Twilight chose to study magic the next day. When she awoke she was somewhat disappointed to see Chrysalis already absorbed into the hive, sitting in her chair. Her disappointment subsided for the most part as she noticed that the pod she prepared was gone. She had a feeling her queen quite enjoyed it, there was sort of a residual gratitude in the air. Or was that the hive mind? Twilight wasn’t completely sure. She couldn’t help but watch Chrysalis for a minute or so, seeing the tiny twitches and flicks of various parts of her body.

She smiled and made her way to what was called the Mage Chamber, which was connected to the main hive by only one tunnel/walkway. She made a few stops on the way, though. She visited a mess chamber for breakfast, the hunting chamber to retrieve some of her pelts, deposited said pelts to one of the scattered places that could work with them. It was at about this moment she realized that she had been carrying her quiver and bow hung around herself the entire time, she had meant to deposit them in the hunting chamber. Nobody she passed seemed to pay it any mind, though, so she didn’t bother going back. She liked the weight of it or something like that.

Her final stop before the Mage Chamber was to visit a few of the places that made equipment for hunters, soldiers and defenders. She looked around a bit, there were a few others in the various places doing the same thing as she, and found quite a few things that struck her fancy. She knew she hadn’t earned the right to use any of it. She just had a feeling it wouldn’t go over well if she just took anything like a few of the others had. That is, at least, until she found a particular metal worker.

“Twilight Sparkle, at last.” The young female said with a smile before Twilight had even properly entered the chamber. Something about the girl made Twilight feel like this was going to be an incredibly interesting encounter.

“At last?” Twilight asked. She looked for the source of the voice and found a Changeling about a year younger than she was opening a wooden case.

“At last. I felt that you wished for me to create something for you. It was a joy to do so, so please accept this gift. You have definitely earned it.” The girl answered. In her arms were what looked like two very strange blades with a series of odd straps. The entire thing was made of organic material, or possibly it was all coated in it.

“Extend your battle plating, at least along your arms.” The girl asked. Twilight did so, curious, as the extra layer of very tough carapace extended. The girl proceeded to strap the things onto her arms. They were very strange forearm blades that extended past her hand about the length of her forearm itself. It also extended past her elbows, curving slightly. She held Twilight’s arms in front of her for a moment before there was a flash of black and her carapace started tingling.

The things were being absorbed into her battle plating.

“You’re the first to earn the fruits of my craft, Sparkle. Feel for them, feel how they extend and retract, they are a part of you. They are one with you, just as you are one with the hive.” The girl explained softly. Twilight was oddly humbled and only a little shocked at what was happening. She concentrated and felt it just as she felt her battle plating. The things reappeared, though instead of the organic material they were before they were a strange black metal with a lavender tint. It looked exactly like her carapace.

“I cannot thank you enough for this…” Twilight started, but the girl put her hand up.

“You have earned this. How you have done so is beyond the both of us for now, but in time we will see. For now, though, let’s proceed to the Mage Chamber for your magical reawakening.” The girl replied. She giggled at Twilight’s expression. Twilight remembered the name on the list.

“Ceren?” She asked. The girl bowed, it was the kind of bow that said; ‘Ceren, at your service’. Twilight smiled and they made their way to the Mage Chamber. As they further traversed the tunnel, Twilight started feeling… something. The only description she could give it was power.

“Good, you feel it. It means your link to the art of magic is not severed, merely buried.” Ceren said, her voice echoing off of the rounded walls.

“Buried under what?” Twilight asked.

“Memories, emotions, and an entire life itself buried.” Ceren replied. Twilight was intrigued not only by what she said, but the way she spoke. She was much more intelligent and wise than her age implied.

“I guess I’ll just have to figure all of that out.” Twilight replied. Ceren giggled.

“Or you could gradually pull your link out into the open, you know like pulling a root from the ground. You don’t dig up all of the ground just to get at it, do you?” Ceren retorted. Twilight smiled and nodded as they reached the chamber. Twilight looked around it as Ceren lead her to the center. There were two others sitting across from each other in the center, where the sky was exposed above.

“They are connected and isolated in the hive mind, their minds in a plain of existence of their own creation. It cannot be done without magic, for it requires one to dissolve into the hive mind and then form a barrier around yourself. Unfortunately you won’t be able to do so, since you neither have developed your connection to the hive mind nor control over your link with your magic.” Ceren explained, taking a seat next to one of them. She motioned for Twilight to join her, so she sat down opposite her.

“What can I do, then?” Twilight asked. Ceren smiled and closed her eyes.

“While your connection to the hive mind isn’t developed enough to create your own bubble of isolation, it’s enough for you to drag you into mine. It is there that we practice our magic, so as not to harm ourselves or the hive. Concentrate, You will feel a tug on your mind. Feel it and submit to it, I don’t bite that hard.” She answered. Twilight nodded and closed her eyes as well. She waites, but it only took a few moments before she felt a tug.

In an instant she was in an empty expanse of nothingness. After a little while something started forming. Or rather, she was appearing into something that was already there. There was a meadow connecting two very different forests. On one side was the scarred forest, though it somehow seemed harmless. On the side she came from, though, the trees were all burnt and splintered and shattered and destroyed. The blight that affected the forest had even killed a small portion of the grass in the meadowy clearing.

“As you can see, your mind is incomplete and decayed. On the surface, there is nothing but a few budding trees trying to take root in a ground filled with sleeping roots. It seems they are all taking very well, though, so that is definitely good. This meadowy clearing represents the connection between our minds. My healthy forest represents my clear and calm mind while your decayed forest represents what I mentioned.” Ceren explained, appearing out of the much healthier looking forest.

“How can I reverse the process? Let my forest flourish once more?” Twilight asked.

“Potentially, time heals all wounds. That’s not always the case, though, and I think you already knew this. What your forest needs is to be cared for, it needs these new sprouts to grow and bear fruit and then that fruit needs to entice the sleeping roots to wake. This will take time and effort, it cannot be rushed. If you were to dangle fruit above the sleeping roots all at once then they would burst from the ground and tear apart what’s left of your forest with a voracious hunger, searching for the fruit it was teased to no avail.” Ceren explained. Twilight didn’t think she understood, but she would think on it until she did.

“What will I do now, then? Tend to my trees?” Twilight asked. Ceren shook her head and sat on the grass, repeating what she did in the chamber. Twilight unsurely sat across from her and closed her eyes.

“Think, meditate, sort your mind out, clear it as you would clear water before drinking, as you clean your blades after a hunt. That is tending to your trees. It’s more than that, though, you must listen and understand them. You can learn to navigate your forest to find specific branches and leaves and even roots, roots like your link to magic.” Ceren answered. Twilight was fascinated by this place. As she meditated, she could start to feel the low whispering hums of what little flourished on her side and heard the whispers of the wind blowing through the plagued branches.

All day they sat like that, meditating, focusing on their forests. Ceren was just as absorbed into her forest as Twilight was with hers, despite the difference in health, and after a while Twilight could feel the roiling tendrils of life and energy flowing under the ground. She could feel them and almost hear them screaming out to be free, but there was nothing she could do. At least not yet, she didn’t know how.

“It’s time for us to return, it’s past dinnertime.” Ceren said. Twilight was surprised by this. She knew it had been a while, but not that long. She nodded, though, and looked over her forest. She noticed a lot more green specs and even a few leaves miraculously growing. She felt Ceren’s mental tug and they were back in the chamber. The sky was dark and there were a few more changelings around the room, some arriving or leaving while others were in the state they were just in.

“Care to join me for dinner?” Ceren asked. Twilight barely heard her, though. She had no idea how far along her connection to the hive mind was, she didn’t even think it was really there other than those hunches and feelings. Now, though, after hours of isolation from it she realized she was much closer than she had ever thought. She could hear the buzz of voices, movement, images, scents, tastes. They all died down almost instantly to a bearable level, but that moment of assimilation was still echoing on her senses.

“Um… Yeah, sure…” She mumbled to Ceren. The girl giggled and grabbed her hand, leading her out of the tunnel.

“Your connection to the hive mind is developing faster than expected, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was complete by next week. By then, though, your forest might have grown a bit. That connection may just be able to help you dig up old roots, for as long as one of us remembers we all remember.” Ceren said as they walked rather than flew. Twilight mulled over the statement a little bit.

“I hope so, while I don’t exactly mind learning everything from scratch I have a feeling that what I’ve forgotten is incredibly important to me.” She said. Ceren nodded in understanding and they stopped by a mess chamber before retiring to the tower. They weren’t the only ones there, though, it was a somewhat popular place to get away from the bustling caverns.

“Greetings, I do believe I know you.” A fairly large female Changeling said when they got there. They looked each over and a name came to mind, one from the list.

“Kaine, captain of the defenders, correct?” Twilight replied. The woman grinned and nodded before lightly knocking on the bow still hung around her.

“You’ll be putting that to use when you come and visit me, we all hear of your hunting prowess despite just being born.” She said.

“Really? Is it uncommon for a hunter to come back with more than one kill?” Twilight asked.

“Not really, but you killed a Lasher and a half. Only the elite hunting parties hunt them, others avoid them completely. It may have been a fluke or a great deal of luck, but that doesn’t diminish the achievement in the slightest.” Kaine explained.

“Wow… I… It was just natural, I guess. I somehow already knew what I was doing and how to fight the things, yet I don’t remember ever seeing them before, not clearly at least.” Twilight said.

“Then perhaps in your past life you were an exceptional hunter. That would certainly be a valid explanation. Only time will tell, though. So commander, I heard there have been some disturbances in the forest.” Ceren said.

“Yeah, we connected to the hive mind and gave a couple reports on it. Were the two of you in your magic bubbles or something?” Kaine replied. They nodded and she chuckled. “Well not so much disturbances, it’s just that the number of humans venturing in are increasing. They appear to be coming from Ponyville, and good thing I say. They’ve been getting into fights with the local predators and we haven’t had to step in to help them yet, though I know at least one of them has no idea what the hell they’re doing in such a dangerous place.” She continued. Twilight adopted a troubled expression, though she didn’t understand why she was getting these worried feelings.

“I feel like I should know something about them, and I always get a feeling I should know something about Ponyville…” She said lowly.

“Maybe you went there a lot in your past life.” Kaine shrugged. “Either way if you decide to see me tomorrow we’ll be spying on them a bit, they’ve actually camped out this time. If they don’t leave then we just might have to kindly escort them out.” She continued. Twilight was certainly interested in that.

“I guess I’ll have to stop by.” Twilight grinned. They proceeded to eat their meals in companionable silence. Afterwards they talked for a little while more before they all turned in to their various chambers.

Author's Notes:

so my pace is slowed greatly because of school, but I manage
what do you guys think?