Brother of Loyalty

-Earlier that morning, after Phoenix left-

I decided to follow Phoenix's advice and try taking a nice relaxing hot shower, well, as good of a relaxing shower as I could manage anyway. As soon as I turned the hot water as high as it could go I stepped in and noticed that I had quit shivering. In fact the water, which would normally scald me through my coat with the temperature it was at, felt quite relaxing against my chitin. Now came the next part, learning how to shower all over again. For the most part it was the same, except now I had to clean out the holes in my legs, my wings were now super fragile from being so thin, and I had to clean my new..."equipment"... It is was shortly after I gotten out when I hear my older sister downstairs.

"Hey Cloud, are you home? Today was your day to lead the weather team and you are nearly two hours late." I could hear her coming upstairs and I panicked, getting the thickest blanket I could out of the nearby closet and ducking under the bed. I curled up as small as I could and wrapped myself up in the blanket, which not only gave me warmth, but also made it look like it was a jumbled mess as I fell silent and slowed my breathing.

"Cloud?" Another voice, which I knew was my younger sister, was heard and I could tell by how close it was they were both in my room. I did my best to stay quiet, but I started to regret being under the cool bed since my gossamer wings started to softly vibrate since my body temperature had started to drop slightly.

"Shh..everypony hear that?" A third voice, which I knew as my Aunt Pinkie, said. "It sounds like a soft vibrating noice and it seems to be coming from under the bed." I paled and gulped as I was blinded by the light suddenly shining in my eyes. "Oh hi there changeling, you look like my nephew Cloud Dasher but since he is a male and not a changeling I know that you can't be him. My name is Pinkie Dash, do you want to be my friend?" I inwardly sighed since I knew Pinkie's behavior, for once, was to my benefit as I took my time crawling from under the bed, doing my best to stay warm in the process. As soon as I fully emerged I was bucked by Rainbow.

"Don't give me no crap insect, tell me NOW where my brother is at or else you will never again see the light of day."

First threatened to be cupcaked by my fiancée and now Pegasus Deviced by my sister, I knew I was in a no win situation. "It is me Rainbow, I was changed into a female changeling while I was sleeping last night. I don't know for sure, but I suspect Queen Chrys-"

"LIAR!" My cyan sister said before jumping on me and sending me tumbling down the stairs and straight into a bookshelf. "My BROTHER is a MALE pegasus, by your tone of voice I can tell you are a FEMALE changeling. You got 10 seconds before I kill you and your time starts now so say your prayers." She then raised a hoof and positioned it right over my heart, and despite chitin being tougher than fur I knew it was gonna be a death blow.

"WAIT! Two years ago, you dared me to wear a dress of Rarity's choice for a week. It was one of the worst weeks of my life because of the way she styled my mane and tail to match the dress I kept getting flirted on. I had to break over two dozen ponies hearts after the dare was over, trust me, that is not a pleasant feeling." I said quick enough, in a Pinkie Dash-like sentence, to avoid her actually finishing the countdown. Her eyes widened and her hoof started shaking as she went into denial.

"Cloud...no..you are not my brother, you must have hijacked his memories while putting him in the pod. Yeah, that explains it, because you are still a vile bug.." A skirmish then broke out as I managed to get her off of me due to her being slightly off balance. She went through the couch before bouncing and slamming into the wall, causing several picture frames to come crashing down and the glass shattering all over the place. This caused the fight to shift into my favor since my chitin was immune to the glass but she had to be careful to avoid it piercing her hooves. I started blocking everything she started throwing at me before I sumersaulted her into the kitchen, that's where it swung back in her favor. My shivering got worse due to me using so much energy and I started limping for the door to head outside for warmth. I was dropped in my tracks like a bad habit by a frying pan hitting me in the back of the skull and nearly knocking me out. "Now you die changeling.." A flash lit up the room before she could do anything else and standing there was Phoenix and Twilight, much to my relief.

"Damn Dash, you really did a number on this place and on Cloud..." Twilight muttered surveying the damage while Phoenix looked over my injuries.

"Wait, you both believe this changeling is my brother? That is impossible since there is no such thing as a good ling, Queen Chrysalis proved that."

"Condemning the species for the faults of one individual..that's just wrong.." I said in what amounted to a whisper between my teeth chattering. "Not even in your flight academy days were you that dense sis."

She paused as she sorted through what I just said and it hit her like chrashing into a mountian. "Sweet Celestia, it really is you bro, I am sorry for my actions and what I said." Guilt was laced on every syllable as she slightly dropped her head.

"No big deal since Phoenix threatened to cupcake me before I proved I was actually myself, now can you all get me outside so I can warm up?"

"No, we are going to take you back upstairs, you are too injured right now and have a slight concussion to boot. Normally I would use my magic to heal you but I can't since I don't know anything about changeling anatomy." Twilight said helping Phoenix get me back into the room. After wrapping me in a blanket and using a spell to give it an extra insulating effect, she had Pinkie make me some soup while Phoenix comforted me and Rainbow broke down, needing Scoot to go help ease her nerves as Pinkie came back in.

-present moment-

"And now you two are here." My older sister said finishing her story, which was backed up by the rest of us.

Celestia spoke up. "Sounds like quite the eventful morning, how about we all go to Canterlot? Being on ground level will warm you up a bit Cloud since it is warmer down there than up here in the atmosphere. ,When we get there we can focus on finding Queen Chrysalis and-"

"and what Princess Celestia?..." We all looked in the doorway and there stood the Changeling Queen herself with, much to Celestia and Luna's ire, a while flag draped from her horn.

"What have you done to me Queen Chrysalis, why make me a Queen?"

"I got robbed of the love nessesssary for me to lay a royal nymph when my attack on Shining Armour's wedding got blocked. So, I quite simply went with the next best thing, since you are related to the Element of Loyalty I made you my heir." Her horn glowed causing my eyes to slightly glaze over before I started feeling the embrace of numerous changelings saying I was their princess. "That is the Hive Mind you are now fully connected to. It connects not only you with your subjects but also them to you. If you get in a jam they can lock onto your location and be there to defend you in a split second. I didn't go after Dash because not even I would have been able to deal with her ego or boastfulness."

"Anyway to change Cloud back?" Scootaloo asked out of curiousity.

"Depends, do you want Cloud to still be alive?" Chrysalis said in a monotone but we all shuddered at the alternative, none in the room wanted to prepare my funeral. "Anyways, I think we chould go to Canterlot and discuss matters further there, and since I have this white flag showing I am cooperating in a peaceful manner neither of you sisters or the Canterlot elders can touch me without diplomatic risks."

"We know..." Celestia and Luna said bitterly before teleporting us all to the castle.