The pair stepped across the portal. No longer were they standing in a cheap motel room; instead, they stood in a cavern, surrounded by their four-legged changeling counterparts. The grey pegasus turned to look at his friend’s daughter, who was currently disguised as a grey unicorn filly. The two ponies turned to look at their king, who remained on the far side of the portal. The filly waved goodbye, and the two set off for Canterlot.

“Has your king informed you of the plan?” Queen Chrysalis asked the otherworldly duo. The procession made its way to the entrance of the caverns. These particular ones seemed to be natural, as opposed to the carved out changeling caves. Sunlight could be seen in the distance.

“Yep! Daddy told us everything that we need to do,” an excited Klika spoke. “He’s listening through us right now.”

“I don’t suppose you would be willing to tell us anything about your master plan, hmm?” Rex inquired through Nick.

“Hahaha, no. Just wait and see,” the queen teased. “Now, have you decided on pony names?” After seeing the visitor’s confusion, Chrysalis continued, “Your names don’t sound like anything a pony would be named. Come up with something else. Pony names usually sound like the parents raided a dictionary and picked up random nouns and adjectives. Make something up that somewhat reflects your skills.”

Nick pondered for a moment, before declaring: “Cheat Code.” Chrysalis nodded in approval and turned to Klika.

“Oh, can I be White Lie? Is that a good one?” Klika asked, to which the queen again nodded. “Yay! I’m White Lie,” the former Klika cheered. As the group passed out into the sunlight, Klika winced and shut her eyes. When she opened them again, all of the changelings that she had been walking with had transformed into various ponies.

“The city of Canterlot is half a mile away from here,” the pegasus that was Chrysalis said. “As soon as we enter, I will deliver the false report to the guard. When the shield goes up, we will be sealed within the city.” One of the other changeling ponies handed Nick a saddle bag. “This is for you. It has a map of Canterlot, the address for the inn you will be staying at, bits for your room plus a little extra to spend, and an invitation to the wedding.”

“Thank you, your majesty,” Nick said with a little bow.

“Now, until the attack, I suggest you stay within the public areas of the castle, the gardens, or the immediate vicinity. There are museums nearby, as well as the Canterlot Public Library. I do understand that this world is less… advanced than your own world, so try to stay out of trouble.”

“Okay! We will,” Klika said. The group continued its march up the mountainside. Idol conversation sprang up as they climbed. Eventually, the conversation swung around to the topic of the princesses. “I don’t believe that the princesses really move the sun and moon. In our world, the sun and moon are too big to be moved by anything. The moon orbits the Earth, which spins on its axis while orbiting the sun.”

“That seems very bizarre,” one of the changelings escorting the otherworldly child said. “The sun and moon here are part of the sky. I know for a fact that the princesses can move them. Two years ago, Nightmare Moon attacked. She held the moon in place, leading to a twenty hour long night.”

“Nightmare Moon?” Rex asked through his daughter. Chrysalis had never mentioned that name in all of their talks.

“She was the corrupted form of Princess Luna, who was banished to the moon for a thousand years,” the changeling explained. “My queen said that when Luna was first corrupted, the night lasted almost four weeks. It was so cold by the end of that time. The whole thing made ponies ridiculously scared and miserable. She said there was so little love in the air during that time that over 75 percent of the hive starved.”

“Ouch.” Nick winced. He looked up to see that they were fast approaching the city on the side of the mountain. “Wow. That’s beautiful. Not as cool as New York or Las Vegas, but impressive in its own right.”

“Don’t you mean Neigh York? Or Las Pegasus?” The changeling asked.

“Nope, he doesn’t,” Klika said. “places in this world are horse puns of major locations in our world. Canterlot, Camelot… Manehattan, Manhattan… It just goes on and on.”

“This is where I leave you,” the disguised changeling queen spoke to her visitors. “Head to your hotel for now. I have work to attend to.” She flared her feathery wings and took to the skies.

“Well, let’s go get settled in, White Lie.”

“Okay, Cheat Code.”

Two grey ponies walked out of their hotel just in time to see a spectacular sight. A beam of pink light shot up from the castle grounds. When it hit a certain elevation, it began to spread. Within a second, the entire city was enveloped by what looked like a pink soap bubble. The older pegasus stood still, impressed by the display. The younger unicorn practically bounced in place, excited by the signal. The plan was in motion, and now it was just a matter of watching and waiting.

Klika let out a small giggle. “Every good party needs balloons, right?”

“That they do,” Her companion agreed. "And Fireworks."

An sense of nervousness had descended across Canterlot with the arrival of the shield. Ponies everywhere were whispering about what dangers lurked just outside their captain’s shield. ‘Cheat Code’ smirked, knowing that the monsters were already inside. He and ‘White Lie’ sat together at a small restaurant. “I’ll have the daffodil, lettuce, and tomato sandwich, please,” He asked the waiter. His small companion asked for the same thing. As soon as the waiter was out of earshot, Code spoke in a quiet voice, “You know, my aunt lives on a horse farm. I would always feed them when I visited them. She had warned me never to feed horses daffodils or tomatoes, which would both make them very sick. Yet here we are, as ponies in a parallel universe, ordering them off a menu. Things made so much more sense when I was human.”

There was a clatter at the next table over. Lie and Code turned to look. Code’s eyes met the shocked expression of the mint green unicorn sitting nearby. The Earth pony sitting across from her, who the visitors could tell was actually a changeling, was confused by her companion. The unicorn finally spoke, “Human…” That one word petrified the three false ponies. “You said that you were human. You heard him, right, Bon Bon?”

“Lyra…” The Bon Bon spoke in a warning tone. “They are just like you and me,” she said, putting extra emphasis on the last word. Lyra nodded in understanding. “Please forgive my marefriend. Her obsession with these mythical ‘humans’ is starting to make her hear things.”

“Bwahahaha! Mythical!” Code burst out laughing. “Miss, humans are as real as you and me. Your friend heard me right. I did say I was human.” Lyra gasped, while the wheels turned in her partner’s head.

“You’re from… there. Mixinaezo?” ‘The other world?,’ the Bon Bon said.

“Yep!” Lie said.

Bon Bon turned to her marefriend. “These two are like me, but from the other hive.”

“Other hive? I thought there was only yours,” Lyra said.

“I take it that you know your partner is a changeling.” At Lyra’s nod, Cheat Code continued, “Well, we are too. Except we come from another world. The human world.”

Lyra launched into a volley of questions, most of which the pair tried to answer as much as they could. Over lunch, they discussed everything from anatomy to politics. Nick and Klika tried to worm their way out, but Lyra was persistent. It eventually resulted in Bon Bon dragging Lyra away. “I’m really sorry for her bothering you,” she apologized for the unicorn’s behavior as they walked out of the restaurant.

“It’s no problem. And…” Cheat Code trailed off, pondering if he should speak his mind. “Stay in the castle’s grounds. Better safe than sorry, right?” He waved at the pair of natives and trotted off, White Lie following close behind.

“What was that about?” Lyra asked Bon Bon. She gave a confused glance at the human turned changeling turned pony as he retreated down the street, filly in tow.

“I can’t tell you,” Bon Bon replied. “Let’s go see the gardens, okay?”

Shortly after the shield went up, Chrysalis made her way to the castle. Three of her changelings escorted her there, disguised as various ponies. Upon arriving, Chrysalis sought out not the princess, but a maid. After a few minutes of searching, she came across a green unicorn mare pushing a cart of cleaning supplies. Chrysalis smiled and approached the mare. “Excuse me. Umm… I sort of… spilled my drink,” the queen lied. “Can you help me clean it up?”

“Sure thing, dear. Let me just…” She trailed off as she dug out a towel from her cart. “Now, show me where it is. I’ll have that mess cleaned up in a jiffy!”

Chrysalis smirked with her back turned to the maid. “Thank you. Say, what’s your name?” Chrysalis asked as she lead her victim to an empty hallway.

“Oh, my name is Feather Duster. Funny, not many ponies bother to learn the name of a silly old cleaning mare.”

“Funny.” Chrysalis turned into the empty hallway with Feather Duster close behind. Two of her changelings moved in behind, carrying a large potted plant that they had found down another hall. It managed to block most of the view of the hall from the adjoining one. Chrysalis’s horn lit up in conjunction with that of one of the changelings behind her. Feather Duster found herself unable to speak, looking at an exact duplicate of herself, and slowly sinking into the floor through a ring of green fire. “Have fun in your new home,” Chrysalis said in a mirth filled copy of the doomed maid’s voice.

The false feather duster turned to find her real target, a small smirk plastered on her face.

[Chrysalis, I’m ready for your princess.]

‘This day is going to be just perfect.’

A few hundred feet lower, a changeling watched the ceiling of the crystal caves. The green light that appeared signaled the arrival of his dinner. A mare appeared, dropping to the floor with a thud. The changeling pounced, injecting his venom into his prey. Once she was properly sedated, he began to construct her cocoon. The love already oozing out of her tasted wonderful. He could hardly wait to get her in place so he could feed off of her for weeks to come.

Author's Notes:

*Ding* Have a chapter!

I promised June 18th, and I delivered.

I've been puzzling over the fine details of this next section for the past week while I couldn't write. Let me tell you, it's hard. I have one gigantic bump that I need to steamroll over. If I can't get it sorted out, the story will seem forced, out-of-character, and plot hole-ish.

Meanwhile, Have some Lyra and Bon Bon. This is their first major appearance in a main chapter!

Let me ask: What do you think the master plan is? I've given hints through out the story.

---

Time to attack: 3 days.
Time to arrival of mane 6: 21 hours.
Time to replacement of Cadance: 10 minutes.
Time to initiation of stage one of the plan: started.

Hive finances: $3.7 million dollars cash + $4.3 million in emeralds.
Hive population: 10 (9 converted, 1 hatched)

(edited 12/22/2013)