Fires of Change: Origins of a Race

by Crystal Static

Rating: teen
Tags: Romance, Adventure, Dark, Alternate Universe
Length: 6746

'Changelings, how did they come to be?' That is the question that the Twilight Sparkle is trying to answer. The truth is often stranger than fiction, and Twilight will find that things are not always as they seem.

'Changelings, how did they come to be?' That is the question that the Element of Magic is trying to answer. Tasked with an important project involving the Changeling race, Twilight Sparkle must delve deep into the Royal Archives of Canterlot. What she finds will surprise her, because everypony knows that the truth is oftentimes stranger than fiction.

Book one of the Fires of Change series.

Takes place mid season 3, post-Crystal Empire, pre-Magic Duel.

Cover art by Midnight Sonare.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-04-02 23:29:24 UTC

Prologue - Meeting in the Shadows

Fires of Change: Origins of a Race

Prologue

Meeting in the Shadows

Deep in the Hayseed Swamps, East of Dodge Junction and South of Baltimare. Five cloaked figures with glowing black horns approach a surprisingly large hollowed out tree.

The first voice opens the secret meeting , "We need to send scouts to her territory, to make sure there will be no more acts of this sort."

"We cannot risk exposing ourselves further, we must fall back and use our reserves until our presence fades into obscurity again,"  a second voice retorts.

"We cannot just run and hide, it would take years for us to vanish from the spotlight!" the first voice exclaims.

A third voice speaks up, "Why would our sister do that? Has she lost her mind?"

The tallest figure commands, "Daughters! Enough! I have called you all here to discuss this development. I have a contingency plan for this kind of event. We were thrust into the spotlight, and we cannot feasibly fade away."

"So what is your plan Mother? Do you plan on selling us out to the ponies?" a fifth voice snarks.

The tallest figure takes a deep breath before responding, "I do not plan on selling anybody out to anyone. I have already taken steps to salvage the situation, it would be wise for you to draw back any scouts in Equestria."

The speaker with the fifth voice puts on a dangerous tone, "You want us to pull our scouts and gatherers back, care to tell us why?"

With a sigh, the tallest figure speaks up again, "It would make the whole ordeal a lot smoother if only one presence is within their borders. I simply plan to negotiate, and explain how she went rogue. I do not like it why my daughters go rogue."

The other four step back to converse for several minutes.

Finally one of the cloaked figures steps forward, "Very well, we will pull out all of our troops, but we will only give you one month before we send our scouts back in. We hope you know what you are doing mother."

After the meeting is over with, the cloaked figures remove their cloaks and burn them with magic, then fly off in different directions.

O------------{[][][][][][][]}------------O

In a meeting room in Canterlot Castle, Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, Princess Cadence, Prince Blueblood, Guard Captain Armor, and Archmage Sunray are gathered around an enchanted map of Equestria and the surrounding territories.

Shining Armor huffs with annoyance, "I still think we need to amass our forces and invade the badlands."

"We all heard your suggestion to 'invade' the last three times you said it Shiny, but the last thing we need is more violence," at that, Shining Armor looks to Cadence with a dejected face.

Blueblood interrupts Shining Armor's retort, "As the representative of the Noble Families, would it be wrong to suggest we secure our borders and start searching our populations for changelings?"

"We- I mean I agree with our nephew, we should shore up our borders before any retaliation," Luna agrees.

Celestia speaks up, "Not to disappoint anypony, but we will not be invading anywhere. We would be no better than the changelings if we did that."

Before anypony else could speak, Sunray interrupts, "If I could possibly interject, I have an idea on what we could do. First, we should increase border security. Then, we will research changelings, if we know more about our would-be enemies, we can determine if peace is a viable option. After that, if peace is viable, we will send a diplomatic party to their leadership."

"Archmage Sunray, I have a few questions about your idea. Firstly, how would we handle the changeling presence in Equestria after we seal our borders? Secondly, who would you suggest participate in the research?" Celestia asks.

Sunray responds, "Princess, we would position more unicorn guards on the gates to cities, and we would take in any changelings we discover for questioning. We have no idea if all of the changelings are loyal to that queen. If we discover changelings that are living peacefully with our populations, we wouldn't want to destroy whatever lives they have made."

Celestia pauses for a moment to think before responding, "Why would you think that there could be changelings living peacefully among us? And how would we handle them if they do have lives here?"

After thinking for a moment, Sunray answers, "I would suggest offering probationary citizenship, after registering their pony forms, and putting a magic trace on each one we find that becomes a citizen. Shining Armor and Princess Cadence would train our guards to detect these magic traces. Of course we would need a propaganda campaign to make sure the changelings know we do not mean harm."

"I will begin work on a propaganda campaign that would prevent any hostilities from citizen changelings, and as for the research, I have the perfect mare for the task. My student would be perfect to find anything about the changelings."

Luna interrupts, "It seems that we have a plan now, I will order my night guards to go to our borders. Archmage, I hope your detection wards are up to the task at hand."

Blueblood clears his throat, "I will inform the noble families of our plans."

Shining Armor decides to speak up, "Tomorrow, Cadence and I will inform my guards and train them to detect changeling magics and the magical trace."

As the meeting is concluded, all but Princess Celestia and Archmage Sunray leave the meeting room.

Turning to Celestia, Sunray speaks, "You do realize that I was going to suggest your student to research the changelings right?"

Celestia chuckles, "Without a doubt. Everypony has heard of Twilight's studiousness."

The chuckling devolves into quiet laughter as both ponies leave the room.

O------------{[][][][][][][]}------------O

Deep in the Canterlot Archives, a single pony wearing an enchanted cloak enters the Starswirl Wing. Approaching the shelf with all of Starswirl's personal journals, the figure places a single worn tome and quickly retreats into the darkness.

Chapter Two - Connections from the Past

Fires of Change: Origins of a Race

Chapter 2

Connections from the Past

In the Starswirl Wing of the restricted section of the Canterlot Royal Archives, Twilight Sparkle is searching for any references to changelings. After toiling for several hours through the bestiary and non-pony culture sections and failing to find anything worth note, she finally heads to the section about transformation magics. After some digging, she finally finds a reference to changeling's innate transformation abilities in a journal dedicated to obscure transformation magics.

"Aha! I finally found something!"

Obscure transformation magics

Chapter seven: natural or instinctual transformations

There are very few cases of naturally occurring transformation magic, but I have found several. I have discovered a natural archway in the caves under Hollow Shades that, when walked through by a pegasus, will alter their physiology to match that of the thestral race. The markings around the archway tell that if a thestral passes through, they will be altered physically to a normal pegasus. The archway doesn't explain what would happen if an earth pony, unicorn, breezie, or changeling walked through, but after examining the spell matrices, I can attest that the results wouldn't be pretty; I don't do bits and pieces…

Besides that archway, the only other naturally occurring transformation magics that I am aware of are changelings and astrals (astrals consist of ursa, lupus, scorpio, and tigris minors and majors, which use shape changing magics to transform between the different astral designations). Changelings have the most complex transformation magics of any species or race. After reading a journal written by one of my ancestors about changelings, I devised a spell to locate changelings within a hundred meter radius of the caster. I destroyed all of my notes on the spell after I made contact with a changeling, as the spell would be easy to use with malicious intent against changelings.

Here is a transcript of me making contact with a changeling in the lower districts of canterlot.

-Recorded with Starswirl's Discrete Transcription Spell-

Starswirl- I have located a changeling within one of the cafes around the lower districts of Canterlot, I am going to be meeting with it to gather information about the rarely documented race.

-waitress walks up to the table-

Waitress- Welcome to ~~~~~, What can I get you?

Starswirl- I would like one glass of jasmine tea.

Waitress- I will be right back with your order.

-waitress leaves to prepare order-

Starswirl- The waitress is my contact, I will attempt to interact.

-waitress returns with tea-

Waitress- Here is your tea, is there anything else I can get for you?

Starswirl- There is nothing else you can get me, but I do have a question.

Waitress- Yes?

Starswirl- I am currently investigating rare natural transformation magics, and I know you can assist me. Don't run, I am here alone without malicious intent.

Waitress- I was wondering why the famed Starswirl Lulamoon would enter my fair tea shop.

Starswirl- I thought my relation to the Lulamoon family was hidden from the general public.

Waitress- Every member of my race treats the Lulamoon family as royalty. Before you ask, our first queen was originally a unicorn of the Lulamoon family.

Starswirl- That explains the journal I found about changelings written by one of my ancestors. Let me guess, Hyacinthus Lulamoon?

Waitress- She goes by Queen Monarch now, but yes.

Starswirl- I see. Is there any way I can get you to meet me at one of my labs in the lower district later so we can discuss this where we can't be overheard?

Waitress- Just write the address down on your receipt and the time you wish to meet me, and I will meet you there.

Starswirl- Thank you for your cooperation, I look forward to interviewing you.

-end transcription-

As you can see, contact was tense but peaceful, and after our meeting, I have a new understanding of changeling transformation. Changelings' transformation magic is controlled on an instinctual level, all they have to do is form a mental image of what they want to look like, and push magic from their reserves into the image (as my contact explained it). There is no way to replicate the changeling transformation magic to work with unicorns. I have a detailed explanation in the appendix at the end of this chapter.

Finished with reading that chapter of the journal, Twilight pauses to think, "Lulamoon, why does that name sound familiar? I know that I know somepony of that family, but I cannot think of who…"

After going to the family records section of the Royal Archives, Twilight finds a scroll with the family tree of the Lulamoon family, "Hyacinthus Lulamoon, deceased, body was destroyed in a potion accident, she was trying to make a potion that allows a pony to consume ambient magical fields in lieu of food… That could explain how changelings feed, taking in from ambient fields of energies, It's brilliant! Stay on task Twilight, I need to find this generation of Lulamoons…"

A few minutes pass before Twilight locates the line of Lulamoons who are still alive, "Beatrix Lulamoon… Beatrix… Trixie? As in 'the Great and Powerful'? Of course it had to be her… The only living member of the Lulamoon family, and it has to be her…"

O------------{[][][][][][][]}------------O

Returning to the Starswirl Wing, Twilight looks in the transformation magic journal for any clues as to where she could find the Hyacinthus Lulamoon's journal that was referenced by Starswirl.

With an air of exasperation, Twilight groans, "There has to be something in here as to where I can find that journal!"- a page falls out as she flips through the chapters.

In the castle in the forest, where night betrayed the day.

In a vault where once sat power, a book of ages past will lay.

The fires of change have kindled, with a queen who lost her way.

The rueful queen turned tyrant, and her race she did betray.

A threat to her own sisters, the tyrant brought that day.

Upon reading this, Twilight began to contemplate the meaning of the riddle, "'In the castle in the forest, where the night betrayed the day… The Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters? The journal is in a vault in the old castle! But then what do the last three lines mean? Hmmm… I think I got it… What if the changeling queen that attacked did so without the approval of other changeling queens? That must mean most changelings are not hostile towards us! I need to get to the castle to find that journal! …But shouldn't I first get Trixie to help with this, after all, her family has some connection to the changelings… But what if she doesn't want to help? What if she doesn't allow me to continue this research? I know, I will get Princess Celestia to bring her here to help!"

O------------{[][][][][][][]}------------O

In the extravagant royal chambers of a changeling queen, a drone with a yellow coloration enters to deliver a letter to his queen.

"Enter, what news do you bring." the queen asks.

With a bow, the drone replies, "My queen, a letter from the White Hive."

"Rise, stay here while I read the letter, I may need a messenger."

Yellow Queen

The plan is in motion, we will reconvene with your sisters in two moons, hold back your collectors and infiltrators until the meeting. We will send an update on the situation in one week's time. I have sent your sisters the same notice, and they should be reading it as you are.

The White Queen

"Drone, tell the heads of the collector, infiltrator, and scout castes that the delay in activities has been extended by two months."

"Very well my queen." with a bow, the drone turns and leaves the queen's chambers.

"I hope you know what you are doing mother, if your plan fails, our race may cease to exist."

O------------{[][][][][][][]}------------O

On one of the many outdoor balconies that the castle has, Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle are idly chatting while having tea.

Princess Celestia sips on her glass of tea, "What do you think of this new tea Twilight?"

"Princess, it has a nice rich flavor, but it has a tad more bite to it than I am used to, but overall a solid blend."

"A most accurate assessment, I think this is another variety to put in the tea chest."

"When do you plan on showing me the fabled celestial tea chest? I heard you have many rare and exotic brews in it."

"I didn't plan on showing you my tea chest, and the last thing I want is for you to see a rare flavor then try to sneak in to try it, like that time with the Starswirl wing of the archives."

Twilight decides to ignore Princess Celestia's bait, "Speaking of the archives, I found some interesting information on changelings, but sadly, I cannot share it with you without the approval of somepony."

"Why would you need the approval of somepony, I am your princess after all."

"Some of the information ties directly to this pony's family history. The only way I will continue this research is if we bring Beatrix Lulamoon onto this project."

Princess Celestia spit-takes her tea at this, "A member of the Lulamoon family? I wasn't aware that there were any Lulamoons left. Either way, that explains quite a bit about why you wouldn't want to continue without her. Do you have any idea where I could find her?"

"Well, I wish I knew where you could find her, but 'the Great and Powerful Trixie' lives in a trailer, and her trailer was destroyed in that ursa incident a few years ago…"

"So we require a pony whose living arrangements are unknown, and she had a habit of traveling Equestria… I think I will ask Luna if she can look out for Trixie's dreams."

"Once we have Trixie on this, I will need a short expedition to your old castle in the Everfree, there may be a journal there that was written by the original changeling queen."

"Speaking of which, what have you found out about changelings as a threat to Equestria?"

"Nothing concrete, but everything points to the Canterlot attack being out of desperation by a rogue queen; I do not know how many queens are out there, but from what I have found, the hostile queen is the minority here."

"Ah, so there may still be hope for peace. I will update the protocols that were put in place for changelings, and schedule a press meeting."

"Isn't it a little early princess? I haven't found any real solid proof yet…"

"I am aware, but if I do this now, we can open up the possibility of a peace summit with less difficulty. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go ask Luna to look for Trixie's dreams."

With that, Princess Celestia put away her tea set, then left Twilight on the balcony.

Chapter Three - The Diary and Lament of a Lulamoon

Fires of Change: Origins of a Race

Chapter 3

The Diary and Lament of a Lulamoon

Dear Diary,

Today I was ran out of town because some foals lured an ursa for me to defeat. I couldn't defeat it, and after it destroyed my trailer, I decided to flee the scene. I doubt I will be able to show my face in Ponyville ever again. When my trailer was destroyed, I lost everything. How am I going to go on? What am I to do now?

Dear Diary,

I tried to have my show in Apploosa, I got halfway through the first act, and then was promptly ran out of town. They blamed me for what happened in Ponyville, and apparently, one of the founders of the town is related to one of the ponies that I humiliated on stage. I only hope that my newfound infamy will not get me ran out of everywhere I try to preform…

Dear Diary,

I tried Dodge Junction, they didn't even let me get a stage set up before they ran me out of there. I am afraid of what I will have to do if I cannot have my shows. I have resorted to eating the grass of the countryside for food. I don't have any bits, and I haven't had a proper meal in a week.

Dear Diary,

I tried Baltimare, the first big city since the Ursa Incident. I had the stage set up, and was about to start my act when the owners of the stage told me that they heard what happened in Ponyville, and they tossed me to the curb. I broke down and cried right there. A nice mare saw me and gave me a bag with ten bits in it, and told me 'you might be hated by most everypony, but if you give up, you are just proving them right, and we wouldn't want that'. I thanked her from the bottom of my heart, and, with newfound resolve, started to head towards Manehattan. I was stopped by three colts near the edge of Baltimare, they beat me and forced themselves on me, told me that if I was so great and powerful, I would be able to defend myself from them. They left me unconscious on the side of the street with nothing but my diary. I cried myself to sleep that night.

Dear Diary,

I went to a clinic, told them about how the three colts forced themselves on me… I was tested, and it turns out, I am pregnant. I can't bring a foal into this world. I am not ready to be a mother. How could somepony do this to me…

Dear Diary,

I have decided to keep the foal. It may have been brought about in a way I wouldn't want, but it is still mine. I just need to find a place where I can live and earn enough bits to take care of it. I looked at job postings today, the only place that offers room and board with the job is at a rock farm. I am going to go there tomorrow.

Dear Diary,

I got the job, they heard my situation, and they were sympathetic. I start in three days, after I move in. I also looked around a little bit for things to take care of my foal. I haven't decided what all I will get it, but I know it will be coming in ten months.

Dear Diary,

It has been a month, the work is good, and I have started getting some of the things I need for taking care of a foal. I also found out that it is a filly. On a different note, I have been given some advice about the Ursa Incident, so after the foal is born, I plan on going back to Ponyville to apologize to all the ponies I wronged there. I just hope that they will forgive me.

Dear Diary,

Not much interesting has happened in the last three months, the foal is due in six months, and I have earned enough bits to buy a new trailer. I have started working on the stage that will fold out for my act. I have started learning some more magic from the local library, and my act is going to be better than ever. I have decided to take on a storyteller role, where the stories are played out with illusion magic. I have requested some time off so I could head to Canterlot to see the possibility of enrolling my foal at the Unicorn Academy there. I leave in three weeks.

Dear Diary,

I am on the train to Canterlot, and I will be there soon. I have enough bits to get me a week at a hotel and whatever I need during the trip. I have heard a lot of stories about how great Canterlot is, and I hope to see how many of them are true for myself. The stories of romance and grandeur, the fashion and beauty, all of that stuff. The train will arrive in a few hours, so I am going to take a nap.

Dear Diary,

I have been in Canterlot for four days. I talked to the headmaster of the Unicorn Academy, and my foal has a good chance of being accepted in. Apparently illusion magic has very few practitioners, and my family has a history of strong illusionists. When my filly starts to learn magic, I am going to teach her everything I know about illusions. Maybe someday, she will have the name 'Great and Powerful', and live up to it like I have failed to do…

Dear Diary,

I was attacked on the way back to the Hotel… I am currently in the hospital, the bitch that attacked me is behind bars. She took my filly. My little filly. She took her from me. My little filly will never be born now… If I ever see that bitch again, I will kill her. SHE TOOK MY FILLY FROM ME AND I WILL KILL HER! I WANT HER TO DIE FOR WHAT SHE DID TO ME AND MY UNBORN FILLY!

Dear Diary,

The trial for that murderer was today. She was encased in stone and put in the Royal Gardens. The princesses offered me the chance to stay in the castle for a while. I told them that I have to go back to the rock farm outside of Baltimare because of my job. The princess sent them a letter telling about what happened, and insisted I stay for a while. All I feel right now is ash. My little filly is gone and there is nothing I can do to bring her back…

Dear Diary,

I talked to Princess Luna today, told her about my plan to apologize to the residents of Ponyville. She told me that I should first find some way to prove I am sorry for the Ursa Incident. I told her how I planned on bringing my filly with me when I went to apologize, and broke down right there. I told Luna that I wish that I died with my filly, so I wouldn't have this pain, she told me that suicide is not something I should think about. Before she set me right, I was strongly considering it…

Dear Diary,

I went back to the rock farm today, the princesses set me up with a royal carriage. I told Maud and her parents that I was going to get back on the road, with my new act. They told me that I will always have a home at their farm, and if I ever need them, just send them a letter.

Dear Diary,

I went to Hollow Shades with my new act. I told them the story of Shadow Weaver, the unicorn who invented illusion magic. I didn't know that thestrals had a thing for storytelling. Apparently thestral culture places importance on storytellers. I earned a lot of bits that night. My next visit will be Fillydelphia, I am going to tell the tale of Icarus.

Dear Diary,

I told the tale of Icarus in Fillydelphia, they loved it. It was great, but after the act, a bunch of neighsayers called me out on my past blunders. I told them how I turned over a new leaf, then one of them brought up how one of their buddies forced himself on me. They called me an easy two-bit whorse. Hit him with a bolt of magic then I broke down and ran away from the stage in tears.

Dear Diary,

I was arrested for 'assaulting' that colt. When they took me to the interrogation room, I explained the situation to them. How that colt's friend raped me, the loss of my filly that I was going to keep even though I wasn't in the best position to, all the painful memories that go along with it. I was let off with a warning, and that colt was fined for disturbing the peace. I decided that I going to learn battle magic to defend myself. I want to be able to hold my own if I am attacked a third time. I have nightmares all the time, ever since I lost my daughter. Princess Luna has helped me through some of them, but she cannot help me every night.

Dear Diary,

My filly would have been born this month, it is especially hard for me right now… I have started on my way to Ponyville, and I will be there in a few days. My nightmares have been really strong the last few weeks. My newest nightmare is where the ursa attacks me before anypony can stop it, I always wake up right as it is about to eat me… I hope that the nightmares about the Ursa Incident stop after I apologize.

O------------{[][][][][][][]}------------O

In the Royal Dining Hall, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia are talking about Twilight's assignment.

"And she told me how she won't do anything until we go to fetch Trixie Lulamoon, you know, that mare from a few months ago."

"Tia, you know how the fates are. It is not mere coincidence that Trixie is involved with this."

"Speaking of convincing her to help Twilight, how do you plan on doing that?"

"I was going to ask you to find her from her dreams, and then I will go to fetch her personally."

"So you want to catch her on the road and tell her that you need her help? That sounds a lot like this one game that I played, the main character was abducted by the race that needed his help, I can't remember the name for some reason though..."

"Lulu, you know that I enjoy theatrics a lot more than most ponies."

"Well, it is a good thing I know where Trixie is. She is on the road to Ponyville from Manehattan, she will be a day out around noon."

"Thank you Lulu, I will go to meet her, you prepare one of the guest chambers and inform Twilight that we found her."

O------------{[][][][][][][]}------------O

On the road, about a day away from Ponyville, Trixie is walking along when she is blinded by a golden flash.

"Beatrix Lulamoon, Equestria needs your help."

Trixie sits there, dumbfounded. They both disappear in a flash of light.

Chapter One - Twilight's Secret Assignment

Fires of Change: Origins of a Race

Chapter 1

Twilight's Secret Assignment

Near the center of Ponyville, within the absurdly large tree that is the Golden Oaks Library, Twilight Sparkle is enjoying re-shelving day, as she does every third Monday of the month.

With a shout, Twilight calls to her number one assistant, "Spike! Can you bring me 'Advanced Magi-Kinetic Theory' by Clover the Clever?"

A crash followed by some loud shuffling is heard before Spike enters the room, "Here you go Twi, is there anything else you need me to fetch before I go clean up the study that I totally didn't wreck trying to get that for you?"

"I could use some help finding 'Teleportation and other- wait, I found it, you can go"

"Okay then Twi, I got to go clean up the"- with a belch, Spike catches a scroll addressed to Twilight -"Hey Twi, you got a letter from the princess!"

"Well aren't you going to read it?"

"It says 'Spike, don't read this, give this directly to Twilight', so I'm not going to read it."

"Okay then, well, go do whatever you were going to do I guess."

Spike hands Twilight the scroll then exits the room.

My faithful student,

Your presence is needed in Canterlot, I have a special assignment for you. I cannot disclose the reason in this letter, as it is important to the security and stability of Equestria. If the general populace were to discover your task, we could have an uprising. All I can tell you is that your task will involve changelings.

You will be taking the morning train to Canterlot tomorrow. Enclosed is one ticket on the Friendship Express to Canterlot from Ponyville at seven thirty in the morning.

I will meet you personally when you arrive in Canterlot.

Destroy this letter after reading.

Your mentor,

Princess Celestia, Diarch of the Sun

Twilight removes the enclosed ticket then burns the letter with a spell.

After the letter is disposed of, Twilight lets out a yell, "Spike! I will be leaving for Canterlot first thing in the morning! Can you run the library while I am gone?!"

Hearing Twilight's yell, Spike rushes back into the main room, "Sure thing Twi, I've ran the library by myself before after all."

"Thank you Spike, can you finish up here so I can go get to sleep? I need to wake up early for the morning train."

Spike takes a look at the piles of unshelved books and lets out a sigh, "Sure thing Twi…"

Twilight goes up to her room then prepares for sleep.

O------------{[][][][][][][]}------------O

In the desolate center of the San Palomino Desert, inside the great hall of a castle hidden within the sands, a set of large gilded doors creak open. A single cloaked figure enters, and bows to their queen.

The subject gets up from the bow, "My queen, the task you assigned to me was a success, now we just need to wait for the dominoes to fall."

"Very good Bright Wing my son. You have shown great talents in the field of infiltration, and it is about time that I appointed you as Head of the Infiltration battalion. It is only a matter of time before the Equestrians send a diplomatic party to our hive."

"Mother, are you sure that they will send a diplomatic party, and not an army?"

"With the information we gave them, they will learn that Chrysalis was the exception, not the rule. And by that logic, they would have to assume that our hive is only a potential enemy, not a definite one."

"Who is to say that they don't approach one of my sisters' hives?"

"The information bundles I had you plant will only provide them with information of this location, and they will be aware that this is not Hive Chrysalis."

"Do you plan on informing the other hives that we expect a diplomatic party? They may see Equestrians approaching as a sign of hostilities."

"I already have sent messengers to the other hives, I assure you that my plan will not fail."

With a statement of "My queen", Bright Wing bows then leaves the hall.

Now that she is all alone, Queen Monarch thinks aloud, "It is only a matter of time before Hive Monarch makes itself known to the world, and when we make peace, the others will follow."

O------------{[][][][][][][]}------------O

In the main hall of Canterlot Castle, a Changeling Queen just defeated Princess Celestia in Single Combat.

With a lilting glee, the Changeling Queen gloats, "Ah! Shining Armor's love for you is even stronger than I thought! Consuming it has made me even more powerfulthan Celestia!"

With a groan of pain, Princess Celestia turns to Twilight, "The Elements of Harmony. You must get to them and use their power to defeat the queen." Twilight gathers her friends and they make their way to the door of the hall.

With a laugh the Changeling Queen shouts to Twilight and her friends, "You can run, but you can't hide!"

As they leave the hall, Canterlot reverberates with a loud Crack, then the cascading sound of shattering glass falling from high above. Twilight and her friends rush to the elements of harmony, but are ultimately captured by the changeling swarms. After being brought back to the main hall, the Changeling Queen puts her bound captives into pearlescent green cocoons filled with a translucent gel.

Twilight yells as she is being put into the cocoon, "What is that! What are you doing with my friends!"

With a chuckle, the Changeling Queen starts to monologue, "I was surprised when I heard how close you six were from retrieving the Elements. I should just get rid of you, but for your effort and tenacity, I have decided to spare you. I have put your friends in my conversion chrysalises, and you will become my new officers."

"You will never get away with this, we will get free, and we will stop you!" Twilight shouts in defiance.

"Do you not realize, you have already lost, and I have 'gotten away with this', so quit struggling and accept your fate." the Changeling Queen Charges her horn with a knockout spell, and Twilight starts to yell in fear.

"AHHHHHHH!" Twilight wakes in cold sweat.

Spike barges in, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just a nightmare, it doesn't matter."

"Would you like to talk about it?"

"Not really, what time is it?"

"It is about six or so, I was preparing breakfast for you."

"Thanks Spike, I don't tell you enough, but I couldn't live without you."

"You don't have to thank me, after all, I am your number one assistant. Now get ready for your trip, I have to go and make sure breakfast doesn't burn." With that, Spike leaves the room and Twilight goes to get ready for the train ride.

O------------{[][][][][][][]}------------O

After an uneventful, albeit long, ride on the train to Canterlot, Twilight finally arrives at the station. After Twilight gets off the train, she spots a brilliant white pegasus with a long pink mane.

The pegasus approaches Twilight, then smiles, "Twilight, welcome back to Canterlot, I trust the ride over was uneventful?"

Realizing that the pegasus was sent to receive her, Twilight responds, "The ride was calm, we boarded a few minutes late, but there was nothing amiss. I am wondering though, the Princess said she would be the one meeting me at the station."

"Your train was late to get to ponyville? I am going to have to speak with those who run the Friendship Express, I gave them a forty thousand bits so they could hire more workers, but I see that they have instead used that to line their pockets…"- The pegasus shakes her head in disgust -"Regardless, I told you I would meet you here, but that doesn't mean I would let everypony know their princess walks among them."

"Oh, you used an illusion spell, I thought Princess Luna was the one who dealt with illusion magic, I mean not that you are not capable of using illusion, I mean that, you are, I mean, ugh…" Twilight facehooves.

The pegasus lets out a laugh, "While my sister is stronger with illusion magic and the like, I occasionally like to go out without drawing a crowd. And when I am disguised like this, call me Sunny Skies."

"Very well then Pri- I mean Sunny Skies. Shouldn't we be heading to the castle now?"

"I actually wanted to stop by Doughnut Joe's to get something for my sister."

With a flash of golden light, Twilight and Sunny Skies disappear from the platform.

O------------{[][][][][][][]}------------O

An hour later, after a trip to Pony Joe's Doughnut Shop, Twilight Sparkle is finally led to a meeting room to discuss her task. Archmage Sunray and Princess Luna are already there, with an updated version of the plan to deal with the changelings.

The welcoming voice of Archmage Sunray announces their arrival, "Greetings Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle, are we ready to get this over with?"

"Tia, we have been waiting here forever, where were you?" Princess Luna groaned out.

"Luna, we went to Pony Joe's to get some doughnuts for the meeting." Princess Celestia responded with a motherly tone. Luna nonchalantly hoofs Sunray a small cloth bit pouch.

Ignoring the fact that Sunray and Luna bet on where they were, Celestia clears her throat to begin the meeting, "Twilight, we called you here today because we have an important task for you. You are to spend the next week researching changelings and their origins. I want to learn more about their societal structure and where they are located."

"Is there anything specific that I should keep an eye out for?" asks Twilight.

Celestia replies, "We want to determine where they are located, if all changelings are hostile, and if there is any way for peace-"

Twilight interrupts Celestia, "Peace?! Why would you want peace with those love suckers? They attacked Canterlot, hurt Cadence, and drained my B.B.B.F.F.! They don't deserve peace!"

Once again putting on her motherly tone, Celestia tries to calm Twilight, "Twilight, I know you are angry because a swarm of changelings attacked us and hurt your family, but that is no reason to condemn an entire race. We are prepared for war if there is no alternative, but if the group of changelings that attacked don't represent all of their race, we will try any and all diplomatic avenues before declaring war."

Sunray clears his throat to interrupt, "Twilight, we have a plan set up to quell this before it sparks war, there were no fatalities in the invasion of Canterlot, and none of us want to end the life of anything. There is no way war would end cleanly, so the best we can do is exhaust all other ways before war is even considered."

Twilight submits, "Fine, I will do your research project. I will keep you updated on my progress."

The meeting ends just before lunchtime, and everypony goes their separate ways.