Becoming Undone

Thorax arrived the next morning with an envoy of changelings in his wake. Just as they had feared, Cadance had been transformed into a changeling queen. The ruler of the reformed changelings explained that changeling queens were somewhat singular among their kind, almost as if they were a type of subspecies. Queens, Thorax informed them, were made and not born. When a changeling, or pony, was selected and exposed to royal jelly from an existing queen they would, over time, metamorphosize into a queen themselves. Regrettably the process was irreversible and, as such, Cadance would never again be an alicorn. He went on to postulate that, while normal changelings could reform themselves through the power of giving love, changeling queens were not capable of such an act, they themselves being a slightly different and superior strain of parasitic creature.

Sunburst, ever astute, proposed a plan upon learning that Cadance’s condition was permanent. Everypony who knew of her condition was sworn to silence, giving a sacred vow to never speak about her secret. The orange unicorn went on to ask Thorax to leave a handful of his most loyal subjects to teach Cadance about her newfound abilities, knowing that, given time, she would be able to disguise herself as the pink alicorn princess who everypony knew and loved.

Cadance knew the plan was rather devious but, in an attempt to save face and avoid an incident with the ponies of Equestria, she agreed with it. Apparently the madness she had suffered after completing her transformation was normal, or as normal as such a process was. The physical and psychological strain of such a metamorphosis often drove newly formed queens temporarily mad with hunger. Curiously, she hadn’t suffered from the hunger since her initial incident. Sunburst and Thorax both theorized that, as the former princess of love, and residing above the crystal heart, the artifact powered by the love of crystal ponies, allowed her the ability to passively consume residual love from the area although neither could be certain.

And so Cadance went on to live a clandestine double life, the glorious alicorn princess of love to all but a select few while concealing the fact that she was now a changeling queen and, according to Thorax and his retinue, an exceptionally powerful one at that. Unknown were many of her adventures and exploits from that point forward, but those are tales for another day.