//------------------------------//
// 'Daddy's' Home 
// Story: Love is Blind 
// by RaijingtheClockworkPony 
//------------------------------//

	Cadance turned around and saw her husband walk into the room. He tossed a scroll onto the love seat and sauntered over to her. 

He gave her the bedazzling smile he always gave her. "Hey there pretty lady. Come here often?"

Cadance couldn't help but giggle at the sight of Shining playing a ladies stallion. "Does that ever work?"

He shrugged and wrapped her up in a loving hug. "No, but this usually does." He began to kiss her up and down her neck stopping only for a moment to nibble at the base of her neck. "You smell wonderful."

Cadance felt herself melting into the wonderful hooves of this stallion she loved deeply. "I took a shower." 

Cadance felt herself become warm for a multiple reasons. She hummed as Shining continued his kissing but her mind started screaming warnings at her. Those warning quickly became muted as Shining began to rub the spot just between Cadance's wings. Her mind became foggy as her muscles began to relax. Oh wow, that feels amazing. 

Shining whispered to her in her ear. "You should have waited. I could have gotten all the hard to reach places."

Shining nibbled on her ear and she let out a small moan. She couldn't believe how good this felt. She was the center of Shining's world right now and she desperately wanted to return the favor. She wanted nothing more than to let the rest of the world wait while she and Shining held each other. 

Rose can't wait. I need to tell him now. Cadance forced her mind out of the wonderful haze as she gently push Shining away. Shining stopped what he was doing instantly and gave her a confused but concerned look. 

"What's the matter? Did I do something you didn't like?"

Cadance felt a pang of love for the stallion. His first concern was that she was upset and now she was going to kill the mood with something important. She hated herself for what she was about to do. 

She gave him a loving smile. "No. You were doing fine it’s just that I need to tell you something."

She sighed as she read the slight disappointment in Shining's eyes. He tried his best to hide it but she had spent so much time with the white stallion that she could see right through him. She move close to him and placed her hoof on his shoulder. 

She looked into his eyes. "I found a filly in our bathroom. She was hiding in the shower and I startled her. She was scared of me and thought I would hurt her."

Shining's eyes widened. "What? Was she one of the maid’s foals?"

Cadance shook her head. "No. I can guarantee that she isn't. She's an orphan."

Shining looked shocked. "That's horrible. How did she get into the castle?"

Cadance stopped for a moment and thought about that question. How did Rose get into the castle? The place was swarming with guards all the time and with all three princesses home they upped the security to the highest she had ever seen it. She forced her curiosity to the back of her mind for the moment. 

"I don't know. She looked starved and dirty so I fed and cleaned her. There's something you need to know about her."

Shining gave her a curious look. "Was she hurt or sick? Starving would make her body weaker."

Cadance shook her head. "No. Nothing like that, well from what I could tell at least. She seemed unharmed from what I can tell and she's resting on our bed right now. She's not exactly a pony."

Shining became confused. "Is she a griffon?"

Cadance took in a breath and took the leap. "She's a changeling."

In an instant Shining's face went through a few rapid changes. First was shock mixed with horror, second was understanding, and finally anger as his eyes became steely and resolved. Cadance knew that look. She had seen it before when Shining had ordered the guard to sweep the city and capture all the changelings they could find.

Shining moved beside her and headed to the bedroom. Cadance tried to stop him by grabbing his shoulders. "Shining wait, please."

Shining made it to the door and threw it open with his magic. "Let go. I'll deal with this."

The door made a loud *bang* as it hit the wall. The sleeping changeling jumped in fright and when she looked to the source she was greeted with the hate filled eyes of Shining. She crouched low to the bed in hope that he would leave her alone. Only a moment later she was lifted into the air roughly by Shining's less than gentle magic.

Cadance and Rose both let out cries. Rose's of fear and Cadance's of protest. 

"Shining put her down!"

The unicorn turned to the mare, ignoring the shrill cries from the filly. "Why? You know exactly what these things did to us and to Equestria. I'm putting it where it belongs, in the dungeons. The I'm shipping her off to the Wastes."

Cadance used her magic to break Shining's hold on Rose and lowered her to the bed gently. She moved in front of her husband and looked into his eyes with her own determination. 

"She's innocent. She had nothing to do with that."

Shining looked at his wife in disbelief and his voice rose in anger. "Innocent? They attacked Cantorlot, threw you into the crystal caves and nearly forced me to marry their queen. Or did that somehow slip your mind?"

Cadance stood her ground. "Look at her. Does she look threatening to you?"

Shining didn't look at Rose. "It doesn't matter if it's threatening. It's a monster and should be dealt with accordingly!"

Cadance took a step closer to the stallion. "Stop calling her it. She's not a monster, just look at her and tell me that she could possibly be dangerous." The unicorn was about to protest but he stopped when he saw Cadance's expression soften. She moved closer to him and placed her hoof on his chest. "Please, just look at her."

Shining looked at the cowering changeling that was using one of the pillows as cover for herself. Only her horn and red eyes were showing. He saw fear in those large red eyes and that she was shaking slightly. He knew that Cadance was right. This small changeling was in no way a threat to him.

Cadance spoke from beside him. "She's terrified of you. She acted the same way after I calmed her down." Cadance walked to the side of the bed and laid the changeling back down on the bed and covered her with the blanket. She turned to her still angry husband. "Living room. Now."

Cadance walked past the white stallion as he cast a hate filled glare at the small changeling. Shining followed his wife out into the living room and heard the door to the bedroom shut behind him. He turned to Cadance.

"I know you're mad right now bu—"

"Mad? I'm a little more than mad right now Cadance. Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to keep her here for as long as you have? What if a maid had walked in and seen you tucking her into bed?"

Cadance stood there silent for a moment. She bit her lip as she thought. Shining continued. "I'm under enough fire as it is. Half the royal court want me out of office and Celestia is trying her hardest to protect us both from them and now you want me to let one of those things sleep in our bed and just pretend that it’s okay?" His voice rose as he spoke. "They nearly took you away from me! I don't want that to happen again."

Shining finished and was left panting slightly. Cadance looked into his eyes and saw fear mingling with his rage. She walked up to him and hugged him tightly. "That won't happen."

Shining returned the hug, only slightly calmer than before. "How do you know? If it’s as young as you say she is then she should have a protector somewhere. What if they came here and attacked you?"

Cadance looked into the eyes of the stallion. "It won't. I won't ever let them or anything take me away from you. I just have this feeling that this filly is alone and needs somepony to help her."

Shining sighed. "Cadance... we can't keep her here. The longer she stays the more likely she'll be discovered by one of the guards and if that happens then there is nothing I can do. I should be dragging her to Princess Celestia right now."

Cadance pleaded with the stallion. "She wouldn't survive that. She's weak from starvation and lack of love. Rose just needs some time before that happens."

Shining looked at the door to the bedroom and let out a groan. "You named it? You shouldn't have done that. Now this will be harder on you if Celestia orders me to send it..." He stopped once he saw the look on his wife's face. She gave him a look that both admonished and pleaded. "Her, to the Wastes."

The princess but her lip once more and glanced towards the door. "I couldn't keep calling her 'it' or 'you'. She still deserves a name, even if her species did something wrong. She shouldn't suffer for something she wasn't a part of."

She gently moved her husband’s face so she could look at him. "Just give me one week. You don't have to like her or anything like that. I need that time to strengthen her so she can survive. At least until she's back with her own kind."

Shining sighed and looked at the door his expression unreadable. Cadance leaned forward and nuzzled him softly. "For me?"

He looked at her for a moment. "Fine, but on one condition."

Cadance smiled at him. "Anything."

His gaze was almost icy. "Prove to me that you are Cadance."

He took a small step back from her. "I need to know that this is you talking. Not some changeling trying to feed off of me. I trust you on the fact that the filly can't harm me but a fully grown changeling can and has. Tell me something that only the real Cadance would know."

Cadance stood there for a moment as she searched her mind for some moment only they had shared. She looked at him and smiled. 

"Our first date was a total disaster. Everything went so wrong, from the food to the movie. The only thing that mattered about the whole thing was that night we spent at the lake." She moved closer to him with a warm smile. "As we fell asleep you whispered to me."

She leaned towards him and whispered in his ear. "This night was perfect because of you." 

She leaned back and looked at the now smiling face of the white stallion. She gave him a coy smile. "Then we shared our first moment of... intimacy."

Shining blushed a little as a dreamy look passed over his face. "Yeah... okay. There's no doubt in my mind that you're the Cadance I fell in love with." He moved closer to her and gave her a small kiss. "I'll give you a week. That's all I can promise."

Cadance smiled gratefully at her love. "Thank you. Let's just forget about that for a moment and focus on you and me."

She pushed him back onto the sofa and smiled down at the stallion. He returned the smile lovingly as Cadance got on the sofa and kissed him.

"You have some unfinished business with me that really needs your focus right now."