Magnificent Changes for the Changelings

Chapters

The Beginning of a New Journey
Deal or No Deal?
Love it or List it

The Beginning of a New Journey

The rain poured down upon the forestry sheltering the remnants of the changeling army. Tiny droplets fell down from the clouds above and landed heavily upon the waterlogged soil, slowly but surely turning the once dry forest ground into a miniature marsh land full of filthy puddles and slippery mud. As it fell, the rain was it up by the brightness of the full moon, the gentle light reflecting off of every last drop of fresh water from the heavy clouds. As a slight mist formed on the ground due to the copious amounts of water hitting the earth, the moonlight whisked away all subtly and weaved through the rainy substance, creating a dazzling show of moonlit water dancing upon the face of the earth.

Queen Chrysalis took in a deep breath of fresh, crisp air as she wandered aimlessly throughout the lush greenery with her changeling kin in tow. As she exhaled, she felt the cool oxygen from the forest warm up within her lungs, only to be released into the world once more and cool in the rainy air of the environment. Each light thump of her subjects' hooves hitting the solid ground was like music to the queen's ears; a steady drumbeat rising from the dry earthen areas and swiftly coming into contact with her thin eardrums as if it were the subtle heartbeat of the forest.

It had been three months since the Canterlot invasion failed miserably. Chrysalis could still feel the burning sensation of the pony lovers' magic tearing away at her very being as she attempted to hold her ground, only to find that her efforts were in vain as she was flung right off of her hooves. The blast had sent the changelings careening through the air and landing hard on the ground in a barren wasteland beyond the borders of Equestria. Queen Chrysalis' memories stirred, bringing up the pain of impact as her insect-like body slammed into the ground and her face had a fairly unpleasant date with a nearby rock.

The changelings had landed in the badlands, and had since then traveled a little further to the west, only to reach their current location. The queen had no idea where her changeling army had ended up at this point, but it didn't matter right now. It was leafy and it was wet, and Queen Chrysalis took great displeasure in being trapped here in the constant showers of heavy rainwater with no where to run.

The changelings couldn't fly in the rain. Their wings were thin like gossamer, and soaking them would not only make them too flimsy for flying, but the flying appendages would "glue together" during flight, in a sense. The fresh rain pouring from the dark skies combined with the thin layer of oily secretions coating the changelings' wings creates a sticky substance that causes the wings to adhere to each other in flight. Chrysalis knew firsthoof how atrocious it felt to have your wings rapidly flitting about one second, then seemingly paralyzed the next. Plummeting down towards an unpleasant date with the ground was not on the queen's to-do list for that day, either. That meant that the changelings would be grounded until the blasphemous rain decided to stop falling long enough for the changelings to travel ten feet in the open.

They were surrounded by a dense thicket of tall, leafy trees that seemed to cage the changelings in, with seemingly no end to their leafy prison in sight. With the rain constantly pouring here, the only thing the changelings could do was to take shelter beneath their haven of leaves. A crestfallen Queen Chrysalis sighed as she lay herself beneath a particularly short tree with a massive, crown of free flying fronds. As she sat, her dear children gathered around her, rushing to be the first changeling to snuggle up with their mother.

The sound of the pouring rain echoed in Queen Chrysalis' ears as she sat beneath the leaves of the tree, sheltering her delicate, papery wings from the rain. A small shiver ran up the queen's spine at the thought of dampening her wings in the rain. This tingling sensation began at the base of her spine, and slowly crawled up the sensitive nerves in her back until it reached the tip of the bone, right below her cranial cavity; spreading all throughout her weary body from that point. She shuddered to dismiss the unpleasant feeling that had filled her whole body. The thought of being unable to fly due to the rites of nature was unbearable.

A flash of lightning brightened the dark and cloudy sky only for a split second, before giving way to booming thunder that shook the remnants of the changeling army to their cores. The queen shivered as a brisk gust of wind assaulted her mane, causing each strand of carefully groomed teal hair to whip violently around her head. The weary mother let out a low growl from deep within her throat, expressing annoyance towards her children as her eyelids grew heavier with each passing second. Living in a changeling hive with actual walls usually prevented phenomena like this from occurring, which only angered the queen even further.

Home... they had no home now. It had probably fallen into disrepair by that point in time, since no one was there at the hive to tend to the meticulously crafted changeling palace. The environment had probably taken over by now. Some pesky wild animals had probably moved in by now. The mess was probably too big to clean up by now. The ponies were probably living happily in their own kingdom by now, unaware of the constant struggle that the changeling hive was going through.

Queen Chrysalis's family of insect-like equines had been wandering for ages with no place to call home. Visions depicting terribly thin changelings tearing away at each other filled the sullen mare's mind. She imagined internal conflict arising between drones; her once obedient children succumbing to starvation and fatigue. Endless battles raged between them as they tore each other open to access the warm blood within to conserve warmth in the freezing night, using the corpses of their former allies as deep crimson blankets to comfort their worn souls throughout the lonesome and freezing night.

Bone rattling cries filled the desperate queen's ears as she begged for her children to stop to listen, if only for a moment. The tears that filled her eyes flooding down her gray cheeks as she realizes that all hope is lost. Her love was unable to reach the worn children as animal-like instincts overtook the poor drones, causing them to spread discontent throughout the broken hive. The distraught queen watched hopelessly as her world fell apart around her; the very earth beneath Chrysalis's hooves cracking open.

The very earth ripped apart beneath the tired queen was torn asunder, flinging the mare into the gaping maw that lead to what seemed like eternal darkness. As the changeling queen fell, she shed tears for her children. An endless waterfall of misery cascading down her cheeks as the wind rushed past her head. As she spiraled into madness, the queen heard a familiar sound... like the ringing of hundreds of joyful bells, the sound resonated throughout her mind. Seconds later, Chrysalis saw the source of the sound: ponies. They were all laughing and pointing their hooves at the falling queen, glad that she had lost her precious children to despair. The sound echoed throughout the queen's mind, tearing at her very soul and bringing one emotion forth from her heart. As the pressure built, she felt the steam rising. Her blood was coming to a boil as the technicolor equines made a mockery of her failures, egging the weary queen on until she fell past the breaking point and burst like a bombshell.

Queen Chrysalis let out a loud roar as she leaped up to stamp her front hooves onto the loamy soil before her, frightening the changelings who were sleeping by her and causing them to flee into the nearby foliage. The queen rubbed her eyes in a futile attempt to fix her now blurry vision, realizing that she had fallen asleep. The laughing, the fighting, the falling... it had all been a dream. It felt very real while it lasted, but the queen was somehow able to assure herself that it was a dream. Even though she was down to earth once more, she couldn't help but feel pain for the changelings in her dreams. Chrysalis shrugged the feeling off and quickly recalled why she had awoken in the first place... ponies. It was always those blasted ponies. Those technicolor freaks were always happy with their nice warm houses and their loving families, always having a somewhat permanent home to go back to by the end of the day.

They didn't need to travel around the world looking for love to feed off of, for they had vegetation to snack on. The ponies didn't have to wander aimlessly as their weary bodes carried them from place to place, setting down temporary camps (much like their previous hive) along the way. The ponies didn't have to do all of this. They didn't have to tend to fragile camps each day to prevent that neighboring tree from moving into their bedrooms. Worst of all, however, was that those equine creatures were happy. Each day, their hearts were filled with bursting blooms of heartening joy one way or another, allowing simple tasks like aiding a friend in need to fill them with that warm, pleasant feeling. Unlike Chrysalis and her children, the ponies actually had the chance to experience joy each and every day.

Of course, Queen Chrysalis felt a spark of joy just by looking at her precious brood, but that was really the only thing in this pathetic world that has ever brought her joy throughout the duration of her entire life. Chrysalis had never made candy with a friend, nor had she ever felt the need to treat her neighboring organisms to a good deed. Not that she really wanted to, though. Besides, the queen had her precious babies to cheer her up, right? That was enough for her, right?

Not when her babies were starving. With the changelings being forcefully removed from Equestria's capitol, and with no loving creature in sight, the changelings were starving. Queen Chrysalis had almost forgotten about her hunger until this point... until she had thought about the ponies. Her stomach grumbled, begging the changeling queen for her to feed herself with the love of another living being. The queen found herself staring at the loamy soil as she fled from her thoughts and lifted her gaze to see her children, who had cautiously returned to their mother's side for a snuggle after her spontaneous outburst. She took a single look at her children's faces and realized their distress.

She had lifted herself out of her thoughts just enough to feel her children's misery as they curled up to shield their poor, empty tummies from the elements. Their frail bodies pressed against that of their mother's in order to salvage and maintain what little warmth was left flowing throughout their blood, unwilling to give it up to the cool winds and the heavy downpour. Their bodies were weak, yet their spirits were strong, for they were unwilling to disappoint their mother.

However, that didn't change the fact that they were hungry. The changelings' sorrow resonated throughout the queen's entire body, causing her to shudder upon feeling such strong negative emotions radiating off of the skin of her precious changeling kin. As the queen looked up to survey the world around her, it became apparent that several hours had passed since the changelings had sat down. The rain had slowed significantly, and the wind was not screaming in her ears. The queen took the time to gather her abundant thoughts and realized what she had to do. She frowned once the thought popped up from the depths of her mind, knowing that it would not be a simple task. The possibility that they would yet again be denied the right to feed was ever-present in the queen's mind. There would be conflict and possible controversy among the likes of their warm-blooded counterparts, but in the end, the changeling queen knew what she had to do. Besides, she had a general idea of which direction they should turn to find the bountiful lands of Equestria.

She stood up tall, causing her children to look eagerly into their mother's eyes as they awaited the news. After all, the changeling's hearts were connected to their mother's, so they always knew when she had something to tell them. Queen Chrysalis surveyed her small crowd of changelings as she readied herself to speak with her children. After all, it probably wouldn't be very easy for the changeling army to take in the news of a possible return to Canterlot, at least after the events that had taken place three months prior. That was beside the point, though. Chrysalis knew she had to do this, or her precious babies would starve.

"My sweetest children," the queen cooed, "mother has something she would like to tell the lot of you. We shall be returning to Equestria in order to find food."

The changelings' excitement simmered down, and joyful grins turned into doubtful grimaces in the blink of an eye. They looked at their mother with questioning faces. Why would their mother want to return to the place that she had been heavily humiliated? Was the starvation getting to her, or was she really serious?

"I realize that you may be slightly skeptical of my decision, and I understand why all of you would feel that way. However, we are not to conquer the ponies like the last time we gave them a visit." The queen smiled warmly as she spoke to her children, reassuring them that there was a possibility that they would not be thrown out as violently as before, if at all.

"Instead, we shall return to their bountiful lands to live amongst them for awhile, at least until we gather up enough strength to live on our own. After all, Equestria is a land filled to the brim with more love than we could ever hope to devour, so we shall not run out of food as quickly as usual. In addition, if we are nice enough to the ponies and we plead with round adorable eyes, we may be treated to a permanent stay in Equestria so that we shall never have to wander hopelessly again!"

The wary changelings' looks of skepticism and confusion quickly morphed into enthusiastic grins as the thought of living happily in one place lingering within their weary minds.

"I know that even the best of plans are with out flaw, and we may be rejected at first," the queen said. "Even so, we must be patient. We cannot change hearts and minds in a day, just as ponies don't build castles in a day. It may take time for the ponies to accept us, and I do realize that. However, we must stay strong so that we can work to achieve our goal of staying in Equestria. I am honestly not fond of the idea of forming pacts with creatures that I have not made pleasant first-impressions on, and I have no idea how I am going to convince the solar princess to allow us to live among her subjects. No matter the cost, we can make this work, my children."

The changeling queen stood tall before her subjects. "No matter the cost, we can still live happily in Equestria. Are you ready to head towards Equestria?"

The changeling army cheered in response to their queen, with new found hope filling their hearts to the brim and giving the changelings a burst of energy.

"That's the spirit! Let us make haste for Canterlot, my precious babies!"

As the queen was giving her upbeat speech, the rain had slowly trickled to a stop. The heavy drops had their weights lifted as the clouds above emptied more and more of the fresh water within. The rain had come and gone, and just in the nick of time, too. The changeling queen finished her speech only to find the perfect weather for travel. The changelings began their march towards the land of Equestria, whose bountiful lands promised a massive feast for Queen Chrysalis and all of her children.

The air was cool, and the sun was rising slowly over the horizon, giving way to the morning light which spread its reach across the land and danced across the changeling queen's skin, filling her with warmth from the solar entity. With a clear sky in the path before them, the changelings spread their wings and took to the air. Queen Chrysalis bent her knees slightly as her wings flapped rapidly, releasing the energy and jumping into the air to give herself a boost to begin her arduous flight towards the lands of which she had promised to her children.

The queen felt a cool rush of morning air hit her face as she rose into the air with quick pace. She rose above the forest with new found energy, dipping forth with grace as she reached the perfect height to observe her surroundings. As she did so, her children soon followed, eager to catch up with their mother to hear her next order. The queen surveyed the landscape with utmost caution, checking for signs of danger above, below, before and behind herself and the rising swarm in order to find a safe path for the changelings to follow on their long journey.

As soon as she could verify that the coast was clear, she began searching for signs of the Equestrian civilization. It didn't take long for Queen Chrysalis to give out an joyful squeak, for in the distance lay Canterlot castle in all of its glory. It was quite a long way to travel, for the queen could barely see it upon the horizon, never mind that there was a light morning fog drifting all around her. The queen motioned towards the royal alicorn sisters' palace and gave the order for her subjects to follow her closely, waving her hoof in the air and calling out for her children to catch their attention and confirm their attendance and compliance in the journey to make sure that all of her children were along for the ride.

The buzzing of countless wings flooded Queen Chrysalis's ears, wrapping her heart in a warm sheet of love for her hive that delivered a small trickle of motherly warmth from her heart all the way throughout her hive, giving the changelings an extra boost of confidence as they made their way towards the beautiful land of Equestria.

The changeling swarm flew effortlessly over the foreign lands and into Equestria with the guidance of their mother to ease their worries, and her love to fill their hearts with the strength required to reach the destination. The sun shone through the queen's translucent wings, brightening up the opaque fibers that built the flying appendages. This was mirrored by her children, giving the changelings a radiant look about them. The swooped over top the forested lands and dove through countless clouds as they hurried towards the land of Equestria.

As the changelings drew nearer to the equine kingdom, their natural senses tingled, alerting them of the presence of food. The closer they got, the more powerful those feelings became, until it was almost too difficult to resist just diving in and gorging on the love of ponies. Before the group reached the nearest town, the changeling mother stopped dead in her tracks, freezing in place with her wins still rapidly vibrating to keep her aloft.

As she did so, her children reflected her actions, imitating their mother as she halted to fly in place. The queen pointed her hoof towards the town and looked back at her children, a stern look plastered across her face. The queen turned to face the swarm of changelings.

"First of all, I would like to address the situation at hoof," she said firmly. "We must not allow ourselves to be spotted as changelings. Doing so would jeopardize our cause. In order to shield our identities, we must shift into the form of pegasi. During my time in preparing for our past invasion in Canterlot, I learned that it is not uncommon to see pegasi flying about as a means of transportation, much like us changelings. Therefore, we should be able to safely fly about in the shape of ordinary pegasi."

"For now, I would like all of you to think hard to remember the ponies that you saw during our invasion. Think clearly, and shift into one of the ponies you saw. A creature of the winged variety, to be specific. I don't want any of us to be caught during the first few stages of our flight to Canterlot."

As soon as their mother had finished speaking, the changelings were all enveloped in violent green flames, one by one transforming into technicolor equine creatures to cloak their true identities. There were now numerous pegasus ponies of varying coat colors fluttering about rather than the dark grey changelings that had hovered there before. With many different mane styles upon their equine heads, the changeling children were now much easier to differentiate from one another than before. As for Queen Chrysalis, she wrapped herself in her own magic. Unlike her children, who had to have seen the creature to take its exact shape, the queen could morph freely.

Her changeling flesh was ripped out from visibility and covered in light grey fur, her twisted and gnarled horn shrunk down to the size of a foal's horn, and was shielded by a flowing blonde mane style sporting several sanguine streaks as her own teal hair burned away. The holes in her legs were rapidly covered by a mass of dull pony fur as her hooves took a more equine form. The serpentine pupil in the center region of her sickly green eyes rounded as her own iris was cloaked in a bright blue color of the same hue as the very sky that the changeling army had flown about.

As the last of the lime green flames had died out, it became apparent that the queen had finished forming. Looking towards her children, she beckoned towards Canterlot. Thus, the changelings were free to continue their journey under the guise of ponies.

Deal or No Deal?

Soon enough, the changeling armada had reached the boundaries of the royal city of Canterlot. The queen and her children weaved their way around the city limits, taking great care to stay out of sight. They casually steered themselves around the grand city until the weary queen finally perched her children upon the cliff below the majestic structure of the palace. Queen Chrysalis stood tall before her changeling subjects, her heart filling with motherly pride as she gazed upon the mass of exhausted changelings that stood before her.

"We have arrived, my sweet babies," the queen said from her place before the crowd. " We have arrived at Canterlot castle, and I couldn't be prouder. It warms my heart to know that you have endured the long journey to Canterlot for me, and that you have remained strong throughout these most difficult times. It is now time for us to make the deal between changelings and ponies. The pact that will forever change how we live, for better or for worst."

The changelings before her jabbered excitedly amongst each other, eager to have found a new home. Before her children could get too loud, Queen Chrysalis hushed them with a light stamping of her hollow hooves. It would be a shame if the royal guards somehow managed to catch on at this point, and the queen didn't want to risk being caught by equine fools before she had a chance to seal the deal with the Princess of Equestria.

"Now before you all get too excited, I must say that many of you will wait here until I return with the outcome of our little deal," the queen said in a firm motherly tone. "However, I will be taking two of you into the palace to accompany me during my meeting with the princess."

Chrysalis smiled as she scanned the crowd of changeling-ponies before her. She wanted to show Celestia a ripe example of starving changelings to prove her point and (hopefully) make it easier for the queen to get what she wanted. The changeling queen turned her attention towards two particularly thin changelings near the front of the crowd. One of them was slightly taller than the rest, and in the shape of a large brown stallion with a shortened black mane. The other was in the shape of a mint green mare with violet eyes and a snow white mane. The two changelings noticed that their mother was looking right at them. They glanced nervously at each other and cocked their heads to one side as if to say, 'who, me?'

Chrysalis chuckled lightly and beckoned them forward as the other changelings snickered at how their two chosen siblings reacted to being chosen to follow their mother inside. The changelings shuffled forward to the front of the crowd until they were next to their mother. The mare stared down at her hooves as she poked at the dirt on the ground before her.

"As for the rest of you, I would like for you to hide within the foliage," the queen ordered as she pointed towards some over sized plant life. "The wild bushes around here would make good cover for your equine disguises."

As soon as the queen had given the word, dozens of changelings scrambled for the bushes, hiding within the foliage just as mother had ordered. When all of her children had hidden, the queen nudged her chosen two to catch their attention, and the three of them headed for the palace to make an appointment with Princess Celestia.

"May I help you?"

The changeling queen's attention was directed towards the large door that lay before her. On each side stood a single guard. A cerulean mare wearing that familiar golden armor set with that familiar metallic blue crest was standing on the left, while a red stallion with a lavender mane stood on the right standing guard near the alicorn Princess' throne room. The mare on the left raised an eyebrow at the three outsiders that stood in the middle of the hallway. Queen Chrysalis froze for a split second, unsure of what to say to the guard. For a moment, she began to doubt her own plot. Before she had the chance to raise suspicion, the queen snapped out of her fear-stricken paralysis, saddled up her pride and walked towards the door, stepping forth with a formal stride.

"I would like to make an appointment with Princess Celestia," the disguised queen said with a posh, dignified Canterlot accent.

"Name?"

Queen Chrysalis froze for another half of a second, somehow managing to prevent herself from panicking in front of the pony guard. She wracked her brain for random words until she decided that she had found the perfect name.

"Uh, Regal Bone, ma'am."

The female guard eyed the strange pony with a quizzical look spread upon her face. It was a strange name, but who was she to judge a pony based on names?

"Alright. I have your name, but not theirs." The guard pointed a hoof towards the queen's accomplices, who shrunk down upon being addressed by a stranger.

"Oh, yes! Their names are Hack Saw and Frozen Day."

The guarding mare stopped for a few moments, staring the queen down with doubt sprinkled within her eyes. She eyed the strange pony in front of her, who was grinning from ear to ear. This was the strangest bunch of ponies that she had ever met, not counting the stallion who had come in three days prior during her shift, saying that his daughter was a holy moon banana and asking of her whereabouts. The situation at hoof was slightly suspicious considering names (and the behavior of the widely grinning pony before her), but the guarding mare decided to let it slide.

"Alright, you can go on in. Just allow me to check in with her majesty to make sure that she has no appointments scheduled around this hour."

The mare guard cantered inside and shut the door behind her, leaving the changeling queen and her subjects behind with the remaining stallion. The queen let out a small sigh of relief. Her cover would not be blown right before the moment of truth. The green stallion's eyes bore into Chrysalis' soul as she stood on the plush carpet leading to the royal room. Queen Chrysalis noticed this, and lifted her gaze to awkwardly look right back at him. The longer the two stared at each other, the more nervous the changeling queen felt. The maroon stallion let out a near inaudible grunt after a time. An awkward smile spread across the changeling queen's face as she raised a hoof to wave in greeting.

"Um... Hi?"

The guarding stallion gave no response and never lowered his gaze; staring at the three ponies in the hall with unblinking eyes. As the seconds ticked by, Queen Chrysalis realized that she was hungrier than she had ever been before. Her body ached all over from the lack of nourishment. After what felt like an eternity, the large door finally opened, and the mare that had questioned the changelings earlier had returned to her post. She beckoned for the bystanders to enter the room.

"Go right on in," the mare said in a polite tone.

"Thank you."

Thus, the queen and her two servants trotted into the room to speak with the alicorn princess of the daylight. The plush carpet felt soft beneath the changeling queen's hooves, and it cushioned each and every step with a soft pomf. The daylight entering through the large arched windows flooded the room with warm light that filled every crevice of Chrysalis's body with warmth, as if she was actually standing outside in the sunlight and absorbing the calm rays. Soon enough, the three changelings had found themselves in front of Princess Celestia. Out of courtesy, the three disguised ponies bowed before the Canterlot royalty.

"Hello, my little ponies," the princess said with a gentle tone, which was unexpectedly soothing for Chrysalis to hear. It was as if she was being spoken to by her own mother. "What brings you here on this fine day?"

"Well, we have come to speak of a terrible issue plaguing our ponies," Queen Chrysalis replied. "You see, we have been starving as of late, and we have not been nourished properly in three months."

The ponies in the room suddenly looked concerned. What part of Celesta and Luna's kingdom could be facing famine, and why hadn't they come sooner?

"Is that so? I thought that this time of year was supposed to be filled with countless healthy crops. The spring sun is shining as bright as ever and the weather ponies have scheduled bountiful showers for the season, so your fruit should have no trouble growing. What is your name, my little pony?"

"You should already know my name by now Celestia," the changeling queen said with a dark laugh. "After all, it was you who deprived us of food three months back."

"What do you mean?" The princess's face fell into a suspicious frown. "Who are you?"

"It's a shame you don't remember me, Celestia. It seemed like only yesterday that you prevented my children from feeding."

Before any ponies could react, the three changeling 'guests' were enveloped in fierce lime hued flames. Their plush pony fur was ripped from their bodies as dark grey skin crawled over the barren patches, replacing the technicolor fur in favor of much darker shades. The changelings' feathery pegasus wings disintegrated, leaving disfigured papery wings behind and not a feather to be found.

The queen's gnarled horn sprouted from her skull like a hole-filled rose as her razor sharp fangs shot forth from behind her lips, ready for use and on display for every pony to see. Her perfect pony legs melted away to be replaces by the legs of a changeling, riddled with holes just as her ratty mane was, which had taken shape just as her blond pony mane went up in smoke. Those rounded pony ears soon shifted back into the thin ears of a changeling, twitching about as the queen readjusted to having such refined features.

Before long, three thin, frail looking changeling stood before the mighty alicorn princess. The guard ponies standing by the door leaped up to charge the intruders, but were stopped by Princess Celestia herself. Her horn lit up with a golden glow, enabling her to grab the two unicorns by their tails before they could get themselves hurt before having actually been threatened by the insect-like creatures. Celestia wanted to know why the changelings were here rather than to just charge in and kill them with minimal provocation.

Queen Chrysalis teetered on her hole-ridden legs for a second before collapsing to the ground, exhausted from the massive use of magic that had taken place during her transformation and famished due to the lack of love in her system. She wheezed heavily as she tried to lift herself off of the ground, almost falling back over as she did so. Her once powerful legs were as useful as jelly now that she was beginning to feel the true effects of starvation. Her children rushed to her side, nuzzling their mother in an attempt to reassure the queen. Princess Celestia scowled sternly as the memories of Queen Chrysalis's past deeds flooded into her mind like blood spilling forth from an open wound, but settled as soon as she saw how weak the queen truly was. However, due to the possibility of this weakness being a facade, the princess didn't let her guard down for a second.

"Queen Chrysalis, why are you here?" The Princess's voice boomed throughout the castle as she demanded this of the changeling queen.

"Oof... I shouldn't have morphed so quickly," the groggy queen grumbled. "That really hurt."

"I expect you to answer me, Chrysalis," the princess of the sun growled. Just seeing the queen of the changeling hive before her throne flooded the alicorn's body with stress.

"Alright, alright," the changeling queen griped before going into a fit of heavy coughing. "Faust almighty, Celestia. I've been wandering aimlessly for months on end with no nourishment and a hundred children to feed, what do you want from me?"

"That would be exactly what I have just asked you, Chrysalis. What are you doing in Equestria?"

The changeling queen sighed as her shoulders slumped forward. Her eyelids drooped, and she just wanted to lay on the floor and sleep. However, the queen remained resilient and refused to give up on her goals. The queen didn't have time for this stalling now that her children were waiting outside, expecting their mother to come out with positive news. Her brood was starving, and the queen refused to wait any longer to feed them.

"My children and I came here to ask you to make a deal," she said. "We are all weak and thin, and since I used so much magic at once with such an empty stomach, I can barely stand."

"I can see that," the alicorn princess responded with an unamused look playing on her face. "What is it that you are attempting to get out of me when you're clearly not welcome here, Chrysalis?"

The changeling queen fell into another coughing fit, this time more violent than the last. As soon as the shaken queen settled her lungs, she looked back at her children with a sorrowful look in her eyes. The children were so thin, yet they still mustered the strength to stand by their mother.

"Well, we came to ask if we could... live side-by-side with your ponies so that we could at least nourish ourselves," Queen Chrysalis grumbled as she stared at her hooves. She hated having to come to Equestria to seek help from her arch nemesis, but it had to be done for the good of the hive.

Princess Celestia's face reflected a look full of disgust. "Are you seriously telling me that you came to kill my little ponies for your selfish deeds?"

Chrysalis huffed in frustration. "We're not going to kill the ponies, or even use them to gather strength. There are more feeding methods than the one that I showed you back during the wedding, Celestia. There's using love to grow stronger, then there's just using love to fill our uniquely crafted stomachs. We only gain extra strength when we feed with full stomachs. Besides, there's a different procedure involved in feeding for extra strength."

"Why should I let you feed off of my subjects after what you pulled during the wedding three months ago?"

"I've already said that my children need to eat to survive, Celestia..." the changeling growled as her eye twitched.

"Judging by your actions towards my subjects from three months ago, you have proven that you cannot be trusted here. I am afraid that you are going to have to leave before I am forced to rid this land of you and your drones myself." Princess Celestia puffed out her chest and rose from her throne, taking a single step forward and pawing at the ground with her forehoof. The great alicorn's horn was lit by a golden aura, which enveloped the stiff organ and glowed with radiance similar to the glorious sunlit rays of her daytime.

The changeling queen's eyes swelled, filling with tears as she dropped to the floor in exhaustion. Her two accompanying children shrieked with concern and gathered around the queen, nearly stumbling over due to their own empty stomachs. The changeling queen's body shook violently as she sobbed, filling the whole room with her miserable emotions as the changeling children outside felt for their queen. Princess Celestia lowered her horn, and the brilliant light emitting from the organ dissipated. The solar princess's chest felt heavy, and she felt a pang of guilt building in her gut.

"Why don't you see that these children need to be fed?" The queen cried. "These changelings are my children, and as their mother, I have failed them by not providing them with the food that they need to grow and thrive. Without me here to feed them, my children will shrivel up and die, as several of them already have along the way."

The broken queen shivered as a rough hiccup forced its way through her throat, shaking her weakened and weathered body.

"I can't live to see my babies suffer! Just seeing their frail little bodies and feeling their sadness as they shield their poor empty tummies hurts far too much for me to wander further, only to see them suffer more and more the longer we go without food. If we had stayed out there any longer, we would have died! As a mother, I have no choice but to seek the aid of the Equestrian civilization, as you have plenty of what we require to live. Please, let us stay! I need to feed my children!"

The solar princess's gaze fell upon the two changelings who accompanied the queen. One was nestled next to its mother, placing a hoof upon her back in a feeble attempt to comfort the queen. The other scowled at the princess with its glazed eyes as it stood guard near its mother, attempting to show that it could still fight with a battered body, and that it would protect the queen at all costs. Princess Celestia's stomach felt as if it were rolled up into tight knots as she took notice of how frail the changelings were.

The standing drone was teetering from side to side as it stood upon shaky legs, which looked like their skin would peel off if Celestia so much as poked the poor thing. The latter snuggled its mother with droopy eyelids, which threatened to rest completely if the child stayed in place for much longer. Queen Chrysalis laid upon the ground, her body quivering as deep sobs rang throughout the throne room. Her teal mane was ratty and tangled, the split ends clearly visible as her hair spread across the palace floor like a hole-ridden pool of teal liquid.

Princess Celestia's eyes softened as a painful feeling rippled throughout her body. It began in her heart and ripped through her veins, reaching her hooves and her spine and filling them with an ache that she couldn't simply shake off. She realized what she had to do. The princess felt this same way when she had banished her own sister to the moon one thousand years ago. A mixture of guilt for her deeds and the need to preserve the integrity and safety of the ponies that she had sworn to protect... just as the changeling queen had promised to love and protect her own children. Not only did the queen genuinely love her brood, but she had thrown her pride into the trash by coming to Celestia's palace to plead for amnesty. No matter what the cost, it needed to be done. Princess Celestia sighed.

"If that is what you truly need, then I must allow you to stay," the princess said in a calm and gentle tone.

The ponies of the royal court gasped, reeling back with astonishment. Princess Celestia was aiding a tyrant. The same tyrant who vowed to drain the ponies of Equestria of their love three months back was now being granted permission to settle in the very lands she had tried to take by force! The princess walked towards the crestfallen queen and put a hoof on her shoulder in comfort. The changeling queen's wracking sobs slowly died down to quiet sniffles as the alicorn princess helped her to her hooves and dried the weary queen's tears.

"I will allow you to stay so long as you abide by the laws of Equestria," Celestia said. "You may rule over your changelings, but you do not have legal permission to directly harm any of my subjects. You and your children may feed as long as you don't try to kill any of my ponies."

The changeling queen gave the princess a small smile and sniffed quietly, her tear-stained cheeks glistening in the bright daylight that flooded into the room through the magnificent windows.

"Thank you for understanding my case, Celestia. Though I do have one question."

"Anything that you ask of me, I shall swiftly answer my little changeling."

Queen Chrysalis looked Celestia dead in the eyes, concern shrouding her face and leaving Celestia to cultivate the dread the filled her body. "Where am I supposed to keep one hundred and eighty five changeling drones?"

As soon as the queen said that, the ground began to shake. The armor of the ponies posted around the glorious room began to rattle, letting out loud clanging and scraping sounds due to the clashing and shifting of metal armor plates. The air outside was filled with countless pony-like shapes... which were headed straight for the throne room! All at once, Queen Chrysalis's children excitedly crashed through the large arched windows of the throne room, falling in a nosedive towards their mother.

Queen Chrysalis stared wide eyed at the tidal wave of changeling drones like a deer in the headlights before being dog piled upon by her elated children, who were happy to finally have a home. A particularly small changeling gasped for air after coming up from the sea of children, climbing out and rushing to lick the white alicorn princess's face as a sort of 'thanks.' Celestia grimaced the second she felt the cold, slimy changeling saliva coating her left cheek, but soon pulled her cheeks back into a grin. In a bizarre and culturally confusing way, changeling grubs were just like equine foals.

Joyful squealing emitted from the large pile of changelings in the center of the room as the countless children embraced their mother in the heat of the moment. As soon as the queen resurfaced from the blanket of changelings, light peals of laughter echoed from her throat, bringing her children even more joy knowing that their mother was more than happy to accept their excited gesture.

The stallions guarding the door just stared at the pile of changelings in the center of the room. Wide eyed and confused, they glanced over at each other, not knowing what to say or do. The two guards bathed in the silence that they shared for a few moments, taking in the scene that lay before them and listening to the cacophony of laughter and cheering that came from the joyful changelings. Did changelings do this every day, or what? It was difficult to tell, but it didn't really matter to them in the end. The silence between the two stallions was finally broken when the stallion on the left leaned over to whisper to his comrade.

"Holey cornstalks," he said in a low gravelly voice.

The other guard looked at his punny comrade with a look of disapproval.

"You're punning wit is going to end up giving me a heart attack one of these days," he growled. "Won't be very punny then, will it?"

The two guards continued to wade in their own sea of silence until the stallion on the left snickered.

"Yes. Yes it will."

Love it or List it

"I want this spot! I believe that this area will be enough to accommodate our needs."

The real estate pony let out an exasperated sigh and ran her umber hoof through her mane. Fair Weather's name may suggest that she was a cool and collected pony, but this particular customer was really testing her patience. Princess Celestia had personally ordered miss Fair Weather to aid the changelings in finding a home. The princess would pay for any and all fees out of the kindness of her heart, which was funny when the real estate agent considered what the changelings had done in the past.

On the topic of her latest (and strangest) client, things were off to a really slow start. The changeling queen had chosen to stay near Ponyville because she said "there are copious amounts of fresh love radiating off of the surface of the earth there." So far, the changelings had only looked at one potential home, and they were still standing before it after thirty straight minutes of the Queen scoping out the building.

"Ma'am, this is the town hall," the collected agent said. "You can't settle here."

"Why not? Are my changelings not good enough to settle in such a building?"

"It's not that. It's just that the citizens hold all of their events near this building, and all of the noise would disrupt you during your resting period. A home needs some semblance of privacy, you know."

"But it is private! I could sleep through any commotion all throughout the rising period of the unforgiving daytime sun."

The changeling queen grinned widely as the orange maned pony face hoofed. The queen's subjects tussled about nearby as their mother dealt with the "adult business." Piles of squirming gray changelings littered the streets as the younger ones romped and played in the sizzling heat of the midday sun, creating quite an interesting sight. The insect like beings had surrounded the town hall, making it look as if a massive swarm of over sized ant horses were invading Ponyville. To the untrained eye, this would seem highly out of place.

Countless changelings were running back and forth along the solid stone pavement in a somewhat more violent version of the game "tag." The changelings tackled each other into the dirt roads to tussle, stirring up a cloud of dust that rose into the air and filled the lungs of nearby entities with dry, grainy soil. The disgruntled real estate agent strafed to the left just in time to dodge an oncoming changeling drone that had been knocked to the side by one of its comrades.

"Ma'am, you don't seem to understand the prospect of having a town hall," the mare said patiently. "The citizens gather here for major events. Having a massive horde of changelings living inside of this building could cause some major issues."

The changeling queen didn't seem convinced. "I don't see how my dearest children could cause problems with your silly little festivities. If anything, we would just liven up the party if we lived right here! My dearest drones love to mingle with those around them in times of jollity."

"Seriously, ma'am. It's kind of illegal to live here because of the conditions. This building was intended for public use, and not to act as private property."

"What if I bought the building, miss Fairy Feather? Would that permit me to live here with my children?"

Fair Weather slowly began grinding her teeth. She said my name wrong... Unruly customers were one thing, but this was ridiculous. Thirty minutes in, and the umber pony was already ticking. Fair Weather's left ear twitched rapidly as she heard the dull sound of a drone being slammed a ways across the street, inciting the mare to take a pace to the left of where she stood. Sure enough, a particularly plump changeling rammed its head straight into a tree that stood not too far behind Fair Weather's former position. The changeling's horn planted itself in the tree's tough bark as it made impact, and the changeling slumped over into a state of unconsciousness. The victimized drone looked like a rag doll that had been impaled into the tree by an invisible spear of some sort.

Fair Weather stared at the changeling for a few short seconds before turning back towards her client. She raised a questioning eye brow at the Queen that stood before her, and was just about ready to bring up the subject of the fact that a creature that Chrysalis described as a child was now hanging limply from a tree, suspended only by its own skull.

"Don't worry about Uljschkov," the Queen assured the agent. "He does that all the time. He'll be fine in an hour or so."

The umber horse was slowly being drained of patience. Fair Weather was probably one of the most relaxed ponies in Equestria, having a reputation for dealing with the most unruly of ponies who were in the market for a new home. She could usually find a way to compromise with ease, but today was clearly not like the others. Today wasn't "usual." No. Today, Fair Weather had to guide over 200 changelings through a ho-hum village during the middle of the day, when ponies were sure to be out and about. Fair Weather took a deep breath and continued with the subject matter.

"...Anyways, buying a home is apart of claiming ownership of it," Fair Weather said as her mental fuse slowly burned away, the thought of the Queen being so nonchalant about the fact that her own child was unconscious dwindling within her mind. "You can't claim ownership of the town hall. That would be like walking into Canterlot Castle and trying to claim it as your own. The castle and Ponyville's town hall are property of the Equestrian government. With that being said, many government buildings, including the town hall, are reserved for public use. The mayor is also supposed to be working here, which means that you really aren't supposed to be claiming this mayoral place of work for yourself."

The tall changeling puffed out her chest as her chitin-clad face scrunching up into that of a frustrated scowl; similar to that of a disgruntled filly whose mother told her she couldn't have ice cream for dinner.

"Celestia told you that I could live anywhere that I choose, and that she would pay for any construction costs."

Fair Weather's eyes shot open from their lazily disgruntled position, the mare's face twisting into a look of shock as she froze in place.

"How do you..." she began. "You weren't there for that conversation."

That's when it hit her.

She's a Faust-forsaken changeling. She can morph into any living creature that she has ever seen with her own two eyes.

"I knew there was something wrong with there being over forty guards crammed into a corner of the throne room..."

"No there isn't."

Fair Weather's ears twitched. "What do you mean, it isn't out of place?"

"It's perfectly normal to have more than five guards in your throne room," the changeling queen said quickly. "There's nothing wrong with that. Princess Celestia and I both know that its good for both national security and for protecting the Oofyloomph chamber."

Queen Chrysalis stood in place with an out of place, puffy-cheeked poker face; her serpentine pupils directed somewhere off to the side as she attempted to avert the real estate pony's gaze. Fair Weather's face fell into a look of stagnant, stolid disbelief.

"The Oofyloomph chamber?"

The Queen nodded, a complacent grin spread across her face. "Why of course, Fork Wipplies. Everyone needs an Oofyloomph chamber to protect all of their Oofyloomphs."

Fair Weather rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

Queen Chrysalis stood there for a few awkward moments after realizing that the umber pony had failed to believe her. She scraped the dirt with a hole-filled hoof while staring intently at the ground below. Finally, she looked back up at the orange-maned pony.

"So... does that mean we get to take up residence within this fine palace?"

Fair Weather's mental time bomb erupted.

"You know what, fine. Keep it. Do whatever in Faust's name that you want with the Faust-forsaken building."

She pulled some forms out of a briefcase she had been carrying with her, shoving them towards the changeling that towered above her in stature.

"Just fill out these forms and bring them to the town hall by tomorrow morning, and it'll all be yours, by royal decree from the Sun herself."

Queen Chrysalis beamed as the real estate agent stormed off. Passersby who weren't already fazed by the massive horde of squirming, tussling changeling that littered the streets stopped to gape at the drama that lay before them. The queen stared down at the papers in her hooves as she smiled. Examining the copious sheets of formal waivers and legal documents before halting her movements althogether once she had processed Fair Weather's final words.

"Wait, didn't Flop Wurst say our new home is this town hall that she mentioned?"