Shining didn’t have to say a word. He glanced at Double, and she fled.
Like an insect on the walls, she scuttled out of the dining room, through the hallway, across the foyer, and up to the big oak door that was the suite’s primary entrance. She unlatched it, pulled it open a crack, and slipped into the hall.
The door shut behind her with a thump, leaving her in a crystal hallway that was beautiful and cold and empty.
There were no guards in sight, so she squeezed into a corner by the doorway to wait. Her wings buzzed every few seconds, as though she couldn’t quite clear a bit of dust from inside their casing.
Half an hour later, the door swung open and Cadence emerged. Double Time scrambled to her hooves, and had a fraction of a moment to catch her expression. Cadence’s eyes were bloodshot, and she’d scrubbed away her makeup.
“He loves you,” Double blurted out before Cadence could speak. She spoke so quickly her words ran over each other. “He truly loves you, and the only thing in the world he cares about more than you is your daughter. I can see it around him. And around you too. He’d never do anything to hurt you, and there’s no mare in the world who could steal him. If he did something wrong it’s because he didn’t have a choice. Please don’t blame him.”
Cadence considered that a moment. She worked her jaw and let out a breath. Then she stepped the rest of the way out into the hall, carefully shut the door behind her, and turned back to Double.
“Why would I blame him?” She asked, and when Double didn’t answer, she continued: “What did you think I was blaming him for?”
Double froze to the spot, her gaze locked on Cadence’s face. “I…” she finally managed. “Nevermind. I’m sorry. I thought I’d caused—”
“Oh, no. No.” Cadence’s voice, though quiet, developed a sharp edge. “There’s no neverminding your way out of this one. You decided to stick your nose into my marriage. So now you’re going to answer the question. Why would I blame Shining?”
“He…” Double cleared her throat. “He let me out of my jar.”
“He let you out of a prison that couldn’t hold you anyway, in favor of you being closely watched by the strongest warrior in the kingdom.” She smiled, and lines formed around her eyes. “Try again.”
“We were flirting.”
“Were you?” Cadence tilted her head. “Sounded to me like you telling old stories. And right now it sounds to me like you’re intentionally guessing wrong. So how’s this, changeling? Guess wrong one more time, and we can work out your punishment right here and now.”
Double’s eyes flicked over Cadence. She saw Cadence’s pose stiffen, and her wings part from her sides. “Because he slept with Queen Amaryllis.”
“There’s an honest answer.” Cadence laughed—a thin sound. “I could blame him for the fact that he’s having an affair with your queen. I could blame him for the fact that he got her pregnant, and now there’s little grubs crawling around with blue fuzz on their backs. But that would be petty. He didn’t have a choice. And I know he’d dump her in a second if I asked.”
She shook her head. “No. No. The thing I’m mad about isn’t that Shining gets up on Amaryllis’s back. It’s that he forgives her for it. It’s that no matter how many horrible things she does to us, he doesn’t have it in his heart to hate her. Just like no matter how many of his friends you murdered, all it takes is one ‘I’m sorry’ and you’re chatting like old war buddies. And I am mad about that. I am. But I don’t blame him.”
Still with a smile on her face, Cadence looked right into Double’s eyes. “I blame you.”
Double needed a moment to find an answer. Her hooves were rooted to the spot, and she stood stiff like a statue. “I meant everything I said to him. About the war. I regret what I did.”
“Do you?” Cadence licked her lips and again gave a small shake of her head. “But you don’t regret it enough to leave Queen Amaryllis’s service. Not enough to undo what was done. You seem okay with the fact that she’s still camping on my land and screwing my husband. So would it be fair to say that you regret doing all those horrible things, but not quite enough that you regret winning?”
Double said nothing. Her face was a blank mask. So Cadence spoke instead.
“You’re such a good person, Double. Just like Queen Amaryllis is a good person. All you reformed changelings are so sweet and fuzzy. But it seems like your goodness only lasts up to the point you’d have to give up something real. After that, there are reasons. You say you love now, and maybe you do, but only because it gets you what you want. You are a whore. And your queen is a whore. And no matter how much Shining knows it’s just about the money, deep down, he wants to believe you have a heart of gold. But you don’t.”
Barely above a whisper, Cadence finished: “You don’t deserve his forgiveness.”
Double’s wings buzzed. She lowered her head.
Once again, a long silence hung between them. Double broke it. Her eyes stayed on the floor. “I can teach you a more cost-effective technique to restrain changeling prisoners. Force bubbles work well, but only very powerful casters can create them. There are easier ways. I can teach you, and I can teach your guards so this never needs to happen again.”
“Why would you do that?”
“I don’t…” Double lifted her head slowly, as though it bore a great weight. “I don’t want to go to jail. And you’ve got my number—I’m not talking my way out of this one. So if you’re a little lenient, I’ll help you.”
“Heh.” Cadence shrugged. “Fine,” she said. “Fine.”
That night, in her cell in the dungeon, Double Time made a noose out of the bedsheets. She strung it up from an iron bar on the ceiling, and stared at it for a time.
Then she took it down and went back to sleep. In the morning, there were half a dozen prison guards for her to train.
The techniques that Double taught were not complicated, but it was important they be executed precisely. She was their only changeling volunteer, so she trained every guard herself. They would take turns trying the special bindings that removed her power to shapeshift, and she would demonstrate her escape if they’d gotten it wrong.
After several full days of training, the first half-dozen guards could do it reliably. Shining Armor inspected their work, but Double Time didn’t speak to him while he was there. She was careful never to speak with him, except indirectly, and to never be alone with him.
The next week, she trained another half-dozen guards. The week after that, she had a class of eight. Then more. After each training session, she went back to her cell and sat alone.
In the second month of her captivity, she was summoned to the palace baths.
She’d never been on that particular level of the Crystal Palace before. One entire wing of the building was given over to an elaborate classical bathhouse, with dozens of pools of varying temperatures and cute little bath-ponies with exotic soaps. When Double arrived, she found two crystal ponies and two changeling guards watching the entrance.
They told her to wait in the corner until the princess wanted her. From the edge of the bathhouse, she could see Cadence, Shining, and Amaryllis all in a pool together. Amaryllis was talking with great energy, making elaborate and excited gestures as she spoke. The tiles and sounds of hissing steam distorted her voice, and Double couldn’t quite make out the words.
Her shell had turned white though, so the water must have been quite hot.
Eventually, they all got out of the bath. Amaryllis kissed Shining, then she kissed Cadence, then they all said a few more words and she left. Cadence and Shining whispered privately to each other for a few minutes after, and he left as well.
Then Cadence called her over. “Do you know how to take care of changeling grubs?”
“I’m not a nursery worker.” Double frowned. “I know the basics.”
“Amaryllis left some grubs behind, and it didn’t occur to her that she should leave a nanny with them. She assumed we’d have one. But I have no idea how to raise an insect.” Still soaking wet, Cadence gestured at a side room near the baths. “They’re in there.”
Investigating, Double found a small room that had been converted into a nursery. Flurry was there, along with a servant to care for her, and a half-dozen changeling grubs with blue stripes down their backs. Flurry was levitating her half-siblings through the air like a mobile, something the grubs found less delightful than she did.
It took Double a few minutes to coax Flurry down and take stock of the situation. When she had, she emerged back into the baths: “I’ll need your help.”
Cadence had a towel around her shoulders and was almost finished drying off. The look she shot Double could kill. “What’s the problem?”
“They’re hungry. They need somepony to care about them.”
She snorted. “I thought you shared love, these days.”
“We do. But I’m almost empty myself. I’ve been alone in that cell downstairs for a long time.” She let out a breath. “And you’re the Princess of Love, aren’t you? You cured King Thorax of his eternal hunger.”
“I cared about Thorax.”
Double buzzed her wings. “You don’t care if children starve to death?”
Cadence shut her eyes and rubbed her temples with a hoof. “Bring them over here.”
Cadence took a seat by the side of the water, and one by one, Double brought the grubs to her. She played with them, learned their names, and watched them try to scuttle around on their stub-legs to eat a trail of leaves. They vomited acid on toys, then got scared of the acid smell, and ran to hide behind Cadence’s legs.
Finally, after she’d played with them, Cadence’s horn would glow. The grub in front of her would radiate a soft pink, then get sleepy and curl up. Double took it away, and brought the next one.
When she brought the fourth grub, Double said, “I saw Amaryllis kiss you.”
“She’s just being polite,” Cadence explained, her tone stiff. “After all, I might be jealous that Shining gets to sleep around. So if I want, she’s happy to turn into a stallion and share the love.”
“She…” Double put the grub she was carrying down. It latched onto a toy and started to drool. “She doesn’t understand what’s wrong with that. She’s from a culture where she’s literally the only one with a sex drive. I understand pony culture because I spent a lot of time with you, but she didn’t. She doesn’t understand romance or jealousy or attachment.”
“I know. I know.” Cadence grasped the toy with her telekinesis, and the grub latched on all the tighter. “She asks questions like she’s a teenager who’s never had ‘the talk.’ Questions about love and sex and relationships and what stallions are supposed to look like down there. Apprantly she just learned the word ‘orgasm’ this month.”
“Yeah, vespid doesn’t have a word for it. ‘Setijd’ means ‘pleasure derived from sexual urges’ but that can mean anything from an orgy to feeling happy because you thought about a pretty stallion.”
Cadence shot Double a stiff smile. “I know,” she said again. Then she went back to playing with the grub.
When it was fed, Double took it away and brought another. Then she asked another question: “What were you talking about? Queen Amaryllis seemed excited.”
“Her experts—I’m sorry, the pony experts she kidnapped—told her that the average changeling worker drone is ignorant and illiterate. So she wants to build a university up in the hive, and hire all the best pony professors to teach there. And she asked for our help. Because we’re such good friends.”
Double watched in silence. Her own shell was starting to turn white in places from exposure to the steam. “She really does think you’re friends. She thinks Shining is something fun the two of you have in common. My hive is just as ignorant about pony society as Thorax’s hive. We’re just as new to friendship.”
“So Shining reminded me.” Cadence lifted her head to Double. “Does he feel anything for her?”
“Some…” Double picked her words carefully. “Mild affection.”
“She’s the mother of most of his children and he only feels mild affection?” She snorted. “I thought you were supposed to be good at lying.”
Cadence fed the grub in front of her. When Double brought the last grub, she didn’t say anything. And when that grub was done, she stayed by Cadence’s side. “I’m running pretty low too,” she reminded her.
“I don’t love you,” Cadence replied, but after a moment she added, “but a while ago, you mentioned two foals: Night something and Sapphire. Do they love you?”
“I uh… yes.” Double cleared her throat. “But they’re down in Canterlot.”
“You said their parents abused them. I asked somepony to look into it. Apparently you weren't lying about that, so they’re on a train from Equestria right now. I can fix what’s wrong with their parents, and they can be a happy family again.” Cadence licked her lips, and looked down at the last grub sleeping in front of her. “Can you wait another day or two?”
“Yeah,” Double said. “That would be fine.”
“Feather!” the little ones shouted, piling in on top of Double Time. She’d assumed the form of Feather Dust before they arrived, and she wrapped them up in a tight hug. “Mom and dad said you were coming back after all, and we got to ride on a train, and there are ponies outside made of diamonds and stuff, and there’s a princess right there!”
Cadence was right there. She gave the children a hug too.
What was supposed to be a thirty-minute visitation with the princess stretched into a whole day. Double Time got to take care of Night Watch and Sapphire, and even introduced them to Flurry and the changeling grubs. Cadence cleared her schedule so she could spend all the time she needed with their parents.
When she finally worked her magic, the parents cried. They hugged their children tighter than they ever had and told them they were sorry. Double Time watched that hug, and eyed the bond between them.
Then she told the children goodbye, and left.
Cadence found Double Time upstairs. The grubs weren’t allowed in the royal suite with Flurry, so they got their own nursery up the hall. Double stood guard outside it.
“They’re gone,” Cadence said. “I’ll check in with them in a few months to make sure everything is okay, but I’m not worried.”
“You turned them into totally different ponies.” Double looked away from Cadence, staring down the palace’s wide hallways. “I’ve never seen them care like that.”
“I didn’t.” Cadence smiled gently. “Everypony has the potential to love. They only needed a little encouragement.”
“Well, good. You did your pony princess thing, I got fed for a few more weeks. Everyone wins.”
Cadence’s smile faded. “I saw… that is, when you left, you didn’t seem particularly happy.”
“Do I often seem happy?”
“No, but I saw you with the little ones. And their parents told me about how long you pretended to be a nanny.” Cadence bit her lip. “I… might have misjudged—”
“You judged just fine,” Double snapped. “I am a whore. I am literally a whore. I paid for rent in Canterlot by getting ponies to fall in love with me for an evening, and that costs two thousand bits. And you’re right. I have killed a lot of ponies. And no, I don’t regret winning. Winning is the natural state of creatures who come into conflict with you, because you are weak, and your husband is incompetent.”
Cadence pulled her head back and grimaced. But she didn’t rise to the bait, and after a few moments of consideration, she gave a level nod. “I will expect you to continuing caring for the grubs as long as they’re here.”
“As you wish,” Double said. She still didn’t look at Cadence.
Double was in the grubs' nursery when the door handle turned behind her. By the time the latch clicked open, she was a crystal pony mare, dressed in a servant’s uniform.
“Hello?” Shining Armor called, pushing his way into the room. The grubs were on the floor, curled up in little pools of changeling resin or playing with half-melted toys.
“Ah! Your highness.” Double bowed in the traditional fashion. Her voice had a hint of an accent, suggesting she was around during Sombra’s reign.
Shining gave her a long stare, then said: “I know it’s you, Double.”
Somewhat sheepishly, Double stood up and reverted to her natural form. “Then, with respect, I shouldn’t be alone with you. Cadence wouldn’t like it.”
“I won’t be long. I only…” With an almost helpless shrug, he gestured at the grubs.
Double nodded, and her horn glowed as she levitated one of the grubs up to him. “Do you know their names?”
“Um. No.” He held the grub delicately, like the slightest jostle might hurt it. With half a laugh, he added, “I suppose I should know my own children’s names.”
“Changeling queens lay eggs in batches of ten thousand. Learning all of your children’s names may be impractical. But this one is named Cheval.” Double Time reached up to grasp Shining’s hooves, showing him the correct way to hold the grub. “It is a play on words. In vespid, it means ‘horse’ but it is phonetic with another word that refers to an archaic type of mirror.”
“Horse-mirror?” Shining smiled, and grub clung to his leg. Then it started to drool. “Oh, uh. Is its drool supposed to burn?”
“Yes. It’s acidic.” Double reached out to take the grub back, but Shining waved her away.
“Well, it doesn’t burn that bad.” He tickled the grub's back with a hoof, and it let out a high-pitched squeak. Finally he coaxed it into letting go of his leg, and with his telekinesis, he levitated it up in front of him. “What’s he like?”
“What’s she like,” Double corrected. “And… playful. She can’t throw her toys yet, but she likes to headbutt them across the room and fetch them. Sometimes, when her playmates knock a toy away, she’ll bring it back to them. She gets upset when they don’t understand. She wants to play fetch.”
“I liked tossing a ball around when I was little,” Shining said. He hugged Cheval up against his chest, letting her little legs cling tight to his coat. “Will she be like me?”
“She’s got a fuzzy blue stripe down her back.” Double glanced at Shining’s mane. “That wasn’t a giveaway?”
“I know she inherits from me in the biological sense, but…” He let out a long breath. “Changelings aren’t ponies. Will she have my sense of right and wrong? Or… my talents? I couldn’t learn transformation magic to save my life.”
“I don’t know. My father was a unicorn wizard, and eggs in my clutch were much more likely than average to become spellcasters, so the inheritance isn’t entirely superficial. But I’m told my father was also an honorable, honest pony. So.” She shrugged.
Shining Armor chuckled, watching Cheval crawl up his coat and over his shoulder. “Not all changelings are liars.”
“No, some of us are stupid.”
“King Thorax is honest.”
“See previous statement.” Double laughed. “Just because he’s the savior of our species doesn’t mean he’s clever. I’ve heard him speak. He is sweet as an apple, and sharp as an apple too.”
“Yeah yeah. I’ve been thinking of having him over. Cadence likes him. But whenever he and Amaryllis are in the same room, things get tense.” Shining picked up Cheval, and she cooed softly in his telekinetic grip. “Territorial instinct or something.”
Double shook her head. “Would it be fair to say that what you’re really asking is, ‘am I this changeling’s father’?”
“I…” Shining bit his lip. “I suppose it is.”
“In vespid, the word for ‘parent’ literally means, ‘someone who loves the children in their care.’ Grubs that aren’t loved starve to death. Every changeling knows that. And we look at ponies, and we see parents who love their children. And we think that makes perfect sense. That’s what parents are. How could it be any other way?”
With a nod of her head, she indicated the grubs. “If you raise them as your daughters, and if you love them, and if they see, and smell, and taste your love, then you will be their father. And if you don’t, they’ll be one of ten thousand changeling drones who shares your bloodline but doesn’t think of you as family.”
“Nice speech.” Shining chuckled again, and carefully put Cheval down. “But I don’t think Cadence would like it very much if we adopted six grubs.”
“Probably not,” Double agreed. “How long are they going to be here?”
“I don’t know. Until Amaryllis comes back I suppose.”
Double frowned. “But just to double check, Amaryllis did say she was coming back to get these grubs at some point, right?”
Shining froze. Double’s eyes narrowed, and she raised her voice. “Are you completely sure that these were a loan and not a gift?”
"You can't..." Shining looked at the door. “You can't give children as a gift. Right?"
The next time Double saw Cadence, she was crying.
“You can't give children as a gift. Right?"
Every single human who has ever been a parent for more than a day has thought that thought. They're priceless, but at times we would give them away for a penny.
OOF
Cadance needs to stop, sit down, and ask herself if she’s really okay with Shining Armor sleeping with Amaryllis. And she needs to sit down with Amaryllis alone and actually talk about Shining Armor. And regardless of anything else, Cadance needs to realize that she’s venting her dislike of Amaryllis onto Double Time, who doesn’t deserve it. She needs to make up her mind, basically.
Shining Armor needs to stop being so oblivious to Cadance’s hurt, or if he’s not oblivious he needs to act on it. Principally this takes the form of seeing that despite what Cadance said about the open relationship, it clearly isn’t something she actually wants. As near as I can tell he overall has the least number of issues to work through, at least.
As for the grubs, Cadance and Shining need to have a serious discussion no matter what about what to do with them, taking into account that Amaryllis probably doesn’t care about them except as property to be traded (and that it would be impolite to regift them).
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As a matter of history - not one I agree with, mind, I’m just being pedantic here - but for most of human history, children were not priceless. They were a commodity to be traded like anything else. Sons married off to acquire a dowry, daughters given away (a term we still use) to secure alliances or favors, and so on. The concept of children being priceless is a pretty new invention, the last few hundred years only, and not universal even today.
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I think Shining is completely aware of Cadance's hurt; he just doesn’t know what to do about it. If we’re being honest, I wouldn’t know why to do about it either. This isn’t some ex-girlfriend, or some stranger or even casual acquaintance he had a one-night stand with. This is functionally a head of state, of a nation that nearly curbstomped them in their last conflict, and that would have absolutely won if he hadn’t nailed their leader so hard that all them felt it, and that is ostensibly only allied with them now because he continues to nail her.
What is he supposed to do, exactly?
I love how well you write the differences between pony and changeling cultures through the dialogue. It is really well done. God I love this series so far.
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Until the 1800s, a human baby was literally worth less than a foal (baby horse). But I also don't follow the Chinese children snuff industry so I might be wrong about the dates.
As for the story, this story/series in one word: Sociopaths.
Wonderful. Just a wonderful way of speaking
Well... that deescalated quickly.
I'm not too sure about the mechanics of it, but it seems like an awfully useful ability she could've used on Light Step in the previous story.
...Cadence has to know this is not going to work out right?
Right?
right?
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Amy seems pretty fucking dumb actually.
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Also mildly curious how no one is noticing Cadences slow descent into crazy land... cause like. It's getting pretty terrible. Place your bets for cadences nightmare name here!
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Wonder if anyone is going to point out that Double is basically Cadences slave.
Heck, given the way she treats double... I'm sure Sombra would approve.
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Except, you know, it sounds a lot like brainwashing. When Cadance uses her powers to turn abusive assholes into loving parents it can be seen as 'helping.' Doing the same to her sister in law because they don't like each other would be frowned upon.
Aww, that's adorable. Someone give the little ones hugs, possibly while armed with rubber gloves.
Interesting way of putting things, Double. But if your regular job was pulling down two thousand bits a night, then I'm guessing you didn't really need a second job as a nanny to make ends meet, did you?
I find it interesting that Cadance is the one that being cucked by Shining when it's usually Cadance that's in an open relationship with someone else. Very refreshing actually, so good on you.
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It'd probably have to start with them acknowledging Shining's incompetence when it comes with military matters and completely reforming the Guard with some actually competent in command so they don't run the risk of getting their teeth kicked in like last time. Honestly, they should probably do that even if they don't plan on talking with Amaryllis.
"her words run over each other"
"her words ran over each other"?
"blame him?” She asked, and"
"blame him?” she asked, and"?
"You decided to stick your nose into my marriage."
Well, more like she was several cities away doing something completely different, and then you had her pulled away from that and brought right next to your marriage, then left her alone in your private office with the door open where your husband, who you hadn't told about her being there, happened to find her and asked her what was going on. Though, I guess, then she made the decision to reply, so it works out to pretty much the same thing.
"But that would be petty."
"Which is the same as saying it would be impossible for me, the Princess of Love, of course. [twitch]"
...I'm kind of wondering if this is all Cadence, probably subconsciously, if this is the case at all, observing how Double helped Light Step and deciding that, hey, the Princess of Love can't possibly hire a therapist or, worse, relationship councillor, but there's this changeling who seems kind of good at it and who she has reason to make her special, personal prisoner with whom she can have lots of private conversations.
"Her hooves were rooted to the spot, and stood stiff like a statue."
"Her hooves were rooted to the spot, and she stood stiff like a statue."?
Though I think that this might be a case where strict accuracy and flow are in conflict, and I think that the current version is clear enough that flow could take precedence.
"Not enough to undo what was done."
...I will point out, you know, that at least part of that "undoing" would involve murdering a significant number of babies? Though perhaps those could be made to do double-duty as sacrifices to restore to life the ponies who died.
Yeah, uh, I think maybe Cadence has not fully thought through what that would entail, and is instead trying to process and express complicated and negative emotions about the current state of the world with the only clear and simple answer being a return to the way things were before, and also impossible.
(...Okay, and then I remembered that, in this universe, probably possible after all with sufficient application of time magic, but, ah, still some other problems with that approach.)
[looks at the clock]
[looks at the chapter progress bar]
...Right, I'm not sure why I'm so much more comment chatty at the moment, but I think I'd better try and curtail it somewhat, sorry. This is interesting, but I'd rather get it read without extensive comments than have to put it off for hours or days. :D
"You seem okay with the fact that she’s still camping on my land and screwing my husband."
You sure you aren't made about that second part, Cadence? Because you keep bringing it up.
(...Okay, trying harder to curtail commentary, alas. :))
"she was summoned back to the palace baths"
Why "back"?
"over to a elaborate classical bathhouse"
"over to an elaborate classical bathhouse"?
"see Cadence, Shining and Amaryllis all"
"see Cadence, Shining, and Amaryllis all"?
(Oh, right, and... sigh, yes, this is another comment, but it just occurred to me: Cadence said that Amaryllis was camping on her land? But we have been told in narration that the changelings have been in the area, and it seems likely in their current hive, since the time Sombra ruled, at least. And given it seems unlikely that the hive was also trapped out of time, I wonder, is there another camp, nearer the Empire city, or does Cadence's perception of land ownership not place much weight on "living on it for a thousand years when no one else wanted anything to do with it"?
Though I suspect, again, that her reasons there were not nearly so clean and logical as she'd like to present them as to herself and others.)
"and it didn’t occur to her that she should leave a nanny with them. She assumed we’d have one"
Yes, definitely just an assumption and a lack of thinking it through, and not some plan involving Double Time, who she'd have been able to clearly see in the same room just a moment ago.
(And from an alternative point of view, of course, Amaryllis assumed that they'd have a changeling-capable nanny because she knew for a fact that they had a changeling-capable nanny.)
"learned the word ‘orgrasm’ this month"
...Spelling deliberate? :D
"so they’re on a train from Equestria right now. I can fix what’s wrong with their parents, and they can be a happy family again"
And I'm sure you were very polite about the summons, too...
"Mom and dad said you were coming back after all"
...Hm...
"Everypony has the potential to love. They only needed a little encouragement."
...
"And no matter how much Shining knows it’s just about the money, deep down, he wants to believe you have a heart of gold. But you don’t."
Sorry about the coughing there, might be something in the weather...
(I mean, yes, she did say everypony. But I think Twilight might take some issue with her sister-in-law using a strict species-based interpretation of that term in that way.)
"and that costs two-thousand bits"
"and that costs two thousand bits"?
"Double was in the grubs nursery when"
"Double was in the grubs' nursery when"?
Though that would depend on whether you want to say "the nursery of the grubs" or "the nursery belonging to the grubs", I thought I'd point it out just in case.
"batches of ten-thousand"
"batches of ten thousand"?
"and grub clung to his leg"
"and the grub clung to his leg"?
"Well, it doesn’t burn that bad."
...Given it melted the toys, maybe it's less effective on pony skin.
"He tickled the grubs back"
"He tickled the grub's back"?
"of ten-thousand changeling drones"
"of ten thousand changeling drones"?
"and she rose her voice"
"and she raised her voice"?
And another excellent chapter, and I really need to be getting on with some other things I need to get done tonight. :D
Wow. Talk about culture clash. When you make kids in batches of 10,000 they become worth a lot less it seems.
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That's basically mind control. She probably has moral reasons to not use it carelessly. The parents were abusive and so she's probably fine with messing with their minds. Everyone wins there.
Using it on Light Step would be much more questionable- Light Step hasn't done anything as bad as abusing children, and it'd probably make Twilight sad/angry and Twilight would know exactly what happened.
To make it worse, it might not even work. The parents didn't love their kids enough, so just upping that would've fixed the problems. Light Step loved Twilight, she just was also extremely jealous and had a massive inferiority complex.
Man, in a land where love is quantifiable and can be forced upon you or taken away at the whims of others, does it even really matter?
Hell now that i think of it, the crystal heart runs off of love too. Are ponies just batteries?
I’d never really thought about it before. If love in the setting is just an energy, then all these fuzzy feelings are pointless. Just a bunch of robots running code to generate a kind of electricity.
... I’m probably overthinking this. It’s late and I’m tired.
Anyway, this story is good and I like it. I feel like I’m supposed to sympathise with Double but I really sort of don’t. Cadence is completely right about her, if a bitch about it. Also maybe a supervillian with the mind control there.
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Don’t forget that the military organization he leads is also hopelessly corrupt. They’d have to start completely from scratch, and while it could be argued that now would be the best time to do that, it’s already pretty evident to everyone that Cadance is a weak leader. Admitting to having a weak military might give other nations out there ideas.
Interestingly, Candance isn’t really a cuckold in this situation, because although it is technically true (disregarding that a cuckold is defined specifically as male), I don’t think it counts here since Shining is basically being held hostage.
Jeez. Shining sort of sucks at everything but being a father, Amaryllis is clearly about zero percent reformed (at best, far less reformed than many of her soldiers) and probably just coasting on the sexorz, and Double is...not exactly helping matters but at least seems to be trying to be a generally positive influence on ponies who don't antagonize her too badly.
But Cadance just straight-up belongs in Vision. I can't think of any other way to properly frame her assumedly well-intentioned spite, disregard, and needless cruelty. Come to think of it, why is Amaryllis not calling Cadance out on this? You don't need to be an empath to see what she thinks of her.
None of this is exactly a criticism of the story, mind you. The characters are flaming train wrecks as people, but not as characters, if that makes sense.
I hate to be the changeling at the Gala, but can somebody with more empathy explain why Cadence is crying in the last paragraph?
Kinda got lost without the emotion radar.
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She just found out that the "Children" that Were given to her to care for was not just a babysitting job but an effectively permanent adoption of the Grubs made in her name.
Which is sad enough.
However, her Primary Rival for her husbands love, sees the children as things you can give away as needed. Then it was pointed out that the point of view is a common thing among Changlings.
Funny thing is, if she could stand to do it, she could have given over the baby Death Star over, and let the Changling Queen deal with the Foal of Cutified doom, in exchange and gotten away with it....
I can’t say I’m surprised. Double’s been saying over and over that the changeling idea of family is different from the pony idea. It’s not a stretch to say a queen who lays thousands of eggs doesn’t have the same connection to them that pony mares, who carry for months, would.
9364589
Ahhh. That (kinda) makes sense. Thank you and happy Hearth's Warming.
*chitters something in Vespit and hooves out cookies*
Edit: Pony customs are strange
great story so far.
Feel sorry for Cadance and Double.
Amazing story....but ow....right in the feels.
Can we have more please?
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I have a teenager. Yes she’s my daughter. But she’s a teenager. I think they are frustrating on purpose so when they leave the house its a relief. When she was nicer i would have done anything to keep her at home.
I have wondered if she was replaced with a changeling.
Lately i’ve been hoping it will happen.
Cadence is sad. That makes me sad. Poor pink pony princess. The mind control and personality alterations are a bit disturbing. It’s a good thing the bug ponies don’t do stuff like that ...
Another magic thing that bugs are better or as good at. Kindness, generosity, loyalty, and so far laughter and in the revealed ones they are learning honesty. All they are missing is magic. Oh wait, Double is better at magic, than even Twilight‘s sister or sister-in-law.
Pony OS 2.0beta (codename Bug) is looking a bit better than Pony OS (codename horse) 1.0u 1.0g 1.0p and even the the 1.1a upgrade.
Oh, so by Changeling culture the children she babysat in Canterlot were hers. Ouch.
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I don’t think conventional armies have a real chance of succeeding a siege on what is essentially pony Russia. Really, they need a better intelligence agency seeing as a race of infiltrators will probably never openly fight you. More poison your cookies apparently.
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But they're not hers now.
Cadence made sure of that!
Looks like Cadance and Shining forgot lesson number one: talk about your feelings.
9364547
Shining isn't overall incompetent. To quote from the previous story
And yeah, GaPJaxie is a master at writing horribly damaged characters.
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Shining’s also usually a pretty good big brother. He’s a family stallion through and through; I get the sense that it’s what he wanted to be more than anything else. He became Capatain of the Royal Guard less on his merits (he’s a halfway decent solo hero) and much more on Celestia spoiling her pretend daughter to make her happy.
On the Amaryllis question, maybe in her ignorance she believes this is a normal aspect of pony culture. Double said straight up that most infiltraitors don’t really understand pony culture that well (she does only because she spent a long, long time within it, and even then she still doesn’t get some of it), so it’s very possible that she honestly doesn’t see anything to call out.
Or maybe she knows exactly what she’s doing, and is trying to push Cadance to the point where she hangs herself, runs away, or Shining just has enough and leaves her so the Queen can have her toy all to herself. It’s as plausible as the other theory, and is even likely to be what’s happening. It won’t work, of course; Shining is too devoted. Come to think of it, Amaryllis would’ve picked up on his just mild attraction same as Double, so that puts a couple holes in this one.
Or maybe it’s all a Cadance issue. Maybe she’s just jealous but feels like she has to deal with it to protect her ponies (much in the same way that Shining is really only having relations with Amaryllis because he feels like he has to in order to protect everyone), and she feels that the Princess of Love shouldn’t feel this kind of jealousy (especially when she knows, even if just logically, there’s no real competition for Shining), and can’t figure out how to reconcile what she’s feeling with how she believes she should feel.
As more chapters pass, the more I feel that Double genuinely loves everyone around her (even if in an alien, changeling fashion), and just wants all of them to be happy and feel loved. Her past behavior bears this out, here and in The Third Wheel. Maybe, just maybe, she’ll be the one to convince Cadance that even a Princess deserves to feel loved.
Yes, yesssssssssss, getting into the themes of love as a utility, a controllable transaction, compared and contrasted against love that you can't help, feelings you can't help, loving because you know its the right thing to do, because it makes you and others feel wonderful and alive. To a point, and to a Changeling, reformed or not, how is one different from the other?
*SHOVELS STORY INTO MY GAPING MAW* YESSSSSSS.
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Don't want to be rude but your Cadenze is kind of a Twatt
I wouldn't eat a single bit of that love.,*hisses*
9364327
The only reason the Changling's so easily toppled the princesses is because they are written in to be so pathetic. I mean seriously... A pony with the power to raise a goddamn star (sun) and lower it, and another with the power to raise the moon plus enter the dreams of anypony she wishes. Those two alone should have without even the slightest effort destroyed this threat (especially the changling one). Shining needs to tell the queen to piss off and give back those children she just dumped onto them. Though in retrospect those children are now just abandoned. So I kinda feel bad for them and the fact they are just now orphans. The story is okay, but because it's kinda playing off the completely horse shit writing of the show itself its in a hard place when going forward. Especially with Candence, Shining Armor (who seemingly is being written as some brainless dolt) and the Changelings
6 of 10,000 or so changeling grubs - yeah, they’re a gift. Or a donation. Down-payment? Bribe and leverage fit in as well.
Shining really is clueless.
I didn't figure Shining was still banging the Changeling Queen...
Yikes
9365110
It’s worth noting that in this canon, there were two separate changeling attacks: Amaryllis is not Chrysalis.
The grubs now in the Crystal Empire are also not orphans. Even without considering that their father is still alive and aware of them, changelings don’t have “orphans” because they don’t have parents the way that ponies (and humans) do. If no one else, Double Time will look after them, and 10-to-1 that Cadance will too because she’s not a psychopath and as hurt as she might be, she still knows they didn’t do anything wrong and won’t leave children to starve.
Lastly, as to the point of Cadance being weak, no one is contesting that magically she’s probably quite strong. She is, however, a weak leader. Even without the Guard being incompetent and corrupt, she knows that Shining is not suited to be a military leader; Celestia created the position he occupied specifically so he could court Cadance. When the epic military failure at their wedding took place, and then subsequent failure to even slightly delay Tirek happened, so did not take any action to try and correct these issues, even covertly. A big part of being an effective leader is making difficult decisions to do things you don’t want to do because it will be better for the group being led in the long run.
Cadance would not do that. I don’t know why; that hasn’t been explained, but that doesn’t matter. She is a weak leader, and probably Celestia and Luna aren’t too great either, since here we are. But they get away with it because they move the sun and moon. You don’t need to have strong leadership or a capable military when you’re the only nation in the world (that we know of) that has what is functionally a nuclear option.
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This reveals interesting things about changelings, namely: the queen does not love her children. There are 10,000 of them, all at once, so it would really not be practical. The fact that Amaryllis just gave away some of her children underlines it; to a pony giving children away like that is unthinkable. Worse, changelings did not share love until recently (and the current state of affairs in Amaryllis's hive is questionable), which means that normally young changelings are not loved by anyone.
Also, that changeling hive on your territory that you hate with a passion? They have curb-stomped your country even with their previous numbers, but just got 10,000 changelings bigger, thanks to your husband. And Cadence is convinced that Amaryllis doesn't love Shining, she's just using him.
To a pony whose domain is love, this is so, so messed up. And worst of all, there's not much she can do about any of it.
Or that's as far as I could reconstruct it anyway. I can't feel any of this either, to me giving away 0.06% of your brood as a diplomatic gift makes perfect sense. And they're Shining's children too, it's only fair if he gets to keep some!
(I may or may not be a changeling).
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*eyes the comment and throws a few 'Thank you cookies' in that direction*
They are made with changeling honey!
Btw: How do you lose with the alicorn of food? I've seen a few AUs with a very...different approach to this little food dispenser. Like ripping out the love...not a nice way to go I can assure you.
9364736
...Oh.
I had not picked up on that. Wow, thanks.
There is so much in this story. :)
9365368
Well, love her children as in have a ponylike emotional attachment to them, or love her children as in redistribute gathered love energy to them to feed them?
"Also, that changeling hive on your territory that you hate with a passion? They have curb-stomped your country even with their previous numbers, but just got 10,000 changelings bigger, thanks to your husband."
Also, they've been living on "your" territory centuries longer than you have...
9364509
Even in this world love has a very clear purpose. Whether that makes love less valuable or not is up to you to decide.
Oh, and neural networks are isomorphic to the Turing machine. So we are robots running code.
9365319
This has nothing to do with being weak at leadership and everything to do with Celestia and Luna being written as lame ass leaders. When you can move a sun you don't just bend over and lose. You burn your enemies with said star itself. Or some lunar object dropped on top of them. They lost that war because of shit writing and the need for the mane 6 to do something otherwise there would be no point for them. As for Shining being placed into power he wasn't suited for? I agree with you on that, but that doesn't mean he has to be a complete idiot. For what you said about those Changling children... Well okay. I guess I never though about it that way.
9365388
Sometimes happens between humans too. Usually among relatives though, e.g. grandmother caring about children as her own because "her sweet daughter is too tired".
"When the epic military failure at their wedding took place, and then subsequent failure to even slightly delay Tirek happened, so did not take any action to try and correct these issues, even covertly. A big part of being an effective leader is making difficult decisions to do things you don’t want to do because it will be better for the group being led in the long run."
Delay Tirek how exactly? He was being aided by Discord, someone who himself can't be stopped by anything but the Elements. Also, if you're going to treat the Canterlot Wedding like a serious military matter, how would any chain of command survive a changeling invasion? If they could take two of the presumably highest level positions in the kingdom, along with all the intel and access that provides, what's stopping them from taking every other sergeant and corporal? There's nothing much Celestia could've done in these situations except maybe not have been written as the loser in the confrontation between her and Chrysalis in an effort to show how strong Chrysalis was.
9365408
Sure.
Unless you detest killing, and are unwilling to engage in the above action even when it would be smart to do so, and instead rely on six magical artifacts which are known to be unreliable to resolve everything nonviolently, because it gets you out of making a decision that might kill someone, even when that decision might be the smart one. That is weak leadership.
9365654
I wouldn’t call the Elements unreliable. They seem to always do what is needed, which may not be the same thing as what you want. But they always left everything better than they were before.
9365654
Not sure what kind of rating you think the show has.
I'm calling it: Cheval is a queen.
9359157
Kudos to the author! I'm really loving all the minor hints you've been dropping with regards to the whole "Cadance Conundrum".
When Cadance said she had "somepony look into it", she was really preparing her cover story. Since she needed an excuse for the children to visit, in order for for Double to be fed possibly tainted love, which might hasten her demise, she needed the entire family to come up to the Crystal Empire.
After the meeting, when Double says, or rather implies that the parents look like "totally different ponies", she's voicing her minor suspicion about their authenticity with regards to their appearance. She's not remarking that they have changed their outlook, more commenting on the fact that they don't look exactly like she remembers.
Her suspicions are correct, since in order for Cadance (actually both the abusive mother and father) to perpetrate her facade that the children have real parents that aren't Cadance, Cadance had to hire two actors and bespell them so they resembled how she herself looks when she abuses the two foals.
By playing such an elaborate shell game, Cadance is able to mostly throw off Double Time's suspicions about her actions. By introducing new variables into their relationship, like haggling with Queen Amaryllis for a few grubs in return for some financial aid, she creates new distractions to throw Double Time off of her scent! This is truly the most masterful political masterpiece I've ever seen on Fimficion. Cadance's public face is a bumbling princess who struggles between her personal emotions and her duties to her subjects, while in reality she's a grand chessmaster rivaling Celestia herself!
I really enjoy this story, and I love the hints that the author keeps dropping for us sharp-eyed readers. Keep up the good work!