In Equestria's capital, Canterlot, the day was unusual. Special. It was the royal wedding between the captain of the palace guard, Shining Armor, and Princess Celestia’s niece, Cadance, who, like her aunt, was a princess. The Princess of Love.

For many ponies, this wedding was very important, not only for the lovers themselves, but also for their friends and relatives, and therefore they prepared for it accordingly. Many guests were invited, a large ceremonial hall was elegantly decorated in honor of such a significant event, and mountains of treats towered on the tables, from tiny cakes to tower-like cakes, baked by the best court in the Apple family.

Everyone who took part in all these preparations was filled with joy for the future newlyweds and tried to do everything possible to make their wedding a success.

Everyone, except Twilight Sparkle. The unicorn, who was the younger sister of Shining Armor, for some reason didn’t want her brother to marry the princess, and tried to prevent this in every possible way. This was very strange for her friends, because she and Cadance were best friends and had never quarreled before. But now, for some reason, she hated her. She condemned her in every possible way, said nasty things, and in the end even ruined her wedding rehearsal.

But despite all attempts to stop the wedding, it still took place and at the appointed time all the guests and Twilight’s friends came to the ceremony solemnly dressed and happy without her. They thought she could not come to terms with defeat, and preferred to spend the day in her room, and could only guess what made her dislike Cadance so much. Maybe she was envious? Or even jealous?

Meanwhile, the wedding was drawing to a close. Princess Celestia, who herself decided to hold the ceremony, gave a beautiful wedding speech, after which she moved on to its main part:

"Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, it is with great joy that I declare you husband and wife," the alicorn proclaimed.

As soon as she said this, two smartly dressed foals approached the altar and handed the newlyweds rings, which they put on each other on the horn.

"Well, finally, this ceremony has been going on for too long already. I made so much effort to marry this handsome stallion, and it would be very disappointing if someone would interfere with us now." Cadance thought excitedly.

"Now, you may kiss!" finished the ruler of Equestria.

"Yes, dear, come to me," said Cadance with a wide smile, coming closer to the white unicorn and kissing him firmly on the lips, accompanied by loud exclamations and applause from the audience. Some of the guests even laughed softly when they saw how the princess grabbed the stallion's neck and, throwing it over on its side, passionately dug her lips into it. It seemed that she was not just kissing him, but literally feeding on his love.

"Oh, sorry. I got a little carried away. I'm just so happy. Today is the best day of my life," the princess said in embarrassment, finishing with a quick kiss and turning with her husband towards the guests.

Several reporters present at the ceremony immediately approached the altar and began clicking their cameras, trying to capture such a joyful moment.

"Hello, I'm Paper Swift," one of the photographers introduced herself. "May I ask you to stand near one of the arched windows so that my assistant and I take a picture of you against the backdrop of the setting sun of Princess Celestia?"

"Of course, why not?" Cadance agreed with a gleeful laugh. "What do you say, hubby?"

"Yes, darling, I completely agree with you," Shining Armor responded in a slightly sluggish and lifeless (apparently from excitement) voice, obediently following her to the window and standing beside her.

"That's so great, and now, be so kind as to kiss, please, again," Paper asked them, adjusting the camera and preparing to take a picture. But then the doors behind her thundered open and into the hall under the surprised exclamations of the assembled guests came another one princess Cadance, disheveled and filthy, followed by a purple unicorn – Twilight Sparkle.

"Wait, I am protesting!" exclaimed the newly arrived Princess of Love. "This Cadance is a fake!"

She then noticed a gold ring on the horn of her beloved.

"Oh no!" Cadance exclaimed.

"We are too late!" Twilight added, looking at Shining.

"What's the matter? What's going on here?" Princess Celestia asked, going down to the guests and looking in surprise first at one Cadance, then at the other.

"Aunt! Listen to me! It's me – the real Cadance, and she's an impostor!" The battered mare exclaimed. "She's not even a pony! This is the queen of the changelings!"

"Nonsense! She's not telling the truth! I’m the real Cadance, and she's trying to trick you Aunt Tia," said the second Cadance, who was standing next to the white stallion.

"Oh, you impudent liar!" with hatred the princess exclaimed, pouncing on her exact copy. A fight broke out between them, both mares began to angrily bite each other and drag by the hair. Guests immediately rushed to them to try to separate, but as soon as they got close, one of the princesses was suddenly engulfed in an emerald green flame, and in front of everyone's eyes she turned into a changeling.

The ponies stepped back in fright. Several mares screamed in horror and fainted. Queen Chrysalis slowly rose to her feet, straightening her injured wedding dress, which was now out of her size. Throwing back her tangled dark turquoise mane, she looked arrogantly at the guests staring at her.

"See! I told you she was an impostor!" Triumphantly exclaimed Princess Cadance, who stood up after her, spitting out a tuft of hair that had changed along with its owner. Angry lightning flashed in the eyes of the princess. "She imprisoned me and Twilight in the mines near Canterlot, and she, pretending to be me, wanted to marry my husband."

"More precisely, I have already married him," the queen remarked with a malicious laugh. "And now Shining Armor is my husband. My special pony who whispered sweet little things to me last night and playfully bit my ear."

"Oh, how romantic it is," sighed voluptuously Rarity, who was standing nearby.

"Hey, you shouldn't like this!" said Rainbow Dash, staring daggers at her angrily.

"Oh, yes, I'm sorry, I don’t know what came over me," said the white unicorn, shaking her head in embarrassment.

"Enough! I demand that you return my fiancé to me immediately!" declared Cadance, rushing to the unicorn, who was still standing in a trance and grabbing his leg.

"Never! I've already married him, and now he's mine!" in turn exclaimed Chrysalis, running up from the opposite side and grabbing the other leg.

They both began to violently pull on the stallion, whose head was limply swinging.

"It's not for long! You made a big mistake when you decided to come here and deceive us!" interrupting their argument, Princess Celestia sternly exclaimed, stepping forward and pointing her horn at the queen of the changelings.

"Well, do not rush to get involved in a fight, princess. Yes, I deceived you," Chrysalis said proudly, turning to her. "But for a reason. I had a good reason."

"Good reason?!" Cadance snapped angrily. "A good reason to steal my beloved from me?!"

"Exactly. I did it to help my children who, because of your cruelty, are dying of hunger," Chrysalis replied.

She let go of Shining Armor's leg and turned to the ponies gathered around her.

"What else do you think I should have done? My children live in a lifeless and dead wilderness, languishing with hunger and loneliness, and as soon as one of them approaches you, you immediately chase them and call them monsters."

She took a few steps forward, keeping one eye on Celestia, who continued to hold her in sight.

"But my children are not monsters. They are unhappy and loveless creatures who sincerely want to live in peace with ponies."

"You're lying! All changelings are vampires!" one of the mare exclaimed angrily.

"Beasts!" a nearby stallion supported her.

"No! They are not monsters!" came an exclamation, and it was not Chrysalis who said this at all, but another mare who had come to the wedding.

Everyone present turned to her in surprise, including the queen herself.

"And I know that, because I’m married to a changeling myself," the pony continued. "We met a couple of years ago, when I was walking in the forest and picking berries. He came out from behind the bushes, holding out a whole heap of ripe raspberries. At first, I was scared of him and decided that he wanted to hurt me, but a bear attacked us and this changeling turned into a dragon to save me. Changelings are not monsters at all!"

She tugged at the leg of a stately stallion standing next to her, and he, embarrassedly looking down, turned into a changeling under the amazed exclamations of the rest of the guests.

"And since then we have started dating, and six months ago he offered me to become his wife, and I gladly agreed," the mare continued. "I love him very much and I can tell you that I have never met a more tender, kind and housewifely stallion in my life."

The changeling next to her blushed slightly.

"So am I," another mare put in. "I thought I was the only one, but I must tell you that my husband is also a changeling."

"And so is mine," added another young pony.

"And my wife is a changeling," one of the stallions in thick glasses finished uncertainly. "to be honest, she’s not exactly a mare, though. That is, when we are with her in public, she is, of course, a mare, but at home, as soon as we are alone, she... well... you know..."

"Quiet dear, you don't need to tell anyone about this," the beautiful earth pony, which he was holding by the leg, stopped him.

"Enough!" Cadance stopped them. "How can you protect changelings?! They're vampires!"

"I'm sure all these ponies are also changelings!" Exclaimed Rainbow Dash. She immediately pounced on the stallion in glasses and started to beat his face.

"Come on! Transform back! Transform back!" loudly shouted the blue pegasus, pushing aside the earth pony that was trying to stop her with her wing.

"Hey! Stop it! Enough! I'm not a changeling!" Shielding himself from her with his hooves.

"Yes, pony, I can assure you that he is definitely not one of my children," the queen confirmed.

"We’ll check it out," Twilight said, and called a spark from her horn, launching it at the stallion.

"Sorry, Rainbow Dash, but he really isn't a changeling," the unicorn said after a couple of seconds, when the spark hit his leg, immediately disappeared.

"Well, maybe," Rainbow Dash said in frustration after giving him a few more slaps. "But remember – I'm watching you," she added at last, lowering him to the floor.

"You see, Celestia? We are not the monsters," the queen said with a smile, watching everything that happened. "As for vampires", she added, turning to Cadance, "when we feed on love, it doesn't hurt at all and doesn't hurt anyone. And it doesn't feel like sucking blood. If someone sincerely loves us, we simply absorb his feelings and give reciprocal love, without taking anything away."

She walked over to Celestia and looked her straight in the eye.

"But you don’t understand this and you just hate us. That is why I decided to cheat. I wanted to save those who are dear to me."

She was silent for a second, and a bright blush flashed on her cheeks.

"Well, and because I really like Shining Armor. He's such a sweetheart."

Cadance snorted angrily.

"Tell me, Celestia, would you not have done the same in my place? Wouldn't you do everything in your power to take care of your loved ones?" She asked the white alicorn.

"Well..." the princess said with embarrassment, having stopped aiming at her with her own horn.

"If you’re telling the truth, then why didn’t you just ask us for help?" Twilight asked the queen.

"Twilight! Don't tell me that you believe her, after everything we went through in the mines?" Cadance exclaimed.

"I’m just trying to figure it out, Cadance, so I’m not wrong again," the unicorn said.

"Well, young pony, I can answer your question," Chrysalis told her. "My children have asked you for help many times, but you have always refused them. And some of the guards even vilely attacked them when they told them that they were changelings. I'm sure it was Celestia's suggestion," the queen added, and some of the guests looked at the princess accusingly.

"This is not true! I never ordered them to attack changelings!" Celestia exclaimed.

"So, they did it themselves, but the essence does not change from this. One way or another, you always chased us away, and I had to look for another way. I could no longer see how my children were suffering and was ready to risk even my own life to feed them."

"I… to be honest, I didn't know you were doing so badly," Celestia said.

"Exactly, you didn’t know or didn’t want to know. So I had to pretend to be your niece to help my children get into pony society and live peacefully with you. And if everything went well, you wouldn’t have even noticed it."

As she spoke, Shining Armor, meanwhile, began to recover. The charm Chrysalis put on him faded, and he began to look around in confusion.

"Huh? Where am I? What's happening?" He asked in a trembling voice.

"Well, maybe you are right, but that didn’t give you the right to put me and Twilight in the mine," Cadance said, ignoring his awakening.

"Yes, I have to admit that I really overdid it and am ready to sincerely apologize to you," the queen said, going up to Cadance and Twilight and kneeling down in front of them.

"I sincerely regret my actions and ask your forgiveness," she said loudly for everyone to hear.

"Apologies are not enough, you must return my husband to me!" the Princess of Love insistently demanded.

"Darling, what's happening?" the stallion tried to ask her, but she only shouted angrily at him:

"Not now!"

"I’m afraid that’s not possible; I’ve already married him," Chrysalis replied. "And I don’t want to lose him. Shining Armor is so cute."

"Oh, you two-faced shrew!" the alicorn gritted her teeth, ready to rush at the queen again.

"However, we don’t have to quarrel over this," Chrysalis interjected suddenly.

"Why is that?"

"Before deciding on this wedding, I carefully studied your Equestrian laws. I know that you cannot break off your marriage earlier than a year later. And also, I know that your stallions are allowed to have several wives in marriage at once," she smiled slyly.

"What?" gasped Cadance.

"What?!" Shining Armor exclaimed, no less dumbfounded.

"Instead of fighting and arguing over the groom, I suggest you become his second wife."

"No!" said the stallion, frightened. "I won't go for it!"

"Really? When I asked you to rub your nose against my tummy last night, you didn't really resist much," the queen laughed.

"Because you had bewitched me!" Shining said.

"Actually, during our hugs, I gave you complete freedom of action, so those naughty hoof games were completely your decision."

Cadance glared at him.

"I… I…" he tried to justify himself.

"Enough! I don’t want to hear anything!" Cadance growled. "Are you crazy?" She turned to Chrysalis. "I will never share my beloved with such a treacherous creature as you!"

The pink alicorn ran up to Celestia.

"Aunt Tia, do something! Break up their marriage!"

"I’m sorry, Cadance, but I'm afraid she's right. According to our laws, I cannot dissolve their marriage earlier than a year later," Celestia said guiltily.

"And besides, such a decision could badly affect my attempts to make peace with the Equestria," added Chrysalis.

She walked over to Cadance.

"Come on, Princess of Love, don’t be obstinate," said the queen. "Let's at least try. That way I can help my children, and you won't lose the Shining."

Cadance bit her lip in displeasure.

"Please, Cadance, don't do this," Shining looked at her pleadingly.

"And if nothing comes of it, then I promise that in a year I will leave you. But for now, I cannot back down. After all, as a mother, I have to take care of my children," added Chrysalis. "You’re not going to let them suffer, right?"

"Well, okay! You win! I agree!" Cadance exclaimed loudly. "I don’t want the changelings to starve. But I swear if you try to trick us again..."

"I promise that there won't be any more tricks," Chrysalis vowed, lifting her front leg up. "I will no longer bewitch Shining or turn into someone else to deceive you. And lastly..." she lightly hugged the princess, "...I won't lie to the future wife of my husband."

"Okay. I urgently need a wedding dress. The best you can find. And a hairdresser," Cadance said busily, pushing her leg away.

"One sec, Princess. I’ll organize everything in a moment," Rarity perked up, running for her work bag.

"And me," Chrysalis added, looking at the hole in her dress. "After all, I too must be irresistible at this wedding."

"Aunt Tia, I want you to give us another ceremony," Cadance said, turning to the ruler of Equestria.

"Mommy," mumbled the unfortunate Shining Armor.

Author's Note

Well, this is the first chapter of my story, I hope you enjoy it )))