Chapter 2
The Queen and I teleported to the outskirts of Canterlot where we discussed our clandestine operation. However, as fate would have it, two ponies, a mare and a stallion, happened to be coming down the road upon our arrival.
I’m assuming that most ponies cannot see changelings, because they failed to detect us until they appeared mere inches from of us.
The stallion was the first to speak. “What revolting creatures! I say, let's move away from them!”
He was talking in a peculiar, somewhat shrill accent. Most of the Canterlot ponies had this accent, according to my fellow changelings.
I gazed at the Queen awaiting her judgement. She merely turned around and winked at me, indicating she had already concocted a brilliant plan. Subsequently, the two ponies stared at the Queen, their eyes revealing they were in quite a trance. I pondered the reason until I saw their eyes flicker green.
Then, I realized that they had been affected by the Queen's mind control spell.
“What are your names?” she asked.
“Jet Set.” the gray unicorn responded.
“Upper Crust” the yellow unicorn mare responded.
With that established, Chrysalis began interrogating them.
While she did this, I began morphing into Jet Set, copying everything from his ocean blue eyes, to his pitch-black mane and his cutie mark, which was three yellow jets. From what I understand, Jet and his wife were in upper class of Ponyville, meaning that most ponies respected them and they did anything just to improve their morale and popularity.
After Chrysalis finished conversing with them, they collapsed to the floor, in a stupor. Afterwards, Chrysalis transformed into Upper Crust.
She spoke in a voice tinged with panic. “Camo, call for backup. We need to dispose of them before anyone realizes.”
I nodded. “Of course, my queen.”
I sent out a signal through my horn, alerting one of the generals of the situation. So, in a matter of minutes we had the bodies dispatched. Once we finished, I asked the Queen why she left before the dispatching concluded. She explained that the royals were having a grand feast to celebrate the courtship between Shining Armor and Cadence. Considering we both knew we couldn’t miss the chance to go forward with the plan, she waited for me by Canterlot.
I took the form of Jet Set and quickly trotted after her. The streets of Canterlot were mostly deserted. The ponies that were out and about paid no mind to us. We headed down the primary road to the castle, and the light clop of our hooves was the only sound heard for miles around.
When we reached the castle, two unicorn guards were guarding the entrance.
As we approached them, one on the left yelled, with his spear drawn, “Halt! Who goes there?”.
I spoke first. “I am Jet Set and this is my wife Upper Crust.”
Of course, I had to mimic his horrific voice, but it was for my race and it was a tad humorous, so I obliged.
Subsequently, the Queen said, “Yes, we were invited to a party today.”
The guard quickly glanced at his partner, and with a nod from both, they summoned a list of some sort.
The left guard spoke again. “Ah, Jet Set and Upper Crust, you are on the list. Sorry for the delay.” After that, the other swiftly opened the door. Once inside, we slowly made our way into the Canterlot Garden. The view of the garden was marvelous, and I took in all of the beautiful flowers and creatures. The nature here was truly a sight to behold for me, even though the Queen wasn’t curious about the surroundings in the slightest. In fact, I could hear her panting.
This prompted me to ask, out of concern, “My Queen, are you alright?”
She continued panting, but she did respond, “Yes, do not trouble yourself with me, Camo. I am fine.”
Glancing at her, I can see that she looked considerably tired, and even began sweating. I quickly assured myself this was because she hasn't eaten any love since we left, many hours ago. She must be exhausted, not that I blame her. Love truly is our power source.
Anyway, we finally arrived at the party as the sun had finally made its way down the horizon. According to the changelings, the monarch of this land, Princess Celestia rises the sun every day, so it was intriguing to see the sun fade away. A glimpse of the moon was barely visible over the sunset. Getting back to the plan, Shining Armor and Cadence were sitting away from the crowd somewhat, and we needed for them to be separated long enough for Chrysalis to take her place.
Unfortunately, I hadn’t taken that aspect of the plan into account. Sometimes when procrastination possesses me, I leave it to the last second and come up with something to ultimately save my life or the lives of many. So I decided to simply talk to him.
I said, “Excuse me, are you Shining Armor, captain of the royal guard?”
He quickly stopped talking to cadence and walked up to me, saying, “Huh? Yeah, that’s me. And you are?”
I gasped, “I do apologize, sir. Where are my manners? I am Jet Set and this is my wife Upper Crust. I’m sure you’ve heard of me, considering I own one of the most prestige jet companies in all of Canterlot.”
He shrugged, and then shook my hoof. “I can’t say I have, but you must be important to get into this party. Nice to meet you.”
“Yes, I can assure you of that, but I'm here to talk to you. You don't mind if I take you away from your fiancee for awhile do you?”
He crossed his arms. “Why do you want to talk with her?”
“I merely want to ask her some questions. This is such a big event, and I want to hear about it from her perspective.”
He looked a little suspicious. “OK, but only for a little while. Cadence, be careful please.”
Cadence giggled a little. “Don’t worry, I love talking with other ponies!” and she walked up to “Upper Crust.”
I whispered to “Upper Crust”, “I’ll continue with the plan, my Queen.”
Chrysalis POV
As Camo left, I quickly trotted over to the pink alicorn mare and attempted to lead her away from the small crowd of party ponies. Once I succeeded, I transformed into her. She was completely flabbergasted with what she just saw, but before she could emit a cry for help, I proceeded to cast a spell on her. It expelled green flames around her body and sucked her into the ground straight into the crystal mines below.
As she crept deeper and deeper into the ground I started to lightly chuckle to myself. Once she disappeared from my sights, I quickly went back to the party, and made my way to Shining Armor and proceeded to nuzzle him. Ah, the benefits of being a changeling really are quite rewarding!
Camo POV
Once I saw Cadence fall through the ground, I noticed that the Upper Crust look alike disappeared. I looked at the hole where Cadence fell, searching for an explanation when I heard a familiar voice inside my head. ‘The deed is done my faithful companion. You may proceed with the plan.’
I nodded, and then said, “Well Shining, it was a pleasure to get to know you. I should go see where my wife has wandered off to.”
“Goodbye, Jet Set.”
I quickly departed from the party, stopping every once and awhile to admire how the garden looked in the moonlight. I wished I could observe the garden forever, but I had my duties to perform. Such is the life of the changeling! Anyway, once I exited Canterlot castle and was out of reach from any pony, I reverted to my changeling form and teleported down into the mines below.
It was dark so I used an illumination spell from my horn to find my way. I trotted down the extensive, narrow caves of crystal until I found Cadence. I pondered whether I should reveal myself to her and if so as a changeling or another pony.
I decided on the former, and said, “Hello, princess. How are you this fine day?”
She stopped crying a bit before she answered back, fearfully, “Who said that?”
“I did.” I walked out of the shadow the crystal created and stared at her. She looked like she just saw a ghost, another sign that shows no one even knows our race exists. As we locked eyes with each other her face turned from one of sadness to one of hatred.
“What are you planning?”
I rolled my eyes. “Nothing much, just an invasion of Canterlot. Oh, and in here, there is nothing you could do to stop it.”
Finally, I disappeared back into the shadows, while laughing maniacally. Concurrently, her face contorted from one of hatred to one of sadness as she cried throughout the night. I would feel somewhat guilty if this invasion wasn’t going to majorly benefit my race, but since it was, I had no pity for her, or her groom. This day was going to be perfect, and there was nothing anypony could do about it.
Thanks to DarkShockBro for editing.