Cadence felt as if she was made of pure magic. She and the stallion she loved, Shining Armor, had kicked the changelings out of Canterlot, had found each other, and, most importantly, were soon to be wed.

Or, at least, that was what she thought.

She and Shining stood on the altar, the changelings having just been removed, and the two held each other in a loving embrace, and the alicorn of love could hear the shouts of happiness from Twilight and the others. The embrace ended, and Cadence and Shining looked in each other's eyes, which is when Cadence noticed a few things. One was that Shining's eyes were still the green they were while he was being controlled by Chrysalis, and the worry brought on by that was compunded by the other things she noticed.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the Elements cheering, but couldn't hear them. Another thing noticed was that, where the changeling queen had been before her. . .rather quick ejection from Canterlot, there was a shimmer that was colored lime green, the same color as Shining's eyes now.

The alicorn of love focused on this sight, trying to see if it was just her imagination, or a changeling, one rather lousy at invisibility spells left in the city, trying to drain what love it could before it was discovered. That would have been good compared to what she saw, and what it led to.

She had been looking at it for thirty seconds, having expected Shining to tell her it was just nerves, hoping that would happen, but nothing came from the stallion. After those thirty seconds, she began to make something out, and after a full minute, it came into view, as easily as one could look through water.

"Get away from her!" she yelled at the changeling queen, who embraced Twilight. Much to Cadence's shock, the lavender unicorn was not resisting, and, from what she could see, her eyes were not green.

"Looks like she broke through sooner than we thought she would," Chrysalis said.

"Yeah," Twilight said, agreeing with the changeling, which frightened Cadence. "What should we do?"

"No use in recasting the spell now," the queen replied. "Cadenza, just so your mind can know what is going on, you just broke through a spell made to make you see what you wanted to see, which, for you, is your fairy tale ending, which was cast by my daughter, who you've met."

"I haven't met any changelings before," Cadence snarled, seeing out of her peripheral vision that Shining's eyes were indeed still green, Celestia was in the cocoon she had been placed in, and, the five Elements were green eyed as well, but with happy expressions on, the same spell most likely having been put on them. "And if I did, I would have reported them to Aunt Celestia then and there!"

"Oh, Cadence," Twilight said, a hand on her chest. "I'm hurt," she said before bursting into flames, making Cadence gasp in fear, a hand over her mouth.

No, she thought. There's no way Twilight could be one of those monsters. She's too nice, and loves Celestia. Changelings couldn't be nice, and they can't love. If they could, why not just feed off one another. And an Element wouldn't choose a monster to be its bearer. They must have replaced the real one with this one. The last part of the mental sentence came just as the flames around what had once been a lavender unicorn faded, revealing a changeling with purple skin- No, chitin. They are partly insects, after all. Twilight wouldn't forgive me if I got that wrong, Cadence thought- see through gossamer mane and tail with similar color to Twilight's mane and tail. Her eyes were much the same as the pony she pretended to be, albeit with serpentine pupils instead of round ones, blue, insect like wings sprouting from her back. She had longer legs than her pony disguise, making her Luna's height easily. Two other changelings, one black, the other a light green then came into her view, carrying between them a simple but also elegant gown colored lavender with green accents. One thing that the flames also did, aside from burning away a disguise or the actual chitin to reveal the disguise, was also burn away the clothes the changeling was wearing. As such, when Chrysalis had revealed herself, it made the more. . . prudent ponies faint. She was given clothes while Twilight, or the changeling pretending to be Twilight, and the other bearers made their way to the Elements, and wore a gown made for royalty, with a slim gown that had an opening on the right side to reveal a bit of leg when the changeling walked.

In the few seconds where Cadence's brain was still trying to process everything, she was looking in the direction of the two, and would have admitted she was a little envious of the newly revealed changeling's chest, if she wasn't a changeling. She quickly put the dress on, showing it was a differently colored and slightly smaller version of Chrysalis' dress, albeit with the split down the left side. "Like what you see?" the changeling asked Cadence in an insultingly sultry tone.

"What did you do to Twilight?" Cadence nearly screamed in anger at the two, her rage nearly at the point where it would not be a good idea to be in the same city as her, let alone the same room.

"Wow," Chrysalis said as the two changeling attendants left. "You ponies really are dense. Twilight Sparkle the unicorn was never real, just a disguise for my daughter, Metamorpha. Ever heard of something called 'a long con'?"

"Mother, I think we can boast later when the city's ours," Metamorpha said. She then looked at the group of changelings near the door to the room. "Take her and the five bearers to the dungeon, but put the bearers of Generosity and Loyalty in pods. We've waited long enough."

The changelings at the door, a group of twenty, bowed, and moved to take the six to the dungeons. Cadence tried to cast a spell, but was cut off when Chrysalis said, "Don't bother. I put some changeling resin on your horn while you saw what you wanted. You can't do magic."

Cadence's face was one of horror. True, she had been born a pegasus, but, as an alicorn, she was connected to the deepest flows of magic in the world, and without being able to access it, she felt. . . incomplete at best, and only a small, small portion of herself at worst. Still, when two changelings, each black and wearing armor, she tried to fight back, to escape, but she could not even escape their grasp. She looked at the bearers, and saw they were more, for lack of a better term, complacent. The fact they were seeing what they wanted and not the truth probably had a part in that.

Once she and the five bearers had been escorted out of the room, mother and daughter hugged once more, today being the first time since Metamorpha and her mother had been together in years, Metamorpha having been placed in this role when she was but a nymph. One thing most did not know was that nymphs were put in the hive mind as soon as they were born, which is why Twilight knew her heritage, and yet was able to fool all. Metamorpha's personality was the exact same as Twilight Sparkle's. "I missed you, my daughter," Chrysalis said, happiness evident in her voice as tears flowed down her cheeks and a small smile adorned her lips.

"And I you, mother," Metamorpha said, her face much the same, though minus the tears. "I'm just glad we're together again."

"As am I," Chrysalis said. She and her daughter ended the embrace, but mother held daughter's shoulders in her hands. "I assume by the order you gave, that your recommendation still stands?"

"Of course it does," Metamorpha said before turning to face Celestia, still upside down in her cocoon, fully awake and not entranced, with terror in her eyes. "And it looks like you still want her in yours."

"But of course," Chrysalis said with a chuckle. "Any with the power would want the alicorn of the sun in their entourage. And besides, what better way to begin Equestria's conversion then to start with their precious princess of the sun?"

"I guess that's a fair enough point," Metamorpha said. "If that's the case, then I also want Luna."

"As soon as we find her and bring her in," Chrysalis said to her daughter, "we will place her in a pod. You've earned having an alicorn of your own for being able to fool everypony as well as you did." She then turned to face the changeling princess. "Go to your room, Metamorpha. You've earned some rest. After all, those we are not converting will be out of their trance soon, and I am sure they'll ask questions. Who better to answer than the one who fooled them all?"

"If you insist, mom," Metamorpha said before turning to face the door, and leaving with a small escort of guard.

Once she was gone, Chrysalis chuckled, and walked over to the pod holding the once princess. "Oh, don't worry, Celestia. You'll enjoy being a changeling more than you think you will," she said. "But it'll be a few days until the last stage, so you'll be in there until then. And don't worry about your sun. Your former student was looking for a spell to let the sun and moon move on their own during the entire time she was your student here and you weren't watching, and she found one in the non-guarded part of the archives. I'll see you tomorrow, then." With that, she left the room, with her own escort of guards, leaving five behind to watch over Celestia, and ensure she did not escape before the physical changes were complete. Next Chapter: Explanations Estimated time remaining: 49 Minutes