Well, here we are again old friends.

Truth be told, I didn't know if I'd do this chapter this month. But I guess being back in the home I grew up in helps a ton with motivation.

Anyway enough about me, let's get back onto the story.

Begin!

Sins

Celestia Pov

It was like I was watching it all through the eyes of another.

"She's losing blood too quickly, focus your healing on the wound!"

"I'm trying, something is interfering with my magic. I can't close the wound!"

"Princess Luna, if you can hear me then please try to keep your eyes open. You need to stay awake; you need- No, we're losing her!"

The smell of anti-sceptic, the repetitive beeping, the fast bustle of doctors and nurses as they rushed around the patient in the bed. The blood soaked bed, holding a mare that many once feared, that many do still fear. She held power that few could comprehend and yet as I watched on, I saw none of this.

I only saw my baby sister…and she was dying.

"Princess Celestia, I'm sorry but I need to ask you to leave."

I blinked, reality returning with a sharp slap as I looked down at the red faced stallion before me.

"I'm sorry?" The words left my lips, but even then it didn't feel as though I'd said a thing.

The stallion, evidently a doctor going by his uniform, grimaced and spoke again. "You need to leave us to it, Princess. We can't operate at our best with you off all Ponies watching us."

At any other time I might have been amused at his cheek, but in that moment I felt…nothing, less than nothing. I merely nodded and walked out, not really seeing where I was going.

The world was grey, I saw nothing before me but that image, over and over.

The image, the memory of my little Luna being gutted by the Changeling who had already stolen what was not hers. Was my sister's life to be the next thing stolen?

"You always were a fool, Luna," the Changeling intoned softly. "So arrogant, so sure of yourself that you never saw the danger until it was too late."

I knew that voice, but it was impossible.

"You should probably catch her," the Changeling said, a calm smile upon her face as she took in my expression. "She might survive if you do."

Queen Naerx was dead, had been dead for over a thousand years. But there was no mistaking that voice, the tone, her tone. She had always radiated confidence, so sure of herself in every situation that I'd only ever heard her lose it a select number of occasions.

But if she was back then perhaps Chrissy wasn't Chrissy at all, but a new identity for someone who should have died centuries ago.

The concept sent a chill down my spine.

'No…no that doesn't make any sense. The Changeling I encountered during our meeting couldn't have been any more different from Naerx. Naerx was calm, collected. This Changeling wears her temper on her sleeve.'

For every second that passed by in thought, I become more and more agitated. I wasn't used to not knowing my situation, it was akin to an itch I couldn't scratch.

Resolving to put it to one side for the moment, I took a deep breath and slowly looked back at the door I'd come through.

Not known to many, my sister and I have a deep connection that links us to the other. We cannot read thoughts or emotions or the like, but we are always aware of the other and can find them in a pinch.

It was the only reason I was able to find my sister so quickly when I woke up from where the Changeling had left me.

And took Richard Tyler…

My heart ached for the poor man. Somehow, someway he'd been infused with power he didn't know how to control, and as such had devastated my Palace and taken the lives of two of my beloved guard in the process.

I mourned their loss deeply, already I could feel the toll it would take on me when I told their families later.

But regardless of their demise, I knew in my heart that Richard was not to blame. He had been…trapped, for want of a better phrase, in my Kingdom at my bequest and although he had displayed great anger, he had yet to commit any act of violence to my subjects.

'Even when some of them treated him poorly…'

I wasn't blind to the way he had been treated; truth be told I had known about it for some time. But what could I have done? If I had demanded that my subjects treat him with the same kindness they showed other Ponies, they would only do so when witnessed. Was I to slap the hoof of every Pony who spoke down to him?

No, there was little I could do in that regard. Perhaps I could have told them about how crucial he was to our survival, but I feared greatly that doing so would incite a panic. Perhaps they would even demand that I forcibly extract what we needed from him and treat him as more a…an animal than an individual.

'I did what I had to do; he may not have been the happiest. But at least he was safe.'

Yes, he wasn't to blame for the deaths he had caused. The sole reason for their death laid at the hooves of the Changeling who had stupidly given him magic that he clearly had no idea how to control.

'What else did she change though,' I wondered. 'She can't have just given him magic by itself, no, no, no. He was affected by the dome, badly affected. And seeing that the dome only affected Changeling magic, it stands to reason that he now must be…'

My eyes widened at the realization.

"He's…been changed into one of them." A memory, the briefest flash of a face belonging to a stallion I once trusted appeared before my eyes. "It's Bulwark all over again. She hasn't just given him magic; she's changed him into a King!"

"Aunty?"

A pained voice snapped me out of my trance and onto the recipient. The visage of a bruised Cadance, donning a very painful looking black eye greeted me.

"Oh no, sweetie what happened?" I asked, aghast at the wince she gave me when I made to touch her face. "Did you get that in the carriage?"

"Ugh…unfortunately not. Richard didn't seem to like me very much," she answered, a very fake grin on her muzzle belaying her attempt to fight back tears. "He…he's very…he looked different." She looked behind me at the door. "How's Luna?"

The question hurt, but I ignored her words for a moment and swept her up with my wings, pulling her close. Soothing her with sweet nothings as she shook in my embrace. After a few minutes passed, she left my hold and gave me a small genuine smile, a hoof gingerly rubbing at her black eye.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "I guess I'm not as grown up as I thought, eh?"

"Nonsense," I soothed, wiping away a stray tear with the tip of my left wing. "You were attacked and just had a near death experience, it's not like a book dear. You don't just magically get over it after a chapter or two."

She giggled before taking a deep breath and looking at me, confidently and yet…

"Luna is…she's not in a good place at the moment," I said, the very words cutting at me.

Cadance lowered her eyes sadly and nuzzled my barrel, before moving back and looking at me nervously.

"Richard's changed, Aunty," she began, biting her lip worriedly. "I don't just mean on the outside. I saw him, I saw right through him and I saw…"

"Yes dear, tell me," I urged at her pausing, any news about Richard welcome…even if it wasn't good. I needed the distraction.

She took a deep breath and stared at me unblinking. "He's a murderer, Aunty."

I frowned sadly and shook my head. "I know sweetheart, but it wasn't him, not really. Giving all that power to someone filled with anger can only ever go one way, especially when they have no idea how to control it."

Cadance looked at me with confusion in her expression, before something seemed to click, and she shook her head in return. "No, I don't mean those guards that the Captain is talking about. I saw into him before he killed them. He…He's killed before, Aunty."

That caught my attention. "Before?"

"Yes," she nodded. "I've always been able to see a Ponies character, you know that. Look into their eyes long enough and I can see the clear innocence of a soul, or the blackness of it. Richard's was…dark, not completely, but there was enough of it there to tell me what he's done. He's killed before, Aunty. If I had to say, I'd guess that he killed someone back on his world."

I took a moment to take this in, just a moment and no more. "Sweetie…if you looked into my soul, you wouldn't see a purely clear one either and I think you know that."

"You can't make excuses for him!" she exclaimed, rubbing her eye. "I understand how the world was centuries ago, but that was then-"

"And this is now," I concluded, cutting her off before she could continue. "Do not mistake me for some lovesick schoolfilly, Cadance. I am not blind to Richards many flaws, but I am also not blind to mine. I can be arrogant and far too sure of myself that I often blind myself to the flaws within my plans, and today it cost me dearly."

"But Aunty…" I shushed her with a hoof to her lips.

"No, Cadance," I said, shaking my head slowly. "Richard has killed before, so be it. But in the time he has been here, in my Kingdom, with my subjects. He had yet to so much as shove a Pony out of the way, let alone try to kill one. And from this, I firmly believe that regardless of his past, he is not a violent killer, but rather an angry young man stuck in a terrible situation that he may have had on his own world."

I looked her right in the eye and finished. "And now he has become a Changeling. He has been mutated, his body twisted, his mind polluted with all that they know and do. And it is up to us, you, Twilight and me to bring him back and reverse it."

"I'm…I'm not saying I don't agree with you, Aunty," she replied slowly. "But how are we going to do that? I don't have any idea how to reverse something like that. It may not even be possible."

"It has to be," I said softly, a dull fatigue enveloping my body as I continued. "I dare say that were we to take a sample from him as he is now, that it would no longer work as it once did to save us."

Cadance's eyes widened as she too only seemed to realize this. "Oh no, of course. If he's been changed into one of them, then he's not going to give the same result is he."

"Indeed."

The familiar sound of my protégé's voice brought my attention behind Cadance, where the tired Unicorn was walking over to us, a now quite visible burn covering the middle of her horn. She, much like Cadance had bruising on her body, no doubt from when the Changeling made the carriage fall with them trapped inside.

"If that Changeling, Chrissy, has truly transformed him, then any sample we were to extract from him would likely be useless. The only way to change this, would be to change him back to his former self."

"Twilight!" I scooped up the hurt mare much as I had done to Cadance, smiling softly as I felt her relax against me. "I'm so sorry you were put in such danger. If I had known how strong she truly was, I never would have sent you after her."

"It's fine, Princess," she mumbled against me, taking a moment more before leaving my embrace and smiling up at me. "I learned much from the encounter, and from Chrissy as well."

Realizing how open we were standing in the corridor, I gestured for them to follow me as I entered an empty room, much resembling a classroom of some sort. Once I'd locked the door and sealed it to ward out eavesdroppers, I looked back at Twilight and gestured for her to continue.

Twilight smiled and sat up straight as she began. "To begin with the obvious, let's start with their evident relationship. From what I've been able to gather in the past couple of weeks, their connection to one another is very strong, absurdly so in fact. I truly cannot remember seeing a pair so close to one another other than Shining and you, Cadance."

Cadance smiled to herself, no doubt thinking about her husband who was currently away on a diplomatic mission in Griffonia.

I wasn't quite as pleased to hear this.

"Her hold on him is quite intense then?" I queried.

"And entirely true, Aunty," Cadance perked up, looking at me strangely. "Do you not remember earlier. I tested him for false love and was rejected hard. I could feel how much they love each other from him alone, that should tell you how strong their connection is."

"This is true," Twilight interrupted, no doubt able to see my displeasure and quick to continue. "It is no mere hold, but true love, even I could see it and I'm…somewhat inexperienced with such matters."

"Give it time, Twi," Cadance reassured gently. "You'll find somepony."

"Anyway," Twilight continued, blushing lightly at her words. "As nice as this is, it is also a major weakness."

"Weakness?" Cadance echoed, regarding my student with a rather displeased expression. "I do hope that you're not going to suggest we use their love to hurt them?"

Quite familiar with my nieces rather…naïve stance on the subject of love, I cleared my throat to get her attention. "It may have to be done, Cadance. I understand how unsettling it may be to do so, let alone merely discuss it. But this Changeling has done more than just love him, she has changed him into a King."

"W-What?"

"Do you not remember how she introduced herself to you all that time ago?" I asked, watching unblinking as she winced at the memory. "This Changeling is no mere Changeling, but a Queen. And now she has made Richard into her King."

"Indeed," Twilight continued, looking at Cadance's uncomfortable expression with what I believe she thought to be a comforting smile. "And if they procreate then she could lay thousands of eggs, maybe more. We do not know how fast they grow up, perhaps it is like us, but if I were to make an educated guess, then I'd say it may only take a few years for a normal Changeling to mature."

Cadance's eyes widened in fear, her dread of Changelings all too real in that moment. "There could be thousands of Changelings set to invade us."

"Only if we don't find them now, and bring Richard home," I finished, laying a comforting wing on her trembling form.

"But what if they've already had sex?" she asked, ignoring the flush on Twilights face. "We may be too late already."

I took a deep, steadying breath and looked down at my niece. "Tell me Cadance, when a nest of wasps becomes too large, and the wasps within begin multiplying out of control. What do you do to the nest?"

Cadance stopped breathing, it was only for a couple of seconds, but she stopped.

"You…you can't mean…"

"Yes, I do," I cut across, not unkindly. "It is unfortunate, but you do not know their kind like I do. You did not see what they were once like, what they could do. I let a hive grow unhindered once and it almost cost me my Kingdom and all my subjects, and that was during a time of war where we were ready to combat the enemy. I cannot afford to do so again, not now, not in a time of peace."

"What do you mean you let one grow unhindered, Princess?" Twilight asked, breaking the tangible tension between Cadance and I.

I looked at her then back to Cadance and sighed.

"It…you need to understand that the Pony I once was, was a young mare who was born in wartime," I began. "The actions I made back then aren't excusable, but they were made for the good of Equestria. Even the ones I deemed most vile were committed with the good of my Kingdom in mind, and nowhere in all the world was there a race more deserving of them than the Changelings."

I closed my eyes and thought back to that time, the sound of spellfire permeating my mind as I remembered. The smell of blood, the sight of the dead and dying, the screams of good Ponies crying for their mothers as they died in a thankless war.

"It began when we first discovered them," I said softly. "To that day, we had no idea they existed. But then one day, a strange creature turned up in Old Canterlot. A mare by all accounts, reasonably pretty too. Silky silver hair and covered head to hoof in black chitin, with a green underbelly and they greyest eyes I had ever seen."

"That doesn't sound like a Changeling," Cadance muttered.

"Not the one's we know today, no," I agreed. "But they were a whole hive back then, a Nation. They weren't starving like the one's who invaded our Kingdom were. You saw how thin they were, the many holes in their body. I know this much, holes only come when their body begins to eat itself from the inside out."

"How do you know that?" Twilight asked, her curiosity winning her over.

I closed my eyes and pushed away the screams as I remembered…

"It doesn't matter now, just know that what little I do know, I know," I replied, smiling slightly at her irritated frown.

She never did like being left out.

"Let me tell you about back then, about the Queen who came to Old Canterlot in search of a King, although we did not know such at the time."

"A King?" Twilight echoed. "Did she find one?"

My smile twisted into something…ugly, though only for a moment. Twilight caught it, and Cadance probably felt it. But it was justified, everything I did was justified back then.

Everything, every sin…

"It all began…"

And that'll do for now.

As many will know from my blog, there is already a bit that isn't in this chapter. And that is because I wanted to get Celestia's side of the story first, or at least as much as I am willing to make her spoil.

In any case, next chapter is all Chrissy and Richard…and a little someone else.

Cya, stay snuggly :D