"Are you sure they are going to hatch today?" Twilight's magic held a quill and paper, but as well as that she had Spike with his own supplies. "They don't look to be-" She cut off as the egg nearest her started to shake and move.
"They shouldn't be hatching this soon, but somepony fed them a strong mix of love." Chrysalis gestured to the nearby desk. "Now we will all get to see what my newest children look like." The movement had her excited too, she didn't lean forward like Twilight did, however. "You might want to lean back, if a dreamling is anything like their other envenomed siblings, they will probably be a little 'bitey' from the get-go."
Twilight started to pull back from the egg, but a tiny head poked out of the top of the suddenly shredded ovoid. She felt the tingle run down her spine, the newly hatched little drone feeding directly from her. "They are so adorable!" All warnings were forgotten as she reached out to the grub-like changeling, lifting them from their egg and bringing them in for a cuddle.
Chrysalis feared the newborn would bite Twilight, but was amazed when it just nuzzled in against the pony. A sharp bite on her own forehoof revealed that one of the brutelings had hatched. She marveled at it. The bruteling was nearly twice the size of a normal grub, and larger still than the tiny dreamling. "And what do I have here?" She picked up her newest "foal" in her magic and looked at them, seeing intelligence in their eyes.
Captivated by the little grub that she was holding, Twilight almost missed the telltale tingling grow in intensity. "Hey, are the others…" She saw five of the much bigger grubs nuzzling against her hooves. "When did they all hatch?"
"When their favorite food started leaking love all over them." Chrysalis' droll tone was more in jest than truly aimed to hurt. "Now you get to name them." She spread her grin wider, showing off her fangs. "And if you think coming up with names for eleven changelings is tough, try doing it for eleven-hundred."
"Twilight, lunch." Spike had put down his paper and quill to bring his friend something to eat. "And you know the rules, food first, then science." He liked this rule, it let him boss around a princess.
Settling the grub onto her back, Twilight tried to extract her forelegs from the brutelings without hurting them, with limited success. In the end, she teleported out of the pile trying to snuggle her to death. "Thanks Spike! Oh, you made my favorite again." She beamed and bit into the sweet sandwich.
"Sure did, you really love that honey, although we are almost out." Spike jumped up onto the seat of the nearby desk. "I guess I should ask Tender Glow for more."
Chrysalis' eyes went wide and terror filled her. She had a moment of real fear shoot through her when she saw a drip of the honey leak off the bottom of the sandwich—gold and green. "Twilight! SPITTHATOUT!"
Twilight's attempt to defend her sandwich was defeated, mainly because unlike her, Chrysalis seemed to be fighting for real. Gulping down her mouthful, she looked at the big queen, hurt feelings on her face. "What are you-"
"Stop eating that, you… this is bad!" Chrysalis used her magic to pick Twilight up and hold her upside down. "Cough it up now! It might not be too late!"
"What," Twilight couldn't help but cough, not with magic patting her on the back, "is going," she coughed more and gagged, "on-" finally she lost control, her body voiding.
Spike managed to grab the dreamling grub and got a bit away from the odd scene. His own honor warred with self-preservation, but he had somepony important to take care of. "Don't worry, little guy, I got you." He gave the grub a little squeeze.
"Twilight, where did you get this honey?" Chrysalis was in a blind panic, she put Twilight down and desperately tried to remove the mess. "Did you eat any before now?"
Still coughing and spluttering, Twilight was in no position to reply, but she did register a little fear that maybe something had gone wrong.
With things quieting down, Spike approached the two. "She has been eating it in everything for the last few days."
"Ugh… well…" Twilight looked at the passed-out changeling queen. "That was… Spike? What do we do?" She felt more than a little worried at the fact that their "Brave Queen" had passed out in a panic. "BRACED!"
Twilight's shout echoed through the hive, resounding off the walls in various caverns and echoing back at her. "Is she breathing? Is she okay? Oh… I have only ever seen Rarity do this before, and she always had her couch nearby."
"Princess?" Braced's wings were buzzing, pushing him as fast as they could. "What happened?" He looked for any danger and only saw a woozy unicorn, a baby dragon cuddling a small grub, and ten curiously large grubs swarming their mother to protect her.
"She freaked out over me eating a honey sandwich!" Twilight pointed at what remained of the sandwich. "I don't know what was wrong, why did she panic?"
Braced stared at Twilight a moment before blinking. "First thing first. Mom…" He leaned down and pressed his little horn to her huge one. A small jolt of magic was all it took for him to be almost thrown aside when Chrysalis jerked up.
"Twilight! Don't eat my honey!" Chrysalis blinked, then saw the results of the scene. "You ate it? How much? How long?" Her tone was growing frantic again.
"Stop!" Spike marched between Chrysalis and Twilight. "This is going too far. Queen Chrysalis, what is that honey-stuff?"
"Royal honey. I… I make it to feed my drones faster. But it shouldn't be eaten by ponies!" Chrysalis' tone evened out a little, then grew panicked again at the end. "How much-"
"Shhh!" Spike held up one claw to the Queen. "Twilight, where did you get that honey?"
Twilight blinked at her friend. "Tender Glow gave it to me, it was the honey she was feeding the eggs… with…" She stared at Chrysalis, her own panic starting to rise.
"Now, Queen Chrysalis, what does that honey do to ponies?" Spike held the finger up, trying to keep Twilight from talking now.
"It… it turns them into a changeling." Chrysalis' words caused everypony to freeze, herself included, but now she was explaining it she couldn't stop. "If you were a young filly, the change would be fast, rapid. Scootaloo changed in minutes."
"Scootaloo?!" Twilight was yanked from her stupor. "Wait, so she is a changeling? What is going to happen to me?"
"If you stop eating it…" Chrysalis looked to the side. "You shouldn't have had any, but if you stop now your body will still change, but… it will not be as perfect. You would burn up your own energy and love and wind up hollow. Y-You need to drink more, that is why you are craving it."
Parking her plot on the ground in shock, Twilight looked to Spike. "I am going to turn into a changeling?" She needed a hug more than anything, and Spike wasn't one to disappoint. She squeezed him tight and felt him hug back. A pair of tiny legs added to the hug and Twilight looked into the oddly cute little face of the dreamling. "At least I won't be alone."
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
"Let me through!" Flash Sentry tried to push his way through the guards at the entrance to the throne room. "It's important, I need to see the Princess!" He froze when the two guards he was struggling against burned with green fire. "What…?"
"Hold up, don't hurt him." Shining Armor thanked his lucky stars that he was wandering past. "Flash, good to see you, I think. What do you have to report?"
The familiar voice made Flash spin around. "I have to see Princess Celestia! Quick, this is important!" He spun back to the two changelings that were blocking him off. "The fate of Equestria depends on it!"
"Guys, let him through." Shining walked up and looked each drone in the eyes. "Flash wasn't here when our Queen took over. He doesn't know, I'll sort it out." He reached a hoof up to rest on the pegasus' shoulder. "Flash, things have changed since your squad left, things got… okay, Princess Celestia is still running civil matters, but we have a queen, Queen Chrysalis, to handle security. I… work under her."
"So Princess Celestia appointed somepony new to handle the Guard? That's great. I… I didn't feel right how she was doing things, she-" Flash stopped at the odd look on Shining's face. "What?"
"Queen Chrysalis tried helping, it didn't work. She took control, bested Princess Celestia." Shining saw surprise, shock, fear, and incredulity race over the other stallion's face. "So our first report is to Princess Celestia, but only so that we can wait to tell the Queen."
"Sir!" Both changelings guarding the doors to the throne room saluted Shining as their horns lit, opening the doors. "Sorry about the hard time," one of the pair continued, "things got a little mixed up. We were commanded to keep the throne room safe."
Once both stallions were inside, the doors closed behind them. "What are those things?" Flash tried to keep his voice down, but it carried a little too well in the huge hall.
"Those, are changelings." Princess Celestia looked at the new arrivals. "Flash Sentry, you were stationed-" She froze. If Celestia was any color but white, she would have blanched. "The north…"
"Yes, Your Highness!" Flash Sentry stepped forward a few paces and took his helmet off. "Captain Shining Armor gave me a little of a rundown. If you need me to fight you free, just tell me." His chest puffed out, his eyes roaming all the ponies in the room, judging their skills as a fighter.
"That will not be required, but your support is well meant." Princess Celestia took a deep breath, it felt good to have ponies that believed in her so much that they would risk everything—good, and wrong. "Please, Queen Chrysalis has made it abundantly clear that my choices in defending Equestria are not good ones. The Crystal Empire has returned, then?"
Flash felt the ball of adrenaline that his body had been ready to unleash push back down. "Your Highness, it has." He bowed to her. "What are your or-"
"Hold that, Flash. Princess Celestia doesn't handle that anymore." Shining heard a familiar clopping of hooves, two sets that he recognized. "Our Queen comes. Don't fear her, she… oh! You remember Chryssi?"
"Chryssi? Nerdette extreme? Played that silly InvasionMallet with you? Yeah." Flash looked a little confused, which matched his thoughts to a T.
"Flash Sentry, I haven't seen you since you tried to help Shining Armor beat me in our little games." Chrysalis buzzed her wings a little, smiling. "I hope you have gotten as good as he is at it."
"Your Majesty." Shining dipped his head, Chrysalis might be his friend still, but in the throne room she was Queen. "Flash Sentry was reporting news from the north."
"Chryssi?" Flash looked up and up, eyes wide at the changeling queen's differences from the young mare he had met, who had shared a house with one of his friends. "Err, Your Majesty?"
"Report, Flash. Then we can catch up." Chrysalis looked to Shining, then to Celestia. She froze when she saw the Princess' features.
"The Crystal Empire has returned. My squad… it was a fighting withdrawal." He looked between Chrysalis and Celestia. "The King is back."
"This King… Princess Celestia, what do we know of him and his 'empire'?" Chrysalis looked at Celestia, this was the first real test of her rule.
"King Sombra was… is, apparently, a master of shadow magic, a tyrant, a subjugator of ponies." Celestia felt real terror. Looking to the side of the throne, the crystal was still there. She lifted the glass lid, floated it out.
"Ex-excuse me." Twilight stepped up from beside Chrysalis, looking between the changeling queen and her former mentor, Celestia. "If I can help with this, whatever is going on, I will." The issue with honey and changeling… changes, slipped from Twilight's mind. "But first I must see my friends, and begging Your Majesty's pardon, I don't care if they will try to mob me."
"You will need honey to take with you." Chrysalis gave Celestia a look that was a question about the newest princess. What she got back was a slight nod. "And I will send a legion of my-"
Twilight cut in. "No, if it is okay with you, I will take Sweet Dreams." The dreamling grub poked their head out from Twilight's mane. "Sorry, but this can't wait. I… I can feel it is my destiny to go there, and that means it is my friends' destiny too."
Twilight Sparkle didn't wait for her brother, her princess, or her queen to reply, she turned and left. I am the only pony who can fix this. They made me a princess, I intend to act it!
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Twilight got off the train in Ponyville. The town seemed quiet, expectant. In her mane, Sweet Dreams seemed to have found a bit of mane and latched on, fast asleep. "Gentle, are you okay?" She reached out a hoof to the big drone at her side, the underling tilting their head up to snout the offered hoof.
"He really is a big softie." Spike, ever present in his place on Twilight's back, looked fondly at the big changeling.
"Oh, hi Twilight!" Derpy poked her head out of the mail-room of the station. "Welcome home-" She froze, staring at Twilight. "Um… Twilight?"
Walking closer to Derpy, Twilight indicated for Gentle Midnight to follow too. "What's the matter, Derpy?"
"You know they are hunting for changelings, and your… your friend there is…" Derpy shook all over, then took a deep breath. "Are you here to fix all this?" She looked at Twilight as if the unicorn was already an alicorn, and not just princess in name. "I really like Swift, I don't want him to get squished by Princess Luna…"
"I promise… Swift?" Twilight waited for a nod from Derpy, "Swift won't be squished. I should probably go, do you know where Princess Luna will be about now?"
"Oh yes. She is staying in your library." Derpy's face brightened. "Thank you Twilight, for coming back. I don't know what was going to happen if Scoo-" Freezing, Derpy looked scared and covered her snout with both forehooves. "I didn't say it!"
This has been an interesting story overall, a different and somewhat interesting take on the changeling invasion. One that is rather plausible. It was amusing seeing Shining and Cadance in on things, although the bit with Luna and Ponyville has seemed to take some time to potentially start on the path towards being resolved. This latest chapter seems to be starting to address that.
However, the only thing that rankles me, personally, is the concept of changelings converting ponies to their own species. It's never made any sense from a logical or survival standpoint. A species dependent on another would want to avoid conversion on any scale. So, Scootaloo was... eh. It was a twist on the Scootadoption schemes I suppose. Twilight, though... not really enjoying that bit of things.
Great story, but I just personally cannot agree with that view you've presented there. While it makes one wonder just how will things play out in terms of Twilight's ascension (should such a thing even still come to pass) I just don't like it.
oh my Twi is becoming a Changeling..... bet Luna will flip out when she finds out either by Twilight telling her or Luna finds out another way.
on the bright side Twilight can find new ways to experiment with new powers she will get
Called it! Now, here's to hoping Twilight doesn't drop the reveal too... Eh, who are we kidding, she'll be found out almost instantly, huh?
The Empire came quick, didn't expect that. First chance to prove the new government's capability?
To Celestia: are you upset this wasn't how you wanted to test Twilight?
Keep going! ;)
7823451 OF this i vastly agree
This is going to complicate things. Maybe that other changeling didn't know of those effects?
'Fist thing first' - should be first.
To Queen Chrysalis: Now that a new villain seems to have appeared, what are your plans? I know Twilight said she wants to handle it, but isn't that situation pretty much what your takeover was supposed to prevent in the first place? I'm not saying you shouldn't send her and her friends, but some extra support would probably be nice, depending on how you think they should best handle it.
(Love the chapter, by the way, but looking forward even more to the confrontation between Twilight and her friends and Luna. Also, I think one or two lines are missing in this chapter, the part where Chryssi actually faints.)
7823451
7823680 It is not planned to be "zap and done." Scootaloo was a growing pony, a lot less of her destiny was already planned out for her. Twilight is a mare-grown. She is not a blank-flank. She had her future building up like bricks and mortar.
7823804 That's not what I disagree with, Damaged. It's not your take on it that irks me, it's anyone who pulls the 'Changelings can convert ponies into other changelings' that really bugs the hell out of me. It makes no sense at all, logically or any other method, for a species reliant on its 'food' to convert their food to more of their own species, thus requiring more food. I mean, it seems to be something that, in theory, could only be done on purpose, but your use of it, coupled with Twilight here in this chapter, left a particularly poor taste in my mouth. That's what I meant. Whether it eventually affects her or not (you make it sound like it's inevitable from this chapter) isn't the case, it's the simple fact that it's happening at all.
Now, it might not be the fairest bit of criticism I'm tossing out here, since the concept itself is what I have issue with, and you're definitely far from the first to use it. But, it bugs me enough to state something now that a major player has [apparently] been hit with it. Besides this one bit, the rest of the story has been phenomenal.
7823854 The headcanon I have regarding this process is:
It is used for a few reasons.
First and foremost, to get a foothold (hoofhold?) into a pony area where a regular infiltrator just wouldn't be enough. Convert one of the locals, have them betray their friends.
Second, it makes a superior changeling. Smart, and very capable, the 'ling has all the intelligence the pony had, and can make the important "royal honey."
Third, they make good companions for a newly hatched queen. They can produce the food they need, and can teach them much about the pony world outside of their (normally limited to the nest) immediate location.
Whether used as a reward for a pony sympathizer, or as an aggressive way to "crack a nut," this "changeling princess" process is not typically common (usually).
7823854 Not to be a dick, but your argument is terrible. Saying that if (by whatever means) changelings could convert other entities into changelings, that they would not because they would then need more food as a community, is not a valid argument due to the way how living organisms behave. If your logic was sound, humans would never reproduce, because making children would mean that the community needs more food. In fact making children is WORSE then reproduction via converting an adult organism, because the child sucks away the productivity of at least one adult member of the community, reducing the community's capabilities until the child is raised. The food the child consumes is also not invested back into the community, whereas a converted changeling could immanently 'repay' the community for the food given to it by whatever work it can do.
In short, the fact that raising children is a drain on society that only pays off in 16-18 years doesn't stop humans from spawning children. There is no reason to assume that changelings would choose to forgo raising children in favor of converting adult organisms, since a converted adult would imminently be worth their food ration in labor provided while a child would be a liability in many ways. If anything, conversion as a means of reproduction is far superior to sexual reproduction.
First (Freudian)
So Twilight's gonna be a changeling now...
First off, the changeling who gave Twilight all this honey? He or she needs to be slapped. Through a wall. This was a dangerously stupid act of ignorance, and if it was malicious they should be looking at prison time in Tartarus with everyone's favorite demonic centaur. This could easily have screwed up Changeling/Equestrian relationships or worse.
Secondly, from a story perspective I'm wondering what's the point of Twilight being converted to a changeling, similar to Scootaloo being converted to a changeling. I still don't get why-well, Scootaloo got a family out of it that's always in her head more or less, but the casualness with which it happened still bugs me and Scootaloo could just as easily have been adopted in a more traditional sense instead of changing her species. Twilight, well too early to say much, but I'm just wondering if there's going to be much of a point to her transformation.
7824377
heh heh... BUGS
7823871 7823868
Had a long winded comment typed up, looked it over, wasn't happy with it. So, a brief thing to hit the points, as it's Damaged's story, and he will do what he wants. My opinion is such that this story does not need a 'Twilight becomes a changeling' when it already has so much content to pull from, and it drops my hopes for the story by quite a lot. It's going to distract from the primary plot, and opens the door for so many more distractions down the road. And, I personally loathe the 'Twilight converted to changeling' approach, having only seen one time it was handled well, the rest sucked. Immensely. So, there's my heavily biased reasoning, that somewhat ignores Damaged's writing skill, and somewhat is based on what the story already had going for it.
7824576 I can agree with you there, this could derail the story a bit (But I think Damaged can pull it off. She's pritty good.) but the concept of changing an adult organism into a changeling in and of itself is logically consistent.
7824700
So much drama over Twilight's potential conversion! Oh wait, that's why there's a [DRAMA] tag...
Makes me wonder why Luna isn't a changeling. Wasn't she captured the first time Changelings tried an invasion? Why not forcibly convert her (she only has to consume it) and reduce the number of alicorns to deal with to one? It makes the Changelings seem more like vampires than parasites, and it'd be all too easy for a runaway scenario of conversions like some end-of-the-world vampire movie.
Then again, this is Equestria. Who's to say that if the Elements are used (rather than exploding Sombra with an overcharged Crystal Heart) they wouldn't also purge Twilight of the "disharmony" brought on by the royal changeling honey? The reasoning being that her natural state is unicorn, not bugpone. I'd also be highly interested to see what a rainbow to the face would do to Sombra who's leaking Dark Magic all over the place. A reformed and much more humble unicorn Sombra perhaps? Or maybe "release" him to the afterlife because the Dark Magic's eaten up everything but his tormented soul?
p.s. The Princess of Food- er, Love may want to prepare the Crystal Empire for an influx of lovedrunk changelings. (Hmm, would that make the Empire the Changeling version of Amsterdam where they can partake of nearly addictive levels of love? Mmm, 'special' brownies!)
7831666
Conversion doesn't automatically mean loyalty, and in this case would result in a very powerful changeling princess. The kind of queen that attacked the first time would never risk creating such a rival.
You think that's bad on it's own; how will Luna react?
7831666 Mmm Special Indeed...quicklol.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/not-sure-if-seeing-things-or-eat-this-brownie-meme.jpg
PS: Look around the Picture, You'll find something Special about the backdrop :)
IT BEGINS.
Chryssi took over so Twilight wouldn't have to handle everything. And Twi's handling everything anyways. Absolute failure.
9171909 Hindsight is 20/10.