Shining Armor began to wake, he felt cozy and warm, he also felt something gooey all around him and couldn’t move very well. His eyes shot open and he started thrashing at whatever it was he was in, trying to escape. He finally broke free and started coughing. When he finished Shining looked down to see what he was in. It was a cocoon of some sort, and then caught sight of his body. It was black instead of its usual white. Then looked at his hooves, there were holes in them. Shining began to panic slightly.
“What’s going on? Wait what’s wrong with my voice? This has to be some kind of dream or nightmare or something.”
“Oh this is no dream I assure you.”
Shining looked toward were the voice was coming from and saw Queen Chrysalis approaching him.
“You! What did you do to me? Where are we? How did I get here?” he said in an angry tone.
“Isn’t it obvious I’ve turned you into a changeling. As to where we are let’s just say we’re in a cave somewhere in the Crystal Mountains. And as to how you got here I stole you away in the middle of the night while you were sleeping. It’s been a long time hasn’t it Metamorphosis.”
“Meta what?”
“Metamorphosis, it’s your changeling name. A new body needs a new name and since I created you it’s only fitting that I name you as well.”
“The name is Shining Armor. Now change me BACK!”
“So sorry but there is no way to reverse the transformation. Join me, become my king and together we can take Equestria.”
“Never!”
“Hmm very well then, let’s see how long you can survive. If you need to find me head to the Badlands and I’ll find you because it’s only a matter of time before you come crawling back to me,” she said with a grin.
Chrysalis then flew out the mouth of the cave they were in.
“Comeback here you bitch!” Shining chased after her but he was met with a blizzard upon exiting. Shining wanted to chase her down but lost sight of her in the midst of the snow storm. Still enraged he tried to calm himself and went back inside, then took a closer look at his new insect body. He still had his mane and tail, although now a different color. He noticed his new wings and that he had fangs. Shining also found a bucket of water Chrysalis left behind and saw his reflection, his eyes and horn were now like hers. In addition to his voice sounding different. He smacked the bucket away unable to look at himself any further. He tried to use his magic but quickly found that changeling magic was different from unicorn magic and couldn’t produce the desired results he wanted. Even basic levitation was sloppy. Damn it, what am I going to do? How am I going to explain this to Cadence? How am I going to explain this to anypony? Then he got an idea. Wait a minute if I’m a changeling now then I can change my appearance to look like my old self again. That will give me plenty of time to figure out a way to tell them the truth. “Alright how do I do this?”
Shining concentrated and tried to change his appearance. It took some time but he finally managed to look like his old self again, now all he has to do is figure out a way to maintain his disguise for an extended period of time. Satisfied with the way he looked Shining left the cave, got his bearings and started to make his way back to the Crystal Empire.
The crystal guards were out searching the frozen north looking for Prince Shining Armor. Flash Sentry soared through the air on another day of searching. Sometime later Flash found Shining trekking through the snow and went to land in front of him.
“Sire I finally found you.”
Shining looked up.
“Flash?”
Flash made his way to the ground and landed.
“It’s so good to see you sire, we were beginning to worry and I know Princess Cadence was starting to fear the worst.”
“Wait how long have I been gone?”
“A week.”
“A week!” I was in that cocoon for a week.
“That’s right. Sire where were you? What happened?”
“I’ll explain later, right now I just want to get home.”
“I understand, follow me.”
On their way back to the empire they ran into some guards who were also out looking for Shining. Flash decided to leave Shining in their company while he flew ahead to tell the Princess that Shining was safe. Upon their return to the Crystal Empire Shining saw Flash and Cadence waiting outside the city for him. Shining ran to her and Cadence did the same. When they met they embraced each other in a hug.
“Oh Shining I was so worried about you. Where have you been?”
Shining didn’t necessarily want to lie to her but he didn’t have to tell her the whole truth either.
“I was ponynapped by Queen Chrysalis, but I managed to escape.”
Cadence gasped. “That’s horrible, are you alright?”
“I’m fine Cadence, really.”
“Are you sure? What happened?” she said with worry in her voice.
I’m fine. I would rather not talk about it right now. Let’s just head back to the palace. Flash you and the others go recall the other search parties.”
“Yes sire.”
Shining and Cadence started to make their way back to the palace, but he stopped when he realized they were about to pass through the love barrier protecting the empire.
Oh great how is this going to work. Will it repel me like mine did to the other changelings at the wedding? No chrysalis must have gotten through in order to get to me, but what if my disguise drops when I pass through or-
“Coming Shining?”
“Huh oh right I guess I zoned out for a minute, coming.” Well here goes nothing.
Cadence passed through first with Shining following behind her. When he passed through he was met with the most amazing sensation of his entire life. The raw love energy poring through every fiber of his being. He was on the verge of euphoria when he made it passed it. The feeling lingered for a few seconds but quickly subsided leaving him weak in the knees and collapsed under his own weight, panting. Luckily his disguise held. Cadence rushed to check on him and help him up.
“Shining what’s wrong? Are you sure you’re alright?”
“I guess I’m a little drained from my ordeal, I just need some time to rest is all.”
Luna's moon was high in the sky now. Cadence and Shining were going to bed, Shining was just glad he made it through the day, but a new concern plagued his mind.
What if I can't maintain the disguise while I sleep? I don't want Cadence freaking out because she wakes to fine a changeling in her bed.
Cadence got under the sheets.
“Coming to bed dear?”
“Coming.” Ok I just won’t go to sleep. I’ll wait until she’s asleep, sneak away, lock myself in my office, and make an excuse in the morning. Shining got under the covers as well and Cadence cuddled up close to him. But the warm and fuzzy feeling was gone, and then he realized he couldn’t feel love anymore. He still cared for her but as a changeling he could no longer produce the feelings of love like he used to. That’s probably what stung the most about his current situation, not being able to properly love his wife. Then he felt something and thought he was wrong about not feeling love, but quickly realized what was happening. He was feeding off Cadence’s love for him. No-no-no I have to stop. Shining pulled away from her.
“Something wrong?”
“I’m…just not in the mood I guess.”
Shining got up and started to walk away.
“Where are you going?”
“I still have some work that piled up in my absence, so I’ll work on that for a while. Don’t stay up on my account.”
“Alright.”
Shining left the room, went straight for his office, and locked the door behind him. Finally alone he dropped the disguise and breathed a sigh of relief. His horn was sore and hot to the touch. He took a seat at his desk, opened a blank journal and began to record his thoughts.
Day 1 as a changeling.
It’s my first day as a changeling and it was the worst day of my life. Damn Chrysalis for what she did to me. I don’t know if I will ever fully adjust to this new body of mine or be able to live the life I used to but I have to try. The hardest part will be maintaining my appearance and only feeding on enough love to sustain myself. I don’t know how I am going to break the news to Cadence, Twilight, and the others but that’s a conversation better left for another day. Right now I just have to survive, for these will be the longest days of my life.
Shining closed his journal and locked it in his safe, which only he knew the combination to. He settled down in his chair and finally allowed himself to drift off to sleep.
Could use a bit work in parts, but on the whole a really strong start. I'm quite curius where this will go.
I especially like that bit about despair at no longer being able to feel love even for his wife. Felt really genuine.
6322256
Glad you liked it. Also send me a PM on what needed work.
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I can't believe it's only been over a half hour since the story went up and there is already almost 10 up votes.
Shining Armour becoming a changeling himself? Don't think I've seen that premise before. I'll keep an eye on this.
6322377
I have yet to come across any stories with this kind of premise.
could be wrong but im surprised no one did something like this earlyer
6322443
I know, I was surprised too. The story idea just hit me and would not leave me alone until I wrote it down and posted it.
I haven't even read it, and I love it!
(After reading)
I have now read, Enjoyed, and look forward to more!
this is gonna be good!
I think It has potential to be a good story, and I am looking forward to see more of this soon. But, you will have to work a lot on your Story before it rely start to become good, as there are several flaws. You would also that would need to be fix; its nothing that you can't fix as your story progress in time, but a rewrite may become necessary in the future. For instance, you would need to put more context to the story like how did Shining Armor got captured in the first place? was it during a diplomatic mission, a patrol or was it in his office?
I have a hard time imagining that Shining would have the knowledge much less have the strength to fly away from the hive and know how to transform so soon out of the maturation pod. Also, I would have though Shining would have wandered off in the frozen wastland of the Crystal Empire before finding his way home. In that time that he could have practice with his transformations as well as to come to contemplate with is situation. I am also surprise that his guards ponies would not question at some point that it is indeed Shining they have fond him; assuming that they knew how had kidnap him. Instead, he was was treated as normal, not even ask what happened to him, or try to console him to what happened, and is free to wander in the castle.
You also have trouble characterizing your characters, to give the something to describes there personalty. For instance, Chrysalis just stated the facts of what happened to Shining, we don't know if she was taking pleasure in seeing him rage in frustration over his new form or that she was trying to make him rejoices over it. Instead, she seem indifferent to his predicament, and just let him got like that.
You would need to be more descriptive of the location as we had very little to work with like the hive and such.
6322690
That is quiet the analysis. I guess I should do some editing.
Story has been up for almost 4 hours and has gotten almost 20 up votes. That's as much as I got for my last story after over 2 months and several chapters later. Incredible!
6322389 my personal favorite Under Her Thrall by Kleora
6322886
Interesting, I'll give it a read.
6322900
you may also like Integration by Raugos , It is a great story that gives an interesting interpretation of the inner workings of a changeling hive, if you want it to be as alien as possible, but still manages to make the changeling relatable to the reader and it's told in the point of view of a basic background pony of the show. The audiobook version by Thornquill Audiofics is of excellent quality.
Hope this help
6323069 An excellent read, I also recommend it. There are many different 'canons' (headcanon, that is.) that depict what the hive is like, what kind of queens, etc.
Heck! I'm interested in seeing where this goes.
I like what I read so far. I'm just worried how this will all end because of the 'Tragedy' tag. Also, how long we he be able to keep his ruse up when he can't use his magic like he used to?
The story has been up for 24 hours now, has gotten 30 up votes, only 1 down vote, and almost 200 views. Wow just wow. Thank you everyone. I never aspected this kind of response for a new story of mine especially one with only 1 chapter so far in such a short amount of time.
This HAS TO BE CONTINUED!
6325738
And IT SHALL BE!
uhhh......
Also, you really need to use commas more often.
6327225
I wonder what that slip might mean for the future of this fic?
6327225
Fixed insect. Can't believe I did not notice that.
6325983 AND I SHALT WAIT!
I suppose our main character was that good of a kisser.