One week had passed since her mother had announced her potential engagement to Shiftria's heir, Venom, and today she made it official. In less than two months, she would be married to Venom of Shiftria. It made her vomit on the inside just thinking about it. Right now she was headed down the halls towards the throne room, where she would be discussing her wedding decorations. Today was either flower arrangements or the color of the ribbons on the chairs.

FOR CELESTIA'S SAKE!!! Did they really need 10 thousand different colors of ribbons for flicking CHAIRS?! She trudged towards the throne room, which was temporarily rigged for a wedding practice. She was wearing her traditional dress for special occasions. Meaning, her only dress. She bed-ruggedly opened the door to the throne room. Where the thrones would have been there was a raised platform where the altar was going to go. One of her mother's dukes was going to be the priest, and he was in his position with his teal robes with silver trim. Venom was in an emerald green suit with a black tie.

Her parents and cousin were in the front row, her parents looking excited and her cousin looking forlorn. She made her way up the aisle, and stood next to Venom, poker face on display. They both turned to face the 'priest' and he began a very short sermon, to save time on her schedule. "Now, we will begin the vows," said the priest in his solemn voice. Venom looked at his hooves, pawing at the ground and muttering something about love.

Wimp, she thought. She recited her vow without passion, without any emotion whatsoever. "You may kiss the bride," he finished. Venom turned a bright red, his eyes widening in shock. "Uhhhhh," he stuttered, ears down and looking submissive. Pupa rolled her eyes. "Must I do everything myself," she muttered, leaning in close to him. She kissed briefly and without passion, and turned to face her parents with her traditional poker face. Her mother looked worried, like she shouldn't had pushed her to get married. She mouthed, I'm sorry, to her daughter. Pupa's eyes said nothing, showed no hint of emotion. Her expression had become blank these last few days. She very clearly wasn't happy at all. Well, not even unhappy can explain her emotions at her point. She was depressed.

* * *

A few days later, she was walking through the palace halls when she heard a noise coming from one of the hall closets. Probably just another pair of servants gushing over how 'lucky' I am to get married to such a 'handsome' young colt. However, as she got closer, she couldn't hear the voices anymore. Instead she heard whispering and, occasionally, giggling. She put her ear up to the door, leaning up against it to hear more. "Are you sure your dad doesn't know we're here," asked a breathless voice.

"Don't worry," breathed another. It sounded strangely familiar. "He won't find us, not in a million years." The other, high-pitched voice giggled again. "Stop tickling me!"
"I'm not, I swear! It's not my fault your wings are so soft and you're so ticklish!" She nearly fell over at that last comment. What was going on in there?! She strained to hear more of their conversation. Then, she noticed the keyhole. She strained to move her eyes to a position where she could see better. The keyhole gave her a glimpse into a dark room. She could see the dim outline of two Changelings. She couldn't quite see what they were doing, however.

The more she strained to see, the harder it was to balance her body in the weird positions she was balancing in. Suddenly, she lost her balance and tumbled into the room, startling the two Changelings standing there. She lit up her horn with an illumination spell. The lime green light cast an eerie glow across the faces of a palace servant and, was that Venom?! Venom had his arms wrapped around the smaller changeling boy, and both of them were pink in the face. Ohhhhh, she thought to herself. So THAT'S where he's been running off to after meetings. "Uhhhhhhh," Venom stuttered, untangling his arms from around the other's neck. "This just got awkward for both of us," Pupa chuckled nervously. The smaller changeling cowered behind Venom, and Venom...well, Venom looked about as happy as a cat in a bathtub.

In other words, he was mad.

He growled, baring his fangs. Pupa backed up, startled by his reaction. "Hey," she said in a calming tone, "It's okay. Nobody has to get hurt, and nobody has to get zapped." She slowly approached the pair, not trying to provoke them further. She had found that most Changelings approached when peeved are like animals-approach with caution, or you will get bitten, or in her case, kicked, pummeled and bitten. Venom grumbled, "What are YOU doing here?" Pupa was slightly taken aback. She hated rude ponies, but to be fair, she had burst in on him and this servant. Speaking of which, who was he anyways. "I heard you and your friend here chatting it up in here so I decided to check on you," she said flatly, putting emphasis on the word friend.

The smaller boy shivered behind Venom, mumbling something to himself. She turned to him sharply. "If you have something to share on this event, please share," she said cooly. The smaller boy shivered, and came around in front of Venom's chest. "M-my name is Feelers," began the small servant in a stuttering voice. He crossed his front hoof in front of his other foreleg and started rubbing, like a cricket would. "I'm a servant in the Sh-Shiftria household...I'm 17 years old...and I'm gay and dating Venom,"

he finished in a rush. My eyes widened. He pressed his back up against Venom's chest, looking for comfort. Venom rubbed his hooves against his side, calming him down. He giggles slightly, but it was more of a nervous chuckle. Venom gave a weak smile, then turned his attention back to Pupa. He looked down at Feelers, searching for what appeared to be an okay. Feelers smiled up at him, as if reading his mind. Venom sighed, and turned back to face Pupa. He took a deep breath. "Pupa," he started, "I know I rarely ever do this," he walked towards her. She quickly reversed directions, until her back was pressed up against the wall. Suddenly, he stopped, and bowed his head with his ears drooping. "Please don't tell anybody about this meeting," he whispered.

I raised an eyebrow at him. Of all the things, this was the thing he was most concerned about? She slowly approached him and lifted his head up. She gave him a small smile. "I'll only keep it a secret if you answer these questions I ask you." He took a few steps back, and regained his composure, remembering he was in the presence of his mate. "What are your your questions," he said coldly. She looked him in the eye and he started to shift around with his hooves. "First thing first," she said cooly, "Why would you stare at me whenever you saw me," she cocked an eyebrow like, C'mon boy, I'm not playing. He blushed a deeper crimson when the words left her lips, and started mumbling a bunch of gibberish.

"Uh....umm....well, y'see..." he scratched behind his ear with his hoof. She rolled her eyes. "Listen, buddy, you can either tell me now, or keep stalling and the palace guards will notice I'm late and will come looking for me."

"Okay, okay," he huffed, pawing the ground. "The truth is..." he faltered, unsure if he should tell her. Pupa looked at him expectantly. C'mon Venom, he huffed. You can do this. To protect Feelers. "I'm not into mares. I'm gay," he blurted out. Pupa raised a brow. "I know, you still didn't answer my question. Why did you stare at me all the time?"

He sighed, tapping the ground with his hoof. Pupa grumbled, "For a guy desperate to keep a secret, you sure have a problem keeping with these terms." He threw up his hooves in exasperation. "Fine! You want the truth? Here's the truth! I stared at you because I thought if you thought I was weird you wouldn't like me and refuse to marry me!" Pupa frowned.

"Well, it worked. I still don't like you." He rolled his eyes.

"Gee, thanks," he muttered. "Why don't you go and hurt some other changeling's feelings, huh?" Pupa giggled. "I'm just joking, Venom! C'mon, can't you take a joke," she laughed. It took a minute or two, but eventually Venom started chuckling with her. Y'know, once Feelers couldn't hold in his laughter any longer and fell to the floor with tears in his eyes. Eventually, all three of them were laughing 'till their sides hurt and they were crying.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," cried Pupa, chortling all the time. "I thing I almost did," guffawed Feelers. A few minutes later, Pupa yelled, "You know, they say 'Karma's a *****,' but really, if she gives me friends like you, I wouldn't call her that anymore." Then, Feelers chimed in with his high-pitched feminine voice, "Y'know, if my master knew I was dating his son, he probably would either disown me or kill me, but it wouldn't matter either way. My parents would have done it already!" Then he collapsed into another fit of laughing.

This continued on for around 2 hours. All three of them, laughing like maniacs. Had somebody on the streets seen them, that pony probably would have mistaken them for being drunk. They probably would have continued to crack jokes and share stories for the rest of the evening, until they heard a pounding on the door. "This is the Changeling Royal Guard. I give you 60 seconds to open the door." Pupa looked to venom, who looked to Feelers, then both of them looked back to her. "Y'know, I take back what I said about karma," she said. "She really is a *****," agreed Venom. Feelers nodded his approval.

They probably would have launched into an enormous debate on whether karma was nice or not, but the ash-colored doors burst open in a large green explosion. The three teenagers shielded their eyes from the blinding light of the castle, and could dimly make out the shape of changeling royal guards. The last thing Pupa could see before getting knocked unconscious was Feelers being hauled away down a hallway, and Venom fighting like a manticore to get back to him. She could hear ponies screaming,

"Grab him!"

"Let go of him!"

"Where the hell did he take him?!"

"Sir, I know you're mad at him for being with your fiance, but you need to calm yourself!"

"The nerve, trying to get away with being with the princess!"

Then, Pupa's whole world faded to black, drowning out the sound of Venom and Feelers screaming each other's and Pupa's names. It was like being underwater. All sound, all sight slowly dimmed until she had drowned.