A Canterlot Farce

Chapters

A Canterlot Farce (Part 1)
A Canterlot Farce (Part 2)
Epilogue

A Canterlot Farce (Part 1)

“Good morning, Princess.”

Cadence turned around to give the palace maid a warm smile. The young unicorn mare before her was bowing deeply, something she still couldn’t get used to. “No need to be so formal, dear.” She chuckled. “Quite frankly, this close to the wedding I have other things on my mind…”

The mare nodded and looked up at her. “As you wish, Princess Cadenza.”

Cadence laughed. “Just call me Cadence, I won’t bite. Might I learn your name, too, while we’re doing introductions?”

The maid slowly shook her head. “I’m sorry, Cadence, but that is something I can’t tell you.” Her horn lit up with a light green aura.

“What do you mean? What are you… doing…?” The Princess tried to fight against the drowsiness for a moment, but quickly collapsed to the floor.

The other mare looked down at the sleeping alicorn for a moment and sighed. “This is it, then… The point of no return.” Her horn lit up once again and the Princess disappeared in a circle of green fire. “Stay safe, Princess. You’ll be needed soon enough.”

~~~~~

Two pegasi were sitting in the light of a small lamp, surrounded by colorful crystals in one of the caves deep beneath Canterlot. Neither of them looked up from their cards as a flash of green lit the darkness near them for a second.

“It has started.”

“Mm-hm…”

“Think I’ll get to fight somepony?”

“Probably… It would be worrying if nopony put up a fight.”

The first pegasus set down his cards on the crystal between them and stood up, turning to the sleeping alicorn lying on the ground a few feet away. “I’ll get her to a more comfortable spot. She’s going to be here for a while.”

~~~~~

“I can’t wait to see Twily again. It’s been almost a year now since she went to Ponyville.” Shining Armor almost bounced up and down in excitement, glancing down through the window every few seconds to check if the train might be arriving a little earlier than expected – which, at this time of day, would be about three hours early.

Cadence let out a short giggle, watching her soon-to-be husband squirming like a little colt on his birthday. Some mares might have been irritated or offended by the fact that he almost seemed more excited about the prospect of seeing his sister again than he was about marrying into the royal family, and an alicorn princess no less. Cadence, however, wasn’t that kind of mare, and she knew what was so special about the young mare that was going to arrive later today; After all, the Princess had been the filly’s foalsitter for years.

“I am just as much looking forward to see her as you are.” She gently, but firmly put a hoof on his shoulder to calm him down a little. “I just hope that I’ll still be able to appreciate it when she’s here… Organizing the wedding is getting more and more stressful by the hour, so please don’t be mad if I seem a little irritated or out of it in the next two days. Speaking of stress, how is your shield holding up? I do hope you’re not overexerting yourself?” She carefully tapped his horn.

“It is starting to give me a little headache…” Shining noticed the concerned look on Cadence’s face and immediately continued, “But it’s really nothing to worry about. I’ll be fine, I promise.”

Cadence sighed. “I’ll have to trust your judgment on that… But if it gets worse, don’t hold off on telling me and I’ll do my best to help you.”

“You worry too much about me. I’m the Captain of the Royal Guard, I can take care of myself. This whole threat against Canterlot is probably just some sort of joke, anyway.” Shining Armor paused and put a hoof to his chin thoughtfully. “Though now that you mention it… I do think keeping up that spell is giving me a bit of an appetite.”

“I’ve seen your appetite and that spell has nothing to do with it,” Cadence laughed. She stuck out her tongue at the stallion and waved for him to go. “Off with you, go get yourself something to eat. I’ll be having my hooves full without an oversized child sneaking around me all the time.”

The changeling mare disguised as Princess Cadence watched as Shining Armor happily dashed out of the room and closed the door behind him with her magic. Then she went back to the window and looked outside at the small town far off in the distance, barely visible behind the purple force field surrounding the city.

“Twilight Sparkle and her friends… Ponies from outside Canterlot, with a history of saving the world – they might be just what we need.”

~~~~~

“You’re marrying Cadence, you’re marrying Cadence~” The young purple unicorn bounced around her older brother in glee, coming to a stop just in front of the alicorn mare in question.

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything important?” The changeling-in-disguise gave the unicorn a skeptical look, raising an eyebrow. It took a good part of her training to keep up the charade, especially after overhearing most of the conversation. But she was a professional and she knew that this would be the most important job in her life.

“Cadence!” Twilight jumped up happily and then proceeded to chant what sounded like a nursery rhyme, complete with a set of motions.

“What are you doing?” Not-Cadence made the question sound slightly irritated, while at the same time she memorized the rhyme and the motions in case she needed it later.

“Cadence, it’s me, Twilight!” The unicorns face was still radiating happiness and hope towards her. It hurt the changeling to have to crush those feelings, but this was most likely the easiest way to advance their plan without problems. She walked right past Twilight, all but ignoring her and only giving an indifferent “Aha…” in response as she trotted up to Shining Armor.

The look of sadness, mixed with a bit of actual shock and disbelief, was still clearly visible on Twilight’s face as the changeling turned back around. The changeling knew that this look would haunt her dreams for a while, but it was a sacrifice that needed to be made… even if Shining Armor putting a foreleg around her shoulder only made the feelings of guilt worse. Still, the changeling’s face showed nothing of that inner turmoil, staying perfectly in her role.

“I’ve got to get back to my station,” Shining Armor spoke up, “but Cadence will be checking in with all of you to see how things are going. I think I speak for both of us when I say: We couldn’t be more excited to have you here. Right, dear?”

“Absolutely.” The changeling’s voice sounded sincere enough, but her eyes were full of malice as she smiled at Twilight.

“Well, let’s get to it.” Shining Armor turned around to walk back into the palace, with the changeling following right beside him and leaving Twilight Sparkle behind.

~~~~~

The changeling collapsed on the bed as soon as the doors to her chambers had closed. The preparations for the wedding might have been physically exhausting, but the toll it was taking on her emotions was a lot worse.

“I really hope this works out the way we planned… What we’re doing… what I’m doing is bad enough even if it is for a good cause.” She slowly rolled onto her back and stared up at the feeling, then closed her eyes with a sigh to enjoy the short moment of peace she had.

“Hello? Your Highness?”

The changeling’s ears perked up at the slightly squeaky voice and she quickly got back to her hooves. A very young pegasus colt peeked his head in from the balcony to look around the room. As soon as he spotted the pink alicorn he smiled and trotted into the room, over to her. He was carrying a small bag in his mouth and dropped it on the floor in front of her, smiling brightly.

“I thought that all this wedding preparing and organizing must be making you hungry, so I brought you something to eat. The pony down in the kitchens makes some amazing things from apples.”

“Aww, aren’t you cute…” The changeling started ruffling the young colt’s mane. Then, in one swift motion, she raised the hoof an inch and brought it back down to deliver a sharp whack over the head. “Nice try, but you’re not fooling me, cousin.”

“Owww! Why did you do that? I thought you were nice…” the colt whined, tears forming in his eyes as he looked up at the ‘Princess’. He kept this pose for a few seconds before his expression suddenly switched to mild annoyance. “Dangit, I just can’t get the jump on you, can I?”

The colt suddenly vanished in a burst of green fire, which quickly grew in size to reveal a young adult changeling; He looked much like a pony, except for the fact that he had black chitin where a normal pony would have fur, he had bug-like wings in addition to the black horn on his head and his mane was a light blue.

The pink alicorn facing him burst into fire just a second later, turning into a similar changeling, though some differences were apparent. This changeling had a different manestyle and eye color, for example, and it was visible that unlike her cousin she was a female specimen.

The two changelings looked at each other for a moment before both took a step forward to hug each other.

“How are you holding up, Crystal?” the male changeling asked, breaking away from the hug to look the other one in the eyes.

The changeling by the name of Crystal Love gave him a smile in return. “A lot better, now that you are here, cousin.”

“’Cousin’? We’re fighting a war here, so that’s ‘General Clean Cut’ to you!” Clean Cut said, taking a step back to perform an exaggerated salute.

“Well, in that case you’ll have to address me as ‘Queen Chrysalis’, don’t you?” Crystal Love shot back, laughing. However, her expression got serious again far too soon. “All of this still doesn't feel right…”

Clean Cut stepped forward again, putting a foreleg around the mare’s shoulder and giving her a stern look. “Don’t even start with that. This was your plan; it is not perfect, but everypony agreed that it was the best we could do if we want to change something. If we want to finally live, the changeling hive has to leave this country once and for all. Those were your words.”

Crystal sighed and gave him a small smile. “I know, and you’re right… I still feel horrible; I’ve been mean to ponies the whole day, I’ve thrown away perfectly good food. And you should’ve seen that one pegasus friend of Captain Armor’s sister: I couldn’t bring myself to even fake being mean at her, I barely managed to raise my voice at one of her birds. And it was singing horribly off-key.”

“I can’t help you much with your role, but I brought you something that might help with the food issue at least.” Clean Cut nudged the bag he had brought with a hoof, causing an apple fritter to spill out from it. Crystal’s eyes immediately lightened up.

“Are those from the buffet?! Oh, you can’t imagine how much this means to me!” She quickly picked up the first apple fritter and took a bite, savoring the taste. “Oh, those are divine. The stories about the Apple family really aren’t exaggerated.”

Clean Cut watched his cousin eat for a moment before he got back to his hooves and burst into flames again to transform into the pegasus colt from before. “I should go. Works will probably need my help with the last minute preparations. We’ve already set up the crystal at his office; you’ll just need to cast the spell when the time comes.”

“That’s good to hear…” Crystal stood up as well and turned back into the alicorn Princess as she walked over to the door of her chamber. “I still wanted to visit Shining Armor one more time this evening to make sure he’s okay… Keeping up the shield is starting to take a toll on his magic. I just hope he won’t be too weak by the time of the wedding.”

~~~~~

“Twily! Your big brother’s looking pretty good, don’t ya think?” A short pause. “Huh… Everything okay?”

Crystal’s ears perked up over in the next room. She hadn’t expected to meet Twilight Sparkle again before tomorrow, and she didn’t really like the idea of having to be mean to Shining’s sister any more. Maybe forcing a fight with Shining Armor would help advance her plans without having to keep up the act the whole rest of the day.

“We need to talk,” Twilight said. Crystal followed her voice, walking through the doorway to see the two siblings standing together.

“I don’t think that–“ Twilight continued, but was interrupted by the sound of Crystal Love clearing her throat. The changeling-in-disguise walked down the stairs, giving the two an annoyed look.

“Oh, uhm, hi sweetie…” Shining greeted her. Twilight mumbled something as well, but the changeling chose to ignore that.

“Could I speak to you for a moment, dear?” Crystal didn’t even wait for an answer, just turning around and walking off for Shining Armor to follow. The stallion followed without hesitation.

Once they were inside the room, Crystal turned around to him. She didn’t want to waste any time with this. “Look, we need to talk.”

“I'm here to talk.” Shining put up his hooves in a calming gesture, but she wasn’t going to have any of that. She knew how to coax an argument, and she was going to get it.

“It's about your sister, okay?”

“I– look, look, she's okay–“

“Just... listen to me.”

“I'm listening, I'm listening.”

“And I thought I made it perfectly clear I didn’t want you to wear that.” Crystal pointed at the silver plate strapped to Shining's chest, adorned with a purple star.

“This was my favorite uncle’s!”

Crystal gave him an indifferent look. “And…?”

“And I think I should wear it.”

“Are you disagreeing with me?” She knew that she almost had him now. It wouldn’t be enough to call the wedding off, of course, but it would give her an excuse to retreat back to her chamber early and maybe even make Shining get a little suspicious.

“I guess I am!” Shining shouted with an defiant look, but flinched back as soon as he had finished the sentence. He held a hoof to his head for a moment, a pained look on his face.

“Oh dear… Are you getting another one of your headaches?” Crystal was torn between pity for him and light annoyance at the horrible timing of the headache. She couldn’t be mad at him when he was obviously in pain like this. She immediately focused her magic to cast a healing spell. The migraine seemed to be worse than any of the ones Shining had before, causing him to collapse on the floor in seconds. Crystal didn’t waste time for casting the spell, but it would only take effect slowly. Still, Shining got back to his hooves again, his eyes spinning from the sudden changes between pain and relief.

“Feeling better?” She just couldn’t keep up the mean act when the other pony was like that. Shining nodded weakly, still a little dizzy from the spell. Together they walked back out of the room just in time to see Shining’s sister gallop through the door out of the house.

“Twilight!” Shining shouted after her, but the mare was already gone.

“Let her go.” Crystal nuzzled his neck to calm him down. Honestly, she was rather glad that she wouldn’t have to deal with Twilight anymore today. She felt exhausted, and not just because of the spell she had cast or having to oversee the wedding preparations. If Twilight had seen the changeling heal her brother, she might accept her as the kind pony Princess Cadence was supposed to be. Crystal Love would have to find somepony else who would doubt her identity, but that was another problem, and it would have to wait until tomorrow.

She stayed with Shining for a few more minutes, but quickly excused herself to go back to the palace. The wedding was less than a day away, and she would need all her wits and power if the plan was to go smoothly.

~~~~~

The two large doors leading into the palace’s main hall glowed with blue and yellow magic, then swung open. Crystal Love took this as her cue to regally trot inside, towards the podium where Princess Celestia was waiting with the groom and the five bridesmares.

“I'll say a few words, and then we'll begin with the vows,” Celestia instructed. “Shining Armor, you'll get the ring from your best mare.”

Both Crystal Love and Shining Armor looked over to where a little dragon was sitting on the stairs, playing with the two figures from the wedding cake.

“Hey…” Shining Armor turned back to Cadence and the five bridesmares. “Has anypony seen Twilight?”

“I'm here!” Everypony turned around as the two doors opened again. Twilight Sparkle stomped into the hall. The unicorn looked angry, almost furious. “I'm not gonna stand next to her! And neither should you!”

Crystal Love refrained herself from smiling at the theatrical entrance. There was no way in Tartarus this pony still trusted her; now Twilight only had to convince her friends.

Shining Armor on the other hand looked clearly embarrassed about his sister’s behavior. “I'm sorry.” He turned to Crystal. “I... I don't know why she's acting like this.”

The changeling put on an indignant expression, not even turning around to Twilight. “Maybe we should just ignore her.”

“You have to listen to me!” Twilight yelled, shooting glares at Crystal.

Her friend, the shy yellow pegasus was immediately by her side. “Oh, goodness! Are you okay?”

“I'm fine.”

“Ya sure about that?” the orange mare from the Apple family remarked, but Twilight simply pulled the mare’s stetson hat over her face to shut her up.

“I've got something to say!” Twilight announced, pointing an accusatory hoof at Crystal. “She's evil!”

Shining Armor protectively stepped in front of his bride without hesitation. Crystal took on an adequately shocked expression while the rest of the ponies began their concerned chattering among themselves.

“She's been horrible to my friends,” Twilight continued, teleporting right behind Crystal and crouching down in an aggressive pose.

“She's obviously done something to her bridesmaids…“ Twilight stepped closer to Crystal threateningly, forcing her to back against a wall. The changeling could just have revealed herself right then, of course, but that seemed neither like good timing, nor was she in a good position to rant about invasion and conquering.

“And if that wasn't enough, I saw her put a spell on my brother that made his eyes go all…” Twilight turned around to her friends, probably to give an impression of Shining Armor’s earlier migraine. Crystal didn’t have any time to get back on all four again, though, as the other mare turned right back to her, invading her private space and giving her a self-confident smirk.

The changeling-in-disguise pondered her options for a moment. She still didn’t think that this was a good opportunity to start phase three of the plan. She needed some sort of way to get out of this situation that fit Cadence’s role, but would still raise suspicion with the other ponies. It only took her two seconds to decide on a course of action. Like every good actress, she knew how to act badly just as much as she could act a role like she really was the pony.

She let out a few half-hearted sobs, the first tears showing in her eyes just a little too quickly. “Why are you doing this to me?!” She dashed past Twilight and towards the doors, crying loudly.

“Because you're evil!” Twilight yelled after her triumphantly. Crystal could hear the unicorn teleport after her as she ran out of the room, still crying. “Evil! And if I don't stop you, you're gonna ruin my brother's life!“

Crystal slowed down once she had turned the corner into an empty hallway. She didn’t stop crying just yet, partially in case somepony might follow her, but also because even fake tears had something healing and refreshing about them. Stopping halfway through a good crying just wasn’t good for the mind, just like it was with real tears.

It didn’t take her long to catch herself, and she stepped behind a column just in time to see Celestia, Shining Armor and Twilight’s friends walking out of the wedding hall down the hallway. They were talking about Twilight and it seemed like they were quite angry at her for crashing the test ceremony.

Crystal almost couldn’t believe her ears. Confound her talent for acting and those thickheaded ponies, it seemed like they were still convinced that she was just the usual slightly-stressed-out bride.

She marched back to the ceremony hall angrily. If they wouldn’t see subtle hints, she would try to be less subtle. She wasn’t completely sure how, but a good way to start might be venting her frustration on Twilight Sparkle; maybe the young mare would crash her brother’s real wedding as well and give her another opportunity to reveal herself.

“He was my big brother, best friend
Forever...
And now, we'll never do anything
Together...“

Crystal’s frustration was pushed to the back of her mind when she saw the young mare – almost just a vulnerable filly in this moment, lie on the steps to the altar. Silently, she stepped around her until she was in front of Twilight’s head, and gently stroked her mane to calm her down.

“I’m sorry!”

Two simple words, meant to make amends with a friend, but for Crystal Love it only brought back all the frustration she had felt towards the other ponies. Even Twilight Sparkle accepted that she was the real deal. She didn’t know any other ponies who might question her identity now.

Well, no other ponies except for one…

“You will be.” Crystal growled, almost snarling at Twilight as she lit her magic to start a spell. Green flames erupted out of the floor, creating a ring of fire around the confused unicorn. She gave Twilight one last look through the flames, an evil grin that no actual villain would ever master unless they spent several years in acting school. Then she turned around and walked away, leaving the other mare to helplessly sink through the floor.

It was a risk she was taking, but it was a controlled risk and she wouldn’t be so stupid to wait until the last second. She had made plans for this as well. They had planned for every possibility they could think of. There was always some risk left, but in the end their plan would succeed.

She would do everything in her power to make sure of that.

A Canterlot Farce (Part 2)

This book is a collection of facts about changelings, everything we changelings know or believe to know about our kind, from biology to history. Before I start, however, I need you to be aware of one thing, a simple statement that might in fact summarize this whole book in one sentence.
Changelings are not monsters.
This is the root of all the troubles of the past days, a thousand years of paranoia on your side and a thousand years of forced solitude on ours. It is the result of a curse that even today nopony completely understands, followed by fear and unfortunate misconception.
To give a short explanation, the reason why changelings exist is a disease known as ‘Black Plague’. It infected ponies a thousand years ago, in what we believe to be the time between the defeat of Discord and the rise of Nightmare Moon. What we know is that nopony knew where it came from, how it spread and why ponies were or weren’t infected. In the span of only a few years, ponies turned into bug-like creatures with the ability to feed on emotions, and as quickly as it spread the disease disappeared again. To this day nopony knows anything about the disease except for the results it had, and a similar disease has never again been heard of.
The real problem of the changelings stems from the time after the ponies’ transformation. Ponies were wary of the new race, but not quite as afraid as the changelings themselves. They were called ‘monsters’ by some, and soon enough the changelings began to believe these claims. All they knew was that they were giant bugs that could take the form of any pony and fed on the love of others. So they left their homes and went to exile, one by one, to form a new family in the cave systems of the badlands. By the time they had found out more about themselves, the image of changelings as deceptive monsters draining other ponies of emotions had already been established in the minds of the ponies.
Nowadays, we changelings know that we are no monsters. We don’t drain ponies of their love, we pick up on the emotion radiating from them. It is not even completely necessary as source of nourishment, but rather something that helps us digest normal food or gives us an additional power boost if there is excess love to pick up. A changeling can live without absorbing love, it just isn’t a very good life. There is no need to impersonate other ponies, either, as a changeling earns the form of what is most likely what they would have been as a pony at the same moment they earn their cutie mark.
If you are reading this book, chances are that the changelings in Canterlot have been revealed and you know that I, too, am a changeling. If you didn’t know this, then I am hereby shedding my disguise and hope that ponies can accept me and my kin for what we are. I hope for both of our sakes that this will not have to be the last book I publish.
– Noteworthy Fact

~~~~~

“Where am I?”

Through the enchanted mirror, Crystal Love watched the purple unicorn who frantically looked around the cave. She had retreated to her chambers after assuring Shining Armor that she was feeling better again. Now she cast a spell, creating illusions of herself on the fractured parts of one of the crystal walls surrounding Twilight. “The caves beneath Canterlot, once home to greedy unicorns who wanted to claim the gems that could be found inside.” She let the illusion move behind Twilight as the unicorn tried to back away. “And now, your prison.”

“Help! Help!” Twilight tried to run away, giving Crystal a perfect opportunity to show of her evil laugh. She was quite proud of it.

“It's no use. No one can hear you. And no one will ever think to look for you, either.” She moved the illusion across the cave’s walls, staying at one point only for a few seconds. “Most ponies have forgotten that these caves even exist, which is why they are the ideal place to keep the ones who try to interfere with my plans.”

She fell back into a slightly maniacal laugh while Twilight looked up at the illusion. “Plans? What plans?”

“The plans I have for your brother, of course,” Crystal played her trump card.

“Don't you dare do anything to my brother, you... you monster!” Just as expected, Twilight went from fear and hesitation to justified rage in less than a second. Her horn lit up with bright magic, aimed at the wall Crystal was casting her illusion on.

“Only way to stop me is to catch me!” Crystal taunted, disappearing for a moment to let her face reappear on another crystal. “Over here!” Twilight immediately attacked, but the magic simply bounced off the shiny surface and ricocheted through the cave a few times before hitting the ground not far from the cowering unicorn.

“Nope, over here!” Crystal showed up under Twilight's hooves for a second before reappearing on the wall behind her, then on another single crystal. Twilight shot more beams of magic, smashing the crystal and two more in quick succession. Crystal cast a last illusion of her cackling self on another wall, and Twilight’s magic smashed right through without thinking.

Crystal watched with a smile as Twilight galloped over into the new room, angrily jumping at the figure inside. She was going to cast another illusion to confirm the real Cadence’s identity, but it seemed that the Princess herself was quick enough to convince Twilight of her. Turning away from the mirror, she cast one last spell to guide the two ponies towards the end of the cave.

“You think they’ll be here soon enough?” A brown earth pony with dark blue mane was standing right behind her, watching the mirror.

“We can only hope, Works… Just to be sure, maybe somepony should show them where the exit is. Assign three ponies to take the forms of the three former bridesmaids. I’m sure they can figure out some plausible story to help them out.” She hoofed the mirror over to the other changeling. “Take this with you. It’s too valuable to just be destroyed, and we can’t keep any evidence here.”

'Works' nodded and took the mirror to store it in his saddlebags. “I just hope that everything works as well as that mirror… commissioning so many difficult enchantments from some small-town unicorn.”

“Don’t worry, brother. That unicorn seemed quite capable in her job, and you know I have a bit of an eye for these things… It runs in the family. Besides, she could use the money I paid for those things.” Crystal smiled. “To imagine, the only unicorn in a family of earth ponies… But there’s no time for that. I have to prepare for the wedding and you need to prepare for the invasion.”

“Indeed.” Crystal’s brother turned around and walked over to the balcony, transforming into a pegasus halfway through. He gave one last glance back at the mare, then took off.

Crystal looked after him for a moment before her smile faltered. It might be the last she would see of him in a long while. She turned her head to look around the room with sad eyes, lighting her magic and casting a spell to soundproof the room. Singing always helped ponies to express and cope with their emotions. She took a deep breath and relaxed.

This day will need to go perfectly
I made the plan and I have checked everything twice
Everypony will gather ‘round
To look at Cadence in her gown
I just hope somepony sees through my disguise

I won’t stay long inside this gown
I won’t partake in any cake
Vows, I hope I won’t have to say
I know that through any weather
They are meant to be together
The truth is I wish them the best of luck

No, I do not love the groom
And in his heart is only room
for Cadenze… Shining Armor,
she’ll be back very soon

Already the moment has arrived
Does nopony suspect I’m not their bride?
It is time to play the foe
To put on my greatest show
For the last day of The Hive

~~~~~

“Princess Cadence and Shining Armor, it is my great pleasure to pronounce you–“

“Stop!”

Cadence let out a small sigh of relief as everypony else turned towards the unicorn mare standing in the doorway of the large double doors. Just a few seconds more and she would have had to set the emergency plan in motion. Shining Armor was distracted as well, and she used that chance to hit him with the spell she had prepared.

“Ugh, why does she have to be so possessive of her brother?” Crystal said as the ponies began to turn back to her, acting a last feeble attempt to stay in her role. “Why does she have to ruin my special day?!”

“Because it’s not your special day! It’s mine!” Crystal would have jumped for joy, hearing that voice. Princess Cadence looked a little ragged, but she seemed full of spirit.

“What? But how did you escape from that cave?!”

Twilight and Cadence looked at each other and smirked. “Sending your brainwashed bridesmaids after us to finish us of might have seemed like a good plan,” Cadence begun. “But next time you should choose somepony who doesn’t let themselves get distracted by a simple bouquet of flowers.”

Crystal smiled inwardly. ‘Brainwashed bridesmaids’... It seemed that her cousin had taken the lead of that group himself. He could be quite inventive that way.

“…And by going the way they came from you accidentally showed us where the exit was.” Twilight continued.

“Hmpf. Clever…” Crystal huffed, then grinned. “But you’re still too late.”

“I-I don’t understand.” Applejack looked between the two pink alicorns in confusion. “How can there be two of ‘em?”

“She's a changeling,” the real Cadence answered. “She takes the form of somepony you love and gains power by feeding off your love for them.”

Crystal snarled. There they went again. Not ten seconds uncovered and this pony was already starting into the old tales and rumors about changelings. Yes, what she had done didn’t help any of that, but hearing these things just made her furious beyond reason.

Her horn lit up with magic, and bright green flames erupted from the ground around her. So they wanted a monster, did they? Well, she was the prime actress in the Royal Canterlot Theater, and one of the best illusionists in all of Equestria. She would give them their monster.

What was only a simple transformation for her looked far more impressive to the ponies around her, due to the illusion. Her thin, but strong bug wings appeared hole-filled and ragged, just like her normally smooth legs and horn; her chitin was deep black, showing nothing of its shimmer and the subtle green hint in it, and two fangs were growing in her mouth; overall she seemed noticeably taller than she would have been without the illusion.

She let out an evil chuckle, her voice distorted through the spell. “Right you are, Princess. And as queen of the changelings, it is up to me to find food for my subjects.” She began to step down the stairs, walking towards Cadence. “Equestria has more love than any place I've ever encountered. My fellow changelings will be able to devour so much of it that we will gain more power than we have ever dreamed of!”

“They'll never get the chance!” Cadence shot back. “Shining Armor's protection spell will keep them from ever even reaching us!”

Crystal let out another evil chuckle – she was really starting to get into this. “Oh, I doubt that.“ She turned around to Shining Armor and lit her horn. “Isn't that right, dear?”

The Captain of the Royal Guard nodded, staring blankly ahead with green glowing eyes. In reality, he was merely sleeping with open eyes, thank to her spell combined with a small illusion to make his eyes glow and another illusion that had made it look like he nodded his head slightly, but for her plan he didn’t have to do anything else except stand there and stay out of the way.

Cadence started to run towards him, but Crystal blocked her way, lighting her magic threateningly. “Ah, ah, ah. Don't want to go back to the caves, now do you?” She smirked as Cadence backed away, cowering a little. Then she turned around and jumped over to Shining Armor. “Ever since I took your place, I've been feeding off Shining Armor's love for you. Every moment he grows weaker and so does his spell. Even now, my minions are chipping away at it.”

She looked up at the ceiling. By now her brother should have activated the crystal enchanted with her illusion, causing a swarm of changelings to appear around the magic barrier and trying to force their way in. It wouldn’t take long until the spell faltered on its own, without the Captain of the Guard to keep it up. Soon they would be able to move to the next phase of their plan.

She laughed again, lifting Shining Armor’s chin with a hoof. “He may not be my husband, but he is under my total control now.” Twilight and Cadence gasped in shock, something she took as a compliment to her acting. “…And I'm sorry to say, unable to perform his duties as captain of the Royal Guard.”

“Not my Shining Armor!” Cadence cried out.

“Soon, my changeling army will break through. First, we take Canterlot.” She jumped into the air, flapping her wings and striking a triumphant pose. “And then, all of Equestria!”

“No. You won't,” Princess Celestia said, steel in her voice. Crystal floated back down, turning around to face her.

“You may have made it impossible for Shining Armor to perform his spell, but now that you have so foolishly revealed your true self, I can protect my subjects from you!” The Princess flew up into the air and her horn lit with magic almost as bright as the sun. A solid beam of magic shot out from it, heading straight for Crystal.

Crystal immediately countered with her own magic, barely managing to keep the Princess’ attack at bay for a few seconds. She couldn’t get defeated yet, Shining Armor’s barrier hadn’t even collapsed yet. Desperate, she tapped into the pool of love she had stored over the past days… maybe she could buy a little more time somehow.

The power washed right through her, everything her family had given her for this day along with what she had picked up from Shining Armor, Twilight, her friends and all the other ponies who adored Princess Cadence. Her magic beam brightened, faster than she could react, and within seconds Celestia’s attacked was pushed all the way back. The Princess gasped as Crystal’s counterattack connected with her horn, sending the alicorn back to the ground. The Princess slid over the marble floor for a few feet, lying on her side with a black scorch mark on her horn where the magic had hit her.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight and her friends immediately rushed to the Princess’ side, while the rest of the wedding guests gasped in shock.

“Ah! Shining Armor's love for you is even stronger than I thought!” Crystal boasted, rising into the air again. “Consuming it has made me even more powerful than Celestia!”

Celestia slowly raised her head to look at the six mares standing around her. “The Elements of Harmony. You must get to them and use their power to defeat the queen.”

The mares nodded, throwing off their dressed and galloping towards the door. Only the white unicorn stayed behind for a moment to try and save their dresses, but followed immediately when her friends called her.

Crystal flew after them to the door, laughing and calling after them, “You can run, but you can’t hide!”

~~~~~

“It’s almost down…” Fair Labor – or ‘Works’, as ponies usually called him – looked away from the magic barrier surrounding the town towards the palace. A group of six mares was galloping out, towards the part of town they were in. He turned around to face the large group of ponies standing behind him. “The Element-bearers are on the move. They’re the greatest risk in this, so we need to help Clean Cut keep them away from the Elements of Harmony. You all know the plan; try not to hurt them, we only want to get them back to the palace.”

The ponies nodded and turned around, jumping off the roof of the warehouse they were standing on. One by one they burst into green flames and turned into hole-filled images of changelings, buzzing their wings to fly through the empty alley towards the hall were the Elements of Harmony were being kept.

Works looked back up as the first explosions sounded. The purple barrier that had encased the city for over a week was gone now, and swarms of illusionary changelings buzzed around in the sky above Canterlot. He could make out one of the few real ones hovering in place between them, one from the small group of the most magically adept ones in their family. Whenever he fired one of his magic shots, the illusion spell made it look like it was actually another changeling hurling itself down at the town in some sort of kamikaze attack. Right now the attack was focused at the small group of mares running down Main Street. One of the real changelings even joined in, smashing into the ground right in front of the Element of Magic to hiss at her.

~~~~~

“Here they come…” One of the changelings at the front muttered as the six mares galloped up the stairs, only to stop when they saw the group of changelings waiting for them. The changelings put on evil and slightly cocky grins, chuckling at the group of ponies.

“Looks like we’re gonna have to do this the hard way.” One of the mares, the sky-blue pegasus, clapped her hooves together angrily and charged forward, stopping when she was suddenly faced with an exact copy of her who looked back at her with the same surprised look she was showing. They curiously inspected each other for a moment, before the doppelganger lifted a hoof and rudely knocked her back.

“How did you–?” Rainbow Dash was cut off when more changelings transformed to look like her, along with other changelings turning into copies of her five friends.

“They’re changelings, remember?” Twilight explained. Half a dozen Twilights repeated her words with the exact same voice, smirking at the original. Twilight crouched down to an aggressive pose, backed against her five friends. “Don't let them distract you. We have to get to the Elements of Harmony. They're our only hope.”

The six mares jumped forward, and were met by their copies trying to fight them down. The fight turned out to be almost more confusing to the changelings than it was for the ponies, and more than once they were kicked by somepony they had believed to be another changeling copy. The Element-bearers proved even more stubborn and resistant than expected and quickly managed to fight their way to the hall of the Elements, mostly due to the fact that the changelings were trying to subdue them non-violently. It was only thanks to the changelings solid outer shells that they were able to pick themselves up and fly after them again.

~~~~~

“I’m bored…” Clean Cut whined, doing some stretches to pass the time. “Do you think they already caught them?”

He immediately stopped as the large double doors moved, opening to reveal the six Element-bearers. A few of the changelings around him took off to buzz in the air in front of the mares menacingly, but Clean Cut stayed on the ground. The six mares turned around, only to find their escape blocked by the changelings that had followed them.

“You guys stay here, I’m going to get the Elements.” Rainbow Dash whirled around and crouched down, glaring at the changelings threateningly. To her surprise, they actually moved out of the way until only a single changeling stood between her and the door to the Elements.

Clean Cut grinned as he turned into a copy of the blue pegasus. The last time he had seen that mare was when he went to Cloudsdale to watch the Best Young Flyers competition. He was looking forward to seeing how fast she really was.

“No stupid bug is going to take me down!” Rainbow Dash growled. “You might look like me, but I bet you’re not half as fast as me!” With that she took off, dashing towards him at high speed.

Clean Cut grinned and took to the air as well, flying straight on a collision course with her, both ponies only a few feet above the floor. Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. “So you want to play chicken, huh?”

Clean Cut only smiled as the other pegasus put her hooves in front of herself to knock him over. A second before the impact, he beat his wings up to push himself down to the floor. With trained precision he turned around as his hooves slid across the floor, coming to a stop right under the surprised Rainbow Dash, just in time to jump up and tackle her to the ground. Before the mare knew what was happening, she was lying on the grounds, a few feathers of each of her wings stuck under the changelings hind hooves while one of his forehooves was pressed against her neck.

“Let me go!” Rainbow tried to struggle under him, but was barely able to move without hurting her wings or the changeling increasing the pressure on her neck. Her friends gasped and started to run over to her, but were stopped by the rest of the changelings blocking their way and surrounding them again.

~~~~~

Crystal watched the three changelings finish their work at the green cocoon they had trapped Princess Celestia in. It was amazing what you could do with a Nightmare Night enchantment if you modified the spell just a little. Cadence was already immobilized, all four hooves trapped in the sticky green goo.

“You won't get away with this! Twilight and her friends will–“ Cadence stopped when a group of changelings entered through the door, along with the six Element-bearers. Two of the changelings were carrying Rainbow Dash, as a precaution to keep her from doing something stupid.

“You were saying?” Crystal smirked, then said the code phrase to tell the other changelings in the room that she would do the rest of the plan alone. “You do realize the reception's been cancelled, don't you? Go! Feed!” The changelings buzzed out of the room immediately and Crystal closed the doors behind them. She was on her own now.

“It's funny, really.” She went over to Twilight, lifting her chin with a hoof while the unicorn glared at her. “Twilight here was suspicious of my behavior all along. Too bad the rest of you were too caught up in your wedding planning to realize those suspicions were correct, nahahah!” She turned around and flew a bit away from her to walk over to one of the large windows.

“Sorry, Twi,” Applejack said. “We should've listened to you.”

“It's not your fault,” Twilight replied. “She fooled everypony.”

“Hmm, I did, didn’t I?” Crystal stopped at the window, looking outside at the streets below. Ponies were running from real and illusionary changelings, magic attacks were still crashing into buildings from above like meteorites, and she could see a pair of royal guards that had been immobilized by the same green goo the Princesses were trapped in. She didn’t want to see it, but she had to give the ponies behind her a chance to do something to stop her, and it needed to seem realistic.

She heard hoofsteps behind her and turned her head slightly to glance at Shining Armor. Sure enough, Princess Cadence was by her groom’s side, hugging him. Crystal let out a small sigh of relief as she used her magic to cancel the sleep spell on him. By a stroke of luck, Cadence cast a spell to try to shake him out of it at the same time, making it look like she was the one who freed him.

“Wha– where... huh? Is...is the wedding over?” Shining Armor shook his head and looked around the room in confusion.

Crystal Love didn’t waste any time to fly over to them, grinning down at the two menacingly. “It’s all over!”

“Your spell!” Twilight yelled. “Perform your spell!”

Crystal just laughed at the idea. “What good would that do? My changelings already roam free.” In fact, Shining Armor’s spell was the best-case scenario of their plan and she hoped that it was exactly what would happen.

“No!” Shining Armor tried to call on his magic, but only a weak glow at the tip of his horn appeared. He let his head hang. “My power is useless now… I don’t have the strength to repel them.”

Cadence was at his side in an instant, giving him a caring and determined look. “My love will give you strength.” She moved closer to him, resting her head against his shoulder.

Crystal laughed, walking back to one of the windows. “Nahaha, what a lovely but absolutely ridiculous sentiment.” She pretended to turn her attention back to the streets outside. In reality, she was preparing herself for what was to come next, and making sure that she wouldn’t have to be smashed through a wall by the spell.

Something was happening behind her… Crystal could feel the magic right through her shell. She turned her head to see what was going to come for her and her jaw dropped at the display of raw power, born from the love of those two ponies for each other. Shining Armor and Cadence were lifted off the ground as the magic began to whip around the room, and it wasn’t even the actual spell yet.

Crystal let out a fearful scream as the wall of magic went out from the two ponies, heading right towards her. It was an act. She didn’t feel the least bit of fear, knowing that everything she did was to give her family the chance at a better life. She would happily die for that, if that would be what it took. Time seemed to slow down as the wall was only a few feet away from her.

~~~~~

“Are you sure that this is the right thing to do? There has to be a better option… We could just continue as we are now, I’m sure the others won’t mind. We already build up lives here in Canterlot over the last decade.” Works looked down. “They don’t want to see you get hurt, either…”

“I am sure.” Crystal sighed. “Not that we could change it, now… The threat has been sent, Canterlot is under high security and we’ll never get a better opportunity than this wedding.”

“We can still call it off. Nopony would know and they’ll just think that the threat is a hoax. This just doesn’t feel right.”

“Of course it doesn’t feel right… It isn’t right. But I’ve thought about it a long time…” Crystal looked at him with a serious expression. She was an actress – if she wanted to make a serious face, even somepony looking in the opposite direction knew that she wasn’t kidding.

“What we’re going to do won’t help our case… It might make changelings look even worse than they already do. But it is still necessary. Those old prejudices have been stuck in ponies’ heads for almost a millennium now. They grew up with them, just like their parents did, and their grandparents. The invasion might cause even worse prejudices against changelings, but they will be new prejudices. We cannot change what ponies have been taught for centuries, but if we show them that what they think to know about changelings is wrong, we might have a chance to convince them that their new picture of us isn’t right either.”

Works sighed and took a sip of his cider, pondering her words. “You really think so?”

“I don’t just think so, Works. I know so.” She leaned closer, whispering even though nopony else was in the office and the door was locked. “Do you remember the old telling mom taught us… About things you know?”

Works eyes widened. “You mean…?”

Crystal nodded. “‘You might think you know something, but you never know for sure.’” She stood up and walked over to the window, looking up at the night sky above Canterlot. Her pink fur coat and her black mane with the green shimmer in it reflected on the glass.

“‘Knowledge is objective, and nothing is set in stone. Discord might have been defeated and locked away, but this world is still full of chaos. There is only one thing that you can trust, and you’ll only know it when you feel it…’” She turned her head to look at her brother with calm eyes.

“I had a hunch.”

~~~~~

Crystal spread her forelegs wide as the magic wall came closer and closed her eyes. She smiled as everything around her disappeared in the rose-tinted light of Shining Armor and Cadence’s spell.

The wall hit her.

Epilogue

Crystal Love opened her eyes as the sound of wings came closer. A set of white hooves in golden horseshoes landed in her field of vision. The changeling turned her head to look at Princess Celestia; the alicorn didn’t even notice that Crystal’s illusion was no longer in effect, leaving the changeling in her normal, noticeably smaller form.

Maybe the Princess was just too busy with the attack she was charging in her horn.

"Where are the other changelings?" the Princess asked with barely restrained rage.

Crystal thought back to her family. If nothing went wrong, Shining Armor's spell should have only dispelled the illusions, leaving the real changelings unharmed since they didn't actually pose a threat to the city.

"What does it matter?" she snarled. "I'm their Queen. Without me, there won't be no changeling hive."

"Good." Celestia gave her a last icy glare before pointing her brightly glowing horn at Crystal.

~~~~~

The house was a little away from the center of Canterlot. The sign at the front showed the words “Works’ Office”, a renowned little business that was known for distributing workforce to stores, shops and business all over Canterlot, for all the odd jobs they couldn’t hire full-time employees for.

Around the building, in the back, was another business, so to speak. All kinds of ponies went in and out of the bar, but only ponies who were on the list. Nopony else knew what was so special about the place, and quite a few upper-class ponies who had tried to find out found themselves more or less politely shoved back out by a pegasus who could wrestle even the burliest earth pony bodyguards to the ground in a matter of seconds.

On this evening, the bar was full of ponies; everypony who was on the list had come, despite the wedding celebrations taking place not far away at the palace. Earth ponies mingled with pegasi and unicorns, drinking and chatting, some more cheerful than others.

“You’re looking glum, chum.” A slightly inebriated pegasus stallion with a mug of cider sat down at the bar next to the earth pony, who was staring at his own drink. He put a hoof around the earth pony’s shoulder. “Come on! We are all sad about what happened to her, but that doesn’t mean that we should spend the first night of our new life trying to drown our sorrows.”

The earth pony sighed. “Do you always have to be this cheerful, Clean Cut?”

“I don’t know about me, but you have to.” Clean Cut nudged the other stallion. “You’re practically the head of this group, Works. A good chunk of us are working for you, and everypony else owes you for one thing or another. You of all ponies need to show them that we can go on with her lives.”

Works turned around, leaning against the bar with his back. “How are you suddenly the voice of reason?” He laughed. “My life must really be going downhill.”

“That’s the spirit!” Clean Cut grinned and bumped his shoulder. Then he turned his attention to the rest of the room and put a hoof to his mouth.

The sharp whistle made everypony stop their conversations and turn their attention to him. He waited another moment, then announced, “There’s something we haven’t done yet and I think it’s high time that we do it. And since Works here is too much of a grown-up to start, everything hangs on me. As always.”

The other ponies watched in anticipation as he slowly raised his mug high into the air.

~~~~~

The next time Crystal woke up she was already being carried through the prison. Wherever it was, she doubted that they were still in Equestria. It seemed to reach deep into the ground, and apparently they intended to keep her on the last level of it. Crystal didn’t struggle as they threw her into the cell and locked the doors. She was in too much pain to do much, anyways.

“Three cheers for Crystal Love, who brought about the end of the changeling hive!”

Green ichor was showing through the cracks in her shell, some of it dripping to the ground, and she had large, black scorch marks where Celestia’s attack had hit her.

“Hip hip hooray!”

She was trapped in an unknown place, possibly left to die in her prison cell.

“Hip hip hooray!”

Her ear twitched and she raised her head a little. She looked around her cell curiously, despite the pain it was causing her.

“Hip hip hooray!”

Crystal Love let her head fall back to the ground again, a content smile on her face. She wasn’t going to die here. She just had to be patient and bide her time.

She had a hunch about that.

Author's Note

I know that this story might seem a little confusing in some parts. If you have any questions about this story, please check out the FAQ first.