"You have no idea how she found out? None at all?"
"Well, I have some ideas, but I couldn't detect that she was using any of them."
"Detect?"
Stately Writ paused. Up to this point, he had not intentionally revealed anything regarding the working of changelings or changeling strategy. Every piece of information he gave to Shining Armor now would be used against his own kind.
What... what if Shining Armor had only faked trusting him so that he could gain this information? What if the goal of Shining Armor and Cadence had been to, ultimately, destroy them?
But... deception like that... that's only a changeling thing... right?
"State."
Stately Writ snapped out of his thoughts to see that Damascus had sat up in his bed and was looking at him intensely.
Damascus took a deep breath, then shook his head. "I don't know if I know you, anymore. I really hope that you've always just been... you. It's real hard to pull off that shy, depressive shtick that you've been pulling without actually being that way. But I could be wrong."
"Damascus-..."
"Shut up."
State promptly shut up.
"Now, you know me, and you know that I'm telling the truth when I say that if you are who you say you are... if you help us... I will help you. And I also know that you know you can trust us.
"But, if you betray us, I will kill you."
State didn't feel like arguing the point. Not much to argue, really. He had learned long ago that Damascus was usually right, and that he definitely wasn't prone to lying.
So he simply nodded his head. "Understood."
"Good. Now what do you know about how Chrysalis found you?"
Stately Writ lifted himself from his side and sat up on the bed. "Well, I can only think of three ways she could have found out. The first is that she has a changeling spy somewhere in the castle, but I haven't detected any other changelings in the two weeks I've been here."
Shining Armor, who had been standing silently to the side, stepped forward. "Can you explain detection?"
"Of course-... sir. Changelings can sense the emotions of the ponies around them. Ponies leak emotion constantly. Changelings cannot. They just don't have the ability to. And while I've been here, I've detected emotion from everypony in the building."
"And the other options?"
"The second thought I had was that Chrysalis herself was a spy here, but she rarely enters the field herself, and she isn't the best at keeping her emotions in check, so she tends to give herself away easily."
"That explains how Twilight figured her out before," Shining noted.
"So you can't detect her?" Damascus asked.
"Not exactly. Uh... the queen of a hive is constantly leaking emotions just as a regular pony would. Her disguise can potentially deceive even changelings, but knowing her, she can't control herself long enough to prevent being caught. But leaking emotion is how she feeds her hive when she is the only one capable of hunting love. That's why she wanted your love," State hesitantly nodded toward Shining. "Your love for Cadence kept our hive alive for about two weeks."
Shining shifted in place. State could feel a mix of anger and discomfort spilling from him, but Shining shook his head, and the leak was stopped.
Damascus noticed Shining's discomfort. "And the third option?"
Stately Writ looked at Shining Armor and hesitated before speaking. "The third option is hypnotism."
Anger and fear suddenly flooded the room.
Damascus appeared unaware of the change. "Hypnotism?"
Shining Armor had sat down and was now shaking.
State leaned forward. "Sir, are you okay?"
Damascus turned to see Shining Armor put a trembling hoof to his forehead. "Captain?"
Shining held up a hoof. "N-no..."
"I'm sorry, sir. I didn't mean to-"
"It's... I'm just... I'm just..."
Damascus carefully slid out of his bed and went to stand in front of Shining Armor, careful not to touch him. "Captain, breathe. Deep breaths. You're here in the medical wing with me and State. It's okay. Just take slow, deep breaths."
Shining looked up and scanned the room, breathing slowly and carefully as his shaking began to subside.
Once the shaking stopped, he lifted his hoof and placed it on Damascus' shoulder. "Thank you, Damascus."
"Of course, sir."
"Damascus, could you go find Angel? I think she may need your help. I need to speak with State privately for a bit."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Go help Angel. I'll call for you after."
Damascus looked Shining over, making sure he was stable, then stood to leave the room. "Yes, sir. If you need me, just call." As he was closing the door he glanced at State, just as Angel had.
It was a look that State didn't want to get used to.
The door shut, and once again, it was just Stately Writ and Shining Armor.
"State, I have to apologize. I haven't been entirely honest with you."
Stately Writ returned his gaze to the captain.
"When you transformed in front of us in the throne room, I was the one who blasted you unconscious. Cadence stopped me from doing anything worse."
State didn't know how to respond, so he didn't, waiting while Shining Armor collected his thoughts.
"I-... When Chrysalis attacked at the wedding, I didn't take it as well as Cadence did. While she was trapped in a dungeon, I was hypnotized into believing that Chrysalis was my wife. I did things that I never would have done had I known-"
"That's not your fault."
Shining Armor looked up at State surprised. "What?"
"There's nothing you could have done, and no way you could have known. Chrysalis' hypnotism isn't like normal hypnotism. It's much stronger. It's designed to create a powerful mental blindspot around the pony that she has replaced. There's no way for the victim to detect it, in fact, the victim tends to deny any possibility that something is wrong.
"What Chrysalis did to you is not your fault. There's nothing you could have done."
"But," Shining stammered, "it feels like there was. Like I wanted to do those things."
"It always does." Stately Writ slid off his bed and stood in front of the Captain. "And Captain?"
Shining Armor looked up again to see State smirking.
"I would have blasted me too."
And with a chuckle, the tension in the room released.
Shining armor stood up. "Well, we should get going. Cadence is expecting us soon." As he opened the door, he paused. "Oh, State?"
"Yes, sir?"
The captain smirked, "I trust you."