> I was just lonely ...
>  by Rune Caster the First
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Ending or Beginning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

How dare they! How DARE they!

The angry thoughts filled Chrysalis’s head as she ran, her holed legs pounding against the bleak, parched soil of the Badlands. Her heart boiled with inherent dislike for ponies and her former Hive.
Everything had been going just fine: the element bearers, the Royal Pony Sisters, Shining Armour, Cadence and their alicorn filly had been imprisoned; along with most of the little rescue patrol. And then Starlight Glimmer and that – that little, insolent, backstabbing traitor called Thorax had the nerve to show the Hive that there was another way of getting love … through friendship.

“HA!” She spat out loud. They were wrong, oh so very wrong. Friendship was just like love, only fit to be eaten. Anyway, since when did ponies care for my kind? They think that we’re freaks, mutants and monsters … think that I’m …? She shook her head furiously. No sense in bringing it up now. I’ve got to find some place to live now that my kind don’t want me anymore. She gritted her teeth again. Well if they want to live in that delusional state, then they can do. I don’t need anyone! They’ve made that perfectly clear to me.

She stopped for a moment to catch her breath. Breathing hard, she turned and looked back at the place where her Hive was. For a few moments, she said nothing. A small tear rolled down her cheek, but she swiped at it angrily and turned around again.

Summoning her magic, she thought of Equestria and chose a random place. A circle of green fire flashed into being around her, and then it and the changeling slowly sank into the ground and vanished. A chill wind blew over the ground, slowly obliterating the hoofprints of the former Changeling Queen.





Starlight Glimmer flopped onto her bed and sighed. It had been one long exhausting day. Going to the Changeling Kingdom, breaking Queen Chrysalis’s throne, and rescuing her friends had really tired her out. So had the Sunset Festival, back at her old village. Trixie had been right to tell her to let go of her past. Twilight was right too, though Starlight wished that she could have come along with her and Trixie. The thought of Twilight and Spike being ambushed in the castle with nopony coming to their aid was more than she could bear.

Anyway, the danger was over now. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were back in Canterlot, Shining Amour with his wife and daughter were in the Crystal Empire … and her kidnapped best friends were back in Ponyville where they belonged.

There was just one thing that bothered her. When Chrysalis refused her offer of friendship, Starlight had looked deeply into her eyes. There had been anger, there had also been hatred, desperation … and loneliness. The last had been a bit of a surprise, given Chrysalis’s usually-seen attitude … but there was still something else. Something hidden, something secret. The pink unicorn wondered what it was. Maybe it’s regret? I don’t know. I was sad when she refused my offer of friendship … but maybe she’ll change her mind in the future?

Starlight remembered feeling a bit disappointed and down when Chrysalis ran off. Is this what Twilight felt when she made the friendship offer to me when we first saw each other?

Remembering the look of rage on Chrysalis’s face, Starlight shivered. I hope that she doesn’t come back to seek revenge. Revenge can go horribly wrong. She thought about how she nearly caused Equestria to be destroyed through her jealousy, frustration and anger. Twilight said that everything that we do has a consequence … and she was right.

A sudden knock on the door dispelled her dark thoughts, and she said: “Come in.”

Spike came into the room, holding two cups of hot chocolate; with marshmallows floating in them. He grinned at Starlight.

“Twilight says that we can have a special treat tonight because of what just happened with the second changeling attack. The rest of the girls are staying here for the night. With being ambushed and imprisoned in pods, Fluttershy and Rarity are feeling understandably nervous and edgy. The rest of them probably feel the same way too, even though they won’t admit it.”

Starlight chuckled a little. “Oh, I can’t blame them. The whole experience was a bit nerve-wracking for me too. I’m just relieved that total catastrophe was averted … again.” Her smile dropped a bit. “I just wish that I could have done more.”

“Are you kidding? You practically helped to save the day, get our friends, Shining Armour and the Princesses back, and showed the Changelings that they could be more than love-sucking insect ponies!” Spike said.

The pink unicorn sighed again. “Almost all of them”, she said, thinking of a pair of slitted, double-irised eyes.

Spike could probably tell what or rather who she was thinking about, but he said nothing about it. Instead he fixed a smile onto his face, and held out one of the cups of hot chocolate to Starlight, who took it.

“Let’s join the others, Spike”, she said. Starlight opened the door with her magic, and then she and Spike went through.





Several meadows and a few thickets away from Ponyville, green fire flashed in a big circle; lighting up the place like a Nightmare Night lantern. A few rabbits rose up to have a look … but minutes later, bolted away once they saw the hunched holey shape of Chrysalis in the middle of the circle.

The green magic died down as the tall changeling straightened up, breathing a bit too quickly. Chrysalis was surprised by that. Normally, I don’t get out of breath when doing magic … must have been that shockwave of love that destroyed my throne. Why, oh why do these things keep happening to me? She took a look around.

Hmmm … it’s nowhere that I know. Right, now to make a plan. Chrysalis began to list possibilities and potential strategies in her mind in an orderly fashion. She might not be the Changeling Leader anymore but she was still a master strategist.

Suddenly, she felt woozy. Her legs felt weak and she realised that she was terribly exhausted, and hungry. She made a few steps forward, and then collapsed where she’d been standing. Have to – to rest … Her eyes closed, and there was nothing but darkness.
> A Star's Morning (Edited)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mid-morning sunlight shone through the window of Starlight’s bedroom, lighting up the sleeping pony who was curled up in a rather adorable position, in a cocoon of blankets. At the moment, she was now screwing her eyes shut in an attempt to block the strong sunlight and go back to sleep. But it was no good. Starlight’s eyes opened and she sat up, looking around her room somewhat blearily. What a sleepover party that was … she thought, and got out of bed. She lifted her mane brush and began to brush her mane, which helped to banish some of her sleepiness.

The sleepover had turned into a real party, once she and Spike entered the room where their friends were. Apparently Pinkie Pie couldn’t wait until tomorrow to throw her ‘We-Defeated-The-Changelings-With-Friendship-And-Queen-Buggy-Is-Gone’ party, so they celebrated it in that room, in this castle, tonight.

Pinkie Pie’d ‘voomed’ up most of the sweets. Rarity had enchanted half a dozen different coloured jewels to glow their respective colours, and, with Starlight’s help, levitated them into the air for the duration of the party. Fluttershy had brought along her rabbit companion, Angel, who’d immediately gone into a staring contest with Gummy. He desperately tried not to lose, but to no avail. Applejack and Rainbow Dash spent half an hour hoof-wrestling, and then an hour of full-body wrestling. Starlight didn’t know which’d seemed stranger to her. As for Twilight, she’d gone slightly tipsy with ginger beer and had spent half of the dances staggering slightly in her movements.

When Twilight almost passed out on the fourth dance, Pinkie and Rarity decided to end the party. Starlight herself was almost as exhausted as Twilight was, so she didn’t say much beyond a simple ‘Good night’ to her friends before going to her room and falling asleep.
Starlight smiled a big, happy smile. It’s moments like that, that really brings out the joy of friendship. Turning her mind to more important matters, she glanced at her bedside table and saw a note. She opened it up.



Dear Starlight,

We’ve gone to Sugarcube Corner for breakfast. Sorry for not waking you up but we didn’t disturb you because you’d a hard day yesterday. When you’ve woken up, you can certainly join us if you want to.

Your friends.



Idly, Starlight glanced at her bedside clock … and froze in her tracks.

10:00! When have I ever slept in that late before? Oh, no. Twilight is going to be more than a little peeved. I’d better go now.

She lit up her horn and teleported to the dining room.

When Starlight arrived, she was surprised to find only Spike reading one of his comics there, and not Twilight as she’d expected. She very quickly teleported to the castle library, expecting to find her mentor there … but no. Starlight then went to the throne room, but yet again, it was empty of ponies and one dragon. The pink unicorn backtracked to the dining room, feeling very confused.

“Errr … Spike, you wouldn’t happen to know where Twilight is, do you? I’ve looked in here … and the throne room, and the library. She’s not in any of them! Do you think that she’s been kidnapped again?” Starlight was pacing quickly in circles (one of the things that Twilight does when she gets frustrated).

“Hmmm …” Spike privately thought that Starlight was overreacting a bit. Just like Twilight. The two of them are, at times, so similar that it’s almost freaky.

“Have you checked her room?” 

Starlight opened her mouth to reply, and then closed it. “No, I haven’t”, she admitted. 

“There you go. She does sometimes study in her room, it’s a habit of hers.” 

The unicorn smiled, “Thanks, Spike.” 

“No problem”, the dragon replied and turned back to his comic.

Starlight appeared in Twilight’s room in a flash of turquoise light and looked around. It seemed quiet and tidy, nothing out of order … except a slightly scruffy striped pony tail poking out of the bundled up sheets. 

“What?” The pink unicorn exclaimed and walked over to the bed. “Twilight?” she asked, and was rewarded by a quiet grumbling sound. The usual sound made by a pony or other being that really, really doesn’t want to get up.

“Are you kid … no, wait. You have to be kidding me!” The student stared at the sleeping form of mentor. Twilight Sparkle sleeping in?! Wow, she must be even more tired than me. Maybe it’s because of that pod the changelings stuck her in. “Twilight?” she murmured. 

‘Grumble.’ 

“Twilight!” 

‘Grumble.’ 

“TWILIGHT!” 

“Whaaa…” 

“Uggh”, Starlight facehooved. This is getting ridiculous. Then she suddenly had an idea.

This might just work. She smirked, and then whispered sharply into Twilight’s right ear.

“You’re late!”

“AAAHHH!” screeched Twilight as she literally jumped out of her bed and then proceeded to dash around the room, muttering as she went. Her eyes seemed to be wide with panic. “What did I miss… oh no, this is bad … Princess Celestia is going to be so disappointed in me … my friends … I…”

“Twilight!” Starlight stepped in front of her, and gently stopped her with a hoof. “It’s okay.” 

Twilight’s eyes came back into focus, and she frowned. “Starlight, that was not funny. You know how I feel about being late.”

“Weeeell …” Starlight smiled nervously before levitating Twilight’s clock up. “It wasn’t a fib.” Twilight’s pupils shrank again, but before she could dash off; Starlight caught her in a stasis field. “Twilight, I don’t think that our friends aren’t going to be cross with us. Yesterday was a hard time for both of us, so they decided to let me sleep in a bit.” The pink unicorn glanced at Twilight’s bedside table, and saw a folded piece of paper with Twilight’s name on it. “From the looks of it, they left you a note too.” She put her friend down, and Twilight took some deep breaths. 

“You’re right, Starlight. I guess it was a trying day: getting kidnapped by changelings in my case, and saving Equestria in yours.”

Starlight blushed. “Well, I had some friends who helped me; it wasn’t just me alone." 

"And that’s why I’m proud of you. You’re learning how to use friendship to help others.” 

The unicorn smiled. “Thanks, Twilight.” And maybe I can use it to help … her. The image of Chrysalis’s emotion-ravaged face swam into mental view for a moment. Starlight dismissed the picture after a second. Somehow, the events at the Hive kept coming back to her. 

“Well, let’s not keep our friends waiting!” Twilight said, and teleported with a flash of magenta magic. Starlight followed suit in a blaze of turquoise light.



They both reappeared in Sugarcube Corner, and were immediately greeting by bursts of confetti from Pinkie’s party cannon. “Surprise, sleepyheads! I made a special breakfast for you … or is it elevenses? Brevenses? Elevenfast?” Pinkie Pie frowned for a moment, her frown drooping across her face … and off it, making Starlight facehoof in confusion. 

“I’m never going to get used to that”, she muttered.

“Oh, don’t worry, darlings”, Rarity’s cultured voice made Starlight and Twilight turn around to see the rest of their best friends sitting at a table that was crammed with food. “You’re not the only one, you know,” she said, flipping her stylish mane.

Meanwhile, Applejack and Rainbow were busy demolishing the food before them. 

“Well, come on then if you’re hungry!” Rainbow Dash tapped her hooves impatiently. 

“Yeah”, Applejack chuckled. “Or else ya’ll be out of luck.”

Twilight and Starlight both smiled and sat down. “So everyone’s okay then? No lasting side effects?” the alicorn asked. 

The ponies all shook their heads. “None at all, darling. Although that disgusting green gunk really ruins your hair. I was at the spa for most of the evening, trying to salvage what was once perfection.” The Princess of Friendship and the rest of her friends all rolled their eyes at Rarity’s perennial obsession with fashion.

All this time, Fluttershy had been unusually quiet, even for her. “Fluttershy?” Twilight turned to look at her shy friend. “Is everything okay?” 

The pink-haired pegasus crossed her hooves and stared at them. “Um, I … earlier on, I was tending to some of my animal friends that had been scared by my imposter self … and …”

“And what?” Rainbow Dash flew over to her, starting to be really concerned. 

“Well, after yesterday, I was a bit scared about them … and when …”

“Fluttershy,” everyone said together, and Fluttershy sighed.

“Well, it was like this …”
> ... If You Go Down To The Woods Today
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Ugggh …”

Chrysalis groaned as she slowly woke up. 

“My head hurts …” she muttered as she opened one eye.

A brown rabbit’s inquisitive face suddenly filled her vision, and she sat up in a hurry. Chrysalis blinked for a moment, and then scowled at the rabbit which promptly turned and fled from the intimidating set of fangs. For a moment, she wondered why she wasn’t in the hive … then the events of the previous day came back to her in a chilling revelation. Her failed takeover … that insufferable traitor, Thorax … the hive disintegrating around her, along with her throne … Starlight Glimmer offering her friendship.

For a moment, the boiling anger and hatred that had plagued her thoughts yesterday threatened to resurface. I could take vengeance on those pesky ponies … She shook her head vigorously to clear her thoughts. Not now.

She then went back to the planning that she started yesterday. First things first, Chrysalis. Number one: find out exactly where I am. Number Two: find some food. I’ll decide on the rest later. She looked around.

Hmmmmm, a grassy grove near some thickets and ringed with trees … obviously a forest, wait … it’s not the Everfree Forest, is it? A shiver ran through the tall changeling. Normally Chrysalis wasn’t afraid of most things that others would be scared of … but the Everfree Forest was just creepy, unnerving, and unpleasant to any who entered. Its inhabitants were similarly unnatural to unwary travellers. Even Chrysalis wasn’t that reckless to enter without a companion or two, or more. 

I know what I’ll do. I’ll cast a ‘Finder Spark’ spell. It would tell her which way to go to get to a settlement. It’s helped me in the past, and I’m sure that it won’t let me down now. Feeling optimistic for once in a long time, Chrysalis cast the spell. 

“North-East. Right, let’s get on with it.” Her stomach rumbled, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten love since noon yesterday. Come on Chrysalis, you’ve been without food for some time before. The changeling flickered briefly with green light as she changed into the form of a light brown unicorn with a chocolate brown mane, tail, and eyes. 

Chrysalis then set off into the forest in a northern-easterly direction, keeping a careful eye on her surroundings in case of sudden attacks.

~~~

After a while, the number of trees started to decrease, and more bushes started to spring up out of the ground. There were more animals too: bunnies running in and out of holes, squirrels dashing up trees, and birds flying around her. The big changeling smiled a little bit; despite her disgust of those creature, who she’d termed ‘pests’. It felt nice to see peaceful bits of nature again. Almost like … She suddenly blinked and shook her head, her usual smirk returning to her face. What am I, a soppy pony?

Suddenly, Chrysalis heard a voice that she recognised.

“Come on, little squirrels. Let’s find you a new home.” It’s that yellow pegasus: the bearer of the element of kindness, the one that the rest of the ponies call Fluttershy.

Desperate thoughts ran through Chrysalis’s head. Options, Chrysalis. One: ambush her and force her to give me information. It might work, but her animals might tell on me to her friends, and they would come running. The last thing that I need is the Elements of Harmony coming at me after my latest defeat. So, the second option. Hide myself until she’s gone. That could work.

After thinking very hard for a couple of seconds, she transformed herself into a tree in a flash of green light. Changelings generally weren’t known for transforming into inanimate things, mainly because it was so much easier to interact with other beings when you’re moving. And also, being in the same position for so long, itched terribly. There was a gasp a couple of seconds later. There was silence for quite a while … then it was broken by the yellow pegasus’s voice.

“Um, hello?” The disguised changeling remained silent, and watched as Fluttershy walked cautiously into view and looked around, looking understandably nervous. She was joined almost immediately by a white rabbit and a brown bear.

“Is there anyone there?” The bearer of Kindness asked, and the white rabbit and brown bear started to search the area. Chrysalis prayed that they’d not find her. Oh Mother Faust, please don’t let them find me. She was not in the habit of praying usually but this was a desperate situation.

The bear and the rabbit came closer to the Chrysalis-tree and, although the bear stopped for a few seconds longer at the tree then the rabbit, they eventually withdrew and communicated with Fluttershy. 

“Oh, thank goodness. I thought it might have been a bad changeling, and I don’t want to remember what happened on yesterday morning any time soon.” Chrysalis chuckled inwardly as she remembered her children telling her how they’d surprised the yellow pegasus, disguised as that bear and white rabbit. They told me that she’d squeaked like a little mouse when they’d pounced.

“Now then, come on little squirrels. I think that … this tree would be a good home for you.” The changeling was broken from her thoughts by the odd feeling of little claws along and down her branches. What? No, no, no, no, no. The little creatures scampered along her pseudo-branches. I don’t even like squirrels. Besides I’m … I’m … Chrysalis clenched her teeth in order to hold back giggles as the squirrels’ bushy tails swept across her bark exterior. Ticklish ... she concluded, rather lamely.

“There, now you cute little squirrels can live happily ever after in your nice, new tree.” Let’s see you live happily ever after with singed tails, thought Chrysalis, venomously. One of the squirrels ran along a branch towards Fluttershy and stopped near to the end of it. Ironically, that very place was exactly where Chrysalis’s nose would be in her natural form. Oi, get off, thought Chrysalis, trying to will the squirrel away. Fluttershy was quite oblivious at the moment but she would notice any odd magic for sure. Chrysalis came to the conclusion that she would have to wait … even though the tickly sensation was becoming INCREASINGLY UNCOMFORTABLE. 

The white rabbit suddenly made a grimace and beat the ground hard with a hind leg. 

“Oh, my goodness! I’m having breakfast with the rest of my friends at Sugarcube Corner … if I don’t go now, I’ll be late!” Oh, goody! Chrysalis perked right back up. 
“I’ll be back later with some yummy, crunchy nuts for you”, Fluttershy said, stroking one of the squirrels. The squirrel, in question, chittered and nuzzled her hoof. The yellow pegasus then fluttered up and flew away in the direction of Ponyville, her animal friends following behind her. When Fluttershy was completely out of hearing range, there was suddenly a huge …

ACHOO!

Birds took quick flights out of that area. Dragonflies zipped for cover. The two squirrels themselves jumped from their new home, which had suddenly burst into flames. Green flames. The fire eventually died down to reveal Chrysalis, in her true form, looking EXTREMELY CROSS.

The squirrels took one look at the irate changeling and ran for their lives, disappearing into the undergrowth. The next squirrel that I see … will wish that it had never, in its life, encountered me, thought the alicorn-like changeling venomously. I’ve never tried squirrel stew before.

Chrysalis then shook her head again. Wait, stop that! She sighed. I’ve really got to watch my anger: it distracts me too much sometimes.

Right, okay … She was in a forest that was inhabited by the Element of Kindness’s (Fluttershy’s) woodland critter friends. So, she had to stay in her present pony form for now.

Chrysalis had two options at the moment, in her opinion.

1. Follow the yellow pegasus directly.

2. Stay a safe distance from that pegasus, and walk parallel to her.

The changeling thought about it. Well, normally I’d take the direct approach, but like I thought before, that draws a lot of attention to me … that is not advisable in my situation. The other is much better: if I walk a safe distance behind and to the side of Fluttershy … I could get out of the forest without further bother, I hope.

Chrysalis decided to take the second option.

Before she went, however, she flexed her limbs and wings to make sure that they weren’t stiff. It happened every now and then, turning into inanimate objects always made her have pins and needles in her joints when she turned back. 

She then set off in almost the same direction as Fluttershy: just a bit more to the right.

~~~

The big changeling was going along at a steady pace, when she suddenly felt queer. Her whole body suddenly tingled, making her shiver slightly … and her head began to throb. Huh? Then … was it her or had the temperature just changed from warm to cold? Or cold to warm? Then as a slow dizziness overcame her, Chrysalis suddenly knew what was happening. I’m … sick?! It was shock, not illness that made her legs wobble. I can’t be sick! I haven’t been sick in … oh, it was so long ago.

Sitting down now seemed to be a good idea, so Chrysalis sat down. Then it changed to lying down. Oh no, thought the obviously sick changeling, now lying among the leaves in a grassy ditch. The darkness of unconsciousness then took her, but just before it did … she felt her magic suddenly fail and her pony shape burned away in green flames to reveal her real one.

Oh, horseapples …
> You're Sure of A Big Surprise ...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“WHAT?!”

Rainbow Dash slammed her hooves on the table, and then instantly regretted it. 

“Eeep!” 

Poor Fluttershy was now cowering under the table, having shot under there in terror because of the loud noises.
“I’m so sorry, Fluttershy.”
Rainbow Dash stuck her head under the table. 
“I just didn’t expect to hear about a dangerous changeling encounter in the woods so soon, after what happened very recently.”
Fluttershy came out slowly. 
“It’s okay, Rainbow. To tell the truth, I was very startled when I heard about it from Darcie and Buck earlier.”
The two squirrels nodded a lot and chattered urgently. Twilight leaned forward across the table. 
“So, the changeling they saw was tall and fierce, with dark green hair?” 
Fluttershy nodded. 
“Chrysalis!” they all said at the same time. 
“We’ve got to go and find her: she’s still a dangerous enemy for all of Equestria.”
Twilight stated everypony’s thoughts out loud. 

“Well, I’m up for it.” 

“Count me in!”

“I’m bright and ready!”

“And I as well.”

“Ah’ll come along to help defend us if she decides to fight.”

“Chrysalis has magic as well as strength, Applejack, so Starlight and I will be ready to counteract any spells that she might throw at us.”
Starlight smiled, her horn glowing with powerful magic.
“Don’t worry, Twilight. We’ll all work together and we’ll be alright.”
Rarity smiled. “That’s the spirit, darling. Let’s go then.” 
The blue pegasus whooped suddenly. “Onwards!”
The seven ponies went out of Sugarcube Corner and ran towards the forest.





The ponies went as fast as they could through the woods, swerving past trees, through undergrowth … until Twilight suddenly skidded to a halt. The rest of the ponies had to do the same. Pinkie Pie unfortunately halted a bit too quickly and crashed into Rainbow Dash, making both of them fall to the ground.
“Quiet!” hissed Twilight, whose horn glimmered. 
They were coming to the edge of an almost camouflaged clearing. 
“What is it?” whispered Pinkie. 
“My tracking spell tells me that there is a changeling in this clearing.” 
Rainbow Dash flexed her hoofs and wings.
“Oh yeah, it’s go time.”
“Okay then”, Twilight said. 
The ponies all tensed. “Here we go.”
They burst into the clearing … and stopped. 
All seven ponies’ jaws dropped.
The former Changeling Queen was sprawled on the ground in front of them, moaning quietly in discomfort.
It certainly wasn’t what they’d expected to find … and now they presently didn’t know what to do. Applejack voiced what everyone was probably thinking.
“Ya’ll have any ideas? Ah sure don’t.”
Her friends all shook their heads, obviously as confused as she was.
Twilight quietly reviewed the present situation in her head:
We’re in a forest clearing. Chrysalis is in the same clearing, and she’s not moving very much. She is also groaning and moaning like she’s in a bad state … but that could be a very clever piece of deception. We’ll have to be careful.
Rainbow Dash was watching the changeling through narrowed eyes, ready to spring into action if Chrysalis tried to attack her friends.
Pinkie Pie and Rarity were looking at Twilight, ready to hear any suggestions that the purple alicorn might say.
Fluttershy, on the other hoof, was looking at Chrysalis with an expression that held confusion and oddly … sympathy. Slowly she began to move forward towards Chrysalis, trying to be cautious with each step.
“Fluttershy, what are you doing?!” Rainbow blurted out, and then lowered her voice. “That’s one of our worst enemies, and she’s very dangerous!”
Fluttershy turned her head and spoke. “I know … but she doesn’t look very well to me. In fact, she looks terrible!”
The yellow pegasus then turned back and carried on creeping toward Chrysalis. After a second, her friends all joined her, and together they walked until they were right next to the catatonic changeling.
Fluttershy leaned over Chrysalis: taking into account the changeling’s heavy breathing, pinched expression, and the small moans and groans that occasionally came out of her mouth.
The yellow pony gently brushed her right hoof against the changeling’s forehead … and gasped quietly. 
“Oh, my goodness!”
“What? What is it, Fluttershy?” Twilight asked.
“The poor thing’s ill, Twilight.” Fluttershy took Twilight’s hoof gently and put it next to hers on Chrysalis’s forehead. “She’s burning up with fever, and it’s a bad one.”
Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Are ya sure, Fluttershy? She could be pretending … after all, she did fool a lot of ponies at Shining Armour and Cadence’s wedding.”
The yellow pegasus hesitated for a second and then nodded.
“She didn’t fool me though”, the purple alicorn stated emphatically. 
“I’ll just check to see.”
While Twilight was casting a quick health check spell, Starlight was thinking about Chrysalis and her recent actions. 
Chrysalis is a bit of an enigma in some ways … we don’t really know her past history (not counting the various conspiracies against Equestria), and don’t really know her as a pony. Oops … a changeling. 
The pink unicorn winced a little. 
Maybe I offered her friendship too quickly? I don’t know … I’ll ask Twilight about it later.
The health check spell complete, the purple alicorn turned to face her friends.
“Fluttershy’s right. Chrysalis is suffering from a pretty nasty fever.” Twilight’s face showed signs of sympathy and pity. “I know that she’s our enemy, but still: fevers can be terrible. I had one when I was little and it was awful.”
All the ponies nodded in agreement.
Fluttershy walked forward, a look of determination on her face.
“Everypony, Chrysalis needs medicines and healing spells right now. I think that we should take her to Ponyville Hospital.”
Rainbow Dash snorted.
“Yeah, right! Let’s bring a sick monster to the Ponyville Hospital: regardless of the fact that everypony in Ponyville will freak out when they see her!”
The meek but formidable pegasus stepped up her argument. 
“But we have to take care of her … even though she’s a villain who tried to take over Equestria (twice), we can’t just leave her here, especially not as she’s unwell. That would be cruel.”
Applejack cocked her head, hat slightly askew. 
“Ah agree with Fluttershy … and Rainbow Dash. We gotta take care of her, but we can’t be starting a stampede in Ponyville. We’ll have to sneak her in without anypony seein’.”
The Mane 6 and Starlight Glimmer looked at one another: each pony was thinking very hard. Suddenly, Starlight’s face lit up with inspiration. 
“Aha!” She said.
She then shared her idea with her friends.
“I believe that I have a possible solution to our problem.” 
She turned to face Twilight. 
“Twilight, do you remember that spell you taught me in our last magic lesson?” 
The purple alicorn nodded. 
“Advanced teleportation spell: the one that allows multiple teleportations at the same time … oh, I see.”
The alicorn and her student grinned and said at the same time:
“We’ll use it to move Chrysalis to the castle!”
A sudden thought struck Twilight. 
“It’ll take both of us to do it, since she’s bigger than us”, she said.
“Okay then”, replied Starlight. 
The two mages looked at their friends. 
“Coming the long way or the short way?” Twilight asked.

“Short, please … um, if that’s okay.”

“Ah shoot, maybe … just this once.”

“Ooh, new spell? It sounds fun … I’m in!”

“Well, if it’s comfortable and quick, and doesn’t leave any dirty marks, I’ll come.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at the question. 

“Sure, I can take whatever you two eggheads can do.”

Starlight frowned, but when she saw Twilight smiling, she relaxed. Oh, Rainbow. You really are an awful tease, you know.
The purple alicorn sighed and prepared herself. 
“Stand still, everypony. You may feel several tingles all over your body during the casting, but that’s normal.” 
Twilight looked at her student. 
“Ready, Starlight?” 
Starlight Glimmer smirked. 
“Always, Twilight.”
The two powerful mages then put their horns together and cast the spell. Swirls of purplish turquoise light surrounded the group: the glow intensified, there was a big flash and then they were gone.
The clearing was now empty of ponies, and one changeling.
> Look Inside To See The Truth
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Inside Twilight’s castle, the front hall was lit by multi-coloured flashes for a few seconds and then was quiet.
The seven ponies stood in a semi-circle around the prone form of the big changeling. Rarity, Pinkie, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were still holding Chrysalis’s hooves.
Rarity promptly took this opportunity to lower the changeling hoof that she was holding to the ground. She then brushed her hoofs together, frowning at the imagined dirt on them.
Now I’ll have to take a bath … goodness knows how long that changeling’s been lying out there in the woods.
“Now then”, the white unicorn said, “we’ve got her here, so the next thing that we need to do is find her some … er … accommodation.”





The Mane Seven had no trouble finding a spare room in Twilight’s crystal tree castle, but they had some problem finding a bed that was large enough for Chrysalis to lie on it. The storepony was pretty perplexed at the bed size they specified, but in the end, thought Princess Twilight and her friends knew best.
When they had at last got the large bed into the spare room, Starlight and Twilight levitated Chrysalis over it and laid her down gently. The two mega-powerful mages then used their magic to create ropes made of pure mana that wound themselves around Chrysalis’s hooves and neck, and then tied themselves to the bedposts. The ropes were loose enough to not be uncomfortable, but tight enough to prevent the changeling from escaping. 
“Right, that’s done and dealt with”, said the pink unicorn, blowing on her horn to cool it down. 
“Not quite”, Twilight said, summoning a strange grey ring with a purple flash of magic. She placed it, with some difficulty, around Chrysalis’s horn. “This will prevent her from doing any magic when she wakes up … I think she probably will try, once she sees us.” Starlight blushed.
“Oh yes, of course”, the pink unicorn replied. I’m probably still tired, not quite at the top of my game yet.
Fluttershy came forward, carrying various medicines, herbs, and warm towels. She laid them down on a table next to the bed and then picked up a couple of warm towels and began to cover parts of Chrysalis with them. The changeling still looked uncomfortable, as could be guessed by the grimace on her face and her over-high temperature. The yellow pegasus bit her lips gently as Chrysalis groaned quietly again. 
“Oh, I hope that this goes okay: I can make my animal friends better easily … but magical creatures? Ummm … I have trouble.” At this point, Fluttershy was trying to hide behind her mane, as she normally did when she got really shy. Her best friends (except for Starlight) all looked at each other as they remembered a certain incident that involved Princess Celestia, Fluttershy and a sick phoenix called Philomena. 
“Don’t you worry, Fluttershy,” Applejack put an arm around the yellow pegasus’s shoulders. “Ya’ll are very good with sick creatures. It’s gonna be dandy.” Fluttershy smiled in a thankful way at Applejack. 
“Come on everyone”, the purple alicorn said. “Let’s leave Fluttershy to her healing work.” Everypony else nodded … except for Rainbow Dash. 
“Uh … I’m gonna stand guard here, if that’s okay. Just in case, Bug-Face over there gets feisty”. The blue pegasus struck a brave pose as she spoke. Twilight and Starlight rolled their eyes and then smiled.
Ever loyal to her friends, Starlight thought. She’s wonderful. They all are. The pink unicorn was still getting used to having such new great friends at the moment. 
Twilight considered the matter for a few seconds. 
“Well, if Fluttershy is okay with it, then it’s fine.”
Everypony (and Spike) looked at Fluttershy who looked up at her friends. 
“Oh, it’s fine with me … I think.” 
The yellow pegasus smiled, a bit shakily. Rainbow took her turn at putting-an-arm-around-her-Fluttershy’s-shoulders. 
“Don’t worry about it, Flutters”, she said. 
Twilight cleared her throat and pointed at the door, looking at her other friends. The rest of the ponies (and Spike) exited the room, leaving Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy in there.

Half an hour later …

The five ponies and one dragon had drifted away from the door of that spare room and were each doing their own thing. Rarity was making some sketches of the castle’s halls for future designs. Applejack and Pinkie were making apple turnovers and apple tarts in the castle kitchen. Twilight and Starlight were in the library, studying magic and reading about ancient history.
With a sigh, Starlight put down the big book of the history of enchanted horseshoes and looked at Twilight, who was reading a book that was twice the size of hers. 
“Twilight, can I ask you a question about something that’s been bothering me.” 
Twilight looked up from her book, and shut it with a snap. 
“Yes, of course”, she said. “What’s wrong?” 
“It’s just … how come some friendships are harder to make than others?” 
Twilight thought for a moment.
“Well, I personally think that it all comes down to knowing somepony’s real self. If you know what a pony’s personality is like, how they act towards others, maybe even something about their past … then you might know how to approach them better.” 
The purple alicorn princess smiled and spoke softly. 
“After all, I didn’t know what you’d been through in your fillyhood, until you told me, Starlight.” 
“Oh right.” 
The pink unicorn mused over what she’d just been told. 
“Now I see, it’s about looking past appearances and seeing what’s inside.” 
“Exactly.” 
Twilight patted Starlight on the back, and the two smiled at each other. 
“You do say some pretty wise things at times, you know”, said Starlight. 
“Well, I have to credit Princess Celestia for her gentle guidance, of course.” 
The alicorn’s expression then changed to a frown. 
“Speaking of her … Spike, take a letter. I think the other princesses need to know about this ‘sick changeling’ incident.” 
Spike nodded and fetched a quill and a piece of parchment. 
***
Dear Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, 

This morning, my friends and I discovered Chrysalis in a woodland clearing. She’s sick with a really bad fever and is currently in no fit state to move. I’m keeping her here in my castle for the time being, with an inhibitor ring on her horn and is tied up. 

Yours, Princess Twilight Sparkle. 

P.S. I think that Cadence and Shining Armour need to know too. 
***
Spike finished the letter with a flourish of his quill. “There, all done.” 
The little dragon put his quill and the letter down, and then spoke again. 
“Do you think that we should send a message to Thorax too? He might have some useful advice for us.” 
“What a great idea! Okay then, send him a quick note about it.” 
Spike nodded and then wrote quickly on another piece of parchment. He picked up the two scrolls and set them ablaze: the scrolls burning away into green sparks that swirled their way out of the window. 
A second later, the library doors burst open and Rainbow Dash flew in. 
“Twilight! Starlight! Fluttershy needs you right now!” 
The alicorn and the unicorn didn’t waste any time when they heard that. The three ponies rushed towards the spare room that housed the large changeling, joined by the others as they ran past. 
Twilight opened the door quickly and walked in. 
“What is it, Fluttershy?” she asked as she walked up to the bed. 
Fluttershy had put a couple of blankets on the changeling and was patting her head with wet cloths. 
“Her twitching has slowed down, but her temperature’s risen at least one notch. Oh, I don’t know if I can do this.”
“Don’t worry, Fluttershy. We’ll sort it out. Twilight gave her a small smile.”
“It’s strange that she’s still catatonic after all this time”, murmured Starlight, frowning a little.
“Yes … it is, now that I think about it.” 
Twilight frowned too. 
“I’ll just check the state of her health again.”
Her horn glowed, and then she was quiet … too quiet.
“Twilight?” said all of her friends. 
“Starlight, I think that you’d better come over here.” 
“What’s wrong, Twilight?”
“Well, Chrysalis isn’t suffering from just fever, as we’d originally thought. She’s actually suffering from four different maladies. And they’re all as bad as each other.” 
“Four?!” 
The cry came from everyone in the room. 
Fluttershy quivered. “Oh my.” 
“What are they?” Starlight asked.
“Well, there’s the extremely horrible fever that we first saw, and then very severe malnutrition, extreme magic drainage, and pure exhaustion.”
Silence reigned for a minute in the room.
Everyone was shocked at that revelation. Pinkie’s reaction to it was very strange indeed.
She was, at this moment, blowing steadily into a yellow balloon. Well, she was until the balloon exploded for lack of air space. 
Rarity was the first one to break the silence with words.
“Well … at least her twitching has stopped.”
“No, it hasn’t”, Rainbow Dash pointed out, “she’s started twitching again.” 
“Wait a minute, her eyelids are flutterin’ too.” 
Applejack’s sharp eyes had seen that. 
“Ah think she’s waking up.”
As they watched the rise and fall of Chrysalis’s chest, Starlight coughed meaningfully. The purple pony turned to look at her student. 
“Do you think she’ll be roaringly rageful when she wakes up?” Starlight whispered. 
“I think that we’re about to find out”, Twilight whispered back.

---

Uuuuugghh … my head.

Pain zing-zanged through her head and her whole body ached terribly.

Whaat happened … I feel like I’ve just crash-landed into the Badlands … again.

She tried to get up but her legs felt like floppy jelly, so she settled for opening her eyes.
All she could see at that particular moment was a blurry blue background, and two large blurs that could possibly be faces looking at her. 
One of the large blurs was purple and the other was pink. Their voices were strangely familiar. 
“She’s awake.” 
“What’ll we do?” 
“Nothing for now. It looks as if she’s too sick to move much.” 
Too sick to move?! 
She felt affronted, because she’d always prided herself on her strong stamina. 
I’ll show whoever that is that I can move.
She blinked her eyes a lot and it seemed to be working. Soon her vision was less blurry and she could see better.

Her eyes widened.

WHAT THE …
> Waking Dream  ... or Nightmare
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

If this was a nightmare, then it was one of the worst nightmares that Chrysalis'd ever had in her life so far. She was lying on a double bed in a room made out of crystal; could possibly have been in the Crystal Empire, but in the circumstances, was more likely in that purple goodie-four-hooves princess's castle. The second theory was enhanced by the presence of the aforementioned princess, and her equally annoying student: Starlight Glimmer.

Starlight Glimmer had very recently joined her mentor on the list of ponies that Chrysalis really hated. The rest of the Elements of Harmony were there too, including that wimpy yellow pegasus who was patting her head with wet towels. Chrysalis's first reaction was to attack the ponies, but her attempted lunge only resulted in lifting her head an inch and give a weak, short hiss. Rainbow Dash frowned.

"Seriously? That was it?!" she said, lifting an eyebrow. The blue pegasus's reaction only made the changeling angrier than before. Chrysalis attempted to cast a blast spell, only to feel the magic drain away. What the ... The big changeling was confused for a moment, before realisation dawned. Ohhh, right. They've blocked my magic. Turning her head from side to side, Chrysalis saw that her four hooves had been tied to the bedposts by glowing magical ropes. Judging from the fizzy sensation around her neck, another rope had been wound loosely around it too.

Please let it be a nightmare, she mentally begged. Losing her throne and children had been painful enough, but being completely helpless was even worse. The pain in her head spiked momentarily, causing the changeling to let a small groan.

Fluttershy immediately dipped one of the towels in a bowl of warm water that was next to Chrysalis's bed; folded it twice, and then lifted it, still dripping, towards the changeling's head. Seething with irritation at her present situation, Chrysalis snapped at Fluttershy's hooves. The yellow pegasus squeaked and dropped the towel.

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash flew towards the bed and stopped half a metre from the former Changeling Queen's face. "No need to throw a hissy fit, Bugface!" She suddenly snorted in laughter.

"Heh, hissy fit ... hissy ... hiss, get it?"

Everypony (and dragon) rolled their eyes. The former Changeling Queen copied them, feeling very fed up. Ugggh. Isn't it enough that I lost my throne and my children, come down with a terrible sickness, been immobilised in front of my enemies, without being mocked by that arrogant pegasus. Starlight then frowned.

"Rainbow, just because she's one of our worst enemies: that doesn't mean that we should taunt her like that." Starlight carried on talking. "Especially since she's very ill, and at our mercy." The blue pegasus was silent for a moment, and then sighed.

"Fine," she said. I'm ... sorry." The purple princess nodded with approval at Starlight. Suddenly Chrysalis felt very confused. Had that prissy, do-gooder pink unicorn just defended her? Why?!

She decided to think about it later, because at that moment: her stomach growled. 'Growl.' The ever-present, irritating need to feed on love, that usually stayed at the back of her mind, suddenly overwhelmed her. It seemed to blank out every single thought. That scared her.

"I ..." she said, and coughed immediately. Her throat felt like sandpaper, and her voice sounded very husky. "I ... feel ... hungry. I ... need ... some ... love. Twilight raised an eyebrow. "What's the magic word?" she said. Chrysalis wasn't really in the mood for criticism, but she let it pass because of her great hunger.

"Please ... please", she whispered, being actually polite for once in a long, long time. The ponies and dragon murmured among themselves, feeling unsettled by her pleading gaze. The purple alicorn smiled, and closed her eyes. Twilight's horn glowed brighter and brighter as a small orb of purple and white light formed at its tip. The tall changeling stiffened at this, instantly wary of what she perceived as a spell, benign or hostile.

The orb suddenly leaped towards Chrysalis, floating down to land on her head ... and then disappeared. The changeling suddenly felt lightheaded and dizzy, but in a good way this time. Mmmm.

It was the most delicious love that she'd tasted in a very long time. I haven't experienced love like that since ... oh, never mind. She sighed, her hunger pains lessened slightly.

"See", the purple alicorn said, "if you ask nicely, you stand a good chance of getting what you want." The big changeling snapped out of her love-induced delectable food trance.

"Oh yes, that's right!" Chrysalis scoffed, regarding the ponies around her with derision. "I'VE asked nicely in the past, and LOOK where it's got me!" Her face contorted into a snarl of contempt. "Abandoned by my mutated children, completely helpless in the castle of the royal nerd, literally sick to my stomach ..."

The big changeling stopped, feeling shivers. She felt sudden dizziness come over her, and then winced again. The group of friends all looked at each other and then back at Chrysalis, with disbelieving expressions. 

"You sure about that?" Applejack questioned, adjusting her hat with one hoof. "Tryin' to invade Equestria twice doesn't seem nice ta me." Rarity huffed.

"Well I, for one, am well acquainted with the concept of being nice, and your concept is ... just ... unacceptable"

"Whoa nelly!" muttered Applejack. You asked for it, Chrysalis, she thought.

"Kidnapping us and throwing in those icky pods, wasn't asking nicely, it was ... BRUTISH ... RUDE ... UNCIVILISED AND JUST WHAT I EXPECT FROM A DESPICABLE WITCH LIKE YOU!!" The white unicorn took some deep breaths: in ... out ... in ... out ...

"Besides", she said, looking at her mane. "Do you know just how damage that horrid slime did to my coiffure?! I had to spend hours restoring it, couldn't leave my boutique for ages." Again, everybody else rolled their eyes. Chrysalis was staring at Rarity, momentarily speechless. One second, she's screaming at me like a banshee, the next; quibbling about her mane?! Oh someone, please get me out of here. These ponies are crazy!

Feeling overwhelmed by all of this, the big changeling just sighed and turned her head away. A few moments later, a yellow hoof holding some strange kind of bark arrived in front of her face. Chrysalis screwed up her face in disgust. She disliked eating plants, and bark was definitely on her 'food to avoid at all cost' list.

"Now, stop it." The yellow pegasus came fully into view, wearing a strict but understanding expression. "You have a very bad fever and you need treatment", she said firmly. "Open up, please." How about no, the changeling thought. Her gaze slid away from Fluttershy's, only to get caught by Twilight's own.

"You know, if you really want to get better, you should take the medicine", said the purple alicorn. Chrysalis didn't like others telling her what to do normally; but at present, her mind just said 'oh, hang it all', and so she, grudgingly, ate the piece of bark.

The moment that she did, a great weariness came over her, and she just wanted ... wanted to sleep. Fear welled up inside Chrysalis as her world turned black, but she felt a pair of soft hooves patting her own. It feels nice. With that thought, Chrysalis slept.

Starlight looked down upon the sleeping changeling with some curiosity. When sleeping, Chrysalis didn't look that scary ... actually, she looked harmless, even cute. The pink unicorn blushed at that thought. She heard Fluttershy gave a little 'hmmm', and turned to see the shy pegasus beckoning to her and the other ponies (and dragon), and pointing to the door.

"Um, she needs peace and quiet, so ... come on, girls." With nods, the rest of the Mane 6, Starlight and Spike followed her outside.
> Problems and Potion Ingredients
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Now what shall we do?” said Rarity, once everyone was outside Chrysalis’s room. The ponies all looked at one another. Spike just gave a bemused shrug, and then burped out a letter. BURP! Twilight levitated the letter to her, and her face broke into a smile. 

“It’s a letter from the Princesses! It says that they’re in an important meeting with the diplomats from Saddle Arabia at the moment, but they will come here in a couple of days.” Fluttershy looked somewhat relieved. 

“That’s just as well as Chrysalis mustn’t be moved until she’s feeling a whole lot better.” Even though the former changeling queen scared her a bit, Fluttershy was very good at caring for animals when they were sick. The purple alicorn raised an eyebrow, and then chuckled to herself. Fluttershy was the Element of Kindness, after all. Applejack, meanwhile, was frowning. 
“There’s somethin’ ah still don’t understand,” she said. “How in ‘tarnation could Chrysalis have FOUR maladies all at the SAME time?” This was something that Twilight had been thinking about for the past hour. 

“Well,” the alicorn began. Starlight and Spike mentally prepared themselves for the reappearance of ‘Research Twilight’. “Of late, I’ve been reading up about alicorn abilities such as their long endurance and incredible stamina. By definition, alicorns can be tougher and endure more than other ponies. Now Chrysalis seems to be a creature who has been through and survived things that most ponies would not stand, so her endurance and stamina could be similar to that of an alicorn.” Twilight would have gone on and on talking if Rainbow had not put a hoof to Twilight’s mouth. The blue pegasus rolled her eyes in exasperation. 

“Look, all of this talking doesn’t change the fact that the changeling inside that room (points at the door) is very sick”, Rainbow said. “Rarity is right: what do we do next?” Starlight then decided to speak. 

“Twilight and I have figured out that the type of malnutrition Chrysalis has is long-term. She must have been starving for quite some time. But we’ve solved that problem.” Her teacher nodded. “We’re planning to give Chrysalis small doses of friendship love every two hours of each day.” The pink unicorn thought for a moment before continuing. “In a day … maybe two days, the changeling will no longer be starving.” 

The purple alicorn’s expression wasn’t as joyful as her student’s. Twilight spoke in a very quiet voice. 

“Her inner reservoir of magic is in a very bad way: most of it is gone, only a little is left. It’s almost like she’s been drained … somehow … I don’t know what the cause is.”

“Neither do I,” Starlight chimed in. “There are some possible causes: the big, magical explosion at the hive when the rest of the Changelings changed into their present forms, could have been sustaining herself purely by magical energy for a long time … it could be lots of things.” Spike shrugged once again. 

“Well, whatever the cause was, Chrysalis won’t be using magic very much for a while”, he said. 

“You’re right, Spike”, replied Twilight. “The exhaustion brought on by the fever and magic drainage will sap the changeling’s strength for quite some time.” Pinkie Pie nodded vigorously at that. 

“Uh huh”, the pink pony said, bouncing up and down. “She’ll be as snug as a bug in a rug.” Pinkie grinned. “Heh … bug.” Everypony (and dragon) just rolled their eyes. Starlight facehooved. ‘Ridiculous.’ 

The purple alicorn decided to change the subject. 

“On the topic of curing Chrysalis’s fever, how is it going, Fluttershy?” The yellow pegasus thought for a moment. 

“The changeling needs to eat more pieces of willow bark and a few bowls of vegetable gruel for two more days to conquer the fever … I think.” Fluttershy then looked a bit downhearted. “Oh, but I don’t know how to deal with the other problems. The cures will probably be more to do with magic than any herbs I know”, she mumbled. “Twilight? Starlight? What do you think?” She looked at the two ponies in question. The pink unicorn held a hoof to her muzzle in thought. 

“I’ve found a few spells that can replenish the magic of ponies in the castle library”, Starlight said. “I’m just not sure if they’ll work on changelings”, she added in a lower tone. 

“We can still try though”, Twilight said encouragingly. “But it’ll be good to try different methods of restoring magic.” An idea suddenly sprang to life in Applejack’s mind. 

“Speaking of a ‘different method’, we could try asking a certain pony … or might ah say: a certain zebra?” she said pointedly. Pinkie Pie clapped her hooves together. 

“Zecora! Whoopee! Yes, we could go to Zecora’s place and ask her to help us out!” The rest of the friends agreed as well. 

“Awesome idea!” 

“Works for me!” 

“Oh yeah!” 

“What a marvellous idea!” 

“How about this”, Applejack began, “Pinkie and I could go to Zecora’s treehome and ask her for any tips on remedies that could restore Chrysalis’s magic.” The pink earth pony nodded, bouncing up and down even faster. 

“Yep, yep! Ready when you are!” Twilight smiled with satisfaction. 

“In the meantime, I’ll do some more research into how changeling magic works in the library.” 

“Is it okay if I join you?” asked Starlight. The purple alicorn nodded. 

“Umm, I need to go back to my cottage for more herbs and bark, if that’s okay?” mumbled the yellow pegasus, trying to hide behind her mane again. Rainbow Dash’s stomach rumbled, and she gave out a sigh. 

“Right, I’m off to Sugarcube Corner for a quick snack. All this taking-care-of-a-changeling stuff has made me hungry.” 

“Me too”, Rarity said. “I must admit I’m quite famished.” 

“Well, it looks like we’ve all got things to do”, the alicorn said. “Let’s get to it.” The group of friends agreed and left on their tasks, or snacktimes in Rainbow Dash and Rarity’s case. 

Pinkie Pie and Applejack walked briskly through the trees of the Everfree Forest, keeping an eye out for any monsters that might appear. The pink pony bounced forward quickly, humming ‘Giggle at the Ghostie’ very quietly. Luckily, they made it to Zecora’s tree without being attacked or troubled by anything. Applejack knocked, but there was no reply. The orange earth pony paused for a moment, before pushing open the door. 

The room inside looked more or less the same as it did before, except the occupant wasn’t Zecora. It was Apple Bloom. The red and yellow filly held a duster in her mouth and seemed to be tidying the room. 

“Apple Bloom?” The filly looked up, and promptly dropped the duster. “What are you doing here? And where is Zecora?” The questions all seemed to spill out of Applejack’s mouth at the same time. Apple Bloom smiled nervously and scuffed the floor a little with one hoof. 

“Well, Zecora told me today that she was going on a trip to her homeland: Zebrica. She left an hour ago, and according to her this visit will last for a week.” Pinkie Pie and Applejack looked at each other with shock. 

“Oh no!” they said. Applejack gave out a huff of annoyance. 

“Great, we find the former queen of the changelings in the woods … she’s very sick … we’re trying to find cures … thought Zecora might be able to help, but oh no, she went on a trip to Zebrica.” She turned around, and saw the pink pony frowning at her. Applejack sighed. “No, Zecora didn’t know about it … it’s not her fault. Ah’m sorry, Pinkie. It just feels frustrating.” Apple Bloom’s jaw had dropped when she heard Applejack’s news, but she quickly closed it. 

“So, you’re here to find remedies?” she said. “Maybe I could help you?” Apple Bloom put on her ‘big, sparkly eye’ look. “After all, I have been helping Zecora out with her potions sometimes: measuring the ingredients and so forth. Zecora trusts me to be careful now … that’s why before she left, she asked me to tidy up her home for her.” The two older ponies shared a glance. 

“Maybe you can! Do you know anything about herbs or plants that can strengthen a creature’s magic?” Pinkie asked. Apple Bloom thought for a couple of seconds, and then nodded. 

“Yes, there were a couple of plants that Zecora showed me last week.” 

“Can we see them?” Pinkie Pie’s excited response made the filly a little tense. 

“Why?” Apple Bloom asked warily. It wasn’t that she distrusted Applejack and Pinkie Pie, but she had then just remembered the day of the ‘cutie pox’: the day that she’d misused one of Zecora’s ingredients and then everything had turned to chaos. 

“It’s all right, lil’ sis,” Applejack said. She smiled reassuringly at Apple Bloom. “Everypony has agreed to try to help Chrysalis, an’ these magical plants could indeed do her good.” Feeling better about it, Apple Bloom relaxed and nodded. 

“These are the plants Zecora told me about”, the filly said, pointing to a bunch of roots and two bowls full of a familiar blue plant. 

“Poison Joke!” Applejack exclaimed, and narrowed her eyes. “Are ye sure that that plant strengthens magic?” Her little sister nodded. 

“Yes, I’m sure. Zecora said it would.” Pinkie Pie and Applejack were listening intently. 

“Okay … so what’s that then?” the pink pony said, pointing at the roots. 

“Bogwurt root: another plant that is good at renewing magic in creatures.” Applejack looked thoughtful. 

“Do you think that Zecora will mind if we take a bit of each of these ingredients to help the changeling?” she asked her little sister. Apple Bloom was hesitant momentarily, before replying in the affirmative. 

“If it’s to make somebody better, I’m sure that Zecora would approve of it. I’ll get a couple of bowls.” The filly turned and went over to a cupboard at the other side of the room. She took out two bowls and gave them to the other two ponies. Applejack looked at Pinkie Pie. 

“I’ll get some bogwurt roots. Can you get the poison joke petals, Pinkie?” 

“Okay”, the pink pony said, and bounced over to the two bowls of poison joke. 

“Be careful not to get them mixed up”, Apple Bloom said hastily. “The petals are in the bowl on your left.” The pink pony gingerly picked up the bowl of petals and started to pour them into her bowl … but then a calamity happened! She accidently jogged the bowl of leaves, spilling the leaves onto the table, and into her bowl! Oops! Now there were petals and leaves in her bowl! 

Pinkie Pie hurriedly set the bowl of petals down, and looked sideways at her friends. Applejack and Apple Bloom were choosing suitable bogwurt roots and, so far, hadn’t noticed the incident. The panicking Pinkie, using incredible speed that was only available to her, roughly sorted the petals and leaves into two piles … the leaves went back into their bowl … petals into her bowl. Pinkie put the first two bowls in their original order, and turned around to see Applejack turn around too. 

“Right, Pinkie, I’ve got the roots”, she said, holding a bowl of bogwurt roots. 

“Yep, I’ve got mine too!!” The pink pony held her bowl of poison joke petals out, with a very wide smile. Applejack and Apple Bloom looked at each other in a bemused way. 

“Come on Pinkie, let’s go. See you later, Apple Bloom.” Apple Bloom waved ‘goodbye’ to the two older ponies as they left. Pinkie was unusually quiet on the way back, feeling very nervous about the earlier incident with the petals and the leaves. 

What if I sorted them wrong? What if there still are leaves in the bowl with the petals? She shook her head, banishing the gloomy thoughts by thinking: ‘What’s the worst thing that can happen?’
> Flutterpony Fable
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the Castle of Friendship’s library, Twilight was busy reading through a massive book on magical creatures, and taking notes every two minutes. She was almost surrounded by stacks and stacks of books about changelings. Starlight, meanwhile, was perched on a library stool, sipping a chocolate milkshake. 

Earlier, the pink unicorn had found a book at the back of one of the bookshelves. The book was about an ancient pony race called ‘flutterponies’. It was very interesting. Starlight sniffed, and then closed the book. 

“Twilight, I’m just going to see how Applejack’s doing with that vegetable gruel”, she said to the purple alicorn. 

“Okay”, her mentor said without looking up. Levitating the book along with her, Starlight walked out of the library and went to the kitchen. Applejack was bent over the big, steaming hot bowl of vegetable gruel, stirring it steadily, and sniffing it every now and then. Pinkie Pie was holding the two bowls of herbal ingredients. Both of them were wearing cooking hats. 

‘Sniff’ “Mmmmm … okay, put them in now, Pinkie!” Pinkie tipped the bowls of bogwurt roots and poison joke petals into the gruel. Applejack stirred them into the mixture, while the pink pony sniffed the concoction herself. 

‘Sniff’ “Yum, this smells yummy.” Pinkie looked up. “Oh hello, Starlight”, she said. Applejack then turned her head. 

“Hey Starlight. How’s the research going?” the orange mare said. 

“It’s going well”, the pink unicorn said, “I just thought I’d take a quick break and see how the gruel was cooking.” 

“The gruel’s fine. How’s Twilight?” 

“She’s still working.” Applejack chuckled. 

“That figures”, she said. Starlight sniffed at the gruel. 

“Pinkie’s right, this vegetable gruel smells absolutely delicious”, she exclaimed. “Is it a family recipe?” 

“Eeyup”, the orange earth pony said, an expression of pride on her face. “It’s one of the Apple Family recipes; this one is especially good for sick ponies. Granny Smith has given it to me before when ah got sick. It cured me. Maybe it’ll cure her.” Applejack’s face scrunched up a little at the last sentence. The pink unicorn then remembered Twilight telling her about how Chrysalis-as-Cadence had thrown away Applejack’s baked goodies. AJ’s probably not forgiven her yet.

“Perhaps I could take the gruel to Chrysalis for you?” Starlight suggested. The apple mare’s face relaxed. 

“Thank ya kindly, Starlight”, she said. Applejack dipped the spoon into the bowl, and tasted it. “There it’s done.” She deftly poured some of the gruel into a smaller bowl, with a smaller spoon in it. Starlight took it and carried it, the book too, to Chrysalis’s room. 

Fluttershy was standing next to Chrysalis’s bed, giving her a few pieces of willow bark from a little bag that she carried. The changeling’s head was propped up with an extra pillow. Chrysalis’s expression was that of disgust and revulsion: probably because of the bark’s bitter taste. The pink unicorn opened the door and walked in. Chrysalis looked even more disgusted, and sneered at her before turning away. Starlight sighed. 

“You know that you should be a little bit more grateful, after all you’re not in a dungeon or Tartarus right now”, she said, feeling exasperated. Chrysalis just scoffed at her. 

“In case you haven’t noticed, my life at present is Tartarus. I can be grumpy if I want to be.” The changeling stuck her muzzle up in the air. Starlight and Fluttershy shared a look. The yellow pegasus looked into her little bag, frowned and then walked towards the door. 
“I need to get some more willow bark. Can you watch her, Starlight, until I come back?” she asked. 

“Sure”, replied the pink unicorn. The door closed. There was an awkward silence. Starlight decided to break it. 

“Here’s some nice vegetable gruel, Chrysalis”, she said, levitating the bowl and spoon over to the changeling. Chrysalis screwed up her face again. 

“No!” the changeling snapped. The pink unicorn felt irritated again. 

“Do you want to stay in that bed forever?” Chrysalis opened her mouth to reply, and then closed again. Did she want to stay in this bed forever? She had to admit that this was softer than sleeping on rock or hard soil: nice, warm, comfy … wait a moment! The changeling quickly threw the fuzzy thoughts out of her mind. Keep it together! She shook her head. 

Starlight then started to feed Chrysalis the gruel, spoonful by spoonful. The pink unicorn heard Chrysalis muttering something. 

“What was that?” Starlight said. 

“I’m not a foal”, the changeling muttered louder, in a petulant voice. Starlight sighed, and tried not to smile. When Chrysalis was petulant, she did sound rather like a foal. 

“Come on, this will help to make you better.” The changeling soon finished the gruel and settled back in the bed, closing her eyes. Starlight sat down on a chair next to the bed, and levitated the Flutterpony book in front of her. She opened the book and resumed reading. 

The sound of ruffling pages caused Chrysalis’s eyes to open. She looked across at Starlight and saw that she was reading a book. The changeling felt suddenly curious. 

“What are you reading?” she asked. Starlight put down the book for a moment, and then floated it across to Chrysalis. The book landed directly in front of her so that she could see the title.

‘The Tale of the Flutterponies’ 

“It’s a book that tells you about a magical paradise called ‘Flutter Valley, and its wondrous inhabitants: the Flutterponies. They looked just like pegasi in Equestria, except their wings were more like those of butterflies, almost invisible, and literally sparkle with magic. Flutter Valley is supposed to be the most beautiful place in all of Equis. The Flutterpony Queen is called Rosedust, with a light-yellow coat, and locks of pink-violet mane. Her cutie mark was three little pink roses. She also has pink eyes, in two different shades.”

The pink unicorn sighed. 

“It must be a great place”, she murmured. Chrysalis had been listening for quite some time, a strange expression on her face. 

“It was … it was.” The whisper made Starlight turn around and look at the changeling. Chrysalis’s eyes were closed, her breathing slow and steady. The door opened, and Fluttershy tiptoed in. 

‘Shhh’ Starlight held a hoof to her mouth. “I think that she’s asleep.” The yellow pegasus nodded. She motioned to herself and Starlight and then to the door. The pink unicorn nodded back. “Yes, let’s go.” Starlight got up and start to walk towards the door, with Fluttershy in tow. The two ponies left the room as quietly as they could. 

Even though Starlight Glimmer was an incredibly talented mage, she could be a bit forgetful sometimes. Like now, for instance. She had forgotten the ‘Flutterpony’ book. 

After a minute, the changeling’s eyes opened a little bit. Their gaze went down to the book that lay to the right side of her chest. Chrysalis stretched her hoof forward to the book to try to nudge it closer to her.
> Utter Pandemonium
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Breakfast the next day, was a hearty one. The Mane 6 sat together in the castle’s dining hall dining on chocolate chip pancakes. 

“So, how is everypony today?” the purple alicorn asked as she chomped down on a veritable stack of pancakes. She was answered by a series of ‘Fine’s, ‘Awesome’s and ‘Okay’s from the rest of the ponies and dragon. “You’ll be pleased to know that our live-in patient is on the road to recovery”, she said. Fluttershy nodded. 

“Chrysalis’s temperature is getting lower, and she’s isn’t as hot as she was before. Her fever will be gone soon,” she said quietly. Rainbow and Rarity sighed with relief in unison. 

“Thank goodness”, the rainbow pegasus said with a huff. “That means less watch duty, at least.” 

“Her magic is improving too”, Starlight added. “Her power level should be at average in a day’s time.” 

“And that’s partly thanks to Applejack and Pinkie for getting those plants from Zecora’s place, and for making the gruel.” Twilight pointed at the aforementioned ponies, who smiled at her words. 

“What were the names of those plants?” asked the pink unicorn, sipping the last of her milkshake. 

“Bogwurt root and poison joke”, Applejack said. Pinkie Pie nodded. Most of the ponies (and dragon) looked surprised at the mention of ‘poison joke’. Starlight and Twilight, on the other hoof, didn’t look at all startled. 

“It’s a good healing combination”, the alicorn said. She winked at the others. “I found in a book on herbology that she found on a back shelf in the castle library earlier this morning.” Starlight suddenly frowned. 

“Did you get petals, not the leaves?” the pink unicorn asked. Pinkie’s smile disappeared. Applejack looked puzzled. 

“Why?” they said in unison. 

“Well, poison joke petals can heal ponies’ damaged magic, not the leaves”, Twilight explained. “It’s the leaves that prank you.” The pink earth pony suddenly looked very awkward. Starlight frowned again. 

“Pinkie, your face has gone all red. Why?” Pinkie grinned nervously, and said nothing. Twilight narrowed her eyes. 

“Pinkie….” The pink earth pony tried to keep her composure together, but failed miserably. 

“Okay-I-might-have-accidently-spilled-the-bowl-of-leaves-into-the-petals-but-it-was-just-a-mistake…” 

“Pinkie, slow down, Starlight said. The party pony sighed. 

“All right, there was an incident with the bowls of poison joke yesterday. I accidently spilt leaves into my bowl of petals. I separated the mix and put the leaves back in the other bowl, as many as I could find.” Pinkie Pie then noticed the deadpan looks that everypony was giving her. “Well … the leaves and petals do look similar to each other”, she said defensively. 

“Oh ponyfeathers,” said Starlight, standing up quickly. 

“That could mean…” Applejack muttered, her eyes growing wide with shock. 

“Come on”, said Twilight urgently, “let’s go … now.” The seven ponies + dragon all left the dining room and rushed through the hallways to Chrysalis’s room. 

Rainbow Dash barged into the room, slamming the door open. She slowly floated to the ground, her jaw dropped in shock. The rest of the Mane Six, Spike and Starlight had similar expressions on their faces. A few moments of utter silence passed. 

“Dangnambit”, whispered Applejack. 

“This is a new development”, Twilight murmured to her friends. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at the understatement of the day. 

“Yeah, no kidding”, she said. 

Chrysalis’s appearance had changed dramatically. She’d physically shrunk to almost Cadence’s size, her limbs and horn were no longer holed, and her fangs had turned into normal-sized pony teeth. Her carapace had disappeared entirely; replaced by soft-looking light-yellow fur, and a cutie mark of three little pink roses. 

Chrysalis’s limp, dark green mane had turned into one full of tousled pink-violet locks. Her crown had grown taller, and now looked like it was made of long, bright pink feathers. But the greatest change was to her wings: almost butterfly-like, transparent, shining and sparkling with powerful magic. 

She actually looked like … a Flutterpony! 

Everypony (and dragon) in the room was speechless for a while. 

“You know, this reminds me of somepony in the book I was just reading”, said an astounded Starlight Glimmer. Twilight was broken out of her reverie by her student’s voice. 

“What book?” she asked. 

“I put it down on the bed”, the pink unicorn replied. Starlight then looked at the bed. “Oh. Oh dear.” Everypony else then looked at the bed. 

The Flutterpony book was on the bed, yes, but somepony had got hold of it. Chrysalis was sleeping, holding onto the book tightly with both hooves. Somehow, the magical ropes had loosened (possibly due to Chrysalis’s size shrinkage). It was a bit funny: the changeling was clutching the book like a filly would clutch a plushie in bed. The pink unicorn looked a bit perplexed. 

“Riiiight”, she said. Starlight walked as quietly as she could up to Chrysalis’s bed. She gripped the book with her magic and pulled. But, most unexpectantly, the sleeping Chrysalis frowned and pulled back. It’s MY book! Starlight gritted her teeth and yanked the book towards her again … and then found herself getting yanked onto the bed. The changeling was evidently very, very strong! Ugh, this is going to be harder than it looks. 

Starlight decided to switch to using her hooves instead. She and Chrysalis pulled back and forth in a literal tug-of-war; neither one willing to give up. Eventually, with one massive tug, the pink unicorn managed to rip her book out of Chrysalis’s grip. Starlight sighed in relief. 

“Finally! Now girls, in the book I was … Aah!” With viper-like swiftness, the changeling’s hooves wrapped around the pony and her book. 

“Eep!” Starlight squeaked in fright, doing a very good impersonation of Fluttershy. Chrysalis tugged the pony down into a close embrace, cuddling her like a soft toy. The changeling hummed happily, nuzzling the pink unicorn who was flushing bright red and struggling to break free. Unfortunately, Starlight’s frantic scrabbling was causing Chrysalis’s grip to tighten around the pony. 

“Help me”, the pink unicorn gasped. 

“Starlight!” cried her friends in union as they rushed to try to help her. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy each grabbed one of Starlight’s arms. Pinkie Pie and Applejack got hold of the pink unicorn’s legs. Rarity, Spike and Twilight got behind Applejack and Pinkie, helping them to haul on Starlight’s legs. 

The changeling was frowning slightly, and muttered something in her sleep. The friendship student was close enough to hear what Chrysalis had said. “No, my plushie!” Starlight turned a darker shade of red. The Mane Six and Spike pulled and pulled on Starlight, but the changeling just held on tight: not wanting to lose her ‘plushie’. 

The situation had now become utter chaos. 

“This cannot get any worse”, whispered Twilight, and then immediately wished that she hadn’t said that. The door opened suddenly, catching everypony’s attention. The Mane Six, Spike and Starlight all stopped momentarily. Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Thorax came in through the door … and stared. Thorax looked stunned. Celestia’s jaw dropped in shock. Luna managed a few words. 

“What is going on?!” 

Twilight’s head drooped. Rainbow just rolled her eyes. 

“Never say things cannot get any worse”, she said. “Things can ALWAYS get worse.”
> Not Such a Fable After All
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Taking in the scene around, Princess Celestia slowly dropped her shocked expression and walked over to the bed. The Mane Six and Spike quickly let go of Starlight. With a sudden tug of powerful magic, Starlight was ripped from the changeling’s grasp and floated gently to the ground. Her friends quickly surrounded her. 

“Are you okay?” 

“Did Chrysalis hurt you?” 

“Did you like the cuddles?” 

“Pinkie!” 

“Sorry!” 

“Girls, look!” Rarity interrupted, pointing past Starlight to the bed. Chrysalis was tossing and turning, her face screwed up, and fumbling as far she could reach with her tied hooves: trying to get back her ‘plushie’. The white unicorn then had an idea. She levitated a spare pillow over to the changeling, dangling it just in front of her. Chrysalis immediately grabbed the pillow and then snuggled it, her face becoming relaxed. She sighed blissfully into the pillow. Everyone else in the room was trying very hard not to laugh at the changeling’s antics, even the Princesses and Thorax. 

Pinkie Pie again failed to keep silent, letting out a loud snort of laughter … that quickly ended when Chrysalis frowned again, her eyes flickering open sleepily. The ponies, dragon and changeling all froze … in anticipation … for what? Nopony knew. The changeling still looked feverish. She looked dizzily down at her changed body, and then up at the ponies and other creatures in the room. Chrysalis unexpectantly giggled, and gave a dreamy smile at the ponies. 

“Woah. I’m dreaming … but it’s a good *yawn* dream.” The changeling’s eyes closed and her expression became relaxed again. Princess Luna coughed quietly, but pointedly. Everypony turned around to look at her. 

“This is unexpected”, the blue alicorn said. Rainbow Dash again rolled her eyes at the second understatement of the day. 

“You’re telling me”, Starlight said. She was presently occupied with flicking through the book. Starlight stopped on one particular page, nodded, and then levitated the book towards her friends. “See something familiar?” she said. Applejack’s jaw metaphorically dropped. 

“What in tarnation?” Rainbow just stared. 

“Whaa…” RainbowDash.exe has stopped working. Need reboot immediately. 

Pinkie Pie took a glass of water and then threw it in her face. 

“This can’t be … she can’t …” Twilight said, in complete shock. Starlight nodded emphatically. 

“The picture is a perfect match”, the pink unicorn said. “Chrysalis, at the moment, looks exactly like Queen –” 

“Rosedust”, Celestia whispered. Luna frowned. 

“Celly, that’s just wishful thinking. She just happens to look like her. That’s …” The lunar alicorn’s horn glowed, as she cast a detection spell on Chrysalis. 

Luna’s jaw dropped. “Celly …” 

“I know, Luna.” 

Twilight blinked. She turned to look at the other Princesses. 

“You know her?!” the purple pony said. 

“Yes”, said Princess Celestia. 

“Not exactly”, said Princess Luna, at exactly the same time. The royal pony sisters glanced at each other. Celestia decided to explain. 

“It all happened a long time ago, Twilight. More than a thousand years ago, Luna and I found a place called ‘Flutter Valley’. It was inhabited by a race of ponies with beautiful, sparkly butterfly-like wings, who called themselves the Flutterponies. Flutter Valley was a paradise: spring and summer seemed to be intermingled together in a valley of beautiful nature. The Flutterponies used their magic to maintain the peace and harmony of their home and protect it from anyone who wished to harm it. We made friends with the Flutterponies, and their Queen: Queen Rosedust.” 

Luna then took over the commentary. 

“Every other month for 5 years, we went to Flutter Valley to visit our friends and have fun …” 

“Fun!” Pinkie Pie started to bounce up and down extremely fast. “Like parties? Did you go to parties there? What were they like? Sarsaparillas? Balloons? Did they have a party cannon?!” 

The blue alicorn just blinked. 

Twilight magically grasped and lowered the party pony to the ground. She gave her a meaningful stare. Luna’s telling us something important. Ssshh. 

Princess Luna decided to resume talking, albeit hesitantly. 

“Err, right … well, we did have parties there on special occasions. Sometimes, Queen Rosedust visited Equestria. The foals and fillies adored her, especially her wings. Then…” the lunar alicorn said, and then fell silent. Her expression and that of her sister had suddenly become grim, very grim. The silence in the room seemed to be deafening. 

“What happened?” asked Starlight, her ears flat against her head. 

“It was the day of Queen Rosedust’s 107th birthday. We’d been invited to Flutter Valley by special flower invitations. We came as quickly as we could to Flutter Valley, only to find total devastation.” Luna paused again, to shocked gasps, eeps, and looks of shock from the rest of the ponies (not counting Celestia), Spike, and Thorax. 

“All of the buildings and trees were shredded, the animals had gone, and the valley itself looked it had been washed clean of flowers and plants. But those things were not the worst of it. The worst thing was that the Flutterponies had … disappeared!” The lunar princess’s voice grew a bit wobbly. Celestia patted her sister comfortingly on the shoulder. 

“Luna and I searched for ages, and talked to the leaders of the other nations nearby,” the white alicorn said. “Tragically, we never found out what exactly happened to the Flutterponies … but we always wondered. Now, however, we may have found a clue.” Celestia took a step forward and pointed directly at Chrysalis on the bed. 

The rainbow pegasus’s jaw metaphorically dropped again. She started to splutter. 

“You can’t be serious? The Changelings are the Flutterponies?!” 

Thorax was completely gobsmacked. 

Starlight broke the communal state of shock. “Maybe Chrysalis knows what happened?” she suggested. 

“It’s a good idea, Starlight. Perhaps we could ask her the next time she wakes up?” The other ponies, dragon, and multicoloured changeling all nodded. 

A sudden thought came to the purple alicorn’s mind. 

“Celestia, do you know if Shining Armour and Cadence are going to come here or not?” Twilight asked. 

“Well I did tell them about a very ill Chrysalis being found in a clearing, but they might not be here for some time.” 

“How come?” 

“Poor Flurry Heart has had a very bad temperature for the last couple of days, and so her parents had been giving her 20-hour care.” The thought of a sick Flurry Heart made Fluttershy’s expression droop and become fearful. 

“Oh dear, I hope Flurry Heart will be better soon”, the yellow pegasus murmured. “She will be better, won’t she?” Fluttershy asked the sun princess. Celestia nodded, and smiled. 

“Yes, she will”, the white alicorn said. 

While this conversation had been going on, Thorax slowly walked over to the bed. Looking at the former queen’s sick state, he sighed. 

“Oh mother, what have you done to yourself?” the multicoloured changeling said quietly. Starlight blinked in surprise. Had she heard right? 

“Why do you call her ‘mother’?” the pink unicorn asked Thorax. 

“Even though she was evil, she’d cared for the Changelings; each and every one of us”, Thorax explained. “She is the mother to all of us, after all.” The purple alicorn smiled at him. 

“You’ve certainly learnt to forgive others, Thorax … even some who did bad things to you”, she said. Twilight’s smile slipped slightly as she thought about Trixie. “Yeah, it’s hard sometimes to do it to people who’ve meant you harm in the past.” The changeling leader nodded. 

“Oh, I wish she was awake”, Thorax murmured, “so I could apologise …” The orange mare frowned. 

“What for?” she said warily. 

“For running away like that. I guess I should have told her about my feelings … the need for friendship. If I had, maybe she might not have kidnapped you.” Thorax’s ears flattened. “No wonder, she was upset.” Starlight frowned deeply. 

“That doesn’t excuse Chrysalis trying to drain you, though.” Rarity’s stomach suddenly rumbled. It reminded the Mane Six, Spike and Starlight that they’d left breakfast half-finished. 

“Girls, I just remembered that we’d left most of our breakfast behind when we rushed over here”, Starlight said. The pink unicorn winked at her friends. “I vote we go back and finish it.” Her friends all whooped and cheered. 

“I second that vote!” 

“Woohoo!” 

“Eeyup!” 

“Me first, me first!” Pinkie Pie grinned widely. 

“We were only onto the pancakes”, she said. “There’re still cakes, biscuits and ooh … caramel!” Celestia and Luna’s eyes lit up. 

“Er, can we join you?” the white alicorn said, trying not to lick her lips at the thought of ‘delicious cakes’. Luna’s ears only had to process one word: caramel, for her mind to instantly agree with her sister’s query. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! The blue princess tried a charming smile. 

“Yes, we only had a very light breakfast … yes … light breakfast, heh…” Applejack rolled her eyes. Luna was even worse than she was at lying! Starlight turned to Thorax. 

“Thorax, do you want to come to breakfast with us?” she asked. The multi-coloured changeling smiled, but shook his head. 

“I’m sorry but I have to go back to the rest of the Changelings”, he said. “After what I’ve discovered this morning, I think that they need to know about it.” The pink unicorn acknowledged this with a nod of her head. 

The Mane Six, Starlight, Thorax and the Princesses all turned and walked out of Chrysalis’s room. Spike shut the door quietly behind him, before following his friends.
> A Dream … or a Memory
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A fly came buzzing into the library, and alighted on Applejack’s muzzle. She blew it away with a snort, an annoyed look. Chrysalis had ended up sleeping through the rest of the day. The effects of the poison joke wore off three hours after they finished breakfast, bringing her original appearance back. The ponies had to admit that they’d liked the fangless, sparkly, cuter version of Chrysalis better than this one. 

While they were waiting for Chrysalis to wake up, the Mane Six, Starlight and Spike all read through the Flutterpony book, looking for references. Twilight was the one who suggested it: implying that the cause or causes of Flutter Valley’s destruction might be in this book. But so far, they’d spent hours and hours on researching it (for Rainbow, the words: hours and research didn’t belong together) and nothing had come up. It was evening now, and the ponies were getting very tired and cross. 

“Urgh, this is hopeless!” Rainbow cried. “We’ve been searching for answers for the demise of Flutter Valley for several hours, and what have we found? Nothing, none, non-existent. What’s worse is that that changeling hasn’t woken up yet!” Applejack who’d fallen asleep on her chair, jerked awake at the blue pegasus’s shouting. 

“Consarnit, Rainbow!” said the irritated farm mare. “We’re doing our best, and Chrysalis is probably extremely tired: no doubt that’s why she’s still asleep.” She yawned. “We should probably all go to bed, it’s night-time right about now. Chrysalis will be awake tomorrow, no doubt.” There were various other yawns and murmurs of agreement from the other ponies (and dragon) in the library. Even Twilight was no longer interested in research. 

The group of friends trooped out of the library, and to their respective sleeping places. Starlight, Twilight and Spike went to their bedrooms, hoping for a nice restful sleep. 

But you should know that sometimes, you don’t get what you want. 

Instead of a good dream or a state of dreamless rest, the Mane 6, Starlight and Spike found themselves in an utter wasteland. It seemed to be what remained of a valley. A sky full of clouds looked down upon an expanse of dry, rock-strewn, waterless soil. Gusting winds blew past the ponies, and made them shiver. 

“Where are we?” whispered Twilight. The purple alicorn looked at her friends, who seemed to be equally confused. 

“I have no idea.” The voice came from behind them. Twilight spun around, and then smiled as she saw the owner of the voice. 

“Celestia! It’s you!” The white alicorn nodded, and smiled back. Another figure walked into view. 

“Thorax?” Starlight said in surprise. 

“Hey Starlight”, said the changeling leader. As one, they all turned and looked at their surroundings. Applejack scooped up some soil with one hoof, which promptly blew away. 

“What is this Celestia-forsaken place?” she muttered. 

“This … is a dream”, a deep and familiar voice said. Blue light flashed into existence as the princess of the night appeared in front of them. “It’s Chrysalis’s dream”, she continued, “I thought that it might be easier to speak to her here.” 

“But then, where is she?” asked a bemused Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie, who in the meantime had been looking into the distance, suddenly pointed to her right. 

“Isn’t that her over there?” An almost-hidden black figure could be seen sitting on the ground several metres away. 

The alicorns, other ponies, and their friends slowly approached the dark changeling. The closer they got to Chrysalis, the more they could hear a strange, high-pitched sniffling sound. Starlight and Twilight were the first ones to reach the dark changeling. They then realised what the sound was. Sobbing. Chrysalis was crying quietly, her face all forlorn and full of despair. 

“Why are you sad, Chrysalis”, the purple alicorn asked softly. The dark changeling’s expression instantly changed from sad to scowling. She turned her head around and looked at the ponies, other changeling, and dragon. Chrysalis seemed to be very frustrated with their presence in her dream. 

“Go away!” she snapped. The group stayed where they were. Chrysalis then sighed in annoyance, and turned back. For a moment, complete silence reigned. 

“What is this place?” said Starlight, looking around her at the land and sky. 

“It’s a place of lost dreams, a hell that has stuck in my mind for the past millennia”, the dark changeling answered. A single tear slid down her cheek. “This is Flutter Valley.” 

“What?!” cried the rest of the dreamers. Rarity especially, was horrified. 

“How in Equestria could such an ugly place like this, be the beautiful paradise of Flutter Valley?” she said. 

“It wasn’t ugly to start with”, Chrysalis said quietly. The former queen closed her eyes, and then suddenly the entire dreamscape around them rippled and shuddered. 

“Um, Princess Luna”, said Starlight nervously. “Are you doing this?” she asked, looking desperately at the night princess for affirmation. 

“I’m afraid not, Starlight.” Luna’s calm disposition was momentarily missing, you could tell that from her voice. “I’m not causing this, she is.” The dark blue pony princess pointed with one hoof at the still figure of Chrysalis. 

The ground beneath their hooves shook as tufts of grass and flowers shot out of it. Trees sprouted up: turning from seedlings, to saplings, then full-grown trees. The many rocks and boulders on the ground lifted up and fixed themselves to the sides of the valley, making it taller. Animals and insects appeared out of nowhere and gambolled around the ponies and their friends. The wild winds died down to a single breeze, and the clouds parted to reveal clear blue skies and a summer sun. Ugly was now beauty. 

The wasteland had become a paradise. 

This was the real Flutter Valley. 

Everyone was awed by the splendour around them. Their jaws had metaphorically dropped. Well, almost everypony’s. Fluttershy’s face had lit up in a big, happy grin. She seemed to be delighted by the abundance of nature in Flutter Valley. The yellow pegasus ‘awwwed’ at the cute animals dancing around and sniffed at the flowers. Celestia and Luna were happy too: they were back in their old friend’s home. 

It was Rarity who broke out of her trance of astonishment, to see Chrysalis getting up and walking further into the valley. The white unicorn beckoned to her friends, before following the former queen. The rest of the group trailed after her. Starlight and Twilight were very, very interested in the surroundings. 

“This is incredible”, Starlight said, marvelling at the sights around her. 

“You’ve said it”, agreed Twilight, “Chrysalis must know dream magic well enough to change her dreamscape. I thought that Luna was the only pony to be powerful enough to change the world of dream. Unless it’s …” Some rabbits came bounding towards the two mages, and went straight through them.

“Aah!” the pink unicorn said in surprise. 

“Yes! That confirms it,” Twilight exclaimed. “This isn’t so much a dream as a memory!” Everypony glanced at the purple alicorn when they heard that. “The valley, the animals, the flora … even them!” said Twilight, looking above them and pointing. 

The group of friends’ gazes followed the direction of the purple princess’s pointing hoof and all went “Awwww…” 

A couple of normal-sized ponies were flying overhead; but they were not pegasi. Their wings were similar to those of butterflies, only transparent and shimmering and sparkling. Looking around, the ponies and their friends saw many more of these ponies: playing games, talking, laughing, and just having fun. 

“Everypony, I give you … the Flutterponies of Flutter Valley”, murmured Starlight, feeling awed.
> Flutter Valley
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eventually, they came across some buildings much like the ones in Ponyville, except these ones were more multi-coloured. The buildings were small, but built to be comfy and cosy. There were houses, small shops, and gardens galore. 

Thorax was liking Flutter Valley more and more. The changeling leader’s eyes practically shone with delight as he watched the Flutterponies go about their daily lives. Flutter Valley is simply amazing! It’s a bit like the Changeling Hive at the present time, he thought. Thorax’s thoughts were interrupted by an excited squeal from Pinkie Pie. 

“Look, look! They’re having a party!!” the pink pony shouted with glee. She was right. The group of friends had now reached the centre of the valley, where intensive preparations for a celebration were taking place. Colourful banners were being strung up everywhere, trays of goodies such as cakes and sweets were distributed to different ponies, and balloons fixed to the buildings and trees. “Come on, everypony!” Pinkie Pie said, bouncing after some giggling Flutterpony foals. They followed the foals over to a familiar figure: Chrysalis’s poison joke-affected form that that they’d seen yesterday. Queen Rosedust. 

The Flutterpony Queen bent down and smiled at the foals, giving a little nuzzle to each one. 

“Okay, okay, calm down”, she said. Now, I know that you’re very excited about the party …” Rosedust was interrupted by the foals all hopping and dancing around her, cheering. 

“Yay! Party! Yay!” chorused the little ponies. 

“Can we help?” asked one foal. “Maybe protect the food?” The foal had a mid-blue coat, dark blue tousled mane and tail, and a butterfly plushie clutched in one hoof. She grinned a bold, buck-toothed grin at her ruler. “It might be in danger from baddies?” the foal said in a seemingly innocent way. Rosedust just rolled her eyes, and then shook her head. 

“I’m afraid, Blue Joke, that you can’t ‘protect’ the party goodies at the moment”, the queen said. “Other ponies are taking care of them.” The Flutterpony Queen then winked roguishly at the foals. “However, you can ‘protect’ the goodies at the party, when it happens.” All the little foals cheered and scampered off. Queen Rosedust smiled and walked off to talk with some other Flutterponies. 

Chrysalis sighed, then smiled at the group of Flutterpony foals running past her. Twilight, who’d been observing the scene in silence, now decided to speak. 

“Chrysalis, are you the Flutterpony Queen?” she asked. Everypony else (who weren’t memory-creatures) turned and looked at Chrysalis for the answer. The changeling was silent for a second. Chrysalis then straightened up and turned around to face the group. 

“Yes. I am Rosedust, the queen of the Flutterponies and ruler of Flutter Valley”, she said with a hint of pride. She looked divine and princess-like for a moment. As if to emulate that, Chrysalis’s appearance changed with a ripple of rainbow light; turning into her true form: that of a Flutterpony. 

Starlight looked at the revealed Flutterpony with astonishment and awe. ‘She looks beautiful’, the pink unicorn thought. Chrysalis’s expression then changed from proud to sorrowful, and she lowered her head again. Her form then returned to its ugly, monstrous appearance. 

“Or at least, I was”, she muttered. Feeling sympathetic, Starlight slowly walked over to the changeling. She tentatively put a hoof out and placed it comfortingly on Chrysalis’s back. The former queen tensed up at this, but then relaxed. 

Meanwhile, Luna had wandered over to look at the party banners. She was, at the moment, reading the writing on one of them. 

“Tia. Come and look at this.” Celestia walked over to her sister, slightly worried at the quiet urgency in Luna’s voice. 

“What is it, Luna?” she said. The lunar alicorn pointed a hoof at the banners that she was reading. One read ‘Happy Birthday Queen Rosedust’. Another said ‘Happy 107th Birthday’. Celestia blinked in realization. 

“Luna …” she said, her voice shaking slightly. “These preparations must be for Queen Rosedust’s birthday. The 107th birthday. The last party here that we were invited to! The day …” Both royal sisters turned and looked around at their surroundings. “The day we came to what we thought was her party, but turned out to be complete destruction,” murmured the white alicorn. They then both looked straight at Chrysalis and Starlight. 

The pink unicorn, who’d been listening very carefully to what the royal alicorn sisters were saying, tapped the dark changeling on the shoulders. 

“Chrysalis, what happened to Flutter Valley?” she asked. The former queen sighed, and then stood up, shutting her eyes tightly. 

“It was the second most horrible thing that’s ever happened to me in my life, so far. Today was the day when ‘it’ happened.” Starlight frowned. “What was ‘it’?” the pink unicorn said, feeling confused. 

All of a sudden, the gentle breeze started to get faster and rougher. The blue sky was being rapidly obscured by dark grey clouds. There was an ominous rumble from somewhere in the distance. All of the Flutterponies in Flutter Valley looked up at the sound of the rumble. There was some frantic whispering and muttering among the sparkly-winged ponies, who looked a bit worried and frightened. The group of foals that the friends had seen before had hidden behind the Flutterpony Queen. 

Rosedust stared at the grey clouds, a bemused frown on her face. Then her gaze lowered, and she let out a gasp of horror. The other Flutterponies’s expressions went from anxious to completely terrified. They seemed to be frozen in shock. The dreamers were more than a bit unsettled, and a little confused by the scene before them. The Flutterponies appeared to be scared of them? They were looking right at them … wait no: at something behind the group of friends. 

The ponies, dragon and multi-coloured changeling all realised this at the same time. They, as one, turned around, and saw a ginormous mass of clouds, wind and rain coming quickly towards them. Fluttershy shrieked and hid behind a bush, quivering like a leaf in a storm, which was ironic. Twilight, Starlight, Spike, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Applejack all huddled together on the windswept ground. The orange earth pony stepped away for the huddle for a moment; just long enough to grab Fluttershy and pull the pegasus and herself back to the safety of the group. Thorax looked absolutely terrified. 

“What is that?!” screams Rainbow Dash. The prismatic pegasus was shaking too: the sight of a storm this big terrified her. She’d seen tornadoes and storms before … but this thing was unprecedented. Luna looked to be at a complete loss for words, but her sister’s expression was filled with grim realisation and certainty. 

“A hurricane”, Celestia said.
> Hurricane Havoc
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The solar alicorn’s words sent a shiver down Rainbow’s spine. 

“H-Hurricane? But they’re just in old mares’ tales, they’re not real. Are they?!” she stammered. The blue alicorn nodded gravely. 

“They are real,” she answered, “but because pegasi in Equestria help to control the weather: very few ponies have ever seen one.”

The hurricane struck Flutter Valley … with a crash, rumble, and tremendous roar. 

Chaos happened (I’m not talking about you, Discord). 

As if a paralysis spell had been broken, the Flutterponies began to panic and run around screaming. The Mane Six, Spike and Starlight joined in: momentarily bereft of rational thoughts and reason in the onset of the disaster. Their reactions were only natural. 

Trees were ripped from the ground with unbelievable strength and sent whirling through the air. The Flutterponies’ homes and other buildings were being shredded to pieces as easily as if they were made out of paper. The rain poured down in an unbelievable flood: it was like a whole lake or river was being dumped down from the sky. 

“EVERYPONY!” Luna had to shout at the top of her voice to be heard above the hurricane’s uproar and the panicking ponies’ cries of fear. “THIS IS A MEMORY, IT CAN NOT HARM YOU … AS YOU CAN SEE.” The Mane Six, Spike and Starlight stopped mid-panic, and stared at the lunar alicorn. Twilight took a deep breath, and tried to calm down. In 1…2…3, out 1…2…3. 

The purple alicorn eventually felt calmer, and as she did: a few things became rather noticeable. 

1) Water cascaded around the group of friends, yet they stayed perfectly dry. 

2) Bits of broken trees were being flung everywhere, but they never got hit. 

3) The wind blew with the force of a blasting spell, but the most the ponies felt was a strong breeze. 

“Girls, Spike, Luna’s right. We’re in no real danger”, Twilight said to her friends, who all looked very relieved. 

“But what about them?” Fluttershy asked, gesturing to the panicking Flutterponies. The poor sparkly-winged ponies were frightened and confused, all but one. 

The Flutterpony Queen was doing her best to quell the panic and save her ponies: blasting falling trees away from Flutterponies, using temporary barrier spells against the floods, and levitating the colts, fillies and foals towards her. 

“Come here, everypony! NOW!” Queen Rosedust shouted at a volume, akin to the Royal Canterlot voice. She was standing in the central square, covered with frightened little ponies who were whimpering considerably. Clusters of terrified Flutterponies ran towards their leader, who then began to count them quietly. “50…51… Great, everypony’s here”, Rosedust murmured. “I know a spell that can protect us, but I’ll need the help of all of you to do it.” Her kin replied by giving little cheers and cries of ‘okay’ and ‘let’s do it’. 

The Flutterpony Queen smiled encouragingly, before closing her eyes. The other Flutterponies closed their eyes and concentrated too, even the foals. Their horns and wings glowed with green-blue magic, which then turned pure white. Glittering trails of white light zigzagged from horns and wings through the air, sketching a crystal-like shield over the inhabitants of Flutter Valley. 

Starlight and Twilight stared in wonder and awe at the massive shield spell. They’d practiced casting shield spells in Starlight’s magic lessons but never seen one as complicated as this. 

An enormous crash of thunder broke them out of their trance of wonder. The hurricane was still howling and shrieking but the rain was lessening. Soon, it had stopped raining, and the floodwaters had mostly gone down. The freakish winds slowed as the storm moved on, and the dark grey clouds gave way to a cloudless blue sky. But the devastation remained. 

Flutter Valley, home of the Flutterponies, was completely destroyed. 

The Flutterponies themselves lay in a sprawled huddle on the ground, alive but exhausted. Their shield spell had protected them for the majority of the storm, only recently dissipating under extreme magical stress. One by one they opened their eyes, and gazed around. Some of them start to cry, others just looked bleak or blank with shock. 

Most of the Flutterponies stayed huddled around their queen, while a few gingerly inspected the destruction: looking at destroyed buildings and trees, finding smashed possessions etc. Queen Rosedust tried to cheer them up by smiling, but her smile was shaky and her eyes held similar gloom. 

Blue Joke drifted away from Rosedust and walked over to the shattered remnants of a building. The foal suddenly saw, to her dismay, her beloved butterfly plushie lying under a fallen tree trunk. Blue Joke tugged her plushie loose, and gasped in horror. The toy was smashed, and ripped nearly to shreds. The blue Flutterpony foal began to quiver, and then erupted into loud, heartbroken sobs: a pitiful sound to hear. 

Fluttershy followed her first instinct: which was to fly over and give the poor foal a hug … well, try to. The yellow pegasus’s hooves went straight through Blue Joke, to her dismay. But Blue Joke wasn’t the only pony who was howling brokenheartedly. Chrysalis had started crying again: the renewed sight of her ruined home seemed to drive her back into utter misery. 

After everything they’d seen, Starlight and Twilight felt deep sympathy for the dark changeling. The purple alicorn walked over to Chrysalis and then, together with her student: gave her a big hug. Now Chrysalis wouldn’t normally allow ponies to embrace her like this, but she felt too upset to complain about it. 

Meanwhile, Blue Joke cuddled what was left of her plushie, and tried to think happy thoughts. A pair of large golden hooves took the blue foal and hugged her gently. 

“There, there, Blue Joke”, said Rosedust softly. “Everything is going to be okay.” She then raised her voice so that everyone can hear her. “Everypony, it’s not the end of the world. This is a terrible disaster but it can be sorted out.” The queen looked around at all of the Flutterponies in the area. “Is everyone all right?” she asked. The butterfly-winged ponies looked pretty bedraggled: all wet, shivering, despairing and stressed. They murmured among each other for a few seconds, before one stepped forward to affirm that. 

“Yes, your highness, we’re all relatively fine … a bit wet but that’s it. No injuries,” he said. There were audible sighs of relief from those nearby. 

“Queen Rosedust.” A new voice spoke up. It belonged to a green pony who was twitching her wings, and glancing up at her horn anxiously. “I just tried to cast a spell to dry myself … and nothing happened! I think that something’s wrong with my magic. Look at my wings!” She stretched out her wings as she spoke, and to her kin’s (and the dreamers’) horror: they were no long beautiful and sparkling … just transparent and dull. 

This discovery caused total panic. A lot of Flutterponies were shrieking, trying to cast spells, and finally sitting down horror-stricken as the terrible realization dawned on them. The realization that they’d spent all of their magic on maintaining the shield spell, and now were powerless. The Flutterpony Queen tried talking but her voice was lost in the clamour. 

“STOP!” she shouted, at long last. There was silence. “Thank you”. Her voice was quiet again. “There’s no need to panic. As I said before: this mess can be sorted out. You remember my two good friends: Celestia and Luna, the alicorn princesses of Equestria?” All of the Flutterponies nodded slowly. “We can go to them, and they can help us repair our home, get our magic back, and take care of us until then.” The green Flutterpony who’d discovered the loss of magic, then spoke up again. 

“How do we get to Equestria without our magic? Without magic, our wings are useless!” she said. The queen smiled. 

“Not all of us lost their magic entirely”, she said, her horn glowing. “I have some magic: not a lot, but enough to get us to Equestria.” Smiles broke out on faces that were gloomy before. Rosedust spoke with both conviction and certainty. “Believe me, I know my friends well. They will help us.” The Flutterponies cheered. Pinkie Pie grinned at the sight of the now hopeful faces. 

“It’s good to see them smile again”, the pink party pony said, bouncing happily. The scene of happy faces suddenly began to blur and fade like mist on a bright, sunny day. Eventually, it was all gone, and the dreamers were standing once again on the barren, wrecked landscape of Chrysalis’s nightmare.
> A Journey of Visions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Silence spread across the nightmare. The dreamers and Chrysalis were each thinking their private thoughts. 

For Chrysalis, reviewing the memory had brought back the old painful feelings of loss and longing that she’d buried long ago. 

Celestia and Luna were deep in remembrance of Rosedust and Flutter Valley, thanks to the memory / vision. 

Thorax was looking at himself and thinking back to the beautiful forms of the past Flutterponies that he’d seen just then. 

The Mane Six and Starlight felt very sorry for Chrysalis: what she’d been through in the past, what her children had been through … was nothing less than horrific.

Twilight and Starlight both knew what it was like to lose something that they considered a place of familiarity and refuge: a home (Twilight lost the Golden Oak Library, Starlight lost her home in Our Town). The purple alicorn was also aghast at the loss of the Flutterponies’ magic, remembering back to when Tirek had sucked her inner magic out of her. It was a horrible experience, she thought, and shuddered. 

“What happened next?” asked Applejack curiously. “I mean, we now know what happened to you and your children, and why y’all left Flutter Valley … but after that? How did you end up living in the Badlands?” Chrysalis sighed and closed her eyes again.

“Since I’ve started going down memory lane, might as well tell you all of it”, she said. The group’s surroundings faded to pale mist. The ‘wustering’ sound of the winds died down to total silence. Chrysalis cleared her throat and then started speaking. 

As they listened to her, the mist formed into a series of images that were obviously more of the dark changeling’s memories. 

“Once everypony had stopped cheering, I started to sort everyone into groups, and urged them to get ready for the journey.” 

Ponies were hurrying this way and that, searching among the wreckage for things that they could take with them. Food that was unspoilt was packed into makeshift bags, unbroken bottles filled with stream water, and hardly-torn cloaks salvaged for use in cold nights. 

Rosedust, who was overseeing the packing, tried to stop her little ponies from taking things that they couldn’t carry, but allowed them to take some of their mostly intact personal possessions. The Queen heard a sniffling, and looked down to see Blue Joke, still clutching the remains of her toy butterfly, looking miserable. 

“There, there, Blue Joke”, Rosedust said soothingly. “It’ll be all right in the end. Look, I can fix that for you, see?” The Flutterpony Queen’s horn glowed, and the blue filly stared in delight as the rips and tears on her butterfly came together and then disappeared. 

“Butterfly! Oh, thank you so much!” Blue Joke hugged one of Rosedust’s legs before running off to join the other colts and fillies, gambolling around and getting in everypony’s way. 

Aww … thought Pinkie Pie, who’d taken a liking to Blue Joke. She loved foals, colts and fillies, and this Flutterpony filly was no exception. Chrysalis continued … 

“When we were all ready, I enchanted our wings so that they’d work properly … well, work in some degree.” 

Queen Rosedust’s eyes and horn both glowed bright white, sparkling streams of blue-green light sprang from her horn and touched the wings of every Flutterpony. The wings brightened in colour, not at full power but still magical. The Flutterponies cheered in unison, fluttering up into the air, one by one. 

“So, we set off towards Equestria.” 

Rosedust led the Flutterponies from their ruined valley, flying in a large group: the fillies, colts and foals riding on the adults’ backs.

“The journey took a few days and was very hard on all of us. We lacked most of our magic, you see, so we couldn’t fly at full speed.” The blue pegasus perked up. This sounded interesting. 

“How fast exactly can you go?” Rainbow Dash asked curiously. The dark changeling suddenly looked smug. This will be good. 

“Very fast … maybe fast enough to outfly you”, she said. Rainbow’s jaw dropped at the suggestion. 

“What! No! I’m awesomeness itself”, the pegasus said, to the laughter of everyone there. “I can do a Sonic Rainboom. Can you?” The Element of Loyalty whooped in pride, which made everyone else laugh harder. Even Chrysalis. 

The former queen found it hard to remember the last time she’d laughed in good humour. Not recently … not for centuries, I think … Twilight coughed pointedly to get Chrysalis’s attention. 

“What happened next?” the purple pony said. The female changeling sighed and then resumed the narrative. 

“We had to take frequent breaks because flying for long periods tired us out, especially the ponies carrying little ones. On the first day, we stopped after half an hour’s travel from Flutter Valley.” 

The Flutterponies descended to the ground, looking tired and hungry. Rosedust helped to hoof out food and drink while she looked around. The sun was shining down, for it was noon: there was no shade, except for a cave in the cliff right next to them. 

“Everypony, we can shelter in this cave from the sun, until we’ve rested enough to continue”, she said. The other ponies nodded and walked into the cave (after Rosedust had checked it to make sure it was safe), their Queen entering last of all. 

As she turned around to go in, the watchers saw behind her … in the distance, two ponies with wings and horns were flying towards the ruined Flutter Valley: one white and one blue. Just as they passed from sight, Rosedust turned her head around suddenly; looking around suspiciously. The Flutterpony ruler then shook her head and walked into the cave. 

All of the images disappeared into the mist as the royal sisters and Chrysalis seemed to be suddenly frozen in shock. Everyone else stared at them. 

“This just keeps getting more and more complicated”, muttered Spike. The purple alicorn nodded at the dragon. 

“Yes Spike, it is.” She then addressed Celestia, Luna and Chrysalis. 

“You just missed seeing each other, I guess. A big shame … if you hadn’t turned around at that moment, Chrysalis: you would have seen your old friends.” The addressed changeling looked sad with the realization. Starlight frowned. 

“Hang on, why didn’t Princess Celestia and Princess Luna see Rosedust?” she questioned. 

The sisters looked at each other. Celestia spoke. 

“I’m afraid that both of us must have been too engrossed in thoughts of the coming party.” Luna nodded, and joined in. 

“We’re sorry, Chrysalis”, the blue alicorn said. Chrysalis acknowledged the apologies with a single nod of her head. 

The dark changeling smiled a little but remained sad. 

“That wasn’t the worst thing”, she said ominously. “As we journeyed towards Equestria, we discovered that the loss of most of our magic had affected more than our moods.” The mist cleared once again. 

The Flutterponies were rather stressed. Their bodies were rapidly going through a horrible metamorphosis: becoming darker, harder, and more insect-like. Many of them had freaked out, amid a growing panic, kept in check by Rosedust who promised that her friends would help them. Rosedust herself had not been spared metamorphosis, but was somehow lucky: retaining more pony features than her fellow Flutterponies.

“Luckily, it wasn’t long before we reached Equestria.” 

The changed Flutterponies had just arrived at the border. They were staring and goggling across at the clear blue sky, emerald green grass, and peaceful perfection of Equestria. The Flutterpony Queen let out a sigh of relief. 

“We’re here at last. This is Equestria.” 

A rousing cheer greeted her words. Everypony was relieved: foals began to gambol around, colts and fillies played hide and seek in the trees and bushes, adults watched over the younger ones and unpacked the bags.
> Bad Hair Makes an Appearance
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“It wasn’t long before we encountered a pony … but the encounter didn’t go well.” 

Some of the colts were playing ‘Tag’, and were recklessly dashing through the undergrowth, regardless of what they might bump into … or who. 

‘Ooof!’ A Flutterpony colt crashed into an obstacle. 

The obstacle went ‘Ooof!’ too. 

It was an orange earth pony stallion. His eyes went wide at the sight of the colts. 

“Aaah! Monsters!” shrieked the pony. 

Rosedust’s head jerked around at the pony’s shrieks and cries of ‘Monsters!’ She quickly beckoned to several other Flutterponies before heading in the direction of the commotion. 

The colts were standing together facing the panicking pony, who was cringing against a tree. 

“Get away! Get away!” the stallion shouted. “I … I warn you, I can fight!” Then Rosedust and the others came into view. The poor pony nearly passed out with fright. “More monsters?! Aaaaaaaaah! That’s it! I’m getting the Royal Guards!” 

The earth pony was gone so fast that he seemed to be little more than a blur. The Flutterponies watched him go in confusions, and in some cases: wariness. 

“What was that all about?” asked one colt, scratching his head with a hoof. “All I did was accidently crash into that pony and then say ‘sorry’. He then starts shrieking about monsters and cowers away from us!” Rosedust thought for a moment. 

“I suppose he probably thought that we were monsters. Let’s face it, our appearances at the moment don’t resemble ponies like them.” All of the ponies in the vicinity hung their heads. 

“But!” The Flutterpony Queen said emphatically, making everypony look up. “It’s just one pony. I’m sure that the others will be more accommodating.” Most of the Flutterponies nodded, although a couple of ponies still had unsure expressions. 

“What about the Royal Guards?” asked one. “Are they going to understand?” Rosedust laughed and winked. 

“Don’t worry, I know each of the present two captains of the royal guard well. Auras Solaran and Vesper Nyx are good-hearted, sensible, loyal, true soldiers who obey orders, but think about the consequences of them beforehand. They’re not the sort of ponies to blindly act on first impressions on meetings with strangers. Now come on, let’s get back to the others.” 

Chrysalis shook her head in exasperation as the mist swirled and changed. 

“If only it had been so”, she spat, scowling. “Turns out that ‘first impressions’ were ALL that mattered in THAT meeting.” 

Rosedust and her flock of Flutterponies were walking through a forest in the light of the afternoon sun. Suddenly, ponies in golden and silver armour appeared all around them: behind the trees, hovering in the air, standing in the open … All of the armoured ponies wielded spears and bows, and had threatening expressions on their faces. 

The Queen slowly walked in front of her kin, and then decided to introduce herself. 

“Uh … hello there. My name is Queen Rosedust, and behind me are my kin: the Flutterponies. We …” 

Rosedust was interrupted by laughter. The sort of laughter that is sarcastic and hurtful. 

The ranks of royal guards parted to reveal a figure whose armour was covered with frivolous gold and silver decorations. His helmet was bigger than everypony else’s, as was its plume (which kept getting in his eyes and tickling his nose). 

Celestia promptly facehooved and groaned loudly, catching everypony’s attention. 

“Please no”, she muttered. “Not HIM, please.” Applejack raised an eyebrow. 

“Recognise him?” she asked dryly. Luna rolled her eyes. 
“We wish that we could forget him entirely. The name of that pony is Aulus Precaro Blueblood the second.” 

“BLUEBLOOD!” the mane six and Spike exclaimed in shock. 

“Yes”, the sun alicorn said with a sigh, “A distant ancestor of my nephew. Aulus Precaro Blueblood the second was snobbish, rude, overbearing, foolish, and extremely reckless. He insisted on being in the royal guards, due to his namesake being a famous and heroic general.” Luna then joined in again. 

“His family made such a fuss that we eventually did make him an officer … but we instructed our captains to never let him go on missions unless at least one of them was in charge. Trust me, he caused trouble on a daily basis in those days.” The night ruler suddenly giggled. 

“Tia, do you remember his first mission? The one about the cockatrice?” she asked. Celestia’s face broke into a big grin. 

“I remember that! I especially remember having that conversation with you about whether we should change him back. He seemed less annoying as a statue”, the white alicorn murmured. 

The rest of the group of viewers were trying not to laugh. Even Chrysalis was smiling. 

“There was one incident during his guard days that really caused such a fuss”, continued Celestia, “He’d been boasting that he could take on a hydra single-hooved.” 

Everyone gasped. 

“Woah”, muttered Rainbow Dash, surprised at the enormous boast. “Indeed”, Celestia said seriously. 

“He set out to prove it, but his adventure ended with Luna and I having to rescue our screaming nephew from the hydra he picked a fight with. Although, he screamed louder afterwards.” The purple alicorn flinched. 

“Was he hurt?” she asked anxiously. 

“No, unless damaged pride counts as an injury. You see, during his encounter: one of the hydra’s heads made a snap at Aulus. He managed to avoid being made a mouthful, but it managed to bite a huge chunk of his mane off. Right off! He had a complete tantrum about it, and had a ridiculously big helmet made so that other ponies wouldn’t notice until it grew back.” 

“Is that the helmet he’s wearing then?” Pinkie questioned, pointing at the pompous pony’s fancy helmet. 

“Actually yes, it is”, said Luna. 

The fancy armoured stallion cleared his throat and spoke. 

“Quiver before our might, ye foul creatures! In the name of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, surrender or be gone! Or ye will face your doom!” 

Rosedust rolled her eyes, but still made an effort to be polite. 

“You misunderstood me. I AM Queen Rosedust. I know I look different now, but it was caused by …” 

The stallion laughed sarcastically again. 

“As if! I have seen the real Flutterpony Queen, and she looks nothing like you, you vile monster.” The Queen ground her teeth together angrily. 

“Let me speak to someone in authority!” she demanded. “Is Auras Solaran here? Vesper Nyx?” 

“I am in charge here”, the pompous aristocrat snapped. “Now leave Equestria.” 

Rosedust stamped a hoof in response, a determined expression on her face. 

“No”, she said with finality. Her kin copied her, with equal seriousness. 

“I thought that you told Solaran and Nyx not to let Aulus go on missions without at least one of them there”, Starlight whispered to Princess Celestia. 

“I did, I … oh no.” 

“What?” asked Twilight. 

“Well, I’ve just remembered that Captain Solaran was badly injured the month before Rosedust’s party in a chimera-related incident. It was two months before he was fit for active duty again. Poor Captain Nyx had to take over Solaran’s duties, and ended up doing double work for two months. He might not have had time to keep track of Aulus, as he normally does.” 

“Oh”, Starlight and Twilight said together. 

“Exactly.” 

“Fine … ATTACK!” Aulus hollered. The royal guards looked at each other, and then charged at the Flutterponies. 

Rosedust’s kin looked surprised, and very frightened. 

“Everypony behind me! NOW!” shouted the Queen, standing in front of her children.

Rosedust proved to be a first-rate battle mage: blasting guards back with frightening power and devastating aim. But there were just so many guards: in front, closing in, all around them. The Queen was afraid for her children. 

So, she used her powers to cast powerful illusions over herself and her children. Streamers of glowing green light wrapped around the Flutterponies, making them look and seem like trees, bushes, and rocks.

> A Terrible Misunderstanding Takes Place
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The trick worked! The royal guards went and searched around the place for the ‘monsters’, but couldn’t find them. They reported to Aulus that the ‘monsters’ must have fled. 

“You see!” Aulus stuck his muzzle in the air proudly as he walked around triumphantly in front of the rest of the guards. 

“That’s why the Royal Guards are renowned! Renowned for their bravery, their resourcefulness, and for having qualified, dignified leadership … Aaah!” 

The lieutenant had suddenly tripped over a tree stump, and sprawled unceremoniously on the ground. Even worse for him, his helmet had come off in the fall: revealing his chewed, mostly missing mane. The viewers broke into gales of laughter at the sight, the hidden Flutterponies couldn’t help giggling, and even the guards’ faces twitched a bit. 

Dark crimson with fury, Aulus seized his helmet and put it on. He addressed the woodland around him in a shaky but rage-filled voice. 

“Freaks! Changelings! You want to get into Equestria but you won’t succeed! EVER! You know why? Because it’s for peaceful ponies, not freaks and abominations! Princess Celestia and Princess Luna themselves gave us orders to attack and defeat monsters such as YOU! Get back to the Badlands where creatures like you belong!” 

Snorting, Aulus turned around and marched away from the scene, the rest of the guards following behind him. There was silence for a long time. 

The forest glowed bright green once again as Rosedust lifted the illusion, revealing the stunned and confused Flutterponies. A filly finally broke the silence, with a whimper. 

“I thought that the ponies were supposed to be … nice.” 

Other Flutterponies joined in. 

“Yes, that was what I thought!”

“What was that all about?!” 

“I … your highness, are you all right?” 

This last question was aimed at their ruler, who was silently crying. 

Blue Joke crept closer, and then tapped her on a shoulder. Rosedust sniffed, and a few words could be heard. 

“Gave them orders … Celly … Lulu … how could you … how could you …” The Queen slowly got up, wiped her cheeks, and then turned to face her kin. 

“I’m sorry to have to tell you this … we can’t stay here in Equestria. We’ll probably have to improvise for now, since the ponies,” she spat the word venomously, “won’t let us stay in their home.” 

Rosedust started to walk away, her expression thunderous. Blue Joke looked nervous, and then asked in a small voice. 

“What about your friends?” Rosedust then whirled around with the speed of a hurricane. Her face was contorted in anger, loathing and hatred: an expression that the viewers had seen on Chrysalis before. 

“My friends can go to Tartarus, for all I care.” 

The blue filly whimpered quietly. The Flutterpony Queen’s face softened at that. 

“Oh, I’m not cross at you, Blue Joke … or the rest of you. Come here.” She held her arms open in a big hug, and the rest of the ponies followed suit. Soon, all of them were in a big group hug. 

“I promise to always look after you, never abandon you, and NEVER let anypony or anything else hurt you. All of you are the only things I love truly in the world.” Blue Joke smiled and said: “We know, Mummy. We know.” 

The visions faded again, and this time: so did the mist. The group of friends and Chrysalis were once more on the desolate landscape of Chrysalis’s nightmare. 

The dark changeling sighed. 

“My children and I then went to the Badlands and made a makeshift home: a ‘Hive’ as it became known as. It wasn’t a very good home, but we had to make the best of our situation. 

I managed to stop the metamorphosis from going any further by sharing the last of my Flutterpony magic with my kin: giving them access to illusion magic, battle magic, and a knack for sensing powerful emotions. 

We soon found that we could still eat normal food, but love gave us strength and power. That we found out from those I sent on spying missions into Equestria. 

My kin ended up taking a new name … and so did I. It felt appropriate after everything we’d been through.” 

Chrysalis had fallen silent. The friends looked at the female changeling with sympathy and pity. 

The alicorn sisters felt absolutely horrified at what their old friend had been through, and sad that a misunderstanding had caused her to hate them. Celestia approached Chrysalis slowly. 

“Chrysalis?” she said quietly. “I had no idea that Aulus said that to you, or even attacked you and your kin. He never told us, and I don’t think he told the captains either. If we’d known what he was going to do, we would have stopped him.” Luna laid a hoof gently on the black changeling’s back. 

“We never ordered the guards to attack you and your children. At that time, Equestria was going through a veritable tsunami of monster attacks. We told the royal guards to defend Equestria from all aggressive monster attacks”, the blue alicorn said emphatically. 

Applejack coughed to get Chrysalis’s attention. “Princess Luna is telling the truth, you know.” Luna resumed speaking. 

“I personally think that Aulus was manipulating the truth to justify his own actions. It was a nasty habit of his that I really disliked.” 

Chrysalis’s eyes widened and her jaw fell. 

“He … he was lying? Then you didn’t …” The changeling’s voice died away into a fit of sobbing. Celestia and Luna hugged their old friend tightly. 

“So Chrysalis already knew about sharing love?” Starlight whispered to Spike. The dragon nodded. Applejack eyed the sobbing changeling. 

“Now we know why Chrysalis was so hostile to Celestia and Luna”, muttered the orange farm pony. 

Twilight had been watching Chrysalis for quite some time. Now she came over to the trio, and looked directly at the changeling. 

“Chrysalis, why didn’t you tell anypony about it, even your children?” she asked. Chrysalis didn’t answer, silently crying. The royal sisters slowly let go of the former queen. 

“I think that perhaps it’s best if we leave her be for the rest of the night. She’s been through enough as it is,” whispered Luna. The group nodded. 

The night alicorn’s horn glowed brightly, and the surroundings changed into the bright paradise of Flutter Valley’s former state. Chrysalis’s form changed into that of Rosedust. Flutterponies came out from behind trees, bushes, out of the sky. They fluttered over to Rosedust and each gave her a big hug. Rosedust / Chrysalis sniffled, and then hugged them back. 

“The least I can do, after hearing about Chrysalis’s past, is make sure the rest of her sleep isn’t steeped in misery”, Luna murmured. 

Mutters of agreement came from the rest of the dreamers as they began to disappear from Chrysalis’s dream. Starlight and Twilight took a last look at the changeling. 

“Chrysalis still has some things to explain, doesn’t she?” said Twilight. 

“I agree, but now it’s time for sleep … for all of us”, Starlight replied, as dreamless sleep overtook them both.
> Rainbow Revelations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chrysalis slowly opened her eyes. The morning sun was shining through the curtains, lighting up the room. The big changeling yawned. That was a good sleep, she thought. And the dreams were wonderful. I haven’t dreamed about the valley like that for centuries. She smiled wistfully. The smile suddenly disappeared as she remembered the other things that she’d dreamed about, and who had also seen them. 

“Oh ponyfeathers!” the dark changeling muttered as she tried to get out of bed. “I’ve got to get out of here … now.” The mere memory of the viewers seeing her private past issues felt mortifying to her. She was suddenly halted by the physical and mental remembrance that she was tied to the bed magically. 

“Oh ponyfeathers”, Chrysalis swore again. This cannot be happening. 

A random realization came to the changeling in the moment: all of her aches and pains, her fever … was gone. She felt better. 

“Well, I never. It looks like those annoying ponies actually did help me after all!” marvelled Chrysalis. The former ruler then frowned. “But why?!” 

The door opened suddenly, and the Mane 6, Starlight and Spike suddenly came in. 

“We’ll explain why in a moment,” replied Twilight, in answer to Chrysalis’s question. “But first we have some questions for you, Chrysalis.” The changeling sighed, feeling somewhat bored. 

“All right”, she said in a resigned voice. Twilight began her questioning. 

“Why do you like to persecute ponies, even though the original ponies who caused you strife had been gone for ages? Why are you so hostile to the idea of friendship now? And finally, why did you never tell the present Changelings about their race’s past?” 

Chrysalis had gone very quiet while the purple alicorn was talking. Then she spoke. 

“I hated Aulus and his fellow guards because of their actions against me and my kin long ago. You all saw what happened. My resentment grew until it covered all ponies.” 

The pink unicorn nodded slowly. I, of all ponies, should know what comes of letting resentment fester and grow for long periods of time, Starlight thought. 

“It’s can be easier sometimes to keep hold of a grudge than to let it go”, she said. 

The dark changeling nodded. 

“I openly discouraged friendship in the Hive, because I didn’t like the idea of it, having real fun, and kindness … it reminded me too much of Flutter Valley, Tia and Lulu, all of the happy times of my l-life.” Chrysalis started to cry again. 

“I-I thought that my friends had betrayed me, betrayed our friendship. It hurt. It hurt more than any other injury I’d got before. It was just too painful, mentally.” 

The Mane 6 slowly nodded, sympathizing with Chrysalis. Each of the ponies and dragon remembered painful things, especially Starlight and Twilight. 

Twilight remembered how Discord had made her friends turn on her, leaving her broken-hearted for some time. 

Starlight remembered how she’d misinterpreted Sunburst’s cutie mark as a friendship betrayal, and how anguished and empty it had left her for years and years. 

“You blocked happy things out of your mind because you couldn’t bear to think about them, didn’t you?” the purple alicorn said. Chrysalis nodded once again, looking mopey. 

“Maybe, if Thorax and the others had known about what you’d been through in the past, they might have been a bit more forgiving?” suggested Applejack. “Why didn’t you tell them, dang it? The dark changeling stared at the ground. 

“I didn’t want to tell my children about their race’s past for fear of hurting them emotionally,” she muttered. “I love them, and I never really wanted to hurt them.” 

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. 

“Thorax?” she asked cynically. Chrysalis’s expression darkened, and she laughed harshly. 

“The first changeling to want friendship. How quaint.” The former queen sighed, and then hung her head. 

“Rosedust helps and comforts her children when they’re in trouble. Chrysalis just hurts them.” She actually looked truly ashamed for the first time. “Thorax tries to persuade me to like friendship, and I tried to drain him of his love. I acted like a selfish foal, and I violated the promise I made long ago: never let my children come to harm.” Chrysalis turned her head away from the ponies. 

“No wonder they hate me now. I wouldn’t love me either after all this. I guess that’s why my children abandoned me.” Starlight frowned. 

“Chrysalis, they didn’t abandon you. It was you who ran away!” she protested. The pink unicorn smiled reassuringly, walking around the bed to look Chrysalis in the face. 

“In the past, I did some pretty appalling things to a lot of ponies, but when I apologised for my behaviour: they forgave me! I didn’t expect them to, but they did!” the pink unicorn said, emphasizing every word. “If you make a true apology, they’ll forgive you.” Starlight hesitated and looked back at her mentor. “I think.” 

Chrysalis snorted disbelievingly. 

“Yeah, right. Anyway, my children aren’t here, so I can’t apologise.” 

Spike coughed pointedly, walked to the door, and then opened it. It turned out that Thorax and the other changelings were standing right outside the door. Chrysalis’s eyes widened in surprise. They’re really here? They … did they hear what I just said?! 

The Changelings all looked at each other. Eventually Thorax stepped forward. 

“Did you really mean what you said? About loving us? Caring about our feelings? And the real reason why you don’t like friendship?” The black changeling was quiet for a moment, and then said “yes” softly. She looked at Thorax. 

“Did you mean what you said?” she asked. Thorax looked confused. 

“What did I say?” 

Chrysalis smirked. 

“Weeell, l just might have been wide awake for your visit yesterday,” she said slyly. “The whole visit.” Everyone’s jaws dropped at that. 

“You mean, you weren’t sleeping?!” exclaimed Rarity. 

Thorax slowly closed his mouth, and then gave his answer. 

“Yes.” The dark changeling’s smirk then turned into a soft smile, a genuine smile. 

“Thorax, I’m sorry, truly I am. I’m sorry for hurting you: that was completely uncalled for. I had no excuse.” She turned to look at the rest of the changelings. “I apologise to all of you for lying, for abandoning you, and for not acting like how a real mother is supposed to.” 

One of the multi-coloured changelings stepped forward, and Chrysalis braced herself for the torrent of criticism that she thought was coming. 

“Is Flutter Valley real? Is what I saw really real?” he asked. Those questions caught the black changeling completely off guard. 

“How in Faust, do you know that?” she asked, perplexed. “Thorax was the only changeling I showed my past to.” The Royal Pony Sisters then came into the room, smiling. 

“I’m afraid that it’s my doing”, Luna promptly answered Chrysalis’s question. “I secretly linked the dreaming minds of all the changelings, not just Thorax, to your dream, Chrysalis. All of them saw what happened to Flutter Valley, and afterwards. Thorax was the only changeling that everyone, except me, could see and hear. I didn’t tell you at the time, because I was worried that you might feel overwhelmed if you knew.” 

“You think?!” spluttered a very flustered, crimson-faced Chrysalis, staring once again at the floor. Twilight patted the dark changeling’s hoof, causing Chrysalis to look up at the purple princess. 

“Everyone here now knows what you’ve been through, Chrysalis. The reason why we helped you is because we couldn’t let someone lie there on the ground sick. You were pretty ill”, she said. The former queen frowned. 

“So what? I had a fever, doesn’t everypony get them?” 

“Well, you didn’t just have fever, you know. You also had very severe malnutrition, extreme magic drainage, and pure exhaustion.” 

As the list went on, Chrysalis’s expression became one of mingled horror and surprise. Horror at the sheer number of symptoms that she had before, and surprise at the ponies’ helpfulness in her recovery. 

“After everything I did, you still helped me”, she murmured. 

“See”, Starlight pointed out, “Equestria isn’t the same as the one that you thought you knew; it’s better, more understanding, kinder to those that are different from others in lots of ways.” Thorax nodded. 

“I still love you … mother. I know that you’ve done some very bad things … but, you know, everyone makes mistakes at some time in their life.” The rest of the changelings voiced their agreement to their leader’s words. 

“Yes!” 

“If she’s really sorry, then yes!” 

“I’ve made mistakes too.” 

“And me!” 

Chrysalis sniffled softly. 

“I’m sorry for every bad thing I’ve done to my children, you ponies … well, everyone”, she said sincerely. Thorax gave her a comforting hug. Every other changeling joined in, until the dark changeling was buried in a multicoloured mass. 

“We love you, mother”, the changelings all murmured. 

Chrysalis smiled through her tears. 

“I love you too”, she said. 

As they hugged, the walls of Chrysalis’s room began to shimmer with a rainbow glow. Sparkles and swirls of light came out of the glow and began to whirl around the changelings. Chrysalis’s bonds dissolved into nothing as she and her children were lifted up amid the maelstrom of swirling rainbow magic. 

The Mane 6, Starlight, Spike, and the other Princesses all stared in wonder and awe. The magic suddenly ignited in a bright flash of light and power, that soon disappeared. Once again, the ponies and dragon were caught by surprise. 

All around the room, they saw dazed ponies with brightly coloured coats and transparent butterfly-like wings that glowed and sparkled with powerful magic. On the bed was Chrysalis, only she didn’t look like ‘Chrysalis’ any more … It was Rosedust … but this time, it wasn’t the effect of poison joke.
> Got to Love It When Things End Happily
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rosedust / Chrysalis opened her eyes. She idly glanced at the changelings around her, and then widened her eyes in shock. Rosedust / Chrysalis looked slowly down at herself, looking awed and happy. She was smiling, and then suddenly frowned. 

“Is this … a dream?” Rosedust asked quietly. Twilight and Starlight shook their heads. 

“It’s all real”, said the purple princess. Starlight beamed a big grin, feeling very happy about what just happened. Impulsively, she rushed over to Rosedust and gave her a hug. Rosedust was surprised, but quickly smiled and hugged her back. 

A cheeky thought came to the pink unicorn. 

“Are you happy that you’ve got your plushie back?” she asked, out loud. The renewed Flutterpony hastily let go of Starlight, her face flushed bright crimson. 

“What … I … I don’t know what … you mean … I mean … I …” stammered Rosedust awkwardly. It was Starlight’s turn to smile now. 

“Yesterday I saw your eyelids fluttering slightly when you were cuddling me. You were not asleep, you were wide awake”, she said triumphantly. 

Applejack raised an eyebrow. 

“You like plushies?” she questioned. Rosedust blushed even redder, and stammered more. All of the ponies were trying not go ‘Awww’ at the regenerated Flutterponies. 

“Can I ask you something?” Thorax asked Rosedust. His body had changed once again: becoming an average-sized stallion with a deep blue coat and tousled dark blue mane. In fact, Thorax (as he looked now) seemed to bear a strong resemblance to Blue Joke. Quite uncanny, she thought to herself. 

Rosedust gave a single nod to Thorax. 

“When I was rummaging through the remnants of the old Changeling Hive, I found a hidden alcove full of soft toys. Plushies of animals and ponies, that sort of things. Do those belong to …” 

“STOP TALKING!” shouted Rosedust. Her face was now as red as a beetroot. 

Starlight quickly gave Rosedust a nuzzle to calm her down. Rosedust nuzzled her back. Two gasps were heard. Everyone turned around to see Shining Armour and Cadence standing in the door way, looking flabbergasted. 

Rosedust’s smile got rather shaky. She waved a hoof nervously at the duo. Cadence frowned. 

“Chrysalis, is that you?” she asked. Shining Armour was finding it extremely hard to recognise Rosedust / Chrysalis now. 

“Yes”, the tall Flutterpony said quietly. “Look, I’m sorry for everything I did to the two of you: the kidnappings, the brainwashing, the imprisonment … everything. I know now what I did was inexcusable, and I understand completely if you can’t forgive me for it.” Shining Armour and Cadence looked at each other, and then had a small, whispered conversation. Finally, they finished, and Cadence gave their answer. 

“Chrysalis, while an apology is a good start, it may take a little longer for complete forgiveness to come, especially from my husband.” Rosedust looked a bit forlorn at that. 

The pink alicorn then winked reassuringly at the sad Flutterpony. 

“That said, I am impressed that you’re apologising.” Rosedust managed a little smile. 

“I don’t mind if it takes a long time, I’ll make amends to you in time.” 

Meanwhile, the former changelings had been talking quietly to each other. Suddenly they ceased their conversation, and Thorax stepped forward to speak to Rosedust again. 

“In view of what we’ve seen and heard in the last couple of days, my kin and I feel that you deserve a second chance.” Rosedust looked happy, and partly confused. 

“A second chance? At what?” Thorax took a deep breath. 

“Will you be our ruler again?” The big Flutterpony’s jaw dropped, and she stared at the blue pony in shock. Of all the things she’d expected him to say this was most peculiar. 

“I don’t know what to say … I … uh … no, I can’t … sorry …” she muttered. All of the Flutterponies seem to droop at that, staring at Rosedust with forlorn expressions. Rosedust then smiled. 

“Can I be ‘co-ruler’ instead?” the dark pink haired Flutterpony said. 

Thorax’s jaw dropped in astonishment. The other Flutterponies looked up in wonder and renewed hope. Rosedust’s horn glowed brightly, and a little sparkle came off it and touched Thorax on the head. There was a flash, and a little crown (like the one Rosedust wore) appeared on his head. 

Twilight levitated a mirror across to Thorax so that he could see it. After admiring his new crown, the co-ruler looked around at his mother. 

“Why do you want to be a co-ruler?” Thorax asked in astonishment. 

“Because sometimes it’s good to have another perspective when you’re taking care of others. I mean … if it wasn’t for you wanting friendship, we might not have got our forms and real magic back”, explained Rosedust. The blue Flutterpony smiled. 

“I think I’m all right with you as a co-ruler.” 

The rest of the Flutterponies gave murmurs of agreement. 

“Only one thing”, Thorax said suddenly. “Could I please be ‘Prince’ Thorax, not ‘King’.” 

Rosedust raised an eyebrow at that. 

“It’s just that ‘Prince Thorax’ rolls off the tongue better, in my opinion.” The reinstated queen grinned. 

“Deal.” Rosedust and Thorax gave each other a big hug. 

“It seems like ‘Rosedust’ is a lot humbler now than she was a couple of days ago”, Applejack whispered to Twilight. 

“There is just one thing that I want to ask”, said Thorax suddenly. “What happened to Blue Joke in the end?” All of the Flutterponies nodded. 

“Oh yes”, Twilight murmured. “That little blue Flutterpony filly.” 

The Flutterpony Queen sighed. 

“When Blue Joke grew up, she became a Royal Adviser. She was pretty good at it: giving me useful hints, helping others around the Hive … and comforting me whenever I got downhearted. Blue Joke always said that things would turn out better in the future, for everyone. I wish she was still around. I miss her.” 

Rosedust sniffled slightly. Thorax gave her another hug.

Rarity coughed, politely but pointedly. 

“Might I ask what you and your children are going to do now?” she inquired. 

“Can we see Flutter Valley?” a couple of young Flutterponies suddenly asked. 

A chorus of ‘Yes’ and ‘Yes, please’ then followed. Rosedust shrugged. 

“If you really want to, but as you’ve seen in my dream: Flutter Valley was destroyed”, she said gloomily. 

“But you all have your magic back”, Spike pointed out. “You could use it to restore the valley to its original splendour. Heck, maybe we could help you.” The Flutterpony Queen perked up. He’s right. It would take time, but we could definitely do it now! 

“We’re forgetting the Hive though”, one Flutterpony suddenly said. “The new one we made, with all of the flowers and bright colours. I rather like it.” 

“It would certainly be a shame to abandon it”, Thorax said thoughtfully. 

Rosedust then had an idea. 

“Maybe … we don’t have to abandon it”, she said. Everyone looked at her. “What if we spent some parts of each year in Flutter Valley, and then come to the Hive to be near our friends in Equestria?” She smiled at the ponies and dragon in the room. 

“All of you would be free to visit Flutter Valley at any time.” 

“I second that”, Thorax added. 

Everyone cheered. 

Fluttershy was clapping her hooves together in excitement. 

“Can I come to Flutter Valley? I mean, as soon as it’s ready … I mean, if it’s okay with you.” Her friends all chuckled at her eagerness. Pinkie Pie nudged Starlight. 

“Do you want to go too?” she said. Starlight nodded. I do want to go to Flutter Valley (when it’s regenerated) to see Rosedust, the other Flutterponies and to look at the valley itself. 

“Yep”, she said. 

“How about we all go there, together, in the future”, proposed Twilight. Everyone agreed to that. 

The Flutterpony Queen smiled at everyone in the room. “Thank you everyone for helping me … in lots of ways”, she said sincerely. 

“You’re welcome”, Starlight answered, and then added: “Also, thank you for showing us the reasons behind your actions. We couldn’t really understand, until you showed us.” The purple alicorn nodded. She had a thoughtful expression on her face. 

“You’ve really learned a lot about friendship, haven’t you Starlight?” Twilight murmured. “So much that perhaps you’re not a student anymore.” 

The smile on the pink unicorn’s face disappeared. 

“Not your student? But … I don’t want to leave Ponyville.” The purple pony saw Starlight’s face become all forlorn, and smiled reassuringly. 

“You don’t have to leave if you don’t want to”, Twilight explained. “You’re our friend, Starlight. No one wants you to go.” The purple pony smiled. “You’ve been a very good and intuitive student, and I think you’ll make a great friendship teacher!” Especially after what’s recently happened, she thought, glancing at Rosedust. 

The aforementioned unicorn sniffed slightly, and smiled in relief. 

“You’re the best friendship teacher of all, Twilight”, she said … and then suddenly hugged the purple alicorn tightly. Her ex-teacher was surprised at first, but then hugged back, folding her wings around Starlight. The rest of the Mane 6 joined the hug too. 

Fluttershy sighed quietly. 

“I love it when things end happily,” she whispered. Pinkie suddenly gasped. 

“Wait! It can’t end yet, we’ve missed something. Something urgent!” she shrieked. Everyone turned to look at her in confusion. The pink pony suddenly bounced high in the air, unfurling her party cannon and shooting a HUGE blast of confetti out of it. 
“
A PARTY!! But not just any party. This is the ‘Chrysalis-Turns-Back-Into-Rosedust-And-The-Flutterponies-Return’ party. I’ve been waiting to do this party for ages!” 

Chrysalis looked completely and utterly bewildered. She opened her mouth to say something … and ended up sneezing, blowing the confetti off her muzzle. 

“It’s just Pinkie Pie, don’t question it!” said Twilight, helpfully. Rosedust’s look of confusion slowly turned into a smile, as Pinkie whisked out from somewhere: cakes, balloons, sweets, drinks, and streamers. 

As the Flutterpony Queen watched the party start, she quietly contemplated the events of late. The explosion at the Hive, the running, the sicknesses, the ponies’ care and attention, the dream visions, and the harmonic magic that had finally undone the terrible metamorphosis of the Flutterponies. Rosedust looked around at the partying crowd, and finally decided to join in. 

She couldn’t remember the last time that she had real fun. But Rosedust knew that this would be one of the bestest times in her very long life.