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// The panic 
// Story: Shining Chitin 
// by Damaged 
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"Okay Shining, just relax, this doesn't mean anything." The stallion was lying to himself and he knew it. When two of his teeth had fallen out and made way for slowly growing-in fangs, well, he learned to smile with his lips closed a lot more.

Shining Armor brushed his fetlock fur aside again and looked at the hole through his leg.

"Are you okay, Shiny?" Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. Empress of the Crystal Empire. Defeater of the changeling army. Wife to Shining Armor. "You look half in a panic." She trotted over to her mate and spread a wing over his withers.

"Oh, it's nothing…" Shining managed to keep his resolve for nearly a full four seconds, a record. "I am turning into a changeling!"

Cadance narrowed her eyes and looked at her husband. The manic attitude was certainly him. As was, not being able to keep a secret from her. "What do you mean?"

Shining was crying, tears pouring down his cheeks. It took nearly ten minutes of hugging and reassuring snuggles from his wife before he could get it together enough to continue. Then he showed her, smiling and pulling his lips back. "Fwangs!"

"I can see those, not common, but a few ponies have a little thestral in their line, nothing too much to worry about." Cadance was a little surprised, not that she showed it. It was important, when Shining was in this much of a fugue, not to show weakness. "Anything else?"

Shining held up his hoof, rolling to his back in front of his wife. It was impossible not to snort at the big stallion squirming like a foal but then he held his hoof up, between Cadance and the window. She saw a glint of sunlight where there really shouldn't be one. "See!"

Cadance jerked forward, grabbing his hoof in her own, forsaking her magic to hold him steady as any pegasus would. "What…" Folding back the fur, she found it. "A hole…"

"I told you!" Shining tugged his hoof back and curled into a sobbing ball. 

Deep breath one. Deep breath two. Cadance got to five before she opened her eyes and reached a hoof down to her mate. "Shiny, get up."

Shining's manic state was intruded on by Cadance's hoof and words, he reached up and took hold and was pulled up and suddenly wrapped in two of the most amazing wings he knew. He sobbed against his love, sobbed until the tears finally stopped. Then he sobbed a little more.

"I'm done…" It wasn't just an admission of his lack of ability to cry anymore tears, it was an admission of his role as her husband, as her consort, and as a member of society, all finished. "Nopony will accept me."

"I do." Cadance squeezed her stallion with her wings. "I said those words before Celestia, at your side, and I say them again. I accept you Shining Armor, through sickness, health, and even turning into a changeling."





Neither slept well that night, each waking from tortured dreams to find the other clinging to them tightly, stuck in their own mental hell. When neither could deny the grip their aunty's element was taking on the world any longer, they got up. "So you are turning into a changeling. You are growing fangs." Cadance floated a notepad over and started writing things down. A particular mare had taught her that if anything can be written down into a list, it could be dealt with. "Getting holes in your legs. What is next? Changelings have odd fin-like tails and manes." It was a new column, the things that would happen. "Eyes turn to either those green slit ones like Her, or maybe blue like other changelings. Oh, there is the feeding on love thing… I can help you there."

Shining wasn't sure what to do with his wife. She was being logical and… funny. "But I am turning into a-" A pink hoof landed in Shining's mouth, confusing him for a moment as he made a few gagged noises around it.

"I got that, see, it is at the top of the list." Cadance gestured with her quill to where it said, 'Shining Armor is becoming a changeling'. "Now, where was I. Oh yes, wings."

Watching as his wife took notes that Shining was sure his sister would be proud of, the stallion felt an odd tingle in his back left leg. He knew the tingle, it was what he felt before he found… the hole.

"Shiny, please stop jiggling. We need to calculate a rate at which you are changing… what are you doing?" Cadance watched as Shining twisted and contorted, turning around chasing his back leg only to finally catch it in his mouth and inspect it with his hooves. "Another one?"

Shining nodded to Cadance, losing his grip on his leg and kicking himself in the nose. "Awr!" It hurt enough, but a bang on the nose always left him talking funny. 

"Oh yes, and changelings have those odd horns." Cadance wrote more on the list. "Now, remembering back, most changelings had three to four holes, and they were big holes. These are just tiny. How long did it take to grow?"

"I just… well, about a week." Shining looked down at his chest, this was terrible, his wife knew he had kept a secret from her for a week! His worry was cut short at a tight hug by his own personal Princess of Love. 

"You are getting better at that. Could that be a mental influence?" Cadance started writing more things down.





It took nearly a full week for the stallion to feel another of the holes open, but the problem was the ones already there were growing. "I can't believe I didn't think about this!" Shining turned side to side, wearing some very well-made half-plate armor. It was trimmed in gold and pink, an odd combination but then his wife was the Princess of Love.

"Hides your legs well." Cadance inspected her mate, the armor covered him from the neck down, mostly in hefty brocade leather, but important bits were covered in heavy plates of steel. "And looks quite dashing, too." She leaned forward and kissed Shining.

"I still can't believe this is happening, look at these!" Shining opened his mouth, tipping his head back a bit to show Cadance the now longer fangs.

Cadance shivered a little at those. "Wait a moment." Blue magic wrapped around Shining's head, holding him steady while Cadance looked into his mouth. What was worse, he felt one of his teeth start to wobble, one of his bottom teeth. "Just as I thought! You aren't turning into a drone!" Cadance let go of her husband.

"I'm not?" Shining took a step back, a little uncertain at Cadance's delight.

"No, Shiny, you are turning into a queen!" Cadance giggled and lifted a hoof to her snout to try to suppress any further, more serious, laughter.