Changing Love

Changing Love

How should one start a story without spouting a cliché? It seems that every possible opening one could think of has already been used to death. Ah well, I suppose there’s no way around it…

It was a warm summer evening in the bustling town of Ponyville. All of the ponies were out and about enjoying the warm weather and sunshine. One purple, (freshly coronated), alicorn princess was at the local market in town talking to a particular prismatic pegasus.

“So Rainbow, in your opinion, what would be the most tedious part or biggest pain of owning wings?” queried Twilight.

“It would definitely have to be the broken feathers you get, it can be a real pain in the flank to pull them out,” replied Rainbow Dash.

Twilight was deep in thought about all that happened recently when she was interrupted by the sound of loud wheezing. Right on cue, Spike arrived panting and wheezing between the two ponies.

“Twilight! A letter arrived for you!” gasped Spike.

“A letter?” inquired Twilight, “I didn’t expect any letters from Princess Celestia today.”

“Well, go on, then, open it,” said Rainbow Dash.

Twilight quickly opened the royal seal and scanned the letter, only to have a puzzled look crawl across her face.

“Who’s it from?” asked Spike.

“It’s from my brother and Cadence,” said Twilight, “Rainbow, can you grab Applejack and Fluttershy? I’ll grab Rarity and Pinkie Pie and meet you back at the library.”

“On it,” said Rainbow, and she sped off towards Sweet Apple Acres.

Back at the library, Princess Twilight looked over all of her friends with a warm smile, her face then turned serious as she opened her mouth to speak.

“Girls, I have received a letter from Princess Cadance and my brother. It seems that there has been a development in the Crystal Empire and they requested that we travel there. It didn’t seem to be an emergency, therefore I brought you all here to ask if you wanted to go. After all, we were just their not too long ago, not to mention we’re all still recovering from the coronation. So what do you say? Are you all up for another trip to the Crystal Empire?”

“Ah’m in.”

“Me too.”

“I’ll go as well.”

“Aww yeah!”

“YAY! THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE AGAIN!”

“How about you Spike?” asked Twilight.

“I think I’m going to sit this one out. I had plenty of excitement the last time I went there and I have some…reading to catch up on.”

“Well if you’re sure you don’t want to go, you don’t have to. Its settled girls, pack your bags, we leave for the Crystal Empire first thing in the morning,” declared Twilight.

The next morning the ponies finished up their last-minute packing, said their goodbyes to their respective friends and family, and met up at the train station. Once gathered, they hopped on the first train to the Crystal Empire. Once they boarded, they settled in and Twilight, as usual, let her mind wander.

“I wonder what this development that Shining Armor and Cadence are talking about is?” wondered Twilight.

“Ah’m sure whatever it is, it’s mighty important since they called us all the way out there,” replied Applejack.

“Perhaps they found a way to make that glorious crystal coat permanent outside of the empire!” squealed Rarity, prompting an eye roll from all of the other ponies.

When the girl’s hooves touched the solid ground of the Crystal Empire train station, they were once again taken aback by the beauty of the Empire. Once the initial shock was over, the six ponies started their trek to the palace, where Shining and Cadence eagerly awaited them.

When they arrived, they were immediately whisked away to the throne room where they were greeted by a smiling Shining Armor and a beaming Cadence.

“Twily!” exclaimed Shining, “It’s good to see you again!”

“You too Shining, it’s always good to see my BBBFF,” said Twilight as they exchanged a hug.

Cadence then took the opportunity to enclose ALL of them into a giant hug. After they were thoroughly crushed, pleasantries were exchanged, and the two princesses did their notorious dance, Rainbow spoke up.

“So princess, why did you call us all the way out here, the letter said you and Shining were excited about something?”

“Oh yes Rainbow, Shining and I have been working on a project for quite a while now and we’re happy to say that it has worked!”

“A project?” asked Twilight, “You guys were working on a big project and you didn’t let any of us in on it?”

“Well, it was a very delicate project and it dealt with some…..controversial subjects,” said Shining Armor, while sharing a look with Cadence.

“Controversial? What do you mean controversial?” quipped Twilight.

“You will all see for yourselves. If you all will just follow me, I will explain along the way,” said Cadence.

They all turned to leave out of the door, but were surprised to see a staircase appear below them in the floor of the throne room.

“This way please,” said Cadence.

So, as a group with Cadence in front and Shining in rear, they traveled down the twisting staircase.

After the first fifty steps or so, Cadence took a deep breath and began to speak.

“As you all know, I am the Princess of Love. For ages I have lived with the purpose of spreading love between others. Over those ages I have become more and more troubled by the thought that some ponies would spend a large part of their lives without finding that one special somepony that they love. This lead me to feel that I had been partially failing at my duty and I promised myself I would find some way to remedy that problem. Since then, I have experimented with my magic and have been developing ways to make love more apparent to ponies who are too shy, or too naïve to see it. However, all of these methods have only slightly improved the awareness of ponies when it comes to love. I had been unable to find the one, definitive method that would show ponies who their true love was. When I met Shining, it was a hollow victory. It was wonderful that I had found the love of my life, but I felt that I had cheated when so many other ponies were still looking for their soul mates. All of that changed though when I was trapped by Chrysalis. During my incarceration, a thought occurred to me. The thought was so wonderful, yet so simple that I literally kicked myself multiple times. I immediately concocted a plan. After the wedding, I told Shining about my plan and immediately put it into action. Now, after so long, I finally have the solution I have been searching for.”

At that moment they reached the base of the stairs and were facing a door that was quite familiar to Twilight. However, when Cadence opened the door, there was no nightmare, nor was there more stairs. Beyond the door, there was an empty chamber with nothing but what seemed to be a large curtain draped over some kind of cube.

Cadence paused for a moment, and took a deep breath.

“My friends,” she said as she pulled the curtain down, “this is my solution.”

Twilight, Pinkie, and Applejack gasped, Rainbow Dash growled, Fluttershy let out a quiet squeak, and Rarity fainted.

Before them, in a large, glass cube was…….a changeling?