Feather Duster pushed her cart full of cleaning supplies down the halls of the castle. To the casual observer, nothing would seem out of place. The key word being ‘seem.’ Queen Chrysalis, in her disguise, was busy looking for her target. Then came the hard part. Chrysalis had to get Princess Cadance alone so she could be replaced without arousing suspicion. The false maid turned the corner.

“Excuse me. I have to use the little filly’s room.”

Well, dumb luck also works. Chrysalis saw her target break off from her group and enter the restrooms. Smirking, Chrysalis followed her prey in. As soon as the door closed, the false maid discreetly moved her cart to block the door. She giggled to herself in anticipation. Cadance, ignorant of her situation, locked herself in one of the stalls. The changeling queen, in a move of common decency, decided to let her finish her business before acting. A moment later, she heard a flush and then saw the stall door open. When Cadance emerged, she found herself face-to-face with a mare whose smile was far too wide to be natural.

“Can I… help you?” the princess inquired. Her head tilted to the side as she looked at the strange smile ‘Feather Duster’ wore.

“Oh, yes,” the mare replied. Her tone was hostile enough to send shivers down Cadance’s spine. The false maid reared up and pounded her hooves together. The Princess vanished from this world in a flash of white light. As soon as she was gone, green flames erupted around the maid. When they died down, the Queen was now a princess. Chrysalis took a moment to collect herself and get into character. She prayed that her spy’s analysis of Cadance’s personality were accurate. It would not do to make stupid mistakes like that.

The false Cadance emerged from the bathroom. Rejoining the group, she moved to snuggle up next to her fiancé and begin feeding off of his love.

‘Step one: complete. Now it’s just a waiting game until step two.’ Chrysalis smiled at the thought. Her fiancé smiled too, unaware of the danger he was in.

I sat quietly on the couch, waiting for my visitor, or rather, prisoner, to arrive. My head rested in the palms of both hands. Several thoughts buzzed around in my head simultaneously. One part of me was focused on what to do with my guest. Another part managed the hive mind. A third kept tabs on my “Equestrian Ambassadors,” Nick and Klika. And a fourth maintained my link with Chrysalis, though just enough to grab my attention of something important happens, like now. I sat up, made aware by my link that Chrysalis is making her move against the Princess. Shoving the other thoughts aside, I watched as Chrysalis made her way into the restroom, stalking her prey. Incoming princess in 3… 2… 1… *Flash.*

Princess Cadance appeared on my coffee table with her back towards me. I could see her reflection on the powered down TV screen. She blinked once, then twice, then rubbed her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, “W-where am I?”

“On my coffee table.”

She started to turn around. “But how did I -” She froze, cut off mid sentence with shock upon seeing me.

“Get here?” I finished for her, then shrugged. “No clue, Princess Cadance.”

“What are you? And how do you know who I am?” the confused princess asked. She started backing away from me, only to fall off of the coffee table. She quickly picked herself off the floor and continued backing up.

“Human. Just human. I had a dream,” I lied in response to her questions. “A lady told me to expect you. The same lady has always given me good advice, making me very rich. I always trust her.” I snorted a bit. “Name’s Rex, by the way.” I still had not moved from my position on the couch, but leaned forward a small amount to get a better look.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Cadance said, though her voice still carried a hint of unease. “I still don’t know where I am. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a human before. Does your kind live far outside of Equestria?”

A giggle crossed my lips as I thought of a response. It quickly grew into full blown laughter. Tears streamed down my face, I was laughing so hard. “Hahaha – Princess, there are almost eight billion of us covering every part of the globe. We’re everywhere. Equestria doesn’t exist. Alicorns are mythical creatures. Miss, you’re on another planet!” I laughed some more.

Cadance’s eyes went wide through my explanation. “That – that’s not possible! I was in Canterlot just a minute ago!” She sat down, trying to process what I just said.

I stood up and walked over to the distressed mare and put my hand on her back. Stroking it gently, I gave her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry. We’ll get you home, soon.”

“Thanks, Rex,” she said, giving me a weak smile. I could feel a slight twinge of hope and happiness grow inside of her. Drawing it into me, I begin to siphon off the tiniest portions of her magic, slow enough that she wouldn’t even miss it.

The oven in the kitchen dinged. I stood up to go retrieve my snack. “Hey, you want some biscuits? Some good old southern comfort food always helps me feel better.” I pulled the tray out of the oven and set it aside to cool. I walked to the fridge to grab the sweet tea. Neither tasted particularly good to me now, but they had been my favorites before my change. Now, they served another purpose: get the candy-colored, sweet-loving, pony princess to trust me.

“What are biscuits?” Cadance asked.

“The king of the breads. In my opinion, at least,” I said. “Try one.” I set out a plate with two biscuits, honey, butter, and a glass of sweet tea for each of us at the table. She sat down at the table and lit up her horn. I raised an eyebrow at the blue aura she used to eat her food with. It threw up a red flag in my mind. [Chrysalis. We have a small problem,] I thought over the link.

[What?]

[Your magic aura is green. Cadance’s is blue. Don’t let anyone catch on to the difference.]

[Thank you. I will be careful,] Chrysalis responded. We put the connection back on standby and I turned to Cadance. “Don't use your magic. It's not safe to use that here.”

She swallowed the mouthful of biscuit and turned to look at me. “What do you mean?”

“There are very few magic users on the entire planet, less than a dozen of us if I'm not mistaken," I explained to her. "Most humans consider magic to be fake or slight-of-hand. It would be horrible for us if our secret was discovered by certain groups."

She spoke, "You don't trust your own kind?" I nodded. "I guess It is the earth pony way for me."

I nodded. “Yeah. If almost anybody else saw us use magic, we would be taken by the government and experimented on – maybe even dissected – so that they could learn the secrets behind it and our existence. They would probably try to turn magic into a weapon. Don’t worry, though. I won’t let them take us.” Her emotions spiked, going through fear and paranoia before settling on trust. ‘Good, she trusts me more. The more she opens up, the more magic I can take from her.’

Cadance’s magic set her food back down on her plate, then extinguished itself. “I suppose I can do without magic if it means I’m safe. Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For the food. For supporting me. For protecting me. I guess, for everything really. You’ve done so much for me, yet we only met a few minutes ago,” Cadance said, fixing her eyes upon mine. “You’re truly a wonderful pony… er, human…”

“Person,” I corrected.

“Person. I just hope I can get home soon. I was going to be married in a few days to the most wonderful stallion ever.” She gave out a small sob. “Shining Armor is an amazing stallion. Strong, handsome, kind, brother to one of my closest friends,” she paused for a moment, “captain of the royal guard.”

“Sounds like quite the catch,” I commented. I could feel the love for him wafting off of her. It was almost intoxicating. Too bad it was not aimed at me. I felt envious of Chrysalis at that moment. She’s going to have quite the feast ahead of her.

“That he is. Do you have a special somepony?” Cadance asked.

“Special somepony… you mean a girlfriend? No. My ex-girlfriend found out about my daughter from an earlier relationship that went sour,” I explained, giving a modified version of the story. “Catherine grew hostile. She threatened my daughter and me. I went ‘papa wolf’ on her. Needless to say, our relationship is irreversibly destroyed. Implied death threats from both sides will do that.”

“Oh dear,” Cadance said while sinking into her chair. A moment later, she perked back up. “May I meet your daughter? Where is she?”

“Klika’s with my… brother, Nick, on an over-seas business trip. They are spies, gathering information about my client and her enemies. Information is power, I always say.”

Cadance looked disappointed. “It’s a shame. I would have liked to meet them.”

“If all goes according to plan, they should be home within the next three days. And If I have my way, we can have you home soon after,” I said confidently. ‘Perhaps I should introduce her to Taruke. He could provide a second pair of changeling eyes watching over her. His wife is out of town right now as well. I need to get these emeralds sold, but I cannot leave Her Royal Pain un-attended. Yes, Taruke will do fine, so long as he behaves himself,’ I thought. “Princess, come with me. There is someone I would like you to meet.” I probed for his location over the hive mind and found him in his next door apartment. “Let me go get him.”

A minute later, I returned with the disguised convert in tow. Having explained everything already via the hive mind, I introduced him to the Equestrian Princess. “Princess Cadance, this is Clark Oswin. He is my next door neighbor and my accountant. He will protect you when I cannot,” I explained. "He is also a magic user."

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, your highness,” Clark said with an excessively deep bow.

“Likewise, Mr. Oswin,” she replied.

“Please, Mr. Oswin was my father. Call me Clark,” he said while painting a false grin on his face. Cadance did not catch the true nature of his expression, but I did.

<<Careful, Taruke,>> I scolded him. <<I want this to go off without a hitch. Do not disappoint me.>>

<<I would never dream of it,>> Taruke replied. I only raised an eyebrow.

Six friends sat out together in the park, plates full of cake sat in between them. A young dragon raced towards the group at a frantic pace. Upon reaching the group, he dropped down on his stomach and belched out a jet of green flame. From the flames, a sealed scroll materialized. The purple unicorn grabbed the letter and began to read.

Minutes – and one musical number – later, the elements of harmony were packing up and heading on their way to Canterlot.

Author's Notes:

*Ding* Have a chapter!

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NOTICE: This chapter has been changed from it's original version on 7/19/13. Some of the dialogue has been changed. I found that I had accidentally written a situation that would almost guarantee that the plot I had planned for the rest of this story would not work. It's amazing what one wrong sentence can do to your whole story.

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After a month long break from ponies, I'M BACK!

I can't stand any more Naruto fan fiction. Do you know how many of those stories focus on genin exam through chunin exams? Boring! Ponies are better. Unless they are ninja ponies. If Pinkie Pie was a ninja, what would she fight with? I vote ninja puppets.

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Time to attack: 2.5 days.
Time to arrival of mane 6: 18 hours. (Early train the next morning)
Time to initiation of stage two of the plan: 2 days

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

(edited 12/22/2013)