Back in the throne room, the three princesses, royal guard captain and four remaining mares were waiting for the return of Twilight Sparkle and Applejack. In that time, the betrothed princess and captain had finalized all of the preparations before they were to be wed that afternoon.
Rarity had made all the necessary alterations so Cadance's wedding gown would be perfect. Only a final fitting was needed to ensure everything was well and truly in place.
Applejack had called in a favor to everypony she knew and would have all fresh ingredients to produce the best reception dinner the gilded city had seen in years.
Rainbow Dash was going to practice her flying skills so she could perform the sonic rainboom that had been intended for the royal couple's matrimonial kiss.
Fluttershy would attend to her bird choir to make sure they gave a top-level performance.
Pinkie would make sure that the reception party went off without a hitch.
And as Shining Armor had originally intended, his sister would be by his side as best mare.
Of course, all of this was on hold at the moment as everypony waited for the absent Applejack and Twilight to return from questioning the prisoner being held in the special dungeon.
"I certainly hope nothing happened to them down in that dreadful place," Rarity commented.
"I'm sure they are fine," Princess Celestia responded. "That dungeon is as foolproof as we can make it. Even Discord could not circumvent its anti-magic hold."
Everypony looked at the royal sisters with shock.
"Discord?!" Rarity shouts rather loudly.
Celestia nodded.
"Then why didn't you put him there before?!" Rainbow Dash asked. "We could've avoided his escape!"
"Because Discord does not need his magic to cause a pony harm," Princess Luna pointed out. "With nothing more than his voice and mind, he has driven many a pony to madness."
"And moving his statue to that dungeon would do no good either," Celestia added. "The dungeon's enchantment would revert him to his normal form and leave everypony near him vulnerable to his sick and twisted will."
The remaining four element bearers all shuddered; they remembered the chaos spirit and his vile game that nearly destroyed their friendships for good.
"Getting back to my point," Luna continued, "both young Twilight and Applejack should be fine, so long as they followed the rules of the dungeon."
"We did," Twilight announced as she and Applejack reentered the throne room.
"So how did the talk with the bug go?" Rainbow asked as she approached her two friends.
"It was... interesting," Twilight told the blue pegasus. "Apparently, he recognized the two of us from seeing our fight with all of those changelings outside the vault where the Elements are kept."
Rainbow looked at the unicorn in surprise. "He watched us fighting?"
"Yeah," Applejack confirmed, "and the story he gave yesterday is pretty much the same one he gave us. I couldn't say fer sure he was lyin' on account of that enchantment thingy, but it didn't seem like it to me."
Shining Armor huffed. "So we're no closer to knowing for sure if what that thing is saying is the truth or not."
Princess Celestia chimed in. "I do believe it was. You were wearing the gems with the counter-enchantment?"
Twilight and Applejack both nodded.
"Then you two should have been able to use your magic abilities," Celestia concluded, "even those that are tied to your Elements."
"We still can't be sure," Shining Armor protested, then faced Celestia. "Please, your highness, let me perform an interrogation on him."
Princess Celestia shook her head. "Captain, as I've said before, you are a direct victim of the queen, and this matter is one you are too personally invested in. I fear you may do something rash in the heat of the moment and leave us with no leads other than what this changeling has given us so far."
Shining Armor grit his teeth and prepared to protest, but Princess Luna stopped him.
"Captain Armor," she said with an authoritative voice, "I may have been away for a millennium, but I know the current royal guard protocols by heart, and on matters of a guard having been directly and personally affected by the actions of a prisoner, that guard is not permitted to have any contact with said prisoner until such a time as an authority above the said guard has given permission to do so."
"As it stands Captain Armor, we are the authority above you, and this talk of permitting you to interrogate this prisoner will cease now. If you bring this matter up again, we will have you put on suspension and stationed as far away from Canterlot as we possibly can."
Shining was at a loss for words. "Princess?" he said weakly.
Celestia bowed her head. "My sister is right, captain. We cannot ensure the prisoner's safety if you are to be left alone with him. Even if you do something that could be considered an act of self-defense, it could be viewed legally as an act of revenge because of what has happened to you. I stand with my sister on this matter, and in order to ensure nothing becomes of this, as much as it pains me to do so, my sister and I are hereby issuing a superseding order."
That remark made Shining go wide-eyed. "A superseding order!?"
"Yes, captain," Luna responded. "A superseding order."
A quill and parchment popped into existence and Princess Luna began to speak, the quill scrawling down the princess's dictation.
"It is to be known to all guards that Captain Shining Armor is not permitted to have any unsupervised contact with the changeling prisoner known as Thorax. Any attempt to do so without approval from or under direct supervision of a pony of authority above him will result in his immediate detainment and suspension, and any attempt after that will result in his outright dismissal with unfavorable letter."
Shining Armor watched in shock as the quill finished writing and the parchment rolled into a scroll and popped out of existence.
"That is being copied and sent to every guard stationed here in Canterlot," Princess Luna informed Shining Armor. "As it says, if you attempt to approach the changeling in that dungeon and you aren't supervised by us or have our permission, you will be detained and suspended, and if you try to do it again after that, we will dismiss you with unfavorable letter, and you know how difficult it is for ponies that are dismissed that way to obtain employment for themselves."
The stallion was at a loss for words. He sputtered repeatedly for several moments before he eventually gave up. With his head hanging low, he turned and left the throne room.
Princess Cadance, concerned, called out to him. "Where are you going?"
"Since I can do nothing else," he answered, "I'm going to prepare for our wedding." He quickly disappeared from view as the throne room doors closed behind him.
Cadance turned and faced her aunts. "I don't think that was a wise decision," she told them.
"We know that he does not like it, Cadance," Celestia replied, "but he was a personal victim of the changeling queen. For who knows how long, Shining was fed on and weakened by her. As I understood it from Twilight, he had become so weak that he wasn't able to recast his shield spell, and had to rely mostly on your energy to expel the changelings from the city, save the one who was somehow spared by the spell for reasons we do not know at this moment in time."
"Cadance," Luna then said to her niece, "you are the Alicorn of Love, and know much about that subject, but I fear you may not know as much about stallions as my sister and I do. You see, over many years, both my sister and I have had consorts; ponies we loved greatly and they loved us in return, and they have been both mare and stallion."
The admittance by Luna surprised many in the throne room, especially Twilight; she had never realized that her idol and teacher was bisexual, or possibly pansexual.
Luna continued speaking. "One thing we have learned about stallions over the course of our life is that when it comes to ones like your soon-to-be husband, they have an innate desire and personal feelings of responsibility for the safety of the ponies they care about most."
"Shining Armor received his cutie mark for his proficiency in shield spells, which is a testament to his strong desire to protect those things he cares about. For you, he will be a husband that stands between whatever danger comes to threaten you, and should you two bear a foal, he will guard both you and that foal with his very life."
Cadance couldn't help but smile and feel quite warm inside. She had always known such things, but hearing another pony say it aloud made it better somehow.
Princess Luna's face then hardened into a very serious expression. "Because of the attack on him by the changeling queen, he feels that he was inadequate in his protection of you, and in his abilities to perform the duties of his position. Because of that, and a stallion's seemingly natural disposition to hide such feelings in a futile attempt to project their inner strength, he will bottle up these feelings inside himself, and allow them to eat away at him, and if left untreated, can cause him to begin developing very unhealthy emotional habits, if he does not eventually turn abusive.
Luna then frowned at Cadance. "We could tell him that he hasn't failed, and that the things that happened to him were unavoidable, but he will not see it that way. Even with you being there for him and giving him reassurance, his mind will interpret it as pity, and stallions such as that do not take kindly to pity; it reinforces the idea of them being inferior in their self-assigned role as protector."
The alicorn's expression then hardened again. "The only course of action that will satisfy his wounded ego is vengeance and vindication. He wants to make the things that caused his failure to suffer as he does now, and because of this, he will not stop until he has satisfied that need for vengeance."
Twilight looked incensed at the insinuation. "That sounds nothing like my brother!"
Luna looked to Twilight with the same serious expression. "Has your brother ever had anything such as this happen to him before?"
Twilight went to retort, but stopped herself. The truth was, nothing like what happened to her brother had ever happened to anypony she knew.
"I know that it may not seem like it, but your brother is suffering," Luna told Twilight. "You can't tell because his wounds are inside himself, and he is covering them so that you cannot see them."
"My sister is right," Celestia told the ponies. "Captain Shining Armor has been greatly hurt by the changeling queen, and in ways that aren't immediately visible. He wants to see her pay for her actions, and we intend to see that happen as well, but to do that, we will need as much information as we can get, and the prisoner we have in custody now is our best chance at obtaining that information. For his own good, and for the best possible chance at a successful campaign to find the changelings and their queen, we need to ensure the safety of the prisoner, which means keeping the captain from being alone with them."
Twilight took in everything that both Princess Celestia and Luna have told her and nodded. "I understand," she told the two monarchs.
"But what can I do to help my husband?" Cadance asked.
Celestia sighed. "For now, prepare for your wedding. Do what you can to take his mind off of yesterday. Give him the love and affection he deserves from you, and be as patient with him as you can. He needs understanding, not pandering."
Cadance gave her aunts a nod. "I understand," she said, then turned to Rarity. "Shall we go double-check my dress to see that all the fittings are correct?"
Rarity bowed to the princess. "It would be an honor" the unicorn replied, and the two exited the throne room together.
"Pardon me, yer highnesses," Applejack addressed the two remaining princesses, "but I wanna go down to the kitchens and check that the ingredients are here so I can get started on all the vittles I gotta put together for the reception dinner."
Celestia nodded to the farm pony. "Of course, Applejack. You may go. Please inform the chefs that they are to take your directions as if they came from me."
Applejack nodded and left. Rainbow then bowed to the two princesses.
"I'd like to go practice my stunts for the wedding now."
Celestia nodded to her. "Please, tell Captain Spitfire and the other members of the Wonderbolts to permit you use of their facility here in Canterlot. Perhaps they may even allow you to join in on one of their practice."
The suggestion made Rainbow light up brighter than a Hearth's Warming Tree, and the pegasus nearly blasted straight through the throne room doors on her way out.
"I'm gonna go help Applejack!" Pinkie announced as she zipped out of the throne room, not bothering to wait for the princesses to dismiss her.
After chuckling a bit at the pink pony's antics, Celestia turned to Twilight. "Now, I would like to discuss what information you've gathered from the changeling earlier."
Twilight nodded to her mentor. "Of course, but I unfortunately didn't get much more than what the first pony and you and your sister had gotten yesterday."
"What you've obtained is fine. I intend to allow you to interview this Thorax as many times as is necessary until we have all the information that we need or can get from him."
Twilight smiled as she and Celestia headed to the side of the throne room, where a door led to a private study.
Luna went to follow but was stopped by a soft voice calling out her name. She turned to see the pink-maned pegasus looking at her a bit sheepishly.
"Yes, Ms. Fluttershy?" Luna asked the timid mare.
"I..." Fluttershy began but paused. After taking a few breaths, she looked back at the princess with a serious expression.
"I would like to ask you for something."