For the Good of Equestria: Shadows

by brokenimage321

4: The Changeling Hive

Hundreds of years later--about 50-60 years ago, ten or fifteen years before the return of Nightmare Moon--Celestia received a strange report. She had slowly been building up her monster hunting corps, and, though each hunter scared her a little with their ferocity and ruthlessness, they helped keep her ponies safe. When there were no pressing threats, she always sent them out to find and exterminate Changeling hives, due to her special, irrational, not-entirely-unwarranted hatred.

For months now, the hunters had been working on a unique hive, designated the Oriax hive [Hives are named like hurricanes--alphabetically, in the order of their discovery, and after demons, devils, and monsters from ancient mythology]. The Oriax all had dark green carapaces, and, unlike other Changelings, had both wings and a horn. They were very magically powerful, and excellent at disguise--it would often take weeks or months before their infiltration was discovered, by which point, the pony they were impersonating was long gone. The monster hunters had finally found the main hive, but it was putting up quite a fight, and, last she'd heard, they were finally starting to make progress.

And now, the hunters want Celestia to come join them. Immediately. They have something to show her.

Celestia arrives to a scene of carnage. Hundreds of Changeling corpses, piled high in the desert, burning, with several carefully-dug graves for brave pony soldiers beside them. The leader of the monster hunters leads Celestia inside the hive, to where lies another corpse--one that makes Celestia stop and stare. It is the Changeling Queen, apparently--but, rather than the bloated, insect-like being they have seen in every other hive, this Queen is tall and shapely. In fact, she appears almost like a full Alicorn, rather than an evil, buggy monster. Celestia is deeply disturbed, but doesn't know what to make of it.

Celestia explores the hive, and everything she sees makes her hate the place more. There's the nest, where ponies are often dragged to be eaten alive by the Queen... there's the combs, where new changeling eggs are laid and hatched... and there's the coocoons, where they keep their prisoners until they're ready for them...

Wait. Why is that cocoon still full?

Celestia runs forward and peers inside--and, to her shock and horror, finds, floating in a greenish fluid, Mi Amore Cadenza--asleep, and apparently alive and well.

Celestia calls for help, and soldiers come and break the cocoon open. Celestia examines Cadance carefully, and finds that she's grown: she was about three-and-a-half when kidnapped, but, given her size, she appears to be about eight years old now. And--Celestia swallows, then sits back on her haunches--she already has her cutie mark.

The Crystal Heart. Where on earth did she even hear about the thing...?

Celestia hurries home with Cadance, who, though weak and hungry, appears to be perfectly fine (and she is indeed the genuine article: Celestia is very careful to check for that). Celestia tries to ask her about her experience in the Hive, but Cadance only responds, cryptically, that "I saw her dreams." She says nothing more.

After making sure she's okay, Celestia begins to integrate Cadance back into Palace life. She gets her in school, takes her to the playground, and even, at her request, gets her enrolled in the Filly Adventurers. Celestia is, at first, worried that her experiences will have changed her, but Cadance appears to be perfectly fine: even after being away for nearly a thousand years, she adjusts very quickly to modern life. However, there's something strange about her--strange, but in a good way. She is especially kind and loving, moreso even than before, and unusually patient and wise. She also adjusts very quickly to new people and situations, in ways that don't seem quite right to Celestia. She feels silly, worrying about whether Cadance is too nice, but, in her fear that Cadance might be a Changeling after all, she is hyper-sensitive to these sort of small differences. In any case, Cadance makes a good effort to be a "normal pony," rather than a princess, and, in most cases, she fits right in. And, most importantly: though Celestia is worried that things might be different between them now, Cadance is just as much in love with her Auntie as she ever was.

One day, when she's about 12, Cadance proudly tells Celestia over breakfast that she's going to be a babysitter. Celestia, amused, asks who she'll be babysitting for, and Cadance announces that she met someone here in the Palace who could use her help--one of the staff. Celestia isn't sure what to make of this announcement, but Cadance insists that she should meet them, too.

That afternoon, after school lets out, Cadance takes Celestia by the hoof and leads her to meet her new friends, chattering non-stop. To her surprise, Cadance leads her outside the palace, then around to the side. There, she spots a small family, sitting down for an after-school picnic lunch. The father wears a window-washer's uniform and the mother a maid's dress. Both of them look tired and threadbare, but absolutely delighted to be around their children. Their son is an eleven-year-old colt, who tries to hide behind his mother when he sees Cadance approaching, and their daughter--

Celestia suddenly stops speaking, and starts to cry silently. Her three listeners look at each other uncertainly, and Posie, hazarding a guess, says "Their daughter... was Twilight Sparkle?"

Celestia only nods, and begins to weep openly. Sill watches for a moment, then steps out of the room. He goes and finds a guard, then asks him to go fetch Princess Luna. When they ask who he is, and why they should follow his orders, he ignores the first question and tells them that Celestia needs help--and this might not be the sort that the three of them, alone, can give her.

Author's Note:

To be clear--in this fic, alicorns age normally until they grow into their full "Princess" body type, then stop. However, Cadance was basically in stasis while in the Changeling Hive. Over the course of the thousand-or-so years, she aged very slowly, but resumed normal growth as soon as she emerged from the cocoon.

Not trying to suggest that Alicorn childhood lasts a thousand years or anything :)