//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5: More Surprises 
// Story: Nature of Change 
// by PostNinja 
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Next to Saddle Lake, some distance away from Ponyville, there was a railroad bridge going over the river that led to the lake, the trees of Everfree Forest visible in the far distance.

This was the bridge that served as the main form of travel between Ponyville and Canterlot, trains from other large cities such as Manehattan and Fillydelphia using it as well whenever they wanted to travel to the southern parts of Equestria.

Because these railroad tracks were so important for travel, there were small single building outposts placed where the tracks could be damaged by something. There were always some ponies stationed in them in case the tracks would need to be cleared or given repairs.

This particular outpost was the last one before Ponyville, its main duty to guard and take care of the bridge. The worker ponies stationed here had seen everything from freak weather to monsters from Everfree. There was very little that could surprise them.

One of them was sitting in a chair in front of the outpost right now, the simple wooden building looking rather modest, sticking out in the otherwise featureless grassland around it.

The worker pony rose his head when he heard the rumble of metal hitting against metal, the tracks starting to shake and tremble. Soon enough the train was visible from the distance, quickly coming closer.

The worker pony kept sitting in his chair as the train kept going forward, rattling, whirring and clicking as it passed the outpost followed by a trail of steam.

After the train had passed, the worker pony looked at his clock, making a small note to the paper on the table next to him. There wasn't much to do in these parts when something wasn't going wrong, so most of them developed small hobbies to pass the time. His was to see did the trains follow their schedules.

It took a moment before the worker pony realized what was different in the silence following the train's passing. He could no longer hear his co-workers talking inside.

The worker pony frowned and rose up, opening the door and stepping inside the outpost to see what was going on.

He had enough time to blink in surprise upon seeing all three of his co-workers tied up and lying on the floor before five changelings jumped on him, the sixth slamming the door shut behind him.









To her own surprise, Fluttershy didn't really feel any real fear with Chrysalis standing there in front of her. The changeling queen towered above her, looking every bit as unsettling as she had during the wedding in Canterlot. It was like looking some sort of twisted reflection of Celestia.

Yet she felt only nervous, not scared. Chrysalis's appearance bothered her much less than it had back then.

Maybe, it was because after the wedding she had seen so many other monsters, like Sombra or Tirek. It could also be because she now counted someone like Discord her friend.

Or then it was because even though Chrysalis looked the same, Fluttershy saw her differently.

Unlike before, Fluttershy could literally feel the power radiating from Chrysalis. It was like standing next to a bright light in darkness. It made Fluttershy nervous, yet she also felt like she was being drawn towards it.

If anything, standing next to the changeling queen made Fluttershy feel her own sense of emptiness even more clearly. She felt hollow, like she was just an empty shell. It made the constant hunger gnawing inside her harder to ignore.

Fluttershy shook her head to clear her mind and then steeled herself, turning to look at Chrysalis instead of the floor. She would stay firm and not show how nervous she was, she...

"W-what d-do you want?"

Well, being able to speak at all was at least something, right?

Chrysalis looked down at Fluttershy and then crouched down so their heads were on the same level, her mouth curved into a smile. "Don't be afraid, you poor little thing. I only have your best interests at my heart."

The condescending tone in the changeling queen's voice made Fluttershy feel angry and she quickly concentrated on that feeling. Right now it was a much better to be furious than scared.

Fluttershy looked up at Chrysalis, trying to make her voice sound as mocking as possible. "Somehow, I doubt that."

Chrysalis just smiled some more, shaking her head. "Everything I do, I do for all changelings everywhere." The changeling queen tapped Fluttershy's horn with her hoof. "Including those few misguided ones who don't have their facts straight. We are the same, you and I."

"We are not the same! "Fluttershy gave Chrysalis an angry stare, narrowing her eyes in disdain. "I'm nothing like you!”

"Not even a changeling?" Chrysalis interrupted with a smirk, making Fluttershy's words die in her throat. She glanced at her own hooves again, which still unmistakably belonged to a changeling.

Chrysalis looked even more pleased with herself, raising her hoof on Fluttershy's back, dragging her forward to the side of the room until they were standing in front of the full body mirror. "My dear, it is time for you to accept the truth."

Fluttershy stared into the mirror and at her own reflection. This was the first time today she was actually able to see herself. Now she understood the shock of her friends back in the cottage.

Fluttershy could still recognize herself. Her skin was black, she had a horn and her mane was pale yellow instead of its natural pink, but it was still her.

That somehow only made it worse. Looking like some sort of twisted version of yourself was much worse than looking completely different altogether.

Her eyes were different, pale yellow just like her mane and shaped in the same way as Chrysalis's own with those strange double pupils. Her wings shared the color of her mane and tail, but their transparent nature made their color look even paler in comparison.

Fluttershy moved her hoof to touch at the plate on her stomach, for the first time realizing it was actually there.

If she had seen herself like this a few hours earlier, Fluttershy would have cried at the sight of the monster in place of her reflection.

Instead, she simply stared at her own face in the mirror, not sure what to make of it.

She knew that she should be on the verge of tears. Shocked and afraid of her life with Queen Chrysalis standing right next to her, the changeling queen still resting her hoof on her back.

Maybe now when she saw Fluttershy the changeling in the mirror, she couldn't deny it any longer. 

Everything that had happened today was real. 

The sheer enormity of it, the way how her life had been thrown upside down was too much to comprehend. This day had been filled with so many surprises and revelations one after another that at this point she just felt numb.

The young changeling stared at her own reflection and then just shook her head.

"I don't understand anything."

Chrysalis's smile only grew wider as she removed her hoof from Fluttershy's back.

"If it makes you feel any better, it was quite a surprise for me as well." The changeling queen frowned briefly like she remembered something unpleasant but then quickly smiled again. "You must be exhausted. If you want, we can wait until tomorrow for explanations."

"No!"

They both blinked in surprise to Fluttershy's sudden outburst, but then the young changeling’s shoulders sagged and she looked up at Chrysalis. "I need to know, now. Please."

Fluttershy vaguely realized that she shouldn't be talking to Chrysalis like this. This was the monster who had kidnapped Cadance and then impersonated her in order to conquer Canterlot and then the entirety of Equestria.

Discord had proven himself to be different, all he had needed to find some good in himself was a genuine friend. Fluttershy couldn't bring herself to believe that Chrysalis was the same. Nothing good could come from talking to the changeling queen.

Yet, she needed to know.

Chrysalis looked at Fluttershy for a moment. Then, the changeling queen's expression softened just a bit and she nodded, turning away from the mirror. "As you wish. But let's sit down first and have some...tea. It is more or less the only thing I found to be my liking in Canterlot."

Fluttershy turned to follow Chrysalis and saw First Captain who had stayed silent all this time lowering a tray with a luxurious white tea set on a table at the center of the room before stepping to the side.

The changeling queen sat down and gestured for Fluttershy to do the same.

Fluttershy looked at Chrysalis sitting there and realized again how ridiculous this entire scene looked. The dreaded changeling queen sitting there with a tea set in front of her, smiling to Fluttershy like an old mare whose grandfoals had come to visit.

Even so, she just shrugged and sat down herself. For somepony who had tea with Discord on semi-regular basis this felt almost normal. At least compared to everything else that had happened today.

Chrysalis levitated a teacup to her lips and took a sip from it. "Now then, from where to start?" The changeling queen tapped her chin with her hoof in thoughtful manner. "Perhaps how you got here? That will be easiest to explain."

Fluttershy just nodded, looking at her own teacup on the table without touching it.

This didn’t bother Chrysalis, who started to speak with the casual tone of somepony telling about her day at work.

"Some time ago it came under my attention that there are changelings in Equestria who aren't part of my hive. They must have arrived in Equestria years before I found my way here myself and have lived among the ponies unnoticed."

Chrysalis took another sip from her tea cup and sighed.

"Unfortunately, if a changeling wants to hide itself and knows how not to give itself away, it's difficult even for other changelings to find them." Chrysalis lowered her teacup on the table and looked at Fluttershy. "But that only applies to adult, experienced changelings. Younger ones like you don't know how to conceal their presence, even if they aren't even aware of their true nature. When they reach a certain age, the signs start to show."

Fluttershy still stared at her own teacup and finally rose it up, taking a sip and to her surprise finding the taste quite pleasant. Then, she turned to look at Chrysalis.

"How?"

Chrysalis raised her hoof, shaking her head. "We will get to that soon. First you must understand how being a changeling works."

The changeling queen sipped her tea again and continued.

"We feed on love. Without it, we can't use our magic and gradually weaken. We naturally absorb some of it from anything that can feel love without any conscious effort. If a changeling has enough many such sources around it on regular basis, it will take a tiny amount from each to feed itself and it's prey will not be any the wiser, quickly recovering from its loss."

Fluttershy thought about that, trying to ignore the way how Chrysalis used the word prey so casually. Then, she saw a glimmer of hope in the changeling queen's explanation.

"So, a changeling can live among ponies without actually hurting them? Like I have for all these years?"

Chrysalis's expression soured at the question and its implications, but then somewhat reluctantly nodded. "Yes. Be it ponies or small animals..." Chrysalis glanced at Fluttershy with a smirk on her lips. "...a changeling within large enough group of food sources can hide in that way indefinitely without harming them. It's incredibly inefficient when compared to direct feeding and renders us virtually powerless, but it can be done. The scrounged scraps of emotion are just barely enough to allow us to keep up our disguises at least for most of the time."

Fluttershy smiled, starting to feel hopeful. She didn't need to hurt anypony! Fluttershy had realized by now that the feeling of emptiness she felt was this hunger of love Chrysalis kept talking about. But if it could be sated simply by living among ponies...

"At least, a normal changeling can do that."

Fluttershy froze, feeling her heart sinking. From the way how Chrysalis still smiled in that same condescending manner, Fluttershy knew that she wasn't going to like what would hear next.

Chrysalis gave her a half-smile and continued with the same tone of a teacher lecturing to a somewhat simple student.

"Just like me, you aren't a normal changeling. You are a changeling queen."

Fluttershy blinked in surprise, Chrysalis taking advantage of her confusion by sipping her tea again before continuing.

"We are by our very nature, special. We are leaders and monarchs of our kind, gifted with greater abilities and talents than our lesser kin."

Fluttershy gulped, feeling heaviness in her stomach. She had wondered why she looked so different from other changelings she had seen, but Fluttershy had never thought it could be something like this. 

But what did being a queen have to do with blending in?

Judging from her expression, Chrysalis was more than eager to answer to that.

"And now we can get back to how we found you. I believe you have been feeling tired and sick for a while now? First only for a short time, but then gradually for longer and longer periods of time?"

Fluttershy's first instinct was to deny it, but what was the point? It was true after all. So, she just nodded, starting to see where this was going as Chrysalis continued her explanation.

"Changeling queens are different. We require vastly greater amounts of love to feed on. The pathetic scraps of emotion we can get from passive draining simply isn't enough."

Chrysalis's eyes gleamed as her voice shifted to less formal and almost friendly tone. "You are maturing, becoming an adult queen. That weakness in your limbs, the gnawing hunger you feel inside you? It's your body's way of telling to you that you need to find more love to feed on. What you have had before isn't enough."

Fluttershy barely managed to stop her hooves from shaking, cringing at Chrysalis's words.

That couldn't be true! She would never do something like that! Just the thought of attacking some innocent pony to feed herself made Fluttershy feel sick.

Ignoring how distressed Fluttershy looked, Chrysalis just calmly continued, raising her hoof on the table and casually resting her chin against it.

"Changelings can feel the hunger of other changelings, even more so when the changeling in question is a queen. I have had some of my drones keeping track of Ponyville for a long time now." Chrysalis waved her hoof at the surrounding room. "This small outpost here was built for that very purpose. One of them was delivering you some mail as a part of his cover and could feel your hunger when he met you, reporting it forward."

It had been that simple? Even more shocking was that changelings had infiltrated Ponyville and nopony had even suspected it. But Fluttershy had no time to think more about her and her friends being spied on for Celestia knew how long, Chrysalis already moving forward.

"Of course, when I was told that the Element of Kindness was a changeling, I didn't believe it. Who would have?" Chrysalis scoffed at the memory, looking amused. "I had to make sure. So, I sent you a void orb as a test."

Fluttershy turned to look at Chrysalis again, at first not sure what the changeling queen meant.

But then the memory hit. 

That gemstone she had found? It had happened just a few hours ago, but to Fluttershy it felt like it had been months since she had walked up the path to her cottage and everything in her life had still made sense.

She gave a questioning look to Chrysalis who in response waved her hoof nonchalantly. "Just a trinket from the old days. When in contact with a changeling, it drains us of our power. To a pony it’s completely harmless."

Fluttershy remembered the feeling of being drained of all her energy and vitality, shuddering at the memory. A small part of her wanted to say to Chrysalis that maybe she should try touching one those orbs to understand how her victims felt. But then she thought better of it and stayed silent, nodding again for Chrysalis to continue.

"I had some drones watching your cottage." Chrysalis glanced at First Captain standing on the side who shuffled his hooves uncomfortably. "Their orders were to bring you here if you really were a changeling. Your friends...complicated matters."

First Captain looked even more awkward, apparently trying his best to sink into the wall rather than endure under the withering glare from Chrysalis as the changeling queen continued, displeasure clear from her voice. "Upon seeing a changeling queen being captured by ponies, they panicked and rushed in to save you."

Chrysalis sighed in frustration, turning to look at Fluttershy again. "I'm sure even somepony like you can understand that I would have preferred to handle the matter in more discreet manner."

Fluttershy did understand. By the sound of it, Chrysalis and her changelings had gone to great lengths to hide themselves. Attacking her cottage in broad daylight had gone directly against that. At least now Twilight and others knew about the changelings in their midst. Fluttershy took solace in the fact that at least she had indirectly helped her friends in that regard.

Chrysalis was apparently finished with her explanation and the two changeling queens looked at each other for a moment. Finally, Fluttershy broke the silence.

"So, what now? What do you want with me?"

Chrysalis looked at Fluttershy and then chuckled, suddenly looking very amused as she leaned her head forward.

"That, my dear niece, is a very good question."

Fluttershy blinked.

Then, she looked at Chrysalis who was now practically beaming, giving her a mischievous grin.

By that point the words finally sank in and Fluttershy's jaw dropped, all her fears and worries momentarily forgotten as she realized what Chrysalis had just called her.

"What?!"