The train arrived in Canterlot precisely on time. As the car slowed to a halt, Shining Armor hugged Cadance tightly, the distracted-looking pink Alicorn gasping slightly at the unexpected contact, before smiling and returning the embrace. His warm fur shifted against her slightly as he gave one last squeeze before backing away, brushing his lips against her cheek as he did so.
“Come on, dear. We’ve got a week here; let’s get my parents out of the way as soon as possible so they’ve got the full week to get used to it and we don’t leave them wondering about and possibly spreading nasty rumors if they remained unconvinced. Shall we go?” Shining Armor asked, once again offering forth his trademark smile. Cadance opened her mouth to respond, but caught herself before she spoke, and closed her mouth again as she felt her enlarged canines drag across her lower lip. She frowned and lowered her head, nodding faintly.
“Hey, chin up, darling. My parents won’t want to see you so mopey. They’ll blame it on me and I’ll never hear the end of it. They’d go on and on about how I got my wife depressed after two days of being married. So chin up. They’re good ponies, they’ll take it well. Most likely. Hey, I’m kidding,” he quickly added as his wife seemed to shrink again. “However, to get to my parents? We need to get off this train first. It looks like most of the other ponies are off, we should be able to get out without too much hassle.”
Cadance lifted her head and smiled gently, taking care to keep her lips pressed together. She nodded, a change in attitude visible behind her eyes – they once again shone with that girlish joy of feeling safe in the company of a loving coltfriend. It was odd, she thought, despite being married she still thought of Shining as her coltfriend or fiancée, and honestly, not much had changed between them with how they acted, aside from what they now shared in bed aside from each other’s embrace. There was still the goofy, boyish charm, and carefree air Shining Armor had when he wasn’t on-duty, and the attached, loving, physical proximity Chrysalis kept herself in as much as possible. The couple exited their shared train compartment, moving to the end of the car and out the door onto the platform.
The young royal couple was met with a horde of paparazzi and a nigh-seizure-inducing assault of flashbulb strobes from the wall of camera-toting ponies. Shining Armor had reared back on his hind legs and was using one forehoof to shield his own face while he held the other over Cadance’s mouth, to ensure not one photographer got a shot of her fangs. As soon as the flashes started, however, they ended, an unnatural, encompassing blackness blanketing the platform. Shining Armor noticed the familiar feeling of being grasped with telekinesis and a sensation he faintly acquainted with being teleported filled his chest.
A moment later, he reappeared in Canterlot’s main hall, with Princess Luna staring down at him.
“Your Highness,” he fumbled out, nearly bashing his muzzle on the ground as he hastily bowed, Cadance mimicking his motion.
“A lone Captain of the Guard or a single, down-to-Equestria Princess disembarking a train is nothing newsworthy. However, the young Royal Couple? That is indeed something worthy of the news, unfortunately. How they got wind of your arrival is beyond me, but then again, I am still unused to some of the changes that occurred in my absence. Next time I implore you to be more careful,” the royal blue Alicorn stated, her voice somewhere between a reprimand and the tone of understanding advisement.
“Yes Your Highness, thank you, Your Highness,” Shining Armor said, head still at the Night Princess’ hooves.
“Please, you may simply refer to me as ‘Luna,’” she said, a smile now adorning her face, her tone one of amusement. “After all, you technically outrank me now.”
Shining Armor could not hold the formality of staring at the floor with that statement. Eyes shooting upward in shock, his mouth hung open with an implied question, but he found the Royal Sister’s head beside his own before he could speak.
“I mean, a King does surpass a Princess, does he not?” Luna winked. Shining Armor gasped, before hearing a light giggle behind him. Chrysalis’ light, shimmering, slightly resonant giggle. It was a noise he hadn't heard enough, a light, tinkling noise that almost sounded like it had been run though a fan. Not the most flattering of terms, true, but accurate. It was beautiful. He looked to his wife, a look of blissful amusement present in her pink features. He found her expression mirrored on Luna’s face, and the tension that had appeared in his chest upon exiting the train began to unwind, hearing the regal laughter of his wife and the elder Princess.
“Now go, you two. I believe you came to speak to your parents?” Princess Luna asked after a few more moments of laughter, producing two brown cloaks seemingly from nowhere. “These will hide you from the view of any ponies not specifically seeking you so long as you wear them. You can easily reach the Sparkle residence undetected. Go, young lovers. Set your parents view straight.”
“Thank you, Princess,” Shining Armor said, having stood back to his normal height now. “How can we repay you?”
“By not making the same mistakes I did. Tell those closest to you; do not wait for them to find out on their own. It is always better to be out with it,” Luna said, a hint of sadness in her voice.
“Yes, thank you, Princess. We’ll be off now,” Shining Armor put a hoof on his wife’s shoulder and turned for the door. As he walked, he donned the cloak, feeling a slight magical tingle pulse through his body. His wife followed suit behind him, and the pair opened the doors of the main hall onto the castle grounds.
---
Night Light strode to the door. He recognized the pattern of knocks as Cadance’s, but knew it couldn’t be her. After all, two slow knocks, followed by a delay, then three rapid knocks wasn’t that uncommon a pattern for a pony to knock in. It could be the postmare – no, it was too late in the evening for that. The Royal Guard? No, they had no reason to be here, unless Shining Armor or Cadance or Twilight were in trouble or hurt or even de- No, calm. Stay calm. Remember what the therapist said. Think happy thoughts. Cadance pregnant. Grandfoals. Twilight with a special somepony. More grandfoals. Great grandfoals, even. Oh that would be wonderful. Content with the blissful fantasy, he trotted to the door and opened it. He was startled to find that his first assumption had indeed been correct – Cadance was standing at the door, with his son standing just behind her.
“Cadance! Shiny my boy! It’s so wonderful to see you both again! Sooner than I’d expected, but oh well. Do you have an announcement of some sort?” He directed his gaze to his son. “Is she pregnant?” He looked back to Cadance. “Are you pregnant?”
“I… umm… well, maybe, dad. I don’t know. It’s possible, I guess? Can we stop talking about this? Is mom home?” Shining Armor fumed, blushing. As if on cue, his mother descended the stairs just inside the entryway.
“Oh my dear Shiny! Cady! It’s so wonderful to see you two again! And so soon! Are you pregnant? Are we having grandfoals? Oh this is such wonderful news!” Twilight Velvet gushed.
“Chr…adance isn’t pregnant!” Shining Armor stamped a hoof on the front step of his parents’ home in annoyance, as much at his own near slip-up as at his parents’ occasionally one-track minds.
Twilight Velvet deflated slightly. “Oh. Well what are you waiting for, honey? Come in! Make yourselves right at home. I actually just put a pot on the stove, can I interest you in tea?”
“No thanks, mom,” Shining said, and Cadance shook her head.
“Ah, oh well,” the white unicorn mare thought aloud, motioning her son and daughter-in-law inside and into the living room. It was a simple arrangement, a couch and two chairs arranged across from a fireplace. Shining Armor took a seat at one end of the couch, Cadance sitting down next to him before leaning onto her husband’s shoulder. Twilight Velvet and Night Light taking up positions in the chairs, which were close enough to hold one another’s’ hooves in.
“So, is there… something you wanted to tell us that warranted a visit, Shiney? Are you sick? You’re not impotent are you? Oh, you’re impotent, we’re never having grandchildren…” Night Light lamented, receiving a psychokinetic smack to the back of his head.
“Now dear, there’s no reason to panic. Nothing’s wrong, is it, Shiny? Why haven’t you said anything, Cadance? What’s wrong? You’re scaring me…” Twilight Velvet chided her husband, before questioning her son.
“Well, no, nothing’s ‘wrong.’ Not exactly, at least. I… well, Cadance… isn’t ‘Cadance,’” Shining Armor said. Good job, Shining Armor. Just plunge in, bluntly, in a situation that you should have taken time and tact and thought out well before say-
“Well, we knew that, didn’t we?” Night Light questioned, laughing nervously. “She was actually that changeling witch who put a spell on you, but you banished her and stuff, right?” Night Light’s nervous laughter was escalating to nearly hysterical screams, before his wife silenced him with magic.
“You know how panicky he gets. What do you mean, Shining Armor?”
“I… I mean…”
“He means that you never knew Princess Cadance,” the pink Alicorn spoke up, her resonant voice filling the room. Night Light shrieked in terror, adrenaline and fear overriding the relatively weak hold on his muzzle his wife had. His chest heaved as his lungs spent themselves and refilled, repeating the shriek. Twilight Velvet’s jaw dropped, the alien voice bringing already-repressed memories of the wedding back.
“CALL THE GUARD! IT’S THE CHANGELING QUEEN!” Night Light screamed.
“Dad.”
“SHE’LL KILL US ALL!”
“Dad!”
“SHE’S GOING TO EAT UH-HU-HUUUUUSSSS!”
“DAD!” Shining Armor roared, wielding the full force of his Guard-trained voice and silencing the room. Even Cadance had scrambled away from him and covered her ears.
“Chrysalis wouldn’t hurt a fly! She’s not going to kill or eat anypony! She loves me, and I love her! That won’t change!” Shining Armor yelled. His nostrils flared and his chest rose and fell in deep, ragged breaths from the sudden outburst. For several tense moments, the only sound was Shining Armor’s breathing and his father’s muffled whimpering, as the blue stallion attempted to silence himself with his hooves. After several tense moments, Twilight Velvet spoke up.
“Did you say… Chrysalis?” Twilight Velvet said, shockingly calmly considering the look of pure rage on her face.
Shining Armor sighed. He looked to his wife and nodded. A flash of cold green fire, and the pink Alicorn evaporated, Chrysalis’ true form appearing on the couch next her husband. The flames licked across Shining Armor’s side, tickling him slightly. Her body lengthened slightly until she had lay over her husband, her long, black legs enveloping her husband, his white fur visible through the holes near her hooves. Her chin rested on his head, fangs slightly exposed over her lower lip. Perforated, insectoid wings fluttered and buzzed briefly, repositioning herself slightly to completely entrap her husband. Shining Armor turned his head and nuzzled her before gently kissing her cheek.
“This is Chrysalis, former Queen of the Changelings. She has impersonated Princess Cadance for seventeen years, long before any of us met her. I dated her, fell in love with her, and married her. She is my everything, and nothing and nopony will take her from me. As my parents, you needed to know the truth, but if you make me choose… I will choose her,” Shining Armor said coldly, glaring at his parents. He felt Chrysalis’ chest expand sharply behind him a moment before his brain registered the sound of her gasp, and continued to speak. “Mom, dad, I love you both dearly, but the time has come for me to move on. I would love for that to be only physical, but if you reject her emotionally, and force her out of this household, I will leave too.”
Twilight Velvet set her jaw.
“Get her out of my house.”
“We are a package deal, mother. If she leaves, I leave. You want that?”
“I SAID GET HER OUT OF MY HOUSE!” Twilight Velvet shrieked, her voice cracking with fury.
“Very well. Chrysalis, we… we have nothing else to do here. Let’s go.”
The young couple stood, and showed themselves out.
---
Outside, on the front step of his home, Shining Armor collapsed and wept.
“Oh my god Chrysalis, what have I done… what… what have I done? I just-” Shining Armor was cut off as Chrysalis kissed him, forcefully, passionately, and lovingly.
“You just proved to me you love me far more than I ever realized, and that you are a far better stallion than I ever deserved. You didn’t have to do that for me, you really didn’t, Shiny… I’m so sorry.”
“No, don’t say that. I don’t ‘deserve better’ than you. I chose you, you chose me. We deserve each other. But… my parents didn’t deserve that… that… oh, Chrysalis, I was a brute in there… I need to go apologize…”
Chrysalis kissed her husband again. “No, you don’t. They will come around, eventually. Even if they don’t? We will have each other, we will have your sister, and the Princesses… I love you, Shining Armor. That won’t change.”
“I kn-know. True love ne-never changes, right? That’s what I s-said, and that’s w-what I meant.”
Shining Armor tried, but he couldn’t say anything else. He fell to the porch and sobs overtook him. Chrysalis wrapped herself around him, providing what limited warmth her thin form could. A light rain began to fall on the ponies, the drops rolling of Chrysalis’ body and mixing with the Captain’s tears.