Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Chapter I
“The world we live in isn’t fair, but one can either whine about it or make it their living.”

Entry I

We, changelings, have a great history, filled with bravery, honour and tales. We also have superior quality in our bookkeeping. That means, we know what happened over the years our kingdom had existed...

Who am I kidding? I've barely known my own mother.

My name is Chrysalis, and I had ended up stranded in some forsaken part of Equestria. I needed a way to straight-up my thoughts, a reason for starting this journal. It proved useful in the future, as I needed to sit down and think things over.
 
But, I need to get to the point, right...
Story goes...

About a week ago, I was preparing to launch a surprise assault on pony capital, Canterlot. I had the plan down, and everything was going smoothly. To catch you up on facts, we kidnapped one of their princesses. I think her name was Mi Amore Cadenza or something. I had assumed her identity so I could infiltrate into the capital. My changeling battalion was waiting in cover.

Our plan was to capture one love-starved stallion named Shining Armour. Things were simple because his wedding was coming up and his wife was the mare I had switched places with.

His love was toxic, and it was making me feel like I could shatter the world under my horseshoes. That led to an unwise change of plans.I wasn't planning to overtake Canterlot at all. I knew it would be a suicide mission. Yet, I dared to step down that path. I just couldn't help myself. Armour's love was so... overpowering.

Enough about that, you know how that ended. Everyone does…

My infiltration wasn't exactly an impressive job either. I had known another one of the princesses on a more personal level.

Princess of the Night used to be a close friend of mine. We were roommates actually, about a thousand years ago. We used to go to the same college. Changelings and ponies weren't friends back then, but they weren't enemies either.

So, she wasn't suspicious when I had sent her a letter, asking if I could visit her in Canterlot. She gladly accepted, thinking it would be a great nostalgic moment, to relive our memories. I would gladly sit with her over a cup of tea or something, but I had duties as a queen. 

I almost felt bad for using Luna's obliviousness, for using Luna at all in fact. She barely got back from the Moon, and getting adjusted had to be hard given the leap forward the society had made. And she was so happy to see me too. She gave me a hug right off the bat, asking how I was and that she missed me dearly… 

But, once again, I had my duties and my hive came first over a relationship older than the time itself. Although, I had a bad time convincing myself manipulating Luna was the best way to go… 

Luna and I went on a little trip around Canterlot gardens. My commanding officer suggested getting rid of Luna on that occasion, but I had refused. I only wanted Luna out of my way, not wanting to risk a conflict. I could muster courage to fight her sister, but Luna herself? 

My plan A was to have a changeling assuming the identity of a guard and deliver a note to Luna. The timing was important because it had to be done in my presence. Luna couldn't get any suspicion of me being a double agent that way. Her finding out meant scrapping the mission plans altogether.

So, the note Luna got was a falsified message looking like one of her sister's. Luna was tasked to fulfil a patrol flight around Equestria, visit everyone important, the usual diplomatic mojo. I had doppelgangers set up in the places she would visit with one task to fulfil. Stall Luna as long as possible. Even if Luna did find out about the note being fake at the first stop, she wouldn’t have enough time to return and confront me directly. Or so I hoped.

I wouldn't want to face pissed off Luna. She is even more dangerous than her older sister when she’s upset.
 
I am angry, you know, one thing that could go wrong, did so marvellously. I had no damn idea Shining Armour had a sister. Lack of thorough recon screwed me over badly that time...

Her name was Twilight Sparkle, the most annoying creature in Equestria. She was so damn curious and concerned about everything. She kept bumping into me in such a way I grew suspicious. She had to sniff out something, or I wasn't careful enough.

The first minute I met her, she showed me her behind after performing some silly dance. It took me a while to realise she had to know this Cadenza, and then I snapped. I had to get rid of her. I didn't have enough time to observe the situation and improvisation simply couldn't cut it in this case. I just got lucky, because no one seemed to know the pink alicorn mare around Canterlot too well. Except for Twilight Sparkle apparently...

I would go into too much detail if I were trying to explain the whole disaster somehow. It led to the situation where I was stranded and struggling to survive in some wasteland area.

I was the last one alive, and knew that too well. Changelings have a thing called hive mind. We feel one another, we share information, we share love. Not in a literal way, of course. The only one who can feel emotions is me. We share love-energy to survive. I wasn't sure if my species could even survive on physical food. Probably not, but I had a dirty pleasure of snacking on premium types of food on my sparse visits in Equestria. As the only able to taste and enjoy fine cooking, it was only a matter of time, as one can resist delicious treats presented to them for only so long…

Anyway, getting off track...

A couple of days after the event happened so quickly. I had no idea if I was alive or just barely holding on. I knew I had been walking, my hooves hurt like hell. I could just go forward. I didn't care if I would run into timberwolves or some other horrors living in that forsaken part of the pony kingdom.

I have got no idea what gave me the idea I should return to Equestria in the first place. I think my brain just went 'you can't be a bigger loser and have nothing to lose'. I wasn't exactly conscious, to be honest.

I think some guards had to find me. I was lucky they didn't kill me on sight, or maybe I wasn't lucky at all. They might just have been oblivious to the fact I could be a changeling because they called me a 'black mare'. There weren’t many changelings living or operating this deep in the pony territory.

I regained consciousness after some time. Where did I find myself? That's a story for another time.

Entry II

So, basically, I had ended up in some distant part of Equestria, in a small town called Ponyville. No idea that one existed. What followed was terrifying. I was in the house of that one pony who had caused all of my suffering - Twilight Sparkle. I had no idea if that was faith mocking me or just something else I could not comprehend in my delusional state. 

Twilight was more than suspicious of my actions. She more than once told me, she would have me terminated if it was up to her.

However, I also learned Princess Celestia saw my imprisonment as a form of scientific study, hence, the reason behind me being alive and unharmed. I was terrified for the first time in my life. Genuinely horrified by the idea of what these creatures could do to me, just to study my species. 

Fortunately, it didn't come to the needles poking me or knives getting sharpened. The science sessions included just me and Twilight in a sealed magic-proof room. 

I forgot to mention, someone placed a magic inhibitor on my horn, probably to be extra sure I was harmless. Since magic was essential to every species using it, it felt like I was carrying a boulder on my back all the time. I could barely walk, let alone think straight or throw spells around.

After weeks of sharing habitat with Twilight Sparkle, Celestia decided I had gone through enough mental torture and could walk around without the inhibitor. You cannot imagine the relief I felt the first day after removing that damn horn ring. 

I was also about to get relocated to Canterlot. Celestia wanted to have me under the close supervision of her own, much to the dismay of Twilight’s because she wouldn’t be allowed to poke me with her bashful comments any longer.

I forgot to mention something important. My changeling powers were gone, most of them anyway. I could not shape-shift as I used to do. I could not forcefully suck the love out of anyone if they weren't willing to give it. I could sense emotions in a minor amount as well. It was frustrating at best. At least to someone like me, who’s used to reading emotional reactions and adjusting the flow of the conversation accordingly.

Also, about the survival of pony food I mentioned. Changeling drones couldn't sustain on classic food for many days, that was true, but it seemed like I was wrong about the same thing applying to queens. I have been dining with ponies since my arrival and had no problem surviving. I felt okay, but as I said, my natural powers were gone.

I had a craving to study and learn new things. After many, long days of being locked up in the library with a book-obsessed pony, I became quite an egghead, to be honest. I totally forgot who I was when I was reading. It was almost satisfying. More books I read, the more I started realising how little ponies knew about my species. Maybe I grew soft, but I almost held no grudge against them for being terrified of us and stuff. Still, ponies tried to enslave us in the past, but that was a story for another time and definitely not a kind I could tell well.

One day, I had packed my things and headed for Canterlot. I appreciated the effort Celestia put into ordering me a royal chariot. I'd terrify the heck out of ponies going by train; I figured that much. So, after an hour-long trip without any scenic view, because it was foggy as eff, we touched down in Canterlot city square. 

Celestia suggested shape-shifting into a more suitable form upon arrival, but I could not do that. So, instead of playing that game, I had to wear an enchanted hoodie. It brought back some memories as the same type of clothing was Luna's favourite. I almost shed a tear... Not really, but you know what I mean. 

What came next wasn't surprising, but also kinda unexpected given the circumstances.

Entry III

In the last entry, I told you about how I was ordered to relocate to Canterlot. I apologise for making a bit of a cliff-hanger there, but I ran out of ink to write with. Anyway,...

As I was walking with two guards on my sides through the palace gardens, I noticed something was off. 'Celestia said she would be meeting me there, right?' went through my head. 

Guards silently kept pushing me forward until we were inside of the castle walls. There was no one, not even servants were doing their jobs that day. I and my silent escort were the only ones present. 

We entered the throne room, and I immediately noticed Celestia sitting on her throne. Smaller throne, probably belonging to her sister, was empty. 

When we had crossed about a half of distance towards her, Celestia lifted her eyes from some scroll she was reading the whole time. I remember one of the guards announced, "We brought the changeling, your majesty." And they both bowed. I wasn't sure if I should be getting down on knees as well, but I couldn't stop staring in those pink eyes of Celestia. There wasn't malice, rather mischief and playfulness I didn't have a chance to see before.

Celestia just stood up, remained still for a couple of seconds, and then glanced directly back at me. I had no idea what had happened, but I lost consciousness almost immediately. 

After regaining my senses, I found myself in a dungeon cell. I wasn't alone there. Celestia sat a few hoof lengths away from me, and she was humming a melody of some kind.

"I didn't know I could knock you out so hard. My apologies," Celestia chirped happily. I groaned because my head was killing me. 

'How long was I out? Hours? Days even...?'

I sat up, facing away from the giggling princess. What was I thinking? That I could trust someone like Celestia? Those few days I spent with Miss Book horse Sparkle had to have a bad influence on me. Or my judgement at least.

Princess Celestia herself wasn't paying attention to my bad mood and kept talking, "I had to put you here. No one knows what is going on yet, and this is our only opportunity to get to know each other better, Chrysalis."

She said my name like we were sisters, not sworn enemies. I had to become soft because it didn't bother me at all. I turned my head slightly, to meet the gaze of Celestia. She was smiling and awaiting my response. "You know what? Let's start over, yeah," were my words. I had nothing to lose anyway, and if Celestia was willing to give me a second chance, then who was I to complain? 

So, my life didn't change that much. I was moved to a guest room and kept locked up all the time, so no servant was aware of my presence. I couldn't complain, though. The room had all I could ask for, even its own bathroom. I could finally clean myself off the dust and dirt that settled on me in more civilised fashion. The water bucket method Twilight was using didn’t cut it any time it got used on me. 

Celestia herself was regularly checking on me, spending short moments to exchange a word or two here and there. She has also given me this diary, so I could write notes and other things in a way fit for a queen. I couldn't recognise her motives behind all of that because of my dampened senses.

Why was she being so nice to me? Partially, I could guess she wanted to use my notes as research material. Celestia also knew I could be a valuable source of details against changelings. Only if she knew I was the only one left... 

My only concern became the fact, I didn't know if changelings and ponies were in open war. I did not care either way, but I was curious. As a queen, I was heavily guarded and couldn't go out of the hive for even a short trip. Without me, my subjects were nothing. So, I think my lack of knowledge could be understood. I didn't need to know anything. I was there to collect and ration supplies my changelings were gathering. Orders were up to commanders, and I was there just to confirm or deny any move my force was about to do based on strategic intel gathered by sole-operating scouts. Kind of like playing a game of chess blind with someone describing the game field to you…

Anyway, getting off track... 

I spent a few hours a day editing and moving my notes I started doing when I was over at Twilight's, just for the sake of having them in one place. Having a diary was my dream when I was little, but changelings weren't big fans of paper and books. They were unnecessary. My race used something more precise - crystals.

We call the mineral Sonium due to it being sensitive to magical vibrations. It could be found in large deposits underground, and entire cave systems were full of it. It was very durable to magic; to the level, most spells got reflected when meeting it. Only changelings could give it form, and we used it as a building material for its abundance. Other Equestrian species used it as decoration, and the ability to enchant Sonium-rich gems were legendary. Everyone who meant something wore an S-gem around their neck. That was actually a slogan merchants selling the enchanted trinkets used.

Back where I grew up, there were spacious rooms with rows of shelves. Each shelf was filled with stacks of Sonium crystals. I have a very distinct memory of me and several other creatures, probably changelings, in such a room. There were words of old prophecy and archives of knowledge. Pretty pathetic my only lesson learned from that was your rump would hurt after sitting in one place. 

I think it was some kind of ritual and those creatures were Elders.

Elders were ancient changelings, old kings and queens, retired from the throne. They were greatly respected among my people, and only few would dare to say a word against their judgement. 

I mentioned a ritual earlier, didn't I? About that, it was weird. Elders placed several pieces of raw Sonium around me, in a circle or hexagon. Each one of them stepped behind one of them and started casting spells upon the pile of minerals. They had to put me in a coma or something. I had the weirdest dreams for several days after. I heard voices that were giving me tips on how to be a good queen. I had tried asking them what if I didn't want to be a queen, but they never replied. I was such a dumb filly back then. I was chosen by the Elders to be one. No changeling filly was ever born a queen. 

Elders all disappeared without a trace on one fateful day. That same day, a significant part of our kingdom got ripped to shreds by a rebellion of lesser queens and commanders that wanted independence. Then we were attacked by pony raiders, who without any delay, wiped out almost all of my species. I went into hiding after that, remained a few decades undercover until the water's got calm again. 

I returned to a newly restored Changeling capital after my voluntary exile.

Amora the Great, my 'mother', seized power over the Crystal capital after the rebel queen ruling over it went nuts from paranoia and jumped off the tallest tower. 

When I showed up, Amora was fully established there, along with my seven sisters. Amora said it was necessary to learn about the new ways, as I was very hostile towards ponies during that time for obvious reasons. So, Amora sent me to the local college. 

I went there to study ponies, who made their embassy in the same building. I befriended Luna, who happened to go there as well, and that was about it. 

Next war arrived soon after, and I had to run away again. I became a full-fledged queen of my hive after that, and I told you how that ended already. 

'After writing this, I almost want to put this entry apart from my normal notes from the present time. It gives me an uncomfortable nostalgia of times I want to forget about.'

Anyway, as I was going to meetings with Celestia, I started to smell a purpose behind her actions. She was asking targeted questions, very specific. 

Do you remember the Sonium crystals? Celestia brought them up over dinner. Ponies called them Dark Shards, but once she had described them, I had an exact idea of what she was referring to. 

During my absence, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza moved to rule an empire of her own, the Crystal Empire ponies called it. If I could remember correctly, the roughly same location used to be the earlier mentioned Changeling capital, my place of origin. Could it be? Could I be going home?

I was going to Crystal Empire by the next day, so there was only one way to find out.

Entry IV

I had to wake up early, and my tiredness didn't get any better, even after a cup of pony coffee. How could that be called coffee anyway? That was like water, it had no punch. Kick in the face would be better. 

Celestia assigned me two guards and a chariot again, so we wouldn't have to go by train. I could wonder if it was for the same reason as before, or just because the Crystal Empire was 16 hours away, even by high-speed train. 
It took more than a few moments to get there. I lost track because I fell asleep after half an hour. I could at least catch up on some lost sleep, which by the way, was Celestia's fault. She was arguing with her sister until one in the morning, two rooms from mine. 

What woke me up was snow in the face. The Crystal Empire was covered in a deep frost. Guard told me to hold on, and I did try my best because the winds high above ground were insane. There was an energy barrier barely visible through the storm, and once we passed through it, the mind-blowing blizzard was good as gone.

Everything looked different in a snap. There was green grass, flowers here and there and clear skies most importantly. In the direction we were heading, was a shiny structure, the Crystal Palace. I could figure out why it was called Crystal Palace because it was obviously made out of crystals. I made a note to test what sound it would have if I tried tapping my hoof against it. You know, because I had to test out the theory Celestia more or less triggered in my brain. Could Crystal Empire be the place where I had spent the majority of my teen years?

Chariot landed in the middle of some square, right under the palace. The first odd thing I noticed was the entrance gate under which we had just landed. If this place used to be my home, I could remember one detail about this gate. There used to be a big piece of Sonium, right in the middle of the gate, floating just in the height of my eyes. If I remember correctly, it was the power source for the shield protecting the whole place. From what we were trying to defend ourselves, whether it was the never-ending storm outside the city limits or something else, I couldn't tell. Anyway, if that would be missing, the barrier we passed through had to be projected by something, or rather someone else. 

My silent followers kept going and were pushing me towards the palace. I didn't resist. On one hoof, it was pointless, on the other one; it could be a great twist in my life. I kept reminding myself I had spent half of my existence locked up either in the hive, or my parent's castle. That thought kept motivating me the extraordinary way. 

It was a surprise to see the palace not empty this time. Personnel were going after their duties, and no one was paying attention to me. It didn't bother me in the slightest obviously. Far from it actually. 

Princess Cadenza was sitting, or more specifically lying flat like a dead frog on her throne. She looked tired like she hadn't slept for several days. Cadenza lifted her eyes to meet mine and just nodded. She didn't say anything, but I put two and two together that she had to be expecting me. Celestia thought about everything, thank the stars above. It would be messy if she didn't, although I had a feeling the pink princess might have forgiven me, given her immediate reaction. 

So, the energy barrier had to be projected by Cadenza and her husband. It was the same kind of protection Canterlot had during my attack but amplified by a power of two unicorns working together.

Later, when I was shown where I could unpack my stuff, Cadenza's husband came to my quarters. He was upset, obviously. He kept rambling about me being a monster, that I used him for an evil plot, and other general insults he could think of. I had an urge to kick him in the face, but then I decided to leave him be. He was just a stallion in the end. He couldn't control himself or his stallion needs to act like a jerk half the time... 

When I had everything unpacked, it was night already. I caught a glimpse of Cadenza switching places with her husband. I figured out they were sharing the duty of projecting the field, so one would not get drained completely. Shining Armour was probably doing the night shift. 

We had fresh apples for dinner. Now I knew what was in the wooden box I was sleeping on the whole trip there. Also, when I said we, I meant I and Cadenza. She looked even more drained than earlier, but surprisingly she was able to hold a conversation. 

She asked me about the trip and filled me in about the thing Celestia sent me there for. Apparently, under the palace was a gigantic archive full of Sonium crystals. I was there to help translate them. 

It was a mystery on its own why ponies would need my help in the first place. All I knew about translating those things was, you had to have your magic flow through them, and they would just reveal the memory to you. I asked about it, curious if the pink princess knew more.

But, Cadenza didn't know anything herself, though she said she had faith in her aunt's judgement and there had to be a reason why she had chosen me. I made a note to visit a library the next day, to figure out this mystery myself. I had nothing better to do anyway. 

Dinner with Cadenza left me with a happy memory. Initially, I had doubts Armour and she would accept me as I was, and so far, only the male part was causing trouble. As I said, maybe the princess had forgiven me, or simply just trusted Celestia's judgement enough to tolerate my presence without making the visit unbearable for me. I wish Twilight could have been like her. 

'Well, I am out of paper on this page. I'll call it a day.'

Entry V

I woke up early again but decided to just stay in bed and enjoy my morning. The library was opening after the Sun would come up anyway, and there was no need for panic. It allowed me to reflect.

Where was the damn power source of this city? I could swear there used to be one. This way, Cadenza and Armour would drain all their energy soon, and we would be left defenceless in case of a real threat showing up. I made a note to do something about it. Who knew what was hiding on the horizon?

I wanted to stay in bed until noon, but my back decided otherwise. Old battle scars had never disappeared, even though those weren't battle scars. Shining Armour and those before him just needed to lose weight.

Anyway, with my backside hurting, I went to plunder the dining room. 

Twenty minutes later I got lost in the labyrinth of the castle hallways. I took a wrong turn around some corner, and I had no idea where I was. Luckily, I had wings, so I just climbed up to the nearest window, jumped out and returned through the main entrance. I could call it getting my mandatory exercise…

When I was about to go through the hall that was just behind the door I had just walked through, I noticed there were travelling bags. Who did they belong to? I did my best to figure out the mystery myself by smelling and lifting the bags, but nothing came to me, so I left them where they were. 

I had the path to the dining area memorised. It didn't take too long to get there. This palace was much larger on the inside and like a maze. Sometimes, I had a feeling it changed depending on the time of day. One room that was somewhere yesterday wasn't there when I was trying to find it the next day. Weird. 

Changeling hives were exactly like that and I had no problem navigating through them, so what was different about the castle...? 

Anyway, I was about to discover who's bags were in the hall. The second I entered the dining room, I immediately noticed someone was there with me. They were sitting the way their back was towards me, and they were eating the leftovers I mentioned earlier. 

I expected Shining Armour or someone from the palace to be taking a break with a snack after their night duty. I certainly didn't expect a certain someone. 

"Hey there, Chrysalis, long time no see, huh?" 

I knew something like that would come. In that chair was no one, but the Princess of the night herself. Hearing her use a more modern dialect was uncanny on its own, but having her stare me down like a misbehaving filly…

I just stood there frozen in place, not sure what to do. My instincts were telling me to panic and run, but the brain had a different opinion. My curiosity won once again... 

"What are you doing here?" was a question I managed to say after a second of thinking. Luna averted her gaze and kept inspecting a piece of pottery she held in her light blue magic field, tilting it from side to side, almost spilling the contents. Finally, she spoke up, "It was not nice of you, you know. We used to be friends. Why betray me?" 

She was dead calm, straight to the point. Uncanny and it made my skin crawl, though I could hear something else in her voice. Sorrow.

She continued, "I know you had to do what you did, but straight up trying to conquer Canterlot? We could figure something out. I'd help you somehow..."

She looked at me, and I felt dumb and stupid. She wasn't angry at all or was doing a great job hiding it. In her eyes was a disappointment, and that felt weird. When did she change to act like that? I certainly didn't remember her that way. She was always more of a hothead, making decisions quickly and not caring about any consequences... But at that moment, she was behaving like Celestia, and I was finding that disturbing at most. 

She didn't say anything after that, at least for a while anyway. Luna lifted her wing, inviting me to sit next to her. I accepted her offering, attending to a leftover salad that still had a taste of  paper. I poured all of the provided dressing over it,  in hopes to make it somehow edible... It had to be enough for an early lunch. Luna couldn't tear her gaze from me, a slight smile on her lips. She had to miss me if she could forgive me for my past actions that easily. 

"You've asked why  am I here?" spoke up Luna again, after I was almost finished with the horrible thing someone dared to call a garden salad. She turned to me, her face muscles remaining motionless, almost like they were locked in place, and only her mouth was moving. "Have you ever heard of King Sombra?" 

Yeah, that face was familiar to me way too well. Sombra was one of the first pony scientists accepted by the changeling Elder board. He immediately discovered our Sonium archives and tried to study them. He went bonkers afterwards, reasons unknown. I had to visit that library badly. 

"Yeah, I did. Something I should know about?" 

Paying attention proved difficult due to the mixture of scents the bowl in front of me emitted. I coughed, but that only made it worse. 

Luna carried on, "My sister believes he's about to return and claim what belongs to him," she said. However, after seeing I was occupied by the troublesome salad, she didn't wait for me to respond, "He wants to be the king of the Crystal Empire again."

I coughed again, but not because of the salad, "Wait, what? Again?" 

Luna looked at me with a grimace clearly stating, 'Have you been under a rock or something?', but then decided to refresh my memory. 

"Before the disappearance of the Crystal Empire, King Sombra abused the power of the mineral your species left behind to make himself immortal and extremely powerful. He then enslaved the entire population of the Empire for his own gain. Celestia and I took care of him, locked the Empire in the state of hibernation and banished Sombra to the arctic wasteland. Princess Cadence was the only reminder that something like the Crystal Empire ever existed."

Wait, Cadence... That's a pet name for Cadenza, right? That would mean, she was my cousin if that was even possible. It would be a distant relation, but still. I should pick my foes better, or I could end up attacking my own sister. If some showed up on the horizon of course. All seven siblings of mine were killed during the second changeling - pony war. Or the recon said so. I had no way to venture out and figure that one out on my own at the time.

Back to Luna and I,...

I sat there, unsure what to say. I wouldn't expect Sombra to be that persistent, especially after more than a millennium. I underestimated him, it seemed. 

"And what are we going to do?" I asked. That could be the smartest thing I could contribute at that moment because my brain was not responding. 

Luna shook her head, "We will do nothing. My sister has the whole thing covered, and we are here to just provide backup, in case the plan goes south. I've travelled here to help you with research and to keep an eye on you a little bit as well."

On the other hand, I felt offended by the lack of trust Celestia put in me, on the other one, I could understand the reasons. Once again, a side effect of staying with Twilight Sparkle and her undermining my attempts to redeem myself. 

Speaking of Twilight Sparkle,... 

"Element of Magic is heading this way. She's going to be here today," said Luna. Any other time before, I'd tensed up, because of my history with Twilight. After discovering the other side of her, I could tolerate her in my presence. Only ‘tolerate’, though. Twilight was still biassed towards my species and any real cooperation was a pipe dream.

"So that's what Celestia calls 'I've got the thing covered', eh?" I grimaced. Celestia needed to learn her precious pupil couldn't substitute for an army. Sombra was way too powerful to be handled by one pony, even if that pony was very powerful as well. I'd know what to do, but my powers couldn't be used to execute that plan. 

"Don't underestimate Twilight, she's managed to beat the Spirit of Chaos and me personally," tried Luna defending her favourite bookworm. 

"You don't have to defend her. It's not our business, but Celestia's. Your sister certainly knows what to do," I said, ending the conversation, "Anyway, I was about to head to the library. Would you mind..." 

"I'd like to go on a date with you," chirped someone from behind us in Luna's improvised voice and we both jumped. It was Cadence, and she looked much better than yesterday. Sleep did her good, enough to start following me around apparently.

Luna and I were both blushing. 

"Auntie, it's not..." tried Luna. 
"Shut up, Heartbutt," I yelled and left the room as fast as I could. Luna was right behind me and telling me to slow down. I eventually did, but only after I was sure Cadence was nowhere near. 

Entry VI

After the breakfast, if I could even call that breakfast, and a totally rude ambush by Cadence, Luna and I were ready to take on the many books in the Crystal capital’s library. 

I had reasons why we were headed there, and intended to stay there and read as many history books as I could. Also, Luna came up with a surprising fact when I had mentioned the main interest of my assigned research.

"Those crystals are cursed, that's the feeling I am getting as you’re describing them. Too many mysteries surround the Crystal Empire and something as an artefact archive without any protection feels like a slap in the face." 

Interestingly, I felt less confident and qualified from that moment. If someone put up a curse, I could easily fall into a trap.

The library was, well, a library, just a lot bigger than Twilight's and more confusing than I could ever imagine. We spent over a quarter of an hour trying to find anything on changelings. It felt like someone had tossed all the books out and put them back in without really thinking where they belonged, though.

We tried seeking out the librarian, but they were nowhere to be found. I took one corner and Luna another, and eventually, we found them, fast asleep on the floor behind the reception desk. 

Another problem was something I had noticed earlier but ignored it at first. It came into the light once the librarian had woken up. Everyone in the Empire suffered from a strange form of anxiety and loss of memory. If it was just the librarian, I could understand that. Libraries were dull, and nothing was happening in them, so it was hard telling days apart. A whole city suffering from this, though? That was more than strange in my book, and I added it to my list of mysteries I wanted to look into.

I am not going to list all the things that confused pony told us. Unable to provide help, that librarian was staring at us for a couple of minutes before putting two and two together. These two tall mares might be customers, time to behave.

Yeah, what followed would be hard to explain on paper. Let's say the word 'insane' was a mild description of what we had witnessed.

Fortunately, Luna spotted and snatched the inventory list, so we at least knew what to look for. The librarian fell asleep once more, ignoring both the princess of the night and some random changeling queen running around like it was nothing, together of all things. Well, at least we knew what to look for...

Only Luna did, in fact. That piece of paper was full of atrocious hoof writing. I couldn't understand why someone would write with their hooves when they had magic to lift things up with. Could crystal ponies use magic? Strange, I couldn't seem to remember if I saw a crystal pony with a horn. 

Something was clearly wrong with that place, but we had to first discover the book we were looking for, to know what we could face in the not so distant future. I could presume it had to do something with ancient prophecy this Empire was cursed with, or maybe it wasn't a curse at all, and I was just overthinking things. I could be almost sure of the fact the Crystal Empire used to be a changeling city though. I settled on that this morning when I couldn't find anything where it used to be yesterday. I had my doubts, but only buildings built with changeling magic could do that. Even with my limited senses, I could feel magical buzz all over that place.

Anyway, getting off track...

We were looking for a book called 'Ancient races of new worlds'. At least, that was the translation Luna came up with when we had managed to find it. The title was written in gold letters and in a language I didn't know. 

So, it was Luna in the end, who had to look for anything helpful. I could do only one thing, and that was admiring illustrations that were all over the pages. 

Ponies had such a great imagination. Their pictures were so much better than real memories changelings shared through earlier mentioned crystals. Creativity, not just copies... It's a shame I had let that side of me die, the creative one.

Luna told me the book had a whole chapter on changelings, and it wasn't pretty to read through. 'Curse spells and torture' chapter was vigorously graphic, even for a topic, it choose to cover. I had mentioned magic was essentially needed for anything to survive and function here. Magic corruption was, in fact, what the chapter was all about. Your magic gets corrupted; you'll either die or turn feral over time. Luna had a clear image the second she had found that article. My ancestors didn't really like ponies. That was for sure... 

Looking at the bright side of things, I was supposed to be immune to any curse spells put upon the crystals, as changeling magic didn't trigger the mechanism, obviously. Even pony alicorns couldn't touch it, and that was an overkill protection for simple memories of a long dead race. Though, saying that flat out was shortsighted because we didn't know what could be stored on those crystals.

So, our trip was more or less successful. We spent roughly two hours in the library, way more than we had wanted originally. On the other hand, it was an opportunity to catch up with my childhood friend and rekindle what was once lost. 

It was nice to have Luna back on my side, literally. We used to be inseparable back in college. We did everything together, even things one would consider awkward to do around others. It wasn't anything perverted anyway, so we didn't care. We were alone in our college dorm because no one wanted to be in the company of a changeling and a princess. Either out of fear, or other reasons ponies come up with to justify their ridiculous behaviour sometimes. 

When we had returned back to the palace, we immediately knew something was off. There were way more guards around, and of course when we had shown up, one didn't hesitate to ask us where we were. 

Apparently, there was an emergency a few hours earlier than any of us expected. 

Twilight Sparkle's team arrived when we were distracted at the library, and they had duties to fulfil. Shining Armour lost his ability to maintain the barrier spell because someone had cursed his horn - large chunks of dark crystals were attached to it. The only one remaining to keep the shield up was Cadence, who was already exhausted beyond healthy limits.

The solution was needed, and Twilight suggested a thing I cringed at - to visit the library. 

"We've just been there, Twilight Sparkle," said Luna, "There's nothing that could aid you..."

Effort counts, right? Twilight had made her decision before Luna had even spoken.

I had regrets that we didn't spend more time in the library. I had to mentally kick myself for forgetting all those figurative notes I had made. One of them was to look for the protection my people used back when the Empire belonged to the changelings. 

On the other hand though, I was glad we had left before the so-called Main Six had arrived. I wouldn't want to face that hot-headed pegasus again. Back when I was grounded in Ponyville, she once came to the library. The second she discovered I couldn't defend myself, she attacked me. If Twilight wasn't there, she would kill me… which was something the bookworm pony didn’t desire apparently. The rainbow mare would likely end me rather quickly. Too quickly for Twilight’s taste.

I'd use a strong word, but no words could describe the grudge I felt towards her.  Although, I should stop demonising Twilight, because, as bad as she was, she did take me under her roof and nursed me back to full health.

I had decided to leave the cause to pupils of Celestia. Luna and I had a different purpose. After we had departed for the supposed location of the changeling archives, Luna mentioned her worry. "It's only six of them, and Sombra is so powerful..."

I reassured her there was nothing to worry about. Twilight defeated both of us single-handedly. I considered myself way mightier than the pitiful and insane King of the arctic wasteland.  

Entry VII 

I couldn't understand what Twilight and her gang read up on the problem, but they had decided to bring back an old celebration. Something about returning compassion and love to the Empire. 

I and Luna had a different quest to attend to, though. We ended up in front of an old entrance gate, sealed by authorities as an artefact dig site. Passing through the entrance guarded by only torn ribbons, warning anyone what they were doing wasn't legal, was quite easy. Our progress was halted by a magic-locked door, made entirely of marble, crystal and massive metal accessories. 

Luna tried first, but her attempt was more or less met with resistance so enormous the door didn't budge. It was up to me. 

I had an idea what we were dealing with, but for the sake of having fun, sort of, I had pretended I couldn't break the spell holding the door shut. When I saw the look on Luna's face though, it was obvious to me she didn't bite into the bait of mine as I had expected. That lock was rather simple to overcome... 

Flashes of old memories of mine appeared before my eyes as we were progressing deeper into the archives. I used to live there; it used to be my home. It brought back repressed feelings I didn't know that existed. Simply said, I started sobbing like a little filly I was when I first walked those corridors. I didn't even know why, it just happened and I couldn't do anything to stop myself. Luna put a wing around me in order to comfort me somehow. She had to be so confused. I appreciated the gesture, it was just enough to know I wasn't really alone. 

Sounds of crystal fair happening above us had quickly faded in twists and turns of the archive and we found ourselves in complete and uncomfortable silence. 

"So, how have you been for those thousand years we haven't seen one another?" I asked, and hoped it didn't sound stupid. I stopped tearing up a while back, but my voice was still a bit shaky.

Luna turned her head slightly to meet my gaze, "I wasn't really here, in Equestria."

"Were you on a trip? Did Celestia send you somewhere?" 

I could sense a certain amount of uneasiness in Luna as she was speaking, "She did send me somewhere. Are you familiar with the Mare in the Moon legend?"

Mother of me, I am such an idiot. I read the legend as a first thing when I was staying over at Twilight's. I found it fascinating, but I also wouldn’t believe it was true, even less it actually affected my closest and only friend's life. 

"I am sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up anything painful..." That was the last sane thing I could do for her. 

Luna just smiled. It was simple and easy to understand what she had meant. She accepted my apology. 

We remained silent for the next ten minutes, listening to sounds of our horseshoes clipping against the old marble floor. 

I couldn’t understand why ponies were using horseshoes anyway. They were a bother at least. You had to replace them when they got rusty, fix them when they got misplaced or you'd not be able to walk. I didn't grow to like them, that was a hard fact.

Rooms we were passing through were progressively getting darker and darker. Air was filled with moisture, and occasionally I could feel ice cold drops falling from the ceiling and landing on me. Luna jumped when it first happened. 

Also, the ceiling was so high I couldn't see it. Over time, I started to wonder if there was a ceiling at all, and above us was just an empty void instead. I wouldn't be surprised, that place was built by changelings after all. 

Suddenly, there was light and I had another memory flashback. 

I was just a little filly and there were another hundreds of similar little hatchlings around me. We were sitting in the very room I and Luna just entered. There was one big changeling with a broken horn, dressed in black robe. He had some sort of regalia around his neck - symbols of power. He was talking about something and his companions were standing on each side of the ceremonial setup, humming words in old dialect. They were casting spells on us. Each hatchling had to pass a test. If they failed, they were deprived of their self awareness and sent to a different room. I presumed these were supposed to become simple minded minions. Those of us who had shown some form of higher intellect were tested further, and procedure was the same. This way, we were sorted into groups, based on what function we were supposed to fulfil for the hive. And I was chosen to be a queen of that hive... 

When the memory ended, I immediately noticed Luna was staring at me. "What?" I asked her. 

She shook her head, sparkling lights in her mane rapidly changing, "You've just spaced out for a second. Are you alright?"

"I am, don't worry, Luna. Just a memory..." I had to mention something. It didn't feel good keeping things from her, not after what happened between us.

She wasn't really convinced by what I had said, but decided to roll with it, "You know you can tell me anything. Was it a good memory?" 

Why did she have to try and investigate? 

"I don't know. Do you know anything about changelings getting sorted into classes?" I said, not really expecting an answer. The memory flashback felt weird at best and didn’t really match up with what I knew about how changeling culture worked. Maybe it used to be different in the past?

"I know second to nothing. Care to tell me all about it?" She had to know way more than she was letting on. She was the Princess of the Night, and she was very well informed about anything happening in the whole world of ours.

I told her more than was needed. Everything I could remember about my childhood, my life as a queen, what happened when I woke up after I had failed to take over Canterlot. 

She was listening to me with patience. She didn't interrupt me once and she kept looking at me with a focused gaze. 

Did I ever tell you her eyes were beautiful? It was something about the contrast of colours. They were like two glistening ponds in the middle of deep forest. I had to read that somewhere. Poetry was more or less alien to me, and I wasn't the one for romance either. My species was always more like, 'Quick and clean' and 'Hit and run." We don't have the strength, nor the stamina of ponies, and that applies to any activity that requires it. 

Anyway, I've once again got caught in the moment. Let's continue, shall we? 

As I mentioned before, Luna was listening with patience as someone genuinely interested in what I was saying. When I was done with my ramble, we remained silent for several minutes. 

"It sounds pretty boring to me. Your life so far, I mean." Once again, it was Luna who broke the ice.

That was true oh so much it hurt. 

"No offence, Luna, but your sister is exactly like that. Sitting in the throne room, eating cake, occasionally going for a walk..." I pointed out. 

"True, you are right. She needs to exercise more. Or she'll turn into Fatlestia," giggled moon princess. Making fun of her sister wasn't a big deal to her apparently. Likely some hidden grudge or something? I overheard them arguing the other day… 

We were enjoying ourselves so much we didn't even notice we had entered an enormous room, at least twice as big as the Canterlot throne room and in the same rectangular shape. 

There were once again those strange crystal lamps, emitting weak, but still strong enough cyan light. There were also marble steps on longer sides of the room, going to upper parts of the archives. On the far away end was a stone door, much higher and heavier than any other we had encountered. When we got closer, I noticed there was something massive engraved on the surface of them, a symbol of some sort? 

If my knowledge of history was correct, that symbol was the original emblem of the Changeling Empire, before the pony war. 

From that moment I knew we had reached our destination. 

Entry VIII

It took way longer to break the lock on those doors. Likely for a good reason. There had to be something important in that direction. The rooms behind the first locked doors had nothing in them, so the security, logically, didn’t have to be too tight.

"Have you tried not just casting the spell, but also pointing it at different parts of the rune?" asked Luna, when we were trying to get past the protection for more than half an hour.

I didn't say anything. I had to focus, and my horn was starting to hurt. I could feel sweat forming on the bottom of my hooves (changelings don't sweat through their skin, because it's under the chitin armour).

I tried to send my magic through different parts of the rune, but it seemed to not work. At the last moment, I snapped at Luna, "Care to lend me a hoof?"

"But my magic has no effect here. How can I?" she replied.

I let the aurora around my horn fade away, mostly to get rid of a feeling it was burning a hole through my forehead and turned to my friend. "We might as well try something. I am afraid we are out of options."

"Okay, let's try together then," said Luna.

We both applied the spell to the rune symbol simultaneously. Strange round particles erupted from the magical sign and exploded. We were catapulted backwards. When the dust settled, we both noticed the stone barrier was gone and behind its blown pieces was once again nothing, but utter darkness.

"Are you alright, Chrysalis?" I could hear Luna's quick pace running towards me.

"Yeah, I just need a break for a minute," I said as I leaned on the stone wall. It felt good against my side and it helped to cool off my burning insides.

Luna arrived to me in one beat of a heart. She touched my cheek with hers, probably to ensure I was real and not just a ghostly apparition. She used to do that when we were in college.

I was always the one to sleep in, and Luna always got nervous when I did that. Our chemistry teacher had a strange obsession with ancient drugs. He kept saying they were still wildly popular among the young, and we should avoid them at all cost. Luna knew I was the one to experience life to its fullness, so she got worried every time I didn't wake up early. It was cute and I always felt strange fluttering in my chest afterwards.

With the way forward no longer blocked up, we could freely dive into the depths of changeling archives.

"Can you feel it? No pony has entered this place in a long time." said Luna.

I sniffed the air and coughed. Air was stiff and it smelt of rotten flesh. Luna didn't seem to be affected.

I lit up my horn to be able to see. It didn't help much, because strange fog was blocking my light stream. I tried casting a spell to clear it up, but it had about the same effect as blowing air into it with my mouth.

I was attempting to find the source of the smell. Eventually, I succeeded.

"Deceased bodies up ahead..."

There were eleven or more remains of ponies and changelings alike. I applied an oxygen bubble spell on me so I could ignore the smell easier and dared to go closer.

Bodies had signs of battle on them. There were broken weapons, dating about 1000 or 1500 years ago. Those who had been trapped there were at war and fighting like two dogs over pieces of meat.

"Could it be?" I whispered to myself.

"Could be what?" Luna protected herself with the same spell I did and was inspecting the bodies with me. I felt like a detective solving a crime.

"Changelings haven't always been like they are now. We had leaders that kept hives in balance. And one day all of them disappeared." I said, but earned only a confused look out of Luna.

"What has that to do with anything? Are you suggesting...?"

"I think the answer to what has happened lies further ahead. Let's leave these unfortunate ones to rest here. We can ask someone to properly bury them later." 

To be honest, I wasn’t sure what was going on either. These dead changelings got trapped inside of these walls, alongside with ponies, crystal or normal ones, it didn’t matter. What were they running or hiding from? King Sombra?

We did as I said.

It didn't take too long to finally reach the inner chambers. "Do you have any idea what time it is?" I asked, because I presumed Luna had some sort of connection with the Moon and could tell time. She didn't feel that way though, "No idea, Chrysalis. I'd say three in the afternoon perhaps, but I could be wrong."

"Now I regret that I didn't bring Twilight's assistant with me. He could send a letter to someone on the surface." I said, truly thinking about the use of said dragon assistant. He was more or less terrified of me anyway, and it would be funny to see him tremble in fear. Oh, I am such an evil person...

"It got me thinking, those bodies. How come they still smell?" asked Luna. I wondered if she was asking just to fill in awkward silence, or genuinely didn't know.

"This archive is built for preservation. If you'd put an apple in here, it would still be edible, even after a hundred years." I answered honestly, "It was built as a safe-haven for my people in case someone wanted to have this place exterminated."

Luna blinked once, then twice. She didn't quite understand me. "What I've meant, this place locks the state of an item. It means anything stays the same for as long as it is here." I added. “Obviously an alive being won’t survive because there’s no food or water in here, but you get what I mean.”

"Extermination of the Crystal Empire? What?" Luna was even more confused at that moment. It seemed like everything connected to that place was alien to her. Also, she seemed to ignore my second explanation completely.

"My people used to be, and still are, paranoid as heck. Anyway, if I am remembering it correctly, apart from the memory archive, we should come across a life preservation bank. They were in close proximity to each other."

"There are frozen changelings here?" asked Luna, in a very surprised and slightly scared tone. 

I nodded my head, "We'll have to see for ourselves. I don't suppose there's going to be anything valuable and once we are exploring, we can make, or find a map as well."

There weren't any more words afterwards. In complete silence, we arrived at another maze-like complex of hallways and doors.

All the hallways were the same and over time, I started noticing something weird.
We were using a method of marking doors we had been to with magic signs. Over time, even though we were walking in one direction, we started running into them. It was almost like the halls were somehow infinite.

There was also a thought we could try to find the main switch for all the lights in the facility. Crystal lanterns were pretty much everywhere, all of them dark and without any sign of candles inside of them. My working theory was they were magical in origin and had to be turned on somehow, either with a spell I didn’t know, or they worked like the lights in Twilight’s tree house, meaning they were controlled by a power switch.

Omnipresent darkness was getting on mine and even Luna's nerves, which was something you didn’t see every day, and the maze we were hopelessly lost in didn’t help much either with our morale.

Both looking for the Archive, and the main breaker room, proved to be difficult to do. Surprisingly, we managed to come across a rune protected door. Once I broke the seal down, it was as obvious we had found one of the things.

Breaker room was a complex one, to be absolutely honest. There were a ton of small switches, lights and dark screens made out of opaque crystals.

Luna summoned a light orb, so we could see a bit better. Due to earlier mentioned fog, it didn't help much. It was like there was a wall of pure white, right before my eyes.

All the signs were in an unreadable font once again, but once I started focusing more, I could make out some of the letters. It was one heck of ancient writing. After several moments of going through the labels, I dared to press one switch and lights came on. But, so did the security systems...

Before I knew it, I and Luna were imprisoned in a magic field and a disembodied voice could be heard saying, "Scanning alien entities..."

My field turned blue from red and I was released. Same fate didn't apply to Luna...

"Chrysalis, do something..." she pleaded.

I tried speaking to the system, "Whoever you are, release my friend."

There was no response for a while and then, "Identity verified. Changeling origin confirmed. Do you wish to release the intruder?"

"Of course, you bonehead, now let her go...!" I raised my voice, as impatience and anger took me over. Machines that think they are smarter than me...

With 'ugh', Luna hit the floor. I immediately ran towards her to see if she was okay. She accepted my helping hoof and climbed back to all four.

"What the heck was that?" she spat on the floor, probably to get rid of bad taste in mouth changeling magic left behind. “I couldn’t understand a thing the voice said…” she added.

"Security. I hope it thinks I am your escort and it won't disturb us anymore." I said, thinking aloud.

"Escort? Who am I? A prisoner?" said Luna, offended by the idea.

"This place is centuries old," I suggested, "From the remains we found earlier, I presume the changeling pony war didn't end here. We have to be careful."

I turned to the glowing screen we had activated earlier, together with lights and that broken security system.

"If there was a way to access a map through this, we could find the archive in no time." I mumbled, mostly to myself. Luna approached me and looked over my shoulder.

My eyes kept searching until they laid upon a tab 'Vault layout'. I went for it immediately.

Next appearing on screen was a window saying, 'Insert storage crystal.' and several holes on the panel next to me got enlightened with green light.

"Oh, it wants a crystal," I said, and looked over the table. Right on the edge, hidden in the shadow of mine and Luna's, something sparkled, "There's one."

Luna stopped me before I could insert it into the slot, "Wait, Chryss. What if you're about to destroy some important data, or self-destruct the whole machine, thing, whatever? You know nothing about this technology."

I thought about it and then inserted the medium anyway, "You know, if it was important, no one sane would leave it here."

Once the download was finished, I took the crystal and held it in my magic field, waiting for something to happen. Luna looked at me and snorted, "I see Celly really did find a qualified candidate."

"Shut up, I'll figure it out." I snapped at her and focused more energy into the crystal. It started emitting light and suddenly, a stream of pure data got infused into my brain.

I dropped the crystal and it shattered. Luna gasped and asked me if I was okay. My response wasn't exactly reassuring.

"I know everything!" And on top of that I produced a creepy grimace of an animal high on quality sedatives. To Luna, it had to look like I went completely crazy.

When the effect of knowledge infusion wore off, I realised I was drooling. I quickly wiped my mouth and hoped Luna didn't notice. I didn't want to make her worry even more.

She seemed to get over any negative impression that she might have had. She had regained her signature serious face and asked, "So, where are we supposed to go?"

"I'll lead, you follow." I said, because explaining the whole path would be tedious.

Apparently, we were going the wrong way as well, and infinite hallways were a thing. This place was constructed the way it would always lead you to some of the earlier mentioned holding fields. After verification you weren't a threat, shape-shifting of the rooms and their infinity would be stopped.

We were able to find the archive pretty quickly, with a literal map of the place in my head. In our way was just another four runic locks, several dozens of stairs and realisation, it was getting pretty cold the further we were going. Archive was on the very bottom of the structure, and I seriously hoped there was an elevator somewhere close to it.

This place was constructed as a series of layers. I presume it used to be a marble / crystal quarry. When my ancestors dug out a certain amount of material, they built a floor on the top of it, and locked progress further with a rune spell. This way, they methodically exhausted the whole deposit.

I expected some form of library layout inside of the archive itself, and to be honest, the reality wasn't far away from that assumption. All the crystals were in decorative casing, sorted and stacked on marble shelves, cut into the walls themselves, or standing as support pillars of sorts. There was also another console, like the one in the security / breaker room. I decided to leave that one be.

"Well, here we are," said Luna, "Are we going to start turning the crystals over or are we returning to the palace?"

I looked in her direction, "Go back? After a half day of looking? I am not leaving this place until all of these crystals are translated."

"Um, I don't know if you've noticed, but there are thousands of them. You are going to starve before you even hit the first half," objected Luna.

I sat on the ground and sighed, "You are right, but I am not leaving now. I want to explore some more."

Luna took a place beside me, "I guess we could do that."

So, we just sat there in the dim light that was coming out from somewhere.

That archive was really huge. I didn't expect it to be that big. Me and Luna were insignificant to the size of it.

"Do you think that Crystal Fair helped to protect the Empire?" Luna asked suddenly.

"I don't know, but I hope so. King Sombra isn't someone I'd like to duel with." That was my reply. I didn't want to boast I'd totally kick his butt.

"Well, I think you'd beat him. You are much stronger."

Thanks, Luna, for inflating my ego. She could deny all she wanted, that was a clear compliment. I felt it in my belly, as it started purring once more and stronger than usual.

I could feel a slight tingling in my chest as well. My wings, normally calm and folded on my back, had a sudden urge to pop up. Out of blue, my horn lit up and I could feel little sparks jumping on my skin. After that, I shape-shifted to Cadence, and then, back to my original self.

We both jumped apart. I was startled by the surge in my magic field and Luna had to get electrocuted by accident.

"Didn't you say your changeling powers were gone?" asked Luna, standing a good 30 feet far away from me.

"They were, for several weeks. But now, they are back." I said, trying to suppress the feeling I got from the event. I had a theory why it happened, but I couldn't mention it to Luna. So, I just said, "Let's keep the affection to a minimum, okay. I don't know how stable my powers are. I could hurt you by accident." I shot her a sheepish look, hoping Luna didn’t notice my blushing cheeks.

The moment I said that, however, my wings started fluttering on their own again.

Luna smirked at the sight of that, "I get what you mean. Let's go. We'll try to look for your frozen colleagues and then head for the surface. I am getting hungry," she said, giving me a big smile.

Well, it seemed like I would not have to say anything after all. She had figured it out herself. Would it be good or bad, it wasn't my concern.

From the moment we had the encounter with the security system, all the things that used to be trouble were gone. And I mean all of them - the fog, darkness, shape shifting of the rooms...

Our only enemy seemed to be my inability to read maps properly and Luna's grumpy stomach.

"Are we there yet?" she asked when we took the corner to the left and there were no signs of life preservation banks anywhere.

"Trust me, once we'll be there, you'll know," I replied, only to get a snort out of Luna.

"You've never been there. How can you be so sure?"

I remained silent, only for reasons of not starting an argument. Hungrier Luna was getting, the more agitated she was.

I'll skip the boring part, so as not to repeat the last two entries.

It was almost saddening to look at. Once the structure lost its power source and backup got depleted, all the frozen changelings died in their tanks. So, the only thing we had found were rotting corpses. Not many of them, though.

There were hundreds to thousands of life pods and only three dozen of them were filled. First question of mine was where the rest was. You can't make a whole hive disappear. The Crystal Empire was under siege of King Sombra and Canterlot forces combined, battling for every square inch of frozen, forsaken dirt. And my people were caught in the middle of it, with no way of escaping and resources rapidly depleting.

I made a mental note to return here as soon as I could get Luna to the surface. I needed to have that mystery solved.

Entry IX

"What have I missed?" asked Luna the second we emerged from the underground.

From the whole city looking like a battlefield, I could guess plan A, a.k.a Crystal Fair, failed.

But there was also something new. As we walked towards the castle, I noticed there was something glittering under the entrance tower - a big Sonium crystal carved into the shape of a heart.

Second we got closer, Luna's coat got covered by the same glitter the crystal was emitting. It didn't happen to me though, and honestly, it wasn't anything I'd cry over.

Anyway, Crystal Palace looked as if nothing had happened outside. Everything was clear and spotless. Princess Cadence seemed to do much better as well. Only her husband was as grumpy as before.

I had some time to exchange a few words with Twilight Sparkle as well. Apparently, she and her assistant found the Crystal Heart and with the help of Cadence herself, the natural protection of the Empire was restored.

Good to know, at least something to be sure of. Crystal Heart had to be the power source I remembered. Ponies just had to carve it into a more familiar shape. I wonder how long it took them. Sonium is an extremely difficult material to handle without enchanted chisels or changeling magic.

I shared what I and Luna achieved as well. Twilight had seemed to be excited, and even went that far, she called her assistant. Princess Celestia had to know about everything happening that day.

I excluded myself from the task and gave Twilight permission to write something based on what I had told her, but also warned her to not go into too much detail. I wasn’t sure what to expect and giving Celestia false hopes for success of my assignment could prove dangerous.

Instead of dealing with Twilight, I went to find Luna, who had left during my conversation.

Fortunately, Luna was still in the dining room she had implied to visit, eating up the meal that was prepared for her earlier. I had no idea what meal it was, but it seemed delicious. In the end, I had ordered a simple soup and took a seat next to my friend.

While I was waiting for the soup to cool down, Luna leaned on me suddenly. "I am so glad you are here. It’s been so long I’ve had someone to talk to."

She was giggling under her breath, as my face was getting more flustered each moment.

"Oh, is little Chryssie embarrassed?" 

You could probably guess who that was. Cadence, of course. She was always there when I and Luna had a moment. Or I simply dismissed her presence, also a possibility.

I could feel magic building up in me, so I did what was the best for me. I ran away. I hoped Luna would forgive me for almost knocking her over.

I headed to my chambers, only to run into waiting Luna. She was so quiet there I would knock her off her feet again, wasn't it for a fact she was standing in clear sight in front of the double doors.

"What was that supposed to be?" she asked with a serious expression. I felt like a little filly that just broke an expensive item.

Luna exchanged her grimace with a smile after a while of silence, "I've brought you your soup, you dork. You’ve left it there and Cadence wouldn’t mind claiming it as her own, I am sure…"

I accepted the dish and mumbled thanks. It tasted alright, but I was in no mood for a meal, even though my stomach would disagree. I had a feeling I had to somehow justify my actions from earlier. I was sitting on my rump, avoiding eye contact, with Luna sitting close next to me.

Luna broke the ice suddenly. "I should probably apologise. It was me who told Cadence about the return of your powers, and how they returned."

I was inspecting a piece of carrot with my spoon.

"She is probably under the impression we are in love, " continued Luna, looking straight at me. It felt comforting in a strange way, having her stare, expecting me to get defensive or something. 

On the other hand, Cadence, as known as Princess of gossip, would tell anyone about me and Luna. It wouldn't be convenient in times like these, mostly because I just got reformed and Celestia was having me under supervision. No one knew what she would do after figuring out the truth that I dared to think about her sister that way.

Abandoning my original plan, I decided to spend the rest of the day in Luna's company. We borrowed some books from the castle's private library and wrapped ourselves in sheets, lying close to each other with our sides touching and reading the same book.

Luna was a faster reader than I was, so she got annoyed when she had to wait for me to finish before turning a page. I felt so warm. My magic was boiling in me, but with each second, I was more and more in control of myself.

As the evening progressed, I snapped and broke the 'no affection' rule. After a thousand years, it was like opening Pandora's box. When I used to feed on the love of others, it always felt empowering, but I didn't feel any warmness. That time, it was way different and more pleasant. 

Also, I should probably mention that, the day I had reconnected with Luna, my black chitinous armour peeled away. Luna almost got a heart attack, but once she figured out what was really going on, she started laughing. It was so embarrassing to stand there without any skin, beside the fact I had to stay a whole day under sheets. Cold became my worst enemy.

The peeling part was just the first of many surprises, though. The chitin that grew back wasn't black as before. It was white. Or marble-grey, if you'd want to go into details, with darker spots and white overall.

I felt like a majestic creature, walking the hallways with pride I had no idea existed within me. Everyone seemed to have more respect towards my person as well. I resembled Celestia more than my former self to be honest.

Entry X

It was almost a week ago that I last picked up this diary. It wasn't because I got lazy, but I didn't have anything to write.

Seriously, nothing was going on. I went to the Archives, spent half of the day there, usually accompanied by Luna, when she wasn't busy going about her princess duties.

During one of the occasions, Luna revealed to me she was on a look out for Twilight, who decided to remain in Crystal Empire to supervise the research. Luna got the impression Twilight was there to spy on me, and to an extent, her as well.

There was one small thing. Me and Luna decided to get together for good, after the day we had spent reading in my quarters. It was a heartwarming nostalgia of the years long lost. Whole palace could hear us, so there was no point in hiding the truth anyway.

I and Luna were both starved for physical affection, and we totally forgot to be careful. Two days after our bonding, Luna overheard a conversation between Twilight and her assistant. Well, conversation would be a strong term. Twilight was dictating a letter which read something like:

*Your sister is acting out of her normal self. I think she might be under control of Queen Chrysalis. I'll remain here until my suspicion is cleared.*

We lowered the amount of affection, so we wouldn't draw more attention. Twilight didn't look convinced though, and she was aware of us knowing about her sending regular updates to Celestia. We had to be more careful and act natural at the same time. It was a situation without any obvious ways out.

Celestia was very protective of her sister. At least she used to be those thousand years ago, if I could recall. She almost had me executed once she had found out about us being closer friends than she had anticipated. 

Fortunately, it wasn't up to her back then. However,  I wasn't sure what she would do when there was no one to stop her, though, and taking my chances didn't seem like a good idea, given my reputation.

Twilight turned out to be a nosy midget that wanted to know everything. When we cut the supply of obvious things she could report, she started following us. She didn't care if she was seen or not. Her purple eyes were there and every movement of ours couldn't slip by.

She eventually gave up, but it took almost two weeks. When she announced she was returning to Ponyville one evening, I could hardly contain myself.

It was a lie though. For another week, each day she had packed and went to catch the train, only to return half an hour later to announce she forgot to pack something. Crystal Empire had only one train and a trip to either Canterlot or Ponyville took nearly half a day. There wasn't any other solution, other than her staying for an extra day. After five days, it started to seem suspicious.

I am not even mentioning repeating excuses why she, Twilight, couldn't use royal chariots. The purple menace didn’t even try to hide she was lying, as if she couldn’t remember, or didn’t care. To be honest that was quite unlike the Twilight Sparkle I knew. Something was off about her behaviour…

Cadence, completely unaware of Twilight's true motives, snapped the fifth day. She told the purple unicorn, she didn't raise her to be that messy, and that she had enough. She had packed unicorn's things herself and walked her to the station. That didn't stop Twilight from asking 'Did you pack...?' questions every few seconds, though. Her desperation was high...

Me and Luna were observing the whole thing from the balcony with a long range telescope and couldn't contain our joy. Twilight's face of disappointment couldn't be funnier, given the circumstances.

The Relief of the tense atmosphere could be felt immediately after Celestia's protégé left. Only one who was causing some form of trouble was Shining Armor, but no one was taking that one seriously, not even his own wife.

Tedious job of translating the crystals proved to be difficult, in terms of effects the memory transfer caused.

After each crystal, I had to take a few minutes break, just to recollect myself. The worst ones were units containing personal memories, because those left unpleasant moments of confusion. Particularly one crystal was so bad I completely forgot who I was and Luna had to use a memory backup I had made in case of something like that happening.

I questioned the point of the whole operation. There wasn't any valuable data, just personality prints, meant to be used in case some of the frozen changelings had amnesia after waking up from being frozen for a thousand years.

I hoped for a change in the pattern, but it was only getting worse. I threw a few crystals against the wall in my frustration. They weren't good for anything anyway, changelings owning those memories were dead.

Side effects of memory transfer were getting worse each day. It wasn't any minor thing when I couldn't remember small details about myself. One day I woke up and realised I totally forgot I was dating someone and that I lived in Crystal Empire with her. It wasn't a pleasant morning.

It was Luna actually, who suggested that I needed a break. I would not consider it as an option, just because I felt a strange obligation to do what I was doing, even though it was hurting me.

What was Celestia hoping to discover? Could those memories seem unimportant, because I was in fact a changeling? Was it an ancient language Celestia wanted to study? Or the majority of memories sharing one common thought about the plan of last hope for changelings, who were going extinct at the time?

I didn't know what anything I was discovering meant, that was for sure.

Entry XI

Today was a big day. I had a day off and also a proper date with someone as amazing as Luna.

Night before, we agreed on a plan. Luna wanted to show me a good time, so she would pick a place and treatment. Also, we had practical reasons for that.

I wasn't exactly familiar with the way dating ponies were used to. Luna tried to explain, but was unable to give me a clear picture of her expectations, and the things she was suggesting could be described as outdated at best.

I, on the other hand, would go for anything, as long as I could spend the time with her. I wouldn't mind cheap fast food, or even dinner in the castle gardens under the infinite night sky.

Luna wanted to show off of course. She had a feeling she needed to tell the whole world she was dating me, so no one would try and 'take me away', as she had said.

Who would consider the former nemesis of Princes Celestia a dating material anyway? Luna was different, though. She knew me a long time before I turned into a love sucking monster, as described in various pony literature. 

The Crystal Empire was more or less conservative about the way of formal dining. Luna picked the most fancy and expensive restaurant ever - The Moonshine. It wasn't a big mystery why she did so.

I forgot to mention, after re-living the lives of several dozen changelings through their memories, I could easily remember my childhood as well. The realisation hit me hard.

The college I was attending with Luna was the Crystal Private - school and an embassy, a place for sharing knowledge and culture. Shame it didn't last long. My mother had patience for ponies and tolerated them as long as they kept their head down. Sombra wasn't the type to stay quiet.

I had to wonder, we did find dead ponies in the Archive, but were they part of the Royal guard? So far it seemed like the whole conflict was more local than I had thought, maybe internal civil war between Sombra's slaves and changeling locals, resolved by royal sisters on behalf of someone. There were too many mysteries, and it didn't make me feel good. I am a changeling, I should know these things.

Regardless of anything else, Luna sensed  I was thinking and wanted to know what was troubling me.

I told her about the college, and she just snorted, "I am surprised you can't remember such a thing."

It left me in awe, "Don't tell me you knew all along."

She didn't say anything else, probably not wanting to return to anything closely related to my work. We were going on a date for reasons of forgetting, not remembering.

After a full night of disturbed sleep, because my brain hates me, I was left drained. Luna left me a note saying she would be waiting by The Moonshine at nine in the morning. I had to hurry, it was almost half past eight.

I skipped the breakfast, telling myself I would nourish my appetite during the date itself. It didn't help me to wake up. I didn't bother to look in the mirror as well, I knew I looked horrible anyway, so why waste time.

Luckily for me, I didn't have to use deodorant. My chitin armour completely nullifies any odour I could be emitting.

I had no idea Cadence knew what I and Luna were planning. She caught up with me when I was almost out of the door.

"Don't you dare go out like that. Luna doesn't deserve to be humiliated by your lazy attitude," she shouted, maintaining the pose of a military commander.

"But I am going to be late, that's what you want?" I replied, with about the same intensity as her. The nearby windows resonated.

"Better late than never," she again screamed her words, even though I had walked over to her. That was getting ridiculous.

"Why are we shouting?" I asked in an unamused tone. The situation was amusing enough, but giving Cadence figurative ammo that way, it wasn't a good idea. I was late as I was.

Cadence didn't reply and took a massive looking hair comb out of somewhere. I outright refused all the body decoration Cadence wanted to put on me. First off, it would be embarrassing, second, Luna specifically told me to remain myself.

I didn't mention that, along with the colour of my chitin, my hair changed as well. It wasn't like strings of slime anymore, but actual hair. Harder to maintain, but I could see the advantages. For example, if you sat on it, it didn't hurt that much. Believe me, I've tried.

In the end, I was about ten minutes late and Cadence wasn't about to stop 'making me ready'.

"I think that's enough, Heart Butt. I have to go."

Cadence snapped out of some kind of trance and blinked. "Oh, I had to drift away. Your hair is simply marvellous.”

Who did she turn into? Rarity? That damn white mare tried to cut my mane off. By her words, it was a crime against fashion. Fortunately, no scissors of hers could cut through my past thick mane, as it was quite rubbery in nature.

"Few more minutes and I won't have any," I said, more calm than I should be at the given moment.

"Luna wouldn't do that, but you have the point. Enjoy your date, dear." said Cadence and walked away.

I could not make the trip to Moonshine on foot in reasonable time, so I had to try out something else. Twilight made me learn how to teleport. I had a feeling it was the best opportunity to test those skills.

I focused all my energy to formulate one strong thought. In the flash of blinding light, I could hear the glass shatter. My carapace burned like molten metal, but I had to focus. My whole existence ceased to be, and I lost the connection to myself.

Brutal impact that felt like it originated from within my skeleton itself, left me shaken and I could feel my own body again. With adrenalin going through every vein of my body, I took the step forward.

With a snap, I reappeared good ten feet above the open street. I tried to use my wings, but they were stiff from the shock.

The fall felt like there weren't ten, but at least a thousand feet below me.

My armoured hooves gave up when they came into contact with solid ground. I could feel them burn as I bounced off the marble surface, just to hit it again seconds later.

I shook my head, blinked several times to clear my vision. I was in front of the Moonshine. I'd pat myself on the back, if I wouldn't have to think about the pain in my side I had landed on. I gritted my teeth together and hoped it would go away soon.

There was no concern for others among the ponies under large umbrellas sitting by the tables, apart from raising their eyes from a meal or newspaper, shaking their head and proceeding without care. They would let me die with no regrets.

Obviously, there was someone observing my entrance and that someone stormed out of the restaurant moments later. You could guess who that was...

"Chrysalis! Chryss! Chryssie!"

There was worry in Luna's voice. She rushed to me, hastily checking for injuries.

"Don't worry, Luna, I am fine. I'll walk it off." I said, trying to stand up. The pain in my side just got worse, but I pulled through it and was able to sit. I had to look so stupid. It didn't feel any better knowing I had made Luna worry for someone like myself, over something as minor as backache.

I didn't feel like a majestic creature anymore. Luna helped me to get up, and limp over to the nearest bench. Pain I felt earlier was slowly going away. I could feel my limbs again at least.

Luna ordered me to sit tight, and told me she would be back in a snap. She then disappeared in the restaurant. I could hear raised voices and angered stomping of hooves. Luna then emerged from the establishment, anger in her face.

From what she had told me, the staff simply thought I and Luna weren't going to eat today, so they assigned our booked places to different customers. I have never seen Luna so enraged before. She would set the whole place on fire, if there weren't anyone else but staff and managers.

I cracked a hole through my hoof, so I couldn't walk as normal. I blame the crappy horseshoes I was forced to wear. One nail went through the carapace like a chisel through stone, snapped in half and punched a hole in my leg. Luna pulled the nail out on the spot, applied some magic to the wound, so I could at least walk.

That didn't stop her from offering her back, if I couldn't make it back to the palace. I refused obviously, that would be unacceptable. If I weren't late, we might not have been in a situation like that. It was all my fault.

Luna once again left to order some food from an ordinary sandwich stand. That was part of her backup plan. She knew there was a possibility of us not being able to have a fine lunch at the Moonshine.

So, to make this entry shorter, we had a picnic.

It shouldn't be any surprise I wasn't nearly ready for anything that happened that day. I wasn't disappointed or anything, picnic or fine meal at some fancy restaurant, I could care less.

My main concern was Luna. She was planning everything carefully, hoping to have a great day out with me.

It turned out to be a literal day out, as outside. We were lying just inches apart, our sides slightly touching. As we were eating our sandwiches, Luna kept whispering sweet words into my ear. To me, it was the best thing at that moment, even though I had to clean the mentioned ear later.

Entry XII

My date with Luna didn't turn out to be anything extraordinary, but it did make a difference. It brought much needed relaxation.

With Twilight gone and Cadence aware of mine and Luna's relationship, there was nothing much that could ruin my near future.

Even the Changeling archives started being more interesting. About a week before writing this entry, I had discovered a certain set of memories. Those memories belonged to the leaders of changelings back then, high ranking commanders that answered to the acting queen's orders. 

What triggered my curiosity was the mention of a fleet of colonisation vessels, also referred to as last resort spawn ships, placed here in the Crystal Empire. According to data, there were eight of them ready to take my kind to the stars, but one failed to take off when the time came. There were subtle hints of something like that in earlier memories, but only now, it started to form a bigger picture.

If my assumptions were correct, that ship had to be situated somewhere in the Archives, along with several smaller escort vessels. But, how could something as big as a colonisation ship go missing?

Searching would require complete access to every part of the Archive. We had a map, but only the Elders knew if it was correct, or complete. My bets were the creators didn't want just anyone to know where the last hope of changelings could be.

So, I was technically at square one. I'd have to look through all the rooms, be on the watch for hidden doors, or hatches. Entrance to the 'Hangar' could be anywhere.

Help with the cause came from an unexpected place.

It was more or less a coincidence that I dropped that supposedly empty crystal.

First things first, though.

I was taking a break, ready to meet up with Luna. I had brought some crystals with me, not intentionally of course as I simply forgot to take them out of my saddle packs when I left the Archives the other day.

We were to meet up at the square with a large mosaic of a snowflake made out of processed marble. The square's placement did feel kind of odd at a first glance, but I wasn't giving it much attention. The Crystal Empire was filled with a lot of weird design choices that could potentially mean something, but usually, they were just there for the fun of it. 

When Luna arrived, the sun was already setting, so I had the brilliant idea to use the crystal to create a rainbow. I took it in my magic field, trying to get the right angle for creating our own small prism.

Suddenly, that crystal sprouted to life and my magic field short circuited. Rain of blue and green sparks made me go blind for a few seconds as a strong wave of energy hit my brain. I lost the grip on the crystal and winced in pain. My horn felt like it was about to rip apart.

Crystal didn't shatter upon impact though. It passed right through the pavement and the pattern under our hooves lit up like a Christmas tree.

Whole place started changing, shifting and more importantly, disappearing. I and Luna had a few seconds to get to a somewhat more stable surface. Our wings saved us.

Whole snowflake mosaic twisted and turned away and revealed a new area. It wasn't anything special, at first glance at least, just a big hole in the ground leading to some forsaken place.

I gently fluttered above the hole with my aching horn lit up to be able to see what was hiding down below. Unfortunately, it was too deep to scan it properly.

"Are you up for an adventure?" I asked Luna, who seemed to be having about the same interest in the formed structure as I did.

"By adventure, you mean jumping down, don't you?" she said.

The fall, suppressed by our wings to velocity we could survive, was long and monotonous. That structure was nothing but a long tube, leading somewhere underground.

On the way down, we passed through a huge open trap door, made of solid metal. Under them, we could finally recognize outlines of something big. Something like a star ship.

We found the hangar.

It was a discovery of the century. The actual relic, that looked like it served some purpose. I landed a few feet apart from the super structure and silently admired it. It was truly huge. My rough guess was it could carry my whole hive in it.

It was surprising the ship didn't look damaged. Paint job was a bit deteriorated, but that could be expected after a thousand years down there. As I kept looking at its chassis, I noticed a name on its side, written in an ancient changeling dialect.

That ship's name was Little Wrath, or at least that felt like a correct translation.

Interestingly enough, my mother used to call me that. One way to traumatise a child, to be honest, but I was a badass. It didn't let it get to me. 

I wondered if it had to do anything with me. My memories weren't intact. I couldn't resurface large parts of my life, but still, being assigned a captain of a freaking space ship was something I thought I could remember.

According to the memory crystals I had observed in the Archive, there were eight ships like Little Wrath. Each ship had a designated captain, but only seven showed up. While the other captains are known, the seventh is not. Could it be me? Did I cause all of that by my retreat from Crystal Empire when Sombra showed up?

Well, only one way to find out.

"Luna, we have to get on board that ship." I said.

The look Luna gave me was more or less full of surprise and she threw an objection at me immediately, "Are you nuts? It could fall apart!"

I didn't listen, because at the moment she had said that, I was already several steps ahead. Luna followed me at last, but kept cursing under her breath all the way.

It took us two whole minutes to walk around the chassis of Little Wrath. By the looks of it, the ship tried to take off, but her propulsion systems failed. She had to fall from the support frame and smash into the ground.

On the other side of the chassis, we found a hatch that could possibly lead inside. Even bigger surprise was that it opened right after I had approached it. It seemed like the ship itself was aware we were there. Creepy feeling crawled upon my back and I gulped.

"Not feeling so bold, aren't you now?" mocked Luna for my previous bravado. I didn't say anything, lit up my horn and took a step inside the ship's chassis.

"Stars above, Chrysalis! Do you have to take everything I say as a challenge?" cried Luna out in frustration as she followed me inside. I had ignored her and slowed down a bit until she caught up with me.

We were in some kind of corridor followed by a long staircase, all surrounded by darkness. I could hear machinery making ticking sounds as we were passing by what looked like ventilation shafts. Uncomfortable feeling of being watched was crawling on my back again. Every sound made me jump. That ship was made by changelings, but it didn't look like anything changeling. I was used to changing and shifting hives, even the Archive was something I could get used to. This ship however, felt like a tin can, full of weirdness and scary dark corners.

When I and Luna had reached the end of the stairs, another previously invisible hatch opened. Whole ship wheezed like an old steam pump.

"I called it, it's falling apart!" cried Luna, terrified to maximum level. She tried to turn back, but I grabbed her tail in time and dragged her back, next to me.

I took a peek at a new area behind that hatch. In front of us was an open space, a large room of an unknown purpose. If I could guess, I would say it used to be a mess hall. There was enough space to host a dance class. However, if there used to be any furniture, someone did a serious cleaning. That room was completely empty.

I took a step inside, dragging Luna along by the hoof. She was still a bit nervous about the metallic scratching the ship was making every ten seconds, as if it was alive and breathing.

We passed through the empty room and another door opened. That vessel seemed to be leading us somewhere. There were three possible ways, three doors to be more precise. All of them were locked and unaccessible. I tried pressing all the buttons, but none of them were operational.

Last doors were leading to an elevator. As soon as we entered, its entrance shut tight, and the lift accelerated up. I could feel my earlier cracked hoof tingling with vibrations the elevator was making. Finally, we found ourselves where the ship wanted us to be. The door opened.

Yet another corridor and we could go in only one way - to the right.

Suddenly, all lights flickered and woke up from their thousand year slumber. Dark hallway was enlightened and I realised it was made out of processed wax. Changelings used similar material to build hives. For me the alien ship felt more like home out of the blue.

Nothing so far had explained why I and Luna were dragged through the insides of that vessel. What were we supposed to do there? What was expected of us? Who was behind all of this?

We took the hallway we were literally pushed into by darkness. All the lights behind us turned off and only the corridors at front were somewhat enlightened.
Another door opened with a buzzing sound.

The area revealed to us was more than impressive. Half of the top and middle front side was just glass, or polished dark crystals that appeared as glass. On the bottom were consoles, emitting dim green light. In the centre was an elevated platform with a console on its own. My best guess was that the platform could be for the ship's captain, bottom side consoles were for system operators and middle one for a pilot. The shape of the room was hexagonal, with two staircases on each side and captain's platform above everything else in the room's centre.

My curiosity got the best of me. I had left Luna behind and approached the captain's console. It felt like an unknown force was telling me to claim what was rightfully mine. Disembodied voice stopped me dead in my tracks.

"I've been waiting," it said and I jumped a good foot up. Its voice structure was nothing like I had ever heard. The sentence felt and sounded weird as it was, and it had an uncomfortable buzzing in it on the top of all. I could make words out of all that noise, but whoever designed such a thing had to be evil.

"Please come closer, I want to take a look at you." Voice didn't wait for me to acknowledge its presence, nor verify I could understand it. Its words felt familiar though, like someone in my past told them to me.

Strange feeling of being watched was filling me up. I couldn't help myself, but I took a look around.

Slowly, I started to realise the dark, lifeless window panels above me weren't windows at all, but screens.

Suddenly, everything lit up. All the black screens turned on. Blank white rectangles were looking down at us. I took a step back, just to bump into Luna. She was just a few hoof lengths behind, hiding in my shadow. We both jumped, lost balance and crashed into each other.

In the place I stood a moment ago appeared a ghostly figure of a changeling queen, like myself, but much smaller and in better physical shape. Her hair was in the same colour as her body and styled in the same way Cadence would have them.

The figure glanced upon our lying forms, giggled in a high, feminine tone and covered her mouth with hoof. 

"I hope I haven't scared you. It's been so long since I've had some company." 

She approached us even more. She sounded so much like Cadence it made me think someone copied the pink princess to make this green one.

Luna was holding upon my back, using my body as a living shield. I wasn't surprised too much, not after what we were through in the past few weeks. She had a right to not trust any changeling machinery, especially an artificial ghost queen that seemed to have a sense of humour.

The queen herself didn't seem to be bothered by us being upset and such. She was bunny hopping back and forth, laughing like a little girl. 

"This is gonna be so much fun. I have to tell the others right away," she exclaimed with a clear hint of excitement in her composure. 

In a blink of an eye, she was at the console, produced several hexagonal light screens and talked swiftly. "All ships, this is Alea from Little Wrath. Anyone in for a party?" 

But there was no response, but radio static. 

So, the name of our new friend was Alea. She was very much like Cadence in her teen years. I felt almost bad for her, when she was repeatedly trying to call non existing, or long gone friends.

After her tenth echo message, she had turned to us and asked, "Why is no one else here? Where are the others?"

How do you answer a question like that? I could be honest and tell her we didn't know anything. Or we could try to provide any information we had.

"I don't know how to answer that, Alea. How long have you been down here?" I layed out an honest question. The look she gave me could be considered suspicious.

"What do you mean, Chrysalis? In my opinion, you are just in time." She said, calling me by my name for the first time. "We are supposed to take changelings to the stars together. Why is the rest of the fleet not responding?"

For the first time in the past minutes, Luna walked out of my shadow and asked the changeling construct directly, "Care to check your chronometer, Alea?"

 The half opaque body of Alea shifted in place and she turned her attention to the Princess of the night, "Princess Luna! What an honour to be in your presence, I can't believe..."

"Check your clock, Alea." snapped Luna, in a harsh tone completely uncalled for. Alea's eyes moved back and forth and I noticed they were like two irises you see in cameras.

Alea took several steps from left to right. All the screens behind her dimmed and the room got dark. Only the light she was emitting remained the same. She seemed to be going through an emotional swing.

"I - I cannot access any local resources. That would mean everything besides this part of the Archive is inactive. I read no life signs in any local hardware." she said, lowering her previous pace to the intensity of a very slow walk. Her voice was getting less and less clear. Suddenly, she turned to us, "How long has it been? How long?" The last words were almost yelled directly in my face. If she could spit, I'd have a face full of her saliva.

"Almost a thousand years." answered Luna in a low tone, like a mother trying to sooth her child..

"I am sorry, Alea. No one else is coming, and I am the last changeling I know of," I added.

Alea showed us her back and said, "Thank you. Follow the lights, they'll lead you safely outside. I need time to think."

I and Luna sensed it would be unwise to ask the heavily upset holographic queen further questions, so we followed her advice.

It didn't take us long to reach the outside of the ship. When I stuck my head out into the cold air of the Archive, I had to appreciate the clearness of the air inside of the vessel. Alea knew how to keep the insides livable, that was for sure. Air in the hangar was stiff and had an odd  odour in it, as if it was left to rot for several centuries, which wasn't far from the truth in fact.

There were several things I'd have to address in the next few days. First of all, I'd have to update Alea on everything that had happened, next thing would be figuring out how many holes her memory had. She seemed to be out of sync, but still somewhat aware of the decaying Archive next to her home - Little Wrath. Why was she active? When was she reactivated?

Luna didn't share my enthusiasm for research of the changeling vessel. In her opinion, the smartest thing to do was to seal the area away and pretend we have seen nothing. 

It didn't help much that the press ponies got interested in my research. It was about to happen sooner or later though, given  I did open a freaking big ass air lock in the middle of the Crystal Empire, in the place where everyone saw just a strangely placed town square. Good thing there was no one around at the time of opening it. We'd be guilty of severe public endangerment in that case… 

Luna excused herself out of any debate with the press and left me to handle the situation. That wasn't wise at all. Only thing we achieved was raising suspicion of the public. Newspaper ponies made me in the image of a saboteur, who was trying to steal Equestria's property.

I could imagine Twilight rubbing her hooves together and grinning from ear to ear.