Honey Pie smiled sweetly at her sister.
"Don't yer face hurt from all that smiling?" Sweet Pea leaned forward with a spark in eyes.
Honey Pie's laughter was loud and genuine as she threw her head back letting it fill the air. "Ya know it's time for ya to go home now don't 'cha Sweets?" She said after she sobered.
The duo were back at the café they originally sat at while they were waiting to hear the Sol Alicorn's announcement about the royal military's new Captain. It'd been almost a week since Chrysalis' infiltration of the castle and now that everything had fallen into place it was time for her healer to return home and guide their people in Chrysalis stead.
Sweet Pea stared at her sister with a look of reluctance. Honey Pea stared back with confidence. "Ah won't be alone, sissy. Kir and Zia'll be here in the city too. Ah can handle mahself, ya know." To any onlooker, they'd simply hear a pair of sisters trading a heartfelt goodbye. Not a Queen biding her second instructions.
"But what about the family? It won't be the same without you ." You're sure this spell will help provide love for everypony?
"Don't worry Sweets, you'll do just fine. Ah'll help ya out best Ah can. You won't be alone…" I'll process what I get here and send it back to you. The spell I gave you will help provide nourishment. I'm not abandoning you.
Love orbs were the magically processed version of love for the hive's mass consumption. The orbs made were a more practical method of distribution than the Queen physically bestowing love upon every one of her subjects. Only the Queen could process the love the changelings returned into something healthy and sustainable. The spell she'd given Odonata was the equivalence of giving a starving man cheap junk food. The body receives energy but it isn't very healthy or ideal for long term. Chrysalis only had a few months before she'd truly exhausted all of her peaceable options.
"Ah trust ya, Honey Pie. You'll behave and remember ta make us proud?" Maroon eyes were shrewd. Don't get sidetracked.
"Ah promise." She breathed with an eye roll. I won't.
"What's it like living all high society like an Equestrian Princess?" She grinned changing the subject.
Chrysalis scrunched up her equine features as a hoof came to her jaw. "Like breathin' noxious gas. Makes me sick thinkin' 'bout it." Chrysalis had nothing against Cadance personally, but she found it annoying how saccharine the mare was. She couldn't help but allow parts of her personality to trickle in her infiltration. Cadance was the definition of pleasant. She was kind, respectable and 'ever so polite.' A princess at heart, a girl at her core. Chrysalis hadn't considered herself a 'girl' since she completed her rite of passage. Even then she was never the naive type.
Now it was Sweet Pea's turn to laugh loud and freely. With that being said, the two paid their bill and headed back to the room they'd rented. As soon as they shut the door, Chrysalis shifted her form into that of Cadance.
After bidding her healer farewell, the changeling queen was swallowed in green flames as she teleported back to the Princess' bedroom. Candy colored eyes stared around the delicately dressed room with a sigh.
Her thoughts were a million things per minute as she slowly made her way to the door. There was an opening for some shop uptown Cadance was asked to attend as a guest of honor. Chrysalis painted a pretty smile on her face and stepped out of Cadance's bedroom with her feint in play.
Twenty minutes later she was batting her lashes at all the right ponies, laughing appropriately at all the right jokes.
No pony suspected that the alicorn they were laughing and spending time with was actually a changeling queen in disguise. She sipped on champagne, schmoozed the upper crust, and dazzled onlookers with refined modesty.
Chrysalis was an expert at diffusing and twisting situations to her advantage. Any social blunders she made were glossed over just as easily. Despite the high stakes, the pegacorn took pride in her skill. Here she was in plain sight and no pony knew that their beloved princess had been replaced.
It was ridiculous how many appearances the love alicorn made, Chrysalis thought on her way back to the castle when her evening had finally drawn to a close. Only about half were philanthropic. It was the tenth event she'd attended since she imprisoned the alicorn deep within the Canterlot caves. The changeling queen vowed to change that as she was to a point where she felt comfortable enough change up the princess' routine without drawing suspicion.
Speaking of the real Cadance, she would have to recharge the pod she had confined the princess to if she didn't want her breaking out. Depending on how potent the magic was the changeling pod would be fine without a magic boost for at most a week.
The only pony who seemed to notice a difference in her personality was the one pony she purposefully kept away from. It would seem that her time for avoiding Shining Armor had run out as he finally got her alone.
Chrysalis was surprised to find the stallion in her bedroom sitting on her bed when she returned from her outing.
Candy colored eyes belied their surprise before equine features melted into something more pleasant.
"Shining? What're you doing here?" She asked with a tilt of her head as she closed the door before nearing the seated pony. The white stallion sat on her canopy bed with an impassive expression on his strong features. Cadance wondered what was wrong as she took a seat at her vanity instead of her bed.
"I wanted to see you," he stated calmly. "You're so busy nowadays."
Cadance's features lightly scrunched with confusion. "We see each other almost every day."
"Why are you sitting over there?" Shining Armor said in lieu of a response.
Chrysalis opened her mouth to say something but decided against it as she closed it. Standing with all the grace a royal upbringing provided, she casually traversed the distance from vanity to bed to take a seat on the bed. Cerulean eyes watched her every movement with a guarded look.
She raised a brow as he moved closer to her, but otherwise made no outward response. The two now sat side-by-side and still those cerulean eyes studied her with an intensity that made her uncomfortable.
"Is something wrong?" She asked genuinely baffled by the stallion's odd behavior.
"Kiss me." He stated simply.
"What?" She laughed nervously.
"Kiss me."
"Right now?"
"Yeah."
Candy colored eyes searched his face for a clue, but she found him impassably neutral. She slowly leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to his mouth. The pegacorn pushed her familiarity with the stallion as far away as she could. Her heart was stone and there was no room for anypony not of changeling heritage.
As the kiss drew to an end, even Chrysalis had to admit that the whole thing was rather awkward. When she pulled away his expression seemed almost troubled.
"Have I upset you?" He asked seriously.
"No… Why would you think that?" She asked as if the whole situation wasn't odd enough.
"Then are you embarrassed by me?"
"What?" Her laughter was tinged with incredulity. "What reason would I have to be embarrassed by you?"
"Because you're a princess? I don't know, you tell me. You've been so distant lately."
"Distant…" She echoed confusedly.
"Yeah… Are you having second thoughts?"
"Second thoughts? " Was he… breaking up with her? "Are we really having this conversation right now?"
"Yes…" Now Shining Armor was confused, "we are. I mean I know we moved kind of fast, but I thought since we've known each other for forever…"
Chrysalis felt a mix of emotion as his words sunk in. "As a princess I have a duty to my people and I won't allow anything to get in the way of that. I'm sorry but that means you too." She found herself speaking more to herself than she was to him. Shining Armor was beyond baffled. Why was she being so… weird? "Everypony has so much to say about what I'm doing and what I'm not doing… " Cadance frowned. "Celestia is not my keeper but I rather she not have any reason to doubt me. I get enough of it as it is… I don't need to hear it from you too."
"You're right, Princess." The stallion's confusion was replaced with something much more defensive. He knew Cadance lived up to her title, but never had he seen her so… concerned about it. He never thought she was the type to throw it in somepony's face. "Forgive me for interrupting your duties." If she wanted to be overly royal, then he'd treat her as such.
Chrysalis' eyes narrowed at the sarcasm dripping from his tone. With an overly formal bow, the stallion excused himself from the mare's company leaving the changeling queen in a foul mood. "Shining! Wait! I didn't-" Her door slammed shut. "Mean it like that…" Candy colored eyes looked to the floor. She could the hear the creaking of a door opening. Her eyes snapped back to the entryway of the room hoping the stallion had somehow heard her, but with a scowl she saw it was still closed.
"Princess?" Chrysalis turned and groaned as one of the palace's maids emerged from her bathroom with a concerned expression on her face.