//------------------------------//
// Ascension 
// Story: The Joy Hive 
// by TheDriderPony 
//------------------------------//

Pinkie practically melted into a puddle of bliss as she sank into the steamy water. A towel turban kept her mane out of the water as well as a few things she didn't want getting wet. Pronking really did a number on the hooves, especially now that she had twice the distance to travel and far more than twice as many friends to visit every day. Adding a hot spring to the pool area had been a  stroke of genius.

She took a long slurp of her fruity drink and let the tangy exotic flavors play across her tongue. Citrusy ice really was a perfect complement to steam. Though her eyes were closed, she felt the water ripple as someone entered the spring beside her. A soft groan gave his identity away, not that it had been that much of a mystery.

"Mmm," Pinkie leaned till she felt firm, warm chitin meet her cheek. "Long day?"

"Indeed," came the tired response. "Several nymphs escaped the kindergarten again. They were finally found playing in one of the fountains. Their caretaker swears she merely turned her back for a moment afore they vanished."

Pinkie tittered lightly. "I remember when I used to do that when I was a foal. Drove Mother and Father crazy."

Feldspar chuckled, a deep throaty noise that made his armored plates vibrate against her. They sat in silence for a time, each content in the moist air and each other's company. After enough time had passed for Pinkie's hooves to feel at ease again, Feldspar reignited the conversation.

"I spoke with construction company five today."

"Mm?"

"They report progress on the banquet hall is moving faster than expected. It may be completed in weeks rather than months."

He shifted his weight as Pinkie suddenly rose up from his side, eyes aglow. "Really? That's great! Then that's one step closer we'll be to the big reveal!"

Feldspar took a deep breath of her joy, but maintained his collected composure. "Are you sure, absolutely sure, that revealing ourselves is the best course of action? Once done, it cannot be taken back."

Pinkie gave him a playful shove. "Of course I'm sure, silly. Not like I haven’t been planning this out for years now or anything. You panicked just the same when I brought up revealing the hive to Rarity, and didn't that work out exactly how I said it would?"

He had no comeback for that.

"It's simple." She tapped her temple. "Can't be discovered if everyone already knows about you. That's modern thinking. It's all part of my master plan which I call the Get-Everypony-To-Start-Liking-Changelings-And-Accept-Them-As-Who-They-Are Plan."

"Once more I must commend your decision to form a committee to decide on all official location and project names in the hive."

Pinkie ignored him and continued. "Already a lot of changelings are making friends with the ponies upstairs using their own personalities. And with our resin products selling well across the country, we've got a good stable economy and host of ponies who respect us for our skills." She paused to drain the last slushy drips of the vibrantly blue, umbrella-topped drink. "All that's left is a little bit more positive propaganda and finishing off all the construction down here. Then everything will be ready for the big event! Nothing can go wrong!"

Her words hung in the air like a raised guillotine.

And then the blade of disaster came falling down.

"Intruders!" A hefty changeling crashed through the doors, his speed whipping up a wind that dispersed the gathered steam in seconds. "Invaders! Ponies in the hive!"

Pinkie leaped to her hooves and scrambled onto dry land. Feldspar was already there, grilling the messenger for further details. "Where, how, and how long ago?"

"Also who?" Pinkie added.

The changeling, Cobble, struggled to speak through his own laboured breathing. "Just... few minutes ago. Not sure where they came in. Somewhere... east side of town. It's... it's the Element Bearers!"

Pinkie felt her heart stop and her breath catch in her throat. "My friends... No, no we're not ready! Nothing is ready yet!" Sure she'd planned to introduce her friends to the hive eventually. But slowly! Easing them into the idea one at a time once they were ready, like she'd done with Rarity. They weren't supposed to find out on their own! It was like a birthday pony walking in on the surprise party before the food was even laid out yet, only with much bigger consequences!

Just as she felt herself beginning to hyperventilate, Pinkie felt a strong hoof on her withers. She looked up and found herself pulled into Feldspar's ever-calm and composed gaze.

"It's alright," he soothed, his voice acting like a balm to her nerves. "We can handle this. Just tell us what you need."

That's right. This was bigger than just a spoiled surprise. The fate of her changelings counted on the first meeting going well, and it was about to happen whether she was ready or not. They were counting on her! Besides, what kind of party planner would she be if she couldn't react and adjust to a few unexpected hiccups in the schedule?

Pinkie took a few deep breaths and calmed herself. The situation was not yet lost. "Okay. Okay. We can still make this work. Just have to spin it a little."

With a purposeful stride, she headed out of the hot springs, Feldspar and Cobble hot on her heels, unconcerned with the trail of water her soaked fur left in her wake. Changelings took notice as she passed, and sensing the mood, dropped whatever they were doing and followed. It didn't take an emotivore to sense the determination and seriousness behind her eyes. Pinkie scanned the crowd of followers as it grew, quickly sorting through who she had on hoof to work with and how to best put them to use.

"Bittersweet," she called, not even slowing her stride.

A changeling sped up to her side and matched pace. "Yes!"

"Get a team of runners and start channeling my friends towards the ballroom. Use the service tunnels to get ahead of them and put up some fake walls over any routes that would take them down the wrong way. Chiffon!"

As Bittersweet darted away, another changeling took his place. "Call up party teams A through G and have them start setting up a Priority One party in the ballroom. Get everything arranged but keep it cloaked till I give the signal."

"Priority One? But that's-"

"Princess level. I know. But we only get one shot to make this right, so I'm not pulling any punches."

He nodded and moved to gather his teams before hesitating and turning back. "What's the signal?"

"It's 'Surprise!', of course."





Twilight's mind raced as she traversed the labyrinth of alien architecture. How could she have missed it?! Changelings. In Ponyville! A whole hive right in her own backyard, and here she was caught completely unprepared.

For that matter, what was this place? She could hardly believe it was built by changelings; it was so far removed from the badland's hive in terms of design. Maybe it was an ancient ruin, left behind by some predecessor society lost to time and the changelings had merely moved in. Either way, they'd taken great measures to remain hidden. Even at the edge of her awareness, she couldn't help but acknowledge the sophisticated array of wards and anti-scrying spells built into the very walls. If they hadn't tipped their hoof by tunneling into Rarity's basement, she doubted they'd have been found before it was too late.

All the signs had been there. She'd seen how Ponyville's population seemed to be growing despite no new housing being built, but had dismissed it as tourists. She'd bought some of the strange new items at the market, but never wondered where they came from. Guilt gnawed at her like a dog at a bone, but she was at least grateful that she didn't have to face the consequences of her mistake alone.

"This is insane! I can't believe she managed to build a whole hive underneath us without anyone knowing!" said Rainbow Dash, who found the hallways thankfully tall enough to fly through.

"That Chrysalis sure is a sneaky one," Applejack agreed.

"I hope Pinkie Pie is alright." Fluttershy looked like she'd rather be absolutely anywhere else right then. "I can't imagine how frightened she must be. Kidnapped by scary unreformed changelings from her very home!"

“I wouldn't worry about her," Rarity said off-hoofedly, before quickly adding, "I mean, it's Pinkie Pie. She's good at getting out of tough spots. I’m sure this will all work out and we’ll be able to laugh about it in the morning."

Twilight refocused her drifting attention on that point. Fluttershy was right. It wasn't just that there were changelings under Ponyville, but they had also kidnapped one of her closest friends! Using that as her center, she channeled all her guilt, her fear, and her worries into anger. It wasn't the friendliest of emotions, but it could sure get things done!

"Come on everypony!" she said with renewed determination. "Let's go! There's no time to waste!" She picked up her pace to a strong gallop.

"Yeah! Now we're talking! Let's kick some changeling flank!" Rainbow Dash was quick to match her speed. The other three sped up as well, with varying levels of enthusiasm.

Countless hallways, staircases, and empty rooms later, they found themselves at an ornate pair of double doors. They knew this had to be the place since the branching pathways had grown fewer and fewer as they'd approached it. What few changelings they had seen during their rampage had been quick to dart away into holes too small to follow, but they'd led Twilight and her friends to this inner sanctum all the same.

Having long since abandoned stealth, Twilight knocked the doors off their hinges with a powerful blast of magenta magic. Blue flamed torches flared to life along imposing columns, revealing an oppressive and ominous throne room. The walls remained in shadow, yet spilling into the edges of the light was a squirming mass of countless unreformed changelings; their blue eyes shining menacingly from the darkness like so many Hearth’s Warming lights. At the very end of the room, seated on a throne that couldn't be a more perfect match for the one in the Badlands hive that Starlight had once described, was Chrysalis herself.

Twilight knew it had to be Chrysalis because no one else would have had the arrogance, the sheer unmitigated gall to disguise herself as their missing friend. She wasn't even trying to pretend she really was Pinkie as she pet a changeling that slept on her lap like some kind of megalomaniacal supervillain's cat. The mockery only served to stoke the fires of Twilight's anger.

"Welcome everypony," Chrysalis said, her words dripping like venom through an insultingly poor mockery of Pinkie's voice. "To the ultimate surp-"

"Cut the act, Chrysalis!" Twilight interrupted, her horn already alight. "I don't know what your plan is, but you'd better return Pinkie to us right now if you know what's good for you!"

The changeling queen paused, only to further the insult by playing dumb. "What? Who? No, it's me, Pinkie. You know, friendly baker and local Element of Harmony?"

"You're not fooling anyone with that ridiculous charade! Drop the facade and give Pinkie back to us!" Twilight fired a warning shot. Before it connected, a baker's dozen of changelings dropped from the shadowed ceiling, cast a shield, and took up a defensive formation. "See? Your minions give you away!"

"But I really am Pinkie," she insisted, "I'm not Chrysalis!"

"Ha! Only Chrysalis would say that she isn't her! Caught you red-hooved!" Rainbow Dash bobbed back and forth in the air, her body already loose and eager for a brawl.

"But I'm really not!" Chrysalis stressed, tinging her words with a mockery of genuine concern. "Rarity, back me up here."

Twilight turned to the unicorn in question, who looked decidedly uncomfortable. Rarity shifted her weight on her hooves, her eyes wandering between Twilight, the False-Pinkie, and the murky shadows that shifted just outside the torchlight.

"Well, this is certainly quite the position you've put me in," she said at last with a sigh of resignation. "Yes, Twilight. That's the genuine Pinkie Pie. I assure you, there’s a very reasonable, if terribly convoluted, explanation for all this."

Impossible! Twilight's mind reeled. Why would Rarity corroborate Chrysalis's deception? Did the changelings have some kind of hold over her? Blackmail? Mind control? Had they taken Sweetie Belle as a hostage? Was Rarity herself a changeling?

Twilight's eyes narrowed in suspicion. If Chrysalis and her swarm had managed to grab Pinkie, why not Rarity as well? She'd done it before. And there was that tunnel into Rarity's basement to consider.

"To be perfectly honest," the creature potentially-formerly-known-as-Rarity continued, "when you said that Pinkie had been kidnapped and then led us down here, I was at first under the impression we were descending to get help."

"Help? From changelings?"

"Yes. Pinkie's changelings." Rarity shook her head again. "This is all terribly hard to explain."

"It's not that hard," countered the foul creature wearing Pinkie's skin, "I found a hurt changeling in my bedroom after the royal wedding, nursed it back to health, and the next thing you know, bing bang boom, I've got twice the population of Ponyville living in my basement. Simple."

"Hold up!" said Rainbow Dash, "We're supposed to believe that you- I mean, that Pinkie... ah whatever- has been raising changelings under Ponyville for years and no one ever found out and she never told us?"

"I'd call this finding out," Rarity pointed out. "I've known for a while but she asked me to keep it a secret until the time was right to tell everypony else."

"Weren't really all that much a secret anyhow," Applejack shrugged.

Twilight rounded on her, eyes torn between narrowing even further in suspicion and widening in surprise. "You knew about all this?"

Applejack took a step back from the weight of Twilight's glare. "N-Not the part about all these tunnels and such underground, but the changelings? Sure enough." Seeking somewhere else to look aside from Twilight’s piercing gaze, her eyes roved the crowd before locking on to one changeling in particular. "Turnover, that you?"

"Yes'm."

"Ya'll know you got a shift in the North field tomorrow?"

"Wouldn't dare miss it, Miss Applejack."

Confidence renewed with the familiar weight of authority, she nodded in satisfaction before turning back towards Twilight, who seemed to have frozen in place.

"Half the shops and farms in town know that if you need some seasonal workers, you ask Pinkie Pie and she'll sort you out. Weren't too hard for some of us to put together the changeling angle, 'specially after a pegasus I hired one day showed up an earth pony the next." There was a small scuffle amid the changelings followed by a sound not unlike a hoof smacking the back of a head. "I kept an eye on 'em and they've always done their honest day's work with no funny business." She eyed the grand hall and the throne on which the Pinkie-lookalike sat. "I never knew she took it this far, but I ain't exactly surprised either. It is Pinkie after all; mare doesn't do things by half measures."

"Well, duh," said the mare on the throne with a roll of her eyes. "If I only used half measurements then I'd only end up with half a cake. Who would want half a cake when you can have a whole cake?"

"And there's that. Either that's really Pinkie, or Chrysalis took a whole mess of acting classes since the wedding." She turned and fixed Rainbow Dash with a questioning look. "You really didn't know about all them? Weren't you dating one a while back?"

Dash's eyes bugged out of her head and she dropped to the ground in shock. "What? No! I never dated a changeling!"

"Yeah," drawled a voice from the chitinous crowd, "One dinner at The Loft is hardly dating. Especially when you don't even offer to split the check!"

Dash chose that moment to become very quiet and reflect about her choices in life.

Twilight, meanwhile, was dealing with the blindside to her worldview.

If what Applejack had said was true and so many ponies knew about the changelings and simply accepted it, then either this was the greatest stealth cultural infiltration ever conceived or else... or else... Doubt clouded her conviction. Could she have been wrong?

Simply being a changeling wasn't a crime, and all the evidence she had supporting a kidnapping was circumstantial at best. Changelings turning over a new leaf she could understand; Thorax and his people were the literal textbook case of it after all. Had the shock of being caught so unaware by the massed changeling presence colored her view that much? As a mare of science, she abhorred a result tainted by bias, and as a Princess of Friendship she hated the idea that she'd so easily judged a whole group based on speculation and bad first impressions.

Still, even with her friends' testimony she couldn't free herself of all doubt. Chrysalis was, if not particularly smart or practical, still deviously clever. It was entirely possible that everything she'd seen and heard so far was a plot designed to make her doubt herself and lower her guard.

Were any of her friends really her friends? Was she even underground? Was it not possible that she could be, at this very moment, a prisoner of the changelings? Subject to these intense illusions in order to make her reveal sensitive information?

Panic started to set in as Twilight began to question the very nature of her reality.

She needed proof—objective, undeniable proof—that what they claimed was true. That this world was more than an illusion. That somehow, somehow, against all reason and logical thought, Pinkie Pie had not only not been kidnapped by changelings, but in fact, had known about this secret hive for years and somehow risen to a position of power and respect within their ranks.

It was an absurd thought. But, if all other options could be disproven...

To discover that kind of heavy truth, there was only one tool for the job. The result of years of hard work from the best and brightest of the Royal Mage Battalion with help from Thorax's most trusted reformed changelings. A spell designed to change the game if Chrysalis ever returned. And circumstances had provided everything she needed to finally put the spell to use; a dangerous situation with rogue changelings and an alicorn present with enough magic to actually cast it. Though she wouldn't have much left afterward.

"Enough." Twilight's friends stopped their arguing as the de facto head of their group returned from her deep thoughts. "I'm going to cast a spell, and it's going to determine with absolute certainty the truth of the matter. One way or another, there'll be no secrets after this."

"My q- Pinkie," a tall changeling standing next to the throne muttered, not quite quietly enough for Twilight to miss, "I cannot recommend allowing this course of action to continue. She is as powerful a mage as they come and there's no telling what spell she's preparing."

"It's alright, Sparry," Pseudo-Pinkie whispered back, though her voice carried through the whole room. "Twilight's my friend. She'd never hurt me."

She handed over the sleeping changeling on her lap before hopping down from her throne. She took a few steps forward and sat back down, spreading her forelegs wide. "Cast away, Twilight. I'm an open book. Just, try to be quiet please? It's amazing Cherry has managed to sleep through this much noise already, but it'd still be nice if she could finish her nap."

Twilight nodded and allowed herself a little hope that this actually was Pinkie and that her worries had been for naught.

She'd actually been pre-casting the spell for nearly a minute, using almost as much concentration to keep her horn corona-free as the casting itself required. All it needed was to be released.

So she did.

A dome of magenta light emerged from Twilight's horn, rapidly expanding and growing to fill the room. It passed through pony, changeling, and fixtures alike, enacting subtle changes on the world as it went. Several invisible changelings on the columns blipped into visibility and a part of one wall fizzled away to reveal a rough patch of rock that had yet to be tiled over.

But the walls remained walls and Twilight's friends remained equine. She let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Reality was, at least, real. Which just left the question of Pinkie, who was...

...still Pinkie?

The very non-changeling-looking mare sat exactly where she had been before as she examined her hooves with a disappointed expression.

"Aw, it took my hoofpolish off. I really liked that color."

And then the air was split by a shriek from Rarity. It was a high, keening noise, not unlike a siren —or possibly a Siren— badly in need of tuning. Twilight and the others turned immediately to her aid and even the changelings seemed to snap into ready stances.

"I have... a grey hair!" she wailed. Whatever Twilight's spell had done, it had the added effect of stripping whatever product Rarity had been using to hide her stress-greys. Even as the rest of the room started to relax, the unicorn in question continued to handle it poorly. "My mane! My beautiful mane is ruined! This is the worst thing that's happened to me today! I'm actually more upset that you all now know that I was hiding it than the fact I have them at all! I'm playing my feelings up even now because I know you expect... it... of me...?" She trailed off as her woeful expression turned confused. "I am confused and alarmed as to why I just said that and why I am continuing to speak in this manner."

"It's the effect of my spell," Twilight said in way of an explanation, though not an apology, "For the next few minutes this room is a Zone of Absolute Truth. Illusion magic, glamours, and changeling transformations will all fail. Anything intentionally meant to hide or obscure something is stripped away. Even speaking half-truths will take a concentrated effort of will and lying is flat out impossible. It's Canterlot's ultimate weapon against any potential rogue changelings and I should not be saying all this tactical information in front of them but I am literally incapable of realizing that I shouldn't until after I finish." She paused and winced. "I should not have said that."

"Whoa," Rainbow Dash said, "That's really awesome but also kinda scary and I'm going to stop talking now cause I'm scared I might say some embarrassing secret before I can stop myself." She clapped her hooves over her muzzle even as the last few words fought their way out.

"Momma?" a small voice asked. "Wha's goin' on?"

All eyes turned to the throne, where the tiny changeling in the taller one's grasp slowly rubbed the sleep from its eyes. Its vibrant and undeniably pink eyes.

Pinkie sighed as she returned to the throne and reclaimed her charge. "Aaaand now you've gone and woken up little Cherry Pie. Thanks Rarity, I'd just gotten her down for her nap too."

"Momma," Cherry Pie continued, tugging at a curly lock. "Who's those ponies?" The tiny pink-eyed changeling pointed at the gobsmacked ponies across the room. "Are they fwiends?"

"Yes, my little sweet, they're good friends of Momma's. You recognize Aunt Rarity, don't you? These are your other aunts. They were worried about me and came for a visit."

"Oh." The littlest changeling nodded sagely. "Aw we gonna have a pawty for them?"

Pinkie's smile brightened as she gave her a nuzzle. "That's right! Of course we have a party when there's guests."

"Can I have cake?"

"Just a little. If you're good. It'll take a bit to set up, so just go back to sleep. I'll wake you up when it's time."

"A'wight." With a little help, Cherry Pie clambered atop Pinkie's head, made a little nest in the curls, and went back to sleep.

"Still not convinced?" Rarity shot in Twilight's direction.

Twilight sighed, ears flat against her skull, and sunk into herself as she let the spell carry her words. "I hate myself for still not fully believing Pinkie after all this evidence, but a part of me still demands spell-verified objective proof and I want to ask a few questions before the spell wears off."

"It's alright Twi," Pinkie said with a small, understanding smile. "I get it. It's a lot to take in. Ask your questions. I've got nothing to hide. Just don’t ask what I’m getting you for your birthday."

At last, it was time for the truth. "Who are you? Are you really Pinkie Pie?"

"Yepperooni! I'm the realest, pinkest, pie-est Pinkie Pie that ever pinked a pie. Earth pony, born and raised, Ponyville's premier party planner, and Element of Laughter."

"Are you here under any sort of coercion, blackmail, or other form of manipulation?"

"Nope."

Tension bled from the room as Twilight visibly relaxed. Finally: confirmation that everything was alright. Though there still remained mysteries to clear up before the spell finished off her magical reserves.

Twilight turned to the changeling by Pinkie's side. "Who are you loyal to?"

"The Queen."

In mere moments, the tension was back as though it had never left. Even Pinkie froze in place. "And who is the Queen?"

The changeling smiled, showing off his teeth. "That would be Pinkie Pie."

"Wait, what?" Pinkie turned to him as the tension snapped like a dry twig. "Feldspar? Since when am I a queen?"

Feldspar scoffed lightly and shook his head. "For a long time now, My Pinkie."

"Pinkie's your Queen?" Rainbow Dash asked, "How's that supposed to work? She's a pony."

"And what about Chrysalis?" Fluttershy added.

"Pinkie is our queen because she has done what that tyrant never could." Feldspar stood proudly and took his place at Pinkie's right hoof side, placing his foreleg around her shoulders. "She fostered loyalty, built trust, and forged a genuine bond of mutual respect."

A second changeling, shorter and with a chipped ear, stepped forth from the shadows and into the light. "Chrysalis was a lot of things," his tone remained carefully measured while his expression openly radiated his disgust. "A bully, a tyrant, and a coward, but she was no queen. We know that now. If you want to see a true queen, you have only to look to that throne."

Pinkie waved.

A third changeling stepped forward. "Pony she may be, but Pinkie Pie is more of a Queen than Chrysalis ever was."

The sea of changelings in the shadows began to move, all of them slowly making their way into the light. More torches sprang to life as they passed, showing just how truly massive the swarm was. But this was no offensive force; their faces held smiles, some slight, some nearly giddy in their eagerness. Each adding their contribution to the growing chorus.

"She gave us food."

"She gave us names."

"She gave us safety."

"Comfort."

"Family."

"Love."

"She gave us a home."

"And she gave us the freedom to choose," Feldspar concluded. "And with that freedom, we would choose her a thousand times over. For her love and her joy are shared without end, while Chrysalis never had any to give."

Pinkie stood frozen, small twinklings of liquid joy beading at the corner of her eyes as the hive, her hive, closed in. "You... you all really feel this way?"

"We do, My Pinkie. You've been our Queen in word, in action, in spirit, in all but name for years now." He shuffled on his hovoes slightly, baring a rare moment of mixed emotions. "We had been... planning on saving this for later, after our official public reveal, but, as you say, the best party planners-"

"-know how to adapt to the party," Pinkie finished.

There was movement in the crowd. Something was making its way forward. A lone changeling reached the front, his compatriots parting before him, and he presented a small silver box. Feldspar took it, opened the lid, and Pinkie gasped.

It was a tiara. There were roots of Chrysalis's crown in it's design, but the harsh spines had been replaced with sweeping curves and the dark jet and emeralds exchanged for pale blue manasteel and glittering pink sapphires. Feldspar knelt before Pinkie, starting a wave of changelings kneeling down radiating out from the center.

"In our hearts, you have always been our queen. Today, we seek to make it official. With this, we pledge ourselves to you, not through birthright or blood or conquest, but willingly, as individuals and a swarm. If you will have us, we shall be your sword and shield, your arms and legs, your eyes and ears. Everything we have to give we offer to you. Pinkamena Diane Pie, will you accept our request and be our Queen, truly, officially?"

The room fell silent. Not a soul moved as the whole room held its breath, waiting with charged potential for an answer. Pinkie picked up the crown and turned it over in her hooves.

"You guys..." she started before a giddy hiccup escaped her lips, giggles following soon after. "Ever since that first night, this has always been a strange relationship. First I just gave some food and comfort, but then we started to grow into something bigger." Her eyes scanned the crowd, meeting each set of eyes with warm familiarity. "You all are family to me, as much as my sisters and parents back on the farm, and I can't imagine what my life would be like without each and every one of you in it." She flipped the crown over and chuckled slightly. "Y'know, we've been looking for a good title for whatever I am for so long now"—she raised it and placed it among her curls—"and I guess Queen is as good as any!"

Silence carried for a hesitant breath as the room soaked in the moment, before every changeling broke out into wild cheers. Countless torches and lanterns flared to life, illuminating the entire room as bright as day and revealing lines of decorations and tables weighed down with food. The whole ceremony was really little more than a cultural formality to affirm what they'd known all along, but the changelings of the Joy Hive had long since learned not to turn down any opportunity to throw a party.

Meanwhile, for their part Twilight and the other non-Pinkie ponies watched the proceedings with mute cocktails of shock, confusion, and awe. Twilight didn't even say anything as her spell faded just after her last question. They didn't react as the changelings presented Pinkie with the crown, nor did they react as they celebrated her accepting it. It wasn't until the party decorations were revealed and they had each been presented with a mug of cider and a party hat that any of them finally snapped back to reality.

"Wait, why do you guys have cider?" Rainbow Dash broke out of her shock and instinctively drank it. "And why is it so good?"

"What... what just happened?" Twilight managed, her train of thought struggling with the sudden change in track, the mental gears spinning but not quite clicking.

"I think... we can officially say the changelings ain't our enemy no more," Applejack ventured with a grin.

"And that Pinkie is somehow behind that," added Fluttershy.

"That's pretty on the money," Pinkie said cheerily as she weaved through the partying throng and trotted over, Feldspar standing proudly by her side and Cherry Pie riding in her mane. She chuckled awkwardly as she reached her friends. "Not exactly how I expected this day to go down, but, eh, that's life. So, girls," she spread her forelegs welcomingly, "Now that you're here and everything's all nice and official, welcome to the Joy Hive! Which I guess I'm Queen of now. Apparently."

"Oh Pinkie," Feldspar chuckled, "you have always been our Queen. We may have used other titles out of respect for your humility, but a Queen you have most certainly been in action, if not name."

"Told ya," Applejack vouched.

Twilight shook her head, the emotional whiplash of the last half-hour too much for her to process. "This is crazy. How did this all happen?"

Pinkie giggled and raised a hoof to pat Cherry as the nymph played with her crown. "It's kind of a funny story really. You know how when you were a filly, and your parents always told you not to feed the stray cats cause they'd keep coming back? That's how this all started."