After an accident, Rarity and Twilight are thrown in a race against time to stop their transformation into changelings before they become part of Chrysalis' swarm forever.

Whirring Cogs had a happy and near ideal life as a mechanic at the Cloudsdale weather factory. He had his best friend, a good social life, a job that he loved, and time to take joy in flying. While he enjoyed socializing with mares, he had no interest in complicating his life with a relationship, and lived contentedly as a single stallion. Then a mad changeling queen dared to make plans to wrest control of Equestria from the alicorn princesses. It's a pity that she was his queen, and Cogs the changeling had his perfect life ruined.

This is a prequel to my story - "Change of Life" - and explores the events that led up to the beginning of that story, before his fateful encounter with Lavender Dreams.

Taking place after A Canterlot Wedding, Queen Chrysalis is none too pleased about this state of affairs. Battered, bloodied, and with only a fraction of her forces left, she immediately takes off to Ponyville, refusing to stop for anything, not even the welfare of her own army. In order to satisfy her own sense of pride, she ignores everything in favor of destroying that which Celestia holds most dear: her dear student, Twilight Sparkle.

But as the march takes its toll on her subjects, will she realize what she is losing before it is too late?

Dramatic reading by ObabScribbler!

After losing her hive, Queen Chrysalis is forced to start another one. Luckily she has the help of a few loyal subjects who never accepted their fellow changelings new way of life. They must stay hidden from enemies, collect enough food to survive and rebuild their strength. Now the first brood has hatched and there is something very different about one of the larva.

Queen Chrysalis, ruler of the Changeling Hives, feels a disturbance. Something unusual, something evil... something festive. It doesn't take her long to discover that the source of this dread is a pony holiday by the name of "Hearth's Warming Eve," and it takes even less time for her to decide what she has to do now: She must steal it.

Yes. The whole thing.

Twice, they denied her a great victory. Twice, she was left humiliated and beaten by pony hooves. But if there's one lesson Queen Chrysalis surely learned, it was revenge. If there was a second, it was where to stick the dagger in a loving mother.

But there are some things even she can't foresee.

Thanks to RBDash47, Cynewulf, Timaeus, and Alto for enabling the brainworms that led to this.
Preread by Cursori, VioletRoseIntheRain, and Cynewulf.
Artwork by skippyrip and can be found here.

The changeling invasion of Ponyville and the events preceding it were witnessed by many. However, how and why did it happen? Who were the key players involved? Through the eyes of General Carbon, High-General Double, and even Queen Chrysalis herself, these questions and more shall be answered in a series of tales that go as far back as the first changelings and the tragedy that created them...

A side-story compilation companion to Smoke and Mirrors.

The mental contest between Chrysalis and Cozy Glow over who would manipulate who has gone on for far too long. Luckily, Chrysalis recently found a foolproof method of finally overcoming the filly's impudence! With a genius like her at the helm, there was no way her plan would backfire.

Probably.

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An entry in the 4th Annual Cozy Glow Story Contest, using the prompt "It wasn't a problem until... Chrysalis started feeling things."

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Russian translations of story by NovemberDragon can be found here and here.

With the creation of her new palace in the wake of Tirek's rampage, Twilight begins to settle and adjust to her new roles. That is, until an unusual visitor to her Court changes everything. How will Ponyville cope when it becomes host to a Changeling Hive?

This story is based off prompts originally written for the TwySalis Prompt Collab: Tainted Love.

Just because something looks similar to something does not make it similar. Just because something is a different does not make it wrong. And just because something is sympathetic, does not make it misunderstood.