Chapter 2- settling in

"Careful putting that portrait into place, you two!" Sassaflash called out nervously. "You could damage it!"

The Two Pegasus holding the portrait of Princess Platinum rolled their eyes, grumbling to themselves. Sassaflash couldn't blame them- with the weather of Dream Valley operating entirely on it's own, there was little for the Pegasus to do here, besides fly around. Right now, they were attempting to hang several portraits of Queen Rosaline's ancestors in the grand gallery, as reaching high places was one of the few things Pegasus wings were still useful for.

"How long do we have to be doing this?" The first one complained.

"Until it's time for the next group of Pegasus to start their shifts." Sassaflash responded, rolling her eyes.

She then saw Caramel coming up the stairs from the castle's basement, wiping the trickle of sweat from his mane with his hoof.

"Oh, hello dearest!" Flying up to her husband, she nuzzled him affectionately. "How are things going down in the forge?"

"Oh, just lovely!" He grumbled, lifting his goggles. "We managed to get the furnaces working... the systems Princess Luna's techs put in this place are amazing. Why don't you come down, and have a look?"

The blue Pegasus nodded, and followed him down the steps to the large, cavernous chambers beneath the castle. On the far side of first chamber stood several great furnaces.. There, earth ponies labored over a series of great forges, hammering and smelting raw materials into metal weapons, armor, horseshoes, and other materials need throughout the castle. The unicorns present used thier magic to keep the fires stoked, while Pegasus carried buckets of water back and forth that the blacksmith ponies cooled the weapons in.

"Well, your the scientist pony, Sass." Caramel told her. "What do you think of my smithing artistry?'

"Very well organized, my love. The queen chose you well as the castle smith." Sassaflash told her husband admiringly. She then flew over, and picked up a blue breastplate with an interlocking 'DV' symbol on it. "What is this? It looks different from the Canterlot guard's armor."

"Hoity Toity designed it, along with the symbol." Caramel explained. "He thought the Dream Valley needed something to set us apart from our neighbors to the north."

"Whoa, Hoity Toity's here too?" Sassaflash asked incredulously.

"Yep, made a dress for a noblemare she didn't like, apparently." The smithy pony shrugged. "I dunno, he wouldn't talk about it much."

Sassaflash merely shrugged, and started just looking around. Flapping into the next chamber, she found a large, towering cylindrical generator, covered in a sheet, and apparently unused.

"Hey, why haven't you and your ponies gotten this generator working?" The blue Pegasus asked him. "This could solve the entire castle's energy problem!"

"Hey, we're smiths, not tech ponies!" Caramel protested. "Clockwork told me most of her fellow scientists were killed at Tambelon. There are few ponies left who even know how this castle and it's magic works!"

"Hmm, if I could get this thing tapped into the big waterfall behind the castle, and bolster the output with unicorn magic.." Sassaflash hovered in front of the large machine for a few minutes, scratching her chin with her hoof in thought. "Honey, could you send a few of your spare ex-Tambleon scientists over here? I have a plan.."

"For you, anything!" Caramel motoined to two of the unicorns at the furnaces. "Ballad! Comet Tail! Get your flanks over here!"

The two unicorns trotted over to where Sassaflash and Caramel were standing, and the Pegasus explained what she wanted them to do...

...

In the castle' indoor gardens, Cherry Jubilee was directing earth ponies where to dig holes, and preparing to plant cherry trees in the orchard section. On the other side of the gardens, Golden Harvest was having her earth pony teams plant row after row of carrots and other vegetables. The two earth mares looked up at each other, and smiled at their success.

"Can you believe this place?" Golden Harvest whinnied, looking around at the glass dome overhead. "It's as big as all of Ponyville inside!"

"An' the sunlight comin' down through that fancy window 'ill be good fer mah cherry trees!" Cherry said with a chuckle. "We're real lucky her haighness gave us all these earth ponies ta dig an plant fer us!"

"Yeah, these exiles don't know a thing about irrigation or crop rotation." The orange maned garner agreed. "Speaking of which, I wanted to go out into the forest tomorrow, and see if I can find any new plants or veggies I could grow- Noth Pole told me this forest is mostly unexplored by ponykind."

"Ah'd love ta go with ya, jes make shore ta get me up early in the mornin or ah'll sleep in." Cherry shook her head. "Now if only we could find a way ta grow the perfect fellers!"

The two of them burst out laughing at that.

.....

"So as you can see, my Queen, we've successfully gotten everything moved from the royal transports into the castle itself." Minuette whinnied, levitating her clipboard in front of her. "And most of the ponies have been given their assignments based on their special talents."

"Well done, Minuette." Rosaline commended her. The newly crowned queen knew she had made the right choice in choosing the overly loyal unicorn as her lady in waiting. "And where, pray tell, was my brother assigned?"

"I put him in the kitchen, helping the cooks with menial labor." North Pole announced, trotting into the throne room. "He wasn't good for much else."

."You know, you have a lot of audacity, ordering a member of the royal family around like that." Rosaline snorted. "Just because you've been made my chancellor, doesn't mean you should be acting so high under the saddle!"

"I'm merely doing my job, your highness." North Pole replied simply, shaking his mane. "Also, I've assigned Inky Pie to be in charge of the kitchen."

"Wait, Pinkie Pie's sister?" Minuette did a double take. "You made Inky the head chef?"

"She seemed very eager to get the job." North Pole replied, taken aback. "And given her sister's baking talents, I assumed that-"

"You put a neurotically depressed pony in charge of our kitchen? UGH! Never trust a stallion with domestic matters!" Minuette groaned, putting her hoof on her forehead. "Your highness, I need to be excused. I think I need a hard cider right about now!"

"Well, my reign is certainly off to a good start, isn't it?" Rosaline asked, leaning back in her throne, and trying to keep her composure.

...

"Blueblood, would you please not touch that." Inky Pie urged him. "Those beets have to cook for exactly one hour."

"Huh? Oh, sorry miss Inky." The white unicorn stammered stepping back from the steaming pot. "I'll try to not get in the way."

The grey colored mare sighed, then allowed herself a small smile. Everything in her new kitchen was running smoothly- Apple Cobbler was cutting the fruit salads, while Cherry Cola was squeezing the juices into the pitchers.Yes, Chancellor Pole had made the right decision putting her in charge back here, finally giving her the chance to shine!

Ever since she had been a filly, Inky had been living in the shadow of her more famous sister,Pinkie Pie. Pinky had gone on to become a harmony bearer, and one of the greatest heroes in all of Equestria. Nopony ever paid any attention to her sister Inky, the obscure rock farm filly with the plain coat and mane. No mares wanted to be friends with her, no stallions ever asked her out on a date. She had discovered a talent for cooking (Hence her stewing pot cutie mark) and had gone north to Tambelon to be a chef at a nice restaurant that had opened there.

Everything was going right, until who happened to show up in the frozen north, but her dear little sister herself. She never ran into Pinkie up there- but by the time she and her friends were done, Tambleon was gone, and her precious restaurant job, her chance to stand out on her own, was destroyed. Inky hadn't even cared when she was packed up and shipped here with the other exiles. But now she had a chance to be some pony, and it was determined to make the most of it!

"Apple Cobbler, is that strudel ready yet?" She asked, walking over to the oven.

"Just a few more minutes in the oven, miss Pie!" The caramel colored mare replied. "I'll get it out, just as soon as I cut these apples!"

"Cherry Cola, you got those smoothies ready yet?" The grey mare inquired. "Remember, we need fifty for the next order!"

"Got thirty blenders going at once, Miss Pie!" He assured her with a smile.

As they worked, Cherry Cola and Apple Cobbler looked at each other longingly, causing Inky to sigh. She had hoped to get the stallion's attention when he first arrived in her kitchen, but the Apple family mare had beaten her to the prize. Oh well, maybe someday...

"Uhhh, Miss Pie? I think somethings wrong with the beets!" Cherry Cola yelled.

Inky was drawn out of her reverie, by the sight of Blueblood levitating the cauldron of beets over to a gigantic, room-sized rinse sink, and dumping them in.

"Blueblood!" She cried, stamping her hoof. "What are you doing?"

"It's been an hour, so I thought I'd dump them into the sink to wash them!" The prince protested.

"Not that sink!" Inky whinnied. "Than sink is-"

"SHOOBY DOO SHOOP SHOOBY DOO!"

The sea ponies rose up out of the water, annoyed looks on their faces.

"Hey, who dumped these beets on our heads?" One of them asked.

"Yeah, Inky! You told us to come up through the plumbing, and wait in this sink for our kelp salads to be done!" The second one snapped. "That was a mean trick to play on us, sister!"

"Nice job, Bluebozo!" Apple Cobbler laughed. "The beets are now tainted, literally tainted!"

"W-we have sea ponies in dream valley?" Blueblood asked in shock."I had no idea!"

"Yep, they're from Tambelon, too." Cherry Cola replied. "Exiled just like the rest of us!"

The embarrassed Blueblood turned to Inky, "Miss Pie, I am so terribly-"

"I-it's okay, Blueblood." She let her mane droop in front of her face, to hide the tears welling up in her eyes. "Just please go."

As the naive prince trotted out of the kitchen, the grey earth mare's sobbed softly at the thought of yet another failure.

...

Meanwhile, in a place far, far away from Dream Valley....

The winds howled across the Screean desert, the body of dry landscape that formed the southernmost border between Equestria and Blarkland. A harsh and unforgiving terrian, the few things that could survive in this wasteland, did so by taking refuge in one of the many caves scattered across the desert floor. It was from one such half-hidden cave, that an angry voice now bellowed.

“How dare you speak to me in that manner!” Queen Chrysalis roared, staring down at the impudent changeling in front of her . “I am your Queen, and you will obey my commands!”

“And where have those commands gotten us, your highness?” Shadow Vale , the drone who was now yelling at her, spat. “Stranded out here in the desert for two years, slowly starving to death!”

Chrysalis had to admit this was true. Following several defeats by the ponies of Equestria, the Changelings had been forced to flee out here, beyond the reach of Celestia or her armies. Not a single changeling had been killed by the friendship-loving ponies in battle, but their numbers had dwindled in the time since. Several changelings having fallen prey to hungry desert troll bands, and the young changeling newborns and toddlers were dying from malnourishment.

“That may be so, but what you suggest is unbelieveable!” The queen scoffed. “Going back and groveling before those ponies! Unthinkable!”

“My queen, we cannot go on like this!” Shadowvale countered. “Our attempt to take love by force has ended in failure! We must find another way of securing nourishment!”

“And what do you propose, drone?” She sneered at him, calling the changeling by his rank in the hive. “We need to drain love from other living things in order to survive!”

“Instead of stealing the love meant for another…what if we could receive love that was given freely?” There was a loud murmur of disapproval from the other changelings. “Look at how powerful freely given love was for the ponies! It defeated our entire army, and even you, my queen!”

“No! What you speak of is blasphemy, Shadowvale!” The queen hissed. “Have you forgotten our history? Our purpose?”

He had not forgotten. A millennium ago, the ancestors of the changelings themselves had been ponies. Greedy unicorns who had gotten lost in the caverns beneath Canterlot while searching for gems, their dark magic slowly twisted their evolution over the generations, transforming then into a race of shape shifters. With no food in the depths below, they eventually adapted a psychic means of feeding off the emotion of love- an emotion they came to no longer feel in the cold and dark.

Eventually, the swarm found it’s way out of the caverns, and became a race of parasites , that would feed off the love of the lifebond between two ponies. The swarm had traveled the world, taking many different shapes, and feeding off many different kinds of love. But the glowing warmth of Equestria, eventually brought them back to their ancient homeland to feed.

For a time, things had gone well… with changelings kidnapping and replacing ponies’ lifebond partners, then feeding off the other pony’s love for them. They could never kill the partner, of course, for the other partner would immediately feel their mate’s death (Which is why Chrysalis had had to keep Cadence alive in the caves) nor could changelings carry out the ’physical’ aspects of a relationship with a pony- a biological affect of the life bonding process. So a Changeling had to grab what love they could, and get out before the partner wanted to get physically intimate. But when their queen had proposed a plan to seize all the love in Equestria for themselves, the swarm had jumped at the chance!

“Blasphemy is better than starvation and extinction!” Shadow snapped back. “If I may point out, your highness- our conquest and enslavement of the ponies would have caused them to feel misery and pain! The love would have dried up in a few weeks! Your plan was flawed from the beginning!”

SMACK! A blow from Chrysalis’s hoof sent the stallion skittering across the floor. The queen’s face contorted into a look of rage. “Get out of my presence, you buzzing insect! I never want to see your face among my court again!”

Standing up, the changeling noble buzzed his way angrily out of the cave. Three of his wingponies, two changeling stallions and a mare, fell in behind him.

“The queen didn’t take your suggestion well, my lord.” Scratch, the first one, hissed. “What shall we do now?”

As a hive drone, Shadowvale commanded his own sub-tribe of changelings under the queen- the Masquerade clan. Most of them would follow him unto death… though their loyalty was about to be tested presently.

“Get every changeling loyal to us, and rendezvous with me at the edge of the desert.” He commanded. “The queen has proven her pride is willing to let us die out here, and we must take steps to insure our own survival.”

“But where will we go, Shadow?” Mayfly, the changeling mare. asked him curiously. “Equestria would never take us in, after what we’ve done to them!”

“I have heard the Blark merchants who visit our caves, speak of a band of pony exiles deep in the everfree forest.” Shadowvale responded. “We shall go to this ‘Dream Valley’, and offer it’s queen our services and loyalty.”

.”So we’re defecting, then! Boy, you do like to live dangerously!” Thornspike, the third one hissed. “Well, our queen has already betrayed us, by leading us out here to die, so I guess it’s only fair!”

Shadowvale nodded, and the other three drones veered off to gather the others. Foolish Chrysalis! Their kind were still genetically related to ponies! If they could get these equines to feel affection for each of them, there would be an endless supply of love, instead of exhausting precious energy stealing love meant for others! Thanks to the Equestrian concept of friendship, clan Masquerade would never go hungry again!