“Now, are y’all sure ya want this, Twilight?” Applejack asked for, seemingly, the hundredth time.
“Yes, Applejack, I’ve never wanted anything more in my entire life.”
“But, darling, you must realize the potential perils of such an act. How do you know you’ll be safe?”
“I trust Chryssy with my life. She’s saved my flank more than enough times to earn that from me. Surely you girls could put just a little faith in her.”
“What if this is a trick‽” Pinkie glowered, conspiratorially. “Chrysalis puts Twi-Twi in that creepy cocoon thingy and then SPLAT! Twilight gets digested, and the changelings swarm all over us!”
“No, Pinkie. Chryssy would never do that. Never again. She promised me. She double-dipper Pinkie Promised.” Pinkie blinked.
“With chocolate sauce and sprinkles?”
“She even put a cherry on top.”
“…I’ll be holding her to that one,” Pinkie hissed as she slowly crawled backwards into a shady corner of the palace library. Twilight shook her head and looked around at her friends.
“I know you’re all concerned about this, but seriously, girls, I’ll be fine. Chrysalis talked me through the whole process. She promised me that she’ll be present at all times, to ensure no harm comes to me while I’m changing. And you have no idea what this means to her. What it means for us. To do something like this is not just some silly little schoolfoal’s gummy ring wedding. This is just about the most intimate act a changeling’s lover can do for her. This is a lovers’ pact that will last forever. I have to do it, you guys. You’ll see me again in a month’s time.” Twilight felt a small puff of breath being knocked out of her lungs as a weight thumped against her chest. She looked down to see Spike clinging onto her, digging his claws into the fur on her neck a little as he hugged her like a possessive little brother. His eyes wet glistening with extra moisture as he looked into her eyes.
“But how will we know you’re still you, Twilight? How will we know that Chrysalis hasn’t brainwashed you, or something?” Twilight nuzzled her number one assistant as she returned his hug with one hoof. She tapped her chin with her hoof to think about how to answer his question. With a small gasp and a twinkle in her eye, she pulled herself out of the hug to look Spike in the eye.
“How about you tell me a secret?” she suggested, eagerly. “Something nopony else would know, except me. That way, if I forget or… worse… then you’ll know for sure if I’m the real me or not.”
Spike’s eyes widened at the proposal, and blushed as he suddenly found a corner of the rug beneath them very intriguing to look at.
“O-OK then,” he concurred. He scratched his head as he thought of any deep, dark secrets he could tell Twilight that nopony else could ever guess. After a minute of consideration, he made his decision. He beckoned Twilight to lean in close so he could whisper his secret in her ear. Twilight obeyed and the dragon imparted his secret directly into her ear. The Alicorn’s face turned pink as her closest friend told her his secret and, as they leaned away from each other, she cleared her throat and rubbed her foreleg with a hoof in awkward silence.
The Alicorn and dragon shared a knowing nod and Twilight turned to the rest of her friends. Nopony questioned what the secret was; it wasn’t their place to ask. The lavender Alicorn hugged her friends each in turn.
“Don’t worry, girls. This is what I want. I’ll be alright.”
“Yeah, you’d better be. Because if you die doing this, I’ll kill ya. And then I’ll kill your workerfriend.” Rainbow half-teased, extending her hoof for Twilight to bump. The princess hoof bumped her, but not before rolling her eyes. She said her last farewells and climbed the highest tower of the palace, to her observatory. As she entered the star gazer’s paradise, she found her beloved awaiting her. They shared a kiss and a nuzzle as Celestia’s sun disappeared over the horizon.
“Are you ready, my dear?” Chrysalis kissed her lover on the forehead, right below the horn, where she liked it.
“I’ve never been more ready for anything in my life.” Chrysalis nodded and gently tied Twilight’s legs with silvery silk, spun from her saliva. She tied the Alicorn up like a hog and suspended her from the ceiling by a long, thin, sticky thread. With the princess secured, she started encasing Twilight in a thick green slime, hacked up from a mucus sac within her chest. The slimy membrane began to ooze and spread across Twilight’s body, encasing her in a perfectly fitted chrysalis. When the inner yolk was settled around her, the out skin of Twilight’s pod began to harden into a translucent green shell, allowing observers to see in on her as she hung from the observatory ceiling, sleeping peacefully in her mucus egg.
Days turned into weeks. And the weeks ticked by slowly. True to her word, Chrysalis never once let Twilight out of her sight, keeping an ever vigilant watch over her sleeping workerfriend. All the while, Twilight slept. She dreamed of the times she shared with her friends. The wonderful adventures they embarked on. All the lessons about friendship and love they learned together. She dreamed of the times she and Chrysalis shared, and the warmth of her love would light up her pod like a Hearth’s Warming star.
Soon enough, Twilight’s metamorphosis period came to a close. Chrysalis summoned Twilight’s friends to welcome her back to the waking world. She levitated the, now opaque, chrysalis and severed the silk that held it to the ceiling, laying the precious egg down on the floor. Everypony held their breath as Chrysalis walked up to the cocoon, and whispered softly to the new-born life inside.
“Twily, it’s time to wake up.” The chrysalis twitched in response, as the princess inside began to stir and wake from her slumber. The pod began to glow bright green. Cracks split along the shell of Twilight’s chrysalis, a purple hazy aura radiating from each fissure. Moments later, the cocoon erupted in a flash of elegant light, and the black form of a new changeling stood in its place. The changeling stood tall, eyes closed as she acclimated herself to the outside world. The newly converted princess stood a hand or two taller than she did before, her legs slightly longer than before her slumber in the chrysalis. She still retained her navy mane, though it had changed from horse hair to a more gossamer substance, with a translucent sheen. On her flank, the group of friends were relieved to find, her cutie mark was still intact, despite the fact it now sported a new colour scheme. Where the smaller stars and lines sprouting from the larger starburst were once white, they were now a dark shade of green, the main star in the centre of the image a slightly deeper shade than the rest. The changeling princess opened her eyes, to reveal the double ringed irises that framed her catlike, elongated oval pupils. The inner ring was a pale magenta, while her outer iris was lavender, like the colour of her former coat.
“Morning, guys,” the changeling yawned, stretching her back to pop her stiff joints. Her voice sounded an awful lot like Twilight’s, but sounded as if she was talking twice, slightly out of sync, into a tin can. The five ponies and single dragon all gawked in awe and wonderment at the translated Alicorn. The ponies took it in turn to question Twilight and Chrysalis to ensure they were satisfied that Twilight’s transmutation was nothing more than a change in species, and that Chrysalis was not indeed planning a final attempted to take over Equestria. Once each pony was satisfied, they bid their friend farewell and went back to their daily duties.
When all five ponies were gone, Twilight went into Spike’s room. He had purposefully distanced himself from the previous interviews, so Twilight was determined to lay his fears to rest personally. As she entered his bedroom, she found the young drake looking at a photo album of him, Twilight and their friends, highlighting their biggest parties, their most memorable accomplishments and the most influential ponies they had met along the way.
“Spike,” she called out, softly. “I’m still me. I promise you, I haven’t changed. Not really.” Twilight couldn’t blame the dragon for having a hard time accepting his mother/sister figure changing her species for the one she loved. But she’d changed species once before, and she knew for a fact she had his support when it came to her and Chryssy.
Spike sighed and placed the book on his bedside table, closing the pages and running his claws down the leather binding one last time.
“Tell me something that only Twilight would know.” Twilight nodded without hesitation. She remembered Spike’s last confession to her before she became a changeling. She rubbed a holey foreleg with her hoof as she tried to form the correct words.
“Well… you told me that… that you used to have…” the rosy pink on her cheeks stood out like a sore thumb on her midnight black carapace shell. She sighed and walked up to Spike’s bedside, planting a brief, meaningful kiss on his lips. The dragon barely had time to react before the kiss ended and Twilight was gazing into his eyes. “Perhaps if you weren’t my little brother, you would’ve stood a chance.”
That was all the confirmation Spike needed. He threw his arms around Twilight’s neck, tears he had held in for weeks finally receiving permission to fall as the Alicorn-turned-changeling returned his embrace, planting a small kiss on his cheek.
“Never change again, Twilight.”
“No more changes. Pinkie promise.”