Author's Note

Hey peeps!

Hope you enjoy this chapter! :D

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"If I mix one part ethanol to two parts Changeling pheromones that should have the desired result!" - Princess Twilight Sparkle's personal memoir: Page 764.

Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes. She likes me better... she grumbled, leaning on the table. "So, uh, Princess... you're not angry that I've been keeping a Queen in my castle?"

Celestia shook her head. "Why would I be angry? It's your castle and what you want to do behind closed doors is your own business. Besides, I don't really feel it would be my place to tell you what to do."

"Oh, right," she chuckled, then blinked and frowned. "Hey! I don't do... anything- I don't do anything behind those doors!" she protested, cheeks turning a deep shade of red.

Celestia giggled into her hoof, the gasped as a flash of green fire burst out from beneath her wing. Looking down, she smirked, seeing a smaller version of herself peeking out from behind her wing. "Looks like she knows who the best Princess is after all."

"Aww, you're so cute!" Pinkie squealed, grinning.

"Cute?" Instar asked, looking between the three ponies, confused.

Twilight hummed and tapped her hoof on the table. "Cute is..." she mumbled, thinking as she averted her eyes from Celestia. "Well, the definition is something that is 'attractive or pretty especially in a childish, youthful, or delicate way', but it's harder to specifically define in a physical way, there's plenty of variables which could go into making something cute, but each one of them share themselves with various other terms which could be used to describe 'cool' or 'beautiful'. Definitely not the same as 'cute'..." she explained, earning a chuckle from the other ponies.

She gazed over the table, worried. "Did I do it again?" she asked, rubbing the back of her neck and laughing to herself.

Celestia opened her mouth to reply, but was stopped by the door to the bakery open and the rest of their friends wandered in.

First was Rarity, wrapped in a dark red satin scarf, then Dash which was brushed up against her, and was talking about some sort of racing event. Applejack and Fluttershy took up the rear, giggling about something which Twilight couldn't hear, while their tails were wrapped around each other's.

"Girls!" Twilight called out, waving her hoof. "Over here!"

The group made their way over, bowing cordially to Celestia, then took their seats.

Spotting the miniture Celestia under her wing, Applejack spoke up. "Princess, is that 'nother you?" she asked, looking to the others to make sure she wasn't going crazy.

"Indeed, Applejack. There's a story behind her, but it would be better if Twilight told you as to why," Celestia replied, smiling warmly.

"Oh, right. So, uh... girls, you know the meteor that hit the farm just outside of town?" Twilight started, seeing the rest of the girls turn to listen to her and nod.

Dash kept glancing over to the miniture Princess of the Sun every so often a slight frown on her face.

"Well, I don't think it was a normal meteor."

She closed her eyes and slipped into 'lecture mode'. "I've had some of the town guards collect samples for me, and during my tests, I've concluded that the samples were infuzed with the Elements of Harmony. While there were trace amounts, it was still an extremely high amount, compared to the soil found in Equestria."

"Wait, our Elements?" Dash asked, looking around, confused.

"Indeed. I was just as confused when I found out, but it eventually made sense once I did a little bit of research."

"Twilight, dear. I fail to see how this is connected to the Princess?" Rarity inturrupted, causing Twilight to sigh.

"Well," Twilight continued, stepping out from the table. Celestia opened her wing and Twilight took Instar's hoof, pulling her out. "This is Instar. She's-" she paused, taking one look around at her friends. "She's a Changeling Queen."

"Wait, what?! Like Chrysalis?" Dash shouted, standing up.

Twilight sighed. "Dash, please. I checked; Chrysalis is still safely petrified. My research indicates that she arrived in the meteor."

"In? Surely you don' mean?"

"Yes, AJ. In the Element infused meteor," she nodded, placing a hoof on the confused Queen's shoulder. "Instar, can you turn back, please?" she whispered.

With a burst of green fire, Instar revealed her true Changeling form of black, plated chitin and orange mane and tail.

"As you can see, she seems much more pony-like than Chrysalis was. She doesn't look all gaunt and there's no holes on her legs," Twilight explained, holding up one of Instar's plated legs.

"She looks beautiful..." Fluttershy whispered, which earned her a look of concern from Dash.

"How do I know that she hasn't mind controlled you? Like Chrysalis did with Shining Armour!" Dash asked, standing up and staring right at Twilight and the Queen.

"Rainbow Dash," Celestia calmly asked, staring over at her. "How much do you know of Changeling physiology?"

There wasn't any anger in those words, but everypony could see the full force of the sun clear as day though.

The mare shrank back at the Princess's question, her wings ruffling nervously. "Uh..."

"Alicorns cannot be mind controlled by their magic. Our minds reject it. I can assure you that if we could be, none of us would be here as I most likely would have burnt this continent at her command."

Dash's eyes widened and she looked away. The mare lowered herself back down, wings shaking, to which Rarity leaned against her. "Alright... I believe you," she whispered.

"I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash, I," Celestia started, closing her eyes. "I didn't mean to be so overbearing," the Princess sighed, shaking her head. "I understand your reasoning, believe me. But Instar is not a threat to this country. She barely understands Equestrian."

Twilight sighed, but gave her friend a warm smile. "The Princess is right. Technically speaking, Dash, she's only a week old. She may have, kinda, snuck into bedroom and fed off me," she quickly rushed, rubbing the back of her neck. "But, she obviously came straight from the impact site as she was scared. Starlight and I cornered her in the basement and she's be-"

Twilight was inturruped by Instar nuzzling her neck and buzzing happily.

"Instar, stop," she laughed, gently holding her back. "She's been super affectionate since. I've been reading up on Changeling behaviour. Did you know that most of their interaction with other Changelings are done via Pheromones they secrete from their-"

"I don't want to know where they secrete it from!" Rarity shouted, covering her ears, causing the rest to laugh.

"From their backs. Here, here and here," Twilight explained, grinning and pointing to the base of Instar's neck, half way down and just above her dock. "It's incredibly fascinating, but ponies can't detect them. A lot of books that describe them were printed once Thorax let researchers into his hive- Oh yeah! Princess, can you arrange for him to meet us?"

"Of course, Twilight. I'm sure Instar would love to meet some more of her kind."

"My thoughts exactly. Plus, actually being able to ask him about the more secretive parts of their species would be great. There's still so much we don't know. I might be the first to actually witness a Queen lay a batch of eggs!" Twilight squealed, a grin on her face.

The rest of the ponies were in various states of disgust. Yet, Fluttershy rolled her eyes.

"I, for one, think it's wonderful that you're taking care of her. Without you, she might have ended up like Chrysalis and nopony would be happy with that," Fluttershy spoke up, smiling as she sighed.

"Thanks, Fluttershy. Once I know exactly what part of her life cycle she's in, I can better prepare for what might come."

"I... hope that she won' go 'round sucking love out of us, right?" Applejack asked, tapping her hoof on the table.

"Nope!" Spike said, to which the girls jumped.

"Oh, I'm sorry Sugarcube. I didn't know you were there," AJ said, looking rather sheepish.

"I'm used to it," he replied, waving it off. "Anyway, Twilight's been pretty stringent with her feeding habits. She won't even let me in when it happens. Says it might be dangerous for me or something."

Now all eyes were pointed towards Twilight, who's own were wide. Celestia's own were downward as she frowned in thought.

"What? It might be- it's not what you think, okay! It can get a little- It's just- ugh! When a Changeling feeds on love, the body needs to replace it with something. The closest emotion to love is, well... pleasure. Specifically sexual," she explained, dragging her hoof across the wood as her cheeks blossomed.

Celestia giggled and shook her head. "I do hope you're not letting her feed off you too much?"

"No, of course not. I read that once a day is enough for a Changeling, but she seems insistant on taking small snacks throughout the day without asking," she mumbled, half-heartedly frowing over to the smiling Queen.

"I... certainly wasn't expecting that," Spike mumbled, causing Twilight to flush even redder with embarassment. "I guess it's better you than me. I like my love inside of me, thanks."

"While I do suppose it's easier than the alternative of simply finding a partner..." Rarity giggled. "I don't say this to be crude, and please don't read into it, but I'm sure any of us would be more than happy to help feed her if you ever need us to."

"Except me!" Pinkie called out, grinning. "I'm not a free mare anymore."

The rest of the lunch moved along quickly, with Twilight's embarassment fading into the background as the group settled down and discussed what they had been up to. But, as the sun began to set on Ponyville and Instar grew bored, Twilight had to say goodnight to her friends and head back.

Twilight held Instar close with a wing and smiled. "I think they liked you!"

"They like me?" the Queen asked, unsure. "Blue pony not like me."

"Dash? Of course she likes you. She's just... a little protective of us."

Instar nodded. She didn't like the blue one.

"Did," Twilight began, looking worried. "Did you like them?"

Instar stopped and tilted her head at Twilight. "I like. They smell nice, like you."

Twilight smiled at that and shook her head. "Well, I do get my shampoo from Rarity," she replied, waving a hoof. "But we should get back before it gets too cold. I'm sure you'd want to get into a warm room again."

"Warm, yes," the Queen replied, sliding back under Twilight's wing. "Am warm."

Twilight looked away and cleared her throat. "Are- are you hungry?" It's been a long day for you," she mumbled, her cheeks darkening.

"Not hungry," Instar replied, shaking her head, causing Twilight to sigh in relief. "Who Chrysalis?"

Twilight blinked and grimaced at having to explain. "She's... like you. A Changeling Queen."

"Like me? Where?!"

There was a hint of something in Instar's voice that Twilight didn't want to hear: excitement.

"She did some bad things and hurt a lot of ponies. She was punished."

"What's punished?"

"When ponies do bad things, they are not allowed to do things other ponies can. Chrysalis was..." Twilight closed her eyes. "She was turned to stone for what she did. It's wasn't nice to watch."

Instar could feel something that she had never felt before roll off of the mare: shame. She didn't like this feeling. It felt heavy, as if it weighed her down.

"Can I see?" she asked, leaning on the mare to try and help remove that feeling. "She is like me."

"I guess it would have come up at some point," Twilight mumbled. With a sigh, she nodded. "I'll take you soon. It's quite the journey to Canterlot, but I'm sure the Princess would let us stay at the Castle."

The pair reached the castle without much trouble and entered. Twilight took Instar up to her room, let go of the 'ling and wandered over to her writing desk. She picked up the book she had been reading through and opened it to the page her Celestia bookmark was sticking out of.

"Oh right, I stopped here..." she mumbled, glancing over to the Changeling that was jumping about on her bed. Her eyes skimmed over the title:

Changeling Breeding Habits