Luna looked around Twilight's friends, leaving the fillies to head off and leave them to the "adult stuff." It didn't matter to Luna beyond the fact they were safe, even their sisters seemed to have relaxed now that the fillies were back in Ponyville.
"What were those things?" Fluttershy's voice seemed loud only because it was the question everypony wanted to be answered. "They looked scary…" I wonder if they are really bad? I mean, well, even Mr. Manticore was nice when I helped him. Maybe they need help too?
"Yeah, what were they?" Dash stepped a little in front of her timid friend, always ready to protect Fluttershy from dangers real and imagined. "I never seen anything like 'em, their wings were really strange."
"Changelings." Luna gestured to Twilight's tree-house. "We should head in there immediately and get the Elements. There is no telling what would happen if my sister or Twilight got hold of them now." A shudder ran through Luna as she even thought the words, let alone said them.
"Hold on here, yer Highness." Applejack stepped up to Luna and tried to place herself between the alicorn and Twilight's home. "First thing's first. What were they?"
"Changelings…" Luna froze, repeating her answer again. "They feed off ponies, sucking the very emotions from them until nothing is left. They are like locusts. Their queens, as you saw, control the minds of ponies and warp them. Nopony who has been in their presence can be trusted."
Rarity stepped up beside Applejack and narrowed her eyes. "Even us? Even you, Your Highness?" She was startled when Luna looked back with the darkest look ever and worse, nodded. "So how do we test for it?"
"When ponies act strange, when they seem intent on getting you to do a particular action. I can tell in their dreams, but…" Luna trembled a little. "No, I don't dare enter the dream world around Canterlot, they have minions that can fight me."
"Hey, when'd you get so clever with the testin' and the questions?" Applejack squinted at Rarity. "Maybe one o' em got to you before the weddin'. You spent a mighty long time workin' on that varmint's dress."
Pinkie Pie chose right then to bounce up and look deep into Rarity's eyes. "Nope, no mind control in her!" She giggled. "My tail goes all kinds of sideways when I look into the eyes of a pony being mind controlled." Everypony, especially Luna, stared at Pinkie. "What? It is my Pinkie Sense!"
"Then check all of us, please." Luna gave a sigh and was about to lower her head to the pink earth pony's height when she realized Pinkie was eye-to-eye with her, hanging from a balloon. The temptation to pop the balloon was a sudden one, but Luna held back the almost playful tendency. This is serious.
"But darling, wouldn't you know if you were hypnotized by them?" Rarity watched, nonetheless. "I mean, surely an alicorn would know, if anypony."
Pinkie spent more than the brief time spent looking into Rarity's eyes, but at the end of it giggled and pronounced, "All clear, no bad things controlling you." But her eyes lingered on Luna, and in a lower voice the mare continued. "But you need to face that, it shouldn't be in you."
Princess Luna froze and looked back at Pinkie. "You… you know about it? The Tantabus?" When Pinkie's grin got a little wider, Luna realized she had just given herself away to one of the oldest ploys in the book. "We need to talk later."
"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie dropped from her balloon and pronked in a circle. "Who's next?"
One by one each of the mares that had evacuated from the wedding got tested, and one by one Pinkie cleared them.
"What if Pinkie was the one mind controlled?" Rarity suddenly looked up in shock as the thought came to her and unfiltered, straight to her mouth. "She might be telling us she can tell when she really can't!"
"I trust her." Luna looked to Rarity, then around to the rest. "I have seen into Pinkie Pie's dreams, that is the same mare who I see here today." She turned to the tree and began walking. "They can, as you saw, disguise as ponies—anypony—using their magic. They will stop at nothing to bring Equestria down, most of them are reasonably mindless, but some are quite clever. It is going to take everything we have to stop them."
"No problem. We round up everypony we can and charge in, beating their heads together and clobbering this brainy bug!" Rainbow Dash hovered in place, throwing a few kicks and punches.
"Ah'm with Dash on this. Why can't we just beat this monster up? It was right there at tha weddin'!" Applejack waved a hoof around, as if Chrysalis was right in front of her. "I coulda bucked it so hard it wouldn't have walked for a week!"
"She can you know, and then I could have given it the ol' one-two!" Rainbow Dash held her hoof up to Applejack and got a solid clop from the other mare's own hoof. "Nothing messes with our friends!"
"You don't understand." Luna stared not just at the two tough mares, but through them and into the past. "This isn't the first time they attacked. Last time they captured my sister, too." Trembling, Luna reached her hoof to Twilight's door. "They almost won that time. I fear now they have."
"Wait, won?" Rainbow blinked at the terrified-looking princess. "What do you mean, 'won'?" She flew up beside Luna. "They got into Canterlot, but there was only a dozen of them. If we get the elements we can easily beat them!"
"Dozens? Rainbow Dash, how many eggs do you think a changeling queen can hatch in a year?" Luna felt anger at the simple—and a little ignorant—view. "The last time they attacked, their queen had three months to prepare and came at us with nearly five hundred drones."
"F-F-F-Five hundred?" Rainbow Dash sank to the ground. "Uh… we need a better plan…"
"We do." Luna smiled for the first time since arriving, glad to see the mare could reevaluate the situation without a command to do so. "Where were the Elements kept in here?" She looked around the library as she walked in, seeing rows and rows of books.
"Here." Rarity floated the big, fake book from its place on the shelf. "Oh drat, it's empty." She could tell just by the weight of the thing. "They must be in…"
"Canterlot." Luna almost gave a sob at how immense her task had become.
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Bulk looked like a million bits—literally. Slipping back into his house the huge stallion took off the first tiara. "By the eggs of the queen this is crazy, I can't believe I managed that." He was panting hard, slipping off one after another of the Elements of Harmony, stuffing them into a box. How am I going to get this to Canterlot?
The stallion's thoughts raced until he heard a knock at the door. "Uh, COMING!" He leaned back into his role, squinting his eyes down in his huge head. Hiding the box containing the Elements behind a chair, Bulk made his way to the door. Opening it, he smiled in relief. "HI DERPY!"
"Hello Mr. Bulk, I have another letter for you; you really are popular!" Derpy fished a letter from her pouch, passing it to the stallion. "Did you have anything you wanted to mail back this time?"
"YES!" Bulk grinned as best as he could. This will be perfect! "GIVE ME A SECOND TO PACK IT!" He clomped over to the box, stuffing a cushion in on top of the Elements and folding the top down. Carrying it over to his desk with ease, the big disguised changeling scribed an address: "Chrysalis, c/o Canterlot Castle. Canterlot." Proud of his idea, Bulk trotted back to the door with the package. "THANK YOU DERPY!" Love washed over the changeling. She really loves her work. He grinned more but then realized something that had him startle enough so that he almost dropped his disguise. She is staring at me!
"I said, could you sign here Mr. Bulk?" Derpy held out her pad for Bulk to sign. He is so cute when he gets confused.
Bulk fumbled with the little quill that was offered, but managed to scrawl a rough signature. "WILL THAT DO?" Derpy turned a radiant smile up at him and gave a nod. She is so cute when she is working...
"Yup, maybe you will get another letter tomorrow!" Derpy put the box into her extended pack, braced her wings, and took to the air. "Bye Bulk!"
"BYE!"
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
"We have to go back down." Cadance pressed her cool snout in against Shining's belly. "You know we can't sit up here forever… are you still mad about actually having a wedding?" She lifted her nose up and looked her husband in the eyes. Husband!
"I was a bit shocked by it, but then I realized it was what you wanted, and I wanted it too." Shining kissed Cadance, the rest of the world fading around the pair as their love swelled to new heights. Words were needed, Shining knew it and Cadance knew it; reluctantly the two drew apart again. "And I have a promise to keep."
"You are really going to help her drones fight?" Cadance leaned and rolled, dismounting the bed and giving a shake of her body, wings, and neck. "I don't think Chryssi would hold you to that."
"But I do." Shining was a little more graceful, slipping off the bed on the opposite side. "So I am going down there, I am going to spend even more time studying strategy, when I can, so that Equestria will never falter."
"Good." Cadance fussed around, looking for her little tiara. "Because I am going to enlist too." She looked past the rough fall of her mane at her husband. I love that word, I should say it out loud… a lot. "If my husband is going to fight, then my spot is at his side."
"Cadance!" Shining's mouth was opening, his brain started lighting up red with warnings and alarms as it worked out that his mouth was about to unleash something that would get him a lot of bad looks.
"Yes, dear?" Cadance waited, wondering how silly her new husband was. "You had something to say about me joining the army?"
"You…" The alarms got louder in Shining's head, practically screaming for him to close his mouth, change the subject, or perhaps just run and jump from the window. I am such an idiot. Shining closed his eyes. "I am too used to thinking as things were, aren't I?" His eyes flew wide open when a pair of soft lips pressed to his own.
Breaking the kiss, Cadance lifted a hoof and gently booped her husband on the nose. I am totally going to use it again. "My husband, sometimes it is better to spot a weakness in yourself, than to let it limit you. Well done." A brush started working at Cadance's mane and tilting her head, she just caught sight of pink magic wrapped around it. "And you know the right way to brush my mane? Shining Armor, I think it was a great idea making you my husband."
Fetching more brushes with his magic, Shining helped his wife get herself straightened. "And what sort of position would my wife wish?" That sounds good, no matter how much Cady being in danger stings. My wife...
"Why, at her husband's side, of course. I am an alicorn, surely there is something to be said for having a horn and wings, when all is said and done. Look what your sister did, all she had was a horn!" Cadance diverted one of the brushes she controlled to attempt to tame Shining's mane. "Hold still…" Working the brush through his mane seemed so easy, it just sat right after a moment's touch with the bristles.
Finishing off his wife's tail with a pair of brushes, Shining sent them all to the side and gave a nod. "Come on, time to find out if something crazy happened and if we are still free or if Auntie wants us locked up for treason." Despite the dourness of the words Shining Armor felt more sure of himself than ever.
Heading down, Cadance saw a lot of happily smiling changelings wandering around the castle. "Where is our Queen?" The words got a bigger grin from the drone.
"Your Highness," Shiver tried to keep his fangs from dripping the venom his particular breed of changeling—farmers—were known for, "Her Majesty and the other two princesses are still in their meeting in Princess Celestia's sun room."
Cadance's eye caught one little drop of clear venom as it fell from the changeling's fang. "Thank you." She tried not to panic about it, tried to remind herself that this was one of the realm's protectors now, that they were one of her best friend's foals. "Sorry," Cadance turned back to the drone, "I didn't ask for your name." She spared the changeling the biggest smile she could.
"Shiver, Your Highness." Shiver dipped his head.
"I don't think I saw any other changelings with venom, apart from when I was coming up for the wedding. What does it do?" Cadance was intrigued and realized this would all be important to her later.
"I could show you, just a little prick." Shiver trembled with anticipation and hope—during the "invasion" he hadn't been able to bite anypony—looking up at the alicorn princess. "It is not deadly, in case you were wondering."
"Just an explanation will do, thank you." Cadance tried not to shiver at the thought of those big fangs biting her.
Shiver stood proud. "I am what mother calls a 'farmer.' My bite overwhelms a pony, relaxes them into a stupor and—or so I am told—makes them feel extreme amounts of love." He smiled.
"You are told? You haven't bitten anypony?" Shining cut in on the conversation. At the changeling's sad nod he felt himself emboldened. "Okay, just a little prick."
"Shining!" Cadance turned on her husband in shock. "What do you mean, you have to talk to the Queen and-"
"Cady, I need to know the effects of my troops if I am to lead them." Shining looked at Cadance, stared into her eyes and searched for her dissent; he watched it crumble. "Okay, as I said, just a little bit."
Shiver trembled in delight. "Yes, my Prince!" He knew the title wasn't official, but had personally delivered a tray of tea to his Queen and knew some of their plans. Leaning forward, he reached his forelegs out on instincts and grabbed the much larger stallion. Pressing his fangs to Shining Armor's neck, he pressed only a little and felt an almost overwhelming desire to pump and pump with strange muscles, a desire he had to fight. Yanking back the moment some of his venom entered the stallion, Shiver couldn't stop himself spraying more of it on the floor.
"Is it supposed to be fast?" Shining looked at the changeling. "Because it doesn't seem to be flarble…" He blinked, the world going a little wobbly. Cady? Shining tried to say his wife's name, but all he could do was smile at her and think of how wonderful he felt to have her with him. She was talking to the nice changeling, then she led him away, calling his name. I love you so much Cady!
Shiver was breathing hard. The love radiating from Shining Armor had been almost as heady a meal as when Shining and Cadance had kissed. "This is amazing…"