//------------------------------// // CH. 06 Vindication // Story: The Last Changeling Queen // by Atuhor Name //------------------------------// Vindication Fluttershy wandered around Canterlot Castle aimlessly. She was officially a guest of the Princess, and technically all of the Castle was open to her. Well, the artifact vault was shut to anypony save Celestia herself. And the bathroom around the corner from the kitchens had been magically sealed shut, for "the sanity of the cleaning staff." And she couldn't technically go into Celestia's personal chambers without permission. What mattered to her most, though, was that she couldn't go and see Twilight. Not because of any guards, or orders, or even Celestia. Rather, she didn't want to go and see Twilight. Not again, at any rate. Fluttershy, like the rest of Twilight's friends, had willed herself up to seeing Twilight the first day they had arrived in Canterlot. And that was it: Fluttershy couldn't bring herself to go back into that cell. She had this nagging feeling that all this, everything that had happened in the last day, was wrong, but... Celestia said that they had done the right thing. So she wandered about the castle, trying to stay out of the way of servants doing their day-to-day chores. Inexplicably, she found herself in front of Spike's bedroom. A thought occurred to Fluttershy: Spike knew Twilight better than almost anypony, maybe he would have... anything. Anything to snap Fluttershy out of this purgatory of indecision. Pushing open the door into Spike's bedroom, she found that it was actually Twilight's old bedroom. Fluttershy knew this because it looked like a library that somebody had decided to camp out in. Inside, she found Pinkie Pie... being Pinkie, dressed up as a clown trying to cheer Spike up. At least Pinkie has found something to do, Fluttershy thought. Fluttershy sat and watched Pinkie perform a comedy act with a balloon, unnoticed by anypony in the room. There, she had enough time to think about the whole situation, something she had apparently failed to do, because something occurred to her right then. "Uhh, Spike?" Fluttershy said, loud enough to actually be heard for once. "Did you actually read those letters Twilight threw away?" ----------------         Cadance paced around her room anxiously. She had gone back to see Twilight, and Twilight had opened up to her, spinning a tale about the Changeling Queen far different than the one she heard later from Princess Celestia.         Unlike Twilight's friends, Cadance knew Celestia wasn't perfect, and she knew there was something wrong here. Unfortunately, like the "Pinkie Sense," just "Something wrong here" doesn't hold up in court, or disprove anything. Or stand up to Celestia's admittedly well-founded arguments.         Another round of pacing took its toll on the rug in her room.         I don't even know what Celestia expects me to do here. Cadance thought. This is a job for a very skilled psychiatrist, not a princess.         Another round.         "That's not the right way to think, Cadance." She told herself.         Another round on the carpet, and Cadance sat down at her vanity in frustration.         "I just can't think of what I can do here." Cadance met her own gaze in the mirror.         "I mean I'm just the Princess of..."         And then it hit her. It hit her so hard, she was out into the corridor running before her mind caught up with her legs.         "SHINING!" Cadance shouted into the corridor, uncaring of the looks the servants and guards gave her. ----------------         Spike leapt into the air his own height in surprise, and Pinkie popped her balloon out of shock, when Fluttershy spoke. Neither of them had heard her come in, or even noticed she was there.         "I'm sorry, Fluttershy, I didn't hear you come in, could you repeat that?" Pinkie said, ears ringing.         "Well," Fluttershy said, retreating back into her mane. "I was wondering if either of you had read those drafts that Twilight had written to Princess Celestia, that Spike mentioned. There might be something important in there."         Pinkie and Spike just stared at Fluttershy for a second, who in turn retreated farther into her mane than before.         "OF COURSE!" Spike shouted, filled with new hope. "If there is anything we can find out to help Twilight, it'll be in there for sure!"         "But Spike." said Pinkie. "Won't those be back at the library?"         "No, those are evidence, they'll be locked up somewhere here in the castle." Spike deflated a little.         "Well the Princess did say we can go where we like in the castle," Fluttershy said. "I'm sure if we ask nicely, they'll let us take a look at them." ----------------         "SHINING!" Cadance shouted as she burst into a guardroom for the fourth time, but for the first time, this one actually had Shining inside it.         Shining looked worse for wear, but he was on the job, in a comfortable groove where he had been trained to forget about distractions. Nevertheless, he looked propped up on determination alone, caffeine and willingness to work apparently having left several hours earlier.         "Yes, dear?" Shining said, rubbing his face with a hoof.         "When was the last time you took a break?" Cadance asked, momentarily forgetting why she burst in.         "Uhhh," Shining said, looking at the current captain of the guard, "Sometime today? That isn't the only reason you're here, right, Cadance?"         "Well, no. I needed to ask you a question; a lot of questions, actually. And, well, privately..."         Shining Armor sighed.         "It’s important, right?"         "Very important."         Shining looked like he was about to say yes, so Cadance grabbed his hoof and dragged him into the nearest spare room, kicking out a pair of maids in the process.         "I hope this is more important than the defense of Canterlot."         "I should hope you think it is. It’s about Twily."         Shining instantly lost any bit of exhaustion.         "I'm all ears."         "OK then. I need you to tell me about Chrysalis." ----------------         "What?" Spike shouted at a guard.         "The Princess has declared that those documents are off limits to the public." said a sweating guardspony smart enough to know when to follow orders exactly, but also smart enough to recognize the Elements of Harmony when he saw them.         Pinkie tried persuading the guard, in her own... way. It didn't work; evidently the guard was smarter than to leave his post and go to a party down the hall, even if there indeed really was a party down the hall. Fluttershy tried asking politely, and that looked like it was going to work until she made a crucial misstep in reminding the guard what he was guarding.         Spike looked at the guard with a nonplussed expression, as he brushed a streamer off his head. The kind of expression that bodes trouble for ponies in a guard’s paygrade. Possibly even of a general’s paygrade.         "I'm sure you recognize Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy here." Spike said nonchalantly. "I know you do, because you were one of the guards at Luna's first Summer Sun Celebration."         The guard looked surprised at that. Most ponies couldn't tell them apart when they had their armor on.         "Yeah, I can tell you apart. I learned the trick from Shining Armor."         "Now we can do this three ways,” Spike went on. “You agree with us that we aren't normal civilians, and you give us access to those documents, or I can come back here with a search warrant from Celestia, and a PB-203-R Reprimand form for interfering with issues of national security."         The guard in question almost looked afraid at this point. He really did when he realized the little dragon in front of him wasn't done yet.         "OR, I can come back here with the guard-captain himself, Celestia herself, and a FU-84-12 form. And let me tell you, I know all the tricks to get paperwork passed through quick around here."         "I thought they took those out of service years ago." the guard whimpered.         "You wanna bet?" Spike said, with malice aforethought.         “NO! No, of course not, I'll get you those documents right away." He bustled off into the back.         "Spike, whats a FU-84-12 form?" Fluttershy asked, once she'd remembered how to work her jaw.         "And how do you know all that paperwork mumbo-jumbo, Spike?" Pinkie Pie asked, once she had actually picked her jaw up off the floor.         "Well a FU-84-12 is sort of a legend around here, only been issued twice. It’s an order to attempt to clean the bathroom around the corner from the kitchens... I probably shouldn't have pulled it on him, but he knew who we were. And I know so much about paperwork because I was practically raised by Twilight, and Shining Armor was like my big brother."         Spike shuffled his feet in embarrassment.         "You kinda have to know paperwork with a family like that." ----------------         Cadance wasn't even listening to Shining right now. She had her eyes shut and was concentrating hard. Willing what she was learning to be wrong, hoping it was wrong, trying to convince herself that it was a fluke.         But no, here it was: everything she was expecting to see and nothing she had hoped to see.         "I need to talk to Celestia." Cadance interrupted Shining. "We have made a grave mistake."         Three hallways later, she ran into a magical barrier and just barely managed to stop without hitting it.         "OK Cadance, slow down," Shining said from the hallway behind her. "Tell me what’s going on before you go and embarrass yourself in front of Celestia."         "Shining, I can prove it. We've done something terrible, I can prove it!" Cadance said frantically, almost in tears.         Shining merely looked blankly at her.         "I think you're going to have to start from the beginning, dear." ----------------         Spike looked down at the crumpled letters in horror. Pinkie and Fluttershy surreptitiously tried to maneuver around his head to get a look at what he was seeing.         Finally, looking like she was about to explode, a question burst out of Pinkie's mouth.         "What does it say, Spike?"         Spike looked up at her for a moment, open mouthed.         "I'm not sure if I should tell you what it says. It’s a bit... private."         "Oh?" It took a second to register, and then Pinkie and Fluttershy said in unison, "Ooooh."         "But I can tell you what it means." Spike had an angry look on his face. "It means that once I make a couple copies of these, we are going to Celestia."         "Why do you need to make copies, Spike?"         "So I can send them to the Equestrian Humanities League, Ponies for the Fair Treatment of Non-Equines, and a couple other places. They are not going to like what Celestia did here." Spike looked a little embarrassed for a second. “But not complete copies…” ----------------         "So you're telling me that you can prove--you HAVE proven--Twilight is acting of her own free will, because of your power over love." Shining said skeptically.         "Yes, Shining, whatever she's saying about Naudia is genuine."         "And you proved this, how, exactly?"         "By talking to you about Chrysalis. Even now, the way you feel about her hasn't changed from when you were under her control. The negative feelings still sorta seep through. But Twilight..." Cadance looked down and blushed. "When I talk to Twilight about Naudia, it feels a lot like you do for me." ----------------         Luna sat in her office in the prison camp, happy as ever, examining a model of Canterlot Castle the changelings had made for her out of toothpicks. It even had a little door that opened.         She had actually been seriously agitated about Twilight's situation when she came in to manage the camp, but the changelings would have none of her moping. As soon as she arrived, Luna was surrounded by a sea of concerned faces. The changelings gathered around her and started proffering her gifts, and offering to play board games with her. It was strange, because she couldn't find any kind of ulterior motive from them. They didn't dote on any of the other prison staff, and the day she was gone with court matters, her stand-in was entirely bored that day.         Luna frowned. She didn't like thinking of this as a prison camp. It didn't have any of the atmosphere of a prison. If anything, the changelings were in here more for their own protection rather than any need to keep them contained somewhere. There was more of a need to keep them contained at a comfortable distance from Luna most of the time.         Luna couldn't find any motivation behind them other than wanting to see her happy.         The door to her office opened and some changelings stepped in.         "Oh, good morning!" Luna said cheerily. "What do you need help with... today?"         It began to dawn on Luna that these weren't changelings from inside the camp. They had teal carapaces, which glowed faintly. But what really tipped her off was the fact that she could no longer see the two guards she had stationed outside her door, through the frosted glass.         "We are the Children of the Stars, and we hope you can forgive us for this."         Before Luna could cry out or even get up from her chair a changeling opened up a box it was carrying and she was hit by a spell. She fell out of her chair, knocking over the toothpick Castle.         As one of the changelings lifted her up, she heard it say.         "Mother will be angry with us if-"         And Luna blacked out. ----------------         Celestia was staring down at a stack of paperwork that would have made Twilight Sparkle nervous. Twilight would be particularly nervous, and perhaps a bit angry, if she knew what it was.         It was paperwork for the case against the changelings. It was very well-researched and, while most of it was speculation, Naudia would have been distressed how much of it referenced psychiatrists from the edges of the Badlands.         She was nearly ready to start when both doors at opposite ends of the hall burst open, to reveal four agitated ponies and one angry dragon. Celestia didn't even have time to greet them before she was bombarded with five confused voices, all trying to talk over one another.         It was some time before order was restored.         "I can't hear you all if you're talking over each other, so one at a time, please. Spike, you first."         "Have you read these notes that Twilight threw away?" Spike sounded genuinely angry. "I know you don't like changelings much, but I'm pretty sure that with this evidence, I could prevent you presiding over this case entirely."         "Yes, Spike, I have read those. And they've led me to circumstantial evidence, and finally an answer, as to why there are twice as many psychiatrists on the borders to the Badlands as anywhere else." Celestia replied in even tones. "Changelings have been abducting ponies out there for years."         "Oh..." Spike seemed to lose a bit of his bluster at that.         "That doesn't matter now." Cadance said. "I can prove Twilight is not under the control of anybody, changelings or otherwise."         Celestia looked surprised, but motioned that Cadance should go on.         "I've talked to Shining Armor and Twilight, and Twilight doesn't show any signs of current or previous changeling control."         "And you've proved this through...?" Celestia asked.         "Her love for Naudia feels different than Shining and Chrysalis's... relationship." Cadance said indicating that it wasn't a ship, so much as a relation, and not a happy one at that.         That gave Celestia pause to think for a second, as much as she wanted to protect her subjects from changelings. As much as she wanted to protect Twilight from changelings. Love was Cadance's special talent, and that didn't need to stand up in court. It stood up on its own outside of court, anywhere, even in griffon lands. Denying it would involve calling Cadance a liar, or, even worse, indicate that Celestia doubted Cadance's special talent. Cadance's very self.         It was at this time that light dawned in Celestia's head, and certain events started to make sense. It made sense to assume that Changelings could read emotions, read... her emotions, about them. The chains, the magic suppressor, Twilight's flawless health, her tossed out letters, and her odd actions of late.         "Oh, dear..." Celestia felt the world dropping away beneath her. "Will she ever forgive me?"         It dropped even farther when she realized that the wards around Twilight's cell indicated unauthorized access, possibly by a Twilight Sparkle she had not yet had time to apologize to. ----------------         Celestia tore through the castle.         Servants, tables, guards, and nobles were magically shunted out of her way in a rude manner. The sound of broken glass and a cloud of carpet mangled by her golden-clad hooves followed in her wake.         She had long ago left Spike and the Element bearers behind. Shining and Cadance were only faintly-heard shouts, well back in the castle, as Celestia used every trick she could think of to move at a blistering pace.         How could I not see?         The dungeon doors were ripped from their magically-reinforced hinges in seconds as Celestia burst through, barely making corners and scraping her wings on the corridor's cramped walls.         It was all there in front of me, all the information I needed.         A torch sconce was torn off the wall by her frantic pace, but Celestia did not stop her mad dash. Celestia's eyes teared up, as in hindsight she saw all the little things that looked so clear now.         It was just so easy to believe they were evil, so easy to invent an alternate motivation.         The world seemed to slow for Celestia as she saw the door to Twilight's cell was open.         Inside, she found Twilight embracing the Changeling Queen like a grieving child, her horn aglow with the telltale sign of magic.         "TWILIGHT!" Celestia shouted, without thinking.         Celestia would never forget the look of fear that Twilight gave her. It tore her heart to little pieces to see her closest friend look at her like that.         And then Twilight was gone, whisked away by a teleportation spell.