The Queen’s game was one of waiting. Till now, she’d set each piece with tactile intent. She was much like the Two Sisters, in that regard: Methodical. For a Queen so impatient, it spoke to her sheer will that she'd been able to keep herself from leaping at her prize until she and her subjects were well beyond ready. The Queen did not like a challenge, no– the Queen liked an easy conquest. The sort of approach so demoralizing to her enemies that they’d sooner give in to their assured fates before their hands could even think to reach for spears. That was the Queen’s ideal.

So, despite the years it took to breed and amass and plot and subvert– it was maddeningly necessary, for the Queen felt she had truly but one shot at this. The imprisonment & masquerade of Princess Cadenza? The Siege of Canterlot? Those ‘failures’ had been the intended result of her involvement ever since the Queen’s spies in the Capital city had relayed news of the then-new Alicorn’s engagement– to keep Equestria thinking itself capable of self defense. The Queen had gone into the city with a detachment of Changeling drones hardly equipped to take over even a Badlands frontier town, let alone Canterlot. The Queen had banked on her own ‘defeat,’ knowing that the Princesses would figure her story had been ended, as the Queen and her loyal servants were sent careening into the horizon.

But the Queen was not so weak, and her story– far from over. Confident she and her race would be left to their own devices once more as Equestria fancied itself safe, the next phase of the Queen’s operation began. And for the Queen who so hated the barbaric tools of war, her conquest would be one more well-suited to the strengths of a Changeling: A revolution– a stampeding showcase of the true definition of love that those beautiful, foolish little ponies thought they understood. And she'd do so without a single drop of bloodshed.

The time would come that their superiors could teach them proper etiquette for their place in the world– the world that belonged to the Conquering Tyrant, Queen Chrysalis.

The Equestrians refer to the day they lost the war as ‘Revival Night,’ a span of only a few hours. Queen Chrysalis’ battle plan was not a wave of tar– Changelings brutishly pushing up into Equestria in a million-mare mass. Such an approach might’ve been understandable to a pony– but the Changelings carry with them far more poise. For months by then, years in some places, the legions had claimed their cities all but outright. Disguises and masquerades of ponies whose families never suspected a thing had been stolen away from those original mares and stallions, who now served as loyal communal Broodwives somewhere within the unseen Hivesprawl. The Queen had taken her living kingdom underground, quite literally– and its veins meandered about in well-traveled highways just beneath Equestria’s nose. Their enemy wasn’t just already within the gates– but they stood atop its ramparts, too.

So, when the fated call of Actualization rang out across the vast Hivesprawl, there was no fight. One day, Equestria was a country. The next, she was a territory carved up by new owners, and those that could still raise the sound of alarm were falling fast. The entire swathe of Equestria’s lazy dream of southern homesteading was dashed in but a few hours– that dream belonging instead to the Changelings it’d always been meant for.

Just about the only thing that hadn’t gone exactly to Queen Chrysalis’ plan was the Element Bearers getting away– the only real defense Equestria could still claim to have. Feverish to secure their lone nuclear option, though– the Two Sisters could only accept that all the more cities and townships dotting the Equestrian ranges would fall under Changeling control as a trade. Without those six within Ponyville, however… Well, it fell all the easier– and their families with it.

By day two of the ‘war,’ Canterlot was but an island atop its mountain. Alone. Capturing the rest of Equestria would take time, but it would happen. Even the Crystal Empire, perhaps viewed as a non-player being in such an inhospitable patch of the Frozen North, would soon enough have the Queen’s Changeling Maidens knocking upon its door. They’d been left as sitting ducks, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza & her husband sadly able to reach Canterlot before they could be intercepted. Regardless of where they or truly anypony was, though– it made no difference. Sooner or later, all Equines would be just another Broodwife for the overwhelming Changeling hordes. To Chrysalis, this had been merely the expectation. After all, it was always meant to be this way.

As though it might make some difference, or perhaps merely to pass the time, those key figures still cowering in Canterlot fill their days with talks of strategy, attempts at negotiation, the frantic searching for forgotten artifacts within the confines of the city… Anything to keep reality at bay.

Since then, days had turned to months, and months had yielded no salvation for what little remained of Equestria. Canterlot was and still is utterly blockaded– the Changelings more than happy to spend their newly won freetime and now boundless supply of prisoners with loud displays of... well, sex. Lots of sex. Gangbangs, in fact– with the familiar faces of friends and family stuck within the ever-revolving pile of eager participants. They were the ones who didn't make it to Canterlot in time. Worse yet, with the passage of time– those same mares who once tried in some capacity to push their new masters away as the Changelings held open her legs... Soon stopped biting back their shameful moans entirely– instead proudly strutting beside the Changeling scourge, their bodies scrawled with strange tattoos and glorified tramp-stamps, wearing their collars and nothing else... Attempts had been made to try and make Shining Armor’s bubble shield surrounding the city at least soundproof, but the effort never panned out.

Really, the only reason Canterlot still stands at all is due to Queen Chrysalis' benevolence– or perhaps, her current apathy. There was more to conquering than just taking a city, after all. Supplies needed to be transferred, the now overflowing quantity of prisoners and Broodwives needed to be assigned to Free-Use breeding ranges or awarded to Changelings of merit. The Hivesprawl needed proper outposts back up on the surface to cement the territory holdings and maintain efficient function... The less glamorous work of being the Queen. Canterlot wasn't going anywhere anytime soon– and if they tried to... well, that'd make things nice and easy. So, with supplies dwindling by the day and the Changelings more than happy to parade what’s in store for those still within the last bastion of Equestria– time appears to be running out.

Such desperation can make ponies do odd things.

Author's Note

Hello again! It should come up in the story at some point, but just in case you missed it: All of the Changelings here are female futanari. Just felt I should touch on it again for the sake of your Theater of The Mind, wooooh~

As mentioned previously, this story's, uh... I think it's going to evolve into a lot. As in, a lot of stuff that I think a good amount of readers aren't into– but I can't know that for certain, so who knows!? Will be pretty cool if this idea appeals to people though! More to come soon!