//------------------------------//
// Chapter I - Revealed 
// Story: The Roses of Success 
// by HypernovaBolts11 
//------------------------------//

	In the Golden Oak Library, an alicorn grinned as she made her way towards the bathroom, with a hose in tow. She lit up her horn, and a purple aura surrounded the doorknob, which then turned. She pushed the door open, and stuck her head inside.

A changeling was lounging inside the bathtub, reveling in the warmth of the steaming hot water. He was perfectly normal for a changeling, though he was missing his left fang, not that either showed at the moment, as he'd replaced the space they occupied with much shorter and blunter teeth for the time being.

His eyes, which were a similar green to that best recognized as poisonous, were closed, and a smile was placed upon his thin, chitinous lips. His wings were carefully folded against his back, so nothing would crush and bend them out of shape, which would have been extremely painful and difficult to heal.

Twilight pulled the hose through the open door, and pointed it directly at his head. Pulling the handle down, she declared, "This is a hose!"

Fangheart's eyes snapped open just in time for his right cheek to be met with a torrent of cold water. He jumped, his wings buzzing on reflex, sending up droplets of water from just below them, scattering the liquid everywhere. The plates of green chitin dragged his hooves out of the water, and he hovered for a brief moment, before more water was aimed at his face.

He hunkered down in the bath tub, submerging every part of his body he could, which only left his nostrils and horn above the steaming water.

Twilight went unfazed by this, and simply walked over to the bathtub. She pointed the nozzle down at her recently declared stallionfriend, and lifted him out of the water. She then hosed him down, much to his discomfort, as the water was frigid, and he was not used to bathing in any way, shape, or form.

When she finally decided that enough fun had been had, she set the hose down, and said, "Now, if you don't like the hose, I suggest you bathe frequently, at least once a day. If you smell like a skunk, no one is going to take you seriously." She then lowered him into the tub full of lukewarm water, and turned the hot water back on, unplugging the drain to let some of the colder water flow out.

Fangheart nodded slowly, and said, "I thought you said to bathe if I didn't like the hose."

Twilight paused to figure out where the miscommunication had arisen. She said, "When I said bathe, I meant without the hose. Basically, once every day, sit in the bathtub, fill it with water, and scrub yourself down with some soap. Brush your tail while you're at it, and clean your teeth."

He grumbled about this, but let her show him how to go about the whole process. When they left the bathroom, he asked, "Can I please go to sleep now?"

Twilight nodded, and said, "Don't let me stop you."

He sighed in relief, and pulled himself up the flight of stairs that lead to the bedroom. He opened the door, and let Spike close it on his way out. He walked over to the rug he'd come to use as a blanket, and paused when he heard the door creaking open.

Twilight said, "Just wanted to make sure you made it to the bed."

He looked over at her bed, with its blue quilt, decorated with stars and crescent moons. He pointed a hoof at it, giving the alicorn a curious look. His eyes were glowing, but faintly enough that Twilight wasn't worried.

She nodded.

He smiled thankfully, and hauled himself onto the soft mattress, lifting the blankets up over his body. He let his left cheek fall onto one of the soft feather pillows, and his eyes close. Within a scant few moments, his chest rose and fell calmly, his forelegs slipped underneath the pillow, and he was asleep.

Twilight smiled at him, and shot a silent beam of magic at the window, casting a spell that ensured no one would see him in his natural form. She closed the door slowly as she left him to rest, and sighed when she glanced at the clock.

Her coronation would take place in a few days. That gave her plenty of time to explain to her friends why a changeling was sleeping in her bed.





Twilight led her friends inside, closing the door behind them, and said, "Okay. I found Fangheart. Well, he made his way back here on his own."

Rainbow Dash hovered in the air, beating her wings periodically, and asked, "So what happened to him?"

Twilight took a deep breath, and said, "He'd just escaped from prison, where he'd been tortured, convicted, and nearly executed in the span of a few hours, with no trial, jury, or public defender. He was badly injured, crying, and tried to hurt himself while I was calming him down."

Her friends were all silent, save for the ever slowing beat of Dash's wings as she set down on the floor. "Why would anypony do that? He's such a nice guy. What'd he do?" she asked Twilight.

The alicorn sighed, and said, "P... Princess Celestia did all of those things to him, after I'd spoken on his behalf to her directly. She promised that he'd be given a fair trial, but then tried to execute him for a dozen crimes he didn't commit. He even told me to read his mind if I didn't believe him."

She looked down for a moment, and shuffled her weight from side to side, biting her lip. "And she only did it because of something he can't control. He's good. He'd never hurt a fly," she muttered. She then shook her head, and looked up. "He's under my protection, and I'm going to issue an investigation of Celestia's actions."

Rainbow Dash placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder, and asked, "And why again did she do that?"

"Because of what I am," a male voice answered. It was declarative, proud, and accompanied by the sounds of footsteps on the staircase leading up to the bedroom. Fangheart was in his pegasus form, with a grey coat, indigo mane, and cutie mark of a heart with fangs on either side. He stopped when he'd gotten halfway down the staircase, close enough to the bedroom door for him to flee in case someone tried to hurt him.

All six mares turned to look at him, and Twilight gave him a nod of approval, telling her friends, "He is good, not evil, and under my protection. Do not tell anypony what you're about to see."

Fangheart bit his lip, and closed his eyes. He went still, hesitating, then said, "I am not my mother's lackey." He erupted into a pillar of neon green fire, against which the ponies held a hoof to block the light from. When the fire went away, the changeling drone stood there, eyes closed, wings quivering anxiously, and every limb tensed to flee. His left fang was still missing.

All but Pinkie Pie and Twilight gasped. Rainbow Dash took off from the ground immediately, only to be held still by her tail, which Applejack had been fast enough to grab between her jaws. Rarity looked mortified, though she'd been informed on accident several days ago. Fluttershy hid behind her wings, and hunkered down on the floor.

Fangheart didn't open his eyes, and could only imagine how poorly this would go for him if anything happened. His gut reaction was to run, run faster than he ever had, and find his mother. But his mother was dead, and he was alone. He heard Rainbow Dash speak, and immediately ran upstairs.

Applejack's grip on the pegasus's tail loosened enough that the Wonderbolt wannabe burst through the bedroom door before the changeling could close it.

Rainbow Dash held the changeling down, pinning one hoof against his back right between his wings, which quivered in fear. She stepped on his tail with a hind leg, and pressed his head down with her remaining front hoof. She asked the changeling, "What spell is Twilight under?"

"None," he told her, doing his best not to move, lest he provoke injury from the pegasus.

"What are your orders from the queen?" she asked, leaning her weight forward, supporting herself on the muscles that moved his wings.

"None," he answered immediately.

"Where is she now?" the pegasus asked.

He whimpered, "Dead. She's dead. They killed her right in front of me, and I couldn't say goodbye." He clamped his eyes shut, and sniffled, tears welling up behind his eyes. "I... I never even loved her back." He crossed his forelegs in front of him, and cried.

"You're a good actor," Rainbow said, unfazed by his display of sorrow, still believing that he was lying.

"I was never trained. I'm a drone. I'd never left the hive until we were driven out," he shouted, and ignited his horn, only for the pegasus to snuff out his magic with a hoof placed on it.

Rainbow Dash was about to ask another question, but was surrounded by a purple aura, and lifted away from the changeling. She kicked against Twilight's magic, and said, "He's brainwashed you! He's lying! Call the guard!"

Twilight didn't respond, and only moved towards the changeling. She gently patted him on the shoulder, and sat him up before her, hugging him. She nuzzled his shoulder, reminding him that he was among good company, and that she would not allow any harm to befall him.

The other bearers stepped into the bedroom, greeted by the sight of their friend comforting the changeling. Many of them simply sat there, trying to process the oddity of this situation. Rarity seemed a bit less on edge than the others, and Pinkie Pie simply walked over to the couple, saying, "He likes pie. There's a good thing."

Fangheart was shivering, his whole body wracked with tremors and fear. He looked to the party pony, and nodded slowly.

Twilight released him, only for his forelegs to pull her closer. She glanced at his eyes, and he only responded by transforming back into the grey pegasus.

He still held her to him, and whimpered, "Don't send me back. Not again. I can't... I won't go back there." He hung his head low, and pressed his head into the lavender alicorn's chest fur, his wings going limp at his sides. "I can't lose you too. Please..."

Rainbow Dash flew over to the changeling, and said, "Drop the disguise. Where's the real pony?"

Twilight looked up at the pegasus, shooting a stern look of warning at her, and said, "There is no pony by the name of Fangheart. This body is his body, and he's been through enough." She looked back at the changeling. "No one is sending you away."

He wiped his eyes with his hooves, and stood up, straightening his back out. "N-no, I get it. Since my mother was such a great tactician, everything I saw must be lies, a part of something bigger, that will lead to your demise. Explain to me how you draw that conclusion, through what factual exclusion," he said. He turned around, and raised a hoof to silence anyone else.

"I was never taught how to think for myself, or how to read the books on the library shelf. I was never taught how to be free. I was never shown what it means to be me. I was a drone, whose sole purpose in life was to be a father, children that you would have slaughtered. I was never important, or confident, or proud," he spat.

"But a hybrid father just isn't a valid one to the changelings, and the defeat led to my mother's unseating," he told the ponies, making his way towards the bed. "I was always that useless lump of flesh the queen dragged around, who would someday father thousands, but now I'm no more than a piece of dirt on the ground." He hopped onto the bed, and turned around to face the six mares.

"I watched the guards drive a spear through the back of her head, so what was it that you said, about calling the guard? Look me in the eye and tell me that after a trial with no judge, no jury, I belong in prison. Spit it out already, hurry, because this week's gone by, and I still can't fly. Discord's saved my life at least twice, and I don't know if he's being nice," he told Rainbow Dash.

He let the following silence drag on, took a deep breath, and shook his head. "I didn't think so," he said. "Now, I'm here, whether you like me or not. I'm a changeling, so what? That doesn't make me any more a monster. It could make me less of one, if you actually think an unfair trial with a death sentence is reasonable just because of what I am."

Nopony could argue with that, and when he changed back into his natural form, no one moved. No one said anything, tried to pin him down, interrogate him, or get the royal guard. That was a victory as far as he was concerned, so he changed back into his pegasus form, marched past everyone, and declared, "I'm going for a walk. I'll be back... eh, later."