As the morning sun shone from its sky, the noise of shouts and yells and hammers and power tools was heard by many. Fresh railroads were placed down onto the grass—the railroad itself already stretched for miles and miles through the barren desert, even through the green forests before it. In front of the working changelings, there was a wooden building that emanated the awful yet fragrant smell of new paint.
"Changelings, work up the pace!" the forechangeling bellowed. He fixed his sleek black top hat as he glared at the workers under him. "Do you even know who's coming here this very moment?"
A few of them turned to look at him, shivering.
"We're already behind schedule!"
"We don't even have a schedule!" a changeling dared complain.
The forechangeling stomped a hoof onto the ground. "Just keep working!"
The changeling quickly went back to placing pieces of railroad down to the ground.
A sound deafened the changelings.
They covered their ears.
In the distance, a white-blue crystal carriage shone reflections of sunlight. It shrilled a train whistle that blared through the land and the kingdom. Out of the carriage's chimney, opaque pink smoke flew its way out into the sky. The train wheeled on at great speed.
"Quick!" the forechangeling yelled. "The Princess and the Prince are almost here!"
The changelings then dashed to their work, working at double speed as the railroads were placed onto the ground and then nailed in and then the next piece of railroad was placed onto the ground and then nailed to the ground like the previous piece and the cycle repeated. There were huffs, there were wipings of sweat off their faces. Under the morning sun, all this happened.
The train was closer.
The train whistle shrilled again that whistle.
The changelings recoiled at the sound but went on with the railway work.
"Faster, everyone!"
More railroads were placed. More nails were hammered in.
"OK, that's enough, place in the stopper!"
The forechangeling pointed at one of the workers holding a few barrels on his back.
That changeling flew and dropped the barrels in front of the last piece of railroad.
Then, the train whistled one last time.
Every changeling covered their ears again.
The train then slowed down to a stop.
King Thorax flew in and landed on to the railroad station.
"King Thorax, the paint's still wet!"
"Wait, what—"
"Hail, King Thorax!" Then, every changeling that was there kneeled down to their king.
Thorax grinned. "Uh, thanks, but..." He lifted a hoof. It was now covered in white paint. The platform below now looked uneven in paint. "How do I remove this?" He hovered off the painted surface.
"King Thorax, I have a bucket of water!"
Then, a changeling threw the water at him.
The paint soaked off Thorax—and off some of the building.
"Argh!" The forechangeling pressed his head with his hooves. "Do you know how much effort was placed into painting the train station?!" He glared at the changeling with the bucket of water. "Now, what?!"
"OK, everyone stay calm!" Thorax said. He held out a hoof to the changelings around him. "Let's just be our best at being polite and kind to the royals of the Crystal Empire, alright?"
"Yes, King Thorax." Then, the changelings bowed down again.
Thorax sighed.
The rest of the train had diamond-shaped windows and had a bluer theme to its carriages—there were subtle reds, subtle pinks, and more blues to the colors. The front carriage had sharp, rough crystals as its bumper. Alongside the side windows, there was the front window which was rectangular.
Out of one of the doors of the carriages, a few ponies walked out, all of them holding trumpets bearing a pink banner that had the image of a blue, crystal heart and golden decorations. The ponies glimmered under the sunlight—their sloped coats and manes and tails reflected the light like a crystal would. Even their eyes were different—the twinkles in their eyes weren't round but had several sides.
Thorax took a deep breath.
The ponies blew the trumpets. Out of the instruments came a glorious and triumphant sound of brass. Then, they stepped aside.
Another Crystal Pony rolled out a red carpet.
"Wait, the paint's still wet!" Thorax cried out.
The pony holding the carpet stared at the carpet on the floor. He rolled it back and looked sheepishly at Thorax. "Uh, we'll do the grand entrance at the other side of the carriage, shall we?"
Thorax nodded. "It's alright."
The pony smiled.
Then, the rest of the Crystal Ponies hurried back inside and the door closed.
"Hm, how come they don't have paint on their hooves." Then, Thorax flew his way to the other side of the train.
Many of the changelings grinned as some of them sat on the grass, others stood on the grass, still others hovered above the grass.
Then, the Crystal Ponies went out with their trumpets and sounded the brass melody again. The Crystal Ponies stepped aside and a red carpet already tainted with marks of white paint rolled out to the grassy ground.
A few guards, some of them Crystal Ponies, flew out of the door and stood firmly beside the carpet. One of them, with a light orange coat, stood also among them.
"Behold, her highness and his highness, Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor of the Crystal Empire!" the light orange guard yelled.
And the changelings cheered when the stately royalty walked out of the train carriage—a pink alicorn and a white unicorn wearing noble clothes of red and purple and blue and yellow. The changelings kept on cheering for the couple when they opened their mouths wide, looking and beholding the sight of so many changelings applauding their former conquerors and vanquishers, looking and beholding the several buildings that were already there that showed to them that the promise of reconstruction was already being fulfilled, looking and beholding the tall rocky tower that went up to the sky, hearing again the cheers and the applause of the changelings there.
"Is that the baby?" a changeling asked out loud.
The alicorn foal cooed from the grip of Shining Armor.
"Isn't it a lovely place, Princess Cadance?" Thorax asked.
Cadance looked at him. "It's lovely, considering the circumstances that it had to go through."
Shining Armor still gawked at the many changelings there that were happy and joyful.
"Uh, Prince Shining Armor, are you OK?" Thorax said.
"No, Thorax, um, I'm fine!" He grinned. "It's just...unusual to see a lot of your citizens being happy at our visit. We're not here for diplomatic missions or anything—just some more good time with my wife somewhere else." He hugged her closer, still hugging the baby with one hoof. "So, what restaurants do you have here? Any special and fancy place to eat out with the candelight and all?" He grinned.
"It's noon, Prince Shining Armor."
The unicorn looked up at the sky. "Oh, I see." He still grinned. "Well, we'll just announce to your changelings that we're here just to visit and relax—nothing too serious, so they don't have to act all formal. Not too much trouble, right, Thorax?"
Thorax grinned. "Yeah, not too much trouble." He chuckled a little.
The Prince and the Princess of the Crystal Empire also chuckled a little, rather awkwardly, shifting their eyes to the left and to the right.
The Changeling Convenience Store, in all its yellow and orange cold, had changelings clamoring up to it. There were so many smiles, so many cheers—the noise penetrated the walls and the holes. Inside, Princess Cadance levitated her hayburger with her magic. The baby alicorn, Flurry Heart, cooed out while she looked around. Shining Armor also looked around, staring at the nice little place with its cheery cashiers behind the counter and the shelves that were close together. He looked across the table. "Uh, Thorax, when we meant any special and fancy place to eat out, is this your idea of a special and fancy place to eat out?"
"Yeah, it has the best food that we got!" Thorax grinned even wider.
"Yeah..." Shining Armor looked out the locked glass doors guarded by both pony and changeling guards, staving off a mass of changelings swarming at the entrance. "I understand if the Changeling Kingdom is still under intensive reconstruction efforts—everypony else seems to be hungry at this time of day, right?" He looked at Princess Cadance.
She smiled at him. "Are you alright, Shining?"
"Ah, yes, my dear!" He grinned at her and placed a hoof on the table, still holding Flurry Heart with another hoof. "What makes you think that I'm not alright?"
Princess Cadance gave him a strict glare. "I'll get straight to the point—you're acting very strangely today. We both agreed to spend some time together to relax from our duties, and we chose this place because we want to get more friendly to the changelings, didn't we?"
Shining Armor glanced at Thorax then at the mob of changelings right outside. He looked at Flurry Heart who looked back at him, smiling at him. He looked back at his wife. "Uh, yes, we agreed, but..."
"But, what, Shining?" She arched her eyebrows. "Is there something wrong? For example, with the changelings?"
Shining Armor grinned again. "It's something like that, but not exactly like that—"
"You're uncomfortable with the changelings, aren't you, Shining?"
Thorax looked at the white unicorn. "Uh, you don't need to pay for the food here, Prince Shining Armor. It's all free!" He smiled awkwardly.
Princess Cadance shook her head and sighed. "It's only been five minutes in the Changeling Kingdom and my husband's already acting strange because he's around creatures he's not OK with." She looked at his distraught face. "Is that true?"
Shining kept his grin on his face. He nudged Thorax. "Come on, Thorax!" He coughed. "I mean, sorry, King Thorax! There's nothing wrong with the Changeling Kingdom's relation with the Crystal Empire, so take it easy...?" Then, he sighed and looked down at the floor.
Flurry Heart still smiled as the baby looked at her dad.
Shining Armor stuttered, holding up a hoof to his mouth. He glanced at Thorax. "Now, OK, Thorax, it's nothing that horrible, just take it easy!" He smiled nervously at the changeling king.
Cadance raised her voice and glowered at him. "Shining!"
The cashiers gasped, though they did not say a word.
Shining Armor looked at his wife, with mouth open and eyes open wide, trying to say something but not a word came out.
Thorax looked at the couple, shivering nervously inside.
Flurry Heart still smiled through it all.
At the slanted balcony, one would see all of the Changeling Kingdom in front and all the beautiful wastes that surrounded the civilized city. The morning sun shone its bright light upon the couple as they stood, Cadance now holding the baby alicorn. Thorax stood a little distance away from the two, staying under the shade of the rocky, stony ceiling.
As the two talked over there, Thorax was shivering slightly. He tried to hear the sounds of the many changelings below—only a few buzzes were found. The chats and the talks that, combined, resonated to the tower were now almost silent, almost a whisper.
This is not good, Thorax thought. Shining Armor allergic to changelings? No, not allergic—ashamed of us? I thought we were friends. I mean, we got changed into good creatures that don't steal love from you! We now share love and we don't need to disguise ourselves and deceive others to get what we need from you! A tear welled up on one of his eyes. He sniffed quietly.
Is it that we're still changelings?
He sighed.
I don't want to shout at them. That will cause them to panic...
The words that were in front of him were now just sounds. He placed a hoof to his head and looked outside.
The night before
Under the stars and the moon of the dark night sky, the Crystal Empire gleamed and twinkled. The buildings were polygonical and of many sides, the grass was very green, the road was sparkling clean and even shiny, and the Crytal Tower, at the center of the Empire, stood tall on its four legs, having huge white-blue crystals strut out from it, reaching out to the air. Two spires sided a great tower that went up even further. Two tall windows of a blue diamond-checkerboard deseign stood tall beside a golden balcony. Under that balcony was an image of a pink heart.
On the balcony, one could see the many buildings that stretched out to as far as the roads went—which wasn't really that far, but it was still a nice clean place to live in. Beyond the grass, there were the rocky and snowy mountains that surrounded the Crystal Empire, tall and imposing, being natural walls.
A crystal statue of a baby dragon holding a heart made out of crystal stood at one intersection.
Several Crystal Ponies walked on the streets, under the glow of the bright blue streethlights that were made out of crystal.
Two ponies stood on the balcony, looking at the grand empire in front of them.
"So, Cadance, have you decided on where to go tomorrow?" Shining asked, smiling. "We could go to Manehattan—there's lots of places to spend time together there!"
Cadance chuckled. "We'd get mobbed there, Shining, considering all the florists there who'd do anything to sell us flowers."
Shining chuckled, too. "Don't worry. Don't you remember that I'm proficient in defensive magic? I can use a magic shield to protect you from the attacking florists."
Cadance smiled. "I don't want to go to such a noisy place. The streets are croweded, the ponies are talkative, and there's way too much activity."
"Well, what's your suggestion, then?"
Cadance tapped her chin with a hoof. "Not Ponyville, since apparently, I can't spend some time near Twilight without going into some form of trouble. Not Canterlot, since we just went there last week. What about Appleloosa?"
"Appleloosa?!" Shining opened his eyes wide. "What are we going to do there?"
"Just kidding for now." She grinned. "Hey, what about we go to the Changeling Kingdom?"
Shining's eyes opened wide again. "Wait, the Changeling Kingdom?"
Cadance nodded. "The one and only."
Shining laughed nervously, scratching his mane. "But, we haven't been there before! Maybe Flurry Heart might get sick over there since the air is different there! Yeah, the smells!" He glanced anxiously behind him. "She's going to cry a lot there and I'm sure that will annoy every changeling there...heh!" Shining grinned at her.
"If it smells bad there, we'll just tell them—besides, Thorax really wants the Changeling Kingdom to have a good image in Equestria. The moment he sees our notice, he will make sure not to make us annoyed there." She frowned. "Although, I think he might be making too sure about not annoying us. That might cause a problem, too. But, we're going to the Changeling Kingdom, anyway."
"Uh, what about Cloudsdale?"
Cadance laughed. "I know that it's the first trip to the Changeling Kingdom, Shining, but you don't have to act like a foal!" She laughed again. "I can't believe it—my husband, Prince Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard, is also afraid to go to a new place like a foal! Wait until everypony hears that!"
Shining laughed along with her, although nervously and while glancing away from her.
"And, besides, not only do we get to relax there, we also get to mingle and make friends with changelings!" She gazed up and saw the beautiful night sky with its twinkling stars and its gleaming moon, shining its moonlight onto the empire. She sighed, although the smile on her face was still there. She turned around, looking at Shining having a nervous face.
"Are you sure there's no other place you're considering?"
Cadance shook her head. "No."
"But, they're still rebuilding. It's not the ideal place to spend time at!" There was no smile on his face. "They might not give us the best courtesy because they're busy building buildings and cooking food for every changeling at work!"
"Just making excuses won't work on me, Shining," Cadance said, smiling at him. "Now, prepare your bits, because it's settled! We're going to the Changeling Kingdom to relax with each other!"
Shining Armor chuckled nervously again. "Yeah, we'll have a great time together! Heh-heh."
At the present
Thorax looked at the two.
Shining frowned and gazed at the floor.
Cadance looked at the sulking unicorn. "Shining, I'm your wife—we don't hide things from each other, and this is probably the best time right now to tell me what it is about changelings that makes you so uncomfortable?" She looked out at the kingdom below. "What would the rest of the changelings think? That the Prince of the Crystal Empire is not the caring and kind unicorn that everypony thinks he is."
Shining faced Cadance.
"I thought you no longer believed that there was no such thing as a good changeling, Shining. What happened?"
"I do believe that there's such a thing as a good changeling. It's just...the changelings, even though they're alright now...they still remind me of...the..." He sniffed. "Wedding."
There was silence for a while.
"I don't want the changelings to come between us again."
"Even if they're trying to make us happy right now?"
Shining raised a hoof and opened his mouth to say something. Then, he closed his mouth and lowered his hoof.
Thorax walked up to the couple. "I understand, Shining. I know that many of us were there at the attack on Canterlot, but you know that's not who we are now, right?"
Shining looked at Thorax who was smiling. He looked at Cadance who was also smiling.
Then, he stood up.
"I..." He looked around, struggling to keep a straight face at both Thorax and Cadance. "I...I guess I'll have to overcome that fear..." He looked back down to the ground. "I don't want to be traumatized again by that incident." Then, he firmly placed a hoof on the ground, looking at King Thorax, trying to smile then losing that smile. "I think we should get more time to know the rest of your subjects—"
"They're not really my subjects," Thorax said. "I don't like all the royalties of...uh, royalty." He grinned a nervous grin. "But, if that's the right thing to do so you won't have to act so strange in front of your wife, then...OK!" He grinned again.
Shining chuckled. So did Cadance. Thorax still smiled. Flurry Heart cooed, not knowing what just happened around her.
"So, other than eateries, what do you have here?" Cadance asked. "Particularly places where we can get to talk to changelings."
"Um..."
Thorax flew out the room and observed the land below him.
"There's a grass field near the tower, if that's a lovely place to hang out at."