How Anniversaries Work (Edited)

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Cadance paced back and forth in her room, almost tearing her hair out. Tonight was the night of hers and Shining Armor's wedding anniversary. A full year of being together and she wanted to make it special. She batted off ideas to herself all day trying to figure out the perfect first anniversary, but the only thing that popped out to her was the irony of the situation.

Unfortunately, due to the Crystal Empire’s sudden return a few months ago, both her’s and Shining’s job nearly tripled in workload and thus she had little time to plan a day to themselves, much less have an elaborate vacation. So they spent their anniversary here in Canterlot, more out of convenience than a romantic spot, though there was no shortage of those. They had lived most of their romantic life so far at the castle after all.

“Let’s see, we could have dinner in the park. No wait, there’s that foals festival happening tonight in the playground. How about dinner at La Trot? Nah, Blueblood’s going to be there and I’d hate for there to be a fight like last time. How about- no that was last week.” Cadance growled in frustration as her ideas kept dying as soon as she made them. She gave a loud sigh. “Maybe if I take a shower, inspiration will come to me?” She didn't have any duties to do for at least another half hour, so she could take a quick shower to clear her head.

Cadance stepped from the room into the wardrobe. She unceremoniously stripped off her clothes and tossed them onto an empty rack for the servants to fix later. Turning around, she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the full body mirror. She had a slim, hourglass figure with slender arms and legs. Her breasts were fairly large and perky, enough to put many mares to shame, but that was one of many benefits that came with being an alicorn. Her light pink fur blended well with her multicolored hair like ice cream or candy. She nodded her satisfaction at the reflection and walked over to the shower.

Using her magic, she turned on the faucets, letting the warm water flow through the pipes. She moaned slightly in pleasure as the water cascaded down her body and hair, giving her a sexy wet mane look. She grabbed the rose scented soap and started to lather it in her hands while she hummed a tune to herself. She rubbed the soap suds over her arms and shoulders, then around her breasts and finally down to her legs. As she trailed her fingers around her body, she couldn't help but feel a little aroused at the prospect of someone barging in while she showered. It was a bit of a secret fantasy of hers, but she would only let Shining Armor act it out.

“Now what to do?” she wondered aloud. She tried to figure out something, but no ideas came to mind. She yelled in frustration and slammed her fist against the wall. “Calm down,” she said to herself after doing her breathing exercises. “Maybe I can ask Luna or Celestia for advice.” She could ask Twilight, but didn’t want to possibly scar the young mare’s mind with indecent thoughts about her brother. It was hard enough talking about the birds and the bees to her.

Once she was clean and refreshed, Cadance stepped out of the shower and used her magic to clean herself off with towels. She could have used a heating spell, but there were some feelings magic just couldn't replace. She hummed a song to herself when suddenly she was thrown to the wall and held there spread eagled. She tried to use magic against her assailant, but found that she couldn’t access it. Lacking other options, she began to scream for the guard, but her mouth was suddenly gagged with the towel she was using earlier. Her eyes darted around and widened in shock as they locked onto the other figure in the room.

“Chrysalis!” she said, but with the gag, it came out as, “Chrmmammim!” The queen of the changelings stepped forward. She was as tall, if not taller than, Cadance and very slim, despite her very large breasts and curvy waist. She wore leafy green wrappings around her midsection, covering her chest and hips modestly, but cut short enough to leave tantalizing views. Her black, hole-ridden arms and legs were as slender as her body. She laughed with contempt at Cadance.

“It seems that I’ve caught you again, and this time with less clothes than before.” Chrysalis said. She then set up a sound proof barrier around the room before pulling the gag out of Cadance’s mouth as if she wanted to hear her futile screams for help and begging for mercy.

Cadance smacked her lips a few times to rid herself of the gag’s foul taste. She glared at the changeling queen. “What do you want Chrysalis?” she asked but she felt like she knew the answer. Ever since the wedding last year, Cadance wondered how she could react to the queen returning for revenge or some sort of invasion. She and her husband made plans in case of such events. Unfortunately, since she was caught unawares and in person, most of these plans were useless. So far, the only thing she could do was stall Chrysalis until help arrived or leave something to show where she had been taken too. Maybe pray her husband or maybe a maid walked in or something. Now that it was happening, she didn’t know what to stall her with.

Chrysalis giggled before answering. “I think we both know the answer to that, don’t we? I need enough love to feed my people, and while I’m at it, I think I’ll take a bit of revenge for what you did at the wedding. Care to give me that much?”

“Like Tartarus I will!”

“Oh my, such a temper.” Chrysalis said, “I'll enjoy breaking you, but first, I'm going to be merciful and give you a choice. Hand over your love magic willingly or I force it from you. I'll give you a few minutes to decide.”

Cadance racked her mind for a possible escape route. Her magic was blocked by some green substance around her horn, so that wasn't much of an option until it came off. Any of the self-defense techniques she knew were worthless as long as she was kept pinned like this. Then again, this was a hostage scenario. Perhaps she could talk her way out like they do in the mystery novels she liked to read. If she stalled long enough, somepony might walk in on them.

“It doesn't have to be this way you know.” she pleaded, “Let’s just talk this out and settle this like civilised mares.”

Chrysalis raised an eyebrow at this change of subject. “I am quite civilised, thank you, and I think you fail to understand that I need love to sustain my people and you ponies are the only ones truly capable of feeding us. Ergo, I have to kidnap you.”

“You have to kidnap me?” she asked, “Why? What purpose does it serve aside from making us even bigger enemies?”

“As I said, it will feed my people.” Chrysalis stated firmly. “You have the power to help us, so I will take it!”

Cadance stared at her, trying to sort through the faulty logic. “You do realize that you can't simply force love out of a pony, right? Not true love, at least. I’m not a lemon you can just squeeze for a drink when you’re thirsty. If you want love, then go cultivate it the usual way, with time, care, and a few good dates. I'm the Princess of Love. It is literally my job to know everything about love. I could probably find somepony who could love you.” By this point, Cadance had nearly forgotten why she was distracting Chrysalis.

Chrysalis chuckled. “Really? Then tell me this, who could possibly love a changeling? One without a disguise?” Cadance noticed a sad, envious tinge to the Queen's eyes. “We aren’t exactly going to win any pony beauty contests anytime soon.” Chrysalis gestured to her body and pointed at her arms and legs. “I look like cheese for Faust’s sake! It certainly doesn’t help that every race is now more aware of us changelings, making it even harder for us to do our work! At the first sight or mere mention of us, you all run away and hide while the guards march us off. If you truly believe yourself more knowledgeable on the subject of love, then tell me where there are ponies who would accept us. Hmm?”

The pink princess opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. Chrysalis was right. As loving and tolerating as ponies were, that love and tolerance only goes so far. For once, Cadance truly felt a pang of sympathy for the species that ruined her wedding and invaded Canterlot.

“Sympathy isn't going to feed a Hive, Princess.” Chrysalis said with a sneer. “We need love.”

“I know, but I wish there was a more peaceful way to go about this.” the pink princess said. “There must be a solution.”

“Sure,” Chrysalis said, rolling her eyes. “Just find a nice stallion for us, that will definitely do the trick.”

She continued talking but Cadance didn't listen. She was too focused on those words. They hit her like a brick to the face. 'How could I have been so stupid? That’s a brilliant idea!' she thought, then her conscience butted in, ’No, that's a terrible idea. That's hormones and situational stress talking.'

’But It could be the solution for tonight’s dilemma.’ Cadance’s passionate side argued

‘Yes, and a chance for her to take over Canterlot again.’ Her rationale countered

‘Not if you make her Pinkie Pie Swear.’ Passion offered.

‘She wouldn’t follow that. She has no friends to lose.’

‘Now you’re just being mean.’

‘Oh shush you.’

Passion rolled its nonexistent eyes, ‘Look, she’s obviously desperate for love, and you need a fix for tonight. You both win.’

‘Yes, but what if she wants more?’ Rationale asked.

Passion smirked, ‘If anything, Shining will think it’s kinky…and you will too.’

Rationale had nothing to say to that.

Passion used the silence to strike her opponent down, ‘Just one night. Who knows? You might even make a friend out of her and help her.’ Passion uses Optimism.

‘…I don’t know.’ It is super effective.

‘At the very least, you two can become fuck buddies. Think of the things she could do with that transformation ability.’ Passion finished.

Cadance just sat on the sidelines of the mental argument, taking in both sides words as she tried to make sense of it, then she decided. ’Fine but if this goes south, it was your idea.’

‘We’re the same person.’ Passion said.

‘Still your idea.’

Firm in her decision, Cadance weighed her options and formulated a brief plan that would definitely catch the queen off guard, but only if she played it right. The rest would have to be improvised as the night went on. She finished a few crucial details as the Queen ended her tirade.

“So what shall it be?” Chrysalis asked, “Will you give up the food I require or shall I have to force it out of you?” she rubbed her hands in anticipation.

Cadance took a deep breath. “Sure, I’ll give you food.”

“Ha! I would expect such defiance from you.” Chrysalis said, striding away. “Just like Celestia, protecting you-” She blinked in surprise as Cadance's words hit her, and turned around. “Wait, what?”

Cadance stared back with a neutral look. “You heard me. I said I'll give you food.” She straightened herself as best she could.

Chrysalis blinked once more in surprise, clearly not expecting such a response. She opened and closed her mouth several times in an attempt to speak but no sound came out. Turning to the side, Chrysalis pulled a small booklet out from her dress and flipped through the pages while muttering under her breath. “...not according to plan…what to do...” was all Cadance could hear from her.

Now Cadance had to just keep the ball rolling. “Actually, I have a little proposition for you. Something that can benefit us both. I can certainly get you a large amount of love, but I require your services first. In fact, depending on how willing and… enthusiastic you are, you may receive even more love to take with you. So what will it be?”

Chrysalis snapped away from her little booklet. Her face was torn between caution and almost desperate eagerness as she contemplated Cadance’s offer. She bit her lip and asked. “What kind of services do you require?” Her tone like a mouse poking the cheese on a trap. “I can’t imagine what you’d need me for.”

Cadance smirked. “It’s not that I need you specifically, but more that you happen to be convenient. I take it you realize what the significance of today is, correct? No? Well, today is the anniversary of my marriage with Shining Armor and since I’ve been rather busy as of late, I need some help deciding on a few things. You’ll get your love when we come back for some ‘aggressive cuddling’ before we sleep. Alright?”

Chrysalis mulled over the idea for a moment or two before speaking again. “How do I know this isn’t some trick so you can go get your guards?” She narrowed her eyes at the pink alicorn. “I’m not stupid enough to trust you on a mere promise. I do not want promises. I want a guarantee.”

“You don’t, but we both have more to gain from this deal than not. You get a boat load of love, and I a night to remember. Still not convinced? How about a taste of what you could receive should you agree?” Cadance allowed her mind to fill with thoughts of her husband and her love for him. Much like Celestia and Luna’s innate sense of the sun and moon, Cadance could feel her strong love suffuse the air before it was slowly drained out by Chrysalis. When she felt it was enough, she stopped and asked, “How’s that for a guarantee?” Her face was a little flushed by the end when the more intimate thoughts came to mind.

Chrysalis was still trying to absorb the love in the air. “This was a taste?!” She said in disbelief. Her eyes widened and seemed hopeful as she gathered up the last of it. “Fine, I’ll assist you with your little day, but I expect to be completely filled to overflowing with love by the end. Deal?”

Cadance smirked. “Oh you’re going to get filled alright.” ‘In more ways than one.’ “So yes, we have a deal. Now let me down and help me pick out a dress. I’m thinking something with red.”

*****

Shining Armor was having a very good day and not just because of what was going to happen tonight. Aside from the usual monotony that was entailed in his work, he had cleared out more files from the annoying nobles that kept trying to get into his favor and managed to get a few of them to shut up. His coffee tasted great and the air was pleasantly warm with a nice gentle breeze. It was just the little things that made the day worth it. However, it was more than just that that kept his day going. It was the piece of paper held in his breast pocket. He couldn’t help but reread the letter Cadance had sent him while at work.

Dear Shiny,

For our anniversary, I’ve set up a special surprise for you tonight. Try not to be too exhausted today and drink plenty of liquids.

Love, Cadance

Shining couldn’t hope to know what that meant, but knowing Cadance it was going to be a very good night. More than once, Shining almost wrote to Celestia to lower the sun an hour or two earlier. He knew she would refuse and probably laugh at bit at Shining’s agonizing wait, maybe even move the sun slower or backwards. It took every ounce of patience and duty to keep from running home to his wife before his shift ended.

Eventually the time came when the shift turned to the Lunar Guard and he could go home and rest. He still needed to find a suitable candidate to take his place here as Captain of the Royal Guard. Sure, the upper brass could handle his replacement, but Shining wanted the peace of mind knowing that he was leaving the kingdom in good hands. He was currently pulling double shifts to cover both Equestria’s and the Crystal Empire’s defenses. Once the Empire could defend itself as well as Equestria, then he could turn his duties as Captain of the Royal Guard to the next most capable officer. It was tough, but someone had to do it.

He stopped by a flower shop to grab a bouquet of red roses for Cadance, her favorite. Then, he nearly sprinted to the room they were currently staying in the palace and opened the door. Almost instantly, he was tackled by a pink blur that took up most of his vision as well. He retaliated by grabbing the blur and swinging it around.

“Shiny!” Cadance yelled as she moved through the air. Shining Armor put his wife down and gave her a quick kiss. It was only quick because Cadance broke off before it was a full make out. “My,” Cadance said, “Seems somepony’s excited for tonight and in more ways than one.”

Shining grinned. “Well, it’s hard not to when your wife promises a great night.” He gave her another kiss. “So where are we going?”

Cadance put on a look of mock innocence. “Oh, I was thinking maybe we could have a private dinner on the balcony and have a dance under the stars.” she gazed at him with half lidded eyes. “Then go 'dancing' in bed.” She looked down to see the roses that were pressing against her. “Aww, thank you dear.” she said. She took the roses in her magic and set them up in a vase on the table. “Come, let’s get ready for a wonderful night.” Cadance began to drag Shining away to the bedroom they shared, or more specifically, the wardrobe.

In less than half an hour, Shining was all suited up in his dress uniform, straightening some buttons here and there in front of the mirror. He had to hand it to himself, he cleaned up nice. The entire time he could hear Cadance talking to someone in her closet, but judging from the sound, it was probably one of the maids helping Cadance with picking out a dress or something. Mares have strange protocols when it comes to appearances. Thank Celestia he didn’t have to do that as a stallion.

He saw a swish of movement in the corner of the mirror and turned to see Cadance wearing a cherry silk dress that cut off above her ankles with thigh-high slits on the side for mobility. The neckline was down low to be seducing but high enough to be modest. She wore simple makeup, just a bit to accent her face. Her hair was down with its bobbing curls at the bottom, the same with her tail. Despite most ponies making nobility out to be complicated when it came to dressing up, Cadance went against the stereotype by choosing simple things to wear. It was a quality of her that Shining found more tolerant than the other stuck up nobles, as well as endearing. Though Fleur de Lis was a bit of an exception as she had good taste in many things due to being with Fancypants. Shining once saw her play in the dirt with some unicorn foals once in plain sight in the park and she still looked fetching. But she was too…fashionable for Shining’s taste.

Shining was broken out of his daze by Cadance’s voice. “Sorry, what was that?” he asked. Cadance smirked.

“Well, I was going to ask for your opinion, but if this dress is too stunning, then I’ll have to put on something else.” she teased, edging her way towards the bathroom again.

Shining laughed. “Don’t worry, you look absolutely beautiful.” he said, then held out his arm for her to hold. Cadance took it gladly with a smile and they both strode down to their romantic destination. The halls were sparsely filled with the occasional guard that stood at attention when they passed or the maids and servants who bowed while they cleaned or delivered things. The windows let in the twilight of the coming sunset. Almost everypony was trying to finish up their work as quickly as they can to go home and meet their spouses or dates for the evening. Tonight was truly a prime night for romance.

Inspired by the thought, Shining picked up the pace a bit. He had no idea where they were going but he intended to get there soon. Cadance gently led him through the hallways and down the stairs. Sure she could have teleported the two of them, but why rush? Not to mention she needed her magic for tonight. She shivered in excitement at the thought.

“Mind if I ask where we're going?” Shining finally spoke up.

Cadance giggled and gave him a peck on the cheek. “I'll give you a hint. Where was the most important moment of our relationship?”

Shining frowned. “My room at my family's home?”

“No!” Cadance squeaked, slapping him playfully as a blush appeared on her face.

Shining laughed. “I'm kidding. Good times though. I never knew you were so flexible until that night.” he whispered into her ear, causing her to blush even more.

Cadance was so grateful that there were no servants around to see or hear them. Her face must be so red right now. Kinda like her ass when Shining- 'LET'S GET BACK ON SUBJECT HERE!' she chastised herself. Taking a moment to compose herself, she cleared out all naughty thoughts and focused on the evening.

Okay, so maybe not all of them. Who could blame her?

“I'm serious Shiny.” she said. “What was the most important moment of our time together?”

Shining tapped a finger on his lips as he thought. Cadance could almost see the gears move in his head as he deducted the location. “Hmm, only two places come to mind. Is it the restaurant where I proposed to you?”

Cadance smiled. “No. It would have, but I'm saving that for a later anniversary. Guess again.”

“The market where we went on our first date?” he asked, “Though it’d be kinda odd to go to Sherbert’s Ice cream store dressed like this.” Cadance gave a look of mock hurt.

“Shining, how could you forget our most precious moment?” she was cut off by a kiss.

“Then help me remember, love.” Cadance gave a cheeky grin and giggle.

“Nope. You have to keep thinking about it. I’m sure it’ll come to you.” That shut Shining up until they reached the Royal Gardens, or more specifically, the Starlight Promenade. “Oh yeah, I remember this place!” Shining said. “The place we first met. I was trying to find Twilight and found you and her here. It was then I also found out you were her foal sitter. Wow. That was so long ago.” At that moment, he noticed the table laid out with food ready to be eaten. An enchanted violin in the corner started to play slowly, instantly setting the mood of a wonderful romantic dinner right from a fairy tale.

Cadance giggled again. “Yup, you also got soaked when Twilight tried the new spell I was showing her. It was a good thing I was able to dry you off or I would never have known how fluffy you become. Not to mention little Twi would have just set you on fire.”

“I lost so many good clothes because of her.” Shining laughed as he pulled out the chair for his wife.

Cadance graciously accepted it as she quipped. “Don’t worry, I think you look better without them anyways.”

Shining chuckled. “Considering how much of a horny tease you’re acting, I’m surprised we’re even having dinner now.”

Cadance smiled slyly. “Oh, I considered it. But this way, I get to tease you more.” Shining just rolled his eyes and the two of them enjoyed their meal with the rise of the moon.

*****

Their meal was, in a word, fantastic. Luna must have been watching, for she put on the most spectacular show of bringing out the stars and if Shining didn’t know better, he could have sworn that the moonlight was directed at them the entire time. “Quite a night, huh.” Shining commented as they strolled back to their chambers on the scenic route.

“Mmhmm, but it’s not over yet.” Cadance said. “We still have to dance.”

“But we already did four dances to the enchanted instruments.” Shining said in mock confusion. Cadance punched him lightly in the arm.

“You know what I mean, Shiny.”

“Yes, I do, but I get the feeling that you have a surprise planned for me.”

Cadance tensed a bit. “Yes and nothing you say or do will make me tell you until we get back.”

At that, Shining gave an evil smirk. “Oh? Not even if I do…this?” Upon the last word, he unleashed a barrage of tickling fingers upon his wife’s body, reaching every sensitive spot they knew.

“AAAH!!” Cadance shrieked. “SHINING!! HAHAHAHAHA!! STOP THAT! Nonononono-AHAHAHAHA!!” After a minute, Shining ceased his attack as it yielded no results. It must be some surprise if she withheld against her weakness. He voiced this opinion.

“You...*gasp* have no idea.” Cadance said in between deep breaths. “Come on. Let’s get going since you’re so eager to get to it.” She strolled away with a sexy sway to her hips which Shining’s eyes gladly followed once he got moving.

*****

Back at the room, the Queen of the Changelings was pacing back and forth, becoming increasingly nervous and impatient with each minute Cadance was gone. ’Why did I agree to this?’ she thought, ’I had a plan when I got here and now I’m stuck waiting for my victim because I got caught up in the moment...again. This is the middle of my invasion all over again, with the same pony no less! Oh Faust, if I botch this, I will never hear the end of it. I might as well just go ahead and exile myself from the Hive. At least mother would be happy not having to put up with me anymore. Maybe I should visit that ‘Empire’ I heard of that appeared in the far north? Might be cold though, but I can probably make off with a few of the coats in the closet...’ Chrysalis took a step towards the closet before stopping and turning around.

“No. No. I’m not going to back out of this,” Chrysalis said as she increased the distance from the door. “I knew what I was getting myself into before I left and I’m no coward. Sure, I’m probably sitting in a trap, but if it comes to that I can use the love energy Cadance gave me to make my escape. Yes. Just throw a stun spell and run for it. Maybe punch one of them in the face if I get the chance.” She gave a confident laugh before her face turned pensieve. “With so much love at stake, I really don’t have much of a choice in this. Either go big or go home. I just hope Cadance returns soon to hold up her end of the deal. I didn’t sense any active malice when she made her request, but then I was also a little distracted.”

Chrysalis was still pondering her situation when she heard the door to the main chambers open. She faintly heard voices then the door to the bed chambers open. Chrysalis readied a stun spell just in case before the bathroom door opened and a familiar pink alicorn appeared.

Cadance's horn lit up briefly and the door shimmered. “There, now we can talk freely. Now hurry up and get ready!” she said before using magic to take off her dress.

Chrysalis let go of a sigh of relief she didn’t know she was holding, then asked. “I take it your night went well then?”

“Yes, we had a wonderful time, but the night is still young.” The pink alicorn said as she was working off her makeup and cleaning her face. She noticed in the mirror that Chrysalis was still standing near the closet door. “Are you not going to change?”

“Change for what?” Chrysalis asked. “I’m waiting for the love you promised me. I helped you with your outfit, what more do you need?”

Cadance paused and glanced over her shoulder. “You’ll get your love when you help me with this next part of the night.”

Frowning, Chrysalis asked. “What do you mean? How am I supposed to help with your, as you had put it, ‘aggressive cuddling’? Speaking of which, how does that even work? Is it like wrestling or something?” She tried to picture the royal couple laying on the couch while fighting over who was going to be the pillow. Needless to say, it was rather confusing.

Cadance gave her an incredulous look. “Chrysalis, I want you to help me give Shining the night of his life.”

Chrysalis blinked. “I’m afraid I still don’t follow what you’re saying.” she said. “What am I supposed to do to help make it the ‘night of his life’?”

Cadance was dumbstruck. “A-Are you serious?” she asked. When she received a nod in reply, Cadance sighed in slight frustration. “Chrysalis, we are going to go in there and fuck his brains out.” she said as if explaining a simple concept.

It took a second for it to sink in, but when Chrysalis realized what she said, her face turned so red it almost looked like it was on fire. “Whoawhoawhoawhoa! No! I did NOT agree to doing that. While it does clear up a few questions I had, I only agreed to take whatever love you two made from cuddling and be on my merry way. I don’t want him, y’know, putting his… thingie in me.” She shuffled uncomfortably in her spot.

Cadance didn’t quite know what to say to that, so she started laughing instead. It came out as a giggle before growing into full-blown laughter. She was only cut off when a balled up towel hit her in the face, thrown by a fuming changeling.

“What’s so funny?”

Trying to calm herself down, Cadance said, “Sorry, I just- hehe- For the longest time after my wedding, I had this idea that you were some sort of succubus from Tartarus. But now here you are, acting like a total virgin, calling his dick a ‘thingie’.”

“For the record, I am a virgin.” Chrysalis said through gritted teeth. “And Shining’s love for you was strong enough that I didn’t need to sleep with him in that way. Besides, I already had my hands full trying to coordinate my invasion and impersonate you that I had to put him to sleep every time he got frisky with me. In hindsight, it’s probably because he was so single minded around my disguise that made it so easy.”

“Yeah, he has a hard time keeping it in his pants around me.” Cadance said with a knowing smirk. “Not that I’m complaining.” Her face then turned serious. “Look, as much as I would love to keep discussing this, we’re running out of time here. I’m sorry I assumed that stuff about you, but I need you to make a decision. I can make do without you, but if you help me, you’ll get a literal fuckton of love. Your call.”

Chrysalis turned away as she thought it over. ‘She’s right. A whole lot of love and all for the low cost of my virginity and possibly my dignity. I can’t go back with nothing to show, and this would certainly win mother’s favor, if until my next batch of love.’ She sighed and began to strip herself. “Let’s just get this over with.”

Cadance followed her actions, almost tearing her dress off. “Great! Now-”

“On one condition,” Chrysalis interrupted, “I want him blindfolded before I go out there, or at least before we start doing the thing. I don’t want to lose any more dignity than I already have.”

Cadance nodded. “Fair enough. But you might want to disguise yourself anyways. Sometimes he likes a bit of horn or wing play and that’ll give you away if the holes don’t first.”

“Good point.” In a flash of green fire, another naked Cadance appeared. “What? Something wrong?”

“Oh, no. It’s just...this got a whole lot kinkier.” Cadance said, eyeing ‘herself’ up. “Are my hips really that small?”

“Huh?” Chrysalis looked down at herself. “Oh. Sorry, this was the first disguise I could think of.” She was about to change again when Cadance waved her hands.

“Don’t worry, it’s fine, but Shining knows how to detect Changeling magic. If you go out there, he’ll arrest you. Here.” Cadance’s horn flashed and Chrysalis was covered in a blue magic field for a few seconds. “There, now I’ve covered your magic with mine. He won’t notice a thing so long as you act like me.”

Chrysalis raised an eyebrow, “I thought I was supposed to be the evil mastermind.”

“Shush, you. It’s showtime!” Cadance lead Chrysalis into the bedroom by the hand and as soon as she set foot into the room, Chrysalis’ mind registered a few things. First, she was suddenly pulled into a provocative embrace with Cadance. It took all of her acting skills to keep up the façade of Cadance’s double and not blush like some schoolfilly. Next was Cadance’s words.

“Oh, Shiny~! I have a special treat for you!” she said with bedroom eyes as she rubbed up against the fake Princess, stroking her limbs sensually. The stallion in question was wide eyed and slack jawed at the sight of us lovers. His attention stood up proudly in seconds from its half awakened state before. That was the last thing Chrysalis registered.

’DEAR FAUST, WHAT IS THAT THING?!’ she mentally screamed, ’IS THAT NORMAL? IT’S AS BIG AS MY ARM! HOW DOES CADANCE TAKE THAT EVERY NIGHT?!’ She had heard rumors from other changelings about stallions and once tried to read a dirty romance novel, though she set that on fire when it came to the steamy parts, but she never saw an actual stallionhood. Come to think of it, she never saw what a changeling stallionhood looks like either. It took all her will not to run screaming. ’Snap out of it, Chryssy!’ she mentally slapped herself, ’All you need to do is help participate. You DON’T need to take that….thing into you. J-just….follow Cadance’s lead and you’ll do fine.’ While she had this internal argument, she completely missed the conversation between Cadance and her husband. Something about Chrysalis being an old friend acting as her double.

“…and here’s where it gets interesting!” Cadance said. She lit up her horn and a blindfold appeared on Shining’s head. “Try to guess who’s the wife and who’s the friend.” With another flick of her magic, Shining was splayed out on the bed. Thanks to the blindfold, Chrysalis dropped the act and mouthed silently to Cadance, “Please tell me I’m not going to have to take that into me!” She pointed at Shining’s member which was now almost ramrod straight in the air and harder than a boulder.

Cadance shook her head, much to the changeling’s relief, and replied in the same fashion, “Don’t worry, I won’t let you do anything uncomfortable. Pinkie Promise.” Chrysalis was somewhat reassured, but still nervous about it all. Letting Cadance lead her, she crawled onto the bed on the opposite side of the stallion. Chrysalis gave a look that said, “Now what?” Cadance replied only with a gesture towards her nethers and then to Shining’s face. Needless to say, Chrysalis’ face lit up like a tomato, but she shook her head and reminded herself why she was here.

Chrysalis reached across and carefully straddled Shining’s head, taking care not to hit him or land her rump on his horn. Once set, she lowered her hips onto his face slowly, making a cute squeak when she barely touched him. Looking towards her counterpart, she saw Cadance lower herself onto Shining’s legs and place her muzzle into his crotch, giving it a long sniff of its musky scent before slowly licking her way up the shaft. The sensual sight sparked a strange feeling in Chrysalis which was only fanned by Shining’s moans vibrating her folds.

“Mmmnn.” She moaned as slow waves of pleasure crawled up her body. Without even thinking, her hips started to slowly grind against the muzzle beneath her. “OH!” she cried out when suddenly, Shining’s tongue darted out towards her folds. She tried to move but found two white hands firmly holding her hips down. She moaned in pleasure as the hands worked their magic, kneading and rolling her ass and thighs like dough. Shining’s tongue went from light lapping to making long, slow licks up and down her pussy, and sometimes come close to her asshole. It was so dirty…yet it felt so amazing!

Chrysalis’ moans grew louder and more frantic as Shining worked. The slow waves of pleasure kicked it up a notch and now every touch went straight to her head. ’Sweet Faust! What is this I’m feeling? It’s so good!’ she barely thought as she began to grind harder on Shining’s face, eager to take in every ounce of pleasure. Just when she thought it wouldn’t get better, Shining found her bead and nibbled on it. That action alone sent her over the edge screaming as she achieved her first orgasm. ’Is this what sex feels like?’ she thought blissfully, ’It feels…amazing.’

Cadance glanced at her double with a slight smile, or as much of a smile she could make while taking in part of her husband’s length into her mouth. While Chrysalis was getting eaten out for the first time, Cadance was pulling out all the stops and experience she had to give Shining a mindblowing blowjob. She had started off with long strokes up and down his shaft, punctuated with a lick of the tip or a suck on his ball sack when she made it to an end. Following that, she swiped her tongue across his member as if she was trying to paint a picture with her mouth. A very, very sexy picture.

She finished off her teasing with a slow trace of the tip with her tongue with a caressing handjob before taking in his cock. The first time she did this with Shining, she could barely take the first half of it, but now years of experience have allowed her to take it all the way into her throat. She moaned lustfully as her head bobbed up and down with practiced precision. If she wasn’t paying attention, Cadance wouldn’t have heard Shining’s moans from her work, though she could definitely hear it in Chrysalis’ screams. ’Damn, I’m good.’ Cadance thought to herself. She gave Shining’s member another stroke before it started to twitch. Immediately, Cadance gripped the base of his shaft and pulled herself off of him. “Ah, ah, ah. Not quite yet, big boy.” the sexy alicorn teased, “I need you for later.”

Shining gave a whine of disappointment and pushed up the other Cadance’s hips enough to speak, “Oh, come on, Cady. That’s not fair.”

Cadance hummed playfully, “Well then, will this satisfy you?” she said as she shifted around and placed her glistening marehood above his member. Before either one of them could say anything, she speared herself on him to the hilt in one quick movement.

“Yes! Much better!” Shining cheered as Cadance began to ride him like no tomorrow. Her hips gyrated along his length, her ass tracing shapes in the air as she moved. Shining groaned his approval, “Oh, Cadance!”

“Mmm, yes dear?”

“Don’t…stop.” He grunted out.

Cadance giggled, “What makes you think I was going to?”

Meanwhile, Chrysalis was coming off the high of her first climax and she was more eager to help Cadance with this task, though a bit punch drunk. She lifted herself off Shining’s muzzle with some reluctance and moved to straddle his chest, very muscular chest as Chrysalis noted, just in front of the true Cadance’s gyrating hips. She leaned forward, placing his muzzle in her bosom. “Don’t forget about me, dearie.” She said, trying to imitate Cadance’s tone. Needless to say, he dug in with gusto, licking all over her skin, biting her nipples and sucking them like a foal. His hands gave her breasts the same treatment as her ass earlier, though slightly more enthusiastic. Chrysalis moaned in pleasure and squealed when Shining pulled on her nipples roughly. Oh how glad she was that he was blindfolded, for she didn’t think she could do this if he was watching, despite the disguise.

However, she felt a bit guilty for just receiving all this wondrous pleasure and not returning it. She glanced up at Shining’s horn in front of her and, in a moment of brilliance, began to perform the same act Cadance did to his cock earlier, or at least imitate. She licked up the smooth, white bone, tracing each line with her tongue, before sucking on it.

Below her, Shining groaned in pleasure from this new treatment. Cadance had never before done this to him, though he did it plenty to her. “Damn, Cady.” he said, letting go of Chrysalis’ nipple, much to her disappointment, “Is this what it’s like when I do it to you?”

Chrysalis didn’t know what to say, but luckily, Cadance intervened. “You’ve no idea, Shiny. Oh!” she said in between thrusts. Chrysalis kept on licking, and even nibbling it like Shining did to her breasts. His groans became louder with each bite and suddenly, his body jerked and his hands roughly grasped Chrysalis’ rump as he cried out, “Cadance!” His horn glowed an intense blue and a magical liquid spurted out into Chrysalis’ mouth while Cadance took the load from Shining’s other “horn”. Cadance screamed in delight as she felt each spurt fill her up. Chrysalis, on the other hand, coughed in surprise at the liquid going down her throat. ’Blueberries?’ she thought as she tasted the remnants on her tongue, ’Tastes…quite good actually.’

“Oooh,” Cadance moaned as she stopped her movements, “Wow, Shiny. That was probably the biggest load I’ve taken from you yet.” And it was true. She never felt quite a batch of baby batter come out of him before. She felt a bit jealous of Chrysalis for finding out this new sensitive spot on her husband, but the fact that she was on her husband’s cock when he went off erased that feeling.

Shining chuckled, “Heh, I wouldn’t know.” Using his hands to feel around, and cop a few more feels on the Cadance on his chest, he braced himself before getting up. This caused the Cadance on his member to fall back on his legs, and the Cadance on his chest to fall on top of her and almost collide heads. “But, now it’s my turn to do the work.” He said as he pulled his legs out and kneeled before the Cadance pile. Grasping his length in one hand, he used the other to feel up the line of pleasure holes in front of him. “Which one, which one?” he muttered playfully as he lightly fingered and rubbed each hole in succession. As the two Cadance moaned in pleasure to his touch, Shining smirked, “I wonder if I can make you two sing a song like this?”

“Shining!” Cadance half screamed as she felt a finger rub her clit, “Shut up and fuck us already!”

“Killjoy.” Behind the blindfold, Shining rolled his eyes, “Alright, since you’re so impatient, I’ll start with the bottom one first…” Shining smiled mischievously, “Once I hear her say please.”

Cadance growled under her breath, “Please.”

“Please what?”

“Please fuck me.”

Shining wasn’t done yet, “Where and how?”

Cadance would have smacked the grin off his face if it didn’t mean knocking Chrysalis to the floor. Speaking of which, the disguised changeling didn’t feel as heavy as she looked, surprisingly. In fact, ‘being smushed’ was a stretch at how Chrysalis felt on top of her. But that was a question for later, right now Cadance wanted her husband inside her. “I want you to take that cock of yours and ravage my marehood until I can’t walk straight!”

“As you wish.” Shining said, and once he positioned himself accordingly, he began to thrust. Cadance’s folds parted eagerly to take all of him in while clamping onto his member like a vise. Shining groaned, “Damn, Cady, I thought you wanted me to screw you silly. Going to be kinda hard when you’re this tight.”

“Mmm, not as hard as how you feel dear.” She replied blissfully as she felt herself become filled up. Once Shining made it to the hilt, he started to pull back and his stallionhood made sure to scrape past every sensitive spot inside her. She gave another scream of pleasure and felt her body burn with love. Remembering the changeling on top of her, Cadance wrapped her arms around her double and groped her breasts. It felt odd to be rubbing her breasts on another person’s body but Cadance was in too much pleasure to care. She rubbed the changeling’s breasts together and pulled on her nipples, causing Chrysalis to moan in pleasure.

Chrysalis, on the other hand was in a state of bliss. Love energy surrounded her like a buffet, freely given to her unlike stolen love. It tasted wonderful. It was so much more fulfilling than when she tried to steal Shining Armor’s love at the wedding. It was like nothing she had ever felt before. There was so much love, even she couldn’t take it all. ’Is this what it’s like to feel loved?’ she wondered, ’Truly loved, not because of some mask?’. Chrysalis felt more love from her breasts and saw that Cadance was massaging them with the occasional tweak of the nipple. She moaned with the touch and her hands moved on their own. One hand grabbed Cadance’s and another went for Shining’s, and they brought them towards her nethers where Chrysalis felt an itch that so desperately needed scratching.

“Looks like somepony is wanting some attention.” Shining said as he felt the hand guide him to the wet warmth above the love hole he was thrusting into.

“So it, mmm, seems. Oh!” Cadance gasped out in between thrusts, “I think we should give it to her.” As soon as she said that, Cadance used her hand to massage the outer folds and the area around Chrysalis’ clitoris. Shining’s hand went further south and spread “Cadance’s” ass cheeks so he could play with the rosebud. A quick spell from his horn made sure everything, even inside, was clean for use. No sense in getting sick after all. Another spell brought a bottle of lube which he squeezed onto his hand and her ass. He used his slick thumb to push past the hole, receiving a surprised yelp from “Cadance”.

They were at this for not even a minute before Shining called out, “Cadance, I’m close.”

“Give it to me!” the pink alicorn replied enthusiastically. Shining complied, moving faster and digging deeper than before in order to make it a good finish.

“Here it comes!” he cried out as he felt his cock twitch and unleash another load into the depths of his wife. Cadance screamed in bliss as she climaxed soon after him. Only Chrysalis was left out, though she wasn’t too far behind.

“That…” Cadance panted, “was amazing.”

“Yes,” Shining agreed, “but you are even more amazing.” The romantic moment lasted for a few seconds before an unsatisfied groan emanated between them.

“Oh, I forgot about her.” Cadance said, “Do you think you can..?”

Shining puffed out his chest, even though he couldn’t see the mare he was trying to impress, “I think I got one more round in me.”

“Thank you. You really did a number on me.” Cadance said as she slid out from under Chrysalis, “Hopefully, this time it works.”

“You worry as much as Twily does.” Shining said. Since he was still blindfolded, he had to guide the other Cadance’s body to one side of the bed by touch. “It’ll work this time. I promise. Also, can I take the blindfold off now?”

Cadance bit her lip in thought before speaking, “No. It adds to the experience.”

“Uh-huh.” Shining said, not entirely convinced, “Well, if you say so.” His hands began to roam across the double’s body, searching for the sensitive areas. He started with the breasts, giving them a quick rubdown before moving towards her wings. He stroked the wing as he leaned forward and kissed along her collarbone, trailing up to her ear and down to her navel. The double moaned in approval of his actions, especially when he was around her ear. As he finished up the foreplay, his cock was raring to go again. He began to put himself into position when suddenly he was blocked by a pair of hands. He was about to say something, when the double spoke before him, “Not there.” She said.

Chrysalis may have been drunk on love, but she was sober enough to know her limits. If Shining took her virginity like this, it might hurt quite painfully and her disguise may shatter. Not to mention her other reasons for keeping it intact. Instead, she had to go with the next best thing. Her virgin ass. She will have to sacrifice it, but damn if it isn’t worth it now. “Other hole.”

“Are you sure?” Shining said.

“Yes. Just…be gentle.”

Shining snorted, “I’m always gentle.” Chrysalis was skeptical, but that washed out into nervousness as Shining grabbed her and flipped her over onto her hands and knees. Chrysalis squealed in surprise at the movement and another at the hands grabbing her butt cheeks roughly. Then, she felt something fall in between them. Something big. ’Oh my Faust, he’s going to break me with that thing!’ she thought in a burst of panic. However, before she could even react, Shining grabbed her hips and began to push slowly inside her. “FUCK!” she cried out as she felt her hole stretch to accommodate his size. She buried her head into a nearby pillow and screamed as Shining kept pushing his way inside of her.

“’Fuck’ is right.” She barely heard Shining say, “Damn, your ass is tight.” He grunted as he tried to push himself as far as he could into her. Despite the copious amounts of lube, he was only able to get about half of himself into her when he stopped. The double was still panting from the effort, so he waited while she got comfortable. After a minute, he barely caught the “Continue” from her. He began to pull out while the double’s ass resisted his movement, but he persevered. After a few thrusts, he was able to get a steady rhythm going, though it was still a workout to keep moving.

Chrysalis, though, felt as if she were in nirvana now. It had hurt when he pushed in as far as he went, but now it just felt beyond amazing. There were no words to describe how each thrust sent tsunamis of bliss up and down her body. “Ooohhh! Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!” she screamed, punctuating each time as he pistoned in and out of her. Chrysalis felt as though her mind was melting from the warm pleasure and her eyes started to roll back into her head. Her tongue hung out, drooling over the sheets, but she didn’t care. She just didn’t want it to end.

But end it did. Her tight ass was too much for Shining as he rapidly approached his climax. “I’m…hng… almost there!” he grunted out.

“YES! DO IT! FILL ME UP!” Chrysalis shouted. Shining caved in and dug his hips into hers as deep as he could go before he twitched and released his final load into her bowels. Chrysalis came as she felt the warmth seep into her body. The feeling was much more intense than before, causing her brain to shut down from the sensation and her body go limp as she passed out.

Shining panted heavily. “Whew!” he breathed out, “That was…intense.”

“I’ll say.” Cadance said beside him, “I was kinda jealous of her with how rough you were going at it. Are you sure you didn’t hold back on me?”

Shining laughed as he pulled himself out of the double, leaving her ass gaping in the air, and fell back next to his wife, completely exhausted. He barely managed to get the blindfold off of himself with magic. “When I said I had one last round in me, I didn’t think I would need the energy for two.” he wheezed, “She felt like the first time we tried anal.”

“Yeah,” Cadance said, as the memories came to her, “I had such a tight ass back then.”

Shining leaned over and kissed her, “You still do,” he then turned to the passed out double, “So…what should we do about her?”

“Mmm, she’ll leave in the morning.” she said, and with a flick of her magic, pulled the sheets off the bed and laid all three of them in it, with Shining in the middle, “For now, let’s sleep.” Cadance closed her eyes and quickly did just that.

“Sweet dreams, love.” Shining soon followed her lead.

How the Morning After Works

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The creak of the wagon wheels created a cacophony across the clear, quiet night in the Everfree. Chrysalis groaned with effort as she pulled the overladen wagon down the trail. She was lucky there was a full moon out as she didn’t want to start a light and attract any of the nastier monsters.

“Just a little bit farther. I can make it this time. It’ll be all worth the effort,” she said to herself. “Just keep moving and I’ll be there in no time.” Chrysalis didn’t dare to stop and rest despite her legs screaming for a rest. To stop was to let predators catch up to you, and she could have sworn she saw some flashes of something blue moving in the trees back there, watching her every step.

A quick glance behind her revealed that she still had all of her cargo with her. About a hundred or so crates labeled ‘Love’ that she was delivering to the Hive, all somehow staying onboard despite their precarious positioning.

“More than enough to feed the people. If I can make it, everything will be better. They’ll see!” She marched forward with a renewed pep in her step.

Said step was soon stopped by a sudden sticky substance.

“What in the-?” Chrysalis started, but whipped her head around when an almost silent clicking noise reached her ears. Lighting up her horn, Chrysalis prepped a stunning spell. “Who’s there?! Come out and face me!”

A sinister chuckle filled the air. “‘Welcome to my parlour’, said the spider to the fly. Are you lost, little fly?” asked a familar voice.

“That’s none of your business!” Chrysalis shouted back. She took the moment to try and free herself from the white goop.

“Oh, how rude of me. You’re carrying so much weight for such a long trip. How about I relieve you of it? A weak thing like you shouldn’t carry so much.”

Chrysalis blasted a rustling bush. “You will do no such thing! This is my love and I will take it back to the hive!”

“But that’s where you’re wrong.”

A loud thud and rattle behind her forced Chrysalis to turn around. Her eyes went wide as she saw the massive beast that was perched on her precious cargo. The massive spider clicked it’s mandibles as it creeped its way closer to Chrysalis.

“After all, you’re too tied up for such trivial things.” it said, directing many of its eyes at her.

Chrysalis looked away and gasped as she found the small army of spiders that snuck up and had started wrapping her in their thread. Already, she couldn’t move her legs and her arms were slowly becoming stuck as well.

“I think I’ll take this off your hands.” the spider said before wrapping all the cargo in a neat cocoon.

“Hey, that’s mine!” Chrysalis said as she tried to rip the threads off herself. “You can’t do that!”

“Oh, but I can, and I have.” It stared at her once more and clicked its mandibles again. “You know, this whole robbery has left me quite hungry.”

Chrysalis didn’t have time to scream when the spider leapt upon her and wrapped her in a loose cocoon. The last thing she saw as she was dragged away into the bushes was a flash of moonlight and a thunderous roar in her ears.

*****

“Hmm!” Chrysalis purred as her eyes jolted open. ’Huh?’ she thought blearily, ’Where am I? Why do I feel so sore all over? What happened?’ Turning her head, she gazed around the room, but when her eyes fell upon the bed’s other occupants, Chrysalis’ eyes went wide as the memories of last night came rushing back like a flood.

’Oh Faust, I...I…I just had sex,’ she thought in amazement, then upon remembering certain details, she added, ’And it felt so good. Her ass disagreed with a small twinge of pain. Chrysalis’ face blushed redder than a tomato as she remembered what Shining did to her. ’I don’t think I’m going to be walking straight for a while, or at all for that matter. At least the bed is comfy. Really comfy, actually. Five more minutes won’t hurt much. Just have to adjust myself so my butt can stop getting poked.’

Gently twisting herself so as to not spike any sore muscles, Chrysalis found herself facing a wall of warm, white furred muscle. A quick glance also discovered exactly what was poking her. She turned away again with a blush creeping upon her face and eyes wide awake with adrenaline.

‘HisdickispokingmybutthisdickispokingmybutthisDICKISPOKINGMYBUTT.’ she thought as the fresh image of his half hardened member was burned into her memories. It took all her willpower not to jump away and risk waking the others. After taking a minute to get her breathing under control, she wrestled with her thoughts.

‘No. It’s just a body part. A very thick body part used for reproduction. And pleasure, absolutely incredible amounts of pleasure.’ Chrysalis chewed on her lip. ‘This would be a good chance to familiarize myself with male reproductive organs. Who knows if I’ll end up doing this again? Besides, I don’t recall actually touching it last night, minus the penetration. Yes, I just need to do my own examination of it and it will be okay.’

Chrysalis’ hand snaked down behind her as she tried not to think about what she was really doing. Her fingers twitched when they touched smooth flesh. Pressing on, she managed to wrap her hand around the hardening member. In her mind’s eye, Chrysalis could picture what the penis looked like.

She gulped. ‘It’s...big. It’s also warmer than I thought. Did this really fit inside me?’ Her hand moved slowly up its length until it covered the tip. She pulled away when Shining groaned and shifted, her face aflame with blush. ‘Oh, Faust. I can’t believe I just did that. What was I even thinking? Gah, it’s probably all this love energy that’s messing with my head. I need to get out of here before something else happens.’

She started to shimmy herself out from under the covers, but before she could make it very far, a pair of strong arms pulled her back, wrapping around her like a precious pillow.

“Mmm...Cadance,” Shining said as he cuddled Chrysalis closer.

Chrysalis, for her part, tried not to squeal when a certain body part poked its way between her thighs and began grinding away. She wasn’t as successful when it came to the groping of her chest or the butterfly kisses on her neck, her moans encouraging him for more.

‘Nonononono! Cadance wake up and get your grope happy husband off me! I don’t think I can last much longer.’ She gritted her teeth as Shining nibbled on her ear. ‘Too sensitive. I can’t focus. I can’t…’ It was when Shining turned her face for a deep kiss that her mind lost it and her disguise dropped.

And that's when the screaming began.

First it was Shining, then Chrysalis, then Cadance, then back to Chrysalis and then Shining before the loop started again. The first one to act was Chrysalis, who tried to jump out of bed but ended up face planting on the floor with one leg caught in the sheets. Shining jumped after her with clear intent to subdue her, but Chrysalis’ foot got loose from the sheets and found a new, soft target, leaving him whimpering on the ground next to her. The only indication that Cadance moved was the loud thump on the other side of the bed. The air was soon filled with a chorus of groans.

“Ow ow ow. Not the best wake up call I’ve had.” Chrysalis said, rubbing her face.

“You okay, Chrysalis?” Cadance asked from the other side.

“Yeah, I’m just peachy. The floor tastes great by the way. You must have some good maids.”

“I’ll pass it on to them. Is Shining okay?”

Chrysalis looked over at the stallion clutching his crotch and trying not to cry. “Define ‘okay’?”

“Are you okay?” Cadance asked.

Chrysalis tried to find strength in her limbs to get off the floor. “Considering everything that’s happened, yeah.” Using the bed, she pushed herself up into a standing position, though her legs were shaking like crazy. Chrysalis saw that Cadance had at least gotten back on the bed and was crawling to her side of it.

“What did you do to Shining?!” Cadance asked upon seeing her fallen husband.

“It was an accident! Besides, my butt is really sore so it’s a fair trade.” Chrysalis said, massaging her lower cheeks.

Cadance gave her a stern look. “Well, I’m going to be using it again soon, so I hope you didn’t damage him too bad.”

Chrysalis pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. “Look, I need to get going, so thank you for the love energy from last night. Goodbye.” She turned to leave, but didn’t get very far when she tripped again. “What the-?” Looking down, she saw a magenta magic aura wrapped around her ankles that was now trying to bind her legs together.

“Oh, no you don’t, Chrysalis,” Shining rose to his knees with horn aglow. “The only place you’re going is straight to the dungeon. You’ve messed with my family for the last time.” A flash of his horn and Chrysalis was now trapped in a blue bubble.

Rolling her eyes, Chrysalis said, “Please, as if you could keep me trapped in here.” She tried to blast her way out using the love energy she had, but the bubble barely budged. Not one to be deterred, she blasted it again and again, each time with more force. “What the-? How?”

Shining folded his arms and wore a smug grin on his face as his captive tried more spells to escape. “If I can shield a city for days, then a small containment field like this would be nearly impossible for you to shatter, even if you were powered up on love. Feel free to struggle, but this time you won’t get away.”

Chrysalis felt her heart sink. Here she was, at the complete mercy of a couple who had all the reason in the world to beat her into a bloody pulp, and all it took was a promise and a night full of love to lure her into the trap. A fly to Faust-damned honey. She was right earlier. Cadance is an evil mastermind. Speaking of the bitch, Chrysalis twisted around to face her.

“You lied to me! You said this wasn’t a trick and I trusted you!” she yelled, clawing at the barrier. “I should have dragged your sorry ass off when I had the chance!”

“I wasn’t lying!” Cadance said. She then turned to her husband, “Shining, you let her down this instant! She’s safe and I promised she wouldn’t get hurt.”

Shining gave her an incredulous look. “What are you talking about? This is Chrysalis! Not some stray dog. She attacked us at our wedding. She brainwashed me. She almost killed you and Twilight! The only thing stopping me from beating her within an inch of her life is my duty as captain of the guard to lock her away.”

“Well, then you’re going to have to lock me away, too,” Cadance said. “It’s illegal to harbor enemies of the state, correct?”

“Harbor-” Shining blinked in confusion, then shook his head. “Why? Why would you help her? You should be as mad as me! Unless…” He conjured up some magic bindings around Cadance, and then turned to Chrysalis again. “You brainwashed her too, didn’t you? What are you planning? Another invasion? Foalnapping my wife? Tell me!”

“Well, that was the plan, until Miss Mastermind over here decided to make a deal with me. I’m beginning to regret that decision now,” Chrysalis said. She had given up on trying to break out for the moment, and instead tried to cover her naked self.

“How do I know you’re not lying to me?” Shining asked, narrowing his eyes.

“Why bother? You won’t believe me anyway.”

“Absolutely. Now as much as I would like to deal with you right now, I need to remove your influence from my wife,” Shining said.

Chrysalis really wanted to roll her eyes. Stubborn stallions. “You do that. I’ll help myself out of this shield of yours.” She didn’t want to waste the amount of love energy she had, so she had to make sure to use just enough to pop this bubble. However, before she was halfway charged, she heard Shining speak once more.

“Yeah, no. Left hook.” Faster than she could react, Shining reached through the shield and Chrysalis’ world turned to pain and darkness.

*****

“SHINING ARMOR!” Cadance shouted in rage as she watched Chrysalis crumple into a heap in her makeshift cell.

“It’s okay, Cadance. Everypony has a plan until they get punched in the face. With her knocked out, any influence on you should be much weaker,” Shining said. He placed his hands on her shoulders. “Twilight was able to teach me a spell that removed any mental control. This might tingle though.” His horn lit up and a wave of magic passed through her.

He was right. It did tingle her brain a bit. But her opinion remained firm. “Shining, I want you to let Chrysalis go.”

Shining frowned. “Hmm, maybe I should put more force into it.” He cast it again, this time a bit stronger.

“She’s telling the truth. She did attack me, but I was able to make a deal with her so she wouldn’t foalnap me.”

Once more, but stronger.

“I invited her to join us in bed so she could get love energy.”

He cast it as strong as he could this time.

“Shining, I love you, but if you don’t stop being stubborn about this, I’m going to be very upset with you.”

He was starting to breath heavily from all the magical exertion.“No, that…that can’t be right. Why would you do that?” he asked, almost shouting. “She’s evil!”

“She’s not evil. I mean, yes, she invaded Equestria, but I’m sure she had her reasons to do so. The fact that I was able to reason with her and negotiate my way from being a captive to a partner means she’s either desperate or not wholly evil,” Cadance said. Shining’s words were really starting to get on her nerves.

“Cadance, she tried to hurt you and Twilight. She almost got everypony killed! How can you forget that?”

“I haven’t, Shining,” she said. “I haven’t quite forgiven her for the whole wedding fiasco, but if Twilight can make friends with Discord, then I should at least be able to overlook Chrysalis’s past actions.”

Shining’s horn lit up and Chrysalis’ bubble lifted off the ground and began to move. “I don’t care. Chrysalis committed a crime against Equestria and I intend to see her brought to justice.” He was stopped by a diamond blue wall of magic.

“No, Shining. I Pinkie Promised her that no harm will come to her and I intend to keep that promise.” Cadance glared at her husband as her magic snatched Chrysalis out of his, popping the bubble prison.

Shining, on the other hand looked like he was about to blow another fuse. “Why would you promise that…that bitch anything?! I will not risk you, my family, nor Equestria for her!” He took Chrysalis back in his magic and chained her to the floor for the time being.

“I know you wouldn’t, but like my aunt, I believe everypony deserves a second chance, Shining. You should know that,” she said in the most even tone she could hold, “Now I want you to get out and don’t come back until you’ve cooled off,” she quickly added, “And don’t you dare call the guard upon her or so help me you will be sleeping on the couch for the rest of the year!”

Shining glared at her for a moment before throwing on some clothes and leaving. He grumbled under his breath as he slammed the doors behind him on the way out.

Cadance fumed, but that was replaced with concern as she approached the unconscious queen, who had been set down none too gently. The magic bindings were broken thanks to a bit of alicorn magic and knowing her husband’s magic signature. The knockout punch Shining delivered to Chrysalis’s face was definitely going to leave a bruise, if the jaw wasn't broken already. Using the few medical spells she knew, Cadance made sure there were no serious injuries and healed the cut in the lip that was spilling quite a bit of blood.

Using her magic, Cadance levitated Chrysalis to the couch in the living room. Once the changeling was as comfortable as can be, Cadance rushed back to the bathroom and dug through the cabinets.

“Oh, where did I put that stuff? Aha, there it is!” Cadance pulled out a small, decorated jar full of smelling salts and headed back to the living room. “Didn’t think I’d have to use Luna’s present this soon. I just hope it works as well as she says it does.” Releasing the stopper, Cadance held the jar under Chrysalis’s nose for a second before said changeling gasped awake.

“Wow, that worked fast.” Cadance said. She closed the jar and set it on the table before leaning towards the coughing changeling. “Are you alright?”

Chrysalis flinched and threw her hands up in defense. “Stay back!” Her eyes darted around the room. “Where’d Shining go? He’s not getting the guards is he? I’ll fight you! You’re not going to catch me!”

Seeing the panic in her eyes, Cadance backed away and held her hands up. “It’s okay, calm down. Nopony is going to hurt you. I sent Shining away so he could cool off after I convinced him I wasn’t under your control. See? I kept my promise you wouldn’t be caught” Her words seemed to have a calming effect on Chrysalis, as her frantic motions slowed and focused on the pink mare.

“Shining caught me. And punched me! I can still taste blood in my mouth,” Chrysalis said.

Cadance had a guilty look on her face. “Yes, yes, and I’m really sorry for that. I hadn’t anticipated your reveal. I was hoping we could part ways and he would be none the wiser.”

“Well, you failed. Spectacularly, if I might add,” Chrysalis said. “To be fair, I didn’t know how sensitive I would be after that. I’m surprised my disguise fell so easily. Maybe that’s why most changelings only do one night stands when gathering love.”

“You want some tea?”

“Yes, please.”

Cadance levitated over a tray of hot tea and cookies. She gave Chrysalis a fresh cup and helped herself too. “Feel better now?” Cadance asked.

Chrysalis sighed, “Much. Thank you.” Her eyes were drawn to the cup, as if trying to figure out some sort of hidden truth or something. “I should have known that something would go wrong. This whole situation was too good to be true. I should have stayed in the bathroom, or better yet, left when I could. But then I would have missed out on all the love I received. I just…” Tears started to well up in her eyes, and she gave a sad chuckle. “I’m a failure of a changeling.”

Cadance was content to listen, but that last sentence struck a chord in her. She moved closer and hugged Chrysalis. “Don’t talk like that. Everypony messes up at one point or another, but that doesn’t make you a failure.”

“Yes, I am,” Chrysalis said. Her voice caught on her sobs. “I couldn’t take over your wedding, I just failed to take you hostage, and to top it all off, you’re trying to comfort me! Me! You have all the reason in the world to hate me and yet, you pity me now because I can’t do a single thing right.”

Cadance started to object, but she found no reasonable argument. So she decided to settle for encouragement. “Okay, so you’re not the best at being evil. I’m sure you’re still a great changeling Queen for your subjects. Right?”

Chrysalis just kept staring at the cup in her hands, which was almost about to spill over as it tilted, then just set it down on the tray with a small rattle. She muttered something but it was inaudible.

“What was that?”

Chrysalis looked up at the alicorn with sad eyes, “I’m not a Queen. I’m more of a Princess, actually. That was just me being arrogant in my victory. If I had pulled off the wedding invasion, then I would have been Queen. Now, I’m just Princess Chrysalis, and barely even that thanks to my screw ups.”

“I see. Do you want to talk about it?” Chrysalis just shook her head. “Fine, but can you answer a question for me?”

“Sure, I guess.” Chrysalis said. She glanced at Cadance with a curious look.

“When you put me in the caves under Canterlot at my wedding, why did you leave me there? I mean, you could have killed me and no one would be the wiser.” Cadance said. “You probably would have succeeded too.” It was then she noticed the uncomfortable look on Chrysalis’s face.

“Most changelings try not to engage in violence since it doesn’t produce love, except when it comes to hunting for meat when impersonating a griffon. Personally, I despise violence. First time I killed a rabbit, I cried for days. Don’t get me wrong, I can fight, but I’d rather not,” Chrysalis said. “Honestly, it was out of convenience. It’d be pretty awkward if one of the maids found you stuffed in a closet. Plus, if things went south with the invasion, I had hoped to hightail it out of Canterlot with you in tow.” Chrysalis looked up into Cadance’s eyes, “It was nothing personal, but a changeling’s rite of passage is to acquire as much love as they can and with me being royalty, I had standards to uphold. Very high standards.”

Cadance bit her lip as the info sank in, “That…explains a lot. I always did wonder why you didn’t just kill me from the start. I thought it was meant as slow torture.”

Chrysalis grimaced. “Don’t get me started on that. Please.”

In the following silence, Cadance didn’t know what to say. If somepony had told her half a year ago that this was the real Chrysalis, Cadance might have politely sent them away with a guard and directions to the nearest mental facility. But now, Cadance wanted to help her however she could. A rational pony may suspect an emotional trap so Chrysalis could take her love, but Cadance had experience with the Canterlot nobles and they were probably more cunning than Chrysalis ever was. It was only by Celestia’s experience that they never got very far with their plans.

There were still many questions Cadance wanted to ask, but now was not the time. However, Cadance was sure of the one unspoken question in the air: Can you forgive me?

Chrysalis started to get up. “I should go. I’ve already caused enough trouble. I got my love and you got your night. Fair’s fair. With luck, we shouldn’t meet again.” She began walking toward the bathroom when Cadance jumped up and caught her hand.

“Chrysalis, wait! I know we started off on a bad hoof-”

“That’s an understatement.”

“-but I want to start over. Yes, I am still a little upset over the wedding, but that was Chrysalis the evil invader. I want to meet Chrysalis the changeling,” Cadance said. “Ahem. Hi, I’m Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, but my friends call me Cadance. Nice to meet you.”

Chrysalis stared at her in slight confusion, but she responded. “I’m Princess Chrysalis, but I guess you can call me Chryssy.”

Cadance’s smile was a mile wide as she squeaked and gave Chrysalis a bear hug. She let go when Chrysalis was tapping for air. “Sorry, you were just so cute. I couldn’t help it,” Cadance said. Her guilty smile was met with an eyeroll.

“So does this mean I’m forgiven or not?” Chrysalis asked.

“Think of it more like a second chance,” Cadance said. “We are going to be the best of friends if I have anything to say about it.”

“Friends, huh?” Chrysalis mulled over the thought, and then she smiled. Not an egotistical, evil smile like she had before, but a genuine, happy smile. “That sounds nice.”

Cadance couldn’t help herself. “Don’t worry. If last night was any indication, I’m sure you’ll love the benefits that come with it. That is, after we convince Shining to like you.” She tried not to laugh at Chrysalis’s blushing face.

“That is not why I’m agreeing to this!”

“Relax,” Cadance said. “I’m only teasing you. Well, mostly teasing. Having a third person would open up some possibilities.” Cadance giggled at Chrysalis’s squeaks of embarrassment. “You know, I just realized that we’ve been naked the entire time and we still smell like sex.”

Chrysalis blushed harder as the newly noted scent filled her nose and she scrambled to try to cover herself. “I don’t suppose you could let me borrow your shower?” she asked.

Cadance grinned. “Sure, but why waste water?” She yanked Chrysalis off the couch and towards the bathroom. “I haven’t showered with another mare since college.”

“O-On second thought, I changed my mind.”

“Too late!” Cadance shut the door behind them, and the sounds of rushing water and a one sided grope fight filled the air.

Author's Notes:

Changelog: Rewritten so that Shining's reaction is much less violent than before and the silly security system is removed. Dream sequence is more meaningful and isn't as cheesy. Personalities and Reasonings altered to fit.

Notice: The first chapter has been edited as well. Not enough to warrant a new chapter, but still significant changes to the characters.

You guys have no idea how long I've waited to publish this. I wanted to when I finished, but I held off until I did the entire first arc to make sure I was dedicated. That means I have up to chapter 7 ready to be published. I'm going to be publishing them on a weekly basis until I'm caught up. In the mean time, I will be dividing my time between editing the next chapter and a new project I've got in the works.

Now so far everything has changed except the cover art. After a couple of chapters, I will make a (new) poll on what should replace it. I had made one previously, but I didn't consider how few people actually see my blog posts when I don't link it in a chapter.

Anyways, I hope you like the new edits as much as I do. Comment and tell me what you think.

How Grudges Work

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Shining stalked down the halls of the castle, trying to make sense of his wife’s reasoning, while doing his best to not blow half the castle up out of sheer rage. It wouldn’t do if word got around that the royal couple may have had a bad anniversary. Gossip and attention were among the last things he needed right now.

Even so, Shining walked the less crowded halls for about half an hour before he found himself on an empty balcony overlooking the city. The sight often calmed him down on stressful days, but it did little good and only served as a reminder of the changeling invasion. When his shield was up and patrols were about, but after he was free from Chrysalis’ spell, he could see the destruction and mayhem the insect bastards had inflicted upon it.

Just the thought of Chrysalis walking free made him want to break something. At least it would be good practice for when he got his hands back on that changeling bitch. ’Dammit!’ he thought, ’Why would Cadance protect her? She should be with me on this, not against me!’ He growled and slammed his fist down upon the stone railing.

“Tis comforting to see our guards protecting us from rogue banisters. Perhaps we should worry about lamp assassins next.”

Shining almost jumped out of his skin as he spun around. “Princess Luna! I’m surprised you’re still up. Is something the matter?”

Luna shook her head. “No. I simply elected to stay up a bit later after my meal with my sister.” she said. “Night court was slow, but at least the dreams of our citizens were entertaining enough. I feel I should ask you the same question.”

“I’m just…” ’Furious. Confused. Ready to break someone.’ “...peachy.”

“I don’t think somepony who looks like they’re ready to commit murder would be akin to fruit.” Luna said, “I can’t say I don’t know the feeling. The nobles are a constant thorn in my plot.”

Shining looked away. “Yeah, nobles.”

“Now what is it that ails thee? As I recall, yesterday was thy anniversary. Did something happen? A lover’s quarrel, perhaps?”

“You could say that,” Shining said. A thought sparked in his mind. Cadance did say not to bring the guard onto Chrysalis, but nothing about Luna. The Princess of the Night was known to wipe the floor with the best of the guard soon after her return. She could probably hold her own against Chrysalis long enough to subdue her. But then again, Cadance might help her and would be royally pissed with him if he did catch Chrysalis. That’s not even taking into consideration the following investigations and the nobles finding out and calling for his resignation. It’d be easier to throw himself over the edge now than face the unrelenting torture of high society’s pressure.

“Would it perchance be the changeling that Cadance took to bed with you?” Luna asked.

Shining’s head whipped around to stare at Luna in shock. Not just by her casual tone, but by the fact that she knew and did nothing about it! “H-How did you know?”

Luna smirked. “Cadance’s dreams were causing quite a stir last night. I had thought it was a nightmare, but it was far from it. If the public knew of her dreams, you would have many stallions come after your head out of envy, but I digress. Through her dreams, I learned of the circumstances of the situation.”

“So you’ll help me, right?” Shining asked. This couldn’t be more-

“Nope.”

-wrong. Shining’s eye twitched. “I don’t think I heard you right. Did you say you wouldn’t help me capture Chrysalis?”

“Precisely. I understand your concerns, but I have seen enough to side with Cadance.” Luna crossed her arms. “Unless she’s strong enough to change her dreams at will, I believe there’s more to Chrysalis than you or anypony knows.”

“You’ve seen her dreams?” Shining asked. His hands opened and closed as if trying to grasp something.

“I have, and I will not discuss their contents. Dreams are a place of sanctuary in the mind. I won’t violate that sanctity for anypony. Just know that perhaps thou should try to learn about your supposed enemy. She may not be as large of a threat as you presume.” Luna said, “Now, I must be going. My sister wanted me present for the ambassador’s arrival before I go to sleep.” She strode away down the hall, vanishing around the corner, but then poked her head back out, “One more thing. If you’re going to keep brooding about this, then at least make yourself useful and pick up my order at the comic store. Should be under ‘Moonbeam’.”

Shining stood stock still as he stared at where Luna just was. ‘Is this some kind of sick joke? First Cadance and now Luna. What’s next, Celestia dangling shackles in front of me with a fishing pole?’ He shook his head and set off to run Luna’s errand. Comics always did take his mind off of stressful things.

It took about an hour to reach the biggest comic store in Canterlot. Shining had stopped by his parent’s to grab some inconspicuous clothes to help him blend with the crowd. The paparazzi sharks could catch wind of his chewed out hide if he didn’t. The sound of the entrance bell was almost lost among the din made by the other customers. A sense of nostalgia swept over Shining as he passed the aisles on his way to the cashier.

“Thank you, have a nice day,” the cashier said to the departing customer. He then noticed Shining’s approach and smiled. “And here I thought you were too whipped to grace us nerds with your presence.”

“Shut up, Gaffer.” Shining rolled his eyes. His old friend from Canterlot Academy never ceased to poke fun at Shining’s status and marriage. “Which waifu is it this week, Saddle Rager or Zapp? Or have you moved onto a real life waifu?”

“Fight me.” Gaffer raised his fists in an old fashioned boxing style.

They stared at each other with serious expressions for only a few seconds before they broke out into laughter. Gaffer was a unicorn with green eyes and a lighter green mane and tail. Most of his body was covered in orange fur up to his face, and down to his elbows and knees where it turned to white. His cutie mark was an eight sided die, indicating his skill as the appointed dungeon master when they had played Ogres and Oubliettes years ago.

“So what brings you by? Pretty sure the new Captain Equestria series doesn’t come out for another month.” Gaffer said.

“I’m here to pick up a package for ‘Moonbeam’.” Shining said, “Also, I figured I might as well browse while I’m here.”

Gaffer gave a solemn nod. “Blowing off work to get comics. I understand completely.” He crouched behind the counter and rifled among the cupboards

“I’m not blowing off work, Gaffer. You know I don’t do that.” Shining grinned. “Besides, we use the term ‘delegating’. Sounds much more official.”

“Of course, my mistake.” Gaffer said. He then pulled out a bag stuffed with comics and set it on the counter before ringing it up on the cash register. “I’ll put it on Moonbeam’s tab. You’d think Princess Luna would drop the whole disguise thing when she comes by. She’s the only one who talks like she’s from ancient times and can shout a stand over from across the room. Pretty sure all the customers know too, but it brings me business so I won’t complain.”

Shining shrugged. “Let her have her fun.” Knowing that his time here was running out, he tried to find an excuse to stay. “Hey, Gaffer. You’ve read most of the comics in here, right?”

“Just about. Except those Japonese comics for girls. Why?”

“How do villains redeem themselves? Like, what makes two arch enemies become allies?” Shining asked. If anypony could give advice on a matter like this, then surely one of his best friends could. The only concern was phrasing it so he wouldn’t arouse suspicion. It shouldn’t be too hard since Gaffer is a sucker for villain stories.

“Well it depends on the villain mostly. For instance, you can’t redeem the Mane-iac, but it’s possible to redeem Ms. Chill.” Gaffer said. He pulled out comic after comic to demonstrate his point. “Mane-iac is absolutely psychotic, but Ms. Chill has a plausible reason for redemption. She even allied with Bat-Mane a couple times.”

“Didn’t you say you would ‘totally warm her up’ when they released that special edition series that one winter?” Shining asked.

“Don’t judge me.”

“Too late for that.”

Gaffer rolled his eyes and continued. “Anyways, the only thing that keeps her from being redeemed is Bat-Mane’s unyielding sense of justice. She’s still a villain, so he still sends her to the slammer. Now if it was Supermare, then she might redeem her, but that’s comics.”

“I see.” Shining said. Gears were starting to shift in his mind and not in a way he liked. “Why would Supermare redeem her better than Bat-Mane?” Shining had a feeling he knew the answer, but needed to hear it from his friend.

“They both have very strong senses of justice, but Supermare tends to give second chances while Bat-Mane usually focuses on the danger the villain presents.” Gaffer said. “Since Supermare was based a bit off of Princess Celestia, she tries to guide criminals onto the right path more often than not, even if it’s unlikely to work. Bat-Mane would rather use fear and violence to stop criminals and not even give them the chance to commit another crime.”

“Uh-huh.” Shining glanced at the clock. “As much as I’d like to continue our conversation, I need to head back to work. Later, Gaffer.”

“No problem, dude. Tell Cadance I said ‘Hi’!”

“Sure thing.” Shining left the store and wandered his way back to the palace with a lot on his mind. His day started with an explosion of justified anger, but now that he’s had time to examine the aftermath he doesn’t know what to think anymore.

‘Cadance has always been a good judge of a pony’s heart, or at least their desires. She wouldn’t have been stupid enough to side with Chrysalis if she meant us harm. Then again, I’m still not entirely sure she’s not brainwashed,’ Shining thought. He grimaced as he turned his mind to the other factor. ‘And if Luna knew all this time, then she would have interfered if Chrysalis had tried to pull something. Ponyfeathers, she would have busted through the window itself the second she thought we were in danger.’

He turned over every fact of the morning in an attempt to find something that he could use to augment his side of the story. By the time he reached the palace, he rehearsed the events through his mind a dozen times and was grasping at straws. ‘This is ridiculous! I shouldn’t be the bad guy here. I’m not! I’m just trying to protect my family.’

Shining sent Luna’s package to her room with one of the staff. ‘What if, by some astronomical chance, that they’re right? Chrysalis isn’t as terrible as I make her out to be. Then according to Gaffer, I’d be Bat-Mane.’ He made a quick, mental note for his next Nightmare Night costume. ‘But why should I give her a chance? This could very well be some ploy to lure us into a false sense of security. Ugh, I wish Twilight was here. She would know what to do.’

The thought gave him pause. “Hmm. What would Twilight do?” As he pondered his predicament, Shining reached the door to his suite. Without thinking, he opened the door and slipped inside. He realized his position when he heard Cadance’s voice ring across the room.

“Now grip it tight with your legs and then slowly lean back.” she said, “This part is fun because you get to shake your chest a bit.”

“Can we go back to the basics?” Chrysalis asked, “I don’t know if I can bend that far yet.”

“Sure, I just want to show you what you can do when you get to my level. For example, something like this.”

Chrysalis blushed. “...I feel very uncomfortable right now.”

Cadance leered at her. “Really? How about now?”

“I’m pretty sure that would only work if I was a male.” Chrysalis said. Her voice didn’t sound like she completely believed it.

Shining decided then to stop this nonsense before his mind could wander down dangerous, yet tempting paths. “Cadance, what the hell are you doing?” As of the moment, his wife was entwined sensually around a metal pole, clad in only a pink sports bra and booty shorts with her cutie marks on them. Chrysalis was in a similar position, except she was gripping her pole like she was hanging over a pit of spikes. Due to her facing away from him, Shining noticed she was also wearing the exact same thing as Cadance but had “Bad Girl” printed on the back of her shorts. If Shining remembered correctly, then the top would say “Milkshakes”, and that Cadance wore them whenever she wanted to roleplay a delinquent who would get spa-

Chrysalis’ embarrassed scream pulled Shining away from that dangerous rabbit hole. Her face was red as she first tried to use her hands to cover herself, then try to use Cadance as a makeshift barrier and shield while trying to pull a blanket around herself.

“H-How long have you been there?” Chrysalis asked, peeking out from behind Cadance’s shoulder, “Because I just want to say right now, this whole thing was her idea.”

“Aw, come on Chryssy. I need a pole dancing buddy,” Cadance said, slipping around to catch her in a side hug. “Just think of the love you could get from it! Not to mention the exercise.”

“And I said I’ll consider it. I’m not going to whore out my people for love,” Chrysalis frowned and turned to Shining, “I assume by the lack of guards you’re not going to arrest me?”

By now, Shining had dispelled all thoughts of how cute Chrysalis’ reaction was or anything related to her current attire. Any doubts Shining had earlier were also dispelled and he knew his decision. “No. Not today.” The two mares gives sighs of relief and he pressed on before they got the wrong idea. “I still don’t trust you, but I trust my wife. So I’m going to give you one chance to prove yourself. If you give me any reason to doubt you, I will bring Tartarus down upon you.” He didn’t want to reveal Luna’s involvement so he could use it as a trump card in case she got any funny ideas.

Chrysalis stared at him. “Fair enough. I’ll take what I can get. Speaking of which, I need to return home with all of this love energy.”

“And that’s something I had been meaning to ask,” Shining said. “How did you get in here?”

“Simple. Follow me.” Chrysalis led the way through the bathroom and opened the closet door. It was a good sized walk in closet, able to fit twenty guardponies with armor and some room to spare. Chrysalis ignited her horn and a small panel, large enough for Shining to crawl through, slid open. If Chrysalis hadn’t shown them, they would never have found it due to the seamless insert.

“It’s an old escape tunnel I found. It leads to the catacombs and caverns below Canterlot. From here, I can get to a few places in the palace and the city.” Chrysalis said. “This is probably one of the few more stable tunnels around though, so I wouldn’t go poking your head in unless you know your way around.”

Shining’s guard instincts screamed at this new information. He was going to have to make a note for the next guard captain to inspect the castle for any more hidden tunnels. For now, he needed to contain this one. A flash of his horn later and he created a one way barrier across the entrance. Chrysalis could leave through it, but nothing could enter through it. He explained it to the others.

Cadance nodded in agreement. “That’s for the best. And if I do this…” Cadance pulled out a pair of bracelets from a rack and used her magic upon them. She then put one bracelet on Chrysalis’ arm. “There, so long as you keep this on, you’ll be able to pass through the barrier and when you arrive, it will notify me and I’ll be able to tell you if I’m available. Green means I’m here and it’s safe to appear. Yellow means that there is someone other than me here and red means it’s too dangerous to appear.”

“Okay then,” Chrysalis said. She stared at the bracelets, then the barrier, and then at the royal couple. “So does this mean we’re friends? Except I’m getting love from you and you have one less enemy, so I guess friends with benefits?”

“...Yes,” Cadance said. Her resulting grin was crooked, as if she was restraining herself from laughing. It was only after Chrysalis changed her clothes and left that she released her laughter. “Sweet Celestia, she’s too cute!”

“I think you’re enjoying this a bit too much,” Shining said. His wife had always had a high libido and a very suggestive mind ever since they started dating. It was part of being the Princess of Love to know about her domain. The scary part was how well she could control it. Nopony would ever think that their princess would be thinking about hardcore porn while holding court with a straight face. Some days, it took all of Shining’s stamina just to keep up with her.

“How can I not?” Cadance replied. “You should have seen her face when I first suggested that she could get love by sleeping with us.” She let loose a stream of manic giggles. When she calmed down enough, she continued. “Besides, now I have someone to talk about love and sex issues with. Don’t get me wrong, my aunts are nice, but Celestia is too polite to talk about sex with and Luna… I still don’t think she’s taken all my lessons on modern relationships to heart. And it’s not like I can speak freely about it with any nobles without them passing out from shock.”

“I just hope you know what you’re doing,” Shining said. “I don’t want you to get hurt again.”

Cadance gave him a reassuring hug. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine. For now,” She pressed a thigh between Shining’s legs, “I want to reward my big stallion for getting the stick out of his butt and listening to his wife.”

Shining smirked and groped Cadance’s flank. “Does this reward involve putting a stick up my wife’s butt?”

“Maaaybe.”

“Sounds good to me.”

*****

After changing back into her original clothes and leaving the closet of Cadance and Shining, Chrysalis flew through the hidden passages and caverns below Canterlot down to the old Diamond Dog tunnels. The tunnels were made to transport gems from quarries so they were usually a straight shot and these led to Rambling Rock Ridge which meant less ponies to avoid. After half an hour, she reached the exit and came out from below the gnarled roots of an ancient tree. She dusted herself off for a second before taking the long flight over the Everfree and into the Badlands.

Once she crossed into the desert, it wasn’t long until she came upon the massive plateau where the Hive was situated. It looked like the original builders tried to fit it all on the mesa but it just spilled over and down the walls and into the plains. The castle itself resembled a cone with its multiple concentric rings leading up to the Queen’s Spire, the place where the Queen can see all the territory of her kingdom. It was a place Chrysalis feared she would never see.

It didn’t take long for her to reach the castle and land at the front gate, an imposing structure of dark iron with pointed barbs all over the bars to ward off any intruder. The gates opened at Chrysalis’ call, allowing her through. The castle itself seemed to frown upon the new arrival, as it loomed over her. The cloudy skies above weren’t helping any.

Chrysalis strode up the steps. The massive doors opened before she even reached it and shut behind her with a thundering boom. Not wasting any time, Chrysalis headed towards the throne room. On the way there, she heard a familiar cackle.

“Well, well, well. Look who’s decided to come home early. What happened, sister? Did you forget how to flirt?”

Chrysalis grimaced, but she didn’t stop walking, “Hello, Black Widow.” She didn’t have to turn to know that the owner of the voice was hanging from the ceiling above by the white silk she can produce. “What do you want?”

“Aww, is that any way to greet your dear sibling?” Widow asked, “Besides, what could you have that I don’t already? But if you must know, I do wish I could see mother’s face when she finds out how little love you brought back for us.”

Chrysalis tried not to flinch. “What makes you think that? I could have brought much more than you did last time.”

Black Widow’s laugh echoed through the halls. “Don’t try to fool me.” Suddenly, her voice appeared next to Chrysalis’ ear. “I can smell it.” She was gone before Chrysalis could turn to face her. “Besides, this was your first outing since your, ahem, ‘invasion’. Do you think mother will let you get off so lightly again? You got lucky with just owing a large debt to the Hive and a slap on the wrist. I can’t wait to see what it will take for her to drain you and leave the rest to the vultures.”

‘Don’t let her get to you. She’s just trying to lure you in. It’s her thing. Just don’t let her get you.’ Chrysalis thought as she tried to ignore her taunts like she had for years and kept moving to the throne room. Eventually, Widow scurried off to find some other poor soul to lure into her web.

Chrysalis soon stood before the throne room doors, heart beating in her ears. She couldn’t avoid this no matter what. It was easier this way, lest she wanted her mother to come visit her, which would just multiply any punishment she received. She moved to open them, but they anticipated her, swinging wide open on silent hinges.

Upon entering, the room itself seemed to dominate all inside. It was a large, circular room capable of housing a battalion of changeling troops. The ribbed, stone walls loomed over the room as they arched overhead, meeting at a singular column in the center. Due to the room’s location under the central spire, the column doubled as the housing facility for the Heart of the Hive, an ancient changeling artifact used to store and disperse all love gathered by the people. At the base of the column, spread across the floor, were several thick pipes filled with love energy, pumping the people’s bounties into the artifact’s chamber for storage. Later on, the love would be slowly dispersed over the Hive from the tip of the central spire.

Also at the base, among a plethora of controls and gauges, was the throne. It looked as if it was almost grown straight from the column itself, the glowing green tubes around it only enhancing the idea. There sitting upon the throne was Queen Beatrice, or Queen Bee as the drones call her when she isn’t around.

“You’re late, child.” she spoke in a gravelly voice that fit her aged body. She looked like Chrysalis in many ways, but her chitin was cracked and her midsection and legs had stripes of yellow running parallel rings around her, matching her golden toga that covered most of her body. She leaned her head on her fist and wore a rather bored, unimpressed expression. “What have you brought from your little excursion?”

Chrysalis gulped and kneeled before the throne, “I come bearing love for the Hive.” She spoke, keeping her face down, but stealing glances upwards.

The Queen’s expression never changed. “Show me, child.”

Chrysalis summoned what love she had gathered from Cadance that morning and cast it towards her mother, praying for the best. The tension in the air was almost tangible as the Queen kept silent and examined the gathering of love. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Chrysalis awaited her judgement.

“Enough.” Beatrice said, “Since your little plan to conquer Canterlot had failed, I had thought you had given up on trying to take the crown. I was surprised you had even left the castle considering your recent activity.”

She wasn’t the only one. After such a humiliating defeat, Chrysalis had spent the past year trying to come up with a new plan to make up for her losses. The only times she was seen by the public were when they came to her court. It was only over the past week that Chrysalis had built up enough confidence and spare time to enact her one-pony assault. She noticed the stares she received when she left the castle grounds.

The Queen continued on, “I do not know where you went, nor do I care. My concern is the amount of love you returned with.”

Chrysalis chanced a response. “Is it not satisfactory? I tried to stay as long as I could but-”

“Silence, child. On the contrary, you did better than I had expected of you. The love you gathered is very potent and is not a small amount. This is far beyond anything you’ve brought before.”

“Thank you,” Chrysalis said. She noticed the Queen had not smiled once and did not look like she was about to change.

“Now while you did better than expected, you still have far to go to fulfill your debt to the Hive,” Beatrice said. “If by some miracle you happen to continue to bring back the amount you have today then it wouldn’t take long to fulfill your debt and then some.” The Queen leaned forward in her seat and narrowed her eyes on Chrysalis. “Knowing you, I highly doubt that. You’re more than welcome to prove me wrong.”

Chrysalis tried not to flinch at the verbal jab. Ever since the first time she went out to gather love, Chrysalis always struggled to make her quota. There were times when she would do very well and reach her quota for a month at most, but more often than not she didn’t. It never helped that said quota was always increased each year, or her sister’s consistent successful excursions.

“Now begone, child,” Beatrice said, “I have more important matters to attend to.”

Chrysalis nodded and left the room. She didn’t dare run back to her room for the chance of her sister finding out. Chrysalis didn’t know how, but Black Widow always knew when she ran from the throne room to her own. As soon as she reached her room, she threw herself face down onto her bed and just laid there. Her bed, much like her room, was quite large so it only increased how small she felt at the moment. She knew she should probably get up and change in the closet off to the side, but with her current mood, she didn’t feel like putting in the effort. Plus, she had enough of closets for a while. It wasn’t long until she felt a brush slowly stroke her hair.

“How was your trip, Little Butterfly?” a soothing voice said. Chrysalis didn’t need to see that it was Matilda, her caretaker. Only she called her ‘Little Butterfly’ on account of her hopes for Chrysalis. She was a wizened changeling with grey hair and soft, wrinkled skin. Her eyes were a calming blue that always seemed to say that everything would be fine.

Chrysalis turned her head to speak, “I’m still trying to decided if it was the best or worst decision I’ve ever made.” Matilda just kept brushing the Princess’ hair. She always did that when they talked as the brush pulled out tangles as well as thoughts.

“Oh, I don’t think so,” Matilda said. “Your best decision was trying again despite failure. Your worst was trying to cook when you were young.”

Chrysalis pouted. “Why must you always bring that up? I was just a foal.”

Matilda chuckled. “Because it’s always true. Now tell me what happened.”

Chrysalis blushed and buried her face into her pillows. “I dun wanna.” Her words came out, muffled by the fabric.

“Why not? You always tell me what happened during an outing.”

“It’s embarrassing!”

“Oh dear Chrysalis. I took care of your since you were born. I’ve seen many of your less than perfect moments. What’s one more?”

“…Fine.” Chrysalis explained everything, only giving vague details of the more intimate moments. Matilda just sat there, patiently listening to her words until she was finished. She didn’t laugh or tease at any point in the story. It was one of the reasons Chrysalis could always confide in her. When she finished, Matilda just nodded.

“From what you told me, I don’t think you failed at all. In fact, quite the opposite,” Matilda said. “How many changelings can boast that they reclaimed love from those who discovered them? Without a disguise, no less. Not only that, but you were asked to return again. Tell me who can make such a claim?”

Chrysalis frowned. “None, but I don't think my dignity is going to survive many more trips.”

Matilda smiled. “Don’t think like that, Little Butterfly. A bit of dignity is a small sacrifice compared to the rewards you’ll reap.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Chrysalis propped her head upon her hands and looked at Matilda. “Having Cadance as an ally would mean access to pure, unfiltered love for me to bring home. Not to mention having somepony else to talk to.”

“I meant you getting some good loving from that Shining Armor stallion, but that’s important, too.”

That made Chrysalis leap off the bed and point at her caretaker. “No! That is not why I’m doing this!” She couldn’t hide the blush on her face.

Matilda wore a smug grin that only the elderly could pull off. The kind that spoke of years of experience. “Chrysalis, I may be old, but I can still hear the younger maids chatter and from what I hear, this married stallion is quite the stud. I know you’ve been squeamish when it came to such matters, but can you look me in the eye and tell me you didn’t enjoy it?”

“...I-I didn’t enjoy it.”

“Those aren’t my eyes, dear.”

Chrysalis threw her arms in the air. “What does it matter? He only did it with me because he thought I was someone else. It’s not like it’s going to happen again.”

“So you say, Little Butterfly. So you say.”

Author's Notes:

Change log: The better question is, what didn't I change? Only thing I kept were certain events happening (Luna meeting Shining, Shining giving Chryssy a chance, and the love harvesting). Everything else is pretty much new.

Oh, and Gaffer is from the comics. Not my OC.

Thank you guys for the overwhelming support and love. I finally broke 1k with this fic and I got a lot of new people reading this too. Of course, I also gained several dislikes when I started this fic back up. Jerks. I think i'm going to delay the poll for new cover art for a while. I want people to get a good feel for the story before choosing a new cover (or not). I'm also trying to squeeze out words for the latest chapter rewrite, but it's been tough with school and distractions. However, I came this far and I'm not going to let you down. Just don't mob me if you see me publish new fics. Please.

Anyways, tell me what you think of this chapter.

P.S. Yes, I have seen the season finale. No, I will not be rewriting anything to accommodate for all the canon. Rewriting it once was hellish enough. I can incorporate a couple things, but not big things like the ever changing hive structure or the psychedelic color palette of the changed-lings. I got some headcanons to show off here and these guns have been gathering dust for too long.

How Friends Work

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“Is this really necessary, Matilda?” Chrysalis asked. Her head was cradled in her hands as she tried not to squirm in her caretaker’s grasp. Every so often, Chrysalis glanced at the clock to count each second she lost by being in her room.

“Yes. I’ll not have you looking like you just got out of bed and tried to stroll through a storm on your first day back to Equestria to meet your friends.” Matilda kept a steady brushing pace through her charge’s hair, only catching the occasional tangle.

“I look fine.” Chrysalis tried to swat away the brush, but it only came back with a grooming vengeance.

“I’ll be the judge of that. Now hold still or I’ll make you wear bows and ribbons like you did when you were young.” Matilda said, waving the brush threateningly.

“It’s just going to be spending some time together with Cadance,” Chrysalis said. “It’s not like I’m going to some fancy dinner with her.”

“Maybe. But Shining Armor will be around her, therefore I want you to look your best around him.” She punctuated her last word with a rather rough pull on a tight knot.

Chrysalis groaned. Ever since her return from Canterlot a few days ago, not ten minutes went by without Matilda making some mention of that stallion. Shining Armor this, Shining Armor that. How is he going to know that she had food stuck in her teeth the other night? There was no use in trying to correct her as she would ignore it like the other five hundred eighty seven times. It was as if Matilda pointedly ignored the fact that he was a married stallion who hated Chrysalis and no amount of pretty dresses or brushed hair was going to change that.

Matilda finished grooming and led Chrysalis to the full length vanity mirror near the closet. Chrysalis saw that her hair was brushed into the simple straight length style she liked. She wore a simple, knee length dress of green cotton, wrapped around her like a toga which only showed a small amount of her chest. On her right arm was the enchanted bracelet she had received from Cadance last time. She wore a light brown belt to hold it all together. A casual dress for a casual day. Matilda stood behind her, brushing off her dress of any dust and wrinkles.

“There,” Matilda said, straightening out the last wrinkle, “You look so cute in that dress.”

Chrysalis pouted, “I’m not cute.”

“Says you. Now put on your best smile and go impress that princess.” Matilda gave Chrysalis a gentle shove out the door.

Resigning to her caretaker’s words, Chrysalis started walking. She managed to avoid her sister and most of the guards thanks to it being so early. It wouldn’t do to have them report to her family of her actions. After that, it would a breeze to return to the caverns below Canterlot before mid-morning.

*****

Upon reaching the barrier blocking her secret passage, Chrysalis checked her bracelet to see it was glowing green. She removed the panel and crawled through the barrier into the room. After dusting off her dress, she reached for the closet handle when she felt a subtle flowing of love in the air. Curious, she opened the door a crack only to feel a sudden rush of love hit her. It seemed that Cadance was loving her husband close by, and judging by the growing intensity Chrysalis wasn’t sure if she wanted to walk in on them should they be feeling frisky.

‘Then again, this is Cadance. She probably puts out a lot of love just from kissing. Yeah, they’re probably doing just that. I mean, isn’t that what couples do in the morning?’ Chrysalis bit her lip. ’I should tell them I’m here. Maybe that will prevent them from going too far, and I don’t want them to think I was just lurking here.’

She tapped the door as she opened it more. “Hello? It’s me.” She peered into the bathroom only to find that nopony was there. Judging by the love concentration in the air, Chrysalis may have just missed Cadance. She stepped out into the room and headed for the door to the main room, gathering all the excess love as she did so.

“That mare is just a fountain of love. How come she didn’t make this much when I captured her at the wedding?” Chrysalis asked herself, “Questions for later. Greet friends now.” She found a much larger concentration of love seeping through the next door, which meant Cadance had to be on the other side of it. Chrysalis’s only concern is what was Cadance doing to produce that much love. Only one way to find out. She slowly twisted the handle and opened the door wide enough to see through, only to immediately regret her decision.

Cadance and Shining Armor were indeed in the room, just a few paces away from the door. Shining was currently facing away from the door, leaning against the back of the couch with his head down. He was wearing his Royal Guard uniform, except his pants were down around his ankles. Cadance, on the other hand, was facing him except her face was buried into his crotch, bobbing back and forth. Her only garments were bra and panties, but they were just hanging off her shoulder and ankle respectively.

“C-Cadance, I love you, but I’m going to be late.” Shining said. He moaned when Cadance went down to the hilt before pulling off, letting her hand replace her mouth.

“Oh, I’m sure your fellow guardsmen will understand. I mean, you do have a duty to serve your princess.” She licked the tip of his shaft. “Besides, you should know better than to tease me before you leave for work. I have half a mind to drag you back into bed right now, so don’t complain.”

“Yes, dear.”

The only reason Chrysalis hadn’t slammed the door and run back home was that she was completely frozen by the sight. Her heart was beating out of her chest, ready for action, but neither her legs nor arms would budge an inch away from the door.

’What am I doing?’ she thought to herself as she kept watching Cadance take the large member in her mouth, ’I-I shouldn’t be watching them. This is an invasion of their privacy. I should come back later. Yeah, later….How in Tartarus is she not choking on that?’ The more Chrysalis watched, the more she was entranced by Cadance’s movements. She didn’t know how, but Cadance made something so dirty seem refined, graceful even. No movement was wasted when it came to giving pleasure. Chrysalis also noted that Cadance’s hands were quite occupied. One fondling her breast and the other on Shining’s balls.

Chrysalis felt her arousal growing with each bob of Cadance’s head. ‘Wow, she’s really good at this. Look at her go. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to watch and learn. Faust knows if I’m ever going to do such a thing.’ Keeping her eye on them, she sat down with her back to the wall, hiking her dress up so it wouldn’t get wrinkled.

Without looking, she pulled the top of her dress down until her chest was bare. She could feel her nipples harden as they came into contact with the cool air. Gently, she grasped one breast in her hand and rolled it around, biting back a small moan. Chrysalis couldn’t recall the last time she pleasured herself like this, if ever. Did it always feel this good, or was it because she was watching others do something equally dirty? Either way, Chrysalis let her hands explore her chest while she watched, biting her lip to keep her moans from escaping.

‘How can she take something that big in her mouth? She probably does this a lot. I bet she likes being on her knees like this.’ Chrysalis felt her groin ache with need. She pressed two fingers against her panties to find them damp with arousal. Holding back a moan, she pulled the fabric to the side and started to rub her slit. Chrysalis shuddered as the sudden spike in pleasure passed through her body. Wanting more, she began to rub faster as she watched Cadance go to town on Shining’s dick. ‘I wonder if it tastes good.’

“Cadance, let me go already,” Shining begged after a while, “I’m already close.”

“Nuh-uh,” Cadance said, pulling herself off his dick, “You need to apologize first for your teasing. Do that and I might get you off.” She gave a quick kiss to the tip of his shaft.

Shining groaned, half in frustration, half in pleasure. “Alright, then. I’m sorry for snapping your beautiful butt with my towel when you bent over for the soap.”

“Good bo-”

“I’m also sorry to have to do this.” Without warning, Shining grabbed Cadance’s head with both hands and slammed his shaft into her open mouth down to the hilt. He then proceeded to hold her head in place while he fucked her face. His balls slapped against Cadance’s chin with each thrust as the sounds of Cadance’s grunts and groans filled the air.

Meanwhile, Chrysalis watched with wide eyes, almost forgetting what she was doing. If the arousal from before felt like a small fire, then the amount she felt from seeing such a dirty, depraved, hot act was akin to a large bonfire. She pushed a finger inside her slit in an attempt to alleviate the sudden heat but it wasn’t enough. With one hand rubbing her pussy and the other on her tits, she was quickly approaching the the edge. She watched as Shining’s movements became erratic, though no less vigorous. By his grunting, she could see he was about to reach his own release.

In a moment that couldn’t come soon enough, the two of them hit their climax. Shining hilted in Cadance’s mouth, pumping his load down her throat and Chrysalis had muffled her shout by pressing her nipple into her mouth. As he pulled out, his dick managed to land a few small strings of semen across Cadance’s face.

Chrysalis’ mind registered Shining’s eventual departure, but she didn’t care. Right now, her mind was enveloped in bliss and she didn’t want to leave. The only thing that could make it better is if the pink blob would stop prodding her boobs. Wait, why did the pink blob know her name?

“Hey Chryssy, you wanna go streaking through Canterlot?” The now pink cow asked.

“Sure.” Chrysalis replied with a giggle. She didn’t know what that was nor did she care, but it sounded fun.

The cow then conjured up a small bottle and held it close to Chrysalis’ face. “Okay then, but first can you smell this perfume?”

Chrysalis nodded and took a great whiff of the fragrance. Immediately, her senses were assaulted with a burning sensation and her mind came crashing back down to earth with the force of a meteor. “Oh Tartarus, that hurts! Why would you use that as perfume? It feels like the inside of my face is on fire!”

“That’s because they’re smelling salts and that’s the second time I’ve had to use them on you. I wonder if this is going to be a thing between us.” A familiar voice said.

Chrysalis blinked away the pain long enough to focus on the pink form next to her. When she recognized who it was, she yelped in surprise and quickly covered her chest and crotch, “Cadance! I can explain! It’s not what it looks like, I swear!”

Cadance raised an eyebrow, “Really? You mean you weren’t playing with yourself while watching me suck on Shining’s dick?” She chuckled as Chrysalis’ face burned with blush, “Don’t feel bad. You’d be surprised how many times I’ve caught the staff taking a peek, not that I blame them or you. My love magic can drive entire rooms into full out orgies if I’m not careful. Although it certainly made college more interesting, that’s for sure.”

“I’m beginning to think you’re more dangerous than I am,” Chrysalis said. She looked down to see a small puddle of arousal between her thighs and some of it starting to seep into her dress. “Great, now I have to change my clothes,” she grumbled.

“Don’t worry about that,” Cadance said before igniting her horn and drying up the puddle in a flash, “I’ve had to use that spell more often than I’d care to admit. Unfortunately, it doesn’t get rid of all the smell, but you should be fine to ponies passing by.”

“Thanks.” Chrysalis stood up and finally noticed Cadance’s face, “Um, you’ve got a little…” She just gestured to all of Cadance’s face that still had white streaks across it.

“Hmm? Oh, right! Would you mind waiting at the table while I clean up?” Cadance asked.

Chrysalis nodded and slipped out into the living room, taking care to step around the spot where sex had just occurred. She sat down at the table where piles of papers lay. A couple cursory glances revealed most of them to be regular royal paperwork, the bane of royalty, but there was an odd pile of letters that seemed far too casual to be official documents. Before she could take a closer look, Cadance stepped out of the bathroom.

“Ah, much better. You know, I was beginning to think you weren’t coming back.” She said as she sat down across from Chrysalis.

“Well you’re not the only one with royal duties,” Chrysalis replied, “This was the earliest I could come back. I swear, being royalty seems to be more of a punishment than a luxury. I don’t know why my subjects wish they could be in my position.”

Cadance nodded, “I know the feeling. Shining and I have been swamped with work trying to wrap up a million little things so that we can go back to the Empire and solve another million little things. I don’t know how Celestia does it.”

Chrysalis frowned slightly in confusion. ’Empire? I’ve never heard of any Empire, unless she means the one in Saddle Arabia. But why would she need to go there? It’s probably none of my business.’ Shaking her head of such thoughts, she decided to change the subject.

“So…”Chrysalis said hesitantly, “What are we going to do today? Since we’re friends, that is. I mean, friends do things together, right? Sorry, I’ve never had to make a real relationship before.”

“It’s fine,” Cadance put a hand on Chrysalis’, “Actually, I was hoping that we could do something together like a spa trip or maybe some shopping. You know, a mare’s day out. My treat. However, since I wasn’t expecting you today, I still have a bit of work to do before we can start.” She grimaced at the sight of a stack of paper on the table.

“Why don’t you get some scribes to do it?” Chrysalis asked, then added, “You do have scribes, don’t you, or do you call them something else?”

Cadance giggled, “Clerks, and believe me, this is all the work that I can’t just delegate off. The original stack almost left nothing of the table to work on.”

“Wow. What exactly is all this then?” Chrysalis asked, then jokingly added, “Requests to find suitors for the noble’s offspring?”

“If I’m lucky, then yes.” Cadance said in deadpan tone, “Just because I said I played matchmaker as a hobby, every noble thinks that I can just wave my horn and poof in the perfect match for their lonely kids. The worst part is, that’s the best case request I get and they don’t happen often.”

Chrysalis blinked in surprise. “Suddenly, I’m very glad changelings don’t have nobles.”

Cadance raised an eyebrow and asked, “You don’t have nobles?”

“Nope,” Chrysalis said, “Just drones, the Legion, and then the Royal Family. The last changeling nobles were purged centuries ago after a failed coup against the Queen.”

Cadance frowned, “Lucky. I don’t know why Auntie doesn’t do the same. She’s even told me she wants to drop kick some of them into the sun.”

“From what you’ve told me, I think that’s too kind for them. You should at least get a turn with them. Make them fall in love with falling down stairs or something.” Chrysalis said. She and Cadance held a serious gaze for only a few seconds before breaking into giggles and laughter.

“As much as I would like to plot out some ponies specific punishments,” Cadance said after calming down enough, “I really should get to work on this stuff.” She picked up the closest paper and started to read it.

“What about the rest of this stuff?” Chrysalis asked. Even when she had posed as Cadance, she had gotten paperwork, but could brush it off because of the “wedding stress”. The other reason she didn’t read them was in case she signed the wrong piece of paper that could lead to her exposure. One more rule to effective love gathering, don’t stray too far out of character unless you have a valid reason.

“Usually, it’s either decrees or edicts that nobles try to slip past Celestia, or the occasional couple asking for advice.” Cadance said as she sifted out some of the paper into different piles.

“Can I help?” Chrysalis asked, “It’s obvious that this will take a lot of time, but If I could read off the ones asking for love advice and write down your response, then you could finish faster and we would have more time to spend together later. Plus, if I’m going to wait, I don’t want to be bored out of my mind.”

Cadance smiled, “Sure, here’s the love advice letters I’ve sorted out so far.” Cadance levitated a small stack to Chrysalis’ side of the table. Chrysalis grabbed a few papers and scanned over them.

A couple papers later, she found a report that made her giggle, causing Cadance to look over to her and ask, “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing,” Chrysalis said, her tone reminiscent, “Just this restaurant in Trottingham in the letter. Reminds me of the time I had to go there for a mission to gather some love and this one stallion was trying so hard to impress me with his, and I quote, ‘Extreme table waiting skills’.”

Cadance’s eyes flashed with the same interest a two-bit reporter did when they found something juicy, particularly when stallions thought with the wrong head. “Oh? What happened?”

“During a juggling trick of his with several plates, his boss came out and chewed him out. The poor colt jumped and dropped every single plate. He would have been fired, but I saved his job by charming the manager. Of course, after that I was only using him to gather love, but he was pretty funny. One of the better stallions I’ve charmed.”

Cadance grinned, “Did you like him?” she asked teasingly.

Chrysalis shrugged. “Eh, he was okay. Not the best, but not the worst. He was a bit too narrow minded for my tastes. Kept thinking he had to impress me with similar tricks to win me over.” Not to mention he wasn’t the brightest candle in the room. Just a pretty smile was enough to have him wrapped around her fingers.

“Really? Then what would be your ideal stallion?” Cadance asked, “Or mare? I don’t judge.”

Chrysalis blushed slightly, “I, uh, don’t really know. I mean, it’s not exactly something you think about when sapping them of love energy.” she said. Not entirely true, but Cadance didn’t need to know that.

Cadance only responded with a disbelieving gaze.

“What? I’m usually too busy to think about such trivial things.” Chrysalis said with more confidence, “Besides, you know I’m squeamish when it comes to sex. What makes you think I actually wonder about this stuff?”

“Heh. You sound like Twilight when I asked her if she had any crushes in school.” Cadance said, smiling, “You win this time, but mark my words, I will find out. I’m very patient when it comes to these matters.”

The conversation dropped as they returned to the papers in front of them. Two more hours flew by and the stack of paper dwindled down to a couple pieces of paper. After a few more signatures, Cadance set the papers aside and threw her arms into the air.

“Aaand we’re done!”

“That’s it?” Chrysalis asked.

“Yup!” Cadance reached over and hugged Chrysalis, much to her surprise, “Thanks for the help. That would have been really boring without someone to talk to. I felt like I got finished much faster too.”

Chrysalis, surprised by the hug and the warm feelings that came with it, only gave a quick response, “No problem.”

“Great! Now we can do a bit of shopping and then go to the spa before you leave. I already have the perfect idea for the stores to hit up.” Cadance said as she slipped on some shoes to wear.

Chrysalis nodded and took on the form of a dark grey pegasus with forest green hair and an emerald heart cutie mark. Then Chrysalis had a thought.“Wait, what about me?” Chrysalis asked, “Won’t the guards detect my magic?”

“Only if you decide to wander off and head towards the more restricted areas,” Cadance joked, “The guards can detect magic disguises, but you shouldn’t worry about it so long as you stick by me.”

Chrysalis sighed in relief, “Alright then. After work like that, I believe the Princess and her assistant, Sweet Heart, deserve a good time at the spa.”

Cadance chuckled, then added to the dramatics, “How right you are, ‘Heart’. It is the least I can do for a helpful assistant like you.”

“Can we go now?” Chrysalis said, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

*****

“Oooh, yes.” Chrysalis moaned as the masseuse rubbed a knot out of her shoulder. After they had left the castle, Cadance had taken her all over the shopping district of Canterlot. The first stop was a lingerie shop at Cadance’s insistence that Chrysalis needed something better than plain cotton bra and panties. Despite her initial protests, Chrysalis did feel a bit sexier with her new lacy underwear, but she wasn’t going to give Cadance the satisfaction of knowing that. Following that, they hit up various stores, trying on all sorts of outfits both serious and silly. By the time they reached the spa, Cadance bought a cream sundress with a flower pattern embroidery, and Chrysalis got two full sets of lingerie and a few rather risque dresses, to help with future love gathering of course.

“From the sound of it, I guess you haven’t been to a spa in a long time.” Cadance purred out as her back was being pressed out.

“First time actually.” Chrysalis said, much to Cadance’s surprise, “Now I’m wondering why I never did this sooner.”

“Yes, it is quite addicting after the first time.” Cadance agreed.

After a few more minutes of massaging, one of the assistants walk in and spoke, “Your highness, the steam room is ready.”

Cadance nodded, “Thank you. We will be there shortly.”

“But I dun wanna leave.” Chrysalis mewled out, “This feels too good.” It was actually even better because she could feed off of the love the masseuses had for their job.

“If we have enough time, ‘Heart’, I’ll let you come back in here.” Cadance said as she got off the table with a towel wrapped around her.

“Fffine.” Chrysalis reluctantly followed Cadance to the next part of the treatment. Keeping the towel on, she relaxed against the soft wood of the room as Cadance excused the spa assistant for some privacy. Using her magic, Cadance turned on the dials that brought in the steam while Chrysalis shed her disguise.

“So what do you think?” Cadance asked as she sat across from the changeling.

“I’m glad I didn’t discover this place during your wedding, or I would have probably asked for it to be held in the foot baths or something.” They both laughed at the image of a spa wedding, with everyone wearing cucumbers on their eyes and seaweed wraps on their manes and coats.

“Yeah, that would be kinda bad.” Cadance said, trying and failing to stifle any last chuckles. Once she got her breathing under control, she stared at Chrysalis, “By the way, now that we’re all relaxed, would you mind answering a question for me?”

“Hmm?” Chrysalis grunted, too relaxed for words.

Cadance moved closer and leaned in, “Did you like the show you saw this morning?”

Chrysalis’ eyes snapped wide and felt her heart begin to race as she recalled the…morning activities, but her body was too relaxed to move away. “Show? What show?” she asked, fighting the rising blush in her cheeks.

“Did you forget the bracelets notify me when you pass the barrier?” Cadance asked rhetorically, “When I saw you watching us from the door, I felt like putting on a bit of a performance. Judging by the aftermath I know you enjoyed it, so let me rephrase my question. What was your favorite part?”

Chrysalis felt her face change from red to white and then back to red as Cadance spoke. In the back of her mind, she wondered if it was possible to die of embarrassment, because surely she would have done it multiple times by now.

“I wasn’t trying to watch you two do that,” Chrysalis said once she found her voice, “I was just collecting the love you left behind before meeting you. When I saw you..you know, I couldn’t stop watching. Like you said, it was probably because of your love magic.” Was it just her or was the steam becoming hotter?

“Noted, but you still haven’t answered my question. What was your favorite part? What turned you on? Watching us or the thought of getting caught with your skirt down?” Cadance asked.

Chrysalis looked away from Cadance’s piercing gaze and answered, “Um, when Shining got rough with your face.” Her quiet voice felt loud against the silence. She turned back to see Cadance with a surprised look on her face.

“Really now?” Cadance asked, “Interesting. I was betting on the voyeur aspect because I figured you might be a closet exhibitionist. What with your behavior towards sex and all.”

“Can we stop talking about this, please?” Chrysalis pleaded as she fidgeted in her seat.

Cadance gave her an apologetic look, “I’m sorry. With love as my talent, I tend to ramble about this stuff like Twilight when she gets a new book or project and then I forget that others may not be as comfortable about sex as I am.” Cadance softened her stare and put an arm around her changeling friend, “Besides, you shouldn’t need to feel so ashamed about it. Sex is a natural part of life. If anything, knowing that you were watching really turned me on.”

“Oh.” Chrysalis blinked at the unexpected response, “Um, okay then.”

A knock on the door interrupted them, “Your highness, the mud baths are ready.”

“Thank you, we’ll be out in a moment.” Cadance called back.

Chrysalis gave her a look, “Mud baths? Why would we relax in mud? Is it like a slime bath?”

“Not sure what a slime bath is, but you’ll see when we get there.” Cadance said as she pulled Chrysalis out the door, barely giving her a moment to put on her disguise again.

How Husbands Work

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The scritch-scratch sound of quill on paper filled the room like a lion’s roar compared to the tense silence of everything else. Even the ding of the coffee pot rang like a gong in Shining’s ears. His eyes were focused on the mountain of paper before him, but his mind was still back in his room. Specifically, the moments after his morning romp which kept looping through his mind

Shining sighed with relief after emptying his balls down his wife's throat. Cadance was really laying the teasing on thick this morning. If he wasn't going to be late for work, he might have enjoyed it a little while longer. Once he was done, he pulled himself out, letting the last few spurts glaze Cadance’s face.

“I think that's a good look for you. White really goes well with your coat.” He said with a grin.

Cadance returned fire with a playful glare. “Really? Then I guess we'll find out tonight how well pink goes with yours, you naughty colt. I might have to break out the paddle for your little stunt.”

Kinky. “Worth it. Although I have to ask why the whole performance? Was Feather Duster watching again? I think we should give her a good ‘farewell present’ before we head back to the Empire.” They had thought about letting their maid join in considering many times she watched them get ‘frisky’.

“Oh, we will.” Cadance said. She nodded to the bathroom door. “But this time, it was our favorite love bug. I bet she’s passed out with a cute look on her face.”

Shining felt his heart skip a beat. “How long was she there?”

“I felt her pass the barrier a few minutes before you started getting rough.” Cadance whispered as she tip-toed her way to the bathroom door. She peeked inside and grinned. “Wow, she really enjoyed it.”

Meanwhile, Shining was mentally kicking himself. Of course his wife would know of Chrysalis' arrival thanks to that bracelet, but he assumed she would tell him the moment she showed up. What if she arrived and Cadance was out doing work? He needed to alter the enchantments on the barrier the second he had some time, which wasn't now, much to his dismay. He was shaken out of his brooding by Cadance running up to him with a camera and photo in hand.

“This is definitely one for the album.” Cadance said, holding the picture like a griffon would with a prize catch. Even before they began dating, Cadance kept a “love album” with pictures and details of all things related to love. It had pictures of them and other ponies on dates or with that love struck look in their eyes. There was even a considerable section on various and sundry ships, though it sometimes looked like a cross between a forensic report and a paparazzi’s journal. But it also contained a section dedicated to sex, be it fetishes, positions, or even special moments they or others had. Cadance took her position very seriously and it was one of the many things Shining loved about her, not to mention the bonuses that came with it

Shining tried to ignore the picture, as well as the sudden rush of blood going down when he looked at it. “Are you sure you're going to be okay? I can always tell them that a family emergency happened.”

Cadance smiled, “You're sweet, but you need to put more faith into your wife.”

“So I should rename my dick to ‘Faith’ then?” Shining asked, a smug grin plastered on his face. That got a few chuckles out of them.

“You can keep the name,” Cadance said, “All I ask is that you trust me on this. Go and do your paperwork. I promise to let you know if there's trouble.”

He had left shortly after and now here he was, using the piles of work to distract him from intruding on them. However, after a few hours, he was starting to run out of excuses to keep working.

’I shouldn’t be doing this. I need to check on Cadance. What if Chrysalis tries something this time?’ He started to get up, but stopped himself before he left the chair, ‘No. No, Cadance said she could handle it and I trust her. If I loom over her shoulder, she won't think that I do. Gah! This is so frustrating! What am I supposed to do?’ It was a testament to his family’s inherent writing skill that he wasn’t copying down his thoughts onto the military reports.

Shining tried to focus on a list of officer promotion candidates, but his thoughts were consumed by all sorts of “what if”s surrounding Chrysalis. What if she was lying about wanting to be friends? What if she was luring them into a trap? What if this was just some huge, elaborate nightmare that he hadn't woken up from yet? The last one couldn't be true since the nightmares he had after his wedding began to return in force after his anniversary. Luna often had to intervene, even to the point of forcefully waking him to help escape his night terrors.

“Sweet Celestia, I wish I could talk to Twilight about this,” he muttered, “But she would catch on to us and we all know that would end well.” Panic in the streets and accusations of being a changeling would be thrown around until it all blew up. Needless to say, Luna and Celestia were also out of the question. Was there anypony he could confide in that would take his side?

He tried to focus once more on his paperwork, but soon found himself staring at the same page for five minutes. Sighing, he set his quill down and got out of his chair to stretch.

“Note to self, use paperwork as punishment for soldiers. It’s definitely worse than cleaning the barracks.” He muttered, glaring at the pile of paper while contemplating the pros and cons of just burning it all. Grumbling, he grabbed his mug and began to fill it from the fresh pot of coffee.

As he drank the dark brew, he let his mind wander back to the night of his anniversary and the morning after. Cadance told him after Chrysalis left out of the circumstances that led to them sleeping together. Chrysalis tried to capture her again and possibly pull off a second invasion, but wasn't expecting Cadance to offer love and more. Shining was willing to bet that Cadance wasn't expecting that to happen either.

“Although, I find it hard to believe that Chrysalis freaked out about having sex,” Shining said to himself as he nursed his cup, “You'd think someone who feeds on love would jump at a chance for anything more than cuddling with Cadance.” But upon reflection, when Chrysalis had posed as Cadance during the wedding, Shining couldn't recall her doing anything more than holding hands and chaste kisses. Of course, he was also under her spell so he was a little skeptical of his memories of that time.

Shining shook his head. “No, Chrysalis is an evil, devious whore and this whole innocent act of hers is just another way to empower herself with love and then take over Equestria. She might have Cadance fooled, but not me. I just need to keep my guard up at all times. That reminds me…” Shining opened one of his desk drawers and pulled out a crystal ball. It took a lot of arguing and persuading, but Luna had given him this tool to keep an eye on Chrysalis when she came back. Unfortunately, as he found out when he tried to track her down, the crystal ball could only reach about as far as the Everfree forest, but at least he knew Chrysalis wasn’t hiding nearby.

“Show me Chrysalis.” he said. The crystal ball glowed and shimmered for a second until an image appeared. Chrysalis was still with Cadance, but they weren’t in the castle anymore like he thought. Instead, they were out shopping and from the looks of it, they were now at Celestia’s Secret trying on new clothes. Cadance was sporting a small string bikini that looked like it would break if she took a deep breath. Chrysalis, who was out of disguise at the moment, was wearing thigh high fishnets and lacy black bra and panties. She kept trying to cover herself despite no one being around (Cadance probably used her title to get some privacy). All she needed now was a short skirt and-

“Nope!” Shining shouted as he almost slammed the crystal ball back into the drawer, “Nope! Nope! No. Not going down that path. No, sir. Not going to think about her as a sexy maid...Dammit!” He tried to stop the flow of risque images his imagination brought to his head, but it was a futile attempt as a certain part of his body was more than ready to go. Grumbling to himself, he stood up and went to the attached bathroom to splash cold water on his face until his body calmed down.

Staring at his sodden reflection, it reminded him of the times Cadance teased him while on duty. Trying to stand at his post was very difficult whenever she passed by, much to the amusement of his fellow guards. She certainly knew how to make his armor very uncomfortable with a few words. At the end of the day, he couldn’t stay mad at her because it was all in good fun. Even now, she still did it, but since they’d gotten married she had been getting adventurous. Before, she might have tossed him a few winks and words when he was on duty, but now she would practically drag him into an empty room if she had enough time.

“I wish I knew what Cadance was thinking.” he groused to himself, “Maybe then I could understand why she’s doing all this.” Shining tried to recall everything Cadance had been doing lately to see if he could pick out some sort of clues to the mare’s mind, “She’s been eating well, so no diet problems. Stress from her royal duties has increased a lot since the Empire appeared. Maybe it’s finally gotten to her head? Then again, she has been rather frisky these past few months, but that might be stress relief.” While his mind wandered to possible clues, he left the bathroom and paced around his office. He kept pacing like that for a good while until he finally gave up.

“Gah! I just don’t get it! Dad was right, you really can’t understand mares.”his voice raised in frustration. Glancing at the clock, he noticed it was well into the evening, almost time to call it day and head home. He looked at the stacks of paper covering his desk, then at the clock, then back at his desk, “I’ll finish some more before going home.” He cursed under his breath as he went back to the soul grinding punishment of paperwork.

*****

The halls couldn’t go by faster for Shining as he trudged back to his chambers from a long day’s work, though in reality he didn’t get much done. Such is the price of bureaucracy when you have to fill out various forms in triplicate. That’s not even accounting for his lack of focus.

“At this rate, Cadance and I might not get back to the Empire for weeks.” He grumbled as he rounded the final corner to his destination. His mind was focused on a warm shower then a nice dinner with his wife, as soon as Chrysalis left that is. He had checked the crystal ball again about an hour ago to see the changeling and his wife lounging about in the room, though he didn’t know what they were saying. While it was likely that Chrysalis may still be there, he did hold onto the hope that she had left by now. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed as he heard laughter and voices coming from the doorway when he stood in front of it.

“Celestia give me strength.” Shining muttered before knocking on the door. The second he did that, the laughter ceased and gave way to loud whispers. When he heard the call to enter, he did so and it took every bit of will not to freak out from what he saw.

Sitting on the couch, sipping tea as if there was nothing wrong were Cadance...and Cadance. They were identical, even wearing the same style sun dress, though one wore a purple one and the other a red one. They both looked to Shining with innocent faces.

“Something wrong?” They asked in unison.

Shining took a long, deep breath and then spoke calmly, “Cadance, what in the name of Celestia are you doing?”

“After we came back from the spa, we started talking about changeling disguises and Chrysalis decided to show off a few of her impressions.” Red Cadance said.

“She’s quite skilled at it,” Purple Cadance said, “We also learned that you look quite cute as a mare.”

That statement halted all of Shining’s thought processes. “What.”

“As amazing as the disguises can be, they still can’t change their gender,” Red Cadance said, “So when Chryssy turned into you, she only produced a female version.”

“Of course, I had to dress ‘you’ up in some cute clothes as soon as I could.” Purple Cadance said, a wide grin on her face.

As much as he didn’t like Chrysalis, his curiosity overruled his fears. “Fine, I’ll bite. Show me then.”

“Ah ah ah, not so fast, hot stuff.” Purple Cadance said.

“First things first. You have to guess the real Cadance,” Red Cadance said, “Only rule is no magic to reveal her.”

“Alright then.” Shining stepped a bit closer to the twin Cadances, who giggled as he approached. He stared at both of them, eyes flicking back and forth to find even the smallest telltale difference, but the disguise was too good. He did consider using magic to get it over with, but it was against the rules and, though he would never admit it, it would take the fun out of this. After a minute of staring, an idea occurred to him. It was dirty, but it should work. With a smug grin, he said, “Since I can’t seem to tell you apart by appearance, maybe I can tell through sex?”

Purple Cadance flinched. “Nope!” Her disguise fell away as she leapt off the couch.

“Gotcha.” Shining said, smug grin still plastered on his face.

The real Cadance frowned, though a ghost of a smile could be seen. “That was mean, Shiny.”

“It worked though. I hope you had no problem with her today?”

“No, unless you count almost having to drag her out of the spa,” Cadance said.

“Hey, that spa was amazing!” Chrysalis protested, “First thing I’m going to do when I get back home is check to see if my Hive has any.” She glanced at the window to see the sun almost setting. “Which will be soon, it seems. I’ve stayed here much longer than I intended and I must leave now. I’d rather not fly in the dark.”

“You’re not leaving without a goodbye hug.” Cadance said, pouncing upon Chrysalis and ensnaring her in a bear hug, “And a bit of love for the road.”

Chrysalis’ horn glowed as it absorbed the love. “Thanks for that. Also for today. That was probably the most fun I’ve had in a long time.”

“Any time, Chryssy.”

Chrysalis grabbed her bags with a smile and bolted to the bathroom. Shining followed a minute after to update the barrier spell. When he came back, Cadance was laying down on the couch.

“You know, she left without showing you your filly self.” Cadance said.

“Guess I’ll just have to ask about it next time.” Shining replied, “And who’s idea was it to do the guessing game? You almost gave me a heart attack!”

Cadance gave him an apologetic look, “It was mine. I admit, I was a bit lost in the moment and didn’t consider how you would feel. We were having too much fun with the disguises and her impressions. I’m sorry.”

Shining couldn’t stay mad at her. “No, I’m sorry. It’s been a long and stressful day, and coming home to see that only added to it. I’m still trying to comprehend how you can be so friendly to her after what she’s done.” He said, shaking his head.

“Maybe you should spend some time with her next time. Then you might understand that she’s not a terrible pony, just one who made bad decisions.” Cadance said with a tired sigh, “But for now, I think we should call it an early night and and be ready to work extra hard tomorrow. The paperwork isn’t going to do itself.”

“We could ask Twilight if there’s a spell for it. I’m sure she would know.” Shining joked.

Cadance rolled her eyes. “Please, Celestia would have made one if it were possible. No one gets more paperwork than her. You should hear her complaints. They can get quite creative.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

*****

Chrysalis walked with confidence down the halls of the Hive palace towards the throne room. It was certainly not the first time she had done this, but the first in what seemed like ages. Maybe she can show up her sister this time. That would be a nice cherry on top of the pile good things going for her today.

It wasn’t long before she turned the corner to the hall that led to the throne room doors. Chrysalis smirked when she saw a familiar figure standing in front of the doors, waiting for entry. “Good evening, sister.” She said as she strode towards her, “Did you forget how to unlock a door? You know mother doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

Her sister sneered back, “Big words from a little sister. I’m just here to watch mother tear into your sorry hide when you show her how little love you brought her again.” Black Widow had a slightly similar build to Chrysalis in that she was only a couple inches taller, but after that similarities stopped‏. Protruding from her back in the place of the usual changeling wings were four long, spindly limbs that ended in sharp claws. With two above and below her shoulders each, she looked much like her namesake. Her hair was a bright crimson, matching the highlights on her back limbs, arms and legs. She wore a red silk dress that was barely coming up to her bosom, revealing generous amounts of cleavage. The dress flowed down her body, hugging her form and her large, curvy ass. Her stomach was exposed, revealing two red triangles pointing towards her navel like an upright hourglass.

“Don’t hold your breath.” Chrysalis retorted. Before her sister could say anything, they heard their mother call for them from inside. The doors slid open and neither of them hesitated to walk in. They kept an equal pace like they were taught as they approached the throne and kneeled before the Queen.

“What do my daughters bring today for the Hive?” the Queen asked as if she wasn’t expecting much.

Black Widow went first, as protocol dictated. “I come bearing Love for the Hive.” She opened herself up and projected her love towards the Queen.

After a moment, the Queen spoke, “You’re lacking today, child. This is much less than your last tribute.”

Black Widow kept her head down, “My apologies mother. My victims were rather stubborn in giving up their love.”

“Stubborn?” the Queen said, as if it was a new word, “Or were your efforts not enough? I have taught you all that I know and yet you say that your targets were ‘stubborn’?” She leaned forward, “Or, perhaps, that’s another inch on your waistline I see?”

“No, mother! I would not consume my tribute to the Hive!” she protested as she tried not to raise her head to look at the Queen. Changelings didn’t have many laws aside from the standard ‘no stealing or killing’, but one of the highest they had was to never interfere with the gathering of love for the Hive. Sure, changelings could eat out in the field as necessary, but to eat or tamper with the tribute was equal to treason.

“So says the daughter with the appetite of a dragon,” The Queen said, “ Let us see what your sister brought. Maybe she has more than you this time. What do you bring to the Hive today, Chrysalis?”

Chrysalis grinned to herself, “I come bearing Love for the Hive.” She said before letting her love reserves spill out like a burst dam. Once she let it all out, it was three times as much love than what her sister brought. Even Chrysalis was surprised at the amount, struggling not to stagger at the sudden loss of so much energy. It was likely that the massive amount came from the ambient love that Cadance emitted, but it piled up too slowly for her to notice. She glanced at her sister who was giving her a nasty glare. Her musings were cut short as the Queen spoke.

“Well well, and here I thought your last tribute was a fluke. Not nearly as much as last time, but not bad.” she said, “I’d begun to think you would be slacking in your duties again.” The Queen created eddies in the love with her fingers, almost as if she were testing the quality of it or perhaps for idle entertainment. It was hard to tell with her impassive face. “Now why can’t you bring in this much love energy more consistently?” she asked, “You still have a debt to pay, and with your sporadic tributes you’ll need another life before it will be paid off.”

“I shall do what I can, Mother,” Chrysalis said.

Beatrice snorted, “So be it. Both of you, leave.”

The sisters rose, bowed, and exited the chamber. Once the door closed behind them, Black Widow turned on Chrysalis.

“Where did you get that love?” she demanded, refraining from shouting.

Chrysalis smirked triumphantly, “Aww, wassamatter Widow? Can’t catch enough flies in your web? I told you that perfume you wear would alert stallions to stay away.”

Widow’s eye twitched, “I’ve told you it’s not perfume, it’s pheromones!”

“Call it what you want, but you still stink.” Chrysalis retorted.

“Shut up, virgin!” Widow screeched, “You got lucky this time, but I’m still better at this. Even mother knows it.” She turned away to leave, “Enjoy your victory while it lasts.”

Chrysalis just smiled at her sister’s retreating back, “Oh I will. I most certainly will.”

Author's Notes:

Changelog: Everything. Gutted the whole chapter and stuffed in new organs for it to work.

I want to take this moment to say two things.
1) ~~Here's the new cover art poll.~~ ~~It has google authentication so one response per person.~~ POLL HAS ENDED.
Since this story has undergone such large revisions, I figure i might as well change the cover art too. I have my own preferences, but I do want to know what you guys think would be a better cover for this story. The poll will last until the next update to give people a fair chance of picking.

2) College is a pain in the ass when it comes to writing and having great plot ideas aren't helping. Due to having lab reports every week and Workshop stories to do, I may not have time to finish chapter 8 revisions until December. Rest assured, that I am trying to work on it when I can (unless I'm trying to incubate new clopfic ideas. Why do I have so many? Why must they be so distracting?)

How Arguments Work

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Chrysalis glanced at the clock for the fifth time in the past half hour, silently urging for the hands to move faster as she endured her royal duties. While her mother handled matters of state and the Heart of the Hive, and her sister managed the Hive’s army, Chrysalis had to deal with the public. This meant her mornings, and sometimes afternoons, were usually spent listening to the people’s requests, complaints, offers, and anything else within reason. Sometimes it was a drone asking for permission to build in a certain area, and others it was a couple asking for a royal blessing and some love energy for the wedding. Rarely did she have any unique visitors, like the little filly drone who presented a drawing of Chrysalis and wanted her opinion on it. Maybe she should tell Cadance about that next time.

However, this court session was taken up by the most common reason to see her: Arguments. Disputes and conflicts were uncommon as Changelings were a species dedicated to gathering love, but when they happened, it was often over a serious matter. If there was a disagreement, it would be up to her settle it and perhaps dole out punishment as she saw fit.

Two drones stood before her. One was lanky with green eyes and the other was stout with blue eyes. The first stood like a tree, his fingers grasping the papers in hand as if a breeze might take them away. The second has a slight sway to his stance, like he was just pulled out of one of the city bars after Love Hour. Currently, they were arguing their accounts of a recent gathering.

‘If this wasn’t so urgent, I’d already be on the way to Canterlot, I’m late as it is.’ Chrysalis thought as the lanky one spoke.

“I have the numbers here, your majesty.” He said, pulling out sheets of paper with scribbles all over it, “This is both the recordings of love energy we gathered out in the field and what we stored away. What we stored is significantly lower than our gathering.”

Chrysalis levitated the papers to her and scanned them. As he said, the numbers were lower than they should have been.

“What do you have to say to this?” she said, looking over to the stout one.

He hiccupped and his words came out in a slight slur, “I sshay that he’s tryin’ to get me in trouble. Ever shince he got assigned to my shquad, *hic* he’s been blamin’ all the problems on me. I ain’t been nuttin’ but loyal to the crown for yearssh and I ain’t about to shtop now.”

“I see…” Chrysalis said as her thoughts were following the clock hands, ‘Ten… Seven…. Four… Two. One. Finally!’ Keeping her composure from revealing her delight, she said, “I’m afraid that court is closed, however, I will look into this case the next meeting you make an appointment for. Dismissed.” The changelings bowed and left. Once they were gone, Chrysalis called her scribe over, “Find out what you can about those two. I want to know about any problems they had, their gathering logs, and anything else that’s relevant. Bring it to my chambers later. Also, send a note to the Guard Captain to have them put under watch until this whole mess clears up.”

The scribe bowed, “Yes, your majesty.” He said before scurrying off. As soon as he turned the corner, Chrysalis jumped from her throne and sped off to her chambers. There, she saw Matilda sitting in the corner sewing embroidery.

“Something sure has excited my Little Butterfly.” Matilda said, not looking up from her work, “Was court that bad?”

Chrysalis walked into the closet and searched through her clothes, “Not really, just some gatherers arguing over workloads and possible embezzlement.”

Matilda clicked her tongue, “One would think they’d know to work for the people and not personal gain. When I was your age, the gatherers only fought over who brought more back. Of course, it was fun watching them wrestle, regardless of the reason.” Her nostalgic smile then turned to a frown, “Still, they should know better than to squabble over our food like foals. Perhaps a week, no a month in the nurseries will teach them to grow up.”

“I’ll have to consider that after I review their case.” Chrysalis said she pulled out a pair of dresses and held them against her body. ‘Eh, too formal and the other makes me look fat. ’ She tossed them both back in the closet and continued her search.

“I still wonder why you’re in such a rush, but I think I can hazard a guess. Off to see the pink princess?” Matilda asked, “I’d advise against ditching your duties just to visit a friend. It does not make for a good ruler, especially one who is needed.”

“Needed for what? Marriage blessings and permission to build a new shop? A scribe could do that for me. I’m only around for the ceremony.”

“It shows that you care about the growth of the Hive. Faust knows your mother and sister don’t get out much, so it’s up to you to show the people that the royal family does care for their wants and needs.” Matilda said sagely.

“Still doesn’t change that this is about all I can do while paying off my debt.” Chrysalis pulled out a dark teal, low cut, knee length dress with streaks of black on the edges and a simple black belt. She approved of the dress and began to change. “At this point, I feel like I might as well join the workers and gatherers for all the progress I’m making.”

“Have you talked to your mother about more work?”

“Yes. Multiple times and all with the same response. ‘You’re not ready, child. Be grateful that I let you even handle the simple tasks, child. You might mess up like you did with the invasion. Blah blah blah.’” Chrysalis mimicked in her best impression of her mother.

Matilda chuckled, “I’m sure that she has her reasons. Besides, hard work builds character, that’s what my mother told me when I first started working in the palace.”

Chrysalis tugged on her clothes one final time. “There, how do I look?”

Matilda stood up and walked over, circling around her charge. “It’s been awhile since you wore this. You look absolutely adorable.” She then gave a questioning look, “Are you sure you’re not trying to impress that Shining stallion?” She received a facepalm in response.

“No! I’m wearing this because I look good in it.”

“Keep telling yourself that.” Matilda said with a chuckle as she returned to her embroidery, “Now go, I thought you were in a hurry to leave.”

Chrysalis just shook her head and smiled at the old maid before leaving the room.

*****

Shining should have been going over the stack of reports next to him, but considering that he and Cadance had been on a roll and gotten so much done recently, he felt justified in taking a small break.

“I wonder if Gaffer has tickets to SuperCon next year?” Shining asked himself as he turned another page of his comic book. He was currently laying on the couch with a small stack of comics in a bag on the floor and one of them in his hands. He only wore a dark blue shirt with his cutie mark on it and a pair of khaki cargo shorts. “Would be the least I could do for letting me get these early releases.”

He was halfway through his Power Ponies comic when he heard a bell ring out, causing him to tense up. It wasn’t the clock or the chimes in the window. Instead, it was the spell on the barrier that signaled when Chrysalis arrived. Shining’s eyes flicked to the bathroom door a few moments before Chrysalis appeared, or rather stuck her head out.

“Cadance?” she called out, not noticing him.

“She’s not here.” Shining said, announcing his presence and making her jump in surprise.

“Well, where is she?” Chrysalis asked once she composed herself.

“Left for an emergency meeting a while ago. Don’t know how long until she comes back.” He explained curtly. Though Shining’s face was buried in his book, his eyes were locked onto Chrysalis’ every movement and his horn was primed for spell casting.

“Then I’ll just wait for her.” She walked into the room and sat on chair opposite of the couch, as far as she could from Shining while being close to the door. Upon spying the stack of comics, she used her magic to slip one out from the middle of the stack, a Bat-Mane one to be exact.

“Well, what do you know? The captain of the guard is a huge nerd.” she said as she opened it and began skimming through it, “Does this mean you have an Ogres and Oubliettes set somewhere?”

“For your information,” Shining started, plucking the comic out of her hands with his magic, “Just because I like comics does not make me a nerd. I also don’t have an Ogres and Oubliettes set.” Technically, he didn’t have the set with him, but he wasn’t going to let her know that.

Chrysalis looked unconvinced, her eyebrow raised high up. “Is that so? Then at what level does the paladin class learn Crippling Strike?”

Shining sat up, ready to defend his favored class, “The paladin doesn’t learn that ability at all, only the rogue class does. The paladin learns…” His words dried up in his throat when he saw Chrysalis’ mirthful look. When Shining realized what happened, Chrysalis couldn’t contain herself and almost fell to the floor laughing.

“Hahahaha! Oh Faust, that was amazing! The look on your face was priceless! Hahahaha!”

Flushing red with embarrassment, Shining waited until Chrysalis calmed down before asking, “And how do you know so much about it anyways? Do you play it?”

“Oh no. I mean, -heh- I tried once when I was gathering love from a bunch of nerds at some high school in Canterlot.” she said, then gave a snort of amusement, “All I said was that I was interested and they treated me like I was a glass of water in the desert. Their lack of experience with mares made that the easiest love gathering ever. Shame it was only a one time thing.”

Shining felt uneasy with how familiar the situation she described had sounded. “By any chance did you happen to go by ‘Raven Loft’ during that?”

Chrysalis was surprised by the question. “Uh, maybe? I was going through a bit of a dark and broody phase at the time. Why?”

“Because my friends told me about some girl they invited to game night. The only reason I couldn’t go was because I was on a date with Cadance.” Shining said, “I didn’t believe them and they never saw you again, so they couldn’t really prove it.”

“I see.” Chrysalis said, intrigued by the new information, “I wonder if you can introduce me properly to them? I should thank them for the love they gave me.” Shining glared at her, to which she responded with a huff and crossing her arms. “You’re no fun.” For the next several minutes, she just sat in the chair, looking around the room with a bored look on her face. All the while, Shining kept his gaze upon her like a warden to a convict. As the time passed, she began to grow irritated until she finally spoke up. “Would you cut that out?!” she snapped at Shining.

Shining was unfazed by the sudden outburst. “How do I know you won’t try something when I take my eyes off you?”

Chrysalis gave him a deadpan look, “If you’re expecting me to use mind magic, then it’s a wonder how you managed to become Captain.”

“Twilight taught me some spells to counter you if you tried.”

“Figures.” She rolled her eyes, “Did she tell you that the spell will only work if you’re completely unsuspecting? Especially if you were exhausted after a long day at work, like last time?” She crossed her arms, “If I tried now, it wouldn’t work because you’re expecting it and your mind is fresh.”

‘Okay, fair point. But…’, Shining narrowed his eyes, “How do I know you’re not lying?”

Chrysalis smirked, “Ask your sister. I bet she’d prove me right.”

Shining didn’t dignify that with a response.

Suddenly, a quiet rumble was heard. Chrysalis eyes widened as she blushed. “Excuse me.” Her horn flared with magic, plucking an apple from the fruit bowl on the dining table. Before she bit into it, Chrysalis cast a strange spell that seeped into the fruit like liquid into a sponge. When she realized that Shining was giving her an odd look, she swallowed and asked, “What?”

“I thought Changelings only fed on love? More importantly, what did you do to that apple?”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes, “Not entirely. We still need to eat physical food like any other being, but without love, we might as well be eating dirt for all the nutrition it would provide.” She took another bite of the apple, “As for your second question, I believe I had answered that as well.”

Shining blinked in surprise from her bluntness, “Huh. Does it taste any different when you put love in it? Y’know, like ‘this pie was made with love’?”

“I...don’t know actually.” Chrysalis said, furrowing her brow, “We don’t usually eat food without love in it. As curious as I am, I’m not wasting precious love for an experiment that might bear no fruit.”

“It just gave you an apple.” Shining snarked, “Whoa!” He dove to the side as Chrysalis’ apple flew past where his head was and splattered on the wall. “You have no sense of humor.”

“No, yours is just terrible.” Chrysalis huffed, “I don’t know how Cadance puts up with you.”

“Good looks and a great sex drive tends to help.”

Chrysalis groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose, “Ugh, and for a second there, I actually thought you had a few brain cells to put together. I should have figured by how easy it was to hypnotize you.”

“Oh really?” Shining challenged, “Well considering how easily I banged your butt into unconsciousness, I’d say that we’re even.” He then gave her a shit-eating grin, “Unless you include the one from when you were watching us in the morning.” Oh how Shining wished he had a camera right now to immortalize Chrysalis’ twisted, twitching, ticked off face.

“Do. Not. Ever! Speak of that night!” She spat through gritted teeth and bared fangs.

Shining felt like Hearth’s Warming came early. “Oh, sore spot for you or was that your ass in the morning?”

“I WILL END YOU!” Chrysalis cried as she leapt from her seat towards him.

Not expecting such a violent response, Shining did not react in time to raise a shield. He tried to get up from the couch but all that succeeded was allowing Chrysalis to tackle and knock him over the back of the couch. They landed in a tangle of limbs, trying to attack and block as they extracted themselves. Soon enough, Chrysalis was on top of Shining, trying to get her hands around his throat.

“Wow, you’re really butthurt about it, aren’t you?” Shining joked as he held her wrists at bay. In his current position, Shining couldn’t form a shield or move very much, but he certainly had to get his back off of the floor. Thinking quickly, Shining brought his hands above his head, forcing Chrysalis to almost lay on top of him, her chest in his face. He then twisted his body and pushed with his legs to roll themselves onto Chrysalis’ back. It was only then did they realize the suggestive position they were in.

“Would you believe me if I said I wasn’t trying to do this?” Shining asked hopefully.

Chrysalis, with a blush on her face, answered him with her knees in his sides and then a double kick to his chest to push him off her.

Winded by the attack, Shining backed away and stood up for better footing. The second he got his breath back, Shining dodged another swipe by Chrysalis. He grabbed her other hand and pulled her in before twisting her around and pinning her to the wall, pulling her trapped arm behind her back.

“You’re a better fighter than I thought.” Shining commented.

Chrysalis blew a stray hair out of her face before answering back, “I’m not some cake-gorging princess who sits back and does nothing. All Changeling Royalty must be able to defend themselves under any circumstances, though you’ll probably find my sister to be the better fighter.”

Shining blinked, “Wait, sister?” The next thing Shining knew, Chrysalis’ horn lit up and Shining’s world turned into agony. He let out a cry as he clutched his crotch from the sudden pain inflicted upon it.

“You remember that sore spot from the morning?” Chrysalis sneered.

“Gah! You bitch!” Shining gasped out. The pain made things fuzzy, but he kept his eyes on Chrysalis’ form. “That was a dirty move.”

“A dirty move for a dirty stallion.” Chrysalis said, “Besides, I think we’re even now.”

“Not on your life.” Shining said before he tackled her to the ground.

From there the two of them fell into what Earth Ponies called “A good ol’ rumble”. They rolled, tumbled, and swung around the room trying to land whatever blows they could, verbal or physical, though more of the latter. Magic was hardly a factor as they were too busy trying to get the last blow on each other. Clothes were torn, furniture broken, and fists flew through the air as they tried to strike flesh.

“Moron!”

“Fucking whore!”

“Small dick jock!”

“Absolute bimbo!”

“You can’t tell the difference between me and your wife!”

“You can’t take a dick up your ass!”

“Cadance has a bigger dick than you!”

“Then how about you bend over for her!”

“You punch like a foal!”

“How about this then? You like that?”

“Ha! Is that all you got?”

“Well there’s more where that came from!”

“What in Celestia’s name is going on here?”

Shining and Chrysalis ceased their brawling and looked up at the door to see Cadance and Twilight staring at them in shock. They also became aware of what their current position looked like to them: Chrysalis on the floor with Shining on top of her, pinning her arms to the ground while her legs were wrapped around his waist. Their ragged clothes left little to the imagination and soon enough a blush filled their faces as well.

“This isn’t what it looks like.” they said in unison.

How Secrets Work

View Online

Earlier that day…

‘No matter how many times I do this, I will never understand how Celestia does it day in and day out.’ Cadance thought as she was called to the meeting almost as soon as she got up. ‘Look on the bright side. At least they were able to make some good coffee.’ She took a sip from her mug. ‘Vanilla hazelnut with a double shot of espresso. It’s a shame they can’t make this kind of stuff back in the Empire, though they do make some nice crystal berry tea.’

Apparently the big emergency that she was needed for was a mare from one of the charities that Cadance ran had been embezzled out of a significant amount of bits by another worker. She even had her own evidence and the suspect here as well. “...that this scoundrel is the one who embezzled our organization!” the mare cried out.

“Objection, your highness!” the suspected stallion shouted back, “I would do no such thing! I have been a loyal worker ready to serve since I first joined!”

The mare snorted, “Yeah, serve yourself! Thanks to you we won’t have enough funds for the festival!” Back and forth, words and accusations flew. Cadance was tempted to hit them with some love magic to get them to shut up and make up, but unfortunately that wasn’t allowed, much to her disdain. Maybe if she was lucky, this would just be a case of getting rid of a lot of pent up stress between the mare and the stallion.

As Cadance thought how to diffuse the situation, she saw her bracelet flash yellow. Her eyes widened slightly as she realized that Chrysalis had arrived, ‘Surely she would have noticed that the light would signal that I’m not there, unless…’ Cadance felt a lump of ice drop into her stomach, ‘Shining is still there. Ohh that’s not good. I need to get back up there before they try to kill each other.’ Luckily for her, the mare and stallion were starting to exchange threats as if the princess wasn’t in the room, giving her a perfect opportunity to wrap things up.

“Enough!” Cadance yelled, just above the other’s volume. When it was quiet with all eyes on her, she stared at the two bickering ponies who were still glaring daggers at each other out of the corner of their eyes, “I have other business to attend to so I’ll make this quick.” she glanced at the mare, “Ms. Pennyfeather, I suggest you gather more evidence to support your claim.” Before the mare could protest, she added, “I’m not saying what you’ve brought isn’t noteworthy, I would like you to at least double check your numbers and find more concrete evidence.”

The mare looked crestfallen, “I understand your Highness.” She still gave a dirty look at the smug stallion, but he wasn’t out of the fire yet. Cadance almost enjoyed the look on his face when she spoke to him. Almost.

“As for you, Mr. Stockpile, I’m placing you on probation until Miss. Pennyfeather can resolve this. Both of you are dismissed.” The two ponies bowed and left the room. After the doors closed, she gave a sigh of relief before remembering why she had to finish it so quick. “Pony feathers.” She almost jumped out of her chair as she started to quickly walk down the hallways, not wanting to alarm anypony by running and making a scene. She was about halfway to her rooms when she heard her name called out by the last unicorn she wanted to deal with at the moment.

“Hey, Cadance!” Twilight said as she stepped out of an adjacent hallway. Out of habit and need to buy time to think, Cadance stopped and greeted her favorite mare with their old tradition.

“Sunshine, Sunshine, Ladybugs awake. Clap your hands and do a little shake!” they said in unison as they did the practiced routine.

Twilight giggled as Cadance’s mind was thinking a mile a minute. ‘Of all the ponies to show up, why did it have to be the one I can’t say no to? Think positive. All I have to do is indulge her for a little bit and she’ll go away none the wiser. Yeah, and Celestia will pass up a slice of cake. Gotta think of something…’ Cadance said the first thing that came to her mind, “ Twilight, what are you doing here?” Her usual smile was rather strained this time, “Not that I’m not glad to see you, but what’s the occasion?”

Twilight shrugged and said, “Oh you know, I was picking up some books to take back to Ponyville, and I heard that you two were still around. I figured that since I’ve got some time to spare before the train leaves, I thought I could squeeze in a quick visit to see you and Shining.” She beamed, oblivious to Cadance’s nervous twitches.

“I see,” Cadance said calmly despite her mental screaming, “Well Shining and I have been really busy as of late. In fact, I’m pretty sure he’s in a meeting with some important ambassadors right now.” It wasn’t untrue, technically speaking.

“Oh,” Twilight frowned in disappointment, then asked, “What about you? Are you busy right now?”

Cadance automatically replied, “No, not really. I just got out of a meeting.” She had to bite her tongue to stop herself from screaming. ‘Why did I say that? Aw, ponyfeathers!’

“You wanna go to Donut Joe’s?” Twilight asked, “Searching for all those books really worked up an appetite.”

“I dunno, Twi,” Cadance said with a smirk, “It looked like you were losing weight from all the world saving you’ve been doing.” She pinched Twilight’s sides for emphasis, eliciting an embarrassed squeak from the unicorn.

“Cadance!”

“I’m just teasing you, Twilight. I could use a couple donuts,” Cadance then said with a smirk, “I know Shining wouldn’t mind helping me burn off the calories.” That got a full blush from Twilight.

“Cadance!”

After a bit more teasing, the two of them teleported to the street of the store. They went in and ordered some glazed donuts, eclairs, a variety of others, and some coffee before sitting in one of the booths off to the side. Twilight devoured her donuts like it was the first thing she had to eat in days. Cadance took small bites of her eclair, not wishing to further embarrass her sister-in-law and saved the others for later. It had been a while since she tried food play and she hadn’t used donuts yet, her mind formulating ideas in the back of her head. Still at the forefront was her worry for Shining and Chrysalis. She could only hope that nothing happened between them until she got there.

Speaking of which, perhaps it was for the best that she took this time to talk with Twilight. After all, wasn’t this a friendship problem? Maybe Twilight could give her some answers that could help them get along better. She would have to phrase it carefully though. One wrong word or phrase and Twilight will start asking a lot of questions.

Cadance wiped the crumbs off her cheeks before asking, “Hey, Twilight, you're good with friendship problems, right? Can you answer a sorta hypothetical question for me?”

Twilight looked up, her mouth still full of donut. She swallowed her food before replying, “Uh, sure. Although if it's something your love can't fix, then I don't know how much I can help.”

“No, it's just a friendship problem between two close friends of mine. Besides, this isn’t something that can be easily fixed with a love spell. It would probably have the opposite effect,” Cadance said.

“A hate spell?” Twilight chirped, “Could a spell do such a thing? Maybe if you applied an Inverse Spell Matrix while casting-” Twilight summoned up a notepad and quill with her magic and began writing until Cadance raised her hand.

“No, Twilight, I meant it would make the friendship problem worse.”

Twilight chuckled sheepishly, “Right. Hehe. I knew that.”

Cadance smiled and continued while Twilight eagerly jotted down notes, “Alright, I won’t say any names but these two friends of mine really don’t like each other. They find every reason they can to insult each other and argue about. How would you get them to become friends?”

“Hmm,” Twilight tapped her quill against her cheek, “Well, do they have anything in common?”

“Aside from me?” Cadance pointed at herself and shrugged, “Not much that I know of.”

“Uh-huh. What about their personalities?”

“One is chivalrous with a strong sense of justice,” Cadance said after some serious thought, “While the other is...less so. Sh-They have a tendency to get under other ponies’ skins,” Quite literally sometimes, “And they’ve had a bit of a rough past that tends to rub ponies the wrong way more often than not. Both of them are also a bit stubborn at times. Individually, they’re nice ponies, but when they’re in the same room they always bicker like foals.”

“I see,” Twilight wrote down some more notes and when she finished, she looked up, “I think I may have a few solutions for you. I was able to draw a few analogies to my friends Applejack and Rarity, and here’s what I’ve come up with.” Twilight sat up straighter, taking on her role as lecturer, “Solution one, arrange a group event that all members can enjoy. You could have a sleepover! That seems to work most of the time.”

Cadance pursed her lips, “That was the first thing I tried. It...didn’t end as well as I hoped.” Granted, it didn't help when one didn't know their enemy was there until the end, but that's besides the point.

Twilight swished her quill to cross out some words on her notepad. “Well, how about trying other activities? You could take them to the park for a picnic or maybe go to the fairgrounds. I hear the Wonderbolts are doing a show sometime in the coming weeks.”

“I suppose the fairgrounds is a possibility, but getting schedules to align will be very difficult.” Chrysalis didn’t exactly notify her when she would show up, something Cadance would have to remedy now that she thought about it. It would certainly help to avoid situations like right now. Not to mention planning future meetups.

Twilight offered a few more suggestions, but Cadance had to turn them all down for one reason or another. Either it was too risky, the schedule conflicted, or it just flat out wouldn’t hold up. Cadance had begun to regret asking Twilight such a loaded question. After the fifth or so suggestion was turned down, Twilight sighed loudly.

“Y’know, this would be a lot easier if you told me who these ponies were,” Twilight deadpanned, her hand dropping to the table, “If I knew who they were I could probably find a better solution for your problem.”

Cadance gulped and tried to keep eye contact while her brain was trying to search for a way out of this conversation, “I -uh- wanted to respect their privacy. Didn’t want to make a big deal about it,” she explained as smoothly as she could, “Besides, you never know if there’s any paparazzi lurking around.”

Twilight blinked and looked around the store to see a distinct lack of reporter ponies, or ponies near them in fact. “I don’t think we have to worry about that,” She then looked back at her noted with narrowed eyes for a few moments before looking Cadance in the eye, “Does this have something to do with Shining?”

“...Yes,” Cadance admitted. She could have tried to lie, or even dodge the question, but that would have brought more trouble than it was worth. “A noble was stirring up trouble with him lately and I didn’t want to worry you.” Again, not a total lie.

“Who’s the noble?” Twilight asked, then added with a glower, “It’s not Blueblood, is it?”

“Chrysss-um-Crystal Clear,” Cadance congratulated herself for the quick thinking, “She’s been, uh, questioning his capabilities lately. Probably because of our anniversary. Kinda refreshes the memory of the invasion for some ponies.” After seeing the look on Twilight’s face, Cadance felt like she put her foot in her mouth.

“Excuse me?” Twilight nearly shouted, “Cadance, you should have told me this was happening!”

Cadance put her hands up to calm Twilight down, “It’s not that big a deal. She’s just another royal pest. It’ll pass soon, especially after we leave for the Empire.” Oh how she wished she kept her big mouth shut.

“Cadance, that’s exactly why we need to settle this,” Twilight said, her voice determined, “If you leave without trying to make peace with her, then it might breed resentment and she might try to become a bigger nuisance later on.”

“Really, Twilight. It’s not-”

Twilight snapped her fingers, “In fact, I think we should do it right now. We can wait for Shining in your room and when he’s done with the diplomats, we can discuss this Crystal Clear pony,” she said, “Your room is still in the east wing of the castle, right?”

“Yes, but-”

“Great! Let’s go!” And with a flash, Twilight was gone.

Cadance had to stop herself from screaming in frustration before performing a following teleport of her own. She appeared right next to Twilight outside the doors of their room. Of course, the room itself had anti-teleport wards due to the Castle’s security, but it was also rude to teleport into a personal room without permission. Cadance was going to protest Twilight’s efforts, but a crash from behind the door grabbed their attention.

“What the-?” Twilight started, but they soon heard voices, one of them certainly familiar.

“...how about you bend over...”

Twilight and Cadance’s faces both turned pink and they glanced at each other. Cadance didn’t know what Twilight was thinking, but she knew something was wrong. Either Shining and Chrysalis were fighting, or they somehow forgave each other and proceeded to have wild sex in the past hour she was gone. As much as she wanted the latter, Cadance knew she had better chances trying to make Celestia give up cake for a millennia.

‘Celestia damn it, Shining.’

“Uh, was that Shining?” Twilight asked, glancing at the door.

“Yes. Yes it is him,” Cadance answered, keeping her face still.

“I guess he’s done with the diplomats then.” More noises came through the door, sounded like shifting furniture. “Is this a, uh…thing you two do?” Twilight asked, and then added, “Not that I’m judging what a married couple does behind closed doors, but uh…”

“How about this then? You like that?” Shining’s voice sounded through the wood.

Twilight’s face turned bright red, “YouknowwhatIthinkI’lljustmeetupwithyoutwolaterokaybye!” She didn’t get far before another voice came through the door.

“Ha! Is that all you got?”

Twilight froze for a second and slowly turned back to the door. “Wait, was that…?” Cadance watched in growing horror as Twilight reached for the door and opened it.

“Well there’s more where that came from!” Shining cried out from his position atop Chrysalis.

“What in Celestia’s name is going on here?” Twilight demanded.

Cadance thought the same question. It certainly looked like they were roughhousing with the bumps and scrapes to prove it, however their current positioning was suggesting quite the opposite. Either way, she was going to have to have a serious talk with them after this. For now, Cadance quietly put down a soundproofing spell just in case things got loud.

“This isn’t what it looks like.” they said in unison.

“Chrysalis! What are you doing here?” Twilight asked as she charged her horn, “Are you trying to brainwash my brother again?”

Chrysalis' eyes darted around for a second before she answered with a straight face, “Yes. I was doing that thing because Shining is a jerk,” Her tone was much like a parent who was caught in the act of something naughty by their child and had to play it off, “Curse you, Shining for resisting so much!”

“Is this true?” Twilight asked her brother.

Shining nodded, “Yup, totally true. She tried to get the jump on me but she missed and now I caught her.” He put on a fake smile.

Twilight sighed in relief, “Thank Celestia, because for a second there it sounded like… Um, never mind,” She shook her head to clear her blush, and then spoke as her magic bound Chrysalis to the floor, “These should hold her long enough while I go to inform Princess Celestia of what happened here.” She kept going on, but she didn't notice the cold sweat that everypony else broke out into.

“Twilight, are you sure that's necessary?” Cadance asked, “Shining and I can handle her, we don't need to bother Celestia with this.”

“Of course it's necessary,” Twilight said sternly, “With you two watching her, Chrysalis won’t be able to escape this time and we’ll be able to properly punish her for what she’s done.”

Cadance nodded, “Alright then. I'm sorry for this.”

“Sorry for wha-” CRASH! Thump!

“Sorry, Twilight.” Cadance said, standing above her with a part of said vase in her hands. She used her magic to clean up the pieces and then turned to the others, “You know, Chrysalis, if you wanted to share Shining with me, all you had to do was ask.”

Chrysalis, who was now free of her bonds, spluttered and scrambled away from Shining, who was doing the same, “I was doing no such thing!”

“Then why were you two at each other’s throats?” Cadance inquired, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say the both of you were having angry sex or something.”

Shining gave a derisive snort, “As if. I was just protecting myself when she attacked me.” He slowly got up and nursed his bruises.

“‘Attacked’? Ha! You started it!” Chrysalis shouted, jumping up to yell in his face, “I was trying to have a civil conversation, which is apparently beyond your capabilities!”

“ENOUGH!” Cadance bellowed, her lessons with Luna showing off. She gave both of them a fierce glare, causing them to shrink away, “I don’t care who started it. You both are to blame and I don’t want to hear a word otherwise.”

“But he-”

“But she-”

“NOT A WORD!” Cadance set Twilight on the couch and started a spell to clean up the room. She then pulled Shining and Chrysalis together within arm’s reach of each other, “Now I want you both to apologize to each other and mean it or so help me, I will break out the paddle and spank you both!” Any form of protest was shot down by her intimidating gaze.

Shining and Chrysalis’ faces scrunched up as they stared each other down, daring the other to make the first move. Shining’s stalwart stare pushed against Chrysalis’ sharp glare, neither one giving ground to the other. Moment’s passed in silence, until Cadance coughed to remind them to hurry up.

Chrysalis groaned, “Fine. I’m sorry for my justified attack on you, even though you totally deserved it.”

Shining was going to protest that until he caught his wife’s eye and decided to leave it. “I’m sorry I teased you, even if the look on your face was hilarious.”

“Good, good. Now hug it out.” Cadance said. She summoned a pink, wooden paddle with a heart pattern cut out when the two tried to protest. Needless to say, they held each other quite closely.

“Can we let go now?” Chrysalis asked when the hug went on for too long.

Cadance smirked and said, “I don’t know. I'm not sure if you two really mean it though. How about you two kiss?”

“Cadance!” they shouted.

“You two are no fun.” Cadance said with a pout.

“So now what?” Chrysalis asked, looking over to where Twilight slept, “I don’t suppose you’d be okay with replacing her with a changeling?” Seeing Shining’s glare she added, “I’m kidding.”

“You better be,” he said.

“Stop it,” Cadance warned as she shook the paddle threateningly, “I still have half a mind to use this on you both.” She then followed Chrysalis’ gaze and thought to herself, tapping the paddle against her chin, ‘Hmm, even if we could erase her memory of it, it'd still be suspicious and she might remember later. I doubt she’d believe this was all a dream. What if...no, she wouldn’t, right? But if she did… it might be worth a shot.’ She turned back and snapped her fingers to get their attention, “Alright, I have an idea and I need you both to play along.”

Shining and Chrysalis shared a questioning look.

“Last time you had an idea, I ended up with his dick in my butt,” Chrysalis said, pointing at Shining.

“I...have to agree with her on this one,” Shining admitted, “This isn’t going to end up in an orgy will it?”

Cadance gave them both a disbelieving look, “No. Just because I’m the Princess of Love doesn’t mean all my ideas have to end in sex. Now help me clean this place up. I’ll explain as we work.” She strode past the two of them, her magic already trying to repair the broken furniture. As she passed them, she gave each a swat on their backside with the paddle, eliciting a yelp and a squeak from Shining and Chrysalis respectively.

“She is going to be the end of us,” Shining commented, rubbing his butt.

“Tell me about it,” Chrysalis said, doing the same.

*****

“Owww, can somepony get the Dewhoof decimal of that book?” Twilight groaned out as she came to, “I really shouldn’t stack books so high up.” She tried to stretch, but found that she couldn’t move at all. Frowning, she blinked her eyes open and looked down at herself. Her arms were pinned to her sides and her legs bound together by pink bands of magic. She tried to cast a spell to break her bonds, but found her magic blocked.

“Huh?” Twilight looked up and saw a strange green substance coating her horn, “What the-?”

“Nice of you to join us.” A voice in front of her said, causing Twilight to jump. What she saw made her eyes widen in fright.

Sitting in front of her was Cadance with Shining and Chrysalis on her right and left respectively. Cadance had a look of patience on her face, much like Princess Celestia would when trying to explain something difficult. She sat up straight with her hands in her lap, ready to answer any question asked. Shining had his arms crossed with a petulant frown on his face, directing his glare to anywhere but the other ponies in the room. Chrysalis, on the other hand, had propped her head on the armrest and had a few fingers twirling some stray strands of her mane. She too had an unenthused look on her face, a mix of boredom and frustration. All in all, it looked like a babysitter who had to deal with two unruly foals and neither one was pleased with the outcome.

“Cadance, what’s going on?” Twilight asked. Her eyes darted between the three of them as she tried to piece together something to answer the flood of questions in her mind. “Why am I tied up? Why is Chrysalis here? Is she trying to take over Canterlot again? Why aren’t you doing anything? Did she mind control you? Why-?”

“Twilight! Calm down!” Cadance shouted, “Everything is fine-”

“Fine?” Twilight asked incredulously, “This is not fine! This is exact opposite of ‘fine’, Cadance! I’m tied up here and you and Shining are sitting next to one of your biggest enemies! How is this fine?”

Cadance just gave her a stern glare, “Well, if you’d let me explain, then you’ll know.” Once she confirmed that Twilight would listen, she continued, “As I was saying, Chrysalis here is not our enemy. Yes, we’ve had some issues and though we had a bit of a clash when she returned, we’ve since settled our differences and become good friends.

“Now, the reason we had to subdue you is that we didn’t want news of her return getting out. I’m serious, Twilight. Just going by your reaction, the Canterlot ponies will have a fit. Not to mention the field day that the nobles and press will have with us. We’re not in the best of positions right now to deal with the politics of it.”

Twilight narrowed her eyes at the three of them, “How do I know you’re not all brainwashed to say all that? You could be Chrysalis’ puppet for all I know!”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes, “Save your breath, egghead. If it was up to me, you’d be in a cocoon and a gatherer drone would have taken your place, but somepony,” she shot a dirty look across at Shining, “didn’t like that idea.”

“Gee, I wonder why?” Shining retorted.

Cadance held up her hands between them like a barrier, “Quit it, you two. I swear, foals are better tempered.”

“Whatever,” Chrysalis said, “Point is, Sparkle, I’m hanging out with Cadance in my spare time instead of trying to capture her. It’s at the very least a mutually beneficial relationship...most of the time. I get love and not imprisoned, and she gets one less enemy to deal with. Friends with benefits basically.”

“Uh, I don’t think that’s-” Twilight started, but fell silent when she saw Cadance’s subtle shake of the head. Twilight coughed and said, “Well, since Shining and Cadance aren’t exhibiting common symptoms of mind control, I suppose it’s safe to say that their minds are their own. Though I still have a hard time believing that you happened to become friends after all that’s happened.”

“Welcome to the club,” Shining muttered.

“I mean, what sort of fight did you have that suddenly made you friends?” Twilight didn’t catch the sudden blushes on their faces, nor their averted eyes and the awkward silence. She just waited for a reasonable answer to appear.

“...Wrestling,” Cadance answered, “We wrestled. A lot.”

Twilight gave her a disbelieving look, “Wrestling?”

“Wrestling.”

“Hmmm, well Applejack and Rainbow do wrestle a lot and they’re still friends. I may have to look into this as a possible friendship solution. This will require some testing and research to fully understand though. I’ll need to find some books on wrestling in the library though.” It was then she noticed Chrysalis’ snickering, “What’s so funny?”

“Hehehe, oh nothing. I’m just suddenly eager to watch you work,” she said, still laughing.

“Huh? Why would you be watching me work? Cadance, what’s she talking about?” Twilight asked, a confused look on her face. She noticed the nervous look Cadance was giving her.

“Yeeahh, I have a bit of a request to ask of you,” she said, “Just hear me out on this.” Cadance told Twilight her plan and the favor she requested. Twilight gave herself credit for not saying anything, but when Cadance was done, she voiced her objections.

“You want me to what?”

Author's Notes:

Changelog: Everything except Cadance's meeting.

Oh, and this (now non-canon) little bit that inspired these pictures. 1. 2.

Back in the living room, Chrysalis was sitting in a chair with a bowl of chips and a jar of salsa that Cadance had given her when she went off to talk to Twilight about something. She used a shovel-like chip to scoop as much of the slightly spicy salsa before stuffing her face. Not that she would admit it to anyone, but she loved salsa, mostly because it was one of the appetizers usually served at almost all the events she attended on her love gathering missions. Her favorite so far was the Sun Siesta Salsa made by Bean Dip. That was a satisfying session of love gathering. However, her nostalgia was cut short as a booming yell almost caused her to drop the dish.
“YOU WANT ME TO WHAT?!”

Good times. I hope I can inspire more art or something.

Okay, I am sorry that this is a day late, but in my defense, I was kinda distracted with helping Gilda make Skyrim her bitch. I'm just playing vanilla until the proper modding tools come out for SE, especially since i have to redo my mod list for the original and that takes a weekend and a half to do.

Now this will be the last pre-rewritten chapter for a while. I had naively thought that I would be able to rewrite another chapter or two by now, but weeks of writing lab reports, discussions, and workshop stories tend to make me want to play video games for a bit. Luckily, winter break is around the corner and i should be able to focus more on writing then. I didn't come this far to give up now.

How Roommates Work

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“You want me to what?” Twilight shrieked.

“I’m asking-”

“I know what you said. I just...Have you completely lost your mind?” Twilight asked.

“Please?” Cadance begged, “All I’m asking for is one little favor.”

“A little favor?” Twilight’s eye started twitching slightly, “You call asking for me to house a supposedly reformed villain for an undetermined time and try to be friends with her, a ‘little favor’?”

Cadance rolled her eyes, “Okay, so it’s kind of a big favor. A massive one. But will you do this for me, please?”

Twilight just gave her a deadpan stare. “Give me a good reason why I should. For that matter, why do I have to babysit her? Why can’t you?”

“Because these two,” Cadance said, pointing at the scowling figures beside her, “don’t know how to play nice with each other for more than five minutes. I can’t do my job if I have to keep them from strangling each other all the time. But now that you know about our situation, you can entertain her for a while and I don't have to worry about her getting into trouble.”

“As much as I'd rather hang out with her, she's right,” Chrysalis said. “We both have our duties to do, but neither of us can get anything done if Shining can't control himself.”

“Hi Pot, I’m Kettle,” Shining muttered.

Chrysalis ignored him and continued, “We all know you don't have any important royal duties to attend to so you are the best option outside of me strolling around Equestria myself. Which, to be honest, gets boring very quickly. One can only see Las Pegasus so many times before it loses its appeal,” She then grimaced, “Not even that much love there anyways. Filthy money grubbers.”

“Ugh, fine,” Twilight huffed, “Does anypony else know about this? Actually, does Celestia know? I would hope that you at least had the sense to tell her about all this.”

Shining and Cadance froze at the mention of Celestia while Chrysalis gave them both inquisitive, yet wary looks. The air was thick with tension as neither of them could meet Twilight’s accusatory glare.

Cadance gulped and began to speak, “W-Well, you see…”

“Cadance threatened me not to tell anypony after I found out so Chrysalis wouldn’t get arrested and after I gave Chrysalis a second chance we really didn’t bring it up again.” Shining blurted out. After seeing the betrayed expression on Cadance’s face, he added, “What? It’s true!”

Twilight was suddenly glad she was still bound, otherwise she would have not been responsible for what she would have done. “Are you two KIDDING me?” she screeched, her eye twitching madly, “You haven’t told Celestia that you’re frequently meeting with somepony who tried to invade Canterlot? Do you two have any idea how dangerous that is? And now you expect me to watch over her for some time? I-Jus-Aaaaaaauuughhh!”

Twilight’s mane ignited as she screamed. She hadn’t felt this frustratingly mad since trying to figure out Pinkie Pie. Her cry of rage was abruptly cut off when a blast of cold water smashed into her face, almost knocking her out of the chair. Shaking the wet hair out of her eyes, she saw Chrysalis standing near an open bathroom door with her magic channelling the water while Shining and Cadance were huddled behind their couch inside a bubble shield.

Chrysalis was the first to speak up, “Is this a thing that happens often because I'm starting to reconsider staying with an unstable unicorn.”

“Hey!” Twilight protested, “I am very much capable of making calm, calculated decisions, thank you very much.”

“In all my experience with you, I've yet to see that.”

Before Twilight could form a proper retort, Cadance spoke up, “Actually, Chryssy, you're probably safer with Twilight than Celestia.”

Chrysalis tensed up. “Why's that?”

Cadance couldn't quite meet her eyes as she explained, “Remember that duel you had with her during the wedding?”

“How can I forget? It took almost all the love I had to push her back!”

With a grimace, Cadance said, “Yeeaah. She kinda took it a bit… personally. Let's just say she had a couple hundred statues made of you for creative target practice. Emphasis on creative.”

In an instant, Chrysalis was sidled up next to Twilight with an arm around her shoulder. “On second thought, staying with you sounds like fun. You wouldn't happen to have an alicorn proof guest room, would you?” She had a wide grin that didn't reach the fear in her eyes.

Twilight tried to squirm her way out of Chrysalis’ embrace. “No, I don't. What about Luna? I'm sure she could watch over Chrysalis.”

Now it was Shining’s turn to act awkwardly, “About that. Luna already knows about all of this.”

“Wait, what?” The mares of the room said in unison, though with different following statements.

“Why didn't you say so earlier?”

“What do you mean she knew?”

“Since when?”

Shining rubbed his neck, “She, uh, kinda knew what was going on since the morning after we…” he glanced at his sister, “Um, after the anniversary. I was hoping to use her as a backup to arrest Chrysalis, but for some reason she took Cadance’s side. As for her watching over Chrysalis, I think that if she does, then that means it’s easier for Celestia to find out.”

Chrysalis nodded, “Not like I was going to stay with her anyways. I don’t want to think about what Luna would drag me into.”

“Gladiator style sparring matches and drinking contests,” Cadance said matter-of-factly, causing Chrysalis to blanch.

Twilight frowned, “Okay, so leaving Chrysalis here isn’t much of an option, but that still doesn’t erase the fact that I’ll have to make sure she doesn’t try to drain Ponyville of its love. I can’t watch her and spend time with my friends simultaneously.”

Cadance coughed, “Well that was kind of another reason for her to stay with you. If she was with you, then you could help her gather love energy.” The tension in the following silence was palpable. Cadance smiled like a con-pony desperate for a deal.

Twilight returned it with an incredulous look. She really wished she was free so she could pinch the bridge of her nose. “Cadance, you do realize how ridiculous that sounds, right? What makes you think I’m going to just line up ponies for Chrysalis to drain of their love? Housing her is one thing. Letting her feed off my friends and I is completely different.”

“It doesn’t have to be your friends,” Chrysalis said, shrugging her shoulders, “I’m not picky where I gather love. However, it’s still part of my duties. The only reason I’ll agree to stay with you is if you help with it.”

Before Twilight could give a retort, Cadance spoke up, “Twilight, she’s already gotten a lot of love from me. While you were asleep, I asked how much she usually gathers and it’s not much at all. Now if she were to go with you, she may still gather enough. Friendship is just another form of love after all.”

Cadance smirked, “Who knows? Maybe you can devise a new method to acquire love? With a bit of experimentation, you could find a more efficient way of gathering love. Of course, that may require a bit of research into how changelings gather love and all sorts of little details. I mean, you could probably make a whole project out of it, and who knows? It could lead to peace between ponies and changelings and you could receive a No Bell Peace Prize.” She said the last few words in a sing song voice, like she was offering a treat.

Twilight responded with only a blank stare for a few moments before saying, “You know, the funny thing is I know what you’re doing... but you’re completely right and I hate it,” She then turned to her brother, “What about you? I’m surprised you aren’t objecting to this idea.”

“Oh, I am,” Shining said. “Believe me, I don’t like the idea of her sleeping on your couch as much as you, but at least you can keep tabs on her and make sure she doesn’t try any of her old tricks this way,” He blatantly ignored the two death glares directed at him from the mares on his couch, “The only reason I’m agreeing to this is to oversee security if you do let her stay. As long as you’re safe, I’m happy.”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes, “Ugh, spare me. You make it sound like I’m going to smother her in her sleep or something. If anything, I’ll probably draw all over her face.” She flashed the purple unicorn wicked smile full of dark promises.

Twilight made a note to hide all her markers when she got home. “Well, I certainly appreciate your concern, Shining, but I’m pretty sure I can handle her myself. I live in Ponyville, after all. Besides, I’ve got a few anti-changeling measures I’ve been wanting to try out for some time. Now can somepony get me out of this stuff already? My arms are starting to go numb.”

“Huh, I guess you were right,” Chrysalis said as her horn lit up, breaking Twilight’s bonds, “She really is a sucker for science.”

“Hey!” Twilight jabbed a now freed finger at her. “Research is one of the cornerstones of society as we know it. Without it, we wouldn’t have half the things we do!”

“Whatever, nerd. I’ll play along with your research, if only because I’m a little curious as well,” Chrysalis pointed a finger back at Twilight, “But the moment I’m strapped to a table or getting probed, I’m draining you first.”

Shining sat up straight and raised a fist, “You try anything with Twilight and I’ll- Ow!”

“Ahh!” Chrysalis yelped.

Cadance pulled tighter on their ears, “Neither of you will be doing anything to each other if I have anything to say about it.” She let go of their ears, but that didn’t stop them from glaring daggers at each other. “Now get going, Chryssy. I’ll lend you some bits for a train ticket.”

****

‘If somepony told me this morning I would be on a train with the changeling queen, I’d have called them crazy.’ Twilight thought as she stared at Chrysalis, who was trying to ignore her by reading some magazine she had ‘picked up’.

Because they were in public, Chrysalis had adopted the form of a dark grey pegasus mare with a forest green mane and yellow eyes, wearing a simple white blouse and skirt. She kept the same figure as before, but shortened her height to about average for a pony. Her cutie mark, from what the skirt revealed, was an emerald in the shape of a heart. What disturbed Twilight the most was how normal Chrysalis acted. If she didn’t know better, she would have thought Chrysalis was just another mare on a train. If Chrysalis could pull this act off so well, then why didn’t she impersonate Cadance again? Questions brewed in Twilight’s mind, growing exponentially as she-

“You know you could just ask me, right?” Chrysalis’ voice interrupted, not bothering to look up from her magazine. Twilight jumped in surprise with a small yelp as her horn flared with magic.

“How did you-”

“-know you wanted to ask questions? I can feel your curiosity, remember? Plus, you wouldn’t stop staring at my face.” Chrysalis smirked as she glanced at Twilight.

Twilight blushed in embarrassment, “Oh.”

“I’d suggest you save your questions for later. For now, I have one of my own.” Chrysalis put down the magazine and folded her hands in her lap “What’s the plan?”

Twilight blinked, “Excuse me?”

“Cadance said that you worked on ‘friendship studies’, whatever that means, and that you could help me gather enough love when I’m not around her.” Chrysalis leaned forward. “So what’s your big plan on how to make this work?”

Twilight kept a wary gaze focused on Chrysalis as she spoke, “Well, for starters, I’m going to have to break the news to my friends. You know, the ones you turned against me at the wedding?”

Chrysalis stared back unflinchingly. “What? I’m not apologizing for having stopped a nosey mare. Not like you were the ones who beat me in the end anyways”

“Regardless,” Twilight said, rolling her eyes, “They need to be in the loop too for this to work. I’m not sure if they’ll all be as accepting about this. We’re going to try to take it slow and show them that you aren’t a threat. After that, provided they all agree to help, we’ll try to think of some ideas for you to do to gather love and I’ll record how well it works.”

“As long as I don’t have to do matchmaking or cooking, I’m open to whatever.”

“Alright then,” Twilight said, crossing her arms “For now, I want to know why you’re being so friendly. As much as I don’t like it, Cadance seems to trust you for some reason. How do I know you’re not just playing along for now?”

Chrysalis frowned and rolled her eyes. “I’m beginning to wonder if you’re just Shining in disguise. For your information, Cadance offered me a large sum of love energy if I helped her with her anniversary.” Chrysalis locked eyes with Twilight. “I had her pinned to the wall, ready to leave, and I ended up waiting for her to return from her night on the town so I could receive a massive sum of love. She gave me a second chance despite having the perfect opportunity to lock me up. I’m not stupid enough to turn that down if it means more love energy like that night.”

“Are you really that desperate for love?” Twilight said, half curious and half snarky.

“Are you desperate for food to eat or air to breathe?” Chrysalis retorted, smirking when Twilight couldn’t respond, “As Princess of the Hive, I am obligated to gather love to keep my people alive by any means necessary, be it invasion or making peace. You’re lucky I’m more open minded than my sister.”

Confusion spread across Twilight’s face. “I thought you were a queen? Wait, sister?” Chrysalis’ response only opened more questions than answers.

Chrysalis averted her eyes. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“But-”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Chrysalis gave a firm glare, causing Twilight to drop the subject.

There was a thick silence between them for the next minute. Twilight tried a few times to restart the conversation, but it was clear that Chrysalis was unwilling to answer any personal questions. In the end, Twilight decided to change over to a new topic that needed investigation.

“So….How exactly did wrestling factor in making friends between the three of you?” she asked innocently. Twilight didn’t understand why Chrysalis suddenly blushed and facepalmed.

*****

The train soon arrived at the station and they stepped off into the streets of Ponyville. It looked like a nice, small town with ponies walking around and pegasi moving the clouds for the evening. It was a lot like any other small town that Chrysalis went to on one of her love gathering missions, but something about it was…different than the others. She just dismissed it as paranoia as she followed Twilight through the streets.

“So are we going to do the grand tour now or later?” Chrysalis asked idly as she looked around at the ponies and shops they passed.

“After I check up on Spike. I need to make sure he hasn’t eaten all the ice cream again,” Twilight replied.

“Spike...He’s that pet dragon you brought to the wedding, right?” Chrysalis asked, tapping her chin as she searched her memories.

Twilight turned to glare at Chrysalis. “He’s not a pet. He’s my number one assistant.”

Chrysalis smirked back. “I hear he’s also part of what keeps you sane around here.” That got a startled reaction from her.

“How do you know about that?”

Now it was Chrysalis’ turn to act sheepish as she recalled the knowledge. “I may have been a little revenge hungry since the wedding and tried to figure out the best way to get back at you and your friends.” Seeing Twilight’s concerned expression, she quickly added, “I never really got around to it and by the time I did it wasn’t worth the effort.” Chrysalis put on a wide grin in hopes to placate Twilight, but it seemed to have the opposite effect.

“If you’re trying to give me reasons not to trust you, then you’re doing a fine job at it.”

Chrysalis tried to respond when she was suddenly tackled by a pink blur. She tried to fend off her assailant, only to find herself unable to move. Chrysalis stopped struggling when she locked eyes with the crazy mare.

“Hi! My name’s Pinkie Pie. What’s your name? Are you new to Ponyville? GASP! I need to plan your ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party right away!”

“Get off me, you crazy mare!” Chrysalis screamed as Pinkie kept talking and talking. She was about to blast this mare to the other side of Equestria when Twilight’s magic separated the two of them.

“Pinkie! What are you doing?” Twilight asked

“Silly Twilight. My Pinkie Sense told me that you were coming back with someone that used to be a Meanie McMeanerson and is a Friendly McFrienderson, like Trixie. The only problem is that I can’t figure out who this is!” She gasped loudly, “What if she’s somepony else’s enemy, like Dashie! I bet she made a bunch of enemies in school. Or maybe she was like Gilda and was a meanie pants or- mmphmpphmmmnnph!” Pinkie’s mouth was covered in a pink glow by a frustrated purple unicorn.

“Pinkie, I thought we talked about this, remember when you thought that Time Turner was some sort of time traveler?” Twilight asked, hoping to push some rationale into the situation. To her dismay, Pinkie gasped loudly again when her mouth was released and words poured out like a flood.

“Omigosh!Youv’ealreadybeenherefiveminutesandIhaven’tevenplannedyourwelcomepartyandifyoudon’tgetyourpartythenyou’llbesadandlonelyandwon’thaveanyfriendsandthat’sgonnamakemesadandthat’snotfunforanyponyandI’malreadylatetobakeallthecupcakesfortheparty!Gottagobye!” And just as suddenly as she came, Pinkie disappeared in a whirlwind of pink. Since Chrysalis was in the way, she was sent spinning for a few seconds before crashing to the ground on her back, groaning in pain and exasperation.

“Twilight? Can we go now? I don’t feel so good,” Chrysalis groaned. All the shaking had left the changeling quite nauseated, not to mention the pain from the hitting the ground. As her vision refocused, she could see Twilight smirking at her.

“Consider this payback for planning revenge.” Twilight helped Chrysalis up and put an arm over her shoulder to help steady the sickened mare.

“I’m afraid to ask, but is that mare always like that? It was hard to believe the reports I read about her.” Chrysalis felt her stomach lurch as she moved.

“Yes, but you get used to it. Oh and don’t try to question what she does. Save yourself the trouble of trying to understand Pinkie.”

Chrysalis glanced at her, “Do I want to know?”

“It’s a long story.” Twilight said, “I’ll tell you some other time if you want.”

As the two of them made their way through the town, Chrysalis eyed the ponies walking by, mentally taking notes for potential sources of love should she need it. Of course, she also took notes of possible avenues of escape should events turn for the worse. When they reached the center of town, Chrysalis noticed a familiar face through a store window.

“Where are you going?” Twilight asked as Chrysalis walked away.

“I have some business to attend to,” Chrysalis said, glancing back, “Wait here.” She kept walking and stepped inside the confectionary store she spotted named Bon Bon’s Bonbons. The shelves were lined with various treats that would make many pony’s mouths water, but Chrysalis was more interested in the mare behind the counter, who was currently busy with another customer.

“What are you doing?” Twilight asked in a harsh whisper, jumping inside before the door closed.

Chrysalis rolled her eyes and whispered back, “Must you be so nosy? I told you I have business here.”

“What business? What are you planning?” Twilight asked, but before Chrysalis could answer, the other customer had left.

“Hey there, Twilight,” Bon Bon called out, “What can I do for you?”

“Um, well...”

“Actually, I’m the one here on business,” Chrysalis said, stepping up to the counter.

Bon Bon blinked. “Oh, well what’s your name, Miss?”

“Call me Sweet Heart.” Chrysalis gave a wide smile and flashed magic across her eyes, the common signal for undercover changelings. “Could the three of us speak in private?”

Bon Bon’s eyes widened and the flicked between the new mare and Twilight. “O-Of course!” she stammered before rushing to flip the open sign and shutter the blinds. She then opened the back door and gestured for them to follow. Once they were alone together, Chrysalis dropped her disguise, causing Bon Bon to jump in fright.

“Princess!” After the shock passed, Bon Bon immediately knelt, though she was still shaking. “What’s going on? Am I in trouble? What’s Twilight doing here? Is that Twili-”

“Silence!” Chrysalis commanded, “Now stand up.” Once Bon Bon stood at attention, she continued. “I will overlook you speaking out of turn as I am in need of your services, but rest assured that you are not in trouble.”

“What do you need me for, Your Highness?” Bon Bon asked, relieved yet confused, “Is it more reports?”

Chrysalis shook her head. “No, I have a more important mission. I need you to send a report that I’m going to be out on an unexpected love gathering trip and that I will be out of contact for the time being. It’s short notice, but have them put my appointments on hold until I return.”

“Yes, Your Highness. Anything else?”

“Hold on a second!” Twilight cried, drawing both mare’s attention, “Are you telling me that Bon Bon of all ponies is a changeling? How?” Her confused stare switched between the two.

Bon Bon winced. “Sorry, Twilight.” she said. She morphed an arm into a changeling arm, and then back to a pony arm. “If it makes you feel any better, I don’t cocoon ponies.”

“I’m more concerned by the fact that you’ve been hiding in plain sight for however long you’ve been here!” Twilight said, her voice rising, “Why are you even in Ponyville?” A few strands of her hair started to pop out of place.

“She’s one of many permanent undercover drones who help passing changelings integrate among the locals,” Chrysalis explained, “Not every changeling is good at impersonating a pony.”

Twilight took a few breaths to calm down. Once she was composed enough, she asked, “I suppose that makes sense, but does Lyra know?”

Chrysalis cocked an eyebrow. “Who’s Lyra?”

As if the universe was waiting for that moment, the aforementioned mare walked in through the back door of the shop.

“Hey, Bonnie, do you know where my-” she froze when she saw the three mares staring back at her as if petrified by a cockatrice. “Uh, if this is another one of those ‘integration meetings’, you forgot the sock on the doorknob.”

Bon Bon threw her hands in the air. “Lyra, what have I told you about using the back door?” she yelled.

Lyra grinned lewdly. “Use plenty of lube?”

“Lyra!” Bon Bon’s face, as well as the other’s, blushed, though Chrysalis’ eyes narrowed on the mint mare.

“Aw come on Bonnie, you know you like it when I use your back door.” CLANG!

“I am sooo sorry about that, Your Highness,” Bon Bon apologized, her face beet red. She stood above Lyra’s prone form with a pot held in both hands. “Lyra tends to speak before she thinks.”

“Aww, you love me, you kinky little minx!” Lyra’s muffled voice said before the pot came crashing down on her head once more.

“It’s fine,” Chrysalis said, as she fought to keep her voice level. “I simply trust that you don’t let her interfere with your work.”

“Oh, hey, you’re that queen that tried to invade Canterlot,” Lyra said, “Just so you know, I’m not mad about you hypnotizing me. It’s super hot when Bonnie does it to me.”

This time, Chrysalis grabbed the pot out of Bon Bon’s hands and brought it down on Lyra’s head with a resounding clang before storming out of the room. Twilight and Bon Bon stared after her departure with wide eyes. After a moment’s silence, Twilight looked down at the dazed unicorn.

“Uh, is she going to be okay?” Twilight asked.

“Don’t worry, she’s got a thick skull,” Bon Bon said, “I have to beat some tact into her every once in a while.”

“Yeah, and it’s kinky when she does,” Lyra said before passing out, causing Bon Bon to facepalm.

Twilight shuffled toward the door. “I’ll just, uh… follow Chrysalis. Yeah.” She stepped out, but stuck her head back in to add, “We’re not done here. I have a lot of questions, just so you know.” On that note she left to meet up with a re-disguised and fuming Chrysalis outside. “Shall we continue?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, and let us never speak of that again.” Chrysalis said curtly, walking away from the store.

It wasn’t much later that Chrysalis noticed that they were approaching a very peculiar tree. There was a door, some windows, and even a balcony with a telescope. She had heard of some stores that mimicked the wares they sold, even seen a few (the one that sold bread rolls and éclairs still made her laugh), but she couldn’t figure out what this place was for. When they were closer, she could see that the sign indicated it was a library. Odd.

“Twilight, why are we going to the library?”

“That’s where I live.” she replied casually.

“You live in a library?” Chrysalis said in disbelief.

“Is that a problem?”

“No. It’s just another thing that I thought was completely ridiculous about you and your friends is actually true. I guess Bon Bon wasn’t lying in her reports.” Chrysalis noticed Twilight’s serious gaze upon her. “What? I wasn’t going to do a lazy job of revenge in case some fluke happened. Besides, it’s not my fault you ponies are weird.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and entered the library with Chrysalis close behind.

The inside of the tree library was about as much as Chrysalis expected. Wall shelves all around cut into the wood of the tree with a reading table, a couch and several large cushions in the center. A small desk sat off to the side, probably the circulation area, given the size of the place.

“Huh, seems cozy. If you like books that is.” Chrysalis commented.

Meanwhile Twilight called out, “Spike! I’m home and I brought a guest!”

“In the kitchen!” came the muffled reply from a nearby door. The two mares followed the voice to find a short dragon who wore an apron over a pair of khaki pants and a green, collared shirt, facing away from them. Judging by the rhythmic sounds of wood on metal and the position of his arms, he was mixing something into a bowl. Meanwhile, his tail held a bowl of crushed sapphires that he occasionally snacked from.

Chrysalis didn’t pay much attention to him throughout the wedding, but she did recall him being a little shorter. He was about chest height, if one didn’t count his green spines on his head. In terms of body, he was a bit lanky, though he did have some muscle, likely from lifting heavy books all the time. Overall, he didn’t look like a very intimidating dragon.

“Hey, Twilight. Who’s that?” Spike asked, glancing over his shoulder.

“This is...um…” Twilight looked over at Chrysalis as if asking for a name.

“Call me Sweet Heart,” Chrysalis interjected, “I was instructed by Princess Cadance to work with Twilight on studying love energy.”

Spike turned around to stare at Chrysalis with a puzzled look, “What do you mean by that? I thought Cadance already knew all about love energy. Y’know, being the princess of it and all.”

Twilight spoke up this time. “She may be the Princess of it, but there’s always more to learn, just like there’s always more friendship lessons to learn.” She finished with a smile.

“Uh-huh,” Spike said, unconvinced, “Like what?”

“Uhh…” Twilight looked to Chrysalis for help, but only received a shrug in response. “Alternate ways of acquiring love outside of a relationship?”

Spike stared at Twilight, then asked, “Is this an excuse to go to strip clubs or something?”

“Absolutely not!” Chrysalis shouted, “I am not resorting to such methods of gathering! I swear I’m going to completely drain the next pony to even suggest something even remotely related to sex!”

A stunned silence followed, leaving Twilight and Spike with wide eyed looks while Chrysalis fumed. It was only broken when Spike questioned, “What do you mean by ‘drain’?”

Chrysalis paused and realized what she blurted out. “Did I say ‘drain’? I meant, uh, ‘strain’!” She gave a nervous chuckle, “Y’know, like... fitness stuff? Strain your muscles? Eheh.” Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to convince Spike and Twilight just facepalmed during the explanation.

“You’re a changeling aren’t you?” Spike deadpanned. He put down the bowl and picked up a skillet, brandishing it.

“...No?” Chrysalis’ eye shifted around the room, as if searching for an escape. She turned to Twilight for assistance who was pinching the bridge of her nose.

“Just drop the disguise. He was going to find out anyways.”

“Find out what?” Spike asked, eyes still locked onto Chrysalis, hands tightening around the skillet handle.

Chrysalis sighed, “You’re right. I suppose I should introduce myself properly.” In a flash of emerald fire, Chrysalis dropped her disguise. “I’m Princess Chrysalis and I’m-OW!” Chrysalis doubled over, clutching her face and glared at the offending skillet before a motion caught her eye. She tried to dodge, but another pot clipped her shoulder, sending her to the floor with a cry of pain.

“There’s more where that came from, you wedding-crashing jerk!” Spike yelled as he chucked more pans at Chrysalis who struggled to deflect them away with her magic.

It was only when Spike started grabbing sharp objects that Twilight stepped in, casting a spell to immobilize everypony and object in the room. Spike was in mid-throw of a cleaver while Chrysalis was curled up and using a chair as her cover.

“Twilight, what the heck?” Spike asked, “I almost had her beat!”

“I dink he bwoke my nose!” Chrysalis cried out.

Twilight took a deep breath before glaring at Spike. “I let you use the pots and pans since Chrysalis did have it coming, but there will be no knife throwing!” She used her magic to wrench the utensils from his hands and put them back in the drawer. “Now if you would let me explain-”

“Explain why you brought home a villain that nearly took over Equestria? Because that’s totally a good idea to do.” Spike said, rolling his eyes.

“Hush, you. I’m already this close to revoking your gem allowance for a week!”

“For what?” Spike exclaimed, but Twilight continued on.

“Look, Chrysalis is going to be staying with us for the time being so that we can figure out the best way for her to gather love energy.”

“Really?” Spike folded his arms. “Let me guess, another reformed villain assignment from Princess Celestia?”

“No, this one’s from Cadance,” Twilight said, “Princess Celestia… doesn’t really know about this.” Twilight couldn’t quite meet his questioning gaze.

Spike gave her a deadpan look. “What.”

Twilight held up her hands. “To be fair, I didn’t really find this out until today either, but it’ll be fine! This is going to be a quick project that, should the results prove positive, will help both changelings and ponies and it’ll be so spectacular that Celestia won’t notice that I’m going behind her back about all this and won’t send me to the moon for it!” Twilight finished with a manic grin, her eyes unfocused, and her chest heaving.

“I can’t even begin to tell you how much of a bad idea this is,” Spike said, “On a scale of one to giving Pinkie coffee, this is probably up there with kicking a puppy right in front of Fluttershy.”

“Ib it makes ya feel any bedder, dis was Cadance’s idea,” Chrysalis commented, still nursing her nose.

Spike sighed and closed his eyes, muttering, “Crazy mares…” He then looked at Chrysalis. “Fine, but if you try anything funny, I’m gonna torch your mane. Now can you let us down, Twilight?”

“Oh, right.” Twilight’s horn winked out and Spike and Chrysalis stumbled as they regained control of their limbs.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, it seems I need to go pull out the extra bed,” Spike said as he left the room, “First aid kit is in the upstairs bathroom by the way.”

“Jerk,” Chrysalis muttered.

“You did deserve some of that,” Twilight commented.

Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “Whadever. Jus’ helb me wid my nose and show me do my bed. Id’s been a long day.”

How Introductions Work

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“Absolutely not!” Twilight shouted. Her voice almost echoed in the quiet morning. Spike had left a few minutes ago to gather the rest of the girls while Twilight and Chrysalis were at the table in the kitchen drinking tea. Up until the outburst, the air was peaceful yet laced with a growing tension. A tension that only grew after some doubts expressed by Chrysalis.

Chrysalis threw her hands up in the air. “Why not? It’s not like I’m going to stay here for long anyways! I’ll be in disguise and they won't even know that I’m there.” Her horn sparked with magic, more than ready to cast her disguise.

“These are my friends, Chrysalis! I told you that I have to inform them of what’s going on,” Twilight huffed. “It will benefit us more if they know the situation. Not only that, but I cannot, in good conscience, allow them to be in potential danger that they don’t even know they’re in!”

‘...Just ignore it, Chrysalis. Ignore it and move on,’ Chrysalis leveled a glare at Twilight. “Look, you said back on the train that you weren't sure they would be so accepting of me, and once we got here your little lizard attacked me!” Chrysalis rubbed her face, feeling the phantom pain. Worse still, she had to burn more love than she liked to fix her nose properly. “Maybe one of those pans he threw knocked some sense back into me, but I get the feeling that some of your friends might react the same way.”

Twilight grumbled, “Okay, fair point, but you’re the one who suggested meeting them all at once so you wouldn’t have to repeat yourself. Regardless, I’m sure I can convince them that you’re not here to invade or anything.”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “Sure you can. Just like last time you tried to convince them of danger.” Payback for that ‘potential danger’ comment. Chrysalis tried not to enjoy Twilight’s flinch too much.

However, it did little to stop her. “This experiment isn’t something that can be done entirely blind. Communication is key if this is going to work. Not to mention that with more ponies in the loop we can cover each other better.”

Chrysalis narrowed her eyes. “Secrets also tend to be better kept by less ponies and now at least a handful of them already know I’m here. All I’m saying is that it might be better to just have my presence hidden rather than to invite trouble.” As she said that, Chrysalis could already feel her skin crawl for want of a disguise and her instincts poked and prodded her to take action. It was one thing to reveal oneself to appear menacing, but to willingly shed her skin for ponies she barely knew? Twilight might as well have asked her to strip down and walk through town all day. Chrysalis could only wonder why she thought it was a good idea in the first place.

Twilight frowned and crossed her arms. “Why? So you can cause trouble without getting caught?”

‘Sweet Love, it’s like I’m talking to a female Shining, except way nerdier,’ Chrysalis thought dryly. She put down her tea and continued, “Tell me, what does friendship and love have in common?”

“They’re bonds made between two ponies who are close to each other?” Twilight answered, her head tilted in confusion.

“Close, but not quite,” Chrysalis recalled her early lessons from her magic tutor years ago, “They are both relationships between ponies, but the bond of love is what generates love energy. Friendship can too if the ponies are close enough, but short of family friends, the amount generated is barely worth gathering. If you recall, I was able to get a lot of energy from Shining by pretending to be Cadance, who he has a relationship with. Understand?”

Twilight nodded impatiently. “Yes, yes, I get it, but I don’t see-” She was silenced by a green magicked spoon shoved in her mouth.

“Don’t interrupt me,” Chrysalis snapped. “I am giving you a free lesson on changeling love gathering so you would do well to show a modicum of respect.”

The word ‘lesson’ was enough to get Twilight to shut up and summon up a notepad and quill. She even sat up straighter as if she was at a school desk rather than her kitchen table. “You were saying?”

“That’s better. Now, romantic bonds tend to evolve slowly from friendship, except under certain circumstances but I’d rather not talk about that,” Chrysalis’ cheeks grew pink for a second, “That said, do you know what relationships are built on?”

Twilight opened her mouth to answer, but paused as she processed the question. Taking a moment to think her answer over before she replied. “Kindness, loyalty, honesty, generosity, laughter, and magic?

Chrysalis chuckled and shook her head. “It’s trust. You trust your friends to help when you need it. You trust a lover to stay faithful. Above all, you trust them to be who they say they are.” She gave a pointed look at Twilight, who missed it as her nose was in her notes. “Your elements might help strengthen friendships, but you have to start with trust.”

“Alright, but what does that have to do with lying to my friends?” Twilight asked as she scribbled down the last note.

“Because trust starts with first impressions. When you first meet a pony, you learn how much and what you can trust them with. For instance, you might trust a business pony to give you a good or bad deal, but would you trust a bad pony to do a good deed for you?” Chrysalis smirked. Perhaps convincing Twilight might be easier than she thought if she turned her arguments into lessons. She’d have to thank Cadance for telling her about Twilight’s weakness. “Cadance trusts me and so I get quite the load of love energy from her. Shining doesn't trust me and I hadn’t gotten a single drop of love energy from him since I revealed myself to him. Similarly, if your friends knew I was here, I would bet on getting the same treatment from them.

“I may not be the ‘Princess of Love’ or anything, but even I know that broken trust in a relationship takes time and effort to repair, and we don’t exactly have much of the former to work with. Especially if we’re going to experiment with gathering love.” Chrysalis smugly brought her cup to her mouth as she watched Twilight’s expression turn sour.

“Even if you say that, we’re still doing this. I don’t expect them to accept you right away, but there’s no reason they can’t still try, right?” Twilight asked. She tapped her quill against her cheek in thought and then smiled like a cat that found a trapped rat. “If first impressions are that important to you, then why does Cadance give you any love energy at all? She knows who you are, and what you did was more than enough reason for her to hate you forever, but she forgave you anyways. So who’s to say the same can’t happen with my friends?”

It was Chrysalis’ turn to frown now. “She only forgave me after a deal we had went sour, so I’d say we’re even.” Seeing Twilight’s unspoken question, Chrysalis quickly moved on. “Look, I appreciate your optimism, but the reality is that they won’t accept me right off the bat and probably never will. So let me just disguise myself and let’s move on.”

Twilight grimaced before responding. “What about all that talk about trust? If my friends have to find out about you by themselves wouldn’t that hurt their trust even more?” The confidence in Twilight’s eyes had returned and it was a growing blaze.

Chrysalis was silent, but her eyes widened at the flaw in her argument. She racked her brain for a counter but nothing suitable came to mind.

Twilight pushed forward through the cracks in the argument. “Also, Cadance never said when she’d be back, so as far as we know, you’ll have plenty of time to repair relationships with my friends. Besides, if anyone was to attack you, I’m willing to bet that it’d only be Rainbow Dash and that’s a fifty percent chance at best.”

Chrysalis began to protest once more, but the sound of the front door opening caught her attention. Without a second thought, she put back on her disguise, making sure not even a hair was out of place despite Twilight’s frustrated glare. Before putting on the expression for her facade, she whispered to Twilight, “You’d better be right about this.”

“Twilight? Where are you, darling?”

“In the kitchen, Rarity!” Twilight yelled back, still glaring at Chrysalis before she too put on a calmer expression.

A vaguely familiar white unicorn mare entered the room, wearing trace amounts of love energy like a perfume. Though Chrysalis remembered her name, she couldn’t quite place her face. But now, she recalled the unicorn being one of the wedding seamstresses that she messed with during the fittings, and the one that the little dragon had a crush on, according to the reports. In her defense, there were a lot of white unicorns in Canterlot and many didn’t exactly distinguish themselves from each other that much. However, upon closer inspection, Chrysalis could see that she was quite different from the generic Canterlot stock.

Rarity held a elegant beauty that wasn’t fully fabricated like some other Canterlot mares. She walked with the sophistication of a noble, yet held herself like a professional business mare. This effect was only enhanced by the frilled white blouse and black pencil skirt and nylons she wore. She was about the same height as Twilight if one didn’t count the large, wavy purple mane on her head. Her sapphire eyes gleamed while scrutinizing every detail they came across, like a true seamstress. The way it all came together so naturally for her made Chrysalis feel a bit inadequate in her own gracefulness and certainly underdressed for the meeting.

“Good morning, Twilight. I arrived as quickly as I could. What seems to be the emergency?” Rarity asked. She then took notice of the disguised changeling. “Oh, I’m sorry, but where are my manners? I’m Rarity, and you are?”

Chrysalis felt a bit of sweat run down her neck. Was now the time to reveal herself or should she wait? Even better, how about not at all? Being so undecided, Chrysalis fell back to her trained responses. “I’m ‘Sweet Heart’, a friend of Cadance.” She put on a wide grin despite the frustration she could feel rolling off of Twilight.

Rarity beamed back. “Lovely to meet you, dear. By your presence, I assume you have something to do with this meeting? Spike wasn’t clear on the details.”

“You could say that.” Chrysalis couldn’t quite keep eye contact as she said it, glancing over to Twilight to search for help.

Rarity nodded. “Well, not to be rude, but I do hope this meeting is important. I’m a little behind on some orders so if we need to go anywhere, I’d have to bring my work with me.”

“Don’t worry,” Twilight assured, “We’re not going anywhere. You’ll have plenty of time to work.”

Rarity sighed in relief. “That’s wonderful to hear.” She turned back to Chrysalis. “While we’re waiting, would you happen to require any dresses by chance? I’m sure I have a lovely outfit or two that would bring out your eyes.”

As Chrysalis was about to decline the offer, the front door opened once more and Spike’s voice rang out. “Twilight, we’re back!” He opened the kitchen door and looked at the ponies sitting at the table. A small surge of love erupted from him when his eyes met Rarity, but it was soon whisked away by confusion, and then a simmering anger upon seeing Chrysalis’ disguise. He fixed the changeling with watchful eye as made his way to the stove to fix another pot of tea. The fact that he pulled out several other pots was not lost on Chrysalis.

Following close behind him were two very familiar mares, Fluttershy and Applejack. Seeing both of them made Chrysalis want to leave all the more, though for different reasons. Fluttershy was a tall mare, but by no means skinny. She had a natural beauty to her that couldn’t be replicated by any artificial means. She wore a long green skirt that reached her ankles and a dark green sweater that stretched across her massive bust. They were the two biggest problems Chrysalis had with this mare. Fluttershy had a gift that most mares would kill for and yet she chose to hide them behind a thin cloth. Chrysalis couldn’t fathom how she could even stand up straight.

‘There’s no way those are real,’ Chrysalis thought, ‘but what I wouldn’t give to have some of that size?’ Changeling disguises can only do so much to help one’s figure.

Now Applejack, on the other hand, was the definition of an amazon. She was just an inch under Fluttershy’s height but instead of curves, her body was packed with muscles, although she did have some nice hips. Just like the reports on her said, Applejack looked like she could do some serious damage if she kicked anything with those strong legs of hers. All of this strength was hidden under a plaid blouse and some worn working jeans. Of course, she also wore her famous stetson hat. If it came down to blows, Chrysalis had a slim chance of coming out unscathed, even with magic. She hoped that Applejack wouldn’t be one of the mares to try and attack her, but didn’t bet on the Element of Honesty taking a liking to changelings.

“Howdy Twi. What’s the big emergency?” Applejack asked as she took a seat next to Chrysalis. “Oh, and Howdy, Miss…?”

“Sweet Heart.” Chrysalis warily shook the mare’s proffered hand, wincing at the tight grip.

“Thanks for coming, Applejack, but I want to wait for everypony to be here first before I begin. Where’s Pinkie and Rainbow?”

Applejack nodded, “We couldn’t find Rainbow, so we told Pinkie to get her. I reckon they’ll be along shortly. Nopony can hide from Pinkie for long.”

Barely a second after she said that, the door burst open once more with Pinkie carrying in a snoring blue pegasus mare in her arms. She wore a frilly blue blouse and a pink and yellow polka dotted skirt that barely concealed her thick thighs. Rainbow’s attire and body was a stark contrast as she had a loose tank top and a pair of baggy sweatpants to cover her skinny, athletic frame.

Pinkie put a finger to her half-smiling lips to tell the others to stay quiet before laying Rainbow down gently on the table. Digging into her mane, Pinkie pulled out an air horn and promptly blasted it into Rainbow’s ear.

“AAAAAAAHHH!!” Rainbow yelled as she shot up towards the ceiling. “What’s going on!? Where am I!? What the-” She then caught sight of her friends below her trying not to laugh (except Pinkie who was already on the floor clutching her gut). “Celestia dammit, Pinkie! What’s the big idea waking me up like that?”

“Well, hehehe, AJ said that if I found you napping in her trees I could wake you up with a prank, so I did.”

“Remind me to save some extra cider for you next season,” Applejack said, ignoring Rainbow’s stink eye. “Now, mind telling us what you wanted us here for, Twi?”

“This oughta be good,” Spike muttered as he kept an eye on Chrysalis.

Twilight took a deep breath. “The reason I called you here is because I’ve received a special mission from Princess Cadance.”

“What would Princess Cadance need from us?” Rarity asked. “Has Sombra made a return?”

“Oh my,” Fluttershy gasped, “I certainly hope not. If it weren’t for Spike, I don’t think we could have beaten him.”

Chrysalis raised an eyebrow at this. Who was Sombra and what exactly did the dragon do to save the day? Questions for another time as the next comment grabbed her attention.

“I bet it’s changelings. They’re probably making a comeback after we kicked their butts at the wedding. Heh, I bet I could beat more of them this time!” Rainbow boasted, throwing punches and kicks in the air as if in combat.

Chrysalis’ smile twitched, but she kept an innocent expression. “Is that so? Because I heard you got captured after becoming surrounded by them. You couldn’t have beaten that many.”

Rainbow stopped fighting and frowned at her with crossed arms. “Oh yeah? Says who? They probably weren’t even there to see me in action. I’ll show them! I can beat them with one arm tied behind my back!”

‘More like I could beat you with just one arm,’ Chrysalis thought, but Twilight intervened before more could be said.

“Enough! Rainbow is partially right though. This mission does involve the changelings.”

“I knew it!”

“However,” Twilight glared sternly at Rainbow, “We’re not going to be fighting them. Instead, we’re to try to figure out alternative ways for them to gather love.” This brought out a few gasps and one disgruntled groan about lack of any action.

Rarity was the first to speak up. “Pardon me for asking, but how does she,” Rarity pointed to Chrysalis, “factor into this?”

Twilight’s expression grew strained, and Chrysalis could feel her anxiety permeate the air. ‘All that talk and the first chance she has, she gets cold wings. I guess that’s to be expected after the wedding,’ Chrysalis thought, concealing her annoyance from the others.

“Well, she is, uh, an acquaintance of Cadance who has an in depth knowledge about changelings.” Even without being able to read emotions, Chrysalis could see that Twilight had a poor poker face. It took considerable effort not to facepalm.

‘Oh, so when I suggest not telling them, it’s a security issue, but if you do it, then it’s because you chickened out?’ Chrysalis tried not to let her emotions leak onto her face. Instead, she gave Twilight an irritated, knowing glance and said, “That’s one way of putting it.”

“How do you know so much about them?” Applejack asked Chrysalis. “I thought there wasn’t much info known except in legends?”

Chrysalis smiled as sweetly as she could. “It helps to be a part of the species, for starters.” Her instincts were screaming at her for giving herself away so easily, but Lovedammit, if Twilight wasn’t going to do it, she might as well do it herself.

There was a heavy silence following her words as almost everypony was frozen in shock. It was barely a second before the yellow one fainted over, caught by the fashionista. Surprisingly, the only one who didn’t seem shocked, or at least scared, was Pinkie.

“A-Ah’m sorry, did you just say you were a changeling?” Applejack cleaned an ear out with her finger. “Because I don’t think I heard you right.”

Chrysalis chuckled at the thought of the Element of Honesty herself being skeptical of the truth presented before her. With a mischievous grin, she activated her magic and changed her disguise to look like the farm mare. “You heard me right.”

There was an immediate flurry of commotion. Applejack, spooked by her doppelganger, leaped out of her chair and put the table between her and Chrysalis, her hands grasped at air around her hips. Spike helped her out by handing her two heavy pots while he held a rolling pin and a skillet like a sword and shield. Rainbow Dash landed down onto the table with her fists raised and teeth bared. Rarity simply pulled herself and Fluttershy out of the way while fanning the unconscious mare. Pinkie was… writing in a notebook? All the while, Twilight just rubbed the bridge of her nose, sighing as the events unfolded.

“What in tarnation is going on, Twilight?” Applejack asked, her eyes fixed on Chrysalis.

“Yeah, what’s a changeling doing here? We should kick her out before she drains us!” Rainbow’s hands were itching for a fight.

Pinkie muttered to herself. “No, orange juice would taste terrible with mint. Or was it mint toothpaste?”

Chrysalis gave Twilight a smug look and made a quick change into Twilight’s form with a perky smile upon her face. “It’s really important that I tell my friends about the changeling among us for our safety. Nothing could go wrong except the slight chance they’ll attack her on sight. Oh, and for good measure, I’ll chicken out at the last moment and make it harder to explain everything. Great thinking, me!”

“I had it under control,” Twilight growled.

“Really?” Chrysalis asked, resting her head on her hand. “Then why’d you let me introduce myself as ‘Sweet Heart’?”

“I… Because it would have been weird to start off with your actual name without any context! I was trying to build up to it eventually.”

“And what a fantastic job you did,” Chrysalis deadpanned. “I already regret doing this, but it's too late to change things.”

Pinkie snickered. “Haha, ‘change’. Cause she’s a changeling. Good one!”

Chrysalis furrowed her brow. “That wasn’t a joke.”

Applejack spoke up once more, “Would somepony kindly explain what in Tartarus is going on here?”

Twilight sighed. “Please bear with me, but Cadance gave me a mission to try to research new ways of finding love for changelings. The best way to do that is to have a changeling with us to help note what works and what doesn’t. The biggest issue right now is the changeling herself.”

“Why? Is she that ugly looking queen of theirs?” Rainbow asked jokingly.

“Excuse you, Miss ‘I look like a feminine teenage boy’!” Chrysalis snapped back as she stood up and dropped her disguise.

Rainbow jumped back in shock, but it was short lived after she registered the changeling’s words. “At least I don’t look like some swamp bug monster reject!”

Chrysalis smirked and crossed her arms. “Ooh, scathing. This coming from the one who shows off which way she swings, that is unless you’re actually a colt.”

Fuming, Rainbow lunged for Chrysalis with an angry cry, but was stopped short by a bubble of magenta magic. A similar bubble appeared around Chrysalis as well. “Enough!” Twilight cried out. “Chrysalis, stop antagonizing everypony. Just because I said there was a small chance that Rainbow might attack you doesn’t mean you can go provoking her. Rainbow, you should know better than to keep insulting others.”

“But Twilight-!” They said in unison.

“No! Go sit in the corner and think about what you’ve done.” Twilight magicked the both of them to opposite sides of the room. Though that didn’t stop them from making faces at each other. Twilight looked up to see the bewildered expressions on her friend’s faces. “Oh, ponyfeathers. This really isn’t how I had hoped it would go.”

“Really? Because this is better than what I expected,” Spike said, lowering his ‘weapons’.

“That’s ok?” Applejack pointed her pot at the changeling. “But could you explain why you brought Queen Chrysalis here? You know, the one who brainwashed your brother and everything?”

“Actually,” Rarity piped up, “I believe a better question would be how can we be sure you’re not under her control?” Her horn was lit up and her arms embraced Fluttershy protectively.

Applejack’s eyes widened at the thought and she pointed her other pot at Twilight. “Yeah, that too.”

Twilight seemed to calm down as she explained, “Well, I’ve studied mind control magic after the wedding and from my research, the magic requires certain conditions to function properly, starting with the target’s unawareness to the caster.”

“Ha! Tell that to your brother!” Chrysalis shouted. She ignored Twilight’s glare as she continued to listen in on the conversation.

“That sounds like Twilight alright,” Applejack said, lowering her pot slightly, “But again, why is she here?”

“Let’s wake up Fluttershy first and then I’ll explain everything.”

After rousing the shy pegasus, Twilight sat everypony down (except the bubbled ones who just listened in) and explained the events of the previous day. With some interjection from Chrysalis, and the occasional question from the others, the situation was laid out clear as day. During that time, Spike brewed up and served a fresh pot of tea, giving extra special care for Rarity’s cup.

“Can you please help me with this?” Twilight begged, “I won’t be mad if you don’t but the more help I can get, the more data I can acquire during our experiments.” She put on a pleading smile, but it met with more than a few hesitant looks and one other smile.

“Yepperooni!”

“I dunno, Twi. Harvest season’s only in a few weeks. Got a lot of chores to do.”

“I am rather busy with orders, darling. I may not have the time for it.”

“Meep!”

“No way!”

All eyes turned to Rainbow Dash, who was still fuming in her bubble. “Chrysalis tricked us before, how do we know that this isn’t some fancy changeling trick?”

“Because I wouldn’t come up with something this ridiculous, you simpleton,” Chrysalis retorted. She was currently lounging in her bubble and glaring at Rainbow like an unamused cat. She felt that could have broken free if she tried, but didn’t want to risk upsetting the others by the bubbling fear she sensed in the room. “Only a pony would come up with a plan to make friends with an enemy.”

“See! She said ‘enemy’!” Rainbow jabbed a finger in Chrysalis’ direction. “She can’t be trusted!”

“Rainbow, dear, while I understand your concerns, I believe you might be exaggerating things a bit,” Rarity said.

Applejack nodded. “Yeah, Dash, I don’t like it any more than you but so far everything seems honest and square about the whole deal, all things considered.”

“If you want to try to help her, then fine, but I’m gonna keep an eye on her!”

Chrysalis smirked as she recalled a few tidbits from the reports she compiled on the mares. “What’s the matter? Afraid I might do your little stunts better than you?”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes at her. “As if! You couldn’t hope to keep up with my awesomeness!”

Shrugging nonchalantly, Chrysalis said, “That’s fine. From what I’ve heard ponies loved Rarity’s flying more than yours at that one competition you joined.” She knew that was a low blow to the mare’s ego, but the stunned silence and shocked expressions were so worth it.

Like an angry bird, Rainbow squawked as she clawed at her cage, “Let us out, Twilight! I’m gonna beat her ugly face in so much she’ll have to disguise it just to look normal!” She kept flinging threats and insults, but they were just hot air for all the damage it did to Chrysalis’ smug grin.

With her face in her hands, Twilight flared her horn and Rainbow disappeared, bubble and all. Not even looking up, she asked in a whisper, “Why? Why did you have to do that?”

“That wasn’t very nice of you, Chrysalis,” Fluttershy scolded as hard as her adorable face could, “You should apologize to her.” She squeaked and hid behind Applejack when Chrysalis’ eyes locked onto hers.

“Bite me. I get enough of the ‘I’m watching you’ treatment from Twilight and her brother. I don’t need it from some egotistical imbecile.” Chrysalis popped her prison with magic and stood up to stretch her legs. “Besides, she’d probably suggest something that involves stunts and I’m not about to break my neck for love.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “You do realize that she’s gonna try to get you back for that, right? Either by pranking or a straight out fight. Ya really kicked the hornet’s nest now.”

Chrysalis sat down next to Twilight. “Let her try. I’ve been cooped up in my castle for a long time. I could use the practice.” Seeing that Twilight wasn’t about to speak up soon, Chrysalis cleared her throat and spoke in professional tones, “I understand your reservations about working with me, I have my own as well, but I am invested in seeing this crazy plan come to fruition. I’d rather not have to rely on Cadance to give me the love I require every time. I need other options to fall back on. Preferably, ones that generate the most love.”

“Forgive me for asking, but how are you relying on Princess Cadance? I would have thought she would have nothing to do with you after the wedding?” Rarity asked.

“I thought so too, but then she asked for my help with her, um, project recently.” Chrysalis gave a cough and fought to keep a blush from showing. “Long story short, she and I have become... friendlier to each other? I’m not sure what to call our relationship, but Shining is still cross with me.” Despite this answer, Chrysalis could tell from the gleam in her eye that Rarity was hungry for details. Luckily, Applejack spoke up next to keep her from pressing for them.

“This little ‘experiment’ of y’alls, it’s not gonna harm any of us or our kin, right?”

Chrysalis mentally sighed. ‘Of course she would ask that,’ she thought, before responding. “Part of the reason we brought you all here was to get ideas for this experiment, so it really depends on you. Now that we’re all on the same page, let’s start planning. What ideas do you have to gather love energy?”

“Ooh! Ooh! I got one!” Pinkie jumped in her seat with her hand in the air, “We can cook some cupcakes, or cookies, or muffins, or cakes, or anything really. Ponies love pastries! That’ll get you a ton of love.”

“Only one problem,” Chrysalis said, “I don’t know how to cook. I’ve hardly set foot in a kitchen myself unless it was to look over the shoulders of actual cooks.”

Applejack frowned, “Then how did you-”

“Royalty, remember?” Chrysalis deadpanned, “Plus, I’ve always had enough bits to eat out somewhere.”

“Oh.”

Pinkie scoffed. “Baking’s not hard. Besides, if you follow my instructions, then you won’t have any baked bads and everypony will love it! Oh! Oh! Even better, we could try making them with love!”

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. “Um, figuratively or literally?”

“Yes!”

Chrysalis opened her mouth to argue against it, but then shut it as she thought to herself, ‘What would happen if a pony ate love energy?’ She had never heard of such a thing happening. Probably because no changeling was foolish enough to waste love energy on such an endeavor. Then again, this was supposed to be an experiment, and if it brought in good results, she would trade her crown for a chef’s hat to get the upper hand on her sister.

“Well, it’s not a bad idea, but we’ll save it for later unless nopony else has anything to suggest?” Chrysalis looked around the table for the next pony to speak up.

“May I suggest modeling some clothes?” Rarity said, “Given the right outfit and form, you could model all sorts of fashion designs and I’m positive that ponies will be lining up just to see what you wear.”

Applejack glared flatly at her. “You just want someone who can wear those frilly clothes as anyone you want, don’t you?”

“Hush, darling.” Rarity returned a dismissive wave but kept her eyes on Chrysalis, or at least her body. The calculating gaze she held seemed to pierce through the threads to the skin. With each passing second, Chrysalis felt more and more naked under her scrutiny.

“We’ll have to discuss the finer details of that one,” Chrysalis said with a rising blush on her face. She had brought an arm protectively around her chest to ward off the feeling of nakedness that crept along her skin.

“How about helping me tend to my animals? I’m sure they could give a lot of love if you care enough for them,” Fluttershy offered.

Chrysalis spared her a small glance. “I doubt that. Changelings have already tried getting love from pets but unconditional love is the equivalent of artificial sweeteners.” Pinkie frowned at the mention of the food. “It’s not the same thing as the pure, raw emotion. It might feel the same, but it lacks substance, if that makes sense.”

While the explanation was true, Chrysalis didn’t have a stellar record with animals and caregiving. She had replaced many ponies in her time, but could never quite keep their pets well fed for very long—especially the fish— prompting her to abandon those disguises before she left a trail of dead pets in her wake. It was bad enough leaving with barely any love gathered, but she didn’t want to arouse suspicion towards her disguise’s sudden negligence. Not to mention there was no way in Tartarus that she was going to pick up any animal droppings, even with magic.

Fluttershy looked down at the table, hiding part of her face behind her mane. It was a pitiful sight, really. Like a birthday balloon that was slowly deflating. “Oh, I see. I was sure that with enough animals you could find enough love to gather.”

“I dunno, Fluttershy, artificial sweeteners are pretty bland,” Pinkie commented, “Chryssy said that sugar is love. Ooh! We can make sugar cookies or snickerdoodles!” She began writing down recipes off the top of her head that involved copious amounts of sugar.

Chrysalis stared at Fluttershy for a long moment and then closed her eyes. ‘I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to do this. Nothing she could say would make me change my mind.’ She opened her eyes again only to be met with the sight of Fluttershy’s sad eyes staring back at her. Chrysalis was amazed by their power to plead for sympathy as her will began to falter. She finally rolled her eyes and said, “Ugh, fine, I’ll look into it, but I reserve the right to say ‘I told you so’.”

Immediately, Fluttershy’s face brightened and she sat up straighter. “Don’t worry! I’ll get the cuddliest, loveliest, most adorable animals I can find!”

“Oh joy,” Chrysalis muttered to herself, then said, “I guess we have a plan then. I’ll talk with Twilight about-“

“Wait just a cotton-pickin’ second,” Applejack shouted, “Ain’t you gonna hear any suggestions from me?” She had a stubborn inquisitive look on her face that was none too pleased about being passed over.

“No, no, I think we have enough to work with,” Chrysalis said a bit hastily.

“Really? Because Twi would want more opportunities for getting data and such.” Applejack folded her arms, her expression remain unchanged.

‘Crap.’ Chrysalis tried to maintain eye contact as she spoke. “Normally, yes, but I don’t think that it’ll be necessary now.” She silently prayed that the farm mare would drop the conversation.

“Why’s that?”

Chrysalis’ eyes wandered off to the side. “Because I, uh, already have enough experience getting love energy from your family?” She put on a nervous, but wide, toothy smile.

One could hear a pin drop in the ensuing silence as everypony stared at Chrysalis. Applejack slowly stood up and placed her fists on the table. “Care to repeat yourself?” She asked with unnerving calmness.

Realizing she was caught, Chrysalis gave out the truth. “You do know that you have one of the most expansive families across Equestria, right? Then it shouldn’t be so surprising that almost every changeling has gathered love from somepony in your family at least once in their life. It’s almost considered a rite of passage to get love from the Apple family at this point.” Well it was more like a final test for gatherers but more or less the same. Chrysalis could sense Applejack’s emotions turn from a fiery blaze of anger to a storm of conflicting emotions. The mare was angry for her family being used as food, but also a heaping of pride at being part of something so important. There was also some confusion and embarrassment mixed in as well, but to a smaller degree.

“Oh. Well as long as they aren’t being hurt, I guess it’s alright,” she grumbled out, “But how do you have so much ‘experience’, hmm?”

Chrysalis silently cursed as she hoped the mare would forget about that. Sighing, she said, “I may have sampled a few handfuls of the family in passing to my next target, especially that one strangely excited male from Appleloosa.” She noticed the others giving her strange looks. “What?”

Rarity coughed and moved to cover Spike’s ears. “By ‘sampling’ do you mean…?”

“What?! No!” Chrysalis sputtered out as the realization hit her, “Get your mind out of the gutter! It was only some flirting and maybe a small date at most from me. I can’t speak for the other changelings though.” She certainly remembered some of the reports of changelings who gathered love from the Apple family regularly. A few of them were quite detailed and if they weren’t supposed to be official records she would have burned them on the spot.

A gleam of intrigue flashed in Rarity’s eyes. “Not your type then?” she asked, but Chrysalis ignored her.

Applejack seemed to deflate upon hearing this and pondered aloud, “Huh, that would explain why some of the stallions at the reunions would always have contests about how many mares they seduced. Always thought those numbers were a load of horse apples.” A thought struck her. “Wait a sec, why haven’t any of you tried to get love from my family here in Ponyville? We got plenty of love here!”

“I have no idea,” Chrysalis said with her best poker face. Truth be told, she was staring right at the half of the reason for it. Upon researching the Elements, Chrysalis had found a significant pile of complaints lodged against Applejack, particularly from the female changelings. None of them could get close to her brother when she was around and it seemed that he was one of the prize targets among the ones who preyed on the Apples. Chrysalis found some of the rumors about this ‘Big Mac’ to be highly exaggerated, especially in regards to his anatomy. Then, of course, there were the males who couldn’t keep up with her in terms of physique. They were also scared of her brother and of what he could do if they were caught fooling around with the mare. Thankfully, Applejack accepted the explanation though she was still disgruntled over it.

“Thanks for the suggestions, girls,” Twilight spoke up. Her grin was heavily strained, but she managed it well. “We’ll try to come up with more ideas later, but for now we can work with this. I’m sorry to drop this on you so suddenly, but I couldn’t do it alone.”

Rarity dismissed her with a wave. “Nonsense. We’re always happy to help you with anything you need.” Fluttershy nodded in agreement.

“Eeyup,” Applejack added, “but a little warning would’ve been nice. Nearly scared the pants right off me!”

“Speak for yourself. I loved this surprise!” Pinkie exclaimed. “I can’t wait to try cooking with love! Not that I don’t already do that, but actual love this time!”

“Again, thank you. Chrysalis and I will be setting things up for the experiment and data recording. You girls get ready for it too. I haven’t decided on an order yet so I’ll let you know when I do.” Twilight scribbled away as she spoke, planning different designs for the experiments.

The mares soon left, leaving Twilight, Chrysalis, and Spike alone in the kitchen.
Twilight was focused on the paper before her while Spike set about cleaning up the room. Chrysalis glanced between the both of them before breaking the silence.

“I think that went rather well. I don’t know why you were so worried, Twilight.”

The unicorn’s only response was to bang her head against the table, much to Spike’s confusion.

Interlude: How Spiders Work

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Later that night in Manehatten...

The lights from the city streets below provided an ambient luminescence to the luxury penthouse through the sheer curtains pulled across the windows. The only other source of light was from a dozen candles scattered across the room, each one flickering with a green flame. In the middle of those candles were a trio of figures laying atop a massive bed, on silk sheets that were rumpled and stained with various body fluids. Two of the figures were stallions, a slim earth pony who was in charge of the city and a fair unicorn who owned the large bank down the street. Both had far-away gazes in their emerald tinted eyes as they worked to please the female unicorn.

“Mmm, yes. That’s it, studs. Give me your love,” she said as she felt them piston in and out of both her holes. Her horn was lit with a dull, green glow, drawing in the trickles of love from the two stallions. It wasn’t much, given that these were just one night stands, but if taken from numerous stallions across the city, then it came out to a sizable sum. If only it didn’t take so long to weave her tangled webs.

The stallion below her grunted out, “M-mistress, I’m close..”

“Mph, same here..” said the one behind her.

‘Silk Weaver’ spared each of them a caressing hand on their cheek and lustfully spoke, “Finish inside me. Show me your love!”

Both stallions tensed as they hilted deep inside the mare and released their seed. A moment later, they each pulled out and promptly fell unconscious from exhaustion.

Silk’s smile fell away before her disguise, leaving only Black Widow and a look of frustration. “Typical. All that talk about being better than the other and they’re out after the first shot. If they weren’t so important, I’d drain them into shriveled prunes and drop them in the sewers.” She flared her magic to clean out the worthless seed inside her. The fools didn’t deserve to have such an honor.

Black Widow grabbed a red silk night robe and went to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of wine. A bit of the stronger stuff to wash away the lingering dissatisfaction of the stallions in her room. With the glass in hand, she stepped out onto the breezy balcony and sipped at her wine as she watched the city streets below her.

Taxis were still running about, carrying couples back from their dates, or drunkards from the bar. Few ponies walked the streets this late, and the few who did were moving briskly to their destination. From so high up, Widow could peer into some of the alleyways and see a couple hobos bedding down for the night.

‘I’ll need to check on my little thralls at the fashion district tomorrow. My perfumes should be distributed across half the city by now.’ Just as the thought crossed her mind, a cart full of perfume bottles made its way down the street. The markings on the boxes clearly labeled them as her brand, L'attrait de la Soie. Painstaking years of schmoozing, bribing, and seducing the right ponies have been poured into Black Widow’s magnum opus of social webs. ‘In a few months, this whole city will be wrapped around my finger and the Princesses will be none the wiser. The Hive crown is as good as mine.’

The image of Widow’s achievement and following power gain was more than enough to excite her loins once more. Unfortunately, all she had at the moment were two unconscious stallions in her room and toys weren’t enough for her anymore.

‘Maybe I should call up that cute little receptionist? I bet she’d know a thing or two on how to use her tongue with how much she talks. Might even be a freak in bed,’ she wondered. It wouldn’t even be difficult for her to do either. She already had most of the hotel staff either under her thrall or in her pocket. What was one more caught in her web? Of course, Widow would have to be careful to not arouse too much suspicion. No sense in letting her delicate social web fall apart for one little floozy.

While most changelings would have been content with impersonating a pony for a few days to get some quick love before returning to the hive, Black Widow wanted to put down roots and draw in her prey. Gifted with a set of lust-inducing pheromones, Widow could wrap lesser stallions around her finger with only a few words and a sweet scent. It took years, but Widow could easily say that she had most of this city under her control through a few key figures. The best part was that none of the ponies beneath her realized it. The thought of her hidden power was far more arousing than whatever the stallions back in her room tried to do.

‘If only these ponies knew who was watching them. They wouldn’t be so brave to stay out at night.’ Feeling her loins heat up, Widow began to bring her free hand down to her nethers. However, before she could properly pleasure herself, a buzz rang in her ear.

Widow sighed. “Of course I have to get a call right now.” She walked back to her bedroom and, after double checking that the males couldn’t hear her, stood in front of the body length mirror. A flash of magic later, the image of one of her soldiers appeared. “I hope you have a good reason for calling me so late.”

The soldier saluted and said, “Your highness, a special report came in earlier today from one of our integrators in Ponyville. She delivered a message from Princess Chrysalis herself saying that she will not be returning to the hive for some time and is staying in Ponyville.”

Black Widow raised an eyebrow at this information. “Is that all?”

The soldier nodded. “That’s all that the report said, ma’am. You wanted to know about her movements and this happened after she had supposedly left for Canterlot the same morning.”

“I see. Dismissed.” The image faded and Widow returned to the balcony once more but now with a calculating mind.

“What are you up to, little sister?” she mused aloud, “What sort of harebrained scheme do you have in mind this time?” Chrysalis was never one for the fine art of subtlety. Almost always going bold in her gathering methods to gather as much as she could, with the wedding fiasco being the biggest and boldest she could go. It was no wonder she failed so spectacularly.

Even so, Widow recalled how much love energy her sister had gathered recently and it irked her to no end. How could a changeling who cringed at the thought of spreading her legs get so much love? No, she had to be cheating. There was no other explanation. The only question was how she was doing it.

Widow growled, ‘If that idiot keeps it up, she’ll pay off her debt in no time at all.” Widow didn’t want to even conceive the notion that Chrysalis might become queen. No, such a reckless changeling wouldn’t be fit to rule the Hive. That position required patience, precision, and a firm grasp of power, things that Widow spent years to cultivate for when she became Queen. If she lost, then it would be for naught.

The wine glass shattering in her hand broke Widow out of her trance, leaving a mess on the floor and her robe. Sighing, she stripped and tossed her robe aside for the maids to clean up later. She recalled the report about Chrysalis and thought, ‘Maybe I should pay my dear sister a visit. After all, it would be remiss of me as a big sister to not check up on her. Love knows she’s bound to make mistakes.’

A sinister grin creeped onto her face as a familiar plan began to form. “So many easy, exploitable mistakes.”

Author's Notes:

Let me speak my piece before you pull out the pitchforks. Yes, yes, I'm super late and I take forever to write, but hear me out. I want you to know that I had a long chapter that was half written around new years time but it was...bland to say the least, and that's a lot considering Pinkie pie was involved. I rediscovered the outline I had made (as well as missed opportunities during the rewriting ) and did some brainstorming for a while to inject some much needed life and energy into this arc. It's looking a lot better and I'm excited to try to bring it to you, which leads to my next point.

I'm taking a page from Wanderer D's Ranger fic (godDAMN I love that fic) and I'm going to try to write shorter chapters from here on out. Writing and editing 5k chapters is a pain in the ass with all the studying I'm doing so 1-3k chapters should make it easier to get things out. That much I can easily do if I'm on a roll. Even as I write this, I have another chapter that's nearing completion. Might be done before finals.

Thanks to Thardoc, Pumpernickel rye, and The Wind King for their help. Special thanks to you readers for sticking with me for so long.

How Animals Work (part 1)

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‘Sweet Heart’ grimaced as she stared at the cottage in the distance and it grew deeper the closer she approached. The cottage itself looked quite peaceful and idyllic. The little brook that trailed in front of it gurgled contently and the trees surrounding it appeared peaceful despite their proximity to the Everfree. To any hopeless romantic pony, this was the perfect place to live quietly. However, Chrysalis’ keen eyesight and emotional senses picked out every single animal that lived around the place, hiding in the brush or up in the branches. Suffice to say, she didn’t like the numbers she was facing, much less the different kinds of animals. It was too early in the day to deal with this.

“Twilight, what are we doing here?” Chrysalis turned to the purple unicorn, who was carrying several pieces of equipment in her magic behind her, “I already said that love from animals works about as well as eating air.”

“Yes, and you also said that it would take a lot of animals to get any amount of love. Well, Fluttershy is the only pony around with enough animals for testing and this is an experiment to properly document the amount of love gathered from such a method. I don’t know if changelings have done such research but from the sound of things, they likely didn’t keep good records.”

Chrysalis sniffed. “We keep excellent records, for your information. I just don’t happen to remember them well.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Even so, we’re still going to record this so that I have a baseline to work from.”

“Oh, alright. But don’t say I didn’t tell you so.” Chrysalis strode up to the door and knocked on it. A muffled voice was heard and then the door opened to show a small white rabbit staring up at the visitors. Chrysalis moved to enter, but the rabbit glared at her and then slammed the door in her face, nearly hitting her. “What the-?”

The door opened up again a second later, revealing Fluttershy with an apologetic smile. “I’m so sorry about that. Angel is in a bit of a mood after getting his shots, but he’s not usually this rude to visitors.” Perched on her shoulder was said bunny, who was glaring daggers at Chrysalis, or at least her disguise. “Please, come in. I just made some tea.”

Chrysalis stepped in and took one quick glance around the room. She then immediately turned on her heels and stepped back outside. “You know, today’s such a pleasant day. Why waste it inside? We can do this experiment outside, right Twilight?” she asked with a pleading grin.

Twilight and Fluttershy shared a bemused expression, and Fluttershy asked, “Is something wrong?”

“Wrong? Why would anything be wrong? There’s nothing wrong at all,” Chrysalis said, her words clipped and slightly manic, “Everything is the complete opposite of wrong. Now can we please do this experiment elsewhere? Some place with less rats?” The desperation in her voice, as well as the pitch, grew higher with each word.

Turning around, Twilight and Fluttershy saw the makeshift hotel for mice that sat in the middle of the room. It was almost as if somepony had taken an open room dollhouse and tossed out all the fancy clothes and accessories to make room for the rodents to run around in. There were even little tunnels connecting the rooms like a massive hamster cage. Almost every room of the hotel was filled with mice, but none of them paid the ponies any mind.

“They’re not rats,” Fluttershy clarified, “They’re just mice.” She ducked behind Twilight as Chrysalis yelled back.

“They’re vermin! They are nothing but an infestation who will consume everything!” Chrysalis got close to Fluttershy’s face, looming over the frightened pegasus as she moved closer. “Look into those beady little eyes of theirs and tell me that’s the face of mercy!” she spat.

Twilight pulled Chrysalis away with her magic. “Stop that. We’re here to perform the experiment, so stop giving excuses to get out of it.”

Chrysalis reeled back as if struck. “Excuse? I’m only voicing my concerns on where we perform our experiment.” She glared at Twilight defiantly.

The glare was returned in kind, but out of frustration. Still, it didn’t last long as Twilight seemed to come to a realization. “Chrysalis... are you afraid of mice?”

“A queen fears nothing!” Chrysalis folded her arms assertively, but she refused to meet Twilight’s eyes. “I’m just deeply concerned about my, I mean, our safety and well-being. You never know when or where the little monsters will show up and bite you to little bits!” She chomped her teeth a few times for emphasis. Chrysalis shuddered as if she could already feel the little critters crawl all over her skin and under her clothes.

Sighing, Twilight looked to Fluttershy apologetically. “Sorry about this. Can we do this outside?”

Fluttershy nodded. “That would be best. I can’t really move the mice until the owner comes to pick them up next week.”

“Then I’ll go set up the equipment while you two get the animals together.”

Chrysalis grimaced. “Fine, but if so much as see a tail of those things, I’m outta here. Love or not.”

***

Twilight made one last calibration to the testing equipment, much to Chrysalis’ annoyance. “Alright, so for the first series of tests, we’ll be starting off with domestic animals. Given that they are common pets, I believe they should put out a significant amount of love energy compared to more wild animals. Let’s start off with some kittens.”

Chrysalis advanced towards Fluttershy, who sat on the ground with several cats playing on and around her. Chrysalis couldn’t recall the last time she had interacted with a cat. Probably because the last cat she met hissed at her and ran off after she replaced the owner. Thankfully, it seemed to be able to take care of itself at least.

Fluttershy picked up a pair of kittens in her lap and gently held them out for the changeling to take. “Just hold them in your arms and they should curl up. Mind the claws, though.” The kittens mewled as if to agree with her.

As gingerly as she could, Chrysalis picked them up and held them close to her bosom. The kittens purred as they nuzzled her chest, one of them even climbing into her cleavage for a better spot. “Are you getting anything, Twilight?” Chrysalis asked, wincing slightly at the claws that pressed into her skin.

“Only ambient noise.”

Chrysalis huffed and said, “Fine.” She maneuvered her arms around to pet the kitten on her chest while holding the other. “How’s that?”

“Still ambie- wait, no… okay, just a little bit more than ambient noise, but not much and it keeps disappearing,” Twilight said as she examined the instruments.

Fluttershy spoke up, “Um, maybe you should try showing him some more affection?”

“If by that, you mean calling it by some grossly cute pet names, then I’ll pass.” Chrysalis’ face twisted in disgust at the thought of even saying something like ‘Snookums’ or ‘Fluffy-Wuffy’.

“Then how about adding more cats?” Fluttershy patted the ground next to her, and once Chrysalis sat down, she gently placed more and more kittens in the changeling’s care. A couple on her legs, another for her arms, three to climb the back, one for the shoulders, and several around her waist. In seconds, the little kittens were jumping and climbing all over Chrysalis like she was some kind of living mountain. “Will that work, Twilight?”

“Please tell me it doesn’t-Ow! Stop scratching!” Chrysalis said as she tried her hardest to stay perfectly still, lest she drop any kittens.

Twilight frowned as she looked over the data. “It’s more than before, but the readings are a little erratic. Possibly due to either the number of kittens or just because they’re cats. I would need to conduct more tests to confirm it though.”

“How about we move on to something else? Can you get these cats off me already?” Almost as soon as Chrysalis asked, a torrent of water splashed down upon her, drenching her and the kittens. Spooked by the sudden bath, the cats howled and scattered across the yard, but not before leaving dozens of little scratches across Chrysalis’ skin as they lashed out. Fluttershy gasped and ran off after the kittens, leaving Chrysalis to writhe in annoying pain.

“Ow, ow, ow! How do tiny claws get so deep?” Chrysalis hissed out. Amidst all her pain, she felt her emotional senses flare as she picked up a burst of pride, and then she heard the laughing.

“Who likes wet pussy now?” Rainbow Dash taunted from on top of her recently emptied raincloud. She then raced off, laughing as Chrysalis shot magic blasts in her general direction until she was out of sight.

How Love Works

by musicman722

How Anniversaries Work (Edited)

How the Morning After Works

How Grudges Work

How Friends Work

How Husbands Work

How Arguments Work

How Secrets Work

How Roommates Work

How Introductions Work

Interlude: How Spiders Work

How Animals Work (part 1)