> "YOU DID WHAT!?"
>  by Dr Atlas
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> TA DA!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“YEEEAAAAWWWWH...aaaawn.”

Cadance rubbed her eyes and got out of bed, still tired from the lack of sleep she’s been getting. She looked out the window to see it was still night, and judging by the moon, it was probably midnight.

She sighed and got up on all fours, looking around in a daze until her eyes adjusted to the lack of light, she turned around to see that Shining still wasn't in bed with her. “Still out patrolling…” She yawned again and made her way to the bathroom. Still trying to figure out why she was still waking up in the middle of the night.

“First an invasion, now no sleep.” She rubbed her head and looked at the bathroom mirror, starting to see the bags in her eyes. “I swear, my body must be trying to adjust to a bed instead of a hard crystal floor.”

She closed her eyes again, still trying to understand why this was happening. She did feel a bit stressed out from the attack, but at least it was over, so why was she still like this, was she paranoid that it might happen again, or was the after party just too much for her to handle, she groaned and decided to go back to bed, knowing this was pointless, she opened her eyes again and looked at the mirror.

Her heart almost leapt to her throat once she saw what was behind her, it was a monster she could recognize in seconds, its blue eyes, black body, and sharp fangs almost made her scream. She turned around and flared up her horn ready to take out the...blue haired, white stallion by the door?

“Oh, hey Cadance. You okay?”

Cadance unflared her horn and put a hoof to her chest, seeing it was her husband and not a bloodthirsty changeling. “Sh...Shining! D-d-don’t sneak up on me like that!”

Shining put his hooves up in defence. “Sorry Cadance, I was just wondering why you were in here and not in bed.”

Cadance finally caught her breath and put her hoof back down. “N-no, it’s not your fault...I’m just...I haven’t been getting any sleep, Shining..”

Shining frowned. “How come?”

Cadance groaned. “Because of the attack and probably from staying in a cave.”

Shining scuffed the ground. “I’m sure the cave wasn’t that bad.”

Cadance glared at him. “Oh, it was bad; sleeping in there on hard floor, and the worst part was how those...changelings were able to get me there.”

Shining raised an eye. “Well, ponynapping a princess is probably easy.”

Cadance raised an eye back. “Does the same go for mind controlling a prince?”

Shining laughed. “Yeah, probably.”

Cadance glanced over at the mirror again. “I just hope they don’t try this again, attacking a whole town is one thing, but holding a princess hostage, that’s just...just…” She looked down, not wanting to say it.

“Simple?”

“‘Simple?’” Cadance wasn’t sure she heard that right. “Shining, just because most stories involve princesses getting captured doesn’t mean that...hu?” Cadance looked back up at the mirror to see that she was alone again. “Shining?” She then turned around, seeing that he wasn’t by the door anymore.

“Um...Shining, where’d you go?” Cadance stepped out of the bathroom, still seeing no Shining in sight.

“I dunno, maybe he’s still out guarding. That’s why it was pretty easy to take his place.”

Cadance froze, that voice didn’t sound like Shining at all. “W-who’s ther-”

*SMACK*

Cadance fell to the floor with a thud, her whole head in pain. “Did I get it?” The same voice called out. Cadance tried getting back up, but something held her down, it wasn’t until she looked back up that she saw just what it was.

“No? Okay then, here we go. ONE MORE TIME!” Out of the corner of her eye, Cadance saw something come straight toward her face; she closed her eyes and prepared for even more pain.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


“Let’s get ready to PAAARTAAAY!”

Every changeling in the cave cheered once the music started blaring through the speakers, causing the entire ground to shake. Almost every changeling danced to the sound of the beat while all the others who weren’t dancing sat in the back, chatting amongst themselves. One group in particular were chatting more than others. All of them sitting around a table that, along with the speakers, sound equipment, and many other objects, were stolen over the past years.

They were all calmly conversing until one changeling hit his head on the table and sighed. “What’s the matter, Shawn?” One changeling asked, nudging him. “Can’t ya just enjoy the party? It’s pretty-”

“Wrong.” Shawn grumbled.

“Wrong?” A changeling across from him questioned. “What do you mean ‘wrong?’ This is great!”

“But it’s not right.” Shawn looked over the table; about five other changelings were sitting with him; Phil, Stan, Carson, Mark, and Addison; all of whom decided to join him.

“I don’t see what’s wrong about it.” Phil looked over at the still raving changelings. “Seems pretty good to me.”

“Don’t you see it?” Shaw stood up and slammed both his hooves on the table. “This is just to distract us from what’s really going on.”

Carson snickered. “Oooohh~ somehow throwing a party is a bad thing.” He mocked.

Addison nodded. “Yeah Shawn, I don’t see a problem with this; seems like everyling-”

“Will die…” Shawn sat down and looked at everyone at the table. All of them very concerned with that statement. “Guys, how long has it been since the attack.”

Stan patted his hooves to simulate counting. “Bout a couple days...probably...three.”

“And how long can changelings last without food?”

Phil rolled his eyes. “So you’re sayin’ that you’re mad just because of a small food shortage?”

“I’m not mad.” Shawn looked away and sighed. “I’m just worried about what will happen, and this isn’t a small food shortage either.”

Mark shrugged. “So, it’s not like we can’t get more.”

Shawn glared at all of them. “Let me ask you guys something else, how much love were we getting before the attack?”

Addison thought about it. “Not much actually.”

Phil stood up. “But we made do. We’ve survived for a long time, Shawn, and I’m sure we’ll continue doing it.”

Shawn glared at him. “But we were doing horrible; it took like...ten changelings to get one ration of love for the hive.”

Phil sat back down. “So, we’ll just send out more.”

Shawn looked up at the other brothers and sisters. “Who’s gonna make them?”

“What do you mean?” Stan asked. “We’ll just tell them to-”

Shawn interrupted him. “We don’t have a leader right now. So I doubt one of us asking a changeling to work will make them do it.”

Carson shook his head. “Too soon bro. Too soon.”

The others nodded, making Shawn about to rip his ear stems off. “What do you mean ‘too soon’ I’m pointing out that-”

“Our queen can’t walk anymore.” Mark said.

“Or talk.” Addison added.

“Or hear.” Carson looked at the party. “Which is why we’re doin’ this right now.”

“Oh!” Shawn yelled. “So you’re saying this is to celebrate what happened to our queen!”

Others looked at Carson, who held up his hooves in defense. “Hey, I didn’t say that! This party is to lighten up the mood; like Stan said, it’s been about 3 days since the attack, and those days were spent on finding other changelings, walking back home, carrying Chrysie along for the road, and sulking all the way through.”

Shawn groaned. “But we shouldn’t be celebrating. We didn’t even find everyling!”

Carson stretched. “There were enough to have a rave.”

Shawn was ready to leap across the table and start a fight, but he remained calm. “For all we know, there’s changelings out there that are lost, starving, and on the verge of-”

“Finding their way back home.” Phil finished. “Shawn, if we can find our way, so can they, so stop worrying about the future and live for the moment, alright?”

“The queen would say different.” Shawn said. “She would plan ahead.”

“Or maybe she would plan another attack.” Carson shrugged. “One that doesn’t involve running in and making a mess.”

“What were we supposed to do?” Stan asked. “Just walk in and expect they’ll treat us with respect. I hardly doubt that white tyrant would even let us live anyway.”

Carson nodded. “Yeah, ponies look at us like monsters, Shawn. So I don’t think they’ll love us.”

Shawn looked up. “Maybe if we didn’t act like monsters…”

“Hey!” Carson yelled. “What makes us act like-”

Shawn took a deep breath. “We ponynapped the princess, had the queen mind control the prince, smashed a shield, fought tons of ponies, and growled and hissed the entire time!”

Mark raised his hoof. “But the queen told us not to say anything.”

Addison nodded. “Yeah, she said it would make us look more like them.”

“How is that a bad thing?” Shawn rubbed his head. He was starting to get a headache from this. “I don’t even know how we managed to ponynap her.”

The others had to agree, capturing an alicorn is pretty tricky, they were just lucky enough to catch her off guard. Carson shrugged. “Hey, Princesses are pretty easy to capture. I don’t wanna be discriminate or anything, but…” He started trailing off.

Stan nodded. “Well, we were pretty lucky to pull it off. Even if it was pretty stupid for the queen to even think a small group of changelings could-”

Phil put an arm on the table. “Hey! are you gonna question the queen? Besides, she hit her head hard enough, I’m sure she’ll come up with something else when she wakes up.” He chuckled at his own joke. No one else did.

Shawn was about to say something, but Addison stood up first. “Wait, she’s still alive?”

All the changelings at the table raised an eye at him. “Uh...duh,” Mark said. “of course she’s still alive; she’s just in a coma.”

“She is? For how long?” Addison asked.

Phil looked down. “Who knows, the caretakers said it’s gonna be a while.” He looked back up. “She’s not like us, Addison, she can’t hit the ground from high in the sky and get back up, her body is too big, unlike our small design.” Phil held a hoof to his chest and smiled.

Addison scuffed his hoof. “I hope she’ll be okay…”

Phil patted his back. “Ey! Cheer up. I’m sure she will, as will all of us. We have already mourned enough for the failed attack and for our lost brothers and sisters, and the last thing we should do at a party is remember what happened, alright?” Phil looked over at his brothers, all of them tried to agree, but they could only look away, not even wanting to make eye contact. Phil rolled his eyes. “Fine, just sit here and remember the past, as for me...” He sat up and made his way to the dancefloor. “I’m gonna dance my mind off of things.”

Carson shrugged. “I guess that’s better than staying here.” He stood up. “You guys wanna join?”

Addison, Stan, and Mark shrugged as well. “Phil’s probably right.” Stan said. “It’s better to take our minds off of what happened.”

The changelings started walking away, but Addison turned around to see that Shawn was still sitting. “Shawn, aren’t you commin’?”

Shawn wasn’t listening, he was staring off, no longer caring what was happening, all he knew was that by the end of this month, he, his brothers, and sisters would start to starve, and before anyling knew it, they would turn on each other, just for food.

“Hey!” Addison yelled. “Shawn! Are you gonna dance or-”

“No” Shawn grumbled. “I’m not.”

Addison sighed. “Alright, suit yourself.” He looked back at Shawn one more time and said. “But the more you sit there, the worse it’ll get.”

Once he left, Shawn rested his head on the table. Still flustered from what was happening. “This is just great.” He said to himself. “We have no ruler, no love, and no plan on what to do. We’re all dead bugs...” He looked over at the still dancing changelings, all of them either break dancing or slow dancing or bag dancing or prancing or-

“Bag?” Shawn rose up and saw that there was indeed a changeling with a bag sitting right next to the entrance to this part of the hive, but this changeling looked very...strange. “No way…” Shawn started making his way around the dance floor and to the entrance, wanting to make sure his blue eyes weren’t deceiving him.

Once he was close enough, the changeling looked away from his bag and at him. His big blue eyes, big head, big body, big...everything made Shawn prove his thoughts on just who this bug is. “Uh? OH! Hi Shawn, fancy meeting you here.”

Shawn’s ear stems twitched once he heard the changeling talk. His voice sounded just like him too. “T-Twig?” He said. “I-Is that you?”

The big changeling picked one of his ears. “I think it is, last time I checked my name was Twig...or at least, that’s what my brothers called me. So...yeah, I think it is me.”

Shawn blinked twice. “B-but how did...you were...are…”

Twig wrapped his arm around the bag he had next to him and laughed. “Yeah, I had a crazy few days I went from here to there to over there!” He pointed in random directions with his other arm, knocking Shawn in the face. “And all the while, I was having as much fun as I could.”

Shawn rubbed his snout and continued looking at Twig in dismay. “How are you here, Twig, I thought...well…”

“Well what?” Twig flopped his ears and tilted his big head. “Did you guys think I abandoned you?”

“No, Twig. We thought that-” Shawn then felt his whole body lose all of its oxygen once Twig hugged him.

“Because a brother like me would never do something like that to you guys! I am always loyal, always fearless, always...why are you turning blue, Shawn?” After a few seconds of silence, Twig shrugged and let go of him, making him fall to the floor and gasp for air. “Uh...Shawn, you okay?”

Once Shawn sucked in enough air to talk, he stood up and said, “Okay...one: don’t do that, and two: W-where have you been? When we were doing roll call; you weren’t there.”

Twig held his head high. “That’s because I didn’t fly as far as you guys. I didn’t even make it out of Canterlot.”

“R-really?” Shawn knew Twig was heavy, but he didn’t know he was heavy enough stay grounded after a magical blast. “How? Even Chrysalis-”

“I was inside, silly.” Twig patted Shawn’s head, making him cringe with every pat. “When the wave came in; it hit me so hard that I went through three walls until I landed in an alley way. It was pretty fun.”

Shawn wasn't surprised to hear that, pain was always fun for Twig, not causing it, just experiencing it. “So, you didn’t fly off because you were inside?” That question made Shawn think that Twig wasn’t the only one who was inside buildings when the blast came.

Twig nodded and hugged his bag again. “Yup, and I even got something from Canterlot to help you guys.”

“Help? You mean you brought us food? Love? Is that what’s in the bag” He looked at the bag. It was pretty big, almost as big as Twig.

Twig smiled. “Yup, this bag is to help with the big plan.”

“Well, Twig, we are going to be very thankful that you...plan?” Shawn stepped back. “What do you mean? We don’t have a-”

Twig hoisted the bag on his back. “Don’t worry, Shawn. I made sure to go step by step this time, I didn’t even get caught.”

Shawn raised an eye. “Um...okay, glad to know you were undetected when getting love.”

Twig nodded. “Yup, not a single guard caught me, all thanks to the technique Baron Nelson taught me, spinning around three times in a mirror without looking really helps.”

Shawn continued questioning all of this. “But B.N. isn’t that good of a teacher, heck, he’s so old that he doesn’t address everyone as “someling” He just says somebu-”

“Twig? Hey! Twig, that you!?”

Shawn and Twig turned to the crowd to see some changelings were starting to notice his presence. Twig smiled, happy to know the brothers and sisters still knew him. More changelings started seeing him, and before anyone knew it, the DJ’s stopped playing the music to see what the commotion was all about.

The fedora wearing changeling grabbed a headset and yelled out. “Well well well, if it ain’t-”

“The big bug himself!” The other one finished. “Twig, is that really you dude?”

Twig waved. “Yup! It’s me alright!”

Some changelings gasped while others wondered how a changeling like him made it here. “How the heck did you get here!” One called out. “You can’t even find the bathroom to this place.”

“That’s because I wasn’t looking for the bathroom.” Twig smiled and started walking through the crowd. “I was looking for you guys, going around the forest, trying to find out where our home was, and before I knew it, I came across a cave that kinda looked like this one, except it is this one, and once I went in, I met one of my brothers and said hi, then other brothers started noticing, then one of them wondered how I got here, and then I started walking through crowd, explaining how I-”

“Okay, Okay!” The changeling who asked said. “We get it, you found us.”

Shawn came up behind Twig and said, “But what’s even better is that he found food for us!”

“Food!?” A small uproar started happening, making the DJ’s tap their mics to calm everyone down.

“Hey, Twig,” One DJ yelled. “I think I speak for all of us when I say-”

“You should share whatever’s in the bag with us-” The other said.

“If you know what we mean.”

The changelings started crowding around Twig, forcing Shawn to step back, not wanting to get pounced on by hungry bugs. Twig seemed oblivious to how hungry everyone was and smiled. “Okie dokie, I guess it is better to do it now, we can plan later.”

The changelings ignored that and walked closer and closer to Twig as he set the bag down, some were thinking about knocking him down and taking it, but with how strong Twig was, they knew that was suicide, so they waited until he untied the strings and prepared to open.

“Is everyling ready?” Twig asked. Every changeling nodded furiously, their mouths drooling and their tongues hanging out like dogs. Twig smiled, closed his eyes, and said. “Okay! Here we go!”

With one pull, Twig yanked the bag off and showed the contents of it, which made everyone in the room gasp and step back, some knocked tables over and hid behind them, others hid behind others, a couple fainted on the spot, and even the DJ’s took cover behind the sound systems. As for Twig, he only threw the bag off to the side, opened his eyes, and smiled. “TA DA!” Twig pointed both his hooves at what was now on the floor. It was a tied up, unconscious, tall, pink, powerful, pretty...princess.

Everyone was silent; no one dared to say a word in fear that it would wake her up. It wasn’t until Shawn got the guts to step up and say. “T-T-Twig...i-i-i-is t-t-that...t-the...the.”

“Princess?” Twig smiled and wrapped an arm around the still sleeping princess. “Yup, all tied up and ready to go. So, what do you guys think, should we hang it in the queen’s room to surprise her, or should we play twenty questions?”
> What now?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Okay! Everyling, just stay calm! Don’t panic, and try not to-”

“Panic! D-Did someling say panic! A-are we supposed to panic!?”

“PANIC!!!”

Within seconds the entire hive started to scream and yell. Every changeling ran around, knocking over tables and other changelings. The only one who seemed calm was Twig, who continued holding the unconscious princess. “What’s everyone doing?” Twig asked. “OH! Are we dancing?”

Shawn facehoofed, realizing this wasn’t working. “No, Twig, but we were dancing until you showed up.”

“Then lets dance again! I even have a dancing partner.” Twig held up the princess and spun her around a few times and held her like she was part of a duet. Shawn could only look on in annoyance.

“Oh...thank queen.” One of the panicking changelings came up beside Shawn. “I thought for sure that was the white one.”

Shawn rolled his eyes. “Stan, who cares if it’s white, pink, red, black, or even magenta! This a princess we got on our hooves!”

Another changeling ran up to them. “Who makes alicorns red and black, that’s kinda unoriginal, and how’d he even ponynap her anyway?”

Twig overheard and stopped dancing with the princess by dropping her on the floor. “It was easy, Carson. All I did was walk in, disguise as someone, waited until she was distracted, then BAM! right in the knockout spot.”

Carson walked toward him. “Twig...Why would you do that!?”

“Well, if I hit her somewhere else, then she wouldn’t-”

Carson ran up to him. “No Twig, I mean why? Why did you ponynap her?”

Twig scratched his head. “We need her for the plan, right?”

The other three changeling looked at one another. “Twig…” Stan started. “We don’t have a plan yet, and even if we did, it probably wouldn’t involve ponynapping princesses.”

“Y-you guys don’t have a plan?” As normal, Twig started getting confused. “But I thought the queen said-”

“The queen is currently in a coma,” Carson explained. “and even if she wasn’t, she wouldn’t want a princess.”

“S-she wouldn’t?”

Carson growled.” No, Twig she wouldn’t, and neither do we, what you did was idiotic, stupid, and down right-”

Everyone who was paying attention to Twig started to see it, the wiggling mouth, the fidgeting hooves, and the watering eyes. “Oh, for queens sake, Twig…” Carson rolled his eyes. and lowered his ears, knowing what would happen next.

“I-I-I did bad?...I...I d-did something...something.” Twig sniffed. “S-S-Stupid…”

“Yeah, Twig, you-”

*SMACK*

 “OW!” Carson turned around to see Stan glaring at him. “What was that for?”

“Carson!” Stan yelled. “You can’t just say something like that to him! You know how he-”

“Oh boo hoo, I hurt Twig’s feelings.” Carson rubbed the back of his head and looked back at Twig. “The big hatchling needs to learn what's wrong and right, and he did something that even the queen would be ashamed of.”

“T-T-The queen?” Twig sniffed again and tried getting the tears out of his eyes, but it was getting too much for him.

“Yeah, she’d probably hate what you did. I wouldn’t be surprised if she casted you away after this little stunt you pulled!”

That finally did it. That crossed the line. Twig couldn’t take anymore. He took a deep breath and with a broken heart; he cried, he sobbed, he even tried holding the unconscious princess for comfort, but all it did was create another roar of cries, he cried so loud that everyone in the hive stopped panicking and pulled their ear stems down to block out the noise.

One of the DJ’s stood up to see what the commotion was about and put on a headset. “Alright, what’s wrong with Twig?”

Shawn leaned toward Carson. “Jerkson over here decided to make Twig sad.”

“I just reminded the big lug that he’s a complete-”

*SMACK*

“OW! Will ya stop!”

Stan growled at him. “Once you stop acting like a flank-hole, then I will, but until then…” Stan raised his hoof and prepared for another hit, but Twig made another roar of cries toward them.

Twig started breathing heavily and held the unconscious princess closer. “I-I-I-I-Ieheeheeee didn’t know...I-I-I thaaaahahaawwt that I was d-d-d-d-d-doing gooooohohohooood. WAAAAAAAAHahahaaaa!”

All the changeling in the room started to cringe, it wasn't the first time they saw Twig cry, and even now it was still pretty hard to see. Shawn stepped forward and decided to say something. “Look, Twig, i-it’s not your...well...it is...b-but what you did was...uh…”

“H-h-h-huuuorible?” Twig sniffed again and held his head under the princess’s neck.

“Nononono! W-what you did was..uh…” Shawn looked around the room, hoping others would help him out, but the majority of them were either looking away or scuffing their hooves. “What you did waaaaaas...awesome!” Shawn blurted out.

Twig wiped the snot from his nose. “A-awesome?” He hiccuped.

“Y-yeah! Y-you did something that noling has ever done before!” Shawn looked back and forth, seeing others nodding in agreement, or at least looking like it.

 Twig pulled his head out. “R-really?”

Shawn nodded. “Yeah, you singlehoofingly ponynapped a princess. I never heard any changeling ever pull that off on their own...right guys!” He yelled.

The brothers and sisters nodded furiously, hoping Twig wouldn’t scream again. Twig looked around and started to smile. “I-I did something awesome?”

The D’s adjusted their headsets. “Yeah Twig, what you did-”

“Was something that even the queen herself would be proud of!”

Twig frowned. “B-but Carson said-”

“I didn’t mean it…” Twig turned around to see Carson with crossed hooves and a look of annoyance. “I was just...ugh...jealous that you did something cool…” Carson looked at Stan and whispered. “Did I say it right?”

Stan was about to answer, but was interrupted by Twig letting go of the princess and tackling Carson to the ground. “It’s okay Carson! I forgive you, I’m just glad to know what I did was helpful for the hive!”

Carson tried to object, but he couldn’t talk with Twig squeezing the air out of him. Some of the changelings couldn’t help but laugh at the sight, knowing that Twig could forgive pretty easily. Shawn tapped Twig on the shoulder. “I..uh...think that’s good enough, Twig.”

“I dunno.” Stan smirked. “I think Twig still wants to forgive Carson a bit more.” He smiled at Carson, who was still glaring at him.

Twig let go of Carson and smiled. “I’m just glad that she’s still asleep, you wouldn’t believe how many times I had to knock her out while I got here.”

Carson coughed. “W-wait, you had to knock her out more than once?”

Twig nodded. Making others look at the princess who was still tied up. “When exactly did you get a hold of her, Twig?” Stan asked.

Twig crossed his eyes. “Um...probably a few days ago, it took me a while to get her in the first place. I had to wait a few days.”

Shawn tilted his head. “How many times did you-”

“‘bout three, I just kept hitting that knock out spot every time she woke up.”

The others started questioning some of this. On of the DJ’s glanced at Cadance. “At least you put the green gunk on her horn."

“Yup, B.N. told me horns are ponies power source, and where they open cans.”

The others started getting worried again. “Um...Twig?” Shawn said. “How long ago did you...knock her out?”

Twig went crossed eyed again. “Um...I forget…”

“You forget?” Carson ran up to him. “What do ya mean you forget!?”

“The changeling you are reaching is out of service.” Twig smiled while others started panicking again.

“D-does that mean she’ll...wake up again?” One changeling said.

“Are alicorns really as powerful as the queen said?” Said another

“Can she do that blast thing again?”

“Should we panic!?”

“Did someling say pa-”

“ENOUGH!”

Everyone in the cave looked up at the DJ booth to see Shawn with determined eyes. “Listen! Everyling! Now’s not the time to panic!”

“Now’s the perfect time to panic!” Carson yelled. “For all we know, the second that princess wakes up, she’ll undo the rope, get the gunk off her, and blast every single one of us!”

“Alicorn or not, she’s still tied up and immobile…Uh…” Shawn looked over at Twig, who was holding the princess. “Y-you made sure to tie her up good...right Twig?”

Twig smiled. “Yup, I used the triple knot method B.N. taught us!”

“But Twig,” Carson came up behind him. “you don’t think that-”

“I never think.” Twig held his head high while one of Cadance’s ears flickered.

Carson groaned. “Twig, we need to think, actually...Shawn, how about you think.”

“ME!?” Shawn pointed at himself. “Who went unconscious and made me leader.” Hooves were raised, making Shawn facehoof. “It’s a rhetorical question.”

Stan stood up. “I would, but I’d rather not be the center of attention again.”

Twig adjusted his grip on Cadance, making her start to stir in her sleep. “Maybe we should vote, who all votes for team Shawn?” Twig raised his hoof, as did others.

“I don’t want to lead any of this! I just want all of us to come up with something, not just me!” Shawn turned to the DJ’s “What about you two?”

The DJ’s looked at one another then back at Shawn. “Ey we’ve already-”

“been in the spotlight, I don’t think-”

“We wanna do it again…”

Shawn pulled his ear stems while Cadance’s eyes started to flutter. “Okay then, how about this. How about the second she wakes up we panic again and just freak out over every little thing that happens!” He started breathing heavily.

“Really? That’s your plan?” Carson smiled

Shawn glared at him and stepped down. “I’m being sarcastic!”

Carson crossed his arms. “Sounds like you just don’t wanna help.”

“Sound’s like you just wanna be a ignorant flank-”

“Mmmmmmmhhh?”

Everyone looked over at Twig and froze once they heard that, Twig himself looked at what he was holding and put on the same expression everyone else had. “She’s waking up guys…” Twig whispered. “S-should I hit her again?”

“I dunno,” Carson said. “ask the leader.”

At that moment, Shawn started coming up with something. “Wait..W-wait! I got it! Quick! Everyling! Go code purple! NOW!” 

“Code purple?” The other changelings were starting to question Shawn’s leadership. “Shawn, I doubt that she’ll-”

“JUST DO IT! Before she wakes-”

“W-whuuaats going on...w-where am I?”

> Well...that was easy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Cadance’s eyes slowly fluttered open. her head was still pounding in pain and her body felt like it had been in place forever, even her arms and legs felt numb.

“W-what happened.” She said out loud. “w-where am I?” She didn’t know why she said this, for all she knew, she was alone. her eyes couldn’t make out anything, everything was a blur to her.

“Why didn’t you put a gag on her?”

“Because that would be mean, Carson. How would you like it if someone forced you not to talk?”

Cadance’s ears flicked, she had never heard those voices before, and she was sure they weren’t from a pony, this kicked her adrenalin as her eyes went wider. “W-who said that?” She said groggily.

“Noli- OW! What was that for?”

“Shut it! She’ll figure it out!”

“Will you two shut up! She’s gonna-”

Cadance tried getting up, but she still didn’t have any feeling in her arms. As for her legs, they felt like they couldn’t spread apart, as if they were forced together by something. “Wh-why can’t I move?” She asked louder than before.

“Because you can’t move.”

“TWIG! IF YOU TALK ONE MORE TIME-”

With all her strength, Cadance was able to sit up and finally get an eye for things, although everything still looked dark to her. She heard hoofsteps and a gasp while doing so.

“D-Did you see that, she got up while still tied up! I told you they were still strong like this!”

“But you didn’t say that in the last cha- OW! Do you have to do that!”

“Who’s talking? A-Answer me!” Cadance was getting tired of all of this, she had no idea where she was, who was here, and why she couldn’t move. She tried flaring up her horn, but that didn’t work either, she looked up to see what was wrong, but her vision refused to tell her.

“I-I think she’s figuring it out, guys.”

“Duh, Twig, of course she was gonna.”

“Maybe if SOMELING didn’t talk for five seconds.”

Cadance shook her head, hoping it would help. “S-someling?” She had never heard that word before, and these voices were starting to sound familiar.

“Oops.”

“Oops! Is that all you have to say for yourself, Twig!”

“Stop being so hard on him, Carson.”

Cadance’s eyes finally adjusted to the world as she took a look around. She could see some sources of green light, but besides that it was nothing but darkness. “I know somepony’s out there!” She yelled.

“But we aren't po- OOOWW!”

Cadance started getting more angry than tired at this point. “Will someone answer me!”

“But if we do that, then you’ll figure out someone’s here.”

“She already knows someone’s here!”

“Oh yeah, and how do you know that?”

“Cause she’s been talking to us this whole time.”

“Maybe she’s talking to herself.”

Cadance was beginning to think all of this was in her head. She was about to say something else, but then the inevitable happened.

“AHCHOO!”

Cadance looked to her left to see a flash of green in the distance, seconds later, a pair of all to familiar blue eyes started shining in the same spot.

“A SNEEZE! Are you kidding me! How unoriginal can you get!”

“I-I can’t help it, My allergies kick in when I’m scared.”

Cadance saw another flash of green, raising her heart rate.

“What the cave, Addison! Did you have to pick NOW to drop the camouflage!”

“Don’t look at me! You did it too!”

“That’s only because you did it first!”

Another flash of green fire erupted. At this point, Cadance was starting to find out just where she was and who was here with her.

“With the both of you stop yelling before she finds out!”

“She already found out, dumb-flank!”

Cadance started hyperventilating from all these voices and green fire erupting around her. “Wh-What’s going on!?” She yelled. “Where am I!?”

All three blue eyes turned to her. Cadance could almost see fangs under them. “You’re in a cave, silly princess.”

“C-Cave?”

“Why don’t you just tell her who we are, Twig!”

“Okay, we are cha-”

Another flash of green came up a few feet away from Cadance.

“I was joking!”

Cadance tried getting on all fours, but only her back legs seemed to work, even though they were held together, she looked behind her to see that her front arms were tied up, along with her wings. “I...I...I…” Cadance started to stutter. “T-This can’t be happening.”

“It kinda is, I mean, it looks like it is…”

Cadance looked forward and gasped, finally realizing where she was. “C-C-Ch-cha..chaaaayy-”

“Changelings?” Cadance turned around and went wide eyed. All her thoughts of who was around her were answered once she saw what was behind her. It was a big, black, monster, fanged, blue eyed, hole filled...Changeling.

The big bug put on a smile, showing it’s sharp fangs, and said. “Hello, my name is Twig.”

Cadance was speechless, she could only look in horror and have her jaw hung open in bewilderment. “Th-the...t-there’s...t-there’s no way…”

“TWIG!” Cadance turned around again to see another changeling approaching her, slightly smaller than the other one. “I swear if you talk one more time-”

“Uh...S-Shawn.”

The changeling turned to the darkness. “What!?” He barked.

“I-I don’t think code purple worked…”

Shawn facehoofed. “Maybe if SOMELING didn’t decide to say something while blending in with the darkness!”

“HEY! At least we were able to disguise as the walls better than last time!”

“She still found out!”

“Maybe because talking is something everyling should know NOT to do when blending in!”

“Yeah! Well if someling didn’t sneeze!”

“It’s allergy season!”

“What kinda excuse is that!”

Cadance flopped her ears, all the noises she was hearing were starting to hurt.

The changeling behind her noticed and did the same. “Um...guys.”

“Not now, Twig. Can't you see we’re having a meaningless conversation over here!”

“But all the yelling is starting to hurt her ears...m-mine too.”

“Wh-tuh-b-TWIG! Now’s not the time to worry about your ears, now's the time to worry about what’s gonna happen to us now that the princess is awake!”

Silence finally cast over the room once Shawn said that. More green flames appeared and some blue eyes were going farther away, and Shawn looked down at the princess to realize what he said. “Th-The princess...i-is..awake…” He repeated silently.

Cadance’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, seeing that there were even more pairs of eyes around her than she thought. “Y-You’re all changelings...a-aren’t you…”

Another changeling came into the open. “My queen! S-She knows! EVERYLING PA-”

Shawn grabbed the bug and pulled him in until their faces were inches away from each other. “Mike, Twig, everyling...just...just calm down, alright. She’s...she’s not gonna do anything yet.” Shawn let go of him and looked at the princess. “R-right?” He thought that at any moment she would undo the rope and blast every single one of them, but what she did next surprised all of them.

She screamed, she took a deep breath...and screamed, screamed so loud that all the changelings dropped their disguises as cave wall colors and pulled their ear stems down.

“Twig!” Shawn yelled. “Shut her up!”

“Okeydoke” Twig wrapped his hoof around her mouth, shutting her up instantly, though she still continued mumbling through the holes, making Twig wrap his second one around them. 

Shawn sighed and slowly stepped forward. He looked at the quivering princess, hoping she wouldn’t do anything drastic. “Alright, listen, Twig’s gonna take his hoof off and you’re not gonna scream, o-okay...” He gulped.

Cadance slowly nodded, but continued looking at all of them in fear, thinking that at any moment they would do...something she wouldn’t like. She honestly had no idea what these changelings were capable of. If they needed just one to ponynap a princess, then who knows what else they could do.

Carson shook his head. “She’s gonna scream anyway. They always do.”

“Well, Carson, how do you think we should handle this. We have a princess in our possession and keeping her quiet won’t help at all.”

“Why don’t we just knock her out again?” Once changeling suggested.

That made Cadance struggle even more, enough to get the hooves off of her mouth. “P-Please, don’t hurt me! I-I’ll do anything.”

One changeling flew into the air. “Did you hear that! S-She’ll do anything. I told you alicorns could do anything!”

“They have magic, so of course they can! I told you we should’ve panicked!”

Shawn stomped his hoof on the ground. “We’re not panicking again!” He yelled. “We’re just gonna take this nice and slow. noling need to get hurt over this...o-okay.” He looked over at the princess, hoping for agreement.

Cadance started calming down, realizing this situation was probably not as bad as she thought. “If I’m in their cave.” She thought. “then where’s…” Her eyes shot open. “Where’s Chrysalis?”

Every changeling froze. “O-our queen?” Shawn started shaking, hoping he didn’t hear that right.

“Y-yes, where is she, w-why haven’t you taken me to her yet?” Cadance was starting to get some confidence in her. Tied up or not, she could still find a way out of this.

Shawn gulped and looked toward his brothers for help, all of them were either shaking or hiding behind tables and chairs, he looked up at the DJ booth to see both Disk jockeys hugging each other in fear. “Uh...yeah..a-about that...y-you see...C-Chrysalis is...w-well…”

Cadance adjusted herself, making others flinch. “Well what? Why did you capture me again anyway? What makes you think your plans will work a second time.”

“But we don’t have a plan.” Twig said. “Right guys?”

Shawn dropped his jaw. “Twig, stop talking about our situation!”

Twig scratched his head. “Then should I talk about how our Queen is currently unconscious and that we are defenseless against anything right now?”

Shawn was on the verge of ripping his ear stems off again. “Twig...you are REALLY starting to get on my nerves.”

Cadance raised an eye. “Your queen’s unconscious, is she in a coma or something?”

Another changeling flew into the air. “I told you alicorns are smarter than everything! She already figured it out! Our hopeless situation, our knocked out queen, our unplanned...plan, and our defenseless cave!”

Cadance tilted her head. “Actually, I just gue-”

“Shawn!” One changeling interrupted. “What do we do! She’s figured out everything, and those ropes won’t hold her forever!”

Cadance opened her mouth to object, but then an idea came to her mind. “These changelings seem pretty nervous about all of this…” She then grinned, forming a plan on how to get out of this. “Maybe they can’t function well without a leader.”

“Guys!” Shawn yelled. “Please, just calm down, she can’t even-”

“Oh, but I can!” Cadance yelled, making everyone turn to her. “Any moment now my alicorn magic will activate, and I will be free from this cute, little attempt at keeping me in place.”

All the changelings gasped, even Twig stepped away from her and stumbled into Shawn. “Y-you will?” Shawn trembled in fear.

Cadance checked to see if she actually could get out of this, but the ropes were very secure, and her horn refused to light up, but that didn’t stop her from talking. “In fact, you might as well untie me now, before I do something you’ll all regret.”

Twig held onto Shawn and started shaking. “W-wh-what do we do?” He asked.

“What she said.” Carson yelled, nudging another changeling forward. “You do it, Stan.”

“M-Me!?” Stan looked at the princess, her smile and eyesight was making him quiver in fear. He could almost see it, the red eyes, the sharp fangs, the rainbow flowing hair the white fur with some red on it.

“Well, go on little bug.”

Stan screamed and pushed Twig away from Shawn. “Y-You do it, Shawn...s-seeing as how y-y-you’re the l-leader and all...heheh…” Stan then slid under Twigs arm and held it like a hatchling.

Shawn adjusted his posture and gazed at the princess, his whole body shook with fright as he approached her. 

“Go on…” Cadance was no longer fazed by these changelings, she could see the fear in their eyes. “Either these bugs are helpless without a leader, or they’re not as smart as I thought.”

Shawn continued stepping forward, each step harder than the last. “O-Okay...I-I’m gonna t-t-take of the r-r-restraints...j-just don’t do anything...b-bad…”

“I’m waiting.” Cadance smiled as the changeling walked up behind her. He took a deep breath and started undoing the knots.

“Shaaaaaawn!” Twig whined. “It took me forever to tie those.” 

“Now’s not the time, Twig!” Shawn yelled as he undid a knot.

Cadance felt her arms getting looser and looser every seconds, after Shawn undid the final tie, she stretched her arms and wings in the air. Everyone yelped and ducked to the ground. Shawn only fell on his back and waited for the inevitable.

“Well, that was easy.” Cadance said as she started untying her legs. “I thought for sure you changelings wouldn’t buy it.”

“Buy what?” Twig asked. “We don’t have any of that currency stuff you ponies-”

“Y-you tricked us?” Shawn stood up and dropped his jaw.

Cadance unwrapped the rope around her legs and got up on all fours. “Maybe if your queen was around it would’ve gone better for you guys.” 

Twig pointed at her. “W-well, what about your horn?”

Cadance looked up at her horn, seeing that it was still coated in green slime. “What? This?” She reached for it and started pulling. “I’m sure it’s...it’s...it’s just as...as..eeeasy...as the...rrrrope!” She continued tugging, but the green gunk wouldn’t let up, she even tried using both hooves, but the goo refused to get off. After minutes of grunting she took a breath and looked at her horn in frustration. “What is it with this gunk.”

Twig stepped forward. “Well, that stuff is pretty hard to get off. Even for us.” He then went cross eyed. “Wait a minute...doesn’t that mean you can’t use your magic?”

That statement made all eyes glare at Cadance. She could only look back and forth and smile nervously. “Uh...I-I can still use...s-some magic...heh...uh.” She gulped, realizing she didn’t think all of this through.

“Oh really?” Shawn stood up and walked up to her. “What kind of magic?”

Cadance shrugged. “Oh, you know, the kind of magic that makes it easier to RUN AWAY!” 

Without warning Cadance flapped wings and took off in the air. All the changelings in the room gasped as she flew toward the room opening. “Don’t let her-”

*SMACK*

“...Escape?” Everyling watched in confusion as Cadance fell to the ground, she was only feet away from the entrance. “W-what just-”

“Nice hit Shift!” Everyling turned around to see the DJ’s high-hoofing one another.

“Ey...a mic can be used in more ways than one, Lift.”

Some changelings started crowding around Cadance. “Is she asleep again?” Twig asked.

“Mmmmmgghher?”

Everyone stepped back. “Twig!” Shawn yelled. “Code brown!”

“You got it, Shawny!”

Within seconds, Cadance felt an all too familiar feeling come over her as her vision went away again, and as her eyes came to a close, she could only think of one thing. “This is gonna be a lot harder than I thought.”
> Turn for the worse
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Well...that went well…”

Shawn glared at Carson. “I didn’t see you trying to help, Jerkson.”

Carson pushed several changelings out of his way until he was face to face with Shawn. “I didn’t see you trying to stop her from escaping!”

“But she’s still here.” Twig said, cradling the unconscious princess. “As sleepy as ever.” He looked down at her and smiled. “Aren't you, little pretty princess.”

“She’s not ‘little’ Twig.” Carson stated.

“To him, she is.” Stan said.

Twig nodded while Shawn tried calming himself down. “Listen, Twig, why exactly did you bring the princess here? I mean, what made you think this plan would work again?”

Twig thought about that for two seconds before saying, “Well, it almost worked before. If we did it again, then maybe it’ll work this time, right?...R-Right?”

Most of the changelings glared at him while Shawn continued thinking. “There’s got to be a better way at going about this…” Shawn rubbed his chin while others waited for him to speak, it was only until Shawn noticed the stares that he stopped. “It would be very much appreciated if EVERYLING could think with me!”

“But thinking is hard.” Twig whined. “Why can’t you just do it?”

“Because I’m not the only one who’s gonna get killed when the ponies find out we have her!” Shawn’s eye twitched at the end of that sentence, making many of the changelings in the room look away, especially the hatchlings. “So...unless everyling want’s to die, then I suggest we come up with a plan together.”

One hatchling stepped forward. “A-Are they really gonna kill us?”

Shawn was about to say he was over exaggerating, but Stan interrupted him. “Not if we kill them first!” He yelled. “Provided it’s just them and not...royals…”

“I say we get help!” One changeling yelled.

Shawn rolled his eyes. “From where, Paul? Who’s gonna help us with this anyway?”

“Maybe the DD’s can help.” One changeling suggested.

“It’s not saturday,” Sift said. “so they ain’t-” 

“gonna be commin’ over here 'till next week.” Lift finished.

“We could call on the hydras.” One yelled. “Old Otis still lives with that four headed one, right?”

Shawn stomped his hooves. “It’s not about who it’s about how? How are they gonna help us?”

“They could give us advice?” Twig said.

“Advice on what?” Shawn asked, knowing only a stupid answer would soon follow.

Twig was about to answer, but another changeling stepped up. “We could throw her in the crystal mines again.”

Shawn growled. “What? so she can break out like last time.”

“Can’t we just throw her in a cocoon?” Stan suggested. “It worked with that white tyrant.”

“She’ll break out of that too.” Shawn said.

“How do you know?” Addison yelled.

Shawn dragged his hoof across his face. “Because our cocoons aren’t that strong for a horse like her! Even the queen had to help set up the one in canterlot for that princess, and if I remember correctly, our queen can’t really help us right now.”

“Are you sure she helped with that?” Paul asked.

As the conversations continued, Carson was starting to come up with a plan, one that he knew was the right thing to do. One that had a solution that was foolproof. One that would save all of them and especially him. “I say we kill her.”

The room went silent the second Carson said those five words. Every changeling in the room looked right at him in shock and terror. “Wh-what?” Twig said, hugging the princess even tighter.

“You heard me.” Carson got up on a table and pointed at Cadance. “They can’t get us if we don’t have the body. and she can’t fight back if she’s dead can she?”

Some changelings thought that could be true while others were still trying to process what Carson suggested. “You’re insane!” Shawn yelled. “We can’t kill her! Who knows what she’ll do if we lay a hoof on her while she’s asleep.”

Carson crossed his arms. “She doesn’t seem to be doing anything right now, is she?” He craned his head at Twig, who had now let go of the princess in fear that she would hurt him.

“B-But we can’t do that…” Twig said.

“And why not?” Carson stood even higher.

Twig bit his lip. “B-because...well, i-if the ponies come here and...and see a...a…” He gulped. “d-d-dead princess, d-don’t you think they’ll...ya know...hate us?”

Carson walked up to him and patted his head. “Twig, it’s times like this I’m glad you’re not in charge of anything.” Carson flew in the air. “Don’t you all get it!? Shawn said the second those ponies get in, they’re gonna kill us!” 

Shawn was about to point out he exaggerated on that and only wanted his siblings to listen, but a hatchling stepped forward and said, “Y-you really think that...that…”

Carson flew up to her and picked her up. “I don’t think, little Sally...I know they’ll do it, I mean, what do you think they talk about out there? How good we are? NO! They don’t!” He put her back down and flew over everling. “So listen up, everyling! Any second now, those guards are gonna come through the cave entrance and bust us up like a bunch of fruits, so I say, as long as our juice is gonna spill, than HER juice is gonna spill too! PRINCESS JUICE!”

Shawn flew up next to him. “You can’t be serious!”

“I am dead serious...no pun intended.”

Shawn sighed. “Listen, everyling, even if we wanted to, well...ya know, then how would we do it? I mean…” Shawn flew down to Cadance and pointed at her. “She’s an alicorn! This creature is impossible to kill!”

 Carson landed on the ground. “How do you know that if you haven’t even tried?”

“Then what do we do, huh?” Shawn tapped his hoof, waiting for an answer. “Do we just hit her in the head again? She seems to be surviving that, o-or how about this! We shove her into a cocoon like we did with that white one, it sure ended her life...oh wait. IT DIDN’T!”

“I-It didn’t…” Stan said with fear in his voice

Carson looked at the princess again. “There’s got to be a way...I mean, things die sooner or later...r-right?”

Shawn shook his head. “The thing is immortal, it can’t be killed, and-and even if we do kill her, then what? We just hide the body!? The ponies are gonna figure this out and hunt us down.” Shawn started making his way through the crowds. “You all better pray to our unconscious queen that they’ll be merciful.”

“We can, at least, try…” Twig said. “We could even do a song and dance routine too.” Twig clapped his hooves, making Cadance’s ears flick.

“This ain’t a musical” Shawn stated. “and like I said, if those ponies find a dead body next to us, especially one this important, then they will do to us what we’ll do to her.” He pointed at the princess again as her hooves twitched.

“Then how would you go about this, Shawny?” Carson asked. “Because I’m pretty sure if we end her life, then we can-”

“Can you hear what you’re saying, Jerkson!” Shawn yelled. “It’s no wonder ponies look at us like monsters!” He threw his arms in the air. “OH! let’s just kill her! Yeah! That’s exactly what monsters like us do!” He stomped his hooves on the ground, making Cadance’s eyes flutter open.

Addison fidgeted. “So...you want us to-”

“If we end her life, then we’re just proving them right! That we’re just monsters bent on sucking the life out of ponies.”

One hatchling sat up. “B-but we don’t...r-right?”

As Shawn started losing it, Cadance was slowly coming back into the world. Her ears could make out almost everything they were saying, and it was making her panic. She thanked Celestia that they didn’t tie her up again as she started getting on all fours.

Shawn dragged his hooves across his face. “I don’t know, little one, from the sounds of it, we are.” He looked over at Cadance. “Because if killing her is the only option you guys have, then...t-then…”

Shawn, and everyone else, gasped as Cadance got back on her hooves. Her face had nothing but fear plastered on it, her whole body shook and her eyes darted from one side of the room to the next. “Y-you’re going to...to...kill me…” She stepped back.

“Uh...uhm…” Shawn gulped. “I-I’m guessing you heard all that…”

Cadance started taking in more breaths than usual. “All I heard was ‘killing’ and ‘princess’ and...and…” She shook her head. “I-I don’t even want to know what else you said...y-you really are monsters!”

Twig stepped forward. “B-but we’re not-”

“S-Stay back!” Cadance yelled, making every changeling in the room do so. “I-If any of you even try it…”

“She’s gonna kill us!” One changeling screamed.

“Not with that gunk on her horn.” Carson pointed out.

Stan gulped. “She can still use that horn like a sword or something. A-Alicorns can do that, right?”

Twig gulped. “W-Well, they can in other stor-”

“TWIG!” Shawn yelled. “Now’s not the time!”

Cadance sighed, not even wanting to answer that question.  “I-I thought for sure if one changeling was nice to ponies then...t-then…” She looked away. “I guess I was wrong…”

“One changeling?” Stan said. “W-What changeling?”

Cadance sighed. “One who I heard was nice, one who really loved somepony, and she loved him back for who he really was, and I thought all his brothers and sisters acted the same, but I know that’s just a lie now. You all are nothing but monsters to each other, and to everyone else!” 

The changelings started noticing that she was becoming more angry than scared now. “L-Listen, princess,” Shawn said, stepping forward. “T-This was just Carson’s idea, he was the one who-”

“HEY!” Carson flew right up to him. “Don’t pin this on me!”

“You were the one who said we should kill her!” Shawn yelled.

“Well sorr-IE that I was doing what you told me to do.”

“I told you to come up with a good idea, not one that would just make our lives worse than it already is!” Shawn backed away. “y-you know what!” He faced Cadance. “I’ve had it! Just like I said in the beginning, We’re dead bugs, we have no leader, no plan, no nothing. So maybe it’s time to end this!”

“W-what do you mean?” Cadance asked.

“I mean that you might as well end it now, Princess! Here! Lemmy help you!” Shawn ran right up to Cadance and grabbed her by her shoulders. Before she could even scream, he bit down on her horn and ripped off the green slime, a slight spark of magic came out once all of it was off.

Shawn then spit out the green substance and stepped back. Every one of his brothers did the same, but more dramatically. Stan hid behind Twig. “S-Shawn…” Stan stuttered. “W-what have you done!?”

“Something smart.” Shawn said, spitting out the rest of the gunk and wiping his mouth. “We’re dead no matter what! Might as well end it now.” He faced the princess while the changelings started to panic, most of them hiding under the tables and some were trying to find the exit, but Cadance was standing right in their way.

“You…” Carson said. “You’ve dooms us all!” He ducked behind Twig, who was now hyperventilating.

“S-Shawn…” Twig said. “D-Don’t just stand there! T-There’s a princess who’s gonna-

“I know, Twig, and you know what? It’s not even worth it…” Shawn said, extending his arms out to his sides. “She’s gonna end our lives one by one, just be glad she’ll make it quick...uh...r-right?” 

Cadance was still confused by what Shawn just did. She looked up at her horn and tapped it to see it was working. A small spark answered her question, and also made some changelings gasp and whimper. She looked at Shawn and said,. “Changeling, I want to know the truth, were you all really gonna kill me?”

Shawn continued having his arms out. “I don’t even know. We’re lost without a ruler. Our plan probably would’ve freed you at the end of this anyway. We’re nothing but idiotic, useless creatures that shouldn’t even get a chance, because we’ll all fail, just like we did with all the other places. We fail...and we fail...and we fail again...so why try?” Shawn put his arms down and looked up at her. “So go ahead. End it...s’better than starving to death anyway.”

“Geeze…” Stan whispered. “This went dark fast.”

“I know…” Twig whispered back. “It was fun a second ago...I think…”

“Right…” Carson said sarcastically.

Cadance started processing what was happening, from what she could tell, these changelings had no idea what they were doing and were probably more terrified of her than the other way around. She turned to all of the other changelings, each one of them trembled in fear of what she would do.

Cadance then looked back at Shawn, seeing that his blue eyes were on the verge of tears. She took a deep breath, knowing that he was right. She had to end this. “You’ve ruined my wedding,” She started, stepping closer and closer to the changeling. “You almost destroyed Canterlot, your queen brainwashed my husband...and worst of all, you ponynapped me...TWICE!” Cadance towered over Shawn, looking down at him. “I think you know just what you deserve…”

Shawn slowly nodded and lowered his head, not wanting to see what he deserved.
> W-What?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“I can’t watch!” Shift screamed while covering his eyes with his hat.

“I can, pass the microphone.” Lift did it himself and held the mic to his mouth. “Are you bugs ready for tonight's main event? When a  new changeling leader DEFENDS HIS TITLE! IN THE MATCH OF THE CENTURY! AND HIS NAME IS SHA-”

“Will you be quiet!” Shift said, smacking the mic out of his hooves.

“What?” Lift said. “I’m Just trying to lightin’ up the mood, brah.”

“I doubt you can since that pretty princess is gonna blast that changeling to bits.” Shift pointed to his left. “We’re gonna be seeing him over there” Then to his right. “over there,” Then at the ceiling. “and up there.” Shift then grabbed him and pulled him in till they were nose to nose with each other. “And then she’s commin’ for us next!”

Lift turned his head to the apparent soon-to-be-dead changeling, only to see something that made him realize just why no one was listening to them. “Really? Cause that ain’t what I’m seein’.”

Shift turned around and put on the same face every other changeling in the cave had, an expression of utter disbelief, an expression of complete confusion, a face that could only be described as-

“Why is she hugging him?” Twig asked outloud.

Hearing this, Shawn opened his eyes, seeing that he was still in the cave in one piece, and that his body was currently being embraced by a pink alicorn’s arms and wings, he looked up to see the princess’ eyes were closed during the embrace.

Stan rolled his eyes at the sight. “Wow...A hug. Totally didn’t see that coming.”

Twig wrapped an arm around Stan and pulled him in. “Aw, come on Stan, I think it’s adorable.”

“And corny…” Stan mumbled.

“Could be worse,” Carson said. “She could suddenly forgive us for what we-”

“You deserve forgiveness.” Cadance finished, causing every changeling in the room to either sigh in relief, stare in confusion, or groan on how utterly anticlimactic and cliche that line was.

“S-So...Y-You’re not gonna kill me?” Shawn stepped back. “W-Why?”

“I’m gonna say it right now.” Cadance looked right into his blue eyes. “You were right. You changelings are hopeless without someone leading you, It’s been, what, three or so days since you guys have been by yourselves with no one leading you?”

Some of the changelings in the room began to scuff their hooves on the ground or turn away in shame. “W-Well…” Shawn said. “I-It’s been pretty tough, y-you could say…”

Cadance took another look at every changeling in the room. “I’m guessing none of you knew what to do before I got here, right?”

More awkward sounds of silence echoed through the cave. “Um...w-well, w-we kinda knew what we were doing.”

Cadance knew that tone of voice only meant she was correct. “And throwing me into this only made it worse for-”

“OKAY!” Carson yelled out. “We get it, we’re completely lost without a leader to...lead us. Are you suggesting you want to be our leader, cause we can’t do that.”

“I’m not saying I want to be one.” Cadance shivered at the thought of hundreds of bugs wanting her to tell them what to do.

“Then what are you doing?” Carson said. “Are you just rubbing acid in the cut? Cause that hurts, ya know.”

Cadance ignored the phrase and continued. “I just want to know where you guys went wrong. First off, what made you think doing it again would work?”

Twig let go of Stan and raised his hoof in the air. “OH! OH! I know that answer.” He lowered his arm and ran up to her. “One of my brothers said a second time would work this time, and this time we would win!” He then went crosseyed and thought about that. “Um...but I don’t think it worked this time.”

Cadance facehoofed. “No offence, but what foolish changeling told you that?”

Twig went crossed eyed again. “Um...I forget, I think his name was Dooly, Doopy? Donny? I know it started with a D...or a V…”

“It doesn’t matter.” Cadance said. “But there’s still some things I don’t understand about all of you.”

“Really?” Stan tilted his head. “I thought our queen made it pretty clear about everything in her monologue.”

The pink alicorn rubbed her head, starting to remember the dreaded speech she had to listen to for over an hour the first time she was captured. “For one thing, she didn’t tell me why you attacked the ponies?” Cadance then realized something. “Are the other mons...er, creatures not as friendly or-”

Shawn shook his head. “Oh no, we’re friends with tons of creatures. The DD’s, griffins, woodwolves, Tatzls, dragons...”

“D-Dragons?” Cadance stuttered.

Twig nodded. “Yup, we even babysat their eggs when they migrated, though, we don’t do it that much anymore ever since those weird bandaged bandits took a purple polka dotted egg from us.” Twig frowned. “Those two purple dragons were so angry at us for that…Even their yellow fly friend was mad...At least we kept the white polka dotted ones!”

Stan rubbed his head. “I swear, I can still hear that annoying word they kept using when we were chasing after them.”

Twig shook his tail. “Oh, do you mean na-”

Cadance came in between them and asked, “By the way, what’s a tatzl?”

“Tatzls” Shawn started. “are these weird creatures with tons of tongues that eat things for fun... They’re not to be confused with Tatzwurms, in fact, tatzls kinda look like you ponies.” Shawn pointed at Cadance’s tail. “‘cept for the tail, yours has too much hair on it.”

Cadance stepped back. “How can you all be friends with such creatures? I heard they attack my sister-in-law all the time in her town.”

Shawn crossed his arms. “Probably because you ponies are pretty tasty, in fact, your love is just as tasteful as the meat on your bones.”

Twig nodded. “Yeah, you guys are a delicacy to all of us. You should feel honored.”

“H-Honored!?” Cadance thought that was insane. “How is something like that-”

“I’m sure some ponies might like something like that.” Twig said. “Ya never know.”

Cadane decided to move on to the next question and forget about the logic this big changeling was trying to explain. “Anyways, how did you guys even know a wedding was going on?”

Shawn crossed his arms. “We don’t just sit in a cave all day, we go out and see stuff.”

“Not only that,” Stan started. “But a few other hatchlings could feel the love from here.”

Twig nodded. “Yup, Sally felt it, Mark felt it, Bobby felt it, Patrick felt it, we call him Pat for short, kinda like how others call me Twig and not-”

“That’s another question.” Cadance interrupted. “Why are all your names like that?”

“Like what?” Carson said. “Our names are perfectly normal, unlike you ponies who have two weird ones, even your full name is weird, it took the queen days to figure out how to pronounce it.”

“What’s so hard about my name?”

“For one thing, it has more than one word in it, second, it’s like you’re speaking some other language when you say it.”

“So, the queen makes it so you have only one word for each of your names?”

Most of them shrugged or nodded. “Pretty much.” One of them said.

Cadance then noticed the tables, chairs and a lot of electrical equipment on the stage, which was just a higher floor.“By the way, where did you get all these things?”

Shawn was about to explain, but Twig did it worse. “We borrowed it without bringing it back to the owners.”

Shawn dropped his jaw while Cadance raised an eye. “You do know that’s stealing, right?”

The bright parts of Twig’s blue eyes turned in opposite directions. “It is?”

“Yes, it is.” Cadance crossed her arms. “How long have you had these things?”

The changelings looked away again, not wanting to remember how hard it was to get most of these things in the first place. “Um...i-is more than a month a bad thing?” Shawn asked, getting a glare for an answer. “I take that as a yes…”

Cadance sighed. “You guys really need work on your relationships with ponies.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Shift asked.

“For one thing, you don’t steal from them,” Cadance looked up at the DJ booth. “and you don’t throw mics at ponies!” seeing two changelings trying to look innocent. “What are your names?”

Shawn leaned his head at them. “That’s Shift and Lift. They’re twins with eye disorders.”

“Twins?” Cadance said blankly. “How can they be twins if they look like all of you?”

Shift brought his brother in for a hug. “Cause we came out-”

“-of the same egg.” Lift finished, hugging Shift back.

“Right…” Cadance looked back at Shawn. “So, that explains that, but what’s with the rest of you, how can all of you know whose name is what?”

“It’s all about the eyes.” Shawn said, pointing at his own. “Every eye is different.”

Cadance found it difficult to take in all this information. “H-How? Your eyes look the same too.”

“No they don’t.” Carson said, pointing at his own pair of blue eyes. “See, just look how different mine and Shawn’s are.”

Cadance groaned. “I’m guessing it’s just another changeling thing. 

“Hey! What’s that supposed ta mean?” Carson asked.

Cadance realized how offencive that was and looked away in embarrassment. “W-Well, it’s just hard for me to understand, for starters. Is there a reason why one of you dropped your disguise when they sneezed?” Cadance asked, making Addison turn away in embarrassment.

“It’s kinda hard to explain.” Shawn started. “It just happens when it happens. Now, when you get the hiccups, then it just gets worse. Reminds me of the time Chrysalis sent this poor sucker on a mission when he got the-”

“Speaking of your queen, where is she?”

“She’s in a coma.” Twig answered; a hoof being shoved in his face seconds later.

“A coma?” Cadance tilted her head. “How did she get that?”

Shawn sighed and took his hoof out of Twigs mouth. “At first, we thought it was because of the blast, but when we saw our queen get hit on her head from the fall, the caretakers were pretty sure it was...well, the fall.”

Cadance was thankful to know she didn’t kill their leader in the process of getting them out of Canterlot, but she still wanted to make sure. “So, she’s okay?”

“Define ‘okay’?” Carson said.

“What I mean is that she’s still breathing.” Cadance asked.

“She’s fine.” One changeling yelled out. “Me and Rex were able to get her back here in one piece, but she looks like she’s gonna be bedridden for a while.”

Shawn pointed at the changeling. “What Sam said. She’s asleep, but not...asleep, you understand, right?”

Cadance nodded grimly. “Y-Yeah, I understand.”

Twig laughed. “This is great! We get to live and the alicorns not gonna try to escape, the queen will be so proud when she finds out about this.” He clapped his hooves.

The changelings agreed but Cadance couldn’t help but laugh. “What are you talking about, I’m not staying here.”

“Y-You’re not?” Shawn said with murmurs of worry came out of the crowd. “B-But what about-”

Cadance rested her hoof on his shoulder. “Listen, changeling, I understand what you guys are going through, but pony napping me won’t help.”

Twig walked up to her. “But...but what about the plan?”

Carson rolled his blue eyes. “What plan? Last I heard, we don’t have one.”

“Oh…” Twig frowned. “B-But we can’t let you leave now. W-What if the queen finds out we let you walk away?”

Shawn looked up at Cadance. “He’s right, princess. The queen’s not gonna be happy to know we let a princess get away...again…”

Cadance thought about this, part of her wanted to get out of here and go back home while the other part didn’t want her to leave a whole swarm of changelings when they needed help. “Well, why don’t you come with.”

Silence filled the room. “W-what?” Shawn said, stepping away from Cadance’s grip.

“I’m being serious, if you come back to Canterlot and tell the ponies just why you did this, then maybe-”

“But we already tried that.” Stan said. “We’ve been through towns and towns and villages and cities where ponies roam, and not one. Single. Place gave us a chance...none…”

Remembering this, the changelings hung their heads, Cadance looked over all of them in pity. “W-Well, I-I’m sure we can-”

“Oh please,” Carson said, running up to her. “with the stunt we pulled, I doubt any pony will give us a chance, no one understands us.”

“I do.” Cadance said dramatically.

Carson only chuckled. “Psh, yeah, you understand because we had to knock you out for queen knows how long and tie you up and witness the sheer stupidity of our entire swarm.”

Shawn sighed. “I hate to say it, princess, but Carson’s right, I don’t think it would be a good idea to round up one pony at a time to explain all of this.”

Cadance shook her head and smiled. “You don’t have to, in fact, let’s try this.”

“Try what?” Shawn asked with many of his siblings also wanting to know.

“It’s simple, all we have to do is-”

“WHAT’S GOING ON IN HERE!?”

Yelps came out of the room from that tone of voice, a tone everyone, especially Cadance, knew all too well where it came from, a voice the changelings had heard for years on end in even louder tones than this. Slowly, everyone turned to the cave entrance to see a sight they never thought possible. “C...C..C-C-Ch..Chry...Chrys...” Cadance tried to say it, but another changeling decided to say it for her.

“OH! Hi Chrysalis!” Twig yelled out, waving one of his arms. “You sleep okay? Or was the cocoon not good enough. I know it usually isn’t but...oh yeah! We  also got you a princess for your plan...that is, if you have one. You have one, right?...R-Right?”

> Oh hi Chryis
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Chrysalis slowly made her way through the halls of the cave, her head pounding with pain and her body riddled with bandages. “Stupid children,” She said to herself. “thinking this was all they needed to do for my injuries…” She slumped on the side of the cave wall and groaned.  “Ugh...when I get my hooves on those children, I’ll-”

Her rambling was interrupted by chatter coming nearby. The queen craned her limp ear to the noise, she’d use the other, but it was currently covered in green slime. “Idiotic subjects, first I wake up to the sounds of music, then I get up from the calls of screaming, and now quiet talk...these bugs must think I’m deaaAAAF!”

Chrysalis fell to the floor after tripping her own broken leg, she growled and slowly got back up. “Can’t even fix a broken limb…or an eye” She leaned back on the wall again and slid down the cave. She scratched her bandaged right eye, feeling something strange coming from it. The noises started getting louder, so loud that she could almost make out what the voices said.

“I do.”

Chrysalis stopped rubbing and froze. “W-Wait...t-that can’t be…” She leaned her head to see an opening to another part of the cave, the same part of the cave where she gave her speeches. “If those bugs so much as touched that stage.

“You don’t have to.”

Chrysalis tripped again, her head falling just enough to peer through the opening, where she then saw a sight she never thought possible. “What in the name of…” Chrysalis stood back up, her body exhausted from the thirty minute walk. “I knew I should’ve put my room closer to this...t-this...Oh my queen…”

Chrysalis stood at the entrance, completely shocked to see what was in front of her. There, right in front of all her children, stood an all too familiar pink alicorn. The same alicorn that she swore vengeance on during the fall. Once Chrysalis recovered from her shock, she did the one thing any ruler like her would do. Yell.

“WHAT’S GOING ON IN HERE!?”

Everyone in the room turned to the door and gasped once they the bandaged queen make her way into the room. Chrysalis ignored all the children in the room and stared right at Cadance, her working eye twitching with anger. She was about to shout again, but a not so bright bug stopped her.

“OH! Hi Chrysalis!” Twig yelled out, waving one of his arms. “You sleep okay? Or was the cocoon not good enough. I know it usually isn’t but...oh yeah! We  also got you a princess for your plan...that is, if you have one. You have one, right?...R-Right?”

Chrysalis didn’t respond; she only took her first step into the room, making all her subjects step back. “I asked a question, children...what. Is going on. IN HERE!?” She stomped at the end of that sentence, causing even more fear to the children.

One changeling. Shawn, managed to get the courage to stand up and ask, “W-what can..how...w-wha...Q-Queen, h-how are you awake? T-The caretakers said that you were in a coma?”

“I wasn’t in a coma, you fools! I was knocked out from the fall! Can’t you caretakers know the difference!?” She took another step. “And I’m still waiting for an answer!”

“Um...well, uh…” Shawn looked around the room, hoping someone else had the answer.

“OH! OH! I know!” Twig yelled “We’re talking to the princess.”

“The princess?” Chrysalis continued looking at Cadance, who was now getting a bit creeped out from her good eye looking at her while the other one was covered in blood soaked bandages.

“C-Chrysalis…” Cadance started. “I-I really didn’t expect you to...well, come here.”

“Same to you…” Chrysalis sat on the floor, getting tired of keeping her whole body up. “What are you doing here, Cadenza? Last I saw you, you and your idiot husband blasted me and my children straight back home.”

One changeling stood up. “Technically, we fell a few miles away from home, but we were still pretty close to-”

“QUIET!” The changeling queen yelled, causing the bug to lay down in fear. “I don’t care about that, I care about why she came back!” Chrysalis extended her bent arm at Cadance, making her flinch. “Let me guess, you’re here to finish the job, is that it?”

“Finish the job?” Cadance said. “W-What are you talking about?”

Chrysalis stomped the ground. “You know exactly what I’m talking about!” Chrysalis groaned in an attempt to ignore the pain in her hoof and continued. “You came back to finish me off, you were gonna come right to me once you dealt with my children.”

“N-No I wasn’t!” Cadance protested. “I-I was just talking to them about-”

“About what?” Chrysalis asked. “About how you want to end our entire race in yet another one of your magic blasts?” She got back up on all fours and took a stance. “Because I will make sure that won’t happen.”

“We were talking about peace, Chrysalis!” Cadance yelled.

Chrysalis’s good eye shot open before she realed her head back and laughed. “PAAHAHA! Peace!? Really? You think my subjects want to discuss peace!? With you of all ponies?”

“It’s true.” Cadance looked at the still cowering changelings. “Go ahead, tell her.”

The changelings didn’t say a word, knowing it only took one for one of them to receive punishment from their mother, but through all of this, Stan managed to speak out, “I-It’s true, My queen, w-we were really-”

“WHAT!?” Chrysalis screamed, making all her subjects fall to the floor, leaving Cadance the only one standing up. “F-First you screw up at a simple mission in Canterlot and now you talk of peace to this...this...MONSTER!?”

Before Cadance could start, she had to ask. “Taking over a kingdom is simple?”

“You watch your tongue, princess.” Chrysalis coughed and took her first step toward Cadance.  “You forget where you are right now.”

Cadance turned to the changelings, seeing some of them shaking in fear. “Is there a reason why you treat them like this?”

“Like what, Cadenza?” Chrysalis almost fell from the next step, but she kept her balance.

Cadance narrowed her eyes. “I remember how you treated them in Canterlot, and from the way they’re acting now.” She threw her arm across the room, showing every changeling either laying in terror or shaking in fear. “I’m starting to think you rule over them in fear,”

Chrysalis chuckled. “So the mare finally gets it...Cadenza, listen, my queen, and her queen before that, and her queen before that, ruled over every single one of her subjects with an iron hoof and you think I should do it differently?”

“I don’t see why not.” Cadance said, knowing that was only half true, she knew treating anyone like this was horrible, but she still knew they were changelings that just tried to take over Canterlot and ponynapped her again.

Chrysalis took another step, now only a few yards away from Cadance. “They’re not all perfect little angels, princess. They’ve done things…”

Cadance stood her ground, knowing she still had magic to back her up if this situation took a turn for the worst. “What ‘things’.”

“For starters, the tables and chairs you see around you have been-”

“Stolen.” Cadance finished. “Or ‘borrowed without asking’ as one of them put it.”

Chrysalis turned to her children. “That’s what you told her!? How braindead are you bugs?”

“W-We’re not that stupid.” Shawn said, knowing that wasn’t true.

Chrysalis huffed. “I suppose you told her about our plan, didn’t you?”

Cadance was surprised to hear this. “Plan? What plan?”

Carson nodded. “Yeah, queen, what plan? We didn’t really have one when you went into a co- or...passed out. B-But we did try to come up with one!”

Chrysalis rolled her good eye. “I’ll give you that one. Trying to come up with something while I’m asleep, that’s loyal, but what isn’t loyal is talking to this pony.” Chrysalis continued glaring at Cadance.

Shawn took a step toward her. “B-But we were just talking about-”

“I already know!” Chrysalis yelled, making him take two steps back. “You were talking about how you want to surrender to her and every single one of her own subjects.”

Cadance raised an eye. “B-But I don’t have any-”

“Don’t lie to a liar, Cadenza! You are a ruler, and when you look at someone as weak as me, you just want to kick them down and have them begging to show mercy.” Chrysalis finally stood a few feet away from the princess, giving her a good look at the few scars on her body.

Cadance noticed most of them and asked, “I’m guessing you landed on the right side of your body?” Cadance asked, hoping to lighten the mood.

Chrysalis only continued looking down at her. “That fall broke my legs, scar the side of my body, and smashed my eye against a rock!” She pointed at said eye. “So yes, I did fall on my right side.”

Cadance gulped, knowing that was stupid, “Um...w-well, I-I’m sorry to hear that.”

Chrysalis narrowed her good eye. “I’m the only one who rules these changelings, Cadenza. And I will do as I please to every single one of them. If you think you can do better than me; you are sadly mistaken.”

Cadance shook her head, knowing that was a downright lie. “You’re a horrible queen! You risk your own children to fight and almost got them killed!”

Chrysalis only shrugged. “Sacrifices need to be made, even after a defeat.”

“Brutal…” Stan whispered.

“And at least I’m not like your precious Tia” Chrysalis yelled. “who doesn’t even plan out her own attacks, or attack at all for that matter. All I ever hear her do is laze about and wait for her ONE STUDENT AND HER FIVE STUPID FRIENDS to deal with it!”

Cadance dropped her jaw while Shawn shrugged. “Well, she’s got ya there, princess.”

Cadance was completely flabbergasted with that statement. “T-that’s not true! Celestia doesn’t-”

“If I were her,” Chrysalis continued. “I would’ve destroyed her opponents on the spot, not spare them with imprisonment! That’s the right thing to do.” Chrysalis looked away. “The only reason I spared you was for my backup plan.”

Cadance gritted her teeth. She was getting sick of how this queen thinks. “Killing Discord, o-or even her own sister, isn’t right! It’s not something that a good ruler would do! She’d show mercy!”

“So it was her sister…” Shawn said to himself. “Not her own nightmare…”

Stan started shaking. “Y-You mean, S-She didn’t kill Discortalentilo? B-But the twins said-”

Shift snickered. “Oh yeah, I remember that story.”

Lift nodded. “You mean the story of how Discortalentilo fought the hatchling eater.” He laughed. “Yeah, I remember how we told it. That was awesome.”

Chrysalis laughed. “Oh, I doubt I would show this ‘mercy’ you speak of, I am a ruler of vengeance, one who doesn’t care who she steps on, only caring if they die under her hooves.”

Cadance felt a chill run down her spine from that small speech. “Y-You’re evil…y-you don’t deserve to wear that crown! Y-You don’t deserve to be a ruler!”

Chrysalis only adjusted her crown and snickered. “You forget, Cadenza.” Chrysalis inhaled deeply and said, “I’m the only ruler they’ve got!” The queen yelled before hacking right in front of Cadance’s face.

Cadance wiped the changeling’s spit of the side of her face. “Then how about they get a new ruler!” Cadance yelled back.

Every changeling in the cave raised their eyes. “W-We can do that?” Twig asked, standing back up on all fours.

“No! You can’t!” Chrysalis yelled. “It’s just me, myself, and I who rule over all of you!”

Twig grabbed Shawn by the scruff of his neck of hoisted him to his hooves. “But Shawn did a pretty good job of leading us. Right Shawn?” Shawn answered with a yelp and hid behind Twig. “Is that a yes?”

Shawn was about to say no, but Chrysalis flared her horn and dragged the scared changeling right in front of her bandaged face. “Is it?” She said coldly.

“U-U-u-u-h...uh...I...I’m...a-uh…” Shawn was too afraid to answer, knowing whatever he said, the queen would most likely do something even worse than what the alicorn would do.

“You need to understand something, you RUNT!” Chrysalis grabbed him by the throat, making everyone gasp. “I’m big; you’re small; I’m smart; you’re dumb; I’m right; and you’re wrong...and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it, so...” She threw him back into the crowd, landing right in front of Cadance. “I suggest you listen to what I say, learn your place in this swarm, and make this alicorn wish she never stepped hoof in this cave.”

Shawn tried getting up, but Cadance did that for him with her magic; getting him off the floor and into a sitting position next to her. “Believe it or not, Chrysalis, I didn’t bring myself to this cave, it was one of these changelings who brought me here.”

Chrysalis was surprised by this. “Really now, a subject did something smart for once? Who?”

“I brought her here with that bag.” Twig said while pointing at said bag. “Oh yeah, that reminds me!” He then ran over to it and dug around inside.

Chrysalis smiled. “It seems that the dumb one followed my orders without me even asking.”

Once Twig heard that, he poked his head out of the bag. “W-What?”

“Orders?” Shawn said. “A-Are you saying that you were gonna make us ponynap her again.”

Chrysalis laughed. “And here I thought Twig was the stupid one.”

“S-Stupid…” Twig said in a tone of sadness.

Shawn looked back and forth at the queen and Cadance, knowing a fight would soon follow. “Come on, Shawn.” He thought. “Use that stupid bug brain and think of...stupid?” Shawn turned to Twig, seeing him cradle some shiny brass object in his hooves.

Shawn slowly stepped out of the way of Chrysalis’s path and walked up to Twig. “Twig, you okay?”

Twig sniffed. “She...she still thinks I’m...I’m…”

Shawn patted his back. “Twig, I need you to listen to me, okay?”

Twig gulped. “O-Okay…”

While they talked, Chrysalis continued making her way to Cadance. “Now that we have her,” Chrysalis continued. “we can start our plan once again!”

Cadance rolled her eyes. “And what brilliant plan do you have in mind, Chrysalis?”

“We just try again,” Chrysalis said. “but this time, with planning.”

“W-Wait, what?” Carson said as Shawn shoved Twig out of the crowd.

“That’s right, this plan will work the second time! The first time was just a fluke, and with careful planning, it will succeed!” She yelled as Twig smiled at Shawn.

The changelings, and even Cadance, looked at her in confusion. “Um…” Cadance inspected the queens head. “You didn’t hit yourself too hard on the head when you fell, did you?”

Chrysalis just laughed. “You really think I’m joking?” Cadance nodded, making Chrysalis laugh again as Twig started walking around the crowd. “I being serious, Cadance, I reformulated this plan and made sure it will work! All I need is a princess as my hostage.” Chrysalis pointed at Cadance, who only looked at her in utter disbelief. “Then, with you out of the way, I will be the new ruler of the empire!”

Cadance started feeling like she did with the changelings, being more concerned than intimidated with her. “Um, Chrysalis, are you sure you’re head is alright? I don’t think you’re thinking stra-”

“I will rule over the land once I’ve regained my power!” Chrysalis interrupted, standing as tall as she could. “I will take control of everypony in this world, I will bring fear and terror to all across the land, I will be queen of Equestria!” Chrysalis’s eye burned in anger as Twig came up behind her.. “AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE I’M GONNA BE!?”

*THANG*

Everyone gasped as Chrysalis fell to the floor, revealing Twig behind her; his tongue stuck out of the side of his mouth with a saxophone in his hooves. “Sleepy?” Twig asked the now unconscious queen.

In the mists of shock, Shawn was able to say, “Nice job, Twig.”

“Did I get em, Shawny?” Twig asked.

“T-T-Twig!?” Stan yelled. “W-Why did you just knock out our queen!?”

“Because our new leader said so.” Twig pointed at Shawn, who laughed nervously.

Cadance walked to the unconscious Chrysalis. “I’m guessing you told him to do this?” She asked Shawn, who looked up to the ceiling innocently.

“Maybe. I was just doing what everyone else was thinking.” He pointed at Chrysalis. “I’ve never seen Chrysalis act this crazy before. None of us have, right?” Shawn looked over all his siblings, almost every single one of them nodded. “Exactly. She wouldn’t come up with a plan like that. She’d start from scratch and try something new, not tweak it.” He came up to Cadance. “And you were right, princess.”

Cadance only smiled. “I was right about what?”

“About us being helpless without a leader, about us doing things wrong...and about her.” Shawn pointed at Chrysalis, whose ear flicked afterwards. “She isn’t a good ruler, and I don’t think anything will ever change that.”

“Are you sure?” Cadance asked as Chrysalis began to open her good eye. “Maybe there’s some good in her.”

“I’m positive.” Shawn said. “The only good thing in her was-”

“Mhhhmhhgr…”

Cadance and everyone else stepped away from the now rising changeling queen, her head was leaning down and her body was finding it hard to get up. “Whoops,” Twig said. “didn’t knock her out in the knockout spot. heheh...uh, is that bad?”

“Very.” Shawn said. “Twig, You need to-”

Chrysalis raised her head, making everyone gasp once they looked at her face. “Ugh...C-children?” Chrysalis said in a much softer tone of voice. “Wha...w-what’s wrong?”

Shawn stepped back. “Q-Queen?”

“Yes, child, what is...oough…” She stumbled to the floor again. “Why is my head so...so clear now…”

“Clear?” Shawn looked at his siblings, all of them looking at their queen in amazement. Seeing that her bandage had fallen off her eye, revealing it to be a different color.

“Um...Chrysalis?” Cadance said. “Are you okay? Why’s your broken eye purple?”

“Cadenza?” Chrysalis stood over the alicorn, her face plaster with shock. “I-Is that you?”

Cadance looked back at Shawn. “What’s wrong with her?”

The changeling shook his head. “I-I dunno, her eye is really weird.”

“Hey…” Shawn looked at Twig. “you don’t think…”

“I never think.” Twig said proudly.

Without warning, Chrysalis wrapped her bandaged arms around Cadance and pulled her in for a hug. “I-I-I’m sorry...I’m sorhehehheeeeh...I-I didn’t I...I wasn’t...I...I…” The queen closed her eye and did something none of her subjects had ever seen her do.

“Is she...crying now?” Stan said.

“I...I think so…” Twig cocked his head. “I don’t think eyes water like that unless you’re flying really fast or sad about something.”

“Twig, I think you hit her soft spot.” Carson whispered.

“There’s a soft spot on her?” One changeling asked.

“Apparently.” Shawn continued looking at Chrysalis in amazement, wondering how she switched from being angry at everyone to sobbing at the spot.

While the embrace between the changeling queen and pony continued, Cadance started thinking “If she’s really like this...then maybe…” She smiled. “Hmmm, I think this could work.”

Chrysalis pulled away and rested her hooves on Cadance’s shoulders. “W-What could work?”

Shawn walked up to them. “Yeah, Princess, what are you talking about?”

Another changeling sat up. “Weren’t you talking about us going somewhere?”

“Or having some plan?” Another asked.

“Or were you just making it up?”

Cadance grinned, knowing full well that Chrysalis probably wasn’t herself anymore, but someone better, someone who would listen to her, someone who could help, not only her children, but others. she then looked at all the changelings, seeing every single one of them were waiting for her to speak.

So, with no time to spare, Cadance said something that she’d never thought she’d say in her life.  “Queen Chrysalis; changelings, I have a proposition for all of you.”

> Soon after
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Okay! Let me get this straight. You were pony napped by changelings...just so they could negotiate peace?”

Cadance nodded with a smile. “That pretty much sums it up, I’m just surprised the queen came to her senses and agreed.” 

Shining Armor was still baffled by all of this. First his wife came into his room early morning after days of not seeing her, and now she was talking about peace between them and a swarm of changelings. “B-But that doesn’t make any sense, h-how is Chrysalis like this!? She was a-”

“I knew who she was, Shining, but I think she’s different now.” Cadance then grunted, rubbing her horn soon after

“B-But how did you get them here in the first place?” Shining asked. “How did they even know about-”

“They said the crystal empire was another one of their many places that they’ve tried to eat at. Even I was surprised to find them standing right outside the place waiting for us.” She pointed outside from a nearby window in their room.

Shining rubbed his head. “So, they stayed at their cave, waited for you to talk to the princess-”

“Only for her to tell us to come here after I got back.” Cadance crossed her arms, still a bit frustrated at how the princess, even after telling her where she was the entire time she was gone and how the changelings wanted peace, was more concerned about Twilight’s ‘test’.

“Yeah, but she told you that you could handle it.” Shining said, remembering the talk of how taking the changelings here would be the perfect opportunity for them to start over and repay for what they did.

“I know she did, but she could’ve at least helped.” Cadance sighed. “I just don’t know how I’ll break this to Twilight when she gets here.”

Shining could only imagine how she’ll react. “If you thought I overreacted, then just wait for Twilight. I’m sure she can handle the news.” He ended sarcastically.

“I just wish Celestia would tell her instead.” Cadance rubbed her head again, getting a headache from this and keeping a shield up.

Shining frowned. “Listen, Cadance, I’m really glad to see you again, but are you sure you can handle all of this, with the changelings and the shield and-”

“I can do it, Shining.” Cadance reassured him. “Besides, I think the changelings can handle themselves.” She walked up to the window and looked around. “Just look at them.”

Shining came up beside her, seeing what Cadance was talking about. “Normally, I’d panic seeing changelings flying around this place, but if you say they won't spook us anymore, then maybe-”

“HELLO!”

Cadance and Shining screamed at Shawn flew right up to the window. Cadance was the first to recover. “S-Shawn!?”

Shawn saluted. “That’s General Shawn, Princess, remember?” Shawn then pointed at his helmet showing his rank from how high the horns were.

Shining glared at him. “Is there a reason as to why you decided to scare us?”

Shawn stopped saluting and chuckled. “Yeah, sorry, I was gonna knock, but flying up here was faster.”

Shining got face to face with the changeling. “Why are you here?”

Shawn didn’t seem phased by Shining’s stare, knowing Chrysalis gave worse ones. “I just wanted to see if we’re making good progress..” Shawn simply pulled out a clipboard from behind his back. “I got the notes right here.

Cadance pulled Shining away from the changeling so he could face her instead. “Well, what do you have done?”

Shawn looked at his first page. “Let’s see...the queen’s still caring for the hatchlings up at the cave.”

Cadance looked out to where her cave was.. “I hope she’s okay not being here.”

Shawn waved his hoof nonchalantly in the air. “Eh, she’s fine. Besides, she said she’ll take care of the little ones while you take care of us, so it’s a win win right there.”

Shining raised an eye. “How is that a win-”

Shawn looked through his notes. “We also found some weird stuff in this empire.”

“What ‘weird stuff’?” Cadance asked.

Shawn flipped a page. “For starters, we found this weird thing that my brothers and sisters describe as ‘that scary door’.”

“Scary door?” Shining repeated.

Shawn nodded. “Yup, gave us all the scares. Luckily, our brothers told us way worse stuff than that thing could ever match up, so we were ay okay.”

Shining felt unsure. “You locked it up, right?”

Shawn paused for a moment. “Um...yes?...yes...yes! I think we did.” Unfortunately, the changeling’s definition of ‘locked’ was simply closing something. “Pretty sure it’s closed.” 

“Good to know.” Shining said. “Rather not have nightmares in our castle.”

Shawn looked at his notes again. “We also found this weird blue crystal that’s shaped like a heart under a flight of stairs, but we think it’s just another decoration in that tower.” Shawn pointed at the top of the building. “We didn’t really think it’s important, so we put it up top at the top of the stairs, thinking it fell down.”

Cadance smiled. “Well, that was nice of you.” Cadance looked at the ponies that were talking with some of the changelings. “You guys seem to be doing a good job at making friends with the ponies.”

Shawn smiled back and looked down at his notes. “Yeah, we made sure that every bug treats every pony with respect...but, uh…” Shawn looked around to make sure only the both of them heard this conversation. “The ponies are really weird in this place.” He whispered.

“I’m...sure they’ll be better…” Cadance tried to reassure him. “They just can’t remember anything right now.”

“Well, being away for a thousand years might leave you with some head trauma, or go insane.” Shawn just shrugged and flipped another page. “Let’s see, not much else...when we were looking around to find out what this place was like before, we found a book about the history of this empire, but all the brothers just had to get all touchy feely and rip a page out.” He facehoofed. “I just hope it wasn’t too important. Seeing as how Jerkson burned it for fun.”

Shining shrugged. “It’s just one page, can’t be that bad.”

Shawn nodded. “We made sure to keep the others out after that little stunt, hopefully, no other books were harmed.”

“Find anything else?” Cadance asked, a slight groan in her voice.

“Twig found an annoying horn that we had to take away, that was...fun…” Shawn then noticed Cadance flinching. “By the way, how’s the shield holding up?” Shawn pointed up at the magic bubble that was currently surrounding the entire empire.

“It’s...doing okay.” Cadance said while looking up at her horn. Knowing full well that was a lie.

“You sure, it doesn’t look okay, I think even we can crash through it again.” Shawn then looked at Cadance. “You don’t look so good either. You look like Larry when he went on the starve streak, a whole two months without love and change a changeling.”

“I’m fine, just a bit worn out.” She leaned on Shining at the end of that sentence.

Shawn just shrugged. “If you say so.” He looked down at his notes again. “Um...not anything else I can see...All that we’re doing now is talking with the ponies, fixing up some of the homes, patrolling the outskirts to make sure that-”

*SLAM*

“PRIIIIIIIIIIIIINCEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!”

Cadance and Shining turned around to see an over sized changeling running right at them after he smashed through the doors, thankfully, he came to a screeching halt inches in front of of them, panting his lungs out. Shawn flew inside and stood in front of him. “Um, hello Twig...what’s wro-”

Twig took deep breaths while saying. “It’s something bad! Something horrible! Something that will end all our lives!”

“Settle down, bug.” Shining said. “What’s wrong, what did you see?”

Shawn nudged his brother. “Yeah, Twig. What’d you see besides that...white stuff? Snow?” He looked at Cadance to see if he was correct, Cadance nodded.

“It was big, black, red, purple, green!” He shivered. “It was like eating steel donuts and unoriginal pasta!”

Shawn shook him. “Calm down, Twig, what was black and red?”

Twig continued shivering. “It was this big cloud that started coming over this big white hill, and it looked mad! It had a menacing big face with eyes that looked like our queen on a bad day! IT SMELLED LIKE FROZEN WAFFLES!” He sucked in air and quietly finished. “I am so pooped…” He then fell on the ground.

Shawn raised an eye. “Um...wasn’t there some disease you get from saying out in snow for a while?” He pointed at Twig. “Cause I think he has it.”

Shining shook his head. “One: It’s not a disease, two: It’s called frostbite and three: I know exactly who he’s talking about.”

“You do?” Shawn tilted his head. “What is it? Cause, from what I’m getting at, it’s some weird storm cloud with colors that’d make anyone sick just by looking at it.”

“King Sombra…” Shining said coldly.

“King what?” Shawn got Twig to sit up and listen again.

Shining started explaining. “He’s an evil king that ruled over this place thousands of years ago with an iron hoof.”

“That’s why we’re here.” Cadance said, still leaning on Shining. “and why I got a shield up.”

“Ooooooh.” Both the changelings said. “We thought it was because of the snow.” Twig finished.

“This is worse than any storm, changelings, this is very bad.” Shining made sure Cadance could sit straight before he started walking out the door.

Shawn walked next to him. “Where are you going?”

“To get Twily.” He said. “If he’s out there, then I’m not letting him get my sister.”

“But it’s cold out there.” Twig said, still shivering. “Even my carabase couldn’t take the cold.”

Shining smirked at he wrapped a scarf around his neck and put shades on his eyes with his magic. “That’s what these are for.”

“But Shining.” Cadance tried walking up to him, but stumbled right into Twig, who only stood still.

“Boy, Princess," Twig said. "you’re not looking that good.”

Shawn tapped his chin. “Hey, how about we go, Shining can stay here while we-”

Shining shook his head. “Oh no, Changelings are the last things she wants to see. You and the rest of your kind stay here while I take care of this.”

Shawn didn’t want to believe that. “But she’s gonna see the real us soon, so why don’t we do it now?”

“Listen, uh, subjects…” Cadance still felt a bit creeped out a by how she was the one in charge of the changelings now. “maybe it’s best that you and your siblings...disguise while Twilight’s here and let her-.”

“WHAT!?” They yelled.

Shawn shook his head. “B-But you said that-”

“I said that ponies need to know the real you when they are ready” Cadance laid on the ground, tired of standing. “and I doubt Twilight will understand all of this, especially when I heard her trying to understand that other changeling. Not only that, but knowing creatures like you are here just adds to the stress she has over this test.”

Shawn crossed his arms. “Well, if she can’t handle bugs like us, then she can take that test and shove it up her-”

“Ahem.”

Shawn turned around to see that Twilight’s brother was still in the room. Knowing this he turned back to Cadance and smiled. “Um...s-she can take the test just fine without our help...heh..eh…” He coughed. “B-But what about the other ponies, they’re just fine with us being here.”

Cadance rested her head on her arms. “Listen, changelings. You’ve done enough so far, all you need to do is let Twilight work this out. Then, once she’s gone, you can be yourselves again.”

Twig scuffed the floor. “But I hate disguising. It makes me feel weird.”

Shawn nodded. “And what if she finds out on her own?”

Cadance knew lying to Twilight was bad, but if she told her about these bugs being here, it would make the mare’s brain snap. “We’ll keep it secret.” Cadance got back up. “Because no one, and I mean no one besides me, Shining, and the crystal ponies can know you guys are here.”

Shawn put his hooves together. “But Princess.”

“That’s an order General.” Cadance flinched and laid on the ground again.

Shawn and Twig looked at each other before looking at Shining, who only sighed and said, “Do what she says. If you need me, I’ll be getting Twilight.” With that he closed the door and left the two changelings and alicorn.

Twig sighed. “Whelp, guess we’re going camo again…”

Shawn patted his back. “I’m sure it’ll be fine, right princess?”

Cadance wasn’t sure how to answer that. She decided that changing the topic would be better. “Um...I’m sure it will...D-Do you think you can help me up, I’d really like to see Twilight as soon as she gets here.”

Twig stuck his tongue out and saluted. “You got it chief!” Twig lifted the alicorn on his back and smiled. “To the front gates!”

Cadance was too tired to care and decided to go with it. She looked over at Shawn who was looking outside. “Be sure to tell the others about everything, alright Shawn...Shawn?”

Shawn snapped out of his trance and looked back at Cadance. “Y-Yeah, I’ll be right on that! J-Just need to go over my notes!” He laughed nervously and turned back to his clipboard. 

Cadance didn’t seem to care as she turned back to Twig. “So, why are you so big? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“It’s a long and painful story!” Twig started.

Once they were gone, Shawn flipped through the pages and looked at his last line of notes, still completely at a loss as to how he should go about them, because there, in green ink, it said something that made him question everything that got him here. He gulped and took the parchment that was attached and looked over the notes one more time, the ones he didn’t read to Cadance, the one’s he didn’t write, the ones that Chrysalis wrote for him instead. He shook his head and put them back in with the rest of the notes, Knowing what he had to do.

“Don't worry, Chrysalis. We wont let you down...not again."