Bright and early the next morning, Twilight and (a still yawning) Spike headed down to the crystal caves again. The guards seemed surprised to see her there so early, but let her pass.
Twilight ducked her head as she entered, and slowed to a stop. The changelings had done a very good job of converting the natural crystal caves to more of a familiar, homey environment. For the changelings, this seemed to imply a lot of slime; though much of the remaining visible crystal had been polished to a bright sheen as well.
As she entered, she noticed a few changelings eagerly awaiting her arrival.
“Your highness! And… a dragon!” a female squeaked.
They jumped at the sight of Spike. They quivered in their bows, looking a lot like the ponies in the stalls before a race.
“At ease,” Twilight said automatically.
But instead of straightening up, they turned and sprinted away.
Spike frowned and looked down at himself. “I didn’t think I’d gotten that scary,” he mumbled.
“It's not that,” Twilight said comfortingly. “Changeling chitin is really susceptible to fire. That's why the lights around here are all glowing crystals.”
Spike suddenly noticed that she was right. He looked around, but sure enough, there were no lanterns in this place.
Twilight continued, “They're probably afraid instinctively, like how ponies get spooked at snakes even though only two of the more than four hundred species native to Equestria have venom dangerous enough to cause death, and we've developed antivenin for those.”
Spike raised an eyebrow teasingly as memories of their first Winter Wrap-up in Ponyville came to mind. “Ponies like you?”
“It's instinctive!” Twilight defended herself.
Spike continued to laugh. “Yeah, because all us scaly things are scary.” He raised his claws and hissed, sticking his tongue out. This finally got a chuckle from Twilight, and the two continued walking.
Both of their ears pricked up at a scuffing hoof behind them. They turned around to see a changeling, bowing deeply, holding out a jewel to Spike.
Twilight hesitated, but Spike was never one to turn down free food. He took the offered gem and shoved it in his mouth.
“Spike,” Twilight scolded.
“What? I didn’t have breakfast this morning,” Spike defended himself as he sprayed crumbs of ruby everywhere.
“We weren’t hungry.”
“You weren’t hungry,” Spike corrected, accepting another gem. “I, on the other claw, always am.”
Twilight rolled her eyes, but couldn’t keep the playful spark out of them. “Ok, but future Twilight will laugh at future Spike if present Spike makes himself sick.”
Spike chewed on the next offering. “Future Spike won't need your mocking,” he said solemnly. “Present Spike is more than capable of handling this display of affection.” He opened his mouth, and a changeling placed a gem on his tongue.
Twilight rolled her eyes. As she turned to continue, she nearly bumped into one of the changelings she’d seen at the entrance.
“Princess, we have something to show you,” she said excitedly.
* * *
As it turns out, every good hive has a space especially for the queen, and this temporary hive was no exception; they had given Twilight her own queen’s chambers.
Sure, it was just a little room carved out of the caves with a large, flat crystal for a table, a few smaller crystals with divots carved in to serve as chairs, and a few particularly spiky rocks as decorations on top; but it was the effort that counted.
And the nice thing about having her own chambers was it was a private place to work uninterrupted. Twilight reared up and clapped her hooves together. “This is wonderful! Thank you,” she said, reaching for her saddlebag and placing it on the table. The changelings bowed and buzzed happily off.
She took a few steps in, ready to sit down; but then something caught her eye. Behind the table, raised high, there was a facsimile of her stained glass window, carved into the crystal.
At least, it was probably supposed to be. They’d made her far too tall, her horn too long and somewhat curved, and her wings a bit too small and wide. She squinted, and it suddenly occurred to her that they’d given her the proportions of Chrysalis. She shrugged. Well, perhaps it was symbolic of her new role as changeling queen. Chrysalis was likely the only queen they’d known, so they had probably just used her as a model.
She sat down, eager to continue her work of sketching out a few ideas for her new reign as queen. She was in a really good mood today for some reason, and oddly enough, the whole hive seemed to be in a good mood, too. It smelled of cinnamon.
As she continued brainstorming ideas--she was currently debating the pros and cons of hiring out changelings as extras in plays--there came a hesitant knock on the wall.
“Enter,” she said.
A changeling entered hesitantly. She was limping slightly, and Twilight’s ears flicked up. Was her changeling hurt? “Are you ok?” she asked.
“Oh, no, your highness. I’m fine,” she answered, scuffing a hoof bashfully against the ground. “I just… wanted to come and say ‘thank you’.”
Twilight blinked. “You’re welcome,” she said. She paused, then tapped her hoof against her table as the changeling just stood there. “Uh… F- for what, actually?”
“I believe you met my life-mate last night?”
Twilight’s ears pricked. “You could say that,” she said guardedly. “And… oh.” Her ears dropped. Suddenly, her limping made a strange amount of sense. Twilight coughed. She was a princess. She could keep this not awkward. “I… take it you had a good night?”
She winced. Apparently, she could not.
But the changeling seemed unfazed. “The best I’ve had in years,” she answered, her tone almost reverent. “He’s been required for Chrysalis for as long as I can remember. From one female to another, thank you.” And she sank into a deep bow, so low she scraped her horn against the ground.
“Anytime,” Twilight answered hesitantly. “If there’s anything else I can do…”
She looked up. “Can you attend the marriage?” she asked quickly.
Twilight blinked. That was an odd request. “Sure, I guess,” she said.
She lowered her head again. “Thank you, Princess. I’ll name her after you.”
Twilight blinked. “Name who?” she asked.
A tiny smile played at her lips. She straightened up, reached a hoof back, and gestured towards her abdomen. “Believe me, Princess. I will lay after that.”
Twilight stared dumbly, her face contorting with confusion. Did she just…?
The changeling flushed, realizing that she had shared far too much. She bowed, this time sheepishly, her expression crinkled with regret. “By your leave?” she whispered, unable to meet Twilight’s eyes.
“Dismissed,” Twilight nodded.
The changeling scampered away as best she could.
Twilight sighed and massaged her temples with her hooves. She did want to learn about changeling culture, yes; but that was not the way she’d expected. Or hoped. “Hope Spike’s day is going a little bit saner,” she muttered.
* * *
Twilight had many skills, but an innate sense of time was not one of them. More often than she could remember, she would lose track of time and only realize how long she had been reading when it suddenly got too dark to see.
So thus it was that was not expecting it when Bruch came in at nine, as she had asked.
“Good morning, Princess,” Bruch said.
“Ai!” Twilight jumped. “Oh. Right. Good morning. It’s nine already?”
Bruch nodded. “You’re here early.”
“Just had to be here.” She tapped her quill against the paper. “So, random question. Tell me about changeling weddings.”
Bruch stopped short. “It’s a wonderful experience,” he said quietly, his large blue eyes looking down.
Twilight winced. That’s right. Bruch had been married.
He continued, almost whispering. “It’s a private ceremony, close friends only. Sometimes the queen comes, but usually not. It’s two changelings who love each other, pledging to stay together forever, no matter what happens or how low the hive’s food supply gets. And even when they’re out harvesting or working, they’re always… together…” His voice trailed off and he squeezed his eyes closed. “I’m sorry, Princess,” he whispered.
Twilight shook her head. She walked over and stood against him. “No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up. I mean, I wouldn’t have brought it up; except I just got asked to attend one, and I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do besides show up.”
Bruch nodded slowly. “Just ‘showing up’ would be very generous of you, your highness.”
Twilight took a step back and coughed. “Well, aside from that… is it just me, or is everypony here in a good mood today?”
“There's a dragon in the hive,” Bruch said, clearly pleased both at that development and the change of subject. “It's palpable, isn't it?”
Twilight's ears pricked up at the opportunity to learn about this new culture in a not-awkward situation. “Are dragons good luck in changeling culture?” she asked.
“It's good news, that's for sure. They're great sources of love,” Bruch said.
Twilight paused. “Run that by me again?”
“Love from a dragon. They tend to really love their things, so if they get a lot of things, there's a lot of…” His voice trailed off as he saw Twilight's expression slowly shift from cautiously intrigued to horrified. “Princess?”
“A lot of things… Spike!” Twilight shouted, leaping over the table and sprinting, hoping against hope she would find Spike in time. “Spike!”
* * *
Spike shoved gem after gem into his mouth. Changelings would offer them and he wouldn't wait before snatching them out of their hooves. Some he would take without them even noticing he had reached for them.
A smaller changeling nymph brought out her offering, and she chuckled at the expression on his face.
It wasn't near enough; Spike lunged and swiped it. “Mine!”
Spike froze. Had that snarling noise come out of his mouth?
It had. It definitely had.
A cold fear seized him. Now hyperventilating and no longer hungry, he dropped the jewel and sprinted out, shoving changelings out of his way as he desperately attempted to escape from the caves. Not even the guards could stop him as he tore past them in his desperate search to escape.
* * *
Twilight found him huddling under her bed, curled up in a fetal position, rocking slightly back and forth. She crawled as close as she dared. “Spike?” she started gently.
“Go away,” he whispered. “I don’t… I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t hurt me,” Twilight insisted. “I know you won’t.” She cracked a smile. “And if you did, you’d have to take my place as the queen of the changelings, and I bet you wouldn't enjoy that.”
Spike chuckled, his resistance cracking slightly. He slowly uncurled himself and looked over his shoulder at Twilight. “Yeah. That’d be messy. They’d feed me gems and I’d grow huge.” He snorted darkly. “I’d probably get so big that I’d outgrow the whole cave system.”
“I don’t think you’d get that big,” Twilight said with a wry smile. “But you’d probably get stuck in one of the doorways and get too fat to move. Then they’d just have to line up and throw gems in your mouth. Big line of changelings, all carrying gems, throwing them at you until you exploded.”
Spike laughed. “That sounds like a good way to die, I guess,” he said.
“I’d rather you didn’t die at all,” Twilight said. She scooted back. “Come out?”
Spike nodded. He crawled out, and his back spines scraped against the bed frame as he emerged, leaving gashes in the wood. He stood up.
And almost bumped his head on Twilight’s chin.
Twilight gasped. She spun around and tore open a drawer. “Stay right there!”
A few minutes (and many repeated measurements) later, Twilight dropped her measuring tape. She couldn’t deny it, no matter how much she tried: Spike had definitely grown slightly.
It was at this point, really, that it truly dawned on Twilight just how much this decision was going to affect everypony she loved. She pulled Spike into a tight hug. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I’m so, so sorry.”
* * *
“It wasn't their fault,” Twilight said numbly. “They're predators and they're starving.”
Celestia nodded. She had remained silent throughout Twilight’s explanation, and she continued to remain silent as Twilight worked through what had just happened.
“Like moths to a flame,” Twilight continued. “They just couldn’t help it.”
Celestia nodded.
“But Spike… I don't think he's going to…” She swallowed. “I think he's going to stay that size.”
Celestia nodded.
“I think it's my fault.”
“It is.”
Twilight was taken aback. “That was… blunt,” she said.
“It was also necessary,” Celestia said firmly. “You cannot be caught up in the past. You have made an honest mistake, you have learned from it; now, never do it again. What else can you do?”
“Uh…” Twilight realized she didn’t have an answer for that.
“Spike will be taken care of. If you need to go do something else, feel free.”
Twilight nodded and left.
And sure enough, when Celestia went to check on Twilight later, she found her in Spike’s room, curled up, sleeping protectively around him. With a tiny smile, she closed the door and left the two alone.