//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5:  A Girl 
// Story: The Boy Who Disappeared 
// by computerneek 
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Princesses looked up as Queen Chrysalis walked into the room.
Close to a week ago, a lone drone had shown up at the Canterlot gates, completely undisguised and carrying a large white flag.  He had carried a diplomatic message- a request to initiate ‘peace talks’ between Equestria and Changeling Kind.
After hours of deliberation, Celestia had agreed, set a time, date and location, and sent her reply back with that same changeling.  A week later, a pegasus carriage had traveled out to pick Chrysalis up…  and returned with her.  She’d ridden it mostly to keep ponies from attacking her out of the blue.
Princess Celestia smiled in greeting, sitting next to her sister at the middle of one side of the table.  Twilight Sparkle was on Luna’s side of the pair, with Princess Cadence and Flurry Heart on Celestia’s other side.  “I must say, your request was rather…  unexpected.”
Chrysalis nodded.  “I thought it might be.”  She looked at Cadence.  “First off, I would like to thank you for banishing us the way you did.  As I’m sure you well know, love is what we eat- and also what your bubble thing was made of.  As such, we all got a pretty good meal on the way out.”  She took a deep breath.  “And while Queens like myself are as immortal as you or Celestia, and actually can’t starve to death, we do start going a little…  ahh, funny in the head, when we are starved.
“And there’s been a persistent starvation problem amongst the Changelings for the last thousand years.
“So, thank you.  Because of how you threw us out, I was suddenly able to think clearly.”  She sighed, and looked across the Princesses.  “I think the starvation problem has been a direct result of our seclusion from the rest of society, and would like to discuss the possibility of integrating Changelings into society…  as changelings.  Yes, we have normally needed to steal love to survive- but if it’s freely offered, we don’t even have to make contact to absorb it- and it doesn’t hurt the pony giving it any more than if they were loving another pony.
“There’s currently a total of six changelings, scattered across Equestria, in genuine, loving relationships.  Their husbands don’t know that they are changelings, and I have reason to believe one of them has forgotten that she can transform- but they each regularly send us far more love than any dozen changelings could ever need- and we make sure to keep our other infiltrators clear of them and their husbands.
“I’d like to make that the pattern, rather than the exception.  We don’t need romantic love to survive- simple acceptance, by as few as a couple dozen ponies, is enough to sustain a drone.  Add that we’re used to hard labor back at the hive, as we’ve got to manage all sorts of information and the flow of love through the hive, and I’m sure changelings can be useful to ponies in all sorts of ways, and earn our living not just in bits but in love as well.
“Naturally, with such an integration, we would be able to abolish several current Changeling professions, such as infiltrators, love gatherers, and love managers, freeing a very large number of Changelings to help…  oh, build a few cities, maybe.”
“...  You’re welcome,” Princess Cadence muttered, looking stunned.
“Um,” Twilight began, her head tilting.  “Is there a reason only six are married like that?  Can’t any changeling turn into a newly-designed pony and mix into pony society?”
Chrysalis nodded.  “Technically, yes.  In actuality, those six got lucky.  Most ‘Lings would get caught, or sloppy, or whatever within a week or so, and end up destroying their budding relationship, completely aside from the difficulty in finding somepony compatible.  Believe me, many have tried.  That’s why the average infiltrator or love gatherer’s mission lasts for about two days.”
“Wouldn’t the changelings with relationships have been revealed by the invasion?” Luna asked.
Chrysalis shook her head.  “No, actually.  My mind was clear enough to specifically exclude them from the invasion.  One of them happens to be the mother of a Royal Guard here in Canterlot- so long as we don’t transform at all during the entire process, we’re perfectly capable of carrying and bearing pure-pony young- and was struck by the ejection barrier, but was able to return before anypony noticed her absence.”  She shrugged.  “Her husband was…  busy, up at the castle, and had left her at the house.  That compounded with how the barrier didn’t throw her very far- Mount Canterhorn got in the way, and she had enough love on hoof to heal herself instantly.”  She scowled.  “Her next delivery to the Hive was a bit smaller than normal, but I’d rather have that than have her risk herself- or her position- unnecessarily.”
Twilight was looking curious, with one hoof on her chin, but Celestia spoke.  “I don’t see why we can’t come to an agreement,” she began.
Unfortunately, she didn’t have an opportunity to finish because, at that very moment, the closed door exploded in, revealing a small army of angry stallions, lead by unicorns.
Immediately, while everypony in the room was still scrambling to figure out what was going on, the team at the head of the group hit Luna with a spell that encased her in something that looked like crystal.
They made a mistake, though:  They hadn’t started with Chrysalis.  Her reaction, rather than trying to see, had been to shoot into the mayhem, relying more on her empathic sense- now that their empathy-shields had fallen to the same spells as had blown the door in- than anything else to guide her aim.
Unfortunately, though, for as effective as her fire was- she took out fully half of their number with only three seconds of sustained fire- her empathy sense was not enough to tell which ones could shoot back, so she was the first to get hit by the return fire.  She seemed to collapse into thin air over about half a second, and was gone.
Then Celestia’s chasm of fire took out half of the remainder before one of the ones still hidden by the dust and falling debris managed to hit her with the same spell.  She, too, collapsed into nothing.
Next was Twilight’s turn.  She leaped up on the table and started charging her horn- but unfortunately, she lacked any kind of combat training, and so was struck by the same spell before she got off her first shot.
Then Princess Cadence.  She started by shoving her daughter, who was only eight, out of sight- then, lacking in any combat spell knowledge, started lobbing chairs at them.  She managed to take out six of them before she failed to dodge in time and was struck by the same spell, vanishing into the air.
Finally, Flurry Heart sat up in her chair, looking fearfully at the attackers.
They fired.
The spell hit her.
And…  nothing.
Flurry Heart hopped up onto the table.
“Uh, what?” one of the only three remaining unicorns asked, and fired again.  His spell had absolutely no effect.
One of the other unicorns tried something different, but it also had absolutely no effect.
She leveled her horn at them.
“Uh-oh,” one muttered.
Her horn started to glow.
“Run!” another yelped, two seconds too late.





Canterlot Castle would later be described in similar manner to swiss cheese.  Frankly, it was amazing that none of the staff, including guards, were hurt by the display- and that the structure was still standing.





Some hours after the event, Flurry Heart stepped out of the dining room, walking past the shattered remains of a hundred ponies, and a hundred shattered pods, produced by Chrysalis’ spellwork.  She looked at the nearest Guard; since the guards that had been protecting the room had been knocked out by the attacking party, they had been since taken to the hospital, and replaced with fresh guards.  Captain Gleaming Shield had taken one careful look in the door, decided that Flurry Heart needed some time, and given the order for her soldiers to wait patiently outside.
“Celestia, Twilight, Cadence, and Chrysalis,” she informed Gleaming Shield, her voice carrying an unnatural calm.  “They’re…  gone.  Find somepony that can save Luna, even if it takes a dozen years.”  She looked around at the assembled officers.  “Send for Twilight’s friends, and the nobles Celestia trusted more, if you know which those are.  As of right now, I’m the only princess left standing, and I need to know what I’m working with.”  She looked back into the room.  “Among other things.”  She looked at Gleaming Shield again.  “They hit me with the same spell, but…  something happened, and I came back.  I’ll be in Cadence’s room, writing a report on what I experienced- but whenever there’s a skilled mage available, I’d like to know if there’s any lingering effects, and find out if it’s possible to get the others back.”
Gleaming Shield only nodded.  She might have been a pegasus, but she knew she didn’t fully understand the weight that had just been placed on the young princess’s withers…  and, especially given her age, fully agreed with her willingness to seek help from those she knew Celestia trusted.
She only hoped they were fast enough- and as Princess Flurry Heart walked past her frozen father- he had been struck with the same spell Luna had- she turned to her officers, and the rest of the troops waiting for instructions, and started barking orders, assigning duties.
She would see to it that the nation was safe- and that Flurry Heart had all the support she needed to keep Equestria stable.