//------------------------------//
// A Prince's Dilemma 
// Story: Common Ground 
// by LunasCaptain 
//------------------------------//

	Claymore.

Morning Star.

Silver Shield.

Katana Sheath.

All guards that had been present at its capture.  The Changeling cycled through them in a mercurial pattern, hardly pausing between bursts of green fire.  Mare and stallion, pegasus and unicorn.  The physical differences didn't seem to phase it at all, though Shining Armor had noticed that it changed into mares nearly twice as often.

He had been watching the monster since it had been forced into a cage and taken straight to the dungeons, unphased by the ten unicorns and five pegasi standing guard over it.  They had all told him, at one time or another in the course of the past few hours, that they could handle it, that the Changeling wasn't going anywhere, that he should go back to bed.  But Shining had refused.  Firstly, because he knew what these things were capable of, having watched them nearly destroy his little sister and her friends while standing helpless at Chrysalis's side.  And secondly, because he had no wish to return to his and Cadance's quarters only to watch her pace anxiously and mutter.

"Prince."  A pegasus mare wearing the crystal armor of the palace guard stepped forward, dipping her head in a slight bow.  "The shifts will be changing soon.  Perhaps you would like to take this opportunity to eat and freshen up?"

For the first time, Shining became aware of a gnawing pain in his belly.  He smiled tiredly at the mare--whom he recognized as Katana Sheath--in gratitude.  The Changeling transformed into her once again without so much as moving, and she grimaced.

"That sounds like a good idea," Shining agreed, politely ignoring the creature's current form as he struggled to his hooves.  He was a strong stallion, but hours of crouching on the bitterly cold floors of the dungeon had done him no favors.

"And if I may be so bold, Prince..." Katana began, then hesitated.  He suppressed a sigh.  The first time that Cadance had brought him to her home, he had tried to make it perfectly clear that her guards should think of him as a friend.  But whatever progress he had made in that direction had been destroyed by his ascension to royalty.

"Please, continue," he said.

Behind Katana, the other guards began to disperse, and fresh ponies trotted in to replace them.  Shining turned and clopped slowly towards the stairs, signalling with a jerk of his head that the sunset-colored pegasus should walk with him.

"I believe that you should speak with your wife," Katana said.  "My parents were both palace guards, so I have been in close proximity with the princess for as long as I can remember.  This is the first time I've seen her so...distraught."

For Shining, it was the second.  He remembered the honeymoon.  It hadn't exactly been a traditional one--in fact, they didn't even begin to explore each other as lovers might until after returning home.  He had spent most of his time holding Cadance close and trying to get her to realize that he was the real Shining Armor--or at least stop crying.

But she had been doing so much better, her nightmares down to once a week at the most.  A wave of bitterness crashed through Shining, all of it directed at the Changeling he was leaving behind.

"I hate seeing her this way," he sighed.

"I know, Prince, but she needs you now more than ever," Katana pointed out.  "Not to rush you, but Princess Cadance can't run a country while locked in her rooms."

He smirked at her.  "You missed your calling--you should have been a royal adviser."  

She grinned back.  "Maybe, but advisers don't get to kick criminals in the head."

Shining had to laugh at that.  Immediately, Katana's face went rigid again and she stared straight ahead, as if she suddenly remembered just who she was talking to.  He suppressed another sigh.  He missed his friends among Celestia's royal guards.

He nudged the door to the royal chambers open shortly after parting with Katana.  The rapid click of hooves on the crystal floor greeted him, as well as pained whispering.  

"...least it's not the queen.  No, wait, a drone is just as bad.  What should I--I know!  I'll write Aunt Celestia.  But...I can't worry her..."

"Cadance," Shining Armor said gently.

The princess spun around, and the next thing he knew, she had flung herself against him, sobbing into his mane as her forelegs shook around his neck.  He rubbed the spot between her wings, something he knew she enjoyed, and waited patiently while she spoke.

"I'm supposed to be stronger than this!" Cadance cried.  "I'm a princess, not some blank-flank little filly.  One look at a Changeling shouldn't reduce me to--to--this!"  She used one wing to gesture angrily at herself, then cried harder.

"It's only natural," Shining murmured.  "It's only natural, after what one of them did to you..."

"Yes, she captured me, locked me up, and almost stole my life, and now she sends her warmest regards."

Cadance let go of him and sashayed around the room, shaking a strand of her mane over her eyes in a decent impression of Chrysalis.  Shining sighed and guided her into a chair, brushing her mane out of her face with a quick nudge of his magic.  His wife was pale and bedraggled-looking, with the curls of her mane in an advanced state of decay and her violet eyes underscored by heavy bags.  He was reminded of how she had looked when she and Twilight had come charging into the throne room to prevent him from wedding a monster.

"This thing speaks," he soothed, "it thinks.  Obviously, it isn't a part of the hive mind, so it probably got kicked out of the Swarm.  Chrysalis has no connection to it anymore; it's defective.  Nothing to fear."

She said nothing, so he took her hooves in his and rubbed small circles where velvety keratin met flesh.

"Listen," he said.  "I'll send a message to the kitchens.  We'll get something to eat, and then you can take a long, hot bath, and we'll sleep.  We can talk about...what to do later."

"What to do?" Cadance murmured, looking up.  "About that thing, you mean."

Shining hesitated.  "Yes."

She pulled her hooves away from his and curled up on the cushion of the chair, making herself more comfortable.  She spread one wing and examined the flight feathers.

"I suppose," she said, "that it would be best if we kept it alive, so that the unicorn scientists in Canterlot can experiment on it.  Learn things from it."

"I guess," he agreed.

Cadance's head snapped up.  "I want it executed.  Tomorrow morning, as soon as Celestia's sun is up."

Shining blinked.  "Darling, do you really think--"

"I can't sleep, knowing that one of them is so close."  She slipped out of the chair and began to pace again.  "Sending it away won't help.  It knows what our guards look like, what I look like, what--" she fixed Shining with a frightened glare "--you look like."

"So do a lot of the other ones."

"It's not the same."  She shook her head emphatically.  "It--I don't know..."

Cadence sat and buried her face in her hooves.  He walked forward and stroked her mane.

"This is really hard on you, huh?"

"I shouldn't be like this."  Her voice was muffled.  "Celestia and Luna never cry."

"Notice I didn't marry either of them."  Shining kissed her forelock, then turned to go.  "I'll have one of your hoofmaidens bring up breakfast, and I'll join you as soon as everything's taken care of."

Gently, he added, "I love you."

She sighed deeply and uncovered her face.  "My dearest Shining Armor, I love you, too, more than you could ever know.  But I wish that you hadn't left.  So that I would know if you meant it as an endearment or just a way to...order."

He left then.  He thought he might break something if he saw her in such pain for one more moment.  The bug in the basement of the palace would pay dearly for hurting her like this, for unearthing all her old fears, unlocking her nightmares, making it so that she couldn't even feel affection for her husband without wondering if she was just feeding a monster wearing his coat.

Shining had planned to kill the Changeling right now instead of tomorrow.  Order the ponies standing guard over it to leave and then do what had to be done to make Cadance feel safe again.  More than anything, he had been trained to protect, instead of kill, but the distinction didn't matter at the moment.  It was a Changeling.  Not a pony.

But now, standing in the chilly dungeons with his guards clustered around him, Shining Armor found himself completely and utterly unable to go through with it.

Because in what appeared to be an incredibly disturbing act of self-defense, it had taken the form of his sister.



A/N: Thanks to Thorax for help with the format.  As always, please comment, though I know the cliffhanger is awful.  No need to point it out.