She was a scrawny member of her kind; her only real advantage over them her skilled flight. Unlike most Changelings, she could even hover upside-down in place; a rare ability for any of the insect-like race to possess. She grew up as any young Changeling would; the life within the dark confines of the hive an otherwise unpleasant one due to the undeniable fact that their kind was dying out.
They had owned this hive within the Bad Lands for almost two millennia, and in that time the world around them had changed. Once it was a thriving and lush forest, part of the now dark and dangerous Everfree Forest, but it had since cleared, over a millennia ago it had turned from the wondrous and thriving forest it was into an arid and desolate wasteland.
Changelings could survive on most any food, vegetable or mineral it didn’t matter. Their ability to change their form gave them the unique ability to digest almost anything into something their body could use. The creation of the Bad Lands around them had stripped them of any natural food, and magical fallout within the soil had robbed it of its ability to support their desperate farmers.
It was as if somepony had sucked the life out of the earth.
And so, they had to turn to finding another source of food, though they were hard-pressed to find a foodstuff that could be stored for the entire hive to survive on for any length of time. The wasteland stretched for miles around, and any plant based foods they could recover would be almost worthless by the time they returned from gathering it. They briefly considered meat, the Bad Lands were thriving in creatures which could be hunted, but they soon turned away from this idea.
They were desperate, not monsters.
Then they fell upon a source of nourishment that could sustain them if appropriately harvested, one that didn’t biodegrade and could be stored within the hive for all. It could be garnered from animals and the earth; it could be gathered from neighbouring Ponies provided they disguised themselves aptly.
They discovered the nourishing power of Love.
For the next thousand years they scraped up an existence. Food was scarce, their reserves of stored Love rationed to all, even their Queen. They were growing desperate again, something had to be done. Ponies, their greatest source of pure Love energy, were growing wise to their ability to disguise themselves. During the upbringing of the last century’s Changelings, it was becoming commonplace to see husks, dead Changelings, within the tunnels of their home. Feeding on the love of other Changelings, once a taboo classified as cannibalism, became a more frequent occurrence. The Hive was almost in open revolt. After months of deliberation, the Queen came up with a last-ditch plan to gather whatever sustenance she could for her dying people.
She would take them to war.
Her plan was going without fault until, one day into the plan, the Queen seemed to change. Her mind had always been an open book to her Changelings due to the Hive Mind linking them all together. She had become obsessive and volatile, the power that the love she was siphoning from the pony she had captured in her plans, Shining Armour, had gone to her head and made her feel invincible. The Changelings, though perturbed by this drastic change in her nature had to shrug it off. She was their queen, their leader, and they had to obey her orders, and her new orders were to sack the Golden City and raze it to the ground, to take over Equestria.
This dramatic change in plans was what led her to assault the Princess of the Sun and entomb her within a cocoon.
Yet, despite the vast power that Queen Chrysalis held, she had overlooked small details in her quest for glory, and ultimately the Stallion whose power she drained was turned against her and the Changelings, and the magic shield projected crippled many of them and launched them from the city. Others were not as lucky, caught between a rock and a hard place; the shield had crushed them against walls or floors. Any Changeling found within Canterlot, the Golden City, was now either dead or would be dead within minutes.
She had been a Changeling Medic, and was responsible for caring for any Changelings brought to her injured. Despite their Queen’s orders, the Changelings knew that a dead pony was a waste of potential resources and were working to only stun, though their mass invasion had instilled widespread terror amongst the population of the city.
She had been caring for a Pegasus filly she had found after her brethren had charged through a street. The filly had startled and fallen from her bedroom window, landing on the street heavily enough to knock herself out and dislocate her ankle. The Changeling didn’t care that this filly was of the opposing side of this war, nor did she care about what potential resources she could offer; she was medical. Even the Changeling medics were taught to care for those in need.
After carefully splinting her ankle and making sure that the filly didn’t have any head injuries, she carefully and gently moved her to one side of the street, placing her on a garden bed to ensure she would stay comfortable.
A yell over her shoulder got her attention, and she turned to see a Canterlot guard charging at her. Panicked and not trained to defend herself, she fled up the street into an open building, apparently an apartment block, and she moved as fast as her legs could take her. The guard was still hot on her tail, his hoof beats as thunderous as her heartbeats. She dove around a corner and into an open apartment, quickly leaping into flight and managing to struggle her way into the ventilation duct in the roof.
She held her breath as the guard checked through the room, watching him in abject terror as he looked about before giving up and leaving.
She exhaled her long held breath heavily, panting to catch the breath she had so frightfully lost.
She hid in the air duct for as long as she could, the others in the Hive Mind telling her that they were coming to save her and to hold her position. She had almost run out of patience, wanting to get back out into the field to help as many as she could, when she felt a pulse of magic greater than she had ever felt. Voices within the Hive Mind were going silent; some with wretched screams or pleas for help cut short, and it was only a moment or so before she felt the wall of magic, Shining Armour’s shield, slam into her with all the force of a locomotive. She screamed in pain as it crushed her against the inside wall and bottom of the air duct, she felt bones bend and snap, her carapace split, and her body slide a few inches before blissful darkness took her.
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She was unsure how long it was until she awoke. It had to have been at least a day, maybe two, as she could see the light of the sun within the room below her illuminating in the unique way of sunrise. She tried to move, only to find that her hind legs were broken, her right wing snapped, and that she was unable to see from her left eye as the carapace around it, though usually rubbery, had split and swollen her eye shut. She could still move her forelegs, she found, so she used what little traction she could find to drag herself towards the opening she had entered the enclosed space through.
Upon reaching it, she pulled herself through and dropped unceremoniously into the apartment below, smashing into a table with her thigh. She’d landed right on the edge of the coffee table, and the sturdy wooden structure withstood her weight.
Her left thighbone, however, had not.
She was in too much pain to scream, her body too battered and broken to waste the energy. Instead, her body heaved in an attempt to do anything in response to her now unbelievable pain, and she retched without result on the rug while her eyes streamed with tears.
The owner of the apartment, a Unicorn stallion, had been out for the morning getting some breakfast. He’d had a good day so far, the blueberry pancakes were particularly splendid, and the young waitress… well, she was adorable. He was seriously considering going back there just to see her again. Somepony that cute most likely already had a coltfriend, but one never knew without asking.
It had been three days since the Changeling attack on the city, and the… remnants of those unlucky ones caught between a wall and the shield had been removed from the city streets and given a mass-burial outside city limits. Princess Celestia had ordered a memorial to be raised above them, Changeling or not they deserved to be remembered.
Death, to her, was something that nopony deserved.
He opened the door of his apartment cheerfully, though the smile quickly fled his face along with his complexion, and he sped back down the building to find a guard, returning with the spear-wielding Pegasus in armour and pointing to the creature now bleeding green all over his rug.
The guard cautiously moved over and looked down at the changeling whimpering on the floor. She only looked back at him and shifted a foreleg weakly.
“Please… help…”
The Guard grunted down at her, swinging his spear around and clocking her upside the back of her head hard enough to cause the spear to ring and her world to return to painless black.
She awoke next in a bed, her head on a pillow and an oxygen mask on her face with her body screaming in pain. She grunted and groaned, and a passing Unicorn mare with a little white cap with a red cross adorned upon it noticed her eye clenching in pain and her thrashing faintly on the bed.
“Oh dear Celestia she’s awake, Doctor! I need a doctor! Patient two-thirty-one is awake!”
She hurried over and put her hooves on the Changeling’s shoulders.
“You need to stay still, alright? We’re going to help you, but you need to lie still or you will agitate your injuries.”
Weakly she nodded, this alone causing her pain, and a Unicorn stallion wearing a white coat and with a stethoscope around his neck moved into her vision.
“Changeling, I’m Band Gauge, I’m the surgeon who has been assigned to you. Before we continue with pleasantries, I need to know, is there a soft spot in which I can put a drip to give you morphine?”
She nodded faintly and coughed before replying.
“Inside… foreleg…” She mumbled.
He scratched his chin before tapping her right foreleg, just between the joints of her upper and lower leg. “Other side of there?”
She nodded. “There’s a… vein… easy to see… dark green…”
He wasted no time asking her how she knew any of this, probably assuming it was basic knowledge for Changelings, and grabbed a needle-tipped tube attached to a nearby machine. The nurse turned her arm, and he looked carefully for the vein she meant before pushing the needle into the soft flesh. She flinched at the pain a little, and he pushed a button on the machine. A clear liquid flowed through the tube and into her arm.
After a moment or so, the pain she felt from almost every point in her body faded to a more tolerable throb, and she gave the doctor a thankful smile.
“Alright, now that we have you more… lucid; we have a little paperwork we need to fill.” He said, levitating a quill and clipboard in. “Let’s see… do you have a name?”
She shifted faintly in the bed. “Flitterwing.”
He scribbled this down. “Race… Changeling…” He scribbled this down as well. “Gender?”
She blinked at him with her only good eye. “You… can’t tell..?”
He blushed faintly. “Uhm… no; sorry.” He mumbled. “We can find out, but now that you are awake that would be somewhat invasive.”
She sighed. “Female.”
He ticked something on the sheet. “Do you know your age in years?”
She shook her head no.
“How old would you be considered to other Changelings, then?”
“I am a young adult.” She mumbled.
He nodded and wrote this down next to the age section.
“Any dietary needs?” He asked, before blinking and going to write something.
“If you write ‘love’ I’ll have to snap at you.” She hissed.
His quill stopped before writing anything.
“With my teeth.”
“Oh? What can you eat then?”
“Anything you can eat.” She grumbled. “Fruits, vegetables…”
He seemed to consider this before shrugging it off and checking the ‘no’ box.
“Do you have any allergies?”
She hissed as the nurse adjusted her sheets, making her hind legs shift on the bed.
“Aside from pain and death you mean?” She grumbled. “No, none that I know of.”
He nodded and scribbled this down.
“Do you have any friends or relatives?”
She sighed a little and looked away from him. She had been expecting this question, but knowing that it was coming didn’t make it any less painful.
“I don’t know anymore.” She mumbled. “I have had no contact with the Hive Mind since the attack. As… as far as I know they’re all…”
He sighed and nodded, petting her shoulder reassuringly. “It’s alright; I’ll leave that section blank for now.” He said, putting the quill aside and levitating the pad away. “For now, just get some rest, alright?”
She sighed. “What… what has… happened to me?”
He looked nervously to the nurse.
“From what we can tell, you have broken both of your lower hind legs, your left thigh has been cleanly broken in two, you have two broken ribs, numerous breaks in your exoskeleton, a fractured pelvis, there’s a break in your right wing, and a split in the exoskeleton around your left eye has resulted in the flesh swelling your eye shut. You have also managed to chip off the lower half of your right fang. Though we’re not in any real place to judge how much you can lose, we do know that you have lost approximately thirty percent of your total blood.”
She sighed. “So… I’m almost dead.” She mumbled. “Another five percent…”
“We have done what we can to seal your wounds and set the bones, however we cannot stitch your exoskeleton without risking further damage, so we have-”
“-bandaged over the wounds as tightly as possible without cutting off blood flow to force the gaps in my carapace to close as well as possible.” She finished for him.
He blinked at her, stunned.
“I was a medic.” She mumbled. “The last thing I remember doing before hiding from a Canterlot Guard was setting a filly Pegasus’ dislocated ankle. He must have assumed I was assaulting her.”
The doctor sighed.
“Get some rest, alright?”
She nodded and rested her head on the pillow, closing her eyes and allowing the morphine to drift her to sleep.
She awoke next with no sunlight shining through the windows. Night had fallen, and she could see the beautiful tapestry of stars in the sky. Her body hurt, she could feel the pain stabbing through her and she groaned in pain. It hurt so badly, she could feel fresh tears rolling down her face, and it had woken her from her peaceful slumber.
“Ow…” She mumbled, before giving a painful sob which made her feel her broken ribs. “Ow…”
She heard hoofsteps dawdle past her room, and she groaned and tried to raise her voice to be heard.
“Help…”
The hoofsteps stopped outside and returned, moving into the room and stopping next to her bed; she felt the pony look her over. She gave a pained hiss as she tried to shift.
“Miss, are you alright?”
It was an orderly, and she shook her head.
“I hurt… everywhere… Why do I not feel the morphine..?”
He sighed. “There’s a button on the machine that releases morphine. I’m impressed that your doctor hasn’t set a timer, but I would assume that he wasn’t sure about how your body would react to frequent doses.” There was a beep and she felt the pain slowly subside. “It will only release one dose every few hours to prevent addiction, alright?”
She nodded and sighed, the pain finally subsiding to a more tolerable level. “Thank you.”
The orderly nodded and left back out into the hall, going back to his interrupted rounds.
She let her head rest against the pillow again and she gazed out at the stars.
She’d always enjoyed stargazing, when she could manage it; the twinkling little specks of light were pretty. Sadly she didn’t get much time out in the Bad Lands, the Hive was an underground city, after all, and the night was blisteringly cold outside despite the searing heat of the day. Still, she felt that the stars were… gentle, as if they were shining hope down onto the inhabitants of the world.
Something within her head clicked, and the sounds of voices she had long since thought to never hear again returned to her.
‘H… hello..?’
‘Flitterwing..?’
It couldn’t be…
‘…My Queen?’
‘Flitterwing, it is you! Oh, bless the stars. Are you alright? Where are you?’
‘I am alive.’ She replied meekly. ‘I am in Canterlot.’
The Hive Mind seemed to go worriedly quiet.
‘Are you alright?’
‘They have not mistreated me; instead they have given medical aid. I’m sorry, my Queen, I…’
‘Flitterwing, do not be ashamed of the failure; the only one to blame is myself. I’ll apologise to you in person as I have the others, but that will have to wait. Are you able to get someponies attention?’
‘I… I believe so.’
‘If you can, ask them if the Princess is able to grant you an audience. I’ll relay my ambassadorial instructions then, alright?’
‘Yes my lady. If… if I might… How many are..?’
Another nervous silence returned to her through the link.
‘Eleven, including you and one foal;’ Chrysalis informed, ‘Of all eleven, you and I are the only females of breeding age.’
She didn’t know how to respond to this. Eleven Changelings had survived? Out of hundreds?
‘I can only be thankful that their endings were swift.’ Chrysalis sadly said.
Yes, striking the ground with broken wings and from as high an altitude as they had been flung would be rather instantaneous a death. At least they didn’t suffer.
‘And… and what of Slithoof?’
‘Your mate is fine, Flitterwing, my son one of the few lucky ones; we are taking a moments rest to recuperate, just within the Equestrian borders where it is warm enough to sleep outside. I… I fear for the survival of Glitter, though; she is not as… hardy as we elders are. For now she is resting in a shredded flag that one of our survivors had managed to hold on to so as to keep her warm.’
‘Glitter, Highness?’
‘Glitter is our only surviving filly. She is an albino, and as such her carapace is white; her mother named her Glitter before she… didn’t return.’
‘I understand, my Queen. I shall attempt to attract attention and get some form of diplomatic relation started.’
‘Thank you, Flitterwing.’
She smiled faintly as the connection faded slightly, the Hive Mind no longer talking directly with her, and looked over her shoulder.
“S-somepony..?”
She lay in her bed worriedly, unsure what to expect of the princess who would arrive. This was, after all, the ruler of all of Equestria that she would be addressing; a kingdom that, only days before, her own race had tried to assault en masse.
She heard the clopping of hooves enter her room, several Royal Guards taking up place within the room as a larger female pony entered.
Her coat was a midnight blue, and her wings and horn also featured this colour, but her eyes were a lighter, softer blue colour that reminded Flitterwing of rivers at night. Her mane and tail flowed in a wind not present and glittered like the night sky on a clear night, and she wore trappings of a Canterlot royal all in black, including her horn, with a moon emblazoned across the necklace she wore. Her flank featured a black splotch upon which a crescent moon could be seen.
She glared down at the Changeling on the bed like one would a cockroach.
Not wanting to offend, Flitterwing dipped her head respectfully.
“Princess, thank you for-”
“What do you want, Changeling?”
Flitterwing was caught off-guard by this; she hadn’t thought that the Princess would be this… sharp.
“I-I wanted t-to talk about n-negotiations.” She stammered.
“You cannot speak for your peoples.” The princess hissed.
“I… I can c-connect with them via the H-Hive Mind…” She wheezed weakly. “P-please…”
“Fine, what do you want?”
‘We want to negotiate peace.’ Chrysalis instructed.
“P-peace…”
“Peace?! After your attack on Equestria, you expect peace?!”
She shrank down into the sheets frightened, a machine nearby which showed her heart rate became slightly more frantic.
“W-we were starving.” Flitterwing mumbled, as per what Chrysalis was instructing her to say. “We had no choice.”
“No choice?! What about what you’re attempting right now? Diplomacy! We would have aided your people if you had gone through the right channels!”
“We had no time for diplomacy; we were starving to death by the dozens! We lost over eighty of our Changelings on the way here! Going through channels takes time, and we didn’t have it!”
Flitterwing shrunk down further after this hard reply, Chrysalis had been quite adamant about her tone, and now she shrunk down before the Princess as she loomed angrily overhead.
“We will not be addressed in such a tone!” She almost shouted down at her before turning to the door. “And we shall not be aiding your Changelings. Once you are well enough to walk and fly, you shall be removed from Equestria back to the Bad Lands.”
Chrysalis’s voice was stunned, as were the others of the Hive Mind, when Flitterwing muttered something that the Princess did not hear well. She turned her head back, fury still on her features and a twitch in her eye.
“What was that?”
Flitterwing gulped, this Princess could easily be her doom. She could die, right here, but considering what she was being threatened with… well, she would die anyway just… slower.
“Murderer.”
The Princess paused before turning, her mane crackling with furious magic and her face brimming with fury.
“You dare?!”
“You would send us back to the Bad Lands, where there is nothing for miles around but dust and dirt, nothing but arid wasteland and death? There are only eleven of us left, eleven of thousands, and you condemn us to a death most slow and painful! Where is the wealth your country boasts, where is the power, where’s your compassion?! Some superior state you are!”
The Princess went to argue in return, only for Flitterwing to continue her verbal assault. “During the assault, do you know what I did? I was a medic; I helped to heal those who were wounded during the pointless fighting! I stopped to help a filly who fell and dislocated her ankle, hiding her from sight so she would be spared any harm, and a guard charged me down as if I were trying to drain the filly of her blood! I may not know much about Equestrian medical practice, but we are taught to help those in need; regardless of who it may be. I could care less who won the battle, or whose throne rules, in the end all it would equal is more work!
“We may have harmed ponies, terrified them and damaged your great city, but at least we aren’t willing to condemn the last of a species to death! At least we won’t commit genocide and call it justice!”
The Princess growled, magic swirling around her form and horn in utmost rage as she glared at the Changeling lying in bed. She went to shout when another voice cut her off.
“Luna, this is a hospital.”
The Princess’s head spun to the voice who had addressed her, and Flitterwing looked up at the pony that entered. Her coat a brilliant white with a sun for her cutie mark, gold versions of the Princess’ trappings and horn, and flowing blue, pink and green mane and tail. She was taller than the furious Princess, and seemed to hold herself more delicately.
‘Who… is that?’
Chrysalis’ voice chuckled in her head faintly. ‘That, Flitterwing, is Princess Celestia.’
Celestia looked her sister’s furious gaze in the eye and raised a brow at her, and the Lunar princess seemed to calm faintly.
“Sister! This… this thing just..!”
“I am well aware of what the Changeling has said, sister, I have been here since you gave your ‘judgement’, and I must admit that I am disappointed in you. Luna, you promised me you would control your anger if I allowed you to perform royal duties.”
“I…”
“Luna, please return to the castle, we will discuss this at breakfast.” Celestia said calmly.
The princess sighed dejectedly and nodded as the magic began fading from her mane and tail. “Yes, sister.”
She dawdled from the room sadly, several guards escorting her through the hall. Celestia watched her go with a thoughtful frown on her face before she sighed and composed herself, turning to the Changeling cowering faintly in the bed.
“Now then, young one;” she began, stepping over to the bed, “I am Princess Celestia; I do apologize for my sister’s behaviour, she would seem to have taken the recent invasion somewhat to heart.” She sighed faintly before moving to sit, a guard placing a red velvet cushion on the ground beneath her discreetly. “Now, what are your terms?”
“T… terms?”
Celestia nodded. “You must understand that, after the invasion, our nations are considered at war; your hospitalization is under a royal decree to treat all prisoners of war as we would treat our own. For us to offer you the help you wish for, a cease-fire or surrender are required. Sadly, I doubt that Equestria will call for anything less than an unconditional surrender, however I am willing to hear out any terms you may have.”
Flitterwing only looked back rather flabbergasted; this was… this was what it came down to? She could hear the others in the Hive Mind discussing the terms, though it only took a short while for Chrysalis to issue her only conditions.
“W-we want aid.” She said nervously. “We’ve been starving for so long… we’ll give up almost anything.”
“Even the sovereignty of your empire?”
Chrysalis was rather swift with this reply.
“Yes. There is no point in being a Queen if there are no subjects to rule.”
Celestia seemed to consider this.
“Princess, please, we number but eleven and one of those is only a filly. She is the only albino we have seen in almost one hundred years and I helped deliver her personally; we don’t have much time. Currently she is kept warm only with the shreds of a flag.” Flitterwing pleaded.
Celestia sighed.
“Alright, inform your fellow Changelings to head to Canterlot, I shall have a Pegasus squadron meet them as soon as I can. In the meantime, I shall see to finding accommodations, though you may have to make do with a warehouse or something of the like for a short while. Your privacy will be… somewhat limited.”
Flitterwing gave a gentle chuckle, though not without slight pain. “Princess, we are a social race, privacy was not common in the first place.”
“Perhaps that is fortuitous. I shall have to deliberate with my Captains, but for now the Changelings are welcome in Equestria up to the outskirts of our towns. You may not enter any of our towns or cities until we return with our final agreement, do you understand?”
“Yes, Princess.”
The Princess smiled and dipped her head faintly.
“We shall attempt to have our solution as soon as possible.” She said before turning to leave. “Have a good evening, ambassador.”
She moved from the room, her Royal Guards following her. Flitterwing could hear her order one to take up position outside the room until the next shift, but she took little note of this.
‘We are very grateful, Flitterwing.’ Chrysalis’ voice said within her head.
‘Anything for the Hive, my Queen.’
There was a faint chuckle from the Queen. ‘There is not much of a Hive left, but I appreciate the sentiment.’ She said. ‘And I would like to say how proud I am of you; you stared the Regent of the Moon in all of her fury, I doubt that many would have had the strength of character to manage that, considering who she is.’
‘She was condemning us to extinction.’ Flitterwing sadly mumbled. ‘I… I don’t think she really wanted that blood on her hooves.’
‘I know I wouldn’t…’ She thought to herself.
‘Get some rest, Flitterwing; we will be near the city’s borders in a few hours.’
Flitterwing nodded faintly and rested back on the pillow below her, allowing sleep to overtake her once more.
The next time she woke, she didn’t feel the pain she had the night before. Evidently the doctor had been and set a timer for the pain medication. Still, however, she could feel it faintly; a dull throb that raced through her body along with her heartbeats, and she groaned as she shifted in the bed.
It was daylight now, the sun outside indicating it to be nearly midday. The sun’s warmth filtered in through the windows and felt good on her carapace. Dully she attempted to make contact with the Hive Mind.
‘My Queen..?’
‘Flitterwing,’
‘Where is everyone? What’s your progress?’
‘We are flying up the mountainside; we are nearly at the outskirts. The Royal Guard’s Pegasi have met us already and are leading us to a designated location outside the city.’
‘Highness! Slithoof is falling!’
‘What?!’
‘H-help..!’
The worried silence that followed this unnerved Flitterwing, and she noticed that her breath had caught in her throat. A nurse, noticing her distress and slightly heightened heart rate, moved into the room.
“Miss, are you alright?”
She shook her head. “C-catch him..!”
“Miss?”
The hive mind was frantic, the voices that could speak were all frantically panicking, and even Slithoof’s own voice was speaking in abject terror. He was falling, and fast. Chrysalis had broken off from the group to chase after him before he struck the ground, the Pegasus guards apparently yelling at her to return.
“Catch him..!”
The voices all stopped in shock when the panicked voice of Slithoof cut off suddenly. They all returned, however, yelling in worry and fear.
Flitterwing, however, was now hysterical; thrashing in the bed as her mind predicted the worst.
“No! No, no, no, Slithoof!!”
The Nurse leapt on her, holding her down and yelled for a doctor to come and sedate her, another pony hurrying in and carefully injecting a clear liquid into the crook of her upper arm.
Her panic slowly wore down as the sedative worked through her; draining her energy and making her lower her eyes.
“S… Slithoof…”
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She awoke a few hours later, her mind faintly registering the world around her and the ever-present dull ache of her entire body. She groaned faintly, trying to remember why she had fallen asleep when it all rushed back to her. Slithoof had fallen in flight down the mountain.
She tried to rise in the bed, her pelvis protesting her attempt to put her full weight on it with searing pain and instead staying on her back and staring at the roof.
‘Slithoof?!’
“Worry not, Flitterwing.” A familiar voice to her left said. She turned her head sharply at this, her right eye managing to see the figure’s shoulders and head.
“M-my Queen!”
“Ease, Flitterwing, ease; you do not wish to harm yourself further.” She reassured, putting a hoof onto the smaller Changeling’s shoulder. It was now that Flitterwing noticed something off about Chrysalis’ figure.
“M-my Queen, where is your crown?”
Chrysalis sighed. “I have relinquished my crown to the Princesses.” She mumbled. “As per the terms of our surrender, our sovereignty and therefore my place as a Royal have been given up. By all rights, I have as much political power now as Glitter does.”
Flitterwing’s gaze drifted down sadly. “I am sorry, my Queen.”
“It does not matter.” Chrysalis replied with a dismissive wave of her hoof. “All that really matters now is our survival.”
Flitterwing nodded sadly before looking her now ex-queen in her eyes. “Wh-what has become of Slithoof?”
Chrysalis sighed miserably. “I believe we almost lost him,” she began, “he was unable to feed during the raid on Canterlot, and the flight back drained whatever energy he had left. I was able to save him from striking the ground, but he fell through a tree. He was brought here to be cared for, but I have not heard news about his condition. Currently Grall is watching over him.”
‘Milady.’
‘Grall? How is he?’
There was an awkward silence for a moment or two.
‘I am sorry, my Queen… we lost him. Your son has passed away.’
Chrysalis looked as shocked at this as Flitterwing.
‘How?’
‘He appears to have struck his head on a branch when he was falling. There was no damage to his carapace, but his skull beneath was heavily broken. Apparently the trauma caused his brain to swell… There was nothing anypony could do.’
Chrysalis huffed and let tears run down her cheeks before she moved across the room and pulled Flitterwing into a tearful embrace.
“He… he’s…”
“I am so sorry, Flitterwing.”
“We… we were planning to have a foal! Why would he go and do something so stupid..?”
Chrysalis sighed and nuzzled the younger mare’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry, if I’d known he was so starved I’d have stopped for us to find something to eat, but he was so insistent on seeing you again… I didn’t want to deny him…”
She huffed and held the sobbing widow tighter. “I’m sorry.”
Flitterwing spent the next hour sobbing in her bed, trying to drown out the world around her. She’d lost him… she knew that she might have lost him in the first assault, but… having come so close to getting her mate back hurt more than she could express. He was going to be everything to her, but now… Now she wasn’t sure she had a purpose to bother going on.
She’d been close to removing the morphine tube, but her Queen, Chrysalis, stopped her before she could go through with it. She was in enough pain as it were; adding the torment her body was suffering onto that would be dangerous and Chrysalis had lost enough of her children for one week.
“Flitterwing…” Chrysalis eventually probed with her voice heavy in misery.
“Yes, my Queen?”
Chrysalis sighed faintly. “You need not call me that anymore; I am no longer your queen.” She pointed out. “I… I was wondering something.”
Flitterwing looked over at Chrysalis sadly. “Wondering what?”
Another sigh left the larger Changeling. “I was thinking about what you said earlier, about how you and… and Slithoof wanting a foal? Were you… were you serious?”
Flitterwing nodded. “Yes, I was; we were going to ask you for your blessing after the raid, but… I guess that’ll never happen now.” She mumbled sadly. “He… he was always nervous about it, you know?” She laughed a little, finding it funny somehow. “Worried that you’d not want to run the risk of another Queen being born, that you’d be furious that we would consider it given our desperate food shortage…”
Chrysalis shifted closer, a disarming and somewhat motherly smile on her face. “I would have welcomed a new foal in the family, Queen or no.” She said firmly. “Another branch in the family tree, another guaranteed heir to the throne…” She trailed off faintly before leaning forward and nuzzling her daughter in-law. “It would have firmly cemented you into our family more than you already were.”
Flitterwing returned the affectionate gesture, glad to have any contact with another Changeling after all that had happened. “Why do you ask?”
Chrysalis sighed. “It’s… it’s about Glitter.” She mumbled. “She will need a mother, but I will be too busy handling the politics of our integration into Equestria to find time to be with her in any real sense… I would leave her with a nanny, but she would end up with the nanny more than I, and I don’t want her to grow up resenting me…
“I know she cannot replace m-my son, but we’re all she has.” She looked the bedridden mare in the eyes pleadingly. “Please, will you adopt her? I wouldn’t ask if there were another option, but other than the Equestrian orphanages there’s nowhere else for me to turn. I couldn’t possibly put her into an orphanage; she’d never survive the other foals’ torment.”
She sniffled sadly. “Please, Flitterwing? I know it is a lot to ask, considered what has happened the last few days-”
“I’ll do it.”
“Y-you will?”
Flitterwing nodded. “Of course I will.”
“Thank you, Flitterwing.” Chrysalis said warmly, giving her another gentle embrace. “At least… at least something will go right for once.”
“Where is she currently?”
“She’s being looked at by the nurses, she got a little cold on the way in, and so we thought it prudent to have her checked.” Chrysalis replied. “Shred is with her, but I’ll have him bring her here.”
Another Changeling entered the room, evidently one of the few survivors. He looked to be rather grizzled for a survivor, and Flitterwing knew why; Shred, one of Queen Chrysalis’ Royal Guard, was indeed a veteran solider. He’d fought against eight Dragons, a Phoenix, and had personally wrestled many of the Equestrian Royal Guard into submission during the conflict. That he was still alive was a clear testament to his sheer durability.
He carried a small white bundle on his back and smiled faintly.
“There is no need,” he rumbled, “I thought you would like her to be brought to you, my Queen.”
“Ah, thank you Shred.” Chrysalis said before reaching to his back with her hooves and gently lifting Glitter from him. “And how is she?”
“The Equestrians could find nothing wrong with her, though I personally doubt their expertise when it comes to our Changeling physiology.” He replied firmly.
“Well, we’ll let Flitterwing look at her;” Chrysalis said warmly, “as our sole remaining expert on Changeling medical care, she should be able to see whatever the Equestrians could not.”
Flitterwing found the bundle of carapace and hooves to be placed delicately on the bed with her. She struggled to move up the bed, almost falling back against her head before Chrysalis moved the pillows to wedge her up and Shred moved to a corner of the room discreetly. Gently she moved the filly into her lap, thankful that she’d healed at least a little in the day that she’d been effectively out cold for. Gently she poked the filly awake.
She swooned when Glitter yawned cutely and sleepily before smacking her lips and looking up at the elder Changeling curiously. Her large, soft green eyes looked into Flitterwing’s blue and eye patched own with a youthful curiosity she’d not seen in a Changeling filly in years. She smiled down at her, giving her a gentle rub between her ears where her fin was barely growing in.
Most Changelings grow a fin atop their head and down their neck, much like Ponies grow their manes; and the fin could be styled should the Changeling wish. Only Chrysalis’ own blood line ever grew a mane like Ponies, and it had been something that had initially drawn Flitterwing to Slithoof.
Discreetly she looked over the filly who sat in her lap, soaking up the attention like a sponge. There seemed to be nothing wrong with her, not that was visible on the outside, but… Flitterwing could just tell that she was lacking something, like a vital nutrient deficiency in any Pony being visible in their coat or eyes. Her magic aura was weaker than was usual for a filly her age.
Otherwise, the filly was a perfect little Changeling.
With a content sigh, Flitterwing rubber her nose against Glitter’s own, managing to get the filly to smile wide, close her eyes tight and buzz her wings in glee.
‘So this is what it is like to be a mother…’ She mumbled happily into the Hive Mind.
Chrysalis giggled girlishly. ‘Well, you missed the less entertaining mornings and birth, but yes.’
Flitterwing’s smile spread until, to Chrysalis, it looked wide enough to split her face. ‘I could get used to it.’
A disgruntled huff came from the door, and the mares looked over to see who it was. Bold as brass, there stood the Unicorn around whom everything had revolved, who had personally sent the Changelings rocketing from the city and all but crippled those who survived. A pink Pony with Pegasus wings and a Unicorn horn, her mane and tail streaked with a bright yellow and purple against the pink of her coat strolled to his side and looked into the room worriedly. She sighed.
“Oh dear.”
Chrysalis pretended to not notice them, ignoring their presence and leaning down to Glitter, muttering unintelligible babying gibberish to her and getting her to giggle.
“You are not welcome here.” She shot over her shoulder coldly, lifting her head back up.
“I could say the same, witch.” Shining Armour growled.
“Shining!”
“What do you want; can you not see we are busy?” Chrysalis hissed.
“My Queen..!”
“I came here to see where my absent guards were going; I’m going to have to reprimand them for wasting their time here.”
“I’ll have to advise my Changelings to be more alert since you’re back in Canterlot from your honeymoon!”
“As if you Changelings have more a right to be within Canterlot than I do!”
“Last I saw you, you were enforcing that belief with extreme prejudice!”
“You were injuring my guards and terrifying the whole city!”
Now the two were nose and nose, each glaring the other in the eyes spitefully.
“At least we didn’t kill anypony!” Chrysalis shouted in rage. “At least we didn’t all but exterminate your species!”
“Stop it!” Flitterwing shouted furiously. “The pair of you! This is a hospital and you’re both acting like spoiled children!” She growled angrily at the now stunned Stallion and Mare, baring her teeth. “If you two want to kill each other, do it outside, otherwise shut up!”
She finished glaring at the pair and looked down to Glitter, who was shivering in fright from the angry tones of the ponies around her. Flitterwing’s face melted into sympathy and she carefully wrapped the filly into a hug.
“Shh, it’s alright Glitter, I’m not angry at you.”
The filly put her hooves around Flitterwing’s neck and bawled onto her shoulder in fright. The sight of her trying to calm the crying albino filly enough to cool the anger that had so swiftly burst to flames in the room; the pink pony smiled warmly at the display.
“I was not aware that one of your Changelings was a recent mother.” She said uneasily to Chrysalis.
Chrysalis sighed. “Within technicality, she is not.” She huffed. “I shall have to fill in the adoption paperwork later.” She turned her now saddened gaze on the mare. “Glitter’s parents died at the conclusion of the attack…”
“I… I’m sorry.”
Chrysalis shook her head. “It doesn’t matter anymore.” She mumbled dismissively. “Do not trouble yourself over it, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.”
“Cadance is fine.”
“I dare not use such a personal term for you.” Chrysalis muttered. “Not when I am unsure if I have forgiven you personally.”
She nodded her head to Shred, the Changeling moving to her side.
“Now, I will be needed at our temporary home, there are six other Changelings to ensure are settling in.”
“Six?” The stallion probed. “I thought there were eleven Changelings arriving in Canterlot.”
Chrysalis gave a depressed sigh and looked down at the floor between her front hooves, her mane sliding to hide her face.
“There were, Shining Armour.” She mumbled. “But my… my son died.”
She lifted her face to the ponies irritably, tears streaming over her cheeks and off her chin before moving to pass them. “Excuse me; I have duties I must attend.” She said with a huff, leaving the room and hurrying out into the hall.
Cadance and Shining watched her move away, hurrying down the hall and away from them.
“That was… unexpected.” Shining muttered.
Cadance sighed and gave him an irked look before moving past him and up to the bed where Flitterwing and Glitter were cuddling. Glitter had calmed, and was simply enjoying the feeling of being held by her new adoptive mother.
“May I hold her?”
Flitterwing shook her head and only tightened her embrace with Glitter, more visibly than physically.
“I’ve already lost my mate today.” She mumbled sadly. “I… I don’t want…”
Cadance gave an understanding nod. “Of course, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…” She cleared her throat and put her hoof on Flitterwing’s shoulder, the contact making her flinch. “If you need anything, even a foalsitter, don’t be afraid to contact me, alright?”
“Cadance…”
She shot Shining Armour a look and he shut his mouth.
“…Alright.” Flitterwing mumbled. “Thank you.”
Cadance bowed her head faintly and moved to the door. “We’ll let you rest up, Flitterwing.”
She nuzzled Glitter, her Glitter, with a smile.
“Of course Princess; thank you.”
Cadance and Shining Armour left the room together, heading the same way that Chrysalis had gone.
Finally she was alone. Well, as alone as she could be with a curious young filly in her hooves. She smiled down at the filly who was playfully batting at her chest as it rose and fell. With Glitter as distracted as she was with her new mother’s breathing, she didn’t notice her raise her hooves until she grabbed her, rolling her onto her back and tickling her stomach mercilessly.
Glitter giggled and writhed like a fish out of water, kicking her little hooves ineffectively at the air as she laughed. After a few moments of this Flitterwing relented and Glitter rose to her hooves, still giggling endlessly, before hopping about the bed playfully and hurrying back to Flitterwing, hopping into her lap and leaning forward, rubbing their noses together.
Flitterwing happily returned her nuzzle before a noise to her left got her attention, and she looked to the door to see an orderly moving in with a tray. He blinked at her sitting in the bed with a filly before putting the tray on a nearby top and ducking back out. He returned soon after with a nurse.
“Oh, she’s here now is she?” the nurse asked in a toyish manner before moving over and smiling down at Glitter. “Have you been left to care for the little one, miss?”
Flitterwing shook her head. “No, I’m adopting her.” She said cheerfully. “She’s my little filly now.” She added, punctuating her words by giving Glitter a kiss on the tip of her nose, the affectionate gesture making Glitter squeal cutely and buzz her wings again.
The nurse gave an ever so slight swoon at this. “Well, we can’t let the little dear go hungry, can we?” She asked. “Does she have her teeth yet, or will I have to get one of our hospital’s wet-nurses?”
“She’s got her teeth, I’ll help her eat.” Flitterwing said.
“Is there anything in particular?”
“Fruit, vegetables, grasses…” Flitterwing mumbled. “Actually, is it possible to get something with a high magical content?”
“Sorry Miss, we don’t have foods like that here.”
Flitterwing shrugged. “Alright, that’s fine.” She said, before a thought struck her. “D-do I have to pay for this?”
The nurse shook her head. “No, no; you’re here on Royal Decree, your hospitalisation was under royal order, so the Treasury will be paying for your expenses.”
Flitterwing nodded. “Thank you.” She said, before giving Glitter another gentle kiss, this time atop her head.
“Of course, miss.” The nurse said, before turning and leaving, mumbling to the orderly to get another meal from the kitchen for Glitter.
She fell asleep not long after eating her first meal in days, Glitter following suit soon after she realized her adoptive mother had dozed off.
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It was nearly a month before Flitterwing could walk again, but she’d spent as much of that time with Glitter as possible. The minute she was able to stand and move she took Glitter for a walk around the hospital, observing the other patients and medical staff in her own, well trained way. Glitter had soaked up the attention happily, as would be expected of any filly with her mother.
She’d even said her first word, directly to Flitterwing.
She’d called her ‘Mommy’.
The word had filled her heart with unparalleled joy.
Her mother in-law, Chrysalis, only visited twice during the month she was bedridden, but she didn’t blame her; the elder, near immortal Mare was busy working on getting the Changelings better settled into Equestrian life. So far things had barely improved; ponies saw them as soul-draining monsters, and any Changelings who ventured from their collective home, a warehouse in the east end of Canterlot would face severe public scrutiny. The warehouse was under strict guard, and those few times that the Changelings did venture from the safety of the sturdy structure was under the watchful gaze of a guard at all times.
The only place that they found peace was within the safety of their new home, or at the Wedlock Memorial, the large section of land just within Canterlot’s walls on the east side of town where the Changelings who had died within the city had been buried.
The first week of the Changelings having discovered this Memorial ground, including the large statue of a heart carved from marble upon a plinth, they had gone to great extents to care for the land. They spent many bits earned by doing odd jobs around town on buying flower seeds and an oak sapling, everything planted with great care and precision. A month later and the land now featured garden beds of carefully tended blue roses, depicting the mourning of the loss of the Changelings and a poetic reference to eyes being the windows to the soul, and black tulips, representing their hunger for love and their clean black chitin. The oak tree was now almost three ponies tall.
Slithoof had been buried here along with those he considered friends; the memorial statue being moved specially for his burial beneath it. Despite being unable to attend his funeral, Flitterwing had sat in her bed in the hospital with tears in her eyes and a black rose on her bedside table.
Glitter had been silent during the time the funeral was taking place, lying beside her mother and crying along with her; she seemed to have some sense that what was happening was, for her mother, heartbreaking, and just wanted to be there for her.
Soon enough the pair were discharged from the hospital, and they stood out front the pearly white building in the sunshine. Glitter had been nervous of the ponies around them, but Flitterwing let her climb onto her back before following a guard to where the Changelings had taken residence.
They had been swarmed the minute they stepped into the building, the other Changelings all extremely relieved to have them back and cheerfully fussing over their arrival.
Being a warehouse, individual rooms were in limited supply and as such the Changelings had taken to dome tents, each one pitched about a central cooking area in the middle of the huge room. A tent for Chrysalis, larger than the others, almost dominated the scene if not for the tent next to it.
Unlike the other Changelings, who had cheaply bought two-man tents so that each one would have a room to themselves, a larger four man tent had been bought for Flitterwing and Glitter so they could share it between them in relative comfort. Glitter had taken to the tent with glee, finding the novel structure to be entertaining and fun. While Glitter got to looking about their new home, Flitterwing caught up on what the others were doing.
Shred had been accepted by the Princesses as Chrysalis’ personal guard, and was officially a member of the Canterlot Guard. Supposedly Shining Armour had been somewhat adamantly against this, but Princess Celestia had talked him out of it, stating that his expertise in undercover work could prove useful in tracking down lawbreakers.
Grall had become a Canterlot City groundskeeper, and he was responsible for taking care of the Wedlock Memorial in particular. He took pride in his work, and considered the Wedlock Memorial to be his pride and joy. He was even planning on finding space for a bench or two.
Another Changeling, Crackle, worked at a local bakery as a pastry chef. It was easy work, but he had learned rather quickly to enjoy it, and he was rather good at what he did. Maybe not as good as Dough Rise, but he was learning quickly.
Dopple, a friend from the Hive, had always been rather overdramatic and silly, fast with his mouth and a memory to last, and as such he had managed to procure work as an actor in the many, many plays that Canterlot held. He was a particular favourite for middle to background roles by directors, since he could change into most any form and fill multiple roles easily.
Husk had found work as a model for a tailor in town, providing different sizes and shapes for her to design clothes for. When he wasn’t modelling for her, he was helping to keep the boutique in a clean and orderly state. The tailor had rather disliked his race, vocal to the point of him not returning one day to make her sit and shiver while some high-profile clients showed up. She’d swiftly learned to hold her tongue about Changelings in future, and the pair had gotten along since.
Buzzyear was an odd one. He’d always been adventurous and explorative in his years at the Hive, and now that he had a whole new city to explore, he was well and truly in his element. He’d been found exploring an old part of the city almost a fortnight after their arrival, and had since been hired by the city’s cartographers to map the sewers and underground caves beneath Canterlot. No matter how lost he got, he always managed to get home in time for dinner each night.
Finally there was Booker. He was a calm and quiet individual who enjoyed the simpler things in life, and had managed to find part-time employment at a book and writing tools store. He enjoyed the calm quiet of where he worked; it gave him time to think and relax, helping customers find books, quills, inkpots or even quality paper. His manager had been impressed that a Changeling could be as inconspicuous as he, even when not in disguise, and was already considering making him a full time employee.
Flitterwing felt a little out of place, being the only Changeling without a job; but the others reassured her that they didn’t hold it against her and that they didn’t expect her to go out and find work to do when she had a filly to care for; that would be full-time work in its own right.
Still, she didn’t want to feel like she wasn’t contributing.
Throughout it all, Booker had barely spoken; the others explaining his job and what he did for him. When she said that she still wanted to do something he spoke up.
He mentioned how he had seen books, veritable tomes which detailed Equestria’s history, and the way that the Ponies bodies worked for the young colts and fillies to learn as they grew up. He mentioned how there weren’t any books on Changelings, not even books full of supposition on how they worked, where they came from and what they did.
They had all been rather perplexed at his outburst of information, wondering what they were supposed to do with that, when he suggested that if there weren’t any books on the Changelings, why she doesn’t write some.
Writing, after all, would not take much of her time away from her daughter, could be done from the comfort of home, and the subjects on which she would be writing would be otherwise forgotten history.
The group were enthralled by this idea, and Booker promised that he would see if he could get some paper, quills and inkpots for her to work with.
Eventually their conversation wound down, and Flitterwing went to play with Glitter, finding the filly inspecting a large empty bookshelf curiously. She frolicked around with the filly, playfully ducking around the tents and other objects in the room, tickling her… No matter how much she heard it, she never grew tired of Glitter’s laughter.
She and Glitter joined Grall to the stores, flanked by a pair of city guards. The Pegasus ponies seemed unfazed by the Changelings they escorted through the city, not even flinching when Flitterwing asked if they could help keep an eye on Glitter. Thankfully they readily agreed, making Flitterwing smile thankfully.
They stopped at a grocer and purchased a fair supply of foods; apples, flowers, bread, some saddlebags for Flitterwing… Soon after they stopped at a toy store, Flitterwing wanting to purchase a stuffed toy for Glitter to play with when she was either too occupied, which she hoped she wouldn’t ever be, or she needed some play time alone.
Much to Flitterwing’s chagrin, the only stuffed toys left in the store were Princess Luna dolls, though even of those there were rather few. There were spaces for Princess Cadance and Princess Celestia, but they were completely empty. She considered biting the bullet and buying the Luna doll, but when the shopkeeper noticed her dissatisfaction he went to the back store-room and found a few Princess Celestia dolls.
This Flitterwing was happy to get for Glitter, but when the storekeeper threw in a Princess Luna doll free of charge…
Well, she was as happy as she was when playing with Glitter.
They passed a few more stores, stopping in and discreetly buying some snacks or something else for Glitter. The Hive Mind was thrilled to provide with ideas for the filly, everypony throwing out idea after idea.
They fell silent, however, when the trio reached the Wedlock Memorial.
Glitter stood next to her mother’s guard, silently looking at the statue as her mother stepped forward and put a bouquet of roses at the base of the statue.
“Hello again… everypony...”
When they arrived back at their home, the sun was beginning to lower into the horizon. They thanked their guards for protecting them on their trip before heading inside. The mood of the day had become somewhat sombre after the Memorial visit. They approached the circle of tents, Crackle busy cooking stew in a large pot for them all. He acknowledged their return with a smile and a nod. Chrysalis was lying on her stomach in her tent, the door open and her gaze out into the building with disinterest until Flitterwing came into view, at which point she hurried to her hooves and met them halfway, craning her neck down to give her an affectionate nuzzle
“Flitterwing, it’s good to see you on your hooves again.” She said. “And Glitter is with you! She’s just as darling as always!”
“Greetings my Queen, how have things been? I can’t imagine Princess Luna being very… tolerant. Considering that night…”
“She has become somewhat more agreeable.” She replied, moving back to her tent and lying back where she was before. “From what I have gathered, she was not pleased with how I assaulted her sister, though I must admit that I don’t think Princess Celestia truly threw everything she had at me. I am under the impression that she allowed me to ‘defeat’ her so as to make me see what I was doing before it was too late.”
Chrysalis sighed. “And it all ended with us living in tents, eating from a communal cauldron. Refugees. Oh, how could I have been so blinded to let it come to this..?”
“Please, don’t be so hard on yourself, my Queen.” Flitterwing said, stepping over and sitting down near Chrysalis. “We survived, that is all that matters. I don’t know about the rest of them, but I would rather live in this tent with a communal cauldron dinner than be back at the hive with no food and no future.”
“I guess you’re right.” She mumbled in reply. “In happier news, I have been informed that your adoption papers have gone through without a hitch. You are now the legal mother of Glitter, not that there was any doubt in the first place.”
“Thank you my Queen.” Flitterwing said, bowing her head.
“Now, now, you know you needn’t call me by that title anymore.” Chrysalis gently scolded.
With a giggle Flitterwing nodded. “Force of habit, I guess.” She said. “No matter what happens, you are still our Queen and nothing will ever change that.”
“At least I cannot fault you on your loyalty.” Chrysalis laughed before looking up at Crackle. “Is everypony here?”
“Yes my Queen.” He said quickly, watching his stew dutifully. “They are using the shower to clean up before dinner. They should be coming out any moment now, actually…”
Sure enough, six changelings filed out of the bathrooms, each of them sporting shiny carapaces and smiles like they’d just been to see a comedian. They moved to the ring of tents and lay down on towels put out front of their respective tents. If the loud laughter from the bathrooms had been any indication, they had spent the majority of their showers teasing one another relentlessly.
“Now that we’re all here, I do have something I’d like to air.” Chrysalis started, addressing the circle of Changelings. “As we’re all… painfully aware, there are only ten of us left in all of Equestria. A platoon of Equestria’s soldiers was deployed to find and return any wounded but alive Changelings that may be comatose and unable to link to the Hive Mind. I’m sad to say that, today, they returned empty hooved.” A tear rolled unbidden down her cheek. “We are, officially the last ten Changelings in Equestria.
“To compound this tragedy, of the ten of us, there are only three mares, one of which, Glitter, is too young to breed. I cannot force Flitterwing to do something that I myself would not do, and as such I cannot force her to breed another generation of Changelings, nor would I ask her to. Though it pains me to say, I’m afraid this is the end of the Changelings.
“Not to say that this is the end of us, just… that our kind has reached too few numbers to sustain itself over any period. After weeks of deliberation with the Princesses, and Shining Armour at what he would call a ‘discreet distance’, we have… we have come to the conclusion that, while we are still refugees, we shall have to intermingle with the ponies of Equestria if we wish for our families to survive.”
The circle of Changelings sat in the awkward silence for a minute or so.
“That means that you shall all have to find love in the arms of whoever reciprocates your feelings. I know this will be difficult, maybe even impossible given how loathed our kind are amongst the Equestrians, but it is the only solution.” She smiled faintly at their confused and worried faces. “Now, now, don’t look like that, I will never abandon you; we’re just out of options, and I would rather Changelings be brought into this world with love than duty. I will bless whatever you choose, and I’ll attend the birth of any of your children personally.” She punctuated this statement with a happy smile. “For now, let’s just enjoy dinner and work on the future when we come to it.”
The small group of Changelings nodded in agreement, each one looking down at their dinner as Crackle served the piping hot stew and dinner rolls. It was something simple but filling, and really that was all the Changelings could ask for. Using her magic, Flitterwing carefully fed Glitter her stew while using her hooves to eat her own. It was a pleasant wind down to the day, the others laughing over whatever their respective days had offered them, Glitter eating peacefully and happily, and her mother in-law, Chrysalis, lying alongside her.
After finishing their meals, the Changelings all handed their bowls to Crackle who took them to the kitchenette to wash them. With the Cauldron and cooking top moved to a safe side of the warehouse floor, Flitterwing removed her saddlebags and nudged Glitter to get her attention. The Filly looked up at her with childish enthusiasm, happy to be getting attention.
“Now, Glitter, how much do you love your mommy?” She asked with a cheerful smile. Glitter, not missing a beat, threw her hooves around Flitterwing’s neck with a squeal. Flitterwing returned the gesture happily before nudging her back and opening the saddlebags, retrieving the plush dolls from within and showing them to the filly. “And how about now?”
The Changelings watching noted that if Glitter could have shown any more glee, she would have exploded.
For the next few hours the Changelings all went about doing usual things, putting the purchased food away, keeping an eye on Glitter… They conversed idly about how their days went to Chrysalis, allowing her the time to do the same. Evidently being diplomatic was harder than she thought it would be.
Shining Armour hounded at her every movement, and badgered her over almost every question or suggestion. While Celestia had seemed irked at his behaviour, he was allowed to get away with it; he was being extremely overcautious as a guard, and she was the leader of the army which had so recently assaulted Canterlot. The fact that she was in mourning for her entire species, including her own son, seemed to not be a factor for him.
Eventually Lights Out came, and the Changelings all clambered into their tents and sleeping bags. Chrysalis slept with the opaque door of her tent open, keeping only the screen zipped up while the others seemed content to zip their tents up completely. Not wanting to close off those she had only just got back with, Flitterwing only zipped up the bug screen before helping Glitter into her sleeping bag.
“I’m sorry that we’ve gone from mattresses to sleeping bags and camp stretchers, sweetie;” she whispered to the filly, “but I promise I’ll do everything I can to make this more comfortable for you.”
‘We all will.’ Chrysalis’ voice said across the Hive Mind, backed by a chorus of agreements.
Flitterwing smiled and climbed into her sleeping bag, letting a tear roll down her cheek. ‘Thank you.’
Outside, two ponies slipped past the royal guard and up to a high window. The Pegasus reporters eye the tents through the window.
“It’s just a load of tents.” One, Snippit, complained. He was unsure what his partner, Quick Scribe, was trying to accomplish here. He kept going on and on about it being some huge story, but Snippit didn’t really pay that much attention.
It was late at night, and he wanted to go to bed.
“Oh for the love of-” Quick Scribe grumbled. “Look, you featherbrain, why would the Royal Guard be guarding a warehouse of nothing but tents? You heard the same rumours I did, Changelings were seen in the Canterlot Markets this afternoon being escorted by two guards, and that they all went to somewhere in the Eastern District.” He struggled with the window, managing to lift it slightly. “Help me get this open.”
“I dunno, Scribe, this doesn’t sound like a good idea.” Snippit replied as he helped to lift the window.
“Oh come on, you coward; if it turns out to be true, this’ll be front-page news!” Quick Scribe argued as they got the window open far enough for them to squeeze in. “All we need is proof.”
Snippit grumbled and followed his partner inside, the pair silently flying over to the tents. They were all closed aside from two next to each other, where they could see Changelings sleeping on camp beds. Quick Scribe nudged Snippit.
“That’s Queen Chrysalis!” He hissed.
“There’s a foal in this one.” Snippit replied. “That must be one of her parents in there with her.”
“Get photos of all three and we’ll go! This is huge!”
Quickly Snippit took photos and the two fled back out through the window, which they carefully closed, before flying off into the night.
The Changelings were awoken to the sound of the door to their current home being slammed open, guards flooding in and taking up place around the room. The Changelings all worriedly looked out of their tents, Chrysalis eyeing the Guards irritably as they approached.
“What is the meaning of this?!” She demanded.
Princess Celestia walked in the door and closed the gap between herself and the tent circle rather swiftly for her slow pace. She held out a newspaper.
“I could ask the same thing.” She grumbled as Chrysalis took the paper and unrolled it. Her eyes widened when she saw the front page, a photo of herself sleeping in the tent.
“W-what?! When did-”
“Chrysalis, focus.” Celestia said. “I was hoping one of you may have seen, heard or felt something last night.”
“How do you know it was last night, Princess?” Shred asked.
Chrysalis’ face fell further. “Because on the continuation page in the middle of the newspaper they have photos of Flitterwing and Glitter in their tent.” She breathed. “This… this is an outrage! To invade privacy in such a way, and for such a… distasteful article! What is this, ‘new foal already with a taste for draining love’?! How dare they point hooves at a filly that can’t even defend herself against such accusations?”
Celestia sighed. “Chrysalis, calm yourself.” She said. “We can handle this, I assure you. I only wanted to know if you were aware of anything happening last night at all.”
“If all you wanted was to ask a question then why, pray tell, did you bring a platoon of guards?” Chrysalis hissed, motioning to the royal guard standing about the room.
Celestia gave an irritable grumble. “It was Shining Armour’s idea. He didn’t want me to be ‘alone’ when I came to speak with you; though now that they’re here, they can find out how the intruders managed to gain entry.”
“Be sure to thank him for inadvertently terrorizing my Changelings for me.” Chrysalis hissed angrily. “We’ve been in Canterlot for a month and in all that time we have never once shown to be a threat, remind him of that!”
“My Queen,” Flitterwing began from her tent, no having left in favour of comforting Glitter, “I’m sorry, but your behaviour is rather unbecoming…”
Chrysalis blinked and went to argue back about what she could say to her when she heard Celestia give an amused laugh.
“Even without your crown or kingdom you are still their Queen,” she said amusedly, “and a Queen should keep her elegance.”
“She was always our Queen, highness.” Flitterwing said. “Though you are our new rulers, we will always hold her in highest of regards, regardless of what she may have done.” She smiled and looked out through the screen door of her tent at Celestia and Chrysalis who only looked back incredulously. “I owe my happiness to her idea to give Glitter to me, I will always be loyal.”
Celestia and Chrysalis smiled warmly to her.
‘Thank you, Flitterwing.’
‘You don’t need to thank me, my Queen.’
Flitterwing lifted Glitter onto her back and opened the tent, strolling out and moving to the bathrooms. Two guards stopped her from entering and she shot them an angry glare.
“If you don’t mind, Glitter and I need to use the bathroom.” She grumbled. “Unless you want to get a mop?”
The guards faltered and looked over to Princess Celestia.
“Guards, let them pass.” She called. “Honestly, you act like this is their prison…”
Flitterwing helped Glitter bathe in the shower, the filly relaxing and being impressively calm as the water cascaded down over her form. Flitterwing was worried about the newspaper; that somepony had taken photos of them was bad enough, but that they had taken photos while they were asleep and defenceless… That had been viciously underhooved, especially with how they were being portrayed as the return of an invading army.
The whole time she was bathing Glitter she could hear her mother in-law and the Princess arguing over the matter that had arisen, though she couldn’t truly discern the words. She could tap into the Hive Mind and listen, but it was a two-way link; if she used another Changeling to listen in, they would be able to hear her talking with and bathing Glitter.
After drying her off and giving her a quick kiss on the cheek which made her buzz her wings cutely again she led the filly from the bathroom, keeping her own pace slow enough for Glitter to keep up, and the filly really moved herself as fast as she could to keep with her mother. They returned to their tent, Celestia and Chrysalis trying to keep their discussion between themselves as they passed.
The first thing that Glitter did was find her Princess Celestia doll and compare it to the regal Alicorn sitting and chatting outside their tent. Celestia noticed from the corner of her eye and giggled. Glitter smiled cutely at this and went about playing with her dolls in her own childish games. Flitterwing lay down on her camp stretcher with a smile and watched her play happily.
Still, distracting herself with her daughter’s playing didn’t stop Princess Celestia from seeing her internal conflicts. The thousands year old Alicorn could probably see a lie told to her by someone who didn’t know they were lying.
“Flitterwing, do you have something to say about the news report?” She asked calmly and patiently.
“Yes.” Flitterwing replied, her tone heavy and irritable. “I… I can’t quite put to words how I feel about it. Betrayed? Insulted? Vulnerable? How dare they sneak in here and take pictures of us without our permission? How dare they breach the security and confidentiality of others, abusing us for their own selfish ends? How would they like it?
“On top of that, I’m terrified. They got outside our tents. They were within inches of us, and we didn’t know. They could have done anything! They could have stolen Glitter or harmed us; they could have burned our tents to the ground and killed us inside them!” Her eyes, now rolling tears down her cheeks again, glared at Celestia in a broken and frightened way. “What do I do against somepony who breaks in while we’re asleep and vulenerable? How do I protect her against something I don’t know is going on?
“Everypony in Canterlot is going to be against us now, ponies will insult and abuse us, chase us down and deny us what everypony else has a right to have! I… I cannot protect her against those sorts of odds!” She gave a wracking sob, her camp stretcher shaking with her maternal fright, “what can I do?!”
She was crying loudly now, though her eyes were open and defiant as she stared at the Princess. Celestia had to admit to herself, Flitterwing was rightly frightened; of all of the Changelings she had the most to protect and the most to lose and she was right to be frightened of Canterlot. Even before this she had been cautious and worried, but now she felt violated and helpless. A lot of ponies resided within the city, any one of them could take it upon themselves to ‘remove’ the Changeling and her filly from the grand city, and there was little she could do against that.
Glitter had stopped playing and was now trying to comfort her mother, hugging the elder Changeling tightly. Chrysalis had also moved into the tent, carefully wedging herself between the beds and bringing her head down to embrace her daughter in-law to attempt to comfort her.
“Flitterwing, Chrysalis,” she began, her attention flicking between the two as she spoke, “I promise you that the ponies who did this… blatant violation of privacy will be punished; and I shall speak with Shining Armour and Luna to see what can be done to ease your stay within Canterlot. You may be required to be escorted by guards wherever you go for a longer time than had been originally planned, but if it ensures your safety then it is the least I can do.”
A Royal Guard moved across the room and stopped next to Celestia, giving a quick salute.
“Princess.”
She looked down at him calmly. “What have you found?”
He pointed a hoof up to a far window. “The only way in or out that was not sealed was that window, it appears to have been opened from the outside; no Unicorn or Earth Pony would be able to reach the window without suffering substantial injuries falling in the other side, so it must have been a Pegasus. The Window is also rather rusted, though it doesn’t seem to make a huge amount of noise when moved, but it requires at least two Guards to move the window.
“Long story short, highness, we’re looking for two Pegasus reporters who work for the Canterlot Digest newspaper company.”
Celestia nodded. “Very well, go to the Canterlot Digest and demand to see the Pegasus who made the report; arrest everyone who handled the story above them as well.”
“Everyone, Princess?”
“Stories that enter the paper must go through editors and be approved by the CEO of the Canterlot Digest, at every single pony who handled the story it could have been rejected for being invasive, especially given the way the photos were acquired and who they depicted. They are all responsible for a violation of privacy and royal affairs.”
“Yes, your highness.” He said with a bow before waving a hoof to the guards and leading them out the door into the city streets.
Celestia sighed sadly. “Chrysalis, though I loathe taking you from your frightened Changelings, the report changes a lot of things; we are going to require your presence in court today to see what we can salvage from this disaster.”
Chrysalis sighed and nodded, giving Flitterwing a gentle nuzzle before leaving the tent. “Of course, Princess,” she mumbled, “I shall meet you at the castle, I would like to tidy up before joining you.”
“Very well.” Celestia said, clearly allowing her the chance to have a shower and brush her mane and tail. “Changelings, I bid you a good day.”
The day passed quietly for Flitterwing and Glitter, the pair not having much to do. She had considered taking her daughter to a public park, only for her fearful mind to rebel against her and make her decide against it. Instead the pair played inside, enjoying the subtle sunlight that filtered in through the windows and having fun. She tried to teach Glitter how to fly, the filly managing to hover easily, but still somewhat lacking the wing strength to achieve actual directional flight. Flitterwing wasn’t surprised; she was still too young to truly achieve flight, though her hovering was at least something that she celebrated and told to the Hive Mind with joy.
Lunch had been made by Flitterwing, the other Changelings all out at their respective jobs for the day, and it wasn’t until after lunch had been eaten that the first of the other Changelings returned. Booker had managed to get the writing tools that he had promised. Flitterwing had thanked him greatly and found a desk at which she could write. She moved it near their tents; the circle of fabric domes nicknamed ‘Little Hive’ by Husk before he’d left for work.
Though the others had found it a little tasteless, they did keep the name.
And so she began writing, she started with writing about Changeling anatomy and sciences, something that as a nurse she knew well. She was impressed how easily the knowledge just rolled out of her mind and onto the paper. By the time dinner was being cooked, she had written over half the book. Glitter had kept herself entertained with her dolls for a few hours, and when she had grown tired of that she sat with her mother for the sake of being with her. She’d drifted asleep long before Crackle arrived home, but the minute her nostrils detected him cooking dinner, she was up and about and enjoying their company.
Today’s dinner? Stuffed bell peppers on a rice bed with broccoli cream.
Crackle was going all out for dinner today, and it certainly smelled amazing.
Chrysalis returned to the warehouse and wearily strode to the tents, clambering into her camp stretcher and watching her Changelings around her. She’d clearly had an exhausting day and just wanted to relax for the evening.
After weighing down her work in a box that she kept closed in case Glitter toppled it, Flitterwing moved into the circle and sat down near Chrysalis’ side. The elder Changeling sighed and tilted her head to her daughter in-law.
“I suppose you would like to know how today went.” She breathed.
“It might put me at ease, but you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” Flitterwing replied calmly.
“We managed to get our hooves on the ponies responsible for the article and the illegal photos, though they argued quite arrogantly that their actions were not against the law as no ponies had been involved.”
Flitterwing grumbled. “Ignorant foals.”
“That’s what Luna said.” Chrysalis informed. “They were told of the potential consequences of their actions, that they had put their own agenda before the safety of a young filly of a critically endangered species and exactly how deplorable it had been. They were put on unpaid suspension from their jobs for ten months and given three months community service. Their superiors suffered far lesser fates, two editors who checked through the story are on three months unpaid suspension, and the CEO has been told that any stories including Changelings will be sent through my office for approval before they can be printed. On top of this, they managed to slap their company with an eight thousand bit fine, three of which are being spent on improving our home.”
Flitterwing gave Chrysalis a worried look. “But if they don’t pay the bits-”
“They have a deadline of a fortnight to pay the fine; if they don’t then an additional fine will be included onto it and their CEO will be further punished.” Chrysalis said. “Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Rapid Parry have enforced stricter guard around this building, he’s taking Shining Armour’s place as he and Princess Cadance have been called to an issue in the North. We’re going to have windows that can be opened for circulation installed once the bits are paid, however they will have metal wire screens to prevent illegal access into the building.”
“At least I’ll know that Glitter is safe then.” Flitterwing said.
“Though Princess Luna and Rapid Parry were quite vocally against it, during the renovation of our home here we will be staying in the castle. Celestia was quite adamant about that.” Chrysalis stated. “Though I cannot begin to imagine her reasoning, I am under the impression she just wants to ensure that we are safe during the period.”
“Where in Equestria could be safer than Canterlot’s royal castle?”
Chrysalis nodded with an agreeing hum.
Glitter scurried over from being with Dopple, who had been playing with the filly quite cheerfully, and threw herself onto the cot with Chrysalis, nuzzling against her chest and burying herself into the camp bed with her.
“Well, well; looks like someone wants some attention from her grandmother.” Flitterwing said with a toying tone.
“G-grandmother..?”
“Well, of course.” Flitterwing said. “You are the mother of my… my now absent mate.” She slowed a little saying this. “And you’re my mother in-law; since Glitter is now my daughter that makes her your granddaughter.”
Glitter wiggled faintly, lifting her head and happily nuzzling Chrysalis’ neck, and the elder mare felt a tear grow in her eye. She lowered her head down and gave Glitter a kiss on her nose, the filly giggling and flapping her wings enough to make them buzz.
“I remember this feeling.” She said. “Motherhood.”
“It’s intoxicating, isn’t it?”
Chrysalis nodded. “It is, in a good way.”
~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~
The renovations to their home had begun not a day ago now, and the Changelings had been moved to Canterlot Castle. The only Changelings who hadn’t been within the castle were Flitterwing and Glitter, and they marvelled in the majesty of the marble halls and beautiful tapestries. After getting situated in the castle, they had been taken to the royal court where Celestia sat patiently, listening to a pony ask for aid in his orange crop. She’d waited for him to make his case before she said that she would send a horticulturalist to inspect his farm. The pony had thanked her and left, nervously giving the Changelings a wide berth and her attention was sought –and granted- by a scroll which materialized in the air before her with a flash of green fire. She read through the scroll with a faint smile before rolling it back up and tucking it into a shelf behind her throne.
“Welcome, Changelings.” She said, stepping down from the throne. “It’s nice to know you managed to make it here without trouble.”
‘Hardly.’ Flitterwing grumbled to the Hive Mind. ‘If I didn’t know better, I’d say those ponies knew we were going to be coming here today.’
‘That might have explained the tomatoes they were throwing.’ Booker grumbled in return.
“We did get a little… negative attention in town on the way here.” Chrysalis said after bowing her head respectfully. “But I am certain that they did no harm.”
‘Speak for yourself; I’m going to be smelling apple tart for days.’ Crackle complained. ‘And I don’t think I’ve seen Glitter more afraid.’
‘Stop complaining.’ Chrysalis grumbled. ‘We’re just going to have to get used to having a bad rap for a while. We will survive.’
“I apologise for the actions of my subjects.” Celestia said. “They act out on a held grudge, I assure you that they’ll see the light and warm up to you eventually.”
Chrysalis nodded.
“Well, since you will all be staying in the castle for a period, I might as well give you a brief run of things.” Celestia said. “Though I’m sure my guards will tell you better where you are and are not allowed to roam, most of the castle is open to you, including the library. Princess Luna and I are usually both active at dawn and dusk; she will be holding open court during the night should anypony come requesting it, and I hold open court during the day.
“The castle may seem empty, but it does become quite busy, so I advise you take care in the halls. The castle is no place for anypony to get lost, especially not a filly.” She aimed this quick warning to Flitterwing, who nodded in response. “Though I have no qualms with you staying within the castle for the next few days, I cannot speak for Princess Luna; I advise that, if you cannot avoid her, you at least attempt to get along with her.”
The Changelings bowed respectfully to Celestia, Chrysalis smiling as well. “We thank you for your hospitality, Highness.”
“We’re sure.” A voice called from the door. The Changelings turned and looked worriedly over to see Princess Luna walking in the door.
“P-Princess Luna..!” Chrysalis stammered, taking a worried step back before bowing, the Changelings following suit.
The regent of the moon strode past the Changelings and up to Celestia, eyeing Chrysalis irritably. Glitter smiled and moved to her mother, retrieving the stuffed likeness of the moon Princess and holding it out as if to compare the two. Celestia gave the gesture a warm smile, but Luna only flicked her stern, steely gaze at the filly. She cringed, lowering the doll and backing off fearfully.
Her gaze didn’t linger long, but it had been long enough.
After Glitter put the doll back into the safe confines of her mother’s saddlebag Flitterwing let her climb onto her back and turned to leave, moving away from the group.
‘Flitterwing, where are you going?’
She stopped and turned to look at her mother in-law.
‘Where Glitter and I won’t be sized up like insects.’
She left the room and nodded to a guard, the stallion leading her to the room that she and Glitter had been given.
“Chrysalis..?” Celestia began worriedly. “Did I do something wrong?”
She shook her head. “No, highness, you didn’t.” She said, before returning Luna’s glare.
Flitterwing took Glitter to the royal library after depositing their things in their room. She wanted to cheer Glitter up, even if only faintly, after the look from the moon Princess managed to frighten her so, and so she had brought her to the library in the hopes of finding a good book of stories to read to her.
The librarian had been nervous, but did help her find a storybook that would be suitable for the young filly.
The storybook was… cute. Clearly designed for foals to learn to read with and not for adult perusal, it was a short and quaint little tale of a Filly chasing after a Pegasus who had flown overhead, only to become lost within a forest, then finding her way home by being found by the very Pegasus who she had chased. It was full of colour and imagination, and Glitter had hung on every word as Flitterwing helped her read them.
Soon enough Flitterwing learned just how quick a learner Glitter was, the filly reading a book all for herself right before her eyes. She was yet to say many words, but she’d read the books in silence, apparently capable of reading the words on the pages.
She may have just been looking at the pictures, Flitterwing admitted to herself, watching Glitter get another book from the children’s section.
Flitterwing had brought her writing materials, and began on her second book, her first already finished and awaiting a publisher to review it. This book was going to be a changeling myth, how they had come to be, and she wanted it to be a more… fantasy oriented book, so she was writing it in the same way that one writes novels; taking effort to make the characters something believable.
Dinner was delivered by staff, and she ate in happy silence with Glitter, who had only gone through a small handful of the children’s section. She spent a few minutes after dinner reading another story to her, before Glitter went off to explore the library. Flitterwing wasn’t worried, the library doors were guarded, and she had advised the librarian that Glitter was not to leave without her.
She hadn’t kept track of the time, not noticing that the sun had long since fallen past the horizon and that the sky beyond the library windows flickered with the glitter of the starry night sky.
She also hadn’t noticed the library’s other occupant.
She heard a series of thuds and looked up from her book, quickly putting her quill down and weighing the pages so that they wouldn’t scatter should a breeze blow through. Worried about Glitter, she went in search of the noise.
After reaching a nearby corner of the library, she found Glitter cowering behind a pile of books which had fallen from the shelves. It was obvious what had happened to the filly Flitterwing sighed and moved over to scold her for trying to climb the shelves.
A hoof clopped behind her, and she turned her head to apologise for the mess to the librarian.
When she realized who was standing behind her, she spun and lowered herself to protectively guard Glitter.
Princess Luna eyed them in an icy manner, her eyes seeming to bore deeper into Flitterwing’s soul than she thought anypony could manage. With a huff, her horn glittered and the books moved up and into their places amongst the shelves. She turned and went back to her seat nearby, leaving Flitterwing and Glitter to stare dumbfounded at where she had been.
Hastily Flitterwing gathered Glitter from the floor, letting her climb onto her back, before fetching her writing materials and leaving, borrowing a few books from the children’s section on their way out. She made her way back to their room.
“Does my sister unnerve you, Flitterwing?”
Flitterwing stopped and turned to the pony who had spoken, Princess Celestia standing worriedly behind her. She sighed and turned, giving a quick bow to her.
“While courteous, your bow does not answer my question.” Celestia pointed out with a cheeky grin.
Flitterwing gave a nervous groan. “Yes, Princess;” She sighed, “She scares me. Queen Chrysalis has made it abundantly clear how opposed to our presence Princess Luna is.” She nervously looked over her shoulder, worried that others could be listening in. “But… the worst thing is that she was ready to condemn us to the Bad Lands, to banish us back to the starvation we had tried so desperately to flee. She was ready to sentence us to death!”
Celestia sighed down at the Changeling. “Flitterwing, my sister… has not had the experience that I have in socializing with other ponies; she is still somewhat driven by her emotions, and that tends to colour her judgement. Her ruling would have been passed by me in the morning had I not intervened on that night, but I would not have let it pass. The potential of allies is always greater than that of enemies.
“Much like my subjects within Canterlot, I am sure her bitterness is out of fear for what has occurred in the past, she will come around, I promise.”
Flitterwing nodded faintly but turned her head sadly. “I… I don’t think that will happen.” She mumbled, before returning her gaze to Celestia. “But I don’t need her to like me; I just want her to stop scaring Glitter.” She turned and started to move back to their room. “Otherwise, she might as well just go and join the mobs that hate us and want us to die.”
She walked away from Celestia, returning to the room which Glitter and she shared and slammed the door shut.
She read a bedtime story to Glitter, the tale managing to get her to drift to sleep, before climbing into bed and attempting to sleep herself.
She and Glitter awoke the next day just after sunrise, and after having a quick shower each they were led down to the dining room for breakfast. Supposedly the other Changelings were here already, and she opened the door to glance in before grumbling and closing it again, turning back to where they had come giving a mumbled instruction to have breakfast brought to their room.
She didn’t want to eat, or have Glitter eat, at the same table as Princess Luna.
‘Flitterwing, is something wrong?’
She sighed dejectedly.
‘If I want myself and Glitter to be glared at, I will go stand in the middle of town.’ She muttered.
There was a worried, thoughtful pause. ‘Then why do you not just shape shift into a pony?’
‘Because Glitter does not yet know how and because we shouldn’t have to.’
She entered their room and sat on the bed, lowering Glitter to the bed beside her and giving her a sad nuzzle.
“I’m sorry we have to eat breakfast alone today, sweetie.”
Glitter simply nuzzled her mother in return.
She had thought that living in the castle would be a welcome change to the tents they had grown accustomed to, but instead of enjoying the regal furnishings and beautiful architecture she and Glitter had been made all too aware of just how loathed they were by Canterlot. It was a saddening realization, which only made her become worriedly nervous.
Even if she found a publisher for her work, who was to say whether or not they would even want to publish her books? What if they liked the books but not the author? What if she went to all of the trouble to write novels only for the publisher to deny her, not because of the stories, but because she was a Changeling?
A serving pony came into the room with the requested breakfasts, leaving them on the suite’s table before giving a slight bow and backing out of the room.
Flitterwing sighed and moved over to the table, motioning for Glitter to do the same, and she began to gently, yet playfully, feed her. It was like this most days with Glitter discovering unknown new foods, this time porridge with honey and some strawberries. She would fuss and reject the food until Flitterwing made silly train sounds with it. Once she found that she didn’t mind the taste of the food she would be more enthusiastic about it. After she finished feeding herself and Glitter, she put the bowls in the middle of the table for her to take to the kitchens later.
She pulled her unfinished book from her saddlebags and lay out the currently unfinished page to continue working. Glitter was happily playing with her dolls again, all was going well.
She heard someone come into the room.
She turned her head to see a pony in a maid’s uniform cleaning the room and tidying the bed. The maid didn’t seem to be paying her any heed, so she reciprocated the attitude. That was, until a folded note was placed next to her on the desk and a book next to it. She looked up at the maid quizzically.
“It was outside your door, ma’am.” She said. “I assume it’s for you, you are Flitterwing, yes?”
“O-oh, yes, thank you miss.”
“Of course, ma’am.”
She put her work to one side carefully and unfolded the note.
‘To Flitterwing;
I hope this note finds you in good spirits, though with how your current stay in the castle has progressed for you, I would not be surprised if you are feeling nervous or frightened. My name is Crescent Scribe, and I reside within Canterlot Castle.
I saw you last night working on writing a novel in the library, and I was surprised to see how good your penmareship was; I also am an author, and I actually look forward to reading your work when it is finished, maybe even compare it to my own.
I thought you might like to have some reading material of your own, so I have left this note with a copy of my bestseller, Lunar Heart; I hope it gives you inspiration for your own work. Within the book I have left contact details to my publisher in the hopes that you might also wish to send your books through them. They can be remarkably accepting.
I look forward to meeting you in the future.
~Crescent Scribe.
P.S., your daughter is adorable; I hope she grows up to be like her mother.’
She blinked at the note, at the particularly refined quill strokes, before putting it to one side and looking over the book.
Maybe… maybe she could get a publisher?
Now she was extra eager to get her book finished, and she returned to writing with vigour. She’d written maybe another ten pages before she heard a little voice.
“Mommy?”
She blinked, weighed down her work, and turned to Glitter.
“Yes, sweetie, do you want something?”
She nodded and gestured to her stuffed dolls.
“You want to play?”
She shook her head no.
“W… would you like another doll?”
She nodded.
“Oh, sweetie, I don’t think there are any other dolls like that though…” She sadly mumbled.
Glitter looked crestfallen.
“I-if I had the bits I would commission one of your grandmother, but…”
Glitter nodded a little sadly before giving a pained groan. It was… rather out of place for the filly, and Flitterwing worriedly got down on the floor with her daughter who was now cringing and twitching painfully.
“M… mommy..!”
Flitterwing worriedly looked Glitter over. Her carapace looked stressed, like it was warping out of shape. She sighed, this was something she knew was going to happen eventually, but hadn’t counted on being so soon. The Maid watched worriedly from dusting the empty bookshelves.
“Shh, it’s alright Glitter, I’m here.” She cooed, reaching out with her magic to hold her gently. “I know it hurts, sweetie, but give me a moment.”
With a calm and gentle touch, she used her magic to slit open Glitter’s carapace along her back from head to tail. This seemed to work, she didn’t fuss any more, and lay still as her mother gently tugged the Changeling from it, leaving an empty husk behind and a fresh, slightly sticky, Glitter hovering faintly above it. With a flick of her magic she opened the on suite door and moved Glitter into the bathroom, releasing her from her magic when she was over the bathtub.
Calmly she used her magic to collect the now empty husk that had been left on the floor and keep it all in one piece, looking to the maid.
“Do you know of somewhere that I can dispose of this?” She asked. “We’re used to living in a wasteland, and they usually rot away…” The maid looked back confusedly and she sighed. “I supposed I shall have to handle it in the bathroom…”
“Wh-what is it!?”
Flitterwing gave a gentle chuckle. “Ponies lose the first set of teeth they grow as they age, do they not?”
The maid nodded.
“We… moult, usually only twice, as we age, our chitin can only tolerate so much strain from a growing Changeling, so as we grow up we shed it and grow a new one. I assure you, it’s perfectly safe, but I’d rather not leave it lying around, you know?”
The maid nodded and headed out of the suite and returned with a large paper-weave bag. Carefully she wrapped the chitin into the bag before sealing it up tightly.
“I’ll just have to put it with the rest of our rubbish.” She said. “And I thank you for not getting whatever it was that covered your filly on the carpet…”
“Oh, no problem, I didn’t think it would be fair to give you more work in any case.” She replied calmly. “I’m going to give Glitter a bath; wouldn’t want her to stay sticky after her first moulting now would we?”
“Of course ma’am.”
Glitter was breathing uneasily when Flitterwing stepped into the bathroom and closed the door. She looked afraid, and tried to back away from her mother in the tub. Flitterwing ignored this and opened the faucets, letting the tub slowly fill before finding a little bottle of soap in the bathroom cabinet. She eyed it curiously before popping the lid open and giving it a sniff, the scents of oranges and mandarins meeting her nose. She smiled and turned back around, stopping the water and looking down at the still slightly cowering filly.
“Now, now, I’m not upset sweetie.” She said, reaching over the bath and stroking her cheek. “What happened in there was a perfectly normal thing.” She smiled and used a sponge to scrub the now drying residue from her face before giving her a quick kiss where she was clean. “Now, I’ll just get this stuff off of you; if you’re a good girl we can go and see about getting you a cupcake after.”
Glitter, not wanting to possibly miss getting a reward from her mother, stood as still as she could while her mother cleaned her off, paying extra attention to the backs of her ears and her wings. The way she was standing as ramrod still as she could Flitterwing found to be charmingly cute, even when she shook her head to try and get water from her face. She had never handled any Changeling so soon after moulting, not even herself, and she found her to be soft, her chitin now malleable and stretchy.
Not to mention more sensitive.
She managed to get the filly to dissolve into a fit of giggles by simply brushing over her ticklish stomach, and it took a minute or two to get her to calm back down.
With a content sigh she drained the tub and lifted Glitter from the tub, wrapping her in a towel and placing her on the bathroom rug. After a vigorous rubbing of the towel, to which she giggled, she was allowed to climb onto Flitterwing’s back.
“Well now, let’s go see about that cupcake shall we?” She mused.
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The next week passed smoothly. Flitterwing didn’t need to spend much time up at night, thus avoiding excess contact with the regent of the Moon, and managed to get her first ‘tale’ book completed. She’d carefully written it, making it more of a novel than an informational book, and sent it off to the publishers that Crescent Scribe had recommended.
It had been a worrying twenty four hours before the publishers replied with their green light, asking for some details about the author to include in the book. Worriedly she had Celestia put a royal seal and her own comments into the letter and information that was sent in reply.
The most important thing that Flitterwing had asked for was that Crescent Scribe be given the first issue printed as thanks for her help. It had probably seemed weird to Celestia when she read that, but she didn’t mention anything about it.
Chrysalis and the others had been ecstatic about Glitter’s first shedding, proof that she was growing healthier and stronger by the day. They would talk with one another whenever they got the chance, for a social race like theirs to suddenly have separate and most importantly private rooms was an odd concept, and they took whatever intermingling as they could.
Things, apparently, had not been going well for Grall; the monument was being vandalized on almost a daily basis by those who still hated them, and he had been assaulted twice during the week when his bodyguard had been distracted. They had been mostly minor scuffles, and he had come away with only minor bruising, but it was still something that Chrysalis fumed over. One of her own had been assaulted on the closest thing her people had to a graveyard.
This was unacceptable.
Celestia had also been rather angry about it, but it was hard to tell through her otherwise picture perfect poker face of calm. Booker and Buzzyear joked that she could probably cut diamonds with her rock steady gaze.
A small group of reporters arrived soon after the second assault, brought in by Celestia’s formal request, and they had interviewed the Changelings in depth. Goals, purposes, role in the original assault… They were effectively asked to bare their heart and soul to these reporters, and one by one they did. Yet, of them all, only two had cried.
Together they had lost a son and a loving husband, after all.
A few photos had been taken; thankfully they were not brash enough to ask for a photo of Glitter on her own. No, she had to be with her grandmother or mother, Celestia was quite adamant about that.
Upon the next sunrise, a newspaper was released with a more… hospitable tone in relation to the Changelings. It preceded a royal decree from Celestia that made the Changelings protected citizens, and that assaulting one would be returned with a harsh penalty.
‘We are ponies, not murderers.’ Celestia had stated during the interviews. ‘Though it was through our actions the Changelings have found themselves so critically reduced in number, they hold no further ill towards us, and we must do the same. If we want to be a country of mercy, peace and tolerance, we must prove it through our actions, not words.’
‘Leave us alone, and we’ll leave you alone. It seems like such a simple philosophy, doesn’t it?’ Grall had commented to the reporters, now written on the paper. ‘I wish it worked that way for us.’
Shred’s comment had been one of the longer ones in the paper. ‘While the attack was something that rocked the whole of Equestria, its outcome rocked ours harder. If we succeeded, we would be able to feed our people as freely as any Equestrian pony, but because we lost… we had to attend the funeral of a son who died before his mother, we had to come to terms with our now fleeting existence; we’re the last Changelings left.’
‘Equestria took my husband from me, and the birth parents of my daughter from her, how much more do you have to take from us? How much more do you think we can give? All I have left of my life before this whole pointless ordeal is my husband’s mother, my Queen, and a filly I helped bring into this world.’
‘You have your safety, your monarchy, your homes and cities;’ Chrysalis had sadly mumbled, ‘whereas ours has stripped from us, my rule surrendered, and our city now empty and soulless. We have nothing but what we came into this world with, we have lost loved ones, parents… children. All we want is a fair chance to redeem ourselves, to prove we are more than the monsters you see us as. Yes, we attacked your capitol. Yes, we terrified your friends, loved ones, and families. Yes we caused damage costing into the thousands of bits to repair, but to feed the Hive, we had little choice. It was either invade Canterlot or starve, and though our actions are deplorable, would anypony truly want to see everypony they’ve ever known and loved simply waste away because there is nothing in their power they can do?’
‘We’re doing the best we can.’ Booker had said calmly. ‘When life hoofs you lemons, you make lemonade, but… when life hoofs you lemons for almost two centuries, lemonade starts to become all you know. We’re used to suffering, we’re used to pain. Nopony should have to grow up with the constant pain of hunger.’
It had been an emotional and nerve-wracking day, and the photos that had been published showed the exhaustion and seemingly frail bodies of the survivors. Their faces had betrayed how relieved they felt that day, each with a faint smile except for Chrysalis and Flitterwing who had been sombre and gloomy. Of course, Glitter had hidden from the ponies as best she could, shielding herself from them behind her mother or grandmother, but a little gentle reassurance had managed to get her to open up enough for them to get her picture, even managing to get the headline front page photo of her playing with her Celestia and Luna dolls while Chrysalis watched serenely in the background.
‘Grandmother Chrysalis dutifully watches her two-year-old granddaughter play with locally bought Princess Dolls.’
It had been enough to win the trust of many of the ponies in Canterlot, at least, the more forgiving lower class. The upper class, who had been urging for the Changelings to be hunted down and made to pay for their crimes, now called for blood. The building in which the Changelings had originally been housed was targeted by these vindictive ponies and burned to the ground in a single night.
It had been the last straw for Celestia. Her guard rounded up the ponies responsible and, after slapping them all with at least a month’s worth of community service, she had them pay for the reconstruction of the building with their own bits, all six thousand bits worth of damage.
It was a week after she had sent in her novel for review and publishing before she discovered who Crescent Scribe was.
She and Glitter were having a late night, the filly happily reading some books from the children’s section of the library while she was busily reading through the novel that Crescent Scribe had left for her.
It was an… interesting read. It was most certainly not aimed at children, as several chapters had already attested with their rather descriptive night-time activities. Still the plot was charming in its own way, and the characters were colourful and amusing; a stallion, Quickstep as his name happened to be, was a dancing instructor and enthusiast. After a particularly late evening, he had spotted Princess Luna strolling through his town absent minded, observing the city at night.
After a good majority of the book, the two had become lovers, and it seemed that all was well until he missed a date with her one night due to thugs in the streets. By the time he found where she had gone, she had turned into a wicked mare of darkness…
A book thumped onto the desk next to her, startling her, and she looked over at it.
The cover read ‘Changing Dreams’.
That’s her book!
It hasn’t hit the shelves yet.
First edition..!
That would mean…
She looked over her shoulder at the pony that had put the book on her desk, her breath catching in her throat and her heart skipping a beat.
“P-Princess Luna?!”
The Princess gave her a steely gaze before shifting and sitting next to her at the desk, motioning down to the book.
“How much of this is fiction?” She asked.
Flitterwing blinked, stunned, before her brain caught up with the current events.
“I-it’s based on an old Changeling legend, the events, to us, are supposedly true. I’ve had to… make up names and some other things, but most of the events are legend.” She admitted shakily.
Luna nodded faintly.
“Wh-what about your book, Princess?”
Luna gave a faint chuckle. “True, most of it anyway.” She said. “We never enjoyed any of the more… intimate evenings, but it is true. We did fall for him, and he was a most excellent dancer, that may have been a factor in our infatuation, we must admit.”
Flitterwing shrank away faintly. “Why don’t you publish the books under your own name? Why the moniker?”
“Because if we were to publish a book like this with our own name, firstly everypony would buy it out of a feeling of obligation, due to our royal status, and secondly it would make it seem like we were trying to Mary Sue ourselves into a story. Using our moniker of Crescent Scribe we can avoid that unwanted publicity and simply enjoy our success in peace.”
Flitterwing’s gaze drifted to the ground beneath her hooves and she sighed.
“Is there something else on your mind?”
“Yes.”
“Do feel free to say whatever you wish, we will not judge you.”
“I… is Princess Celestia putting you up to this?”
“We’re… sorry?”
“I’ve seen the way you glare at us, saw how you reacted to Glitter the other day with her doll… You don’t like us, so why are you doing this?”
Luna blinked at her confusedly before sighing. “We… have had difficulty adapting to your presence in Canterlot. You must understand that your Queen could have taken everything from us; she very nearly did. She harmed our sister, ruined the wedding of my niece and her husband, terrified our townsponies, and damaged our city. We are not proud to admit it, but we have been worried that it might happen again, and this time without our niece and her husband to stop her.”
“Princess… It couldn’t possibly happen again.”
“And what proof do you have for your claim?!”
Flitterwing smiled faintly. “The Hive Mind.” She replied. “We can talk between one another using it, remember? I have heard my Queen’s words and thoughts for the last month and a half, and she could never do it again. She’s too…”
“Broken?” Luna offered.
“She… we… lost her son, as well as almost all of our people in a desperate attempt to avoid just that. Why would we bother to try again and risk losing what we have left? The Wedlock Memorial is all we have left of them; surely you’ve seen how well we’ve cared for it, made it grow lush and vibrant. That’s the closest we can get to our friends and family, the closest we can get to home, and yet ponies routinely vandalize and defile it! How would they like it if we went to one of your graveyards and vandalized the tombstones, or desecrated the graves?”
“We cannot imagine that ponies would take to it kindly.”
“It’s the same thing for us!” Flitterwing almost yelled. “We don’t have a graveyard, we have a memorial atop the remains of our fallen kin, and yet ponies find it perfectly justifiable to make a mockery of it!”
She huffed and let her eyes drift back to the floor, turning her face from the lunar goddess as she tried in vain to hold back her furious tears. “All we want is to be fairly treated.” She breathed.
Luna gave a sigh. “Flitterwing… we are sorry for how we have treated you and your daughter, our… inability to trust your kind has been hard for us to control. We shall try to be more hospitable in future.”
“Thank you, Princess.”
Luna lifted her book and moved away from the table, letting Flitterwing return to her book.
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Today Flitterwing stood with the Princesses, next to her queen, in tears. Chrysalis glared at the four ponies that stood before her as if she wanted nothing more than to drain them dry of all fluids and bury them in shallow graves in the Everfree forest.
Preferably while they were still alive.
Celestia’s face was calm and stoic, her ever present poker-face of calm as she also glared down at the ponies before her. Her attitude however was much more irritable. These ponies had done something unforgivable, inexcusable, something that had made the solar princess quake with rage when she had been informed.
Luna did not look at the ponies. She clearly didn’t want to gaze upon them and lose her temper, something which would not end well for them.
The day before, Flitterwing and Glitter had gone to the markets to see her books put up on the shelves for the first time, and also to see about getting a stuffed doll of ‘gramma’ Chrysalis commissioned for Glitter. A royal guard, a Pegasus, had been their bodyguard this day, and he followed them dutifully through the semi-packed markets.
After leaving the toy store, the trio went to head home, only to be stopped by the group of ponies who now stood before the royals. They had bucked their guard out cold and separated Flitterwing from Glitter, pinning the terrified mother to the ground and forcing her to watch as they beat Glitter viciously.
‘This is for Canterlot!’ had been their excuse.
When Glitter stopped screaming in pain, stopped moving, Flitterwing knew she was now out cold from the violent beating.
Flitterwing had simply lost it.
Maternal fury had pulsed through her veins and muscles, and by the time that Chrysalis had arrived with a platoon of guards, she’d beaten the daylights out of them and left them huddled on the road groaning in pain while she wept over her now beaten filly.
Glitter was at the Canterlot hospital being looked after by the best doctors that were available, using Flitterwing’s guide to changeling anatomy as reference to aid in the recovery of the comatose foal. Celestia herself had shown up at the hospital worried about her, and had been the one to assign the doctors.
Flitterwing felt useless as she sat beside her Queen. She was the foremost expert on Changeling anatomy and care, but she just… couldn’t do it. She couldn’t stay there to help, it had been too much. Just seeing her filly battered and bleeding on the gurney had brought her to tears, she would be useless to her daughter like that, her emotional state would cause her to falter and possibly do more harm than good.
Celestia finally broke the awkward and tearful silence.
“Coin Flip, Turn Table, Orange Scratch, and Foresight; you stand here today accused of assaulting a Royal Guard, assaulting an Equestrian Citizen, and brutally beating a filly.” Her voice betrayed her stoic gaze, tinged with outright fury. “Do you deny these accusations?”
“The only thing we accept is the Royal Guard accusation.” Coin Flip replied. “Other than that, we are merely guilty of attacking monsters loose on Canterlot’s streets.”
Celestia gave an exasperated sigh. “The Changelings have been officially accepted Equestrian citizens for a month; your pitiful excuse shall be interpreted as you accepting the charge.” She said. “With reluctance, I fear that I would be too lenient on you in sentencing, and so it shall be deferred.” She looked over to Chrysalis, and the Changeling shook her head.
“I, as the mother in-law and grandmother of the assaulted mare and filly, cannot sentence these four.” She hissed. “Though if I did, it would not be kind.”
“I understand.” Celestia said with a nod before looking over at Princess Luna hopefully. “Princess Luna, would you be willing?”
“We would, sister.” Luna said, before turning her gaze on the ponies.
The glare she gave them made them shrink away, and she rose from her seat and moved across the room. Her very presence seemed to radiate her utmost contempt for the ponies she bore down on them.
“You, all of you, are guilty of assaulting a Royal Guard.” She growled. “This alone is enough to have you fined quite heavily and put on six months of community service. You then, knowingly, assaulted two members of an endangered species, one of whom is only a little over two years old. This shall not be tolerated within Equestria; how dare you assume that you had the right to assault our guard?! How dare you separate a mother from her filly?! How could you imagine doing such a vile thing to somepony who cannot defend herself from such a disgusting and unprovoked attack?” She stopped before them, glaring daggers at them all. “You, all of you, disgust us; you are supposed to be nobles, the crème de la crème, and yet here you are spitting on what we stand for.”
“At least we didn’t forget that these things assaulted Canterlot.”
“We remember all too well, Coin Flip.” Luna hissed. “But they have asked for, and have been granted, our forgiveness. Do you see the mare that stands beside Chrysalis? Do you see her anguish and pain which you have caused? That is the pain of a mother who is terrified may lose her daughter, which is also the face of a mare that has nearly had everything taken from her. Why don’t you tell her how justified your actions were?!”
She huffed down at them, the four now cowering from her in terror as she verbally assaulted them. “If not for the fact that we know it would spell your end, we would banish you from Equestria.” She snapped. “And that would be against everything we, as a nation, stand for. You shall count yourselves lucky that we still have dungeons beneath the castle, for that is where you shall serve your punishment for the next year, as well as paying for the hospital fees for the filly which you put there.” She brought her gaze in closer to the frightened stallions. “And if the filly should not survive your actions, you shall remain in the dungeons until the day you die.” She finished, her voice dripping with venom and fury. “Guards; get them out of our sight!”
The four stallions were then led from the room by the guards who had surrounded them the entire time, and Princess Luna glared at them until they were out of sight, and then turned back to the thrones behind her. Celestia nodded grimly, as did Chrysalis, and she walked up to Flitterwing and gently put her head against the crying Changeling’s bruised own.
“We are sorry, Flitterwing.” She said. “This should never have happened. If there is anything we can do, it shall be done.”
“Thank you, Princess.”
A few hours later she sat beside Glitter in the Canterlot hospital. She’d been told the range of things that had happened to her, and each one made her as upset as the last. A fractured rib, dislocated right foreleg and left hind ankle, cracked and split carapace in no less than ten places, a severe blow to the joint of her right wing had caused it to swell and be incapable of movement, and her horn had been cracked. Luckily it was the pain from all of these together that had knocked her out, as her skull and brain, after severe scrutiny, were blessedly undamaged. She’d been bleeding on the gurney, though she hadn’t lost too much blood and was simply asleep with an oxygen mask on her face.
She wasn’t allowed to take her home for a few days, to allow her to heal. She hoped that the stuffed doll of Chrysalis would be completed by then, so she could at least keep her daughter happily distracted.
She had cried herself to sleep that night, beside her daughter. It was unfair, why was life being so cruel?
When she awoke in the morning, Glitter wasn’t in the room. She’d startled awake, and bolted to the nearby nurse’s station, demanding to know the condition of her filly. The nurse had looked through the records and found that she was fine, and that she had been moved from the room to the infirmary within the castle so that she could be nearer her family, upon Princess Luna’s order. It had gone without a hitch, and according to all available records she should still be sleeping soundly.
She thanked the nurse and hurried home, being led by her guard to the castle’s infirmary. Sure enough, there she was, sleeping soundly with Chrysalis watching her.
“Flitterwing, it’s good to see you.” She said, giving her a gentle nuzzle. “I’m sorry that we moved Glitter from the hospital at night while you were asleep, I requested the move to Princess Luna because I feared for her safety in a public hospital.”
“It’s alright, my Queen, I understand, I just wish I could have been informed; I was just so startled to see her bed empty.”
Chrysalis sighed. “The Princess must have forgotten to advise the guards to do so.” She said apologetically. “I’m sorry, I should have come myself.”
Flitterwing nodded and moved to her daughter’s side, looking down at the sleeping filly. Most of her bandages had been removed, the damage to her chitin beneath having healed with the aid of some healing magic, and she looked more peaceful as she slept on the bed.
Flitterwing gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek.
“The attack after your visit to the toy shop is publicly known.” Chrysalis informed. “Princess Luna and I have both commented on how disgusted we are. The punishment that Luna gave them is also public knowledge, and it should prevent any such incidents in the future.”
“I don’t care about the future.” Flitterwing grumbled before nodding to Glitter. “I care about her.”
“I understand, Flitterwing, I truly do.” Chrysalis said. “You cannot imagine how hard it was for me to pass up punishing them myself, but we have to function under the laws and guidelines which Equestria hold dear, and the only punishment I could have inflicted upon them would have gone against them; Princess Luna just barely held herself together as well; the assault of a foal… it instils rage into the hearts of mares everywhere, even hers'.”
“I could have lost her. I don’t think anypony knows how… how terrified I was…”
Chrysalis pulled Flitterwing into a comforting hug.
“I do.”
Flitterwing blinked before smiling and leaning into Chrysalis’ embrace.
“You do, don’t you? How could I have forgotten; I’m sorry, my Queen.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for, Flitterwing; together we pulled through it.”
Flitterwing nodded. “Thank you for giving her to me.”
“As I recall, it was your choice.”
“But still.”
Glitter shifted on the bed with a little groan, turning her head faintly to look around.
“Mh… mommy..?”
Flitterwing smiled up at Chrysalis and hurried around the bed, sitting in front of her daughter.
“Mommy’s here sweetie, I’m here.”
Glitter smiled wide and tried to shift in the bed towards her, only for her to hold the filly down.
“Don’t move, sweetie, you’re hurt.” She said, before kissing her nose. “Try and get some sleep, okay? I promise I’m not going anywhere, I’ll be right here.”
Glitter smiled and nodded, closing her tired eyes and drifting back to sleep.
Two days later and Glitter was released by the doctors into Flitterwing’s care. She’d healed impressively quickly, but Flitterwing had been happy enough to have her daughter back with her. The first thing she did was ask if one of the other Changelings could see if the stuffed doll she commissioned was finished.
After giving Glitter the best bath she could, she took her to the library where she read two stories to her and borrowed several more for later that night. She probably shouldn’t have been spoiling Glitter so much, but… well, who cared? The filly had been beaten senseless by strangers; she deserved a little extra attention.
When she took her to Chrysalis to show that she was up and about, Chrysalis had been overjoyed and cuddled Glitter tightly. When Glitter called her ‘Granna’ she’d lavished her with kisses and more hugs.
When they returned to their room after dinner, they found a carefully wrapped gift on the suite’s table, a little tag telling them that it was from Chrysalis to Glitter.
Flitterwing put Glitter on the ground and lowered the gift in front of her, smiling at the filly who only looked at it curiously.
“Do you want to see what it is, Glitter?” She asked, fairly certain of what it was. Glitter nodded profusely, and she used her magic to undo the curly bow and lift the lid.
She lifted out a stuffed doll of Chrysalis and showed Glitter.
Once more she could only have been happier if she somehow exploded.
Flitterwing pulled Glitter into an embrace, smiling broadly at the filly’s giggling and massive smile.
‘Thank you, Chrysalis.’
Chrysalis’ voice chuckled. ‘You are welcome, Flitterwing.’
She played with Glitter for an hour or more, each choosing a different doll to play with and Glitter using the spare. Since she was still healing, however, Glitter became tired soon after and was lying in her bed while her mother read her a few bedtime stories. By the end of the third, Glitter had fallen asleep and her breathing was not unlike the purring of a kitten. Flitterwing smiled and gave her a gentle kiss on her forehead, stimulus to which she murmured and smiled in her sleep.
“Sweet dreams my little Glitter.”