Life as a Secret Changeling Prince

A tall alicorn with a colorful flowing mane was sitting across an equally tall Changeling Empress, both were calmly sipping tea and silently eating scones. The alicorn was Queen (or princess as she prefers) Celestia of Equestria, while the other was Empress Tsubaki of Neighon.

Empress Tsubaki took one last sip before setting her cup down, sighing with a concerned look. “I feel a disturbance... Eun Ae, where is the General?” she called out for her wife, who poked her head out from the door.

“She is on her way here with an urgent message, my dearest,” she replied with whatever confidence she could muster.

However, her composer was broken as someone else poked their head from the door, she groaned in annoyance at the mere sight of the male. He had a long green mane that reached his shoulders and a sultry look in his eyes, “my lady, should I wait in your bedchamber for your meeting to be done?”

Eun Ae looked back at him and glared sharply, snapping, “how dare you speak of such vulgar things in front of me...”

Her wife nodded with a kind smile, “that would be much appreciated, my lovely.” The male grinned mockingly at Eun Ae before bowing to the Empress, walking away with his head held high.

That male was none other than Park Seo-jun, though you might recognize him by his real name: Danh Van Tranh.

“Tsubaki!” Eun Ae protested with a desperate look, she was ignored as her wife looked back at the Equestrian Queen.

“I'm afraid that something has happened to our dear Queen Femina, though if I'm being honest, I could care less what happens to her,” Tsubaki shrugged.

Queen Celestia tilted her head in confusion, “why aren't you? That sounds quite harsh to me, especially since she has been suffering more than you have during the war.”

The Empress was about to respond when another voice filled the room, “Empress Tsubaki,” the two rulers turned to see who it was.

It was General Spittlebug, her face was grim as she reported, “Queen Femina has been executed by slow slicing, they say that Chrysalis was the one to do it...”

All Tsubaki could do was wince and mumble, “ouch.” Queen Celestia was unsettled with how calm the Changeling in front of her was.

“I was also informed that her corpse was dragged around the city of Flygon, Chrysalis declared it as her victory.”

“I expected nothing less from a Queen who can't even defend her country from a rival, now we have to deal with a tyrant for the next few years. Let's hope that she grows bored of this before then, ” Tsubaki used her magic to levitate her hat onto her head.

Then she gestured for Celestia to follow her, which the Queen did with some hesitation.

Celestia hadn't known what to expect from the Changeling Empress, but she wasn't expecting her to be so cold towards not only her wife but one of her fellow Queens who was just murdered. “Where are going?” she asked as she was lead away from the room, glancing at the walls to see tapestries, portraits, and religious statues placed against them.

“To the balcony, I must show you something,“ the Empress answered smoothly.

It took them only a few minutes to walk there, although the awkward silence made it seem even longer to Celestia. She almost forgot why she came here in the first place, then she remembered that it was an attempt to seal an alliance with the Changelings...

Or at least with one of their colonies, the Changelings were far more complex than she expected. Celestial had been surprised to learn that feeding on love wasn't a common thing to do among Changelings and that they even had their own culture!

“Aha! We're here,” Tsubaki announced, sliding the doors open and taking a step outside.

Celestia followed after her, stopping in her tracks with a soft gasp. The sight she saw was... Unusually beautiful.

Ancient-looking buildings and homes were surrounding the palace, all of them had awe-inspiring gardens. Aligning the walkway to the palace were trees with pink blossoms sprouting from them, cherry blossom trees as Tsubaki translated for her.

The sight was only more lively due to the Changelings flying around, conducting everyday errands, and speaking to each other in Chenjinese. One thing she noticed was how all of them had light blue manes, the ones who appeared to be male had long shiny manes and were wearing an unusual set of clothes.

They appeared to be robed with flowery patterns, some had long flowing sleeves while others had smaller ones. The females on the other hoof had much shorter manes and their robes looked much simpler in design with an overcoat over them.

“Beautiful, isn't it?” Tsubaki whispered after placing a gentle hoof on Celestia’s shoulder.

The Equestrian Queen nodded in agreement, “I've never seen such fruitful gardens and lively streets! The plants and flowers here are simply divine!”

Tsubaki blushed as she had been referring to the males working on rice fields not too far away. “O-oh yes! The extravagant gardens here are among our greatest pride, after the architecture of course... And the male's beauty...” she mumbled the last part mainly to herself but Celestia heard.

“Pardon?” she questioned with a chuckle.

“Nothing of importance, any way you must understand that this is the Empire I have helped built,” Tsubaki mused, “every Empress before me has done the same for this place, it is not my responsibility to protect another Queen’s Kingdom. I can't do that, I'm always so busy with...”

Celestial couldn't help but interject with annoyance, “you seem to be perfectly content with everything, even being unfaithful to your partner! You call that being busy? Sleeping around with–what does your kind refer to them as... Oh right, concubines.”

The Empress scrunched her nose up, grumbling, “what I do with my spare time is my business, not yours. You don't see me speaking about your crime from centuries ago when you sent your little sister to the moon—”

She stopped herself, seeing the look of guilt on the other ruler’s face. “You cannot judge my actions when you don't take responsibility for yours, I have my right to seek comfort in the arms of others. While you have the right to keep secrets to yourself, the only ones who can give proper judgment to royalty are the Gods themselves.”

“My Lady,” General Spittlebug said from the doorway, “what is our next course of action? Shall I send our soldiers to Vietrot to reclaim the land as ours?”

“That won't be necessary, what happens to Vietrot shouldn't affect us at all—”

“But there are refugees who escaped from it, they are said to be sailing towards any land they can find. Also, from what I've been told there's a young boy who resembles royalty who fled.”

Tsubaki froze, the image of a certain grub filling her mind, “... What does he look like, and has the reached land yet?”

The General nodded her head, “he has a green mane and pupils instead of the commoner's eyes, he was traveling with another Changeling.”

The Empress gulped, her heart stung from an emotion she couldn't detect... guilt or a strange sense of relief? She asked where he was, her answer was simple, “he and about five other Changelings have landed in Trotland. I'm assuming that the other Changelings on the ship passed away during their voyage, shall we keep a close eye on him.”

“Yes, I would like that,” Tsubaki said with a conflicted look on her face.

She looked towards Celestia and whispered, “We must continue this conversation another time, meaning that the discussion of the alliance will have to be brought up later; I have important business to attend to right now.”

“I understand,” Celestia replied, “I believe that I have things to do as well, it appears that the war is over with... For now at least.”

“Forgive me, this must be a headache for you, ” Tsubaki chuckled weakly as she began to walk away.

Celestia sighed, glancing back towards the lively city around them.

She thought to herself, ‘an alliance between us now seems impossible but, only time will tell.’

Then she spread her wings and took flight, leaving the palace behind her with a heavyweight on her shoulders. The Changelings were going to have to be kept secret for just a little while longer, soon they will all be able to stand side by side in peace.

She could only hope for the best, not only for her ponies but the Changelings as well...