Chapter 6
When the story was over, Cadence told Double she could leave.
Double went back to her duties. She tended the grubs. She instructed guards in how to restrain changeling prisoners. At night, she slept alone in her dungeon cell. The jailor didn’t bother locking the door anymore, but she declined his offer of a bed.
If there were any repercussions of her dalliance with Princess Cadence, she didn’t see them. Nopony treated her any differently, and when she passed Shining Armor in the hall several days later, he acknowledged her politely but didn’t stop to talk.
Three weeks passed this way.
Then, one morning, as Double walked toward the grubs' nursery, she saw that the castle was being prepared for guests. Crystal ponies were cleaning the windows, polishing the halls, and putting fresh candles the sconces. And when she arrived at the nursery up the hall, the grubs weren’t there.
A servant directed her to the royal suite.
There, Double found Cadence playing with the grubs—with the help of a few servants. “Is their drool supposed to burn?” she was asking, just as Double walked in.
“Yes. It’s acidic,” Double said. “I know it doesn’t burn that bad, but don’t ignore it or the hairs on your leg will fall off like Shining’s did.”
“Good to know.” Cadence handed the grub she was playing with off to one of the crystal ponies, and then took a cloth to wipe the drool off her leg. “I’ve made my decision about what to do with them. I thought you’d want to know. I’ll be keeping them.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No,” Cadence lifted a hoof. “No, actually, don’t be. Shining and I had a few long talks, and I think this is a good thing.”
She needed a moment to find her words, mulling them over as she wiped away the last of the drool. “We’ll be keeping one with us—Cheval. Shining and I do want Flurry to grow up with siblings if she can. It’ll be good for her to have a sister. The other five will be adopted by crystal pony families of note.”
“That’s… different. From how you felt before.” Double’s wings buzzed, and she tilted her head to one side. “What made you change your mind?”
“Shining, and I and the general staff were having a long talk about the war. About the facts, and your story. And we were trying to decide what we learned—what’s the lesson, so that this never happens again.”
Finishing with the rag, Cadence lifted her head to Double. “One officer said, the lesson is the importance of air support. Once the changelings had control over the sky, we were finished. Another officer said, the lesson is the importance of counter-intelligence. The infiltrator caste ran rings around us. If we’d been able to prevent your sabotage, we would have won.”
With a hoof, she gestured back at the bedroom. “Shining said that the lesson was that we needed closer integration with Equestria. More unicorns, more pegasi, that our forces are too crystal-pony heavy. It makes them susceptible to spells or powers that crystal ponies can’t counteract.”
Double’s eyes narrowed. “This sounds like a discussion you would have had some time ago.”
“We did. We had it after the war. But I am their princess, so I decided we were going to have it again. Because I didn’t like any of those answers. I came up with a different one.” She pointed at Double with a hoof. “I said, the lesson is that you understood us, and we didn’t understand you. You knew our weaknesses, and we didn’t know yours.”
“The weaknesses of changelings in combat have already been extensively documented.” Double’s ears folded back, and her tone turned wary. “Shapeshifting consumes enough magical energy that we’re susceptible to exhaustion. We can’t wear armor easily. Things like that.”
“Your weakness has nothing to do with combat. Ours didn’t either. Our weakness was overconfidence. We believed we could defeat you without assistance, and let ourselves be lured into a trap.” Cadence let out a long breath. “Your weakness is that Queen Amaryllis doesn’t understand that you’re people.”
Double didn’t say anything, and so Cadence went on. “You’re slavishly loyal. Nearly always, she can trust you to obey her every whim. But in any situation where you have your own desires, your own needs, she trips over her own hooves. She couldn’t stop her hive from reforming under her. She didn’t know why saying ‘sorry’ like she did would hurt. And she didn’t understand why we’d react badly to children being given as gifts.”
Double snorted. “If you’re planning to foment a rebellion, I don’t see that going well for you.”
“I’m not. I’m planning to accede to her demands, to adopt little Cheval as my daughter, and to keep the other five around the palace.” Cadence picked Cheval up off the floor with her magic. The grub chittered as Cadence stroked its back. “Because I think Amaryllis believes that this little grub will grow up to be her unquestioning servant. That she’s a sleeper agent, and in twenty years she’ll give the hive an indirect claim to the throne.”
“It’s a good plan.” Double shrugged.
“No,” Cadence said softly. “It isn’t. Because Cheval is going to grow up with parents who love her, in a home where she doesn’t have to fight to survive, where she can learn and explore the world and think for herself.”
Placing the grub on the floor, Cadence nudged her towards a collection of blocks. “I even changed my mind about her university plan. I said I’d help her. I’ll give her all the support she wants. So every changeling can read and write and understand the broader world. A world where Amaryllis isn’t the beginning and the end and the center.”
“If you think that will break up the hive, you’re a fool,” Double snapped. “The idea that education defeats tyranny is the fantasy of cowards. She will always be their queen.”
“I know she will.” Cadence smiled gently. “But they won’t be like you. They won’t know or remember the life you had. You’ll be the last generation of your kind. The last infiltrators.”
Double stood in silence for several long seconds. She stared at Cadence unblinking.
“Good,” she said.
“And I have some things for you.” Cadence gestured, and a servant brought her a box. Opening it revealed three scrolls. Cadence levitated out the first one, and placed it at Double’s hooves. “This is a blanket pardon, for any acts you committed prior to your reformation. I know it hurts to talk, but I want you to be able to talk with others about what happened. Ponies or your own kind.”
“It’s a piece of paper,” Double muttered.
“Mmmhmm.” Cadence produced the second scroll, and laid it next to the first. “This is a pardon specifically for the acts you committed while assisting Light’s vandalism, including assault. I’m not giving you another one of these. Assault another guard and you’re going to jail.”
“Generous.”
Cadence removed the third and final scroll from the box, and placed it with the others. “This is part of a number of letters I exchanged with Amaryllis. In it, she agrees to do me a favor in return for our ongoing cooperation.”
“Is this the letter where you asked her to summon me?”
“No.” Cadence pursed her lips. “This is the letter where I ask her to release you from your oath of loyalty. She agrees she will, the next time she visits. Of course, she doesn’t have to. If you don’t want that.”
Double stared down at the third scroll. She let out a bark that was almost a laugh, and her wings buzzed violently against her sides. “Is this a joke?” she demanded. “I’m an infiltrator. I’ll always be an infiltrator. I can’t be released from that oath.”
“Mmmm.” Cadence brushed back her mane. “After you left the hive, you could have gone anywhere in the world. Why go to art school, of all places?”
Double sneered. “Art students are easy.”
Cadence ignored the barb. “I asked Light about your work. She said you heavily favored landscapes. Specifically, she said you have a... serene style. Beautiful fields, quiet towns, gentle forests. She said it was a joy to watch you paint, and that your work felt like a place a pony could fall asleep. Like a dream.”
Double said nothing.
“The reason Amaryllis’s offer is in writing is so you can claim it later. It doesn’t expire. If you’re not ready now, keep it, and come back to me if you feel differently.” Cadence passed the empty box over to Double, giving her something to carry the scrolls inside. “I’m not kicking you out of the palace. You can stay here as long as you want. I am kicking you out of your cell. You’d make a gifted servant or courtier, but I won’t have you as a prisoner.”
“This is a mistake,” Double said, her voice tight. “You’re being too generous. We’ve had a handful of conversations, and you’re overlooking dozens of murders.”
“I’m not overlooking anything.” Cadence shook her head. “But since this whole affair started, it seemed like every time I showed mercy, I came to regret it. I felt like I was trapped. Helpless. And the reason I was helpless was I didn’t have the strength to be merciless. I thought that being a good pony made me weak.”
A new smile appeared on her face as she said, “And that was foolish. Goodness is what makes Equestria strong. It’s what made me an alicorn. I’ve made many, many mistakes as a ruler, but showing kindness wasn’t one of them.”
“And what about…” She stared at the floor. “You and Shining?”
“What about us? Our marriage was never in danger. We were both extremely stressed, and jealous, and angry. But I know he loves me and I know I love him.” She chuckled. “He’ll be standing down as the head of our armed forces. To focus full time on his role as a diplomat. It was his idea.”
“Who’s replacing him?”
“A crystal pony named Harmony Shield. But Pharynx will be advising us heavily.” She shrugged. “I talked to Thorax, and I think the changelings might be better at war than us.”
“And…” Double raised her head. “That’s it? There’s nothing… else?”
“There’s always something else. But for now at least, it really is that simple.” Cadence’s smile brightened. “Would you stay? At least for a while. I need to learn how to care for Cheval myself, if you won’t be around.”
“I’ll…” Double needed a few seconds to find her thoughts. Then, she nodded. “I’ll stay for a little while, at least. But I think I want to go back to Canterlot. If I can. I don’t like the Crystal Empire. Too many places that I know bodies are buried.”
“Okay.” Cadence nodded slowly. “Will you be okay in Canterlot? Do you have somewhere to go?”
Double knocked three times on Light’s door. When it swung open, Double stood reared on her hind legs, forelegs spread wide for a hug. “Hey, roomie.”
“What the…” Light pulled back, momentarily staggered. A kaleidoscope of emotions rushed across her face in quick succession: shock, happiness, uncertainty and anger. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Well, I can smell that you’re over me. No more lingering unhealthy attachment. So, you know,” she poked Light with a hoof, “I thought I’d come back and hang around.”
“You can’t just,” Light’s face twisted up into a mask of outrage. “You can’t just leave me crying in the street and then waltz back into my life like nothing happened.” Her voice rose to a shout. “And what are you doing in your natural form? I thought there was a warrant for your arrest.”
“Oh, yeah.” Double gestured back at her saddlebags. “I got that taken care of. Cadence gave me a full royal pardon.”
Light’s jaw moved without sound. For a few moments, she was so angry she actually struggled to form words. Incredulous, she finally asked: “How’d you manage that?”
“Well…” Double thought it over, tapping her chin in a theatrical fashion. “It’s a long story, but the short version is: I slept with her.”
Light’s scream of outrage echoed far through the halls of the dorm, and she slammed the door in Double’s face.
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Loved it all.
Looks good, looks good. I'm hoping this isn't the end of our time with Double, but I have a feeling it is. Well written story, and you played your cards well. I can't think of any meaningful criticisms, outside of the fact that it could have been longer, but hey, that's how I feel about any story I like.
You did use "handful" in a sentence, but considering we're talking about a setting with dragons and minotaurs now, and Double's first infiltration job was Gryphonstone, that perhaps isn't as much of a sin as it used to be some years ago.
Bwahahahahaha.
Sounds about right.
They were all right - closer integration with Equestria, air support and counter intelligence would have helped, but they didn’t know their enemy.
Double Time really knows how to troll the people she likes.
Awesome, this was a fun read. And it's good to know that Double still doesn't quite understand ponies, judging by the ending. Or maybe she knows them too well!
Also the cover art is really adorable. Source on Derpi, for the interested.
While I can't say your works are definitively most professional stories on Fimfiction, I can say they consistently wind up as supremely thematic and thought-provoking. This was no exception.
An absolutely wonderful story, from beginning to end. You do good work.
After all the heavy stuff, that ending was perfect. Like lighthearted and anticlimactic in the best way. Felt like it lifted a load off my shoulders.
Thanks for the stories, they were both wonderful!
The one thing Double is best at is upsetting Light's little pity parties and helping her grow into something a little less changeling-like. Remember, Cadence was *raised* by Celestia, the master schemer. What better way to keep her precious sister-in-law Twilight Sparkle happy than to send Double back where she really wants to be?
You clever pink fiend.
(And Double didn't even have to mention the riding crop. She must be saving that for when she has to talk to Twilight Sparkle.)
Huh, that was resolved a lot more quickly than I expected.
Still, it's a very satisfying conclusion that flows naturally from past events.
great ending,
9371156
That doesn't fully track over. The Crystal Empire fought one significant battle and lost. During the army's surrender to the Amaryllis Hive, Shining Armor was able to negotiate so well for his troops that the Hive agreed to let the Crystal Empire keep its entire territory, sovereignty, relations, treasury, and so on, and Shining Armor negotiated so well that the Hive's fundamental nature changed. Using your ISIS analogy, it's like Shining Armor managed to convince ISIS to join Muslims for Peace and genuinely mean it. More to the point, the entire reason for the war in the first place was food, and Shining Armor managed to give the Hive a never-ending supply of it.
The war started when the Amaryllis Hive was perceived as too small a threat for the Empire to need to invite Equestria to join, and by the time the threat was realized the war was over on terms that weren't just favorable for the Empire considering that it lost, they were downright fantastic. Equestria could have started the war again, but to what purpose?
Sad that it's over already, but damn I'm liking this universe. I sincerely hope there are more stories with Light & Double in the works, they're wonderful. Specially in their interactions with the family.
9371243
If the changelings truly did, then they wouldn't keep the Crystal Empire in the situation that Cadance and Shining Armor find it in. Especially with regards to Amaryllis' and Cadance's relationship as rulers of their respective peoples. But Amaryllis is still lording her new position over Cadance, Shining, and the entire Crystal Empire, and even if she's somehow completely oblivious to this, that lack of actual harmony should have brought Equestria's full interest, even if the Sisters decided against military intervention.
9371304
I'll hold you to the same: don't try to make my use of a hypothetical for analogy purposes into something political with regards to actual fimfic users...
every
9371061
Or she understands them quite well enough and likes trolling a bit too much
So, does reformed changeling love actually taste like vomit in this verse? If so... Yeah it's better than starving but I can see why the changelings are still taking love where they can.
9371343
On the one hand there is the fact that changelings are fundamentally different from ponies we don't have any insight on the thought process of Amaryllis, she can be genuine and simply NOT understand how the rest of the world works especially at an emotional level. To make a simile it is like some of the high functioning autistic people around... they have an extremely hard time behaving in a socially acceptable way simply because they are NOT equipped with the same emotional responses of the rest of the people, everything that is innate in the majority is a learned conscious effort with varying degree of success. Now Amaryllis has started needing learning that only in the, what, last couple of years? On the other, well she still ordered a huge massacre... but then it's relatively normal warfare...
So, wait... Cadance has legal jurisdiction over crimes committed on Equestrian soil, but not the capability to requisition Equestrian intervention in the Crystal Empire?
9371382
If it's lack of understanding on Amaryllis' part, then I'd think Equestria would have a major vested interest in making sure Amaryllis doesn't blunder into another massacre while figuring things out. So I'm still not seeing any good reason for Equestria's lack of involvement, especially after Cadance exercises jurisdiction over events on Equestrian soil.
I agree with
9371434
The way the changeling military did things positively reeks of... sueism.😤
But . Thats cool, cause this story isn't about the war. Or queen bug butt V2. That's why we barely hear about them.
Its about getting out of a hopeless and desperate situation and... I dont know? Trust? Fucking spies to learn how to deal with your enemies? An examination of how certain people might react in a certain situation? Maybe I will be better able to pin the themes down once I have some more time to let this settle.
And this^ What this story is about. It knocks out of the fucking park! My heart bled for your characters Gap! I checked fimfiction 5 TIMES A DAY FOR THIS YOU MAD MAN!
Also the story avoided the dreaded sue, and kept the idiot ball firmly off screen. So it is really easy to ignore.
I'm sad now.
Pfft, that ending though.
I stand corrected: Mary Sue.
Oh, the last chapter already?
"and putting fresh candles put in the sconces"
"and putting fresh candles in the sconces"?
"Why would go to art school"
"Why would you go to art school" or "Why go to art school"?
"A few smile appeared on her"
"A new smile appeared on her"?
"At least for awhile"
"At least for a while"?
Heh, nice. :)
9371434
Hmm from the description of things it's more a situation of saving face, minimizing what's happened and nepotism at the highest level.
Cadance has clout in the Equestrian justice system simply because she has an horn and wings. She has semidivine status. What happens with Amaryllis and the changeling ALSO happens in a lesser way to ponies and alicorns. Up to a few years before this there was ONE alicorn and that one was the absolute sovereign who moved the heavens and gave life bringing light to everyone... Luckily she is approachable, personable and empathetic. Then we get an alicorn in training for a few years, the return of the long lost sister to the Sun goddess who ALSO moves the heavens... and lastly the unicorn that saved Equestria from Discord ascends and becomes an alicorn herself after which she fights with Tirek with enough power exchanged to CHANGE the local geography... HOW can you not just fold and do what she says?
So does it means that Cadence and Light are okay with each other?
9371515
I think you need to back up your claim of Mary Sue. The character is definitely not flawless, hardly idealized, and don't see much for self insert wish fulfillment here. Cadence actually goes against all of Double Time's advice about how to deal with the situation so she certainly isn't all knowing and having all the answers. The fact that the character still doesn't understand the strength of Equestria after all this just highlights her failings.
It took me a while to get into reading this, your OC centered universe, because such stuff is generally low on my priorities. Indeed, I probably wouldn't have read it at all had someone else written it. But now that I have, I regret waiting so long. This was excellent.
So, wow...Celestia and Luna suck in this timeline. While granted they didn't intervene in the initial conflict because it appeared they weren't needed, they didn't immediately lay down the law with Amaryllis to make sure it never happens again, and when she makes a move that even Cadance thinks might be a plan that might involve the grubs "gifted" to her being sleeper agents who will eventually murder her and/or her daughter so one of them can make a claim at the Empire's throne, and all but makes a threat of renewed war to make her and Shining go along with it...they still do nothing, which also means, spineless in the face of Celestia's disapproval as always, Twilight won't do anything either.
This isn't like with Chrysalis and Thorax, where a hostile ruler was deposed and replaced with one known to be friendly. Amaryllis attacked and massacred tons of ponies without provocation, pretty much conquered the Crystal Empire, but, because Shining is a god in bed, just went "Nah, it's cool, we're friends now," while still pointing a gun at everypony's heads...and she's still in charge AND still keeping a firm grip on that gun.
At least Celly was able to teach Cadance enough about playing the long game to allow her to maybe subvert such a possibility, but if she and Luna were my aunts, they'd be uninvited to Heartswarming for a few years at least...
9371696
The thing is that on the surface of it all, all Amaryllis did was leave some of Shining’s bastards with the Crystal Empire. Any potential long-term plan Amaryllis might have is pure conjecture. She may, in fact, genuinely just be trying to offer them up as a sign of peace. They don’t know, or more importantly, they can’t prove otherwise. You don’t go to war over conjecture, or you shouldn’t, so that just leaves the de facto reason for the war: Cadance doesn’t want to adopt Shining’s kids.
War over whether or not Cadance should adopt some kids, is not a good reason for war. Try to imagine justifying it to the Equestrian people. As well, what’s the war’s end goal? If Amaryllis says “fine, I’ll keep them”, is the war over? The justification for it certainly would be.
Cadance is going for the long con. Against CHANGELINGS. And it will probably work.
I FRICKIN LOVE IT.
Lovely ending. I like how Cadence realized ponies greatest strength is their ability to change others. Over time Amaryllis's hive will view ponies as friends and allies and thus if ordered to attack them by the Queen I'd imagine they would be greatly reluctant to do so.
Furthermore, love the idea that Cadence may be potentially grooming Cheval to replace Amaryllis in time. That would be the ultimate poetic irony, the child forced upon Cadence and Shining Armor, growing up to overthrow the one who demand Cheval be raised with Flurry in the first place.
Really enjoyed this story. Best I've read on the site in a while.
9371803
It'll work for sure. Perhaps not quite as completely as she'd like it to.... Centuries of cultural tradition are a lot harder to break than just that. But it will definitely work; the battle is very much tilted in her favor. She can give them things their old life never could. Amaryllis isn't dumb, of course.... she knows that. But she sees only things; techniques, material goods, knowledge. All stuff she can just.... take, and grow stronger from.
She doesn't get that her people ARE people, so the idea that they'll absorb culture and ideas and even philosophies as well? That they'll see the world outside the cave and realize they have far more options than just what she can offer? Probably never even occurred to her. Amaryllis truly is not dumb; she's playing the long game just as much as Cadance, and clearly thinks she can "defeat" the Crystal Empire via subversion. But her plan, intelligent and far-sighted and ambitious as it is, won't work because she doesn't see all of the pieces on the board.
Good stuff.
9371428
Its a matter of jurisdiction and political convenience. Cadance is an equestrian princess. But not the sole leader of Equestria. She is the leader of the crystal empire. King George III was a Hessian noble, the leader of England and the Elector of Hannover, but not the leader of Hessia, and his Hessins were mercenaries of the Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel not the military of Hessia.
These are gentlemares agreements nobility acquiesce to for convenience.
If George III pardoned George Washington for killing the British Hessians at Trenton, or Henry Laurens for Treason its unlikely the Landgraves would arrest them if they went to Hesse-Kessel. Nobles respect each others decisions.
Well, look at that. Cadence does know something about thinking long-term. And with a well-thought plan, too.
Supposing that all of Shining’s grubs have a legitimate claim to the throne, in what order is that legitimacy decided? Which of them was born first? That’s easy; Cheval was born first. If she wasn’t, she wouldn’t be where she could most quickly assume power. And even if she wasn’t, how would Amaryllis prove that? No, the six with the “most legitimate” claims after Flurry are already right there in the Crystal Empire, where they will be raised like crystal ponies. They’ll know that they’re changelings, but they won’t know what that means. Their parents will be the font of love in the world, and maybe Cadence will be too, but Amaryllis never will be; she’ll just be their birth mother who didn’t love them enough to want them. They’ll learn about the war eventually, and all that entailed.
Why would any of them want to rule on behalf of someone who only saw their loving parents as an appetizer? Throne secured.
As for the university, I don’t doubt that Amaryllis will still raise up and train infiltrators, but why would she bother with any of the other field operatives? There are better ways to use those resources. She’ll send them to the university, and then out into the world to become doctors, engineers, and scientists, and some of them will invariably become artists, authors, and maybe even agitators. The later generations of changelings will eventually develop a like of things, especially things they had to work hard for, and will develop a dislike of the idea that Amaryllis can just take them away at any time for any reason.
It’ll take a good while, sure, but changes that happen quickly, I have often noticed, are rarely the kind of changes that last.
9355599
And, as of the last chapter, there is Light. As promised!
9356361
9356577
9356729
And, that's the series!
If I write a third story in this universe, it'll be about Cheval and Flurry. This is the end of Light and Double's story. I hope you liked it.
9356986
Tempest Poppins!
And spoonful of punching helps the medicine, go down!
9358970
I'm preparing the story to be published at the next Bronycon, so I got to go back to the master copy (instead of the FiMFiction copy) and fix all of these again.
So thank you! Again!
9359079
They warmed up to each other in the end!
9359230
Now that the story is over, I can safely say: you got it!
Along with Cadence feeling like every time she does the right thing she gets burned for it.
9359269
No no. Didn't you read the previous story? Light already threw her dorm-room lamp at Twilight.
She had to smack Double with a chair.
9359679
Now that it's over, I can admit...
You're right; this totally was not planned. In the first story, I just wanted Cadence to have a zinger about Shining that would make Light uncomfortable. The only reason Amaryllis's hive exists (instead of being Thorax/Chrysalis's hive) is in the first story I needed another changeling queen for Shining to boink.
But hey, it worked out pretty well.
9360051
Now you know, what about the sugar cookies.
Sugar cookies are serious business.
9360569
Never explained.
9364501
Fixed! With much gratitude.
Do not argue with Cadence when she is angry and sad!
Do not argue with Cadence when she is angry and sad!
Not what she was thinking at the time, but that is how it worked out!
It's okay. Changelings eat love, authors eat comments!
Om nom nom.
No! But jeeze, I wish it had been. That's actually pretty funny!
She was not.
Do not argue with Cadence when she is angry and sad!
9364509
Just because love has practical utility, doesn't mean it isn't special!
9371589
9371851
But my point was really this:
Is Cadance an Equestrian Princess or not?
Her influence over the Equestrian legal system says yes to me.
Her inability to get Equestrian help with Amaryllis during or after the war says no.
It seems highly contradictory to me, which makes Equestria's lack of involvement seem to be a plot point simply for convenience, as opposed to continuity.
I love the story, but the details bother me a bit.
9364547
She gets better!
9364918
"Hey, Cadence, how are you feeling?"
"Angry and sad and helpless and alone."
"Good talk. I'm going to go hang out with the guys."
9364954
Time to pick up the phone because you called it!
9365830
If there's a third story in this universe, it will be about Flurry and Cheval.
And you're right.
9367699
Yup. She's a very unreliable narrator about her own feelings.