A Queen's Adoption

by Danger A Dragon

First published 19th of June, 2016

Chrysalis meets her new family and learns about them.

Chrysalis is a new Queen who has lost her hive. She leaves the hive and runs into a young Luna and her father and ends up being adopted into Celestia and Luna's family.

Colab with Piece Bot

Cover art by LuminousDazzle

Adoption

I didn’t think it was possible for my hive to die out but with me being an inexperienced Queen, I suppose it was inevitable. It started slowly at first and I thought I had stemmed it by trying to get my hive fed, but they just wouldn’t stop dying. When I couldn’t find enough love for them or think of other ways to keep them alive, they just dropped dead one after another like dominoes. I was torn with grief when I felt them die and lose their connection with the hive mind. After the final one, I had never felt so alone because wherever I went, whether it was to scout out areas or to feed on love, the hive had always been with me.

I abandoned the now empty hive and decided to live with my grief. I flew away from the hive silently and gave it a last glance before heading off. Over the multitude of green-leaved trees I went until eventually, I had to land when it got too dark to see. Lighting up my horn in a toxic green glow, I wept for my hive while walking amongst the tall trees. I didn’t care if any monsters saw my horn’s glow. If they did, I would just vanish on the spot and reappear somewhere else.

I didn’t run into any trouble, thankfully, but some time later, my hooves brushed against dirt instead of crunchy leaves or soggy ground. I looked up and down the dirt track and headed to the left, wondering where it would take me. Maybe it was to some form of civilisation that wasn't the small villages near my hive. In case it was, I donned a disguise. A ring of bright green flames lit up around me as I walked and my body changed. My chitin smoothed out to become green fur, my wings grew bones and developed feathers the same colour as my coat. My limp mane and tail became purple with a grey stripe running through it and I gained a cutie mark of a leaky tap.

I may have lost the use of my horn, but at least I wouldn’t look out of place. When the flames died, my vision took a while to adjust until then I could barely see three feet in front of me. I shook my head to get my vision clearer and continued onwards. By the time dull light had filtered in through the canopy, my gait was slow and my head hung low, but I knew I couldn’t stop walking until I hit civilisation, otherwise I would just collapse and most likely never get up again.

At first, I thought my ears were playing tricks on me as they flicked to catch an unknown sound but soon enough, I could hear voices somewhere in the distance. Praying that these voices weren’t some sort of changeling haters, I continued walking at my slow pace.

“Don’t get too far away, Luna. We may live in the forest, but that does not make it safe,” a concerned male voice said.

“Okay, I’ll keep within sight,” a happy young female said from closer to me. A father and a daughter living in this forest? I was surprised by it and did hear hooves running as I rounded the bend. I must have been too lost in my thoughts because the next thing I knew, I gave an ‘oof’ and was sprawled on the dirt path.

“Ow, I didn’t expect to run into anyone out here. Are you okay?” the voice associated with ‘Luna’ said from beside me. I groaned and went to answer before looking at the multi-blue-hued mare beside me and cowered in shock. I didn’t want my grief to get the best of me so I pushed it to the back of my mind for the moment.

“You have wings and a horn?” I asked her in an echoless version of my voice.

“Yes, I, uh, We are an Alicorn and have traits of all three of the pony tribes. Our family is just like Us as well,” Luna said with a smile. ‘Us’? I don’t recall anypony speaking like that but then again, I never really attempted to talk to any other pony nor listen in on conversations. Her smile did lower my guard a bit but I still don’t think I should trust her.

“How many are in your family then? Is it just you and your dad?” I questioned her as my shock wore off. This … Alicorn didn’t look much older than me, which was a weird little surprise to notice.

“There are four of us. Mother, Father, Sister, and Us. We are Princess Luna and Our family lives in the castle nearby,” Luna said as she pointed back the way she came. Princess Luna has to be joking. There’s no such thing as a princess for the ponies. I even nearly scoffed at her but I kept myself in check.

“Pleasure to bump into you then, princess. I am Chr - Faucet,” I introduced myself as I smirked and very nearly let my true name slip.

“It is nice to meet you, Chr - Faucet,” Luna said with a covered giggle. I wondered what was so funny but I heard her father call out for her before I had a chance to ask.

“Luna, who are you talking to? I told you not to get too far away,” Luna’s father said from around the bend.

“I’m just talking to one of the citizens that I accidentally bumped into, Father. Her name is Faucet,” Luna replied happily.

“Oh? What is one of our citizens doing out in the forest this early in the morning without somepony with her?” Luna’s father said as he rounded the corner. I saw a tall Alicorn stallion with a white coat, a brown beard, and a mane and tail the same shade as his beard. I couldn’t really tell what his cutie mark was, nor did I want to find out as I immediately backed up out of fear.

My backside hit a tree and I lost my concentration on my disguise as a ring of green flames surrounded me. My body turned back into a black chitin exoskeleton, my mane and tail became seafoam green and limp, and two green bands extended out from my membranous wings to wrap around my barrel.

“I … um,” I couldn’t form the proper words as I looked at the princess and her father in fear.

“Father, she can change forms!” Luna said excitedly.

“Yes, and she seems quite afraid of us at the moment,” Luna’s father said calmly.

“You, um, you’re not going to scream at the sight of me?” I asked hesitantly when I realised they weren’t going to do anything to me yet.

“Scream? No, little one, we aren’t going to scream. A lone changeling who seems very unlike the others I’ve seen in the past doesn’t scare us,” Luna’s father said as he stepped next to Luna and laid down.

“I’m not like the others because …” I didn’t know what I was saying or why I was saying it but I felt like I needed somepony else to share my grief with, no matter how scared I was of them.

“You do not have to tell us if you don’t want to, Faucet. I would like to know why you are by yourself in this dangerous forest, though,” Luna’s father said kindly. I backed up further into the tree before sliding back to the ground.

“I’m by myself because I’m not like the others. They’re all dead and their Queen is still alive,” I finally told him and I actually didn’t feel like crying afterwards.

“You’re a Queen!? But you don’t look much older than I am!” Luna said in shock and excitement. I laid my ears flat against my head to drown out the loud voice before answering.

“Yes, I’m the only Queen. There are no other hives around and I only became Queen a few months ago,” I told her as I rubbed my ear with a hoof.

“Sorry, I got excited because I haven’t met any other royalty. I’m glad to not have to talk like earlier, though. Father said that I have to talk that way when in talking around beings that aren’t in our peer group,” Luna said as she trotted closer and sat a couple paces in front of me.

“Is there a reason why you have to talk that way, or is it just an Alicorn trait?” I inquired as I stared at the princess with wide eyes.

“Father said it is how royalty speaks. Since the only Alicorns I know are my family, I guess you could call it an Alicorn trait as well,” Luna said with a hoof to her chin as she tilted her head slightly.

“Where’s the rest of your family then? I thought they would have joined you two,” I wonder whether they had to stay behind at the castle but didn’t really think much of it. I just relaxed slightly and let the princess speak.

“Celestia had to practice raising the sun before joining us for the walk and she’s always walked at a more sedated pace than I do,” Luna explained. Something tells me her sister is a lot more prim and proper than excitable.

“Is she older or younger than you?” I asked her as I carefully laid down in front of her.

“Older, by about five hundred years,” Luna said casually.

“That doesn’t sound like a big gap,” I commented and looked at some blades of grass through the holes in my hooves.

“Compared to the gap in her age and mother’s age it definitely isn’t,” Luna said before an idea seemed to strike her. “Would you like to meet them and join us for our walk?”

“Um, I would if your father will let me,” I said in astonishment. I wasn’t really expecting that. I thought we were just going to have a talk and then go our separate ways.

“You are by yourself, young Queen. This forest holds many dangers so I would feel better knowing you are safe. So, please join us on our walk,” Luna’s father said. I unintentionally yawned and covered it up behind a hoof before standing.

“In that case, I would love to join you,” I told him with a nervous smile.

“Hmm, perhaps you’d like some rest instead. Did you not sleep well last night?” Luna’s father asked. I shook my head at the question.

“No, I walked all night, sir,” I said politely.

“Then let’s get you to bed and my name is Morning Star, young Queen,” Morning Star said before he levitated me onto his back and began walking the way they’d come. I didn’t realise how tired I was until we were walking.

“My name is not Faucet, princess. It’s Chrysalis,” I mumbled to the princess when I noticed her walking on the side my head was facing towards.

“It’s good to meet you, Chrysalis. Please, call me Luna,” Luna said with a smile.

“Okay, Luna,” I murmured with a small smile of my own before falling asleep.

---

I wasn’t sure how long I had slept for and I don’t think it really mattered because, in my dreams, I was reliving some happy memories I had within my hive. Memories that mostly consisted of talking with my mother, or just having fun ordering a couple of drones about through the hive mind connection. I looked around my current memory and could only see shiny black walls as well as a sticky green floor. I don’t remember going into a room like this one in the hive before. The floor barely stuck to my hooves yet it felt like they seemed to be permanently stuck at the same time.

“What is this?” I asked myself and ended up looking at my surroundings for a potential hidden answer.

“A nightmare, Chrysalis. Would you like me to help?” Luna’s voice asked before echoing around me.

“A nightmare? It doesn’t look like any nightmare I’ve heard about,” I called out to Luna’s voice as I walked around in circles.

“You were having a nice dream before coming here, right? If that is so then this is either a nightmare or we have gone into the manifestation of your mind,” Luna’s voice explained. I took another look around and realised that the latter option was closer to the truth.

“Can you show yourself?” I asked hesitantly before sitting in the goopy floor. A swirling white portal opened before me as Luna flew through it.

“Sorry, I didn’t want to truly enter if you didn’t want me to despite having great news for you,” Luna said as she landed in front of me. I looked at her curiously.

“What news?” I pried with a feeling of nervousness.

“You’re my sister now!” Luna said happily as she trotted forward and hugged me.

“Sister? But we only just met,” I was utterly confused by this but hugged her back nonetheless.

“Mom and dad were discussing something once we’d put you into a bed. After a few minutes, they walked over to me and told me that they’d decided to adopt you. So, now you’re my and Celestia’s sister,” Luna explained.

“Th… um, aren’t they rushing into adopting a complete stranger?” I asked, still in confusion about the news.

“Mmm, they were talking about the possibility of you having family or somewhere to go, but dad remembered what you said about being the only one left alive. So, they both nodded and said that they’d adopt you once they had looked into something,” Luna said after some thought. “Do you not want to be my sister?”

“I …” I trailed off and really thought about me being the only one left before sniffling. “I do want to be your sister, but I don’t really know if your parents are rushing into things or not.”

“Well, dad did go somewhere saying that he’d be back after looking at something and that they’d make it official after he’d confirmed something or other. I was just really excited about having another sister so I entered your dreams to tell you,” Luna said in thought. I stared before giving a small laugh.

“This is so surreal but I didn’t really expect your parents to be this kind,” I told her with a broad smile.

“Well, once you wake up you can ask them yourself. I’m just glad you’re happy,” Luna said as she smiled back.

“Well, I’m happy about the possibility of not being alone,” I replied with a nod.

“You’re not alone, Chryssie. I’m with you,” Luna said. I blinked at the nickname and gave Luna a blank stare before giving a thoughtful expression.

“I think you’re more excited about having a sister that’s closer to your age than anything else,” I told her thoughtfully.

“Celestia is nice, but she doesn’t have a lot of time to play with me,” Luna said sadly.

“If I really am adopted, then I’ll play with you as much as you want,” I told her with a kind tone.

“So, you won’t play with me if you aren’t adopted?” Luna asked with a tilt of her head.

“If I’m not, then I’ll play until I have to leave,” I replied after giving it a moment’s thought and rubbed the back of my neck with a hoof.

“Yay! We can play hide and seek and a whole bunch of other fun games,” Luna said happily.

“Let me wake up then and we’ll find out which is which,” I said with a giggle, not really expecting Luna’s happiness to be infectious.

“Let you wake up? I only enter dreams to help. It is the dreamer who ultimately controls things. Besides, you’re already waking up,” Luna said as she faded away until she disappeared from sight. The room I was in brightened up considerably until all I saw was white.

Meeting the Family

I opened my eyes to stare at the stony ceiling. How long was I asleep for? I moved my eyes before turning my head from side to side to look at the bedroom in better detail. There was a small wooden table next to the bed I was lying in. The walls were made of stone and didn’t look like they would come tumbling down anytime soon. Opposite the door, on the other side of the room, was a window looking out over the surrounding forest.

“Are you awake yet, Chryssie?” Luna asked quietly as the door to my room slowly opened a crack.

“Somewhat,” I told her with a stretch before I looked at her. Luna had a worried look on her face and I rubbed my eyes to get rid of my sleepiness.

“You had mom worried until I told her you were waking up,” Luna said as she entered the room. This got questions zipping around my mind before I actually sat up on my haunches.

“How long was I out?” I asked her cautiously.

“About three days,” Luna said shyly. My eyes widened as I stared at her. Three days!? How did I manage to sleep for three entire days!?

“Th-Three days?” I repeated out loud in disbelief.

“Mmhm, I raised the moon twice while you were asleep and Celestia raised the sun three times since the morning we met,” Luna affirmed. I stepped off the bed and gave myself a shake before trotting closer to her.

“Three days is not enough time for your parents to adopt me, especially if they’re the rulers,” I told her quietly. I guess it was the grief combined with my incessant night walking that made me sleep for three days.

“Dad hasn’t returned quite yet, but mom’s got everything ready for when he does, or so she told me. She came in here and nuzzled you every now and then while you were asleep before just watching you sleep with a warm smile on her muzzle,” Luna explained.

“It’s a high possibility then,” I told myself as I thought about what her mother did for me. “Why did she? She could’ve just as easily let me be.”

“When I asked her she said that you didn’t seem like you were eating properly, but she never brought you any food so I got really confused and she just giggled before smiling at me,” Luna answered.

“Ah, right,” I said sheepishly. I hadn’t realized that she knew how my kind ate so that was a nice gesture on her part. “Can I meet your mom or Celestia, or are they both busy?”

“I may be busy, but I have enough time to come check up on you, Chrysalis,” Luna’s mother said as she walked into the room. Their mom was a black coated mare with a brilliant green mane and tail that seemed to be blown, but I felt no wind in the room. Her cutie mark was obscured by her wings, but it was her deep blue eyes that seemed to draw my attention.

“Hello, ma’am,” I squeaked politely when I saw her and couldn’t help but feel small in her presence.

“No need for such formality, Chrysalis. We are mother and daughter now after all,” Luna’s mother said with a kind smile.

“S-So I actually a-a-am adopted now?” I asked in a stammer.

“Yes, Morning came back just now and we finalized the procedure. Welcome to our family, Chrysalis,” Luna’s mother said as she knelt down and smiled at me. That did it. That broke me. I teared up and gave a sob before tightly hugging her. Luna’s mother wrapped her wings around me held me close as she nuzzled me and let me cry. Time seemed to slip by as I sobbed but when I quieted down, I let go of her and gave her a watery smile.

“Th-Thank you for t-taking me in,” I said tearfully.

“You’re welcome, my daughter. Would you like to meet your other sister now?” Luna’s mother asked.

“Mhm,” I nodded before wiping my tears with a hoof.

“Then come this way. Celestia is practicing in the courtyard right now,” Luna’s mother said as she stood up and began to slowly lead the way.

“Practicing what? Raising the sun?” I asked curiously as I walked beside Luna. I beamed at her when I noticed this.

“No, she’s already done that for today and the sun is in its proper position. She’s practicing her fighting skills with Morning,” Luna’s mother said with a smile.

“You got horns so why do you need fighting skills?” I questioned as I looked around the walls, which were a far cry from the hive. There appeared to be paintings of ponies I had never heard of nor seen. What are they? Distant family relatives or something?

“Tell me, Chrysalis. Do you know of any race that is either resistant or immune to magic?” Luna’s mother asked. This snapped me out of my thoughts and I turned my attention to her.

“Not really,” I admitted quietly with my ears flat against my head.

“There are two that we know of so far. Dragons and Ursas. Both grow more resistant to magic as they age. So, we practice more than magic for when we meet them and for when magic isn’t the best solution,” Luna’s mother said in a sage-like tone.

“You won’t need fighting skills if you’re stealthy enough, though,” I told her with a hard stare. So what if they don’t agree? I still think stealth will be the way to go if you want to avoid a fight.

“Stealth is a great asset, but what do you do if you are caught and can’t get away?” Luna’s mother said with a smile as she looked over her shoulder at me.

“You lie, deceive and bluff your way out of trouble,” I replied immediately.

“And if those don’t work?” Luna’s mother wondered.

“Then you hit them with a blast of magic and hope it works?” I guessed.

“That is one solution, Chrysalis. Another is to hit them and then run away while they are recovering if you truly can’t beat them. This is especially true if you have one of these on your horn,” Luna’s mother said before levitating a metal ring over for me to see.

“That’s a magic nullifier,” I said in a small voice as I stared at the ring. It’s usually used to stop Unicorn’s horns from working and to not let them have access to their magic.

“That’s right. This one is a dummy, though,” Luna’s mother said reassuringly.

“What do you mean?” I asked fearfully as I continued to stare at the ring.

“This one is just an educational aid and won’t block your magic if placed on your horn. We use it and others like it to teach the girls how much magic will be blocked by the ring if placed on their horn,” Luna’s mother explained as the clings and clangs of metal on metal began to be heard. I tilted my head in the direction of the new sound.

“It’s an educational ring … okay, I can deal with that. The metallic pinging noises is something new for me, though,” I told her as I involuntarily shied away from the ring.

“That’s Sister training with Father,” Luna said as she stayed by my side.

“What are they training with that’s making that racket?” I asked before we got to the courtyard itself. I saw another white Alicorn with a mane and tail made up of green, blue and pink hues. This must have been Celestia because I already knew what her father looked like. They were both hitting metal sticks together before I noticed the courtyard itself and how there were various nicks and scratches in the masonry.

“It must be an easy day if they aren’t using blunted weapons,” Luna commented from beside me.

“Easy?” I said in surprise.

“Mmm, they are usually using weapons that don’t have an edge while they train. The damage around the courtyard is from those days,” Luna explained.

“So it’s an easy day if they’re using sharp weapons but it’s not if they’re using blunt weapons?” I didn’t get the logic behind that. Usually, it’s the other way around.

“Oops, got that mixed up, but they tend to get more injuries when using the blunt weapons. They aren’t as careful with them as they are now,” Luna said with a blush.

“I suppose that makes sense,” I murmured and sat beside Luna. The training seemed intense even if they were using sharp weapons.

“Dear, would you mind taking a break so Celestia can meet her new sister?” Luna’s mother asked over the clang of the training.

“Okay, Night. We’ll take a break,” Morning said before Celestia took one last swing and cut his beard in half.

“Any closer and he’d have more than a beard trim,” I commented and began to quietly study Celestia.

“Nonsense, my blade was a good inch or two from cutting Father. That’s perfectly safe since he has been training me since I hit one century in age, dear sister,” Celestia said as she put away her sword and trotted over to me. She must have been referring to the metal stick when she said ‘blade’.

“Not from where I’m sitting,” I told her calmly.

“Mm, the angle it is witnessed from can change how it is perceived. Are you feeling better now, Chrysalis?” Celestia said.

“After my three-day coma? Yeah, I’m fine,” I replied and smiled at Celestia. “So you’re the oldest, are you?”

“Unless you are older than nine hundred,” Celestia said.

“I’m not, I’m two hundred,” I corrected her and rubbed the back of my neck.

“Then you’re only two hundred years younger than I am, Chryssie,” Luna said with a smile. I smiled back at her and looked back out to the courtyard.

“With the way you act sometimes, I thought you would have been younger than me,” I admitted.

“Yes, she does like her play time and being silly,” Celestia said with a giggle.

“That brings up a question. Why … don’t you play with Luna a lot?” I asked hesitantly and was unsure if it was my place to ask or not.

“Sadly, my studies keep me from being with her. There are many more things I need to learn about than she does at this time,” Celestia answered. So she blames her studies. Okay, I guess I can see that happening but that still doesn’t excuse her for not at least making time to play.

“What things would those be? Ruling a kingdom effectively?” I asked quietly.

“And with that irrigation, economics, personal relations, farming techniques, swordsmanship, magic, flying, controlling my strength, and those last four are in both of my forms,” Celestia replied. Those last few words got my attention more than the others.

“You have two forms? I thought Alicorns only had one form,” I said in an interested tone.

“The forms you see are our base forms. We spend most of our time in them and do basically everything in them. Our true forms are different from these and are to be used if we need more strength and power than our base forms have,” Morning explained.

“Isn’t that a bit overpowered if you use your true forms against an ordinary opponent?” I wondered.

“It is. The last time an Alicorn’s true form was used in a fight it was against an entire army after our own had already fought off another,” Night answered. My jaw dropped at this and I struggled to pick it back up. Luna giggled at my reaction and kindly picked my jaw up before closing it for me.

“Dad was pretty angry when that happened or so I’m told by mother. He normally doesn’t get mad at all,” Luna said with a smile. I stayed silent as I tried to process this and stared blankly at the wall for a long while.

“Would you like to see what they are like? Normally we keep them secret, but you’re family now and you’re going to see them eventually anyway,” Morning said.

“Um, sure. It could be an interesting thing to look at,” I said uncertainly as I looked at Luna’s father nervously.

“Since we don’t want to make you too nervous we’ll have Celestia and Luna show you theirs and show you ours at a later date, okay?” Night said.

“Okay,” I said in a small voice as I nodded in agreement.

“Then I will go first. So, hold onto Luna if you become too scared or nervous,” Celestia said as her fur began to smoke. Her body then caught fire and quickly spread to cover her as her wings, mane, and tail became pure fire and her body turned black. Once her body was fully black lines of red that made it look as though lava was beneath her skin and was trying to get out, formed along her body as golden armor covered her legs, chest, head, and the upper half of her neck. There were spikes along her neck armor and helmet while and eagle’s head was on each shoulder and her cutie mark of the sun was upon her flank in black metal.

When her transformation finished, I immediately cowered behind Luna with a small yelp. “Wh-What is that!?”

“This is my true form, sister. I can understand why you’re afraid. It is quite intimidating and fear inducing. You are the first besides those you can now call family to have seen me like this,” Celestia said with a hollow metallic sound to her voice due to her helmet covering her mouth.

“I can see why,” I muttered as a small quiver ran through me at the sight.

“When you are ready, I’ll show you mine,” Luna said kindly. I quickly nodded in agreement. Seeing one was enough for me for today.

“Luna’s is nowhere near as frightening as Celestia’s, honey,” Night said as she trotted over and hugged me comfortingly. Despite the comfort I felt, I still shivered and looked at Celestia’s true form more closely.

“It, um, looks like you have lava running throughout your body, Celestia,” I commented in a soft tone.

“That lava is what some of my veins look like due to being hotter than the rest. So far as I’ve figured out. I tend to spend as little time like this as possible for obvious reasons,” Celestia said as she examined herself.

“I don’t mean to sound obvious, but you look extremely scary,” I told her as I let go of her mother.

“Yes, it took Luna a little while to get used to seeing me like this,” Celestia said as she changed back to her normal self.

“I think it’ll take me a bit to get used to it as well,” I said with a nervous laugh. “How, um, how did you get your true form?”

“I got it after I had seen father’s true form and I'd gotten so mad I exploded, literally, when a noble insulted Luna and wouldn’t take it back,” Celestia said as she rubbed her foreleg.

“How did the noble take it? Did he scream with fright?” I tried to guess at how the noble reacted but I could easily imagine her protecting her sister like that.

“He silently screamed as he wet himself in fright. He still hasn’t taken it back to this day, actually,” Celestia said.

“Even after you exploded at him?” I asked in disbelief and shook my head before standing up.

“We haven’t heard him speak while Celestia is present since that day, but he has apologized to Morning and I,” Night said. While the topic was interesting, I was getting a bit tired of talking about it and wanted to have a look around the castle. After rubbing one of my forelegs I looked at the four of them.

“Can you take me on a tour, please?” I asked them kindly.

“Of course, we wouldn’t want you getting more lost than necessary,” Night said as she stood up.

“I would love to join you, but I must get back to my studies, unfortunately,” Celestia said. I thought it was a good thing but my brain obviously had other ideas.

“Of course. You could probably teach me how to fight if you have time later,” I told her and wondered where that politeness came from.

“I would love to. Would you like to learn with or without weaponry?” Celestia said with a smile.

“Without. I don’t really trust those metal sticks,” I answered with a soft smile.

“Hoof to hoof it is then. Weapons aren’t for everypony after all,” Celestia said.

“Can’t wait for it,” I said and rubbed the back of my neck before looking at the long corridor. “I’m going to get so lost here,” I groaned and hung my head low as the length and size of the hallway reminded me somewhat of my old hive.

“No, you won’t because I’m going to help you learn the castle’s layout,” Luna said.

“Then lead the way please,” I said and gestured with a hoof.

Castle Tour

“Okay, where would you like to go first? Library? Throne room? Organ room? Your room?” Luna asked as she lead the way.

“I haven’t heard of a room just for organs before,” I said in disbelief as I began following her.

“It only has a single organ in it. That’s why I call it the organ room,” Luna replied. That would explain it but a room just for a single organ? Just how big is the organ!?

“It’s a single organ? I thought it would have been multiple,” I told her with a small shake of my head.

“Yeah, it’s a single four keyboard organ. It actually controls the mechanisms around the castle,” Luna explained.

“So you’re saying this castle has secret passages and rooms built into it then?” I guessed.

“Yeah, it’s fun trying to either freak Celestia out or trap her in one of them,” Luna said with a grin.

“If you want to freak out Celestia, then sneak up behind her,” I replied automatically.

“How? The floor makes it so each hoofstep makes a sound,” Luna said and tapped the floor with a hoof. I did the same but no sound came off of it.

“You sure? I’m not getting that,” I grinned at Luna and continued following her.

“You’re telling me that you’re hooves don’t make sound when you take a step?” Luna said in disbelief.

“I didn’t say that, you did,” I replied and just let her think it over for a bit.

“Alright, I did say that, but I didn’t hear anything when you tapped the floor with your hoof,” Luna said after a moment of thought.

“That’s because of a spell. It’s a silencing spell that I directed at my hooves,” I explained and waited to see her reaction when my hooves started making sound again. Luna’s jaw worked up and down like she was going to say something, but she didn’t make a sound. I laughed at her reaction and patiently waited for her to talk again. While I did that, I took a look at the various paintings on the walls.

“There is one way for me to sneak around like that, but I can’t walk in this world with that way,” Luna said after recovering.

“I could teach you other ways of sneaking around if you want me to. Where’s the organ room anyway?” I offered.

“The organ room is this way and is the room at the end of the hall,” Luna said as she turned a corner before smiling at me. “And I would like that, thanks.”

“You are welcome,” I said and looked down the hall before looking back the way we come in confusion. “Didn’t we already come down this hall?”

“After a little while of going from place to place you’ll learn the routes to each place you’d like to go since the halls are all fairly generic,” Luna explained.

“I wonder how long that’ll take me,” I said sarcastically before running ahead of Luna.

“If you need help just contact me and I’ll be there in a flash,” Luna said as ran behind me. I thought about it and wondered how that would happen.

“How am I meant to contact you?” I asked curiously.

“You’re going to think it’s crazy, but talk to a shadow while you’re in the castle,” Luna said. What kind of mare is this to think that shadows can talk back?

“A shadow?” I asked after sliding to a stop.

“Yes, a shadow,” Luna’s voice came from beneath me. I looked down but could only see my shadow. I righted myself and quickly spun on the spot but Luna was nowhere to be seen.

“So … let me guess. You can merge with shadows?” I guessed in delight.

“And then some. Shadow magic is a specialty of mine,” Luna said as she opened the door at the end of the hall from the other side. I turned around and immediately ran to Luna before skidding to a stop in front of her.

“You don’t need me to teach you how to sneak up on other ponies if you have that kind of magic then,” I told her before walking past.

“True, but I’d like to be able to sneak around without having to use this magic and I can get to know you better at the same time. So, would you please teach me what you know about being stealthy?” Luna asked with puppy dog eyes. Who could resist that look? I tried to but I eventually sighed and nodded. I really hate puppy dog eyes.

“Yes, I will. It may take a bit for you to learn, but I will. Besides, if we play hide and seek we’ll never find each other,” I grinned and poked my tongue out at her playfully before finally looking at our current location. “Is this a room or another hallway?”

“It’s a room. It seems long, but at the end is the organ that controls things. The length is just in case an enemy gets here while we’re in here. There’s traps and other things along the length of the room we can activate from the organ should that happen,” Luna explained as she walked towards the organ on the other side of the room.

“So the organ is like a musical trapper?” I asked and followed behind her.

“Basically. It can be used as a regular organ if you disconnect it from the things it controls, but that’s hidden so only we know where it is,” Luna said.

“Which traps does Celestia not know?” I inquired.

“Mmm, only the ones in here. She still freaks out if you catch her at the right moment, though,” Luna said in thought.

“How can you catch her at the right moment if you can’t see her from in here?” I pointed out and gestured around the long room as I hovered in the air.

“With a bit of luck. That’s about it as far as I’ve found. Scrying her might work, but I haven’t tried it yet,” Luna said with a shrug as we reached the organ. I could see why the room was so tall now. Those pipes really needed the room. I looked down at the organ below me before managing to hover just above the keys silently.

“Do you know which keys go to which trap/secret room?” I asked curiously.

“Over the years I figured them out,” Luna replied.

“Any of these go to wherever Celestia studies?” I said and looked at each key more closely.

“Mom and Dad made sure that the places we each study have a secret door that we can activate in that room or here, but that’s all that’s in her study,” Luna informed me. I bobbed my head from side to side and finally landed next to Luna. I walked around the organ to see if I could go behind it but it was embedded into the wall itself so there was no going back there.

“It’s embedded into the wall,” I said unnecessarily and walked back to Luna. “Can you show me how it works with one of the traps in here?”

“Sure, we just need to make sure to reset and reload the traps that need it afterwards,” Luna said and pressed a key that made arrows shoot out of holes along the walls. I ducked instinctively but then remembered that they were nowhere near us.

“Ouch. That’s certainly not dangerous,” I commented sarcastically.

“Neither is this one,” Luna said and pressed a couple keys that made the floor open up to reveal a spike pit. Yeah, that’s also not dangerous. Definitely not. I waited until the arrows stopped firing before hovering over the spike pit. They looked sharp and would most likely spear any unsuspecting pony.

“Your family went to a lot of trouble to keep this organ safe, didn’t they?” I asked drily.

“It’s not like we have enemies that’d try to kill us in here or anything,” Luna said sarcastically.

“Of course, you don’t. Who would want to harm four powerful Alicorns?” I replied before I burst out laughing. Luna joined me laughing after a moment. “Here’s a fun question. Have you trapped your parents with this?”

“Mmm, no. I haven’t as of yet,” Luna said with a grin.

“Huh. I thought you would have, just to mix it up,” I said thoughtfully and landed beside her again. “Can I press one?”

“Sure, but not every key does something,” Luna said.

“So which keys link to traps in this room?” I asked after a moment’s thought.

“Lethal or nonlethal?” Luna asked. There’s a choice? I thought it was all just lethal traps.

“Nonlethal,” I said.

“Press these two at the same time,” Luna said as she pointed to two of the keys. I pressed the keys and waited to see what happened. This time a cage fell from the ceiling as a couple of round ones sprang from the floor.

“I thought you said it wasn’t lethal,” I said in confusion as I walked up to the cages.

“It’d only be lethal if a head got caught between the bars otherwise it’d just break a bone if something got caught,” Luna replied. That made more sense and I looked at the cages from every angle before realizing something.

“Aren’t they a bit low for ponies to stand up fully?” I asked in concern.

“See the holes? Aren’t they big enough to fit your head and neck through, but not your shoulders?” Luna asked. I looked for what Luna was talking about and saw what she meant as I stuck my head inside for a few seconds.

“Huh. I see what you mean now,” I informed her as I pulled my head out and hovered over to her. “Is there anything else that’s fun?”

“There’s the area I practice magic, a hot spring, the kitchens, and flying around for some other things and places to go to,” Luna said thoughtfully.

“You mentioned the kitchens before. How about we go there?” I suggested.

“Okay, but do you need to eat? I haven’t seen you eat or be fed food since you’ve got here,” Luna said as she lead the way. I shook my head and gave Luna a thin smile.

“I don’t need to eat because I feed off of emotions,” I explained in a straight-forward manner.

“Really? So, you’ve never tasted food before?” Luna asked curiously.

“I never really needed to,” I said quietly.

“Then the kitchens might not be fun for you. I go there to request snacks and sneak things before meals. The chefs get angry, but then sigh and end up laughing at my happy expression as I eat their food,” Luna said.

“It might not be fun but I want to see them anyway,” I shrugged and walked next to Luna as I landed.

“Oh, if Celestia ever gets mad at you give her a cake and she’ll forgive you,” Luna said with a chuckle. So Celestia is a glutton for cake? That’s interesting to know.

“Have you figured out why Celestia likes cake so much?” I asked with a small chuckle myself.

“She says they can go with every meal, but I think it’s really because it’s one of the few things she can indulge in while studying,” Luna said.

“She indulges in cake while she studies as well as while she’s having a meal? Won’t she get chubby from all that cake?” I inquired with a slight head tilt.

“She only eats cake when somepony gives her one or it happens to be at a meal. She just insists that they can go with every meal,” Luna clarified. “If she did eat it all the time then it’d probably go right to her flank.”

“Ohh, okay. That’s something to know if she ever gets mad at me,” I grinned and quickened my pace. “We’re not going to get anywhere if we keep going at this slow pace, you know.”

“True, but it’s not like we’re in a hurry either,” Luna replied as she caught up with me.

“We’re not but there’s just so much of the castle to see,” I sighed.

“This is also true. Would you prefer to see as many places as possible and figure out how to get to them later?” Luna asked.

“More or less,” I shrugged and flicked my tail impatiently.

“Then try not to scream,” Luna said as she sunk us into our shadows. I instinctively held my breath as a wave of coldness washed over me the instant we were completely submerged. “You can breath normally, Chryssie.”

I let out my breath and breathed before giving Luna a look. “Did I already ask you why you call me ‘Chryssie’?”

“No, but I’ll explain. Chrysalis is a bit of a mouth full so I shortened it to Chryssie,” Luna said. I went to protest but then mulled it over before finally conceding.

“Okay, fine. You can call me Chryssie if you want,” I sighed.

“Yay!” Luna exclaimed and flying hugged me.

“Gah!” I choked at the sudden hug, fell over, and wasn’t sure how else to respond other than lay there.

“So, wanna try some food to see if you like the taste?” Luna asked.

“I … I don’t know about that,” I said uncertainly before wriggling out from under her and looked at the blackness around us. “How can you even see in here? It’s pitch black!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s just the reverse of what the colors would be for me,” Luna said with a raised brow.

“It’s pitch black for me so I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I huffed at her.

“Well, let’s get you seeing again then,” Luna said as she brought us out into the kitchen. I blinked at the sudden amount of light and squinted until my vision cleared. One thing I know for sure is that I’m not going back in that shadow world.

“These are the kitchens?” I asked as I looked over the countertops and various fireplaces.

“Yep, these are the kitchens. I can smell some wonderful food cooking for later on,” Luna said as she inhaled with a smile. I raised a brow at her before copying her actions. A look of disgust overcame my features and I sat on my haunches before quickly covered up my nose with my hooves.

“Sorry, Luna. It doesn’t smell pleasant in here,” I said apologetically, my voice muffled from behind my hooves.

“Really? Well, let’s go somewhere else then,” Luna said as she levitated me out of the kitchens at a trot.

“Mhm. Sorry again,” I muttered and slowly took my hooves from in front of my face as we left the kitchens behind.

“It’s okay. You don’t eat food so it cooking isn’t a pleasant smell for you. Luckily, the hot spring is nearby,” Luna said as she began trotting forward. Lucky for me. My chitin will most likely melt off or something like that.

“Do you know where Celestia’s study is?” I questioned as I let her magic hold me.

“Yeah, I go bug her every now and then. The hot spring will clear out the smells from the kitchen if you were wondering why I was taking you there,” Luna said and took a turn. I wasn’t wondering that at all but at least she explained why.

“If we visit Celestia, I wonder how freaked she’ll be if I sneak up on her,” I said thoughtfully.

“She’d probably jump off her cushion,” Luna replied before taking another turn and opening a door.

“That would be fun to see and I need some fun to take my mind off of things,” I commented with a smile.

“Okay, we’ll go there once you breath in some steam to clear out the smells,” Luna said and opened another door before steam began rising through the top of the open doorway.

“Is it a hot spring or steam room?” I asked in confusion as I saw the steam rise.

“There’s both in here, but the hot spring takes up more room,” Luna said as she walked in. It’s a hot spring. Of course, it would take up more room than steam.

“So it’s a mixture of both then,” I said bluntly.

“No, there’s the hot spring and there’s the steam room,” Luna said as she pointed to the hot spring and then an attached room that had steam rising out of its lower ceiling. I blinked at both before facehoofing.

“Okay, let’s just enjoy the hot spring for a while. I believe I need it after what happened to me,” I replied.

“Okay, let’s do that,” Luna said as she set me down and slowly walked into the hot spring before sitting down. I followed her and inched my way into the water before sitting opposite her. As the water relaxed me, I sighed in relief and smiled at Luna.

“This is nice,” I said with a relaxed expression.

“Mmm, I come here after giving a cake to Celestia or after a tough day,” Luna said with a relaxed smile.

“You know, for being a family of Alicorns, I’ve never heard of you,” I commented.

“I hadn’t heard of a changeling before I met you, but I can see what you mean. We rule a very small nation that is really three tribes that don’t really listen to us,” Luna said with a sigh.

“The three tribes being what? Unicorns and some other races?” I asked in confusion. Luna nodded her head.

“Unicorns, Pegasi, and Earth ponies. The three each Alicorn has traits of,” Luna answered. I nodded my head in thought.

“So if you have some of all three tribes, wouldn’t that mean you’re stronger than all three of them?” I questioned.

“If we wanted one of us could probably wipe them all out, but we don’t operate like that. We give them advice and let them vote amongst themselves what to do,” Luna explained.

“So you let them squabble while the four of you sit high and mighty in your castle?” I asked skeptically.

“No, we are affected by each of their choices. We get food from the Earth ponies, weather control from the Pegasi, and general other goods from the Unicorns. We live at about the same level they would if they got along, but we can’t seem to get them to do that,” Luna said with a heavy sigh.

“You sound as if this has been going on for a long while,” I commented.

“I can’t remember a time where it hasn’t been like this,” Luna replied.

“So basically since before you were born,” I said and made ripples in the water as I moved my hoof through it.

“Yes, I’m sure mother and father remember a time, but that was probably also a time of war,” Luna said.

“It probably was. What kind of magic do you know besides shadow magic?” I asked in an effort to change the subject.

“Some illusion, dreamwalking, ice magic, the basic magic ponies know, and summoning,” Luna listed off. Those were good choices.

“Huh. You know I can already do stealth magic, but I can also create illusions and know basic magic as well,” I replied with a grin.

“Sounds like you’re geared for espionage, sister,” Luna said with a smile.

“I am because changelings are all about stealth and espionage, Sister,” I said with a fanged grin.

“Well, you did change forms as well. So, finding you must be really hard if you don’t want somepony finding you,” Luna said before her eyes widened a bit. “Not to change the subject, but your teeth are the same as mine in my true form.”

“Really? My teeth were always like this,” I said in surprise. I didn’t think her true form was anything like how I looked at the moment.

“Yeah, I have some draconic features in my true form so my teeth become fangs,” Luna said. My own eyes widened at this and I shut my muzzle in surprise. “My coat turns black, my pupils become vertical slits with green irises, and my mane and tail become wispier and cloud-like while I grow to about the height of Celestia.”

These true forms that the Alicorns have are definitely something else if they can increase height as well as strength and power.

“That sounds slightly less scary than Celestia’s form,” I commented and watched my hoof move about in the water. “How did you get your true form?”

“I was with mother gazing at the moon one night. This is before I had mastered shadow walking let alone the rest of the magic so when a giant shadow overtook us, I instinctively hid in the shadows. Little did I know that it was a dragon flying overhead. It’s appearance must have influenced my form along with how mother looked to me from the shadows since her eyes had turned a greenish color like mine become. When I emerged from the shadow I was in my true form and mother commented that I looked a lot like she does in her base form,” Luna explained with a nostalgic smile.

“You were stargazing, you were with your mother and you hid in the shadows when a dragon blotted out the stars?” I asked for confirmation.

“Yes, that’s the gist of it,” Luna said with a nod.

“I wonder. It probably won’t happen but will I get a true form someday?” I questioned her.

“If you are around those who have a true form long enough and are meant to have one then your true form will manifest. Since you are long lived like the rest of us in the family I’d say you’ll get one eventually,” Luna said. That seemed to answer that question to my satisfaction so to have a bit of fun, I concentrated a spell onto myself and slowly turned invisible until the only evidence I was there were the ripples my body made. “Chryssie? Where’d you go?”

I grinned to myself, kept quiet, and slowly waded over to her. Every time a ripple was made, I made it go away with a constant spell. By the time I got to her side, I used my magic to touch the fur on her other side. Luna looked to the side I’d touched and gained a confused look on her muzzle. I then leaned in close and took my spells off. I then whispered ‘boo’ with a predatory grin. Luna jumped before realising it was me and let out a breath in relief.

“You are far too good at that,” Luna said with a smile. I laughed at that and moved away a bit.

“Like I said before, hide and seek will be a lot less fun considering what we can do,” I grinned.

“True, it would be a good way to test what you’ll teach me, though,” Luna replied.

“It would. Have you been learning whatever Celestia is learning?” I said thoughtfully.

“Same things, but a lesser amount. I tend to have a lot more free time than she does so when she’s still busy I study magic,” Luna explained. I stood up with a stretch and looked at Luna curiously.

“Where does Celestia study?” I asked as I walked out of the hot spring, feeling more relaxed than I have in days.

“In the sun room in the center of the castle near the top of the tower. It’s round and has windows that allow enough sunshine into it to read by no matter the time of day so long as it’s not overcast. Thus the sun room,” Luna explained as she followed me out.

“It’s a room near the top of a tower. Is that where she sleeps as well?” I inquired and walked at an easy pace.

“There’s a bed in the room if she feels like sleeping there, but she has a bedroom as well,” Luna replied. That’s a bit redundant to have two of your own beds in completely separate rooms but I didn’t say this and kept silent for the time being. When we made it halfway to the tower, Luna interrupted my thoughts with something I’d rather not have heard at the moment. “I’m sorry about your hive. I can’t imagine what you went through.”

“You can’t imagine it because you didn’t have the luxury of hundreds of voice in your mind silencing one by one!” I snapped at her with a glowering expression and came to a sudden standstill.

“S-Sorry, I won’t mention it again,” Luna said sadly as she looked away from me. I snorted at her before resuming my walk at an increased pace with a mixture of furiousness and overwhelming sadness on my muzzle. “I-I’m always willing to listen if th-there’s something you need to get off your chest or want to talk about it.”

“B-Be quiet!” I shouted angrily before suddenly rounding on her and firing off a beam of magic. The beam hit Luna square in the chest before she cried out in pain and was knocked back a couple feet onto the floor. “You’re not going to retaliate!?” Luna merely looked at me with a quizzical expression as she stood back up.

“I shot a beam of magic at you and you’re going to do nothing?” I asked in disbelief, my previous anger momentarily forgotten in the face of this development. Luna shook her head before bracing herself. I merely gave a huff and rubbed my hoof over my face before sighing in frustration. “Their deaths are still too raw so don’t mention anything about the hive.” Luna relaxed her stance before leading me towards Celestia’s study once more.

“If you wish to vent your anger inside the castle is not the place to do so,” Luna said after a few moments of silence.

“Then where?” I grumbled. I walked a bit behind her and my head was lowered a bit in shame.

“Out amongst the forest, in the skies outside, or anywhere that is isolated enough that we don’t have to worry about what we destroy,” Luna answered.

“Anywhere outside, basically,” I summed up and breathed in and out slowly in an attempt to get rid of my anger somewhat.

“So long as we don’t destroy something we’d regret destroying, yes,” Luna said with a nod before looking over her shoulder at me. “Do you wish to do so now or when I stupidly bring up another sore topic?”

“Now would be good,” I said with a glare.

“Then I won’t hold back,” Luna said before transporting us far away from the castle to an isolated area. It was a darkened clearing that was surrounded by trees with absolutely no colour in sight. Once I realized how isolated we were, I immediately fired upon Luna again. She dodged to the side just enough to avoid getting hit before taking to the skies as she fired back at me. I vanished on the spot with a well-practiced spell and Luna’s beam struck the ground where I was.

I took a quick walk around the clearing to see how wide the circumference was. It wasn’t really that big so it was no surprise when I joined Luna in the sky and deactivated my cloaking spell. There was much more room here and before I could marvel at the sight of green expanse, I fired a spell at Luna that was designed to make her feel as if her wings were growing heavy. Luna quickly lost altitude when the spell hit her and vanished when she broke through the canopy of the forest below us.

I dived after her only for Luna to quickly disappear into the shadows. I realized she could be anywhere now and quickly began looking around myself as I hovered between the trees. Suddenly, a bolt of magic flew at me and encased my wings in a thick layer of ice. A cold feeling went through me as my wings froze over before I suddenly plummeted and crashed into the ground. The weight of the ice pinned me to the ground and I growled in annoyance and frustration.

“Do you yield, Chrysalis?” Luna asked as she walked out of the trees in her true form. Her coat and wings were now pitch black, her teeth had become fangs, her eyes green with vertical slit pupils, her mane and tail had grown in size and took up a larger area while her height had increased to around Celestia’s. It was just as she had described at the hot spring.

“Not until I have my hive back,” I said through bared fangs, and while her form may have been awe-inspiring, my anger had overridden that feeling.

“Then we will continue,” Luna said with a neutral expression before throwing me into a tree with her magic. I cried out in pain when I hit the tree with the force of a gale-force wind and breathed heavily when I had slid back down to the ground. The ice on my wings still pinned me but now I was in too much pain to think straight. Luna began slowly walking towards me as she fired slow, deliberate shots of magic at me. Each time they hit, I felt pain bloom from the point of impact until eventually I couldn’t take anymore.

“I yield!” I shouted in a pained cry. Luna stopped firing and ran the rest of the way to me before breaking the ice on my wings and bringing us to the infirmary. She then placed me in a vacant bed before gathering some supplies. I let her do what she needed to do while watching her run around the infirmary. I felt pain every time I moved my legs a bit so I kept them still as best I could. “Why?”

“Why what?” Luna asked as she began treating my wounds.

“Why didn’t you leave me?” I clarified and breathed through the pain of having my wounds treated.

“You’re not as smart as I thought you were if you really don’t know the answer to that,” Luna said.

“I know I’m your sister now, and I know why you’re so kind but I’m still practically a stranger,” I replied.

“This is what sisters do. We take care of each other and help as best we can when each other are in trouble or something’s wrong,” Luna said.

“I guess I just needed something to get my anger about myself out there,” I said quietly.

“Any time you need to do that, tell me and I’ll spar with you until you’re satisfied,” Luna said as she worked her way along my body.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I told myself and hissed whenever she treated one of my wounds. “I still have time to bug Celestia, right?”

“Yes, you have plenty of time, but don’t push your body. I wasn’t very kind back there,” Luna said with a frown at the end.

“I wasn’t thinking too straight to begin with,” I said with a chortle. “At least you didn’t leave me too horribly wounded and my wings are still frozen stiff.”

“Yes, not too horribly wounded,” Luna said absentmindedly as she finished treating the last of my wounds.

“Fine, how bad did you hit me?” I asked with a resigned sigh.

“I didn’t hit you badly. I was just remembering the last time I sparred in my true form. Celestia was stuck in a bed for three months due to a severely broken leg,” Luna explained.

“Ouch,” I said with a wince and looked down my body. I didn’t think I needed bandages but apparently she hit me enough to warrant them. A few covered all four of my legs with quite a few wrapping around my chest to just in front of my wings.

“She wasn’t able to get into her true form in time and I was still working on keeping my power down,” Luna said as she looked over my body once more. “Okay, you should be able to walk, but you should probably take it easy for the next day or two until you’re healed.”

“Th...Thanks, Luna,” I said hesitantly before slowly sliding off the bed. I touched on the floor and immediately began swaying in place. Luna quickly moved to my side, as she changed back to normal, to support me should I need it.

“Easy, take it slow for now,” Luna said in concern. I was tempted to say that I didn’t need any help but I leaned heavily on Luna so that put a stop to that.

“Can you show me to my room?” I asked curiously.

“Sure, you can always bug Celestia another day. She’s not going anywhere anytime soon,” Luna said as she began guiding me to my room. I chuckled a bit at that.

“How long does she study anyway? All day and all night?” I asked with a small smile.

“Basically. She only seems to take breaks for meals and when she’s told she can by mother or father,” Luna replied.

“Isn’t that a bit unfair to her?” I pried.

“A bit, but I haven’t heard her complain as of yet,” Luna replied.

“She probably complains while chewing on some cake,” I said wryly and looked at the various paintings we walked by.

“She complains when she has cake? That seems it’d be impossible, but she’s bound to complain sometime about something,” Luna said with a grin.

“So her complaining about her studying while having cake is a possibility,” I said with a nod and immediately regretted it when I felt my neck burn up. Maybe it was my imagination but I could swear that Celestia was trying to burn a hole in the back of my neck with her eyes alone.

“Has somepony been telling you that I complain while having cake, sister?” Celestia asked as she glared a hole into me. Okay, turns out that feeling was true.

“Wait, that’s true!? I was only joking!” I said in surprise after slowly turning around to meet my sister’s glare with an astonished expression.

“It is not true. The taste of cake drives away my sorrow and all thoughts of complaining are driven from my mind with each bite of their sweet and delectable form,” Celestia replied with an overjoyed expression as she talked about cake. My jaw fell open and I turned my head to look at Luna.

“Is she serious!?” I whispered to Luna in disbelief.

“Partly. Cake does lift her spirits, but the rest is just her goofing off. That’s why you should give her one if she gets mad at you,” Luna whispered back to me. I closed my jaw and turned back to Celestia.

“So how much do you love cake?” I asked with a raised brow.

“Oh, just a little. They’re good to keep me going when I’m having a hard time with my studies,” Celestia answered in denial. Denial was always something fun to pick at.

“‘A little’? Really?” I deadpanned.

“Yes, a little. They help me continue to study and that is it,” Celestia said with a nod.

“So you never indulge in them just for pleasure. They’re just a ‘healthy’ snack to keep you going,” I stated and smirked at her.

“I don’t know what Lulu has told you, but I assure you that I keep myself fit and do even more physical activity when I’ve had cake to compensate,” Celestia said with a blush. That obvious blush didn’t sway me so I kept pressing her.

“All that Luna told me was that you sometimes enjoyed cake with meals and by itself when you get the chance so I’m just wondering why you’re blushing at my statement. Unless you have something to hide, that is,” I giggled and smiled up at Celestia.

“I-I have nothing to hide, Chrysalis. Y-Your facial expression is what made it seem as if you were implying something,” Celestia replied.

“Oh really? Then what do you think my expression was implying? That you have a chubby flank?” I asked curiously and gingerly sat down next to Luna.

“I have no idea what you were trying to imply, but I must be going now. You’re already injured and need to rest instead of practicing hoof to hoof fighting,” Celestia said as she began to slowly walk away. I looked at her walk before tilting my head at Luna.

“Besides me being injured, was it something I said?” I asked.

“Having a ‘fat flank’ is something she’s afraid of getting since she has so many things that make her just sit or lay around for a good portion of the day. She’s so paranoid about it that she’ll push herself to exhaustion to try to not get one,” Luna whispered as we watched Celestia walk away.

“Well, that’s a bit extreme,” I commented.

“Yes, it is, but she reads for a good portion of the day and sparring with mother or father only does so much,” Luna said with a shrug. I rubbed my cheek with a hoof before standing back up. I breathed, turned, and leaned on Luna again as we resumed making our way to my room. When we got there, I had a look around and realized it was the same room I had woken up in. The same bed, the same dresser, the same vanity.

“This looks like the room from this morning,” I said.

“It is the room you woke up in. Mother decided this was your room after Father hadn’t returned for a day and she’d gotten everything else for your adoption, besides his signatures, ready,” Luna explained.

“That was thoughtful of her. I did sleep here for three days after all,” I said and let Luna lead me to my bed before I hopped onto it.

“Well, I’ll let you get some rest unless there’s anything else I might be able to help you with,” Luna said as she slowly walked to the door.

“Just, um, wake me up when you have dinner,” I said hesitantly as I laid down as carefully as I could. My head faced the door while it rested on the pillow as I pulled the coverings over me with my magic.

“Sure, I can do that. Hopefully, mother and father won’t be too mad at me once they see you bandaged up,” Luna said with a bit of worry in her voice as she walked out and closed the door behind her. Hopefully, they won’t be but I wouldn’t blame them if they did. I watched the door close and let my eyes do the same to let my body heal and rest.

Dinner Shennanigins

Slowly, I woke up when I felt myself being shaken. My eyes blinked open and I yawned before finally focusing my attention on Luna.

“Dinner time, Chryssie,” Luna said with a smile. Dinner? Oh, right. I simply nodded and winced when I slowly stood up.

“Dinner, right,” I said with a breath before stepping off my bed and nearly collapsing as soon as my hooves touched the floor. Luna walked over with a worried expression as she helped me stand up.

“I was going to try to make a joke, but that seems in bad taste now,” Luna said as she supported me. I leaned on Luna while she lead me to wherever the dinner was being held.

“Which joke would you have made?” I asked with a raised brow as I gingerly walked.

“It’s probably a bad one, but I was going to say ‘how would you like your emotion tonight? Seared, raw, lightly seasoned?’ before you collapsed,” Luna said quietly.

“Seared,” I replied automatically before even registering what she had said. “Wait … seriously? You thought you could make a joke about that?”

“I don’t make jokes very often,” Luna mumbled.

“Neither do I,” I confessed. “I don’t really like making jokes anyway.”

“Well, mother has always told me that laughing is good for an injured pony in more ways than one. So, I thought I’d try to make you laugh,” Luna explained.

“I don’t know how jokes work so … can you not try to make any jokes with me?” I asked with a pointed look.

“Yeah, I can do that,” Luna said with a warm smile. “We’ll be at the dining hall in just a little bit. Hopefully, the smells won’t make you too sick when we get there.”

“Hopefully. You’ll know if they do when I run out of the room,” I said with a nervous chuckle.

“You just collapsed when you tried to stand on your own, sister. I highly doubt you’ll be running anywhere until you’ve healed more,” Luna said with a frown.

“Well then I’ll just collapse,” I replied.

“Joyous, that’ll be great fun to explain and then explain about your wounds,” Luna said sarcastically with a sad tone to her voice. I sighed and laid my ears against my head in shame.

“Sorry about making you hurt me,” I mumbled.

“Sorry for bringing up a very sore and raw topic,” Luna replied.

“It only happened four days ago. How raw did you think it would be?” My ears flicked up while I growled unintentionally and was not sorry when she flinched at my question.

“Just enough to try talking about it, but I was obviously wrong,” Luna said with her ears against her head.

“Obviously,” I muttered and shook my head. “Try again in a year or so.”

“No, I don’t think I will. I think I’ll either let that one die or let you bring it up,” Luna said with a shake of her head. I kept quiet until we reached the dining room and as soon as the smells hit me I stopped in my tracks. “Back to bed?”

“Um …” I hesitated and smelled some more before making a face and gulping. “I … I think … I can tolerate it.”

“Okay,” Luna replied and lead me to my seat next to hers that was across the table from Celestia while Mother and Father were at the head of the table. The pungent odours got worse the closer to the table I got so I breathed shallowly while looking at everypony else and avoided the food.

“Um, how is everypony?” I said hesitantly.

“Very well, thank you,” Night said before her eyes widened at the sight of me. “Chrysalis, how did you get so injured?”

“I flew around the forest and banged into a few trees,” I told her with droopy ears and a lowered head.

“You must be more careful of those trees then. They don’t seem to have much mercy when you don’t yield earlier,” Night said with a smile. I gasped a bit and looked up at her in surprise.

“How?” I asked.

“Luna’s not the only one who can shadow walk, dear. I was on my way to check on you when I noticed you two heading off somewhere and decided to follow discreetly out of curiosity before witnessing your fight. You did quite well considering Luna became her true self,” Night explained.

“There’s no use lying when you can apparently eavesdrop,” I said in disbelief.

“I am sorry for eavesdropping, but it seemed like it was a good bonding activity for you two and you both looked like you needed to let off some steam. Otherwise I would have stepped in before you got as you are, especially on your first day as a family member,” Night said as she put some food on her plate.

“Your mother was only concerned with how you were doing with everything, Chrysalis. The fact that you already tried to cover for Luna tells me that you’re doing fine, but let us know if there’s something we can do to help you adjust,” Morning chimed in.

“I’ll let you know then. I only covered up for Luna because she made me mad in the first place,” I admitted with a roll of my shoulders.

“And how did she do that?” Morning wondered.

“She, um … mentioned how … sorry she was … about my hive,” I said slowly.

“Mmm, I can see how that would rub you the wrong way. Brace yourself then, I have one piece of news concerning that topic,” Morning replied.

“What news?” I asked as I mentally braced myself.

“They are buried now,” Morning said as he looked into my eyes. I looked back with my own watery ones and felt my mouth open and close wordlessly as I tried to process what he had said. “I put each in their own grave after I’d found them.”

“W-Why did you do that?” I wondered.

“Because they deserved a proper burial, everypony does. I had initially just wanted to double check your story, but when I finally found your hive and what lay inside… I felt it was the right thing to do and it would help ease your mind about the whole thing,” Morning explained. I was quiet after hearing this and looked at my empty plate as I struggled to hold back hot tears.

“You don’t have to hold back, dear. We all understand and have witnessed plenty of ponies cry for those they have lost,” Night said as she got up, walked over, and gently held me with her wings. I made a keening noise in the back of my throat before finally letting go, My body shook as I cried and my mind flooded with the memories of my drones losing their connections with me and the hive as a whole. I felt the rest of my new family embrace me one by one as I wailed away.

I wanted to shove them away as I felt the need to be left alone for all eternity but my sobs prevented me from thinking straight and getting myself out of there. I continued to cry as they held me until my tears ran dry even though my body was still shaking violently.

“Being alone while you’re mourning isn’t a good idea, Chrysalis. So, please try to spend as much time with one of us as you can. We’re family and will help you as best we can,” Night said quietly.

“Why won’t you just leave me be?” I wailed.

“Because you’re my daughter, because everypony needs help sometime, and because I am a concerned mother whether we had adopted you or not,” Night replied as she nuzzled me.

“Why-Why did you adopt me? I’m just a stranger?” I asked in a sniffle as my body’s shaking slowly ceased.

“Everypony who gets adopted is a stranger, but we adopted you because you were going to die and you have a bigger role to play. Besides, who wouldn’t want another cute daughter?” Night said with a smile.

“At least I would be with my hive again,” I mumbled despite the blush I felt form at her rhetorical question. At least, I think it was rhetorical.

“You’re already with your hive, Chrysalis. They’ll always with you so long as you remember them and we may not be changelings, but we’re now your family and part of your hive,” Night replied.

“I can’t hear you in my mind so how can you be part of my hive?” I pouted.

“Your hive was your family, right? We may not be linked with your mind, but family is family. So, think of us as honorary hive members,” Morning replied. I suppose I could do that but I don’t think I’d appreciate this in the long run.

“I-I guess I can d-do that,” I said quietly while looking at my plate.

“Alright, let’s get back to dinner then,” Night said before they broke their embrace and walked back to their seats. “Are you hungry, Chrysalis?”

“I can’t eat this,” I said in an apologetic tone as I finally looked at the food that disgusted me so.

“I never said you had to eat the food, Chrysalis. All I asked was if you were hungry,” Night said.

“Not particularly,” I said sheepishly.

“Then is there anything you’d like to talk about?” Night wondered as the clink of utensils began.

“Depends what the topic is,” I said with a cautious expression.

“That’s why I’m asking you if there’s anything you’d like to talk about, dear,” Night said.

“Well, I don’t know what I’d like to talk about,” I told her with a small shrug.

“Perhaps you could tell us about yourself so you can stop being a ‘stranger’,” Night suggested.

“What’s there to talk about? My own mother died a few months ago so I had to step up to become Queen,” I told them.

“So, there’s nothing else you’d like us to know about you or that we should know beyond your name, race, and that small bit of information?” Morning asked.

“I was born two hundred years ago, I’m a changeling and we’re not really that known amongst the other kingdoms because we mainly like to blend in by taking on their forms and feeding off of their love,” I told him bluntly and hoped he would be satisfied with that.

“Yeah, nothing new besides your age there, honey. I guess we’ll just have to learn more about you day by day,” Morning said with a shrug. Luna glanced at me, but just continued eating her food without saying anything. I didn’t know what to make of that so I just let it be for now.

“One thing my mom told me before she passed on was to beware a white Alicorn. I didn’t know what she meant at the time but now I’m presented with two possible choices. You and Celestia,” I said finally.

“Ah, she probably meant me then. She might have seen the last time I used my true form to fight and warned you because of it,” Morning said as he stared off into the distance.

“That’s a possibility,” I murmured.

“Any idea why she warned you about us?” Celestia asked curiously.

“No, why would I?” I retorted.

“Just wondering if she’d given you a reason or if you had any guesses, that’s all,” Celestia replied.

“No, she didn’t,” I sighed and bowed my head once more.

“So, what did you think of Luna’s true form, Chrysalis?” Night asked.

“It seemed more awe-inspiring than Celestia’s,” I replied thoughtfully and smiled toothily at them, thankful for the change of subject.

“They gained them under different circumstances. Celestia’s is the way it is because of how she was feeling and what was happening at the time. Luna’s is like that for the same reasons, but instead of wanting to frighten or intimidate somepony and being angry she was in awe of the dragon and myself and felt calm once she’d looked at me and how I reacted at the time she gained it,” Night explained.

“So Luna’s is less chaotic than what Celestia’s is because of the different circumstances?” I asked for confirmation.

“Yes, and yours will be affected in the same way if you gain one,” Night confirmed.

“That will be something to see then, won’t it?” I asked sarcastically.

“It might actually be something to see even if you don’t believe it,” Night said with a shrug of her wings. “The future is changeable and even the smallest thing can have a great effect on it.”

“That sounds like something a scroll would say,” I said.

“And something those who get visions say,” Morning replied with a grin before getting elbowed by Night. I blinked at this and looked at Night.

“What did he mean by that?” I asked curiously. Night glared at her husband before sighing.

“I get visions of the future every now and then, Chrysalis,” Night admitted.

“You get visions? How is that even possible?” I asked in shock.

“I do and I’m not sure how it’s possible except to say that Faust gives them to me,” Night replied.

“Say I believe you. What kind of visions do you usually get?” I asked skeptically.

“One’s that I can affect. I saw you and how your death would affect the future. How you would die in the forest after finding this castle and staying away after seeing either Celestia or Morning fly out of it,” Night said as she put her elbows on the table and leaned on them while pressing her forehooves together.

“And you adopted me because of that?” I questioned.

“Yes, but that’s not the entirety of it. Having another cute daughter is nice. Especially one that is closer in age than Celestia and Luna are,” Night said with a smile. I looked at her for a few minutes before finally shaking my head.

“There’s no use in arguing about whether visions are real or not,” I stated calmly.

“No, there truly isn’t. Just remember when times get hard that you can rely on your family to help you. That much of my visions of the future is true,” Night replied.

“I’ll do my best to remember that then,” I said with a nod and was somewhat glad that I had gotten used to the smell without making a disgusted look but eating was an entirely different matter so I figured I’d just let it be for the time being.

“I’m just glad that you seem to be getting along with your sisters despite recent events,” Night replied before saying something under her breath that I didn’t quite catch.

“Recent events being my fight with Luna and what I called Celestia without meaning to?” I asked with narrowed eyes while trying to figure out what she had said after the fact.

“The fight I knew about, but I didn’t know about you calling Celestia anything,” Night admitted as she looked between the three of us. Oops. Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned anything.

“Then what were you referring to?” I asked in an attempt to avoid the obviously implied question.

“The fight and your mental state, dear. If Celestia hasn’t done anything about whatever it was that you called her then I won’t pry,” Night replied.

“Uh-huh,” I said distractedly as I avoided looking at Celestia when Night replied.

“Would you prefer her to do something, Chrysalis? Because that can be arranged,” Night said.

“She said she would teach me how to fight with my hooves and that she would wait until my wounds have healed,” I replied.

“Then I suggest you wear some padding when that happens,” Morning said with a chuckle.

“How hard does she hit?” I said. Okay, now I’m worried.

“Depends on her mood, but she’s the second strongest of the four of us when it comes to physical strength,” Morning explained.

“So … how hard would she hit if I said that she had chubby flanks?” I asked in a hypothetical way.

“Well, she’d be trying to exercise enough to either prove she doesn’t or make sure she doesn’t so...I think I’d wear her down a bit before hand if you’d said that,” Morning said with a grin.

“Well … I may have said that earlier today,” I finally admitted and looked at Celestia apologetically.

“That explains why I didn’t have any practice dummies to hit earlier,” Morning said before Celestia blushed in embarrassment.

“You had no way of knowing and you are injured so don’t worry about it, sister,” Celestia said.

“Right, so I don’t have to worry about calling you ‘fat flanks’ for today?” I asked curiously.

“You now know so try to restrain yourself, please,” Celestia replied.

“I’ll restrain myself then, Sister,” I said with a huff.

“Thank you, Chrysalis. Luna teases me about it enough as it is,” Celestia explained.

“Does she now?” I asked and looked at Luna with a sly smile.

“I don’t know what Sister is talking about. It’s not like I give her random cakes from the kitchens after she gets mad at me or anything,” Luna said in denial.

“You do too! I raise my voice a bit and you show back up with a cake then you tease me about it going right to my flank and affecting how my cutie mark looks,” Celestia replied.

“So you do tease her about it,” I commented drily as I watched them argue back and forth.

“Fine, I admit it, but I’ve gotten used to how she fights and you haven’t as of yet. So, I warned you about teasing her,” Luna admitted with a shrug.

“Ah. I think I’ll need that warning for when she and I begin training,” I said with a small laugh.

“I swear the Royal Patissiere is making more cakes than necessary just to make sure there’s one whenever Luna needs one,” Celestia grumbled.

“Well, it’s wonderful seeing you three get to know each other, but Morning and I have matters to attend to,” Night said with a giggle as she and Morning stood and walked to a door.

“I’ll … see you in the morning, I guess?” I said uncertainly.

“You can always come visit in the throne room, honey. We always make time when one of our daughters wants to talk or needs us for something,” Night said before they disappeared behind the doorframe.

“So … you think the Royal Patisserie is making extras just in case Luna teases you?” I asked when their parents were out of earshot.

“Yes, she doesn’t normally make cake very often, but ever since Luna started using them to get me to not be mad at her the number has increased drastically,” Celestia said as she looked at Luna pointedly.

“She noticed how much you liked her cakes, Celestia. So, she made them more frequently. I just happen to get there before they are served so I can give them to you,” Luna replied.

“She would probably have to increase the number again if you hear me tease you,” I chimed in. Celestia sighed heavily.

“At this rate, I will either get a fat flank or I’ll have two sisters that are constantly in the infirmary,” Celestia said as she ran a hoof down her muzzle.

“Celestia, you’re far too paranoid about getting a fat flank to actually get one and we’ll be fine. You can’t hit what you can’t see after all. Well, not physically,” Luna replied.

“It could be both. You could get a fat flank as well as put both your sisters in the infirmary over and over again,” I said with a shrug. “Luna’s right. You can’t hit us if you can’t physically see us.”

“Luna’s got her shadows so I know about her method, but I don’t know about yours, Chrysalis,” Celestia said.

“You’re gonna love mine,” I grinned before concentrating on the spell without making my horn light up and slowly turned invisible in front of her eyes. I then silently got up with another quick spell and walked behind her without either of them hearing a thing.

“And this is why there’s no magic allowed when we train our physical abilities,” Celestia grumbled as she looked around and swiveled her ears in every direction.

“But you didn’t see my horn light up, did you?” I whispered into one of her ears before quickly running silently to Luna. Celestia jumped out of her chair as she looked at where I had been when I whispered to her.

“No, but that doesn’t mean you didn’t use magic,” Celestia replied. I grinned at her.

“Watch the door,” I whispered to Luna from right next to her before I cast an illusion spell. I walked in through the door that their parents had walked out of and quickly looked around the room.

“Use magic to do what?” I asked with a shocked expression.

“Turn invisible, sneak around, and whisper in my ear causing me to jump out of my chair,” Celestia said to the illusion of me that had walked in.

“What are you talking about? I only just got out of bed,” I told her and carefully walked my illusion up to her.

“Lies. You were here with us for dinner earlier,” Celestia said.

“No, I wasn’t. I was in bed and I’ve only just now found the dining room after getting directions from your parents,” I said firmly.

“One, they’re our parents, sister. Two, with your injuries you’d need somepony to support you as you walk for awhile and three…” Celestia said before casting a spell that encompassed the room. “You’re standing next to Luna.”

“One, even after having a day of getting to know them, it still feels weird to call them my parents as well. Two, I used the wall as I walked about. Three, I’m standing right here,” I said from directly behind her as I canceled out the illusion.

“You were next to Luna when I cast the detect life spell,” Celestia said as she whipped around to face me.

“No, I was standing were that illusion was,” I said and pointed to where my illusion had died.

“Then we either have an intruder and you can mask yourself from detect life spells or you are tricking me again cause I know what my spell told me. There was another life sign next to Luna when I cast it,” Celestia explained.

“Tricking you? Who said I was tricking you?” I asked from beside Luna as my second illusion faded out.

“You basically just admitted you were without outright saying it,” Celestia deadpanned.

“No I wasn’t. All these illusions are just hard to keep track of,” I said in frustration as my third illusion faded out while I leaned heavily against the doorframe our parents had walked out of.

“Chrysalis, the purpose of illusions is to trick somepony whether they’re hard to keep track of or not and whether it’s for fun or not,” Celestia pointed out.

“I never said I was tricking. You just keep thinking I am so try that life-detect spell again,” I told her from beside Luna and subtly faked a beating heartbeat in the illusion against the doorframe.

“No, I don’t have time for these frustrating games of yours,” Celestia said angrily before teleporting away.

“Maybe I took it too far,” I groaned from underneath the table as both illusions faded out and I faded back into existence while rubbing my horn.

“You’re injured. Of course, you took it too far. Let’s get you some rest,” Luna said as she helped me out from under the table.

“I know now that Celestia doesn’t enjoy games, but did you enjoy it? Maybe?” I asked hesitantly as I narrowly missed the tabletop while getting up.

“I did enjoy it and Celestia enjoys games when she knows they’re games. She definitely didn’t know that was a game. I’m actually surprised she didn’t leave earlier considering the amount of studies mom and dad give her,” Luna said.

“Help me back to my room then. I only wanted her to get confused. I didn’t expect the life-detect spell at all,” I said with a disappointed shake of my head. I should learn how to mask my illusions from life-detect spells to make them more realistic.

“Want me to get a cake for you?” Luna asked as she helped me walk back to my room.

“To help calm down Celestia?” I asked back.

“Yeah and only that since teasing her right now might not be the brightest idea,” Luna replied. I nodded at this and sighed as I leaned heavily while walking back.

“Just make sure she knows it’s from me,” I said quietly.

“I’ll have them put ‘From: Chrysalis’ on the top in icing,” Luna replied with a smile.

“Thanks,” I grinned.

Theories and Visions

“How did you learn how to walk into ponies’ dreams?” I asked when I remembered what she did the night before and realized that I didn’t really know how it worked.

“Well, one night I noticed that Celestia was having a nightmare. So, I tried casting a mental calming spell on her, but it didn’t work. So, I tried going into her mind to help her. I ended up in her dreams and was able to interact with her. She wasn’t really happy about it, though,” Luna explained.

“Was it because she was dreaming about cake?” I asked with a giggle.

“Strangely enough, it only had one cake, but it was on fire as a dull yellow Unicorn mare with red and yellow hair glared at her. That mare was with another purple Unicorn and both were bearing down on Celestia. Why Celestia was cowering I don’t know since she could’ve taken both of them easily and then put out the cake,” Luna explained.

“You think that could have been a vision and that’s why she was cowering?” I asked and agreed with Luna about it being a strange dream.

“It’s a possibility. I don’t have enough experience as of yet to say for sure, but it seemed more like a memory dream than a nightmare,” Luna said thoughtfully.

“If it was a memory-dream, then how old did she look? Do you remember?” I questioned.

“Mmm, she was older than she is now and had mom’s ethereal wind blowing mane going on. So, going off of that it had to be a vision. Of what? I can’t say for certain since there were no voices that I could hear,” Luna said as she thought back to that night.

“You couldn’t hear any voices? I thought you were able to hear voices in a dream,” I said confusedly and felt that the best about this was to not tell Celestia that I knew about it.

“I can, but by the time I got close enough to hear they’d stopped talking and were just walking away from Celestia...Wait, they talked to somepony but it was just to get them together before they vanished and the vision ended,” Luna replied.

“Was this mystery fourth pony there, or somewhere completely different?” I asked.

“I assume they were there, but the vision never showed the fourth,” Luna answered.

“So you don’t know what the fourth pony looked like even if they were there,” I said and fell silent for a few moments to think about it.

“Yeah and I wasn’t in the vision. So, something must have happened to me. Then again the room they were in was completely unfamiliar,” Luna said with a thoughtful expression.

“I don’t think you can describe what the fourth pony sounded like but it could have been just a random pony Celestia had a vision of,” I mused.

“I doubt it was a random pony. The fourth knows the two Unicorns and Celestia somehow since the table was set up for tea and there were no guards around,” Luna replied.

“Celestia likes tea?” I asked in disbelief.

“It is another thing that calms her beside cake and it’s healthier so she has tea on a regular basis,” Luna explained.

“Okay, I did not expect that but I suppose it makes sense. So, we know that the fourth pony knows the two Unicorns and Celestia somehow. We know that the two Unicorns called on the fourth pony to make them vanish or something. I’m assuming vision-Celestia expected them so she set up a tea party. Am I missing anything?” I asked.

“Only the fact that the Unicorns didn’t seem to like Celestia since they were glaring at her,” Luna answered.

“Add that onto the rest and we most likely have a family of ponies that hate Celestia. If not, then a very small group of them,” I concluded.

“I’m going to say, group, since neither mare seemed to look anything like each other,” Luna said.

“They didn’t? No hint of resemblance whatsoever other than them being Unicorns?” I asked in surprise.

“Coloration, horn length, manes, tails, and eyes were all different. The only thing similar was their height, but that’s common of all ponies outside of Alicorns and you,” Luna noted.

“That rules the family theory out then,” I said neutrally. “Cutie marks wouldn’t match up anyway. Did you hear what the fourth pony sounded like?”

“Mmm, no...I know you already got mad at me for this, but are there any other hives?” Luna asked hesitantly.

“I’m too wrapped up in this fourth pony to worry about that at the moment,” I said reassuringly. “No, there aren’t. I was speaking the truth about that when you found me. If there were, do you think I would be wandering the forest?”

“Wasn’t sure if the other hives, if they existed, had their own Queens or not,” Luna explained. “The reason I ask is because the mares said ‘let’s get back to the hive’ before they vanished.”

“‘Let’s get back to the hive’? But that’s impossible! There aren’t any other hives out there and mine was the last one to go,” I said in shock.

“Perhaps they found it and are using it as a base of operations?” Luna guessed.

“If they will, then they can have it,” I said with a laugh.

“Um, do any other races have this?” Luna asked and tapped a hoof against a part of my chitin. I glanced at where she touched and thought about it.

“If they did … then they aren’t part of this landmass because as far as I know, mine’s the only race that has this,” I said and gestured to my chitin.

“Okay, the family theory is back in the ring then,” Luna said as we got to my room.

“Why is it back in the ring? I thought we threw it way out of the ring to never be seen again,” I said while I had a sneaking suspicion that Luna was going to say something ridiculous.

“I remembered that the two mares’ images flickered at times and when they did this appeared on their bodies before they flickered back to normal,” Luna said and once more tapped my chitin. I climbed up onto my bed when we got to it and I laid down facing her.

“That sounds like when one of my illusions flickers out when something compromises them,” I said in thought.

“I think that the event Celestia saw has two versions to it. One where they have the black armor and one where they don’t,” Luna said.

“So if those two Unicorns have black chitinous armor, then that means they could be siblings, right? If they don’t, then what would that mean?” I asked.

“They could be siblings which is why the family theory is back in the ring. If they don’t then… who knows,” Luna said with a shrug.

“Since we’ve come to a stop on the second theory, maybe the fourth pony was a parent or something,” I suggested with a shrug.

“Perhaps, but the only one I know of with chitinous armor is, well, you. So, unless there’s another changeling out there somewhere that’d mean you’re the parent of the armored version of the mares at the very least,” Luna reasoned.

“That … um … that sounds possible but there’s never been a pony/changeling hybrid before. I only just met you two anyway so how could I be the parent?” I asked.

“Can you change into a stallion and impregnate ponies that way?” Luna wondered.

“Theoretically, I can … but it’d be just so weird to be one that I’d never even bother using it,” I said with an involuntary shudder.

“Then it seems you’d become pregnant during a heat cycle by some stallion when you can’t control yourself properly,” Luna replied with a shrug of her wings as she laid down on the floor. I looked at my bed to see how big it was and realized that it was big enough to fit two ponies relatively comfortably.

“Why don’t you lie down up here? It’s big enough for both of us,” I suggested.

“I didn’t want to accidentally bump you. So, I laid down here,” Luna replied as she stood and gingerly got onto the bed and laid down next to me. “So, you get rutted by a stallion during heat, twice, and have those two mares with chitin armor unless there’s another changeling out there that you don’t know of and aren’t connected to.”

“Let me tell you something about changeling heat. For the duration, and for whatever reason, the heat locks us in whichever form we happen to be in,” I said and looked at her. “It could happen but I highly doubt there’s another changeling out there.”

“So is you having the first two pony/changeling hybrids, but that seems highly unlikely right now as well,” Luna pointed out.

“True. Then again, you did say that Celestia had a mane like mom’s, so, this could happen many years down the track,” I said with a wave of my hoof.

“Yeah, it probably will since the room they were in isn’t in this castle,” Luna replied.

“Since that’s the most likely case, we don’t need to worry about it even though it’s an extremely scary thought to have,” I told her with a nod.

“The only real part I’m worried about is what happened to me since I wasn’t in it and I can’t see Celestia having tea in that kind of setting without me. I’d say ‘us’, but you’re already there theoretically,” Luna said.

“If I am there, then what happened to make Celestia and I hate each other? Or at least make me hate her?” I asked.

“Well, I can think of one way she’d start hating you,” Luna said with a grin.

“Me teasing her too much about her liking cake?” I guessed.

“And the illusions from earlier,” Luna added.

“But that would theoretically cause her to hate me, and not me to hate her,” I pointed out before resting my head on my crossed forelegs.

“If you get her to hate you then she’ll most likely do something to make you hate her. It’s the vicious cycle of revenge that never ends unless the parties involved sit down and work things out,” Luna said.

“Answer me this one then. Why would I get my theoretical foals to hate Celestia as much as I do? It wouldn’t make sense,” I said.

“You were still in the revenge cycle and they grew to hate her because you already hated her and foals take on characteristics of their parents whether it’s odd habits or how the parent thinks about things. So long as it happens or is voiced around the foals they can copy it until they figure out their own likes and dislikes,” Luna explained.

“So I corrupt my own hypothetical foals without meaning to. Great,” I groaned and smushed my face into the bed covers.

“It could also be something that Celestia herself did to make them hate her, but this is all theoreticals anyway,” Luna said.

“Theories and hypotheses aren’t anything to sneeze at,” I told her. “Still, they should be taken with a grain of salt because they are just theories after all.”

“If this is a future event, and we’ve decided it is, then it might not even happen and those two mares might not even be born,” Luna pointed out.

“That is certainly true as well,” I said with a small yawn. “Um … you probably don’t want to … but … can you … sleep with me tonight?”

“Hmm, sleep by myself or have a sleepover with my new sister. Hmm, that’s a tough one,” Luna said with a smile. “Well, I thought long and hard about it and I’ll sleep here tonight.”

“Th-Thanks. I’m not … exactly used to … sleeping by myself,” I replied nervously.

“Ah, you’re the type who always has a stallion to sleep with,” Luna said with a giggle. What!? Why would she think that!?

“No … I’m just used to the hive in my head and now that they’re gone, it’s just really lonely,” I clarified with a look of horror.

“Sorry, I know I said I wouldn’t try to joke with you, but I couldn’t help that one. I figured you meant that,” Luna said as she rubbed the back of her neck ashamedly. I sighed and repositioned myself so I was on one side of the bed with the covers over me.

“I know, but that was just a terrible joke,” I remarked.

“Yeah, sorry,” Luna said as she got herself comfortable before lighting her horn and looking towards the sky.

“What are you doing?” I wondered when I noticed this if she was actually raising the moon like she said she did.

“Raising the moon and creating the night sky,” Luna answered and let her horn die out after a few moments. I was too tired to respond so I just nodded and brushed one of her wings with my magic before falling asleep.

Stealthy Mechanics

I don’t remember my bed shaking when I fell asleep. I groaned and tossed in bed before presumably facing the wall and tried to get back to sleep. My bed shook again and I groaned without opening my eyes.

“Why is the bed shaking?” I asked in a growl. I was not a morning pony.

“Because I didn’t want to leave you and you’ve been asleep all day. It’s nearly lunch time now,” Luna explained. Turns out I’m not an afternoon pony either. My eyes snapped open and I glared at the wall.

“Nearly lunch time, huh?” I asked sarcastically.

“Yeah, I actually tried leaving for breakfast, but you started tossing and turning the moment I wasn’t next to you,” Luna said. I breathed and slowly rose until I was sitting on my haunches and looked at Luna blearily.

“Did I really do that?” I asked with a tired look.

“Yes, you did. You calmed back down when I laid down next to you again,” Luna said as she sat up next to me. I rubbed my face and looked at her again until she swam into focus. That was a bit disconcerting.

“How do you know it’s nearly lunch time then if you’ve stayed with me all this time?” I asked skeptically.

“Because there’s not as much light getting into the room right now. Meaning that the sun is overhead instead of angled to shine into the room,” Luna said as she gestured to the length of the shadows and amount of light in the room the windows provided. I stared at the waning light and rubbed one of my ears.

“Let’s go to lunch then,” I grumbled when my hoof landed back on the bed.

“Okay, how’re you feeling?” Luna asked as she hopped off the bed. I felt a pain in my chest when I moved off the bed but my legs felt relatively fine, if it wasn’t for the limp when I walked around the bed to her.

“There’s a pain in my chest when I move and my legs are actually starting to feel quite wobbly” I told her before falling onto my front as my forelegs gave out. Luna let out a little noise of alarm before quickly helping me up and supporting me.

“It doesn’t seem like you can walk on your own right now. So, get back in bed and I’ll have a servant bring you some food,” Luna said in concern. I went to protest but closed my jaw before hopping back up onto my bed. I laid down with my head facing the door and Luna before resting in my crossed forehooves.

“I don’t think I can teach you when I’m like this,” I said in concern.

“Not unless you can teach while laying there,” Luna replied before remembering something. “Oh, wait. You don’t eat food, but you need nourishment to heal. Hmm, suggestions?”

I thought about it and frowned. Love won’t cut it so … I guess I can handle food for a bit.

“I haven’t even tried eating food but I know you giving me love won’t heal me as much as actual food does,” I told her after a while of thinking.

“So, a mixture of love and food then?” Luna wondered. I shook my head.

“Love is what we eat to get our nutrients but it doesn’t do a thing to heal our bodies. That’s when we have to actually eat food but I’ve never had this extent of injuries before so it’s something I never really had a problem with,” I explained before giving a short puff of breath from my nose.

“Alright, is there anything you’d prefer to try? I know the smell of the food yesterday made you sick, but perhaps there was one smell that was more tolerable than the others,” Luna said. Now that she mentioned it, there was a smell that was slightly more tolerable than the others but I can’t put my hoof on what it was.

“There was, but I can’t really remember. All the smells seemed to collect together into one overall smell,” I said sheepishly.

“Hmm, that makes sense. Was there a food that looked better to you?” Luna said with a thoughtful expression.

“Out of all the food that I could see, I liked the look of the corn but I don’t know if that was the smell I had tolerated,” I replied with an uncertain look.

“Well, it’s something to start with. So, I’ll have some corn brought to you and if it turns out that you can’t stand the smell of it explain so to the servant, as kindly as possible, and he or she will do what they can to help you,” Luna said and began walking to the door. I gave her a smile before sighing.

“You’ll be joining your family for lunch then?” I asked.

“For a bit, then I’ll return here with some food for both of us, just in case,” Luna said with a smile as she looked over her shoulder at me. I nodded in return.

“Okay. I’ll just be here then,” I said.

“I’d say rest well, but you’ve already done so for quite awhile today,” Luna said with a chuckle before opening the door and walking out. “I will return shortly.”

When she left, I closed the door behind her and idly moved my hoof in circles on the bedspread. Out of reflex, I went to contact one of my drones but quickly remembered that nopony would answer. I stopped my hoof circling and rested my head again with a frown. I would have amused myself with different activities to do but my injuries prevented me from doing any of those.

I snapped out my miserable monologue when my bedroom door opened to let in one of those servants that Luna mentioned.

“Excuse me, ma’am. I was told by Princess Luna to bring you some corn, butter and salt. Where would you like me to place the tray?” the mare asked as she held the tray steady in her magic while she shaked slightly upon seeing me. I subtly sniffed the air and was thankful that this combination of food didn’t want to make my stomach revolt.

“I’ll take the tray. Can you thank Princess Luna for me?” I asked as my magic took the tray over a split second after her red magical field left it and I somewhat felt glad that she shook when she first saw me.

“O-Of course, ma’am. Th-The corn is unbuttered since we weren’t sure how much you’d like,” the mare said as she slowly backed out of the room before bolting as she closed the door behind her. I chuckled to myself and brought the tray over to me after scooting back a bit to make room for the tray.

Now that the food was directly in front of me, I cautiously sniffed it again just to be sure, and was glad that I could actually tolerate the smell. I stared at the butter and salt and rubbed my cheek with a hoof. Isn’t butter meant to be salted already? Avoiding the salt, I poked my tongue out of the corner of my muzzle as I concentrated on the corn and did my best to butter it with my magic. It didn’t work out well as practically half the butter ended up on the corn and the rest of it either around the tray, on my bed, or on the bandages on my chest.

Frowning at this, I wasn’t sure what to do with the puddles of butter other than to gather it in my magic and put it back on the tray with the salt even though a yellow stain stayed on my front where it had struck the bandages. Bringing the corn up to my muzzle, I opened my mouth and took a bite just as my bedroom door opened again. Please don’t let it be that scared servant again.

“Pardon me, miss. It occurred to us that we’d forgotten to give you a drink,” a stallion servant said as he opened the door and stood in the doorway.

“A drink?” I asked with a head tilt after swallowing my bite of corn.

“Yes, ma’am. Would you prefer water, juice, tea, perhaps something a bit stronger than those?” the stallion asked. I blinked and stared at him neutrally. Something stronger sounds good about now.

“Perhaps something stronger?” I asked him.

“A beverage with alcohol in it. We have mead, wine, whiskey, or scotch,” he replied. I thought of the options and realized what they were so I went with the first one.

“Some mead sounds good to me,” I told him with a fanged grin.

“Very well. I will be back with some mead for you, miss Chrysalis,” the stallion said calmly as his eyes widened just a tad at the sight of my fangs before he left and closed the door behind him. He wasn’t skittish like the mare was. Shame. I shrugged to myself and took another bite, happy that I could actually taste the melted butter and the corn instead of something dreadful like ashes. Maybe this whole food thing isn’t so bad after all.

When I was about halfway through the corn, my door opened for the third time. I looked up curiously and stared at the stallion from earlier.

“Yes?” I asked him.

“Your flagon of mead, ma’am,” the stallion said as he trotted in with a flagon on his back. My eyes widened at the sight of the flagon and nodded slowly.

“Oh, thank you. I’ll take that,” I said nervously before my magic enveloped the flagon and lifted it off of his back.

“Is there anything else we can bring you as you recover, ma’am?” he asked. I shook my head at him.

“No, I’m fine for now,” I replied as I put the flagon on the floor in front of me.

“Very well. Um, th-there was one other thing that Queen Night asked me to do for you,” the stallion admitted as he inched closer to me.

“What did she ask?” I asked him in surprise. My eyes widened and I watched him inch a bit closer than before.

“Sh-She asked me, well, told me to do this,” the stallion said before quickly coming over and giving me a kiss on the cheek before quickly exiting my room with a blush on his muzzle. I looked at the closed door in shock and blinked a few times. What is up with the servants? Was it my appearance or something? I went back to eating but kept my eye on the door in case yet another servant decided to help me with something.

“How’s the corn and mead, Chryssie?” Luna asked as she entered my room with a couple plates of food in her magic.

“I like the corn and butter, but I wasn’t too sure about the salt so I left that alone. I splashed some butter around when I tried to put it on the corn and I am yet to try the mead,” I replied as I looked up at her. “How was it?”

“Lunch was well, but I got a bit of a talking to from mother,” Luna said as she tried to hold back her laughter at the sight of the butter all over the place. I stared at Luna trying to hold it in and sighed in self-disappointment.

“How bad does it look?” I grumbled before replying to her. “Did she give you a talking to because you missed breakfast?” I guessed.

“It looks as if you fought the butter instead of spreading it, Chryssie,” Luna said with a quiet chuckle before taking a breath to calm herself before looking depressed. “She told me I should have known to wait longer before mentioning what I had yesterday.”

“Uh huh,” I grunted before taking a swig of mead and immediately felt light headed. It left a burning sensation in the back of my throat and I nearly gagged. “Despite you being impatient, why didn’t you wait longer?”

“You were sad about it and I thought talking about it would make you feel better,” Luna said ashamedly as she made circles on the floor with a hoof. I felt like hitting her for bringing it up again but my light headedness put a stop to that.

“Like I said yesterday, wait a lot longer until I’m able to talk about it and when I am, I’ll bring it up. Okay?” I asked her with a pointed look.

“I know what you said, but you asked me a question and I was answering it. That’s all,” Luna huffed. I huffed myself and resumed eating. When I swallowed, I watched her fidget.

“Do you want to ask something?” I wondered.

“You’re just going to get angry again if I do,” Luna answered.

“Ask or I really will get angry,” I pointed out.

“Fine, would you tell me more about the ‘hive mind’ you mentioned as well as about your race?” Luna asked quietly. My eyes widened and I was about to go off at her but realized that she was asking general questions instead of about the death of my hive. I breathed slowly after finishing off the corn and put the tray near the door with my magic.

“I’ll tell you those things if you can help me clean this butter up,” I told her carefully.

“Deal,” Luna said with a grin as she started to clean up the butter with her magic. I did my best to help but quickly remembered that I didn’t know any cleaning spells. Maybe I should look them up when I’m recovered. We finished and with the trat by the door and half-full flagon of mead on the floor, Luna joined me on the bed.

“So, what did you want to know?” I asked hesitantly.

“Well, I’d like to learn a bit more about that ‘hive mind’ you mentioned last night, but if you feel uncomfortable answering something then tell me and we’ll move on to something else,” Luna said as she fidgeted her wings nervously.

“Okay, I can do that. The hive mind is, was, a collective consciousness. Everypony’s mind was connected to one another and the Queen controlled them all at her own leisure,” I told her as I slowly buzzed my wings to make an annoying buzzing sound.

“Wish we had that for our ponies. It’d make things so much easier,” Luna grumbled as she rubbed her ear closest to my wings. I looked at Luna, then my wings and slowed them to a stop with a dark blush.

“Sorry. I’m just a bit agitated,” I admitted.

“I’m nervous about talking about this with you as well. So, I can understand,” Luna said as she stopped fidgeting her wings. I was grateful that she shared in my discomfort before doing my best to explain further.

“You know how the hive mind sort of works. It can be used to communicate to anypony within the hive. The Queen gives them orders, and they follow them whether they want to, or not, and no private thoughts. Everypony’s thoughts are out in the open for everypony to see if they’re connected to the mind.”

“Hmm, not sure I like my thoughts not being private, but it seems quite convenient for communicating,” Luna commented. “What else is there to know about changelings as a race, Chryssie?”

I rested my head on my crossed forehooves and stared at the door with half-lidded eyes. I wasn’t sure what to tell her because I barely know anything about my species myself.

“They live in hives, they look like bugs taken pony form, they can blend in by changing into whichever species is needed, they feed off of emotions, they don’t really need that much to live on, they don’t need petty possessions and they need to be in a group otherwise … something will happen. I forgot the last one,” I frowned at the door as I listed off what I remembered changelings could do.

“So, what’s your most favorite species to turn into?” Luna asked curiously. I smiled wryly and laughed.

“I haven’t turned into any species other than Pegasi!” I said before laughing uncontrollably. Luna simply smiled warmly as I laughed. When I calmed down, my chest stung from the laughter and I smiled with another small laugh. “I haven’t bothered changing into another species and I haven’t observed any other species for long enough to actually turn into them.”

“Mm, I’m just glad you laughed, Chryssie,” Luna said kindly.

“I can still teach you if we practice in here but … thank you … for getting me to laugh,” I said hesitantly and rubbed my cheek with a hoof.

“After making you angry and failing with my jokes, I’m really happy to lift your mood,” Luna explained as she set a plate in front of me that was full of assorted foods. “What do you suggest we start with while we’re in this room and you’re recovering?”

I looked between the food and Luna before raising a brow. “While I try to figure out if I like this kind of food or not, we can try and get your invisibility spell working.”

“Okay, how do I cast the spell?” Luna wondered. It was second nature to me but I gestured to the space between my bed and my door.

“Stand there and look at me. Try to imagine yourself not being in the room without actually leaving it,” I said unsurely. “This would be a lot better with the spellbook but I believe that was destroyed years ago,” I muttered to myself.

“Right, imagine myself not here while not leaving,” Luna said as she went to where I’d indicated and lit her horn as she closed her eyes. Different portions of Luna turned invisible one after another after a few moments and continued to do so.

“Another way of going about it could be imagining yourself being cloaked in various light rays,” I said thoughtfully before looking at the various bits of food. There were peas, a lump of mashed potatoes, a pile of olives, some bread and a couple of eggs. Hesitantly smelling the food, to my surprise the smell didn’t actually bother me. I looked up at Luna from my inspection of the food and saw different parts of her body still turning invisible. “How’s it going?”

“I’m trying to imagine myself cloaked in various light rays now. So, hopefully, that’ll do it,” Luna said as she slowly faded until she was completely invisible. My eyes widened and blinked. I didn’t expect her to get it that quickly!

“Luna? You still here?” I asked in surprise.

“Yeah, am I invisible? I’ve still got my eyes closed,” Luna said.

“You most definitely are. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have asked if you were still here,” I told her and prodded the spot where I last saw Luna with my magic.

“Hey, that tickles,” Luna said with a giggle as she reappeared.

“You did it. You managed to go invisible,” I said, still shocked about her quick learning. It took me roughly four years to finally master it and she got it down in an hour!

“Imagining myself wrapped in light is similar to a shadow spell I know so it was easier that way than I had expected,” Luna said as she wrapped herself in shadow, creating a pitch black silhouette of her body.

“Yeah, I can see that,” I muttered. “If that’s the case, then maybe you’ll be able to master the other stealth techniques a lot faster than I did.”

“Maybe, but mastering the spell is different from actually using it. So, you’ll probably remain better at them than I am,” Luna replied with a thoughtful expression.

“That remains to be seen,” I told her with narrowed eyes. “The next spell is just a silencing spell that’s directed at your hooves,” I said quickly.

“Alright, how does that one work?” Luna asked as she looked down at her hooves.

“Do you know how to create a soundproofing barrier?” I shot back, before immediately looking down at my plate and idly gnawed on a piece of bread.

“Yeah, I use it when Celestia is being long winded. So, I just direct that to my hooves?” Luna replied as she tilted her head a bit, continuing to look at her hooves. I nodded my head.

“It’s a miniature soundproof barrier placed around your hooves. It covers your horseshoes so that they don’t make any noise when they step,” I explained after swallowing the bread.

“Okay, let’s see how this goes,” Luna said and cast the barrier on her hooves. She tried walking in place and made no sound, but frowned. “It’s four barriers, one around each hoof, right?”

“Right but that’s just the basis of the silencing spell. Basically, you make the barriers as thin as possible but they’re still around your hooves. Except for the fact that they’re so thin that you can’t see them,” I shrugged.

“Right, better work on getting each hoof in a barrier instead of one big barrier for all of them then,” Luna said and began casting again. I saw her begin casting four at once and I sighed.

“Try focusing on one hoof first. Once you get that down, just duplicate that for the other three hooves,” I informed her before chewing on some of the olives. They were salty but I surprisingly liked the taste of them.

“Oh, okay,” Luna said as she cast the barrier on a single hoof and began to thin it down only for it to break from becoming too thin. “This is going to take a while.”

“Why do you think I only said to focus on one?” I asked with a giggle.

“R-Right, is there any trick to thinning the barrier without making it too thin?” Luna wondered as she continued working on the barrier and thinning it.

“There isn’t. You just have to find the right thickness,” I grinned toothily before getting an idea. While Luna was concentrating on her hoof, I lit up my horn and slammed my bedroom door shut before turning invisible. Luna jumped as she twirled around to look at the door before looking towards me and tilting her head to the side in confusion when she didn’t see me anymore.

“Did she turn invisible or did she teleport somewhere?” Luna mumbled to herself as she looked around for any sign of me. I grinned to myself and lit up my horn to amplify my voice so that it would echo around the room.

“Depends. She may have been an illusion that wanted to take you and your family over. She probably didn’t want anything to do with you. So which one is more likely? The explanation I just gave, or whatever you thought?” I asked.

“Which is more likely? Probably yours, but I like mine better. So, I choose to believe mine until proven otherwise,” Luna said as her ears swiveled back and forth as she tried to find the source of my echoing voice. My laughter echoed around the room. Now it was time for a bit of fun.

“Oh, you poor little pony. Did you really expect your ‘sister’ to stick around?” I asked in a childish voice.

“So, this is how you choose to repay everything? By mocking me and how I feel? Fine, my new sister is gone and is replaced by a being who needs to be beaten. Prepare yourself for our next encounter,” Luna said in a hurt voice with tears in her eyes before teleporting away. I admit, that may have been a bit harsh but I wanted to see how far I could push her. Maybe this was too far. Uncloaking myself, I stared at the spot where Luna had been only seconds ago and did my best to concentrate on her teleportation exit.

Breathing slowly, I lit my horn up and felt the world collapse around me before it coalesced into a single point in my vision. Then it widened rapidly and I was suddenly next Luna, still laying down on the floor. Not willing to look at her, I rested my head on my forehooves to look at the room instead.

The walls were coated to make them look like the night sky at midnight. The ceiling had depictions of various constellations which I could scarce even recognise. Her bed was a dark blue to match her coat and the pillows seemed to match. The bed itself looked like it had four posts on each corner with a black canopy that was dotted with stars. I couldn’t tell what was on the other side of the bed but on my side was a wooden table.

“Sorry for saying what I did. I didn’t expect you to begin crying,” I told her from the floor. Luna flickered before dissolving into nothing. An illusion. I couldn’t predict that and she made it seem so real. Now I’m left wondering where the real Luna is.

“Luna? Are you even in here?” I asked the room out loud.

“I expected you to come after me, but not so quickly, Chrysalis. I didn’t think you’d want to encounter me so soon after you revealed your ‘true self’,” Luna’s voice came from around me. She copied my trick. That’s cute.

“Why wouldn’t I after realizing I had made you cry, or was that an illusion as well?” I asked snippily; my ears swiveling on instinct to catch the source of the echoes.

“That was no illusion, Chrysalis, but it seems your entire time with me was,” Luna replied with a bit of venom in her voice.

“No, my time with you wasn’t an illusion. I genuinely enjoyed getting to know you despite that hiccup yesterday,” I told her and grunted when my chest flared up in pain again. How badly did she hit me yesterday!?

“Then you lie far too well because I believe both of your explanations. Oh, your chest is probably going to keep hurting for quite awhile. See, I took my time to aim each shot and to put a little more power into them in hopes you’d yield sooner. I guess I should have just finished you if you were just going to try to take over the family,” Luna replied as I saw a shadowy figure moving about the room rapidly. My eyes flicked from spot to spot as I watched the figure flash between locations in the room.

“I only lie so well because changelings are meant to lie exceptionally well otherwise what’s the point of being stealthy?” I asked rhetorically. “Maybe you should have but you heard your father. He was suspicious of me as well and found my hive to see if my story checked out.”

“He did, but you don’t want to talk about that subject, do you? No, you’d rather fight me than talk about that,” Luna said as more shadowy figures appeared around the room.

“You’re right on both accounts,” I said calmly and tried to stand up but my legs were still too wobbly so I just flopped back onto the floor. “I didn’t mean what I said back in my room. I just wanted to see how far I could push you.”

“Well, now you know. I’ve only ever used this tactic in sparring sessions, but nopony has been able to figure out which figure is me,” Luna explained as the figures began to switch places with each other. I grunted and lifted my head to look at the shifting Lunas. When they stopped, I looked at each of them carefully before firing a beam of magic at the one on my left. The figure blew apart and dissolved into shadows around the room. “Good guess, but no prize, Chrysalis. Do you like being toyed with?”

I don’t, but I kept silent and fired another beam at the one directly in front of me. Once again the figure blew apart and dispersed to shadows around the room.

“So, you’d still rather fight than talk. So be it,” Luna said as the figures disappeared and everything around me turned pitch black. I immediately lit my horn up to get some light going but the darkness just seemed to swallow it up.

“I’d rather talk but I’m scared I’ll shout at you,” I growled.

“Why would you be afraid of shouting at me when you’ve already tried to blow me away with your magic?” Luna wondered.

“Because I don’t want to hurt you even more than I already have,” I admitted through gritted fangs.

“And yet you already tried to by trying to blast me. Oh, and welcome back to the shadow realm,” Luna replied. I snorted at this and continued staring straight ahead.

“I knew those weren’t you and you obviously weren’t listening to what I was saying,” I told her with a frown.

“I listened, but where do the lies stop and the truth begins?” Luna countered.

“You’ll just have to trust me, which at the moment is saying a lot,” I replied.

“Trust you? Trust is something that you build up, but is easily broken. So, how am I supposed to trust you?” Luna said from behind me. I jumped at the sudden location of the voice and swivelled my head to look at Luna over my shoulder.

“You can’t. Nopony trusts changelings so I don’t expect you to either,” I told her with a glare.

“I don’t care if you’re a changeling, Chrysalis. What species you are doesn’t factor into this. Only what you’ve said and done,” Luna said as she disappeared into the darkness again. I turned back to the front with a sigh.

“What have I done that makes you not trust me then?” I asked.

“Fight me for a simple stupid mistake and lie to me just to see how far you can ‘push’ me,” Luna answered as she walked out in front of me. I blinked and huffed.

“If that’s the case then what can I do to make you trust me? Not lie?” I asked with a pursed muzzle.

“No, because I can’t tell your lies from the truth anyway, I had trusted you before you pushed me, though,” Luna admitted. She had a point and I guess I did push her a bit far.

“How can I earn your trust back then?” I asked.

“Mmm...This may seem like a contradictory, but tell me a secret of yours that you haven’t told anypony else,” Luna said after a bit of thought as she brought us back into her room.

“Why? What’s that meant to prove?” I asked skeptically with narrowed eyes.

“That you trust me enough to keep a secret,” Luna answered. I kept my eyes narrowed as I tried to think of a secret that nopony else knew. Considering the only ponies I’ve actually talked to are Luna, her family, my mother and my drones, that’s not really saying a lot.

“Fine, you want to know a secret? My mom kept me sheltered and in the hive. I didn’t know anything about the outside world until a few months ago when I became Queen. Happy?” I snarled.

“Kinda. We seem to be in a cycle of one of us being angry at the other. So, that’s bringing down the mood,” Luna said with a neutral expression.

“So what?” I snapped.

“So, we’re either pretty close or so far apart it’d take a day to fly over the gap,” Luna replied.

“To that, I say both. We’re close in terms of clashing personalities but so far apart we’re not even bothering to bridge the gap,” I said simply, all anger flowing out of me when I realised Luna wasn’t going to hit me again.

“Any suggestions for fixing that then? I’ve only got experience interacting with family and servants,” Luna said as she put me on her bed and joined me. I got myself comfortable and leaned against her.

“I could still teach you about how to conceal yourself but you seem to be good at that already,” I replied with a short bark of harsh laughter. “Other than that, no suggestions from me.”

“Concealment is a basic skill for using shadows,” Luna said with a shrug. “Hmm, tell each other stories about ourselves?”

I shook my head at this. “I don’t think so. I don’t really want to share my past,” I mumbled.

“Figured as much, but also figured I’d suggest it, just in case,” Luna replied before gaining a quizzical expression. “ Hmm...something to bridge the gap or at least lessen it.”

“Maybe play a prank on Celestia?” I suggested. It was the only thing I could really think of that may help us bridge this gap.

“It’s a start and that’s what we need to most right now,” Luna said with a nod. “It has to be funny otherwise it’s not worth it.”

“Can making her angry be a part of that?” I asked hopefully.

“It can, but that seems like more of a bonus for you,” Luna said with a chuckle. I tilted my head from side to side before grinning.

“That may be, but, we can figure out a prank on our way to wherever she is,” I said with a playful smile.

“Trying to get your sister angry for a prank already, you two?” Night said as she appeared from thin air. I teleported to behind Luna’s bed at the sudden appearance of Luna’s mother. This is going so well.

“Um, hi, ma’am,” I said nervously.

“It may take awhile for you to get used to, but you can call me ‘mom’, Chrysalis,” Night said calmly. “You do remember how Celestia got her true form, right?” I gulped and nodded slowly before giving a weak chuckle.

“S-Sorry. Luna told me that Celestia got her true form by protecting Luna,” I replied quietly.

“It’s alright. I just didn’t want you getting more hurt than you already are just to play a prank. Speaking of, how’s everything feeling?” Night inquired.

“My chest gives random spikes of pain and I can barely stand but other than that, I’m fine,” I answered and looked at the back of Luna’s head for a few seconds.

“Hmm, you should have those bandages changed, I think applying some new salves would help as well,” Night said thoughtfully. I looked down at my bandages and was slightly surprised to see a bit of red in the middle of my chest, soaking through the bandages and making them sticky.

“I guess Luna hit me harder than we both thought because this looks like blood to me,” I said carefully as I pointed to the spot on my torso.

“It does. Have you been resting properly?” Night inquired. Let’s see. How long did I rest?

“I rested for most of the day today … Luna slept with me last night to keep me calm and she missed breakfast because of that … I believe I have been sleeping properly,” I said slowly.

“So, you haven’t done any strenuous activities that would reopen or make your wounds worse?” Night asked.

“I did walk a bit before my front forelegs gave out,” I replied and looked up at Luna’s mother when Luna turned her head towards me.

“You hitting the floor might have reopened the wound on your chest,” Luna said. I blinked and stared at Luna before observing the slowly spreading red on my chest.

“It may have but I don’t think I hit the floor hard enough before you caught me,” I said.

“Well, whether it did or not isn’t important. What’s important is that we get you back to the infirmary to treat your wounds again,” Night said in concern before teleporting the three of us into the infirmary. “We need a healer to look at these wounds, now!” At Night’s shout, a trio of ponies trotted over and began undoing the old bandages to examine my injuries.

When my bandages were peeled off, I hissed at the pain and couldn’t stop myself from looking down at my wound. What I could see of it was some shiny substance sticking to my chitin so whatever Luna did in her true form must have cracked the chitin itself and hit the flesh beneath it.

“There appears to be some burned tissue that is keeping the wound from healing as quickly as it would otherwise. Then again, her physiology isn’t the same as what we have trained to treat,” one of the ponies, the one who seemed oldest of the trio and most likely in charge, commented as he sent one of the others to gather some medical supplies. “Miss, have you ever had an injury like this before?”

“No, I haven’t had any injury like this before,” I said scathingly. The pain was most likely affecting how I talked around others.

“Hmm, very well. We will treat you like a regular pony and change what we’re doing if that doesn’t work,” the stallion said calmly as the medical supplies arrived. “Do you have any allergies we need to worry about before beginning?” I shook my head at the medical pony. “Perfect, we’ll apply some salve to the wound and then redress it. If the bandages become dirty or soaked through then come back and we’ll change them for you.” The trio then set about putting the salve onto my wound and redressing it before checking my other injuries. My legs seemed fine but just in case, they applied some more salve to them and redressed them. I looked at my chest, then at Luna, narrowing my eyes.

“You really wanted me to yield, didn’t you?” I asked sarcastically.

“Why didn’t you yield earlier if it was this bad, Chrysalis?” Night wondered.

“I think I said I wouldn’t yield until I … had my hive back,” I said hesitantly.

“So, you still haven’t yielded then,” Night replied.

“I did … because I realised I would have died if I didn’t yield,” I told her simply.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t have lost consciousness first?” Night asked with a smile. I shook my head at her. I knew that no matter what I did, Luna would have killed me regardless of me being her new sister or not. “Hmm, you need to learn more about your sister then.”

“Obviously,” I snarked.

“No need to be snarky, dear. If you had lost consciousness then Luna would have brought you here. Our family has more honor in it than to kill somepony who’s no longer able to fight,” Night explained. Luna nodded her head with her eyes closed at this. I looked at them both, closed my eyes and sighed before lowering my head onto the bed.

“Well, we will leave you to get some rest,” Night said as she ushered Luna toward the exit. The three medical ponies had gone back to their other tasks as well by this time.

“See you later then,” I mumbled quietly.

“Oh, is there anything we can bring you to pass the time or help you change locations?” Night called after she’d stopped. I shook my head before burying my head in my forehooves to try and get to sleep. “Very well, but do let us know if there is anything we can do for you.” Only one set of hooves was heard leaving the infirmary.

“Who’s still there?” I mumbled through my hooves and wondered if Luna was still here or if she just went through the shadows instead of walking.

“Your sister,” Luna said from nearby.

“Why? I thought you would have let me tried to get some sleep?” I asked.

“I am, but I’m also going to watch over your dreams so your sleep is pleasant,” Luna replied as the creak of a bed next to me was heard. I rubbed my nose with a hoof before subtly relaxing.

“Okay,” I said through a yawn before settling down to sleep again.

“I hope you have wonderful dreams, sister,” Luna said quietly.

Hide and Seek

“Why do you keep shaking me awake?” I mumbled tiredly as I felt myself move from side to side rapidly.

“You’d sleep all day otherwise. Do you have a more preferred method of waking you up?” Luna asked. I cracked an eye open and saw her grinning.

“Depends … what the choices are,” I told her through a yawn before my other eye opened up.

“Well, I could always get Celestia to wake you up,” Luna said with a thoughtful expression. That woke me up. My eyes widened in fear when I remembered her true form and I shot out of bed before nearly running headfirst into a wall. I managed to stop myself and only bumped it slightly before glaring at Luna.

“Why did you have to say that!?” I seethed at her.

“It was the first option I thought of. I’ll have to remember that reaction for when you’re having a hard time getting up,” Luna said with a quiet chuckle as she trotted over to me.

“You’re evil,” I said quickly and panted as my heart rate slowed down.

“And you’re still injured. Breakfast?” Luna wondered with a tilt of her head. I let out an angered breath.

“It’s been a week so you really did a number on me. Breakfast sounds good right now,” I told her and winced when pain bloomed in my chest as my heart rate returned to normal.

“What can I say? You’re really stubborn,” Luna said with a shrug as she lead the way to the dining room. “I think the chefs made some more corn for you after the servants told them how much you seemed to like it.”

“Even after I got butter all over the place?” I asked and began walking towards the dining room. At least my legs don’t wobble anymore. They took at least five days to stop wobbling and a couple more to actually get their strength back. “Oh, I am not stubborn.”

“I think they took that for enthusiasm,” Luna guessed. “And yes, you are.”

“No, I’m not. Being stubborn is when you don’t budge on a topic and I’m certainly not that,” I said in clear denial as I stared straight ahead.

“Uh-huh. What’s the reason for you getting this injured again?” Luna asked with a knowing grin.

“Me not yielding and I only said that because I was mad at you. It. Was. Not. Stubbornness.” I said defiantly and gave a snort.

“And now you’re being stubborn about being stubborn,” Luna said.

“What!?” I gasped and looked at Luna. “I’m not being stubborn about being stubborn! I’m just not stubborn enough to be stubborn!”

“Case in point right there, Chryssie,” Luna replied with a gesture of her wing. I groaned in exasperation and quickened my pace. I ignored whatever Luna spoke about until we got to the dining room where it seemed that the only pony there was Celestia.

“Okay … where’s mom and dad?” I asked slowly when I came to a stop in the doorway.

“I believe they are out surveying the country today,” Celestia replied from her seat. I took my seat opposite her and barely noticed the buttered bread and corn that was laid out.

“‘Surveying the country’? What for?” I asked Celestia.

“Insurrections, areas that need more attention given to them, the tribes clashing, anything that isn’t a regular thing that they can see from the sky,” Celestia explained as Luna sat down next to me.

“I’m going to stop asking questions because ponies are vastly different from changelings,” I muttered to myself. I looked at the food and grabbed a piece of corn with my magic before chewing slowly.

“They’ll be back in the afternoon if you were wanting to talk to them about something,” Celestia supplied as she sipped a cup of tea.

“I expected them to be here like every other day. That’s all,” I told her distractedly as I focused on my chewing.

“You just wanted somepony besides the scary sister and the sister who hurt you so badly to be at breakfast,” Luna whispered as she cut into some pancakes that had been buttered and syrup was dripping off of them. I shook my head through a smile.

“No, I just didn’t realise they actually had duties,” I whispered back and lowered my head when I noticed Celestia’s look.

“I’m not sure what you’re whispering about, but mother and father have left court to me until they return,” Celestia said as she finished her breakfast.

“You want any help?” I asked quietly. I can’t help but feel that she doesn’t like how close Luna and I have gotten in only a week of knowing each other.

“As you said, ‘ponies are vastly different from changelings.’ So, unless you understand more than you’re letting on then you can continue doing as you’ve done since you’ve gotten here. Mess around with Luna,” Celestia replied with venom in her last sentence as she rose and started walking serenely to one of the doors.

“I wasn’t talking about me. I was talking about Luna. Maybe she can help you,” I told Celestia before she got out of earshot. I looked down at my plate and finished off the piece of corn that was on it.

“She may help if she wishes, but I’m not going to force her,” Celestia called over her shoulder before disappearing around the doorframe. I gave a small sigh as I finished and continued staring at my plate.

“What do you think, Luna? Do you want to help her or ‘mess around with me’?” I asked with a sideways glance.

“With the way Tia is acting I’d rather not be around her right now,” Luna answered as she finished her pancakes and took a sip of her drink.

“So you’d rather mess around with me. What do you want to do then?” I questioned her while I did my best to get Celestia’s venomous voice out of my mind.

“Hmm...how about stealth vs stealth in a game of hide and seek? It’d take awhile if we’re both serious, but we can put some limitations on the use of magic,” Luna suggested.

“It would give me a chance to see how far you’ve progressed … I think it’s a good idea,” I conceded and gave a nod and a smile.

“Okay, so what limitations so we put on? My ability to shadow walk is an obvious one,” Luna said.

“No shadow walking. No silenced hooves and you can teleport but only if necessary,” I suggested and stood up with another piece of corn trailing behind me as I walked out the door. “Oh, no using the trapping piano.”

“The organ can do more than trap ponies, but that is beside the point. Those limitations seem good. Now, what area should we confine ourselves to? Just the castle?” Luna replied as she trotted to catch up with me. I chewed on my corn and gave a nod.

“All over the castle. No going outside, and no going into the outdoor areas inside the castle either,” I replied when I swallowed and slowed down a bit.

“Drat, the atrium was going to be the first place I hid,” Luna said with a disappointed expression.

“Sorry. Too easy to hide outdoors, especially when there’s plenty of places indoors to hide,” I said with a toothy grin which was undermined by the pieces of corn I felt stuck in my fangs.

“This is true. I’ll go hide first since you’re the more experienced in this, Miss Corny,” Luna said with a chuckle before trotting off. I guess I’ll count to ten then. I closed my mouth and immediately felt around my fangs with my tongue to try and get the corn out. One, I slowly trotted down the corridor. Two, I closed my eyes when I got to the intersection. Three, I leaned against the wall and quietly breathed. Four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Now to go and find Luna.

I opened up my eyes and immediately turned left at the intersection I was in. Coming upon an open door, I peeked inside and found it to be devoid of any sort of pony. Walking inside, I scanned each nook and every cranny, looking for telltale signs of shimmering forms. They were imperceptible to the regular pony but once you know what you’re looking for, they’re easy to spot. Without any sort of sign that Luna was even here, I left the room and continued on.

Room after room after room was searched until I came upon a rather large one packed with ponies. Thinking this must be the day court, I sped across the gap before looking in at the mass.

“Princess Celestia, what can you tell us of the rumors spreading of your parents adopting a non-pony into your family?” a stallion as from the crowd.

“To choose your next words wisely, sir,” Celestia replied with narrowed eyes.

“V-Very well, Princess. This new sister of yours hasn’t been given authority over things has she?” the stallion asked.

“That is the purview of mother and father. Do you wish to challenge their decision if they have given her authority?” Celestia said as a bit of shimmering could be seen poking out from behind the throne Celestia was sitting on. My mouth fell open when I noticed this and grumbled. Really? She just had to pick the courtroom? Standing back from the doorway and making sure I was hidden, I quickly transformed in a ring of green flames. What emerged was Faucet, a Pegasus pony with green fur, a purple and gray striped mane and tail and a leaky tap for a cutie mark.

Rubbing my eyes, I slowly walked into the courtroom and began carefully making my way to the throne while making excuses every time I bumped into somepony.

“Halt, nopony is allowed closer than this,” a guard said as he barred my way. My eyes flashed green and I grinned at him as my teeth turned back into fangs.

“You sure I’m not allowed closer?” I whispered to him. The sounds of Celestia and the stallion talking back and forth were but background noise as I confronted the guard.

“You are not part of the royal family and I don’t recognize you as one of their servants. So, no. You aren’t allowed any closer than this,” the guard explained.

“Oh, no? Then who is the ‘non-pony’ that the royal family adopted?” I asked quietly.

“She is a mare named Chrysalis. We have been told a bit about her and I’m unsure whether to call her ‘Princess’ or ‘Queen’ due to her royal status before being adopted, to be honest,” the guard answered. This was surprising but hopefully, this will either get Luna out of hiding, or it will get me into a lot of trouble.

“Why don’t you ask Princess Luna behind the throne to come and see me? She recognises me from a few days ago when she was out walking and I just wanted to thank her for helping me out as she did,” I told him. It may be a fib, but hopefully, this guard is dumb enough to buy it. The guard glanced up to the throne and saw nothing behind it.

“Very funny, young mare. Princess Luna isn’t behind the throne. I’m going to have to ask you to leave, please,” The guard said and gestured toward the double doors I’d come through.

“Sorry. No can do. Princess Luna really is there, she’s just using a concealment spell to hide from me,” I said seriously.

“Then she obviously doesn’t want to see you, does she?” the guard pointed out sternly.

“We’re playing hide and seek,” I said bluntly.

“Heh, she picked the best spot to hide if that’s truly the case. Now, off with you, young mare,” the guard said and made a shooing motion at me. He didn’t sound like he believed me but I complied and headed back out. When I got outside the room, I changed back into my buggy self and looked back in. The shimmering spot was still there so taking a deep breath, I made myself invisible with the spell I taught Luna and teleported behind the throne in a flash of green light. Hopefully, the throne was big enough and far enough away to hide the colourful flash.

“Luna, you really did it this time,” I growled from behind the shimmering spot as I stayed invisible. The shimmering dissipated, revealing an empty space. Damn! I got tricked. How did she even manage to do that!? Quickly looking around for some more shimmering spots, I couldn’t really see any so I teleported back into the corridor and continued walking onwards. Where else could Luna have gotten to? A faint sound of giggling came from behind and above me.

I quickly spun and looked up just in time to see a shimmering spot fly away. I quickly wrapped her in my magic and brought her closer with a mischievous grin.

“Were you hiding behind me the entire time?” I asked.

“Yep, I’ve been flying behind you this entire time while silencing my wingbeats,” Luna said as she revealed herself. She was smiling from ear to ear. That was clever of her.

“You … you’re really something else, you know that?” I said as my magic let her go. “Why did you have me go into the courtroom anyway!?”

“So, you could hear Tia defending you against those stupid nobles,” Luna replied. I went to open my mouth but stayed silent for a moment.

“Right. Okay, I didn’t expect her to defend me after how she spoke to me at breakfast,” I said sheepishly and sat on my haunches.

“You’re family. Only family can talk bad about family with Tia,” Luna explained. I nodded slowly before grinning from ear to ear at Luna. “What are you grinning about? Sister’s kinda messed up logic?”

“It’s my turn to hide,” I laughed before vanishing on the spot.

“Right, you’ve got to the count of ten. One,” Luna said with a smile as she shook her head and closed her eyes.

“You’ll never find me,” I told her before running off. When I turned the corner, I took off and buzzed my wings so fast they stayed silent. Keeping my invisibility charm around me, I zoomed off to where the hot spring and steam room were. Quickly heading inside when I got there, I went into the steam room itself and locked myself in there. Time seemed to slow down as the minutes ticked by with no sign of Luna nearby.

“Chryssie? You in here?” Luna’s voice echoed after what seemed was an hour to me. Despite spending all this time in the steam room, I haven’t felt wet at all. I looked out the window and debated on whether or not to call out before getting an idea. Laying down on the floor, I lit my horn up.

“No, I’m here,” I said from behind Luna. Illusions are fun to use, especially when they’re not part of the restrictions we set for each other.

“Hmm, you’re better than I thought since I’d been looking behind me thinking that you’d give me a taste of my own medicine,” Luna said.

“I actually didn’t think of that but I did find a spot where you won’t be able to find me,” I told her with a grin as the illusion flickered for a bit before settling back into its proper shape.

“Ah, using illusions are we?” Luna said and a light permeated the area and into my hiding spot.

“You tracked where I was casting the illusion from, huh?” I asked, still wearing that grin before fading away.

“No, detect life spell,” Luna said as her hoof steps approached the steam room.

“There’s nothing in here but us steam!” I called out jokingly while simultaneously hitting my face with a hoof. Two things about that detect life spell. I need to learn it, and I need to figure out how to counteract it.

“Then let me in so I can enjoy the steam’s company,” Luna said with a giggle as she knocked on the door. Keeping myself veiled, I nudged the door open with a hoof. Luna looked in and grinned.

“Well, Chryssie must have teleported away,” Luna said in mock shock as she stepped in and closed the door behind her. “Guess it’s just me and the steam then.”

I made myself as small as possible while trying to stifle a giggle.

“Tell me, steam. Do you enjoy yourself?” Luna asked with a grin as she looked around the room.

“Of course, I enjoy making ponies manes wet,” I replied, making my voice echo around the small space so Luna wouldn’t pinpoint my location so easily.

“Just their manes? That’s an interesting fetish you have, steam,” Luna said with a chuckle. I blinked and was glad that my blush wouldn’t show.

“N-No … I also enjoy …. Dammnit!” I shouted, unintentionally cancelling the spell as I was at a loss for words.

“Enjoy what, Chryssie?” Luna wondered as she got up and then sat down next to me with a grin on her muzzle. I unveiled myself and huffed. I looked at her and noticed that her mane, coat, and tail was slightly damp.

“Playing pranks … but you look wet,” I smiled.

“Pranks are fun so long as nopony actually gets hurt. Well, hurt too badly. There are times when a bit of pain is unavoidable,” Luna grinned. “A bit of steam isn’t going to hurt. How long do you think you’ve been in here?”

“I’d say half an hour but my mane is still dry and my chitin doesn’t feel the least bit wet either,” I replied with a sigh as I dangled my front legs over the edge of the wooden bench.

“It has been about half an hour since your turn began,” Luna confirmed with a nod. “Any idea why you aren’t anywhere near as wet as you should be?”

“Not a clue,” I said with a shake of my head and traced the grains of the wooden floor with my eyes. “Do you have any ideas?”

“Hmm...Not to sound rude, but aren’t there some insects that are fairly waterproof due to living in or near water their entire lives?” Luna asked.

“There probably are but I know that changelings don’t have any sort of ‘waterproofing’ DNA in them,” I said confidently.

“Well, there goes that idea then,” Luna replied before gaining a thoughtful expression. I looked at her sideways before turning back to my study of wood grain.

“What are you thinking about now, wet mane?” I asked because by now, her mane was thoroughly wet with her coat and tail no doubt following suit soon after.

“Any other way for you to be as dry as you are after a half hour in here,” Luna replied.

“Not that I know of. I’m not casting any spells. There isn’t any ‘waterproof’ DNA in me. Either it’s something I’m unintentionally doing or a phenomenon that’s happening for this moment only,” I told her.

“Have you ever tried casting a water spell?” Luna asked as she held up a hoof as though she’d just come up with something.

“No, I never needed to and I don’t know any water spells either,” I said with a raised brow.

“Well, try to cast one later. There’s a possibility that you have an affinity with them and your body is casting a spell without you knowing it right now,” Luna theorized.

“That could be what’s happening but I’ve never needed to be in contact with water at all,” I told myself. “If that possibility is true, then what do you think that means?”

“That if you studied water magic that you’d get it easily and be able to use it more efficiently and with more power than the average water mage,” Luna explained. “Celestia has an affinity with heat and fire spells and I have an affinity with shadow and ice. We’re both already more powerful than average mages, but we can use the spells without expending as much magic as the average as well.”

“That’s a scary thought,” I muttered.

“You’d be able to counter Celestia if this is true. Well, so long as she doesn’t heat up too much,” Luna pointed out.

“True, I could,” I nodded my head thoughtfully and when I looked back to Luna, her coat and tail looked like a soggy mess. “You’re really wet now.”

“Yes, but I enjoy talking to you like this and this will help keep my coat, mane, and tail supple and soft,” Luna said with a smile. I stared unblinkingly and my eyes roved over her mane, tail, and coat.

“But they’re just so wet,” I blustered. Luna looked at herself and then grinned mischievously before hugging and nuzzling me.

“And so are you now unless that phenomenon works on more than just steam,” Luna said with a giggle. I couldn’t help myself. I giggled uncontrollably and when Luna let go, my mane stayed wet as well as half my face. “Well, now that we’re both wet, somewhat for you at least. How about we go dry off and take this talk to either your room or mine?”

“Sounds … good,” I said with a wince as I stood up and gingerly rubbed my hoof against my bound torso when pain flared up in it. “I think my room would be better. In case I fall asleep or something.”

“Afraid of falling asleep in my bed, Chryssie?” Luna asked with a grin before looking at my wound. “We should stop by the infirmary first, though. All this steam has soaked your bandages and I’m not sure your injury likes the steam either.”

I looked down at myself and groaned in despair when I found blood smeared over half the bandages. “I’m just glad my … legs work fine now,” I said with another wince and stepped off the bench. “Oh, I was afraid of what Celestia would think if she found us sleeping together, is all.”

“Well, either location is fine with me. So, let’s get you treated again,” Luna said and teleported us into the infirmary. “A fresh set of bandages, please. We spent a little too long in the steam room.” A nearby nurse nodded and rolled her eyes a bit with a grin before trotting off to fetch the necessary bandages.

“I think your room would be better,” I said finally and watched the nurse trot back and begin to take off my bandages. When that was done, I hissed at whatever she had used to clean the wound and reapplied the fresh bandages.

“Alright, my room it is then,” Luna said with a sympathetic expression. I simply smiled and teleported us both to Luna’s room so we could continue our talk from the steam room.

Years Later

It’s been fifty years since I’ve been adopted by Celestia’s and Luna’s parents. Roughly thirty years after I got adopted, thei - our - parents got tricked into killing each other at the same time by a chaotic entity known as Discord. The only thing that stopped him were these gems called the ‘Elements of Harmony’ which were bestowed upon Celestia and Luna by a blindingly white tree. Don’t ask me how that works.

During the next twenty or so years, I decided to try and rebuild my hive from scratch using books I had found in the library in my old hive. So night by night, I would gradually rebuild my hive and hopefully, it will be a fully functioning hive again in the near future. For now, I had to open my eyes and wake up to a bout of shaking from my dear sister, Luna.

“Hey, Chryssie. Wake up. Time for breakfast,” Luna said cheerfully.

“Already? But we just had dinner,” I complained and pulled the covers back over myself.

“You know you love my love and affection. So, come along or I’ll get Celestia to wake you,” Luna said. I instantly bolted up and looked at her in fear before realizing what she just did.

“Why do you keep using that?” I deadpanned as I slid out of bed.

“Because it always works. Why fix something if it’s not broke?” Luna said with a chuckle.

“To make it even more broken,” I grumbled and stretched like a cat.

“So, I should use Celestia in her true form so it’s more broken?” Luna asked with a grin.

“No. Don’t do that,” I said immediately after stretching and trotted to the door of my room.

“Hmm, perhaps I should go the other direction and use me in my true form?” Luna mused as she followed me.

“That will never work on me. I like that form too much,” I pointed out.

“Then maybe I should use it as a reward instead of fear fuel like I do Celestia,” Luna said thoughtfully.

“I believe the term is ‘nightmare’ fuel instead of ‘fear’ fuel,” I corrected automatically.

“Nope, you’re awake and I use her to wake you so it’s fear fuel until you start having nightmares every night I use her to wake you up,” Luna countered.

“Thanks for clearing that up,” I grumbled, the happy feeling gone out the window.

“Does someone need a pick me up now that I’ve made her grumble?” Luna asked goofily.

“Apparently, but not from the one that caused the grumble in the first place,” I grumbled back.

“Fine, how’s this?” Luna asked before changing to her true form. “I’m not me like this, I think.”

“It’s just a fresh coat of paint,” I replied before shaking my head and giving her a smile. “Happy now? I’m smiling.”

“Yes, I am. Are you or are you just humoring me again?” Luna asked before realizing something. “Are you saying that my base form could use ‘a fresh coat of paint’ as in its worn out and you want to replace it?”

“Can it not be both?” I questioned. “No, it was just an expression I found in a book and I thought I could apply it here because your base form and your true form have different coloured coats.”

“Oh, thank goodness. I was afraid that those rumors had started to get to you, too. And yes, it can be both, but that usually doesn’t happen,” Luna said with a sigh of relief.

“Not those rumours again,” I groaned before changing my voice to match Celestia’s perfectly. “You really shouldn’t believe everything you hear out there, sister.”

“Easy for you to say, Sister. You don’t have any bad rumors circulating about you,” Luna said before grinning at me.

“Oh, really? Then what about that time you and Chrysalis started the rumor about me eating cake twenty-four-seven?” I asked in Celestia’s voice before switching back to my own and giving a laugh. Luna chuckled with me for a moment.

“That one didn’t last very long if I remember correctly,” Luna said.

“It didn’t and both of us ended up in the infirmary for weeks after she found out we had started those rumours,” I said with a small shudder at the memory of lying in bed for at least six weeks as my legs healed from being broken in a couple of different places. “She did not show mercy that day.”

“She showed a bit since she didn’t use her true form, but that was as much as we got,” Luna replied with a shudder of her own. “Couldn’t even fly around thanks to her breaking all six of my limbs.”

“That was the scary part. Her not being in her true form,” I whispered as we got into the dining room and noticed that Celestia was already there. “Morning, Celestia,” I told her in a more normal tone.

“Morning, Chrysalis. I’m surprised you’re awake,” Celestia replied.

“Why would that be? Luna always gets me up at this time,” I said in confusion before sitting opposite her.

“Well, you’ve been going out and coming back so late that I assumed that you’d be impossible to wake up even with Luna’s help,” Celestia explained.

“Oh, that’s why. Luna’s very persuasive when she gets me up so I don’t think I need to worry about that,” I said as I rubbed the back of my neck with a hoof nervously.

“Any reason why you’ve been going out during the night every night?” Celestia wondered.

“There is, actually. I’ve been … rebuilding my hive using the books found in my hive’s library,” I explained hesitantly.

“And how long have you been doing this?” Celestia asked.

“A few weeks after mom and dad died,” I answered with my head hung low.

“But you could have started this, say, fifty years ago,” Celestia said.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t. It held too many memories and yes, it’s taken this long to get over my grief, Sister,” I said, nearly raising my voice at her but I managed to keep myself in check.

“So, it took that long and for Luna and I to grieve along with you for you to decide to start rebuilding your hive,” Celestia said with a bit of irritation in her voice.

“Um, Luna already knew,” I said softly with a raised hoof.

“Of course, she did. Why wouldn’t she?” Celestia grumbled.

“I don’t know. You’ll have to tell me why,” I said and stood up before involuntarily stepping back. I looked at Luna in trepidation and it appeared she mirrored my movements.

“You know why, you parasite,” Celestia said in a low voice as she stood and glared at me. Parasite? Why did she have to use that word with me? She must have known it was racist to call my species that!

“I … um … I’m really drawing a blank here,” I said nervously.

“Then you’re just a stupid bug and you don’t belong in this family if you can’t figure out what I’m talking about,” Celestia said. Bug!? Celestia has the gall to call me a parasite and a bug?

“Me … taking your little sister?” I guessed.

“‘Took.’ You already did it, thief,” Celestia replied.

“I’m sorry? I don’t think that’s going to cut it this time,” I said.

“No, it definitely won’t. You stole my last family member and you only decided to rebuild your hive after our parents’ deaths. So, you’re a parasitic thief of a bug,” Celestia said before trotting towards one of the doors. I couldn’t answer her but I could catch her in my magic and throw her against a wall at a sickeningly fast pace. She rose from the impact as smoke rose from her body and when she was standing once more, however she was doing that, she was in her true form. She wasted no time and grabbed me in her magic before flinging me out of the dining room through one of the closed doors. “Stay down, last warning.”

I kept my mouth shut as the joints where my wings connected screamed in agony from the impact of the door. Its splinters were all around me and I glared at Celestia as I stayed put.

“Good. I’d hate to kill you since Luna likes you so much,” Celestia said before flying out of the room, her legs limp as noodles. I closed my eyes and did a few breathing exercises through my nose to calm myself down. The nerve of her! Why does she think I stole Luna? I never wanted to steal anypony! Just because her studies kept her busy and I was around to keep Luna happy doesn’t mean I stole her!

“Are you okay, Chryssie?” Luna asked in concern from beside me.

“Of course, I’m not. You heard what she called me,” I said in a growl.

“Yes, I heard. Should I take you to the infirmary?” Luna replied.

“I think she managed to break my wing joints with that toss,” I grumbled and huffed.

“One ticket to the infirmary then,” Luna said before transporting us to the infirmary.

“I actually didn’t think it would take this long for her to crack, though,” I admitted once I was bandaged and cleaned up yet again. I was resting on one of the infirmary beds with Luna sitting next to me.

“When did you think she’d crack?” Luna wondered.

“When mom and dad died,” I replied.

“She did, just not at you,” Luna said sadly.

“How did she crack then and at who?” I asked. This was news to me.

“It was mainly a mental thing and at Discord,” Luna answered.

“Oh that poor draconequus,” I said with a sympathetic shake of my head.

“I joined her. I just didn’t crack. He had it coming and it was so cathartic it’s a shame he’s a statue,” Luna replied.

“I saw you leave long after Celestia did but I didn’t know the outcome. Where’s the statue?” I asked.

“I placed it where it belongs, under a latrine in Tartarus,” Luna said in a low voice.

“That’s a fine place to put it,” I said with a chuckle but then it quickly went away as I thought about what Celestia had said.

“Now all I need to do is stop those rumors and get Celestia back to her old self. That’ll be easy,” Luna said as a flash of black went across her eyes. I thought it was strange at first but I quickly chalked it up to some weird Alicorn magic and breathed.

“The most important thing is for you and your sister to patch up your relationship,” I told her as gently as I could but I wasn’t sure how much good that would do.

“Right, patch things up with a mare who obviously hates my best friend and doesn’t think the rumors spreading about me are anything to worry about it,” Luna said crossly.

“I said that as a joke. I didn’t think she had actually said that to you,” I said in astonishment.

“She didn’t, but she doesn’t have to since her actions speak for her and she’s done nothing,” Luna clarified.

“You know I would quash those rumours in an instant if I could but you also know I’m not like you and Celestia so I can’t really do that,” I said quietly.

“I know you would, Chryssie, I know. I just wish another sister would at least try instead of leaving me to defend myself when I hold court,” Luna said.

“I sometimes attend your court in the guise of another pony to try and help but I don’t think it’s been doing much good,” I admitted.

“I appreciate that, but one pony against the mob won’t do a thing unless that one pony is white, wears a gold crown, and is so incessantly perfect she makes the rest of us look that much worse,” Luna replied with a stomp of her hoof at the end.

“Maybe eating one of her cakes will cheer you up a bit?” I suggested but ultimately knew that she would just go back to being bitter about her sister.

“No, that’s her thing. I’m going to go spar with my guard and make sure they’re better than hers,” Luna said before trotting off.

“I’ll see you later then,” I called out to her before resting my head against the nearby pillow. Why did Celestia think she’s better than us? We’re her sisters so technically, at least her and Luna would be on equal hoofing but it doesn’t make sense why she would pick on me. Maybe I did steal her sister but who knows!? That fat flank obviously has it in her head that I did something to Luna ever since I bumped into her all those years ago but the truth of the matter is that I didn’t. I just happened to be closer to Luna’s age than Celestia was and I just happened to be a really excellent friend in place of Celestia. I honestly didn’t expect things to turn out like this.

“So, Luna isn’t with you for once,” Celestia said as she flew in as her true self before landing on a bed and changing back so the doctors could attend to her injuries.

“No, she’s not. She said she had to go spar to blow off some steam,” I told her without looking at her.

“So long as she isn’t near you,” Celestia replied as she began to get bandaged up.

“Luna told me you wouldn’t help her by quashing those rumours about her coat. I’ve done the best I can to help but do you know who she wants help from the most? Not me the parasite, you the oh-so-perfect Princess,” I sneered at her.

“Those rumors aren’t a threat to her and any who see her would know they’re untrue,” Celestia replied.

“‘Any who see her’. She’s stuck in here because she’s afraid of going outside!” I yelled at Celestia while keeping my eyes trained on the wall in front of me.

“She’s not a coward! I don’t know the true reason why she won’t go outside, but it’s not because she’s afraid! There’s nothing for her to fear!” Celestia shouted.

“Well then you obviously haven’t been paying enough attention to her, fat flank,” I said under my breath.

“You know those studies that kept me busy all the time? They’ve been replaced with the workload of our parents. I know Luna does her part, but my part is even larger than what my studies were. So, this is as much of a break as I get yet I expect a pony to start bringing me paperwork to do any minute now,” Celestia said.

“According to you, they’re your parents and not mine,” I said in a low voice before mustering up the courage to teleport myself to my bed.

“It’s still ‘our’ since they’re still Luna’s parents as well as mine, stupid bug,” Celestia replied. That sentence echoed through the teleportation field before it completely disappeared and I pulled my covers over me with my magic before staring at the wall opposite me with my head on the pillow.

I’m not a stupid bug and Celestia can’t tell me otherwise so why do I feel so angry and sad at the same time? Angry because she called me names? Sad because those insults and nicknames may be true? Whatever the case may be, she still hurt me and as far as I know, she also hurt Luna unintentionally.

“How...are you...holding up?” Luna asked as she breathed deeply after she’d teleported in my room.

“Just peachy after my latest insult-filled run in with your sister,” I said in a fake cheery voice.

“Crap, now what do I do? I’m angry again, but don’t have the energy to blow it off,” Luna said as she plopped down on my bed next to me.

“Try to sleep on it. It’s the only thing I can do. Oh, I told her what you told me about those rumours and you know what she said?” I asked.

“Ahem, ‘They’re not a threat and there’s nothing for you to be afraid of’ or something along those lines,” Luna said in her imitation of Celestia’s voice.

“Close enough and the voice wasn’t half bad either,” I commented approvingly.

“Thanks, I mock her enough after all and I figured she say something like that. She doesn’t have rumors about her coat and what the darkness around her cutie mark means,” Luna replied.

“She isn’t a parasitic bug that’s stupid and has no parents either but who are we to complain?” I asked sarcastically.

“It’s probably the peasants comparing her coat to mine that started these rumors in the first place,” Luna said bitterly.

“Probably and then it just got out of hoof,” I muttered to myself and wasn’t willing to turn to look at Luna. “Do you think I deserved your parents?”

“Yes, and you had a wonderful set of parents who loved you just as much as they loved me,” Luna said as she held me with a foreleg and a wing.

“Thanks,” I said quietly and held her foreleg with one of my own. “Why do you think Celestia is picking on me other than the fact that I ‘stole' you from her?”

“I’m not sure, but if I had to guess I’d say jealousy. Jealousy because she had to study so much for centuries while you weren’t made to study anything if you didn’t want to,” Luna said.

“So you think it’s sibling rivalry?” I asked and wasn’t sure if I was using the term correctly or not.

“Basically. She wants the freedom you had and to be as close to me, if not closer, as you are,” Luna explained.

“It may sound like dumb reasoning but I can see why she thinks that,” I hummed.

“So, how’s the rebuild coming along?” Luna wondered.

“It’s coming along. It’s just taken a lot longer than I thought it would because I kept having to go back to the books every time I stuffed up a changeling,” I said in thought.

“Ah, trial and error. That definitely takes awhile. How much longer do you think it’ll take you to get it to a satisfactory level?” Luna said.

“I don’t know but I definitely know that it’s going to take at least ten more years, if not more,” I said confidently.

“Well, I wish you luck. Let me know if there’s any way I can help,” Luna said kindly.

“Mmm, thank you, Sister,” I said with a smile before sighing when I realized how badly Celestia messed up my wing joints. “I can’t do anything until my wings heal up so, do you think you can get me a few books from the library in my hive?”

“Sure, just tell me which books you want and where I need to go,” Luna said with a smile.

“The hive is on the outskirts of the forest. The library is about four levels below ground, round about the middle, and the books I need will be laying about on the floor in the middle of the library. You can’t miss them,” I informed her.

“Okay, I’ll be back in a little bit,” Luna said as she melted into the shadows and disappeared.

I smiled to myself as I rested in my bed. I wonder how she’ll react when she sees the multiple stacks of books dotted around the library? She would most likely stare before picking out some random ones so as to not bring too many back. My wings twinged when I tried to move them so I kept them still and groaned when I felt a burning sensation on the back of my neck.

“You’re up and about fairly quickly, Celestia,” I said calmly without facing the doorway.

“You know the training I’ve gone through so you know that your toss wasn’t the worst I’ve had. My ponies need me up and about as well. So, I’m enduring the pain as I always have,” Celestia replied from the doorway.

“You can’t even get Luna to fill in for you while you recover?” I asked.

“I would, but I can’t find her and all of the nobles keep asking for me by name when they come to see us,” Celestia said with a sigh.

“She’s most likely still sparring. If they keep asking for you, then why don’t you let Lulu have some time in the limelight as well?” I questioned.

“Because there are too many of them and her taking my place would slow down the entire process since she would have to explain to each petitioner why she’s there instead of me and who know how long that’d take with some of the nobles,” Celestia replied.

“Then stand with her and share the responsibilities,” I said with a huff.

“How do you think that’d turn out with them asking for me? They’d just ignore her and direct everything my way. I could make them acknowledge her, but that is not the way things should go,” Celestia said. “Anyway, I came here thinking Luna was with you, but she’s not so I must go.”

“Why shouldn’t they go that way? At least you’d be spending time with her,” I said to myself when I heard Celestia’s hoofsteps recede.

“Chryssie, how many books did you want me to bring?” Luna asked from the shadows a few minutes after Celestia had left.

“Depends. How many did you manage to get?” I asked curiously and was glad for the distraction from princess hothead. Stacks of books began to emerge on the floor.

“Um, all the books that were on the floor of the library,” Luna said. I watched about ten stacks emerge before they finally stopped and stared at them all.

“I said in the middle of the library, not the entire library,” I muttered before levitating a stack I recognized from a few nights ago. “Just … just this one will do. Sorry, Lulu.”

“No problem. I’ll put these ones back and be right back,” Luna replied as the other stacks vanished. I put my stack back on the floor before levitating the first one off and began reading it as it floated closer to me. “So, what are you reading about?” Luna asked from behind me.

“‘Pony to Changeling Volume 8’. This is my latest attempt in about four or five thousand,” I replied casually.

“Why would you need that? You can already change into a pony and back again,” Luna said in confusion.

“It’s more for changing kidnapped ponies into changelings through the goo I create,” I clarified.

“Ah, okay,” Luna replied. “Wait, you’re not kidnapping ponies are you?”

“Not yet, and if I would, it would be from far off towns and villages that aren’t even worth mentioning,” I said with a twirl of my hoof before going back to reading.

“Couldn’t you just ask for volunteers? I’m sure there would be plenty of them if you asked those that could use a new chance at life,” Luna said in concern.

“I could but who would want to be a completely different species?” I asked sadly and closed my book gently. “Maybe … maybe Celestia is right and I am just a parasite.”

“No, she’s wrong. You’re not a parasite. You’re my sister,” Luna said comfortingly. “And I suggest going to the areas of towns where homeless ponies live. They’d want to be a different species if it meant having a home and food again, I’m sure of it.”

I laid my ears flat against my head and pushed into my pillow. “She’s not wrong. All I do is feed on emotions so what kind of life is that for a homeless pony? To be called a parasite and be a stupid bug?” I asked bitterly.

“It is better than starving to death, sister, and I’m sure there are ways of feeding off emotions that are beneficial to both parties. We just haven’t thought of them yet,” Luna said optimistically.

“I could ask but Celestia’s words will still ring in my mind, Lulu,” I said softly.

“Then let these words ring in there as well. You are a kind and loving sister who I wouldn’t trade for the world,” Luna said lovingly as she held me from behind with her wings. I couldn’t say anything so I let Luna hug me while I stared at the stack of books beside my bed. “As far as I’m concerned, you’re better than Celestia, Chryssie.”

“Better how? All I am to her is a thief,” I said.

“You’re a better sister. You listen to me and help as you can whereas she’s always tied up in her paperwork and taking care of those blasted nobles,” Luna replied.

“I asked her if she could let you handle the nobles and she said that it would take too long for you to explain why you're taking their requests instead of her,” I told her. Luna sighed at this.

“I can see why she said that. It’d probably take me half an hour just to get them to tell me why they came and then they’d just be comparing me to her the entire time,” Luna said quietly as her wings became limper. I was going to continue on but when I felt this, I fell quiet for a time until I remembered what Celestia had told me.

“She was looking for you and figured that you’d be with me,” I informed her.

“Did she say why she was looking for me?” Luna asked quietly.

“No. After she said that, she left and then you arrived with my books. I told her you were sparring but I don’t think that did much good,” I replied.

“Thanks, Chryssie. She was probably going to try to give me a pep talk or something. All she’d end up doing is the opposite right now,” Luna said sadly.

“Meaning what?” I asked confusedly.

“Meaning that every encouraging word she’d utter would just remind me of the rumors and what the nobles and other ponies think of me. How she hasn’t done a thing to stop that and how much we truly are like night and day,” Luna explained.

“Princess Hothead most likely thinks that those rumours build character or something else that’s stupid,” I mumbled.

“Yeah, she probably does,” Luna replied as her wings turned black for a moment before turning back to blue.

“Um, you okay? Your eyes turned black back in the infirmary for a brief amount of time and now your wings just did the same thing,” I said in concern.

“I-I’m fine, sister. I-I just need some rest after blowing off some steam again,” Luna replied.

“If you’re sure about that,” I said quietly after feeling her presence leave my bed.

“Th-There’s nothing else I can do besides that,” Luna said as she trotted to the door before pausing in the doorway. “I’m not sure if this will help or not, but look into mental spells. I can’t perform them on myself.”

“Sure. I can do that for you. Do you want me to perform some on you?” I questioned when I realized what she had asked of me.

“Yes, please. I’m unsure which will be needed, but at least one will be,” Luna replied.

“I’ll go do that then. The hive can wait,” I said with a thoughtful look before carefully getting out of bed and walked over to my doorway.

“No, rest and recover for now. The issue isn’t big enough to worry about as of yet and I’m not even sure the mental spells will even do anything,” Luna explained as she blocked the doorway. I sighed and looked at her. She didn’t need to block the doorway but I’m guessing it was to make a point.

“Your mental state is slightly more important than my health at the moment,” I replied evenly.

“I appreciate your concern, sister. I just don’t want you getting more hurt while helping me should you encounter Celestia again and things get out of hoof,” Luna said.

“I won’t. If she encounters me, I’ll just teleport away with the book,” I said with a shrug.

“Okay, thank you. I will be with my guard for a while before retiring to my room if you need me for anything,” Luna said with a smile before trotting off towards her guard’s training grounds. Now that my way wasn’t blocked, I can head off to the library at a casual gait. Maybe I could see if those mental spells will do anything. Only one way to find out.

---

Thankfully, Celestia wasn’t around on my way there. I walked among the bookshelves in search of a few different spellbooks and caught a few in my magic before trotting over to a study table. I cracked one open and began reading it to try and commit as many mental spells to memory as possible.

“This is a rare sight. You’re studying,” Celestia said as she trotted by with a few books in her magic.

“This is a rare sight. You’re not in the throne room,” I retorted without looking up from my studies.

“Court is over for the day. I needed to look up a few things so I came to get the necessary books. Simple as that,” Celestia explained.

“What things? How to catch bugs unaware?” I sneered.

“No, I can do that quite easily already as you are already aware of. One of the nobles brought up an issue that I wanted to be sure about before deciding one way or the other about,” Celestia replied.

“What issue would that be?” I asked, doing my best to keep my cool and to not hit her into next week.

“The noble complained of his household and all under him suffering from nightmares and wondered if putting up a statue of some kind to ‘frighten them away’ would work or not,” Celestia said with a heavy sigh. “And yes, I know Luna is already an expert in this area and enters dreams to help with this, but I still can’t find her. So, I will be doing the research myself.”

“You can’t just wait for her in her room to ask that?” I asked as I turned a page.

“If I can’t find her then she doesn’t want to see me unlike you,” Celestia said bitterly.

“What’s that supposed to mean? You just happen to bump into me wherever I go,” I said angrily.

“It means that she’d rather see you than her flesh and blood sister!” Celestia shouted.

“If her sister made an actual effort to let her join in on the throne than alienate by not doing anything about rumours, maybe, just maybe, she would actually talk to you,” I growled before picking up the books I was planning to read in my magic and teleporting away, back to my room.

“She has her own court to run. It is not my fault that our subjects come to me instead of her and I only know what little about those supposed rumors as Luna’s told me about. Other than that I haven’t heard a single one and neither have my guard,” Celestia replied after she’d teleported after me.

“You most likely haven’t heard them because you’ve been too busy listening to stuck up nobles instead of walking out there in the towns,” I told her.

“I would much rather be out amongst the ponies than stuck in the throne room, but I don’t get to have that since it’s my responsibility to listen to the nobles,” Celestia replied. “I doubt the rumors are as bad as Luna makes them out to be, but tell me some and we’ll see.”

“‘Why isn’t her coat lighter?’. ‘That blue princess should not be seen out in daylight. The dark hides her so well’,” I rattled off a couple of rumours I had heard and perfectly mimicked the voices I heard them in.

“Are those the worst of them? Those don’t seem to be bad enough to affect Luna as you said they have,” Celestia said with a raised brow.

“No, those aren’t the worst, but what they imply is a different matter because they expect her to be just like her big sister,” I snapped.

“Then they are wrong. I’ll do what I can to stymie these rumors, but I am not sure if they will actually stop. Thank you for telling me,” Celestia said before teleporting away. Whatever. At least she didn’t throw me against the wall. I was just about to hit her with a few books as well. I walked up and climbed onto my bed before resting beneath the covers and started studying the mental spells again. Hopefully, some of these will work and if they don’t, I could most likely fine tune them to suit my illusionary purposes.

True Battle

Another fifty years on and we’re coming up to the time my sisters weren’t talking to each other anymore and I’ve been acting as a sort of mediary ever since Luna wouldn’t stop ranting on about how much she hated Celestia. I agreed with her and did my best to stay impartial to the both of them but things went downhill fast after I tried to talk to Celestia. Luna has been corrupted by some form of demon and is now permanently in her true form.

When this happened, she declared herself to no longer be Luna and is now Nightmare Moon and claims to bring about eternal night. I’ve decided to finally confront Celestia in the throne room about talking it out with Nightmare Moon to see if that will bring Luna back. Oh, my hive has been doing fine, by the way. I just need a few more centuries to actually finish rebuilding it.

“Celestia, listen to me, please,” I pleaded with her to see if she will actually talk it out.

“Why should I listen when the last time I did it just made things worse?” Celestia countered.

“Because you never actually did anything other than listen. This is our sister we’re talking about and you’ve alienated her!” I shouted at her and considering I actually wanted those two to talk, this is not going to plan at all.

“‘Sister’? No, she’s no longer Luna. She’s said so herself,” Celestia replied.

“She still is. Why not just try talking to her? She’s still in there,” I said in a low voice.

“And what makes you think that? She no longer helps ponies with their nightmares and is making them worse instead. She no longer does any of the things Luna did,” Celestia said bitterly. I took a step back from her before looking her straight in the eyes.

“That’s because she’s being controlled and if you had spent a lot more time with her like I did, you. Would. Know. That,” I said through gritted fangs before baring them at Celestia.

“She made it plain that day years ago when she avoided me that she didn’t want to see me. So, tell that to her not me,” Celestia said as she spread her wings and lit her horn menacingly.

“She only avoided you because you kept calling her best friend a parasitic bug that didn’t belong with you or her,” I replied before taking another step back from her now lit-up horn.

“If she actually wanted to spend time with me then she could have, but she didn’t during all this time since. So, don’t blame me for everything,” Celestia countered.

“You never tried to patch things up with her so who else am I meant to blame? Our dead parents? Fat chance of that happening because they’re long gone,” I argued. I may have used our parents’ death as an excuse but I could see that I was fighting a losing battle here.

“She didn’t try to patch things up either and she was the one with more freedom. So, tell me which of us is truly at fault here?” Celestia replied.

“You,” I said furiously. “You never made the effort. Lulu wanted to but she was too scared and angry at you to try even though I helped as best I could. You alienated both of us when you became even more absorbed in your studies when mom and dad died.”

“I did what I had to do! I’m the oldest and as such, I inherited the responsibilities mom and dad had! If I hadn’t done as I had then this nation wouldn’t have held together and split into the three tribes once more. It would have been a step or ten back instead of forward to a better life for everypony,” Celestia said.

“We could have helped!” I yelled at her.

“Enough! I will not sit here and have all of my actions scrutinized by a ruler of nothing! If Nightmare Moon wishes to speak to me then she can come and speak, but I will not go to her!” Celestia shouted.

“You need to make the first move otherwise, nothing will be solved!” I argued.

“Even if I did she’d only speak to you,” Celestia replied.

“She wouldn’t see me,” I growled before vanishing on the spot with a concealed spell.

“Then she wouldn’t speak at all!” Celestia countered. That’s it. I’ve had enough of her stubbornness so I buzzed my wings as quickly as I could and flew behind her silently before blasting a mental spell at her. I tailored this one to suit my needs so instead of seeing what she wanted to most, Celestia saw a flickering image of Nightmare Moon and a trapped Luna wherever she looked.

“What is this!?” Celestia shouted as she looked around frantically.

“A spell I created out of an old one. Unless you’re willing to find her and speak with her, it’s not coming off,” I said, making my voice echo around the throne room with a vocal projection spell.

“You know she won’t speak to me,” Celestia replied.

“I don’t care. You need to try,” I said sternly.

“What’s the point if I only say ‘hi’ to be met with silence before waiting a bit and then saying ‘goodbye’?” Celestia wondered.

“You have words. Use them!” I yelled before firing a blast of magic at her horn. The blast hit her horn, blackening it and knocking her down.

“Words are useless when they fall on deaf ears!” Celestia shouted as she lay on the floor.

“Just. Try!” I shouted before stomping my veiled hooves on her ribcage. I know I’m going about this the wrong way but Celestia isn’t even attempting to teleport away so what else can I do? She cried out in pain from my stomp before firing a beam of magic at me. The beam hit and bounced off my chitin even though I cried in agony and stepped back, losing my concentration on my stealth spell.

“So long as she calls herself Nightmare Moon she is not my sister, Chrysalis. Luna is my sister not her,” Celestia said as she cast a shield around herself.

“Nightmare Moon is your sister’s true form so don’t you dare say that!” I said furiously.

“The form is Luna’s, but she isn’t Luna,” Celestia countered.

“She is because you made her that way!” I shouted before feeling a cold wave wash over me. A flash of black illuminated my vision for a few brief seconds before fading away. When it did, I felt my chitin covering me from head to toe as a form of seamless armor. When I blinked, my eyelids clacked together, signaling that this new armor covered my face completely. I took a few steps, forward and backward, to see what else that black flash did before noticing my flowing mane out of the corner of my eye. Even the holes in my hooves had smoothed over to make way for even more insect armor. Maybe this true form stuff wasn’t so bad after all.

“So, you’ve gained a true form. Congratulations,” Celestia said as she studied my new form.

“If only it was under better circumstances,” I commented sadly and twisted around to see that my tail had gained an ethereal quality to it as well.

“You’re not going to leave me alone until I do as you want, are you?” Celestia asked.

“No, I’m not. This new form proves it too,” I muttered, my anger back in full force as I fired a wide beam of toxic green magic at her. It looked and felt much more powerful than when I last shot at her. My beam shattered her shield and sent her careening into the wall behind her before she was engulfed in flames and emerged in her true form. They weren’t kidding about first-time transformations being extremely powerful.

“How does that form prove it?” Celestia asked with a metallic hollowness to her voice now.

“I’m not going to stop fighting until you agree to make the first move and speak to your sister,” I answered and vanished on the spot again before flying about the room, flapping my wings as fast as a no-see-um’s to keep silent which averaged out to a thousand and forty-six wingbeats a second.

“That has nothing to do with your new form since I believe you would have done so anyway,” Celestia replied as heat waves began to spread throughout the throne room.

“It has everything to do with my new form. I wanted to protect my sister as well as you but you weren’t seeing reason and my regular strength wasn’t doing anything to you,” I explained as a clear, cool shield unknowingly formed around me to stop the heat waves from affecting me.

“So we gained our true forms in similar ways then,” Celestia said as she looked right at me and made a spear of fire above her head before throwing it at me. My eyes widened and I quickly fired a big jet of water from my horn at it to extinguish the fiery weapon. “Was that a new ability that came with your new form or just a spell that you’ve been practicing to counter this form?”

“I didn’t enchant a spell so it must have been a new ability,” I said in shock.

“Interesting. You can lower your concealment spell. I know exactly where you are,” Celestia replied. I lowered my concealment charm as she asked and tilted my head when she mentioned a shield as well. “Your shield gave you away.”

“What shield?” I asked but my magic answered in way of revealing a blue bubble surrounding me. I looked around myself in surprise and touched the side of it with my hoof. It bent outwards before rippling back into place.

“That one and even if it hadn’t I would have been able to find you since your wings stir the air and affect the heat waves enough to distort them wherever you are,” Celestia pointed out. I ignored her in favor of trying to pop the bubble with my horn but it didn’t seem to want to budge.

“Are you still putting out heat waves?” I asked in confusion.

“Can’t really help it with my wings, mane, and tail being fire, but I am actively putting out heat waves right now,” Celestia replied. That would explain why my bubble wasn’t popping. I looked at her before grinning.

“It appears that my true form gave me an affinity for water. It’s … odd but given the circumstances I’m glad it did,” I told her.

“Then shall we see which is stronger? My fire or your water?” Celestia asked as she flew up to my level.

“If it will get you to speak to Luna, I’m willing to go all the way,” I answered.

“Luna is gone, Chrysalis,” Celestia replied as even more heat waves emanated from her.

“She’s not gone!” I retorted, my anger flaring up in the form of water spikes that turned to steam as soon as they touched Celestia.

“Then prove it!” Celestia challenged as she sent a wide gout of flame towards me. I’ve got no control over my newfound ability at the moment so I instinctively turned into steam when my bubble popped and the flames got near before I coalesced into a solid form again.

“That was a very weird feeling,” I shuddered in the air before diving underneath Celestia.

“I know the feeling since Father burst me into flame during our first sparring match in our true forms,” Celestia said as she sent another gout of flame after me. I narrowly dodged the blast and skidded into a lopsided landing when my right wing burst into steam.

“Is my body now made of water?” I asked in confusion as I watched and felt my wing reattach itself after a few moments.

“It seems so. Just as mine is made out of flame and heat. Since I’m still not quite sure about the red lava veins across my body,” Celestia commented. I turned to Celestia and buzzed my wings before taking off. Opening my muzzle, my eyes widened when scalding water shot out in a steady stream at Celestia’s belly.

“A futile attack,” Celestia said as she held still and was enveloped in steam as my attack got near her. I took advantage of the steam and flew close to her, risking the heat, and fired a point blank wide beam of pure magic at her belly. She cried out in pain as my beam sent her into the ceiling and a cloud of dust and debris concealed her. I breathed and landed. I folded my wings underneath the chitin of my new form and stared up at where I had shot her.

“Celestia!?” I called out to her. A pillar of flame blasted the dust cloud away as Celestia walked out in mid-air as though she were on solid ground. Uh oh.

“I see that I don’t have to hold back anymore,” Celestia said before looking around. “We’ll continue elsewhere otherwise we’d need to get a new home.”

“Let’s go where Lulu can see us then,” I said without taking my eyes off of her and teleported both of us to outside the forest and into a meadow where Nightmare Moon was pacing around.

“Why have you brought the accursed sun here, Chryssie?” Nightmare asked as she bared her fangs at Celestia.

“Because she wants to talk to you, Lulu,” I answered and pointed an armored hoof up at her.

“Lies, she’s never wanted to talk before,” Nightmare replied before seeing my new form. “When’d you get your new form?”

“Roughly twenty minutes ago when I unsuccessfully convinced her to talk to you,” I informed my sister.

“If you were unsuccessful then why bring her here?” Nightmare wondered as glared at Celestia.

“Because as I found out, Celestia likes talking when she’s fighting,” I replied.

“She never did like sneaking up behind an opponent and father always said she was a chatterbox despite how she normally is,” Nightmare replied. “If you are fighting her then let me join in so I can make my eternal night possible. It’s two on one and she wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“As long as you two talk things out, I don’t mind,” I shrugged and without looking at Nightmare, concentrated on Celestia and fired a jet of ice cold water at her in an attempt to freeze her in place. Celestia sent a stream of flame to counter my water and a giant cloud of steam exploded when the two met.

“If you’re trying to douse my flame you’re going to have to do much better than that since I haven’t even used my hottest flames yet,” Celestia said before sending a fireball towards me.

“And you should pay attention to both of your opponents,” Nightmare said as she sent a magic beam towards Celestia.

“What do you think of me controlling water, Lulu?” I whispered to her when I noticed her right next to me as I kept my attention on Celestia.

“Considering how frightened you were of her true form it makes sense that your true form would try to counter hers,” Nightmare replied. Celestia dove to dodge the beam of magic Nightmare had sent at her before landing in front of us and charging. I noticed Nightmare vanish into the shadows and I turned back to Celestia before suddenly evaporating into steam as she barrelled into and through me.

“I really need to get a handle on this,” I muttered when I reformed.

“That won’t be anytime soon. It took a week for me to do so,” Celestia replied as she sent another gout of flame at me before getting hit in the belly by Nightmare’s hoof and soaring into the air.

“She’s talking, but only to you,” Nightmare commented as she emerged from the shadows.

“Then try actually talking to her? She’s obviously not going to start it off no matter how much I tell her to,” I huffed before standing up and walking until I was directly underneath Celestia. I looked up and shielded my eyes from the glare of her body with a hoof.

“There’s nothing to talk about with her since all she wants is her eternal night,” Celestia said as she sent pillars of flame at me and Nightmare. I countered my pillar by covering my body in a bubble of water which exploded into steam upon contact. Nightmare simply melted into the shadows and reappeared in another location before her pillar of flame hit her.

“That may be but you could try apologizing to her!” I called out.

“There’s nothing to apologize about since I was only doing what I had to do!” Celestia replied and dove at Nightmare. I saw where she was heading and galloped after her.

“Apologise for not doing anything about those rumors! For not spending time with her! For not being there when mom and dad died instead of immersing yourself in your studies!” I yelled after her desperately.

“It’s too late for her to apologize for all of that, Chryssie! Far too late!” Nightmare yelled as she and Celestia clashed and began to fight hoof to hoof.

“STOP!” I yelled at both of them before my horn flashed white and encased both of them in ice. I skidded to a stop just in front of them and my jaw fell open in shock at what I did. I didn’t even think about it. I just wanted them to stop fighting for once and talk! The ice around Celestia began to melt and crack as Nightmare vanished into the shadows. Soon enough, Celestia broke free and began looking around for Nightmare.

“A good spell, but merely a delaying tactic for those of our power, Chrysalis,” Celestia commented.

“Th-That wasn’t a spell,” I said fearfully.

“It wasn’t? Well, it was an effective ability then,” Celestia said before Nightmare blindsided her, sending her skidding across the ground.

“Thanks for distracting her,” Nightmare said before running after Celestia.

“I, um,” I blustered and could only watch as both sisters fought, no longer having the energy to stop them and was too fearful of what I can now do if I did manage it. They fought for what seemed hours until they were both breathing heavily as they glared at one another. I gulped and slowly walked up to them. At some point during the fight, I reverted back to my normal form and sat in front of the two. “Do-Do you two want to talk, or are you going to glare at each other?”

“She... obviously doesn’t…. want me to... talk to her,” Celestia said.

“It’s too late... to apologize,” Nightmare commented.

“I … I thought you two .. would talk while … fighting,” I said with tears in my eyes at the thought of those two always fighting and never coming to a conclusion.

“Apparently not, but there’s one good thing that came from this, Chryssie,” Night said with a grin.

“Wh-What’s that?” I hiccupped.

“She’s too tired to stop this!” Nightmare shouted as she turned the day to night.

“No…” Celestia gasped.

“A-Apparently … I was wrong about both of you,” I said sadly and looked at Celestia forlornly before teleporting to the castle. I shook my head and walked around the throne room to look for the Elements of Harmony. If Celestia hasn’t moved them, they should be around here somewhere. Behind a crack in the wall, I magicked out six different coloured gems and teleported back to Celestia with the gems in tow.

“Nightmare, stop this! You’re going to kill the entire world!” Celestia shouted as Nightmare hovered above the treeline.

“Celestia?” I asked sadly.

“I’ve been trying to talk her out of this ever since you left, but she hasn’t said a word in reply and is just reveling in her night,” Celestia said before laying down in despair.

“Th-Then u-use these,” I stammered in despair before floating the six Elements of Harmony in front of Celestia with tears streaming down my face.

“Th-The Elements!? I can’t use them since she is linked with three of them and we don’t know what they’d do to her,” Celestia replied.

“Sh-She’s not l-listening to e-either of us and I w-w-was stupid to th-think sh-she would s-still be in there,” I cried before slowly transforming into what I remembered Luna looked like before the nightmare took her over. “D-Do you think th-this’ll fool th-the Elements?”

“I-I doubt it, but there’s only one way to find out. Give me magic, honesty, and generosity,” Celestia said as she stood up on shaky legs. I let her take the appropriate gems while I kept loyalty, laughter and kindness. I looked up at Nightmare and couldn’t bring myself to speak as I stood up. Celestia channeled her magic into her Elements as her eyes glowed white and she levitated off the ground.

I prayed that the Elements could be fooled and channeled my magic into Luna’s elements. I waited for something to happen and nothing did until I got the bright idea of changing the colour of my magical aura to match Luna’s. When that happened, the Elements joined Celestia’s while I stayed rooted to the ground and squeezed my eyes shut while keeping my magical feed alive and strong. I didn’t know what happened next but I heard Nightmare Moon yell something at us.

“You’ll pay for this, sisters! I’ll come back and have my vengeance on you both!” Nightmare shouted before a blinding light shone through my eyelids. The light lasted a few moments before it vanished and all I heard was the breathing of Celestia nearby.

“Sh-She’s gone. Isn’t she?” I asked in a trembling voice and refused to open my eyes.

“The Elements have sent her to the moon, sister,” Celestia said before six thuds were heard.

“I didn’t want this to happen,” I said quietly before teleporting away. When I made it into my room in the castle, I collapsed into a sobbing wreck of a mare on my bed. A flash of light a few minutes later indicated somepony had teleported into my room.

“We have lost two great things, Chrysalis. I’m sorry it had to end this way,” Celestia said quietly.

“Just leave me alone,” I flinched through my sobs when I laid my bloodshot and teary eyes on Celestia.

“Very well, but Luna would’ve wanted you to have this,” Celestia said and levitated Luna’s old regalia necklace along with a wrapped present with my name on it over to me. “The present is from mom, dad, Luna, and I. We picked it out for when you gained your true form.” Celestia then teleported away.

I sniffed and rubbed my tears with my magic as they formed as I set aside Luna’s old regalia necklace to open the up the present. I unwrapped it to find a white gold set of armor. I stood up on the bed as I stared at it in awe. The horseshoes, chest plate, and helmet were of a brilliant white while the necklace part of it had a heart with a green flame nestling inside. I wordlessly put the armor set on and was surprised to find that it actually fit me, considering I had grown until I was as tall as Celestia during my time with this family. When I looked at the black regalia necklace through the slits in my helmet, I nearly broke down into tears again before grabbing it in my magic and teleporting to my hive.

For a Bright and Sunny Future

Since the incident with Luna, I have been unable to change my magical aura back to the toxic green it used to be. Most likely those damned Elements of Harmony forced my magic to stick with Luna’s azure hue for them to work and as a consequence made the change that I made to myself permanent. Yet another thing I can blame Celestia for, along with what she did to Luna and me all those years ago. I had to work tirelessly to bring my hive back to get my mind off of it. That took roughly twenty-five years until I managed to have a full working hive again. Every time it was the anniversary of Luna’s banishment, I looked at her old regalia necklace for a full hour before getting on with the rest of the day.

That’s how it always was until roughly nine hundred and eighty years later. That was when I was walking around Canterlot as a blue Unicorn mare with a lime green mane and tail and a cluster of jewels for a cutie mark. I was walking down one of the streets that hid my view of the castle that Celestia now resides in to actually get a proper look around the city that’s cropped up in the last few hundred years. My hive was well off for a good long while so I figured I had time.

“Hello, ma’am. What brings a beautiful mare such as yourself to this part of town?” a white Unicorn stallion with a black mane and tail with a gradient of white to black on his muzzle and lower legs to his hooves asked.

“The sights, actually. I’ve never really been to Canterlot before and figured this would be the place to go to,” I replied with a blink as I stopped my walk to look at him. “What’s your name, sir?”

“My name is Freezer Burn, Miss. I work here in Canterlot with my ice magic,” Freezer said with a small bow. Freezer Burn and ice magic. Right.

“Well, my name is Jewel Shine and since you’re already talking to me, do you think you can show me around?” I asked with a small smile.

“It would be my pleasure, Jewel. Is there anything that you’d like to see first?” Freezer said with a smile.

“I actually don’t know anything about Canterlot besides the castle so what would you suggest?” I asked with a slight tilt to my head.

“Well, how about the shopping district then? It may sound sexist, but mares love to shop do they not?” Freezer said.

“They do, but I’m not really one of those mares. It would be nice to look at the shops anyway,” I shrugged with a chuckle.

“Well, you’ll have to tell me what kind of mare you are so I can think of places you’d like to see then,” Freezer said with a grin as he began to lead me to the shopping district.

“Well … hmm. Let’s see. I like jewelry if you can’t tell from my cutie mark but I also like talking with ponies and going wherever. I’m not really that fussed,” I replied with a thoughtful smile as I tried to figure out what Jewel Shine would actually like. I did not anticipate this question at all.

“Well, the shopping district has jewelry shops in it as well as small stalls that ponies have set up for things like popcorn, fresh donuts, trinkets, and things like that. So, you might like it more than you initially thought,” Freezer said.

“Either your coat is too white or you don’t have one but I can’t really see your cutie mark,” I said casually after glancing at his flank and then stared straight ahead. “There’s popcorn, in the shopping district.”

“Oh, my cutie mark’s white so it blends in with my coat. It’s a stack of ice cubes. Everypony always wonders about my cutie mark since it’s not easily seen like everypony else’s are and yes, they have a few popcorn stands throughout the district,” Freezer answered. Popcorn is a relatively new concept for me so don’t blame me if I get excited about it.

“If there’s popcorn, then what are we waiting for?” I asked with a grin and immediately ran ahead while not letting him know that I already knew my way to the shopping district by leading him there.

“For you to get lost apparently,” Freezer said with a chuckle as he ran to catch up with me.

“I doubt I’ll get lost,” I said with a roll of my eyes and grinned to myself.

“Well, if we get close then you can just follow the smell of popcorn and other foods until we get there,” Freezer commented.

“Right, got it. So you work as an icemaker?” I asked him as I slowed down with a sheepish smile.

“I make ice, sculpt it, basically anything you can do with ice I do so I live pretty comfortably on that even if I am technically a ‘noble’,” Freezer replied.

“You don’t like the sound of the word ‘noble’ either?” I said quietly with a hesitant nod in agreement.

“Not really. Most of the ponies I work for are nobles and they just seem like stuck up snobs. Besides, I’m a low noble which is basically just a well off regular pony. So, I know why everypony is either envious of the nobles or hates them,” Freezer replied.

“I just hate them because they think they’re so pure,” I said simply.

“And then there are some of them who won’t hire anypony unless they’re a Unicorn because they think we’re the ‘master race’ or some such baloney,” Freezer remarked.

“You don’t think that though,” I commented in observation.

“No, I don’t. Otherwise, the tale of Hearth’s Warming wouldn’t have needed to happen and we’d still be three tribes,” Freezer explained.

“What’s your stance on these black bug ponies that have been cropping up recently then?” I asked casually and hoped that he didn’t pick up the nervousness in my voice.

“Hmm, I don’t have enough information to form a reasonable stance on them as of yet,” Freezer replied thoughtfully.

“That’s fair enough. I don’t think they’ve been seen that much anyway but it is curious that they exist,” I said in kind and was glad that he doesn’t have a reasonable stance on them yet.

“Do you have a stance on them?” Freezer wondered.

“Well … some of them did pop up my hometown but it didn’t look like they were harming anypony so I would say that I like them so far,” I said slowly.

“Hmm, so long as they aren’t harming anypony and continue to do so then they should be able to co-exist with everypony,” Freezer said in thought.

“You just said you don’t have enough information on them but when I said what my stance was about them, you agreed with me?” I asked in confusion.

“I’d still like more information on them since a single pony usually doesn’t have the full story, but you’re the first witness I’ve run into so what you’ve told me carries a bit more weight behind it,” Freezer explained.

“Ah. That, right,” I said with a blush.

“Y’know, you’re even cuter when you blush,” Freezer commented. I laid my ears flat against my head and looked away with a brighter blush than before. Why did he have to say that? “Sorry, I didn’t mean to insult you or anything. I just trying to compliment you.”

“N-No, I just haven’t had anypony call me cute before,” I stammered.

“Really? They must all be blind if they didn’t see your beauty then,” Freezer said with a big smile. He’s hitting on me! I should know what to do but I avoided this situation for a reason. I don’t! I looked at him for a few seconds, smiled, then ran ahead when I began smelling different sorts of foods. Freezer quickly ran over to a nearby popcorn stand after he’d caught up and got a couple bags before levitating one over to me. “Here you go, Jewel. Fresh popped popcorn.”

“They popped corn to get this?” I asked as I opened the bag with my magic and peeked inside it.

“They pop kernels with heat to get them like this, but it’s not like corn on the cob kind of kernels,” Freezer explained as he dug around in his bag before bringing out an unpopped kernel. “See? The kernels are like this.”

“Sorry, never really had the chance to try popcorn before,” I muttered apologetically as I stared at the unpopped kernel intensely before grabbing it my magic.

“No problem. It’s something that a lot of ponies think when they first hear of and try popcorn,” Freezer said kindly before popping a bit of popcorn in his mouth. I blinked at him before giving a nervous chuckle and put a bit of popcorn in my mouth. It was crunchy and salty but other than that, it didn’t have any real taste to it so why did I find it so enjoyable to eat? He must have noticed the ecstatic look on my muzzle so I turned it into an apologetic one. “Aww, you smiling is much better than your apologetic look. I’m just glad you liked it.”

“Heh,” I said after swallowing the popcorn and immediately spun on the spot to stare at the different shops. There were clothes shops and jewelry shops. Magic shops and various booths. It seemed like this particular district had everything in it.

“Anything catch your eye?” Freezer asked as I felt his gaze rove over my body. I shook my flank a bit in thought before answering.

“The jewel shop does. Besides me, does anything catch your eye?” I said with a knowing grin when I turned back to Freezer. He cleared his throat and covered his mouth with a hoof as he blushed and looked away.

“Sorry, couldn’t help myself,” Freezer apologized.

“Here’s an idea. If you like the look of me so much, why don’t we go back to your place?” I suggested.

“S-Sure, ahem. Th-That sounds wonderful,” Freezer said as his blush intensified and he began leading the way to his place. I grinned to myself and snacked on the rest of my popcorn as we walked side by side.