On a mission
Looking over the gear, Shining Armor started with the saddle bags. Picking them up in his pink magic, he checked the contents. Nothing yet, of course. First came the two vials that were on the bench beside him, each with a grimy label on them—one green, one red. "Life." He checked the stoppers, it wasn't hard considering the smell the concoctions within put off. Bundling up the vials carefully—using the pillowcase from his bed—he worked them down inside the bags.
"So clever, a disguise and distress alarm in one." Shining's magic played over the dark-colored glasses, folding them closed and slipping them in so the lenses were pressed to the pillowcase in the pack. "Not that they will scuff," he commented, to nopony in particular. The other side of his pack got the headphones, big and bulky, they caused the pack to bulge heavily.
"Are you done, Shiny?" Cadance found her future husband working on his gear. "You can't let somepony else do this." They both knew it wasn't a question, it was a statement she had learned Shining Armor treated as his personal code of honor. "I love you, Shining Armor."
Spinning around at those three important words, Shining rushed toward Cadance and pressed his cheek to hers. "I love you too, Mi Amore Cadenza, the Cadance of my heart." He closed his eyes just to feel her.
"Shiny, you know it isn't…" Cadance leaned her cheek more solidly against his. "You are packed and ready?" She drew back, lips brushing his own.
"Yeah, the night is young, I plan to fill it with life." Shining floated his saddle-bag and cloak over, fitting the former to his back, and draping the latter over himself. "Come on down to the courtyard and give me a proper goodbye." Shining walked past his fiancee, but heard her hoofsteps hurry so she could walk beside him.
In silence the betrothed made it into the warm night, stopping at the gate to face one-another. "You are the best, you know that?" With his head pressed to the side of the alicorn he loved, Shining's throat was thick with emotion.
"And you have to do this." Cadance wasn't wearing a cloak, wasn't wearing anything to hide her nature from the guards or anypony who might wander past the courtyard of Canterlot Castle. She stood with her shoulders slightly slumped. "When will you be back? Is this a long one?"
"Don't worry, I will be done before the wedding." It was easy for Shining to make a joke, it was definitely better than crying. "Tell me again why I am doing this?" The tears came anyway. 'Silly colt, brave stallions don't cry. You aren't even going to be gone long, if all goes to plan.'
"Because there must always be somepony to stand between the good ponies, and the things that mean them harm. Because of everypony you know, you would put yourself forward, first, every single time." Cadance sighed. "Because you wouldn't be who you are unless you did this."
"Thank you, of all of those reasons, the last is the one I needed. I promise not to be any longer than I need to be, I will not be late for our wedding." Shining drew back, reluctantly. A part of him had to go out, had to do this; the other part of him wanted to follow Cadance back in and stand guard over her, and just her.
"If it wasn't for this Yakyakistan delegation I would be out there with you, but one of us has to be here for it." Cadance had her turn, smaller tears than her coltfriend, but no less demanding in their need to be loosed.
"Cheer up, Cadie, when I get back, we are going to get married." Shining kissed the mare's cheeks, stealing her tears away in each salty nuzzle. "I'll meet in the usual place, the usual stuff, you know what happens."
"I do." Cadance barely got the words out than she felt Shining's lips, still a little off-taste with her tears, press to her lips. She melted into the kiss, the big stallion before her easily taking her heart.
Shining was hungry, for the love of his fillyfriend, for the life she represented, for the entirety of him that she loved and accepted. He had to end the kiss, he knew that if given her way that Cadance would keep kissing him all night. Drawing back slowly, memorizing the taste of her lips, tongue, and mouth, he gave her snout one last little peck. "Those are the only two words I want to hear from you, Mi Amore Cadenza, my love."
Cadance knew well his game, knew he meant every word too. "Go you over-sentimental colt. Be the hero you need to be."
Staying to stare at Cadance, to commit her shape, color, and her eyes to memory, Shining gave a little braying sound like a colt and turned, galloping off into the evening.
Watching her love go, carrying himself away, Cadance sighed. "Be safe, my hero." She turned, her own plodding steps carrying her away from him even faster.
Shining hated the strain of leaving Cadance behind him, but there was something wild growing inside, let out from the shackles it normally called its domain. He gave another loud, inarticulate sound of joy as he ran through the streets of Canterlot. Normally there would be the first of the night-owls, or the vendors who would cater to them, but not tonight. The streets he ran through were empty, and Shining knew why. "She's performing tonight."
Slowing at last, Shining dropped from gallop to canter, then down to trot and finally he walked the last few dozen steps, heart beating wildly. The house was nondescript, in an average neighborhood, in a quiet part of Canterlot. He walked right up to the door and knocked twice, then five times, then just once. When the door opened he slipped inside and barely had the door closed before he was wrapped in a mare's dark forelegs. "Tavi, chill until I change."
"You don't need to change, Shining Armor." Octavia squeezed a little more and pressed herself against him. "You are perfect no matter how you look."
With the mare attached like a limpet, Shining shook his head. "Right, but you know I don't feel comfortable hugging so much… not as Shining. Shining Armor doesn't hug a mare who isn't his fillyfriend." He floated his cloak and pack off, setting the latter on the table. "You aren't going to let go?"
"Shining Armor, needs to lighten up." Octavia let go at last, dropping back to all fours. "Well? I want my hug."
He pulled the pack open, and Shining fished out the first vial, the dark liquid inside eating the light that fell on it. "I hate the taste, I really wish they could improve that." He pulled the stopper off the vial and gulped the contents down. Just like every time he tried to stop the horrid stuff from touching his tongue, but just like every time, he failed. "Gah, I think they are actually making that worse!"
Octavia watched Shining intently. She noted all the heavy lines, the sheer bulk of a stallion in his prime. She studied the angles of his snout, the shortness of his mane. Then the potion started to work. 'It's happening.' Before her eyes all the points she had just picked out, the obvious markers of a stallion, faded. Shining seemed to shrink, the heavy build melting down, his face softening and reducing to that of a young mare. His mane extended somewhat, tail too. Even the feathering on the stallion's fetlocks lengthened and smoothed.
"Shining Armor doesn't give hugs like that." Shining's voice was different, lighter. "But Vinyl Scratch? Vinyl gives hugs." The last shackles of "Shining Armor the Royal Guard" sloughed off Vinyl's personality. She tossed her mane and reached into her pack for her trademark glasses, barely getting them and her cans on before almost being bowled over by the same dark mare, giving the same hug that hadn’t shifted Shining Armor one bit. "There's my Tavi."
If a pony could purr, Octavia Melody would have. She clung tightly to Vinyl Scratch, pressed herself to her as fully as she could and not have to explain very complex things to her friend's future wife. "Vinyl, welcome back."
Vinyl reached out with her magic, lifting the big glass of dark juice over and gulping it down. "Shining might drink the potion, but I am cursed to taste it. At least the other one is just as bad." She savored the strong taste of the drink, coating her tongue in sweetness. She already had one foreleg wrapped around Octavia. "How were things at the venue?"
"You know it is packed. They were climbing up the walls until the warm-up group took the stage. You best hurry, you don't want to keep your fans waiting." Octavia finally let go of the hug. "I will never forget what Shining Armor and Vinyl Scratch did for me. I would still be… with my family, if it weren't for you."
"Hold on." Vinyl made sure everything was put down and pulled Octavia—with both forelegs—into a deeper hug. "You help give me a reason to keep doing this, you know? How was your concert?"
"You know I suck." Octavia was not going to give up the chance to hug Vinyl, so clung tight to the other mare. "But I am getting better. Some ponies might even pay to see me one day."
"Liar, I have heard you play." Vinyl knew this was taking too long, that she would be late. 'Shining Armor wouldn't be late, not now, not ever.' Vinyl gave a laugh, and hugged the other mare a little more. "I should leave eventually, much as this would be a lovely way to spend the night."
"You flirt, you are engaged to the most beautiful mare in the whole of Equestria, an alicorn, and you still say you would hug me all night?" Octavia pulled out of the hug first, giggling. "Don't stop though."
Vinyl spread her smile wide under her shades. A twitch of her eyebrow and the enchantments in the glasses fired up, first flicking through distress beacon, then to a "keep back" warning, and finally disengaging all the features. "See you on the train, Tavi."
Octavia watched Vinyl Scratch slip from the room, her glasses down as her own shield against the world. Not for the first time did her heart skip a beat at seeing her go out into the night. "You are being silly, Octavia," she said, once the door was closed.
The night was alive to Vinyl. Her world wasn't far away, but her ears already swiveled to pick up the sounds of ponies vying to get into a nightclub, the short blasts of music from within as they passed the doors. She was Vinyl Scratch, a lesser artist might use the back entrance, but she walked right up to the back of the queue to get in. "Hey, I hear there is going to be a kick-plot act on tonight?"
"Yeah, DJ Po-" The stallion at the back of the line turned to see who the new arrival was and froze. "D-D-D…" His eyes were wide and it was clear he couldn't finish her show-name.
"Mmm, somepony a little more articulate. This your filly-friend?" Vinyl poked the next pony on the flank. "Hey, how're you going?"
"DJ Pon3?" The mare started bouncing.
"Perfect. Both of you, I need an escort." Vinyl looked between the apparent couple and started walking past the queue. 'The mare was quick on the uptake, her coltfriend recovered fast. This is great.' She reached the front of the line and gave the security a wink. 'Gotta make a fan's night, even if it is one night.' "Hey, we're comin' through!"
The guards knew her style and opened the doors not only for her, but the two random ponies she had grabbed up from the back of the line. The moment the doors opened, Vinyl's real life hit her square in the face.
"YOUR QUEEN IS HERE!" Vinyl shouted the words, and felt the bass drop from the warm-up act—they had timed it perfectly.
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Vinyl slipped out the back door of the club, her heart-rate still not dropping after a six hour set. She bobbed her head, her headphones hanging around her neck, but she knew when the stallion came up from behind her.
"A friend in need…"
"Is a friend indeed." Vinyl finished the code phrase. "Two ponies were in back, cutie marks like bags of bits, probably fake. White coat with a blonde mane, green coat with a violet mane. Don't hesitate with them, I saw them selling the stuff." She tilted her head, looking up at the stoic-looking stallion. 'Why did they send Flash?' "Nothing on the real targets, Canterlot seems quiet… relatively so." She didn't wait any longer, pushing her headphones up and sinking herself back into her music.
The walk to the station wasn't far, shorter still with her thoughts tracing over what had happened in the club. 'I just wish I could put on my shows and not look for ponies like that.' The station was in sight, the last train out waiting on the platform, Vinyl flicked her headphones off and could hear a mare's raised voice, arguing. "I am always late, she knows that."
Octavia's voice was raised, as was her pulse—the train should have left minutes ago. "You don't have to wait long, she will be here-"
The conductor checked his watch again and frowned. "We have to leave. If your friend isn-"
"Vinyl!" Octavia rushed forward and hugged the white unicorn. "You're late!" The tone was accusing, but she knew her friend too well to not smile as well. "Come on the train needs to leave."
'Few ponies can make Vinyl Scratch hurry up, but you, Tavi, are one.' Vinyl was pulled toward the train and Octavia bulldozed her way to their seats. "What's the rush?" Vinyl was pushed into a seat, her eyes spotting their luggage.
Octavia fell down beside Vinyl, leaning against her friend. With the train car empty apart from them, she spoke without looking at the unicorn. "How long is this one for? Remember, you have a wedding coming up."
"This one lasts a month, no more." Vinyl disliked treating this as a mission, it was her life, and the only time she got to really feel herself. "I am going to sleep in so long tomorrow, it is expected after all." She turned her head and rested it atop Octavia's withers.
The train trip was short, mercifully so. When the call came for Ponyville station Vinyl lifted her head and shook some of her tiredness free. "Tavi? Tavi?" She gently shook her friend. "We are home."
Octavia was a little disorientated at first, jerking up and making ready to fend off an attacker. The soft voice of Vinyl stalled any violence, plastering a smile on her lips. "I'll head straight home, can you manage the bags?"
"Leave me to handle all the heavy lifting?" Vinyl puffed some air out the corner of her mouth, blowing some of her mane away. "And here you did all the resting so far." Her magic already grabbed the bags, including the saddle bag with the potion in it. "Warm my bed up, will you?"
"Vinyl Scratch, have you finally decided on a darker shade of mare?" Octavia loved teasing, tempting, and other words ending in "ing." She gave Vinyl a view of her profile on the platform, batting her eyelashes.
'Shining Armor wouldn't be able to deal with this without getting flustered.' Vinyl loved it when she could pull the pole out of her plot and just relax. "Depends, I like my mares exotic."
Octavia laughed and set off at a gallop, heading across Ponyville for their home.
'He would also not stare at her plot quite so long.' Vinyl adjusting how her magic had a grip on the bags and started to walk home. Behind her, the train's whistle sounded and the big locomotive began pulling the mostly empty train off into the darkness of Princess Luna's night.
A glint of white from the corner of her eye got Vinyl's attention, she turned and stopped. 'And of course something would be going on in Ponyville, when all the guards are watching the big cities.' "Hey! Hey there. What are you-" She cut off, seeing the oddly familiar ponies carrying a small yellow earth pony with a red bow in their mane. "Put her down, you are all-"
"This is nothing to worry about." Shining Armor strode out from where the townsponies were headed to. "This is official Royal Guard business. Please move along."
Vinyl blinked, confusion plastered all over her face, but mostly hidden by her shades. "S-Shining Armor?" She looked up, not realizing just how bigger the stallion really was than her. "What are you doing here?"
"Official business for the Princess!" Shining Armor stood straight and proud, his form having hidden most of the things behind him from Vinyl's view.
Her eyes narrowing, Vinyl started picking out the little details that were wrong. "Shining Armor had an accident with a spear last week and is missing some fur off his left-rear fetlock. He also has slightly duller highlights, and I am pretty sure his eyes are a little closer together." She could see more, but figured those were enough. "Good illusion, though." Her horn lit.
Eyes widening, the false Shining Armor started to take a step forward when a flat rock, wrapped in light-blue magic slammed into the side of his head.
"What the…" Vinyl stared in shock as the big, white stallion before her burned with green fire, revealing something vaguely pony like. "Okay, I wasn't on anything tonight except my music, and even I think you look freaky. Some kind of bug pony?" She hefted the rock in her magic, rejudging its weight, and stepped past the unconscious thing.
"Did you chase off the pony?" Twilight Sparkle looked Vinyl right in the eyes. "And why did you take on their disguise?"
Vinyl started to bring the rock up, but the image of her little sister was a tough one to attack. A weight landed on her back before her magic brought the stone in on the next of the strange creatures, she fell sideways with the weight on her back and tried to turn to see what it was.
"Guess we take four." Twilight shrugged and watched as the bug-like creature clung to the pony's back.
"Get off me!" Vinyl tried to make some noise, her voice rising in the hope that the real Ponyvillians might come to her aid. Sharp spikes touched the back of her neck and she froze in fear, only for the spikes to push into her. Burning heat erupted when the thing on her back bit her, she knew it wasn't the wound itself, but even as things started to get blurry, she fought. 'Gotta… trigger...'
Looking down at the limp white unicorn, Twilight Sparkle glared at the bug creature. "Put your disguise back on and bring her too.
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
The world felt bad for Vinyl, she tried to open her eyes and instantly regretted it. There wasn't a lot of light, but without her glasses on she was blinded by the little spark of daylight that seemed so far away. "Hey… where-" She stopped and gasped, deep inside, her body protested something and she felt a retching spasm empty her stomach onto the floor.
When at last Vinyl couldn't void any further, she dared to open her eyes again. "What… where am I?" Something secured her hooves together, all four covered in something that stuck them tightly. Next, despite her brain-numbing headache, she tried to use her magic. Pouring power into her horn, she felt every bit of it fizzle. 'You idiot Vinyl, you found who is foalnapping everypony.'
Movement—just past the tip of her snout—caught Vinyl's attention. The thing only looked like a hoofball; a hoofball didn't glow green, it wasn't just transparent enough to reveal a squirming grub inside, and it definitely didn't contain any strange grubs.
"H-Help!" Vinyl marshaled her stinging, sore throat. "Help me, somepony!" It hurt to yell, with the burning bile still in her throat. She closed her snout and whimpered when the egg suddenly ripped itself open on one side, as if her yelling had triggered it. Her eyes widened at the black and green, slimy grub squeezed out, lifting its head blindly as if sniffing the air.
Vinyl didn't blink, didn't move, and didn't breathe. It seemed to be searching for something, and she had a terrible sickness in her stomach that she was its intended target. A tickling started in her throat, a burning from the bile getting worse and worse until she snorted a breath out. It moved like a caterpillar, squirming and pushing, dragging itself closer to her, opening its mouth and gnashing sharp-looking teeth.
The only thing Vinyl could think to do was crush it with her weight. Rolling back a little, she shifted her mass as best she could, waiting for it to come closer before rolling back. Slamming down on the grub, Vinyl tried to press her shoulder down onto it, but just as her weight started to press down solidly, there was a sharp stab of pain. Her eyes flew open as its bite came again, but the second time brought no pain at all.
"Get it off me!" Vinyl thrashed, the thing at her shoulder feeling like it bit again and again, but worse than that was the sensation of it pushing into her. Whimpering, she couldn't feel it bite anymore, but it was certainly moving around inside her body. She angled herself to look at her bloody shoulder, seeing the grub's tail disappear into a neat hole it had opened.
She didn't care what bones she might break, she didn't care if she hurt herself, the fat grub moving inside Vinyl felt so wrong that every part of her rebelled at the invasion of her body. Her eyes widened when she felt it move up through the cavity of her body, slowing its movement when it reached a spot just into her neck, under her spine.
A tingle of pain came, then stopped. Vinyl knew they clearly had some kind of venom. 'Is this how those things grow? They plant their foals inside a pony and they… eat…' Vinyl stiffened in fear when she felt an odd chill flood her body.
Spotting that red bow again—now her eyes were better adjusted to the dark—Vinyl was struggling to fight off the darkness settling in around her. 'This… this isn't normal… I shouldn't be tired… I… I should…' Vinyl gave a soft whimper as she closed her eyes, darkness pushing down around her, and despite her struggles, pulling her mind into a soft embrace.
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This one bears the weight of some odd tags. AU is going to be quite obvious, once you read the first chapter. Being a Teen rated story, the Gore tag must be present for the body-horror-esque scene. Horror is going to be a thing, and Dark it shall become. The CMC? Oh you had better believe they are going to be involved, that wasn't just a random bow.
Welcome aboard for another weekly ride!
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The ride never ends
I'm the commissioner for this story. Several things influenced this story, but I can't talk about them without spoiling since of the directions this will go.
It's a rather complicated piece that will swing between slice of life antics and some rather dark, depressing, and dramatic moments. Anything involving changelings tends to be rather serious, and I hope this story will take a stab at exploring some slice of life moments instead of relying on contrivances like a hivemind or instincts.
That said, it won't be a very dark story, just have a few dark moments to set the stage for the real shenanigans to follow.
7830724 Indeed, if this was a mature rated fic, I wouldn't even have used the dark and gore tags.
Wow! This is awesome thus far. You've got me hooked.
I like ovaposation stories, but I have a had time imagining that Shining Armor would have the time to have a second identity as a DJ mare, it would need a lot of explanation of how it started. Still I am looking forward to see what will happen next. If they are used a Broodmares I would imagine that they would be constantly fatten up to make sure that the eggs get all the nutritions they need.
7831203 His/her backstory will be revealed during the story as it progresses. This is pre-wedding, so Shining hasn't had too many official duties yet, and none so far as the Crystal Empire are concerned. The story is rated Teen, with no sex tag, so there will be no shenanigans with brood mares or such. The life-cycle of these changelings is an odd one, but often insects do have strange and (to some) horrifying stages of development.
The strangest egg laying scene? You have our attention!
Ohhh, we think we see what you mean.
To Shining: where's Vinyl!? What did you do to her?
Keep going! ;)
Oh, this is going to be goooood
goodbye
dǝʎ 'ɹǝɥʇouɐ oʇ ǝıssnɐ ǝuo ɯoɹɟ
So Shining is some sort of secret agent or something? If so when Vinyl Scratch don't actually exist, it's just a cover?
Did Cadence know about Vinyl?
Wait, what? Im so confused.
7958043 Vinyl is Shining's alter ego. Less a cover and more another side of himself.
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Oh god ITS ALIEN ALL OVER AGAIN!
GET ME A FLAMETHROWER!
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It reminds me of Alien
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😏