Meet the Clan
Octavia Melody lay in bed with a big smile upon her face, gazing at her new wife Vinyl Scratch, who had her glasses off to reveal her adorable red eyes, eyes that she was shy about revealing to anypony but her. Everything is absolutely perfect right now. I have a glittering career that earns me tens of thousands of bits a year, and a gorgeous wife who truly loves me for who I am, and is famous as well for her DJ skills and makes almost as many bits a year as I do. Things could not be better then this. Vinyl smiled back and Octavia felt soft warm kisses on her forehead, her cheeks, her lips....and neck...and a stab of pain. "Ouch! Vinyl, I don't like rough stuff in bed..." When she looked at Vinyl, she saw to her horror that Vinyl now had long fangs, but before she could scream for help she felt weak and dizzy and passed out.
The changeling that had taken Vinyl's place sent a silent call through the Hivemind to it's immediate superior. "Phase Two of Operation Wedding Bound is a success. I request that an extraordinary rendition team
should be sent in as soon as possible and a couple of temporary transfers to take Octavia and Vinyl's place until the permanent transfers are fully trained and ready." Soon enough, there was a fluttering of feathery wings as what appeared to be four pegasui ponies showed up pulling what appeared to be a Canterlot sky-taxi. In a far away place like Appaloosa where traveling by train took twenty-four hours to reach Canterlot, sky taxis were both common and popular. The unconscious body of Vinyl Scratch was taken from the cupboard where she had been stashed just a short time ago and along with Octavia was placed in the taxi, and two already transformed changelings took their places in the hotel room.
Then the taxi set off north but then swung west and south as soon as they were out of the highly populated area and headed over Buffalo tribal territory and then into the mountains and twisted canyons of the Badlands where even the Buffalos rarely went and even more rarely returned. This was changeling country and owned by one Changeling clan in particular, Clan Chrysalis. Other changelings could pass through the area without trouble or buy and trade in the markets, but they were not permitted to live there. Non-changelings tended to vanish and either be secretly replaced or were simply never seen again. Those pulling the taxi smiled as their home loomed up in front of them, a mighty castle of twisted towers and tall walls, all of fine green marble. Not for them skulking in the sewers and dark caves where one changeling clan made their home. Clan Chrysalis lived in style. Like anywhere else, the rich changelings lived much better then the rest but every changeling here had somewhere to live. Queen Chrysalis genuinely cared about her changelings.
After several hours in the air the changelings were relieved to land and transform. Pulling a heavy cart was hard work and they were looking forward to feasting on a tasty meal of love. Octavia and Vinyl were taken to a secure but opulent suite of rooms where they could both regain consciousness safely and be prepared to meet Her Majesty looking their best. Queen Chrysalis did not want to see them if they were dishevelled and looking like beggars after all.
*****
Octavia opened her eyes and found herself strapped firmly in a chair. Then a black-shelled chitinous pony sized changeling with long green wings that would not look out of place on a giant dragonfly came in front of her, something she had only seen once before in a book of monsters that were said to only exist in the world of fantasy. She let out a scream and the thing spoke to her in her own speech, in perfect Equestrian. "Oh, do shut up! Nopony is coming to your rescue. If you stop screaming and struggling I'll let you out of this chair in a short time, I promise. My name is Look Good, by the way."
"You're a real changeling...you do exist after all! Why have you tied me up? Is this the end for me? Am I your meal? Are you going to eat me or drain out all my love and leave me as a husk? And what have you done with my wife?"
"We don't eat sapient ponies and you are far too important to drain dry. You are a VIP, a very important pony. I'm going to give you a comb and brush your mane and lightly paint that cutie mark of yours so it glitters. Then after cleaning your hooves you will be presented to our Queen. Your wife is in another room being given a makeover as well." The changeling lightly painted Octavia's cutie mark with a purple make up that dried quickly and glittered. Then she brushed and combed Octavia's mane and bound body and gently cleaned her hooves of any dust and dirt, talking as she did so. "You should know where you are. You are in a secure suite within Castle Chrysalis, itself deep within the Badlands, the territory of Clan Chrysalis."
"So I'm not in some cavernous Hive then that looks like some huge wasps nest from the outside?"
"Ugh no! The Clan Chrysalis is a sophisticated clan that likes to live in comfort and style, like most changeling clans. We live in a huge castle that Rarity herself would be proud of. There is an exception; the central residence of the Clan Glycosidase is a Hive like you describe. Most of the other changelings from other clans cannot understand why Clan Glycosidase can possibly put up with living in their own filth on a regular basis. Our clan is far above such a thing. Every changeling clan has it's quirks but they are amongst the strangest. If you promise not to escape I will set you free from this chair. I can see why you might try to escape, but if you overpowered me, you would have to get out of this suite, out of the castle and through many miles of hot desert with just one river in it whilst being hunted from the air."
Reluctantly, Octavia nodded. "I promise not to escape." At least until I have a good chance of escaping successfully she thought privately to herself. Look Good untied her and she looked in a mirror. Her mane had been given pretty curls, her cutie mark glittered and she looked ready to go on stage at a major concert and preform.
"You will be reunited with your wife now and an escort of guards will take you to see our Queen."
Vinyl was ushered in looking as pretty as she had done on their wedding day and the two ponies embraced and kissed. "Octy, I am so happy to be with you again."
Soon enough they were escorted to the Royal Quarters where Queen Chrysalis waited and got their first ever sight of a Changeling Queen in all her glory. Queen Chrysalis's carapace shone and gleamed and her dragonfly wings were impressive. She wore no crown or coronet as such-the crown of a Changeling Queen was organic chitin and sprouted from her own body, containing within it the nerves that connected her mind to the Hivemind and let her broadcast directly to her entire clan. Her green tail flicked from side to side.
"Welcome, Lady Octavia and Lady Vinyl. You are highly skilled musical ponies and I have my own plans for you two."
"My family would be willing to pay a heavy ransom for me worth many thousands of bits if they knew it was the real me they would get back. What do you want with us?" Octavia asked. Vinyl stayed silent. Even on normal occasions she rarely said very much to most ponies.
"I don't need a ransom. You two will stay here and preform your music for my Hive and foreign changeling ambassadors. If you do what you are told, you will be treated very well indeed. If not, you might be cocooned, made to preform hard labour, even cooked and eaten if need be. We eat meat very rarely, but it happens. And we need you to train two changelings who have been hoof-picked as your successors to take your place in the pony world."
Octavia glared at the Queen. "We are not your slaves. And asking us to train our replacements is an outrage." Vinyl nodded emphatically.
"Whoever said anything about slaves? As long as you co-operate, you will be paid in the changeling currency which is just as good for goods or services here as the Equestrian bit. Once you have done a concert or two to prove your worth to Clan Chrysalis you will be paid as much as you used to be in pony society. You will be well fed with pony food since you cannot feast on love and eating our crops might well make you sick. In return, you must co-operate. Our society is largely like yours. We are not ignorant yokels or for the most part seasoned killers. Vinyl, you will be provided with what you need to make music."
"Is our music so good that you would go to all this trouble to kidnap us on our honeymoon?"
"I prefer the term extraordinary rendition.My clan's love supplies were running out, and love is vital for the health and the magic of a changeling. The infiltrators were just not bringing in enough, and I considered invading Canterlot, but it was too risky and my generals talked me out of it." She frowned as she remembered the scene.
*****
Queen Chrysalis leaned over her map and scowled at her generals. "Equestria is weak! All we have to do is kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down!"
They shook their heads. "If we attack Equestria all we will be doing is waking a sleeping giant who will one day crush us. Also, a direct attack would go against the Changeling Way and none of the other Queens will raise their clans for us. Instead once we had been defeated they would quietly absorb our territory."
*****
She continued with her tail."So instead of war I had a truly wonderful idea. My infiltrators told me of famous ponies such as you, Vinyl, Sapphire Shores and the Great and Powerful Trixie. Trixie was down on her luck when we found her after an Ursa Minor invaded Ponyville and smashed up her caravan. She was very happy to come to a source of new fans and willingly trained her replacement. Sapphire Shores had to be renditioned. The love of the fans for their idols means that once I replace the idols with changelings, that love can be captured and delivered to my Clan, making a war unnecessary. Also, my changelings have new idols to entertain them. Guards, take them to their quarters. Tomorrow we will have a concert to entertain the Clan."