> Ashley's New Life
>  by LostUmbrella
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The train ride resulted unexpectedly pleasant to the wounded changeling, who had the opportunity to rest, knowing that she would need her magic wherever the railway brought her.
The only problem she had was the occasionally passing conductor, easily avoided with invisibility spells.
Not having much to do, she started thinking about her choice to change life: she was sure that there weren't many alternatives that didn't involve being imprisoned or killed, yet she feared that she couldn't mingle with the ponies, having she little to no experience with their customs and lifestyle. In the end, she concluded that she would worry once that she had to.

The first stop was a great city, bigger than the empire capital and than the entire hive: Canterlot, home of the equestrian royalties.
Deciding that it was a very bad choice to start a new life for a weakened changeling like her, Ashley decided to stay on the train.
The next stop was much more promising.

"Ponyville, uh?" Ashley murmured eyeing the small city visible behind the station as the train came to a stop "Seems like a nice place, worth giving it a shot."

She left the train from the same window, being sure to keep herself invisible, and ducked in the nearest toilet.
There, once she made sure of being alone, she dropped the invisibility spell and disguised herself as a dark gray pegasus with long black mane and a compass as cutie mark; it would have been a nice disguise, even if a little beaten due to her many light injuries, if her wings weren't completely and visibly broken, the left almost torn away. Frowning, Ashley tried again, this time as an unicorn, getting a much more pleasant result.
She left the toilet trotting gingerly, excited for her new beginning.
Her bruised coat caught a pair of worried looks by a number of ponies, but none of them stopped her until she reached the city main plaza:

"Hey, are you all right?" asked a female voice behind her.

She turned to see a concerned pair of golden eyes, owned by a mint green unicorn with mane and tail of the same color with some streaks of white and a golden lyre as cutie mark.

"Yes, I simply had a long night," she answered offering a tired smile, hoping that the curious mare would leave her be.

"A long night? Sweet Celestia, what did you do? Did you got caught in a bar fight with a minotaur? Because you sure look like it," exclaimed the unknown mare wearing a disbelieving look "You really should go to the hospital."

"Uhm, I don't really like hospitals," lied the changeling, knowing that her disguise, for well done it was, wouldn't fool a diagnostic spell.

"Uh, I have to say that neither I like doctors very much..." conceded the green unicorn with a sigh before offering: "At least let me patch you up a bit at my house."

"We just met, and I don't want to impose," started saying the gray mare.

"Nonsense," said the other pushing Ashley towards a group of nearly identical two stories houses "I'm Lyra Heartstrings, by the way."

"I'm Ashley and I can walk on my own, miss Heatstrings," answered the changeling starting to walk next to the green mare.

"Drop the miss stuff, I'm no Canterlot noble," said the musician with a large smile "You have a fancy name you know? Very human-like."

"Human?" asked the confused 'grey unicorn'.

"Yes, they say that it's just a legend, but I know it's all true!" explained the other, flames burning in her golden eyes.

"Uh, yes, it's just... a nickname, yes, my name is... Ashen Sky?"

"Oh, what a pity... Anyway it's a pleasure to meet you Ashley," concluded the green unicorn nearing one particular house and opening the door with her magic.

"The pleasure is mine," replied Ashley letting herself in.

The first thing she noticed was the sweet fragrance of backed goods, which hit her nostrils like a tidal wave.
The main room, a living room, was clean and simply furnished, with a small wooden coffee table and a pair of identical sofas facing each other; on the walls were hung many photos, the majority featuring Lyra and a cream colored earth pony with blue and pink curly mane she didn't know.
The green unicorn had her wait while she fetched some bandages.
Ashley sat on her haunches, her attention focused on an antique looking grandfather clock, captivated by the pendulum rhythmic movement, until she heard a female voice asking:

"And who would you be? And while you're at it, do you mind telling me what are you doing in my living room?"

She turned to face the same mare in the photos, standing in what she supposed was the kitchen doorway, wearing a frown and a cyan apron.

"H-hello," said the 'unicorn' with a courteous bow "I'm Ashen Sky, Lyra's guest."

"Oh, all right, I didn't expect any guest," said the mare relaxing visibly and offering a smile "I'm Bon-Bon, Lyra's marefriend. I hope she's fetching some bandages for you: you look terrible, no offense,"

"None taken, and yes, we're here for that purpose," replied the gray mare with a light chuckle.

"I'd like to chat a little more, but I'm baking some cookies and I need to check on them," Bon-Bon excused herself, before proposing: "Are you familiar with baking?"

"To be absolutely sincere, I never approached a kitchen in my whole life," said Ashley smiling sheepishly.

"Oh, what a pity, I could have used some help..." said the baker turning around "We'll chat later then, ok?"

"Sure," answered the gray mare, happy of having found such a nice couple of friends.

She had just sat on a sofa as Lyra returned from her epic quest for the first aid kit, which was floating next to her head, encased in bright green aura.

"I found it!" announced the green unicorn with a triumphant smile, trotting towards her newest friend.

"Thank you Lyra, you're doing a lot for me and we just met," said Ashley smiling as she laid on her belly on the couch.

"Nah, it really isn't that much," she said waving a dismissive hoof while pouring some disinfectant on a wad of cotton "This might hurt a bit, stay still."

She started cleaning the smallest cuts and then slowly proceeding towards the worst looking ones, making her friend wince and even yelp in pain.
After having finished cleaning and bandaging all the other cuts, Lyra eyed the two largest wounds, placed where a pegasus would have wings; her first thought was that Ashen Sky was in reality an alicorn whose wings had been torn away, but she swiftly shelved the idea and took a syringe from the kit.
> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ouch! What are you doing?" asked the gray 'unicorn' turning her head to fix her gaze on Lyra's eyes.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you," replied the other with a sheepish smile scratching the back of her head with a forehoof "It was just a bit of anesthetic to treat the wounds on your back."

"I guess that a little anesthetic could be nice," said 'Ashen Sky' relaxing visibly.

"Now, while we wait for it to take effect, why don't you tell me how did you get such nasty wounds?" asked the green unicorn sitting on the other couch.

"Uhm Lyra, what are you doing?" asked the changeling noticing her friend weird sitting posture.

"That? It's just how humans usually sit. I find it pretty relaxing," explained the musician waving a dismissive hoof.

"Lyra, you're not annoying our guest with your strange legends and conspiratorial theories, right?" asked Bon-Bon from the kitchen in a stern tone.

"Uh, no of course..." gulped the unicorn, before addressing 'Ashen Sky' "I suppose you already met my marefriend, right?"

"Yes, she's a nice pony," answered the other with a smile. "Ehm, Lyra, may I ask a question?"

"Sure, unless it is about me and Bon-Bon making sweets,  if you know what I mean," answered the green mare chuckling.

Ashley's face reddened a bit: even if in her week long life she had her fair share of experiences, love affairs were still an unknown to the young changeling.

"Of course no! I wanted to ask: if I wasn't a unicorn, would you still help me?"

At those words, Lyra jumped on her two rear hooves, pointed one of the fore ones to her friend and shouted: "I knew it: you're an alicorn whose wings have been torn away!"

The suspected alicorn gave her a blank stare.

"Uh, sorry, go on..." said Lyra smiling sheepishly and going back to sitting.

"Is it normal that I'm feeling that much sleepy?" asked Ashley yawning.

"Uh-oh!" said the other eyeing the anesthetic after having dug it out of the kit "I might have used a teensy bit too much... "

As her drowsy brain processed her info, Ashley found herself fighting the urge to strangle her first friend.

"Before I black out," she started to say putting a hoof on Lyra's left shoulder "I won't harm anypony."

"What does that mean?" asked the very confused unicorn while her friend forelimb fell from her shoulder.

A second later, she screamed at the top of her lungs as 'Ashen Sky's' body got engulfed in bright green flames.

Bon-Bon almost didn't have the time to move after hearing Lyra's scream, that she found a ball of mint green fur trying to hide behind her.

"Lyra? What's up?" she asked after turning to face the trembling unicorn.

"C-C-C-Changeling!"

"Again this story?" sighed the backer hugging her marefriend "Last time it was Carrot Top saying she was at the wedding, what did Ashen Sky say to frighten you?"

"Couch" was the only answer she got.

"All right, I'll go and ask her," said Bon-Bon slowly rising "Be right back."

She understood her marefriend's fear, after all being abducted and mind controlled by those creatures must have taken its toll on her, but she found that randomly accusing other ponies was a bit extreme reaction.
She reached the living room and froze: on her couch, where she expected to find a gray unicorn, lied instead a much bigger, pony-shaped creature encased in a glossy black shell covered in cracks and white bandages drenched in a green fluid, with slender limbs full of holes, like her contorted horn and her dark gray mane and tail; but the most disturbing thing of the complexion weren't the visibly torn wings, but the fact that tears were rolling down her muzzle even while sleeping.
As if she had just received a good stare from a cockatrice (or from Fluttershy, who is even worse if you asked the right cockatrice), Bon-Bon stood in the doorway to the kitchen, processing what she was seeing.

"Lyra, go fetch the guards," calmly said the cream colored mare.

"No..." murmured the unicorn with a sniff.

"What?" asked an extremely surprised Bon-Bon entering the kitchen, where her marefriend was still hiding.

"She can replace you while I'm out and turn you in her with some spell..." explained the unicorn in a serious tone.

"Oh Lyra," said the other hugging her "You don't need to worry, I'll be fine. Now go."

Lyra smiled a bit and nodded, but froze as a raspy, double toned but not completely unfamiliar voice muttered:

"No, please don't."

The two mares found themselves paralyzed where they were as the first shaky black hoof clicked on the white tiles of the kitchen.
Ashley made her way in the room painfully slowly as she fought back the effect of the sedative. She turned to the two colorful stains she saw with her vision made blurry by her tears, and fell on the floor.

"I won't harm you, nor anypony else..." she said, her breath made heavy by fatigue and broken by sobs.

"Lies! She told me what you did at the wedding!" shouted Bon-Bon placing herself between Lyra and the changeling.

Ashley only stared at them, too tired to keep on fighting the anesthetic, too stubborn to let go. She intertwined her gaze with the scared unicorn.

"She's not lying," declared Lyra after a moment, surprising both the changeling and the pony.

"What are you saying? She tricked you to get in our house, who knows what else she had planned!" claimed Bon-Bon pointing an accusatory hoof towards the pitiful looking creature.

"And I am the one who makes up crazy theories, uh?" asked her marefriend with a smirk.

"Then why is she here?" retorted the backer.

"Maybe I should answer this one."

The injured changeling was forcing herself to stand, shaking under her own weight.

"I am queen Ashley, well, ex-queen I should say," she confessed "I was born around a week ago as a substitute to my sister, queen Chrysalis, and a few hours after that I was planning an attack to Crystal City."

"See? She's evil!" snarled the cream colored mare.

"I won't deny that what I did isn't right, but I had my reason: without the love of the crystal heart my children would have died in a pair of months," explained the queen before resuming her story, telling the duo how the attack ended with her being defeated by Chrysalis, and her decision to live a different kind of life.

"You know, it's hard to believe something like this," declared Bon-Bon shaking her head as the changeling finished her tale "Yet it sounds more plausible than Lyra's theories on humans."

"Hey! They exist, someplace far away, I'm sure of it!"

"Like the seaponies right?" asked the cream colored mare with a playful smirk.

"You saw the photo I took in our bathtub! It was there!" replied the unicorn slightly offended.

"No, I saw a photo of you in a bubble bath and your wet hoofprints in our hallway," said her marefriend blowing her a raspberry.

"I already -" started explaining Lyra before a loud thud announced that her guest had fallen again to the ground, defeated by the anesthetic.
> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Ashley came back to her senses she noticed she wasn't in Lyra's kitchen anymore, nor in her living room, yet she wasn't in a cold dungeon as she expected:   she laid in a really soft bed in a very messy room, where every surface of the wardrobe and of the small desk were littered by music sheets, old textbooks and drawings of strange bipedal creatures similar to furless apes.
She was so enraptured in those sketches that she didn't notice that another pony had entered the room.

"It's a human girl," said Lyra, sitting next to the changeling and startling her.

"Lyra, you scared me!" lamented the other shifting her gaze to the mint green mare.

"Sorry, I noticed you were looking at my drawings and I thought you wanted to know what it was..." offered the unicorn with a smile.

"I suppose this is your room then; why am I here?" asked Ashley wearing a serious expression.

"You were injured and Bon-Bon didn't want you to stay on the couch..." explained Lyra waving a dismissive hoof.

"I mean, shouldn't I be in jail? Why didn't you call the guards?"

"Well, you said you wouldn't hurt me nor anypony else..." said Lyra in a matter of fact tone.

"Just that? The word of a changeling, the most deceiving race in the world, is enough for you?" asked said changeling now really confused.

"Were you lying?"

"No, I meant what I said."

"That's why I trusted you."

Ashley was taken aback by the mare's reasoning: never she would have believed what she had just witnessed.

"Equestria to Ashley, do you hear me?" said Lyra waving a hoof in front of her guest's eyes.

"Sorry, you surprised me a little: I was under the impression that you didn't like my kin, and yet you're keeping me in your house and treating my wounds," explained the changeling with a sigh "You're an odd pony."

"Yeah, they tell me that a lot!" chuckled the other "Now what do you plan on doing?"

"When I met you I was searching for a place to stay while healing up, not the best of plans considering that I don't have a bit..." reflected the ex-queen tapping her chin with a bandaged hoof.

"Well, that can be considered covered" said the other with a wink.

"Are you sure? I don't want to impose, and Bon-Bon didn't seem to like me a lot..."

"As long as you don't wander around the house undisguised there won't be any problem for any of us," said Lyra with a smile.

Ashley shrugged and went on: "After I recover I was planning on travelling a bit."

"So you weren't planning to settle down in Ponyville?" asked the cream colored mare entering the room.

"Bon-Bon, what are you doing here?" asked the unicorn, taken aback by the baker's apparition.

"You weren't coming down so I came to check."

"Worried that she would replace me?" asked Lyra blowing her marefriend a raspberry.

"I was worried that you would annoy her with your ramblings about humans," retorted the baker, causing her guest to snicker "And I wanted to say that dinner is ready."

---

Bon-Bon slowly rose from the bed she shared with her marefriend and walked unsteadily towards the kitchen.

"Hello Lyra," she saluted upon entering the room, spotting the mint green mare sitting at the table.

She made her way towards the cupboard to get an apple.

"Hello Lyra," she saluted a second mint green mare, standing near the range.

She took a nice looking red apple and stopped with a puzzled expression on her face.

She turned to face two almost identical mares and said: "Ahah, very funny, you two..."

Both Lyras chuckled before one of the two was replaced by a gray unicorn in pretty bad shape.

"Good morning Bon-Bon!" they saluted in unison.

"What's the great idea? What if somepony walked in?" asked the slightly angered baker.

"It's ten in the morning on Sunday, who should ever enter our kitchen, apart from you?" asked the musician with a raised eyebrow.

As to answer her question, the front door slammed open to let in a white unicorn mare with spiky two-toned blue mane wearing a toothy grin and a pair of purple shades.

"Good morning everypony!" loudly saluted the newcomer entering the house.

"Her?" answered Bon-Bon facehoofing.

"Uhm, hello Vinyl, do you need something?" politely asked Lyra.

"Milk and a pinch of salt, but that's not why I'm here," answered the white unicorn raising her glasses over her horn and showing a concerned face "What was all the ruckus yesterday? I would have come to check right away but I had to get Octy at the station..."

"Uh, nothing really..." said her fellow musician offering a not very convincing smile.

"Lyra, you know that you're not the worst liar ever only because Applejack exists, right?" asked Vinyl with a stern look.

"You really don't need to worry: it was just -" tried to say Bon-Bon, but she was cut by the 'gray unicorn' at the table, who said: "Me, it was me."

Everypony in the room turned to look at her with a very surprised look: the owners of the house because they didn't expect Ashley's intervention, Vinyl because she didn't notice the bandaged 'unicorn'.

"Woah, who are you? And why are you covered in bandages?"

"Oh, Vinyl, that's Ashen Sky; Ashley, meet Vinyl Scratch," said the baker introducing the two.

"It's a pleasure, miss Scratch" said Ashley with a curtly nod "As the reason for the bandages is the same for the ruckus: I'm Lyra's cousin and I came here to pay her visit, but had a close encounter with a changeling. Luckily I succeeded in running away, but I was pretty battered and that's why she screamed upon seeing me."

Unlike her 'cousin', Ashley, as any other changeling, was a terribly good liar; moreover, it was pretty much the truth.

"Ah, those nasty vermin! You're lucky to have escaped! I was in Canterlot when they attacked, you know?" said the white unicorn vehemently.

"Yes Vinyl, we know, and I'm sure Ashley doesn’t want to hear about it..." said Bon-Bon rolling her eyes.

The DJ, paying no heed to her words, went on recounting her tale:"I would have been dead now, trust me, if it wasn't for Octavia: I suppose that always standing to play her cello has strengthened her legs a lot."

"And pray tell what this Octavia do?" asked the disguised changeling in a mellifluous tone that hinted her repressed anger.

"Oh, she was great! She bucked those vermin out of her house so hard they slammed into a wall on the other side of the street!" said Vinyl unaware of her interlocutor's state of mind and of Lyra's attempts to shut her "But don't get strange ideas: she's my mare!"

"SorryIdontfeelverywell!" said 'Ashen Sky' rising from her seat and teleporting away in an acid green flash.

"Was it some thing I said?" asked a very dumbfounded Vinyl Scratch.

Bon-Bon facehoofed as Lyra bolted upstairs wearing a worried look.
> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lyra didn't knock, it was her room after all.
When she opened the door she immediately found who she was searching for: in the middle of the room, fighting back the tears that flooded her gray reptilian eyes, sat a very sad changeling.
She didn't really know what to do: she had expected to see an angry Ashley, not such a pitiful scene; yet she neared her sad friend, for she saw the ex-queen that way, and sat in front of her.

"You have to forgive Vinyl: she's quite obnoxious and a bit dense, but she's really kind and caring," said the unicorn with a gentle smile.

"While I certainly wanted to fling her in a wall, the real problem lies somewhere else: what pains me is how she was talking of my kin," explained the changeling with a heavy sigh.

"Yeah, she goes hard with words sometimes..."

"That's not what I meant," Ashley sighed again "While I'm not the birthmother of any of my subjects, well ex-subjects, I cannot help but see them as my children."

"Ah, I knew it! You don't lay eggs, right?" asked Lyra jumping into standing on the two rear hooves and pointing at her very surprised friend.

"No, why are you ponies so fixated with this idea? I find it seriously disturbing..."

Lyra didn't answer but rushed out of the room.

A couple of seconds later, the ex-queen heard the unicorn making fun of somepony (probably Bon-Bon) in a chanting tone: "I was right and you not!"

"Sorry, I had some urgent business to tend to," explained Lyra chuckling as she returned.

"Yeah, I heard..." said Ashley rolling her eyes "What was I saying? Ah, right! Since I see them as my children, hearing such joy in the tale of them being beaten up is really painful, and the hatred that you ponies show towards us pains me even more."

"I'm sorry Ashley, but you have to understand that your kin has a really bad reputation after Canterlot, and it will be worse as soon as your attack to the empire gets to the press: you cannot expect to be well accepted or to hear kind words about your race," explained Lyra hugging her friend.

"You did accept me though..."

"Just give us a little time and behave, I'm sure that our races will warm up to each other someday."

"I guess you're right, thank you Lyra."

"Maybe can we try again with Vinyl sometimes?" asked the unicorn with a smile.

"Yes, I think so" said the changeling with a nod "I guess she deserves my excuses too..."

---

"I'm home Tavi," announced Vinyl entering her home.

There was something missing in her marefriend's tone, so Octavia peeked out of the kitchen to see her standing in the hall, staring in empty space.

"Vinyl, what's up?" asked the gray mare getting near to the unicorn.

"Uh? Nothing, don't worry," lied the DJ pacing towards the stairs "I'll be in my study."

"Vinyl Scratch, I want an explanation and I want it now!" ordered the black-maned mare with a stern tone.

Vinyl could almost physically feel her marefriend's amethyst eyes boring two holes on the back of her head.

"Fine, let's sit ok?"

The two mares entered the living room and sat on the couch. It was covered in black fake leather, in striking contrast with the white paint on the wall and the pearl colored rug, on which stood an stylish black glass coffee table.

"It's something that happened at Lyra's house," stated the unicorn "They're fine, the scream I heard was due to Ashen Sky's condition. She's Lyra's cousin, by the way."

"So? I don't get it, what's the matter?"

"Ashley, as they call her, coming here met a changeling and was in pretty bad condition as result of their fight; to raise her morale I told her about how you handled those vermin in Canterlot, but I think I upset her" concluded the white mare hanging her head low.

"Vinyl, you don't have to worry: probably you just recalled her a bitter memory, it's nothing to fuss about!" said Octavia hugging her marefriend before trying to continue and being interrupted by a knock at the door "I'm sure we'll hear about her very - Who might this be?"

While the DJ went to open the door, Octavia, who had been replaced by a changeling a pair of days before the whole attack on the empire, reflected on the interesting piece of news she had gained: queen Chrysalis had made herself clear that any changeling who could find her sister had to bring her back to the hive alive, and she had little doubts that this Ashley was the one she was ordered to find. And that's precisely what she meant to make sure of.

"I hope you're free on Thursday Tavi, because we've got guests for dinner!" announced Vinyl as she returned, her usual grin back on her face.

"What do you mean? Who was at the door?" asked 'Octavia' snapping back from her thoughts of the wonderful reward her queen would give her for fulfilling such an important task.

"It was Ashen Sky, she came to excuse herself for how she acted before. To thank her for her kindness I invited the three of them for dinner," explained the unicorn.

"Excellent."

---

The following day began with another unforeseen event: when 'Ashen Sky' entered the kitchen to get something to eat, she was met with a bubbly-maned pink mare sitting at the table who said: "I knew you would be there: the author keeps on writing about this place..."

Ashley only stood there, dumbfounded, and blinked.

"Who are you? And what author?" she asked after a minute or so of silence.

"Oh, right, we did never met! My name is Pinkie Pie, Ponyville premiere party maker!" said the mysterious mare jumping in front of her and shaking vigorously her right front hoof.

"Uh, nice to meet you, I guess..." said the disguised changeling hesitantly "My name is Ashen Sky, I'm Lyra's cousin."

"Ashley, who are y- Pinkie! What are you doing in my kitchen?" asked Bon-Bon entering the room.

"Oh, Bonnie, fancy meting you here!" saluted cheerfully the pink baker waving a hoof.

"Fancy meeting me here? Pinkie, I live here!"

"Well, duh."

"And what brings you here?" asked the cream colored mare massaging her forehead with a hoof to calm her growing headache.

"Oh, to met her," she said pointing a forehoof towards 'Ashen Sky' "And to give you these!" she concluded presenting her three gray envelopes she had taken out of apparently nowhere.

Bon-Bon opened one of said envelopes revealing a black card bearing silver writings:

Hello, this is an informal (because being formal is booooooring) invitation to Ashley's welcome-to-Ponyville-we-wish-you-a-happy-stay-party at Sugarcube Corner this evening!
Bring a friend (or maybe twenty two), we're waiting for you!

"So, see you this evening!" said Pinkie before jumping out of a window.

"What was that?" asked 'Ashen Sky', who was still trying to process Pinkie's first sentence.

"She was just Pinkie Pie being herself, don't think too hard about it..." sighed Bon-Bon shaking her head.
> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sugarcube Corner main room had been prepared for the party: the many tables that usually where at the customers' service were placed alongside the walls and covered in baked goods and punch bowls, except in the furthest corner from the door where stood a DJ booth, while the ceiling was adorned with streamers and balloons.
Judging from the number of ponies 'Ashen Sky' could see, a good number of invited heeded to Pinkie's suggestion to bring a friend or two.

"Attention everypony!" shouted the mind behind the party in a microphone "Our main guest has arrived, LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!"

At those words a chorus of cheers raised from her audience as Vinyl started the music.

"Hey Ashley, you've made it," cheerfully stated Pinkie Pie bouncing towards her "I want you to meet somepony."

"Uh, sure, why not?" said the ex-queen still confused on how the pink baker could prepare such a huge event with so little time.

And with that, the 'gray unicorn' forcefully met the whole population of Ponyville, sure that by the sunrise she would have forgotten almost every name thank to the pounding migraine she was starting to feel due to telling her fake story over and over again (and probably also thanks to Berry Punch's delicious punch, but a bit too alcoholic for the changeling tastes).

"And now, I want you to meet my super duper veryest bestes of friends!" said Pinkie Pie bouncing in front of a group of mares "From left to right: Rainbow Dash, Equestria best flier and Ponyville weather squad leader!"

"Hey there!" saluted said mare.

"Next to her, Applejack, owner of the yummiest apples in Equestria at Sweet Apple Acres!"

"Howdy!"

"The gorgeous mare in white is Rarity, according to lord Fancy Pants, the pony anypony should know - beside me of course!"

"Pleased to meet you, dear!"

"The one trying to hide behind my tail is Fluttershy, a real sweetheart!"

"H-hello?"

"And last but absolutely not least, princess Celestia's protégée and one of the most magical unicorns in Equestria, Twilight Sparkle!"

"It's a pleasure!"

While she had recognized the other four as those who left the train she caught, she froze realizing who the fifth was.

"T-the pleasure is mine, I'm Ashen Sky, Ashley for short," said the ex-queen in a tone that rivaled Fluttershy's.

Luckily for her, the five mares didn't seem to notice her slip, or did not mind it at last.

"Those are some nasty wounds, girl..." stated Applejack eyeing her extensive bandages.

"They are indeed dreadful, how did you get them?" asked Rarity in a concerned tone.

"If you don't mind us asking, of course..." added Fluttershy with a caring smile.

"Of course not, I already told the whole city," joked 'Ashen Sky' before cutting her tale short "I had a close encounter with a changeling while coming here."

"Oh my!" exclaimed in unison Rarity and Fluttershy, even if hearing the latter would have been a feat.

"Strange: I thought that all of them were in the empire..." commented Twilight tapping her chin "Where did you met it? I can tell the princess to send some guards to investigate."

"Oh, don't worry: she has probably already returned to the hive in the badlands..." said the gray mare waving a dismissive hoof.

"She's right: those sly vermin like to hide!" exclaimed the cyan pegasus.

"Rainbow, it isn't very nice what you said, even if it was the changeling that assaulted Ashen Sky!" chastised Fluttershy in a stern tone.

"Uhm, Pinkie, I'll steal our main guest for a moment," announced Twilight before turning towards Ashley and asking "Mind following me for a moment? I'd like to have a word with you in private."

"Uh, sure..." she replied shrugging before following the lavender mare.

---

Twilight led her 'fellow unicorn' outside the confectionery into the open road, then she turned and, pointing her horn at the disguised changeling, said: "Ok, who are you? And what are you searching here?"

"What do you mean? I'm Lyra's cousin!" replied the ex-queen in a fake offended tone.

"First, it's little known but Lyra has no cousins of sort, second, nopony knows the changeling hive location except the princesses and those whom they told, and last, distinguishing a changeling's sex is a hard task if it's not a queen, and you said 'she'," listed the librarian without breaking her stance "So, changeling, what's your mission?"

"Fine," sighed the other "You win Twilight."

Instantly, her horn was enchased in a sickly green aura and in a flash they were gone.

"Where are we?" demanded the lavender mare as they blinked into existence in a place she did not know.

"In Lyra's room, where I sleep," answered 'Ashen Sky' lighting a candle "I didn't want to cause a ruckus if somepony came out, don't you agree?"

"Drop your disguise, changeling!"

With a sigh, Ashley's body was engulfed in green flames revealing her real aspect.
For a brief moment, dread flashed in the librarian's stare.

"You! What are you doing here?" demanded the unicorn regaining her composure.

"Certainly not conquering Ponyville or whatever you're thinking, Twilight," replied the wounded mare in a tired tone as she sat on her haunches "I'm recovering from my wounds, thanks to Lyra's and Bon-Bon's hospitality."

"Sure, and I'm an alicorn..." commented sarcastically the unicorn.

"While mistrusting a changeling is generally a good idea, you have to admit that I have little else to do here: I'm wounded and alone, wanted by ponies and probably by my kin too, with little to no knowledge on where I am," said Ashley with a hint of disgust for her own pitiful state "What do you expect me to do?"

"Maybe you want revenge for your defeat in the empire?"

"If I really wanted revenge I would face my sister: she caused my downfall, not you." replied the changeling crocking an eyebrow.

"Then what you plan on doing once you recover?" asked Twilight sitting down in front of her.

"Travel: I want to see the world," she explained in a slightly dreamy tone "I want to visit Zebrica, the land of dragons and Haywaii, all those places I red of in my sister's books."

"Fine, you convinced me," said the lavender mare in a defeated tone "I won't expose you, but if you harm anypony you will met the princesses!"

"Thank you Twilight, your trust means a lot to me..." said the ex-queen with a soft smile.

"Another thing..." said the librarian raising a hoof to silence her.

"Yes?" asked the changeling, curious on what else the unicorn might want.

"I want to know EVERYTHING about your kin," said Twilight with her best puppy eyes, while a quill and a parchment materialized behind her.

Ashley simply gulped.
> Chapter 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following pair of days flew by swiftly for Ashley, who spent them divided between healing and satisfying Twilight's thirst of knowledge.
On Thursday morning, she accompanied Lyra to the park: the two mares sat on a bench under a willow tree, the musician playing her instrument, the other listening while observing the ponies pass by, stop to enjoy a tune or make a request.
It was almost midday when Lyra stopped; as the two of them paced towards a nearby restaurant, where they were supposed to meet Bon-Bon, the green mare stopped dead in her track and planted her gaze on her 'cousin'.

"What's up, Lyra? Are you all right?" asked 'Ashen Sky' wearing a worried look.

"I want to know," said the musician, her train of thought unbroken "Is there a way for me to understand how you feel?"

"What do you mean? I feel much better, just the occasional ache from the wounds on my back, I already told you..." said the very confused 'gray unicorn', raising an eyebrow.

"I mean your kin, how a changeling feels..." whispered Lyra, softly enough that only her friend could hear.

The ex-queen yelped in surprise before pushing Lyra in a bush, where she hissed: "You where there when I told Twilight that turning into one of us is just an old legend, something that we don't do!"

"I know, there's no need to get angry," retorted the green unicorn before explaining "I just thought that maybe there was a way for us ponies to understand you better..."

"That's a nice thing to say Lyra, sorry for getting mad," said Ashley with a soft smile "But I'm sorry: there is no way."

"And your disguise?" inquired the musician "It seems pretty real for an illusion..."

"It has to be perfect to fool even the most observant ponies," explained the changeling with pride "To the point it feels real to both watcher and user."

"Then if you disguise me as a changeling..." hinted Lyra, her eyes glimmering for the possibilities the idea held.

"It should work, even if it won't give you the full picture..." said Ashley with a nod "Yet, it's strictly personal: you would have to cast it yourself."

"Luckily, I know just the right pony to help me learn it!" said Lyra with a sly grin.

---

Bon-Bon wasn't surprised of her marefriend's idea, nor that Ashley agreed to help her, but definitely she wasn't pleased. Yet, after Lyra treated her a generous portion of strawberries with ice cream, her secret vice, she declared that:

"I'm not interested in the slightest in your crazy plans, just be sure not to turn irreversibly into a changeling!"

And with the blessing of the one who wore the pants in the family (figuratively speaking, for it was Lyra the one who liked to wear them) the two friend directed themselves towards the only place in Ponyville where they could find a valuable help in learning spells: Golden Oak Library.
So, after having answered Twilight's barrage of questions at the best of their possibilities (they were a little lost when the lavender mare started asking about mana flux and horn charge fluctuation), the three mares spent the afternoon trying to replicate one of the changelings most basic spells, until a slightly enraged Bon-Bon appeared at the library front door claiming that they were almost late for dinner.

---

"Oh girls, you're on time!" stated Vinyl opening the door "Lyra, you should know that when I tell you eight o'clock I mean from half past eight onward."

"See, I told you!" said the green unicorn to her marefriend as 'Ashen Sky' chuckled slightly.

"But come in, luckily for you Tavi is much more punctual than me," said the owner of the house letting her guest in before calling: "Octy, they have arrived!"

From what Ashley presumed being the kitchen emerged Vinyl's marefriend, or the one she was supposed to be: while the three ponies in the hall saw a gray coated, black maned earth mare with amethyst eyes wearing a white collar and a pink bowtie, the ex-queen could clearly see a changeling drone walking their way.

"Good evening Lyra, Bon-Bon," she saluted the two mares before regarding the other changeling in the room "And you must be miss Sky, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine, but drop the miss: I am no noblepony, as you might know..." said 'Ashen Sky' with a courteous bow.

"All right, enough with the presentations, let's hit the dance floor!" said the DJ pumping a forehoof in the air.

"Vinyl..." said 'Octavia' with a stern look.

"I meant the dinner table, yes, definitely not the dance floor," said the white mare with a sheepish smile that gained her a chuckle from Lyra and a sigh from the cellist.

The owner of the house and her marefriend guided them in the dining room which was, as the rest of the house, a mixture of jet black and bright white furniture on the setting of candid walls with hanged vinyl records and dark floors with white carpets.
They sat down at the table as the DJ levitated five dishes of dandelion soup and the dinner began.

"Oh, Octavia, this soup is wonderful, you have to give me the recipe!" exclaimed the baker as she emptied her dish.

"It was Vinyl and not me who cooked," said the other with a shrug.

"You can cook? Seriously?" asked Lyra regarding the blue-maned musician with a surprised look.

Despite Ashley's alarm the evening went on well: Vinyl proved to be a good cook, and they ended up really hitting the dance floor in a nearby bar (literally in the ex-queen's case, for she was incredibly inept at dancing), but more importantly the fake Octavia didn't seem interested in the larger changeling's reasons to be there. It turned into an unexpectedly pleasant evening.

---

The next day was another intensive study session at Golden Oak Library, and the three mares were sitting in the owner's room, which was cluttered by notepads full of knowledge on the changeling race and spellbooks about illusion and transformation.

"May I ask a question Ashley?" inquired Twilight as Lyra's umpteenth try only led to her coat turning black.

"What have you been doing for the past few days?" asked with irony the frustrated green unicorn, eliciting a chuckle from her teacher.

"I meant a personal question," corrected herself the lavender mare rolling her eyes, then waited for the changeling nod to ask: "You are behaving really differently from our first meeting, and the same can be said for Chrysalis, is it some strange changeling feature to have a different personality upon the second meeting?"

"Uh no, it simply is a matter of circumstances," started explaining Ashley "The first time we met I was the absolute sovereign of an invading army with the only purpose of disrupting your brother's barrier to conquer Crystal City and feed my subjects; now I have no responsibility whatsoever and I can be myself..."

"So was it an act due to your role? And it's probably the same for your sister?" asked Twilight, sure of having reached the right conclusion.

"Yes," wanted to say Ashley, but she was cut short by another herself shouting "I DID IT!"

Both the librarian and her interlocutor watched a very happy looking 'Ashley' bouncing around the room.

"Lyra, that's amazing! But why me?"

"Well, it's not everyday you have a living changeling model to inspire your spell!" said the fake one with a huge smile before an idea struck her "We have to show Bon-Bon! Come on Ashley, let's go! Thank you Twilight for your help!"

And with that the two changeling rushed downstairs, leaving the librarian to ponder on the fact that Lyra had learned a spell before her. Yet, those gloomy thoughts didn't last because a horde of Pinkie Pie diverted her attention for the rest of the day.
> Chapter 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What a pity, she's not here," commented 'Ashley' as she pranced around the house.

"Lyra, you should be careful while wearing such a disguise!" said the 'gray unicorn' walking at her side while glazing out of every window in search of curious eyes.

"Can we at least take a pair of photos?" asked the fake changeling sitting in the living room with the real one "You're healing up extremely fast, and I'd like to have a keepsake after your departure."

"That's the sweetest thing somepony told me," said 'Ashen Sky' hugging her friend.

"Woah, I felt it, I felt the love!" said Lyra very surprised.

"I told you it feels real," chuckled the other "Yet you'll still need pony food, or you'll starve."

"Aww, I was really curious about how emotions tasted..."

"Trust me, you don't want to taste pain, nor sadness..." said the real Ashley in a knowing tone "Now, go and take your camera, I'll wait here for you!"

With a nod, the fake Ashley trotted upstairs as a filly whom somepony has promised ice cream, and reached her room. There was something off, aside for the usual mess, and it probably had something to do with Octavia entering through the window, but Lyra wouldn't have put her hoof on it.

"Ehm, I can explain, I swear..." said the cellist with a sheepish smile.

An embarrassed silence fell on the duo of fakes, both unaware of who the other was, the kind of heavy silence that ponies usually fill hacking lightly, and that was exactly what Lyra did: she closed her eyes and coughed in a forehoof.
Had she been a true changeling, she would have recognized the strange feeling she received from 'Octavia', who had lunged towards her with a big jute sack ready, as malevolence.
Half a minute later, Ashley, who had been sitting on the sofa all along, saw the changeling who passed herself as Octavia galloping away with a heavy looking sack.

"That's strange, what would she-" she said voicing her thoughts, before a fearsome idea struck her "Lyra!"

She teleported upstairs only to find what she dreaded: nopony.

"As soon as she gets out of town she will use invisibility and unless Lyra knocks her out I'll have no chance to find her..." she mumbled while galloping out of the house "But I know where she's headed."

That said, she went in search of the one mare she feared the most at the moment: Bon-Bon.
It took her a good quarter of hour to find the cream colored baker, who was witnessing the latest plague of Ponyville: a horde of Pinkie Pie bouncing around shouting "Fun!" at every jump.

"Bon-Bon!" called out 'Ashen Sky' breathing heavily.

"Ashley, what's up? You look like you just run the Running of the Leaves!" said the cream colored mare eyeing her guest.

"Lyra has been ponynapped by Octavia!" said the ex-queen catching her breath.

"Who's badmouthing my Tavi?!" barked Vinyl reaching the duo wearing an angry frown.

"She's not your marefriend but a changeling," punctuated the 'gray unicorn'.

"Wait, you're telling me I slept with a giant locust?" asked the shocked DJ.

"I need help to save her, where's Twilight?" continued Ashley ignoring the white unicorn.

"I fear she has her hoofs full with the Pinkies, but why would she take my Lyra?" asked Bon-Bon, having already an idea of what happened.

"She thought she was ponynapping me..." admitted the changeling hanging her head.

"I don't get half of this story," stated Vinyl putting her trademark shades over her horn and revealing a pair of very determined red eyes "But our marefriends have been taken by those vermin, and you seem to know where we can find them, right? Then it's settled: let's go and save them!"

"Vinyl is right, and I bet it's all Lyra's fault for being careless anyway," sentenced Bon-Bon with a nod "Show us the way, Ashley!"

---

"Let me get this straight: you're not Lyra's cousin?" asked Vinyl.

They were sitting in a train booth, with 'Ashen Sky' and Bon-Bon filling the DJ up on the real story.

"No," answered the 'gray' mare sitting in front of her.

"And you're not Ashen Sky the unicorn but Ashley the changeling queen?"

"Ex-queen," corrected Bon-Bon, who was sitting to the white unicorn's right.

"And we're headed to the badlands to save our marefriends from the vermin?"

"I'd really appreciate if you could cut it with the vermin: I mean, I don't go around calling you horned horse!" said the disguised changeling wearing an angry expression.

"Fine..." conceded the white mare "And once we get there what will we do? Nicely ask them back?"

"More or less: I just need to get safely to my sister, then we can make an exchange," said Ashley with a nod "You just need to be there for Lyra and Octavia: it might be a really stressful experience for them."

"Wait, what exchange?" asked Bon-Bon in a concerned tone "You never spoke of making an exchange, I don't have any bits with me!"

"The fake Octavia obviously wanted to ponynap me, not Lyra," stated the 'gray unicorn' "Which means that my sister wants me alive, probably due to some sort of treaty she has with the Crystal Empire, which makes me a mostly appealing trade good in her eyes."

"I don't like this plan," sentenced the baker "And I'm pretty sure Lyra would disapprove of it too."

"Then the alternative is an high risk infiltration in the hive, that is on par with Canterlot castle regarding security, to retrieve them both," said Ashley with a shrug "And changelings don't like trespassers: their love, for some reason, always tastes bitter..."

"I like this plan better: Stealth is my second name!" said Vinyl wearing a confident grin.

"Really?" asked the baker with a dubious tone.

"No, it's Sunny, but that doesn't matter: it will be great, we'll be like ninjas!" said the white mare pumping a hoof in the air.

Ashley only sighed.

---

Ashley was wrong: 'Octavia', instead of reaching the city outskirts and flying towards the badlands, went for the station and, covered by her invisibility spell, jumped on the first departing train directed to the south.
The ride was quite long, and all the while, inside the sack, Lyra couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen to her next. She had tried to reason with the changeling, for she was sure that this Octavia was a fake, but only received a good blow on her head, making her the only living bicorn in Equestria, unless the legends were true(as she had always sustained).

"Please, let me go!" pleaded the prisoner, hoping not to get another extra horn.

"The bash didn't suggest you that talking was a bad idea?" answered a raspy voice.

"Yes, and I would like to avoid getting another one," said Lyra trying to ignore the throb in her forehead "But you have to understand that you took the wrong mare!"

"Why do you keep repeating yourself? It's pointless: once I get you out I will see exactly the one I wanted to take."

"But I'm not wearing a disguise, I was in my room!"

"Yes, and I'm the reigning queen!" said the changeling with a scornful laugh, then ordered: "Now behave or I'll send you to dreamland again!"

And with that, Lyra found herself hoping that, whatever was the reason behind her ponynapping, it wouldn't involve her physical elimination.
> Chapter 8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"My queen!" came the raspy voice of the changeling commander as he entered the room.

It was wide and circular, with the slightly concave walls made out of black chitin and many azure luminous orbs hanging from the ceiling.

"It's queens, dear number Two," said calmly Chrysalis as she turned to regard the newcomer "Princess Cadenza is your queen just as I am."

"Don't worry Chryssy, it's fine, as it is just Cadence," said the pink mare waving a dismissive hoof.

The two mares were seated at a glossy black table, drinking tea and clearing the last doubts before the move-the-hive-plan could start.

"Uhm, yes, I'll be sure to remember that," humbly said the general bowing.

"So, what did you want to tell us? It seemed quite important..." demanded the larger changeling.

"Yes: one of the drones has found your sister and is bringing her here," related the smaller one.

The news made a wide smile find his way on the black queen's muzzle.

"Then don't waste anymore time: go and bring her to me!"

"Uhm, Chrysalis, are you sure it's a good idea? I mean, she wanted to kill you..." murmured her fellow queen as number Two left the room.

"Have faith, Cadence: there's much more in my sister than what met your eyes," answered the first sipping her tea.

Some minutes later, the changeling that had took Octavia's place entered the room holding the sack in her magical grasp and bowed respectfully.

"I must say that putting my sister into a sack wasn't exactly my idea of bringing her back," stated bitterly Chrysalis "But I suppose it did the trick. Now let her out!"

The drone complied to the request, revealing a frightened Lyra, who soon became utterly terrorized upon spotting the black queen.

"C-C-C-C..." she stammered.

"Maybe it's a disguise and I don't know, but I recall this pony is miss Heartstrings, one of my bridesmaids, and not Ashley..." stated Cadence crocking an eyebrow.

"She certainly isn't. You," thundered Chrysalis pointing a hoof towards the much confused drone "What's the meaning of this?"

"I don't understand your majesties, she must have found a way to strengthen her disguise so that we cannot see through it," answered the smaller changeling "I swear I took the right mare!"

"Don't be absurd: in the many hundreds of years of my life I never accomplished such a feat, and she has lived for just a pair of weeks!"

Meanwhile Cadence had left the table, had sat in front of the still stammering Lyra and said: "Miss Heartstrings?"

"C-C-C-C..."

"I believe that what you're trying to say is Chrysalis."

"Chrysalis! Princess! What are you doing here? No, that doesn't matter: please, save me!"

"Deep breaths," ordered the pink queen in a sweet but authoritarian tone.

Lyra complied and calmed down a bit.

"Better?" asked the alicorn offering a caring smile.

"Yes, thank you princess," answered the other with a curtly bow.

"Now, do you have any idea on why this changeling thinks you are Ashley?"

"It was a misunderstanding: I was disguised as her when she entered my room and put me in that rough sack."

"I'm a bit confused, care to elaborate?" asked a raspy voice outside Lyra's field of vision.

When she turned, she saw the imposing form of the changeling queen and started stammering once again.

"Chryssy, what did you do to this mare?" asked Cadence as she started to cradle the unicorn in her cyan aura.

"You know, ponynapping, mind controlling, the usual things..." casually said the black queen.

---

The entrance to the hive, being hidden behind a tangle of illusion, didn't need much surveillance, yet an 'earth pony speleologist' was always around to keep things under control.

"Vinyl, put that fish away!" ordered the changeling.

The trio was hidden in the bushes not far away from where the entrance was and the DJ insisted on wanting to "drop a bass" on the guard to put him to sleep.

"Why? It might work!" protested the unicorn.

"That's not even a bass anyway, it's a carp. Made of rubber. Where did you find it?" asked Bon-Bon eyeing the fish.

"That's unimportant: you wouldn't make Bon-Bon faint, let alone a changeling guard!" explained Ashley.

Vinyl ignored the detractors of her beloved rubber bass ad threw it towards the guard with all her telekinetical strength.
It landed with a loud "squeak" at the guard's hooves.

"What the hay?" murmured the guard looking at the carp before a much larger 'object' fell on his head, making him lose consciousness.

"Ouch! Did you really had to throw me?" asked Vinyl massaging her hindquarters.

"Did you really had to throw that fish?" retorted Ashley as she and Bon-Bon neared the entrance.

"At least you snatched my glasses beforehoof."

"Of course: I didn't want you to get badly hurt!" said the changeling in a slightly offended tone.

"What do we do now?" asked the cream colored mare trying to figure out where the entrance really was.

"Now you stay close to me and do as I say," said Ashley in a gentle but imposing tone "Follow me."

And so, the three of them, covered by the changeling's invisibility spell, entered the hive.

---

The trio of unlikely saviors proceeded in silence through the twisting tunnels of the hive, past groups of drones busy in their tasks.
Ashley navigated them towards the various feeding grounds in search for Octavia, sure that whatever her sister wouldn't harm Lyra.
It took them a good hour to find the mare they were searching for, but freeing her was a whole different problem: the wide square room was filled with hungry drones.

"It's not going to work girls: they'll discover us as soon as we touch the cocoon!" said Ashley shaking her head.

"Then what are we gonna do? Hope that your sister accepts your offer?" asked Vinyl "That has just as much possibilities of success as this one..."

"Vinyl, that spell you used to avoid those fans last week, do you remember it?" asked Bon-Bon hinting that she had a plan.

"The one to change my mane and coat color? Sure, why?"

"Are you able to cast it on Ashley?"

"While I agree her mane could use a restyling," Vinyl's comment received an angry exclamation from the changeling "But are you sure it's a good time to think about fashion?"

"I think it's just the right time..."

A quarter of hour later, queen Chrysalis entered the feeding ground where Octavia was held and, as the drones let her pass and bowed, directed herself towards the gray mare's cocoon.

"My queen, wouldn't you like a fresher treat? She has been here for a bit already..." offered a drone with red streaks on his back as the queen took the cocoon in her telekinetical grasp.

"Don't worry, she will be fine," assured Chrysalis offering a smile before leaving.

She reached her chamber where she gently put Octavia on the bed before letting out a sigh.

"Girls, come out, I'm back."

"I still think that using your sister room was a bad idea..." said Bon-Bon as she and Viny got out from under the bed.

"This is one of the two rooms where drones don't enter without permission. Now return me to my normal colors: green makes me too flashy..." said 'Chrysalis' while using her sharp horn to tear apart the cocoon.

Once free from her green prison, Octavia slowly woke up and looked around her. She immediately spotted two colorful splashes that she identified as Vinyl and Bon-Bon, who she hugged, then saw a third darker stain in the background that she couldn't recognize.

"It's all right Tavi, I'm here," said her marefriend patting her back.
> Chapter 9
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As soon as her vision cleared up, Octavia noticed the larger creature sitting beside the wall, who was watching them.
It took her a couple of moments to recognize the distorted features of the creature as those that identified the changeling race, fact that caused a scream to erupt from her lips.

Immediately, Vinyl tried to tranquillize her: "Tavi, calm down! She's a friend!"

"Leave her be: the room is soundproof..." said Ashley shrugging.

"Strange, why is it?" asked Bon-Bon crocking an eyebrow.

"They told me she snores a lot..."

---

Once Octavia had calmed down and was recounted the whole story, the four mares took their leave, again with the help of Ashley's invisibility spell.
The changeling guided them through slowly descending tunnels into the lowest part of the hive: the dungeon.
It was a deep spiraling staircase made of black chitin with many holes opened in the external wall, each one closed by a blue semitransparent organic wall. While it is certainly true that it was mostly unused, the prison was meant to keep both those ponies who were hostages, dissident changelings and those who had to disappear from the scene (despite what other races thought, changeling's laws did not feature death penalty).
Octavia shivered at the resemblance those cells bore with the cocoon she had been held into, Bon-Bon noticing that long luminescent centipedes crawled in a transparent conduit above their heads; Vinyl only asked how could she get some of the blue webbing to decorate her room.
They proceeded slowly, examining every cell in the dim light the centipedes offered, searching for any hint on their friend whereabouts. They had almost reached the bottom of the spiral when Octavia, who was at the group's rear, tumbled in a broken step and fell, dragging the others with her. Luckily, there was a landing nearby.
The prisoner held in the cell in front of which they had landed was very surprised when three ponies piled on a shades-wearing changeling appeared out of thin air.

"I'm sorry, everypony" said Octavia in a pained tone.

"My queen!" exclaimed the prisoner leaning against the organic wall.

"Number Four? What are you doing down here?" asked Ashley noticing the changeling commander in the cell.

"I am faithful to you, my queen, and I'll always be!" he answered with a deep bow "On a side note, I'm happy to see that you're taking care of your eyesight, even though purple doesn't really suit you..."

"Those are my shades!" protested Vinyl levitating her sunglasses back on her muzzle.

"Who is this, Ashley?" asked Bon-Bon getting back on her hooves.

"This is number Four, one of the three commanders of the changeling army, and currently a dissident to my sister's reign it seems."

"It didn't sit right with me serving a pony princess, and queen Chrysalis never treats me as well as you did" explained number Four.

"Isn't him the one you often tell Lyra about? The counselor you mistreated the most?" asked Bon-Bon in a whispered tone.

"Yes, that's him..."

"Wait, he said something about a pony princess!" exclaimed Octavia "Maybe she can help us!"

"Yes, that awfully sweet princess from the Crystal Empire is often here," explained the stallion "She's the queen's sister-in-law apparently, and so queen herself."

"Considering what I did, I strongly doubt she'll do anything that could favor me..." sentenced Ashley in a pained tone.

"Then let's get your friend out of there!" said Vinyl grabbing the whole translucent wall in her telekinetic grasp.

Both changelings tried to stop her, but she had already pulled.

"Vinyl! Do you really think that if that was wise he wouldn't have already done it?" asked Ashley, who had gotten pretty angry.

"What's the problem? He's free and I have my new carpet!" protested the DJ.

"Mare, that thing isn't meant to keep prisoners inside, but the guardian outside!" explained a visibly shaken number Four.

"What guardian?" asked the three ponies in unison.

As to answer their question, a deafening roar came from the bottom of the stairs.

---

After calming the poor musician and explaining her that Chrysalis wasn't going to hurt her, she accepted to explain the circumstances that leaded her in the hive.

"Let me get this straight," said the black queen sipping her tea "You wanted to understand changelings better, so you researched our disguise spell and, while copying my sister's appearance, you where kidnapped by number Two Hundreds Sixty Six?"

"Yes, exactly," said Lyra munching a chocolate cookie.

"And she couldn't see through your disguise since you aren't a changeling..." mumbled the first tapping her chin with a hoof.

"Well, this sounds crazy but I believe her..." sentenced the alicorn snatching the last cupcake (her seventh already) before regarding her sister-in-law and adding with a giggle: "And I absolutely want to learn that spell too!"

"I'm not that sure that it's such a good idea: one shapechanger in the family is enough," said Chrysalis shaking her head.

"Aww, you're no fun..." replied the other pouting a little.

"So," said Lyra as she finished her tea "What happens now?"

In that moment, the room doors flew open as a very distressed looking drone entered.

"My queen, ehm, queens! The guardian is on rampage!"

"What happened?" asked Chrysalis standing up.

"We don't know, my queen: there shouldn't be anypony down there, except for the prisoner, yet, the guard at the door was found unconscious; we suspect somepony has entered the hive and tried to free number Four."

"Impossible: only an unicorn with huge mana reserves could accomplish such a feat!"

"Or maybe a changeling queen..." suggested Lyra giving her unrequested opinion.

"Ashley!" exclaimed the two immortals in unison, starting to realize what happened.

"Cadence, go and wake my father, bring number Eight Thousand and Two with you. Miss Hearthstrings, you come with me," ordered Chrysalis in a tone that did not admit replies.

---

They had tried to stop the creature using 'Vinyl's carpet' to block the path, but the guardian had ignored the membrane, charging forward in blind rage and leaving the five fugitives with the only hope of reaching the upper hive.

"Vinyl?"

"Yes, Tavi?"

"If we get out of here alive, remind me to kill you!" panted the gray mare as the whole group galloped as fast as they could up the spiraling staircase.

"But I came to save you from the changelings!"

"Girls," said number Four in a stern tone "Would you kindly postpone this discussion for AFTER we escape the guardian?"

As to punctuate the reality of the danger they were in, a loud roar echoed from behind them.

"It's getting near, run faster!" ordered Ashley who was at the rear of the group.

Unfortunately, despite their efforts, the sound of a thousand sharp legs ticking on the stone floor was growing nearer; moreover, the three ponies weren't used to such intense physical activities at all and, as result, were running out of energies.

Noticing that, Ashley halted on a landing and said: "Go on, I'll keep it for you!"

"But Ashley -" tried to say Bon-Bon, only to be silenced by a holed hoof placed on her mouth.

"Tell Lyra I'm sorry," she said before turning to face her fellow changeling "Number Four, make sure that those three reach their homes along with Lyra Hearthstrings, understood?"

"But my queen..."

"No buts, general, this is an order!"

"But your aim might suffer from your bad eyesight..."

Half a minute later, the three ponies were dragging the unconscious commander up the stairs, an indent in the form of a hoof was visible on his left cheek.
> Chapter 10
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lyra was amazed: despite having to gallop to keep Chrysalis’ peace and the visible alarm on her features, the hive and its industrious life was a sight she had never imagined to see (she had to admit that the ponies in the cocoons were plain creepy, but amazing none the less).

"Miss Heartstrings," said Chrysalis in a stern tone "I promise that I'll personally give you a tour of the hive AFTER we deal with this situation if you avoid stopping and slowing me down!"

"Oh, ehm, sorry..." said the other scratching the back of her head.

Without another word, the changeling queen turned and trotted off.

"Uhm, may I ask where are we going? And what's happening?" said Lyra after a while.

"It seems that my sister entered the hive to retrieve you but ended up waking up the guardian of the dungeons, which is why we're going there."

"What guardian?"

"A millennia old centipede. We've arrived," announced Chrysalis as they approached a solid iron door.

But when the queen tried to push it open with a hoof, it started glowing in a faint blue aura and opened itself, revealing a group of scared mares and an unconscious changeling.

"What? Who are you?" demanded Chrysalis in an authoritarian tone eyeing the group.

The trio froze upon seeing the queen of the hive and nopony answered her questions.

"Bon-Bon, what are you doing here?"

Hearing and spotting her marefriend, the cream-colored mare forgot who was standing in front of her and jumped at Lyra, hugging her.

"Oh, Lyra, I was so worried" said Bon-Bon before frowning and adding "And I'm very mad at you! What part of going around disguised as a wanted changeling queen seems like a good idea to you?"

"Would somepony tell me what's happening?" demanded Chrysalis in a tone that could rival the royal Canterlot voice "And where is my sister?"

This was enough to wake up the unconscious commander, who, after a small bow, said: "Those are the invaders, queen Ashley has stayed back to secure their escape."

Queen Chrysalis didn't waste another second and flew past Vinyl and Octavia, who were still standing in the doorway, and down the stairway.

---

Ashley took a deep breath to calm down. She wasn't happy of having hit the only changeling faithful to her, but it had been necessary, otherwise he would still be there, leaving her friends alone.

"I'll have to deal with number Four and his insane fixation with my eyesight someday..." she said letting out a heavy sigh.

The sound of shattered stone echoed on the landing as the guardian made its way through the improvised blockade she had 'built' by destroying the ceiling.

"If I get out of here alive..." she added as shards and dust flew past her, revealing her opponent.

It was a massive creature, covered in a thick dark blue carapace both on the back and on the belly opened only where the many black legs were attached and where the unfathomable darkness of its mouth began.
Six light blue orbs peered at her from the top of the centipede's head, emitting a dim blue sheen.

"I guess you're not going back to the pit of Tartarus you came from just because I ask it, right?"

The creature launched itself forward with a deafening roar.
Ashley nimbly jumped to the left and shot a beam of acid green magic towards the creature.
The blast hissed eerily on the creature's carapace, but seemingly without any effect.
The guardian, having extracted its face from the floor, proceeded in a sequence of hits with its four foremost legs, forcing the smaller creature to an extenuating dance and leaving her no choice to strike. It went on like this for a minute, that is to say until the centipede tried to slam its massive body on Ashley, who used the opportunity to fire another magic blast, this time aiming at the eyes.
The guardian darted back, roaring the pain he was suffering from his now charred eye, while the changeling piqued herself up, lots of her wounds now open again and aching.
She silently thanked her luck for being able to avoid a full body slam.
The creature let out another roar, louder than the previous one, and launched itself forward in blind rage.
Ashley tried to fire again at its eyes, but, not having recovered from the damage she had taken, she missed. Expecting to be crushed to death by the rampaging monster, she was very surprised when a boulder found its way to the guardian's face, diverting it and making it slam headfirst in a wall.

"You, reckless fool!" said a double-toned voice to her right "You really thought you could face such a creature alone?"

"Chrysalis? What are you doing here?"

"Saving my idiotic sister, what else?"

"But you hate me!"

"Admittedly you're pretty reckless and give me lots of troubles, but why would I hate you?"

"In the empire, I tried to kill you and those ponies you were with, remember? And you sent that drone to ponynap me!"

"Yeah, that wasn't particularly nice, but it's under the bridge now, and that drone misunderstood my orders."

"What do you mean?"

"I think the guardian is regaining his senses, let's continue later, uh?" said Chrysalis as the centipede got back into what can be called a fighting stance.
---

"I was thinking..." started saying Vinyl.

"Wait, you can think?" asked Bon-Bon wearing a stupefied expression.

Lyra reproved her: "That was harsh, Bon-Bon."

"Trust me girl, you would agree with her if you saw what she did down there..." bitterly said number Four, who had been peering into the darkened staircase since Chrysalis's departure.

"Like I was saying," continued Vinyl ignoring the baker and the changeling "I find it pretty wrong that we're here waiting while our friend is risking her life for our sake!"

"This caring side of yours is why I love you," said Octavia in a sultry tone hugging her marefriend.

"Vinyl is right, we can't simply stay here, sitting on our plots!" enforced Lyra standing up "We'll go down there and save her!"

"But Chrysalis -" tried to protest Bon-Bon.

"We'll save her too, of course."

"That's great but it's not what I meant..."

"I won’t let you risk your lives," calmly said number Four turning to look at the four mares "I've been ordered to keep you safe by my queen, I won’t betray her trust."

"You asked for the harsh way," said Vinyl putting on her usual grin "Lyra, brace yourself!"

"Brace myself for what?" asked the mint unicorn just before she got enveloped in a light blue aura and thrown at the stupefied changeling.

"Ouch, that hurt!" lamented Lyra massaging her flank.

"Yeah, I know, but it's effective!" said Vinyl pointing at the unconscious commander with her usual grin "Now, let's get moving!"

"Vinyl Scratch, if you ever dare to use my marefriend as living projectile again I'll be sure to buck you into the next week, understood?" said Bon-Bon in a tone that suggested it was a promise and not a treat.

"Girls, save this for later, now we better get going!" said Lyra, cutting Octavia's retort short "Friend in need, remember?"
> Chapter 11
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Tell me you've got a plan..." begged Ashley as she was galloping up the stairs.

"I have a plan," declared Chrysalis, flying by her side.

"Really?"

"More or less."

"Then what do we do? That thing is even more furious than before!"

"Don't make it sound like it's my fault: it was you who charred two of its eyes!"

"I wasn't saying it's your fault, even if you kept hurling boulders at it, but since you placed that thing under the hive I was expecting that you would know how to stop it!"

"It wasn't me, it was my predecessor..."

"Than what do we do?"

"We try to survive as long as we can."

"And? There must be something else!"

"And we avoid the pony."

"Good plan, I - wait, what pony?" asked Ashley before bumping face first into something furry, or better somepony "Ouch, what the - Lyra! What are you doing here?"

"Ashley, I'm so happy to see you!" said Lyra hugging her friend "We've come to save you, of course!"

"HAVE YOU GONE INSANE?!" roared Chrysalis and Ashley in unison, creating with their double-toned voices the strange effect that a huge number of mares were scolding them instead of just two.

"Uhm, it depends: do we get something nice if I say yes?" asked Vinyl in a serious tone.

"Don't say such nonsense, Vinyl!" said Octavia chastising her.

"We're not insane, well maybe Lyra a little bit..." said Bon-Bon, gaining a loud "Hey!" from her marefriend, "We are here because we care for you!"

"Yep, they are all insane," said Chrysalis, wearing a sly grin and teasing her sister.

"That's very sweet, but it doesn't changes the fact that rushing towards a rampaging centipede fifteen meters long is a really stupid thing to do..."

"You never told me it was such a huge insect!" protested Lyra "It wouldn't have changed things, but I would have been prepared..."

"Prepared for what?" asked Vinyl crooking an eyebrow behind her shades.

In that moment, the guardian dug its way out of the stairs behind them, emerging in a cloud of dust and shards.

"Prepared to run, of course," calmly said Lyra.

"RUN!" shouted Ashley at the top of her lungs.

The group launched itself in a full trot towards the upper part of the hive, but they had to stop as the centipede emerged again in front of them.

"How many of this vermin do you keep down here?!" asked Octavia stomping a hoof on the floor.

They were in fact trapped between two almost identical heads of the monster.

"Only one: that is it's tail," explained Chrysalis as she and Ashley pushed the other mares between the two of them.

"It's tail? It has a mouth and eyes! That's definitely a head!" protested Octavia.

"It has two heads, one at each end of its body," finished explaining the changeling queen as her horn started glowing.

"Girls, since it's probably our last chat," said Ashley reading her horn "I want you to know that you are the weirdest bunch I ever met."

"Well, that's mean..." commented Vinyl.

"And that I was honored and happy of having met ponies like you."

"You sound like we're going to die," commented Chrysalis "You should have more faith in your sister..."

"Oh, now you've got a plan that makes sense?"

"I always had a plan, and it always made sense, it just took some time to develop and reach the final stage..."

"Does it involve being eaten alive? Because if it does I'd say it's working marvelously..."

"I assure you it's a very pink plan."

"I think you meant great, or maybe effective..." said Bon-Bon in a tone that showed how she hoped she was right.

"No, I meant precisely pink."

Octavia and Bon-Bon facehoofed.
At that point, the two heads, after having studied their next lunch long enough, charged towards the group from two sides.
When five of the six had lost any hope of salvation, a blinding flash of light forced the whole group to close their eyes. When the six mares opened them back again, they saw a gleaming light blue dome above them keeping the two heads of the guardian at bay. In front of them stood, wearing a reassuring smile, a pink alicorn.

"You should have more faith in your sister-in-law too..." commented Chrysalis with a smirk "And I told you it was pink."

"P-princess?" asked Octavia before bowing down deeply, soon followed by Vinyl and Bon-Bon.

"Lyra, bow down!" ordered the cream-colored mare noticing that her marefriend was standing there with a smile.

"Nah, she hates such formalities," answered the unicorn "Am I wrong, princess?"

"Lyra is right, there's no need to be this formal around me," said Cadence in a soft tone, without dropping her smile.

"Let's save the chit-chat for later, uh? Now, is father going to help us or do I need to mobilize the army?" asked Chrysalis in a serious tone.

"Wait, you can summon an army of changelings anytime you like? That's awesome!" exclaimed Vinyl, her eyes sparkling in adoration behind her purple lenses.

"Uhm, yes, I can..."

"How do I become a changeling queen?"

"Vinyl, stop asking stupid questions!" shouted Octavia wearing an angry frown.

"But Tavi, it would be -"

"Not another world!" sentenced the gray mare "And you're spending way too much time with Rainbow Dash, her way of speaking is rubbing on you..."

Cadence scoffed to suppress a giggle, with little success, then said: "Your father said that he will reach us soon."

"Uhm, I'd hate to sound rude," timidly said Bon-Bon "But I don't see how a single changeling, for how strong he might be, can change the situation better than how an army can..."

Cadence exchanged an embarrassed look with Chrysalis, who in turn exchanged one with Ashley, who said: "The great father of the swarm is not exactly a changeling... It's more like he is the hive..."

"Uhm, you mean as a metaphor, right? Something like 'I am the music' or 'Pinkie is the party'?" asked Vinyl crooking an eyebrow.

"More like he is a disembodied entity that permeates the whole upper part of the hive."

"So, he is a ghost and the hive is its haunting place?"

"Don't be absurd, Vinyl!" said Octavia in a stern tone.

"Admit that you were thinking that too..." said Lyra with a knowing smile.

"He's not a ghost, but a primal spirit... Something like Discord but without a true body..." explained Cadence.

"DISCORD?!" asked the four mares in unison, dread in their voice.

"Don't worry, he won't spread chaos..." said Chrysalis to calm them down.

In that moment, the two heads stopped pounding the barrier and turned to glare at something that the group couldn't see.

"He's here..." sentenced Chrysalis.
> Chapter 12
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Suddenly, every light in the zone seemed to lose brightness as a gleaming form appeared from the stairs leading to the hive.
It was a shimmering pristine white quadruped, definitely equine, but the details were hard to grasp; it seemed to have wings, or at least some kind of appendages sprouting from its back, if it had a horn too it was impossible to say. It treaded lightly, without even the faintest of sounds as it came near to the centipede.
The farthest head of the guardian disappeared underground for a second before bursting out next to the other, ready to fight for its prey.

"Wasn't him disembodied?" asked Vinyl crooking her head.

"I suppose this is some kind of manifestation of his powers, I don't know..." admitted Chrysalis, rising a hoof to shield the brightness of the creature.

Both the guardian heads charged onwards to crush the newcomer, but they never reached their target: instead of smashing against a magical barrier like they did before with Cadence's, the two heads simply stopped in the midst of the attack. As if the guardian had just lost interest in the whole situation, both heads returned underground, disappearing in the darkened depths of the dungeons lower floors.

"Okay, now I'm totally lost," declared Lyra "What just happened?"

"It must be some sort of mind control, or maybe something like Fluttershy's stare..." said Bon-Bon shrugging.

"Nothing of the sort," said Ashley shaking her head.

"Then what is it?" asked Octavia raising an eyebrow.

"As Discord is the spirit of chaos and disharmony, father is the spirit of emotions and, by extension, the lack of them," explained Chrysalis.

"Yeah..." cautiously said Vinyl "Let's pretend I understood, what did he do?"

"Vinyl..." complained Octavia facehoofing.

"He removed the guardian's anger, replacing it with fatigue," patiently explained Ashley.

"Oh, now I get it!"

"My queens," called out the atone voice of the father of the hive resonating from every direction "I'll be waiting you in the growth chambers. All three of you. Farewell everypony."

After saying that much, the shining equine turned and paced away, dissolving slowly.

"Is he mad?" asked Cadence in a concerned tone.

"No," said Chrysalis.

"I'm not sure he's able to feel anger..." commented bitterly Ashley.

---

"We're here, father," announced Chrysalis entering the chamber with her sister and her sister-in-law.

The growth chamber was exactly in the middle of the hive, the place where the father of the hive created his emotion-feeding children and where he hatched his plans to see them rule; it was round shaped with the floor almost entirely covered by vats of slimy green and blue fluids and it had a huge light blue orb hanging in the middle, emitting enough light to see everything clearly.

For a minute or so, only silence reigned in the chamber, then came the spirit's atone voice: "You three are a huge pain, I would feel annoyance if I could..."

The three mares lowered their heads in embarrassment.

"That said, my life is monotone enough with your troubles, without it would be a hell. Why do you think I created the queens?"

A light chuckle resonated in the chamber, eliciting a sigh from the two changelings and a giggle from Cadence.

"Now, onto serious business: queen Mi Amore Cadenza informed me of your plans to move the hive and I approve of it, but I want to know the details and what you plan on doing with queen Ashley."

"Father, excuse me but I'm not queen anymore: I lost my title fighting with Chrysalis..." humbly said Ashley.

"Whatever, such details are uninteresting."

"Under Crystal City there are some caves, old unused mines. We were planning on moving you there to let you rebuild the hive as you please and then to move all the population," explained Cadence in a respectful tone.

"About Ashley, I didn't plan on finding her this swiftly so we hadn't made any actual plans," admitted Chrysalis "Of course, if she wants to stay she's more than welcome."

"Are you sure? I mean, I tried to kill both of you, your husband too..."

"I admit I was a little concerned," said Cadence nodding "But Chrysalis assured me that you wouldn't have done anything like that if it wasn't because you thought it was necessary for your people."

"Well, of course..."

"So, what will you do?" asked Chrysalis.

"I have been a worthless queen," declared Ashley.

"Not worse than your predecessors, trust me," commented the father of the hive.

"Anyway, I feel my place is somewhere else, moreover you two will do a fine work without me. I'll travel a bit then find a place to settle down."

"Are you sure?" asked Chrysalis, a note of sadness in her voice.

---

Thanks to Cadence's magic Ashley's wings were good as new, so, once the group of friends returned to Ponyville the time of goodbyes arrived.
Ashley decided to leave almost immediately for the wasteland where dragons lived, but not before Lyra could finally have her precious memento: a photo of the five of them, with Ashley undisguised.
After the changeling's departure, life returned to its old rhythm, mostly slow but with peaks of madness, like when Discord was freed or the day when Twilight became an alicorn.
Octavia ended up transferring to Ponyville with Vinyl, while Lyra found the courage and proposed to Bon-Bon.
And so, some months later, there she was, lying idly in her room, letting the afternoon drift away and taking a break from all the ruckus going on outside: there was a huge party, her very own marriage party, courtesy of Pinkie Pie, of course.

"You'll ruin your dress if you lie around like that, miss Rarity might kill you for this."

She raised her head to see who had talked, even if she did not need to look to recognize Bon-Bon's voice.
She was standing in the doorway, wearing a bright smile and her wedding dress. It was a white gown and lace veil, both adorned by mint green lyres, to pair with Lyra's which was ornamented by pink and blue candies.

"Oh, hi Bonnie, fancy meeting you here..."

"What are you doing in here? You'll lose our party!"

"I was just being a bit nostalgic..."

"Ah, I guess that you were hoping for her to come, uh?"

"Yeah, moreover queen Chrysalis has come too..." she said with a sigh "I guess she's still around the world somewhere..."

"It had to be expected: us changelings aren't exactly party animals," commented Bon-Bon nodding.

"I think the problem is that half Ponyville is scared of - wait, what did you say?" asked Lyra jumping up from the bed.

"That she's not much of a party animal, even though you're probably right too..."

"You said us changelings..."

"Oh, you already caught me?" lamented 'Bon-Bon' as green flames consumed her, leaving behind a much larger changeling queen smiling like a filly.

If previously she was practically her sister's clone in shades of grey, now she had both her mane and tail styled into long braids, her mane rounded around her neck; many scars were visible on her shell if the light was right, but three in particular: the two under her wings and a hoof-shaped indent on her cheek. 

"Ashley!" exclaimed Lyra hugging her friend "You made it!"

"Of course, what kind of 'cousin' would I be if I had lost your marriage?" she answered with a wink.

"Wait, don't tell me you were Bon-Bon all along!"

"Of course, in particular during the kiss," joked Ashley making an exaggerated kissing gesture.

"Yeah, very funny..." said Lyra blowing her a raspberry "Anyway, where have you been? Derpy couldn't find you anywhere to give you my letters!"

"Well, almost anywhere around Equestria and the neighboring countries... And you know what I've learned?"

"What?"

"That there's no place like home."

"Oh, then you'll return in the Crystal Empire with queen Chrysalis?"

"I can hardly call Crystal City my home after what I did, don't you agree?" snickered Ashley, before resuming in a calmer tone "I've decided to turn the page, to settle down somewhere nice and sell flowers."

"Flowers? Why flowers?"

"I don't know: it simply seems right to me..."

"Uhm, Roseluck was searching for an assistant, if I remember correctly. Unfortunately, the vacant house next to mine has just been bought by somepony..."

"Yeah, I wonder who bought it..." said Ashley with a playful smirk.