Once Bitten

by Damaged

Arrival Mk1

"Shining Armor, can I speak with you while we walk?" Thorax smiled at the nymph, but with their exodus in progress she needed to get some vital information.

"Of course." Shining trotted a little faster to catch up with Thorax, and fell in beside the queen. "What's the matter?" She had gotten the knack of bracing the egg on her back with her little wings—all of the nymphs had.

Thorax felt markedly relieved to have a former pony she knew was strategically-minded to lean on. "Where should we go? I don't think marching into Canterlot, and right up to Princess Celestia would be wise; Chrysalis is sure to have spies in place."

"Yeah, I was going to ask you about this." Shining walked beside her queen with confidence, but she still felt terrified for her fiancee. "I have a house in Ponyville, where I lived with a friend as Vinyl. It won't fit all of us in, but it is a start."

"We could build a hive there, dig down." Thorax tapped her chin with a hoof. "But I see your reasoning. Close to Canterlot, but not too close. We could get information about Canterlot from travelers."

"And we can meet up with Princess Celestia's personal student… her latest one." Shining felt obliged to add the bit on the end, knowing that Thorax shared Sunset's memories about the alicorn. "Twily is an amazing unicorn, and her friends will help us."

"She is family?" Thorax felt an instant pang of worry.

"She is my sister, and if anypony could get us a message to Princess Celestia, without anyling getting their hooves on it, it would be her." Spike, of course, was exactly who Shining was thinking of. "So let's go to Ponyville, and plan further from there."

~~~~~+++++~~~~~

By the time Shining could see the clock tower spire of Ponyville, their group was near starving—except for Thorax. Shining kept pace at the back, with Scythe, and learned more respect for the odd changeling. Their eggs had grown, now just a little bigger than their torsos, the mass of them made each of the nymphs perk up at nearly reaching their destination.

"I can almost smell the love from here." Scythe adjusted her load of two eggs. "I don't know as I have the energy to shapechange." Shaking her head, she kept her hooves moving.

"Well, if I know the ponies of Ponyville, I expect them to be shocked at first, maybe in a panic, but they won't hate us." Shining hoped her words were true. "I should talk to Thorax about how to approach this." Increasing her pace, Shining Armor walked past the strung out line of nymphs to the front. The closer she got to the queen, the less her fatigue worried her. "You are making this easier for them? For us?"

"I am doing what I can to get everybuggy there alive." Thorax returned to gritting her teeth. "But I am very glad to see the town, we would not have made it to Canterlot."

"About that," Shining fell in beside Thorax, "we don't really have any time or leisure to handle this any way but directly. We have to contact Twilight Sparkle as quickly as possible, and beg ponies to let us feed."

"What's that?!" The shout of a pony from ahead was the beginning of their entry back into pony society.

"They look like monsters!"

"Monsters with their foals?"

Thorax liked the tone of the last question better than all the rest. "Hi, we need to find Twilight Sparkle." Her eyes flicked back to Shining. "It is vitally important we see her."

More ponies approached the little group of changelings, none of whom had seen such creatures before. Among them were ponies that had been waiting for a train. "And who would you be?" Octavia Melody normally liked to hang in the back of any group, but with the gathering ponies around her, her voice would be lost into the crowd.

Shining's ears twitched. Even the weariness of the long days of marching didn't stop her from identifying the tone, but more importantly the accent, of that voice. " 'Tavi?" She looked among the ponies, and saw only one dark-toned mare. "Octavia!"

Avoiding cursing by a hair's breadth, Octavia looked at the foal-like nymph who called her name. Under her breath, she muttered dire consequences to herself. "That is I." She worked her way through her fellow ponies until she was standing at the edge, facing the odd little creature. "And who might I be addressing?"

"V-Vinny. Vinyl Scratch." Shining glanced aside at the crowd, and avoided using her other name. "I went missing a while ago."

"You're not Vinyl, she is already in Canterlot, getting ready for the wedding reception." Octavia narrowed her eyes at the little creature. "Let's start again. Who are you?"

Shining stepped forward and lifted her head as far as she could, obviously offering to whisper something. Thankfully, Octavia leaned down to listen. "Shining Armor, and Vinyl Scratch. The pony who was living with you was an impostor."

The bottom fell out of Octavia's world. Her eyes widened and she stared past the nymph, and started shaking. "She… she is… and you are… what is going on?"

"It's a long story, 'Tavi." Shining blew out a breath, but she could taste something among the fear. As she looked up at Octavia, Shining felt like a shark in blood-infested water. " 'Tavi, you would let me feed on you if… if it didn't hurt?"

"This isn't that stupid 'vampony' thing again, Vinny?" Octavia saw the seriousness in Shining's odd eyes. "Of course I would, I owe you my life." A little chill passed through her, and as she watched, the nymph visibly straightened, hefting the big egg on their back much easier.

"You really are the best, 'Tavi. But right now a lot of us are on the verge of passing out from hunger." Shining hadn't been paying attention to Thorax or the rest of the pail, but now that she felt more aware of the situation she spotted McIntosh Apple with three excited nymphs bouncing around his legs.

Big Mac was suspicious, until one of the little nymphs had spoken words that nopony but his immediate family would know. He narrowed his eyes, and mentally prepared himself for a more advanced reply than "eeyup" and "nnnope" could handle. "I don't know how you know that, apart from being kin. Nopony in town knows ma and pa's names. So, if you are my little sister, and these-here are your friends, who are they?" He aimed a hoof at three fillies who were staring in shock at the pail of changelings.

Sky Soar caught enough love from the big stallion—and what few of the ponies thought the nymphs were cute enough to adore—and sprung into action. Flickering with fire, he leapt into the air and angled down tight behind the three obvious changelings. "Don't even try."

Scythe landed opposite her teacher in the art of combat, and glared at the three infiltrators. "What he said. You aren't going anywhere."

"Why are you all out of your disguises? You will ruin everything!" Wanderlust looked from one of the changelings accosting them to the other. "Oh by the Queen's eggs, this is all over!" She dropped her own disguise—Apple Bloom—just as another changeling from the group came closer. She noticed that one of her attackers backed off as the biggest drone she had ever seen walked right up to her.

"Doppelgangers. Infiltrators. You have been working well at this." Thorax smiled a little. "But your duty is done. She sent a wave of emotion at them; sorrow and comfort was the meal she radiated with her pheromones. The other two disguised infiltrators dropped their disguise in shock.

"You… you can't be!" Selenia looked up at Thorax. "This isn't possible! There aren't any queens but Chrysalis!" He tried to take a step back, but something about the young queen was urging him to stay close. "What…" Staring up at Thorax, the changeling drone who had been disguised as Scootaloo could only focus on one thing.

Shining looked from the action back to Octavia. "Things got complicated. That Vinyl Scratch who went to Canterlot is a changeling working for a rival queen, and she is going to attack my…" Freezing, Shining leaned in close to Octavia again, and waited for the mare's ear to come close. "… my wedding."

"You need to get there fast, then." Octavia pointed up at the city in question, far off in the distance. "Because the royal wedding is tomorrow."

"What?!" Shining shook with fury. "Then we need to go there as quickly as possible. Queen Thorax!" She stomped away to find the changeling in question, only to realize she had applied a title to Thorax, albeit a fitting one. "Queen Thorax. We need to go to Canterlot as quickly as possible. The wedding is tomorrow, and we—"

Thorax shook her head, forestalling further demands. "Not today, there is something very important that has to happen today, before you return to Canterlot." She lifted a hoof and pointed to the opening egg on Shining's back. "Your sister is about to hatch."

Using her magic, Shining lifted the big egg from her back and sat it carefully on the grass. Other nymphs approached Thorax, setting their eggs down too. "Vinyl is—"

"She is coming. Are you ready to meet her?" Thorax reached up and stroked the crest of Selenia, the formerly hostile changeling drone now relaxed and nuzzled in at his new queen's side.

Not trusting the three infiltrators a smidgen, Scythe had quickly disguised as an earth pony stallion when they lost sigh of her. Walking casually around, just outside what she considered Thorax's "control area," she waited for what she knew was coming.

Wanderlust had edged as far away from the "impostor-queen" as she could, and knew one of the rival changelings was keeping an eye on her. Further and further she inched, until she knew that she could do what was needed. "This is mad, I am going to warn Queen Chrysalis!" Shapechanging to a pegasus form, she beat her wings quickly.

Sky Soar spotted the changeling trying to escape, and was after them like a shot. With his diligence now rewarded with response speed, he was soon catching up on the other changeling.

Harsh Buzz watched her sister fly for all she was worth, and watched as the traitorous changeling caught her. "Thank you, I will not forget you." Turning, she called her own fire and took off, silently, in the opposite direction.

"No you don't. I might not want to be in her hive, but you will not ruin Thorax's chances of fixing all this!" Scythe was on the second changeling, grabbing their body and twisting to slam them to the ground.

"This is madness. You know what Queen Chrysalis will do to us all when she finds out about this; I will get squished just for being in the same town as you misfits!" Harsh Buzz kicked and shoved, bucking Scythe off her back at just the right moment to be free of them. Flinging herself away again, she was smothered by a very large pony.

"Nnnope." Big Mac held the strange creature down by dint of sitting on them, and though he wasn't sure about the whole situation, he was sure that one of the little creatures was definitely his little sister, and this one was trying to go against Apple Bloom's friends.

Scythe sauntered up to where Harsh Buzz was pinned. In the back of her mind, old mannerisms shoved their way to the fore and she looked up at the huge red stallion. "Thank you. Her getting away would have been… a problem."

Big Mac grinned widely, thanks to how the mare had spoke he got to use his favorite word. "Eeyup." Slowly getting up, he pressed a foreleg firmly against the trapped changeling's back, and leaned down just enough that they couldn't get up.

"Queen Chrysalis won't find out about us until it is too late for her. I might not have thrown in fully with Thorax as a queen yet, but her way is leaps and bounds better than what Chrysalis did, and is doing." Scythe looked up at Big Mac again with a big smile. "Could you please take her over to Queen Thorax?"

McIntosh liked seeing a smile—even a fang-filled one—given alongside friendly words. "Eeyup." With one hoof he lifted Harsh Buzz up, and carried her back to where something amazing was happening. He froze as he saw the big eggs the nymphs had carried hatch, oozing their contents out on the grass, and soon doubling the number of cute little changelings.

Staring at her double, Shining Armor felt tears pour free at the sight of Vinyl. Words failed her, and she knew she was staring, but she couldn't think of what to say.

"Shining." Vinyl looked at herself, now free of the egg she was just as perfect of shape and proportions as Shining was, without the benefit of being used to her legs or wings. It might have been an accident that had her stumbling forward, but the way Shining Armor caught her was very deliberate. "Brother."

"No." Shining shook her head. "We are both sisters, I am fine with the… change." She squeezed her sibling, and hugged Vinyl for all she was worth.

Author's Note:

Sunset: "Do you plan to reconnect with Princess Celestia, or will you let the past stay buried?"

"I can hope. But I just found out she has a new 'personal student' now, I don't think I can go back to her and have nothing at all change." Sunset chirped her wings nervously. "I... I need to tell her what happened, though. I can't leave that between us." She suddenly felt warmth and comfort, as Thorax pulled her in for a hug.

~~~~~+++++~~~~~

So I do this "Ask x" thing, x can be any pony within the story. You can ask them anything and I they will definitely hopefully reply. Keep the questions appropriate to the age-rating of the stories and of course, I they will answer the best question(s) in the author notes of the next chapter. The more votes a comment has the more likely I will get it to the right pony to answer, try and keep it to one answer per post! I They will pick one question per chapter.

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Comments

[Mortefleur]

Question for Scythe: "as you seem to not be following Chrysalis anymore, but are reluctant to join Thorax do you plan to live on your own however you feel like living?"

[tsaukpaetra]

Awe! The cuteness should definitely prompt the adoration of the gathered ponies for sure!
Scythe is only one, too bad two attempted the escape. But then, it should not affect too much, since Chrysalis should choose to delay their retribution until after the conquest.
For once it's a good thing Spike was left behind, yeah?
To "Cadance": just how perfect will this day be?
Keep going! ;)

[Damaged]

8159921 Spike was at the wedding. Remember, he was playing with the groom and bride cake decorations.

[tsaukpaetra]

8159957 tralala, AU, we don't know that until we see it!

[Boulder]

Nopony in town knows ma and pa's names.

I know, and at episode 13 so will all bronydom.