"Princess Celestia has agreed with our requests. Your people will receive continued sanctuary in Equestria, and, as part of your terms of custody within our care, you will relinquish the Crystal Heart, you will inform the Equestrians impacted by your policy of replacing and raising orphaned foals, and allow them the option of re-homing if need be, and you will make a public apology and reparations to the ponies of the Shadow Realm for what you did," Shining Armor explains to the queen, staring at the wheelchair bound ruler nervously.
With Cadence having flown off to the middle of the Frozen North all of a sudden, it fell to him to relay the princesses' wishes to the queen, who takes a deep breath through her nose when he finishes.
"While I have little recourse, I would like to plead for an alternative. The first condition will kill me, the second one will kill me, and the third one, you might be surprised to hear, will kill me," Chrysalis responds in a dry tone.
"Are you certain I could not opt for a less horrid execution? I've heard good things about Quartering. Ahh, then again, it may not be possible to tie the ropes," she jokes, making both Shining and the Changeling behind Chrysalis wince.
"I'm not at liberty to negotiate, I'm afraid. I am merely passing along her highness's wishes," he attempts.
As the long awkward moment drags on, and Chrysalis fails to react, save for the slow, ponderous, achingly slothful rise of her left eyebrow, the guard captain begins to realize just how much can be communicated in so little expression.
"I-I'll go s-see if her highness is available to discuss the matter f-further," Shining Armor says, feeling oddly intimidated by the queen and dashing out of the room.
Chrysalis glances to Squiggles, her caretaker in this borderline enemy territory, and the latest to bear his name and his precious persona. The little changeling looks concerned for her, but after a few moments, she rolls her eyes. "Poor little fool. Wears his heart right there on his sleeve, wouldn't you agree, little one?"
"Yes, my queen."
Celestia, sadly, wasn't convinced that Chrysalis would be dead thrice over if she actually owned up to her mistakes and changed her ways. Something that she made perfectly clear to the Changeling queen, who simply let out something between a snort and a sigh.
It certainly didn't help that the princess herself was still very injured from her earlier fight, something that had her somewhere between a better mood and a worse one. Better, because for some ungodly reason the full-body fractures and confinement to a wheelchair of her own for the day made her reek of nostalgia of all things, and worse, because the pain apparently wore away at her patience like nopony's business, as far as the queen could sense.
Waving her lack of a hoof irritably in spirit, Chrysalis groaned. "Fine, let's get on with it then."
"Don't be so bitter, my fellow chairbound regent. Pessimism, as they say, is a fun diversion from reality," Celestia said with a smirk, before lifting Chrysalis's mantle up off of her with a simple telekinetic aura.
With that, the thin shell of love that kept her isolated from the world around her was banished, and she prepared for the bitter sting of disgust and other unsavory things long since pumped in the air towards changeling kind.
After a few moments of holding her breath, Queen Chrysalis let out a puff.
"My. That's got to be the oddest death knell I've ever heard. She is dead, yes?" Celestia says to the changeling pushing Chrysalis's wheelchair. They attempt to remain stoic, even as Celestia's own guard twitches.
"No, unfortunately, unless my penance in Tartarus is to hear more of your mockery. Sadly, I fear only life could be that cruel with its punishments," Chrysalis retorts. The disgust towards changeling-kind as a whole is undoubtedly there, in the background emotions of the world, but either she has grown healthier over the past few centuries, or the disgust has faded into mere disdain when she wasn't looking.
"Well, since this execution didn't stick, let's move on to the next, yes?" Celestia mocks, ordering her guard to begin wheeling her to the train station after floating the mantle of the Crystal Heart over to another guard, who takes it away.
Chrysalis is carted along dutifully, and the princess begins requesting the location of one of the 'Communities'. One of the places where a changeling had been living disguised as an adopted foal.
"It's important to get a very good idea of just how this 'process' of yours is executed. Even if everything is fine, the parents and foals should still be given the truth," she explains as they are wheeled onto the train, followed by a small retinue of guards.
Chrysalis grits her fangs as little as possible. "And when they blame me for all the woes that come with parenthood or foalhood?"
"I love my subjects, but you've clearly spent a bit too long fantasizing about them having far more complexity and stubbornness in the manner to which they arrange their emotions. We are a flighty lot, Chrysalis, but it isn't impossible for us to adapt," she muses as the train begins its journey to Manehatten, where a young idealistic couple of pegusi took in an antisocial teen who had little chance of being adopted anywhere else.
"Are you always so insufferable?" Chrysalis asks, frowning at Celestia's lighthearted laughter.
"Not always. It took time and dedication to perfect the art," she responds with a serene smile.
Pie Sky and Rose Tint were pegasus ponies who always wanted to see the best in others. It was something that eventually led the couple to adopting Bittersweet, a poor young colt who seemed to not care about much other than candy and complaining. At least, at first, that's all he cared about...
"Rose, dear! Sweetie! breakfast is ready!" Pie Sky announced, flipping another pancake onto the large plate where the others were sitting.
Pie always made a point of putting a little dab of butter between each pancake while they were being stacked up, rather than simply putting it all on top at the end. A little bit of extra care that seemed to delight their adopted son.
Rose Tint flew into the room, plopping onto a large cloudy mass at the table. Hardwood was tricky to bring up into a cloud home, but the table had belonged to Rose's grandfather, who gave it to her as a gift long ago.
"He's still getting ready," she said with a smile that he matched, as they both heard the loud clatter of Bittersweet scrambling to get out of his cluttered room and over to breakfast.
It made the stallion laugh a bit. He might have opened up a lot since they first adopted him, but some things never changed. Not least of which was the sheer clutter of the young colt's room, packed with "Heavy Metal" and "Rock and Roll" paraphernalia.
Soon enough, though, Bittersweet scrambled in, eagerly taking his place at the table while Pie set the plate of pancakes in the middle for everypony to pluck out their own.
"Thanks dad," he said, plucking exactly two pancakes off of the pile. They encouraged him to eat plenty, with all the flying around he did with his friends, but sadly, the poor thing just didn't have that much of an appetite, despite his swearing by their homecooked meals.
As the two adoptive parents started drizzling their own pancakes with syrup, Bittersweet opted to simply tear into the pancakes with butter alone.
It was another little oddity that the couple had learned, taking care of him, that he always seemed to take his food as it was given, not adding or removing anything, nor using any condiments.
"Looks like you put extra love into these ones, Pie," Rose said with a smile. It was a joke they always said, when they realized how embarrassed it seemed to make Bittersweet, the first time she said it. Over time though, he flinched less and less at mentions of the 'L' word, and it became their own little in-joke.
"Yeah... It's really good," the colt said quietly, managing a bit of sheepishness at how fast he ate the breakfast.
"And you're sure you wouldn't like more, Sweetie? You polished those off rather quickly," Pie asked, brow furrowed with concern towards the little pegasus.
Bittersweet seemed to look inordinately happy, and shook his head. "No, I'm good, but thank you. I gotta go, see you after school mom. Dad," he nodded to each.
"What, no hug?" Pie asked with a raised eyebrow.
Bittersweet seemed to put on a calculating look as he rubbed his chin. "I suppose I could allot one for the day," he jokes, before giving them both a big hug that they return twofold.
"Have a good day," Rose says, giving the child one last squeeze before letting him go.
He nods. "See ya then!"
As he turns to leave, suddenly, he freezes, and they notice his eyes widen as something spooks him.
The doorbell rings.
"I'll get it," Pie Sky says, trotting over to the door of the cloud home.
"Dad, wait-!" Bittersweet attempts, snapping out of whatever shocked him, but by the time he does, the door is already open, and he spots Princess Celestia cracking her neck as she gets up out of a wheelchair, stretching like a cat. Next to her, the queen of the Changelings, Chrysalis.
Cicada, or, better known as Bittersweet, was on the verge of having a heart attack.
'And today was going so well too,' they thought through the mindnumbing blend of confusion and fear that came with a visit from both his Queen and ruler, and mother-faking Celestia!
And it really had been going well. Cicada was meeting their quotas, albiet barely. Compassion, sympathy, care, and no less than three kinds of love! Sure, he was maybe slacking off a bit, but what changeling on foal-duty didn't? You have to spend love to get love, so what if he spilled some emotions here and there giving out hugs and smiles to friends and family, he was still meeting quotas!
"Uhh, w-who's- uhh, Your majesty!" he muttered, almost bowing to the wrong ruler. He was Bittersweet, and Bittersweet bows to the pony, not the Changeling Queen!
"Princess! Oh my gosh, please, come in, what brings you here of all places?" Rose Tint exclaimed, hurrying to greet the ruler.
"I'm just here for a wellness check. This wonderful mare is Chrysalis, and she and I wished to ask some questions, and then give you some very important news," the princess said in a soothing, lovely tone that kinda scared the resin right out of Cicada.
When none of the guards outside, his parents, or Princess Celestia were looking at him, he glanced at his true Queen with a panicked stare that begged to know what in the name of grub was going on here.
She gave him a slow, laboriously exasperated look in return that responded 'Language, child. Calm down.'
Ignorant of the silent conversation being conveyed between drone and queen, Celestia was given a cloudy seat at the table.
"Before we begin, I'd like to speak to Bittersweet, if that's alright with you."
At the sound of his name, Bittersweet jerked to attention. At this rate, he was going to run completely out of fear, it was slipping out so obviously.
"Y-yes ma'am- I mean, yes your majesty," he responds, whirling to face her.
She titters softly, and he can taste the genuine amusement she expresses towards him.
"I simply wished to know, do you enjoy living here? Are there friends you have made that you hold in high regard? I assume you've been fed and watered appropriately, yes? Do you care for your adoptive parents?" the princess asks, taking a cup of tea from somewhere that nobody seemed to notice, and sipping at it politely.
He pauses, unsure of what to say.
Chrysalis frowns. "Answer her truthfully. There's little to be done about this situation, child," she responds.
Swallowing, Cicada nervously stammers. "W-would it be alright if I answered that p-privately?"
She shakes her head. "I'm afraid not."
He rubs the back of his head, glancing at his confused adoptive parents nervously.
"Y-yeah? I like living here, I've got a garage band with some friends at school, I get plenty to eat, and uhh, I show mom and dad plenty of love, uhh, even when I don't need to?" he trails off, now glancing fearfully at Chrysalis, who thankfully doesn't immediately respond to the wasted emotions. Discipline was hard to maintain in long term circumstances like these, and it was easy to forget to hold in feelings like that from ponies who took care of all your needs.
Or at least, that's how Cicada rationalized it.
"I see. Has Bittersweet given either of you any trouble? Undue strain, or perhaps he does things that strike you as odd, or uncomfortable to deal with?" she asks the couple.
They look utterly bemused by this entire exchange.
"No, of course not, your highness!" Pie Sky exclaims.
"He's an odd colt, yes, but he's really come out of his shell in the last few years, we don't have any trouble at all with him, princess," Rose Tint says, making Bittersweet wince hard at the wording.
Celestia's faint smile widens into something more whole. "That is good to hear. Bittersweet, I have spoken with Queen Chrysalis, and, as part of the terms of our truce, I have asked to see what she has done to ensure the prosperity of her ponies. We have sworn to help them integrate, and to protect those who are innocent, however, that trust comes at the cost of truth."
"Princess?" Rose and Pie ask, unsure of what is going on, or who the weird bug pony next to her really is. What's all this talk about changelings?
"If you would, I would like you to be honest with them, as you were with me. Explain the truth in your own words, where I cannot," she asks, standing up and backing away to give the ponies space.
Cicada gives his queen one last nervous look, and when she nods blankly, he swallows.
"Uhh, mom, dad..." Bittersweet begins.
With a flash of emerald fire, he reverts to his true form.
"I've secretly been a changeling. The whole time," he awkwardly says in a jerky, jumbled up way.
"Oh," Pie begins, looking unsure of what to say.
"Is there... a problem with that? I would hate to hear that this has been causing you problems," Rose says leadingly, unsure of the issue.
"No, ugh, look, I'm not Bittersweet, my real name is Cicada, I've been feeding on you two for years, disguised as an orphan to gain your sympathy, in the service of Queen Chrysalis."
"I don't feel fed on," Pie Sky muses, receiving a sharp elbow from his wife.
"That's in poor taste, Pie," she responds, before returning her attention to Cicada. "I'm afraid we don't quite understand. What exactly have you been feeding on? I hope you aren't trying to convince us that there's no love in this relationship, we didn't exactly go into this expecting you to be our own flesh and blood, sweetie."
Chrysalis interjects. "My changelings cannot make emotions of their own. We must feed on the emotions given to us by others. The most important of which is love, which we require to survive. We do so by being the target of expressions of those emotions, and when we express feelings in those ways, we release, expend, and waste them. Your 'Son' has been funneling excess emotion to my hive. His true family." she explains blandly.
The teenage changeling watches as his adoptive parents try to piece together the queen's words, and with a glance at each other, start to break out into little tears that make his insides clench with internal guilt.
"It's like a fairy tale..!" Rose Tint says, smiling and making Chrysalis recoil with confusion.
"Pardon?" Chrysalis asks outright.
Pie Sky nods. "It's actually quite sweet. Here we thought he was a shy colt with an odd obsession with that rock and roll instead of getting a good job when he grows up, but now we hear that he's helping to take care of his family, coming to live with us. It sounds like he's doing a very important job after all!"
"I don't understand, I barely showed you any love at all, I fed on yours and I only ever showed you anything back to grow the relationship, I lied to you, and my friends too!" Cicada admits.
Rose Tint rolls her eyes. "Sweetie, you're saying you showed us affection so we would show you some in return, accepted our love for you, and when you had more than you knew what to do with, went out and shared it with others? You held a few secrets, and came from odd circumstances? We adopted you to take care of your wants and needs, even though you had another family somewhere far away?"
She can't help but laugh. "Ponies do that too, I'm afraid."
Pie Sky's face scrunches up. "Sweetie, are you certain your friends are really going to be that torn up about it? I don't mean to get on to you about it, but I would think they would be 'stoked' to find out about this. You make it sound so grim, and they seem to adore that sort of thing,"
"Wh- Dad!"
Rose Tint giggles. "Remember that filly who came by, the one with the plastic vampire teeth? Oh she acted so spooky and broody!"
'Interesting. I wasn't aware that changelings could blush,' Chrysalis thinks to herself at the sight of poor Cicada, dread dawning on her as to just how little bitter resentment is wafting off of the embarrassingly sappy couple towards her for orchestrating this entire farce.
She was expecting to see the two ponies quickly turn to her as the cause of all their woes and express some very negative opinions to her face, something invariably fatal in her weakened state, and yet, it seems they've taken the revelation in stride, whether by strength of character, or just plain naivete.
Looking over at the princess in the corner, who has somehow managed to make her presence forgotten through quiet stillness, Chrysalis watches the princess give her a look of smug satisfaction.
"I told you so," Princess Celestia mouths, cracking her neck with relief as her bones appear to have fully healed. She begins charging her horn, preparing a spell now that her horn is in full working order.
Chrysalis twitches. "Oh blow it out your-" she begins as Celestia teleports her, Squiggles, and the entire guard accompanying them all the way back to New Canterlot.
As they reappeared, Celestia immediately began preparing another chariot.
"Now, it seems one half of the equation has proven to be to my liking. Now for the other side. I want to see the foals you replaced with your own. The ponies tricked into adopting changelings might be satisfied with the truth of the matter, but if I discover that the foals haven't been treated with proper care..." Celestia trails off, grabbing a map of the badlands and hastily loading up Chrysalis's wheelchair onto it, Squiggles scrambling on behind her.
"Please cease with the pointless threats. If I had been mistreating them, the Crystal Heart itself would slaughter us," Chrysalis retorts, rolling her eyes.
"Perhaps my standards are higher than those of an artifact of love. You still outright kidnapped who knows how many ponies. What you've done is on the edge of horror, and I promise you, if anything is out of line with the ones your hive 'adopted', you may yet get your wish for an execution," she explains, hitching herself to the chariot.
"I'm offering you the benefit of the doubt Chrysalis. Never before or after your unprovoked attack on the Shadow Realm have I ever heard tell of Changelings making waves. No attacks, no lovers disappearing into the night, never to be seen again. No pods, or green slime in places I did not expect to find it. I'm being open-minded, and that is as challenging for me as suffering my smarm is to you."
She glances back towards the queen as she pulls the chariot to the edge of New Canterlot's runway. "I have been burned dearly by trusting those who are clever, sneaky, and slow to enact their plans. Do not serve as another lesson to me, that I should know better next time."
With that, she flaps her wings, and blasts off towards the Changeling Hive before her guards can think to follow.
She already knew where it was, having retrieved gigantic insulting statues of herself from it once before, and in no time at all, they were gliding down towards the hive.
"Over there. That town near the hive," Chrysalis points out with her jagged horn.
In the distance, Celestia saw a large, seemingly ordinary looking town. One packed with disguised changelings, and containing a variety of foals and young ponies.
Soon, the truth would come out, and new choices would be given.