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It has been almost a year since Chrysalis’ visit to the Crystal Castle. Not long after Shining’s spell misfired, the Crystal guards arrived. Four guards struggled to carry the still dazed Changeling Queen to the dungeons. Another four guards were needed to move Cadance and two to help Shining Armor move his enlarged ‘equipment’ around.

The medical staff of the castle were quickly put to work on finding a cure to their current predicament. Cadance and Shining questioned Chrysalis on her new form, back when she first arrived at the castle. While her description of the events that day on the beach did explain why Shining’s spell misfired, it didn’t provide enough information for the research team to create a cure. When guards were sent to the beach in question, they returned empty-handed, the ‘love-filled box’ having vanished. Even after calling in the help of Twilight Sparkle, they were unable to find a solution.

Despite the bad news, the couple was able to get used to their new forms over the next couple of weeks. Even Chrysalis was able to, despite the limited amenities her cell provided. Shining and Cadance continued questioning the changeling queen, which gave her the opportunity to explain the situation at the hive following the Royal Wedding.

The hive had been dealing with a limited supply of love for several years, despite the best efforts of their infiltrators. When it was publicly announced that the Princess of Love was engaged, their fortunes changed. This upcoming princess was adored by many ponies and the amount of love she received from them exceeded expectations. The love from her coltfriend alone would have gone a long way in solving their problems. Furthermore, she wasn’t as well-known yet as Celestia and Luna, making it easier for a changeling to take her place without raising suspicion.

Seeing a solution to their food shortage, the changelings seized this opportunity and captured her while she was travelling from Manehattan to the capital. Queen Chrysalis decided to take her place to maximize the love gained, as Queens can store love more efficiently than infiltrators. The latter urged to have one of their own replace Cadance, citing the Queen’s lacking impersonation skills. The Queen brushed off their concerns and had them imprison Cadance in the caves underneath Canterlot.

After the fiasco that was the Canterlot Wedding, the food situation only worsened. Now that ponies knew that changelings existed, they started screening ponies and arrested any changelings they could find. With the demand higher than ever, the love stores quickly depleted, despite the generous amount of love that Chrysalis had leeched of Shining Armor.

When she was ‘blessed’ by the love from the box, she tried to seduce Shining Armor in her new form in a last ditch effort to acquire a source of love. But as fate would have it, Cadance barged in at the wrong moment and threw those plans out the window. And the rest is history.

After hearing Chrysalis out, Shining Armor was willing to give her and her changelings a second chance. Cadance was against this at first, not willing to forgive the Queen for the horrible time she spent in the caves. “If you don’t want to do it for her, then do it for her people.” he had said, trying to convince her. When news reached the Crystal Empire that Twilight and her friends had been able to reform Discord, she relented.

Much to everyone’s relief, it proved to be fortuitous. It took half a year, but as the hive became less and less hungry, their Queen’s attitude likewise softened. The couple got to know her better and Cadance finally forgave Chrysalis. Eventually, a healthy relationship formed between both leaders. A couple of months after Cadance forgave Chrysalis, talks began about a truce between The Crystal Empire and The Hive.

Despite the progress the rulers had made over these months, there had been several setbacks. For one, not all Crystal Ponies and Changelings wanted a truce with the other. The Crystal Ponies feared the Changelings after hearing what they did during the Royal Wedding and the Changelings saw the truce as a weakness.

A changeling named Pharynx had become the unofficial leader of the changeling faction against the truce. His brother Thorax had instead voiced his support from the start, making him the reluctant unofficial leader of the other side, much to his brother’s annoyance. The majority of Equestria also supported the truce, inspired by the actions of their six champions. However, there were ponies, mainly those from Canterlot, who’s memories of that day were still engraved deep in their minds. One Canterlot Prince has been particularly vocal, although he was more concerned about losing the media’s attention to ‘some decadent dandy from the North’.

When you’re a male living in a world where most of your species is female, you become a prize for anyone who wants a special somepony. Especially if you got fame and/or royal blood. Shining Armor had learned to live with this long ago, but the events in the Crystal Palace had some unforeseen consequences.

The smallest and least harmful of these were the dozens of magazines that now had his face printed on the front cover. Chrysalis had taken a liking to these, behaving much like Cadance back when they were students at Canterlot Academy. The biggest consequence so far though was his increased popularity, which came with his very own fan club. A fan club that had somehow found their private beach and had jumped on him when he was off to buy some ice cream for the three of them.

Thank Celestia that his leg muscles had grown as well.

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Posted previously at: 2019-08-18T13:05:54 | Posted previously by: UntakenUsername