//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: True Love Never Changes // by VashTheStampede //------------------------------// Shining Armor woke early, his now-instinctual Royal Guard training kicking in before the rest of his mind. The fact that his sister’s alarm had gone off and he was a light sleeper may have also attributed to his rising before the sun. He wasn’t particularly a morning pony, but today was one of those pleasant mornings when he woke up and was immediately alert and ready for the day – his mind was functioning clearly and processing the image before him. His wife, having fallen asleep in his hooves, lay merely inches from his face, one fang protruding cutely over her lower lip as her head bobbed gently up and down from her breathing. Shining Armor kissed her lightly on the nose, smiling as her muzzle scrunched up and twitched against the unexpected contact, before sliding out of bed. He took care to step lightly – being such a large stallion, moving quietly required a significant conscious effort – and made his way to the door of the guest bed, slipping into the entryway. He still marveled at the fact that his sister could live in a library – Shining Armor liked a good book as much as the next pony, but he genuinely worried for his sister sometimes. It was true, they were the very best of friends when she had been growing up, but that was precisely what worried him. She’d never really had other friends besides him, and Shining Armor felt like he hardly counted as a “friend,” having been her brother. With his parents out so often, and before they had hired Chrysalis to foalsit, he had been practically obliged to be there for her, caring for her, and being everything that she didn’t go do on her own. Shining mentally reprimanded himself for thinking like that; he loved his sister deeply and didn’t regret a moment he spent helping her grow, but sometimes it felt like she was that same little socially-awkward-bordering-on-socially-incompetent filly in a grown mare’s body. Sure, she did have a half-dozen very close friends plus Spike, and had a working relationship with many of the other ponies in the town, but the way she had reacted to the news of his wedding brought him concern again. It was almost like a relapse, Twilight returning to a state where he was the only thing in the world to her besides her studies and the Princess. It scared Shining Armor, in a way most things didn’t – she had never been over-protective of him, it was rather the other way around most times, but she was always so attached. His sister’s non-existent social life had infringed on his own on many an occasion, having lead Shining Armor to bring her to watch him and his friends play hoofball, or bringing her on one of his trips to Canterlot Castle to see the Royal Guard. He remembered that fondly, watching the Guards do their jobs. Stoic, broad-chested, sturdy stallions in golden shining armor. Heck, it was his name – Shining Armor. It was like his parents simply knew from the day he was born that he would one day want to join the Royal Guard. Many of his friends shared his dream at a young age, though most had eventually discovered their true talents lay elsewhere, and had drifted off to be writers or artists. The advent of his own cutie mark had only cemented his goal of eventually joining the Guard, the blue shield adorning his flank confirming his desire to defend not just his sister, but all of Equestria. The sound of many small and hard somethings striking a ceramic surface broke him from his memories. The sound had come from the kitchen, and was accompanied by the telltale jingle of magic and somepony humming an unfamiliar tune. Knowing it to be Twilight, he trotted in behind her, helping himself to a bowl and intercepting the box of oats as Twilight levitated it back to the pantry. She gasped at the sudden invasion of her magic and turned around. “Morning, Twiley,” Shining said, “your alarm woke me up, don’t worry. Chrysalis is still asleep. I take it Spike went back to sleep after you got up?” Twilight smiled, her initial shock having subsided. “Yeah, I usually let him sleep in for a while after I get up. Usually. Sometimes I go a little overboard… I tried to force him to get up at three-thirty in the morning my first Winter Wrap Up here. I still feel bad about that…” Twilight shook her head and laughed to herself. “Eh, don’t worry about it. That little guy loves you. You’re like a weird mash-up of a mom and a sister to him. I’m sure he forgave you a long time ago,” Shining Armor said with a genuine smile, “I hope I can do the same…” He trailed off, looking out the window. To his surprise, his sister laughed. “Oh Shiny, you were never good at the ‘pensive, lost-in-thought’ look. Mom and Dad will have to accept you. They love you too much, and, let’s be honest, you did a horrible job of explaining the situation,” Twilight said, her tone slowly shifting from amused to stern, “You could have, no, you should have told them that it was Chrysalis from the beginning of when we knew her. Sure, knowing mom, she still would have been angry, and dad would still have been scared to death, but now, for all they know, ‘Chrysalis’ still has you under her spell. We need to get this cleared up. I’ll send a letter to Celestia, and if I absolutely have to, I can threaten to walk out, too. They understand that I’m about as level-headed as they come, if I say that, they’ll listen.” Shining Armor had long since given up the thoughtful stare out the window and was now dejectedly munching his oats. Twilight sighed. “Shiny, I’m sorry, I didn-” “No, Twiley, you’re completely right. I messed that up big time. You don’t need to do anything like that, it’s my mess. I’ll clean it up.” “Shining Armor, you and Chrysalis mean the world to me. You two were both almost as, if not equally as, important to my childhood as Mom and Dad were. I couldn’t bear to see them kick you out, and I know they love you, and they love Cadance. We just need to clarify one tiny detail that your wife is actually the ex-queen of an army that invaded Canterlot on your wedding day. No big deal. I’ll have Spike send a letter to Celestia as soon as he’s up. With luck, Celestia will get the letter before Mom and Dad can go to her, if not, oh well, she can handle it. I trust her, and she knows and trusts you and Chrysalis. Speaking of whom, good morning!” Twilight’s tone shifted from serious but encouraging to perfectly cheerful as the Changelings’ former queen shuffled in, smiling. “Good morning, Twilight. Morning, love,” Chrysalis said sleepily, rubbing an eye with a hoof. “Good morning, Chrysalis. Can I get you anything?” Twilight asked. “No thanks,” Chrysalis replied as she strolled over and kissed Shining Armor on the cheek, draping her forehooves over his shoulders from behind, “I’m full already.” Twilight and Shining Armor shared a blush, while Chrysalis giggled at their reactions. She continued to lay across her husband’s back, watching Twilight’s blush grow, until an awkward cough from her husband pulled her back to reality. “Erm, honey, not that I mind, but, uh… not in front of Twilight…” “Sure, Shiny,” Chrysalis replied with a melodic tone, twirling away from her husband and pulling up a seat beside him, leaning over onto his shoulder, and nuzzling against his neck. “You seem… extra affectionate, today. Are you feeling alright?” Shining Armor asked, wary of the jagged horn waving around in front of his throat. “You thought I was asleep when you kissed me this morning,” Chrysalis continued in a sing-songy voice, “and that little act… you may have noticed it once or twice before, as changelings can quite literally become love-drunk. You set me off with that kiss this morning.” Twilight shot Shining Armor a dirty look, glaring a reprimand for doing naughty things in her guest bed. Shining Armor responded in kind with an anguished droop of his facial features that conveyed an, ‘I’ll apologize, but we didn’t actually do anything’. Twilight rolled her eyes to this, and stood up from the table, walking into the main room of the library. “I’ll see if I can find something to help clear this up,” she said over her shoulder as she trotted out. Shining Armor brought a hoof up and placed it gently on his wife’s horn, the constant movement of the sharp object at his neck becoming too much for him to ignore. His guard training told him to move fast and strike hard, given how quickly a blade or point to the throat could end a pony, but his ever conscious thought screaming to be gentle. He pushed her away slightly, keeping one hoof on her horn, the other pressing softly against her chest to put some space between them. “Well, we’re alone now,” Chrysalis practically growled, her voice so dripping with lust Shining could almost physically feel it. Chrysalis closed her eyes part way and dragged her tongue across her lips, before pressing them together in a way that was clearly demanding a kiss. Shining Armor then made one of the worst decisions of his life, and obliged her. The moment his lips met hers, he knew he’d made a mistake. He tried to kiss lightly, and Chrysalis forced herself forward, knocking him off his chair and onto his back. Chrysalis stumbled as she toppled off her own chair, and landed on her husband’s stomach. Shining Armor was a very fit pony, he had to be, to be the Captain of the Guard, but that didn’t change the fact that a pony much larger than himself had just dropped most of her weight on his diaphragm. He wheezed as the air left him, the muscle in his gut refusing to cooperate as he tried desperately to call to his sister for aid. His mind registered the sudden loss of breathing control as suffocation, and a primal terror filled him as he begged himself to start cycling air once more. When he could breathe again, he looked down himself to see Chrysalis laying where she had fallen, rocking back and forth as she laughed at her husband’s plight. Seeing him no longer in danger, however, she immediately launched back into her assault, starting to move down his body. Fighting every instinct he had as a man, Shining grabbed her head and pulled it up towards his own, trying to keep the surprisingly not-fun love-drunk goddess that was his wife from trying to start something on his sister’s kitchen floor. Wrapping one of his forehooves around her neck and another around her back, Shining twisted his head to the side to avoid Chrysalis’ muzzle and called for help. “Twilight! Twilight, I never thought I’d say this but I need you to keep me from having sex with my wife!” A sudden purple flash. Chrysalis stopped her forceful attempts to kiss her husband and pulled away from Shining Armor abruptly, blushing. “Twilight, what did you just do?” “Anti-inebriation spell,” Twilight said, blushing furiously at the intertwined lovers on her floor. “I found it in a book a friend gave to me, though I didn’t think I’d ever need it, and I wasn’t sure it would work. Now that that’s out of the way… Chrysalis, I suppose if you’re here, I have to ask – have you ever heard of another Changeling losing their powers?” Chrysalis perked up, eyes rolling back as she thought. “Not that I can recall. I mean… unless… that was thought to be a myth, though…” Chrysalis trailed off, trying desperately to remember exactly how the story had gone. “There was… oh ponyfeathers. I don’t know. “It is said that the origin of the changeling’s ability was a form of self-preservation, to disguise as a loved pony so as to be able to feed, and that eventually our race harnessed the ability to shape shift at will. As such, a legend, that became myth, that became fairy tale, began, told to young changelings, warning them to never drop their disguise in front of ponies, because if they did, they would lose their ability to shape shift. The fairy tale was nothing more than an attempt to keep our race as secret as possible, but the legend it was based on told that one time, long, long ago, a Changeling Queen fell in love with the lover of her disguise. The legend says that she, like me, grew tired of living a lie, and shed her disguise. Like Shining here, her lover accepted her for who she was, and the Queen lost her ability to shape shift, because it was no longer necessary for her survival. No changeling has ever believed though, as the concept of it even being possible to lose our ability to shape shift is… terrifying. Though it seems there may have been some truth to that after all…” Chrysalis trailed off, redirecting her attention to her husband. “Shining, honey, if I can’t shape shift anymore, we’re going to have to either tell the public about me or find some other way to hide it. You know which I’d prefer, but I know which would be wiser…” “I know, Chryssy, I know,” Shining Armor said, pulling her into a hug and giving her a tight squeeze. Twilight was still busy digesting the information – shape-shifting was not just an inherent talent but an actual survival mechanism, to feed off the love given to other ponies, and a changeling could lose that ability if somepony loved them for who they really were. Suddenly, something clicked in her mind. “Chrysalis, you’re probably going to stop being able to shift altogether soon. In fact, if the legend is as true as it appears to be from what’s been happening to you over the past couple days, I’m surprised my brother didn’t break your magic years ago. I would say he loves you more than you could ever know, but that’s just not true in your case.” “You really think that… his love is strong enough?” Twilight opened her mouth to answer, but Shining Armor interrupted her. “She doesn’t need to think so, because I know so. I love everything you ever were, everything you are, and everything you ever will be. Queen Chrysalis, you are my wife, and I love you with every ounce of my being, and you know that,” Shining turned towards her as he spoke, their eyes locked. He emphasized the statement with a lingering kiss, one so romantically charged he knew he could never top it. “That may be the mushiest thing I’ve ever seen.” “Spike! Way to ruin the moment!” Twilight scolded the dragon, despite the furious blush that had invaded her face. “Yeah, yeah, I’m sorry.” “However, you could make it up to us… if you would kindly take a letter,” Twilight offered, sensing the hurt in the little drake’s voice. As she knew he would, he perked up immediately, zipping across the room and snagging a quill and a piece of parchment. “As you wish.” “Thank you, Spike. Dear Princess Celestia…”