Princess Cadance: Changeling Hunter

After Cadance’s parents’ “accidental” deaths, Cadance was sent to live in Canterlot with Princess Celestia. Cadance recalled the move as pleasant, as she had many more luxuries than her parents could afford for her and she had much more room indoors for activities. Despite her mother Flower Blossom’s apprehensions about letting her daughter live such a life of leisure, Celestia made sure she kept plenty busy around the palace, including helping the maids set up tablecloths and silverware for the princess’ royal supper and frequent banquets that they would hold.

Cadance enjoyed every second of it. Not only was she doing things to keep her plenty busy, but her jobs weren’t anything like what she was used to doing at home. This did, however, present both good and bad attributes. Some of the jobs that required very strenuous work, such as when Cadance felled trees for lumber, were left to the stallions.

There was another plus side to these jobs. Cadance’s hardworking and pleasant attitude came in handy when forming camaraderie with the various staff in the royal palace. One of the exceptional maids that Cadance remembered was Creamy Bisque, a zebra maid working in the palace to support her large family who lived in the Everfree Forest.

Through the friendship she received with Creamy Bisque, Cadance was taught various recipes of the Canterlot (and even Zebra) cuisine. Cadance found enjoyment in the way Creamy Bisque rhymed whenever she spoke, and likewise, Creamy Bisque loved that she was highly respectful to her when many of the other ponies weren’t. Zebras were not a trusted race because of the rumors that spread claiming that they did black magic.

One day, a simple framing to warrant Creamy Bisque’s firing would be the catalyst in a major part of Cadance’s hunting profession. A pony had carved a pentagram on the tile floor of Creamy Bisque’s living quarters and threw the burned carcass of a chicken while she was out at work. A particular socialite claimed to have walked into the room and “found” the symbol and chicken and reported it to the princess. With the tensions high and evidence against Creamy Bisque’s favor, Princess Celestia’s hooves were tied, and she had to fire her.

Cadance pleaded for further investigation to prove her innocence, but the socialite claimed “that the zebra was poisoning her mind with her evil ways.” In a fit of blind rage, Cadance used a powerful physical spell that knocked the socialite into the wall. Fearing that this act would only solidify the argument for Creamy Bisque’s affluence over her, she fled from Canterlot and into the southern forests.

She spent the next two days hiding from the guards that were sent out looking for her, where she returned to her feelings of depression and misery. Cadance was certain that Canterlot was not a life for her. Having grown up in a modest family with modest values, she couldn’t stand to live in a place where a pony was cast aside or even accused of such a heinous crime as witchcraft just because of the color of their coat. Cadance was now on her own.

If it wasn’t for the some of the resourcefulness lessons that Creamy Bisque taught her, Cadance would not have been able to find and distinguish the wild berries that grew along the foliage that would have kept her alive long enough to be able to live through what happened next.

Upon traveling further through the forest, Cadance happened to come across a stream, being some of the freshest water she found since leaving Canterlot. Before, she would drink filty puddles left from storms that would periodically come. She hoped to find another town along the river where she could rest or, if possible, even live.

The forest ended and came along a floodplain. Cadance tried to save some time by walking straight and not follow every meandering in the stream. That was when she came across the couple.

There was an earth stallion pony and a unicorn mare pony frolicking in the field together. Cadance observed how in love the two of them must have been. She then remembered her own parents who loved each other like they did. This caused more painful memories to return to Cadance.

They were put on hold when Cadance saw the two ponies lying down together. Cadance snuck quietly and tried to remain silent as she watched the two ponies cuddling. She then saw something that would make her future hunting days much easier. She watched as the unicorn mare emitted a green glowing energy from her horn. She watched as a pinkish aura was flowing off the stallion’s body and was drawn and absorbed into her horn.

Cadance watched in horror as the stallion’s once brown eyes were reduced to the lifeless green eyes that her father shared before she killed him. The mare’s green eyes shared the evil green that the changeling who stole her mother from her had. There was no mistaking it; this was the act of a changeling taking love from a victim.

If she had been older, she would have been able to strike and kill the changeling right then and there without harming the stallion in the process. However, being a filly, she wasn’t skilled enough to make such an aim and accurately hit her target. She instead called out the changeling to separate it from its victim, leaving a much more open shot.

The changeling shot up at being betrayed like that. Once the stallion saw what his lover really was by the greenness of its eyes, he broke away running. The changeling was obviously not happy. Upon looking at Cadance, her mood changed from that of anger to pleasant malice.

“You’ll pay for destroying our queen,” she growled.

Still in her unicorn’s form, she charged at the young Cadance. Cadance tried using the chopping spell this time around, but it was when she casted it that she realized her error. When she attacked the changeling that took her mother, she had caught it by surprise. Having been alerted this time around, this changeling was prepared. Casting a protection spell from her green-lit horn, she deflected the attack with ease. Cadance began to realize that she couldn’t win this fight, so she tried to run.

Cadance was dismayed to find that the changeling pinned her tail down with her left front hoof, preventing escape. The changeling used her right front hoof to whack Cadance in the chest, easily breaking the young foal’s ribs in an agonizing crack. Cadance thought about using the chopping spell when the changeling thought she had achieved victory in pinning her, but her fear restricted her; held her back. The breaking of her ribs only solidified her fate, for now she was too weak to focus on anything but the pain in her ribs.

The changeling picked up the injured Cadance with her magic and threw her into the river. Cadance did not know how to swim, and even if she did, her recently broken bones would cause to much pain for the movement needed to stay afloat. Cadance simply sunk to the bottom of the riverbed, she watched from the water as a black creature flew overhead. It was the changeling’s true form, but she couldn’t make it out from the bottom of the river. It was watching over her to make sure that she didn’t try and resurface for air.

Cadance was just about to accept her fate when she saw a green beam shoot through the changelings head, decapitating it. The body and the head splashed into the water, the green blood pouring from its fatal wound pouring into the river. Cadance still couldn’t see the creature properly due to her milky vision inside the water, but she could see that the head of the creature that rolled by her was different than the one who took her mother.

This creature had a much shorter and less jagged horn, had no mane, its eyes were large blue beads, and its fangs were significantly longer than the other one. Before she could contemplate any further, a white alicorn jumped into the river and pulled Cadance out before she could drown. Cadance was overcome with pain and shock of her near death and fainted in the arms of the alicorn.

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Cadance awoke eventually, but she realized that she was stuck. She began to see that her vision was green all around her. As she tried moving, she felt that the substance holding her in was gelatinous and squishy. Before she could fight anymore, she started falling from the bottom. She emerged from the green gel to find herself in a sparsely lit cave. She looked behind her at her old prison, revealing it to be a cocoon of some sort. That’s when Cadance remembered the battle and her broken bones. She immediately thought she was going to get a painful sensation in her chest, but she was surprised to find that her body felt fine.

“What is this?” she asked herself. As if answering the question as it had been presented to her, a familiar white alicorn appeared from deep within the cavern.

“That was a healing pod, Cadance. We changelings use them to heal any injuries that we might obtain during rougher extractions.”

“Princess Celestia?” wondered Cadance.

That’s when the alicorn showed her true form, morphing into a familiar black creature. She was a changeling just like the creature that was killed, but she shared more of a resemblance to the one who took her mother from her. The only difference was that she looked like a younger version of that, as if she was in her 20’s. Her mane was also an amethyst purple and had a bobbed hairstyle. Her horn was also less jagged then her mother’s imposter but not as smooth as the one that almost killed her.

Cadance was in the presence of another changeling. She immediately used her newfound strength to charge at the creature standing before her. Before she could strike her target, Cadance felt a tug at her ankles that kept her from getting any further. She noticed a fleshy green rope holding her from where the pod she was in was.

“Let me go, you monster!” screamed Cadance.

“And what makes me a monster?” questioned the changeling. “Is it my wings? My fangs? My eyes? Is that what makes me a monster?”

“Shut your mouth. You’re a changeling. That already makes you a monster.”

“Judge us not equally, Cadance.”

“What? How do you know my name?”

“You gained a lot of notoriety in the changeling community for killing our queen.” Cadance was filled with horror and anxiety.

“You mean… the changeling I killed… was-”

“Our queen, Queen Embryo. She was also my mother.” Cadance was certain she would now receive a slow and horrible death.

“If you want to kill me, just do it,” sobbed Cadance.

“What makes you think I want to kill you?”

“But, you’re a-”

“Like I said, ‘Judge us not equally, Cadance.’”

“But, why?”

“If you truly want to know why I won’t kill you, it’s because you’re… interesting.”

“Interesting? Interesting how?”

“You are a princess of Canterlot. It’s proven in your alicorn blood. For a princess, especially one as young as you, to kill our queen like that is highly commendable.”

“That still doesn’t answer why you just won’t kill me. Don’t you want to avenge your mother just as I have avenged mine?”

“My mother doesn’t deserve an avenger. She and the rest of her followers deserve the fiery pits of Tartarus for what they’ve done.”

“What they’ve done?”

“You know that changelings feed off of love to survive right?”

“Yes.”

“Why must we resort to stealing love from someone else? What if we want a love like we hear of in the storybooks that parents tell their foals?”

“What love?”

“If you want to know why I despise my race, it all comes down to love. I was born as Cocoon, princess of the changelings along with my sister, Chrysalis. We were taught the ways of the changelings by our queen and mother, Queen Embryo. We were taught how to extract love from a pony and how to feed our subjects. I thought it was the only life suitable for me. It wasn’t until I was becoming a mare and had to prove that I was worthy of the throne.

“I was sent to a town called Ponyville to extract from my first victim, a young earth stallion who had fallen for a dainty looking pegasus mare whom I was supposed to become. It was then that I saw the face of a pegasus stallion walking by my target.

“It was then that I felt something arise in me that I thought was never possible. I felt what had to be true love. Love that couldn’t be faked like my mother had taught me and extracted for the sole purpose of sustenance.

“He was beautiful: cream colored coat, wavy blonde hair, a strong pair of wings, and a cutie mark of a lightning bolt on his flank. Abandoning my loyalty to the changelings, I transformed into a pegasus, light brown, with black ponytailed hair and a cutie mark of a cocoon. After bumping into him, despite and awkward first conversation given not being taught how to properly talk to a stallion by my mother, we hit it off immediately.

“I tasted a love from him that was sweeter than the richest honey. Untainted, pure, without deceit or lies. It was wonderful. Despite my love to him, I had to return to the caverns where the changelings lived. Chrysalis did well in her endeavors, but when I tried showing the love that I had from this pegasus, I was punished severely.

“I was first forced to show the form to which I presented myself to him in or face execution. Once they were done with me, I was thrown into a dungeon with nothing but a magic mirror which shared Chrysalis’ vision. At first I didn’t know what the point of this was, but that was until I saw her look into a mirror. She smiled cruelly at herself in the form that I took for him, almost as if she was taunting me. I was forced to watch as Chrysalis took the love from the stallion that I loved. Every single drop until there was nothing left but an empty shell.

Embryo let me back out to let me think about what I had done, for falling in love was a terrible mistake a changeling could make, lest she starve her subjects. It was the last time I ever saw my mother or Chrysalis.

“That night, I ran from the caves never to be seen again. In order to stay alive and sustain myself, I found no choice but to steal the love from the vicious and spiteful in various towns across Equestria, as I couldn’t bring myself to take true love from the ones who truly deserved. Their love was bitter and tasted awful, but I did what I had to survive. I swore that I would never forgive those creatures for what they did to me.”

Cadance was moved by her story. Not one word she said was fabricated, strained, or untrue. Cadance felt sorry for what she, just moments ago, just considered her enemy. She then noticed her stomach as it growled.

“You’re hungry I assume,” commented Cocoon. Cadance nodded.

“Can I trust you to remove your bondages?” Cadance nodded. The changeling’s horn glowed, causing the chain to shrivel away. Cadance didn’t even think to attack Cocoon. She merely walked alongside her through the caverns into a larger room.

Despite the location, the room was decorated lavishly. There was a table in the center with fresh fruits, cakes, and other pastries.

“Look at all this food!” exclaimed Cadance in childlike wonder. “I didn’t know changelings ate this food.”

“Only during the most trying of times,” said Cocoon.

“May I?” asked Cadance, lips moistening.

“Of course,” Cocoon smiled. Cadance, having been deprived from such food since she fled Canterlot made no hesitation of eating as much as she could.

After she had her fill, Cadance ran to the changeling and hugged her tightly with many “thank yous.” Cocoon claimed to not have taken any love from her, as it would have compromised Cadance’s trust in her.

Cadance and Cocoon talked about the changelings they’ve killed and were surprised to find that they’ve each only killed one: Cadance with Embryo and Cocoon with the one that almost drowned Cadance. Cocoon explained that it was the only changeling that came by the cave where they both were and when she saw that Cadance, her mother’s killer, was the one who was being attacked, she felt as if she had no choice by to save her out of gratitude.

Cadance enjoyed Cocoon’s company in this time period. Given the circumstances, she might have even considered calling her a friend.

Throughout the next few weeks, Cocoon helped tutor Cadance in the art of changeling hunting. Some days were focused on strengthening Cadance’s chopping spell. On the first day, she was able to leave a 4 inch score in a tree. On the 4th, she cleared a whole tree in one spell. By the end of the week, Cadance was able to completely shatter the defenses of one of Cocoon’s protection spells.

Some days were tests of agility, where Cadance would try and evade Cocoon for as much as possible. Knowing that Cadance was much younger than her, she told Cadance that a good evasion time would be anything over a minute. Cadance was weaker in this field, but she eventually got to the point where she could successfully evade Cocoon in a minute easily.

Cadance enjoyed the hoof-to-hoof combat training sessions, mainly because she picked up on it much more quickly than the agility exercises. With her intuition, she was able to pin Cocoon down within 30 seconds after a fight.

Lastly, there was the facts that Cocoon gave about changelings, such as being able to spot them in disguise, such as their eyes becoming a different color when they were about to change emotions, green horn auras (unless the unicorn was known to have a naturally green aura), their naturally musty scent, and, which was probably the easiest one for Cadance, a complete change in personality.

After a month or two of training, Cadance was unofficially graduated as a changeling hunter.

“How can I contact you?” asked Cadance.

“You won’t,” said Cocoon. “I’ll write to you. I will send you the names of changelings when they appear in Equestria in disguise. If you want an excuse to leave home, I will say that you came to me, a Ms. Apricot Cobbler, who kept you in when you were lost. I will say that Ms. Cobbler has relatives all over Equestria that would love a helping hand from time to time and that it would be her deepest wishes for Cadance to attend to a request of her help.”

“That reminds me,” said Cadance, “can’t I live with you?”

“I’m sorry, but I am on the run from my kind as well. Letting you stay would only put you in further jeopardy.”

“Well then I guess this is goodbye, Cocoon.”

The two made a friendly embrace. Cocoon gave Cadance a saddlebag of pastries for the trek home, and with “thank yous” from Cadance, she left for Canterlot.
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It took Cadance all day to return to Canterlot on the 4th day of the 4th month of the year 981 L.B. where she was greeted back at the palace with open arms.

“I’m so glad that you returned,” claimed Celestia.

“I’m glad to be back.”

“What’s in your saddlebag?”

Celestia opened the bag to find a note within the pastries with a picture of a pegasus mare with a light brown coat and a black mane in a ponytail pinned to the note, which looked almost exactly as what Cocoon told Cadance. Celestia, knowing Cadance’s love of knowledge and hard-working attitude, agreed to let Cadance take part in these tasks when they were to arise.

Cadance smiled. Not only was she a much more prepared hunter now, but she in essence got her hunting activities sanctioned by Princess Celestia herself. Things couldn’t have worked better for her.