Chrysalis idly wondered to herself, on the off chance that it might just be possible, that if she glared at Twilight Sparkle long enough that the infuriating unicorn would pop out of existence altogether. After Twilight’s experience in the caves she knew that the unicorn wasn’t going to be in a forgiving mood in the slightest, and would be looking to do anything possible to wreck Chrysalis’ success all over again. It wasn’t as if she could even threaten her, let alone do anything more permanent, as Cadance would then be upset. That was a thought that Chrysalis could no longer stand to even consider. Then Cadance would probably be upset too if Twilight just disappeared. Chrysalis sighed. Being in love was hard.
Of course thinking about Cadance right now wasn’t exactly pleasant either. Hidden behind that closed door, her love was currently talking to Shining Armour. The stallion that Chrysalis had used to try and take over Equestria, the stallion that would now have been married to Chrysalis in name only and would probably have been stuffed in a cocoon and already forgotten. Worse was that he was the stallion, that right up until there had been no other option, had been the love of Cadance’s life. A voice at the back of her head was whispering that they had already made up and were right now discussing how to break it to her. Chrysalis decided that little voice of doubt could sod right off to Tartaurus for all she cared. She trusted Cadance; admittedly the love had been forced on her in the first place, but she knew in her heart of hearts that just made her love Cadance all the more.
There was another little niggle that was asking to be thought about loudly now that she had some time to breathe at last. She’d had Shining Armour’s love in the way that Cadance now had hers, yet she hadn’t touched him, not even once despite plenty of opportunity, and even after him directly asking her to on one night. Of course the spell that her love had worked had affected them both equally, while Shining’s devotion had been entirely one sided and purely been a means to an end. Even so Chrysalis couldn’t help but be drawn to consider that she’d never once produced any hatchlings like a queen should to ensure the line of succession. Her swarm lord had always reminded her of her responsibilities, yet she’d always made excuses due to their lack of a proper hive and being constantly on the move. Chrysalis knew that had just been her way of getting out of it, which she’d always put down due to a total lack of interest in what would have physically been required.
Had she always preferred the company of her own gender and never realised it before Cadance had forcibly opened her eyes? It was certainly possible, Chrysalis considered. It was not something changelings ever really thought about given what matings that took place were under the strict control of the hive broodmother to ensure the stable growth of the hive. The idea of two female, or indeed, two male drones being intimate was really not an idea that had ever really occurred to them. It probably happened on occasion, Chrysalis now reckoned, as she could definitely testify that changelings could get a whole lot of enjoyment out of sex without the purposes of breeding. Still, the idea of engaging in such acts for love was not something that they ever did due to relationships just not existing period in changeling hives. The ponies on the other hoof did have a word for two females being in a relationship—quite a few of them actually—and apparently it was quite a popular option, given that mares outnumbered stallions three to one.
A sudden fancy took her. as she pondered the idea, and she ran her eyes down Twilight’s body in an attempt to try to provoke some kind of a reaction. Instead of any flush of excitement, like what she felt any time that she looked at Cadance, all she saw was Twilight bursting into the wedding ceremony, and Chrysalis lapsed back into glaring daggers at her again.
Actually she realised that there was something else bothering her about Twilight that she couldn’t quite place. There was a familiar smell of magic about her. A coarse sensation against her horn rather than one that tickled against her nose. If she didn’t know that it was impossible, Chrysalis might have guessed that Twilight had been involved in a great working of changeling magic.
<”Stop glaring at me,”> Twilight said flatly in Chrysalis’ own language.
Chrysalis couldn’t help herself, and tottered back a few steps in absolute shock. <”You... what... HOW?!”> she said intelligently.
Twilight smirked at her. “It’s not too hard,” she said, switching back to Equestrian.
Combined with the messed up mane and confident gleam in her eyes, Chrysalis was stunned to realise that she was actually finding herself intimidated. “You’re... You’re not going to break us up,” she stammered. Chrysalis inwardly raged at herself. She was a queen of the changelings with a heritage tracing back to the great change, and here she was acting fearful to a young slip of a pony. There was just something in Twilight’s eyes that Chrysalis couldn’t help but glance away from.
“We’ll see,” Twilight said simply, and then fell back into silence.
Her words stabbed Chrysalis right in the gut, and she found herself lost for words. There was something that ponies did in situations like this, aside from threats and violence, and she wracked her mind to think of it. Finally it came to her. “Please, don’t,” she said softly, the word unfamiliar on her lips. “I’m not hurting her. I could never do that now.”
Twilight’s eyes flashed, and she pawed at the carpet. “You’ve ruined everything, and now you dare tell me that you’re not hurting her as if that makes everything okay? What about Shining Armour, what about Princess Celestia, what about everypony in Canterlot, what about them, Chrysalis?”
Chrysalis seethed with barely repressed rage, yet knew that there was nothing she could do that she’d be able to live with later, or at least have a reasonable chance of explaining to Cadance. “I don’t care about them,” Chrysalis replied with a snarl. “Only my love.”
“She was Shining Armour’s love first,” Twilight stated, “before you came along.”
“I know that,” Chrysalis replied, “right up until she chose me instead.” A fierce pointy grin crossed her face.
“You—” Whatever Twilight had been going to say was interrupted by Cadance’s arrival into the corridor from Shining Armour’s office. “Cadance,” she said in brief acknowledgement, and then Twilight Sparkle quickly ducked into the room that the alicorn had just left.
Cadance stalked past Chrysalis without a word, and Chrysalis scurried to follow her.
“Is everything alright?” Chrysalis asked cautiously, after Cadance hadn’t said anything for several minutes.
Cadance finally came to a stop and hung her head letting her mane hang past her face. She looked up and managed a smile at Chrysalis’ clear concern. “I’m...” she paused, and then continued. “Okay, I’m not fine, but I’m glad that you’re here with me. I really am.”
“What happened?” Chrysalis said, leaning in to give her lover a quick reassuring nuzzle.
Cadance shook her head. “Nothing, there’s just nothing,” she said. “Other than that I wounded him terribly. It was necessary of course, but I still did that to him, and it’s not anything that can really be apologised for.”
“I never did anything with him when he was under my control,” Chrysalis said. “I just thought you should know.”
“That’s something, I suppose,” Cadance said, her tone still low.
Chrysalis swallowed hard to see Cadance like this. “You know...” she said slowly and reluctantly. “If you cancelled the spell, I might still...” Chrysalis just about managed to keep talking although it was like lifting heavy lead weights trying to get the words out. “Maybe it could work out,” she finished weakly. Her entire body screamed that she hated the idea with everything that she had, but she could still force herself to submit to the agreement that was surely coming. Maybe she could be learn to be happy to share her new, still-unfamiliar love, maybe...
“No!” Cadance snapped, and took Chrysalis’ face between her two forehooves so she could look her right in the eyes. “You are mine now,” she said, her voice ringing with emotion. “Just as I am yours. There is no spell now to cancel, no time for second guesses or might have beens, only love.” She paused. “Our love.”
Chrysalis’ eyes glistened. She couldn’t help herself and threw herself into a hug with the alicorn that had captured her heart so totally.
“He deserves somepony better than me anyway,” Cadance said into Chrysalis’ ear. Chrysalis was about to retort loudly that wasn’t true in the slightest, when Cadance pulled out of the hug to look her in the eyes again. “After all, I’m now a monster,” she said, and flashed a wry grin. “So are you,” she added, and leaned in to kiss Chrysalis lightly on the lips.
“Cadance, I...” Chrysalis said, almost completely lost for words when she got her breath back.
“And now we’re going to make it official,” Cadance said, and smiled warmly.
Chrysalis now realised where they’d been heading before. Right in the direction of the royal throne-room. “You mean you really want to ask her now?” Chrysalis asked, not bothering to hide the excitement in her voice.
Cadance started to trot down the corridor, her tail swishing behind her, as she put an extra bounce into her step. She glanced back. “What do you think?”
Chrysalis hurried to catch up with Cadance. She wasn’t sure what she’d done to deserve Cadance, but clearly it’d been something very special.
Some time later, as they were entering the main section of the palace, they ran right into Applejack and Rainbow Dash rounding a corner.
“Ah, there ya two are!” Applejack exclaimed and grinned. “We’ve been lookin’ for you all over.”
“‘Sup, dweebs.” Rainbow Dash was looking a lot more cheerful than she had been, though that was probably due to the large bottle of premium cider that she was currently becoming very close friends with.
“Hello, Applejack,” Chrysalis said, and then smirked. “And Dash.”
“Ya know I said I was goin’ to get ya some food to eat?” said Applejack. “Well, it’s taken all night and most of this mornin’ but I think we’re ready.”
“It’s true,” Rainbow Dash said, a slight slur in her voice. “It’s been more boring than modelling dresses for Rarity...” She flushed. “Not that I ever actually do that.”
“You really didn’t have to—” Chrysalis started to say, but Cadance jumped into the conversation.
“Thank you so much,” Cadance said, smiling widely. “We’d love to accept.”
“It’s going to be great, yer queenship,” Applejack said. “We’ve got a selection of the best Apple family recipes going back generations which have so much love poured into them over the years that they should fill you up right proper. If that doesn’t work we’ve got some of the best pony grub from inside and out of Equestria from places like Trottingham, Stalliongrad and Prance. Then if they don’t meet your tastes then there’s a chef here that does the best griffon chow all over he reckons. He’s cooked up a marinated duck that smells so good that even my mouth was watering.”
“But the princess?” Chrysalis said weakly.
Cadance patted her lover on the shoulder. “Think about it,” she said. “When we go to Princess Celestia just think how much better it will sound if we can tell her that we’ve just come from a feast with you getting along perfectly with her subjects.”
“I suppose,” Chrysalis said. “I still don’t think it’s going to work.” Her words were ignored, and she let herself be dragged off towards the royal dining halls.
~~~
“My love, we will always be together,” Twilight Sparkle said as she nuzzled up against him. The purple unicorn was a distant memory. Now she stood taller than any changeling queen or pony princess. Her black chitinous hide shone, seemingly without the need of an actual light source, while her jewel-like insect wings sparkled more beautifully than any stained glass window in the history of pony kind. The neat manecut that she had used to wear was now a flowing gloriously long cascade of blues and purples so deep that he felt like he could drown forever in them.
And, of course, it wasn’t the real Twilight Sparkle.
Dusk knew this was a forced fantasy to make him feel love, and in reality he was trapped inside a cocoon, while that idiot drone was wrecking everything. It wasn’t as if any changeling could feed on the love that the cocoon was supposed to be provoking in him. If changelings could feed on other ‘lings love then they’d never have left their hives again. However, here he was stuck very much out of the way, and that rankled.
He tried to will his forelimbs sharply upwards to tear the heavy mucous and ichor confining him apart, but all that accomplished was wrapping them softly around the Twilight changeling queen’s long neck and holding her close. Dusk was purposely not examining why it was Twilight, and in this form, as he suspected he wouldn’t like the answers very much. It was probably just that drone messing with him after his outburst. Yes, that had to be it.
All he had to do was concentrate. Sure, no pony that he’d ever seen once in the confines of a changeling cocoon had got out again without outside help, but he was no pony. He had been named swarm lord of Hive Chrysalis. It was just turning out to be really difficult to actually keep his wits together with Twilight nibbling on his ear with her new pointy fangs.
Twilight pulled away and looked him in the eyes. “Is this a dream?”
Dusk inwardly groaned. His mind might be being twisted under outside influence to fuel this fantasy, but he thought that he’d be able to come up with better dialogue than that.
“If I say yes,” he said, his tone completely resigned, “is there any chance that you’ll let me wake up?”
Twilight’s hooves started sensually running down his body creating sensations that almost made him forget this was a forced fantasy of love. Twilight’s eyes remained locked on his. She almost looked... concerned.
“Dusk,” she said slowly. “Can you hear me?”
The question came like a splash of cold water right between the eyes.
“I’ve been trying to reach you for ages,” Twilight said, while her body continued to do everything it could to drown out her actual words. “I’d ask why you’re seeing me as a changeling, and doing well, this.” She blushed.
Dusk hadn’t been aware that changelings could blush, but apparently in this fantasy actual physiology had long since gone out the window.
“But I reckon that’s not too important right now,” Twilight finished.
“One of the drones has persuaded the others that this is a bad enough failure to invoke one of our laws,” Dusk began to explain. “We are not kind in regard to failure in our queens. There are reasons for that, but in other circumstances, well, it would normally be my place to give judgement and lead the drones to rip the errant queen apart.”
“But you wanted to save her?” Twilight asked, as the rest of her continued its attempts to distract him from her actual words.
Dusk sighed. “Yes, yes I did,” he said. “I thought that the hive could yet recover from this setback, and that no queen could have possibly predicted this course of events. However unwise the invasion might have been in the first place. I’d even argue that this is enough of a victory given how much love Cadance can provide us, as much as I personally dislike it seeing my queen so bewitched.”
“I take it that the drones think differently,” she said.
He squirmed under the tender ministrations of the fantasy, and tried to concentrate enough to reply. “They’re panicking. Something has them spooked enough to ignore the natural order of the hive,” he explained. “That’s all we changelings really want is order when it gets down to it. The queen rules, the swarm lord commands, the speaker advises, the broodmother ensures stability, and the drones obey. A hive, just enough love and that’s what we need to keep us content,” Dusk said. “The more that gets disrupted then the more dangerous we get. Even too much love, like in times past, can leave the hive unbalanced.”
“Do you want me to come get you out?” Twilight asked.
“Absolutely not!” Dusk said quickly. “There’s still hundreds of drones down here, and one mare walking into these tunnels now would be exactly what they need to change their minds into ignoring that drone’s idea to have Cadance be our new queen.”
Twilight gasped at that idea, and then frowned. Dusk could feel the expression forming on Twilight’s real face, the fantasy on the other hoof kept up that same infuriating blissful smile. “But, surely she could just tell them to live in harmony with us?”
Dusk grimaced. “I don’t think that drone will be happy with that,” he said, “and then things get really messy.”
“What do you want me to do then?” Twilight asked.
Dusk could feel her concern and worry at the idea of leaving him. “Warn your princess and my queen. No matter what happens now, they’ll try to kill Queen Chrysalis if they can, and will certainly not give Cadance a choice.”
“Can’t they just go back to one of the other hives rather than bothering with all this?” Twilight said, the frustration clear in her voice. “I’m sure I’ve read that there’s supposed to be other queens out there.”
“No chance,” Dusk replied. “We are of Hive Chrysalis, a lineage going back to the great change. There are only four other true queens left that go that far back. Queen Nychus is utterly psychotic, Queen Thorndust is far too clever by half, and the other two disappeared over the great waves to the west a millennia ago. None of them would accept another hive’s changelings as their own, and the only other alternative are the lesser hives. Those with half-mad queens, where they have converted themselves a hive ruler from pony stock, and those with hybrid queens who owe their lineage to such broken progenitors. Only the most truly desperate would be willing to accept being apart of a hive like that.”
“I don’t understand it, Twilight,” he said, his voice thick with worry. “They’re breaking with the natural order of the hive. It’s possible that they’re going to start acting even more oddly yet.”
There was a sudden rush of magical energy, the fantasy images washed away, and Dusk found himself peering through the murky green mucous of his cocoon. “”What was that?!” he asked. His horn felt like it had just taken a direct hit from a lightning bolt.
‘You actually felt that?’ came the familiar voice of Twilight in his mind, rather than translated through the cocoon. ‘It must be our link... Never mind that for now, there was a strange surge of magic near me somewhere in the palace. I’m going to check it out.’
Dusk could feel Twilight’s mind racing through the complex calculations to perform a teleport, and then she was gone.
“Now, where were we?” the changeling queen Twilight purred, as the fantasy snapped back into place.
~~~
The drone still in the guise of the pink pony with balloons on her flank hopped along behind the other two. She’d had to change back into a drone to fly up the mountain and for the first time in her life, she’d found the whole experience deeply uncomfortable in comparison to wearing another form. Not like this one, this was far better, then she was still itching terribly on both of her sides, and one of her ears kept flopping about of its own volition every so often. She wasn’t entirely sure why she’d come along anyway, now that she thought about it, and certainly hadn’t got permission to do so, but for some reason it’d just seemed like a fun thing to do at the time when the other drone had been making her plans with the speaker.
The drone that had called for a new queen had also changed back into the mint-green mare that had been in the cavern with the other two ponies before the scary Nightmare Moon had come to take them away. She had also insisted on being called Firebrand when they’d snuck into the abandoned tower, which was pretty weird, the drone considered to herself. The speaker was still calling himself speaker, then that was kind of like a name anyway, she supposed. He’d turned into a very pretty looking white stallion with a long flowing mane, and kept looking around as they trotted along.
Maybe I should have a name too? the drone thought. ’Do me! Do me!’ That pony had said to her, and it had been ringing in her ears ever since. Maybe that could work. She couldn’t just call herself Do Me, as that sounded like she was part of the family Me, or Do, or maybe not, pony naming conventions were ever so confusing. Dome would make her sound like she should have be part of a building, and Do’me was something out of a bad fantasy novel. Then she grinned as she came across the perfect option. Doomie, now that would be her name.
Firebrand and the speaker were talking, but Doomie wasn’t paying them much attention.
<“So, you really can’t talk to her to explain?”> Firebrand was asking in the changeling language.
<”I’ve been all over Equestria and beyond,”> the speaker replied sardonically, <”and yet oddly enough I’ve never heard any of the ponies say ‘Excuse me, but how would you like to be our queen?’. Funny how that’s never come up.”>
Firebrand growled. <”We’ll just stick her into a cocoon then and talk to her that way.”> she said. <”It’s not like Chrysalis would be willing to translate even if we did want to ask her.”>
They cantered along, looking for all the world like a stallion and two mares about their normal business throughout the palace. They did give any of the royal guard they saw a very wide berth just in case.
<”Do you have any clue where we’re going?”> the speaker asked, after they’d been into what Doomie reckoned was the third identical corridor.
Firebrand sniffed loudly, her pony nose flaring. <”Love, can’t you smell it?”> she replied wickedly. <”This way.”>
They came to a great dining hall. There was a large number of ponies here around the former queen, but Cadance was sitting off to one side further down the table that extended down the entire length of the room.
<”Perfect,”> Firebrand said, a malicious light dancing in her eyes. <”Speaker, wait until I am in position to announce us. Drone...”>
<“Doomie!”> she said in reply brightly.
<”Maybe later,”> Firebrand said absent mindedly, still gazing intently towards where Cadance was sitting.
<“No, silly! Doomie with an ‘i’ and an ‘e’,”> she explained.
She sighed. <”Doomie,”> Firebrand started to say, and then shrugged. “<Just, do whatever it is that you do.”>
Doomie wasn’t listening anymore, as her attention was entirely elsewhere, and hopped forwards to the most beautiful sight that she’d ever seen.
~~~
“Don’t worry, this is going to work out perfectly,” Trixie said in the most reassuring tone that she could manage. They were so close, and it was hardly the time for the other two to start getting cold hooves.
Even with Sunset Shimmer pointing out the correct section of the book, actually pulling off the spell had still been hard going. First they had needed an item to cast the spell onto, and from what Trixie had been able to discern it just needed to encircle the body. There had been some disagreements of whether it should be say a girdle, a snazzy belt, or even a corset. They’d settled eventually on a simple silken sash that Rarity had been able to whip up in short order from her stash of supplies.
Trixie had been forced to admit that without the other unicorn she wouldn’t have had a chance to pull the spell off. Rarity had some experience with very minor enchantments to resist dirt and wear and the like, and when Trixie’s own magical reserves had proved insufficient, had demonstrated an impressive amount of power that the fashionista had been hiding up to that point. She didn’t have anything like Trixie’s skill, knowledge, intelligence, or looks, but Trixie was still thankful that Rarity was content to be a mere fashion designer, or there’d be a serious other candidate for the most great and powerful pony around.
In the end it had been than more than even the combined forces of Trixie’s and Rarity’s horns could handle between them, until she’d had the idea of spreading the unenchanted sash across Fluttershy’s wings first. Pegasi wings were how their innate magic was used to fly, and it had turned out to be the perfect catalyst to allow Trixie and Rarity to complete the enchantment. The sash now glowed with an eerie pale-blue inner light, that seemed to get much brighter when she caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of her eye. Trixie couldn’t help but feel proud for pulling off such a spell, even if it had been accomplished with quite a bit of help.
All they needed to do now was get Shining Armour to wear the sash for the spell to pick up the required body, then Trixie would wear it—definitely after they’d left to avoid confusing him, she considered—and her new far more promising life would begin.
They’d talked to a few guards, and Shining Armour had been seen retiring to his quarters, so this was definitely not the time for second thoughts.
“What are we going to tell him though?" Fluttershy was saying anxiously.
“We don’t need to tell him anything,” Trixie insisted for the fourth time already. “We just pop in, say hello, ask him to try the sash on, leave, and then everything is going to be magical.”
“I don’t know...” Rarity said, rubbing at her illustriously styled mane.
“It’ll be fine,” Trixie said, putting on her most confident and cocky smile, which was really saying something. “Just be polite, and we’ll be in and out in minutes.”
When they came to the right door, Trixie knocked, and then not hearing anything, knocked a few more more times to no answer.
“Um... Perhaps he’s somewhere else?” Fluttershy said. “Maybe we could come back tomorrow, or maybe the day after.”
“Wait,” Rarity said, her ears pricking up. “I hear something, and look here, the door is slightly ajar.”
She pushed past Trixie and into the room. Shining Armour was sprawled across the bed in a not particularly dignified fashion, and was snoring loudly. A couple of empty bottles were on the bedside table.
“Bear Hugger’s best whiskey,” Rarity noted with a desultory sniff. “Somepony’s had a very hard day, looks like.”
“Didn’t you say his fiance was shacking up with a changeling?” Trixie said. “That’s more than enough to drive anypony to drink.”
“What are you waiting for?” Fluttershy asked nervously from the doorway.
“Aren’t we going to ask him first?” Trixie said, eyeing the unconscious stallion.
Rarity’s brow furrowed for a moment. “Well, you did say that it wouldn’t do anything to him,” she said. “Isn’t that right, Trixie?”
“Well, yes,” Trixie said, suddenly feeling a lot less confident than she had been. The tome had been written in High Equestrian, and while she was sure that she’d gotten the gist there was a chance she just might have missed something. Twilight Sparkle would have been sure, so would Sunset Shimmer, she thought.
She shrugged her doubts away and taking the sash in her magic, wrapped it around Shining Armour.
Nothing happened.
“See, Trixie told you there was nothing to worry about—”
She was interrupted by the sound not unlike the hum made by a busy beehive, but so, so much louder. The eerie light that had been within the sash expanded outwards until the entire room glowed bright, washing out all the colours, and leaving the three mares blinking. Fluttershy squeaked and disappeared behind the doorway. Rarity looked like she was trying to say something, but no sounds came out.
A second later, the humming, and the light was gone, and so was the stallion.
Unable to think of anything intelligent to say, Trixie said, “Huh, you know what, but I can see what you meant.” She could only stare at the now recumbent sight of Gleaming Shield, wearing an entirely normal looking sash, and snoozing away seemingly without a care in the world.
“Trixie!” Rarity screamed, the moment she got her wits back. “What in the holy name of Celestia’s rear end have you done?!”
“I... I don’t know—”
Whatever she had been going to say, and Trixie wasn’t too sure what that had going to be herself, was interrupted by popping sound and a sudden gust of wind, as if all the air in the room now had to get out the way due to the presence of another body.
And there was Twilight Sparkle staring around the room, clearly not quite able to quite believe what her eyes were feeding back to her.
Trixie was the first to react, wishing she still had her cape to swirl dramatically, she leaped up onto the bed, and stood over the transformed mare. “Behold, Twilight Sparkle!” she proclaimed. “Trixie has cast the most mightiest magic that you will ever see in your puny life. Using powers thought lost to all of pony kind, the most great and powerful Trixie has transformed this humble stallion into a mare!” she said, grinning her face off as the moment thoroughly rushed to her head “It’ll take more than disposing of a baby ursa for you to top that!”
Rarity was gawping, with her mouth hanging open, and over at the doorway Fluttershy was pretty much sporting the exact same reaction. The newly transformed Gleaming Shield kept on snoring, admittedly in much more delicate manner than before.
“Trixie,” Twilight said, her face entirely flat.
“Yes, Twilight?” Trixie asked, brimming with excitement at the sure adulation that would soon be coming for her display of astounding magical skill, even if it hadn’t been quite what she’d been aiming for at the time.
“That mare is my brother.”
Trixie’s jaw dropped, as her entire world came crashing down all over again. A thousand secret fantasies, nursed in her time at the rock farm, boiled away in the heat of Twilight Sparkle’s expression. She tried to think of some excuse, to explain that it had been an accident, and that it certainly hadn’t been her idea anyway, but she knew it wouldn’t help. It never did.
“Oh, ponyfeathers,” she swore quietly.