A new guiding Star

by Amethyst Sparkle

Hiding

Princess Celestia sighed as she looked out her balcony. Having just lowered the sun to give way to Luna’s moon and the previous ordeal of the day, she was exhausted.

The Captain had claimed, after he recovered, that the changeling that she had apologized to was an impostor. He claimed the ling had been feeding from her since they entered the room, and the his sister couldn’t have known how to because no one taught her. While she had enough personal proof that the changeling he had just almost murdered was in fact still Twilight, she couldn’t risk it with the state the Captain was. Ordering a search party, upping the security, and interrogating anyone he believed to be connected to the incident, to find a sister that had never been lost.

She could tell from the way the changeling hugged her. She could tell by the way she cried. She could tell by her mannerisms, she could tell by her eyes.

It was Twilight the entire time, she knew her almost-daughter that well. It was a skill she had forgotten to use during that fateful wedding rehearsal, but she intended never to let that happen again. But even if she was right, she knew she was, she still couldn’t do anything to help her faithful student. That stallion that teleported her away, which she was sure now to was a non-hostile changeling who was probably the one to teach the former unicorn, had taken her student somewhere she couldn’t trace. Changeling magic turned out to be unstable and untraceable.

It didn’t help that Twilight, on further inspection, almost was killed by her brother on the brink of laying.

Yes, she absolutely had to tease her student later about it, but priorities have to be tended to first. Priorities being, if she really was on the brink of laying, why that moment and how? And why didn’t she say anything?

--------

18 trotted nervously in the streets of Canterlot, along with 50 or so of the Underlings disguised and far away from each other. It took them this long to escape the hive for they had to one by one secretly disconnect from the Hivemind and along with that escape the underground hive. They had also used that escaping time to further ponder on whether or not they would like to join the new Queen’s hive.

Thankfully, Soldier 215 had joined them in disconnecting and right now beside him, probably trying to track Infiltrator 324. All the infiltrator had said on their last talk, which was weeks ago according to the Solider, was if she or any changeling wish to check out the new Queen and decide for themselves, they were to track his scent, which he left all around Canterlot leading to where he was.

He had also said that the new Queen was close to laying, and that opened the Underling’s eyes a bit more.

You see, a new Queen’s first clutch usually dictates what kind of ruler they would be. An example of this was, 18 was told by the older lings, Chrysalis’s first clutch predicting she was to be power hungry and cruel by the way they would attack each other and fight for who was to be fed first. This was of course, true, so 18 was sure he’d be able to really, surely decide for his group on whether to join or just be lone lings once they saw this new Queen’s first clutch.

But they had to hurry though, as it was already close to midnight, and the amount of them still walking through the streets would be suspicious and could guarantee an interrogation by those Royal Guard ponies.

215 sensed his worry. “ Don’t be too anxious, 18. We’re close. 324’s scent is getting stronger.”

18 looked around and realized he had been spaced out and now only noticed they were near a park of some sort, with a large lake with a waterfall at the very end. He could also sense his group mates nearby, meaning all of them were scattered around the park.

But even that would pique a few questions.

215 suddenly spiked in the surprise department, prompting 18 to look at the Soldier. “ They’re in the Crystal Caves, I just know it, since that Waterfall has a cave behind it.” She pointed at the thundering body of water.

“ Caves where old Queen trapped Love princess?” He asked, already making his way to the falls via his disguised wings. He heard 215’s own wings open as she followed the Underling leader.
“ Yep! That’s the one.” They arrived at the falls quicker thanks to their wings, and 18 could really see how this was the most perfect place to hide in Canterlot.

The water that was thundering down from over a hundred meters above was thick and cold, and the cave entrance, after charging in with a weak but enough protection spell, was also high above ground to avoid detection from curious ponies.

They had already dropped their transformations to create their little shields, that shattered instantly because the falls were just THAT strong, so they used that to their advantage and lit their horns in a faint green glow.

Immediately the crystal walls, ceiling, and floor reflected that light and made it brighter than it should, probably already alerting the residents of the cave of their presence. 18 heard a couple more shatters from behind him and could sense his group mates were slowly filing in. He could only hope they checked the area before diving in the waterfall.

“ How we find 324 here? It big place.” 18 asked the still sniffing Soldier. 215 grinned at the younger ling. “ No need for that, dear 18, since I’m sure our collective smell has already probably reached 324’s nose.” 18 blinked. He hadn’t thought of that. “ So we wait?” He asked again. The soldier nodded and sat down, watching the entrance as the last of the Underlings came flying in. “ I suggest we rest. It was a long journey from the Hive to here, after all. “ This was backed by some Underlings falling to their stomachs and immediately started snoring.

18 couldn’t help but giggle. “ You right, 215.”

“ How about you, 18? Aren’t you tired?” The soldier inquired. 18 shrugged. “ I tired, but I need to see New Queen’s clutch, so I know what to do next.” The Soldier nodded approvingly, looking at his logic. “ Ah, yeah, come to think of it it was weeks ago that 324 guessed this new Queen was about to lay. I guess I’ll look at the clutch too, see if she’s different from Chrysalis.”

“ What you do if she not same?”

215 took a while to answer. “ I don’t know? I guess I’ll stick around and try to get a better read if her clutch says good things about her. This is a new Queen after all. But I’m sure that her being NOT Chrysalis’s kid is enough to know she has a high chance of being good.” 18 chuckled at that. “ That I agree with.”

Their talk was suddenly cut short, as well as the other Underlings’ nap, when a shrill chirp pierced through the air. All eyes turned to meet purple draconic ones, and that wasn’t the only thing that froze the group.

This nymph was definitely the new Queen’s, with the presence of it’s mane alone. It’s chitin revolved around the color scheme of purple and blue( stomach membrane and back plate ). It had no holes whatsoever, and it had, Dear God, is that a cutiemark?!

A sword with a familiar star on the hilt.

The nymphs pegasi wings fluttered as it went closer to the still frozen group. They closely watched as it’s eyes scanned everyling with the intelligence of a grown pony, before cringing.
18 wondered why it did, until he noticed that it’s eyes were locked onto one of the seriously injured lings that they had.

It had left his mind that a few of his comrades were actually injured during their little escapade because of the nervousness. They had planned, he remembered, to cure them later when they had decided on what to do.

The injured Underling tilted it’s head as the nymph immediately rushed to her side. The young bugger then started to inspect the changeling a little closer, eyeing every wound and fractured chitin. This already was far from Chrysalis’s first clutch, intriguing the watching lings more as they payed attention on what the nymph would do next.

It surprised them all when the nymph spat on it’s hooves, the saliva glowing purple, before rubbing it on the injuries.

He was treating the injured changeling.

“ I guess that means she’s good?” 215 said stupidly, the strangeness of the situation still freezing parts of her brain. She was sure she expected deep inside that the nymph would attack, or at least, just stare without a care, but this? Caring for a complete stranger ling? This never crossed her thoughts.

18 meanwhile was now convinced that this Queen was going to be different. The nymph, on closer inspection probably a few hours old, treating his group mate with love-infused saliva was more than enough to solidify that thought. After all, a nymph always reflects the traits of his Queen.

The nymph, after treating the once seriously injured changeling, then flew back to study his work, smiling, then nuzzling the drone. The drone gave a purr of satisfaction, as apparently the nymph sent some love her way. The nymph backed away once more before seemingly staring into space.

Moments later a familiar infiltrator rushed in from where the nymph emerged, with a worried look on his face. Following him were a bunch of other nymphs, and soon the new Queen herself.

“ 215! You made it! And- the Underlings?” 324 noticed. The other five nymphs were already following the first one’s example, going to every injured ling they could find and treating them accordingly. They were, surprisingly again, joined by their Queen, who 215 now realized to be none other than Twilight Sparkle.

18 noticed this too. He glared at 324. “ You should have said New Queen was Sun Princess’s student. Then we would know she was sure to be good Queen!” The infiltrator shrunk at the Underling leader’s scolding. He chuckled nervously. “ S-Surprise? I thought it would be better to let you judge her for yourselves, not her name and reputation.”

215 rolled her eyes as a smile settled on her muzzle. “ Yes, I guess that’s true. But as 18 said, it would have been easier to decide if we knew it was her. The way she fought against Chrysalis that day was enough to make her worthy for a soldier like me.”

“ And enough for Underlings to respect when she fight hard to protect family and friends.” 18 added.

324’s eyes widened with hope. “ So you’ll join us!?”

215 looked at the Queen, who was panicking trying to cure the injured lings with her first clutch, and laughed. 18 smiled. “ We could use a caring Queen for once.”

324 looked at 215, who nodded with a grin. “ This is going to be fun.”
------

It was now sunrise, and to Canterlot it was another peaceful, changeling-free day.

But not for Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle’s friends and family.

“ Shining Armor, calm down-” The Princess tried, but was interrupted by the Captain’s growl. “ I will NOT calm down until my little sister is found, and cured of that wretched curse!” He stomped his hoof, which was back by Rainbow Dash’s cheer.

“ Yeah! Twilight is probably being brainwashed right now, being Chrysalis’s slave or something worse. We have to rescue her!” The pegasus declared.

“ We don’t have enough of dem evidence Dash, that that ling Shining Armor almost whooped was an impostor.” Applejack said.

“ That thing feeding on the Princess is not enough for you?! Twily wouldn’t have known how to since no one taught her!” Shining Armor defended.

“ W-We don’t know for sure if T-Twilight didn’t just learn on her own….” Fluttershy said softly. “… all animals and even ponies have instincts that teach them h-how to survive.”

“ Fluttershy has a point, Captain. Twilight could just be following her instincts to feed.” Rarity added.

“ But we don’t know that! It was only a few weeks after the spell took effect! A spell like that would take longer to fully take hold, and that’s where I’m sure as buck that instincts will come in!” Shining Armor protested, his mane getting more and more frazzled.

“ Who’s ta say the spell didn’t already take hold? As ya said, we don’t know much about ‘em lings and their weird spells.” Applejack pointed out.

A fearful look flashed across Shining Armor’s face at that sentence.

“ For all we know you could have just almost murdered your own sister.” Rarity finished for the farmer.

Now THAT snapped Shining more than he already was.

“ HEY! I WOULD KNOW IF THAT THING WAS MY SISTER!” The Captain hissed. Everypony fell into silence at the unicorn’s outburst. He snarled. “ And I swear on my life that thing was NOT Twilight.”

Seeing as everybody was now quiet and thinking their own thoughts about the situation, he continued.

“ Now with that clear,” He shot a pointed look at Applejack, “ I will now discuss my plan on how to save my sister.” He cleared his throat.

“ As we all know, the location of that Queen’s hive is still unknown. So just going there is out of the question. What I did instead was to double the patrols around Canterlot AND Ponyville. If that thing still had some plans, I bet it’s going to go to you girls next. So if you get visited by ‘Twilight’, yell for the guards and make sure it doesn’t escape. Once we capture it, we force it to tell us the location of it’s hive. THEN we rescue my sister.” He finished.

Princess Celestia just sighed in her head. There was no talking with the Captain if he’s in this state.

I hope you at least try to reach out to me, my faithful student.

------

The adult changelings were busy discussing about what the new Queen and her Infiltrator had planned for their future. After making sure all Underlings and 215 were cured of any injuries and were full of love, Twilight and 324 introduced themselves and told the new arrivals about their story the past few weeks since the day they met. And After that, Twilight connected all the new arrivals to her hive mind, and they spent a good half-hour trying to cope with the new, admittedly preferable hive mind. Her connection to the Underlings affected them immediately, much to all parties’ surprise. Her intelligence and knowledge were drilled, for lack of a better term, into their brains, giving them what Chrysalis thought they didn’t need.

Her knowledge didn’t JUST make them normal, intelligent drones too.

The Underlings turned out to be just any type of drone with their intelligence taken away. This was backed by some turning into Infiltrators, Mages, Farmers, Medics, Praetors, Soldiers, etc, right after the Hivemind transfer.

This also just strengthened their belief in Twilight being a MUCH better Queen than Chrysalis.

As the adults talked about the future of Twilight’s hive and all that’s related to it, the day old nymphs were starting to get bored. They were growing up pretty quickly, since being half-pony allowed them to produce love that can be fed on by another changeling. So with them loving and caring for their siblings, their growth rate went twice as fast as a normal nymph’s would.

With just a day, they already reached the point where they were equal to a 5 year-old foal.

And that also meant they gripped the meaning of boredom way too well.

“When are they going to be finished?!” Kalasag moaned as he leaned on Mariposa. They were in a separate cave-system, for the reason that they should just rest and be ready. But that was Infiltrator 324’s words. Their Mom said they could play or read a book in the Hivemind Archives. That they did, but nymphs are nymphs and they needed something else to do. ASAP.

Bandaid looked at his younger-than-him-for-a-minute siblings and chuckled. “ I’m bored too, Kalasag. But we just have to deal with it.”

“ But didn’t we deal with it long enough?” Star said from beside a sleeping Gaia.

“ Star’s right, Bandaid.” Was Espada’s voice from his perch on the ceiling.

“ But what are we going to do though?” The eldest tried. He could sense oncoming mischief from his siblings, and he was sure either their Mom will ground them forever or die of a heart attack.

Kalasag perked at that question. “ I heard Mom earlier said that before they could do anything to start a hive, they needed to talk with Princess Celestia.”

Mariposa blinked. “ That’s Mom’s mentor right? I read about her in the archives.”

The Praetor nodded. “ Yep! How about we go up there and tell her about us for Mom?”

“ ABSOLUTELY NOT!” Bandaid shouted, startling everyone and awakening Gaia. The Farmer looked at the Medic in confusion. “ What’s absolutely not?”She asked. Bandaid inhaled. “ Kalasag here suggested that we go to Canterlot Castle and talk to Mom’s mentor for her.” Gaia smirked. “ What’s wrong about that?”

Everyone giggled at Bandaid’s flabbergasted face. “ What’s wrong wi- WHAT’S WRONG WITH THAT?! EVERYTHING! WHAT IF MOM CATCHES US? WHAT IF WE GET CAUGHT BY SOMEPONY ELSE?!”

Espada dropped down the ceiling. “ We’re changelings, Bandaid. We won’t get caught.”

“ So you’re just depending on that fact? That we can shape-shift?” The Medic glared, trying to reduce the Soldier’s confidence. It didn’t work. Espada just grinned. “ Yup! Plus it’ll be a good team practice for us, infiltrating the Castle. We could work on our skills!”

“ I can’t help but agree on that, Bandaid. Sorry.” Mariposa giggled.

“ Think! If we succeed, Mom will be proud of us!” Star added.

“ Yeah, after she scolds us!” Bandaid retaliated.

“ Keyword’s AFTER, Bandaid.” Gaia pointed out.

Bandaid looked at his five siblings, all looking at him for the final decision. He was in fact, the oldest after all. He knew he should say no, that was the right thing to do, for both his Mom’s peace of mind and his sibling’s safety. But the desire to make his Mom proud tempted him. There were a lot of good things stacked for them if they did this, including team building and skill practice. Even if they fail, all they’d get is a thorough scolding and possibly grounding that’ll last for a day after some persuasion.

He sighed deeply. His siblings grinned.

“ Fine. Let’s do this for Mom.”

“ FOR MOM!” They cheered before dashing out of their cave system, led by Espada, to the direction of the waterfall entrance.

-------

“ Whoa, Canterlot’s so cool!” Gaia whispered as they peeked out of their hiding spot above the waterfall, looking over the park and the city. She heard a warning hiss behind her.

“ Shh! Somepony might hear you!” Bandaid hissed. Gaia looked at all her siblings and herself. They were disguised to look like if they were born a pony of course, since original disguises were much better then copied ones.

She was an earth pony filly with light purple fur, Bandaid was an earth pony colt with white fur, Espada was a pegasus colt with silver fur, Kalasag was a unicorn colt with gray fur, Mariposa was a unicorn filly with pink fur, and Star was a unicorn filly with blue fur. All of their manes and tails were the same coloration as their Mom, but different preferred styles. All their eyes were the same purple pair as well.

They looked like normal siblings.

“ So what if somepony hears Gaia? We’re disguised, Bandaid. And no one would suspect foals to be changelings. From Infiltrator 324’s memory no nymph joined the invasion army and no changeling used a foal’s disguise. So chill out, big bro.” Kalasag grinned. They nodded at that. The Medic still was not placated. Star sighed. “ Look, big bro, if you’re that worried, how about you shift into a bird and fly over us so you can keep an eye on us, eh?” She suggested.

Bandaid frowned. “ Why don’t we all just turn into birds and fly into the Castle?”

“ I’m pretty sure the Guards are suspicious of birds too, Bandaid. We’ll just have to get there on hoof and sneak inside as rats or a cockroach.” Espada reminded.

Bandaid sighed and nodded. “ FINE. But if we get in trouble it’s NOT my fault. I warned you!”

In a flash of purple flames, a white/brown owl stood where Bandaid once was. Gaia whistled. “ Now off you go, mister killjoy!” She promptly pushed the owl off the ledge. Bandaid squawked in surprise before righting himself in the air. He was glad he read his Mom’s memory of studying how her pet owl flew before doing this stunt. If it were any other bird he wouldn’t know how to fly at all. He looked back to the direction of his siblings, and panicked.

They weren’t there!

He frantically looked around, since he couldn’t use the hivemind or it would alert their Mom. Then he spotted them, they were already on the main street. How did they get there so fast?! Did he take that long to right himself in the air?! With an angry hoot, he followed them.
----------

The 5 siblings giggled as they heard Bandaid’s angry hooting. They had immediately scaled down the waterfall as soon as Gaia pushed him off the cliff, and his face, though an owl’s, was priceless. They couldn’t hear his thoughts as they restrained in using the hivemind to avoid detection, but they laughed still at the thought of what he would say.

“ Isn’t this exciting? Our first mission together!” Mariposa exclaimed as they strode out of the park.

They made their way through the main street, heading straight for the Canterlot Castle. They of course feasted their eyes on the new sights, sounds and smells, earning a frown on Bandaid’s beak. The owl had been flying from one building to another, staying out of sight as much as he could. He only stiffened when he saw the expressions of his siblings. He gave a warning hoot.

“ Yeah, Yeah, we know Bandaid. Mission first before play. We weren’t gonna run off lollygagging, if that’s what’s ruffling your feathers.” Kalasag said nonchalantly.

“ We know this is important to Mom so we’re far from sabotaging it.” Espada added.

They walked a couple more minutes in silence, mapping out the street and having fun with everything that’s happening around them. It was hard not to just run around and get in trouble, but they managed. Mom was counting on them, even if she didn’t know about it yet. The day was calm, the wind was cool, the hilarious rich ponies were providing entertainment to the tourists and the 6 nymphs.

Everything was going so smoothly, that it was only proper for Fate to drop a bit of spice.

“ What are you children doing here? Without a guardian too!”

All their heads turned to the massive Guardpony looming over them from behind, golden armor glinting in the sunlight. He had a spear in his magic hold, and his face, a face of suspicion, didn’t help matters.

Bandaid had to peck himself to avoid hooting in panic as he hurriedly thought of a plan to get his siblings out of this before it escalated.

Kalasag and Espada, who looked older out of the remaining 3 fillies, spoke up and went into a protective stance.

“ We were just exploring the city sir.” Espada said calmly.

“ And we’re old enough to roam around without any Guardians.” Kalasag added.

The Guard squinted his eyes, frown deepening. “ Yeah right. How about you tell me what’s really goin’ on? Or else you’re all getting into trouble.” Espada managed a quick glance at Bandaid, who flew down an alleyway. He smirked inside, knowing what his brother was going to do.

Kalasag noticed Espada’s suddenly calm demeanor, and was about to shoot him a look to ask why when the Guard suddenly turned around.

An adult version of Bandaid’s pony form was approaching them.

“ Excuse me Good sire!” He spoke in a British Accent. The Guard seemed to relax at this as well, for some reason. “ Ah, I assume you’re the father of these foals?” He asked. Bandaid flashed a tired smile. “ Quite right there, chap. I sent them out to play until I remembered about the still on-going changeling threat. I was quite busy to forget, but I’m certainly glad it did flash through my mind again. Did they take you away from your route, good sire?” The Guard was now fully at ease after hearing Bandaid’s lie. He chuckled. “ It was no problem, kid. I’m actually grateful that you came. For a moment I thought…” His gaze went to Kalasag’s direction.

“ Thought what?” Bandaid pushed.

“... Never mind. It was crazy. Anyway, these kids are lucky I found them. Who knows what could have happened to them with all the things still hiding out there.” The Guard turned back to meet Bandaid’s eyes. The Medic nodded. “ Thank you sire. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to take my foals home, where they’ll be safe and sound.” He took Espada’s hoof and started leading the group away from the Castle gates that were only a couple more minute’s walk away. The guard tipped his hat to Bandaid. “ You better. Good day and be careful, kid.”

Then he went back on his way.

After getting out of earshot, Mariposa whistled. “ Nice job there, Bandaid. And I’m the infiltrator around here.” The others nodded. Bandaid allowed himself a minute to bask in the praise, before doing a sharp turn into a nearby alleyway. There he turned back to his foal pony form.

“ Now that we know there’s a patrol going around here, what’s the plan?” He asked.

Gaia perked up at that. “ We could sneak in as rats and climb the Castle walls. Then we rush into the palace, and take the ceilings from there and find Princess Celestia’s room.”

“ That could be arranged, then what do we do when we meet the Princess? It’s not like we could just outright say our Mom’s her student. She won’t understand that nymphs grow fast, you know.” Mariposa pointed out.

Espada chuckled. “ That’s easy. Lets do the ‘she asks we answer’ thing. I’m sure as love she’s going to at least ask when she sees 6 foals in her room.”

“ That’s not very sure.” Bandaid frowned.

Espada rolled his eyes. “ Motherly love. Now are we doing this or what?”

---------------

“ That’s her, right?” Bandaid asked his siblings as they hung from the corner of the throne room’s ceiling. It was quite easy to infiltrate the castle, after getting past the Patrol guards and getting inside the building itself that is. From there you just have to camouflage yourself and travel to where you want to go.

Seeing as it was still about 8:00 am, they changed their route from the Princess’s chamber to the Thrones Room. This was thanks to Star’s recall of a Day Court from their Mom’s memories.
So now here they were, hanging from the ceiling, watching as the nobles bickered and complained about weird stuff. They were making obviously ridiculous requests too, causing both entertainment and pity for the Princess dealing with them to sprout in their hearts.

“ That’s her alright. She’s the only pony with a mane that colourful.” Kalasag smirked.

Princess Celestia was sitting on her throne, listening to the latest noble to ask her for something. They didn’t need to be changelings to know she was trying her hardest not to bite back, snap, and sleep at the same time.

“ How about Princess Luna?” Gaia said.

“ That mare Mom turned back to normal from that… Nightmare Moon? Right?” Mariposa recalled.

“ Yeah, her. One, her mane is not colourful, it’s the night sky. Two, did Mom ever say anything about telling her too?” Asked Kalasag.

“ Well, they’re sisters, Princess Celestia and Luna, right? That’s probably an unspoken rule.” Said Espada.

“ How about we tell Princess Luna first then? Princess Celestia’s busy, and while I would gladly cause some distraction to save her from this…. whatever this is supposed to be,” Star gestured at the bickering ponies, “ I doubt Mom would like that.”

Bandaid nodded. “ Yeah, that’s probably the right course of action. Only problem, Mom’s memories didn’t say anything about where Princess Luna’s room is.”

“ Maybe she’s walking around?” Kalasag suggested.

“ Walking around? No way, she’s the night Princess. She’s probably asleep somewhere.” Gaia concluded.

“ So we either disturb an obviously suffering Day Princess, who’s closer to Mom, or a sleeping night Princess, who’s probably going to need that sleep tonight.” Bandaid summarized.

“ Yikes, when you put it that way…” Star murmured.

They looked at each other. Then to the suffering Princess. Espada surveyed his siblings’ stares, before grinning.

“ Princess Celestia, we’re here to save you.”

-----

Celestia could hardly restrain herself from calling upon her sun and burning Jet Set and Upper Crust to ashes. The Couple had once again tried to take advantage of the Changeling threat to upgrade their manors. That’s right, MANORS, which probably are much better used as farmlands for the good of the nation.

She pretended to listen, tuning out the irrelevant topics but also at the same time listening a bit to make sure she’s not nodding in agreement to something outrageous.

It was hard, but it was her duty.

But as she remained eye contact with the blabbering fools, she noticed something quite odd in her peripheral vision. Something so random that she just had to break eye contact for a teensy second to look at it. She was frozen solid.

Luckily, everyone in the room was too busy swimming around and inflating their egos to notice a foal hanging from the ceiling. What boggles the mind more than that mere fact was even from her distance way back in the room she could always recognize her student’s trademark mane color, which was shown on the colt.

The colt waved at her, before promptly turning around and was followed by five other foals down the door as he slipped outside when it opened to allow entry to another headache causer.

Now if that wasn’t reason enough to cut the Day Court short, then she didn’t no what is.

She suddenly coughed, earning all eyes to her direction. She coughed more, harsher and harsher each time, before trying to smile. “I-I’m sorry, Jet Set and Upper Crust, I must have eaten something odd today.” Jet Set frowned. “ Are you alright, your Highness?” Celestia tried not to grin. She coughed again. “ A-Actually, come to t-think of it I have been feeling down early this morning…” She made a big show of coughing again. She fought hard not to smile when worried looks erupted in their faces.

Jet Set frowned deeper. “ If it’s that worse, your grace, you should rest up. The Day Court could always continue tomorrow.”

“ T-Thank you, Jet Set….” She coughed harder. The Unicorn then had a smug smile on his face at her gratitude. He turned to the crowd. “ You heard that everypony! The Princess needs her rest. Out with you!” He shooed them away as he himself rejoined the crowd.

After only a couple of minutes, the Thrones Room was, for once, fortunately empty.

Celestia slowly got off her throne and was about to make her way outside and back to her chambers, because that’s probably where those foals are, her mind still reeling about it, when a colt’s voice said from above,

“ That was five out of five, your highness. Finally those prissy ponies are out of your hair.”

She froze, then slowly looked up. Six pairs of familiar lavender eyes stared back at her. As she watched, they dropped from the ceiling one by one, allowing Celestia to fully accept that this was in fact happening, and to notice they all bore her student’s eyes and mane, as well as, on closer inspection, some semblance of her cutiemark on their own.

The one who spoke cleared his throat nervously.

“ I assume you’re changelings?” She managed to ask. The lead colt bowed, followed by his siblings. Then the colt beside him smiled. “ Changeling nymphs, Your Highness.” Celestia blinked at the specification, before they all dropped their disguises.

She again found herself frozen for the umpteenth time in the span of one day.

They were indeed nymphs, and the first thing that stood out about them were their remaining cutiemarks. Next were their different appearances from the changelings that attacked Canterlot. They had the same form as Twilight’s changeling self, with purple chitin, lack of holes, and navy blue backplates and stomach membranes. Then there were their extra appendages. The changelings she’ve seen had both wings and a horn, but these foals had either one or none at all. And the one with the wings had pegasus ones, not the membrane kind.

Then it hit her on what it could possibly mean.

Her eyes widened. “ You’re Twilight’s nymphs!”

Espada nodded with a grin. “ Yep! And we’re here to explain what actually happened yesterday!”

Celestia suddenly frowned and squinted at the foals as a thought ran through her head. “ Did Twilight send you here?” She widened her eyes when the nymphs cringed, implying they came here without permission.

Star giggled nervously. “ N-Not exactly….”

Gaia cupped her face in her hooves then dragged them down so it looked like she was ripping her face off. “ We got bored and….”

“... We remembered Mom wanted to talk to you….” Kalasag ventured.

“...And here we are?” Espada tried a smile as he finished the sentence. He expected the Princess to demand they go home or something, but then she surprised them all with a chuckle.

“ You really take on your mother.” Was her words backed with a smile. The siblings looked at each other and gave a collective sigh of relief, since that smile meant she was far from ratting them out or something of the like. All postures eased, they gave their own grins at the alicorn.

“ So, little ones, before you tell me what Twilight wanted to, what are your names? I’d like to get to know my most faithful student’s first nymphs.” Celestia said. Bandaid perked up at that. He was the eldest, so he felt he should introduce everyone.

“ Princess Celestia, I am Bandaid, a healer. My brother Espada,”

“ Sword?” Celestia asked.

“, a Soldier. My brother Kalasag,”

“ Armor.”

“,a Praetor. My sister Mariposa,”

“ Butterfly.”

“, an Infiltrator. My Sister Star, a Mage. And Finally my sister Gaia,”

“ Earth.”

“, a Farmer.” Bandaid finished. Celestia’s smile only widened. “ What fine names your mother has given you.” Mariposa giggled. “ I never knew my name meant Butterfly!” Kalasag and Espada joined in. “ Me neither. What language is it?” The Praetor asked. Gaia nodded. “Yeah. Mom never explained where she got them.”

“ Mariposa’s name is Spanish, while yours,” Celestia looked at the two nymphs, “ Are Tagalog, a language from the country Fillypines,” She turned to Gaia, “ And finally yours, came from Greece.” The four foals ‘ahh’d’ in understanding, before they were interrupted by Bandaid.

“ Enough about names! Mom’s brilliant and all that. How about we start telling the Princess what we came here to tell?” He pointedly looked at everyling, who just giggled at him.

Celestia couldn’t help but join in when she could just see Twilight in the foals.

She smiled at Bandaid. It was easy to tell them apart, by their cutiemarks and their added appendages.

“ Do tell, Bandaid. I have all day.”

----------

“ So, with all that out of the way, how exactly are we going to approach the Sun Princess?” 18 said, now reborn into a mage, to the other changelings. They had already exchanged stories, already heard Twilight’s plans, and already were surprised by Twilight’s foreign but welcome mannerisms.

Twilight frowned. She had never gone too far into planning this particular action, since she was too preoccupied with other just as important matters.

“ How about just simply telling her? Sneak in the castle, probably tie her down first so she doesn’t blast us into the moon, and just explain yesterday and the hive plans.” 215 said nonchalantly. 324, 18 and Twilight’s eyes widened at this and they immediately started stuttering about all the ramifications of such actions.

215 rolled her eyes at the unnecessary worry of her Queen, which she normally couldn’t do without being put to jail under Chrysalis’ rule.

“ My Queen, relax. If this mentor of yours is trustworthy enough to be one of the first ponies to know about our hive, then you should trust her to listen to you at least long enough to NOT banish you or kill us all with her sun.” The Soldier pointed out.

Twilight went silent. One of the reborn underlings, 81, a Farmer, saw this as an opportunity to test Twilight’s character and suddenly interjected. “ 215’s right My Queen. Besides, this is an easier solution.”

He waited with baited breath for Twilight’s reply, which to his delight was an accepting sigh and a tired smile. “ Alright, 215 and 481,” The two changelings smiled at the credit given,” This is a better solution. I’m sorry,” All changelings widened their eyes at the apology, “ I’m just nervous, I guess. I mean I AM just going to reveal our hive to somepony powerful enough to be an ally AND an enemy.”

A Healer, 67, found courage after hearing Twilight’s apology and spoke up. “ But didn’t the princess practically raised you, my Queen?”

“ She should love you as a daughter…” A Praetor, 50, added.

Twilight blinked. Then she laughed. “ Of course! How could I forget that?!”

215 smirked. She was liking how the Queen treated them as equals. “ Nerves?” Twilight rolled her eyes and playfully shoved the Soldier, who went from angry to surprised when she realized it wasn’t meant. “ Oh stop it, 215. I get it, I get it.” She chuckled, not noticing the shocked new lings and a laughing 324. She smiled at her new friends.

“ Then it’s settled; we tell the Princess tomorrow.”

“ Or you could tell her now!” All heads turned to the collective voices of Twilight’s nymphs, who were rushing into the temporary meeting chamber. The Queen raised an eyebrow as her nymphs hugged her. She looked at the nearest one.

“ Star? What are you guys doing here?” She asked.

“ Leading me here.” Everyone’s head turned again to the entryway, only to freeze, soldiers and praetors sneaking closer to their new Queen, at the sight of who it is. Twilight’s jaw dropped and her nymphs merely giggled. “ Here she is, Princess! Told you we’d find her!” Bandaid grinned.

Princess Celestia chuckled. “ She indeed is here, Bandaid.”

“ P-Princess?! How-WHen!?-” Twilight stuttered, earning a gentle laugh from the alicorn.

“ I guess we both have a lot of explaining to do, eh?” She said with a knowing smirk.

Comments

[Makutaxarxas]

Love this story so much! Cant wait for more

[manacar]

Love both your stories hope you conuntine both of them

[Pachata]

i really like this story

[Edguy0009]

Did....... Shining take an overdose of stupid pills and dumb capsules?

[Edguy0009]

.....I'm not the only one that thinks Shining should go on leave and get some therapy or be reassigned to a different part of Equestria where he can only give orders to the guards (no personal favors though) stationed there right?

[Luna448]

9586466
I think he did. Lol.

[CrossoverFanficReader]

.....okay..Shining Armor passes the psychotically overprotective brother/main self-righteous antagonist tests with flying colors.

[Kabob005]

9593714
I say enforced temporary leave and therapy would suffice.

[Edguy0009]

9735464
A little late for you to reply.

[Reaper99]

Celestia looked at the two nymphs, “ Are Tagalog, a language from the country Fillypines,”

FINALLY! I ALWAYS WANTED TO SEE THE PHILIPPINES AS A MLP NATION!

[DarkSnowGaming]

10462755
Wut?