Switch sighed and looked himself over in the mirror, taking a few deep breaths. Sure, he looked scary: his chitin shone intimidatingly, and he’d sharpened his horn to a supremely deadly point, but this was still an Element of Harmony he was dealing with. She was one of the six most powerful ponies in Equestria, and while she may have been a scared little pile of yellow butter before, these six had almost single-hoofedly turned back the changeling invasion of Canterlot with nothing but their own, raw fighting skills. There was no such thing as being too cautious around one of them.

Checking to ensure his scar was displayed prominently, Switch nodded to himself in the mirror and practiced his standard “intimidation” looks. There was the “angry bear” (snout scrunched, fangs bared), the “waiting cobra” (angry glower with upper lip snarled), the “stone-cold badass” (little smirk with snout turned upwards, which wasn’t much of an intimidating look but he always loved to flash this face whenever he was about to launch into a fight). Okay. This was it. He was ready.

He crossed the room to the large cocoon set against one wall, the distinctly pony-like form floating around inside, hooves over her eyes, just as he’d left her. He scowled. Sure, she looked frightened, but he too was familiar with the book of deception. This could very well be chapter three, section five: feigning weakness to drop the enemy’s guard.

With a flick of his head, his horn sliced right through the front of the tissue, the goo still held in place by the walls of the cocoon as its facade fell away like a flower in bloom. A big, green, gooey flower that smelt like somepony’s B.O.

The pegasus known as “Fluttershy” cringed at the fresh exposure to light, shivering at the bottom of the goo pool. Summoning up “waiting cobra,” he hissed at her: “Get out.”

The pegasus shivered harder and curled up into an even tighter little ball. For an instant, Switch relaxed, but then the scowl resurged. Don’t fall for it, Switchy, one slip-up and far more than yourself will be in danger. “I said get up!” He hissed, reaching into the goo and pulling the pegasus to the surface.

She whimpered and shivered, just a bundle of trembling feathers in his hooves now. He sighed: either this was the real deal, or she was a better actress than any changeling he’d ever come across. At the very least, he might as well play along for a while. “Please,” he added.

The pegasus stopped shivering for a quick moment and slowly pulled her face out of her hooves, peering at him from just over her curled forelegs. His eyes widened. It has to be a trap, he mused. Nothing is that cute by accident. No one is hardwired to be that adorable.

Regaining his composure, he swiftly reapplied a layer of goo to her wings while she whimpered. “Do not try to escape,” he stated flatly. “We are in complete control of the city. You wouldn’t make it far, not without your wings, and this will make double sure of it.”

With one, deft movement, he reached into a hidden spot next to the cocoon, producing a leather collar with a padlock that he quickly locked around her neck. Tears welled up in the pegasus's eyes as he affixed the collar, and Switch scrunched up the chitin on his forehead, taking note of the salty smell that entered the air. Tears, and a lot of them, he realized. Aw jeez, was she crying the entire time!? Now that’s commitment to a part!

Acting or not, it wouldn’t do if this pony dropped dead of dehydration. Not when she had a job to do. Without another word, he backed away from the cocoon to the private bathroom in the crystalline structure’s side, retrieving a glass with water. No longer to his surprise, when he returned with the glass hovering alongside him, the pegasus had curled up into a little, shivering ball of feathers on the ground.

Sighing, Switch reached down with the glass and lightly tapped the side of her head. She looked up, still quaking, a few tears trickling down her cheeks. “Drink,” he stated. Eyes wide, she looked to him, then to the glass, giving it a little sniff. His eyes rolled. “Yeah, because if I wanted to kill somepony who was restrained and half my size, I would totally use poison after freeing them from a cocoon built for the express purpose of holding them in one place. C’mon, drink.”

Still shivering, she slowly puckered her lips out and allowed him to tilt the glass back, eventually letting her take it in her hooves. She emptied the glass in no time at all, panting when it was emptied. “Thank you,” she whispered as she hoofed the glass back.

His eyes widened. That’s the first time…dangit all, Switch, get a hold of yourself! Regaining his composure, the changeling just nodded as he set the glass down. “Your cocoon can handle most of your bodily needs, but it can only do so much if you cry out half the salt and water in your body over the course of a couple hours. So go easy on the crying, yeah?”

She nodded ever-so-slightly, her head bobbing so mildly he would have missed it if he wasn’t looking right at her. “Okay,” he sighed, heading over to the one door leading out of the room and nudging it open. “Now, c’mon: there’s work to be done.”

Rising to trembling hooves, the pegasus followed the changeling down the hall, trotting past windows being sealed over with more of the green changeling gunk. Fluttershy’s eyes drifted away from him, watching the changelings work on the window in awe.

“Keep up, please!” Switch called over his shoulder. She looked to him, then back to the window, where a changeling peering in hissed at her. With a frightened squeak, she took off down the hall and nearly crashed headlong into her captor, her eyes squeezed shut in panic. A few inches short of a collision, though, he lifted her up in his magic, allowing her hooves to gallop futilely against air for a while before she finally thought to open her eyes. He glared up at her, summoning at least a bit of anger as he tried to decide if that really was a panicked run or a clever attempt at escape.

“I told you not to try escaping,” he growled.

“I-I wasn’t…”

“Save it. You’re just lucky we’re already here,” he hissed, opening the door nearest to him and shoving her in. He listened to her whimper in the darkness for a moment before slipping in next to her, flicking on the lights. Her eyes widened at the sight of dozens of little green mounds, with large craters at their center. Throbbing with a strange life of their own, they almost looked like…

“Welcome to the Nursery,” Switch droned, grabbing a tether from off the well and adding it to the padlock around her neck, ensuring it clicked shut. She never even noticed; she was too transfixed by the changeling-styled cribs lining the walls. He turned away from her for a second, giving the bolt securing her tether to the wall a few tugs. “You will be working here for the duration of our occupation, feeding the hatchlings with your own, natural love. Now, I don’t want to hear about you not ‘being willing’, or calling them disgusting little…”

“OOoooohhhhhhhh, look at you!” She gasped. He whirled in place just in time to watch her rocket across the room, straining the tether to its greatest length, and scooping up the nearest hatchling in her forehooves. The tiny, black bundle was wrapped in a baby-blue blanket, its little face exposed as it slept blissfully, a little nub of a horn poking out of its forehead.

“You are just too cute!” The pegasus gasped, nuzzling the baby changeling. One of its tiny, pupil-less eyes poked open, and the little bundle peered at her. She gasped almost ecstatically. “He’s looking at me! Do you see this!? He’s looking at me and he’s so adorable!”

Switch watched, completely dumbstruck, as the pegasus shivered again, this time with the tell-tale sign of a changeling actively feeding on its prey. Yet still, she held the tiny bundle as if it were her own son being dragged away in a flash flood, love just pouring from her heart until the changeling yawned, its nubby fangs exposed.

“Oh, you tired, sweetie?” She cooed, giving the changeling a tiny kiss on the forehead, right at the base of its horn-nub, before laying it back in its crib. “Sweet dreams, little one, sweet dreams.”

Her ears perked at the sound of another little, black body stirring. “And who is this?” She asked, turning to scoop up another bundle. This changeling cooed and burped, a bubble of spittle forming in its mouth as its little eyes locked with hers. The high-pitched squeal she promptly emitted would be studied for years afterwards, baffling the greatest scientific minds who, until that moment, thought they had discovered the precise range of frequencies a pony’s throat was physically capable of producing.

She went on like that for a solid twenty minutes, refusing to slow down until every hatchling was tucked in with its belly full and its little forehead smooched. She finally trudged back to the large changeling standing guard at the door, his eyes still wide in pure shock, and nearly collapsed, saved from slamming face-first into the ground only by his quick reactions, catching her in his hooves.

“Jeez,” he gasped, hurriedly unlocking the tether around her neck and tossing her over his back. To his surprise, one of her eyes slowly rolled open and gazed up into his, her pupil narrowing as she reached a hoof out. For a moment, he thought she might be trying to escape, only to lay those thoughts to rest once she reached out to one of the cribs and started dragging herself towards it.

“I…need…to make sure…this one…got tucked in…right…” she panted, barely able to talk from the exhaustion and sheer effort it took to peek into the crib and gaze down at the little face within. Switch’s face flushed a deep fuchsia and he jostled her loose.

“C’mon, you need rest,” he said gently before hurrying out the door with her still clinging to his back, galloping down the hall and back to her holding room. Quickly, he dropped her into her cocoon and sealed it shut again, his breath coming as quick, short gasps once he had her safe inside her holding cell. He watched her silhouette in the goo as its hooves curled up beneath her chin and she fell fast asleep, her breathing slowing immediately.

“So…cute…” he managed to gasp before dropping to the floor, clutching at his chest and twitching violently. “HNNNNNNGGGGGGHHHHHHH…”

Author's Notes:

Never underestimate a weaponized Flutters.