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// We Don't Talk About Those Who Disappoint Her 
// Story: Magic's Shadow 
// by Reykan 
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	Celestia was angry.

No, that wasn't true. She was never angry, not if she could help it. Disappointed would be a better word. Disappointed in how things had gone since the elements connected to their new bearers, disappointed in how the search for a little filly, terrified and suffering the strongest magic surge she'd seen in a long time, had taken almost eight hours before she was found in Fillydelphia, despite the use of tracking spells and pegasus guards teamed up with unicorn spell-trackers. Disappointed in how her guards had handled the poor filly and the creature that was found with her. It had been centuries since she'd seen a changeling, much less a colt as small as the one she'd found keeping Twilight from panicking.
A dampener. Those fools had stuck a dampener on the horn of a small filly who was experiencing surges with more raw power than some of the strongest mages in the kingdom were capable of generating on their best days. At best the filly would have burned the ring off, at worst the back-up of magic would have left a crater where Fillydelphia had been. That was not a pleasant discussion she'd had with the Lieutenant, not that he would retain that rank much longer. Not pleasant at all...


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Celestia trotted up to the lieutenant in charge of the group of soldiers that had sent in the report. They had finally found Magic, though it had taken them eight hours, and the Princess was eager to see the little filly home before taking her under her wing, both literally and magically. Yes, she'd take the filly back to Canterlot, and this entire mess would be over with. Her good mood dampened as she got closer, and spotted.. no, there was no way her own guards would be so cruel as to...

Cages. The filly was stuck in an iron cage, used to contain dangerous magical creatures, and had a dampener on her horn. Were they mad? Did they have any idea what could happen if she surged again, with that thing on? Not too far from the filly, letting off a soft hum was a small creature about the size of a colt, also with a dampener on his horn. The difference was that the colt wasn't one of her little ponies. A changeling, an impossibly young one, too. She'd never even seen one of this age before, and had assumed they may have had some type of grub-like stage, seeing as how insectoid the creatures were. It appeared that even she could be surprised sometimes.

A few guards attempted to engage her with briefings, but she strode right past them. Walking up to the cage, the filly noticed her approach, and once again began to hyperventilate. Before Celestia could try to say anything to soothe the poor foal, the changeling spoke, but not in the grating, chittering language she'd heard years ago. It was guttural, a barking, grunting language that was alien to her ears. The only times she'd heard anything even close was when dealing with the Apes across the Atlertic Ocean. Oddly enough, while she couldn't understand a word of what was being said, the filly slowly calmed down, looking at her fellow captive, before answering what was apparently a question.
'Twilight understood that? But that would mean...' Focusing on the simple magic detection spell, the princess gazed at the two once more, and immediately saw the link. The changeling was bonded to her; that's why she wasn't surging, despite the frightening conditions. It was remaining calm, and that calmness was traveling back down their bond, soothing the fillies panic. Even as the purple unicorn calmed down, Celestia could see the overflow of magic washing between the two, diffusing easily as the young changeling continued its tune, unaware of her presence. Turning from the foals, the sun princess motioned with a wing for the commanding officer of the soldiers to follow her to the command tent. It would be best if these words weren't spoken in public after all.

Finally reaching the small tent in the middle of the park the soldiers had set up as the base for the search, Celestia turned to the soldier. "Lieutenant. Please explain to me why the unicorn filly I sent you to find is currently caged like a criminal, complete with a magic dampener?" Though her expression never changed, several guards backed away. Even one of her personal guards, known for being stoic in the most trying of circumstances, shifted uncomfortably. The princess was upset. No one liked when the princess was upset, especially not the one who upset her.

"Uh, the filly was surging uncontrollably when we first caught her, your highness. We, we tried using the basic null-bands that are used to keep foals from surging during surgery, but she burned it out after a few moments, so we had to get something stronger. The combination of the cage with the dampener seemed to be the only thing that stopped her, ma'am." The lieutenant was sweating under her gaze, and not a single soldier envied his position.

"I see. And the changeling? Is there any particular reason his chitin is cracked?"

"Your highness, it's a bug. The only reason we haven't gotten rid of it-"

"GOTTEN RID OF IT?" Celestia asked, eyes widening with shock. "Lieutenant, have you even tried having the two of them checked for residual magics? Of course you have; it's standard procedure for finding foals who teleport after a magic surge. " At the nervous shift of the older Pegasus, the princess continued. "The spell I used could be replicated by a unicorn filly who's not even reached their tenth winter,  and the bond is plain as day."

"It managed to latch onto her? I'm sorry ma'am, we'll have it destroyed as-"

"You will not touch him, you fool. The link is not natural to changelings, in fact it has the filly's magic signature all over it, though how she managed such a thing even I do not know. Tell me, lieutenant, are you aware of the impact the loss of a familiar can have on a mage? No? It would be similar to getting your wings ripped off. Worse, actually, since no amount of adrenaline would be able to dampen the pain. And the bond she has with the changeling? It is a two way empathic link; it's why she can understand him, and he understands her, despite the difference in languages. That is stronger than most familiar/mage bonds ever become.  Killing him could quite possibly end in the filly's death as well." The princess turned away from the shaking soldier, gazing in the direction of the foals once more.  

"Sun and stars, when did my little ponies become so callous with the lives of other creatures." She mumbled to herself, wondering how best to break the news to the unicorn's parents. The little girl now had two brothers, it seemed, though this one would be much more difficult to find a place for amongst her subjects.



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Celestia leaned back into the cushions of her personal covered carriage, the two foals sleeping soundly against each other on the seat across from her. Twilight had been nervous at first, but being in the presence of the changeling, who merely seemed content to eye everything around him with awe and confusion, left her calm enough that the exhaustion and stress of the past few days finally caught up with her. Soon after Twilight had fallen asleep, the colt had followed suit.
The changeling complicated things horrendously. There was almost nothing known about them, not to mention according to twilight, it wasn't one before. Many of the guards had taken that to mean it was transformed by changelings( if she ever found the foal who started that ridiculous rumor... TO THE SUN!), however, it left more questions than she'd started with. Even after the long range teleport and the formation of the bond, a good amount of the magic Twilight was using when she surged in the classroom was unaccounted for. The changeling was the answer, she was sure of it. And once the foals were properly taken care of, she would get to the bottom of this.