Romance and the Fate of Equestria

So, for those who are tuning in late, ever since the hiatus I've been posting only one chapter at a time, because I've been trying to also finish my other pursuits. But the previous five chapters were posted all at the same time, because I've decided to make this my top priority again for a while, other pursuits be damned. So here's another three for ya.

As I actually sat down to write this chapter, I thought about the fact that in the series, Cadance now has a kingdom of her own and Twilight is a princess… and that because of that, some of the things the two discuss in this chapter come across as really ironic. It was dialogue that flowed really naturally from me based on the situation I have them in simply because I started this story two years ago, before a lot of series' most iconic changes in the status quo happened.

So, this chapter is one I've been planning since Golden Thread was introduced in Chapter 7—an exploration of my interpretation of changeling culture. The changelings were the subject of the first-ever MLP comic book arc, so I'm sure there are now canon aspects of their world which I'm ignoring here, but I don't know what those concepts are and I don't want to know because, just to reiterate, the MLP comic book is a vile betrayal of the franchise that panders to Jack Skellington-worshiping Hot Topic goths and I don't want anything to do with it. And yes, I formed that opinion all by myself—I've never heard a single cross word about it from anywhere else in the fandom, which is baffling, considering the revolting, "sociopathic black comedy" nature of every joke and plotline.

Chapter Ninety-Four

Twilight waited on a balcony of Canterlot Castle, staring absently into space and tapping the balcony's railing rhythmically as she thought.

"Hi Twilie!" said Cadance, rushing out of the room and joining her on the balcony. "Sorry I'm late."

"Oh, no worries," Twilight said brightly. "You're a sister worth waiting for."

"Aww."

They hugged tightly, then backed away from each other in sync, beginning to prance in place. "Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs a—"

A portion of the balcony collapsed, sending Twilight plummeting through the hole and vanishing from sight.

"TWILIGHT!" Cadance cried frantically.

Twilight rose back up through the hole, both her horn and her entire body surrounded by a shimmering magenta aura. "I'm okay!" she said hastily.

Cadance sighed with relief. "Thank goodness for self-levitation. I didn't even realize my balcony had any structural problems. I'd better take a look at that. Later, though. Come on back into my room. Let's talk about your reason for visiting me."

"It's not urgent," said Twilight, setting herself down. "We can just… visit for a bit."

"If you say so," said Cadance. They went back inside the castle, to Cadance's lavish living quarters, their hooves sinking in to the deep red velvet carpet. Twilight admired the tapestries, and the enormous bed with its delicately woven curtains.

"So, next week is the Gathering of the Goddesses," Cadance said conversationally. "Are you excited?"

"Extremely," Twilight said eagerly, suddenly sporting a broad grin. "I've been reading up on the other goddesses, just to refresh my memory, and everything I read just gets me more pumped to find out what they're really like. There's so little written about their personalities or even what they look like. I'm so psyched!"

Cadance sighed longingly. "I wish I was going."

"Aw, me too," Twilight pouted. "But don't worry, I think Rainbow's going to take lots of pictures. You worry about holding down the fort. And by 'fort', I mean Equestria. It's in your hooves."

"Don't remind me," Cadance grumbled. "I'm so nervous! I know it'll probably only be for a couple of hours, all depends on how long the Gathering takes, but I'm terrified. Like, what if something actually happens while I'm on the throne?" She shuddered. "I don't think my heart could take it if I had to do what the true princesses do. There's nothing I have that compares to thousands of years of experience, you know?"

"It's just for a few hours, big sister," Twilight teased.

Cadance smirked back at her. "Like you wouldn't freak out."

"I absolutely would."

They shared a few mild chuckles at that. "So… where's Discord?" Cadance asked. "Isn't he supposed to protect you?"

"Oh, he's back in Ponyville," Twilight said casually. "Friday is his poker night with the guys."

Cadance blinked. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, why?"

"The 'guys'?" Cadance demanded. "Who are the 'guys'?"

"You know, I don't exactly know," Twilight admitted. "It's something Spike and Mr. Cake set up. Apparently, he's a big hit over there."

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"Hey, Discord," Snails said slyly, pulling his cards closer to his chest, "do ya think you could help us settle a little side wager?"

"Well, I'm sure I'll do all I can, boys," said Discord. "What do you need from me?"

Snails squealed with excitement. "Okay, we'd like you to pose like your statue."

"Oh, you mean—?" Discord contorted himself into the twisted and terrified pose he had been in the second time he had been sealed in stone.

"No, no, the first one," Snips said hastily.

"The first one, okay," Discord said, nodding his head. He stood up straight, put his lion hand, still holding his cards, over his heart and extended his eagle claw, and scrunched up his face with glee. "Much more triumphant. Now what?"

"Just a sec…" Snails muttered, licking his lips. He shut his eyes tight, and his horn sparked with pale pink energy. There was a massive puff of pink smoke, and when it cleared, Discord was wearing red-and-white checkered overalls, had a greasy black hairstyle, and was holding a cheese-and-hay sandwich in his outstretched hand.

Snails turned to Snips, smirking. "Didn't I tell you he looked like the Big Colt?"

"BAHAHAHAHAHA!" Snips cackled.

Discord opened his eyes and looked over his attire. He scowled at the two colts and set his cards face up on the table. "Flush," he said tersely.

"Ohhh…" Snips and Snails groaned sadly.

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"Twilight, that's remarkable," said Cadance. "You've had him for less than a month and he already has 'guys'? That's an amazing piece of progress! You might actually pull off the whole 'reshape him into something more' dealio."

"Maybe," Twilight said noncommittally. "It's a pretty stable situation, I don't know if the status quo is ever going to change on it, but I appreciate the vote of confidence. Um, look… about why I came here in the first place."

"Of course," Cadance said pleasantly. "Business. How can I help you, little sister?"

"I've scoured every book in my library that I thought would be remotely relevant to the topic I'm searching for, and found nothing," said Twilight. "I thought that maybe consulting you might get me some results before I start searching the Canterlot archives."

"Okay," Cadance said, fascinated.

"I need information on changelings."

Cadance nodded, serious-faced. "Ah, I see. Well, you made the right call, coming to me. There's only one book that can give you anything about changelings beyond legends and speculation."

"And you know what this book is?" Twilight said sharply. "Fantastic! Where can I find it?"

Cadance's horn lit up, and she summoned up a large bundle of loose papers. "I haven't finished writing it yet."

Twilight did a double-take at the rumpled manuscript. "You?"

"That's right," said Cadance. "You see, before my wedding, most ponies hadn't even heard of changelings, and no one believed that they actually existed. I didn't even know a thing about the myths and legends myself when I first came face-to-face with one. So nopony has any real data about the species—except me."

"And how did you ever come by enough data to fill a book?" Twilight breathed, her eyes eagerly darting over the layers of paper.

"When the queen first took me away," Cadance said, her voice trembling slightly, "she entered my mind to scan my memories so she could impersonate me. Fortunately, she was impatient and in a hurry, and therefore only took my recent memories—truly, we can chalk up her entire defeat to her failure to recognize an old friend." She beamed at Twilight. "Anyway, I ended up getting a bit of a leg up on her. My lifelong magic training and our shared power over love allowed me to snatch up some of her memories as well. I didn't get many details about her personal life or anything, but I got what basically amounts to her education: everything she knows about changeling biology and culture. I started writing this book because I realized this stuff needs to be known. For science, for national security, what-have-you.

"I can't remember the information consciously, at least not in more than bits and pieces, but I've been working with a hypnotist to bring it to the forefront and get it all written down." She set the manuscript down at her writing desk, flipping through it. "Just tell me what you want to know, and we'll try to find the answer in here. If I don't have it written down, you may have to wait until I meet with my hypnotist on Tuesday. Sit in on us."

"All right," said Twilight. "Well, here's my first question: did you ever happen to catch her name?"

"The queen's name?" Cadance said blankly. "Yeah: Chrysalis. Why?"

"Just making sure we're talking about the same individual," Twilight said under her breath.

"Hmm?"

"Nothing," said Twilight. "Can you tell me why she was so different from the other changelings? So huge, and… everything else?"

Cadance nodded, searching for a particular page. "Well, to get the answer to that, you need to understand that changelings are essentially intelligent and civilized versions of social insects, like ants or bees."

"So you're saying…" Twilight said, comprehension dawning.

"'Queen' isn't merely her social title—it's also her gender," Cadance confirmed. "Changelings have three sexes, not two. Almost all are females—every changeling we faced in the siege of Canterlot was a female. But then there are queens. Approximately one changeling in ten thousand is a queen, born at random. They're functionally female, but they're huge, more intelligent, more fertile, and more potent magically, and they live centuries longer. That's why they're put in charge. Chrysalis called herself the queen of the changelings, not a queen… which, along with some other scattered memories of hers, suggests to me that she periodically 'offs' the competition."

"So a queen changeling is like the queen in a colony of social insects," Twilight said thoughtfully.

"Partially," Cadance agreed.

"So, how would you define a king changeling?" Twilight asked.

"A king?" Cadance mused. "I got the impression that that's a subject that doesn't come up much, and for good reason. 'King' is a social position applied to any male born of the same clutch of eggs as a queen. It almost never happens. Males happen about once in every seven hundred births, and they're thoroughly second-class citizens. A changeling male grows up as an indentured servant, bound and enslaved by his sisters, the females of his own clutch. Once he reaches a viable age, he's thrown out into the community and is made to mate with as many females as possible until he dies.

"A king, though… as the brother of the queen, he's afforded a station equal to that of his sisters, the queen's sisters, who are the colony's nobility. A king is a male afforded actual station in life."

Twilight peered over Cadance's shoulder as she looked through the manuscript. "Tell me a bit more about males," she pressed. "Their physical characteristics."

Cadance frowned as she turned a few more pages. "Um… they're pretty big," she said. "Not as big as queens… but big. They have two horns… vacant expressions… oh, here we go." She came upon an illustration depicting a male. Twilight immediately recognized it as Cocoon, right down to his distinctive haircut.

"Anything else?" she asked.

Cadance bit her lip in concern. "Are you expecting something in particular?"

"Just keep talking," Twilight said quietly.

"Well… this is actually pretty cool," Cadance said eagerly. "Males produce magic silk from glands in their nostrils. They can expel two different kinds: necrotic silk, which weakens and deadens the flesh and mind of any creature it comes into contact with—legend says it even wounds the soul—and radiant silk, which…" She looked up suddenly. "Strengthens… and rejuvenates…" She turned and stared wide-eyed at Twilight. "Twilight, what are you trying to tell me?"

Twilight leaned in close to Cadance. "I swore on my cutie mark that I'd never reveal this secret," she whispered. "You have to be the one to say it."

Cadance inhaled deeply. "Golden Thread," she said, "was made from the radiant silk of a changeling male. Is that what you're saying?"

"Again, I'm sworn to absolute secrecy, but… yeah," Twilight said brightly. "Not just any male, though. A king, if he's to be believed. The brother of Chrysalis, I guess."

Cadance gaped at her wildly. "Twilight, if you swore an oath of secrecy on your cutie mark, then in the name of all that's good and holy, stop talking about this! You may have broken your oath already with what you just told me. Everything that's part of who you are, what you've worked for all your life, it could start… decaying."

"Cadance," Twilight laughed. "I've been living in the same house as Discord for nearly a month. One doesn't do a thing like that and not learn to, you know, bend the rules without breaking them. I haven't said anything that violates my oath, and I won't."

"Just don't push your luck," Cadance pleaded.

Twilight nodded. "The king is gone now. He's escaped and is trying to find Chrysalis again."

"Oh my," Cadance gasped.

"I don't have any more information than that," said Twilight. "Just that Chrysalis might have her king back, for whatever that's worth… I've been told that he's the most important thing in the world to her."

"…Interesting," Cadance said darkly. "I wonder if that'll cause us any trouble? …And I wonder what we can do about it."

"It helps that you know," said Twilight, nuzzling her.

"Good," Cadance said, hugging Twilight sweetly. "I guess I'll keep an eye out, then. Anything else?"

"No, I've learned all I wanted to know and told you everything I can," Twilight said, bright and chipper. She glanced around the room absently. "So… that's a nice bed you've got there."

"Yep," Cadance agreed.

"Yep, reeeeal nice," Twilight went on. "How are you and Shining Armor progressing as far as whipping up a niece or nephew for me?"

Cadance snorted. "Twilight, are you asking me about my sex life?"

"Why not? You know everything about my sex life without me even telling you. It's only fair that I learn something about yours."

"Yes, but my sex life is with your brother. You really want to talk about that?"

"I suppose not," Twilight submitted. "Can we hang out, though?"

"You know, I'd love to, but I should really fix that balcony," Cadance said apologetically.

"Okay," said Twilight. "See you later." She started to Cadance's door.

"Love you!" Cadance called as Twilight left the room. "Have fun at the Gathering!"

"Love you too!" Twilight called back. "Good luck with all your princessy stuff!"

They shared a laugh as they parted ways.

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Endnotes

I do believe I've just hit 200,000 words. Excellent! I thought I had done that with the previous chapter, but discovered that was only because I had accidentally replaced Chapter 17 with a much-longer chapter from a different story. I had to rewrite Chapter 17 from memory. I'm pretty heartbroken about that, but I think the rewrite can stand on its own two feet. Anyway, this chapter definitely does put me over the mark, so break out the party cannon and let's have a 200K party! Woot woot!