Starlight Glimmer returned to the Castle of Friendship after spending the day at her former village's festival feeling a sense of full redemption. For the past few months, she had been under the tutelage of Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, learning about the magic of friendship.

Now, she had been put through her toughest test of trying to spread what she had learned to the Changeling Kingdom. However when she tried to convince the former Changeling Queen Chrysalis to abandon her evil ways and learn the magic of friendship, Starlight was met with Chrysalis coldly rebuking and vowing to return to get revenge on Starlight herself. Yes, Starlight was happy to have her teacher, her friends as well as the Equestrian Royal Family freed from Chrysalis' clutches, but she couldn't help but feel herself as a failure to an extent.

…

"Starlight," called a voice as Starlight stood out on the outdoor balcony of Twilight's castle. Starlight hastily turned around to see her teacher, Princess Twilight Sparkle, walking up towards her. "It's late at night, you know. I think you should be asleep."

"Sorry," she said, regaining her attention back towards overlooking the horizon of Equestria. "I just…I don't know…I feel like I failed to make Chrysalis understand that everypony deserves a second chance."

"I know how you feel," sighed Twilight. "But, I guess you now understand that not everypony deserves a second chance, Starlight. Chrysalis is just far too evil to even think about redeeming herself. Given what had happened to us recently, I'm not surprised that all of Equestria is going to do everything in its power to hunt her down."

Starlight's eyes widened at this remark. Up until this moment, she thought that everypony deserved a second chance.

"Hunt her down?" cried Starlight, giving Twilight a worried glance. "What are you talking about?"

"Chrysalis is a major threat to Equestria," answered Twilight, firmly. "I and the other princesses have all agreed that there is no other choice but to treat Chrysalis like a threat that must be not be allowed to roam free."

"What do you think you and the other princesses might do?" asked Starlight, leaving Twilight struggling to find the words to respond.

"Starlight, I, I don't know," stuttered Twilight. "Part of me wants to just let it go and move on, but I am a princess now and I must do whatever I can to keep my subjects safe as well as my friends.  Nothing would make me happier than to see Chrysalis placed in Tartarus locked up in a cage next to Tirek."

"Sure, you need to respond in some way," remarked Starlight. "But, I tried to reason with her, Twilight. Perhaps I just need to try again and maybe this time Chrysalis will listen to me and realize what she's doing is wrong.."

Twilight knew that reasoning with Chrysalis was no longer an option at this point. This was a creature that did more than just kidnap Twilight, her friends and fellow princesses. Chrysalis also captured her brother, Shining Armor and her niece, Flurry Heart, which made it all that much more personal to Twilight.

"I need to try, Twilight!" cried Starlight. "Perhaps maybe…"

"She won't listen, Starlight!" barked Twilight, causing Starlight to jump back slightly. "Chrysalis is very dangerous to wander free around Equestria, you know!"

Starlight rebounded from her teacher's short outburst and realized that there was possibly no other option. Yes, the Changelings were now under the leadership of Thorax and that would make it seemed like the end, but it wasn't. There was always the chance that Chrysalis would find a way to carry out her revenge in the most monotonous way possible.

…

Suddenly, a loud scream was heard from down in the castle and Starlight darted back in to find the source of the disturbance.

"What was that?" she cried as Twilight calmly walked up to her.

"The changelings that had taken over the castle are being questioned," answered Twilight. "Several high ranking guards from Canterlot are down in the castle's basement trying to get information out of him."

The two ponies heard the screams again and for the next few moments, they were repeated over and over again. Finally, Starlight couldn't take it anymore.

"Then, make them stop, Twilight!" protested Starlight. "Send them back to the Changeling Kingdom where they belong!"

"I can't do that, Starlight," said Twilight. "As far as we both are concerned, these Changelings remain loyal to Chrysalis and if I just let them go on their way, then they will just return to Chrysalis and who knows what else they could do?"

The sound of high pitched screams continued and Twilight went downstairs with Starlight following not too far behind. Once they were downstairs, Twilight and Starlight were met by several heavyset Canterlot guards.

"Princess Twilight," said one of the guards as they saluted Twilight while she walked in. "They still refuse to talk to us. We've done everything in our power to try and make them talk. What should we do now?"

"Take them back to the dungeons," she ordered. "How are the interrogations in Canterlot and the Crystal Empire?"

"As far as we are concerned," replied the other guard. "They are just as stubborn and strong willed. Even Prince Armor used brute force on his prisoners, going as far as using threats to get them to talk."

Both Starlight and Twilight felt their hearts sink upon hearing this and realized that things were starting to go far…way too far.

"I'm not surprised," remarked Twilight, remembering her brothers obsessed hatred for Changelings ever since his wedding to Cadence. "He, Cadence and Flurry Heart were victims in this just as much as we all are.  

With a salute, the two guards walked back down into the basement and as both Starlight and Twilight watched in shock and disbelief, carried the three captured changelings in their magical bond. Twilight watched as they tried to weakly look back at her with angry eyes over their queen's overthrowing.

"There are some things that I can't just do with magic, Starlight," sighed Twilight. "But, I can't let what happened to us happen to somepony else. Perhaps you will understand at some point."

Starlight watched as Twilight retired for the night and realized that just because Chrysalis did what she did, there was absolutely no reason at all for the other smaller Changelings to suffer in this manner. But, Starlight had to remember what Twilight had said about stopping Chrysalis again from carrying out another attack against Equestria.

Little did she know, however, that the Changeling captives were being questioned to gain information for a much bigger counterattack…an intense manhunt for Chrysalis that would soon spread throughout Equestria unlike anything seen before.