Chapter 1

“Wha... What happened?” Twilight said, rubbing her throbbing head.

“The queen fainted,” a timid voice said from somewhere above her.

“Queen?” Twilight’s eyes flew open and she sat up, locking eyes with the same changeling as before.

She fainted again.

A wave of cold water splashed over her, and Twilight shot up, once again face-to-face with the changeling, who now held and empty stone bowl in its hooves. “T-this isn’t a dream, is it? I’m really here?”

If the changeling was confused, it didn’t show it, only nodding in response.

“Oh no... This is bad! This is really, really bad,” Twilight wheezed, feeling the beginning of one of her signature panic attacks.

“What is bad, my queen?” the changeling asked, genuinely concerned.

“I’m not your queen!” Twilight gasped rapidly.

Now the changeling was confused. It cautiously pulled away from her. “Ummm... yes you are?” it replied softly before flinching.

“No! No I’m not,” Twilight stammered. “I’m just in your queen’s body!”

“I know. You are not Queen Chrysalis, but you are in her body. You are the queen,” the changeling explained slowly, as if stating something glaringly obvious.

“J-just like that? You’re not disturbed by any of this?” Twilight gaped incredulously.

“A queen is a queen,” it shrugged, hesitantly rising back up from its deep bow. “Old queen, new queen... Still a queen.”

“I see...” Twilight muttered, though she didn’t truly understand the drone’s logic. She closed her eyes, trying to clear her head with a few deep breaths and analyze her thoughts. “Okay... I’m stuck in the body of a changeling queen. I can get through this, I just need to stay calm.” She opened her eyes and looked at the other changeling, who just continued to sit and watch her. She closed her eyes again and began to focus on herself.

“Let’s see... I don’t feel any other presences in here with me; no voices in my head or other minds struggling for dominance. That means that Chrysalis’ soul is elsewhere. Now it’s very unlikely that the spell killed her or just disembodied her spirit, which means...” Her eyes shot open as she went from calm to full panic in an instant. “She’s in my body!”

She jumped to her hooves, or at least tried to. A sharp, crippling pain shot down her rear left leg and she collapsed with a shriek. She glanced back to see that the leg was covered in a cast of opaque green resin.

“What’s this?” she whimpered, turning back to the changeling in the chamber with her. “What happened?”

“Queen injured in attack on Canterlot. Thrown through the sky and landed in tree,” it said, waving its hooves around for emphasis. “Can’t walk, leg needs to heal.”

“Heal? I need to get to Ponyville now, I don’t have time for it to heal!” Twilight groaned. “How long before I can walk?”

“Dunno.”

“You don’t know?” Twilight sputtered.

“Nope, not a healer,” it said matter-of-factly.

“Can you go get me a healer?” Twilight asked, doing her best to hold back her frustration.

“Nope.”

“And why not?” Twilight snarled, failing to hold back her frustration.

“No healers.”

“There are no healers?” Twilight muttered. “Then how did this happen?” she asked, pointing to the cast.

“Old queen did it herself,” it replied.

“Great... Well, is there anypo— Are there any changelings around who might know anything about injuries?” Twilight asked desperately.

“Ummm... Soldiers might,” the changeling offered softly, scratching its head. “You want me go get one?”

“Yes!” Twilight nearly shouted, a glimmer of hope rising in her. “Please.”

The changeling left with only a bow. Finally alone, Twilight looked around, taking in her surroundings. She was in a relatively small chamber, slightly smaller than her bedroom back at the Golden Oaks library, hewn from solid rock. A green crystal grew out of the ceiling, glowing dimly and providing the only source of light. Despite the relative darkness, Twilight could see perfectly fine; she suspected that changelings had much better night-vision than ponies.

She was lying on a soft, translucent, fleshy sack filled with a viscous green liquid, and immediately tried to put the thought out of her mind. Aside from that, all that was in the room was a pile of scrolls tucked neatly into a corner.

A clacking of chitin on stone alerted her to the fact that another changeling was approaching, so she turned her head towards the hole on the far side of the room as a changeling, much larger than the previous one entered. It immediately stopped in its tracks and glared at her suspiciously. “You are not Queen Chrysalis.”

“I know that, I—”

“Who are you and what have you done with our queen? Why do you inhabit her vessel?” it asked hostilely, approaching her with as much menace as it could muster.

“There was a magical accident, and I think we switched bodies. Trust me, I’m even less happy about this than you are. I swear that I’m not here to cause trouble, I just want to get things back to normal,” Twilight explained hastily. She waited for it to respond, but when it didn’t, she continued. “Listen, I think I can fix this, but I need your help. I need a lock of hair from my body— my real body— and some other stuff from Ponyville.”

“Ponyville? We’ve been trying to get into Ponyville for days. They’ve put up some powerful anti-changeling spells,” the soldier grumbled angrily, shaking its head.

Twilight winced slightly, a bit confused by his revelation. “Why have you been trying to get into Ponyville?”

“Queen Chrysalis’ orders,” it said. “She wants us to find the unicorn that foiled her plans in Canterlot, and seize her so that—”

“You’ve been trying to kidnap me?” Twilight screamed without thinking and immediately slapped a hoof over her mouth.

“You?” the soldier shouted, recoiling from her with disgust.

Well, there’s no point in trying to hide it now... “Yes, me,” Twilight growled. “Now do you understand why I’m so upset? I don’t want to be in this body, and I really don’t want her to be in my body!”

“Yes, I understand now,” the changeling snarled, eyes shining with fury.

“Like I said, I think I can fix this, but I can’t do it alone. I need help. So if you want your old queen back, you’re going to have to trust me,” Twilight stated, trying to express more confidence than she felt. “Do you think you can do that?”

The changeling stared at her, grinding its back teeth. Twilight could almost hear the cogs turning in its head, almost feel its frustration. No... She could feel its frustration. Her mind reeled, trying to fight back against the emotional invasion, but try as she might, she couldn’t block it out. She blinked a few times, focusing on separating her own emotions from the foreign ones

The drone, oblivious to her internal struggle, heaved a sigh and nodded. “I have no choice. For better or worse— you are the queen now, however temporarily.” It stepped forward, exuding an aura of grim resignation. “So, what do you need?”

“If you can’t get to Ponyville, than I’m going to have to go myself. So how long will this take to heal?” she asked, pointing at her leg.

The soldier leaned over her, scanning her leg with a gentle magic. “Well, you should be able to travel in a few more days, but it won’t be fully healed for at least a month. Changelings heal much differently than ponies; our bodies are designed to get back to work as soon as possible, but it takes us longer to recover completely.”

“All I want to know is when I’ll be able to get to Ponyville on it,” Twilight replied.

“Two... maybe three days at most; especially since you’ll be flying most of the way,” it muttered, gently poking at the cast with a hoof. “But I wouldn’t do much more than walking, or you’ll just hurt it again.”

“A-alright. Two days. I think can do this; I hope I can do this,” Twilight sighed trying to calm herself with a few deep breaths. “She can do a lot of damage in two days, but somepony is bound to notice unless she’s subtle about it, and if she’s subtle about it, she won’t be able to do nearly as much damage. And that’s assuming that one of my friends don’t notice that something’s different about me. This could be worse!”

A loud clatter at her side made her jump and snapped her out of her thoughts. She whipped her head around to see that the first changeling she had met had dropped a stone plate next to her. She wasn’t sure how she knew it was the same one, but she knew. She glanced down at the plate. “What’s this?”

“Food! Mushrooms! Queen need eat,” it chirped happily, obviously proud of itself.

Twilight gave it a confused frown. “I thought changelings fed on love.”

“Need food too! Eat once a day,” it explained. It turned around and trotted towards the exit.

Twilight turned to the soldier and it nodded. “I suggest you eat; the wound won’t heal properly if you’re malnourished. I realize that you’d probably like to cripple our queen like that, and I would do it myself in a similar situation, but you need her body to be in top shape if you want to get your old body back.”

Twilight gave a gloomy sigh and nodded back. “Yeah, you’re right.” She leaned down and picked up one of the mushrooms in her mouth. She chewed, swallowed, and very nearly gagged on it. “Oh, these are awful!”

The soldier snickered to itself and turned to leave. “You get used to them after a while. Let’s just hope that you don’t get the chance to.”

Twilight picked another of the mushrooms up with her hoof and grimaced at it, when a thought struck her. She glanced over to the pile of scrolls in the corner and reached out with her magic. Surrounded by a green glow, they flew over to her and stacked themselves into a neat pile in front of her.

“At least there’s something to read around here,” she muttered to herself, popping the mushroom into her mouth.

Sleep came fitfully to Twilight. Dreams and nightmares intertwined into one confused blur, and she woke to her own scream.

“Queen okay?”

Twilight flinched at the sudden sound and snapped her head up to its source: a changeling, somehow different from the other two she had seen before, was poking its head into the room. Twilight shook her head, trying to clear the cobwebs from her mind and focused on her breathing. “I-I’m fine. I just had a bad dream.”

The changeling’s curious expression didn’t change; it only continued to stare at her. “What about?”

“I... don’t know,” Twilight whispered, examining her trembling hoof. “Just fear.. And darkness. I was sort of hoping that this was all part of it; that I’d wake up in my own bed.”

“Oh,” the changeling replied plainly. It was acting like it understood, but Twilight could sense— in the back of her mind— that it, in fact, had no idea what she was talking about. “Queen okay now?”

“Yeah, I think so. I’m just a little shaken up,” Twilight sighed. She took one last deep breath and shoved Chrysalis’ lengthy mane out of her face. “Hey, can you do something for me? Yesterday— or before I fell asleep rather— I spoke with a changeling soldier, Can you go find him for me?”

The changeling blinked at her and simply stated, “Her.”

“Uhhh, what?”

“Her. Soldier female,” the drone explained. “I female too.”

“Oookay. Well can you go get her for me? Please?” Twilight asked, attempting to sound as polite as possible.

The changeling nodded and quickly disappeared from sight. Alone again, Twilight slowly stood up and stretched out, snickering softly as the hard plates of Chrysalis’ body clicked and scratched as she pulled them apart. Rolling her shoulders, she worked the kinks out of her back and plopped back down with a yawn.

She heaved another sigh and began to look herself over. A thick exoskeleton— black, except for the massive green piece covering her back— covered most of her body, arranged in thick overlapping plates; feeling almost like a natural suit of armor, protecting her from harm. She inspected one of the joints closer, and was surprised to find a thin strip of skin beneath the edges of the plate. Curious, she gently touched a hoof to it and winced as a sharp jolt shot through her. She then decided to try something similar, touching the plate this time. Oddly enough, she could feel it. She wouldn’t have been able to tell exactly where on the plate she was being touched, but it was sensitive enough that she could feel even the slightest change of pressure.

Next, she rubbed a hoof over her lower chest, finding that— rather than being covered in a hard shell, it was made of the same smooth, deep grey skin that was between the plates; but unlike that skin, touching this was actually rather pleasant. She sat up for a moment to get a better look and found that it ran all the way down her abdomen before tapering off and ending in a point somewhere between her back legs.

She lay back down and pushed Chrysalis’ mane out of her face again, noting that her entire face was also comprised of skin, but there seemed to be some kind of bone structure beneath it. Maybe a skull?

After a few minutes, Twilight began to feel trepidation in the air as soft clicking announced the soldier’s arrival. She entered, bearing aloft a plate in her magic and gently set it down in front of Twilight.

The former unicorn’s jaw dropped as she looked at the plate. “You’re kidding, right? I am not eating bugs.” She picked up a slightly charred beetle in her magic and sniffed at it. “No. Just, no!”

“I am afraid that is all we have,” the soldier grunted. “Our food stores are depleted, so you’ll have to eat whatever we manage to find.”

“Depleted?” Twilight asked skeptically “How’d you let that happen?”

“We didn’t let anything happen,” the soldier retorted defensively. “Right now we have six changelings foraging for a hive of one-hundred twenty-two, and only three of those six are actually gatherers; the other three are a digger and two soldiers. We’ve been strictly rationing as best we could for the past week. The six foragers are the only ones who get to eat every day, and that’s only because they’re working every hour they spend awake.”

“I-I’m sorry; I didn’t realize things were that bad around here,” Twilight replied with a guilty wince. She glanced back down at the plate for a moment before turning back to the soldier. “If things are so desperate, than why did you give this to me? I ate yesterday.”

“The queen always eats first. It’s the natural order; your needs are always the top priority. Even as poorly as we are, we’d feed you six times a day if you wished it.”

“That just doesn’t seem right,” Twilight muttered, more to herself than to her companion. She frowned down at the plate and pushed it away. “I’m not eating this. I refuse to gorge myself while others go hungry.”

The soldier recoiled with surprise at Twilight’s sudden outburst. “B-b-but, my queen, I urge you to reconsider! You need—”

“Skipping one meal isn’t going to hurt this body,” Twilight interrupted angrily. “Find some changelings who haven’t eaten in a while and give it to them.”

Hesitantly, the soldier picked up the plate as another changeling appeared in the doorway. She glanced at Twilight suspiciously, slowly muttering, “If all goes right, those changelings you are demanding be fed will be your enemies again in a few day’s time.”

“I don’t care!” Twilight screamed. “Starvation is a horrible and painful way to die! Enemy or not, I won’t let them suffer like that if it can be avoided.”

“As you wish,” the soldier sighed, passing the plate to the other drone. “If you won’t eat, at least take this.” She leaned forward and touched her horn to Twilight’s.

The effect was immediate. Electrifying and exciting, a burst of energy shot through Twilight’s body and mind, leaving her breathless and energized. “W-was that—”

“Harvested love,” the soldier nodded. “And before you ask, we have plenty of it stored. Enough to sustain a hive this size for months.” She bowed to Twilight and turned to leave.

“Wait!” Twilight squealed, causing the soldier to jump and turn around. “What’s your name?”

The changeling simply glared at her for a moment before speaking. “Only queens have names, drones have no use for them. I am number 2,987, the eldest member of this hive, aside from our queen, of course.”

“Oh...” Twilight mumbled, slightly disappointed. “Okay, I’m just going to call you 29-87; it’s a bit easier to say. Anyway is there anything I can help with around here? Any organization or administrative tasks that need to be done?”

29-87 sputtered for a few moments before giving a frustrated groan. “Okay, ponies are rather soft, so I can sort of understand giving up your meal, but why would you want to actually help the hive?”

“Because I’m bored!” Twilight whined. “I’ve been sitting here for hours, and there’s nothing to do?”

“Weren’t you reading those scrolls?” 29-87 asked, pointing at the papers littering the floor.

“I was, but I really don’t want to anymore,” Twilight grumbled. “They’re all scrolls of magic and it’s all black magic. Most of these spells are banned in Equestria; a unicorn can get life in prison or even lose their horn if they’re caught using them! And I’m sure that those that aren’t banned would be if Celestia knew they existed. Look at these!” She shoved a pile of unraveled scrolls at the drone. “Circle of Suffering. Blood Binding. Mindstab... These spells are vile! They’re just elaborate, magical methods of torture.”

“Perhaps you should read them more thoroughly and report them to your princess?” 29-87 asked sincerely.

“What I should do is burn them,” Twilight snarled, scattering the scrolls with a swat of her hoof, “but there’s some sort of protection spell on them that I can’t figure out. And you still haven’t answered my question!”

“Well, to tell you the truth, there isn’t much at all. The hive’s been rather quiet while we’ve been recovering from our ill-fated attack,” 29-87 muttered thoughtfully. “But if you’re truly bent on lending a hoof, you could take a visit to the infirmary; it’d do them some good to see their queen up and about.”

“I thought you said I shouldn’t be walking around on this leg?” Twilight grumbled.

“I said you shouldn’t go to Ponyville on it, not that you couldn’t hobble around the hive. Besides, Chrysalis hasn’t done anything but sit in that spot moping since she got back. It’s not healthy to sit around for that long,” 29-18 sighed. “Come on, I’ll guide you there.” She stepped over to Twilight and helped her to her hooves.

Twilight stumbled for a moment, but succeeded in following 29-87 out of the door and found herself emerging behind a throne of green crystal. She wanted to ask about it, but her companion had continued on and Twilight had to move as fast as she could to keep up with her. They went down a corridor and emerged in a large room full of beds.

“Ummm, I thought you said there were 122 changelings in the hive, there are at least 80 in here!” Twilight gasped, heartbroken at the sight around her.

“Eighty-four. Now you know the severity of our situation,” 29-87 muttered with a nod. “It was initially ninety-six once we recovered all of our wounded after the attack, but many of the worst-off didn’t make it. Most of those remaining will survive, but at least a dozen will be permanently disfigured, and there are four who will be maimed for life. With supplies as low as they are, those four will likely be left to die.”

“W-what? You can’t be serious!’ Twilight stammered.

“I’m afraid that I am. We need to feed those who are most likely to remain useful to the hive,” 29-87 replied stoically. “Would you like to walk down one or two of the aisles?”

Twilight nodded and began moving down the nearest row of cots. All eyes in the room seemed to be on her as she limped across the room, trying to make eye contact and provide encouraging smile to every changeling she passed. She stumbled to a stop when a soft voice reached her ears. “Q-queens here?”

She stopped and turned her head towards its source: a small changeling with a large, green laceration on her swollen left cheek. “Yes she is,” 29-87 cooed from Twilight’s side. “She’s here to visit you and the rest of our sisters.”

The injured drone simply smiled and closed her eyes with a content sigh, so Twilight and 29-87 moved on. Even so, Twilight couldn’t get the image out of her head; the changeling had been no bigger than Applebloom. “I-I’m almost afraid to ask, but how many did you lose in the attack?”

“Umm, about 2,100 I th—”

“What? You said that there are only 122 of you left. That’s 94% of your hive!” Twilight squeaked weakly, staring aside at her guide, refusing to believe it; but the soldier only nodded. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

“You couldn’t have known,” 29-87 sighed, shaking her head. “I know that you’re only helping us out of boredom, but I still appreciate it; morale has been terrible lately. Lowest I’ve ever seen.”

“Understandable so,” Twilight replied. As she reached the end of the first row, she locked eyes with one of the smaller drones; teary-eyed and missing both wings. “H-hi, little one. How are you fairing?”

“Better now,” it murmured. “Queen awake, queen okay.”

“Y-yes, I’m okay,” Twilight stammered. She slowly extended a hoof towards the changeling, hesitating for a moment as it flinched, then gently stroked its cheek. She quickly turned away and made for the exit. 29-87 followed her out, a concerned frown on her face. “I-I’m sorry, it’s just hard to see.”

“It’s quite okay, please have a seat and calm down,” 29-87 said soothingly, helping Twilight to her haunches. “You did us a great service by even showing your face. Some drones can go their entire lives without seeing their queen.”

“W-well I’m glad that I could help. I hate seeing anything hurt, especially that badly,” Twilight sighed, trying to push the sight from her mind. “Hey... the drone who I first met told me that there weren’t any ‘healers’. Is that an actual type of changeling, or...”

“It is,” 29-87 nodded. “A changeling’s role is chosen even before they are born, and each type has a few biological differences. It allows us to be more specialized and get things done more efficiently.”

“Well, what happened to all of the healers? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“They were all killed in the attack,” 29-87 replied, fidgeting uncomfortably. “T-to be honest, a few of them were actually slain by you.”

Twilight’s heart sunk. “Sorry about that. We were trying to only knock them unconscious, but we didn’t really have time to be careful about it.”

“I cannot fairly blame you for that; it was a battle after all,” 29-87 grimaced. “Most of our casualties occurred when we were cast out anyway.

“What about the males?” Twilight asked pressingly.

“Males?”

“Yeah. When we were in there you told that changeling that I was there to visit her and her sisters. What about her brothers? Did we ki—” Twilight began to ramble before 29-87 cut her off.

“No, you did not. The only purpose males serve in the hive is to breed with the queen,” she explained. “Chrysalis was fertilized... Actually, I’m not sure how long ago it was, but considering the fact that I was hatched from her eggs, it was obviously before I was born. We haven’t had a male in this hive in decades. At least.” She fell silent, leaving Twilight feeling little better. Twilight’s feelings must have been obvious, because she continued, “Perhaps we should change the subject. Would you like a tour of the hive?”

“No, my leg’s already starting to get sore. Thank you though,” Twilight sighed as she climbed back to a standing position. “I wouldn’t mind if you told me about changelings as a species though.”

“Very well,” 29-87 muttered, moving to Twilight’s side so the wounded queen could lean on her for support. “What do you wish to know?”

“How about changeling reproduction? If males only breed with the queen, then are the rest of you sterile?” Twilight asked. “And what about your eggs? Can I see them? I promise I won’t do anything to them.”

29-87 held up a hoof. “One question at a time, please.”

“Sorry,” Twilight mumbled sheepishly. “I get like that when I find something that interests me.”

“It’s okay, my Queen, I’m more than happy to explain, just not all at once. I’m not used to speaking to ponies at length and to be honest it’s a bit dizzying. That and I’m used to be able to know what your kind is feeling,” 29-87 said, shaking her head. Twilight opened her mouth to ask another question that popped into her head, but snapped her jaw shut and nodded for her guide to continue. “First off, yes, we drones are all sterile. And before you start extending your sympathies, we are all fine with it. Those of us who feel the desire to interact with our younger sisters take up teaching and spend most of their time training new changelings to perform their assigned tasks.”

“Oh. That makes sense,” Twilight murmured thoughtfully.

“As for our eggs, we don’t have any,” 29-87 explained distastefully. “Laying eggs is exhausting to the queen and requires a lot of magic. Leading up to the invasion, Chrysalis decided that it was more prudent to hoard her magic rather than ‘waste it on eggs’. She was so sure that we would succeed that she figured she could just recoup our losses later, and she wanted to take Canterlot so badly that she was willing to risk nearly everything in her attempt.”

“Well that doesn’t seem to bright,” Twilight grumbled.

“That’s because it wasn’t too bright, but questioning the queen is taboo in any hive. Chrysalis in particular accepted no dissent. Had we known then what we know now, maybe we would have tried to counsel her against it,” 29-87 said with a shrug.

“You know, before I thought she was evil for what she did in Canterlot. Now I know she’s evil. What kind of terrible leader would risk thousands of innocent lives like that?”

29-87 simply sighed and shook her head. “Forget it, a pony just can’t understand. What’s your next question?”

“But I want to understand!” Twilight replied. 29-87 merely shook her head, her message clear. “Okay, fine, next question. Why is it that the other drones can’t even put together a full sentence, while you can speak in perfect Equestrian?”

“Simple: soldiers are the ones sent to infiltrate pony communities, and therefore the only ones who need to be taught to speak properly,” 29-87 said proudly.

“Okay, that I get, but why not teach the others to speak properly as well?” Twilight asked.

“Why? It’s a waste of time to teach them anything beyond what they need for their jobs. Soldiers are highly educated because we need to be; other drones are not educated because they don’t need to be,” 29-87 retorted, her frustration beginning to buzz angrily in Twilight’s mind. “The hive is about efficiency, not equality. They only need to be taught enough to communicate, and we drones can sense the emotions of other drones.”

“I’m sorry, but that seems a little messed up to me,” Twilight grumbled back, plainly annoyed.

“You don’t need to understand it, so unless you wish to become our permanent queen, just accept it and move on,” 29-87 growled before stopping dead, eyes wide and fearful. “I-I don’t know what came over me. Please forgive my outburst, my queen.”

29-87’s rapid shift from annoyance to guilt and unease was rapidly giving Twilight a headache as her mind once again struggled to separate her own emotions from the drone’s. “Oh for crying out loud! Relax. I can’t hear myself think.”

“Sorry, what?

“I can sort of hear your feelings in my head, and it’s annoying. How do I turn it off?” Twilight whined, her companion’s rising alarm only making things worse.

“I... don’t rightly know; a queen’s abilities are different from a drones,” 29-87 said with an apologetic shrug.

“Different how?” Twilight snapped.

“A queen can feel her drones, but a drone can’t feel her queen. I don’t know whether a queen’s sense is just more powerful, or if it’s different altogether, but it is different,” 29-87 explained. “I can give you some tips for suppressing it, if you wish, but they take practice and even then might not work at all.”

“Jus-just take me back to Chrysalis’ room,” Twilight grumbled.

“Very well,” 29-87 sighed, beckoning Twilight to follow her.

They walked in silence for a minute before Twilight suddenly spoke up again. “...Chrysalis was cruel to you, wasn’t she?”

“No... What makes you say that?”

“That last drone. She loves her queen no matter what, I have no doubt about that, but she recoiled when I went to touch her. The only other creatures I’ve seen act like that are abused foals,” Twilight muttered sternly. “Being weary of someone you love is not a natural reaction.”

“She treated us quite well,” 29-87 growled sternly before halting in place. “Actually, I can’t really speak for the rest of the hive, but she treated the soldiers well. I never had reason to assume that she treated the others any different.”

“I see. It’s quite easy to turn a blind eye on abuses that don’t affect you. You may not even realize you were doing it,” Twilight said softly.

“If you say so,” the soldier replied with a confused frown. She led Twilight back to the throne room, and Twilight took the lead, remembering where Chrysalis’ quarters were, but 29-87 stopped her by clearing her throat. “I know you are angry with me, but I think you may find this interesting.” Twilight turned around and glared at her as the soldier approached the throne. Wordlessly, she laid a hoof on it and a bright white light lit up the room from within the crystal.

“Whoa! Is that..?”

“Love. The throne is where we keep it. Any excess is stored within the crystal for a time when we may need it,” 29-87 smirked, pleased with Twilight’s sudden change of demeanor. “At maximum capacity, it can store enough to feed 2,000 changelings for a year.”

“That’s incredible!” Twilight squealed, limping towards the throne as quickly as she could manage and squinting deep into the crystal, as if trying to see something within. “I-I could write a whole research paper around this alone!” She gently touched her hoof to it, gasping at the pulsing power radiating from it.

“Is there a specific reason that the crystal is used as a throne? Like so the queen has total control over the hives supply, or is it just symbolic?” she asked, giddy with excitement.

“I... don’t actually have an answer to that. It’s been like that as far back as any of us can remember, and I know that the other hives do it too,” 29-87 muttered.

“Oh...” Twilight muttered disappointedly. “This is still amazing. I can’t believe that you’ve managed to create such an efficient storage method.”

“It’s actually much bigger than it looks. There’s another chamber below this one where the bottom of the throne protrudes from the ceiling. That way drones can add energy to, or take energy from the crystal without disturbing the queen,” 29-87 mused. She smiled sheepishly for a few moments before continuing, “I thought you might appreciate that.”

“I do, thank you,” Twilight said with a smile. She turned away and limped around the throne, dragging herself back to Chrysalis’ quarters and flopped back down on what passed for a bed. “Now to figure out what to do with the rest of my day...”

“If you’d like to take a nap, I could have our alchemist mix up a sleeping draught for you. Getting more rest would likely help you to heal faster,” 29-87 offered, only to receive a suspicious stare from Twilight. “It’s not a trick, I am incapable of harming you.”

“I still say that I don’t feel safe accepting unknown liquids from someone who was probably trying to kill me a few days ago,” Twilight muttered, narrowing her eyes.

“I’m serious,” 29-87 insisted. “Drones can’t harm their queen; we have a biological block in our minds that prevents us from doing it no matter how much we want to. Even an incredibly strong willed drone has difficulty even disobeying their queen.”

“Y-you mean you don’t even have free will? That’s terrible!” Twilight stuttered, utterly horrified.

“Well, sort of,” 29-87 muttered. “We do have some measure of free will, just not where our queen is involved. The only time we can do something that contradicts her orders is when another, more powerful queen establishes a link to us and gives us a contradicting order. But even then, we are only given the choice between two sets of commands, we can’t just pick neither.”

“Oh...” Twilight murmured, unsure of what to say. “W-well, I guess I could take a sleeping draught. It’ll make time go by faster.”

29-87 nodded and left, returning a few minutes later with a stone spoon full of viscous grey liquid. Twilight took a sip, and fell asleep as soon as it hit her stomach.

“My queen? Miss Twilight? You need to wake up.” Twilight stirred from the haze of sleep as the sound of her own name kicked her brain into gear. Her eyes fluttered open and the now familiar face of 29-87 came into focus. “It’s mid-morning; you’ve been asleep for nearly 20 hours,” she said with a warm smile.

“20 Hours? Was that stuff really that powerful?” Twilight groaned with a groggy yawn.

“No, I think your body— or Queen Chrysalis’ body, rather— really just needed the rest. She has done nothing but lay around sulk since our defeat,” 29-87 grumbled. She nudged a resin jug towards Twilight with her hoof. Only now noticing her severe cotton mouth, Twilight seized it at glanced at the liquid within.

Water. It was lukewarm, cloudy, reeked of sulfur, and was held in a container made from hardened changeling spit, but she poured the whole jug down her gullet regardless. “Thanks.”

“You’re very welcome,” 29-87 murmured with a nod. “Now, if you’d please lie on your side, I’d like to check on your leg.”

Twilight complied and a smaller, but much bulkier changeling appeared at her side. “This is changeling 3,561. She is one of our diggers and is here to remove your cast.”

Curious, Twilight only nodded and gestured for the drone to continue. It smiled and trotted up to her, overflowing with enthusiasm. It spat a small wad of fluid onto the cast and gently rubbed it in. Climbing on top of Twilight, it then managed to somehow get its horn beneath the skintight cast, and with a single thrust, shattered it.

“Whoa, that was... impressive,” Twilight whistled as the digger left without a word.

“I thought you’d like that,” the soldier muttered as she took hold of the newly freed leg. She gently pulled on it, testing the movement of the joints, then rapped on it with a hoof, smirking at the ring of chitin against chitin. “Bear in mind that the only medical knowledge I really have is how to patch myself up and get back into a fight...”

“Noted. What’s the verdict?”

“You should be able to travel on this, if you take it easy,” 29-87 sighed. “But I would wait a few more hours. Lie here and stretch and move it every five minutes or so; get the blood flowing and the feeling back. I know how eager you are to get underway, but this is for the best. A numb and weak leg will do you no good.”

“Fine,” Twilight grunted.

“I also have food for you. I’d be best that you actually eat this time, or you may not have the energy to travel later,” 29-87 muttered, levitating a bowl and spoon from a nearby shelf.

“Bugs again?”

“Yes and no. One of the diggers found a pair of mushrooms in one of the deep tunnels; wasn’t enough for a meal, so we cooked them together with the insects. We also threw in a few leaves of mint that one of the gatherers found in a nearby forest,” she explained, setting the bowl down in front of Twilight. “We hoped that it would make the insects more palatable.”

“‘More palatable’ implies that they were palatable in the first place,” Twilight grumbled. She picked up the spoon and took a scoop of the mixture from the bowl. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and shoved it in her mouth, barely bothering to chew it. “That. Is. Nasty... The worst part is that the bugs somehow taste better than the mushrooms.”

“I also brought this... To pass the time,” 29-87 muttered sheepishly. She produced a thin book from behind her back and offered it to Twilight.

“Rare Birds of Equestria, Volume III. Fourth Edition...” She frowned at the book for a few seconds before looking back up at 29-87. “I’m confused.”

“One of the drones noticed how relaxed you seemed yesterday reading the scrolls, and the whole hive knew in less than an hour. An unspoken command spread to find the new queen new things to read,” 29-87 said with a shrug. “It’s sort of hard to explain to a pony. The queen’s wants and needs are a major priority in the hive, even if she doesn’t even know what they are.”

“So one of you just ran out and grabbed the first thing you could find?” Twilight asked, examining the book.

“Not exactly. One of the gatherers came across a campsite last night while looking for food. She checked over the sleeping ponies’ packs, but didn’t find any. She did, however, find that, so she took it for you,” 29-87 replied hopefully.

Twilight sighed, rubbing her forehead. “Well, I don’t approve of stealing... but thanks.”

“I’ll... leave you alone for now. I’d like to prepare the rest of the surviving soldiers to escort you to Ponyville,” 29-87 said with a bow. “I’ll send someone in to check on you every now and then and come back when we’re ready.” She trotted out, leaving Twilight alone.

Twilight wolfed down the rest of her meal, cracked open her book, and did what she does best; taking care to exercise her leg whenever it began to feel stiff. Before she knew it, 29-87 had returned to inform her that everything was prepared. As the drone turned to leave, but Twilight stopped her with a hoof to the shoulder.

“Hey, there’s something I want to say,” she murmured as the soldier jumped at the sudden touch.

“Okay. What is it?”

“Thanks. You’ve been really... nice to me over the past few days,” Twilight lilted. “I know you didn’t have a choice when it came to taking care of me, but you went above and beyond to make me feel comfortable and welcome.”

“I-it was nothing. Really,” 29-87 mumbled uncomfortably.

“No it wasn’t. You treated me like a friend, and when I get back to normal, I’m going to tell Princess Celestia about it,” Twilight crooned. “I’ll see if she’d be willing to send some food and medicine as a peace offering. If we could get some friendly dialogue going between your hive and Equestria, then maybe things will get better for both of us.”

“T-that would be wonderful, Thank you,” 29-87 stammered sheepishly. She glanced around for a few seconds and beckoned for Twilight to follow. “Come on. The sooner we get you back into your own body, the sooner we can try for peace.”

She led Twilight out of the room and through a series of upward sloping tunnels, stopping in a small chamber that had sunlight streaming in from a hole in the ceiling and one of the tunnels.

She smiled at Twilight and gestured to fourteen other changelings in the room, most of which bore a combination of scars and freshly-healed wounds. “This is all that remains of our soldiers. If you permit it, eight of us will be escorting you to Ponyville, while the other six stay here to guard the hive.”

“If I permit it?” Twilight asked curiously.

“You can order us all to come with you, but we would prefer not to leave our sisters defenseless,” 29-87 murmured. “For now, you are still our Queen, so we will do whatever you ask, but all of us would like to request that you allow some to stay behind; even if it’s just the weakest of us.”

“I couldn’t ask you to abandon them like that. Go ahead,” Twilight smiled.

“Thank you,” several of the soldiers said at once. 29-87 nodded to six of them and the rest filed out of the far tunnel towards the light, with Twilight and 29-87 following. As Twilight reached the top of the tunnel and into a barren sandstone canyon, she closed her eyes and took a moment to enjoy the soft warmth of the sun on her face for the first time in days, only to collide with one of the soldiers she had been following.

“Hey, what’s going—” she began, but choked on her words as she glanced across the clearing to see a disturbingly familiar unicorn with an arrogant smirk on her face.

“I had suspected I’d find you here, infecting my hive,” Twilight’s old body sneered at her.

Twilight stepped forward, trying to swallow the lump in her throat and suppress the fear rising in her chest. “L-listen, Chrysalis—”

“Queen Chrysalis, thank-you-very-much. You may be in my body, but this brood belongs to me,” Chrysalis snarled with a scowl.

“T-that’s what I meant, Queen Chrysalis. Listen, this was a mistake, I swear. I don’t want your body, I definitely don’t want your hive, and I’m really sorry about all the trouble,” Twilight stammered pleadingly. “I know how to set things right though. If you get a few things from Ponyville for me, I can fix this.”

“Fix this? But why would I want to fix this?” Chrysalis sniggered maliciously. “After my abysmal failure in Canterlot, I sat here for days, wondering how I could possibly recover from such a setback. Then, all of a sudden, you give me the keys to my revenge! Twilight Sparkle can go so many more places, do so many more things than Queen Chrysalis. I could walk right into Canterlot and touch Celestia without setting off any anti-changeling alarms! What kind of Queen would I be if I squandered this opportunity?”

Twilight’s heart sank. She had been afraid of this, had known that getting her body back wasn’t going to be easy. But she still had one advantage: she was still in control of the hive. “Seize her!”

As the soldiers rushed at her, Chrysalis laughed and lit up her— or rather, Twilight’s— horn. “Come now, Sparkle. Do you really think I can’t control my own hive?” The violet light of her horn turned a deep crimson and stopped all eight soldiers in their tracks. “Chrysalis Hive... To me!”

Though a few of them hesitated, shooting indecisive glances between Twilight and Chrysalis, all eight soldiers turned around and lined up on both sides of Chrysalis in a semicircle as the six that had been left behind emerged from the tunnel, surrounding Twilight. She looked around her, hoping in vain to find a gap in their ranks, but found none. Her first instinct was to teleport and run, but her injured leg wouldn’t carry her very far.

She knew the solution to this problem: a small trick her brother had taught her years ago.

The ‘cold cast’ he called it. By forcing a large amount of energy through the very tip of their horn, a unicorn could cast a powerful spell without having to charge it first. It was risky and left the caster drained afterwards, but was invaluable in certain situations. Situations like this.

Without a moment’s hesitation, she launched a blast of green light at Chrysalis— not strong enough to do any lasting damage, but more than enough to hurt. She spell seemed to connect for a moment, but dissipated nearly instantly as a larger, more focused beam of violet light shot through it, striking her in the chest and throwing her onto her back.

“You may have stolen by body, Twilight, but you didn’t steal my magic,” Chrysalis cackled. “I am still many times more powerful than you.”

Several pairs of hooves grabbed Twilight by the shoulders and hefted her up and forward, forcing her to kneel eye-to-eye with Chrysalis. “This has been fun; the look on your face when you first saw me was priceless. Fortunately for you, I very much want you alive, so you will not be harmed. Instead, I only want you to sleep.”

As Chrysalis spoke the word, a fog invaded Twilight’s mind. Her eyelids drooped and thoughts slowed down as her heart-rate decreased, dragging her to the edge of unconsciousness.

She knew that she couldn’t afford to let Chrysalis win this bout. She summoned up as much magic as she could gather and forced it into her mind, breaking the fog with a bright spark. As her vision cleared, she saw Chrysalis had been forced down to her haunches by the counterspell, rubbing a singed horn.

“Oh my..." gasped Chrysalis heavily. "I knew you were powerful, Twilight, but I had no idea. How exciting!”

Chrysalis stood back up, straightening her body into a regal pose. She grinned hungrily and broke into a small menacing chuckle. She stared into Twilight’s eyes, a manic glimmer shining in her own. “You are so very much stronger than I had imagined... You can’t possibly know how much I’ve been wanting this, my Twilight.”

She stepped up to Twilight, and leaned in to whisper in Twilight’s ear. “Oh the things we could have accomplished if I had targeted you instead of your brother...”

Twilight’s skin crawled as she felt a tongue run down her neck and she thrashed around, slamming her head into Chrysalis’. “Get away from me,” she snarled slowly, nearly sobbing with fear and rage.

Chrysalis slapped her across the face. “Temper, Sparkle. It is not wise to vex your new Mistress.” The faux-unicorn stepped back and smirked. “Yes, your Mistress. I am going to build a new Equestria; an Equestria that I alone rule, where all of ponykind bows down to me. I have very big role for you. And you will play, whether you like it or not.”

She cocked her head slightly to the side and grinned sadistically. “It will take years to accomplish and I will not fail this time, but it will be much easier if you co-operate, so I’ll make you a deal, Twilight.”

She frowned and took a businesslike tone. “If you be a good girl from now on, I’ll make you my pet. How does that sound? In fact, if you play your part particularly well, I might make you my personal servant. Or maybe...” She stepped up to Twilight again and ran a hoof through her mane. “Something more... intimate? But first, I need you to sleep.”

The fog invade Twilights mind again, twice as powerful as before. She felt her will rapidly draining as she was dragged towards slumber, but she wouldn’t give in yet. She couldn’t give in yet. She summoned her magic again, and in a rage-fueled fit, shook off the fog once more.

Her vision returned just as Chrysalis hit the ground, thrown away from her by the counterspell. The queen grunted with the impact glared up at her angrily with a sneer. “Very well, you had your chance. I had hoped that it would not come to this, but we are apparently going to have to do this the old-fashioned way.” She stood up and dusted herself off.

“I cannot say that I am not disappointed, but I am more than willing to wait,” she sighed. Leaning in, she spoke in a whisper, “Once Celestia is out of the way, you will be mine and you will have room in your heart for me only.” She nodded at one of the soldiers and Twilight felt a blow to the back of her head.

Chapter 2

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Twilight opened her eyes, blinking away the blurriness to find herself sitting with her back against a cold dungeon wall, her front hooves pinned to the grey stone with a pair of heavy manacles. She didn't dare move and instead decided to try casting a spell. She gathered her magic and began to channel it into her horn but winced as something forcefully blocked it. She recognized the feeling. Someone had placed a magic ward on her horn; an enchanted silver ring that blocked the magic of whoever’s horn it was placed on.

"You're awake," a feminine voice said to her. "Good. We have many questions for you."

She shot to a sitting position and locked her eyes on the speaker. "Princess Celestia! Oh, thank heavens."

"That is a most odd response from a prisoner," another voice muttered. Twilight turned to see Princess Luna glaring at her, wearing a bewildered and suspicious frown to match her sister's. "Wouldst you mind explaining to us why we found you laying unconscious at our city's gate?"

"L-listen, this isn't what it looks like. I'm actually Twilight Sparkle," Twilight insisted desperately.

Celestia recoiled, rage flashing in her eyes. “This is a new low! Impersonating Cadance is one thing, but impersonating Twilight is far worse. You nearly shattered the friendships that have become the center of her life and I shudder to think what might have become of her had you not sent her to the caverns.”

“And for reference, your facade is far more convincing when you are properly disguised,” Luna grunted.

"No, really! I was working on that scrying spell to spy on the changelings and accidentally ended up like this," Twilight pleaded. "Now she's in my body and she's free!"

“I don’t know how you found out about Twilight’s project, but your story still doesn’t add up. Body-switching spells are magically impossible,” Celestia snarled. "Some of the best unicorns in history spent their entire lives trying. If you actually were Twilight, you’d know that."

“I do know that but I—”

“Enough!” Celestia bellowed. “I should lock you away forever for dragging Twilight into this, but first we will call her here to confront you face-to-face. Perhaps it will give her much-needed closure to know that you can never harm anypony ever again.”

She turned around and started walking to the stairs, so Twilight turned to Luna. “Luna, please! Remember Nightmare Night? You said that after Celestia, I was the best friend you’ve ever had!”

Luna recoiled, eyes wide with alarm and fear. She shook her head violently and stared at Twilight again, hesitancy crossing her features. “T-Twilight?”

A spell flew over Luna’s shoulder and struck Twilight in the throat, paralyzing her vocal chords. “How dare you toy with my sister’s emotions like that!” Celestia snarled. “Twilight was the first new friend she made after her return, and I will not see you tear them apart.”

Twilight winced at her mentors rage and glanced back at Luna. The Night Princess’ glared at her with deep loathing and turned away before calling for a guard.

“Your Highnesses?”

“Please send a chariot to Ponyville to fetch Twilight Sparkle for us. Immediately,” Celestia said to the guard, through gritted teeth. He saluted and galloped out. Celestia turned around and simply stared at Twilight.

They waited, Celestia continuing to cast her venomous glare at Twilight and Luna pointedly looking away for only a few minutes before the sound of hooves on stone announced that somepony was descending the stairs to the dungeon. All three pairs of eyes turned as the form of Twilight Sparkle appeared in the doorway. Twilight tried to scream, but only managed to exhale loudly.

"Twilight, what are you doing here already?" Celestia asked suspiciously. The skeptical frowns on both her and Luna's faces gave Twilight a moment of hope; she silently pleaded that the alicorns would see through the charade.

"I came to Canterlot for a surprise visit when I heard you caught the changeling queen. I wanted to find out what you learned from her. And see if I could help," Chrysalis murmured hesitantly. Twilight's heart sank. Chrysalis was mimicking her mannerisms perfectly. Twilight didn't know how, but Chrysalis had vastly improved since the invasion. "Then I ran into a guard at the palace entrance who said you were looking for me and I came right away."

"Thank you, Twilight," Celestia replied warmly. "So far she hasn’t given us anything useful. All she's done is claim to be you. I cast a silencing spell on her after she turned her poisonous words on Luna."

"Really? Why would she say that she was me? She's not even disguised," Chrysalis muttered, eyeing Twilight suspiciously.

"She said something about a 'body-switching spell'. Ridiculous, I know," Luna grumbled, she and Celestia both turning to their prisoner.

That's when Twilight saw it. A vial, attached to a nearly invisible string around Chrysalis' neck, slipped from her mane and hung freely. The vial began to glow a bright blood-red as Chrysalis' horn glowed a matching color. Luna and Celestia noticed the glow behind them with just enough time for shock to register on their faces before the vial exploded with an ear-shattering crack, splattering them with blood.

The Princesses collapsed where they stood, eyes wide open but completely limp. Chrysalis gave Twilight a twisted smile as a trio of guards rushed in.

"What happened?" bellowed a large unicorn wearing a crested sergeant's helmet.

"The changeling cursed the Princesses!" Chrysalis screamed, striking Twilight in the chest with a painful spell.

The guards rushed forward to examine the fallen alicorns before turning to Chrysalis. "Lady Twilight, can you restore them?"

Chrysalis cautiously stepped up to the Princesses and examined them closely. "I-I think so, but I'll need the Elements of Harmony. Can you get them for me?" she stammered perfectly.

The sergeant nodded to his two subordinates, who rushed out of the dungeons, before turning back to Chrysalis. "And their bearers?"

"Oh, yes. Them too," Chrysalis muttered, her mask slipping for the briefest moment. Unfortunately, the sergeant didn't seem to notice and rushed out.

Chrysalis turned back to Twilight and smirked smugly. "That was much better than my last performance, don't you think?" she giggled. "I've been thinking about you a lot since then. I thought about every single thing I saw you do over and over. Could you tell?"

"What about this? Do you like it? I call it 'Blood Bind'," she proclaimed proudly, pointing at the Princesses. She stepped over to the nearby wall and picked up a heavy, rust-covered chain in her magic, inspecting it closely. "It's an old spell I rediscovered a few years ago. Using the blood of the caster, it completely paralyzes the victim. They are effectively trapped in their own body. Their heart stops, their breathing stops, and they are completely unable to move. But they can still see everything, hear everything. Feel everything."

She whipped the chain across Celestia's back, rending flesh. Chrysalis purred softly and turned back towards Twilight. "Right now, precious Celestia is screaming in agony, but only she can hear it."

She dropped the chain and sauntered up to Twilight. "So here's what's going to happen: when your friends get here, we are going to turn you into a statue with those jewels of yours. It won't free the Princesses, but it'll keep my body safe and sound for a while. After that, poor Cadance will suffer a terrible, fatal, carriage accident on her way back to Canterlot."

Twilight lunged at her angrily and Chrysalis laughed. She danced up to Twilight, standing just out of the chained mare's reach and planted a peck on her nose. "Of course with all three of Equestria's Princesses... indisposed, who else would they turn to but Celestia's beloved apprentice?"

She reached up and wiped an angry tear from Twilight's cheek as rapid hoof beats announced the return of one of the guards. "It's the perfect plan," she whispered before turning to the guard.

"I have dispatched a carriage to Ponyville. The bearers will be here in short order," the sergeant grunted with a sharp salute.

"Good, good," Chrysalis sighed, shaking as if traumatized. "H-how long?"

"A little over an hour."

"Okay. In the meantime, I'm going to try to break the curse, alright?" Chrysalis asked hesitantly.

"Yes ma'am."

"Good. I think I'd be better if you leave though. I don't know exactly what's going to happen," Chrysalis replied. When the guard narrowed his eyes at her she continued quickly, "Both the Princesses and I will be safe, I just want to make sure... that there's no magical interference!"

The sergeant's face flashed with comprehension and he gave her a quick bow. "Understood, ma'am." He gave her another sharp salute and galloped out.

Chrysalis turned back to Twilight with a grin and danced giddily. "A whole hour? This is wonderful, Twilight! I've wanted to have some one-on-one playtime with you for a while now," she giggled.

She sat down in front of Twilight with a contented sigh. "Did you know that I'm interested in magic? Well I am! And now that we have some time, we can practice together. Here, let me share a spell I invented with you." She stood up and backed away, pointing her glowing horn at Twilight.

Soft warmth flickered in Twilight's breast and exploded into an agonizing burn. She gasped, breathing heavily as she tried to suppress the pain, but it only spread further. In mere seconds, it erupted into mind-numbing blaze. She couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't even scream. Just as she began to believe that the spell had tore her apart, it subsided and she found herself hanging limply from her bindings, body contorted and writhing in pain.

"Well? Did you like it?" Chrysalis squealed excitedly. Twilight wrenched her eyes open to find Chrysalis standing mere inches away from her, breathing heavily and covered in sweat. "I call it 'soulfire'; it's my favorite! Using it on someone is... indescribable! Best feeling in the world." She sat down, closed her eyes and moaned, trembling momentarily.

Twilight gave a pained sigh and Chrysalis opened her eyes with a smile. "You’re right, soulfire isn't a very good name is it? Maybe you can help me come up with a better one. Here, I'll cast it again so you can get some inspiration."

"Lady Twilight, your friends are here!" a voice called, echoing down the hallway.

The sound of her name jerked Twilight back to consciousness. She felt nothing at first, but a headache quickly began to form as her brain slowly churned back into motion and the memories of the past hour began to surface. She couldn’t remember just how many different spells Chrysalis had ‘shared’ with her, but the deranged queen had insisted on casting all of them at least three times apiece. It hadn’t been long before Twilight’s mind shut down, merely accepting the pain for what it was: inevitable.

"Send them in!" Chrysalis called back before turning to Twilight with a pout. "Too bad; this is the most fun I think I've ever had. Oh well, all good things must end."

She fell silent as Rainbow Dash bolted into the room, closely followed by Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie, all of whom immediately ran to the Princesses' limp bodies.

"Wh-what in tarnation happened here?"

"I don't know, this... monster cursed them!" Chrysalis snarled, pointing accusingly at Twilight.

“Ah thought you said there was no such thing as curses!” Applejack said as she carefully stepped up to Princess Celestia.

“Well I was wrong!” Chrysalis said exasperatedly. With the exception of Fluttershy, Twilight friends walked up to her with spiteful glares, and she simply stared pleadingly back, begging them silently to see through the facade. "We need to hurry and handle her. Did you bring the Elements?"

"Uh... yeah. Yeah we did," Rainbow muttered. “But shouldn’t we try to help the Princesses first?”

"No! We c- I mean we don’t know what else she can do. We need to take care of her now!” Chrysalis said forcefully. “After that, we can deal w— help Celestia.”

“Okay. If you say so,” Rarity replied, slightly put off. She gently placed the Tiara of Magic on Chrysalis' head and distributed the necklaces before adorning her own. They surrounded Twilight, standing in a semicircle against the dungeon wall. Chrysalis began to channel her magic with a triumphant grin and Twilight jammed her eyes shut.

Nothing happened.

"Umm, Twilight? Y'all can zap her anytime now!" Applejack grunted through grit teeth.

"I-I'm trying!" Chrysalis panted, pushing more charge into her horn for a moment before the magic flickered and died. "What's going on? Why isn't it working?"

“Well this is certainly strange,” Rarity said softly. “The Elements have never behaved like this before!”

Twilight let out a sigh of relief as Chrysalis tried again, her horn sparking and sputtering uselessly. Chrysalis let out a frustrated scream and took the Element off her head, shaking it angrily. “You’re supposed to turn her to stone, you stupid thing!” She shook it again, but the Element remained dim and silent. With one last enraged grunt, she hurled it against the ground and stormed away. It bounced noisily, landing a short distance from Twilight.

As Twilight’s friends followed Chrysalis, attempting to console the angry unicorn, Twilight herself had her attention on the Element. It was nearly two meters away; out of her reach, but maybe if she stretched out...

“Oh no you don’t!”

Twilight snapped her head up to see Rainbow Dash glaring at her from across the dungeon. Without another moment’s hesitation, Twilight redoubled her efforts to reach her Element as Rainbow shot across the room. Straining against her binding and stretching out as much as she could bear, Twilight managed to nudge the tiara with her back hoof.

The resulting light stopped Rainbow in mid-charge, drawing all eyes in the room to the Element of Magic as it glowed intensely. The chromatic pegasus backed away slowly, eyes wide with confusion and fear. “Wh-what?”

“B-b-but only Twilight’s supposed to be able to use the Element of Magic!” Applejack stammered. “Why’s it reactin’ to her?”

“I don’t know! This is... No. No, this can’t be right,” Rarity said, glancing rapidly between Twilight, Chrysalis and the Element. “Each of our Elements only responds to its wielder.”

“That means that that thing is Twilight! But she can’t be Twilight, because Twilight’s right here,” Pinkie lilted, pointing between the two as she spoke. “But the Element is saying that that’s Twilight, and the Elements can’t lie. So if that’s Twilight, then who the heck are you?” All five of Twilight’s friends turned to Chrysalis in unison, their steely glares demanding an explanation.

“Well, I... She... It’s obvious that...” Chrysalis gibbered, glancing around wildly at them. Finally, she closed her eyes and shook her head, a malicious smirk alighting her face. “Oh, screw it. You’ve got me.”

Five jaws hung open as her posture changed and she slid into a more arrogant mannerism. “And I was so close this time too! I suppose that’s what I get for underestimating the Elements.”

“Who are you really?” Applejack asked suspiciously.

“Oh puh-leeese, you cannot truly be this dense!” Chrysalis groaned.

“She’s the changeling queen,” Fluttershy said nervously.

“Finally! I knew you wouldn’t be able to forget me,” Chrysalis said, elation glowing in her eyes as Twilight’s friends all gasped.

“What did you do to her? Fix it now!” Rainbow bellowed, advancing on Chrysalis.

“I will do no such thing! Unless... you intend to force me?” Chrysalis asked, her voice taunting and arrogant.

“If we have to!” Applejack snarled.

“Then, by all means, try,” Chrysalis said with a faked giggle.

Twilight’s friends pounced on her, but were all thrown back by a ring of energy expanding from Chrysalis’ horn. Each of them slammed hard into the dungeon walls, pinned by Chrysalis’ spell. “You ponies are all so predictable,” Chrysalis sighed.

She sauntered up to Twilight and gave her a wistful smirk. “Well, my dear Twilight, it seems that you’ve once again managed to foil my plans, and in a way that I could never have anticipated. I suppose I could just kill your friends now and take that small victory, but that just wouldn’t be playing fair, would it?” Chrysalis cooed patronizingly. “Instead, we will call this a draw. I will retreat for now and come up with a new plan so that we may play again. Soon.”

She let the thinly-veiled threat hang in the air for a few seconds, then seized Twilight’s head in her hooves and kissed her forcefully. Not even bothering to avoid the fangs, she whipped her tongue around the inside of Twilight mouth, then backed away, scooped up the Element of Magic in her hoof, and teleported with a flash. As soon as she disappeared, her magic dissipated and Twilight’s friends all fell to the ground, confused, but ultimately unhurt.

They immediately stood up and cautiously made their way over to Twilight, standing a length away from her. For the longest time, none of them spoke, mesmerized by the creature crying with relief before them; the being that the Element of Magic insisted was their friend. Finally, Applejack spoke, softly and skeptically.

“Twilight, i-is that really you?” Twilight nodded vigorously. Rainbow lifted a hoof towards Twilight’s bindings, but Applejack stopped her. “Hold on now. As much as Ah wanna trust her, we can’t until we know for sure.”

“Yeah, well how do we do that? She can’t talk for some reason,” Rainbow replied angrily.

Applejack opened her mouth with a retort, but was cut off by Rarity. “I think I know this spell; some of the other fillies used to prank each other with it in high school. Let’s see if I remember how to undo it...”

Rarity closed her eyes and began to channel her magic. Gritting her teeth with concentration, she released it and Twilight’s head glowed white for a mere instant. As soon as the feeling returned to her throat, she began speaking rapidly. “Your name is Applejack. Your brother is Big Macintosh. Your little sister is Applebloom. Her friends are Swee-”

“Okay, okay! Ah believe ya,” Applejack interrupted, a mix of relief and amusement leaking into her voice. Without further hesitation, she and Rainbow undid the clasps keeping their friend bound to the wall and Twilight immediately hugged them both.

“Thank you! You have no idea how glad I am to see you girls,” Twilight sobbed.

“I-it’s okay, Twilight. We’re here for you now,” Rainbow said, shifting uncomfortably in Twilight’s hold. “This is so weird...”

“Where’s Spike? I-is he here?” Twilight asked suddenly, glancing towards the dungeon’s entrance.

"No, we thought he was with you. We haven't seen him since you left us that note," Rarity replied, concern rising in her voice.

"What note? ...Maybe you should start from the beginning. What's happened since the last time you saw me in Ponyville?" Twilight asked, fidgeting nervously.

"Nothin' that seemed too outta the ordinary," Applejack muttered. "'Bout five days ago we all noticed that the library wasn't open, so we went in and found a note from you sayin' that you 'n Spike had ta go to Canterlot and y'all would be back soon. That's a mite bit strange, sure, but nothin' too hair-raisin'. After that we didn't hear nothin' until this mornin' when the guards showed up and ordered us to come with 'em."

"Oh no! Chrysalis must have written that note. That means she has him," Twilight groaned, sinking to the floor.

“Uhhhh, Chrysalis?” Pinkie asked, all of Twilight’s friends mimicking her confused expression.

“The queen. That’s her name,” Twilight muttered.

Twilight’s friends all exchanged worried glances. Fluttershy stepped forward and gently placed a hoof on Twilight’s. “I-I’m sure he’s alright. I don’t think she’d hurt him.”

“Yeah, not after kissing you like-” Rainbow began before Rarity cut her off by elbowing her in the ribs.

“Ah’m with Fluttershy. She probably has him locked up somewhere like she did with Cadance,” Applejack said encouragingly. “Once we catch her, get you back into your own body, ‘n uncurse the princesses, we’ll just smack her around ‘til she tells us where he is. Then we can go rescue him!”

“I hope you’re right,” Twilight sighed sadly.

“Ah am right!”

"What about you, Twilight?" Rarity asked. "Please don't take this the wrong way, but I think you owe us an explanation."

"Yeah, I guess I do," Twilight murmured guiltily. "Okay, you know that spell I spent most of last week inventing?" She was met with a round of nods. "It was supposed to be a sort of spying spell. Without getting into the technical aspects of it, I was trying to mix unicorn and zebra magic so that I could use a piece of Chrysalis to feel all her senses for a bit. See what she sees and such. I guess it sort of worked... Right after I finished casting the spell, I found myself in the changeling nest, in full control of Chrysalis' body, rather than just, uhhh, 'riding along' with her."

"You were in the changelings' home? What was it like? What were they like?" Fluttershy asked, ears perked with interest.

“Fluttershy, please, you can ask those questions later. Let Twilight finish,” Rarity interjected, giving Fluttershy an apologetic smile.

“Oh. Right, sorry.”

“Anyway, Chrysalis’ leg was in a cast, and one of the drones — that's what the changelings who aren't queens are called — told me that it couldn’t come off for a couple days. So I basically just waited around until they took the cast off. After that a few of their soldiers offered to escort me to Ponyville so I could get this sorted out, but Chrysalis was waiting for us just outside of the nest. She took control of the hive and knocked me out, then I woke up here,” Twilight finished.

“She actually brought you here? Why would she do that?” Pinkie asked.

“I don’t know, she’s insane,” Twilight said wearily. “This is all some kind of sick game to her.”

They sat in silence as Twilight’s words hung in the air like a dark cloud. Before long, the rapid echo of hoof beats reached their ears and they turned towards the door just as a dozen guards burst through, led by a glacial-blue pegasus stallion wearing a golden lieutenant’s helmet. He pointed at them and bellowed. “The changeling’s free! Grab her!” Four of the guards bolted towards Twilight and wrestled her to the ground as the others pulled her friends away from her.

“Wait! Let her go. We can explain,” Rarity gasped, cringing away from the angry guards.

“You had better. I have half a mind to arrest you all and be done with it,” the lieutenant growled.

“You can’t arrest us! Who do you think you are?” Rainbow said arrogantly.

"I am First Lieutenant Icewing, and I am in charge of the Canterlot garrison while Captain Shining Armor is away," he barked authoritatively. "The Captain is a good friend of mine and has placed a vast amount of trust in me, so you'll understand the distress I felt if one of my men came to me in a near-panic saying that our Princesses have been cursed. Now, after receiving assurances that Twilight Sparkle and the other Bearers had things under control, I received reports of screaming coming from down here and arrive to find Twilight Sparkle missing, our prisoner out of her chains, and the lot of you sitting around like nothing’s wrong."

He stepped up to her and leaned in, staring her down. “In short, you will answer my questions, or else. Understood?”

Rainbow searched for the buff in his face, but withered when she found none. “Yes sir,” she gulped.

“Good. But first...” He turned to a unicorn mare at his left. "Corporal, status?"

"Sir! Anti-changeling spells running at maximum efficiency, sir. Chances of even one of the bearers being under the changeling's influence are under point-two percent. The fact that the spell ward is still attached to her lowers that likelihood to less than a thousandth of a percent."

"Perfect," Lieutenant Icewing grunted, turning back to Twilight and her friends. "So, where is Twilight Sparkle?"

“She... is possessed by an evil spirit!” Rarity replied quickly. “It cursed the princesses to lure the five of us here so it could steal the Elements of Harmony, but when we realized what was happening it teleported away.”

“W-wait, I’m sorry, I don’t think I heard you right. Could you repeat that?” Icewing stammered.

“It’s true!” Pinkie said insistently. “It took over Twilight so that it could use her to take over Equestria!”

"You are sure? You are absolutely sure that Twilight Sparkle is possessed?" Icewing asked skeptically.

"Positive," Rarity retorted firmly.

“And why are you so sure that the spirit cursed the Princesses and not this wretch?” he asked, gesturing to Twilight.

“It, the spirit that is, told us as much,” Rarity said.

"This is just great," Icewing groaned. "Now—"

"Wait, that's it? You believe us just like that?" Rainbow asked incredulously.

"It's no secret that the five of you are close friends with Twilight Sparkle. If you say that there's something wrong with her, then I believe you," Icewing muttered, fixing his eyes on Twilight. "That, however, still doesn’t explain why you freed this monster."

“She’s not a monster, she wants to help!” Fluttershy squeaked.

Icewing frowned at the buttery pegasus. “I very much doubt that.”

“That’s true too! She said she’s very, very sorry for invading Canterlot and that it was a misunderstanding. She said that she wants to help us fix this to prove how sorry she is!” Pinkie screeched. Icewing glanced from Pinkie to Twilight and Twilight nodded vigorously, not daring to speak.

Icewing groaned and slapped a hoof over his face. “Girls, this is a creature whose entire purpose is to lie and deceive. You can’t possibly say you trust—”

"Listen, Shining Armor and Princess Cadance are in grave danger!" Twilight blurted.

"W-what? Explain, changeling. Now!" the Lieutenant bellowed.

"The, uhhhh, spirit told me it wanted them dead! It said it was going to attack their carriage and make it look like an accident," Twilight stammered.

Icewing turned to the nearest guard and the Private took off running. He turned back to Twilight and took a step towards her. "Anything else I should know?"

"Umm... Yes! She's in control of some changelings," Twilight replied quickly. "Members of my hive, highly-trained soldiers."

"How many?"

"Sixteen. Well, sixteen soldiers at most, she could have many more, but they'd be civilians and not a real threat to anypony," Twilight said nervously. Several more guards took off out of the dungeon.

Icewing groaned, rubbing his forehead with a hoof. "This just got a lot worse..." He glared at Twilight, grinding his teeth. He turned to the remaining guards. "Take the changeling into custody and bring the Bearers to my office. I need some time to think."

Nearly six hours later, Twilight frowned up at the ceiling from the bed she lay on. She felt absolutely helpless; the Princesses were still paralyzed, Chrysalis was still on the loose, and she was locked in this room. Still, the Lieutenant had been nice enough to imprison her in a dorm room instead of a cell. It was cold comfort, but it was something.

Her friends knew the truth...

That was no small comfort. She was in a terrible situation, arguably a far worse situation than being stuck in Chrysalis' hive while the villainous queen had free reign of Equestria, but she wasn't alone anymore. She had her friends back, and she knew that they would do everything they could to help her set things right.

Maybe she wasn't so helpless after all...

She rolled over onto her front and groaned at the sharp ache in her injured leg. Readjusting herself a bit to relieve the pain a bit, she let out a depressed sigh. She sort of wished Rarity had just told the guards the truth, instead of making up the whole 'possession' thing, but she understood why her friend did it. In this case, the truth really was weirder than fiction. Even Celestia didn't believe it...

With a frustrated groan, she climbed off the bed and trotted to the sink in the attached bathroom. She turned the water on and let the faucet run cold for a few seconds before splashing the water on her face. She hovered over the sink and splashed her face again, then looked in the mirror and froze.

The events of the past few days flooded through her mind. Seeing Chrysalis face staring back at her... it was just too real.

A tight knot formed in her chest. Her heart rate increased to an uncomfortable level and she began to hyperventilate. She was mere moments away from a panic attack and she knew it.

Luckily for her, a loud knocking on her door interrupted her thoughts just in time to avert a crisis. "Oh! Uhhh, come in!"

She heard the door slam against the wall as it was thrown open and a voice bellowed, "Changeling, the Lieutenant demands to see you!"

Twilight moaned internally; as much as she wanted to get out of the room and as much as she needed to feel like she was doing something, this was not a conversation she wanted to have.

She looked in the mirror again and took a deep breath. "I'm coming!" she chirped in the perkiest voice she could muster, and trotted out to meet the pair of guards waiting for her. One on each side of her, they led her to the end of the hall, up one flight of stairs to the third floor, and to a door halfway down the hall. One of them knocked once then motioned her to go through.

She took a deep breath and entered, finding herself in a very spartan office, near barren with sterile-white walls and a single desk seated at the center. Sitting behind the desk with a tired frown was Lieutenant Icewing. He motioned for her to sit on the cushion across from him and she did so silently, waiting for him to speak.

But there was something wrong; an absence in her head... She couldn’t sense his emotions, but his glare told her all she needed to know. He was actively guarding himself against her. He had practiced suppressing his emotions, just in case he was in this very situation.

He stared at her for a few moments before opening his mouth. "Two hours ago, Princess Cadance and Shining Armor's carriage was attacked by a force of one dozen changelings," he grumbled, allowing his words to hang in the air for a few seconds. "Fortunately, we had been able to pass some recently-gained intelligence to the Captain; and instead of finding him and the Princess, they opened the carriage to find a ready squad of soldiers armed with anti-changeling spells. Shining Armor and Princess Cadance are safe, and four changelings now lie dead.

As elated as Twilight was, she couldn’t help but wince at the news. She wanted Shining Armor and Cadance to be safe more than anything, but bloodshed hadn’t been the way she had hoped it would go. The hive had already suffered enough without losing more of its sisters.

“Princess Cadance has been taken to a safe house in a secret location and the Captain is being smuggled back to Canterlot. It will be slow going, but he’ll get here."

“That’s good. I’m glad that they’re safe,” Twilight murmured.

"Shining Armor is a good friend of mine and your warning quite probably saved not only his life, but the life of Princess Cadance as well. As much as I hate saying it, we owe you a debt, and the Royal Guard always repays its debts," he continued. "As such, I feel I should at least offer you the courtesy of informing you that every soldier in Equestria has been told to consider the... renegade members of your hive to be highly dangerous and expendable. Following Equestrian law, we will attempt to apprehend them unharmed if the opportunity arises, but our troops have been ordered to disable them as quickly as possible, even if it requires fatal measures."

"I... understand," Twilight replied carefully, reminding herself once again to play the part of the changeling queen. "I'd prefer you didn't kill them, but I can't ask you to put your ponies at risk."

"Good. I was afraid you'd make this difficult. Now, to business," Icewing grunted. He opened a drawer in his desk and took out a small, translucent crystal pyramid, and placed it gently on his desktop. "Do you know what this is?"

"I-it's a vision crystal. They can record events as they happen and replay them, like a magical security camera," Twilight explained nervously, her heart rate increasing again. "They're experimental though, they can't record sound yet, and they're very expensive to make."

"You'd be surprised how easy it is to procure one when national security is at stake," Icewing chuckled, smiling momentarily. Suddenly, he dropped the smile and locked his eyes on Twilight in a hard glare. "This one was in the dungeon you woke up in. Let me show you something." He tapped the crystal, and a scene appeared before them.

A vial exploding and two Alicorns falling.

"I don't think we need to see what happens next," Icewing muttered. He opened the drawer and slid the crystal back in before sitting back in his chair and massaging his temples. "I've never met Twilight Sparkle, but I know for a fact that she would never torture another living being. I had difficulty believing anything you or the Bearers had told me until I saw this."

"So what happens now?" Twilight asked hesitantly. She knew she was pushing her luck, but couldn't help asking.

"This has put me in a very uncomfortable position, changeling. May I call you that?" he asked with a sigh. Twilight nodded and he continued. "Equestria is in trouble and you know more about the danger that faces us than anyone. I have no way of knowing if anything you tell me is the truth or a lie beyond what I believe. I really have no choice but to trust you to be honest with me; I hope you'll do the same."

"Okay."

He sighed again and leaned forward. “The Element Bearers all assured me that you want to help us break the curses on the Princesses, and end the possession of Twilight Sparkle. Are they wrong?"

"No. I want to help," Twilight said with an affirmative nod.

“Why?”

The question hit Twilight like a train; she hadn’t been prepared for that. “Because... I’ve made some mistakes in the past. Terrible mistakes. I just want to make things right.”

Icewing cocked his head slightly at her, and for the first time, she could sense his feelings. Self-doubt, mixed with uncertainty. For whatever reason, her answer troubled him; unnerved him. He had expected that answer about as much as she had expected the question. "And just how can you help us?" he asked skeptically.

"I... I am very good with magic. As good as Twilight Sparkle," Twilight explained hopefully.

Icewing shook his head and groaned. "I am not removing the ward. That would require far more trust than I'm willing to give."

"I can fix her," Twilight said insistently. When Icewing gave her a confused frown, she continued, "If you can bring her back to the castle, alive and unhurt, I can fix her and then she can try to break the curse on the Princesses. I might even be able to do it if you get me a piece of Twilight. A strand of hair or something."

"Are you sure? Are you absolutely positive?" Icewing asked forcefully, leaning forward aggressively.

"Yes. Without a doubt."

He sat back in his chair again, considering her. After a brief moment, he slid an amulet across the table. "Put this on. It will monitor your movements and tell us if you remove it. You will wear it at all times and if you take it off, I'm locking you in a cell. If you leave this wing of the palace without my explicit permission, I'll lock you in a cell. If you become uncooperative or break into a locked room, I'll lock you in a cell. However, if you stay cooperative and helpful, you may wander this wing of the palace at your leisure. Deal?"

Twilight stared at it a moment, then glanced at him skeptically. “R-really?”

“Yes. I have ordered you to be placed under a form of house arrest rather than be incarcerated in the dungeon; consider this small freedom to be the reward you’re owed for saving my friend and my princess. That being said, you won’t be getting anything unless you agree to my terms,” he replied, a ghost of a smirk crossing his face. “So, do we have a deal or not?”

Without a second thought, Twilight took the amulet in her hooves and slipped it around her neck. "Deal!"

"Good," Icewing replied curtly. "You can stay in the second floor room you were locked in before. Is there anything you'll be needing?"

"Some water and a sandwich would be nice. It's probably been at least a day since I've eaten," Twilight replied hopefully.

"There is a mess hall on the ground floor. They'll prepare whatever you want, within reason," Icewing said with a solemn nod. "There's also a lounge on each floor you may bring your food to if you prefer."

"Great! Are we done?" Twilight asked happily.

"Yes, for the moment. I'll send somepony to retrieve you when I know more," he replied, motioning for her to leave with a hoof.

She gave him a polite nod and trotted out.

Twilight stumbled out of the mess hall, a satisfied grin on her face. She hadn't realized just how hungry she was until she took the first bite. She didn't know whether it was due to Chrysalis being malnourished or herself not eating anything that wasn't completely disgusting for at least four days, but once she started eating, she didn't stop until she had packed down three large daisy sandwiches.

She slowly made her way back to her room, pushed the door open, and grinned at the sight within. "Girls! You came to see me!"

“Of course we did! We wanted to make sure you were okay,” Pinkie said, bouncing over to hug her.

“Yeah! We wanted to make sure that big jerk didn’t try anything too,” Rainbow grunted.

“He’s not a jerk, Rainbow, I’m in the body of a changeling,” Twilight said impassively.

“Still, dear, we were worried about you. We did our best to convince him that you weren’t a threat, but I don’t think he was listening,” Rarity replied nervously.

“He listened. I’m under house arrest. I’m confined to this wing of the palace as long as I behave myself,” Twilight smiled.

“Well that’s a relief! We were afraid that he was gonna lock you up again. Or worse,” Applejack said with a shudder.

“Well he didn’t and I’m grateful. Thank you,” Twilight replied. She smiled at each of them in turn, stopping to giggle at the expression on Fluttershy’s face. “Let me guess. You still want to hear about the changelings?”

“I-if you don’t mind...” Fluttershy said. “It’s alright if you’d rather not talk about it now. Or ever.”

“No, it’s okay,” Twilight snickered. She trotted over to the bed and nestled down between Fluttershy and Rarity.

“So, was it like? Was their hole all dark and slimy, and filled with the bones of ponies they’ve hurt?” Rainbow asked distastefully.

“Not at all. Their nest was actually very clean all things considering. And the changelings themselves were actually pretty sweet. Well, most of them,” Twilight replied with a small smile.

“Really? Do tell,” Rarity gasped.

“They all really care for each other, and each one has a different role to play. Some gather food, some protect the hive, some dig new tunnels and so on,” Twilight explained. “They all cooperate for the good of the hive.”

“You almost make them sound like ponies,” Fluttershy observed.

"Well, almost. They’re still a lot different than us. They’re really sort of strange. Not in a bad way, mind you, but they’re still very strange creatures," Twilight muttered. "For instance, the drones all knew right away that I wasn't Chrysalis, but very few of them seemed to care. One went so far as to say 'a queen is a queen'!"

"Whoa... That's really weird," Rainbow grumbled. "If something like that happened to Princess Celestia, we'd all freak!"

"I know! And not only were they totally fine with it, they went about their business like nothing had even happened. Well, the uninjured ones did," Twilight replied softly. "That... was the worst part; the invasion really messed things up for them, they're all suffering."

"Don't tell me you feel bad for them," Rainbow asked skeptically. "They attacked us!"

"I know, and that's how I felt at first, but when I actually saw it..." Twilight murmured, staring away pensively as she trailed off. "Chrysalis forced them to invade Canterlot with their entire hive, 2,200 changelings; most of them weren't even soldiers, and they lost all but about 120 of them. Most of the ones that are left are too hurt to do, well, anything, and all of their healers were killed in the fighting. I saw the room they were using as a hospital; there was one there who was no bigger than a little filly. Sh-she had both her wings torn off."

"Oh, heavens!" Rarity gasped, clapping her hooves over her mouth. "T-that's terrible! I-I had no idea."

"It gets worse: they're all starving," Twilight sighed. "They're out of food and the few who are able to go out and look for food can't gather enough to feed the whole hive. And to top it all off, they said that instead of trying to solve the hive's problems, Chrysalis has just sat around pouting since the invasion."

"Is there something we can do to help them?" Fluttershy asked.

"I’d really like to, but we need to find Chrysalis first," Twilight grumbled. "Otherwise, I... I'll..." She trailed off with a deep yawn.

"You look like you need some sleep, Twilight," Rarity said.

"Yeah, today was... long," Twilight murmured, stumbling over her words.

"We'll leave you alone. Just remember to let us know if the guards start messing with you," Rainbow growled.

"Thanks, Dash," Twilight wearied. "I'll see you girls in the morning, okay?"

Her friends all smiled at her and filed out but for Fluttershy, who lingered, frowning worriedly at Twilight. "Umm, Twilight? You were in the dungeon alone with her for a long time, weren't you?"

Twilight stared at her for a few seconds, painfully aware of where Fluttershy's thoughts were headed. "Yeah."

"Did she... hurt you?"

For the briefest moment, Twilight considered lying. Simply shaking her head and letting Fluttershy walk away none the wiser, but she couldn't. She broke down and nodded slowly, beginning to cry as Fluttershy silently hugged her.

Chapter 3

View Online

A sharp knock woke Twilight from a mercifully dreamless sleep and she stretched out with a yawn. Feeling oddly refreshed, she rolled out of bed, trotted over to the bedroom door, and pulled it open to find a stone-faced guard glaring back at her. "The Bearers demand to see you. Now!" he barked.

"Okay. Lead the way," she sighed, not at all surprised at the hostility. She followed him to the hallway’s staircase and down to the first floor where she saw Rarity and Pinkie Pie waiting for her in front of a closed doorway a few meters down. Without waiting for permission, she trotted past the guard and greeted them with a smile. “Good morning! What’s up?”

“Good morning. The ponies you wished to speak to are here. I hope you’ve prepared,” Rarity said coldly. She looked past Twilight to the guard with a haughty sneer. “You are dismissed.”

“But—”

“You are dismissed! Don’t make me speak to your commanding officer,” she growled, causing the guard to recoil. He gave her a sharp salute and galloped away. Rarity watched, making sure he was out of earshot before turning back to Twilight. “I’m sorry about that, Twilight. I really hate having to act so distant towards you. How did you sleep?”

“It’s okay, Rarity, I understand. And I slept surprisingly well,” Twilight murmured, giving Rarity a forgiving hug. “So, what do you need to see me about?”

Rarity and Pinkie exchanged nervous glances before Rarity responded. “Your parents are here. We told Icewing that you wanted to apologize to them, so he let Rainbow Dash go to get them.”

“You did what? Why would you do that?” Twilight squealed.

“The news of what happened yesterday — or rather, what we said happened — was on the front page of every major newspaper this morning,” Rarity said apologetically. “We thought that your parents should at least know the truth: that you’re actually safe and sound. Relatively safe, that is.”

“Dashie told them everything, but I don’t think they really believe her,” Pinkie said softly. “I don’t really blame them though. I still have a hard time believing it and I saw some of it happen!”

“You’re coming in with me, right?” Twilight asked pleadingly.

“Of course!” Rarity answered forcefully. “Why would you even ask that? We’d never leave you alone.” She motioned to the door with a hoof and Pinkie opened it, bounding through. Twilight gave Rarity a sick smile and stepped through the door where she found her parents waiting with her other three friends. Her heart immediately leapt into her throat as she met her father’s icy gaze. His face was passive, curious even, but his eyes radiated suspicion and loathing.

Her mother, however, walked up to her cautiously. The older mare gave her a confused frown and Twilight hung her head, unable to look even at her mother. Just then, a hoof beneath her chin gently pulled her head up, forcing her to look into her mother’s eyes. The older mare smiled warmly and threw her hooves around Twilight’s neck, hugging her tightly.

Twilight’s father frowned slightly. “Velvet?”

“It’s her, Night Light. There isn’t a doubt in my mind,” Twilight Velvet murmured happily

“I’m sorry mom. I was trying to help Equestria and I really screwed up,” Twilight sighed sadly.

“It’s okay, honey,” Velvet cooed. “You’re okay, and that’s all I care about. Everything will be fine in the end; I know it.”

“But mom—”

“No buts! I know Lieutenant Icewing; he was Shining’s bunkmate during boot camp. He’s a good pony and he really respects your brother. He won’t let anything happen to your body, especially if he thinks that you’re still in it,” Velvet said with a smile.

“She’s right,” Night Light consoled. “It’s just a relief to know that you’re here and not out where you can get hurt. The rest can be handled in due time.”

“Thanks dad....”

Further conversation was cut off as Icewing barged through the door, positively fuming. He stared around angrily before stumbling over his words. “M-Mrs. Twilight Velvet, Mr. Night Light, if you’ll excuse me, I need to speak with the changeling. I’ve arranged for the two of you to stay at the palace under a protective detail.”

A guard stepped through the door and bowed apologetically to Twilight Velvet and Night Light before murmuring, “Right this way.”

Icewing waited until Night Light and Twilight Velvet both reluctantly left before wheeling around on Twilight. “You... With me. Now!”

Without waiting for her to respond, Icewing turned around and stomped away. Twilight followed wordlessly, not wanting to press her luck by questioning him. He led her down the hall and into a small room overlooking one of the castle’s courtyards and turned around to glare at her, pointing out the nearby window. “Explain.”

She stepped over to the window to look out and her jaw dropped. Outside in the courtyard, over a hundred changelings milled about aimlessly; the civilian members of Chrysalis' hive. "What the heck are they doing here?"

"I was hoping you'd tell me," Icewing hissed. "They said they're here for you. Odd considering that other members of your hive are actively fighting against us."

"I know, I don't understand it either," Twilight muttered. "What exactly did they say?"

Icewing nodded to a nearby Corporal, and he jumped as Twilight gave him an inquisitive frown. "Oh! They appeared shortly before dawn. I was leading one of the squads guarding the city gates and we saw the swarm approaching low in the sky. We raised the alarm and braced for an air-raid, but before they got in range, they descended and landed on the road approaching the city. Then, a few of them just walked right up to the city gates, knocked, and asked if they could see 'the queen'. I assume they meant you."

Twilight nodded and he continued. "Well, we told them no and prepared for an attack, but instead they just moved over to the side of the road and sat down. Darnedest thing I've ever seen."

"Then how'd they get up here?"

"My orders," Icewing grunted. "Some of the ponies passing by began to harass them and I wanted to prevent an incident. Besides, it's easier to handle them when they're boxed in like this."

"Can I go talk to them? Maybe I can get a better answer," Twilight muttered hopefully.

"What a great idea! We're finally getting somewhere," Icewing seethed sarcastically.

Twilight bit off her retort and turned to walk through the nearby door and onto the balcony overlooking the courtyard. The low hum of conversation immediately died as every pair of eyes turned to her. "Who's in charge here?"

"You are!" a hundred voices chirped in unison.

"I should've expected that," she grumbled, carefully churning over her next words in her head. "Okay, aside from me, who's the oldest changeling here?" A single hoof quickly shot up and Twilight beckoned her to come closer. With a moment’s hesitation, the drone rose from the crowd and flitted up to the balcony, landing in front of her with a bow.

"Hi, I just have a few questions, okay?" Twilight asked her softly. "I know you all left the nest to come find me, but someone had to organize that, right?" The drone nodded vigorously and Twilight continued, "Was it you?"

"No. Organizers did that. I'm a digger!" the drone chittered proudly.

"Oh. Who's the oldest organizer?" Twilight asked with exaggerated enthusiasm.

"Number 3,587."

"Can you go get her for me?" The drone nodded and flew off, landing in the middle of the swarm. Seconds later, another, smaller, changeling flew out of the same spot and landed in front of Twilight. "35-87?"

"Yes, my queen!" she replied happily.

"Why did you come here?" Twilight asked sternly.

"To help. We want to help the queen," 35-87 replied frowning slightly.

"But why? The soldiers left me to re-join with Chrysalis. Why didn't you?" Twilight insisted, tilting her head slightly to seem less aggressive.

"Because... you are queen? New queen, or old queen, wanted new queen," the drone murmured nervously.

"So you all heard Chrysalis' call, but chose not to obey. Why?" Twilight asked, lowering her voice so that none of the nearby ponies would hear. 35-87 didn't respond, but instead shuffled uncomfortably where she stood. "You... don't actually know why, do you?"

Twilight pursed her lips, feeling slightly guilty about pressing her like that. "Listen, I appreciate that you chose to follow me. I'm just confused, okay?"

"W-we scared," 35-87 muttered slowly, as if confessing to some grievous sin. "Want to help queen so she can come home!"

"That’s... great! How can you help?" Twilight asked, doing her best to sound sincere and friendly.

"Don't know but want to."

"Well I don't know eith- wait, I've got it!" She turned and trotted inside. Ignoring Icewing, she took a piece of parchment and quill from a nearby desk and trotted back outside, stretching to her full height to address the hive. "I need to see the fastest flyer! The one who can get to the nest and back the fastest."

A few changelings rose from the crowd and glanced at each other. After a moment, one flew up to the balcony while the remainder returned to the ground. Twilight nodded to her politely and asked, “And you are..?”

“3,722!” she chirped excitedly.

“Okay, 37-22, I have a very important job for you,” Twilight said as encouragingly as she could. She quickly wrote down "Blood Bind" on the paper she held, and passed it to the drone. "In my bedroom, there are a bunch of scrolls. I need you to find the one with those symbols written on it and bring it here right away. Can you do that for me?"

The drone seized the piece of paper in her mouth and nodded to Twilight. She snapped to a sharp salute and took off into the sky. Twilight watched her go before turning back to 35-87. "Wait here for a bit. I need to talk to the ponies."

She waited for the drone to bow slowly before retreating back inside and nodding to Icewing. "It's okay. They're friendly."

"I'm listening," Icewing said blandly.

"Okay. From what I can tell, they were given the same opportunity to go rogue as the changelings following Chr- following Twilight Sparkle did, but they didn't take it. They can't seem to tell me why they chose to remain loyal, but I doubt they really know themselves."

"So, they're not hostile, for the moment; that doesn't mean they're not dangerous," Icewing miffed.

"They're all civilians, bred specifically to be workers, not fighters. The most dangerous ones out there are probably the diggers, and they’re more likely to burrow away from a fight than engage in it. That's why they came here, I think. They were alone in the nest, leaderless, defenseless, and scared out of their wits," Twilight explained. "They probably understood that I was in some sort of trouble, so they came to try to help me so that I could go home with them. I actually just sent one to find a scroll that might help me uncurse the Princesses."

Icewing blinked at Twilight's last sentence and narrowed his eyes. "That's... good?" He turned his gaze back to the window to glare at the changelings in the courtyard. "Just when I thought things couldn't get any more complicated. I hate my job," he mumbled.

He strode across the office, pacing back and forth, muttering to himself for a minute before turning around. "Sergeant!" A large Earth Pony mare burst into the room and saluted. "Post snipers on the roof around the courtyard. Arbalists and spellslingers both. They are permitted to fire upon the changelings, but only in response to direct acts of aggression, and only on aggressors. Any who fire unprovoked or upon nonaggressive changelings during an incident will be imprisoned and charged with firing upon noncombatants. I’m talking a life sentence. Clear?"

"Crystal, sir!" the Sergeant thundered before galloping back out.

Icewing turned back around and prodded Twilight's armored chest with a hoof. "You are quickly reaching the limits of my trust, but harming civilians goes against everything the Guard stands for. They will stay in the courtyard, and they will do as they're told, or I'll have them all in chains. Got it?"

"I can live with that, but you don't have to be so rude. We're on the same side here and I already agreed to follow your orders," Twilight snarled, slapping away his hoof.

"Right, sorry," Icewing blurted with a guilty wince. "It's not personal; I just wasn't prepared for all this crap to happen all at once. There's a reason Shining Armor was promoted ahead of me."

"I understand. I'd just appreciate it if you didn't vent your temper on me," Twilight replied consolingly. "To be honest, you've been very generous so far, and I appreciate it. Unfortunately, it makes my next request much harder to ask."

"Oh, great," Icewing groaned, massaging his forehead. "What is it?"

"They're all severely malnourished ," Twilight said, pointing towards the door. "Some of them probably haven't eaten anything at all in days, and none of them have had a proper meal in at least a week. Could you find it in your heart to feed them?"

"I... That might be a tall order, there are a lot of them out there, and the kitchen staff isn’t the most cooperative group of ponies in Equestria," Icewing grumbled apologetically, scratching the back if his head. "What do they even eat?"

"Anything you'll give them. Please, I'll do anything you ask, just don't let them starve!" Twilight pleaded. "I'd be grateful even if you just pushed a dumpster of kitchen scraps out there."

"I think we could probably do bit better than that," Icewing muttered. "Let me... Let me talk it over with the castle's staff and what they can be convinced to donate."

He trotted away and Twilight dragged herself back out to the balcony with a sigh where 35-87 greeted her with a nervous frown. "Ponies mean to queen?"

"Sort of. It's a complicated situation," Twilight grumbled tiredly. She laid down to look the drone in the eyes. "Okay, here's what's going on. The hive is going to stay here for a while. I want everyone to be polite and do whatever the ponies tell you to. If you do that, they won't hurt you and might even bring you some food later, okay?"

35-87 perked up immediately at the mention of sustenance. "Food? Ponies bring food?" she chattered excitedly.

"Yes, but only if you're good," Twilight replied, suppressing a giggle. "In the meantime, I'm going to be in the castle trying to help the ponies find the old queen before she hurts anyone. I'll be real close by and if you need anything, you can just ask the ponies to get me, okay?"

"Be good and listen to ponies so queen can find old queen. Okay!" she rattled off. "Queen be okay, ponies help us."

"Exactly. Now, I'm putting you in charge while I'm not here. It's your job to make sure everyone's taken care of and follows the rules. Can you handle that?"

"I... in charge. Can do, will do."

"Good. Now I have to go back inside. Take care, okay?" Twilight leaned forward and nuzzled 35-87 and the drone jumped with surprise. She shook for a moment, then bowed deeply to Twilight and took off, landing back in the crowd of changelings.

Standing back up, Twilight gazed over the hive with her best attempt at a comforting smile before turning around and trotting back inside. She sat down and waited for Icewing, who returned a few minutes later.

"The kitchens had a bunch of leftovers that they wouldn’t serve proper guests; stale bread, wilted vegetables and such," he said with a satisfied nod. "A few of my troops will bring it out along with some barrels of water shortly."

"Oh thank you. Thank you so much," Twilight said with a relieved sigh. "I can't tell you how much this means to me."

"You're, ummm, welcome," Icewing muttered hesitantly, seeming unsure of Twilight's gratitude. He stepped over to the nearby window and stared out at the courtyard. "I... still don't like you or your kind, to be honest. If I had a better option, I'd still have all of you locked in the dungeons and be fixing this myself." He sighed, chewing on his lip and pointedly refusing to look at her. "Even so, Princess Celestia would be very disappointed with me if I withheld food. You can't imagine what that's like; I'd rather have her angry with me than disappointed."

"I know someone like that," Twilight replied, stifling a giggle.

Icewing merely grunted incoherently before turning back to her. "I have things to attend to. Stay out of trouble."

"I will," Twilight said assuringly.

"Is there anything else you need for the moment?"

"Actually, the spell I need to cast to... perform an exorcism on Twilight Sparkle requires a pretty complex potion that takes a few days to brew," she shrugged. "I can write up a list of ingredients for you."

"Do it," Icewing ordered as he started walking to the door. "Bring it to my office. If I'm not there, leave it with my assistant. I want it brewing as soon as possible." Without another word, he stomped out.

Twilight waited a minute to ensure that he was gone before following him out, allowing her muscles to finally relax. She made it only two steps before bumping into Rarity in the otherwise empty hall. "Oh, hi!"

"I saw some of the guards bringing a very large amount of food to the changelings. Your doing, I take it?" the fashionista muttered.

"Now, Rarity, I know what you're going to say: don't get too close to them," Twilight said quickly. "But you can't suggest I let them go hungry!"

"Actually, I'm quite I'm proud of you; though I would still advise against getting too close to them," Rarity murmured with an approving smile. "But that's not why I came. I have some good news."

"Oh?" Twilight asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Yes, I have. You see, the rumor that's just started spreading around the castle is that Twilight Sparkle's parents have forgiven a certain changeling queen for her crimes against their family," Rarity explained tantalizingly.

"I see. And would you happen to have anything to do with this rumor spreading?" Twilight quipped with a roll of her eyes.

"I'm hurt! A lady never spreads gossip," Rarity quipped far too innocently, eliciting a chuckle from Twilight. She winked and continued, "The rumor also says that they've asked the castle's kitchens to prepare a special dinner to celebrate. A dinner that coincidentally includes Twilight Sparkle's favorite dish."

Twilight grinned widely. "Hayburgers?"

"Indeed," Rarity snickered triumphantly. "In the meantime, however, I think you may want to get to work on whatever the Lieutenant assigned you."

"Oh. Yeah, that," Twilight stumbled, snapping out of her daydreams. "I'm supposed to 'exorcise' the 'spirit' from my body when he captures Chrysalis. So, I'll need to replicate the spell I made that switched us in the first place. I told him I'd give him a list of things I'd need to make the potion."

"I can help you with that, since you probably haven't handled a quill without magic in years," Rarity teased. "What else was there? I remember you mentioning gems to me when you first started working on it."

"Yes. I need 700 grams of coarse ruby dust, a shaped emerald, and a piece of my body," Twilight listed off. "Preferably a relatively new piece, a year-old strand of hair wouldn't be any good."

"Oh, yes. That's what it was. Well, I can help you with the rubies and emerald, and it wouldn't be too difficult to convince a guard to head to Ponyville to grab your brush or something," Rarity mused. "Shall we?"

"Let's!"

The next evening...

"It's... pink," Rainbow Dash muttered as she stared into a small bubbling cauldron.

"It's supposed to be," Twilight groaned, nudging the pegasus out of the way so she could stir the potion.

"I thought you said it was supposed to be blue," Rainbow retorted, once again shoving her intrusive head over the pot.

"After it has cooked for nine hours," Rarity interjected. "Rainbow, did you listen to Twilight at all earlier?"

"What?" Rainbow asked, turning her head in Rarity's direction.

"Well, that answers that," Twilight muttered. She glanced around the room impatiently and sighed. "Where are Applejack and Pinkie Pie? They should've been back by now."

"Y-you don't think..." Fluttershy whimpered.

"No! They were well-guarded," Rarity replied, putting a comforting hoof around Fluttershy's shoulders.

"Yeah; and Applejack wouldn't let a few overgrown bugs take her down that easy," Rainbow said.

"Ah wouldn't what?" a voice asked from the nearby hallway moments before Applejack trotted through the door with Pinkie bouncing at her heels.

"We were just assuring Fluttershy that you two were okay," Rarity smiled.

"So? How did it go?" Twilight asked eagerly.

"We got nothin'. Even yer hairbrush was clean!" Applejack grumbled.

"Darn! Chrysalis must've figured out how the spell worked and cleaned up the place," Twilight moaned.

"Sure, blame Chrysalis for that," Rainbow chortled, eliciting a laugh from Applejack.

"Hey, I may be a bit of a neat freak, but even I'm not obsessive enough to pull every single hair out of my brushes," Twilight muttered embarrassedly, causing Rainbow and Applejack to laugh even harder. She tried to keep a venomous glare on her face, but was unable to and found herself join in with giggles of her own. After the laughter died down, she sighed and stomped a hoof on the floor. "I'm serious though. Chrysalis probably put together my notes and destroyed anything I could use to cast the spell."

"So you won't be able to do anything until they catch her?" Pinkie replied, more of a statement than a question.

"Pretty much," Twilight replied with a deep sigh.

"Oh ponyfeathers... If I were you, Twilight, I'd go inform somepony of your progress. They'll be looking for good news," Rarity said in an abrupt change of subject.

"Good idea, Rare," Applejack said, slapping the fashionista on the back. "Pinkie 'n Ah can even come with ya. Hearin' some bad news from us might even make yer good news sound better!"

"I doubt it, but it's worth a try," Twilight shrugged. She got up and stretched out before allowing Applejack and Pinkie to lead her out. They made the short trek down the hall and to Icewing’s office. Applejack knocked once on the door and pushed her way in. The three of them entered to find a stone-faced sergeant sitting behind his desk reading over several scrolls. She fixed Twilight in a furious glare and sneered.

"What's the meaning of this?" she barked irritably.

"We, uhhh, wanted to report to the Lieutenant about our mission to Ponyville," Applejack muttered, gesturing to Pinkie. "Y'all know where he is?"

"He is indisposed for the moment. Give me your report and I'll see to it that he gets it," the sergeant ordered.

"Okay... Well, to put it short, the mission was bunk. We tore the place apart and didn't find nothin'," Applejack stated plainly, resisting the urge to laugh when she hear a sharp intake of breath from Twilight.

"Damn," the sergeant blurted out, slamming her hoof on the desk. "I knew it. I wanted to believe you'd succeed, but I just knew it."

"Well thanks for y'all's vote of confidence," Applejack growled.

The sergeant ignored her outburst and looked past her to Twilight. "And you?"

"The potion is brewing as we speak. It needs to cook for another nine hours before I add the last few ingredients, then simmer for another five after that," Twilight explained politely.

"Hmph. At least you can do something right," the sergeant snarled. Twilight frowned at her, but that just seemed to make the mare angrier. "Make no mistake, that potion is the only thing keeping you alive right now. Either it works, or you die."

Twilight gulped, but kept her expression defiant. "I know that, and chastising me isn't going to make its success more likely."

"Yeah! And she's trying to help us! What's your problem?" Pinkie screeched, zipping up to the desk and staring at the sergeant accusingly.

"Get. Out!"

"Fine. Let's go you two," Applejack barked, giving the sergeant one last glower. They trotted out into the hallway and began heading back towards the lounge that Twilight had set up her laboratory in. They were barely out of hearing distance before Pinkie burst.

"Can you believe her? You're trying to help and she still talks like that to you? Who spit in her oatmeal?"

"Pinkie, she doesn't know who I really am. To her, I'm just a changeling," Twilight mumbled sadly.

"Yeah, but that's no reason for her to be a mean meanie-head!"

"Pinkie, ya gotta understand. Some ponies're just— uh-oh," Applejack muttered, pointing ahead to where a soldier stood in the doorway of the lounge. His head shot towards them at the sound of Applejack's voice.

"Changeling queen! Thank heavens. We need you right away," he exclaimed, face full of relief. "Come with me!"

Without waiting for her to respond, he turned and galloped away. Twilight frowned and gave her friends a shrug before charging after him. She followed him down the hall and outside. As they wound through the royal gardens, Twilight breathed of the perfumed air heavily. It had been well over a week since she had been outside for more than a few minutes, and she intended to savor the brief treat of fresh air. Unfortunately, the facade of the castle's main wing loomed ahead. Her moment of freedom at an end, she followed the soldier in and he led her to the castle's foyer — the vast, empty atrium that connected the throne room to the castle gates.

She found a mass of ponies, guards and servants both, huddled in the foyer's corner. She approached and they let her through. At the center of the circle, she found Lieutenant Icewing and a medic standing over a wounded changeling. Number 3,722 — the one she had sent back to the nest.

"What happened? What did you do?" she screamed, finding herself unable to hold back.

"We did not do this," Icewing replied quickly. "It flew into the city in this condition and collapsed. A few of my guards managed to scoop it up and bring it here before any civilians got to it."

Twilight bristled every time Icewing used the word 'it', but knew it wouldn't do any good to correct him. Instead, she stepped closer, hovering over the drone.

"I'm no expert in changeling physiology, but the wounds are nowhere near as bad as they look," the medic, an Earth Pony stallion, said. "I'd say that its current state has more to do with acute fatigue than its injuries."

"Okay, thank you," Twilight muttered half-heartedly. She knelt down beside 37-22 and gently touched a hoof to her shoulder. The changeling's eyes snapped open and fixed on Twilight. She stared for a moment, disbelieving, then broke into a broad grin.

"Queen! Brought the scroll." She pushed herself up with a leg, revealing the crumpled parchment she lay on and gently slid it across the floor to Twilight before flopping back down.

"Yes. Yes you did. Good job," Twilight cooed, barely regarding the scroll. The drone's eyes lit up at the praise and Twilight was overwhelmed as the drone’s emotions washed over her.

Accomplishment. A lifelong dream completed.

Her praise brought about a feeling in the changeling that was all too familiar to her. It was the same elation she felt when Celestia praised her. No, the very first time that Celestia had praised her. The knowledge that 37-22 was feeling that way, that she was the reason the drone was feeling that way made Twilight want to smile. "What happened to you? How were you hurt?"

37-22 blanched, seemingly shocked at the question. "S-soldiers attacked," it stammered, tears welling in her eyes.

"Impossible. I would've been notified," Icewing mumbled.

"I think she meant the changelings that are following Ms. Sparkle. They're soldiers,” Twilight replied fluidly. The drone nodded slowly and Icewing knelt down himself.

"Where? Where were you attacked?" he asked, gentle, but insistent.

37-22 recoiled from him and looked to Twilight for guidance, so she gave her an encouraging nod. "R-right outside city."

Icewing shot to his hooves, bellowing orders to nearby guards. The royal soldiers scattered in every direction and the observing members of the castle's staff slipped away in the chaos. Twilight, however, didn't move from her spot on the floor. "Lieutenant? Lieutenant Icewing!"

Her shouts got the pegasus' attention and he wheeled around at her, the intensity in his face dying immediately at her expression. He shook his head and turned to the medic. "Take the changeling to the infirmary. I want it well cared-for." He turned to leave, but stopped and turned around again slowly, locking eyes with the drone. "Uhhh, thank you."

He galloped off without another word, leaving only Twilight, 37-22, and the medic behind. Twilight watched him leave with an exasperated sigh and helped the drone to her hooves.

"Female?" the medic asked her uncertainly. Twilight merely nodded at him. "Very good. I can take her from here. She'll be given the best treatment available. I promise."

"I appreciate that," Twilight murmured, gently stroking the drone's back.

"Don't fret too much. As I said before, the wounds are mostly superficial. Properly bandaged, they'll heal quickly," the medic replied, offering his hoof to the drone. "Even so, I'd like to keep her overnight; she's exhausted. Some rest and intravenous fluids are just what she needs right now. Later on, I'll get her to eat something if she can keep it down."

Twilight offered the medic a thankful bow of her head. "Thank you." She smiled at the drone warmly. "Go with this pony. He's a healer, like some of your sisters were before the invasion. You can trust him."

37-22 nodded at Twilight — unquestioning trust shining in her eyes — and allowed herself to be led away. Twilight then realized that she was now completely alone. Not only that, but she was outside of the area she was confined to without an escort. Deciding that causing trouble at this point wasn't worth it, she immediately trotted away, reaching her destination shortly and without incident. As soon as she set hoof in the lounge, her friends hopped up, bombarding her with questions. She quickly explained what had happened and held out the scroll for all to see.

"Don't just sit there looking at it! That can tell us how to save the princesses!" Rainbow howled.

Twilight sighed and opened the scroll, quickly scanning it.

"Well? Is there a counter-spell?" Rarity asked hopefully.

"There is, but I can't cast it," Twilight grumbled. She paused, but before any of her friends could hit her with any further questions, she continued, "The curse uses the energy in blood of the caster to bind itself to the victim, then sustains itself with the caster’s own energy. Basically, only the caster can reverse it. And since Chrysalis cast the spell in my body..."

"We need to get you back into your body," Fluttershy squeaked.

"Right. Either that, or we need to convince Chrysalis to undo the spell herself," Twilight grumbled, well-aware that such a thing would never happen.

“So, we’re back to where we started. We can’t do anything until we catch her," Rainbow grunted.

"Exactly!" Twilight nodded. "So I'd like us to start working on a plan to lure her out."

"Actually, we were just talking about that before you arrived," Rarity mused.

"Yeah we have a plan!" Pinkie chirped. "A really, really, really good one!"

Icewing was annoyed.

No, annoyed was too mild a word. He was just plain pissed off.

The last few days had been the worst of his life. Given the chance, he'd go back to boot camp for the next nine years just to see it end. He wasn't cut out for leadership; he was a reconnaissance flyer, one of the best. And therein lay his problem: Equestria promoted the best. Now he was in over his head.

His Princesses were cursed, his close friends sister — Princess Celestia's protégé and the leader of the Element Bearers — was possessed, the city was in an uproar, there were changelings in the courtyard, and there were changelings likely preparing for another attack on Canterlot. All on his watch. Shining Armor was going to skin him alive once he got back from his honeymoon.

And now the Bearers wanted to talk to him. Again.

As much as he respected them and all they had done for Equestria, they hadn't been much help in the current crisis. He'd humor them — he really had no choice, they knew more about the current predicament than anypony. More than they were telling him, at least. He was still confident that they were doing their best, but that that didn't change the fact that speaking to the five young mares — fillies, really — would only make his current monster of a migraine even worse.

He barged into the room he knew they would be in without bothering to knock, unsurprised to see the changeling queen with them. He was surprised, however, to find that he was glad to see her. He still wasn't sure if he should be trusting her or not, but she had been polite well-behaved, and very helpful so far. He gave a quick glance around the room, his ire rising at the sight of the six smug faces smirking back at him.

"I'm here and short on patience. What do you want?"

"We know how to capture Twilight Sparkle," Rarity proclaimed proudly.

Instantly, his irritation melted away and he stepped forward, ready to cling onto their every word. "Go on."

"A trap, with me as the bait," the queen replied nervously. "She believes I'm the biggest threat to her, so she'll have to take it."

"If everything you've told me is true, then she is correct," Icewing muttered loudly. "It sounds like you've put a lot of thought into this. I assume you have a plan?"

"The train!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, mercifully without her signature squeals.

"We put her on a train to for Ponyville with a squad of seven or eight guards," Rainbow explained, pointing at the changeling queen.

"She'll probably think that I'm heading to her library to find a way to stop her. Or that I've already found a way to stop her and it's there," the queen said with a smirk. "She'll have to attack me en-route."

"But what she won't know is that the rest of the passengers on the train will actually be disguised Royal Guards," Rarity snickered. "She'll attack expecting only light resistance; instead she'll find a battalion."

"Ingenious," Icewing murmured. He scratched his chin, rolling over the plan in his head. The more he thought about it, the more he liked it. It was almost perfect. "I'll get it set up right away. Will you be ready to go by tomorrow morning?" he asked the queen. She nodded and he gave a relieved sigh.

He grit his teeth. There was one problem he had with the plan, and he hoped his issue wouldn't offend the changeling queen too badly. She may not have been able to use her magic, but her horn was still long and sharp enough to run him through. "Good, good. Unfortunately, there's one hitch in your plan. If you would follow me, changeling."

Twilight frowned to her friends as he walked out, sparing her a glance to see if she was following. Curious, Twilight trotted after him. He led her to the courtyard where the hive waited and pointed at them with a grimace. "Send them away, please. I won't have them here if you're not."

Twilight's heart sank. "B-but it's too dangerous! And they've been good! They've done everything you've asked them to."

He held up a hoof to stop her. "They have been good. In fact, they've been model guests. That's why I want them to leave, because my only other option is to lock them up. If something happens and you're not here to control them, there could be bloodshed and I really don’t want that."

Twilight bit her lip, uncertain. He leaned towards her and spoke in what she guessed was his best attempt at a comforting voice, "Please. I could be court-martialed for letting them go, but I'm trying to do the right thing. I'll provide them with rations and an armed aerial escort until they get a reasonable distance away from the city."

Twilight blanched, staring out at the assembled changelings sadly. "What about—"

"The injured one can stay until it heals. We'll see about getting it back to the rest of them when all this is over," he interrupted quickly. “In fact, I’ll let up to four others stay with it if you think that’d make it feel safer.”

Twilight stared at him intensely, focusing all of her senses towards him. She still hadn't gotten used to the odd sixth-sense that came with this body, but she was getting better with it. She found only guilt in his heart. He didn't want to do this, but he saw no alternative. "O-okay."

"Thank you. I'll go ready their escort; it shouldn't take more than a few minutes, so send them whenever you're ready," he said quickly, his relief flooding through Twilight's mind. He crouched down, then quickly shot into the air with all the skill of a Wonderbolt, flying off towards the castle barracks.

She stepped out onto the balcony and all eyes instantly fell upon her. The hive bowed in unison and she felt heat rising to her face. "I need to speak to number 35-87," she called out.

No sooner had she said it, the drone rose out of the crowd and buzzed over to her, landing with a deep bow. "My queen!"

"Listen close. The ponies and I are going to try to catch the old queen, but it's going to be very dangerous. 37-22 is going to stay here with me, but I need you to pick a few to stay with her and then lead the rest back to the nest," Twilight explained slowly and softly.

"But we want to help—"

"I know, and I'm really proud of you for that. Really," Twilight cooed, kneeling down with a smile. "But right now the best way you can help me is by getting to safety. I need you to do this for me. Okay?"

The drone stared at her for a moment, then nodded slowly.

"Good. Now when you leave, there will be some pegasi — the flying ponies — to meet you. They're going to protect you from the old queen's soldiers for a little while and give you some food for the way back. I want you to listen to them and say 'thank you' for protecting and feeding you, okay?" she said, almost patronizingly.

"S-say thank you. Yes," 35-87 parroted. "Queen, I'm scared."

"Want to know a secret? I am too," Twilight whispered. "But we have to be brave so we can try to make things better. Okay?"

The drone nodded and lifted into the air, slowly flitting back to the assembled hive. Within seconds, the buzzing of voices arose as Twilight's orders spread through the hive. Then, as one, they took off; a dark, sentient cloud floating over the castle. In less than a minute, they had disappeared from sight.

Twilight took a deep breath and turned inside. Tomorrow was going to be a long day, and she'd need some sleep.

The next morning, Twilight got up early, said goodbye to her friends, and went straight to the castle barracks, where she was met by Icewing and the group of guards who would act as her uniformed escort. The group headed down to the train station as inconspicuously as possible. There, they loaded up, pointedly ignoring the undercover soldiers entering the train with them.

Twilight remained silent through the trip, both because of nerves and because her escorts all pointedly refused to speak to her. They reached Ponyville without incident, and with little deliberation, the guards decided to turn back. As they reached the Canterlot station, Twilight knew that something had gone terribly wrong. There was a buzz of emotions in her mind, and none of them were good.

She stepped off the train to find Icewing waiting for her, and he was — for the first time she had seen — afraid. “They attacked the castle. They took the princesses hostage."

Chapter 4

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“What exactly happened?” Twilight asked Icewing desperately as they galloped up to the castle gate.

“They snuck up from the deep cells and caught us by surprise,” he growled. “By the time we even realized they were there, they had already captured the Princesses and Ms. Sparkle’s parents. Once we discovered them, we fought back, but only succeeded in slaying a few of the invaders before they managed to get down into the dungeons and threatened to kill the captives if we didn’t back off.”

“Did you?” Twilight asked worriedly.

“I didn’t see any other choice. I called my troops back and told them to keep the intruders trapped down there, but the Bearers ignored my orders and went in anyway... We haven’t heard from them since.”

“No!” Twilight gasped, stopping in mid step.

“Now, Twilight — or the possessing spirit, rather — wants to see you. She said she’s going to begin executing the hostages if we don’t turn you over, starting with Princess Celestia,” Icewing mumbled apologetically.

“This... can’t get much worse, can it?” Twilight groaned, receiving only a shake of Icewing’s head in reply.

“Listen, Queenie, I’ve come to respect you over the past couple days, so I hate to do this,” Icewing muttered to her with a pained glare, “but you’re going in there. I’m not giving you a choice; you are going to go in there, and do whatever you need to do to get me back my Princesses.”

“I was going in anyway, even if you tried to stop me,” Twilight muttered, eying him angrily. “This has to end, and it has to end now. Before anypony else gets hurt.”

“I’m glad,” he replied. “I’ll have a team escort you the dungeons, but after that, you’re on your own. If I were to guess, they’d have taken the hostages down to the lowest level, where you were imprisoned when we first found you.”

“Can you at least take this off?” Twilight murmured, pointing to the magic ward on her head. ‘If they start throwing spells, we’ll all be in trouble if I can’t defend myself.”

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Icewing muttered, reaching up and slipping it off her horn.

The effect was immediate as Twilight felt her magic rushing back into her, energizing her in a way she hadn’t felt in almost a week. “Thank you. I... There’s a good chance we won’t see each other again, so I guess this is goodbye.”

“Goodbye, changeling. I appreciate everything you’ve done for us,” he murmured, offering his hoof, which she took gratefully. “Good luck in there, and heaven help us all.”

Four Royal Guards surrounded her and began herding her towards the castle. The five of them silently walked the halls to the dungeon with the air of a procession heading to the gallows. As they descended deeper and deeper below the castle, signs of fighting became more and more common; smears of blood— both red and green— and eventually, changeling corpses. Finally, they reached the dungeons and the guards stopped, so Twilight proceeded on her own.

Slowly, she descended the staircase, emerging in a hallway of cells and proceeded towards the door at the far end— the door to the deep cells. As she trode through the silence, more changeling corpses appeared out of the darkness. She passed them quickly, making a conscious effort not to look, but the sound of a soft sob froze her where she stood. She swooped down to inspect the bodies and found one trembling.

“37-22? Oh, no, are you okay?” The drone flinched at her voice Twilight’s heart leapt into her throat as she looked her over. One of the small changeling’s eyes was swollen nearly shut and she was covered in green blood, though Twilight couldn’t tell if it was hers or not. Twilight looked closer at the corpses she lay next to; these ones weren’t the soldiers that had followed Chrysalis, they were the ones Twilight had left at the castle. “What happened?”

“W-we tried to help,” the drone sniffled. “We followed queen’s friends, but old queen hurt us. S-she killed them. She killed my sisters!”

Twilight tried to speak, but couldn’t. Instead, she knelt down and hugged the drone to her chest, allowing her to cry for a few minutes. “I-I have to stop her. She’s gone too far.”

“I-I want to help,” 37-22 mumbled into Twilight’s chest.

“No. I... I have to do this alone,” Twilight murmured. She smiled sadly down at the drone — her done. “You already helped. You helped a lot. Now I have to finish what we started.” She stood up and stroked 37-22’s cheek tenderly. “Wait here. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Twilight steeled herself with one last deep breath, turned around, and descended the final staircase.

“Oh, finally! I thought I might actually get blood on my hooves,” Twilight heard her own voice grumble as she emerged from the stairway. She quickly took stock of the situation. Her friends and parents were huddled together in the far corner, surrounded by seven sword-wielding changelings. They seemed mostly unhurt but for Applejack and Rainbow Dash, both of whom were bloodied and beaten. Celestia and Luna lay on their sides in the opposite corner beneath a pony-sized hole in the wall with Chrysalis standing over them. “Oh well, there’s always later...”

Twilight ignored Chrysalis’ morbid quip and stared intently at her friends. “Is everypony okay?”

“Y-yeah, we’re all here,” Rainbow stammered through swollen lips. “I’m sorry, Twilight. We tried.”

“I know, Rainbow. You always do,” Twilight cooed nervously.

“S-she was too strong. We tried to fight, but she just blasted us. Then she had us beat up.”

“J-just rest, Dash. Everything’s going to be alright,” Twilight said. “I’ll make sure of it, I promise.”

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Twilight," Chrysalis sang gleefully. Twilight short her a loathing glare and she giggled. "I am ready to accept your unconditional surrender, Twilight."

"Fine, I surrender. Just let them go," Twilight pleaded hopelessly.

"Just let them- I said 'unconditional', Twilight! This 'playing hard to get' was fun and endearing at first, but I am running out of patience. I have won and I want my prize," Chrysalis growled, advancing on Twilight.

"I'll be your prize! Just please, let them go and I'll do whatever you want! I swear-"

"No! No more bargaining! Either you surrender right now or I'll-" Chrysalis screamed before cutting herself off. She took a deep breath and chuckled, shaking her head. "I am sorry, love, I shouldn't have shouted at you. I knew that you would never give up so easily, and yet I still allowed my frustrations to get to me."

"I will simply have to break you the way I should have from the start," she snickered, gesturing to Twilight's friends. “So, tell me, which one do you think will scream loudest? The dragon passed out before it could even yelp. Hardly satisfying.”

“No, Spike! What happened to him? What did you do?” Twilight choked.

“Whatever do you mean?” Chrysalis murmured, fluttering her eyelashes innocently.

“Don’t you play dumb with me! He wasn’t in Ponyville and he isn’t here,” Twilight screamed, taking an aggressive step forward. “Where is he?”

Chrysalis grinned sadistically. “I never wanted to involve him, you know. I’ve always had immense respect for dragons and their power, even the soft, pathetic ones.”

Twilight was on the verge of losing it. She stomped forward again. “What did you do to him? Where is he?”

“I’m not entirely sure, to be honest,” Chrysalis sighed. “His head is buried behind your library, but I can’t account for the res—”

Chrysalis was cut off as Twilight barreled into her with a feral scream, driving her back into the far wall, which collapsed behind them. They tumbled down a steep slope for a ways before Twilight crashed to the bottom in a heap while Chrysalis teleported just before the collision and landed softly on her feet.

“Oh... This. Is. Wonderful!” Chrysalis squealed.

“I’m going to kill you!” Twilight screeched, lunging at her and missing as Chrysalis deftly ducked to the side.

“You are in so much pain right now,” Chrysalis murmured with a pleasured moan. “Ohhhh, the only way this could be better is if I was in my own body so I could taste it for myself.”

Twilight snarled and shot a powerful rage-fueled bolt of lightning at her that Chrysalis easily ducked under. She blinked at the flames that erupted from behind her and turned back to Twilight with a twisted grin.

“Oh! You are really mad. I should’ve thought of killing your loved ones sooner!”

She teleported a short distance to avoid another bolt of lightning and galloped down a nearby tunnel, giggling the entire time. “Chase me, Twilight!”

Seeing red, Twilight stormed down the dark passage after her. She followed it for nearly twenty meters before it opened up into the crystal caves beneath the mountain. Twilight’s face appeared in over a dozen of the nearby crystals as Chrysalis laughed; reveling in the fact that Twilight would challenge her here yet again. Twilight had shattered the three closest crystals with magical blasts when Chrysalis stepped out from behind one of the remaining pillars, giving her a smug grin before teleporting away.

“I’m going to spare your friends, Twilight,” a voice called from somewhere to her left. She turned and ran after it, scanning every corner for her quarry. “If I kill any of them then I run the risk of the Elements picking new bearers. It’ll be much safer to keep them alive. Imprisoned. Down here.”

Twilight fired a few blasts into the darkness and screamed in frustration. Suddenly a dim glow lit the area and Twilight found herself in a massive chamber with crystals of nearly every size and color jutting like teeth from nearly every surface.

“Ahh... This is where we will play out little game, Sparkle. Catch me if you can!” Chrysalis’ voice echoed through the chamber. “Just like we did before, when I was masquerading as Cadance. Oh, Cadance... Such a gorgeous creature. It's a shame, but she will have to die. She and your brother. They're just too dangerous to be allowed to live."

Trembling with rage, Twilight shot a beam in the direction of the voice, shattering a nearby crystal, only for a laugh to echo from the opposite direction. "Come out you wretch!" she screamed, blasting apart four more crystals.

"I plan on showing your parents mercy; after all, I have them to thank for providing me with you. I'll keep them around long enough to watch what becomes of you before I banish them to opposite ends of the world."

Twilight snarled and took off into the air, wobbling as she tried to stabilize herself.

"Flying? Oh, that's cheating. Too bad that it won't work."

Twilight hovered near the cavern's ceiling, watching like a hawk for even the slightest movement. A shadow shifted at the edge of her vision and she turned and fired, only to hear a taunting laugh from somewhere behind her. "Where are you, Chrysalis?"

A violet light flashed below her. "Right here!"

It flashed again somewhere in the distance. "And now I'm here!" Chrysalis giggled.

Twilight snarled in frustration and fired a few shots randomly into the darkness and waivered as her head began to spin. Somehow, she was running out of magic. Chrysalis appeared perched upon a nearby crystal and Twilight spun in the air to shoot her, but instead her horn only sparked and sputtered.

“Oh dear! Been forgetting to feed, have we?” Chrysalis cackled. “You know, I can see the advantage of being a pony; generating your own magic. I think I prefer just sapping love from others though, power comes much easier that way.”

Pulling from her reserves deep inside of her, Twilight managed to fire off another blast of lightning, but she wasn’t quick enough. Chrysalis teleported away with a laugh. Twilight groaned painfully; in her anger, she had been putting far too much force behind her spells and had used up far too much magic. If she didn’t start being more careful...

A flash of magic appeared just above her head; she reflexively shot a blast at it and had just enough time to realize her mistake and cast a shielding spell before the section of rock above her collapsed, throwing her to the floor.

"You should be more careful with my body, Twilight. Then again, you'll be the one inhabiting it for the next couple years, so I'm not that worried."

Twilight sat up with a groan and blinked the dust out of her eyes to see Chrysalis grinning at her from a few yards away. She released a quick charge at the Queen's head, but Chrysalis had already teleported away.

She struggled to her hooves and glared around suspiciously, fully aware that her foe was watching her from some hidden space.

"I don't think I'll kill Princess Luna," a voice whispered in her ear. She twisted around and slashed at it with her horn, but Chrysalis deftly swooped under her blow and ducked into a thin crevasse between two crystals. "The way her nose scrunches when she gets angry is just too adorable! I might simply saw off her horn, break her wings, and throw a dog collar around her neck. Keep her chained to my throne."

With a scream, Twilight blasted the crystals blocking her way and charged down the passage she created into another clearing.

"Celestia though... Oh, she's a much different story."

"You shut up!" Twilight grunted, halfway between sobbing and shouting.

"Poor Celly looks like she's put on a little weight. Too much left-over wedding cake, maybe? That's okay though; I like them plump."

A dim violet glow caught Twilight's eye and she bolted in its direction. Following it through a narrow gap, she found herself in a circle of crystals, each one displaying a magnified image of her own face.

"The skinny ones are all bone and sinew; hardly worth the time it takes to cook them."

Despite her best efforts, Twilight was unable to prevent the gruesome image of her mentor's charred corpse from entering her thoughts and something on her mind snapped. A nebulous orb of energy exploded from her horn, violently shattering everything it came in contact with and blowing the crystal circle apart. Chrysalis' dumbfounded face surrounded Twilight momentarily, reflected in a hundred crystal shards, before everything was blown backwards by the shockwave.

Twilight crouched to leap onto her foe, but found herself unable. Alarms were going off in her mind as a torrent of Chrysalis' emotions flooded into her mind, paralyzing her. She stumbled, staggering around as she attempted to ward off the unwelcome intrusion. As her vision blurred, she saw Chrysalis sit up, eyes wide with shock.

Chrysalis stared down at the gashes on Twilight's body. She touched her head with a hoof and gaped at it, blinking incredulously at the sight of blood.

“Y-you hurt me... But why? I thought you loved me,” Chrysalis said quietly.

“Love you? Chrysalis, I hate you,” Twilight growled, trying to stabilize her own thoughts.

“N-no, that can’t be right,” Chrysalis moaned. “You think about me all the time, just like I think about you. That spell, you were trying to find me-”

“So that we could arrest you! If everything had gone right, you’d be locked in a cell right now and I’d never have to think about you again,” Twilight glowered.

“You’re lying!” Chrysalis screamed, tears beginning to run down her face. “You want me.”

“You’re delusional, Chrysalis!” Twilight screeched. “All I wanted was for you to leave me and Equestria alone. I wanted to feel safe. I wanted my friends and family to feel safe. Nothing would have made me happier than if you had just crawled back into your hole and never bothered anypony ever again.”

“B-but I’ve given you everything I could think of! I gave you my attention, my affection-”

Twilight stomped a hoof as an uncontrolled spark shot from her horn. “You tortured me and killed my little brother! You call that affection?”

“Yes! I was sharing myself with you. I thought you were enjoying it!” Chrysalis whined.

“Why would I enjoy that? What could possibly make you think that I’d want any of that?” Twilight snarled.

“But I was enjoying it... Why weren’t you? I don’t understand! Twilight, please, make me understand!” Chrysalis cried, the volume of her voice steadily rising. “Why won’t you love me?

“Because you’re a monster!”

Chrysalis immediately stopped crying as Twilight’s voice echoed throughout the otherwise silent cave. Horrified, despaired, disbelieving; Chrysalis simply sat staring blankly at Twilight and twitched. Twilight couldn’t help but grin. The feelings of heartbreak emanating from Chrysalis awoke something primal deep inside of her and she stepped forward menacingly, gleefully intending to wound the queen even deeper.

“I will never feel anything but loathing for you, Chrysalis,” she said softly. “All I want is to see you pay for what you’ve done. To see you suffer the way I have.”

Chrysalis hung her head, shaking with sobs. “N-no. No, I will not accept this.” She stood up and shot Twilight an enraged glare, her tears still shimmering in her eyes. “I am Chrysalis, greatest of all changeling queens, and I will not be refused my desire. If you will not love me by choice, then I will force you to love me.”

Trembling with rage, she stepped forward menacingly and leered at Twilight.. “Let me show you how it’s done...”

She teleported away, disappearing altogether. Within seconds the pieces of shattered crystal littering the floor were surrounded by a violet glow and slowly floated into the air. They coalesced in the center of the room and with a blinding flash, fused into one massive crystal pillar. Chrysalis appeared on top of it and glared down at Twilight. “My turn.”

A bolt of crimson lightning shot down from Chrysalis’ horn and Twilight dove out of the way with not a moment to spare. She rolled to her hooves, eyes wide and heart racing as her senses were heightened by the sudden surge of adrenaline. She glanced over to the spot she had just been standing, gaped at the smoking black scorch mark, and had just enough time to construct a magic shield before Chrysalis cast another spell.

The second bolt hit her shield with the force of a freight train and shattered her shield, throwing her backwards. She rolled onto her hooves again and took off running, not a moment too soon as a third lightning spell struck the ground. She risked a glance behind her and saw Chrysalis unleashing a steady electrical arc, creating a shallow black trench in the ground as her spell followed Twilight.

She dove behind one of the larger intact crystals in the area, but Chrysalis’ spell caught her ankle at the last moment. She gasped and choked as a searing pain shot up her entire leg and sent her sprawling. The pain subsided almost immediately, and she sat up, back against the crystal, using it as a shield as she caught her breath. Chrysalis had been toying with her from the start. Now not only was Twilight exhausted and nearly out of magic, but Chrysalis was on the verge of a rampage.

She felt a dull heat on her back and bolted from her cover a mere instant before it exploded under Chrysalis’ dark spell. She tore across the floor, zigging and zagging desperately, bouncing from cover to cover. She took every last opportunity to catch her breath, but her shelter never lasted more than a few seconds under the enraged queen’s assault.

"I’m not just going to torture you, Twilight, I’m going to introduce you to a level of agony you didn’t know existed!”

Twilight lunged at a bounder on the floor and rebounded off of it, towards Chrysalis’ pillar, but skidded to a stop and took off to her left as the stream of lightning appeared in front of her. She dove past it, twisting her body around its beam and felt its heat singe her tail as Chrysalis sent it after her.

"I’m personally going to make you suffer day in and day out for years. I’ll make you suffer until you learn to like it!”

Twilight could feel the curse gaining on her and teleported a few hooves away, using up more of her precious magical reserves. Thirty more seconds. That’s all she needed. If she could last thirty more seconds...

"But I won’t stop there. I’m going to keep torturing you, every day, and you’ll love me for it. You will beg on your knees for me to hurt you. You’ll grant my every wish, fulfill my every desire, just so I’ll bring the pain back. You'll be my perfect little slave. My own little pony."

Twilight swooped in a wide arc, dancing around the spell before stopping and turning, facing Chrysalis defiantly. The queen hesitated, stunned by Twilight's bravado and her spell crackled out. "Have you finally decided to end your pointless struggle?"

"No," Twilight sighed smugly, "I wanted to tell you that you're not the only one who's studied ancient magics. Look around you."

"What are you babbling on about?" Chrysalis hissed. She glanced in every direction and froze when her gaze hit the floor. The scorch marks on the floor, rather than being a haphazard mess, were etched into a series of geometric figures around her. Twilight had actually tricked her into carving a roughly-hewn glyph on the floor.

Chrysalis stared down at Twilight, eyes full of terror as the glyph began to glow green. "Checkmate, Chrysalis."

"Oh shi-"

The floor around the crystal pillar erupted upward, shattering it and violently flinging Chrysalis from her perch. She cast a bubble shield around her less than a second before she slammed into a nearby wall which collapsed under the impact. She rebounded off the wall and was thrown to the ground, bouncing several meters before roughly sliding to a stop on her back.

Twilight was upon her in an instant, pinning Chrysalis down with one hoof on her horn, another on her throat. Before she could say a word, Chrysalis began cackling madly. “Oh, that was brilliant, Twilight! I would have never thought of that. You really outsmarted me this time.”

Twilight choked off the rest of Chrysalis’ laughter by pressing down with her hoof. “Then why are you laughing? It’s over, Chrysalis; I beat you. Now either undo the Blood Bind, or I’ll do it myself!”

“Oh, Twilight, Twilight, Twilight... You won this little scuffle, but I still have my hostages! You may drag me back up to the castle and triumphantly deposit me in front of your loved ones, but it would be for naught. I ordered my soldiers to execute them in the event that you disable me. All of them,” Chrysalis cooed patronizingly. “Checkmate, Sparkle.”

“Y-you... but I-”

"You've lost, Twilight," Chrysalis snickered. "Now let me up; I'm already going to punish your friends for your transgressions and I'm going to make it worse for every second you hold me here."

"I... No," Twilight stammered.

"No? What do you mean no?" Chrysalis snarled. "Disobey me again and I'll make you watch as I flay your loved ones alive! No, I'll make you flay them! Now, let me up!"

"You're wrong. There's still one thing I can do; one last move I can make," Twilight whimpered.

"Oh just stop! You and I both know that there's nothing you can do," Chrysalis yelled.

“The Blood Bind uses the caster’s life energy to sustain itself. If there’s no life energy for it to draw from, then the princesses will be free,” Twilight mumbled, trembling at the thought of what she was about to do.

Chrysalis gaped at her for a moment, bewildered, before terror flashed across her features and she gave a disbelieving shout. "No! You wouldn't da-"

She was choked off as Twilight leaned heavily on her throat. Chrysalis thrashed beneath the weight, slapping at Twilight’s legs and swiping at her face. As she began to turn blue and her eyes bugged out of her head, she managed to get her horn out from under Twilight’s hoof. As Twilight gave one final forceful push, Chrysalis fired off one final, vengeful spell into her killer’s face just as her neck snapped.

Chapter 5

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Flowing blood.

To Celestia, it was the first indication that something had changed. The curse had stopped her heartbeat, so the wound Chrysalis had inflicted on her had never bled. But now she could feel the warm fluid pouring freely over her back and for once in her life, she was grateful for the painful sensation of it slipping out.

She tried to move, but found herself impossibly stiff. She didn’t have time to ease herself into motion; she had to move. Groaning with the strain, she first managed to twitch, then even bend her leg.

“D-did she just move?”

“Oh, hells, she did! Princess Luna too!”

She blinked. Once. Twice. Three times. Then, with a monumental effort, she managed to get a leg beneath herself and roll over onto her belly.

“Shit, what do we do?”

“Kill the hostages! The queen said leave none of them alive!”

Celestia’s muscles screamed with pain as she pushed herself upright, panicing at the changelings’ words, but before she could even turn her head in their direction, a deafening crack shook the room. All seven changelings slammed hard into the opposite wall and slid to the floor in a crumpled heap.

She caught a movement out of the corner of her eye and turned to see Luna seething at the changelings from her own spot on the floor, a disturbingly familiar shadow stirring in her eyes.

“Y-you will not hurt them again! I will kill you first!” As she began charging up a second spell, Celestia lunged in her direction and gently placed a hoof on her sister’s.

“L-Luna, stop, please! They are beaten,” she croaked. Luna shot her a furious glare for a moment before softening at the sight of Celestia’s expression and took a deep breath, shaking her head.

Rarity rushed to her side, and Pinkie Pie to Luna’s as Twilight Velvet made straight for the hole Twilight and Chrysalis had made. Velvet danced agitatedly as Rarity helped Celestia to her hooves, glancing quickly between the alicorn and the hole. “P-princess, please! I-”

“I will bring her back, Twilight Velvet, I swear it,” Celestia interrupted tiredly.

“T-thank you...”

Celestia stepped warily over to the dark portal and stared down momentarily before glancing back at Luna.

“I will be along shortly, sister. First I would bind the changelings to ensure that they remain harmless while we search for Twilight,” Luna muttered, motioning Celestia on.

Celestia nodded grimly and leapt through the gap. Lighting her horn, she soared carefully down the slope and heard Luna catch up to her just as she entered a narrow tunnel. Her heart was racing and her breath shallow, nervous that she’d never find Twilight in the massive caverns, but the feeling was quickly replaced by dread as the signs of battle became more and more pronounced. Flying faster with each pile of rubble she passed, she simply followed the carnage until she spotted two bodies lying on the stone.

She dove down, slamming into the ground and skidding to a stop over the changeling body. Slowly and carefully she laid a hoof on it and flinched when it moved. “T-twilight?”

Trembling, the changeling gazed up at her with a haunted stare and Celestia broke down, hugging her tight. “I-I’m sorry, Twilight. I should have recognized you. I let my anger blind me to the truth. I am so sorry!”

Weeping, she cradled Twilight to her chest, allowing her apprentice to silently curl up against her as Luna landed to inspect the other body. Celestia watched her sister mournfully for a minute before speaking again. “Luna?”

The Princess of the Night glanced at her over her shoulder momentarily before returning her stare back to the body. She sighed and shook her head. Her heart sinking, Celestia choked back a sob and buried her face in Twilight’s mane.

“Twilight, what were you thinking?” Luna asked sadly, leaning up against Twilight and stroking her back comfortingly.

“S-she was going to kill you! I had no choice!” Twilight wailed, beginning to cry openly.

“Shhh, Twilight, it’s okay,” Celestia whispered. “It’s going to be alright. She can’t hurt anypony ever again.”

“We’re proud of you, Twilight,” Luna murmured as she pulled Twilight closer, tears flowing down both their muzzles.

They let her cry until her bawls faded to mere sniffles before Celestia pulled her away again, rubbing her shoulders tenderly. “Twilight, listen to me. Everything’s going to be alright, I promise. We’ll find what we can of Spike and give him the proper burial he deserves; but right now, we need to go back to the castle. Everypony’s really worried and they’re waiting for us to return.”

Twilight stared blankly at her for the few seconds it took for her words to register and nodded. Celestia smiled and offered her a hoof as Luna stepped over to Twilight's lifeless body, lifted it with a spell and gently draped it across her back. She leaned into Celestia and whispered, "You guide her out; I believe that Twilight has been traumatized enough today without having to stare at... this the entire way back."

Celestia nodded before turning back to Twilight. "Come, my little pony. Just do as I do and you'll be fine."

The three of them took off, making their way through the caverns and back to the tunnel Twilight chased Chrysalis through. They ascended the slope and carefully swooped through the hole Twilight made when she had initially attacked Chrysalis.

As they landed, Twilight's mother bounded over to her and hugged her tight, the room breathing a collective sigh of relief that died in the air as Luna entered and carefully deposited Twilight’s body on the floor. Nopony in the room moved for nearly a full minute before Twilight’s mom stumbled over to the corpse, touched it once, and broke down into tears.

“W-what in tarnation happened down there?” Applejack asked as she and Twilight’s father moved to comfort the grieving mare.

“Faced with no other option, Twilight made a difficult choice,” Luna muttered cryptically.

“The queen... Chrysalis had Twilight’s back to the wall,” Celestia sighed. “The only way for Twilight to ensure our safety was to immediately break the Blood Bind, and the only way for her to accomplish that was to end Chrysalis’ life.”

“S-so it was either your body or us,” Rarity murmured, stepping slowly up to Twilight. With a sob, she threw her hooves around her friend.

No sooner had Rarity spoke than the rest of Twilight’s friends and family moved in to hug her. They remained that way for a few minutes before Celestia spoke up. “Everypony, I know that we are all in a highly emotional state and that we are all hurting, but I fear that we are not done yet. Twilight, Luna, and I must discuss what is to be done with the surviving changelings. I would also very much like for Rainbow Dash and Applejack to have their wounds treated. If you would all please move upstairs, we will join you shortly.”

Twilight’s friends and parents all nodded sadly and slowly made their way out, leaving Twilight and the princesses alone.

“So, Twilight, what do you want me to do with them?” Luna asked agitatedly. Twilight raised her head to see Luna glaring at the seven remaining changeling soldiers, each pinned to the dungeon was in uncomfortably contorted positions by solidified shadows.

Twilight stared at them and felt a hot flash of anger well up in her chest. She stood up and stomped over to the one in the center and leered at her. “I recognize this one. 2,987. She helped me when I was stuck in their burrow.” Twilight leaned towards the drone with a threatening sneer. “Let her down.”

The shadows dispersed and Twilight drove a hoof into 29-87’s gut, sending the soldier sprawling across the ground. “P-please, your dragon-”

“Don’t you dare speak of him!” Twilight shrieked, throwing a kick into the drone’s jaw.

“N-no, please!” 29-87 gasped. “We didn’t have anything to do with that. He was dead long before she ambushed you at the hive! We-”

“You think that’s all I’m upset about?” Twilight interrupted hysterically, kicking her again and again. “I was kidnapped, tortured, my friends and family were almost killed, and now I’m stuck like this; all because you betrayed me!”

“We didn’t have a choice. We—”

“Don’t lie!” Twilight screamed, pressing a choking hoof on 29-87’s throat. “The rest of the hive had a choice and they chose to stay with me! I thought you were my friend. We were going to try for peace between our people, and you just threw it away!”

“Twilight, that’s enough. Hurting her will not change what’s been done,” Celestia interrupted softly, gently placing a hoof of Twilight’s shoulder.

Twilight wheeled around at her with a glare. “Princess, you can’t ask me to just forgive her for what she’s done.”

“That is exactly what I am asking of you, Twilight,” Celestia replied softly. “Rage and hate are like poisons, Twilight, you must let go.”

“I-I know that,” Twilight stuttered, grinding her teeth. “I just... I can’t. I’m so angry that it hurts and I just want to make her hurt!”

“I understand that, Twilight, but that isn’t who you are,” Celestia said urgingly. “This drone has played a part in a grave injustice inflicted upon you, and your hurt and anger are clouding your judgment. Causing her pain will do nothing to alleviate your own, and you will regret it later. Do not become like the monster you just destroyed.“

Twilight hung her head, feeling thoroughly ashamed. “I want to let go, I really do, but I just can’t!” she replied tearfully.

“Over time, the pain will fade and perhaps then you will find yourself able to forgive,” Celestia smiled, hugging Twilight with one hoof. “In the meantime, I am here for you.”

As Twilight leaned into the hug, she felt something brush against her forelegs and opened her eyes to see 37-22 staring up at her with eyes full of concern. "We go home now?"

"H-home?" Twilight whimpered.

"Back to the nest?" the drone asked timidly, hopefully.

"The nest? B-b-but this isn't how it was supposed to be! Everything was supposed to be back to normal, not messed up forever," Twilight whined. The full implications of the day's events stormed into her mind, but her complaints died in her throat as 37-22's emotions leaked into her thoughts.

"Queen doesn't want the hive?" It was more of a statement than a question. The drone understood that Twilight hated the thought of returning to the nest, but didn't understand why. Confusion, fear, and despair swam through her head, and Twilight could feel all of it.

"No, that's not what I meant! I mean I..." Twilight stammered, trailing off helplessly. She gave Celestia a pleading glance, but the alicorn was only able to return it with a weak shrug. She glanced back to 37-22 and sighed. "Ju-just wait here..."

She stood up and turned around, towering over 29-87 and growled. "You. Up. Now."

The injured soldier slowly clambered to her hooves and faced Twilight with a pained bow. Twilight pointed sharply at a nearby isolation cell and 29-87 limped into it fearfully. Twilight glanced at Celestia and gestured for her to follow before entering the cell herself.

She waited for Celestia to enter before trying to slam the solid steel door shut, only for it to bounce off Luna’s hoof. She gave Twilight a disapproving frown and closed the door softly as Celestia shot a luminous orb into one of the corners. Giving 29-87 a disgusted glance, Twilight began pacing angrily across the cell.

"P-please, my queen I beg you," 29-87 whimpered, trembling violently. Twilight shot her a venomous glare and she shrank back. "Please make it quick. It's all I ask."

"I'm not going to kill you," Twilight grumbled quietly.

"Mercy... She is merciful," 29-87 breathed, collapsing to her haunches. "Thank—"

"I said that I wasn't going to kill you, not that I'm forgiving you. So stand up, shut up, and do as you're told!" Twilight snarled, stomping towards 29-87 and prodding her in the chest. The drone snapped back to her hooves and shot to attention as Twilight resumed her pacing.

The former unicorn shot her a few additional glares before speaking again. "I'm going to ask you a series of questions. You're going to answer either 'yes' or 'no' unless I specifically ask for more information. Not a word otherwise; got it?"

"Y-yes," the changeling croaked.

"Chrysalis is dead. That makes me the sole ruler of the hive, correct?" Twilight grumbled, glancing quickly over her shoulder to ensure that the princesses were watching.

"Yes."

"The sole undisputed ruler? No chances of a succession crisis or revolt?"

"Yes," 29-87 murmured with a nod.

"Good," Twilight grunted. "Now here's the big question: if I left the hive to its own devices, would it survive?"

"No."

The abrupt bluntness of the soldier's reply stopped Twilight in her tracks and she turned to stare at her. "What if I ensured that the hive was protected and its needs filled?"

"Still no."

Twilight frowned at her, confused. "Why not?"

"W-well, among changelings, the queen is the hive," 29-87 explained quickly. "She may not manage each and every task, but she provides us with direction and purpose." She glanced nervously between Twilight and the princesses. "A hive without a queen would just... exist! We'd go through the motions of life, but it'd be aimless."

"Like a brain-dead pony on life support. Not dead, but also not alive," Luna muttered. "I wouldn't wish that on anything. I imagine that members of the hive would eventually just lie down and wait for death, having lost the will to live."

29-87 nodded grimly. "A-and even if we didn't become too depressed to work, the collective hive would die anyway; only a queen can produce new drones. We'd have six or seven years. Fewer if the foragers die first."

"I see," Twilight grunted through pursed lips. "Okay, now I want to know about feeding. When changelings drain love from ponies, what exactly happens to the pony?"

"We don't actually drain love, we just absorb it," 29-87 inserted before withering under three pairs of suspicious eyes. She continued insistently, as if begging them to believe her. "Sentient beings give off emotional energy and changelings are sensitive to it. That's how we can— how you can— sense what others are feeling," she stated directly at Twilight. "When we feed, we just suck up the love that's already being directed at us; like a sponge!"

"So it doesn't hurt the pony at all?" Celestia asked skeptically. "No adverse effects?"

"...No."

"You hesitated," Twilight growled threateningly. "Why?"

"I-it doesn't affect the pony, but if a changeling feeds off of a single pony long enough, that'll become attuned to that pony's emotions and it'll be easier for them to hypnotize that pony," 29-97 muttered guiltily. "But that's an effect on the changeling, not the pony."

Twilight nodded. She paused for a few seconds, grinding her teeth. "I've got one last question, and it’s the most important one yet. I want you to think about it before you answer me. Really think about it; got it?"

29-87 nodded slowly and Twilight spoke slowly and deliberately. "Is is possible for a changeling hive to live alongside ponies without negatively affecting them?"

The soldier's eyes flicked between her interrogators, and she opened her mouth slowly. "...Yes."

"Get out."

The cell door slid open and 29-87 gave Twilight an incredulous glance before retreating through. The door slammed shut again and Twilight let out the breath she had been holding, staring at the ground pensively. Celestia and Luna exchanged worried frowns and stepped up to her.

"'Tis a cruel choice fate has laid before you, Twilight Sparkle," Luna breathed tenderly. She lifted up Twilight's chin to look into her eyes. "But nonetheless, you have a choice! You don't owe them anything."

"My sister's right, Twilight. After all that's happened, you are entitled to walk away and return to your old life as much as is possible," Celestia cooed.

"...No. No I can't," Twilight sniffed.

"Twilight, you can walk away. Nopony will judge you for it," Celestia replied insistently. "You have a choice!"

"No I don't. Most of them are no more mature than foals and they've spent their lives scared and hungry," Twilight mumbled. "Even if nopony else would judge me, I don't think I could live with myself if I left them to die."

The Princesses shared another pair of frowns before Celestia spoke again. “If that is what you’ve decided, then we will support you. However we can.”

“Agreed,” Luna muttered. “And Twilight? For what it’s worth, I believe that you are doing the right thing.”

Twilight sighed. After taking a minute to collect herself, she opened the door and the three filed out. Twilight slowly stepped up to 37-22 and leaned down. “I have a few more things I need to take care of here. After that, do you think you could lead me back to the nest?”

First confusion, then joy, and, finally, excitement flashed across the drone’s face and through Twilight’s mind. “Queen’s coming home?”

Twilight simply nodded her reply and 37-22 bowed deeply to her. She stood back to her full height and gave Luna a nod. The alicorn dismissed her spell and the other six soldiers fell to the ground gracelessly, taking a few seconds to get their bearings before standing to face her. “Okay, listen up, because I’m only going to say this once,” she barked. “I am Twilight Sparkle, Queen of this hive. While I am certainly furious with the six of you, I feel it’s in the best interests of all to put the past behind us. As such, I will mete no punishment to those who follow orders and serve me as you served your former queen. Understood?”

The six nodded in unison and snapped to attention.

“Good. Your first orders are to go upstairs and apologize to the guards you hurt today,” Twilight spat forcefully. “After that you are to clean up the mess you made, then go right back to the nest. The rest of the hive is there, scared and defenseless.”

The soldiers all gaped at her incredulously, but slowly made their way towards the staircase, looking over their shoulders at her the entire way. When they were completely out of view, Twilight turned to 29-87 and frowned. “You, on the other hoof, aren’t so lucky.”

29-87 grimaced and bowed her head, fear. “What additional punishments do you deem necessary, my Queen?”

“You punishment is that I’m making you my personal assistant from here on out,” Twilight stated.

“B-but I’m a soldier!” 29-87 whimpered.

“Maybe so, but you’re done soldiering from now on,” Twilight snapped, immediately regretting it. She softened her expression and spoke quieter. “Listen, I’m in way over my head here and I’m going to need help. I’m a changeling queen who knows next to nothing about changelings and I don’t want to cause the hive any further harm. I know that you’re intelligent, dedicated, and that you care deeply about your sisters, so I want you at my side to guide me. Besides, I don’t trust you to protect me, so if you can’t be my steward, you’re useless to me. Understand?”

Twilight offered the drone a hoof, and 29-87 touched it tenderly before bowing. “I-I can accept that. I guess...”

“Good. Our first order of business when we get back to the nest will be to go over everything. And I mean everything. We’re going to review every rule, regulation, law, or policy Chrysalis ever made, and anything I don’t like will be changed immediately.”

“As you wish, my Queen,” 29-87 grunted.

“And I’m starting by giving you all names. This number system is seriously getting on my nerves,” Twilight grumbled. “From now on, you’re ‘Paenitet’.”

“Paenitet. What does that mean?” Paenitet asked, rolling her new nomen across her tongue.

“It means ‘regret’ in the language of the ancient Roamans,” Twilight said with a nod. “As I said before, I haven’t forgiven you yet. I want you to remember how I became your queen, and how you could’ve prevented all this. Once you’ve earned my forgiveness, then I’ll give you a new name.”

“Oh, oh! I get one too?” 37-22 asked excitedly, bouncing up and down in a very Pinkie Pie-ish manner.

“Yes, you get one too,” Twilight giggled. “You’re ‘Amica’. It means ‘friend’.”

Amica stopped bouncing and cocked her head at Twilight. “Amica, Amica... I like!.”

“Good. Now why don’t you two go upstairs and see a medic? I’d like you both looked at, especially you, Paenitet,” Twilight said with a guilty twitch. As they left, she turned to Celestia and gave an exhausted sigh.

“This is going to be a paperwork nightmare,” Celestia grumbled. “First Luna and I have to go put out all the proverbial fires that started over the past few days, then we’ll need to come up with a cover story to explain your disappearance; we’ll also need to draft up pardon letters for your hive... Hey, Luna could you— Luna? Where did she go?” Celestia quickly glanced around the now empty room before shouting for her sister one more time. “Luna!”

“What?” the night princess groaned, her head appearing from the stairwell.

“There’s much to be done. Can—”

“No, I can’t. I’m busy.”

“With what?”

“Well, as Twilight said, she’s going to need help, so that help I intend to provide,” Luna retorted smugly. “First I am going to secure food aid for Twilight’s starving brood and organize a caravan. After that I am going to go over Equestria’s various geological maps to locate a more suitable location for their burrow.”

“We have a perfectly good nest already, why dig another?” Twilight asked blandly.

“Because it would be much easier for us to help you if your nest was more conveniently located,” Luna nodded. “Sending caravans to the badlands every time you need something is quite impractical.”

“Wonderful idea, Luna,” Celestia proclaimed.

“Then I shall get to it,” Luna stated, disappearing up the staircase again.

“After all these years, her sharpness still manages to surprise me at times,” Celestia mused, turning to her faithful student. “I guess this means I get all the boring stuff for myself.”

Bound to Darkness

by asylum1388

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Epilogue