The Soldier and The Unexpected

by Scorch215

Rating: mature
Tags: Science Fiction, Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, Dark, Alternate Universe, Princess Luna, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Comedy, Queen Chrysalis
Length: 32140

Commander Twilight Sparkle's life is about to take an unexpected turn that will change her life and Equestria forever.

Commander Twilight Sparkle, Leader of the Equestrian Defense Force, former student to Princess Celestia, Element of Magic and the recently crowned Princess of Friendship is a highly skilled soldier with decades of experience behind her.

She lives her life in a flexible routine as life has taught her that anything can happen at any moment.
She gets up in the morning before the sun, goes for a run, goes through her exercises eats a light breakfast before anyone else is awake. Then deals with paper work and other tasks needed to run an army as well as dealing with the random chance that is life.

She is ready for just about anything life can throw at her, except one thing that will throw a wrench into her entire life and she is in no way prepared for it nor what will come after it.

The only thing that is now certain is that The Commander’s life is about to change drastically.

FEATURED ON JUNE 10TH 2016 FOR TWO HOURS!!

Note: chapters are uploaded unedited and will be edited later

Note: while this is a sequel extensive knowledge of previous stories should not be needed as this or more world building and entertainment

Note: this is going to be a short story

Published 2016-06-10 21:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2016-06-28 03:25:39 UTC

Chapter 1: The Unexpected

Commander Twilight Sparkle’s eyes snapped open at precisely 4:30AM. She had woken up at this exact time every day for that past fifty years so now she didn’t even need an alarm clock as it was an automatic action that she was sure she would wake at that time no matter what happened to her.

Stretching and yawning the mare looked around her room, her eyes scanning in every detail to see if anything was out of place. Seeing everything was exactly as it had been the night before the purple mare rolled to her hooves and stretched once more, marveling at how young she felt now as only a couple months ago she had been a grey maned unicorn and now she had the body she had when she was in her late twenties.

As she stretched the wings on her back extended and stretched as well, the young alicorn was still getting used to that feeling as well as the ability to actually feel through her four cybernetic legs as before her ascension she had had absolutely no feeling in any of her legs and had grown used to simply knowing where they were. Needless to say having wings and feeling once again was taking some getting used to.

Wither her wings folding back onto her back the alicorn made her way to her bathroom in the Golden Oaks Library right in the middle of downtown Ponyville and began her morning routine. Brushing her teeth, shower, dry, fix her mane and tail then the latest addition to this routine, preen her wings. That had been something Twilight had had to learn first about her wings, how to take care of them after that is was learning to fly which luckily she had taken too relatively easily do to already being used to being in the air thanks to hundreds of air lifts taken both in and out of combat so it was only a matter of learning how to fly.

Once her wings were dealt with the mare headed for the front door, making sure to walk quietly past the door to her assistant’s room as the young drake did not do well being woke up at this hour. Once outside Twilight breathed in the crisp early morning air as she surveyed the town of Ponyville.

The town has changed a lot from how it used to be when she had first arrived decades ago, no longer were the houses made of wood with thatched roofs. They were nearly all made of stone with reinforced wooden roofs and the streets no longer meandered randomly. They were almost all straight and ran semi-parallel with each other so as to allow for either quick defense or rapid evacuation, which ever was needed. While the mare had liked the old designed of the town and how quaint it had been before being destroyed by Tirek when he found the town empty during his rampage so long ago she had to admit defending the town was far easier now.

Taking one last look around the mare started to gallop for the edge of town and the path about an eighth of a mile outside of town. The path ran in a circle around the small town and had been worn there by a single mare taking the same route on her morning runs for decades and it still served its purpose as Twilight began her morning run, passing within view of Sweet Apple Acers and the Fluttershy Animal Refuge near the Everfree Forest. The Refuge sat where Twilight’s old friend Fluttershy cottage still stood, now with its boarders expanded and a few more buildings as well as a small onsite staff to take care of any and all animals regardless of what they were.

Twilight had seen to the creation of the non-profit refuge and was one of the main donators to the efforts of the ponies and changelings who worked tirelessly to follow in the hoofsteps of one of the kindest ponies Twilight had ever met. Twilight would visit the Refuge every couple of months and see how the staff was doing as well as the animals and if the staff place needed something Twilight made sure they had the bits to get it.

Running her route a hundred times Twilight slowed to a walk and took several deep breaths, it was strange being able to easily push past her old forty laps but she figured it was the earth pony traits she now had as well as whatever the magic that ascended her did to her cybernetics.

She had spent almost two weeks investigating her cybernetics as they certainly were not the same as they used to be, they were far more streamline now and looked more natural we well as her ability to feel through them now. Not to mention after her ascension she gained an additional one hundred pounds bringing her up to a weight of six-hundred pounds. Whatever her legs were made of it was a lot denser then the high grade steel they used to be, though all her attempts to identify the mental came back as an unknown if it came back with any results at all. According to most of the tests she ran on them the limps weren’t there as all tests came back blank except for visual and touch analysis.

With no real name for what her legs were now made of the mare simply called them her steel hooves as she always had because till she knew what they were there was no reason the change the name in her mind. Speaking of her mind she had gone through several brain scans to see if anything had changes with the implants in her brain that allowed her to run her mechanical body parts. Had there ever been a change, Twilight wasn’t sure how to describe it but where the implants had been on her motor cortex and frontal lobe they simply were no more implants, what there was, was a blending of machine and grey matter as her motor cortex was now merged with her implants seamlessly and half her frontal lobe was as well. One simply could not tell where the cybernetics ended and her brain began as they were now one and the same. It was very bizarre but nothing to worry about as nothing seemed to have changed.

Having finished her rune Twilight made her way back to the Library and headed up to her room where she spent the next hour exercising to ensure her body was in top physical condition and after that, when the sun was just started to peek over the horizon the mare made her way down to the kitchen where she made a lite meal for herself, she liked making sure she ate with Spike so always left room for a main breakfast and then went to read in her office while she waited for him to wake up.

This day something else happened as shortly after she started reading her book she was hit with a wave of nausea and barely reached the bathroom where she got to enjoy the sight of her early morning breakfast once more.

Spitting out what remained in her mouth the mare flushed her stomach contents down and made her way to the sink were she splashed water in her face and got a drink to rinse her mouth out. That was the third time that had happened in as many days and it was becoming concerning to both her and the baby dragon she lived with.

She sighed as shed need to make an appointment with pony Ville General for alter today as she had promised Spike that if she wasn’t better in the next few days she would see a doctor, three days fit that time frame and she knew her little dragon brother would insist she go.

Sighing the mare left the bathroom and headed for her office where she continued reading till a knock came from the door. “Twilight, breakfast is almost done.” Came the voice of Spike.

“Alright, thank you, on my way up.” She said before finishing the page she was on then marking it. Placing the book on her private bookshelf the mare made her way back to the main floor of the library and headed for the kitchen/dining room.

Taking her seat she watched the now three foot tall drake as he made eggs, pancakes and bacon for them both, the meal smelled rather good, better than usual actually though with her light meal now making its way through the sewers of Ponyville it made sense she was hungrier than usual.

As the dragon placed the last of the food on the two plates he turned around with the plates held in each claw. “Here we go.” He said placing one plate before the alicorn before placing another on the other side and taking a seat across from her.

Twilight smiled at the young dragon. “Thanks Spike.” She said happily before diving into her meal, it tasted absolutely amazing and before long her plate was empty and she looked around. “Um…mind if I make myself seconds?” She asked the drake who was only half done with his own plate.

“No not at all.” He said, while he knew the mare didn’t have to ask him she always did out of respect for him as he did a lot for her and she always wanted him to feel like it did matter. “You feeling any better?”

The mare was busy getting some eggs and extra bacon from the fridge as she spoke. “I’m alright more or less.” She said pulling her head out and heading for the stove, the breakfast items held in her magic. “I think I’m going to make an appointment with the doctors though as I was sick against this morning.”

“You alright?” The dragon asked with worry.

“Yes, I’m sure it’s just a mild flu or something, nothing I can’t handle.” She said waving a hoof before switching her cybernetics into biped mode so she stood on two legs. With five claw like finger sprouting from the ends of what was once her for hooves they were now her hands. The mare had to switch to this mode if she wanted to pick anything up without magic as the innate magic in pony hooves that allowed them to pick things up did not transfer to her cybernetics limbs when they replaced her old legs as she lost them decades ago on the world that had changes her from a simple librarian into a highly trained soldier ready to defend her nation by any means she saw necessary.

As she cooked she hummed a tune from one of the many songs she listened to, most of it was from the other world and was not what normally was heard in Equestria, least not years ago, however some of the songs she listened to were written and performed here as the music she had brought back had spread, first to her army and from them to the rest of the nation and beyond, there were now several new genera’s of music enjoyed by the people of Equestria.

Finishing cooking her second meal the mare placed it on her plate and reclaimed her seat at the table where she started to eat with the same enthusiasm as before, the meal seemed to taste even better this time.

“So what’s on the schedule for today?” Her assistant asked as he took the plates to the sink once Twilight had finished.

“Well I was going to log onto MNet and read over the reports from around the nation to see if anything that needs me to take a look at is happening and maybe send out a few orders to some of the bases before paper work.” Twilight said, it had been a couple of decades since Equestria had entered the age of the computers that were all linked via a network, there were two different version. The Civilian Network, or CNet, that everyone in the nation used and had access to provided they paid the monthly bill. And then there was the heavily encrypted Military Network, MNet, that served the military and allowed them to all stay in contact and access information other bases had and was totally free provided one has access. Only certain soldiers in the army had access to MNet for security reason and other security measures involved not all information being placed on the network from bases, certain sensitive information that could cause a lot of problems if falling into the wrong hands were sent via Email over a closed network straight to the person who should read it and they then decided who else saw it.

After talking with Spike for a few more minutes Twilight made her way to her officer where she booted up her computer, the computer wasn’t to the level she had been trained on but it was close and soon it would be just like what she learned on all those years ago. She had to admit that it felt good to use computers other than her datapad again. It had been maddening having a skill set she was unable to use as there was no way to do so, but now Equestria had computer and they were making huge strides in their technology and she was able to dust off her skill set, though she did need to read her old computer programming books in order to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything, she had even tried hacking a few systems here and there on CNet, not doing anything but just because she could and it felt nice gaining access to places she wasn’t supposed to with just pure skill and leaving no trace she was ever there.

Logging on to MNet the Commander checked the reports that had been posted for anything of interest. One of the factories at the Liston Complex has suffered an accident, no fatalities but over two dozen injured and the factory was shut down till what happened to could found and repairs made. The Captain in charge of the facility left a note that production would not be effected as the other factories would pick up the slack for the time being.

An Equestrian Military Ship was reporting a sighting of a zebra frigate close to Equestrian water and was keeping an eye on it and would report if anything changed but so far the ship had made no moves to enter Equestrian waters.

Harmony Station, the Space Station in orbit around the planet was reporting one of the communication satellites orbiting the planet had a thruster malfunction and was no longer staying in its orbital path, they were dispatching a repair team to fix it and make sure the satellite returned to its proper orbit before it hit another satellite which was good as putting a satellite in orbit was expensive.

Twilight read over reports and sent out a few orders to a few bases when she felt they should take a closer look at something they had reports and waited for confirmation on receiving the order before she logged off after two hours and started on her paperwork, while the mare loved to be organized she found that like everyone else in the world, she despised doing paperwork as it was exceedingly boring as most of the time it was pointless blathering that just needed her signature. Still one could not run any organization, military or otherwise without some form of bureaucracy.

After a few hours of this Twilight felt another wave of nausea hit her and she rushed to the bathroom, barely making it once more. After cleaning up the mare stared at herself in the mirror, whatever she had she was getting worse, it was time to see the doctor.

It had been an uneventful trip to the doctor, the biggest thing had been convincing Spike to stay behind as she would be fine, the doctor would give her whatever medication or shot she needed to deal with this and then she’d be home in time for dinner.

After waiting only a few minutes, being a princess and leader of the entire army had a way of making people make sure you didn’t wait long Twilight found herself in one of the exam rooms. T

Taking a seat on the exam table Twilight waited for the doctor and as she expected he arrived within the minute she had been left in the room.

“Good afternoon Princess, I am Dr. Helpinghoof, what seems to be wrong?” The doctor asked pleasantly while smiling.

“Nothing major doc, just the past few days I’ve been experiencing sudden bouts of sever nausea at random and it seems to be getting worse.” Twilight said.

The Doctor nodded. “Yes well that does sound problematic, let me run a few tests and we will see if we can figure out what the problem is hm?” he said and Twilight slowly nodded, while she may be a trained doctor herself that did not mean she wasn’t still tariffed of anyone doing any form of tests on her, she still had nightmares about Damenil Labs and the thing they had done to her there in the name of science.

The Doctor seemed to have read her mood shift and he wore the most present smile he could and spoke soothingly and kept talking to her about random topics to keep her distracted as he took blood samples and other things. After he had everything he needed Dr. Helpinghoof excused himself to go see to it the tests were run properly.

This left Twilight with time to kill so she pulled out a book and began to read. She was near the end of the book when the doctor returned an hour later with the largest smile on his face.

“Well the test came back Princess, and yes I had them run them three times to make sure they were right.” He said.

“That’s good, what do I need to get better?” She asked as her book vanished.

“Oh, there is nothing wrong with you Princess.” He said with a chuckle.

“Um….doc I’ve been throwing up for three days, you have an odd definition of “nothing wrong” Twilight said flatly.

“Oh you misunderstand me, what I mean is you are not sick.” He said with another chuckle.

Twilight blinked at the doctor. “Ok, then what the hell is going on if I’m not sick?”

“Well…it’s simple Princess.” He said and smiled at her. “You’re pregnant.”

Author's Note

Well here it is, the sequel to the story, and I wonder how many people figured out what was wrong with her?

Chapter 2: Unprepared

Commander Twilight sparkle stood at her full height in the office beneath Golden Oaks Library with her fingers calmly around the neck of the Changeling Queen as she was kindly strangling her second in command. “HOW. DID. THIS. HAPPEN!” Each word punctuated by the alicorn slamming the Changeling Queen against the wall. The room had a silence enchantment on it so no one outside the room would hear anything.

After Twilight had been informed of her condition she had quite literally blue screen, apparently when your eyes and part of your brain is basically a computer you are subject to certain computer like characteristics, such as your vision being filled with a blue error screen when you mind quite literally shuts down from being unable to process information.

After about ten minutes or so of sitting there while her mind rebooted, that was a strange experience booting up like a computer as her vision had been filled with scrolling data and a loading bar for a minute. Before she was fully functioning again. The doctor had apparently called for help as there were two nurses in the room and they were trying to figure out what had happened as Twilight had just frozen in place and nothing they did got a reaction from her as she was much like a statue.

Once she had assured them she was fine the nurses had been dismissed and Twilight had asked the doctor if he was absolutely sure of his findings to which he reiterated he had the tests run three times.

With no way to argue with that Twilight had thanked the doctor for his time and he had recommended some vitamins for her to take and Twilight left the hospital.

Arriving home she had answered Spikes questions concerning her health with the barest of information in that she told him she was fine and it was nothing to worry about and that she had some important work to do so not to disturb her for the rest of the day.

She went into her office where she sent a priority message to Chrysalis with orders to report to her office immediately. Once the message had been sent to the queen, who was in Fillydelphia overseeing a public relations events the one of the garrisons there was holding if her schedule was accurate, Twilight had placed a silence spell on the room and then processed to do something she had not done in a very long time, had a complete and total freak out that was not contained to an inner-monologue. This mostly consisted of her running around the room while swapping between cursing and having mild to extreme panic attacks that sometimes the breathing exercise Cadence had shown her helped with and sometimes seemed to make it worse. She also may have packed a few supplies haphazardly as he mind told her she needed to run before someone found out before the other half of her mind told her that was a silly thing to do while another voice said that Zebrica was nice this time of year and another said she could go skiing in the Griffin Kingdoms before those two voices started to argue about where she should go to as the rational voice tried to get them bot to shut up as they were helping and the panicking voice was in the fetal position rocking back and forth. None of them helped her in the situation though the panicky voice had a great idea and thus when the Major finally arrived she found Twilight in the corner of her room in the fetal position rocking back and forth.

As soon as Twilight noticed the changeling queen she had snapped out of her panic and that was replaced by anger and she had explained what the doctor had told her while using the Royal Canterlot Voice before launching herself at the changeling queen and thus found herself calmly strangling her second in command.

“I….don’t…..know…..”Chrysalis managed to get out at a whisper as talking was an amazing feat in itself as she had ten cybernetic fingers around her throat.

“HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW!?” Twilight yelled and dropped the changeling queen who crumpled to the floor like a sack of bricks. “You are the only person who could have anything to do with this as you are literally the only person I fuck with!” She said and started to pace for a moment before looking at the changeling queen who was taking large greedy breaths. “Unless you let me fuck total strangers while drunk but I don’t see you doing that and me not finding out about it.” Twilight resumed her pacing, armed behind her back as she glared at the floor while trying to figure out what had happened.

Once she regained her breath enough the Queen spot in a hoarse voice. “No, I wouldn’t let you go off with a total stranger when drunk or anyone really, you know that.”

“Ok then how the hell did this happen, you are the only person who could be the other parent but that doesn’t make any sense as we are both female.” Twilight said and nodded as her mind asserted that simple fact.

“Not always, you have had me change gender many times as well as take the forms of other ponies remember.” The Queen said climbing to her hooves. With that statement that voice in Twilight’s head that was so sure of the impossibility of the fact they were both females so it couldn’t have happened promptly facehoofed so hard it knocked itself out.

“Ok, point taken but then why didn’t this happen any time before, we ran several tests and with the information from else were we knew it was impossible for changelings and ponies to have kids.” Twilight said and that voice woke back up and nodded its head vigorously at that fact.

“Yes…but that was on normal ponies….you’re an alicorn now and there was no way to really test that out.” Chrysalis said and the voice in Twilight head promptly shot itself and the other voices held a nice funeral for it with a lovely wake and everything with many speeches about how it was such a good voice who always did its best and that it was taken from them too soon, there had been much crying from most of the other voices and many flowered placed on the grave.

Twilight dropped into onto the small couch she had in her office and deflated a bit. “How could this have happened….I mean honestly….why?”

The Queen cautiously approached the alicorn. “Well we generally know the how as for the why...I don’t know, just happens when two people are together like that.” She said with a shrug.

Twilight deflated more, she had planned to never have kids do to the risk of making a mini-her with the self-control of a child which would be very bad and she was sure she didn’t have to worry about it since the only person she was ever with was the Queen who was female and the two races were not compatible genetically. That entire plan was now blown to pieces.

“If….if it is such an issue there are procedures that—“

“No.” Twilight said flatly and leveled a glare at the Queen who flinched back.

“I didn’t mean it like that I meant because you seem to be having such an issue with this.” The Queen said.

“That doesn’t mean I’m going to have a procedure fix my problem, you should know I don’t run away from problems, I deal with them.” Twilight said firmly.

“Yes I know I was only suggesting.” Chrysalis as she took a careful step towards the alicorn.

“Well don’t, this has happened and we are going to deal with this and if you even think of trying to leave me to deal with this on my own ill hunt you down and drag you back and break your legs so you can’t run away.” The alicorn said.

The queen sighed. “You know I wouldn’t abandon you Twilight.” The Queen said and took a seat beside the mare.

Twilight sighed. “Yeah yeah, I know, I’m just a bit freaked out about this, I mean toss me into a war zone or a political death trap and I know exactly what to do, but this….I have no real idea what to do here as I never planned for this and in fact planned against this.” Twilight said and rubbed her eyes. “Gah, I hate unknowns and this is a massive unknown.”

“Well I know there are books on the subject so it’s not totally unknown and I have experience with this sort of thing so to speak.” Chrysalis said reassuringly.

“Somehow I don’t think the books cover pony/changeling pairings or that laying a few hundred eggs is the same as carrying a kid inside of you.” Twilight said then looked at the queen. “No offense.”

The queen sighed. “None taken and you do have a point but at least it’s something.”

Sighing once more the alicorn nodded. “Yes you’re right.” She said and looked at the changeling queen. “Sorry for snapping like that just….kind of freaking out a bit.” She said and sighed once more before slumping in her seat. “I mean I planned to not have any kids do to not wanting to risk a foal….like me but without the restraint.” She said. “Seems life has other plans as I didn’t plan to become an alicorn either.”

The Changeling Queen nodded and sat back on the couch. “I know, and she may have something in common with you but remember she will also have things in common with me as well and so I think she won’t have as bad as issues as you do.” She said reassuringly.

Twilight looked at Chrysalis. “You joke around with someone who on more than one occasion has threatened to kill you in painful and creative ways and you know I would. I don’t think you are the sanest person either.” She said with a chuckle.

The Queen shrugged. “Yes well even if you do I know you wouldn’t do it for no reason, there’s been a lot of times I have screwed up and you only yelled at me and only actually struck me when it was an extremely stupid mistake that was easily avoided.” She said and looked at the alicorn. “You’ve helped my hive when all others would have just condemned us and you still help them without hesitation and that is the mare that I usually see and know you as.”

Twilight nodded and sighed, she had a feeling she was going to be doing that a lot for a while. “Still, I’m worried. I mean….what if the next major threat to the nation is literally my own insane kid who is going on a killing spree with her magic and I have to send the army against them.” She said. “I mean you remember how powerful Flurry was when she was born and everything she did was an accident and normal foal play, there is a chance that our kid won’t do it by accident and who knows what other abilities the foal will have being half changeling queen.”

Chrysalis nodded. “I know but what you seem to forget is that the foal won’t be alone, we are going to be there and if she does have certain thoughts we can teach them how to control them and how to release them safely. You figured it out by yourself so with two of us around it shouldn’t be too hard, we will just be careful.”

“Yeah, I think your right, I’m over reacting to something that hasn’t even happened yet and may not.” She smiled and nudged the Queen’s shoulder. “Knew there was a reason I kept you around besides good sex.”

“Well nice to know you keep me around for more than one reason.” The Queen said with a chuckle that Twilight joined her in.

Twilight got to her feet and clapped her hands together. “Ok, now that the initial panic is over and you are aware of what’s happened we now have to figure out a plan both for what to do for the next few months, as well as after, and figure out how to deal with everyone else when they either figure out what happened or we tell them.” She said as she started to pace till a rumbling sound was heard. And the mare stopped and looked back at the Queen. “But first we are going to have dinner as I am starving.” She said pointing at the queen. “And you are staying for dinner Queeny as I am telling Spike as he will need to know and there is no way you are leaving me to deal with that shit on my own.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” The Queen said with a chuckle as she got to her hooves. “Dinner sounds nice anyways.” With a nod Twilight canceled the silence spell and the two of them made their way up the stairs.

<<>>

In the Crystal Empire Princess Flurry Heart looked up from the book on structural engineering of the Crystal Empire, a gift from her aunt, she was reading as she felt a shift in the magical threads that ran across this world she called home.

“What is it?” Cadence asked looking up from the reports she was reading on the Crystal Empire’s food reserves. The pink alicorn looked much like she has decades ago though her mane was no long styled the same as it once had been, it was much shorter and straight with just a slight curl at the ends to frame her face, she had changed her style as the main reason she had worn her hair mane in that manner was to catch the attention on her late husband and without him she did not want to have her mane in any form that caught the eye.

“Something interesting seems to have happened.” Flurry said marking her page. “And it involves Aunt Twilight.”

“Did Chrysalis finally tell her how she feels?” Cadence asked perking up a bit.

“No nothing like that but it does seem to involve Queeny.” Flurry said, she always called Chrysalis Queeny as she had picked it up from when her aunt visited with the Changeling queen and Flurry had picked it up and it had stuck.

“Ah to bad.” Cadence said a bit sadly, she had been watching the two of them like a hawk just waiting for the day the Queen finally gets up the nerve to actually tell her sister-in-law how she has felt for decades. Now more than ever Cadence was waiting as before she under stood why the queen hesitated do to the fact she would out live the unicorn mare, however her sister-in-law was not an alicorn and would live much, much, much longer now so there was no excuse. “Do you have any idea what it is?” Cadence said going back to the reports.

“Well if I’m reading the threads right then it seems Aunt Twilight is pregnant.” Flurry said absentmindedly.

Cadence was glad she had been reading reports and not drinking anything as there would be a mess to clean up otherwise, as it was the papers were flung to the side as the pink alicorn got to her hooves. “I’ll have them get the train ready.”

Flurry looked over at her mother. “Oh? Are we going somewhere?” She asked with a smile. She knew how her mother had been watching the soap opera that was her aunt and Queeny’s life for decades now and she always found it entertaining to watch her mother get so worked up over it, something else she picked up from her aunt though the fact her mother could spend hours ranting about the two of them did mean it was better to be entertained by it rather than annoyed.

“Yes, we are paying your aunt a visit right now. Go get packed.” Cadence said heading for the door.

“So we are just going to show up at the library in the middle of the night?” Flurry said innocently.

Cadence stopped mid-step. “Ok new plan, we are going to visit your aunt tomorrow and I’ll have them get the train ready first thing in the morning.” The Princess of Love said and Flurry couldn’t help laughing.

“Yes mother, that sounds like a fine idea, I’ll be sure to pack tonight.” The alicorn said before going back to her reading with a smile on her face, she always enjoyed visiting her aunt and listing to her stories of her many escapades as a soldier and the fights against the forces of evil that threatened the nation, plus it was always fun to talk about engineering with someone who did constantly agree with her and bow constantly.

Author's Note

Well got to see a bit of old Twilight and see how things work with her a bit.

also got to see Cadence and Flurry Heart.

Chapter 3: Visit

The next morning after Twilight her learned of her condition found her in a sleeping bag in the living room as well as Chrysalis in her own sleeping bag. The queen had stayed and night and without a guest room that left the main room of the library and Twilight wasn’t the type to let her friends sleep down there alone so it had turned into a sleepover, though not in the sense as a sleepover was defined in a book Twilight had read a long time ago and she found most of that stuff ridiculous. They most just had a few drinks, ate some snacks and talked about random topic. Granted Chrysalis had taken all over Twilight’s whiskey as she couldn’t drink while pregnant, Twilight in no way did not whine or pout about this fact, she had handled it like the adult mare she was and completely agreed with the Queen.

After Spike had been informed of Twilight condition the little drake had been very excited about the fact, for some reason questioning why it took so long, Twilight still didn’t know why he said that shed need to ask him later. He had made them dinner and made sure Twilight had extra in her plate as she was now eating for two as he said. While Twilight founded how he said that annoying she had to admit she did clean her plate.

After that the drake had promised to make extra sure everything in the library was perfect and that she wouldn’t need to worry about anything as he’d handle it. Twilight had assured him she was more than capable of doing things on her own but he had insisted he’d handle taking care of the library. Twilight had to admit she was proud of the drake for taking on extra responsibilities to help her.

After that it had been getting the sleeping bags and pillows and after Spike went to bed setting up the makeshift camp in the library’s main floor where the two discussed random things as well as how the army was doing and how some of the new research at the Equestrian Military Science Division Facility would change several plans the two had come up with and were locked away in Equestrian Defense Force High Command inside a filing cabinet simply labeled X do to how unlikely the plans would ever be used. Do to what some of the plans entailed, Plan 77 involved the EDF wiping out the Royal Guard and then moving on the Royal Sisters and Twilight establishing herself as the sole ruler of Equestria which would be awkward should the other Princesses find that file as it was very detailed. Only Twilight and Chrysalis were aware of filing cabinet X and had access as it was hidden away in Twilight’s office in High Command.

If some of the research paid off then some of those plans would need to be updated.

After an hour of these talks and eating snacks the conversation turned to the future and how they were going to handle the situation. Due to not knowing anything about how a pony changeling hybrid would act, look like, or what abilities they would have all the two of them could come up with was to read a few books on the subject of childbirth and a few on raising a foal while Chrysalis explained what it was like raising changeling nymphs.

After that it was time to sleep and that was how twilight found herself waking up at exactly 4:30 AM. She got to her hooved and stretched and a moment later Chrysalis woke up as well and she climbed to her hooves. Being the guest Twilight let The Queen use the bathroom first and once she was done Twilight went through her routine.

The two of them then put the sleeping bags away before both headed out to Twilight’s running path for their morning jogs. Both of them had talked while doing so however the Queen had to stop before Twilight was done, the mare’s cybernetics had always allowed her to push further than normal people and now that they were upgraded and she had earth pony traits it allowed her to go even further.

While Waiting the Queen had done some basic exercise as Twilight would be annoyed if she just sat there waiting.

After that they both went through the same routine Twilight always did except the Queen didn’t have a small meal as changeling didn’t normally eat pony food, though they could it just wasn’t as nutritional as emotions were.

IT was after the second breakfast with Spike that a knock came from the door. Twilight slipped from the couch where she was reading a book on foals the library had and made her way to the door.

“I’m sorry the library is closed right now.” Twilight said automatically as she opened the door a crack.

“Really? Is that anyway to treat your old foal sitter?” Cadence said with a smile.

“Cadence!” Twilight said happily fling the door open and hugging her sister-in-law. “It’s so good to see you.” The purple alicorn said dropping to her hooves and standing before the other alicorn who also took a stance.

“Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake, clap your hooves and do a little shake.” They both intoned at the same time as they went through the old ritual.

“You know that still looks strange to me from the first time I saw it all those years ago. “Chrysalis called form her seat as she placed the book she had been reading to the side.

“Well I think it’s cute Queeny.” Flurry Heart said as she stepped up to the door.

“Flurry!” Twilight cried and flung her hooves around her niece in a tight hug, not too tight as she didn’t want to hurt the alicorn.

It’s good to see you well aunty.” Flurry said returning the hug and nuzzling the mare’s neck.

Twilight broke off the hug and stepped back. “Come in, I didn’t expect you two to come for a visit, what brings you here.” Twilight said with a smile as she stepped aside and allowed the other two alicorns into the room, she glanced and watched as eight dark suited crystal ponies who wore sunglasses and ear pieces took up position around the library as four other followed the two princesses into the building itself and took up positions around the room, their faces masks of stoic professionalism.

Once the crystal guards were in place and satisfied with their positioning Twilight shut the door and made her way to a chair. “Spike can you make some tea, we have guests.” She called as she took a seat.

“I heard.” Spike called from the kitchen, the drake had been doing the dishes at the tie and clearly heard the ladybug chant.

With that dealt with Twilight looked at the pink alicorn. “So what brings you here?” She asked with a smile.

“Do I need to visit my second favorite pony?” Cadence asked with a smile, everyone knew how much she doted on Flurry Heart and could understand all things considered.

“Well no, just usually you send a letter or email is all.” Twilight said.

Cadence smiled and picked up the book from the coffee table. “Simple guide for expecting mothers, everything you need to know about your pregnancy.” The alicorn read before looking at Twilight. “Interesting choice in reading material.” She said.

Twilight snatched the book away with her magic. “Someone returned it and I decided to take a look at it.” She said quickly.

Cadence nodded. “Uh-huh, well I hear it is a very good reference guide though no amount of reading can prepare you for what actually happens.” She said with a smile and Flurry heart couldn’t help giggling as she watched from her seat.

“Yes well the mare said it did help put her mind at ease so there is that.” Twilight said.

Cadence nodded. “I’m sure it did. “She said and looked at the changeling queen. “Good morning Chrysalis, I trust you are well?” She asked. The two of them had long since dealt with what was between then a long time ago so they could be on mostly friendly terms with each other, though they never would actually spend time with each other unless it was with others. One simply did not toss someone into a hole in the ground and take their form to invade the capital city on your wedding day while mind controlling your future husband and expect to become friends after that.

“I’m well as I ever am. “Chrysalis said with a shrug.

Cadence nodded and smiled. “That’s good to hear.” She said as she sat back and her smile evolved into a smirk as she looked between the two of them, these two were always such good entertaining to watch what with how the Queen felt about the mare and the possibility of how the mare felt for the queen, Cadence wasn’t sure how Twilight felt as her emotions always seemed somewhat muted but still was entertaining to watch.

Shortly after that Spike arrived with a tray topped with a tea pot and four tea cups, he knew the crystal guards would refuse anything to eat and drink while on duty.

Twilight poured each of her guests some tea and prepared it exactly how they liked it, small dab of honey for Cadence, one sugar for Flurry heart and straight for Chrysalis. With each guest having their tea Twilight took hers as well, nothing added.

“So then how has things been in the Empire these days? Reports from up there say this year’s snow fall had been partially heavy.” She said remembering what both Fort Chekov and Irongate Prison Complex were reporting on the MNet. She didn’t have any direct reports from the Empire itself as the EDF was not allowed within its borders do to lingering effects caused by King Sombra. Armed soldier walking around would because a lot of negative reactions for those who had lived through the kings rein though these days it was mostly just a tradition now as only few ponies from back then still lived. The Empire prided itself on being able to deal with issues within its own boarder and Twilight was fine in letting them as they were well trained even before they modernized.

“So are you planning of visiting Canterlot anytime soon?” Cadence asked.

Twilight nodded. “Actually yeah I was thinking about taking some personal time and visiting with Celestia and Luna.” Twilight said as she sipped her tea.

“I’m sure Aunty Celestia and Aunty Luna would be very happy to see you as it has been a few weeks since you last visited them face to face.” Cadence said with a nod.

“Yeah well I’ve been kind of busy with the army and the whole “Princess” thing. That is taking some getting used to and I know it will take the lads some time to adjust to be being both their commander and a princess at the same time. Frankly I’m still not sure where the line is yet.” Twilight said.

“Yes it does take some getting used too; you should have seen how it was when me and Shinning first took over the Empire.” Cadence said and then froze for a second.

“So Flurry Heart Twilight tells me you have been studying the structural engineering of the Crystal Empire, how has that been going?” Chrysalis asked changing the subject rapidly before Cadence’s emotions could drop much further.

Flurry knew what Queeny was doing and smile. “Yes I have been since Aunt Twilight gave me that book a few months back.” She said. “I’ve been bugging mom to find more books she has been so busy right mom?” The alicorn said as she nudged her mother.

Cadence shook her head and blinked. “Huh? Oh yes, I’m sorry dear it’s just I’ve been so busy, as Twilight said with the snow being a bit heavier this year food may become an issue as the rail lines may need to be shut down and air travel grounded.”

“I know mom, it’s why I haven’t brought it up much.” Flurry said. “Though I do think you should take a vacation, I’m sure I could handle things for a few days while you went and relaxed and if not I know Aunt Twilight would come and lend me a hoof.” Flurry said with a smile.

Cadence nodded. “Perhaps, I have been meaning to give you a few responsibilities so you can get used to running the Empire and I know Twilight would be there if you needed help.”

“With an army if need be.” Twilight said with a smile.

Flurry giggled as did Cadence. “I have no doubt about that.” The pink alicorn said.

Twilight nodded and smiled and the conversation moved onto other subjects, mostly just the four of them catching up as it had been a few weeks since they had last seen each other and Flurry talking to her aunt about engineering, Cadence and Chrysalis remained quiet during that as nether of them knew enough on the subject to really follow the conversation after a certain point. It was after lunch that Cadence decided they had taken up enough of Twilight’s time and that she would visit her aunts in Canterlot.

“It was nice visiting you Aunt Twilight.” Flurry said hugging the purple alicorn. “Maybe next time you can visit the Empire and I could show you a few of the ideas I have had for some new additions to the castle?”

Twilight nodded. “That sounds like a plan; I’ll see what I can do for the next couple of weeks.” She said and nuzzled her niece.

“Be sure to let us know when so we can have a room ready for you and any guests you bring.” Cadence said as she glanced at Chrysalis and just barely kept a smirk from her face. She hugged her sister-in-law before heading for the door as the other two follow.

Just before she reached the door, after the guards had left she stopped and looked back over her shoulder. “Also you may want to cut back on the exercise a bit as too much exertion could harm the foal.” She said then walked out the door and closed it on the dumbfounded look on alicorn and changeling queen’s face.

Cadence laughed all the way back to the train station as she imagined the look perfect, oh yes those two were an endless source of entertainment.

Author's Note

Well got too see one of the ways Cadence keeps herself entertained in life as well how CTS has influenced her niece.

Chapter 4: Meeting

It had been about four days since Cadence and Flurry Hearts visit and in that time Twilight had taken Cadence’s advice and cut down on her morning run and exercise to half as well as studied every book the library had on foals and what to expect both before and after birth. So far it was all pretty standard stuff she learned while studying medicine but still never hearts to make sure you know everything.

With Cadence reveling of being aware of Twilight’s condition despite not being told the two military leaders had stood there in the entryway to the library for about fifteen minutes in utter shock at the casual bombing the Princess of Love had dropped on them.

After that it had been trying to figure out how she knew as Twilight was in no way showing any signs beside being sick in the sometimes. In the end they figured it was most likely Flurry Heart who had figured it out do to the alicorns ability to read and feel the natural magic of the world as if it were an open book. It was this talent that was the reason when Flurry Heart was born she seemed so powerful and was able to shatter the Crystal Heart as she was manipulating the lines of magic of the crystal empire instinctually with the mind of a foal.

As she had grown older she had learned to control this ability and through tests found she was able to nudge the worlds natural magic in the direction she wanted, it was this discovery that eared the alicorn her Cutie Mark of a single red star with over two dozen white wavy lines coming off it to signify the lines of magic that ran the world. When not channeling the worlds magic Flurry Heart was as powerful as a young alicorn and that didn’t seem to be increasing at all, though she made up for that with her special talent as it made her on par with Twilight in power level as she can quite literally get nature to fight for her at times.

After that the Queen had to return to her duties elsewhere the country and Twilight checked on reports on the MNet as there were a few things she wanted to keep an eye on. Namely the zebra frigate. Based on the new report the Equestrian destroyer who first made the report had approached the Zebra ship and radioed. Seems the ship was suffering a navigational system failure and thus was staying close to land as it made its way back to port so as not to risk getting lose, Naval Command had given the destroyer permission to escort the Zebra ship back to its home water and the zebra has thanked the destroyer for the assistance as it would take it almost two days to reach home by the other means.

With that resolved Twilight had logged off after commending the captain of the destroyer for rendering aide to the ship and gone about more research on foals and her own pregnancy.

After four days of running the army out of her office and Spike keeping his word of taking care of everything in the library it left Twilight enough time to do her research and make a plan. Till this progressed furthering her routine did not need to change to drastically, just the reduction of her morning exercise and picking up the vitamins the doctor had recommended, Twilight had used an illusion spell to disguise herself as she didn’t want this getting out just yet till she had a better handle on the situation. The next major step was to inform Celestia and Luna of the situation and that was why Twilight now sat in her personal gunship with Chrysalis who had insisted on going with the young alicorn as it flew through the air on its way to Canterlot.

“You nervous?” Chrysalis asked as the city approached rapidly

“A little.” Twilight said, there was no point in lying as the Changeling Queen was the only person able to feel Twilight’s emotions no matter how deep she buried them.

“What has you so nervous?” She asked.

“Just how they will react, mostly Celestia, Luna I know will be ok, though she most likely will find a way to use this against me for her own amusement but Celestia I’m not so sure.” Twilight said and signed. “I mean her I am the leader of the army, her military advisor, recently crowned Princess and I’ve been an alicorn not even a month and I’m pregnant. I have absolutely no idea how she will react as I’m not even married and we never told them we were screwing each other.”

Chrysalis nodded. “Yes I can see why you would be nervous however from what I know of Celestia she will be ok with it and supportive though she may be a bit hurt you didn’t tell her of our relationship till now.”

Twilight nodded and adjusted the tiara on her head, she had choses to forego her uniform and meet with the other two Princess as an equal for this news rather than a subordinate as this was sort of a big deal, though she still wore her sunglasses as she felt weird without them and they were very useful when walking into Canterlot Castle.
The young Princess of Friendship royal regalia consisted of the standard hoof covers that both the Royal sister war as well as the yoke around her neck, this one sporting a jewel in the shape of her Cutie Mark in the center of it and a tiara modeled off what the Element of Magic used to look like before Twilight’s ascension and it decided to change into the form of the military cap that was part of Twilight’s uniform and sat safely locked away with the rest of the elements for the day it may be needed, though without new Bearers the elements were basically useless. All of her regalia was a color that was a combination of the gold Celestia’s was and the silver Luna’s regalia was.

Twilight was still getting used to wearing the regalia as for decades she wore the simple uniform of the Equestrian Defense Force and she had learned that even though she had been around for years and there were several books written about her by authors and such who interviews her many still stared at the scars that covered her body even after her ascension had made them look less repulsive they were still clearly scars. While over the years she had gotten better at dealing with the stares the facts is it always made her skin crawl being stared at, reminded her to much of what happened to her.

As the helicopter came in to land at the Canterlot EDF garrison Twilight took several deep breaths to steady herself and once they landed she used her magic to open the door as she and Chrysalis undid the harnesses holding them in their seats. She waved to her two pilots, an earth pony and unicorn who sat in the cockpit of the gunship before she made her way from the heli-pad to the doors that lead to into the garrison. She nodded to the soldiers who saluted; EDF soldier saluted all superiors whether they were higher ranking officers or the Princesses, as she walked by to acknowledge the gesture. She moved more or less on auto-pilot, allowing her body to make its way through the well-traveled path from the garrison to the castle’s main gate while she mentally prepared for the coming meeting.

As she and chrysalis walked they past two pure white ponies, one Pegasus and one unicorn who wore a gold uniform and cap with silver badges on and lacked Cutie Marks, on their flanks was a 9mm pistol. These two were members of the Royal Guard, as technology had advanced and their armor became obsolete the Royal Guard had adapted to the times. They no longer wore the gold armor of old except for ceremonial reason and now they wielded pistols and shotguns and the occasional semi-auto rifle and wore armored vests under their uniforms. The sword and spears were also reserved for ceremonies like the armor.

In some cities like Manehatten and Fillydelphia where the roads allowed it the Royal Guard actually drove cruisers topped with red and blue flashing lights. Cars had been around for about forty-five years though at the start only the army and the rich had them but as time marched on the motorized transports became available to the lower classes and soon there was other ways to get around beside by train and pony drawn carriages as cars replaced them.

Air transport now existed as well as it was possible for civilians to get pilots licenses for wither helicopters or planes and all the major cities, saver Canterlot which had no way to expand do to its location, had massive airports meant for planes that could carry about a hundred people either across the nation or too other countries with ease. Even though air travel had been proven safe and reliable, rarely did a plane crash, the first generation of planes had been feared by many ground bases ponies who were not used to leaving the ground, but as generations were born the fear slowly died out and now air travel as just a part of life for the common pony or changeling to use for business or vacation.

Trains were still in full use but gone was the coal fired steam engines, replaced by magically powered engines that produced more power at less coast and allow trains to pull more train cars. And with more train cars being pulled it meant more cargo could be moved, though slower than a plane could move it one could move even more cargo by train as if needed a second engine could be added to help pull the train.

The EDF used both planes a trains as well as convoys of trucks to moved cargo and troops around. The military versions of these methods of travel were slightly different then the civilian counterparts in that the planes were all armed in some way and armors and usually escorted. While the trains had a military car, cars equipped with both anti-air and anti-tank weapons, for every three train cars being pulled and were based off the Crystal Empire’s train in design though modified with a battering ram on the front as the trains had order to not stop for any reason unless the train was at risk of jumping the tracks and to travel at maximum speed that they could safely. In short anything got in the way of an EDF train would be plowed through without a second thought and only warned by a single blast of the train’s air horn.

Many a pony had not believed this fact in the beginning but after many carts and a few fatalities do to ponies refusing to get out of the way the public soon learned to get out of the way when a military train was rolling through.

Twilight was drawn from her thoughts by Chrysalis nudging her shoulder as they reached the gate to the castle. It seemed like the trip took far less time than it should have and Twilight made sure her regalia was on properly before nodding to the two dark suited Royal Guards who stood beside the gate who nodded back before going back to watching crowd from behind their sunglasses. Twilight knew that after she walked by one of the guards would use his ear piece to informs the rest of the castle guards that she had arrived with Chrysalis and that they would then inform Celestia and Luna.

These guards were slightly different then the Royal Guard who patrolled the city as these ones were charged with protecting the Princesses directly, as such they had slightly more training and access to more weapons such as sub-machineguns and a few assault rifles another other weapons though they still did carry the 9mm pistols on their persons.

The guard had been trying to get Twilight to let them guard her but she always explained that there was no room in her library and Ponyville already had a few EDF soldiers onsite plus she couldn’t probably deal with any threats to her person better than they could. Least that was one she told them, the real reason was that they would be annoying and get in the way. In the end she had compromised with them, during events where she was acting as a Princess or whatever they could provide her protection, but if she was there as the leader of the EDF then she wouldn’t have a protection detail but they could be nearby.

After a lot of debating both her and the Royal Guard came to an agreement on the matter much to relief.

As they neared Celestia’s Private study, this was a personal visit of one Princess to another and thus was a privet affair, Twilight ran through the breathing exercise Cadence had showed her a few times before they reach the door.

“Ready?” The alicorn as the Changeling beside her.

“As I’ll ever be.” Chrysalis replied.

With that Twilight reached up a hoof and knocked.

“Coming in Twilight.” Celestia said from the other side of the door and Twilight pushed the door open, she still couldn’t figure out how the older alicorn knew it was her whenever she knocked.

The older alicorn sat on a pillow beside the small fireplace that was built into one of the walls. Twilight couldn’t help smiling as she took in the room. Even after all these years this single room had not changed really, the only addition being a computer now sat on the desk on one side where before it had been nothing but quills and parchment, granted those were still there. Twilight always felt calm and at peace when in this room no matter what was happening.

Celestia smiled at her former student as she entered and closed the door after Chrysalis had entered. “It is good to see you again Twilight, how have you been since the coronation?”

“I’ve been good all things considered, still getting used to the wings and such.” The smaller alicorn said as she walked over to her former mentor and embraced her. Something’s would never change for the mare no matter what she went through she would always feel completely safe when hugging the older alicorn.

After a few moments Twilight released the hug and took a pillow beside Chrysalis who she knew was most likely feeding off the emotions between the two alicorn, Twilight had given her permission to do so as had Celestia.

“Luna will be along shortly, she wanted to take a little time at the range before this meeting.” Celestia explained and Twilight nodded. The Lunar Princess had taken to the introduction of firearms with enthusiasm, finding the efficiency and precision of the weapons to be fascinated and practicing with them helped calm her mind much like when she practiced with the sword. Though firearms were less tiring and easier to find time for as it only took a few minutes to walk down to the EDF shooting range in the castle and she could stay for very short periods of time or the day if she wanted.

Both the Princesses had learned the use of new weapons of Equestria though only Luna did so out of general interest, Celesta was out of familiarizing herself with things her ponies had so she could better understand them without having to fully rely on other. Granted that didn’t mean she didn’t own one of the EDF bolt-action sniper rifles whereas Luna preferred the semi-auto DMRs of the sharpshooters, though without a scope as she liked the iron sights.

“So Chrysalis how has your hive been doing these days?” The Solar Princess asked the Changeling queen, the two of them had long worked out any animosity they had for each other after the whole Invasion incident decades ago and where now friends. Celestia did enjoy having someone she could speak with about ruling that wasn’t family or a possible political enemy such as foreign diplomats as she knew the Queen was fully loyal to Equestria through Twilight.

“My Hive does well, we have more than enough food for our numbers to the point I am having a second storage area built that will be twice as big as the first one.” Chrysalis said happily, anytime she thought about how her hive was doing it always made her happy as it meant she was doing well as a ruler and also because it meant she had made up for her failures so many years ago when her action had gotten so many of her hive killed.

Celestia nodded with a small smile, it was always good to hear how well the Hive was doing after how rough it had been integrating the Hive into Equestrian society. While she hated the fact her ponies were not perfect and they held grudges and could let fear and hate guide them. But her former student saw to the integration and through her efforts as well as a few other things the changelings had slowly been accepted. Granted that did not mean all were alright with the changelings, there were still hate crimes as well as those her constantly called for the hive to be expelled from Equestria before they could turn on them. Celestia doubted there would ever be full understanding and acceptance among her ponies, people just didn’t work like that.

A series of knocks came to the door and a moment later the door opened to admit Princess Luna to the room.
We are sorry we are late, we lost track of time.” The Lunar princess said slightly out of breath as she had galloped from the shooting range.

Twilight smiled. “It’s ok, you didn’t miss much, just general greetings” She said. “It’s good to see you Luna, how have you been?”

Luna took a seat beside her sister and smiled as well. “We have been well Twilight Sparkle and in fact have improved in out accuracy with our rifle.” Lune said with a proud smile.

Twilight returned the smile. “That is good to heat; perhaps sometime we can have a little competition to see who can get the best score.”

Luna tilted hear head slightly in thought. “That is a most tempting offer; however we know of your skill with the rifles and do not believe we could best thee.” Luna said, Twilight knew not to mention the fact the Lunar Princess had slipped into old equestrian dialect as she only did it when particularly happy or excited, or angry but that was beside the point, and pointing it out would ruin her mood.

A second set of knocks came to the door before anyone could say anything else.

“Come in.” Celestia said and the door opened to admit a yellow unicorn mare with a red and pink mane pushing a cart topped with a tea pot and four cups as well as everything that could be added for tea.

“The tea you asked for your highness.” The mare said politely as she used her magic to lift the train of tea onto the small table between the three alicorns and one changeling.

“Yes, thank you Fragrance.” Celestia said with her normal smile.

Once the tray had been placed the mare bowed her head before leaving the room with the cart and closing the door behind her.

The three ponies and one changeling poured themselves tea and sat in silence for a few minutes as they drank.

“Now then Twilight what is on your mind?” Celestia asked as she sipped her tea.

Twilight calmly sipped her. “What makes you think there is something on my mind?”

The Solar Princess laughed softly. “I have known you for most of your life Twilight, I can tell when there is something on your mind that has you concerned and since you came as a princess and not an army commander it must be something that doesn’t have to do with the military and is of a more personal nature.”

Twilight carefully sipped her tea, she had been going over how best to tell the two princesses but so far she hadn’t been able to figure out a way, why couldn’t talking to people be as simple as planning an attack? Oh well, might as well treat it like a band-aide. “I’m pregnant.” She said.

The two Royal Sister stared at the purple alicorn, tea cups held in their magic for a few minutes before Luna spoke. “Well this is a surprise Twilight Sparkle as we did not know thou had a stallion in thy life.”

“Yes, I too am surprised and most curious who it was that caught your eye Twilight. “Celestia said as she sipped her tea and glanced at the Changeling Queen who sat beside her former student, already putting the pieces together do to centuries of practice in such things thanks to the Game of Houses.

“uh….well….you see.’ Twilight said a bit nervously. Band-aide Twilight, BAND-AIDE! Her mind yelled at her. “It’s not a stallion, well not exactly, it’s complicated actually.” Really? You have charged tanks with just your sidearm and yet you can’t just spit it out. Her mind scolded her.

“Oh? Well that does make sense as matters such as these usually are complicated.” Luna said with a nod.

Spit it out already and get it over with as the longer you delay the harder it will be, come on you are a soldier, you have faced way more terrifying things than this. Her mind decided to try a pep talk rather than berating her. “Well you see….uh….Chrysalis is sort of the only one I have been with so it’s her kid as well.” Twilight said a bit nervously.

The two sisters stared at the young alicorn and Luna glanced between her and the Queen. “Well then we wondered when you two would finally tell us though we do wonder how thee became with child.”

“Yes indeed, though it may be a combination of the natural attributes of being an alicorn and Chrysalis’ shape shifting magic making this possible.” Celestia said as she sipped her tea.

Luna nodded and sipped her tea. “Yes, that makes the most sense and is how this came about in all likelihood.”

Both Twilight and Chrysalis stared across the small table at the two royals as they calmly discussed how Twilight was pregnant as if the fact they had been screwing was common knowledge.

“Oh come on! First Cadence and Flurry Heart and now you two as well?” Twilight shouted. “Is there anyone who doesn’t know?”

“Most likely the general public and anyone who hasn’t know you both for years id imagine are in the dark.” Celestia said and Luna nodded.

“But we were hiding it.” Twilight said.

“Yes and you did very well too.” Luna said. “It took me to that dance in the other Equestria to realize it.”

“I had my suspicions about six months before that but with everything going on at the time I kept quiet and was just happy you found someone Twilight.” Celestia said once more calmly sipping her tea. Twilight and the Queen looked at each other then back at the two royals.

“How?” They both said in unison.

Celestia chuckled. “Well as I said I knew you for most of your life Twilight so it was not hard to see the signs you had someone in your life, especially certain times of the year when normally you should be agitated and staring at just about everyone. The fact you weren’t staring meant you must have dealt found something to satisfy those urges and there is only one way to completely keep them under control.” Celestia said with a smile and Twilight couldn’t help blushing, if it was anyone but Celestia she was talking too she wouldn’t have care but covering this subject with the Princess of the Sun was embarrassing.

“After that is was a simple matter of paying attention to who you were around and how you acted around them. Then by processes of elimination the only possibility was Chrysalis.” Celestia said and smiled with a glint of mischief in her eyes. Unraveling the puzzle of who had caught her students eye had been one of the funest things she had done in a long time and though she was not sure exactly how her student felt for the Queen she could tell how the Queen felt just by looking at how she acted around the mare and what she did when she thought no one was looking. And now being able to revel exactly how she had done it all those years ago to a blushing Twilight and Chrysalis was the icing on the proverbial cake.

“For me it was the ease in which you two danced to a song that was meant for couples as mere friends could not so easily dance to such a song.” Luna said with a nodded, this causing the blush on both Twilight and Chrysalis to grow before they looked at each other and in unison downed their remaining tea before pouring another and downing that.

“Gods I wish I could drink.” Twilight said after the second cup was gone.

“Lucky me I can.” Chrysalis said as a bottle appeared beside her held in her green magic and she undid the stopper and downed a large pull of the strong alcohol.

Twilight narrowed her eyes at the Queen when she finished. “I hate you so much right now.” She said feeling taunted.

The Royal Sister couldn’t not help chuckling at the scene before them.

Chrysalis finished her drink and replaced the stopper before the bottle finished. “Well now that that is dealt with. “Twilight punched her in the shoulder. “Since you seem to know about us and don’t seem to care I guess we made this trip for nothing.”

“Well not exactly as this development does change many things.” Celestia said.

Twilight looked at Celestia and cocked her head to the side. “How so?”

“Well for one I assume you will let Chrysalis be part of her child’s life as I doubt you would do something like that.” Celestia said and Twilight nodded. “And that most likely means you two will probably need to live together, at least for the first few years as I’m sure you will need help raising a foal that is half changeling and thus will need Chrysalis to be on hoof” Celestia said.

Twilight blinked, she hadn’t thought of that but it was true, she’d need to have Chrysalis nearby most of the time to help with the foal as she could get help if it was just a pony foal but with its changeling D.N.A who knows what traits it will have that only Chrysalis would understand and be able to deal with. The only logical thing was to have the Queen live with her. How could she have not thought of that? Slowly the plan she had seemed to be falling apart the more she thought about it.

Celestia smiled as she saw Twilight come to the realization that Celestia was right. “And while I know neither of you mind sharing a bed. “Celestia smiled wider as the spark in her eye grew as the two blushed once more. “Once the foal is born it will cause a problem as the Library is simply too small for both of you, Spike and a foal as it was never designed for that many.”

Twilight thought about it and while the foal was a first born the crib could be housed in Twilight’s bedroom but eventually the foal would need their own room and she couldn’t exactly kick Spike out as that would be like punishing the drake and telling him she didn’t appreciate everything he had done for her nor care about him. “What would you suggest?”

Celestia sipped her tea. “That’s simple.” She said. “You are a Princess, so build a castle.”

Author's Note

TROLLESTIA LIVES!!!!!

also I know this was a lot of exposition but hey what do you expect after 50 years of development.

Chapter 5: Calm

Twilight Sparkle stood in her uniform outside of Ponyville watching as Changeling workers and pony construction workers went about clearing land and removing dirt in the back of large dump trucks so that the sub levels of her castle could be built eventually.

It had been a couple of weeks since her visit with the Royal Sisters where she told them she was pregnant. After finding out that they had been fully aware of her and Chrysalis’ relationship for decades now the conversation had shifted to where her castle should be located. In the end they had all agreed it should be near Ponyville as that was where Twilight had lived for most of her life and frankly she didn’t want to live anywhere else even if she was going to miss living in her library she at least would still live in the town, well sort of.

After it had been decided where to build Celesta and Luna had suggested Twilight help plan the castle itself as it was to be her home. It had been Twilight’s decision to also allow Chrysalis to help plan since she would be living there as well.

It had taken them about a week of working with the Royal Contractor; one would be surprised how often the castle of an alicorn needed to be repaired structurally, before the design of the castle was finalized. Most of that time had been spent arguing with the contractor as the mare kept wanting to build a castle like the one in Canterlot or the Crystal Empire’s but Twilight just wasn’t having it.

While she liked aspects of both castles she simply would not have hers like that. In the end it had been a mix of both castles with many other additions.

The Throne room would be much like the one in Canterlot, though shorter and the windows set high into the walls with another set down lower rather than large bay windows leading up to a raised dais that her throne would sit on with an archway behind it leading to a door that could be used to escape if need be. Along the walls, only half the room was going to have the lower windows would be small alcoves with doors in them leading to small rooms that she planned to have soldiers in in case there was trouble.

Each hall of the castle would be some narrower than the other two castles with choke points strategically placed to allow for easy defense, there would also be passage ways between the walls to allow her to move around the castle unseen should she choose to. Her bedroom was going to be near the top of the castle, which was more of a single tower really surrounding by a high wall and would have several large windows to allow natural light in but also have blast shutters that could slam down to block any attack, actually all the windows were like that as well as every hall having a series of such blast doors.

There was going to be a balcony a lot like the one the royal sisters had off there to allow her to go out and enjoy the view from time to time as well as whatever else she wanted to do while on very high vantage point and not far from her bedroom would be her officer that she would run the EDF from as well as take private meetings, while she liked the one in the basement of Golden Oaks library she had to face facts that she wasn’t going to live there anymore and would need to find someone to take over running the place. That would take some time as she wasn’t going to let just anyone take over the library.

The dining hall was like the other two castles in that it was a long room with a table and a door that lead to the kitchens that would be large enough to seat a good number of people. Not far from the dining hall was a large ballroom that she could host parties, meeting or whatever else she chose to do with the room.

The base of the tower was larger than the rest of it as the upper floors mostly consisted of bedroom and storage while the lower floors housed the dining hall ketches ball room and throne room as well as other places such as barracks, a gym, large swimming pool, just because she couldn’t swim didn’t mean other couldn’t enjoy it, as well as other rooms any EDF base had.

Between the castle and the wall was going to be a running track, obstacle course and a shooting range and a helipad along with a motor pool and onsite storage.

The basement of the castle was going to consist of a bunker and command center that would let her link up with all over EDF bases and act as a sort of Command Bunker should she not be able to reach EDF High Command in an emergency, one of Chrysalis suggestions had been to also have an access to the hive as well and frankly Twilight figured she would so the Queen could come and go to it as she pleased and it would help keep the hive hidden if the entrance was under her castle.

The past few weeks Twilight had noticed the Changelings acting weird around her, they had always shown her respect as the leader of the army but something about it now seemed different and the way they spoke to her was different, it was still professional but there was this underlying thread of devotion and reverence as well as anytime she did something one would ask if she needed help or if she was alright, Twilight would need to ask the Chrysalis about it.

The outer wall of the castle was going to stand about forty five feet tall and be made of normal stone brings over reinforces concrete and be allowed out much like a bunker in of itself. Along the lower section of the wall would be gunner ports to allow for deployment of machinegun nests and half way up the wall would be mounted large anti-tank cannons while at the top of the wall would sit both anti-air cannon and surface to air missile launchers that would also be onto of the central tower itself to deter an air assault.

Over all Twilight was very pleased with the design of the Castle of Friendship as it was going to be officially called since she was the Princess of Friendship after all. Chrysalis had said shouldn’t it be more inviting with a name like that and twilight had promised her they would paint it in nice inviting colors and hang some banners along the wall as well as whatever else you needed to make the place look inviting and friendly.

Chrysalis had just sighed at her answer for some reason.

Twilight had the entire layout of the castle planned out right down to her throne and interior decorations and what would go into each room, everything had its place. Except she still had no clue where to put Chrysalis. Her mind went back and forth in giving her the room right beside Twilight, or them sharing a room. And that was where her planning unraveled as her mind fought over this.

While her and Chrysalis has spent the night together sharing a bed and such that wasn’t an all-time thing. But if she had the Queen in her room then it would make things….different between them, Twilight wasn’t sure what it would be exactly. They were both going to be parents to their foal, that was a fact, but she had no clue what they would be as throughout the years they had always just been friends who slept with each other on occasion, nothing complicated.

Now though everything was becoming beyond complicated and filled with unknowns that Twilight wasn’t sure what to do, she hated that feeling as she always knew what to do till this point.

Twilight was drawn from her thoughts when one of the changelings workers walked up to her. “Are you alright…?” He asked with some concern, Twilight noted the slight pause at the end of what he said as if he wanted to say more but didn’t.

“Yes, just thinking and planning out my castle.” She said and the changeling nodded before turning and heading back to work. Twilight noticed several of the other workers glancing in her direction from time to time or watching her as they worked. Defiantly going to have to ask Chrysalis about this.

Taking one last look at the site where her castle would soon be built the mare turned around and headed back towards Ponyville, she needed to clear her head and she knew one place she could do it.

<<>>

The line between what was considered wilderness and what was the Fluttershy Animal Refuge was not marked in anyway, in fact one could cross between the two and never know as the only fence was the original one that sat around the small cottage at the center of the refuge.

As Twilight walked up the road towards where one of her closes friends had once lived the alicorn took in the scene before her. Fluttershy’s cottage still stood exactly as it had been, the place never seemed to change no matter what advancements were made as Fluttershy had never had much interest in the new technology, the only piece she had was an old phone and she only got that do to her age as visiting friends was difficult.

The chicken coop was still in place but was now much larger to accommodate the larger number of chickens and beside it was a covered shed used to bath animals that needed it. Across from that stood a storage building that held all the food for the refuge needed for the animals and beside that stood the medical bay, it wasn’t hard to figure out what that was used for.

The six person staff lived in the cottage much like Fluttershy had, in that they were surrounded by the animals do to the same reason they worked at the refuge, they wanted to follow in Fluttershy’s hoofsteps. Originally it had just been a sort of live in aide for when Fluttershy wasn’t able to get around as easily as she used to but slowly it grew as more people heard about the place and what she did and slowly more people showed up to help. And they simply never left after she passed away and continued to run the place as if she was still there. Twilight wouldn’t have it any other way.

As Twilight neared the first of the buildings a lightish-red Pegasus mare with a blue mane stepped out of the building with a bag of dog food on her back humming a tune Twilight knew very well as Fluttershy used to always hum it, she swore it was like the yellow Pegasus had never left do to how the place was ran. The mare glanced over at Twilight as she neared and perked up. “Oh hey Commander, come by to visit the animals?” She asked with a smile.

“Yeah something like that.” Twilight said and the mare nodded before heading off towards a part of the refuge that had a little over a dozen dogs of different breeds sitting patiently for their lunch. Twilight fell in behind the mare.

“Been, what, about a month since your last visit?” The mare asked. Her name was Calming Breeze and she was the unofficial head of the refuge in that it was her that dealt the most with other people, the refuge didn’t really have any leader as everyone knew what to do and just did it.

“Yeah around there.” Twilight said as she took a seat to watch the mare expertly pour the food into the bowls.

“Also I wanted to thank you again for the generous donation last week, it really helped us out.” Breeze said without looking up from her work, due to the fact none of the employees technically worked the refuge relied on donations of anything and everything, Twilight was one of the biggest donators of bits, food, medical supplies, whatever the place needed really as she kept careful dabs on the place.

“Hey you guys needed a new roof, couldn’t have you getting rained on now could I?” Twilight asked with a chuckle.

“Well no I suppose not but either way thank you.” Breeze said placing the bag back on her back. “Feel free to walk around Commander and if you need help the others would be happy the help.” She said before heading back towards the storage area to get more food for other animals and Twilight nodded.

Once Breeze was gone Twilight watched the dogs enjoy their meal and took a deep breath, of the air, even the air smelled the same as it always had, some things would just never change.

Twilight sat there watching Breeze and the rest of the staff go about their business of taking care of the animals and the grounds. It was always interesting to see what animals were here as it was always changing, once she had actually found a manticore here, just napping among the rest of the animals, its leg in a splint as it had been injured and somehow made it to the refuge, all the animals seemed to know that this was a safe place that would take care of them.

After an hour a grey unicorn stallion with a purple and yellow mane walked up to Twilight. “Will you be staying for lunch Commander?” He asked politely. Twilight tilted her head in through before nodded and the Stallion smiled before turning and heading for the cottage, Twilight following behind him. Once thing this place did that was like no other was that though she was the leader of the army and a Princess now, they treated her the same as everyone else, it was nice and relaxing as though they called her by rank they treated her like she was just a normal pony off the street. Was refreshing from time to time.

As they entered the cottage twilight removed her cap and sunglasses and they disappeared into her pocket dimension, she could already smell the soup being cooked as it seems they waited till lunch was almost ready to come and ask if she wanted any. Though she couldn’t help noting there was a seventh place set at the table already.

Smiling at that Twilight took her seat at the table and was soon joined by all of the staff except for the Calming Breeze and the one helping her cook. There was the stallion that had come to get her as well as another Pegasus mare, an earth pony stallion and a changeling, that means the one helping in the kitchen was the second changeling that lived and worked here.

“So Commander, how have you been since your last visit?” The Pegasus mare asked, she was light orange with dark green mane by the name of Gentle Sunrise.

“I’ve been good, no worse off than I have ever been.” Twilight said politely.

Sunrise nodded. “Been up to anything interesting?”

“Just the usual, running the army and such.” Twilight said and the other mare nodded.

A moment later Gentle Breeze and the other changeling came out of the kitchen, a large pot of soup resting on a small cart that was wheeled beside the table and the changeling picked it up in his magic before placing it in the center of the table.

Once it was placed the two of them took their seats at the table. “Lunch is served everyone, enjoy.’ Breeze said happily and everyone at the table took turns filling their bowls. IT was just a simple vegetable soup and though it lacked a key ingredient Twilight enjoyed a lot it was still one of the best tasting soups she had ever had, still there was one pony’s soup it would never compare to but it was a close second and a good substitute since she wouldn’t be able to have the other mares soup again.

As the group ate they chatted about the day and how the refuge was doing and what still needed to be done that day. Twilight was asked question about how she was doing by the two changelings and if the soup was to her likening, this wasn’t off from these two changelings but they seemed to ask them a bit more often than they usually did.

After lunch Twilight offered to help out with things but like every other time she offered the others told her she was a guest so they would handle the cleanup. Once the table was clear the staff all made their way out to continue their work.

Twilight decided it was time for her to head out as well as she had work to do back in her office. As she donned her hat and sunglasses one of the changelings approached her with a sealed bowl held in his magic. “Will you be alright heading back to town on your own?” He asked.

Twilight looked at them and nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be fine, not like I haven’t made the same tripe hundreds of times before.”

The changeling nodded his head and then held out the bowl. “Some left over soup for in case you get hungry.” He said and Twilight blinked before taking the bowl in her magic.

“Thanks.” She said a bit uncertain, that was new.

The changeling nodded his head a bit deeper this time. “Stay safe Commander.” He said before turning and heading back to the kitchen to finish whatever he had been doing.

Twilight defiantly was going to have to talk to Chrysalis as this was just getting weird, but that could wait till after her work was done.

With the bowl of soup vanishing into her pocket dimension the alicorn headed out the door the make her way back home.

Author's Note

well we got to here what the Princess of Friendships "Castle" is going to look like and how friendly it will look

also got to learn about what happened to Fluttershy's cottage as well as meet some of the people now living there.

Chapter 6: To War

PRINCESS PREGNANT!
According the sources who wish to remain anonymous the recently crowned Princess of Friendship, Princess Twilight Sparkle, is confirmed to be pregnant. Who the father is or how the other Princesses are reacting to this information is unknown but rest assured these question will be answered as we here at Equestrian Times will not rest till we know the full story.

Many theories of who the father of the Princess’ foal is abound, some believe it is another officer in the Equestrian Defense Force as the Princess has strong ties to the military. Others believe it to be one of the nobles who work closely with the young Princess.

According to a source within the castle the Princess of Friendship has spent a lot of time….

Twilight glared at the morning paper as she read the article that took up most of the front page, the rest of the page was taken up by pictures of her at her coronation and a few of the events she went to as a Princess.

Someone had talked, while she was sure Dr. Helpinghoof hadn’t as he firmly believed in doctor patient confidentiality, the reason she had chosen him as her primary doctor through her pregnancy, the nurses were another thing. Anyone of them could have sold the story to the press as a story like this would pay a lot of bits, or they could have been working for one of Twilight’s enemies in the Game of Houses who were using the information to try and ruin her name.

As she reread the article the scowl on her face only grew deeper till when she finished reading she ignited her horn and a moment later the paper burst into flames. A second later a pile of ash fell to the floor and Twilight began to stomp on it and grind the ashes into the floor of the dining room as she growled. The more she thought of the article the more her blood boiled.

Spike walked into the dining room and blinked as he found her priming a brick of plastic explosive on top of the pile of ashes. “Uh….Twilight, what are you doing?” he asked a bit uncertain.

“Taking out the trash.” She said firmly as she placed the last wire in the brick, now all that was left to do was detonate it.

Before she could push the button Spike grabbed the detonator from her hand. “Ok, I think you need to calm down.” He said soothingly.

Twilight glared at him for a moment before she blinked as what she just about did sunk in. Had she really been so mad she was going to detonate a brick of plastic explosives while she was standing over it? The hell was wrong with her?

Sighing Twilight started to disarm the explosive. “Sorry, something in the paper just really made me mad.” She said apologetically as she worked.

“Well I think it’s safe to say we reached the mood swing stage.” The young drake said with a small chuckle as he placed the detonator on the table and went to start breakfast.

Twilight grumbled, it had been about a week since her visit to the Refuge and thus she had been pregnant for about two and a half months. After a few more tests Dr. Helpinghoof had managed to determine about how far along she was. According to the tests she had gotten pregnant sometime in the week after her coronation, that left only a few points that it could have happened as her and Chrysalis had only slept together twice that week, once as a sort of celebration as Twilight being crowned a princess had caused her political enemies to nearly shit a brick, the look of horror and fear on some of their faces absolutely amazing that Twilight had barely kept her wings under control, thank the gods she had researched certain aspects of pegasi biology in her study of medicine so knew what to expect when she had wings.

However even if her wings did stay under her control the look of absolute fear on some of their faces had been too much and thus her and Chrysalis had celebrated her coronation once everything had calmed down so they could slip away, it had almost been painful as the ceremony and after party took hours as everyone wanted to meet and congratulate her.

The second time had just been a bit of stress relief as she had to be tutored in all things Princess as running an army and running a section of the country were drastically different. Still despite the stress Twilight had adapted to it like she adapted to everything else.

Twilight was sure it was one of those two times as they were the only two events that fit the time frame.

Twilight finished disarming the explosive and placed it back into her pocket dimension along with the detonator. If she really was at that stage she would need to be extra careful as she had kept her true nature hidden by keeping her emotions under careful control, this incident proved that she was losing some of that control.

She was drawn out of her concern by Spike belching green flames that formed into a scroll that missed the floor as the purple alicorn caught it in her magic.

Unrolling it she didn’t need to read who it was from as only Celestia still sent messages this way, even with the advancements in technology the Princess of the Sun still preferred this method of communication as it was more personal, Twilight liked it as well for that reason but also because there was no way anyone could intercept the message.

Unrolling the scroll Twilight began to read.

Dear Twilight

I hope this letter finds you well. I know the meeting you had with the EDF Command Staff was scheduled for this afternoon but something has come up that requires your immediate attention her in Canterlot and I ask that you arrive as soon as possible.
Celestia

Twilight eyes widened at the message, Celestia didn’t send urgent messages often, something major must have happened. With thoughts filled with all the possible scenarios Twilight shot to her feet and headed for the door.

“Twilight you need to eat.” Spike said somewhat firmly. Twilight knew she’d never hear the end of it if she skipped a meal in her condition and so ran back and grabbed an apple and some bread that she put peanut butter on before rushing out the door leaving a satisfied dragon behind her as she ate while heading out the door, she had given her pilots the morning off as she didn’t need them till this afternoon and thus it would take too long to find them so she headed for the train station hopping whatever disaster had happened could be dealt with by the rest of the command staff till she arrived.

<<>>

Twilight was going to kill Celestia that was simply a fact. While many saw the alicorns as goddesses, which simply wasn’t true. Yes they did not age past a certain point and they most likely would live forever facts were they could be killed like anyone else. It was only difficult because of the large amounts of magical power they possessed which allowed them to use extremely powerful healing spells and the like. But a little poison in her cake would take down Celestia as surly as a sniper’s bullet from range.

Thinking about it Twilight would most likely need to deal with Luna as well as she probably had something to do with this as well so it looked like Plan 77 would be a ago and Twilight would be becoming the sole ruler of Equestria by the end of the week.

What had brought about this decision of a coup was what Twilight found when she arrived at the castle in Canterlot. With her mind racing with all possible disasters and plans forming to counter them all the alicorn had failed to notice the gate guards’ smirks as she walked by.

When she arrived to the castle she had been guide to where Celestia waited, that had been the first red flag as rather than being escorted to the throne room or Celestia’s study she was taken to one of the ball rooms. She suspected something was up.

Walking into the ball room the suspicion had been proven correct when there was a cry of “Congratulation Twilight” from the group of ponies, the two royals included when she entered. Twilight had assessed the situation in an instant, food spread out on the tables, non-alcoholic drinks, balloons, streamers, all her friends and everyone else she knew and a massive banner reading “CONGRATULATIONS!” hung above a pile of presents wrapped in various bows and wrapping paper. Her mind could only come to one conclusion. This was a party to celebrate her status of being pregnant. Twilight hated most parties that were not Pinkie Pie style parties and that meant she hated all parties and being the center of attention in these parties only made it worse.

The smile on Celestia’s muzzle and that spark in her eye reveled who had arranged this and the slightly smaller but still matching spark in Luna’s eye proved who helped.

Yes they were both going to die. Maybe not today or tomorrow but at some point when they least expected it she would deliver a killing blow and rule the land for all time with no fear of the Royal Sisters arranging this sort of party for her ever again.

Putting on her friendliest smile Twilight looked around the room more noticeably. “What is all of this?” She asked, feigning ignorance and surprise.

One of the castle servants closes to her smiled wide. “It’s a party to congratulate you on your pregnancy.” They said happily.

Twilight blinked and looked around. “Really? All this just for me?” She looked at the servant. “You really shouldn’t have.” She said with a smile. And she meant it to though not in the friendly way she said it.

Celestia chose this moment to walk over with the same smile on her face. “Of course we should have it’s not everyday someone you know gets pregnant and it’s all anyone in the castle can talk about what with it being in the paper and all.” Celestia said.

Twilight stared at her, while she knew Celestia would have respected her privacy enough to keep the pregnancy secret till Twilight chose she knew the Sun Princess was not above taking full advantage of the fact everyone knew now to tease her.

“While I’d have liked to have wait before announcement it seems fate has deiced everyone should know now.” Twilight said, she made a mental not to track down who told and lock them away in a deep dark hole in Irongate Prison Complex up north.

“Yes it seems that way and with that announcement we simply could not have a party for the newest Princess to celebrate her growing family.” Luna said walking up to join the two of them.

Twilight nodded. “Of course not, I’ll simply have to find a way to thank the both of you.” Twilight said with a smile and the other two smiled back, war had officially be declared and while Twilight was still new to this type of war she knew she could hold her own against ancient alicorns. All she had to do was keep her wits about her and use the rescores available to her.

Twilight spotted a mass of black chitin near the refreshments table. “If you two will excuse me I think I’m going to go grab a drink.” She said and when the two royal nodded she split off from the heading straight for the mass of chitin that was the changeling queen trying to avoid detection two bad the only other changelings in the room were considerably smaller and looked nothing like her. “Hey Queeny so good to see you here.” Twilight said as she walked up to the queen.

“Yes, it’s good to see you as well.” Chrysalis said as her eyes darted around looking for an escape route.

Twilight nodded. “I bet it is, this was a total surprise to walk into a party like this without a single word of warning or hint what so ever.”

The queen broke down. “They made me Pinkie Promise not to warn you.” Just maybe if she told the alicorn it was a promise then she could survive.

Twilight nodded once more. “Oh no doubt they did as I don’t think you’d have kept me in the dark about this ambush otherwise.” She said and leaned closer to the queen the same friendly smile on her face. “Still though I think I’ll show you just how much this party really means to me the next chance I get.”

The Queen swallowed and nodded before sighing in relief. Seems her plan paid off as she dodged the chopping block and would just receive a standard punishment. Though what that could be was anyone’s guess as it all depended on the mare’s mood at the time of giving it.

With that out of the way twilight relaxed. “Anyways how you been Queeny?”

“Oh fine all around. Showed up here for the staff meeting and got dragged into all of this.” She gestured with a holed hoof to the party around them. “By the two leaders of the nation’s I’m sworn to protect and made to promise not to send a changeling to warn you.” Chrysalis said.

“So….pretty much a normal week?” Twilight asked.

“Pretty much though usually it’s you roping me into some sort of scheme so this is a breath of fresh air.” Chrysalis said.

Twilight rubbed her chin with a hoof as she thought. “Yeah actually your right, this probably is refreshing as usually I’m the one screwing with people.” She said thoughtfully. “So this is what it feels like to be on the receiving end.”

“Well I wouldn’t say the exact same but probably relatively close.” The queen said.

Twilight looked at the queen flatly. “What does that mean?”

“What you find amusing is different than what most other people find amusing.” She said. “You tend to use a more psychological approach.”

“Is it my fault it’s fun watching people squirm?” Twilight asked as she grabbed a glass from the table and started to fill it with some of the punch.

“No, not really but still this isn’t really the same.” Chrysalis said as she followed the alicorns example and grabbed a drink.

“So how much of the rest of the command staff got roped into this?” Twilight asked as she made her way away from the table so others could get drinks if they wanted.

“Just me as far as I know.” The queen said.

Twilight nodded as she sipped her drink. She stopped beside on of the windows and turned to face the party. She felt naked as she had rushed from the library so fast she didn’t have time to grab her uniform and while she still had a spare in her pocket dimension it would be very unprofessional to dress during the party. So she was stuck in just her fur. While most ponies went around without clothes Twilight had worn her uniform for over five decades, it was more natural to wear it when not home then it was to not wear it.

“Well I see some of the staff is here so if the rest show up then I guess we will have the meeting here as it would be ridiculous to all be here and then go elsewhere to talk.” Twilight said as she saw half the staff was here, she was looking for a specific member for what she had planned.

“You sure that is wise to talk so publicly?” Chrysalis asked.

“It will be fine as this meeting is just talking about each Divisions budget in a general manner and a few other things that will be public record tomorrow anyways.” Twilight said as she spotted who she was looking for. She downed the rest of her drink and headed two the two who stood slightly apart from the rest of the party against the wall.

Before she reached them Celesta stepped into her bath. “Twilight why don’t you open your gifts?” She said with the same amused smile on her face that made Twilight want to punch her former mentor in the face, she wouldn’t, maybe.

Twilight sighed. “Yes, yes fine.” She said as she was lead over to a table beside the stack of gifts. How people bought gifts this fast was beyond her.

The gifts were what she expected from a party such as this, toys for a foal, some clothes, blankets and all manner of foal related items. Every bit of it was gender neutral as not even twilight knew the gender of the foal as it was still too early to safely tell if they even could.

As far as she knew no one had ever tried to determine the gender of a foal of an alicorn before it was born and with her foal being half changeling queen who knew if it would even be possible at all. As she opened gifts and had the standard “d’awws” and picture taken of the happy expectant mother, thank the gods she had perfect the same sort of mask Celestia had that hid her real emotions. Granted twilight’s had been crafted for a different reason then Celestia, least she was pretty sure the older alicorn wasn’t a psychopath, hard to tell as after a millennia she’d have perfected hiding it.

After the gifts came cake and food, while Twilight hated to admit it the cake tasted beyond amazing and she ended up having several slices everyone else watched with amused smiles as she ate her sixth slice. She just glared at them which made them laugh as she was still taking bites. Not her fault it tasted so good.

In the end it took almost two hours for her to be left alone so she could approach the two who still stood apart from the rest of the party sipping drinks. “Director Griltan, Director Star it’s good to see you.” She said with a smile.

“Good to see you too Commander.” Griltan said as he sipped his drink. Griltan was the Director of the Military Intelligence Division, what the changeling infiltrators became when the hive was absorbed into the EDF so long ago. As an infiltrator Griltan was slimmer than the standard solder and worker changeling as their entire purpose was to avoid detection and thus was slimmer and smaller.

Though Griltan looked different than a standard changeling infiltrator do to the scar that ran down from the base of his horn, just past his left eye and along the left side of his jaw. A rare sight as changeling healing slaves didn’t leave scars as the chitin healed completely under its effects.

The changeling had received his distinction when he was just a young M.I.D operative assigned to infiltrate a sort of cult based in Manehatten who worshiped Luna and planned to overthrow Celestia to place the Lunar Princess on the throne.

Griltan had received a kill order for the leader of the cult but an unfortunately arrival of one of the cultists has alerted everyone to who he was. The fight had been fierce and Griltan had taken out several of the attacking cultists down before one got a lucky slash across his face with a knife. They had beaten him severely and tossed into the river that fed into the ocean.

Somehow the changeling had survived and made it to short and despite his injuries succeeded in carrying out his kill order earning himself a medal and a long stay in the hospital.

The stallion beside him was Director Blinding Star, head of the Biohazard Containment Division of the EDF. The BCD handled any and all biological and chemical outbreaks that happened all across the world. The ponies and changelings of the BCD had seen some of the most horrifying things on the planet and had a very large respect for nature that bordered on worship just do to the sheer power of nature and what it could do with its viruses and bacteria to living being.

Blinding Star had a fist hand experience with such a virus while dealing with an outbreak in a small Saddle Arabian village when a patience he was examining had attacked him. The ensuing fight resulted in his hazmat suit being ruptured and the stallion being infected with the flesh eating virus that was everything in the village.

Despite everything Dr. Star had locked himself in one of the mobile labs that had been set up and continued to work as the viruses slowly ate away as his flesh, running tests on himself as a live subject. In the end he found an anti-viruses but not before a large part of his own flesh had been eaten away and even with the anti-virus dealing with the flesh eating virus the unicorn had nearly died of infection as almost 70% of his skin was gone and just wrapped in bandaged he had no way to change. According to the reports he had actually used duct tape as bandages when his ran out.

He lived but was more scared up then Twilight was as everywhere the virus had been was now scar tissue as he had refused skin grafts on the ground the survivors of the village needed it more than him. Thus along the rise side of his jaw, down most of his neck, his entire chest, all of his right leg and most of the left as well as everything down his body and stopping just before his Cutie Mark of a microscope and down one back leg was nothing but scar tissue.

“How are you two enjoying the party?” She asked the two Division Directors.

“I do not like being around so many people.” Director Star said as he watched the crowd. The BCD doctors where famous for the total displeasure of being in large groups of people and with all they had seen it was understandable.

Twilight nodded. “I know, after out meeting you can return to your facility.” She told the stallion and he nodded in thanks. Twilight then looked at the other director.

Griltan just shrugged. “Enjoying it as well as you’d expect.” He said, as an infiltrator he naturally did not like being in his natural form around so many non-changelings as he felt exposed.

Twilight nodded. “Well after the meeting is dismissed you can return to work.” Twilight said and then smirked. “Actually Director can I talk to you for a moment?” She asked and the director nodded and followed twilight a little ways away from Blinding Star.

Twilight leaned close to the head of the M.I.D. “I got a mission I need taken care of, one that will be the highest levels of top secret, a total black operation with no traces left behind.” She said and the Director nodded.

“Alright, I think I have a team in mind, what’s the mission?” He asked and twilight smiled.

<<>>

In the dead of night when all but the Lunar Guard and the few night servants and Princess Luna herself were awake with in the castle much of the castle sat empty. One such place was Celestia’s persona study. Empty and with no lights on the room sat quiet.

Till a very faint clicking could be heard from the door that lead out tonto the small balcony. After a short time the clicking ceased and the door knob turned. The door opened silently as the dark figure outside silently placed the lock pick set back into a pocket of his vest. Slowly two figures slipped into the room and silently closed the door behind them.

“Team two, infiltration successful, no sign of guard activity, proceeding with objectives” the changeling infiltrator said over the link to the first team that was infiltrating Celestia’s privet bedroom.

“Confirmed Team Two, proceed with caution, after this enter link silence till we contact you.” The leader of team one replied. Link silence as a lot like radio silence only with the hivemind and usually meant an infiltrator was doing something incredibly dangerous and needed full concentration. Infiltrating Princess Celestia’s privet bedroom while she slept to steal the slice of cake she always kept in her fridge more than qualified as dangerous.

Team two didn’t reply as they moved through the room, their eyes naturally adjusting to the low light allowing them to see as if I was early dawn.

While one of the two infiltrators made for the small hidden fridge to recover the cake hidden within the other carefully booted up Celestia’s computer. The infiltrator had the thanks the Mothers that modern computer were silent when they booted up and not like the old ones that made an awful noise when they booted up as that would surely alert the guards patrolling the halls.

Once the computer was booted up the infiltrator hooked up a small device to it, the device linked the PC to a fifth infiltrator hidden in another part of the castle that then proceeded to hack the computer and then open up the messaging system.

The infiltrator watched as the hacker typed out the message they were supposed to send, it had to be perfect and match Celestia’s writing style perfectly, it did.

“I have decided to go on a small diet so for the next week no cake is allowed with in the castle. It is important that I stay on this diet so no matter what I say you are not to give me any cake till the week is out.

Please send a message to all bakeries and other shops that sell cake and tell them the same thing.

Under no circumstances are you to give me cake.
Princess Celestia.”

With the message sent to the kitchen, the night staff would carry it out and inform the day staff and ensure the word spread, the infiltrator unhooked the device and shut down the computer before looking at his fellow infiltrator who was half way through eating a slice of cake.

“What are you doing?” The first whispered angel.

“Disposing of the cake.” The second whisper back and the first facehoofed.

“We are taking it with us, not eating it.” The first said.

“oooohhhhh.” The second said quietly and wrapped the cake up and placed it in his back.

The first rolled his eyes. “Why do I always get stuck with the F.N.Gs” he said, F.N.G standing for fucking new guy.

With the cake now properly secure team two headed onto the balcony and relocked the door, the room complete undisturbed as if they had never been there.

With the door locked team two made their way down the wall to reach the rendezvous point to wait for team one.

Half way there team one reported completion of their objective and they were on the way.

Once they arrived the team disappeared into the night their mission complete with no one the wiser.

Author's Note

Commander Twilight Sparkle doesn't play games, even during a Prank War, she going right for the throat!

Chapter 8: Holiday

Twilight glared at the enemy before her. This battle had been going on for a while now, the enemy was dangerous, very dangerous, and the alicorn had already had several close calls. What she did next could decide her fate but the mare had few options left to her, the battle had left her with so little resources and no chance to resupply and her forces were decimated.

The enemy smiled at her and Twilight felt her rage start to boil, the mare couldn’t wait till the enemy lost and Twilight stood over them in victory. Surveying the field quickly she rapidly weighed her options. Ah perfect. She couldn’t help smirking a moment before she made the move that would lead to the defeat of her enemy.

The enemy responded quickly. “Checkmate.” Chrysalis said with a smile.

“OH COME ON!” Twilight yelled and stared down at the chessboard between the two of them. It was truly a checkmate; Twilight had lost to Chrysalis, again. Grumbling she crossed her arms over chest.

“Oh come on don’t sulk just because I won.” The Changeling queen said with a chuckle as she started to collect the game pieces.

“I am not sulking.” Twilight huffed.

“Right my mistake, stop pouting.” The queen said and dodged the chess piece the alicorn threw at her. It had been about a month since the changeling’s queen’s confession and while they were technically together now not a lot seemed to have changed between them, it made Twilight wonder exactly what their relationship had been before the confession.

In that time Twilight mood swings had increased to the point the rest of the command staff had forced her into maternity leave and thus revoking all her ability to give orders. This came quickly on the heels of her ordering a strike team to assault the offices of the Equestrian Times newspaper to arrest everyone in the building and ship them to Irongate after another article was published concerning her pregnancy with more speculation about who the father was, not a single person had even thought about the Changeling Queen the mare spent most of her time with and from some of the articles in other tabloid the idea that the two even had a relationship beyond co-workers was seen as crazy. Twilight could ignore the tabloids as most people didn’t take them seriously but the Equestrian Times was one of the biggest newspapers in Equestria and everyone read it.

The Command Staff had rescinded the order moments before the assault started when they learned of it and after that she was placed on maternity leave, that was two weeks ago.

Twilight had learned that without the ability to give orders, inspect bases or even do paperwork she had very little to do. In short, she was board. While her being a Princess gave her a little bit to do the fact was she was still new and thus had very little duties to attend do since she basically only ruled Ponyville and the surrounding area. Most of the problems the town faces were handled by the mayor. So with so much free time on her hands she had been forced to find ways to alleviate her boredom.

She was now banned from four stores and two restaurants in Ponyville for the next two months, apparently leaving a bodybag stuffed with carefully sculpted meat in a dressing room as well as placing tags that read “SALE 100% OFF” on multiple items or using telekinesis to make peoples food fight back against them as they tried to eat was frowned upon.
People just couldn’t appreciate a good joke in her opinion.

It was after the last banning that Chrysalis had started to visit her often to keep her company. While they were now an item they still just acted like they always did around each other and the only thing that changed was the Queen now randomly started humming to herself or sighing contently with a smile on her face when around Twilight. It was the Changelings that were really different, now that twilight was aware of her status they had taken to calling her “My Queen” unless she was on duty, which meant while on maternity leave they only called her “My Queen” that was going to take some getting used to but it was a lot easier than dealing with ponies calling her “Princess” at least the changelings had an excuse as it was a physical response that they couldn’t go against so it was just strange and not annoying.

Sighing once more the mare got to her hooves and stretched a bit before cracking her neck. “So how much longer before we head out?” She asked.

Chrysalis paused in placing the game board back on a shelf as she connected to the hivemind. “Not long as everything is almost read.” She said.

Twilight nodded and headed for the kitchen to grab some food, she was hungry again but didn’t know for what. After a couple of minutes Chrysalis walked into the empty kitchen and blinked. “Twilight?” She called as she looked around the empty room. After a quick searched she found the window open and when she looked out she found the alicorn. “What are you doing?” She asked blinking in confusion.

Twilight’s head shot up and she quickly wiped her mouth and started back at the changing queen like a deer caught in headlights. “Uh….nothing….”the now quadruped Princess said.

“Really? Because it looks like you are eating grass after climbing out the kitchen window.” The Queen said with amusement.
The pregnant mare’s eyes darted around before she looked down as if ashamed. “It just looked really good…”She said sounded defeated.

Chrysalis chuckled and shook her head. ‘You are beyond adorable at times.” She said with a smile as she crossed her forehooves on the window sill and rested her chin on them as she looked at the now fiercely blushing alicorn.

“I am not!” Twilight said, the queens laugh at this statement only made her cheeks burn worse, damn hormones not letting her keep her emptions under control. “Battle scared soldiers are not adorable.” She said defiantly.

“Well I think you are the most adorable thing Twilight.” The Queen said with a smile, she did enjoy teasing the mare now that she knew her feelings.

Twilight opened and closed her mouth having no real way to retort the fact the queen didn’t care what she looked like, how did you fight about against the one person who didn’t have to be blackout drunk to think you are best looking mare in the room?

Grumbling Twilight turned and started to walk off towards the nearby helipad. “Come on, we are going to be late.” She said with as much bite as she could, the fact her face was bright red ruined the attempt.

Chucking the changeling queen closed the window and headed for the front door to meet up with the mare at the helipad, even if Twilight was in control of the relationship it did not mean Chrysalis couldn’t have her fun with the mare when she wanted to.

Once the queen arrived the two of them climbed aboard the gunship and took their seats as Twilight two pilots started up the rotors. Both the pilots as well as the two passengers were dressed in their dress uniforms as today was a very special day.

<<>>

Twilight stood upon a stage along with the entire EDF command staff and all the alicorns of the land. All of them were dressed in their absolute best for today, the EDF officers’ uniforms were clean and pressed and looked brand new, the Princesses’ regalia was all polished to perfection. On either side of the stage stood poles toped with the banner of Equestria, beside them on smaller poles flew the flags of the EDF and Royal Guard.

Before the stage stood a mix of EDF and Royal Guard in their dress uniforms and behind them stood the citizens of Canterlot and other places from around the nation. In the air flew news helicopters, the event being broadcast across the nation on every channel for those who couldn’t make it the event. Everyone was dressed their best for today. Schools were closed, businesses were closed for the morning and in the afternoon the restaurants would open their doors and server anyone and everyone free of charge. Even the criminals of the land gave pause in their illegal activities for today.

Today was the Day of The Fallen.

As a distant clock tower chimed ten times to signal the time Princess Celestia moved towards the podium and the crowd beyond grew quiet as everyone focused on the Solar Monarch.

“Today marks the anniversary of the end of Equestria’s first war in centuries. The day the brief war ended and members of the Equestrian Defense Force and Royal Guard kept their oaths to protect this land and the people who call it home.” Celestia said, allowing her emotions to bleed through her carefully crafted mask. “Today we honor those of the Royal Guard and the Equestrian Defense Force who made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of saving others, whether it be during times of war or peace does not change the fact that these ponies and changelings gave their lives so that other may live in peace. Today we honor every single one of them who so willing paid the price for us in the last fifty years and we give them our thanks.” The Solar Monarch said, her words echoing across the silent crowd.

Behind the stage a large screen turned on as music began to play. The screen showed a group of ponies, mares, stallion and foals rushing down a hall, fear clear on their faces. Once the last one was through a large steel door slowly closed and locked, sealing them off from the outside world as the camera passed through the door and showed ponies and changeling in old EDF armor galloping around in organized chaos as a single voice of a military leader began to sing from the stage as she stood proud before the gathered crow.

Heart of their land as they made their stand
They stood strong and the legend still lives on

The camera moved through what was clearing an EDF base readying for combat as shells were leaded into artillery guns. The camera followed one of these shells as it was loaded and then fired. The camera followed the shell as it flew through the air and then detonated against its target’s shield. The image of Tirek only smiled as the battle of Fort Zandar began.

The Great War rages on
A battalion is holding strong
Under fire there’s nothing they can do
There’s no way they can get a message through
Suffered heavy losses as the battle carries on
Soldiers standing strong

The video shows as the Fort fired more and more on Tirek as he approached, all of it detonating harmlessly against his shield as he smirks and calls out for them to surrender. And then his shield cracks and a shell find its target. The image of Tirek’s face contorted in anger as he looked at the fort, its massive guns firing, the walls topped by soldiers firing their rifles at Tirek. Still firing as Tirek charged a blast between his horns. Still firing as the blast obliterated part of the wall.

Here the song shifted, as the military leader sang a line the crowd of soldiers and guards would sing the next.

Heart of their land where they made their stand!
A disregarded demand
It’s surrender or die and the stakes are high!
They live or they die there’s no time for goodbye
Weapon in hoof as they made their stand!
Still disregarding demand
They would never comply, they would rather die!

As the Fort was destroyed and the soldiers continued to fight till nothing of the fort remained and now shots came from the defenders the video shifted to show another base, this one mostly open ground filled with areas meant to train soldiers, the soldiers at the gate opening fire as the image of Tirek came on while behind them transports took to the air. An image of Discord fought Tirek, using his chaos magic to try and slow the other being and ultimately falling as the gate is destroyed.
The camera shifts to inside an office, a unicorn staring out the window as Tirek walks through the destroyed gate, between Tirek and the office soldiers shove rifles into the hooves of terrified ponies and the pony in the office raises a walkie talking to his lips and speaks, the words displayed on the screen. “Fight for your very lives” The pony watches as Tirek charged another magic blast and firing it straight at the office window, the pony simply closes their eyes as the screen is filled with white.

The Camera shifts to show Canterlot, the majestic city bathed in the evening light as the sun slowly sets. The pristine view of the city is lost as the camera shifts to show a series of bunkers as they begin to fire at the approaching Tirek, the being backed by the rising columns of smoke from the destroyed base behind him. With a single blast the bunkers are destroyed within seconds of the battle starting and Tirek moves into the city where the camera flies through to show Royal Guard and what remains of the EDF soldiers within the country preparing to defend the city.

Friends lost, munitions running low
Their supply long since depleted
The war still rages on
A battalion still standing strong
Chose not to surrender, they choose victory or defeat
Fallen brothers resting at their hooves

The battle rages through the streets of Canterlot as soldiers and Royal Guard attack Tirek from all sides. A single tank takes up position near a building and engaged Tirek. The camera swings around to show a single adult and an over a dozen foals escape out a back door.

Heart of their land where they made their stand!
A disregarded demand
Its surrender or die and the stakes are high!
They live or they die and the stakes are high
Weapon in hoof as they made their stand!
Still disregarding demand
They would never comply they would rather die!

The camera shows the battle through the castle as the music played with no singing. Soldiers and guards fought and died till the camera reached the throne room where the Princesses all stood. Between them and the door over four dozen soldier and royal guard.

The doors are blown off their hinges and the soldiers and guards attack Tirek who fires a single blast, ending the fighting before it began. The Princesses look at Tirek with defiance before they attack and the camera shifts to show the castle destroyed and the Princesses capture held in Tirek’s magical grasp as he leaves the ruined castle and finds a small group of soldiers and royal guard waiting for him outside of it. The image of Tirek smiles smugly as he speak, the words displayed on the screen. Our princesses have fallen, give up you cannot win.”

The soldiers and royal guard all look at each other before they raise their weapons and open fire.

Heart of their land where they made their stand!
A disregarded demand!
Its surrender or die and the stakes are high!
Live or die who call tell there’s no goodbye!
With weapon in hoof as they made their stand!
Still disregarding demand!
They would never comply they would rather die!
They stood strong and the legend still lives on!

The battle was one sided as Tirek moved through the city. What remained of the Royal Guard and EDF fighting him every step of the way as the ponies and changelings refused to surrender and kept protecting civilians and trying to rescue the Princesses.

The camera showed the evacuation site as it came under attack, the group from the school being rushed onto a transport by a unicorn mare with the insignia of the EDF Command Staff. The mare slamming the transport door shut as Tirek approached before turning and drawing her pistol. The mar eon the screen charged Tirek, firing her pistol as the transport behind her lifted off. As the mare ran more and more soldiers and royal guard joined her in her charge, firing the entire way. The guards and soldier keeping themselves between Tirek and the remaining transports as they load and launch, a charge that was doomed from the start.

Suffered heavy losses through the Great War they stood strong
The memory of the Fallen still lives on

The camera shifts to show the POV of a scope as it lines up on an unshielded Tirek before shifting to show a lone rifle peeking over a hill before it fires seven time and the image of Tirek falling and the magic of the land being released.

Heart of their land where they made their stand!
A disregarded demand
Its surrender or die and the stakes are high!
They live or they die there’s no time for goodbye
Weapon in hoof as they made their stand!
Still disregarding demand
They would never comply they would rather die!
Defeating the enemy they were finally saved

With the final words of the military leader the music slowly faded away, the last echoes of the voices of the soldiers and guards slowly echoing through the quiet city. The soldiers and guards all saluted as the screen displayed the nation’s flag blowing in the wind and the civilians all bowed out of respect to the ones who gave their lives in the past so they could be here.

The video was just a recreation of the events of the war as the actual events were not something to show the public and while the holiday was about everyone who died since the War with Tirek the events of that war showed the soldiers and the guards for what they were, ponies and changeling ready to defend the people of the nation with no regard for their own lives no matter what the threat was.

After a minute of silence for all who had fallen in the past years Celestia took the stage once more. “I would like to thank the members of the Royal Guard and Equestrian defense Force for all they have done and will continue to do for Equestria. This nation owes you all a debt we simply cannot ever repay. So on behalf of Equestria. Thank you all for everything you have done and continue to do.”

With that the ceremony was over and the crowd began to disperse to enjoy the day whether that be meet with friends and family for a meal or tank the soldiers and guards personally it did not matter. Even though it was a holiday today was one of the busiest in all of Equestria as family mourned those they lost and other thanked the fallen soldiers and guards for all they had done as well as thanked those still living. People went out of their way to speak to the soldiers, whether they be pony or changeling did not matter to most. They would thank them, talk with them invite them for a drink or a meal or even give them gifts. Even those within the county who had issues with certain members of the guard or soldiers put them aside and did not voice them even though they avoided those with in the Royal Guard and EDF they had issues with.
Today was a special day after all.

Author's Note

This chapter brought to you once more mu mu cell phone.

The the song is a partly rewritten version is thisnsone and is sing in the same manner to the same music.

Chapter 9: Family

Twilight muttered to herself as about the annoyances of being pregnant as she rode in an elevator. It had been several months since she first got the news and things had just gotten worse for her. She was having to deal with everything the books said she would, random cravings for things even she found odd, she hated having to go to the bathroom so often, though she was lucky she didn’t have to worry about her hooves hurting do to them being steel but everything else that was organic seemed to be making up for it. She found it hard to move now do to her stomach clearly showing her pregnancy now, seems being part changeling queen had combined the two pregnancy times in that it was shorter than a normal pony pregnancy but longer than a changeling queens. The most annoying of them all were the mood swings, randomly getting angry then pulling a 180 and crying was annoying, not to mention the random time she found herself laughing hysterically at things, least she only had a deranged laugh twice and Chrysalis had help cover that up.

Granted a few of those laughs had nothing to do with her mood swings and just had to do with the fact she found something absolutely hilarious and had an excuse to show some of her real emotions as everyone just chalked it up to mood swings.
As Twilight stood there listing to the gods awful music that all elevators seemed to play she found her hoof tapping with impatience that was quickly shifting to annoyance. Why did her destination have to be at the top floor?

Currently Twilight was acting as a sort of representative of the EDF as they realized Twilight having nothing to do was far worse then her having connections to the army when she ended up painting a giant “FUCK YOU IT’S CHRYSALIS YOU FUCKING MORONS! !” on the side of the Equestrian Times building before processing to covered the building in toilet paper, she had emptied every store in Manehatten of their supply of the household necessity just to cover the building when they published another article concerning her and more insane theories about her pregnancy, not one of them was even close, she had actually started to read the tabloid as they had caught onto who the other parent was. Some of the best damn investigative journalism she had ever seen as all of the tabloids had figured it out with in a couple days of each other while all the big time newspaper and agencies kept dismissing the idea of her having that sort of relationship with the queen of the changelings.
After that incident the army decided to reinstate her but on greatly reduced command ability. Which means she could fill out paper work and inspect passes just not give any major orders or deploy troops. It was an acceptable compromise.
And that was why she found herself in an elevator going to meet the founder and CEO of the Fairlight Corporation, one of the top munitions companies in Equestria and thankfully taking a lot of the burden off of the EDF to make its own weapons. Granted they still made a lot of them but with all the corporations popping up to make products that originally were made solely by the army it allowed them to focus on other tasks. It also meant the army wasn’t controlling 80% of Equestria’s production as that never sat well with Twilight as she had seen what a heavily militarized government could become.
As the elevator finally dinged Twilight barley stopped herself from shouting ‘finally’ as the doors opened to a small hall that lead to a room with a set of doors.

Leaving the elevator the mare walked down the hall in her uniform. There was young unicorn mare behind a desk beside the door who was typing away at a computer twilight reached the room. When she looked up she smiled. “Ah good afternoon Commander Sparkle, you can go on in, Mrs. Fairlight is expecting you.” She said presently and once Twilight nodded she went back to her typing. Walking to the door Twilight knocked twice to be polite before she walked in.
The office beyond was decorated with a bookcase and several plants as well as an expensive looking painting and a few personal pictures here and there. At the end of the room sat before a large bay window was a dark wood desk topped with some paperwork and a computer. Behind it sat a light orange earth pony mare with bright blue mane.

The mare looked up from reading something and her eyes widened for a moment before she practically jumped from her seat and snapped into a salute. “Ma’am thanks you for meeting with me.” The mare said stiffly.

Twilight couldn’t help chuckling. “Fairlight you don’t; need to salute me, you haven’t’ been in the army for ten years now.” Twilight said with a smile, some habits die hard especially for a career soldier like Fairlight.

The mare blinked before nodding and dropping her hoof. The hoof going to her other legs shoulder as she winced and rubbed. “Right, sorry ma’am…erm…Commander.” She said with a nervous chuckle.

“Relax Captain.” Twilight said with a smile. “This is your office, I’m the guest here.”

The mare nodded and slowly smiled. “Right, sorry, even with all of this. “She gestured with a hoof at the office around her. “I’m still a soldier at heart.” She said proudly and Twilight nodded with a smile, she had to respect Fairlight for what she had done after her discharge as it wasn’t easy building a huge company from scratch into a multi-million bit entity in just ten years. Though it made sense as she had always been a fine officer who knew how to get things done and without the army she applied that same skill and attitude to building her business.

“Would you like a drink?” She offered and twilight arched an eye brow at her. “Right…sorry.” The retired officer said sheepishly and Twilight chuckled to show all was fine. “Anyways I suppose you are here about the delay of the 5.53 ammo shipment.” She said and twilight nodded.
“Right let me get the file.” She said and stepped from behind her desk and reveled why she was no longer in the army and the fact it had been an unwillingly discharge as she limped to the filing cabinet. He left front leg was a prosthetic. The mare had been part of the infantry and had taken a direct sniper round to the leg that tore through her armor and took the leg clean off. The medics had barley been able to stop the bleeding and even then she nearly didn’t make it as the group of soldiers had been pinned down in a fire fight that lasted for a little over five hours before reinforcements were able to break through.
Even with her leg gone and risk of dying the mare had still been giving orders to her soldiers and keeping them organized.

Once she found the file the mare returned to her seat behind the desk and opened it. “Well according to the report from the factory the drivers are on strike as they want benefits increased and with where the trucks go and what they haul we finding replacements is rather difficult do to clearance being needed and the background check.” Fairlight said as she read the file. “We are negotiating with them but it will take a bit of time though they seem willing to listen.”
Twilight nodded and smiled. “Alright, was just wanting to make sure it wasn’t anything that the army should be concerned about. “Twilight said and stood. “Since it’s just a strike I’ll leave it in your capable hoo—“Twilight cut off as she winced and Fairlight looked at her with concern.
“Commander are you alright?” She asked.
“Yes I’m fine, just a—“She cut off again as she was hit with another sharp pain shot through her
“Ma’am what’s wrong?” Fairlight said coming around the desk and steadying Twilight as another sharp pain shot through her body. “Ma’am what’s going on?” She asked.
“I….I think I need to get to the” She winced again. “Hospital.” Twilight finished.
Fairlight eyes widened as she realized what was happening and looked at the door. “Scarlet call an ambulance, tell them Commander Twilight Sparkle has gone into labor!”

<<>>

Nurse Soft was the head nurse on duty in the Manehatten Celestial Mercy Hospital, or simply Mercy Hospital Emergency Room. She had been a nurse for many years now and had seen all sorts of situations from random hypochondriacs to multiple gunshot wound victim that she found amazing were still alive. She had seen so much that no matter what came through the door she wasn’t fazed.
Today threw all that out the window as she sat behind the ER desk with two other nurses; all three of them were sweating and fidgeting nervously. The reason being wasn’t hard to figure out as the waiting room before them currently sat two equally nervous patients as well as the entire command staff of the EDF, two alicorns that were sisters, two alicorns that were mother and daughter, some random changeling and two dozen of combat ready EDF soldiers and equal number of Royal Guards in full riot gear. She had heard from other sections of the hospital that soldiers and Royal Guard were patrolling the halls, doing their best to not interfere with the functions of the hospital.
A rumbling from outside drew Nurse Soft’s attention to what was outside the window as an EDF tank rolled down the street outside the hospital. The army had taken over an entire four blocks around the hospital and from what she had heard declared Martial Law within those blocks.
From her window she could see tanks setting up in defensive positions as well as the armies Humvees patrolling the side streets. In the skies pegasi from both the Royal guard and EDF flew patrols as helicopters from both groups also patrolled the skies. On the roofs the mare could see EDF sniper teams and she was sure there were more she couldn’t see hidden in the buildings.
The sidewalks had soldier in full combat gear and Royal guard in full riot control gear walking or holding positions behind sandbags and other cover aiming away from the hospital. She even saw a few of the EDF heavy machine guns set up in little sandbag bunkers.
The army was turning away everyone, including ambulances unless it was an emergency that they wouldn’t be able to reach another hospital in time, in which case the soldiers and guards followed them all the way to room then stood outside the door in case it was some sort of ruse.
A small army inside the hospital and an even larger army outside of the hospital with the entire leadership of the nation sitting in her waiting room, yes Nurse Soft’s ability to shrug off anything that came through those doors had long since left her.

“What the fuck do you think I’m doing you Celestia damn pieces of shit!!!”

And the sound of the Royal Canterlot Voice echoing from deeper into the hospital explained why all these people here.
“My she certainly likes using the often doesn’t she sister?” Princess Celestia said as she calmly sipped her tea.
“Yes dear sister, we figured she would find many a use for it when we taught it to her.” Princess Luna said as she read one of the magazines that adorn the waiting room. Both Royal sisters seemed complexly at ease with the yelling that was going on in the hospital as if this was an everyday occurrence. When the ambulance had arrived with the mare in labor Nurse Soft had thought it was just going to be another delivery, but mixed with who all arrived and the random uses of the Royal Voice to show obscenities and the occasional threat it had quickly gone past routine.
The Princess of Love and her daughter sat off to the side, one was reading a book she had brought with her while the pink alicorn looked as giddy as a schoolfilly with the large smile in her face and her eying practically shinning as she stared at the door and leaned towards it.
The command staff had moved some of the chairs around a small table and were currently playing cards with each other and were acting like this was nothing new to them, though with some of the things the army had faced Nurse Soft supposed this probably was just an ordinary day if not a minor incident.

“I BLAME YOU FOR ALL OF THIS CHRYSALIS AND I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!!”

That yell was followed by a loud explosion followed by someone yelling for an inhibitor ring.
Nurse Soft could only glance at two the equally nervous nurses with her, yes today was a day for everything to be turned on its head.

<<>>

Eight hours, many swears, a handful of threats, several explosions and four magic inhibitor rings later friends and family of the foul mouthed alicorn were informed that everything had gone well and there were only minor injuries, most of them to the Changeling Queen who came in with the alicorn who had been treated as well before the patient was moved to a private room and they could now visit her.
With that information given to the room full of the nation’s leadership the group had stood and asked if they could visit her. Not wanting to deny any of them, especially with multiple squads of soldiers and guards staring at them from behind the leadership with a look that said “Do it” the hospital staff granted the request and the group was lead to the room the alicorn had been placed in to rest.
The Royal Sisters were the first to enter followed by the other two alicorns as well as the EDF Command Staff. What they found was a Changeling Queen with several bandages on her body as well as a hoof in a sling, having learned never offer your hoof for a mare with cybernetic finger to squeeze as it tends to break bones. Sitting in the bed with a nurse making sure the monitoring equipment was hooked up correctly was Twilight Sparkle sitting up with sever pillows piled up behind her so she could rest against them.
As a stallion in a protective suit walked in and as saw the am rein the bed he felt a need to do what he rarely ever did, speak. “You look something the cat dragged in, ate then spit up Commander.” He said as he saw the disheveled appeared of the military leader.
Twilight fixed the stallion with a flat stare. “Thank you Lieutenant that’s just what I want to hear after giving birth.” She said flatly. The Lieutenant nodded before moving to a coroner of the room and Twilight rolled her eyes.
In the arms, the mare was clearly in biped mode as her fingers were deployed was a small bundle wrapped in a pink blanket. Several of the ones in the room crowded around the bed to try and see but a sharp look from the nurse quickly made them all back pedal. Once they got a node the four alicorns approached, two with well-crafted masks, one with interest and one with a slightly disturbing amount of interest, Twilight made a mental note to speak to psychological operations about them sending a doctor to talk to Cadence.
“She’s adorable.” Flurry heart said with a smile and the two Royal Sister nodded, both with small smiles, Cadence nodded vigorously, her muzzle wearing a wide smile, definitely having a psy-ops doctor talk to her.
Twilight and Chrysalis smiled as they looked at the foal in Twilight arms as she yawned, reveling small fangs and that her teeth were pointed rather than flat. This cause the alicorns to blinks before they remembered that one of her parents was a changeling queen.
The foal in Twilight arms had was a darker shade of purple then herself and her mane was a sea green color like Chrysalis’ but with a single stripe of purple the same shade as Twilight own mane. What the others couldn’t see do to the blanket was that the foals upper torso was wrapped in chitin that also ran part way down her fore hooves and down her spine to the base of her tail. It also took them a few moment to notice that the foal had a small horn that was slightly curves and pointed much like the changeling queen’s but wasn’t filled with holes like chrysalis’ and was made of the same bone as a normal unicorn’s horn. What caught them all of guard the most was when the foal opened her eyes and they saw they were slits just like chrysalis only her eyes were pink like a ponies.
It was not hard to see that the foal was in fact the daughter of the alicorn Twilight Sparkle and Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings.
Celestia smiled down at the foal. “She’s beautiful.” She said and Twilight smiled as she nodded up at the older alicorn. “Glad you think so because we put you down as the gods mother.” Twilight said and Celestia blinked.
“You did?” She asked in surprise.
Chrysalis nodded. “We both agreed you’d be the best choice to raise the child in case something was to happen to the both of us.” She said.
Celestia nodded he mask long forgotten as her face showed just how good hearing that made her feel. “I am beyond honored and will do my best to raise the child if something should happen. “ Celestia said then thought a moment. “Who is the godsfather?”
“Oh that would be the Lieutenant.” Twilight said.
This caused the stallion in the corner’s head to shoot up. “Wait what?” Came his muffled voice from behind the gasmask.
“You heard me.” Twilight said fixing the stallion with a level star. “Should something happen to me and Chrysalis you are helping take care of our kid.” She said and the stallion stared back at her, the question on his mind easily readable. “Because our kid will most likely be ageless like me and chrysalis which means we need someone who won’t die of old age to be the godsfather.” Twilight said, the Lieutenant had had a run in with some ancient magic many years ago while on a mission deep in the jungles of Zebrica that completely stopped his aging, much like an alicorn. “That leaves you and Discord and I’d rather not have Discord raise my foal.” She said and then spoke up. “No offence.” She called out.
“Oh none taken Sparkler.” Discord said as he walked from behind a painting in the room. “I completely understand, I’m more the favorite uncle type.” The God of Chaos said with his trademarked smirk as Twilight just glared at him.
The Lieutenant just stared at the commander not really sure how to feel about this new development as he walked over to join the group around the bed as did Discord.
“Twilight Sparkle you must tell us what name thee has bestowed upon thy foal.” Luna said, the fact she slipped into old equestrian making it clear how excited she was.
Twilight looked Chrysalis before they both looked back at the gathered group. “Well me and Chrysalis had a name in mind but after actually meeting her we had to discuss and make a new name. “Twilight said and Chrysalis moved up to stand beside the bed. “It took a while but we finally settled on the perfect name for her. “Twilight said as she brushed a strand of mane out of the foals face, a small smile on her muzzle as she looked at her before looking back up at the gathered immortals.
Twilight smiled as she held up the foal for them all to see. “Everyone, I’d like you to meet Violet Flame.”

Author's Note

Well her we are. The end of this short adventure. I'd like to say one thing. COMMANDER TWILIGHT SPARKLE DOES NOT WORK IN SLICE OF LIFE SETTINGS!!!!!!

anyways we now have a new character for the Soldier Series. And yes I do have plans for her. Many evil dark plans. So basicly a typical story and theme for this series.

Anyways hope you enjoy this little story of mine.

Onward to the sequel

Chapter 7: Discussion

Chapter 7: Discussion

Twilight woke up the next morning at exactly 4:30 AM was her usual however this time she woke up with a smile as today Celestia would be finding the younger alicorns response to that party the older alicorn had arranged yesterday.

The only sad part was that she couldn’t be there to see Celestia’s face when she realized what had happened. She did somewhat worry how Celestia would retaliate but whatever it was Twilight was sure it wouldn’t be anywhere near the level the purple mare had started with.

Rolling to her hooved the Alicorn stretched and popped her neck before heading towards the bathroom as she thought about yesterday’s meeting. It had gone about as well as she had expected in that there were requests for more funding from a few Divisions for this project or that one. The biggest requester was as always the EMSD Facility as they always wanted more funding for their research. Twilight told them the something she always did; she’d think about it and weigh the options compared to what else the army needed to spend money on.
However before that Twilight was going to need to talk to Chrysalis about the strange behavior of the Changelings as after the meeting one of the changelings who worked in the castle had found her and asked how she was and offered her food they had picked up from the kitchen for her. It was just getting really unnerving what with them always watching her, asking how she was and the way they sounded when speaking to her now.
Making her way out of the library to do her morning run Twilight found four changelings waiting outside of the door for her. “Uh….can I help you?” She asked.

“No we are fine Commander; we just thought you would like some company on your morning run.” They said.
Twilight slowly nodded. “Right…..sure.” She said as she started to trot to her normal place, the changeling following behind. Defiantly needed to speak to Chrysalis on this later today.

The run went as well as she had expected in that the changeling kept up with her for most of the laps before she had to order them to rest as they kept trying to push themselves to follow her and she wasn’t going to have them dropping dead on her.

They had then followed her back to the library and tried to follow her in but she told them the place was closed and for them to go home. They had nodded rather deeply and left. Shaking her head in confusion Twilight went through her exercise and had a small meal that annoying came back up a little later.
She then headed for her office to read one of her favorite books. An autographed copy of Daring Doo and The Ark of Life. On the cover was Daring Doo’s pen name and on the inside cover was her actual name along with the message “Thanks for the help Commander.”

Twilight couldn’t help smiling wide whenever she read that and looked at the cover of the tan Pegasus trekking through a desert with a dark purple unicorn following in in a familiar uniform.
Twilight had actually gotten to meet her life time hero when she lead a mission to hunt down a terrorist group that turned out to be after the artifact Daring had been after in order to use the power supposed held with in to take over the world. Twilight and the few soldiers she had been leading ran into the adventurer while exploring an ancient tomb rumored to have information on the hereabouts of the Ark.
The meeting had been immediately interrupted by the militaristic terrorists who attacked them and with the help of Twilight’s soldier they were able to escape with a few clues. After that Daring had thought she could use the help of the small army unit since the terrorists where rather trigger happy. Twilight absolutely did not squeal like a filly and dance around while saying “Yes” over and over again or blather on about how she was working with her hero and if someone said otherwise it was a blatant lie and people should not listen to rumors.
After that the unicorn and Pegasus had worked together to track down the artifact however even with the army help the terrors got them Ark first. Seems though the ancient people who created it had booby trapped it as when they opened it the magic held with in melted them all except for the adventure and soldiers as they had read the warning about not looking at the object when it was open they all shut their eyes and didn’t open them till the screaming stopped and the sound of a lid slamming shut was heard.
The only thing left of the terrorists had been their guns and empty clothing. While Daring had wanted the artifact placed in a museum she agreed the Ark was to dangerous to leave in the open so it now rested deep within an EDF warehouse in a random part of the country in a box that matched every other box in the warehouse.
After that the adventure had hitched around back to Equestria with the EDF and Twilight got to have a civilized talk with the Pegasus. After touching down the group had parted way but Twilight received an advanced copy of the book with the autograph on it. She most defiantly did not squeal like a filly, nope not at all.
The book was worn more than most of her other books as the young unicorn had read it more than any other book she owned but she had placed a preservation enchantment on it so it would not wear out any more than it already had.

After a couple of hours a knock came at the door of the office and Twilight looked up from the book. “Yes?” She called.

“Breakfast is almost ready and you got a letter from the Princess.” Spike said through the door and Twilight smiled as she marked her page. “Alright on my way up.” Twilight called back before getting up.
When she reached the dining room she found the scroll sitting where she usually sat as Spike was finishing up breakfast.

With a smirk Twilight unrolled the scroll and began to read.

Dear Twilight

I felt I should inform you I have decided to go on a small diet and have banned all cake from the castle as well as all bakeries in Canterlot from selling me cake so if you come to visit please do not bring any cake at all for the next week.

Thank you.

Sincerely Celestia

The smirk turned into a large smile and the mare couldn’t help laughing so hard she nearly fell off her chair. With Celestia dealt with that left dealing with Luna though she would be harder to attack as most of what she enjoyed were used of the sword and shooting and Twilight could not bring herself to tamper with well-maintained weapons, especially firearms. It would be a most heinous crime in her eyes and simply unforgivable.
No mater Twilight would think of something. Rolling the scroll back up Twilight decided to keep this one as she was going to hang it on the wall of her bedroom. Placing the scroll in her pocket dimension she sat and waited for breakfast to be served, though her dragon assistant was looking at her inquisitively. “Just something funny the letter reminded me of.” Twilight explained.
Spike nodded before turning back to finish dishing up their breakfast of toast, eggs and ham. It tasted rather good though not as well as she yesterdays but they can’t all taste that amazing.
Once breakfast was done Twilight excused herself to go send a message to Chrysalis that they needed to meet to discussed something important today but that there was no rush. The responds had been for them to meet around dinner time at the small café near the train station.
With that settled Twilight went about her normal day of reading reports and going through paperwork.

<<>>

The day past much like it usually did, with Twilight having her meeting with Chrysalis here in Ponyville the alicorn was staying around town. This meant her day consisted of mostly paperwork and on MNet except for a short walk around town at noon just to escape the paperwork. The ponies and changelings of Ponyville had heard of her pregnancy just like everyone else in the country had. The only good thing was that since Twilight actually knew these people their words of congratulation where not annoying to her and she actually smiled for real when talking to the because after they congratulated her and asked how she was and sometimes a few other questions the subject shifted to other topics.

After the walk it had been a small lunch and then back to work, armies didn’t run themselves after all.
Finally it was time to head out to meet up with Chrysalis at the small café, Twilight still wore her uniform as she wasn’t technically on leave. Along the road to the café Twilight past the Ditzy Doo Post Office, named after the former Ponyville mailmare. When she had been forced to retire everyone got a wakeup call on just how good as the mailmare she was and Twilight had to surprise a laugh at their faces as issues arose with the Pegasus that took over. While Ditsy Doo might have run late from time to time and the letters might have been a bit wrinkled, it always got there no matter what. Now letters and the like sometimes never arrived.
It had brought a smile to the grey Pegasus face when Twilight had informed her just how things broke down without, a sort of unplanned revenge at everyone who had treated her poorly and called her Derpy Hooves do to her issues with coordination caused by her eyes and the way she spoke.
Twilight had figured out rather quickly that the grey Pegasus was in fact very intelligence, above average actually if Twilight were to hazard a guess, but no one knew that do to how she spoke as the connection between her brain and mouth didn’t work like everyone else’s thus she spoke slowly and had to focus to make sure the words actually made it out of her mouth as her mind worked faster than her mouth.
It was that intelligence and the fact everyone wrote her off as “Derpy Hooves” that the mailmare became a curious for the EDF, though without any paperwork or official notation. Twilight used the mare to transport classified document from her library to Camp Mendez of the EDF HQ in Canterlot Castle as no one looked twice at the “slow” mare. Thus she had the perfect cover.

The mare knew what she was carrying sometimes wasn’t normal mail and had actually figured it out within a week thus proving her intelligence but even still she liked being trusted with such an important task and continues it right up till she retired as mailmare.

Much to Twilight annoyance the mailmare was nice to everyone even those who really didn’t deserve it for the names they called her and such, but the mare was always nice to them and had mastered ignoring them. Still Twilight didn’t like how some of them treated her so she did something about it. The local authorities were still looking for some crazed pony in a clown mask with a baseball bat who one night beat the ever living shit out of a few ponies and traumatized them for life. It had been a good night.
After the mare had retired and everyone realized how good they had it with her running the post office the town had come together and named the building after the Pegasus as a sort of apology for taking her for granted, Twilight still had the picture of the smiling Pegasus beside her daughter in front of the newly named post office building.

Being drawn back from her reminiscing of days gone by, by her arrival at the café Twilight gave a mental salute to the long decease Pegasus and reminded herself she needed to check in on Dinky who despite her advanced age was still quite active.

Walking into the café Twilight looked around, the place had a few other patrons but the café was never very busy at dinner so it made spotting the large changeling Queen easy. Walking over to the table Twilight smiled. “Hey Queeny, hope I’m not too late.” She said taking a seat.
The queen looked up from her drink and smiled. “Oh no not at all, I’ve only been here for a short time.” She said and a waitress found their table quickly to take Twilight drink order before heading off to let them read the menu. “So how was your day?”

Twilight smiled as she spoke. “Rather good, got a letter from Celestia that she is going on a diet.” She chuckled.
“You know you are evil right?” The Queen said trying her best to hide her smile with her menu.
“Eh I like to think of it as starting big.” Twilight said as she read the menu. “She should have known I wouldn’t pull any punches, now all that’s left is figuring things out for Luna.”
The changeling Queen nodded and a few minutes later Twilight drink arrived and the waitress took their order. They talked about their days as the Queen had a far more interesting one do to meeting with the Captain in charge of the Liston Complex about how the repairs were going after the accident a few weeks ago.
IT was after the meal and the days report had been given that the Queen finally spoke up. “So I don’t think my day was the reason we were meeting so what were you needing to talk to me about?” Chrysalis asked as she sipped her drink.

“It’s about the changelings, they’ve been acting somewhat weird around me, asking how I was or if I needed anything. They’ve been going out of their way to do it and this morning four actually joined me on a run and did all they could to keep up. Couple that with the strange way they’ve been speaking to me and it has me curious about what’s up.” Twilight explained as she finished the last of her dessert, a nice slice of Celestia’s favorite, Cloud Cake.
The queen froze for a moment and her eyes darted around the room. “Um….well…”She said and looked at the mare across from her. “Perhaps we should talk elsewhere about this.” She suggested.
Twilight blinked at this but nodded and the two of them got to their hooves and paid for the meal before heading out to walk the streets of Ponyville. “So…what’s up with the hive?” Twilight asked.
Chrysalis sighed. “It’s because of your status within the Hive.”
Twilight blinked again. “What about it, they’ve never acted this before and I know they think highly of me.”
“Yes but that was when you were an outsider.” Chrysalis said as they walked. “Twilight you are carrying a foal that is half changeling, and not just any changeling but half Queen.” She said and looked at the mare. “Basically you are carrying a changeling princess and that mixed with a few other things means you are now a queen as far as the hive is concerned and as such the hive is adjusting to having two queen as it hasn’t had two since I took my place as queen after my mother’s passing and with you carrying the hives future the drones are becoming highly protective of you and desire to ensure you are taken care of at all times.”
Twilight blinked. “So….I’m becoming a Changeling Queen?” She asked slowly.
“No, you are a changeling queen as far as the hive is concerned.” Chrysalis Said matter of factly.
Twilight blinked and looked a there. “So I’m not going to end up looking like you?” She asked. “Don’t get me wrong you look great and all but I kind of like my own body.”
Chrysalis laughed at this as they walked down the street. “No you are not going to end up looking like me.” She said. “You are stuck with that body of yours for all eternity.” She said with a smile.
Twilight tilted her head at the way the queen said that last bit and she watched the Changeling out the corner of her eyes. “So you said it was because I’m carrying a changeling queen that they see me as another queen of the hive.” The Queen nodded. “What are the other reasons?”
Chrysalis missed a step.’ What do you mean?” She asked a bit quickly.
“You said that because I’m carrying a Changeling Queen and a few other reasons that the hive now views me as a queen.” Twilight said. “What other reasons?”
The looked away from the alicorn beside her as they walked and hummed for a moment as she thought quickly. “No other reason, I misspoke.” She said still not looking at Twilight.
Twilight narrowed her eyes; her bullshit meter was way in the read. “Queeny, you know I can make you tell me.”
The queen looked around for an avenue of escape but it would be pointless at the mare could run faster than her do to her augmentation, not to mention teleport. Sighing the queen came to a stop and looked at her hooves. “Well…there are a couple of other things that fact or about how the hive sees you.” She said as she drew a little circle in the dirt with a hoof.

Twilight stopped and looked at her and gestured with a hoof. “Go on.”
“Well…you see….it’s not just that your foal is of Queen’s blood that is only about a fourth of the reason.” She said still not looking at the mare. “The other factors sort of play a bigger role in the level of devotion the hive has.”
Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes. “Queeny just spit it our already.”
Chrysalis took several deep breaths. “It also has to do with both the relationship and feels held by the current queen of the hive.” She said.

Twilight blinked. “What does that mean?” Twilight faced the queen now.
The Changeling took sever deep breaths again and appeared to be working herself up to something. Glancing around for another avenue of escape one last time she faced Twilight. “Well…it’s…um….well…..I…..sort of….love you…..”She said.

“YES FINALLY!!!”

Both the alicorn and the Changeling queen looked around as they heard someone shout rather loudly.
In the old clock tower a pink alicorn had dropped below the window, her hoof shoved in her mouth as she had not meant to shout that loudly. She had taken her daughter's advice and took a vacation, which mostly consisted of spying on a particle member of her family which most wouldn’t really see as a vacation but she was free to spend it how she wanted. And boy was she glad she did take this vacation otherwise she’d have missed this moment.
After a few second the Princess of Love peeked over the window sill and brought the binoculars back up to her eyes as her magic raised the long range listing device she had borrowed from the Crystal guard supply room as she adjusted the head set so she could hear again.
After finding no sign of who had shouted Twilight looked back at the Changeling queen. “You what?” She asked not entirely sure she had heard correctly.

Chrysalis sighed. “I said I’m in love with you, have been for a long time.” She said blushing a bit as she looked back down at her hooves.

Twilight sat on her haunches as she processed this information. After a few minutes she looked at the queen. “You’re kidding right?”

The Queen looked up and blinked. “No…why would I joke about something like this?”

“Because look at me.” Twilight raised her arms in the air and waved them. “Most of my body is scared all to hello, my eyes, ears and legs are all machine as is part of my brain and lets not even get started on the mental issues and what I find fun.” She said and dropped her hooves narrowing her eyes. “I’m a monster and nobody loves monsters.”

The Queen sighed. “You aren’t…well…ok you are.” Chrysalis said when Twilight growled at her denial of the facts. “But you see how the hives work is queens can only have drones, unless there is an emotional connection to their partner and changeling queen courtship is based on conquest so to speak.” She explained. “What queens find attractive in mates is strength of will, ability to protect the hive and the ability to stand up to them.” She said and looked at the alicorn. “You have far surpassed all of that the day you got me to surrender and every time you have dealt with those who were a danger to the hive. Not to mention every other example of your strength of will as you never back down and I think it’s clear you have not just matched me but utterly dominated me to the point there almost isn’t anything I wouldn’t do if told. In short you conquered not only the hive but my heart as well.” The queen said rather quickly, either out of embarrassment or to try and calm the alicorn before her.

Twilight blinked and opened her mouth before closing it. She did this several time as her mind tried to processes this information. She had never actually learned about changeling queen courtship as the drones it worked much the same as everyone else should they desire a special someone. Once more she had made a huge oversight when it came to her second in command.

The mare switched to biped mode and scrubbed her fingers though her mane. “Gah….really….you mean all this time?” She asked looking at the queen who nodded. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Well…at first it was because I would outlive you since you were a normal pony and….I didn’t want to have to go through the pain of losing you if things went anywhere….after you became an alicorn I wanted to…but…well….I was scared….”She said looking down. “While you may see me as a close friend the fact is I’m not a pony and you have never shown any interest in anything as the only reason we even have the relationship we have now is because you couldn’t risk anyone else getting close.”

Twilight rubbed her temples as she felt a headache coming on. “Ok…that makes sense…..”She said and looked at the queen. “I’ll be honest, I never actually really thought about this entirely ok?” She said gesture between the two of them. “I was focused on everything around me and making sure everyone was safe and saw this as just something between friends….I had no idea it meant more to you.” She said and sighed looking at her steel hooves.
Her mind raced as she tried to make sense of all she had just learned. She was a soldier; she knew how to handle everything that happens on the battlefield as well as how to deal with politics. But none of that gave her any help in handling this situation.
Looking back at the queen who just stood there calmly waiting to be noticed. “Twilight, I know you never thought of things that way, I came to terms with that a long time ago, fact is you view the world differently than others.” She said. “I’m fine with how things are as there is no way I can make you do anything you didn’t want to.”

Twilight sighed and looked at the queen. “Look….this is going to change things, at least for me, not only am I pregnant I just found out your feelings towards me.” She said and shook her head. “Things can’t just go back to how they were.” The queen flinched. “So….I guess I’m willing to…I don’t know…try this if you are willing to put up with it all.” Twilight said.

The Queen smiled. ”Really?”

Twilight nodded “yes, but I’m in charge of this relationship.” She said firmly.
The Queen nodded. “I think we established that’s how it’s always been.” She said with a chuckle.

Sighing twilight started walking again. “Well come on.” She said. “Gods I wish I could drink right now, I’d get so black out drunk id lose a week.” She said as Chrysalis walked beside her.
“Is it really that bad?” the queen asked.

“How the fuck should I know, I know battlefields, not romantic relationships, this is all a huge unknown to me and you know how I feel about them.’ Twilight grumbled.

The Queen chuckled again. “I know but I’m sure this won’t be so bad and I don’t think things will really change, well not completely, I’m still you second in command and will speak up when I think you are doing something wrong and it’s not like I’m going to act really any different around you, I still have my pride as Queen of the changelings and second in command of the EDF.” She said.

“Yeah yeah….we will see how this works out.” Twilight said as the two of them headed off back towards the library as there wasn’t anything that needed to be talked about anymore tonight and Twilight just wanted to collapse into her bead to sleep and deal with this in the morning.

Why did becoming an alicorn have to make life so complicated for her? She was a soldier; she shouldn’t have to deal with all of this!

Author's Note

So I had to go through a lot to upload this. Had to make it a draft in mu Emil on thenlap top tjrn copy it from that on my phone and paste it as the laptop could t save it to FiM. That's why it looks the way to does as it was loaded from mu cell phone. I did mu best to put the paragraphs breaks but I can see all of the text on the phone.

Anyways Chrysalis confessed FINALLY!

and we got to hear ehst happened to a fandom favorite pony in EDF equestria.