,” she said plainly. “Leave her alone.” Ray was too busy catching his breath to correct Echo.

“Thank you, Echo,” I said, nodding towards her before turning towards Shift. “Be nice.”

Shift scowled towards Ray before sitting at my side at attention “Of course, my Queen…” he said with a nod; I swear, I had half a mind to order Shift to shapeshift into someone who didn’t have a broom stuck up his ass.

Ray, massaging his neck, looked up at me. “What’s been going on down here?”

I sighed. “From what I could figure out, changeling queens lay eggs at an… unpredictable rate. I laid a couple eggs the morning after the whole Bedford incident… had to cover my mouth with that lovely goo to keep you guys from hearing the screaming. Before I could figure out whether to hatch them or just… leave ‘em, I laid three more the other night. Then another two yesterday… and two more a while before you came pounding on the door.”

Ray looked at the eggs. “...You have a plan yet?”

“They should be hatched,” Shift said firmly. “For the sake of the Hive.”

I turned to him. “Shift, I’m not exactly interested in making a hive right now. Probably not ever.”

“But if you don’t feed them, they will starve…” Shift said, conflicted.

“I’ll feed ‘em what I can, but until I’ve made a decision, they’re just big, moist paperweights,” I said. “Understood?”

Shift gave me a blank look before nodding slowly. “Yes, my Queen.” I rolled my eyes.

“So how would you hatch them?” Ray asked, curious.

“Well, in egg form they’re still technically alive,” Echo explained before I could open my mouth. She sat beside the eggs, gently stroking one. “The Queen, or her subjects, provide what love they’ve gathered and feed it to the larvae inside until they have the strength necessary to break the shell.”

Ray and I gave her a blank stare. “...Thank you, Echo…” I said, somewhat confused yet ready to attribute her knowledge to natural instinct. I turned back to Ray. “So, yeah, guess I was feeding them with the love I was getting from Liz.”

Ray’s eyes suddenly lit up, remembering something. “Aw, SHIT, right!! It’s Liz! She’s in trouble!!”

I frowned. “Trouble, how?”

“She and I left to go back to my place to get some things, she went out to the car to wait for me… I heard her honk the horn, and when I looked out the window I saw her getting dragged out of her car by these two dudes!!” Ray said in a single breath.

My throat felt oddly dry. I fell to my haunches and put a hoof to my mouth. I leaned my head back, trying to find the right words.

“...Say what now?”

“I couldn’t do anything, Chris…” Ray whimpered. “If I tried to stop them, who knows where I’d have ended up…”

“No, no, I get it…” I said, shaking my head. “It’s just a little…” I took a breath. “Are you telling me, Ray, that Liz- my girlfriend- was kidnapped?”

Ray slowly nodded.

I put my head in my hooves. “Are you fucking kidding me…”

                -                -                -                -                -

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I demanded, my hands gripping the cage I was in. I was in some warehouse, plunged in darkness save for the single light over my prison. In the shadows I could make out a few figures just on the edge of the light; they appeared to be sharply dressed, with nice black suits and ties. The one in the center who I was addressing seemed to be the one in charge. “What do you want from me?”

“Not from you, Ms. Pierce,” he said, his voice one of a middle-aged gentleman; he sounded a little familiar. “From your boyfriend.”

“If you’re going for ransom money, he doesn’t have that much to spare…” I said, annoyed.

“You misunderstand me…” he said. “I’m very much aware of what your boyfriend can do… the shapeshifting?”

My heart skipped a beat. “I don’t know what--”

“Please, do not think me ignorant. I have seen him change, as have some of my men. You are merely here to encourage him to have a chat with me.”

“About?”

“About a simple business deal; he gives me some of the little shapeshifting creatures he appears to be spawning, I return you, as well as pay him for the trouble. A mutually beneficial partnership…” At this point I could see him steepling his fingers. I gave him a deadpan look.

“Dude, you missed your calling as a Bond villain.”

He chuckled. “Really, I’m just doing what is necessary to acquire a potentially priceless resource. Taking you is really just a means of getting his attention.”

“And if he says no?” I asked; I was bluffing, of course. I knew Chris would level the city (though hopefully not) to get me back, and considering what he could do, that probably wouldn’t be far off the mark.

“Well, I doubt he would, but if he did, I suppose…” His words trailed off, as though he hadn’t planned for that potential outcome. He stroked his chin thoughtfully. For a good minute he was quiet. Then he made to speak.

“I suppose we’d-- ugh…” He suddenly rubbed his temples, panting as though he was about to vomit.

“Something wrong?” I asked, forgetting the circumstances of this little chat.

“Nothing…” he snapped, before righting himself. “It’s nothing.” He stood up; somehow I could feel his cold gaze. “If he says no, we will kill you. Simple as that.”

I felt a cold chill in my stomach, and it didn’t help that his cronies didn’t notice or care about this sudden dark turn, from the way they didn’t so much as flinch at the prospect of murder. The man turned around. “We will call him soon, though, and if you mean anything to him, and I have no reason to doubt that, you’ll be out of here by morning.” He walked away without a backwards his glance, his men accompanying him. The slamming of a door announced their departure.

I leaned back against the wall of the cage and held my knees to my chest. Things sounded simple enough; Chris would talk to them, I’d be let out and we’d move on with our lives, which were complicated enough already. I was scared, sure, but it helped that things had a, however suspicious, simple means of resolution.

Yet I couldn’t shake the feeling things were much deeper, and darker, than they appeared.

                -                -                -                -                -

“Dude, is pacing really gonna do anything?” Ray asked as I walked anxiously around the basement.

“Shut up. Thinking,” I said simply.

However, most of my plans were either impractical, impossible, or just led to me imagining enticing methods of torture for whoever had taken Liz. I really didn’t have a hope or prayer of tracking her down; I could call the cops but I was still terrified of accidentally leading them to the grubs (if I could still call them that), or the hive. And by myself I may have had magic and a trio of loyal changelings, but I couldn’t see how they could help short of just tearing Augusta apart to find Liz.

“Perhaps if you hatched the eggs,” Shift suggested. “We could have sufficient numbers to comb the city…”

“Shift, I’m not hatching the eggs, at least not yet, so drop it!” I said sternly, making Shift lower his head in fear.

“But how are we gonna find Liz, mom?” Digit asked, tilting her head to the side.

“Which returns to my previous statement, urging for you to be quiet, because I am in the process of thinking,” I said testily.

“I’m feeling like a star,
You can’t stop my shine.
I’m lovin’ Cloud City,
My head’s in the sky.
I’m solo, I’m Han Solo,
I’m Han Solo,
I’m Han Solo, Solo…”

All heads looked up the stairs towards the living room. “My cell!” I said, lighting up my horn. The song grew louder as my phone levitated quickly down the stairs towards me.

“That’s your ringtone?” Ray deadpanned.

“Your face is my ringtone,” I replied, not putting in the effort for a proper retort. “Look, it draws a laugh every time… It’s Liz!!” I cried, seeing the caller ID. I hit accept and put it on speakerphone. “Liz??”

“Is Mr. Barton available?” Came the voice of an older gentleman. I suddenly felt a bit awkward that I’d answered the phone in my Chrysalis form.

I stared at the phone in silence for a moment. “Yyyyeeesss?” I said carefully.

“I don’t suppose I’m actually speaking to him?”

I ground my teeth, but calmed myself. “Who is this…” I began, but he cut me off.

“Someone who sees the potential in your abilities, Mr. Barton. You’ve proven you’re not above using your abilities for personal gain, and perhaps you’re willing to… share your blessing with others for a fair price.”

Without warning the phone was plucked from my magic. Digit took on a form that, in other circumstances I’d have appreciated and laughed at. “I don’t know who you are…” Digit-Neeson began, speaking grimly into the phone before I snatched it from her.

“Shaddap!” I said sternly before turning back to the phone. “What do you want?”

“Come see me at hangar 3 at the airport in two hours. I’ll be there, with a fair security detail… Please don’t give them a purpose for being there.” Click.

My eye twitched as I stared at the phone before dropping it to the floor. “Fuck.”

“Someone knows what you can do…” Ray said. His gaze fell on the still-petrified Bedford beneath the stairs. “Maybe a relative of Bedford’s?”

“She doesn’t have one in the county, as far as I know…” I murmured, rubbing my head, trying to remember the whole conversation. “He said I used my powers for ‘personal gain’, what did he--”

My brain suddenly lit up like someone had said the Secret Word. The events of the past few days played in my head, one single event taking center stage. I growled, pure fury overtaking me. “Dane…”

> Chapter 13: Substitute
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 13: Substitute

May 8th

“Good morning, mommy!”

I awoke with a jolt, looking around the basement in a panic. “Huh?” I blinked the sleep out of my eyes to notice Digit sitting in front of me, a wide grin on her face.

I frowned; she was noticeably bigger than last night. She’d grown from kitten-size to about the size of a three-month-old labrador. Her wings seemed to have lengthened, yet not quite enough to allow for flight. “You sleep a lot!” She giggled.

Smiling, I nuzzled her. “Where’s Shift and Echo?”

“Shift’s playing with the old lady under the stairs,” Digit said cheerfully.

My eyes widened; I sprung up and ran towards the stairs. “Shift!!” I peered under to find him pointing his horn at the comatose Bedford, his eyes shut in concentration.

Much like Digit, Shift had grown, almost to Ray’s current size. I was under the impression he’d have a specific job as a soldier for the changeling hive, given his size and steely resolve. His horn had a faint, pulsing glow as he kept it aimed directly at Bedford.

“Shift,” I said loudly. Shift immediately opened his eyes, turned and bowed to me.

“My Queen,” he said, kneeling. “How may I serve?”

I narrowed my eyes. “I said to leave Bedford alone. What were you doing?”

“Apologies, your Majesty…” Shift said; I found it somewhat upsetting he didn’t seem to want to refer to me as his mother. The fact that I was upset by that was even more upsetting. “I was merely feeding; it appears to be our only source of food if we are to stay down here while you… figure things out.”

I furrowed my brow. “How are you feeding off of her? She’s basically in a sticky coma.”

“I can show you,” came a voice behind me. I turned to see Echo approaching from the shadowed corner, unnoticed until now. She seemed more inclined towards going unnoticed. Her mane seemed to lengthen, reflecting her growth spurt. Echo walked towards the comatose Bedford and beckoned for me to approach. I sat beside her, curious.

Echo lit up her horn and pressed the tip into the cocoon surrounding Bedford. The amber glowed softly; Bedford’s eyes, kept open in an unseeing gaze, seemed to glass over a little bit. “Why don’t you try, mother?” Echo asked.

I hesitated, but curiosity won out. I pressed my horn into the amber and lit it up.

My mind suddenly reeled, like it was being wrenched from my brain and hurled through worlds, galaxies, realities…

In an instant, it was over. As my eyes regained their focus I suddenly found myself sitting on a bench on the edge of a lake in an unfamiliar park. It appeared to be a fall day, judging by the color of the leaves and somewhat chilly atmosphere. I was soon aware that I was in human form, in the shape of an older gentleman wearing a sweater-vest and what appeared to be a golf cap. Someone was holding my hand…

I turned my head and nearly yelped. Sitting beside me, with a look of adoration that looked completely alien on her, was Bedford; she was younger, by at least a decade. Her hair was brown and tied into a neat little bun, and she was wearing a casual business-looking outfit with a lengthy skirt and high heels. She actually looked rather… pretty.

I noticed a warmth in my hand, the one she was gripping; it seemed to flow through my hand, into my--

Oh my god, I thought, piecing things together.

I was taking part in some kind of romantic fantasy, or memory… Flooding her with the love she’d felt so long ago, and feeding off of it. She was being forced to live a lie, just to feed me and my children…

It horrified me. Was this what changelings did to survive? I wrenched my hand free of her grasp and clasped my head. “No, no, NO!” I yelled. I could see the world around me fading into darkness. “Echo, stop this! Let me out! LET ME OUT--”

With a feeling like my mind was being suplexed back into my head I came back to reality. With a yelp I stumbled backwards, away from Bedford and the perplexed Echo.

“Mother?” She asked, concerned as she stepped towards me.

“Echo…” I said, my voice shuddering. “Echo, I don’t want you, or your siblings,” I turned to address Digit and Shift, both equally concerned. “to feed off of Bedford like that again, you hear me?”

Echo blinked, baffled. “B-But how else can we feed…?”

“We will find a way,” I said, loudly. “I’ve fed off of Liz’s love for me for the past few days; it’s completely possible for a changeling to earn its love rather than feed like…” I nodded towards Bedford. “Like that. I’m sorry, but that is just… wrong.”

“It’s how our kind has fed for generations…” Echo said, perplexed.

I furrowed my brow in confusion. “How do you know this?”

“I just… do…” Echo said. “All Royals know this upon birth.”

“Royals?” I asked, becoming more and more confused. I laid down, ready for a long discussion. I felt a weight fall on my back; I turned to see Digit laying on my back, a cheerful grin on her face.

“Royals; they are a rank in the Hive, second only to the Queen herself,” Echo explained. “The other breeds are Soldiers,” she motioned towards Shift, standing guard as always some distance away. “and Drones,” she motioned towards Digit, who was humming to herself. “Queens typically imprint a piece of themselves- memories, skills, traits- into the eggs they lay. Royals, however, are born with a link to their birth-mother, which allows the Queen to expand her influence throughout the Hive. In most cases it is a Royal that ascends to lead a Hive, should a Queen fall.” Echo tilted her head to the side. “Do you not know this?”

I shook my head. “No, I… I mean I knew the basics- feeding off love, shape-shifting, but I only became a Changeling a week ago…”

“But how can this be?” Echo asked. “If you didn’t know this, neither would I…”


I put a hoof to my chin. “Could you… tell me what you know, Echo? I’m rather curious…”

                -                -                -                -                -

Present Day

“Could I at least get a book or something?” I asked the lone goon standing outside my cage. I’d lost track of how long it had been since the ‘Boss’ or whoever had left, leaving me alone with a single guard who stood off in the darkness.

He shook his head. “Sorry.”

I groaned and looked around the cage. It had a fair share of sizeable wooden crates, pushed off to the side to give me some room. With nothing better to do I walked over to them. They were, of course, nailed shut; even if they weren’t I doubted they’d lock me in a cage and just leave something in here that would let me escape. But boredom and I never got along, so I was just willing to do anything to keep from…

He-llooo… I thought, spotting one crate in the corner that had its lid slightly ajar. Squeezing between the wall and another crate I moved towards the open crate.

“What are you doing?” The guard asked.

“Just curious…” I said innocently. I grasped the loose lid of the crate.

“I wouldn’t…” the guard warned; there was something in the playful manner he’d said it that disturbed me, and even more so when I saw what was in the crate.

I lifted the lid.

I screamed.

                -                -                -                -                -

The rain was heavy on the Augusta Airfield. I’d driven Liz’s car to the airport, as the voice on the other end of the phone had instructed. Ray had objected, said it was a trap, but I chose not to listen. If this would get Liz back, I had to try.

I pulled the car towards the gate to the employee parking lot. The gate rolled to the side thanks to a sharp-dressed man in the booth, who didn’t give me a second glance as I pulled through onto the airfield.

The hangar in question wasn’t hard to find, since it was wide open and lit up. I drove carefully, so as to not make the kidnapper or his goons nervous, and slowly pulled into the hangar. It was empty save for three black, featureless cars. I parked a short way in, shut the car off and got out. While the outside was lit up, the inside of the hangar was fairly dark, with only a handful of lights around the edges.. I could barely make out the shadowed forms of several more suited men. The hangar door behind me slid shut, but I kept calm; so long as I didn’t irritate him, things would go smoothly.

“So,” one of the men said; I recognized his voice from the phone.

“So,” I replied.

“I hope you didn’t dress up on my account,” he said, moving his hand expectantly.

I rolled my eyes; I was enveloped in the familiar green flame, and I stood before him as Chrysalis. “Happy?” I asked.

The man said nothing; in fact he seemed to be swaying a bit.

Then one of his cohorts suddenly stomped forward.

“T-Travis…?” The man said dizzily before falling over like a drunk. I dropped into a defensive stance and lit up my horn, but, with impossible speed he was on me, a hand gripping my horn, causing my magic to die out like a match in rainwater.

The man lifted my head up by my horn, furious. “You’re not her. Where is she??”

I blinked.

Then I shut my eyes. Mother...

                -                -                -                -                -

Just like before I removed the piece of wood blocking Dane’s sliding glass door with my magic. Peering through the door I couldn’t see anyone in Dane’s living room. He must be in bed, I thought as I carefully slid the door aside. I crept into the house, my horn lit in case Dane was about. Peering down the hall I could see a kitchen at the far end; at the counter stood a suited man, with his back to me. He was a few inches taller than me, horn included, and about five times as thick.

Bodyguard, I thought. Dane’s dad must want him out of the way for a while. I tip-toed (if you could call it that) down the hall, peering carefully into the doors on either side. I finally found the douche’s bedroom; a stupidly decorated affair with sports posters, another overly-sized TV and a bed that could comfortably hold a baby elephant. And in that bed slept the douche of the hour.

With a cruel grin I carefully shut the door behind me and locked it. Then, to be safe, I took a nearby chair and propped it beneath the handle. “Just you and me…” I hissed, fluttering over to his bed and standing over him. I gave him a rough prod. “Wake up.” He snorted in his sleep. “Wake up, dipshit,” I said, smacking him across the face.

Dane woke up with a yelp. He blinked several times then looked straight up at me.

He opened his mouth to scream, but I shoved my hoof into his gaping jaw. “One noise. Please, I beg you, make a noise,” I hissed, leaning in towards him. “Now, I’m gonna let you talk, and the words that come out of your stupid-ass mouth had better be where Liz is.”

“Hmmph?” Dane said, which I interpreted as “Liz?”

“Yes, Liz,” I said impatiently. “My girlfriend. The one you your asshole dad kidnapped this morning. Where is she?”

Dane was quiet for a moment. Then his eyes widened with realization. “Yes, it’s Chris. No, I don’t know WHY I’m like this. Now where’s Liz?”

I tentatively removed a hoof. Dane immediately sang like a bird. “She’s in a warehouse on the docks!”

I gave him a deadpanned expression. “...Which docks, genius.”

“T-The docks off the railroad tracks, on the east side of the river, just off the bridge!!” Dane whimpered. “L-Listen, I don’t know why dad took her, I just heard he was there and I wanted to, you know, learn about how he did things, then I see her there and…”

“Dude, whatever…” I said, climbing off of him and heading for the door. “If I see you again, you’d better--”

Mother…

I stopped.

“...I’d better…?” Dane said.

“Quiet,” I said. ...Echo?

Get out of there.

The door was suddenly smashed off its hinges, knocking the chair aside and smashing to the floor. The brick-shithouse of a guard from the kitchen stood in the doorway. He looked at me; to his credit, his eyes only had a glimmer of surprise before he immediately stepped into the room and drew his arm back for a punch.

With a yelp I leapt back from his swing and lit up my horn. I fired a blast into his chest that sent him flying back into the hallway where he smashed into the wall. “Watch it, man!” Dane yelled. “This is my house!!”

“Dane. Your mouth. It is making noise,” I said warningly as I stepped towards the doorway. The man was slumped over; his suit had a smoking hole from where I’d zapped him, but otherwise he was none the worse for wear… not even a singe.

The man suddenly lifted his head. “You have grown weak.”

“Uh…” I said, tilting my head to the side.

The man brought his fingers to his lips and whistled. The sound of a door slamming down the hall made my heart skip a beat. I backed up as the man stood up, cracking his neck as he entered the room again. He was joined by another two overly-sized men. “A true Queen would have left nothing but ash...” he said.

“What the hell are you talking about…” I said, bewildered.

“Whatever the case, she’ll appreciate us bringing you to her,” the man said with a cruel grin.

His eyes flashed green.

“UH…” I said loudly.

The men were suddenly engulfed in green flame.

When the flames vanished, three vicious-looking changelings stood in their place.

I blinked several times. “...Well, fuck.”

> Chapter 14: Prima
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 14: Prima

“Okay, so, uh…” I said, my brain repeatedly trying, and failing, to understand what I was seeing. “...Wha, what?”

“Seize her!!” The changeling yelled. He and his allies suddenly flung themselves at me. With a yelp I ducked beneath their sudden tackles; the trio flew over me and smashed comically with the footboard of Dane’s bed. Dane let out a yell and fell from his bed, scurrying towards the corner.

I looked towards the door, considering cutting my losses and flying out to find Liz. But these three would follow me easily, since my flying hadn’t improved all that much. I could take the time to smack them around- I mean, I didn’t know that much magic but I could make do with using levitation to toss them about, or just bury them in the heaviest things I could lift--

Mother!!

I blinked. Echo? What’s happening?

Mother, they’ve-- ...Silence.

Echo? ECHO--?!

I was suddenly tackled in my distraction, sending me tumbling to the floor on my back. I looked up to see one of my aggressors standing on me, its horn lit. “Restrain her!!” I heard one of his cohorts yell.

“Yeah, no.” I lifted the poor sap off of me in my magic and tossed him at the wall. His neck bent sickeningly with an audible crack. My stomach lurched- changeling or no, I'd just killed someone--

As the changeling slid down the wall to the floor, however, he made a single death throe before beginning to glow a bright neon green. Within seconds he was considerably less changeling-shaped, becoming a glowing green goo that formed into a puddle on the floor. After the obligatory look of befuddlement I turned towards his friends, who already had their horns lit. I grabbed a dresser from my right and held it between me and my foes; their green blasts peppered the furniture, some of them managing to pierce the wood entirely, sending pieces of cloth flying from it. Before they could react I hurled the dresser at them.

One of them- I assumed him to be the original changeling who’d summoned his friends- immediately flew upwards. His friend was not so lucky. With a fantastic crash, the dresser pinned him against the wall; only his hind legs were visible, poking from underneath like the Wicked Witch of the East. Then, much like said witch, he vanished, only instead of shriveling up, he glowed, then became a puddle of slime.

I looked at the remaining changeling, who was scowling furiously. “You think you’ve won here??” He snarled.

I looked between the two puddles of ooze, which had nothing to add but the occasional quiet bubble popping. I looked back at him. “...Seems a bit one-sided here, yeah…”

“She will find you!!” He yelled. “You had your chance, Chrysalis, and you nearly doomed us all! But she will lead us to a glorious new age!!”

Before I could get as far as ‘the’ in saying “What the fuck are you talking about,” the changeling immediately zipped out the door and down the hallway. Before I could even get out into the corridor I heard the sound of glass shattering from the living room; he’d fled through the sliding glass door. With a groan I turned towards Dane. “Don’t suppose you had a clue what he was yammering about?”

Dane merely whimpered, curled up into a ball as he stared between the two puddles of goop. I shook my head. “Whatever, I gotta go get Liz. Gimme your cell phone.”

                -                -                -                -                -

“I should be out there…” Shift said for what must have been the twentieth time as he paced around the basement, his wings twitching irritably.

“Dude, your dad-mom can take care of herself…” I repeated, resting my head on a hoof with boredom. “Look, once Chris and Echo get back with Liz we’re gonna high-tail it out of town for a while, okay? Until then, Chris said to stay put and don’t do anything stupid.”

“I’m so excited to get out of the house again!” Digit said cheerfully, flying in circles around the room. “I wanna see everything that Mommy imprinted on me! I wanna see Disney World and Las Vegas and Boston and Disney World and Pandaria and the Satellite of Love and…”

“THANK YOU, Digit!!” I yelled, rubbing my head; she reminded me of that ‘Pinkie’ character from the show, from the episodes I’d watched. Decent stuff, I’d have to watch more.

“I’m feeling like a star,
you can’t stop my shine….”

All eyes fell on Chris’s phone. I snagged it in my magic- whoever was calling wasn’t in Chris’s phone book. Tentatively, I answered. “Hello?”

“Ray! It’s Chris!”

I gave a short sigh; it sounded like he was talking on a phone in a wind-tunnel or, more likely, flying. “You find Liz?”

“I know where she is, but things are a bit more… complicated than I thought. You need to lock the doors and windows and hide in the basement.”

“Why? What’s going on? What happened?!”

“All I know is Liz is at the warehouse on the eastern end of that… train-bridge thing over the river, Echo’s gone dark, and I just had a tussle with three changelings that are, apparently, water-soluble! And the guys at the airport know I’m not playing by their rules, so odds are they’re gonna come breaking down my door any minute! Just keep your head down, if they get in, just… I dunno, improvise! Hide, run, hit ‘em with blunt objects!!”

He obviously didn’t have much time for clear thinking, though, to be honest, I don’t think I’d be faring any better. “Chris, CHRIS!” I yelled. “Calm down, it’s gonna be alright. Just get Liz back and we’ll figure out a way to get Echo back, then we’ll get out of town for a while, okay?”

I heard him take a deep breath. “...All right, but I don’t know if running will solve our problems… Not with these… other changelings creeping about. When I get Liz and Echo back I’m gonna find out who’s leading them.”

“...And?” I asked.

“...I dunno. But I won’t let them threaten us again. Keep your head down and don’t let anyone but me, Liz or Echo in.” He hung up. I looked at the phone with concern, then over at Digit and Shift, who were completely silent the whole time.

“What’s happening?” Shift asked.

I took a breath. “We hole up and--”

A bang over our heads made us jump. Several more bangs followed.

“Shit.”

                -                -                -                -                -

I landed heavily outside the warehouse Dane had described. It was your basic warehouse affair; solid gray, no real distinguishing features other than a single black car parked off to the side. It seemed like the ideal place to store a kidnap victim, and even if Liz wasn’t here, I had nothing to lose by taking a peek.

...And by ‘taking a peek’ I mean ‘smashing the door down.’ I blasted the garage door, creating a reasonably sized hole for me to slip through. The place was almost pitch-black, save for a single light in the far corner hanging over a chain-link cage; in the cage sat…

“LIZ!!” I yelled, sprinting towards the cage. Liz looked over at me and gasped; she stood up and gripped the cage tightly.

“Chris, look out!!”

The lights flicked on; the warehouse had only a few crates, most of them lined up along the walls. This seemed to be a kind of ‘temporary storage’ setup for Halford’s company. I turned to see a single black-suited goon standing near the lightswitch, glaring at me. “You haven’t lost a step, Chrysalis.”

I rolled my eyes. “Look, I don’t know who you guys are, but I’m not-- FUCK!!” I ducked as, in the blink of an eye, the goon morphed into a changeling and fired a beam of green energy straight at my face. The blast flew into the wall, leaving a scorch mark the size of my changeling-head. With a snarl I lit up my horn and lifted the poor sap by his own. I brought him over to me and glared deep into his defiant blue eyes. “Who’s really in charge of this? Why take Liz? Where did you guys come from?”

He laughed cruelly. “Gotten a little too comfortable with your exile, my Queen?”

I shifted my magic-grip to his throat and squeezed. “Not in the mood, tool. Now answer my question or I’ll--”

“VICTORY TO QUEEN PRIMA!!” The changeling suddenly screamed, arching his head back. He suddenly began to glow, like the drones back at Dane’s house.

“Wait, shit, NO!!” I yelled, but I was too late; he melted into the same bright green puddle I’d started to become accustomed to and fell to the floor in a foul-smelling heap. I stared at it for a moment; Queen Prima?

“Chris?” Liz called, making me spring back to reality. I spun around and bolted towards the cage, lighting up my horn as I went.

“One sec!” I said as I gripped the cage door in my magic. With a powerful jerk of my head I tore the door from its hinges and flung it to the far side of the warehouse. I took a moment to take human form as Liz came running out of the cage. I quickly grabbed her and pulled her into a tight hug, never wanting to let her go again. “I’m sorry…” I said. “This is my fault…”

“Was that a changeling?!” Liz said, staring over my shoulder at the goo pile.

“Yes…” I said. “No idea where it came from.”

“It’s not… one of yours?”

“Definitely not,” I said. “I mean, I’ve laid a few more, but I haven’t hatched any…”

“So there’s…” Liz said, slowly. “...another queen out there?”

I shrugged. “Could be… Let’s just get back to the house, high-tail it out of town- get off the grid, find a place to hole up, maybe even find others like me and Ray.”

Liz looked back at the cage. “Anything to get away from there…” The way she said that made me furrow my brow.

“...What is it?”

Liz shook her head and shuddered. “Please, let’s just go…” But I didn’t drop it. I walked around Liz and looked into the cage; other than a few reasonably sized crates, it seemed empty…

Wait. One of them had its lid ajar. “Chris, please, let’s just go, I can’t…” Liz said, her voice faltering. I looked back at her.

“What’s in there, Liz?” She didn’t answer, save for a whimper as she turned away. I looked at the box and lifted the lid.

With a yelp I stumbled back, the lid toppling to the side. Inside the box was a corpse; a large man, in his mid forties, wearing a tight black suit and with a half-inch wide hole in his head, burned out as though he was shot through the forehead with a flaming arrow. His eyes were left open, unseeing, staring at the side of the crate. I wasn’t into forensics, but judging by the smell he had to have been dead for at least a few days.

I leaned against the cage wall opposite the crate, a hand over my mouth. Who felt the need to kill this man?

“You haven’t lost a step, Chrysalis.”

I spun towards the way I’d come in. Liz was slowly backing towards me, her mouth quivering in fear. It wasn’t hard to see why; standing in the entryway was a much more alive version of the man rotting in the crate off to my right. His hands were behind his back in a very business-like manner. He stepped into the warehouse calmly, not taking his eyes off me. From here I could see what appeared to be an ID badge hanging from his shirt pocket; I could read the name “Travis Bower” as he approached.

I looked between the living Travis and the dead one to my right. I looked back at the living one and dropped my human guise, stepping out of the cage and dropping into a defensive stance. “Who are you?”

‘Travis’ laughed. “I should have expected you’d not remember me… Even after the decades I served you, helped keep our empire in a glorious era…” His eyes suddenly flashed green. I stepped between him and Liz and braced myself for an attack…

...that never came. Instead, ‘Travis’ took a step backwards. “But your time has passed.” A ring of blood-red flame surrounded his feet. It suddenly sprang into a pillar that stretched to the ceiling…

My eyes widened with recognition. Well, this bodes well…

The flames vanished. Before me stood another changeling; it was a little bigger than me, with broader wings and an orange mane, sticky and translucent. While I, as Chrysalis, wasn’t exactly something you’d put on a child’s ceiling to help them drift off to sleep, this queen was something out of an Amnesia game. Her horn was much sharper, like a ritual dagger. Her muzzle looked more like the maw of a crocodile, as imagined by Tim Burton. Her pupils were inch-long black lines in a sea of blood red, piercing and terror-inducing.

I took a nervous step back. “Who are you?”

The queen laughed- a throaty, croaking laugh that sounded muffled through her layers of jagged teeth. “I am Queen Prima… And under my rule, the Changeling Empire will span, not only Equestria, but this world as well…” She grinned. “Just as Discord promised.”

> Chapter 15: Ruin
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 15: Ruin

I lit up my horn, but Prima shook a hoof. “Ah, ah, aaahh… Have you forgotten about your Royal? What’s her name… Echo?”

I grit my teeth and seriously considered putting a gaping hole in her face, but with an agitated growl I extinguished my horn. “Where is she?”

“She is… relatively unharmed, for the moment. Funny, isn’t it? Your stubbornness has traded one bargaining chip for another…” Prima’s eyes fell on Liz; I protectively stood between them, glaring. Prima raised a black eyebrow at the gesture, and laughed. “So it’s true…” she said. “Our dear Queen has lost the will to lead.”

“Look,” I said. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I’m not, never was, and never will be, Chrysalis… I know I look the part, but… that’s just not me.”

Prima sighed, almost pityingly. “So naive… but then, twenty-five years as one of these mongrels will do that to you, I suppose.”

“What do you want with me?” I asked. “Why take Liz, if I’m the one you wanted? And what’s the deal with Halford, why are you working through him?”

“Patience, dear Chrysalis…” Prima said, turning and beginning to pace around the room. While she wasn’t looking I noticed the exit. I looked at Liz and jerked my head towards it. She immediately shook her head, but I gave her my best impression of her “no argument” look. Liz hesitated, then nodded, her eyes full of reluctance. I turned back to Prima just as she turned back around.

“You truly believe you aren’t our former Queen, yet you’ve proven to be quite adept at the common practice of the changelings- transformation, feeding, the preservation of food sources… You’ve even laid dozens of eggs within a week!” She looked at Liz again, who wisely stopped inching towards the exit. “Though, to be fair, you seem to have been eating healthily, hmm?”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, once again stepping between Prima and Liz; I didn’t like the way Prima kept looking at her.

“Must I spell it out for you?” Prima asked. “It takes a changeling months to train properly- feeding, subterfuge, all of it- and decades for a Queen to be ready to lead a Hive. But you mean to tell me you learned to be one of the most powerful beings on Equis… through guesswork?” She cackled, throwing her head back; Liz quickly took a few nervous steps towards the exit again.

“It wasn’t hard to figure out…” I argued; I knew what she was saying, and it was just nonsense. “You think of who you want to be, you change form, maintaining a different form drains what… love you’ve fed on. Not that complicated! Plus Echo taught me a few things…”

“And tell me, ‘Chris’...” Prima interrupted. “Echo instinctively knew of her place in a Hive, the place of her siblings, every nuance of a Hive’s inner workings…”

“How do you know that?” I asked.

She grinned maliciously. “Your royal’s telepathy isn’t so difficult to access. When I realized how you intended to cheat your way out of this little meetup, I immediately gauged her mind as to where you were, and what you were planning… Though, in hindsight, I should have expected as such. You always were the type to give demands, not adhere to them.”

“Not when the demands are given by a bell-end like you,” I quipped.

Prima’s nostrils flared. “Indeed, you have fallen, if your only hope is to resort to name-calling,” she growled.

I smirked. “It seems to have ticked you off, so, hey, victory in my book.”

“In any case, your Royal had the inner workings of a Hive imprinted upon her mind…” Prima continued. “Any imprints on a grub are left from the mind of the changeling that birthed them.”

“But I had no idea about anything like that!” I argued. “Yeah, I knew about changelings on a basic level, but I didn’t know they could put people into a deep sleep and feed off of those… coma dreams!”

“Truly?” Prima asked, her voice sickly sweet. “Are you so certain you remember nothing?” She approached, her voice becoming quiet. “Tell me… Over the past week, you must have been seeing something… some glimmer of the past, some memory, deeply buried, fighting to be unearthed…”

I furrowed my brow, confused.

Then…

“Did you really think you could change things, dear Chrysie?”

With a jolt like I’d remembered I’d left the oven on, I remembered that ‘dream’ from the night of my birthday. The two voices- one smug, one furious… both familiar.

I shook my head. “What are you getting at!?”

“I think you know exactly what I’m getting at!” Prima giggled.

“What you’re getting at is batshit bonkers!!” I yelled, gritting my teeth so hard they threatened to shatter. “Are you honestly saying this isn’t my first time being… like this?!”

But deep in my mind, something was stirring… Something that made fighting tooth and nail against Prima’s ludicrous claims more and more difficult. It hurt… My brain pulsed, feeling like it wanted to pop my eyes out from their sockets with each throb. With a gasp I fell to a knee, putting a hoof to my head.

“Chris?” I heard Liz ask; I felt a hand fall on my back.

“It seems there’s a part of you that doesn’t wish to deny the truth…” Prima said smugly. “And what of you, human? Surely you’ve seen signs… Signs that ‘Chris’ was changing in more ways than one…” Liz said nothing, her hand becoming stiff on my back.

My heart sank; I remembered exactly why I’d locked myself in the basement for the past few days. My temper, the measures I was willing take to keep myself- and my children- safe from discovery…

Another point for Prima.

“Perhaps I can aid you…” Prima said, stepping forward. Now it was Liz’s turn to step up, standing between me and Prima. The Queen chuckled. “Fear not, this won’t hurt… Assuming Chrysalis can accept what I am about to show her.” I looked up and saw her horn light up, a sickly dark red like fresh blood.

“Get away…” Liz began, but a red aura appeared at her side and, gently but firmly, pushed her aside. Prima approached, leaned down, and pressed her horn to the tip of my own.

The entire world seemed to black out of existence; for a moment I thought I’d lost consciousness. Then, as if I was waking from a dream, the world around me faded back into view.

Liz, Prima and the warehouse were gone. I was floating, unsupported, without the slightest flutter of my wings, over what appeared to be a barren desert, nothing but sand and rock as far as the eye could see under the gray sky. Rising from the ground appeared to be columns of rock, littered with holes, like a termite nest.

Or…

I felt a pang in my stomach. Almost unbidden, I floated towards one of the stone structures and into one of the holes in the middle.

It was pitch black inside, yet somehow I just… knew what was there, like when you’re in your bedroom with the lights turned off, yet can easily find your bed. The tunnels winded downwards, torrents of dust floating down with each gust of dry wind that entered the column’s many holes. I followed the tunnels downwards, not fearing I would get lost in the black labyrinth. As I descended the pain in my stomach worsened; from the back of my mind I could feel a deep sense of despair, horror and anguish. I couldn’t fathom why, but at the same time the answer seemed obvious… There was something down here I didn’t want to see.

The tunnel expanded at the very bottom. I was in an immense cavern, a faint green glow emanating from the very middle of the ceiling. I could see a solidified substance lining the walls, floor and ceiling… The goo. The very goo that I’d decorated my basement with. But this… amber, I think Echo had called it, from the signs of dust, had been untouched for… decades, it looked like.

I moved down towards the center of the room. There appeared to be some kind of rubble strewn across the floor… But that didn’t make sense. The ceiling hadn’t caved in, why would there be rubble--

The stomach pangs peaked when I caught a glimpse at something reflecting the light up above. I knelt down…

It was an eye. The open, glassed-over eye of a dead changeling. My mouth quivered with horror as I noticed another next to it… And another… And another there, several there--

Oh, god, they were everywhere… Countless dead changelings, strewn across the floor, their chitinous bodies cracked and dusty… They hadn’t even rotted away.

They hadn’t fallen in battle- no, nothing so quick. They had…

“Starved…” I whispered, wanting to find someplace to throw up.

“Yes,” came a familiar voice. I turned to see Prima standing some distance away. “You have some knowledge of what happened in Equestria- you and many others, as it turns out. Tell me, what happened to the ponies?”

“They…” I said, my voice cracking. “Discord turned out to be a… a traitor the whole time, he’d been playing them… He betrayed Celestia, and started… doing something to everypony… He started with the Mane Six, and…” My mind started drawing blanks on the series finale. “I don’t know what happened afterwards…”

“You’re thinking about this… show, aren’t you?” Prima asked. “Don’t think about that, Chrysalis… Remember. Look about you… What happened to you? What happened to us?”

From the depths of my mind I began to… remember. Memories that had never thought to speak up until now.

“They died…” I said, choking back a sob. “The changelings died… With the ponies gone, they… had nothing to feed off of… Chrysalis tried to fight Discord, but I couldn’t do anything--”

My hooves flew to my mouth. “What did I just say?”

Prima smiled. “Starting to get it now?”

Canterlot was in my sights. Its once purple roofs and marble-white buildings now painted a ridiculous number of colors, twisted into the subjects of some maniac’s twisted fantasies. The skies overhead were laden with pink clouds, raining… chocolate milk. Just like last time. I paid none of it any heed as I flew over the city. It had felt so long since I’d last been here, laying siege to the city, seeking to secure a prosperous future for my subjects… To think, now I was here to bring an end to the one responsible for its downfall.

There he was. He was playing some ball-maze game with the Canterlot Hedge Maze, lifting the landscape the gardens were planted on like an enormous tray and tilting it, to allow an enormous beach ball to roll along the walls. The very sight of him made my blood boil. I lit up my horn. “DISCORD!!” I fired a blast at him. He cast a casual glance at me, then dropped the gardens, the landscape landing on the ground with a cataclysmic crash. He deflected my blast away like an errant insect and floated towards me, grinning madly.

“Chryssie! How good to see you… Care to join in the festivities?” He asked, gesturing to his new kingdom grandly.

“You KILLED THEM ALL!!” I shrieked, throwing a barrage of blasts at him. Discord’s smile faded; with a single wave of his talon the blasts turned into candy… He caught one of them and took a bite out of it.

“Who are we talking about?” He asked after he swallowed. “Ah, yes, your subjects… Terrible shame, that…” He didn’t even pretend to have the slightest bit of remorse.

With a roar I flew towards him. If my magic couldn’t hurt him, I could find some way to make him hurt- I’d even gore him with my horn, anything to make him bleed. With a flash, he vanished. I stopped and frantically looked around, snarling.

“Yoo-hoo!” I heard him call from below. I looked down to see him strolling casually through the hedge maze. With a roar I fired volley after volley of blasts at him. Within seconds the maze was alight. Discord strode along the flaming hedges, not paying the fire any mind as he hummed the most infuriatingly cheerful tune.

What little control I had left vanished. With a scream I divebombed towards him; I wanted to hurt him, beat him, kill him… Make him feel the pain I was feeling, the pain my people felt as they starved…

He casually turned around and, with another lazy flick of his eagle claw, sent me flying back as though I was struck by the tail of a dragon. I flew backwards and felt myself crash through glass. I rolled end over end and landed heavily on a tiled floor. My body was covered in scrapes and cuts from the window, tiny bits of glass sticking from my chitin, and my eyes were blurred from the impact. Shaking my head I stood up, my legs screaming with the effort. My vision cleared.

Fate was, indeed, cruel; I was standing in the Canterlot Chapel- the very room in which my plans had nearly succeeded, the room where I had overpowered Celestia, and nearly taken Equestria as my own…

A flash made me look down the aisle I’d walked down, years ago. Discord was floating some feet above the ground, his arms crossed, raising an amused eyebrow. “Are we done?” He asked, patronizingly.

With a roar I extended my wings. The simple act made me yell and look back- they were torn and dislocated from my landing. I lit up my horn and turned back to him--

I hadn’t heard him move- he was but a foot in front of me. He caught my horn with his lion’s paw, with the air of a parent scolding a misbehaving child. He lifted me up, holding my face to his. He regarded me for a moment, then grinned madly. “Did you really think you could change things, dear Chryssie? Did you honestly think rising against me would bring your precious food back?”

“Shut up...” I hissed, flailing in his grip.

“I suppose I should have seen this coming,” he said, shaking his head. “In a world where there is only my beautiful chaos, love is swept under the rug as well as friendship and harmony and all that other tripe.”

“I... will... kill you...” I growled, wanting to bite him, to rip his throat out, to punish him...

“And that will magically save your kind? Bring them back from extinction?” He chuckled. “Did you even think this through? Whatever the case, as much as I’d like to punish you for your hubris, I have other matters to attend to, so let’s just get this out of the way, hmm?”

He raised a single talon. 
“For Five Score! Divided by Four!
Your memories removed, your body confused!
For your insolence you must pay,
Cast off to a land far far away!
To scatter the six, just the start of my tricks!
Your mind shall be weak, your outlooks bleak!
Forgetting everything and living like a fool,
You have all lost, now no one can stop my rule!”

I shut my eyes.

I sat on the floor of the cavern, tears streaming from my eyes. Twenty-five years… Twenty five years, I’d been living a lie… Yet somehow, this didn’t upset me nearly as much as the corpses strewn around me.

My subjects… no, my children… All dead… because of him.

“Now do you see?” Prima asked, her voice cold.

“He killed us all…” I said, my voice faint.

“No, Chrysalis…” Prima said. “You did.”

I looked up at her. “What?”

“When Discord began his rise to power, it was clear the ponies couldn’t hope to win against him,” Prima said. “We should have turned our gaze elsewhere, to find somewhere Discord couldn’t be bothered to torment… But you…” she grit her teeth. “You were too stubborn. You asserted that Equestria was the most viable source of food for us… You refused to relinquish your claim… You ordered us to swarm the land, to take as many ponies as possible… But you were foolish. You acted too late. Discord had already either banished the ponies, corrupted or changed them, all to suit his vision. By the time you realized this, it was far, far too late… Our people began to starve out, too weak to head elsewhere… They all died…” Her eyes flashed with hatred. “Because of you.”

I said nothing, looking down at the corpses lining the tomb. “And rather than flee yourself, find some place where you could rebuild our shattered kingdom… You threw yourself, foolishly, against Discord, putting up one last pitiful effort to bring the ponies back.”

She was suddenly next to me; she grabbed my head and forced me to look around the chamber. “All this…” she hissed, gesturing with a foreleg. “All of this happened, Chrysalis… because of YOU!!” She released me and hovered away.

My heart was hollow… No room for grief, hate, or anything… I had nothing left. I wished I’d been left as a human… At least then I’d never remember the result of my stupid, stupid choices…

The world blinked out again. When it returned I was back in the warehouse. Liz was at my side, shaking me. “Chris? CHRIS!”

I looked at her. She had that look in her eye… The fear that she’d almost lost me.

No… that she’d almost lost Chris Barton. Could I still call myself that? Was that truly who I was, or was it just some shell I’d been forced into, and had shed one week ago? Could I really hope to keep any ties to that life now?

I looked away from her and over to Prima. “So now you see…” she said. “Chris Barton was a shell, a false name given upon your exile. Yet even now, with your true form restored, your time as Queen has ended.

Your actions nearly destroyed us, Chrysalis… I was the sole surviving member of our race, under hiding in Zebrica. I’d found an old pair of zebras who I could encase and feed off of, yet my place as a Drone meant I had no hope of becoming a queen and beginning anew… Then, five days ago… Discord came to me.”

“Chris, what is she talking about?” Liz asked; I ignored her.

“You’re probably aware of the other ponies springing up across this world?” Prima asked. “Such events cannot transpire without causing a little… mayhem. Why, you yourself caused a fair deal of chaos last week, in that fool Bedford’s car. Discord feeds off of chaos, Chrysalis- he is aware of when it happens, where it happens… And when he realized that the lot of you would eventually piece together what had happened- the Elements of Harmony, in particular, he realized the world he’d worked so hard to build was at risk. So he came to me for aid…”

“How’d he find you?” I asked.

“Oh, he always knew where I went… I suppose he kept an eye on me as I fled the land, in case he found use for me… He came to me and offered me a deal- one that I would be a fool to turn down. If I offered my allegiance to him, he would grant me the powers of a Queen, and allow me to return our people to their former glory!”

“Naturally, I accepted. He granted me this beautiful form…” she floated a few feet into the air, motioning grandly at her corrupted body. “Then he sent me here- to where he found you. I needed time to put together what numbers I could, so I… blended in.” She gestured towards the crate in the cage containing the corpse. “A week ago I took on the form of the one man trusted most by that fool, Bedford, and began manipulating him to arrange this little meeting. And afterwards, Bedford’s resources can prove very useful… His mining company has left countless places for new hive clusters, all across this nation. In a few weeks we can begin to blanket this whole planet.”

“Why not just come to me?” I asked. “Why go after Liz?”

She scoffed. “Discretion is the very last word in changeling tactics, Chrysalis… If I were to storm into your home, who knows what would have happened… You may have struck back, drawn attention to us, ruined everything… No, I had to draw you out for a little chat… And away from your fresh clutch. Figured it would be best to get started right away…”

I wanted to feel the slightest bit of anger or hatred at the way Prima grinned at me, a smile of malevolent, smug self-satisfaction… But the image of the dead hive- my kingdom- was still burned in my head, making the mere act of standing up a labor in of itself. I didn’t even latch onto the hope that Echo, Shift, Digit and Ray had gotten out of there… Really, what would it matter in the long run? Liz’s hand had tightened on my shoulder; she fell to her knees and tried to make me look at her. “Chris?” She whimpered.

Prima seemed invigorated by my lack of defiance, and continued her monologue. “With the resources provided by that fool Bedford, we will swarm throughout this world in secret, and eat our fill! Then we will lay siege on the other kingdoms of Equis- Zebrica, the Griffon Empire, the Minotaur Tribes, all of them… Discord’s chaos will blanket the world, and we will thrive! THRIVE!!” A hint of mania filled her eyes as she relished in the opportunity laid out before her. Her gaze fell upon me again. “That’s why I need you, Chrysalis… Your time as Queen is over, but you still have unprecedented value.”

“How?” I asked.

Prima gestured at the goo pile some distance behind her. “As you can see, the changelings I’ve birthed are mere shades of our former glory. Perhaps it is because of my being a drone; maybe I just need time to adjust to Discord’s magic. Such is the nature of evolution.” She grinned hungrily at me. “But you… You are the key, Chrysalis… a Queen in her prime, still capable of laying hundreds of eggs in a short span of time…”

“So you’d be in control of my children,” I said in a monotone. “I’d lay them, you’d control them…”

Prima nodded. “With Discord’s magic I can make the changelings loyal to me, and me alone. Within weeks my Hive will stretch all throughout this nation… then the world.” (In my despair I somehow found it in me to imagine her donning a monocle, top hat and evil, curly mustache, laughing maniacally.)

I didn’t bother to argue, to fight, do anything… Prima was right. My choices nearly killed us. In retrospect, I didn’t deserve these past twenty-five years… I didn’t deserve to be as happy as I had been with Liz. Really, this would be a fitting punishment.

What could I do, anyway? Prima was obviously doped up on Discord’s magic, I couldn’t hope to fight her. She and her- or rather, my children, would swarm the world, they’d find all the other ponies, and Discord’s victory would be absolute, though I had a sneaking suspicion he wouldn’t hold up his end of the bargain with Prima.

The garage doors opened. Six suited men entered the warehouse, nonplussed by Prima and I; they were either changelings, or mind-drugged humans. “Take Chrysalis to the Hive,” Prima instructed. “And bring the human--”

“No.” All heads turned to my sudden outburst as I stood up, giving Prima a steely glare. “I’m who you want, just… Just let her go.”

Prima gave me an amused look before chuckling. “Very well… It’s not like she can do anything.” She motioned with her head towards me. One of the suited men stood beside Liz, giving her an intimidating glare. “Bring her back to her home and keep an eye on her, nonetheless. The rest of you, bring our dear Queen to the Hive.”

I turned without a word as the remaining men stood around me. I began to walk towards the doors…

“Chris!” Liz cried, her voice cracking. She bolted in front of me and held my face in her hands. “Chris, please, tell me what’s happening!!”

I gazed sadly into her eyes. “Liz, I…” I took a deep breath. “I’m not Chris Barton. I’ve… always been Chrysalis… Chris is gone… He can never come back.” I blinked tears from my eyes. “But I want you to know, that these past few months… The time I spent with you, I… can never express how much they’ve meant to me. Chris-- I, loved you… I… still do.”

“Chris…?” Liz asked, tears streaming down her face.

“But we can never go back…” I said. “God knows I wish we could, but… we just can’t. Liz, I… need you to… to move on. Forget about me, find someone who can… Who can love you the same way I do…” I leaned in, pressing my head against hers; she was openly crying now, and if this went any longer I’d break down as well. “I love you, Liz…”

“Enough of this!” Prima barked. “Bring the human home, and get this fool out of my sight!!” Liz was pulled away from me. She pulled against the guard, sobbing.

“Chris! CHRIS!!” She screamed, struggling weakly as she was taken from the warehouse. I walked solemnly after her. Outside the warehouse, in addition to the car I’d seen on my way in, was a large black van. As the rear doors were opened for me I wordlessly climbed in and laid down, trying desperately to put Liz’s cries out of my mind. Two of the guards sat in the back with me, but it really wasn’t necessary; I wasn’t gonna put up a fight. The other two got into the front; the van rumbled to a start.

I laid my head down on my forelegs and shut my eyes. At this point, dreams were the only hope I’d have for some genuine happiness.

                -                -                -                -                -

I watched as the van drove away, up the dirt road with Chrysalis in tow. I then turned as the other car, containing Chrysalis’ human mate, began to pull away.

“My Queen?” The remaining drone asked, having stayed behind to keep guard. “We’re not bringing the human girl home, are we?”

I chuckled at how it sounded like he already knew the answer. “The love she has for Chrysalis knows no bounds… Have her put in the amber at the Hive… Just make sure Chrysalis never finds out.”

The guard nodded. “Yes, my Queen.” He turned, took his true form, and flew off into the night.

I grinned as I looked up the dirt road, just as the van holding Chrysalis rounded a corner and went out of sight.

A new era for our people had begun.

> Chapter 16: For the Hills
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 16: For the Hills

May 11th

With my magic I pulled the basement door shut just as the the sound of the front door being smashed to bits rang through the house. “One of you, cover this door!!” I ordered. Digit nodded and lit up her horn. A green haze hovered over the door for a moment before thickening into the sticky substance that lined the basement walls and floor. Through the ceiling we could hear someone stomping through the house. Muffled orders were shouted and the footsteps parted, as though the intruders were looking for something. After a tense minute we heard someone jiggling on the handle to the basement door. They tried pressing against the door, to little effect.

A sense of cold washed over me as I backed carefully towards the wall. Shift stood at the bottom of the stairs in an aggressive stance, glaring at the door, his horn lit up. To my surprise, Digit did the same, her cheerful attitude gone.

Bang. The door shuddered with the impact. We heard more muffled shouts upstairs, and the footsteps converged around the basement door. The intruders seemed to all try to bash the door in simultaneously; the door seemed to buckle, but otherwise remained intact. The intruders yelled something in frustration.

“That goo does not budge,” I observed quietly. The intruders had some quiet conversation before their footsteps walked some distance from the door. “Are they giving up?” I asked hopefully.

Shift stared at the part of the ceiling the intruders were standing over. “I doubt it…”

Some kind of whooshing sound echoed upstairs. For a few seconds there was nothing but silence… Then I heard one of the intruders, even through the floor, say “One… Two… THREE!!”

A circle of green suddenly cut clean through the floor below the intruders. Within seconds that portion of floor fell through to the basement, crashing loudly several feet away from me. With a yelp I scrambled away from the rubble as Digit and Shift took up position.

Through the new hole in the ceiling came three changelings, their smug, cruel grins visible in the light that poured in from upstairs. They landed on the pieces of floor, their horns lit up. “Not a very luxurious hive…” One of them quipped with a gravelly male voice.

“Indeed, Webb…” The second said, with a wistful female voice; her gaze fell on the eggs. “But it seems to have suited Chrysalis well…” The third took notice of me.

“Well, look at this!” It said, his voice wheedling and manic. “So it’s true… The ponies are regaining their true forms… Looks like we won’t have to wait long to feed.” His mouth began to water; Digit stood protectively in front of me, scowling with a viciousness I’d have never expected from her.

The first changeling, named Webb, laughed. “There’s no point in fighting…” he said. “Our Queen knows of this clutch, and is already on her way to deal with Chrysalis… If all goes well, Chrysalis will be in no position to stand against us. All we need from her is every last egg she can lay…” He glanced at the eggs in the corner. “Those will serve as a good start.”

“If you touch those eggs…” Shift hissed. “Your screams will be heard all the way back in Equestria!!”

The changelings cackled. “Such viciousness! Such brutality!” Webb snickered, turning to the second. “I must say, Pollen, we may have underestimated our former Queen’s new lackies!”

“They certainly give me pause for thought!!” The third guffawed.

“Why don’t you two grubs stand aside…” Pollen cooed, approaching Shift. “Several of our brothers are already on their way to acquire the eggs… But don’t think of this as your end. Perhaps Queen Prima will find a place for you in our Hive…” She locked eyes with Shift; her eyes flashed with opportunity. “I can see it in your eyes, Soldier… You wish to serve a Queen so great, so powerful, that our people will thrive for countless generations…”

Shift narrowed his eyes; his stance relaxed a little bit. Pollen continued. “Our Hive will span worlds, my brother… Our race will become strong, and under Queen Prima, you may, one day, become more than a Soldier…”

Shift looked at the floor, contemplating. My heart sank; this ‘Queen Prima’ sounded like whoever Chris had vowed to look for after finding Liz, the one who was leading these changelings… And it looked like Shift was being tempted to change sides.

Now, I wasn’t exactly fond of Shift, mainly due to his stick-up-the-bum attitude, but I couldn’t just sit here and watch him be, more or less, tempted to the dark side. “Shift!” I began before Pollen shot a piercing glare at me.

“You’d best learn your place, pony…” she hissed. “Equestria’s time is finished- there is only chaos… and the Hive.” She returned her gaze to Shift. “Yet it doesn’t need to end for you…”

I furrowed my brow. She was talking about Equestria like it was a real place…

Yet here they were- changelings, spawned from a queen who wasn’t Chris… One who had given an allegiance to this… ‘Discord’... Chris had mentioned him- someone who’d essentially doomed the characters of the show.

My mind practically sagged under everything that was being thrown at it- turning into a pony, witnessing a fucked up kind of alien childbirth, watching someone’s girlfriend get kidnapped, then finding out her kidnappers were aliens themselves… I wondered if it would be too much to ask if I could go out for some fresh air and some time to wrap my head around what was happening.

“...This hive…” Shift said, deep in thought, drawing me back into the moment. “...Spanning worlds?”

“Yes…” Pollen said, leaning forward seductively. “Our kind would flourish- become a power in the universe second only to Discord himself… And with time, my dear Shift, you could very well lead armies in the conquest of nations!”

Shift’s gaze remained fixed on the floor, his eyes practically flashing as he imagined the world promised by this Queen Prima. Digit hadn’t said a word this whole time, staring intently at Shift as though willing to go with whatever he decided to do.

“...What of Chrysalis?” Shift asked, peering up at Pollen.

“She is to be brought to our Hive, to act as a source of eggs until Queen Prima is capable of laying them herself,” Pollen said, her grin widening. “She won’t put up a struggle… Not once our Queen ‘convinces’ her to… aid us. And even if she decides to struggle, we still have her Royal… and her dear, sweet mate, to motivate her.”

I didn’t like the sound of that; ‘convince’ as in ‘apply vicious beatings’, or something else? And ‘Royal’... did she mean Echo? And to top it all off, they still had Liz… like they were never going to lose her... Digit took a slow step back towards me, casting the barest hint of a glance at me.

Shift glanced towards Digit, then me, then back at Pollen. He grinned; my heart sank.

Then he shot an urgent look at Digit, who nodded and lit up her horn. A green aura surrounded me and quickly flung me through the hole overhead. “RUN!!!” I heard Shift and Digit scream simultaneously as I landed heavily on the kitchen floor. I looked back to see the hole flash like a green strobe light as the five changelings flung magic at each other below, Prima’s drones hissing furiously.

I wanted to jump back down there, to help the grubs fight them off, but Digit shouted up. “JUST GO!! MORE WILL COME, JUST RUN-- AUGH!!” A blast of energy flew into her shoulder, shedding bright-blue blood from the pierced chitin. I trotted anxiously, weighing my options.

I either run and end up on my own, again… I thought urgently. ...Or I fight, get caught with them, and lose my only chance to get Chris out of that Hive… However the hell I’d do that. 

After a few moments that seemed to stretch for hours, I swore loudly before turning and galloping out the front door.

I ran across the street, ignoring the neighbors who were peering out their doors and windows at the commotion from Chris’s house. Part of me wanted to yell for them to get back inside or risk being abducted, the same way Chris and Liz were being at this very moment, but I was too worried about being chased by one of the drones back inside. I ran down the alley between the two houses across from Chris’s place, flung open the lid to a dumpster and threw myself bodily inside.

The stench was abhorrent, but I didn’t pay it any heed as I pulled the lid down, just enough to keep me hidden but still allowing me to peek at the house. Nothing was following me- Digit and Shift were evidently doing well, distracting the other changelings… I hoped. Flashes of green lit up the windows, and the faintest sounds of magic bolts being flung haphazardly could be heard, even from here. The sound of cars approaching almost made me duck into the dumpster. Three black SUVs pulled up; out of each stepped four black-suited men, who stormed into the house without a word. In seconds the storm of magic roaring from within the house seemed to subside; in less than a minute the fight had ended, though either outcome wasn’t exactly ideal. Either Digit and Shift had lost and would be taken prisoner, or they’d won, only for seven more changelings to storm down and finish them off, then be taken prisoner. My insides sank to the very floor of my hiding place as I watched the house, waiting for movement.

Several of the men emerged and scattered around the street. Some of them opened the trunks of the cars and, in groups of two, withdrew heavy-looking metal boxes, big enough to store a human body in, and took them into the house. Others proceeded to tell any neighbors peering outside their doors to go back inside, that this was ‘government business’. Anyone who pressed for information got a quick, icy stare that made their voices die in their mouths.

In an amount of time that made me somewhat impressed at the changelings’ efficiency, several men emerged, carrying the crates which appeared to be loaded down with something… Like eggs. Or nearly full-grown changelings. “What happened, Locust?” One of the men asked, approaching another who appeared to be one of the changelings who’d first arrived.

“They fought back,” the one called Locust said bitterly.

“Such a shame…” Said another, in the tone of voice I recognized as Pollen’s. “But it makes no difference; Queen Prima will have them seeing our way before long.”

Another suited changeling emerged from the house. “What of the… witness, that escaped?”

“She can’t have gotten far,” Pollen said dismissively. “Sweep the area and find her.”

I was too scared to be annoyed at them constantly referring to me as a ‘she’. The men loaded the crates into the SUVs. Some of them got into two of the cars and drove off, while the occupants of the third spread out, searching for me.

I lowered the lid delicately and hugged myself in my forelegs. I was scared. They were gonna find me, and I was gonna end up like Bedford, who they’d probably loaded into one of those crates as well. I screwed my eyes shut, praying to every last god I could think of, begging that I wouldn’t be found.

Even if I wasn’t found, what would happen? Chris was gone, Liz was gone, the grubs were gone… It was just me. By myself. Again. Tears stung in my eyes as the disparity of the situation struck home. I curled up on the floor of the dumpster, the acrid stench forgotten. All I could do was hide beneath the multiple pizza boxes and hope like hell anyone who looked in here wouldn’t be thorough.

The lid opened with a squeak; my insides froze. For a moment, there was silence. Then a cruel, quiet chortle. “Your tail is poking out, little pony.” I felt a hand grasp tightly around the roots of my tail. I was pulled out from the pizza boxes. I looked up in terror at my assailant, who grinned viciously at me. “I…” he began to call out.

A pipe suddenly swung vertically from the right, smashing the man in the face. He stumbled back, clutching his nose, which was now bleeding a viscous green blood. The person with the pipe, a guy somewhat older than me, wearing a sports jacket and hat, thrust the pipe in a stabbing motion. The pipe plunged into the man’s throat; his eyes bulged in shock for a moment, then his entire body began to glow green. He convulsed for a moment before his entire form melted into a puddle of green slime.

My rescuer dropped the pipe with a disconcertingly loud ‘clang’. He looked at me. “Move!!” He hissed before spinning around.

I didn’t hesitate. I clambered out of the dumpster and hurried after him as he hurried to the other side of the alley. We emerged on the far side of the street, where the guy approached the driver side of a black car, similar to the ones the changelings had arrived in. He fumbled with the keys before unlocking it. “Get in!” He said.

I heard a yell from the street we’d fled. I dared to look back; the suited men had found their liquidized ally, and had caught sight of me. I spun around and sprinted towards the car; my rescuer opened the passenger side door, allowing me to leap inside. I yanked the door shut with my magic as the man shifted into drive and sped down the street.

I carefully climbed into the backseat. “Thank you…” I panted. “Seriously, thank you…”

“What the flying fuck is going on?!” The man cried, sounding unhinged by the night’s events.

“Long story…” I panted. “My name’s Trix--” I paused in irritation. “Ray. My name’s Ray.”

“I’m Dane,” the man said. I perked up and looked at him in the rearview.

“...Chris told me about you.” I said warily. “You’re the son of that guy who kidnapped Liz… Or so it seemed at the time.”

“Listen, I don’t know what the fuck my dad’s doing, all right?!” He attested. “All I know is, your buddy Chris took my car for a joyride…”

“From what I can tell, it was to get back at you for getting Liz fired…” I murmured.

Dane shook his head. “I-I don’t… URGH! Not important! He had me identify who took my car using the webcam in my dashboard. I told him it was Chris, and last night I hear that they took Liz! I headed to the warehouse where they were keeping her…”

“How’d you know where it was?” I asked.

“I… kinda took one of the radios off of one of the guys on my dad’s security detail,” Dane said, somewhat guiltily. “When my dad refused to let me know what he was doing I was just… curious. I kept the thing and heard they were taking ‘Ms. Pierce’ to the warehouse off Maple Street, near the Kennebec, so I headed there to ask my dad what was happening.”

He took a shuddering breath. “When I saw my dad, I could… see something was wrong with him… His eyes, they were like… glassed over. I noticed a little bit after he bailed me out, but now his eyes are basically… Like he’s sleepwalking, they’re unfocused, you know? Something’s wrong with my dad… He had me put in my house, basically under house-arrest, guarded by his… well, guards.”

“Then, when things couldn’t get anymore confusing, this big-ass bug horse… thing breaks into my house and demands to know where Liz is…”

“Chris, right…” I said. “He said he was gonna have a ‘chat’ with you… He didn’t know whether or not you were in on it.”

“Well, I’m NOT!!” Dane yelled. “Why would he think I’d be involved?!”

I raised an eyebrow. “You’re the son of the guy who did it, I think you’re involved by default…” I peered out the windows; we were heading up Route 17 now. “Where are we going?” I asked.

“Out of town…” Dane said quickly. “We’re gonna go to my friend’s place and hole up, till things quiet down.”

“Won’t he be a little… confused as to what he’s harboring?”

“He owes me some favors,” Dane said curtly.

“So what happened when Chris got to your place?” I asked.

“I told him where Liz was… Then he stopped like he’d heard… something, I said something and he told me to be quiet. Then one of my guards came in… Chris did something, some kind of magic, that sent the guard tumbling but… It didn’t do anything. The guard got right up, called the other two in, and they…” Dane shook his head; it was clear he was hoping this was all a dream. “They turned into more of those… bug things…”

“Changelings,” I said. “They… change form and… feed off love.”

Dane looked back at me, perplexed. “How the fuck does that work!?”

“Eyes on the road!!” I said urgently. Dane looked back and swerved us back into our lane just as another car drove past, honking angrily.

“So anyway…” Dane said, once he was done panting heavily with terror. “Chris and those changelings didn’t seem to like each other… They fought, and Chris looked like she-- or, he, I don’t know-- had the upper hand… He… killed two of them, they turned into slime like that guy back there, but the third just screamed some… nonsense about ‘she’... I don’t know who he was talking about, he flew out the door before Chris could ask. Then Chris took my cell and flew off without a word, I think to find Liz…”

“I took the radio and listened in; they gave an address to some ‘clutch’ or something, so I used Google Maps to find the place and… found Chris’s place.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that whatever’s happening with these… changelings, is what’s causing my dad to do this crazy shit.” He took a breath. “I parked on that far street and did, like, a stake-out… I saw some guys go in, there were some loud noises, then I saw you running from the place. I saw you hide in the dumpster and… You know the rest.” He looked back at me. “That’s basically everything… What’s going on?” After a pause, his eyes widened. “...And what the hell are you?”

Given everything that had happened to him tonight, I couldn’t blame him for being less surprised at the fact he was driving a pony around. “I’m… a unicorn, I guess… Uh, last week, I… started turning into this… pony. I was convinced I was alone, until I spotted Chris speeding around the park in your car. He took that changeling form- or, Chrysalis- and flew off. He wasn’t that good a flier so I managed to follow him back to his place.”

“Apparently we- him and I- were… characters from some old kid’s show… My Little Pony, I think… There was some talk about how it got this big fanbase of dudes, ‘cause apparently the show’s actually good- and it is, I took a look- so that’s how he knew who we were… And apparently we’re not alone; he thinks there are people turning into ponies all around the country- hell, maybe even the whole world…”

“So what’s the deal with the rest of those… changelings?” Dane asked, looking back at the road. “Are they her-- his, children?”

“He did lay some eggs…” I said. “...But only three of them have hatched. I don’t know where the others came from- they mentioned someone named ‘Queen Prima’, who sounds like another changeling queen… But it sounds like she knows much more about what’s happening than Chris does. From what I can guess, she must be why your dad’s acting all… loopy. It sounds like they were gonna take Chris to their Hive and… take the eggs he lays.” I put a hoof to Dane’s shoulder. “We have to find him and Liz.”

Dane cast a disbelieving look at me. “And how do we do that?”

“We just… urgh, I don’t know!” I snapped, laying my head against the back of the driver seat. “But we can’t just do nothing!!” I sighed. “Though it looks like we don’t have a choice… We have no clue where this Hive is, for starters…”

“Actually…” Dane said slowly. “There’s a backpack behind my seat, the radio’s in there.” I reached into the bag and withdrew the walkie talkie with my magic. “I’ve been hearing some chatter about some place off West River Road… Something about bringing ‘acquisitions’ there. Dunno what that means, but they were never so cryptic before last week...”

I tilted my head to the side. “How do we know it’s the Hive, though? Why would changelings use radios, it looks like they can talk… telepathically, or something like that.”

“It’s not just my dad that’s been acting weird lately…” Dane said gravely. “Some of the guys I’ve known for years who’ve worked for my dad are acting the same way- distant and all that, you know? I’ve been hearing them talk about that place, but I never thought anything of it.”

“So we have a lead we’ve pretty much gotten from speculation, and no way to effectively pursue it without being caught or killed…” I droned. “And if this Prima person finds out the son of her pawn is pretty much missing, she’ll know to look for you.”

Dane’s knuckles whitened around the steering wheel. “...I’m worried about my dad, you know? He always gave me crap, and I deserved a lot of it, but… I don’t wanna lose him…” He looked back at me. “What about your family? They seen you since you… became a furry?”

I shot a death glare at him. “I’m not a furry!” I snapped. I laid down across the backseat. He had a point, though… I hadn’t gotten in contact with my parents in a while, not even a text. I’d kinda drifted apart from my parents and younger sister since I’d moved out here from Vermont, keeping in contact through holidays and the occasional phone call made out of boredom. I wondered if I could ever talk to them again… Or if my disappearance would make that big a difference in their lives.

I blinked tears out of my eyes. No, I thought. No, if I find Chris, maybe we can find a way to get things back to the way they were… This Prima person sounds like our best hope, assuming she doesn’t, you know, kill us.

I sat up. “We need to go to that place, at least to be sure whether or not it’s the Hive.”

“Not tonight,” Dane said. “We should wait till things settle down. In a couple days we’ll head out and take a look.”

“But if we don’t go now, who knows what’ll happen to Chris! And Liz! While we stall for time, we’re only giving this Prima chick the time she needs to grow in power! We have to act!!” I was leaning all the way forward now, speaking into Dane’s ear. “Please…”

Dane was silent. Then he shook his head. “I can’t… They’re probably on every corner right now looking for us. We’ll take a look tomorrow, maybe during the day where they won’t want to risk open conflict…”

“But I’ll be out in the open…” I pointed out.

“One… pony is easier to hide than a few hundred,” Dane said. He turned off of the route, and onto a dirt road. “We’re here.”

                -                -                -                -                -

“Lucas!” Dane called, banging on the screen door. “It’s Dane! Come on, man, open up!”

“You sure he’s here?” I asked, constantly looking over my shoulder in case we were followed.

“He’s either here and drunk, or out and getting drunk. LUCAS!!”

The inner door swung open. A man with wild, drummer-style hair leaned out the front door. “WHAT?!” He yelled, agitated, his breath stinking of booze.

His gaze fell from Dane to me. I saw his eyes widen to the size of dinner plates beneath his bangs. “Is that Trixie?!” He cried.

“Well, fuck,” I deadpanned.

                -                -                -                -                -

“Make sure she’s secured,” I ordered as the drones- my drones, marched an unresisting Chrysalis into the inner sanctum of the Hive.

“Yes, Queen Prima,” they said in perfect unison. They led her to the far corner of the chamber, to a cage that would allow a reasonable amount of space for her, while still allowing us to procure her eggs. It wouldn’t hold her if she tried to escape, but I was confident that wouldn’t be a problem… Not as broken as she was.

Though I did have some help.

Chrysalis lurched stiffly into the cage. She approached the corner facing the wall, and collapsed, as though death had already taken her. I peered at her through the bars and examined her.

At the very base of her tail, the green had faded to a light grey.

I smiled. I opted to thank my master for that little ‘tip’.

“My queen!” I turned to notice several more drones and soldiers descending into the Hive, carrying heavy metal crates. “We were successful!” The one called Locust said proudly. “We’ve secured the eggs, as well as a drone and a soldier in their prime!”

I frowned; there was a hint of fear in his voice. “The entire operation was a success?” I asked.

Locust gave a slight quiver. Pollen approached and bowed solemnly. “There was a unicorn there, your highness…” she said. “One of those banished by Lord Discord… She escaped in the ensuing struggle with Chrysalis’ subjects… Someone- a human, most definitely, helped her escape.”

I narrowed my eyes at them, then huffed. “It makes no difference.” I turned towards Chrysalis. She was either asleep, or awake and barely listening. “With Chrysalis in our grasp the ponies will soon have nowhere to run… This city, this nation, this planet…

will be ours.”

> Chapter 17: Powder Keg
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 17: Powder Keg

“Shift?” I turned my head to Digit, who was fixated on the farthest corner of the chamber. We were being escorted roughly through the twisting catacombs of Prima’s new Hive. The place did not feel like a clutch as shown through our Queen’s imprinting; no amber lining the walls to hang hosts from, no alcoves dug into the upper sections to allow grubs room to grow, it was just a large, circular chamber. The drones that weren’t guarding us were merely standing around, like robots put on standby. A couple dozen eggs—our eggs—were laid in the very center with the utmost care. In the farthest corner, where Digit was staring, was a large, if rather underwhelming, cage. In that cage was the prone form of…

My Queen… I thought, trying not to gasp out loud. I only knew it was Chrysalis through the bond I had with her, that flared when I noticed her. Otherwise, she was nearly unrecognizable. She may as well have been a corpse from the way she remained still as a statue.

Yet there was something else… Her tail and mane were completely drained of color. The antennae on her head—often mistaken for a crown, for understandable reasons—hung low like a dying flower. Her eyes were unfocused, unseeing…

“Mother!” Digit cried out. A quick smack to the back of her head silenced her.

The gesture did not go unnoticed. Chrysalis’ eyes flickered towards us. They flashed with life—a look of deep despair. I caught the faintest sign of a tear before she shut her eyes and did not move.

I stared at her. This wasn’t right… It would be understandable if she was beaten, battered, bruised, anything to show she hadn’t gone down without a fight, but… She seemed to be drained… She looked as though she didn’t see the point in fighting. This was wrong…

My eyes fell on her discolored tail again. They’d done something to her. I opened my mouth to call out to her, when another smack dropped me to the floor.

“Seal them in the amber, but leave them conscious…” came a booming, somewhat distorted voice, more so than Chrysalis’. “I want them to watch their mother and the part she plays in the new era of our kingdom.”

“Chrys--” I began, but I was kicked in the stomach, knocking the wind out of me. I felt magic wrap around my hind legs, and was dragged backwards towards the wall. I was hoisted against the wall of the cavern, given a grand view of Chrysalis, who seemed to be stirring. A glimmer of hope flashed in my heart…

When I realized she was groaning in distant pain. “Ah, the first egg in our new order!” Said the voice. I looked up to see another Queen—a horrible aberration, twisted with some kind of dark magics—hovering overhead. The Queen—likely Queen Prima—looked down at us. “In time, you will see… This is the glorious destiny of our people!”

I watched in horror as, once the single egg was laid, it was cruelly snatched away and placed among the rest of the clutch. I stared at Chrysalis, who seemed utterly resigned to this fate.

I made one last effort to call out as the drones began to encase Digit and I in amber.

“Mother…”





May 14th

“I’m telling you, man, there’s nothing here…” Dan said as we drove another lap around the gravel pit we’d found off West River. Other than a single office trailer that had not aged well, the place seemed abandoned… If it weren’t for the faint signs of recent tire tracks on the dirt road I would have called this lead a bust.

The past forty-eight hours weren’t exactly relaxed. Dane’s friend Lucas was, in actuality, a closet brony, and had a nerdgasm over meeting the “Great and Powerful Trixie”. He was disappointed by me having what he thought to be ‘amnesia’, but insisted on telling me how awesome I was and refused to leave my side. He even showed me the rest of the show; quality stuff, easy to see what the millions of guys loved about it. The Trixie episodes, in particular, were my favorites… Chris made Trixie sound like little more than some unicorn who could fling a few basic magic spells around, but what she could do was far more spectacular—teleporting, conjuring, illusions, I could see why so many would throw themselves at her feet.

I could actually imagine myself on her stage… Throwing fantastical spells about, astounding them, making them see the power she… I, wielded… A few fireworks here, the illusion of entire constellations there… The cheers of the crowd, granting a wondrous sense of adrenaline that fueled my desire to prove the power of the Great and Powerful Trixie!!

The finale did put a deep sense of anguish in my stomach, though… That Discord character ended up screwing everyone and everything over, just to conquer that world. There hadn’t been that much of a fan outcry since a certain Crucible fiasco.

Finally, a couple days later, we decided to follow up on that lead. We never told Lucas what was going on, of course; if he found out we were (potentially) certain danger, he’d probably do something stupid for my ‘honor’. He was saddened to see me go, but I made a flimsy promise to return if I could.

“Let’s just check out the trailer…” I said. “If there’s nothing there, we’ll…” I gave a sigh. “We’ll get out of here…” 

Dane brought a gun he’d snagged off one of his bodyguards; I didn’t know just how useful it would be, but if the changelings could die from being stabbed in the throat, a bullet would likely be just as healthy for them. We left at around 1am; I kept an eye on the sky, but there hadn’t been any signs of anything strange around town. There were the occasional “strange sightings” everywhere else… Likely others being turned into ponies. Maybe once Chrysalis was out, we could find some way to contact them.

Dane pulled up a short distance from the trailer. “I’ll go check it out…” I said softly, opening the door. “I’ll come back and let you know what I find.”

“Or…” Dane said firmly. “We both check it out.” He opened his door without another word and crept towards the trailer. I rolled my eyes and followed, wincing every time my hooves made a considerably loud ‘crunch’ on the dirt underfoot. As we approached the trailer I reared back and leaned up against a window.

“It’s pitch black in there…” I muttered.

“Hold on…” Dane said. He pulled out Lucas’ cell phone, likely snagged without Lucas knowing, and held the screen to the window.

“Are you crazy!!” I hissed, ducking to the ground. “What if something is in there?!”

“It’s cool, look…” Dane said. As I got up, he seemed to notice something. “...Oh, wow.”

“What?” I asked, looking through the window at what he’d seen. My jaw dropped. There was a sizeable hole in the floor, seemingly dug out by some animal seeking shelter…

“That has to be it,” Dane said. He moved around the side of the trailer and grabbed the handle.

“STOOOOP STOP STOP STOP STOP!!” I hissed, trying desperately to avoid shouting. The knob didn’t move; locked.

“Figures…” Dane said.

“What’re you thinking?!” I said. “We can’t just YOLO our way in there, gun or no gun!! They’ll rip us so many new assholes!!”

Dane put a finger to his chin. “What do we do, then?”

I bit my lip. “...I don’t know, we, uh…” I rested my head against the trailer; without having the faintest clue of what was down there, our only hope was to actually venture forth and hope not to trip on a snoozing changeling. I sighed. “Fine, whatever… We head in there, all stealthy, and hope for the best… Only real option, really… Once we figure out how to get in there…”

Dane looked away from me, and at the car. “...I’ve got a plan. Not that much smarter or safer, but, hey…” He hurried towards the car.

“Whoa, what, what’re you doing?” I asked, following him.

“I’ll get you a way in,” Dane said, swinging the driver side door open. “Then I’ll try and keep those bugs’ attention while you go in there and get Chris out; if he can help as much as you think, he should be able to handle the rest…”

“I dunno…” I said. “I mean, Chris had some time to practice magic, but otherwise he might not be able to…”

“Then you two can just grab Liz and those ‘grubs’ or whatever, and get out!” Dane said as he climbed in and slammed the door. “Look, you’re the one who wanted to get here sooner! It’s now or never, we either do something stupid and probably die, or do nothing and everyone definitely dies! Now, are you with me?!”

I stammered; this was all happening so fast. “S-Sorta?!”

That was all Dane needed. The engine roared to life and, within seconds, was already screaming towards the trailer. I hurried off to the side of the gravel mound the trailer was settled into, and ducked.

With a powerful crash the car plowed through the flimsy wall. Dane quickly shifted into reverse and backed out; he rolled his window down and held his gun out the side. An ominous buzzing rumbled from within the trailer.

“Wait till it looks like a lot of ‘em are out there!!” Dane called.

“Please don’t do anything stupid!!” I called as the buzzing grew to nerve-racking volume. “...Or, at least, stupider!!”

In less than a second a stream of black and green flowed out of the trailer. At least forty changelings buzzed angrily, floating in a disjointed formation, glaring furiously at Dane. “Oh shit!” Dane squeaked, closing his window and beginning to speed away. The changelings began divebombing the car as it sped back down the dirt path. The car rounded a corner onto the main road and out of sight.

I took the opportunity; I sprinted into the trailer, careful not to trip on the debris, and threw myself into the hole. I rolled and tumbled painfully along unfeeling stone into near complete darkness. The place felt like a very painful water slide, sans water; it took every ounce of effort not to yell in pain before the ground leveled out and my rolling ceased. I shook my head of the stars blocking my vision and looked around.

I seemed to be on an upper ledge in some large, round cavern, dug out by these changelings. The only light came from the soft glow of that same goo that had been lining Chris’s basement the night Liz was kidnapped; I don’t know how they’d made this stuff glow, though. Down below was a sort of pit; at the bottom were a very large number of eggs… Chris’s eggs. Some of them looked ill… Their normal green color had given way to a venomous purple… Whatever Prima was doing, it was working. And at the far corner of the pit was a cage, with Chris himself inside. He was lying down, completely still… Was he asleep?

“What are they doing?!” An angry voice called out. I looked up and nearly screamed. Hovering close to the ceiling, with its back to me, was another changeling, like Chris in shape alone… Insect wings, long mane and tail, curving horn… But she looked like if that character Chrysalis was designed for some kind of horror movie.  She was angrily addressing five other changelings, one of whom I recognized as Pollen from Chris’s place. “They’re going to attract too much attention!!”

“But, that human, my queen!” She whimpered, averting the gaze of who I could only guess was Prima. I ducked behind nearby stalagmites and listened. “He seemed to know of this Hive! If he escapes he will alert other humans to us!!”

Prima roared in fury. She lit up her horn; a blast of crimson magic blasted Pollen, causing her to plummet to the floor. She smashed to the floor, gave a single death throe, and suddenly turned into a glowing pile of neon green goo. Prima looked to the other changelings. She looked half-ready to smite them as well, but she took a breath and calmed herself. “I will obtain this human myself. I will be back shortly. You remain here and guard Chrysalis… I smell treachery in this…”

I ducked lower as I heard a low buzzing grow close, then disappeared up the way I’d so-gracefully entered. I peered between the stalagmites; four changelings patrolled diligently around Chris’s cage.

Okay, Trixie, think… I thought. You’ve played Hitman, how do you get guards to leave your target alone? A well-placed diversion… I looked to the left. The goo seemed to be important… It was what held Bedford in place—matter of fact, I could see her over there. And next to her were three…

The grubs! I realized. Their eyes, unlike Bedford’s, had some gleam of life in them… They were conscious. Prima evidently wanted them to watch their eggs being corrupted, the twisted bitch… Maybe…

I looked along the edge; despite there not being much reason for a changeling to use a ramp, there was one off to the side, likely for bringing prisoners in. I double-checked to make sure the coast was clear, then crept along wall towards the ramp, never taking my eyes off the guards. Their ‘patrol’ was nothing more than standing in front of Chris’s cage, keeping eyes on all points of approached. I’d never get close enough to the grubs without being seen…

I felt my hoof bump a rock; I stopped just short of causing it to roll, which might as well have been me stepping on an “AWOOGA” horn. Actually… I thought. I lifted the rock in my magic; there was a deeper part of the pit, below the ledge… If my aim was good, and if these drones were stupid enough, I could distract them for maybe a good five seconds, long enough for me to try and yank one of the grubs out.

Hey, we’ve gone this long without a good idea… I thought, rolling my eyes. Why start now? I tossed the rock. It clattered into the lower section, echoing into the cavern. “What was that!” One of the drones yelled. Predictably, yet somehow unbelievably, all four of them swarmed towards where the rock had landed.

Wow… I thought, trying desperately not to laugh at their stunning brilliance. I crept towards one of the encased grubs—Shift, I recognized, by his larger size. I used my horn to scrape a line in the goo around his shape before, with a pull of magic, I pulled him free and kept him hovering in the air. My head ached in pain from supporting his weight as I gently lowered him to the ground and quickly rubbed the goo from his head. “Wake up…” I said in a barely audible whisper. “Please, Shift, PLEASE, wake up!!”

Shift’s eyes slowly regained focus. He shook his head. “Trix--” he began before I shoved a hoof into his mouth.

“I need to get your sisters out,” I hissed, casting a glance towards the idiot drones. “Once they’re free, can you three distract those guys while I get Chris out?”

“Prima…” Shift said softly. “She did something to… to our mother…”

His choice of words didn’t go unnoticed; I tilted my head to the side. “What did she do?”

Shift shook his head. “I don’t know, but it… Drained her…”

“Shh…” I said. “Help me get Digit and Echo free real fast, okay?”

Shift shakily got to his hooves as I began to pull Digit out, the same way as before. The goo around the grubs seemed to be losing its glow—it probably reacted to a deal of life force, or whatever, being encased in it. Digit and Echo came free in seconds… If Jedi was any indication, we’d be discovered any moment now. “Distract those guys!” I hissed as I heard the changeling guards agree that it was nothing. Echo and Digit shook the goo from their heads, somewhat woozy but otherwise fine.

“What about the eggs?” Digit asked. “Prima, she…”

“We’ll figure something out, now go!” I hissed. The grubs looked at each other and nodded. The trio flew some distance above the eggs.

Digit’s hind leg shifted into the leg of an attractive woman with a long red dress and heels. She pulled the hem of the dress up like a hitchhiker. “Yoo-hoo~!” She called.

The drones spun around and looked up. “They’ve escaped!!” One of them yelled. “Get Queen--” Before he could finish, the four were suddenly divebombed by the grubs. It was scary just how well the three synchronized; when one knocked a foe airborne, another was there to slam it back to the ground. When one was ganged up on, the other two were quick to provide relief. It was clear why Prima wanted Chris’s eggs; hers were clearly inferior—the Cocoa Crunchies to Chris’s Cocoa Puffs.

While they were dealing with Prima’s drones—and clearly having fun with it—I ran over to Chris’s cage. I could immediately see what Shift meant… Chris looked like he had the most vicious of death wishes, like he hadn’t properly eaten in days, but otherwise he looked physically fine… He hadn’t been beaten into submission like I’d suspected… It was like he just… gave up, but why? “Chris?” I asked.

Chris’s eyes flickered open and looked over at me. They narrowed in confusion. “...Trixie?” He asked. “What’re you doing here?”

“I’m getting you out!” I said urgently. “We’re gonna deal with that Prima lady and get out of town, maybe find other human-ponies—there’ve been sightings!!”

Chris didn’t move. “And then what?”

I sputtered. “W-We find a way to fix this! Become human again!”

“‘Human again...’” Chris said. He gave a shadow of a laugh, then turned away from me. “Get out of here, Trixie… It’s no use…” As he turned, I noticed something odd—his mane and tail were grey, not the veridian I’d gotten used to. “Even if Prima’s stopped, even if everything works out… What happens next?”

“I, I don’t understand…” I said, bewildered. “What’s wrong?”

Chris took a deep breath. “Our lives have been little more than a lie, Trixie Lulamoon…” he said.

“What are you talking about?!” I asked, wrapping my hooves around the bars. “And stop calling me that! It’s Ray!”

“Trixie, we were never truly human in the first place…” Chris said. “We thought we were turning into ponies when, in reality, we were… shedding the human skin we’ve had for the past twenty five years… Discord banished every last pony from Equestria to here, and took the world for his own…”

I shook my head. “You’re not making any sense, Chris!!”

Chris finally stood up and looked at me; his green eyes had become grey as well. “We. Were never. HUMAN. This is our true form, Trixie!! Our humanity is gone, forever! We’re stuck like this, and… and…” His eyes shut as tears streamed down his face.

His words, however crazy sounding, somehow… stuck. If he had merely put under the delusion of actually being Chrysalis, it would be easy to put it all off as bullshit, but… Somehow, it all made sense… At least, in a world where people had turned into magical talking horses, this theory… seemed like something more.

I thought of those Trixie episodes… How easily I found myself imagining myself on that stage… The awestruck ponies observing my performance, the roar of the crowd, the rush of being in the spotlight…

“He’s here!!” A pegasus cried, floating some ways over a nearby building. I teleported onto the building he was above and looked to the horizon outside Manehatten, holding my hat in the heavy winds.

The billowing hills that rolled into the distance were becoming much less green… Some of them were taking on polka-dotted or striped patterns of many colors. The blue sky was becoming a vibrant purple…

“Oh, sweet Celestia…” The pegasus said. “We’re doomed…”

I didn’t think to give some kind of inspirational speech. “We need to keep everypony calm while we come up with a plan!” I looked to him; he looked half ready to flee and take his chances. “Hey!” I called. “Are you with me?!”

The pegasus looked at me and, after a moment, gave a nervous nod. He flew down towards the street while I teleported back. The citizens were urgently shouting, some families hugged each other, some were sobbing, unable to accept their impending fate...

“Miss Trixie!!” A voice called; I felt something tugging at my cape. I looked down at a little filly—a unicorn with a lime-green coat and mane. “You’ll stop Discord, won’t you?! You can do anything!!”

I stared at her for a moment, then gave a soft smile. “He won’t hurt you…” I said, before rearing back, just like on my old shows. “Not while you’re under the protection of the GREAT and POWERFUL TRIXIE!!”

The shouting silenced; all eyes were on me… Eyes full of… hope. “You hear that?!” Somepony yelled. “Trixie will save us!”

“She’ll send Discord packing!”

The encouraging shouts became louder… I felt myself shrink under their gaze, filled with false hope… I looked back; down the street I could see the purple in the sky coming closer. I looked back at them. “Y-Yes… Citizens of Manehatten, you are all under the protection of the Great and Powerful Trixie!”

I needed to do something… Keep them filled with hope, while still getting them to safety… Inspiration struck. “Now, get to the far side of the city!” I called out. “The battle with Discord will be dangerous… I won’t let anypony come to harm!”

The ponies looked unsure for a moment, before they started dispersing. The filly smiled at me for a moment before running up and hugging me. “Kick his butt!” She said encouragingly before turning and running back into the crowd.

I looked up at the pegasus; he didn’t look as sure, but he seemed to know what I was doing. He hovered down, laid a hoof on my shoulder, and nodded. “Good luck…” He said before reaching down and giving me a hug.

I hugged him back. “What’s your name?”

“Cloud Terrace…” he said. “...I loved your shows…”

“I hope you can see them again, someday…” I said, my eyes stinging with tears.” He gave me one last squeeze before flying off to organize the evacuation.

I wiped tears from my eyes, then turned towards the street. With a series of teleports I hurried towards the outskirts of the city. By the time I reached the sign reading “Welcome to Manehatten”, Discord’s influence was barely a mile away. I straightened my hat, kept my horn lit up, and dropped into a defensive stance.

A slow clap from above made me look up. There he was… He seemed amused, his claps practically screaming ‘sarcasm’ with each slap. “Bravo, Miss Lulamoon…” Discord said. “Tell me, how far do you think they’ll get before they realize just how useless you are?”

I scowled and sent a blast at his face. He snapped his fingers and the blast suddenly dropped from midair. It hit the ground and shattered like glass. With a growl I teleported. I reappeared above him and dropped down, aiming my horn towards his face…

He caught me by my horn, cackling. “Oh, this is too much! I must say, you might actually make me die laughing!!” He tossed me aside; I landed heavily on the multi-colored ground that was quickly spreading towards the city. I shakily stood up… The thought of that filly’s smile gave me a much-needed boost. I channeled my magic towards the Manehatten sign and lifted it into the air while Discord was busy guffawing. I tossed the sign like a frisbee at him.

It hit him full across the back, causing him to plummet out of the air and slam into the ground. I caught the sign and made to bring it down on him again…

He lifted his head, his laughter gone, replaced with an annoyed growl, and he snapped his fingers. The sign suddenly flew straight towards me. With a yell I threw myself to the side in a roll.

By the time I recovered, he was on me. He grabbed me by the throat and hefted me into the air. “Look at you…” he said, sounding impressed. “You’re slightly less useless than I thought… Just like that adorable Rainbow Dash, a fighter until the end…”

“Sadly, this is the end. Farewell, Great and Powerless Trixie…”

He waggled his eagle talon, which became surrounded in an aura of dark magic.

With the barest hope I’d bought the evacuees enough time, I closed my eyes.

“For Five Score, Divided by Four…”

I blinked… What was that?

Chris—no, Chrysalis was staring at me through the cage, his frown unmoving. “Starting to remember?” He asked in a monotone.

My gaze fell to the floor… “Twenty-five years…” I whispered.

“All a lie…” Chrysalis said.

“My family…?” I asked.

She paused, then sighed. “I suppose they’re still your family. They love you as such, I don’t see why you should cease loving them… It’s just… There’s no going back. No being human again, no hope of having a normal life…” Her lip quivered. “And the burden of my choices is left with me and me alone…”

I looked up at him. “H-How did you…”

“Prima granted me my true memories…” She said, her shoulders quivering with each silent sob. “How I kept my people hounding Equestria, trying to find ponies to feed off of… By the time I’d realized the futility of it all, it was too late… My people died, Trixie… Only Prima and I were left... I threw myself at Discord… He sent me away the same as he did you, as everypony else… When he found out that we were returning to normal, he offered Prima a chance… To restore our people, in return for her allegiance…”

I noticed the noise of the fighting had ceased. I turned to see the grubs behind me, staring sadly at their mother. I looked back at Chrysalis. “And you’re… okay with this?” I asked.

She laid down again. “Even if we stop Prima, we won’t stand a chance against Discord… He’ll banish us again, that’s assuming he doesn’t kill us… There’s no hope, Trixie… There’s no hope…” She sighed. “The only solace I have is knowing Liz is safe.”

My mind lit up like one of Trixie’s—or, myold performances. “No, no she’s not!!” I said.

Chrysalis lifted her head. “What?”

“Prima has her here!!” I said urgently. “She’s being held here, being fed off of!!”

Chrysalis blinked slowly. “No, no…” she said, standing up, staring at the floor. “Prima said she’d let Liz go…”

“And you believed her?” Echo asked.

Chrysalis seemed extremely confused. She raised a hoof to her face, brushing her mane aside with a groan. “Stupid… Why did I believe…?” She suddenly noticed something odd—her mane color. She pulled it into view as best as she could. “What…?” She looked back at her tail, her wings, everything that was grey instead of greenish blue. Her expression went from confused to one of pure realization…

...then shifted into a fury that boiled, with increasing speed, until I started wondering if I did the right thing. “Oh… That…” Chrysalis said, her voice low like the booming voice of an awakening god. “Fucking…” She stood up straight. “BITCH!!!!”

Like a spark traveling along a line of gunpowder, color quickly returned to Chrysalis; her veridian mane and tail seemed much brighter, much livelier than before. He turned, her horn practically overflowing in her green magic. “We’re gonna find Liz…”she said, sounding as though she was trying not to explode. “And then we’re gonna find Prima, AND WE’RE GONNA MAKE HER WISH SHE’D STARVED WITH THE REST OF MY CHILDREN!!!!”
> Chapter 18: Cosplay
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 18: Cosplay

WARNING: This chapter gets kinda "stab gouge slit gore splat AAAUUUUGH".

“Step aside, please,” I said, momentarily calm. Trixie, with a yelp, threw herself aside. In less than a second I’d lit up my horn and unleashed my magic.

The cage door blasted apart in twelve different directions. I walked out of the cage, stretching my stiffened legs as I looked around the cave. In that depressive haze that Prima had put me under, I didn’t bother to get a clear look around since I was too busy wallowing in self-pity.

I was such an idiot; I left myself open for Prima to leave a curse on me—the same curse Discord gave to the Mane Six when he’d first escaped, that warped their personalities into their complete opposites. She’d left me a depressive, submissive weakling… Yet she was right. My own foolishness nearly wiped out my people. If I hadn’t been so stubborn, we may have survived…

But then you’d have never met Liz.

I glanced to the side as though someone had just whispered in my ear, yet it wasn’t the voice of Trixie or one of the grubs. It was familiar, though… Too familiar.

Liz. I snapped out of my reverie and looked around. Down in the small alcove, where Digit, Shift and Echo had fought Prima’s drones, I could see something in the wall, illuminated by the glowing piles of goo. I hurried over; the grubs followed without hesitation, with Trixie right behind them.

I slid into the alcove and lit my horn. There, embedded in the preserving amber, were several people. They seemed so calm, as though in sleep…

But I knew just how sick this was. I’d done it for years for the sake of my subjects, but it took an outside perspective to see just how wrong it was, placing innocents in a coma and sucking off of their feelings for their loved ones. I knew Prima was only following my own stupid, stupid example, but it didn’t make me any less livid.

I scanned the cluster of comatose humans. I’d have to get them all out of here; I knew Bedford was near where the grubs were kept, there was an older, sharp-dressed gentleman I presumed to be Halford Sr., and--

I found a perfect balance between joy and horror when I found her. Liz seemed somewhat less serene than the others—she could probably tell something was wrong, like when you’re dreaming of having a conversation with someone and suddenly remember that they’ve been dead for a long time.

“Free the others,” I said to Trixie and the grubs. They complied as I reached into the amber with my magic and pulled. Liz came free, with some effort, and I caught her in my forelegs. I lowered her to the ground and brushed aside some of her hair, stuck to her face in the fluid. “Liz…” I whispered. She didn’t respond—likely shaking off the induced sleep.

The other captives were, one by one, pulled from their prisons. They seemed both terrified and confused at the sight of the changelings in the chamber, but didn’t give more than terrified glances as Trixie tried to get them to calm down. I didn’t know how long they would have before Prima and her drones would get back, but I’d hoped they could be out before then.

Trixie looked hesitantly at the amber holding Bedford. “Chrysalis, what about Bedford? She was having a heart attack…”

“Keep her in there…” I instructed, still trying to help Liz wake up; she was likely put into a heavier sleep than the others. “We’ll get her to a hospital or something when we’re done…”

“You think they won’t ask questions?” Trixie asked skeptically. “About why a pony and some bug-ponies are bringing a comatose woman to the ER?”

“Trixie, we can’t keep hidden forever…” I said, shaking my head. “Try as we might, eventually word will get out. Even a changeling will reveal itself in time. We’d best get used to it.”

I heard Trixie sigh. There was a wet “schlock” of an object being pulled from the amber by magic. “Keep her in this,” I heard Trixie instructing some of the captives. “When you get out, get her to the ER as soon as possible, okay?” The escapees didn’t seem in the mood to question their good fortune, or the odd circumstances of said fortune, as they shouldered Bedford, preparing to head out.

Halford Sr. was staring directly at me; usually the victims of our “mental hazing” could remember what had happened while under our control, and he clearly remembered that the past few days for him had a lot to do with me. “...It’s you…” he began.

“Not. A word,” I said firmly. I knew he was a pawn in Prima’s game, but I hadn’t forgotten some of his past business dealings. “When we’re out of here, just walk away and don’t make trouble for us again, you hear me?” Halford nodded quickly and kept his distance.

I returned my attention to Liz when she gave a soft moan. Her eyes fluttered open weakly. She shuddered, though I had a feeling it wasn’t just due to the feeling of cold air on her skin. Her lip trembled as her eyes darted around in fear and confusion. Finally, she looked up at me. “C-C-Chris?” She stammered.

“Shh…” I lit up my horn. A warming haze surrounded her shivering form. “We’re getting you out of here.”

“I had a feeling…” she whimpered. “They had me at home… with you… Just us, just being together... I was happy, but… but I knew something was wrong… so wrong…”

“I know…” I said, resting my head against hers.

She was silent for a moment. “...You really are Chrysalis…”

“...Yes…” I said. “I still think I have, and will, cause you more pain than you’ll ever deserve, but… Liz, the thought of living without you… Even if we can’t beat Discord, it makes me sick… I… I need you, Liz…” I really couldn’t put it any other way. I lifted her head. “I love you…”

Liz stared at me for the longest time. Then, slowly, carefully, she reached up with a hand and cradled my head. I brushed my head into her head, drinking in the warm sensation it offered, before helping Liz up and turning to the other humans. “Listen up!” I said, walking over and putting my back to the rest of the chamber. “Me and my subjects are going up the tunnel first to ensure the surface is clear; once we’re sure it is, we will cover you while you escape. Get to a cop, some random house, anything… Just get to safety.”

“Safety...” came a voice from behind us. Every head immediately turned towards the center of the chamber, above the clutch of eggs. “Before long, nowhere will be truly safe,” said Prima, floating in the center of the chamber with roughly two hundred of her drones surrounding her.

Seeing Prima in person made my vision turn red. My mouth began to water at the thought of spilling her traitorous blood. “You…” I snarled. I stepped forward. “I was angry enough when you warped my mind… I was livid enough when you took my eggs-- my children, to serve the ends of you and your bastard of a master…”

I took a breath and jerked my head towards Liz. “But you fucked up the worst when you threatened her.”

Prima actually looked amused, happy, even. “That’s the Chrysalis I knew… The Chrysalis I actually missed. Not that foolish weakling of a boy you’d become, content to lazing around, never daring to dream big!” She extended her forelegs. “Well, I did dream, Chrysalis! I’ve joined the greatest power Equestria has known, and soon our kind shall finally claim our due!! The Hive will blanket this world, stronger than you could have ever dreamed, and with Lord Discord’s blessing, Earth will be just the beginning!!”

The “other” voice flared up. “Oh my god, will you shut the fuck up…” I snapped in annoyance before I realized what I was saying. I frowned; this was beyond bizarre.

Prima gave a surprised laugh; I could feel the perplexed glances of Liz, Trixie and the grubs behind me. “I guess I’d spoken too soon…” Prima chuckled. “Two souls, so conflicting, can’t so easily share the same body, it seems…”

I narrowed my eyes. “Do you really think I’m stupid enough to keep listening to you? You warped my mind out of cowardice, Prima… You knew you couldn’t take me on, so you decided to break me. Part of it was my fault for letting you get so close, but you’re no less spineless for it.”

Prima scowled for a moment, then forced a cruel smile. “Discord has granted me the power to level cities, Chrysalis… The only reason I chose not to fight was because I needed you alive. I couldn’t risk damaging you to a point where you couldn’t lay our precious bounty. But now I see you are far more trouble than you’re worth. I’ll end you here, now, then Lord Discord will grant me the gift I need to expand our numbers, once I will fulfill his wishes…”

I raised an eyebrow. “Which are?”

Prima smirked; she probably thought I wouldn’t benefit from knowing if she’d thought me to be dead in a few minutes. “I will find the Bearers of the Elements… They will watch as my Hive begins to spread across this nation, slowly spreading like wildfire until it finally corners them… And then they will serve their ultimate purpose.” She extended a hoof towards me. “Just as you could have served yours. But you’ve wasted my generous gift, Chrysalis. Even in your failure you could have helped the changelings arise into a world-spanning power that would topple empires… But you defied me. You defied Discord. And now you will pay the price.”

She looked to her drones. “KILL THEM!!” She shrieked.

I glanced back at Liz, Trixie and the captives. “STAY BACK!!” I bellowed before turning to Echo. I’ll keep the majority of them busy. Try and thin out the ones in the back.

Yes, Mother, came Echo’s reply. Her eyes flickered towards her siblings as she relayed my orders to them. I looked up at the swarm that was bearing down on me.

Their scent was off, and not just because they weren’t of my brood… They were born of Prima herself. This was why they were reduced to puddles when slain, unlike a true changeling, which left a true cadaver behind.

I smiled. My horn lit up and I unleashed a volley of blasts. Nearly all of them struck home, piercing the drones’ chitin like a rock through wet tissue; those who weren’t quick enough to dodge dropped from the air and hit the ground with a wet splat as they liquidized, those with keener reflexes still suffered a serious burn in their wings or bodies.

Dozens of them suddenly divebombed me; the grubs immediately ducked to the side to combat any foes that weren’t focused on me. I conjured a thick green barrier, much like that of Shining Armor’s in Canterlot--

Oh, that reminds me, if we find Shining Armor after this, we should probably apologize for all that.

Shut up!! I thought angrily as the drones slammed into my shield almost simultaneously. With a powerful thrust I gave the barrier a quick burst and sent them flying, either colliding painfully with their allies or smashing into the wall, some of them immediately being reduced to stains from the impact.

“Kill her!! KILL HER!!” Prima shrieked, very much like a child not getting her way. Some of the drones who were combating the grubs diverted their attention towards me, but they seemed to have second thoughts. Despite being born of Prima’s essence, they seemed independent… and could very much feel fear, judging by the fact that they kept glancing at each other, non-verbally daring each other to go first.

Finally, three of them approached, the fear in their eyes betraying the otherwise brave attempts at viciousness in their snarls. I raised an amused eyebrow and focused my magic.

An aura surrounded each of their throats. With a very satisfying ‘POP!’, their necks snapped in awkward positions. I dropped the convulsing fakes to the floor and evaluated the situation.

Digit was weaving between her attacker’s swings and rushes, focusing her magic on plucking their wings and sending them falling to the floor or simply tricking them into attacking each other. Shift, the soldier that he was, was deep in his element; when he wasn’t finishing off drones injured by Digit, he was viciously snapping limbs, gouging his combatants with his horn or simply firing off blasts of magic that critically injured, if not killed those he managed to hit. Echo was doing something different—it was a harsh maneuver, rarely used, but given the situation I allowed it; she, like Digit, was effortlessly dodging the drones’ blows, but kept her horn lit the entire time. Every time she got an opening she pressed her horn onto the head of her foe; its eyes suddenly flashed green, then blacked out, like a light bulb burning out. The foe would then, quite literally, drop dead and melt.

I peered back at the humans. Trixie, having some of her true memories restored, as well as some of her arcane prowess, was maintaining a flimsy but effective barrier, to keep the chaos of the fight from endangering the captives. The humans stood at the ready, prepared to bolt at the first sign of an opening.

I returned my attention to the fight. There were still at least a hundred drones left, and they seemed to acknowledge that numbers did not, necessarily, guarantee victory. Prima was screaming at the top of her lungs, ordering someone—anyone—to attack, to fight, to actually land a damned blow. She didn’t seem to realize that, not only were these drones born of her own flesh inferior to a true changeling, they were even more so because of her own ineptitude, and her mere status as a drone in my own Hive, all those years ago.

Regardless, the drones seemed to look to Prima for guidance, as though hoping she could take some of the hits for them. Prima roared— quite literally, with the deep bellow of some horrible demon—and, with a sweep of her horn, smote some of the errant drones. The rest dropped to the floor and cowered, now more terrified of her than of me and my own brood (to my annoyance).

Prima’s eyes fell on me. “Enough…” she growled, furious spit flying from her maw. “You are an arrogant bug, Chrysalis!! You can’t… you won’t… stand in the way of the destiny of our people!!”

“The destiny you seek is an abomination!!” I yelled.

“WE WOULD DO EXACTLY AS YOU DID FOR HUNDREDS OF GENERATIONS!!!” Prima roared. “You think yourself better? You believe what we did to your precious mate to be an atrocity?! I knew you foolish, Chrysalis, but I never believed you to be so hypocritical!! You damned thousands—ponies, griffons and all—into that deep sleep!! And only now do you believe this to be wrong?!”

I grit my teeth. “Twenty-five years has a way of teaching you what is necessary… and what is completely despicable, what drives your people to becoming the monsters they are believed to be.” I began to hover until I was at eye level with Prima. “When we are finished… When Equestria is restored, and when Discord is dust, we will no longer be outcasts, we will no longer be thought of as the bane of ponykind. This is what a leader should do, Prima!! A true leader decides when to act for their people… and when to act for their world. And you are far too focused on the former.”

“Indeed I am,” Prima said. “What I do now, I do for the Hive. And I’ve come too far to allow you to stop me.”

Her horn lit up. The cowering false changelings below suddenly all began to scream in horrified agony. Within seconds they all liquidized, forming an immense puddle that nearly encompassed the entire chamber; it made me sick to watch Prima’s tainted essence touch my eggs, even the ones she had already corrupted.

Prima dropped to the floor and landed in the slime. She took a deep breath-- like a sponge, she began to absorb the liquid essence into her. The puddle shrank, but her body seemed to grow… Her horn lengthened, her mane became wilder, and her wings became longer than her entire body, big enough that she would need to flap them more like a bird than like an insect.

Uh, do something?!

I listened to the “other”. I flew down, holding my horn out in an attempt to gouge the wretch’s throat.

With a single, almost aggravated swing of her hoof, she smacked me. Feeling like I’d been struck by an Ursa Major, I flew back towards the wall Liz had been encased in. I slammed into the wall hard enough to shake dust from the ceiling. I let out a low gasp of agony as the impact reverberated throughout my body.

“Chris!!” Liz cried. She reached out for me.

“NO!” I yelled as I glanced at Prima; she was still absorbing the pool, and I could see the other remaining stains scattered around the Hive slowly moving towards her, seeking to reform with the being that had birthed them. “You—all of you—” I gestured at all the captives. “—need to get out of here!! NOW!!”

The captives needed no other persuasion, since the only real threat remaining was somewhat occupied. The humans scrambled up the ramp, careful not to slip on the damp rock as they ran up the tunnel. The two men carrying Bedford kept a tight grip on her, making every effort not to drop her.

Trixie and Liz, on the other hand, stayed. “No, no, we’re not leaving!!” Trixie yelled. “We’re in this together!!”

“There’s no time!!” I shouted as I shakily stood up. “Either you run and have a chance at finding the Mane Six, or you all stay and we all die!! YOU NEED TO GO!!”

Liz shook her head. “No.”

Echo… I thought. Get them out of here. Please.

Echo was silent for a moment. She looked between Digit and Shift for a moment, before finally nodding. Yes, Mother… Her reply was much quieter than normal.

I WILL see you again… I urged. If I’m reduced to a smear I WILL come back to you. I promise you this.

Echo gave a shaky nod. Over the low roars of pain Prima let out as she absorbed her essence, I could have sworn I heard her sniffle. ...Be careful, Mother…

Echo and her siblings nodded at each other; then Digit and Shift both wrapped their forelegs around Trixie’s middle and lifted her up. “No, no!! Chris!! CHRYSALIS!!!” She shrieked as Digit and Shift carried her towards the exit.

Echo wrapped her forelegs beneath Liz’s flailing shoulders. “LET ME GO!!” Liz shrieked.

I hurried to her. “It’ll be fine…” I assured her. “This isn’t goodbye…” She didn’t seem convinced… Hell, I didn’t feel very convinced. I was going up against the crazed minion of one of the most powerful, malevolent forces Equestria had ever known… I was… I was scared.

My eyes locked with Liz’s.

Seven months. Compared to the hundreds of years I’d lived, seven months as queen felt like a weekend as a human. Yet, even now, when I’d remembered just how long I’d lived, the love I’d faked, the love I’d consumed…

Her love meant more to me than anything else. It kept me going, yet it wasn’t just food to me.

It was everything.

I leaned in and kissed her, with every ounce of passion I could muster. She returned it in full, and then some. My own veins threatened to pierce my chitin as a flood of energy coursed through my body. Liz… she didn’t care that she was kissing what was, to her, basically the mouth of a horse… She didn’t even care that, with every ounce of love she put into the gesture, I felt I could take on Discord himself…

All she cared about was showing how much she loved… me. Me, Chrysalis, and me, Chris… One in the same.

I would have let that moment go on forever, but Liz seemed to know better. Our lips parted. She looked me dead in the eyes, all fear gone. “Fuck. Her. Up.”

I smiled. “I will. Now go.” She looked back at Echo and nodded; Echo lifted her up and carried her after Digit and Shift, who had disappeared with Trixie up the entrance. We managed to lock eyes one last time before they rounded a corner and were out of sight.

I took a deep breath and turned back towards Prima. She was now roughly twice my size; purple energy sparked from her horn, and she seemed to twitch every second, practically overflowing with her corrupted magic. I supposed absorbing the essence of her dead spawn wasn’t exactly a good call, but then she hadn’t had many of those. “You’ve bought them a few hours, at best,” Prima said, the distortion in her voice sounding like she was ten people speaking at once.

“A few hours without looking at your ugly mug?” I said with a smirk. “Still a victory, I think…”

Prima let out another demonic roar and charged. I leapt into the air, performing an old-time classic, often referred to as “tricking the brick-shithouse into running into a wall.” Prima left an indentation roughly the size of her face in the wall. I hovered over to the far side of the chamber before looking down.

The eggs!! I thought with a panic. Instinctively I reached down with my magic, if only to get them out of harm’s way, even the corrupted ones--

A blast of purple magic slammed into me, about as gentle as a speeding freight train. The blast slammed me into the cave wall, creating a hole about three times my size, edged with cracks that arced in every direction. I fell from the hole and slammed to the floor. Tasting blood in my mouth, I shakily stood up; my right hind leg felt broken. The point where the blast had hit me was still smoking and burning.

Prima was back on her own feet, not impressed by my rather simple tactic. With another screech she bolted forward, with speed that belied her size. I barely had time to duck to the side before she leapt up and smashed onto the spot I’d been barely a second previously. I recovered, trying not to put pressure on my injured leg, and fired a potent blast of magic at her.

It barely singed her chitin, but it was particularly effective on her wings, which burst into flame. Prima roared in agony, flapping her wings frantically in an attempt to put them out. While she was distracted I flew forward, wrapping my left hoof in green flame. I gave the strongest left hook I could muster; it wasn’t as effective as I’d have liked, but it made her stumble, leaving her open for another attack. I kept going forward and wrapped my forelegs around her neck. Prima snarled and spit like a furious cat as I fired another blast directly into her eye.

The eye burst into a mess of blue and red goo. Prima’s scream made the entire chamber vibrate as she flailed her head in pain, trying to shake me off. I thought to go for the other eye. I adjusted my grip to get a better shot--

Her horn flared. A blast, at point-blank, detached me from her neck and sent me flying to the floor, skidding painfully across the cavern. I felt myself slide through something moist and round as I skidded and slammed, back-first, into the opposite wall.

I shook my head. Prima was still half-screaming, half-sobbing, trying to make sense after losing her eye. Her wings had completely burned away, reduced to ash that scattered everywhere as Prima flailed in agony. I smirked; maybe this could work out. Her left side was, literally, her blind side; I just had to stick there--

I noticed a sticky sensation in my tail. I looked down to see a green liquid staining it.

It wasn’t the essence of one of Prima’s goons. I looked to the center of the chamber.

My heart sank. I’d smashed eight of the sixteen eggs that had been laid in the center of the Hive. Most of them were corrupted. Most of them.

An anguished cry left my mouth. The waves of depression that had felt so distant barely minutes ago were suddenly returning.

I’ve killed them… Just like I killed my people… Just like I doomed them to starve…

Prima was on me. The anguished mindset flickered out just as she slammed her hoof into my face, again and again. I felt her stomp with all four hooves on top of me, screaming with a crazed fury only years of bitterness could produce.

“YOU WRETCH!!” She screamed, kicking my stomach; I felt my ribs crack with each kick. “YOU WORTHLESS, CONNIVING PIECE OF FILTH!!! YOU WOULD DOOM US AGAIN, YOU WOULD WIPE OUR PEOPLE OUT FOR YOUR OWN PRIDE, YET YOU!! KEEP!! FIGHTING!!!! WHY?! WHY?!?!”

She stomped with both front hooves on my face. Blood poured freely out my nose. My vision faded in and out, and the taste of blood was dominating my mouth—I might have lost a few teeth.

Prima turned me onto my back and pressed a hoof to my throat, restricting my breathing. She leaned in close and hissed in my ear, “You fight for nothing!! Even if you won here, then what? Your precious ponies won’t stand a chance against Lord Discord!! And he won’t banish them again, ooohhh no… He’ll kill them!! Torture them! EAT THEM!! He will make them suffer for defying him… Just as I will make you suffer… for defying ME!!”

She raised her head; her horn lit up.

I tried to move my head, and only got a wave of agony for my trouble. I tried to light up my horn, only to get a few pitiful sparks.

Time slowed. The crackling sounds of Prima’s horn faded out.

So this is how it ends… I thought. In spite of everything, I fail here… I fail my people again… I fail Liz…

I closed my eyes. At least now, there won’t be any more pain.

So that’s it?

I opened an eyelid. I don’t see much point in fighting any more, Chris…

Mmm… I can think of… Quite a few points in fighting, actually.

Chris, I’m broken… Literally… I’m… We’re done…

So… Chris was quiet for a moment, as though picking his words carefully. ...Okay, this is just coming from a nerd, but all of your shapeshifting powers, and all the times I-- WE, spent playing games and having all those nerd fantasies of BEING in those games, and you were content with “flying around and tossing light shows at her”?

I opened my eyes fully and looked up at Prima, who looked about ready to deal the finishing blow.

She had the same issue; resorting to using magic to beat her foes into submission. But what Prima had in power, she definitely lacked in imagination.

Mind if I take the wheel for a bit?

I smirked. Be my guest.

I changed form.

Prima’s spell hit me at full force…

...bounced off of my new shoulder plate, and flew up to the ceiling, creating another sizeable hole in the structure. Prima made a confused exclamation as she stepped back. I stood up, feeling the weight of the armor on my immense human shape, the heavy broadsword I carried in my right hand.

I stared at Prima, who stared back, wondering what I was gonna do.

I took the sword in both hands, and began spinning on one foot, holding the sword out horizontally at waist-height. Spin to win, kids.

“DEMACIA!!!!!” I roared, spinning with increasing speed while leaning towards a baffled Prima. I couldn’t make out what was happening through the blur, but within seconds I felt the sword strike home. It sliced twice into Prima’s chitin, both times invoking a pained shriek from her. The third and fourth times sliced something… fleshier. Something wet splattered across the cold stone floor as Prima yelled out in agony. I stopped spinning, impressed at how I’d managed to not throw up. I held the sword in a defensive pose, ready for Prima to strike back.

“What are…” she said, before gasping in pain. She lifted a hoof to her gaping wound, which was spilling a fair bit of her green blood.

I dropped my Garen guise. My natural form wasn’t in a much better shape than moments before, but I could stand again. “I figured, I might as well have a bit of fun,” I said with a smirk, ignoring the still overwhelming pain that rang throughout my body.

Prima snarled in agitation before charging. Next up… I thought. I changed form.

I wrapped an immense gloved hand around Prima’s startled face. Her legs swung from her forward momentum as I lifted her by the head into the air. Then, with a guttural roar, slammed her into the ground, creating another hole in the increasingly damaged cave. I lifted my metal-plated boot high up and brought it down hard on her head. Prima flailed her legs, her muffled screams barely audible as she tried to push my foot off of her; a burst of heat under my foot told me she was firing off spells in an attempt to free herself.

I lifted my right arm and revved the enormous drill that replaced my right hand. I pointed it downwards and brought it down on her left foreleg. The tip managed to fit through one of the holes that littered her legs, by about an inch. The rest of the drill began to make room. Prima’s muffled screams shot up several octaves, and her flailing intensified. The end of her hoof had been shortened by about four inches, and bits of it were flying all across the floor.

I finally stopped the drill and removed my foot. Prima was still screaming in disbelieving agony. I returned to my normal form; during each shift I took some time to heal some of my wounds. Liz’s good luck gift had given me plenty of energy to spare; my hind leg was feeling better, and I could actually stand up straight now. “You done?” I asked.

Prima stopped screaming for a moment to give me a seething glare, so full of hatred I thought I’d burst into flames. “How… how are you doing this?!?!”

I shrugged. “Power is only good if you know how to use it.”

Prima roared; to my disbelief, she managed to stand up, hanging her crippled foreleg up like an injured dog. Her horn lit up. I quickly lit up my own and fired a blast that knocked her horn towards the ceiling. The cave seemed to be unable to take much more-- immense piles of rubble and debris fell from the ceiling. I threw myself away from Prima just as an enormous rock crashed on the spot I’d just been standing, breaking her line of sight.

I scurried behind the newfound cover and peered around it. No matter what I could pull out of my nerd repertoire, this was still anyone’s game right now; one false move and Prima would have me bent over the sofa.

I frowned momentarily; it wasn’t lost on me how I’d suddenly swapped between “serious and temperamental” and “goofy and stupid”. I still wanted Prima to pay, but I… guess there was nothing wrong with having a bit of fun with it, especially if the only way to win was to have fun with it.

I spotted Prima limping furiously around, searching for me. “Where are you…” she croaked, holding her ravaged foreleg to her body, green blood pouring freely from the stump. “You… psychotic… witch!!”

Psychotic? I thought with a smile.

I changed form. I tested the weight of the axe that was now in my hand.

Changing into a person with specific clothing, or holding a specific object was quite possible-- it just took extra love. It’s like carving a statue of a man with a sword; it may look like he’s holding a stone sword, but in reality the sword was built into his hand, so the sword is a part of him. That’s how it worked with more specific impersonation-- spending more love to add some details to your persona.

And right now, the detail I’d added was a vicious, bloodstained axe.

I hung low and waited for Prima to turn away. She needed to be close, but not too close… I wanted her to have enough time to react.

Prima peered behind the rock pile closest to me. Now. I planted a foot on my cover, held the axe high, and launched myself towards Prima.

“I HAVE THE SHINIEST MEAT BICYCLE!!” I screamed as I went airborne.

Prima spun around, startled, and spotted the buzz axe in my hand. Her horn lit up, and an aura enveloped the axe, keeping it from swinging down onto her, just inches from hitting its mark.

Just like I’d hoped; while the axe had certainly stopped, my own momentum hadn’t gone anywhere. I focused it all on swinging my thick-booted foot forward, straight towards her jaw. It connected.

With a sound like someone stepping on a glass on a gravel driveway, her lower jaw shattered. Teeth flew out of her screaming mouth as she stumbled back, her wails sounding like she was screaming into a pillow. The magic faded from my axe, allowing me to use it freely. I landed on the ground and swung it horizontally at the Garen wound I’d given her. I planted the axe securely in the wound and revved the buzzsaw. More of her innards sprayed the floor, the walls, my face-- every conceivable surface was covered in her gore.

I tore the axe from Prima’s chest, panting heavily as I changed back. Prima fell to her uninjured foreleg, and vomited. She fell to her right side, panting. She never dropped her contemptuous glare, though. “Yurr… Yurr hurhurr…” she said, which I translated roughly as ‘broken jaw-speak’ for “You… You haven’t…”

I gave her a deadpanned look. “...Okay, no, seriously, I think it’s safe to call this victory ‘decisive.’”

Prima’s horn flashed. I was sent flying against the wall again. I recovered quickly and shot a scowl at her; she was struggling to get back up.

Okay, fuck this. Form of…

I changed form. I looked down at Prima, who stared, terrified, up at me. She gave a little whimper that is universally translated as, “I am so fucked.”

I stomped towards her. Prima screamed and lit up her horn, but I’d already leaned down towards her and opened my immense mouth. I wrapped the bitch in my jaws and bit down, hard. It felt, and tasted, like I was chewing on a pinecone, but I kept grinding her in my teeth, her hind legs sticking out of my mouth and disgustingly twitching the entire time.

Finally, after giving her a good flail like a dog with its chew toy, I flung Prima from my mouth towards the ceiling. She smashed into the roof, leaving a green bloodstain twice her size, and fell to the floor with a satisfying crash.

Then, for good measure, I gave her a quick stomp before returning to Chrysalis form.

Prima seemed to deflate as her green blood gushed from her crushed and cracked chitin. Her still-functioning eye was wide in shock; she was clearly in pain, too much to even let her scream. Her broken jaw hung at an awkward angle from her open mouth, the occasional pained gurgle escaping her throat. Her eye was fixated on me-- she seemed worried, almost curious, as to what I would do next if she got up again.

I approached her and kneeled a leg onto her throat-- not enough to restrict her breathing, but enough to keep her pinned. “I ask again; are we done?”

“Yurr… curr…” she gurgled. “Lurr… Ishcurr… hromished eee…”

I raised an eyebrow. I reached down and, with deliberate force, pushed her jaw back in place with a series of cracks. “Wanna try that again, Tom Hardy?”

“You can’t…” Prima rasped. “Lord Discord… promised me…”

My smile fell. “Let’s be honest, Prima… Let’s say you did kill me in this whole ordeal. Then you tracked down the Mane Six, and all the other ponies… Do you really think Discord would live up to his end of the bargain? It’s not that far a stretch in logic to assume you’re just his pawn, and once you’d finished the job… He’d send you adrift.”

“Shut up…” she growled, angry bubbles of green blood forming in her flooded throat.

“Face it,” I said. “There was no outcome that ended well for you, Prima.”

She narrowed her eye. “...So finish it, then.”

My face froze. Did she just…

We have to.

No… I thought back. ...No, I, I can’t… Even after everything she did, I couldn’t…

I understand… But either we end her here, or Discord betrays her and torments her for all eternity.

Don’t try and justify it! I argued. You’re trying to talk me into murdering her!!

Chris… She didn’t sound stern, angry, commanding… She sounded empathetic. I know how horrible this must sound-- I know you would never want to do this, in any circumstance… But the time for ‘normal’ is over. Look at her.

I was looking at her. It wasn’t just the pure agony of her wounds… There was a look in her eye, one filled with a despair I’d known for the past few days. She’d failed her master, and if she lived past this night, her suffering would only grow. If I ended her here…

Euthanasia isn’t THAT much easier than murder. I thought.

Chris… Please, do it for me…

New emotions poured into me-- one from my other half. Pity, sadness, a need to… comfort Prima… She was in pain, and there was some part of her, deep inside, that was begging for it all to stop.

A tear formed in her still-functioning eye.

...All right… I thought.

I lit up my horn.

Something struck me, sent me flying back with a less-than dignified “OWIE”. I slammed into the wall, knocking the wind out of me; the cavern shook more violently than ever, likely unable to handle any more stress.

I shook my head and coughed, trying to get my breath back. I looked up at my assailant.

The rage returned. “You…”

Floating some distance above Prima, his arms folded smugly, was Discord. He wasn’t anywhere near as goofy as his character appeared on the show… This amalgam of creatures was actually quite frightening… Mainly the goat head, with the piercing red and yellow eyes and cruel, almost hungry grin.

“You’ve done quite well for yourself, Chrysalis…” he wheedled. “I’d say you’ve been one of the more entertaining ones to watch through this whole ordeal.”

I bared my teeth and hovered up to meet his gaze. “That’s all we ever were to you… Just little toys for you to bump against each other.”

“Master…” Prima gurgled. “Master, I tried…”

Discord dropped down to the floor and planted his reptilian leg on Prima’s head with a great deal of force. “Hush,” he said dismissively. “We’ll discuss your incompetence later.” He folded his ‘hands’. “Now, dear Chrissi… It appears we are agreed that Prima is not fit to lead your people.”

I gave a brief nod. “Indeed.”

“You, on the other hand… You managed to fight off at least two hundred of her number, with only three of your own…” he tapped his goat chin with a talon.

“Well, that wasn’t so hard, considering they were little more than shadows of true changelings…” I said. I wondered if my little cosplay strategy would work on him…

“In that case, I’m willing to offer you a deal.” Discord folded his arms behind his back. “What I offered Prima, I now offer you.”

“Master?” Prima whimpered. Discord pressed his foot down harder, making her cry out.

“You aid me in disposing of the ponies-- the Bearers-- and I will restore every last changeling who died twenty-five years ago. You will be free to go about your own way-- Equestria, this world or the next, I honestly don’t care…” He smiled. “I believe I owe you as much.”

I glared at him. “I’m not even gonna pretend to consider your deal. Not only do I know that you’d stab me in the back down the line—like you did to every last pony in Equestria—but I wouldn’t do so even if you’d keep your word. You ruined the lives of millions—twice, even, since the human lives we were comfortable with came to an abrupt end.” I dropped to the ground. “Though I suppose I have you to thank… If it weren’t for you I’d have never met Liz, and I’d never have realized just how low we’d fallen…”

I gave him a determined look. “But you cannot be allowed to run free any longer. I’m going to find the Mane Six, we’re going to return to Equestria, and we’re going to ensure you cannot hurt anyone else, ever again!!”

I honestly wasn’t surprised when he laughed. “Well, whatever happens…” he said, raising his eagle talon and preparing to snap his fingers. “It’ll at least be entertaining.” His mirth suddenly vanished, and he gave me a piercing glare. “See you soon.”

He snapped his fingers. I managed to catch a desperate, almost pleading look from Prima before the pair of them vanished in a flash of light.

I stared at the spot the pair had been for a few moments. The rush of the moment faded away. I slowly remembered that I didn’t have the slightest lead as to where the Mane Six could be. I sighed. “Well, great.”

The cave ceiling quaked. I looked up to see the multiple cracks from my little tussle with Prima arcing and snaking across the ceiling, the cavern groaning with distress. The cavern had taken plenty of punishment during the fight, and now it was punching out. “Are you fucking serious?!?!” I cried. I extended my wings to prepare to fly out, when my eyes fell on the eggs again. Of the eight that remained, there were only five pure eggs left from the battle.

A brief debate sparked in my mind. I could bring them out with me… I could begin to restore our people…

...But what about Liz? Would she want to be a part of it? Would she really be comfortable living with… with something like me?

I breathed heavily through my nose; we’d work that out later. I picked up the eggs in my magic, held them close to me, and flew towards the tunnel just as the cave began to collapse.

Billowing dust chased me out of the tunnel as I broke free of the Hive, flew out of the ruined office trailer that had obscured the entrance, and hovered some distance above the gravel pits. They were owned by Halford’s company, as evidenced by a sign reading “Seismic” on the perimeter of the site.

The ground above the hive collapsed downwards, filling the cave below and sending a massive cloud of gravel dust flying upwards. Prima’s Hive was undone.

I looked down at the eggs I’d taken; they pulsed gently with the heartbeat of the larvae inside. I hugged them close.

We could finally be redeemed. The true changelings could have a new, proper beginning.

"Mother?"

I perked up. Echo!

"Mother! Is it…"

I shrugged, fully aware Echo couldn’t see. Sorta kinda. Discord kinda came and bailed Prima out, though I doubt he was doing her a favor.

"...What do we do now?"

I looked down at the eggs. We… we find the ponies, I guess…

I smiled. We start anew.
> Chapter 19: Taking Stock
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 19: Taking Stock

I was surprised to hear from Echo that we were to meet at the house of Dane’s friend Lucas. I was even more surprised to hear that it was Dane who helped Trixie free us. Dane. As in, the douche who’d grown so complacent from sucking off his dad’s fortune that he’d likely pay someone to do all his drinking and drug abuse for him. It took me some time to find Lucas’ house-- partly because I was crap at following directions, and mainly because my flying still had some kinks to work out when traveling long distances. Finally I found it up a dirt road; the house looked like it housed Cletus the Slackjawed Yokel, but the heavily damaged car filled with changeling-sized dents told me I’d found the right place.

I landed some distance away from the porch and hurried up the steps. I knocked hurriedly on the front door. “It’s me!”

I heard footsteps-- or possibly hoof-falls-- on the far side of the door. “...How do we know it’s really you?” Came Dane’s voice.

“Not in the mood for this shit…” I said warningly.

“Move!” I heard Liz say. The door swung open. Liz stood there with an apprehensive Dane behind her. She stared directly into my eyes for a moment. “Chrys?”

I gave a relieved laugh. “Oh, baby…” Liz immediately ran up and threw her arms around my neck.

Suddenly the adrenaline rush wore off-- Liz had given me plenty of love to work with, but turning into a heavily-armored warrior, a steampunk behemoth, an abdominal-muscle obsessed lunatic and a goddamned T-Rex, had taken its toll. The eggs in my magical grasp fell to the ground with a series of clumps; with a sound like a dying murloc I fell into Liz. “CHRYS!!” She cried, trying her best to hold me up.

“I’m fine…” I rasped. “Just… tired. Soft… surface… please…” I blacked out.

                -                -                -                -                -

I looked down at Chrys, who seemed to have passed out from exhaustion… Other than some cuts and cracked chitin, though, she seemed fine. My eyes fell on the eggs she’d brought back; were they all she could save? I hoisted Chrys onto my shoulders-- she weighed about as much as a full-grown horse can be expected. My legs shook, and I nearly collapsed under her weight.

“Here,” Dane said, wrapping Chrys’ foreleg around his neck and lifting, taking some of the burden off of me.

I gave him a wary look. “What were you doing there?”

                -                -                -                -                -

Forty-five minutes ago.

Our lips parted. I stared into Chrys’ eyes-- I felt she could win, no, I knew she would win. And somehow I could tell, she knew it too. There were traces of a confident smile crossing her muzzle.

In her eyes I could see a different person-- or, pony, rather-- someone nearly the complete opposite of Chris… Yet I could see the same man I loved, somewhere deep in those green eyes… The way he practically relished every moment he looked at me, was present in the eyes of this… changeling.

Chris had changed… yet not at all.

“Fuck. Her. Up,” I said firmly.

Chrys smiled. “I will. Now go.”

I looked back at Echo and nodded. Echo took me up, with surprising strength, considering her size, and began to fly me out of the cavern. I cast a glance back-- Chrys was watching me leave, like she was at an airport watching my flight take off. I caught a glimpse of Prima, still growing, almost bursting with that green slime…

I looked at Chrys again-- her confidence hadn’t gone anywhere, so neither had mine. We rounded a corner up the narrow tunnel, and out of sight.

We broke surface, flying through the now ruined office trailer that had covered the entrance, and into the cool night sky. The captives were all looking about, wondering aloud where they were or where to go.

“What do we do now?” Echo mused.

“We get these people out of here,” I said. “...Gimme a sec to figure out how.”

“It’s me!” Came a voice from below. I looked down to see Halford Sr. talking into a cell phone, covered in slime but otherwise still functioning, miraculously. “I need…” he did a head count, then did some calculations in his head. “Perhaps two trucks at the gravel pits off West River!” His eyes fell on the two men carrying Bedford. “And an ambulance, there’s an old woman here who’s in dire need of a hospital. ...Yes, I know I’ve called in my favor-- this is serious! I’ll explain later! ...Thank you.” He clamped his phone shut.

“Listen up!” He called. “Some of my friends in the police station are sending some vehicles to get us out of here!”

My heart sank; I looked between Ray-- or Trixie, as Chrys seemed rather adamant in calling him-- and the grubs. The police were coming here? We couldn’t stay, but where could we go? God knows what had happened to our house if Prima’s drones ransacked the place-- either abandoned and looted in our absence or cordoned off by the police…

I noticed an SUV pulling down the dirt road; its windows were smashed and the body was covered in multiple changeling-sized dents. It pulled up near the captives, and the driver-side door opened. A face I had mixed feelings about seeing popped out. “DAD!!” Dane cried, slamming the door and running over to his father. He had a few cuts and bruises, with one particularly nasty gash in his left arm.

“Dane?!” Halford cried as Dane ran up and hugged him. He awkwardly returned the gesture. “What are you doing here?!”

“I could ask you the same thing!” Dane said. “What’s this stuff all over you?” He suddenly held his dad’s head in his hands and peered into his eyes. “...Thank god, you are back…” Echo gently lowered me down, while Digit and Shift did the same with Trixie. Dane looked at us; his expression froze when he saw me. “...Hey, Liz…”

“Hello, Dane,” I said with a neutral expression. Call it petty but I wasn’t exactly thinking too fondly of him right now. To my surprise, Trixie ran up to him.

“You okay?” She asked.

Dane reapplied pressure to the wound in his left arm. “Could be worse… That ‘Prima’ thing-- the huge-ass changeling you mentioned? --She popped up and nearly killed me, but then she suddenly took off like she’d left the oven on… She and all her little bugs…” He looked around for a moment. “...Where’s Chris?”

An echoing scream from below answered his question… And it wasn’t Chrys screaming, fortunately. I looked over at Dane. “We need to get out of here, the cops are coming and Trixie and the grubs can’t be seen!”

Dane looked over at the SUV. “...I know a place. Get in.” He turned towards the car, when his dad’s hand fell on his shoulder.

“Dane, what are you doing?” He asked. “What are these things? What is that unicorn… thing, what in the hell is going on?!”

“Dad, I’ll explain everything later…” Dane said. “But right now, these guys need a place to hide out, okay? I’ll give you a call later.”

Halford gave his son an odd look. “...When did you become such an upstanding citizen?”

Dane shrugged. “I knew those bug things had something to do with you acting so weird… Couldn’t leave you like that, and I knew Chris might be able to fix things. That, and… I had to grow up sometime…” He got back in the car. “Get in, you guys.”

Trixie and the grubs piled into the backseats. Trixie dropped to the floor and out of sight while the grubs just turned into a trio of dogs, hoping to blend in (as best as one could blend in while riding a car that looked like one Chris had driven in a video game). With no seats left I reluctantly sat in the passenger seat, keeping turned away from Dane as he pulled away from the staring escapees and driving out of the site. We managed to get off the dirt road and down around the corner before the first sign of police lights flashed in the rearview.

                -                -                -                -                -

“Those bug things did something to my dad…” Dane said as we hefted Chrys into the guest bedroom. “I figured, helping Ray-- or Trixie, or whatever, it’s really getting confusing the way these pony people are changing their names-- I figured it would get my dad back to normal…”

We laid Chrys on the bed; her head collapsed into the pillow with a soft, relieved groan. I laid a hand on her hoof. I knew she’d be okay, but I still had a right to worry; judging by her state, she hadn’t gotten out of fighting Prima without a few scratches. I looked up at Dane. “Was that the only reason you came?”

Dane stuttered. “Yes!” He paused. “I- I mean, no, I mean--” He made a frustrated noise and cradled his head. “Look, I wanted my dad to get back to normal, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t care that you were being kept there!”

I shook my head. “Whatever… Look, just… Just leave me alone, okay? I don’t know what to think right now, but I’m nowhere near considering you a friend-- I know how you are, Dane.”

Dane opened his mouth to protest before sighing and heading for the door. “...I’m sorry, okay?” He asked, putting his hand on the doorframe. “For everything.” He walked into the hall and left. I clicked on a lamp on the bedside table, stroking Chrys’ hoof with a thumb.

“Is mother okay?” I turned to see the grubs standing in the door, Digit perched on top of Shift, to his annoyance. Echo was holding the five eggs in her magic, looking tentative about where to keep them.

“I think so…” I said. “Just tired, is all…” I looked to Chrys and stroked her head. My thoughts drifted to what Echo had relayed-- that Discord himself had appeared to whisk Prima away.

It was all so overwhelming… It was weird enough when Chris turned into Chrysalis a week ago, but I’d thought it couldn’t get any weirder. Now I find out that… he always was Chrysalis, deep, deep down? And that he could never just go back to being Chris?

I looked at my hand wrapped around Chrys’ head. The weirdest part of all this was… No matter what Chrys would call herself now, I… I couldn’t imagine myself leaving her. We’d been through too much-- with or without the whole pony thing. Even after having her memories restored, I knew Chrys felt the same way. In her eyes I could still see that little glimmer I’d seen in Chris’, the one that always appeared when he looked at me, when I could tell he was just enjoying my company…

It didn’t matter if this was that good-mannered dork or the darkly regal changeling… They both loved me…

...and I loved them back.

My eyes drifted towards the eggs that Echo was carefully placing in the corner. If I was staying, that meant I’d be staying with a Queen… Someone who was hundreds of years old, and may very well live for hundreds more… One who would have responsibility for a people that could number in the thousands in less than a week. I didn’t know if Chrys had plans for her people yet-- how her people could live with the ponies, how to manage their numbers, anything…

I exhaled through my nose. We’d figure it out. It was a lot to figure out, but we’d manage. I looked to Chrys again; somehow she seemed to sense my presence, given the little smile on her muzzle as I stroked her head. I carefully climbed onto the bed, lay behind her and draped my arm over her body. The grubs tactfully withdrew from the room, closing the door behind them and leaving the room in complete darkness.

My head sank into the pillow as I felt Chrys’ steady breathing. I felt her tail slowly brush against my leg, the surprisingly smooth hairs somewhat tickling against my skin. Stifling a giggle I slowly drifted off to sleep.

The simple act of laying there with the person-- or pony-- I loved made everything feel… normal.

                -                -                -                -                -

Queen Chrysalis sat behind a stone table, overlooking a series of documents; statements from the governing officials of the various settlements in Equestria, replying to her requests for allowing some of her people to move in. There were many more who agreed to allow changelings to build a home in their towns than she’d expected, to her delight. There were still some who gave very verbal denials, taking Chrysalis’ simple request as a threat of militaristic expansion and promising a brutal reckoning if her people were ever seen there. However, the ratio of approvals to denials was very uplifting for her-- perhaps her people could know peace, and still find a plentiful food source--

“SPY!!”

Chrysalis jumped, scattering countless papers to the floor as she looked around for the source of the shout. “Who…?” She began.

“SPYSPYSPYSPYSPYSPYSPYSPY…” She tracked the voice behind her. Part of the wall behind her had vanished, replaced with a rift lined by a thick, shifting yellow line. On the other side of the rift was a simple room, with grey walls, thick carpet and a desk with a strange device on top of it…

...A computer, Chrysalis realized. And sitting at that computer was a human, a male in his mid-twenties-- twenty-five, to be exact-- with short brown hair and the barest traces of stubble lining his chin. The human was wearing a headset and microphone, and was leaning towards the computer screen, his hands on the keyboard and mouse as he quickly controlled the game displayed on the screen.

“Pootis-spencer!” He ordered quickly through the microphone.

“Hello, Chris,” Chrysalis said. Chris turned to her, almost unphased by the disturbance.

“Oh hai, Chrysalis,” he said in an unplaceable accent. He removed the headset and placed it on the desk as he stood up. Chris put his hands behind his back and swayed back and forth uncertainly for a moment, pursing his lips. “...So…”

Chrysalis scratched a foreleg with her hoof. “So.”

Chris looked about their surroundings-- the point where it transitioned from “man-cave” to “insectoid hive”. “...So, where do we go from here?” He asked. “I mean, we’re not exactly mirror duplicates here… I wasn’t exactly eased into the fact that I’m really… you.”

Chrysalis nodded. “And yet we haven’t felt a real need to wrest control from the other…” She approached Chris and placed a hoof on his shoulder. “Chris, we may have ended up as two minds, but this doesn’t have to change anything. The life you lived is mine as well, and a fine life it was.”

“If somewhat uninteresting…” Chris mumbled. “School, vidjima games, school, vidjima games, graduation, lots more vidjima games…”

“Liz…” Chrysalis said coyfully. Chris looked up at her with a raised eyebrow.

“...You love her the same as I do?” He asked, unusually serious.

Chrysalis nodded slowly. “There were few I truly loved in the centuries I’ve lived.”

“Even if it was technically my love for her, that kinda... bled into you, if that makes sense?” Chris asked.

Chrysalis laid down on her side of the rift. Chris did the same on his, crossing his legs. “If you wish to know if Liz is at risk, you have my solemn vow that I will do everything in my power to keep her safe.”

“Lotta good that’s done so far…” Chris snickered goodnaturedly. Chrysalis smiled; it was a bit of a weird sight for Chris. There was none of the malevolence he’d seen from her on the show. “...You really have changed, haven’t you?”

Chrysalis’ smile faded to a guilty frown; her gaze fell to the floor. “I’d be lying if I said that, looking back, I have no regrets. I suppose seeing the show-- seeing me, as… as the monster I had become… It helped put things in perspective. I only had my peoples’ best interests at heart, but that does not excuse the atrocities I’d committed…”

“Oh, c’mon, they weren’t that bad…” Chris said, though he didn’t sound particularly convinced.

“I kidnapped innocents,” Chrysalis argued. “I put them into a deep sleep and fed off their dreams of their loved ones, bled them dry in hopes of keeping my own people strong!”

Chris sighed. “...Okay, yeah, you did some pretty messed up things…” he conceded.

Chrysalis shook her head. “But I can’t let them haunt me. It was when I lived your life that I learned just how… how low I’d-- we’d fallen as a people. It was you who showed me that… that living as a monster is no life worth living.”

“Unless you’re Godzilla,” Chris said, smirking.

Chrysalis gave him a cross look. “Always quick to joke, aren’t you?”

“It helps to get people to loosen up,” Chris said, shrugging. “Sometimes an out-of-nowhere joke’ll get people to relax… Or it’ll annoy them. Either way, it’s a victory.”

Chrysalis sighed. “Regardless, you showed me the greatest lesson a leader could learn: if peace and war will yield the same result, always go for peace.”

“And will peace with the ponies keep the changelings fed?” Chris asked. “I’m not condoning your… old ways, but do have an alternative?”

Chrysalis thought for a moment. Then she thought for a few more moments. Then several more. “...No,” she finally said. “I guess if there was an easy solution, things would have been different.”

Chris patted the Queen’s shoulder. “We’ll find a way.”

Chrysalis looked at Chris. “These are concerns of my world, my life… What of yours?”

“Uh…” Chris looked to the floor now, this thought only now occurring to him. The past week, he’d thought of nothing but his transformation, his new (or rather, old) responsibilities... What of his family? Liz didn’t seem ready to leave him-- as astounding as that was… But his parents? His sisters? His friends? Would he be leaving all that behind? Did he have a choice?

“Just as we don’t need to decide who remains dominant in this one body,” Chrysalis said. “We don’t need to decide on one life and forsake the other, Chris. We are more than capable of living multiple lives-- such is the way of a changeling.”

Despite Chrysalis’ comforting words, Chris still felt uneasy. “I wanna… I wanna see ‘em. When we wake up, I wanna head out to Missouri and… and talk to them. Tell them everything. I can’t hide this from them, but I can’t just cut them off either… I love them too much.”

Chrysalis scooched towards Chris and wrapped a leg around his shoulder. “Then we’ll go. Perhaps Trixie will wish to do the same with her human family. She said they were in Vermont, correct?”

Chris nodded. “Though we do have three grubs, plus a clutch of eggs that’ll only grow as time goes on. On top of that, our cars back at our house-- god knows what state it’s in while we’ve been gone-- are barely big enough to hold one human, one pony, five plus eggs and a few changelings. The SUV isn’t relatively SUV-shaped anymore, either. Transport is a bit of an issue.”

“Well, if it were easy, it would be dull, wouldn’t it?” Chrysalis chuckled.

Chris groaned. “I’m supposed to be the idiot in this relationship, Chrysalis!” He said mock-sternly before laughing with her.

As their laughter died down, the human smiled at the Queen. “We might meld together better than I thought.”

                -                -                -                -                -

I woke up, my eyes slowly opening, reluctant to depart from beloved sleep. I was laying in a queen-sized (heh) bed in a rather plain bedroom, with only a single painting on the far wall next to the closet, and a bedside table with a boring lamp. Sunlight was leaking between the two dusty curtains draped over the window. I realized there was an arm draped around me-- Liz was wrapped around my back, her breathing quiet and peaceful. Smiling, I put a hoof on her hand.

I felt it flinch slightly in surprise, then relax. “Hey,” Liz said softly.

“Hey,” I replied. I lifted my head to look around the room. The five eggs were stored safely in the corner, their glow somewhat dimmer than I remembered. They’re hungry, I thought.

“How are you feeling?” Liz asked.

“Feelin’ fine…” I replied. I gave a little laugh. “I did what you said, though, I really fucked Prima up.”

“Really?” Liz asked. “How so?”

“Swords, drills, buzz-axes and teeth,” I said simply. “Had a bit of fun… Though, in retrospect, I think I might have some issues. There was so much blood…” I laughed, then paused. “Yeah, doesn’t sound as good when I laugh about it, huh.”

“And then Discord came?” Liz asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, but I don’t think he’s really happy with Prima’s failure… She was supposed to stop me, then stop the Mane Six, but since I kinda made her into a… puddle, she wasn’t gonna fulfill his wishes.”

“So what’ll happen to her?”

I shrugged. “I dunno… Is it bad if there’s a small part of me that pities her in that regard?”

“It doesn’t take a genius to figure out she’s just Discord’s pawn,” Liz said. “I think she was due for some hardship, win or lose.”

“I guess,” I said. We lay there in silence for a few minutes. “...So I might be a wee bit schizophrenic now.”

“Hmm?”

“I mean I’m not… My mind, it’s… Ugh, Chrysalis and Chris are both up here,” I tapped my head. “We’re kinda… swapping out, you know? Tag-in, tag-out?” Liz was silent. “I was never really like her, you know? I’m an easy-going goofball, she’s a serious, somewhat temperamental leader.”

“‘Somewhat’?” Liz asked; I could practically hear her eyebrow being raised..

“She’s changed,” I said quickly. “She’s seen the wrongs she’s done and she wants to make amends.”

“So, if Chrysalis-- if the ponies are real, what does that mean with the show? Does Hasbro know something?”

“Again, I don’t know… Maybe the Mane Six are farther along than us, we just have to find ‘em, somehow.” I sat up, stretching my stiffened legs. “...I wanna see my family, too.”

“Really?” Liz sat up and scooched to the edge of the bed.

“My life as a human is gonna be so much more complicated…” I sighed. “But I can’t shut them out. I need to talk to them, explain everything that’s happened… I just want them to know that I love ‘em, you know?” I looked to Liz. “What do you think?”

Liz wrapped an arm around me. “You know I’ll stick by you… No matter how weird it gets.”

“Even with the whole Queen thing?”

“So long as you’re serious about Chrysalis really changing,” Liz said, with a quick peck on the cheek. “I’d rather not be dating the pony equivalent of Maleficent.”

I frowned. “I look nothing like Angelina Jolie…”

 “Oh, shut up…” Liz said, smacking me with a pillow. As I laughed, I felt joy in feeling like things might not change completely.

> Chapter 20: What We Had
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 20: What We Had

May 17th

I wiped sweat from my brow as I climbed down from the truck, having just put the last of my new eggs in towards the back. We’d put plenty of space between them and the actual luggage we’d managed to grab from our house and Trixie’s apartment. I was surprised at how our house hadn’t been looted in our absence; but then again, Prima’s drones had cordoned off the place with very official-looking yellow tape, and people in our neighborhood often kept to their own business. While we grabbed everything we might need—food, valuables, medicine, basically everything in the average “bug out” package—Liz expressed concerns about the house. We had no one to turn to to look after the house while we traveled out west. Trixie had similar concerns about her old apartment; she couldn’t talk to her landlord anymore, but she didn’t want to just leave him hanging.

Thankfully I came up with a plan; using a recent picture of hers I took on the form of Ray. I needed Trixie’s help to get my voice to sound as much like Ray’s as possible, but eventually I got close enough that I was able to call up her old landlord and explain that “I” was going out west to see the family. With that, Liz and I were clear to pick up everything Trixie needed for the roadtrip, and Trixie’s concerns of eviction were, for the moment, abated. Our own house was still going to be left empty, but our neighborhood was never considered rich enough to burglarize, so we just locked the doors and windows. We still had the issue of the immense hole in the kitchen floor, but laying plywood over it would have to suffice until we got back.

I called my parents the night before, telling them that Liz and I were driving out to visit. I’d told them that we’d finished classes and wanted to celebrate with a little road trip. I didn’t want to just see my parents, though—I wanted to talk to my sisters, Sarah and Penny, who lived together in Kentucky. I gave them a bit more of an honest explanation, saying that I desperately needed to talk to the whole family about some ‘serious issue’. It took some work but I eventually convinced them to agree to fly over to St. Louis, under the guise of a ‘big family reunion.’ Working out the issue of getting the family together was surprisingly simple—but then I still had the changeling thing to break to them, which would be considerably more complicated.

As for transport, Liz and my cars weren’t exactly big enough for the trip west, and I didn’t like the idea of driving separately. Thankfully, Dane was able to convince his dad to give us a truck—a 22 footer, with a flat-nose cab that had a back seat for Trixie and the grubs. The truck bed was definitely oversized for the luggage we were bringing, but it was perfect for the unknown number of eggs I’d be laying.

And eggs, there were plenty of. Over the next two days I’d ended up laying about thirty eggs, and I had a feeling this was just me getting back into “the swing of things.” Before Discord’s uprising I could lay as many as two hundred eggs in a single day. Our vast numbers combined with the limited quantities of love were what originally drove me to target Equestria so long ago…

And there lay the problem I would face when Discord was gone—I wanted peace with the ponies, more than anything, but I also didn’t want my people to go hungry, especially considering how fast we’d grow in number. Incubation was the best solution I could come up with for population numbers, but getting ponies to willingly supply love wasn’t plausible.

Liz and I tried to maintain an attitude of, “we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” but this was too big an issue to put off. We needed a solution, soon.

“Here’s the last of our stuff…” I looked over to see Liz carrying a pair of heavy suitcases towards the truck. I reached out to take them from her, but she gave me a somewhat quizzical look. “...You don’t have to look human, you know? There isn’t anyone who would see you, and I think it would be easier loading this stuff into the truck with your magic...”

I shrugged. “I am Chrysalis, nothing can change that. But I’m not cutting off the life I’ve known—that’s why we’re making this trip.” I took the bags from Liz, and my arms trembled from the weight. “...You’re right, though, magic would help here…” I hefted the bags onto the truck. When I turned back to Liz, her eyes were fixated on the eggs.

“...Does this technically make me a mother, at 24?” She asked with a small laugh.

“Hey, you haven’t exactly had any…” I coughed. “...input.”

Liz shoved my shoulder with a scoff. “You’re disgusting.”

I raised an amused eyebrow. “That disgusts you? Not my wet and sticky ‘produce’?”

“Hey, mom!” A voice from the house called.

“Speaking of which…” I said as I turned to three teens approaching me.

“What do you think?” Digit asked.

I’d told the grubs to work out their ‘default’ human disguises—names, outfits, stuff like that. Shift and Echo spent time working on forms that seemed to speak to them, but I needed to tell Digit around twenty times that she couldn’t just snag a form she’d seen on TV. She finally decided on a Japanese-looking girl with pigtails, a knee-length skirt and a jean jacket. All in all, this seemed acceptable, considering how much of my inner Otaku she’d gotten from me.

Shift looked a bit more serious and, truth be told, forgettable—in fact I worried if I’d have trouble recognizing him in his human form. He had short brown hair, glasses and a somewhat gangly form; my guess was he wanted to surprise any enemies we may face by not being as weak and helpless as he appeared. To add to the “nerd” effect he wore a rather ugly sweater vest over a white shirt and tan slacks.

Echo’s form reminded me of Kinzie from later Saint’s Row games. She had shoulder-length brown hair tied into a ponytail, and wore thick glasses and an outfit that looked straight out of some pretentious boarding school. She looked… nice. In fact, she reminded me of…

I looked between Echo and Liz, seeing a number of similarities, from obvious things like skin tone and hair color, to more subtle things like the both relaxed and confident way she carried herself.

Liz seemed to notice, too, seeing as she didn’t take her eyes off Echo. “...Wow…”

Echo smiled shyly. “You like it?”

“You three look good,” I said, nodding approvingly. “Now, names.”

“I’m Yoko Kazumi,” Digit said proudly. “It means ‘sun child’, ‘harmony and beauty’.”

I raised an eyebrow and smirked. “How long did it take you to Google that?”

Digit gasped in mock offense. “Mother, I’m hurt! I can’t believe you’d think that I’d--” She dropped her pretense and giggled. “About twenty seconds.”

I smiled at her and turned to Shift. “I’m Adam,” He said simply.

A pause. “Adam…?” I asked, gesturing for a last name.

Shift shrugged. “Why should I need to put detail into this form? It’s not like I’ll be human a lot…”

“Actually, if we’re gonna be here for the long haul, you might as well get comfortable.” I said. “Humans might react less favorably than ponies to changelings walking around. Might be best that we just stay under the radar when in public, okay? And it might help to have some kind of story set—better to have one and not need it.”

Shift rolled his eyes and dragged a foot along the ground. “...Adam… Kennedy, I guess.”

I rubbed his head playfully. “Atta’ boy.” I turned to Echo. “How about you, hon?”

“Jennifer, or Jenny,” Echo said. “Jenny Miles. I’m a student at Hyde School in Woodstock, Connecticut.”

“Overachiever…” Shift muttered playfully; Echo gave him a little shoulder bump.

“Play nice, you two…” I said. I looked between Liz, the grubs and the truck. “All right, I think we’re all set to go… Where’s Trixie?”

The grubs gave each other perplexed looks. “I haven’t seen her since this morning…” Shift said.

“I haven’t seen much of her since we came here,” Digit added.

I frowned. “I’ll go get her, see what’s up.” I turned to Liz. “Why don’t you get the truck started in the meantime.”

I entered the house, checking every room for some sign of Trixie and calling her name. I entered the living room to find Dane on the couch, hunched over a computer watching…

Of course, I thought, rolling my eyes at the sight of ponies on the screen. “Hoping for some context on all this madness, huh?” I asked. Dane spun around, his hand reflexively reaching for the laptop lid.

“I-I was just…” he sputtered.

“Dude, it’s cool…” I said. “To be honest, curiosity is what attracts a lot of future bronies. That’s how it got me. Anyway, you seen Trixie? We’re heading out in a bit.”

Dane shook his head as he closed the laptop. “Nah, maybe Lucas has? He’s in the kitchen.”

I nodded appreciatively as I headed down the hall, while Dane got up off the couch and headed outside. In the kitchen I found Lucas looking disappointedly into his fridge. “Hey, Luke, you seen Trixie?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Nah, man. You seen my beer? Had like twelve cans in here yesterday, now they’re all gone…”

I tilted my head. “Nnnnoo, I can’t stand alcohol of any flavor—tastes like ass.” I noticed the back door some distance away from the fridge.

I headed through the back door and looked around. The backyard was little more than a patch of dying grass, though the forest beyond it was actually kinda pretty. And some distance in, I could make out a pale blue tail sticking out behind a tree. Frowning I walked quickly into the forest towards it.

“Trixie?” I asked as I got close to the tree. I could hear what sounded like a sipping noise as I got close. “...Trixie?”

“...Oh, right, that’s my name…” Trixie said, her voice slurred. I caught a glimpse of a drained beer can tucked beneath her tail.

Hoo, boy… I came around the tree to find Trixie sitting with her back against the tree, a beer held aloft in her magic. She took a generous sip before looking up at me.

“Heeeyyyy Chrys!” She said. I noticed, there were a lot of empty cans around her.

“...So, yeah, fuck livers, right?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. I sat on the ground next to her. “What’s up?”

“Nothin’s up…” she said, her beer can wavering dangerously. “Can’t a guy get a good drink?”

“A good drink, singular, yes…” I said, but she was too busy laughing to hear me.

“Sorry, sorry, I shoulda said… ‘Can’t a GIRL get a good drink?’” She took another sip.

“...Trixie, what’s up?” I asked.

“I told you, nothin’! Just having what fun I can, after… after all this ssssshit happened…” She threw a foreleg around my shoulder and pulled me close. “I ever tell you what I was gon’ be?”

I felt a twinge of guilt; I’d been hanging with Trixie for over a week, now, and I hadn’t bothered to learn anything about her. I shook my head.

“A track star!” Trixie said, waving a hoof grandly. “I was gonna join some of the best teams out there, I’d be like the goddamn Road Runner… Meep Meep!” She broke into hiccuping laughter, nearly falling into me; I took the opportunity to carefully pull the beer can from her flickering magic and put it to the side.

“But then, this!” She gestured at herself. “Hooves, horn, cutie mark… Even my damn manhood, gone in three days… My life, gone… Then I see you, think I have a chance at getting it back, but nnnnnnNOPE!!” She removed her leg from my shoulder and sulked away from me. “Turns out you get to keep your life… But even then I didn’t stop hoping… Every night I kept hoping, praying, that we’d find someway to put this shit behind us… It was the only thing that really kept me going… A hope that I’d get my life back...”

“...Then you… told me that I had… That Ray Bassett was never real… That he was just some made-up person meant to conceal the Great and Powerful Trixie, who couldn’t do a damned thing to save herself—save anyone—from that bastard, Discord…” She shook her head and hugged herself. “I might’ve not believed you… But then I started remembering, Chrys… First, the whole thing in Manehatten, being banished, giving false hopes to those ponies… That filly… I told ‘em I could protect them…”

“Then I started remembering everything else… The shows, what few friends I had, my little power trip with the Alicorn Amulet… It all started clouding over my life—Ray’s life… That life was a lie, but I didn’t want to lose it… That life was more successful than anything I could hope for as Trixie… and I couldn’t lose my family… So I started…” She kicked an empty can. “...It helped, helped keep me from remembering any more… I don’t want to lose that life, Chrys, but it doesn’t look like I have a choice…” Her shoulders shook with silent sobs.

I moved closer and pulled her into a hug. “...Do you know why we’re going to my family’s place in Missouri?” I asked. “It’s to show them what happened to me… But also to show them that I’m not planning on losing them, on leaving them. To show them that Chris Barton isn’t going anywhere.”

“You never had to go anywhere…” Trixie said bitterly. “You can just throw this on…” She gestured at me. “...And you can walk around in public…”

“Yeah, but you think I can just ignore being Chrysalis?” I asked. “I have kids to worry about now! The future of the changeling race! So I have a lot of shit to deal with down the line… But I’m not losing sight of my human life. Yeah, it’ll be tough, balancing the two—loving my family and worrying about the welfare of my people—but I’d rather struggle with two lives I love than completely forsake one.” I lifted her head to look up at me. “And the same can apply with you, Trix.”

Trixie looked up at me silently for a moment, tears streaming from her eyes. For a single, uncomfortable moment I feared that, in her drunken stupor, she’d try to snog me. Then she rested her head into my shoulder. “...Can we stop in Vermont? That’s where my parents are, in Burlington… I wanna see them…”

I nodded. “Sure.” I chuckled. “You ready to head out, or should I bring you a bucket first?”

> Chapter 21: Family is Forever
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 21: Family is Forever

“You’re a jerk…” Trixie grumbled through the bucket, which I had hung around her head like a feed bag. I was walking by her side, keeping her from stumbling; she seemed to be feeling better—emotionally, at least—but she still had several cans of beer to walk off.

“Hey, look at it this way,” I said cheerfully. “If you vomit, you can lick it up and it’ll be like nothing happened!”

Trixie gagged through the bucket. “You’re not helping…” she said woozily.

We came around the side of the house to find the truck running, the bed closed and everyone—changelings and humans—gathered beside it. Liz and Dane seemed to have been trying to work things out; Liz’s arms were folded and her face was fixed into a forced neutral expression. As we approached, all eyes fell on us. Liz’s eyes fell on the bucket around Trixie’s muzzle. “You get stuck?” She laughed.

Trixie wrestled the bucket off and gave Liz a drunken glare. “I’m just… Just not feeling so hot… I’ll be okay…”

Dane put his hands in his pockets. “So, you guys are going?”

I nodded. “We’re going to Burlington first, to visit Trixie’s—Ray’s family. No reason we shouldn’t; Trixie deserves a chance to keep ties with her human family as much as anypony else. Then we’ll try and get to St. Louis by tomorrow night, assuming traffic isn’t a pile of ass.”

“And assuming you can go without stopping at a McDonald’s every ten miles…” Liz said with a smirk.

“Ha ha! Joke’s on you!” I said, pointing victoriously at her. “I can’t eat McDonald’s anymore--” I froze, then slumped my shoulders. “Awww, I just made myself sad…”

“So…” Dane said, dragging his foot along the dirt. “This is it?”

I looked at him. I was still somewhat unsure how to feel about him now. He’d been a real dick to me and Liz, but he helped us deal with Prima, even after I’d tried to get him arrested in a stupid prank. He was probably just trying to get his dad back to normal at first, but he still seemed genuinely concerned about Liz and I when he found out we were in trouble.

I exhaled deeply; whatever his reasons were, he ended up saving us. I approached him and held out my hand. “Yeah. Thanks for everything, Dane. I know we’ve had our ‘spats’ in the past, but… you still came to our rescue. I won’t forget that.”

Dane stared at my hand for a bit, then finally shook it. “It’s no problem, man… Look, I know I’ve been a complete douche to you guys. I just hope that we can put it all behind us.”

“Maybe,” I said, nodding. “I don’t know if we’ll be coming back, it depends on how things go down in Equestria.” I turned to Lucas, who was staring sadly at Trixie. “Thanks for letting us stay here, Luke.”

“You come back alive, all right?” He asked. “I wanna meet the Mane Six, you can put in a good word for me.”

I laughed, and held out a fist for the obligatory bro-hoof. “Sure thing, man.” Trixie approached Lucas, reared back and wrapped her forelegs around his neck.

“Thank you…” she said. Lucas hugged her tight, and the two parted.

“Let’s get rolling, huh?” I asked as I approached the driver side of the truck. The grubs were already piling all at once into the back seat, giving the expected ‘Ow’s and ‘Watch it’s I’d expected from them. Trixie climbed on the right side of the back, holding the sick bucket close; I noticed the grubs were trying their hardest to squeeze away from her. I climbed into the driver seat while Liz sat in the passenger side.

As I closed the door I noticed just how enormous the steering wheel was. “You okay to drive something this big?” Liz asked.

“...Define ‘okay’...” I said, biting my lip. I took the wheel. “How hard can it be, huh? Just have to take the size of the vehicle into account…” I started the truck and began pulling away. “Yeah, I can do this…” I said, nodding after we’d traveled twenty feet.

“CRASH!!”

I screamed, swerving to the sides for a moment before calming down. I looked back at the cackling Digit and gave her my steeliest glare. “Do that again and I’ll have you turn into a sick bucket for Trixie.”

                -                -                -                -                -

I glanced around the pitch darkness with my one functional eye. I couldn’t see him, but I knew he was there… I could feel his anger pulsing from him. I tried to lift myself up, but my legs were broken and bent at horrid angles… Not that I had anywhere to go, even if I could run.

“Please… Please, master, I’m--” my pleas were silenced by my screams again as horrible agony pulsed through my body. I convulsed madly, the wounds I’d gained from Chrysalis burning as though they were aflame.

“I had two simple jobs for you, Prima…” Discord said disapprovingly as the pain ceased, momentarily.. “Stop Chrysalis, and stop the Bearers. You couldn’t even stop Chrysalis with all the power I’d given you, how could I ever trust you to do anything else?”

“Please, it’s…” I breathed. “It’s not my fault, she—AAGGGHHH!!!” The pain returned. I rolled on my back, my shattered limbs flailing in agony before he stopped again. I lay on the ground, panting and sobbing, begging for sweet for release. “Please…”

I felt my head being turned to the side, clenched in an eagle talon. “Your excuses serve you no purpose, my dear little insect. Though, to be fair, I should expected this—changelings don’t have a good track record for brilliance, or usefulness.” My head was dropped to the floor, hard. A cloven hoof suddenly fell on my side and pressed down hard. “But that doesn’t mean you’re beyond a fitting punishment. You want to restore your people? To act as queen? I shall grant you your wish…”

There was a snap. There was a sudden rush of warmth—every ounce of pain I’d felt suddenly vanished. My legs mended themselves, I felt my ruined eye suddenly become restored. Shakily, I stood up, peering around the darkness. “Master?” I called.

A pain in my stomach made me lurch. I lay back down, panting as I felt something stirring within me.

It can’t be…

I suddenly knew what was happening, and what I needed to do. With a great deal of effort, I simply… pushed.

After a few painful minutes, I felt it leave me. I turned around and gasped—my first egg… Just like he’d promised! With a joyful sob I fell beside the egg and held it close. “Oh, my precious one… I, I don’t believe…”

Another pain in my stomach. This time I knew what it was, and I welcomed it. I turned around and laid this next egg. Each egg hurt less—it was common knowledge that if a Queen could get over the pains of birth quick, she was destined for greatness. Within minutes I’d laid ten beautiful eggs. I gathered them up and curled up behind them, tears of bliss falling down my face.

Crick

I looked at one of the eggs—the first one I’d laid. I gasped in joy and leaned towards it. “Yes, yes little one! Be the first… Be the first born to a glorious new era!”

The top of the egg popped off. A beautiful, healthy grub poked out with a happy chirp. Half laughing, half sobbing, I picked up the grub and held it close. “That shall be your name! Era! The harbinger of our people’s new generation!!”

Era chirped happily and nuzzled against me, her wings fluttering rapidly. I hugged her close, stroking her head.

Her wings stopped buzzing. I looked down at her to see her eyes wide open in shock. Her mouth slowly opened; a low gurgle escaped her throat.

No…

Era twitched. Then she twitched again. The gurgling grew louder, and she flailed madly in my forelegs. “No, Era, no, NO!!” I screamed, holding her up. “No, please, little one, PLEASE, DON’T DO THIS!!”

Era gave one last spasm, and a vile purple liquid poured from her throat and out of her mouth. Then she was still with one rasping groan.

I shook my head. “NO! NO NO NO!!!” I shook Era rapidly. “Wake up!! WAKE UP!! PLEASE!!”

Crack Crack Crack Crack

I looked down to see the other eggs beginning to hatch. Several grubs poked out, peering about in wonder.

For a single moment I wondered if any of them could live beyond a single minute.

Then they all twitched, simultaneously. Their heads arched back, and vomited that same purple slime before slumping over, dead. I dropped Era and shook a pair of them, my breathing rapid and shallow.

Another pain in my stomach. I fell over, and felt multiple eggs spawn from me. I looked back to see the eggs, so glorious, so full of such beautiful potential…

They began hatching within seconds. Within ten the grubs within were all poking out, all staring at me, their eyes full of hope.

Within thirty they were all choking on that vile poison that rose from their stomachs. I screamed in anguish, clutching my head in my hooves. Somewhere, in the distance, I could hear laughter…

                -                -                -                -                -

I was only half-aware of the traffic as I drove down Route 89 towards Burlington. This was, by far, the longest I’d ever driven in my life. If I didn’t have my iPod playing some audiobooks along the way—we’d almost finished listening to Mogworld—I probably would have lost it. We’d only stopped a couple times, both to get food and get a quick piss break. The grubs and I didn’t need to ‘relieve’ ourselves—no digestive tracts meant no ‘output’. Trixie had some trouble, though; we needed to find a specific rest stop and make absolutely sure no one came in while she did her business. While we did that, Liz got her and Trixie some food, which I watched them eat with envy. I’m fucking positive Liz got Swedish Fish just to rub it in my face. We also got Trixie a fair amount of painkillers, to help her get over the hangover she got from sleeping off her inebriation.

It was about three hours into the drive that things got interesting—relatively speaking. Trixie, Shift and Echo were sound asleep while Digit was staring dreamily out the window at the passing traffic. “As much as I love Yahtzee…” Liz said, finally. “Let’s get something potentially useful, huh?” She fiddled with the knobs on the radio and put it on the news.

“...the sighting of an unknown flier, streaking over the US/Canadian border, early this morning…” said the radio. I turned up the volume, my interest piqued.

“The unknown object was traced to a small mansion in Seattle, which was discovered to be the base of operations for the group responsible for the bookstore bombing on the 3rd. The terrorists detonated an unidentified brand of explosive, for an unknown purpose, but were quickly incarcerated and are awaiting questioning. The mysterious airborne vessel, which was reported to be trailing…” The reporter paused. “...I’m sorry, is that…? It is? Okay… Which was reported to be trailing a rainbow-patterned trail…”

I jerked the wheel to the right, in the driving equivalent of a spit-take. I quickly righted myself and listened to the radio again. “Until further notice., the UN has announced that the Canadian border is to be closed. When asked for specifics on the flier, Air Force officials had no comment…”

As the news went on to the more political side of things, I looked to Liz, whose jaw practically reached her knees. “‘Rainbow-patterned?’” I asked, dumbfounded.

“Seattle?!” She added.

“Canadian?!” Digit asked, mock-dramatically, earning a look from everyone else.

“What is Rainbow Dash doing??” Liz asked.

“Must be serious if she’s risking flying over the damn border…” I mused. “What about that mansion place they mentioned?”

“We can ask when we find them, I guess,” Liz said. I nodded, but I couldn’t help but feel worried about Dash…

And the rest of the Mane Six as a result.

I’m worried, too, Chrysalis whispered in my head.

They stopped us—you—me, whatever—back at the wedding, I thought. It’s not too great a stretch of logic to assume they can deal with a few asshole humans.

And if it’s not humans? Chrysalis asked.

I had no response.

                -                -                -                -                -

Finally, after four and a half hours of increasing pain in the lower backside for everyone involved, we reached Burlington. Trixie leaned over the back of the front seat and gave us directions as to where her family lived. We found their house on a street not too far from Lake Champlain—a pleasant little place on the street corner. We needed to park in a store parking lot some distance away to avoid drawing attention to the huge-ass U-Haul that was our ride, and surround Trixie as we walked towards her house.

“Okay, this is it…” I said, gesturing at the house. “Nice place to grow up in, huh?” Trixie was silent. I looked over to see her hesitating, only kept in cover when Digit and Shift bumped into her from behind. “Trixie?”

Trixie simply stared at the house, her face unreadable. “...I don’t know if I can…” She said, falling to her haunches. “I just… What if they don’t…?”

I laid a hand on her shoulder. “Hey… Whatever happens, good or bad, we’re here for you, okay?” She didn’t look convinced. Liz knelt beside her.

“How about this for a plan?” She said. “Chris and I will head over, introduce ourselves, and explain that you’ve gone through some… changes. We’ll try and… soften the blow, as it were, okay? Then we’ll come get you. Sound good?”

Trixie was silent for a moment, then she nodded. “...Okay. Okay, I think that’ll work…” She took a deep breath. “Hopefully.”

I looked to the grubs and pulled out my cell phone. “Take this, and we’ll call you when it’s time for you to come, okay?”

Digit immediately snatched the phone from my hand and flipped through the apps. “I’ll handle the phone!”

Shift quickly grabbed it from her. “By that you mean, ‘I’ll be playing Angry Birds’.”

“No…” Digit said defensively. “...Fruit Ninja.”

“Shift’s on phone duty,” I said firmly. “Come in as soon as we text you, okay?” The grubs nodded as Liz and I turned and approached the house.

“So, what do we tell them?” Liz asked as I watched the grubs encircle Trixie and walk her back towards the brush.

“Just tell them that Ray went through some changes, and that while he may not be… human again, he hasn’t changed all that much and loves them just the same,” I said. “It’s not exactly guaranteed to keep Trixie from being disowned, but it should help lessen the shock.”

“And what if they’re not happy with it?” Liz asked as we approached the door.

“...Then Trixie will need us more than ever,” I said solemnly. “We’ll be there for her the whole time.” I took a deep breath as we stood in front of the red-painted door. “Okay, here we go.” I knocked.

There were a few seconds of inactivity before the door opened. In the doorway stood a man with glasses and a very respectable mustache—not Dusty or Mustache Dad levels of awesome, but, still, quite impressive. “Yes?”

“Mr. Bassett?” I asked; he nodded. “I’m Chris, and this is Liz, we’re… friends of Ray’s, back in Augusta. We kinda… need to talk about something.”

“Is he in trouble?” He asked, frowning.

Liz shook her head. “No, sh-- he’s just… This is just something we feel we should discuss inside, you know? It’s really important.”

Mr. Bassett stared at us for a moment before sighing. “All right, come on in.” He turned and led us inside. The place had a fair amount of fancy-looking sculptures lining the walls and furniture, and seemed quite comfortable. We followed Mr. Bassett as he turned left out of the hallway and into a living room, with a couch and three matching chairs.

“Is your wife home, Mr. Bassett?” I asked. “It might be best if we tell you both… And I think Ray mentioned a sister?”

“Please, call me Derek,” he said, waving a hand dismissively. “And yeah, they’re home. Mary! Becky!” He called. “Could you come here, please?”

“Be right there!” Came a voice from the kitchen.

“Coming!” Came another from upstairs. In a few moments a woman with long hair tied into a ponytail and wearing a casual blouse entered. She was followed by a young girl who looked to be about seventeen, with short brown hair and a red t-shirt.

“Who’s this?” The woman asked as she noticed us.

“Uh, I’m Chris Barton,” I said. “And this is my girlfriend, Liz. We’re friends of Ray’s, we’ve come here ‘cause there’s… something we need to talk about.”

The woman nodded slowly while the teen sat in a chair beside her father. “O-Okay, I’m Mary, this is Becky.” Liz smiled warmly at Becky, who gave us an odd look. Mary sat down beside Derek. “So, what’s this about Ray? Is something wrong?”

“No…” I said quickly. “Well, sorta-kinda… I mean, he’s fine at the moment, all things considered, I mean…” Liz laid a hand on my leg; I was never good at giving news like this. “All right,” I breathed. “Over two weeks ago, on Ray’s birthday, he started going through some… changes, okay? He, uh… found a weird... tattoo, let’s call it, on both of his outer thighs, and over the next few days his hair started turning a… pale blue.”

The Bassetts’ faces became lined with concern. “Is he sick?” Derek asked, leaning forward.

“No, not exactly…” I said, wringing my hands. “See, he’s one of… god, hundreds, if not thousands of people who’re turning into…” I’d almost said the ‘P’ word. “Who are affected. You might’ve heard some things, like, uh…” I snapped my fingers. “The border scare, earlier this morning? The Canadian border, and Seattle?”

Derek nodded. “Yeah, we’d heard about that.”

“Well, that’s part of it,” I said. “That was one of the… affected. People across the nation—hell, maybe the planet—are… changing. It took a few days for the changes to… finish, you know, but, as far as we know, it’s… It’s irreversible.”

Mary slowly raised a hand to her mouth. “Does it hurt?” She asked.

I shook my head quickly. “No, no! Ray’s fine, it’s just…” I took a deep breath. “See, the changes are more than physical. He’s had some little… personality quirks as well, but as a whole Ray’s more or less the same.”

“Do you know what caused the change?” Derek asked.

And there was the golden question, the one I dreaded the most. I sighed. “...See, here’s the thing…” I bit my lip. How do I break this to them without making it feel like I’m just taking the piss?

Finally, I decided to bite the bullet. “Your son is… sorta-kinda… a reincarnation of someone from a far-off world. Everyone affected isn’t just turning into… something different, they’re just… more or less shedding a human shell.”

The looks on their faces—a mix of disbelief and confusion—told me I was doing a shit job of explaining things, not that I had my doubts. “I guess this might carry more weight if Ray was here.” I looked to Liz, and she withdrew her cell. She sent a quick text to my phone and put it away.

“What are you doing?” Mary asked.

“Ray’s on his way,” I said softly, wringing my hands awkwardly. There were a few moments of tense silence before the doorbell rang. Derek made to stand up, but I quickly got to my feet. “No, no, I’ll get it.”

I hurried into the entryway and, making sure none of the Bassetts had followed me, opened the door. Trixie was standing stock-still on the top step, the grubs standing behind her. I stood to the side to allow Trixie to pass, but she didn’t move. Her eyes were filled with anguish and terror. Frowning, I knelt down and laid a hand on her shoulder. “Hey…” I whispered. “It’s okay. Whatever happens, we’re here for you. I promise.”

Trixie slowly nodded and took a shaky first step into her childhood home. I took my phone from Shift and gestured for the grubs to stay outside, then stood up and slowly walked Trixie through the hallway, and into the living room.

The moment she came into view Derek shot up and stood beside Mary and Becky. “What is…” he began, but I quickly cut him off with a rapid hand gesture. I looked down to see Trixie screwing her eyes shut, tears leaking through her eyelids.

“Wait…” said Becky. She slowly stood up and tilted her head to the side as she took Trixie in. “You look familiar…”

This could be good, I thought. I quickly nodded. “Yeah, you… might’ve seen her on TV, you know?”

Trixie slowly opened her eyes and looked at her family. “...hi, guys…” she whispered.

Derek relaxed ever-so-slightly and backed off. “I don’t understand…” he breathed.

While Becky sat down I brought Trixie over to the couch and sat her next to Liz before sitting on the other side. “Like I said, she’s gone through some… major changes.”

“Trixie!” Becky said suddenly, pointing at her. “That’s your name!”

Trixie nodded weakly. “Yeah…”

I looked over at the Bassetts. Mary looked like she was in shock and due to faint at any moment, Becky looked more curious than confused, and Derek looked like he was ready to stop Trixie from consuming the faces of his family.

“You’re really…” Mary said quietly, almost in a whisper. “You’re really our Ray?”

Trixie nodded. “Yes…”

“Why don’t you ask him some questions?” Liz asked suddenly. “Help Trix—help him prove he’s really Ray?”

Derek slowly nodded. “Yeah, that… That might help.” He put a hand to his chin and thought for a moment. “...All right. Your first date. When was it, who was it with, and where did you take her?”

Trixie perked up her ears. “Junior year in high school, with Dana Mosely, and I took her to see a movie… Uh, Chronicle. Afterwards we went to Perry’s Fish House” She looked at Derek. “You drove us,” she finished with a soft smile.

Derek’s eyes slowly widened. Mary leaned forward. “When you were three years old, you had a favorite game that you constantly wanted me to play with you. What was it?”

Trixie laughed. “Road Runner… I’d always want you to try and catch me. You always tried, either to play along or to keep me from breaking anything and everything…” She broke into hysterical sniggers, occasionally broken apart by a soft sniffle. Mary stared at Trixie, her disbelief fading.

Becky was last. She got up and marched towards Trixie before kneeling before her. She laid a hand on her hoof. “When I was a baby…” she said. “You were always there for me. You had a song you’d sing to me if I was crying. It always calmed me down.”

“I never was a good singer…” Trixie said sheepishly.

“What was the song?” Becky asked.

Trixie stared at Becky for a few moments before sighing.

“No more talk of darkness…
Forget these wide-eyed fears…
I’m here, nothing will harm you…
My words will warm and calm you…”

Trixie’s voice was nice, better than I expected, to be honest. I was always a fan of musicals, and I felt this one was a nice choice for a lullaby—gentle and soothing (at the start at least), with, for the most part, fitting lyrics for calming a fearful girl.

Becky’s eyes began filling with tears as a hand came to her mouth. Trixie’s voice trailed off as she took in Becky’s reaction. “...Becky?” She asked.

Becky flung her arms around Trixie’s neck. “It is you!!” She said, her shoulders heaving.

Trixie awkwardly wrapped her forelegs around Becky. “Yes!” She said, breaking down. “Yes, it’s me, it’s me…” She sobbed into Becky’s shoulder.

Derek and Mary slowly stood up, taking in the display—their daughter, hugging a pony that claimed to be their son.

Finally, Mary stepped forward. Liz and I tactfully stood from the couch and allowed the family their space. Derek tentatively approached as Mary sat in Liz’s place and put an arm around Trixie. Liz and I sat in the recently vacated chairs and waited patiently while Derek awkwardly put a hand on Trixie’s shoulder.

Trixie glanced between Mary and Derek. There was a beat, during which the parents looked at each other, before the parents hugged their transformed child, all doubt gone. Trixie cried silently into her sister’s shoulder, her sobs filled with both sadness and joyful relief.

The display gave me a warm feeling—that your family could never leave you, so long as you stayed… you.

It made my impending visit to my own family a bit less foreboding.

After about ten minutes of silence, broken apart by the occasional sniffle or quiet sob, Derek finally looked over to us. “You were telling us how… how this happened?”

I nodded and looked to Becky. “Becky, uh… You seem to know who Trixie is… Does that mean you watched the rest of MLP?”

Becky slipped her arms from around Trixie’s neck and turned to us. “No, I just… I watched a few early episodes, since a lot of guys in school kept gushing about how awesome it apparently was. I thought it was okay, but I didn’t really get into it.”

“That’s okay,” I said, nodding. “Well, see, the series finale involved Discord—an evil spirit of chaos—banishing the ponies from Equestria and conquering it.” I sighed. “The truth is, Equestria—the setting of the show—is real. Everything that happened on the show happened twenty-five years ago. Discord banished every pony he found and, somehow, made them be reborn… as humans.” I nodded at Trixie. “And now, twenty-five years later, the curse is fading, and we’re returning to normal--”

My hands flew to my mouth. Oops.

“‘We’?” Mary asked.

“Not important,” I said quickly, lowering my hand. “See, what I’m saying is… Ray Bassett was… more or less a shell, holding Trixie Lulamoon under a curse. It’s worn off now, and over the course of a few days Ray became less and less human. By the fourth, Ray was a full-blown pony.”

“Is there a way to…” Derek said. “...to make him human again?”

I shrugged. “Short of Discord using his magic on her, I don’t think so.”

“So…” Mary said slowly. “Our Ray is gone?”

Trixie turned to her human mother. “NO! NO, HE’S NOT!!” She cried. “Guys, I may be remembering my past life, more and more as time goes on, but that doesn’t mean the last twenty-five years have been a lie—I know that now!! And I may be different from now on, I may not truly be from… from this world, but… But that doesn’t mean you mean nothing to me. I…” Her breath caught for a moment. “I love you all too much to just forget…” She broke down again. “I don’t want to lose you…”

Mary stared empathetically at her ponyfied child before hugging her close. “...You won’t, sweetie… You won’t…” Becky got up from the floor and squeezed herself between Trixie and Derek before hugging her sibling again.

Derek put his head in his hands. “So… What happens now? I doubt you’ve been able to walk about in public with him like this… Should he stay indoors from now on? Just keep to himself?”

I shook my head. “No. Remember, there are potentially thousands of returning ponies across this nation alone. Odds are, discretion is becoming a less viable option with each passing day.” I shifted uncomfortably. “There’s also something we—the Equestrians, need to do.”

The Bassetts looked up at us, Trixie included. “While Trixie is free to decide for herself,” I explained. “Many other ponies whose memories of their lives are returning, are likely to search for a way home, to stop Discord and… and save Equestria. So while we don’t want to lose track of our human lives, we still have our old home to reclaim.”

“So Ray’s really leaving? Forever?” Becky asked.

I opened my mouth to respond, to quickly tell her we’d come back, but I froze; what if we found Equestria, but found the way there was a one-way road? What if we did have to lose our human lives to reclaim our Equestrian roots? How didn’t I think of this sooner?

“Chris?” Liz asked, breaking me out of my trance.

“It’s fine, I…” I shook my head and looked at Becky. “I don’t know if it would be forever. It could be, I really don’t know.” I looked at Trixie. “But this is your choice, Trixie. We—Liz and I, we’re going to find the other ponies and search for a way home. You don’t have to come with us if you don’t want to.”

Trixie stared at the floor for a few moments. “...I guess I… I need some time, you know? To think.”

I nodded and stood up. “Take all the time you need.” I nodded at Liz, who stood up. I pulled out my cell phone and left it on the table next to the couch. “We’ll be waiting in the truck, just call Liz’s phone when you’ve made a decision, okay?”

Trixie nodded before hugging her family close. “Thank you…” she whispered to us.

                -                -                -                -                -

“You know one of the perks of being a guy?” I asked, an hour later, while I lay in the truck bed as Chrysalis. The usual stomach pains were returning, but by now I was almost jaded about the affair. Liz was sitting in the far corner reading a book under her cellphone’s light, while the grubs were in the cab, asleep.

“Hmm?” She asked.

“When you’re a guy, you don’t have to put up with this ‘miracle of birth’ crap-- GRAAAGH!!”

Splat. I turned around and counted. “...four, five. Putting us at… thirty-five.”

“So, do we know if you can reduce the number of eggs you lay, yet?” Liz asked, peeking over her book.

“If I’m well-fed, I’ll lay them in greater quantities,” I said.

“Maybe we should… take it easy on the feeding, you know?” Liz asked. “I mean, we’ve been spending a lot of time together, maybe we should slow down a little bit.”

I piled the new eggs closer to the others, giving a small amount of love to each—not enough to hatch them, but enough to keep them fed. “I know, but… The thing about changelings is, love isn’t just our only food source… It’s an addiction. When you left after my stunt with Dane’s car, I started going into withdrawal. I turned into Bedford’s cat and fed off her a little bit, just before Trixie showed up.”

“Maybe, in time, you’ll be less dependent on love,” Liz said, closing her book and standing up. “You’ll be able to more easily manage changeling numbers.”

“Yeah…” I said, nodding. “Though that doesn’t solve the issue of feeding the changelings I do birth. Changelings could live as individuals, find ponies to be with, but if our people get too numerous, we might outnumber ponies overall.”

“...What about humans?” Liz asked.

I was still for a moment. “You mean…” I said. “...Changelings living with both ponies and humans?”

Liz nodded. “Essentially. Spread your people out through both worlds, enough so neither world is blanketed by grubs.”

That could work; I wouldn’t be so much the center of a hive mind, and more of an actual queen, making vital decisions for the good of my people, from a political stance. “This is under the assumption that we can keep coming to and from Equestria,” I said.

The word ‘we’ rang in my head, and I looked at Liz. “...What about you?”

“What about me?” Liz asked.

“I can’t ask you to come to Equestria with me…” I said. “You’ve already given up so much to help me through this…”

“Stop.” Liz approached me and put her hands on either side of my face. “If I wasn’t ready for any of this, I would have left a long time ago. I love you, Chrys. No matter how weird, how complicated this gets… I’ll stick with you.”

I lifted a hoof and pressed it to her hand. “I love you…” was all I could really say.

Liz’s phone rang. Liz pulled it out, looked at the caller, then at me. “It’s Trixie.” She answered the phone. “Yeah? ...Okay… Yeah, we’ll be there in a second.” She hung up. “They want us over for dinner.”

                -                -                -                -                -

Leaving the grubs asleep in the truck cab, we went to the Bassett’s home a few minutes later. The smell of fresh dinner reached our nostrils as we entered. “In here, guys,” came Trixie’s voice from a room down the hall from the living room. Liz and I followed the voice and entered a dining room. Trixie was sitting next to Becky, while Mary sat across from them and Derek sat at the head. The table had cold cuts, green beans and corn served on large plates.

“We thought we could at least feed you,” Mary said. “From what Ray has told us, you’ve been so much help to him…”

I gave a sheepish laugh as I sat at the end of the table, while Liz sat next to Mary. “Well, all we did was give her a place to stay.”

“You did a lot more than that,” Trixie said earnestly. “You’ve been the best friends I’ve ever had, and I’ve only known you for two weeks.”

“Please, eat!” Mary said, passing the ham to Derek, who took it in stiff hands. He loaded his plate and handed it to Trixie, who took it in her magic. The appearance of a purple haze around the plate made Derek flinch slightly, but Trixie didn’t notice as she immediately passed the plate to Becky.

Becky frowned as she took the plate. “You don’t want ham?” She asked.

Trixie shook her head sadly. “Can’t eat meat anymore… Pony, and all that.” Becky nodded knowingly and loaded her plate before handing the platter to me. I quickly handed it off to Liz, earning a look from the Bassetts.

“I’m… affected the same way Trixie is, sort of. Not exactly a pony, but I can’t eat… well, anything.”

Derek raised an eyebrow. “How have you changed?” He asked.

“I’d rather not say…” I said, looking down at my empty plate.

“Honey, it’s not important…” Mary said to Derek, putting a hand on his. Derek nodded slowly and began to eat as Liz passed the ham over to Mary.

The meal proceeded in silence. I kept looking at Trixie, expecting her to relay her decision, but she kept eating her corn and green beans. She tried to look calm, but there was a sadness still visible, deep in her eyes.

“So, what do you guys do?” Liz asked, breaking the ice.

“Well, I’m a sculptor and part-time architect,” Mary said conversationally. “I’ve helped design a couple places around town, but most of our income comes from the pieces I’ve sold.”

I looked in the corner to see a lovely lamp, built from chrome, looping up from a foot-wide base and into shape like a curved blade of grass. At the point where the shaft ended, the light bulb was screwed in, shining light that reflected off the curved end and illuminating the room. “Did you make that?” I asked.

“One of my first pieces,” Mary said proudly. “People liked the design, so I’ve made some more to sell, but that one’s the very first. I could never part with it.”

“How about you, Derek?” Liz asked as I turned back towards the table.

“I’m a middle-school teacher,” Derek said, not looking up from his plate. “Teaching science, chemistry, stuff like that.”

I glanced over at Becky and smiled. “Were you in his class when you were in middle school?”

Becky nodded. “He didn’t give me any free passes…” she snickered.

“Still, if you needed help with the class, you didn’t have to go far,” I said, nodding. “So, how about you, Becky? You got any big plans for when you’re out of high school?”

“I’m graduating next year,” Becky said. “Afterwards I’m going to college, locally. I wanna be a novelist, like Rowling or Adams…”

“If you say ‘Meyer’, I’m gonna flip,” I said, mock-sternly. Becky broke into snorting laughter while Trixie tried, and failed, to hide her own snickering.

“So, what about you, Chris?” Mary asked. “What do you do?”

I felt my throat become scratchy, as it does when faced with a potentially bad situation. “Er, I was going to University of Maine Augusta. Was looking to get a liberal studies major, just a ‘jack of all trades’ kinda thing to have under my belt while I figure out what I really want to do.”

“You were going?” Derek asked calmly, taking another bite without looking up.

“Yeah, uh, things got… complicated.” I wringed my hands in my lap.

“And you, Liz?” Mary asked, in the loud tone that begs for a change of subject.

“I was going for Psychology,” Liz said. “I like helping people get past the hurdles life throws at you, you know? Sometimes you just don’t know what to do.”

I looked over at Trixie. “And Trixie said she wanted to run track…”

“He.”

All eyes fell on Derek, who was finally looking up.

Ooohh boy, I thought.

“‘Ray said he wanted to run track,’” Derek said, dangerously.

I nodded. “Yes, Trixie and Ray are one in the same,” I said slowly. “We’ve just… We’ve grown accustomed to calling her that.”

“Dad, it’s fine…” Trixie said carefully. “I don’t care either way…”

“I care!” Derek said. “My son—my twenty-five year old son—comes home one day, not only as an… alien, but as a female?!”

“That’s what’s bothering you?!” I asked, aghast.

“Yes! I mean, no!! I just—URGH!!” Derek stood up. “My son’s life is gone, and every time you call him by that name is just another reminder of that, hammered into my skull!! That all the years I spent loving him, supporting him, giving him everything a father could give—they were all for nothing?!”

“Of course they weren’t!!” I argued, standing up. “I mean, yeah, Trixie might not know the life you’d expected, but that doesn’t mean you’ve wasted anything on her!!”

Trixie stood up. “Stop! Please!!”

“Ray had so much going for him!!” Derek yelled. “Graduation, wedding day, kids… And all of that’s been pissed away!!”

“I know!” I yelled. “Believe me, I know!!”

“HOW?!” Derek roared. “HOW DO YOU KNOW?! HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY UNDERSTAND WHAT HE FACES?!”

I glowered at him for a moment.

I changed form. In an instant, I stood as Chrysalis before the Bassetts, knocking the chair behind me over. Mary and Becky screamed as Derek stumbled back and collided painfully with the wall behind him. Liz and Trixie stared at me, surprised.

“I may have a few... advantages…” I said slowly, trying to remain calm. “But that doesn’t mean I can just live my human life. I can’t ignore what I’ve become, but I don’t have to forget who I was—who I still am. Yes, our human lives are, as far as I can see, out of reach. But we can’t just give up. We may not live the lives we’d intended, but we’ll live… As happily as we can. Because really, that’s all one can really ask for in the long run.”

I turned back into Chris, put the chair back on its legs and sat down. The Bassetts stared at me for a few agonizing moments. I was worried Derek might go upstairs and get a gun or something, but instead he slowly sat back in his chair, never taking his eyes off me. Trixie sat beside him, staring at her plate.

The six of us remained perfectly still for a few silent minutes. Finally, Trixie spoke up. “Guys? ...I’m going with them.”

Derek, Mary and Becky all turned to her. “What?!” Derek asked.

“I… I can’t just sit idly by. My home—my true home, is being twisted and corrupted by a mad god… I don’t want to just wait here and hope for things to work out. I need to go with them, to help them in any way I can. I don’t know if we’ll be able to find a way there, but I’ll feel better that I tried. I don’t know if I’ll come back—and believe me, I hope I do. But my friends are putting themselves at risk. I owe them nothing less.”

Derek stared at Trixie mournfully. “But…”

“I love you guys more than anything…” Trixie said, looking between her parents and her sister. “But… but I have a duty to Equestria. One way or another, I need to see it through.”

Becky stood up and laid a hand on Trixie’s shoulder. “I think you should go.”

“Becky!” Derek said.

“If this is something you feel you need to do, then we have no right to stop you,” Becky said, ignoring Derek’s protest. “And I know you’ll make every effort to come back home.”

Trixie looked at her sister lovingly before standing up, rearing back and throwing her forelegs around Becky’s shoulders. “I love you, Becky… I love you all so much.”

Mary stood up, walked around the table and knelt beside Trixie, who detached from Becky. “I know you’re still my baby boy…”

To an extent, I thought, opting to keep that thought to myself.

“And even though I’m sad I may not see what every parent hopes to see their children do… I know this doesn’t have to change everything. Just promise me, Ray… Promise me, you’ll come home, safe and sound.”

Trixie nodded quickly and hugged her mother. “I promise,” she said firmly.

I looked to Derek, who slowly stood up, his eyes closed. He walked over to Trixie, breathing deep through his nose. Finally, he opened his eyes, knelt next to Trixie, and nodded. “I…” he began, but his words died in his throat.

Trixie hugged him. “I know, Dad. It’s okay. I love you, too.”

Derek slowly returned the hug. “Just be safe…” he whispered. “For all of our sakes…”

                -                -                -                -                -

I pulled the truck up the street and parked it in front of the Bassett’s residence. It was about 7PM now; I wanted to get to my parents’ place in St. Louis by the following night. I was in no rush, and I hated to deny Trixie more time to say goodbye to her family, but she seemed to have said everything that could have been said. Liz came out of the house and stood by the front step as the silhouette of Trixie and her family gave one last, tight embrace.



“I think so…” I said. “I can only hope talking to my own family goes this well.”

“How do you think they’ll react to us?” Shift asked.

“Honestly, I envy Trixie, in that her situation was, however marginally, more simple than my own,” I said. “I dunno, maybe things will go smoothly, or maybe Dad will chase us from the house with a 12-gauge that I… don’t know if he actually has. The point is, we won’t know until we get there. Okay, looks like they’re wrapping up.” Liz was walking with Trixie down the front steps, Trixie draped in a coat in a poor attempt at concealment. It was dark, though, and there wasn’t anyone on the street.

The grubs scooted over as the door opened and Trixie clambered in. Liz sat beside me. “Everything okay?” I asked.

Liz nodded. “Yeah, I think so…”

I looked back at Trixie, who was staring out her window at the house. “...You alright?” I asked.

“...Yeah…” Trixie said, nodding slowly. “Yeah, I think I am.” Her eyes were still red with tears, but otherwise she seemed… content, for the most part.

“Hey,” I said, reaching a hand back; Trixie looked at me. “We’re here if you need us, okay?”

Trixie looked at my hand for a moment, then put a hoof in it. “Thanks, Chrys… For everything.”

I smiled, then faced forward again. “Okay, today’s drive was just a warmup. No sleep ‘till Missouri!”

> A Canonically-Ambiguous Christmas Spectacular!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

December 25th, 2020
Royal Hive, St. Louis, MO

Digit sank her fangs into her prize and tore it open, exposing its innards. Tearing a bigger hole she beheld the bounty within.

"A PS4!!" She shrieked joyfully, ripping the rest of the paper and holding the box close. With a burst of flame she turned into a young boy in his footsies. "OH MY GOOOOOOD!!"

Liz and I, sitting on the couch, winced from her (almost literally) earsplitting scream.. "YES, DIGIT, IT IS," I called over her joyful cries.

Digit immediately resumed her normal form, flew up and hugged us tight. "THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU..."

Liz looked at me from behind Digit's head and smiled. I grinned back and put a foreleg around Digit. "No problem, baby. Go take it for a spin, huh?"

In the blink of an eye—literally—Digit and her console were gone, running into the living room, where the sounds of cardboard and plastic being torn asunder could be heard.

"Couldn't we have just given her your old one?" Liz whispered out the corner of her mouth. "I mean, it's not like you have time to play it anymore..."

"Didn't want it to feel like a hand-me-down," I said. "Plus, you know, Christmas and all..." I turned to Shift and Echo, who were sitting patiently across from us in front of the tree. They were each cradling their gifts, ready to tear them open at a moment's notice, like a dog with a treat balanced on its nose. Shift's was just a crate, somewhat larger than him, with just a bow taped to the corner, while Echo's was a 2'x2'x1' rectangular package.

I gave a single nod. The sound of Echo carefully opening her present was quickly drowned out by strained wood as Shift wrapped his magic around the edge of the crate's front face and pulled with all his might. Finally, with a loud SNAP, the front fell down. Inside was a ponyquin, one of few that had survived Discord's 25 year reign, in the Carousel Boutique. Rarity was kind enough to loan it to me for the holiday. It was draped in green-black armor that covered the legs and body, separating at key points to allow full mobility. The helmet was designed to look like a changeling head, but was actually built from the finest dragon scales available.

Shift stared at the armor, his mouth quivering. "I-I..."

I got up from the couch and stood at his side. "This armor, for centuries before Discord's uprising, was worn by the greatest generals of our people. The cuirass and legplates are built from the chitin of those who fell in battle... Those who consented, of course; that way, even if the battle was not won that day, they could contribute to our future." I turned to Shift, whose slack jaw was slowly reaching the floor. "And today, my dear Shift, you shall be granted this honor."

Shift immediately turned to me and stood at attention. He looked professional, but the look in his eyes told me he was still in shock. "My queen--Mother, I... I'm not..."

"Hush, Shift." I cradled his head in a hoof for a moment before rising to my full height. "Shift. I, Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings, hereby appoint you as General of the Swarm. You will lead all of our military efforts, to defend and oppose those who would wish us, the ponies or the humans, harm. Do you accept this charge?"

Shift's eyes flashed, and he straightened up, all doubt gone. "I do, my Queen."

Nodding, I lifted the armor, piece by piece, in my magic from the ponyquin and over Shift. Shift didn't so much as blink as each piece locked firmly around his body. Finally, I placed the helmet reverently on his head. "I know you will not fail me, General Shift."

Shift nodded once, pride gleaming in his eye.

I dropped the seriousness. "I expect pics of this on Facebook within the hour." Shift frowned for a moment before giving a single laugh and marching off, getting a feel for his new garb.

I turned to Echo, who had been watching silently. "Will we really have any more adversity ahead of us, mother?" She asked. "I mean, with Discord gone..."

"Peace is good and all, Echo," I said, laying beside her. "But it only takes one person to spoil it for everyone else." I glanced at her gift. "So?"

Echo looked down. "...Oh!" She'd been so focused on Shift's gift that she'd completely forgotten about hers. It was a very large tome, with a purple cover and gold plates lining the spine. The front had the image of a wizard hat emblazoned upon it, surrounded by sparks of magic. "This is..."

"One of the first tomes of Starswirl the Bearded," I said. "Needed to call in a couple favors with Twilight to get this, but... I think it's worth it."

Echo gently opened the book to the first page. "...Mother, this is... These are Starswirl's notes! Blueprints to some of his first spells!"

I put a foreleg around her. "Yep."

Echo looked up at me. "Mother, there are spells in here I can't even imagine!!"

"Well, look 'em up!" I said, encouragingly. "Echo, you're a Royal. The first one I've laid in a long time. That means you're first in line to replace me someday. It'll help to have these spells under your belt when you take command."

"But it could..." Echo began.

"You have years," I interrupted. "Trust me, Echo; these spells could be what you need to keep our people safe. Maybe not today, or tomorrow... But someday." I kissed her on the head. "You're ready. I know you are."

Echo looked up at me, tears filling her emerald eyes. She wrapped her forelegs around my neck and hugged me. "I love you, mother..."

I hugged her back. "I love you, too. Try not to blow yourself up, changeling blood stains."

Echo nodded, lifted the book delicately in her magic and trotted out of the chamber, up the stairs and to her room. I turned to Liz, who had been silent the whole time, looking at her hands. "Something wrong?" I asked.

Liz looked up. "Oh, no, it's nothing. It just seemed like a changeling-thing, thought I'd keep out of it..."

I sat beside her and pulled her close. "Come on, now..."

She sighed. "Do I really have a place here? I mean, I know I said I'd stay with you, it's just... Where do I fit in with all this, other than being your... Oh, what's that word, someone dating royalty—consort! Yeah... Where do I fit in? I mean, here you are, appointing Generals, preparing your successor..."

I pulled her face towards mine and kissed her. It still felt weird, kissing her with an equine mouth, but I didn't care. Our lips parted. "Your place is with me. Being with me doesn't mean you're obligated to do anything here."

"So you're saying I'm useless..." Liz said, raising an eyebrow.

"Okay, that came out wrong," I said, biting my lip. "...Okay, you know what? You're the royal chef," I said in a very 'royal' tone. "Your duty is to keep Her Majesty well nourished."

Liz laughed and shoved my shoulder. "Veeeery funny."

"The Queen is accosted by the Royal Chef!" I yelled in mock outrage. "This is treason of the highest order! Your judgment shall be swift and merciless!!" My horn lit up.

Liz, in mock-fright, cowered. "Eek! Forgive me, your highness!"

"You are beyond redemption!" I said, levitating an object out from behind the couch and holding it between us. "Your sentence shall be the gravest I can give, in my authority as Queen! Your sentence is..."

Liz opened her eyes and looked at the object. Her smile vanished, and her eyes widened. "Wait..."

I got off the couch, turned into Chris and grasped the small, red box in my hands. I opened it.

"...a lifetime with me," I said softly. "...If you'll have me."
> Chapter 22: Dread
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 22: Dread

May 18th

“...so Prima’s about to pretty much turn me into a stain, right?” I said. “And I have one of those, ‘welp, I’m fucked’ moments where I’m sure I have no way out.”

It was about 12:30pm the next day. We’d spent the whole night driving cross-country, Liz and I 
swapping out every few hours so the other could take a nap in the front passenger seat. I was turned towards the back and explaining what happened with Prima, just to kill time.

“So, what happened?!” Digit asked, bouncing in her seat.

“Well, I kinda realized I hadn’t even touched the surface of what our people can do,” I said. “I mean, I was just flying around, throwing magic at her, despite having goddamn shapeshifting powers at my disposal. It’s like having an ‘Anti-Everything Cannon’ at your fingertips, but you’re content with just tossing pebbles at your enemies. So I… got a little creative. And by ‘creative’ I mean I just changed into a few game characters and annihilated her.”

“Annihilated how?” Trixie asked.

“As in, when I was finished I could’ve spread her on toast,” I said. “I mean, I was brutal. I sliced her up, grinded her foreleg to shreds, hell, I turned into a damn T-Rex and just...” I made a few gnashing noises. “I swear, I was seeing red the whole time.”

“Don’t you think that might’ve been a bit much?” Liz asked. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, Prima had it coming, but… Don’t you think that might’ve been overkill?”

I turned to her. “She wouldn’t have treated me any better,” I said, in a serious tone. “Besides, she threatened you—threatened everyone I care about. When I fight someone with stakes like that, I’m gonna go for the eyes. I might’ve went a little Cupcakes, yeah, but it was the only way I could get Prima to stay down. And I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”

Liz didn’t say anything, simply keeping her eyes on the road. “Hey,” I said, reaching over. Liz hesitated, then slowly took my hand. “If it bothers you…”

Liz squeezed my hand. “It’s okay… You’re right. While it might’ve been… harsh, you did what had to be done.”

“So what happened next?” Digit asked, eager to veer away from the grimmer topics.

“So, Prima’s basically finished, right?” I said, turning back to the grubs. “And I’m… wondering if I should… put her out of her misery.” I realized that this part of the story wasn’t as fun as the little fangasm. “...I decide it’s for the best; she’s in pain, she’s been manipulated, and god knows what Discord would do to her if I let her live.”

“Unfortunately, Discord himself shows up, knocks me for a loop, and takes Prima away—more likely for the sake of dispensing punishment. I don’t know what he’s doing, but… I actually feel sorry for Prima.” I laid my head on the seatback. “Call me crazy but… I wish there was something I could do to help her.”

“Won’t stopping Discord be considered helping her?” Digit asked.

I shrugged. “Maybe.” I faced forward in my seat and leaned my head back. We were passing a sign relaying an upcoming exit towards St. Louis. “We’re almost there.” I pulled out my cell phone; my sisters and I’d been texting each other during the past two days.

“Should be there in 20 mins,” I texted them. After a minute I got a reply from Penny, the younger-older sibling.

“Can’t u tell me something about what this is?”

“It isn’t something I can explain through texting or phone calls,” I replied; then, feeling that wasn’t enough, I continued. “I know you and Sarah came a long way on my word alone, and I appreciate that. But this is something too serious to keep from you guys.”

There were a couple minutes, then Penny texted back. “Okay. But I want you to tell us everything. Everything. Mom says she can’t wait to meet Liz.”

I smiled. “Liz is excited too. Love you.” I put my phone away as Liz took the exit.

                -                -                -                -                -

My breathing was heavy as I gave Liz directions. My parents and I had lived in Maine my entire life, but when I was ready to take care of myself they decided to move back to St. Louis, where my mom had grown up. I’d been here enough times over summer and winter vacations to have a pretty clear picture of where to go, give or take a couple vague turns. We headed towards the northern reaches of the city, close to the river. Finally, we pulled into a small neighborhood.

“...and it’s that house at the corner of the bend,” I directed, pointing at the small brown house. I could see my parent’s car parked in the driveway, as well as an unfamiliar one that I assumed to be my sisters’ rental.

“It’s cute,” Liz complimented. “Was that the house your mom grew up in?”

“Yep,” I said. “They’ve been sending stuff there for a long time, ready for when they wanted to retire.” I let out a heavy exhale. Liz looked over at me.

“Are you ready for this?” She asked, placing a hand on my shoulder as we pulled up in front of the house.

I wasn’t sure if I had a way to explain the pit I could feel in my stomach, so I resigned to shaking my head. Somehow I felt that Trixie had dealt with this sense of dread much better than I could ever hope to. “I’m scared. I’m just… scared.”

I felt a hoof fall on my shoulder. “Hey,” Trixie said. “Like you were there for me, I’m there for you.”

“We both are,” Liz said.

“All of us!” Digit chirped as I felt her hug me from behind, damn near strangling me.

I smiled. “...I love you, guys…” I took one last, deep breath. “Okay… Same plan as yesterday. Liz and I go in…” I pulled out my cell and handed it to Shift. “We’ll call when you can come in.” I opened the door and clambered out of the truck. Liz and I headed up the front walk; my legs felt weak and I almost needed to cling to Liz for support. We climbed up the steps; I raised a heavy fist and knocked.

This was it. I’d have to tell them. Tell them who I was, what I was, what I did for a living, what I’d already done…

I felt myself break into a cold sweat. My breathing became irregular. I squeezed Liz’s hand. “I don’t know…”

She squeezed mine back and held me close. “It’ll be okay. It’ll be okay…”

The door opened. Penny stood in the doorframe. Penny was the ‘middle child’ of our family, but had long outgrown the ‘trials’ a middle child often faces. She was about half a foot shorter than me, with dirty blonde hair and glasses. She’d become a middle school teacher out in Kentucky, and often had great things to say about the classes she had every term. Penny and I had our usual sibling spats, years ago, but we’d grown up and had gotten much closer as we matured. Penny was one of the first people who I’d revealed my bronyhood to; she was very understanding, and even enjoyed the show herself. I wondered if her knowledge of Chrysalis—of me—would keep her from panicking at the ‘big reveal’.

She smiled as she took me in. “Hey…” she said. Momentarily forgetting my preemptive freakout, I quickly pulled her in for a hug.

“Hey…” I said back, giving her a peck on the cheek. “Listen, thanks so much for coming out here…”

Penny hugged me back. “It’s no problem…” she said. We broke the hug, and she looked at Liz. “This is Liz?”

Liz nodded and held out her hand. “Yeah, hi… Chris has told me a lot about you guys.”

“Good or bad?” Penny laughed.

Liz looked at me coyly. “Chris, how much is my silence worth to you?” The three of us laughed as a voice called from inside the house.

“Penny, is that them?”

“Come on in!” Penny said, stepping aside and letting us in. “Yes, mom!”

We entered the front entryway as my mother came hurrying from the kitchen at the far end of the hall. “Hellooooo!” She said joyfully, hurrying forward and hugging me tight. Mom was roughly my height with short brown hair, and had worked with my dad as actuaries for several years, running a small pension business back in Maine. Mom was, like many mothers, a delight to be around when happy, an absolute nightmare when angry.

“Hey, mom…” I said, hugging her back. The smile on her face, the loving hug, somehow it felt like it was pressing down on the dread deep in my chest, ready to let it spring like a Jack in the Box of Despair. I feared what I’d have to tell them would ruin what they felt would be a happy reunion…

Mom broke off the hug and looked at Liz. “And this is Liz?” She asked, before hugging Liz as well. Liz looked somewhat surprised for a moment, but quickly took the hug. My mom was always a hugger. “I’m so glad you two could come!” Mom said happily as she released Liz. “Come on, take a look at what we’ve done with the den!”

Liz, Penny and I followed Mom out of the entryway, off to the right and into the den. It had a very fancy leather couch in the middle of the room, with a gorgeous table in front of it, and several expensive-looking wooden chairs on the far side. “I got these for a real steal!” Mom said eagerly as she displayed the new furniture. “Some of these things are worth hundreds, even thousands!”

I instinctively readied a joke about promising to eat all my meals on the priceless furniture, but they all died in my throat. Liz sensed my stress and took my hand gently. Her support, plus the little boost of love from her, helped keep me on my feet.

“Hey there!” I turned to see my dad in the doorway. My dad was a fairly serious guy, capable of telling jokes though not very strong on the emotional side, but I loved him nonetheless. He was somewhat shorter than me, and was wearing his old Rutgers sweatshirt.

Behind him stood my sister, Sarah, the oldest. She had head-length brown hair tied into a ponytail, and wore a simple blue blouse. Sarah was always the sweeter sister, always willing to take me out to eat or just wanting to hug me; it got a little exasperating at times, but never suffocating.

I came forward and gave my dad a big hug. “Hey, guys…” I said, breaking off and hugging Sarah, who hugged me tight.

“Hey, babe!” She said, kissing me on the cheek. “How’s school going?”

I actually hadn’t even thought about classes since the 1st. I wondered if I should feel bad about almost completely forsaking them. “They’re good,” I said, lying through my teeth.

We spent a few minutes catching up, introducing Liz and asking if there were any troubles in getting here. Every passing minute made the pit in my stomach widen. I almost wanted to throw up. I was never one for delivering bad news; I wasn’t sure if this qualified as bad news, but it was still major enough and could very well turn out badly.

Gotta bite the bullet… I thought, before inhaling deeply.

“Everyone…” I said loudly, my voice cracking. The family was silenced. “If we could please sit down, we really need to talk about something…” Sarah and Penny, who’d been expecting some major development, immediately sat down on the couch. Mom and Dad exchanged confused glances before doing the same as Liz and I headed to the chairs on the other side of the coffee table.

Mom peered out the window. “...Did you come in that moving truck?”

I nodded. “Yeah, but we’ll get to that later.” My voice was faint, and I could practically feel my face paling.

This was it.

“Guys…” I began. “I… About three weeks ago, I started going through something…” Christ, this was so much easier when I was explaining what had happened to Trixie. “...I assume you’ve heard about weird happenings around the country? The… terrorist attacks in Vancouver and Seattle, the weird… flier over the Canadian border? Well, they’re… connected to a phenomenon that’s… affecting hundreds, thousands, across the world… Myself included.”

I paused. Churning this stuff out was painful. My face was drenched with sweat, and my head felt airy and light. My family had mixed expressions of confusion, concern and, most of all, fear. Just like Trixie’s family.

I breathed deep. “What’s happening to me is more different than anyone else who’s affected. I can… do things… Things that you’d probably find frightening…” I inhaled.

“Guys, I’ve changed, and I’m pretty sure there’s no way to turn back.”

Liz took my hand. I hung my head, taking deep, calming breaths. “How have you changed?” My mom asked.

I screwed my eyes shut. “I… I don’t want to show you, but I have to… What’s happened to me has changed… everything. And I don’t want to shut you all out… I…”

I couldn’t stall anymore. Here it was; the moment I’d been dreading the most, the moment I feared would convince my family that I was a monster, that would make me lose them forever.

I stood up and pushed the chair aside. Keeping my eyes closed, I tried to keep the sense of love I’d felt when I’d entered the house as vivid as I could.

I dropped my human guise.

I kept my eyes shut tight as I stood there, feeling tears flooding behind my eyelids. My family was silent, likely left with their mouths agape in shock. I took a shuddering breath.

“This is who I really am. For the past twenty-five years, the life I’ve known was… was, in reality, exile… As it was for the thousands affected. The people who are changing are, in actuality, returning to the true forms they lost decades ago. I remember who I truly am, what I truly am…”

“I am Chrysalis, the Queen of the Changelings.”

I opened my eyes. My family was stock-still on the couch, their eyes wide with shock. I felt tears stream down my face; I quickly took human form again, pulled the chair up and collapsed into it, putting my face in my hands. I had nothing else I could say; all I could do was wait for what my family had to say.

Liz spoke up. “Chrys wanted to come here because she—he… Well, because he and everyone else who is… changing, they have no way back. As far as we know, there’s no way for them to become human again… They had lives before their human lives; friends, family, loved ones, in their homeland, twenty-five years ago. Chrys remembers his old life, remembers the duties he must perform… Chrysalis is responsible for protecting, leading the Changeling Race, and now that Chrys remembers, he… He has to live up to his responsibilities.”

“But Chrys wanted to come here, to see all of you, because… Because he loves you all too much. He doesn’t think the last twenty-five years have been meaningless. He wants you to know that he really hasn’t changed that much, at least on the inside. He wants you to know that, no matter what happens now, where this takes him… He loves you all.”

I heard Liz lift her chair and move it closer to me. She wrapped her arms around my shoulders and pulled me close, stroking my head. My eyes were burning with tears now, my face was sticky and sore, and my breathing was shallow and quiet. I took Liz’s hand and grasped it tight; I had no way of telling her how grateful I was.

My family remained quiet. They hadn’t screamed, panicked, shouted at me to get out… at least not yet. I still had no way of knowing what was going through their heads, and the silence was starting to get a little worrisome. Maybe I’d need to answer some questions, to prove that I really was—

I heard someone get off the couch. I opened one reddened eye to see Penny walking around the coffee table and approaching me. She knelt in front of me, her face lined with sympathy.

“I know you’re still my brother.”

I opened the other eye. “What?”

Penny put a hand on my knee. “There have been times when you were sad, devastated, miserable… I’d seen you in those times, feeling like you were going to lose everything… Just like I see that look now.”

I blinked; she knew I was telling the truth because of how I was crying?

“Chris, I… This is a major, major change… And I think you’re really brave to come to us with it. To do everything to show us that you haven’t really changed all that much. We love you—I love you, no matter what you do, who you are, or even what you are.” She smiled. “You know that.”

I smiled back before slowly sliding onto the floor and hugging her tightly.

I broke down. A sob escaped me. Then another. And another. I cried into my sister’s shoulder, my shoulders heaving violently with each sob.

I felt her love pouring from her like an open wound, drowning out the fear and dread I’d felt since I’d arrived. And before long, I noticed it wasn’t just coming from her. I could feel it coming from…

I glanced up. Mom, Dad and Sarah were getting up off the couch as well. They all sat around me and hugged me as well. Mom and Sarah’s eyes were flooding with tears—hell, I even think dad’s eyes were glistening a little bit—as we joined together.

I had lived for over seven hundred years. I had fed off of the most bountiful sources of love known to all of Equis, had gained the strength to overthrow kings, warlords, even Celestia herself…

None of it had been as pure, as undying, as the love I was getting from my family.

But it wasn’t the power I cared about.

Not anymore.

> Chapter 23: Beckoning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 23: Beckoning

“They’ve been in there for a while…” Digit said, her nose pressed against the window as she stared at the house. It had been an hour since Chrys and Liz had went into the house. The grubs had climbed into the front seats, while I got the whole back row to myself. Shift and Echo had fallen asleep, leaning against each other adorably.

I yawned. “They have a lot to talk about,” I said. “Give ‘em time.”

Digit looked back at me. “So the humans in there are our family?” She asked.

I bit my lip. “In a way…” I said. “I mean, your mother isn’t exactly human anymore, but like me she never wanted to lose the family she’s known for the past twenty-five years. They fed her, raised her, loved her—if that doesn’t make them her family, I dunno what does.”

“Do you think they’ll… consider us family?” Digit gestured to herself and her sleeping siblings. “We were never human…”

I smiled, sat up and laid a hoof on Digit’s shoulder. “You’re Chrys’ children. I’m fairly certain that’ll make you family.”

Movement out of the corner of my eye made us glance towards the house. Digit reached back and shook Echo’s shoulder. “Guys!” She said quietly. Echo and Shift woke up quickly, shaking the sleep from their heads as Chrys emerged from the house.

                -                -                -                -                -

For the next hour, I explained everything that had happened since my birthday; becoming Chrysalis, meeting Trixie, encountering Prima, laying the eggs, and, finally, remembering… everything. I even included the ‘schizophrenia’, though I downplayed it as much as I could; no doubt they didn’t need more to worry about. I gave every detail I could, answered every question my family had. There weren’t many—either they were too shocked to come up with any questions or the situation wasn’t quite as complex as I’d thought… Probably the former.

“And that’s it…” I said, finally. I sank into the chair across from the couch, exhaling deeply. “I know this whole thing’s… well, screwed, but… Call me crazy, but, it could have turned out a whole lot worse.”

Mom was staring out the window at the truck. “So you came in the truck because you… have a lot of eggs?”

I nodded. “Yep. I’m laying more everyday… And probably a LOT more, before too long.” I patted my stomach.

“You have children…” Mom said softly, before turning to Dad. “Eric, our baby… has children!”

Dad laid a hand on Mom’s leg as he stared blankly at the floor. “This is insane…”

I snickered. “Put lightly, yes…” I bit my lip for a moment. “...I’ve hatched three of them… Do you wanna meet them?”

My family looked at me, surprised. “Your… babies?” Sarah asked.

“Not so much babies anymore…” I said. “Changelings age quickly. They’re more like teens or young adults. Two girls and a boy.” I turned to Liz. “I’ll go get ‘em.” I stood up and headed towards the entryway. “I’ll have Trixie come in, too. I want you to meet her. Liz, could you close the blinds so the grubs can look… normal, you know?”

Liz nodded as I walked out the front door. As it shut behind me I relished in the cool air on my skin. I actually felt silly for being so afraid of telling my family… Hell, it reminded me of when I told them of my bronyhood, only on a much, much bigger scale.

I walked towards the truck, seeing the grubs and Trixie watching my approach. I wondered if the other ponies had been doing the same thing we’d been doing… Keeping in touch with their families, not thinking their humanities were mere shams…

I almost bumped into the truck. Shaking my head I reached up and opened both the doors. “It go okay?” Trixie asked, though she seemed to know the answer.

I nodded. “I want you guys to meet the family.”

“Are you sure?” Echo asked. “I mean, will they really consider us--”

I cut her off. “Yes. You’re my children, and I’m their family. They’ll love you all the same.” I looked to Trixie. “I want you to come, too. I met your family, it’s only fair you meet mine.”

Trixie hesitated a little bit, then nodded. I triple checked to make sure the street was empty, then gestured for her to come out as the grubs climbed out of the cab. Same as before we surrounded Trixie and walked towards the house.

I glanced down at Trixie. “...You know, we really need to get your hat and cape back. You look naked without ‘em.”

Trixie smiled. “Glad to see you’ve cheered up.”

I looked at the house, feeling a great warmth inside. “I guess I worried for nothing.” I looked to the grubs. “Now, kids, best behavior with your grandparents and aunts. We’re closing the blinds so you can ‘go casual’, so to speak. And don’t be nervous; they’re gonna love you all.” I noticed Shift’s eyes lighting up. “But don’t think of them as food sources. They’re relatives. Loved ones. Love them back.”

Shift blinked a few times; I half expected Shift.exe to stop working before he finally nodded. “Very well, mother…”

I tousled his hair. “And crack a smile or two; loosen up.” We approached the door. “All right, here we go,” I said before opening the door.

We filed into the house. I led the grubs and Trixie into the living room, where Liz and my family hadn’t moved. We walked around the couch and stood next to Liz. “Guys,” I announced to my family. “This is Trixie…”

“Hi,” Trixie said, a little awkwardly, with a small wave of the hoof.

“And these are my children…” I continued. “Digit…”

“Hi!” Digit said eagerly.

“Shift…”

“Hello…” Shift said; his smile actually looked genuine.

“And Echo.”

“Hi,” Echo said, wringing her hands nervously.

My family stared, awestruck, at the grubs. “So…” Penny said. “These are their… disguises?”

I looked to make sure the blinds were drawn before nodding. “Yep. Kids, go ahead.”

With three bursts of green flame the grubs took their normal forms. My family jumped in surprise, but quickly relaxed.

There was a long, long pause. My family stared at the grubs and Trixie, unable to find their voices. Really, what do you say when your son or brother comes to you as an alien queen and shows you his/her new children?

Finally, Sarah got up; Penny followed suit, and my sisters walked around the table and knelt before the grubs. “Hi…” Sarah said gently.

Digit smiled and stepped forward. “Hi, Aunt Sarah! Hi, Aunt Penny!” She sat in front of her aunts, not dropping her smile. “I couldn’t wait to meet you! Mom told us a lot about when you were kids!”

My family took a glance at me at the word ‘Mom’ being dropped. I stared off to the side, biting my lip awkwardly. Since I’d gained my true memories I’d sort of… loosened up, in a sense. I tried not to consider myself a boy or a girl. Changelings often learn to not let gender color their perspectives, either on disguising themselves or harvesting love. Nowadays I occasionally referred to us, jokingly, as the ‘Asari of Equis’. I was still rather unsure about what I’d prefer Liz and Trixie to refer to me as, in terms of ‘he and she’. They’d taken to calling me Chrys, the “best of both worlds”, but otherwise the issue seemed as gray to them as it did me.

Penny slowly reached out and stroked Digit’s head with the ends of her fingers. Digit quickly pushed her head into Penny’s hand, like a contented cat. Penny smiled—a sight I often enjoyed seeing—and sat down with her legs crossed. Sarah did the same as Shift and Echo tentatively approached.

“Hello…” Shift said awkwardly, rubbing a foreleg uncertainly. He glanced to Echo, a pleading look in his eyes.

Echo rolled her eyes (which is impressive, when you’re of a race that doesn’t have pupils), and sat beside Sarah. “Mother was anxious to talk to you,” she said. “You really mean a lot to her.”

Sarah smiled, her eyes glistening somewhat. “I know… Chris means a lot to us, too.” Slowly, she wrapped an arm around Echo and pulled her close. Echo hugged Sarah to her, lovingly nestling her head in her aunt’s shoulder. Shift hesitantly stepped forward and sat between Sarah and Penny, unsure of how to proceed. Penny finally broke the ice by putting an arm around him. Shift looked at the arm draped around him in confusion before softly smiling and nuzzling Penny.

My parents finally decided to step in, getting off the couch and approaching the grubs. Digit immediately walked up to them, beaming. Mom knelt before her, a small smile on her face, and gingerly stroked the side of Digit’s head. Digit immediately reared up and threw her forelegs around her grandmother’s shoulders in a hug. If Mom was uncomfortable about the weird bug-horse alien creature hugging her, she hid it well as she smiled warmly and hugged Digit back. Dad seemed quick to adjust, grinning happily as he knelt before Shift and Echo. He pulled the pair in close for a hug, which the two happily accepted.

Liz grinned at me as we watched the introductions. I put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close, watching happily as my family lovingly embraced, welcomed, my children. Trixie watched patiently, smiling warmly at the proceedings; she seemed happy that things had worked out.

I could feel tears of joy falling down my cheeks. This whole affair—the transformation, learning the truth, the sudden burden of responsibility I’d need to bear… It wasn’t quite the disaster it could have been.

My family—my human family—not only understood and sympathized with what had happened to their son, they still accepted, embraced, loved me, no matter how weird things had gotten. Right now, they were welcoming my odd little children with open arms, treating them as family, even with the difference in species.

Family didn’t mean kinship through blood, or even species, I knew that now. There wasn’t some firm rule stating what was and wasn’t a family… Family was the result of a group of people—friends, comrades and such—that built a foundation of companionship, unity, support and, yes, love, so firm that nothing… nothing… could split them apart.

If this wasn’t family… I don’t know what is.

                -                -                -                -                -

For the remainder of the night we mingled, talked, everything a family does at a big get-together like this. Mom prepared a nice dinner for us—a feast of delicious (looking) lasagna and biscuits; since the grubs and I didn’t eat food, Mom didn’t have any troubles providing for everyone. Trixie got what would have been my share. The grubs and I remained in human form, under the guise of proper etiquette. We talked for over two hours, until the candles in the center of the room had almost completely melted. The grubs had countless questions about what my parents and sisters did, both for work and for fun.

Finally, as the clock struck nine and everyone’s full stomachs started taking their tolls, everyone parted from the table with a series of yawns. Liz and I helped Mom clear the table, stacking the dishes by the sink. “See why I’d rather get paper plates?” I asked Liz, smirking as I laid the last of the plates on the counter.

Liz rolled her eyes. “It’d be more expensive to keep getting them rather than keep getting dish detergent…”

“Yes, but washing dishes involves work…” I said pointedly. “And therein lies my issue-- grpmh…” My hands flew to my cramping stomach. “Oh, boy… ‘scuse me!” I turned and bolted out of the kitchen and out the front door, speeding towards the truck.

                -                -                -                -                -

Chris’s mom watched Chrys through the window as he sprinted across the lawn towards the truck. Chrys lifted the truck bed door up and clambered inside, pulling the door shut behind him. She turned to me, frowning. “He knows we have a bathroom, right?”

I laughed. “Oh, no, Chrys is just…” I stopped laughing and bit my lip. “He’s… laying more eggs.”

She looked out at the truck again with a concerned look. “Should we… call someone?”

I shook my head. “No, no, Chrys can handle it, Mrs. Barton…”

She turned to me again, waving a hand dismissively. “Oh, please, call me Jane.”

I nodded. “All right. But anyway, Chrys is actually getting used to it now, from what he’s told me.”

Jane raised an eyebrow and looked out the window again. “How many eggs does he have in there?”

“About thirty,” I said before running the sink and beginning to scrub a plate clean. “...and counting. Chrys kinda lays more, the more he’s ‘fed.’”

“And he’s only hatched three?” Jane asked, astounded.

“Well, they hatch when provided with enough love,” I said. “Chrys and I figured that out when the grubs hatched.”

Jane turned and noticed me working. “Ah ah ah! No! You’re the guest! At most, you can help dry and put away the handwashes.” She made a ‘shoo’ gesture that made me step to the side, allowing her to work. I began loading their dishwasher in silence anyway, if only to clear the counter.

“So…” Jane said, after a few quiet moments. “You’re… okay with Chris in all this?”

I nodded. “He’s been through so much… We’ve been through so much. If I wanted to back out, I would’ve done it weeks ago.”

Jane smiled. “How’d you two meet?”

“At a brony meetup in Portland,” I said. “We started talking and, before long, we went out to dinner.” I laughed. “And it was all downhill from there…”

Jane jerked her head towards the truck outside. “He really seems to care about you.”

I nodded. “He loves me… and I love him too. This might be what every mom hopes to hear about their kid, but… Chrys is… sweet, he’s funny, he’s gentle, he’s always there to offer a shoulder to cry on… He always wanted to make me laugh, make me happy… We almost never fought, and when we did, he was quick to admit where he was at fault.” I barely noticed that I’d stopped moving. “He… He actually didn’t change all that much when he became Chrysalis, you know? Even with his… second half. And he knows what lies ahead for him. He’s told me, so many times, that I don’t have to stick by him in all this… That I don’t have to get tangled in this mess…” I turned to her. “But I want to stay. I want to be with Chrys, no matter what hits him. I love your son, Jane. I love him.”

Jane stared at me, eyes widened. Then she placed the plate she was holding in the sink, came forward and hugged me tight. “You two are lucky to have each other…” She whispered.

I hugged her back. “I’m the lucky one.”

                -                -                -                -                -

Ridiculous Fishing, sadly, did little to distract me from the absurd number of eggs I was laying in the truck. I actually developed a system for these birthing periods, very similar to counting down between thunder and lightning, to determine when I was finished laying the latest ‘batch’. After a half hour of straining, pushing and grunting, I’d ended up more than doubling the egg count from that morning. I stood up and observed my handiwork (yet another phrase I questioned if it applied with equines), wiping sweat from my head with a hoof.

The growing egg pile was getting to the point that I’d need to start stacking the eggs, or at least stick them to the wall in amber. “Well, crap…” I muttered. There was always at least one problem, wasn’t there?

The door opened behind me. I turned to see Liz climbing into the truck bed. “Hey,” she said as she pulled the door down.

“Hey…” I said, rubbing the back of my head. Liz approached and noticed the growing egg pile. “Yyyyyeaahhh, there’s a lot.”

“What’ll we do?” Liz asked.

I looked at the pile. “I… honestly don’t know. I don’t think we should hatch them yet, maybe wait a while… Like until after Discord’s dealt with.”

“Do you think you’re ready?” Liz asked. “To… lead them again? I mean, it’s not exactly…”

I breathed heavily. “My actions cost us dearly… But I’ve changed. I won’t let hubris cloud my judgement again. We’ll start small… Not so many that we’ll blanket the land…”

“And food?” Liz asked.

“We’ll try and live with the ponies peacefully,” I said. “The changelings will be individuals. They’ll look for their ‘special someponies’, maybe even look on Earth. It’s not a perfect plan, it doesn’t solve any potential population problems, but… But it’s something.”

I stared at a single egg on the edge of the pile. A grim thought came to me. “I’ve also been considering the idea of… aborting.”

Liz blinked. “What?”

My voice quavered. “It’s harsh—extremely harsh, but… I could… dispose of eggs in the event that we grow too many in number. The larvae inside don’t receive brain activity until they’ve been fed sufficient love—when they gain consciousness they immediately, instinctively, begin to break from the egg… It’s certainly not pretty, but… it’s an option.”

“So, if you wanted, you could... completely stem the growth of your people?" Liz asked.

I shook my head. “Well, no—I mean, any female Royal can lay eggs without a mate, but at nowhere near the rate a Queen lays them. Drones and Soldiers need a mate, of any species, to reproduce, but they’re capable.” I walked forward and gently stroked one of the eggs. “But these are thoughts for the future. These eggs are the symbol of our people’s rebirth… Both from extinction, and from the atrocities we’d committed.”

Liz put a hand on my back. “You did some bad stuff, sure… But knowing, and regretting, what you did is a good sign. You’ve been given a second chance, and you haven’t wasted it.”

“For the most part…” I muttered out of the corner of my mouth, not quietly enough. I gave a deep sigh before taking human form. I noticed that Liz didn’t even flinch at the burst of flame that accompanied my transformation. “Let’s head back inside.”

We climbed out of the truck, pulled the bed shut and locked it before heading inside. Mom had already prepared the guest bedrooms for Liz, my sisters and I. She hadn’t counted on Trixie and the grubs, so she had to pull out the camping mats and sleeping bags for them to sleep in the living room.

As Liz went into the bathroom I threw on my pajamas—that is, I changed my human form to look like I was wearing pajamas. As I was pulling the covers aside, a knock at the door made me look up. Penny was standing in the doorframe. “Hey…” she said.

“Hey,” I replied. “...Listen, thanks for… For everything. Coming out here, not… not freaking out at the whole Chrysalis affair, being so great with the grubs… I couldn’t ask for better sisters. Better family.”

Penny smiled. As she entered, though, her tone became serious. “How are you doing with all this? I know you were worried about how we’d react, but… Are you okay? I’d be surprised if you weren’t at least a little freaked out, even after three weeks.”

I rubbed my wrist. “Not gonna lie, I… I do kinda miss things being… normal, from a human standpoint… Not worrying about kids just yet, or the future of an entire race… I miss when things weren’t so… so fucked.” I looked Penny in the eyes. “But let the chips fall where they may, I guess. This is who I am, this is the hand I’ve been dealt.” A pause. “...And I think I got all my panicking and screaming out of the way, waaaay early on.”

Penny smiled softly before hugging me. “I want you to sing Aria to me sometime, when this is all over.”

“You got it on your iPod, don’t you?” I said, smirking and receiving a poke in the ribs for my trouble.

                -                -                -                -                -

The next day was one of enjoyment and bonding. Trixie, sadly, couldn’t leave the house, but the grubs offered to ‘take shifts’ in staying at the house and keeping her company, in between trips to the shopping mall, a zoo, lunch and a movie. I still felt a bit guilty at keeping her left out, even if there wasn’t anything we could do.

We finished the day by ordering several pizzas from a local place my parents adored. It was at this time I learned that I hadn’t shaken off the instinct to shove pizza down my gob the moment I saw a slice; I nearly gave everyone a heart attack when I started gagging, but everyone got a good laugh over my embarrassed pout. We then spent the remainder of the evening watching a couple movies. We started with the second Avatar, decided on a majority vote, then decided to find a really really bad movie to mock in the spirit of MST3K.

After Earth was the obvious choice.*

When all was said and done the family shuffled off to their respective beds to sleep off the exhausting, yet still fully enjoyable, day. As Liz and I filed into our room I collapsed bodily on our bed and dropped my human guise. I laid my head on the pillow and let drool drip into the pillowcase with an exhausted gurgle. Liz joined me after changing into her PJs. “Your family’s just wonderful, Chrys…” She said, sounding half-asleep.

“Yep…” I said, simply, barely able to keep conscious myself. A thought occurred to me. “You know, we… haven’t even talked about your family…”

“Because it wasn’t me who turned into a changeling,” Liz said.

“Yeah, but still…” I said. “You traveled halfway across the country for me, without so much as a phone call.”

Liz crawled closer to me. “I’m more than capable of making my own decisions.”

“Never said you weren’t,” I replied. “I just think, maybe we shouldn’t… shut them out. I think you owe them at least a general idea of what’s going on. You don’t have to tell them about the changeling-thing, just tell them this was a… romantic fling, or something. This doesn’t have to be all about me, Liz.”

Liz smiled and stroked my head. “I guess I can… call them tomorrow morning.”

“Sorry to sound cheesy,” I said, feeling myself drifting off to sleep. “But, really, family’s too important to lose…”

                -                -                -                -                -
May 20th

“Chrys! CHRYS!!” I awoke to Liz’s voice, feeling her violently shake me. “Wake up!!”

With muttered gibberish I immediately sat up, shaking my head to wake myself up. “What! What, what is it…”

“Come on, there’s something you need to see!!” I felt Liz gently slap my face, forcing me to open my eyes. Through the blur that comes with interrupted sleep I could see a Liz-shaped blob running through a doorway-shaped blob. Shaking my head again to get my vision back I glanced at the clock on the bedside table; 10am. Frowning, I stumbled out of bed and hurried into the hall and down the stairs.

My family, Trixie and the grubs were there already, staring fixedly at the TV. “What’s up?” I said, still blinking the sleep out of my eyes.

“Look!” Liz said, pointing at the TV. I forced myself to focus on the TV, seeing that it was displaying the news. It depicted an image of a city, said to be Des Moines, Iowa. There were a few strange, almost Aurora Borealis-esque waves of color flickering in the skyline. The headline read ‘Strange multi-colored explosion over Des Moines, city in midst of evacuation.’

“‘Multi-colored...’” I read aloud.

A thought sparked some light into my brain. “They showing a video of the explosion?” I asked.

Penny was already ahead of the game, handing her phone to me. I took it in my magic and saw it playing a YouTube video of shoddy quality. The person handling the camera was pointing it at Des Moines, a great distance away, air sirens wailing in the background.

I barely caught a glimpse of a light-blue streak over the city before an immense ring of, indeed, rainbow-goddamn-colored energy exploded outwards over the city and expanded into the distance. The resulting boom nearly blew out the speakers on Penny’s phone.

I absent-mindedly dropped the phone to the carpet, my eyes wide, my jaw slackened.

I was silent for a good ten seconds before finally, aptly, summing up what was on everyone’s minds.

“Holy. Fucking. Shit.”

> Chapter 24: Forgotten Grudges
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 24: Forgotten Grudges

“Rainbow Dash wants the ponies to come to Iowa,” I said, pacing feverishly around the dining room table. My family, Liz, Trixie and the grubs were all seated, watching me walk around them. “That sonic rainboom wasn’t a means of showing off—hopefully—it’s a signal! A message to ponies everywhere to go to Iowa!”

“What is she offering?” Liz asked.

“Shelter, food, safe haven, maybe even a way home!” I said. “We can get there in like three hours, traffic permitting… Odds are we won’t see a lot of traffic heading towards what looked like a massive explosion…”

“You’re leaving?” Penny asked. I turned and saw the mix of shock and sadness in her eyes. “But…”

Frowning sympathetically, I approached her and laid a hoof on her shoulder. “This is something I have to do. I want to stay, believe me, I do… But this is too important.” I turned to Liz. “We should leave soon if we wanna have enough daylight to find Dash.”

“How are you gonna find her?” Sarah asked. “I mean, yeah, that explosion is a clear indicator to come to Iowa, but that still doesn’t give you much to go on once you get there.”

I bit my lip. “Yeah, but… If we head there, maybe she’ll send out another signal… Another sign, to give ponies a more precise location to head to.”

“Seems like a longshot, sweetie…” Mom said.

“We’ll head to Des Moines first,” I said. “Dunno if we’ll be able to get in, odds are there’ll be military efforts to keep the city quarantined, out of fear of radiation or some crap, but it’s better than nothing.” My family didn’t look convinced. I gave them an almost pleading look. “Look, I, I know you’d prefer definites, but we don’t have that luxury! This is the only lead we’ve had on other ponies since Trixie showed up at our doorstep! I gotta do this. I know this is usually a shit way to go about things, but we’ll figure things out as we go, okay?”

“I agree,” Trixie said, standing up. “We can’t just let this slide. We should go.”

Finally, Sarah nodded. “You’d know more about this than any of us, Chris. Do what you think is best.”

I grinned at her, then at the rest of the family. “I love you, guys…” I said softly.

As Liz and Trixie hurried off to grab their things, I spent some time giving my goodbyes, which I could only hope wouldn’t be my last. My mom grabbed her emergency bundle of cash for us; I may not have taken it if I hadn’t remembered that Liz and Trixie actually needed food, and the truck wasn’t exactly thrifty with gas. At 12:30 the truck was hastily loaded and primed. Liz, Trixie and the grubs gave fond farewells to my family, expressing hopes to see them again before loading into the truck.

As my family and I stood on the sidewalk beside the truck I gave them all one last, big hug; I felt their love pouring over me like a beautifully hot shower, flooding me with energy. “Stay safe…” Mom whispered in my ear before kissing me on the cheek.

“I will,” I said, tears flooding my eyes. “I’ll come back, no matter what. I promise.”

After one last big squeeze I separated from my family and climbed into the front passenger seat of the truck. “I love you, guys…” I said.

“We know…” Penny said. “Please, be careful!”

I nodded before closing the door. I nodded at Liz, who put the truck in gear. I watched my family through the window, waving at me. My mom and sisters looked like they were about to cry—hell, even Dad was tearing up.

Finally, the truck rounded a corner and I couldn’t see them anymore. I sniffled and laid my head against the window.

We managed to get on the highway in about twenty minutes. My theory that there wouldn’t be northbound traffic was, sadly, gravely false. Traffic going both ways was clogged; those going south were probably fleeing the site of the Rainboom, while those going north were likely seeking to check on friends and relatives who’d been at the epicenter of the blast. We could barely go a mile without another fifteen minute full stop. I almost wanted to say ‘Fuck it’, take normal form and fly the rest of the way; it wasn’t like ponies were gonna be secret for much longer, not just from the rainboom, but with the likelihood that some may be spotted en route to Iowa. We kept the radio on, hoping for any further developments on the rainboom, but it was focused entirely on the effects of the blast and the evacuation efforts that followed.

I swayed in my seat, my eyes struggling to stay open. I always needed a stupid amount of sleep, usually around twelve hours, and Liz’s frantic means of waking me up could only get me conscious for so long. It was after my tenth yawn that Liz turned to me. “Chrys, why don’t you get some sleep? I’ll wake you up when we…”

I didn’t even hear the rest of what she said; the moment she dropped the word ‘sleep’ I was already clocking out.

                -                -                -                -                -

Chris walked through the dark abyss, glancing about, confusedly. He knew this was somewhere in his mind—he’d experienced this sensation several times, now, after Chrysalis became his ‘mental bunkmate’... But usually they met in a sort of rift, the point where Chris became Chrysalis, and vice versa. This was something else. “Hello?” He called. The emptiness might have scared him, but he still felt… safe. Like no harm would come to him here.

“Chris?” He turned to see Chrysalis approaching him. “Where are we?”

“If I knew, you’d know…” Chris said. “This isn’t our usual place, but we’re… in our mind, that much I’m sure of.”

“I know we fell asleep…” Chrysalis said, tapping a hoof to her ebon chin. “So we’re obviously…” she trailed off, her eyes widening.

Chris’s did the same. “Dreaming,” he finished.

“Indeed.”

The pair spun around to see a third figure standing off in the distance. The entity approached, beholding the pair with judging eyes.

“Princess Luna…” Chris breathed. He took a tentative step forward. “What’re you…”

“A moment, please, Chris,” Luna said; it wasn’t a command so much as a patient, yet authoritative request. She turned towards Chrysalis, a wary look in her eyes. “So.”

Chrysalis straightened herself. “So.”

“You suffered the same fate as the rest of us, I see,” Luna said, trying to look civil, with moderate success.

Chrysalis nodded. “Discord’s uprising caused the starvation of my people… I was cursed when I attacked him out of fury.”

Luna closed her eyes and lit up her horn. She was quiet for a few moments before her horn dimmed and her eyes opened. “Though there are results of your banishment that you wouldn’t consider bad, aren’t there?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

Chrysalis looked at Chris and smiled. “I’ve… led a good life. I was fortunate to know a loving family, and… Liz…”

Luna nodded. “Yes, I’ve seen.”

Chris frowned. “You’ve ‘seen’? How?”

“Dreams are constructed from the deepest parts of our minds, Chris,” Luna said. “To you, they may appear strange, incoherent, but sometimes they are built of something deeper… Our hopes and dreams, our fears and dreads… Our bitterness and hatreds…” Luna stared at the floor sadly.

Chris nodded knowingly. “I get it… You… took a peek at our memories.”

“It’s not something I do often,” Luna said. “Before I would only aid ponies in relieving their fears to dispel their nightmares, or guide them out of dreams that gave them only heartache… I tried to keep everypony dreaming only good, happy dreams… But there were times I needed to know if a pony had something to hide.” She looked at Chrysalis pointedly.

Chrysalis sighed. “I know… Believe me, I know… But you’ve seen what I want, correct?”

Luna took a deep breath. “Peace. The redemption of your people… Vengeance against Discord.”

Chris shrugged. “Can’t say those are unreasonable…”

Luna ignored him and approached the Queen. “Yet it is not just for the sake of preventing future conflicts, is it, Chrysalis?”

Chrysalis frowned. “What do you mean?”

“You’ve seen what you’d become,” Luna said. “You saw what you did, through the eyes of this human…” She jerked her head towards Chris. “You saw yourself as a monster… Placing innocents into the preserving amber and feeding off of them…”

“Hey…” Chris said. “Easy…”

Chrysalis hung her head, ashamed as Luna continued. “You saw the beast you’d become, and you feared her… You dreaded the idea of becoming such a cruel monster again, so you wish to take every step possible to assure you can never take that dark path again.”

Chrysalis looked up at Luna, her eyes flooded with tears. She nodded.

Luna was silent for a moment.

“...I can sympathize.”

Chrysalis blinked. “What…?”

Luna gave a soft smile. “A true monster never regrets the things it’s done. I learned that a while after my return—my true return.”

Chrysalis gaped at Luna for a moment before smiling. “Thank you…”

Luna nodded at her before turning to address both her and Chris. “I merely wished to learn your intentions… I’ve no doubts you have changed for the better. This is why I shall tell you where you must go.”

“You mean…” Chris breathed.

Luna smiled. “I’ll tell you where to find the Bearers.”

                -                -                -                -                -

I woke up with a start, shaking my head. I heard Liz yelp in surprise and felt the truck swerve a little bit before correcting itself. “Chrys?” Liz asked as I shook myself awake again. “What’s wrong?”

As I blinked the sleep out of my eyes I noticed that, not only had traffic lightened up a little bit, but it was nighttime now. I glanced at the clock; 11pm. “Christ, how long was I--?” I began before shrugging it off. I grabbed the GPS, which was programmed to take us to Des Moines. I immediately input a new route. “Change of plans.”

“What’re you doing?” Trixie asked. “We’re going to--”

“The ponies aren’t meeting in Des Moines,” I said, entering the address Luna had given me. “Okay, it’s in.”

Liz peeked at the GPS. “...Chrys, that’s…”

“In the middle of nowhere,” I said. “Rather fitting, if you wanna stay under the radar, isn’t it?”

Liz stared at me; after a few seconds I had to tactfully point towards the windshield so she wouldn’t drive us off the road. “How did you…?” Liz asked.

I leaned back in my seat. “Got directions from Best Princess…”

                -                -                -                -                -
May 21st


“I still think Luna could’ve been a bit more precise…” Liz said, annoyed, as the truck rumbled down an old road.

“And a bit more timely with the info so traffic wasn’t an issue…” I grumbled. It wasn’t just north and southbound traffic that was clogged; it was every route in and out of Des Moines that had been flooded with cars. By the time we managed to get on the westbound freeway it was past 1 in the morning, and even then we needed most of the night to overcome traffic that flowed as smoothly as a Lego milkshake. It was roughly 9am by the time we got to the end of the GPS’s directions, and even then the damn thing stopped directing us when we got to a series of old, cracked roads that looked straight out of the Capital Wasteland. We spent at least two goddamned hours going back and forth along the roads, looking for the faintest sign of anything equine.

Trixie and the grubs were getting antsy in the backseat, occasionally breaking into spontaneous yoga routines in an attempt to stretch their stiffened muscles while trying to avoid hitting each other and turning the ride into a family sitcom. We only got so many chances to pull off the highway to give everyone a chance to stretch their legs, and give Trixie and Liz a chance to go to the bathroom. Otherwise we were stuck in the truck cab, which we were gaining a growing apathy and loathing for. Once we got to the end of the route given by the GPS, though, the four of them were squirming, begging for sweet freedom from the stuffy prison.

“Look, Luna said it was a farm in the middle of the forest,” I said. “We might not have specifics, but it shouldn’t be too hard to find—there!!”

Liz hit the brakes. “What?? What??” She followed my pointed finger towards a lone dirt road leading off to the left, into the thick forest. She gave it a wary look. “I don’t know…”

“Yeah, seems a bit shady…” Trixie said.

I had some reservations myself; I unbuckled and opened my door. “Okay. You guys stay here, I’ll go make sure it’s legit, all right?”

Liz sputtered. “What?! No! Chrys, this is stupid!!”

“Name one smart thing I’ve done in all this…” I muttered as I climbed out. I paused to give Liz a firm, no-bullshit look. “Stay here. Seriously.” I shut the door and jogged towards the dirt road.

As I slipped between the trees I dropped into a prowl, glancing around and jumping at every small noise. I followed the road while staying about twenty feet away from it; I couldn’t discount the possibility this was a trap of some sort.

But still, I was feeling a wondrous mix of anxiety, joy, excitement and slight terror as I tiptoed ridiculously between trees, peering about for some sign of life. Trixie and I would finally meet other Equestrians again, we could actually walk about in public, we had a chance to get home! It was hard not to smile as I ducked from cover to cover like I was playing Red Light/Green Light.

Finally, after ten tense minutes of stealthing, I noticed a clearing at the end of the dirt road. I could make out a couple structures through the trees. Smiling, I made to approach when I heard voices.

Panicking, I ducked into a nearby bush. I breathed quietly and listened intently as I heard two figures growing closer.

“...hope Twilight finds an answer soon…” came a female voice.

My jaw almost dropped. We’ve found them!!

“She always does,” came the other voice, this one male and… familiar. “Just give her time, that’s all she ever really needs.”

“Yes, but… it’s hard to ignore what’s at stake here…” came the first voice. I noticed it was rather… classy?

I carefully adjusted my position in the bush, wincing with every rustle of the leaves. I opened a little hole in the brush and peered through.

My eyes widened. Two white unicorns were passing by, some distance away… Two very, very familiar unicorns. One was Rarity, her every step one of poise, class and confidence. The other was Shining Armor, who was walking rather close to the former…

Rarity rubbed affectionately against Shining, who nuzzled her back.

My eyes widened like I’d walked in on someone jerking it. Uh…

“You know…” Shining said. “It’s pretty quiet out here…”

My eyes widened even further, like the person I’d walked in on felt encouraged by my arrival. UH…

I heard Rarity giggle suggestively. “And rather foreboding… No telling what beasts may lurk in these woods…”

OKAY, I’M GONNA STOP THIS BEFORE I FEEL THE NEED TO SCRUB MYSELF.

I clambered out of the bush and dropped my human form. “Hello!” I said, trying to disguise my awkward terror with a friendly grin.

The unicorns spun around. My eyes locked with Shining Armor’s.

Infiltrating Canterlot, abducting Cadence, impersonating her, feeding off Shining, clouding his mind, organizing the drones beyond the barrier, banishing Twilight to the caverns below, overpowering Celestia, heading the invasion of Canterlot…

All those memories suddenly flooded to the very forefront of my mind. I felt my chitin become somewhat splintery and itchy, as my smile dropped. Shining and Rarity both stared at me, eyes wide in shock. It was quite clear they remembered me, and not just from the show.

If I thought their flirts were awkward…

Shining’s shock gave way to anger.

I gulped audibly. Ruh roh…

“GET DOWN!!” Shining yelled. Rarity immediately ducked as his horn lit up and a pink blast of energy flew at me.

“JESUSSHITFUCK!!” I screamed, throwing myself to the side as the blast flew past me and ignited the bush I’d been hiding in. I turned my dodge into a clumsy sideways roll as I got back on my hooves. “WAIT WAIT WAIT--” I said quickly, but Shining was getting another blast ready.

I took to the air, feeling another powerful blast pass below my hooves and missing me by inches. I climbed onto a branch of a nearby tree and hid behind the trunk. “Please, listen to me!!” I called.

“Not likely!!” Shining called. I heard him gallop around the tree to get a clear shot.

I bent my legs to take off again, when I felt the branch beneath me give after I heard another blast hit the wood.

“Aw, fuck both MY LIVES--” I fell to the ground but managed to land on my hooves. I spun to see Shining launching a barrage of pink blasts straight at me.

I lit up my own horn and erected a barrier that easily absorbed the blasts before dissipating. Shining began firing bigger, more powerful blasts, which I deflected skywards with a single, small shield for each.

“If! I! Could! Get! A! God! Damn! Word! In…” I said, pausing between each word to deflect a blast.

“I am not gonna let you deceive me again!!” Shining roared. He charged forward, holding his horn down like he meant to gore me with it. I stepped to the side and swept my left foreleg.

Shining tripped over my leg and fell into a somersault, colliding with a tree before laying on his back, groaning in pain. “Sorry…” I said, wincing sympathetically. “You-- GAH!!” A blast of blue energy collided with the side of my head, feeling like someone smacking me with a copy of Atlas Shrugged. I stumbled to the side before turning to see Rarity, horn still lit for another attack.

“Fffffuuuu…!!” I said, pressing a hoof to my head.

“Get away from him, you monster!!” Rarity yelled, firing another blast. I ducked beneath it and quickly stepped away from the recovering Shining.

“All right, all right!!” I said. “Look, let’s just calm the hell down and we can talk…”

“NO.” Out of nowhere, Shining full-body tackled me, sending me stumbling to the ground. When I regained my senses, Shining was pinning me to my side, horn flaring like the tail of a very angry Charizard. “Don’t even try.”

Okay, this isn’t working. I lit up my horn and shut my eyes. I felt my horn give off a bright flash and heard Shining and Rarity yelling in shock. I opened my eyes to see Shining lift a hoof off me to rub his eyes. I took the chance to change into a squirrel; the love I’d gotten from my family over the past few days would give me enough time in this form to formulate a plan. I scurried out from beneath Shining, climbed up a tree and hid in the nook between a few branches.

I watched carefully as Shining and Rarity recovered and began glancing around. “Where is she? WHERE IS SHE?!” Shining yelled.

“She can’t have gotten far!” Rarity said, scanning the forest and branches.

"Mother?"

I glanced upwards. Kinda busy, Echo…

"Is everything okay?"

HUNKY-DORY, need a few minutes to focus, ‘kay?!

"...Okay…" Echo’s voice became silent.

Okay, time to think… I began tapping my head with my adorable little paw. Obviously he doesn’t wanna take the chance that I’m still evil, even if I’m not even DOING anything… I could try and fight back, GENTLY, but that might not help my case… I could leg it back to the truck, but that defeats the purpose of this whole trip, and I am NOT giving up on talking peace...

“Keep checking the trees…” I heard Shining mutter as he walked away from my little haven. Rarity scanned a couple nearby trees before looking up mine.

Our eyes met. I immediately tried to look as innocent as possible. I AM A SQUIRREL I AM A SQUIRREL I AM A SQUIRREL PLEASE GOD LET HER THINK I’M JUST A SQUIRREL PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

Her horn lit up.

Ah, nuts.

“SHINING, UP THERE!!” Rarity yelled as she launched a blue blast that singed an area a few inches from my paw.

I felt a powerful impact at the base of the tree, likely a buck-kick, that sent me stumbling out of the nook and falling to the ground. I turned back into Chrysalis to avoid getting too hurt from the fall, and landed painfully on my side with a yell.

I looked up to see Shining charging towards me, horn lit for the final blow.

Okay, no choice… My horn lit up. Shining was enveloped in a green haze. I screwed my eyes shut at the last second.

Three seconds later, nothing happened. I opened my eyes to see Shining, covered from the neck down in dripping amber that formed a green cocoon five feet across. Shining flailed his head, trying to get free. “NO!!” He yelled.

I heard a horn sparkling behind me. I spun to face Rarity, who was ready to loose another blast. “STOP,” I yelled, fed up. Rarity shrank somewhat under my furious scowl. “STOP. STOP. STOP. STOP. STOP. STOP. STOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-PUUHHH.”

I panted heavily as Rarity’s horn dimmed and she took a step back. I turned to Shining, who was still trying to get free of the amber. “Now, listen…” I said, loudly and clearly. “I am not here to cause any trouble. Discord did the same thing to me that he did to all of you. I am in the same goddamn boat as you. I know you have every reason to distrust me—I’d think you were crazy if you did trust me. But I want nothing more than to get back to Equestria, and make Discord pay for his crimes.”

I approached Shining and lit up my horn. He’d calmed down somewhat, though his glare hadn’t gone anywhere. “I’m gonna let you out of that, now. All I ask is that I be allowed onto this… haven, or whatever, without being shot at.” I glanced at Rarity. “By anyone.” Back to Shining. “Is this fair?”

“...What’re you gonna do?” Shining asked warily.

I frowned and thought about it; I hadn’t quite thought this far ahead. “...Twilight. Just wanna have a quick chat with her. There are things I feel we need to discuss.”

Shining’s eyes narrowed. “...I’ll be watching you. Every. Step. You take. If you put us at risk, if you so much as look at anyone funny…”

“Fine,” I said simply. With a flash of my horn the amber melted. Shining stood before me, shaking some of the goo off of him. “Might wanna take a shower later, though, that stuff gets pretty pungent after a while.”

Shining gave me a dirty look before jerking his head towards the clearing. I wanted to roll my eyes, but opted to give him as few reasons to suspect me as possible. I headed off towards the buildings, at a pace that wouldn’t give him the justification to take a potshot at me. I heard the pair whispering intently to one another from behind me, likely topics of ‘why is she here’ or ‘what is she planning’.

I felt like an idiot, more so than usual. Somehow, by some goddamned miracle I’d completely forgotten what I’d done to them, what I’d nearly done to their home. Sure, I wanted peace now, but that didn’t magically erase the fact that I’d nearly A, conquered their homeland, B, stolen that pony’s wedding and C, ruined his relationship with his sister. Part of me wanted to turn around and let Shining smack me around a little bit, if only to punish my absentmindedness.

We emerged from the forest and stepped onto the farmland. It was a pretty impressive space, even if the structures seemed a bit cliche for a farmland; two story farmhouse, big barn, a few sheds and a sizable corral. Yet it wasn’t the property that piqued my interest—it was the ponies.

Countless ponies, some familiar, were roaming the land, erecting tents, socializing, handling stockpiles of supplies. If the sight didn’t make me so happy, so relieved, I might’ve called the place a real clusterfuck. There were a few cars parked off to the side—no trucks, though, so I’d feel a bit awkward when we drove that thing in--

Liz! I wanted to turn around and get her right then, but remembered I was being held at Armor-point.

Echo? I thought.

Yes, mother?

It’s legit. Don’t bring the truck in yet, though, lemme… sort things out, you know?

Okay, let us know when you’re ready.

“Keep going,” Shining said, jerking me out of my little trance.

“Sorry,” I said, turning back towards him. Almost immediately Shining stepped between me and Rarity with a scowl. Now I rolled my eyes. “So, where’s Twilight?”

“She’s in the house,” Shining said levelly. I turned back towards the house and headed towards it, beholding the vast numbers of ponies on all sides.

I was so taken in I didn’t notice somepony was standing in my path until I’d bumped into them; she was a pegasus with a green coat, long yellow mane and tail and a cutie mark of a rainbow-patterned plus sign.

“Sorry,” I said. She turned around, took one look at me and screamed bloody murder before flying off in a screaming green streak.

I slowly turned to face Shining. “Not sure if I prefer that to open hostility…”

> Chapter 25: Settling In
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 25: Settling In

The first terrified pony wasn’t a fluke, sadly. I counted no less than seven that up and ran for the hills at the sight of me as I was led across the property. Most of them either did double-takes at me, exchanged confused glances, some even gave a little smile and wave—likely out of brony-love. It was after I sent Bon-Bon legging it that I met Rainbow Dash. She seemed rather nervous at first, sure, but she warmed up when I wasn’t a condescending bey-otch; even more so when I chewed Shining out for the thousands of daggers he’d glared into me.

I finally entered the farmhouse with Shining right behind me; Rarity broke off to help with the new arrivals, giving Shining a kiss and a ‘be careful’ before departing. The place seemed pretty comfortable, in that “cabin in the woods” sort of way. I peeked into every room, looking for Twilight. “Nice little place, here…” I said, nodding approvingly. Shining had no comment.

Finally I found the kitchen. Sitting at the table in the middle of the room was Twilight, bent over a pair of books, looking like she was having a staring contest with them.

I cleared my throat. “Hello.”

Twilight looked up. With a panicked gasp she shot off a purple blast. I immediately ducked to the floor to keep my eyebrows intact. “FUCKIN’--”

“Twilight, don’t,” Shining said, somewhat reluctantly. “She says she doesn’t want trouble.”

I stood up, shooting an annoyed look at Shining before taking a calming breath. I walked calmly into the kitchen and pulled a chair aside. Twilight stared at me, half between confusion and fear. She glanced at Shining, who gave a small shrug as he walked over and sat beside her. “...Would you prefer if I looked human?” I asked, trying to dispel any discomfort.

Twilight blinked. “I, I don’t… Whatever you want?”

I nodded. With a burst of flame I took on my human form. “Better?” I asked. “I probably should have expected this kind of reception, I could’ve been… a bit more subtle, I suppose.” I sat down, folded my hands and exhaled. “So.”

Twilight’s expression hadn’t changed. “...So?”

“Let’s just get this out of the way,” I said. “Yes, I am Chrysalis. Yes, I have my memories back from before, and appears you folks do, as well. I remember my life as a changeling and Queen, I remember… what happened at Canterlot, I remember Discord’s takeover, and him banishing me a while after all of you were cursed. My life as a human was as Chris Barton, born in Maine. I started changing back on the 1st, and was fully transformed on the 2nd.”

Twilight blinked. “The 2nd? We didn’t fully change back until…”

“The 4th?” I asked. “Yeah, I’m guessing my changing abilities let me shrug off forced transformations quicker. They also let me keep… some semblance of my human life.” I flexed my fingers meaningfully.

“How have you been feeding?” Shining asked, suspiciously.

“My girlfriend,” I said simply. “She’s been with me this whole time.” ...Not counting what happened after the joyride in Dane’s car.

“Willingly?” Shining asked, raising an eyebrow.

I gave him a piercing glare. “Yes. In the first days I didn’t know the whole truth, I was still just human Chris up here,” I tapped my head. “I’m guessing it was the same with you, not counting any possible personality quirks?”

Shining looked off to the side in thought. “...Maybe.”

“So she stayed with me because she still loves me for me,” I said. “She still loves me even if I’m… like this.”

“You said you got your memories back,” Twilight said. “So you’re really Chrysalis? In both body and mind?”

I nodded. “With a side-case of schizophrenia.”

“...What,” Twilight deadpanned.

I shrugged. “My human self, he’s… a vulgar, nerdy goofball who has a tendency to do stupid shit sometimes. Chrysalis is… Well, nowadays, she’s serious, she’s a planner, she’s… not gonna lie, a bit temperamental. We don’t exactly… meld together that well, so on occasion I’ll be swearing and joking and all that, then, almost with an audible ‘clunk’ I’ll be talking like a legitimately smart person, analyzing situations, thinking about things the way a queen would.”

Twilight took a breath. “Why did you come here?”

“Well, partly, the same reason the others are flooding in,” I said. “Safe haven, the chance to be with others of our kind… to an extent. The other reason is… I want to get home, to Equestria. I want Discord to pay for what he’s done… Not just to me, but to all of us.”

“Why’d he banish you?” Shining asked. “If anything, you might have helped him…”

“Discord never needs help in causing chaos,” I said. “And he banished me because I attacked him. His banishment of every pony in Equestria cost us our best food source. My people began to starve, to die out. I attacked him out of fury, and he banished me for it. I remember everything, now… and I want Discord to pay.”

“So you came here because you want vengeance?” Shining asked, unphased.

“I came here ‘cause I want to help you!” I said hotly. “Because I have nothing to gain from keeping up these hostilities while Discord is running free! I’m here to find a way home, to bring Discord to justice. So you can be distrustful if you want, you can keep watch over me, you can keep thinking I’m scheming behind your backs, but if you don’t want me here, I can just leave.”

Shining seemed keen on that offer; I wondered if they were gonna call my bluff. Twilight, however, looked deep in thought. She stared at the table, considering her options, before sighing. “...Fine. You can stay.”

Shining shot her a confused glance. “What?”

I blinked. “Really?”

“Just set up your camp or whatever, wherever there’s room,” Twilight said. She leaned forward and gave me a stern look. “Any trouble… Any funny business…”

I nodded. “I know. You’ve given me a bigger chance than I deserve, Twilight.”

“I’ll say…” Shining muttered, not quietly enough.

I ignored him and stood up. “I’ll get Liz to come in. Thank you… truely.” I headed out the front door of the house. I earned some confused glances from the ponies as I jogged across the property towards the dirt road. Echo, we’re good. Tell Liz to bring the truck in.

Yes, mother.

I scanned the property for a good place to put the truck. I opted to have us ‘camp’ near the forest, a short distance from the dirt road, not too close to the increasingly filled barn and the multitude of tents that littered the land.

As I waited for the truck, I realized I hadn’t discussed peace with Twilight and Shining. I considered talking to them again later, but decided they probably had a lot on their plate as it is; an immense pony migration headed for the farm, thinking of a way back to Equestria and all that. It was a big topic; I figured it would be better discussed when this was all over.

The truck came into sight up the dirt road. I also wondered if I should tell them about the eggs, but decided not to; Shining would probably assume the worst and kick me out after smashing all of them.

I seriously doubt he’d do that, Chris said in my head.

Maybe not… I replied. But I still think it might be best to keep the clutch under wraps for now.

As the truck made it into the clearing I directed Liz to drive it to the designated spot. As the truck halted with a loud hiss I hurried to the truck bed and opened the passenger door. Liz, Trixie and the grubs were staring, mouths agape, at the mass of ponies. “Wow…” Liz said.

I nodded. “Yeah…” I turned to Trixie. “Maybe you should try to keep your distance from us or something. If the ponies who know who I am see you with me, they might think you’re ‘allied with my insidious plans’ or whatever.”

Trixie nodded. “I guess you have a point.”

I addressed the grubs. “Maybe stay in human form for a while, yeah? I’d prefer if they think I’m the only changeling on the farm right now.”

“They’re not gonna question you coming in a big truck?” Shift asked, glancing towards the back of the truck cab, the clutch clearly on his mind.

I bit my lip. “...They might not know I came in a truck, necessarily. As far as they know, this is anyone’s truck.” Liz raised an eyebrow. “Look, I don’t know! Let’s just hope they don’t find out, and if they do, hope they don’t come in with a damned flamethrower.”

The grubs each took on their human forms. “Won’t the sight of humans on a predominantly pony-populated farm raise suspicion?” Echo asked.

“You could have come with anyone,” I said. “Look, I know this is all hope and speculation, but there’s no such thing as a ‘foolproof plan’ in this whole mess.” I looked to Trixie. “Just look like you’re not with us,” I turned to the grubs. “Look human for a while,” I waved a hand to address everyone. “And we’ll all sleep in the truck. As for food, maybe Liz and I could borrow a less conspicuous car from someone, go out and grab supplies as needed. We can contribute. Sound good?”

Liz nodded. “I guess so… Dunno who’d be willing to loan us a car, if someone even comes in a car, since ponies would have trouble driving.”

I glanced towards the farmhouse. “Looks like they got a car, I’ll ask them.” I faced the group. “Just keep to yourselves, no need to stir the hornet’s nest anymore than it has with my arrival. Fair?”

The group nodded. I climbed down from the truck. Trixie climbed out the far side of the truck and cantered into the forest, likely with the intent of looping back and appearing to arrive on her own. Liz and the grubs climbed out of the cab and stood at my side.

I gave a contented sigh; we’d made it.

                -                -                -                -                -

We spent some time helping some ponies settle in, helping erect tents and the like. As far as they knew, we were just some helpful human volunteers, or friends of other ‘refugees’. While we were working I’d occasionally glance around and spot Shining, true to his word, staying at a distance and keeping an eye on me. I didn’t let it get to me, though.

When it looked like we’d helped all we could, we drifted apart and started roaming the property. While Liz and the grubs went off to mingle, I set out to find the rest of the Mane Six. Rainbow Dash had been plenty friendly, which was nice, but I wanted to find Pinkie, Applejack and Fluttershy, to introduce myself.

As I searched I spotted Rarity, holding a garbage bag in her magic and levitating pieces of trash into it. Might as well try and smooth things over, I guess. I casually approached her. “Hey.”

Rarity turned to me and blinked in confusion at the sight of a human on the farm. “...Hello?”

I gave my eyes a meaningful green flash. Rarity’s eyes widened in recognition. “Listen, I… I wanted to say, no hard feelings about our… introductions earlier,” I said. “I probably should’ve been a bit more… subtle, instead of ‘BOOM, CHANGELING QUEEN’, and I should’ve expected you wouldn’t exactly have welcomed me with open arms, so to speak.”

Rarity nodded slowly. “Okay…”

Wanting to get on more friendly terms, I tried to find something to talk about. “...So, uh… Who were you before all this?”

Rarity stared at me warily. “...I worked with Shining, up in Vancouver. Back then I was… Tom, and he was… Rachel.”

I nodded sympathetically. “I was a boy, too… Chris. This is who I was, before. Being a changeling in all this has certainly had it’s perks; I’ve been able to walk about in public, keeping some semblance of a normal life.”

Rarity didn’t seem interested; she kept glancing about, like she was trying to find the best place to run if I suddenly pounced. I sighed. “I’ll see you later, I guess…” I walked off, feeling Rarity’s nervous gaze at the back of my head.

I approached the stables, which had not been spared the invasion of tents and multi-colored ponies. I spotted Applejack walking outside the fence, carrying a bag of what appeared to be oats on her back. She was wearing the usual stetson she was known for, though god knew how she managed to braid her mane without the underappreciated gifts of evolution that are fingers.

She spotted my approach and frowned. “Hi?”

I smiled and waved. “Hey, good to see you.” I held out a hand, and shook Jack’s tentatively offered hoof. “I’m Chrys.” I gave the green eye flash again.

Applejack tilted her head to the side in confusion. “Chrys… Chry-- OH.” Her eyes widened. “Ooohhh…”

I glanced around the property. “Sorry if I’m making assumptions, but I’m guessing this is your farm?”

Jack nodded. “Y-Yeah, it is…” She leaned to look at the farmhouse behind me. “You, uh…”

I raised a hand placatingly. “It’s cool, they know I’m here… Can’t say they’re too thrilled, which I can understand, but they’re letting me stay.”

AJ seemed to relax somewhat. “Alright… Well, welcome, I reckon…”

I was getting a bit used to this sort of treatment. The events of the wedding were burning in my mind, giving me a fresh dose of guilt. I dragged my foot along the ground, biting my lip.

“...Heh,” I smiled. “I remember, before the wedding… I don’t know if you remember, either from the show or from your true memories, but… I remember coming to you, disguised as Cadence, to check on the catering for the wedding. You were… so friendly, so cheerful, you let me sample an… ‘appoh fwittuh’.” I laughed; I noticed AJ smiling a bit too. “Thing is, changelings can’t eat food, but I managed to eat the fritter without gagging… Kinda wish I could’ve tasted it, I’m sure it was great.”

I frowned and gave a sigh. “I was… well, put lightly, I was a bitch, even if I wasn’t planning that invasion… Listen, I want things to change from how they were, before. I know you’re more likely to… to keep your distance, to not give me even a lick of trust—and, believe me, I don’t blame you—but… I hope you’ll believe that I want things to be different.”

AJ stared at me, silent. Then she nodded. “Okay.”

I blinked. “What?”

AJ smiled. “You don’t seem too bad… at least, not anymore. I guess we can get along, if you’re serious about it.”

I smiled warmly. “...Thank you.”

AJ hefted the bag on her back. “Well, I gotta get back to work, but it was good meetin’ ya, Chrys… The new you.”

I nodded as she cantered off. “I like the new me, too.” I headed off in the other direction, a warm, positive feeling in my chest. I can do it, I thought. Changelings and ponies can play nice… All it takes is a bit of civility.

I headed back to the truck, legs sore from the walking. Part of me wanted to get in the cab and take a nap, but I still had to find Fluttershy and--

“Hi, Chrysalis!”

I turned at the chipper voice. “...Pinkie Pie?”

The mare stood before me, looking much more friendly than any other pony I’d met thus far. I frowned. “...How’d you know who I was?”

“I didn’t!” Pinkie said. “You just told me!”

“...But that doesn’t-- I don’t…” I sighed and let it go, filing that under ‘Pinkie Pie’. “So, things been good?”

“Oh, they’ve been super good!” Pinkie said happily. “Well, except for losing the manhood I’d grown fond of, and being held captive by people who wanted to sell me, Rarity and Shining. Other than that, though, things couldn’t be better!”

I stared at her silently. “...Yeah, just peachy… I’m sorta in the same boat, a former, uh, bearer of… manhood…”

Pinkie nodded sympathetically. “Yeah… But, hey, it makes it SO much easier to--”

“OKAY, BYE NOW!!” I turned around and sprinted away from that topic like it was Slenderman.

                -                -                -                -                -

I stopped at the edge of the forest, panting heavily as I leaned against a tree. “I think… that… was a bit too friendly…” I panted. “And now I do feel the need to scrub myself...”

I slowly became aware of a few tweeting birds some distance away. Curious, I followed the noise. “Hello?” The tweeting silenced somewhat as I called out and came into a small clearing, some ways in the wood.

There was a very small cottage in the center, built from what appeared to be on hand. It looked more like a shack than anything, but it seemed to be suitable housing. The place was littered with various animals, all chittering happily as they stood around…

“...Hey there, Fluttershy,” I said. The pegasus was laying before her cottage, a single bluebird balanced on her head as she watched my approach. She actually didn’t seem that timid, to my surprise.

A fox turned towards me and gave me a little growl; I supposed animals with better senses of smell could see through my disguise, like I was a Terminator. “Yeah, yeah, cool it, Ylvis,” I said, rolling my eyes as I approached.

Fluttershy stood up, so gently that the bird on her head didn’t even flinch. “Hi…” she said softly.

My inner brony was having ‘HNNNNG’ attacks by the second; if I’d met her three weeks ago, I’d have glomped Fluttershy without hesitation. Instead, I simply smiled. “It’s good to see you.” I could tell Fluttershy was trying, and failing, to place me. “...It’s Chrysalis…” I sighed.

Her eyes widened. “Oh…”

I sat down on the ground. The animals all moved closer to Fluttershy, away from me. It was a bit heartbreaking; I’d always loved animals—most of all, dogs. Seeing that they were skittish around me made me wonder if I would, ever again, indulge my primal ‘PET THE PUPPY’ instinct that triggered whenever I saw a dog on the street.

“So, how’ve you been?” I asked, folding my legs.

“Fine, I suppose… All things considered…” Fluttershy said; I liked that she could bring herself to speak above a small whisper. “So, do the others know you’re here?”

I nodded. “I’ve been trying to earn their trust. Dash, AJ and Pinkie seemed welcoming enough, but Twi, Shining and Rarity are… you know. Not that I blame them, not at all.”

“So you remember?” Fluttershy asked, quietly. “Everything?”

I nodded. “Everything. And looking back, with the human life I’ve known, I… I’m ashamed of it. I know not everyone will believe it, I don’t expect them to… But I hope my being here will help. I don’t want to be… that, anymore. Once Discord is gone, I’ll be doing things differently… for the better.”

I felt something brush my thigh. I looked down to see a rabbit, its whiskers brushing my leg as it sniffed me. Smiling, I slowly reached a hand down. The rabbit sniffed it, and I gently raised my fingers and stroked its soft fur. Fluttershy, who’d been looking slightly tense, relaxed as the rabbit curled up beside my leg and let me scratch behind its ears.

“Ees a bunny!” I said in a soft, baby-talk voice as I stroked its white fur. “Ees a wittle bunnyyyyy!” Fluttershy giggled, evoking another ‘HNNNNNNGGG’ from my inner brony.

Her eyes trailed to the left, and she spotted something in the woods behind us. “Hi, Shining.”

I turned to see him poking from behind a tree, clearly wishing he hadn’t been seen. He walked stiffly into the clearing. “Hey, Fluttershy.” He looked at me. “What’re you doing?”

I shrugged. “Just introducing myself to the rest of the Mane Six—or Bearers, I don’t know what I should call you guys.”

“I’m not a Bearer,” Shining said, levelly. “OR part of the Mane Six.”

“You know what I mean…” I said, rolling my eyes. I gave the rabbit one last loving pet before I stood up. “It was nice seeing you, Fluttershy. See you around?”

Fluttershy smiled softly. “Sure.”

I turned and headed towards the woods, passing Shining without looking at him. I came into the treeline and made to keep going when I heard him speak. “Everything okay?”

I paused. I tentatively backed against a tree and listened in.

Sure, eavesdropping is a GREAT way to earn trust… I thought, but I couldn’t resist.

“Sure,” Fluttershy said. “Chrysalis seems pretty… okay.”

“‘Seems’,” Shining said pointedly. “As in, I don’t trust her.”

“She knows she isn’t trusted,” Fluttershy said. “But I think she really wants to start over.”

“So she thinks she can just erase what she did?” Shining said. “Pretend it never happened?”

“She knows what she did, Shining,” Fluttershy said. “And I can tell she regrets it.”

“She hasn’t lost a wink of sleep over it…” Shining growled. “For all we know, she’s working for Discord, here to stab us in the back.”

“Oh, you asshole…” I mouthed, clenching my fists.

“Shining, you’re not giving her a chance!” Fluttershy argued.

“Remember the last person you said that about?” Shining snapped. “Remember how that turned out?”

“HEY!!” I yelled, stepping out from behind the tree. Shining spun around, surprised, as I stomped up to him, resisting the urge to smash him in the face. “That…” I pointed a finger in his face. “Is un-fucking-called for!! You can hate me all you want, but do not let that grudge poison your relationship with everypony else! I don’t care how long it’ll take for you to believe that I am here on friendly terms, what I care about is that your sister and her friends, at the end of the day, are our best and only real hope of taking Discord down! And I will not let you pull them apart just because of your grudge, no matter how justified! So why don’t you save all your distrust, your anger, your hate, for me, and not be a huge tool to your friends?”

Without another word I spun around and stormed into the forest, leaving a stunned Shining Armor behind me. As I entered the treeline, I could swear I heard Shining speak.

“...I’m sorry…”

                -                -                -                -                -

I’d mostly calmed down by the time I got back to the truck. It was getting close to 9pm, and my legs were screaming for sweet release. I opened the front passenger door in the cab and climbed up. Liz was lying in the reclined driver’s seat; she perked up as I climbed in. “Hey. What’ve you been up to?”

“Cheating on you in the filthiest ways imaginable,” I said casually.

“Yeah, same here,” Liz said. “Big Mac and I just went to town…”

“Big Mac’s here?” I asked. “Cool. Who else?”

“I saw the Crusaders, Babs Seed included…” Liz said. “Ooh, they were so cute, I wanted to hug them right there, but I figured, they probably weren’t children anymore, at least not on the inside.”

I peered at the empty back seat. “Trixie and the grubs in the truck bed?”

Liz nodded. “I got some blankets and pillows for them, and used some folded tarps as a bedmat for them.”

I nodded. “...We should probably sleep in here, though. Remember how the grubs hatched, when you and I were sleeping side by side next to their eggs?” Liz nodded. “Now imagine us sleeping side by side next to the smorgasbord back there.”

Liz frowned. “What about the grubs? Can they hatch eggs?”

I shook my head. “It would take them roughly ten times as long to hatch a single egg as it does a Queen. It would take roughly two weeks for a Drone, Soldier, or even a non-changeling to hatch a single egg, and a Royal could hatch them only marginally faster. A Queen's strength comes from just how much she can do with even a small amount of love; with the love I got from you, I was able to lay countless eggs in a short time.” I reclined my seat and yawned. Liz pulled a couple blankets from the backseat and handed one to me.

“How were things with the ponies?” Liz asked. “Was there any trouble?”

“Yes…” I laughed. “Lots of yelling, screaming and running—it was all very slapstick. But I managed to elevate from ‘to be shot on sight’ to ‘to be watched at all times’. I managed to get friendly with Dash, AJ and Fluttershy, though.” I yawned again. “I think things are gonna work out, Liz…”

Liz took my hand. “Things haven’t been so bad…”

I kissed her hand. “Not with you, anyway…”

“You are such a kiss-ass…” Liz giggled. I made a few loud smoochy noises.

> Chapter 26: Busted
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 26: Busted

The following morning, Rainbow allowed Liz and I to borrow her car to drive out to grab supplies. The nearest town was a fair distance from the farm, so when we’d loaded the car with all the groceries it could handle we opted to up the tank, out of courtesy. We went to a Target for supplies, and got some odd looks over the vast quantities of food, but nothing more.

While we were there I spotted a newspaper detailing the sightings of ponies across the nation, all heading straight for Iowa. I felt a pang of worry; what exactly were the ponies seeking, besides safe haven? A way to become human again? The chance to be among fellow ‘converts’? Who would go back to Equestria when this was over, who would remain here? I’d pretty much decided for myself, but I hadn’t even thought of what everypony else would do. I thought about Trixie; she might stay with her human family, maybe get back into show business, traveling on Earth.

This wasn’t even touching the whole political side of things. If word about Equestria and the ponies got around, how would the Earth governments react? Would they seek diplomatic relations? If so, we might have been in a pickle; without Celestia and Cadence, and with Luna being god-knew-where, Twilight was the closest thing we had to a real leader, authority-wise. I knew I wouldn’t be considered for an instant.

That brought up another issue; if my people were considered separate from the ponies, that meant I was a leader regardless. For a moment I could feel the burden of responsibility building in my chest, but quickly remembered everything I’d learned as Queen, centuries ago. I hadn’t been a part of diplomatic relations, of course; back then we were firm followers of the “take what we want” means of negotiation, but I had generations of leading thousands under my metaphorical belt. Working out peace treaties and foreign policies wouldn’t be so hard… hopefully.

After a couple hours of driving, shopping, gaping at how much we’d spent on supplies, playing Grocery Tetris and driving back, we returned to the farm. I felt guilty using the emergency money Mom had given us, even if we’d used it for the exact purpose Mom had intended. Dash and AJ helped us unload the car and bring the supplies into the barn, which I appreciated; in my human form I couldn’t use my magic, which was a hard-hitting realization as I hefted several packages of bottled water into the barn. While we were unloading I noticed Shining staring at us through the living room window of the farmhouse. He clearly wasn’t impressed with our efforts, probably assuming I was trying to get in cozy with them before a monstrous betrayal down the line. I was starting to get more than annoyed with him, and not just after hearing him snap at Fluttershy the previous day. I’d hoped he’d clued into the fact that I’d had a human life as well; I doubted anypony had come out of it without even the slightest change.

Digit noticed him glaring at me as she helped us unload the supplies. “Mom, why’s Shining looking at you like that?” She whispered.

“He doesn’t trust me,” I said simply. “For good reason.”

“Because of what you did before?” Digit asked. I nodded. “Did you talk to him?”

I shook my head. “He doesn’t believe I’m here to help. He thinks I’m gonna screw them over at the worst possible moment.”

“...Now he’s glaring at me…” I glanced towards the window; sure enough, Shining’s gaze was focused on Digit as she walked towards the car, trying not to make eye contact.

I sighed. “Guess he’s figured out you’re with me…”

“Is that bad?” Digit asked quietly as she hefted a box of food from the trunk. “Has he figured out what I am?”

“Hopefully not?” I asked with a shrug.

“Glad to see you’re so sure…” Digit murmured, rolling her eyes.

Escalating tensions aside, it felt good to contribute to the community, and with my aching body attesting to have done more than enough for the day, I collapsed on the field some distance from the farmhouse and simply stared up at the sky. Dash did some stunts about fifty feet above, either to entertain (or show off to) everypony or as exercise; either way the display was impressive. Liz laid at my side, her arm draped over me, mine wrapped around her shoulder.

The sound of hooves landing some distance away drew our attention. “Hey, Dash,” I said.

“Hey Chrys,” Dash said. I noted how well she and I had gotten along; in fics, Dash is usually a bit slow to gain trust, if only out of concern for her friends. It was nice to see her so mellowed out. If I was lucky, she could put in a good word for me with Shining and Twilight. “Listen, you guys have no idea how thankful we are; we didn’t have enough food to sustain everypony for a week.”

I waved a hand. “It’s no problem, we’re glad to help.”

Dash glanced towards the tents. “...You guys know those three humans? Teens, one guy, two girls, one of them’s like…” She scratched a foreleg awkwardly, with the kind of look one gets when trying their damnedest to be politically correct. “...Asian, I dunno if she’s Chinese or Japanese... The other girl and the guy have glasses...”

I nodded. “Yeah, they came here with us. They’re cool. The Japanese girl is Yoko, the other girl is Jenny and the guy is Adam.”

“Jenny and Sam are cousins of mine,” Liz chimed in. “They were in town on the 1st and they saw Chrys’ changeling form, so they… kinda got involved by default. Yoko is… uh…”

“An exchange student!” I blurted out. Liz shot a look at me. “She was staying with Jenny and Sam, she came with them!”

Dash nodded. “Okay… Wait, it’s still May, don’t those three still have school?”

I resisted the urge to bite my knuckle. “We… managed to get them on a… lengthy leave of absence. Told their school they had a big family emergency. Liz’s aunt and uncle know the truth about me, so they consented to letting them come with us; they refused to simply walk away, they felt they’d been, uh, part of this for too long, you know?”

It was at this point I realized that, even in disguise, I was perfectly capable of sweating; something I prayed to God, Jesus, Zeus and Miyamoto that Dash wouldn’t notice. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Dash to some degree, but I didn’t know what she’d do if she found out about the grubs, or the ever growing clutch I’d stowed in the truck. If Shining found out, he’d chase me around the farm while Benny Hill blared in the background.

“Alright, cool,” Dash said; the pressure in my chest deflated like a balloon. “Well, see you guys around…”

“Hey, uh…” I said, raising a hand. “Just curious, how’s it going, finding a way… home, you know?”

Dash glanced between us and the farmhouse. She leaned down with an excited grin. “Twilight’s looking into it, it’s nothing definite, but… Well, remember Equestria Girls?”

I frowned. “Yeah, wasn’t quite the trainwreck we were expecting, but—OH.”

Liz sat up a bit. “You mean…?”

Dash nodded excitedly. “That could be our ticket back!”

“So where’s Canterlot High, or whatever it’s really called?” I asked.

Dash’s smile froze, then fell slightly. “...That’s where Twilight and her research comes in. She’s looking for schools in the 90’s that had weird occurrences, namely in ‘95. But it’s something, right?”

I nodded approvingly. “Certainly promising…”

“I’ll let you know if something turns up!” Dash said before taking off for another lap over the farm.

I watched her fly off for a moment. “...And now we’ve actually lied…” I said. “Great.”

“They’ll find out sooner or later,” Liz said. “When they do, I’m sure she’ll understand.”

“That’s not gonna be good enough for Shining…” I mumbled.

Liz sat up. “Hey. You don’t need Shining’s approval for everything.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Well, first off, he can, and probably will, kick us off the farm at the first sign of trouble, regardless of what I hope to do. Secondly, it’s not so much about getting his approval as…” My words trailed off.

“...What’s it about, then?” Liz asked.

“...It’s about earning his forgiveness…” I said. “You know what I did to him. Every dirty look, every suspicious glare, I’ve more than earned from him. I abducted his fiance. I brainwashed him and tried to use him for my own ends. I nearly destroyed his relationship with his sister. I nearly toppled his homeland. Thinking about it, I’m not sure if I even deserve his forgiveness.”

Liz leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. “Maybe you don’t… But the fact that you’re willing to try, should be more than enough.”

I hugged her tightly. “I’m not sure I even deserve you…”

“Damn right, you don’t…” Liz said, poking me in the ribs and evoking a yelp from me.

“...such a dickhead…” I looked up to see Digit approaching, furious.

“Watch your language…” I said.

“Glass houses…” Liz said, giving me another poke. Digit sat beside us and folded her arms; her eyes gave off the occasional green spark of anger. “What’s wrong, honey?” Liz asked.

“Shining’s being a jerk,” Digit said. “I was just playing with Berry Punch’s daughter, right? Playing tag, and all that; I was it, and I was chasing her around, she was screaming and laughing, but apparently all Shining heard was the screaming. He just runs up to me, his horn lit up like he’s gonna set me on fire, and demands to know what I’m doing. I told him, ‘we’re just playing tag!’, but he just glares at me and takes her away!”

I sighed. “Okay, that can be classified as a ‘dickhead’ move.”

“Can I get him back?” Digit asked. “I already have a bunch of ideas…”

“Ah ah ah!” I said, sitting up. “Besides the whole ‘two wrongs don’t make a right’ thing, I don’t think vengeance would help him see we’re here to help. Look, just shrug it off, maybe after a while he’ll get bored.”

Digit sighed. “Fine… I’ll do my best.”

I smiled, sat up and hugged her. “Just remember that, whatever he suspects about us, he’s wrong. And it’ll feel so much more satisfying when he finally realizes it.”

                -                -                -                -                -

“Yes, you’re loooooove-ly… With your smile so warm…
And your cheeks so soft… There is nothing for me…
But to loooooove you… And the way you look, toooo-niiiiight..”

It was about 9pm that night. Liz, Trixie and the grubs were with the ponies, who were swapping story after story of their experiences since the 1st. I barely had time to listen to Daring Do’s exploits before I felt the telltale stomach cramps and had to sprint for the truck. I was lying in the truck bed, singing to myself while casually flipping through Tides of War, its pages illuminated by the flashlight in my iPod; my little moment of leisure was periodically interrupted by me having to lay another egg, the whole ‘miracle of birth’ thing very quickly losing its splendor.

I shook my head at the events of the novel. “Sure, Thrall, don’t come back when one of your oldest friends might be fuckin’ dead.” I shook my head. “Egh, what would Warcraft be without its’ ‘shoulda-coulda-woulda’s…”

I heard a knock at the door. Lowering the book, I raised an eyebrow; usually Liz, Trixie and the grubs didn’t knock. Maybe their hands (or magic) were full? I reached out with my magic and lifted the door open, the light of a glowing unicorn horn pouring into the bed. “Yeah?” I called, shining my flashlight towards the entrance.

The unicorn standing outside the truck was not Trixie.

It was Rarity.

She tilted her head to the side in confusion at the sight of me, but her gaze quickly fell towards the mass of eggs behind me.

Her eyes widened in horror, a shuddered gasp escaped her lips. My expression was stuck somewhere between shock and nervousness; the kind you get when your parents walk into your room to see you doing anything but studying with the girl from next door.

“...Hey?” I said.

Rarity began screaming. She turned tail and sprinted away from the truck, towards the farmhouse.

“...’kay, bye!!” I called after her before slowly, carefully closing the door.

I was left alone in the darkness, with only the not-at-all-distant future laid before me. 

“...Loooove-ly… Never, never cha-ange…”

                -                -                -                -                -

It was ten minutes later, and I wasn’t even reading the book I held before me. I didn’t even notice the eggs I was laying until I heard the usual wet ‘splat’ behind me.

That’s it. I thought. Might as well text Liz now and tell her we should leave.

Let’s keep calm… Chrysalis replied. This might not be the trainwreck we’re expecting.

Shining’s gonna come in here with the bluntest objects he has to hoof. I thought bitterly. We’ll be lucky if the first thing he takes it to isn’t our head.

Come now, you’re overreacting. Chrysalis said.

BANG BANG BANG. I jumped at the noise at the door. “...Yes?” I called out.

“OPEN UP!!” Came Shining’s voice through the door.

...Yeah, don’t open that door! Chrysalis laughed.

“...Nah, I’m good!!” I called back, lifting the book to completely obscure my terrified face.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THERE?!” Shining demanded.

I sighed in irritation and lowered the book. “Oh, you damn-well know what I’m doing! Rarity’s probably screamed it loud enough for the whole farm to hear! And I can’t stop it! Comes with the territory, you know? I didn’t wanna tell you guys, I figured it’d cause some unnecessary rumblings.”

Shining banged on the door again. “YOU THINK I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING?!”

I frowned in confusion. “...Is that a trick question? Cause… I just told you what I’m doing… Sorta…” A pause. “...Just so we’re on the same page, you know I’m laying eggs in here, right?”

“YOU’RE BUILDING AN ARMY!!” Shining roared.

I ran that over in my head. “...Oh. OOOOOOOOOoooohh, I see your concern. Right, mmm…” I bit my lip. “Yeah, I should’ve expected that conclusion… Look, this happens randomly, alright? In bigger quantities depending on how well I’ve fed. I can’t stop it, and I needed somewhere to put ‘em. Don’t worry, I’m not gonna hatch them…” I glanced back at them and muttered under my breath. “Not yet, anyway…”

I heard Shining grunt in frustration and heard another bang, this one sounding like an agitated kick. The silence that followed told me he’d left. I sighed in relief and laughed. “Thank Christ he didn’t think to try and open the door…”

                -                -                -                -                -

“So, yeah, we might be a tad screwed,” I concluded, half an hour later. I was leaning against the outside of the truck, in human form, explaining the situation to Liz. Trixie and the grubs had gone to sleep in the bed. I was twitching anxiously, constantly glancing at the farm expecting Shining to come out with a chainsaw in his magic.

“Well, we knew this would happen eventually…” Liz said. “We’ll just explain, I’m sure they’ll understand…”

“I tried…” I said. “Shining just thinks I’m raising an army in his backyard…” I noticed a lone pony leaving the farmhouse and heading towards us. Too small to be Shining…

I made out the faint silhouette of a stetson in the darkness. “Hey, AJ…” I said warily.

“Hey…” she said, stopping some distance away. “So… Whatcha been up to?”

I sighed. “Experiencing the joy of motherhood. Look, it’s not a big deal, alright? Like I told Shining, I started laying eggs a few days in. They really started piling up a few days back, that’s why we came here in this truck. I’m not planning on hatching them,” (Yet.) “They’re gonna stay in the truck for the foreseeable future.”

Jack tilted her head to the side. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“I figured it’d cause some unneeded drama,” I said. “I thought if you guys knew, it might complicate things more than they already were…”

AJ looked towards the truck. “Still, though… Sounds like you’re not wantin’ for them eggs…”

I dragged my foot along the ground. “Well, it was either horde ‘em or… abort ‘em. And I… don’t think I can handle that, at least not yet.” I sighed. “Look, I know this looks bad, and I probably should have told you, but I assure you, this is my problem. I’ll think of something down the line… probably.”

AJ gave me a wary look before turning towards the farmhouse. “Alright… Shining ain’t happy, though…”

“Is he ever happy when I’m involved?” I asked.

AJ laughed. “Nah, I guess not… I’ll let ‘em know, I guess, but you might wanna keep yer head down for a while. Yer on thin ice with Shining as it is.” She headed back towards the house. A sigh of relief escaped me.

“Maybe we should lock the truck tonight,” I said, rubbing my temples. “Before Shining or somepony else decides to take matters into their own hooves.” I glanced up at the night sky. “Seems nice enough out… We’ll sleep under the stars.”

Liz looked up. “You think Luna’s been working up there?” She asked.

I shrugged. “Maybe.” I yawned. “Let’s get ‘em out of the bed and lock it up.”

Trixie and the grubs were initially irate at being woken up, but quickly understood the situation and agreed that the night was nice enough to sleep outside. We locked the truck bed and all lined up some distance from it, facing towards the gorgeous stars.

Before long, it sounded like everyone else had fallen asleep, leaving me alone to stargaze with Liz’s arm laying across my chest. It was times like this I sort of regretted spending so much time indoors, not looking out the window and seeing things like this. I didn’t do this as Queen, either; I was too busy leading the Hive to even take a night off to just… relax.

I gave a contented sigh and closed my eyes, ready to sleep.

I heard hoofsteps approaching from behind me. “Hello,” came a female voice.

Frowning, I tilted my head backwards until I got an upside-down view of behind me. My eyes widened. “I don’t believe it…”

Princess Celestia stood some distance away. The fact that it was night did nothing to her natural radiance, the almost hypnotic beauty of her constantly flowing mane. She was looking at me with a calculating look in her eyes, but otherwise showed no signs of hostility. “We need to talk, Chrysalis.”

I blinked. “Been watching me too, huh?” I sighed. “Yeah, sure, gimme a sec…” I tenderly lifted Liz’s arm from my chest and slowly climbed out of the sleeping bag. I pulled it over Liz’s shoulders gingerly before turning to address Celestia.

“Walk with me,” she said calmly. I nodded and strode beside her as we walked past the truck and along the edge of the forest. “You’ve no need to ‘dress up’ on my account…” she said, smiling softly.

I nodded and assumed my true form. “I figured this form would… make memories of our past sting a bit more, you know?”

Celestia nodded. “Understandable. But we’re not here as enemies; just two mares on a walk.”

As we walked I felt my blood growing hot and muscles tensing up, not unlike the times I was escorted to the principal’s office back in grade school. My mind kept replaying the memory of me overpowering Celestia at the wedding; the fear that I might not win, the surprise when I began to push back, the sense of pride and rush of adrenaline that came with seeing her sprawled across the floor. And now here we were, walking side by side.

“Luna has told me what she saw when you spoke in your dream,” Celestia said. “That you are remorseful, that you seek not only redemption, but… peace.”

I nodded quickly. “Yes. Even more than I want Discord to pay for his atrocities. I… don’t want to be feared by your people anymore, Princess. I earned the distrusting looks, the suspicions, the accusations that I’m up to no good, but…”

“You want things to change,” Celestia said. “For the better.”

“...I want something good to come from this mess, you know?” I said.

“I’d think something already had…” Celestia said, glancing back towards where she’d found me.

“Yes, but that’s good for me,” I said. “I’m thinking more for the good of our peoples. My human life taught me something every leader needs to know: there are two types of decisions you make; one for the sake of your people, and one for the sake of your world.”

Celestia smiled. “You’ve certainly come a long way.” Her gaze trailed towards the farmhouse. “I noticed you’ve been doing your best to… smooth things over with Shining, Twilight and the others.”

I looked to the farmhouse sadly. “Yes.”

“If you’d like, I might…” Celestia began.

“No,” I said, stopping and turning to her. “Thank you, but… no. It may be a matter of pride, but I’d rather really earn their trust. I know your good word would carry a lot of weight, but…”

“I understand,” Celestia said. “You plan on aiding them against Discord?”

“Oh, yes…” I said. “And I will strike down upon him, with great vengeance and furious anger.”

“You’ve truly no love for him…” Celestia said.

“His uprising led to the starvation of my people…” I said. “...Yet the fault lies with me as well. It was my stubbornness that made us remain in Equestria, trying and failing to find any ponies that had escaped Discord’s notice… And he didn’t care. He shrugged off the near extinction of my race…” I faced Celestia. “So, yes, I’ve plenty reason to see him defeated, crushed, destroyed… But this isn’t about me. This is about our home, Princess. This is about bringing an end to the chaos he so adores.”

Celestia stared at me for a few moments.

Then she smiled. “Then I look forward to seeing you at our side, in the end.” She held out a hoof.

I bumped it in response. “Me as well, Princess.”

Celestia laughed. “I am ‘Celestia’ among friends.”

My eyes widened in shock, but I quickly smiled. “Alright then… Celestia.”

Celestia turned towards the forest. “I’m afraid I must leave. I have matters I must attend to.”

I giggled. “Your human life isn’t so easy to shrug off, is it?”

Celestia smiled. “You imply it was something worth losing.”

There was a brief flash of light, then she was gone. I stared at the spot she’d been moments ago, an affectionate smile on my face, before turning and heading back to the truck.

> Chapter 27: Bitterness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 27: Bitterness

“You really have to think about yourself being in that spot!” Trixie said. “Then, once that spot’s firmly in your mind, you just prepare your spell,” she lit up her horn. “You wrap yourself in the aura, completely… Then, release!” With a blue flash she vanished, reappearing at a spot a few feet away. “The trick is learning how to do all this, quickly. Taking too long to get it right could get you killed, but doing it quickly and messing up could result in only half of you getting to its destination.”

“Pleasant,” I said, wincing. “Okay…” I stared at the spot between two large trees; I obsessed with that spot, memorized everything I could, and imagined myself being in that spot. Finally, I lit up my horn, wrapped myself in the spell and…

...Poomph! I felt the air twist around me for a millisecond before returning to normal. Suddenly, I was moving forward in the air, brutally fast, towards a--

“TREE!!” I yelped before George of the Jungle-ing into it, my legs wrapped around its trunk.

“Oh my god, are you okay?!” Trixie cried as she ran up behind me. “I’m so, so sorry!! I forgot to talk about momentum with the spell!!”

I slowly pulled myself off the tree and landed heavily on my back, legs twitching like a fly in its death throes. “Would’ve been nice…” I said, strainfully. I achingly rolled over and stood up, popping my bones as I went. “Okay… Let’s try that again. So… momentum. What should I know, how do I compensate?”

“You sure?” Trixie asked. “We’ve been at this for a couple hours…”

“Teleporting has some fairly obvious perks that I could use, when we throw down with Discord,” I said firmly. “I know it’ll take a while to get the hang of it, but I’d rather have some general idea, rather than no idea of how to do it.”

“Sure, go to war with a crappily made gun that could blow up in your hands, rather than none at all…” Trixie said, rolling her eyes. “Fine, but I want to make sure you won’t put yourself in a wall. Now, when you teleport to a destination, your ‘essence’ is really being flung forward at impossible speeds. Once you reach the point where you reform yourself, that momentum’s not going anywhere. Here, watch…”

She teleported; when she returned she was suddenly staggering forwards, trying to keep her balance. “See?” She asked as she turned to me. “If you teleport yourself towards your destination in a straight line like that, you still have that forward energy behind you. That’s why, on the ground, you need to teleport yourself towards your destination like… Uh, here.” She picked up a twig. “This is you, right? Well, you need to teleport so that you go towards it…” She moved the twig horizontally. “Before making yourself go up on the way there…” She moved it upwards, diagonally, in the same direction. “And then making yourself drop towards the target.” She moved the twig down again. “Then you’ll have your momentum, but it’ll head towards the ground. You can use the momentum to your advantage, though; if you’re running in one direction and need to avoid something, you can teleport in a straight line, then use your forward momentum to keep your speed up.”

I nodded. “Okay, makes sense… Sounds like the only challenge in the ‘drop’ method, though, is not belly-flopping.”

“Just keep your legs straight when you reform, and you’ll be fine,” Trixie said encouragingly. “You got this.”

I took a preparatory breath. “Okay, let’s do it.”

Same as before, I lit up my horn, enveloped myself, and imagined myself heading to the target spot, downwards.

Poomph! I blinked to the spot and landed heavily on my hooves; my legs buckled from the landing, but otherwise I’d arrived in one piece.

I grinned triumphantly. “Woot!!”

“Great!” Trixie said happily. “Now it’s just a matter of, for lack of a better phrase, ‘muscle memory’. Get used to the method, to the point that you can do it with relative ease!”

I bowed my head appreciatively. “You have been wise sensei to little grasshopper, Trixie-senpai!” I said in a poor imitation of a Japanese accent.

Trixie rolled her eyes. “I’m gonna take that with a lick of salt until I’m sure you won’t lose any bits during a teleport.”

“Hey, guys!” We turned to see Liz entering the clearing, carrying a couple bags of food.

“Our monastery has been breached!” I said, continuing my god-awful accent.

“Keep talking, tool…” Liz said with a smirk, handing one of the bags to Trixie. “You sure Shining’s okay with you practicing magic out here?”

“If by ‘okay’ you mean ‘completely unaware’, then yes, he’s okay with it,” I said as we sat in a little circle.

“What if he finds you practicing out here?” Liz asked. “It could make Trixie’s life difficult if he finds out she’s helping you.”

“Then he’ll owe her an apology as well, once he gets it through his thick skull that I’ve changed,” I said simply.

“Liz is right, Chrys,” Trixie said, chewing on a sandwich. “The fact he knows about the eggs and Digit is bad enough, if he finds out you’re working on refining your magic…”

“All I’m doing is learning some new spells!” I said. “What’s wrong with that?”

“We don’t think anything’s wrong with it!” Liz said. “But do you really think Shining’s gonna listen? He’s wrong about you, sure, but that doesn’t mean he won’t throw us out of here if you give him sufficient reason to!”

I groaned and put my head in my hooves. “Alright… Stupid right people, with their stupid sound arguments…” I muttered in mock-bitterness.

“URGH!!” The three of us jumped and turned as Digit stormed into the clearing, dropping her form and looking ready to punch someone. “Mom? Can I hit Shining? Just once? Please?”

“Now, hold on, calm down…” I said. “What’s got you so upset that you’re craving his blood?”

Digit bit her lip, nervousness momentarily replacing the anger in her eyes. “Well, uh… I was… I was hungry, alright? And I knew you were busy training with Trixie, so I thought I’d… get some love of my own.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “How?”

“Not by impersonating anyone!” Digit argued quickly. “Not any ponies or humans, anyway… I knew Fluttershy has a place on the far side of the farm, where she’s caring for a bunch of animals, right? So I thought I could…” Her words trailed off.

“You took the form of an animal and fed off of her, didn’t you,” Liz deadpanned, raising an eyebrow.

“Digit…” I said.

“I didn’t see anything wrong with it!” Digit argued. “I just took on the shape of a random bunny—I didn’t kidnap one and stow it away! Then I let her… love me for a while. But when I was about to finish, Shining came into the clearing, right? He asked Fluttershy if she’d seen you, me, Shift or Echo around. He said that we were probably ‘spying’ for you… Then he said—you ready for this? He said that you were probably already holding some people hostage somewhere! Feeding off of them and biding your time!!”

I grimaced in agitation for a moment before taking a calming breath. “Digit, remember what I told you; just… ignore him.”

“That’s just something a parent says to their bullied kids when they’re too lazy to do anything themselves…” Digit muttered bitterly.

Liz and Trixie’s jaws dropped. “Whoa…” I said, standing up. “Where did that come from?” Digit didn’t respond, content with glaring ruefully at the ground. I walked up to her and stood at her side, putting a wing around her. “What’s wrong, hon?”

“I don’t know, it’s just…” Digit mumbled. “I don’t like letting him act like a jerk and not get his due, that’s all…”

“Digit, remember…” I said soothingly. “He’s only doing this because of something we did, years ago. You can’t blame him for not trusting us.”

“There’s a difference between ‘distrust’ and ‘bitter hatred’...” Digit said. “And I don’t think Shining sees it.”

“Well, again, relish the fact that, once he sees how we’ve changed, Shining will feel pre-tty stupid,” I said.

“I guess…” Digit mumbled. I kissed her on the head.

“Why don’t you visit Fluttershy and her animals?” Liz suggested. “As yourself this time? Or rather, as Yoko. Get to know each other.”

Digit pursed her lips in consideration. “That might be fun…”

I gave her a hug. “Put it out of your mind, okay?” Digit nodded stiffly, then turned and headed back into the treeline towards the farm. I returned to sit with Liz and Trixie; Liz was giving me a look. “What?” I asked.

“Where did that comment come from?” She asked.

I couldn’t come up with an answer.

                -                -                -                -                -

I walked past the trees, trying to keep Mom’s words echoing in my head. I glanced backwards, still able to see her with Liz and Trixie.

Maybe she’s right… I thought. Maybe Shining will get over it in time…

But what about the time BEFORE that? How long are we gonna have to put up with his glaring? His constant attitude that we’re looking for the right time to put a knife in his back?

I kicked a pebble bitterly. I don’t care WHAT his justification is; with Discord running amok, you’d think Shining would at least assume that WE want to stop Discord, too! But no, he decides that they’d be better off treating us like dirt… Dirt that’ll dump poison in your coffee…

I was close to the farm, now; I’d almost forgotten to look human. As I changed, I leaned against a tree. I just wish I could get him BACK… Show him that he’s not doing anyone any favors by being such a… dickhead!!

I noticed Rarity walking about near the farmhouse. Mom had told us that she was with…

I perked up.

A grin slowly creeped across my face.

> Chapter 28: Intervening
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 28: Intervening

“Alright, I was bullied in school, okay?” I said. “It ended in my senior year in high school, and I’ve gotten over it.”

Liz glanced towards the way Digit had gone. “Have you?”

“I have!” I said defensively. “I don’t care anymore!”

“How exactly were you bullied?” Trixie asked.

I gave them a deadpan expression; were we really doing this? “Nothing physical,” I said, deciding to humor them. “Mainly because, anyone who would do something like that would be kicked out of the school almost immediately. It was always verbal, or sometimes they’d toss shit at me in class when the teacher wasn’t looking… I wasn’t the most temperamental, so they just liked getting a reaction out of me. I’d been suspended a few times for losing it and throwing a punch against them, though usually they got the same.”

“And you didn’t tell your parents?” Liz asked. “Or a teacher?”

“I did!!” I said hotly. “But ninety percent of the time they said, ‘just ignore them and they’ll get bored,’ or they just gave the jackass a warning that only made them stop for a while.” My voice started growing in volume. “More often than not, they didn’t face any recourse, so that torment-bullshit spread like goddamned wildfire as I went through school, word spreading that, ‘oh, that Chris guy is a riot, just keep screwing with him and he’ll explode’! Because verbal bullying, apparently, is just some inconsequential social ‘quirk’ that’s just accepted as normal among kids, even though it can leave its mark on kids in a way that lasts way longer than any wedgie or bloody nose!!”

I suddenly realized just how loud I was talking; Liz and Trixie were leaning back, eyes wide in nervousness. I found my breath was loud and quickened, my heart pounding from my little rant.

I took a deep breath. “Sorry, I… Christ… Maybe I haven’t moved on as well as I thought.”

Liz scooched over and put a hand on my hoof. “To be honest, you have a tendency to hold grudges, too…”

I nodded. “And now we know why Digit’s so irritated.” I stood up. “I’m gonna go talk to Shining; we’re gonna sort this shit out, now… Before Digit gets pushed too far. Because if torment isn’t enough, inaction just makes it worse.”

Liz nodded. “That might be best. Maybe bring Digit to see him, too—get on even ground, you know?”

I headed towards the treeline leading to the farm; I glanced back at them. “Thanks, guys.”

                -                -                -                -                -

I returned to the farm, not bothering to take my human guise. The ponies once again spotted me and held a variety of reactions, but to a lesser extent—word of my presence had probably spread. Some of the newer ponies seemed rather thrilled to see me; likely, they didn’t have their true memories back, but they were bronies and liked Chrysalis as a character, in terms of animated villains. It was flattering, in a way; I returned the smile to those who grinned and waved at me.

Right, find Digit, then find Shining, I said, peering around the farm for either of them. I noticed Shift and Echo once again helping new arrivals get settled in.

Hey, Echo?

“Yes, Mother?”

You seen Digit around?

“I think Shift saw her near the farmhouse a few minutes ago.”

Thanks.

I headed towards the building, peering around its sides before I spotted Rarity walking from the driveway. She noticed me approaching and tensed slightly—a considerable improvement from open hostility or fleeing for the hills. “Hey,” I said casually.

“Hello…” she said levelly.

I rubbed a foreleg awkwardly. “Look, sorry for the scare with the truck and the… clutch…” I said guiltily. “I figured it would cause undue drama if you guys knew… Like I told AJ, I’m not planning on hatching them anytime soon. For now, they’re staying in there.”

Rarity slowly nodded. “I understand… I… apologize for how I reacted, it may have been… extreme.”

“‘Extreme’ was Shining banging on the door ten minutes later,” I joked. “Much as I’d prefer not laying eggs for now, I wouldn’t be thrilled if Shining decided to take a hammer to them.”

“‘For now’?” Rarity asked. “So, you… You’re aware there may be no going back? No way to be human again?”

I nodded sadly. “I’m seeking to keep both the lives I knew, but this is who I am now. I can’t ignore what’ll happen after Discord is gone.”

Rarity narrowed her eyes. “What exactly will happen?”

“We’re gonna start again,” I said with a shrug. “The eggs will be the start of our new generation.”

Rarity blinked, a hint of fear in her eyes. “...And what of us?”

I hesitated; I’d hoped to keep this talk for once Discord was defeated. Sure, it could help ease the tension between us at the moment, but I wanted them to focus more on current affairs—unlike me, their concerns laid more on getting home and stopping Discord.

But surely it wouldn’t hurt to mention it? I looked her dead in the eyes. “If there’s one good thing to come of all this, it allowed me to see just how low we’d fallen. Before, we would kidnap poor souls, bind them in amber and feed off of the dreams of their loved ones. My human life gave me a fresh perspective on just how abhorrent that was; we’re starting anew. My people will… will find a different way. We’ll stem our growth in numbers, to start—part of what drove my attack on Canterlot was a concern for my people growing to number in the millions. Then, each changeling born will be… an individual. They’ll set out and find loved ones, whether they be pony, human or otherwise.”

Rarity’s fear vanished, replaced with surprise and disbelief as I explained my plans for the future. “...Are you saying you want… peace?”

I nodded. “I want it almost as much as I want Discord’s head on a pike.”

Rarity stared at me, rolling my words around in her head; for a moment, she frowned. “How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

I felt a pang of disappointment, though wasn’t completely surprised. I shrugged. “You don’t, I guess.”

Rarity gazed at the ground, deep in thought. After a long silence, she finally spoke. “From what I’ve seen—or, rather, haven’t seen, I… I suppose I’d be willing to give you a chance.”

I smiled. “Thank you…” I glanced around the farm. “Now, have you seen Shining around? There’s something he and I need to discuss.”

Rarity glanced towards the farmhouse. “He’s in the house speaking with that human girl.”

I frowned. “‘Human girl’?”

She nodded. “Yes, she appeared to be Japanese? She seems polite enough…”

My frown deepened. “...That’s Digit. She hates his guts, why would she want to talk with HOLY CHRIST!!!!!” Rarity jumped at my outburst as I sprinted towards the farmhouse. “WHICH ROOM IS HE IN?!”

“Door at the far left!!” Rarity cried as she galloped after me, a hint of confusion in her voice.

I barged through the door and bolted down the corridor; Twilight was coming out of the kitchen, and jumped as I sprinted past. “‘scuse me!!” I said quickly. I bolted to the door and skidded to a halt in front of it, Rarity right at my side. I wound back with my magic and threw the door open with a deafening ‘SLAM’.

Shining was there with ‘Rarity’ in his embrace; the pair immediately cast shocked looks at me in the doorway, ‘Digity’ looking more distressed than surprised at my arrival. Shining glanced between me, Rarity at my side, and finally looked at the ‘pony’ in his embrace, horrified.

“DIGIT. NAUGHTY,” I said loudly and firmly, pointing a foreleg down the hall.

Digity immediately dropped her form and detached herself from Shining. She sulked out of the room, past me and down the hall, brow furrowed bitterly. I glanced at Shining; his expression was equal parts horror and fury, his mouth, eyelids and legs twitching madly. He repeatedly stammered out noises that were probably his attempts at speaking.

Rarity leaned towards me. “You should probably leave before he snaps…” she muttered out the corner of her mouth. “Sorry…”

I nodded slowly and inched out of his view. I slowly and stiffly walked down the hall; Twilight hadn’t moved, eyes wide in confusion and tension as I passed without a word. Once I made it outside I hauled ass towards the truck—partly to talk to Digit, but mainly to escape what I felt could best be described as a ‘blast radius’.

                -                -                -                -                -

I lifted the truck door; Digit was inside, lying prone among the clutch with her back to me. I climbed inside, pulled the door shut behind me and lit up my horn to illuminate the bed. I walked over and lay beside Digit; despite the look of bitter anger in her eyes, I could see tears falling down her face. “So?” I asked. “What happened?”

“You know what happened…” Digit muttered.

“What I mean is, did you two ‘do’ anything?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No!” Digit said. “And we wouldn’t have!! I was just gonna… wait until he was ‘raring to go’, then dropped the disguise, scared him, and ran away. Leave him all confused and with blue balls…”

Part of me winced at my two-week-old bringing up the concept of ‘blue balls’. “Digit, what did we talk about, not thirty minutes ago?”

“I can’t ignore him, Mom!!” Digit snapped. “I’m just sick of being treated like a time-bomb!!”

“And you think that would’ve gotten him to stop?” I asked.

“Yes—well, I…” Digit sputtered angrily. “...I don’t know, it’s just… I hated that he could keep acting like a dickhead and get away with it!!”

I sighed; if there were any doubts regarding my buried, petty grudges being imprinted on Digit, they were gone now. I stretched out a wing and laid it over her, pulling her close. “I know, baby, I know… I’m sorry.”

Digit blinked and glanced up at me. “What?”

“I should’ve acted,” I said. “I should’ve talked to him the moment I heard that he was bothering you… Instead, I just followed the philosophy that something will go away if you ignore it.”

“I wasn’t even alive, all those years ago…” Digit said, her eyes welling with tears. “But he doesn’t care, he’s so sure that all of us are monsters…”

I laid my head over her as a sob escaped her. “I know, hon… I know. He’s treated you unfairly, and no one’s the better for it.” Digit pushed her face into me, quietly sobbing; I kissed her head lovingly. “I’ll talk to him. We’ll sort it out.”

“...Am I a monster?” Digit asked.

“What?” I glanced down at her. “No!!”

“But I… he was tricked by a changeling, again!! I did exactly what we did before!!” Digit wept.

“Hey…” I said firmly. “What we did before was a vile means of survival. What you did was more or less a prank; not a very tasteful prank, sure, but it doesn’t make you a monster. You were upset, you were angry, you weren’t happy with him or me.” Digit remained silent, save for the occasional sniffle. “...If you’re feeling bad about it, maybe you should apologize,” I suggested. “The thing about monsters is, they don’t apologize.”

Digit slowly looked up at me. “...I don’t know if I can…”

I stroked her head with a hoof. “Give it time… He might not accept it now, but… forgiveness doesn’t always come overnight.”

Digit nodded slightly, then leaned against me. “I’m sorry…” she said softly.

“It’s okay, honey…” I whispered in her ear. “It’ll be okay…”

                -                -                -                -                -

Digit fell asleep some time later; as we laid together I needed to put extra focus towards keeping any of the love between us from seeping into the eggs and leading to the addition of a new grub to our list of stresses. I carefully stood up, taking care not to wake Digit, and crept out of the truck.

As I climbed out, Liz, Shift, Echo and Trixie were approaching from the barn. “Rarity said something happened,” Liz said urgently.

I lifted a hoof to my mouth and made a ‘shush’ gesture. “She’s asleep in there. She… kinda pulled a prank on Shining that was a bit… tasteless.”

Trixie flinched nervously and looked towards the farmhouse. “Should we leave? If the eggs weren’t enough, this would probably…”

“This was more of a ‘personal’ thing,” I said. “I doubt it would be considered an open declaration of war, especially considering the fact that I stopped Digit before she went too far.”

“So Shining won’t be mad?” Liz asked.

A loud slam from the farmhouse made us jump; we turned to see Shining leaving the house and heading for us. “Didn’t say that…” I muttered.

Shining’s gait didn’t seem to say, ‘I’m going to tear someone a new asshole’; it was angry, sure, but it was more controlled—it was the walk of someone angry with you, but reasonable enough to let you explain yourself. Nevertheless I tensed up as he approached, clearly trying to keep his temper in line; he noticed Trixie among us but didn’t seem to care. “So…” he said hotly.

Might as well lay ALL our cards on the table. I took a breath and glanced at Shift and Echo. “It’s okay, kids.”

The pair glanced at each other and dropped their forms; Shining flinched a bit, but did nothing else. He looked between the two, then back at me. “Where’s she?”

I frowned at him. “In the truck. She’s asleep.”

“You said you weren’t planning on hatching any of your eggs,” Shining said curtly.

“And I haven’t,” I said before gesturing towards Shift and Echo. “Digit, Shift and Echo, however, are my firstborns, hatched two weeks ago from my first three eggs in a very long time. Hatching them was… well, I wouldn’t say an ‘accident’, but it happened a bit sooner than I would’ve liked…” I gave an apologetic look to Shift and Echo, but they didn’t seem to mind.

“They been well-fed?” Shining asked.

For a moment, anger overtook me—in a way, I felt he was implying I considered them as tools rather than as my kin; I stomped towards him. “I’ve been feeding them myself…” I said firmly. “Feeding them with the love that usually comes from becoming a parent.” I gestured at Liz, who seemed to be trying to keep out of Shining’s notice. “Liz has been feeding them as well; while we’re not exactly sure if she’s really a mother, she’s acted as one nonetheless.”

“Then what was that about?” Shining asked harshly.

“Changelings aren’t the mindless monsters you think us to be, Shining Armor!” I snapped. “Every changeling, from the moment they hatch, is a living, thinking being, just like any pony or human. Yes, we tend to act as a form of hive mind, but it’s more a method of communication than a lack of real identity. Digit is no exception; she is a sweet, goofy girl, who enjoys being loved much more than feeding off of it. And she does not appreciate your constant glaring and distrust towards both her, and me.”

“If you’re asking me to openly welcome our would-be conquerors…” Shining began.

I cut him off. “When I first got here, I told you I’d understand if you didn’t trust me, if you would have put me in chains… But this is too much. You’ve confused ‘caution and wariness’ with ‘bitterness and hatred’, and it’s causing so much unneeded drama!!” I advanced towards him; he didn’t back down, but I wasn’t looking to intimidate. “Discord’s uprising led to the starvation and near-extinction of my people!! Do you really think I would ever seek ANY form of allegiance with that monster?!”

Shining’s expression softened slightly, but I didn’t let up. “Digit hates how you’re treating her, how you see her as one of the monsters we used to be. What she did, however extreme and tasteless, was her way of telling you, ‘I am not okay with it’.” Shining evaded eye contact, my words clearly getting to him.

“...I just…” Shining began. “...You tried to…”

“Shining.” I sat down in front of him. “There is no way to justify what I did before. I would have turned what should’ve been the happiest day of your life into the downfall of your nation.” Shining glanced up at me. “My human life let me see just what I’d become, and I… I’m ashamed, Shining. I don’t want to be that monster again… That’s one of the reasons I came here. To try and… put my people on a better path.”

A sign of guilt flickered in Shining’s eyes; I reached out and laid a hoof on his shoulder. “Shining, I want nothing more than to help fix things… Between your kind and mine. I want peace, Shining… I want your people to forgive mine… I want you to forgive me…”

Shining took a breath. “...To be honest, I… I was only being so… so cautious because… Because of the ‘you’ I’d seen on the show.”

I frowned. “What?”

“I don’t have all my memories back,” Shining explained. “Just a few. I don’t really remember the Wedding, the Crystal Empire… The only thing I really remember is the time before Discord cursed me.”

I withdrew my hoof. “...So, this wasn’t quite as… personal?”

Shining opened his mouth to respond, but hesitated. “...Well, maybe a little… I thought it was coming from the show alone, but… I think I did feel a sense of hate towards you…” He sighed. “Either way, now I just feel like an ass… For judging you based on what I got from a TV show, no matter how accurately you may have been portrayed… I might’ve been willing to trust you if you were more like a… confused human in a changeling queen’s body, but… When I first saw you, it was clear you did remember who you were… I feared you’d gotten back to your old ways, that your attempts at civility were a sham.”

“Well, they’re not,” I said earnestly. “I do remember, Shining—everything. But what I once saw as the means to power and survival, I now know is just the act of a monster, turning herself and her kin into something horrible. Again, you have every reason to hate and distrust me—no matter how you know of my crimes—but just know, I want things to change… I want my people to no longer be seen as monsters.”

Shining stared at me; there was no anger or hostility in his eyes anymore. Finally, he took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay.”

I blinked. “What?”

“I was… wrong to judge you,” Shining said. “Even if I did truly remember everything, I should have considered the fact that you were human as well; it’d be hard to find anypony here who hasn’t come out differently from this disaster.” He gazed at the ground. “I don’t know if I can forget what you did, but…”

“We don’t have to be BFF’s,” I said. “We’ll just… get on friendlier terms.” I grinned. “It’ll be more fun that way when we’re curb-stomping Discord!”

Shining gave a little chuckle. “Enemy of my enemy…”

I held out a hoof. “We cool?”

Shining bumped it. “Yeah…”

A noise from the truck made me glance back. Digit was lifting the door open, gazing guiltily at Shining. She leapt down from the bed and awkwardly approached him, keeping her gaze focused on anything but him. “...Shining…” she began. “I just…”

Shining nodded solemnly. “I’m sorry, too.”

Digit smiled softly at him. “You were just protecting your friends… I get it.”

Shining smiled back; he and Digit did a reconciling hoof bump. “...Okay, so…” I said. “It’s only now that we’ve patched things over that I see how hilarious Digit’s prank would’ve been.” Liz, Trixie and the grubs laughed, Digit harder than all of them.

Shining pouted for a bit before smirking. “Wanna know exactly what we would’ve done if you hadn’t shown up?”

Digit and I immediately yelped in a ‘do not want’ manner and covered our ears. “Dick move, DICK MOVE!!” I yelled before shooting a glare at the others, who were laughing even harder. “Yeah, yeah, yuck it up, jack-offs!!”

“Hey, Shining’s the one who would’ve been banging a two-week old!” Trixie cackled.

Shining’s grin instantly dropped, his white face somehow getting noticeably paler.

“Shining Armor, why don’t you have a seat over there…” Digit said.

> Chapter 29: Through Good Times and Bad
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 29: Through Good Times and Bad

The day’s drama took a lot out of us, so we ended up turning in a short while after our talk with Shining. I felt… good; I felt we’d made a great deal of progress already on the future, after Discord was defeated.

So now all we had to do was find out how to get home, then find a way to defeat a demigod.

It actually wasn’t that daunting of a task; if they could get the Elements of Harmony back, he’d be royally screwed. It was getting the Elements back that would prove potentially difficult; I could only hope that the Mane Six had some sort of plan together… It would likely involve a distraction from anypony else looking to fight him, though I couldn’t be sure. As I climbed into the truck cab as Chris, I figured I’d talk to them in the morning about it.

I sat in the driver seat, leaning it back as always; as I reached into the back seat for my blanket and pillow, I noticed that Liz was taking a while to show up. I was about to get out and look for her when the passenger door opened, and Trixie climbed in. “Hey,” she said, climbing in and closing the door.

“...Trixie, I like you as a friend…” I began, only mostly joking.

Trixie rolled her eyes. “If you’re wondering about Liz, she’s gonna sleep in the back tonight with the grubs. She figured they needed some quality time.”

I nodded approvingly. “Alright then.” I laid my head back into my pillow with a yawn.

I was starting to fall asleep when Trixie spoke up. “...Chrys?”

“Hmm?”

“...I… I don’t know what’s next for… me…”

I sat up and looked at her. “Say again?”

Trixie was looking rather sad. “You’ve had all this talk about what you’ll do when this is over, but… I don’t know about me… I don’t think I have much to go back to in Equestria, I don’t know if I can live up to all this ‘Great and Powerful’ hype people around here give me...”

I frowned. “You have your family here, don’t you?”

She nodded, conceding my point. “Yeah, but… There’s the same problem. I can stay with my family, sure, but… I don’t know where I can go from there. What can I do? In either world?”

I pursed my lips in thought. “...Maybe people will be more awed by your magic here?” I suggested. “Magic isn’t common with humans, and from what I can tell, your special talent’s in magic with style, so don’t be so quick to discard your days as a performer and entertainer.”

Trixie nodded slowly. “I guess…”

“Hey…” I said, reaching over and laying a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t forget you have more than your family to turn to.” I laughed. “Sorry to sound cheesy, but… We’re your kinda-sorta family too… Aunt Trixie.”

Trixie grinned at me; she reached over and gave me a big hug. “Thank you…” She said. “I can never repay what you guys have done for me…”

I shrugged. “Eh. Feel free to try.”

                -                -                -                -                -

I climbed into the truck bed, yawning as I heard Trixie climb in up front. Part of me wanted to tell Chrys myself, but I was too lazy. The grubs were nestled among the clutch; Digit and Echo gave me warm grins as I entered, while Shift gave me a respectful nod—another sign of how difficult it was for him to commit to more emotional agendas. The eggs had their usual faint glow; Chrys had managed to find that sweet spot of feeding where they wouldn’t starve, but wouldn’t get closer to hatching so long as he was careful about when he fed them next.

I kneeled by Trixie’s sleeping bag next to the wall and, too tired to care about any fur or hairs left inside, climbed in. Digit was sitting across from me, looking wide awake, Shift was already trying to fall asleep, and Echo was leaning against the wall next to me, reading one of Chrys’s books, Jam, under a light from her horn. “After I read that, I could never look at PB ‘n J again…” I said, shifting the sleeping bag so I was laying horizontally in the truck space.

“I think a zombie apocalypse would be much less complicated, personally,” Digit said cheerfully. It was good to see she’d cheered up; seeing her sad actually felt physically painful.

We found a dull in the conversation. “...So…” I said, twiddling my thumbs. “What’re you three gonna do when this is finished?”

“Whatever Mother wishes of us,” Shift said simply, not opening his eyes.

“Well…” I said. “Chrys hopes that the changelings will live as… individuals. Not just as parts of a Swarm, but as an actual people… maybe even as families. So… you’re just gonna stick with him?”

“Well, I’m gonna hang around on Earth!” Digit said happily. “I miss grandma, grandpa and aunts Penny and Sarah, and I wanna go to some of the awesomer places here!” She tilted her head to the side. “...I wanna meet your family, too, Liz.”

I frowned, considering that possibility. “That… might go either way, Digit… My parents don’t know I’ve come all this way, and I’m a little… concerned about how they’ll react to Chrys, being what he is… It’s not like his family, when they accepted him regardless of what he’d become; they’ll see me as pretty much dating an alien.”

“Because they have so much control over who, or even what, their twenty-four year old daughter dates…” Shift said passively. He opened his eyes. “Honestly, if they have a problem with it, what’re they gonna do?”

“I’d rather they didn’t have a problem with it…” I said softly. “Either way, they’re still my parents…”

Shift blinked, taking my words into consideration. “...I guess it may be worth trying to win them over…” He conceded. “Though if they don’t learn to accept it, it doesn’t exactly say much about them…”

For a moment I thought he was tossing a thinly-veiled insult at my parents, but I quickly saw where he was coming from; no parent should have a kind of ‘rubric’ for who their child loves other than ‘makes them happy’. I turned to Echo. “And you, Echo? Will you stay with Chrys?”

She nodded. “I want to learn what I can from her while she’s Queen, which could be for a long time… Being her first, and at the moment, only, Royal, I’m what you may call her ‘heir’. If I become Queen, I want to have as much knowledge under my belt as possible.”

“What about you, Liz?” Shift asked, sitting up. “You’ve said you’ll stay with Mother…”

I nodded. “Always.”

Shift blinked. “...Why?”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Things with your… boyfriend…” Shift made a face, looking like the words felt strange coming from his mouth. “...They’ve gotten much stranger, much more… complicated… Then most, or any, relationship, on Earth or in Equestria. You’re the consort to a Queen, as old as centuries, who may live for centuries more… A being with immense power that only grows as she feeds, and who can birth at such a rate that, while I know she wouldn’t now, could blanket worlds… I can’t speak for you, but… If it were me, I’d wonder just where my loyalty to Chrys is taking me.”

I remained silent, considering his point. I’d be lying if I said things were simple now; when Chrys and I thought this was seemingly random, when he was still a human turned into a changeling, things actually made some semblance of sense—he was still Chris. He was scared and confused, but, as a person, he hadn’t changed at all… So I stayed.

When he started showing signs of ‘slipping into the role’, from laying eggs to having a sudden, explosive temper, I was still there for him. Even when I left the night he trashed Dane’s car, I still came back; he was scared of what he may become, and wanted nothing more than to go back to being just Chris… And I couldn’t bear the idea of leaving him alone to figure things out.

When we learned that he and Chrysalis were one in the same, when I learned that it was his human guise that was the alien body for him, I still remained with him; the Chris I knew and loved was still in there. Every time he looked at me I could tell I was keeping his humanity… ‘tethered’ to his true self, though, from what I’d seen, Chrysalis wasn’t trying to ‘evict’ him.

But now? Knowing what he had in mind in the days to come? Restoring his true people from extinction and leading them, possibly even having them live in not one, but two worlds? Acting as a true Queen? Where would I fit in? Where would we live—Earth or Equis? Would we have free passage between either? What if I was in it for… the long run? What of children we could both call our own? I loved the grubs, sure, but… I looked at them now, yet I didn’t feel so much like a mother to them… More like a babysitter. Would Chrys and I be able to have a normal baby? Would it be human? Changeling? A hybrid? There were so many questions, it made my breath quicken...

I calmed myself. I considered what may pass for a normal day with him.

We’d wake up in bed together, we’d do our normal morning routine—shower, teeth, dress (or don’t, in his case). Then he’d need to go off to do Queen things… I’d… join him. Maybe give him advice on instances that he felt conflicted about. Maybe he’d want to visit someone—dignitaries, friends and the like. Maybe he’d work on relations with Earth, and maybe I could help show any Earth diplomats that this alien had plenty of human in him…

No, these were all ‘maybe’s’... I needed to think about why I should stay…

The answer came immediately. All those instances, they involved me being at his side… My mind flew to those conclusions because… Because I needed Chrys as much as he needed me. Chrys made every effort to make me happy—that’s all he ever wanted, and it’s all he would ever want…

And it was the same with me. I wanted to make Chrys happy. That’s all I ever wanted, and that’s all I would ever want.

I didn’t care what lay ahead of us. Good or bad, I wouldn’t let him face it alone.

I turned to Shift. “I love Chrys more than I can say, Shift. He’s what keeps me held together, same as I am for him. I don’t know what we’re gonna face—trials that challenge him, me, us or everyone we know and love… And I’m not afraid. All I want, all I need… Is to be at his side… For his sake and mine.”

The grubs were silent.

“Then, as far as I’m concerned, you have a place with us.” Echo moved closer, put her forelegs around me and hugged me.

I hugged her back, giving her a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you, Echo...

Digit hopped up, hurried over and joined in the hug. “We love you, Liz…” She said sweetly.

“I love you, too…” I whispered; I glanced at Shift. “All of you.”

Shift’s gaze fell to the floor, deep in thought. For a few moments, he didn’t move… Then, with a look of determination, he stood up, approached us and joined in the hug. “You’ve been so unbelievably strong… Mother is lucky to have you.”

I giggled. “Damn right…”

                -                -                -                -                -

In the morning, Trixie was already outside when I woke up; I’d dropped my human guise in my sleep, and found the steering wheel pressed harshly into my stomach as I sat in the human-sized seat. With an enormous yawn I took human form and climbed out of the cab, stretching my aching muscles. “Should’ve—oomph!—slept in the back seat…” I said, feeling my shoulder snap back into line with the ‘pop’ I loved so much. I walked around the truck and opened the bed, looking for Liz, Trixie or the grubs; no one was in the bed, the eggs glowing faintly in the darkness. They were due for a feeding soon.

I closed the bed and headed towards the farm; the number of ponies had grown a fair bit. Since I considered making up with Shining as a definite privilege to be here, I dropped my human form and walked casually across the property. Any newer ponies who saw me didn’t seem terribly bothered, with the most noticeable reactions being a confused glance that quickly faded with a dismissive shrug.

I found Liz, Trixie and the grubs by the barn, helping some new arrivals pitch their tents; the grubs, like me, were in their natural forms, finding it much simpler to use magic to lend a helping hoof. Liz was carrying a heavy-looking pack of water bottles; I made to help her but, to my surprise, Shift beat me to the punch, taking it off her hands with his magic... with a damn smile, no less. She gave him a grateful grin as he took it away, then turned to me. “Morning!”

I pointed between her and the grubs. “Y’all get along alright, last night?”

“Oh, no, we were at each other’s throats…” Digit said cheerfully.

“Lots of blood and swearing,” Liz said, shaking her head. I smiled, leaned forward and nuzzled her; I’d been getting into that habit for a while, and, while she was initially unsure how to feel about it, Liz was used to it by now. She kissed me on the cheek. “What’s on today’s agenda?”

I glanced towards the farmhouse. “I’m thinking I’m gonna talk to the Mane Six about… how things will go down with Discord. I wanna help in any way I can.”

“I haven’t seen them this morning, actually…” Liz said, frowning. “Shining’s in the house, though, maybe you should ask him.”

I nodded. “Cool, be back in a bit.” I headed towards the farmhouse, leaving them to help the ponies.

I approached the front porch; for the past couple days I was a little wary about getting this close to ‘headquarters’, but hopefully Shining had spread the word that things were cool, now. I entered the house; it had an unusual sense of emptiness surrounding it. I headed into what looked to be the living room. "Hello?" I called.

"Hey," a voice behind me said. I turned to see Shining standing in the door way. "What's up?" He asked, with a calmness that I found to be a refreshing change of pace.

"I was hoping I could talk to you guys about what'll happen once we get on the far side of the portal," I said; I leaned to the side to peer up the stairs. "Where're the others?"

Shining frowned, a sense of guilt in his eyes. "They're not here."

I blinked. "...Say what."

"It's just Big Mac and I here. The Mane Six are following our best lead on getting back to Equestria," Shining said.

"The 'Equestria Girls' method," I said knowingly. "Dash mentioned that."

Shining nodded. "The place we knew as 'Canterlot High' as been gone for some time now, but we have reason to believe that the portal isn't. They're gonna see if it's still there and that it still works. If it's a definite way home, they're gonna contact us and have us head there."

"Where is it?" I asked.

"In Dubuque!" We turned to see Digit walking cheerfully from the kitchen, levitating an aged map towards us; it had a circle drawn on it in red marker, centered around the town of Dubuque. She noticed our confused glances and shrugged. "I was bored."

Shining was looking a bit worried at the secret being exposed. "We were hoping to keep it quiet, to keep anyone from heading there before they could say for sure whether the portal was there..." He glanced at me.

I took the map from Digit. "...Dude, Dubuque's like... what, a hundred miles from here... How're we gonna get there? Don’t suppose you’ve commissioned a few dozen buses for us?”

“We’re gonna make a mad dash up north," Shining said. "And make every effort to avoid tangling with the authorities.”

I frowned. “...I think a thousand multi-colored horses…” I stopped and glanced at Digit. “...plus four bug-horse-monster… things, are gonna draw a fair bit of attention, Shining. Depending on when they see us, the military could make a huge-ass blockade!!”

Shining bit his lip and rubbed his leg anxiously. “I know… Not gonna lie, it’s risky…”

“It’s stupid…” Digit chimed in.

Shining glanced at her, then at me. “You’ve got a better plan?”

I opened my mouth to say no, when my eyes fell on Digit.

I stared at her.

My mind suddenly lit up in an explosion of ‘HOLY SHIT’ accompanied by Tchaikovsky.

“...Chrysalis?” Shining asked.

“Mom?” Digit queried, shrinking a little under my wide-eyed gaze.

A smile slowly cracked across my face. “Brain-Blaaaaaast…” I said in a soft, sing-song voice.

“What?” Shining asked. Without another word I turned around and walked briskly out of the house. “Chrysalis?” He called, baffled.

I felt a faint numbness as I walked straight past the community of ponies, tunnel-visioned on the truck.

A voice cut through my focus. “Chrys?” I turned to see Liz walking over, concerned. “You okay?”

I jerked my head towards the truck, indicating for her to follow me. She walked alongside me as I began to explain. “No idea when, but everypony here’s moving out sometime soon. The Mane Six have gone somewhere up north to make sure the portal’s legit, then they’ll send word and have us head up there.”

“Everyone?” Liz asked, aghast. “But… how?”

“Well, Shining is following a strategy worthy of Sun Tzu,” I said pointedly. “Namely, ‘leg it up north and hope like hell no one gets caught by human authorities along the way.’”

“...That has got to be the dumbest…” Liz began.

“...and only plan we’ve got,” I finished; we were almost at the truck now. “So, I thought… If there wasn’t a risk of anypony being caught, it wouldn’t be a completely horrible plan…”

“Just a mostly horrible one…” Liz said. “So how are you…”

Her words trailed off as I lifted the truck door open. “Wait…”

I stared at the clutch in the truck; their glow had brightened, as though they were expecting to be fed.

“...Chrys…” Liz breathed, looking at me. “Chrys, are you serious?”

“They’ll act as air support,” I said, my voice oddly quiet. “We’ll be much easier to spot, but I’d rather definitely be seen and not be caught rather than possibly be seen and possibly be caught. And we’ll have them for when we get through the portal.”

“But what if the portal isn’t there?” Liz asked. “What if there’s… no way for you to get back to Equestria?”

I sighed deeply. “Then this is where we make our home—on Earth.”

I slowly lifted a hoof to climb into the truck, but froze, a single thought stopping me.

I was about to hatch the eggs.

I was about to take the first real step back into my old life.

I was about to completely turn my back on living a normal, human life.

Every time I’d told myself about this future, about how I was planning peace with the ponies, worrying about feeding and sustaining my people… They all suddenly became… meaningless.

All I could see was the eggs that lay before me, and the human life I’d grown so accustomed to suddenly beginning to slip into the distance with increasing speed.

“Chrys?” Liz asked softly.

I slowly looked at my raised hoof. I fell to my haunches and turned the hoof into my human hand. I stared at the limb, my mind coming to a complete halt.

My vision blurred.

Chris stood on his half of the chamber, Chrysalis on the other. The pair stared at each other; Chrysalis was staring sympathetically at Chris, who may as well have been climbing the steps to the guillotine.

He looked up at her. “This is it… This is where we decide if I’m ready to be… you.”

Chrysalis nodded solemnly. “Yes.”

 “...I’m scared, Chrysalis…” He said softly. He stared at his own hand. “I’m so fucking scared… I’m scared I might not exist here anymore… I’m scared that… If we go through with this, we’ll go down a path where it’s just… you…” He looked up at her again, tears welling in his eyes. “This is where I could begin to fade…”

Chrysalis suddenly stepped forward; Chris flinched, but didn’t move as Chrysalis approached.

The Queen wrapped her forelegs around him in a tight hug. “I won’t let that happen,” she whispered, with the air of a mother giving soft assurances to her child. “I promise you, Chris, you will… not… fade…” She released the hug, but kept her front hooves on his shoulders as she faced him. “If you go, I go…”

Chris stared at her, taking in her words.

He took a deep breath, his expression shifting to one of assurance and determination. He placed his hands on the Queen’s shoulders. “And the same to you.”

I regained focus with almost a flash, blinking rapidly. I could feel a hand on my back as I remained staring at my hand. “Chrys?” Liz asked softly. “Are you okay?”

I sighed, reverted my hoof to its natural form, and stood up. “There’s no going back past this point… For either of us.”

I slowly turned to her. “Liz, listen…”

“Don’t…” Liz said sternly.

“Please, just listen to me…” I pleaded. “...You don’t have to go through with this… You’ve stuck with me through far more than I could ever deserve... You don’t owe me anything… You can still walk away... You can… You can find a normal life.”

“Stop,” Liz whispered. She took my face in her hands, and rested her head against mine. “I’d rather have a weird life... with you…” She said softly.

There was an achingly long pause.

I took my human form and I kissed her. She immediately wrapped her arms around my chest and practically threw herself into me, returning the gesture with a passion so intense I feared we’d catch fire. As we kissed I rotated us, lifted a leg and planted it on the bumper to climb into the truck bed; Liz swung her legs up and wrapped them around me, letting me lift her with me into the truck. When we were both in, I reached up and closed the door behind us.

                -                -                -                -                -

I watched as Mother and Liz disappeared into the truck, the door slamming shut behind them.

Digit and Echo approached on either side of me, fixated on the truck as well.

Digit failed to keep herself from sniffling. I leaned over and nuzzled her gently. Digit immediately wrapped her forelegs around me, as did Echo, whose eyes were also wet with tears.

I hugged them back, smiling.

‘Family’ sounds much better than ‘swarm’, I mused.

> Chapter 30: Added Security
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 30: Added Security

“They still in there?” I asked the grubs as I eyed the truck. The four of us were sitting some ways away from the barn, unsure of how to spend our time with Chrys and Liz ‘occupied’. Digit had told us of how we could be leaving at any moment, though we didn’t have many ways to prepare, since anything we’d brought was in the truck bed. Chrys and Liz had been in there for what about two hours; I very well knew what they were doing, though I couldn’t help but feel concerned over what they could be doing at this stage. The grubs didn’t seem too concerned, laying about as if fixing to take a nap.

“They’re doing a lot more than talking in there…” Digit said.

“Digit, ew…” I said, grimacing.

“She means with the eggs,” Echo clarified. “Such a number of eggs is an immense burden to manage.”

“I’m not arguing against what they’re doing in there…” I said defensively before glancing at the truck again. “...I’m just concerned that we’ll be moving out before they’re finished…”

“Shining would do well to wait,” Shift said. “Even if the portal won’t be open for a very long time, that’s no reason to charge ahead without some degree of protection.”

“Does he know about what Chrys is doing?” I asked.

Digit shrugged. “He was confused with how Mom left in such a rush, but he didn’t question it. If he has guessed what she’s doing, he hasn’t mentioned it.”

“I just hope he takes it well…” I said.

“LISTEN UP!!” We glanced at the farmhouse to see Shining and Big Mac stepping off the porch, looking ready to address the community.

“Well, if he doesn’t know now, he will in a bit…” Shift said.

                -                -                -                -                -

I shut the truck door as Liz stood at my side, an arm draped across my back.

I felt a strange sense of… release… I’d dreaded what I’d face when I fully committed to being Queen, even if I had, technically, done it before… But now that I’d taken the plunge, that I’d taken the first real step?

I was relieved… Maybe even excited… I was eager to see where things would go.

I turned and gave Liz a nuzzle; the fact that she’d stick with me through it certainly helped.

“You know…” I said. “When this is over, even with the Queen thing, it doesn’t mean we can’t try to have a normal life…”

Liz shook her head. “I’m pretty sure I gave up on a normal life long before the 1st.”

I nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. Normal’s overrated…”

“Chrys?” I turned to see Trixie and the grubs hurrying towards me; I noticed that there was a great deal of activity around the farm—ponies hastily packing and grouping near the dirt road out of the property.

“Well, how’s that for timing…” I said.

Trixie glanced past me at the truck. “Is… everything okay in there?”

I nodded, smiling. “Happy and healthy.”

“So, they’re… babies?” Trixie asked.

Echo shook her head. “We grow faster from birth depending on how much we feed,” she explained. “Fed well enough, you could get a full-grown changeling minutes after it’s hatched.”

Trixie frowned at her. “So why’d it take you guys so long to… mature? I mean, you were spending a lot of time with Chrys…”

“Changelings can feed off of love from another changeling—relative or mate…” I explained. “It’s just not as nourishing to us; it’s love from another creature—pony, human or otherwise—that really makes us so strong. Believe me, if we could feed and grow off our own love, we wouldn’t have felt the need to attack Canterlot.”

Trixie glanced at the truck again. “So, they’re…”

“Chrysalis?” I noticed Shining approaching. “We’re getting ready to go, is… everything all set with you guys?”

I nodded. “Yep. Hey, if there’s anyone who won’t be able to walk the whole way, we’ve got plenty of room in the truck.”

Shining frowned. “But… what about your… produce?”

I smirked. “Well, our air support wouldn’t be able to do it’s job from in there, would they?”

I raised a hind leg and kicked the truck.

The door opened, lifted up from the inside. For a moment, the inside of the truck seemed completely pitch black.

Then a pair of light blue eyes opened in the darkness.

Then another.

Then hundreds more, accompanied by the odd green pair. Shining and Trixie’s eyes widened as the pair stepped back

With a loud skittering noise, like a swarm of locusts, the newborns poured out from the truck and gathered into formation some distance above it. The ponies on the farm suddenly ceased all movement and beheld the immense black cloud of changelings that had formed over the property; there were some panicked yells, sure, but the response was surprisingly tame.

The swarm above were well fed and eager to serve, but there was none of that grim, almost scheming look that had once lined their faces in the old days. They weren’t looking at the ponies as food sources, rather as… people. It seemed my new outlook on things had been imprinted on them.

Shining was staring up at the swarm, mouth agape, trying desperately to form words. Finally, he tore his gaze from the formation and looked at me. “W-W-What is this…?” He stammered.

“Air support,” I said simply.

“How did you…?” He began, when he noticed Liz at my side. She gave him a soft smile as she gently wrapped her arms around my neck in a hug. He glanced up at them again. “...Chrysalis, how many…”

“One hundred and eighty-seven,” I said with confidence. “Related note—coming up with one hundred and eighty-seven names? About as difficult as it sounds. There are only so many synonyms for the word ‘change’, and I already gave one to Shift.”

“But this is…” Shining breathed. “...Chrysalis, this could be seen from space!!”

“Hey, our little ‘migration’ wouldn’t have been so subtle,” I said, raising an eyebrow. “I’d rather be able to say, with confidence, that we’re safe from any attempts by the military to hinder us. The time for subtlety is over, Shining—whatever happens with Discord, this world’s gonna know about us. We can worry about what it does with that knowledge later.”

He was still looking rather distressed; I stepped closer to him. “Look… I know I said I wasn’t gonna hatch them, at least not for a while, but… If we want a chance to get home? To stop Discord? This is how it has to happen.”

Shining slowly met my gaze; slowly, he relaxed. He took a deep breath and nodded. “...Okay.”

I noticed many of the ponies drifting towards us, with expressions varying between astonishment and uncertain terror.

“Not everyone’s gonna like it…” Shining muttered.

I put a hoof on his shoulder. “Whatever happens beyond the portal…” I said before spreading my wings; Liz stepped to the side as I flew upwards and hovered in front of the swarm. The grubs took to the skies as well and floated behind me. “Let our peoples face it, side by side.”

                -                -                -                -                -

I considered myself fortunate at this point; I was deadened to my torment by now. I barely felt the eggs leave me as I lay in whatever dark abyss my master had left me in… barely heard them hatch, or the hatchlings inside give their first, joyous chirps of life before choking and suffocating on that vile substance…

For a time, I wondered if I should feel bad for… not feeling bad… For not mourning such a horrendous loss of potential…

But then I figured, how can one mourn something that was never meant to love them?

These weren’t my children; he’d simply made me spawn these… things… These echos, these glimmers of what should have been… They were little more than toys, meant to look, sound, feel, like true hatchlings…

So I no longer wept. I no longer screamed when they died, no longer wailed as I was forced to lay countless more pretenders…

I was honestly more concerned that my ‘master’ hadn’t returned by now; I’d have expected him to alter my ‘sentence’ when he realized I no longer found the anguish he was clearly seeking.

Without the energy or will to mourn, however, I was left to think about things…

Chrysalis… she’d had a point… Would Discord have followed through with our agreement? I couldn’t see any reason why he would… He had a long, long history of lies behind him…

How did I know he wouldn’t have left me here regardless?

Chrysalis may have been better off...

...Where is she now? I wondered. Is she with the human she so adores? Is she rebuilding the clutch she had started, before I arrived?

I had a thought; if she was, then… Our people would begin again… That would be a… good thing, right?

A loud crack made me flinch—my long aching body giving me a vicious reprimand for doing so.

“Ooh…” Discord said, tutting disappointedly. “Don’t tell me you’ve grown bored, Prima?”

“It is hard to keep mourning what is little more than a reflection of what could have been…” I muttered.

“Mmm, good point…” He said. “But that’s not why I’m here.”

I felt his eagle claw wrap around my head, lifting my face up. Even in the pitch darkness I could somehow make out the smug, almost hungry grin on his goat face. “They are coming. I don’t know when, I don’t know how, but the ponies are coming.”

For the first time in days, I smiled. “Perhaps you should make due what time you have left…” I said tauntingly. “If their return is such a threat to you…”

He raised an eyebrow.

Then he swung his reptilian leg and kicked me, sending me tumbling back through the air. I slammed into what felt like a rock wall, feeling my bones lose what little progress they had made in healing over the course of my torment. I fell to the floor with a cry, laying on my side, unmoving.

I felt his cloven hoof fall on my head; he was silent for a time. “...You’re right about one thing; they pose a greater threat than I’d care to admit…”

I began laughing again—I no longer cared. “And you turn to me for help…”

Then he laughed. “In a sense… See, what does one do when they feel they are no longer safe in their own home?”

I frowned; what was he getting at?

I smelled his foul breath as he leaned in towards me; I could make out his eagle claw in the darkness, talons primed.

“They get an attack dog…”

Snap.

> Chapter 31: This Changeling's Going to War
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 31: This Changeling’s Going to War

Echo, how’s your team doing?

“No problems so far, Mother… We’re avoiding the roads as best we can, but we might have to cross one sooner or later, and I doubt we’ll be quick enough to cross before a car comes.”

Don’t worry about it… It’ll be preferable that we’re not seen, but we should be able to get there regardless.

I refocused on my surroundings; I, and roughly forty of my swarm, were changed into a flock of crows. We were much larger than the average crow, to conserve on energy from the shapeshifting, but we were high enough overhead that we likely wouldn’t be noticed. After some debate, we opted to have the migration break off into several groups, each watched over by a legion of changelings overhead. Each group either followed some distance behind a group in front, or moved alongside them. When faced with things like roads or small settlements, the changelings would signal when it would be safe for each party to move. It wasn’t a very eloquent method, but it was all we had, really.

The only ponies that were legitimately safe were riding in our truck; one of my new Royals, Scion, rode in the cab while Liz drove, acting as a means of communication between us. We managed to squeeze roughly forty ponies, mainly those who were sick or otherwise incapable of making the journey. We needed to leave a great deal of stuff back at the farm, though I didn’t think all of these ponies would come back to Earth.

But as we went north, I was impressed as to how smoothly things were going; there weren’t any police sirens, no sounds of military jets approaching… Either the whole of Iowa had suddenly become blind, or a mass of multi-colored ponies were better at stealth than I’d expected. Liz was listening to the radio in the truck, and was gonna let me know if it mentioned anything that could do with us. Yet, there was nothing…

“My Queen?”

Yeah, Scion?

“Liz says we should be there within twenty minutes.”

Thank you. I ‘expanded’ my mind to address the other Royals. Listen up! As of right now, group A is approaching the site of the portal; the plan is for the ponies to take shelter in the abandoned high school there. When we arrive, we changelings will enter the school and meet up in the basement, to regroup and to prepare for the trek through the portal.

I took a deep breath. When we go through, we… might not be able to come back. We need to be ready.

                -                -                -                -                -


“Liz, come on…” I called up the weathered stairs. My group and I had finished scouting the school out and were busy filing into the basement; the ponies would hole up in the gym, classrooms and any other space.

Unfortunately, after our arrival, Liz had taken one quick look into the basement and, with a loud yelp, immediately scrambled back up the stairs. I’d spent about five minutes trying to get her to come down. “I couldn’t even count how many spiderwebs I could see down there!!” She called. 

“Oh, Jesus, they’re just cobwebs!” I said, waving a hoof up and smacking a web from the ceiling. “They’re totally diff--GAH!!” I violently shook my hoof free of its eight-legged stowaway.

“Yep! Not coming down!!” Liz said pointedly as I repeatedly stomped on the spider with a series of ‘Nope’s.

I groaned. “Alright, we’ll clean it out…” I turned to the group of changelings behind me, who had been standing at attention. “The eight-legged demons must be purged!!” I said dramatically.

With a series of salutes, my swarm broke off and began cleaning the place out; mainly moving ancient furniture and crates to the side, or cleaning up the rubble from the collapsing drywall around the place. The basement was a series of open spaces beneath every major room in the school, connected by a few dank, narrow corridors. It was about as clean as one could expect from however-many years of neglect—it seemed perfect for a Marble Hornets episode, actually—but it would serve us well… It wasn’t like we’d be here for very long.

As the brood and I worked, I took the time to observe… who they were, in a sense. I noticed drones humming songs that I had likely imprinted on them, chatting happily with their kin and, overall, just having a good time. It felt good… Before, every grub that hatched would be overly serious, no nonsense… just like I used to be. Now, though, my newer, brighter outlook on things seemed to have an effect on them as well; made them want love as a feeling, not as food.

Liz had expressed worries over not being able to remember or recognize every single one of the newborns. Thankfully, changelings have an eidetic memory of their kin—we can recognize each other as easily as a pony can recognize another pony, or a human can recognize another human. It’s not so much through facial recognition or things like that; changelings each have a unique aura that is unique to them, that only other changelings can see. In short, changelings hold greater individuality in a hive than many would believe. As such, I was able to greet each of my new children by name.

Naming them, conversely, was harder than recognizing them would ever be. I had to exhaust my mental library for terms such as ‘Scion’, ‘Magus’ and the like; when I ran out of original names, however, I had to reach into my nerdier side. I started dipping into names I’d gotten from changeling fics—Kuno, Swarm, Ebony, Mayari and Tala were just a few I could pull out. Even then, though, I still had roughly a hundred names to go through, so I snagged the names of some game characters; a few visits to the Starcraft Wiki got me plenty of names, though I feared I would favor the hatchling named ‘Abathur’ over the others. Liz had been snickering the entire time as I named the newborns—my children—after game characters; it was when I’d named ten of them after the Paragons of the Klaxxi that she completely lost it.

Before long, we had essentially made this basement into our new home; the center had been covered in our trademark amber, mainly to be used to store any eggs that would be laid… Not that we planned on living here, or laying eggs anytime soon; it was instinctive to paint the place with this goo when we planned on holing up for the foreseeable future. About an hour after we’d arrived, the other groups had arrived, and the rest of my brood had filed into the basement, settling in.

All we had to do now was wait; the statue housing the portal was no longer out front, but in the field house across the street from the school. From what Trixie had heard, the Mane Six had managed a quick repair and test, though it did have the side effect of transforming those who passed through into the native species of each respective world—hence why some of my brood reported seeing a humanized Rainbow Dash through the building’s window.

This did bring up an issue, however; I had no intentions of just going to Equestria and never looking back. I’d promised my family I’d come back—and I couldn’t force Liz to give up her life for my sake. But I wondered if that side effect would have an impact on the brood? It was possible we’d be immune—my quicker reversion to my true form indicated a natural resistance to forced transfiguration—but what about Liz? Would it be an issue for her? What if it had debilitating effects for going to and fro repeatedly?

I eventually put that issue on the sidelines; another addition to the ‘cross that bridge when we come to it’ pile, which was getting disconcertingly large. So, here we were; simply awaiting the all-clear.

While the brood sat throughout the immense basement, Liz, Trixie, the grubs and I were sitting near the stairs; I was laying against the wall, my wings aching from the flight. “So, no problems?” I asked the grubs.

“There were a couple close calls…” Digit said with a yawn. “But no one got hurt or caught.”

Shift glanced up the stairs. “Is everyone going through the portal at Twilight’s go-ahead?”

I nodded. “Probably.”

“They do realize they’ll be facing Discord there, right?” He asked, turning to me. “How many of them can actually fight? In a way that would actually be effectual against someone who’s essentially a god?”

“We’ll just have to overwhelm him,” I said. “If God of War taught me one thing, it’s that even a god will die with sufficient stabbing.”

“Because video games are what we should be listening to in these circumstances…” Liz said, rolling her eyes.

“Also, the Elements of Harmony will definitely take him down,” I continued. “We just have to survive against him until then. And even then, thousands of ponies, with support from nearly two hundred changelings, should give him a bit too much to deal with.”

“Um…” came a voice from the stairs. We all glanced up, and my eyes lit up in surprise.

“Scootaloo?”

The filly was glancing about nervously at the mass of changelings, looking half ready to turn around and run at the first sign of trouble. I stood up and slowly approached the bottom of the stairs. “Something the matter?”

Scoots hesitated, then shook her head. “No, it’s just… everypony’s heading through the portal soon.”

I felt a stillness in my chest; this was it. “Gotcha.” I turned towards the brood. “Alright, we’re moving out!”

The brood quickly gathered and prepared to leave the basement; Scoots gave a brief yelp and bolted up the stairs to avoid being blindsided by a torrent of changelings.

Within moments, my brood took to the air and began flying up the stairs, the grubs included, with Trixie hurrying behind them. Liz stood up, but I immediately approached her. “No.”

Liz blinked. “...No, no way…”

I shook my head. “Liz, the portal makes you ‘adapt’ to the world you’re crossing to, and I think the ‘learn to walk like a pony’ shtick has run it’s course.”

Liz raised a stern eyebrow. “That’s not why you don’t want me to come.”

“I…” I sighed. “...Liz, you’ve been with me through so much… But I can’t let you put yourself at risk like this…”

“We’re not discussing this…” Liz said firmly, making to move past me.

I extended a wing, blocking her path. “Liz, please…” I said, imploringly. “Don’t ask me to let you put yourself in the line of fire like this… This is just way too dangerous…”

“And you think I’m gonna let you go into that same danger?” Liz asked.

“Tell you what, get magic of your own, and we’ll talk…” I said.

“Goddammit, Chrys…” Liz began.

I kissed her; she initially fought to back away, but quickly went with it. Finally, our lips parted. “This isn’t goodbye…” I said. “I promise.” I took a step backwards.

“Chrys, wait!” Liz began; she tried to lift a foot, but couldn’t. She looked down and noticed her feet were enveloped in amber. She looked up at me, looking like a girl whose boyfriend had just hung up on her. “Did you just…?”

“You just got Spider-Man’d!” I said with a smirk before turning and bolting up the stairs. “SORRYSORRYSORRY,ILOVEYOU,YOUCANKILLMELATER,BYYYYYEEEEE!!!”

“CHRYS!!” Liz screamed after me as I broke free of the basement.

                -                -                -                -                -

As I left the school, I noticed that the swarm was gathered overhead, awaiting my instruction. The ponies, once apprehensive of us, now seemed rather calm in our presence, given how they were focused more on getting through the portal than the mass of insectile-equines buzzing overhead. That said, though, the moment I emerged from the front door, they quickly noticed me. I frowned at the number of stares, rubbing my leg awkwardly. “...hi?”

Trixie, who had been standing close to the edge of the crowd, approached me. “Your brood should probably all head in at once, or as close together as they can,” she said. “That way you can quickly get them organized on the other side.”

I nodded. “The brood stands ready, Mother…” Shift said.

I glanced up at the swarm overhead. My children…I noted how I barely considered them as such before—more as subjects than individuals… More as tools than my own kin…

And now, here I was, committing them to battle against a being of unfathomable power…

Some of them could die… Some of them might not see what I wanted for them—for us…

Part of me wanted to tell them to wait here, to tell them that I’d go through alone, to keep them from facing this danger, much the same as I kept Liz from joining us…

But I couldn’t.

My new brood… My new family… They needed to earn this new life, to earn the right to prove to not one, but two worlds that they were no longer monsters…

This battle wasn’t mine alone to fight, nor was it that of the Mane Six…

It was everyone’s.

“My subjects!” I called. “My children!” I strode across the street, towards the building housing the portal.

“We march.”

Ponies broke apart, making a path. Not wanting to seem privileged, I made haste to enter the field house. 

The building was flooded with ponies; at the sight of me they quickly split apart to form a path. Giving an appreciative nod, I hurried towards the statue.

All goes well, we’ll be seeing a lot of this thing in the days to come… I mused as I approached.

I glanced back at the brood; they’d be able to pass through quickly enough that the ponies wouldn’t be held up that bad. Turning back towards the portal, I raised a hoof and phased it seamlessly through the glass surface.

My heart seemed to swell… I couldn’t tell if it was excitement, anxiety, or that simple sense of anticipation… When something big is about to happen, when you both fear and eagerly await the outcome.

The rush flowed up my chest…

I inhaled deeply.

“♪Finally the moment has arrived
For me… To get that bastard’s hide…
His madness will be undone,
We will have justice, everyone,
And sweet vengeance will be...♪”

“...Ours.”

> Chapter 32: Homecoming
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 32: Homecoming

Stepping through the portal was initially disorienting; I couldn’t see anything other than a clusterfuck of flashing colors, and could only hear a deafening rush of wind. Whatever was happening, it was sending me tumbling head over hooves through the abyss between worlds. For a moment I feared something had gone wrong, and my cruel, cruel mind suddenly imagined my various body parts appearing across multiple dimensions. Before I could start screaming, however, the sensation ended; my senses returned, and I felt myself slip from the portal.

However, navigating the portal safely required a few safety courses, apparently, as I was still rolling in midair as I came out of the portal. With a yelp I flailed my legs in an attempt to right myself, but I was too late to keep from slamming into what felt like a wall. I slid from it and fell to the floor with a groan.

“Nailed it…” I said strainfully. I sat up, and frowned upon taking in my surroundings. “Uh…”

This was not the Crystal Empire. I hadn’t heard of any changes with the portal, but there clearly had been. I was in some incredibly dark, dusty basement, lit only by the fading glow of the portal from my passing through. In the fading light I could see a few dusty ponyquins in the corner, a few crates and some large mirrors in varying states of wear. This was clearly where we were meant to go, judging by the number of ponies that were in the basement, casting brief, confused glances at me before hurrying up the stairs.

I turned towards the portal; the surface was still shimmering from me being tossed through.

“Well, that’s…” I began before the glow suddenly brightened. “Well, shit.”

I was suddenly bombarded by my children being flung through the portal, all colliding with me in a chorus of ‘Ow’s, ‘Oof’s and ‘Oh god why’s. The flood was slow, though; the swarm had taken care to enter at a steady pace. With great effort, I pulled myself from beneath the grub pile and took a glance around the room; the basement wasn’t small, but it would quickly become packed. I quickly pulled myself from the growing pile and hurried towards the stairs. “Up here, you guys!” I called. “Make room, keep moving!” The swarm began detangling themselves from the impromptu ‘Dude Mountain’, and I led those who had recovered up the stairs.

We filed through the door, the whooshes of the portal below us growing faint. The house above the basement looked like it was the site of a few random bombings; the walls had either collapsed or been worn away by time, the windows were shattered, much of the roof had given in… There was none of that ludicrous, yet somehow innocent chaos I’d seen on the show here… This was more along the lines of an apocalypse.

We were standing in what looked like a storefront, given the space and arrangement of the furniture. There was some kind of platform off to the side, surrounded by shattered mirrors, and a few more ponyquins, wearing tattered…

...Dresses. “Carousel Boutique…” I breathed. “We’re in Rarity’s place… We’re in Ponyville…”

I hurried towards the door, which hung loosely on its hinges. I almost broke the thing down as I passed through the doorway and took a look around Ponyville proper.

I had spoken too soon when I’d noted a lack of the more ‘comical’ variety of chaos; sure, there were still some buildings that looked straight out of Fallout: Equestria, but they must have merely been buildings that Discord hadn’t had any fun with. Others had been plucked out of the ground like weeds, left to float and spin several miles above the ground, or had their walls perfectly removed to form some kind of house of ‘cards’ some ways in the distance. The sky was a bright shade of purple, and the ground was patterned in a wide variety of colors. I actually felt relieved; the idea of a Discord that sought the apocalypse was much more terrifying than one who just enjoyed a bit of lunacy. On top of all of that, the familiar—though only barely so—city of Canterlot was in the distance, far closer to Ponyville than it was twenty-five years ago.

I turned towards my swarm, who were quickly flooding the Boutique main floor. “Get into a loose formation, on the ground and in the air. We need to get a solid foothold, before Discord shows up.”

With an assortment of affirmations, the swarm broke off and began combing Ponyville. I turned and headed down the street, taking in the havoc that blanketed the town.

Remember how we’d desperately wanted to actually go to Equestria? Chris asked in my head. Like pretty much every other brony and his cat?

I smiled. Does it really count as ‘we’? I mean, I never existed up… here until about a week ago… But, yeah, I do…

I stopped at a four-way intersection when I noticed a nearby street sign had been changed into a stop light, which was glowing red. Frowning, I glanced down every other road; there was nothing coming. Shrugging, I stepped forward.

A loudly ringing bell made me swing my head to the left. “FUCK!!” I threw myself back as an immense, unmanned pirate ship, gliding seamlessly across the ground, passed me at about a hundred miles an hour. The ship ‘sailed’ down the street and rounded a corner, and the light turned green. After giving my heart about thirty seconds to stop pounding a hole in my chest, I finally crossed the street.

...So, yeah, this isn’t exactly what I had in mind… Chris said, a hint of sadness in his ‘voice’.

Hey… I replied. We’ll fix it. All of it…

I rounded a corner and spotted the wilted, rotten tree that had once been Twilight’s residence, the Golden Oaks Library. Its leaves and some of its branches had fallen long ago, and the building itself looked to have been the victim of looters, though I don’t know what they could have hoped to find in a library that would have been of any value… Or perhaps they were seeking knowledge, some way of protecting themselves from Discord? Maybe they knew that a Bearer had lived here, and held some vain hope that her Element was here, that they could use it?

Regardless, I headed towards the library; I wasn’t sure why, but I just… wanted to. I passed through the battered door. The floor creaked loudly beneath my hooves as I took in the dust-caked home. The shelves had long ago been stripped of most of their books, most of those that remained had been strewn across the floor, some with their pages ripped out and blowing in the breeze that passed through the door. Gazing miserably at the display, I strolled around the room, occasionally picking up a book, only to find its words had worn away in the passage of time.

What few books I found that were still in a readable condition, I placed them carefully on the table off to the side; I figured, once this was all over, Twilight would appreciate that what little she had here to return to would be somewhat tidy…

There they were again… Worries over the future. What of those of us returning Equestrians who would return here? Would they struggle with rebuilding? With finding the strength to call this place ‘home’? The land they hadn’t seen in over two decades, that had been twisted at the whim of a demented demigod? Sure, it would be returned to normal in the end, but… would that be enough?

“Chrys?” I turned to see Trixie in the doorway.

I smiled at her in greeting. “Hey. Everypony coming through okay?”

“We’ve got a lot of ponies coming through…” Trixie said, a hint of anxiety in her voice. “I’m not sure it’ll go unnoticed…”

I shrugged. “We were bound to be noticed sooner or later…” I picked up another book and began flipping through its worn pages.

Trixie frowned. “Something wrong?”

Sighing, I gestured with a hoof around the ruined library. “This? This is our home… Or, rather, your home… This is what we’re returning to… Another fear for the future to add to the pile, I guess…”

Trixie nodded in understanding, yet was silent for a moment. “...Well… You remember what it was like?”

I nodded. “Yeah… I mean, this is the first time I’ve actually been in Ponyville, but I remember what it was like…”

“You’d like to see it like that again, right?” Trixie asked.

A moment’s thought, and I realized where she was going with this. I smiled and nodded. “Yeah… I would. And it’ll be worth whatever it takes to… to get settled in again.”

Trixie smiled. “Yeah. When all’s said and done, we’ll enjoy the peace when it comes.” She turned around. “Let’s go make sure everything’s going smoothly out there.”

I nodded and placed the book on the table. “Hope the portal doesn’t burn out from the traffic--”

“Mother?” Echo called, making me stop.

Yep? I replied; Trixie glanced back at me, confused at my sudden cessation of movement, but I raised a hoof in the same way you’d silence someone while you were on the phone.

“I… can’t reach Digit.”

I frowned. ...What?

“She isn’t responding. That doesn’t happen, unless…”

...Unless…?

“She’s too far away to reach.”

Well, even then, that implies like hundreds of miles, and she couldn’t get that--

My eyes widened. “She didn’t…”

                -                -                -                -                -

“Come on…” I said through grit teeth, straining against the slime that had pinned my feet to the floor. I couldn’t hear anything upstairs—I hadn’t for the past half hour. I’d tried shouting as the ponies had left, but they couldn’t hear me over the racket. Before long, the clatter had stopped, leaving me in the basement; at least Chrys had thought to leave the lights on…

I gave my feet another tug. I knew Chrys could handle herself, I knew she would fare better there than I would… But I didn’t care. I needed to be there with her; we’d started this together, we needed to end it as such. I wasn’t gonna sit (or stand) here on the sidelines while she endangered herself, and our--

The door at the top of the stairs opened. I glanced up, my hands still clenching my thigh from my attempts at pulling myself free.

“Digit?”

Digit hurried down the stairs, a friendly grin on her face. “Hey!”

“Digit, what’re you…” I began, before noticing she was alone. “Wait…”

Digit aimed her horn at the slime around my feet; the goo grew warm for a moment before melting, freeing me. I stared at her, baffled as I shook the remaining slime from my shoes.

Digit gave me a sheepish grin. “I couldn’t just leave you here…” She said, though I could tell she wasn’t looking forward to what Chrys had to say about it.

I stared at her for a moment, astounded. “But… why?”

Digit’s smile fell a little.

“Because… Well… You’re just as big a part of this as any of us, Mom.” Her eyes widened in surprise at her wording, yet she didn’t seem particularly bothered by it.

I stared at her in silence for a few moments.

Then I flung my arms around her neck and hugged her tight, kissing her cheek repeatedly in spite of her squeals of protest. After a moment, though, she returned the hug, wings buzzing happily.

We finally ended the hug, and Digit turned towards the stairs. “Let’s get going. I wanna be back before the shit hits the fan!” She bolted up the stairs.

“Language!” I called as I hurried after her.

                -                -                -                -                -

My wings practically burned as I soared over Ponyville towards the Boutique, ignoring the queries of my confused drones that were flying in formation over the ruined town. I didn’t know why Digit thought it necessary to bring Liz over, but I couldn’t let it happen—I’d left Liz in the basement for a reason!!

I began my descent once I spotted the ruined Boutique, but stopped when I noticed the immense number of ponies pouring through the front door, adding to the immense legion that were already covering the town. Holy shit…

“How did Digit manage to get through that?” Echo asked, baffled.

Don’t know, don’t care, I replied. I’m going back through to make sure she--

“My Queen!” Came the urgent cry of Scion.

My throat suddenly started feeling dry. What is it?

“...He’s here.”

I felt a sharp pain of anxiety in my stomach, mixed a stirring, deeply buried fury. I slowly turned, facing the direction I knew Scion was in.

Form up, I called to my Royals. Meet at the northeastern edge of town, NOW.

I flew towards the edge of town, my swarm quickly regrouping and forming behind me as I went. The ponies below us seemed to notice our sudden movement and began following us; I wished they wouldn’t, for their sake, but I couldn’t make the time to stop them.

Do not attack unless I give the word, I commanded. Above all, ensure the ponies are kept safe…

I trailed off as the edge of town came into view.

And there he was, standing a short distance from the outermost ruins that made up Ponyville.

I felt a ripple of hatred flow through my body. Hold.

My swarm halted in midair, the buzzing of their wings much like the herald of an angry swarm of bees.

I landed just on the edge of town and took a few strides forward, practically fighting to keep myself from launching into a furious attack.

“Discord.”

The draconequus smiled and gestured widely. “Welcome home…” He said, almost sounding genuine. “I must say, I’m almost glad you all decided to return… This land has started to lose its spark somewhat, it’s about time somepony sought to spice things up.”

“Enough!!” I barked; Discord actually looked surprised at my outburst. “No more games. No more tricks. You have brought no end of ruin, pain and anguish, Discord… And now it’s all come crashing down upon you.”

Discord began laughing. “With about as much effect as a wave crashing upon the shore… My dear, dear Chrysalis… You think you, or the ponies whose forgiveness you so crave, are the first enemies I’ve made? I’ve lived for centuries!! I’ve known thousands who have fought against me… And guess how well that turned out!!” He was clutching his gut at this point, wiping a tear from his eye.

I smirked. “Well, it left you as a pigeon ‘rest stop’ for over a thousand years…”

Discord stopped laughing. He scowled at me, his eyes narrowing in a cruel glare.

He raised his eagle talon, and prepared to snap.

“Well, I doubt you’ll be quite as fortunate.”

Snap.

A few miles behind him, I spotted several bright purple portals open. A vast number of figures poured through and began charging towards Ponyville.

My eyes widened.

Shit.

> Chapter 42
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 42: PFUDOR

I stumbled as I fell through the portal, bumping into some of the ponies that were still filing out of the Boutique’s basement. “Sorry…” I said sheepishly as I quickly backed towards the mirror. I turned back towards it, squirming anxiously as I waited Liz for to come through. She’d shown some hesitation as we’d approached, but didn’t seem likely to just walk away.

She’d never do that.

The portal flashed brightly. As I covered my eyes from the brightness, a figure was sent sailing from the portal, and landed in a dusty pile of cardboard boxes in the far corner.

“Liz!” I cried, hurrying over. “You okay?!”

For a moment, there was no response.

Then, with a shuffling of boxes, the pony rose up, a blank expression on her face.

I stared at the pink fluffball of a pony. “...Liz?”

Liz blew a raspberry in response.
> Chapter 33: Love, and the Pain it Brings
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 33: Love, and the Pain it Brings

I gaped as I watched the figures swarm out of the portals in the distance and converge on Ponyville.

“Well, have fun!” Discord said cheerfully, talon still raised for another snap. “I’m off to deal with your new besties.”

Snap. He vanished.

“COWARD!!” I roared, before yelling over my shoulder, “HERE THEY COME!!”

The swarm spread out into a thick line, both in the air and on the ground, forming a wall between the portals and the town. The ponies stood with us, bearing looks that ranged from determination to barely-constrained terror. Still, no one was fleeing; in fact, it seemed the knowledge that a battle was waiting on the far side of the portal was enticing ponies to flood out at a greater rate.

I turned back towards the encroaching army; they were close enough that I could make out its forces. Griffons, minotaurs, dragons and diamond dogs… Likely, Discord had offered them some prize, perhaps an empty promise of leaving their lands alone, if not some form of wealth, like gems—a deal I easily saw the dogs quickly agree to—in return for their allegiance..

“There are so many…” Echo began.

Numbers don’t make a victory, I said. Just keep as much attention on us as possible; whatever the Mane Six are doing, we need to buy them time to beat Discord.

The army was fast approaching now; it seemed they’d be able to smash through entire buildings from their momentum alone.

Be ready… I called to the Royals, who relayed it to the rest of the swarm. Hold fast, and make them pay for every last inch.

The army was meters from the town now. I glanced down to see a dozen diamond dogs, bearing a variety of clubs, approaching the first line of the swarm. One of them glanced up at me.

Here we go.

I dropped down. Hard. I landed hard enough to send a cloud of dust out from around me. I’d landed right in front of the dogs, who each gave a surprised yelp, unable to halt their advance due to their momentum. I lit up my horn and blasted three of them, sending them flying back. A pair of them, undeterred, charged forward and raised their weapons over their heads. One of them was tackled to the ground by a pair of drones, while I stood fast against the remaining dog. He swung his mace downwards.

With a single, upward motion, I swung my right foreleg up, changing it into a thick, chitinous club. My transfigured leg met the mace, the impact sending a violent, yet oddly relaxing, vibration through my bones. The dog’s mace was sent flying upwards, spinning in midair; as the dog watched it in surprise, I swung my leg into his gut. The dog fell to his knees, clutching his stomach and coughing.

I raised my club over his head for a finishing blow, when I stopped.

I was still iffy on ending a life… I’d done it a few times before my banishment, sure, but… my life as a human may have changed my outlook, some would say ‘softened’ me.

The middle of a war is kind of a poor place to have doubts about killing… Chrys said in my mind.

I clenched my teeth.

I brought the club down. Hard.

The moment the club made contact and I felt the dog drop to the ground, unmoving, I immediately flew upwards, panting heavily. My face became damp with cold sweat, and the roar of the battle gaining momentum around me began to fade out.

Hey… Chrys said. You gonna be okay?

I took a deep breath. ...Think it’ll be healthy to keep it all… stowed away until we’re done here?

...Probably not, Chrys replied. But it might be best. It’s WAR, Chris… These griffons, these minotaurs, they made their choice.

...Alright… I replied. I won’t like it, but…

It’d be worse if you DID like it, Chrys said.

I took another deep breath. Sound returned to me, and I got my head back in the fight. With no immediate threat to me or those nearest, I glanced around. My swarm was outnumbered by the griffons in the air, but they were using teamwork, striking in teams of two and covering each other. There were fewer minotaurs on the ground, though each one could easily cleave through five of my brood. For every griffon or minotaur, though, two or three of my brood were tangling with them, dodging their swings and hitting them hard and fast to take them down. Even those on the ground, who had managed to evade my brood, were tangling with the ponies, who were mostly beating their opponents with sheer numbers. Already I could see a few griffons flying away from the battle, likely seeing that their chances weren’t that good, even with Discord on their side.

The real threat of this battle, though, would be Discord himself.

While I was glancing about, a screech from above made me spin around. A griffon full-body tackled me, sinking its talons into my sides. Yelling in pain I shifted my leg into a blade. I plunged it into the griffon’s chest, causing it to give a much louder shriek of agony. I pulled the bloodied leg from its chest and, wrenching myself free of its grasp, kicked the griffon to the ground.

Another griffon suddenly landed on my back; my wings suddenly felt as though they were being put through a shredder as the griffon started tearing into them. Screaming in agony, I swiftly flipped, causing the griffon to lose its grip and fall off me. With my wings in agonizing tatters, I began to fall; I lunged forward and latched myself onto the griffon, sinking my blade into its gut. With both the mortal wound and my weight, the griffon started losing altitude.

We fell.

I lit up my horn in an attempt to mend my wings, but I was suddenly tackled on either side by two more griffons. The dying griffon fell from my grasp, while my latest aggressors began stabbing me on either side with their talons. Even between the two remaining airborne, I was still heavy for them to keep aloft; in fact, they seemed to make sure I wouldn’t survive my fall. My brood noticed that I was under attack, but they were too busy holding back the other griffons. I heard Echo calling out to me, desperately.

No…

I fought weakly against their attacks, but the pain of their attacks was practically blinding me. I yelled in pain as I tried feebly to turn, to shake off the griffons, to free myself, but nothing worked.

A third griffon suddenly latched onto my front, grinning maliciously. He reached back, talons gleaming, as though to slice my throat...

I felt myself land on something hard, yet it wasn’t the ground—we were too high up, and it felt more like something had… caught me.

Something enormous suddenly grabbed the griffon grasping my front and pulled it away; a wet ‘splat’ that followed told me all I needed to know what happened to it next. The griffons on my sides were giving confused squawks before they, too, were yanked away.

Shaking my head, I looked up at my savior. I was in the claw of a sizable blue dragon. “Are you alright?” He asked in a deep, rumbling voice as he shook his other claw free of blood and feathers.

I frowned in surprise at his concern. “...Yes? Thank you…”

A dull ‘thump’ told me the dragon had flown us safely to the ground. He gently placed me on the ground, where I stood shakily, clutching at my wounded sides with a foreleg. “I’d say I’m surprised as to your chosen side, changeling…” he said. “But then, I’ve heard tell of your race’s near extinction in Discord’s rise to power, so, honestly, it makes sense.”

I nodded slowly, then glanced around the battlefield; in the air were dozens of dragons, roaring as they charged Discord’s forces. Many of the more intelligent ones among them took this as a good time to cut their losses; they did an almost casual about face and fled in the opposite direction. Some of the diamond dogs started burrowing into the ground with panicked whimpers.

I glanced up at the dragon. “I’m rather lost as to your allegiance, though… Who are you?”

“I am Varn,” the dragon said. He gestured to his kin, who were dispatching Discord’s army so easily I briefly wondered if my brood could just let them do all the work. “And believe me… We’ve long awaited this day… The day the Elements would return, marking Discord’s downfall.”

I felt an enormous grin spread across my face; this would put things in our favor. I gave him a cheerful shrug. “Works for me.”

Varn gave me a small smile. “We’ll grant what aid we can; just ensure the safety of those less trained in combat.”

I nodded and lit up my horn; a pleasant warmth flooded my body as I mended my wounds. I stretched my newly-mended wings and took to the air. I closed my eyes to call to the brood.

The dragons will aid us. Give them what aid you can, target anything that slips past them.

We got this.





“Digit?”

I looked away from the fluffball back towards the portal; standing in front of it was a pegasus with chocolate-colored fur, a light brown mane and tail, and a cutie mark depicting a partly sketched brain. The pegasus was standing shakily, trying to find her balance—like anyone who needed to adjust to gaining two additional legs.

“Liz?” I said.

“This…” Liz said slowly. “...is gonna take some getting used to…”

I frowned for a moment, then glanced back at the fluffball. She was gone. “Uh…”

“Something wrong?” Liz asked.

I turned back to her and shook my head. “Never mind. Look, can you get the hang of walking real fast?” We glanced up at the ceiling when some thunderous crash from above shook dust from the rafters.

“Guess I’ll have to…” Liz said. She glanced down at her hooves. “I remember Chrys saying to act like I’m on my hands and knees…” she mumbled as she took a few cautious steps forward, her legs rigid. She glanced towards the stairs, where the ponies were rushing up towards the surface. Another crash from above nearly made Liz trip. “...I’m starting to understand why Chrys preferred I stay back home, actually…”

“You wanna go back?” I asked.

Liz seemed to think about it for a moment, then shook her head. “I’m not letting Chrys do this alone,” she said as she continued forward, steadily improving her pace and growing more comfortable. Liz strode stiffly into the line of ponies and climbed laboriously up the stairs; she hung off to the right so the ponies who were better accustomed to their new bodies could pass her. I hurried up behind Liz and, ducking underneath her, lifted her up on my back and carried her up the stairs.

We got to the main floor and hurried among the bustling line of ponies outside. What I saw made my jaw drop; Ponyville was completely enveloped in battle. Earth ponies and unicorns were combatting minotaurs and diamond dogs on the ground, while pegasi were fighting griffons above. Though the bulk of the battle seemed to lie on the outskirts of town; I could see the rest of the swarm fighting alongside a large number of dragons (?!), keeping most of the focus on them and not the ponies.

“Chrys!!” Liz said, pointing with a foreleg. I followed the (very general) direction of her gesture and, after some searching, saw Mom, fighting three griffons, who were looking like they were questioning their chosen allegiance.

“We have to get to her!!” Liz said, climbing off of me. She immediately made to walk stiffly through the battle, as though hoping she wouldn’t be noticed.

“No!!” I cried, grabbing her. “We’ll be killed that way! We’re going around!”

Liz opened her mouth to argue, but groaned. “Fine…”





Watch the right flank!! I commanded as I swung my leg-mace; it connected with the side of an unfortunate griffon’s head, causing him to drop to the ground like a stone. My swarm quickly shifted to meet a small group of griffons, who had endeavored to slip around Varn’s brood and try to catch us off guard.

We’d been going at this for about an hour. I didn’t want to criticize the Bearers for taking so long to take Discord down, but I didn’t see us handling this battle forever. We’d taken some hits, but none of the brood had fallen yet, thanks to the dragons. Still, it was only a matter of time before fatigue would start taking its toll.

“Chrysalis!!” I looked up to see Varn circling overhead. He pointed with a claw towards the middle of the battlefield. I turned around.

“There he is…” I hissed. Discord was, with an almost bored expression, tossing away anyone who attacked him, usually turning them into some random object. He had teleported into the middle of the fray, catching the ponies off guard. I took to the air, blade-legs twitching in anticipation; all it would take was one good swing...

“Varn!!” I glanced up again; Varn was looking over at a red dragon, who, in turn, was pointing towards the portals where Discord’s forces had spawned.

Something else was pouring from the portal, on the ground and in the air.

I felt a pang in my stomach.

Changelings. Hundreds of them… yet they were changelings in shape alone. They looked like zombies; each drone had clearly seen some horrid fate, and had been reanimated by some purple goo that leaked out of the corners of their mouths. Instead of the usual angry buzzing a changeling swarm usually gave off in the face of combat, I could hear a faint chorus of choking sounds emanating from the corrupt swarm. Adding to their zombie-like appearances, the changelings’ flight was less like that of an insect and more like a wing-propelled missile; no real sense of purpose or intellect, more like they had just been tossed at us and told, ‘kill.’

They were nothing more than… Husks.

“Mother?” Echo called. “Are those…?”

I nodded. Prima’s brood… though they’re even farther from real changelings than before.

“What do we do, changeling?” Varn called.

I glanced between the oncoming swarm and Discord, who had noticed me and was giving a cheerful wave. I grinded my teeth, but kept my head. “We deal with those abominations!!” I called up to Varn. “Just wipe them out!!”

“Like how you nearly wiped us all out?”

I turned at the voice; it was deeply distorted, almost sounding like something out of Lovecraft, but I recognized it, its calm air somehow piercing the din of the battle.

Varn let out a roar of surprise as something landed heavily on his back, bringing him speeding towards the ground. With a deafening slam the blue dragon crashed to the ground, a horrid, purple monstrosity standing just above his wing joints.

“Prima…” I whispered. I thought she was horrific before, but… words failed me at this point. Her once orange mane was now stained with purple, and the liquid all of her Husks seemed to be made of was leaking out of every orifice in her body. She had grown to roughly twice my size, the wounds she’d sustained from our last encounter still evident; it looked like Discord was aware that she needed some healing, but endeavored to half-ass it. The leg she’d lost had been regrown, though it looked more like a piece of vaguely hoof-shaped metal had been implanted in the stump. She still had only one functioning eye, and, though it looked the same as when I’d last seen her, I could see something that terrified me more than any change she had gone through.

Just before she’d been taken by Discord, I remembered seeing a pleading look in her eye… a sign that part of her was aware of just how far she’d fallen, a look that seemed to carry a plea for merciful release…

Now, though? There was nothing but blind fury, hatred, madness…

Whatever Prima had been before—before our battle back in Augusta, before Discord’s offer of power, before our people’s near-extinction… it was gone. There was only… this.

Varn made to sit up, but Prima fired a single blast from her horn. The red energy flew through the top of his head; his eyes widened in surprise before his head fell to the ground, and he moved no more.

“NO!!” I roared. I flew towards Prima, yelling in rage, blades at the ready.

Prima’s horn lit up again; a red field enveloped me, halting my momentum. With a single toss of her head, Prima sent me flying towards the edge of the battlefield.

I landed heavily and skipped across the grass; after a few disorienting moments, I quickly righted myself and pressed my hooves to the ground, skidding to a halt.

Prima was flying towards me; my swarm overhead was shifting, ready to focus on her.

No. I called. Keep her own swarm at bay.

“But Mother--” Echo began.

Do it!! I ordered. The swarm lingered for a moment, but soon focused again on the Husks.

Prima landed a few meters away from me, scowling. “I’ll say this, Chrysalis…” she said, her voice quavering, as though fighting to keep from outright charging me at that moment. “When you would kill our whole race, you’d rather we’d die fighting.”

My legs returned to their normal forms, and I straightened up. “Prima… Look at yourself… Do you honestly think siding with Discord has made you fare any better?”

“Under my leadership, we are stronger than ever!!” Prima snarled. “With but a thought, I strengthen our numbers in a matter of seconds!!”

She screwed her face shut in concentration. From one of the points where the purple slime was leaking from her body, the substance bubbled madly. A single bubble swelled to rather unsettling proportions, growing until it was roughly the size of a dish tray. Then, with a splat, the bubble burst. A Husk, drenched in the slime, fell from the burst bubble with a wet splat, twitching for a few moments before rising, instantly ready to charge into battle.

Prima tightened her face even further; from three more spots, more bubbles of purple slime grew, swelled and burst. From each, a new Husk was born, ready to join the battle.

The four newborn Husks immediately took to the air and flew towards me. With an almost deadpan expression, I lit up my horn and fired a volley of blasts. Each blast hit the Husks directly in the face, causing them to drop to the ground. They each gave a single, sickening twitch before they liquidized; much like Prima’s false kin from Augusta, only leaving a purple stain instead of green.

Prima glared intently at me, yet the maddened, almost frantic spark in her eye told me her ‘improvements’ weren’t just physical. “Prima…” I said. “What did he do to you?”

Prima’s expression softened somewhat, though she didn’t back down. “I toiled for my failure…” Prima said. “I watched… as the babies Discord had promised me… died, in my grasp!!”

The pity I’d been feeling for her for the past week suddenly returned with a vengeance. “...P-Prima, I…”

“And it was because of you!!” Prima suddenly roared. “You would ruin our kind’s best chance at living, flourishing, once again!! Yet Discord… he forgave me!! He gave me a second chance, granted my children—my beautiful children—life!!”

I gestured at the Husks that were combatting my own swarm. “If you call that life!!” I yelled. “These things are… aberrations!!”

That might’ve been the wrong thing to say. Prima’s face suddenly lit up with a mad fury. “They fare better than they would under your rule!!”

She galloped forward with a monstrous scream. I charged forward with a scream of my own, using my wings to propel myself forward.

At a mere moment before collision, I swung my blade at her side; her chitin had been vastly strengthened, but not enough that my blade didn’t sink in an inch or two. The blow made her veer off course just enough that she didn’t barrel through me. Taking the opening, I wrapped my other foreleg under her stomach and, lifting her hulking form just an inch above the ground, carried her in the opposite direction. We only made it a few meters before I had to drop her, letting her skid painfully along the ground behind me while I spun back around.

She very quickly recovered, however, and by the time she was on her hooves again, she was feet away from me; she used her momentum to close the distance and, with a snarl, transformed her foreleg into a nasty club. I barely had time to react (or feel a twinge of annoyance at her stealing my shtick) before the club slammed into my right side. I tumbled head over hooves through the air before rolling across the ground.

Once I managed to right myself, I stood up; my right side was brutally cracked from the impact, and I was fairly certain I had a broken rib or two. I mended what I could before Prima started flying towards me to push the offensive.

I hovered a few feet in the air, changing my other foreleg into a matching blade.

“Come on, come on!!” I bellowed.

Prima took the challenge, and charged me again. I charged as well, my horn lit.





“Digit, slow down!!” I called, quickly waddling along behind her. We were a fair distance from the battle, sticking to ducking around buildings and through alleys to avoid the eye of Discord’s forces. We were nearing the portals where they were emerging; I still didn’t know what I, myself, was planning on doing, but I wanted to know I’d at least been here in the end… At her side.

Digit glanced back and slowed down, giving an apologetic look. “Look, I can carry you…” she began.

I shook my head. “It’s fine, we just need to…” I trailed off as I noticed a black cloud emerging from the distant portal, moving towards Chrys’s swarm and the dragons aiding them. They grew close enough that I could see what they were. “Oh my god…”

Digit followed my gaze. “...Holy shit…”

Changelings… Horrible, horrible changelings, more corpses than anything else, leaking some purple fluid and lurching forward, almost without purpose. Digit glanced back at me, a look on her face implying she regretted bringing me here.

A boom in the distance made us jump; one of the dragons, a blue one who had been lingering in the air, was suddenly brought down to the ground with a terrible crash. Something, equine-shaped, was standing on its back; it shot a red beam into its head, killing it instantly.

“NO!!” I followed the voice; there was Chrys, charging towards the dragon’s killer. I started moving closer, and, to my horror, realized that it was Prima. Prima caught Chrys in midair and tossed her bodily towards the far side of the battlefield.

“Chrys!!” I yelled, galloping after her, through the battle itself.

“Liz, no!!” Digit yelled. A minotaur, clutching a wounded arm, lumbered around the corner and noticed me. I gave a frightened whimper, but didn’t think to stop moving. He smiled sadistically and moved to grab me; I made to run around him, but I was too slow--

The minotaur was suddenly tackled to the ground by Digit, who was snarling like a rabid animal. I knew she’d handle him—her sweetness only carried to those she cared about. I charged through the main battle, towards the far side of town.

Towards Chrys.





Prima and I were locked in a furious grapple. I had dug my hooves into the ground and was pushing against Prima, who was doing the same. Our horns were locked, sparking furiously. I raised my blade-legs, but she caught them with her own forelegs.

“Still so stubborn, even now!!” Prima spat, her voice sounding more frantic than spiteful. “Still so intent on having our kind die for the sake of your damned ego!!”

“You think I’m here for me?!” I yelled; with a yell of exertion I managed to push Prima back a few inches. “Yes, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t here to give Discord a much deserved beating!! But it’s not vengeance for me alone!! It’s for everyone he wronged!! All the lives he’s ruined, twice over!!”

“Yet you would still risk our extinction!!” Prima screeched; she pushed me back a foot, gaining ground in our little reverse tug-of-war. “You would still throw yourself and your brood towards a battle you cannot win!! You would doom us all to oblivion… AGAIN!!”

“I KNOW!!!” I pushed Prima back a good ten feet, with strength that caught her off guard. She needed to plunge her hooves a good four inches into the dirt to end the push.

“I KNOW I NEARLY DOOMED US ALL!!” I screamed; my horn was practically burning right now, giving off an intense heat that poured through my entire body. “I KNOW IT WAS MY PRIDE, MY FOOLISHNESS, THAT NEARLY HAD US WIPED OUT!! THE BLAME LIES WITH ME AND ME ALONE!!”

With another yell, I wrapped a magical grip around Prima; I practically judo flipped her over my head, and slammed her head-first into the ground. Shaking her head, Prima quickly rolled over and lunged at me. I thrust a blade forward, where it dug an inch into her thick chest. Prima shrieked in pain as I spun around and hurled her as far as I could, away from the battle. Prima quickly got back on her hooves, but I was already charging my horn, filling it with every ounce of energy I could spare.

Before she could react, I let out a scream and fired a thick, pulsing beam of energy that struck her right in the face. The beam sent her flying back as though she was caught in a wind tunnel, searing her chitin, mane and wings.

After a few seconds, I stopped channeling the beam. The energy I’d put into it left me winded, panting heavily as I fell to one knee like I’d just run a mile. Yet, I could tell from Prima’s stirring shape in the distance that I wasn’t done. Ignoring my exhaustion, I flew over to her; she was lying on her back, purple liquid seeping from her countless wounds and burns. She looked to be dazed from the blast, yet she was stirring. I landed, standing over her and ready to smack her down if she got back up.

“But you weren’t the only one given a second chance, Prima!” I said. “My new life showed me just how far we’d fallen… Abductions, conquest, feeding off of the dreams of those we’d taken… We’d already become monsters, myself more than any other!! And when I began to remember everything… I saw that we could change… I saw we could forsake those monstrous ways, I saw we could be better!”

“You would have us lick the hooves of those we’ve fed off of for generations!!” Prima hissed.

Again, the mania in her voice showed that these words might not be her own; it seemed Discord’s improvements also blinded her to seeing anything other than his way.

Yet I had to keep trying. If I could get through to her, maybe… maybe she’d just stay down… Maybe she could be helped. She’d suffered enough. “Prima, we’re a race that feeds off love,” I said. “We should be willing to love in return.”

A flash off to the side, in the distance, made me look over; I couldn’t be sure, but I was pretty sure I could see… rainbows?

Something plunged straight into my stomach. I gave a low, agonized groan, looking down at the chitinous blade that was embedded about halfway through my gut.

“You’re even more foolish and weak than I thought…” Prima hissed, pressing the blade even further; I felt it pierce something that might’ve been important. Her horn lit up.

There was a crimson blast, and I was sent flying back. I rolled and skidded across the ground, feeling a sharp pain from my wound with each impact. I finally came to a stop some distance from the battlefield, leaving a thick trail of blood. I dully placed a hoof over the wound, my breath becoming quick and shallow.

I lit up my horn in an attempt to mend the wound, but could make little more than a spark; I’d put most of my energy towards that beam. I glanced up; Prima was approaching, a bad limp in her hind leg.

“You would have been better off remaining a human…” Prima said, grinning viciously. “But then, you didn’t have that much choice there…”

I made to stand up, but the wound sent a horrid pain throughout my body that made me fall right back down; this was not just some shiv wound. I coughed up some blood, feeling it drip from my lips as I watched Prima get closer; she was a few meters away, her blade still dripping with my blood and thirsty for more.

“You speak of our kind feeding off love?” Prima asked with a chuckle. “My brood… We no longer need it!! We don’t need ponies, humans, anything!! We only need Discord… and his will.”

A hungry look entered her eye. “And Discord’s will… is for your blood, and the blood of your swarm, to stain this land!!”

“GET... THE FUCK… AWAY FROM HER.”

There were only a handful of times where I wasn’t happy to hear that voice. This was one of them. I glanced at the source of the voice.

She may have been in an unfamiliar form—a pegasus, brown coat and mane—but there was no mistaking Liz. She was scowling furiously at Prima, not caring about her chances.

Prima stared at her, baffled.

Then she began laughing. She turned to me. “And here lies the cause of your weakness, Chrysalis… Your talk of peace? Of a ‘better future’? It would lead to an even faster demise than that which your foolishness wrought, twenty-five years ago. Yet it was this one who softened you… filled your head with the folly of peace.”

She turned to Liz. “You seem to have fed plenty from this one… I’d say you’ve had your fill.”

Her horn lit up. Liz tensed.

And I did the most cowardly thing I’ve done in my entire life.

I closed my eyes, unwilling to watch.

I heard energy discharge from Prima’s horn. I heard Liz scream. I heard her hit the ground. I heard Prima’s blast strike flesh.

...Then I realized that those sounds were out of order.

I opened my eyes.

Liz was laying to the side of where she’d been standing, shoved to the side and staring at the one who had shoved her.

As I realized who had shoved her, the pain in my gut seemed to vanish, or perhaps I simply stopped noticing it.

Digit was standing some distance behind where Liz had been standing, having been sent stumbling backwards by Prima’s blast. Her brow was furrowed, as though she was confused. She slowly looked at the smoking hole in her chest, a faint impression of shock lining her face.

She slowly looked up. “...Mom?”

I wasn’t sure if she was addressing me or Liz.

She fell to her knees.

Liz’s mouth opened to let out a wail of anguish, but I didn’t hear it. I no longer heard anything… Not the roar of the battle, the angry buzzing of my swarm, nothing.

I slowly turned to look at Prima, who was looking rather confused before she looked at me.

Our eyes met.

I began feeling… numb. There was no rage, no anguish... My vision seemed to blur, practically blinding me to everything except Prima.

I stood up, no longer feeling the pain in my gut. I began walking towards Prima, as though in a trance.

She scowled and fired several more blasts. I was only barely aware of the glow from my own horn, and the thick barrier that somehow held against every blast that made contact. I kept walking forward.

Prima’s scowl deepened. She limped forward and raised her blade when she was mere feet away.

As she swung it horizontally, I changed my own foreleg into a blade and swung it upwards.

My blade sliced cleanly, right through her leg, sending the transformed leg spinning upwards. Prima gazed at the stump, eyes wide in shock and horror.

As she stared at it, I caught the airborne blade with my magic, reared it back and brought it straight through her throat.

It was only when the blade had completely pierced her neck that I could hear everything again. And the first thing I heard was me screaming so loud my throat felt like it would tear like paper.

After a few seconds, the scream died in my throat. Prima swayed where she stood, coughing up the purple fluid. She fell to her knees, staring blankly at the blade that had completely impaled her neck.

All over her body, the purple fluid began to bubble, quickly swelling and encasing her body.

Prima fell to her side, staring up at me; the fury, the madness… it was fading from her one eye. Within seconds, I could see… Prima again.

She coughed up more of the fluid, and lifted her head.

“F-F… F…” Her voice was quivering. Tears were brimming in her one eye.

“F-Forgive me…”

Her head fell to the ground. The purple fluid in her body swelled, completely enveloping her. Then it… melted, leaving a thin purple puddle. Lying in that puddle was Prima—the real Prima, as she had been before meeting Discord. Her severed leg, also returned to its true shape, lay a few inches from the gaping wound in her neck.

I glanced towards the swarm; the Husks were suddenly dropping like flies, all hitting the ground and melting into puddles of purple slime. My swarm was giving a loud, victorious cheer, but I could see two of them breaking off and speeding towards us—Shift and Echo.

I heard a boom behind me. I turned to see another rainbow-colored light show in the distance, this one I recognized as a Sonic Rainboom.

...Was this Dash’s way of saying… we’d won?

“Chrys!”

I snapped back to the present and looked to Liz, who was cradling Digit in her arms—or, forelegs. I hurried over, feeling the pain of my wound but choosing to ignore it. I knelt beside Liz and took Digit in my forelegs. “Digit…” I said softly.

The wound in her chest looked like she’d been stabbed with a molten rod; it had completely cauterized, hiding any damage within. Digit didn’t seem to be in pain… which I considered to be both good and bad. “Hey, Mom…”

I glanced up at Liz; her face was stained with tears. As I lit up my horn in an attempt to heal Digit, Shift and Echo landed right behind Liz and knelt beside us, casting looks of horror at their wounded sibling.

“Hold still, sweetie…” I whispered, aiming my horn at her chest.

I began casting the mending spell. The wound in Digit’s chest began to mend…

But stopped. I blinked in confusion and put more towards the spell; I was still exhausted from the fight, though, and didn’t have much left to spare.

I kept channeling the spell, but the wound wouldn’t mend… It was too grave. “No, no no no…” I kept trying, over and over again.

“Chrys?” Liz asked softly.

“Just give me a second!” I said, more harshly than I meant. I was gritting my teeth with the effort, now, but I just couldn’t make it mend any faster. “No, no, come on!!” Tears were flowing from my eyes, now, but I didn’t care.

“Mother…” Echo said softly, her voice cracking. “...Mother, healing spells can only do so much…”

“It has to work…” I said. “It has to…”

“Mother, please…” Shift said, laying a hoof on my shoulder.

I shook it off. “NO!!” I pulled Digit closer; her eyes seemed to be slowly paling. She was slipping. “Digit, please…”

“Mom…” Digit said softly. She reached up and put a hoof to my chest. “...Mom, it’s… it’s okay…”

“No, no, it isn’t!!” I choked, biting back a sob. “Baby, please, please…” Liz was openly sobbing now, pressing her head against Digit’s. Echo was quietly crying, Shift gently holding her and trying his best to comfort her. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the rest of the swarm approaching; ponies who had finished cheering at the sight of the fleeing army took notice of me, some approaching out of curiosity.

The swarm was hovering overhead now, realizing what had happened and keeping silent, save for the buzz of their wings. The galloping of hooves made me glance to the side; Trixie, bearing a limp and a deep gash down her side, was hurrying to our side. She gasped in shock at the sight of Digit and came to a halt; she was hesitant in coming any closer, but a subtle beckoning from Echo encouraged her to slowly approach, standing alongside Echo and Shift.

Digit smiled at each of us, the cheer I’d known her for shining through, unhindered. “...’s good, to be with… with the ones you love…” She said, her voice falling into a mumble.

“...With your family…”

Her smile seemed to freeze in place. Her blue eyes glazed over. Her hoof fell from my chest.

I put a hoof to her cheek. “...Digit?”

Nothing.

“D-Digit?”

Nothing.

“Digit… Digit…”

I broke down. I buried my face into Digit’s burnt chest and began sobbing. “Oh, god, please, no…”

I felt Liz press her head against mine as we wept. I could hear Shift, Echo and Trixie sobbing quietly; some of the swarm above was sniffling quietly, too.

One. We’d lost one of our own.

Years ago, that would have been nothing.

Now? It was one too many.

There was a ‘crack’ in the distance.

“...Chrys,” Trixie said.

I slowly looked up. In the distance behind Liz, Discord had just appeared; he was gravely wounded. His lion’s paw was missing a few fingers and bleeding profusely, and several bones in his body appeared to have been broken, judging by the way he was clutching at his chest in agony. He looked as though he was having trouble standing.

This wasn’t the state a demigod would find themselves in.

Discord didn’t seem to have meant to appear here, judging by the look of shocked surprise on his face when he noticed the massive number of ponies around him. His gaze trailed around the battlefield, and he noticed me.

He gave a nervous smile.

His leg moved as he prepared to turn around.

My vision was a blur for a moment. When it cleared, I was suddenly hovering right in the prick’s face. Discord yelped in surprise and made to stumble back.

I grabbed his neck in my magic and pulled him close, squeezing tight enough that he could barely breathe.

For what I presumed to be the first time in his existence, there was fear in Discord’s eyes.

I wanted to end it—end him. I wanted to slice him to ribbons, I wanted to tear him apart in my magic, I wanted to turn into something small enough for him to swallow, plunge down his throat, return to normal form and burst out of him in a mess of gore.

I wanted to fulfill the promise I’d made all those years ago.

I. Wanted. To kill him.

My breathing was ragged and vicious now. Discord was wincing in fear, bracing himself.

I noticed something in the distance behind him. Shining Armor, Big Mac and the Bearers were hurrying over; Discord was likely making a vain attempt at fleeing. They all bore their own wounds of varying severity. Dash seemed to be in a worse state than any of them; her legs looked bloody and broken, and her cyan coat was stained with blood. She needed to be supported on either side by Applejack and Fluttershy to walk.

The sight of them—the way they, too, had suffered at Discord’s hands… I felt my rage simmer down somewhat. Discord had just about brought my people to extinction, and laughed it off…

...But this wasn’t just about me. It was about them. About the Bearers, about Shining, about Big Mac, about all the ponies whose lives he’d ruined.

It was about Equestria.

Discord was looking somewhat confused why I hadn’t done anything yet.

I pulled him closer.

“I wasn’t the only one you wronged.”

I turned around and hurled Discord over my head, towards the crowd of ponies, who seemed more than happy to take him.





I stared at the broken form of Discord, laying bloodied but breathing on a stone slab, surrounded by the Bearers, Shining and Big Mac. Surrounding them were tens of thousands of equines, myself, Liz, Trixie, Shift and Echo standing some distance from the front. Liz was sitting at my side, foreleg wrapped around me as I absentmindedly stroked her head.

“This is it, then?” She asked.

I nodded slowly. “Mmhmm.”

“What do you think?” Liz asked. “I mean… What now?”

“For Five Score... to the power of four.”

I shrugged. “We… do what I’ve been stressing about. We live.”

“Your powers removed, your mind marooned.”

Liz glanced around. “...Here? Or back on Earth?”

“Your treason and crimes we can never forgive.”

“I’m thinking, we… find a Royal or two who can handle any of the swarm who stays here… And I think we’ll go back to Earth.”

“So we sentence you to a life of a worthless captive.”

Liz nodded. “...And… Digit?”

“You will live a million lives on Earth as a common horse,”

I took a deep breath. “...We’ll bring her home.”

“Forced to serve man endlessly, and without remorse.”

“But what’s home to you now?” Liz asked; her gaze fell. “What’s home to me?”

“Reflect on your moral sins and heinous actions,”

I nestled my head on hers. “For me, it’s wherever you are.”

“As you endure mindless work for countless generations.”

Discord’s broken form was then lifted by some unseen force; the look in his eyes indicated he didn’t see much point in resisting at this point. I couldn’t tell if it was genuine remorse (ha!), if he was wondering where he’d went wrong, or if he was already formulating some revenge scheme.

Whatever it was, he’d have somewhere around eternity to think things over.

There was a flash of light.

He was gone.

The crowd erupted around us, cheering and crying. Before I could say anything, Liz suddenly reached up and turned my head towards hers.

“Shall we get started on that weird life, then?” Liz asked.

I put a hoof to her chin. “I’d have thought it already started.”

> Epilogue: Love, and the Joy it Holds
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Epilogue: Love, and the Joy it Holds

Two Days Later

“Scion and Kaz’tik,” I said to the two Royals before me. “I charge the pair of you with leading those of our brood who have chosen to remain in Equestria. You are to ensure their comfort and well-being, and to see that changeling integration into Equestrian society proceeds smoothly. Do you accept this charge?”

“Yes, my Queen…” The pair said, bowing low.

“I’ve already made arrangements with Princess Twilight,” I continued. “She has granted her blessing for the construction of a hive cluster, just outside Ponyville. In return, the remaining brood is to grant what aid it can in the reconstruction of Ponyville. Each changeling is to earn their place in society. Your duty is to manage these efforts, and deal with any difficulties faced by our brood.”

I glanced behind me; about half of the new brood had volunteered to return with me to Earth, and were waiting patiently in the center of town, ready to proceed through the relocated portal at a moment’s notice. Liz, Shift, Echo and Trixie were standing directly behind me, each loaded with dusty old saddlebags. Shining, Twilight and Dash were standing some ways down the street.

I addressed Scion and Kaz’tik again. “Know that, when the portal closes, I will not be able to aid you any further for the next two and a half years. I will return at my next opportunity, though I am unsure whether I will be staying for that next cycle or simply visiting. Whatever the case, you two are responsible for ensuring a peaceful, prosperous future for our kind, here in Equestria.” I leaned towards them, my voice softening. “This is a heavy, heavy burden. If you have any doubts…”

The pair shook their heads firmly. “None, my Queen,” Scion said.

“Nor I,” Kaz’tik said, his head held high.

I smiled and straightened myself. “Then it is decided; Lords Scion and Kaz’tik shall lead our people here in Equestria for the foreseeable future.”

The pair sprung to a salute; the Equestrian swarm behind them began cheering, wings buzzing happily. “For the Swarm!” Scion cried happily.

“For Equestria!” Kaz’tik yelled in reply.

Casting formality aside, I leaned down and hugged the pair. “I have faith in you two…” I said.

The pair hugged me back. “We’ll miss you, mother…” Kaz’tik said.

“More than anything…” Scion replied.

“I’ll miss all of you…” I said; tears were welling in my eyes, but I held them back.

We broke the hug and parted. Scion and Kaz’tik turned to their swarm. “Let us rebuild!” Scion cried. She pointed to a portion of the Equestrian Swarm. “Aid those on the edge of the Everfree who are harvesting lumber!”

Kaz’tik gestured to the rest. “Assist in cleaning the debris from the buildings still standing!”

The swarm buzzed in affirmation, and took off to perform their respective tasks. Scion and Kaz’tik flew out to oversee the efforts, pausing to turn and give me one last wave of farewell.

I smiled and waved back, managing to hold back the tears in my eyes. “Stay safe…” I said.

Liz walked up beside me and nuzzled my neck. “They’ll be fine…”

I nodded. “Yeah.” I turned and approached the Earth Swarm, who were unloading crates from a number of carts. Most crates had some of the eggs I’d laid over the past couple days—I was leaving most of them in Equestria to be incubated—while some had a great deal of gems, courtesy of a few of Varn’s friends—their way of saying that their peace with the ponies extended to us as well.

I was more interested in examining the cart closest to the portal, though. It hurt to approach, but I wanted to be sure it would be ready to be carried through. Sighing heavily, I stood at the side of the cart and beheld the simple casket upon it. It wasn’t the prettiest, but it would do until we could get home and make proper arrangements. It seemed sturdy enough, but I’d asked Twilight to do what she could in making sure it wouldn’t be damaged as it went through the portal. A faint purple glow surrounding it told me she’d delivered.

I laid a hoof on the casket lid, this time not bothering to hold back the tears. “We’re going home, baby…” I whispered.

I looked to the side and saw Dash, Shining and Twilight approaching, trying to look as tactful and respectful as possible. “So, you’re… heading back?” Dash asked; the healing spells seemed to have worked wonders on her, seeing how she’d essentially been ‘broken’ by the end of the battle.

They did more for her than they could for--

I immediately stamped that thought down, doused it in gasoline and flicked a lit match on it.

“Yeah…” I said. “I’ve… I can’t leave my family behind… My human life is the reason we stand here as… friends… And I don’t want to leave any of it in the dust.”

“Did I hear right that you… remain a changeling, when you come out the other side?” Shining asked, jerking his head towards the portal.

I nodded. “Changelings are master shapeshifters; as such, we tend to be more resistant to forced transformations, where they either don’t work or fade quicker. That’s why I was… well, fully ‘committed’ just a day in.”

“And that’s why Digit was still a changeling when she came--” Liz began, but quickly stopped talking, casting a shocked, apologetic glance up at me.

I nuzzled her head. “Don’t worry about it.”

Shining stepped forward. “So what’s your brood gonna do? In terms of… secrecy?”

“I’m thinking we lay low from the public eye for a while,” I replied. “When we get a decent place to hole up, I’ll get in contact with the US Government, and we’ll see if we can arrange a civilized integration into human society.”

“Metaphorical fingers crossed, things don’t blow up…” Liz said.

“But if things work out, we can work on getting my brood everything we need to become citizens,” I said. “IDs, social security numbers, things like that…”

Twilight’s gaze drifted over to Trixie. “You’re going back too, Trixie?”

Trixie nodded. “Same story as Chrys, I… I don’t want to leave my family… And I promised that I’d come back, soon as I could. Not sure what I’ll do there, though; I’ll probably use some of these gems to get my own place, near home.”

“You might still be able to be a track star,” I joked, though with a hint of optimism.

Trixie chuckled. “...But then, I think… Next time the portal opens, I’ll come back here… Maybe my family will join me. Either way...” She reached into her bag and withdrew a familiar hat and cape. “I think I’ll give showbiz another go,” she finished with a wry smile.

I turned back to Shining and Twilight. “Now, my people staying here are gonna work to earn their place in your society. These are not just my people—they’re my children.” I learned towards them, my tone becoming more serious. “I have your word, you will protect and aid them, just as they would protect and aid you?”

Twilight stood tall and nodded. “You have my word, as Princess, Queen Chrysalis.”

“And mine as well,” Shining said, bowing low.

I smiled gratefully at them. “Lords Scion and Kaz’tik are the ones leading the brood here; just call on them if you need anything from the swarm.”

“You’re coming back, right?” Shining asked.

I raised an eyebrow at him and smirked. “Grown fond of me, Shining Armor?”

Shining sputtered, caught off guard. “I-- what?”

“I’ll have you know…” I said, nose pointed high; I pulled Liz closer with a foreleg. “That I am spoken for. Hmph!” I dropped the ploy and gave him a good hearted smile, which he returned. “Yeah, I’m coming back, next cycle. Not just because I’ll wanna see how our brood’s doing here, of course.”

Shining held out a hoof. “Then… until we meet again.”

I smiled and bumped his hoof. “...D’aww, c’mere.” I suddenly reached out and pulled him into a tight hug; he initially squirmed uncomfortably, but then returned the hug.

“...All of ya,” I said, glancing around. “Come on.” My horn lit up, and I pulled Twilight, Dash, Liz, Trixie, Shift and Echo in for one big group hug.

After a moment, the nine of us parted--

Wait, nine?

“Bye, Chrys!” Pinkie chirped, still hugging me tight. “And don’t worry! I’ll make the big “Changelings Make Peace With Ponies” party one of the best I could ever throw!”

“I have no doubts, Pinkie,” I replied.

The hug lasted until a good five seconds after it started feeling a tad weird, then Pinkie bounced off happily; it wasn’t surprising that such good cheer could survive even the darkest times.

“Alright…” I said, turning back towards my group. “We’ve probably… another half hour, I think, before the portal closes, let’s start bringing things over.” The brood buzzed in acknowledgement, began hefting crates and carried them through the portal.

Trixie gave Twilight, Dash and Shining one final hug before heading towards the portal.

With a low sigh, I slowly approached the cart bearing Digit’s casket. I lifted it gently in my magic, and delicately moved it towards the portal; Shift and Echo nodded at me, then headed through to take the casket on the other side.

“I’ve made sure it’ll come out the other side in one piece,” Twilight said delicately.

I nodded. “Thank you… truly.”

As I gently fed the casket through the portal, feeling Shift and Echo take it on the other side, I found my gaze drifting towards the world around me.

I’d labored over the past week to return to this world, to protect it… I didn’t want to leave.

This world had known pain—and I, once, had been known to harm it myself… I wanted to stay, to help mend it, to stay in the world I and my brood had fought to save…

I felt a wing drape over my back; I turned to see Liz, a look of sympathy in her eyes.

Behind her, I could see the Equestrian Swarm cleaning up several demolished buildings; two Drones—Zeta and Carapace—had run up to an earth pony, who had been struggling to lift a heavy beam on his back, by himself, and were helping him lift it up. The pony gave them each a look of surprise, then an appreciative smile, and the trio carried the beam out of the ruin.

I found myself smiling at the display; such a simple act, and I knew… this world would heal. And my people would aid in mending it, any way they could.

And this didn’t have to be goodbye.

The last of the Earth Swarm had passed through the portal, now; it was just Liz and I. I gave her a nod, and the two of us began approaching the portal. I gave Dash, Shining and Twilight one last nod of farewell, then looked at Liz.

In her eyes, I could see everything that made being with her… well, worth it. Worth any struggles, any arguments, any time she’d roll over in her sleep and inadvertently hog the blankets.

I could see every ounce of warmth, compassion and adoration that I felt for her. There was never any one particular aspect that most drew me to her—I’d assume it’s the same for anyone who had found ‘the one’.

Nothing could describe it… But I never felt the need to justify it.

She didn’t care if I was human or changeling. She didn’t care just how many children I’d have in a week. She didn’t care that a life we’d share would be as far from a normal life as one could get.

And I didn’t care what I did, so long as Liz was there by my side.

I kissed her.

We stepped through.






The End