Prologue (formerly Chapter 1)
The Changeling Cycle
by Raith021
Prologue
Dear Princess Celestia
I may or may not have a problem on my hooves, in short: I've become a changeling, a queen unless I'm mistaken.
I noticed, in retrospect, near the end of the day my brother and Cadence were married. I felt... an odd, far away sense of loss, I think I was feeling Chrysalis dying, or die.
In the intervening week, I noticed an increasing awareness of the emotions of the ponies around me, culminating yesterday with realizing I hadn't "eaten" anything, but I had spent the whole day with my friends, I had been feeding on their friendship with me.
I've just woke up and found myself as I am, before writing this letter.
I await what may come.
(I hope I still am, but will nonetheless continue to be) your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle
The letter, now a trail of magic smoke, curled out a window "OK, it's sent Twi."
"Thanks Spike, going to start on breakfast now?" Twilight, worrying as she was, hadn't let Spike know of her... condition.
"Yeah, I was thinking waffles."
"Oh, sounds good, make enough for six though."
"Six? are the girls coming over and no one told me?"
"No, I just have a feeling we'll be having company this morning." 'Have a feeling my left back hoof, I just hope I get to see tomorrow.'
"OK, well I'll let you get to your routine, and I'll get cooking" as he went downstairs, She went to the washroom to brush her mane, realizing too late she only needed to re-transform into herself. As she momentarily reverted to being her changeling form, she noticed that she looked surprisingly like her old, though she preferred normal at this point, pony form. With a slight melancholy sigh, she transformed back into her pony self and made her way to the smell of food... and waffles.
(Meanwhile in Canterlot)
"... and that's the whole honeymoon."
"It certainly sounds like you two enjoyed yourselves" Celestia said, then having a sip of tea before feeling the familiar tingle of a letter from Twilight, and soon after it appeared was caught in her magic hold. "Hmm, it's kind of early for your sister to be sending me anything" She opens and begins reading, and remarks on finishing the first line: "Oh" with a slight note of surprise.
"What is it princess, is Twily okay?"
She finished reading before responding to him "She should be fine, I'd say more but I'd like to give you the short version of some history before that, I'll tell you on our way to the barracks" she finishes standing, and angling to the door.
"Princess, should I be concerned?" he says, feeling like he was not being given vital information.
"No, no. I merely want to cover all the bases, even though history says I've no need to, recent events have me second guessing."
"... there's a changeling in Ponyville, isn't there, and my sister found out about it."
"Yes, and before I do tell you any more than that, the history I'd mentioned; shortly after Discord was imprisoned... "
"Ah, ok. So, now for the covering all bases part of the morning" Shining Armor quips as they arrive. the doors opening with Celestia's magic.
"We'll only need two, pick them as you wish."
"Right. Front and center stallions" At his command, the two dozen guards in the room formed a line along one wall. "Myself and the princess will be going to Ponyville, and need two volunteers, step forward to do so" they all did, "It will involve a changeling," only a dozen stayed forward, "and this will be a peaceful meeting unless it goes bad" six remained, "Very well, Hardened Steel and Iron Hooves, with me" both snapped a salute with a "yes sir" and positioned themselves in front of their captain and princess.
"Face forward you two, I'll be teleporting us there" they did, and were off in a literal flash.
(Back in Ponyville)
"There's batch two done, you sure you're okay waiting Twi?"
Before getting a chance to respond, a trio of knocks came from the door. "Yes Spike, and that should be who I was expecting" 'Ok, so, how to answer? Can't be too cheerful or she may think I'm hiding more than I am, can't be too near neutral ether for the same reason' Doing her best not to let panic get to her, she opened the door. "Princess Celestia, B.B.B.F.F., good morning"
A beat passes "No offence, but we'll need to make sure you are you, I'll cast a memory check spell on you" Celestia said.
"Perfectly fine." Twilight said, knowing there would be precious few things in Equestria that could infallibly prove a being that could change their form were themselves, when they were. Celestia then leaned down, placed her horn on her head, and cast a spell nearly the same as the one she had cast of her friends while Discord had been free, and then witnessed her memories in reverse, all the way back to the very first time she'd opened her eyes just after being born. "Wow, that's just, wow."
"Ah, now, good morning Twilight, and I am sorry, but after Chrysalis attacked... " she trailed off, sad that she had been forced to not trust her faithful student. The two guards relaxed ever so slightly as well.
Shining Armor took the brief silence as an opportunity to give his sister a hug, tears of joy in his eyes. "Good morning Twily."
"Understandable, I can see myself doing exactly the same" Her brother lets her go "Oh, Hardened Steel, Iron Hooves, good morning to you two also" nodding to each as she named them.
Hardened Steel dared show his joy with a smile "You always could tell us guards apart miss Sparkle" Iron Hooves then smiled too.
"If you want you can, well, drop your disguise as yourself." Celestia said, only just containing her giggles.
"Sort of feels like I've been getting used to the new me last week anyway, might as well" In a burst of purple flame, Twilight the pony once again became Queen Twilight the changeling.
"Third batch is done, what are you all talking about out here any- whoa! Twi, that is you, right?"
"Yes I'm me Spike, sorry I didn't tell you sooner."
"That's okay, not sure I'd have believed you as easy as now, the princess and your brother not trying to arrest you. Now, who's getting the first three batches?"
"Maybe Shining and you two go first, so Celestia can get the next batch at its hottest and freshest?"
"I do like that idea, to the kitchen then" Celestia made one step before remembering an important detail "Cadence was supposed to join us, and I left the scroll in the room."
As if on cue, Cadence teleported into the library, and gave quick, nervous breaths in and out "Shining, Aunt Tia, where's Twil- oh my!"
Author's Note
I'd like to think this isn't bad, but I probably need all the help I can get, just no abject hate, ok?
Chapter 1 (would have been 2)
The Changeling Cycle
by Raith021
Chapter 1
"Shining, Aunt Tia, where's Twil- oh my!" Cadence took a calming breath "Oh, that feels so weird."
"Yeah, now that you mention it, seeing Twi like that did feel weird." Spike said, coming out of the kitchen carrying two plates and a bottle of syrup with his tail "Oh, and there's only so much space, so we'll have to eat out here now." and set the plates in front of Hardened Steel and Iron Hooves, and put the syrup between them.
Celestia cleared her throat gently while walking to the table "That's part of changeling magi-biology, when one means no harm to a pony, or other beings for that matter, they produce a pheromone-like field that allows them to not be considered a 'monster' on sight." and had a sip a coffee.
"That's... oddly convenient, also disturbing, what if Chrysalis had figured out a way to use it?" Twilight shuddered and calmed herself with her own coffee.
"No need to worry about anything like that, Discord was very careful when he created the race, before he turned evil."
"Discord made changelings? That... would explain a lot, even with using love as food, I can see taking the form of ponies could be rather chaotic."
"Well, his original intent was for them to be a race of kindly pranksters that would feed on the merriment, or whatever emotion, their actions would produce. Which reminds me, you won't need to do anything... untoward to feed yourself, if you hadn't figured out such already."
Twilight blushed just noticeably "Oh, that's what all this is in the air, I can see emotions, neat." with a giggle and a smile, "And now that I know I don't need force them away from myself, they taste amazing!"
"Uh... taste? don't you mean feel Twi?" asked Spike "Though I guess you don't ‘need’ food, so that answers my other question." and gave a plate to Shining "Basically, I don't need to make more batter."
"Yes Spike, taste, and no, you don't need to make more just for me." she then turned to Celestia "Now, what about emotions like annoyance, or even anger?"
"The way I've been told it works, positive emotions will be both more filling and better tasting the stronger they are, and the closer they are to love, and negative emotions will likewise be less filling, and at worst taste revolting as they are closer to hate." Spike delivered a fresh plate "Thank you."
"You're lucky Twilight, I can only see them, do they look like strands and dust clouds for you too?" Cadence chimed in.
"That... doesn't surprise me as much as it maybe should, it makes sense you would have studied any magic you could with a connection to love, and yes." Twilight remarked, had a sip of her coffee, then rather suddenly "Wait a second, even with my ‘put-at-ease field’ and checking my memory, why did nopony freak out, almost entirely?"
Celestia finishes a bite before speaking "Ah, a good question Twilight..."
"Wait, not as important but I just noticed; just "Twilight", not "my faithful student" ?" a slight frown crossed her face.
"Well, you are fellow royalty now, being a changeling queen, and while we're on noticing such things; you don't seem so apprehensive with me now." smirking as she has more coffee.
"Fair enough on both, sorry about interrupting." and under her breath "I didn't catch myself on that."
"That's okay Twilight, you actually reminded me; you'll need to come up to Canterlot in a few days, there are some things that will need to be properly officiated to go over. Now, to answer why the freaking out was barely existent, the full version of The Changeling History, not the short-short version I told you" nodding to Shining, Spike bringing Cadence her plate and she licked her lips "since their creation, changelings have always stayed near ponies, from the nomads they started as, though the tribes, and the villages, through the unification that became Equestria as we know it, but life changed after a good few centuries of myself, Luna and Discord ruling the lands. When Discord went mad, and started calling himself king, after a hard month of the chaos he caused, we finally trapped him as a statue, this is when the first queen was made from the best suited to lead them all, she decided to stay close to the established royalty and as such little changed, even at her death and transfer of power to Starswirl the Bearded, marking the first and only known changeling king, things only changed after a millennium, when Luna became Nightmare Moon and was subsequently sent to the moon, the queen of the time wanted she and her own to be a nation within Equestria, a cycle started, and ever since every third or fourth generation has gone from wanting to be close or far from Equestrian rule and public knowledge, to the other, the worst being Chrysalis' ‘grandmother’, and her decisions that, eventually, led Chrysalis to her recent actions."
"Wow, Starswirl, a changeling?! Oh uh." she shook her head to refocus herself "Two questions though; don't the history books place Luna's becoming Nightmare Moon and Discord's imprisonment in the same year, and what was the ‘short-short version’ Shining got?"
Shining chimes in, finishing a bite "Hmm, when the history books were translated from a translation, of a translation, of the originals, only about fifty percent stayed accurate to what really happened, at least from what I was told soon after I became captain." he had a sip of coffee "And all I got as a briefing was ‘before Chrysalis, changelings have only been neutral at worst, and your sister has just told me she's the latest queen’ the rest of the way to the barracks were spent getting me to calm down, agree that I would only get hostile if things went south, and stop hyperventilating." blushing near the end.
Celestia finished her cup, and refills it "Since we're on the subject, why didn't you seem to panic about yourself changing Twilight?"
"Ah, well, after going through ‘lesson zero’ with Smarty Pants and everypony, and looking back on the wedding and realizing I could have far more tactful, I did everything I could to not panic, though I do think part of the process helped with that too, or it felt like it at least." she then absentmindedly levitated an apple to herself and takes a bite "Hmm, interesting, I just got emotions from that, A.J. really must grow these with love, odd that I can't see it though. Oh, before I forget I wanted to ask, and if you don't mind telling me, what sort of things do I need to go to Canterlot for?"
"I would have told you before leaving anyway." She said with a sweet, motherly tone "What you'll be in Canterlot for is putting how you wish to run, structure, and build your hive, or swarm if you prefer, the only difference being the word used."
Spike returned with his own plate, and puts a generous quantity of syrup over his waffles "Hey Twi, do you know how you started becoming a changeling in the first place?" before starting to eat.
"Well... no, but I'd have to guess Chrysalis managed to stealthily cast a spell just before Shining and Cadence cast their spell." she had a sip of coffee "That said, she could have done something to me nearly any time nopony was watching, I'd like to think I'd have noticed though."
Having finished her cup, Celestia looked at the clock "Oh, sorry to eat and run, but I'll need to get back to Canterlot for day court soon. Sirs Steel and Hooves." the guard ponies snapping to salute "Until further notice, you're to keep Twilight safe, just in case some crazy pony tries something." they simply nodded and put their back hooves down
"Princess," Shining asked "Will you need Cadence and myself to return to Canterlot as well?"
"I'd take guesses as to why you ask, but I'll keep this short and just let you two take two weeks." then simply teleported away.
"For the record, it feels like it's been a forever since I've really gotten to visit with my little sister." he said to the now vacant space.
Giggling at his antics, Twilight then turned to the two guards "I'll be keeping my being a changeling quiet until that official paperwork's done, so if you could be without your armor to help with that, I do want to let the girls know about this, we'll also need to get food for all six of us." and then went to the door as they undid their armor.
"Well, since we're here to visit," Cadence chimes in "we might as well go with"
"Yep, everypony all set?" then seeing her wings, gave a light hearted sigh "Except me." a plume of purple flame later "Much better, OK, first: Sweet Apple Acres."
Author's Note
Sorry about the wait, and if it's something to go by, you might want to consider this whole thing "infrequently updated" from now on.
The short of it is my creative energies haven't been recharging as fast as I'm, and I sure all you, would like.
But to make for all that, big chapter planed for #2.
