Once Bitten

by Damaged

To Nymph, Or Not To Nymph...

"We aren't going to take them all." Shining looked across at all the other nymphs. She looked to Vinyl and got a nod from her, then up to Thorax. "I don't care what happens, we are not taking foals, nymphs," she corrected herself, "into a fight."

"Scythe." Thorax had to lift her voice, she knew the changeling wouldn't be too close. Her eyes caught sight of the changeling in question, and she watched them move calmly through the other changelings and stop just beyond what they both figured her "control radius" was.

"Your Majesty?" Scythe dipped her head to Thorax; she might not want to be under the Queen's control, but she still respected her for saving the nymphs.

Thorax cleared her throat. "We are going to Canterlot to stop Chrysalis." The words drew a chirp of shock from Scythe. "You knew this was coming, but I wanted to give you the more important job. I want you to stay here and guard the nymphs. If things… If it goes south… I want you to pack up the whole town and move north, flee into the icy north."

Scythe couldn't break away from the shock she felt. She stared at Thorax with admiration and pride for having chosen to throw her lot in with the new queen. "Your Majesty, I will guard Ponyville with my life, and if it comes to it, will do everything I can to protect the nymphs."

"And the ponies, Scythe. If Chrysalis wins, nowhere will be safe to feed. You will need to take these ponies and keep them safe too." It was a ruse to get around Scythe's fixation, but it was one Thorax was willing to use. "We are going in the old fashioned way, and we will infiltrate as best we can."

"You are forgetting something, Your Majesty." Scythe gestured to the distance between them. "Anyling you take with you could stumble into Chrysalis' control circle. You won't be able to tell who she is."

"I know." Shining lifted a small, black forehoof. "Queen Chrysalis will want the biggest part in it, right?" Thorax and Scythe nodded. "Then she will be at the wedding as me—as Shining Armor." As she spoke, Shining called her fire and imagined the form she had worn for a little over half her adult life. It took a lot of energy, Shining was a big stallion, but when it was done he found himself at eye level with Thorax. "My Queen, she will look exactly like this."

Thorax looked to Scythe and raised one eye ridge. "Our nymphs are quite clever. I am taking Shining and Vinyl with me, as well as Sunset." At mention of her twin, Thorax saw Sunset turn and look at them. "Might as well come over."

Sunset didn't hesitate from walking right up to Thorax and putting both forelegs around her twin and hugging her hard. "You brought me back this far, I can't believe I am so close to Canterlot again."

"Will you come with me for the last step? We need to deal with Chrysalis." Thorax felt Sunset tremble a little against her. "Just four of us. Anymore and we will be too easy to spot. Sneak into the wedding and ambush Chrysalis before her plot is ready to unfold."

"The wedding is tomorrow?" Sunset looked to Shining Armor, her eyes tracing the big stallion. An old appreciation for Guardsponies welled up in her, and she wanted to rush to him and cry, and beg him to make it all better. "The groom?"

"This is what Chrysalis will look like, you can guarantee it." Vinyl surprised everyone by breaking into the conversation. "This is normally not my scene, but I need to fight for her."

Shining watched Vinyl's head turn and gaze up at Canterlot, and he suddenly had a revelation about his twin's motivations. 'She loves Cadance as much as I do,' Shining thought, and it cut him to the bone. He wanted to scream and yell, and tell Vinyl that Cadance was his mare, but Vinyl was everything he was.

Vinyl called her fire, restoring her pony form. But it wasn't the Ponyvillian that she took up. He had big hooves, proud arched neck, and short-cut mane and tail; Vinyl took the same form as Shining Armor, and was Shining Armor. "You're the original, I know, but…" Vinyl lost his train of thought for a moment. "… but I love her, Shiny. I really love her with everything in me. The thought of Chrysalis being with her boils my blood!"

Shocked by Vinyl's vehemence, Shining stepped closer to his twin and lifted one foreleg for a stalliony hug. "I don't know about all this, but you have every right to love Cady, I can't stop you from doing that. Let's get her safe and then decide on what to do about 'us.' "

"I love her with everything I am, but you were the stallion who got down on his knees and asked her to marry him." The words were cutting Vinyl up to say, but he had to get them out. "If it comes down to you or me, Shining, you have to make it."

"No, we will both make it. This is too big a decision to get out of making that easily." Shining lifted a hoof up, and Vinyl struck it with his own perfect duplicate. Turning to face Thorax, he gave the queen changeling a lop-sided smile. "When are we leaving?"

Thorax called her fire, channeled the image of Sunset Shimmer as a pegasus, and burned her way into the shape. She looked from Shining and Vinyl to her own twin. "As soon as we all have forms with wings. Really, did you think we were going to walk?"

"I got Floating High." Vinyl cut in, sticking his tongue out at Shining. Sitting back, he flashed with fire again, and became the pegasus ponysona they had made up in class.

"Well, I will just go as myself, with something extra…" Shining felt a rebellious edge, and sprouted wings from his back with a swirl of flame. "There, perfect!"

"You're an alicorn stallion!" Vinyl waved a big forehoof at Shining. "You can't go disguised like that!"

"Nopony will recognize it. Besides, it feels good to be me again." Shining spread his new wings and gave them a few flaps. "Although one thing seems to have been forgotten."

Thorax looked at Shining and had to stifle a giggle at his alicorn state. "What have we forgotten?"

"We never got those flying lessons. I have no clue how to use these things!" Flapping the wings more, Shining made his point when he almost fell sideways by an errant breeze. "See!" His mane became disheveled by the efforts to show his ineptitude.

"Well then how are we going to get to—" Sunset's question died in her throat when the sound of a train whistle cut through the air. She looked at Shining, then to Vinyl, and finally Thorax. "Come on, we can get the train to Canterlot!"

With one last look at Scythe, Thorax turned and trotted to catch up with her sister, Shining, and Vinyl. "I just realized, none of us have any bits!"

"I have you covered." Shining and Vinyl had to part as a brown furred earth pony pushed up between them. "I am still not sure what is going on, which is why you are going to explain everything on the train." Octavia Melody looked between Shining and Vinyl, her eyes making each sure that Octavia was not going to miss out on anything.

"Great!" Sunset stepped up to the railway station before the others, and right up to the ticket counter. "Five for Canterlot please!"

"Oh, oh sure!" The old pony in the ticket booth dipped his head towards Shining Armor. "Not often we have a prince! Here, your royal tickets, Your Highness!"

Shining lit his horn, taking possession of the tickets. "Th-Thank you!" He stammered a little, suddenly reminded that he had a horn and wings. This was the exact opposite of low-profile.

"Too late now, just roll with it." Thorax spoke from the side of her mouth, and nudged everyone towards the train.

"Yes dear, just get on the train." Octavia rolled her eyes at Vinyl, but pushed and prodded Shining forward. Once they were all on board, the train's whistle blew again and it started rolling forward.

"Now drop the wings." Vinyl poked Shining's shoulder. "Come on, only I get to have wings!"

"They have already seen me, no point. Besides, it will get us into the castle." Shining cocked his eyebrows at Vinyl, then looked up to Thorax. "Trust me. There are protocols for visiting dignitaries!"

"Those are for alicorns, which are mares." Vinyl rolled his eyes. "At least swap to mare if you are going to go ahead with this."

"That would work. You could claim to be a princess from a long way away, here for the wedding. We could be your entourage!" Sunset lifted her voice and started to sing. "Behold, behold…"

Shining conceded the point by calling his magic. Green fire swirled around him and wiped away all the sharp, male lines of his body, smoothing them into softer curves. She gave a sigh and fluffed up her wings. "At least that is easier now."

"That is amazing." Octavia couldn't keep the wonder out of her voice. "But now you are going to tell me every detail. Start with the night you were meant to come back to my house."

"Well, I saw three fillies being carried by changelings…" Shining began her story. The conductor came in the middle of it, and stamped off their tickets with a bow to Shining. Left in peace again, Vinyl took over the story, and they were just getting to their flight from the hive when shouting stole everyone's attention.

"We are with Shining and Vinyl!" Apple Bloom tried to shake her ear free of the conductor's grip on it. She was disguised as herself, and behind her five more fillies followed. "Tell them Shining!"

"Apple Bloom! What… what are you girls doing on the train?" Vinyl was on his hooves and stomping forwards. "You are meant to be safe in Ponyville!"

"I take it you do know them?" The conductor hadn't relinquished his magic grip on Apple Bloom's ear.

"Yes." Shining rolled her eyes. "You can release them. I don't suppose there is any way to take them back to Ponyville?"

"Not without getting another train from Canterlot, Your Highness." Releasing his grip on Apple Bloom, the unicorn shook his head. "Goin' to the wedding?"

"We are." Thorax puffed her pheromones a little stronger than she intended, and when the expanded Cutie Mark Crusaders rushed up to her, they seemed to stop at the edge of her area of control. "You… you are okay, girls?"

Shaking her head, Buzzaloo looked up at Thorax. The comfort of being close to her queen made her want to chirp changeling wings she didn't have in this disguise. "Sorry, but we need to look after our big sisters."

"And our fellow Crusaders!" Scootaloo lifted a hoof up to give Shining a clop, then repeated the action with Vinyl. "Cutie Mark Crusaders, Saviors of Equestria!" When she lifted her hoof into the air, not only did all her other foal-sized Crusaders lift their hooves to clop, so did Shining and Vinyl.

Sunset looked at the odd behavior, and turned to look at a grinning Shining Armor. "Was this something you all started doing as part of a pledge?"

Apple Blossom shook her head. "No ma'am. The Cutie Mark Crusaders have been saving the day since we first met each other!"

"It's true. And now this," Octavia waved a hoof at Shining, Vinyl, and all the rest of the Crusaders, "has just turned three little fillies exploring adolescence together into… into an army of little changelings." She managed to hold her stern expression for nearly three seconds before a grin split cracked her serious look.

"If you don't tell us whatever joke you just thought of, 'Tavi, there is going to be tickles." Vinyl raised a single eyebrow at the mirthful earth pony.

"Little changelings." Octavia waved a hoof from measuring something tall, to something short. "Change… littles! Changelittles!"

"We call them nymphs." Sunset tried to correct Shining and Vinyl's friend, but she was starting to smile too. "Changelittle is pretty cute, though."

Author's Note:

Chrysalis Shining: bad girl, bad girl. What'cha gonna do? What'cha gonna do when they come for you?

"Who is coming for me? I have pods already prepared for any... chronic interrupters." Shining Armor smiled, his eyes flashing green for a moment.

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

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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Awesome ponies who are already helping to keep me in keyboards and rum:
A.P.O.N.I.
Boulder
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Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Will this story have sex in it?

[Damaged]

8191504 No.

[Mortefleur]

Question for Princess Celestia: "How badly are you looking to get your hooves on a slice of that deliciously divine, multilayered, cream filled, icing covered wedding cake?"

[Secret Septus]

Oh no! It's six pool!
(Zerglings hatch two from one egg / Starcraft)

[tsaukpaetra]

well it's not exactly an army, more like a small party, but they'll be excellent diversions, provided timing...
Wonder if Chrysalis will detect the guise quickly, surely it's known there are only three Alicorns in existence, right?
To Luna: how has your dream walking been?
Keep going! ;)

[Boulder]

8193937 Chryssi most likely doesn't know.

[tsaukpaetra]

8195060 not yet in any case!

[Chrome Masquerade]

"That is amazing." Octavia couldn't keep the wonder out of her voice. "But now you are going to tell me every detail. Start with the night you were meant to come back to my house."