A Mentally Unstable and Powerful Changeling...Yeah

by Taken-By-Insanity

Chapter 7: An Invasion of More than One

‘Cadence’ sighed with a roll of her eyes. “I was hoping that you wouldn't find your way out. No matter, I can work with this.” Green fire covered the fake, obscuring her from view. It only took a few moments before the transformation was complete.

Black, smooth chitin, holes dotting the legs. Green eyes and a dark green mane and tail. Chrysalis, queen of a changeling hive.

The red faded from Shade’s eyes after this happened, prompting a groan to escape her lips as she put her head in her hands. “Ooh, my head. That hurts.”

Shade leaned against the doorframe as Chrysalis began her speech. “What Cadence said is correct, I am indeed a changeling. And now with this interruption, I suppose we should get started. Wouldn't you agree, dear?” She looked toward Shining Armor as he gave a nod. The mind control was much less noticeable compared to in the show. He merely seemed to be a little out of it.

A loud cracking sound echoed around the city, making everyone look through the hall’s windows. Outside, a notable crack was on the shield covering the city, a large swarm of black dots just outside of it. “Out there is my entire hive, breaking down the increasingly weak shield my dear ‘husband’ made.”

Celestia stepped forward. “I will not allow you to harm any of my ponies.”

“Oh?” Chrysalis turned toward the Sun Princess. “Then please, do try to stop me.” This was met with Celestia firing a golden beam of magic toward Chrysalis, who fired a green beam of her own to intercept. There was an obvious struggle between the two, but the green magic of the changeling queen managed to take the lead. The beam inched toward Celestia before making contact with her horn, flinging her into the wall.

“Celestia!” Twilight and the other Element Bearers yelled, shocked.

“Well, would you look at that? This love is more powerful than I thought! If I can beat the princess of the sun, who can possibly stop me?”

The sound of glass shattering was made as Shining Armor’s shield finally broke, letting the changeling hive swarm the city. While all of that was happening, Shade had fainted. All that rage she was feeling was so sudden and draining that she had suffered from sudden exhaustion.

---

The throne room once again. Two ponies were ‘discussing’ something. “I’ll deal with them! I have the firepower to turn them all to dust!” It was the one known as Fury, speaking with Depression.

“And that is unnecessary. We just need to take care of the queen and the rest will flee to their hive.” Depression didn't want to kill off the hive. They simply had a bad ruler that was going against changeling tradition.

“Why should we care?! It's because of changelings that we’re stuck here and not where we should be!”

“It was a single hive. There is no need to commit a genocide, for we have already gotten our revenge.”

“I don't care! It was still changelings that did this so they all have to die!”

Depression sighed at this. He didn't want to forcefully calm Fury down but now it was necessary. One of the limbs on Depression’s back moved quickly and suddenly, stabbing Fury in the chest. “Calm down.” Fury still held his angry expression at first before he quickly fell asleep. “We need to help, no matter what the main soul wants to do. Does anyone else have a suggestion?”

“I could help.” The sound of a young colt sounded around the throne room as a throne gained a pony. It was a small orange throne, with an image at the top of it. A simple platter lid on top of a platter.

“I’ve been dying to have a snack since the last one.” The pony’s shadow faded, revealing an earth pony colt.
He had a faded orange coat with an orange mane and tail. He wore a stained handkerchief around his neck. His eyes were also orange, retaining the same shade as his mane, and his pupils were swirls instead of dots.

“Hm.” Depression put a hoof to his chin in momentary thought before giving a small smile. “I see no problem with that. After all, you can operate the body the best.”

The colt chuckled. “Of course I can, big bro. My talent may lie in food, but it is the consumption of food that I am truly best at.” He and his throne then was covered in a platter lid before disappearing, leaving Depression alone in the room of thrones.

---

Hungry.

Shade awakened to a feeling of stiffness. She groaned and opened her eyes, finding herself in a sitting position on the floor and covered in some kind of green substance. Her face went slightly green after seeing this, realizing it was what she thought it was. She took in her surroundings, finding that she was in the throne room.

Shade’s eyes turned orange as she found Chrysalis, who was looking out a small balcony overlooking the chaos happening below. She chuckled quietly to herself as she looked around again. So much to eat.

The urge to eat returned. Shade struggled to look at her horn, seeing that it was not encased in the substance like the rest of her. Fools. While she may prefer to use her hooves for magic, her horn was still a very viable option.

Chrysalis spoke to herself as Shade started to plan. “Ah, what a sight. Soon, all the love in this kingdom will be ours.”

“Is that so?” Chrysalis turned to the sudden interruption of her thoughts, a frown replacing her smile as she saw who it was.

“Oh, you're awake.” A blade made of magic appeared at Shade’s throat suddenly as Chrysalis suddenly appeared in front of her. “Tell me, where is your hive? I thought all of the others died off.”

A simple smirk was all that was given before any words were spoken. “What I’m more concerned about, is how much sustenance can I take away from you? Some of it? All of it? I’m so very hungry for those emotions you have.”

“Tell me before I kill you!” Chrysalis was quickly becoming impatient. Clearly this one must be starving but she refused to share any of her food with the member of another hive.

“Oh? With that magic of yours? Mm, I have always been curious what that would taste like.”

Shade’s reply baffled Chrysalis. Eating magic? That’s unheard of. “You better answer my question right now. I’m giving you one last chance.”

Shade simply chuckled. “It seems you’re denying me food. I guess I’ll just have to take it myself then.” Orange magic gathered in Shade’s horn and before Chrysalis could do anything, a blast of the orange magic pushed her back to the wall. Her sword was noticeably gone after the hit.

“Where’s my blade?”

Chrysalis looked around in confusion before a crunch was heard. She looked toward the sound as Shade swallowed something, a thoughtful expression on her face. “Hm. Not bad. But then again, I’ve never been a picky eater.” The substance keeping Shade trapped suddenly cracked, before being encased in orange magic and disappearing with another crunch.

Shade stood up with a stretch of her back, a couple of concerning pops sounding as she did. “Oh, that felt good.” Shade focused back on Chrysalis, who was charging magic into her own horn. “Hm? More food?”

Chrysalis blasted a bolt of magic, which was met head-on by Shade. The blast knocked Shade to the wall a few feet behind her. She didn't seem harmed as she fully stood again. “Aw, I wasted it.” Orange magic made a ring above Chrysalis, before going into the roof, making what was touched disappear. This made a small section of the roof crash on top of Chrysalis, stunning her.

“Don’t worry. I won't waste you. You're much too unique of a dish for me to waste.” Shade smiled as she said this, revealing razor-sharp teeth instead of the usual flat teeth of a pony.

Chrysalis had enough of this. She needed to put in a lot more force if she wanted to at least knock this other changeling unconscious. When she got out of the rubble a few seconds later, she had her horn glowing an extremely bright green. “Enough of this!” She fired the magic bolt toward Shade, successfully hitting her and sending her flying to the wall once again. Somehow, the unimaginable endurance Shade had suddenly disappeared, leaving her to easily go unconscious once again.

Chrysalis huffed. “Not so strong now, are ya?” She gathered her magic and a green substance came out of her body and gathered around Shade before quickly solidifying, becoming a type of green crystal that restrained all but the face of Shade. Even her horn was encased this time.

---

I’m sure most if not all of us can make a guess of what happened after that small skirmish. The Mane Six were captured, Twilight freed Cadence, and Cadence managed to break the mind control spell on Shining Armor, ending with a shield made of love launching every changeling out of Canterlot and likely to the edges of Equestria.

Of course. Not every changeling was launched out of the capital. Shade was the only one not visually affected by the wave of physical love. She had stayed unconscious for the next day and was placed in the hospital wing of the castle until she would wake up. Once that was dealt with, the wedding was redone for nightfall. Although, before the second attempt at the festivities would start Cadence approached Celestia.

“Excuse me, aunty,” Cadence said, walking into Celestia’s study.

Celestial looked up from a stack of papers and greeted Cadence with a smile. “Hello, Cadence. Is there something you need?”

“Well, I wanted to discuss something with you before you switched places with Luna.” Cadence walked further in and took a seat next to Celestia. “I was hoping to add someone to work as a maid here.”

“Ah, I see. I'm guessing you met someone else who was having struggles?” Celestial was familiar with Cadence’s little hobby. Celestia is often approached by her to ask about such things. Celestial turned back to the paper she was working on, picking up a quill and looking over it as the conversation continued. “What can you tell me about them?”

Cadence smiled, happy to see that Celestia was going to listen. “Her name is Shady Drawing. She's a unicorn with a talent in art. And the spells she can use! I'm sure you'd be amazed to see what she's capable of with her art. I'm-uh-not too certain on how she is with maid duties, but I'm sure she’d get the hang of it.”

“Hm.” Celestia signed the paper and set it on a smaller stack of papers before taking one from the larger stack. “I’ll see what I can do. Now, go enjoy your wedding party. It's going to be sundown soon.”

“Thank you, aunty. I'll be sure to pay you back for doing this.” Cadence stood and walked away. She still needed to change her dress and get ready. It wasn't great at first but her and Shining’s love was tested and rang true. She couldn't ask for anything better.

---

The throne room once again. It was abandoned looking, with cobwebs everywhere and cracks along the walls and floor of the room. Between two blank thrones at the front, Shade sat there. She stared ahead, thinking. “What happened there? I can remember what happened but...that wasn't me. I felt like I hadn't eaten for months and I was able to use magic in a way I've never heard about. It felt so much like when I ate that night guard’s emotions.”

She knew something was up. She thought back to that strange dream she had while stuck in the caverns. “Changelings that could summon the dead…” She wasn’t part of that hive. Right? Theories and ideas went through Shade’s mind as she pondered, the time ticking by at a snail’s pace.