Cadance had never seen her husband so nervous before. Well, that wasn't entirely true. He had been a wreck of nerves when he had proposed to her, but that had been rather amusing at the time as well as romantic, whereas at the moment it was starting to make her uncomfortable as well. They were both waiting for Shining to go meet his sister at the Canterlot Royal Library to talk about her adopted niece.
"Shining, dear, stop pacing so much. You will wear a hole in the floor."
The stallion shook his head. "I can't, I think best when I'm moving. Twilight won't be like my parents. She's got more of a grudge against the changelings than any member of this family. You should have heard her when she suggested some tactics for hunting the rest of the changelings down at our reception. She won't take this well at all; I know that for a fact."
"I don't think it's that bad. She's very understanding. I wouldn't be surprised if she acted like her mother, and ends up cuddling Rose for an hour."
At the mention of her name Rose nuzzled up to Cadance and pulled a nearby blanket over herself and the pink princess.
"Rose, that's very kind of you."
The princess cuddled the filly and kissed her lightly on the forehead. She looked back at Shining to see him looking at them with a worried frown.
"Relax. She will understand and will support us both. If she has a problem with it we can talk it out. Don't worry so much." Cadance gave a quick glance at the clock. "You better get going to meet her. You know how she is with being on time."
"Okay. I'll go get her then." Shining walked over to Rose and gently nuzzled her. "Keep Cadance out of trouble."
"Bye Zhining!"
Cadance gave the stallion a quick kiss then started tickling the little changeling next to her. Shining walked through the castle hallways wondering how he was going to break the news to Twilight. He knew that she would be harder to convince than his parents, but how much harder was something he didn't know.
He reached the floor that the Royal Library was housed on and took a deep breath. He knew that his day was only about to get harder from here, and maybe even down right difficult. However he had faith that his sister would understand. Cadance is right. Twilight is very understanding after all, and maybe she will want to study Rose. The white stallion chuckled for a moment at the mental image of Twilight following Rose around with a clipboard writing things down.
The Captain of the Guard walked into the library and settled down at the closest table he could see. Around him was an impressive collection of books that covered nearly every subject know to ponies. Shining spent many a night visiting the library during his early guard days to send students home, or to make sure that everything was put away. A smile came to the stallions face as he recalled one incident where he had found his sister asleep, face resting on a magical tome.
I had to carry her all the way to her room. And she didn't even wake up until after I placed her in the bed. Kept asking about if the book was put back.
Shining chuckled for a moment then sighed. He didn't know how to tell Twilight about Rose. Hey Twily, we adopted a changeling... The stallion rolled his eyes. Yeah she'll take that well... The guard rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed again as a small flash happened in front of him.
He looked up to see a purple unicorn smiling at him. "Shiny!" She rushed forward and hugged the stallion tightly. "I'm a little early, I hope that's alright."
"Yeah... it's fine. I wanted to talk to you about something important."
Twilight gave the stallion a small look of concern. "What's going on?"
Shining looked at his sister for a moment then motioned for her to follow him. "Well... Cadance and I have recently taken it upon ourselves to 'adopt' a creature we found."
A shocked look passed over the lavender pony's face. "You did what!? What, where, why?"
"We found her after we got back from the honeymoon and she was hiding in the bathroom, starved and dirty. She was scared and Cadance fed her and cleaned her. I was... skeptical at first but Cadance convinced me to give the creature a chance. They have been with us for a few weeks now and it looks like they are back to health."
Shining paused for a moment and took a breath. "The reason we kept her with us was because we both realized that she needed us, and without us she would face a very harsh life. We've grown fond of her."
The lavender unicorn looked at her brother for a moment and gave him an approving smile. "You both took in a creature that needed help. That's really sweet and kind of you both... You didn't answer the ‘what’ part of my question though."
The white guard took a moment to take a breath. He wasn't looking forward to this part of the talk at all. "Well... that's where this whole thing gets very complicated. Her name is Rose, and she's not a pony... in fact she's of a race that ponies have been in conflict with..."
Twilight looked confused for a moment and a small look of clarity. "A minotaur calf? I know that they have been getting more and more aggressive with us over the last few years."
The elder stallion shook his head. "No. She's not a minotaur."
Confusion covered the mares face for a moment before sudden realization came to her. In a flash she tackled her brother and started channeling a spell.
"Twilight wha—"
"Stop moving, I'm making sure you aren't under a mind control spell, again."
The guard pushed his sister off of him with a slight scowl. "I'm not under any form of magical control."
Twilight moved towards him, magic channeling in her horn. "You said that last time and that was when their queen had complete control of you."
Shining rolled his eyes and sighed. "I'm not under any mind control spell. Test me, without poking around in my head."
"Fine. Tell me something only Shining would know."
"When you were six you wanted a doll. Instead of buying you one, mom went out and made you Smarty Pants. You were so happy to have him that you tried to make breakfast for them, pancakes. They had some and got sick because of the "secret ingredient" you put in, which was—"
"Okay, okay! I believe you... You promised to never talk about that again..."
Shining chuckled and nodded. "Okay, so we got that out of the way..."
The stallion turned to lead his sister to Rose and Cadance when he heard a relieved sigh behind him. He turned to see Twilight chuckling to herself.
"Something amusing?"
The lavender mare nodded and gave him a small smile. "Yes. This little joke of yours."
"I wasn't joking."
"Right. I'm supposed to believe that my brother and sister-in-law, both of which were either imprisoned or brainwashed took in a changeling and named her after a flower. Good one Shining, you had me going for a moment."
Twilight let out a laugh for almost a minute before she saw the look on Shining's face.
"I wasn't joking Twilight."
"Oh come on. Yes you were. You even told that story we promised to... never..." The mare trailed off as she noticed his expression harden a little and remained serious. "You were joking right?"
"No, I'm serious."
A small twitch came to the lavender mare's mouth. "Ha ha... very funny Shiny... the jokes over now."
The captain gave her a resolved glare. "Twily, I'm not joking at all. I would never joke about this. Cadance and I found a changeling in our chambers and she needed help. We've taken her in and I would like your support for this."
"My support?! You want me to believe that you, the stallion that was brainwashed, whose wife was imprisoned and almost lost her chance to live her life with you, is now taking care of one of those creatures that nearly ruined not only yours and Cadance's lives, but almost took over the kingdom, and you want me to help you with that!"
Twilight took a moment to catch her breath and failed to notice the angry look on her brother’s face.
"Yes. That's exactly what I'm asking of you. Cadance found her and I wanted to send her off with the rest of the changelings but Cadance stopped me. We decided to do the right thing and take care of her so she isn't put into a dangerous situation."
"And did you think for one second that maybe it is putting you in danger!"
Shining gave her a raised eyebrow. "How? She's a filly. Nothing she could do could possibly harm me or Cadance."
The lavender mare stamped her hoof on the tiled floor in anger. "Not the one you have! What about the others that might be running around the kingdom, and don't say there aren't others, because I know that there are plenty of guards searching the kingdom for any of them that are hiding."
"What about them?"
"What if they come looking for it and they aren't looking to put you into a cavern or to just mind control you. By taking it in you have put everypony in the castle in danger!"
The stallion was going to yell back at her but something gave him pause. She was right. If the changelings did come looking for Rose then that means they might attack himself and Cadance to get her back. For the first time in days he felt doubt about being so close to Rose.
Twilight saw the doubt and pressed her advantage. "The best thing for all three of you is to ship it off with the rest of them."
Shining only caught a single word of the whole sentence. It, not her. "Her."
Confusion passed over the lavender unicorns face. "What?"
"Her name is Rose. She's not an ‘it.’"
A small groan came from the mare. "It doesn't matter! You've gotten attached to it when you shouldn't have! You need to ship that changeling off and get rid of this mistake!"
"ENOUGH!"
Twilight's eyes widened in shock as we brother snapped at her. The moment she uttered the word mistake Shining became enraged and then he spoke with barely controlled anger.
"I asked you here to try to ask you to help us raise a filly that needs a family. I was going to ask you to be part of her life, to be her aunt, but if this is how you will act towards her, then I don't want you in her life or mine anymore!"
Time seemed to stop the moment the words left his mouth. The very instant they left his mouth he knew he had crossed a line, and for a fleeting second Shining hoped that Twilight would yell at him, scream at the top of her lungs, even for her to hit him, but slowly, much to his dismay, Twilight's face slowly turned from offended rage to a shocked expression to a look of emotional hurt.
Shining spoke much softer and felt horrible as he watched tears form in his sisters eyes. "Twili—"
*BAMF*
A quick flash and an empty hallway was all that Shining had as his sisters hurt expression and tears teleported away. The stallion stood there looking at the empty space and felt a wave of bitter emotion crash over his chest. He wanted to be mad, to rage and scream, but he only felt bitter disappointment in himself. He knew it wasn't going to be an easy conversation but he didn't think he would lose control like that.
Great... try to give Rose another pony to love her and help her and I end up hurting my L.S.B.F.F. Way to go Shining.
The captain looked around and noticed a guard walking into the library. He recognized him as one of the sergents.
"I heard some yelling so I came to investigate. Is everything okay sir?"
"Yes Sergent Hail. Everything is fine... the library is fine..."
The darker stallion gave him a look for a moment then spoke again in a less formal manner. "Permission to speak freely sir?"
"Granted."
The stallion walked up to the captain. "Are you okay sir? I heard the tail end of that and then the sound of a teleportation."
The white unicorn sighed and shook his head. "I don't think I will be. I need to go think of how I'm going to apologize to her. I hope you will be discreet and please not tell anything that you heard to anyone."
The guard nodded. "Of course sir, I think you might need to take the rest of the day off."
Shining nodded then sighed again. "I think you're right. I want you to close up the library for the day and then take your day off. Dismissed."
The darker guard gave Shining a salute and left him alone. The captain looked around the library one last time before he turned and walked out. His journey through the hall was quicker than he would have thought, but his focus the whole way back to suite was filled with regret at his very poor choice of words.
He walked back into the living room that he had left only an hour before, spotting Cadance and Rose cuddled on the couch.
"Shining, what's wrong? You look pale... where's Twilight?"
The stallion could only shake his head then look at Rose. "Sorry Rose, Aunty Twilight won't be visiting tonight." Cadance started to rise but Shining just sighed and walked towards the bedroom. "I need to lie down for a while. I'll talk after that."
Shining laid down on the bed and felt a sudden exhaustion. He closed his eyes and saw Twilights tear filled eyes as he tried his best not to think about the things that had been said. He rolled over and looked out the window at the blue skies as tears dropped onto the pillow.
I think you might have forgotten a word here.
2949215 Thank you for pointing that out.
Make rose Malt out of her exsoskeleton and become more pony like and then when she is done malting she will become a FLUTTER PONY!!!!!
That was... dark. I like it.
Plan B:
Step1.
Show Twilight a picture of Rose in a sock inducing a "Hnnng" moment.
Step2.
????
Step3.
Emotional reconciliation and profit.
she took it kinda well, all considering
2949269 Everything's relative.
2949234
Changelings being flutter ponies has been done to death. Many changeling fics have a theme of discrimination and having the changeling character change into a prettier form resembling the dominant race goes against any theme of accepting others for who they are.
2949250 good idea, i approve
More!!
A complete character reversal of twilight and shinings stance on changelings.... I like it so far
Interesting... it is a complete reverse of Twilight and shining's Stance on changelings and while I understand the reverse of Shining's stance, I don't really understand why twilight's stance is so extreme... I mean I may see why, but surely Twilight a scholar knows not to GENERALIZE everything?
2949276
Not enough upvotes in the world for this comment.
Two possibilities I see: Twilight teleported to her friends or her parents; I guessing the next chapter will include one of these scenarios.
2949215
Oh, that's a funny mistake...
"I don't think it's that bad. She's very understanding. I wouldn't be surprised if she acted like her mother, and ends up cuddling Rose for an hour."
Shining became in raged and then he spoke with barely controlled anger.
enraged
nice chapter happy i saw a new one of this! :D
also why do i think this will end badly like she will go crazy trying to get rid of rose only to see she made a mistake and its too late to fix it D:
and i really wonder when the larger changeling will be back to get rose back after all i can only guess rose belongs to it.
That was way over the top shining, go lie in the shame corner
happy to see an update after so long and damn :/ twi's hate for changlings run deep
actually the situation is similar to the aftermath of WW2 and with hitler dead people in america and other countries ostracized Germans and japanese regular people who had nothing to do with the war just regular citizens its quite sad actually that many changlings are being hunted down like animals when many of them probably weren't even apart of chrysalis's take over meh
2949724 Until Chapter 7...
"Not the one you have! What about the others that might be running around the kingdom, and don't say there aren't any because I know that there are plenty of guards searching the kingdom for any of them that are hiding."
or you can change "there" to "they" instead of adding "any"
I have to say that I think this is the first chapter that I cringe, not because of the tension but because of how out of character you wrote Twilight. It felt like unnecessary drama just for the sake of drama that's most likely going to resolve on the next chapter.
This won't end well.
2949760 Lots of errors with plural/singular terms. At one point Rose was several changelings.
The last part of that scene with Shining and Twilight reminded me of a comment I read in a Red vs. Blue episode commenting on when Church yelled at Caboose near the end of the season. Except this time, the insults didn't roll off his back like usual....
"It's intoxicating, the feeling of strength anger gives you... You feel powerful and you feel greater, until you don't. Then you see what you've done, you see it can't be undone, and you regret.
As cold, blank eyes stare at you from faces that used to look upon you fondly, you shrink back. Your chest tightens. Your muscles slack. Your brow knits with a plea for forgiveness. Your lips may even quiver, and your hands might begin to shake. You are shamed and ashamed. When looking at your reflection you'd either flee or lash out. But you see the reflection of yourself in their eyes, and you know you can't lash out. You want to flee. And so do they. And you can't decide which is worse.
Anger is a drug-demon within all of us; so easy to become addicted to, and so easy to lose control to... It can never be mastered, it can never be tamed. It can only be directed and released. And it can be a hard lesson to learn, which Church has just found out...."
I copy and pasted this in my notepad to save this important lesson. A lesson that shouldn't be lost to the sea of random comments to be forgotten but to be shared when the need for it arises; just like now.......
I so hope the changelings are revisited in season 4. They seem to have so much potential in the story line of MLP.
2949651
Then what are the Changelings doing in Equistria? You seem to have forgotten that Changelings are known for kidnapping and replacing innocent people so that they can feed on love. What happens to the ones they replace? Twilight is smart and she knows the damage that they can cause, heck she had been put into a position where she was forced to see the issues in her relationships and that one of the nicest side effects I can think of.
Just imagine, your whole life taken from you and you know that there isn't going to be a single person looking for you. And that's assuming the changeling doesn't just kill you. I like the changelings, but they have a lot to answer for.
Though I do agree with you that there are probably some changelings that didn't replace anyone and are just trying to live a normal life.
l.wigflip.com/AetS3MHI/roflbot.jpg
Accidenti non è andata bene!
beh Almeno Shing Armor ci ha provato, peccato però! Twilight poteva anche aspettare a saltare alla conclusioni, ora vediamo che succederà,
...Um I don't know what to say bout this
..Honestly, i am not surprised. Chrysalis took the place of her foalsitter, nearly took over all of equestria, and caused not only her friends, but PRINCESS CELESTIA to turn against her.
The question the guard asks, and Shining's response don't seem to line up. It seems that Shining is responding to a different question.
They have been with us for a few weeks now and it looks like they are back to health."
Should not it me, "She", not "They", after all they take care of one challenging, not many.
"I asked you here to try to ask you to help us raise a filly that needs a family. I was going to ask you to be part of her life, to be her aunt, but if this is how you will act towards her, then I don't want you in her life or mine anymore!"
Great... try to give Rose another pony to love her and help her and I end up hurting my closest friend. Way to go Shining.
Actually Twilight is his sister, national hero and a pony who saved his Wife and played major role in saving his wedding, though I am not sure do it is better to call her closest friend rather than sister.
As for Shining Armor, I wonder why Twilight think of him as so great brother. Not long ago he hurt her on the wedding, and now it is all over again, somepony need to punch some brain into his head, after all it is not how one threat a national hero who saved your wife and played major role in saving your wedding.
2949811 Considering that a changeling defeated her beloved Princess Celestia right in front of her, Mind-raped her brother, then her army attacked Canterlot and her friends in the process, I think it would be completely in character for Twilight to have some lingering hatred for the changelings. Unlike the Manticore in S1 Ep2, changelings are sapient, they know what they're doing. What you're saying is like expecting a US marine veteran of WWII not to hate Japanese people, after seeing what they did to his buddies. It is unrealistic, and frankly, a bit selfish. Try just for a minute to put yourself in Twilight's position, going through all of that...
Something tells me you'd feel the same.
Happy you updated.
This was a very emotional chapter. Well written. There are a few typos here and there you should try fix for a smoother flow of reading but it is still enjoyable nevertheless. I expected Twilight not to be excepting of Rose. My heart ached for Shining. Sometimes anger makes you regret your choice of words later.
2950744
Though I do agree with you that there are probably some changelings that didn't replace anyone and are just trying to live a normal life.
those are the ones I was talking about theres no doubt that chrystalis ordered dozens if not hundreds of changlings to go to canterlot and kidnap and replace innocent ponies and like some people there probably quite a few changlings who do those kinda things of there own free will.
however I don't think all changlings in equestria come from the same hive under chrystalis's rule so I wouldn't think it fair to judge the whole species because the actions of one tyrant of said species but thats me (shrugs)
2952538
You seem to think that changelings only replaced ponies during the invasion and that's not true. They are known for replacing ponies, it's not just a thing that they're ordered to do, it's mean of sustenance. Assuming that Changelings need three meals a day like the ponies, to feed even one changeling you're going to need a lot of it and quickly. They might starve to death while trying to do it without replacing somepony.
That's a bad situation to be in and if you add in the possibility of family as well......
I'm not trying to justify what they do, but if we want to write about them then we have to think about what they do and either explain or just make sure not to include it in the story canon.
2952669 you sounded like you we're justifying it in some small way and i'm not counting what authors think of the changlings just to add plot or make there story more dynamic, and the situation of canterlot was only an example It would be extremely foolish to otherwise think its only happening in canterlot.
And besides if your a sapient being you always have or should have a sense right and wrong.
take for instance the metaphor 2 people are stuck in a hole they have been there for god knows how long and they are both on the brink of starving to death now one of the people contemplates killing the other so he can save himself from starving however he knows theres a right way of doing things and a wrong way, the wrong way would be killing the other in order to save himself however the humane and right way would be to wait it out for the other to die from his circumstance.
And changlings and any other sapient being has this, yes it would be hard and difficult but like humans many would probably rather die from starving then harm another then the other way around.
Hm, I hope you understand this I feel like I could have worded it better or clearer my bad if you dont x.x
2952994
I must admit that I couldn't really understand what you said in the first part of your comment, it felt like words were missing.
I get what you're saying in the second part, though I'm not sure I agree with it. Our sense of right or wrong is based on our experiences and what our culture and society teaches us. Also on some instinctual level to I guess. To a changeling, it's could be considered a wrong action to not produce love for the hive, if of course it works that way. While I agree that any sapient being would consider killing another a bad thing on some level, we have to remember that changelings are predators. Also, we don't actually know if the drones are even sapient at all really, none of them talked and such so it's kinda up in the air.
2953251 ya my bad on that part oops
and ya I guess I agree on the bit of society teaches right and wrong.
and if the drones arent sapient beings wouldnt that consider chrystalis one of the few if not only sapient being in a "hive?"
why would "Soldiers" be mindless while the people back at the hive (assuming they even live in a hive) would not be? It makes little sense like that to me anyway xP
and thats a sad existence if thats true however I dont think the drones are mindless (or at least watching the canterlot wedding again suggests that they don't seem to be mindless they hiss and snarl but perhaps thats the language that changlings (that dont hunt) possible speak)
A sapient soldier will do better in combat then a non sapient
(lol reminds me of troopers vs droids in star wars)
and I hope you didnt forget we are predators ourselves apex predators at that
2953470
Omnivores actually, and we aren't built to feed upon other sapient species so that may not be the most apt comparison.
I do agree with your points, the drones being mindless isn't my personal canon but I just wanted to make sure we consider it. One theory I have is that Sombra literally designed the changelings as they were so they could neutralize the crystal ponies.
I mean, the defenses of their empire depend on the emotions of the crystal ponies. Have a changeling suck away those emotions or the the shield itself and bam, you just opened the empire up to attack
Anyway, it was nice to discuss this with you, if you want to continue I'll be on for a while.
2952354
When I said about Twilight being OOC was because of the stubborn attitude and unwillingness to listen to Shining when we have seen on the show that she was willing to listen to Fluttershy and do it her way when they were trying to reform Discord (although he didn't made it easy at all by being a prick).
So yes your right that Twilight can have lingering hatred but at the same time she has shown that she is willing to give more than one chance to the ones that have wronged her, even more so if someone she trusts asks her to without her trowing a tantrum.
I can't say how I would feel because it would be the same as saying that I understand how a rape victim feels when I myself haven't gone trough that horrible experience.
2953543 oh no no no xP im quite done ^^ it was a nice conversation good day to you sir ^^
and may we talk again sometime soon.
2949276 Agreed.
A sense of discrimination if you ask me.
I actually have an intense dislike for the usage of flutter ponies.
It just seems wrong.
I like to see changelings simply as beings whose circumstances have rendered them unfortunate in acquiring love from prey.
2950373 And undermine the fanon that the fanbase has built up around them thus far?
I dread it most so.
2953251
I don't see much of a reason to talk. Soldiers don't talk to the enemy much, and anything they would say may not be PG rated.
What was the secret ingredient? I must know.
Please oh, please let it be some kind of bodily fluid.
2961875
Chocolate laxative?
Shining already confirmed the gender of their adopted "creature". "They" is not needed.
2950928
Death Moon, parla inglese, che qui la bella lingua non è bene accetta
ouch