//------------------------------// // A Co Regent of the Sun? // Story: Queen Meets Princess // by Admiral Q Ponyform //------------------------------// Luna found herself in another room. It was an observation room connected to an operating room, though said operating room was, thankfully, not being used for it's intended purpose. She looked down at the action going down below. A door opened behind her and she glanced over. “How are they, Rainbow Dash?” “Well, sis is looking over her counterpart. She says it's magical exhaustion. She is staying with her till she wakes. The rest of the gang have been given quarters since they don't want to leave till everything is figured out.” “That does sound like them. So, what have your and Twilight's brood figured out about our guests?” “Well, one of them seems to be a Standard Royal Changeling, but her chitin is white, like, Celestia white. Odd, but not totally out of the norm. What's got them confused is the other one. We check thoroughly. She's a changeling too. Typical fangs and the fur cover chitin. But....yeah. She looks exactly like your sister. She even has the cutie mark on the chitin and we ran several spells to counter changeling magic and she doesn't change. The closest thing we have ever seen to this is Granny Caddy's harvesters who have been on the job so long that their true form has taken their guises features. Other then that....we've got nothing.” Luna looked back down to the changeling baring her sister's features. “I guess we must wait until they awaken so that they might give us answers.” * * * * * * Crystalia woke from her slumber first, dazed and somewhat confused. She looked around to try and get her bearings, and quickly realized she wasn't where she was a few moments ago. But how? The last thing she remembered before waking up here, in what she assumed was the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, was that she was in Canterlot talking to her sister with.... She turned her head at near breakneck speed, but found her sudden panic was ill founded, as her daughter, Crystal Shimmer, was sound asleep on a bed close to her. Gently, Crystalia slid out of her bed, making sure her hooves met the floor with as little noise as possible, and quietly cantered over to her sleeping daughter whilst stretching her now sore wings, a few feathers falling to the ground. She lifted a foreleg, and nudged Crystal square in the back. "Mmmm....five more minutes," Crystal mumbled, tossing a pillow over her head. "Not five more minutes," Crystalia whispered as loudly as she dared, "Right now." Crystal, even in her groggy state, knew that tone, for it was the tone both she and her sister had when either of them was worried. As such, Crystal quickly slid out of bed and fixed her wings to her sides. Unlike her mother, she was still a full changeling of Diamond Shimmer Hive, so still had her elegant membranic wings, though she always was in awe of her mother's feathery down. "How in Tia's name did we get here," Crystal asked aloud, realizing where they were. "I don't know," Crystalia said, "But Twi might. Ponyville isn't to far from here, if I do recall correctly." At that moment, someone resembling Twilight Sparkle walked in. "Twilight," Crystalia asks, perplexed, "What are you doing here? I mean, you're just the Ali-" Upon beginning to utter that word, Crystalia realized something was wrong. The Twilight she knew was an Alicorn Princess already. Whomever this was, it wasn't Twilight. On top of that, it more resembled a Changeling, not unlike herself, but it was still greatly different. Without hesitation, Crystalia's horn took on a golden glow, while her daughter's took on an light blue one, the same color as her wings and hair. Both of them were aimed precisely at the 'Twi-ling'. "Who are you, Changeling," Crystalia asked calmly, despite her currently hostile appearance. The Changeling, whether out of fear or some other feeling, took a step back. In response to this, Crystalia dissipated her spell, and had Crystal do the same. "Let's try this again, shall we? Would you care to take me to your Qu-", Crystalia faltered, noticing the size of the changeling. “You are the Queen, aren't you?” The changeling nodded and put a hoof on her chest. “I'm Twilight Sparkle, Co-Queen of the Phoenix's Roost Hive.” “That's impossible. We talked with an ALICORN Twilight Sparkle just yesterday we she came by for Princess training.” Crystalia stated. This 'Twilight' sighed. “It is possible, actually. You both are in another Equestria. You were brought here by accident during an attempt to send somepony else home. The others will want to meet you. Please, we mean you no harm.” Crystalia looked to her daughter. “Very well, Twilight Sparkle. We will follow you, but be warned. Any tricks and you will feel the full wrath of the sun.” The Changeling gulped and nodded before opening a door. Crystalia didn't like doing that, especially to Twilight, but she was alone with her daughter, and so will use all her powers to defend her only child. Crystalia followed the Royal Changeling until she lead them to a large room with dual thrones at one end, which Crystalia recognized as the Throne Room. One thing both she and her daughter noted was the fact that every changeling they ran across either had Twilight's or Rainbow Dash's color scheme, as well as fur like her own, but it didn't seem to cover chitin like hers did. 'What kind of Changelings were these?' She saw the Changeling Queen take the purple throne while the other was occupied by another Royal Changeling, one that had the appearance of Rainbow Dash, even having the cutie mark. She also noticed several ponies that she knew around them. The purple changeling broke the silence. “As I said earlier I am Queen Twilight Sparkle.” She gestured with her hoof to the left of her. “This is my sister and co ruler, Rainbow Dash, and with us are my good friends Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Princess Luna. May we have your names?” With nothing to lose from it, Crystalia answered. “I am Crystalia, Co-Regent of the Sun and Queen of Diamond Shimmer Hive, and this is my daughter Crystal Shimmer, Princess of Diamond Shimmer Hive, and ruler of it in my absence.” “How can you be Co-Regent of the Sun," Luna blurted, "While I can take care of it in an emergency like my sister did for me during my absence, she is the only one with a true bond to the sun.” “Well, your question answers one thing for me. I assume absence means your banishment on the moon?” Luna nodded. “Well in my history Celestia did succeed in locking you away, but Nightmare Moon managed to kill her.” Jaws dropped in shock and before the obvious questions arose, Crystalia lifted a hoof for silence and continued. “The battle with Nightmare Moon was long, and Celestia was mortally wounded many times before she used the Elements of Harmony to banish you before she succumbed to her own wounds. As she lay dying in this very room, she asked me to take her place. Equestria had already lost one princess, and so could not lose yet another. Me and Celestia have had a long relationship and were good friends, even then, so I accepted, leaving Crystal Shimmer to care for Diamond Shimmer Hive in my absence. After she died, I hid her body and assumed her form. The ponies of Equestria loved their Princess, so I got much of that love, seemingly being her. My own magical ability was by itself great enough to raise and lower the sun, as my ability is at least on par with Tia's, so I stored all the love I received to enact a plan of great importance. Being long friends with Celestia I knew how she thought and acted, which was helped by the fact I was already much like her, so it was easy to play her while my two long term plans were in the works.” “So this is why you look like Celestia?” the Queen posing as Rainbow Dash asked. “Actually, no. I have looked this way for a very long time, but that is something I can exaggerate upon later. Now, my first plan was to free Luna from her corrupt alter ego, and I assume you're all familiar with that one.” Nods went around. “Mine was a bit different, but we'll touch on that later. Anyway, while I managed to even trick Luna, my guise was disrupted by the wall of love emitter during Cadence and Shining Armor's botched wedding. Cadence and Twilight confronted me about this a few days later after Shining and Cadence were properly wed and, not having the heart to lie to my own student and niece, I confessed as to who I was, but not yet as to why I was where I was because, one would expect, they demanded to know where Celestia was, and I showed them. They were in as much shock as you were to discover she was dead. Now however, we get to my second plan. As I have stated, I stored all the love I received to enact a very important plan. That important plan was to resurrect Celestia so I used the gathered love to enhance my magical capabilities, but even that was not enough. I had to dip deep into my reserves of both love and magic, just to bring her back.” “Why would you do such a dangerous thing?” Queen 'Twilight' asked. “Because she was like a sister to me, and I've know her since she was a little filly, and myself a fledgling Queen. She didn't care if I was a changeling, or that many saw my kind as monsters. She saw me for who I really was, a kind and loving being who was unlike what the books she'd read said about my kind. The best way I could repay her was to bring her back, even if I had to forfeit my own life for her, which I nearly did.” Crystalia felt a hoof over her shoulder, and then felt her daughter lean next to her. She nuzzled Shimmer in appreciation and continued. “It worked. Celestia was among the living again, but she would not sit idly by while I died, and so did all that was within her power to do so that I wouldn't die. As a result of all of this, I was formally made a Princess of Equestria. Now then, it's time for you to explain things to me.” Queen 'Twilight' decided to be the one to explain things. She told the story of Princess Twilight and her teleportation experiment that went wrong, that her and her daughter being brought here was yet another accident, one that occurred when that Twilight tried to return home. During all of this Cyrstalia watched Queen 'Twilight' carefully. After the wedding fiasco, she tried to pay more attention on the behavior of ponies to not let the Chrysalis/Cadance thing go unnoticed, although in hindsight, it kinda was incredibly obvious. The Changeling Queen in front of her had all the tell-tale signs of being Twilight. While possible to mimic these, she was doing it without conscious thought, and that requires a huge effort to pull off. Plus the fact she was in a natural form means there was no need for it if she was faking. This was Twilight Sparkle, one whose path had lead her differently than the mare she knew. She wanted to explore that. When Twilight finally finished she asked. “How is Princess Twilight?” “Still out like a light, recovering from magical exhaustion. It will likely be days before she's back to normal," Queen Twilight explained, "Until then, your are welcome as guest of our hive, and quarters will be assigned to you.” “Thank you Queen Twilight Sparkle," Crystalia said with a nod, "We will take up that offer gladly. While I wait for your counterpart to recover, I'm curious to see what else is different in this world.” “I'll have one of my drones take care of that for you, as well as any other needs you might have.” "Thank you for your generosity and hospitality,” Crystalia said with a curt bow, her daughter following suit. “It's the least we could do, since you were brought here against your will.” “Plus I get to throw a 'Welcome to our Equestria' party!” Pinkie squealed causing Crystalia to smirk. No matter world, Pinkie Pie will still be Pinkie Pie. Yet, there was something nagging at the back of Crystalia's mind. Other than her daughter, the Hive Mind had been abnormally quiet. Of course, she could block out her drones at will, giving her some privacy, but the Hive Mind was open right now, and yet, there was nothing but silence, save for the occassional thought from her daughter. "Twi, may I call you that," Crystalia asked, to which Twilight nodded, "There is something that both bothers and troubles me deeply." "Please," Twilight said, "Speak your mind, Crystalia." "Since our arrival here, I have opened my Hive Mind," Crystalia said, "But, as of yet, the only voice I've heard is that of my daughter, so I must ask, do you know of any Changeling Hives north of the Crystal Empire, specifically northeast of it?" Twilight shook her head. "I'm afraid not, Crystalia. I don't know about Changelings where you come from, but here, Changelings and the cold don't get along too well." Although Twilight didn't notice it, Crystal did notice as her mother's white face paled with a combination of sorrow, sadness, regret, and dread.