Take a look at this tale of man turned Changeling Queen... with a twist!
Hello there, I am… was, Derek, Derek Smithson. Yeah, it’s not an original name, well how about Queen Chrysalis of The Changelings?
Yeah, bet that threw you for a fucking loop, didn’t you?! Yeah, I’m the infamous Bug-Horse responsible for the biggest wedding Fiasco in Equestria’s history, or rather, I will be, as of all the places I expected to be when I was Chrysalis.
I did not expect to be in Cadence’s fucking closet!
And why do I find her hot?!
Yes, strap yourselves in, I want to make this ‘Little Secrets’ thing a series, and yes I mean in the sense that I want to inspire people to do stuff like this too.
Ratings will change as needed, and the Changelings are going to be different from Canon… because I still find prismatic moose-bugs to be dumb.
This is the story of Derek Smithson, average man, brony and comfortably situated employee at an Insurance Company. Many can say they have seen the most unexpected things in their life, those rare few even saying that what they saw was completely, physically impossible.
Then there’s me, seeing a new doorway in my house that was more like a cavern than an actual man-made entrance. The entire thing screamed ‘fantasy-style dungeon’ with the groaning entryway, the cobblestone floor leading into darkness and the seemingly eternal torches burning and giving an eerie green glow to the entire path. Now, normally one would state ‘nope’ and go back to bed but for some reason, I was drawn to the arcane entrance, like I was hypnotized… thankfully my common sense reeled me in enough to make sure I actually didn’t walk into it.
Then I began to legitimately question if I should follow the charm that was over me and enter the magical portal, obviously it would most likely mean I’d never be able to leave where it sent me, although… I think back to what I have now. Despite my luxuries and my happy brony lifestyle, I was still a human living in a society, I had to work every day for money, pay for everything to keep my luxuries and stay off the streets, all the while having no guarantee of anything happening to me after I die. If I walked through this portal, and it worked, I have the proof of the existence of souls, I have the opportunity to get new powers and improve myself through magic so I could actually get laid. Those were really good arguments… however…
Looking up, I spoke to whatever being was watching right now. “I’m on the fence about this whole thing! If you Pinkie Promise to have a way to ensure humanity doesn’t see that I’m dead and instead in a whole new world, I’ll go ahead.” I blink and turn to the sound of stretching, watching what looked like the mix between a plasma-screen TV and an eldritch portal grow into being on a billboard outside… which had me on it. “...alright, I’m in.”
I walk into the tunnel, glancing back to the portal that had closed behind me via a simple rockslide. Knowing there was no turning back, I marched onward, into the darkness, feeling waves of energy wash over me like the waves of the ocean on the sands.
I was completely unaware of my skin becoming darker and shinier, took no heed from my discomfort of a bipedal stance or even how easy it was to change to a quadrupedal one. I continued to bear ignorance as my skull altered, my jaws pulling forward to make a muzzle and my teeth changing so that I bore fangs. These changes continued onward with no end in sight, I didn’t even realize my genitalia were gone until I stopped at what appeared to be a closet door. As I stopped I finally grew aware of just what had happened to me, and I wasn’t sure if I was upset at the change or not. Under the torchlight I saw that I was now what I knew as a changeling, holes adorning all four of my hooves, my thin translucent wings, and my mane and tail… fucking somehow. Further inspection confirmed that I was indeed a female, both figure and genitalia wise, though that didn’t really bother me. Noticing my tall, thin stature, I looked up, seeing a sharp, crooked horn that seemed more like a weapon than a focal point for magic. Looking further from that I saw the round bulbs of the antenna that made up my ‘crown’, yet a quick poke dispelled it as being mere jewellery.
It was at that point that I realized I was not just a Changeling, I was a Changeling Queen, I was Chrysalis!!
And I had the biggest grin on my face at that, and fuck you to everypony that says it’s creepy! I am not creepy, I am HOT!! I am sexy~! I am- REALLY needing to stop getting off topic… and also to stop checking out my flanks.
Alright! Focus Chrysalis! You’ve jumped into an unknown point in time, so you need to be prepared, you need to be cautious! You… why did it get so dark?
I let out a small surprised grunt as I felt the space become a bit more confined, the torches were gone, along with the stone, all that was left was wood walls and a floor. Clearly I was in a closet, which is probably where the original Chrysalis had left off until I became her.
But why would Chrysalis be hiding out in somepony’s Closet? Unless… I began to more curiously inspect the space I was in, and my anxiety began to heighten as I saw many different dresses built for a frame only slightly smaller than mine and not the average pony stature. Further investigation unfortunately uncovered several regalia and some of said dresses decorated with a certain heart-shaped cutie mark. There was evidence, lots of evidence stacked against me involving my whereabouts, a place in the centre of a certain plan I was not able to get from the original Queen when I filled in her hooves.
Then the doors swing open, and my immediate fears were realized. I was Chrysalis. Before The Wedding Episode with no plan…
And I was face to face with a Pink Alicorn Princess of Love.
… Naturally I reacted as well as you’d expect from a Changeling being discovered.
I was in the deep end now, I was looking at the unconscious body of one Mi Amore Cadenza, knocked out by a mere swing of a changeling hoof, with guards outside possibly hearing the commotion, and I still have no idea how to use my shapeshifting!!
“This is bad! This is really, really… say, Cadi looks pretty hot~...”
So, my situation so far, I have just been sent to Equestria as Queen Chrysalis, my new life is being broadcasted (most likely with some restrictions) and I am at a point clearly where the wedding hasn’t happened yet since this place looks nothing like the Crystal Empire.
And I’ve just socked the very attractive Cadenza in the face.
There’s the other problem I’m having here, it seems the transformation has done something to my head/my instincts have altered to match my new physical body/some part of the OG Chrysalis stuck around and she apparently had the hots for Cadence-I DON’T KNOW! The point is I was looking at an unconscious pony that I found very sexy, in a room all alone, with several changeling instincts around cocooning and ‘sucking’ away her love making several images that I wasn’t opposed to… and it seemed like somebody down below agreed, curious, I looked under my barrel.
“Nice to see you survived the trip… albeit you got a makeover too.” The member in question promptly throbbed seemingly in response, I couldn’t help but find a little bit of pride at not only how powerful the new equine mast looked, but also at how big it was. When I lowered my head to look, the tip actually hit my snout, meaning it was about the length of my entire body… I probably could-GAH! NO! No sucking yourself off in the middle of a crisis! Focus, dammit! Don’t be distracted by your thick glistening horsecock in the face of your new female urges, and stop staring at the tasty pink morsel in front of us! Don’t think about using our mighty stallion dong to… split open those tight looking lips and… get all up inside her womb… DAMMIT!!
*knock* *knock* *knock* “Princess? Is everything okay in there?”
Oh thank Celestia a distraction! Wait… oh fuck me it’s the guard!! Quick best Cadence impression! GO!
“Um… yes! Everything’s alright, just misplaced one of my shoes!” I say in a really fucking perfect Cadence impersonation.
“Then why did I hear a crash?”
“I… um… found it…” I tried my best to sound bashful, again, having the body of a natural shapeshifter made sure my effort was actually effective instead of ‘oh god what is that?! A cat in a blender made of chalkboards?!’
“Oh… well sorry to have disturbed you.”
“Oh it’s no trouble at all! Hehe…” WHERE THE FUCK ARE MY DRONES?!
*ping* my ears swivelled to the window, my head following suit to find, conveniently a Changeling disguised as a pegasus… okay yes he looks just like a pegasus yet I know he’s a-OH FUCK HOW LONG HAVE THE BLINDS BEEN OPEN?!
I immediately pulled the changeling in and closed the blinds, keeping us hidden. “Why were you just flying outside like that?”
“Um… you don’t know you’ve been transmitting, My Queen?” He asked, embarrassment and confusion hitting me immediately.
After promptly focusing on keeping my thoughts to myself, I promptly began the next train of thought. Shit! Quick, bullshit your way out of this! “Of course I knew, but it’s rather suspicious to hover next to the window of a Princess’ Room! Do you want us to be discovered?!”
“N-no! Apologies My Queen! I will promptly slay myself to uphold your honour-”
“NO! That’ll just make things worse! You’re the one who answered my call so I still need you! Just don’t let it happen again and we can move on.”
“Oh, okay…”
“Right, now… what do you see wrong with this situation?”
“...is it the unconscious Princess?”
“It’s the unconscious Princess.” I say immediately.
“I want you to teleport her to the Crystal Caverns, then get some of the other drones to cocoon her up and tend to her in her suspended animation.” I continued.
“Anything else, My Queen?”
Unfortunately it seems my libido was faster than my brain in this matter, moreso when I couldn’t really object to the concept. “Yes, see if you can keep her in a warded off dreamscape… which’ll have her be seduced into a three-way relationship between me and her fiance.”
“... wouldn’t it be simpler and less time-consuming to hypnotize her?”
“Oh please, hypnotized food is temporary and tastes terrible, also HELLO?! This is the Princess of Love, do you not see what could occur if she was to fall in love with me? We’d have essentially a goddess of food with an unending well of affection, our honeymoon in our new hive, this city BTW, as I supercharge my new lovers’ magic to broadcast the energy of our passionate consummation across the area.” when I glanced back to the changeling I was addressing, he was making a waterfall with his saliva glands. “And practically every week I’ll be able to grant a long, blissful feast to you all, not on par with the honeymoon but still quite potent, and as we walk the streets, with a princess head over heels for me, Equestria will be forced to accept Changelings before judging them, and do you know what that means?”
At his little head-shake, I grinned. “It means, we won’t be invaders or random visitors, I can immediately wave us off as a new tribe of pony, we already look very similar to them, and thestrals have quite the significant differences, it’d take less than a week for them to become the norm, where ponies begin making friends with new ponies, not only will we get near weekly feasts of love, but every second of every day we will be able to passively feed on familial and friendly love! No other hive could outlast us, our numbers would skyrocket, and with how freely they will give us this love without having to drain it, our food would last unto eternity… now go cocoon her up and set up that dreamscape, okay.”
“YES! MA’AM!” he said excitedly as he dropped his disguise and sunk into the floor with Cadence through a fire-portal.
“Alright, showtime… wait.”
Um… drone? Could you check her undercarriage?
Sure… she seems to have a strange enchanted cloth.
I knew it!! Now, I won’t need to worry about phase 2.
Phase 2?
My plan! You just follow!
“Okay, now it’s showtime.”
I began to focus on my body, the strange mystical coolness that covered my chitin, the sparks of energy that rode up my horn, everything, then I willed it to change. What stood before the mirror now was the Pink Princess of Love, betrothed to Shining Armor, Mi Amore Cadenza, Cadence for Short.
“I’ve got a good feeling that my special day is going to be just perfect!”
“Hm?” I turn to the Pony addressing me, a maid, unicorn by the looks of it.
“Sorry for the suddenness, but Captain Shining Armor wishes to see you right away.”
“Ah, of… of course, I’ll go see him right away.” Fuck! I don’t have any of Cadence’s memories! He’s gonna sniff me out faster than Celestia sniffing out a cake!
“Is there anything I can do to serve you further, Princess?” she asked, and while normally I might’ve said no, I decided to give her a good once over. She wasn’t a mare with blatant sex appeal but rather, it was subtle, the right kind of curves to push all the right buttons, and her maid uniform worked to accentuate that natural beauty. This wasn’t anime busty maid levels of attraction, it was the kind you expected from a delicate and beautiful flower.
And I’m insectoid, guess what I’d want to do to a flower~.
“Actually, I’m certain I may feel a little… stressed when I get back to my room, why don’t you be a good mare and wait there so I can… vent it out~?” Oh the blush on her cheeks was delicious, and the faint wafting of lust radiating from her was just as tasty.
“B-b-b-but Princess, what about y-your fiance?” She said nervously, clearly meaning something else, but the perfect ammunition for a better idea.
“Oh my, I never thought of that, excellent idea, miss…”
“Radiant Tulip.” Oh now she’s just ASKING for it! I thought as she seemed to sigh in relief.
However her calm was not to last. “He may get stressed out too, and no stallion could pass up a three-way~.” she let out a squeak as I leaned down and whispered into her ear. “I never would’ve considered you’d be interested, such a naughty mare you are~.”
“N-no wait I-I-”
“Shh, this’ll be a once in a lifetime opportunity, and don’t deny it, I’m the princess of love.” I giggled as I moved closer, letting out a hot breath against the inside of her ear, causing her red tinge to grow more intense. “And I know you love this idea~.”
With a gentle kiss, I left her, and her slowly ruined underwear, to decide whether or not she’ll actually comply… but if she does…
I would revel in corrupting such a flower.
The stunt I pulled on Tulip made it easier to calm myself as I headed to Shining’s room, though while I needed to ask for directions on occasion, I was thankful to find that nopony had grown suspicious of me, not only for how I didn’t even know where my future husband’s room is, but the fact that I wasn’t even using magic at all. Not even my changelings, those who have known cruelty and unbridled apathy from their queen for I don’t know how many moons, saw fit to question if I was really the same Chrysalis.
Then again the Changelings probably liked the change of pace and didn't wanna fuck it up… that was fair considering it seemed the original Chrysalis expected Changelings to execute themselves the moment they made one mistake.
...okay that actually made me realize something.
Everyling? Report! How many of you have died so far? I messaged through the link.
Around 30, my queen. One responded. 2 of which have been accidental deaths due to structural errors, 10 got attacked by wild beasts patrolling the outside of the city, and 18 have committed self execution for failing you.
What did they even do?
They were part of the initial scouting team, they forgot to relay their intel to you today and proceeded to freefall into the rocks below.
THE FUCK?! SOMETHING AS SIMPLE AS FORGETTING IS WORTHY OF DEATH?! Of course, I couldn’t immediately show compassion to them, they’d clearly know something was up then… this also seemed to explain why the hell the changeling invasion seemed to fuck up… well, except for the love bomb situation.
So… let me get this straight, our scouts, bearing important intelligence that I would need, forgot to relay said intel at the intended time.
Yes, my queen.
And so instead of amending the situation and giving me the scouting data I still terribly need, they killed themselves, thereby making an even bigger mistake as they took that information to their graves.
...Y-Yes, my queen.
I left a moment of silence for dramatic effect before responding. Right, it’s clear that you killing yourselves so suddenly instead of working to fix the mistake is too counter-intuitive to my plans, so minds clear everyling, I want you all to hear this! You’re not allowed to kill yourselves for mistakes anymore! If you cause a problem, you either fix the problem, or you answer to me about the problem so that I can fix it and so it doesn’t fester or result in an even bigger mess!
Um… yes, my queen, we shall follow your word immediately. He said before the link went quiet… then it wasn’t.
I did nothing to quell my joy nor my pride about how I heard cheers and celebration throughout the hive-mind.
With that out of the way, I returned my focus to my immediate surroundings as I approached Shining Armor’s door, flanked by guards.
“Greetings princess, The Captain is waiting for you.” one said.
“Thank you.” I said, before I sniffed out a very adorable scent of love, with a link. “And I personally think you two stallions are perfect for each other.” I smiled as I walked past the now red and sputtering Guardsponies into the room.
Within the room I saw a distressed Shining, running around and looking through several different books for Shield Spells. As he turned to me his features softened and he pulled me into a hug with those big, strong forehooves-
Oh fuck I want to bone him just as much as Cadence! Well… on the plus side it means it won’t be hard to fake lovey-dovey stuff with him if I actually do have the lovey-dovey feels for him.
“Shiny? What’s the matter?”
“Oh Cadence, I’m so glad you’re okay!” He proclaimed, before moving back and looking me in the eye. “We’ve got a situation, a threat has been made to Canterlot!”
Oh shit… “Oh… my goodness, where did you hear? A letter?”
“No, a group of 18 ponies were found at the wall at the edge of Canterlot about to jump, Celestia tried to stop them and admitted to knowing a danger was coming to attack us, the shock from the warning meant we couldn’t stop them… Cadi, are you alright? Your eye is… twitching.”
“I… I’m just so sad about those ponies, it’s hard to contain my… tears!” I lied through my teeth.
After a thorough scolding, and pretending to listen to Shining’s explanations on the different types of Shield Magic, I still found myself confident that somehow, I could pull off what the original Chrysalis couldn’t.
Alright, let’s see what I’ve got going for me, I’m not having Changelings killing themselves and therefore crippling my forces… considering the original Chrysalis kept this going, I might actually have more numbers than she did. Check. What else? Hmmm... I’m not completely emotionally stunted, so I’ll actually be able to properly act out emotions more easily and be able to boost the morale of my troops. Check. Ooh! I actually know the sunshine dance and know and like the relationship between Cadence and Twilight, so I can throw off any suspicion from her! Check. I like apples! Double Checkerooni! I got Cadence an actual guard and caretaker so she won’t be resentful and said guard won’t be as easily swayed as those fucking bridesmaids! Checkity check check! And I actually know not to gloat like a stereotypical villain!
Wow, I have so many things going for me! What’s there to be a problem?
I can’t… use magic… meaning I’m completely defenseless in the Celestia fight, and I can’t send Twilight to the Crystal Caverns if I need to… FUCK.
Alright, so I had a plan, first I needed to learn how to use magic, then I needed to feed on enough love to overpower Celestia without being too obvious, and I… should probably check on Cadence, see how that dreamscape is coming along.
“Cadi? Are you-”
“Yes! Yes I’m listening!” I blurt out.
“I was going to ask if you were okay, but now I know my answer to both questions.” He said with concern.
Knowing I didn’t want to blow my cover, I thought up the best excuse at the time. “*sigh* I’m sorry Shiny, it’s just… this talk of a threat, and with the wedding so close I… I think maybe we should cancel the ceremony-”
“No! No, Cadence, this won’t ruin the wedding, this won’t ruin our day, the wedding will go on and it’ll show the world that Equestria won’t be afraid of any threats, I can take care of the shield spell that Celestia needs easy, I just need to keep the shield up, Celestia just needs to keep everypony calm, and you just need to keep being the mare I love.”
That’d be so sweet if all three weren’t going to be impossible to do in the end. I thought. “Okay, just make sure you didn’t forget to invite anypony.”
At that, Shining’s eyes went to the size of dinner plates. “Twily! I completely forgot! Thanks Cadence.” he said before he lunged his head forward, lips aimed for mine and-
*smoooooooooooooooooooooch!* “bye!” And he was off.
Now, let’s clarify something, Changelings can feed on ambient love passively, and they can drain it actively, displays of physical affection from a target also actively transfers love to me through the part the contact comes from.
I just got a helping of strong romantic love from a stallion in his prime, who I have the hots for, straight into my mouth.
“NNNNNNNHH~~!!!” I doubled over immediately.
“Princess are you-”
“DON’T COME IN I’M CUM-MNNNGH~~!!”
...yeeeeeaaaah…
Immediately after that… embarrassment. (thank Faust my hive didn’t see or hear that.) I decided the next prudent action would be to look through the Canterlot library, my logic being since I don’t have the time to go through the basics, looking through magical theory might help trigger some sort of subconscious memory of using magic, like using movements to trigger muscle memory. It… it failed, bad, but fortunately I did figure out how to use telekinesis after I tipped one of the stacks of books I made and it almost fell on me.
“Yeah! Score one for Chry-Cadence! Cadence, d-definitely Ca-my magic is green…”
aaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! DRONES RESPOND NOW!
Gah! Y-yes my queen?
Who knows how to make illusion charms?!
That’d be Compound, my queen.
Bring her to me this instant!
But my-
I SAID FUCKING NOW!!
I set the books down and cowered there in a panic, until a ‘pegasus guard’ cantered over to me and whispered into my ear. “Are you okay, my queen!”
“No I’m not alright! My magic is Green!”
“I… I’m confu-”
“Cadence’s magic is blue?! You think Celestia isn’t going to catch on that I’m a faker if I have green magic when it needs to be blue??”
“...p-point taken, I assume you wish for a charm to disguise your aura’s color”
“Yes, and hurry, I don’t want to take any chances…” I say, resuming my attempts to hide myself and my magic’s true nature as the realization hit me like a truck.
How could I forget the color of my own magic?! I almost blew my cover!!
What… what would’ve happened if I did that in front of Celestia? In front of Shining?!
“I’m back!” Compound said, causing me to blink.
“Wow… that was quick.”
“My Queen… I’ve been gone for 2 hours.”
oh.
“Oh… well whatever.” I took the presented amulet and tested it, seeing my green aura become the light blue that the pink alicorn is known for. “Well done, Compound.”
She suddenly froze up, and looked at me like I grew a second head. “W-what was that? My queen?”
“I just congratulated you, what? Do you want a kiss as well? Fine.”
“N-no wait that’s not what I-mmf?! MM! Mm. Mmmm~...” those were the noises of surprise and panic-inducing confusion before she stopped and slowly accepted the liplock she was being treated to, allowing me to pull her onto my lap and just enjoy the moment of physical contact.
Her lips were so soft, and in her disguise her fangs were still there, just pulled back to subtly hide them, but I knew where to look and triumphed in the soft squeaks my drone made as I ran my tongue over them.
Such a sweet mouth, I’m sure to get a tooth-ache… but it’ll be worth it~.
Mmnnh~, my queen! It feels so… ooooh buuuck~!
Yes~, lose yourself to my mouth, be a nice little slut-drone and cum from my melty kiss~.
She let out muffled cries as she came, overwhelmed not just from the kiss, but from the fact I had been mouth-feeding her some of Shining’s love to reward her.
But of course the ponies around us weren’t seeing that, they were just seeing a slutty guard getting off to a make-out session with the princess of love, they turned, they blushed and did everything to avert their eyes and ears but they know what they saw… and what they heard.
Now, be a good girl and head back to your post.
Yes… Mistress.
I let her go and she cantered away shakily as I savoured the new moniker she gave me.
Mistress… Kinky~...
With a new, basic understanding of magic and insurance that I won’t be caught by my aura’s personal fashion trend, I decided to go look for Shining again, I didn’t want to keep Tulip waiting.
As I trotted outside, I looked to the sky at the sound of a pulse, and watched as a pink shield sphere came down.
“That… is going to make things difficult…”
I continued on unabated, knowing I could plan around the shield issue later, and easily think of something better than ‘group up and hit it until it dies.’ Until I find a way to learn more changeling magic, I don’t think it will be possible to just drain the caster either…
Speaking of Caster, I found Shining up on one of the battlements next to… Celestia.
“Okay, play it cool ‘Cadence’ you’re just walking over to your aunt… who just so happens to be a several thousand year old sun deity that could roast you alive with the burning orb of plasma should you look at her funny! No problem!”
“Um… are you talking to yourself?” I blink and see a gardener looking at me confused.
*thwack!* and with him dealt with I headed up the stairs to see my fiance.
“Cadence! It is good to see you!” Celestia said cheerfully as Shining gave me a hug.
Dammit Chrysalis don’t cream your… wait I don’t have pants… don’t stain the floor? Yeah that! Don’t stain the floor Chryssi, it’s just a hug! So what if he’s pumping all his love through your skin from it… FUUUUCK~!!
“L-likewise, Aunt Tia, I see the shield you wanted is up.”
“Yes, with Shining’s capacity to preset who is and isn’t allowed through the shield is a mighty boon for us all… hm? What is that you have?” She asks, lifting up the amulet I got.
“Um… old personal heirloom before I joined the royal family, I decided that on my wedding day, the spirit of the pony who gave me this should be here to see it.” I said vaguely, didn’t want to talk myself into a corner.
“I see… it’s from your mother, isn’t it?” She said solemnly, looking at the coincidentally heart shape of the amulet with a sense of pain and nostalgia.
“Y-yeah, I didn’t want to say it aloud because we’re both-”
“Shh, it’s okay, Princess Amore was important to both of us, let’s not leave her name to sadness, alright?”
“Yeah… I-I’d like that.” I said with a smile, pushing down all that guilt.
“She… she would be so proud to see the mare you’ve become.”
“She’d be more proud of the mare who raised me to be that way.” I shot back, making us both give a soft giggle.
“Well, I’ll leave you two be.” she said as she flew off to her tower.
“Cadence… if you ever-”
“Nope! We’re over that, we don’t need to talk about it, you’re coming with me!” I lifted the surprised unicorn in my magic and pranced off to my chambers.
“C-Cadi! What about my duties??” He said as he tried to shake himself out of my grip.
“You can worry about that after our three-way with the maid.” I couldn’t help but giggle as he went limp.
“Three-way… with a… w-which one?”
“Radiant Tulip~.”
He looked at me… then down the hall with this thousand yard stare, his mouth moving, muttering about how this must be a dream or how it was simply too good or kinky to be true… then he gulped. “A-and…?” Somehow I could sense what he was asking, and I loved giving him the answer.
“I’m thinking four rounds… maybe six if Tulip’s still conscious.”
“You mean if me and Tulip are still conscious, right?”
“I never said that~.” I said as I looked at him and licked my lips, and his white fur paled further, but his emotions were not of pure horror, it was of expected horror, like Cadence was actually like this.
As I looked back on that, there was only one thought on my mind as I opened the door to a nude, masturbating mare atop my bed.
I saunter into the room, Shining stuck in my grasp.
"Nhh~!! Princess.. I-I’m ready, just like you asked.." I saw her clit wink out, and she moaned like a good slut.
“Hot~..." I looked to the still nervous stallion, who I could see due to his lack of pants, was ‘at attention’. “Don’t worry Shining, just go ahead and let me do all the work~.”
“What are you-” he gasps as I lock his movements, being very careful as I pulled my aura away from his genitals and set him on the ground… then made him walk up to the bed. “Mmm~, it’s just like those puppet shows I performed for Twilight~.”
“Somehow I doubt those ended up like this.” Shining commented as I made him rear up onto the bed and thrust his hips, beckoning the maid into the crevice between the stallion and the bed-frame for a true rutting.
"Y-you really want him to rut me, Princess?"
“Go on, I need it nice and wide for what I’m planning~.”
"Wh-what do you mean by that..?"
“All you need to know is if you’re going to go ahead and leave him hanging, I might need to extend my magic to two puppets~.”
She gulped, and slowly scooted her way down to his cock.
“Nnnrrh…” he groaned softly as she slipped onto his rod as his hips remained in place… but then thrusted. “Ahh~!!”
"OH BUUCK~!!"
I chuckled as I proceeded to sit back and touch myself. “You like it? How you’re getting off to my future hubby’s cock in front of me~?”
"It feels so good inside me, Princess~!!"
I watched as Shining rammed into her again and again, cock throbbing in delight from the tight hole.
“Mmm~, come on, let’s have a better look at you~.” I flared up my magic and flipped them, shining now sitting on the bed, lifting our maretoy up and down onto him as I moved my seat closer and watched more intensely, licking my lips.
"Ohh Buuck he's so huge inside mee~!!"
“Oooh~. Lemme get all up in that~.” I moaned as I leaned in, waiting for her clit to wink out, and when it did, it became trapped in the grip of my suckling lips and left open to the assaults of my snaking tongue.
"AHHN~!! I'M CUMMIIING~!!" And that sexy maid squirted all over my soon-to-be husband's cock, and my tongue, too.. and my chin.
And I drank up the juices eagerly, along with Shiny’s when his balls couldn’t handle holding all that rich delicious sperm in.
Yes… your lust feeds me, let it all out!
My queen! What if she becomes competition for your mate?!
Simple, why would a member of our hive compete with its queen?
Truly you are devious and thoughtful beyond measure, my queen.
Of course, though I don’t expect you all to slack! Search for a weakness in the shield, I don’t want you wasting energy trying to get into the city should the situation end up dire.
Of course, My Queen.
The maid just sat there on top of my fiance, moaning like the slut she was.
Shiny, like the stallion he was, was already out cold yet still rock hard, though seeing the opportunity, I moved in and bit my new convert in the neck injecting her with venom.
"Ah!!" She fought weakly for a few moments.. then stopped… then moaned. "Ohhhh~~."
I held her close as I injected her with converting venom.
"Ohh celestiaaa~.." I could feel her clit winking on my leg.
Forget Celestia, I’m your ruler now.
Y-yeeesss~....
I am your Queen~, Queen Chrysalis~!
Yes my Queen~.. please.. please pleasure me more~!!
With a smirk, I lifted her up and impale her ass on Shining’s rod as I prepared my own.
"Ohh~!!"
I smirked as I climbed over her. “Are you ready to bear the next generation, my drone?”
“Yes my Queen, give me the honor of birthing your young!”
With her consent I thrusted in, rubbing against Shining’s erection and causing the conked out Stallion to let out a content groan in his sleep. “Oh Cadi~.”
“That’s it Shiny, let Cadi take your big fat cock~...” I teased before resuming my rhythm into Radiant… except now she was reborn she needed a new name… and I knew just the one.
Nnmmm! My Queen, I need to cum!!
Then cum, my new Drone, cum with me… Segmenta!
I let out, not a cry like the newly dubbed Segmenta, but instead it was a long guttural moan as I emptied out into her actively milking groin. As expected I didn’t release semen, but eggs as my disguise took to allowing me to use my ovipositor in place of a futanari cock, letting me impregnate her and pump her with the green, adhesive slime that would keep the little ones in place as they absorbed Shining’s sperm, the real reason why I had him cum inside her first.
“Mmm… my Queen, it’s so… full~.”
“Yes it is…” I smirked as I pulled her off Shining, who had made a second climax during me and Segmenta’s time together. “Go ahead and clean up, then assume your pony duties until I have need of you.”
“Yes… my Queen…” she said as I set her down, and she shakily trotted off.
As she left, I found myself drawn to the still somehow erect member of the happily dreaming future Groom, to which I immediately surrendered to my desires and deep-throated that throbbing love-sausage.
Dear fuck, if only the rest of him had this level of stamina, I might understand what Cadence sees in him… or me for that matter.
I was cut out of my musings as he erupted a third time tonight, which suddenly made me understand how easy it was for Chrysalis to get so much power so fast to the point where she could overpower Celestia. The fact of the matter being that it seems that the most… potent source of love seemed to be his fluids, because right now I was being overwhelmed by a torrent of flavours and power! I was lucky Shining stayed unconscious or I’d be busted as my disguise faltered in the face of my very prominent feeding.
Cumming! CUMMING! CUMMNNNNGGHH!!
As I popped off for some desperately needed air and reprieve of mind-shattering orgasms, I thanked my lucky stars that finally Shining’s cock had been sated and was going flaccid, meaning that stupid sexy stallion couldn’t tempt me with that musky-
RAAAGH! STOPITSTOPITSTOPIT!!
I shook my head, re-assumed my disguise and carried Shining back to his room, despite what I wanted, I couldn’t risk being in the same room as him if he decided to get morning wood, I may be a Changeling Queen now, but I didn’t have the mental fortitude of one.
Speaking of things I didn’t have as a Changeling, I was still sorely lacking in magical prowess, even if I was able to scrounge up how to do the flame portal trick from the hive-mind, even if I haven’t tried it yet, I still didn’t have any combat spells, it’d be too suspicious for the Princess of Love to suddenly want to know how to fry a bitch with her horn, and even more suspicious to the hive if their dangerous and imposing queen didn’t know already how to fry a bitch.
I gave out a frustrated sigh as I entered Cadence’s room, dropped my disguise and looked in the mirror… into a face that I inherited with little training.
“I’m expected to be a Queen, to win this battle, but I can’t even learn magic to the degree of one I had to replace! I’m not Chrysalis, hell I’m not even Kerrigan!” I closed my eyes in anger. “I don’t have claws or spines or hard bone armor! How am I supposed to-WHOA!” I gasped out in surprise when I reopened my eyes to look at myself again… at first I thought I had changed into The Queen Of Blades herself…
But upon further inspection, I wasn’t, those eyes were clearly of a Changeling Queen, the carapace was thicker but still was a shining black, with holes in the forelimbs, my green mane remained instead of tendrils and my wings, while larger, retained their insectoid form. Looking into the face of this new form I saw this not as Kerrigan, but a completely original design, like a sort of humanized chrysalis with the abilities I wished to have. I found this new form strange yet naturally easy to acclimate too, and I felt stronger too, like my shapeshifting even gave me the physical… properties of…
So, as it turns out, and as I had remembered, Changelings can design their own forms to disguise into, much like when Thorax attempted to integrate with Ponies with the help of Spike.
What I didn’t realize until now however, was just how powerful that ability is, especially when I just discovered it can make changes of pure imagination, such as me being some sort of Zerg-Like Humanoid Changeling. Of course that meant with a little experimentation it was clear I could pull off all the zerg forms and biological functions… but that’s when I got to thinking.
I could pull off these crazy transformations, and mimic their biological abilities if my wardrobe covered in hydralisk spines was any indication (I’ll be fixing that later)… but what about unique, non-magical powers?
This brings me to now, where I had finished preparing myself for the challenge of pulling off an ability any nerd would wanna try that wouldn’t destroy the country-side; Bending.
“Alright, I know I can’t just make myself shift an organ that’ll let me Bend… but I know how a human body feels, so maybe if I change into a Bender, and charge a bit of my love-stores into it, I might be able to use the sensations of the disguise to understand it…”
With that knowledge, I narrowed down the choices, and possible order, of who I’d change into.
I knew Aang was gonna be a big no, as I didn’t have the fortitude needed for my own native body, and having a body with the spiritual energy to manipulate all four elements at once was not gonna be any better.
Azula was a definite negative, as I had no fucking clue if blind-jumping into a change could risk me getting whatever psychosis she had in her brain, at least this body is used to transforming into ponies or I might’ve ended up becoming a perfect duplicate of Cadence by accident!
Moving on from that nightmare scenario, Zuko and Toph were unfortunately not options as I already made enough of a mess with my Zerg transformations, meaning Fire and Earth were not good ideas for the immediate moment.
This meant my only option was Katara, since I didn’t know any other air-benders, water-bending seemed rather safe, and she was female, meaning I wouldn’t risk any major hormone shifts.
To clarify, I was able to pull off turning into Cadence so easily because Chrysalis’ body is used to changing into shapes native to Equestria, so its natural magic could protect my brain from any big changes, I’m not going to have that safety net when I change into this new, ‘unfamiliar’ form, meaning I need to mentally prepare to ensure I don’t lose myself in the facade’s psyche.
But now was not the time for stalling, now was the time for action, and so I began to charge up my energy for the transformation.
Okay, now I just need to channel the shift carefully, any sudden distractions and I risk losing myself to Katara’s brain… slowly… slowly-
MY QUEEN! THERE IS A PROBLEM!
GAH! What—oh shit…
*BWAMM!*
{New Personality}
I slowly stood up, head dizzy.
“Ugh… where am I…? Last I remember I was…”
My mind lunged forward to full clarity as I looked around, finding no Fire Nation, or any known architecture in my room.
“Where’s Aang? What’s going on? I thought we won the war, how did I get captured again??” I asked, clearly seeing through the ruse of such a nice room.
I gotta get out of here, let’s see, I can sense water in that pipe. I thought as I pulled some out and made ready to cut through the secretly reinforced door—
My Queen! Are you okay! Answer me!
Queen? Why does that feel familiar, I thought I was… no, I’m not but… what about Aang and…
As my mind began to fade, the last memory I had was of me and the one I grew to love, sharing a kiss on a balcony.
Aang…
{Personality Revert}
…
My Queen?
State your name, Drone… I messaged coldly, tears streaming from my eyes from the residual memories and emotions from the Disguise’s mind.
Um… Stag, My Queen, like the Beetle.
Stag… your news had better be important, or you won’t live to regret it.
But I thought we weren’t allowed to kill ourselves anymore—
WELL IT DOESN’T COUNT IF I KILL YOU NOW DOES IT?!
He audibly whimpered over the link in terror. Cadence broke out of the cocoon!
What?!
She managed to break out of the dream state we crafted, the mental shock waking her up to break her confines, we had to resort to holding her in a prison of crystal.
I… okay, that was pretty damn important, just find a way to keep her down there and keep her fed, if this fiasco goes sideways I either want to still have an ounce of compassion from her, or a bargaining chip against the Sisters, neither of which can happen if she’s a corpse!
Understood, My Queen.
As the link was severed, I let the blade of water drop to the ground, and broke into sobs as I had to get through all the heartache Katara left behind. “Stupid transformations and their stupid emotions! Dammiiiit!!” I cried out quietly.
It took a good while to get all that pain under control, and I finally managed to isolate bending energy from that episode… but it was hardly worth it.
Thankfully now that I had the capacity to understand bending power, and have gotten used to human brain-patterns, it was foal’s play to use Toph’s and Zuko’s transformations to find Fire and Earth Bending energies, with the other three isolated in full clarity, Aang’s form was less spiritually taxing on me, allowing me to remain in it long enough to understand Air.
Unfortunately, I had come to greatly underestimate how true some pieces of fiction were.
“And just what do you think you are trying to do, insect?” I heard an imposing voice behind me, but I stood my ground.
“Insect? I’ll have you know I am a Queen! What makes you have the right to-” I turned, staring directly into the gaze of a large owl. “...Wan Shi Tong…”
“It seems my reputation exists even in other worlds, when the keeper of great knowledge in this world sent me to reply to her brother’s message, as the Dragon was too ill to send via fire magic, the last thing I expected was a Changeling trying to mimic the Avatar.”
“Wait, you’re Owlowiscious?!”
My outburst was rather unfortunate of a reaction, as I found myself surrounded by the wings of he who knew Ten Thousand Things, with a rather more imposing form. “And how do you know that name?”
“Oh crap.”
As the head of the beast loomed towards me, eyes narrowed in hostile suspicion the predator’s breath brushing against my Carapace, fear shot through every part of me until I spoke aloud. “I’MFROMANOTHERWORLD!!”
Immediately the menacing aura of the beast relented, and he looked to return to his calm state, a gaze of interest directed at me, knowing it was a dumb move to withhold knowledge from the spirit, I began to speak of earth, how I had known of him and the Avatar’s realm through a device called a television, and how this world also shared a TV show. I talked of the portal that brought me here, and the future fated for the original owner of this form, and he listened with great interest.
“This is quite a unique world you have originated from, ‘Chrysalis’, one of many wonders, and such thought to your world by allowing them to share in your knowledge…”
Yeah… let’s just hope I didn’t have any kids witness anything inappropriate from my ‘sharing’. I thought as I realized just how incriminating those screens would be, especially since I didn’t specify what they should and shouldn’t show.
“And the discovery that Changelings need only visualize the form within their minds to assume it is indeed an interesting find, if not worrying should the other queens learn of it.”
“Wait, there are more?!”
“Five others, you are of the green hive, the others are blue, pink, red, orange and purple, like the original colors of the Elements of Harmony.”
“That sounds like something Discord would make happen just for the comparison.”
“Funny, that’s exactly what he did.”
“Wut?”
“I will grant no more, offer me a tribute of knowledge, and I might feed your curiosity.”
And with that, he proceeded to return to the size of the tiny owl I knew of to be Twilight’s ‘pet’, flying out the window with a scroll.
After my encounter with what could believably be called my natural predator, I had remained frozen for a long while.
So long in fact I almost got exposed by Shining, had I not had my subconscious instincts slap me out of it at the first sign of danger.
“Cadi? Are you alright?” he said, his voice slightly strained.
“... you’re not the one who should be asking that.” I say as I turn to see his tired eyes.
“Sorry, keeping a spell up for this long is uncomfortable, I’m starting to get headaches, I don’t think I can keep this spell up anymore than I have.”
Great! If he drops the spell then I won’t need to worry about a shield.
Wait, CRAP! If the shield goes down they might bring in Luna, or Celestia might use her own shield instead, or worse, the wedding will have to be delayed! And I don’t know a spell! Come on Chrysalis, think! This is clearly mental stress, how does one relieve stress and tension? I slowly blink as an idea comes to mind.
I smirked as I proceeded to trot over to him, head lowering. “Cadence? What are you doing?”
“I’m helping~.” I purred as I nuzzled his cock out and proceeded to fellate him.
“C-Cadi~!! Oh buck that feels good!” he groaned out as I sucked off the hard working stallion.
I was not being left high-and-dry either, getting a nice lustful mouthful of future husband love was very tasty and very pleasurable as I ran my tongue across his medial ring.
“Oh Ponyfeathers~! Cadi if you keep that up I’m gonna…”
Already? Well I guess either my little rutting-session with him and Segmenta the night before last really drained him or… no matter, it’s still gonna be tasty~. I concluded before working to coax out his climax.
“Oooh~!!” he managed to groan out as I was able to get a very orgasmic helping of liquid love.
I pulled back, licked my lips, and almost broke character until I noticed to my surprise that he was still on his feet, a goofy smile on his face and a vacant stare in his eyes.
“Feeling better, honey?” I asked.
“Mhm…” he nodded before shaking his head a bit. “Wait… oh wow, I actually do feel better! how’d you know?”
“Well it was clear the issue wasn’t fatigue but mental stress, you didn’t have a drop of sweat on you, and you didn’t have bags under your eyes so you clearly slept well, so maintaining the spell is clearly just causing psychological pressure in the form of stress.”
He blinked a few times before tilting his head in confusion. “huh?”
“Brain stuff I needed to learn to make sure I didn’t screw up my duties as the princess of love.” I bullshitted flawlessly. “All you need to concern yourself about is if you ever start getting a headache again, come find me and I’ll suck you off again.”
“Really? No matter what?” he said incredulously.
“No matter what.” I confirmed before kissing him on the cheek and sending him on his way.
On his way out I had to hold in a laugh as the guard stationed outside my door seemed to have overheard, and muttered to Shining. “You. Lucky. Bastard.”
Unlike the hectic panic that I was dealing with these past few days, I now had all the preparations in hand for the events. this important factor meant I could take a moment to kick back and relax, which is what I happily intended to do in the royal gardens, on a beach chair, soaking in the sun with my nice apple-juice drink… fucking love apples.
My Queen, the barrier is causing more trouble than expected.
And there it is… what now… wait who am I speaking too? You don’t sound like Stag.
I’m Th-Thorax, My Queen, and Stag is part of the reason I’m informing you, he attempted to use his body and some shapeshifting to force a hole open by way of becoming a stone gate. He started to explain.
And how did that go?
When he shifted back to his true form midway through the shield in order to turn into the archway, he ended up bisected with his front half on the outside… luckily a medical team was nearby to stabilise him and the cut was clean so simple regenerative spells will fix him up… but until then he’s in a medically induced coma so he doesn’t feel all the pain he should be in.
I had to try… REALLY HARD… not to wince externally at that, now I know that the shield is constantly making checks, meaning it won’t even be as easy as simply transforming my army into accepted guests and flooding them in, because then the spell would know something was up if it let Fancy Pants enter three times in a row. Pondering, I took a sip of my juice box.
*suuuuuuck*
Hm… tastes sweeter for some reason, oh well… so we need more numbers inside, but we can’t get them from outside… is Compound still undercover?
Yes, My Queen.
I need her to go into the archives room and look in the section with all the older spells, more specifically, I need her to find the spell ‘Similo Duplexis’ and begin distributing the instructions on how to cast it through the hive-mind, from what I remember it is a form of cloning spell.
Of course, thank you My Queen!
And thank you, show knowledge!! I dropped the link and relaxed back, taking another sip of my strange-tasting juice.
“Ahh~!!” I blink, my mind informing me very clearly that juice boxes don’t moan.
I glanced down with confused eyes to find a unicorn groundskeeper in my grip as I was sucking something from her horn.
What is that, it’s so odd, and it has a little spark to it like—
I blink in shock as I glance to her eyes to see them become faded, and then to her cutie mark, seeing it disa—
“OH MY FAUST!” I yelled as I release her and back off, realizing what had happened and what I had just swallowed. “AUNT CELESTIA!!” I cry out as loudly as I could, the white alicorn arriving immediately.
“My dear niece, what troubles—”
“I need you to make me throw up!” I demanded, causing her to throw her head back in surprise.
“...wut?”
“NO TIME TO EXPLAIN! MAKE ME THROW UP! NOW!”
Seeing my desperation, my ‘Aunt’ panicked and delivered a hard kick to my stomach, making me eject out a pile of glowing vomitus onto the ground, which slowly formed into a wisp and returned to the unicorn, who promptly got the buck out of there.
“... I trust you can explain now?” Celestia said in concern and… I think a hint of fear.
“I… I didn’t realize what I was doing!” I said, tears in my eyes as I realized what I had done and who I had imitated. “I was relaxing with some juice I-I didn’t realize she came up to me until a little later and by the time her eyes were faded and-”
“Shh, shh, it’s okay, it’s okay now Cadence…” she pulled me close into a wing-hug, her less potent, motherly affection flowing from her body into me was not as intense as Shining’s romantic love, it was subdued, yet the subtle flavors let it stand out better, and the sensation was merely a gentle, soothing warmth. In no time at all I was relaxed as she gave me quiet and gentle reassurances.
“What… what did I do?” I said, playing dumb as I knew exactly what happened, but knew I shouldn’t.
“You drained magic from her, it was a practice used long ago by Grand Magus to boost their power, but in almost all cases they only took partial amounts and left a remainder so the donor could recharge, it wasn’t until a Centaur named Tirek that for the first time a unicorn was completely drained intentionally.” She patted my shoulder gently. “And he was the only creature to do so, you are not the first pony to make that mistake, and I’m proud that in your realization you put yourself at risk to help her… but next time, just use your magic to guide what you took out of your body.”
“I can do that?” I asked, genuinely surprised.
“Of course, It’s simple telekinesis, another’s magic won’t mix with yours unless you want it to, so you can still isolate it and bring it out without issue.”
“Huh… neat…”
“Now, is that all?”
“No… thanks Auntie… love you!” I say without thinking.
She pauses and looks at me, her face unreadable for a solid minute before it gave that telltale smile. “I… love you too, my niece.” she replies, a small surge of that motherly affection appearing from her… but also pain, guilt, and fear, as she turned away to fly up.
This was clearly something hurting her, if it festered it could lead her to alienating herself through professionalism, in fact the weeds of discontent had already sprouted with how distant she decides to be with Twilight… as one currently assuming the role of the Princess of Love it is my duty to help her, but as my true role of Queen of the Green Changeling Hive...
I could let her get away, I should let her get away! This isn’t my aunt! She’s my enemy, my arch-nemesis of a ruler, opponents of a war she is too cowardly to fight for, let my people starve! I don’t care for her! I don’t I don’t I don’t-
“WAIT!” I called out, against my better judgement. In my train of poor decisions, I even held her wings down so she couldn’t fly off before I got to her. “I… I saw the pain you were feeling… I can’t let you do this to yourself.”
“...is it obvious?” She smiled. “With my sister back I keep being reminded that instead of the love I should’ve given her, I pushed her away and left her to—”
“It’s not about Luna.” I interjected, causing her to actually flinch.
Yeah, that’s right Celestia, your half-truths and double speak aren’t going to work on a queen of deception! Plus I can totally taste that shame from being dishonest.
“Despite what you’d wish it to be, your conflict with your sister doesn’t weigh on you, you’ve had time to reconcile and work through the problems, at best you’re worried about how she continues to beat herself up about it.” She winces as I pick apart what happened. “Despite how that concern might weigh on your spirit, that isn’t why you’d feel such pain when I said that I love you… no, this is about Somepony you can’t reach, one that left with bitterness still in her heart as she disappeared to somewhere outside of your influence… this is about Sunset Shimmer.” She was silent, but couldn’t bear to look me in the eye. “You gave that pony a home and made her feel wanted and destined for greater things, that’s your regret, how you fueled that ambition and arrogance in a child and made her feel betrayed when you couldn’t give her that destiny, and it hurt to see that you had betrayed her considering your relationship… and that’s why you always adopt ponies as your nieces and nephews, so you can stay detached!”
“Stop…” She said, visibly shaking.
“When are you going to stop pushing ponies away? How long are you going to seal off your heart because you don’t want to feel again!”
“I said stop…” she was firmer, a silent rage building.
“Or maybe you’re worried the moment you give a pony a cuddle, they’ll end up an entitled bitch like Sunset was—”
“DO NOT DARE SPEAK OF MY DAUGHTER SO ILL!!” She snapped, hair ablaze with fury as her wings loomed over like claws.
But I had no fear, I just got what I wanted. “...Daughter, eh?”
All that rage, malicious intent, utter unbarred fury, died with a meek and pathetic whimper, her eyes wide in panic, her mouth slammed shut, and her wings limp. She looked at me and my resolute and knowing expression as tears stung her eyes and she wailed, several years of anguish and pent up sorrow unleashed in a torrent of despair as I said nothing, merely outstretching my hooves so that she could hug me and bleed off all this sadness.
I didn’t mind, sadness was a salty emotion, salty and full of empty calories, so I blocked off my feeding and merely let her feelings wash over me and consoled her. Eventually she calmed, and pulled away, looking at me with a sad smile and tired, red eyes.
“Feel better?”
“...no… no amount of outlet will help me find closure for my actions… but the weight is lighter, thank you Cadence.”
As I saw her torment full force, I decided that in some way, I’d confide in this pony the truth… but only some.
“Auntie… I… there’s something important I need to say.”
“Yes, Cadence? Go ahead and tell me anything.”
“I have to tell you, that me, the true me, no tricks or anything, loves you no matter what, and to prove it I want to give you something to show you that true me when the time comes…”
“And how would you—”
“Cross My Heart and Hope To Fly, stick a cupcake in my eye, it is indeed the truth.” I could see her go visibly paler as I invoked the promise of great power… followed by her simply nodding for me to continue. “I’m going to give you a code-word that I will not speak to anypony else to prove to you who I am: Fluffernutter.”
“Fluffernutter? Well, I guess it will be unexpected… I won’t forget it, Cadence.” she hugged me again and trotted away.
“That was nice, now I just need to wait for—”
“Oh! One more thing, Twilight and her friends are arriving tomorrow! We should be prepared for the ceremony the following day.” She says before she gets out of earshot.
“Oh buck…”
Chapter 8: Coming To Understand. (Slightly Edited)
So, it seemed my timetable was a lot quicker than expected… then again when Chrysalis hid herself in that closet in the first place, she had a plan and the magical know-how to carry it out, would’ve hypnotised Shining the moment Cadence was in the caverns.
True she had a very shitty and not at all well-thought out plan of ‘oh hey, Equestria’s full of love, let’s violently take over and proceed to make them too scared to make any!’, I mean come on, this is like farming cows, they’re not gonna be alright with being milked unless they’re calm and happy… BUT AT LEAST SHE HAD A PLAN!
Really, one of the things she didn’t account for was some eldritch force dropping me in her place for Shits And Giggles. True there were a LOT more flaws than that but having a very flawed plan is still better than flying by the seat of your pants, and using long-term goals and knee jerk reactions to bullshit one!
I mean sure I could fake being Cadence perfectly, the moment I do the ladybug dance and reminisce with Twilight over my foalsitting days is the moment all suspicion is dropped, but I still needed an army, the warnings my former drones spoke to the princesses gave me no hope of settling this peacefully, especially now that Cadence has proven un-brainwash-able, and this shield splitting my forces in half. I’ve gotten no word of Compound’s progress on finding the spell, I can’t hypnotise Shining to weaken his grip on the shield, essentially I have no plan and what semblance of a plan I had is crumbling around me!
Wait, calm down, I know the schedule, they said they should be ready by the day after tomorrow, the actual ceremony is not meant to take place until a few days after that. I’m not being rushed, I just need to relax and keep up my cover. I can do that easy, I’m not like Chrysalis, I actually know how to act like her… maybe I could just keep it going! Get married to Shining and pretend to be Cadence forever! I mean, I’m already faking it as Chrysalis, what’s one more mask??
I immediately smacked myself, and the fact that Pony Hooves hit harder than Human Hands was very good for me. Dammit Chryssi! Get a grip, so you can’t hypnotise Cadence, there’s a way better Plan B for her… maybe…
Compound, I need help remembering something, and you’re my information expert.
I… my Queen, I wouldn’t exactly call myself an-
There’s more kisses in it for you~.
Information Expert, Compound Fracture, at your service!
I wouldn’t have happened to have made attempts to gain love from Equestria Diplomatically, did I?
No, my queen.
Fuck, okay, um… do we have anything that could justify our infiltration? Something that shows we couldn’t just reveal ourselves.
That… that got some silence… like, the buzzing harmony of the Hive-Mind had fucking stopped.
I need something to explain to Cadence why we decided to kidnap her that will have her sympathise with us. I clarified… the silence continued for a moment before Compound spoke up.
There is… far more than you would expect or be comfortable with, My Queen. Tenten could attest to what happened to her and other discovered Changelings.
Tenten? I felt her voice enter the call.
Yes, my queen?
Compound informed me that there are fates that have befallen discovered changelings, I won’t need much recollection to let you know that I was never informed of this.
Apologies My Queen, we omitted some of the reports since you were only a teenager, we did not want to burden you, since they had failed their missions anyway-
And I’ve told all of you, taking your information to your graves is stupid when I still need it, you know those reports, I can feel it! Relay them to me.
My Queen, please-
I don’t want excuses! I want to know!
At least get to the privacy of your chambers first!
I blinked, only realizing now that I had been pacing out in the Courtyard this entire time.
Right… I will message you when I have entered the sanctity of my room, I assure you, whatever you have in those memories, I’m ready for it.
I was wrong… I was so wrong. Words could not describe the horrors ponies have committed to Changelings, I was about ready to throw up by the end of it, true, Celestia would sooner have become Tirek’s magicless cockwarmer before she ever condoned the atrocities enacted upon my race… but neither Chrysalis nor her subjects ever knew Celestia or any of the heroes of Equestria before this, these groups acted by themselves, and summarily skullfucked any chance of the Changelings considering any kind of peaceful resolution, and while Chrysalis never got to see these reports herself, she was still going on their opinions and well...
Vampire.
Monster.
Impostor.
Date-Rapist.
Succubus.
So many names they spat at my innocent drones, who before now hadn’t even begun replacing ponies to slip into their society! But the names that were really burned into my mind…
Veil, found a husband, mother of three, had one intense orgasm too many and her disguise failed, last moments were of her Stallion choking her out on their own bed while looking at her like something he stepped in.
Lilan, praised as a local hero for providing a new water supply during the town’s draught season, many foals would’ve died of thirst or disease without him, accidentally de-transformed after getting an unintended hoofball to the face, they still happily smiled at him… as he burnt on their pyre.
Dess, dear Faust, he was only a Nymph, had snuck out of the hive and infiltrated on his own to get an Equestrian Education in Canterlot, when his mother contacted him his disguise was forcibly dropped from the psychic pressure… it was the worst possible way to learn that some Ponies did eat meat, and that apparently Live Changeling Nymph meat had some demand in the black-market.
And Tenten… holy fuck she needed therapy, she was originally an infiltrator from the Blue Hive, under Queen Merlix, who had become a musical icon and binged on the adoration, having pioneered a new kind of music. She was found out when one of the light crystals on the stage overloaded and shocked her, she was captured by the crowd of stallions that came to admire her, but unlike the others, they didn’t despise her or think of her as disgusting.
No, she was still beautiful in their eyes, and that was worse, because they still considered her not a pony.
I already experienced the horror of shapeshifting without being able to shield your mind, she had to do it over and over or risk her horn being shattered or her wings torn off. Married mares, known troublemakers like Trixie Lulamoon, famous stallions in female forms, even filly versions of the princesses and the mane six. So many forms, so many personalities forced upon her just so the crowd could live out their sick fantasies before leaving her on the outskirts.
She doesn’t even remember her real name anymore, and Merlix wants nothing to do with a drone with an identity crisis, but I apparently took her in because she knows things about the Blue Hive, Ponies and how to care for the young in the nursery.
Tenten… did… did I bring you inside?
Yes My Queen, you demanded all drones for the invasion except a select few.
And… are you disguised right now? I had only just known of her trauma now, and what that psychological damage has done to her, but Chrysalis knew, and if she had...
...Yes, we are, My Queen, we haven’t used this self for a long time, she gives bad memories, but she is the one who will be noticed the least.
She had… SHE HAD! You BITCH!! You’re so lucky your consciousness is not in here with me or I would be taking a page out of our drones’ book SO HARD RIGHT NOW! MY OWN LIFE BE DAMNED!!
Tenten, you are to report to the Crystal Caves, when you are down there, you are to detransform before you start slipping again, and wait for my arrival. I ordered firmly.
My Queen, we are fine, we do not need to kill her again! She’s not being seen! She’s not-
Oh Celestia, this is gonna hurt. Compound, I want her down there, and I want her down there as a Changeling, got it?
Yes, My Queen.
NO! Please! My Queen, have mercy on her! She has a name! She has a family! Don’t do thi-
Then there was silence, I didn’t block her out, I had remained connected the entire time, listening to her, feeling my own guilt stab me up until Compound had forced her unconscious.
Well, as if my day hadn’t felt like complete shit before… but I at least have something to get Cadence on my side, the Princess of Love would surely understand my rather hostile act if no love was ever shown to our kind. Fuck, this just feels like lies upon lies, but it’s all I’ve really got at this point.
Well, if the Green Hive shows anything about Changelings, it’s that we’re good at digging holes for ourselves. At the very least, victory or defeat, I’m not going to let those individuals-
Wait…I feel a strange premonition, an echo in the hive-mind...
I lean my head out of my room, glancing to one of two ponies standing adjacent to it. “Guard, could I please have a copy of the guest list?”
“Which one, Princess?”
“There’s more than one?”
“Yes, we received a letter to add a ‘special guest’ list to bring certain select ponies to the ceremony, the letter was in your name and we were requested not to question you about it.”
“And you didn’t find that suspicious?”
“Well, it was in your hoof-writing.”
“...let me see that other list.” I requested from him in a deadpan tone.
Fucking idiots, apparently it’s not limited to Changelings.
He produced the scroll from under his armor and hoofed it to me. Back in the privacy of Cadence’s quarters, I unfurled it, reading out the names…
Oh. My. Celestia.
It was them, every single pony that had done those changelings wrong, their names burned into the minds of so many brothers and sisters because of the horrors they inflicted on those that had come to trust and care for them.
They had been invited to the wedding, they had all RSVP invitations and every single one had been confirmed, they’d be attending, in the crowd when I stride up the altar.
...okay, just because I may want to kiss you right now doesn’t mean I forgive you for putting Tenten through that again, but oh boy, I could use this.
With my mood noticeably improved, I decided to head off to the altar area, overlooking the rather peaceful city, apparently this place was where Celestia would meet with dignitaries and various noble houses for important matters, where she could look out at the city in all its calm, civilized beauty and calm her nerves… how fitting this place would be home to new beauty.
The beauty of vengeance for my swarm.
Woah! Cool it Chryssi, your Kerrigan is showing.
Alright everyling, I need to learn a spell.
Along with Similo Duplexis?
No, no, it’s one of ours this time, I need to learn one of our transportation spells, you know, the one that makes a ring of fire.
...The… Phase Sphere, My Queen? One particular ling spoke up.
Yes, that one, thank you! Um…
Charax, My Queen.
Charax! Yes! Please teach me the spell again.
I couldn’t help but visualize a progress bar indicating the ‘download’ process into my head, I mean, that’s what it felt like, the information was filling up my head, but it wasn’t accessible yet because it wasn’t finished.
Thankfully, Hive-minds aren’t as finicky as bandwidth, so I was able to get the spell, cast it, and phase down from the floor, straight into the crystal caves underneath Canterlot. It was fortunate my hunch was correct, as I found myself falling into the same area Twilight would’ve shown up, instead of the other theories of it being a form of Teleportation, or that Chrysalis intentionally dragged her to just outside of Cadence’s prison.
...if that was the case, she might’ve wanted Twilight to actually mistake Cadence for her, and then… I had to visibly shudder as I recalled that particular fate for the Princess.
That bad-end comic still gives me nightmares, thanks a lot, hyperactive imagination.
I mean… clearly this Chrysalis wouldn’t want one of the two lovers she wanted to claim to be murdered by her future sister-in-law, but it’s nice to have confirmation of the little things. For example, the now visible confirmation that the Changelings I had tasked with keeping Cadence healthy and fed were doing their job as they buzzed around the tunnels, feeling at home here as they would back at the Hive.
And there was Tenten, at the wall of Cadence’s prison alongside Compound, the blue-tinted equinoid curled in on herself, sobbing as she mourned the ‘death’ of her disguised self. I wouldn’t joke, the wounds from Katara were still fresh, and seeing her like this only made me more aware of my own pain.
“Compound… please,” she perked up at that word. “Help her, I’ll need her calm and collected for what I need her for.”
“I… of course, My Queen.”
“Thank you.” I then turned to address two of the other Changelings. “You, guide me to this Prison’s entrance, and you, inform the Princess of my visit.”
“Yes, My Queen.” they said, one rushing through the wall with a Phase Sphere to inform Cadence while the other guided me to the hidden entrance so I could go in without using up any more mana.
My Subjects had taken the liberty of requisitioning a table, chairs… and a tea set, along with the appropriate snacks.
Wow, that looks expensive… some noble’s gonna be pissed-ooh! Cake!
{Meanwhile with Celestia}
“WHO THE BUCK STOLE MY TEA TABLE!?”
{Back with Chrysalis}
“Hello, Cadence.” I greeted, sitting opposite of her as she stared me down.
“Hello in return. ‘Cadence’.”
“Huh?” I look down. “Whoops! Forgot I was still wearing this.” I drop the disguise, giving a stretch that only my proportions were able to handle. “Mmm! Muuuch better.” I groaned in delight.
“If you’re expecting me to blush, I assure you, I have heard worse.”
“...Touche, Mi Amore Cadenza, so… since you are not blasting me in the face, let’s talk.”
“Yes, I want some answers myself.” she replied with a cold look.
To recap Last Chapter, I, Queen Chrysalis, was now sitting opposite of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, who in another life was destined to defeat my invasion using the very power source I had come to claim, a bitter irony if there was one.
Now? I planned to destroy that fate, mainly because, and hear me out, I’ve heard having broken bones from being launched like a cannonball off into the distance hurts! I know, shocking! Well… that and I kinda want my subjects to have a safe place to feed where they won’t be discriminated against or hunted down… and unfortunately it seems that Ponies are only the best, they aren’t the ideal choice, but compared to Griffons, Minotaurs and such, Ponies are the least racist.
Wow, that’s a depressing thought, I hadn’t said ponies were not racist, just compared to Griffons that’d maul you for a single bit, Minotaurs whose entire culture revolved around saying they’re the strongest race and showing it, Yaks who will flatten a city if they dislike one thing and Dragons who will take your gems, your gold, and your life because it’s fun, PONIES are the least racist of the crowd, that isn’t a very high bar. And I won’t even get into Hippogriffs or the multitude of other races from the movie!
And now I had to sit in front of one such pony, the one who I had given the worst first impression to, and convince her that her kind has been super racist to our kind and as such I was in the right and racism is bad. Joy…
Of course, most people don’t usually have a mentally broken gang-rape victim as evidence so…
I promptly clear my throat. “Well, we have some time here before I need to keep up appearances to the Guards and powerful Alicorn Deities topside, so how about you start?”
“How about we start with what the buck you even are?”
*blink* Well, hadn’t expected that. “Wait a minute, you don’t know what a Changeling is??”
“Of course not! You’re clearly shapeshifters, how am I supposed to know you exist if you never show your true face?!”
THEN HOW THE FUCK DO YOU-I stop, blowing a bunch of hot air through my snout. Fucking writers and your bullshit exposition mouthpieces, what, did Chrysalis decide to gloat by giving her an in-depth history lesson of changelings and anatomy?
What am I saying, of course she did!!
“Well, I guess this is our first diplomatic meeting-”
“If I wasn’t surrounded by a swarm of you freaks, I would’ve bucked your teeth in by now.”
“...wow, really feeling the love here.” I say dumbly.
Cadence went silent for a good minute, eye-twitching. “You kidnapped me, held me against my will, attempted to brainwash me, used my face to trick everypony I love, AND NOW YOU BUCKING PUN AT ME?!”
“Oh shit.”
It took around ten guards to hold her down before she could use her very sharp head ornament to gouge my eye out.
Eight of those guards had to be carried out on makeshift stretchers made of tree branches and spit… no really, the spit’s a kind of resin, gross, but awesome! It’s probably the same stuff used to make cocoons too, considering how flexible it was.
Fuck, now I’m just imagining a bunch of lings horking up on Celestia to wrap her up, do not giggle Chrysalis, you are meant to be in a position of authority and seriousness! DO! NOT!-
“Teehee.”
CELESTIA FUCKING DAMMIT!!
“Pff.”
I blink again, no… that couldn’t have possibly been…
But it was! Cadence had heard my giggle, and had forced herself not to laugh.
“I… I’m sorry, but, what was that noise?! It sounded as cute as a kitten sneezing!”
“I-I… um… n-nothing! Ignore it!”
“Sure, like I ignored how you flinched in fear of me the moment I jumped forward.”
“Well can you blame me? You ponies don’t exactly have the best reputation among our kind! You’re practically monsters to us!”
“Right, pull the other one.” she snarked, gesturing to her hoof, after seeing I had not dropped my firm expression it dropped. “By Celestia, you’re serious?? You kidnap me, plan an invasion-”
“Who said I was doing that second part?”
“You have an army of changelings swarming these caverns, it’s not exactly a social visit.”
“Fine, you got me on that one, but the invasion’s Plan C at best.”
“Wait, C?? I get a B, but the invasion is C? What’s Plan B?”
“Well, it’s a matter of when, not if you escape, but I know you’re gonna show up, call me out, and I’m gonna have to pull a fast one not to suffer the death akin to a vampire.”
“And C is for when I don’t intend on letting you get away so quietly… well if you’re being so open with your plans, I’m guessing you’ll have no problem gloating to me about Plan A?” the lings around us looked nervous, they were already surprised that my idea of conquest was pushed to Plan C, but now they’re about to hear about a Plan A which may be worse.
“Well actually, that one won’t work unless I have your full support on it.”
“What?” Cadence said dumbfounded.
“What?” the guards said in shock.
WHAT?! And there was the entirety of the hivemind.
“Okay, one, ow, apparently a psionic outburst can hurt your ears… two, you’re right, as an alicorn, you could probably kick my ass, and as the Princess of Love, you could probably make me into it.”
“That’s not how being the Princess of Love works.” she deadpanned.
“See?? I don’t know what you are capable of! And anything I could get from the reputation of Celestia and Luna? Yeah, trying to win with brute force is dumb.”
“I thought you said brute force can work on anything.” a guard spoke up, making me feel a twitch in my eye.
“Right, you’re completely correct soldier!” I say in a falsely sweet voice. “Would you like to go up top and punch Celestia in the face undisguised? See how that goes for you?”
The guard went rather pale. “I-if that is what her majesty wishes-”
“GET BACK HERE!” I yelled before he could leave fully. “I thought I told all of you to stop committing suicide! Honestly, did you think I actually wanted you to out us for such a dumb reason?!”
“Um… no…?” he says, nervously sweating.
“...alright, just for that, you’re on Infiltration duty, you’re going up there, in disguise, as a maid, and being tasked with following one of the royals and doing whatever they say, no matter what.”
“That… that doesn’t sound that bad, isn’t that an important responsibility?” Cadence asked.
“It would be, if it was one of the Princesses, I never said which royal, did I?”
The crowd around me, princess included, gained a look of confusion, then realization, then horror. “...No…” she breathed out.
“NO! PLEASE! ANYTHING BUT THAT! JUST EXECUTE ME I BEG YOU!” the soldier cried out, throwing himself at my hooves.
“No more executions, if I’m gonna punish you, you’re going to live with it, take him away, and make sure he follows through.” two of the guards, very hesitantly, escorted the terrified changeling out of the chamber, all the while he pleaded and begged for some semblance of mercy. “And the rest of you! If any of you tries to do something stupid like him, I’ll personally have you disguise as a noblemare to proposition him.” I say in person and through the hive-mind.
“You’re a monster!!” Cadence said in fear, the Changelings who may have believed I had completely changed, getting a very firm reality check that I could do a lot worse than the Queen I had replaced. I personally did not want to have to follow through on that threat, but evil or not, I’m still their leader, I can’t just forgive them every time they do something bad… now that I think about it, that’s probably why Ponies are able to get away with being prejudiced and making fucking lynch mobs!
That hit me, and caused me to kinda lose it when she said it. “Oh, I’m the monster?! Your princess coddles that misogynistic brat! And her disregard for any kind of Punishment upon any pony says a lot about your judicial system! Sure, she’s a nice mare, but there’s a fine line between being kind and being naive, and I’ve seen Larvae have better judgement when it comes to their own species.”
“Larvae? Really?”
“It’s true! Our young are able to differentiate between Drones and Soldiers, and hide when they sense invaders of rival hives if they sense malicious intent, or that we have no alliance with them.” a Drone spoke up, carrying in some supplies, most likely one of the ‘lings in charge of tending to her needs.
Give that bitch a promotion!
Promotion, my Queen?
Yeah, what does she like in the hive?
Well, she tends to take routes that lead to the Hatchery and Nursery, and has made requests to be an eggholder for her Majesty.
I lightly slap a hoof onto the table. “Right! You, Drone, what’s your name?”
“Um… Lirnis, My Queen.” she replied… well, they couldn’t all be bug-themed.
“Right, Lirnis, when we get back to the hive, you’re becoming the newest Nursemaid, in fact, I expect you to wait in my chambers when we return while we’re at it!”
She gives a cute gasp, and flies off with the biggest squee.
“...I still don’t believe you are as ‘benevolent’ as you claim to be.” Cadence said.
“I never said I was, I just said I wasn’t a monster, case in point…” I look at her firmly. “Did you know, I am the first changeling to replace a pony?” she looked at me incredulous for a moment.
I am, right? I’m not just talking out of my plot and another hive is gonna prove me wrong, correct?
Yes, My Queen, the hives are spread among other races, so there is plenty of space for each to create their own personas.
Perfect! I think to myself triumphantly as I let Cadence school her features. “It’s true! Every time a Changeling has entered your communities prior to this, it was with all original characters with backstories, personalities and stats.”
“What?”
“Yeah, didn’t think we’d get that detailed did you? We got flaws and feats and we can easily immerse into a character and keep our changeling side from leaking into our character’s actions.”
“Are… are you shapeshifters or O&O players?!”
I knew what O&O was due to meta knowledge, but considering I’m playing Queen Bug SuccuBitch… make a note, whatever this O&O game is, we must acquire it to help train our infiltrators.
Yes my queen! I heard a particularly nerd-fueled chorus reply.
I then got a thought… if I was wrong, it could be reoriented to act as a lie, but if it’s true, I firmly anchor myself in this world in the eyes of my hive. “Although, we have had doctors give would-be parents larvae in place of their foals.”
“Aha! So you do-”
“Wait, let me amend that, we have had doctors give would-be parents larvae in place of their stillborn foals.” that snapped her shut. “We dress it up as a miracle, the parents get a child and the larvae is kept fed for the rest of their life, the only payment being that they, quite literally, share the love.”
There is a beat… 1… 2… no sense of confusion in the hive! Cool! That was a complete fucking guess!
“What?” oh right, back to the massive deception I’m pulling off.
“We eat love, it is our nourishment, while we do eat physical things such as nectar, fruits and smaller insects for protein, love itself is the most important part of our diet, with your help as the Princess of love, we could be sustained for eternity! Now I would’ve been quite happy with just having Changelings flock among the ponies without disguises, I would’ve also been eager to not go this roundabout way along with brainwashing and impersonations and instead have courted you and your fiance properly because of my immense crush on the both of you, but of course I can’t do that.”
“Why not? It would’ve been a lot easier than… whatever this i-wait, you have a crush on me?! Then why didn’t you just ask me out or something?!”
Because when I actually saw you and you screamed in my face I panicked and went into some downhill bullshit balancing act to patch up the fuck-up while trying not to out myself in the hive-mind as not chrysalis.
Of course, that was the big reason, but I decided to tilt my head innocently and used what I would expect to have been the Hive’s excuse. “Because you would immediately mark us as horrific monsters and kill us, or worse.”
“Worse?! You really think-” okay, what didn’t set me off was her words, but rather the tone she had used, it was full of disgust and pride, like Celestia’s people could do no wrong and it just rubbed me the wrong way.
Which got me to slam my hooves on the table as I darkly replied. “I literally have a drone outside this room who was gang-raped into having a personality disorder by your ponies, do NOT speak like you have a moral high ground here because I will at least admit to the sins of me and my subjects!”
“...what?” wow, the vacant stare. “N-no, that… look Blueblood is one thing but you can’t-”
She went silent, mouth agape as I sense Compound walk in with the guest of honor, but a quick message informed me of the initiative she had taken.
I didn’t even bother to hide my grin as I looked at Cadence, her eyes wide. “Mi Amore Cadenza, allow me to introduce my adoptive drone, Tenten, or as you probably knew her in her career…” she stepped up next to me, her shining silvery bodysuit melding with her black carapace, wisps of blue flame dancing across the white latex, similar to the fiery colors in her mane, however she was still very much a changeling, so it was obvious Cadence didn’t fully realize who it was until I told her…
There was silence in the room for a good hour, Cadence was slack-jawed at Tenten, her gaze darting between the icon and myself.
Understandable, not everyday you meet the inventor of the Metal Music Genre in Equestria, nor learn said turning point of music happened to be an entirely different species.
“The… the Tenacious Tempo?!” she cried out in disbelief, but despite how much she wanted to deny it, such claim would be difficult. After all, Tenten’s outfit wasn’t just a replica of her original outfit, it was the original outfit, and with the eyes of a true fan, she knew it.
No joke, it was recovered along with her and had been one of her keepsakes, only real change was that it had been cleaned and the… holes repaired. If you looked at her, and the way it all fit, the way she stood in that get up… you’d never believe her to have been through such hell, she looked so happy, so strong…
It hurt to know that behind all that was a broken woman, with so little chance of regaining what she lost.
Must not hug must not hug must not hug-AND DON’T YOU DARE CRY!!
This time, I was able to swallow down my emotions, giving Cadence a calm, level gaze as I gestured. “I take it you know her?”
“Are you kidding?! She’s a legend! I have all her albums! I even got one signed! It said-”
“‘Let your wings forever soar, Rule The Sky while I Rock The World - Tenacious Tempo’ yeah, you used to be a Pegasus back then.” Tenten recalled, and slowly, any thought of a changeling trick died in the Princess’ mind.
Which of course, gave way to horror, as she remembered another part about what I said, about having a drone that was…
“No… no, no! That didn’t happen! It couldn’t have happened! She had quietly stepped out of the spotlight and retired on tour! She wasn’t-”
“Retired? Oh is that what they’re calling it now?” I said, with no desire to hide the venom that slipped into my words. “Tell me, did they tell you she ‘retired’ after a cancelled performance in Sunny Peaks?”
Her eyes… holy fuck those eyes, she looked at me like I had bloody slit Shining Armor’s throat in front of her after skull-fucking Celestia, it had so much pain, rage and despair, and behind it I could just make out her worldview powderising before me. It was all clicking into place, so many interviews about how Tenacious Tempo loved her art and her fans and then just slipping out of the public eye for no reason, no word of where she had settled down, no solid explanation for retirement or even why the concert was cancelled, and the ponies involved giving the exact same story.
Oh fuck it hurt to be near her in every sense of the word, I didn’t expect to hit this hard but honestly I should’ve, I only knew Tenten’s story before her music, Cadence was a die-hard fan who, unlike many of the Queen of Metal’s stallion fanbase back then, held a pure, innocent love for her and the music, aspired to reach her idol’s level, and felt joy when said idol offered her hoof to raise her up.
And I’ve just told her that very same idol, who she came to respect and cherish, possibly hope to become friends with, had been gang-raped and mind-broken by her own kind, without hesitation or mercy.
I don’t know what was worse, when I was feeling a veritable storm of negativity in that room, or when she just stopped feeling anything altogether. It was just a maelstrom that was almost deafening and then silence.
“They… they really did… that… to her…?” she said softly, a rhetorical question if I-
“Well, that is what her majesty just sa-” okay, I didn’t expect someone to be hit with a bout of stupid so bad I’d actually punch one, but apparently this guard had to kill the moment, and now I made sure he wouldn’t repeat it, now that he was unconscious.
I took a deep breath. “I know that I should’ve eased you into this, not taken a sledgehammer to your worldview… but unfortunately I’m on a timetable, if I want to get the plan that’ll benefit everyone on a roll, I need you to cooperate with me, and we can’t do that if you’re stuck on the notions that All Ponies are innocent and incorruptible balls of fluff.”
“How… how would that even help??”
“Because then I have someone on my side, the one pony no-one would expect to trust my word when I call out every single one of them when I reveal myself at the Altar, I’ve got a way to handle Celestia without a fight or harming her, but I need your help to break down the wall of self delusion, or else they’ll never receive justice.”
“What are you talking about?”
“They’re here.” I say with a conviction that seemed to shock life back into her. “Every single one, mare and stallion, those who lynched a town hero because of his carapace, the poachers that snatched up a nymph because any other species is product… every single bastard that believed Tenten lost all rights as a sapient being the moment she got revealed on stage.”
Oh, that last one got to her. “... I’m listening.” she said calmly, but the aura she had was anything but, all that rage in the room...
Whoo!! I’m really glad emotions are more absorbed than digested, I’d dread to know how this’d feel going out.
The meeting went on for a good few hours after that, going through the plan with Cadence, who, while she was still a little distrustful of me, craved blood far more madly than even the most starved vampire, in the name of vengeance for her senpai, and was willing to follow along… after I convinced her a sixth time that no, we were bringing them to justice, we’re not going to charge in and proceed to enact various disgusting applications of multiple phallus-shaped cactuses, and a fourth time that while yes, the hot sauce made it tempting, I was wanting to be better than them.
So, the plan was I would be keeping up the act up top, up until the point where they ask for objections, that would be when she bursts in with Twilight, who I will be letting in on the whole double-agent shenanigans early, in the chaos I’ll ‘convince’ Shining to drop the shield and the swarm will descend on my location and start flooding the place with anti-teleportation wards before the unicorns in the crowd could try anything stupid. If Celestia misinterprets and tries to apprehend me, I disarm her with the code-phrase, and then when all of those snivelling little cockroaches are in my web, I’ll be telling everyone in that room, with excruciating detail, every sin those bastards have committed. If they didn’t truly realize what had happened and weren’t aware the changelings were their actual lovers, friends and the like, then the act of being made directly aware of what they did will break them, but if they knew full well what they did and didn’t care… well then they’d still need to justify it to the Mane Six and Princesses in the room.
Of course, you have questions, like why am I still doing this when I’m not a villain? Well fact is I’m in too deep and I might as well dig my heels in and go through with the chaos because at this point I don’t even KNOW what I want anymore! Why am I not trying to seduce Cadence at this juncture? Because I know there’s a time and a place, and I kinda want to get this major collection of fuck-ups over and done with so I can then convince Cadence to postpone the wedding… at least until I can join in since like hell I was gonna be a Concubine! And probably a big thing, why am I still keeping up this act instead of letting Cadence take over and only letting her intervene at the last minute? Because I’m a dramatic little shit that REALLY wants to have an ‘I object’ moment alongside having a bond-villain-esque ‘pieces falling into place’ situation.
Cadence seemed to be against the idea of me walking around in her form for a minute longer… until I told her that if we went along with my plan like this, then I’d be handling all the wedding and bride preparations and all the other extensive, precise work to make the day ‘perfect’, while she got to relax here with my drones waiting on her hoof and wing with tropical drinks and luxury foods.
At that, she was ‘mysteriously’ very compliant as she laid back on a cushy resin-coated rock formation while being fed a bundle of grapes by one of the drones. Funny how easy it is to let people do all the work for you if said work was the kind of pain not even a Masochist wants.
In fact, I had just gotten through writing and practicing ‘my’ vows so I didn’t bite my tongue on them during rehearsal, something I find myself emotionally drained by both figuratively and somehow literally, so I had went to go find my precious walking equivalent to a morning coffee when I heard the rather ecstatic hopping of one purple unicorn.
It honestly was adorable watching her hopping around, gleefully announcing that Shining was marrying Cadence, you’d almost suspect her of being a little filly rather than a full-grown mare.
My smirk was positively impish, unlike the apathetic Chrysalis, I had an invested affection for Twilight, albeit not as strongly as her brother, but it seemed to help that I actually kinda wanted her as a little sister.
She was just. So. CUTE!
She stopped as she caught sight of me, a look of surprise on her face just like in the show, which only served to make my smirk widen just a tad.
“Oh, don’t mind me, you go on and keep cheering about me marrying your brother.”
...Oh now the blush on her face just made the scene all the more precious.
It took the young heroine a good moment to shake off her embarrassment, making way for elation as she rushed over to me. By faust, I had already wanted to be related to the ultimate adorkable pony in Equestria, but the sheer wave of familial love as she saw me told me that my desire to have her as my little sister was NOTHING compared to how she already saw me as an honorary big sister.
How the fuck did Chrysalis manage to snub the second biggest of source of love for Cadence without even blinking?! Rejecting this ball of affection, even if she wasn’t a hero of Equestria, just because you didn’t plan for her is the DEFINITION of cutting your nose to spite your face!
...oh wait, she had done that already, repeatedly, for the sake of pride! I’m surprised she had a face by the time I got here!
Moving on from my internal monologue, I brought focus to what I was gonna do. I could follow along with the dance, dispelling Twilight’s doubts, but then again I was gonna unmask myself to her later on anyway, so there was really no point. I could avoid it, then explain to Twilight that I didn’t want to at the reveal so I didn’t take Cadence’s thing from them, even though that’s a flimsy excuse at best, and would leave her to be suspicious of me all day…
The real deciding factor was this: did I really want to waste the opportunity to do something super cute and girly with my future sibling for the sake of my cover?
“Sunshine, Sunshine! Ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!”
Oh hell to the fuck no, I wasn’t gonna waste it!
With the ritual complete, Twilight happily rushed up, wrapping her… fuck it, I’m calling them arms, her arms around my neck, while I return the hug with one of my own. “So I take it that you received Shining’s Invite?”
“Yeah, I was still a bit mad though, he made it so formal, it felt like it was just one of those official invites Celestia would print out and send.”
I turned my head to give a rather half-hearted glare at the stallion in question, who had the sense to look bashful. “Oh, did he now? Well then, I think I can spend some time during the honeymoon to punish him for that.” The shudder that ran through him was delicious.
“C-Cadi! Not while Twilight’s here!” he said with a reddened face, although Twilight was just a bit too innocent to catch the conversation that was really going on.
I giggled softly before moving away from Twilight and over to ‘my fiance’. “I’d love to stay and talk with you, Twilight, but I have so much preparation to do. It’ll have to wait for tonight, okay?”
Shining took the moment to speak up, putting a hoof over my shoulder. “Right, I have to get back to my station too. But you should still see Cadence as she checks up on the others. We’re both very happy to have you here, Twilight.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” I say with enthusiasm, cuddling up to Shining. “I can’t wait to meet your new friends!”
As Twilight left with a smile, I turned to Shining with a devious smirk as he asked. “So what brought you up here?”
I jumped on the chance ferociously. “Oh, I was wondering if you’ve been having any headaches recently~.”
He flinched, giving me all the answers I needed as I moved in. “w-wait, Cadi, not out here, what if-”
“Shining, if you have them, I will help with them, no matter what~.” I say with a purr as his dread danced in the air, while my head slipped under his barrel.
“Cadi, please, we can find a closet or spare room or-oooohh buuuuck~.”
Best pick-me-up ever, I needed this…
Keep in time to the rhythm, walking down the aisle is an art, you must always walk with left forehoof first, then right hind, then right fore, then left hind, repeat, repeat, repeat-
MY QUEEN!
“GAH!” I almost stumble from the sudden loud noise in my head, only now realizing I was walking around the courtyard. What is it?? I say to who I believe to be Thorax.
Are you alright? Your hive-mind signature registered you as ‘dead’ for a moment.
...oh.
I’m fine, I was just mentally dead, who knew ‘walking’ practice would be so horrifically boring?
Well, the drones have passed along the news to Cadence… she is finding herself very relieved that she followed along with your plan.
Yeah, I bet she is. I grumble, before I blink and take a brief assessment, Aisle Walking practice is finished, that means I need to check on the catering service… hosted by Applejack.
“Your Majesty?” a passing guard spoke up. “Are you alright, your mouth is… watering.”
“Huh? What?” I grab a few leaves and wipe my reddening face. “No I’m not! You saw nothing, got it?!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!” he said automatically, and I continued on my way to the kitchen.
As the doors opened with a wave of my magic, I took note of the chefs bowing, while Applejack was trying to be a little more personable, Twilight off to the side was handling Spike, who I no doubt believe to have been messing around with the Bride and Groom Cake Decorations.
“Hiya, Princess.” Applejack cheerfully greeted with her rather calm yet upbeat tone.
“Please, call me Cadence, you’re one of Twilight’s friends, and I hope I can be yours too, Applejack.”
“No problem, Cadence.” she accepted happily. “Take it you’re here to check out what’s on the menu for your big day?”
“Well, if you’re alright with it I’d like to do more than ‘check out’ what you have, a practice session earlier cut into my lunch time and-”
“Say no more, Cadence!” she replied eagerly, leading me over to a plate of fresh, sweet smelling and most assuredly sugary Apple Fritters. Even without the new insectoid instincts I had a sweet tooth like no other.
I picked one up, took a bite and…
Okay, for context to my reaction, I’ve been stuck on a rather minimal hay diet because the wedding planners wanted me to have an ‘appropriate figure’, and I couldn’t exactly tell them that being a shapeshifter I could just make myself an appropriate figure. Hay’s not really bad, but considering it’s unseasoned, uncooked and given to me in ‘Canterlot Portions’, that being barely enough to spread on a cracker, if I was even allowed a cracker to do so… yeah…
And before that, I had human food, which has had no magical influence in any of its fundamental stages, has been on a planet rife with pollution, toxic chemicals and whatever manner of genetic engineering that improves one aspect at the cost of weakening another.
Now I’m having my first taste… of real equestrian food, that has been fed natural magic throughout the entire process from Tree to Plate. Crafted by an expert in the field of apple culinary arts, and made with so much love, which to a changeling is more than just a figure of speech.
“Cadence, are… are you crying?” Twilight asked cautiously, everyone else was just stunned.
I blink, bringing my hoof to my face, wiping away some tears. “O-oh… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to lose my composure like that. It… the food is really good.”
“Well… well dang, I didn’t expect that reaction.” Applejack stated, a little dumbstruck.
I blushed, but couldn’t help but ask. “Could… could I have some more to—” and already I had a couple bags of fritters to take with me.
Skipping ahead, I was on my way to Rarity’s when I caught sight of a maid in the hall.
“Oh! Um… hey, Tulip.”
She looked at me, and beamed. “Hello Princess!” she looked around, noticing we’re alone. “I mean, my queen~.” she giggled a little.
“Oh… right… I’m kinda sorry about doing that, it was a heat of the moment thing and—”
“Oh nono, it’s cool, really!”
“I mean I can just bite you again and turn you back—”
“Chrysalis, I. Am. Fine. You know I don’t lose memories, and I’m not altered mentally, if I wanted to turn back I would’ve bitten myself by now or just transformed so hard I became pure pony again.”
“And… the reason you haven’t?”
“Because it’s amazing! The ability to shapeshift is the best thing I ever got! I can get at all the little spaces now! And then there’s the ability to fly, how I can just eat all the junk food I want and never get fat, and How I have so many brothers and sisters? Oh! And that’s not even the best thing you gave me!”
“...it isn’t?”
“... did you know I was barren when you picked me?”
...oh…
“I couldn’t have any foals of my own, so no stallion back at my old town would come near me, and despite the comfort of my friends, it wasn’t exactly what I wanted… I’m getting to be a mother now, so if the price of that is being a bit more buggy than normal ponies, I’m okay with that.”
I sighed softly. “That’s good I guess… I was kinda worried that I sorta raped you or something.”
“Oh believe me, if there was any rape involved… well my rear hooves were quite close to your balls.”
“Point taken!” I say quickly. “On another note, you’re more confident than I remember.”
“Well once the connection opened up, it became a lot easier to open up myself as I found the buzz of the hive-mind to be so warm and welcoming, our hive’s like the best family ever!”
“I mean… yeah it kind of is, see you Segmenta.”
“See you, feel free to call on me for some specialservice~.”
I managed to fight down my blush with a sudden thought. “I’m fine, but go ahead and see if Cadence wants some fun.”
I don’t know if I should’ve laughed when she made off like a bat out of tartarus, but the sudden alarm from Thorax telling me that Cadence was overloading her caretakers with lust a few minutes later was worth a few giggles.
Let me rewind, I had reached Rarity’s room, alongside the three Bridesmaids that had come to see their own dresses, Lyra, Twinkleshine and Colgate? Wait, no, that’s the fandom name, Minuette, that’s it.
“Hey Princess! How are—”
“Shh!” I say, listening close to the door as I heard it.
“You should’ve seen it Rarity, she cried, cried, from just a fritter!”
“Well, you did say it was Applejack’s personally baked desserts, and last I checked only Pinkie’s cakes rivalled them.”
“I mean, yeah, they’re good, but it was like she’s never had even any normal food before, she was so overwhelmed! What in Tartarus have the wedding planners been doing to her?”
I took that as my cue as I walked in. “Honestly? Their ‘diet plan’ actually made me forget what normal food tastes like.”
“Your highness!” Rarity exclaimed before rushing over and all but prostrated herself before me. “Let me just start by saying it’s such an honor to take part in such a momentous occasion.”
“Relax, Rarity, you needn’t be so formal.” I assured her. “It’s actually an honor to meet you.”
“R-really?” She stuttered out, a little flabbergasted.
“Of course, your bejeweled designs for Sapphire Shores, being the wielder of the Element of Generosity, giving Blueblood his just desserts.” I giggled at the pun. “And most of all, you’re Twilight’s friend, why wouldn’t I want to meet the ponies my future sister-in-law cares about?”
“Oh… thank you, yo-um-Cadence… I trust you are here to see my work?” she said, bowing again.
I roll my eyes and decide to snark a little. “Well, I’m not here to see your flank, so you can stop sticking it up in the air.” I say, not even batting an eye to the slowly reddening marshmallow pony as I walked over to the ponyquin.
And just… wow, you know what the difference is between Rarity’s actual design and the one in the show?
Budget, and I don’t mean the pony’s actual budget, but the show’s animation budget, to allow Cadence to be moving around in it without draining all of their funds, they greatly simplified the design. In the show, there were blue strips of cloth, basic woven patterns, a nice frilly collar, a white and gold cloud-like design for the actual dress, a sapphire, and a fake-looking flower crown.
What was before me both was that base, but nothing like it. The blue strips of cloth? They were translucent and shimmered like silk, the woven pattern on the ‘belt’ wrapped around the barrel? It wasn’t some basic gusts, it was a tapestry in the honor of wind itself! The collar was iridescent and looked like it was the fabric version of glass, and the gold in the dress was actual golden thread! The sapphire almost seemed to glow with an ambient energy, and the white cloth was decorated in little patterns to make them truly look like rolling clouds… and the flower crown?
“...are… are those flowers alive?” I muttered aloud as I looked at the flowers weaved together with their own stems and roots, bound together and full of life, their vibrant petals adorned with glistening morning dew like diamonds.
“Yes, they are.” Rarity cheerfully answers as she rushes over to explain. “I didn’t want to stoop to using fake flowers, so I used the Sapphire for some simple enchantment, it was a simple two-step spell where it absorbs the mana in the air, and then transfers it to something else. Normally it’s used by mages to boost their magic, but I feel this was a more elegant purpose, and the roots ensure all the flowers get their fair share.”
“Rarity… this is beautiful, I… I just have one problem with it.”
“Oh… what would that be, your highness?”
“I was hoping the dress would have a veil.”
“A… veil?” Rarity blinked. “But veils haven’t been used in 400 years!”
Oh crap! Bullshitting powers, go! “Well, yes, but I’m a bit of a romantic! Sure it’s a little old-fashioned, but I just can’t help but imagine him pulling back the cloth, and the first time he sees my happy blushing face on that day is when he’s my husband.”
I swear, Rarity had sparkles in her eyes as she started feverishly drawing out a veil design on a notepad. “You are quite correct, your highness! I’ll have a veil for you posthaste! Anything you want to comment on involving the bridesmaid outfits?”
“I personally have no desire to change them, but what do you think?” I ask, gesturing to the three mares in question.
“They’re lovely!” “Ditto!” “I love mine!”
“Well there you have it!” I say with a smile before waving bye to both her and Twilight. “See you at rehearsals!”
“Good luck.” Twilight calls back.
I am going to need it…
Holy fuck I need Pinkie to be my best-friend, no question.
Like, okay Chrysalis wasn’t wrong about Pinkie’s vision for a Wedding Reception, she just said it too harshly, so I’m not talking about that, no I’m talking about Pinkie’s whole supernatural charm.
Like… you know how people say Pinkie’s energy lights up an entire room? It’s a bit more literal than that. As an Earth Pony, her magic has a distinct connection to the Earth, while a normal Earth Pony can use it to commune with nature and help plants grow and soil to become more fertile, Pinkie’s is a bit more sensitive. I don’t really have a solid answer, but the working theory is that Pinkie Pie’s high-energy nature supercharged her connection, so instead of vague intent, Pinkie’s body can speak to the Earth and the Earth can communicate back, sending her signals that translate into her Pinkie Sense.
This connection also would be a good explanation for why when Pinkie is in a room, everything inside can start generating a good mood, I am literally feeding off the joy that the room is radiating and it’s so fucking sweet that I might end up on a sugar-rush myself! I’m getting it from the carpet, the walls, even the very air tastes of sugary happy feels! I want a mini Pinkie wherever I go just to have this buzz!
…hehe, buzz, geddit? Wait, focus on the pink party pony.
“Pinkie, these are rather… interesting choices, but I don’t think Pinatas, Board Games and Pin The Tail on the pony are gonna be good choices.”
“Huh? But why, everypony likes those things!”
“Yes, but they’re too small, this isn’t like Ponyville Party where at most you might have 20 ponies along with their foals, this is going to be a great celebration with 50 to 60 grown ponies at least, and won’t be happy having to wait around for a four-player game of Equestrivial Pursuit.”
She made a major gasp. “You’re right! I need more games! Lots more! And bigger games! Ooh! I could get Pretzel! And my bottle-spinner! Ooh! I have a toy that plays red light green light!”
“No.” I say immediately, I have no clue why, but hearing the idea of playing red light green light with a doll set off a primal fear in me.
{Twilight, 3rd person, later that night}
“So, I know what you’re all thinking.” Twilight began, drawing the attention of her friends as she arrived with her drink.
“Cadence is a precious mare that needs to be rescued from the noble wedding planners now.”
“...Rescued?” Rarity asks, sharing in the bafflement of the other four ponies at the table.
“Applejack was the starting point where I caught on that something wasn’t right, and with what I’ve seen, something is really wrong, Applejack, you know you can make the most amazing apple foods in Equestria, but when has anypony ever cried tears of joy at taking a bite from them?”
“Oh! A few times.” The farmer answered readily. “But that’s been times when the pony’s gone and nearly starved… themself… to death…” she slowed down as dawning horror slowly formed on her face.
“And Rarity, when you told her that veils weren’t used for 400 years, did you see the near panic-attack she had? Like she was supposed to know that but didn’t?”
“Well of course she has to know that, the planners are supposed to bring her up to speed on all current wedding norms. If she didn’t know anything they’d have to drill it into her… oh…”
“Um… I didn’t want to say anything.” Fluttershy spoke up, drawing all eyes to her. “But, when she came to check on the music, she fell asleep until one of my birds spoke off-key, she nearly snapped and all but bit the poor dear’s head off.”
“And you only mention this now?” Applejack said, the group already visibly looking worried for the poor bride.
“Well, when she calmed down she just broke down and started crying about too many patterns to memorise, how her throat hurts from repeating lines, and how she had trouble breathing from the Corset Spell they have on her.”
“Aren’t Corset Spells illegal?” Twilight asked.
“They’re… allowed to be used by licensed medical experts and beauticians…” Rarity answered.
“Doctors are allowed to use the thing that crushes ribs?!”
“Y-yes but it’s used instead for things like magical Splints and casts.”
“And the beauticians??”
“To ensure performers stay on their diets.”
The lavender unicorn shook her head in exasperation. “Whatever, the point is these Wedding Planners are liable to kill her before whatever threat to Canterlot is, arrives to do the job itself.”
“You’re right!” Rainbow exclaimed. “I mean… yeah, I didn’t see any of this, but if it’s even half as bad as you say, we need to help her!”
“Yeah!” the rest cheer, causing Twilight to smile.
“Thanks girls, I can always trust you to have my back.”
“First off, we need to confront Cadence.” Applejack suggested. “We can’t help her unless she understands she needs help in the first place, or we’re liable to make everything worse.”
"Excuse me, Lady Twilight.. I believe I may have misheard.. Is Princess Cadence in distress?"
The six turn to the pony who spoke, it was a Thestral in shining black armor, his fur blue, and his slitted, soul-piercing orange-golden eyes staring into Twilight's own.. his emotion indiscernible from them, although his leathery wings had most certainly shown how bothered he was by what he overheard.
“And you are?” Rainbow asked with a raised brow.
"I am Raven Lunaris, Ma'am."
“Well, Mr. Lunaris.” Twilight started. “You unfortunately haven’t misheard, my old foalsitter and future sister is in serious trouble and probably doesn’t realise it, the Nobles who have taken the role of preparing Cadence for the wedding have been chipping away at her mentally and emotionally. It’s torture in all but name and we have to help her before the stress and emotional suffering become too much!”
Hearing this, his wings unfurled to full size, his eyes displaying obvious anger. "A guard's duty is to the safety and security of the Princesses.. to hear that nobles have been torturing Princess Cadence.. it is nothing short of Treasonous, and I ask that you refer to me as Guard Lunaris, rather than Mr., Lady Twilight, I cast off that honorific when I chose to serve in Princess Luna's guard division."
“Right, sorry… and if I’m hearing right, thank you for offering to help us, but we can’t really do anything without first making sure Cadence knows she needs to be saved.”
“Gettin’ a pony out of a cage ain’t no good unless they see the bars.” Applejack wisely stated. “Had a cousin in another city who didn’t really know that abusive relationships were a possible thing, let alone that she was in one, and just trying to get her to leave her coltfriend didn’t work until we gave her perspective that black eyes are not how couples show affection.”
“That… that was something I really didn’t know about you, AJ.” Rainbow said with no small amount of surprise.
"Or perhaps the better idea is to remove the cage from around them." He spoke rather.. sinisterly.
“...I don’t like the way he said that, did anypony like the way he said that?” Fluttershy muttered quickly, the other five shaking their heads in agreement.
“Um… Guard Lunaris, we can’t just remove the nobles, we don’t help Cadence by taking away the problem, we need to let her know that there is a problem in the first place.”
"You are her friends.. You should do that.. Whilst myself and Captain Armor see to it that the nobles who found such torturous ways to be acceptable are punished accordingly. As you might say, You reveal the cage, I'll tear it down."
“Alright… thanks again.” Twilight smiles at the helpful guard before the team head off.
“Yeah, first guard we’ve seen actually doing their job.”
“Zip it, Rainbow.” Applejack muttered.
As the six head off, no-one noticed the sinister emerald shimmer in the guard’s eyes.
{Cadencalis}
“It’s a really nice medal! I’m not saying that, but… I was really hoping you’d wear the bow tie I got you.” I whined a little.
“I’ve never worn a tie.”
“It’s a clip-on, you’d look so cute in it!”
My Queen, I have important information for you.
One of my infiltrators reported.. with a hint of Intelligent devotion..
“...excuse me, nature calls.” I say before rushing to the bathroom.
Report! Um… who are you?
I am one of your infiltrators, Your Highness.. I cast off my name as a Changeling so I may deeper assume my identity. I am called Raven Lunaris.
…Doesn’t doing that risk you fully turning pony?
Which is why I must occasionally re-craft myself as a Changeling once more.. such is my life, I live to serve, My Queen.
I blink. Okay, can you fucking STOP with all the flowery speech?! All the other drones talked to me normally, why do you get the special treatment?
… I serve under Princess Luna, My Queen.
And Princess Luna’s Lexicon is a good millennia out of date, clearly she’s not the best example of—why am I even humoring this, just STOP, it makes my head hurt trying to discern your meanings just talk normal. PLEASE…
I … will try, My Queen.. I have pleasing news to report, The ponies have no doubt you are truly Cadence.. and indeed, they think you are being slowly tortured by your wedding planners.
You know, the latter half would’ve been an interesting way to build trust amongst them if it wasn’t actually tru— and suddenly I doubled over in pain. FUCK MY RIBS!!
My Queen!! do you need medical aid?
Relax, it’s my pony ribs, I could just shapeshift this nightmarish vice off if I wanted to… problem is I did that and the next time I came in they made it tighter.
They're going to be arrested very soon, it is truly treasonous to be harming the Princess, especially during her wedding preparations.. The pony personality of me hopes that you find happiness.. as the joint spouse of Shining Armor and Cadence.. I have only seen Cadence once or twice, but Shining Armor… he is most devoted and loving, he is a perfect husband for you, My Queen.
Right… though you’re forgetting the wedding preparations are the torture, I have to constantly repeat my wedding vows over and over, I need to walk up and down the aisle repeatedly until I get the EXACT right rhythm of hoofsteps, I need to recall every modern wedding tradition by memory the second I’m asked to make sure I know not to cause any faux-pas… and all of this I would not wish on a changeling, it’s actually so emotionally draining you can actually empty your stomach from it.
Perhaps a change of pace is in order, My Queen?
Right, what would you have in mind?
Perhaps a day to walk the gardens with Princess Luna? It is the proper time of night, and I do not believe we have the full allegiance of the Princess of the night, do we? I should return to my duties, My Queen.
Right… I’ll… consider it.
I sigh, and just sit down… that’s when I hear something.
“Honey… I get what you’ve learned is a bit… jarring but…” I shuffle around. “Is this really necessary?”
What I was referring to was that, after learning of my torment, Shining had taken the initiative to not only help Twilight dispel the Corset, but had also wrapped me up in so many blankets, with a mug of hot cocoa as well, to the point I looked more like a marshmallow than the marshmallow pony with all the soft white fluff I was wrapped in.
“Cadence, you’ve been hurting, and who knows how many other mares who have kept quiet about the horrors of preparation!” Shining began, and before I could retort, he added on. “Wedding Jitters is one thing, Stress from preparation is forgivable, but from what I heard, you are on the verge of a complete emotional breakdown.”
“But—”
“No Buts!”
“...not even yours?”
he cut off, and of course Dash snickered at the obvious innuendo, while Twilight was suddenly finding herself switching from blushing like a school-filly, or gagging at the idea of any lewd scenario involving her own brother. Shining was stuck trying to perform a turtle impression to hide his own reddened face.
“Everypony… thank you.” I began. “I truly thank each and every one of you, but… okay, I won’t lie to you, I’ve been having a very sucky time with all this preparation-” while Cadence is lounging around with Grapes and Cider or something. “-but I have a plan here, one that needs to happen, regardless of my current issues with the wedding plans. Shining, you are a wonderful Stallion and I love you so much, but I can’t have you going on a warpath and putting delays, or I might miss the window I need to achieve what I intend to do.”
“I…”
“Shining… everyone,please, for me?” and then I pulled out the ultimate weapon, one that nopony has been known to resist, one whose terrible power has shaken the foundations of Equestria to their very core on more than one occasion.
The dreaded puppy dog eyes!
It was amazing how the group managed to resist such a display for so long, it must be an Equestrian record! A whole thirty seconds.
“Okay! Okay! We won’t do anything… yet! But if I see this getting to you even a little after this, heads are gonna roll, got it?”
“Thank you, Shiny~.” I cooed, pulling him over with a magic grasp to get a smooch on his cheek, which effectively pacified him with the goofiest grin.
…dammit, Chryssi, don’t jump him in front of Twilight and her friends!
In all honesty, getting Shining to keep his word was hard, calling it walking on eggshells would be an insult to the structural strength of eggs. The stallion scrutinised me the following day greatly, the moment even a hint of exhaustion surfaced in my features, the guard captain began pulling out a sword and gave off the aura of a holy crusader at the borders of Jerusalem. I was lucky, turning up my feminine charms was enough to distract him before he could commit amateur barbering… with his sword… it—yeah, fuck metaphors, I meant decapitation.
But it seemed that I was getting even more exhausted just trying to stop Shining from committing hot-blooded murder and getting a one-way ticket to the dungeons. Celestia is a kind ruler, naive at times, but she’s still fair in a sense, if Shining is getting stabby, future nephew or not he’s getting Time-out: grown-ups edition.
It took all my reserves, and a few heated make-out sessions with either Shining or a relief supply drone in the guise of a maid, but I managed to get to the damn rehearsals without my fiance going postal. Unfortunately, he still looked ready to abort the whole thing to go purge my tormentors if I so much as exposed even a little of the pain they put me through.
Thankfully, we managed to push through to even the kiss at the end, no Four-legged crusades, no sudden objections with me crying in ‘despair’ at Twilight calling me an evil brainwashing witch, and no discourse among the mane six.
Good, it was fucking bullshit in canon when all of a sudden the mares meant to be her best friends suddenly lost all faith in her over a pink alicorn they just met, and didn’t think to consider that Twilight Sparkle, Personal Student to Celestia, Master of Magic, Brother of the groom and the child who was babysat by real Cadence for several years, knew what the fuck she was talking about.
‘Course then there’s that movie where she somehow forgets every lesson she learned and tries to commit grand-theft pearl, but she technically hasn’t done that yet, and if I have anything to say about it, she never will.
A lesson can be learned without making a mistake, and sometimes it’s the wrong lessons that are taught, like ‘tradition is always good and never trust any kind of innovation just because the two idiots that used the machine used it wrong for petty reasons!!’ The Cider-Squeezy was a good thing Hasbro! The ponies were the ones that sucked!!
Well… actually not true, the brothers seemed to be okay and honest businessmen before the squeezy incident, a few drones even reporting that the reason some of them had survived their own exposure events was because the two ‘swindlers’ put on a show and smuggled them out of towns with some good old fashioned showmanship alongside their kind hearts. Unfortunately not so kind and honest anymore with their income dropped to single digits and a few too many loan sharks on their tail just to keep their cart moving and their bellies full.
Wait, I think I may have gone on a tangent, focus Chrissy!
So, the Rehearsal ended, and Celestia smiled warmly at the sight, taking her leave soon after, leaving us with a whimsical sigh as she stated. “A shame Luna will not be here to see this on the blessed day, a few too many ponies with nightmares to deal with recently after seeing a mass suicide.”
Gee, who could’ve predicted THAT?
With her gone, the crowd began to disperse, except for me and Shining, although I decided to change that.
“Wait, Twilight, may I speak to you here… alone?” I asked, glancing at Shining.
The stallion was far more accepting of it than I expected, giving me an energising kiss to the cheek before heading out.
Now, it was just me and Twilight.
“Twilight, I need to talk to you about your efforts to help me, it’s important for you to understand the situation.”
“Cadence, I am so sorry, I didn’t expect Shining to get so worked up, I just got worried because I kept seeing the signs and—”
“I assure you, Princess Cadence is not suffering any of the torture I have allowed myself to be put through.” I say in the calmest, most professional voice I could muster, with my own Chrysalis voice, because I was going to ham this up so much that it sure wouldn’t be kosher when I was done.
Twilight froze up at the unfamiliar voice. “...what?”
I kept it up with the addition of something beautiful, pre-made folder and files! I put it in front of her before she could react, opening it up to reveal dossiers on the many ponies I was planning vengeance on and their victims. “Agent Sparkle, your mission, should you choose to accept it, will have you assisting myself and Princess Cadence in ensuring diplomatic relations with foreign kingdoms and preventing a political uproar caused by negligent or malicious parties.”
“...eh?”
“Your targets for this assignment are several independent groups, not connected in any way other than the similarities of the crimes they have committed. Their victims, individuals of a race both obscure in catalogued knowledge and once actively hidden from the public eye, known as Changelings. Their diet? The energy ambiently given off from the expression of emotion with no side-effects occurring unless they forcibly feed on a target, which is unnecessary if simply given affection or other positive emotions, or in an area with plenty of ambient positive emotion. Their crime? Apparently being different from ponies and therefore being horrible vampiric monsters. The punishments? Too cruel to recall without severe nausea.”
“Now hold on—”
“Location of targets is uncertain, the only window of opportunity will be at the main ceremony, where I will continue to pose as Cadence, ensuring I can give an accurate head-count and set-up the cage to prevent the objectives from fleeing the premises and, in-so-doing, flee the justice that Celestia will hopefully bring upon them when their sins are brought to light.”
“Wait a minute—”
“You will be transported to the caves below this room and rendezvous with Cadence, you will make your way out of the caves with help from the Changeling assets on the day of the ceremony, at the appropriate timing you and Cadence will burst into the altar room, springing the trap and ensuring no escape for—”
“WAIT A MINUTE!!” she screamed, taking a few deep breaths, wrapping her head around what she had just read, and what I just told her. “Who… who the buck even are you?!”
“Ah, yes, I almost forgot.” I then just casually dropped the transformation. “I am Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings, the one who brought this incident to light for Cadence when I decided to take matters into my own hands, since any attempts at diplomatically contacting Celestia for these horrors was blocked at every turn.”
“...o-oh…”
I then change back to Cadence. “So, do you accept?”
“I mean, of course I wanna help Cadence! but… why? Why this whole wedding thing? Couldn’t you hide as an anonymous pony and explain this all directly to us?”
“Well… I may also be using this as an opportunity to seduce both the Princess and your Brother, so far I think I’m making progress.”
“Ah.” and then!... she passed out.
“...eh, I’m sure she’s fine, lemme just…” I activate a phase sphere on her. “There we go!”
“Operation: ‘Fake It Til You Make It’ is still going strong!”
