Twilight’s group, Kaine carrying Twilight, and the human group were just in sight of the hive when Chrysalis and a few other changelings arrived. The humans looked very uneasy at her appearance.

“We have a few mages here that can care for the unconscious one. I see Twilight has already tended to your wounds, I will take her now. You may follow to watch over her with me or you may follow your unconscious friend.” Chrysalis said, Kaine transferring the unconscious Twilight into her Queen’s arms. She turned and they all walked. Dash and Fluttershy were carrying Rarity, and the other changelings led them along one tunnel. Fluttershy went with them, Pinkie and AJ followed Chrysalis. The defenders went down a third tunnel.

“Do you know what happened to her? She just suddenly collapsed…” Applejack asked Chrysalis as they walked.

“By your reactions I assume Celestia hasn’t told you of her exact situation, has she?” Chrysalis asked. The two were startled when Chrysalis took off into the air and were dragged along by her green magic. She placed Twilight on the bed carefully and sat down next to her, putting a hand on her forehead.

“She told us that you guys found her and that she was recovering from whatever happened…” Applejack responded. Pinkie’s hair had gone straight and she wasn’t speaking, but she was listening very closely.

“Well we found her nearly dead, torn apart by something. The only reason she was still alive was a surprisingly skilled medical spell she was maintaining, but just barely.” Chrysalis said. The two stared at her in horror. Chrysalis gently touched each of the odd cracks and scratches and outright scars along the carapace and fleshy parts of Twilight’s body.

“By the time we got her here she had exhausted her magic and was going to die, and our mages aren’t proficient enough in medicinal magic to do anything but stand idle. There was only one way to save her, and that was to rebirth her.” Chrysalis continued.

“Rebirth?” Pinkie asked softly. Chrysalis nodded.

“Our pods are birthing pods, normally it is used to save the life of a changeling who is on the verge of death by recycling their life force into a new body that develops from the materials and substances already in the pod. It doubles as an indoctrination pod, put another creature inside and in time it rebirths them as a Changeling. It siphons their mind, leaving nothing but the hive mind, and they redevelop their individuality again.” Chrysalis continued to explain.

“You wiped her mind?!” AJ exclaimed. Chrysalis shook her head.

“A royal pod is a pod that only I can create by adding my own life force to it, and I told her of this. She agreed to it of her own volition. The royal pod, unlike the normal pods, only suppresses the old memories. It’s normally only used to ascend one to the throne, in which my dead or dying body would be first dissolved into it first. Since it was an indoctrination, though, it did not force the hive connection. This combined with a multitude of other somewhat minor and seemingly insignificant things caused her mental fortitude to be unstable.

Celestia and I have refrained from leading her into too many of her memories of her past life at once for fear of overloading it. Coming into contact with you and the sudden nature of it caused such an overload and the forest of her mind has burned and crumbled.” She continued.

“So… Her mind is… Gone?” Pinkie asked. Chrysalis again shook her head.

“It was not completely burned, and what crumbled and fell was absorbed into the roots of her very being with her repressed past life. Some of those roots have found purchase again. With any luck she won’t forget anything that’s happened since her rebirth, and she’ll remember some about her past life. I have been taking on as much of the mental strain as possible and dispersing it amongst the hive mind so she will still be sane.” She replied.

“Isn’t that kind of wrong? I-I mean it’s great and we can’t thank you enough for helping her like that, but isn’t it subjecting all of the other changelings to that strain?” Applejack asked.

“The thing about a hive mind and living the way we do, all are one and one is all. We don’t let something as meaningless as currency decide who earns and deserves what and your worth is decided by what you do. We are all equals here, and as such we all wish to help her. Not to mention she’s one of the highest prestige individuals here. In the small time she’s been with us, she’s earned that much at least.” Chrysalis answered.

“You know… Everyone always thinks of Changelings as a really mean bunch of bugs that are barely civilized… Now that I’m actually here, though, it sounds like a whole ton of fun!” Pinkie said happily, her hair not quite gaining its normal puff but nearly so.

“When we attacked, that’s what we were. Now we are different, back to the old ways.” Chrysalis said.

“If it aint broke don’t fix it” AJ said. Chrysalis smiled and nodded. They stayed like that for a few minutes before Chrysalis looked up at them once more.

“Well I suppose you would be hungry after an escapade like that.” She said, standing and walking towards the entrance. A changeling entered and hovered just over the entrance and handed Chrysalis a few meal pods. She nodded in thanks and the thing left once more.

“What’re those?” AJ asked. Chrysalis smiled and handed each of them two, while keeping two for herself.

“Pods containing food and drink created from the organic material we can create. There’s some of it covering your shoulder.” Chrysalis replied. Applejack looked at the things uncertainly and Chrysalis chuckled as she bit hers open.

“Don’t worry, the mess chamber these pods came from create their pods with changeling magic instead of providing it themselves.” Chrysalis assured them as, with a flash of green magic, she cut them open. “Though I doubt you’re privy to chew and swallow it like we do.” She added. They looked inside and found an odd sort of salad with meat chunks. The drink was something along the lines of wine. They noticed that Chrysalis had an extra pair. Before they could ask, though, Twilight groaned slightly.

“Feeling better?” Chrysalis asked as Twilight slowly sat up, holding her head.

“I’m conscious, aren’t I?” The girl groaned. Chrysalis chuckled. While it wasn’t exactly ideal, the unfortunate event at least yielded a positive influx of Twilight’s memories and individuality. That was certainly implied with such a casual response.

“Eat up then.” Chrysalis said, tossing her the meal pods. Twilight caught them both in one hand and smiled.

“It’s probably a good thing that you can’t retract your battle plating unless you’re conscious…” She mumbled as the chitin stuff slid and folded swiftly. Twilight and Pinkie gasped. They didn’t recognize her with the somewhat basic look the plating gave her, but without it they could easily make the connections. Now even more so, though. The love she came into contact with in the form of her old friends revitalized her a bit, as there was nearly black skin covering the fleshy parts of her body now. It had a certain carapace-like rigidness to it, but it was still skin.

“Oh my, it seems you have the traits of a harvester, the ability to easily absorb ambient love.” Chrysalis said, her tone curious.

“Great, great… fascinating…” Twilight mumbled, clumsily starting her meal. Chrysalis laughed and the two humans in the chamber just kind of awkwardly stood there.

“So, uh… Do you remember us now?” Pinkie asked after a few moments. Twilight swallowed a mouthful of her meal and cocked her head.

“I don’t remember anything specific, but I know all of you. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. I know that you’re all very important to me, but anything else still eludes me…” She explained. “I know I really should be able to, but I just can’t… I’m sorry.” She continued. Applejack put her hands on her hips and walked up to the girl. Twilight looked up and Applejack put her hands on the Changeling girl’s shoulders.

“You know who we are and that we’re just as important to you as you are to us, that’s all we could ever ask for. Especially since you’re all a Changeling and stuff.” She said, looking Twilight in the eye. After a moment Twilight smiled and hugged the girl.

“We can be best friends all over again!” Pinkie exclaimed, nearly tackling the two to get in on the hug. Chrysalis couldn’t help but grin at the scene. She could almost see the love just flowing from the group, so much in fact that even if she didn’t want to she was siphoning it off. She could feel her brood revitalizing, at least up to the point that Twilight was at or more. That was just the ambient magic, too.

“Well unfortunately you’ll have to return home soon. Your friend has awaken and will be fit to travel after a good meal and some more rest. While I don’t exactly want to kick you out, at the same time I can’t let you stay.” Chrysalis said, almost angry at herself for disrupting the happy nature of the scene. They all let go of each other and looked at her.

“Would I be able to go visit them once I start remembering?” Twilight asked.

“Well you have the attributes of a harvester, perhaps once we go more into your changeling magic we could send you there and back often. I can’t imagine Celestia would have any problem with it, since it’s a win-win situation.” Chrysalis replied, putting her hand to her chin in thought. The three grinned and proceeded to all hug her, more like a tackle but a hug it still was.

And that surprised Chrysalis to the point where even the hive mind froze for a second. Every single changeling stopped in surprise before going about their business with grins and soft laughter.

The pure love that flowed into Chrysalis, and through her the hive mind, left such a feeling of positivity in the hive they they couldn’t help it. Not to mention the gradual revitalization to a point was completed nearly instantly, every changeling at least had skin now and their individuality further soared.

Chrysalis nearly cried out in joy with all the positivity that flowed through her. She grinned wide when Applejack and Pinkie stepped back, Twilight a second later.

“I-I felt that… did… did we do that?” She asked. Chrysalis nodded, her grin unwavering.

“I can’t remember the last time I really felt like that, this must be how Celestia feels when her entire nation is saturated in love.” She said with laughter. “Come on, come on, let’s go see your friend and make sure she’s alright. We can even walk you to the border afterwards.” She continued.

Wow, such a change in tone. She was acting almost like Pinkie Pie now, the girl in question was squealing with joy and practically bouncing after the queen.

Author's Notes:

so not exactly what such a built up cliffhanger implies, but this isn't the end of what exactly happened don't you worry
feedback is appreciated as always
until next time, farewell my friends