Luna was pacing in the throne room, impatient and worried. Celestia was also worried, but sat on her throne watching her sister.
"How could this have happened?!" Luna ranted. "As if that thorn in our flank hasn't done enough damage already! Why did Chrysalis go and attack Ponyville and kidnap Echo and Twilight?! The orphans will not be pleased if they come to know this! They might even revolt!"
"You need to relax, Luna," the sun princess soothed her sister. "I know that it's very upsetting that Echo and Twilight have been kidnapped. But that's exactly why you sent two of your best Bat pony guards on the case. According to the guard I sent to the Changelings, Thorax and his patrols are also helping on behalf of the wingful of Changeling orphans who fled Chrysalis. They will likely figure out where their former queen has taken my student and your close friend." Luna stopped her pacing before trotting to her own throne.
"I know, sister," Luna sighed as she sat down. "But Echo has been through so much suffering already. Before we found the Nightmare Orphanage, she and the other orphans were punished and starved, night after night. I can't believe we let it happen not even knowing what was really happening!" Tears fell from Luna's eyes as she looked down at the floor. "Besides, if some of my Bat ponies are correct and Echo really is what they believe her to be, I might have to say goodbye to my own guards."
"What do you mean, Luna?" Celestia asked tenderly.
"According to some of the Bat ponies, Echoing Shadow bears an astonishing resemblance to their former queen, Glistening Shadow. The two are believed to be identical, save for the fact that Echo has no wings and doesn't look like a Bat pony. However, there is a myth among them that states that Glistening Shadow put a spell on her newborn foal with her last breath, making her child look like a normal unicorn pony. At the time, it is said that the Changelings attacked the Bat ponies, and cast the newborn Bat princess to an orphanage of demons."
"So you believe that Echo is that Bat princess, and the 'orphanage of demons' she was cast to was the Nightmare Orphanage," assumed the sun princess.
Luna nodded slowly. "If my suspicions are correct, Echoing Shadow has been captured by the one pony in Equestria that her mother was attempting to protect her from."
Chrysalis had already had her fill of love from Echo and Twilight. The two of them floated unconscious in the acid-green chrysalides. The black Changeling smiled evilly, licking her fangs.
"Since I don't have much else to do, I might as well find a way to produce my new army," Chrysalis mused to herself. "I believe that the best way to do so would be to return to my traitorous subjects and take any little ones that haven't yet changed. Yes, infiltrating the hatchery would be the best way to form my new army. That Thorax will pay for destroying my position as Queen!" She hissed out Thorax's name as if it were a taste of bitter hatred instead of love. She exited her hidden cave and took to the skies, morphing into the disguise of a female Bat pony.
Little did she know that a coating of magic was slowly breaking off of Echoing Shadow's body. Her slightly opened mouth uncovered her sharpening fangs, and a pair of bat-wings slightly unfurled over her back. Her ears became sharp and spiked, and her eyes opened a crack, revealing two lavender slits.
"Dragonfly! Damselfly! Crane Fly! Come back here!" Beetle shouted at three young Changelings as he chased them down the corridors. "You three are two fast for your own good! Why in the Hive are you so on edge today?"
"Something's going on, Beetle!" Dragonfly called back. True to his name, Dragonfly was one of the fastest young Changelings, bearing the red skin, golden yellow wings, and orange eyes of a flame skimmer.
"We think Chrysalis is coming!" his sister Damselfly added. Her jade green skin blended into the halls as her sky blue wings buzzed to keep up with her older brother. Her pale purple eyes were narrowed with determination.
"Don't you remember?" the youngest sister, Crane Fly, asked. "We told you that Luna Moth sensed something bad was going to happen while you were gathering the troops. You know she's almost never wrong." The greenish-yellow little one with the green and white striped wings slowed to Beetle's side. Her bright orange orbs met Beetle's eyes with fierce determination.
"Yes, I'm aware of Luna Moth's intuition," Beetle agreed. "But why are we heading for the -?" It finally dawned on the Changeling guard. "- the hatchery. You little ones might be onto something. If Chrysalis wants to rebuild an army, she might go after the eggs that are almost at hatching time."
"Exactly," Dragonfly confirmed. "So pick up the pace, you snails! We have some eggs to protect!" Beetle couldn't help but smile at the determination of the little ones as he and Crane Fly flew as fast as they could to keep up with the faster siblings.
The four Changelings stopped silently at the entrance to the hatchery. Blast, Beetle scolded himself mentally. Should've stationed a soldier here instead of leaving the hatchery unprotected. Damselfly peered inside to see the familiar black Changeling loading eggs into a large package. She jerked back when she saw the former queen's ear twitch backwards.
"Looks like Luna Moth was right again," Damselfly whispered.
"That means we'll have to find a way to stop Chrysalis from getting away with those eggs," Beetle whispered.
"Damselfly can use the silk trap she's been working on," Crane Fly offered.
"Well, you'd better do it fast, sis," Dragonfly hissed.
Damselfly closed her eyes and concentrated. Threads barely visible to the eye began silently weaving a web over the entrance to the hatchery. They overlapped and swirled around and around, forming a strong yet invisible net. Beetle nodded in approval, seeing that the net covered the only way into and out of the hatchery. They stood back and waited patiently, listening to Chrysalis' hoofsteps. The four of them jumped back when they heard Chrysalis running to the entrance, who ran headfirst into the web.
