Twilight Velvet snuggled against her husband, content in the warmth and love of his embrace on the lazy Sunday morning. She yawned and opened her eyes, listening to the loud, graceless snoring of the blue unicorn next to her, watching the wall shift in time with her head on his chest. Was today something special? She thought to herself, brow furrowing slightly. It’s not our anniversary is it? No, not close. A holiday of some so- oh right, it’s mother’s day. I wonder if Twilight or Shining will send cards. Oh, who am I kidding. Shining Armor will but Twilight will probably forget. She giggled to herself. Her daughter was pretty terrible with dates, both in remembering holidays and in actually getting dates. She rolled over, sliding out of bed, and walking towards the door. She glanced at the clock – it was late morning, not too long before noon. Still, a shower was a necessary part of her mornings, even the late ones. As she placed a hoof on the door, she thought she sensed something from the other side of it, and the room glowed briefly as her horn flared. The handle turned as she pressed on it, and the door opened slowly.
“Happy Mother’s Day!” Shining Armor and Cadance yelled as soon as she entered the hallway. Twilight Velvet screamed and raised a hoof in front of her eyes and closed them instinctively. In her moment of panic, green fire flashed around her.
When she opened her eyes again, she could see her son and daughter-in-law, the two ponies jaws hanging wide. For a moment she wondered why they appeared so shocked, and why Shining Armor seemed to be slowly turning from surprised to angry. Then she realized she had yet to lower her hoof – she was, in fact, looking through one of the many holes in it.
“Oh. Uh, hi,” Queen Chrysalis said to her son and Cadance.
Shining Armor yelled something unintelligible and his horn lit up. Chrysalis felt herself lifted into the air and thrown against the wall behind her, knocking the wind from her lungs. As she struggled to find breath again, she yelled for her husband.
“Sweetheart? Night Light, Honey? Help!”
“Why are you calling my father those names? What have you done with my mother?” Shining Armor shouted, anger flaring in his eyes. His magical grasp tightened around her throat, drawing her voice into a strangled squeak.
“Huh? Wha-?” Night Light stumbled out of the bedroom, rubbing a hoof over one eye. “G’morning son - what are you doing?” Night Light’s voice rose to a shriek as he noticed his son pinning his wife to the wall. Magic flared for a moment and he telekinetically slapped his child across the face, causing Shining Armor to lose his focus. Chrysalis fell down (remarkably gracefully), landing on her hooves and rubbing one foreleg across her throat.
“Dad, what are you doing?”
“What am I doing? Do you want to explain why you had your mother pinned to the wall?”
Shining Armor’s muscles completely relaxed, his aggressive, angry stance slacking, face softening. “My what?”
“Your mother,” Night Light answered, stepping over to her, placing a hoof reassuringly around her shoulder, “Queen Chrysalis.”
“She’s poisoning your mind! She did it to Shiny, she can do it to you, too!” Cadance spoke for the first time since Chrysalis had accidentally revealed herself.
“I can assure you I am not being mind-controlled. If I were, it’d look like this,” Night Light responded, and nodded to Chrysalis. Her horn lit up green and Night Light’s eyes did the same, the unicorn stiffening before dancing a ridiculous jig to an inaudible ditty. He shook his head and returned to normal, and planted a heavy kiss on Chrysalis’ cheek. The changeling’s body seemed to loosen and almost melt a little. Cadance gagged.
Shining Armor looked like he’d been shot. Unblinking, eyes unfocused, he turned, and trudged into the front room. Cadance turned to follow him, paused for a moment and looked over her shoulder at her in-laws, then slowly trotted after her husband. Night Light looked at his wife, shrugged, and motioned to follow.
They found Shining Armor sitting on the couch, staring into space, his wife sitting next to him with a hoof on his back, gently stroking it. Night Light trotted in, his large, insectoid wife following him, and sat in one of the chairs opposite. Chrysalis sat on the floor next to him and leaned over, resting her head against his shoulder.
Shining Armor looked up at the scene across from him, and looked back down. He opened his mouth, then closed it again. After nearly a full minute, he spoke.
“Dad, you have ten seconds.”
Night Light was… directionally challenged, to say the least. He could get lost walking from his dorm to the dining hall if fate felt that way. And tonight, he had. This, though, this had to set a new personal record for just how lost a pony could get. As he wandered the halls, the weird, black architecture fascinated him, but less than the weird black ponies that passed him. They were shiny and dark, with holes in their bodies, unlike any pony he’d seen before. They also were seemingly ignoring his existence. He’d tried to get there attention a couple times, but the most reaction he’d garnered from one was an annoyed glance, before it quietly resumed walked away. Regardless, getting lost was not unusual for him and some less-than-courteous locals was far from the worst treatment he received. Resolving himself to just keep walking, figuring eventually he would get so lost he would find his way home, the dark blue unicorn eventually stumbled his way into a large room with a huge vaulted ceiling and a throne and upon that throne sat an absolutely gorgeous-
Queen Chrysalis suddenly felt very full. Too full, in fact, and getting fuller by the moment. There was an excess of love building up inside her. She uncapped her magic and let the excess vent into the air, momentarily having been quite afraid she was going to explode. She whirled her head around, wondering what new scheme those pesky pony princesses had cooked up to try to be rid of her again. Her eyes locked on a rather out-of-place looking blue pony, who was staring up at her, blushing.
“Who are you? Why are you here?” Chrysalis snapped, “How are you here?”
“Wow you’re beautiful,” Night Light breathed, not answering her question.
“T-that’s not what I asked,” Chrysalis snapped back, a light blush creeping up below her skin, thankful her coloration didn’t let it show, “I asked you who you are and why you’re here!”
“Sorry miss,” he replied, shaking his head, “My name is Night Light and I got lost trying to go from my dorm at Canterlot College to a friend’s house in the suburbs. Did I mention that you are very pretty?”
The changeling queen fumed, letting off more of the excess love pouring out of this unicorn. Ponies didn’t just accidentally wander into Changeling territory, especially not with the various sentries and wards she had placed around it. On the other hoof, love of this magnitude was nigh impossible to fake. Could it be possible he was telling the truth? No, nopony would ever fall in love with her, that would be ridi-
“Sooooo,” Night Light drew the syllable out, suddenly much closer to Chrysalis. So close, in fact, he had a hoof around her shoulder. Chrysalis blushed deeply, this time not even her chitinous skin hiding the glow in her cheeks this time. “You doing anything this Friday?” Night Light finished.
“No, I’m- what are you doing?” What am I doing?
“I’m asking you out. On a date. Together. To go get food, or something.”
“Why?”
“Whaddya mean why? You are remarkably pretty, and I’d like to get to know you better.”
“Why?” Why am I asking why? That’s a dumb question, he just answered that. Why am I getting so flustered? I’m the Changeling Queen for pony’s sake, how is one small little unicorn getting me so worked up?
“Because I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you,” Night Light answered, looking directly into her eyes.
“I’m free on Friday,” Chrysalis answered, smiling.
“I spent the next four days perfectly crafting a form to infiltrate pony society and go on a date with your father. I eventually settled on the form you’re used to seeing me in,” Chrysalis flashed to Twilight Velvet, then back to her natural form, “and, as you are here now, you can probably surmise what happened over the next few years.”
“Okay,” was all Shining Armor could muster. “Okay. You still don’t have me convin-”
“Taggy the clown,” Chrysalis said, “and his pals Rover and Razzle. Every day until you were fourteen and Taggy fell apart.”
“No,” Shining Armor said quietly, “Nopony, not even dad knew about that.”
Chrysalis nodded expectantly.
Shining Armor slapped his hooves down on the couch and turned to Cadance. “Okay, she’s my mom.”
“What?”
“No questions, Chrysalis is my mother,” he answered her, “No questions.”
“Alright,” Cadance said, drawing out the last syllable, then stopping. “Wait,” she began again after a brief hesitation, brow furrowing, “What about our wedding? You invaded Canterlot; attacked the princess!”
“Ah, yes, about that-”
“Hello? Anypony home?”
All four ponies looked to the door, the source of the voice. The source of Twilight Sparkle’s voice.
“I-” Chrysalis spoke up, then flashed to her Twilight Velvet guise.
“No,” Shining Armor said flatly, “If I know, she has to know.”
“Plus her reaction will be priceless,” Cadance added. Everypony else stared at her. “What? You can’t tell me I’m wrong.”
Everypony else in the room shrugged, and Night Light called for Twilight to come in.
“Sorry I’m late! Spike held me up a little this morning with a Mother’s Day gift. I mean, I guess I really have been kinda his mom all this time,” Twilight said loudly as she opened the door and walked into the house. “Speaking of mother’s day, mom, happ-”
Twilight’s face froze mid-word, still stuck in a congratulatory half-smile when she saw Chrysalis.
“Do continue,” the black mare said, waving a hoof encouragingly. A playful smile adorned her face, fangs hanging out slightly. “I am your mother, no need to be so stingy with the well-wishing.”
Twilight hit the floor.
Twilight awoke to the sounds of Cadance howling with laughter, head held in the firm hooves of her father.
“I told you it would be hilarious!” the pink mare managed in between guffaws, “I mean…” she mimed a pony fainting with her hooves, “thunk!”
“So it was… a joke then?” Twilight grumbled weakly. Night Light looked down at her.
“No, your mother really is Queen Chrysalis.”
Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “I have questions.”
“I would expect you do,” Night Light responded, gently pulling his daughter up and guiding her to the couch. Twilight sat down next to Cadance, the pink Alicorn between her and her brother, and Night Light returned to his chair next to his wife.
“Okay, first of all, how and when did you two meet?”
“I got lost,” Night Light responded flatly.
“What?”
“I got really lost.”
Twilight’s expression contorted into one of silent anger. Night Light just laughed.
“I explained it to Shining Armor only a few minutes before you arrived,” he told his daughter, “I can tell you later.”
“Okay then,” Twilight said through gritted teeth. Never would she have imagined being more upset with her own father than Queen Chrysalis, but now… now she knew where Shining Armor got it from. “Second question. How can I be sure you’re my mother?”
“She is,” Shining Armor answered her before her father or supposed mother could speak up, “Twilight, I am currently one hundred percent convinced that Chrysalis is my mother, and I know she is your mother too. I was there when you were born. Celestia knows why I thought I wanted to be there but I- I…” Shining Armor trailed off, gagging slightly, “I watched it happen, okay? You are definitely Chrysalis’ daughter.”
“Besides, how do you think ‘Twilight Velvet’ was such a successful romance novel author?” Chrysalis chimed in.
Twilight facehoofed. “Alright, third big question. Why the secrecy? Why couldn’t you just tell Shining Armor and me?”
“Because,” Chrysalis sighed heavily and looked away, “unfortunately, my race – and, admittedly myself as well – has done some pretty awful things in the past, and for the most part ponies tend to be avoidant of us at best and outright abusive and violent against us at worst. It doesn’t help that our primary method of survival was based on infiltrating pony society and replacing loved ones…”
Night Light put a hoof around her shoulder and pulled her close. “That’s not you anymore. You’re here, and you’re a loving mother now. I love you, honey.”
“I know,” Chrysalis said sadly.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up a sore spot for you,” Twilight said hurriedly, “I… well, uh, fourth question, I guess. If you’re a pony,” she pointed to her father, “and you’re a changeling,” she swung her hoof to Chrysalis, “D-”
“Does that mean Shiny is half-changeling?” Cadance interrupted her. “Sorry, Twilight.”
“That was pretty much exactly what I was going to ask,” Twilight answered, “Don’t worry. But,” she turned back to her apparent parent, “does it?”
“It does, yes.”
“Does that mean-”
“Yes, that likely means that, with practice, you and your brother could gain control over your innate Changeling transformation abilities,” Night Light answered, “It was a topic Chryssy and I discussed many times when she first became pregnant with Shining, the possibilities of having a shape-shifting foal, and the problems that might arise as a result,” Night Light paused and sighed in relief, turning to his son. “Thankfully, for the most part you never showed anything beyond the more mundane aspects of a particularly unruly mane and the occasional growth spurt, during your childhood, at least.”
Working the information over in his mind, Shining Armor didn’t say anything for a few moments. Suddenly, he sat upright, as though something very important had just occurred to him – for really, it had. “What about the invasion of Canterlot? You attacked the Princess!” the white unicorn paused, but a jab in the ribs from his wife started him up again. “You tried to ruin Cadance and my wedding!”
“Please, the Princesses were in on it the whole time,” Chrysalis waved a hoof dismissively and turned to Cadance, “Anyways, with that love spell you cast-”
“We cast,” Shining Armor muttered.
“Actually dear,” Cadance placed a hoof on his shoulder and laughed nervously, “That was… pretty much entirely me.”
“But-”
“She isn’t wrong,” Chrysalis interrupted, “Trust me, I got hit by it. That said, Cadance casting the spell alone wouldn’t have been nearly powerful enough. This is another place your half-changeling biology comes into play. Remember how your father just said during your childhood your half-changeling side never really came into play? At your wedding was one of the times it was most apparent. Your body worked as a sort of conductor, or amplifier, for Cadance’s love magic. Because you are, just like your sister, part changeling.”
“No way,” Shining Armor said, “Even just Cadance would have been powerful enough to blow you and your whole army away. She’s an Alicorn for Celestia’s sake, she has to be almost as powerful as Twilight!”
Cadance and Twilight just looked at one another and laughed.
“What?” Shining Armor asked, looking at the laughing mares, “What?”
“Shiny, dear,” Cadance put a hoof to his shoulder in what she hoped was more reassuring than condescending, “I appreciate the faith you put in my magical abilities, but when it comes to raw output I’m not all that gifted, especially in comparison to your sister. I’m not actually not very much more powerful than you are.”
“But you’re an Alicorn! You’re a princess!”
“Yes, and while that does naturally put me leagues above most unicorns on principle, I’m still nowhere near the level of Princesses Luna, Celestia, or Twilight. Even your mother, on my own, is much stronger than I am.”
“It’s true,” Chrysalis nodded, idly nuzzling Night Light.
“Alright, I… I suppose that makes sense… in some small way. What else though? I mean, surely there are magical mishaps and outbursts, it’s happened to Twilight more than once.”
“Alright, another example you say? Remember when you said you were going to ask Cadance to marry you, and your father and I said it was too soon?”
“I… I do remember that, yes,” Shining Armor answered, not sure where Chrysalis was going with this, “Why?”
“Do you remember what you told me, why you were going to ask her anyways?”
“Because… because I knew she’d say yes,” Shining Armor answered, “I had no justification for it, no real reason, I just knew.”
“Because you could feel my love in you,” Cadance looked at him, smiling, “You asked me only days after I had decided myself that if you asked, I’d say yes. I always wondered how you had just known, it was almost like you were psychic. This would explain quite a lot.”
“Okay, so Shining Armor has had some incidents that might imply he could have some changeling blood in his veins,” Twilight rubbed her temples with her hooves, “but what about me? I’ve never done anything like that!”
“Oh contraire, Twilight, you have. Several times, in fact,” Chrysalis’ voice slithered out, “Let’s start with the earliest time your father and I knew it had affected you. I believe it was your entrance exam for Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns?”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Twilight said incredulously, rolling her head back as she said it, “Just because I accidentally used transformation magic in an outburst-”
“That’s not what she’s talking about at all,” Night Light interrupted his daughter, “You even mentioned it yourself this morning. You said Spike got you a card and gift for Mother’s Day?”
A wave of realization washed over Twilight, and her mouth hung open slightly. Unbidden, a hoof came up to cover it as she spoke. “I owe Spike an apology,” she whispered, “I owe Spike so many apologies.”
“See?”
“It doesn’t prove anything,” Twilight responded quickly, “I poured a lot of magic into that egg. Princess Celestia said I just imprinted on him, like a mother dragon would have,” Twilight paused again. “Doesn’t prove anything.”
“Very well then,” Chrysalis answered with a giggle, “Let’s move on. I believe at one point a certain spell you cast got a little out of hoof? Something-something ‘want-it-need-it?’”
“How could you even know about that?” Twilight cried, “I had been out of Canterlot for weeks and – sorry, by the way – hadn’t written you. You’re not going to tell me you were in Ponyville when that happened, are you?”
“What? Of course not,” Night Light answered, “Twilight dear, Princess Celestia shares with us both your Friendship Reports and, when she feels it necessary or humorous, your personal correspondence. We were two of the ponies pushing hardest for you to get out of Canterlot and make some friends, after all. We were made well aware of how awry your ‘Want-it-need-it’ spell went, as Celestia thought it was both hilarious and a possible indication of your Changeling blood starting to come to light.”
“Wait, she shared my personal letters to her with you?” Twilight asked, a note of fear in her voice and a light blush on her cheeks. To her left, Cadance giggled.
“Yes,” Chrysalis answered, a smug smile quickly growing on her face, “Even those letters, on occasion.”
Twilight’s blush deepened. “It doesn’t prove anything! That was a dangerous and powerful spell to begin with, and I shouldn’t have used it. Proves nothing!”
“Alright, fine,” Chrysalis answered, and turned to the pink pony, “Cadance, how did it feel when you ascended to Alicornhood? The growth of your body, specifically your wings?”
“Oh?” Cadance muttered in surprise as the conversation was suddenly directed to her, “Um, it was agonizing,” she said, “The worst pain I’ve ever felt. I honestly thought I was going to die. Having your body rebuilt isn’t exactly a pleasant experience. Celestia even warned me about that, but nothing could have prepared me for that kind of pain.”
“Exactly. Now Twilight, how was it for you?”
Twilight Sparkle’s eyebrows were high on her face, surprise evident in her expression. “I… I didn’t feel a thing, I didn’t even notice I had changed until my friends pointed it out.”
If looks could kill, Twilight Sparkle would have dropped dead from the glare Cadance was giving her.
“How can you just not feel your entire body being rearranged and regrown?”
“By,” Chrysalis transformed into a facsimile of Cadance, “being,” Chrysalis flashed into a likeness of Shining Armor, “half,” Night Light now, “Changeling,” she finished, emphatically disguising herself as Twilight Sparkle.
“Okay,” Twilight said to nopony in particular. “Okay. Okay, alright. How?”
“Your body knows it can change, Twilight, so that’s why a dramatic shift in biology didn’t bother you at all.”
“Huh,” Twilight managed, pausing, stopping. “So if I…” she trailed off, deep in concentration.
“Twilight what are you-”
A green fire flashed around Twilight for a moment, fading. For a moment, nothing seemed different. She was still a moderately small Alicorn mare with a dark purple mane with a pink streak in it, perfectly accenting her white fur.
“You’re white,” Shining Armor observed.
“I’m white,” Twilight shared his observation.
“She’s white,” Cadance said to her in-laws.
“Bravo my daughter!” Chrysalis cheered, clapping her hooves together, “A wonderful first effort, especially for only being half-changeling!”
“How did you do that?” Shining Armor asked, leaning around his wife.
“I don’t know, I just thought really hard about… about Princess Celestia, because I thought maybe it would be easier to transform into somepony I know really well.”
“You were certainly on the right track, Twilight, and that is a good place to start,” Chrysalis answered. Night Light and Cadance suddenly felt very left out, as Shining Armor too began to concentrate. Another brief flash of green fire revealed a now aggressively pink stallion seated next to his wife.
“You’re pink,” Cadance observed.
“I’m- I am,” Shining Armor caught himself before duplicating the same reactions Twilight had, “I am pink.”
“You thought about Cadance?”
“Of course, there isn’t another pony I know better,” he answered, “Though, uh, how do I change back?”
Chrysalis stood up and walked over to her son, leaning her horn against his. Green fire arced along it and down over his body, the pink fur slowly burning away to his original white. “It does take some getting used to, but I do wish to congratulate the both of you on your first attempts at using your Changeling magic,” she said, walking over to Twilight and doing the same for her. “On the other hoof, though, I believe we have gotten a little sidetracked. You all decided to visit because it is Mother’s Day, correct?”
“Oh, right!” Shining Armor answered, his horn glowing blue for a moment. “I wanted to come say hi and give you this,” he said, levitating an envelope over to her, “I found it in some of my old stuff, I thought you’d appreciate it.”
Taking the envelope in her own magical grasp, Chrysalis opened it to find two pieces of paper. One was a crude crayon drawing of her as Twilight Velvet, playing with her son. “For the best mommy ever,” it said on top, “Shining Armor, age 4.”
“I had wondered where this had gotten to,” Chrysalis hummed, “I missed this drawing. What is this, though?” she asked, floating the other paper over closer to her. Her horn glowed brighter for a moment, a pair of reading glasses appearing on her face as she summoned them from some other part of the house, beginning to read aloud. “This certificate entitles the bearer to a complimentary dinner for two at… no, you didn’t,” she said, looking to her son.
“It wasn’t much trouble at all, mom, and I know how much you’ve wanted to go,” Shining Armor offered, “That voucher guarantees you and dad a seat, and if they try to say no, they’ll have to talk to me and Cadance about it. Enjoy yourself next time you get up to the Empire.”
“Oh Shiny, that was so sweet of you,” she stepped over and hugged him, the unicorn hesitating for a moment in her embrace, then returning it warmly.
“Love you, mom,” he said.
“I know you do,” she replied, pulling away. “Twilight?”
“Oh, I, uh, in hindsight this probably isn’t really the best card-”
“Nonsense dear,” Chrysalis tugged at one of Twilight’s wings with her magic, a blue envelope falling to the ground from it, “If it’s from you I’m sure it’s fine.”
Chrysalis brought the card over and opened the envelope, reading through the brief note once and laughing. Twilight groaned. Chrysalis started to read aloud.
“Mom, I want to thank you for being the one thing in my crazy life that never seems to change. You mean the world to me, and I never want that to change, either. I love you, Mom, happy Mother’s Day,” Chrysalis finished. “So very kind of you, Twilight, but I can’t help but feel the choice of words was a little strange,” she finished, voice flicking up in a joking manner.
“How was I supposed to know?”
“I’m teasing, Twilight, I am. Thank you.”
“I uh, also got you this,” Twilight said, summoning a small box from beneath her other wing, “But…”
“Come on, give it here,” Chrysalis teased, once again accepting the item in her magical grasp. Opening the box she found a small silver pendant of three stars – the same as her cutie mark in her Twilight Velvet form. Without a moment’s hesitation, she put it on, smiling down at it as she examined it sitting against her chest. “It’s beautiful, Twilight. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Twilight said. “Hey, I,” she paused, laughing nervously, “Given some of the things I’ve learned today I really think I need to go talk to Spike about some… things. Sorry for such a short visit, but, uh, happy Mother’s Day, Chrysalis.”
“Thank you, Twilight,” she answered, and the purple mare disappeared in a flash of purple light, leaving the two married couples alone.
“Short visit,” Shining Armor snickered, “She was out cold for almost an hour.”
“Your wife was laughing for almost an hour,” Night Light objected.
“Because it was hilarious,” Cadance replied, stifling a giggle.
Chrysalis facehoofed, but soon her own shoulder shook with restrained laughter as well. “It was pretty funny.”
“That was your daughter!” Night Light cried.
“It was funny though,” Chrysalis said to defend herself.
“Alright, fine, it was pretty funny.”
Shining Armor sighed. “I don’t think I’ve said it properly yet. Happy Mother’s Day, mom.”
Chrysalis smiled, and pulled her child into a close hug again.