//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: True Love Never Changes // by VashTheStampede //------------------------------// “What a day…” Shining Armor said to nopony in particular. “I know, right? Canterlot was invaded, Celestia was defeated, you and I saved the day, and to top it all off we’re married!” Cadance replied, her voice a combination of sarcasm and glee. The newlywed ponies were walking up a rather lengthy spiral staircase to an intentionally secluded and soundproofed “Honeymoon Suite” provided to them courtesy of Princess Celestia. When they reached the room, both let out a small gasp at the lengths Princess Cadance’s aunt had gone through to ensure them a happy and solitary honeymoon without two of Canterlot’s most important ponies even having to leave the Capitol. Shining Armor marveled at the intricacy of the lock mechanism on the door and windows, while Cadance observed the wine, rose-petal-covered bed, and a book of… things ponies could do on said bed. Blushing lightly, Cadance slid the book under the bed. She knew everything she’d need already. She took a deep breath and sobered up, though – she had something to take care of before she let Shining take care of her. Her horn flared and she telekinetically lifted her distracted husband to the bed. Turning to face him, she noticed that goofy grin on his face that he got whenever he expected something nice. “What are we gonna do on the bed, Cadance?” She couldn’t help but giggle at his faux naiveté, but quickly regained her composure. “I’m certain you and I both want to do the same thing, Shining,” she said with a smile, “But there’s something we need to talk about first. Something very serious. While to formality of our wedding has been conducted, Princess Celestia is withholding the legality of the action until I discuss this with you.” Shining Armor’s smile vanished immediately, and he would have paled if he weren’t already completely white. “Does… what? Is she going to send me to the moon if you get pregnant or something?” He asked, terrified. He wanted foals. Perhaps not yet, but he wanted foals. Cadance gave him a light laugh in reply. “No, nothing like that my dear. It’s just…” Shining took her trailing off as an invitation to guess some more. “Are you secretly a stallion? That would be awkward… are you actually almost as old as Celestia? Because that’d be kind of weird, but hey, I can be flexible.” Cadance wasn’t exactly sure what he meant by that last statement, but decided to ignore it in favor of the matter at hoof. “You’re closer with those two, but still off. Shining… Princess Cadance is dead.” One emotion filled Shining Armor’s head: confusion. Not entirely processing the information he’d been given, he asked the obvious question. “But if… if Cadance is dead… how… when… and who are you?” “I meant to tell you this sooner, so much sooner, I really did… Princess Cadance died seventeen years ago,” Cadance said, “in a train accident. She was on her way to visit Manehattan when the train derailed after striking a Manticore. Simply because an Alicorn is will live forever does not mean that they cannot die or be killed. I happened to be passing by at the time, and she saw me. She saw through me. She saw what I really am. Just as Princess Celestia did.” Cadance shuddered, knowing full well that Shining Armor was not going to take this next part well. “I am Queen Chrysalis, ruler of the Changelings.” Her coat flashed green, her wings and mane dissolved and burned away to reveal the hard, hole-filled flesh of a changeling. Shining Armor, completely unable to wrap his mind around the situation, simply started laughing. “Ha! Real… that’s real funny, Cadance! But we banished her together, remember?” He laughed. A cold, disconnected laugh, his eyes unfocused. “She’s gone! She tried to kill you but she failed, right? You can’t be… you're not…” Madness gave way to sorrow, which in turn immediately gave way to fury. “YOU DID THIS! WHERE IS SHE? HOW DID YOU ESCAPE?” Eyes still unfocused, clouded by hate, Shining didn’t notice the Queen close the distance between them, pressing her lips to his. It was Cadance kissing him. There was always this little thing she did with her tongue. Chrysalis pulled away, having never left her true form. As quickly as it had arisen, Shining’s fury subsided. Somewhere in his mind, it clicked. “All those years… it was never really her,” he said, slowly, as though tasting each word, “Our entire relationship… was based on me thinking you were some pony you weren’t.” Chrysalis nodded. “But it was you. I don’t… prove it,” Shining Armor said, still unsure of how to handle the situation that was unfolding before him. All these years… a lie? Why had she chosen now to reveal herself? If she was telling the truth… why did she end the charade? “Our first date. You took me to see some terrible – and mind you, radically inaccurate – horror film about Changelings. Invasion of the Ponysnatchers, if memory serves. I was terrified that you knew, and that that was why you’d brought me to the movie. But you put your hoof around me, you smiled, and you told me not to be afraid, because you were there. Or when you finally worked up the courage to actually tell me you loved me – and I cut you off and told you I already knew. Or…” Chrysalis tried and failed to suppress a smirk, “that one time I walked in on you in the shower. Singing that little song I shared with Twilight. Oh, my stars, the look on your face when I joined in was priceless.” Shining colored at the memory. That had been a funny moment, if royally embarrassing. Looking back on it, he considered it one of his fondest memories of dating the Princess, the turning point at which they realized they were completely comfortable and completely in love with each other. “You… you really are her. Well then… why me?” “It wasn’t you, not at first. I had had enough of ruling the changelings, stealing love and all. I wanted to see if there was a way to just acquire it some other way, to have it freely given to me. I found your family in need of a foalsitter, and the familial love you all shared was more intense than anything I’d ever felt before. I wanted it… and so I tried to be as friendly and helpful and kind as I could, in hopes that perhaps one day you or your sister, or your parents might see me as even barely a family member so that I could be freely given that love. Eventually I began to feel it. Then I felt something different, from you. It started small, but it grew. It wasn’t familial love, it was romantic love. That was the greatest feeling of all – knowing I was loved, deeply and truly.” Shining’s face had softened. He remembered that, the turning point. One night where he’d seen Cadance putting a sleeping Twilight to bed. She was so loving, so tender. The moment when she turned and caught his eye, flashing that gleeful smile, that was when he knew that she was the one. He’d spent his every waking moment for weeks trying to earn the courage to ask her out, and nearly passed out from relief at her almost instantaneous reply. “But then… why did you attack Canterlot? Put me under a spell? What was the point of that? Ponies could have been killed!” “That was not me. I left the Hive seventeen years ago, and I have not returned since assuming the identity of Princess Cadance. When I left, I appointed a general to lead the Hive in my stead, ordering him to assume my form until my return so as not to worry the Hive. He was ambitious, but at the time, I trusted him. It seems that eventually he let the Hive run low on love energy, and needed a lot of it quickly. So he sought out the nearest intense source of love, which just so happened to be us. Princess Celestia… as I said – she could tell I wasn’t Cadance. She couldn’t tell specifically that I was who I was, merely that I was not who I was pretending to be. She had no idea that I had been replaced, that it was now a pretender of a pretender. When he was revealed, though… the spell we cast to banish him? That was no farce – that truly was powered by our love.” Shining Armor continued to sit on the bed, taking the information in. He knew she was right – the kiss, the memories, the look in her eyes as she spoke, it had to be Cadance, or, perhaps more accurately, Queen Chrysalis had to be Cadance. “Shining Armor. I am not Cadance. But I want you to know something. The only falsehood about our relationship was my appearance. You loved me for who I was, not how I looked. I can tell the difference between love and lust. True, they’re often intermingled, but they are very distinct when you know them as well as I. And I tell you now – you still love me. Those feelings aren’t gone, just hidden. Most of all, though, I love you too, Shining Armor. It’s your decision if you want to end this and pretend it never happened, and I will respect that decision. You can send me away, banish me, have me executed, but look in your heart. I’m done living a lie, Shining Armor. I’ve been living a lie for seventeen years. My race has been living lies for millennia. I want to end that. My mind tells me to hide, my heart tells me to let you know the truth. So I have.” Chrysalis shut her eyes, waiting for the response, praying he wouldn’t send her away. Shining Armor wanted to curse her, jail her, get her out. However… she was right, and he knew it. He loved her, and had loved her, and still did and still would love her. He thought about it for a minute, and made his decision. Shining Armor reached out and pulled the Queen into a hug. Her eyes fluttered open, before closing again, tears welling in her eyes at Shining’s next words. “I would never want to end this marriage. We can talk to Celestia about it in the morning. But tonight… I love you, and I’m going to prove it. Yes, the lie hurt, but you’re right. I couldn’t stop loving you. Your body may change, but our love won’t. True love never changes.”