The trip back to the Crystal Empire was quite awkward, considering that the ponies had no way down at all; indeed, it took them about five hours to get down unscratched, not to mention that Stormfly was quite nervous with Applejack around. Indeed, wherever she gave him the shortest stare, he would often scurry and hide behind Screwball. For some reason, the Changeling felt safe with her; at least she was the only pony who didn't' give him a suspicious stare. When they finally arrived at the train station in the Crystal Empire, Stormfly had already taken the form of a pony. He would have to stay like that for the entire trip, unless he wanted to be chased by a mob of angry ponies. His guise was that of a pegasus with dark gray coat, silver mane and tail and claw marks as a Cutie Mark; wherever anypony asked him about his peculiar Cutie Mark, he would simply respond that he got it 'when playing with a timberwolf.'
After being on his cabin for most of the day, considering that he didn't eat pony food -he could, but it didn't satisfy his hunger-, he didn't leave the cabin until it was nighttime. Everyone would be asleep, so he guessed no one would mind if he took his real shape. He walked out of the cabin, feelings of nostalgia washing over him all of sudden; the calm atmosphere brought him quite hurtful memories... but yet he was drawn to it. The Changeling took a seat, fluttered his wings in anxiety and looked at the moon at its full shine. He had never stopped to admire its beauty, in the Hive he couldn't even see the moon for the Hive itself was in an underground place. He heard hoofsteps.
"Why are you here in the dark all alone, Stormfly? Are you alright?" he heard the voice of the incredibly-innocent mare.
He looked down for a brief moment, "I... I wanted to be alone for a little while... I'm fine"
Screwball didn't buy it, however; she could tell the Changeling was very pained and forlorn, even if he tried to hide it, "Don't try to hide it, I know you're sad. Daddy says that it is better to tell somepony if something's bothering you, because if you don't it's going to hurt more and more until it's unbearable and your personality may be tainted with pain and bitterness."
Stormfly rolled his eyes, "In other words, if you keep a painful secret to yourself, you'll become bitter."
Screwball nodded rapidly, "Yep!"
The Changeling thought for a moment. It wouldn't hurt to tell her, would it? Besides, he felt he was going to explode, with all the pain inside his chest.
"... Just... Don't tell anypony... please..."
Screwball giggled, "I Pinkie Promise! Besides, I'd like to know what was a Changeling doing all the way at the Crystal Empire!"
Stormfly sighed sadly, "Get comfortable, it's a long story."
Screwball did as told and sat down next to Stormfly, who was still looking towards the moon.
"... the reason I was in the Crystal Empire is because... I was looking for my baby-"
"You have a baby? AWW! How cute! But how could you have a baby?"
Stormfly couldn't contain a small smile, "See, I don't actually belong to Chrysalis' Hive. Not anymore. When I did, I was on the worker caste. All we did all day was to clean up the entire Hive, tend to the Queen and care for the eggs... and then I fell in love. She was a beautiful nymph named Cupheart, and I loved her dearly; my heart ached for her, but the both of us knew that we could not be together."
"Why not? Mommy says everypony has the right to be with the one they love."
"First of all, I'm not a pony, I'm a Changeling. And second, in our society, only the Queen is supposed to lay eggs. But we still loved each other; in fact, we saw each other everyday with anypony watching us, until one day, we married in secret. We fed on the love we felt for each other."
"That's romantic... I think."
"Anyway, the point is that after a few months, we learned that we would be parents. Cupheart was pregnant! We were happy, but at the same time we knew we had committed a serious crime. And so we fled." Stormfly sighed forlornly, "We were planning to start a new life, to abandon our Changeling forms and change into normal ponies permanently to raise our baby. But we didn't take into account that our race works as a Hive-mind."
Screwball obviously didn't understand that term, so Stormfly explained it to her.
"Hive-mind means that we all work as one mentally; if one of us knows something, all of the hive will know as well, even the Queen herself. It's a defense mechanism, in case workers fall unconscious due to an enemy attack or a sickness."
Screwball connected the dots, "So... Then the Queen found out about what you guys were doing."
Stormfly closed his eyes in pain, "Yes, she did. She sent an entire army to retrieve and punish us severely. But as I just explained it, we work as a Hive-mind, so we knew they were coming, and yet we knew we would never be able to run away from them. Cupheart had an idea."
He leaned closer to Screwball to whisper into her ear, "Do not tell anypony, but there's way to cut off our minds from the Hive-mind."
"Really?"
"But the catch is that it is very risky, and only Cupheart knew how to do it, but since she had just laid our egg, she was very weak... And our fellow Changelings were arriving."
The memory he had tried to suppress all the time was coming out again...
They had been discovered.
Since the beginning, they had known that this would surely happen, after all, there were no secrets in the Changeling species. What one knows, everyone knows. There was no privacy, and that was one of the reasons they had run away. Cupheart had spent most of her time during her pregnancy trying to find a way to cut off their minds from the Hive and earn their freedom, but the only thing she could find that had an actual chance of working was very risk. She would have to use all of her energy to cut off all ties with the Hive-mind forever. To worsen things, she had just laid her egg, making things even more risky now that she had only a part of her energy remaining, and the army Chrysalis had sent to fetch them was getting closer by the minute; they both knew.
"Cupheart, please let me do it!" Stormfly pleaded to his wife, "You're too weak! I have more energy, I'm sure I'll-"
"I-It's alright, Stormie..." Cupheart replied, her voice fading away as she spoke, "I can handle it... Besides, you don't even know how to cast it, do you?"
Stormfly looked down in worry, "But you just laid the egg, what if something goes wrong?"
In fact, their egg, their greatest treasure, their yet-to-be-born-baby was on a cushion a few meters away; the growing embryo often reacted to the love around it. It moved constantly, even though they would not feel it until a few more weeks.
"Stormie..." Cupcake stared into her husband's eyes gray eyes, "... Promise me something..."
"What is is, my love?"
"If I... If I don't make it... I need you to promise that you'll take care of our hatchling..."
"Don't say that!" Stormfly pleaded one more time, "Please... Don't say that..."
"Promise me..."
Knowing they were running out of time, Stormfly nodded grimly, praying that his wife would survive the spell. If everything went well, his mind would be completely independent and he would be part of the Hive no more. Then Cupheart would have to cast the spell on herself...
"Come closer..."
The male Changeling did as told and leaned closer to his wife's face, their horns touching tenderly; Cupheart closed her eyes shut and started concentrating energy on her horn, which flew of a pale green. Stormfly closed them as well, and his horn started glowing of the same green color. Their horns started cackling energy around the room, intensifying every time; both Changelings gritted their fangs as they felt a sharp headache; Stormfly could feel his connection to the Hive-mind severing. Soon the thoughts of his fellow Changelings became nothing but whispers, each time more inaudible, until they disappeared completely from hie brain.
Stormfly collapsed, his brain and head aching horribly, as if he had just gotten a wound, but he no longer heard the voices of the Hive.
It had worked.
Despite his splitting headache, he quickly stood up to check on his wife. Cupheart was panting heavily with a headache as well, but she was in a worst condition than before; she was very pale, which gave her quite a grayish tone. Stormfly grabbed her hoof in worry.
"Cupheart?" he spoke softly, "Are you okay?"
"Stormie..." she whispered, "... I think I won't make it..."
"No! Don't say that! You'll get better!"
"They're coming... There's no time... Take our egg and get out of here... Please..."
Stormfly glanced at the egg and encountered himself in a crossroad; it was either Cupheart or the egg. But he knew in the bottom of his heart that he would have to choose the egg; if the other Changelings caught up, the three of them would die. Cupheart placed her hoof on her husband's cheek for one last time.
"I love you..." was the last thing she said before her hoof fell from his cheek, and she stopped moving forever.
Tears were already rolling down Stormfly's cheeks as he caressed his wife's cheek longingly, "I love you too... I'll always love you, my Cupheart..."
However, he knew it was not the time to mourn for her yet, for he had to escape. He could already hear his former comrades' fluttering wings in the distance, and knew they were very close. It took him a lot of strength to walk away from Cupheart's limp body, but he did it; he felt daggers piercing his heart mercilessly, but he had to save the egg. He tenderly picked it up, and swore he could feel the embryo shifting inside the egg with his touch.
And with all the pain of the world in his heart, he fled the place they had called home for so much time.
"After that, I went to Canterlot to care for my egg until it hatched, a female hatchling came into the world that night. I loved her dearly..." Stormfly started to tear up, "But Chrysalis found me two months ago, and she took my daughter away from me... I went to the Crystal Empire because I had heard she had been taken there, but..."
By the time he was done telling the story, Stormfly had already tears rolling down his cheeks; just remembering it made his heart ache. He started sobbing uncontrollably, letting his tears flow. Stormfly felt warmth around his shoulders, looked up and realized Screwball had wrapped an arm around him. For some reason, he thought she looked quite beautiful in under the pale moonlight; he could feel compassion emanating from her, like a perfume. He snuggled into her, feeling the soft warmth of her fur.
"It's alright, Stormfly, it doesn't matter if you cry," Screwball soothed him, "I cry everytime I'm sad. Everyone does, it's nothing to be ashamed of."
"I miss her so much..." was the reply, "I need her... I want her back."
"Listen, I don't know if this will help, but... My daddy is gone too. The Diviner said he had been sent to some ruins by Chrysalis and that he's trapped there; I miss him very much."
Stormfly looked down, "It's not the same... Your father is alive, and you will see him soon, Cupheart is dead. I'll never see her again... And I don't even know if my poor baby is alive..."
"Don't say that. Someday you'll see them again."
A new voice joined them, "Exactly. That's because love never dies."
Stormfly stiffened as Shining Armor walked into the wagon, having woken up from hearing their conversation, and sat next to them. The Changeling had nothing against him, but thought the stallion was still sore about the Changeling Invasion seven years ago. Shining Armor, however, had already gotten over it after the incident at Twilight and Discord's wedding rehearsal.
"If you love her and as long as you never forget her, she'll live forever," he spoke softly, "As for your daughter, you must have faith that she is alive and well."
Stormfly couldn't help but give him a thankful glance, "Thanks... I guess," he thought for a moment. Should he tell the stallion about it? Perhaps it was for the best, "Speaking of which, there's something I should tell you..."
"Something to tell..." Shining was taken aback, "me? What is it?"
"At the Changeling Invasion, the Queen took the place of your bride and fed on your love, but... do you know how was your real bride captured?"
Shining Armor thought for a moment before shaking his head, "Not really... she never told me what had happened."
"Well... A Changeling took your shape and was to lure her away from everypony so that nopony would notice the exchange. When she was taken away from Canterlot, drones captured her and the Queen took her form, and the very Changeling who had tricked her into following him was ordered to take her to the caverns beneath Canterlot, and make sure she didn't escape." Stormfly looked down in shame, "But the Changeling felt sorry for her, because he was also in love with somepony, and he knew how it felt to be separated from her. When Celestia's student was sent down to the caves as well and she encountered with the princess, the Changeling did nothing to stop them and only watched as they escaped. And I suppose you know the rest of the story," Stormfly let out a humorless laugh.
Screwball and Shining Armor were surprised that he knew so much about the wedding.
"How do you know that?"
Stormfly closed his eyes, "Because... that Changeling was me."
The darkness was sending shivers down his spine. But his orders were very specific; stay down in the caves and make sure the real Cadence didn't escape. That wasn't much of a problem; while she was still unconscious, he had glued her hooves to the ground with the characteristic, sticky substance his race produced. However, without any of his fellow Changelings knowing, Stormfly had been feeding the princess; after all, he didn't want to kill her of starvation. He hated ponies, that was true, but he would never go as far as killing them.
Surprisingly to the both of them, Stormfly and the princess were becoming... friends. At first, none of them spoke, the princess simply sobbed. Stormfly kept his distance as well, not wanting to associate with the race he despised the most; Alicorns. However, his curiosity had gotten the better of him, and he tried to start a conversation with her. As days passed, she started to loosen up a bit, and he had warmed up to her; eventually, he got to like her. She wasn't the spoiled, racist pony he had initially believed her to be; in fact, she was rather sweet, loving and friendly. She treated other races as equals, which surprised him quite a bit.
In one of those days (coincidentally, exactly at the time Twilight Sparkle was about to confront the disguised Queen Chrysalis in front of everypony), Stormfly had been unusually quiet. He placed Cadence's food next to her as usual, but he didn't say a word. He was looking longingly into the darkness ahead of him, as if he missed something... or somepony. Cadence could tell, because she had learned to see when a pony loved another.
"Are you alright?" she finally asked, forgetting about her meal.
Stormfly looked away in sadness, "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Look, I know we have only known each other for a few days, but I can tell that you're being bothered by something-"
"Do you love him?"
Cadence was surprised by the question, "E-Excuse me?"
Stormfly repeated his question, still not looking at her, "The Captain of the Royal Guard. Do you love him?"
This brought tears to Cadence's eyes.
"Of course I do! I love him like I've never loved anypony else. He is the love of my life, and right now he is with that... that..."
Stormfly finally looked at her, with the hurtful look still in his eyes, "How did he declare his love to you? What did he do?"
"Well... At first, we started as simply friends. We often saw each other when we were young, everytime I went to foalsit Twilight Sparkle," Cadence smiled slightly upon remembering the little filly she had come to see as a little sister, "And we hung out when she went to sleep. After Twilight left, Shining asked me to meet him in the Canterlot Royal Gardens. We spent a good time there, but after it started to rain, we had to go into a cave for shelter... then I felt an attraction to him."
"Attraction?"
"Yeah, he was so... caring, so courageous, so gentlecoltly... it was our first kiss, and I enjoyed every second of it."
Stormfly seemed to tear up after hearing this, but he fought them back, "... Wasn't he afraid you would reject him? Didn't he think you would scream at him to get lost?"
Cadence became confused by that question, "Why do you ask that?", then realization hit her, "... You're in love with somepony, aren't you?"
The Changeling couldn't hold it any longer, he gritted his teeth and started sobbing, his two single bangs still getting in the way, but he didn't care. His heart ached for her, yet she would probably never know. There was no reason for him to hide it from the princes, not anymore. She had just guessed it, anyway.
"Yes... I am in love with somepony..." Stormfly gave Cadence a quick, teary glance, "She is a nymph from my swarm... Cupheart is her name, and my heart and soul belong to her and her alone... Yet I do not have the courage to confess her of my feelings, and that's what hurts the most."
For a while, Cadence felt sorry for the tormented Changeling, but she did not know about the Changeling ways, and she wasn't even sure if the worker caste was allowed to mate, but she couldn't turn her back on somepony who needed comfort.
"... I'm sure that if you love her, you'll have the courage to talk to her, speak about your feelings and respect her decision, no matter if she may not return your feelings. True love is sacrifice; true love is allowing the pony you love to be happy, even with another pony. A stallion that truly loves allows his love to be happy with the pony she loves, whether if it's with him or with somepony else. But you're a very loyal, good-hearted Changeling. I wouldn't be surprised if she loved you back, after all, you deserve to be happy her."
By then, Stormfly was close to crying openly; he took Cadence's words by heart. Perhaps she was right... perhaps he only need to talk to her about what he felt... and if she didn't love him back, well... as long as she was happy, so would he. Suddenly, he felt a faint sound nearby; not exactly nearby, but at the other side of the rocky wall next to them. Finally, he made up his mind: he walked towards Cadence and touched the green substance that kept her on place with his horn, and in seconds the goo-like substance was gone.
Cadence was free.
"But..." she looked at the Changeling in shock, "... Why are you doing this?"
Stormfly smiled slightly with his back turned on her, "Consider it as my thanks for listening to me, for the advice... and my wedding gift. Speaking of which, the exit is that way," he pointed to some point in the distance Cadence couldn't see, "Goodbye, Cadence. I hope you're very happy with him."
Saying this, the Changeling disappeared into the darkness of the caves.
Nopony had words left when Stormfly was done. They hadn't expected him to know Cadence or for her to have befriended him, but that was the way of the world: sometimes things don't go as you would expect.
Stormfly sighed, blowing his bangs a little, "After that, I watched as she reunited with Celestia's student and they escaped the caves together."
Shining Armor looked at the ground in sadness, remembering the night that had happened. if his calculations were correct, what Stormfly had just told them had happened just as Twilight had rushed into the wedding rehearsal, accusing 'Cadence' of being evil, and how he had treated her after that, after all she had tried to do was to save him. It still made him feel guilty even after all these years, despite Twilight had claimed she had forgiven him.
Then there was her rehearsal; he had done exactly what she did, but in his case, he had misjudged Discord without knowing, letting himself to be influenced by what ponies said, and hurt her terribly. All because he wanted to keep his little sister for himself, all because he hadn't wanted to share her with anypony. In that case, she had every right to be angry at him. The words Stormfly had learned from Cadence, and which he had just told them, made him see that time in a new level now.
"I..." he was speechless, "I know what do you mean. When Twiley was getting married to Discord, I thought he had brainwashed her. I crashed the rehearsal and accused him of having never changed, but that was a mistake. Now I know Discord, and I can tell he ad good intentions. But back then, I let my prejudice cloud my mind, and I hurt Twiley. She had wanted me to be her Best Colt, to be there for her in the most important day of her life, and yet I had to go and ruin it. Cadence was right when she said that 'true love is allowing the pony you love to be happy, even with another pony,' I loved Twilight but I was blind those days. I thought that I was protecting her, but I was being selfish, I trying to separate her from true love. Luckily, Discord helped me realize that Twilight had all the right to choose who she wanted to be with, even it I didn't like it at first. And I am happy for her now, because she is very happy and she and Discord will have a family soon. That's why we must find them both!"
Screwball spoke, "Yeah! And we have to find auntie Cadence too! I want to meet her foal too! And don't worry, we will find your baby too! Then we can all be a family."
Stormfly was deeply moved by Screwball's words. She wanted him to be part of her family? She didn't mind of him being a Changeling?
"Everypony, we should go to sleep," Shining spoke again, "Tomorrow we'll have to search in Saddle Arabia, and that is one of the hottest, harshest places in Equestria, so we'll need all of our energies."
The three of them were about to return to their cabins when Screwball tapped Stormfly's flank.
"Before we go to sleep, could you tell me your daughter's name?"
Stormfly smiled a little before he answered.
"Mist Wing. Her name is Mist Wing."