What the future holds

by Whimsymimsy

Rating: everyone
Tags: Romance, Princess Luna, Drama, Changelings, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Comedy, Queen Chrysalis, Tragedy, Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, Alternate Universe, Main 6
Length: 5467

The changlings have come to equestria again, but for what you think. WIP

WIP
(3 years after season 6)
With the princess raising their children together, The mane six starting families and settling down and everything in Equestria calm for once, Life couldn't be any better,But Queen Chrysalis and her changelings have shown up in the throne room and they are asking for aid?
Is it a trap? What is this about a great archive?
Will the changelings get the help they claim to need?

Published 2016-08-08 23:00:02 UTC
Last updated 2017-07-16 22:48:48 UTC

Chapter 1

As the morning faded into afternoon, Princess Celestia held her tiny daughter and smiled as she rocked her. “My darling little Morning Glory, I love you so much.” She cooed gently and kissed her daughter all over her chubby face, making the filly giggle. The filly’s silver coat glittered in the light like a mirror, as did her pale purple hair and pink and blue streaks. The princess smiled at her daughter then spoke to her. “Oh if only your daddy could see you.”

From Celestia’s left there was chirping and squeaking from her nephew, little Prince Moon Wind. His dark blue coat was puffed up as he reached over, trying to get to his cuddle buddy, Morning Glory. His black mane and tail shone in the afternoon light as he whined. Luna walked in with sleep in her eyes, upon hearing her little colt whine. She slowly came over and kissed her son’s head. Picking him up with her magic, they smiled at each other.

“Sister, are you ready? The Changelings will be here soon, and after that we go to Ponyville for the Summer Sun Celebration,” Luna informed her as she fed her son.

Celestia looked over at her and nodded. ”Do you think we should... take the children with us?” the white mare asked slowly.

Luna looked at her, then at their two small heirs. “I think so,” she said gently. “We should take them with us, for their safety. We can at least start getting them comfortable with having many strange Ponies around them.” She then rubbed her son’s mane, a somber expression on her face. As she paced around the room, still holding her son, she then added, “But we should not be hostile to the Changelings. I’m curious as to what they want. You must admit Tia, this is rather dangerous for them. Bold, but dangerous all the same.” Moon Wind yawned and nuzzled into her as he started to nod off again.

“Don’t be nervous, Luna. We have guards, no one will harm you again, not even him,” her sister said soothingly. “We have nothing to worry about.”

Luna stopped and bit her lip. “W-what if he comes back?” she asked, her voice shaking from a memory only she had the misfortune of seeing. ”King Sombra, w-what if he comes back to...” Luna choked on her words as Celestia quickly went over and pulled her into a hug.

“Luna, I will protect you and our children until my last breath. He will not return to hurt you ever again,” Celestia vowed to her.

Celestia felt her sister’s tears falling upon her coat as they quietly embraced each other. Luna cried into her sister's shoulder, her mind trying to block out the painful memory. Using her magic, Celestia put their children in their crib, allowing her sister to grieve and lament without harming her child. Luna fell to the ground sobbing and shaking as her sister held her and whispered sweet words of encouragement and safety.

Luna couldn’t keep this in, Celestia knew that. It was unhealthy for her, and it was better for her to vent here than in other, public places. Luna’s breathing started to stabilize as she curled up as small as she could, using the breathing exercises her doctor taught her. Celestia brought a few tissues over and wiped the tears away.

“Don’t worry Wuna. I’ll protect you, no one will hurt you ever again.” Celestia said with a maternal tone to her voice

Luna said nothing as she moved under her sister like a scared filly. They sat together like that for a while. Together, safe, and among family.After a while, there was a knock at the door of the nursery. A guard quietly told them the insectoid queen had arrived.

“Thank you, Heart Guard. Could you please buy us some time?” Celestia asked with a soft-spoken voice, attempting to not disturb her trembling sister.

The guard nodded and bowed. “Of course, my Graces.” The stallion bowed again and closed the door, giving them a moment to themselves.

Luna stood up shakily and took a few breaths. She pulled a tissue from the tissue box to blot her eyes. Her eyes were still watery as she looked in the mirror. Both sisters looked a mess. Circles under their eyes, messy manes, and in Luna’s case, bloodshot eyes from caring for their children and their duties.

Celestia nuzzled her and smiled tiredly. “You heard Heart Guard, we must get ready.”

Luna nodded and floated up a brush. As she started taming her mane, her sister worked the tail, and it wasn’t long before the starry hair floated elegantly again. Luna smiled and shook her head, making her hair dance wildly through the air. The princesses both giggled at this before working on Celestia’s mane and tail. Soon, they both had their floating manes nice and neat.

Celestia picked up the foals and smiled at them as Luna put on the slings to carry Morning Glory and Moon Wind. Once the children were in and the princesses had on their regalia, they were ready to go. The children nuzzled Luna in their sleep from within their slings. This simple action calmed Luna more than anyone else could. Luna looked adoringly at their foals and could no longer resist the urge to cuddle them. The Princess of the Night soon made herself busy nuzzling the foals and kissing their faces as they squirmed in their sleep. She sighed as her sister calmly walked over and looked at her.

“Well sister mine, are you ready?” Celestia asked. Luna looked up and nodded.

“As long as you and the children are with me I should be fine.” She smiled, trying to convince her sister and herself of this lie.

Celestia sighed and nuzzled her. She then looked at her in the eyes and said, “If you would like I could do thi-” Before she could finish, Luna cut her off.

The Princess of the Night looked at her and puffed out her chest. “No! I… I can do this, I can’t hide away forever Tia...”

The Sun Princess smiled. “I’m glad you’re doing this, I’m very proud of you.” Celestia confessed, “In truth, I was a little afraid to go on my own.” She lead them to the door after the children were placed back in their slings.

“Afraid?” Luna asked. “You?” She didn’t seem convinced.

“Last time we were face to face, she got the better of me and put me in a… pod? Thing?” She said slowly, trying to think of the right word.

“Pod? Wouldn’t they have cocoons?” Luna inquired.

“Cocoon is a better word,” she agreed. “All the same, it was unpleasant.” The princess lifted her head and tried to look prim and proper. “But we cannot allow such things to cloud our judgement.”

“Very true, I remember waking up to you scrubbing yourself raw.” Luna said sternly “Regardless, they must have a good reason to come to us after what happened.”

At the end of the hall two guards stood at the doors, ready to open them. They bowed and opened the doors for the Royal Sisters, who put every ounce of confidence they had into striding up to their thrones. Before addressing the congregation that gathered in the throne room, they took their seats with the foals between them both.

Changelings were spread along the hall, quietly chatting and looking over at the Pony guards with a mix of fear and a sad kind of hunger. Luna noted how many of the changelings there were and there were a great many, that most of the Changelings were lying down and incredibly weak looking. They looked horribly emaciated, as if a soft breeze could knock them all into an early grave. The younger princess looked at her sister, who was worried about the Changlings state of being. In front of them Queen Chrysalis stood three guards, all with the same weak look as the rest had. A Changeling in chains was stood to the left of her, along with a severed horn in a cocoon of magic.

Luna’s eyes fell on the horn and stayed there, transfixed as she struggled, trying to figure out why that horn was so familiar. She could feel her heart racing and panic rise but she pushed them down. There was a quiet chatter before the queen's voice cut through the incessant talk. She took a few steps forward, setting the day guards on edge.

“Princesses, Thank you for seeing us. We know our presence is unwanted by you and your kin… So I would first like to apologize for the attack years ago… My people were starving and taking over seemed like the fastest solution. It was not my best moment I will admit,” the dignified Changeling explained with a modicum of shame and embarrassment.

“Are your people still starving?” Celestia asked.

“Yes, I’ve been forced to feed them my own love, although it will never be enough to keep give them their health.” The Changelings who could buzzed and chirped at their queen, seemingly saddened by the news.

“While what you did was, uncalled for and an act of war.” Celestia started.

“But we do understand why you did it,” Luna added and reached over, hooking her hoof around her sister’s foreleg. She had realized why that horn looked familiar. “I-is that all that’s left?” she asked nervously. Both Princess Celestia and Queen Chrysalis noticed immediately.

“No,” Chrysalis said and looked at the chained Changeling then the horn. “This one has something he would like to say.” A small drone with a broken horn was pushed forward and shook in his chains. He was sobbing.

“P-Princess… I’m so sorry.” the drone blurted out, his sobbing raking his form. “I never wanted to do anything to harm anyone! That… thing took over my body making me do horrible things to you and my own queen.” The drone broke down and sobbed even harder. “P-Please… I beg you. Do what you will to me, but let me save those who are left!! It was my fault, not theirs!” His glassy, tear-filled, blue eyes never looked at her as he spoke. Luna recoiled in horror, her grip on her sisters leg tightening and tears threatening to spill over.

“What is the meaning of this.” Celestia said in a deadly calm tone, getting between the Changelings and her family.

“Princess, as you know we can change our forms,” Chrysalis said, “and we can do unicorn magic to a degree. However, this horn had… Has a dark, powerful magic of its own.” She looked at the object in question with disgust. “It attracted my little one with its strong emotions, fused onto him, and used his body as a puppet for the soul inside,” she said and looked at Luna.

“Wait… so this small one was possessed by Sombra?” Celestia asked and Luna held the children close to her, on the brink of a breakdown.

“More than that. He was Sombra for all intents and purposes. Changelings are very susceptible to dark magic, and the darker it is, the less of a chance we have to fight it,” the Queen said.

“Why are you telling us this?” Luna asked, confused.

“Yes, and why is his horn broken?” Celestia also questioned, keeping an eye on them.

“We had to remove the offending horn as it was fusing to his own. Desperate measures had to be taken,” the Queen stated plainly. “And as to why we are telling you, I have three core rules that my children must follow: no murder, no getting caught, and most importantly, no rape. This Changeling broke this most sacred rule, and since you are also a victim, our traditions dictate that you must weigh in on his punishment.”

Then there was silence except for the sobbing of the guilt riddled Changeling, and the collective breathing of everyone in the room.

“P-Punishment...” Luna said quietly as her son cooed at her. “Wait...You said he did that to you too. Did you...” she hesitated. The queen moved as another Changeling pushed a stroller, black and spired with holes. It contained a single, red egg.

“This is my son. Sadly he can not hatch,” she said, reaching in to nuzzle her egg gently.

“Why ever not?” Celestia asked as the young queen wept quietly.

A Changeling guard stepped forward. “If I may,” he started politely. “We are dying because we have no more love to feed on.” He looked at his queen then at the princesses. “Our queen is feeding us her love, and she does not have long in this world. Our mother will have the shortest and last reign over our people.”

“Shortest?” Celestia asked, stepping down closer to them, her guards going to her side with the exception of Heart Guard, who stood in front of Luna. The Changeling guard made no move.

“Yes, she has only been our mother for the past four years, since Our Lady Cocoona passed on from the same fate. When she is gone we will start to follow her into the summerlands. The oldest first until only the eggs are left, and they too will wither and die, having never known this world at all.” His explanation made his queen let a single tear escape and brought tears to all the Ponies in attendance. “And when we die, all our archive will be lost as well.” The saddened queen lifted her head and met Celestia’s gaze.

“To lose our archives would be a loss the world could never recover from,” she said with a mournful expression.

“An archive?” a voice from the doorway asked, making everyone turn to look. Page Turner, the Archivist, stood there with a trolley of books. His ears were straight up as he walked in uninvited and over to the Changelings. “You have an archive?” The Pony chuckled. “That’s rich.”

“What the buck do you mean by you?” a huffy Changeling asked as he walked up to meet the rude Pony. “Who are you?”

“Page Turner, Canterlot’s leading Archivist. I am the curator of at least two thousand years worth of history.”

The Changeling looked at him with an unimpressed expression. “I am Pen Epic, and I am the Queen’s Archivist. I guard collectively ten thousand years of all the history of the world,” the Changeling said bluntly. There was a moment where Celestia was afraid that Page Turner would do something rash. Instead, the Pony curator stared in awe for a moment, then squealed and hugged the startled Changeling.

“OH SWEET SKY ABOVE~!” Page Turner moaned to the heavens. All the joy and excitement from the Pony transferred to the Changeling, whose wings and body suddenly glittered with a vivid, white iridescence. He was beautiful even by Pony standards, and he looked like he was breathing fresh air for the first time. It seemed like time froze for him. Shock had rendered him speechless as he looked at his body, his true body. It was not the drone husk that he had been accustomed to. His brain kicked on as he pulled away from Page Turner.

Pen Epic ran to his queen and snuggled up to her, touching her horn to his, giving her what energy was given. Her color became brighter for a moment then dimmed again as her magic connected to the other Changelings, fueling them with what she could. She smiled slightly, thanking Pen Epic for the help. Pen Epic dashed over and hugged Page Turner as if he was trying to recreate the effect. As he tried this, Luna stood and talked to the guard protecting her and the children.

“His wings, they were so… amazing,” Luna commented in awe. She wandered down with the children and Heart Guard.

“It’s part of a Changeling's true form,” Chrysalis explained. “Right now we are all in our starvation mode.”

Celestia looked at them with pity then looked at the prisoner“Guards, please take him to the dungeon and watch over the poor thing,” she said gently. The Pony guard nodded and picked up the still crying Changeling, taking him away.

“And the horn, Princess?” a Changeling guard asked as he held the offending cocoon.

“It shall be destroyed. Worry not,” she said and nodded to another guard who took the cocoon away. “Now, as for the rest of you,” Celestia started, seeing that many of the Changelings began to move. They began hiding the smaller and weaker of them, fearing the worst.“You all shall stay here for the night so that we may discuss our future plans.”

Chrysalis looked up with a bewildered expression. “Future plans?” she asked, the confusion in her voice as evident as her expression.

“Of course.” Luna nodded. “You have done us a service, the least we can do is host you and your people,” she said, still a bit unsteady. Morning Glory reached up and tugged on her mother’s mane, wanting to be held. Celestia smiled and pulled her child out of the sling that held her, embracing the foal gently.

Chrysalis looked at the baby and took a step closer. “What a sweet thing. May I hold her?” she asked. At Celestia’s inquisitive look, she raised her hooves. “I-It’s just... I’ve never held a foal before... and I’ve heard the love they give is very powerful.”

“Would taking her love hurt her?” Celestia asked abruptly.

The ailing queen shook her head. “No, hurting someone who feeds us love would be counterproductive, and frankly, rather stupid,” the Queen bluntly pointed out. Celestia looked at her child who was cuddled against her, dozing off a bit. She then nodded, gently exchanging the child from one to another. Now the bug queen held the infant who cuddled her just the same, uncaring of the major events that had just taken place. The big, green eyes blinked down at baby Morning Glory, who sleepily held up her hooves. Chrysalis shook her mane out of the way before leaning down and blowing a raspberry onto the baby’s belly.

Morning Glory squealed with laughter and wiggled in her forelegs. The Queen’s wings glittered with the same iridescence, although she had a beautiful, green body - not white like Pen Epic’s. Her body gleamed like a gem as she smiled at the giggling babe, making faces all the while. She eventually paused and her color started to drain as she gave the love to her subjects yet again. A couple of the Changelings laying down slowly got up with the help of others, and a small Changeling stumbled his way over to their queen and nuzzled her.

“Ah, Chrysalis?” Celestia started. “May I ask another couple questions?”

The bug mare looked at her as the small Changeling took the baby back to Luna, helping her back into the sling. “And what would that be?” she asked as she regained her composure.

“What happened to you and your people to cause the starvation? And where do you come from?” she asked with a curious tone.

“That, Princess, is a long story.”

Author's Note

Version 3, tell me if this is better More to come, hopefully

Chapter 2

“As you know, we are not from this land,” Chrysalis started. “We used to live in a vast woodland, close to the Eiric Elk,” she said as her mind faded into the memory of that day.

***

Knight Chrysalis walked alongside Queen Cocoona in her massive garden, watching the gentle queen lift the occasional flower and inhale deeply.

“Isn’t it breathtaking Chryssy?” she asked her and looked over. “Everything is in bloom, and this year's crop is doing very well. With the princess hatching tomorrow everyone is so happy, I can hardly contain my own excitement.”

“Of course my queen,” she said and bowed.

The queen halted her bow, pulling her back up. “Chryssy, didn’t I ask that you stop bowing to me?” she teased. “And you don’t have to call me Queen.”

“Ah, of course My Q- Cocoona.” She blushed shyly up at Changeling queen. Cocoona was purple with gold accents, and had a smile that could melt even the coldest hearts. Or at least, in Chrysalis's humble opinion.

The queen perked up when one of the smaller guards ran to her panting. “My lady!” he yelped. “The elks poisoned our drinking water! And they have the hive surrounded!”

The queen gasped. “Take me to them,” she ordered.

“Cocoona, you can’t go alone, they’re giants compared to us!” Chrysalis objected. “I’m going with you.” The queen nodded and they followed the Changeling guards. The dark halls were lined with rainbow windows made from the eggs of their predecessors and those who helped make the hive what it was.

They dashed down the hall, witnessing other Changelings choking and falling with those already dead in the hall. One spotted the queen and tried to crawl over, his hooves shaking as terrible noises escaped him. Down further was an older Changeling, holding a dead child and crying to the heavens. They got into the main hall where the Eiric Elk were trying to get in, but their horns and size stopped them from breaking through the Changelings smaller doors.

“Changeling scum! Come out and pay for your crimes!” A deep voice of the Eiric Elk leader boomed through the hive.

Cocoona walked forward before Chrysalis could stop her. “What crimes?” the queen asked as she fluttered up to meet his eyes. The Eiric Elk were easily three times their size, and this elk leader had a nasty temper. He was young and headstrong with a visible hatred in his eyes for the bug mare.

“You know what you’ve done!” the young buck bellowed and glared.

“No, we really don’t,” the queen responded. “Where is the leader of your clan? I wish to speak with him.”

“I am the leader you witch, you dare deny me?”

Chrysalis darted up only to be smacked down by the buck. When Cocoona tried to go down and help her, everything was set into motion. Cocoona was pinned to a wall by the antlers of the Elk leader. She screamed in pain as her life blood stained the buck’s rack, and other Changelings tried to free and protect their queen, only to have the Elk cruelly gore them as well. Chrysalis flew up and blasted a couple of them back, freeing her queen and the other Changelings. They rushed inside the great hall, bringing the wounded with them. Chrysalis attempted to calm down and gather everyone together, before finally going to the queen.

“C-Chryssy,” Cocoona coughed and tried to stand up. Her knight gently pushed her down to keep her from injuring herself more so.

“Hush Cocoona, it’s gonna be okay,” Chrysalis said with tears in her eyes. “I’ll get you healed and you’ll be right as rain.” She felt Cocoona put a holey hoof on her cheek, forcing her to smile at the injured queen.

“No Chryssy. If I heal myself it’ll take too much love from everyone else. The damage… it’s too much.” The dying queen wiped away the emerald tears of the knight. “I’m going to do something you think will be stupid, and you’ll hate me, but I have to save our hive.” The queen gasped in pain as she began to move, every breath was labored and every movement was pain staking. “My Changelings, come to me!” she called in her royal voice. The dying Changelings were the first to come, and so she weakly said, “I am dying, and so are many of you. Please, give me every ounce of power you have so that we may give the survivors a chance, so they may escape and come back once all is well again.” It took a heartbeat for Changelings’ horns to glow, connecting to their queen, pouring every ounce of life they had into her magic. Cocoona then pumped what she could into the healthy Changelings and then looked to her knight.

Chrysalis felt the energy surge into her. “Cocoona, how will we cope without you? Without a queen we’ll never learn why the Elks attacked us. We won’t be able to help the children! What are we supposed to do? What am I supposed to do!?”

“Ah, my dear Chryssy. You will be the new queen. It will be your job to protect and help our children to survive,” she said with a weary voice. Four Changelings weakly came up to the queen and helped her stand. Her life mates, A dark blue changeling, a yellow, a pink and a green would stay by her side and die rather than leave her side.

“You can’t do this!” she cried, tears blurring her vision. “We need you! I need you! I’m not supposed to be queen!”

The queen smiled. “I told you that you’d think it was stupid. But Chryssy, please… Do this for me. Until it’s safe enough for my child to come into the world,” she said as she wiped a tear from the crying Changeling’s cheek.

“I… I will… For you.” Chrysalis bowed her head and let the tears fall to the ground.

Cocoona bowed her head as well, touching their horns together and transferring power and status. The knight felt her body grow and change. There was no pain, only a rush of adrenaline, a thrill. This was meant to be a happy occasion but it felt so wrong at a time like this. She opened her eyes and looked around at the other Changelings who bowed and watched as she moved her newly longer limbs.

“Now, you all need to go while you can,” Cocoona said and looked at the new queen. “I will stay here and seal the hive.”

Her life mates stood steadfast by her side. “We will never leave you darling,” one of them said. The others nodded in agreement. Cocoona sighed and leaned into them with all her weight.

“Chryssy please, go to safety. Take our family to safety,” Cocoona begged. The knight nodded, tears streaming down her face before fluttering away. She called to the others to come with her. Cocoona looked at her life mates and sighed. “This is it. Can I get some help to the door?” she asked gently. One of her life mates, Fern, helped her over to the door. Then they all bowed to her.

“What do you wish for us to do?” Fern asked. She looked at him.

“The eggs, hatchlings, they need to be protected,” she said weakly. “The stasis spell, you have to do it.” They nodded and nuzzled their queen.

“We love you, no matter what happens,” they said with varying degrees of mournfulness.

“And I love you,” Cocoona replied honestly before sending them on their way. Cocoona pressed her horn against the great door. Her magic ran along the seam, making the the door a solid wall of black material. Cocoona smiled as she took her last breaths.

“T-They’re safe.” Then all went black.

***

Chrysalis hiccuped, tears filling her vision as she finished her tale. Luna walked over and rubbed her back.

“How do you know what happened after you left?” Celestia asked sadly.

“If there are two queens at once, they share memories… She saw the last of us get to safety, and I saw her die.” The bug queen looked down before Celestia walked over and pulled the younger queen into a hug.

“It’s okay to cry. You’ve had a rough time.”

The queen pulled away and shook her head vigorously. “No, Crying makes you weak,” She mumbled and rubbed her face.

“How old are you?” Luna asked suddenly.

Chrysalis paused and looked down, kicking the ground a bit as she counted. “Um, lets see. Winter is three of your months… Roughly… twenty Pony years I think?” Chrysalis thought out loud.

“Roughly?” Luna asked.

“We have … Had, a different calendar system,” the bug queen explained. ”Our Calendar is based on seasons and events, not the lunar cycle like yours.” The princesses nodded.

“What about this archive?” Celestia asked. “You mentioned something about a great archive?”

Chrysalis perked up at the mention of the archive. With a smile she started to explain. “Well, we changelings haven’t needed to evolve in a long time. And we started writing early, so we’ve been able to catalog and record everything. We started going into other cultures and recording them as well. Preserving artifacts from dying cultures.” As she chattered on excitedly her wings lifted and started to rub together, making a chirping sound. She blushed and reached back to smooth out her wings. “Sorry, it’s a hatchling thing.”

Luna smiled kindly at her. “Don’t worry about it, habits are hard to break.” Luna walked over and sat down on a plump cushion, pulling off the sling and letting the children spread out.

Moon Wind waddled over and looked at the holes in Chrysalis legs as she talked to Celestia about the next course of action. He tilted his head and poked his horn through a hole, causing the queen to yelp and pull away.

“Moon Wind, come to Mummy,” Luna called before picking him up with magic as he tried to give chase. She rubbed his belly and smiled. “Be a good colt”

Celestia looked at Chrysalis with a raised eyebrow. “Are you alright?” she asked.

“My holes are sensitive,” Chrysalis mumbled and crossed her legs as she looked at the foal who was now curled up against his mother. “Is he always so...”

“Mischievous?” Celestia quipped. “Yes, he is. He and Morning glory love getting into things that they’re not supposed to.” Celestia and Chrysalis looked over as the foals fluttered all over Luna.

Luna looked up with a smile. “Tia, should I put the children to bed while we figure out how to handle this?” Luna asked as her sister smiled and nodded in response, prompting Luna to get up with foals in tow and take them to their nursery.

Celestia and Chrysalis sat in silence for a moment before the bug queen broke the silence. “Why does the Moon Child have bat wings?” she asked and looked at her host.

Blinking, Celestia looked back. “Oh Moon Wind? Well, before Luna was an alicorn, she was a bat Pony,” she explained. “We ascended to royalty and alicornhood.” This perplexed Chrysalis. Celestia saw the look and smiled. “I suppose I should tell you, since you told us.”

“Will it be as long as my story was?” the Queen asked as she settled on a cushion.

Celestia thought about it. “No, I don’t think so.” She look at her. “Would you still like to hear it?” The Changeling Queen nodded. Before the mare could start, there was a loud commotion in the hallway. They both rose and poked their heads out from the doorway to see a small crying Changeling dashing down the hall away from guards. The changeling spotted its queen and darted over before hiding under her and holding her leg.

“GET BACK HERE YOU!” A couple unicorn guards barked commands as they panted. “Ah! Your grace, we’re very sorry to interrupt your meeting. This one ran off,” the older unicorn panted.

The Changeling yelled from under the safety of his queen, “He said they were going to eat us Queen Mother!”

Celestia looked at her guards. “Is this true?”

The younger guard looked down sheepishly and scuffed his gold shoes against the floor. “My Lady, I was saying, they-” He pointed to the small changeling “-might eat us. And the little … thing there misheard me.”

The Changeling looked up at the Pony guard from behind his queens legs, then up at her. Chrysalis looked back at the little one and nodded gently. The smaller Changeling stepped out from his hiding place and walked up to the day guard.

“I’m not a thing,” the Changeling said crossly. “I am… I am ...” He sat down to think for a moment, and then looked back at Chrysalis, hoping for an answer. “Who am I?” he asked, a bit worriedly.

His queen put a leg around him and kissed his head. “Don’t worry little one, soon we’ll all remember who we are. For now, please go with them. And send the others my love,” she gently spoke, her underling nodded and walked over to the Pony guards. The three bowed to the royals and turned to leave.

“Oh,” Celestia said, giving them pause. “Respect our guests, I do not want to hear about this happening again. Do you understand?” she said The guards nodded and walked off with the changeling in tow.

Author's Note

After about a million years, there is chapter two