//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8: We Never Had a Single Fight 
// Story: All for You 
// by Stryke 
//------------------------------//

The light of the late morning sun washed over the room of the captain of the Canterlot royal guard and bathed it in a picturesque glow. The light shone in from the window and played over the collection of well sharpened spears, several empty bottles, and onto the tousled navy mane of the still snoozing Shining Armour. The tranquil scene was somewhat spoiled unfortunately by him being woken up to the unmistakable noise of a mare yelling her head off.

In his sleep dazed state he considered it pretty rude for anypony to be making such a noise in a guy’s own room, and cuddled up to one of his pillows. He knew he probably should get up and tell whoever it was exactly to put a sock in it, but for some reason he was feeling so fantastic that staying in place with his eyes closed was a far more attractive option than moving himself in any form or fashion. He had a vague notion that he’d drank himself to sleep last night and so feeling so good could only be a Celestia-sent miracle. On that basis moving would probably in some way be going against his duty as captain of the royal guard. Comforted by that unassailable logic and that his princess' honour had been satisfied he let out a happy sigh, and with all the skill of a pony formerly used to barracks sleeping up to twenty stallions at a time, successfully tuned the shouting out entirely. 

Meanwhile his body was doing the usual automatic subconscious checks that every body does to make sure that nothing had fallen off overnight and when it got to his crotch region it raised a big red flag with bells on. A hoof moved downwards by itself driven by some subconscious order, patted inquisitively, discovered that what should be there was in fact very much not there, and Shining Armour’s eyes shot right open and quickly flashed towards his nether regions. Well, that’s certainly new...

Ignoring the temptation to do a full reconnaissance into unfamiliar territory, Shining instead raised his head from the pillow and looked around. The source of all the noise was his sister being cross at a blue unicorn that he didn’t recognise. There were also two more of his sister’s friends that he did know who both looked like they were hoping for the ground to swallow them up and anytime now would be good, and that was when he noticed himself in his bedside mirror. 

The mare’s reflected eyes were as big as saucers staring back at him. As a test he raised a forehoof and the mare in the mirror raised the same hoof. Now, Shining Armour had always been convinced that dad had been a very lucky stallion to be with his mum, and that his sister was as cute as the proverbial button. Whatever had flipped his gender however—which certainly had something to do with that unknown mare along with the silky sash that he now noticed he was wearing—had resulted in a mare that could make pegasi fly into walls just by trotting by. Oh, by the flaming gates of Tartaurus... he realised that there was definitely a reaction going on around the new unfamiliar body parts back there, while he was finding it very hard to look away, and rubbed his hind legs together. Combined with the flush on his cheeks it really hadn’t helped given that the sheer sight of the mare looking back at him in the mirror could have caused riots on any crowded street that he could care to name. Okay... step one is going to be not looking in the mirror anymore. Mirror bad, mirror very, very bad. This turned out to be a very big ask, but he, or possibly now she, eventually managed it. 

Still lying on the bed Shining Armour turned his attention to the sight of his sister still going completely and utterly ballistic.

"—Was this some kind of sick revenge attempt, Trixie?!" Twilight was so incensed that she was practically spitting. 

The mare that was apparently called Trixie was frozen in place near his bed, and looked like she was close to tears. She seemed to be ignoring Twilight, but Shining could see that her face was all twisted up in bitter self-recrimination. 

Shining recognised the other two mares in the room as Rarity and Fluttershy from when they'd arrived at the palace with his sister. Rarity was nervously chewing on hoof in the corner. Her eyes were anguished, and she clearly wanted to get involved, the other unicorn just appeared to be having serious problems doing so.

The other one Fluttershy, who was cowering at the doorway was saying something, but it was so quiet that Shining couldn't make it out. 

"I’ve been disbelieved by my closest friends and mentor, I’ve been imprisoned, escaped, had a changeling invasion thwarted at the cost of my brother’s marriage, I have a changeling actually in my head, and now on top of that we have the great and powerful Trixie around too to make some more mischief," Twilight snarled, putting mocking emphasis on the former magician's titles. "Is this really how you get your kicks? I've met diamond dogs I could stand to be around more than you."

Shining Armour's new mouth hung upon. He was too stunned by the tirade to interrupt and he could only hope that his sister wasn't now going through what he had with that damned queen.

"It was my idea," Fluttershy said again, now loud enough for Shining Armour to hear at last, but not apparently loud enough to knock Twilight out of her flow. 

"To think that..." Twilight trailed off, as she finally noticed the two streams of water now clearly pouring down Trixie's face. "Why are you crying?" she asked, somewhat stunned. "You've got back at me at last for showing you up. Isn't this exactly what you wanted?"

"IT WAS MY IDEA!" Fluttershy yelled. It had been loud enough that Shining Armour wouldn't have been surprised if they'd have heard her all the way back in Ponyville. 

"Err... what?" Twilight asked, entirely befuddled, as she glanced back between Trixie's silent sobbing and Fluttershy breathing heavily. 

"It was my idea too, by the way," Rarity said, from where she'd been lurking in the corner. 

Shining Armour couldn't help it. With all that had happened a light girlish giggle escaped his, or probably as was now the case, her lips. These quickly escalated into full body shaking guffaws as the other ponies in the room all turned to look at her. 

"Shiny!" Twilight gasped. She rushed over to the bed, and looked her over with concern gleaming in her eyes. 

"I'm fine," Shining said, and then attempted to get a look at her own lips, as she most definitely did not recognise the low husky voice that was coming out of them. "I do think you should be listening to your friends though." 

Trixie rubbed her eyes on the back of a foreleg. "Look, it's fine! All we need to do is take the sash off and no harm done," she said a little weakly. A light blue aura pulled at the sash around Shining, but it couldn't seem to find any kind of purchase. Trixie let out a little 'huh' sound, and hooked her forehooves under the fabric and pulled. The sash didn't so much as move one iota. 

"Trixie," Twilight said warningly, the earlier annoyance very much making a come back into her tone. 

"Trixie does admit that there may be some glitches," she said, staring in clear horror at the sash. "Still, just because I don't know what actually went wrong doesn't mean that the casting wasn't sound in theory."

"Maybe it was down to me,"  Rarity said, having upgraded from chewing on her lip to her mane. "I couldn't understand anything in that tome you found."

"Um, neither of you would have tried it though if I hadn't of thought of the idea." Fluttershy added.

Twilight let out a shriek of pure frustration. "I officially do not have time for this. Yes, I do know that time is a factor! No, you don’t need to tell me that! Changelings could be coming after Princess Cadance any moment."

Shining Armour's ears perked up at that right off. "You mean there's a present security threat and you're wasting time here?" She rolled off the bed in one easy motion and levitated a spear over from a rack in the wall. She was pleased that at least that area seemed completely unaffected in length or power. "Lets go then," she said, and headed for the door. 

There was a flash of magical energy and Twilight appeared in front of her in the doorway. "No, stay here," she snapped. "I don't know what side effects that sash might have had on you other than the obvious.” Twilight shook her head. “Shouldn’t be too difficult to get off and reverse the effects given a bit of study." 

Shining Armour opened her mouth to suggest that perhaps a quick apology to this Trixie mare might be in order and to ask what exactly Twilight had meant about having a changeling in her head, but it was already too late. There was another flash of magic and Twilight was gone, leaving an awkward silence in her wake. 

~~~

Cadance had been sitting off by herself to give herself the best possible view of her love Chrysalis being fussed around by Applejack and a small army of chefs and serving mares that she’d corralled into help. Watching Chrysalis attempt to be faultlessly polite while having random delicacy after random delicacy shoved towards her mouth was just so adorable that Cadance couldn’t help but giggle. 

“This here’s a stickup!” yelled a voice, thick with an Appleloosian drawl. “Nopony move and nopony’ll get hurt.”

Before she had time to react to that a terribly strong mint-green limb wrapped around Cadance’s neck and pulled her backwards off her chair. 

Applejack dropped the pie plate that she’d been holding that fell onto the floor with a ringing sound that echoed around the room. Everypony in the room jumped to their hooves, and Chrysalis was already stalking forward with murder in her eyes. 

<”That goes for you too, Chrysalis”> a voice snarled loudly right by Cadance’s ear, as the echoing pie plate finally lay still. An intense heat burned near her cheek and she could see green flames licking to the side of her vision. <”I’d hate to have to mar this pretty face so terribly.”>

Chrysalis halted in her tracks with a look of absolute and total rage contorting her features. Applejack stood by her side, Rainbow Dash was already in the air, and most of the staff were spreading out around them suddenly sporting a truly intimidating collection of cleavers and other miscellaneous kitchen utensils. 

To Cadance’s amazement she’d understood the changeling words perfectly. Which she could only put down to a side effect of the magic she’d cast to bring her and Chrysalis together along with the merging of energies on multiple occasions that she'd taken part of since. The unfamiliar sounds came easily to her, and she asked, <”What do you want with me?”>

<”You speak changeling?!”> exclaimed the voice. <”Oh, that is a relief! Only thing I’d been able to think of so far to get round that was to stick you in a cocoon and talk to you that way.”>

”If you just wanted to talk to me you hardly had to go to this much trouble,” Cadance said, switching back to Equestrian knowing that the changeling would understand her anyway.

The changeling laughed, and tightened a grip a bit causing Cadance to choke. <”I’m Firebrand, the fop over there is the speaker, and Doomie...”> She looked around until she finally spotted the other changeling standing entranced at the sight of a massive multi-story cake decorated with so much frosting that it was dripping. <”Never mind about Doomie,”> Firebrand said, and groaned. <“Anyway, you’re going to be the new queen of the hive.”> she said matter of factly. 

<”You WHAT?!”> Chrysalis screamed, so incensed that she slipped into her native tongue. Some of the kitchen staff flinched back nervously at the sight of the changeling queen so enraged.

“What if I say no?” Cadance said, ignoring her love for now in the hope she could talk her way out of this. The flame against her face really was getting far too scorchingly hot already.

<”We’ll begin the process to turn you into a real changeling queen,”> Firebrand replied. <”Assuming you survive, and not go too mad, then you say yes anyway.”>

Cadance’s face blanched at that prospect. “What if I say yes and tell you to live in harmony with the ponies? Especially given that between myself and Chrysalis we can generate more than enough love to keep you all fed permanently.”

<”We stick you in a cocoon till we change your mind for you,”> Firebrand hissed. <”A changeling queen knows that ponies are nothing but prey. Unless they are controlled, then they will hurt us, and soon you’ll know that as well as I. Canterlot will be our hive, Equestria will be our playground, and we will never have to be afraid again, pony.”>

“I understand,” Cadance said brightly. Then she twisted snakelike in Firebrand’s grip, and ended up with their faces so close that their muzzles were almost touching. The fire burned even hotter at the surprise motion and Cadance could feel her fur start to singe but she paid it no mind. “You may not be aware,” she said, leaning in closer to the surprised drone. <“But I already have the heart of a changeling.”> She finished her declaration in the changeling's own tongue, and then kissed her.

There was an audible gasp around the room, and from no one louder than from Chrysalis herself, as Cadance kissed the changeling with everything that she had. Her eyes opened and a neon pink light blazed within, as her horn glowed far brighter than the changeling's flame ever had and a halo of hearts danced around Cadance and Firebrand. Then there was another ring of vibrant hearts, and another, and another until the pair were almost hidden from sight by the rapidly spinning rings of unleashed magical power of the alicorn of love. Then as the rings spread outwards revealing the two once more. Firebrand’s lips, that were still locked with Cadance's own, had started to burn. The pink flame did nothing to Cadance, but as it spread across the drone’s body the lime-green guise caught alight to reveal the black chitin beneath. The instrument cutie mark of a lyre was the last part of her to disappear under a pink fire so bright and intense that it was difficult to behold. 

Cadance finally pulled away and let the changeling drop. A puff of pink smoke wheezed out between her fangs when Firebrand hit the floor. Cadance stepped to one side, not bothering to look down at the body at her hooves. Her right cheek was now decorated with a black scorch mark in stark contrast to the rest of her.

The speaker and Doomie could only stare. They were apparently too frightened out of their hides to even think about fleeing. 

Rainbow Dash was the first pony to get her wits back, and asked, “Did you kill her?

“Probably not,” Cadance said, with a shrug. She was stunned with herself how little she seemed to care. It had been in self defence, but she had just used her magic to inflict harm on another. She wasn't even sure she regretted her actions back in the throne room anymore. Maybe Chrysalis really was right and she did have a heart of a changeling after all. 

As Chrysalis hugged against her in a wordless gesture of comfort, Cadance realised that while it was perhaps an unconventional form of power that she had forced into the drone with such devastating result, it very much was power though, and she felt her lips curl upwards into a grin. Cadance might be a princess, but with no kingdom of her own that had only ever been in name early. Even the occasional lessons in statecraft had stopped after Celestia had her sister back and the diarchy was firmly entrenched in place. All that was left was pettiness against the serving staff, and while that might keep her adopted brother happy, Cadance had never played those kind of games. This though, she decided, this was very much a power she could enjoy using. After all she had so very much enjoyed the taste of it.

~~~

“If you’ll excuse me,” Shining Armour said, and nodded to the three remaining mares gathered in her room. 

“But Twilight said you should stay here?” Rarity asked.

“I don’t take orders from my little sister oddly enough,” Shining Armour said, and flashed an effortless smile so dazzling it left Rarity thoroughly weak at the knees. “Anyway, if there really is trouble I have to go to do my duty regardless of what shape I’m in.”

“I’m sure Twilight can deal with it,” Trixie said, and let out a little sniff. Fluttershy moved from where she’d been standing to put a comforting hoof around the magician’s shoulder, and Trixie leaned softly into the other mare’s mane. 

“Probably,” Shining Armour agreed. “Still I should check, and then if it turns out it’s nothing I’m heading straight to the barracks to give my guards a briefing that they’re not ever going to forget,” she said, with her eyes dancing. “I might even have time to wind up my counterpart in the night guard before Twilight finds a way to reverse this. That moustached stuck up ponce really does deserve what's coming to him,” Shining added wickedly, and fluttered her new eyelashes. “After all, after what I’ve been through. I think I’m justified in having a bit of fun. Don’t you?

“Uh,” Rarity said intelligently, not sure at all how to respond to that. “Aren’t you curious why you’re currently a mare?” she asked, trying to recover her wits somewhat. 

“Magical mishap I presume” she said, on her way out. “Serve as long as I have in Celestia's guard and it's all pretty old hat. Least I'm shaped like a pony this time..."

There was a collective raising of eyebrows. 

"It's like we say in the royal guard: If all your fur falls out then we can fix that, if you turn into a potted plant then we can fix that too, and if you happen to grow a tentacle or three, well we can fix that too..." She let a wicked snicker. "Eventually."

“Tentacles?” Fluttershy squeaked nervously

“Anyway, you all seem suitably sorry,” Shining said, in an attempt to get things back on track. “It really doesn't matter what your motives had been as far as I'm concerned while the princesses may be in danger. Anyway duty calls,” Shining added, before bumping the door shut on her way out with a swing of her rear. 

"Well," Rarity harrumphed. "That certainly was a thing that happened."

Trixie was still looking at the now closed door, and then sighed. "I do see why you did all that though."

"Yeah," Fluttershy said quietly, and the three mares fell into an introspective silence.

~~~

When Firebrand woke up she was greeted by the sight of Chrysalis staring down at her with eyes aflame with rage. 

<"Chrysalis."> The changeling coughed and another wisp of pink smoke escaped her charred lips. 

"Queen Chrysalis," she snarled back.

Firebrand grinned weakly back, and said, <"Not anymore.">

"You... YOU!'' Chrysalis screeched, and raised a forehoof high, seemingly to squash the meddlesome changeling forever. 

Cadance put a steadying hoof on her lover's shoulder. "Please, just breathe before you do anything rash."

Chrysalis' raised hoof trembled in the air, and then she brought it against her chest, and breathed out loudly. "Just what were you thinking?" she finally said, her previous rage absent from her voice. "It is not the place of a drone to rise above her station to make the decisions of a swarm lord."

Firebrand coughed again. Now Cadance looked at her properly, the drone had picked up a few after effects from the massive overdose of love she had forced into her. Lyra's instrument cutiemark had seemingly been burned into the changeling's flanks with the strings aflame in pink. 

<"The swarm lord would never have moved against you. We all knew that after he saved you as a nymphling,"> Firebrand explained wearily. <"You stopped being a queen as soon as she set her pretty eyes on you,"> she said, glancing at Cadance. <"Her strength has made you weak.">

"You... You... IDIOT!" Chrysalis yelled, her previous anger returning with a vengeance. "Don't you understand that thanks to her we'd have never gone hungry again?"

<"That's not how things should be,"> Firebrand stated simply. <"We are changelings. A changeling queen rules, she does not submit her will to another. We are not given love by ponies. We take it from them. That is the order of things, and without that, there's is only discord."> She shivered. <"And the inevitable wrath of the Nightmare Moon. Have you forgotten what her and her armies did to our kind, and will surely do again? The ponies must be controlled. Order protects the hive. I know this, and so did what I must. You apparently have forgotten."> Firebrand sighed, the exertion of talking so much after her experience was clearly affecting her. <"You were weak, foolish, and when we have a queen worthy of the title I can only hope for your sake that when that happens you are nowhere to be found.">

Chrysalis opened her mouth to say something, and left it hanging open for a while. Then she breathed out long and hard again. 

"I will talk to the hive," she said. "I will make them understand that is not how things have to be."

"They will not listen," she said, with an odd pink glint playing about her eyes. "Not to a pony." 

Chrysalis snorted, spun on her hooves, and stalked off to give anything present a very large piece of her current mind.  

Cadance stayed standing over the fallen drone. "I would be your queen, if you could just learn to compromise," she said softly. "Things can be better if you could only give them a chance."

Firebrand laughed, a harsh choking sound coming up through her battered lungs. "That was a good kiss," she said, then her eyes rolled upwards in her head, and she slumped back into unconsciousness. 

Several of the chefs and serving staff cantered over. "We'll watch over it 'till the guard shows up," said one of the bakers, still floating a very hefty rolling pin in a telekinetic grip. 

Cadance thanked them all, and wandered over to where the third changeling was standing by a huge decorated cake and looking totally lost. 

<"Hello, your highn... uh, princess pony miss sir,"> Doomie said, and looked like she was about to bolt. 

"It's okay, really," Cadance said reassuringly. "You don't have to be scared."

<"Not scared,"> Doomie squeaked out, clearly shaking like a leaf. 

"I just want to talk," Cadance said. "And hopefully to understand. Why won't that drone listen to me or Chrysalis?"

<"The hive has to have a queen, there has to be order, and there wasn't,"> Doomie said, her words coming in one long unbroken nervous string that Cadance had to concentrate hard on to understand. <"Chrysalis told us to invade and we did, then she is not queen due to being defeated, though she still says otherwise. Tells us not to feed on ponies, but three mares are just waiting for us in the caves where she told us to go anyway. Lots of arguments between those still wanting to obey former queen, those that not want to provoke ponies further and those who just want to feed. We always want to feed, but it not good for hive to argue. There should be order, cohesion, but we have no queen, no swarm lord, and speaker and broodmother not willing to command only suggest as is proper.">

Cadance was still trying to get used to the growls and clicks coming from what looked like normally a very cheerful looking pink earth pony mare, but so far she was sure she was getting the gist of what the changeling was saying.

<"Then Nightmare Moon comes from out of the caves and that we really did not see coming. She's angry too and takes the ponies away,"> Doomie continued to explain. <"Now everyling is scared as well which just makes things even worse. Chrysalis had no hatchlings so we can't even look to a 'ling that could at least one day be true queen. Then one drone,"> Doomie said, pointing a trembling pink hoof at Firebrand. <"She say 'we are changelings, we have laws, there will be order in the hive once more'. Everyling listens as it is just what they want to hear. She says swarm lord is not doing what needs to be done, but she knows, and we all listened. That's pretty much it,"> Doomie finished, and let loose a high-pitched giggle. 

"So they really won't accept Chrysalis as queen anymore?" Cadance asked. 

<"Don’t know,"> Doomie admitted. <"I really should be at least having a go at attacking her, what with her being pronounced as a former queen by the hive. Do you think she'd mind too much if I just assaulted her with this cake?"> she asked.

<"I do not think that would be a good idea at all, Doomie."> The speaker had joined them, still in the guise of Prince Blueblood, and was shaking his head.

Cadance glanced at him and felt a slight shudder go through her. "Do you mind? I might be able to understand you, but my brother by adoption chittering at me is still far too disturbing."

<"Of course, princess."> One surge of green light across his body later and an older looking changeling stood in front of her. He bowed his head respectfully.

<"Would you mind if I made a polite request?"> the speaker asked.

Cadance was taken back, but her sense of decorum managed to quickly re-establish itself. "Of course," she said. "Do you wish me to be your queen still?"

<"No,"> the speaker replied flatly. <"I would respectfully ask that you and Chrysalis have nothing more to do with the hive.">

Doomie let out a little gasp. <"But, but..."> she stammered. <"We wouldn't ever be hungry!"> She licked a dollop of frosting of her face, as the once proudly standing cake slowly collapsed behind her. <"Err."> Her borrowed pink pony visage flushed slightly. <"Cake is really totally scrumptious, but it's just not the same as love.">

<"Thank you for your input, Doomie,"> the speaker said in a series of strained snarls. 

"It does seem a reasonable point to me."

The speaker sighed. <"Please do not take offence, but your way of providing love is not an acceptable answer to our hunger.">

<"But why?"> Doomie asked plaintively, her lower lip quivering.

<"You have to understand changelings are not given love freely. We take it,"> the speaker explained. <"I have travelled enough to understand that the ponies we prey upon suffer as they are fed upon.">

Doomie's jaw fell open. <"You mean that when they're—">

The speaker who had been eyeing Cadance's rapidly darkening expression cut her off. <"What I am saying,"> he put in firmly. <"Is that freely given love rather than taking it, and especially love of such purity may be harmful to us."> He rubbed a chitinous hoof against his chin. <"To make matter worse I do not even know how much this has to do instead with the breakdown of the hive's natural order. Firebrand had already well stepped over how I'd expect a drone to act before the lord returned with your offering."> He grimaced at that last word. 

"So Doomie here may not be acting entirely normally," Cadance said. She glanced at Doomie who had her tongue stuck out and her eyes were crossed. From her muttering the drone was trying to come with an impromptu song for the situation and was apparently having problems with some of the rhymes. "But that doesn't mean that the love that myself and Chrysalis shared is at fault."

The speaker shook his head. <"A drone taking a name or trying actual food is odd, but not all that concerning. While we may look like insects to you ponies and prefer everyling to know their proper place, we are still individual enough that behaviours outside the norm can and have occurred,"> he patiently explained. <"This though...">

"What?"

<"Our former queen was far too angry to notice, none of the others would understand the significance, but perhaps you might be able to grasp it."> The speaker stared at her intently. <"What was the last thing that Firebrand said before you talked to her.">

Cadance's head tilted to one side, and then glanced at where Firebrand was still lying in place. "She called her a pony." A eyebrow raised slightly. "Wait, she said it in Equestrian."

<"Indeed,"> the speaker replied gravely. <"I do not know how much you are aware about our kind, but that is something that a changeling drone should never ever be able to do. I am only an accomplished mimic, the queens are very much a special exception, and young Firebrand is certainly not a queen. By the Majesty, It is simply not possible and frankly that terrifies me.">

Cadance was just considering that when there was a sharp pop in the air followed by an almighty crash as Twilight Sparkle landed amongst the plates strewn around the large dining table that dominated the room. 

Hauling herself up, and stopping only to wipe some cake from out of her face, Twilight yelled, "Princess Cadance, changelings are coming after you!" Then she paused to actually look around and noted the smoking recumbent form of the changeling drone on the floor. She also noted that Cadance looked to be completely unmolested aside from a black mark on her cheek and was looking just as surprised as the other changeling that she was standing right next to and had apparently been in conversation with.

“Oh,” she said self-consciously. 

Chrysalis raised a hoof politely to get Twilight’s attention.

“What?” Twilight snapped, her right eye starting to seriously twitch.

“I’m curious,” Chrysalis asked, giving the unicorn a steady look. “May I ask how you happened to find that out?”

"I—"

"And you were speaking changeling to me earlier," Chrysalis said, and raised an eye ridge, "which is interesting."

Rainbow Dash moved through the air to glare at her friend. "You can speak changeling, 'Twilight'? If that is even your real name!"

Twilight vanished and reappeared by Applejack who couldn't help but canter a few steps to the side at the sudden appearance. "Look, I am not on trial here!"

"Of course not, Twi'," Applejack said, glancing to her side. "But you do have to admit that you're behaving a mite... oddly."

"I am not behaving oddly!" Twilight protested loudly. "No I... look just because you think that this isn't helpful..." she trailed off. "Yes, I know that I'm wasting time here. Anyway, it's not like you're full of bright ideas."

Applejack raised an arch eyebrow as she got the impression that whatever pony Twilight was talking to it wasn't one that was present in the room. She moved around Twilight slowly to face her trying with her every movement to look as calm and unthreatening as possible. "Now, Twilight," she said, keeping her voice level. "Ah now you've had a hard couple of days..."

Twilight's head snapped up to stare at her friend and let loose a sharp bark of cynical laughter. "You could say that!"

"You know that we're all really very sorry that we didn't listen when you were sayin' all that stuff about how the princess wasn't who she said she was."

"Err, yeah," Rainbow Dash said, flying over to join Applejack. "That was totally un-awesome of us. Our bad totally."

"Thing is," Applejack said matter of factly. "You're currently acting crazier than a hen-house fulla cockatrices and we're worried about you."

"I..." Twilight looked like she was about to protest loudly, and then her shoulders slumped and her ears drooped. "I'm not crazy," she said quietly. 

"But you can suddenly speak changeling," Rainbow Dash pointed out, as she flew over to get right in her friend's face. "And you've got to admit that you're acting out of the ordinary when everything has been sorted out already."

Twilight's eyes bulged. "You do realize that there's a changeling queen standing right over there!", she shouted incredulously. She summoned a beam of light shining accusingly down on Chrysalis who just stood there with a hoof against her chest and a 'who, me?' innocent expression on her face. 

"Well, yeah!" Dash responded and nodded her head. "It's just like what we did back then with Nightmare Moon, isn't it?"

Twilight could only stare with her mouth hanging open. The light spell promptly fizzled out into a short shower of sparks.

"It's just where we used the power of harmony Cadance happened to use her freaky romance powers," Dash explained matter of factly. "Seems straight forward to me so it must be even more obvious to you with all your egghead book smarts. Anyway, you were the one going on that Princess Luna was totally different after she was cured so I don't know why you being so unreasonable now."

Cadance thought about correcting the pegasus, or at least complaining about the use of 'freaky', but decided that she seemed to have things well in hoof without her intervention. 

Chrysalis meanwhile was repressing a shudder at being compared to the bane of her race. On the other hoof from what she could work out from the argument that apparently that meant that all was forgiven and Chrysalis was certainly not going to complain about that.

"Buh," Twilight said, as she had to blink repeatedly to get her brain repaired after it had been shattered by Dash's attempts at logical discourse. "It's not exactly the same," she said unsteadily.

"It kinda is," Dash said crossing her forehooves across her chest. She then gave Twilight a knowing look. "Hey, you're not acting all screwy 'cause you didn't think of doing something like that back then?" She stuck a tongue out. "I'll never get what ponies see in this hoof-touchy squishy romantic stuff."

Twilight's brain that had just recovered from putting itself back together threatened to break altogether at that particular remark. 

"Er, sugarcube," Applejack said, the concern on her face as clear as day. "Not sure that is helping all that much right now." 

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "I'm just saying is all."

Applejack rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Then I've never seen her show all that much interest in stallions," she pondered out loud while giving Twilight a speculative look.

"THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY DO NOT WORK THAT WAY!" Twilight screamed in a passable attempt at the royal canterlot voice. 

"Twilight, sister, please," said Shining Armour, who had pushed her way in to the dining room without any changeling or pony noticing. "You've really got to just calm down and not fly off like this all the time."

"I..." Twilight started to say, her chest heaving from losing it so completely. "I suppose you're right. Sorry, everypony," she said, and hung her head to stare at the devastation that she had wrought to the dining table. 

Cadance didn’t turn to look at the new, but oddly familiar, feminine voice. Instead she buried her face in both her hooves, and groaned out, “You have got to be kidding me...”

~~~ 

“I suppose I’ll be going then," Trixie said, while rubbing her face with one of her hooves to clear away the last of the tears. "Don’t feel you need to give me any of the bits...” 

“Oh no, no, no!” Rarity exclaimed. “That may not have gone quite as planned, but there’s no reason why you should have to go back to that dreary rock farm empty hooved!”

“But that was a disaster, a cock up, a failure," she sniffed. "A Trixie if you will," she added bitterly, her ears flat against her head. 

"I didn't think it went all that badly," Fluttershy said softly. "I got to finally meet you after all."

"Yes, Trixie," Rarity said matter-of-factly. "The spell may not have gone quite as planned and Twilight wasn't too happy, but I'm sure she'll get over its there was no harm done. Anyway," she said, putting a light teasing tone into her voice. "It's not like she had all that great an opinion of you anyway after that Ursa minor incident." Seeing Trixie looking utterly crestfallen her voice trailed off. "Oh."

"It's stupid. Trixie knows that." 

"But you only met her once," Rarity said, as she examined the other mare's face carefully. 

"Once was enough," Trixie said, and sighed wistfully. 

"Um... what's going on?" Fluttershy asked, her face blank.

"I think our magician here was carrying a torch," Rarity said, and let a little smile touch her lips. 

"But couldn't she use her horn for that?" Fluttershy asked, before comprehension dawned. "Oh."

"She's just so incredible," Trixie said. "She's beautiful, she has power that really is great, and she certainly isn't a hack like me. I really thought... I really thought that if I came back and showed her that I could be truly powerful too I just might have a chance of winning her over."

Rarity and Fluttershy both kept carefully neutral expressions.

"If it helps," Rarity said. "I've never really seen her pay much attention to mares, or stallions either now I think about it."

"I know it's silly," Trixie admitted, and hung her head. "I know it's just an infatuation brought on by a stressful encounter, but I really did think we were meant to be together."

"Surely we..." Rarity began to say, as her eyes brightened with the idea of getting to play matchmaker. 

Trixie held up a hoof. "Don't bother," she said quietly. "You saw her back there as well as I did. Twilight hates me."

"Twilight could never hate anypony," Fluttershy insisted firmly. 

"It's not exactly something that can be cleared up with a quick apology, is it?"

"Tell you what, darling," Rarity said, moving to stand on the other unicorn's flank. "We've both cleared our commitments for the next couple of days anyway for the wedding, so why don't you stay on in Canterlot as our guest?"

"Trixie doesn't want to be any trouble..."

"Oh please say yes," Fluttershy insisted from her other side. "I didn't get a chance to meet you at all when you were in Ponyville last time."

"And I'm sure that if you just happened to run into Twilight again you could apologize to her," Rarity said, pressing from another until Trixie was beginning to feel like the proverbial daisy in the sandwich. 

"Okay, I'll stay," she said grudgingly, to the warm smiles from the other mares. "I don't know why I even try though. You know that rock farm I was on? The farmer there had three daughters and all of them had flown the coop before Trixie got a chance to even lay her eyes on them."

"Um," Fluttershy said, who currently had a better head for numbers than Rarity. "We do know one of his daughters and I'm sure she mentioned four sisters though I could be mistaken."

Trixie led out a barely inaudible grumble. "That's not a mare, that's a heartless stone golem which happens to have hooves..."

Fluttershy's expression slowly turned into something a little more devious. "Y'know..."

"What is it, Fluttershy?" Trixie asked. 

"I've got an idea for something that would cheer you up, would be really naughty, and it doesn't involve magically transforming a pony's gender," she said, low enough that Trixie and Rarity had to strain to hear her. 

"That's a relief," Rarity said, as she watched her friend blush and make a good attempt at hiding behind her long mane. "What is it?"

"Well, we are in the captain of the palace guard's bedroom," Fluttershy said, while still blushing near enough to rival a supernova. 

"That's true," Trixie said, "But I'm really not sure I follow."

"And his bed is right here," she moved over, and stroked the covers softly for emphasis.

"Uh." "Ah." "Wha'?" Rarity and Trixie said together as they attempted to follow the pegasus' logic. They exchanged looks with each other, then at the bed, then at Fluttershy, and then back to the bed again. 

"And you did say you were willing to act as an escort, Trixie," Fluttershy said lightly, her voice gaining confidence as her wings flared to attention.

Trixie gulped, as she wondered where the meek pegasus had gone and been replaced by this brazen seductress with the most piercing eyes that she'd ever seen. She also wondered why exactly the room had suddenly got so incredibly warm all of a sudden. 

"Fl-Fluttershy," Rarity just about managed to get out. "That's not exactly lady-like at all to proposition a pony just like that." Her chiding tone might have been more effective if she wasn't currently fanning herself desperately as visions danced around her head. 

The seductress disappeared and the somewhat nervous looking pegasus made a swift return. "Oh, was that too much?" she asked, hiding as much as possible under her mane.

Trixie was having some problems with the combination of mouth movements that was involved in creating understandable speech, but eventually managed to say, "Maybe a little much, yes."

"I'm sorry," Fluttershy said, her eyes flicking between the other two mares. "It's just that after everything that's happened I thought it might help."

"I know," Rarity said softly. "It's just not the done thing."

Trixie's eyes flashed. "You know what," she said, and threw her mane back dramatically. "I am willing to give it a go. Who needs an unrequited crush when there's a pony who might actually like me right here." A worried expression passed over her face. "Just on the caveat no bits exchange hooves over this. Trixie is not that sort of mare."

Rarity coughed repeatedly. "So, I'll be going then," she said, as she slowly back-pedalled on her hooves towards the door. 

"Please don't go," Fluttershy said, fixing Rarity in place with just a glance.

"Fluttershy, I can't," Rarity insisted, and ran a hoof through her mane. "We've been friends for so long it just seems wrong for it to happen all of a sudden like this."

Fluttershy's gaze did not waver. "It doesn't have to mean anything," she said, moving to stand by Trixie. "It can if you want it to though."

"But," Rarity protested. "I really, really shouldn't," she said, though her voice betrayed that she very much wanted to do the contrary, as a thousand shared moments reared up from her memory.

"That sounds like a challenge to me," Trixie said, some of the old show-mare confidence returning to her voice. "After all, anything you can do I can do better."

Rarity face twisted in anger, which then turned into open-mouthed slack-jawed amazement as Trixie seized Fluttershy's face between her hooves into a light sensual kiss. An attempted showy kiss that she very swiftly lost all semblance of control over as to Rarity's mounting awe Fluttershy demonstrated herself to be an enthusiastic, passionate, and a very quick learner.

When she was done Trixie was dazed, on her back and staring at the ceiling. "Beat that!" she called out, in between gasping for oxygen and pumped a hoof upward in triumph. Fluttershy just looked thoroughly smug.

"Oh, it is on!" Rarity said, with a squeal of pure delight, and just as Trixie was getting back up again, hit her with a flying snuggle and tackled her back down again to no protests whatsoever.

~~~

Sometime later after Shining Armour had protested repeatedly that her current state of mare-hood was not some kind of desperate ploy, and some of the royal guard had been found to lead away the three changelings to be placed in the palace dungeons for now, Chrysalis and Cadance found themselves outside of the throne room. 

"Are you sure that you still want to do this now?" Chrysalis asked, shuffling her hooves nervously. 

"More than anything," Cadance she said, pressing her flank lightly up against Chrysalis’ own.

Cadance nodded to the two guards stationed at the side of the two great doors and then pushed outwards with her magic. The doors swung open revealing the throne room of the Canterlot palace and with it the two princesses who ruled the entire land of Equestria. Princess Celestia sat serenely on her throne and her face did not move once as Cadance and Chrysalis slowly began to approach. Luna was also present and kept the same fixed expression as her sister not giving any clue to whatever thoughts as the mismatched pair stood before her and Celestia. 

“Princess Cadance,” Celestia replied, and let a slight smile touch her lips. “I trust you are not feeling too badly off after your unfortunate encounter earlier?”

“It was nothing,” Cadance said. “Just a drone too desperate to cling onto the old way of doing things.”

“I see."

“I’m sure it won’t happen again,” Chrysalis said hurriedly.

Celestia stared down from her throne for several moments causing the former queen to visibly flinch away. “Hopefully not,” she agreed. “Should you not have a nurse look at that?”

Cadance raised a hoof to cover up the black mark that now decorated her cheek. “It’s nothing,“ she said quickly. 

“If you are sure,” she said, studying the pair of them carefully. “Now, what may we do for you two?”

Cadance took a deep breath. “I would like you to do us the honour of joining myself and Chrysalis in marriage.”

“Really!?” 

Cadance’s eyes flicked sidewise to where Luna had blurted out her question. “Yes, I understand this may seem to be an unseemly fast courtship, but myself and Chrysalis’ minds are truly made up that this is what we want.” Chrysalis nodded her head firmly in agreement.

“I suppose Canterlot is still very much geared up for a royal wedding,” Celestia said, keeping her voice entirely clear of implication or accusation.

“Indeed.” Chrysalis said, and coughed.

“I know you could have just found another officiant if all you wanted was to be married,” Celestia said. “So I do appreciate that you have chosen to come to me anyway. I am willing to perform the ceremony as I would have done for yourself and Shining Armour.”

Cadance’s eyes lit up as her lips parted into a massive grin. Chrysalis let out a little gasp and swayed slightly in place. Luna’s expression remained fixed in place as she watch the pair carefully from her place beside the throne. 

“Oh thank you, thank you!” Cadance said, and looking like she was about to start hopping around the throne room in sheer glee.

Celestia held up an imperious forehoof. “I do have a price however to agree to this joining and will need it from you, Chrysalis.”

Chrysalis gulped. “What is it? I’ll do anything you ask.”

“That is good,” Celestia replied, “for it is a very large thing I know that I am asking for. I have been informed that you are no longer considered the queen of your hive?”

Chrysalis let out a little chuckle that had nothing to do with humour. “This has been... difficult for them. They were confused and very much in a panic after what happened. I'm sure you know how subjects can get.” She glanced sideways at Cadance and smiled. ”I’m sure that together we’ll be able to set them straight.”

“If you truly want to marry yourself to Princess Cadance then you will do no such thing.”

Chrysalis blinked a few times. “What?” she asked weakly. 

“That is my price, Chrysalis,” Celestia stated, her tone brooking absolutely no argument. “You will renounce all claim to the hive that has followed you into Canterlot.”

“You... you can’t do this,” Chrysalis muttered, and shook her head repeatedly. 

“We wish to offer the drones Equestrian citizenship,” Luna interjected. “And perhaps we can start repairing some of the rash actions on either side that have been taken in the past.”

“But if they are to accept myself and Luna as their rulers,” Celestia said. “We cannot have any confusion about their loyalties.” Her voice softened. “Chrysalis, you will be the princess consort if you marry Cadance. You cannot take on that role and also remain a queen.”

Chrysalis said something so quietly that none of the princesses present could make it out.

“Chrysalis?” Cadance asked, turning to her lover. 

“No,” Chrysalis said quietly, her eyes locked to the carpet underneath her hooves. “No!” she snarled, as her eyes snapped upwards to lock with Celestia’s. “I AM the hive. You will not take them from me. You can not!”

“Please reconsider,” Luna said, as she stood up to her full height. “We have a chance here to put a great deal of wrongs behind us.” She fixed the changeling with her eyes. “Both yours and our own. However justified they may have seemed to be at the time.”

“No!” Chrysalis almost let loose a full-blown howl. “Would you ask me to chop of my wings, maybe put out my eyes for good measure?” she asked, her eyes flicking from each of the princesses in turn. 

“Chrysalis,” Cadance said softly, as she rested a hoof on the changeling’s shoulder. “Surely our love is more important.”

Chrysalis’ mouth opened and closed slowly as her eyes grew wide. She spun on her hooves and galloped from the throne room without a word.

“I’m sorry,” Cadance said quickly, and charged out the room hot on the hooves of the fleeing changeling. 

As she burst through the open doors Cadance noticed that the two guards were tacitly not looking in the direction of further down the corridor where Chrysalis was slumped up against a wall with clear streaks of tears running down her face. 

“Chrysalis?” Cadance asked cautiously. 

"I'm sorry," Chrysalis said, her eyes seemingly locked onto Cadance's hooves. "I've messed everything up, haven't I?"

"Not at all," Cadance replied. She placed a hoof under Chrysalis' chin and gently lifted her face up until she could look into her eyes, "Nothing is perfect, not even Princess Celestia, and nothing is so worthless as to be undeserving of being able to love, and be loved back in return."

Chrysalis' eyes glistened. "But I can't give up the hive. I am their queen. It is all that I am." She leaned back and glanced away. "I do want to marry you. It's nearly all I can think about, but I have a responsibility that is in my very bones."

Cadance looked at her love as various thoughts flashed through her head. She knew there was nothing stopping her taking Chrysalis away from Canterlot. It was not as if Celestia was the only officiant around. They could go to Las Pegasus and get it done for the price of several dozen bits and get half of those back in gambling chips. But what would happen afterwards? The speaker might have raised concerns, but Cadance couldn't see the harm in the changelings becoming a bit more pony like. She realised that she just didn't want to deal with them hanging around. It was Chrysalis that she wanted, and not a hive to look after with her. More importantly she wanted there to be no debate about whether Chrysalis was truly and forever hers, and that without doubt meant it had to be Princess Celestia.

"I'll take the hive back to the badlands," Chrysalis was saying. "You don't have to worry about us ever again, though I'll always think of you in those cold lonely nights." She sniffed miserably. "Maybe you can even get back together with Shining Armour now that she's so much more pretty than me..."

There was another option though, wasn't there? Cadance thought, as she ignored her lover wallowing in self-pity. She remembered the taste of the drone's lips as she had burned against hers. They had been so very sweet, and that had been less due to any physical reaction, but one of how she had exercised her will to bring about such results. The changelings had wanted her to be a queen, not a princess, and Cadance knew exactly how a queen would handle this. She had already gained Chrysalis as her lover, had she not. What harm could there be in forcing the issue? It was not as if she'd be able to say no. Cadance knew that when she had been a dirty, starving and pathetic prisoner back in those wretched caves just days ago that thought would have rightly appalled her. That Cadance had just loved some stallion and needed another to even begin to try and fight for that love. Now though, she had the love of the changeling that had kept her prisoner and that she loved in return. She certainly did not need Twilight Sparkle or anypony else for her to fight for what was hers. 

"Chrysalis," Cadance said, her voice silken. "You love me." It was not a question. 

The changeling's eyes widened. "O-of course, my love." 

"And I love you."

Chrysalis shivered, her gossamer wings fluttered against her side causing a low nervous buzz. "But..."

"If you love me then surely shouldn't we be married," Cadance said lightly. Again, it was not a question.

"I want to, of course I do!" Chrysalis said, her voice rising. "But the hive!"

Cadance leaned in close until their lips were almost touching. "You love me and so we should be married. What else could possibly compare to that?" All Chrysalis could see were Cadance's violet eyes. So deep that she could lose herself forever in them, as a pink fire burned tightly in a circle around her throat. 

"Nothing," Chrysalis said slowly, as she drowned in the ocean that was her lover's gaze. She tried to pull back, to shake her head, to do anything, but she would have had a better chance of moving the sun and moon at once than looking away now. Several thousand years of breeding and duty to form the nature that was the changeling queen could not be so easily denied, and without conscious will her horn wreathed in crackling power forming to a deadly point to drive back this threat to the order of the hive.

Cadance leaned in and captured Chrysalis' lips with her own and the crackling magic on the changeling's horn was snuffed out in an instant. 

When Cadance finally released her, Chrysalis swayed to the side unsteadily as if the kiss had been the only thing holding her upright. "I should apologize to the princesses so that we can be married as soon as possible," Chrysalis said, her voice thick and a little slurred. 

"That would be wonderful."

Something seemed to clear from Chrysalis' eyes. "You made me?" she hesitantly asked. "Again?"

Cadance smiled. "Of course." For something like a second the alicorn looked briefly unsure. "Is that okay with you?

Chrysalis stopped in her place, and then smiled back. "Of course not," she said, and then after a pause, bowed her head low. "My Queen."