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// The Chains that Bound Them (Fluttershy) 
// Story: Son of Eternity 
// by twow443 
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 The moon was nice.
        It was always rather nice, but nighttime was the best. I hadn't been able to look at the moon when I was Chrysalis's slave...and none of us have seen the sun in months.
        I sat upon a hill that overlooked Ponyville, my second home and the home of my dear friends. I hated to be so far from it, but I knew that after my escape, the changelings would be on high alert to find me. I was the symbol of our oppression and now I was free. Chrysalis wouldn't let that go unpunished...
        A sigh escaped my throat as I looked over my town. I knew that if this ever ended, it wasn't going to be the same. Not anymore. She had done so much to us...
        I shook my head as I heard rustling from behind me. Turning, I saw the familiar blue coat of my changeling...or could I even call him that? I had been so horrible to him since he awoke. I couldn't sleep next to him, or let him touch me. Even when he was able to shift again...I couldn't do it. He was being so patient with me and I knew I was hurting him. And it wasn’t his fault, it was mine. Whenever I saw him, the memories of what they did to me returned, I had to force myself to remember that he wasn't them. He would never be them.
        I turned around completely as Shade walked up to me. He sat down, flicking his ears as he stretched. “Quite a walk to get up here.”
        “It's hidden, and peaceful.” I replied. “They don't usually fly over the Everfree, not since they have the town and castle.”
        Shade looked at me, studying me and I turned my head away. “Stop it!” I berated myself. “You know better then this, Fluttershy! He's not like them.” I raised my head again, giving me a smile. At least...I really hope it was a smile.
        I must have succeeded, because he smiled back. “So...” he said, raising his hoof to let a spark of electricity flow along it.
        “You're getting much better at that.” I said, trying to avoid the reason for us being here.
        Shade shrugged, letting it run up his leg. “I guess. It's like the memories of doing this from being a child are finally coming back to me. I wonder why I even have this ability though...when you think about who my parents are, it doesn't make sense.”
        I tapped my chin. “Maybe it's because of what Chrysalis did to turn you into a changeling in the first place?”
        “Makes sense.” Shade replied, smiling as he caused the spark to disappear. “She's just about made of mana now...it would make sense that I got a fair bit of it as well.”
        I nodded, searching my brain for another topic. I decided to stick with what he liked to talk about. “So those sparks...does that always happen?”
        He nodded, tapping his hooves together to make a bridge of electricity. “Gentle reminder of what I can do, it seems. I'll say, I gotta get creative with it.”
        “How so?” I didn't ask just to stall, I was actually curious. Twilight or Zecora was usually with Shade whenever he practiced.
        “Well, I can shoot a beam of it from my horn, of course. Twilight told me that I should fight with it how I fought her when I had normal magic.” Shade explained. “When I was fighting her, I relied more on speed and tricking her then brute force.”
        I nodded, starting to understand. “So it would be easier for you to win a fight if you're distracting your opponent?”
        “Yup.” He replied, smiling. “Shooting a lot of it, bouncing it off objects in the room. I can even coat myself in the stuff and run REALLY fast. Granted, last time I tried that, I ended up running into a tree.” He rubbed his head, wincing. “That was not fun.”
        I giggled, a real giggle for the first time in days. “So that's where you got that big bump from. And you told me that Twilight nailed you.”
        “Well...” His face slightly flushed as I giggled again. He ended up chuckling as well, and it felt like old times for a few seconds, before all this had happened to us.
        I knew I couldn't distract him forever, which showed when he looked at me. “Shy...why did you want me to come here?”
        I sighed, folding my wings tighter against my body. “You need to know what happened whils you were...”
        “Dead?” He bluntly asked, causing me to wince.
        “Yeah.” I walked closer, sitting down and looking at him. “What do you want to know first?”
        He lowered his head, his forehoof rubbing a scar along his chest. Zecora told us when he awoke that the scar would be there for the rest of his life, looking like a crack whenever he was in his changeling form. His eyes slightly lit up, causing me to gulp as he looked back up me. “My mother.”
        I sighed. “After Chrysalis threw you into the Everfree, she teleported the two of us to the castle. Misty didn't come with us, she was still in shock about what had happened. When we landed in the throne room, I cried out to the princesses to help me. Celestia instantly flew at us, but when she landed on the ground, her hooves were stuck to the floor.”
        “Stuck to the floor?” Shade asked, confused. “What, did Chrysalis put glue everywhere?”
        “Her hooves were turning to stone.” I replied. The look of shock and pain on his face just about caused me to stop talking, but I couldn't. I had to tell him everything that had happened. “She turned to stone, and Princess Luna was brought down by the sheer numbers of the changelings that attacked her.”
        Shade's eyes flashed with anger, lightning flashing more frequently along his body. “Why?”
        I struggled to remember just what Chrysalis had told the princess. “She said because you're a changeling, you and Celestia had a special bond...and that she couldn't die because of her immortality but...”
        “Something just as worse.” He replied. “Permitted to live...and watch her kingdom fall apart around her.”
        I knew what I needed to tell him next. “She left the princess in the throne room...it's not used right now. She let me visit her once a day...sometimes even twice.” I winced as I knew what he was going to ask next, and I wasn't ready to tell him. I knew it would hurt...no. I quickly moved on. “All of the ponies that served in the castle were moved to the outside as slaves, there's mostly only changelings in the castle now.”
        “And Ponyville?” Shade asked. He considered that his second home, so I knew he wasn't going to enjoy this either. “It was also overtaken, rather quickly. The few times I went there, I saw that the changelings had made everypony into slaves for them.”
        Shade was growing very quiet, something that was worrying me more and more as time went on. “And our friends?”
        “Twilight, as you know, surprisingly has the most freedom.” I replied. “I don't know about Applejack, but Rarity and Pinkie Pie have been under constant house arrest. Pinkie's been forced to supply food, I'm sorry, they're called “rations” to the ponies. I don't know what Rarity does, but I know she's not happy. Spike is mostly left alone, mostly forced to stay in the library. I'm not sure what Rainbow does, but she has been able to get us information, as you know.
        Shade was quiet for a longer period of time. His expression grew darker as his eyes trailed to the ground. “What about the rest of Equestria?”
        “More of the same, the cities that I've seen.” I told him. “The basic point was to tell others to not attempt to help take back control from Chrysalis, and no one has tried.”
        Shade looked back up at me. I tried to think of anything to divert his question, but I didn't have enough time. “What happened to you in there?”
        I tried to feign innocence. “I don't...”
        “Shy, if you could have, you would have woken me up as soon as Zecora found me.” He replied. “I remember what Chrysalis told me before I died. She said she would break you...what did she do? Why won't you let me hold you, or even come near you in my changeling form?” I heard his voice break as he struggled to compose himself. “Why won't you let me love you?”
        I turned away as I snarled. “Because of what they did. She...she hurt me, Shade. She beat me, and insulted me, and let her changelings do whatever they damn well pleased to me.” I wanted to stop, to tell him that I was mistaken, or that I had forgot, but the words were flowing now and I wasn't going to be able to stop them. “I slept next to her bed, tied to the wall by the neck with a chain. I wasn't allowed to see the sky, only when Chrysalis took me around to demoralize the ponies she had conquered.”
        “D-demoralize?” The stutter in his voice should have clued me in to stopping, letting his brain process what just had been done to me. But I kept going...I had to keep going, or I would never be able to tell him.
        “You're the princess's son, Shade.” I said bitterly. “Everypony knew that. And everypony knew that I was the one you loved, Chrysalis most of all. And when you were gone and I was captured...she paraded me around like a trophy, showing the world what she could do to one of the Elements of Harmony.” I looked at my legs, still scarred from my life underneath the changeling queen. “I can never use the Element of Kindness again...not how I am now.”
        I looked back up at the changeling, anger still rushing through me. “Like I said before, I was allowed to visit the princess's statue. I spoke to her in the hopes that she could hear me, to tell her about our problems. I knew that being there would help...and I hoped that she could free herself. But she never did and I was always dragged back to that room...to wait and see if I would be used...or beaten...or starved...” I snarled again, shaking my head. “That is what happened to me.”
        We were both silent, Shade's eyes slightly wide as he tried to take in all of the information I had just given him. I stared at him, my anger starting to fade. I saw his body shudder and I thought he was going to start crying again. “Shade...”
        “All of that.” He said, holding up a hoof. “After I failed?” I couldn't do anything but tell the truth, nodding to him. At that, Shade sat on the ground and curled into a ball, weeping.
        My words had struck him deeper than the horn that had killed him. I was stuck motionless, watching the crying changeling in front of me. He wasn't crying tears of anger, but tears of regret. I knew what he was thinking at that moment. He had always told me many times that he'd never fail me. And in his mind...he did.
        I stepped forwards, stopping as Shade shifted back into his changeling form. He didn't notice, continuing to cry. The memories instantly rushed through my head, telling me to turn away, leave because of the evil he would do to me. I kept walking towards him, making progress until I was standing directly in front of the weeping changeling. And then...I did something that I hadn't done in over four months because of my anger, pride, fear or my memories.
        I sat down and hugged my Shade, the one that I knew loved me deeply.
        He uncurled and fell into my legs, wrapping his own around me as he cried into my neck. Shade had been trying to do so much by himself, not asking for help from me or even his mother. He had the feeling that it was up to him to protect everyone, and it wasn't. He might be the son of the princess, but that doesn't mean he has to do it alone. And as I held him, I knew that he still cared about me. The sorrow...the outright pain that he was feeling right now...I knew that he always would. And I knew that he really did need me...and that I would always be there for him.
        I wrapped my wings around him as we sat together, not caring about anything around us. As his crying started to slow, he moved his head back to look at me. He spoke, his voice husky from crying, “Fluttershy, I...”
        I covered his mouth with my hoof. “Shade...I'm so sorry. Nothing that happened was your fault, nothing at all.”
        He gently moved my hoof from his mouth, giving me a smile. Oh, how I had missed that smile, so very much. “I love you, Fluttershy.”
        I smiled back at him, something that felt so foreign to me. “And I love you, Shade. I will always love you.” Gently placing my hoof behind his head, I pulled him towards me, giving him a deep kiss.
        Our legs wrapped around each other as we both fell deeper into the kiss. I felt something...warm. It was so warm and it was around us. I felt the shell that I had created for myself during the last four months peel away, feeling warm light surround us. I'm not sure how I knew, but I could tell that it was our bond. The bond that we had created when he gave my necklace all those months before...it was growing stronger. More powerful. Shade and I were truly and forever linked together, and at that moment, I could not have been happier.
        After what felt like forever, and I wished it could have gone for that long, the two of us finally parted as he ran his hoof through my mane. “My Flutters...” he whispered.
        I smiled at him. “That light...”
        He pointed down at my neck. “You can't see it...but you have a small scar. Looks like a lightning bolt.”
        “That means...our bond?” I asked.
        He nodded. “ The bond of a changeling. You and I...forever. That is, if that's what you want.”
        I kissed him again. “Nothing would make me happier.”
        He smiled and chuckled a bit. “That smile...you have no idea how much I have missed that smile of yours.”
        I slightly lowered my head as part of my mane covered my face. “Not as much as I missed you, Shade. My changeling.”
        “Always and forever.” We kissed again, it felt like I could kiss him forever at that point. And I wanted to, but I stopped as I saw him look out over Ponyville.
        “Shade...” I started.
        “No more.” He said as he looked over the town. “Chrysalis had her fun. She hurt you, my mother, my son and my friends. And I will make her pay for that.” I was still, watching him as he flicked his wings. He stood up and turned towards the forest. “Shall we?”
        I walked over to his side, reviling in the feeling. I wasn't scared around Shade anymore, and I never wanted that feeling again.
        “Come on, Shy.” Shade said as he kissed my neck. “I have to deliver a belated birthday present to my son.”