Twilight screamed as she looked down at Alfred's corpse. She still had her hooves on his cheeks, trying to wake him, but she knew he was dead. A visible hole could be seen going through his back and out his chest, blood pooling on the floor and out the corners of his mouth only added to the horror that still burned fresh in her mind.

"C-Come on Alfred! Come on! Wake up!" She cried. "C-Come on, give me s-some witty remark. Please, just say something..."

A sliding could be heard from around the corner in the hall, looking up from Alfred's corpse, her eyes narrowed in anger as she saw Chrysalis appear. Clenching her teeth as she met the other changeling's gaze, she barely noticed her own horn giving off a dark purple glow.

"Y-You did this!" Twilight screamed as Chrysalis came near. "He's dead because of you! You killed him!"

"I did not kill him, Twilight." Chrysalis said looking down at the body. "I did not want this to happen to him, but it did. This is not my fault, nor is it my assistant who is responsible," she closed her eyes before glaring at Twilight. "This is your fault."

"T-This is not my fault! Don't you dare say that!" Twilight screamed. "You were with him! You could have saved him!"

"I could do nothing!" Chrysalis yelled back. "I would gladly give my life if my son could have lived! I would have given my life for any of the changelings here! But you, you sent him in there knowing what could happen. This is your fault."

She opened her mouth to reply, but only the sound of a bestial hiss managed to come out.

"So, how did he teleport out?" Chrysalis asked. "I'm guessing it was you, who taught him that?"

"Yes. I just wish he would have used it earlier." She said looking back down at him. "So, queen, what was so important that you had your son killed? Your own flesh and blood?"

"His life... In the end would be a small sacrifice for the one who needs theirs extinguished the most." She said. "My associate, wishes for their life to come to an end. And I've been tasked at keeping you here until you can defend yourself against myself."

"Whoever it is, they sound just as bad as you." Twilight sneered. "Killing the innocent, taking away someponies son, using others to do their dirty work. They sound like they need to be killed."

"You do not fully understand why my associate wishes to end their life." Chrysalis said with a twinge of force. "My associate deserves death, but, unfortunately the life on this world would also suffer at the downfall. For now though, the only way of obtaining that is to keep you here until you will be ready to fight me in Canterlot. I'll... I'll have a proper burial for Alfred, but for now, we need to continue your training."

"I'm not doing anything more, you sick, black-hearted, monster." Twilight hissed taking a step back. "And, I'm leaving with my swarm, and that includes the miners."

"No, you're not, mare." Chrysalis said getting in Twilight's way as she tried to storm off. "You are, at this moment, my prisoner. And you will do as I say, or else there will be consequences."

"You said yourself that if I wanted to leave, I could at any time. Now you're saying I have to stay? What makes you think I wan to stay anymore?"

"If you even set a single hoof out from the castle walls, I'll go down to the dungeons and extinguish two special changelings. The two down there, you must already know of, correct?"

"Don't you dare touch them!" Twilight said getting right in Chrysalis's face. "They have nothing to do with this! Leave them out of your plans."

"If only it were that easy," Chrysalis said with a sneer. "But you forced my hoof here, Twilight."

"I'm leaving, and I certainly will not be going anywhere with you ever again. Goodbye, Chrysalis."

"Twilight," Chrysalis said getting in her way again. "You need my help, or you will lose everything you hold dear. I am trying to help you! I am trying to make sure your life is not ruined any further."

"You listen here, you piece of filth." Twilight growled. "I don;t need your help. Nor will I ever need it."

"Yes you do, Twilight." Chrysalis said getting right in front of Twilight. "You need every bit of help I can offer."

"I don't need you for anything!" Twilight yelled before the magic in her horn discharged.

Chrysalis only had time for her eyes to widen before she was struck point blank in the chest by a solid wave of magic. She flew back, through the corner, and into a back wall where she slid across the floor. Coughing from the sudden impact, she looked at where she had come and saw sparks already coming around what was left of the corner as Twilight came into view.

Snarling, Chrysalis lit her own horn as Twilight was firing off another spell. As Twilight's new spell whizzed through the air, ice was forming behind it on any surface it could. Chrysalis grinned and teleported herself behind it where it had already passed. Once outside the spells damage radius, she charged her own horn and fired off a jagged flash of green energy that was going straight for Twilight.

Twilight, quickly putting up a shield, let the energy hit and sizzle off. Chrysalis, seeing her own magic merely sizzle against what she saw as a hastily put up shield, frowned. Twilight, baring her fangs, shot a straight beam of energy at Chrysalis. The changeling queen jumped out of the way and back onto all fours as Twilight lit her horn again.

Chrysalis, seeing her just stand there, tore her attention away from the other changeling and looked around to make sure Twilight wasn't trying to affect the environment. Her fears were put into light as she saw the ceiling coated in a dark purple, barely visible against the dark material. Backing away, the floor gave out and soon the ceiling with it.

Twilight, clearing the dust, peered into the newly made hole in search of Chrysalis. Seeing the rubble move and the glow of a long jagged horn, twilight lit her horn again and, condensing enough magic over her, made a comically sized weight that she dropped onto the changeling queen and caused the floor to give out with it.

Seeing another glow of green from the dust below, Twilight jumped down to meet her now crushed foe. Falling through the dust cloud, she nimbly landed on the pile of rubble where the glow was coming from. Looking down on the slab of stone she was standing on, she looked around the corners and saw a faint glow growing brighter and then dimmer in a rhythmic pattern, almost like a heartbeat.

A holed hoof suddenly came out from the center of the stone and wrapped around Twilight's neck. Rising slowly from the rubble, Chrysalis, baring her teeth and wincing at the feeling of a few pieces of chipped carapace, slammed Twilight onto the jagged floor eliciting a small hiss from the smaller of the two.

"You may have me cornered in magic, Twilight. But Physically, I am still your superior." She finished with a forceful push against Twilight's throat.

"Y-Yeah," Twilight said. "B-But you've j-just g-gotten close en-enough for a-a direct hit."

Chrysalis's eyes widened in fury as Twilight lit her horn and a stream of magic out. Pushing herself from Chrysalis's grasp, she quickly spun around and fired off another blast of magic. It connected with Chrysalis this time, and with a ground shaking bang, blasted the changeling queen through the wall and further.

Twilight, giving chase let out a feral shriek that was soon answered by thousands more. Smiling, she bounded through the gaps in the walls and finally began to see an orange light, rushing towards that, she stopped at the edge of a hole leading to the outside. She put a hoof to her muzzle for a moment, trying to get used to the strong smell of decay and sulfur that took up the air.

Looking around, she saw blacked and grey mountains rising in jagged points across a orange sky. Lava flows were scattered randomly around the hive that towered above the other mountains. She could clearly see the bones of once living dragons, some of them burning in the lava while others still had rotting flesh hanging from them.

Stepping out, the rock beneath her was warm, not blistering hot as she thought. Ignoring her own thoughts, she looked around and above for the changeling queen. Against the blacked landscape, she couldn't see any part of Chrysalis. Stepping out further, a streak of green came from her left and hit her in the side, immediately causing the area to burn. Snapping her head towards the area of attack, she saw nothing. Seeing a faint glow to her right, she turned her head in time to see the glow of Chrysalis's horn extinguish and a blurred figure gallop away.

"Hiding like the coward you are, Chrysalis!?" Twilight yelled out to the wastes. "You've just murdered a friend and there will be no place left for you to run! Do you hear me!? I will kill you!"

Igniting her horn again, she quickly gathered a ball of ash and sent it sweeping across the land in front of her. Immediately seeing the ash stick to a form unseen by her eye, she began to fire off spells at the random.

Ice, fire, water, and magic along with the frequent explosion mixed in bombarded Chrysalis as she struggled to get out of the way. Dodging the last ice spell, she watched in baited breath as Twilight horn grew brighter and brighter; in a few swift motions, glowing orbs disconnected from the changelings horn an floated above her. More and more split off, each of them almost touching the other as they multiplied from two's to dozens. Twilight opened her eyes, and for a brief instance, they shone a blinding white, and that was all Chrysalis could see before the orbs rained down.

She barely had enough time to put up a shield before the bombardment hit her. Ice the size of hoofballs, electricity flashing like lightning, water bashing against it like a tsunami, and magic all exploded against her shield. The weak shield only managed to last for a few seconds before it faltered, broke, and Chrysalis was hit with everything Twilight had at her disposal.

As Twilight let her magic die down, she waited for the dust to settle. Feeling a tap on her shoulder, she turned with a raised hoof but stopped as she saw it was a normal changeling. Taking a deep breath, she nodded.

"You called, Queen Twilight?" It said.

For once, she didn't flinch, make a face at the name, or even make a rebut. Instead, she smiled and nodded.

"Have the miners freed and have the rest of the hive outside as fast as you can." She ordered.

"Right away, your highness. One last thing, we also have news for you, your majesty."

"News?" Twilight asked glancing at the small crater that had Chrysalis in it. "Go on."

"We have discovered a pony in our borders. He says he wishes an audience with you, he said to tell you, 'Camo is back.' Does that mean anything to you, your highness?"

"Bring him here immediately!" Twilight said with a smile. "Camo is actually here, I wonder if the others were with him? Finally, some good news. Now, as for you." Twilight turned towards the crater where a shallow moaning could be heard. "Enjoy your hole."

Twilight, giving a small effort with the remaining reserves of extra magic she had just pumped out, teleported herself to where she first met Chrysalis. She was immediately met with the sight of changelings rushing about, all of them running through holes in the walls, floor and ceiling. She nodded and stood in silence, waiting for her visitor and new friend.

Camo Travels

Camo was waiting impatiently in front of two changeling guards. Looking around, he still remembered the faint sound of Soul Song's screech mere hours ago. Sighing, he was about to go ahead himself when the guards suddenly moved.

"You will come with us," they said in unison. "Our Queen desires to speak with you."

"About time, I was getting worried." He said. "Take me to your leader."

They both wrapped their fore-hooves around each of his, and, with a coordinated buzz of their wings, they were off and heading towards the hive. Camo, gave a small, malicious smile as he looked down at the wrapped object in his saddle bag.

"It's almost time, Chrysalis." He whispered. "I'm coming, and I'll be the last one to see the look of horror and fear on your face as I betray you. Get ready, you selfish bug," he grinned. "'Cause your king is coming back."

Soul Song and passengers

Soul Song was effortlessly gliding through the air like a snake, only slowing when a strong wind was in her way. The black fog that was her, carried her passengers, all of them wanting to physically harm Camo. Shining Armor was the worst, he had trusted himself to think that Camo was only doing good, when, in reality he lied and left them for dead in a desert.

Queen Twilight and her hive

Twilight had another changeling show her where the entrance was to the hive, stepping out and thanking the drone, she began her trek with the entire swarm behind her. She stopped along with them as she heard a shriek pass through the air. Turning, she saw Chrysalis, smoking and bleeding, part of her horn was frozen over so she was in no position to use magic.

She let out a feeble hiss towards the queen, Twilight merely shook her head. As she continued, she heard the faint sound of buzzing. Looking ahead, she saw two changelings carrying a pony, and they were moving at a speed that would have made Rainbow Dash envious. As they drew near, Twilight's grin grew into a smirk as she saw the crippled unicorn.

"Nice to see you made it, Camo." Twilight said as the two panting guards took to her side. "Where are the others? They didn't get lost, did they?"

"They," he said looking back. "Got a little tied up and asked me to go ahead. So, I see you've got yourself a nice little group here. But, where's Chrysalis?"

"Beaten, humiliated, and defeated." Twilight said. "I finally had enough, and, I snapped. Now, she can barely stand on her own legs, much less move around. She harmless right now."

"You... You did that?" Camo asked slightly wide-eyed. "Where is she though?"

"Why do you need to see her? She's not a threat right now." Twilight said uneasily as Camo looked at her with a unblinking gaze. "Camo, what are you planning?"

"Twilight, she has something that I need, something very important to me. I don't-" a shrill shriek went through the air. "Twilight! Listen to me, my life and another depends on this, where is she!?" He yelled.

"S-She's behind the swarm. Camo what's-"

Camo, with bared teeth flew past her in a flash of green flame. Her eyes widened as she saw her friend, a pony, turn into a changeling and fly right over the others.

He flew over the other changelings, glancing at the miners as they gave a bellow of interest towards him. Stopping to hover above them, he looked towards the hive and picked out Chrysalis in the doorway, alone and as Twilight said, smoking. Flying faster, he had to gallop as he landed to make sure he didn't fall. Now, standing, panting, and shaking with anger he stared directly into the amused eyes of the former queen.

"Camo Travels, a pleasure to make your acquaintance once more." Chrysalis purred much like a cat as her eyes roamed over his own body.

"Shut it, Chrysalis, you know why I'm here." He snapped. "Give me her memory back."

"Who's memory?" Chrysalis asked innocently. "I've taken many memories, you will-"

"Give Honeydew's memory back!" He said reaching into his saddle bag and pulling out a glass bottle with a cork. "I know you can do it, so quit stalling!"

She flinched form the outburst, and looking down at the bottle, sighed and closed her eyes. The ice fell away from her horn in a light green glow. As it spread down and wrapped around her head, she opened her eyes and it went straight into her pupils where it remained for a few seconds, and then, it pulled out and went into the bottle where Camo put the cork on it.

"Now," Camo said reaching for the clothed object. "I've got a little gift for you. Catch!"

He hurled he object at Chrysalis, and in doing so, the cloth feel away to reveal a gold sword with a steel hilt and a red gem imbedded in it. Chrysalis, catching it in her magic, shivered as the gem pulsated with a faint glow. Lowering the sword and holding it in front of her, she saw that Camo was baring almost all of his pointed teeth in a fanged smile.

As she merely held it there, his smile faltered before turning into a full blown snarl. His eyes looked back and forth between her and the blade. His breathing quickened as adrenaline overtook him, and with a quivering jaw, he verbally lashed out again.

"Why aren't you dead!?" He roared. "You should be cutting your own throat! Why isn't it working!?" He raged.

"You fool," Chrysalis spat, her own magic quickly healing her as she stood with a smirk. "Did you think one of your possessed trinkets could stop me? The soul in this gem needs one host, but if the host is part of a hive, the soul would not know which one to kill. And as for this, thank you for delivering it to me. Thank you Camo, you just gave me one of the few pieces me and my associate need for the plan to work. Give Twilight my regards, will you?" She laughed before teleporting away.

As he stood there, his eye occasionally giving a twitch, Twilight, watching the whole thing, went up to him and put a hoof on his shoulder.

"Camo," Twilight said. "Camo, are you alright?"

"It didn't work..." He muttered. "And now I'm going to get torn apart by a banshee. Why does life hate me?"

"A banshee?" Twilight said getting in front of him. "Camo, what are you-"

A shriek filled the air, and looking up, Twilight saw a cloud of black fog hanging over her. A disfigured pony stood atop in, and in an instant, her brother was launched out of the cloud along with her friends and coltfriend. Her brother, she saw, was just as angry as Camo was a second ago.

"Shiny!" Twilight said in shock and happiness. "How did you all get here?"

"I'm going to kill you, Camo!" Shining yelled separating his sister and the now broken changeling. "Come here!"

Before he could launch his attack, Soul Song let out another shriek making them all fall to their knees in pain. Looking up, he saw her glide down and land in front of Camo, a snarl on her face.

"Camo Travels," she said. "You look different."

"It didn't work..." He repeated again. "It should have worked. Why didn't it work?"

"It seems you must be brain-dead," she said sighing. "There will be no pleasure in killing you that way. Until then, I'll take you with me, so when-"

"Soul Song?" He said snapping out of his trance. "Hey. Come to kill me?" He asked dejectedly.

"Yes, that's exactly it." She said smiling. "But how will I end-"

"Could you just do it?" He snapped. "I don't care how much you'll enjoy it, just get it over with. I could care less anymore." He said sighing. "I had a good run, plenty of adventures, made a few friends and enemies, heck... I'd say the best part was meeting you." He said giving the banshee a small smile.

"I was trying to kill you, how was that a good thing?" She asked slowly letting her claws come out. "This isn't another one of your tricks, is it?"

"If it was, what do I have to gain?" He shrugged. "You were great to be with. Good to talk with, you even listened to me ramble on in that tavern. And when I trapped you, I figured you should get to go see everything that I do. See things not many others would, but would like to see. So, I guess it ends here, our last talk. It was nice knowing you, all of you." He said giving a small smile towards the others.

"Before I kill you, I have only one question." She said lowering he forelegs.

"Go ahead." He said. "Ask away."

"Was there any other reason you took me?" She asked. "No other pony, insane or sane, would have risked a banshee being set loose upon them at any time. Yet you still kept me, and from what I could hear, protected me. Why?"

"Well, I guess... I guess I liked you a lot." He said looking her in the eye. "I never stopped caring. You were alone, and I could see it, even now that you hated it. You wanted somepony that could relate to you, but each time you brought another back to your cave, you realized your mistake. The truth is, you kind of grew on me. Two lonely souls on their own; like something out of a one of those cheesy romance novels that Celestia reads."

She lowered her leg and retracted the claws. Looking at him with a questioning face, she looked at the ground in thought.

"Are you saying... Are you saying you love me? Even because of what I am?" She asked.

"That's the jist of it." He said raising her head with a hoof. "How about we go home now? I hate it here. So dark and gloomy, it almost makes me think somepony died here. Twilight! How about we get going?"

"Right away, Camo." She said lightly, watching as the two hugged it out.

As Twilight was prepping herslef, a distance away Shining Armor was complaining. The others, seeing him glaring at the changeling, stepped a bit closer to him if he needed to be restrained.

"I don't believe this." Shining said crossing his fore-legs. "He lied and betrayed us! And he's getting hugged!?"

"I blame the power of love." Spike said.

"Spike, Shining, Big Mac, drone!" Twilight said embracing each, even blushing when Big Mac gave her a peck on the cheek. "I'm glad you all managed to find me. Shining, I'm going to need your help." She said. "I need you to put a shield up around the swarm. Drone, could you connect me to the rest of the swarm?" She asked and received nods from both.

Shining put up a shield large enough to fit over the swarm, the drone, under Twilight's command connected her to the swarm and in an instant, all the changelings eyes started to glow lavender, their own magic and Twilight's pooling into a central point above them all.

Slowly, the purple energy, almost vapor in a appearance began to spread across the inside of the dome. It swirled to the right, patches of white dotted around it as it spun faster and faster as the edge neared the bottom of the dome. Slowly making its descent, the air inside took on an electric feel, almost as if lightning were about to strike. And, in a flash much like it, the dome and the beings inside vanished with a loud bang the shook the ground for a mile.

The outskirts of Ponyville

With a flash, the earth around a single, purple mass of magic was scorched black when the magic finally dissipated. Looking around, all of them turned their sights on the castle towering above the town ahead.

"Home sweet home." Twilight smiled.

Author's Notes:

1) The changeling architects are going to need a vacation
2) What was Chrysalis thinking!? Going up against the Element of Magic!
3)???
4) Another Camo Travels chapter next. Or I can put out the second part of this chapter.

I was thinking of putting the theme from Pacific Rim in this, but that can go into another chapter. Yeah, another chapter.