Chapter 2
Making Acquaintances
Princess Celestia sighed. This was not how she had planned to meet with her guest to discuss trade routes between their kingdoms. She turned to the sergeant that currently pointed his lit horn at King Phoenix.
“Sergeant, send word outside that I have an urgent meeting that I must attend to immediately. Let them know that Day Court is closed.”
“...Yes, your highness.”
The sergeant very carefully dismissed his prepared spell, and moved to do as he had been ordered. Celestia sighed once more, turning back to King Phoenix.
“I was not expecting you to arrive this early,” she commented.
Phoenix lowered his head, “My apologies for not warning you sooner, but when I had learned that Mirror had been wrongly imprisoned, I could not wait any longer.”
“Wrongly imprisoned?” Celestia asked, frowning deeply. “Your changeling infiltrated the Night Guard, and --”
“Infiltrate?” Phoenix bristled. “Mirror Vanity did not infiltrate the Night Guard.”
Shining Armor scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous; everypony knows that changelings kidnap ponies and take their place! Infiltrating is all you changelings do!”
Phoenix stepped forward, ignoring the way the guards followed his movements with the tips of their spears, and leaned down to stare Shining Armor in the eye, his anger at this accusation displayed quite clearly on his face. “And just where did you learn that lie?”
“Chrysalis made it quite obvious when she and her hive --”
“Well I’m not her, now am I?” Phoenix straightened, still glaring down at the captain. “Neither I nor any member of my hive is guilty of her misdeeds. You would do well to not accuse us of them in the future.”
“Oh? And what of the love she was stealing from her victims?” Cadence sneered. “Your changeling has fooled a royal guard and a newborn into believing she cares for them!”
Phoenix rolled his eyes. “Let me guess: you have him, and the newborn, being checked for any mind-altering magic, correct?”
Celestia nodded hesitantly. She wasn’t quite sure she trusted this stallion yet, so she opted to not mention the stallion’s name. “The stallion and foal that Mirror Vanity has been fooling are being treated as we speak.”
“Tell me, how much did they object?”
Celestia frowned, unsure of where this line of questioning was going. “They... were not pleased. I had no choice but to escort them by force myself.”
“Which, I assure you, was a waste of your time. There is nothing to treat. Neither the stallion nor the child have been harmed in any way.”
Cadence snorted. “Horsefeathers!”
“Cadence!” Celestia snapped. “Whether you like it or not, King Phoenix is our guest!”
Phoenix gestured mildly to the spears still pointed at him. “Odd way to greet a guest, then.”
Celestia stamped down a blush. How could she possibly have forgotten to order her guards to stand down? “My apologies. Guards, stand down.”
Shining Armor’s attention snapped to her. “Princess, I cannot in good conscience --”
“That was an order, captain. He’s right, this is an improper way to greet a guest.”
Shining Armor stared at his commander in chief for several moments. Celestia was just beginning to think that he would disobey her, when at last, his jaw tightened and he signaled for the guards to do as she commanded. Slowly, and certainly just as reluctant as their captain, they stepped away and pulled away their spears.
“Thank you,” Phoenix said politely. “May we also take this to a room more appropriate for discussing peace between us?”
Celestia nodded. “Of course. There is a smaller room just near here, but I am going to have to ask that we go through the side hallways, so that others are not frightened or surprised by your... appearance.”
“Understandable. May I assume that Princess Cadence and Captain Armor will be joining us?”
“They will be, yes. Your request for peace talks is the very reason I requested that they be here.”
Phoenix nodded his understanding. He looked about himself, enjoying the decoration of the halls around him. He chose to remain silent during the walk, however; there was no need to make the guards more uncomfortable than they already were. He was rather disappointed when they arrived at their destination. It was clearly a meeting room, because there was a small round table with several seat cushions. Princess Celestia gestured for Phoenix to take a seat as she did the same. He thanked her politely before taking the one across from her. Phoenix took note of the way Princess Cadence and Shining Armor sat near Celestia, both of them watching him warily. The guards standing around the room were just as tense.
Phoenix decided to begin the meeting. “If I may, Princess, I would like to request that Mirror Vanity and the two ponies she has been accused of harming be brought here. I can prove that she is innocent.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow. “And how do you plan to do that?”
“You are currently trying to cure them of mind-altering magic, yes? If you were to remove Mirror’s ability to cast magic altogether, and bring them all here after the other two have been ‘cured’ --” Phoenix made sure to use his hooves to make air quotes -- “and while Mirror is restrained, watch the reactions of the other two. Princess Cadence, you are capable of sensing the love between two ponies, yes?”
Cadence frowned. “I am. What of it?”
“Well, if you were to use your love-sense while watching their reactions, I assure you that you would be quite surprised. Does this seem like a fair idea, Princess Celestia?”
Celestia nodded, but she held a rather inquisitive look on her face. “I am alright with that, but I must say, King Phoenix... you’ve clearly put a lot of thought and effort into our meeting. But as soon as you got word of Mirror being held prisoner, your priorities changed. From my experience with Chrysalis, it begs the question: would you really be willing to risk so much for the sake of a single changeling, when it would have been far easier to have continued on with the peace treaty as normal?”
Phoenix smiled serenely at Celestia. “Princess, I am more than willing to risk everything for the sake of a single changeling.”
Celestia looked the king in the eye for several moments, trying to read him and see if he was hiding anything. Once she was satisfied, she nodded and turned to the sergeant in the room. She ordered for him to bring Mirror Vanity here, and to ensure that her magical ability was suppressed and that she was properly restrained. He was also to bring her solar guard and the newborn here as well. Celestia had gotten a message from the doctors saying that they had been cleared of all mind-altering magical effects.
Silence reigned as ruler in the time it took for Celestia’s Solar Guards escorted. Celestia took the time to arrange her thoughts. At the moment, she was rather unsure of what to make of her guest at the moment. All she knew so far was that he desired peace between their nations, and he valued his subjects very highly.
So far, King Phoenix Embers didn’t seem to be much of a threat to Equestria. As a matter of fact, if this demonstration of his turned out how he claimed, Celestia saw no reason to decline his request.
Celestia’s attention was caught when the door finally opened. A feminine changeling, her mane and tail looking exactly the same as her king’s. She spotted Phoenix, who nodded calmly, smiling serenely. The drone nodded in return, shuffling along behind the guards that surrounded her. Her four legs were chained close together, and her horn held a ring that Phoenix recognized.
“A magical reflector to rebound any magic she casts back upon herself? That’s a powerful tool to use on a single changeling.”
Shining Armor snorted. “A single changeling is dangerous enough to yield that kind of precaution.”
Phoenix rolled his eyes. He was about to say more, but that was when the changeling’s supposed victims had finally arrive. A stallion, with his close cut mane and tail, was clearly a Royal Guard. Upon his back, secure in a saddlebag rider, was a small, sleepy foal.
Glancing around the room, his eyes found the one thing he’d been missing the past several hours.
“Mirror!” Without a single thought, he galloped straight for his wife.
Shining Armor wouldn’t have any of it. “Stop right there, Sergeant Steelfury. You have not been given permission to approach the prisoner.”
Steelfury froze in his tracks at his CO’s command. He turned his head slowly to glare at Shining.
“I may not have permission to approach the prisoner,” Steelfury sneered. “But I don’t need permission to approach my wife.”
“Your wife?” Shining scoffed. “That is a changeling. It was never your wife.”
Steelfury turned fully towards his commanding officer. Rage filled his face. “Say that about her again. I dare you.”
“Why are you so defensive about the changeling? It has impersonated and imprisoned your wife!”
“Because it was this changeling that I married!” Steelfury snapped. “I knew she was a changeling long before you even knew they existed!”
Cadence couldn’t believe her ears. “But... but if you knew, then why would you --”
“I would think that would be obvious, princess.” Steelfury spat. “I married her because I love her. You can sense it. Is it so hard to believe that a pony can love a changeling?”
Shining Armor did not appreciate his subordinate talking to his wife like that. “Watch your mouth, Sergeant, or --”
“Or what? You’ll demote me?” Steelfury growled, getting close to Shining’s face. “You’ve already tried to tear my family apart. What are you going to do next? Ruin my job? You really think you can do any worse than you already ha--”
“Uuwwaaaaaah!”
The entirety of the room jumped at the sudden crying. Steelfury turned immediately to the foal at his side, gently pulling the little colt from his carrier. Holding the foal close, he glanced at Mirror Vanity. She very clearly wanted to come help, but with the guards around her and the chains restraining her hooves, there was little she could do.
“Shh... it’s alright, little one, it’s alright...” Steelfury cooed to his child. “It’s alright, my little Starlight. It’s alright...”
It was no use. Starlight immediately cried once more, bringing a ringing to the ears of the ponies in the room. Steelfury had a very strong feeling that he wouldn’t be able to get his son to calm down without Mirror’s help, but with her restrained as she was, there wasn’t much else he could do.
Then he felt a hoof gently fall on his shoulder, and looked up to see King Phoenix.
The king gestured politely to the wailing child. “May I...?”
Steelfury glanced from his little Star to the king, and then to his wife. Mirror nodded slightly. Sighing, Steelfury gently handed over the foal to King Phoenix. The old changeling gently began to rock Starlight, softly whistling an old tune that Mirror Vanity immediately recognized from her own foalhood.
The melody of the song flowed throughout the room, bringing a sense of calm over the ponies there. The crying foal’s attention was caught by it, and Starlight slowly started to calm down. Soon enough, the young child had ceased his wailing, and had fallen back to sleep. It was at this point that Phoenix Embers returned the child to Steelfury.
“I hope you do not mind, but I did a small scan of little Star,” Phoenix began to explain. Steelfury looked towards the king. “From what I can tell, it seems that your son has inherited some of my little Mirror’s empathic abilities. He doesn’t yet know how to control it, so I suspect he may have picked up on the anger you and Captain Shining Armor were giving off in your argument. That is most likely what upset Starlight.”
Steelfury nodded. “Mirri and I suspected he might have inherited that from her. He’s had some other points where he’s picked up on our emotions... but thank you for confirming it.”
King Phoenix nodded, and turned to Celestia. “May I assume that what you have witnessed is enough proof for my changeling’s innocence?”
Celestia, remaining silent since the moment Mirror had arrived, took another several moments of thought to reach her decision. Then...
“Yes. I agree that your changeling is innocent. Guards, release her.”
Shining turned to his princess. “Princess, you can’t be serious!”
“I am, Captain. Allow me to explain.” Celestia took a deep breath. “She could have been trying to fight her way out this entire time, and yet she has restrained herself. Not to mention Sergeant Steelfury and his child have been cleansed of any mild altering magics that may have been placed upon them, and yet he still shows a deep love and devotion to her. Clearly, he is telling the truth. Therefore, I am ordering the release of the changeling Mirror Vanity from our custody.”
The guards surrounding Mirror nodded to their princess, and slowly unlocked the chains from their prisoner. When the magic reflector was removed at last, the changeling’s first reaction was to engulf her husband and foal in a powerful hug. King Phoenix smiled at the reunion, glad this trouble had been resolved at last. He turned to Princess Celestia.
“Thank you, Princess.” Phoenix began. “Now, may we begin discussing the peace treaty?”
Celestia smiled, as her guest returned to his seat. She summoned a quill and roll of parchment from her chambers. “Let us begin.”