Birthday Activities
Glitter met her mother and grandmother at the front doors of her school, Sandy by her side and the pair of them waving a visual farewell to Doublestep as he walked off home. Glitter was, thanks to the actions of her grandmother earlier in the day, now the same height as her fellow classmates –almost the same height as her mother- and she crudely and roughly brushed her white mane from her eyes.
She tried not to think on the look on her grandmother’s face, nor the emotions that seemed to have swamped her; she looked and acted like somepony had sucked all of the happiness from her life, and she didn’t speak a word to anypony. Instead she seemed to simply be on autopilot and followed her daughter-in-law, Glitter’s mother, as she motioned for them to follow.
They walked in silence to the salon, a little place that Chrysalis had booked which apparently was one of Princess Cadance’s favourite mane salons back before she moved to the Crystal Empire. Every now and then Glitter would connect to the Hive Mind only to hear everyone except her mother and grandmother talking as if it were a normal day.
Every time it worried her a little more.
Finally, once they managed to get to the front doors of the salon, Glitter snapped. “Alright, what in the name of Granna’s chitinous behind is going on?” She demanded with a growl. “You’re not even talking in the Mind, and it’s driving me nuts!”
Flitterwing sighed. “Sweetie, your grandmother and I have… had a disagreement.” She said as she pushed the door to the salon open.
“Oh, gee, I couldn’t tell.” Glitter snapped in retort, following her family in. She put a hoof to her face and groaned. “Ugh, now I have a new headache.”
“I think I have a spell for that-” Her mother began, only for her hooves to be swatted away by a now teary-eyed albino daughter.
“You want to use magic to change me? Don’t you love me?!”
Flitterwing blinked at her before sighing. “I knew this was coming, and yet I am still amazed by it.”
“She’s been more moody than mom gets during the spring all day.” Sandy informed over Glitter’s shaking shoulder. “She would be calm and collected one minute then yelling and screaming the next, and then she would be, well, an inconsolable mess over dropping her pencil. The Tartarus is going on?”
Flitterwing chuckled as she wrestled her daughter into standing still and tapped her horn against her head. “As ponies grow, hormones are released into your body to develop you into an adult.” She calmly stated as Glitter staggered away from her shaking her head. “It’s so gradual and subtle that it’s something that you don’t even notice. Glitter has gone from what a pony could consider a child to a young adult in an afternoon.” She watched her daughter blink away tears and mumble to herself unintelligibly for a moment. “After a Changeling’s second moulting, those hormones tend to hit us all at once. The spell I just used on her will allow her to control herself as she usually would, but will allow her body to adjust as it needs.”
“She’s… not going to go into heat is she? That would just be all kinds of awkward…”
Flitterwing shook her head. “No, no, her biological clock in that sense has only been started today; it’ll be the spring when she feels that impulse.” She gave Sandy a sly glance sidelong. “Something I’m sure you know about full well, hmm?”
Sandy blushed and nodded shyly. “Bit of a low blow, but… yes. Mom was all over me with attention and wouldn't leave me alone for a week.”
“And what’d you do in response to this sudden affection?”
“Locked my doors and windows and told her to leave me alone. I didn’t come back out for days.”
“A plan well executed then.” Flitterwing said smugly. “I pegged your mother for the sly type, but I didn’t think she’d pull that kind of thing. I won’t be quite so passive about it with Glitter. The minute she starts she’s going to be locked in her room and she won’t be allowed to leave.”
“Bit harsh isn’t it?”
Flitterwing snorted. “We live in a communal building with six males, that’s the least I will do.”
“Could you stop talking about me like I’m not here?” Glitter asked, brushing a wayward tear from her face. “Rude.”
Flitterwing chuckled, and Chrysalis turned around from talking with the receptionist. “Alright, we’re expected in the next room, come along.”
“One moment,” Flitterwing said, before emerald flames briefly flickered across her head and giving her a mane the same colour as her tail, “one shouldn’t go into a salon and leave them with nothing to do, hmm?”
“You can still have your fin styled, mom.” Glitter pointed out, only for her to chuckle.
“If done incorrectly, like preening feathers, it can hurt quite a lot. I’ve had quite a lot of practice over the years.” She nudged Chrysalis with an elbow cheekily. “Being taught by the best didn’t hurt either.”
Chrysalis sighed. “At least I managed to get one thing right.” She muttered, leading the group into a room with hair-baths along one wall and a series of vacant chairs near them. Several likely-looking ponies with bright and welcoming smiles waved them to a chair each, and soon set upon their manes with water and a variety of expensive-smelling shampoos.
“Now, Glitter;” Chrysalis began, her eyes closed and her head lolled back and relaxed, “because of your growth spurt and the fact that you’re now of the Royal caste, specifically a female of the Royal caste, you know that you and I will have to fight to the death, yes?”
Glitter flailed frantically, and managed to yell a panicked “What?!” before she hissed as some shampoo entered an eye and she clenched it shut until her stylist flushed it out. Flitterwing huffed, but Chrysalis burst into laughter, as did Sandy.
“Oh, that was priceless,” Chrysalis said between laughs, “now I can see why mother did it to me.”
“My Queen, stop that; you’ve done enough damage for one day, I don’t want to have to nurse psychosis on top of everything else.”
Chrysalis snorted. “Spoilsport.”
“In any case; Glitter, we’ve some other things to talk about thanks to your new… transformation.” Flitterwing began, her tone giving away that she was in full ‘lecture mode’. “Firstly, I believe I need to explain what has happened to you.
“This morning at breakfast, your grandmother slipped into your food what we call Changeling Royal Jelly; it is made from Changeling Royals concentrating their magic into a somewhat solid form, rather like honey. It is also a strictly controlled and extremely dangerous magical substance, which can poison non-changelings and under the right circumstances be somewhat explosive. On a side note of this tale, if I ever find out that you’ve tried or have made Royal Jelly without proper supervision and my express permission, you will have to outlive me to see then end of how long you will be grounded, and I am not kidding.
“Anyway, back in the Hive we only had limited information on the effects of Royal Jelly. We knew that it was almost a panacea to adult changelings, could cure nearly any ailment that we had, but beyond that our knowledge was limited. You see, we’ve never had enough food to excuse its creation in any quantity for experimentation, the last time we did was back in your great-grandmothers’ days. The only knowledge we do have is that it’s poisonous and induces vomiting in ponies, can cure nearly every ailment that can afflict a changeling, and that giving it to changeling foals before their second moult causes the foal in question to moult into a Royal.
“Now, the most important point to press is that that was all we knew. We didn’t know what happened during the moulting process, or how much was needed for the process, or anything. We didn’t even know if there was a chance that it could be dangerous. After a rather lengthy discussion with your grandmother and Princesses Celestia and Twilight Sparkle, we managed to deduce that you were given somewhere in the range of ten to twenty thousand Uniamps of magic. To put this into a perspective that Sandy can understand,” she waved a hoof to the Pegasus next to her who had been looking puzzled, “one Uniamp is how much power it takes to move one kilogram; a normal unicorn adult has approximately six hundred Uniamps. Princess Twilight Sparkle has somewhere in excess of forty thousand, by her own admission, and your grandmother is only slightly stronger than her at fifty-eight thousand. She must have been concentrating Royal Jelly for quite some time to create the quantity of magic that you now possess.
“To make matters worse, we have since come to the conclusion that you probably only required a small amount, some six to seven hundred Uniamps, to undergo the transformation. That much can be created in a stable form in an hour, possibly just a few minutes. It was this incredible amount of magic that you were give that caused you to surge as explosively as you did. If you’d been given a more manageable and reasonable amount of Royal Jelly,” she punctuated this by giving Chrysalis a dirty glare to which the elder changeling grimaced sheepishly, “you likely would have gone through the moult with a severe headache and nothing more, at which point we could slowly increase your reserves in a controlled and safe environment.
“The surge of magic that you created upon your moulting was the excess magic that your already stressed body could not contain at the time; when you’d completed your transformation into a Royal, your grandmother safely anchored the fallout back into your reserves.”
“Even then, there was more magic than you could contain, and I had to vent a great deal into the soil to safely deal with it.” Chrysalis interjected. “Over time your reserve will expand naturally and you should be able to contain more magic, but you’re still young.”
“That aside, you are going to be taught how to use this newfound power of yours safely and responsibly, you will also-” she paused for a second to give a yelp as her hairdresser tugged on her mane painfully, “be told and warned of the new laws and regulations that you will be under because of your ascension,” her voice became steely, “they include laws about Royal Jelly, so don’t think that my punishment would be the only one.”
Glitter sighed. “Yes mom.”
“Good.” She snapped as the four of them were sat under some dryers. She picked up a book and held it out between herself and her daughter so that they could both see the contents. “Now, let’s find a nice style for your mane, shall we?”
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“Now approaching the throne, Baroness Chrysalis of the Badlands, Flitterwing of the changelings, and Glitter of the Changelings,” Celestia’s secretary announced loudly, prompting Celestia’s smile to waver faintly. She’d not been looking forward to this meeting since it had been organized, it would be most unpleasant for all involved.
“Thank you, Iron Scroll; please see that my schedule is cleared for the rest of the day, file all relevant documentation, and have an early day. For now, court is adjourned.” Celestia announced firmly. She waited for the courtiers, numerous secretaries, and the excess guards to leave before smiling warmly at the changelings before her. “Chrysalis, Flitterwing, welcome back; and to you as well, Glitter. It has been some time since last I saw you for more than a fleeting few minutes; you’ve grown well.”
“Thank you, Princess.” Glitter curtly replied with a bow. Her mane was now tied back into a tight plaited ponytail, with a few loose strands curling down her face on her right side, and a second plait curling around her left ear to join the rest of her mane down the back of her head. A few holes had emerged in her plaits like those on her legs or that her grandmother’s mane featured, the hairdressers discovering that these would magically appear regardless of what manestyle they did, much to Sandy’s amusement. “I… faintly remember these halls from when I was much younger, and it’s rather fun to see what I might recall.”
Celestia stepped down from her seat and stood before the trio, her neutral yet smiling mask present the whole time. “If you could accompany me, we are going to first visit the infirmary,” she said, waving over her Honour Guard to join them as she began to lead the small family, “I’m sure you must have questions, Glitter, and I will do what I can to answer them.”
“I do, Princess,” Glitter replied with a calm neutrality of her own which impressed Celestia and made Flitterwing stare sidelong at her daughter, “for a start, why are we visiting the palace infirmary?”
“We are heading to the infirmary to allow the palace doctors to give you a full physical. Your mother already performed a cursory check on your health at your school before you awoke, but such drastic changes to the physiology of any creature is jarring and hazardous to the health of the individual. Through magical scans, our medical staff will check your internal organs and other functions to ensure that you are healthy.” Celestia replied patiently, before adding, “Is there anything else on your mind?”
“Mom said something about new laws and stuff?” Glitter probed curiously. “I don’t understand exactly why I would be given new restrictions beyond what I was already under just because of a little change?”
Celestia tittered warmly. “These ‘new laws and stuff’ are laws that pertain only to those of larger magical capability such as us. They include the minutia of the laws which restrict the creation and use of changeling Royal Jelly, laws which detail the repercussions of using your magic against another sentient creature in any instance beyond defending yourself or others. There will also be information regarding your new title due to your subspecies and power.” She looked over at Chrysalis for a moment and spoke to her quickly. “Incidentally, Chrysalis, the noble titles have been reviewed and in the wake of this I have raised you to the new title Duchess; this will hopefully ensure that Prince Blueblood shows the proper respect when addressing you, and that any efforts made into claiming the land that happens to be your domain will be summarily thwarted.”
Chrysalis nodded. “I hardly feel like I should be given such an honour, Princess.” She said with a sad tone, “but at the same time, I’ve already had to stretch my efforts to stop that blonde twit from planting a strip mine directly atop the ruins of my old Hive.”
Flitterwing and glitter growled irritably, and Celestia tittered at their protectiveness.
“If it’s any consolation, your rise into Duchess has also come at the same time as another bill I managed to pass while the Prince was occupied with other matters,”
“He was busy cleaning his fur of the taint that had been left behind when a vidame touched him.” Shred’s voice interrupted as he approached from a side hallway.
“Yes, well,” Celestia said trying to regain the centre of conversation so easily side-tracked, “the bill will stop any such efforts in their tracks in the future, as it places your old Hive –named on the bill simply as ‘Old Hive’- on the cultural heritage protection list. This means, however, that you will be required to visit the site with some of our historians and archaeologists. They may wish to retrieve any artefacts that they find. You shall also be taking a consignment of guards just in case there are any hostile creatures within the site.”
Chrysalis nodded distantly, but didn’t vocalise any real response. Her eyes seemed distant as she walked alongside the Princess, deep in her own thoughts.
“Glitter,” she said quietly and suddenly a few moments later, catching the ear of everypony present –except the guards and Shred, of course; they were on duty after all, “I need to apologise, for all of this.” She stopped walking and sighed, eyes to the floor and ears flat to her scalp. “I… I can’t find the words.”
Glitter moved to her grandmother’s side and leaned against her. “Granna just talk to me.”
“I would understand if you hate me for all this; I’ve taken so much from you.” Chrysalis managed to mumble quietly. “There’s a little history involving Royal Jelly that I’ve never discussed or even had discussed with me by my parents. You see, my father was the last convert; my grandmother, your great-great grandmother, wanted to ensure that the only children that my parents could conceive would be Royals, so she arranged my mother’s marriage and converted her betrothed when they were still young. They knew about it, and I only overheard that this is what had been done when I was young myself, but it’s the truth.
“I was never told by my father about what he had gone through during the transformation; hay, he didn’t even want to talk about it. It was something that had simply not happened. If I’d known it would be as painful for you as it was, if I’d known that I’d overshot the amount of Royal Jelly needed so dramatically, I would never have given you anything. I’d certainly have never sent you to school with such a dangerous condition.”
“When it happened, Chrysalis, you said ‘she’s early’ as if you’d expected it all along.” Celestia commented. “How did you know that-”
“Celestia, please, you of all ponies must know what such a dramatic increase in power would be like. There wouldn’t be a unicorn or changeling for miles that could miss it. I had no idea that I’d caused such a dangerous thing, though. I’m certainly thankful that she, we, I, was lucky enough for her to be sent outside where nopony got hurt. If it had happened in the building, I don’t know how many could have died.” She huffed, as if attempting to laugh sarcastically. “You’d certainly be unable to throw me into the dungeons. I’d never be able to live with myself for harming so many foals, even by accident.” She grit her teeth painfully as a tear rolled down her cheek, eyes clenched tight. “Glitter, I’m so sorry; my stupid attempt to give you something that could help you relate to your friends could have killed you, could have killed so many others… I’m so sorry!”
She spun and threw her head against Glitter’s chest, forelegs wrapped around her granddaughter’s figure as if she were afraid the white changeling would disappear. Glitter, for her part, only blinked and gawked down at her grandmother confusedly.
What was she supposed to do with that?
“G-Granna just… tell me why. I need to know why.”
Chrysalis nodded faintly, struggling to sit up and look her granddaughter in the eyes. “Glitter, tell me, how many children do you think I’ve had?”
Glitter tilted her head. “Mom did tell me that she married your son before... before the invasion.”
Chrysalis chuckled. “Yes, she was married to Slithoof; he was my pride and joy. But, he was not my first. I’ve had many over the years, Glitter. Including Slithoof, I’ve had six. My first’s birthday is in two weeks’ time, actually. A mother never forgets, after all.” She sighed sadly, yet smiled at Glitter. “You look so much like her; it’s almost hard for me to believe that you’re not related by blood. As of the conclusion of the invasion, can you guess how many I’d lost?”
“N… no.” Glitter replied in a breath. “The family tree could have been enormous…”
“Six children, two colts and four fillies, sixteen grandchildren, thirty great-grandchildren, and eighty great-great grandchildren are what I have lost over the years, twelve of my great-great grandchildren and one son at the end of the invasion. Out of all of them, Slithoof struck the hardest. He was a Royal, you see; we’re sturdier and live for incredibly long spans of time. Why, my mother would still be around if she hadn’t been killed. We’re practically immortal.” Her eyes grew unfocused and distant for a few moments before she refocused on Glitter. “Can you imagine now why I would go through all this? I imagine that Celestia might, but I…”
Celestia nodded. “You don’t want to be alone anymore.” She sighed. “It’s why I got Philomena, my pet phoenix, after I had to banish Nightmare Moon.” She smiled faintly yet sadly at Chrysalis. “We just aren’t able to live forever with such pain as loneliness.”
“I can’t… I can’t bury any more. I just can’t.” Chrysalis breathed. “I know that the day will come that Flitterwing will pass, but I just can’t… not alone.” She turned her tear-streaked face to Flitterwing, her eyes wide. “You’ve no idea how proud you’ve made me, after everything that’s happened. All of you, putting up with the nonsense that I’ve brought upon us time and time again. There would come the day when there’s nopony left within the Mind but myself, and I just… I don’t want to face that alone. I can’t. Not after the invasion. Not after how close we came. Can you imagine having to face that much empty space all alone? A world of quiet where once there were thousands? Waking after the invasion, when there were no changelings awake or linked to the Hive… you have no idea how terrifying that was! When you awoke in the hospital disconnected, you didn’t have to face the emptiness, Flitterwing. The Mind wasn’t there for you because you weren’t connected to it, but the second I woke I was faced with the hollow void of an empty Hive.
“I thought my stupidity had killed you all! It wasn’t until Shred awoke that I even considered any of you might be alive! If none of you had returned, if you’d all died…” her gaze drifted to the floor and the collection of tears beneath her. “There wouldn’t have been even an ex-queen for Celestia’s guard to hunt. Just a corpse to parade, forever thought of as the corpse of a tyrant and monster. I’m sorry, Glitter, but I didn’t bless you today, your birthday; I shared the curse of immortality, and I’m so sorry.”
For her part, Glitter sat there, simply staring back at her grandmother incredulously as the elder changeling begged for forgiveness for something she wasn’t sure could be forgiven. A thought occurred to her and she smiled faintly, calmly, and reassuringly leaned her grandmother into her.
“If you’re asking forgiveness for loving me, you won’t get it, remember?” She asked quietly, nuzzling her grandmother’s cheek. “Forgiving requires something that needs forgiveness. You’ve asked for forgiveness for possibly killing my friends and classmates, which didn’t happen. You’ve asked forgiveness for possibly killing me, which never happened. You want me to forgive you for making me almost immortal, but you won’t get it. You don’t need me to forgive you for being my Granna now any more than you did when the hydra attacked me. You never need me to forgive you for being my Granna, because you’re still doing it as perfectly as I can tell, just… be careful in the future, hmm?
“You’re my grandmother, and I’ll always love you.” She finally said, wrapping her forelegs around Chrysalis tightly. “Never think otherwise.”
“Thank you, Glitter. It’s more than I deserve after all this.”
“You say that, Granna, but you’ll never convince me of it.” Glitter retorted cheekily. “Now, I believe we have some medical staff to see. Stars forbid we make them wait and waste their pwecious time.”
Chrysalis nodded and tried to rub the moisture from her face. “Yes, of course,” She coughed, “by your leave, Princess.”
With a smile, Celestia led them down through the castle.
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“I must say, I’ve not had a patient of your age so cooperative.” The doctor, one Doctor Peach, said amusedly to Glitter.
“Oh, I’m sorry, am I supposed to be screaming for my mom and fussing?” She asked dramatically, waving a hoof in amusement. “Oh, waily waily, she’s going to poke me with a needle! I’d better start crying now so that when it hurts I’ll have nothing to cry out and can only fuss some more! Oh no, what is this in my mouth? She said it was for taking my temperature but I’m terrified it’ll suck my brains out when I’m not looking! I’d better spit it across the room and make the pony with sharp tools angry!” She smiled over at the doctor who only chortled amusedly. “Look, I’ll make it simple,” she began, offering the inside of her right foreleg, “If you can see the green vein there, that’s where you stab me. Let me know before you do so, or I’m liable to snap at you. Don’t just jab it through my chitin or you’ll crack it and I’ll scream at you.”
“Only one needle today, Miss Glitter; I need a blood sample and then you’re going to get a magic scan.” She then leaned in conspiratorially. “And I don’t need to see your intimates, so you can keep them to yourself.” She giggled as Glitter’s face flushed green in embarrassment before holding the changeling’s leg out and tapping a needle against the inside of her leg. “Here we go, ready? And… pop!” With that she jabbed the needle in and began to draw out the green life-giving fluid. When she had a full needle, she pulled it back out and rubbed the area gently. Finally she took the thermometer from Glitter's mouth. “There we go; now into the next room with you while I look at your blood-work.”
Glitter nodded and stepped into the room in which her mother was waiting with a half-dozen unicorns, all of whom watched her patiently. Her mother tapped her hoof against the ground to get her attention.
“Okay, sweetie, these unicorns are going to perform a full-body magic scan using the formula I’ve given them for your physiology and magic signature. You should only feel a slight tingle, and when it’s all over they’ll give me the results for me to compile and return.” She informed calmly. “It’s been a little while, but I’m hardly rusty since I do this all the time for the others; when you’re ready doctors.”
The stallions nodded and lit their horns, and a gentle hum filled the room.
*
Chrysalis sat idly out in the hall waiting for her kin to be done with their current tasks. Princess Celestia had, surprisingly, had the rest of her day’s plans either shelved or they were little things she could manage without needing to be in her office. As such, she had a stack of papers hovered before her and her fiery orange quill moving at such a pace that Chrysalis was wondering why it hadn’t caught fire or worn to a stub. Shred stood still and silent next to his queen, a small probe of his thoughts by her letting her know that he was devising a training regimen for the newbies he would be training.
Celestia caught her looking sidelong at the papers and grinned. “Don’t feel sorry for me, Chrysalis; these are going directly to your desk once I’m done with them.” She said almost mean-spiritedly. One of her ears twitched and she looked down the hall curiously, as if expecting something. Soon enough, Chrysalis also heard the sound, one that she was dreading as it grew closer.
The echoing sound of many hooves.
A dozen ponies, followed by angry-looking guards, all but stampeded around the corner. They slid to a stop before the royals, each taking a quick bow to Celestia before bursting into short yet loud questions about the ‘event’ that had taken place at one of Canterlot’s school. Before Celestia or Chrysalis could counter any of their questions, one particular stallion brandished some ‘evidence’ he had of the event –an eyewitness report from a student called ‘Rocky’.
“The student in question states that the Changeling in his class left his class and created the magical storm that unicorns across Canterlot ducked for cover from. He also states that Baroness Chrysalis arrived and refused anypony access to the magical fallout until after she had ‘settled’ it;” he continued to prattle this information unaware of the glare that Chrysalis was boring into the side of his skull, “lastly, this student named the Changeling from his class as the granddaughter of the Baroness herself, Glitter.”
It took all of Chrysalis’ strength to obey the silent command that Shred was advising her through the Mind and remain still and try and look calm. After a moment of confusion at why, he had simply kept the instruction going.
‘You’ll thank me later, my queen.’
Celestia sighed and teleported away the stack of paper she’d been working on to keep the documents out of the view of the reporters. “The matter to which you refer, and that you all question, is being handled by Royal and Ambassadorial Affairs, and I am overseeing the case myself alongside the Duchess.”
The stallion turned to Chrysalis, “And do you have any comments on this matter and your implications into it, ma’am?”
“None at this time.” Chrysalis managed to say in a relatively neutral tone. If the stallion had any brains he wouldn’t press the issue.
Alas, being a reporter and therefore paid to ask stupid questions, he was clearly not a bright stallion.
“And what of the accusations levelled against your granddaughter?”
Shred smiled a little, unseen by the reporters, when he let her get away with her retort.
“Do you really thing you should be asking after my family,” she snarled at him with her teeth bared, “after how your so-called ‘newspaper’ photographed and slandered us while we slept?!” She huffed and reigned in her anger after frightening the stallion harshly, letting Shred help her form her next comment. “A statement regarding the events which transpired today will be released at a later time. Other than to say that my granddaughter is indeed involved, I am not at liberty to discuss the matter, for both her privacy and the privacy of the Royal and Ambassadorial Affairs case.”
“Now, if you would be so kind as to allow my guard to perform their duty, you have wandered into a private section of the castle and I would ask you all to leave.” Celestia said calmly. “Also that if any of you are to perform the scrying spells to track myself again you will be charged for invasion of privacy; thank you.”
The guards that had chased the reporters surrounded them and hurried them out of the hall, each as impassive to their demands for more information as their Princess, who only teleported back the stack of papers she’d been working on before and returned to her task as if they’d never shown up at all.
It took a moment or two of silence for the diarch and ex-monarch to stop straining to hear them, despite their outward appearances, and returned to the relaxed postures they held beforehand.
“My, my, Chrysalis; one would think that your family is constantly under assault for how protective you are of them.” Celestia teased.
Chrysalis snorted. “I’m not paranoid, Princess, whatever ponies have been saying about me.”
The princess chuckled lightly. “If you say so, Chrysalis;” She slid a sheet she had only just finished writing to her chitinous counterpart and teleported in a new black quill for her, “here, read this and sign it.”
“What is it?” Chrysalis asked, taking the sheet and quill and starting to read carefully.
“It’s your acceptance of the new heavy restriction on Royal Jelly and its use and the terms to which you will be required to adhere should it ever need fabrication and application to any task. Penalties for breaking this contract, as you will read lower down, include time in the dungeon, hefty fines, and community service. Your granddaughter will be under the exact same contract, so do not think this only applies to you.”
Chrysalis nodded a little, reading through the paper studiously. She held it back over to Celestia, “You misspelled ‘extraneous’ here.” She said, pointing to the word in question with a hoof. The solar princess blinked at the word in question before scowling faintly. Her magic hovered over the word and it simply disappeared from the page, and she scratched the correction into place. Afterwards it looks like it had never been wrong in the first place. “Ah,” Chrysalis blurted, “thanks.”
“Any particular reason for that interruption Chrysalis, or are you just finding excuses to avoid signing your name?” Celestia asked curiously as she returned to writing on her stack of paper, now writing at a slightly slower pace to avoid future errors.
“Legally binding documents of this scale should be entirely correct to avoid ponies arguing that they are void due to inconsistencies or errors.” Chrysalis mumbled sidelong. “Wing-power-Induced-Casting..? That’s a thing?”
Celestia hummed in the affirmative. “Rare, but it’s been known to happen. The pegasi in question are often ridiculed by their peers for their poor or lack of flight skills. One of the Elements, Fluttershy, is one such case.”
“I’ve never seen or heard of her casting any spells?”
“Her magic is focused on boons, primarily those that allow for cross-species communication and empathy. It’s one of the reasons she’s so good with animals.”
“That makes as much sense as anything else, I suppose.” Chrysalis mumbled, ignoring the look of confused irritation that Celestia shot her way. “Don’t look at me like that; you grew up with everything coming in heart-shapes. It’s hard to have a serious conversation with the Gryphons and their dignitaries when you’re eating a meal of heart-shaped tuna sandwiches. I felt like I was back in third grade.”
The only sound that Celestia gave to this was a barely held-in snort of amusement. Chrysalis took this as her note to return to her reading and stuck in, stopping only when she hit the bottom. With a swish of the quill she signed her name on the page and held it back out to Celestia.
“All yours, cupcake.”
Celestia nodded and the paper rolled itself into a scroll, duplicated itself, and one vanished off to whatever dark recesses the legal filing system called home. She offered the other copy to Chrysalis. “This is your copy; I suggest keeping it somewhere safe.”
Chrysalis hummed and teleported the scroll away to her office at home; she would sort everything away later. “They should be done soon.” She commented sidelong.
As if summoned by her words, the door between them swung open and Flitterwing poked her head out. “Princess, mom, could you come in please; we’ve finished our task and I have… concerns.”
Celestia nodded and followed the changeling mare and her stack of paper into the examination room, where Glitter was sitting in the middle of a magic focus with an incredibly sheepish look on her face.
Chrysalis gave her granddaughter a confused look before turning to her daughter-in-law. “Why does Glitter look like she’s been caught with her hoof in a cookie jar and reprimanded for it?”
“Facts of life speeches tend to do that to a filly, mom.” Flitterwing replied. “What with her only getting an Equestrian education on the matter, I felt it important to advise her of how different she is now.”
“Ah;” Chrysalis blurted, “so… the egg thing?”
“The egg thing.”
“’Egg thing’..?” Celestia probed worriedly.
“Royal changelings give live birth to non-Royal offspring; Royals come from eggs. It allows for the extra gestation that is usually required for a changeling to be a Royal.” Chrysalis said matter-of-factly. “My son was hatched, for example. I can recall how embarrassing it was for me when mother told me.”
“In any case,” Celestia announced, taking some form of control over the conversation, “what concerns do you have?”
Flitterwing waved a hoof at her daughter. “While she’s physically and mentally the picture of health, despite her growth-induced hormone imbalance, she does have one issue that I am worried about. Her magic reserves are dangerously high; it’s as if she’s been storing magic for several months. I might not be worried so much if she had some reserve available, but…” She sighed. “Think of reserves like a rainwater tank; when it’s full, where does it go?”
Celestia nodded. “What are you proposing we do then?”
Flitterwing bit her lip nervously. “Well… I am suggesting that she wean it off by making some Royal Jelly.” She said, cringing in fright of the outrage she was expecting.
“I agree.”
Flitterwing’s eyes opened and looked about the room almost in a daze before they came to rest on the solar alicorn who had spoken. “Y-you do..? Even after all the trouble it has caused in the last, what, twenty-four hours?”
Celestia nodded and held a page and quill out to Glitter, who took them nervously and began to read. “As soon as she has read through and signed that agreement, we can help her through the process and create some Royal Jelly in a safe environment.” She said confidently. “As well, it will give our researchers something to study. Who knows, perhaps it could become a medical or scientific breakthrough.”
Flitterwing blinked at her before sighing and nodding. “Yes, I suppose so.” She said, sitting and waiting for her daughter to finish with the contract.
“Uh, who wrote this?”
Celestia sighed and stepped over to her, looking at the sheet. “Why do you ask?”
“Missing capitol letter.” She said, pointing to it with her quill. Celestia huffed and replaced the error before her eyes, and the albino changeling continued reading. After her eyes read the last line she paused and processed what she’d read before she signed the page where it prompted. Celestia nodded and repeated the process she had done with Chrysalis, giving the scroll to the eldest changeling for filing away.
“Alright, now;” Chrysalis mumbled, taking an empty beaker from a cupboard and floating it over to her granddaughter, “hold this in your hooves. Celestia, if you wish to create a warding shield around her to hold in a possible magic discharge now would be a good time.”
A golden bubble surrounded Glitter, and Flitterwing stepped a little further back to stay out of the way.
“Now, Glitter, you need to call up your magic. Once you do that, I need you to pull as much magic as you can into your horn,” Chrysalis instructed patiently, “when you have focused enough magic, it will force itself out of the tip of your horn as a thick viscous gel. You will need to capture this gel, Royal Jelly, in the beaker. Do not exhaust yourself, as you can easily harm yourself doing this.”
Glitter nodded before looking over at her grandmother curiously. “… Isn’t this stuff dangerous?”
With a chortle, Chrysalis replied: “Quite. Now quit stalling.”
Glitter whimpered before nodding and focusing.
*
Ten minutes and two hundred millilitres of Royal Jelly later, Glitter was breathing heavily and had given the beaker to Celestia, who sealed the bottle and handed it to Shred to take to the castle’s Vault.
“I don’t want to do that again.” Glitter huffed. “That sucked.”
Flitterwing smiled almost smugly. “Perhaps it’ll help you to think twice before creating Royal Jelly in the future, little lady.”
“Is there anything else you want to put me through, mom, or can I have the rest of my day back?”
“A few things, actually,” Flitterwing said smugly, “for a start, I want a test on your magic strength.”
“We have just the tool for such a thing, down in the barracks. If you could follow me,” Celestia chimed, leading the trio into the winding corridors of the castle. They travelled in relative silence, broken only by the steady rhythm of their hooves clattering on the tiles and the soft clink of guards’ armour as they stood to attention.
Finally they reached a large room with multiple articles of physical or magical practice. A few guards were within the apparent training room, sparring or practicing on their own. They all seemed to come to immediate halts, even the pony on the running machine who quite swiftly found himself on his ass because the machine didn’t stop with him. The Princess waved a wing idly.
“As you were my little ponies; we are only here to make use of the facilities.” She called, smiling disarmingly as she strolled through the room and over to a square weight. It didn’t really look like anything special. “Glitter, this is a piece of stone enchanted to detect and react to magic attempting to lift it and progressively become heavier until it cannot be lifted. It is let go by the magic-user attempting to lift it after twenty seconds, at which point a second magic enchantment will recite the weight it has reached. This demonstrates the amount of force that can be exerted by the caster, in other words their magical strength. At the moment, it weighs about two kilograms. Flitterwing, would you be willing to demonstrate?”
She nodded and Celestia stood back before prompting Flitterwing to proceed. Her horn lit up, and the stone was surrounded in her magic, but it did not shift in the least. Twenty seconds later, Flitterwing stopped and huffed, and the stone gave a soft thump as if settling back into place.
A male voice echoed out from the rock; “Forty eight point two three kilograms.”
“Not bad,” Celestia said cheerfully, “a good unicorn guard can lift just over eighty. Currently the record between guards is one hundred and three point four.”
“What’s your record, Princess?” Glitter asked curiously, to which Celestia chortled.
“I move the sun.” She stated with a playful tone.
“Right.” Glitter mumbled, before gazing back at the rock. “So… just lift it?”
“With all of your might yes; it should have reset by now, so… whenever you are ready.”
Glitter took a steadying breath before lighting her horn and gripping the stone. Her horn shone brighter as she forced her magical might to attempt to lift the stone, and this continued for almost twenty seconds before she gave up and let the stone go.
Again the voice called out, “Two hundred and sixty eight point seven three kilograms.”
Celestia nodded. “Using your mother as a reference, that is most impressive.” She said. “Twilight can lift somewhere around six hundred. Chrysalis, what was your record?”
“Four hundred and ninety two give or take.” Chrysalis replied calmly. “I suggest we work on offensive next.”
“I agree. Come, we shall use the clay discus launcher.”
A short jaunt over to a wide window found them overlooking a field. A unicorn nearby was already using a launcher, pressing a button on the ground with his hoof to launch a large clay disc into the field, which he would then take magic shots at. He seemed to be doing rather well, and rarely missed.
“Corporal Stone Wrought is doing a good job of demonstrating for us, but I believe that we should have Chrysalis show you anyway.” Celestia said, looking over to the duchess. “Would be good for you to keep up a little practice, hmm?”
Chrysalis shrugged and stepped up to the alcove, her hoof hovering over the red button. “This button releases a clay discus, which we then take a shot at using magic. You do know how to shoot magic, yes?”
“I remember doing it once and giving uncle Shred a bruise on his barrel.” Glitter said, grinning at the memory. “I mean, I didn’t mean to hurt him that much, only startle him, but I think I put too much magic into it.”
“Sounds about right for a first time shot,” Chrysalis mentioned, “now, we press the button and,”
She did push the button, and with fair accuracy shot the flying disc out of the air. The shrapnel dissolved upon hitting the ground, leaving no mess behind.
“How does that work?”
“The discs are magical constructs, each one enchanted to dissolve upon contact with the ground and be reconstructed within a launcher.” Celestia informed her patiently. “Now, step up and take your mark; ten discs, take your time.”
Glitter sighed and stepped over to the button next to the one that Chrysalis stood at. “This is going to be so bad.” She mumbled, before lighting her horn and pressing the button.
Her disc was surrounded in a black field and crushed to the size of a garden pea.
Glitter’s eyes bulged. “What in the name of my grandmother’s wings was that?!”
“Localized gravitational anomaly..?” Celestia asked almost under her breath. “Curious; Glitter, take another shot.”
She nodded and pushed the button, keeping her eye on the disc and launching her magic, to much the same result as before. Again the four mares only watched on in confusion.
“Well, it’s been a while, but this isn’t entirely unprecedented.” Celestia said, “Luna, Twilight and I are also capable of such manipulation, and we do have a few guards come through with such a skill now and then. I think we shall have to instruct you a little. Glitter, when you are about to unleash your magic project it from the tip of your horn, okay? When you’re ready;”
Glitter nodded and pulled up her magic again, giving a steadying breath before pushing the button. This time she managed to get an actual beam, and it took a couple of shots to hit the disc, but she only managed a glancing blow that made it spin out of flight and to the grass where it disintegrated.
“That’s more like it, though your aim has something to be desired. That can be improved over time, so don’t fret too much about that.” Celestia said warmly.
“Thank you, Princess. Now, is there anything else?” Glitter asked, taking a moment to take pot-shots at another disc, managing to hit it after the third shot. “As cathartic I find this, it’s hardly productive.”
“Just one more thing,” Flitterwing said, “Princess, we need a tower.”
“Oh no, you are not pushing me out of a tower to test my flight!” Glitter protested.
Her mother stared at her. “… What on Equus are you talking about? We need a tower for isolation to see if you can Amplify.”
Glitter blinked at her, not understanding. “What?”
“To Amplify is to use your magic to increase the volume of your voice. The Royal Canterlot Voice is a form of Amplification, though my sister and I are capable of performing the Voice without use of magic.” She sighed and shook her head. “I suggest you try it here, as using a tower would project your voice across Canterlot. Here you will only startle my guards, and after Luna returned, I’m fairly sure that they are somewhat used to it.”
“… Okay, how do I do this?” Glitter asked, taking shots at another disc and managing to hit this on the first shot.
“Surround your throat in your magic, do not take a grip; that’s the easiest way to strangle yourself. Once you’ve got magic around your throat, all you need do is speak.” Celestia instructed, turning to Chrysalis. “If you could demonstrate for me, Chrysalis; guard, be aware of Royal Canterlot Voice use in the next few minutes!”
Chrysalis sighed and followed the steps, turned her head to the room, and spoke but a word. “Testing!”
Glitter slapped her ears to her scalp and craned her head back from the sheer volume of her grandmother’s voice. Her head was ringing faintly, and she observed her grandmother tap her throat in irritation as her magic faded.
“Ah, that always chafes. I’ll need a drink after all this just from that.” She complained. Flitterwing smiled.
“We’ll get one after this; this is the last thing I need anyway. Go ahead, Glitter, show us what you’ve got.”
Glitter gulped and nodded, lighting up her horn and letting her magic encompass her throat before turning her head to the room and speaking a single word;
“Hello.”
The feeling was, as her grandmother had somewhat let slip, like scratching her vocal cords with sandpaper. Her magic let go the second the word left her mouth and she coughed, gripping her throat as she did so. A second and then third cough left her before she could control her breathing better, and she looked up at the Princess as if waiting for appraisal. Celestia hummed.
“Impressive, though not as loud as your grandmother or I; it was your first time though, and as Chrysalis has stated, it doesn’t feel good for those who are unused to it. Come, we’ll get something to drink and maybe a snack before you need to head home. Follow me to my chambers.”
~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~
The four mares sat in one of Princess Celestia’s meeting rooms –a lavishly decorated and luxuriously cushy room with velvet seating, a marble coffee table, and a golden chandelier made to look like a hanging fern. Glitter stared up at the chandelier like she’d never seen anything like it before as they waited for a maid to return with some mid-afternoon nibbles.
Flitterwing was listening to Chrysalis and Celestia talk over the meeting with the reporters that had occurred, giving her mother-in-law a grateful smile when she talked about why she had been so angry when the stallion had asked after Glitter.
Finally, after a few minutes of waiting, the door opened and the maid they had sent off arrived with a small trolley carrying Glitter’s cup of fruit juice, a tea set with gently steaming teapot, and a tray of the most exquisite looking cookies that Glitter had ever lay her eyes on. The tray was placed on the coffee table with the tea set taking a position next to it and Glitter’s juice being placed in front of where she sat. With her duty done, the maid dipped her head and stepped out of the room.
Celestia gently poured a cup of tea for herself and the two adult changelings, adding some cream and honey to hers before stirring and taking a dainty sip. She sighed with a pleased smile. “Ah, rose and peach, somepony is trying to butter me up.”
“Maybe your maid wants a raise?” Chrysalis asked as she tipped a frankly irresponsible amount of sugar into her tea. She took a short tip of it and also smiled. “I can see she has potential at least.”
“You mean you can still taste your tea through the cane field of sugar you just put into it?” Flitterwing teased, still stirring the cream and sugars into her own. “She must be good then.” Her eyes turned to her daughter, who was staring at the biscuits on the tray as if they were the first edible thing she’d seen in weeks.
Celestia seemed to follow her gaze and she giggled a little. “You know, Twilight was the same way when I first took her on as my pupil. She wouldn’t eat my biscuits either.”
Glitter nodded a little, flushing green in a blush.
Chrysalis floated one over to her granddaughter and held it just out of her reach, where she could smell it but not quite snap at it. “These ones have peach in them~.” She teased as she wafted the biscuit around.
With a flash of magic that didn’t belong to Chrysalis, the biscuit was in Glitter’s mouth where she hummed appreciatively.
“Is it as good as you thought it would be?” Chrysalis asked teasingly.
Glitter nodded, and another voice joined them. “I would assume it’s as divine as she is.”
Chrysalis groaned and Celestia’s face turned into her usual pokerface, a tell-tale sign that she was as irritated by the arrival as Chrysalis was.
Prince Blueblood stepped into the room and gave Glitter a look that she was sure the prince thought was ‘appraising’ but to her was both hungry and creepy in a very, very unnerving way.
“And who might this delightful creature be?”
“This ‘delightful creature’ is thirteen;” Glitter said dismissively.
“Oh my, you don’t look a day over twenty, thirteen hundred years, really?” He asked, still layering on his charming voice as thick as he could manage and making Flitterwing glare.
“No, she is thirteen.” She hissed. “That’s my daughter you creepy degenerate.”
He gave Flitterwing a slightly angry look out of the corner of his eye. “Nopony said you were part of this conversation, bug; go back to the hole you crawled-”
His words didn’t continue, as Glitter had stood, turned, and slapped him across the face. Both Chrysalis and Celestia gawked at the action in stunned silence.
“Never call my mother a bug.” She hissed.
Celestia cleared her throat loudly when he turned back to retort. “What are you doing here, Prince Blueblood?” She asked patiently, motioning for Chrysalis to rein-in her granddaughter discreetly.
He rubbed his cheek where Glitter had slapped him and looked over at his aunt. “I was following a maid with a tray of biscuits, juice, and tea; I did not know that you had… guests.”
Celestia nodded. “Prince Blueblood, these are Duchess Chrysalis’s family, her daughter in law Flitterwing,” she motioned to said changeling with a hoof, “and her granddaughter, Glitter.”
Blueblood’s eye twitched at the mention of Flitterwing’s name, which amused said mare no end; clearly he had difficulty seeing her as anything less than scum after she had more or less turned him down.
“May I?” Glitter asked, motioning to the tray of biscuits. Celestia nodded, and she levitated a biscuit from the tray and took a bite. “Mm, strawberries.”
“The royal pastry chef is skilled, isn’t she?” Celestia asked her, to which the albino changeling nodded vehemently. “Not bad for somepony who came in off the streets.”
“Oh?” Glitter asked curiously, taking a second bite from her biscuit and ignoring Blueblood as he stomped out of the room from lack of attention.
Celestia nodded. “She’d worked at a patisserie in Applewood that didn’t fare so well, and was out on the street when her landlords changed the locks on her with no warnings.” Celestia gave a short shake of her head, “I had my guards visit them after I heard what they’d done. In any case, she came in and asked for a chance to earn a job here. When Luna tasted the cupcake that she baked to prove she would fit in, she hired her on the spot.” She smiled warmly and sipped her tea, “It was the best decision that Luna has made since she returned.”
Glitter finished her biscuit with a huge smile and nodded. “I don’t think Pony Joe could compete, but he comes close.”
“Ah, Joe makes every customer valued, which more than makes up for it.” Celestia replied. “And his coffee is divine.”
“I’ll take your word for it, I don’t drink coffee myself.” Glitter said, levitating over her juice and drinking deeply of it. “Ooh, that’s good too; Granna, you didn’t tell her that peaches are my favourite, did you?”
“I may have let it slip.”
Glitter gave her a sarcastic glare, “Snitch~.”
Chrysalis held a hoof to her head dramatically. “Oh, you wound me so.” She declared, “Maybe I should deny you any birthday cake in punishment.”
Flitterwing barked a short laugh before waving a hoof. “Mom, stop bullying your granddaughter; we’ve had enough trouble for one day.”
“Speaking of birthdays;” Celestia began as she locked her eyes on Glitter, “happy birthday. I shall see if I can coax our pastry chef into making you a tin of biscuits. If I have to give some of the nobles gifts on their birthdays, I’m sure I can excuse sending one to the granddaughter of a Duchess;” Her warm smile infectiously spread to Glitter, who blushed as well, “Especially since you’ve joined the small group of immortals that call Equestria home.”
“If it means getting a box of these delicious biscuits, it was worth the headache.”
A short round of soft laughter filled the room before they returned to the soft chatter that had been filling the room before the biscuits and drinks had arrived.
~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~(0)~
Later that night, Glitter sat at the communal table in Little Hive, with her friends, fellow changelings, and even Booker’s wife Inky Swirl, all sat around her and the table with a large cake in front of her, candles lit and everypony singing her a happy birthday before she blew out the candles.
She leaned back in her seat and smiled, watching the little smoke trails rise from their respective candles until the last wisp vanished. “It’s been a busy day, I’ll say that much.” She mused as her mother cut the cake into individual slices.
“At least you got a tin of those biscuits from the princess, hmm?” Chrysalis teased.
“There is that, yes.” Glitter replies. “And I’m not short anymore.”
“Hip, hip, hooray for that.” Sandy said sarcastically, “I don’t have to check underhoof so much now.”
“And it’ll be easier for us to practice dancing, too.” Doublestep added, nudging Glitter’s ribs.
“Oh joy,” Glitter huffed, shifting at his nudge, “because I so enjoyed looking like a fool when we did that before.”
A piece of cake on a plate was placed before her with a small fork by her mother’s magic, “eat up, Hon, and then it’s present time.”
*
A few minutes later, Glitter sat amongst the remains of gift wrappers, their subsequent gifts stacked neatly by her right. From Lightyear, Grall, and Crackle she’d gotten a silver necklace with an emerald charm in the shape of a heart, currently she wore this and its box sat atop the neat stack. At the bottom, in a box all its own, rested a dress that her grandmother had gotten made for her using her new measurements made of white satin and silk with green trim. Her mother, Booker, and Inky Swirl had gotten her a portion of the ‘Daring Do’ collection, to which she said she would add on her own. Shred, Dopple, and Husk had all worked together to get her a new bedspread of silk in a pleasant blue and silver pattern.
Finally, her friends had gotten her some hair care products and utensils that she would need made from oak and other fine materials. On top of all that, of course, was the tin of biscuits from Celestia herself.
“There is one other thing, Glitter,” Doublestep mumbled as he drew a little closer.
“Hmm?”
The colt sat alongside her, blushed furiously, and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. The action made everypony besides himself and Sandy freeze and stare at him like he’d grown a second head. Glitter’s left hoof lifted to touch her cheek where he’d kissed her.
“Wh-what..?”
He blushed furiously, giving her a hopeful and sad little smile before bolting to a distant corner where he huddled and looked incredibly sheepish. Sandy hovered a little closer to her changeling friend.
“What was that all about?” Glitter asked her curiously.
Sandy smiled at her faintly before blushing and kissing Glitter’s other cheek and following her earth-bound friend to the corner and gaining a strangely cheerful grin as she nudged him, leaving Glitter to stare at her retreating form. A heavy and pregnant silence filled the room after the kiss, during which Glitter’s hoof lifted to her cheek where Sandy had kissed her. She blinked after them in befuddlement before her cheeks tinted a faint green.
“That was… different.” Flitterwing commented.
“For you, maybe;” Inky Swirl said, “but it’s actually kind of common in Equestria.”
“It’s common to randomly kiss a friend on the cheek then run off with a blush on your face like you’ve just been caught with your hoof in the cookie jar?” Glitter asked confusedly, still blushing herself.
Inky Swirl gave a laugh, “In a way, yes.” She moved closer and put a hoof on Glitter’s shoulder. “I think they like you.
“You know, as more than just friends.”
Phew, 'bout time I finished this chapter.
Now back to my studies. See you again when the next chapter is out.
... Whenever that is.
*This is how Glitter's hair looks, not sure if anyone is interested... : 
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awww young love
5230105
No, that's not what I meant at all.
She's a growing filly, just into her teens, and her mother smothered her with so much attention that she locked her out of her room.
That's what I meant.
5230122 I apologize, but you MIGHT want to rewrite it. I'll delete my comment.
5230156
5230122
Dafuq did I miss
Herd love. Needs some griffons though
5230234 Do not concern yourself with it. The only thing you missed was me accidentally offending our author and making a complete ass out of myself.
Oh god! Its alive! So much happy tears!
5230308
Offending? No, y' didn't offend me; I can see where the confusion came from and I tweaked the line to make it (hopefully) less questionable.
5230526 hi doople.
5230621 Why hello there.
nice
It's still alive!
Glitter looks so pretty.
5231480 No, it's not. It's still dead. It's a zombie story that has risen from the grave and wants to eat our brains.
I saw Doublestep's feelings coming ages ago but Sandy's intentions took me by surprise. Not that I'm complaining.
5231769
Yeah, well, with the quality of this story...
*puts down shotgun*
Until we meet again on the other side of the chapter, my friends.
5230308 happens to the best of us?
...
You mother just called him a degenerate. I didn't see no slapping coming from him.
Double standards ahoy!
Can somepony please point this out at some point? Please? Or maybe the whole invasion of privacy thing, what with them having abducted and brainwashed somepony? Why is it they get a pass again and again and again and again?
I think I realised one of my main problems with this story:
The Changelings are never seriously confronted with the consequences of their actions on others.
Even the invasion is merely ever referenced in detail when it's time to explain how horrible it was for the Changelings, or as some vague reason for pony bigotry. They feel horrible for what they did to the ponies (at least some say they do), but we're never told what exactly for. It's always 'the invasion' then, like it's some empty buzzword. And because no ponies ever get to explain a concrete reason for their hatred, plus every 'positive' character pretty much always taking their side, the Changelings always come across as the moral ones while the ponies are always racist and evil.
Now some might say the Royal Jelly affair was serious, but did it honestly feel at all important how it affected everyone who wasn't a Changeling? Especially since the strict new regulations they put in place are immediately made irrelevant story-wise? And the only representative of the outside is a badgering reporter with no redeeming features?
You know what would break that mould? Present a pony who has a reason for disliking Changelings. A real, personal, detailed one, and give him or her an equal opportunity for their pain as the Changelings. Don't make it like Shining Armor, who gets chewed out as soon as he dares scowl at the creature who messed up his mind, pitted him against his little sister, abducted and replaced his love, and almost destroyed his life. Make it a foal who lost their father to the invasion for example, or something understandable like it. Blaming Glitter for it would still be racist, but at least we'd know where they're coming from and not have such a skewed picture.
I'm sorry if this came across as overly harsh. It's just that, you're obviously a talented writer, and so it's frustrating to see this issue hanging over everything.
There was noise I made when I saw this update.
I think my testes just got sucked into my butt.
Worth it.
5233995 watch the episode again and see- the Changelings are 1.) destroying personal and public property, 2.) traumatizing everypony by locking them in place with green goo and eating their emotions, 3.) possibly killing ponies they hit head-on, violating a countless amount of laws, etc.
I think it's clear that the Invasion is a loaded and meaningful word to ponies that experienced it. Both sides did wrong, and are trying to make up for it.
5234720 But that is precisely my point. We saw them do horrible things, but never get called out on anything specific. The closest thing I can remember are the nobles being said to worry about their possessions, and even that makes it sound more negative than positive. If all that's ever shown is ponies being horrible and Changelings good, of course you are going to end up with a one-sided narrative. And that's exactly what's happening here. Look, the one thing that a Changeling was actually shown doing during the invasion was helping a pony filly and almost getting martyred for it. For both sides supposedly sharing blame, one side is getting treated a lot more sympathetic by the narrative. I understand that the focus is on them, but it's been seven years in story. Let them deal with some fallout that isn't just a pretense to have the poor abused Changelings suffer at the hooves of the bigoted pony folk. Let Shining Armor explain to Glitter how her beloved granny made him a near-drooling vegetable, have some exchange student from an orphanage mention how mommy and daddy went away on the day of the invasion, anything.
5233995
The whole 'making up for the invasion' thing is, I admit, somewhat brushed under the rug. Chrysalis was forced to handle all of the repairs and compensation for the incident through her ambassadorial position (which is why, during chapter four, she has very little to do at the castle besides charity work, as it is essentially all finished by that point.) But, well...
If you'd invaded a capitol city, terrorized and imprisoned its citizens, and assaulted its leader, knowing that it's a scummy thing to do, do you think that you'd ever be able to truly be forgiven for that? F*ck, man, Glitter got beaten half to death in the first chapter over it.
I admit I've not really touched on the subject, and I'm sorry for that. But what the hell do you think they could possibly do to atone for it? They're not waving the invasion around as an excuse for everything -if anything it shows that they've suffered possibly worse than the ponies did. Damage to a capitol city? Mild injury of the kingdom's monarch?
How about going extinct?
There's ten of them. It's a documented fact that, for any long-term survival of a species, you need at least a couple hundred, just to keep genetic diversity. In fifty to a hundred years in this story, there will be two. (Royals, in this storyline, do not breed like insects and have thousands of children.) Not yet, anyway.
The changelings attacked a capitol city causing damage and mayhem, sure. Eventually that can be apologized for in some sense.
The Equestrians, however, are guilty of causing a species to go to extinction. Could you possibly apologize for that? Could anyone? I'm not saying that the changelings are absolved of any wrongdoing, and I'm not saying that they shouldn't be reminded of that, but I do find it interesting how I keep getting these comments about how they're not showing any remorse for their actions, while the Equestrians are guilty of a far more vile crime to which they are being given leniency.
By your arguments, Cadance and Shining Armour should be incarcerated for the rest of their days, as it was they who so easily and effortlessly slew almost an entire species. I don't see Chrysalis storming the Empire and demanding retribution at the moment, do you?
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And yes, it would be more meaningful to the ponies who were there; perhaps this is why Blueblood detests Chrysalis so, as she threatened his whole cushy way of life and position of power? Could that be the same reason the nobles hated the Changelings for so long? The nobles are painted as a very haughty and self-important bunch who care more about pride than others, and the attack on Glitter was supposed to show that.
After much deliberation, I have determined this to be worthy of my top favorites. Congratulations.
To put it in perspective, I have over 1700 fanfics in my favorites list, but now only 17 in my top favorites. Allow this to inflate your ego as much as you care to, but keep in mind that I expect this to be kept up to the standards that you have used previously with this story.
~Crystalline Electrostatic~
Aww man, now I want to see the next chapter really badly!
I look forward to it.
Just remember, if you take as long on the next chapter as you did on this one, Fluttershy will cry. You don't want to make Fluttershy cry, do you?
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You completely missed my point. I did not call for the Changelings to atone, I called for the narrative to give me a reason to care. Why is atoning important when we're never shown an actual reason that they should feel guilty for anything?
Think about it this way: If "Rainbow Rocks" never explained any of what Sunset Shimmer did and only stuck with the vague term 'Fall Formal' throughout the whole movie, it wouldn't work, because the audience wouldn't know why she gets the massive hostility thrown her way.
And instead, you come back to the Changelings being the moral ones here. You flat out said that the ponies are worse. And that's what you've shown, over and over. You even noted how their attack didn't actually do anything!
Well, why don't you put that in the story then? Just let somelings say they didn't really cause any harm and make the moral contrast official. Let the ponies be exposed for the violent, greedy bigots they're meant to be. That's what you want Canterlot's nobles to be seen as, right? Not that they could actually care about somepony close to them. Not like the Changelings.
Sarcasm aside, the thing really comes down to showing how ponies don't just act because they're the Bad Guys. You had Flitterwing call the Princess of The Night murderer to her face. We got to know the reasons for her anger. I wish you'd extend the same courtesy to a pony, because so far, you didn't. And that's why you keep getting these kinds of comments.
Aww, I reached the last uploaded chapter. That makes me sad; I was really into this story. I'll eagerly await for more. I especially love how "meaty" you make every chapter.
Also unexpected threesome is unexpected. I wanna see where that goes.
Just to make sure, is she referring to polygamy? Or did I severely misinterpret her statement?
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Yeah, I admit, I hadn't thought through quite a few of the things that happen in the first chapter a whole huggy bunch at the time and now look back and think 'the buck was I thinking?'. Hell, they're one of the things that has me sometimes mulling over cancelling the story altogether.
I have considered rewriting the whole damned chapter, but have never found the heart. People like it how it is, and if I start changing that stuff now, how much else will I need to change? The Crescent Scribe side-plot thing, while a fun little piece of headcanon, is something I wish I'd played out longer, and this could alter much more of the story as a whole.
Long story short, I'll leave rewrites or 'thank god get this away from me' for when it's finished, if I ever bother to do them at all.
And there we go!
At least there isn't a cop-out "then they f'd" ending, but we're still interested in where you might take this, despite the awkward inconsistencies....
Keep going! ;)
So I nearly never comment but I am this time, cause this is literally probably my favourite story that I've read in a while, I've seen a few fics make it into actual books, so when you finish this and get it into a hardcover book, I'd totally but that. The kiss Doublestep gave Glitter at the end, I squee'd out loud a bit, cause that's so adorable <3
Can't wait for the next chapter <3
I finally read this chapter. I like how Blueblood just sort of got ignored out of the conversation, not sure if that was an oversight.
5245787 I kind of have to agree with this. I love the story as it is, but he's right, it's a bit one-sided. I think I like the story because of that, though (to an extent). Because it brushes the often overplayed changeling-pony conflicts under the rug, we get to focus more on Glitter's life. So I can happily ignore the faults, but there are points where they start to show through the veil of awesome-story. Blueblood's an ass just because he's an ass, and that's his character. And a lot of other things have been addressed in previous chapters, maybe not addressed well, but still addressed. But in this chapter, particularly because of the lapse in time (Glitter is much older now) the changelings are a little too well accepted in pony society. Yeah, it's been however-many years, and I'm not even saying there should be any real conflict anywhere, but a hint or a taste of it would be amazing. This really is a job for tweezers, and not a sledge hammer.
Imagine for a moment that whilst at the hair salon, that when the changelings entered, one of the salon workers just packed up her shit and walked out. Like she wanted nothing to do with changelings. All the rest of the workers continued on, being perfectly ok with providing service to changelings. There doesn't even have to be any further mention of it, no circumstances, nor name of the pony, nor anything. The mere fact that it happened provides a conflict in the background of the story for the readers to observe. And then the story continues on as if it never happened.
In other words, what I am trying to say is: because of the time lapse, I think the story needs to see a little bit of the bigger picture of the world. Just a tiny bit. It seems awfully self-contained to just the few characters now, when these few are affected by and themselves affect a bigger picture of society and whatnot.
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That's kinda symbolic for the entire problem. Blueblood is just the latest in a line of Obvious Pony Bigots Bullying the Poor Changelings For No Rational Reasons. That's why he's immedately written out of the scene when his generic bully shtick and punishment are done: He's not important apart from making Chrysalis and her Changelings look like victims.
What would that accomplish other than showing another racist pony?
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It would show another facet of the world. The story's problem at this particular point in its timeline is that it's far too self-contained. There's only the viewpoint of the poor abused changelings and how they're faring. If one more racist pony was shown, but mind you, not an ass like Blueblood, just a silent protestor, we would be reaffirmed that there are still 'racist' ponies in normal pony society. No extra drama or even interaction is needed, their mere existence would be enough, to show us a little more of the world, that's all.
I do hope to see an update before the current chapter reaches its first birthday.
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Sorry it's taking so long, life's been busy sitting on my head, and it tends to come before my writing. I'm doing what I can, and it shouldn't be too much longer.
6456456 So long as it hasn't been forgotten about or marginalized.
"Glitter", "capital" (lol)
SHIT! FUCK! SHIT! FUCK! SHIT! FUCK! SHIT! FUCK! SHIT! FUCK! SHIT! FUCK!
Oh, I see. She gets demoted for no reason, just so Celly can promote her again for bad behavior.
:
Classic Celestia-is-a-silly-goose.
I’m curious why Equestria has laws about changeling royal jelly specifically, since they should have had no idea it was even a thing before this incident.
Aaaand now laws about it are being created. I’m guessing you wrote various scenes out of order as inspiration struck, and they got shuffled around a bit? Continuity is becoming a little loopy.
That’s capital letter, nerdbug.
Sass your princess if you must, but be correct when you do! 
And on that subject, a while back, council was used where counsel would be more technically proper. A council is a group that dispenses counsel. Counsel is the advice and feedback provided by said council when consulted. 
Aww, poor baby. Widdle Bwewy want a wady?
You’ve done well portraying the prince of ponces as a pompous panderer and proper poltroon.
The ones that only came into existence today? That was fast work, even if Chryssie teleported to Ponyville and promised Rarity an introduction to a certain crescent-marked author in return for an ultra-rush order.