//------------------------------//
// Something Rotten 
// Story: In a Name 
// by Detectivefish 
//------------------------------//

After the initial panicked outburst, Shining Sapphire attempted to remain calm. And to her credit, she managed to remain so for more than a few seconds, before the panic reasserted itself, causing her to rush out of her bedroom in the general direction of one of the castle's libraries as fast as possible, up until her back leg started hurting again, at which point she slowed to a brisk walk.
A few seconds after this, Whisper Wind slowly began to follow her.

The nearest of the libraries in the castle was located a solid few minutes walk from Shining Sapphire's bedroom, which was chiefly so that she had an actual excuse to get out of her bedroom once in a while, or alternatively so that she could actually go to bed. At the moment, however, the chance to think about things wasn't helping, though the fact that her mind was going at a hundred miles an hour did prevent her from running away with any ridiculous ideas, as so often happened with what her cousin glibly referred to as 'the family madness'.

Soon, she reached the doors to her library, and felt calmness wash over her as she entered, her gaze settling upon the many shelves of her domain. There were old books, and new books, special books, rare books, books that had been gifts, or birthday presents (Many of which tended to be doubles of books she'd already acquired), and all of them were hers, carefully arranged and stored in the most logical fashion she knew of, and a great many of them looked well-read.
"Okay" she said, as she marched towards a small desk kept in the middle of room, "Okay, okay, okay, Sapphy, dear, first things first, calm ourselves."

She sat on a small chair, and began trying to get her breathing under control. After a few seconds she stopped, and smiled cautiously.
"Okay, feeling slightly calmer now. So then, time to figure out what exactly has happened, so, let's start with a basic objective analysis. Through means unknown, I appear to have become a Changeling overnight."
Her smiled vanished. "This is completely impossible!"

She sat there, staring at nothing in particular. "Okay, now that we've established that, we can start figuring 
She raised a forehoof, and tapped it against her front leg. She frowned at the mildly disconcerting sound it made. "I look like a Changeling, I feel like a Changeling."

She stopped as she felt a small stab of pain in her mouth. "Certainly hurts when my tongue catches on these fangs."
She tried to get a good look at the wings on her back, and tried giving them an experimental flap. There was a quick buzzing sound.
"Wings seem real, don't seem to be connected by bone."

She looked toward her tail, then moved her eyes forward, trying to get a view of her mane. "Note that tail and mane appear to retain usual colouration, albeit with same gaps present on cannon and wings. Skin feels like chitin, eyes remain the same colour, voice definitely seems to be untouched."
She closed her eyes, and feeling slightly nervous, began breathing again. "This is completely impossible" she frowned. She jolted slightly as the door to the library opened, and then relaxed when she saw Wisp slink in. He made his way to the chair next to hers, and then crumbled onto it, before falling still.

She considered trying to talk to him, but then shook her head. Her horn glowed, and several books were wrapped in her aura, and brought over toward the desk.
"Now let's see if there's anything that matches this" she said, before feeling the need to add, "Though I doubt it."

She lifted one book and began to flip through it, "I suppose," she mused, "this could just be some prank of Disco-"
"It's not Discord" Wisp stated. She turned to look at him.

"You sound very sure about that."
Wisp adjusted himself so that he was now sitting on the chair. It made him look incredibly tall, and it meant she could get a good, focused look on his current appearance, which looks almost entirely like his default disguise. Same golden-brown fur, same golden-brown mane and tail, same amazingly bright blue eyes. The only real difference was some extra muscles and a few inches extra, plus the visible horn, since Wisp usually preferred disguising himself as a pegasus. Not that she was going to argue about those chances.

"I am sure" he said, "Because if Discord had done this, he'd have bragged about it by now, to our faces. Or laughed."
Shining Sapphire considered this for a moment, "Good point."
"So who did do this to us?" he asked. Shining Sapphire frowned.

"Does it matter? All that matters is figuring out how to un-do this. Working out who did it can wait 'till we've fixed this mess."
She didn't notice the expression on Wisp's face since by that point she'd already turned back to the book. "Which is going to be impossible. I mean, I know pretty much every kind of magical ailment, and I can't for the life of me recall a single thing that matches this right now."

Then a horrible burst of recognition flared in her mind, and she adjusted herself to glance at her flank. It was completely blank. She gasped, even as she started questioning what that meant. Did it mean that her magic had been altered, her usual strengths and skills altered? Did it mean anything at all? Then another thought occurred to her. She looked back toward Wisp.

"Wisp, honey?" she said, as sweetly as she could manage, and tried to fight down the rising urge to blush furiously, "Can I see your..."
She coughed, to which he looked confused, "Your flank" she managed.
He briefly looked confused, before shifting and revealing his flank. Shining Sapphire stared at the sight for a moment, before getting off of the chair and heading toward one of the shelves.

"What is it?" Wisp asked, since he was taking every care not to look at it.
"I'm... not sure" Shining Sapphire said, "Well, that is, I have a reasonable guess, but I want to double-check."

She stopped and turned to look at him. "You could always check for yourself" she pointed out. Wisp shook his head. Shining Sapphire went back to looking at her shelves, and finally found a book that looked useful. She frowned as she stared at the book's title, Professor Snail's Guide to Insects, Arachnids and Arthropods. She knew every single one of her books, and she'd never seen that one before. Someone had put new books in her library, without telling her. Somepony had re-arranged her library. And there were new books, just when something like this had to happen, meaning she couldn't read them then and there.

She tried to get rid of those thoughts, and flipped open the book as she turned and made her way back to the desk. After a few hundred pages she saw something that looked promising, and set the book down. She began glancing up, looking from the page to Wisp's flank, and nodded.
"Behold your Cutie Mark" she said. Wisp looked, then glanced at her.

"It's upside down" he pointed out. She turned the book around, and he looked confused.
"The 'Monarch butterfly'?" he asked, glancing toward his flank, where there was indeed a singular orange butterfly. Shining Sapphire saw the subtle look of relief on his face, and as she closed the book again could've sworn she heard him mutter something about crowns.

"Anyway" Shining Sapphire said slowly, "Back to working this o-"
She stopped, mainly because of a sudden stinging sensation in her eyes. She wrenched her eyes shut, but as soon as she had, the pain had stopped. Tentatively, she opened her eyes, and was met with an alarming sight. Everything looked washed out, or faded, save Wisp, who was a bright kaleidoscope of colour. Bright yellows, blue, pink and a tiny smattering of green seemed to shift endlessly, making him look like some kind of highly-localised pony-aurora. She blinked, and then slowly realised what was happening.

During the time she and Wisp had been corresponding with one another, so long ago, she'd asked him about all manner of Changeling biology. She still remembered feeling the need to bathe for several hours after hearing him describe moulting, but the most curious one was a unique form of vision they had. Since Wisp hadn't exactly been raised by Changelings, most of what he described had been guesswork, but it seemed that they had a way of telling what emotions their prey was feeling at any given time, though describing how that worked had been a stumbling point for the colt, who'd simply said that it was 'sort of like taste mixed with scent'.
Shining Sapphire, being as she was a rational and scientifically minded pony, had set out attempting to determine how such a thing was possible, before eventually having to give up on that pursuit. At one point she'd even wondered if perhaps he'd just been flippant, especially once he mentioned that using it near members of the Pie Clan had a tendency to give him headaches, along with a tendency to giggle for no reason, or inability to walk in a straight line.

And now she was staring such a bizarre concept right in the face (so to speak), and was finding it more than a little disturbing, especially since she had already built some nice, cosy assumptions about what had happened, and this was proving them all completely wrong.
"What is it?" Wisp asked. She looked up at him.

"I seem to be experience this... emotion-vision... thing you told me about" she said, before adding, "And I can't seem to turn it off. Any advice?"
Wisp just looked momentarily confused, before sheepishly saying "Sorry, it's been a long time since I've actually had to think about it. It usually takes concentration."

"Right" Shining Sapphire said, "'course it does. Pretty sure I asked you that already."
And in the manner of all beings anywhere ever, when asked to concentrate, she suddenly found it difficult to focus on anything at all. A horrible silence descended upon the room.
"So...." Wisp finally spoke up, "What has happened to us?"

Shining Sapphire paused for a moment. "I..." she said, "Well, I had just assumed that somepony had made it so that I look like a Changeling and you look like a pony, but... I think we can lay that theory to rest."
Wisp just nodded numbly. "Okay then."

Shining Sapphire tried smiling, "I'm sorry. I'm not entirely certain what has happened yet."
She could have sworn that she then saw Wisp's mouth curve slightly, and pattern of colours changed slightly. As far as he knew, he wasn't a Changeling anymore, and he was already enjoying it. And given the events of the last few months, she couldn't honestly hold it against him, but something about it made her feel unnerved.

"I'll try and work out what's been done, Wisp, but this is just..." she groaned with frustration, "I just need time, and no interrupt-"
"My queen?" somepony said in her ear. She practically leapt out of her skin, then turned to glower at the source of the voice, only to see a Changeling standing there, looking nervous. Fortunately, she recognised which one it was. After all, she'd been the one to name them.

It had been a few days after the return from Ponyville, and Shining Sapphire had taken it upon herself to name Wisp's would-be bodyguards, since trying to tell them apart had already managed to get old. Of course, this quickly proved problematic, since they were Changelings, and not really known for individuality. They didn't talk to anypony, they didn't eat with everypony else, they didn't seem to have hobbies, or interest. Nonetheless, she'd taken to the task with some enthusiasm. After a few days, a few noticeable quirks became apparent. One of them seemed particularly excitable, almost comically clumsy, so she decided to name that one 'Impulse'. For the most physically imposing and quiet, the name 'Rock' had seemed fitting, and then for the next she choose the name 'Windsheer', but after the fourth she found herself stumped, so she turned to Wisp to name the fifth Changeling. After a few seconds thought, he dubbed him 'Angel Eyes'. Shining Sapphire had questioned Wisp about this, but he'd defended himself by saying the name seemed 'right'. Shining Sapphire found herself reluctantly agreeing. This was why she managed to recognise the Changeling in front of her as Impulse. The fact that he was looking incredibly skittish helped.

"Apologies for startling you royalty," he said, "but we felt your alarm and wondered if you required aid."
She shook her head, "No, no, Impulse, but thanks for the-"
She turned to look at him. "Wait, 'We'?" she asked.

There were four shimmers, and she noticed Wisp stepping closer to her as the four other Changelings appeared. She could've sworn she felt concern from them, though they still seemed to have their usual ambivalence.
"That explains that" she muttered. Then she turned to Wisp. His ears were twitching.

"What is it?" she asked. He tilted his head.
"I think somepony's coming" he murmured. Shining Sapphire frowned, this was getting ridiculous. Was the entire Crystal Empire going to try and fit into the room? Then the door opened, and she heard the sound of the Changelings vanishing. She turned to look, and saw they weren't just turning invisible, they were actually leaving. And she could've sworn they looked... afraid. Then she turned to see who it was who'd entered the room. Her eyes were assaulted by a flood of warm and alarmingly pink light that washed over the room, and she winced. Of all the ponies in all the world, the one who had to walk in at that very moment was her mother.

"Good morning, you two" Princess Cadance smiled, as she made her way across the room toward the two ponies, evidently not noticing the wincing Changeling in front of her.
"Doing some early studying?" she asked Wisp, who just stared unblinking at her. She chuckled.

"How about some breakfast first?" she suggested, "And before you try reasoning your way out of this, remember the last time we had this conversation? Breakfast, downstairs."
She finally seemed to notice Shining Sapphire, and it changed subtly. "Five minutes."

And then she turned and walked out of the room, stopping only briefly to glance at Shining Sapphire, a troubled expression passing across her face for a moment, before she closed the door behind her. Once she was gone, Wisp turned to look at Shining Sapphire, who was now blinking rapidly in the hopes of making the spots go away.
"Yeah" he said gently, "Staring at her with that one isn't the best idea."

"Noted" she said quietly, before groaning, "That felt like my eyes had been doused with sugar. Sugar and honey."
Wisp just sat down next to her, "It could have been worse" he said distantly, "the first time mine kicked in, it was..."

He shuffled, "It wasn't pleasant."
"Were you staring at Pinkie Pie, perchance?" she asked.

"No."
She waited a moment to see if he was going to add anything extra to that, but he simply remained silent. She sighed, and rubbed her eyes again. Then she stopped.

"Oh, this seems to have worn off. Almost convenient, I suppose."
She looked toward Wisp and smiled weakly.

"So," Wisp said, "What do we do now?"
For a few seconds she stared at her hooves. Then she tried to look at anything else. "I'm not sure right now. I mean, my mom, and the maids and those Changelings didn't seem surprised to see me looking like... well, like this, so..."

"Oh" Wisp uttered, to which she nodded glumly.
"Yeah. 'Oh'."

She sighed, then looked back to Wisp. "I'll try and figure this out, Wisp, I swear, but... first we need to figure out what's been done to us, and whether we can reverse it."
Then, in the sudden silence, there was a deep rumbling from her stomach.

"But, like my mother said, breakfast first."
Then she glanced around the room, "Although... let's see if I can't... make myself more presentable."

Her horn glowed, and then bright green flames appeared, and wrapped around her for but a brief moment. She turned to look at Wisp, who had a startled expression on his face.
"Wasn't sure if that would even work" she said bashfully, "But I'm guessing it has, right?"

Wisp just remained unblinking. "It has worked right?" she said cautiously, "I don't just look like a bright pink Changeling queen, do I?"
Wisp slowly shook his head. "No" he managed, "It worked."

She smiled, and decided not to dwell on the fact that she had just managed to cast a spell she had no experience with on the first try.
"Alright. Let's go get that breakfast" she said, before tilting her head, "Although, since we've no idea what might happen, it would be best if we act... casual."

Neither pony said anything as they headed out of the library, but the unspoken agreement in their eyes was that this was likely to be unbelievably awkward.


*****


As it turned out, just making their way to the breakfast hall was awkward. This might have been because neither pony had any idea how casual they were supposed to act, and therefore found themselves following the age-old traditions of acting casual, such as walking very stiffly, smiling like they were unhinged maniacs (which, given they way they were feeling, wasn't much of a stretch at that moment), glancing suspiciously at everypony who walked past, and speaking louder than was necessary. On the way, no less than fourteen ponies addressed Wisp as 'highness', while utterly ignoring Shining Sapphire, save one young mare who quickly ran off covering her face afterward.

Things did not improve on reaching the breakfast hall.
Mealtimes in the Crystal Empire were a complicated affair. Up until the overthrow of Sombra, whatever meals had been served were amazingly simple (and despite the fact that some of the ponies that had worked under him were still alive, an utter mystery), and when the empire had caught up with modern society, the chefs who lived there had been amazed to learn what techniques there were available, means they'd never considered in their wildest dreams, and they refused to squander this opportunity, despite the fact that neither Shining Armor or Princess Cadance were especially interested in what would have been deemed 'fancy' meals (Indeed both preferred more modest meals, though Shining Armor would most likely have been comfortable eating military rations again). However, after a long and incredibly fraught discussion, an agreement was made that while lunch and dinner would be the province of the kitchen staff, breakfast and tea were entirely the Royal Family's choice.

This didn't have anything to do with why the meal was awkward, but it certainly didn't help improve the mood of the young royals. Since neither were certain whether they were supposed to act differently, they simple chose their choice of breakfast and sat down, not saying anything or making eye contact. After a few minutes of utter silence, Cadance looked over toward the two ponies.

"You two are being incredibly quiet" she noted, her voice causing both ponies, who were deep in their own private thoughts, to jump. "Is everything alright?"
Wisp just mumbled something, while Shining Sapphire just started eating faster. Shining Armor decided to weigh in, and looked toward Wisp.

"So, what have you two got planned for today then?" he asked, before smiling, "Let me guess, same as usual?"
"Same as usual" Shining Sapphire found herself saying automatically, before she caught herself and stopped, and then continued eating, trying to keep her face hidden, trying not to look at her father. The rest of the meal continued in silence. When they finished, Shining Sapphire and Wisp looked at each other, then quickly hurried out of the room. As the door clicked shut, Cadance looked toward Shining Armor, who just looked confused. She raised an eyebrow. Shining Armor raised an eyebrow back at her. Cadance raised another eyebrow, at which point Shining Armor drew a blank. Cadance tilted her head toward the door.

"What?" Shining Armor asked. Cadance just stared at him.
"Something is wrong with those two" she pointed out. Shining Armor nodded.

"Yeah, I got that bit" he said, "they sure weren't their usual sunny selves, that's for sure."
The two sat there for a moment, before looking toward the other. The seconds stretched out, as they looked into the other's eyes, and they came to a conclusion, the only problem being that neither wanted to be the one who said it.
"Well," Shining Armor said, "I don't think it's because of... well, that."

"No," Cadance said immediately, "definitely not."
"Which does raise the question of what it could be."

"Well, why don't you just try talking to him?" she asked, "he is your son after all."
Shining Armor shifted uncomfortably. "I dunno. Whatever it is that is bothering him, him might not wanna talk about it."

He tapped a hoof against the table, then looked at Cadance again. "You know how he gets when he's nervous."
Cadance nodded slowly, "I know, I know. But, on the other hoof, it might perhaps be easier for him to talk about this with his father."
Shining nodded, "Gotcha."

He walked over toward Cadance and kissed her on the cheek, "for luck. Just in case I don't make it back."
She batted at him with a hoof, trying not to smirk. As he walked out of the room she sat there, not paying any mind to the staff as they moved in to clean up the table. She had a lingering sense that something didn't feel right, but couldn't put a hoof on it.

"So, what now?" Wisp asked as the two ponies walked through the corridor. Shining Sapphire stopped, and then shook her head.
"Well... we try and figure out what's been done to us, and how to fix it."

"Question, why can't we just see a professional, you know, a doctor or something?"
Shining Sapphire shook her head, "this isn't a medical problem. You see a doctor when you've... broken a leg, or a nasty disease. This is..."

She frowned, "I have no idea what this is. So I don't think a doctor would be much help."
Wisp just nodded, "Alright then."

"And I would like to see if there's anything that can help us figure out what's be-" she suddenly yelped.
"What is it?" Wisp asked, as her expression shifted to exasperation.

"Bit my tongue" she said darkly, "Itth these teefh. Don't theem to want to thapethitht properly."
She looked at the expression on his face, and her eyes narrowed. She lifted a hoof, and after a few seconds said, "Don't you laugh."

"I wasn't going to laugh" Wisp said, his expression stone-like, "I do know what its like to have teething problems."
"Yeth" Shining Sapphire said, "Thorgot about that. Thorry."

"Fortunately," Wisp continued, "most ponies just assumed I was wearing false teeth."
He facehoofed, "Nothing more bizarre than being given 'pointers' by the Pies on how to misbehave."

"Also? Why don't we just tell your parents about this?" he asked. Shining Sapphire's face scrunched up, and then her wings twitched.
"Well, if we got my parents involved..." she trailed off, and glanced nervously about the corridor, "if this is deliberate, if somepony's doing this on purpose, then maybe..."

She trailed off, "let's just keep this to ourselves for now."
Then she saw Wisp's eyes focus on something. "What is it?"

He nodded, and she turned, to see Shining Armor approaching slowly. She began to wonder if reality had some manner of grudge against her.
"Hey," he said akwardly, apparently wincing, "you two okay?"

She tried smiling, unaware of the fact that her new fangs were showing, "Yes, yes. Fine. Perfectly okay."
Shining Armor nodded, and then motioned toward Wisp, "is it okay if I borrow your boyfriend for a moment?"

She looked toward Wisp, who was burying a barely-controlled look of distress.
"I guess" Wisp said hesitantly. Shining Sapphire just bit down on her lip at the look on both their faces.

"I'll be in the library" she said, before correcting herself with, "well, a library, at any rate."
She walked off, taking one last look at Wisp before she rounding a corner. The former Changeling looked at Shining Armor, and then shuffled, his wings flapping briefly.

"So," he said slowly, "what was it you wanted to talk about?"
Shining Armor bit down on his lip and looked about awkwardly, "stuff, I guess" he said. The two stood there, shuffling awkwardly.
"Hey, wanna walk outside? It's a really nice morning. Far too nice to be wasted inside."


*****

Despite what she'd said, Shining Sapphire hadn't immediately headed to a library. Instead, she made her way back to her bedroom, and more importantly, the adjoining bathroom, where she proceeded to wash her hair, because otherwise the incredibly greasy feeling was going to drive her mad.

After drying it, she made her way to the nearest library and got down to work. Well, that had been the plan, at any rate.
She frowned as she stared at the book in front of her, as she tried to focus on its contents, which was proving annoyling difficult. Her mind, now free of any distractions, was making good use of the opportunity and racing at a mile a minute. She sighed, and buried her head in her hooves. Nothing was making any sense whatsoever. From what she knew, from what she thought she'd known, there was no way any of this could have been happening, and she wasn't even sure about what had happened.

She wasn't aware of it, but she'd begun to let out a low moan. Then she was aware of a gently feel of a hoof on her shoulder. Slowly, she looked up, to see a bright pink hoof. She looked further up, to see her mother, looking concerned.
"Are you feeling okay?" she asked. Shining Sapphire just blinked, not knowing whether to smile or scream or just snap completely.

"I'm having a... really off day" she mumbled. Cadance sat down and tilted her head.
"Nothing's happened between you two, has it?" she asked. Shining Sapphire paused, wondering why she'd ask such a thing, after all, all she'd done this morning was wake up, and then last ni-

She felt her blood freeze, even as her cheeks turned an impressive magenta colour, and she found it difficult to breath.
"No!" she managed to choke out, "Nothing happened. Nothing at all, nothing between the two of us."

It then occurred to her, inbetween trying to will her memory into oblivion, that she had in fact shapeshifted to look like she normally did, but for all she knew, at the moment that would have meant she'd look like she was...
She tried not to look at Cadance as her cheeks managed to get redder still.

"Well, alright then," Cadance said, though she sounded unconvinced. Shining Sapphire tried smiling, but somewhere between thought and deed it got slightly confused, and she looked more like she'd been kicked incredibly hard. It faltered even further when Cadance smiled back.

"But you know, if you do need to talk to somepony, about anything, anything at all, you know you can talk to me, don't you?" she said calmly. Shining Sapphire nodded. She did want to talk, she wanted to tell her absolutely everything she could, but for she had no idea where to even begin, or how her mother would react. Oh, she knew she'd be believed, that much she knew, but beyond that, she had no idea what would happen. Especially since it had been a whole month since the Nightmare's visit.
"Yeah" she said quietly, "I know."

She looked up, to see an oddly faraway look on Cadance's face. "I do know what it's like, that feeling" she said, her voice sounding worryingly far-away, "that one you get when you're a long way from home. And your friends. And your family."
"Home's where the heart is" Shining Sapphire mumbled. "Everypony knows that."

Cadance just smiled again, and this time Shining Sapphire smiled back properly. "So it is" she said.
She sighed, and then almost instantly afterward her smile returned, "Well then, if you're feeling alright, I'll let you get back to what you were doing. Just thought I'd check up on you, see if you were okay."

"Thanks, m-" Shining Sapphire caught her just in time.
"Thanks" she mumbled. Cadance's smile grew slightly. Then Shining Sapphire saw a worrying look in her eyes.

"What is it?" she asked.
"Oh, I've... just had this odd feeling all morning" Cadance said, sounding mildly puzzled with what she was saying, "distracted, probably, but that's probably because one of the kitchen staff didn't make it in this morning, and nopony's seen him since last night, especially since it would normally take being turned to stone to keep one of them from coming in to work."

She looked down at her hooves for a moment, then back to Shining Sapphire, "Anyhow, never mind my rambling. If you're okay, I'll just go. But you know where me and my husband are if you need us."
Shining Sapphire nodded, before Cadance walked out of the room, closing the door behind her, her mind feeling more unfocused than before. She wasn't sure whether she wanted to laugh or scream or cry or all three, or just chase after her mother and ask her to help. Then, she felt an odd sensation across her cheek. She lifted a hoof, and looked. A tear.

She looked at the book in front of her, then, with utmost care she closed it and returned it to its proper place on the shelf, before marching out of the room, her face set with determination.


*****


Some time later, and a pony slunk through the streets of the Crystal Empire, ignoring all the ponies who tried to bid him 'good morning' or say hello, or bow, or curtsy. This pony made their way to the great library itself, and made their way inside, ignoring the cheerful greetings of the librarians, who immediately began wondering if something was dreadfully wrong with the pony. He stopped, and looked about, nopony daring to ask what he was up to. Then he made his way through the library, until eventually coming upon a small stack of books hidden in a corner. Slowly, he approached it, then lifted a hoof and knocked gently on it.

"Yes?" a voice called out from the fortress.
"It's me" Whisper Wind announced. The books were wrapped in a glow of energy, and moved aside, allowing him entrance. Inside was a small desk, with Shining Sapphire sitting at it with the most forlorn expression possible, though it vanished when she saw his.
"What happened?" she asked. Wisp sat there for a moment, his expression shifting every few seconds, before he finally spoke.

"Shining Armor and I had..." he paused, "a conversation."
Shining Sapphire raised an eyebrow at this. "And?"

Wisp began slouching. "It was a conversation I didn't want to have, and never wish to repeat, or even think of, again."
"Oh" Shining Sapphire said. A new silence produced itself.

"By the way" Wisp said after some time, "my name is now apparently..."
He rolled his eyes, "I can barely bring myself to say it. It's... 'Shimmering Stretto'."

Shining Sapphire's mouth twitched furiously, and she stared up at the ceiling, trying to think of the technique used to make it so that she didn't laugh.
"I see" she eventually said. "Makes sense."

"How so?" Wisp asked.
"Well, it's a musical term, so it'd fit with my mother's name, and a stretto is, if I recall correctly, something to do with the imitation of a subject, when the imitation starts before the subject has finished. I could explain in more depth if you'd like."

"Please don't."
Shining Sapphire sighed. "Could've been worse" she smiled, "I nearly got named 'Shining Satz'. That's Griffon for 'set', by the way. It means 'a musical term which in and of itself makes complete sense.'"

Her smiled flickered, "my mane saved me from that one. Well, mostly."
"Mom really wanted to name me after a musical term" she said quietly. She then went back to reading her book. Then, almost as suddenly, she stopped, and seemed to become suddenly stiff as she turned to look at Wisp.

"Wisp, honey, what did you say he called you?"
Wisp felt a sudden pang of fear, even as he tried to remember the name. "Shimmering Stretto?"

There was a terrifying look in Shining Sapphire's eyes. "I see" she said, her voice alarmingly low, in a way Wisp had never heard before.
"Well. That makes things simple. So very simple."

Her horn glowed, and the books began to start moving about. Wisp blinked.
"How does that make things simple?" suddenly she stared at him with an alarmingly intense stare.

"Because" she said, beginning to smile again, albeit in the way usually found on creatures approaching tasty morsels in the middle of the jungle, "my dear Wisp, there is no. Way. That my mother or father would ever, ever name any child of theirs... Shimmer, or any variation thereof!"
For a moment, Wisp watched as she began striding off, and considered asking her what exactly she meant by that, but then he noticed he was in a library, filled with books, and from the look on Shining Sapphire's face it wasn't a good idea to press further.

"So, what does that mean?" he asked, and she turned back toward him with an alarming look on her face.
"It means I know what's been done" she said, her voice incredibly low. "It mean somebody's been messing with somepony's head, which is why my mom and dad think that you are their son, and that they would actually call you that."

She turned again, and started marching toward the palace, "And what's better" she announced, "is that I know exactly what to do about this!"
"What?" Wisp asked, to which she stopped dead, nearly causing him to collide with her. "What are you going to do?"

"Well, the thing is, nopony in the Crystal Empire should be able to do something like this, and it follows that nopony in the Crystal Empire could undo it."
"But," Wisp said cautiously, "we still don't know who did this."

"And it still doesn't matter" she said instantly, "because I know who we have to go see to get this fixed!"
She stared at Wisp for a moment, evidently expecting him to supply an answer. He shrugged.

"Who?"
She rolled her eyes and smiled, "think about it, sweetie, come on. Who has the greatest magical knowledge anywhere?"

"Princess Celestia?" he asked. Shining Sapphire shook her head.
"Not her."

"Really? Because she only has lifetimes worth of experience and knowledge, second only to none, after all, and you have carte blanche to visit her whenever you want."
Shining Sapphire looked thoughtful for a moment. "True" she finally said, "yes, she is one of the smartest ponies alive, and yes, I could conceivably visit her whenever I wished, but Wisp, darling, the thing is..."

She looked about, then motioned for him to move in closer. "The thing is," she whispered, "she is also my grand-aunt, which seems to give her license to spend most of the time I'd spend with her rambling whatever nonsense comes into her head. Now, don't get me wrong, I am all for sagely wisdom of the ages, or long circuitous monologues, but if there is one thing I never, ever wish to experience again, it is a lecture from my beloved grand-aunt on the history of tea-cups."
Wisp blinked, taken aback by those last words. "Tea-cups?" he repeated. Shining Sapphire nodded.

"Indeed. Tea-cups. Do not ask, for the sheer tedium might tear your mind to shreds."
"I thought you were all for learning new things" he said. Shining Sapphire shook her head, and started walking toward the palace again.

"I am. But I draw the line at tea-cups."
She glanced at Wisp, and looked almost embarrassed. "Don't tell anypony. I'm supposed to like tea, being royalty and all."

"You prefer coffee" Wisp said, to which she nodded.
"Which means I'm probably supposed to not like tea, then" Wisp said.

"Do you?" she asked cautiously. Wisp shrugged.
"Mom tried, once or twice, to gauge my interest in it, but... for some reason her ten year old son didn't really take to it. Maybe it was because I'm a Changeling, and therefore just have different tastebuds. Or maybe, just maybe, it was the bear sitting near me."

"The bear" Shining Sapphire repeated, "that was... not what I was expecting you to say."
"Actually, as it turned out, he was a very nice bear" Wisp said absent-mindedly. "Nicer than most of the rabbits, in fact."

He smiled briefly. "So, then, if it isn't Princess Celestia, who? Princess Luna?"
Shining Sapphire looked momentarily startled. "Forgotten about her" she mumbled sheepishly, "But I will justify that on the grounds that she would act grand-auntishly as well, though perhaps not to the same extent as Aunt Celestia. Plus, I've had even less contact with her than I have with Celestia. And my encounters with Princess Celestia don't measure into the double digits, so I doubt I could just walk up to her and ask for a sudden favour."

"So," Wisp said, feeling a slight portent of doom at his words, "if we aren't seeing Princess Celestia, or Princess Luna, then I suppose the next most powerful magic-wielder would be..."
He stopped, and saw the wide grin on Shining Sapphire's face.

"Yep" the mare grinned, "Aunt Twilie."
"Of course" Wisp said.

The two quickly made their way to the palace, and then to Shining Sapphire's bedroom. She looked under the bed, and dragged out a small bag.
"I wonder..." she said, "should I make some notes, to help aunt Twilie with this, or should I just try and explain when we get there?"

She shrugged, "might as well have the notes, it'll give me something to do on the way down. Now then," she clapped her hooves together, and rushed toward the bathroom, emerging with a small bag, and a towel. Wisp stared at the items.
"Basics" she said, "toothbrush, towel. After all, the train to Canterlot, assuming we get the next available one would get there..."

"Late" Wisp supplied. "Very late, assuming we don't wait a while and catch a later one, and arrive there so late it'd be morning."
"Assuming" she said. For a few seconds both ponies sat there, staring at one another.

"You're being quiet" Shining Sapphire noted. Wisp nodded.
"Just thinking," he said, "about stuff."

She nodded. "Yeah. Actually, I'm getting a bit concerned. I mean, there's no way it can be this easy for us. There's no way we can just... make our way downstairs, walk to the train station, get on a train and just go to Canterlot and get aunt Twilie to solve this, and be back by tomorrow afternoon, is there?"
"Probably not, no" Wisp said glumly.

The two ponies stood there, and then Shining Sapphire smiled slightly.
"Bet you ten bits something goes wrong on that way."

"It might not" Wisp suggested. "Maybe all the bad luck will move on to somepony else."
After a few seconds, both of them burst out in uncontrollable laughter, until they found it difficult to stand. However, they did feel slightly better about their chances once they were done.