“Urgent news!” The intercom addressed Starlightopolis through speakers set up throughout the city. Starlight, herself, listened in with a content smile as she looked down on her city, now fully rebuilt in brick, asphalt, and concrete; and bustling with smiling commuters walking up and down sidewalks in orderly lines. “The Commonwealth's first Five Year Plan was successful. Expectations have been met with flying colors. The second Five Year Plan is currently in progress, and our industrial network can expect to begin execution of it in short order. Three ounce chocolate bars will be added to your regular food rations for one week to celebrate this development. Long live the Commonwealth!” Audio feedback resonated through the intercom for a short moment before it continued its usual loop. “Be yourself by not being yourself. To exceed is to fail. Make equality your special talent…”

Then, Starlight heard heavy hoofsteps, and a slight buzzing sound, from the staircase behind her. When Starlight looked in that direction, he saw Hawk entering the room, accompanied by a mechanical alicorn whose slender androgynous frame was slightly smaller than Starlight's. It was made entirely of stainless steel, and its every movement was followed by whirring from its joints.

“Music to my ears,” Hawk said. “And not just because it is your voice, either.”

“I'm glad you like it.” Starlight turned around and walked up closer to Hawk. They stopped in the middle of the room. “So, it's done? They're finally out of the picture?”

Hawk nodded, then looked to the metal alicorn. “Praetorian. Relay the status of Operation Midnight Longsword.”

A brief electronic white noise emanated from the metal alicorn, then it spoke in its robotic voice. “OldPrae status: Exterminated. Primary objective status: Complete. OldPrae record status: Exterminated. Secondary objective status: Complete. Operation Midnight Longsword completion progress: One-hundred percent.” It ended with another second of white noise.

“It really is miraculous what these things can do,” Hawk remarked. “Killing a Praetorian was no easy task. And I can assume that production is already complete?”

Starlight nodded. “Yep. Three Cohorts of them, one for me, one for you, and one for Bones. And we have quite a few replacement chassis in stock.”

Hawk shook his head and sighed. “Why did I not find you sooner?”

“I'm one in a billion,” Starlight replied. “And so are you. Otherwise, you wouldn't have found me at all.”

“Hm.”

Starlight leaned her head into his and rubbed her cheek against it. “And it's all water under the bridge now. We have each other, and the Commonwealth, forever and ever.” She withdrew her head and smiled at him.

Hawk nodded. “You are correct. I wou-” He stopped himself, snapping his gaze to the window behind Starlight. With his sights locked into the sky, he walked around Starlight, stopping at the window.

Starlight stopped smiling and turned her head back to Hawk. “What is it? What do you see?”

He hesitated. “A white alicorn is taking flight in our direction.” He looked back to Starlight. “She is clad in gold. I think it might be Celestia.”

Starlight's heart stopped for one beat. “What?” She took a breath. “Lemme see.” With quick pace, Starlight walked next to Hawk and peered into the sky through the glass. Indeed, there was Celestia, gliding down from the sky with spread wings, directly down to the balcony. She had glazed eyes and a sullen frown.

Starlight's lips pursed. “Yep. That's Celestia, alright.” She paused. “This can't be good.”

Hawk turned around and started his way to the balcony. “Let us see what she wants. You have no reason to fear. You have my protection.”

“Yeah, you're right.” She started her own way and looked at the metal alicorn. “Praetorian. Initiate defensive protocols on me.”

“Affirmative.” The metal alicorn followed Starlight to the balcony. By the time they made it, Celestia had just made touchdown.

Hawk glared at Celestia. “You are trespassing on restricted Commonwealth government property. State your business or evacuate the area immediately.”

“I didn't come to hurt anyone,” Celestia droned. “I just wanted to see what was going on here for myself.”

Starlight took a step forward. “I thought you were in house arrest.”

“Is that so? I didn't notice. Are you Starlight Glimmer?”

Starlight narrowed her eyes. “I am.”

“Oh. Hi, Starlight. I just wanted to talk something over with you, as a head of state.”

“But Luna told me you weren't the Equestrian head of state anymore.”

Celestia blinked. “I never was.”

Starlight was silent. She and Hawk shared a glance before she spoke again. “Well, Luna certainly wasn't lying about your mental state.”

Without warning, Celestia cackled with a devious grin. “She wasn't.”

A sickly green light from Celestia's horn covered her entire body. Then, from the ground up, the green light withered away, gradually revealing her true form. First, two pairs of black legs dotted with holes. Then, a slender black torso whose back had scaly insectoid wings attached in the back. Then finally, a fanged black face with green eyes whose gaze struck to the core, and a head adorned with a black jagged horn, a dark-teal mane that flowed down to the chest, and some black organic mockery of a regal crown.

Hawk growled, firmed his posture, ignited his horn with fire, then barked, “Changeling!”

The Changeling swiped her fangs with her forked tongue, then lit her horn, making a wreath of thorny branches pop out of the aether in front of her. “Hold your fire, Imperial. I come in peace.” Hawk relaxed his stance and extinguished his flame. “Excellent.” She tossed the wreath off the balcony and looked to Starlight. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Chrysalis. Queen of all Changeling-kind, ruler of the southern wastes.” She chuckled. “And no, that's not Wastes with a capital W. I have my own hellhole to rule.”

“Queen Chrysalis?” Hawk asked. “The same Queen Chrysalis who nearly toppled the entire Equestrian government with one fell swoop on their capitol?”

Chrysalis made another tongue-swipe on her fangs. “The very same.”

“I wonder,” Starlight said quizzically. “Can a queen of a bug swarm technically be called a head of state?”

“She can,” replied Chrysalis. “Just because we're not a nation-state as you'd typically think of it doesn't mean we don't have a state. But let's not get off-topic with eighth grade social studies tripe.”

Starlight nodded. “Right. So, why are you here?”

“Well…” Chrysalis walked up uncomfortably close to Starlight. “I'm sure you've been here long enough to know that we Changelings take a keen interest in Wasteland matters. So, needless to say, we've been watching you. And we like what we see.” She turned around to look down the balcony, at Starlight's city. “You've been building up a sort of hive yourself, I notice.”

“If that is true,” Hawk said, “then why has it taken so long for you to come into contact with us?”

Chrysalis shook her head. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. Hawk. Sweetheart. What good would it have been to intervene in your little scuffle? Against your side?” She scoffed. “Please. The Empire hated our guts almost as much as they hated Equestria's. Against the Empire? You guys already had things well under control, obviously, so it would've been a superfluous investment. Or against both sides, only for ourselves? There's a fair chance you would've united against us, and even if you didn't, it wouldn't have been worth the risk, since Wasteland love is scarce and isn't very nourishing.” She turned around to face Hawk. “I decided that a wait-and-see approach would be best. And after five years of quiet observation, I've found that we have a lot in common.” She smiled, then raised a hoof and caressed Hawk's armored cheek with it; Starlight scowled. “We feed on love; you feed on love. We are fond of deception; you are fond of deception. We are a hive by nature, and you are a hive by philosophy.” With a sultry look in the eyes, Chrysalis leaned her head into Hawk's ear to whisper. “You can say we make the perfect couple.”

Starlight growled, then pressed a hoof on Chrysalis' chest and shoved her back with it. "Back off."

“There is no need to get defensive, dear,” Hawk said assuredly to Starlight. “This is normal behavior for a Changeling.”

Chrysalis tongue-swiped her fangs. “He's right, you know.” She looked to Hawk. “You were involved with Imperial wars against us Changelings, weren't you? That's the only way you'd know this.”

“I was,” he replied.

“And exactly how many of my kind have you butchered in battle?”

“More than I can count.”

Chrysalis furrowed her brows. “I bet so. And I've killed a fair few of your kind as well.” She relaxed her brows, then carelessly flicked a hoof in the air. “But hey, it's all past. The Empire's gone now, and cooler heads have taken its place.”

Starlight sneered at Chrysalis. “Just tell us what you want.”

Chrysalis groaned. “Isn't it obvious? I want an alliance. Neither of us have anything to gain from fighting each other, and both of us have plenty to gain from fighting Equestria. And if we fight them together, then we're both far more likely to succeed.”

“Hmph. And what do you want from Equestria, anyway?”

“I want their love. Equestrian love is the most delicious and filling in the world to us Changelings. More quality love means more fodder for me to throw into wars of conquest. And I think you have something just as specific in mind…”

Starlight thought for a moment. “Iron. We need more iron for more industry, and we're running out of money to buy it. Equestria has lots of iron that I want.”

“As I expected. Now, you're in the east, and I'm in the south. Our forces can support each other while still making the Equestrians fight on two fronts. We can start our attack in the badlands, where Appleoosa and the buffalo tribes are, and go from there.”

Hawk nodded. “That sounds like a reasonable strategy. Allow me to think it over?”

“Oh, I have my own military staff who can discuss strategy with you in detail. But what I want to know… and want to know now… is if I can be assured of our unholy matrimony.”

“Hmm…” Hawk looked to Starlight. “I am open to it. How about you?”

Starlight put a hoof on her chin, then contemplated this offer. Could she count on Chrysalis to be a loyal and steadfast ally? Not really, but Chrysalis did have a point when she said fighting each other would be pointless for both sides. So, as far as a pact of convenience goes, Chrysalis could probably be counted on. And it wasn't like she'd be betraying any sort of trust by attacking Equestria, since Luna didn't trust her much to begin with. Plus, there really wasn't anywhere to attack but Equestria, so she might as well do it with help from the Changelings.

She decided. With a malevolent grin, she extended her hoof to Chrysalis. “You have a deal.”

Chrysalis, with a malevolent grin of her own, pressed her hoof against Starlight's and shook it. “Good. Good! I'll come back later so we can discuss this alliance in detail, in a more formal capacity.” She broke the hoofshake. “Five years, honey. You have five years to build up an army and set it up to invade Equestria with ours. Be there, or be square.”

Chrysalis looked to Hawk and gave him a wink, then lit her horn, surrounding herself in green aura. In a flash, she changed into a black raven and took flight back outside the city.

At this moment, Starlight and her Commonwealth had officially entered the world stage. She had just shaken hooves with one of the world's major players, and Starlight had just made a deal with her in preparation for her opening act. And this opening act would be glorious.