Sometimes Fluttershy wondered when it had all gone wrong. Maybe that day had been long ago, and she hadn’t noticed it. She had made many mistakes, but she’d had successes as well. But perhaps failure had been part of her endeavors long ago. It had seeped into her soul, and poisoned all she had done.

It would explain a lot. When then, had she first lost the way?

“Maybe it was inevitable,” she whispered.

Behind her, Longfoot stirred. The rabbit was waiting patiently by the door, but now her trusted lieutenant looked at her.

“From the very start Longfoot, did you believe we could do it?” Fluttershy looked out her window. Night was falling across Equestria, taking the warming sun away and leaving only shadows. Odd that she preferred the darkness to the light. But she had become used to it.

Longfoot said nothing. Of course he couldn’t, but she would have sensed if he had any opinions.

“What I’m saying is,” Fluttershy said half to him, half to herself, “did we even have a chance? All our efforts, all the lives we’ve—I’ve spent. Did we make any progress? Or was peace impossible?”

No reply. But he hadn’t left. He was still by her side. Fluttershy knew he wouldn’t go. He was faithful. Her army was faithful, at that. They stood by her. But it wasn’t enough. It was never enough. Not so long as…

Fluttershy turned to long at Longfoot. He stood to attention, a white rabbit bearing hidden scars under his fur. A soldier, a warrior. Her friend and confident. He was brave, smart, moral, and he inspired the other animals. But what he could never be, could never surpass was the original.

“You know, I really thought we could do it.” Fluttershy spoke to Longfoot. “I thought that if we killed enough, trained soldiers, patrolled Equestria, we could make everyone safe. No one would have to die. We’d make the world a better place. But in the end, what did we do? We killed a few villains, hurt some more, and lost a lot of lives.”

Longfoot stared over Fluttershy’s shoulder. He seemed to be trying not to comment.

“I guess all I’m asking is, when did we become the bad guys, Longfoot?”

No reply. His paws shook slightly.

“We’re soldiers. We fight. If we don’t protect Equestria, who will?”

Again, no reply. But Fluttershy sensed that he agreed. Of course he did. He and the other animals wouldn’t be with her if they didn’t.

But.

“We can’t let it come to a fight. If it comes to it, I’ll kill her myself and surrender. Better that than fighting amongst ourselves. You understand, don’t you? If I fall, you must keep order.”

Longfoot met Fluttershy’s gaze. He nodded once.

“Good. Tell everyone that. But just in case—they’ve grabbed most of the armory for themselves, but I know you have a blade.”

Longfoot flicked one ear up. He nodded.

“Can you conceal it?”

Another nod.

“Then I’ll leave the timing up to you. She won’t expect it coming from you, so the only one you’ll have to worry about is…”

Longfoot paused. The name hovered unspoken between them. It was his shadow Longfoot had been recruited to fill, and it hovered over him still.

“He’s fast, smart, and the best fighter besides Harry and Matilda,” Fluttershy said. “I know you’ve trained, but he’s talented. If it came down to it…”

Longfoot shrugged. There was no way to tell. But he looked at Fluttershy searchingly. Was he asking permission?

“If you can, don’t hurt him. But he’s under her influence, and I know he’d rather be dead than enslaved. Just be wary of him.”

Longfoot nodded a final time. His foot tapped once. Was there anything else?

“No,” Fluttershy sighed. She stood straighter. She felt very tired. How had the months worn her so? But she had one last duty to fulfill, so she stood anyways. “It’s been a pleasure, Longfoot. Let’s finish this.”

Longfoot stood to his full height and saluted. His face was expressionless, but Fluttershy saw a fleck of moisture in one of his eyes. She brushed at it. Show no weakness to the enemy.

“Good soldier. Let’s go.”

The stairs down to Fluttershy’s living room were long and dark. Fluttershy walked slowly, but nearly slipped on one step. She looked down and saw a dark splotched etched into the wood. It looked a bit like old blood. From what? She didn’t remember. It didn’t matter anyways. Focus.

The sight that greeted Fluttershy in the living room reminded her of the joyous occasion only a few days ago. Animals filled the room from floor to ceiling while more hovered outside of the cottage.

All of the windows and the door had been opened so the larger body of animals outside could still hear what was going on in the cottage, and there were hundreds, thousands of them. Every animal had come, young and small to witness this.

But for this occasion the animals were not in one huge huddling mass as they had been when Fluttershy had told her story. Now they were divided, and there was a clear difference between the groups.

The inside of the cottage contained mainly the animals Fluttershy still thought of as the old guard, the resurrected original inhabitants of Ponyville and the Everfree. They were not soldiers, but they were warriors seasoned in battle. And they were armed.

Every animal held a knife or sharpened stake or some other kind of weapon, not at the ready, but at their sides nonetheless. They watched Fluttershy with hostility, which only hurt her heart more. Poor fools. Poor, misguided fools.

But they were still dangerous. And while they were fewer in number than her army, they were the ones inside the cottage. Her soldiers were outside and for all their training; they were by and large weaponless. They surrounded the cottage, cutting off any potential escape, but they also couldn’t help if need be. If it came to it, the battle would be bloody and devastating for both sides.

But it wouldn’t come to that. Fluttershy looked across the room. She would end this nightmare here and die in the attempt if need be. Her life was immaterial at this point. Her sins were legion.

Fluttershy was a fool. The greatest of fools, even more so than the deceived animals that watched her. She was a failure, a weakling, a coward, and a murdered who had sent her friends to her death. She was drenched in death.

But even so, she was still not a tenth of the monster that stood across the room.

Fluttershy’s pulse pounded in her veins and her breath came faster as the other pegasus looked up. Beside her a rabbit lounged at her hooves, arrogance personified and clearly ready for a fight. To her left a hulking bear, large even by his kind’s standards loomed, teeth bared in the evening light. But Fluttershy had eyes only for the pegasus.

Her blue eyes seemed as innocent as the open sky upon first glance. But if you looked closer, you might see the monster lurking beneath her skin. How had Fluttershy not noticed before? But her blue eyes were the one imperfection in an otherwise flawless disguise. She looked like Fluttershy, sounded like Fluttershy, from her voice down to her expressions and the way she moved. At least she had gotten the eyes wrong, though.

Fluttershy closed her green eyes and when she opened them, she was ready. Time to end this.

The pegasus stood as Fluttershy approached, and the two faced each other across the cottage. It had been so long since they had last stood face to face like this. But now it was time for the illusions to end. She, Fluttershy was a failure, as a general and a friend to her animals. But at least she could take down one monster before she died.

The silence stretched throughout the room. Fluttershy felt it, weighing down everyone, making it hard even to breathe. She saw out of the corner of her eye Longfoot sneak around the room, a shadow at his back. Good. Then, let it begin. The final battle.

Fluttershy looked into the eyes of Fake Fluttershy as Angel and Harry closed ranks behind her. No, that wasn’t right. Not Fake Fluttershy.

“Chrysalis,” Fluttershy said. “We meet again.”

----

Five Hours Earlier

“You’re hiding something from me.”

Fluttershy faced the cowering Fake Fluttershy and tried to remember that she wasn’t alone in the cottage. Animals, both her and the old guard were there. Angel and Longfoot, Harry and Matilda. Some trusted her, but she couldn’t take her…usual tone with the fake pegasus. But even so, her rage was eating at her.

Fake Fluttershy was quivering, but she flinched and nearly fell over when Fluttershy’s hoof came down in front of her face.

“Explain to me again how it is that you not only let Starlight Glimmer escape, but that you used the Elements of Harmony against Tirek.”

Fake Fluttershy looked up at her, trembling with nerves. As always. It was so irritating, but that was the changeling in a nutshell. Cowardly, weak.

“I-I guess I’m just friends with the other Elements. I mean, I have been impersonating you and so I talked to them, and they trusted me—”

“You are not the Element of Kindness!” Fluttershy yearned to leap on Fake Fluttershy. How could any being be so useless? “I am.”

“W-well, I guess then it’s because you weren’t there.”

That line floored Fluttershy for a second, but then the fires of rage nearly overcame her. Only the knowledge that Angel was there kept her from smearing Fake Fluttershy across the floor. How dare she?

“And Starlight Glimmer? I gave you a direct order to kill her when you got the chance. Instead, you tried and nearly failed to expose her and that led to her escape! Now we have a dangerous criminal on the loose who can steal cutie marks and hates Twilight Sparkle!”

Longfoot kicked Fluttershy and she realized she had been shouting. Most of the animals in the cottage were flinching away, even those used to her anger. But Angel was watching – Fluttershy forced herself to calm down. He was frowning at her, as was Harry. She couldn’t lose control here.

Fluttershy expected Fake Fluttershy to burst into tears or run, but she didn’t.

“Starlight Glimmer was a great threat,” the pegasus said, standing a bit taller. “But she was not the kind of monster that we need to kill. For all her crimes, she never tried to do anything nearly as bad as Tirek, Sombra, or Chrysalis. They were true murderers, and she is only a failure.”

Fluttershy blinked in surprised and the animals around her murmured. She was about to snap back but hesitated, mindful of her audience. And so Fluttershy saw for the first time something strange happen.

Fake Fluttershy had been standing tall and defiant as she spoke against Fluttershy. But after she had finished she seemed to shrink back upon herself, become smaller. Even as Fluttershy watched, Fake Fluttershy looked down and she slouched slightly, curling her wings tighter against her body.

It was such a subtle change, and yet now Fluttershy was looking at the meekest of pegasi. It was like her previous self had disappeared and yet—

“So your answer is just to let Starlight Glimmer go free? She was able to take the magic of an alicorn Princess and you think we shouldn’t bother with her?”

“I didn’t say that.” Again, Fake Fluttershy didn’t fold under Fluttershy’s wrath. “I just said that killing her would be wrong. But surely we can apprehend her, capture her, or let someone like Twilight know where she is? Would that be so difficult?”

She wasn’t being assertive as she had before, but neither was she backing down. There was a core of strength in Fake Fluttershy’s words, and it was swaying the room full of animals slightly.

A cold suspicion ran down Fluttershy’s spine. How odd. Fake Fluttershy had always been a pushover, a weakling, a…doormat. She never talked back, except for moments like these when she did. Had she always been like that? She…yes, she’d done this before. Talk back even when Fluttershy was raging. How unlike her that was. And she was so subtle about it…

“Starlight Glimmer is a dangerous threat, and I doubt that if Twilight could capture her that a few Wonderbolts would accomplish much.” Fluttershy deflected Fake Fluttershy’s comment. “But that is not the main issue here. I issued an order and you disobeyed it.”

“I did. They were the wrong orders.”

If the cottage had been full of tiny sounds, animals shifting on their feet, nervous breathing, the clicking of claws against the hardwood floor, now there was absolute silence.

Fluttershy’s eyes narrowed.

“Well. Is that what you think?”

Fake Fluttershy was doing it again. She stood straight and tall. “I do. Killing is wrong.”

“What?”

“It’s a measure of last resort. Of desperation, against true evil. You want to turn us all into murderers who would take lives for the smallest offence.”

“And how will you protect everyone? Let monsters like Tirek live?”

“I didn’t say that. But Tirek’s crimes were different than Starlight Glimmer’s.”

“They’re both enemies of Equestria!”

“She killed no pony and only imprisoned me and my friends. She’s misguided, not evil.”

“She is a threat and it is my decision how to deal with her.”

“The Tree of Harmony wouldn’t have sent us there to kill her. Not every solution has to be a violent one. If you’d just consider a bit of kinde—”

“Enough!” Fluttershy had reached the limits of her patience.

Before the other pegasus could react, Fluttershy’s hoof struck out. Fake Fluttershy flew across the cottage and crashed into the dining table. She collapsed onto the ground and lay there, temporarily stunned.

“There is no place here for fools or traitors.” Fluttershy stood over Fake Fluttershy and nodded to her subjects. “Take her away.”

Hesitantly a group of beavers stepped forwards. They surrounded Fake Fluttershy and hesitantly grabbed her. The lead beaver paused, looked at Fluttershy for a second, and then looked back just in time to see a white paw crash into his face.

The beaver staggered backwards as Angel hopped forwards and gave him a terrific kick that sent the larger rodent flying. The other beavers scattered as Harry lumbered forwards, growling. A cluster of other animals surged forwards as well and surrounded Fake Fluttershy. They weren’t Fluttershy’s animals; all of them were the old guard. Angel stood directly in front of Fluttershy, his characteristic scowl directed right at her.

For a moment, Fluttershy was lost for words. She felt rather than saw Longfoot at her side bristling with anger and held the other rabbit before he leapt at the other animals.

“Angel? What are you doing?”

The rabbit ignored her. He nodded to Harry and she could see the two animals communicating silently. Harry lumbered to one side and Angel flicked his ears at the other animals in the cottage. Two birds took off through a window before anyone could stop them and three more mice bolted out the door.

“Angel!” Fluttershy began and then modulated her tone. “Angel. I’m sorry if you thought I was harsh, but this is necessary. She’s clearly hiding something and I don’t believe we’re safe until I find out what it is. Please, let me question her and I’ll…”

Fluttershy stepped forwards, reaching for Angel with one hoof. He reacted instantly, smacking her hoof away and backing up. Harry growled and the other animals tensed.

He wasn’t behaving normal. Fluttershy drew her hoof back quickly. What was wrong? He was her friend, her special, best friend. Her comrade in arms. But he hadn’t been acting as her friend. He’d barely talked to her before now, come to that.

“Is it Longfoot? Angel, you know you’re irreplaceable to me. It’s just that I needed someone to pretend to be you when you were…gone, and—” Fluttershy cut herself off. “Look, it doesn’t matter. I’m sorry. If you have a thought about what I should do, please share it.”

Angel barely glanced at her. Slowly he extended one paw and helped Fake Fluttershy to her hooves. Fluttershy felt a hole open up on her stomach. The world began to lurch around her.

“Angel. What are you doing?”

The rabbit glanced at Fluttershy. There was something hard in his eyes.

“Why won’t you speak to me?” Fluttershy felt sick. “What are you angry with me? What did you tell the other animals to do, and why,” Fluttershy’s voice rasped. “Why are you standing with her?”

Angel paused. He looked at Fluttershy and took a deep breath. Perhaps he heard the desperation in Fluttershy’s tone because he seemed to be thinking.

Fluttershy waited. Angel motioned to one of the animals and it ran towards the kitchen and grabbed him a mug of water. Slowly, with deliberate care he sipped at the mug, gargled some water, and then cleared his throat. Then he tossed the mug of water at Fluttershy’s head.

She ducked, but the water still splashed her in the face.

Longfoot shouted in outrage. He would have leapt at Angel, but Fluttershy grabbed him. Just in time too; she had seen Harry shift, and the bear’s claws were out.

Fluttershy shook the water from her eyes and stared at Fake Fluttershy. She had gone beyond rage, beyond mere anger. She felt slightly cold, that was all. Her heart was still. Her ears were full of ringing and silence. But her eyes had only room for her enemy. Her true enemy.

“It seems not everyone here shares your opinion,” Fake Fluttershy said quietly, but with a hint of triumph. “I’m sorry, but I can’t let you keep doing what you’re doing. Angel, Harry, and the others here will back me on this.”

She stood in front of Fluttershy, no longer the meek pegasus any longer. Her true colors had been revealed and they took Fluttershy’s breath away for a moment. Then she could only chuckle. And then laugh.

The animals in the room shifted uneasily. Fluttershy’s laugher was high and wild, and she had to force herself to stop.

“This…this quaint little rebellion will avail you nothing,” Fluttershy said to Fake Fluttershy. “I’ve already sent the changelings after Starlight Glimmer. By now she should be dead.”

The animals murmured and looked uncertainly at Fake Fluttershy. She nodded. “That may be so. But perhaps not.”

“What?” Fluttershy’s eyes narrowed.

Fake Fluttershy motioned, and a bird flew out the window. The pit that had been in Fluttershy’s stomach when she saw Angel by Fake Fluttershy’s side suddenly opened up. She felt like she was standing above an abyss now, and that feeling only intensified when the door opened and the changelings marched in.

Changeling 32433 led the fourteen. His head was bowed. His blue eyes looked up at Fluttershy and she saw tears flowing from his eyes. She had never seen a changeling cry.

“What is—” Fluttershy couldn’t form her words properly. She was looking at Changeling 32433. She knew it was him, even though the changelings looked alike. She knew that and she sensed…something was crumbling away beneath her. “You—what did—”

Fluttershy shook her head in a vain attempt to make the feeling go away. It was pressing in on her mind, a whispering voice. “Starlight Glimmer. Did you kill her?”

Silence. The changelings stopped before her. They wouldn’t meet her eyes. Changeling 32433 stepped forwards, but didn’t speak.

“Answer me!” Fluttershy shouted in his face. The changeling met her eyes and then looked down. “Why aren’t you speaking to me? Obey me!”

“A ruler is nothing without the trust of her subjects.” Fake Fluttershy’s voice was the one note in the silence ringing around Fluttershy. “And a leader without honor or morality is not worthy to be queen.”

Fluttershy stared at Fake Fluttershy in incomprehension, and then looked at Changeling 32433. He was shaking.

And then she understood.

“TRAITOR!” She hurled 32433 across the cottage. “You dare to defy me? I gave you an order!”

He cowered away from her, and she heard the message she had been denying.

Fear. No, shame. Shamefear. And failure. A queen is a queen, but a queen must rule well. Soldiers die, but not civilians. Starlight Glimmer is not the enemy. Trust the pegasus. Betray the queen. Failure. Shame.

The voice rang through her head. It was so loud Fluttershy felt her skull would crack. To silence it she struck Changeling 32433 and he fell to the ground. Fury was raging through her body. Traitor. She was surrounded by traitors and fools.

“Die,” she told the changeling.

Fluttershy raised a hoof and brought it down upon his head. The chitinous exoskeleton of his body was strong, but her rage was stronger. She heard a crack but only stamped harder.

Changeling 32433 lay on the ground, spasming in agony. But he didn’t try to defend himself, nor did his fellow warriors go to his aid. They watched, their blue eyes full of—Fluttershy raised her hoof and brought to down again.

Crack.

Green was oozing around the cracks in his chitin. A changeling’s lifeblood. It dripped to the floor, hissing where it met floorboards. Another blow would kill him. Fluttershy raised her hoof. She brought it down with all her might.

And it stopped halfway towards the ground.

Something caught Fluttershy’s hoof as it descended to kill the changeling beneath her. Something held her in a vice grip stronger than iron. Something stood in front of Fluttershy, with blue eyes that didn’t flinch. And that something was Fake Fluttershy.

Fluttershy gaped and then tried to wrench her hoof free. It didn’t move. The other pegasus was strong. She held Fluttershy’s hoof in a grip of iron. Only when Fluttershy pulled with all her strength did she manage to break free.

Fake Fluttershy stepped back and Harry moved behind her, a shadow of fur and muscle that filled the cottage. The other animals shrank back from him and even Matilda hesitated

Half the cottage now stood at Fake Fluttershy’s back. They weren’t just the old animals but some of the new ones as well. They stood, trembling with defiance some of them, but they did stand. Opposing her with Fake Fluttershy at their head. And standing by the pegasus’s side on the other side was Angel.

Angel.

Fluttershy looked at Fake Fluttershy and felt the world drop away.

“I see. So it’s like that, then?”

“Perhaps not in the way you expect,” was Fake Fluttershy’s calm reply. “But I hope it won’t come to violence. We can resolve this peacefully.”

“I doubt it.” Fluttershy felt very calm. Her oldest and greatest friend, deceived or brainwashed. Half of her people under the command of the enemy. And it was an enemy who had been at her side the entire time. Traitor. But she felt so calm.

Because she realized who Fake Fluttershy was.

It all fell together in one moment of blinding realization. The way the other pegasus knew so much, her ability to take another pegasus’s form for so long, the way she had tricked Angel, Harry and the others. But now Fluttershy knew, and the knowledge made her strong. It gave her hatred and rage, and that was what she needed.

“I don’t want this to end in violence—” Fake Fluttershy began to say.

“I’m going to kill you.” Fluttershy said the words and rejoiced in the silence they created. “For tricking my friends and doing this, I’m going to kill you.”

Fake Fluttershy stared at her. Not surprised, but slightly sad. Resigned, perhaps.

“I’m going to kill you, tear your body apart, and scatter the pieces across Equestria. That’s what’s about to happen. Your lies won’t save you.”

At Fluttershy’s side Longfoot was signaling to the other animals. He didn’t need to speak; instead he used sign language to direct the troops. Her animals were spreading out, but they were hesitant. They didn’t want to fight their family, friends. On the other hand…

Harry growled and Fluttershy’s hair stood on end. His claws were bared and he was tensed, ready to strike. This went further than mere defiance. Angel was similarly ready for a fight, and the animals behind Fake Fluttershy were…

Fluttershy looked at her imposter. Well. So that’s how deep the corruption had spread.

“This changes nothing,” she said. “You think you can trick everyone?”

“There’s no trick here,” Fake Fluttershy said. “Just the truth. I’m sorry it had to come to this.”

“Spare me. You were planning this all along.”

A flicker of…unease crossed across Fake Fluttershy’s face just for a moment. “Perhaps. But let’s settle this. In front of everyone thought, not just those gathered here.”

“One hour. And then everyone will see you for the monster you are.”

Fluttershy turned and walked up the stairs, Longfoot by her side.

----

And now the final act had begun. Fluttershy and Fake Fluttershy looked eyes across the room, surrounded by animals and changelings.

Doubtless somewhere in Ponyville other ponies were going about their daily lives. Twilight, Princess of Friendship was probably doing something important. The immortal incarnation of light and majesty Princess Celestia might be at this moment conferring with the King of Dragons. The once Nightmare Moon could be battling the hordes of the Shapeless in realms of nightmare and dream. But the world cared not for lesser concerns.

Here, in this cottage the final act of a war that had taken over a year was beginning. Two enemies met again as the veils of deception and lies lifted. The skies were ready for blood.

There she was, standing front of her. Fluttershy felt her blood pulse just looking at her.

“Chrysalis.”

The one word rang out throughout the cottage. It was one word, but had the weight of countless lives behind it. Chrysalis. The queen of the changelings. By her will and might thousands had perished before her Swarm. So long as she lived Equestria would never be safe. And she was in the cottage in front of Fluttershy. She had in fact been there all along.

The animals stirred. Fluttershy sensed her animals outside looking at the fake pegasus and then coming to the same realization. Inside the cottage, the original animals stirred and looked uneasily at the imposter. They realized the truth.

Fluttershy let the ripples of her word spread and looked at Angel. She hoped he would realize—but no, whatever magic Chrysalis was using on him was still in effect. He watched Fluttershy with dark hostility, just as the animals standing behind Fake Fl—Chrysalis. They were unmoved, brainwashed.

Deceived.

But now the truth was out. Fluttershy watched her nemesis’s face carefully. She didn’t appear worried, but she could not deny the truth now it was out. What would she do? Would she run once her cover was blown, or would she continue the charade—

The other pegasus raised one eyebrow and calmly said, “What are you talking about?”

For a moment Fluttershy was stunned with outrage. “You’re Chrysalis,” Fluttershy snapped. The room whispered again as the animals murmured in a loudly quiet susurration.

“You may have tricked everyone else, but there’s no other explanation for it. The mysterious changeling that just happens to be able to transform for extended periods of time, the way you alone know about Fluttershy’s life and how to act like a pony, your ability to trick Angel and the others – there’s only one being who could do all that.”

Fluttershy extended one hoof and pointed at Fake Fluttershy’s heart. “Chrysalis.”

The room was filled with deathly silence as every eye fell upon Chrysalis. The changeling queen pretending to be a pegasus bowed her head for a long moment, but when she looked up her eyes were still insufferably calm.

“It’s a good theory,” she said. “Convincing, and it makes sense. And you’re half right. There’s just one problem with your answer.”

“And what’s that?” Fluttershy saw Longfoot crouched, ready to spring. She would lunge first, draw the other animal’s attention and then whether by her hoof or Longfoot’s knife, Chrysalis would die. As soon as the imposter spoke. The instant she finished talking.

Fluttershy waited and felt the world stop around her.

“I’m not Chrysalis,” the other Fluttershy said calmly. “You are.”