“You will marry him! It is your duty as a princess, and as my daughter.” Queen Chrysalis paced back and forth in her daughter's chambers, frustration building with every step.

“But he’s so ooooooold, and groooooooooss!” the younger changeling moaned.

“You are lucky his family would even accept you. He is an upstanding member of our society.”

“I bet Dad wouldn’t want me to marry that old bug.”

“Your father doesn’t even know you exist, and if he did…” Chrysalis cackled maniacally. She really hadn’t had an opportunity to cackle recently. “Do you really think he would want anything to do with you?”

“I don’t know, maybe if you let me meet him. He’s certainly been a better parent than you have ever been.”

“Fine!” Queen Chrysalis turned away from her daughter. “You really think that stallion will have anything to do with you? Go to him, find out! Have him clap you in irons, throw you in prison. I am done. Maybe one of my other, pureblood daughters will see fit to follow their Queen’s advice.”

Chrysalis stormed out of the room, the vase her daughter sent flying at her head narrowly missing. It wasn’t the first time dealing with her daughter that Chrysalis lamented the iris style doors that separated the rooms. Maybe she should implement a few pony style doors. They were satisfying to slam.

“This door is not to open under any circumstances!” she barked at the two black-chitined guards standing either side of the door. She kicked at the soft detritus floor, muttering darkly as she made her way to her throne room.

“Another invasion. That is what I need. A nice, long, protracted military campaign.” Chrysalis hummed to herself, the idea of another war cheering her disposition drastically. “The ponies are a bust, but maybe the Minotaurs. Iron Will certainly had enough love of himself.”

By the time she was at her throneroom she had a positive bounce in her step, having planned the infiltration and subjugation of the entire Minos nation. She knew the council would never approve it, her failed invasion of Canterlot had barely met approval. A mare can dream, she told herself.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!” the young changeling screamed as the vase shattered on the wall. It was her favorite vase; why did she have to throw that one?

She stomped across the room, she needed to go out and have some fun. Stupid mothers and stupid betrothals and stupid pure-blood sisters being better than her. She tapped the iris door to her room, but it didn’t respond to her magic.

“Ummm, a little help here?” she called out to the guards she knew were on the other side of her door.

“Sorry, Princess, but Queen Chrysalis has ordered that you stay in your room.”

“Fine. Fine!” She stomped back across the room, kicking a few more priceless artifacts she would regret breaking later. They were her things, after all. “Fine!”

Changelings are nothing, if not adept at lying, stealth, and subterfuge. A sharp-fanged grin spread across the young princesses muzzle. “Fine…” she whispered, smirking.

It wasn’t the first time the fat bug had locked her daughter in her room. Actually, if the princess thought about it, it was happening with greater frequency these days. She was a princess, Queen Chrysalis’ oldest daughter. She should have been the Queen’s heir, not that upstart little pupa she called a half-sister.

The princess opened her wardrobe, pulling out a few of her favorite pieces of minor regalia. Changelings weren’t in the habit of wearing clothes, unlike many of the other races of Equus, but they did so love their jewelry. She packed them into a saddlebag (a gift from a suitor, stolen from Equestria three years earlier) and slung it over her back. She scribbled a quick note for her mother, then escaped through the small tunnel she’d used to sneak out as a pupa, conveniently hidden behind a pinup-poster in the back of her wardrobe.

Why she ever needed a wardrobe, given the previously established disdain changelings had for clothing, she never knew. Whatever. It was convenient.

Her mother wouldn’t be back to check on her for hours, and by then, the princess would be well on her way to freedom.

Queen Chrysalis strode through the hallway to her daughter’s chambers, a haughty look on her face. She had left her daughter in her room hours longer than she normally would. That should teach the little pupa to respect her mother.

“Has the whelp been begging for her freedom?” Chrysalis sneered as she approached the guards.

“N-no, Your Greatness,” the changeling guard on the left clicked.

“Aside from one outburst, she has been quiet ever since,” the other added.

Chrysalis’ brow furrowed. That was awfully suspicious behaviour on her daughter’s part. She eyed them, her words not even needed, the question unspoken.

“W-we were going to check, but…” the first guard stammered.

“‘But’ what?” Chrysalis snarled, already suspecting the answer.

“Your orders were…” the changeling adjusted his vocal chords to mimic the Queen’s exact voice. “‘This door is not to open under any circumstances!’ A-and we dared not disobey you, Oh Might Queen.”

Both guards were well aware they were stuck between a rock and a hard place. Queen Chrysalis helped dislodge them, with two powerful bursts of her green magic.

Disregarding the two piles of dust at either side of the door, Chrysalis unlocked the iris and stepped into the room.

Many priceless heirlooms, along with spoils of wars kept in the family for generations, were bent, broken, smashed, and just generally strewn across the floor. Chrysalis felt a small amount of pride. “You certainly have a temper, my daughter. That rage would do you well in the future, should you temper it with patience.” Chrysalis laughed at her own pun. If only there were a guard to hear.

There was no response from the room. Complete and utter silence, save for Chrysalis’ own breathy chuckling.

Looking around the room, the Changeling Queen spied a piece of parchment, lying atop her daughter’s sleeping ring. Levitating it in front of her eyes, she read.

A scowl deeper than the one she had when the Queen thought of that Twilight Sparkle formed on her brow.

Changeling culture is not what most of the other races would have you believe. It is a rich and varied culture, with wondrous works of art, magnificent spires of obsidian, a beautiful and complex written language, filled with enough ambiguity that the most eloquent of Changeling poetry could be interpreted many ways.

The letter before the Queen’s eyes was either a declaration that her daughter was going to find her father, or an obscene description of how the Grand Ruler of the Changeling Empire could go and make love to a caramel flan.

Possibly both.

The letter burned in her telekinetic grasp. Chrysalis looked around the room, there was no way her daughter could have escaped, those two incompetent smears had made sure of that, at the very least.

Her daughter was nowhere to be found. The only other changeling she could see was the lewdly leering lascivious perverted poster-pupa peering back at her. Chrysalis levitated a china doll, one of the few unbroken items left in the room. “Where is she?” she screamed, as she threw the doll at the poster.

Instead of the satisfying sound of shattering porcelain she expected, she heard the tearing of paper. Walking closer to the poster, she saw a small tear in the paper. Pushing a holed hoof into the tear, it widened as Chrysalis felt no resistance. She tore the poster off the wall, revealing the small hole in the wall hidden behind it.

“Gone?” Chrysalis slumped back on her haunches. “She’s… she’s gone?”

Chrysalis staggered back from the wall, unable to believe her daughter was gone. Her first hatchling. Chrysalis looked down at her holed forearms. She had held her, with these very hooves.

“Oh, Peleides, my daughter!” she whispered. “What have I done?”

“All the time I could have spent with you was wasted complaining and wishing you were gone!” Chrysalis slumped over her daughters sleeping ring, sobbing into the soft green detritus for her lost daughter.

After a moment, she abruptly stopped. “Oh, what do I care? I can just make another one.”

Peleides moaned as she flew through Changeling airspace. Her stomach was grumbling, she hadn’t actually fed since her mother had locked her in her room.

Not for the first time did Peleides regret not bringing somepony to snack on. It was a long journey from the Capitol to the border. The only real encounter she had during her flight from the Badlands was her encounter at the border crossing.

“Papers please. Anything to declare, eh?” the border guard asked, in his thick northern accent. Most city changelings mocked their northern neighbours, but she found their accents quaint and charming, and they were ever so polite.

Peleides shook her head in response to his question, and hooved over her papers. Or at least, papers generously provided by a passing drone. Well, not so much generously provided but fearfully surrendered. Drones tended to live longer lives by not questioning their royalty.

It was as said drone that Peleides was currently disguised as. While Drone 27,856,345 would likely pass through the border crossing with little to no suspicion, Princess Peleides Blue Morphos would draw far more attention than she desired at this moment in time. The first time she had snuck out of the castle, she had revelled in the attention she received, though she learned quickly that an underaged teenage changeling could not order drinks from a public house, no matter how princess-y she was.

“Did you want to use one of our disguises?” the changeling politely offered. “We have a few earth ponies, and a unicorn. Or how aboot as pegaus?”

Peleides followed the border guard as he led her down the isle of suspended ponies. She really liked the beige coat of one of the suspended earth ponies, but her blue and fuschia mane looked terrible. So full, and bouncy. Ponies were gross. The aquamarine unicorn hanging next to her was not much better, but Peleides liked the style of her mane.

Concentrating, she channelled her magic through her horn. Green flame enveloped her body; when it dissipated, a beige winged unicorn with a mane of dark blue and a shock of cerulean shot through it (her own colours, though the guard didn’t know that), in the same style as the unicorn languishing inside her cocoon. Peleides admired herself in the full body mirror at the end of the hall. She looked pretty good, you know, for a soft and hairy pony.

A sharp clapping sound from behind her interrupted her thoughts.

“Wowee! You made your own form; don’t see many with your talent, eh?” The border guard looked her up and down, as the winged pegasus blushed. “But I doubt you’d want to go looking like that.”

Peleides raised an eyebrow. Oh wow, she thought, I have eyebrows. Look at ‘em waggle.

“Sorry?” she asked, after she had finished amusing herself with her own eyebrows.

The border guard tapped her horn. “You’ll have to choose, either the horn or the wings. Don’t want nopony thinking you’re a princess, eh?” The guard chuckled.

Peleides started to panic. “Oh, no. Ah hah hah hah,” she laughed, awkwardly. “Wouldn’t want anyone to think I’m a princess. No siree. No princesses here.”

Another flash of green fire and there stood the same beige pegasus with her mane of blues.

“Don’t worry aboot it, eh.” The guard smiled to her. “If you need to use magic, just find somewhere to shift into a unicorn. Well, let’s get you processed and on your way.”

Stamping her papers, the border guard let her through the gates leading towards Equestria.

“Dodge City is aboot a hundred kilometers that way,” the guard explained, pointing a holed hoof in the general direction. “From there, you can get a train to just aboot anywhere in Equestria. Happy hunting, eh?”

Stupid polite northern changelings and their stupid kilometers.

Peleides’ wings burned as she continued her flight north.

I thought that was, like, only twenty miles or something.

With the lights of the small town finally in sight, Peleides landed on the still-warm sands. Under the last dying rays of the sun, Peleides entered the town main. It was relatively quiet, few ponies were milling about the streets.

Peleides stepped down the unlit path between two darkened houses, and shed her pegasus disguise for a unicorn on. Her coat took on the aquamarine colour of the unicorn she had seen earlier, though Peleides made sure to stay closer to her own age, rather than that of the older mare’s.

She refused to change her mane colour.

The disguised changeling made her way towards the train station. She had never seen an actual train, Changelings not really having a mass transport system.

Waiting in line at the ticket booth, Peleides realised the first kink in her plan. As a Princess, she had never really gone wanting for anything, except maybe the approval of a mother who could go stick her head in the jaws of a thresher maw. She had secreted away a little bit of money, but she doubted the changeling coinage she had in her pack would fetch a decent exchange rate.

“H-how much for a ticket to the Crystal Empire?” she asked the ticket master.

The mare in the booth looked toward the changeling. “Three stops, through Ponyville, then Canterlot, then direct through to the Crystal Empire,” she recited in a bored monotone. “Seventy-four bits.”

“I-Is there a cheaper way?” Peleides bit her cheek, making her eyes water. Her mother always told her ponies were compassionate saps; maybe she could use that to her advantage.

The ticket master looked up from her crossword. “That is the cheapest ticket. Off Peak train, leaving in forty-five minutes. After that, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow, then you can pay one-hundred and twenty-seven bits for the peak hour train.”

“T-thanks anyway,” Peleides responded, trying her best to look dejected. It wasn’t particularly hard, as she was feeling rather dejected at that moment. She’d have to either stow away on the train, or she’d have to find some schmuck to work over for the bits needed. And she doubted her luck would extend her an opportunity to do that in the next forty minutes.

“Next please,” the ticket master called, as Peleides slunk away, her head bowed low. The marshmallow coloured mare that had stood inline behind the changeling stepped up to the booth as Peleides walked away.

“One ticket to Ponyville, please.”

Peleides sat somberly on the station seating. It was getting late, and she didn’t have anywhere to stay. In a larger town, she might be able to find some abandoned building to sleep in, but in a small town like this, she doubted even being able to find an empty shed where she wouldn’t draw attention.

“Mind if I have a seat?” The white unicorn from the ticket booth sat beside her, lowering the many luggage bags she was levitating to the ground.

Peleides turned and looked at the mare. The unicorn had a bright, white coat, and a long purple mane, painstakingly styled. She shrugged. “‘s a free country.”

“That it is, that it is,” the mare chuckled as she sat. The mare looked down at the old saddle bag next to Peleides. Noticing the mares gaze, the changeling pulled her bag closer. “Oh, I mean no harm, deary. I was just wondering where you got that charming old thing?”

Peleides looked down at the bag, frowning. Eyebrows are so much fun! Truth be told, she wasn’t entirely sure who had given it to her, it was just one of the many gifts potential suitors had brought in hopes of winning her heart.

“I haven’t seen that style of bag in quite a few years,” the mare tittered lightly.

Did this cow just insult my bag?

“I-It was a gift from my mother,” she stuttered. Peleides pulled the bag tighter to her side. It took all of her effort not to giggle at the act she was putting on. “I-It was the last thing she gave me. I like it.”

She didn’t like it, really. It was something to carry her things around in. She liked her things, but the sack of cloth used to carry those things around. She couldn’t care less if it burned, so long as her things were removed first.

“Oh, I am so sorry. I did not mean to disparage it, but it is true, I haven’t this style in a long time, not since I designed it twelve years ago.” The mare chuckled again, pointing to the gaudy stylised “R” on the side of the bag. “A Rarity design, don’t you know?”

“W-What?”

“Rarity,” the unicorn extended a hoof in greeting. “I’m somewhat of a name across Equestria, I’m surprised you haven’t heard of me.”

“P-Pelly,” held out a quavering hoof, meeting the white mares own. She recognised the name, alright. One of the Elements of something-something, her mother had been particularly colourful in her description of this mare, though there were some discrepancies in her mothers description. For one thing, this mare did not have her head stuck up her own plot, a position Peleides always had trouble imagining.

“So, Pelly. Why are you travelling to the Crystal Empire?” Rarity asked. “While it is lovely this time of year, it’s rather a long way to go for somepony so young.”

Why was this pony so interested in Peleides? Had she divined her secret, that the young unicorn was not who she appeared. Was she going to magical-love-blast Peleides all the way back to the Changeling Empire?

Peleides was positively shaking all over as she gave her answer. In her panic, she could not concoct a story, and spoke more truthfully than she would have planned. “M-My f-f-father lives in the C-Crystal Empire. I-I’ve never met him, b-but…”

“Oh, my dear! That is très tragique!” The mare swooned. “It is like a tragic novel, a young mare, barely in her prime, running off to find her estranged father… but my dear, you are shivering. You must be cold, and ever so frightened.”

Rarity levitated a sweater out of one of her bags, and put it on the changeling before she could even protest. Peleides struggled in vain, the weird sensation of clothing against her coat felt alien to her. Rarity gasped when the young changeling stopped struggling.

“Oh my, it looks simply divine on you, my dear.”

“I-I can’t accept this,” Peleides objected. She doubted she could sell it for much anyway.

“Oh my dear, you most certainly can.” Rarity hummed as she reached into her coin purse. “I hope you can also accept this.” Rarity pulled out a small slip of paper, and levitated it to the disguised changeling.

Peleides looked at the slip of paper in her hooves. One ticket to the Crystal Empire.

Tears leaked from her eyes as she stared at the small slip of paper.

“Thank you,” Peleides pulled the mare into a hug. You complete sucker.

Rarity patted Peleides gently on her back. “I knew I was right when I thought to buy your ticket.”

“You don’t know what this means to me.” How did you rubes ever beat my mother? She must have been colossally stupid to have lost to you.

“It’s alright dear,” Rarity chuckled, as the younger mare pushed away.

“I’ll find some way to pay you back, I promise.”

“Oh, no need to pay me back, my dear,” she chuckled. “I was the Bearer of the Element of Generosity, after all!”

The two sat in silence, Peleides smiling as she played with the ticket in her hooves, Rarity smiling with pride at having helped out a poor unfortunate soul.

Peleides and Rarity parted ways as they boarded the train, Peleides boarded the open section car, while Rarity made her way through to the wagon-lit. She found a seat close to the rear of the car, near where Rarity had gone through to her cozy bed.

At first, it was exciting, she had never been on a train before. The gentle click-clack of the wheels on the rail, the slight swaying of the cart. It soon became tiresome, and the realities of public transport became more apparent.

Peleides laid across the uncomfortable bench, trying to relax; though she might well have been laying on a stone slab, for all the comfort this pitiful excuse for a bench provided. Added to that, there was the mother and her screaming foal three seats down from her to add to the wonderful ambiance. Two seats down from them was an earth pony stallion, snoring his head off, oblivious to the world around him.

An hour into her journey, she was able to get some rest, albeit only light sleep so she could maintain her form.

She grumbled, as one of the sleeping compartments could have been locked, and she could have dropped her disguise.

This is an outrage! I am a princess, and I have to sleep like a common drone!

Her brooding was interrupted by the muttering of another pony, dressed in a frilly pink nightgown. “What kind of service is this? A sleeping compartment should at least have a little filly’s room. To expect one to traipse through a train at night in her silk nightware…”

Peleides watched the mare as she tromped down the center of the car towards the washrooms. A smile spread across her face, disappearing quickly as she cast an invisibility spell on herself, quietly making her way to the sleeper car.

Peleides was able to find Rarity’s compartment, the mare had left the door slightly ajar in her rush to the lavatory. Peleides squeezed inside, and let her spell drop. The room was exquisite, with a large, comfortable bed, almost as large as her sleeper ring back home. The room had plenty of space for luggage, and the designer had made use of most of it.

“If I were rich, where would I keep my purse?” she asked herself. Well, not in an unlocked compartment on a public train.

She found Rarity’s saddlebag, opening it and finding the coinpurse inside. It was filled with bits, and Peleides reckoned that if somepony could spend as ostentatiously as Rarity had done on this sleeper car, she could afford to donate a few more bits to the needy. And it just so happened that Peleides was in need of a few bits, and would be happy to oblige the mare.

She emptied her own bag of Changeling currency onto the bed, then Rarity’s bag of bits. She levitated the golden bits into her own purse, and the useless coins into Rarity’s.

Putting the coin purse back into Rarity’s saddlebag, Peleides spied the ticket for the room. She looked around and sighed. If only there were some way of taking this room, taking Rarity’s place… but no, it was too much of a risk. Too many things could go wrong. Annoyed, she gripped the ticket in her magical aura and burned it in green flame.

Peleides exited the sleeper car just in time, Rarity passed by as the changeling skulked back to her seat under the invisibility spell.

“Tickets, please.”

Peleides jumped as she was awoken. She looked around, it was still night outside, but there was a stallion in uniform staring down at her.

“Ummm, sorry. What?”

“Tickets, please.” The stallion huffed in frustration.

“O-Oh, sorry.” Peleides fumbled about in her bag, trying to find the ticket Rarity had bought her. The stallion looked over the ticket, then punched it and handed it back to her.

For a second time that night, Peleides was startled awake from her slumber. The train had slowed down to stop, though it was still dark outside the windows, no station could be seen.

“Unhoove me, you ruffians!” the white mare screeched as she was dragged through the aisle of the train by two guards. “I paid good money for that room, and I will not be treated this way. Do you not know who I am?”

A third unicorn followed them, levitating her luggage behind him.

When the train finally stopped, they opened the carriage door.

“N-Now see here, you can’t just throw me out,” the mare whimpered. Peleides watched on in silence, suppressing her every urge to laugh. “If it is a matter of money, please, let me buy another ticket.”

The guards stood over her as she levitated her coin purse out of her saddle bags. They watched intently as she opened her purse.

“Oh, dear. This isn’t my—”

“Ma’am, you will exit the train with us, now!” The guards lowered their spears, brandishing them at the startled mare.

“This isn’t—”

Whatever it wasn’t, Peleides would never know, as the white mare was ejected from the train, the two guards following after her.

“Send word ahead to Canterlot, we will await their arrival.”

The unicorn porter who had followed them dumped the mare’s luggage unceremoniously onto the ground, then snapped off a crisp salute.

Peleides caught the pleading eye of the mare, standing miserably in the mud outside the train. The changeling gave a small wave to the mare as the train started its journey again, a smirk on her face. The white unicorn’s face showed that the mare did not miss the smirk.

As the train resumed full speed, Peleides had to cast a sound dampening spell, this was far too funny a situation to not cackle.

Oh, mother was right. A good cackle does wonders for the soul!

Celestia and Twilight looked at each other in understanding. They had been trying to comfort the sobbing mare all morning. Cadence was in dire need for tea, so Celestia levitated the good stuff from a small tin on her desk.

“I knew we could never…” Cadence sniffed. “I knew we would never be able to have foals. It’s… it’s just so hard.”

Twilight heated the water in the teapot, and poured a fresh cup; understanding for her sister-in-law sparkling in her own eyes.

It was, after all, about the time of year when Cadence’s foal-envy would flare up.

Celestia had told Twilight that her sister was much the same in the earlier years growing up. Her sister was always wise and strong mare, but every few years, Luna would (in words Twilight never expected from her mentor’s mouth) be beggin’ for a preggin’.

Twilight Sparkle had not believed Celestia’s tales of Luna in their formative years… but after sixteen years of her sister-in-laws sorrows, Twilight found them to be very believable. She often wondered if Luna would begrudge her steal— borrowing the nocturnal mare’s moon for a few nights, declare night eternal and have a nice thousand year ‘vacay’ from Cadence’s whining.

A quick glance at her former mentor quelled any such dark thoughts.

“Cadence, I know how this pains you.” Celestia patted a hoof on Cadence’s forearm. “There are options available: you could always find a donor and a surrogate mother.”

“Sh-Shiney doesn’t want to do that.”

“You could take on a student,” Celestia offered cautiously. “That is, I assume, almost as rewarding as motherhood.”

Despite her sorrow, Cadence actually managed to chuckle. “I… I don’t think so, Auntie Sunbutt. The way that turned out for you? Well… it’d be a little too oedipean for me.”

Twilight Sparkle blushed as she removed the wing that she thought had been secretly massaging the Solar Princess’ flank, coughing in embarrassment. “You could always adopt.”

“Shiney doesn’t want to do that either.” Cadence sighed, taking a sip of her tea. “Sometimes I think he just doesn’t want foals.”

A sharp knocking at the door to Celestia’s chambers interrupted the three princesses. Celestia stood and opened the door.

Standing at the entrance to her chambers were two very nervous looking royal guards, and one very pissed off fashionista.

“Y-Your Majesty, Lady Rarity has news concerning the Crystal Empire and a potential changeling attack.”

“You have good timing, Rarity.” Celestia’s smile vanished in an instant. “Cadence is here right now. Come in right away.”

Rarity entered the room, an angry scowl across her face and an awkward limp in her gait, one Celestia recognised as the sign of a more… thorough investigation of a suspect pony. Celestia did not look forward to this conversation.

Peleides hummed happily as she laid across the down duvet, glad to finally be out of her disguise; her black chitin contrasted against the stark white duvet.

This is how royalty should travel.

With the large sum of extra bits “generously” donated to her, Peleides had asked the ticket attendant if she was able to upgrade her ticket to a spot on the wagon-lit, and the attendant had happily informed her that one of the compartments had just opened up. Fancy that!

The trip was much more bearable with a private room, a wash basin and a comfortable bed. This comfort did not extend to her stomach, which was now rumbling with hunger.

Once again donning her unicorn disguise, she made her way to the dining car. There wasn’t really anything there she could eat, but she might have been able to find some easy mark.

It was still dark outside the train, they had recently passed through some small dirt village; Peleides could see the lights of Canterlot in the distance. While she wasn’t particularly keen on visiting the site of her mother’s greatest failure, she reasoned, as she was only passing through, there should be no problem.

The dining cart offered slim pickings, as far as choice of ponies went. There was the same mother and screaming foal, but Peleides had moved into the wagon-lit to get away from that problem. It wouldn’t make sense to invite her back to the room for a quick feed.

There was the old stallion who had been snoring before, and while he had an impressive physique, he looked older than her mother, and that old bug was at least three-hundred. Peleides never did find out; every drone that knew her true age, or were dumb enough to throw a birthday party, tended to live short lives as smears on either the floor or the walls, depending on where they had been standing.

In fact, most all of the ponies in the buffet-car were older than her. Significantly older than her. Blech!

One recent addition to the passengers caught Peleides’ attention though. A young, fresh-faced unicorn mare, with a brilliant orange mane and a light yellow coat. The changeling smiled as she noticed the mare looking her way, before hurriedly looking back out the window.

Peleides found her mark.

Maybe she could work the young mare up into a state, twist the girl around her holed-hoof, then take her back to the compartment and feed away.

“Hi! I’m Diamond Charm.” Peleides sidled up to the blushing mare, introducing herself. She had had enough time to work out an appropriate name this time.

“Umm— Hi,” the shy unicorn answered. “My name is Pumpkin.”

Who would name their foal Pumpkin?

“That’s a pretty name. Where are you headed?”

“Oh, I’m going to see my uncle Croquem Bouche. He lives in Vanhoover. I… I am going to be studying there.”

“Really?” Peleides asked with all the faux-interest she could muster. “What are you studying?”

“My uncle owns a Prench Patisserie, so I’m going to be training with him.” Pumpkin’s nervousness dissipated as she droned on about her uncle’s shop.

The food before her looked disgusting, more so than the normal slop ponies drew their nutrition from. Peleides remembered the ticket attendant espousing the fantastic food available for their VIP passengers. Trotting over to the VIP station with the oblivious Pumpkin in tow, Peleides showed her ticket to the waiter, who levitated a menu to the disguised changeling, though she didn’t recognise any of the items on the menu.

“I’m not sure what I want.” She looked back at the mare who had followed her. “Did you want anything?”

“Oh, ummm, I don’t think I could afford anything from here,” Pumpkin responded, sheepishly rubbing a hoof on her forearm.

Peleides turned back to the impatient attendant, and whispered. “What would you recommend if I was trying to impress someone?”

The waiter looked over Peleides shoulder, seeing the blushing mare. A smirk spread across his face. “I would suggest a tasting platter, we can have that delivered to your room, Miss.”

“Could we also get something to drink, a nice merlot perhaps?” Peleides remembered getting particularly inebriated with her younger sister on a stolen bottle of the drink a few years earlier.

The waiter chuckled. “Sorry, sugar, not until you’re older.”

“Very well.” Peleides nodded, levitating the menu back to the waiter, and passing him a few bits. She turned towards her room. “Pumpkin, would you like to join me in my private room? I’ve ordered something for us to share, you can leave that here if you want.”

Pumpkin followed Diamond Charm to her room, watching as the mare swayed her hips. She couldn’t believe her luck! Diamond was very beautiful, and Pumpkin couldn’t help but stare at the four diamonds on the mares flank. With the accentuated swish of her tail, Pumpkin was certain Diamond was flicking her nose on purpose.

Oh Diamond is so nice! And rich… but that’s not important!

Pumpkin smiled, her thoughts filled with all manner of fantastical images.

Maybe if I brought home a nice mare like Diamond, my parents would finally be okay with it.

Diamond Charm opened the door to the room, and Pumpkin followed her in. The room was amazing; Pumpkin had never seen a private room on a train.

Oh wow, she must be really rich.

Pumpkin sighed, she was certain she was in some kind of dream. This couldn’t be real. A young, pretty, rich, nice mare, not much older than Pumpkin herself, was interested in little old her. Wistful dreams of being swept off her feet by the beautiful young debutante filled her mind.

Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh. Feeding is so much work!

Peleides suppressed the urge to sigh as she opened the door to her compartment. She could feel the desire in the yellow mare grow, but she still had to work for it. This was the reason why most changelings take the form of somepony’s lover.

Peleides did not have that luxury at this moment; she was staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarving.

“Make yourself comfortable,” Peleides offered with a sweet smile, tapping a hoof on the soft bed, before climbing onto it herself. Pumpkin nervously climbed onto the bed next to the changeling, keeping an awkward distance between herself and ‘Diamond’.

Noticing the distance, Peleides held out a hoof, gently patting the nervous mare’s hoof. “It’s okay, Pumpkin. I won’t bite.”

Pumpkin giggled, shifting herself a little closer.

“So, tell me more about yourself, Pumpkin,” Peleides offered. “I’d really like to know more about you.”

Pumpkin regaled the ‘extremely interested’ changeling with her life in Ponyville. Peleides chuckled.

“I actually met someone from Ponyville, I think, while I was in… Appleloosa,” Peleides laughed, remembering the white unicorn who’d bought her a ticket. “She was really excited, I was wearing one of her designs.”

“You met Rarity? Wow! What a small world; she’s a friend of my Aunt Pinkie!” Pumpkin looked towards the sweater that Peleides had casually tossed over a chair.

Peleides started to shift uncomfortably. This mare knew Rarity, and knew the sweater was hers.

“No wonder she was excited! That sweater only just came out this season, I thought it was exclusive to her Boutique in Canterlot.”

“O-Oh, yeah.” Peleides felt her tension melt away. One of her designs, Pumpkin was not aware it was a personal gift from the stupid white sow. “My mother got it for me last time she went to Canterlot. I, umm, really wanted one.”

Pumpkin nodded. “I know what you mean. It’s beautiful.”

It’s lumpy and it smells awful. I should know, I’m a Changeling Princess.

A knocking interrupted the two, and Peleides opened her door. The waiter from earlier silently levitated the tray into the room. Peleides grasped it in her own green aura, ignoring the waiters leering wink as she closed the door.

Changelings were taught that often, the way to a stallions heart was through his stomach. Peleides was hoping that particular idiom rang true for mares too.

“Dinner…” She levitated the tray over to the bed, removing the cover with a flourish. “Is served!”

Peleides rejoined Pumpkin on the bed, sidling closer to the unicorn as she stared at the food.

“It looks so delicious!” Pumpkin exclaimed in awe.

“It really does.” Peleides put all her effort into not vomiting. Explaining to a pony why she was vomiting green organic matter would be difficult, and she was trying to keep a low profile.

Before the other mare could speak, Peleides levitated a small ball of something and hovered it in front of Pumpkins muzzle. “I’m not that hungry; besides, I eat this kind of stuff all the time. I’d love to hear what you think of it.”

Pumpkin’s face burned bright red, as she closed her eyes and opened her mouth. Peleides levitated the small morsel of food into the mare’s mouth. Pumpkin moaned as the flavour hit her tongue.

“Oh, wow. It’s pumpkin and risotto, deep fried. I think there is some cheese in there too.” Pumpkin quickly covered her mouth with her hoof, embarrassed, realising she had spoken with her mouth full.

Peleides gave her very best impression of a titter, something no changeling would ever actually do. Cackle maniacally? Sure, most changeling royalty had classes in that. But a titter? No way.

As Peleides slowly fed the mare, Pumpkin’s infatuation with her grew with every bite. Peleides even managed to stomach one or two pieces, after Pumpkin insisted. She washed the taste out of her mouth with a glass of mineral water, which she also offered Pumpkin.

The announcement that they had arrived and departed Canterlot had come while they laid there together, Pumpkin now much closer than she had been all night, the empty tray discarded on a side table.

“Thank you, Diamond. You’ve been so nice to me.”

Peleides could feel it; she was so close. She just needed to do a little more, then this love-fruit would be ripe for the picking. Being a changeling, Peleides was unaware how this metaphor might have sounded to a non-changeling.

“You’re welc—”

Peleides was cut off as Pumpkin awkwardly mashed her lips against the disguised changeling’s. She struggled to breathe, trying to work with the kiss. As she found her rhythm, Pumpkin slid her tongue into Peleides mouth.

Ponies are so gross! Ponies are so gross! Ponies are so gross! Ponies are so gross! Ponies are so gross!

Despite the disgusting flesh that was twisting itself around her own tongue, Peleides managed to keep the kiss going, even mimicking some of the other mare’s movements. The love Pumpkin felt was fit to burst from her chest.

Pumpkin pulled away, giggling. Both mare and changeling were panting, trying to regain their breath.

“Wow!” Pumpkin exclaimed.

“Yeah…” Peleides responded. “Wow.”

Wow that was disgusting!

Peleides moved towards Pumpkin’s neck, the yellow mare pulling the changeling on top of her. She opened her mouth, just over the nape of Pumpkin’s neck. Then she fed.

Pumpkin went slack as a green mist came off her coat, wisping its way up to the changelings open maw. She moaned loudly, eyes rolled back in her head, as the changeling continued to feed.

She’s delicious!

Peleides fed, being careful not to drain Pumpkin completely. When she was finished, she slumped next to the mare, who absent-mindedly cuddled against Peleides.

By Mother’s Chitinous Tits, so full!

Peleides fell asleep next to the mare, fully sated.

The train jostling as it slowed woke the two sleeping mares. It was still dark outside, but the speakers crackled, announcing their arrival at Vanhoover.

Pumpkin got up, quickly racing to the car where she had left her belongings, then ran back to the compartment Peleides was staying in.

“Thank you so much for tonight Diamond I really hope I see you again soon.”

Peleides was still in a half-drunk love stupor, and barely registered what was shouted at her. Pumpkin pulled Peleides in for a deep kiss, the changeling being too groggy to register the extra tongue in her mouth before it disappeared again.

“W-Wait,” Peleides called. She dashed back into her room, and grabbed the sweater. She seemed to like this horrible thing, so she can take it. At least I won’t have to carry it anymore!

Peleides levitated the sweater to the mare. “T-Take this. In case we don’t see each other again.”

Pumpkin pulled the changeling in for another kiss, and stepped off the train. She stood on the station, waving to Peleides, until the doors closed and the train rolled out of the station.

“Next Stop,” called the announcer in a cheerful voice. “The Crystal Empire!”