Fitting In Is Hard To Do

by origami


Part II, Chapter 11 - Being Outed and Coming Clean

Princess Cadance sat reading copies of various newspapers as she had a breakfast of grapefruit and tea. Her husband was attending to their foal, who was happily gulping down some peaches with a little bit of yogurt.

Not long ago, Princess Twilight and her assistant Spike had stopped in to talk to the royal couple. Of course, talked was the generic and nice way of putting it. Twilight had some cross words with both Cadance and Shining about what happened with Thorax. Cadance was apologetic, but Shining Armor was more dismissive of the scolding he received.

After Twilight had vented her frustrations, she then proposed the idea that Thorax be allowed to move from the Crystal Empire to Ponyville so that Twilight could give him better protection as well as personally oversee his lessons, both in regards to general knowledge and the ways of friendship and harmony. Shining was against the idea; The thought of his sister being so close to an enemy of Equestria made his blood boil, not to mention the fact that said enemy was a creature that fed itself by sucking the very emotions out of other living beings.

Cadance was more open to the idea, but made one point rather clear: Regardless of her opinion on the matter, it would be up to Thorax to decide. While she had initially kept quiet her uncertainty regarding Thorax, her feelings about him softened to the point where, while she might not desire to suddenly open her borders to the changeling hive, she could at least extend an olive branch of sorts by taking an interest in the welfare of the only one to date that wished to have peaceful relations with her subjects.

Cadance flipped through various newspapers situated on her table. There was the Canterlot Herald, which told her about the affairs of the capital city and the legislation of Equestria as a whole, then the Ponyville Free Press, Manehattan Times, The Fillydelphia Enquirer, and the Whinnyapolis Gazette. Missing from the pile was the Crystal Empire Courier, which her husband had on his side of the table.

As Cadance glanced over the headlines in the Fillydelphia Enquirer, a servant burst into the dining hall. They were out of breath and carried a newspaper in their magic. "Your highness!", the mare said while giving a bow and catching her breath,"There is something you need to see!"

Cadance looked at the mare in confusion and ushered her forward. The mare trotted over and placed the paper on the table. One look told the princess why she hadn't seen this newspaper: The Crystal Empire Babbler. A tabloid that was reputed to spout nothing but sensational stories with little fact to them.

Looking closer, however, revealed the reason the servant felt compelled to show it to the two sovereigns of the empire. On the cover was a headline that would normally be dismissed as yet another sensational story with nary a grain of truth to it, but Cadance knew that this story had truth to it, the kind she would've preferred to have stayed hidden. Cadance had a look that could melt the very crystal of the palace into lava.

Shining Armor walked over to his wife and was about to ask what was wrong, before casting a gaze to the paper on the table and seeing the headline, then he too adopted an extremely agitated look. Both looking at each other with the angered expressions, and then back down to the headline that triggered their anger to begin with:

CHANGELING IN THE CRYSTAL PALACE? FORMER STAFF MEMBER REVEALS ALL IN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW!

Cadance took a breath to calm herself. "Thank you", she said to the mare who brought the paper,"You are dismissed."

The mare gave a shaky bow, nervous upon seeing a look on the princess's face that she had never seen before and hoped never to see again. After rising back up, she quickly turned and left the dining hall.

Cadance and Shining both stood where they were for several moments before speaking. Shining was the one to break the silence.

"Those rats!" he said with venom, but did not shout, still aware of his daughter in the room.

"I believe 'rat' is appropriate in this instance" Cadance countered.

"What do you mean?", Shining asked with skepticism,"Don't tell me you don't believe that the both of them didn't play a part in this?"

"I believe this was all the work of Miss Feather Duster", Cadance clarified,"I don't think Mister Elbow Grease had any part of this."

"How can you be sure?" Shining asked, a bit more accusingly than intended. Cadance shot him a look.

"Just call it a gut feeling", she told him as she looked at the paper,"I'm going to make a request for this story to be redacted."

Shining looked uncomfortable at that suggestion. "I don't think that's a good idea, Cady."

"And why not?" Cadance asked her husband.

"Well, having the story redacted will make it look like we're trying to hide something" Shining answered. "Perhaps we can put out a statement that the story is just a sensational piece to sell their newspaper? They are a tabloid, and I can't imagine there are many ponies that would put stock in what they write."

"I would usually agree with that", Cadance acknowledged,"but there's a chance the author of this article may take offense and want to prove the validity of this story."

After Cadance said that, she suddenly remembered something and put a hoof to her forehead as she let out a groan.

"Cady?" Shining asked his wife with concern.

"The asylum agreement" she said plainly. "It's on file in the hall of records. If we try to say the story is fake and the author goes snooping for evidence to support it, she'll find that and publish it in the paper."

"Couldn't we classify it as a state secret?", Shining countered,"Redact it so it doesn't mention the changeling's name or the fact that it is a changeling?"

"That'll look even more suspicious", Cadance replied,"'An individual not identified by name and no territory of origin provided is granted asylum in the Crystal Empire'? Ponies will ask questions when it comes up!"

Flurry had stayed quiet for some amount of time, but had started babbling at her parents to get their attention. Shining took notice and levitated a spoon of peaches and yogurt to his young daughter, the filly happily taking the offered bite of food.

"Then that means..." Shining started, then paused to think about the response. When he realized what needed to be done, he put a hoof to his own head and let out an uncomfortable breath. "We're gonna have to come clean", he said,"whether we like it or not."

"I'll make the arrangements to have a formal announcement sometime tomorrow", Cadance told him,"Right now, we need to take care of a few things. I want to go see what is happening with Twilight and the changeling. You go on over to the guard station and confront Feather and Elbow. I'm confident he has no part in the story, but we should make sure to be on the safe side. As for Feather, tell her I'm passing along her file to Canterlot."

Shining went wide-eyed at the last statement. "You're sending the file to Canterlot? What for?"

"I want both Aunt Celestia and Aunt Luna to see this for themselves", Cadance answered,"and then I want them to make a decision in regards to her."

Shining maintained his 'deer in the headlights' look. "You don't think they'd actually...?"

"They might", replied Cadance,"or she'll go to the dungeons for a long time. Who knows?"

Shining sat and digested this decision of his wife's. "Will the princesses make a decision on this?", he asked his wife,"This is deciding a punitive action for a crime not committed in their territory."

Cadance replied with a rather official sounding answer. "I reserve the right to defer judgement to the princesses if I feel that either I cannot provide fair judgement, or if I don't have the authority to invoke what I feel to be a more severe yet appropriate punishment."

Shining thought over what his wife said before finally agreeing. "Okay", he said,"I'll head over to the station and take care of that mess." He then made his exit from the room. Cadance then called over Andesite and asked her to look up information on both Feather Duster and Juicy Scoop. A feeling in her gut told her those two had some kind of connection. After all, why would she share this story with a tabloid reporter and not a paper that published legitimate news?

A babbling sound caught her attention. She looked over to see her daughter trying to scoop more of her breakfast out with a spoon. Cadance took the spoon from the foal.

"I'm sorry, Flurry", she said to her foal as she scooped up more peaches and yogurt to feed her daughter,"Daddy got distracted and forgot to feed you all your yummies!" Flurry giggled and took the bite of food, making happy sounds as she was fed her breakfast.


Shining Armor had made his way out of the Crystal Palace and was now making his way down the street towards the guard station holding the two ponies about to receive punishment for the most severe crimes the empire has seen since Sombra's return. He had managed to calm down somewhat but was still rather peeved about the article.

His anger soon turned to dread when he heard his name called.

"Captain Shining Armor!" a voice called out to him. The stallion turned to face a number of ponies with notepads and quills handy. One even had a hat with a "PRESS" card in it. They soon caught up and began bombarding him with questions, almost all of them about the story in the Babbler.

Shining wanted to rub his temples, but didn't want to feed the tabloids anymore fodder than what they already had. He composed himself and raised a hoof to silence them. "Mares and Stallions!", he addressed them,"At this time, I have no statement on the story that was ran in today's issue of the Crystal Empire Babbler. The princess and I are both aware of the story but have not had an opportunity to discuss it properly. Once we have, we will decide whether to give an opinion on the article or not, but I cannot make a promise one way or the other. Thank you."

Shining pushed past them as they still continued bombarding him with questions. While it didn't show, Shining was beginning to boil inside. A part of him hoped that a recruit would have a slip up so he could vent a little bit of frustration once he got to the guard station.

Once at the station, Shining made his way down to the cell blocks. First, he would question Elbow to see what he knew about the story, if anything. It wouldn't take long, not once he picked up an assistant for the task.

The processing area had a pair of guards stationed there. One was a crystal pony stallion, and the other an earth pony mare. Both saluted as they saw the captain approaching. "At ease", Shining commanded them,"Is Mage Night Diving still stationed here?"

"Yes, sir" the stallion replied, his armor insignia's indicating him holding a rank above the mare beside him.

"Good", Shining responded,"Please retrieve her and tell her to come down to the cell block."

"Yes sir!" the stallion replied, then told his subordinate to find the mare in question. After she left, Shining then asked for a copy of the spell consent boilerplate as well as a pen, then made his way down the cell block to where the two ponies in question were located.

The cell block was divided into two sections. One side was for stallions, and the other side for mares. The two guards at the processing station were responsible for their gender's respective side. In the event of a transgendered pony, which was a relatively rare occurrence, they were placed in a special neutral area and were asked about their identity and the response dictated what guard watched them.

Making his way down the cell block, he eventually saw the stallion he was looking for. Using his magic to open the cell door, he stepped inside and closed the door behind him.

Elbow had been sitting on his cot looking despondent when he heard the cell door. Upon looking up and seeing the guard captain, he had a defeated look. "Here to issue my sentence?" he asked.

"Not at this time", Shining said with a neutral tone to his voice,"A situation has occurred and I have to ask you some questions in regards to it. It requires use of the truth-sensing spell, so I'll need you to sign the consent form."

Elbow nodded and took the paper and pen in his magic, scratching his name on the bottom of the form and handing it back to Shining. "The mage should be along in a moment" the captain told Elbow. Elbow nodded and the two sat in silence for a few moments. Then Elbow spoke up.

"Sir?" he said, getting the captain's attention. "Could I make a request?"

"It depends on what that request is" Shining replied, once again using the neutral tone.

"If it would be possible", Elbow began,"could I speak with the changeling before whatever sentence I have to serve is carried out?"

Shining thought on this for a moment, but eventually replied "I'll have to see what my wife thinks about this and whether or not she thinks it would be okay to grant that request."

"I appreciate you doing that much" Elbow said as he remained quiet for the time being. Shining wondered what exactly the stallion was going to say to the changeling, but a familiar pony tapped their hoof on the iron bars.

Shining looked up to address them. "Mage Divining", he said,"glad that you were available on such short notice."

The mare gave a salute. "Always glad to be of service, sir!" she responded.

Shining opened the door and let Night inside. Just outside the cell was the earth pony mare. "I want you to stay there and observe this questioning" he instructed. The mare gave a salute as well as saying "Yes sir!" in a loud voice.

"Now then", Shining turned to Night,"We'll need to conduct the truth sensing spell yet again. I've already gotten his consent, so you may begin when ready." He showed the paper to Night, who nodded and activated the spell. Elbow was shrouded in a fog like before.

"Depending on your response and truthfulness", Shining began,"You may need to only answer one question, so I will start with that one. An article was published today in the Crystal Empire Babbler, and contained a lot of sensitive material in it that could've only been divulged by breaching a non-disclosure agreement signed by palace staff. Do you know anything about this article?"

Elbow thought for a moment before giving his answer. "I can probably make a very good guess as to who divulged that information, but if my deductive reasoning is worth any salt, then my answer is that I have nothing to do with that article." In confirmation, the fog turned a green color.

"Interesting", Shining said,"And who do you believe is responsible?"

"Feather Duster" Elbow replied, the fog-like aura again turning green.

"What reason do you think she did that for?" Shining asked.

Elbow thought for a moment before replying "I think it was to spite the princess." Again, the aura was green.

"Night, you may discontinue the spell" Shining told the mare, who released the spell. The captain then turned back to Elbow. "Thank you for your cooperation", he said to him,"I'll make note of this and pass it along to the princess. She may consider a more lenient punishment if you cooperate further." Having the information he needed, Shining exited the cell with Night.

"Thank you for your services Night", Shining said once outside the cell,"You may resume your original duties." Night gave a salute and set off towards the exit. Shining turned to the earth pony mare and gestured for her to follow him. He had one more fly in the ointment to deal with.

Feather Duster sat in her cell, now sporting an inhibitor ring, waiting to hear from the princess. She knew the stunt would likely get her more punishment, but she would do the time with the satisfaction that the princess would have to come clean about the changeling, which she hoped might result in the call for her to abdicate her throne. That was an unrealistic prospect, but one that could still happen.

A group of clopping hooves caught her attention. Outside the cell, a squad of royal guards was gathered. Stepping into view behind them was a white unicorn stallion with a blue mane and a red uniform. Feather recognized him immediately as Captain Shining Armor, who was accompanied by a mare guard.

Shining opened the cell door and stepped through. As before, he instructed the guard to stay outside and observe, then closed the door behind him. He faced the mare inside with a piercing look, as though his eyes were daggers. Feather looked at him with amusement.

"My, captain", she said teasingly,"paying a visit to a mare that isn't your wife? How scandalous!"

"Can it, you wench!" Shining spat at her.

"Oh", Feather feigned offense,"Using such language when young foals could be present?"

"If you know what is good for you", Shining said in a threatening manner,"you will cease with the unpleasantness right now!"

"What does it matter?", Feather said, her tone of voice no longer playful,"I've already dug plenty deep enough of a hole."

"Yes, straight to Mă, as it were" Shining said, the venom disappering and being replaced with... amusement?

This caught Feather off guard. "What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Princess Cadance has seen it fit to defer judgement of your case to the princesses in Canterlot", he explained,"She either feels she can't fairly judge your case, or more likely, thinks you deserve something far worse than she herself could enforce upon you."

Feather, already having a pale colored coat, went paler. "B-But the only punishment she couldn't enact upon me is..." Her voice trailed off as realization set in.

Shining just gave a simple nod. "That's why I think you should be a little bit nicer. You may only need to spend half your life in the dungeons if you do that." He turned and proceeded to walk out the cell door. "Of course", he added before leaving,"the princesses don't exactly hold ponies that believe in causing violence in high regard. It may not matter what you do to try and earn last minute brownie points." With that, he left the cell.

For the rest of her time in the guard station, Feather said nothing else, simply hoping to all of creation she wouldn't go where she thought she might be sent.


Thorax laid in his bed in the infirmary talking to Brass Polish. He was propped up slightly, which allowed him to look at the mare when she spoke to him without having to lean over top of him. The two were talking about the goings on yesterday. Brass had told Thorax how the two new ponies on their crew were curious about what happened and showed actual concern when they heard about what happened to him. That made Thorax smile; It felt good to know that there were more ponies than what he thought that cared about his well-being.

A knocking on the door caught both Brass and Thorax's attention. The door opened to reveal a purple alicorn princess and a small purple dragon. Thorax wanted to jump with glee upon seeing the two.

"Twilight! Spike!", he exclaimed,"You're here!"

Twilight gave a wave with her hoof while Spike bounded up onto the bed to give his friend a hug. The little dragon radiated concern and worry. "I'm glad you're okay" Spike told him.

"I am too" Thorax agreed, wrapping his forelegs around his friend.

"It's good to see you recovering well", Twilight said,"Doctor Caduceus was afraid his inexperience with changeling anatomy might lead to him not diagnosing a potentially fatal injury."

"I got beat up pretty good", Thorax admitted,"but the worst of it was a concussion. I'm better from that, but my wings will take some time to recover."

Twilight looked at him with confusion. "You're already over your concussion?"

"I wouldn't say I'm over it", Thorax clarified,"It's just I've recovered well enough for it not to be an immediate concern. Doctor Caduceus still wants to observe me to make sure there aren't any surprises down the road."

"Well, it's always good to be cautious" Twilight agreed. She then took notice of Brass sitting on the other side of the bed. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see you sitting there."

Brass sat there a bit starstruck. Up to this point, she'd only ever addressed the princesses in a formal manner that was commanded of her position. This was the first time one had spoken to her in such a casual manner. Thorax noticed and decided to break the ice for her.

"Twilight, Spike", he said,"This is Brass Polish. Besides Sunburst, she's been the first real friend I've had since Princess Cadance allowed me to stay here."

Twilight smiled and offered a hoof towards Brass. "It's good to finally meet you in pony", she said to her,"I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle, and this is my assistant Spike."

Spike smiled and gave a wave to the mare. "Hello" he said to her.

Brass sat there for a few moments longer before her brain caught up to her. "Oh!", she said as she reached her own hoof out to bump the princess,"I'm Brass Polish, but you may call me Brass, your highness."

Twilight waved her hoof at Brass. "Please, you don't have to be so formal with me", she told the mare,"Just calling me Twilight is fine."

Brass gave a nervous nod. The suggestion made her a tad uncomfortable; She'd always been trained to treat the princesses of Equestria with the utmost respect, which meant never acting as casual as what Twilight was suggesting she should. "I-If you say so" she said without certainty.

Twilight could sense her unease, so she elected to change topics. "So, how did you and Thorax meet each other?" she asked.

"It's a long story", Brass began,"but the simple version is we met on the first day when he was assigned to the cleaning crew I was part of."

Twilight got a slightly disgusted look upon hearing that. "I take it this was the same crew that had the two ponies that attacked Thorax?" she asked Brass, displeasure evident in her tone of voice.

"Mhm", Brass replied,"but they're both under arrest now, so they won't get the chance to do that again."

"I should hope not", Twilight responded, then turned to Thorax. "I did actually want to discuss something with you."

"Oh?" Thorax said curiously.

"I get the feeling that you haven't exactly gotten the fairest treatment here in the Crystal Empire", she began,"and I strongly believe that that was Cadance and Shining's fault. Those restraints, being kept in the palace and that 'community service'? That all just sounds like they've gotten you to agree to a prison sentence."

"That's why I spoke with them this morning, and I would like to offer you the chance to come live with me in Ponyville in my own castle. You'll receive better treatment, and I can work with you on all the stuff you want to learn about friendship too. Plus, you'll get to see Spike a lot more as well."

"Yeah", Spike said encouragingly,"I could even teach you how to play Ogres and Oubliettes too!"

Thorax was surprised at the offer. He could go live with ponies that would accept him. A part of him wanted to just jump at the offer and go pack his bags now. Then he looked at Brass. He could see the smile on her face, but that belied the sadness he could feel coming off of her. Even though she was outwardly happy, she didn't like the thought of her friend moving away.

"That's a great offer", Thorax admitted,"but do you think I could have a chance to think it over?"

Twilight looked at him with some confusion, but then saw him looking at Brass and nodded. "Take your time and think it over", she told him,"Moving to another place is a lot for a pony, so it's not a decision you should just do willy nilly."

"Thank you, Twilight", Thorax told her.

"Anyways", Twilight continued,"we got a little off track. You were discussing your first time meeting Thorax?"

Brass blinked before realizing she had been interrupted in her story. "Oh, right!" she said before coughing to clear her throat. "Well, we were made aware he might be part of the crew earlier in the day, and were actually instructed on spells deemed effective against changelings so we would feel safe if Thorax proved unruly. Of course, he didn't, so there was never a need beyond peace of mind for the staff."

Twilight became rather annoyed hearing about the spells, but could also understand the necessity of the staff feeling comfortable enough to work.

Brass continued her story. "For the first part of the day, Thorax was mainly seen to by Feather and Elbow, and they treated him like a mean dog that might bite any second. They were also rather critical of Princess Cadance and her decision to let Thorax stay here. They asked me my opinion, but at the time I was really unsure of what to think. Thorax is literally my first face to face interaction with a changeling, and it was unlike anything I would've thought it to have been like."

"How did you think it was gonna go?" Twilight asked.

"Honestly, my expectations were similar to what happened to ponies during the wedding: chased around, cocooned, drained of love and left apathetic or catatonic."

Twilight and Thorax both grimaced at the expectations Brass described.

"None of that matters now, though", Brass added, putting a hoof on Thorax's foreleg,"In the afternoon, after I had lunch and Thorax had his lesson time with the crystaller, he came back and started doing the dusting of tables in the hallway."

"I wasn't there to witness it initially, but when I came around the corner after hearing some shouting, that's when I saw Elbow attacking Thorax with a duster. I'd heard Thorax shout about not doing the same job again, and deduced that Elbow was using his usual hazing tactic."

Twilight looked shocked upon hearing that. "Hazing?!"

Brass nodded. "I know it's frowned upon, but you know what they say,'colts will be colts'."

Twilight shook her head. "No, that's not okay! Ponies shouldn't be mistreating each other, even if the one part isn't technically a pony!"

Brass nodded her head. "I never said I thought it was okay, but I know that if I had tried to report it, even to the princess, there was a very good chance it either would've amounted to nothing or just a slap on the fetlock."

Twilight wanted to counter with her own argument, but she knew it was useless. The attack on Canterlot was the first interaction ponies had with changelings ever, or at least the first in a very long time; Twilight's research on that topic was still incomplete. The invasion was going to be a difficult first impression for any changelings seeking peace with ponies to overcome.

Brass continued her story. "I saw what Elbow was doing and blasted him with a stun spell. He got up and started berating me and suggesting I had certain desires involving Thorax, which got us arguing before eventually he gave up and stormed off like a child throwing a tantrum."

Twilight blinked. "Certain desires?"

Brass rolled her eyes. "Elbow was insinuating that I wanted to take Thorax in my bedchambers, so to speak."

Twilight processed what she'd been told and went wide eyed. "Well", she said with a blush,"That is, uh, rather childish. So he stormed off and you two made friends?"

"Well, we talked, and then we cleaned a horrendous mess in BOTH bathrooms, and then we parted on pleasant words. We talked more and more each day and, well, we became friends."

Twilight smiled upon hearing that. "It always makes me happy to hear about ponies putting aside their misconceptions to give a chance to those that other ponies wouldn't even think to."

"I always try to do what I believe either Princess Cadance or Princess Celestia would do" Brass responded.

"What about Princess Luna?" Twilight questioned.

Brass looked a little embarrassed. "Well, I guess I would try to follow her example too, but I get the impression she would be a little quicker to more aggressive actions than her sister."

Twilight looked a little offended. "That wouldn't be because of her formerly being possessed by Nightmare Moon, would it?"

Brass became sheepish. "M-Maybe?"

Twilight let out a groan. "I shouldn't be surprised", she admitted,"but Luna is just as good a pony as anypony else. What happened so long ago is because she felt underappreciated because of all the work she put into the night sky going unnoticed and everypony saying how great Celestia's sun was. You can't really fault a pony for feeling that way when what she is mad about is basically a fact, and a changeable one at that."

"I guess" Brass admitted, feeling a little bit of shame.

"It's okay", Twilight said reassuringly,"Princess Luna has the same problem that all the changelings who may wish to live peacefully with ponies have: getting past a bad first impression. I know I shouldn't get so annoyed by it, but I've gotten to know Princess Luna, and she is a really great pony, and she really wants to make amends for her mistakes in the past. I just wish more ponies would give her the chance."

Brass just gave a nod, and for a few moments, there was silence. After a little bit, Twilight asked another question. "Cadance had said to me that when Thorax was unconscious, his body started feeding on nearby ponies. How come you locked yourself in a room with him?"

The response she Twilight from Brass wasn't what she was expecting.

"I did it because I care about Thorax and don't want to see him hurt", she explained,"I knew it was risky, but I didn't feel like I had another choice!"

"I know, Brass", Twilight responded,"and I don't fault you for feeling that way. However, it wasn't a good decision to make. Thorax could've easily taken all of the love in you and left you catatonic and without feeling. I'm sure he didn't want that to happen to you."

"I didn't", Thorax chimed in,"and I made sure to tell her as much."

"And I said that I didn't care about the consequences!", Brass retorted,"Besides, I never felt any of those bad side effects anyways."

That got Twilight's attention. "Wait a minute", she said in disbelief,"You mean Thorax fed on you, and you didn't feel any of the negative effects?"

Brass shook her head. "Nope. Not one."

"How?" Twilight said, trying to come up with an answer.

"I couldn't tell you", Brass admitted,"All I know is I was in there longer than most other ponies and I came out feeling no worse for wear."

"Hmm", Twilight said while rubbing a hoof on the other side of her muzzle,"That's interesting."

"What is it?" Spike asked her.

"I'm not sure", Twilight answered,"I want to do some experiments to see what evidence might turn up. Of course, I'll need Brass and Thorax to consent."

"What kind of experiments?" Thorax asked.

Before Twilight could give a response, there was a knocking at the door. A moment later, the door opened to reveal Princess Cadance.

"Cadance?!", Twilight said in surprise,"What are you doing here?"

"I don't mean to intrude", Cadance said with an uncomfortable expression on her face,"but if you three would allow me, I would like to speak with Thorax privately."

Brass, Spike and Twilight all looked at each other before agreeing. The three left the room with Twilight being the last to walk out. Before she did, she turned to Thorax and told him,"Think about the offer I made to you, and also, I'll send you a letter explaining the theories I have and the experiments I want to run." With that said, Twilight closed the door, leaving Cadance and Thorax alone. It was silent for a few moments before Cadance finally spoke.

"I..."

Cadance hesitated for a moment before finally coming out with what she had to say.

"Thorax, I'm sorry"

Thorax went wide eyed. For the second time in less than a year, a crown princess of Equestria was apologizing to him. "W-What are you apologizing for?" he asked timidly.

"To start with", Cadance began,"I want to apologize for what happened to you the other day."

"None of what-" Thorax started to say, but was interrupted by the princess.

"When you agreed to our agreement a few months ago, I delegated the vetting process to another pony. I gave instructions on how to conduct that process, but they weren't worth any salt."

"I only required simple background checks on the vetted ponies, but I should've required more in depth ones. Had I done that, we would've discovered earlier that Feather and Elbow both had family members who were attacked by changelings in Canterlot, and that both of them were present that day."

"I also found out that Feather was diagnosed with a chemical imbalance disorder that makes her prone to rather aggressive behavior, and a medical test not long ago showed that she was not taking her prescribed medication to treat it, which is more than likely what caused her more extreme behavior as of late, not that that excuses it in any way."

Cadance hesitated for a moment before continuing.

"I also want to apologize for my behavior as well. I realize now that the meeting we had a few days ago was our first interaction since I granted your stay here in the Crystal Empire. I would like to claim that that was because of a lack of free time to meet with you, but that would be a lie. I've been purposefully avoiding you because I didn't want to have to interact with you, and it's because of what happened in Canterlot."

"Princess, I can't apologize enough for what happened that day" Thorax told her, but her hoof stopped him from saying anything else.

"You've already said enough Thorax", she told him,"and in truth, you never really needed to say anything from the start. You took a big risk leaving your hive to try and find a better way for your kind. That's not something that should be punished, it should be lauded."

Cadance then produced a manila folder and gave it to Thorax.

"I intend to correct a few of my mistakes today" Cadance said with conviction. "First is that agreement we made. I knew it full well at the time, but I'm just gonna say it now: That agreement wasn't any kind of granting request for asylum. In truth, it was a prison sentence."

"As of now, that agreement is null and void. In its place, I'm establishing a new one, and doing it right this time."

"First, you are now a probationary citizen of the Crystal Empire."

"Probationary citizen?" Thorax said questioningly.

"Yes", Cadance answered,"You will have all the rights of a citizen with the exception of certain civic duties, such as voting or running for public office within the empire. This probation is for one year, but the citizenship can be revoked if you are convicted of a crime, so you are to still be on your best behavior, not that I have any credible reason to doubt you at the moment."

"Next, I'm ending your guard escorts around the palace. The posted guards will still keep watch of you and make sure you don't go into any places that you're not allowed, but you won't be followed either."

"I'm also going to be removing the majority of your restraints, leaving just the ring on your horn, which we will have to cast a new one. I am going to authorize use of a weaker enchantment that will not put as much strain on your use of magic, but it will still prohibit the majority of magic that can be used to cause harm."

Cadance paused again to produce a bag from somewhere. She used her magic to open it and place it on the bed with Thorax. When he looked inside, he saw a large sum of gold bit coins.

"I also invite you to stay here in the palace and continue working as a member of the cleaning staff", she explained,"and since I'm absolving our previous agreement, I'm giving you what amounts to three months back pay at base salary. I'm also exempting taxes from this, but future pay will be subject to that."

Thorax looked at the documents and bag of bits. "I don't know what to say" he honestly told her.

"There's nothing to say", Cadance answered,"at least, nothing for you to say. I still have to say the most important part of all of this."

"Thorax, I am deeply sorry for what has happened to you and how I have treated you with such apathy. From this moment forward, I intend to look out for your well-being, and ensure no more harm comes to you."

Thorax still couldn't process the fact that a princess was apologizing to him again, nor the fact that he was being given so much. "Thank you, your highness" he finally said to her.

Cadance gave a nod and finally stood up. She didn't leave the room yet, however.

"There is one more thing" she told Thorax. "I'm also allowing you to leave the palace to explore the Crystal Empire. That being said, there is some business I will have to clear up before I can allow you to do that."

Thorax looked confused, until Cadance presented him with a newspaper. The paper was called the Crystal Empire Babbler, and on the cover was a headline claiming a member of the Crystal Palace's staff gave an interview regarding him.

"This paper was published today", she informed him,"and there are ponies already questioning whether or not this is real."

"I never announced that you were allowed to stay here in the empire, so nopony knows you're here besides palace staff, and they've all signed NDAs in regards to you."

"NDAs?" Thorax questioned.

"Non Disclosure Agreements", Cadance explained,"It means that nopony on the palace staff is allowed to speak about your being here. If they did, they would face legal action against themselves. Of course, somepony did, more specifically Feather, and she will have to deal with that in addition to the other crimes she's committed."

"How do you know it was Feather", Thorax asked her.

"I looked up information on Feather and the author of this article, a mare named Juicy Scoop. Apparently, they were close friends while attending college. Juicy followed through on a journalism career, but Feather dropped out of a mechanical design program. It would seem that Feather decided to give her friend a very inside story."

"Regardless of the story, I should've told ponies about you months ago, but I honestly didn't think you would agree to the proposal for asylum I made to you, so I did that, mostly to avoid a panic. There was already enough fear from when you were spotted in the empire. I didn't want any more paranoia to set in with the revelation that a changeling was staying in the palace; It would be too easy for ponies to assume the royal family was being replaced by impostors."

"They could still think that" Thorax pointed out.

"That's true", Cadance agreed,"but with this article, I feel the best thing anypony can do now is to come clean about the whole situation. We should've announced your being allowed to stay here months ago, but we were too afraid of all the bad things that could happen."

Thorax nodded and thought over what he was told. He was glad to be receiving all of the things that he was receiving, but he was also sad and remorseful hearing about how much panic was caused by his arrival in the Crystal Empire. Cadance interrupted his thoughts.

"I intend to make a formal announcement to everypony here in the empire", she declared,"It will be tomorrow at noon, and I will address them from the main balcony overlooking the palace square. Once you've been fitted for the replacement ring, the guards will bring you up to the balcony so that I may properly introduce you to the empire."

Cadance moved to leave but Thorax stopped her. "Thank you for all of this" he said to her.

"There's no thanks needed", she told him,"Like I said, this should've been done months ago."