The party had been coming together well so far. I spied Chiri and Cadance in the corner, excitedly discussing their similarities, and the possibilities for the future.
I found myself smiling discreetly, as I scanned over the rest of the room, so as not to stare overmuch at them. I had invited Cadance after seeing Chiri's Ceremony of Names; once she and Chrysalis had begun singing, Chiri began to emanate an orange glow from her wings, changing the pattern on them.
It wasn't until we saw some of the gathered changelings staggering in uncoordinated revelry that we realized Chiri was literally emanating the energy of love itself. The effect seemed to have been temporary, as her wings returned to their normal hue later that evening, but I was nonetheless fascinated by it.
Evidently, Cadance was as well. It was far more than I could have anticipated; Cadance was one of those most directly affected during the invasion of Canterlot some years prior, and I had worried she would be the slowest to embrace changeling culture. Indeed, she had seemed nervous upon her arrival – perhaps because she had to leave Shining Armor to manage the Crystal Empire, much to Twilight's disappointment – but Chiri's presence had soon remedied that.
Chiri was just so... positive, her presence so re-affirming that things were okay, that the world made sense, and that one had a friend in it. I honestly wondered if perhaps that aura of hers was subtly active all of the time, bringing peace to those who came into her presence.
But then again, ponies have said the same thing about me, in the past.
I caught sight of Chrysalis, the focus of the night's festivities. I had endeavored to do my part in putting the celebration together, but that had mostly consisted of helping Pinkie Pie find equivalent decorations and dessert ingredients in the hive. I had seated myself in the center of the ballroom's back wall, so as to be easy to find if I was needed, and so I could keep an eye on things. I had honestly worried that I should be doing more, but Chrysalis seemed to honestly be enjoyed herself.
After seeing the massive ballroom during Chiri's Ceremony of Names, Pinkie had conspired with Iqqel to hold the party there, and had put a great deal of effort into redecorating it and making “changeling style” desserts for it. Lili-Iqqel, her assistant, had assured me that the most important thing for Chrysalis had little to do with decorations or food. Indeed, Chrysalis had scarcely seemed to notice them; Iqqel had brought in some of the foals – nymphs, I suppose – from the Whitefalls Academy to visit Chrysalis on her birthday.
They had made some kind of presentation and gift for her, and it seemed to delight her to no end. Her joyful laughter and antics with the nymphs had certainly made an impression on me. At the moment, she was engaged in conversation with one of the teachers – some old friend that she hadn't had the time to speak with for years, I had gathered – and looking as happy as I'd seen her.
Iqqel certainly knew her Queen better than Chrysalis knew herself. Though I had seen no overt signs of such, I felt certain that Iqqel's devotion went beyond a professional interest in being a good assistant, or even loyalty to the crown.
Love, of one kind or another, was in play. I felt certain of that. And seeing that – seeing Iqqel's devotion, and how deeply she understood Chrysalis, including that the best way to cheer her up would be to give her the chance to see her subjects happy – I could only come to one conclusion:
Luna had to be mistaken, in some fashion.
That morning, I had received a missive from Luna, warning me that Chrysalis had – as best she could tell – terrorized the dreams of some changeling nymph within Equestria. This conflicted with our Cultural Exchange records, which indicated that no nymphs should be present within the realm – though one could certainly have slipped in by some unknown means. Luna had theorized that changelings had some kind of psychic link that allowed them to connect with their Queen, and that Chrysalis had used her trip to Equestria to terrorize the child.
Based on Twilight's description of the last rites given to Krittith, I couldn't entirely ignore the possibility of what Luna was saying. It didn't help that Twilight mentioned Chrysalis was in a particularly bad mood, and in need of cheering up, prompting us to launch the surprise party today, rather than waiting.
But as I had watched her play with those nymphs, I just couldn't convince myself that Chrysalis would do such a thing. I could feel her maternal instincts as she interacted with those children, as she encouraged them to go their own ways in the world. The idea of her hurting one out of spite just didn't add up.
So what had happened?
I was distracted from my thoughts by a changeling. He had two red, glowing eyes, and seemed to be having difficulty suppressing a positively roguish grin as he approached, head down slightly. I had sat apart from the proceedings, in an attempt to avoid distracting or interfering with anyone, which made his approach rather noticeable.
Red eyes meant a Feeder. Since coming to the hive, I had only seen them at a distance – at least, as far as I knew. From what I understood, the Feeder Caste was prone to secrecy, and avoided outsiders – even going so far as to mask themselves as other castes when possible. It made sense, I supposed; the Feeders were responsible for infiltration and harvesting of love to sustain the hive, and so secrecy was literally a part of their job. Their nature set them apart from their more hive-life oriented brethren.
It also made them the ones with the most to fear in terms of reprisal from ponykind. And so, set apart from their hive, and with the least common ground to share with ponies, the Feeder caste kept largely to itself.
Except, apparently, this one.
“Hey there! What's a nice mare like you doin' in a place like this?”
His voice was on the high end of a baritone, and came out cheerful and carefree. He smoothly walked around the table I was seated at, and leaned against the wall next to me, pulling a chair in and crossing his forelegs on it, before resting his chin on his forelegs.
His odd behavior caught me completely out of sorts, though I was determined not to let it show.
“Oh my. Are you implying that Chrysalis' ballroom is not nice?”
I quirked an eyebrow at him disapprovingly, though I had a small smirk so as to indicate that I was joking. His face carefully slid into a neutral mask, and I had the strange impression that I had just started something larger than I had bargained for.
“Oh, it's nice for some of us. Maybe not for a friendly pony from Canterlot who finds themselves all alone in a strange place, though.”
He held that neutral expression, and I was honestly unsure of how to take what he said. I decided to split the difference, my smirk still in place. Something about this exchange was nagging at the back of my mind, however.
“Perhaps I'm not so friendly.”
He gently quirked an eyebrow. This didn't seem to be the response he was expecting. I wasn't sure if that meant I had misinterpreted him, or he had simply misjudged me. I saw a small smirk creep onto his face, but that didn't clarify matters.
“I think you would have a hard time convincing me of that, being here, as you are, to support your friends.”
That response caught me a bit off-guard. Was he actually talking about being friendly? But wait, I had heard that Feeders saw friendship as a weakness, as in their line of work, trusting anypony could be dangerous. I didn't wish to seem hostile, but I also didn't wish to appear weak to the first Feeder to approach me openly. I decided, again, to split the difference, and, again, I felt odd about the exchange, like I was missing something.
“As a ruler, it pays to be versatile. Gentle and friendly when it is warranted...” I let my eyes shine dangerously – albeit a bit comically – at him for a second, my smirk deepening, “And less so when it isn't.”
He stared at me, his smirk gone and his face neutral. I raised an eyebrow at him, wondering if I had come on too strong. I had hoped that it came off as good-natured teasing, with perhaps just a hint of sincerity, but in that moment I feared I had made a horrible mistake.
Then he started laughing quietly, screwing his eyes shut and leaning on his chair for support. His laughter was noticeably odd, nearly silent and more puffing than voice, but the mirth was still clear. After a few moments of his apparently uncontrollable amusement, he looked up at me, his roguish grin from before back in place.
“Oh, Celestia. You trying to be intimidating? That's just hilarious. Everypony knows you wouldn't hurt a fly without good reason.”
I wasn't sure whether to be insulted, or proud that my reputation for fairness extended to the hive. I decided to take a different route altogether.
As he closed his eyes laughing again, I gently grabbed one of his ears in my magical aura and twisted it slightly – just enough to be uncomfortable, not really that painful. I was going to make a comment to the effect of, 'what was that about not hurting bugs?', but his reaction cut that thought short.
He jumped in surprise, giving off a very soft yelp, and nearly knocked his chair over. He blinked up at me in confusion for a few seconds, readjusting himself. In that moment, I realized what it was that had been bothering me. My jaw slackened, and when he caught sight of it, a smile crept onto his face.
“Sir... Sir Talon?!”
His eyes shone as he watched me, not responding. I began to put the pieces together. Sir Talon had been a knight in my service, one who worked diligently and hard for the sake of Equestria. He had had a bit of an 'attitude problem' as my advisors saw it, as he was frequently sassy to his superiors – always in a friendly way, but it was a level of familiarity deemed 'improper' for a knight of the realm.
I always found his presence a welcome relief. Neither disrespectful nor overly polite, he had made me feel like a valued friend. I had cared about him. Of course, that didn't stop me from occasionally tugging his ears playfully when he insinuated I was far too pampered and fragile to go deal with whatever latest threat he was sent to look into.
He always had that distinctive response.
“It was... you were Sir Talon? All along?”
He nodded gently, his smile slipping somewhat, and remained silent. I must not have looked very happy, but I was still coming to grips with the idea that our entire friendship was on false pretenses.
“There was no... original? You didn't replace anypony?”
His expression turned mildly disgusted, or offended.
“Absolutely not. I don't agree with that... approach. It's easier, sure, but...”
“It's 'an expediency that is unbefitting a true professional'”?
He glanced back at me, a grin forming. That had been something Sir Talon said frequently, whenever someone suggested taking the 'easy route' to a problem. He always preferred to do things the right way – which was often the hard way. I wasn't sure how to feel about the fact that I had admired him for that.
“Yeah, somepony might call it that.”
“So, you... nopony was harmed in the maintenance of your disguise?”
I felt uneasy bringing it up, as I could not presume to punish him or chastise him for his actions regardless of his answer... but I felt compelled to know exactly what price had been paid for that old friendship.
“Only one, m'lady.”
I blocked out the odd turn of phrase, and looked at him intently. “Which one?”
“You.”
At my look of confusion, he sighed, and continued.
“I wasn't the best-liked knight in the realm, you know? Didn't make a lot of friends in the Guard.”
I nodded faintly, my thoughts distant, as he pressed on.
“No family. I claimed to be part of the Hooves family because, hey, they're so widespread that nopony would think twice about it. But without any family, or any friends...”
“You had to feed on somepony to survive.”
He nodded, looking away uneasily. I had grasped his meaning, but I decided to vocalize it for him.
“You chose to befriend me... for sustenance.”
“I chose to befriend anypony for sustenance. I chose you, in specific, because I figured that you... well, I figured you had love to spare, and enough power not to even notice the slight difference.”
He was right. I hadn't ever noticed. If anything, I felt more alive after Talon's visits. As I thought back to some of the incredible feats Sir Talon had accomplished 'in the name of the crown', I realized that the changeling had been putting whatever he took from me to good use... for my own kingdom.
“You never fed on anypony else.”
It wasn't a question, and my tone provoked a somewhat startled reaction from him.
“Wha... What makes you say that?”
“You didn't just have an 'attitude problem' for no reason. You didn't let anypony else care about you.”
I stared down at him, right into those big, red eyes... and I saw his confidence shaking.
“Why would I-”
“Because you were uneasy enough as it was, taking from me. You didn't want to risk hurting somepony, and you knew I wouldn't have approved.”
His jaw opened and closed a few times, as he tried to work out something to say. He finally just let himself fall silent, and we started at each other like that for a few moments. With me sitting down, and him propped on that chair, we were almost eye level. He finally looked away, a faint chuckle escaping from him.
“You see right through me, m'lady.”
This time, I caught the odd mannerism, and recognized it. I nodded faintly.
“Sir Talon left the Guard just two weeks before the invasion. Medical concerns, as I recall. I tried to visit him, but I could never get an accurate address... and the aftermath of the invasion kept me focused on affairs in Canterlot for some time afterwards. By the time I looked again...”
“Sir Talon had reportedly left Equestria with his family, yes.”
“But only six months later, a unicorn showed up...”
“The scraggliest, most beaten-up unicorn you've probably ever seen.”
“With an attitude to match. Perpetually grumpy...”
“... With hardly any mane or tail to speak of, a weird-looking horn...”
“And of course, what he was called for... a single fang on the right side of his mouth. Infiltrating Canterlot only six months after the invasion... tensions were so high, you must have been scanned at least a dozen times while living there as Fang. How did you get by all of that?”
“Ah, yes, the magic for detecting and revealing disguised changelings. Works every time. There isn't any changeling disguise magic that could get past that.”
I stared at him, and he smirked back at me, his eyes alight.
“No way...”
“No one ever accused Talon of lacking spine – just sense.”
“You didn't use any magic to disguise yourself?!”
“A weird outfit, a tragic backstory and a bad attitude can take you a long way.”
I sighed, putting a hoof to my forehead and closing my eyes.
“An alchemist specializing in transmogrification...”
“No growth potions! They never reverse properly! Just look at the tooth!”
As he put on that cranky, silly voice that Fang always used, I found myself chuckling.
“What about your coat?”
He shuffled uncomfortably at that. I glanced over at him.
“... You didn't.”
“Took years for the black to come back in.”
“You bleached your coat and mane?!”
“At least I didn't have to lie about why I was all-white...”
“You said it was an alchemical accident!”
“It actually was.”
I paused at that, staring at him. Granted, Fang had known more about alchemy than a charlatan could have... this changeling must have gotten that knowledge somewhere.
“You went through all of that trouble... even wearing those ridiculous glasses on a constant basis...”
“Infiltration's a tough job.”
“But no one liked Fang!”
“Oh, I was there to spy on you. You know, keep an eye on things. Just in case Equestria decided to invade in reprisal.”
I stared at him for a few moments before we both started laughing.
“You knew all along Equestria would never do something like that!”
“Hey, orders are orders!”
“Oh, come on! You were just finding an excuse to stick around!”
“Can't blame me. It's a nice city!”
“But you had no love to feed off of!”
“Even more reason to never use magic!”
“'Defective horn' indeed!”
“Needed some reason not to show off green magic all the time.”
I shook my head, muttering a bit to myself. The changeling ceased his soft laughter and leaned forward to speak conspiratorially.
“But come on. You suspected Fang was a changeling all along, didn't you?”
I glanced up in surprise, a smirk forming.
“Of course I did. I wasn't sure how he was getting around our detection spells, but it's not like he tried doing anything dangerous, or sneaking into secure areas... so I figured it was better to keep an eye on him.”
He shook his head, looking wistful.
“I thought you knew. Like, all of it. About Talon. About me. You always seemed to... well, you always seemed to see right through me.”
I remembered calling Fang out on acting grumpy all of the time, when he actually spent most of his time helping others. He always said I saw right through him... but apparently, not quite as much as he thought.
“You stayed in Canterlot, even though you had no real sustenance there... because you wanted to watch over me, didn't you? To ensure no other infiltrators would be stationed there.”
He just looked at me, face a careful neutral. I suppose he was worried that such a thing might sound like betraying his hive. I picked my next words carefully.
“You didn't take part in the invasion... but you want what's best for your hive. You probably felt, as I do, that peace is more beneficial than war, for both nations.”
He didn't move, but I got a sense of acknowledgment from his eyes, and continued.
“Queen Chrysalis must have been aware of your desires and intentions, but she allowed you to continue. In fact... Chiri told us that the hive received word that the leaders of Equestria were actively looking to engage in peaceful talks with the hive, at around the same time Equestria received a report that a changeling had come forward as a messenger. That was you.”
Again, it wasn't a question. The changeling nodded faintly.
“You disguised your eyes as blue, back then. No one bothered scanning an open changeling... and you put your life in my hooves-”
“As safe a bet as anyling could ever make.”
We both paused. He looked embarrassed at blurting that out, but I felt gratified to know he had such faith in me. After a moment of consideration, I held a hoof out to him.
“I suppose we have not, formally, met. As you know, I am Princess Celestia.”
He looked at the hoof, and a gentle smile touched his face as he pressed one of his own to it.
“Piro-Ammon.”
-
Ammon and I had been chatting companionably for some time before Twilight came over to us. The name seemed familiar to me, but I attributed it to the general sense of familiarity I got from the changeling for the time being.
Seeing Twilight's approach, Ammon nodded to her, before excusing himself with a mumbled promise to speak with me tomorrow, and he began making his way over to Chrysalis. Twilight nodded back, and waited for him to clear the area before addressing me.
“This party has been coming together really well, hasn't it? Chrysalis has seemed so... well, cheery for most of it.”
I rolled my eyes and smirked at the descriptor, before looking over towards Chrysalis. She was chatting with Cadance and Chiri in the corner, and by the looks of things, Cadance was at least being polite to her. Chrysalis seemed quite pleased with whatever Chiri was saying – probably relaying the ideas she and Cadance had come up with.
“I'd say so, Twilight. This is a good sign for things to come for Equestria and Hive Chrysalis.”
“Oh! Uh... yeah, I guess it is.”
“But that's not what you were really focused on.”
“Er... no. I mean, yeah, it's really important. I just-”
“It's Chrysalis' birthday party. I'm sorry, Twilight. You were right that diplomatic concerns shouldn't be the first thing I brought up.”
Twilight shuffled uncomfortably a bit before replying.
“It's just, Chrysalis was... really not doing well. This morning, I mean. She had some really bad nightmares... And now look at her!”
Twilight beamed over at Chrysalis. I started processing what Twilight had just told me. Chrysalis' bad mood had been caused by nightmares? And by the sounds of it, Twilight had underplayed just how bad things had been.
As I began to turn that bit of info around in my mind, along with a few other recent details, I started to have a gnawing suspicion.