Shining Armor had a little extra something done to him by Chrysalis during the lead-in for the wedding/invasion. Now things are getting completely out of hoof.
Note: While this is listed as a sequel, the first story does not need to be read to enjoy this. The prequel was a short comedy piece, that everypony (myself included) liked so much that they wanted to see a serious version. This is that version.
Beginning at the start, this is following the same plot-points as the Prequel story, but unlike that, this is a mature retelling of all the things that happened, with only a small fraction of the silly jokes.
Shining Armor is beset by an odd malady, originally a curse by the Queen of the Changelings. He doesn't know it, but he is destined to walk on holey hooves himself, if he can avoid going crazy first.
Yes, there is sex in the first chapter. No, this is not indicative of the series and will not be common.
Art thanks to the wonderful Raven (Little bit of blood/violence art on their tumblr, be warned.)
"Well, there's my future wife." Shining Armor watched every inch of Cadance walk into the room. His vision studied the way her hooves lifted from the floor, the way her legs bent. Her thighs and shoulders were exquisite and, when his eyes finally reached her face he saw an uncertain smile there. "What's the matter?"
Chrysalis was worried, this was the second most dangerous part of her plan. If the stupid stallion had arranged something, she might get caught out. "I am getting married in a few days, I am nervous!" It was exactly the line Cadance had used when, disguised as Shining, Chrysalis had asked her the same question.
"Want me to brush your mane? That always relaxes you, Cadie." Shining was already fetching the brush with his magic, his horn constantly maintaining the shield around the castle, but a little extra was no problem. "Come on, settle on the bed and let me pamper you."
Stepping carefully, remembering how Cadance had moved, Chrysalis did just that, laying across from Shining while he lifted the brush up. It gave the changeling queen the perfect chance to gaze into his eyes.
Something seemed a little off to Shining, but he was sure it was just his fiancee being a little frazzled. He half closed his eyes as he gently worked the brush through her mane, but a slight flash of green caught his attention and he looked deep into the mare's eyes. The more he brushed, the more he gazed, each stroke seemed to be accompanied by a little flicker of green, but each time he saw it he cared less and less. "I love you, Cadance."
Chrysalis fed, she fed well. She poured the stallion's energy back into him, timing her magic with each stroke of the brush, she looked into his eyes and slowly imposed her will upon the pony. "Don't stop brushing, now. Each time you brush you relax a little more. Each time you brush you love me a little more. You love to brush my mane."
"Love you. Love your mane." Shining smiled happily, there was indeed nothing he loved on the same scale as Cadance, the words she told him were so true they just sunk into his relaxed mind. He kept brushing.
"That is all you have to do, keep brushing my mane, keep feeling more and more relaxed. It is great to be relaxed and just stare into my eyes, isn't it?" Chrysalis' smile was wide, this pony had literally walked into her web, willingly, and that made him all the sweeter to drink.
Shining kept watching, his brain only able to focus on two things now, brushing and those amazing eyes. But his body interposed itself. "Cadie?"
"Yes?" Chrysalis was amazed he could even talk, let alone start a conversation. "What is it, Shining?"
"I want you." The words from Shining Armor cracked a wall inside the queen. "I want to… to be… with you."
Chrysalis blinked her big eyes at the stallion. "Do you mean… uh?"
Shining kept the brush stroking, but he fought with his magic to reach out another place, brushing at the alicorn's tail. Chrysalis nearly jumped. "Shining!" She was indignant, he was neither changeling nor… The big changeling paused and thought, he was certainly well sized for it, and the body she was disguised as was certainly female. What would it hurt?
When Chrysalis came out of her contemplation Shining Armor was nibbling at her neck in a way that made her squirm, once she noticed it. Still, the brush kept stroking her mane. "Alright, Shining, but just once." Giving a happy, wordless exclamation, Shining tried to get up but green wrapped around him, pushing him backwards. He was confused at first. "Shining, I want you on your back."
The words sank into the stallion's brain, but his brain wasn't thinking so much right then and if it wasn't for the powerful magic he would have mounted his wife-to-be. "Please… Cadie…"
"No, on your back." Chrysalis forced him over and into position, she saw what he had to offer. He was big, really big. "Have we done this before, Shining?" Chrysalis put some power into her words, and so got a nod from the stallion. "Then you will fit…" Climbing up and over him, she pressed her own belly down against his and immediately felt his hips buck.
Shining's length bumped into the mare's rump, but the vicinity was close, and that was good enough for him. Bucking again and again, he shoved against her with abandon, the normally caring and loving stallion held down and reduced to baser instincts.
Chrysalis was shocked at how eager he was and leaned on him with her magic, pinning him in place and keeping his bucking to a minimum. "Hold still, you want to hold still for me, don't you?" Shining's face showed regret and worry, he nodded up to her, but kept bucking. Chrysalis sighed and slowly eased herself backwards. His shaft came into contact with her, but she had to use magic to guide it to her vulva.
The moment the velveteen lips kissed his tip Shining fought the magic, bucking hard and shattering the grip Chrysalis had on him. With a happy whinny he grabbed her shoulders with his forelegs and shoved her down onto himself.
It shoved so deep and so fast that Chrysalis' tongue was hanging out the side of her snout. She had time for a gasp of shock before he pulled back and shoved in, a little further. She had lost control of the situation, Shining was bucking her as he pleased and she… she was enjoying it!
"More…" Shining's breath was hot, he ached for his soon-to-be and the only way of quenching his fire was in her depths. Driving in and out, he saw an odd change happen in Cadance. A shimmer of green flame poured over her body and, for a moment, a black, surprised creature sat astride him. The flame reappeared and Cadance was back.
"Forget that." Chrysalis was stunned by two things, how good it felt to let the stallion have his way and just how much love she was drinking from him. "I am Cadance, you love me."
"Love you." Shining confirmed, his frown banished, his hips never hesitating. It didn't take him long to reach his peak, his wonderful fiancee was everything he wanted in a wife. His body exploded in pleasure and, in that moment, it was like a green fire wrapped around him, too.
Chrysalis nearly passed out. The food that had poured off the stallion, at his peak, would have been enough for a drone to live off for a year. She gulped it down greedily. It wasn't until she realized there was a spreading heat inside her that her climax hit. Bucking and squirming atop the stallion, Chrysalis let out a groan of pleasure that she had not felt before.
Shining gazed up at his amazing Cadie. "I love you."
The words fed the queen's ego, while the sentiment behind them fed her belly.
Chrysalis was off her game all the next day. For a start she spent the morning walking a little funny, but then Shining Armor's sister arrived and the worst thing happened. While Chrysalis was still trying to put together how she felt about everything, she was fighting her disguise's desire to do a silly dance with the princess and only realized her error too late.
"Your sister hates me." Chrysalis hid in their rooms. "Twilight thinks I am a snob, how was I to remember a silly dance from when she was a filly!"
"Twily will get over it, trust me, you just need to…" Shining's train of thought was distracted by a pulse of green in the room. He had learned to love pulses of green, in the last few hours. He smiled and looked deep into his fiancee's eyes. Nothing mattered, nothing could go wrong, so long as he could just gaze into her eyes like this.
"Again, Shining. I want you again." Chrysalis blushed as she said it, she couldn't believe she was doing this. An ache inside was hungry and the only way to feed it was by having Cadance's stallion again… no. "You're my stallion, aren't you?"
"Your stallion…" Shining felt the question was silly, of course he was Cadance's stallion. "You want me?"
In answer, Chrysalis turned around and, just as Shining was about to climb her back a knock came at the door. "Princess, you need to oversee the preparations." The changeling queen could have leveled her horn and demolished the door and the luckless pony behind it. "Princess?"
"Coming!" The queen of the changelings turned and pressed her hoof to Shining's snout. "You wait here, my stallion." Chrysalis' horn flared bright green, burning a massive amount of power to enforce her control on Shining.
"… wait here… yours…" Shining's will had been shattered by the spell. The slow burn of magic expended on him the previous night had weakened him, made him completely open for the dark queen's power.
"Good…" Chrysalis left the room to deal with the dilemma. "What do I need to oversee?"
The poor stallion waiting outside grinned and passed her a clipboard. "My Queen." The words were soft but Chrysalis had to smile wide when she heard them. "Sneaky. I decided to follow you, help with things on the inside."
Chrysalis couldn't help but think much of the drone, if he had gotten past the force-field he had certainly done very well. "How goes the invasion? I have that stallion completely in my bite, I can snap the barrier any time."
"The army is poised and ready. They will push as soon as the shield weak- And then we just have to inspect the food preparations, Princess!" Sneaky had spotted the maid trotting down the hall. "Just this way!"
"And where did you hide the three mares?" Chrysalis looked over the three unicorns who were destined to be her bride's maids. "In the crystal caverns?"
"One scheme isn't always the best to repeat, they are tucked away, My Queen." The changeling that looked like Lyra turned around and looked over their disguise in a mirror. "More and more of us are sneaking in, but it takes some… effort. The train seems to be the best way."
"Perfect. Oh, now I need to go and look at the stupid dresses. I swear, I should just burn this place to the ground now and-" A hoof pressed to Chrysalis' snout as two guards came into view, each bowed as they passed. The queen stared at her drone but smiled. "Good work, but do not touch me again or I will bite your leg off."
The inspection of the dresses was a moment of distraction, then Chrysalis stalked back to her bedroom. "Princess!" It was a real pony this time. "A Miss Pinkie Pie needs to have a word with you about decorations!"
Chrysalis' horn began to charge with energy, at the last moment, just before unloading it into the pony, she calmed herself. "Where is she." The words were full of enough anger that the poor unicorn's legs started to wobble.
"In the hall where the wedding will be… P-P-Princess…" The sound of knees knocking together was heard as 'Cadance' stalked from the hall.
The sun was down and a slight tension that Chrysalis had been feeling seemed to lift. "She is asleep." The Queen of the Changelings curled her lips into the first genuine smile she had had for quite some time. "Shining?" The door was thrown open and she saw him, still standing right where he had been, staring at the door. The moment his eyes adjusted and saw what he thought was his betrothed he trembled and passed out.
Chrysalis hadn't realized how much he had fallen into her power, she must have pushed too much. "Shining, wake up my stallion…" A knock at the door sounded and Chrysalis' snarl was enough to rouse the stallion.
"Cadie?" Shining felt really odd, but then a flash of green came and he was staring up into Cadance's eyes.
"You feel good, you feel normal. Act like nothing feels strange." Chrysalis blinked to break the effect off. Shining blinked as well, the green glow in his eyes fading.
"I feel good!" Shining heard the knocking and called out, "Coming!"
After leaving the two to chat for a moment, Chrysalis invited her prey into the next room. "Could I speak to you for a moment, dear?" She didn't wait for his reply, turning and leaving the room.
As soon as she had Shining alone with her, she reinforced the magic on him. It wasn't enough though. "Are you disagreeing with me?"
"I guess I am I-" Shining twitched as a shiver ran through him. Then the green came again and he felt perfect again.
"Are you getting another of your headaches?" Chrysalis sent a ton of magic into the stallion. "There, all better."
The scampering of hooves made Chrysalis check, and grin when she saw the annoying unicorn bolting from the building. Turning back to Shining Armor, she sighed. "Now, I have something special for you." She stepped slowly around the stallion. "Something that will… hedge my bets."
"Special? For me?" Shining's head was about as dazed and full of confusion as it could get, but her words were crystal clear through it all.
"Oh yes." Chrysalis closed the bedroom door and locked it. "This isn't going to hurt, at all." She gave him another pulse of her magic.
"… not going to hurt…" Everything was foggy now, for Shining, except his Cadie.
"This day is going to be truly perfect, and if it isn't, if just the slightest thing goes wrong… I will not lose you." Chrysalis held up a ball of goop. The stuff would taste terrible, as well she knew, but inside was the smallest drop of the pure essence of a changeling. Poison to normal ponies, with the right flick of magic at the right time it would change from deadly drug to mutagen.
"Here, Shining, this is a nice big… uh, muffin." Chrysalis was briefly at a loss as to what to call it, pony food was not her strong point. What predator ever kept track of the food of its food?
In the green glow of Shining's eyes, the pile of slime on the dark, hole-filled hoof looked like the most delicious thing ever, and his Cady was hoofing it right to his mouth. Shining opened wide and gulped it down whole.
"Perfect, so very perfect." Chrysalis petted the unicorn on the head. "Tomorrow will be just perfect..."
Shining's head was still spinning, but there was an anchor in his world. "Cady…" The stallion leaned closer to Cadance, his snout touching her cheek in a kiss that wasn't a kiss. "She made me-" The carriage started to pull away from the wedding reception.
"She made you, that is as far as is needed. When we get to our home, we will talk about what she did to you." Cadance had to keep the anger from her voice, it was an effort. Love had defeated the changeling queen but now she had to pick up the pieces of her husband. The thought of their being married washed the anger away like water on dirt. "Shiny, no matter what she did to you, I will always love you."
The love in his wife's voice shored up his own spirits. "And I will always love you, Cadance, my Cady. I promise."
Cadance had a moment to whisper back, "I promise..." before her stallion showed her, without any naughtiness at all, just how much he cared. Still locked in their embrace, the two felt the carriage lift, buoyed up by magic as the matched pegasi pulling it flew onwards.
"THAT FUCKING BITCH!" Chrysalis was literally frothing at the mouth. There was a few wounded changeling drones, each trying to help the others away from their wrathful queen. "WHAT RIGHT DOES SHE HAVE?"
Careful Steps took his namesake to heart. He advanced on the mare throwing what even he admitted, was a hissy fit. "My Queen!" Chrysalis turned on the drone, her horn charging. "My Queen, please. You infected him, correct?"
The question cut through Chrysalis' anger, but only by dint of being the one thing she had managed to get to stick. "Of course I did. He will be turned into a simpering drone within the year!"
"My Queen." The honorific seemed to take more anger from his queen, so Careful kept up with it. "Then might I suggest we… infiltrate their castle, keep watch and guide the young changeling when he emerges?"
Chrysalis stopped completely, turning to the ruined throne, now smoking with a large hole in it. "A good plan, but sure to fail. They will be ready for changelings, now."
"Which is why we don't just send one, we send three, they can vouch for each other, a pyramid of lies, woven to support our new hive-brother's escape." Careful narrowed his eyes. "I have three picked-"
"You will go, pick two more." Chrysalis waved a hoof, her tantrum ended, her minion clearly dismissed.
Careful Steps took two paces backwards before turning and trotting away. As soon as he was clear of his queen's chambers, he let out a sigh, his hearts racing a million miles an hour.
"Thank you." Sneaky, a drone whose name fit him well, had a large burn on one of his legs and was limping, carrying another changeling. "I have never seen our queen calmed so much so fast, but then I have never seen her so furious. You are a brave drone."
Considering his options, Careful dismissed taking Sneaky, injured drones had no place in the field. "Who would you suggest, I take it you heard?"
"Trip and Hoodwink." Sneaky didn't hesitate. "Two excellent infiltrators and exceptional liars."
"Can you have them meet me in Dodge City, if they can't make it there, then they have no place in this." Careful gave a nod to the hurt drone and spun around to trot off.
"Where is Hoodwink?" Careful looked over the drone, disguised as an earth pony.
Trip shrugged. "He was following me, had to fall behind because he had a stiff leg after being thrown from the pony city-"
"Canterlot. Tell me Sneaky didn't send a drone who doesn't even speak like a pony?" Careful Steps glared at Trip and got a shrug in answer. "Go back then, having an infiltrator who can't pass for a pony would make this a lot harder." He turned toward the town, fluffing his pony-shaped wings, and started trotting.
Looking back the way he had come, Trip kicked sand in Careful's direction. "Useless drone, ponies too alert now, they catch you, you die."
Spreading his wings, Careful jumped into the air and started to circle the little city. Nearing the north-west edge, he glided down to the street and landed. Ruffling his wings, he set off for the train.
Ten Bits, the conductor who had worked this leg of the Friendship Express for all his life, blew into his whistle. A lone pegasus, galloping for the train, caused him to lift a hoof to signal to the driver to hold. "A little late, son."
"Sorry!" Careful was panting as he climbed on the train. "I normally try to be on time but a filly is all I can think about…"
Ten gave a laugh. "Good a reason as any." He drew his hoof in, blowing the whistle again for all he was worth. The carriages gave a shunt and pulled forward with a lurch. "Where you headed?"
"Canterlot, then through to the Crystal Empire." It was a risk, telling a pony where he was planning to go. "Then I was going to be heading to the griffon lands."
"Oh, well, you want the extended ticket. Five bits please." Ten held out his hoof.
Prepared for this, Careful reached back to the little pouch under his wing, pulling out the coin that would be just what was needed. "Here you go!" Enthusiasm, ponies always had it, no matter what they did.
"Eager to leave your marefriend behind?" Ten measured out the correct ticket and passed it back to the pegasus.
"Of course not, but her father…" Careful drove a blush into his cheeks and the conductor laughed wildly at his lie. "She was a great mare, but a stallion needs to have some fun before settling down, you know? We both knew it was just a game, even if her father hoped it might be more."
"Well, you will want to find a comfortable seat, it's a long ride to where you are goin'." Ten left Careful to find a seat while he set off to check the tickets for the rest of the train.
Careful did as instructed, if only because it was logical. He cursed a moment when he ducked as if he still had a horn. "Still need some practice… maybe I should have gone with unicorn?" The changeling relaxed and even found a newspaper under his seat. Pulling it out, it was revealed to be over a week old. It talked about the aftermath of the wedding, as well as some strange goings on in Ponyville, although the article writer seemed to insinuate that it was becoming the norm for the formerly sleepy little town.
It had taken a full day of travel, well more half a day and a night, but Careful finally made it to the frozen north of the world. Stepping from the train, looking like a bright and excited unicorn, he got three steps before a voice called out. "Halt." It felt like he was trapped with his queen again. "You cannot enter the city, during the coronation celebration, without a gift."
Careful was trembling, this was bad, he was sure to be discovered. He started to open his mouth to beg the stallion not to squish him when they turned to a large wagon, pulled up on the platform.
"Here." A colorful, wrapped present was passed to Careful. He took hold of it in shock, blinking at the pegasus guard. "Can't have anypony not giving Princess Cadance and Shining Armor a gift!"
This was odd, Careful felt love and happiness all around him, it threatened to drown him in its warm embrace. He took a deep breath, setting the present safely on his back. "Okay, still got my cover, just need to breathe and not feast until I pass out." It took a few moments before he could move again, but Careful had his target.
Flash Sentry watched the odd little unicorn trot off. He turned to the next pony disembarking, spotting them as having no present. "Halt!" He grinned wide as they jumped; he got all the fun jobs.
Crystal ponies, Cadance had discovered, didn't really need a reason to celebrate. They were free of the malaise that had bound their hearts and minds and they wanted the whole world to know it. With the power of their love and togetherness, the Crystal Heart repelled not only the chill of the north, it spread their harmony to the world. That they had a new princess leading them seemed a double benefit. But some things required a down to earth pony.
"Your Majesty," Well Fed, a crystal pony who had served the royal line up until King Sombra had deposed them, began from the start. "We need more ponies, there simply isn't enough staff for the castle."
"I didn't have servants in Canterlot." Cadance continued her argument. "So I don't see why I need them now."
"Your Majesty-"
"Please, Cadance is fine." The alicorn smiled to the retainer but though he had love shining within him, he shook his head to Cadance.
"No, Your Majesty, it is not proper. As well, it wouldn't be proper for you to clean and cook, here, either. Let me hire some ponies." Well gestured around the huge hall, impinging on his new empress just the scale of the place.
Cadance blanched, she hadn't thought of that. "And the library too… alright, Well, you win. But not too many, I don't want Shiny and I to grow soft and reliant. Also, call me 'princess'."
Well Fed smiled radiantly, showing the princess all his delight with getting what he wanted. "Of course, Your Maje- Princess, I wouldn't dream of it." He bowed deeply, turning and galloping away, lest the mare change her mind.
Careful had a crystal pony stallion nearly plow right into him. He had been trapped, fascinated by the Crystal Heart. The conduit and repository of pure love was the most beautiful thing he had seen in his life, and so when the stallion collided, he almost dropped his disguise in shock. "Excuse me?" He tried to untangle his hooves.
"Oh, I am sorry!" Well climbed free of the pony he had crashed into. It was only days since the heart had been replaced and Sombra destroyed, but already unicorns and other races were arriving. "I… I don't suppose you would be looking for a job?"
Legitimate employment would be perfect, it would give Careful the perfect hoofhold to repelling any accusations of 'changeling'. "I… guess I am?"
"Wonderful!" Well Fed pointed to the door to the castle he had just run from. "Please, head inside and tell the princess you are reporting for duty."
The world fell out from under Careful. Not only had he compromised his persona, he had compromised the whole mission. "Y-Y-Y-" He never managed to finish saying the words. If he didn't report, the stallion would report him, there would be a hunt and they would find Careful and stomp him. He turned to the door, feeling condemned. Putting one hoof before the other, he stepped inside.
Shining had left most of the work to Cadance, of setting up their new home, he had taken charge of the guards. Bringing some of his own from Canterlot had been a no-brainer, but he wanted more to be sure. Marching into the throne room, the stallion saw a lone unicorn, a crumpled present on his back, walking the long march of defeat toward Cadance. "Hey pal, what happened?" Shining trotted up beside the stallion.
Careful looked up. Oh of course, Shining Armor, the yin to Cadance's yang, the only pony known to have a perfect defense against changelings. "I… I…"
Having spotted the approaching stallion from the corner of her eye, Cadance saw a soul weary and lost. She perked up from her throne and trotted forward. "Hi there, are you okay?"
"He looks like he spent a week as Sombra's flatmate." Shining focused his magic, trying to get an idea if something was physically wrong with the unicorn. Something was. "Wow, no hope?"
"No love." Cadance nodded, her own magic having told her much as her Shiny had said. "We can fix that." She lifted her head, looking over Careful, toward her husband.
Below, the Crystal Heart pulsed in sympathy with the couple, a wave of pure love and happiness radiating out, spreading through all the partying ponies of the empire.
Careful's eyes went wide when the pulse of energy hit him. It blew away his disguise like it a bunch of dried leaves before the full might of an autumn wind. He stared up at the two crystalline ponies standing over him. "I… I… I can explain, please don't squish me!"
It was impossible to feel the full anger she felt, Cadance was dripping with her element. "Who sent you?"
"Chrysalis… she… she…" Careful tried to hold up against the love but it overwhelmed his attempts to keep his distance. With a happy smile, the changeling's eyes crossed and he fell down and started nuzzling at Cadance's hooves.
Shining blinked at the display. "Changelings seem a lot less fierce and menacing, when there is just one."
Cadance inhaled deeply, there was love radiating from the little shape-shifter, love that trailed up to herself. "Curious."
Trip and Hoodwink were keeping on the down-low, but eventually Sneaky found the pair. "You were supposed to go with Careful, why didn't you?"
Hoodwink stared at the floor and scuffed his hoof. Trip meanwhile just sighed. "He wouldn't take me, said I couldn't fit in well enough with ponies. I only tripped on one word!" The drone's wheedling tone instantly gave Sneaky a bigger headache than the 'ling had already.
"And you?" Sneaky looked at Hoodwink, who seemed reluctant to talk at all.
"He got lost!" Trip's sneering tone marked him as a problem, one that Sneaky knew well how to curtail. "I found him going the wrong way!"
Sneaky grinned at the drone who clearly thought himself superior. "Perfect, please report this to Queen Chrysalis. Actually, let's do it together." His smile was all for Trip, the 'ling realizing suddenly how much hot water he was about to be in.
Hoodwink's shoulders slumped a little, but a hoof landed on them, giving them something to push against. "It was your first time out of the hive alone, don't feel so bad. Your next mission will have less scope for such a mistake."
"Yes sir!" Hoodwink smiled, watching as Sneaky turned and began marching off toward the center of the hive, a very reluctant Trip at his side.
Chrysalis was in a foul mood. "Ah, Sneaky, what word back from our infiltrators?" She sprang up from the couch of resin she was halfway through destroying.
The evidence of their Queen's mood before them, both drones gulped, but Sneaky stepped forward. "Your Delightfully Deviousness," his made-up-on-the-spot title got a half-smile on the ruler's snout, "according to Careful's plan, I accorded my two best changelings to the task of escorting him." He lowered his head. "While Careful has successfully begun infiltration, I fear I confess that my faith was misplaced."
"But he made it in? It matters not if he has companions, a loneling is ever more dangerous than a small group. I take it he shed this… chaff, himself?" Chrysalis knew what Sneaky was about, his ruse was obvious and, to her liking.
Sneaky bowed to his queen. "He did. One drone was unused to life outside the hive, failed the first test, of geography. But the second gave himself away in a more… problematic way. Trip?"
"I-I-I-I couldn't remember the name of their shell-damned town!" Trip clopped a hoof on the floor. "One slip up-"
Chrysalis moved fast, so fast the little black drone blanched gray. "One slip up gives a drone away. One slip up fouls a mission. One slip up makes me look bad."
The crunch came a moment after Sneaky looked away, the stallion might have set this up, but it was what needed to be done. When he looked back, he saw that Trip's carapace was cracked. It wasn't a killing blow, but the drone had learned a lesson he would spend time recovering from.
"What are we going to do with it?" Shining looked at the changeling that was chained up and secured. "I know I insisted on chaining it up, but…"
"There is a reason I married you, Shining Armor." Cadance leaned in and kissed her husband on the cheek. "And it wasn't because you were the hunkiest stallion in the watch."
"So we should just let them go?" Shining still hadn't managed to stop blushing when his Cadie said such things about him. He looked from his wife back to the changeling, who appeared to have almost blissed out again. "Although it hasn't really posed a danger…"
Cadance closed her eyes, inhaled and let out her breath. "My only quibble is with their queen. If I was upset with Auntie, I would not take it out on random citizens of Canterlot." Her horn began to glow, first opening the cell door and then the chains binding the 'ling.
Looking up at his savior, Careful tried to focus. It was hard. "T-T-Thank you…" He slowly got his legs under himself, it was a struggle not because he was weak and lacked food, the exact opposite. "Are you going to squish me now?"
"We don't squish anypony." Shining stomped up to the outside of the cell. "Why are you here?"
"Chrysalis sent me, she wanted me to keep an eye on you, send reports back with your doings." Careful tried to exercise at least a modicum of discretion. When he said his queen's name, however, he saw pain on the stallion's face, a pain that made something inside him twist.
Cadance missed the look the drone gave her husband, but she could feel that bond the creature had made, to her and Shining. "And now? What are your plans?" She stepped back, making it clear they could leave the cell.
Careful tried to get a reading on when the hoof would come, but all he could feel was that dratted, constant, love. It tainted his every thought, made him feel… made him feel like these ponies were better than his queen. "I don't know…" The big pink mare rushed in again at his soft words, a large wing wrapping around him.
"Shiny, no more questions for now." Cadance was empress of her city-state, it came as a side title to her main one of princess. Shining Armor nodded, it wasn't for the ruler that he agreed, but his wife.
"What are we going to do with him? We can't very well parade him through the castle." Shining gestured to the exit, but Cadance was now settled down on the stone floor, hugging the black, carapaced bug-creature with a wing.
"Her ponies were hungry, that is what she said. She came to Canterlot to feed her ponies…" Cadance looked down at Careful.
"She gets carried away a lot." Careful wasn't sure why he started talking, it wasn't important or diplomatic stuff, but he found himself unable to shut his snout. "She gets passionate about something and it becomes all her focus. She started off wanting to feed us, which was good, but then she… she seemed distracted." Both alicorn and unicorn were listening intently but when Careful looked up at Shining it disarmed them. "She lusts for you."
Shining stood, jaw dropped open. "Me?" Careful nodded to him. "But… she seduced me! She was-"
"Shining Armor." Cadance paused and turned, giving the little drone a kiss on his worried brow that left his eyes crossing and features completely open. "I think it is time we had the talk, about what happened and what she did."
"What about him?" Shining pointed at Careful with a hoof. "Can you disguise?"
Careful shook his head to try to dispell his drunkenness and looked up to the stallion addressing him. "I can… I feel like I could disguise as anything, I am so full!" He couldn't stop the hiccup that came, nor could he stop both his forehooves from shooting up to cover his snout.
Cadance laughed at the drone. "Something simple, an earth pony would be preferred." She drew back her wing and stood back up. "Are you sure you don't need some energy?" she turned to Shining. "Have you even felt him feed? What was it like when Chrysalis fed?"
The stallion looked stricken. Shining wanted to tell his wife no, to yell and run away. Parts of him still felt odd after what the Queen of the Changelings did. "It was like I was casting a spell, a big one, but instead of my magic draining… it was me."
"I wouldn't do that!" Careful stood up straight. "That is… that is not good to do to a pony, it is easier to find a pony that loves another and just sip at what they feel. You… you both have so much love… I tried to only sip, but it was like trying to sip at an ocean. Delicious, delicious ocean…"
"That talk needs to be now, and I think we have the perfect interpreter to help us understand what happened." Cadance looked to Careful, watching as dawning happiness came over his features. Apparently, giving a drone something to do was an easy way to make them happy.
Green fire poured over Careful, it was his magic, the magic all changelings possessed, but he had it in spades. Where another changeling could make a disguise, and it would hold up under casual inspection, he made ponies. When the flames flickered and licked up to his horn, then vanished, they left a brown, nondescript earth pony mare with pink mane and tail, looked up at Cadance. "Will this do?" Even Careful's voice had shifted. It wasn't a gift -or a power- to Careful this was art.
"A mare?" Shining couldn't help but blurt out. "You're a female?" He was shocked as the pony blushed and shook her head.
"I am a stallion, but you said simple, I felt nondescript was called for, a mare is the most prevalent gender with ponies, so I chose mare. Is there a problem with it?" Careful looked back over herself, inspecting the little red rose cutie mark.
"You think fast and well." Cadance smiled widely. "Come on, let's get this aired out. Secrets are always less terrible when they see the light of day."
Careful was in awe. A compliment, kindness, and Cadance clearly thought much not just for her husband, not just her ponies, but for a captive. She lifted her head and started trotting behind the alicorn, for the first time in her life feeling some measure of hope.
"Your Highness!" The guard on duty in the dungeon was shocked to see his rulers down in these depths. Nopony ever came down to them, not since the days Sombra had control. "How was the inspection?"
"Satisfactory." Cadance gave a smile to the guard but looked back to Careful. "How much would you estimate is needed to convert these dungeons into more rooms? Maybe for storage?"
Blinking, Careful quickly fell in with the duplicitous conversation. "Oh Your Highness, I am sure it would be well within the budget, we may even come in under quota." She smiled, the sensation odd because it wasn't forced. "We will need to test for structural supports, some of these walls might need to stay, but-" She stopped talking the moment they were out of the dungeon. "You are clever."
"I find it helps." Cadance found she enjoyed having a master of disguise and subterfuge tell her she was clever, it seemed quite the compliment. "How long have you been here, in the Crystal Empire."
"I barely got off the train, Your Highness." Careful added the honorific only because they passed some maids. "Your steward harangued me just outside, dragging me in to be a servant."
"Sounds about right for her. I imagine it seemed too good to be true." Cadance turned toward some stairs, well, some more stairs, the castle was lousy with them.
"It was. Too good. I mean…" Careful blushed and took the moment to look back, seeing Shining Armor walking after them, his head bowed. "She did a bad thing, that should never be done to a pony."
The tone of the 'ling caught Cadance off-balance. "We will get to the bottom of this. Did you take part in the invasion of Canterlot?"
"Of course. Everyling who was good at either fighting or disguise did. I was one of the city guard, I led others into a trap…" Careful sighed. "I don't regret it, it was my job. But I-"
"You were under orders, and from what I understand nopony was injured." Cadance turned her head and looked back at her husband. "Well, one was…"
Opening her bedroom door, Cadance flung the door open and ushered their little precession inside. "Go on Shiny, get comfortable on the bed and let's hear all of it."
Shoulders hunched, Shining Armor marched toward the bed like he was going to his execution. How was he going to tell his wife all of what happened? He had… and… He was laying on the bed before he realized it, blue magic lifting the covers up and tucking them around him. Cadance climbed in beside him too and he found himself turning to her, burying his snout against her neck.
"I hear it said that smell is the strongest sense. That it can remind, calm, agitate, and disarm." Cadance hugged her husband close, holding him against her, his snout buried into her neck. "What happened?"
"I didn't notice at first." Shining's mouth was moving, words were coming out, but the stallion wasn't quite aware they were his. "Her magic was subtle and amazingly careful. Looking back, I can see where she started to influence me, make me see her more as you, and less as…"
"She is good when she is focused." Careful climbed up and settled, like a pet, at the foot of the bed. "But when she finds too much drive, or when she is distracted by something else, she is like a hammer on glass."
Shining nodded to the drone's summation. "She started… she seemed to focus more on me and less on organizing her invasion. It all began when… when…" His voice closed over and it was impossible to speak. Cadance hugged him, holding him without prompting. "When she… when I… when we mated." Cadance brushed away the tears as they came, kissing her stallion on the forehead. "I couldn't see it wasn't you, she just kept… every time I started to see past her disguise, that odd pain, the draining, then there would be a green fog in my head."
"Strong magic, potent magic." Careful didn't want to interrupt, but felt she had to. "She drank your will, left you less, then filled it in with her own."
"Yes!" Shining pointed animatedly at Careful. "That… that is exactly it. After she did that, I wanted it… her even." It was a great relief, Shining had thought it was really him that wanted Chrysalis. "So she made me want her?" Careful nodded and the big stallion took a deep breath, smiling. "That doesn't make me hate her anymore, but I am so happy to know it wasn't… wasn't me."
Cadance looked down the bed at the pony. "Drop your disguise, please…" Her eyes were wide. "What is your name?"
"Careful Steps, My Queen." The words flowed easily from Careful as she let her disguise fade, pouring away from her in a wave of flame and leaving him once more himself. His tail wagged until his whole being seized up. "I mean-"
"I am not a queen, but if it helps you, Careful." Cadance giggled. "Just don't call me that when you are disguised, but I think you know that." Careful nodded, eyes wide and full of shock. It wasn't that he had said the words, but that he had meant them.
It had been awkward for Careful at first, the two ponies had just seemed to stay hugged together and, with the sun gone down, he pondered slipping away. Then they started to dream.
Dreaming ponies, for a changeling, were the best thing ever. They were completely unguarded, their emotions running free, and tonight both Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor were completely so. Careful whined, he was full as could be, but the taste of their dreams, a dream they shared each of the other, called him and he crawled up the bed until at last he touched them, through the covers.
Careful was addicted, he felt the rush as the Princess of Love and the stallion that invoked her heart, surged their love and his snout curled into a smile.
"He isn't moving." Cadance looked down to the comatose changeling. "Is he okay?"
Shining reached down the bed, poking Careful gently on the nose. "I didn't do it!" Careful's head shot up and he looked around, then his eyes fell on the royal couple, and their smiles. Cadance began to outright laugh and neither her husband nor the drone could resist joining her.
After the three finally started to come down from the jolly beginning to the day, both Shining and Cadance spotted the shock appear on the drone's face. "What's wrong?" Shining reached out a hoof, beating his wife to it by a fraction of a second.
"I can't feel… the pull." Careful held his head up and turned this way and that. "A 'ling can sense their hive, feel the pull of it, no matter where they are!"
"Wing?" Cadance blinked, not quite catching what Careful had said.
Shining kissed her cheek. "Ling, Cady. Short for changeling?" Careful nodded absently, helping in the language lesson. "So what would cause that to happen?"
"Nothing, nothing should ever do that!" Careful started to tremble, feeling more alone than he had in his whole life. Even when surrounded by ponies, wearing a disguise that was far from ideal, he had felt his hive. A pair of forelegs reached down and pulled him up the bed and his world became pink as Cadance drew him into a tight hug, wrapping her wings around him.
"It must be hard for him." Shining didn't envy the drone one bit, being cuddled by Cadance was nice, very nice, but being lost and alone in a hostile city? Not something he wanted to imagine. "Cadance will need to go and get the nobles in order. Want to stay here and talk some more?"
Careful missed the question directed to him, but as he sank his snout in against the mare's neck, he didn't feel quite so alone and lost. He kept inhaling her scent, her love washing over him like a waterfall. Then something hit him. "Wait…" He pulled back and looked up at Cadance. "It isn't that I can't feel my hive! I don't feel the hive," he gestured with one translucent wing, "THERE!"
The alicorn couldn't help but giggle as the changeling seemed to squirm and try to wriggle free of her grip, she let him go, but not before kissing his nose. "What do you mean?"
Getting free of the best hug he had ever had, Careful climbed off the side of the bed and bowed down, deeply. "My Queen, your hive I serve."
Both ponies' jaws dropped. "This isn't a hive…" Cadance picked hers up first. "This is an empire not-"
"It is my hive, now." Careful felt his body warm up, he was blushing with a green tinge to his cheeks.
"I… am going to go and tend to Court." Cadance was a little shocked, she knew ponies loved having her as ruler, but this 'ling sounded completely and utterly devoted, his world centered on her.
"Let's chat some more." Shining used his magic, the pink power reaching out and plucking the ecstatic little drone up and settling him in the place Cadance had just vacated. "No cuddling though."
"No, My Queen." Careful climbed into the bed, the stallion beside him halting all brain activity as the title sank in.
"I… I am a stallion." Facts, Shining had to use facts to get out of this. "I am not a queen. A stallion can't be a queen."
"You are both the center of my hive, the rulers of it. You are my queens." Careful buzzed his wings as he got comfortable, the bed was nice and warm. "There is more."
"More?" Shining was trying to get his brain around changeling logic, not an easy feat for a buff stallion who knew where he stood in the world. "What do you mean, more?"
"She made you eat something." Careful squirmed a little, getting the covers to settle around him. "Made you gulp it down."
The words sparked more memories for Shining, he blanched a more pure white. "It wasn't a muffin…" Despite what he said, his hoof reached out and he felt it contact with a dark, hard, hole-filled one. "She… I couldn't stop."
"She did it, she made you. You know what it does?" Careful let himself be pulled into the terrified unicorn's embrace. He let his fire pour over him as he became the brown-coated mare again. "It does the opposite of that." Her softer voice broke through to Shining, the stallion staring at the mare he was hugging for support. She hugged back and the unicorn was wary of how good it felt to be reassured.
"Perfect…" Shining trembled as he spoke the word. "She said it would be perfect… what will it do?"
"The other reason I was sent, was to oversee your metamorphosis." Careful pressed her head against the stallion's neck, inviting him without words to do the same. "You will become a changeling, Shining Ar-" A hoof plugged the mare's mouth, just as Cadance emerged from the bathroom.
"What is this about?" Cadance looked at the pair, snuggled together tightly. "Shiny?" She was waiting and be damned what the nobles thought of tardiness.
"Are you sure?" Shining looked into the eyes of the changeling, he was begging, he knew. But it wasn't the drone he was begging, it was reality. Fate. "No… no that can't be… Cady… I, I am going to turn into a changeling!"
Cadance blinked, then blinked again. Her husband was sometimes cute when a little manic, but this was something else. "Are you sure? Careful?" As the attention dropped on the mare in her wedding bed, Cadance saw the disguised 'ling nod. "We will discuss this further, after Court. Shining, don't get too crazy before I am back."
"So explain again, why you were disguised as me?" Cadance looked at Careful, who was, at present, an exact copy of herself.
"I was in the bathroom, a maid came in and started cleaning." The second alicorn flicked her wings in worry. "I panicked and when she came to the door I took one of the forms I knew was allowed in here, and that she wouldn't panic over."
Cadance inhaled, counted out to five and then let her breath back out. "She was a little shocked, when she saw 'me' in here, then left and saw me outside too." Cadance wore a slight smile. "Quite shocked in fact. But I can't say you didn't do well." It was weird, but the alicorn leaned forward and kissed herself on the bridge of her nose. "Just don't do it again unless you really have to."
"No, My Queen!" Careful felt relief, she had been so worried when Cadance had found her wearing her that she had run and hid under the bed.
"And don-" Cadance sighed and reached out, forelegs and wings, pulling the changeling into a hug. It was surprising when wings wrapped around her in return, more so that the doppelganger even smelled like her. "Oh wow, you are really good at disguises. Are all changelings like this?"
"Of course not, only the best would have a hope of infiltrating your empire, My Queen." Careful loved saying the title, more-so because it felt like the mare really deserved it.
"Maybe it is time you had your own quarters," Cadance drew back a little from the embrace, "not as a punishment, but to help you build a persona for yourself around here. Hrmm, maybe I should have a new adviser arrive from Canterlot?"
Careful fluttered her wings in excitement, a mission! "Oh, oh, can I be an alicorn?"
A hoof booped the duplicate of Cadance on the nose. "No, silly, you can't be an alicorn. Do you have a preference?" As Cadance asked, Careful shifted back to the brown pony. "No, that will not do, ponies have seen that form around here already. Another?"
"I like unicorns, I don't have to think as much about ducking under things." Careful tilted her head and then gave a nod. Green fire poured over them again, washing away the brown mare and leaving a blue unicorn stallion, with brilliant orange mane and tail. "I don't need to actually hide, and I really can't since I will have a job."
Cadance admired the look. "You forgot a mark." She reached a hoof down and poked the disguised 'ling's flank. Fire rolled again and this time Careful had a book and quill as a cutie mark. "Perfect!"
"I remember messing up once, just as I was learning to shift. I made a pony that was striped, with two different cutie marks." Careful looked down over his form, committing it to memory.
"Stripes? Like a zebra?" Cadance stifled a giggle with a hoof. Green fire took away the blue stallion and left Cadance looking at a full-sized pony, with barber-shop stripes spiraling around them lengthways. On one flank was a changeling face blowing a raspberry, on the other was a pony trapped in a pod. The latter was a little sobering, but Cadance couldn't stop her giggles from breaking free.
"I have gotten a little better at it." The voice Careful used cracked and broke, sounding nothing like any pony, ever. The fire came again and remade the blue unicorn. "I don't think I have ever shifted form this many times in one day, before."
The statement sobered Cadance from her giggle-fit and she looked into the unicorn's eyes. "Do you need food?"
Careful lifted a hoof up, tracing Cadance's jaw before he realized it and pulled back a little from the intimate gesture. "No, My Queen, but that you always ask…" The changeling sighed, wondering just how he could prove to her how much he respected and loved her, over the mean old mare that he had been following.
"Good." Cadance wanted to hide, to ignore the moment. She really wanted to ignore that the drone looked at her with such devotion when he said 'my queen', but she couldn't. "What will old Sour-Plot do now, do you think?"
"If I don't send a message, she will likely send more drones. Drones are…" Careful looked down at his hooves. "Expendable." A hoof grabbed his jaw, pulling Careful's gaze back up until he couldn't look away from the Princess of Love, her element running strong.
"No, you aren't. No pony and no 'ling, is." Cadance's conviction was strong, stronger than nearly anything she had felt before. "Everypony… everyling, deserves to be loved."
It was hypnotic, the combination of love and power, it trapped Careful into actually feeling what his queen felt.
"Come on now, drop that and let's go to the station and welcome you to the Empire." Cadance booped the changeling again, grinning as their snout wriggled and their eyes crossed.
As the two left the bathroom, Shining dropped a hoof he had been inspecting to the bed. "Hi!"
Both Cadance and Careful turned and looked to each other, nodded, then looked back. "We are just going out, Shiny." Cadance knew that if her husband wasn't going to tell her yet, it wasn't worth really panicking about. "I am going to welcome…"
"Careful Design." Careful beamed at the clever name. "It will help you not slip and call me something else. Besides, noling- no… pony, knows who Careful Steps is. If another 'ling comes here, they will seek me out."
"That… did you just think of that?" Cadance was impressed and put her wing over the changeling. As they stepped from the room together, Careful changed back to the brown mare.
Shining, alone in the room once more, lifted his hoof back up and brushed the fur of his fetlock aside. Light shone through the hole.
"Gotta do something, can't let Cadance know…" Shining rolled to his feet. It was odd, considering there was a hole going all the way through his ankle, walking wasn't a problem. "Careful was walking fine, and he had lots of holes… oh sweet Celestia, I am going to have lots of holes!"
Tromping around 'his' side of the room, there was nothing, of course. Well, he could wear those special socks Cadance had gotten him, but it might get a little suspicious if he wore them all the time, let alone in public. With an ever-suffering sigh, the stallion circled the bed, to no-stallions-land. Literally.
"Okay Cady, what do you have that could help?" Shining was careful with his magic, lifting bottles, brushes, and odd little containers of… stuff. "What is 'mane body enhancer'? Is it for your body, or your mane?" He was just about to open the tub when he spotted what he was after.
"Cotton wool!" The big stallion grabbed a hunk with his horn and jumped back onto the bed. Rolling to his back he held up his hoof again. Turning just right, he could see the light coming through the hole and, poking the cotton wool in, the light was gone. "Best, makeup, ever! No more light!"
He rolled off the bed, smoothing down the fetlock. Walking around, he could actually feel the stuff in the hole and, although it felt odd, it was better than having a pony see light through his leg at some odd point. "Now, what was Cady doing again?" He turned to the bathroom and trotted in, finding his wife, and the strange changeling that had looked like his wife, gone. "I might go down and drill the troops some." He gave a happy nod and marched out of the room, feeling much more confidence than a few minutes earlier.
"Now you report to the Princess and give her the note." Cadance gave Careful a little glare and the disguised changeling nodded solemnly. "Go on, before you miss your train."
Turning away from the carriage, Cadance began walking for the exit of the station. Casual does it, she thought. "Your Highness!" A voice behind her, male and speaking extremely formally. "Your Highness I am on a grave mission from Equestria!" The alicorn smiled as she turned. "Careful Design, Your Highness. At your service."
Cadance took in the deep bow that Careful gave her. "Careful, where have I heard that name before? Oh, yes, one of Auntie's aids?" Careful gave a stern nod. "Very well, I happen to have need of-" She narrowed her eyes, looking at a pony that had seemed to start watching her with extreme focus. The moment they saw her looking at them they spun around and were suddenly chatting with another pony.
"You saw them too, my q-" Careful blushed. "Your Highness." He didn't have to look, it was another changeling. How soon were they waiting? Or was it just one of the others finally coming to check on him. His mind raced, it had been a few days, they would be missing a report from him already. "If it pleases Your Highness, I would be delighted to work under your tutelage. Where will I be staying?"
It wasn't good to have to ignore them, but Cadance took her cue from Careful. "In the palace, of course. We still have so many positions open for new staff…" She ensured her voice carried. "Come, let me show you. Normally you would need to talk to my steward, but I trust Auntie to only send capable workers."
With that the alicorn turned and, with the disguised drone at her side, began the slow trot toward the palace. "Good work on giving them that information. Better they act exactly as we wish, than making up some awful plot and actually causing a problem."
"Auntie did teach me a few things before sending me to the frozen north." Cadance trotted along, as if there was no changeling wandering her empire, doing Celestia-knows-what. "What is it you are good at, Careful?"
"I am excellent in organization, also managing personnel." Careful had to censor his reply a little, but that was all part of being a changeling. "You can likely extrapolate my skills from there." He felt a thrill, while Chrysalis had used him in any capacity he put himself forward as, Cadance had asked him how she could best use him. A queen that really 'got' how to use a 'ling to their best; he had to keep from strutting.
Before long they reached the huge spire that was both the home of the Crystal Heart and the ruler of the empire. "You want to see what unmasked you?" Cadance stepped forward, toward the spinning heart. "Careful, please be careful near it."
The drone stepped carefully, his eyes locked on the ancient artifact. To say he coveted it with all his being would be an understatement. It was pure love, pure, raw power, to a changeling. A wing rest along Careful's back and he was startled from his trance. "Your Highness?"
"You sound a little drunk, Careful. Do you need help?" Cadance looked down, the poor 'ling was still staring at the gem, but managed a slow, wobbly nod. "Oh dear, don't tell me you are down with that dratted cold that has been running around Canterlot? Come on you poor thing."
The wing's grip was like steel, it pulled Careful around, broke his gaze with the heart and steered him toward the stairs leading up into the palace.
"Auntie just mustn't be thinking, sending somepony so sick. Well, there is one thing the northern air is, and that is purifying." Cadance had no compunction in marching her odd new servant all the way in and closing the door behind her. "Are you okay?" She spun on Careful the moment they were in private and was shocked as his disguise wavered and faded, leaving the changeling shaking his head.
"Heart seemed full of love, but it is… it is like a changeling, it nibbles…" Careful felt weak and looked up at the alicorn Princess of Love. He didn't reach for that core of Her, he only dipped at the concern and love she radiated to all around her and he felt himself returning to better health.
"Are you saying that the Crystal Heart actually consumes love?" Cadance braced a hoof against the door as it tried to open. "By the order of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, this gate is closed!" Her bellow was the best imitation she could muster, of one of the guards.
"As I got closer and closer it drained me faster. You… you wouldn't notice it, not putting out all this." Careful leaned against the mare, his queen, the center of his new life. "You saved my life…" The closest Careful had ever been, to having his life saved by another changeling, was when one dragged him out of a 'bad' meeting with Chrysalis.
"Well I wasn't going to leave you there, you didn't look well." Cadance smiled wide. "Up to getting a disguise on?" She tapped the 'ling on his shoulder, reminding him with the clopping sound of it that he was out of disguise.
"Yes, My Queen!" Careful sketched a salute with his hoof and fire burned around him, fire born of his Queen's own power. Once more a cute unicorn pony stood beside Cadance. "If you will permit, Your Highness, shall we head upstairs and see what I can do for you?"
Shining drilled the guard, squinting at the new mares they were letting in. It wasn't traditional and he didn't like it, not that he would say that to Cadance; it had been her idea. "And lift!" His voice roared at the recruits and he watched as each unicorn lifted the boulder at the end of the square, then held them. "Wait for it…" He knew a few were sweating, three of the recruits were now lifting above their weight-limit. "Let 'em down!"
Two heavy boulders crashed down hard but the rest were placed down. Casting his gaze over the three he had expected to drop theirs, he noticed the mare among the three had been the pony to have let hers down slowly.
Marching along the line of sweating and panting ponies, Shining Armor stepped up in front of the first of the two who had dropped theirs. "Recruit!" The pony quickly spun around and saluted. "You will spend extra time working on that lift. I want you hauling these pebbles around by the end of the month." The stallion he was addressing seemed to stiffen. "Yes recruit? You have a question?"
"Sir, yes sir!" The stallion looked at the boulder and got a nod from Shining. "Sir, even the best in our squad has trouble…" The recruit trailed off. A pink glow had wrapped two of the boulders, Shining lifting them up and, grabbing a third, juggling them in the air. "Sir… I will work harder, SIR!"
Shining set the three boulders back and looked to the second who had dropped one. "Sir, I will work harder too, sir!"
"See to it." Shining walked past them and almost stepped past the mare who, despite what he would have thought, didn't drop their boulder. "You, recruit, what was your weight limit at last test?"
"Sir, four hundred kay gee sir!" The mare snapped just as straight as the stallions had, although she was a touch smaller than them.
"And you just lifted a five hundred boulder. Good work recruit, your hard work is showing." Shining didn't need to give the mare any more encouragement, she was already grinning from ear to ear.
Shining left them, marching back toward the palace. "Maybe Cady will be back…"
"What is it?" The voice of one of his recruits made Shining slow his march and twitch an ear backwards. "Looks like a really soggy piece cotton wool." The unicorn's blood ran to ice, he was going to have to think better than just cotton wool.
Chrysalis glared at Sneaky. "Didn't I say to go to the Crystal Empire and find out what is happening to my new drone?" Her eyes narrowed on the 'ling before her.
"Your Astoundingly Astuteness," Sneaky bowed deeply, "I deigned it better to remain behind, in the capacity Careful filled, to better coordinate your infiltrators."
"You did? And why was this?" Chrysalis' mercurial mood was hanging on a razor's edge, she sipped some of the fine crystal clear water in her cup and looked around, even lifting a hoof to look under it. "I thought I was right, I am in the queen's chambers, I am sitting on the queen's bed, so why is a DRONE MAKING DECISIONS?"
Sneaky shrank back, Careful was the only 'ling he had ever known that could calm her when she was like this. "My Queen, I will leave at once!" He started to turn but found his hooves rooted in place with magic. "My… my…" He shook like a leaf.
Chrysalis got to her hooves slowly, her horn aglow with her magic. Stepping slowly over, she dropped the fine silver chalice she had been drinking from and crushed it under one hoof. Leaning down, she brought her lips close to the ear-ridges of the drone. "You will do what I tell you, you will keep doing it, you will not think I would want different, and you will not refuse me."
Eyes wide, Sneaky had to fight not to tuck his ears back, or soil himself. He had seen other drones get stomped by his queen for less. "I-"
"You will pick five more drones, the best infiltrators here. You will send them to Canterlot to intercept any and all messages from the Crystal Empire. The information they glean will come to me, directly." Chrysalis lifted a hoof and gently set it on the drone's back. "Am. I. Clear?" Each word was punctuated with her hoof bearing down a little more until Sneaky's belly was on the floor.
"Yes My Queen!" Sneaky barked the words, eyes screwed shut.
"Good!" Chrysalis let her magic go, spun around and trotted back to her bed as if nothing had happened. She stepped over her chalice with a little distaste. "That was my favorite…"
Rising, saluting, and leaving quickly, Sneaky resolved to do what his queen told him this time, and arrange a new chalice.
"Fleur! Darling!" Misty Dew trotted up in a prancing gait, leaning in to lightly kiss the cheeks of her friend. "When did you get back from Baltimare? Didn't you have a big shoot there?"
Fleur Dis Lee ruffled herself and half-lounged on the chair she was sitting on. "Oh, you know how it is, camera had a faulty lens and they insisted it had to be that one. Ugh, some ponies can be sooo horrible." It was a lie, it was all a lie. Bright Flash looked at the mare before her.
The silver-maned and white-coated unicorn slipped down in the seat opposite her best friend. "And where did you get those?" She gestured to Bright's side, where one wing showed. "Let me guess, they wanted you to have a full Cadance thing going?" She flagged down a waiter, gesturing to the other mare's coffee.
An alarm bell rang in Bright's head, she had thought wings would be cute and would give her a little advantage. "You wouldn't believe! I could go on and on about how terrible it was, but tell me about you, any stallion got your eye?" She leaned heavily on the innate sense all 'lings had when disguised as a particular pony.
"Ugh, I chased Blueblood for a while, did you know he is just as much of a bore up close as he seems from afar?" Misty waved her hoof. "The donkey got caught looking in the mirror while changing one night, spent three hours in there!"
"Had a stallion like that myself once. Horrible-" just as the waiter arrived Bright carefully knocked his flank, the hot coffee he carried spilled to one side–away from the mares–and the milk splashed right onto Misty. "Oh, oh no! Quick, come on, let's get that clean!" Bright stood up and led the mare to the bathroom.
"That terrible colt, ugh I just had my coat done today!" Misty was so distracted by the stain of milk soaking her fur that she didn't realize there was a flash of green until her pupils narrowed as she stared into her best friend's eyes.
"Gotcha. Now Misty, what would you like in a stallion?" Bright's words were laced with honey, she wasn't the best at disguises, she wasn't the best with pony lore. What she had up her hole-filled sleeve, was magic.
Misty relaxed, it was easy to relax with her friend Fleur this close. "Oh somepony hunky, but… I was always partial to wings. Big wings, striking mane…" It was hard to talk, when she opened her snout it felt like there was treacle all through her mouth. "He needs a white coat… bright mane…"
The flash of green, flames pouring from around Bright, filled the room and had Misty relax and smile more, green was nice. The mare's eyes widened when they settled on the white coated orange maned stallion standing across from her.
"Well hello there, my name's Bright Bolt." Bright gave the best smile he could, pushing a little bit more power into his new cover story.
Her mind awash in green magic, Misty saw nothing wrong with meeting the stallion of her dreams in the mare's room. "M-M-Misty… you are cute…"
"For you? Misty, I would be anything." Bright leaned forward and kissed the mare, feeling the raw flood of power pour from her. He loved his job.
Misty's mind cleared a little. "Ugh, that little colt, look what he did, Bright." She was using her magic combined with some hoof-towels to get the patch clean again.
"Come on. Forget this place, Misty." Bright gave the mare the most gentle of nips on the shoulder.
Jumping a little at the nip, Misty spun on the stallion she couldn't take her eyes off. "What… where are we going?" She felt like she was being swept off her hooves, something any mare dreamed of.
"To get your coat redone, this won't stand." Bright held the door closed a moment, giving the mare one more flash of power, and a kiss, before opening it. "Come on babe, we definitely aren't coming back here."
Dropped Ball checked his list. Bright Flash would have herself worming into the high-society, Gilt Wings would be working into the guard, and he hoped Straight Horn would get the pegasi couriers under her hoof. Lifting up a quill in his mouth, he began to scribe a letter, using the cypher he and Sneaky had worked on.
Smiling, proud of his incredible intellect, the changeling stallion folded up the letter and slipped a stamp on it. Just as he was about to head out to post it there was a knock at his door. Listening carefully, he heard the pattern that Straight Horn had been told to use. "Come in, Straight."
A pegasus opened the door and entered. She turned and closed the door behind herself before talking. "This," she pulled a letter from a satchel at her side, "just came in from the Crystal Empire."
Taking the letter carefully, Dropped looked at the mare with a glare. "You copied the original, right?"
"What do you take me for, Droppy, of course I copied it. Had to deliver it to Celestia herself. No ponies want to do the long flights, getting the messages from the Crystal Enwire will be easy." Straight flicked her feathery wings in annoyance.
Dropped opened the duplicated letter.
Dear Princess Celestia. Auntie! This is insufferable, the couch you sent up is so uncomfortable I cannot bear to lay on it, and Shiny nearly put his back out when he fell asleep on it! Weather is terrible, too, I hate to have to keep reinforcing the Crystal Heart's weather spell anytime I want it not soggy and ugh Shining just keeps moping about, I even thought getting some female guards would get a little spring in his step but you know what? You know what he has done? He has trained them to be guards! All I want is my stallion acting the part and he is all 'duty and fealty'. It wouldn't kill him to totally check another mare out every now and again, it doesn't hurt and at least then I would know he is still...
He couldn't stand reading another word of it. "What in the name of our Queen is this? Is this pink nag really what beat us?" Dropped screwed up the letter and threw it into the fireplace. "Check them from now on, anything like… this, just ignore it."
"I DID read it, you stopped reading before she gave her report about having caught a changeling and 'dealt' with it, didn't you?" Straight reached out and pulled the letter out of the cold fireplace. "Really, Droppy, she wrote two pages of mind-numbing drivel to hide her real intentions."
Dropped Ball grabbed up the letter and started skimming.
Found a changeling, poor fool just walked up to the Crystal Heart, unable to stop drinking from it. It is so full of energy it is like gems to a dragon. Don't worry, problem is dealt with, got rid of them in Galloping Gorge, as usual.
His jaw hit the table, Dropped tossed his letter into the fire this time, getting fresh paper to write on. "Uh, good work Straight…"
"Yeah yeah, blah blah. For the Queen and all that. I have a date tonight and I am going to suck that stallion dry!" Straight turned and left the room, leaving a blushing changeling watching her plot as she departed.
Careful read through the report and smiled. "I was right." He levitated the letter across his desk and over to where Cadance was lounging by the fireplace. "See?"
Reading the letter, Cadance's face drew into a slight frown. "Finding out my letters are being opened and read is something to smile about?" She flicked her magic, throwing the letter into the fire behind her.
"Of course it is, Your-" Careful froze, the look he got from Cadance shut down his use of the title. "Cadance… it means we know how we don't send important things, and if we keep feeding them tasty little tidbits they will focus on that as their information source."
Her eyes going wide, Cadance laughed and grinned herself. "That… how do you come up with this, Careful?" She lifted a wing up to rub her chin. "We could also use it, in an emergency, to send false information."
"Now you are thinking. This isn't our loss, this is our gain. And now you have to visit Canterlot to tell Princess Celestia she has some… rats, in her kitchen." Careful disliked giving away his fellows, but in the few days since he had joined his new Queens in their castle, he had gained a new perspective. "They will expect to lose one or two, if we uncover one, it will be a grand thing and won't jeopardize the false information we give."
"I don't like it, what if they are hurting ponies?" Cadance's frown returned. "What would changelings do when infiltrating in this way?"
Careful sent his thoughts into his memory. "I had one group, the best in the hive at this. I bet Dropped and his mares are in there. If that is the case, the only one to really watch out for will be Bright Flash. She shares Chrysalis' power with magic and minds." Cadance shuddered at the warning. "So, we will mark and catch her. Oh, now there is an idea, I wonder if you could break her bond to the hive in the same way as with me?"
"Would… would that work? How would she behave?" Cadance blinked at this. "We would need to take Shiny too."
The door to the big study opened and closed and the stallion in question clomped in. Levitating a ream of papers at his side, he spotted his wife and trotted toward her, floating the papers to Careful. "There you are, and you look warm too."
Cadance watched her stallion strut toward her, the words she had seen Careful write in that letter had made her cringe at the time, now she realized how funny they were. "Oh no, you're wet! Dry off before you-" she didn't get any further, Shining had wrapped his snow-damp forelegs around her and pressed in. The stallion's thick coat of fur hid his warmth and he kissed his wife soundly.
At his desk, Careful had worked as hard as he could to ignore the royal couple, but when they kissed for a second time he couldn't hold back any longer and set the notes down and basked in the love. The world faded around him, Careful Steps was adrift in a sea of delight. No 'ling in history had ever been fed as well and he totally didn't care. Food was not something to worry about anymore, only his hive.
Something in the drone alerted him that the feed of love was tapering and he opened his eyes. "Uh…" Careful blinked, both Cadance and Shining looked down at him with grins on their snouts.
A pink hoof reached up and pressed against Careful's nose. "Boop! Sorry, couldn't resist it. We spoke and think next week would be good to put this plan into action. We can show off some of the new guards in Canterlot, too." Cadance particularly liked that some of the mares were shaping up well.
Careful watched the two walk, side by side, from his office. "My queens…" The 'ling sounded half in love himself. His eyes drifted and he squinted. "Cotton wool?" He got up and trotted over toward his fireplace. Plucking up almost six big wads of the stuff, he sniffed at them before tossing them in the fire. "Changeling…" The scent was both familiar and not, it wasn't just changeling, it was Shining Armor too.
Bright Flash settled into bed, beside his mare. "You awake Misty?" He nuzzled at her neck, getting sleepy sighs and a pouting snout lifting at last to stop him.
"I am now," Misty yawned, "what do you want, Bright?" She opened her eyes, taking in the big, goofily-smiling stallion. Her heart beat faster, she had never fallen for a pony quite this fast before.
"Want to go up to the palace and take a look around? I bet I can get us into that cooler of cakes everypony thinks Celestia has." Bright didn't need to flash the mare, he had learned just how taken for him she was and how much she liked games.
Misty's attention was on her coltfriend now. "Go on…" She leaned up and nibbled along his wing.
"Oh you know what that does to me…" Bright hated to admit it, but this mare's love was a touch addictive and a little too good. He bent over her and started kissing her snout, pushing her down and to her back so she had to leave his wing alone. "Buck the palace..."
The pegasus wasn't a changeling, but she was just about the sneakiest member of her species that Careful had met. "They didn't see you?"
Nimbus Cloud laughed. "You have got to be joking." She spread her wings for emphasis. It was odd for a pony to have the same color fur and hair, but Nimbus' whole body was a slightly pale light blue. "Against a bright, sunny sky, there is nothing of me to see."
"And they spent two hours searching?" Careful liked the mare, admired her quite a bit. He shoved down the thoughts he was having. "Perfect, so they got that one too."
"Yeah, flew up and down the gorge, looking for the body. What was that?" Nimbus tucked her wings back in, her eyes tracing the stallion. He was smart, looked good, and was good for a laugh; a combination of things the pegasus hadn't had much luck finding in one pony before.
"The Princess made it up, it wasn't anypony, don't worry. But this proves, three for three, that the changelings in Canterlot are intercepting our missives." Careful watched the mare for her reaction, and it was shock.
"Changelings? Again? I thought we beat the buggers back?" Nimbus saw something, a little flash in the stallion's eyes. "So what are we going to do about it? Storm Canterlot, have Princess Cadance and Shining Armor blast them all the way back to the badlands?"
Careful squinted. "No, and you know why." He watched Nimbus stop and think, her wings fluffing a few times.
"You want them reporting back, now that you know about them you can use them. But why? What would this help with? And why go there at all, then?" Nimbus sat down in the seat opposite Careful Design. "What is going on?"
He trusted her, a lot. She was read-in on quite a lot of his little subterfuges as being a great help, particularly in scouting. "There is more going on-" He didn't get any further.
Shining Armor came bursting into the room. "Careful! There are more holes!" He froze, looking at Nimbus, blinking at the pegasus.
"Shining Armor, Nimbus Clouds. I take it you know who this stallion is?" Careful's tone was droll and he looked up at Shining, giving him a direct stare.
"Of course I do!" Nimbus blushed, clearly a touch overwhelmed by having one of the rulers of the Empire. "Your Highness!" She tried to do a bow, but nopony—and certainly not Nimbus—ever claimed the pegasus was graceful when nervous.
Shining, thankfully, caught the mare as she started to fall. "Sorry!" He quickly righted her with his magic and stood back. There was another hole in his leg and he wanted to talk to Careful so much about it. "Uh, so what are you doing here?"
"Careful had me flying to look for… those were changelings?" Nimbus glared at Careful and got a nod from him. "What are they doing? What is going on here?" Her hoof stomped in consternation.
"Tell her, Careful, but I need to talk… quickly." Shining turned and stomped out of the room, leaving a few corks on the floor, mysteriously, behind him.
"Looks like you get the full explanation. Okay, but you have to promise not to scream." Careful didn't take Nimbus' nod as enough. "Promise!"
"I promise not to-" Nimbus didn't get any further, her snout opened and she could hear screaming. The changeling in front of her blinked up at her, not pouncing to attack and certainly not laying about itself with its magic. She closed her mouth and the screaming stopped.
"You promised…" Careful slumped back in his chair, his horn lighting green to lock the door. "I bet you have more questions now."
Nimbus glared at the drone. "Did you do anything to Careful?" Like the stallion earlier, she wouldn't take a head-shake as an answer. "Tell me."
"There was never a Careful Design, my name is Careful Steps, I am a changeling of the Crystal Empire hive." Careful lifted one hole-filled hoof, batting his chest in pride.
"How many of you are here? Where is the queen?" Nimbus was still on edge, but she started to smell something funny going on here. "Does the princess know? Is this what Shining Armor meant?"
Careful snorted. "Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor… are my queens. I am the only drone that follows them, so far."
"The princess is a changeling?" Nimbus' wings flew erect in shock but an odd hissing-coughing noise coming from Careful distracted her. "Are you laughing?"
"Yes! No, Princess Cadance isn't a changeling queen." Careful shook his head, there was a few secrets he had yet to keep. "They feed me, the love and protection they offered me, it broke me free of my ties to old bug-butt." The mare giggled at the common pony description of Chrysalis. "And now, we think she is trying to infiltrate us again. Us being Equestria and the Crystal Empire."
"And you are helping to stop them?" Nimbus watched as the changeling's mouth formed words around the huge fangs, it was oddly interesting. She realized she was watching a changeling's mouth and quickly pulled her eyes upwards.
"Of course, I would do anything a queen wished of me, and protecting the Empire is like protecting my hive." Careful realized Nimbus was staring into his eyes and blushed, a soft green tinting his cheeks. A knock came at the door and green fire poured around Careful, restoring his disguise. "Come in!" The door unlocked just before Shining Armor stumbled back in.
"Now, I am going to tell her now." Shining glared at Careful. "I don't want to keep this a secret from her."
"You want me there?" Careful got up and trotted over to the big stallion, part of him knew he shouldn't get between the two ponies, but another part recognized Shining as his queen and made him offer.
Shining blinked at the drone. "No, Careful, you have helped me enough already." Taking a deep breath, Shining Armor reached down and plucked a few corks from his legs, confusing the mare doing her best not to intrude on the conversation. "Wish me luck, though… and be ready in case I need to leave in a hurry."
"From Princess Cadance?" Careful gave Shining a few pats on the shoulder. "I don't know if you feel it the same way I taste it, but nothing would steer her from your side, Shining Armor."
Giving a firm nod, Shining marched back out, sans corks.
"What is… should I even ask?" Nimbus gestured at the corks, and the obvious near-wreck of a stallion.
"No, that is between him and the Princess." Careful walked back to his desk and relaxed. "So, after getting a report of some odd things going on in Canterlot, we sent some letters, sneaky letters." The stallion scattered them on the table and grinned when he saw the mortified look on Nimbus' face. "I wrote them all, and Celestia knew in advance they were fakes. But the changelings didn't."
Skimming down, Nimbus found the meat of the letter. "So this is why it is important that there were ponies… changelings, at those places? They were looking for what you told them was there?" Careful nodded to her, liking where the mare was headed with her thinking. "And now what?"
"Now, we have a plan and I need a pony to keep an eye in the sky while we work it." Careful raised an eyebrow. "What do you say? Part of our little group of adventurers?"
"Who else?" Nimbus took a deep breath, this was exciting and interesting on so many levels she would be begging to be in on it, if the job wasn't already offered to her.
"Oh, apart from the princess and Shining? Just you and me… we also have another job, before we head to Canterlot. Kind of a 'dry run'." Careful steepled his hooves. "You see, there is a changeling here in the city. I know he… or she, is here, but they are being clever and keeping their snout down."
Nimbus perked up even further. "Okay, you got me you sneaky bug," awareness of her acceptance of the changeling before her seeped past the mare's subconscious and into her thinking mind, it wasn't that strange, "how are we going to catch them?"
Shining sat on the bed, glaring at Cadance, building his confidence.
"If you don't tell me, Shiny, you will pass out." Cadance watched her husband fighting his own panic in the biggest battle she had ever seen, and with the brother of Princess Twilight 'I used time travel for no good reason' Sparkle, panic was always just on the horizon. "Now, start from the start."
Looking up, Shining finally met Cadance's eyes and it was like a hoof slammed into the tension inside him. He took a deep breath and held her gaze. "Cady, I am turning into a changeling."
Slow breath, slow breath. Count it out. One. Two. Three. No laughter. "Shining, you aren't turning into a changeling." Cadance stepped forward. "It was just something Miss 'lies for a living' Chrysalis made up."
"It's true! And it is happening to me!" Shining trembled, even as the softest of pink wings closed around him. "Please believe me, Cady…"
The last words broke Cadance of her stoic defense. "Shining Armor, my husband and the greatest stallion I know, why do you think you are turning into a changeling?" She looked at him, in the eyes, imparting calm on the stallion, along with support.
"Fwangs!" Shining peeled back his lips. This intrigued Cadance. "Fwee?"
"I see, Shiny. A little thestral in your bloodline is nothing to be ashamed of, they are amazing ponies and I have felt love in every single one." Cadance reached a hoof up to boop Shining on the nose. "Is that it?"
"No…" Shining inhaled deeply, the soft scent his wife used filtered pleasingly into his nose. "This too." He had to roll over, flopping onto his back and holding up a foreleg.
"It is your hoof, Shiny." Cadance leaned forward and kissed the frog under his hoof. "And you know I love your hooves, are you trying to seduce-" She froze, seeing sunlight where sunlight shouldn't be. "You have a hole in your leg." All the playfulness faded from Cadance and she inhaled and exhaled. "How long?"
"It has been like that, with the holes growing, for a week." Shining started to shake. "I'm scared, Cady…" Shining drew back from his wife, eyes growing damp with tears. The feel of the alicorn's wings wrapping him, of her forelegs pulling him into a hug, broke his isolationism. "You don't deserve me…"
"I made a very important promise, Shining Armor." Cadance kissed the stallion. "Can you remember the 'big promise' I made?"
"You promised to al… always love me… But I am turning into a bug!" Shining tried to pull free, tried to escape, to free his Cady of her useless stallion.
"What makes you think this would change that?" Cadance had learned a lot about her feelings involving changelings, with Careful around. They were just another pony to her. "Shining Armor, I love you more than this." She lifted a hoof to rub at his snout, pressing a lip back and brushing a fang. "Holes, fangs, odd-shaped horn… I will look past it all and see my Shiny."
Shining blinked, the words were magical, he knew. When Cadance put her heart into something, magic flowed. "Cady… you are the best…" Shining pressed his snout against his wife's, and felt her push back.
Nimbus bounced to her hooves. "Careful, are you alright?" She walked around the desk and poked at the changeling. "Careful? CAREFUL?"
Looking up at the cute mare, the mare he found himself liking more and more, Careful couldn't stop the almost-drunk giggle from leaving his lips. "Boop!" He poked her on the snout with a hoof, gently.
"Careful what has gotten into you? One minute you are fine and then…" A wave of power poured through the room, radiating outwards. It was the last straw for Careful and he followed the path his hoof had taken, leaning up to kiss Nimbus Cloud—now slightly transparent and crystalline—right on the lips.
Nimbus was a little too shocked to stop the stallion. A moment later, she was too busy kissing back to stop him.
When Careful got his senses back, he jerked his head up. "That… that wasn't terrible…" He looked around his room, something was off.
Nimbus' wing reached up and hooked over the changeling's head. "I hope it wasn't, I am going out on a limb and saying something happened?" She rubbed her cheek against the oddly hard shoulder of her lover.
"No, I meant…" Careful leaned down and kissed the mare, his fangs surprising the pegasus by how careful he was with them. "I need to go, my hive needs me." Disentangling wings and legs proved a little harder than the 'ling expected, particularly when their owner was not actively helping.
"A stallion married to his job. Mother warned me about ponies like you, Careful St-" Nimbus was making a joke but caught a look from Careful and froze.
"Don't use that name, not all of it. Just call me Careful." The drone leaned in and kissed the mare's pouting lips. "And don't pout, you are cuter when you are smiling." What was he doing, he wasn't meant to be seducing a mare… or being seduced by one.
"Then don't give me a reason to pout. Go, save the empire. But come back when you are done, we are not finished, Careful stallion." Nimbus had started out with putting changeling in the 'minus' column of Careful's score, but after the time they had just had it had definitely proven not to be a minus and could even drift to positive. "Cute plot…" Her last words went unheard by Careful, but she smiled anyway.
Careful reached the royal couple's door just as a guard was about to knock on it. "Please don't!" He trotted up. "Shining had some upsetting news for the princess, I am sure they will be fine come morning." The guard looked unimpressed. "Okay, how about I go in and rouse them?"
"That would do." The guard stood stiffly. "Her Highness needs to review and sign these documents."
It was the last thing he wanted to do, but using his horn, Careful lightly probed the room, sensing two ponies somewhat awake. Opening the door just enough for himself, he slipped inside. Two heads were looking at him. "Forgive me-"
"You are forgiven, Careful. You told us, didn't you?" Cadance cut in on his apology. "I thought it a jest, a bad one. What do they want?"
"Forms, something about an orphanage?" Careful's eyes flicked as he brought back the memory of the pages as the guard had flicked them. "Do you want to sign them?" As he asked, Careful's unicorn form melted in green fire, replaced by a stunningly beautiful, pink alicorn.
"Check them, Careful. You probably know more of the situation." Cadance leaned in, snuggling her snout down against Shining's neck. "Will it hurt, Careful?"
"I don't know, I just… never has a queen used this, that I can remember. I hope not." Careful looked back at the couple and, renewed by the love that even now flowed from them like a bubbling brook, turned for the door and opened it. "What is this? I thought I had left instructions with Careful to not let-" The door closed behind the disguised changeling.
"If Chrysalis hadn't been such a… a…" Cadance stopped. "I don't have a bad enough word for her. But if she hadn't been, I could really have welcomed the changelings."
Shining looked up at his wife, about to open his mouth and make an off-the-cuff remark, when his tongue touched a fang and he was reminded all over again what was happening. "Please, just hold me, Cady."
"Ugh, those… those…" Careful raged as she walked into her bedroom. "Can you believe they tried to slip in a tax break with an orphanage contract? A TAX BREAK!" Her wings flared and Careful realized that there was a pegasus on the bed laughing at her. "What?"
"Oh, just trying to imagine how I had ever not seen through your disguise, your highness…" The mock fealty in Nimbus' tone had Careful giving her a curtsey. "Oh, getting favors from the Princess, how grand am I?"
"Quite grand indeed." The false Cadance strode forward until she was at the edge of the bed before the fire came and she lost not only stature but became a different pony entirely. "I hate paperwork."
"But you are good at it." Nimbus leaned up and nibbled the unicorn's shoulders. "Go on, grow them out, I want you as an alicorn this time." The pegasus nipped a little harder and got a startled laugh from Careful.
"I am good at it, I only do it for my queens." Careful focused on the change, bringing his unicorn self out and adding the wings to it as he did. When he opened his eyes again, he saw a very big grin on Nimbus' snout. "What?"
"When I introduce you to my mom, I have to have you just like this, trust me!" With that, the pegasus was having no more words, but Nimbus did laugh when she bowled him over onto his back.
Cadance began her day as if her husband wasn't turning into a changeling. Nope, that was something to deal with later, after she had breakfast and didn't have her neck matted with dry tears. "Dibs on the tub!" She rolled off the bed, using a wing to balance and then stumbled into the bathroom.
A bath for a pony was a problem only when it came to get dry, but unicorns had a simple little spell to summon the dry desert winds. Stepping from the bathroom after her ablutions, the pink alicorn spotted her husband doing something odd. "What… what are… are those corks?"
Shining lifted his head, his pink magic winking out as he was caught. Relief flooded him just as quickly. "Yeah… sorry about the cotton wool, but it just isn't cutting it now." He turned back to his left foreleg, pushing the fur aside to reveal the hole, then pushing another cork into one end of it.
"Does that feel strange?" Cadance repeated her little mantra about Shining being perfectly fine, in her head at least. She started the morning procedures required to make an alicorn look perfect. "I wish I had Auntie's mane… maybe I will end up with something like that?"
With the last cork in, Shining got up and head into the bathroom. "They feel a little odd, but I don't really want to have to tell anypony why they can see light through my legs." Shining got into the shower, letting the hot water wash away the sweat his coat had collected during a rough night of sleep. "What was it Careful wanted last night?"
"Oh, probably nothing, that stallion works entirely too hard but… I can't say he isn't useful. Did you see what he did?" Cadance was working the brush through her mane, cringing a little at each knot.
"He pull his 'I am the Princess' thing again? Don't you worry about that?" Shining was working his mane, getting the suds into it deeply.
"I might worry except he writes reports about each time he does it, detailing everything that happened. That drone is a better princess than I am, sometimes." Cadance set the brush down and started work on her eyelashes.
Shining stepped from the water and shut down the jets. Bracing himself, he used his magic to blow himself dry and stepped out of the bathroom. He spotted his wife, primping herself just right. He lost track of more than just his words. A boop on his nose startled the stallion out of his daze. "I'm awake!"
"Of course you are, Shining Armor, don't you dare stop looking at me like that, no matter what you become." Cadance kissed her husband on the nose.
"You mean that… it's hard to take that in, but maybe if you keep saying it…" Shining leaned against Cadance, rubbing his cheek against hers. "Cadance, Princess of Love, Empress of all she can see, will you stay married to this oaf?"
"Only if this gloriously handsome stallion, who stole my heart with his kindness and determination, will stay married to me." Cadance kissed Shining and time seemed to break for both of them, the two trapped in a kiss and snuggle that had everything to do with renewing the fire of love that burned between them.
The banging noise finally overwhelmed their ability to ignore the world and Cadance sighed, breaking the kiss. "The world is surely collapsing again, although your sister is probably taking care of that, I will go and see what has happened locally now." She gave her husband one more kiss and turned to the door, looking immaculate. "Yes?"
"Your Highness, Court starts in an hour. You did ask us to remind you, if you were still in your room…" The mare at the door blushed a little, seeing Cadance looking perfect, and over her shoulder, Shining Armor still looking a little rumpled.
"I did, thank you. Recruit?" Cadance got an eager nod. "Glad to have you guarding us. Escort us." She looked back, to see Shining trotting out, his mane a mess. "Come here…"
Shining grinned, he did this on purpose. His wife's touch, even her magic, made him tingle with happiness. "But Cadance…" The wheedling tone was so fake he got a snort of a laugh from the guard. Nonetheless, Cadance styled her husband's mane into a semblance of order. "What's for breakfast?"
"Sir, the usual fare, juice, some salad, and a special today, porridge." The guard turned and led the couple to the quieter dining area, off from the main one.
"Thank you." Cadance smiled to the guard and stepped into the dining room, only to groan. "Really Careful? Ambushing us at…" Cadance trailed off, something was different about the 'ling today. "Okay, first thing, you talk, we eat. What happened last night?"
"Those two nobles tried to slip a tax break in with the forms, I was not going to sign until I read it all." Careful practically basked in the reaffirmed love from the couple. "I found it and tore the pages up before them. The orphanage will go ahead, of course."
Cadance ate what was set before her, half-listening to the changeling talk about tax adjustments and how a well-timed purchase and sale could do… something. Then it came to her.
Careful had been rattling off tax law, a wide smile on his snout that he couldn't banish. "Y… Your Highness?" He looked worriedly at Cadance, she looked at him like he imagined a hungry tiger looked at a rabbit.
"I know a secret." Cadance giggled like a filly. "Shiny, do you want to know a secret?"
Shining had been wolfing down food and looked to his wife, seeing her in the most terrible of moods he had ever seen her in. He groaned and shook his head. "Newp." His reply was hasty, his mouth still half-full of salad.
"Aww, but Shiny, this is something really, really important." Cadance turned, looking right at Careful. "You see, whenever I looked at our little friend here, before today, he was like a little vortex, a swirling sink for the love and happiness around him." She lifted a hoof, using her magic to make an illusion of a spiral, with Careful at the center.
"Cady, it is too early for this… what is going on?" Shining hated to have to ask, because he knew his wife would draw this out, worse still, he knew either himself or Careful was the target.
Careful looked up at Shining, the stallion was giving him a look now that he couldn't quite interpret. "Careful…" Cadance's voice brought instant relief to Shining.
"You poor guy, you should probably run." Shining reached a hoof over, trying to mock-restrain his wife, as if giving Careful his chance at freedom.
Looking between the two ponies as if they had gone mad, Careful shook his head. "What is going on? What are you doing? Why should I run?"
"She knows-" Shining tried to cover Cadance's snout with his hoof but it was too late.
"Careful has a special somepony!" Cadance crowed the sing-song words at the top of her lungs, half a continent away, random changelings felt a little smile creep onto their snouts for no reason. "Who is she?" The Princess of Love was in her element, nopony was safe.
"Okay, who is he?" Jade Wings swooped around her friend, the pair performing their normal aerial stunts together. "Come on Nimmy, I haven't seen you so distracted since I met you."
"It doesn't have to be a stallion… I got a promotion." Nimbus did a little barrel roll. "You know that part-time gig I had working for the somepony at the palace?"
Jade circled around her friend, flying directly in front of the mare and halting. "Somepony who is a stallion?" She smirked as soon as her friend looked guilty. "I knew it!" She pumped a hoof in the air.
"No, it's… okay, he is smart… I know you like 'em big, dumb, and full o' fun, but I like a stallion who can say something intelligent." Nimbus didn't realize it, but her features had relaxed and she was staring dreamily off into the clouds.
"Did you buck his brains out? 'Cause he sure did yours." Jade booped her friend on the snout and folded her wings, circling and diving toward their normal breakfast place. Checking constantly for ponies who might have right-of-way, Jade barely had to make any adjustments before she came down on the street and looked to her left.
Nimbus landed and looked to her friend. "That… he is sexy as… not a big buff stallion like… well, the type you like." The mare giggled a little at the reality of it. "But in all the right ways, he is perfect."
"So you did? Totally knew it." Jade stepped along to the cafe, finding a table for them and gesturing to the mare behind the counter. "Does this smart and perfect stallion have a name?"
"Careful." Nimbus remembered his warning about last names. "Just Careful. But anyway, so I am going to be working up there sort of full time now." She took a seat at the table just as the waitress brought out a large milkshake each for them. "Thank you!"
"You're welcome! The same?" The mare knew the two pegasi, served them every day. When both nodded she turned and trotted off to the kitchen to prepare their waffles.
"Let me guess, this Careful is your boss?" The moment Jade said it she knew it was truth. "Did you roll in the hay before or after the promotion?"
"Jade! It isn't like that!" Nimbus Cloud nearly spat out some of her milkshake. "He isn't like that. Besides… I sort of encouraged him to make the first move." She spoke the last words just before slurping on her drink, eyes scooting to the side guiltily.
Jade Wings was filled with two conflicting feelings. On one hoof she really wanted to keep poking her friend about this, on the other she was really happy her friend had seemed to find "the one." "So you made the first move? What did you do?"
"He was… distracted by something, I leaned in close and parted my lips, just a little…" Nimbus remembered that first touch of Careful's lips, soft, just like a pony's. She went back to slurping her drink until a plate of waffles was set before them.
"Thanks girls, enjoy your day." The waitress scooped up the bits the two mares had left her to cover food and was soon gone.
"So, when do I get to meet him?" Jade nibbled some of her waffle. "What are you doing today?"
"Today?" Nimbus remembered that there was a job to do before they were to head off to Canterlot. "Oh, I am probably going to be quite busy all this week. Then we are going to Canterlot for work…"
"Just started and already they have you working hard? Just make sure he is worth this." Jade gave her friend a wink.
"He is." Nimbus spared a glance up to the palace, the huge shape visible no matter where in the city you were. "He is very special."
"You know she won't stop until she finds out, right?" Shining nudged Careful. "Now she knows she will be relentless."
"Was it that cute unicorn that was at Court yesterday?" Cadance stared at the changeling's face. "No… oh, what about that very leggy pegasi from Manehatten? No?"
Careful looked around the room, ensuring no eavesdroppers were present. "Your Highness, how are you feeling?" He looked to Shining. "Any fur-loss? Odd sensation in your back? What about your mane and tail?"
Snapped from her game by the odd questions, Cadance squinted at the changeling. "Why those things?" She narrowed her eyes a fraction.
"I-I-I assume… well, that it will progress. Changelings lack fur, have fins for mane and tail, wings-" Careful was cut off by a shocked Shining.
"Wings?" It was clear that if Cadance's husband had wings, they would be standing tall right then. "This is too much, all at once…" Shining began to shake a little, right up until the wing wrapped around him.
"We need to follow your sister's example. Any problem, no matter how large, can be broken up into manageable chunks… with a list." It was clear, by the 'Twilight accent' that Cadance affected that she had heard a particular Princess of Friendship say just that. "So…" with a flash of blue magic a scroll and a quill appeared, each floating over to Careful. "Spike, make a list!"
"Who's Spike?" Careful looked to the royal couple, eyes darting between them as both struggled to keep their giggles in. "Okay okay, so, Changeling Transformation."
"Mane and tail… would he keep his hair or would it fall out and be replaced?" Cadance looked at Shining. "I know I would prefer him to keep it."
"I will put down those as two options under it." Careful made little dashes and added those. "Who is Spike, anyway?"
"Twily's… well, she raised him from an egg… he is a baby dragon." Shining sipped some crystal berry juice. "Legs. Holes in them, growing longer?"
"Changelings tend to be a little more… spindly, I would say that goes under body though, since it should happen everywhere." Cadance tapped her chin as she thought. "Oh, Fangs. Give me a look…" Shining did so, opening his mouth wide for his wife to inspect. "Ha, thought so. Make a heading of fangs, two pair."
"Wait, two pairs?" Careful was fast, dropping the list and climbing on the table to inspect Shining. "These aren't like the fangs a drone has…"
"So Shiny is going to be your queen?" Cadance had a foreleg wrapped around her beloved to soften the blow. "Remember my promise." Her lips reached up, barely whispering the words to the stallion.
Cadance knew him too well, Shining realized. She knew he would panic about the implications of that before he started to. "I remember, Cady."
The love radiating from the two almost overwhelmed Careful, he was in the strangest of situations for a changeling, having to get used to being overfed. "Let's worry about that when it comes to it." The 'ling looked up at the pair, the sense of love seeming to rise further. "It's still a bit early to tell, keep an eye out on his mane and tail."
"Wings. Shiny, you are going to get to fly!" Cadance nuzzled around her husband's jaw. "It is so awesome…"
"Well, 'ling wings work a little different, more for hovering. Okay got those down. But there is another thing that is more interesting." Careful scratched a word on the list, with a big question mark under it. "This." He turned the paper around and showed it to the couple.
"Transformation?" Shining read the word aloud. "You mean I will be able to transform, like a changeling?"
"If you practice and work hard at it… oh!" Careful scrawled some more. "Feeding is another, that will come before transforming, of course."
Peeking at the list, Cadance chewed her lip a little. "Depending on the order they come, he might be able to start transforming to hide the rest of his changes. What about now, how would he go about drinking, if he could?"
Careful looked to Shining. "Okay, close your eyes." The big stallion looked from the disguised changeling, to his wife, then back.
"Okay, now what?" Shining was focusing on trying to feel the slightest thing. Suddenly, it was like he was being stabbed, by happiness. "What is that?" His voice was loud, so loud.
"That is a rather focused spear of emotion, your own in fact." Careful relaxed the flow, letting it trickle slowly instead of sharply jabbing in. "That you can feel it at all is a good sign. Tastes good?"
"Like honey poured over sugar cane…" Shining was relaxed, it felt good to just let that flow come in. Then it stopped. "Hey!"
"You can't feed yourself with it yet, when you can I will start working to try to teach you to transform." Careful pushed his untouched plate over to Shining, who had been eying it since he had finished his own. "So keep focusing, you know how to meditate?"
Shining blushed. "I… do."
"You do?" Cadance looked at her husband with a little surprise. "When did my brave, stalliony-stallion learn how to meditate?" She looked at him for almost ten seconds. "A mare."
"We didn't do anything! She just showed me how to meditate! I was teaching her how to surf…" Shining was defensive, trying to fend off a wrath he was sure was coming. Then he stopped. "You aren't mad?"
"Shiny, if she taught you something that is helpful, there is nothing to be mad about." Cadance popped the last of her breakfast into her mouth, chewing and swallowing it. "Besides, I got you in the end." She launched herself, wrapping forelegs and wings around her husband, pulling him tight against herself. As Shining gave in to his wonderful, if cooky at times, wife, he noticed Careful bracing as if he were on a beach as a huge tsunami was about to hit.
It wasn't so bad, but then, Careful was getting used to this overabundance of love. "I will go and fend the guards and Court off for a little more. Relax." He trotted from the room, certainly not feeling hungry after the biggest breakfast of his life.
Slick Dive peered at the spinning, heart-shaped crystal from afar. He was wearing a different disguise, of course, he wore a different one every day. Every time he lay down to sleep, he could practically feel eyes crawling over him. "I am being hunted…"
"Sorry?" A mare had bumped into Slick as he was so focused. "Didn't see you there. My name's Jade."
"Sorrel Step." Slick's first name was a definition of his life, his honeyed tongue. Using a hoof he brushed up and back, flicking his mane. "And it was my fault, I was standing around gaping at the Crystal Heart."
"You should come over for a better look." Jade ruffled her wings and reached out with a hoof, curling it around Slick's shoulders. "Anypony ever tell you you look hot?" Yeah, smooth, but then Jade liked the direct approach.
It was a trap, Slick was in a trap and it was the worst kind, a bumbling random one. "Oh, uh…" There was a trickle of love and he drank at it. "Not today." He smiled outwardly as the mare seemed insistent about pulling him closer to the heart. "What does it do?"
"The Heart? It is the defense of the Empire! Whenever evil comes, all the ponies focus their love and happiness toward it and it fires out a blast, destroying the bad guys!" Jade Wings fluffed her wings again, urging her new find along. "They say that if two ponies kiss before it, it will bind them together forever."
The Heart seemed odd to Slick, though it was visible, solid, it also registered on his emotion-senses. It felt cold and hot all at once, but while the heat remained the same, the closer he got the colder it seemed. "I think I need to go…" He tried to look away from the heart, tried to find an excuse to drag the mare away to. "Ice cream! Do you want some ice cream?"
Jade followed Sorrel's look and her face lit up. "Ice cream would be wonderful." She lifted her hooves, practically prancing with the big, handsome stallion accompanying her.
Slick didn't sweat in his native form, but right then, he was in a cold, terrified sweat, some instinct inside him wanting him far far away from that crystal.
Rarity looked around the train station. Taking a deep breath of the cool air, she couldn't help but note how wonderful she felt, how full of life. "Okay, I have all my things, tapes, scissors, some test fabric…" Trailing off, the mare gave a little monosyllabic 'mmf' of approval.
"Rarity Belle?" The voice wasn't a guard's—or so Rarity was sure by the tone—but as the Ponyvillian turned to see who was addressing her she saw that it really was a guard, a female unicorn.
"Yes, darling?" Rarity batted her lashes at the mare, this seemed such an outrageously forward idea that she quite approved. "Are you here to escort me?"
"Gleaming Shine, at your service. Do you have anything I could carry?" Gleam only noticed the three huge cases behind the fashionista after she had offered. "Like those?"
"If you would?" Rarity selected one of the cases for herself. "I can take this one, but if you could help with the rest it would be darling of you." Plucking up the smaller of the cases with her magic, Rarity began to trot toward the palace in the distance.
Thanking her lucky stars for the work Captain Armor had put her through recently, Gleam hefted two of the heavy cases and started off after her charge. "I am at your disposal for your visit, so if you wish to see anything, after meeting with the Princess of course."
"Oh, that would be wonderful, but I absolutely can't do such things until my work is done." Rarity's eyes narrowed as she pondered something. "At my disposal?" Gleam was suddenly worried, a cold sweat rand down her back—a sweat that had nothing to do with lifting apparently half of the clothing supplies of Equestria—she gave a slow nod. "Wonderful, how are you with a needle and thread?"
"I fix my own uniform, when it is just minor things. I adjusted it too, they only had ones for stallions." Despite the fashionista being important enough for the Princess and Captain to call in 'as a friend', Gleam found herself relaxing with her. "It would chafe so much I could barely run half what I should have been…" She was rambling and she knew it, Gleam snapped her snout closed and blushed.
"Oh darling, you will simply have to let me take a look, I am sure we will have time. Particularly if I have somepony to help me." Rarity smiled, it was hard not to be relaxed and sharing, being the Element Bearer of Generosity, after all. "Do you have any clue on why I am here? Princess Cadance just sent me a letter saying there was a fashion emergency, when a princess sends that sort of letter, you drop things and gallop."
"Not a clue. But if she said emergency, she means it. I owe… well, my job to Princess Cadance. It was her insistence that the guard allow mares to join, for the first time in history." Despite the heavy load, despite keeping up the conversation with Rarity, Gleam pranced. Just the thought of the promises in her Princess' eyes made her heart burn with the resolve to protect her empire and carry out every order.
Reaching the main promenade, Rarity approached one of the big doors that would lead up into the palace. "I simply must offer to redesign the Guard uniforms, then. We can't have such disparity and having to rely on guards to adjust their own things. No, it simply won't do."
Gleam was in a kind of shock, the mare was offering so much and she hadn't even reached the Princess yet. "Uh, I guess… you should talk to Princess Cadance and Captain Armor about that, though. I am still a recruit."
"A recruit who has performed excellently so far, not only carrying my things, but keeping an eye out." At Gleam's shocked look, Rarity snorted. "Darling, you forget, I am no mere tailor. You carry the same awareness and attention to details as some of my friends do. And I assure you, that is a compliment."
"Rarity!" A pink blur of alicorn raced across the main hall. "You came so quickly! Wonderful!" Cadance gestured back to Shining Armor, sitting on his own throne and chatting with a unicorn stallion. "I need you to help do something with him."
"While Twilight's brother is hardly the pinnacle of high-fashion, what pray-tell were you thinking?" This was Rarity's job. Her calling. It was what her cutie mark told her. She narrowed her eyes at the stallion, trying to think of what to have him in.
"Well, the first thought was high-courtly fashion, but I know my husband, he would forget to change and next thing I know he is out running the guard through drills in it." Cadance trotted up to the two stallions talking; unlike Rarity of course, she knew one was a changeling and the other… soon would be. "Shiny, Rarity is here to start adjusting that new design."
"Rarity!" Shining bolted upright and out of his recumbent position. "Um, yes, you see, I have some new armor, and we were wondering if you could modify it to fit me a little better."
The fashionista turned to Cadance. "Your Highness-"
"Please, just call me Cadance." The alicorn gave a slightly worn smile, as if she had said that phrase a little much.
"Princess Cadance," Rarity had a twinkle in her eye as she managed to use a title still, "merely adjusting armor is one thing, but I take it there is more to this?" The question cut through a lot of diplomacy, sure, but Rarity was sure there was more to this and she needed to know everything. If only so that she could know everything.
"Recruit Shine, I will take Miss. Belle's things from here." The little unicorn Rarity had seen before approached Gleam and gave her his most winning smile. "I am sure you will be needed again shortly, please wait just outside."
Gleam knew the stallion had a lot of standing and was an adviser directly to both the Princess and the Captain, but she still turned her glance to Shining and got a nod from her Captain. "Of course." She was being asked to wait outside while something important was discussed. Setting the bags down, she turned and trotted for the big doors and left the room.
Waiting for the doors to close, Rarity raised an eyebrow. "Was that really-" She got no further, the blue unicorn with the vibrant orange mane and tail was gone in a burst of green flame, leaving a changeling. Rarity closed her snout and blinked. Then blinked again. Inhaling deeply, she opened her snout only to have a hoof pushed into it, a bright pink hoof, complete with a very stylish shoe.
"Please don't yell. Careful is a trusted friend." Cadance looked into Rarity's face, waiting until the white unicorn gave a little nod before slowly removing her hoof. "And for the record, no, we aren't changelings too."
"Yet!" Shining felt the chill pass over him, the nights spent cuddled with his wife, being reassured over and over didn't 'fix' him, of course. But it helped. "We need to hide me, will you do it Rarity? Please?"
"Hide you? Captain Shining Armor, you are a little too big to hide." Rarity felt mirth stain her emotions, despite the proximity of the changeling. They really weren't threatening in the least when they weren't trying to cocoon you and feed off your emotions. "Wait, 'yet'?"
"That is the problem." Cadance walked up to her husband and gently lifted one of his hooves. "These are getting bigger and while we plan to tell everypony eventually, this is not the right time." Her magic brushed back part of Shining's fetlock, revealing three holes, each big enough to fit a broom handle through now. "We tried corks, cotton wool, but something more… solid, is needed."
Rarity blinked and stepped closer, inspecting the offered hoof. "So let me understand this completely. Some sort of curse, or infection," Shining nodded to her, "is turning you into a changeling," more nods, "and you need to keep the smaller signs hidden until the right moment to present it?" Shining's ego was practically in the gutter, he was having to admit not only what is happening—to his sister's friend no less—but he was going to have to ask her to not tell anypony. He nodded. "A wise decision, and yes, I think armor would be best. Ceremonial-fit of course, you need to be able to wear it all day."
Cadance sat back and clopped her hooves together excitedly. "Thank you, Rarity, you are truly the very element of generosity."
"Two conditions." Rarity surprised both the other ponies with her sudden demand. "The first is I will need to see whoever does your armor. We are redoing the entire garrison's uniforms." Shining Armor blinked at this, then looked to Cadance for support.
"I certainly have no problem with that one. Although I would love to know why?" Cadance narrowed her eyes and tried to reevaluate what it was Rarity was fishing for.
"Personal reasons, and it is much better cover for why you got me here, rather than just an armorer." Rarity watched as even the changeling looked thoughtful at that. "And the second condition is, you do not keep this from Twilight for too long. If you tell your empire before your sister again, Shining Armor…" Rarity inhaled, appearing to grow in stature, although only in presence. "There will be words had."
Shining was terrified, he had heard about some of the scathing things Rarity could say, and the way things just wouldn't go that pony's way after she was 'upset' at them. "Yes, Miss Rarity."
"Good. So, Careful is it?" Rarity turned her attention on Careful Steps, making the changeling acutely aware of how perfectly she handled the whole situation, getting exactly what she wanted from both Princess Cadance and Shining Armor. He simply nodded to her. "Good, my guard will need to know all this, you have no objection?"
Careful knew it was a question, he hoped it was a question. Deep down, the poor drone understood one thing… "That wasn't a question."
"What? Of course it was, but it would be so much trouble to find a guard you do approve of, and that I approve of, and then we could start this conversation all over again and I still wouldn't have even started my task." Rarity flicked her mane. "Now, call her back in please, she will be assisting me in this and, if you have anypony else who can work a needle, I would like their help too."
Cadance lifted a hoof up to her snout. There was a rapport between the fashionista and the changeling that had tickled her beyond the usual pink. Rarity had every advantage over Careful and both of them knew it.
Flashing with fire—feeling more defeated than when he had been caught by Shining and Cadance—Careful turned as his unicorn shape took over from his carapace and trotted for the door.
"This will take a little while, of course, but your armor will be done first. Are there any other… changes, that will be coming?" Rarity opened her bag and lifted out her smallest notebook, a pencil starting to scribe down notes.
Prepared for this, Cadance summoned her list. "Fangs, you can't do much about those. Horn might be possible, we could have a sharpened cover for it. Mane and tail, we are not sure how they will go yet, possibly change to that ghastly green-blue, or maybe fall out completely."
"Not your lovely mane!" Rarity sounded like somepony had just told her that all of Equestria was going to explode in the next few days. "Oh darling I am so sorry. We really should get you somewhere nice to start working on it, the more prim and perfect it is now, the less anypony would notice it being dyed later, or replaced with a wig." Both Rarity and Cadance were scribing furiously.
"Your Highnesses?" Gleam walked in, feeling a little nervous. "R-R-Reporting for duty…"
"Recruit Gleaming Shine, you have been chosen for an important duty that will have you knowing the deepest secrets of the Crystal Empire. You can refuse and nopony here will hold it against you… not even Rarity." Shining turned and looked to Rarity and gave her the best 'will you' stare he could muster, which wasn't that great, or effective. "Are you prepared to take on the mantle of full Guardspony and more?"
This sounded way more official that Gleam had expected. She had thought she was about to be dismissed from her position, but this. "Sir! I would serve the Crystal Empire, my Captain, and my Princess to the best I can."
"That is a good answer." Cadance gesture with a hoof to Careful. "But you also have to carry our friend's honor, which is quite the load." Gleam didn't budge in her tight, parade-ground stance. "Oh this is all too serious, Careful, show her."
Gleam moved fast as she had been trained, she shoved forward, pushing Princess Cadance back a bit but managing to get between her and the perceived threat. "Your Highness, run! It's a change… ling…" She stopped and looked at the amazingly non-threatening drone, then to her Captain, then her Princess. "You knew?"
"There is a reason Careful is in charge of the more… sneaky things, an empire requires doing, as well as his normal duties. Gleaming Shine, this is Careful." Cadance grinned at the look of shock on the guardspony's face.
"Okay Gleam, calm down." She knew she was talking out loud, but this was quite a shock. "Right, I think I can handle this. It is no big deal, I assume you are loyal to the Empire?"
"My queens, I hold above all else." Careful lifted his hoof and put it over his barrel, a salute and pledge in one. "That is, Princess Cadance and Shining Armor."
"There was one more little thing you will need to know." Rarity couldn't resist this one, if meeting a changeling had surprised the guard, then she was sure finding out her Captain was turning into one… "Shining, how did this happen?" It was an odd way to tell the mare, she guessed, but at least it would spice up the gossip she could share… if she could ever possibly share this.
Shining inhaled deeply. "Well, it happened in Canterlot, at our wedding…" Shining's voice seemed to grow a little lighter, he felt a large—and likely pink—wing settle on his back.
The train rattled under them, pulling the special, royal, car of the Friendship Express closer to Canterlot. "How are those fangs coming, Shiny?" Cadance had her scrolls out, reminding Shining a little of his sister in her focus on documentation.
Twisting in his amazingly well-fitting armor, Shining knew he had not a single hope of evading his wife's curiosity. "Like this." The big stallion smiled first.
"Oh, visible now, gives my husband an air of danger…" Cadance gave a mock growl. "Open up." As soon as he did she had a little metal ruler in his mouth, taking measurements. "Definitely longer. Careful, how long do changeling fangs grow?"
Careful pulled his snout out of the book he was reading. "The upper fangs of a drone grow quite long, protruding nearly an inch and a half from the snout. A queen's fangs, growing from top and bottom, are much shorter, finer and… why are you staring at me like that?" He could taste a little confusion and an oddly spicy flavor, inspiration.
"A queen then for sure!" Cadance snorted and giggled, taking one last look to confirm her suspicions. "Careful, can you double check this for me?"
"Waahfs waang?" Shining didn't dare close his mouth, not with his wife's hooves so close, and not with those fangs he now sported.
Trotting over, Careful peered into the stallion's mouth. "Those don't look like the pronounced fangs of a drone…"
Cadance giggled. "Shiny, you are going to be a queen!" She knew her husband and already had her hooves pulled back before delivering the 'last straw'. Careful had quick enough reflexes not to get caught by Shining snapping his mouth closed. "I bet your mane is going to be gorgeous… I did envy Bug-butt for that, she really had a great flow and good body in her mane."
"But… but… a queen?" Shining clanked a little as he stomped a hoof. "I like being a stallion!" His anger was quickly salved as a pink princess hugged him. "I like being your Shiny Stallion…"
"Shh, I am sure something can be done. Careful, do these kinds of… you probably wouldn't know… well, nothing else for it, we have to go to the Canterlot Library and look for information." Cadance had a wing around her husband, the armor he was wearing so well fitted that it didn't catch her feathers at all.
"Good thing we are here, then." Nimbus pointed at the window with a wing, the train was turning to come into Canterlot and they could see the great city sprawling before them.
"It feels strange to be back, we didn't get much say when we were… removed." Careful looked at Cadance, who shrugged. "Not that I hold it against you, Chrysalis was being really terrible and we deserved it."
A sky-blue wing circled the changeling, the soft feathers tickling against him. When Nimbus Cloud's snout rested against his, Careful gave a sigh.
Cadance was caught between her excitement at coming to Canterlot with a whole mission planned out, and wanting to squee like a filly at Nimbus and Careful's growing affections toward each other. The train itself solved her problem by slowing further and giving a final heave as the brakes engaged.
With three magic users along, getting their luggage was easy, even if Careful insisted on carrying the bulk of things. Some Royal Guard met them at the station. "Your Highness! Captain!" The stallion that was addressing them looked the part to a T. "Allow us to take your things and escort you to the castle."
Setting her hooves down, Cadance raised her wings in the typical alicorn manner, it was an official visit after all. "Thank you…" Her tone implied a question of identity from the unicorn.
"Lieutenant Commander Bright Lance, Your Highness." Bright bowed to the princess. "Please, walk this way." He spun around sharply and began to walk off slowly.
Careful unloaded the heavy bags to the guard and snorted at the official. "If I could walk that way I would-" A hoof poked his snout and the disguised changeling looked at the royal alicorn attached to it.
"None of that, we are here to make a…" Cadance's eyes narrowed and she slowly removed her hoof. Quietly, she asked, "You got me, what?"
"Don't encourage him!" Nimbus made no move to actually stop the changeling from finishing.
"If I could walk that way, I would need to remove the broom from my plot." Careful grinned, both mares hanging on his words snorted and tried to hold back laughter.
Meanwhile, Shining Armor was in his element. His new field plate not only outshone the Royal Guard, he looked infinitely better prepared as well. His armor moved as he walked, made specifically to fit him, it shifted with each twitch of his muscle and he knew he owed Rarity and his armorers a whole pile of favors for it. Even if the Ponyvillian asked for him to bring her the sun itself, it would be a good deal. Shining strutted. "How did the cleanup go after the invasion?"
Bright's green demon was riding his back, firmly holding the reins. "Good, Sir. Not a single changeling in the city and we have new ways to detect them!" The shock he saw on the Guard Captain's face salved his jealousy nicely.
"Wha… what is that?" Shining had to fight his urges to look back at Careful, but it was worse, would a detection spell find him, now?
"Your sister came up with it, and it works great on a small scale." Bright halted in place and charged his horn. Shining felt his deep reserves of bravery sorely tested, but he stood his ground as the horn discharged, spraying down his body. It was like getting a sharp thump on the head, but without the pain.
"Lieutenant!" Cadance shoved up beside her stunned husband, her wings prominent. "What is the meaning of attacking my husband?"
"Cady…" Shining shook his head to get rid of the daze. "It was just a daze spell, I guess it shakes changelings out of their disguise?" He spoke as loudly as he could, hoping to alert his friend. A new thought came after that. When did I get so tricky?
With the procession stopped, Careful was already paying attention and caught the tip from Shining. It was a clever idea, but it wasn't like they could round up every pony in Canterlot and stun every one of them. Then something hit him. "Princess Cadenza?"
The official name had Cadance's attention, once she was sure her husband had truly taken no injury. "Adviser Careful?" She stood still while everypony else started moving again. "I trust you heard the little demonstration?"
"I did, and it gives me a wonderful idea on a much better way for us to catch a changeling." Careful smirked, being tricky and bending that racial aptitude for his queens really made him feel good. "Please remind me to share it with you later."
Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it managed to leave Cadance standing, barely. "Oh I definitely will." The sound their hooves made changed as they entered the huge throne room of the castle.
On her throne, Princess Celestia looked as radiant as the sun she represented. Her smile spoke volumes of her delight at meeting the two she had wed in the recent past. One eye gazed at them warmly from beneath the bright mane that wouldn't be troubled by such things as a lack of a breeze. "Princess Cadance, Shining Armor." Celestia stepped down from her throne, meeting the delegation on equal footing. "I got your letter." The ruler's eye twinkled, the letter had been a touch over seventy pages long and the real meaning of it had been woven into the vapid story so well it had taken her three readings to pick it up. "Please, guards, I would have some privacy with my niece."
The royal guards didn't hesitate, but a few glances at Careful and Nimbus revealed a touch of curiosity and concern. No sooner was the door closed than Cadance shot forward, pressing her neck against Celestia's. "Auntie, thank you for seeing us right away." One huge white wing reached out and pressed to Cadance's side.
"As if I wouldn't see the newest royal couple, particularly not when they have given me much to think about with their odd letter." Celestia looked from Shining to Cadance.
"That was written by Careful." Cadance drew back from Celestia, gesturing to Careful with a hoof. "Show Auntie, please."
Careful's eyes went wide. "Your… Highness?"
"Princess Celestia." Shining stepped up between the disguised changeling and the Princess of the Sun. "Careful is trusted, completely. What you will see is-"
"He is a changeling?" Celestia kept her tone and face neutral. "Really, you thought I wouldn't have guessed? Both of them are, then?"
"H-H-How?" Careful stepped back, clinging to his disguise as tightly as he could. "No! No, Nimbus is a pegasus." He was stammering and struggling for words.
"She is not? Curious. But then tell me, what is this all about?" Celestia gestured to a low table to the side, where a small hoard of pillows were stacked. "Tea?"
"Please, and the reason for all this duplicity is, as you likely gathered from Careful's letter, that Chrysalis is planning something." Cadance walked a tightrope, there were things she was fine revealing to her auntie, but Shining's condition was not one of them… yet.
"And that there are changelings in Canterlot, in positions where they could access incoming mail." Celestia found a seat on some soft cushions. "Using the detection spell on all the ponies with a chance at that would be… madness."
"And ill-advised." Careful was shocked at himself for cutting in on this conversation. "We have a mole, but a mole we know of and can now manipulate." He dared to look at the ruler of Equestria, and saw a smile of approval.
"Your adviser is worth whatever you are paying him, Niece." Celestia floated over the most decadent-looking cheesecake known to ponykind. "So why the trip, you could have conveyed all this in another gloriously convoluted letter."
"We are going to catch one and have a little chat." Cadance sipped at her cup of tea. "Careful might know them and we have a wonderful way of getting a changeling to speak complete truth." The shock Cadance saw in Celestia's features lasted barely a heartbeat and was so subtle she doubted even Careful saw it. She had seen it, however.
"And some of my nobles believed the Princess of Love would be useless at anything to do with running a country." Celestia showed real mirth now, touched with pride. "Just what do you plan?"
Cadance gestured to Careful, who drew in a deep breath. "Well, Your Highnesses, my plan is…"
It was a great party, Shining had spread it around the barracks that he and his wife were just wanting to let their manes down. There was cider, a lot of cider.
"What happened to your legs?" A leggy stallion who had identified himself as Bright Bolt, a recent recruit in the guard and apparently a minor son of a noble. "All that ice up there causing problems?"
Shining was ready for this, waving a covered hoof at the fabric woven up and over all four of his legs. "Nope, new armor. It rubs and chafes my legs a bit." He feigned a wobble, reaching his magic out to grab his drink again.
"I know what we shuld play!" Cadance bounced in place, her blue magic hovering up one of the big empty cider carafes. "Shpin the bawtle!" A cheer went up from the guards who, at the start of the evening, had been promised that they had the next day off.
Careful took the bottle first. "My turn, I brought the grog!" He grinned brightly and set the bottle between them. Ponies formed up into a circle and with a twitch of magic he sent the bottle spinning. It landed on Shining, of course. "Truth or dare?"
Knowing their game, Shining grinned. "Dare! Never let the guard be said to turn down a challenge!" His pronouncement got a cheer.
"Kiss every mare in the room!" Careful's eyes danced, he was cold sober, but he could see Shining had imbibed a little. The stallion in question, of course, moved right for his wife and in the most graceful clumsy fall ever, landed atop her, kissing her soundly.
"Hey! She is the only mare here!" A few other guards took up the cries, booing the dare as being a bad one.
"They're my boss!" Careful waved his drink toward the two making out quite enthusiastically. "I like my job…" His scared and honest look got laughs and another pony grabbed the bottle, spinning it.
Only minor debauchery had ensued, and Careful had managed to get his third spin of the night, landing it on Cadance. "Princess! Truth, or dare?"
Cadance knew this was the moment, and pondered just for a moment, messing it up. "Dare!" A great cheer went up.
Reaching back in with his magic, Careful spun the bottle, expertly getting it to point at who he had seen acting more drunk than any other—that the same pony had been using many of Careful's own tricks to avoid drinking hadn't helped. "Kiss that stallion!"
Bright Bolt's eyes went wide, he had been fighting not to eat, but the radiant love in the room from the Princess of Love was proving almost overwhelming. When the alicorn rushed at him, the pressure increased tenfold. When her lips met his it was all he could do to hold onto his disguise for dear life.
Cadance pulled back from what she now knew to be a changeling. Bright looked wobbly and about as drunk as a pony would ever get without passing out. It was time for the real game. "He kisses like a wet fish!" Laughs went up as Cadance got back to her spot. Blue magic reached out to the bottle and gave it a lazy spin. Twirling around and around, she knew the target, she had spent the afternoon enchanting the bottle. With it pointing right at the overly drunk changeling disguised as a guard, Cadance looked right at Bright. "I dare you to change into Shining Armor!"
The room went dead silent. A flare of green fire went up around Bright as she shifted to her true form first, then to Shining Armor. The changeling smiled at the alicorn. "I win!" He fell over, completely drunk on the love that had been forced into him.
"You understand why we won't come in and talk to you?" Shining Armor was talking at the door of the bedroom they locked Bright Flash in. He stole a look at Careful, and got a nod. "We just want to talk and this seemed safer."
Bright was huddled under the covers of the bed, eyes darting around the room again. She didn't even know that there were some rooms in the castle that didn't have windows. When no exits made themselves apparent to her—none that had appeared since the last time she looked around—she slumped into a ball. "All I will give you, is my name, you might be just biding your time to squish me, but my Queen will do much worse."
The door opened, surprising the drone. She blinked and prepared her special tricks. "Bright Flash." Careful stepped into the room, closing the door behind him. "We already know your name, Bright." Her snout was hanging open and, after a moment, she pulled it closed.
"Careful? What are you doing here? Was this a test by our Queen?" Bright climbed from the bed and, without realizing what she was doing, rushed to the other drone to hug him. She stopped inches from doing so. "Wait, you… you feel wrong."
"She isn't my queen anymore, Bright." Careful stepped past the mare and climbed up onto the bed, trying to relax, while his brain was expecting her to try something stupid. "That you fear her more than your enemy is correct, if not for the reasons you might think."
"You're not part of the hive…" Bright stared at the other drone as if he was an alien. "How… what happened?" Curiosity got the better of Bright and she climbed up on the bed, too. When Careful had given the orders, their group had done some good work. So she focused on the strange-seeming drone, his difference was like an itch now that she noticed it.
"My Queens happened. Shining Armor, Princess Cadance." Careful still felt a giddy little outpouring whenever he invoked their names like that, he knew he was smiling. "You would do horrible things for your queen, I would do everything, anything, for mine."
"You're mad, a changeling cannot change hives!" Bright stomped a holed hoof into the covers. "It doesn't work like that, once you are born to a hive you can't-" She broke off her tirade, realizing there was proof right in front of her. "How?"
"The same thing that gives us life can give us freedom." Careful gestured with a hoof to the door. "The ponies aren't just food, they are the key to our existence. Haven't you ever been told to do something and just wished you could say 'no'?"
Bright Flash was nodding before she realized it. "Every time I am told to make a pony do something they don't want to. Loving is instinctual for them, they practically give their hearts to me with barely the lightest touch of my gift. But making them do something…" Careful could see the internal war waging, clearly, on the mare's face.
"You have a choice. Princess Celestia is all for sending you home, but my Queens have a much better way, a way that doesn't lead to you having to do things you don't want, or risk getting stomped one day by mistake." Careful lifted a hoof up and booped the mare in the nose. "Chrysalis is the worst queen I know."
"How many queens do you know?" Bright was looking in wonder at Careful, she was sold on trying whatever it was he was 'selling', if only because she would like to look in a mirror and see her own face with that amount of happiness on it. She could almost taste him it was that intense.
"Three now, I like these two a lot better." Careful saw the mare was ready. "No more eye whammy on ponies, not unless they ask you for it, okay?"
Relaxing, Bright felt a calmness pour over her. "Okay… Will this hurt? Does it tear away my hive?" A little fear entered her words, although pain was not something she really feared. "What would my Queen do if she found… can she find out?"
"Did she tell you that I had left?" Careful reached out a hoof to the mare. "And it doesn't hurt… Bright, have you ever not been hungry?" He looked at her, offering his hoof to help her up.
Bright stared at the offered hoof a moment, reaching her own up to it and feeling Careful give a tug. "Well… last night was pretty good, but I wasn't full…" She gained her hooves easily with the help. "Why?"
"Because it feels good." Careful got up and dropped to the floor. "Shining, come in." He turned to Bright. "Be nice to him, he will be one of your queens."
The door opened and Bright watched as the stallion she had been sent to snoop on, walked into the room. She eyed his stature, the fact that he moved not only to Careful's side, but slightly in front of the other changeling. If this was to be her queen, she found herself liking the idea. A sudden shock hit her, she was staring.
"You are ready to talk?" Shining looked directly at the mare, marshaling every ounce of his bravery—he was literally staring down the fears, even though she was a lesser threat, that Chrysalis had given him. "How many of you are in the city?"
Careful blushed. "Uh, Shining, she… she wants to join your hive." He stepped to the side, around his queen.
Bright blushed too, unsure why this was suddenly making her feel strange. "Please, I… If half of what Careful says about you is true, I don't want to be part of Queen Chrysalis' hive anymore… even a quarter…"
With the mare before him looking so sad and broken, Shining's purpose, his very cutie mark, he couldn't stop himself. He pushed forward, past Careful, he put a leg around Bright's shoulders. "Then you won't be. I am surprised you didn't get broken from it last night, honestly."
Protection, comfort, support. Bright could have melted in place, become a cute statue or something, but then he would have had to leave eventually. She reached up to his leg around her shoulder and without thinking nuzzled it. She jerked a little when there was movement at the door. Cadance the Destroyer of Hives. The source of the destructive kick that had booted all of Chrysalis' minions from Canterlot. It was a shock the previous night to find the mare getting drunk, but this.
"Shining, what did you say to her? She looks terrified!" Cadance rushed over and before Bright knew what was happening she was being hugged from both sides at once. "Feel her, she is trembling. Really Shiny, I would have thought you would have more empathy."
The white stallion tried to get a word in, but Shining knew his chances of winning any such argument were as close to zero that it didn't bear thinking about. He looked down at Bright, could see the mare had shed some of her fear. "She is like this a lot, you are best just letting her hug you until you both feel better."
"Shining Armor, are you ignoring me?" Cadance's eyes narrowed, but her mind beat through her wifely instincts enough to see what he was doing; reassuring the changeling. "It was me?" Bright looked up at Cadance, fearing wrath would come. She shrank back a little, leaning a little more into Shining Armor's grip. Then the love came, a hurricane, a firestorm. It left nothing of her hive behind.
Shock, surprise, then, before Bright knew what else to do she started crying. "Are you okay?" Shining leaned down to the changeling mare, a little surprised at how small she seemed.
"She is happy." Careful cut in. "You broke her free," he looked up at Cadance, "remember, my Queen, you defeated every changeling in the hive, all at once. Every drone will fear you, at least a little."
Cadance looked down in shock, she had used love as a weapon that day and the realization that it had instilled fear made her a little sick. But then Bright turned, looked up at her. The tears were of joy, happiness. "My Queen…" The words had burned when Careful had first used them, but Cadance had grown used to the tag, with repeated use. She squeezed the mare a little tighter against her side, letting her love flow.
Bright never even knew when unconsciousness came, but it felt nice.
"I found out the drone who is intercepting messages is a pegasus who wormed into the Royal Messengers." Nimbus was having breakfast, she couldn't help stealing looks at the royal couple, still abed, with a changeling cuddled up right between them. "Seemed to be quite proud of being the pony to deliver all the Crystal Empire messages… and sleeping with nearly every flier in the wing."
Careful's ears perked forward. "Straight Horn, that mare is insatiable, but you have to admit she was a smooth talker." His horn was aglow, writing down notes.
"She can use words almost as well as I can put them into a pony." The voice was new to Nimbus Cloud, but Careful knew it was Bright Flash. "Oh, I need to find Misty Dew…"
"Your mark?" Careful looked over to the bed, seeing his fellow changeling struggling, trapped between two ponies that had apparently pinned her between them quite effectively. "No more of that. Bring her here, we will have to talk."
Bright's struggling woke both the royal couple and both of them squeezed her tighter, quickly overwhelming the drone with more love than she had ever in her life. She blinked, dazed. Vaguely she could remember that she had to do something but just slumping back to the bed was the best course of action now.
"And we lost her. How long has it taken for you to get used to that?" Nimbus gestured to the bed with a wing.
"That? What they just did to her? I don't know if I could have made it any better off. Even here I have to harden myself against it." And Careful had. When the wave of love had rolled from the couple, he imagined himself in a boat. He was going to get wet but not get swamped. "Using magic as much as I can, helps." He gestured with a hoof to the quill working away in his horn's grip.
Nimbus smiled at her close friend, the devotion he held toward Shining and Cadance was understandable, if not a little odd. Nimbus had dated a royal guard before, but even he hadn't been this devoted. "I will try to track down this Misty Dew, if I can find her I will bring her here."
"No, not here. Uh…" Careful tapped his chin with a hoof. "Take her to the royal court, I will go there and we can smuggle her down here after that. I don't want the other changelings to know what we are doing."
"I can be sneaky, you know, it isn't like changelings are the only ponies who can skulk about and… why are you grinning like that?" Nimbus glared at Careful, her hackles raised because of his perceived dismissal of her skills.
"You called changelings 'ponies'." Careful leaned across the table and hugged the mare. It took only a moment for Nimbus to file away her negative emotions and wrap her wings around the stallion who had stolen her heart.
"Stupid colt, of course changelings are ponies, you are just a little different. Different is good." Nimbus felt the little trickle down her spine, the feeling that she was being nibbled. It was a struggle not to grab Careful and take him back to their shared room right then and there.
"Shiny?" Cadance's voice was soft, so soft that only Shining Armor and the completely catatonic Bright could have heard it. "Shiny, look at them." Cadance gestured with a hoof, past the end of the bed and to the table on the other side of the room.
"I can't see as much as you can, Cadie." Shining looked, and could see enough. "But that looks like two ponies in love."
"This is so awesome… what's wrong?" Cadance looked back up to her love and saw the stallion was stricken by something. She didn't think twice, she reached past Bright, hugging Shining to her barrel, effectively making the changeling into a pillow between them.
"Will you still love me if I am not a stallion? You said it yourself, they keep saying it. Queens aren't stallions." Tears came, as they had done a lot of late. Shining was pressed into a loving kiss from his wife.
Bright had lost every faculty she might have had, the swell of love was mostly one-sided, but the intensity was greater than heat from the sun.
"Firstly, we don't know that will happen to you." Cadance broke the kiss to talk, rubbing her cheek against her husband's. "Second, yes, I will still love you." Her words were sincere, neither of them doubted them. "The one thing, Shining Armor, that we can both be sure of is our love. Chrysalis couldn't break it, this won't."
Shining felt his body stir, his subconscious maybe wanting to prove his love to his wife before the possible emasculation happens. Even as he slid from his sheath, he suddenly froze. It wasn't his wife's soft body his belly was pressed against. Looking down, he confirmed that his stallionhood was pressed firmly to Bright's back. Blush was such a small word to describe the red in his cheeks, but it was a start.
"Shiny?" Cadance looked at her husband, then followed his gaze down. She snorted, then giggled. "We have a guest, Shiny, maybe later though…" The words were not just a tease, the stallion knew, they were a promise.
"I can't stop feeding…" Bright was, ironically, in her own room now, treated as a guest in the palace and, at present, pinning a pillow over her head. "Why do they have so much love?"
"If it helps, you will get used to it, if you come back with us." Careful wasn't so much guard, as escort. Bright Flash needed someling to keep her company while the strange feelings of love beat at her, like thunderous waves, from the next room over.
"I thought he was going to mount me right there and then, but I feel it now, he wasn't thinking about me at all." The mare pulled her head out from under her pillow and looked up when a knock sounded. Quickly, both Bright and Careful flashed with green, magical fire, retaking their guises.
"Come in." Careful stepped up to the door to find Nimbus and a strange unicorn standing there. "Ah, this is-"
"Bright!" Misty rushed forward and practically leaped against Bright Flash's stallion form. "They said you were in some trouble. Bright, what is wrong?"
"I have to tell her the truth, don't I?" Bright couldn't help himself, he nuzzled against the concerned unicorn mare. "Misty, you are an amazing mare, but I am not the stallion you fell in love with… well, I am-" A hoof pressed to Bright's snout, silencing him.
"You think I am some blind filly?" Misty Dew turned to look at Careful. "I would like some time with my coltfriend." Careful had a wing suddenly wrap around his back and pull. The sight of the stallion mare-handled out of the room brought a little grin to Misty's snout.
As the door closed, the hoof came back from Bright's snout. "They are going to check, when you leave, that I told you everything. So you might as well hear it all." Bright reached a hoof up to gently stroke the mare's cheek.
"What is it? You don't love me? You are married? Oh, what's the latest one I heard one stallion use… 'I am a changeling prince, I need to feed on your sexual energy or I might die! Please help me!' " Misty froze as she saw the expression on Bright's face. "Okay, if you are going to use that last one, at least transform into a changeling, show me."
Bright blinked at the mare, he had known she wasn't as vapid as she had first seemed, but this was more forthright than he expected. "You asked me to… I do like you, Misty-mare." And with that, Bright shed her disguise and stood proud in her dark chitin. "Taa-daa…"
"Okay, I didn't actually expect you to. So what now, are you a changeling prince? I would have to say, being the marefriend of a prince, even a changeling prince, would be pretty awesome." Misty lifted a hoof to tap her chin. "You don't seem very…"
"I am a mare." Bright waited for the expected reactions. Spurned unicorn mares had any number of tricks to employ, a rake from their delicate-seeming horn, a bolt of magic, being picked up by said magic and thrown, turning and giving a double-barrel buck… Bright froze mid-thought. A kiss hadn't been what she expected. "What…"
Then, with her target stuck trying to contemplate what was going on, Misty smacked Bright in the cheek. "Did you know about me before we met?" Misty glared down at the smaller changeling, every fiber of her being riding on a razor's edge. One side was fury, the other side the relationship they had been having.
"N-No. I knew of Fleur being out of town in a magazine, figured I could trap somepony from high-society." The room seemed to chill for Misty, the mare she had been using for food and cover now giving neither.
Misty's mind wandered back to… to… "What did you do to me, then?" She rode the adrenalin high, surfing the emotional moment with all the aplomb of an expert. But she knew it wouldn't last.
Knowing she deserved another smack. Bright sat her plot down on the floor and lowered her head. "I used mind control on you…" It came, it hurt worse than the first because the 'ling had seen a better way to live—a tiny, silver of a vision, but still a vision—that didn't require mind control or trickery. "All I did was make you ignore the change I made and… I asked you what you wanted a stallion to look like."
"That was all?" Misty felt herself teetering on that edge. "You promise it, all you did was what you said?"
There was a hint of hope in Bright's dark world. "That was all. I like you, Misty, I… I don't think I can take this. Please, just go." She slumped to the floor, not caring how easy it would be for the leggy unicorn mare to literally walk over her.
"Can you make it so I can feel what you did to me?" Misty felt her heart pulling her back from that angry side of the blade. You liked him, really liked him. The whispers were almost tinged with desire. He was perfect, too perfect, to let go. "Are you using your magic on me now?"
"What? No! I didn't need to use it on you, and I haven't. You were fun to be around, I like being around you." Bright looked up at the unicorn and then away. "Please, it hurts to look at you…"
That cut through the anger. Misty had seen real hurt on the dark features of the mare she had, apparently, enjoyed dating. "Okay, so we started with a mistake, I can forgive one. But Bright… your name is Bright?"
"Bright Flash-"
"That can be included in that first mistake, then. Where was I… Oh yes. I will forgive you one mistake, Bright Flash, but only one. We start from the start, we have a proper first date." Misty glared down at the changeling who, apparently, could look at her. "But no mind messing, no fooling with my emotions. If I feel either from you I… I'll see Princess Celestia."
Outside the room, Careful had been monitoring the emotions within. It wasn't easy, not with the equivalent of the sun radiating love from the next over, but he was getting better and better at filtering out his Queens' constant storm of tasty love. "She just flipped." Careful looked up to Nimbus. "Bright that is, she was in a pit of despair and self-hatred, but something just changed, it is like a little flame is chasing away the darker emotions…"
"Misty Dew seemed quite the mare, I wonder if she has maybe forgiven a changeling?" Nimbus confused Careful's senses a little more by kissing him; it always distracted him, grabbing his attention, which she liked.
The door suddenly opened and Misty glared at the two snoops. "You are both…" Misty froze and looked left and right down the hallway, "changelings?"
"Nope." Nimbus ruffled her wings. "You forgave her?" Her eyes spoke volumes to the other mare, that she knew of at least some matters of the heart that Misty was going through.
"That remains to be seen. He… She, will have a chance. My daddy always said, everypony deserves a second chance, Bright gets his… hers. This is a little confusing." Misty stopped talking and looked to Careful. "So you are?" He nodded. "Good to know. If you ever cheat me, I will reveal all this to the Princess."
"Good." Careful grinned, disarming the threat from the mare. "If you ever see another changeling, get away from them and go and tell Princess Celestia immediately."
Misty's eyes widened. "You are working for her… Bright-"
"Is no longer a member of Chrysalis' swarm, and is helping us reinforce Equestria and the Crystal Empire's borders." Careful grinned. "Your friend has turned a new leaf, although I think you knew that already."
"This is more than I want or should know." Misty flicked her head, sending her styled mane into a flip. "I'm going home. If you need to tell me something, you know where I live." The last words were for Nimbus.
"Good night!" Nimbus got more of a hint that the unicorn might want a visit tomorrow and, thinking carefully, she knew why. "I might drop around tomorrow, bring you something to show we are authentic and honest."
Misty smiled at the Nimbus. "I would appreciate that. See you soon." She walked away from the couple, having easily gotten the hint that the pegasus and changeling were closer than friends.
A thump came to Careful's side. "What are you looking at?" Nimbus had spotted the stallion watching the mare walk away, the briefest of glances told the pegasus why, Misty was built in a way that would catch the eyes of any stallion.
"Studying shapes for references." Careful said it too fast, got another thump. "What, a changeling needs to pay attention of all the different ponies… and you aren't buying this, are you?" Nimbus shook her head and kissed Careful's cheek. "She was pretty, not quite my kind in her temper, though."
"Temper?" Nimbus knocked gently on the door. "What do you mean?"
"Come in."
As Careful reached out to the handle with his magic, he thought back. "You didn't notice the slightest of limps, right foreleg. A mare of high society is not used to striking with her hooves." He opened the door and saw the target of those strikes, with a good bulging bruise on a cheek. "She must really like you, Bright." Nimbus saw the marks, saw that they were clearly aimed to shock, not truly hurt.
"I am a stupid grub, I can't believe I almost blew my chances at being with her… I still might've." Bright slumped down on the bed, disguise-less.
"But she has given you a chance, so don't blow it. I can only think of all the trouble a mare like that could cause our efforts." Careful settled on the other side of the big bed. "Now, with the essentials out of the way, I am giving you an offer, employment."
Bright sighed and waved a hole-filled hoof. "Twenty-Six, Soft Wheat way. It is a small second floor-"
"No, I don't care where they are. You are to report to them that you have gotten yourself ingrained a little deeper here at the castle." Careful felt a weight on the bed beside him, then a wing spread over his back. "It will be a position that lets you examine almost all of Princess Celestia's mail. Even the magically transported stuff."
"But… I don't! Dropped will know as soon as I give him false info." Bright knew she was hemmed into a corner, her hive-mate was playing a game that involved the ponies who had beaten back the whole hive last time. It was both exciting and terrifying.
"Then don't give them false info. Princess Celestia will help, you will get all sorts of letters and notes, all useless, to pass on. But, once you are established as a source, we can start to pass off the information we need to you." Careful saw dawning comprehension on Bright's puffy face. "I don't think I need to tell you how disappointed our Queens will be if you let the wrong thing slip."
"They will squish me." Bright knew the punishment from her time in the hive. "Drones who don't do their work up to standard don't deserve to serve their… what?"
Careful was grinning. "You will see, if you ever do displease them. I doubt you will, you are a clever 'ling." A nuzzle at Careful's shoulder stole his attention to Nimbus. "Sleep on it, I think it is time to go to bed."
As she left the room at Careful's side, Nimbus felt accomplished. She stole a glance at Careful. Still a little rough around the edges, smart though, very smart. Nimbus resolved to work harder to try to stay abreast of Careful's games.
Panting hard, Shining was caught in that moment of ecstasy every stallion attains with a good partner. He bucked a few more times into his adorable wife before slumping down.
"Five, Shiny? What's gotten into you?" Cadance wasn't any better for breath herself, her husband was setting quite the example and, being proud of her own stamina, Cadance had raised to meet him. But it was starting to get a little overwhelming.
"Might… Might not… be…" Shining Armor couldn't finish the sentence. He still hated the idea of it, but Cadance would make it tolerable. "I love you." The words were heartfelt, but also a cry of pain and anguish.
Cadance slipped her forelegs around Shining's back, pulling him down tighter against her. "Bucking all night long is never something I would turn down, not from my Shiny, but you are missing some thoughts in all this." She nuzzled his tear and sweat-stained cheek.
The topic shift jarred Shining a little, jockeying him free of some of that fear; curiosity replaced it. "What do you mean?"
Blue magic lit the room, brighter and brighter. Cadance reached out to their luggage and popped open her documents case. A single scroll floated over to the pair, the writing lit in the blue glow. One word was underlined, then her glowing magic formed an extra circle around it. "What does it say, Shiny?"
"Transformation? But…" The stallion's brain ticked away. After a few moments an optimistic grin started to form on Shining Armor's snout.
"Even if you end up a female changeling queen, you can still be my stallion." Cadance pushed her husband, shoving him to his back and putting herself atop him. "But," the scroll floated back and locked itself back in the case, "that is something to talk about tomorrow." Princess Cadance lifted her hips and rolled them back down. The action stole all the breath from Shining Armor, earning the mare a little grunt from his throat. "Now, where were we?"
"You didn't report yesterday?" Dropped Ball was, for the first time in a while, happy. When one of the oh-so-perfect infiltrators slipped up, it meant he got to report them back to the hive. "Let me guess, too distracted banging that leggy unicorn?"
The sneer in the stallion's voice was not lost to Bright. "Oh, yes, of course I would be busy bonking that piece instead of doing my job." It was easy to be snide and uppity with Droppy, he wasn't a nice changeling. "Almost like a certain stallion who shirks out of his work every night to visit the Lonely Mare; oh, was I not meant to know about that?" Bright Flash, sometimes, enjoyed her job entirely too much. Too bad it was now her job to do her job.
"You… how…" Dropped griped internally, not wanting to give the mare the satisfaction of knowing she had gotten to him. Of course, Bright read him well enough to know that anyway. "So what do you have to report?"
Bright smiled. It wasn't what she was about to do that made her smile so widely, but that doing it was helping her queens. "Oh, what about this?" She lifted her heavily-stuffed pack up in her green magic, unbuckled the top and up-ended it before the other 'ling.
"What are you doing?" Jumping to his hooves, Dropped snarled at the stupid mare. "This junk is all over my… my…"
"Just noticed it, Droppy?" Bright drank in his shock. "From the desk of one Princess Celestia. That is this last week's correspondence. In full." It wasn't, there were some things missing, and a few extras added. "I got a new job carrying things for the Princess, but I guess you can send that letter and have me recalled to the hive. I am sure Queen Chrysalis would love to see one week of all this lovely information and then nothing more, because her best infiltrator had been recalled…"
"I really hate you." Dropped's magic was busy, he had to get this huge pile sorted and—looking at the time—the poor stallion realized he would not be going to the 'Mare tonight. "I will shred the letter, but keep this lot coming." It was dismissal, blessed dismissal for Bright. Turning, the mare walked toward the door, flashing her disguise back up to the familiar stallion. "Oh, and I think I can overlook any… time spent outside of work, if you do the same."
"I was going to say the same thing, Droppy." Bright knew he hated the name, which was why she used it. She had a slight pang, however, when she realized he might just be this way, in the same way she was. Stepping into the lovely evening twilight, Bright hoped that the stallion would feel better, with a proper pair of queens leading his hive.
"So that's our job done, right?" Nimbus was laying on her back, belly up to Celestia's sun, wings spread out to the sides to collect maximum warmth. "We have a new friend, we even have Princess Celestia on our side… something I am still confused about, but nopony listens to me."
"I listen to you, Nimbus." Careful was under an umbrella, translating notes and writing false documents. "Oh yes, this one will be perfect." The changeling worked, writing a missive from Cadance to Celestia, into a common code that Bright's associate would be able to break, that would hint that Shining was "under the weather".
The soft clank of armor heralded one of Careful's queens arriving; but then he could taste Shining getting close just as much as hear him. "Oh-" Shining froze as he saw Nimbus in a slightly compromising position. "If I am interrupting something…"
"No, just relaxing, enjoying a warmer day than we get up north." Nimbus flicked one wingtip, directing Shining's attention to her coltfriend. "Careful is hiding under the shade, something about his shell getting overheated."
"He just doesn't like the sun." Shining walked slowly over to the changeling and settled down just outside of the shadow the umbrella cast. "He could disguise as somepony else and not feel it, I bet."
Careful's mouth hung open, his queen had hit right on the money. "It… I just like the shade, okay?" He looked over at Nimbus, a pleading look on his face, only to see a bright smile on the mare; what was more surprising was she winked at him. "I can't keep anything from you, My Queen."
"Yeah." Shining had to chuckle a little at Careful's attempt to divert the conversation. "I need to talk to you, Careful." His words had immediate effect, the drone seemed to completely ignore the papers before him and turned to look at Shining closely. Taking a deep breath, Shining reached up with his hooves and, unbuckling the headdress, he lifted the horn-armor clear of his head.
"By the queen's larvae…" Careful got to his hooves and stepped forward. It apparently hadn't been gradual, where Shining's horn was concerned. "It was pristine just yesterday, when did it…" He reached up a hoof, carefully, gently touching the jagged black horn. "It's perfect."
"It looks like a changeling horn, a queen changeling horn." Shining was so used to being poked and prodded by now that he actually leaned forward for Careful to inspect it. "It is also sensitive…" Shining jumped a little as Careful's hoof touched his horn again. "Like really sensitive!"
"Can you use it, My Queen?" Careful wasn't actually trying to rib Shining now, seeing this proof the stallion was really becoming a queen inspired all sorts of behavior in him, not the least was awe. "Can you do your normal magic?"
"I haven't dared…" It hit Shining as funny that he, Captain of the Guard, had been scared of magic. It was his birthright. "How do I do it? Do I need to eat love?"
"Just try doing normal unicorn stuff first." Careful looked around and pulled out the book he had been reading before he started work. "Try to lift this."
It was simple, easy. Shining had been lifting things all his life. Pink light flared on the black horn, Shining felt it just like always. Reaching out to the book, he lifted it. "Does this mean I am not going to be drinking emotions?"
Careful shrugged. "It could be you have a limited reserve of unicorn magic left, and using it will use it up soon." As soon as the 'ling said it he had to reach out with his own magic, to grab the book that plummeted without Shining holding it. "If that does happen, maybe you will start to feed on love. It isn't so bad, My Queen."
Shining struggled not to hyperventilate. "But then I will be-" He halted when he saw Careful's face. The changeling wasn't calling him "My Queen" to annoy him, Shining saw there was true, real devotion in him and a little voice inside Shining Armor, oddly loud and sounding like his parade-ground voice, chimed up. Don't you dare say that, he believes in you. You are turning into a changeling? So what, what is wrong with changelings?
Waiting to hear how Shining would finish his panicked words, Careful was surprised when two big, white forelegs wrapped around him and pulled him into a hug. "My Queen?" As he asked, so did Careful get squeezed tighter. "My Queen, it will be alright. Queen Cadance will be at your side, I won't leave either. Your magic might change, or it might not."
"I am turning into a changeling, Careful." Shining Armor felt at that giant pit inside himself where all the emotions about this that he couldn't handle had been stuffed. The pit was full. "I… I kept seeing it as a curse, as something bad. You must hate me for that."
"My Queen, you were terrified, bugg-butt did something terrible to you," Careful saw Shining's face crack in that moment, the name for Chrysalis always had gotten him to smile in the past, "but that was her mistake. I promise, being a 'ling isn't all bad, some of it is a little fun."
"Fun?" Shining blinked at the last word his… What is Careful Steps to me? "Tell me what will be fun." He made a point of settling back and pulling Careful into the sunlight.
"Being able to be whatever you want, whoever you want." Careful flashed with light, becoming a copy of Nimbus. "Like this."
The voice, so like her own, got Nimbus' attention and she looked over at her clone. "Next time I have a flight assessment, you are flying it." She grinned.
Careful stuck out her tongue at the real Nimbus. "Then there is the love. If you start feeding on it, I bet you will find a new appreciation for Queen Cadance." The superfluous Nimbus flashed with green, becoming a clone of Cadance. "You will learn how friendship tastes, as it grows and becomes all the more sweet." The false princess lifted her snout a little, grinning. "And even just seeing what you know is not your wife, you glow, to a changeling." His magic flashed again and Careful was back to his black-carapaced self.
"Fun or not, it is happening to me. What should I feel when my… when I need to start eating love?" Looking out over the city from the castle parapet, Shining tried to reach for the feelings he felt toward the drone. A little jealousy, he is smarter than I am, but he looks up to me so much. I have to take care of him, protect him. Shining blinked a little, his thoughts had occupied him while Careful had replied. "Sorry, I got distracted."
Careful blinked at Shining. "It is okay. I would be distracted if I was turned into a pony and I couldn't stop it or turn back. What I was saying was, you will feel hungry, really hungry. You could eat a full meal, two even, and all it would do is take the edge off for a while. You don't have to worry."
"What? Why not?" Shining lifted one hoof up, putting the horn-cover back on. "Why wouldn't I need to worry?"
"Because you have me." Cadance, Princess of Love, wife of Shining Armor, stepped out onto the parapet. "Am I correct?"
"It will be a hard time, when you first start to feel it." Careful nodded up, beaming at his queen. "Because I promise you, when you first feel that constant rushing wave of happiness, you will be as insensible as Bright Flash was. Your love is potent stuff, do you think changelings in the hive can waste love energy on all this?" Careful gestured to the work he had been doing.
Cadance walked up beside her husband and leaned into him. "Is it really that bad in the hive?" Curling one big wing around Shining's back, she pulled the armor-covered stallion against her.
"Depends how useful you are. Because they have so little love, the changelings who need it most are given it, the rest get just enough to survive. The whole reason for the attack was to get more." Careful slid away, back under his umbrella. "Where to now, My Queens?"
"We are going to go spend a little more time here, but you and Nimbus will head home." Cadance grinned, leaning in to kiss Shining's cheek. "You will, however, be disguised as Shining."
Careful almost jumped so high as to hit the umbrella above him. "I'm what?" He put some ledgers down so he wouldn't throw them if his queen surprised him again. "What do you mean, going as Shining?
"You will take the spare suit of armor, make a point of doing something very public, and taking it off. When we get there, come to the station to 'greet your wife', and you can swap places." Cadance lifted a little book up, reading the odd little chicken-scratching words inside. "You will be okay as Shining?"
"Of course I will." Careful grinned and pushed at his magic. Green fire boiled around him and a moment later a pristine white stallion stood where he had been. "How do I look?"
Cadance's jaw nearly hit the floor. Careful was a perfect clone of her husband, just before all the changeling-changes started. She pressed her snout in against her real husband's mane and inhaled deeply. It brought relaxation and calm to her confused thoughts. "I like my Shiny better."
Barely able to hear the words his wife had said, Shining Armor looked between the perfect version of him and his own body. "But I am-"
"Mine." Cadance hugged tighter, squeezing Shining with forelegs and wings. "I married you, Shining Armor. We asked him to look like you, but Careful is not you." A warm feeling poured through Shining, he would have liked to have thought he was tasting his wife's love, but he knew what it was. It was his own love and devotion.
"Oh well I can bet Bright is going to be feeling distracted about now." Careful let his "Shining" disguise down and relaxed into the sea of love that, had he not grown used to it, would be washing him away. "Nimbus?" The pegasus mare had seemed to have blindsided Careful, he tried blinking to clear his vision but everything seemed to be swimming. "I don't think I quite have thish worked out… good…"
"You forget how we met? Come on, let's get you to bed. I have a big day tomorrow, after all." Nimbus leaned down and got her head and shoulder under one of Careful's forelegs and began leading him back inside. "Uh, Your Highness?" She wasn't even sure if she had their attention. "If you could, well, bring his notes in? I could leave you in peace then." A pink wing waved at her and Nimbus left the royal couple to themselves. Inside, she carried her coltfriend along the hall and to their bedroom.
It was nice not to have to wear the armor; it had become Shining's daily burden now. He relaxed in bed, in the dark room, and rolled to his back. "Let's start with the top and work down." Inability to see was just what he wanted, Luna's gift was low in the sky, almost ready to set for the morning.
With a gulp, Shining reached up to his horn. There were sharp edges it never had before, the point actually was a short curve of sharp blade. Down from that it had jagged shifts in direction. The stallion trembled, he had felt a horn like this before—Her horn.
Back when he had been with Chrysalis, she had used her magic to shove the fire from him, the anger and strength. He had all three now. His hoof didn't shake, he never pulled away. "This is mine, not yours."
"Shiny? What's wrong?" Cadance reached out to her stallion, her husband. She pressed her forehoof to his barrel, felt his heart beating strong and even.
"Taking stock, Cady." Shining rubbed his hoof along his horn, getting a feel for it. Of course, the horn was every bit as sensitive as his old one, combined with being a stallion first thing in the morning, meant he soon felt his wife's touch at his shaft. "Well, I knew that was still there." He turned his head, his snout bumping Cadance's as they kissed.
Cadance slowly started working her hoof along her husband. Their kiss broke after a few strokes. "Should I get the list so we can make changes? Do you feel any different?" The hoof kept going.
"Maybe, but I want to check things out in the dark, first." Shining kissed her lips briefly again. He brought his hoof down, feeling around his head, his mane. There was no crest growing, and his ears still felt normal. Opening his mouth, he pushed the edge of his hoof in. Two pricks of his fangs touched the soft flesh of his leg, he tilted and felt the matching pair. "Top and bottom fangs are longer, sharper." His hoof roamed his body, working down one foreleg, then up the other.
Waiting patiently for Shining's self-exploration, Cadance contented herself with embracing a very base nature of her destiny, she brought her husband pleasure. "How are you holding out, champ?" She nuzzled down his body, adjusting her position a touch. Shining knew what was coming, even before she kissed his tip. "Hey…" The hoof stroking him halted and, immediately, Shining reached down to work out what caused his wife to stop. Stroking himself, he felt what she referred to. "Little ridges, I wonder if changelings have those?"
Pink light bathed the room and Shining half curled around on himself, examining his stallionhood. "Can't really see them, but they are there." He ran his hoof over the ridges, just below the end of his shaft. "Cady-" The moment he said her nickname she had him wrapped in all four legs and her wings. He was held tightly, snugly, his wife nuzzled around his face. "I love you, Cady."
Cadance was not averse to just hugging her stallion, but he sounded like he needed it. "You are changing, you will keep changing. Do I really need to keep telling you, showing you, that I am always going to accept you?"
"Yes?" Shining had a half smile as he admitted it. "Cadance, I can't believe how lucky I am to…" He trailed off, the feel of her body against his, with his raging shaft, brought other feelings to the fore. But he was on his back.
"Let me show you, then." Cadance released her tight grip a little, leaned forward along her husband's body, before shifting gears and pushing back. She knew just where he would be, he was already at the right height for her to impale herself down upon him. "Still feels like my Shiny."
Shining's magic snuffed out, his focus broken by the simple act of his wife taking control of the situation. She rocked forward, then back, her body now only felt instead of seen. Shining breathed in, pressing his snout to Cadance's fur, letting her smell fill him.
As she rocked, Cadance started to feel a little more stimulation than normal, she knew just what it was. The ridges were, for wont of a better word, quite nice. It only encouraged her to speed up, to feel him as fast as she could. Neither would last long at the manic pace, but neither cared. The feel of his surging body inside her drove Cadance beyond her own limit and she slumped down, pushing back onto her lover.
Shining wrapped his forelegs around Cadance's back, hugging her down to him. He couldn't see her, but he didn't need to, to know she was smiling at him. "Now that is how we start the day." He kissed where he hoped her snout was, caught her cheek, drew back and re-aimed. They giggled as their efforts at aligning a kiss failed a second time.
"Maybe we should get up, get the list and start making sure we have everything right." Cadance ran through the changes in her head. "Your horn is different, but not completely unlovely. Did you notice one of the curves," Cadance took hold of one of Shining's hooves, guided it up to feel, "this one, notice the angle?"
Shining's hoof found the little bump of horn. "Is it really shaped like a love heart?"
"Not particularly, not by looking at it. You can feel it, can't you?" Cadance giggled as Shining nodded his head, bumping his horn around in the dark; with her hoof on his, she could feel the motion. "I like to think it means something, even if we are the only ponies that know about it."
"And I like to think that it is your influence." Shining jerked his hips, hearing a happy gasp from Cadance. "I love you, Cady."
"And you know I love you too, but if we keep doing this, we are going to miss Aunty's little morning party." Cadance took the initiative and leaned forward then rolled sideways. She gasped as she pulled off of her husband and hoped they hadn't made any mess in the bed. Brilliant blue light lit the room, Cadance set a more constant light up with her magic before reaching to her things. The scroll with her list on it came out and she started making more notes. "Did your horn itch, or feel strange? Do you have any sensation of emotion through it?"
"It tingled a little, but apart from that… and the look, it feels fine. Careful said if I am going to start feeling emotions, and eating them, it will be soon. If my unicorn magic stops feeding through my horn, I will start to get hungry."He climbed up from the bed and stretched. Heavy muscles worked under his skin as he limbered up and put on a show for his wife. When he glanced over, he caught her grinning and looking away. Gotcha.
"Does your penis feel any different?" Cadance froze and got a worried look on her snout. Shining watched her rush for the bathroom. Her husband was quite prolific and she really didn't want to make any more mess than was strictly required.
Shining's ego was fed quite nicely, he knew what his wife was up to. "Too much, Cady?" He trotted to the bathroom to find the pink alicorn already in the big tub, warm water filling it. "That reminds me, I need to talk to Careful about a few more things."
" 'This' reminds you?" Cadance glared at her husband from the tub. "You are a wonderfully strange husband, did you know that?" She cleaned herself from their shared mess with some magic and hot water, then set the tub to filling properly.
"I want to know if I can still fulfill my full duty as your husband, even if… if I become a queen in the full sense. If I transform, what would happen to any foal? Could there be a foal?" He used the facilities and climbed into the big tub beside Cadance.
"The real question, Shiny, is would you lay eggs like a queen?" Cadance had a wing over her husband's back right away, she knew he might react. "The fact is, Shining Armor, we could be having a lot more foals than we first thought."
"Eggs?" Shining was so over panicking for the morning. "I don't know how to feel about that. I guess it would be strange, but I would be a mare?" Shining used his magic without thinking, picking up a brush and starting to work over himself. He was almost done when it dawned on him that he might accidentally use up the last of his unicorn magic in the bath.
Cadance looked up at her husband as she heard the splash of the brush he had been using. "What's wrong?" She reached her wing out again to hug Shining.
"Using up my unicorn magic, it might be my last." Shining heard how silly it sounded. "It sounds silly, I should just burn it off, see if I really am going to be living off love." The urge was strong and Cadance hugged him more. "What?"
"It is up to you, but if we are going to burn it off, at least make sure we have a changeling with us, to help explain how to feed properly." Cadance watched Shining's expression turn thoughtful. "Let me finish this off, you just relax." Retrieving the brush, Cadance couldn't help but add, "My big stud."
Being brushed by his wife, and getting such compliments, saw Shining through the rest of their morning activities with just nuzzling and kissing. At last, dressed and ready, the two opened their bedroom door to find a very alert-looking Royal Guard stallion waiting just outside. Shining hadn't seen a guard posted at their door and, without a word he rushed them.
It was meant to be simple. Gilt would follow the royal couple to the secret meeting and listen in from the door. Being suddenly rushed by Shining Armor wasn't in his play book. "Sir?" He tumbled to the floor under the heavier weight of the other stallion.
Finally this damned armor is useful. Shining leaned on the other pony. "What is today's pass-phrase?" He knew it, of course he knew it, he was still officially Captain of the Guard. Even in absentia.
Gilt Wings sighed in relief. "Pink Rose Silver Bucket."
"Huh…" Shining stood up, hefting the plate armor around him and leaving Gilt with only his normal armor to recover under. "Sorry, can't be too careful."
Cadance reached out a hoof to help the guard up, but it was refused. "Are you here to escort us to the sun-raising?"
"I am, Your Highness!" Gilt Wings stood up proud. "If you would follow me, I can take you right there."
"Then lead on, we will keep back a little ways." Cadance smiled and leaned into Shining. Her voice was low as she whispered, "They are a changeling."
He was not only safe but he now had the perfect excuse to be present at this "sun-raising". Lifting his hooves high, Gilt led the way, leaving the royal couple to lag fashionably behind. A sensation hit him, it was an odd one for a changeling—he was full.
"I wonder if Twily will be there?" Shining spoke out loud, wanting to keep some conversation going. "I would love to see my little LSBFF." He leaned over and kissed Cadance, a complicated maneuver in armor, but one he had been getting much practice with. "You felt them drink?"
Cadance nodded. "Perhaps we should visit her again? Ugh, I hate having the Empire be so busy, so many new faces of late." She recognized the hallway they were in, it was the one leading to the garden main entrance. Inhaling deeply, she smelled the garden air wafting into the castle and simply followed that to their destination.
Soft, magical lights illuminated the grounds but shone no higher than anypony's body, Luna's Gift did the rest. Silvery light flickered down from the last of the moon, revealing Celestia, Luna, and a few ever-present guards. "Aunty!" Cadance sped up, passing Gilt and reaching the two immortal alicorns. "Luna, Celestia." She bowed in a stately manner. Cadance berated herself, she shouldn't be stooping to them, but at this moment in the day, the Princess of the Sun and the Princess of the Moon both seemed like near-deific presences.
"Stand up, niece." Celestia smiled and spotted Shining Armor. "And here is our prince to be?"
Shining froze, shook his head. "You know I don't like that title. Can't I stay being the Captain of the Guard?" He huffed a little, disliking the sore point. "I worked hard to be Captain, I don't want to be thought of 'the prince' for marrying into it." He leaned into Cadance, giving his wife a kiss. "Not that I regret that day, my hero."
A cough was heard among the guards, Cadance flicked her eyes that way for just a moment. The stallion who had brought us is there. "I do hope we aren't late?" Cadance turned and looked up at the dark sky. "It was such a lovely night and my husband has a habit of keeping me up late." She really wasn't fishing for blushes, Cadance was trying to bring back memories of the evening, letting them mingle with the morning's activities. The cough came again.
"Yes, well…" Luna looked up and reached her power out. "We will start bringing the moon down." Energy flowed like a torrent, Luna closed her eyes to better direct it. As she gripped down on the moon, she felt an equal strength reach out for the sun. Cool silver and hot white magic laced through the heavens, the moon and the sun were in the sky for three heartbeats together, then the moon took its leave and left the brightening sky to its sister.
Cadance watched with a joy and wonder that never failed her. The love she felt for Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, for maintaining the very keys for existence, was that which every creature held. She leaned over and kissed Shining Armor under the rays of the new sun. She felt the light press against her fur, warming it. Focusing on her love for Shining, Cadance worked her own element into a burst of power.
Shining drew back from the kiss with his wife and turned. A changeling was passed out, among the guards. "You were right, Cady. Excuse me, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, we have a new friend to talk to."
It was not a good time for Gilt, in one moment she was overwhelmed in a way she couldn't stop and was forcibly ripped from the welcoming sensation of her hive. "Whahv you dun?" She shook her head, recovering from the blast of love. She looked around, realizing there were three alicorns gathered around her and, to her shock, she wasn't disguised. It was a sobering realization. "Go ahead, stomp me…"
Celestia's eyes went wide. "I do not stomp ponies, even if they have lost their way." She looked first to her sister, Luna looking quite angry indeed. Then she glanced to her other side. Cadance looked triumphant, and Shining…
Shining Armor stepped forward, turning his back to the drone. "Princess Luna, please don't do anything, she was only following orders."
Gilt blinked, her brain futzing out on her. Did he just stand up for me, against the Dread Princess of the Night? There was a barb ready to go on her tongue, but the strange behavior scattered it, forcing her to swallow the words, unsaid.
"Why would you defend her?" Luna stomped a hoof. "Were any changelings defending our guard when they attacked?" There was still some fire in her voice, an echo of monster she had been freed from. Recognition of this suddenly made the Princess of the Night lose all her anger. We are better than that, Twilight taught me so. It was a comfort, her first new friend after her return was like a security blanket in her head.
"Come on, Shiny, we have a drone to talk to." Cadance stepped closer to her husband. "Do you wish to carry her, or shall I?"
"I can walk." Gilt looked to the couple standing so close. They both nodded to her and she carefully got to her hooves. "Go ahead, chain me up." Hanging her head low, Gilt awaited her fate. She was a little surprised when instead of binding her, the white unicorn and pink alicorn just started walking. Being a little left behind, she trotted to catch up with them. "We were told not to get caught because we would get stomped and squished."
"Do you feel like we would stomp and squish you?" Shining moved a little to the side, giving Gilt room, and implied command, to move up between him and Cadance.
"I can't get a proper reading from either of you, you taste… happy!" Gilt looked to the armored unicorn, then to the Princess. "So if you aren't going to squish me, what are you going to do?"
"Wouldn't you like to know, Gilt?" Bright, disguised in her stallion form, was waiting for the royal couple at the door to their suite.
"Bright? What are you… Traitor!" Gilt leaped forward, a sudden burst of green energy wrapping around the leading edge of her body as she began an attack against Bright Flash. Moving on the defense, Bright braced for the attack, but looked to her queens.
Sparks of green and pink flew up as Gilt's blast-charge crashed into Shining Armor's legendary shield. No single changeling could break his magic barrier at his wedding, and Gilt certainly couldn't now. Shining got a big smile from Bright.
"Stop it, she is no more a traitor than you are, now." Cadance opened the bedroom door and plucked Gilt up in her own magic. "And you are irritating your Queens."
"My… queens?" Gilt Wings was still a little dazed after how perfectly her charge had been stopped. She squirmed and wriggled in the blue magic, until it put her down on a couch inside the suite.
"If they haven't bonked you with their love yet, it might be high time they did." Bright waited for Shining to enter and closed the door. "I trust I am not interrupting, My Queens?"
"Not at all, Bright." Cadance settled herself on a couch opposite Gilt, her husband choosing the floor just in front of her; with his armor on, the upholsterers would be grateful for the small mercy. "Why don't you start, Gilt was it?"
"She can tell you anyway, so yeah, Gilt Wings." Gilt gave a glare toward the other changeling, who had since dropped her disguise. "And it all started with an egg." She was being facetious, baiting them into demanding exact times.
"Oh, this could be important, right Shiny?" Cadance lowered a hoof down to gently rub her husband's ears.
"Uh, well…" Shining coughed. "It might be."
The acceptance of her telling her whole life story surprised Gilt so much she found herself continuing. "Queen Chrysalis selected my batch of eggs to have more than the usual love to be fed, she wanted us extra good with magic. Fat lot of good being better with magic is, when you don't have enough love to even heat water."
"That reminds me." Cadance cut in on the conversation. "Are you both well fed? Need a top-off?"
Gilt's snout dropped open, staring at the alicorn, but Bright shook her head. "I… had a date with Misty last night, doing quite well, thank you, My Queen." It was as the other changeling described her state, that Gilt realized she was… full. The hunger that literally ate at a changeling their whole life was just… not in her. "Someling just worked something out."
"I really need to work on reading female changeling faces more, I guess now I get more practice." Cadance smiled, her keen eyes trying to get a handle on the subject.
"So, yeah, we got fed extra, the other drones got less, we got dumped on pretty much all the time." Gilt looked toward the floor, the memories of her fillyhood almost overwhelming her. "So I studied, I worked at everything I could do. My Queen took notice."
"She praised herself more than she did you, Gilt." Bright looked at her hivemate. "You probably thought it was you she was congratulating, but she only cares about herself."
The words stung, worse so because they rang true. Except for the last bit. "No, she cares for something else… somepony else." Gilt looked to Shining Armor. "She sent her best team here to find out all about you."
"How is Droppy liking all the stuff I left him?" Bright's grin was wide. "Last I saw him he was drooling on half."
"And cursing your name whenever he thinks noling is watching. That was all a setup?" Gilt got a cautious nod from Cadance. "For what it is worth, that was really horrible. How much actual information is in all the junk?"
"Enough that if he finds it, Bright will be trusted implicitly." Shining couldn't resist cutting in on the conversation, something in him was fascinated by the twists his life had taken. "Now we have a problem, you see. We intended to secure one of your group for misinformation, but now you are going to need to be explained in a way that doesn't result in your not-so-friend pulling everything up and fading."
"Gilt could die." Bright smiled to her Queens, when she saw confusion she shook her head. "I don't mean literally. A letter could be sent, from Princess Celestia to you, notifying you, as Guard Captain, that she discovered a changeling in the ranks of the guard and gave them a good stomping."
"What are you going to do with me then?" Gilt was scared, really scared—when ponies seemed inclined to fake your death, things were probably about to go against you.
"This." Cadance leaned down from the couch and nuzzled Shining Armor, rubbing her cheek against the stallion's. One of her eyes was trained on Gilt Wings, she saw the smile force its way onto the 'lings face, watched as Gilt's body visibly relaxed. "You with us still, Bright?"
"A… a little distracted." Bright struggled to stay on her own couch, the world seemed inclined to make her want to roll around on her back and just squirm in bliss. It was a hard fight not to.
"What about you, Gilt?" Shining's attention was on their new friend. He watched as she blinked away the daze slowly, then she gave a great sigh and nodded. "As Cady demonstrated, what we want to do with you is make sure you are fed, safe, and can live a full and happy life. The only requirement we impose is that you treat everypony and everyling as you wish to be treated."
"What?" Gilt's head was a little fuzzy, but what she was being told just didn't make sense. "I don't understand?"
"We are going to take you back to the Crystal Empire, it is your new home." Cadance had to fight her urge to lean down and snuggle Shining again. He said it so well.
"But I was spying on you, I was working for My Queen to…" Gilt looked at Shining, her eyes suddenly widening. "It is working, isn't it?" She shot to her hooves, a little wobbly thanks to all the love she had drunk, but she pointed one at him. "That is why you are wearing all that!"
Shining used his magic, unfastening the helmet and lifting it clear of his head. Without the horn-guard on the stallion's twisted black changeling horn was in clear view.
"That… that is… a…" Gilt couldn't say it, she was stumbling all over her words.
Bright helped her hivemate. "A queen's horn. Shining Armor is going to be our Queen in more than just title." So simply put, the words drew Shining's gaze to the changeling. "It is true, My Queen."
"I know, it… it is still hard to think about, but I can't ignore it. Have either of you seen this happen before?" Shining's voice had the slightest hint of a whine in it.
Gilt reacted in a way she never had before. She sat up straight, looked at the pony that was turning into a changeling, and reached for him. Scared, worried, intrigued, interested, love… so much love… She suddenly wanted to tell him that she had, that she knew everything that was going on. Why is some of that love aimed at me?
"This is the only time I have heard of it, My Queen." Bright hung her head, feeling like she had failed her hive. "I wish I could tell you more, please believe me."
A touch of gentle magic brushed Bright's jaw, tilting her head back up. "We do, Bright." Cadance smiled at Bright, trying to reassure the changeling that it was okay. "But it is interesting that you mention you are particularly well-versed with changeling magic, Gilt." Neither drone put the facts together. "Shining needs lessons, you see?"
Surprise after surprise came, or so it seemed to Gilt. "You want me to teach a queen magic?"
"Just me." Shining blushed a little, it had been a long time since he had been taught magic. "Careful said I-" He realized his mistake as soon as he saw the surprise on Gilt's face. "Careful Steps was the first changeling to come to us. He seems to think that once my unicorn magic reserves are spent, the changeling magic will take over."
"From anyling else, I would refute it or question it." Gilt's world was turned all kinds of around. "But from Careful Steps, I would take his word as fact. So what do you need to learn?"
"If you are going to do it, Shiny, now would be the time, if you are going to expend your magic." Cadance leaned down, resting her snout against his forehead. They both knew she had set her chin against the heart-shaped notch.
Shining tilted his head up, looking at his wife. "You won't leave me alone, will you?" He got a kiss for asking such a thing. "How did I get this lucky?"
"Easy, you looked cute, actually minded your manners and had the best plot in-" Cadance started to explain but got interrupted by a kiss.
"Wait, I'm not ready…" Gilt was washed under by the love, as was Bright. "Blargle…"
"Careful said he got used to it, but I saw him trying to get on the train earlier. What did you two do to him last night?" Bright was struggling against the love, fighting her body's instinct to just drink and drink.
"Okay, Cady." Shining took a deep breath and made a little shield, a tiny one, hovering in the middle of the room. He had learned the trick in training and, by starting with a tiny ball and growing it out into a force bubble, it ensured there was not a single thing within it, not even magic itself. It took a lot of power and his special talent to even try such a thing.
"I don't get it, he held a huge shield for days against-" Bright was interrupted by Gilt.
"There is nothing in it, Bright. Nothing at all. That shield is holding back… everything." Gilt's eyes were wide, amazed at the power that tiny ball of force must be using. He is a powerful queen. She blinked, wondering where the thought had come from. Is he really my queen now?
The bang of the ball collapsing echoed through the room, followed shortly by Shining gasping and shaking in his armor. Both changelings focused on him, got up and closed the distance toward Shining Armor.
"My Queen, you need to feed!" Bright looked between Shining and Cadance. "Kiss him again."
Cadance didn't need the prompting. She leaned down and nuzzled that special spot on her Shiny's horn, then kissed his forehead. She felt it, that odd tremble in her magic when someling was feeding on it, but this was a great drain, not a small one. "Shiny!"
Shining Armor felt an ocean break over him, he rolled in the waves and some part of him reached out to them, drew them in. "Cady." The word, all he could say as love poured into his body. He fed and fed, his reserves felt limitless, but even his hunger couldn't match the Princess of Love's element.
"He is out?" Cadance climbed off the couch, nuzzling her husband's smiling face. "Out like a light, is he…"
"It was too much for him. From starving to overflowing…" Gilt looked at the princess, her own love reserves catching a little of what got past her Queen's hunger. Then it hit her, the bond wasn't just to Shining Armor. "M-M-My Queen?" She blinked at Cadance, got a smile and nod from her.
"Welcome to the hive." Bright wobbled and fell over, her ability to withstand the pulses of love in the room having been pushed too far. She squirmed, she rolled, she giggled like a little filly.
Shining felt full, unbelievably full. He smiled a little and leaned up to kiss Cadance. The flood of love continued, in both directions. "So what can he do now?" Cadance smooched her husband and looked over to the two insensible changelings.
Bright was completely out of it; she squirmed and rolled, the love was still coming and she no longer cared how silly it might be to just let go. She was, after all, with her hivemates.
Barely holding to her senses, Gilt Wings watched her hivemate—she couldn't help but admit that this was her hive now—acting like a grub with their first taste of love. "My Queen, the first thing we need to do is to get My Q…" Gilt stopped and blinked.
"You can call us by our names, please." Cadance gave the confused changeling a smile.
"Y-Y-Yes… My Queen… Princess Cadance… Just Cadance?" Gilt watched the mare that had banished every changeling from this very castle, just nod. "Shining Armor needs to learn the basics, at the very least how to burn off excess love." She advanced on the stallion and crouched low, giving up and getting on her belly on the floor with him. "My Queen, you need to focus the love, the energy inside you to your-"
Shining did as he was bid, a flare of green fire pouring over his horn. "Like this?" It was a hurricane of energy, he started to back it off, turning the fire down. "I never had that much power before! Cady, this is awesome!" His mind clicked at what was happening. Am I really happy to be like this? It is pretty cool, I feel… full of power!
"Then somepony needs a top-up?" Cadance leaned down and kissed her excited stallion on the nose. The tingle came and Cadance giggled. "I love you, Shining Armor."
"I can actually taste it, Cady." Shining felt his reserve fill back up, the green glow of his lit horn still burning, but not with the inferno it had been.
"Uh…" Gilt looked between her two queens, this was a very different hive to Chrysalis'. "So, I guess being a unicorn helped a bit, you understand how magic moves and works, this isn't quite magic, but is like it. You can pick up and move things, you can build a parabolic shield, you can even just blast it behind you to speed you up."
"And he can change?" Cadance looked to the drone, her eyes were inquisitive. "That is the most important thing, he needs… he needs something better than armor, it won't be useful for hiding him forever."
"It would be best to work up to it. Even natural born changelings take time to grasp that." Gilt felt well fed to the point she didn't have to be frugal with her magic. It was a pretty good feeling. Looking around the room she spotted the fruit bowl and grabbed out an apple. "My Queen…" She tossed the apple at Shining Armor, once she had his attention.
It was a trick Shining had used himself on new recruits. This power is strong, so just a little... He extended his magic, or love, forward and tried to gently grab the apple out of the air. He grabbed it and gently squeezed to keep hold and… Apple everywhere! "I didn't mean to do that!" Shining's eyes were wide, he suddenly realized how clever Gilt was to do the test with a piece of fruit. "So this stuff is powerful?"
"For a queen, very." Gilt levitated the whole fruit bowl over. "Only a trickle is enough force to grab a boulder and throw it a mile." She lifted up another apple. "Ready to go again?"
"Give me a second." Shining focused on his horn. He let the same trickle of love through as he had made "instant apple-juice", and then worked on reducing it further, halving and halving again. He had it done five times before he nodded. "Okay, give me the apple."
This time, the apple floated through the air and bopped Shining on the nose. Gilt grinned. "Better, more juice."
Cadance snorted. "Juice is the problem when there is too much energy."
"Ignore your wise-cracking queen." Shining picked up the apple with his magic, slowly raising the level until he had a grip. The green glow was very different to his normal pink one. "Right, this is easier, I… I wonder how much I could lift now?"
"More than you used to, My Queen, but you cannot replenish your own power anymore. Your magical reserve is literally love and…" Gilt was giving the usual talk given to drones, but she lifted a hoof and bopped her head.
"Just remembered, huh?" Cadance reached out a hoof and gently took that hoof that the 'ling had bopped herself with. "You are the same now, you don't have to beg and scrape for each scrap of food, Gilt."
Gilt blushed hotly at that, it was a heady and strange feeling, to be told you didn't have to work for food. "I…" She sucked up her misgivings. "Thank you, My Queen."
"You are very welcome." Cadance smiled back and Gilt felt love flow, not as strong as for Shining, but it was there. A gentle sip and she realized it was for her.
"Equestria to Gilt…" Shining waved the apple before the mare's eyes. "Hey, Gilt!" He smiled as her head snapped around to look at him. "So what's next?"
"Next we have to visit some ponies who we have to tell everything to." Cadance cut in on the lesson. "So get your horn cover back on. If you want to come too, Gilt, you may." Cadance had seen something new in the changeling's demeanor, it was something that she wasn't quite sure what to really do with, devotion.
"Where are we going?" Shining got up, using his weakest magic to lift the helmet up and bring it over to him. Lifting it atop his head he brought it down over that strange horn.
Cadance picked a little apple from Shining's armor. "We are going to visit your parents, Shiny. Gilt, can you do a royal guard again please? I don't think Aunty will mind, besides, Shining is still technically their captain. What say you Shiny?"
Shining looked at the mare who had been the slowest to "turnabout" yet. He felt kinship and more with the mare, she had taken some convincing and, in his mind, that made her a little smarter for it. "Do you agree to protect your… queens?" The mare stood to attention and gave a curt nod. "Then welcome to the Royal Crystal Guard."
" 'Crystal Guard'? Since when did we have our own name?" Cadance approved, personally, but wanted to hear Shining's reasoning.
"I can't be the guard captain once this comes fully to light. We are probably going to lose a lot of guards when that happens, I just want to have something that is ours, that we can establish as a wall for our ponies and… and our hive too." Shining looked at the two shocked mares, his head turning from Cadance to Gilt.
Slowly having recovered from her overdose of love, Bright Flash had listened to the words. It tickled all the prideful parts inside her in a way Chrysalis never had. Shining Armor is a queen worth being a queen. She smiled. "Can I come too?"
"Can you do a royal guard without messing up the armor logo?" Gilt bopped her hivemate in the shoulder. When the other 'ling nodded, she snorted. "Guess you can come along. My Queen," she faced Shining, pride swelling inside her, "could you deputize Bright as well, please?" The words felt so right, she actually found herself liking the big stallion and the princess more and more, in ways that had nothing to do with the flood of love they seemed to give off on occasions.
Shining's mind moved fast, Gilt had stepped into a role he hadn't expected her to, but he liked that she had. "Of course Lieutenant, you get to choose your own squad. But be mindful, their behavior reflects on you."
"Hey, how come she…" Bright realized how she had been played, she knew why Gilt got to be the commander, she had been too slow and hadn't adjusted fast enough. "Sorry, Sir!" She sat up straight and ripped off a perfect salute.
"You have both been in the guard?" Shining picked up that both mares knew the appropriate behavior for a guard.
"Of course we have." Gilt suddenly flared with green magic. Normally she would rush her transformation, tear into her new one and shut down her power as fast as possible. She literally had power to burn.
Shining watched as the drone's form melted with the fire, pouring into a guard stallion, complete with the regalia and armor. "No, stop." Shining looked critically. "More like my armor, but you will have Cadance's cutie mark in the front, with a shield as the backdrop. Now, be a mare if you wish."
Gilt raised an eyebrow. With a flash she made the corrections to her armor and relaxed into a mare's body again, although it was a larger mare's body. "Sir?"
"Good, much better." Shining turned to look at Cadance and saw his wife grinning in silence. "Cady, what do you think of the new guard's armor?"
"I think you missed some bits. Rarity's designs were quite detailed… but that shouldn't matter. Bright, dear, would you?"
Bright Flash saluted and dove into her own flames. She shifted herself to a stallion, it was odd how familiar it had become to be male. She brought armor over herself, manifested with her magic. When done, she hadn't felt the slightest bit drained, no matter how much she thought she should. "Sir?"
"Passable. Your iconography on the main marks is good, but look at this?" Gilt lifted a hoof and poked at a strap on the armor, a green strap. "Not bad on a first attempt."
Bright felt obliged to defend herself. "You know shifting isn't my specialty, I have-"
"We know what you can do, Bright." Cadance approached the stallion. "You can break the minds of ponies with a glance. I ask that you don't use that unless a life rests in the balance, and even then, sparingly."
Bright flushed at the attention. He nodded to Cadance. "Yes, My Queen!"
" 'Princess Cadance', 'Her Majesty', or just 'Princess'." Gilt elbowed her hivemate with a foreleg. "When we are in disguise, we keep the disguise even in speech."
"Unlike somepony, I am fairly good at doing that." Bright felt the sting of her mistake more than the elbow. "Your Highnesses, you will know the third of our little group by her… horrible slips of language." Gilt smirked at the description, the joke between them was Straight Horn kept to mare's bedrooms mainly so she didn't have to talk.
"We aren't going after her, or the stallion you have relaying information." Shining looked to his wife and smiled. "We have what we need, and I think we have done well out of our visit."
Cadance walked over beside Shining and inspected the two changelings. She studied every part, noticed the greenish strap on Bright. "You look perfect, come on." She turned toward the door but looked to Shining.
"Guards!" Shining's bellow rang loud in the room, both Bright and Gilt snapped to attention, even Cadance felt her muscles twitch. "You take the lead, let's move!" He watched both his new recruits move with the precision of veterans. I will have to talk to them later about finding out how lousy the guard is with Chrysalis' "eyes".
"If you keep staring at their plots I am going to have to smack your nose, Shiny." Cadance leaned over and kissed her husband. She knew full well that he would be watching them, particularly with the two being the new example of the Crystal Empire's own guard. But she didn't want to rib him too much about it. "I am just kidding, Captain of the Guard. Besides, you are allowed to look at mares' plots all day."
"There is only one I really want to look at." Shining leaned in and kissed Cadance. No single act made him feel as safe or proud of what he was doing or becoming, than sharing time with her. He tasted the flare of love in his wife and deepened the kiss, surprising even himself at how much he pushed. Cadance pushed back, not giving him an inch.
"Uh… sir?" Bright tilted his head to Gilt. "I think we might have to wait a little… permission to snack?"
"Permission granted." Gilt was already sipping at the love, it was pure and perfect and better than that, she could sense her queen was already drinking at it. My hive.
Gilt moved forward out the main door of the castle and held it open for their little group.
"Whoa, look at the tail they let into the guard… wait, that isn't the Royal Guard armor." The stallion's voice made Gilt frown a little. Her cold blue magic held the door as she straightened to look at the stallion. "Hey, where you blow in from?"
Shining Armor and Cadance marched out through the door and Gilt had the distinct pleasure of having her queen step to the side with her. "Name?" Shining smiled wide at the stallion who he had quite clearly heard. "I said 'name?' "
"S-S-Sir! Sorry Sir! I…" The loudmouthed stallion stood dead straight and blushed a little. "Private Swing, Sir!"
"Private Swing. I would ask you to report to Princess Celestia at your earliest convenience and tell her exactly what you told my Royal Crystal Guard." Shining could see the poor stallion now looked in a panic, but lessons were required. "The guard's fellows are their family, you just insulted mine. Think first before you talk that way to a cousin."
Gilt's heart melted then, if she hadn't already decided to throw her lot in with her new queens, this one event would have.
"Lieutenant Gilt, lead on please." Shining stepped back beside his wife, tasting the love and admiration pouring from her. "Sorry about that, Cady."
"Don't you dare apologize for what you just did, Shining Armor." Cadance wore a smile almost as wide as Gilt's. "Besides, the day is young and there are plenty of things we can do that we will need to apologize for."
Closing the door after his queens, Bright joined Gilt before them. "Sir, ready to move." He got a nod from the other stallion and, with trained perfection, they began to march.
Marching along a few blocks into the big city, Gilt finally paused. "Y-Your Highnesses?" She turned to look at Cadance and Shining. "Which way is it to your parents?" She couldn't stop her giggle, not when both her queens started laughing. "I didn't want to look foolish in front of the guards at the castle…"
Cadance got hold of her mirth first and pointed a hoof. "Mostly in the right direction, but it is two streets over. We are headed to the home of Twilight Velvet and Night Light, Shiny's parents." She spared a look to her husband, watching as he managed to secure his laughter and settle back down. "A mother deserves to know about such things."
A deep blush colored Shining's cheeks. "I would have, but I-"
"Had a lot of things to worry about that we don't talk about here." Cadance finished for him, leaning over to kiss him. She realized her mistake when she drew back and turned to see both Gilt and Bright looking a bit woozy. "Sorry, lead on."
"Lieutenant, permission to stop… stop feeding…" Bright had to blink a few times to get his vision to clear.
"Bright, you don't need to ask about that, come on, march it off." Gilt started moving, her smile coming back when she saw her hive-sister moved in perfect lock-step.
"It's this disguise, I swear, Sir, it is a bad influence on me." Bright might have moved perfectly, but he was definitely feeling a touch love-drunk.
Going to have to come up with training to avoid this. Gilt mused on her problems, the instincts of her disguise guiding her hooves perfectly.
Cadance's voice cut through the 'ling's distraction. "This is it, Gilt." Cadance stepped forward but was cut off by Bright. "Bright dear, this is Shining's parents-"
"Your Majesty, you have royal guard, let us do this." Bright smiled and was already lifting his hoof and knocking. The astonishment on Cadance's face relaxed into acceptance.
"I swear, Shining Armor, if you crack a single joke about a princess being out of her element I will-" Cadance's little tirade against impending jokes was halted by a kiss on her cheek and then the door opening.
"Shining? Cadance?" Night Light's face brightened. "You have some friends?" He looked at the two guard, his expression betraying curiosity. "All of you, come in." He turned and left the door open for his visitors to follow. "Twilight is in… Darling! Shining and Cadance are here!"
"We don't need protection in here, you can relax." Cadance herded the two drones in behind Shining and closed the door. "In fact, it might be best if you just show them. I cannot countenance lying to my mother and father-in-law."
Gilt and Bright looked to each other and, shrugging, both dropped their disguises. "They are hive?" Bright looked to the pink alicorn, and got a nod. "Then they are hive."
Cadance could see both changelings relax visibly. She spread her wings a little and gave each chitinous body a slight brush with them. "Shiny, I was just telling the girls to relax." She found her husband awkwardly trying to hug his mother with the armor on.
"You have grown more?" Twilight Velvet leaned back from her son, looking up at him. "When am I getting grandfoals?" The question was completely out of left-field, but so very much a mother's prerogative.
"Uh, well, that is part of why we are here, mom." Shining lifted a clanking hoof up to rub the back of his head. "I don't know how to explain it…"
Cadance immediately moved up beside her husband, her magic picking over the helmet and unfastening the straps. "There is the easy way, Shiny." She leaned in and kissed her husband's cheek.
"No, no I need to do this right. Mom, remember when we were getting ready for the wedding?" Shining's tone had his mother taking a seat.
"That was not an easy time for a mother, when it should have been. Chrysalis was quite… controlling and demanding of your time." Twilight lit her horn, floating a cup of tea across to sip at.
Shining looked down, the pain of what Chrysalis had done to him flowing back. He had a moment of not being able to talk, or more to the point, not being able to start.
"I'm sorry dear, that was a little hard of me. You are already dredging up painful things, I think." Twilight Velvet rubbed her son's cheek, removing the tears that were there. "I really didn't mean to add to them."
"You didn't add to them, she did." Shining took a deep breath, thankful he could talk again. "When she had me she… did something, something that took a while to start but…" His green magic lit up and he lifted his helmet free, revealing his naked black horn. "It is spreading. Two days ago I didn't have this." He rolled his eyes up.
Twilight's eyes narrowed. "If I ever meet that mare again, there will be words." She sipped her tea and took a deep breath. "What is going on, are you turning into-" her words faltered, she spotted the two changelings behind Cadance.
Without a word, Night Light reached to the cabinet at the side of the room with his magic, levitating a small bottle over. Delivering a small amount of the liquid within first into Twilight's cup, then a double-measure into his own. "Son, are you alright?" He spotted his son's gaze focused on his mother and knew what he needed.
Sipping from her infused tea, Twilight stood up and leaned forward again, stepping against her son and wrapping her forelegs around him. The floodgate opened and Shining's eyes filled. He cried like a foal, like a little colt who had been hurt by something he didn't understand. But he had his mother there, her forelegs not able to wrap around his big form, but delivering the contact he needed nonetheless. "Shiny, you are alright."
Shining's heart felt flayed, bared and open to the pain that had been festering around it. Then another pair of forelegs wrapped around him, pink and strong. "Cady…" He felt like he was drowning in her love, but he didn't care; he was suddenly thankful for the magic that let him feel, let him know just how much his wife loved him. His father took the remaining spot and hugged Shining. The poison and pain that had been infecting him felt suddenly so weak and ineffective; with so many ponies caring for him, despite the changes, he had to believe in himself again.
The last surprising feeling, for Shining, was the two warm bodies that pressed to his back. My hive. He tilted his head to the side, catching Cadance in a kiss. Our hive.
"So my son is turning into a changeling fully? Or is this the extent? Are your little friends here to carry you away?" Twilight wiped and then kissed away her son's tears. "Well?"
"I'm their queen." Shining couldn't hold anything back, mothers were not to be lied to. "We… we are fairly sure it will keep going, but I am not going to become their equal."
"He is already our queen." Bright stuck her tongue out at Gilt. "Him and Cadance."
Both parents turned their gaze to Cadance now. "You too?" Night held a slight quirk to his snout, he already could clearly see that Cadance wasn't changing at all.
"No!" Cadance glared at her two drones and just as suddenly softened to them. "The first time we found a changeling in the Crystal Empire, it was Careful Step. Our love for each other did something to him, broke him of his bond to his hive, bound him to us."
"I see." Twilight backed away from Shining, stepped around the stallion and took stock of the two changelings, her status as matriarch of the house firmly intact. "And they did this to you, too?" Both nodded respectfully, each had seen how much their queens respected this pony. "Would you have wanted this?"
"No." Bright gave a deep sigh. "But please, ask the other question."
Twilight caught the smile and knew what they wanted. "Are you happy it happened?" The moment she asked she saw the creature's face light up with a big smile.
"I love my queens, they broke me of old Queen Fuddy-duddy's hold, they don't make me do bad things and… they share." Bright couldn't not think of her queens, not with Cadance radiating enough love to feed a hive right beside her.
"And you? Sorry, I missed your names." Twilight turned to the second drone, her eyes narrowing to try to make out features to pick them apart. "You are both mares?"
Two nods met the question, but Gilt opened her snout. "I am Gilt Wings, this is Bright Flash. I… didn't like what they did at first, it felt odd, different." She inhaled, recalling the confusion.
Twilight moved for the verbal opening. "And what was the difference? What do you feel now?"
"The difference was in the way I was treated, how much I was loved. Until last night, I have never just been full, not needed more. But the feel is different, way different. I can taste my queen's love, I am very good at reading such. She loves her stallion so much it blinds me, she loves you so much I could live the rest of my life from just a sip. But she loves me, us." Gilt closed her eyes, exploring that amazing sensation. "She really does!"
"And you are content with them?" Twilight's persistent questions had more than the changeling's attention, Cadance was watching her with much interest.
"Content? No, I could never feel content again. I feel compelled, I want to work, I want to fight. I would do anything for them, because they love me. They are my hive." Gilt felt a foreleg reach around her as Bright gave her a hug. Hive.
"Do you like tea? I made plenty." Twilight turned back, levitating two cups over for the changelings. "I put a little honey in them, I hope you like sweet things." Twilight made her way back to her seat. "Now, let's get to the bottom of this. The word 'queen' was bandied about. Shining, queens are mares."
The implied question was one Shining had been facing of late, with his wife's assistance, quite well. "That… is a chance." He opened his snout to show off his fangs. "R EER HV FWNGS WI IS." He caught a look from his mother, blushed, and tried again. "A queen has fangs like this. Also, a horn like this." He took a deep breath, a little worry slipping into him.
"So I may have another daughter?" Night grinned at his son. "I am proud of everything you have done, Shining, and nothing will change that."
Shining suddenly realized two things about his wife. She knew what he needed, always; and she was really sneaky about making sure he got it. "If it comes to that… well, there is one benefit." He inhaled deeply; somehow, making a joke of this was helping to deal with it. "You may end up with a whole lot more grandfoals than you thought." He wore the lopsided grin he always did when telling a joke. At his parent's blank looks he giggled. "I might be laying eggs, a lot of them." He caught the moment when his parents caught the joke, their snouts twisting as they had to hide their giggles. Really sneaky indeed, he felt a weight fall from his shoulders.
"So, where are you two off to next?" Twilight Velvet sipped away the last of her tea.
Cadance almost froze where she stood, she was being given quite the serious look from her mother-in-law. "We are headed to Ponyville." The change in Twilight let Cadance know that she had hit the mark correctly. "A friend is taking care of things in the Crystal Empire for us. I thought it very important that we be open with our family."
Twilight Velvet gave her daughter-in-law the biggest smile she had. "This wasn't his idea, I take it?"
Giggling, Cadance shook her head. "He would have come here eventually, but I am sure you know him, being his mother. Poor dear has not been taking it too well, although him bringing up eggs himself is a major step forward." She lifted up her own cup, sipping down the last of the soothing tea. "Any messages you want delivered to Twilight Sparkle?"
"Tell her I am very proud of her." Twilight smiled widely. "If you want to get there before midday, you are going to need to catch the next train."
"Thank you." Cadance had no more words she could say to the mare. "Shiny." She got up and looked around, finding her husband missing. "Where would he have gone?"
"Night just rebuilt our basement, I bet they are all down there." Twilight made her way to some stairs and called down, "Changelings and gentlecolts, please, we require your attention."
The clank of Shining's armor echoed as he came up the stairs. "Mom, have you seen what dad built?" Excitement was clear in his voice and features. "It is amazing down there!"
"His stallion-cave, yes. I am not allowed down there." Twilight Velvet wore a long-suffering smile. "But it is time for you and my daughter here to go. You have a train ride ahead of you."
Cadance's ears snapped forward and she felt a bloom of love in her heart at the mention of "daughter" and not "daughter-in-law." Cadance walked toward Shining, leaning in for a chaste kiss. "Come on, your sister is next on the list."
"Twily?" Shining brightened, he loved visiting his "LSBFF." "We are going to visit Twily next? Come on!"
"Ahem." Cadance grabbed her husband's head in her blue magic and turned him to face Twilight Velvet. "You need to say goodbye first."
Shining realized he had made a big mistake and blushed. Clomping hooves carried him to his mother; he leaned down to kiss his dam on the cheek. "Thank you, mom." He held his cheek against hers for a few moments. "I love you."
"I love you too, my little colt." Twilight Velvet closed her eyes and focused on her son. She knew something, he wouldn't pull away first. "Okay, your father now." Twilight gave a giggle and drew back. She looked at the two changelings that guarded him, at his wife, and marveled at how well the stallion wrapped himself in ponies who cared about him. "You two." While Night and Shining said their goodbyes, Twilight approached the two changelings.
"Yes Ma'am?" Gilt stood as tall as her changeling body would let her.
"Keep him safe, and Cadance too." Twilight's eyes focused on the changeling's blue ones, she wasn't sure at first if her "motherly stare" would work, but she saw a wing twitch, then the changeling's tail lowered. "If I find out you let him get hurt I will have to pay you a visit."
Gilt had received calmer, less scary looks from Queen Chrysalis. She gave a nervous nod. "I will guard them as my queens!" She saluted quickly. It was the absolute truth.
"Good girl." Twilight reached up and kissed the changeling on the cheek.
"Are we all ready?" Shining strode back from his brief but heartfelt farewell with his father. "If we get there early we could catch the train back-"
"No, we are spending the night." Cadance led the way to the door, but had Bright insinuate herself between between her and the door. "Really? This is Canterlot, there are a total of two changelings here, neither likely even knows we are here."
"There is two that I know about." Bright's eyes changed along with the rest of her. "Gilt made the promise, but she is my hive-sister, I must honor it too." Looking like the big strong stallion he had been when he first arrived, Bright opened the door and stepped out. His eyes flicked about, studying every place a changeling could hide; none were close enough that he couldn't intercept. "It's safe."
Cadance rolled her eyes and stepped out into the noonday sun. "Oh Celestia it is a lovely day." She pranced along after Bright, halting just behind her guard. "Is it all clear?"
"For now…" Bright kept a dutiful lookout lest an army of changelings leap out from behind one of Twilight Velvet's flowerpots.
"Bright, take it easy, let's just go to the station. You will be staying here to continue your mission." Shining watched the changeling—now a unicorn stallion—stand up straight as a die at the reminder they had a mission. "When this game is no longer needed, I will send a message for you to come back to the Crystal Empire. Now, take us out."
His heart beating with pride, Bright Flash started marching forward, he at least knew the way to the station.
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
"I give up, we try disguises later." Shining spared a weary smile to Gilt. "Totally not your fault, this might just take some work." He felt a little drained, but with the unending torrent his reserves of magic—or love as it was now—he possessed, he was not really anywhere near "low."
"Of course, my Queen." Gilt felt a little annoyed, but wouldn't let it show. "We are nearly there?" She hadn't been to Ponyville before, such was typically off-limits to changelings.
"We will start slowing any-" Shining cut off, grinning as the train gave a jolt, the mighty engine pressing back on the cars. "Second now. I have to warn you, Gilt, Twily can be," Shining paused to think of how to put it, "full on. We have to tell her what I am becoming, and what you are. She is probably going to be a little worried first, then she will settle down and probably want to study both of us."
"She," Gilt licked her lips, "she is the bearer of the Element of Magic! She could fry me where I stand." A heavy foreleg landed atop her shoulders. "My Queen?"
"She is my little sister, just relax. This is literally the safest town in all Equestria." Shining walked for the end of the carriage, offering Cadance a hoof up as he passed. "I bet Twily will be so surprised!"
Trotting up to the library in the middle of town, Shining leaned across to Cadance. "I wonder how she will react when we-" The moment Shining's hoof came down on his next step a magenta wall of force suddenly flew up and into place. A siren started to blast and, a moment later, a surprised unicorn shot out of the front door of the tree-house.
"Ah ha! I have caught-" Twilight stopped and blinked at her brother and sister-in-law. "BBBFF?"
"Could you… drop the shield? What happened?" Shining lifted a hoof and gently pressed against the barrier. A small spark jumped from the field and jolted the stallion. "Hey, what is this, somepony could get hurt."
"It must be malfunctioning." Twilight trailed off, her own magic flaring and tearing down the shield. Shining Armor was suddenly wrapped in a tight hug that he couldn't stop himself returning. "Shining." The name spoke volumes for the mare's love for her brother. "Are you a changeling?"
Shining froze dead. "I… I can explain!" He let go of his sister. "Uh, can we do it inside?"
"Twilight, you can use a spell that detects changelings?" Cadance was intrigued more than surprised. "How does it work?" She tilted her eyes toward Shining.
"Oh, well, not a spell, but an artifact. Here, I'll show you!" Twilight turned, her distrust suddenly layered under by the delight of being asked to explain something magical. "You see, I used a little of the magic Chrysalis left behind when she fled. It flares when it detects a changeling nearby. I hooked that up to a shield barrier and…" Twilight hadn't realized she was inside the house now, and that one or all of her visitors were changelings.
"Twily!" Shining reached out both his hooves to try to get Twilight's attention, but it was Cadance who suddenly stole all of it.
"Sunshine, sunshine…" Both Twilight and Cadance fell into the special song. "Do a little shake!"
"Cadance!" Twilight shot into the alicorn's tight hug. "What is going on, is that really my brother?" She peeked out around the pink forelegs hugging her.
Panic had risen a little too far for Gilt. Twilight Sparkle, the unicorn who had not only cut a swathe of destruction through their best fighters during the invasion, but had allowed herself to get captured to trick Queen Chrysalis into letting her free Queen Cadance, stood before her. Worse, she had a way to detect changelings. "I am sorry!" She let her disguise drop and she fell to her belly, covering her snout with a hoof. "It was me, I didn't mean to, I am just trying to protect my queens!"
Everypony froze at the distraught changeling. "Wait, your guard was the changeling?" Twilight looked between the trembling and crying "enemy" and Cadance. "What is going on?"
"She isn't the only one." Shining lifted his helmet off, revealing the long, jagged horn. "It was Chrysalis, she did something to me, Twily." He started to strip his armor, the green glow of his magic quite obviously changeling in nature. "Can you help me?" Shining revealed his forelegs first, the large, gaping holes. It also revealed that the fur was falling out, replaced up to his fetlocks with black chitin.
"BBBF… F?" Twilight looked at her brother, or what she now realized really was her brother. She closed her eyes, reached inside. "Rainbow Dash, thank you." She opened her eyes again and jumped forward, hugging Shining tight.
"Twily." Shining hugged his little sister tight. "I wanted to tell you a little more," he fished for a word, "calmly."
Cadance, meanwhile, attended to their guard. "Gilt, you are safe. Twilight isn't going to blast you. Please get up." Not able to rouse the changeling from her terror, Cadance decided on the next best way. She marched up to Shining and Twilight. "Excuse me, Twilight." She gave her sister-in-law a half grin and put a wing around Shining's withers, pulling him into a kiss.
"Cady-" Shining's protest was cut off and all the energy he had burned on the train poured back into him. He pushed back, feeling power and warmth saturate his body. Just as he pushed to take the lead on the kiss, Cadance pulled back, sticking out her tongue.
"There, how is Gilt?" Cadance turned and saw the changeling had passed out cold. "Too much…"
"It's a real changeling?" Twilight pointed her hoof at Gilt.
"She, Twily. Gilt is a very different changeling now." Shining half-leaned against his sister. "Come on, let's see if we can wake her up." He walked over to where Gilt lay, the 'ling wearing a silly grin as she sucked on a hoof. "Gilt? Gilt!"
Twilight was stuck in a continual state of surprise. Her brother and sister-in-law were not only acting very strange, they seemed to know this changeling. "But-"
"Ugh, what happened?" Gilt wobbled in the green glow that was supporting her. Her brain immediately told her it was the magic of one of her queens. "Shining Armor?"
"Gilt, please relax." Shining took a deep breath. "This is my little sister, Twily." He deliberately kept Twilight's full name out of his words, then paused and wondered when he got that sneaky.
"Twily?" Gilt blinked her eyes and looked up. "The Destroyer!"
Twilight realized suddenly that the changeling was a lot more afraid of her than she was of it. "No, please, I won't hurt you." She looked to her brother and saw him nodding. "I… I am sorry if I scared you. I promise I won't hurt you." A black head with vivid blue eyes looked up at her.
"You promise?" Gilt saw surprise and something she never expected "The Destroyer" to show, friendship.
"I do!" Twilight smiled, finding the wariness of the changeling a little endearing. "Any friend of my brother's is a friend of mine." Suddenly wrapped in black limbs, Twilight had an overly relieved changeling hugging her. Then the unicorn spotted the changeling's horn. "You can do magic?"
"Cady," Shining looked to his wife, "did we just bring a changeling who is a master of their magic to my little sister?"
"I am afraid we did. Maybe you should dress back up, we could probably go and have some lunch." Cadance heard a double-flow of words now that flew above her head not five syllables in. "Actually, I insist on it."
It wasn't a fast process to get the armor back on and straight again, but Shining cheated and used his magic whenever possible. By the time he had the helmet back on, his little sister and his guard were still chatting away, both now surrounded by books floating in various colors of magic. "Uh, sorry to cut in, Twily, Gilt." he lifted a covered hoof and rubbed behind his head. "Would you like to come out with us and have lunch?"
Gilt froze, her brain spinning with calculations and theories of magic. "Oh, uh…" She suddenly blushed. "Yes my Queen." A flash of green restored her "guard" form and had a surprised Twilight suddenly inspecting her.
"Oh wow! Can you do that again, slower?" Twilight not only didn't register what her brother had asked, but she was completely distracted by magic study that it took Cadance's blue magic wrapping around her and lifting her away from her new friend to get her attention.
"Why don't you come back to the Crystal Empire with us? Have a holiday and you can study with Gilt all you wish." Cadance set Twilight back down on her hooves. "But right now I want to have lunch with the best sister in the whole of Equestria."
Twilight's brain didn't make the connection immediately, but seeing a wide grin in her BBBFF's snout made her think through the way Cadance had spoken. "Sister?" She blinked, her eyes going wide as saucers. A loud POMF sound got everypony's attention, but it was Twilight, so excited that she teleported five feet to Cadance to hug her. "Of course we can have lunch, let me just clean this up!" A burst of magic issued forth, flooding the room and hitting all the books not presently on shelves. Not only did every book fly onto a shelf, but they did so to the correct spots too. "Done!"
In awe of her new friend, Gilt was trying to run the maths needed to make a spell that did that much telekinesis at once. "How did you do that?" She walked up to one shelf, checking a book that had returned to exactly the right spot.
"That is Twilight's Twist-sort." Twilight wore a proud grin.
"You made a spell?" Gilt looked at the mare with astonishment. "That is even more amazing! How did you do that?"
Shining looked over at his wife and got a droll expression back. "Hey, don't look at me, she's your sister too." The wave of love Shining got from Cadance made him grin wide and step over to her to kiss her.
Taking the offering, Cadance looked back at the two magic "geeks" and sighed. "We are going now, we need our guard to lead the way." She rolled her eyes to Shining and they both shared a giggle.
"Oh… uh… sorry Twilight." Gilt had to start trotting to get to the door before her queens.
"What are you apologizing for?" Twilight moved to keep up with the changeling. "Besides, I think I will take my sister," the unicorn got a warm tingle out of saying the word, "up on her deal. I have to document all these changes to my brother."
"You should see my-" Gilt cut short and coughed. "You should see my Princess' notes, she has been keeping a journal and everything. Every little detail, everything." Marching out the front door of the library, Gilt stepped out into the sun and gave a happy sigh. "Such a lovely day. Where are we going, Your Highnesses?"
"Twily would never forgive us if we didn't go to the Hayburger." Shining's armor made a few little clanking sounds as he walked, leading him to look down and adjust the straps on the leg-guards. "Ever since she found out about burgers I couldn't keep her away. 'BBBFF, I wan bewgar!' " he gave a credible "foal Twilight" impression, even with his deeper voice; which is what tipped him off to something. "Cady, my voice can go higher."
"So I heard." Cadance opened her pack and got out the scroll she had been using for the day. Like a shot a magenta unicorn was at her side. "You can read my notes when we get back home; my home. Today is for nice relaxing conversations with family."
Twilight's ears dipped a little and the sight almost broke Cadance's heart. "Alright, but I get to measure Shining completely when we get there," Twilight was already trying to gauge if her brother was any taller. Her mind raced trying to remember how big Chrysalis was.
Cadance spread her wing over Twilight's shoulders. "I had the best inspiration for taking notes, can you guess who it was?" Giving the mare a little squeeze with her wing, Cadance looked down at Twilight.
Giggling, Twilight nonetheless leaned into the "pegasus hug" she was given. "I'm not a filly anymore Cadance, I am so happy to hear you kept reliable notes, though. All too often when something magical happens things could be fixed if only somepony noted the pattern the magic left in the air, or the smell the spell gave off when cast."
"I know you're not a filly, you saved all Equestria right before my eyes, and again twice before that." Cadance drew her wing back. "Aren't you going to ask?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Ask about?" Twilight stopped, along with Shining and Cadance, while Gilt opened the door and inspected the fast-food store for danger. "Wait, if Shining is…" Stopping to look around, Twilight returned her gaze to Cadance. "If he is doing the thing he is doing. Where does Gilt fit in to this? And why did she call you both 'queen'?"
"Very good questions, can you do a spell that makes everypony else unable to hear us?" Cadance started walking into the store.
"She can, you wouldn't believe how late she used to stay up, using a spell nopony her age should be able to cast, reading." Shining wore a big grin for his sister. Twilight rolled her eyes at him.
"An official visit by a princess!" The shout from inside heralded a few ponies behind the counter running into each other, most falling down. Finally, one managed to stand upright and looked dead ahead. "Can I take your order?"
Twilight's face lit up, she loved those words.
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Careful strode with purpose from the train station toward the Crystal Empire's palace. Normally his choice would have been some shape small, common. Earth ponies were good for that, or crystal ponies here.
"Commander Shining Armor!" The bark of a trained soldier met his ear and Careful turned his naked head to look at the two Royal Guardsponies. "Shine, Dancing," he knew the guards quite well, having spent more than one day allocating their pay, "at ease. Anything to report?"
"Nothing unusual sir, we are doing as you suggested, trying to gather up visitors and escorting them to see the Crystal Heart; none have acted strange."
Careful froze at that, wondering when his queen had gotten that smart. "Good, good. Anything else?"
The tip of one spear, couched at Dancing's side, tilted forward. "Don't try to get away, we know our commander better than we know our fillyfriends. Walk ahead of us, towards the castle. Somepony there will know what to do with a changeling spy."
"Alright. Just… I won't run, or fly. I'll do what you say." Careful's heart fluttered a little as he marched toward the huge spire. Of Nimbus there was no sight. His hooves led him to one of the doors, and he was guided in.
"Gleaming? We have a situation." Dancing marched up alongside Careful. The guardstallion looked around before giving a nod. "We caught a changeling." The pride in the stallion was almost enough for Careful to feed off. "Impersonating our Commander!"
"Atrocious!" Gleaming Shine had appropriated a table in the main hall, to one side. With a bearer of an Element of Harmony present—and vouching for her—the mare's standing had gone up in leaps and bounds. She raised up to her full, impressive height. "What is your name, changeling?"
"Step, ma'am." Careful gave Gleaming a look he hoped would remind her who he was. Then a memory came to him and he lifted a hoof and bopped himself on the forehead.
"Step." Gleaming eyed Careful, wondering if it might have been Careful's second name. "I think I can take this from here. Shine, Dancing, great work, the Commander will hear of this." There was only one way for her to know and she didn't want anything revealed before the other guard.
The words were clearly dismissal, but neither stallion was willing to back down. Dancing opened his snout first, of the pair. "With due respect, Private, I believe all prisoners are to be kept in the cells, with anti-magic protection on them at all times, until the Princess or Commander return."
"Those are the rules." Gleaming saw the slightest of nods from the changeling and knew it was Careful, nopony would want to show her that they agreed. "Escort them to the cells, ensure they have a proper guard detail. With luck our leaders will be back before they starve to death." Gleaming heard the two stallions suddenly look worried.
"Ma'am?" Shine looked at the big unicorn mare with a little worry, when something messed up without your commander present it was always better to pass the fall to somepony else; it was only due courtesy that you called them "sir" or "ma'am."
"They are a changeling, as you said, and likely on the edge of death if I remember what they were like when they invaded Canterlot." Gleaming hadn't been a guard at the time, but she was in the city when the changelings invaded; it was what made her want to be a guard and protect ponies. "I could organize some 'food' for them, if you think it would be okay?"
"Yes Ma'am! Certainly Ma'am! You can be fully responsible for their feeding." Dancing caught on quick, nodding to the mare he leveled his spear back at Careful. "Come on, you. Let's get you into a nice uncomfortable cell."
Gleaming watched the two lead the changeling that the Princess and Guard Captain both trusted. "I need more authority if I am going to be in on all this…"
"Where is Careful?" Nimbus stormed into the main hall, looking around once before locking her eyes on Gleaming. "Where did those big oafs take him?"
"Why did he come back disguised as Shining Armor? The two guards must have caught him out so easily." Gleaming hung her head. "You will be able to visit him, even spend some time with him. I convinced them that he needs special 'food'."
"Food but not release? He is-" Nimbus halted her speech, spotting the two guards reentering the hall. "I will take the prisoner his food."
Gleaming stared in shock at the mare, she had completely switched from fury to subservience. "Good, see that it stays well fed. If they die of hunger in there, it will be my fault… and yours."
When the two guards had left again, Nimbus almost slumped in place. "They didn't hurt him, I hope?" She was surprised when Gleaming gestured to where the guards had come from. "What, now?"
"Let me see how far I can push this. We could always play our trump card." Gleaming grinned and started walking with Nimbus Cloud to the cells. "If he needs to be out immediately, we ask Rarity to come and talk nicely to them."
"Rarity? She is just a seamstress though…" Nimbus followed along.
"I dare you to call her that when she is around." Gleaming led the way up into the old prison cells that King Sombra had made good use of. "Guard?"
An old stallion poked his head out, spotted Gleaming and laughed. "Leavin' me alone up here for months, then somepony brings in a changeling and suddenly I am busy! On the left there."
"We need to enter his cell, the magic restrictions need to be lifted." Gleaming pointed a hoof at Nimbus. "She is going to be their meal."
Nimbus soon found herself in the cell with an undisguised Careful. Nimbus glared at the changeling, full of anger. "Who's fault is this? Shining? Yours?" She stepped right up to Careful and kissed the drone soundly.
"I'll wait outside." Gleaming blushed at the affection and left the two alone in the cell.
"Ain't you going to close the door? How'll you know which of em is comin' out?" The old guard squinted at Gleaming. "How's I know you aren't the changeling?"
"Look at them if you want. She is feeding it right now." Gleaming clomped her hooves out to the guard station. "Anypony else in here at the moment?"
"Nah, just our buggy visitor." The old guard plucked up the cards he had been playing with. "You play?"
Shining Armor took a big bite of the burger he had ordered. It looked appetizing and delicious but something was off with the flavor. Chewing it a few times he realized that Twilight was staring at him, a scroll at her side scratching away, taking notes. "Warff?"
"You have fangs, real fangs." Twilight's eyes were bright, her thoughts chasing around each other before latching on to another detail. "And your mane has some green in it."
Coughing, Shining tried to look to the sides, his armor clanging each time he did. Gulping down the mouthful, he regretted the action immediately. "Oh… oh no…"
"Your Highness," Gilt lit her horn and reached for her queen. "You can't just eat food like that, we can't… it doesn't work for us. Oh," she snuffed her horn out and leaned back, "you should go to the bathroom, fast."
"Now all of you looks green." Twilight leaned closer to the disguised drone at her side. "Do all uh… well, do you all turn green like that? Is it a pre-moult thing?"
"Nope," Gilt started getting up, her horn flashing bright green as she hefted Shining Armor from his seat. "Coming through!" Off at a gallop, the changeling saved her queen from a very messy demonstration of changeling digestive systems, or a lack thereof, by mere moments.
"I guess normal food doesn't agree with Shiny anymore." Cadance lifted out her own notebook and started making an entry. "What about you, Twilight? I thought you loved Hayburgers, you haven't even touched yours." It was more than obvious that Twilight was just too tied up in her investigation of her brother to really eat. "We have a long train ride ahead of us, you should eat something. You can take more notes then."
Deprived of her subject Twilight surrendered to the popular notion of eating. "You're right, but it is just so interesting. He even seemed to have more than just the two prominent fangs, how many sharp teeth does he have?" She floated a burger up and took a "stallion sized" bite from it.
"They are all like that now. Honestly I don't know why changelings even have them. What do they use the fangs for?" Cadance took a markedly smaller nibble of her burger, able to chew it daintily and swallow before Twilight even got partway through chewing her own. "I will have to ask them. How are your studies going?"
If there was a single way to distract Twilight Sparkle from anything, it was asking her about learning. Chewing rapidly and gulping, Twilight got the mouthful down. "Really good! Just yesterday Discord was here and-"
"Discord?" Cadance blinked in surprise. She still felt a slight grudge against the chaos spirit, if for nothing else than having attacked her favorite sister. "I told Auntie that he really wasn't worth the effort…"
"Who wasn't worth the effort?" Shining looked a lot less green as he rejoined his wife and sister. "Okay Gilt, we have to test this. I need to at least pretend to eat."
"Pretend?" Twilight and Cadance both completely forgot their conversation at mention of their science experiment and husband, respectively.
"Pretend." Gilt slid into the booth beside Twilight, and Shining took Cadance's side. It meant the poor stallion would have ease of access to evacuate quickly. "Put the food in your mouth, chew it a little, then use a shot of magic to put it somewhere else."
"That is clever!" Twilight set her burger down and her notepaper returned. "So where do you send it?" Her quill was poised, ready for the attack of knowledge she knew was about to come.
"Uh, well…" Gilt Wings blushed a little as she picked her burger back up. "You will be able to tell if a ch-" she froze and looked to her Queens, "somepony like me, is eating; they will visit the bathroom before taking a bite."
Twilight caught on first and nodded eagerly. "A good idea, nopony would notice you putting a few mouthfuls down the drain." Her quill was attacking the paper with ruthless efficiency. "So, BBBFF, let's see you try it."
Three sets of eyes were focused on Shining; the stallion gave a sigh. "Really, you are all going to stare at me?" Cadance and Twilight nodded, and seeing them nod so too did Gilt. "Well, I guess it means I can practice it without showing what I am doing. Here goes." He lifted up the burger, taking a moderate bite from it. The flavor was muted still, but he went through the motions of chewing.
"You work it into a ball, push it together with your tongue." Gilt watched her Queen doing a seemingly normal task. There was a green flash and suddenly Shining Armor was gone. "Maybe a little too much power…"
"Shiny?" Cadance turned her head toward the bathroom, looking back at the stallion reemerging, his helmeted head looking a little damp. "Oh Shiny, you have so much power now, you need to be more careful!"
Shining Armor stared right at Gilt. "I order you not to laugh." He took his seat, using the weakest drying spell he could to try to remove the moisture.
"Ignore him dear, you can laugh." Cadance poked her husband in the shoulder. "No ordering our new guard to do that, you know Gilt takes orders very seriously. Your soldiers might laugh and ignore such a command, but she wouldn't." Cadance turned to the changeling. "Would you?"
"Of course not!" Gilt looked between her two queens, a little of panic setting in. "I would never disobey an order from my Queen." In her haste and panic, the drone had dropped her ponyisms.
Realizing just what he had done, Shining reached a hoof across the table toward the mare. "Whoa, sorry Gilt." I am so going to have to be more careful. "You can always laugh, always speak your mind."
The confusion and tension in the drone evaporated, furthermore she realized how much her queens thought about and felt for her. "Yes Sir." She couldn't hold back the happy little chirp from her voice; it had been a very long time since Gilt had really believed the queen of her hive really cared for her.
Focusing on his food, Shining took a new bite and started chewing.
"You can do it Shiny."
"My Queen, less energy, just a trickle."
Twilight just stared, her quill poised like a guillotine, prepared to give a flurry of motion at the right signal.
Fighting his urge to swallow, Shining gave the slightest flick with his magic, focusing on what he wanted to happen. The draw of energy was so low it didn't even light his horn; his mouth was empty. "I did it!"
A cheer went up from the three mares and three fillies from the next table. Gilt, Shining, and Cadance all froze at the intense looks from the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
"Oh, I didn't see you there girls!" Twilight was a terrible liar, and she knew it. "Poor Shining has been-"
"Turned into a," Sweetie Belle pointed at Gilt, "somepony like her." Two little hooves gave obvious air quotes for the second half of her statement. "What is like her?"
"Can't you tell? She is a guard!" Scootaloo cut in, interrupting any possible attempt to derail the fillies. "And look at Twilight's big brother, he is a guard too. Remember at the wedding?"
"That's right!" Apple Bloom pushed her head forward, peeking at Twilight's notes. "What's an esophagus?"
"Maybe we should go, I am sure Shiny needs to practice more 'guard stuff'." Cadance poked her husband with a hoof, trying to get him moving. "And we have to catch the train a long, long way away from here, don't we, darling?" She gave her husband what Shining—and indeed most ponies who loved their willful wives most devoutly—called, "The Look."
Like many ponies before him, Shining Armor picked what times were right to argue a point with his wife and right now was certainly not one of them. "Oh, of course, Empire to 'emp' and all that!" He slipped from the booth and was quickly joined by Cadance, Twilight, and Gilt; the latter of which trotted quickly to hold the door.
"But how're we going to find out what the mystery is if y'all are leavin'?" Apple Bloom sounded heartbroken. "We need to find out what is going on. Cutie Mark Crusaders, Mystery Solvers!" All three fillies put their hooves up and got a resounding clop as they came together.
"We need to go, now. How fast can we get to the station?" Twilight was herding her family—and their guard—out. "If those fillies are given more than five minutes with a problem they will either solve it or lose interest, the latter only works if they don't think they can get a cutie mark on the subject."
"Why are they so fixated on cutie marks?" Gilt let the door close behind the last of their group.
Twilight half-smirked. "Imagine if you had no queen, but everypony around you had a queen." She regretted the analogy the moment she saw the disguised changeling's ears tuck back and her tail swish up and close to her back legs. "Or maybe not that bad. But still, it is an emptiness and those three feel that anything that might fill it is worth throwing all their attention at."
"I…" Gilt lifted her head a little, her posture improving, "I understand how they feel. When Princess Cadance and Shining Armor severed my ties to… her, I felt so lost and angry. I didn't want to feel what they were offering, I just wanted my hive back. I was blinded by the emptiness."
"I really do think that might be a little more than just being without a cutie mark… or maybe it isn't. Either way we need to get on a train out of here as fast as possible." Twilight smiled to Gilt, finding herself liking the changeling more and more. She pulled out her notes and started writing down her observations.
The warmth of Gilt's hive was right beside her, she literally couldn't ignore how it made her feel. "I really wish I could help those fillies…"
Cadance took notice of her guard's distraction. "You want to help them?"
"They just want to belong. I already belong, I belong to you, to all the other drones in your hive. They need somepony, or something, to belong to, to dedicate everything to." Gilt gave a slight prance as she trotted ahead of her queens. "I hope they find it!"
Grinning like a loon, Cadance spread her wing and pulled a little closer to her husband. "Changelings really are just ponies." She nuzzled Shining Armor's cheek a little. "To think that old Stalker-butt crashed our wedding and used them as cannon fodder. I almost feel bad about doing what I did."
"Cady, you did what you felt you had to. That wasn't the time to pull punches, Chrysalis had defeated Princess Celestia, there was no telling what she might do." Shining nuzzled back.
"Oh, I know what the plans were." Gilt led the way up the steps onto the platform at Ponyville Station. "Everypony with above average power was to be stuffed in pods, the rest would be mind controlled where needed. Then she was going to put something in the water to make everypony love everypony else a lot more…" She trailed off as she continued the plans, looking around the town. "It was a terrible plan. So many ponies would have been hurt."
Twilight rushed to her new friend's side. "She didn't, and now you don't have to do what she says anymore."
Gilt blinked at the mare, unsure how "The Destroyer of Changelings" had become her friend. "Thank you. I… I don't like that any of my siblings—even the not nice ones—are still under her hoof."
Shining set a heavy hoof on Gilt's shoulders, the changeling feeling not just the physical weight of the limb, but the intensity of the touch of her queen. "Gilt, I promise we will free as many as we can; won't we Cady?"
Cadance blinked at her husband in surprise. She saw steel in his eyes, determination that she rarely witnessed in most ponies. A glance at Gilt revealed hope, raw and unbridled. "Of course we will, I will promise too-" She got no further, she had a disguised changeling hugging her so tightly that she wondered if Gilt was using magic.
Gilt's eyes were damp. "My Queen… Queens, thank you!"
"They give me more hope than ever." Shining was laying beside Cadance in the big "royal carriage," watching Twilight and Gilt—the unicorn and changeling surrounded by notes—chatting away about magic.
"It certainly seemed to have become a great friendship, once they weren't terrified of each other." Cadance shifted, reaching her head over Shining's back and resting over him while looking out into the sunset. "What of Chrysalis?"
Shining tensed and felt all his muscles make ready for a fight. "What about her?" His new body felt all kinds of anger for Chrysalis, he even felt himself baring his fangs; but managed to stop before he actually hissed.
"You honestly think we aren't going to have to go up against her again? Once she finds out what we are doing she will come with as many of her hive as she can bring." Cadance saw the huge gorge fly by. "Let's say we can take all her drones, every last one. What then?"
"It depends." Shining lowered his head down to the couch-seat. "If she is really sorry? I…" He stopped and really thought on the idea. "She did bad things to me, Cady."
"I know she did. I have been fighting to keep you together after she did them. I held you, my Shining stallion, when you cried in fear of her coming again." Cadance felt inside her the huge shift in power as the evening progressed from daytime to night: Luna's domain.
"She will come again." Shining remembered the terror those thoughts had held for him. "She took something from me, she replaced it with something else. I guess it really will depend on why she did them. I wouldn't blame another soldier fighting me because he had been ordered to, or if he thought it was the only way he-"
"Or her." Cadance poked her husband's side with a hoof.
"I already conceded to you on that one." Shining chuckled regardless.
Cadance leaned a little, sneaking a kiss against Shining's cheek. "I may be graceful in victory, but only so far as it pertains to my mane and tail."
"Fair point, but so is mine. I need to know why she did what she did before I can hope to forgive her. I really hate this armor." Shining tilted his head, unable to turn enough to kiss Cadance without displacing her from his back.
"Then learn to transform. You could have spent this time with Gilt and Twi, working on your magic." Cadance kept teasing her stallion, kissing him on the cheek again and again. A green flare of magic poured from Shining's horn and Cadance found herself lifting up into the air. "Hey, this is cheating!"
"I know, I am becoming a changeling," Shining rolled to his back, the heavy armor barely inhibiting his movement, "cheating is what we do." He lowered Cadance back down, so she was beside him. He leaned up and kissed her soundly on the lips.
"Uh, my Queens…" Gilt surprised both Cadance and Shining out of their kiss. "We are here… sorry to intrude…"
Lifting her head, Cadance saw Twilight standing off to the side, her pack full of the notes she had been working on with Gilt. "So we are. Welcome to your new home, Gilt." Cadance stretched.
Watching his wife arching her back and stretching, Shining felt a complete lack of interest in moving. He studied Cadance's every line and suddenly found a great need to move. "Well, we are home. I wonder how things went for Careful?" Shining kept his eyes away from Cadance for the moment, not wanting to embarrass himself in front of his little sister.
"Is Careful the other changeling? The first one?" Twilight pulled out her notebook, flipping through it. "Ah, here… yes, he is the first one and—at least according to Gilt—quite a clever 'ling." Cadance looked to her husband and got a nod from him; both giggled. "What?" Twilight looked between them.
"Twilight, 'Ling'?" Cadance looked at the mare with mirth pulling her snout up at the corners.
Not seeing the full humor, Twilight entered lecture-mode. "Gilt used it. It is shortened from 'changeling' I am sure. Which is itself an interesting word, you see-"
"It was cute, Twily." Shining reached a foreleg up to ruffle his sister's mane as if she were still just a little filly. "Let's go see what Rarity has done for the guard."
"So this is where she got to?" Twilight used her magic to try to put her mane back into order. "She disappeared, telling Derpy she had a fashion emergency, and to tell me what was going on." Stepping down off the train, Twilight blinked at all the guards gathered around the platform at the late hour.
"What's going on?" Shining looked around the guard, immediately pulling his attention to Sergeant Dancing.
"Sir!" Dancing stepped forward. "Password?"
"Really?" Shining raised an eyebrow at the stallion. "Okay, Snow Flurry." The moment he said it the guard all relaxed. "Now if you could tell me why you are preventing us from leaving the train?"
"We found a changeling, sir!" Dancing stood as tall and proud as he could. "They arrived earlier today, disguised as you, sir."
Sudden fear filled Shining. What did they do with him? Was Careful okay? Would I feel it if he was hurt? "Excellent work, where did you secure them?" Shining spared a glance toward Cadance and saw his wife had a smile on her snout. Relief flooded him.
"In the tower cells, sir." Dancing saw now, the mare wearing the odd new armor, behind Shining. "Sir, you went recruiting?"
"Something like that." Shining started walking forward, trusting his rank and sheer mass to carve a path for his family. "Dancing, have all the guard assembled at dawn watch-change. All of them." Shining was surprised when Gilt pushed her way past the assembled guard and took her place before himself and Cadance. "Take us to the castle, Gilt."
There was a little murmur going around the guard as this mare in armor began leading the royal couple back to the castle. Gilt ignored it all, flicking her hooves in a half-prance.
"Laying it on a bit thick, Gilt?" Shining waited until they were out of earshot of the guards. "I mean, Dancing is a bit thick, but the rest are mostly good sorts."
"I am a royal guard of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor. I am also escorting the Prince's sister and personal student of Princess Celestia, Diarch of Equestria. I have a duty to be laying on everything thick." Gilt kept her prance going until her senses picked up on the Crystal Heart. "Uh… my… what is… oh…"
Blue magic gave Gilt and Shining a little shake each. "Both of you, snap out of it. That is the Crystal Heart, Shining, Gilt. Both of you have to keep back from it now." Cadance discreetly guided the pair toward one of the entrances to the castle.
Following along, Twilight took notes of how her brother and Gilt reacted to the Heart. Putting her quill and scroll away, she had barely a moment to work out she was in the great hall of the castle when a white blur suddenly attacked.
"Darling!" Rarity hugged Twilight close and squeezed her friend. "I am sorry I couldn't tell you everything, but you have to understand it was an emergency. Your brother needed new armor and…" She suddenly pulled back, slamming her forehooves over her snout.
Cadance looked at her sister and then around the hall and took note of the ponies. "Twilight Sparkle, this is Gleaming Shine." She gestured to the guard. "And I believe everypony here knows my husband's secret. So please, let's relax a little."
Twilight looked to Rarity first, and got a nod. "Am I the last to know?" She looked at her BBBFF, feeling a repeat of what happened before his wedding.
"Twily, I couldn't have come to visit you without this armor. I had to get Rarity in to make it. As for Gleaming, she is helping Rarity, and will be one of my first new Royal Crystal Guard." Shining spared a look to Gleaming, noticing her eyes widening. "But of course she will have to follow her new Captain, Gilt Wings."
Gleaming looked at the unicorn wearing the odd guard armor. "Uh, sir?" She blinked a few times, not quite understanding things. "Is there anything I can do to help… uh, organize?"
"You could lead us to this dastardly changeling that the Royal Guard seem to have captured. I hope you are keeping a close eye on them, changelings can be extremely sneaky." Gilt projected every bit of confidence and command.
"Sir!" Gleaming responded to the authority and started marching for the stairs up to the cells. Only Gilt followed, and it surprised her at first but—after reaching the right floor—she relaxed shortly. She is the new Captain of the new Guard, I guess she is trusted by the Princess and Shining Armor... "This floor, sir. There is an old gaoler, but he isn't a bad sort."
Gilt decided that the best way to handle this was to just push forward and ignore anything as below her authority. "Where is this changeling?"
"Ma'am!" The old stallion got up from his game of cards. "We put it in the magic-resisting cell at first, but apparently they needed feeding… a lot of feeding." He coughed a little, quite loudly. A mare's head poked out of an open cell door.
"And its cell isn't locked because?" Gilt strode towards the cell and looked inside. Careful Steps sat on the bed, with a slightly disheveled pegasus sitting beside him. "Ah, here we are. Very lucky that the Princess has returned, she wishes to interrogate him in the main hall, apparently a public showing is just what she wishes. She even invited the Element Bearer Twilight Sparkle, Slayer of Changelings, just to help." Gilt gave the most evil look she could manage. "I don't care who manages it, but have the prisoner follow me." With that she turned and marched back down the stairs, not once looking behind her.
Reaching the main hall again, Gilt looked across and saw her queens both staring at her, Twilight Sparkle, and Rarity too. She is every bit the "destroyer" Twilight was, maybe she is a master of arcane magics too?
"Your Highnesses!" Careful got to the bottom steps before spotting Twilight Sparkle. His eyes were wide as he took in the calculating look on the mare's face. She will take me apart to work out how I tick...
"Hey, Careful?" Gilt dropped her disguise. "Next time you find a new hive, bring your old buddies along, please?" The confused look that Careful gave her had Gilt giggling madly.
"Gilt Wings?" Careful looked from the changeling at his side back to the royals, noticing that Twilight Sparkle was right in front of him. "Uh… oh…"
"Go easy on him, Twilight," Gilt reached a hole-filled leg up and over Careful's withers, "he seems a little fragile at first, but you will find Careful is a clever 'ling."
"Hello Careful. I am Twilight Sparkle. Pleased to meet you!" Twilight lifted her hoof to offer a little clop. He looks almost exactly the same as Gilt. I wonder how their genders differ?
Reaching up a hoof, Careful bopped it against Twilight's hoof. "P-P-Pleased to meet you. Your Majesties!" Careful shook himself and ran out from under his hivemate's foreleg. "Your Majesties, I messed up. They caught me before I even got into the city."
"It's okay, Careful." Shining unbuckled his helmet and lifted it free. "It is time to announce things to the guards… maybe not all the things. But I need you to teach me something." Shining knew his words were flowing past Careful, the drone's eyes were locked on the crooked, black horn that protruded from his head. "I need you to teach me how to shape-shift."
Twilight yawned as she woke up, sunlight streaming in through her bedroom window. A brief pang of worry hit her—confusion at why she wasn't in her own bed—but quickly faded as memories filled in the blanks for her.
Climbing out of bed she stretched and shook. "It's going to be a big day today, I need to make a list of everything I need to do, and another for the things I want to do." She gave a happy nod at that and used her magic to fetch two scrolls from her bags. "First, make lists." Twilight giggled at her old joke. "I should have brought Spike with me, but somepony has to keep an eye on the library."
Taking care of her morning duties, Twilight trotted out into the hall and followed her nose. "Just like in Canterlot Castle." She giggled and heading unerringly in the direction of the kitchen. Her ears were the next sense to guide her path and Twilight turned into the dining room to find Cadance and her BBBFF talking over breakfast. She held still a moment and watched as Shining "ate" food, able to sense the slightest build-up of energy as he sent the food away before swallowing.
"Twily!" Shining was off his seat and across the room before his little sister had even entered the room. Both hugged tightly as they met. "How was the room?"
"It was a room." Twilight smiled at her brother's question. "Ready for a full day of doing science?" Her eyes practically lit up at the prospect, even just the emotions the word evoked. Taking her seat at the table she reached over to pull some salad onto her waiting plate.
"Just make sure Shiny is back in one piece." Cadance lifted up some lettuce and daisy salad, munching on it thoughtfully. "Well, mostly. Last time we did science he ended up with holes." She waved a fork around as she spoke.
"One time!" Shining couldn't keep the laugh out of his voice. "It would be good to not have to wear this," he jangled a hoof up, covered in armor, "so hopefully Careful can work out what we were doing wrong."
Twilight giggled at her married siblings. Munching away at her salad, she pondered the things to do again and pulled out her lists and started adding more tests to them. Her attention was broken when a unicorn walked in and settled beside her BBBFF.
"Good morning, Careful." Cadance smiled as wide as she ever could, she didn't need her magic to see that the disguised changeling was head over hooves in love with somepony. "Today we are fixing the little mistake of yesterday, once and for all."
Whenever Queen Cadance spoke in such a way, Careful knew to be ready for something big. He didn't make a show of eating, he just sat there. "Yes, Princess Cadance?"
"We are reducing the guard down and increasing it." Shining focused and sent another mouthful of food away to the castle's privy system. "We will no longer be supporting Canterlot guard here, we are starting our new guard, our own. You have met who I intend to help me run it."
"Gilt?" At Careful's question Shining nodded. "A good choice. A clever mare with a good head on her withers." He pondered the thoughts more. "A very good choice. What do you mean by increasing it?"
"The guard will be open to everypony who is willing to learn the craft. Mares, stallions, pegasi, unicorns, earth ponies," Shining tilted his head to Careful, "and changelings." The single word—spoken aloud—made not only Careful jump, but everypony within earshot.
Cadance giggled and leaned forward to take a kiss from her husband. "Changelings were as hurt by what Chrysalis did as everypony else, more so really. You have to live with how much Equestria now hates you," she inhaled deeply, "but not the Crystal Empire. Careful Steps, please remove your disguise."
Heads turned and stared at him, Careful looked up at his Queens. Looking from Cadance to Shining, he felt the love and support of his hive in them—and let go.
"It's a changeling!"
"Tell the Princess!"
"There's the Princess!"
"Why isn't she attacking them?"
The words cut through Careful's chitin like magic-tipped spears. He sat there, eyes closed and fearing what he would see when he opened them. But his hive was here, his Queens right beside him. He opened his eyes and saw the love and praise in Queen Cadance's eyes, swapping to Queen Shining and seeing that he too had support in abundance. "My… my Queens. What would you have me do?"
"Come with us to the guard practice field." Shining got up and turned. Astonished gazes were focused on the royal table as everypony present seemed in shock at there being a changeling not only in their midst, but accepted as such. "Everypony, this is still Careful, please treat him with all the respect you did before."
"But sir," a guard stepped forward, "he's a-" Cutting off his words, he sat back down.
"He is a changeling, a friend, and one of the smartest ponies I know." Shining gave a lop-sided grin to Careful. "I want it known that not only is he just a pony like everypony else, but if there are more changelings in the Crystal Empire," Shining took a deep breath, "we welcome them."
Cadance took her cue, stepping up beside her husband. I am so proud of him. Leaning in, she pressed the tip of her snout to his, their necks arcing in a pose reminiscent of when they had driven off Chrysalis.
The flapping of wings heralded Nimbus' arrival, the mare stopping in the doorway and staring at her coltfriend. She saw how proudly he stood and grinned like a schoolfilly at her first crush.
"The day isn't getting any younger, time to see to the guard. Twily, you coming for this?" Shining turned to face his little sister and caught her wide grin. "Yes?" Twilight nodded rapidly. "Hear that, love, I might have my first new recruit." Shining gave Cadance a peck on the cheek and strode for the door, leaving anypony who wanted to join in his meeting scrambling to catch up.
Twilight, however, just kept grinning. "Is he always like this? I don't think I have seen my BBBFF stand so tall before." She wasn't rushing, she had a plan. Teleportation is cheating, but this salad is delicious.
"Recently," Cadance gave a deep sigh of pride, "he has been walking a lot taller. I blame good food." She winked to Twilight and started to trot out of the dining room. With the royal couple gone the room fairly exploded into talk. A few ponies were still looking at Careful, while some others took off from the room at a dead run.
"Rumor is like lightning." Nimbus sat at the table, opposite Twilight. "And now the young mare finds herself having breakfast opposite the Element-bearer of Magic, Sister to Shining Armor, Twilight Sparkle." She stopped the "third person narrative" tone she had taken. "So what is your take on all this?"
Despite Twilight's less-than-steller sense at picking up social cues, she could tell the moment Careful sat down beside Nimbus that they were a couple—she smiled at the two. "Oh, you know me, saving Equestria, saving the Crystal Empire, and all that between taking care of a library and raising a dragon." The look Twilight gave Nimbus and Careful had both of them snorting a little. "I came because my brother needs somepony to look into a…" Twilight trailed off, every ear in the room seemed rotated toward their table, their own conversations paused, "problem with a scroll." Conversation restarted on all the tables once more.
"Oh yes, that scroll is quite the problem. I hope you can help." Careful caught on instantly, his senses pushed to their limit. I feel so open, defenseless. "Speaking of which, you aren't going to see what he intends for the guard?"
Twilight lifted up the last piece of crisp lettuce to her snout and chewed it slowly. Once it was clear of her palate, she gave a nod. "About to head to him now, please excuse me." She felt out her brother and sister with her magic, this was one of her oldest and most intuitive spells. "Bye!" With a POMF of magic Twilight vanished and appeared to one side of her brother.
"I owe you five bits, Cady." Shining reached up a hoof to gently muss his sister's mane. "Step one down, changelings are officially citizens."
"You know it is going to take more than that, right? I mean, you just suddenly showed that a trusted member of the royal court is a changeling, you think everypony will change from distrust to acceptance overnight?" Twilight blinked up at her brother.
"It would be nice, but you are right, Twily. We need to lead by example." Shining Armor looked every bit the stallion in charge as he trotted toward the arrayed Royal Guards; it helped that Cadance and Twilight were with him, but this was literally his element.
Cadance looked over her husband's back toward Twilight, catching her sister's attention. Wearing a grin a mile wide, she mouthed, "Lead by example."
"At ease." Shining's voice lifted easily to his parade-ground timbre and volume. "A lot of you have been with me for a while now, when I took this post you came with me. You others are just as welcome, just as trusted. Some rumors will be circling of changelings in the castle, of a fake Shining Armor walking around." He paused long for effect, spotting a few of the typical rumor-mongers nodding. "They are true. Several members of the royal household are not only known to be changelings, but are welcome as such. I expect them to be treated with the respect you would show anypony in the Empire."
The less disciplined—along with some of the older soldiers—began mumbling between each other.
"Permission to speak freely is granted. Starting with the front row and working left to right, what do you think?" Shining turned to the first in row and column, it was the newest officer recruit, Gilt Wings. "Gilt, isn't it?"
"Sir, yes sir!" Gilt grinned. "You hired me most recently of all your soldiers, but I owe you my life, your word is my honor." She gazed straight ahead, unable to look at her Queen lest she cry, drop her disguise, or both. To her surprise a lot of hooves thumped the ground, an anonymous round of support for the words.
"Next." Shining looked to the lieutenant beside Gilt.
"We won't be in trouble for sayin' what's on our mind, sir?" The stallion was one of the "old guard" from Canterlot.
"Of course not. Speak your mind as you always have, Dropper." Shining had stood with this stallion through a few of the stranger fights the guard had faced.
"Changelings are monsters, sir, and should be driven out. After what they did at Canterlot, I can't ever trust them." Dropper spat on the ground unceremoniously.
It took a steeled heart to brace against the soft clopping of hooves against the ground, Shining moved on and on, hearing each soldier give their opinion. All of the new blood are with me, half of the old guards would follow me to Tartarus... Shining looked out over the waiting faces. "Everypony who cannot stand beside a changeling and call them 'brother,' or 'sister,' may leave for Canterlot. Everypony present is now granted a transfer to there, there is no Royal Guard in the Crystal Empire."
The field was silent, every single pony stared at Shining with shock and amazement.
That was the sting, Shining. Time to hook those that want to stay. "Lieutenant Gilt Wings of the Royal Crystal Guard!" The voice echoed over the assembled.
Gilt stepped out of line with the soldiers who were no longer soldiers here. "Sir, yes sir?" She halted directly in front of Shining Armor.
"Gilt, drop that disguise, it is unbecoming." Shining's words drove shock deeper into everypony present, more so when she did drop the disguise, "You are promoted to Captain of the Royal Crystal Guard. Are you willing to start accepting applications to join?"
"Sir, yes sir!" Gilt spun in place, her shiny black carapace catching the morning sun. She lifted her voice almost on par with Shining's, "Anypony wishing to sign up to be in the Royal Crystal Guard remain, the rest of you…" she turned her head, blue eyes watching her Queen nod, "are dismissed!"
"This is horse-apples!" Dropper stepped forward. "I didn't complain when you started letting mares in. I didn't complain when you hired one as an officer." He glared at Gilt. "But changelings? Sending us away?"
"You can stay if you want to, Dropper." Shining looked the stallion in the eyes. "But if you continue to speak ill of your superior officer you will be stuck peeling potatoes until next Nightmare Night." Shining watched as the stallion turned and started walking away.
It started an exodus, nearly half his guards were walking away. Shining had to close his eyes to stop from crying at the loss of friends.
"Sir, the Royal Crystal Guard are waiting for your first address as Commander." Gilt's words caused Shining to open his eyes again. "We will build numbers back up, sir. If nothing else, there was a lot of very miserable changelings back at the hive."
"It's not treason!" Dropper shook his head. "I've known Shining since he was a colt. He was a good lad and grew into a great commander." The stallion looked around at the other lieutenants who had removed themselves from the pony-in-question's service. "He knows what the protocol is now, he came up with it. So either he is expecting us to contact Princess Celestia, or he is being mind controlled and wants us to contact her. Either way, it isn't treason."
There was a few mumbles, but none of the other officers could question the logic. Reaching inside his armor, Dropper pulled out the little stick of brittle metal. "One way or another, this needs to be checked out." He snapped the little rod, feeling the burst of power rush out from it. Around the other soldiers, more snapping sounds were heard.
The sharp pings of magic radiated outwards, winding along the paths of magic but curling back around to seek out one pony. Princess Celestia was relaxing in her garden, simply bathing in the warmth of her element, when the first snap of magic reached her. The devices gave her a sense of direction and distance, and as each one impacted with her senses her urgency grew. Rising to her hooves—looking to the north—she waited for one special one.
A full minute went by with no further snaps.
"Shining Armor, what has happened?" Celestia spread her wings and leaped into the air. This was no time for delicate flight magic to make her look majestic, to have so many warnings from her guard all at once meant something dire. Pouring on raw power, Celestia energized her horn and in less than a heartbeat she was a crackling blur of light, speeding toward the Crystal Empire.
Relaxing her magic when she was near where the alarm rods were triggered, Princess Celestia circled around to the east, making sure her wings were framed by the sun as she landed. A wave of guard officers launched forward, all talking at once. I remember now why I promoted that stallion. If nothing else, Shining Armor could herd the guard into a semblance of order. "Stop." The word was not softly spoken, but she made sure there was no real power behind it. "Who broke their rod first?"
"Your Highness." Dropper stepped forward from the gaggle of his contemporaries. "I did, and I encouraged them to do the same." He bowed to his Princess. "It's about the Captain, he-"
"He's under the changeling's control!"
"Chrysalis is disguised as Princess Cadance again!"
"He fired all the guard and replaced us with changelings!"
"Stop." If it wasn't for the first guard sounding so worried Celestia would have flown back home then and there. "Is any of this true? Lieutenant..." She spoke only to Lieutenant Dropper. If they start again I may have to use magic… not that I want to, this might be serious.
"Lieutenant Dropper, Your Highness." Dropper gave a curt nod. "He dismissed the guard, claiming that he was forming up his own, the Royal Crystal Guard. He made it known that he was accepting changelings," he tried not to spit the word out, but after the Royal Guard failed to stop the invasion of Canterlot he just couldn't stop feeling spite, "into his new guard. Then his newest recruit stepped forward, he declared her Captain and told her to drop her disguise."
"I see." Celestia's mouth pulled tight. "Thank you, all of you, for bringing this to my attention. I will get to the bottom of this. To me, Royal Guard!" The command was instantly obeyed, the lieutenants snapping into a tight formation behind her. This is going to look terrible if it is a big mistake. I would wear egg on my snout a thousand times over to keep my ponies safe.
Thanks to the Crystal Heart's energies the "frozen north" was not so frozen around the huge city. It wouldn't do to fly right in with her guards, so Celestia enjoyed the walk and thought of how to handle the possible situations that might have come up. Ponies bowed to her in the street, a slight air of nervousness following Celestia like a cloak, covering the city.
"She's here about the new law."
"… lings aren't that bad, that one up at the castle was quite polite."
"This isn't Equestria, what is she doing here?"
Celestia's ears itched at the snatches of conversations, she wished she could race off after each one and ask them what they meant. When her hooves hit the tiled plaza around the castle, the sense of tension grew sharp and tight as piano wire. Stepping up to one of the doors at the foot of the castle, the official door, Celestia lifted her own hoof and knocked.
It was like the whole city was silent, not a hint of movement or conversation. She was just about to lift her hoof and knock again when the doors opened, pushed wide in a combination of green and blue magic. Her first thought was that a changeling was opening the door with another pony, but it was two unicorns, wearing armor completely different from the Royal Guard standard issue. "I am here to see Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor." Both ponies bowed and figuratively melted into the sides of the hall, letting Celestia advance upwards.
"Auntie!" Cadance was waiting on her throne, prepared to meet the "not a queen" ruler of Equestria. "I really wish you would announce yourself before visiting." Cadance was playing the delicate game, using familiar names, keeping things civil.
"Cadance," Celestia took her cue from the other princess, "I came with some haste, apparently you dismissed my guard and they-"
"They activated their alarms. They summoned you because they couldn't see past their own ignorance." Shining was more than a little surprised to find himself talking, baiting, Celestia. "I asked only that ponies who couldn't welcome other ponies leave. They could have stayed."
Celestia could feel the tension grow in the guard behind her, she ruffled her wings a little to get their attention off raising their voices out of turn. "Shining Armor, there is truth in those words, but I still worry for you. At the wedding you-"
"My husband is not being controlled by any outside influences." Cadance saw that being interrupted was leaving Celestia a little off-balance. Good, we need that. "You are of course welcome to stay, we will have rooms made up. Careful?"
The tension in the room rose a few more notches as a changeling marched out of an alcove, a book hovering in their green magic. "Yes, Princess Cadance?" Careful felt eyes boring into his spine, they defied any hope his chitin might have of deflecting them.
"Please have the suite for visiting royalty prepared at once." Cadance purred the words, her eyes dancing. Raising her voice, she looked over to Celestia. "Will your guard need rooms too?"
"Your Highness…" Careful knew what his Queen planned, knew that this part at least was a setup. "You had me put Twilight Sparkle in the Royal Suite."
"Oh drat, well, we could use the other big suite… oh, Rarity is in there." Cadance saw her "auntie" put off balance for the first time in quite a while. "But honestly, we can surely find you a room, this castle is huge."
"I don't think that will be needed, however I am going to need to cast a spell on you, both of you." Celestia saw two pairs of eyes narrow at her statement, neither Shining nor Cadance looked like they would put up with this. To her shock, Shining Armor smiled first.
"Of course you can, we have nothing to hide. What are you casting on us?" Shining's blood was practically freezing, he knew that if Princess Celestia was going to use some kind of changeling detector spell he would likely flash up on it. He leaned over and pecked Cadance on the cheek with a quick kiss.
"A spell I have worked on since the last… incident." Celestia focused her magic and materialized a scroll. "It detects when a pony is under the influence of changeling magic." She floated the spell scroll over.
"This is quite useful." Cadance brightened at the scroll and at Celestia. Scanning the page quickly, she tried in desperation to find just how it detected such, but the thing was just too complicated for her to figure out. Twilight, though, would make it through this in minutes. "Very well, cast it." Cadance knew she couldn't appear to be challenging the casting of the spell at all, particularly not if it does show something when cast.
"You understand, I would prefer something that detects changelings, but apparently there is only one way to do that." Celestia raised an eyebrow at Cadance and Shining before working power in her horn. "This will show where the source of any control lies, and its intensity." With a good-amount of push Celestia finished casting the spell. She directed it forwards, toward the throne.
The first to be hit by the magic was Careful, the changeling flaring with brightness as two lines reached out to point at both Shining and Cadance. Another softer glow, almost invisible, surrounded Shining Armor and pointed off far to the south.
"Ah ha!" Dropper dashed forward. "Clearly they are both changelings! Look at how much they affect that one!" He gestured to Careful. "Like when the Bug Queen ordered them around! Arrest them!"
"Darling." Cadance spread her wings out, catching Shining Armor with one and pulling Careful in on her other side with the other.
Shining didn't waste a second, he started to put up his shield and froze. "No, this is stupid. We aren't changelings, we aren't being affected by them." He pointed a hoof at Dropper. "If you come anywhere near my wife, don't think I won't break that spear off and put it somewhere you will never find."
Celestia blinked at the unfolding events. "Lieutenant Dropper, fall back into line." When the stallion hesitated, Celestia made sure to give a nod to Shining. "Now!" The Royal Canterlot Voice was not commonly heard from Princess Celestia, it rated at least twice as loud as when Luna used it. "This only shows that Shining Armor had minor mind control used on him by a changeling recently, or that such was used and is faded from time. The latter, of course, is known to be true."
Shining kept his smile from showing teeth. "Thank you, Princess Celestia. I can explain the effect on Careful." He waited for a slight nod of Celestia's head. "It is quite simple, you saw how we subdued the changeling in Canterlot?" Another nod. "It binds them to us, it breaks their ties to Chrysalis' hive and leaves them beholden to us." He gestured to Cadance. "It is… unfortunate, that they need to be bound in any way, but apparently that is how changelings work."
"Uh, sorry to speak up." Careful lowered his head and executed a deep bow to Celestia. "We need a queen, it is… it is part of what we are. If my choice is Queen Angry-butt, or Shining Armor and Princess Cadance… the choice isn't a hard one." He smiled wide, the two prominent fangs were still on display of course, but it was clear where his loyalties ran.
The oddly descriptive title awarded to Chrysalis couldn't help but make Celestia smile a little and calm down even more. "And the reason for a change in your guard was simply to include a new species of pony?"
"No, not by far." Shining stood up and stretched. "Earth ponies are sadly underrepresented in the guard, as well as mares. That is being fixed. My offer to all the guards was simply to accept a wider diversity of ponies in the guard, or leave."
"That seems reasonable. While I don't think Canterlot or Equestria is quite ready to have changelings out and about—the wedding events left a bit of a mark on everypony—but trust me, I will be watching events quite closely. I have often wondered why my Royal Guard were gender-specific as well…" She looked back at the lieutenants and watched more than one squirm.
Yeah, more marks than you might think on some. Shining beamed. "The wedding was a little rough, next time, let's not invite any armies?"
"Next time?" Cadance drew her wing back from her husband. "Tell me—in detail—about this 'Next time.' " She grinned at him, showing how much she was joking. "Is the inquisition over?" it was a jab, but she directed her gaze at the guards rather than Celestia.
Dropper tried to hide his fury behind a mask, but he was nowhere near as good at it as his Princess. He dropped his head to hide his expression further.
"I believe this is settled. Shining Armor, you still have your alarm rod?" It was Celestia's turn to wait for Shining to nod. "Please keep it, as an apology from Equestria to the Crystal Empire over this matter." She got a slight nod from Cadance and Shining this time.
Celestia bowed to the throne of the Crystal Empire and herded the guard officers from the throne room.
"Your Highness!" Dropper had to try one more time. "There is something really odd going on here, I just-"
"Lieutenant Dropper, you have a good nose for this. There is something going on, but those two are definitely at the center. It is their empire, however." Celestia began trotting for the train station. "Have no fear that I will be keeping an eye on them."
"Something very strange is going on." Celestia stood beside her sister, the pair alone in the garden. Pulling slowly, the Princess of the Sun slowly ended the day, just as her sister was flush with her own power while raising the moon.
"Oh?" Luna loved the sensation of raising the moon. She may have been a monster for her time there, but she loved the night and its herald. "You mean Shining Armor and Cadance catching changelings skulking around is normal?"
The look Luna gave Celestia had the white alicorn giving a giggle and wrapping a wing over her sister. "Ever since you returned, the days have been more interesting, Lulu. But no, everything happening in the Crystal Empire seems completely at odds with how I intended things to go."
Luna leaned in, pressing her neck against her sister's throat. "Oh no, Princess Celestia!" It was obvious by her tone that she was working on another droll comment. "Has something in Equestria not gone according to your Marechiavellian plans?" Luna lifted a hoof and rested her fetlock across her forehead for extra effect.
"I see your sense of humor is coming back, Lulu." Celestia shook her head at her melodramatic sister's little stunt. "I sent Shining Armor and Princess Cadance there to help give them a little space, some practice leading, and to help stabilize the north."
"And?" Luna slipped out from under her sister's wing, trotting to an old rose bush that had just past its flowering time. A rose hip was swiftly consumed.
"Lulu, there is something really strange going on. They have a changeling as their Regent, and if the guards' reports are anything to go by, as their Captain of the Guard." Celestia had to smile past her worry, seeing her sister so at ease soothed her spirit.
"So they are more than just monsters? I think I would dearly like to go and see for myself." Luna plucked up another rose hip, biting into it to release the strong flavor. She thought about it some more. "So what will you do now? What is the real problem?"
"The real problem is, Lulu, if I had pushed on the claims of my guards, I might-well have been ejected from the Crystal Empire. Cadance always had a strong sense of what she wanted, I hoped Shining would temper that a little, being the biggest thing she wanted. Instead, he has risen to match her."
"He challenged you, didn't he?" Luna couldn't stop her giggle, her sister's tone was a mix of indignation and righteousness. The silence Celestia dropped into was Luna's answer. "So they are going to be their own country? I think that is wonderful."
"Wonderful? Luna, one, or both of them, might be under the control of changelings and you think it is 'wonderful'?" Celestia's shock at her sister turned into understanding. "I hadn't gotten to that bit yet, had I?" When Luna shook her head, Celestia sighed. "Shining dismissed all the guard there, told them they were released from their duty. Then he invited any remaining to rejoin the 'Royal Crystal Guard.' "
"Sensible if he wants to secede from Equestria. You mentioned a changeling as the Captain?" Luna knew the answer, but her sister nodded to her anyway. "A bit odd, considering his treatment by them in the past… although I would only know that through second-hoof ways…"
"I said I was sorry I didn't wake you. It was a wedding, and then I was in a pod, and then I had to clean up and… You fight dirty, Lulu." Celestia gave a sigh as her sister pranced over and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Of course I do. You were always the mare to stand up tall and call out our enemies." Luna used her magic to pluck two more rose hips, tossing one toward her sister's snout and bringing the other to her own. Inhaling the spent scent of the rose she had to fight her urge to gobble it up immediately. "I will send somepony." She gave in to her desire and bit the hip in half.
"How can you eat these things? They are so bitter…" Celestia, however, ate the hip regardless. "Do you need me to-" She stopped at the expression Luna gave her. "Okay, I trust you. If your… friend, needs help-"
"If they need help they will let me know, and then we can both go sailing in like old times, blasting away the monsters and making all the little ponies happy. If they find a fledgling nation growing into its own hooves, we will instead send a letter of congratulations and a request to visit." Luna smiled at her sister. "After all this time, Tia, and you still leave the dark things to me. You brought this to me because you didn't know what to do but make a mess," Luna lifted her hoof up and with great precision, booped her sister, "so let me handle it."
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
"But LT, when are we going back on active duty?" Gleaming Fire had given their squad three days of leave, but he didn't want to leave Dropper alone with him so worked up. "You said to take a rec-leave…"
"Gleam, I am going on a solo mission." Dropper was packing his kit. "You should be on leave, with the rest." He added his personal effects to the pack too.
"Drop, what are you doing? Did you get an order to go somewhere?" Gleam watched as Dropper packed the photo the stallion kept of his parents. "Dropper, talk to me. You know I am always by your side."
"Nopony believes me. I gotta go save the Captain. Whatever that bug has done to him, I'm gonna stop it." Dropper's tone was a study in controlled emotion, he was trying desperately not to cry for Shining Armor. "I am heading for the train in an hour, after I requisition some equipment. If you want to be a hero, be ready."
Gleam charged off, his blood running hot with the near-order. Reaching his bunk he started packing his own things, stuffing his pack with his gear as well as his picture of Sugar Melt. "I'll be back, you know I will be, I just have to do this Sugar." Another spike of loyalty hit him, had him draw his attention to a picture at the end of the barracks. "I need to tell somepony what I am doing, first."
Hefting his bag, Gleaming Fire trotted from the barracks and worked through the castle until he was at the door of the suite Princess Luna lived in. "I need to see the Princess." He had seen action, the two bat ponies standing guard at the door didn't faze him. "Now."
"Princess Luna is in a meeting and is not to be dis-" One of the guards at the door didn't even see the pegasus move, a note was fluttering in the pegasus' wake. "Huh… wasn't he a Royal Guard?"
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
"Your Majesty, please focus on the image you want." Careful repeated himself, his magic making another little mark on the page.
Shining sighed deeply and rolled his shoulders, secretly glad to have a reason to be out of his armor. "I am trying. I am making the image of me-"
"No, do something easier first. Something you look at every day of your life." Careful blinked at how stupid he had been. "Sorry, Your Majesty, that was my fault. I should have thought to coach you more on selecting an image. Why not try your wife first?"
"C-C-Cady?" Shining couldn't stop himself, just mention of Cadance had her image, smell, and even taste, come to mind. Something poured up into his horn, a new kind of magic and, before he could stop it, it grabbed the image in his head and rushed back down, pouring into his body.
"You did it!" Careful was on his hooves, doing a little dance. "Come quickly! Shining finally managed to transform!" He was still dancing when Cadance, Twilight, and Rarity all dashed through the door. "Look!"
"Princess Cadance?" Twilight stood in shock at her brother.
"Princess Cadance?" Rarity looked back and forth between Shining Armor and Princess Cadance.
"Shiny!" Cadance, the real one, rushed forward and wrapped her husband with both wings and forelegs. "You did it! What…" She turned to look at Careful. "Should I ask why my husband looks like me?"
Shining Armor finally got the nerve up to look down. "Wow…" Her voice was perfect, her body was perfect. She closed her eyes and thought, what would Cadance do? Smiling, Shining Armor opened her wings and wrapped them around Cadance, pulling the two closer together, and kissed her wife soundly.
"We should leave." Rarity started to turn and, despite the impropriety of it, grabbed her friend and pulled Twilight from the room too. Just behind her, Careful marched, flush with success.
"I did it, my Queen did it!" Careful closed the door and did a little more of a dance. "Shining is now fully a queen!"
"Shining, this is… tell me what happened." Cadance didn't let go of her husband, even if it was a little strange to be hugging herself.
"We had been working on disguising, Careful kept telling me to form an image of what I wanted and push magic through it. So I was trying to remember myself, so I could be myself again." Shining was a little surprised at her voice, but the more she talked the more comfortable it got. "I mentioned I was trying as hard as I could to think of my own image. He got mad, but at himself. He… I need to change back." Shining's eyes were suddenly wide.
"Shiny, what's the matter?" Cadance tucked her wings back from her struggling husband. "Just change back then."
"No, I need… he didn't teach me…" Shining was dancing from hoof to hoof, looking like a filly in a panic. Suddenly she squeaked loudly and took off at a gallop. "I NEED TO PEE!" Bursting out the door, she barely slowed as she rounded the corner and was off.
Cadance blinked a few times at the image. "I wonder if I look that silly when I flap my wings and run?" She sat down to wait for her husband's return. It wasn't a long wait, no more than ten minutes.
"Where is that drone?" Shining clopped her way into the study, dragging the door closed behind her. "If I find out where he is before-"
"Bathroom?" Cadance lifted her hoof to hide her giggle, badly. "We kind of shooed them out, Shiny. Are you feeling better?" She reached out with her magic, flicking the "annoying" bit of mane that always bugged her out of her husband's face.
"The next time I complain about you being late due to, ahem, 'mare things'… Just kick me, okay?" Shining walked right up to Cadance and kissed her soundly. It felt different, but the same. Cadance's lips felt just as soft and inviting, just as perfect as always, but now Shining's were the same. Opening her new senses, she reached for her wife and slurped up the love she was giving off, not stopping until she felt her head spin.
Cadance felt Shining feed, not caring in the least. It is a little strange, kissing myself. He… she, feels softer, not bad… different. Cadance found it easy to relax, to give herself to the attention.
Shining's eyes widened a little at the renewed excitement Cadance seemed to bring, how good it felt to relax. But she wanted more, her body wanted more and she pushed, thrusting her tongue into Cadance's mouth and smiling into the kiss.
Cadance had done the dance many times, but as she charged her horn she realized this was going to be a new one. Holding Shining Tightly, Cadance teleported herself and Shining to their bedroom, hearing a little gasp of surprise from her husband. With their lips broken apart, she could talk again. "What? You thought I would be turned off by this?" She didn't want to risk another kiss, realizing they could be stuck for hours if she did.
"I am not sure about it… I mean, what is down… down there, is really different." Shining pointed to her back end with a dainty pink hoof. "I… what?" She blinked at her wife, missing the humor she obviously was taking with it all.
"Shining Armor, I believe you know exactly what is 'down there,' and if by now you don't then I propose we both study it in more detail." Cadance stood up to her full height, loosing her wings at her sides to add extra dimension. "You honestly think we were never going to play any sorts of games with this?"
Frozen like a deer in headlights, it took a few moments for Shining's brain to catch up with her wife's intent. "I guess I didn't think about it like that… what if somepony catches us?" She couldn't help but face-hoof at her own words. "Okay, I am being silly, aren't I?"
Cadance just nodded and pranced up to their bed before slipping to her side and gliding onto it. She watched her mirror-twin staring back at her with hungry eyes. "Shining Armor, just relax and let me show you why you make me howl so much."
Shining couldn't stop herself, her hooves were moving before her brain caught up. But when she slipped down onto the soft covers beside Cadance, she knew she was already complicit in whatever her wife had planned. "What would-" A kiss stole her words, she nuzzled and kissed back, but Cadance broke it as suddenly as she had started it.
"Let me teach you more about my body." Cadance began nibbling down Shining's long neck, using her snout to push her lover's head up so she could nibble more. Trailing down, she barely got to Shining's barrel before she heard the first gasp. I wonder how perfectly it mimics my body, does it include all Shining's knowledge and fill in blanks, or does it have more than that? She nuzzled in between one of Shining's forelegs and her torso.
Control failed Shining for a few moments, her back legs cycled and tangled in the covers as Cadance did something she had never felt, never experienced before. "C-C-Cady…" She heard her wife's voice groan in pleasure, but it wasn't her wife behind it.
"Somepony has a sensitive spot? Not surprising. Are you taking notes, Shiny?" Cadance nuzzled the spot again, hearing a soft whinny of excitement leave Shining's throat. Trailing down, Cadance used her own magic to help reposition, turning in place so her own body was offered to Shining. Licking down the soft, pink belly, Cadance let out a happy trill of excitement as Shining's own snout started exploring.
It was different, so very different. Shining nuzzled and licked, her brain pulling up the memories of time spent exploring Cadance in the past. Each time she felt a particularly well-placed nuzzle or nip she arched her spine and immediately tried to find the spot on her wife's body. Together they drew closer and closer to what each knew was the end target.
Cadance found one of Shining's teats first, pressing her snout against it and, like a filly, curling her tongue around the sensitive flesh. She felt her lover stiffen sharply at first, felt the gasp of Shining's breath as Cadance worked. Smiling, Cadance swapped to the teat's twin, her tongue tracing a line of saliva through the pink fur. It was suddenly her turn, she felt Shining nuzzle and lick, his snout a little less practiced but no less eager.
With her eyes open, Shining could see her wife's tail start to lash and move, then felt her whole body join it. She couldn't believe how good it felt, just exploring and playing. Normally, as a stallion, sex was over in an almost explosive rush, or so it felt. But as she worked, Shining noticed her prize, and with little further ado, traced her snout down to Cadance's vulva.
"Shining!" Cadance lost her focus as her husband found 'her.' She bucked and squirmed, words failing her as Shining serviced her. Trying desperately to fight the feelings, she had no hope; this one thing was something Shining had practiced many times on her before. "Nnnnn… too good…"
Snout curling up into a wide smile, Shining knew just where her tongue needed to move, needed to rub. She pushed Cadance along quickly, savoring the smell and taste of her musk, glorying in how she tasted to her changeling senses. But then her tricky wife managed to fight the pleasure enough to find Shining's own exposed and winking sex. Groaning into her wife, Shining's eyes crossed briefly as Cadance began working on her, not as skilled at finding all the spots as Shining was, but she was learning fast.
It was the best of races for both ponies, each fighting against their own pleasure, to make sure their lover was fighting just as hard. As the crescendo quickly rose, each lost their struggle against the wave upon wave of pleasure and groaned deeply into each others sex.
Shining felt her whole body trembling and pulsing, she wanted to spread her wings and fly, she wanted to just unleash all her magic and flood the world with changeling power. She wanted to be right where she was, as the lightning of sexual release danced over her body. A probing nose found her just as she was about to talk, to say something. "Cady I love-" The words died, choked from Shining as Cadance's tongue stroked, flaring the inferno of passion higher than ever.
Shining woke first, still a very pink and very familiar mare. She tried to climb out of the tangle of bedding she had somehow ended up in and realized that wings were something that would take more getting used to. "I wish I could-" For just a heartbeat she thought of how good it would be not to be this shape and, to her shock, her form was restored.
"Cady?" Shining nuzzled his wife. "Cady, I think I worked out how to get out of a disguise." He bounced a little on the bed. "Cady!"
"Shining Armor, I don't care if you are a queen, a princess, a prince, or even King Sombra returned, you know the rules about- Wait, you worked it out?" Cadance rolled over, her bleary eyes picking out Shining—back as half-changeling—bouncing in place. "Okay, studly husband, you have some guides in here," she pointed with a hoof toward photos of the two of them, "make with the white stallion everypony wants to see."
The gasp of excitement that Shining gave was accompanied by furious scrambling in the bedclothes as he tried to get free. Making it to their dressing table, Shining stared at the four photos there. On each side was a single portrait of each of them. He picked up his own with his hoof—he didn't fully trust his magic with things as precious as this—and looked at it. "So many things I didn't realize I had. My mane looks a little unkempt."
"Shining, your mane took two hours of work by a stylist to look that neat, could it use some more effort? I guess so. But you are my stallion, or mare," Cadance's snout quirked, "and I would have you no other way than you intend to be."
Leaving off on his examination of the photos, Shining turned to look at Cadance, his heart practically melting all over again. She seemed so much more now, he could see her form, how her muscles moved in the most amazing of ways. He studied her wings, each feather—and fighting the urge to run over and preen them for her, probably badly—and he also saw a new aspect. Cadance radiated love like a furnace, but it was nowhere so hot than from where he was standing—as the focus of it, Shining felt amazing.
Cadance tilted her head a little, just looking at her husband as he studied her. "The way you are looking at me, I can't but wonder if you are studying me to shift again." It was half a joke, she really didn't mind having her stallion as a softer pony to snuggle, even if it had been a little odd that she had sex with herself.
"Falling in love all over again. Cadance? Can I get you to do something for me?" Shining felt like he was drowning in his own love for her.
"Silly pony, of course I will do anything for you."
"Pinch me, this has to be a dream." Shining actually jumped a little as she did pinch him. "Huh, nope, I am just the luckiest stallion in all the world." It was just about the cheesiest thing Shining could say, not that he cared—it was correct.
"I should come over there and bop you for that… or lift my tail again." Cadance's eyes danced with the naughty words. "Can't decide which yet, why don't we shirk our duties and go out for breakfast today?"
"But we… and now…" Shining tried to fish for a reason why they couldn't have the morning off. "Well, with Careful back at work, and with Gilt handling the guard… should we invite Rarity and Twily?" Cadance shook her head firmly. "Probably a good idea. Let me get changed…" The grin Shining wore was a testament to how long he had apparently been planning to use the joke. He didn't even duck the pillow thrown at him.
Cadance watched Shining a few moments, then decided he could handle things himself. Rolling from her own side of the bed, she trotted for the en suite. "So how does it work? Does it use much… 'oomph,' love, or whatever it is you use?" She stepped down into the huge sunken bath. "If there was something I could ever thank Sombra for, it would be this bath." She slipped down into the water, letting herself submerge all the way down to her neck.
A green glow came from the bedroom, the early morning light doing nothing to disguise the burn of changeling magic. She turned to make sure she could see her husband when he invariably came to show off.
"Look Cady!" Shining Armor strutted into the bathroom, looking not just his old self, but immaculate as he hadn't been even at his wedding. His mane was neat, fetlocks trimmed to perfection. He stood in place and tilted his head, "Hey, sexy mare."
Her heart jumping in her chest, Cadance didn't know whether to laugh at the obviously cheesy line, or swoon that Shining had gone to such effort. "Get your plot in here you vain stallion." She splashed a wing in the water, leaving it slightly extended as an obvious invitation.
Shining strutted forward, showing off how much work he had put into the little changes. "It was a bit harder than just going with something directly, but I think it was worth it." By the looks he caught his wife giving him, Shining knew it was worth it. He slid down into the water and glided through it toward Cadance, his snout reaching out for the offered wing. "You know I love doing this." And with that, he started straightening her feathers for her, getting each one neat and mated to its fellows.
"I know, of course I know." She leaned aside and nuzzled Shining's cheek. "Where are we going to go for breakfast? There is that lovely little coffee shop I heard Rarity talk about the other day." Cadance would have preened her other wing, to speed things up. This is a reward, of sorts. My Shiny needs his... Cadance's thoughts melted as Shining reached the base of her wing and nibbled along the actual limb itself.
Having avoided this particular spot the previous night, Shining wondered—as he completely unhinged his wife's focus—just how good this would feel done to him. "Cady, next time we play, can you try doing this to me?" He gave the spot a nibble again, just to make sure she knew what he meant.
" 'Next time'?" Cadance struggled to keep her mind straight through the extra attention, but with such a delicious subject she couldn't help it. "Is my stallion telling me he wants to play naughty games as a princess again?"
Shining couldn't hold back a blush. "It goes against everything I was led to believe a stallion should think and feel, but it was fun, a lot of fun. Maybe next time I won't try to look quite so much like my darling wife, but when you… it gave me a new perspective." Shining had to fight back all the years of "you are a stallion, act like it" that he had learned not just in school, but also the military. "So yes, my naughty and delicious wife, I think I would like to play games with you again." He circled around Cadance, fighting to resist the urge to just mount and take her right there.
Cadance half expected to be mounted, for her husband to prove his masculinity and have "proper sex"—she almost let out a sigh of disappointment when he didn't, honestly—but felt his cheek brush her cutie mark as he narrowed in on her other wing. "You constantly surprise me, Shining Armor. You are not the stallion you appear to be, which I think suits you more now." She angled her wing so that he had to lift his snout a little higher and then caught Shining with a kiss.
Pushing in closer, Shining deepened the kiss and felt power pour between them. His disguise fell away, everything that might have come between him and Cadance felt powerless. Pushing his tongue forward, he felt Cadance pull back a little. "What's wrong?"
"Look, love. Stick your tongue out again." Cadance was giggling under her words, her magic reaching out the moment she saw what she expected. "Gotcha. Now, look at this, love." She held up the tip of Shining's tongue, and pulled, and pulled.
When his tongue was about a foot out of his mouth, and still not straining, Shining tried to laugh around it. "Awight, awight! Wet wo!" Shining jerked his tongue back. "Okay, so now I can't stop thinking about how long it is. When were-" He froze, realizing he was talking to his wife's plot. "Oh, maybe we will have to skip breakfast altogether?"
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
"Where are the queens?" Gilt looked around the throne room one more time before her head came back to look directly at Careful. "I felt those… bursts… last night, and a few earlier…"
"Relax, sister." Careful smiled at the other drone. "They are out having a romantic breakfast. Queen Shining has taken to his magic quite well indeed, he looked perfect." He grinned a little wider. "I am sure they will be back by mid-morning."
Gilt sighed. "I have the Crystal Guard doing their morning duties, on watch, but I wanted to show them off to Shining." She had to fight the urge to pout.
"Showing off? You don't need to, Sister, he wouldn't have put you in that position if he didn't trust you to do it. And I would have told him to drop you down if I didn't." Careful glanced down at the ledger he had been working through. "You will likely have a small rush of new recruits, mostly mares, earth ponies. Keep an eye out for any non-natives."
"You think there will be a spy or two?" Gilt perked right back up, intrigued by her brother's notion. "Who would be trying to get a spy into the guard?"
"Who wouldn't?" Careful plucked out a scrap of paper and started marking names. "Princess Celestia, she suspects our queens, she would be stupid if she didn't—and that mare is anything but stupid." He made a little scribble. "Princess Luna, she is the more underhoofed of the diararchs, if her sister isn't looking, and she knows about this, she will send a spy, likely one we won't catch." He drew a little moon symbol on the paper. "And then there is old bugg-butt," his next drawing was a caricature of a changeling queen, "she will want to get a 'ling in here, to find out what is going on. I could bet she already has one in the city."
"Okay, that is-"
"And then there are other little groups, although they are of less concern. The nobles of Canterlot might do something for instance, if they think their leaders are not. The Yaks will likely send a delegation to investigate what our relationship with Equestria has become… but you shouldn't have to worry about that, beyond security." Careful had a cute picture of two yaks kissing, dressed in full battle-gear.
Gilt blinked. "We have that many enemies?" She looked at the drawings and snorted in laughter.
"Not enemies, not apart from stink-egg the queen of the worst hive ever—that is her new official title—the rest are mostly just interested in finding out what is going on, that our queens are not being evil-"
"As if either could. Queen Shining almost cried when one soldier lost their footing and twisted an ankle. And Queen Cadance…" Gilt stared off into nothing, remembering the waves of love that the mare put out. "No, neither of them could ever really be evil, not like… what was it, 'stink-egg the queen of the worst hive ever.' "
Careful gave a little sigh and nodded. "But they remember what 'she' did, how she almost destroyed everything they had built up and worked on." He actually trembled with anger. "She almost destroyed the bond that our queens have…"
"Yeah, let's not let that happen again. So, what do I do?" Gilt looked at her clever hive-brother.
"Oh, that is an easy one. Anyling from… ahem, 'her,' will be a 'ling, so just have a squad of guard escort them near the crystal heart. Trust me on this, it is not the 'wonderful source of food' she said it would be." Careful trembled a little at the thought that the device that would suck a changeling dry was right under the castle itself. "As for the others, they are of less concern, but look for anypony that doesn't fit the types I mentioned. Unicorns, pegasi, particularly from out of town."
"Easiest to leave those to you. Anypony who matches that I will just send up here to help with 'administrative duties.' " Gilt had to dodge the paper wad tossed at her. "Hey, you said yourself, I am not the mare for this." Still laughing, she trotted away.
The changeling got halfway across the throne room when a voice called out, "Oh, there you are Darling. Just the mare I was looking for."
One of the Element Bearers! Gilt spun, her salute snapping into place. "Element Bearer Rarity, ma'am, what can I do for you?" Her heart raced, if she hadn't had so much time around Twilight Sparkle recently she would be running screaming.
"Oh no, it is what I am to do for you. In all this excitement you were overlooked! It is a tragedy most unbecomming. I was just speaking to Twilight about it and we decided that it wouldn't do." Rarity flicked her mane and gestured to a staircase leading up. "Come on, it won't take but an hour or two."
It was impossible, Gilt was trapped by the canny unicorn who seemed completely oblivious to how much work she had to do. "Wait, sorry to-" Gilt froze, the look she was given by Rarity brooked no excuses.
"Darling, I understand you have important work, you are Captain of the Royal Crystal Guard. But look at you, you have no armor, no insignia, you are merely a changeling going out to order these ponies around."
Gilt's mind shuddered to a halt, derailed from the previous line of thinking. She stared at Rarity in shock.
"If you think any of those soldiers will follow you simply because Shining Armor said so… well, you would be right, but they would be doing it because of him, not because of you. Come on, you will be able to run around and get your new armor dirty once we have fitted it to you." Rarity practically pranced off, leaving the changeling to scramble after her inelegantly.
"I never realized how much I hate wearing armor." Shining walked slowly, a wing over his back and his wife at his side. "But it makes me appreciate being out of it a lot more." The sun was only barely above the horizon, the city was mostly already awake and businesses were opening for the day.
"You walk different without it, you almost seem to prance. When you were wearing it, you seemed to be more deliberate, more focused in every step. Look at you, Shiny, you are like a colt in the spring!" Cadance couldn't help but adjust her stride to match, the pair looking like the young couple they were.
"Princess Cadance, Prince Shining!"
The voice had Shining and Cadance both spin around to spot Nimbus poking her head out the window of a small cafe, sitting inside with a pegasus mare and a crystal pony stallion. Ignoring the technically incorrect title for Shining, Cadance beamed back at Nimbus Cloud. "Having breakfast? Mind if we join you?"
Jade was amazed that the rulers of the city—of the whole Crystal Empire—were just wandering along and were now going to have breakfast with them. "Oh my gosh, this is exciting!" She almost bounced on her seat, eyes studying the alicorn and her husband. Especially her husband.
Slick Dive felt a tremble of fear, he had been settling in to a stable role as Sorrel Step, it had become comfortable. "It sure is." He gazed at the two royal ponies, one feeling cool to his senses, the other white-hot. Focusing internally, he locked down and braced all his defenses against that heat.
Nimbus spread her wing to gesture to her friends. "This is Jade Wings, and Sorrel Step. Jade works cleaning the barracks, and Sorrel… we were actually just chatting about that. I have been out of town lately on business." She gave a knowing look and grin to Shining and Cadance.
"It is a pleasure to meet you both." Cadance used her magic to pull over two more chairs to the table the three were seated at. "Don't let us interrupt you, we are playing hookey for the morning." She gave Shining a little squeeze with her wing.
"I was just saying that Sorrel should join the Royal Crystal Guard, I heard the news about that." Jade leaned a little more toward her coltfriend. "I know you said it is open to everypony now, but I am sure there is always room for a big, buff stallion."
"Always room for you." Shining gave the big crystal pony stallion, Sorrel Step, a big and encouraging grin. "What about you, Jade. We could use some more pegasi in the Guard." He turned it back on the mare. "You could both join up."
Jade's eyes widened at the idea. "But I… I mean, I'm a mare." She leaned against Sorrel a little more. "I know you said it doesn't matter anymore, but I just… I'm not that big, and I…"
"I think you would look good in armor." Sorrel leaned in and nuzzled Jade. He didn't even think of himself as Slick Dive anymore, he couldn't, he was so far into being Sorrel for his disguise he couldn't afford it.
"At least try out. Shiny has been dying to get the Crystal Empire its own guard, I told him he could do it but nopony will be turned away." Cadance's attention was taken up by a nervous-looking waitress. Her eyes scanned the contents of the table—mainly what the other ponies had ordered—and quickly came up with something that the cafe should have. "One extra-large milkshake, two straws. And a large plate of pancakes, extra syrup." She gave the mare her brightest smile.
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Cadance let the title slip, it had become a bad habit that the changelings had forced upon her, or so she hoped. She looked back to the table, realizing that both Jade and Sorrel seemed intent on letting her and Shining carry the conversation. "I do hope we weren't interrupting anything? What were you talking about before we arrived?"
"Sorrel's job." Nimbus' eyes drifted to the disguised changeling in question. "He was just explaining why he technically isn't mooching off Jade."
"He isn't 'mooching' anything. He works around the house to keep it clean, and cooks for me." Jade seemed a little flustered.
"I am mooching." Sorrel sighed. "Most of the shops want unicorns for handling delicate stuff, or they see my size and assume I am a big clumsy oaf. I guess maybe I should take you up on that offer." He looked at the target of his mission and felt confusion. He should be showing signs of changing by now.
The big milkshake arrived, borne by the widely smiling waitress. "Here you go, I hope you are having a good day?"
"It is wonderful!" Cadance's eyes slid to Shining. "Isn't it, darling?" She was already leaning against him so much it threatened to push him from his perch. She gave a happy little shiver at how perfect the day was.
"Yup, nothing could possibly beat how the day has gone so far." He leaned a bit more firmly against Cadance and rubbed his snout against hers.
Sorrel was struggling with his shields, the strain of keeping a white-hot wave from pulling him under almost taking all his strength. The peak of the storm came when each of the royal ponies took a straw and, staring into each others' eyes, started to sip at the milkshake.
Shining was being a big faker. He had his lips around the straw, he made every indication that he was sucking on it, but he let Cadance sip the drink alone. None of the charade had anything to do with how wonderful it was to stare into her eyes over the top of the drink.
At his side, Sorrel felt Jade pull a bit closer, a soft sigh leaving her lips. She slipped under his shields, not breaking them but joining him in the intimate barrier he had erected against the ocean of love battering at him. Sorrel stared at Jade in wonder, feeling the soft love she gave him, it let him reinforce his shield. He didn't resist the temptation to lean and push his snout into her mane.
Reaching out with his new senses, Shining lightly touched the adorable couple sitting opposite him, and was caught off-guard. Neither pony registered to his changeling senses, as if they weren't there. He froze in his charade of drinking and looked at them both. "How long," it was a fight for him to keep his voice even, but recent practice helped him bend the truth easier, "have you all been friends?"
"What, with Jade? We grew up together. She got her cutie mark before me and everything." Nimbus Cloud didn't catch on that the question was loaded. "Sorrel Step is new, though, but then we are both kinda new in town, not surprised I never met him before today."
"Yeah, Nimmy and I have been together so long we know what mane conditioner the other uses." Jade Wings felt the stallion who was very snugly seem to freeze. "But this big brute has only been around for a few days. Cute as a kitten, big as a dragon." She tilted her head up to nuzzle his neck, but saw that Sorrel had locked eyes with Shining Armor.
"Don't run." Shining returned the gaze leveled at him. "I promise it will just be a talk."
Sorrel pondered dropping his disguise right there, but something tugged at him. He broke his eyes away from Shining Armor and looked down to Jade. "Okay." He hated the warmth he got from Jade now, it was tinged with confusion, but still was strong enough to keep his defenses up.
"Good." Shining smiled across to Cadance. "I wonder how good those pancakes are? I see on the menu that they use crystal berries in them."
Slick Dive felt the mask of Sorrel slip, the nice stallion he had been, during his time with Jade. Buck, I liked this. It is… was, nice. He plowed his snout down into Jade's mane again.
"Shiny, this isn't right." Cadance was looking at the caught changeling. "Sorrel, whatever you are scared about, I promise on my honor you need not."
"Would… would somepony tell me what is going on here?" Jade felt confusion reign, Sorrel seemed to immediately become sad at the odd words from Shining. "Sorrel, what are they talking about?"
"Oh…" Nimbus looked between Shining and Sorrel. "He is-" She clamped both forelegs over her snout, only to pull them back. "But the new laws?"
"The new laws that Sorrel probably doesn't know about yet." Cadance glared at her husband. "Shining Armor, tell him and make it a promise."
Shining looked stricken. "I promise nothing bad will happen, furthermore, you are safe in the Crystal Empire as long as I have any say in the matter. Sorrel, just hear out what I am going to say. You can leave if you want, after it."
"Okay, all of you!" Jade pulled away from the table, away even from Sorrel. "What is going on? You," she pointed at Sorrel, "first." When the disguised changeling didn't immediately talk, she furrowed her brow. "I mean, right now."
"I'm a changeling." Sorrel slid the disguise off, mentally. "I was sent to observe, to spy on Shining Armor. I didn't mean-" He reached out a hoof but Jade pulled back and raced for the door. Spreading her wings, she was gone in an instant.
"Oh Celestia, what… hold on!" Nimbus took off at a run, launching into the sky as well. It left Slick to face the music alone.
"Clever mare, she probably would have spotted you sooner if she knew what she was looking for." Cadance returned to suck a little more on the shake.
"The new law is that changelings are safe in the Crystal Empire." Shining laid it out as plainly as he could. "There are no exceptions to that, you can stay if you want, even if you are spying for… your queen."
"Wait, what?" Slick froze and stared at Shining, then looked to Cadance. "What do you mean I can stay? I am here to spy on you!"
"Here's your pancakes." The waitress' ears were perked forward, clearly listening to and trying to make sense of the conversation on the table.
"They look wonderful, thank you." Cadance beamed at the mare and, as she walked away, looked between Shining and Slick. "Are you alright with this? Being out in the open?"
"I… it is normally drummed into us: hide, sneak." Slick looked briefly at the door, hoping Jade would return. "If you know, what is the point? My mission is over."
"I don't care about your mission." Shining let Cadance focus on the pancakes. "I care about all the ponies in the Crystal Empire," fire rose in Shining, a fierce determination, "and you are one of them. If you want to pack it all in and go back to the Badlands, go for it. But you wouldn't even be giving Jade a chance."
That had Slick's attention on the door nearly completely, even as he listened to Shining. "What is wrong with this… this feeling? It hurt when she ran away."
"You care for her, and before you ask that is normal." Shining swirled the milkshake a little with his straw. "So apart from your mission, what do you want, Sorrel?"
"Slick." Slick looked down at the table. "Slick Dive."
"Slick Dive, you fly?" Cadance stopped working on the pancakes a moment. "I didn't always have this," she rolled her eyes upwards and inwards, "I was born a pegasus. You could add some wings to that shape."
"I was named for my way with words." Slick smiled a little. "What gave me away? Was it something I said?"
"I will tell you if you decide to stay." Shining stirred the bubbles out of the milkshake. "So what about 'Dive'?"
"I liked the deep caves, I loved swimming down in the deepest parts of the hive, even as a nymph." Slick gave a sigh. "So if I stay, what will happen?"
"You can join our hive if you want." Cadance spoke around the pancake, but she could see the effect it had on Slick.
"H-H-Hive?" Slick shook a little. "What… what do you mean, h-hive?"
"You would not follow Chrysalis anymore. She would have no sway over you. Instead, you would have us." Shining gave a suck on the straw at last, the taste of the milk sweet and spiced with vanilla. He caught himself before swallowing, looking around and then using a trickle of power to send the milk into the sink behind the cafe's counter.
"But how?" Slick was almost on the edge of his seat, for a moment he thought he felt magic—changeling magic.
"After you agree. You have my word you can go any time you want." Shining let go of the straw, hoping his little display had proved to Slick that he wasn't a changeling. "See you at noon?" Shining slid his chair back and was on his hooves.
"Noon?" Slick looked from Shining to Cadance. "What happens at noon?"
Cadance barely got the last piece of pancake down. "I think what Shining Armor is asking, is if you will come to the new Guard sign-ups." She loved the look of astonishment on the drone's face.
"Jade stop!" Nimbus wasn't used to fast-flying, she stuck mostly to gliding, but for her friend's sake she wouldn't turn back. "Jade you have to talk about this!"
"I don't!" Jade's anger and sense of betrayal gave her more strength than normal, powering her flight to the outskirts of town. Glancing back she saw no sight of her friend. Circling down, she landed in a plaza devoid of any other ponies, only to have Nimbus drop down beside her not a moment later. "Leave me alone!"
"No. Not until you tell me what is up." Nimbus puffed out her chest and glared at her friend. "He's just a changeling, it's not like-"
"It isn't that. It isn't that at all!" Jade stomped away, finding a small pile of rocks. "He lied to me, Nimmy, lied since we first met. Buck, I don't even know if that was the first time we met!" She flicked a rock into the air with her wing, then delivered a sharp buck with a back leg.
"How long have you been seeing each other?" Nimbus walked over to her friend, gathering some more stones into the pile for her.
"Nearly two weeks now. We… oh Celestia we had sex!" Jade suddenly froze, terror running through her. A pair of forelegs wrapped around her neck, relieving half the shock of the moment. "We… I should go to a doctor… are changelings even… uh… compatible?"
"I… you know I don't know." Nimbus gave a sigh. "Let's both go and get checked out." She squeezed the other mare significantly.
"Wait, are you telling me your… is the… oh buck indeed!" Jade drew back and looked intently at her friend. "What are we both getting into, Nimmy? Stallions will be the end of us!"
"Careful is a nice stallion, he told me like the first time we really became serious… I guess stallions are plot-holes or nice even if they are also changelings." She gave her friend another hug and let go. "You are totally missing out, though."
"What do you mean?" Jade launched another stone. "Don't you dare try to get us back-
"No, forget him. If he couldn't see how amazing you were to fly after you himself he isn't worth it. But there are other changelings around now. Did you see the captain of the guard?" Nimbus fluffed her wings a little.
"But… isn't that a mare?" Jade had just flicked another stone up, but let it drop. "You know my type, Nimmy."
"Big, tough, and willing to tell you the truth? What about a changeling that is so self-assured that they will march around the Crystal Empire without a disguise on? That can become the biggest and toughest stallion you have ever seen?" Nimbus flicked the next stone up, her friend connecting and sending it off like a shot.
"Okay, that does sound my type, except for one very important thing." Jade looked at her friend and rolled her eyes. "I don't do mares, Nimmy. You remember how 'we' went? And we got on together really well."
"You should have just said you needed a good bucking. There are toys I could have gotten!" Nimbus was relaxed and in common territory. "Let alone some cute studs we both could have hunted."
"No, Nimmy." Jade sent two rocks up, connecting with each. "But I am thinking of joining the guard. For one thing, hunks a plenty." She booped her friend on the nose. "And for another… work is slim for a mare on her own, the Empire is growing, but there are plenty of hooves coming here to grow it. Plus you know I can fly."
"Jade, you can fly almost as good as a Wonderbolt, but you need to keep your eyes peeled, you didn't even see me before." Nimbus Cloud spread her wings and lifted up into a hover.
"You are joking? Nimmy, what do you do for the super secret 'can't talk to anypony or you have to arrest them' group thing you have going? You fly high and keep an eye out without being seen, right?" Jade took to the air and started flapping in a circle to gain altitude. "I would say that if I had seen you, you weren't very good at your job!" Jade's strokes were more powerful than her friend's, but she tried to keep her flying prowess a little under control.
Passing the tops of the tallest buildings, bar the castle of course, the two mares winged their way to the main hospital of the Empire and landed out the front. Without the noise of their wing-beats to muffle their words, Nimbus continued the conversation. "I am great at my job, thank you very much. It just worries me that I may be out looking at things-"
"Spying." Jade poked her tongue out as they walked into the hospital.
"As I said, looking at things. And if I find something I need help with, and call for Guards… and you show up and bumble into things." Nimbus poked her friend's shoulder.
"I don't bumble, I glide gracefully, or dive like a hawk!" Jade lifted a wing and gave it an unneeded preen.
"Hello, my name is Nurse Soft Touch, can I help you with something?" Soft looked at the two pegasi who had entered together.
Nimbus blinked, suddenly lost for words. She looked to Jade for help.
"We both have very hasty attitudes towards stallions and are prone to bad decision making." Jade gave a sigh as she finished dead-panning the words. "Please help."
Nimbus' dry-spell was quickly ended by her friend's humor. "Hey, speak for yourself. My choice in stallion is a good one, I can't help it if somepony expects hers to have no brain cells, then gets surprised when they do."
"Oh, uh, check ups, pregnancy test, and…" Trailing off, the nurse looked specifically to Jade. "Maybe something to help you avoid needing the latter quite so soon?"
Jade blushed a little and gave a nod. "Probably a good idea." She straightened up and ruffled her wings. "I guess I should if I am going to try-out for the Guard."
The nurse blinked. "But you're a mare!" She froze at the suddenly stormy look on Jade's face. "Uh… but I thought only stallions could be Guards?"
"Nope, Princess Cadance and Prince Shining invited me themselves!" Jade struck a pose.
Soft tapped a hoof to her jaw. "He isn't technically a prince yet. But I guess if they both said it would be alright then a mare in the Guard would be okay… OH! That is why you want to control your-"
"Nurse Soft Touch, please maintain a modicum of dignity for our patients. Hi there, I am Doctor Horse. What is the problem today?" A young stallion rolled his eyes at the nurse and focused on Jade and Nimbus.
"Can we talk in a private room?" Nimbus decided it was time to not have the nurse likely blabber their personal details all over the hospital.
"I was just about to suggest that." The doctor gestured to a consultation room and trotted in himself. "Now," he began, once the door was closed, "what do you need?"
"We have both… had changelings as partners." Jade couldn't stop blushing a little, although the embarrassment was tempered by a resurgence of anger at the deception.
"One of us still does." Nimbus stuck her tongue out at her friend, getting a bump in the shoulder for her teasing. "So really, we need information and a checkup. I think Jade might want a little more."
"Well, I was really thinking on joining the Royal Crystal Guard, I guess it would be a good idea to have something to… well, keep me a little safer." It was easier telling the rude nurse than telling this egg-head stallion… although he is a little cute, in a sort of smart way… Jade decided it was best to hedge her bets and batted her eyelashes at the doctor.
"Really?" Nimbus couldn't keep back her own laugh. "Doctor, I think my friend needs mental help too, she clear…" She trailed off, watching the doctor write something down on a piece of paper and slip it to her friend.
Jade's eyes focused on the doctor and she mouthed, "after this" to him and got a wink back. "So, what do we need to do first?"
"Oh, uh…" Doctor Horse looked at his notes, which mostly consisted of a sketch of a pegasus presenting herself. "The tests, of course. Have you both had something to drink recently?" He added a few more anatomically astute details to the pegasus.
"We had milkshakes not long ago." Nimbus couldn't believe how much her friend had suddenly shown interest in the doctor. "We need to pee on something, don't we?"
Two little enchanted sticks were provided, each mare being shown to a bathroom and, after a little tricky angling by both mares, soon back in the doctor's office. "Well," Doctor Horse looked at the sheets before him, entering the room where the mares were already waiting for him, "good news and great news."
Jade and Nimbus looked at each other, each sweating in a panic suddenly.
"The good news is, the tests worked properly. The great news is great only because I understand you both were hoping for negative results?" Horse lifted an eyebrow in question.
"Don't do that to us!" Both mares trembled and slumped in their chairs.
"Oh buck, I thought you were going to tell me I was pregnant." Nimbus shook her head. "I… okay it wouldn't be so terrible, but I still want a little more time before I start a family." She looked over to Jade, but her friend had apparently recovered quicker and was looking up at the doctor. "So is there anything we need to know about being with changelings?"
"I… really don't know." The doctor had to snap his eyes away from the pegasus tempting him. "They were only really made official citizens recently."
"So, if I am all clear, and you can't help me with that… I think I can leave Jade in your care?" Nimbus got a wink from her friend and shook her head. "Use protection, both of you." She hugged Jade, then glared at the doctor, before leaving.
Taking to the wing, Nimbus circled up and up from the hospital, riding the warm breezes until she was well clear of any buildings again. "She is a good flier, I should probably go and talk to Gilt about her." She squinted down on the area reserved for the Guard training. It wasn't hard to spot the changeling Captain, particularly in the shiny new armor they wore.
Gilt blinked as a pegasus she somewhat recognized landed beside her. "Nimbus, isn't it? Careful's fillyfriend?"
"Got it in one. Nimbus Cloud, at your service." Nimbus ruffled her wings and folded them at her sides. "And I wanted to talk about a mare who is going to come to join up."
"Sloppy." Gilt walked slowly along a line of guard recruits attempting to work in formation with their spears. "I meant you, Nimbus. You fly really loose." She flashed a toothy grin at her hivemate's mare.
"I prefer to glide." Nimbus blushed a little. "But I guess I could work on my regular flight." Stretching a wing to the side, she looked down its length. "My friend who wants to join is a lot better flier than I am, but what I wanted to warn you about was her… tastes."
Gilt gave a slight sigh. "Another mare hoping to wet her hips with as many stallions as she can? At least tell me she is going to-"
"She has a… way, yeah. But she is a good listener, and if you get her to focus I am sure she will make you proud of her… and I made sure she is getting some protection from a doctor." Nimbus' eye was caught by a group of pegasi, flying rapidly from one end of a field to the other and back again, while somepony was timing them.
"You want to join in? You are already part of the… uh, higher-up division, or so I understand?" Gilt saw the pegasus' wings twitch a little. "Soldier!"
The shout, right by her ear, stunned Nimbus into standing dead-still and staring ahead.
"Join the other cadets flying pacer tests this second!" Gilt's order had Nimbus moving before she even finished. "That is one pegasus I don't think I need to bring to Careful's attention." She grinned as the blue mare joined the queue of ponies to perform their tests next.
"Just how many things did you bring, Rarity?" Twilight eyed the column of Crystal Royal Guard, presently being put through their paces as porters for Rarity's baggage.
"Only a few things, Twilight dear, it was a fashion emergency after all." Rarity gestured to the train as the first guard arrived with a travel chest on her back. "Please, just in the baggage car with those things. Thank you darlings so much." She batted her eyelashes at the pony before realizing it wasn't a "big strong stallion," but a mare.
Shining was halfway down the column, carrying one of the heavier items in his pink magic. When Twilight's face lit up at his approach, he cocked a grin. "You didn't think your big brother would be here to see you off, Twily?"
Rushing to her brother, Twilight wrapped her forelegs tightly around his neck. "You take care, BBBFF." She was adamant about holding on until he hugged back.
Wrapping a foreleg around his "little" sister, Shining took note that she really wasn't that little. Then something occurred to him. "Am I shorter like this?" His words were soft, only meant for Twilight.
"You are, I left a copy of all my notes with Careful. Queens are bigger even than big brothers." Twilight giggled at the confused look her words inflicted on her brother. "Now you have the disguise under control, you should have an easier time of it. Make sure to keep twice-daily notes in the two diaries for them. And the special diary for odd events outside of those daily reports."
"Twilight, they want to move the train." Rarity hated hurrying her best friend and her—now—best customer, but the way the conductor kept checking his pocket watch was a social itch she couldn't help but scratch. It was her duty as Twilight's friend to save her from social gaffs like "missing a train."
"I better go, Rarity will start to twitch in a moment and we can't have that happening." Twilight let go of her brother. "You take care, let some of your friends take the burdens—delegate."
"You are speaking like a princess, Twily." Shining reached a hoof up and ruffled Twilight's mane, as if she were still a filly. The gasp of horror from Rarity made both siblings roll their eyes. "Go, quick, before the train that is waiting for you leaves without you."
Twilight laughed and turned back to the train. "Is everything loaded?" The way the conductor was dancing from hoof to hoof might have been amusing, but it was an indicator that she really was pushing it. "Alright then, let's go." No sooner had she stepped onto the train than a whistle sounded and the Friendship Express began rolling out of the Crystal Empire.
"Your Highness."
Shining turned to salute the Guard Lieutenant. "Take your squad home, and thank you." He couldn't help but admire their armor, looking much more effective than the old Equestrian armor, and he knew from experience that it was entirely more comfortable. "How is the new armor?" But it never hurt to show off.
"Your Highness…" The Lieutenant grinned as wide as could be. "This is the best armor I have ever had, it fits better than any of my other clothes, and we put it through its paces in training, slamming into each other didn't even dent it."
"Good to hear. Hiring the top new designer in Equestria really was worth it." Shining felt pride that they had not only made the right choice, but one that turned out so well. "And how is your new commander shaping up?" It was obvious the question took the lieutenant a little by surprise.
"She is… she pushes everypony hard, Your Highness. She is smart, fair and… she is very dedicated to the Empire."
"Good to hear. Take your squad back now, I'll make my own way." Shining snapped off a salute and had it returned. He watched the ponies trot back toward the castle and gave a happy sigh.
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
"Jade!" Slick trotted toward the mare, his heart thudding. "Please, just listen to me!"
"I don't want to hear it, Sorrel, or Slick, or whoever you are." Jade had been enjoying breakfast with Nimbus, in their usual hang-out. She turned her head away from the changeling to look back to Nimbus. "Hey, Nimmy?" She looked around with a frown and then cursed her friend. "Nimmy, I said I won't and I won't."
"You won't what?" Slick wasn't wearing a disguise, he didn't want to. "Why won't you talk to me?"
"Because you lied." Jade finally turned her attention, and ire, on the changeling. "You lied and lied until I don't know how you even kept all the lies straight!" My morning is ruined now. Ugh, why is it always the stallion who gets overly emotional about this?
"I… I did lie." Slick's ears flicked and tucked back, he looked at the ground. "I lied about my name, where I was from. My parents…" Even now Slick Dive could feel a desire to lie and tell Jade what she wanted to hear, it was a blessing that he didn't know what that was.
"Okay, let me entertain for just one moment that you had some sort of reason for all this. Have you ever tried to just tell the truth? I was talking to Nimmy, she said her stallion practically fell over himself to tell her what he was."
"But… I wasn't ever told I could tell the truth…" Slick's thoughts strayed back to the lessons in the hive, about how to act, how to talk, how to lie. "Noling ever said we could ever tell anypony about ourselves! Who is this changeling you are talking about?"
"Not that you can't find out his name anyway, if you ask around, but Nimmy said his name is Careful." Jade raised an eyebrow at the look of shock on the drone's face. "What's the matter?"
"Careful Steps is here? I mean, Careful Steps gave himself away and is held in the castle?" Slick trembled. "No wonder they caught me, Careful is the best infiltrator in the hive. He taught me how to blend in. If they have captured him and brainwashed him I have no hope!"
"I don't think he is being held prisoner, he seems to be working for the Prince and Princess." Jade froze and realized how she had let her guard down. "Not that you care, you are probably lying even more, just to get all this information out of me!" Jade turned around, cradling her milkshake in a wing and sipping at it with loud slurping noises.
"What can I do to show you I couldn't help it? That I had to lie?" Slick was surprised at his own vehemence. What is this pony to me?
"That you couldn't help it? So I would take you back?" Jade closed her eyes. "Nothing, Slick. You were good… no, you were great in bed." Jade remembered how big and strong he had been, but her mind reminded her that even that was some kind of lie. "You have to understand. For me, a stallion is big, strong, safe. To have the stallion I am with lie to me is… it breaks that."
"I am sorry."
The three words were a start, and Jade was surprised to hear them. They mended a little of the hurt. "That is the start of what you are going to do, so we can be friends." She looked at the changeling before her, studied his body, wings, even the adorable little fins on his tail and head. "Straighten yourself up, Slick. Nimbus said you were offered a job and a new life here." She started to get up from her seat, putting a few bits on the table. "Think about what your old hive taught you, and what Careful seems to have been able to do as part of things here. What sort of pony… or changeling, do you want to be?"
Slick froze in place, staring at the place where Jade was. It took his mind a few moments to work out she had moved, but in those short seconds he realized that he could at least try not lying. "W-W-Wait!" He turned and started trotting for the door, but all he could see were Jade's legs lifting off into the air.
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
"Now, Your Majesty," Careful's tone was far from controlled, he was excited, "today you are going to try slipping into some personality traits. Most of the time when a changeling puts on a disguise, they deliberately make themselves not a specific pony. Or if they do go for a pony, they change things about them. The reason for this, is personality trait bleed-through."
Shining nodded. "I… I might know what you mean." He blushed a little and looked to the side.
"Your first shift would have had only a minor flicker of such. You were not expert at your changing, the more you do it the better you will be able to just look at a pony and become a duplicate of them. But it will also affect you up here." Careful tapped his head. "So, think of a pony you know, who is very head-strong."
"You mean apart from my wife?" Shining grinned, but held up a hoof. "No, no, I get it. Uh… oh, I know just the pony."
"Now, simply imagine every single aspect of them. Not only their body, but how they walk, how they talk." Careful gestured to Shining now. "You have them?" His Queen nodded. "Then change to them."
Shining had one easy target. After meeting his sister's new friends it was hard to imagine anypony in Equestria with a bigger sense of self, who could look at a picture of a crowd and always pick themselves out. Short sporty legs, compact body, head smooth and perfect for cutting the air… and talking. Memories of the mare's extensive self-promotion went in as well. The second most amazing wings Shining had ever seen attached to their back, their coat turned a sky blue, eyes a reddish color, mane and tail both striped with a rainbow. "Got her." He pushed Rainbow Dash's image into his horn, then pulled it back over him, the fire pouring out with it. The first thing she realized was that she was looking up at Careful, instead of down. Instinct was strong, she narrowed her eyes at her companion and then struck a pose. "How awesome is this?"
Careful looked down. "How is it? Do you feel-"
"Come on, I gotta show you something!" Shining turned and raced for the balcony before stopping. "Wait, hold on… wow that is strong. I almost jumped off and… and flew." She looked back at the grinning changeling behind her. "What?"
"You have so much of her that you almost threw yourself off a balcony. I am fairly certain you have enough that you could have at least glided down to safety." Careful gestured to the balcony. "If you feel confident, give it a go."
"Give what a go?" Cadance looked between her disguised husband and Careful. "And what is Rainbow Dash doing…" A little light came on in the Princess' head. "Shiny? Why do you keep choosing mares? Is there… is there something you need to tell me?" Cadance managed to keep up the joke for long enough to see the rainbow tail and mane wilt. "Oh silly, come here." She didn't wait, trotting forward to meet her husband halfway.
"All the greatest ponies I know are mares." Shining stopped short at the sheer size of her wife, but Cadance didn't. Hugging back as best she could, Shining Armor realized how big and intimidating the world was. Her respect for the real Rainbow Dash suddenly grew a lot, knowing that most of the time she was staring at other ponies' plots. "No wonder she flies all the time…"
"What was that?" Cadance looked down into the other mare's eyes, seeing the same glance Shining always gave her when he had just had a minor revelation.
"Rainbow Dash always seemed much bigger." Shining Armor's eyes kept sliding to the open balcony. "Cady? Want to fly?"
"You want me to fly with the greatest flier in Equestria?" Cadance's wings flicked out practically on their own. "Shining Armor, I hope you know how to fly."
How do I- Shining's musing was cut short as that sense of "Rainbow Dash" seemed to flood her mind. Spreading her wings she gave an initial flap, then more, lifting up off the ground and hovering in place. "See if you can keep up."
Shining relaxed and let "Rainbow Dash" show her how to fly. Her wings flicked, feathers moving just right, she shot like a missile outside.
Cadance laughed and started off after her husband. "I never thought I would ever fly with you, like this!" She lacked the speed and turning agility of the smaller mare, but while Shining had to flap her wings to do anything, Cadance's wings meant she was much better at gliding. "But we need to be a bit careful, it wouldn't do to be seen kissing one of my sister's friends." Cadance spiraled, catching a breeze and rising up with each loop.
"You are just saying that because you can't handle me right now!" Rainbow Dash's egotism bolstered Shining no end. "You think I could do a rainboom?"
"No." Cadance stopped mid-air, beating her wings for once and using her magic to hold Shining. "Rainbow Dash might be lending you some of her skill, but Shiny, that is a very dangerous stunt, and I love you far too much to see anything happen to you now." Cadance looked into those cerise eyes until she saw grudging understanding. "Now," she let go of the other mare, "race you back to the balcon-" A streak of rainbow colors raced back down the way they had come. "… y."
Twilight Sparkle wasn't upset in the slightest that the train couldn't continue on immediately for Ponyville, particularly when it meant she got to run into a… friend.
"No! You must put all of Trixie's things into a secure baggage car!"
"Trixie?" Twilight stepped a little closer. "What are you doing here?"
"The Great and Powerful Trixie is going to take her show further afield than even she normally does. She is going to the Crystal Empire!" Trixie gestured expansively, her horn lighting up to send off some fireworks.
"So you aren't coming to Ponyville to cause more trouble?" Rarity waded into the conversation. "I think we could schedule you in, now that we know you are just full of wind and—"
"Rarity!" Twilight cut her friend off. "So what gives, Trixie? Are you going to give my brother and sister a hard time?"
Trixie heaved a sigh. "Trixie realizes that you might not know this, what with being a little isolated, but The Great and Powerful Trixie is a professional showmare, if ponies aren't enjoying her shows she doesn't make bits. If she doesn't make bits, she doesn't eat."
"I apologize." Rarity hated eating her words, but she had to admit she felt where Trixie was coming from. "As one professional to another, I sympathize. But darling, please don't cause a mess."
Grinning in triumph, Trixie nodded her head to Rarity. "Of course, Trixie is completely reformed from all the silly things she did. She realized she doesn't need to be better at powerful magic than everypony, just her own magic." She gave a nod of agreement with her own third-person narration. "Oh, and she will be late if she doesn't get on her train." She trotted forward, the last step onboard a little rough as the train started moving.
"She is up to something." Twilight huffed a little, watching the train pull out. "Do you think I should write Shining and Cadance a letter?"
"Twilight, dear, I think you could write them a fifty-page instructional essay and it still wouldn't prepare them for Trixie Lulamoon." Rarity gestured to the train coming in from the direction of Ponyville. "We should be able to board again now."
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Trixie pulled out the dark tome from her saddlebag and opened it up. Levitating a quill in her magic, she began to write.
On train to the Crystal Empire, encountered Twilight Sparkle and Rarity apparently just having left. Nothing else to report yet.
Quickly putting the big book away again, Trixie got out a smaller, but no less black book. "Ah, now Trixie will learn more about what the foalnapped princess gets up to in the dragon's lair…" She grinned widely and started reading, ignoring the world she was passing-by, until the train started to slow. "Is Trixie already at her destination?" She lifted her head from the exploits of the young princess and her small brigade of stallions, to look out the window.
The snowy and cold landscape was fading in the distance, and was replaced by warm and temperate weather over a huge city. "Trixie thinks she will make a small fortune here." Getting up and carefully putting her book away, the mare made her way to the exit, ensuring her hat was in its place. Stepping down from the train, Trixie inhaled deeply and closed her eyes.
"Hi there! New to the Crystal Empire?" The voice sounded like that of a mare.
When Trixie's eyes snapped open to see who addressed her, she beheld a crystal pony mare wearing some kind of guard armor. "The Great and Powerful Trixie is… new. She heard how many ponies were moving here and simply couldn't live with herself a moment longer, if she didn't bring the greatest show in Equestria to them!"
The crystal pony was a little shell-shocked by the aural attack, and took a moment to regroup her faculties to deal with the "Great" and "Powerful" pony. "Ahem, well, my name is Private Soft Glow." Soft had recovered her momentum, and her smile. "Welcome to the Crystal Empire, and if there is anything we can do to help, you ask, okay?"
Of course, if you could tell Trixie everything going on, including the motives and thoughts behind your leaders' acceptance of changelings, that would be great! Trixie sighed. "If Trixie can think of anything… actually, Trixie wonders if she could get some help finding the best place to set up a… show." Her eyes sparkled, being a spy for Princess Luna was one thing, but Trixie's heart really was in showmareship.
Soft shook her head to get her brains oriented again. "If Trixie— I mean, if you could follow me, I can show you to one of the more popular plazas." She gave the mare a smile, hoping she hadn't offended Trixie. "What sort of show do you perform?"
Trixie looked around, there wasn't just the guard talking to her, a lot of ponies had taken notice of her, which meant it was time to honor the mare's wishes. "The Great and Powerful Trixie will present, MAGIC!" Power poured from her, the afternoon sky was full of bursting explosions and massive, complex fireworks. The gasps of excitement from everypony at the station fed Trixie's ego so well that it had her purring.
Hooves came together all around the station, applause for Trixie's display was loud and obvious, and Soft Glow found herself clopping away almost loudest of all. "That was amazing, Trixie! Maybe you could put on a special show for the Royal Crystal Guard?"
"If Trixie could get some help getting her wagon from the train, she is likely to agree." Trixie's ego was fully inflated, but getting close to the guard was part of her task here. "Trixie has heard some interesting things about the Royal Crystal Guard." She started marching for the back of the train, where her wagon was strapped down.
"Interesting things? Oh, like accepting anypony?" Soft started helping the ponies roll the wagon down a pair of ramps and onto the station. "I think it is about time. If a mare can be a princess, why can't she be in the Guard?"
Trixie puffed out her chest at the implications. "Of course, anypony should be allowed to be anything they want." It struck at the heart of her own existence so much that she found herself liking the mare. "Trixie was referring to the species restriction being lifted."
Getting the wagon down and off the platform, Soft was working a little too hard to reply at first, but once it was down and on the street she gave a huge grin. "Well of course, if a crystal pony wants to be in the guard, why not? King…" She took a deep breath. "King Sombra used us to… well, he made us fight for him. I can't really remember much of it, but I remember us being fairly effective."
Freezing in her tracks, Trixie felt something pulling at her, emotionally. It was hard for her to quantify, but she felt she had made her new friend feel something bad. The Princess taught Trixie about this. The "s" word would be appropriate, but Trixie dislikes that… "Trixie wishes she could do something about such ponies that want to do that." There, perfect. Trixie is safe from the "s" word again!
Soft perked up and looked at the unicorn. "Really?"
"Of course."
"That's fantastic! Oh, come right along then. Here, I can even pull your wagon for you." Soft leaned in and pushed under the simple hitch.
"Trixie appreciates the assistance." And of course Trixie did, she was Great and Powerful after all.
Soft Glow leaned forward, her body pulling the cart along and getting it rolling. "Yup, Prince Shining Armor himself asked us to invite any unicorns we knew to join the guard. He will be so happy you agreed to join!"
Trixie was so focused on the interesting title Soft gave Shining Armor, that she almost missed the end. "Wait, what? Trixie did—" Stopping, Trixie pondered the situation. It could work out, but then Trixie would be having to do actual, her whole body trembled as a shudder ran from the tip of Trixie's tail, all the way to her snout, work… Trixie gave a soft whine. "Well, of course Trixie would be so happy to join, but first she must put on her show."
"This is going to be awesome!" Every hint of the horrible memories that Sombra's mention had brought were gone, Soft Glow grinned wide as she kept the little wagon moving. "We could even end up in the same unit. You will see, Captain Gilt is the best, too. She doesn't care about who or what you are, only that you are willing to put in all the work asked of you."
"Prince Shining Armor isn't the Captain anymore?" Trixie's mind dove away from the thought of actually having to do hard work. Trixie likes entertaining more, Princess Luna is going to owe Trixie so much.
"No, he is helping Princess Cadance run things these days. The Captain of the Guard is Gilt Wings, she is very strict and… you'll see." Soft almost pranced, the weight of the wagon was nothing to her.
Trixie knew she needed to write all this down, but there wasn't a chance to just pull out a book and start writing all these delicious secrets she was finding out down. "Trixie is a little tired after her long train trip, she will likely need a little relaxation time before her show."
Soft was, by now, quite used to Trixie's strange speech patterns. "Well, I could talk some others into helping you set up. What do you need? A stage? Special lights?"
Shaking her head, Trixie struck a pose. "The Bright and Illuminated Trixie doesn't need special lights, she is a star!" She let loose with another spell, sending a ball of white-blue light bursting into the sky, where it hovered for a few moments.
When they reached the plaza, Trixie climbed into her wagon and set her book up.
Shining Armor being hailed as Prince, will investigate. Found informant in the Royal Crystal Guard, joining up to keep close. Guard restructured Captain is now Gilt Wings.
Trixie put the tome back down and carefully folded it up in her bags, hiding away the moon symbol on the cover. "And now, the Sneaky and Observant Trixie will put on a show these ponies will never forget!" Magic was one thing, but Trixie always kept props with her too. She gathered up the never-ending handkerchief, a small bevy of smoke-bombs, collapsible flowers, and several other tricks. Once she was sure she had enough tricks to really be worth her name, she stepped out of the back of the wagon and was staring right at a changeling. "AHHH!"
Gilt waited for the pony to relax. And waited. When the blue unicorn was still shrieking minutes later she lit her horn, flashing with green fire, and became a perfect copy of her. "Am I better like this?"
"AAAAHHHHHH… huh…" Trixie blinked a little, leaned to one side and inspected the perfect copy of herself. "You have all of Trixie's wonderful features perfect, but you aren't quite Great and Powerful enough." She gave a self-satisfied nod.
The speech pattern confused Gilt for only half a second. "Well, if Trixie isn't perfect, then there is clearly something wrong with the world." She watched as the mare looked shocked. "What? Didn't you expect Trixie to be better than the original?"
"There is only one way to decide which Trixie is the most Great and Powerful!" Trixie was actually enjoying herself far too much to remember it was a changeling she was verbally sparing with. "We will both perform, and let the crowd decide."
Gilt knew she was caught in a game, but it was one that wouldn't hurt anypony. "Very well, but you will find this Trixie to be Great and Powerful indeed." She copied the other pony's vocal styling, but was surprised when magenta magic started shoving items under the cape she had created. "What—?"
"A Trixie, even a third-rate one, would never go on stage without her tricks." Trixie was having more fun than she had in a while, and that made her want the other Trixie to do well. "Now come, an imposter like yourself must surely be good enough to be Trixie's assistant."
Tossing her duplicated mane, Gilt trotted after the original Trixie. She waited for the mare to pull back the curtains of the makeshift stage that had been built, and opened her mouth.
"Welcome—" Both Trixies started, then stopped. "Hey, what—" Gilt was good at her "copy me" game, and was playing it to great laughs from the crowd.
Turning to the audience, Gilt implored them. "You have to help Trixie! A vicious changeling has tried to take her place!" She waved a hoof at the real Trixie, who was looking on in equal parts shock and delight. "You must help decide which Trixie is the real one!"
Trixie pulled her jaw up and lifted her hoof to point. "No! That Trixie is the fake one, can the faker do this?" She focused her magic, casting one of her older spells, creating a pinwheel spinning in the air, spraying sparks.
"Oh, Trixie sees how it is. First, she will copy you, perfectly she might add." Gilt had paid attention to the spell, and mimicked it closely enough that it would take a prodigy to detect the difference. "And then, to prove she is the real Trixie, she will do this!"
Trixie watched as a giant dragon flew out of the other Trixie, swam around in the air a few times and then exploded into motes of light. "Simple magic, any Trixie could do that!" The pure, joyful laughter of the crowd fed Trixie's ego, making her copy of the dragon feel even easier to cast than it should have. "But only the real Trixie can go completely invisible!" Dropping the smoke bomb, Trixie quickly worked an illusion to make herself harder to see, and slipped off to the wings.
Glaring at the smoke that cleared, Gilt knew she was in trouble. Not only hadn't Trixie given her any smoke bombs, but she didn't see the spell that she felt had been cast. "This game is silly. If the fake Trixie wants to run away and leave Trixie to do her show, very well!"
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Panting and leaning against the side of her wagon, Trixie was all-but drained of her magic. She hadn't just put on a great show, it had been the show of a lifetime. "Trixie… Trixie doesn't know who you are, but she appreciates the effort you put in…" She was puffing so much she barely got all the words out.
Gilt let her disguise drop. "Gilt, Gilt Wings. That really was amazing. I have never seen so much done with just illusion magic. You had me struggling toward the end, how did you get the detail so perfect on Princess Luna?"
Trixie was in so much shock at hearing the name of the other showmare, that she slid slowly, and bonelessly, to the ground.
"Huh, must have really taken it out of her. Would have been bone dry halfway through, myself, if the crowd wasn't the best buggin' meal I have ever had." Gilt's horn flared with green light, gently picking up Trixie and putting her to bed in her wagon.
"What do you mean 'There are no more spies in the Crystal Empire'?" Chrysalis glared at Sneaky. "Is there a reason you don't have twenty drones inside the castle?" Her voice held the edge of anger she had been nursing ever since "he" left her.
"Your Majestic Darkness of the Badlands," Sneaky's titles he made up for his queen got even more cromulent when she was angry, "maybe we should spend more time on training them? From what I understand, the ponies have captured several of our changelings now, and I am starting to suspect they may… they may have tortured information out of them."
"My little bugs?" Chrysalis' rage evaporated as shock set in. "What monster would do this? Which pony is hurting my little grubs?"
Sneaky nodded, working a "sad and solemn" look onto his face. "I believe it is Princess Cadance—"
"That… that… hussy!" Chrysalis spun around, lifting a hoof sideways to her head, resting her fetlock to her brow. "She stole him away from me, Sneaky, took him all away. If it weren't for her I wouldn't have lost my Shining Armor."
And Shining Armor… but I am never going to tell my Queen that. I like my carapace. Sneaky lowered his head, wilting his ears and crest-fin. "Maybe we should leave the Crystal Empire to settle, Your Radiant and Majestic Dark Goddess of Equestrian Doom, so we can turn our focus to other tasks that will assist with gaining a more advantageous hoof-hold in the Crystal Empire."
Chrysalis turned back to her drone and looked down on him. Her fury for Cadance was tempered suddenly. "Have every drone you will send report to me before they leave and…" Faster than Sneaky could even flinch, the Changeling Queen had the drone in a hug, squeezing him in her forelegs. "Please don't get hurt." She nuzzled his ears and head-fin, before setting the startled drone down.
When her drone left, Chrysalis slumped down on her floor and stared at her hooves. "Why did you take him from me?" She dropped her face down and started to cry.
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Bright Flash was working hard, as he always was. His magic, like himself, was disguised of course. He was working over Misty's back. "How is that?"
"You know just the right spot." Misty Dew groaned a little in bliss. She found she quite enjoyed Bright's company, now that she knew he was telling her the truth. "Actually, down a bit—" The doorbell sounded, cutting off the delightful massage and drawing a soft sigh.
"Love," Bright leaned in and kissed Misty, "time to act." He nuzzled her and gave her the lightest of pushes with his magic. Her eyes started to flicker with a reflection of his power. "You are yourself, nopony is in control of you, Misty Dew."
Misty leaned up and kissed Bright firmly again. "I don't like it when you do that, but you have to, I know. Go make the bad bugs go away." She settled back down, rest her head to the side on her forehooves—to watch what went on—and feigned brainless relaxation.
Opening the door, Bright saw both Straight Horn and Dropped Ball, wearing two of the worst disguises he had ever seen. "Get off the street before somepony sees you!" He looked left and right after the two were inside, rolling his eyes before closing the door after them. "Drop, why did you come to my cover's house? Straight, you should know better than this!" He stomped a hoof and let his disguise drop with it. A soft tremble always ran through Bright when she returned to being a mare.
"We're being reassigned!" Straight Horn tossed her mane, then froze when she saw Misty. "Are you still keeping that mare around? What is up with you, Bright?" She stomped over to the pony that looked to be sunbathing under the big glass windows.
"Leave her alone. Don't you two know anything?" Bright's magic flared as Straight tried to reach out to Misty. "I swear, neither of you learned under Careful, did you?" She moved and put herself between Misty and the other two changelings.
Dropped Ball grumbled. "You know we didn't. Why, what's so good about his way?"
"Well for one, I haven't had to throw away any of my disguises yet, and I am still pulling in all that juicy information." Bright Flash gave Straight a glare that was fit to cut glass. "Now leave her alone; you can see she is under my power."
Straight Horn's eyes widened. "You're into her!" They barked a laugh. "Bright Flash, darling infiltrator of the hive, is wrapped around a mare's hoof!"
"So what? She does her job. She keeps herself fed, and she gets more intelligence than you do. If I reported how much—sorry, I mean how 'little'—you bring in, Straight, then I would get the order to send you home!" Dropped Ball was smaller than Straight, but he knew he had an ally who would stop her from doing anything crazy. "Buzz, she can bring the pony back to the hive when we are all done and be hailed a bucking hero! Get your horn on straight!"
"You still haven't told me." Bright turned and checked on Misty, got a cautious wink from the mare, and returned it. Her blood ran cold for a moment, if it was the order to bug-out, then it was time to work her whammy on these two and head north.
"We are being upgraded. We need to find room and disguises for twenty more infiltrators, as well as offer support to another ten heading to Ponyville, and eventually more all over Equestria." Dropped Ball shook his head. "I don't get what is happening! We had this under control!"
"Is that all? Look, I'll get Misty to buy a warehouse in the work-yards, and we can have them fit that out. Put up a sign saying a new factory is opening." Bright waved a hoof dismissively. "Wait, was this the only reason you attempted to ruin my cover? What is wrong with you two?"
Straight shook like a leaf. "But they'll find out—"
"Find out you don't do anything? What a buzzing joke." Bright walked to the door, her form flickering back into that of the unicorn stallion he now used around Misty. "I meant you, Straight, you're the joke. Me and Dropped Ball are working our carapaces off for the Queen, and what are you doing? I heard you raised the tails of half the servants in the castle, and raised yours for half the guard! Get out, go. I will send you instructions the day after tomorrow."
Both changelings stared at Bright, neither was quite sure when their cohort had gained complete control of their group, although Dropped Ball had to guess around the time the mare realized that she was doing all the work. Without word, both disguised and made for the door.
"And get out, I don't want your damn AmNeigh!" Bright put on a show, pushed his fellow changelings out the door, and slammed it on them. Locking it, he turned and got two steps before being wrapped in a hug. "Is this my reward?" He hugged Misty back, squeezing her into a tight grip, even heard her sigh happily. "I really have to go, now." He nuzzled her cheek.
"Go? But we are alone again." Misty Dew's words were pitched low and sultry, she felt the eagerness of her lover in the tight little kisses and nibbles being planted down her throat. "Stay, remind me why I let you close to me."
"You can come with me if you like. It is a little bit of a trip, and I don't want to leave you alone with… Straight Horn is a little jealous, I think. And with good reason!" Bright leaned back, and flashed his eyes, clearing the last effects of the mind control he had implanted in Misty before the visit. "Come on."
"Thank you." Misty kissed Bright's cheek. "So where are we going?"
"Crystal Empire." Bright leaned up and gently nipped at Misty's ear. "It will be a long trip, I think I can think of something for us to do."
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
"Hi there, visiting the Crystal Empire for fun, or thinking about moving here?" Gleaming was covering for a friend, "walking the platform" to welcome new ponies to the Empire. She eyed the two unicorns, the mare with a white coat and silvery mane, the stallion sporting a brown coat of fur and a pink mane.
"Oh, you know how it is, could be visiting, could be staying." The lie was more the truth than Bright really wanted to use, but there it was. "But you know what I was really hoping for?" He gave Misty a little bump.
"We want to see the castle!" Misty Dew bumped Bright right back, both of them covering for the movements with laughter. She leaned in close to the guard, looked around as if making sure they weren't the only passengers who were riding the express from Canterlot. "We need to see the Princess and Prince."
Gleaming froze a moment, looking at the mare and stallion, trying to evaluate them herself. "Uh, well," she tried to make her cheeks blush, "since you put it that way, I know a little place." She turned, gave both of them a look over her shoulder and started to trot into town.
"What did you tell her?" Bright gave Misty an incredulous look before starting off after the female guard. "Wait a second…" It finally clicked, female guard. "Wow, they weren't joking…"
"We are both full of questions, why don't we just play tourist, and you can look anywhere but her plot, you know." Misty used her magic to reach up and grasp Bright's chin to turn his face to her.
"You started it, or she did, I am not sure which. But regardless, I am just thinking of how hot you would be in armor." Bright kissed Misty. "Mmm, I need to bring you on dates to the north more often."
"And this is the castle, nopony is following us, so it is safe to just go in. Do I want to know what is going on and— WAIT!" Gleaming ran forward just in time to get in Bright's way, the stallion about to walk right up to the spinning Crystal Heart. "Okay, now I know you are a changeling. Don't go near that, please?"
Bright Flash blinked his eyes and looked around as if stunned. "Uh… what was… what is that?' He backed away as instructed, mostly because Gleaming was herding him away.
"The stairs, go on, up you go." Gleaming caught the unicorn mare's eyes and nodded to Bright. "Inside, once he breaks sight with it there won't be a problem. It gets some changelings this way." True to her words, once Bright was in the stairway he shook his head. "There, see? All good."
At the top of the stairs was the entrance hall, and at the end of that the big doors leading to the throne room. "Just taking some ponies on a tour." Gleaming gave her drollest smile to the guards on duty and led the couple right up to the doors. Inside, Princess Cadance sat on her throne, looking as regal as ever.
"My queen." Bright Flash trotted forward, passing Gleaming and bowing his head. Just as he lifted his eyes back up, he let his disguise drop. "There is grave news from Canterlot, and it couldn't wait." He looked around a little, feeling a touch odd; Princess Cadance wasn't radiating love, not a drop. His face fell and his throat went dry.
"Private Gleaming Shine, please close the doors. You may go." Cadance waved a hoof at Gleaming in a dismissive manner.
"Of course, Princess." Gleaming bowed deeply, turned, and did as instructed.
The moment the big doors were closed, Shining dropped his disguise. "Sorry, Bright, I was giving Cady a little break. What is the problem?" He pulled the disguise of his wife back up, his magic easily doing the task.
"S-S-Shining Armor…" Misty held it together, closed her eyes and thought of a hooficure, relaxing under the sun-windows, and even getting her mane done. It never ceased to help her relax.
"Queen Chrysalis has sent a larger group of infiltrators to Canterlot, and more to Ponyville, and elsewhere." Bright explained what she knew. "I… I am a little scared, my Queen, but if you want me to go back and continue, I can."
"If you were going to return, how long would you have before you need to leave?" Shining stretched her wings up and out, unconsciously making the "royal alicorn pose" that princesses were known for.
"If I am going back, I need to be on a train no later than midday tomorrow." Bright felt the hard shove in his side. "What?"
" 'We,' you mean. I am not going to let you go back there and be in all kinds of danger alone." Misty Dew's scolding tone was all for Bright. "Just you try to stop me!"
Shining's eyes widened, realizing that the two mares were certainly back together again, she could even taste the slight wafting love that Misty had for Bright. "We will see what Careful Steps says. I am still learning the finer points of espionage, and would be mad not to consult him." Shining ruffled her wings and folded them down to her back. "So, you want dinner and a room for the night? We can meet when you wake tomorrow."
Bright blinked at how quickly and surely her queen had decided a course. She beamed happily and almost chirped in relief. "Until—"
"I want a tour." Misty glared first at her partner, then at the Prince-disguised-as-Princess. "Where was that nice mare? She will be fine, just have her cover her plot up."
Shining blinked at the demands. She looked to Bright Flash and saw resignation. "I will call her, if it pleases your highness?" She grinned at her own joke.
"Finally!" Misty lifted her jaw, quite liking the little gag. "Somepony recognizes my talents!"
"Slick?" Bright Flash stopped in his tracks. "Hey, Slick Dive!" He loosed his flames, letting them restore her to her natural form. "Hey, you managed to get out of Queen Bug-butt's claws to—" She stopped and stared.
"Not… not really." Slick Dive was marching the same direction as Bright. "I just… I want to let go, but I have been part of the hive for so long. But I want to help the Prince and Princess. They could have squished me… they should have squished me… but they didn't."
"Chrysalis would have." Bright buzzed her wings a little, getting a soft chirp from them. "Misty, this is an old friend, Slick Dive." She looked at Misty, gesturing to Slick. "Slick, this is Misty Dew, the mare who I just can't stop thinking about."
Slick looked at Misty. "If you don't mind me asking, uh… are you a pony?" He felt a distinct amount of disapproval color the mare's otherwise delicious-tasting aura. "Sorry… I had to ask." He looked aside.
"Honesty is the secret." Misty had been getting a little practice at spotting changeling emotions, and she could spot a pony with a broken heart. "You didn't tell her?" She pressed up beside Slick, opting to bracket him with Bright.
"What? How did you… am I that pathetic?" Slick wanted to slump down and hide. "She is amazing—the best flier I have ever seen—and when she..." He gave a little whine as the thoughts almost overwhelmed him. "Jade Wings… I couldn't just tell her… it was against the rules to tell the pony you are using for cover…"
"So she wasn't happy you kept lying to her?" Misty was a tall, beautiful mare, headstrong and proud, but she knew there was one distinct way that she could use all that. She reached under Slick's downcast chin with one hoof and tilted it back up. "How would you have felt if she had lied to you? If she had kept stringing you along, all the while slipping away to the Guard to inform on you?" It hurt her to see his face fall further. I will not boost his confidence if he is not really sorry, I don't care if he is Brighty's friend. "So what are you going to do?"
"I am working at being her friend again. We… I apologized." Slick walked along, feeling twice as bad now, as he marched to the "special meeting" he had been summoned to. "I couldn't feel it, couldn't even feel any love for me at all."
Misty glared at Bright, when the changeling started to open her mouth to say something. She softened the glare when Bright closed her mouth. "Give her a year—a year and a day." Misty used her hoof to gesture extravagantly. "And then, if she is not with another pony, ask her on a date. But Slick?" Misty waited for the changeling to look back from where she gestured, to her. "Don't ever lie to her again—ever. Do that and you will have two mares angry at you."
"Three." Bright stuck her tongue out at Misty. "Solidarity here. But my queens taught me one thing, and Misty makes sure I never forget it: you don't lie to the ones you love."
"I know, now." Slick hung his head again. "So a year and a day?" Misty nodded to him. "Okay. I… I joined the Guard, we are both in it now. At least it keeps me too busy to even think about the hive—or my queen."
The three walked in the open doors of what was quickly becoming known as the "Strategy Room" among the castle-folk. Already populated, the room held Shining Armor (disguised perfectly as himself), Princess Cadance, Careful Steps, Nimbus Cloud, and Gilt Wings.
Shining smiled. "Now that we are all here, we can start." With the three inside the room, he used his magic—now a perfect pink, like it "should" be—to close the doors. "Bright Flash, report on what you have found."
"Chrysalis' little observation group in Canterlot received, yesterday afternoon, a message telling them that nearly thirty new infiltrators will be dispatched to Canterlot and Ponyville. This is probably going to make my continued work impossible, which means I am going to get either caught by them, or just disappear, like Gilt." Bright Flash bowed her head toward Gilt.
"Your Majesties, I would ask that we don't send Bright back. At this point we don't think Chrysalis has any clue that you are changing, or that you are taking our loyalty." Gilt looked towards Slick Dive. "Which means you have a choice."
"I… I like the hive. All my friends…" Slick looked to Bright Flash and paused a moment. "Okay… some of my friends are still there." He had hung his head again, blue eyes staring at the floor, which is why he was shocked when he felt a heavy hoof rest on his shoulders. Jerking his head up, he saw an undisguised Shining Armor—clear signs that the stallion was not becoming a drone, but a queen, were evident. "What… I don't understand. Queen Chrysalis said you would be turning into a changeling, but I didn't think she meant—" A big, black, hole-filled hoof pressed to Slick's snout.
"No, she didn't plan very much at all, did she?" Shining grinned at the drone, showing off the definitely-not-drone-style fangs he sported. "Now there is a hive for you here. A hive you don't have to leave."
"But…" Careful tapped a sheet of paper on the big desk in the middle of the room. "If you did want to help, we actually have something you can do." He looked to Cadance, getting a firm nod from her. "Despite my suggestions."
Careful's words were unheeded by both Slick and Shining, the two staring at each other. At last Slick Dive blinked his big eyes. "What about the other drones, what are you going to do with them?"
Cadance heard the plea, and walked up beside her husband. "I know what he is going to say, and I promise you, I will support him." She spread one wing over Shining's back in a show of support.
Shining leaned over and kissed Cadance, only a little one on the cheek. "All of the drones of your hive, if I can, will end up here, in the Crystal Empire."
"What about Queen Chrysalis?" Slick almost trembled, asking the question.
"I won't let her stop me." Shining felt his heart harden. "If I have to fight her again, queen to queen, I wi—" Shining stopped his statement when Slick shook his head.
"No, I mean, will you take her in too?" Slick saw the shocked look on Shining's face. As Slick looked to Cadance, he saw hers as being more intrigued. "I mean… this might be more than I should say, but she is… she is our mother. She might not be smart… or be nice… but she is our mother."
Shining was stopped dead by the comment. "She hurt me, a lot." His voice shook as he said the words. "She did… she did bad things." It was easier to say, with the wing over his back, squeezing him against Cadance. Shining Armor gritted those new, pointed teeth, gritted them physically and mentally. "If I can find a way, if she agrees to my wife's terms, she can come as well."
Cadance didn't hesitate for a moment; she threw a leg over Shining's withers and pulled him in for a tight hug. "That took a lot to say." She whispered the words in his ear. "But now you have dumped me in it." She nibbled the ear a little.
Reacting to his wife's playfulness, Shining let out a deep breath. "I dumped us both in it, Cady. We have to try to find a way to give her a chance to redeem herself." He inhaled deeply, smelling not only the rose scent Cadance used, but his wife under it.
"Queen Chrysalis would never have done that." Slick stared at the two ponies, an alicorn and a half-queen. "She would have thrown me across the room rather than hear me ask her to forgive Princess Cadance." He closed his eyes, focused on his feelings and duty. "Until my queen is able to act like one again, I will call you both my queens." He stood up straight.
"Stop!" Careful stepped between two rulers and the little changeling drone. "Your Majesties, do not take him in, please." He looked to Slick to make sure he hadn't fallen over—drunk with love—yet. "Slick, do you think you can work with us, even still bound to Chrysalis' hive?"
Slick Dive looked from Shining and Cadance to Careful. "Uh… yes?" He blinked rapidly. "What do you want me to do that being bound to the hive would help with?"
"Bright Flash was able to avoid being detected by the others because they just weren't looking for that connection. These changelings will be looking for kin, and if they see a changeling that they don't feel the hive-connection with, they will know it is a ruse." Careful's eyes focused on Slick. "But in you, they will feel someling that feels like home. Like they should."
Looking from the two queens to Careful, Slick nodded. "I can do that." Recent training paid off, driving his small form straight and lifting a hoof sharply to his forehead. "Sir, what do you need me to do?"
"You don't have to go." Shining smiled at the drone. "That is the first rule of our hive. Everyling has a choice."
"I want to go." Slick had never felt so sure of something before in his life. "If I can help you, if I can help my old hive-mates, if I can help my mother—" He took a deep breath. "Let me help."
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Trixie stared at the boulder, her eyes glaring at it. "This is some kind of trick to make Trixie look bad." She looked aside, watched the other recruits struggle to lift their boulders. "The Great and Powerful Trixie sees through your ruse. That boulder can't be—" She cut off as a white-yellow glow wrapped around the boulder and lifted it.
"Recruit, these rocks are what we want you all to be able to lift." Gleaming was slumming it with the recruit training, but after Commander Gilt found out she had an eye for catching changelings in disguise, she found herself assisting the recruit training more and more.
Regretting the loss of her hat and cape already, Trixie found the attitude insufferable. "Trixie can lift it, she just… does not use the normal methods. Put it back down and she will show you." She waited for Gleaming to put the boulder down. "Oh, help! I am caught under the boulder!" Heads spun to face the rock that Trixie had thrown her voice to.
A collective wave of combined magic lifted the stone up and aside. Exclamations of shock and annoyance ran through the crowd when there was nopony under it.
"Trixie has lifted the boulder. Do you require another demonstration?" Trixie tossed her mane, her face pulled in a self-satisfied smile. "Or is that enough?"
Gleaming was in a state of mild shock. On one hoof, the mare had lifted the boulder, just as was required of her. On the other hoof, she cheated like spotted feline. "I want to see you lift it every day, at least once."
Trixie's eyes narrowed as she stared at the other unicorn. "Trixie accepts this challenge. What will she win if she manages this?"
"Trixie will find herself not out on her plot." Gleaming grinned at the mare, deciding that cheating was just as valid as not. "Since you have completed your exercise, you can come for a little trot." Every single recruit groaned at the words, only causing Gleaming to grin wider and wider. "Come on, recruit, I bet we can make it around the courtyard a few times before the others are done with their magic."
Able to smell a ruse when it was coming, Trixie could nonetheless see no way out of it; besides, this was her getting out of doing hard work. "Trixie will have you know she has trotted all over Equestria, several times."
"Great!" Gleaming started off at a trot, Trixie at her side. "But I don't trot. Come on, recruit, stretch those muscles and get your cannons up in the air!" She blew a snort and dove forward into a canter, then into a gallop.
Eyes widening, Trixie stepped up and widened her pace too. "Trixie is… just as good… as uncouth… guards!" The words were spoken between long strides. "Trixie will… need to… talk to… recruiter about… this!"
The only answer Trixie was getting from Gleaming was the deep, loud breaths of exertion.
Shining looked in the long mirror. A good half of his torso was missing fur now, his tail and mane were both almost completely cerulean. His face looked more round, his muzzle pronounced; although he still had most of his fur on his head, the big jagged horn was a strong reminder of what he was becoming. He had been growing bigger, larger now than his wife, and although that size gain hadn't been bad, today was the first day that "his" growth had reversed. The swelling buds on his back, Careful had assured him, were his wings coming in.
Slipping up beside her husband, Cadance nuzzled in against him, letting every ounce of her love for the stallion pour free. "You seem tense." It was and wasn't a question. She knew his moods well enough to know that he was tense, but prompting him like this was the right way to handle her Shiny.
"I knew… I really knew... this day was a certainty once I started growing, but it still hits me hard." Shining leaned over and nuzzled against Cadance's cheek. Beside his head, floating in his brilliant-green magic, was the little measuring stick they had been using to log his changes. "I am an inch smaller."
"Shiny, if you think that makes you any less my husband, you need to mount me right now and get that thought out of your head." Cadance's tone was firm and naughty. "You can be whatever you want to be, you have shown me that time and again." Her words purred into Shining Armor's ear. "You want to see?"
Shining Armor relaxed and gave a little nod. Their bedroom games had been more and more creative since he learned to transform, sometimes he would surprise Cadance, other times she would whisper exactly what she wanted—Shining liked what she came up with so much, he often gave repeat performances with them.
"Become yourself, Shining Armor. Prince of the Crystal Empire." Cadance barely spoke the words and Shining burned with green fire. His body shrank a little, his fur and hair all restored to their pre-change colors. She turned her head from where it rested against the side of his head. Locking eyes with her stallion in the mirror, Cadance gave a gentle nibble to his ear. "Now, taller, bigger; as big as you are undisguised."
The commands were easy to follow; Shining stretched his body up and out, creating a stallion stature that would have dwarfed King Sombra. Cadance couldn't reach his ear anymore, and contented herself—when he dropped his head a little—with nuzzling Shining's neck. Looking in the mirror, Shining watched Cadance's horn light, then quickly felt what she was about. She rubbed his stallionhood, stroking the sheathed mass. He groaned, he widened his stance a little, but he didn't protest.
Cadance stroked Shining, teasing him from his hiding place. The heavy girth dropped down into her magic and she wrapped it completely in a suckling grip. "Now I want you bigger, my stallion." She kept her eyes on him, watching the reflection as Shining's eyes seemed to glaze over a little, just as any stallion would for his attentive mare. A small burst of green and he was bigger, thicker and longer. Cadance nibbled at his cheek. "Perfect."
It took every ounce of focus for Shining not to buck into Cadance's grip. He held a steely grip on his muscles, even as she held a velvet one on his length. There was so much of him being rubbed down there, that he didn't notice Cadance had moved behind him until he felt her nuzzling under his tail. Control broke as he bucked; once, twice, thrice he gave a shove forward, then caught himself. "Cady…"
"My stallion." Cadance opened her mouth, catching one of Shining's balls in her mouth. She closed her lips around the base, giving it the slightest of squeezes. When her husband groaned, she thrummed her throat. Letting go of his testicle, she traced her tongue up.
Shining's eyes widened when Cadance traced his perineum up to his tail-hole. He knew what was coming, they had played such games before, and the fact that he no longer ate food made the act a lot less messy than it really should have been. Cadance's horn-tip touched his puffy pucker, forcing the muscled ring wider. He couldn't do anything but groan as more and more of her slipped inside him.
Cadance strengthened her magic, as she worked into her husband. She used a lot more power than sleeving his shaft required, because it made her horn tickle his insides. She pushed in a little deeper before she found what she was after. Jerking him faster, she lifted one forehoof up to rub his balls, then just as she knew he was close, she let go of his shaft and unloaded a blast of love-energy right into his prostate. She felt his body clenching already, felt him react to each and every thing she did, she felt so in love that she shared his release as a gift.
There was no hope that Shining would be able to hold back. He was changeling enough that any amount of love was nice, but what Cadance used—and where she used it—had him white out in pleasure. The world was gone, there was only the swelling of pleasure Cadance had given him, her love that matched it, and his locked legs keeping him from falling.
Drawing back, Cadance pulled her horn slowly from Shining's ring, leaving his sphincter clutching and gripping at emptiness. Stepping up beside the still-ejaculating stallion, she leaned down and wrapped her snout around the huge shaft under him, catching a little of his essence.
"Mi amore… Cady…" Shining turned, realizing how big he was compared to her. A flash of green fire returned him to a "normal sized" Shining Armor. He didn't have more words for her, not as he nuzzled and licked her snout clean of the little mess she hadn't swallowed.
Turning the cleaning into a kiss, Cadance paused, letting minutes of the day slide by without an iota of thought. At last, her brain poked at her, reminding her that there was something important today. "Oh!" She had to jerk back from Shining, he seemed intent on trapping her in another kiss. "Your sister and her friends are coming today to help with greeting the representative for the Equestria Games. I guess they didn't get the memo about us… distancing ourselves."
Shining felt on top of the world. He was so full of love he almost felt drunk, and his body was still in a post-orgasmic rush. The normal slump of refraction seemed… distant. "I was going to stop by the track today, give our athletes a bit of a boost." Shining almost pranced as he followed Cadance toward the door. Brushing up behind her, he pressed his chest against her plot, leaning down to nibble at her croup and dock.
Cadance ruffled her wings and looked back. "Shiny, are you going to mount me or am I going to go meet your sister on time?" She saw a moment of challenge, as the stallion in him threatened to trample all over her plans. Instead, he just nibbled her dock again. "Tease."
"Mmmhmm." Shining stopped with the naughty nibbling and stepped up beside Cadance. "And tonight, I am going to buck you until you walk funny." He just finished his little promise when Cadance opened the doors of their suite and they trotted forward.
"Your Highnesses!" Careful was waiting, of course. "We have located the representative. Bright sent word that she will be catching the mid-afternoon train from Canterlot. Slick has integrated into the state of changelings in Canterlot." He had his book out, reading notes from it. "They gobbled up all the misinformation we gave him… I wish I had paid more attention to him in the hive, he has a knack for this work."
"And my sister?" Shining spaced himself just right, so that as they walked Cadance and his own shoulders and flanks kept brushing. "I take it everything is in order for her and her friends' arrival?"
"Of course, Your Highness." Careful bowed respectfully. "Also, we are fairly sure we have identified the spy from Canterlot." They were in an empty section of hallway, he could be a little free with his tongue. "Namely, Dropper is back in the Crystal Empire. The guard who—"
"The former lieutenant who almost started a war between the Crystal Empire and Equestria. I remember him." Shining Armor sighed. "I wished that had gone a little smoother, but I thought Princess Celestia seemed to understand what happened quite well… although not all of it, of course."
"He doesn't seem like the type she would send." Cadance flicked her tail a few times, trying to get the slight kink Shining had put in it, out. "Nor Luna either, for that matter. Is he alone?"
Careful flicked open his book, examining his notes. "No, he came with another stallion, Gleam—"
"Gleaming Fire. Devoted to his lieutenant, but sensible. He would make a good spy, for a pony." Shining grinned and shot a wink to Careful. "You are keeping an eye on them?" When Careful nodded, Shining continued, "Good work, report them to us if they get a little too hot. Do you have fake information to leak?"
Snorting with pride, Careful nodded. "Of course. Not fake, though. Just not what they really want. They met a young guard mare, newly recruited, who is helping me pass on the bad leaks. I believe your sister knows of the mare, Trixie Lulamoon… wait, I am saying it wrong." Careful flashed with green fire, becoming a perfect duplicate of Trixie. "The Great and Powerful Trixie!" She gestured into the air, making little streamers of magic set of fireworks in the hall.
"Twily told me about her. They didn't part on the best of terms, if I remember rightly. Is she fitting in well?" Shining still wanted to control the guard, it was an old ache, and one he knew Gilt would always forgive him for. I really should stop, though.
Careful dropped his disguise with a flash of fire. "She is not a regular. Gilt has approved her for special attention, and she is doing work for me. She puts on airs, she is vain and almost hilariously conceited, but I think Trixie Lulamoon has the makings of an excellent spy."
Cadance cut in on the colts-club-like meeting. "Sounds like a good resource to cultivate; you do splendid work, Careful." She beamed at the changeling and watched him shrug off most of the love she sent towards him. "I must have some breakfast or I am going to fade away…"
"You might want to make it fast, or grab something to take with you, my Queen." Careful blushed as he fell back to hive-language. "Sorry, Your Highness. But you are running short on time. Twilight Sparkle and her friends will be here any minute, and you still need to get your mane done."
"Don't remind me. I had to set aside nearly twenty minutes just for that. But it will give me a chance to socialize with Twilight and her friends." Cadance lifted her hooves a little more. "Do you have this Trixie doing anything today?" When Careful shook his head, she grinned wider. "Perfect, send her over as soon as possible, with some breakfast snacks."
"Have her on her best behavior, and I want her to give a full written report on everything that happens." Shining chuckled. "It never hurts to have a spy who can rub shoulders with royalty and their friends."
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Trixie looked at the boulder. The thing looked huge, heavy, and just as annoying to move as normal. "Okay, Trixie, lift that and we can go for a run again." Gleaming gestured to the massive rock.
"Ahem. The Great and Powerful Trixie requires assistance!" Trixie stood dead still, not even flinching when two big unicorn stallions trotted over, lifted the boulder with their magic, then set it back down. "Trixie thanks you."
"Wait, how did you do that? Who were they?" Gleaming turned to look at where the two stallions had gone, but she couldn't lay eyes on them anymore. Turning her head back, she just caught Trixie lifting the boulder up with one hoof, folding it down into a tiny pebble, and tucking it into her uniform. "That was new."
"Thank you. Trixie prides herself on never using the same trick twice." Preening like a filly, Trixie was about to continue when Commander Gilt trotted up to the pair. Snapping to attention, Trixie awaited word on what secrets she was going to be given next to "leak to a spy."
"Private Trixie, you have informal duties for the Prince and Princess." Gilt snapped off her own salute. "At ease. Princess Cadance has found herself in a social gathering, and due to reasons beyond her control, skipped breakfast. You are to fetch a tray of treats from the kitchen and deliver them to the Royal Solarium and Spa, and comport yourself like a mare of breeding."
Trixie's eyes widened, getting closer to the royal couple was just what she needed to do. Trixie knew the Guard was the way in. She clopped a hoof to the ground. "Yes, sir!"
"Informal, remember. And steward Careful wants a full write-up of the event, so memorize everything. I might not be able to make a perfect soldier out of you, Trixie, but a hive has room for everyling. Dismissed."
The phrase sounded like a common saying to Trixie, which was interesting precisely because not much was known about the changelings. "Sir, right away." She started trotting toward the castle, her firm hoof-beats feeling effortless, despite the armor she wore.
Slipping into the castle through the guard gate, Trixie made her way through the labyrinth of stairs that seemed to define the very structure, all the way to the kitchen. "The Princess requires a tray of treats for herself and important guests. Trixie is to take them to her."
Dealing with the staff of the kitchen, she quickly had a tray of little sandwiches assembled on a large tray. "Good work." Trixie picked up the tray in her magic, and began trotting down the stairs again. Leaving the castle, she made her way to the Royal Solarium and Spa. The lovely day was completely unmarred, right up until she knocked firmly on the door with a hoof.
"Who is it?"
The voice from inside was familiar to Trixie. She twitched one eyebrow as she tried to figure out who it was. At last the door opened and revealed Twilight Sparkle. The tray was kept from spilling only by years of discipline for her performances. "You?!" Trixie blinked in shock.
"Ah, Trixie Lulamoon. That is my breakfast, I take it?" Cadance was relaxing inside, her coat being worked on by several mares.
"Yes, Your Highness!" Trixie's voice snapped the words back without thought. For a fraction of a moment embarrassment was threatening to make inroads on her ego, but then she saw Twilight's face, then the faces of all her friends. Shock, complete and utter shock, and on the blue pegasus, awe. This is a show, Princess Cadance wants me to perform as her guard and ally, I will not fail! She puffed out her chest and trotted in, setting the tray down beside Cadance. "Your Highness."
Trixie was in her own private little heaven. She stood beside Cadance, moving with her, even as Twilight and all her friends panicked over the Games inspector being early—an island of calm as the six best friends from Ponyville panicked around her. But she didn't smile, didn't gloat; that would have ruined her whole appearance, even if it was how the "old Trixie" worked. She was better because she was better and didn't need to show it.
The room was buzzing with activity, Twilight and her friends were in an advanced state of panic—something Twilight seemed to have taught them well. Pinkie was practically vibrating so much in the mud-pool that it was turning into a giant thick-shake. Fluttershy was alternating between nibbling her wing-feathers in worry, and trying to hide. Applejack tried to maintain a disapproving stare at Trixie herself, while adding her own twang to the raised voices. Rarity was the worst, she was holding the giant list of instructions on mane care, reading out loud, and over everypony else. Twilight was attempting to wear a line into the crystal floor, while coming up with all kinds of cooky magic solutions. Rainbow Dash, like Applejack, was glaring at Trixie between lamentations that there was going to be another failed Games bid.
The spa ponies themselves were all in a panic, rushing around and making it look like they were doing important things. The mares positively gleamed, but right then were nothing but a set of flashy ornaments in the room.
The courier looked a mix of terrified and panic, in equal measure. She still had vague memories of who ruled the Crystal Empire before Princess Cadance, bringing him bad news used to be a poor life choice.
"Your Highness, Trixie must insist you eat more, or Captain Gilt will make her day a lot worse." She held up the tray that had been forgotten in all the panic. "Trixie believes, Your Highness, that if Rarity cannot solve this problem, there is another way this could be handled."
Cadance and Rarity both spun around and paid full attention to Trixie, but it was the Princess who addressed her. "Trixie, please don't leave us hanging. How do we fix this as easily as possible?" Cadance looked to her guard, then levitated a little sandwich off the tray to appease her.
"The Brave and Duty-Bound Trixie will, of course, explain her plan; she thinks it might be best being a little more secret." Trixie's eyes roved over the spa attendants. Of course, being in their particular line of work, the mares all knew what the "drill" was, and vacated the room. "Right, now that there is privacy… Rarity, you may stop trying to do Princess Cadance's mane. Is there a picture of how your mane needs to look?" Her focus was on Cadance.
"Here!" Rarity felt relief flood her, a moment before she realized that this was Trixie Lulamoon, the most flaky and… almost bad, unicorn in Equestria. "You aren't going to try just magicking her mane, are you?"
"Trixie would not be so inclined as to try, given that Her Royal Highness Princess Cadance," it felt oddly good to Trixie, to lord that name, "could do it herself. What Trixie was going to suggest was simply having a changeling impersonate her, with that mane-do." Trixie was fighting not to smile, particularly when Princess Cadance smiled very widely indeed.
"Good thinking. Rarity, could you head back to the castle and fetch…" Cadance pondered a moment. Shiny does me so well he could be princess for a week and nopony would notice, but it would be best if we are "seen together," so… "Fetch Careful Steps, please."
The moment Rarity was out of the room Trixie finally let her smile out, it was very much "great" and quite a "powerful" grin. "Please, Your Highness. Finish your breakfast."
Cadance levitated a pillow over and bopped Trixie on the head with it. "You are not my mother; and if Gilt tries to punish you for this tell them 'Princess Cadance will talk to you about it.' " It was a get-out-of-chores-free card, Cadance knew, and she was probably going to get yelled at by Gilt instead of—or more likely as well as—Trixie, but she really didn't feel hungry.
Trixie squinted a moment, reading Princess Cadance like an audience. Slowly, she set the tray down and levitated a little sandwich up from the pile, and started eating it. "Fwen the Gwate and Wowerfuw Wixie wiw welp."
Laughing, Cadance nonetheless levitated up another little sandwich for herself. "Careful mentioned you were doing very good work for him." She took a dainty nibble of the bread, the taste making her squirm a little, all the way to her stomach. Whatever my stylist has, I fear I already have it too. She looked down at the little sandwich, but kept nibbling at it. "Consider yourself working under him, but you will continue to be part of the Guard. I won't lie, I have heard of you, Trixie. Twilight Sparkle, my sister-in-law," she put stress on the word sister, "writes Princess Celestia letters about everything. I was frequently present to hear them being read."
"Trixie can expla—"
"No, no you won't." Cadance cut in on the mare. "I only see a mare who is working her hardest to fly right… do the right thing. I am just very happy that it was the Crystal Empire you chose to settle down in."
Flabbergasted, Trixie looked at the Princess. "Your—" The doors of the spa opened and Trixie immediately cut her words off. Trixie is a dolt! She almost told Princess Cadance everything. They are nice, and good ponies here, but Trixie has to do this for them, she has to report everything so Princess Luna knows that they are safe.
Rarity, with a sky-blue pegasus at her side, walked into the spa as if she owned it. No sooner were they both inside than she closed the door carefully, and locked it. No sooner had the click sounded than she sighed. "All this excitement is simply too much, there is a reason I moved to Ponyville, you know?" A small fan floated over to her, wrapped in her own magic, and began fanning her face. "Oh, uh… thank you, Trixie." She was shocked to have the mare they had all considered a "bad pony," wearing armor of Rarity's own design, offering her a tray of sandwiches.
"My Queen." Careful dropped his disguise and advanced, bowing to Cadance. "What do you need of me? Lady Rarity said it was both urgent and covert."
Queen? Trixie watched the interaction closely, holding the tray steady for Rarity. "It is no problem, ma'am." She almost lost her calm face to the shock the honorific caused Rarity. "Trixie was meant to bring them to Princess Cadance, and make sure she ate some, but she seems fussy about her food."
"Fussy?" Rarity mulled the word over. "Oh dear, she must have caught what her stylist has. Oh darling, I am… I never thought I would say this, I am so glad you were here, Trixie." A flash of green fire caught her attention away from Trixie, and she looked to Cadance—both of them.
Cadance examined Careful. "That is perfect, now, can you add the mane on?" She floated the monstrous scroll over, showing the picture that was the "should look like this when complete" mane-style.
Trixie still got a little shocked, seeing a changeling change in front of her. It just seems a very personal thing. If Trixie were a changeling, she would only change in her wagon. She gave a little nod, agreeing with herself.
Careful made the adjustments needed, even making the tiny gems sparkle. "How is this?" She looked to her Queen. "I think I got it right."
Rarity trotted forward, leaving Trixie by the door. "Hrmm." She looked at the picture, then back to the changeling. "Might I suggest changing this gem here to blue sapphire, and this one citrine?" Little puffs of green fire rolled over the gems, changing them. "I really need to hire a changeling to help me to make dresses," the fashionista pondered. "I could literally save hours testing patterns."
"That, might be a very good idea." Careful's eyes flickered over the ponies present, noting Rarity and Trixie, considering them both trustworthy. "Princess Cadance, that could be a way to keep an eye on the changelings moving to Ponyville. Move one of ours in openly."
If Trixie's ears could have perked further forward, they would have detached from her head. Interesting…
"We cannot put Rarity at risk." Cadance, the real one, gave a sigh. "But there might be something even better. Trixie is known to visit Ponyville regularly, perhaps she could visit, put on shows, look like she is settling down there too."
"I am not sure, Your Highness, that she is quite ready for that." Careful turned and looked over her perfectly pink shoulder at the spy in question. "For starters, what would Princess Celestia and Princess Luna think of us sending a trained spy into their lands, undercover?"
It was basically a "game over" for Trixie's mission, the showmare realized. If she got sent to Ponyville, she certainly couldn't be spying on Shining Armor and Princess Cadance. "Your Highness, Trixie thinks—"
"I understand, Trixie." Cadance smiled to the mare, cutting her off. "Careful, I think she is ready, she thinks she is ready. It isn't like we would be sending a changeling into Canterlot." Cadance loved the effect rolling her eyes had on Careful, the poor changeling's head nearly popping at the casual dismissal of the other spy they sent off. "Trixie Lulamoon."
"Your Highness?" The replies that had been drummed into her terrified Trixie, sometimes; just finding herself responding to power automatically seemed… strange, and comforting. If this is what ponies mean when they say "humble," well, Trixie hates it.
"The next train, Trixie. Your things will be kept safe, but I want you in Ponyville. Send reports as soon as you can. Find these changelings, report everything about them, bury us in reports." Cadance gave her most winning smile.
Careful cut in before Trixie could respond. "Your Highness, I handle all that—"
"I know, Careful. The royal plural, that was not." Cadance grinned at her body-double, then laughed at the expression of bewilderment. "Oh you are going to want some kind of code. Match it to her name." she looked to Trixie. "You do know how Careful does cyphers, right?"
Trixie nodded, realizing she had lost her battle before it started. "Trixie just needs to fetch a few personal things and she will be at the train station." She paused a moment. "Your Highness?"
"Go." Cadance leaned back and sprawled on the massage couch. "Careful, have Rarity lead you to her friends, greet and show the Equestria Games representative around, I will, of course, stay here."
Gait stiff, Trixie trotted from the spa, forgetting that she had left the tray behind. Trixie failed, this is terrible… wait, there is more to this. Her hooves worked automatically, her armor promising she wouldn't be stopped as she trotted all the way into the barracks. Pulling out her things, she stole a glance at the big, black book.
"Corporal Trixie!" The yell could only be one pony, none other had lungs quite that powerful.
"Yes, Captain Gilt?" Trixie spun on the spot, leaving her things sitting back on her bunk. Her hoof was at the side of her head, already sketching a salute.
"At ease. What has Careful got you doing now? Something crazy, or is it truly off the wall?" Gilt smiled. "Because it looks like one of my promising future officers is grabbing her things and about to leave."
"Trixie is. She has a mission, and if it is any consolation, both she and Careful think she is not ready for it. She is reporting for field work, in Ponyville." Trixie picked her things back up. "Princess Cadance insisted…"
"Buck up, if the Princess ordered it herself, it is important." Gilt squinted. "Is this something covert? Do you need to be "replaced," while you are gone? I could probably find somepony to—"
"Sir." Trixie cut in. "No, sir!"
"Good luck then, recruit. Do the Empire proud!" Gilt saluted the mare, sending Trixie on her way. Now if only I could get half the rest of the troops to have a fraction of that mare's self-confidence. By the queen, she could be a lieutenant in just a few months…
Trixie was crashing along toward the train station, feeling her gallop eating up the distance quickly. Only slowing as she neared the station, she spotted a pony who looked very severely dressed, with a very distinctive mane-cut. A shiver of destine ran through Trixie, she wasn't even sure why she stopped and turned to the mare. "Hello there, can Trixie help you?" What is Trixie doing? She was ordered to be on the train!
"Ah, finally!" Ms. Harshwhinny thrust her bag forward. "Do take this, and take me to see the Princess immediately. You are nearly five minutes late, you know." She looked at the unicorn guard, suddenly realizing that the armor was very different from the Equestrian Royal Guard. Then their gender became more apparent. "What is your name?"
"Corporal Trixie Lulamoon, ma'am." The tone was the same her instructors used, Trixie was intrigued suddenly. "And you are…?"
"Ms. Harshwhinny, from the Equestria Games committee?" Harshwhinny narrowed her eyes at the dawning comprehension. "You weren't sent to collect me, were you?" The quick change from shock to panic answered her question. "Forget about it, regaining any marks on greeting is impossible now. Take me to Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and we shall get things moving."
Ponyville can wait. Where is Twilight and her friends, this is their job, not Trixie's! "Of course, ma'am. Right this way." Trixie struggled to lift the bag, but got it up and balanced on her back, using her magic to keep it centered. "Trixie was just seeing to Her Highness, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza's instructions. She had sent Trixie to the station with all haste."
That wasn't even a lie. Interesting, maybe things can be salvaged. I really did want to have the Games here... Cloudsdale… ugh. It was a slightly uncharitable thought, but a sky-city really wasn't the place to expect earth ponies and unicorns to compete. Then there was the altitude problems. "Well, it is heartening to see the level of reform in the Royal Guard, were you trained in Canterlot?"
"No ma'am. Captain Gilt oversees training of the Royal Crystal Guard in the Crystal Empire." Trixie pranced, even with the heavy armor on, and the bag on her back, showing off was literally her special talent.
"Trixie will take you directly to the welcoming committee." Trixie felt about as sure of herself as she could be—she had just saved the day from sure disaster after all; that she also got to show up Twilight Sparkle was a small bonus. Trixie might not want to destroy the unicorn quite so badly anymore, but things were still not completely friendly.
Ms. Harshwhinny stopped. "You know what? No, you won't." Narrowing her eyes at Trixie, Harshwhinny smiled in a very worrying—for Trixie—way. "You will be my guide. Consider this a test of how the Crystal Empire treats all new visitors. Of course the standards will be lower, since you quite obviously are not the official welcoming committee. So then, show me the Crystal Empire."
Out of her depth by several orders of magnitude—mainly because she hadn't really "seen the sights" herself—Trixie fell back on the one thing she could always do in such a situation. "Trixie will take the Clever and Tactical Games Inspector on the greatest tour of the Crystal Empire she has ever seen!" With a flourish of her hoof, a blast of fireworks shot up into the air. Now to be the Clever and Dutiful Trixie, the Great and Powerful Trixie, and the Lucky and Resourceful Trixie.
"Well, you certainly know how to put on a show, so what is there to see?" Ms. Harshwhinny looked around, just in time to see a buggy, being pulled by a crystal pony, start to splash a puddle onto her. The water struck a magenta magic shield, the light flaring a little. "Quick thinking and resourceful, if you are an example of what the Crystal Empire has to offer, I will surely have trouble finding fault."
"Trixie is sure the Games Inspector is terribly hungry after her trip, would lunch in one of the Crystal Empire's excellent eateries be a good start?" The moment Trixie mentioned the idea of food, she heard the Inspector's stomach grumble. "Trixie hears two votes for?"
Harshwhinny actually found herself laughing. "You have me there, lead on." She wandered beside the Guard mare, admiring the armor she wore even more. "I heard a rumor, about the Prince and Princess," she put a little extra emphasis on the word prince, "that they are not only allowing mares into their Guard, but changelings, too."
Trixie's work with Princess Luna had prepared her for this, as had her training with Careful Steps. "They certainly have. Trixie is proud of her captain, Gilt Wings. She has certainly never met a better showmare and despite what ponies seem to think of changelings, she has been the very picture of honesty and reliability." A sudden pang hit Trixie, it was shocking to the mare. Is this… is this guilt?
"Really? A changeling is the head of the Guard?" Harshwhinny wanted to find it in herself to actually count that as a bad thing, but her nature wouldn't let her judge a pony—or a changeling—without having met them.
"There is another, he is just a private, like Trixie." Eying the high-class eateries, Trixie frowned at every single one. "Trixie has an awkward question, would you rather eat here," she waved a hoof, indicating the buildings, "or would you like Trixie to take you somewhere that has good food?"
"Tourist traps?" Harshwhinny narrowed her eyes. Establishments that take advantage of tourists would definitely be a bad mark.
"No, they just… they serve the kind of food that comes on a really big plate, but only take up the middle bit, and have fancy swirls around it." Trixie stuck out her tongue at the idea. "If you want to see what our Guard is like, Trixie could take you where they eat, off hours."
"This is the single most intriguing tour I have ever had of a city. Lead on." Harshwhinny was struck by how the unicorn was carrying her bag, still; not only wasn't it suspended in magic, she seemed to not even flinch at the weight of the thing. Clearly these guards are trained quite well indeed.
Trixie kept walking along, gesturing at unique-looking spires of crystal, or the myriad of little gardens and parks on their way around to the far side of the city. "This is the place. Trixie eats here regularly." She marched forward, using her magic to open the door. Just in time, Trixie remembered to offer Harshwhinny entrance first.
Harshwhinny fell right into the behavior of a mare offered an open door, the guard uniform was enough to make it feel natural that she should go first, so she did. Walking into the brightly lit building, she suddenly realized nearly everypony present had that stocky build and sure sense of place of a guard. This might have been a bad— As Trixie came in beside Harshwhinny, the room gave a cheer of welcome.
"This is The Mare's Whinny. Trixie thought it was fortuitous. Excuse Trixie a moment. Ahem," Trixie raised her voice, "I am showing a guest of the Crystal Empire around the city, and she was interested in the Guard. Please make," Trixie bit her lip, wondering how familiar she could push things, "Harshwhinny here, welcome."
A cheer of greeting rose up, directed right at Harshwhinny this time. Remarkable, this is definitely a big plus. Amazingly friendly. She couldn't stop a smile of her own creeping wider. "You mentioned food?"
"Trixie would not have brought you here, if The Mare didn't have the best food on the continent." Trixie was confident—as always—in her boast. "She has been to a lot of places, but none make roast eggplant quite like here." She led Harshwhinny to a table that had Soft Glow sitting alone at it.
"Pleased to meet you, I am sure." Harshwhinny had noticed the high quotient of mares in the room, some—like Trixie—wearing their armor.
"This is Soft Glow." Trixie gestured to a mare she could honestly call friend. "She actually talked Trixie into joining up. This is not a profession she thought would suit her, but it is… growing on Trixie."
"Growing on you?" Soft laughed, scooting across to make room for Harshwhinny. "You practically dove into the Guard like a master swimmer would the ocean. Impressed the Commander, you even have some special work directly for the Prince and Princess!"
"Really now?" Harshwhinny turned her gaze on Trixie, as she sat down. "And here I thought I was meeting just a regular guardspony. What is it that you do for the Prince and Princess?" Curiouser and curiouser. Oh this is going to be fun and good.
"Trixie was delivering breakfast to the Princess for her latest assignment. And then she believes she was due to go and make sure Prince Shining Armor's little sister was comfortable." Trixie wasn't lying, not one bit. "She has odd jobs, but Trixie takes pride in performing them well." The shock hit her like a hammer. I really do…
"Just odd jobs? And here I thought you were going to be a daring spy, or a double agent sent to—" Harshwhinny stopped her words when, taking a sip from her drink, Trixie nearly coughed up everything she had sipped.
"Must have been a… Trixie is not sure, but that cider tastes a little too sour." Trixie tried desperately to cover for her gaffe. Waving down a waitress, she cleared her throat. "Two roasted eggplants and a round of cider."
"So, a friend of Trixie's?" Soft Glow was already intrigued. She certainly wanted to know more about her enigmatic friend.
"Oh… yes!" Harshwhinny jumped on the misconception. "Just in town visiting, thought I would get Trixie to show me around." She turned her eyes to Trixie, raising one eyebrow.
"Of course, Trixie and Whinny go way back, don't we?" Want to play that game? It is a two-way street, and Trixie has played greater and more powerful foes than you. Completely gone from Trixie's thoughts were that she was meant to be nice to Harshwhinny. "I remember back in school, you were always the teacher's pet."
Caught in the lie, but apparently being toyed with, Harshwhinny did the only thing a respectable mare could do under the circumstances. "And you were so terrible at your magic, I don't even think you could lift a hat before you got your cutie mark." This… this is a little too fun. Thoughts of tests and inspections were put aside.
"Trixie was… Trixie is still not good at lifting." It was a fact every guardspony knew, particularly those she had tricked to lift a boulder for her. "But she is much better at tricks now. Trixie has been meaning to ask, WhinWhin, what were you doing with yourself now?"
Soft Glow detected something was ahoof here, but she couldn't pick up just what the two were doing. "Oh, here comes your food."
A new round of cider mugs were set on the table, as well as two steaming-hot plates. "Thank you." Trixie dug out coins, paying for the food and drink from her special stipend that Careful had given her, just for these kinds of occasions. She waited for the replying jab from Harshwhinny, only to find the mare digging into the meal. "Trixie realizes, suddenly, that she ate breakfast not all that long ago." Nonetheless, she started to eat the meal, her training in the Guard serving her well.
Harshwhinny was amazed at how good the food was, and how quickly it seemed to evaporate from her plate. Even as she got the last mouthful down, she realized it had filled her quite sufficiently. "Well, you were right, Trixie, this really is the best food in all Equestria." And she meant it, pulling out her little clipboard and marking down the delicious food.
"Of course Trixie was right, she has literally been all over Equestria, after all." Trixie loved the raised eyebrow Harshwhinny gave her. "But of course you know about my entertaining work, before I joined the Guard. All the letters I sent!"
"But of course!" Harshwhinny was back in the game. "After all the shows we put on together. And to think, you started as my apprentice, giving puppet shows." She gave a small chuckle, her eyes dancing at Trixie, egging her on.
"And then how things turned around. Trixie became Great and Powerful, and now you are looking for a job." Trixie lifted a hoof up to one side of her snout, pretending to keep her voice private. "Have you thought of joining the Guard, here?"
"I can tell you are both full of horse-apples. Her clipboard says Equestria Games Inspector, and you…" Soft Glow froze as the three important words rattled around in her head, but her mouth kept working sans sound. Then it hit her. "You are the Games Inspector?!"
"She caught you, don't you have to give her a prize now?" Trixie grinned, relaxed in her apparent friendship with Harshwhinny. Wait, another friend? Trixie is apparently really good at making friends. IN YOUR FACE TWILIGHT!
"Yes, yes I think that is the case." Harshwhinny looked down at her clipboard, noting the positive marks she had given the Crystal Empire so far. "By the end of the day I might even have a big prize for you." No, I am not going to give it to them, no matter how nice they are, until I speak to either their prince or princess.
Trixie's eyes were wide. "Then… then where can Trixie take you next?" Her heart was beating in her chest, she couldn't believe how things had actually gone this well.
"It would be positively remiss of me to not inspect the stadium." Harshwhinny sighed and rolled her eyes. "There hasn't been a candidate yet who had sub-par facilities, but it is part of the criteria."
"Trixie understands completely." And Trixie found herself actually really understanding, she had been learning a lot during her time in the Royal Crystal Guard. "It is right this way." It wasn't a hard place for Trixie to find, after all it was a huge stadium.
Harshwhinny looked the building up and down as they reached it, from within came the sounds of encouragement and shouting. "It certainly sounds and looks the part, I believe this will be sufficient. Unless of course you have any news that corners have been cut?"
"Of course not." Trixie spoke with confidence, after all nopony would tell her even if it was the shonkiest workponyship in all Equestria. "Is that all? Somewhere specific next?"
"Well, would you happen to know where the Prince or Princess are?"
"Trixie is sure she knows where at least one of them will be." It was either going to be good news, or bad news. Trixie was almost ready to explode at the thought that she might have doomed the Crystal Empire to not be awarded the Games. "Princess Mi Amore Cadenza believed you were going to be on a later train. The last Trixie saw her, her Royal Highness was still having her mane done." Trixie really hopes Careful is there…
"Well then, lead on." Harshwhinny gestured a hoof as if to have Trixie lead the way. I was ready to turn around and walk back out of here, but I really think I must do this in the future, slip in unannounced, as it were.
Taking point, Trixie had them both back on the path, but this time it was a direct one. "Trixie had actually just come from the Princess, when she found you, Miss Harshwhinny."
"Keep calling me Whinny." Harshwhinny surprised even herself with the request. "And I think that there might be a more interesting tale than my morning. Tell me, do you know what happened to the official welcoming committee?"
Trixie giggled. "Trixie is not really sure, but she can only presume that they thought somepony else was you and whisked them away into the lap of luxury before even asking the poor mare's name." It was a gloriously funny image to think of, and it had Trixie giggling more.
"And who, pray-tell, was selected for this duty?" Harshwhinny saw the magnificent crystal building ahead of them. "The spa where Her Highness is being prepared?"
"It is. The committee was Prince Shining Armor's little sister and her friends." Trixie waved a hoof. "You know how it is with royalty, Trixie is sure."
Harshwhinny didn't wait for Trixie to open the door, she just pushed it open and strode in. Within the room were two Cadances, both with immaculately fastened manes. When Trixie walked up beside Harshwhinny, the Games Inspector leaned across to her. "This will be wonderful fun. Don't tell me what is going on, please." She cleared her throat. "I was unaware that the Crystal Empire had a second princess."
One of the Cadances flashed with green fire, Careful revealed as the copy. His eyes focused on Trixie, then on Harshwhinny. "The real Games Inspector?" The moment he saw Harshwhinny's face stop registering shock and start registering confusion, he continued. "If you will, it wasn't hard to guess. We had sent Corporal Trixie Lulamoon on an important mission, a duty she would not derelict without an exceptional reason. At this point in time there is only one thing that would be."
Cadance, the real one, got over her own shock at the guess by Careful. "Oh, yes. And Twilight was just telling me how she made a mistake and focused her welcome on the wrong pony. I am terribly sorry."
Trixie's eyes flickered to the large bay window and outside. Her pose might be "at attention," but she could easily see six panicking ponies from Ponyville to the side, one bouncing around in a pool of mud.
"Well," Harshwhinny's reply had been delayed by the shock of seeing an actual changeling, apparently well accepted by the Princess, right before her eyes, "Trixie was actually showing me around your lovely city, we were taking in the sights when she correctly divined that I was terribly hungry." She held her gaze level. "I met another of your Guard, and am quite impressed with not only the small slice of your Empire I saw, but with the ponies in it too." She found herself lifting up her clipboard and ticking the bottom. "Congratulations on your future hosting of the Equestrian Games!"
To say Trixie wore a smug look would be an understatement—she wore the smug look—the Greatest and most Powerful smug look in all existence. Not only had she done her job, but she had shown up Twilight Sparkle and her friends doing it. "Thanks, Whinny. You should really stop and let them give you a treatment, they are simply amazing." She looked at her Princess, and realized something. Trixie needs to tell her the truth, she can't keep doing this. Princess Cadance doesn't deserve it.
Trixie paused, unable to continue writing. "Trixie dislikes using this word…" She held the quill in her magic, reached it over to the inkwell and loaded a little more ink on it.
Sorry, Your Highness, but Trixie cannot continue. The Prince and Princess do not deserve to be lied to. Trixie is going to meet with them now, with your book, and turn herself in. It is Trixie's estimation that the changelings in the Crystal Empire have nothing to do with Chrysalis' hive anymore, and are good ponies. Prince Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza are both good ponies, and worthy of leading.
Closing the book, Trixie knew all too well that her words were appearing in Princess Luna's copy of the book as she wrote them. She inhaled deeply and picked the book up, grabbed her emergency rod, and stood up straight. Beside her, on her bunk, her armor sat; it was pristine, polished as best she could, and was a symbol of everything she had learned in the Crystal Empire. And Trixie had marred it.
Turning, she marched from the barracks, heading for the castle. A glance at the "guard entrance" was all it took for Trixie to decide she had to take the main entrance this time. She realized the habit of measured, militarized steps was hard to break, and stopped trying as she neared the entrance. "Trixie needs to see the Prince and Princess as soon as possible. This is important business."
The two guards didn't move to block her, and Trixie knew this was an invitation. She suddenly felt like a condemned pony, heading off to face exile, or banishment. The stairs were oddly hard to climb, but soon Trixie found herself in the royal throne room. Other ponies were talking to Cadance on her throne. Shining was absent, but Trixie knew each ruled evenly with the other. When the previous ponies ended their audience, she stepped forward.
"Trixie, you're out of uniform?" Cadance noticed the grim look on Trixie's normally ever-positive features and tilted her head a touch. "Is there something wrong?" Her heartbeat rose, something definitely seemed wrong with this mare who was the hero of the Equestria Games Incident.
Clearing her throat, Trixie stepped close enough to the throne that she could see Careful in his alcove, taking notes and writing orders. "Trixie wishes to surrender and beg Your Highness' mercy." Trixie placed book and rod on the ground before herself. "She was the spy from Canterlot, sent by Princess Luna to… to…" Tears had started, making the rest of her intended surrender impossible to understand.
Cadance's eyes were wide, the news causing her to glance toward Careful's desk and see the drone equally shocked. But then her attention was back on the blubbering unicorn before her. "Trixie Lulamoon?" Cadance climbed up off her throne and stepped forward. She knew what the rod was, but the book was interesting. "Why are you telling me this?" She sat down again, sitting only a hoofful of inches from Trixie.
Some tears faded, just enough for Trixie to get some words out. "Trixie cannot do this. Princess Luna taught Trixie that she should listen to that little voice inside that tells her to stop and think, and that voice has been screaming at Trixie. Lying to… to you and Prince Shining…" Trixie started to cry again, sniffing sobs back. "It was not a Great and Powerful thing!" She used her magic to flip the book open, revealing her resignation.
Cadance picked the book up in her magic, and immediately felt the magic within it. "I think we should call Celestia and Luna here for a… more frank discussion." She reached forward with a wing and pulled the surprised Trixie into a hug. "I am more disappointed in Auntie than in you—you told me the truth."
The hug was a shock, enough of one to make Trixie stop crying a moment and look up to Princess Cadance. Trixie lied to her, and Princess Cadance still hugs her? It only made the pain inside worse, which made her tears start up again.
"Careful?" Cadance held the still-sobbing Trixie to her side while she addressed her spymaster. "Please have a guard fetch Shiny; we are about to have visitors." Floating the little "alert stick" up in the air, Cadance twirled it around. A glance revealed that Trixie still sobbed, although quietly now. She lifted her throat and tried to give her best Royal Canterlot Voice impression. "Attention!"
Trixie's ears shot up straight and she moved without thinking. She dashed back from the Princess and snapped to attention.
"Corporal Trixie!" Cadance almost coughed in her efforts to keep her voice steady, but at last she relaxed her vocal cords. "Trixie, I don't hold your past actions against you. Princess Luna used you, as any leader should, and you acted as any pony could be expected to. But you have a choice, do you want to keep working for us?"
The question stumped Trixie. "Y-Y-Your Highness? Trixie lied to you, you shouldn't trust her—"
"No." Cadance cut in, stopping Trixie's verbal-flagellation. "I really shouldn't. But I think I can trust you more now, than ever. Trixie, tell me now if you ever plan to lie to me or Shiny again?" Trixie shook her head violently. "There. Settled. Now, do you want to work for us?" The shaking turned instantly into a nod, sharp and sure. "Good, then go and fetch your armor, and be back as quick as you can."
Cadance watched Trixie gallop from the throne room, heading for the main entrance. "Take the guard entrance!" She giggled when the mare slid along the floor a little as she changed direction. Cadance lit her horn and reached around the throne room, touching every corner that a pony could be secluded. Satisfied her conversations would be private, she climbed back up on her throne. Cadance settled down and started to read the book. It started off dry, listing just the most basic facts about Trixie entering the Empire, establishing herself in the guard.
Trixie has made some contacts, other guardponies, they are nice.
"Cady? What's wrong?" Shining Armor burst into the throne room, throwing the doors wide. He looked around, expecting enemies. Then he saw his wife sitting relaxed and calm, saw the book she was reading, then he noticed the alarm stick she was twirling in her magic. "What… what happened?"
"You beat Trixie back, to start." No sooner did Cadance say the words than Trixie appeared from the guard entrance, poking her now helmeted head in and spotting Shining Armor. "Come on over, Corporal Trixie. Shiny, come and curl up on this throne with me." Cadance raised an eyebrow. "And I think it is time." Cadance's magic rushed out again, but this time it blocked the doors, locking them with pure force.
Shining froze in his steps, staring at Cadance. "T-T-Time?" His eyes flicked to Trixie, then back to Cadance. Breathing a deep sigh, he dropped his disguise and resumed walking. "News of this doesn't leave this room, you understand?" He looked to Trixie, saw her huge eyes, wide as saucers. "At the wedding—"
"No dear, wait for all our guests to show up." Cadance scooted over on the big throne. She waited for Shining to take his seat beside her before she flipped the stick over to Trixie, passing it to her neatly. "Please break that."
Trixie looked at the little artifact in her magic. She took a deep breath and broke it in half. A cobalt-blue shield of magic manifested around her immediately, trapping Trixie inside and leaving her wide-eyed. She banged on the side of it. "What is this? What is going on? Trixie is scared!" But from what she saw of Shining—the changeling-like Shining that is—and Cadance was… relaxed acceptance. A flash of gold, and another of blue, were the only warnings that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had arrived.
"Don't." Cadance spoke just the one word, even as she felt magic building in the room. She did like the protective spell that had enveloped Trixie, it showed that Luna cared for her tools. "Just don't, I am sick of all…" she waved a hoof in the air, gesturing vaguely to Trixie's "prison," then to the broken stick, the book, "this. You wanted to know what exactly was happening in our Empire, here it is."
Celestia's eyes were wide, she saw the changeling-like creature on the throne beside Cadance, saw the way they sat, what little of their fur remained. "Shining Armor?" The changeling creature nodded. "Well this explains a lot." She relaxed just a fraction, she wasn't quite ready to blast away, but she wasn't dropping any of the magic she had charged, ready to protect her and her sister. This is honestly so terrible a reason I doubt any changeling would think of it.
"What did you do to Trixie?" Luna was less inclined to stand down. "I got her message about telling you, and then her emergency alarm goes off." Her eyes bored at Cadance and the creature that resembled Shining Armor. "If you are mind controlling them…" The threat went unfinished.
"Well," Shining gestured with one hole-filled hoof at the blue ball of magic Trixie was still trapped in, "why don't you ask her?" All the tricks and games were over, he realized, there was no more hiding from his former leaders.
Luna looked between Trixie, who appeared to look more than a little shocked, and Shining Armor. Lifting one hoof, she brought it down, dispelling the sphere around Trixie Lulamoon. "Trixie, report."
"Trixie doesn't want to…" The words tumbled from Trixie's mouth before she realized it. She slumped in place as she realized what she had said, awaiting her smiting. When it didn't come, she had to peel a hoof away from one eye.
"Corporal Trixie Lulamoon." Shining's voice was the same as when he used it in a parade ground, it cut through the silence of the room like a hammer. The desired effect was immediate, Trixie sat up straight and stared blindly at him. "Trixie, you can tell her everything, it's okay." His tone was softer, warm.
"Trixie doesn't want to lie to Prince Shining and Princess Cadance anymore." Once again, Trixie was surprised by what came out of her mouth. She avoided looking at Princess Luna or Princess Celestia, locking her attention on the odd-looking Prince, and Princess. "All her notes are in the book, as reported, but she doesn't want to do this anymore." At last Trixie turned to look at Luna, staring at her mentor in the eyes. "You taught me that lying was wrong, that it led to a pony being less Great and Powerful…"
The accusation drained all of Luna's anger away. She had never heard Trixie speak in the first person before, and it surprised her how much of an impact her words had, just because of that. "We did." Luna felt a keen stab, and a surge of something inside herself. No, leave me alone.
Shining flashed with green fire, reforming his normal stallion-self. "I think Cady is correct. We need to lay our cards on the table. All of them." He looked significantly at Celestia. "So, we will admit there is a changeling agent in Equestria right now."
"You will withdraw him immediately." Celestia stood proud, tall, but something tugged at her senses, something trying to pull at her attention.
"Well, he was investigating the influx of Chrysalis' spies in Canterlot, but we will do that for you." Shining Armor felt a warm rush of delight at the looks of shock on the two Equestrian Princesses. "Didn't hear that one? She really wants to find out what happened to me. We have been getting quite good at hiding… this." Shining shed his disguise again, revealing his changes for all to see.
Luna found herself twitching every time Shining shapeshifted, it was unnerving to her to see. "Very well, what if we… worked together in this?" She gestured vaguely to Shining. "What was your intention with the new spies?"
"Slick Dive was going to probe their group, find if any are likely to be turned to our cause, and arrange for them to be on a train coming here." As Shining spoke, he noticed Princess Celestia look more and more distracted, until her eyes went pure white, and she collapsed. Old instincts took over, Shining was on his hooves and looking around, hunting for who or what had harmed the princess.
Cadance shot to her hooves, only to have a Shining flash with magic, spreading a big white wing cover her back defensively. "What is going on here? What happened to Princess… to Princess… Oh!" She started to bounce as she felt the rush of power. She remembered it—had only ever felt it once before. "A princess?"
More familiar with the sensation, Luna nodded. "We had been expecting this. Of course Twilight Sparkle would pick the least opportune time to ascend." All her anger and annoyance at the present situation evaporated in one happy blast of power.
"Twily?" Shining looked between Cadance and Luna, still on edge over a possible attack. "What is going on with Twily?" He pulled his wing back, folded it at his side.
"She is ascending. Celestia is with her, mentally, in the astral plane." Luna looked into Shining's eyes, a flash of curiosity aimed itself at his current form; Shining Armor was effectively a male alicorn, and it had been far too long since Luna had been with any stallion that really caught her eye. She saw in that moment, in Shining's look of worry, that this was the real Shining Armor. "Come and visit, soon." Luna gave a sigh, everypony present knew that it wasn't an invitation, but a demand; a very softly given demand that was backed by the might of two immortal alicorns. "We have a lot to talk about, but before we leave, what is causing—"
"Chrysalis." Shining's eyes hardened a little at the memory. "She wanted me to be hers, and only hers. From what we hear, she intended me to be so crazy from trying to keep all this," he gestured to himself with a hoof, "secret, that I would run away and join her in her hive…"
"That sounds like the plot of a bad romance novel." Luna seemed to shock everypony present with her announcement. "Well, it does. Not that I have read that many…" She reached out with her magic, adjusting Celestia into a more dignified pose. "Goodbye, Shining Armor, Mi Amore Cadenza." Luna turned her attention back to Trixie. The sight of the mare was enough to help her break her formal ties as her tutor, she was standing as straight as the best Royal Guard, and held the same look of boredom. "Goodbye, Trixie Lulamoon. Please come and visit."
Trixie was immensely thankful for her Guard training. It let her keep her legs steady, stare ahead, and even nod to Princess Luna. Trixie just needs to wait for Princess Luna to leave before freaking out and collapsing. She watched as Luna gathered up Celestia's unconscious body, and suddenly disappeared. The ground attacked. It came up suddenly and thumped Trixie first in the chest, then in the jaw.
Shining would have stopped Trixie's collapse, except he was distracted. "Hold on, so my little Twily is going to be—"
Cadance lifted Trixie's head enough to slip a pillow under her. "A princess, Shiny. Twilight Sparkle is going to be a princess." For some reason, Cadance couldn't stop giggling when Shining's wings pomfed up in surprise.
Shining's shock at his little sister—his Twily—becoming a princess held him upright for nearly a full minute, then he fell. Slumping to the big throne, Shining Armor folded his wings up and tried to cover his eyes with his forehooves.
"You look ridiculous." Cadance rubbed Shining's mane slowly, her hoof gently brushing over one ear. "Surely it isn't that bad? After all, you are an alicorn right now." The words were bait, and she was a master angler when it came to catching a reaction from her husband.
Flashing with green fire, Shining sat back up straight. Once more just a unicorn, he leaned to the side and rested his neck over Cadance's withers. "You know that doesn't change who I am. I just needed a way to protect you from danger."
"Protect me from your sister's ascension?" Cadance spread a wing and wrapped it around Shining. "I am not so fragile, Shiny. And neither is Twilight now." She nuzzled Shining's neck, working her snout along his strong muscles.
Shining felt a measure of normality return to his world. "You're right, but I don't think I can ever stop worrying, it's in my cutie mark. I am a shield, I protect everypony. No matter what I become I will always have that."
Cadance hugged Shining tighter. "You are my Shiny, you are the Prince of the Crystal Empire. I love you, Shining Armor."
"I love you too, Mi Amore Ca—" His snout turned up into a smile, as Shining started using Cadance's full name, only to have the wing pull back from him and a blue jolt of magic delivered to his plot. "Hey!"
Chasing Shining from the throne room, Cadance took a brief moment to undo the physical lock spell she had put up. "You know the deal, Shiny!"
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
"You realize things will get very interesting now?" Cadance stood beside Shining Armor, watching Princess Twilight Sparkle leave the castle with her friends.
Canterlot was trapped in the biggest party in quite a while. Not only a new alicorn, but one of their own mares (it didn't matter that she lived in Ponyville, she grew up in Canterlot) was the new princess. In the sea of ponies wishing Twilight well, Shining and Cadance stood, afforded the privacy that only a really big and really loud crowd can give.
"You mean for Equestria, or for our meeting?" Shining tried to remember the last coronation, when he had met Cadance, when they had snuck away together. He felt a pair of lips touch his own, a reminder of the day he had found true love. Then he blinked, seeing Cadance at close-quarters, kissing him back.
Letting the kiss linger, Cadance let Shining finally break it. "Let's go and decide what to do about our little problem." She turned, waiting for Shining to reach her side. Spreading her wings, Cadance made a path through the revelers easily—just by virtue of her being an obvious alicorn.
"Make way for Princess Cadance!" Gilt stood sharply at attention, her disguise of a powerful mare lending an air of exotic command. "Your Highnesses." She didn't bow, she was alert and on guard. She knew for a fact that there were enemies in Canterlot, and wasn't going to take any risks.
"Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, Prince Shining Armor." Princess Celestia was decked out in her grandest of regalia for such an event. "Would you please, both, follow me?" She didn't wait, she turned and expected Shining and Cadance to follow.
"By your leave, Your Highness, we would ask that our retainer and a single guard attend with us." Cadance was standing still, watching Celestia. She waited for Celestia's nod of acquiescence before moving after her. "Careful, Lieutenant Gleaming, please follow me." Following, Shining wordless at her side, Cadance entered the same medium-sized room that the Princess of the Sun did.
The moment the door was closed Celestia cleared her throat. "Please, no disguises here. All of you, drop them." She turned as she sat down on the smaller throne, Luna already on an equally-sized one beside her.
Shining looked to Careful, and nodded. He called his fire and let it spin and wrap around him. The green flame burned away his form, revealing a lot of dark chitin, insectile wings, and a fanged smile. "Your Highnesses, as you can see, things have progressed further."
Bowing, Careful was in a decidedly horrible situation; standing beside his queens, terror almost overwhelmed him. Flame stole away his safety... his only line of defense. "Of course, Your Highness." He stood back up, nearly rattling in his carapace, only to see Princess Celestia turning her mixed look upon Gleaming Shine.
"And you?" As soon as she glared at the guard, Celestia knew she had made a mistake, and been caught in it. "You will forgive me, with the news that there are changelings infiltrating in Canterlot I have been seeing them everywhere."
"Your Highness," Careful was screaming in his own head, begging his mouth to close, "but the best way to find changelings, is with changelings." Idiot, just listen, let your queens handle things!
Cadance cut in, saving Careful any further words. "He is correct on that. We," she gestured to Shining, "got lucky. The three ways we have established to find a changeling are: have them walk near the Crystal Heart, have some ponies overwhelm them with feelings of love, and with hard work by good changelings."
"The Heart?" Luna joined the conversation. "How would that factor in? Could it be moved and used to find them?" She hoped her look was as neutral as she could get it. She glanced at Careful. If Nightmare Moon can be turned from evil, I have to believe a changeling can. The thought actually made her smile a little.
Celestia was ready for this concession. After all, she had an unknown amount of changelings in her city already; at worst she would now have a slightly larger unknown quantity. "Alright, you have more experience in this manner than our Guard, so you may continue to send changelings in—"
"And Trixie Lulamoon. We insist she moves to Ponyville to maintain a trained guard in the town." Shining had no hint of compromise in his voice. "I think you will agree that having a trained pair of eyes there will benefit us both, and especially Twily." He knew his look was hard, but when it stole the little smile that Luna had gotten Shining almost broke. "Please, let me change."
Cadance ignored Celestia and Luna, spread her wing around Shining's neck, and squeezed him against her. "You are my Shiny, never forget that. However you look, you are mine."
It was never quite so apparent that this was really Shining Armor, as when he leaned into Cadance and wept. Luna's shock at seeing fiercely determined changeling queen turned to concern, and self-incrimination. Celestia's feelings were not far away. Neither diarch said a word when Shining called the green fire back, and disguised himself as himself.
Silence filled the room, it was a short silence at first, but it grew, gaining in body and momentum. At last, Shining let out a deep breath. "Sorry." The moment he said the word, Luna added her own.
"Our apologies, Prince Shining Armor. We were the ones who pushed you to wear that form, it was our fault for taking offense at it." Luna tilted her head and looked at her sister, Celestia half-hiding behind her mane. "Of course it will be fine for Royal Crystal Guardspony Trixie Lulamoon to take up station in Ponyville."
"It will take some getting used to. Shining Armor," Celestia climbed off her throne and walked up to Shining, "I keep forgetting how this must be for you. I am sorry for making you uncomfortable." She tilted her head slightly, making sure Shining could see all of her face.
Shining closed his eyes and let go of his disguise again, reverting to the dark chitin and green mane-styling that were synonymous of a changeling queen. "Slick Dive has contacted you?" Business, get back onto business and save crying for private.
"We have found notes, hidden in places where we would find them." Luna looked to Celestia. "He claims there are almost thirty changelings in the city now; Chrysalis' changelings, that is. Our efforts to even catch sight of him haven't been successful, so far."
"He is a good infiltrator, and he is under a lot of stress." Four royal ponies started looking at Careful at once. He remembered Cadance had told him to tell everything. I hope she meant everything… "Every changeling is bonded to a hive, to a queen." He looked up at Shining and Cadance. "I am bonded to the best I have ever known, Queen Shining and Queen Cadance. As are Gilt Wings and Bright Flash. Slick Dive wants to bond to our hive, but if he does those other changelings would find out about him."
"Are you saying his loyalty is still to Queen Chrysalis?" Luna's eyes widened.
"No. He wants to bond to our hive, but he is fighting everything he feels for us, and for you." Careful didn't realize he had just used guilt as a weapon until after he had deployed it. Sort of serves them right, jumping to conclusions. "He is a good bug. He is still giving you useful information?" Both Celestia and Luna nodded. "Good, because I think it is time we send a message."
Shining's emotions rose along with the eyebrows of Celestia and Luna. "Has he given you the address of the nest?" A piece of paper levitated out, held in Luna's magic. "Then it is time to start playing for keeps. We will go down to their nest, and we will break their link to Chrysalis." He saw the shock in Celestia's eyes, admiration in Luna's.
"That… what does it do to a changeling when you break that bond?" Celestia looked to Careful, the only changeling in the room that had had it happen.
"It shakes the foundation of your world. Up seems down, left seems right. But when you realize that your belly is full for the first time in your life, and you feel the love of ponies—not just around you, but at you—I may have chirped a little." Careful blushed and looked to his queens, already feeling the warmth radiating off Cadance, and seeing the approval in Shining's eyes.
"Chrysalis declared war on Equestria when she invaded." Luna looked to her sister, her words directed mainly to her, but also Shining. "She assaulted and greatly harmed one of our most noble citizens, and she is now directing a minor invasion again. Her drones don't deserve her, nopony does. Let me say it, sister. If anypony is going to be controlling an army of shape-changers near or even inside Equestria, I would rather it be Prince Shining and Princess Cadance."
Celestia inhaled deeply. "Events rush ahead. This seems like such a minor thing, compared to the invasion." She made herself look at Shining, see what Chrysalis had done to him. "Do it. She sends an army, and you repelled it. She sends spies, I can think of none better for dealing with them."
"Is this going to stop?" Luna gestured to Shining, cutting off the previous topic once her sister gave assent.
Cadance jumped in before Shining. "We don't know of any way to stop or reverse it, and as far as we can tell it will progress until Shiny is a changeling queen completely." She lifted a hoof when Luna opened her mouth. "This is hard enough already, please don't push. You will not be kept out of the loop. Once we know facts, you will know them too," she paused a moment, "now."
"Future business." Celestia changed the topic, earning instant thanks from her three contemporaries. "The Princess Summit. You are willing to host that? It is tradition for whichever city is holding the Games to hold it each year just ahead of the competition. Of course, Twilight will be invited."
Relaxing, Cadance nodded. "Of course we can. Our castle might be a little… busy… with our new guests, but we have so much room I am employing maids to tidy up rooms that have never had anypony sleep in them." She froze when Shining leaned over and murmured in her ear.
"We will be using those rooms soon, for our hive." Shining brushed Cadance's ear with his lips, nuzzling his wife a little.
The way he says "hive" makes me think "foals." Cadance nodded. "My darling husband just reminded me that we are going to need a lot of those rooms for new additions to our hive, but I am sure we will have room for a few princesses." She was almost fanning herself in delight.
"One last thing, before we clear out this nest." Shining Armor had to fight the warm feelings "hive" brought to him now, particularly for the last question he had. "What about your other two spies?"
"Other two spies?" Luna turned to look to Celestia, who looked at her and shook her head. "Sister gave the task to me, I only sent Trixie." She left out that she had pushed for it herself, and for Trixie.
"Then what of the two Guardsponies? Dropper? Gl—" Shining felt the emotions of surprise from both alicorns opposite him.
"Wasn't Lieutenant Dropper the stallion who had a big problem with having mares and changelings in the Royal Crystal Guard?" Careful hadn't paid much attention at the time. Weeding out disgruntled Guardsponies had been Gilt's problem, one she had deal with effectively.
Shining gave a deep sigh. "I am sorry, it appears we all have a problem with him. Gleaming Fire I am not so sure about. He was—"
"I have a note from a Gleaming Fire. Half-written, but he seemed intent on getting it to me." Luna interrupted Shining, her magic flaring brightly and presenting a note to him.
Dear Princess Luna, LT is off the rails, he thinks the Cap is a changeling in disguise. Heading somewhere, probably Crystal Empire. Check sto—
"Stores." Shining Armor finished the last word. "Anything missing we should be worried about?" He looked at Luna and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Just alert rods." Celestia shrugged. "At the time it was thought some Guards replacing ones broken in the North. We will discuss this more at the summit."
"I know we have to wait, Shiny, but I want to get this… well, over with." Cadance shifted her weight from one side to the other. They were waiting in Pony Joe's doughnut shop, casually waiting for word on when to start.
"Love, this is a timing. Let Slick do his thing. I trust him with this." Shining wished he was as calm inside as he sounded, but then Guard training helped him keep sharp in a crisis. "Joe, thanks again for putting up with us." He gestured to the four Royal Crystal Guard standing at the front door of the doughnut shop, and the four Canterlot Royal Guard matching them.
"It's nothin', uh, Your Highness." Pony Joe floated another plate of doughnuts out the door to the guards. "O'course the bill goes up to the castle." He smiled smugly.
"She's back." Fighting the urge to point at the green-tinted pegasus talking her way past the guards, Cadance smiled. "Jade, welcome back. How did it go? Did Slick see you?" Her voice filled with more and more concern as she spoke, seeing the worried look on Jade Wings' face.
"Report, Private." Shining turned to Joe, taking hold of the big cup of tea floating over, and sending it to Jade.
"Yes, sir!" Jade's emotions solidified under the command, but that didn't stop her from wrapping her wings around the cup and sipping from the soothing drink. "Sorrel… Slick Dive… found me alright. Sir, he looked terrified…"
Shining ached to grab the mare and hug her, tell her that everything would be okay. I almost hate don't want to be able to taste emotions, but I can't deny that it is helpful. Knowing is more important than not knowing. "What exactly did you tell him, and what did he reply with?"
"Just as you ordered, I told him, 'The promise will be fulfilled in half an hour, for you and all your new friends.' He told me where his 'friends' were, and to not be late. He seemed nervous and excited." Jade scrunched her snout at the heat of the tea, but drank more. "What is going to happen to him?"
"Jade," Cadance shot a glance to her husband to back off, and stole Jade's attention from Shining, "it is his turn to join our hive. Slick Dive has been working as one of Chrysalis' drones all this time, still under her influence—"
"Only very lightly." Shining took a doughnut and made every indication as to be eating it; meanwhile teleporting the sugary treat away, a mouthful at a time.
"Right. He hasn't even had a full meal, as our drones have. This is Slick's last mission here then he can come home." Cadance saw the smile grow on Jade's face, a real smile that crinkled around her eyes. I don't need to be a changeling to see she cares for him still. Is it enough to grow into full love?
"How long do we have?" Shining finished the doughnut, his practice "eating" as a changeling having paid off in spades.
"It took me ten minutes to get back here, sir. They are in a warehouse on the far side of town. Slick said he would make sure to have as many in there as possible." Jade drank the rest of the tea in a gulp. "Can… can I come too, sir?"
"He still loves you, Jade." Cadance looked at the mare and knew when her words had hit home, by the blush in Jade's cheeks. "You understand what going will mean?"
"Of course I do!" All of Jade's emotions chose then to lash out, and not one of them asked her intellect if "yelling at a princess" was a good idea. "He loves me, I told him if he does something good with his life, if he proves himself, I will consider a date!" She froze, eyes widening at what she had said, and who she had said it to.
"I can suggest somewhere nice to eat." Cadance had to stifle a little giggle with a hoof. "He will probably appreciate having a friend there. Come on." Walking past the half-stunned Jade, Cadance fell in beside Shining. "Hopefully this…" her eyes widened as she stared ahead suddenly, "wait, can Chrysalis even broadcast love like this? If she can't, she could never get her drones back."
Shining lowered his head and pressed it to Cadance's shoulder, pushing her out of the shop. "Cady, we're not going to second guess ourselves now—it is time we did this. We can't leave Slick hanging." The mass he was pushing started to move on its own and Shining followed his wife out.
"You're right, hesitating now would only get him hurt. Careful," Cadance turned to focus on the unicorn Royal Crystal Guard nearest her, "let's move, we have our target and a time. Lieutenant Flash, you are still happy to accompany us?" Two sharp salutes met Cadance's command and question. "Slow, now. If any are still outside the nest, we don't want to startle them."
"Royal Imperial Detachment," Careful's grin stretched from ear to ear, "let's move."
"Imperial?" Shining and Cadance both looked to each other, sighed, and moved as their guards did. The path across the city was a winding one, taking no back-streets, it nonetheless had them on the same street as the warehouse in question within ten minutes.
Lining up in the street, Shining took one step and felt something out of place. The second step made him uneasy, and the third his hackles rise. One of Princess Celestia's guards is a changeling, and not one of my changelings. Shining thought about questioning the four, about demanding them to reveal themselves, but all the noise such would cause would raise the alarm. "Ready, love." Shining stepped closer, making sure their flanks and shoulders touched.
"You say that as if loving you is something I have to focus on and unleash like a weapon." Cadance broke into a prancing gait; much as she protested it, touching her Shiny made her love swell. "We should be close enough."
Shining trembled. He was in the middle of a hurricane of power, a monstrous vortex of love that had no safe spot. Every ounce was aimed at him, but he had no hope of catching it all and let the bulk of it flow over and around him.
Careful's changeling senses were overwhelmed, but he had been training for this. "Okay, we are moving in. Any changelings we find are to be brought outside. I—" He cut off when one of the Canterlot Royal Guard fell down in a rush of green fire. "I think we have our first: Straight Horn. Leave her here, let's grab as many as we can." With that, both contingents of guards entered the warehouse.
"Cady, I don't think I have really told you how much this—all of this—means to me." Shining nuzzled Cadance, stepping past the one blissed-out changeling at their hooves. "When I said 'I do' I meant it. I dedicated everything to you, to making you the happiest mare in Equestria, and beyond. I might be becoming a changeling, but you have shown me how I can keep that promise."
Lost in the moment, Cadance's heart soared. She walked after her husband, closer to the warehouse. Powerful magic was grabbing them by their fate and guiding them. As long as it is beside Shining, my Shiny, I don't care where destiny takes me.
"Mi Amore Cadenza," Shining's lips were curled up in a smile, "Princess of Love, Cadance, Cady. I love you, and I will keep loving you no matter what." Shining felt magic lift his hooves from the ground. It stripped him of his disguise and bared his chitin to the world.
"I love you, Shining Armor." Cadance leaned forward as she was lifted, matching Shining and meeting his lips. The moment she felt the warmth of Shining Armor's lips, the world turned pink.
Inside the warehouse, Careful staggered as he was stripped of his disguise, and stumbled around the already passed out nest of changelings inside; of the newly converted changelings, only Slick managed to keep standing. "M-M-My queens!" Careful's eyes stared through the wall, through solid matter as the wave of pink hit him. Smiling, Careful buzzed his wings furiously.
"What is… what is that?" Slick Dive walked up beside Careful. "I… I thought it would be scary, instead it's amazing! This… what are our queens doing?" He couldn't focus on anything else. The wave of pink sliced through the bond to his hive, cauterized the wound, and bound him to his new home. In an instant Slick Dive was hungry, full, then overfull; his body was packed with love and still more came. Can there be this much love in the world?
Unprepared, the other changelings of the nest acted as expected, passing out or squirmed around on the floor like drunkards.
"What are you looking at? Of course there was going to be changelings in their guard, they are legal citizens of the Crystal Empire. We have a job to do, Privates, now do it!" Flash Sentry's grumble failed to cause a reaction from any of the downed changelings, and in short-order he and his squad started to drag them out. The burning glow of pink was too bright to look at, Flash assumed that Cadance and Shining were doing their thing. Just like the wedding. Don't know why they are doing all this just for a few drones.
Careful's thoughts drifted back to him, he could think again, and the thought was, Where is my disguise? It took less than a moment to regain his pony form. "Slick?" He turned to the other changeling. Hivemate. His sense of the other changeling made him smile; that Slick Dive was still completely mesmerized by the love almost had his smile off the charts. "Come out when you are ready."
The moment was slowly fading, Shining knew he was way past "full" and was close to "obscenely stuffed" so far as love went.
"Uh, Sir?" Gleaming Shine had slipped back out and had to shield her eyes from the glow, but by the second it decreased until she could behold her Prince and Princess. "Sir, disguise yourself. The Guards are going to be back out in a second."
Cadance finally broke the kiss. She drew her lips back from her Shiny and knew she sent out another heavy pulse of love. "Shiny, your chitin is showing."
Flashing with green fire, Shining Armor restored his form, hiding away the changeling queen he now resembled quite closely. He wanted to look at how many of the changelings they had captured, but he didn't need to. Shining Armor felt a connection with his hive, each changeling around him twanged on his senses. His eyes were locked with Cadance, and Shining Armor was sure there was some kind of magnet that wouldn't release its grip on him. "C-C-Cady?" He waited for his wife to tilt her head a little, before leaning back in, his lips barely touching Cadance's; he whispered, "I love you."
"Love you too." Cadance's own lips brushed against Shining's mouth. She wanted to kiss him again, and keep kissing him over and over—so she did.
The world seemed a confusing place for Careful; ponies were dragging changelings out of the building then returning to find more. Slowly he regained enough focus to see his queens, and walked slowly up to them. "I… I think it worked." A gaze around revealed Dropped Ball, and nearly half a dozen less well-trained changeling infiltrators. "Straight Horn?" He walked over to where the mare lay, the first of this bunch who had been hit by Cadance's love. "Are you…" Careful trailed off when Straight merely nuzzled his hoof.
Shining nuzzled Cadance one more time. Filled beyond full with love; he felt the interconnectedness of his hive, of the gently tug and pull of every drone now bound to him. There was his core, Careful, Bright, Gilt, and now Slick. Now he could feel the drones that had been pulled from the nest; each newly bound drone a bright spec on his senses. There was more, though. Shining armor felt little pinpricks all over the city, the rest of the drones from this nest, and he knew that they were his now. He was their queen, and he would prove that he was worthy of the title.
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Sneaky was bowed low, but his crest and tail were both standing on end—he knew he was his Queen's favorite right now. "My Queen, the new spy network is establishing itself now. I had them take control over the existing agents there, which meant we still had a spy in the Royal Guard. Now—" He froze, shocked by the way his queen jumped up, and by an odd tingling. "M-M-My Queen?"
"Silence!" Chrysalis opened herself, reaching for all her changelings. She felt them like a pony would feel fur. She felt her hive around her, she felt Sneaky as a prickly little sensation—close to hoof. But there was a bald patch, a bald patch where just moments ago she had felt prickles.
Watching the black drain from his Queen's face, Sneaky fell back from Chrysalis in shock and fear. He chirped in a panic when her eyes fixed on him. He was about to drop his gaze from her, until he noticed she wasn't looking at him, but through him. "My Queen?"
"They're all gone… every one…" Chrysalis' heart felt numb; she felt terrified. "I felt a tickle of love come from there, then all my little drones in Canterlot…"
"Our new nest? How?" Sneaky had gotten his name by living up to it, not by being brave, and certainly not by standing in the way when his Queen was upset; right then, however, Sneaky was confused.
"She must have squished them… squished them all." Chrysalis felt tears in her eyes and spun around quickly. With her face hidden, she let the tears flow faster. "Leave me, Sneaky. Leave me and I will find one more drone to send." A plan was forming, a plan Chrysalis had to follow through.
She waited and wept, until the prickle that was Sneaky left the room. "The hardest disguise." Chrysalis took a deep breath as she walked over to the mirror. She stared into the silvered glass, looking at the huge queen she now was. Time flowed backwards, in her mind, and she watched with her memories as the queen shrank down. She watched the queen until she was barely the size of a regular drone.
Closing her eyes, Chrysalis reached for that bare-patch, where she had lost over twenty drones all at once. "I have to stop them, stop all of this!" Her eyes snapped open, and Chrysalis stared at that image of years past. Fire poured up around her, boiling away the stately shape of a changeling queen, and leaving Chrysalis no bigger than any other drone.
"Almost." Chrysalis looked at the queen-nymph in the mirror, her wonderful mane just starting to grow, her tail a wonderful plume. Green fire coiled and wrapped around her, sealing away those last two vestiges, and adjusting her face until a pair of bright blue eyes stared back at the drone, and her mouth grinned behind the protruding fangs. "There, perfect."
Ponies were talking around him, but Shining was focused. "Cady…"
"We got them, Shiny." Cadance smiled at the groggy-drunk changeling drones that sprawled out before them. "Not as many as Slick said, though."
"I can feel them." Shining turned to his wife. "Cady! I can feel them all over the city!" His panic raised a notch and he started glancing around. Shining's eyes fixed on a form at the far end of the long street, lying on the ground. His hooves flashed as he broke into a gallop.
"Your Majesty." Slick staggered to his hooves and looked at Cadance with adoration in his eyes. This feels better than nearly everything else… "Your Majesty, I was trying to warn you when you got here, over half the drones were out on missions." He pointed to Straight Horn. "Like her, in the Royal Guard."
"There was a mare in the Royal Guard?" Flash Sentry's shock disturbed even him.
Cadance forsook any proselytizing toward Flash and focused on Slick Dive. "Do you know where they all are?" When Slick shook his head, Cadance almost said a bad word. "So there are nearly twenty changelings in the city now bound to our hive, and they are likely confused, love-drunk, and undisguised?"
"That will cause a panic." Flash turned to his squad—minus the imposter, of course—and straightened up. "You two guard the visiting prince and princess, I'll be back as fast as I can." He spread his wings and gave Princess Cadance a smirk.
Knowing what was coming, Cadance shielded her eyes from the cloud of dust Flash Sentry's launch kicked up. "Stallions, always showing off." Cadance shook her head before turning her attention on Shining.
Trotting back to the warehouse with the giddy drone in his magic, Shining Armor felt a little of his panic ease. "There's more, Cady. I can feel them…" Shining looked around, that prickling sensation coming from all over the city.
"Your Highness," Careful bowed deeply to Shining, "close your eyes and focus." He waited until Shining Armor had followed his directions, or at least until he had followed the first. "Feel the strength of them. You have to focus on the not-so-strong ones, and discard the strongest."
Shining had spent weeks training to shape-shift with Careful, relaxing and being guided by the drone's voice was second nature. He sifted through the prickly sources of tension in his head, and felt one as being stronger than the rest. "Got it."
"Lead us to them." Careful moved as Shining moved, watching his queen take a few steps, then break into a canter. Soon enough they had left the worried Royal Guards behind; along with Cadance.
Following the thread Careful had helped him find, Shining felt as if he were the Friendship Express and the thread was a rail. His ears pricked at the sounds from just around the next corner.
"Careful! It's a changeling!"
"Get back, it could bite you!"
Shining rounded the corner and saw the drone on the ground, and being harassed by two Royal Guards. Marching up with his chest puffed out, Shining took a moment to glance to Careful.
"Stand back! Stand back for the Prince!" Careful was bigger than he usually preferred, having chosen a large-barreled unicorn stallion as his disguise on the run. "We are collecting all changelings in the city."
"Captain Shining Armor!" One of the Royal Guards snapped to attention immediately, then nudged the other. "Sorry, sir, we didn't realize there was an operation going on in Canterlot."
Shining was about to take control of the situation that Careful had set up, when he found a spear-point leveled towards him. "What is this?" He was careful not to use his magic, just lifting a hoof to gesture at the spear.
"How do we know they aren't changelings?" The second Gaurdspony nodded to Shining and Careful. "Points, we might be getting 'had.' "
"Private Shimmersphere!" Shining Armor lifted his voice to full parade-ground volume. "ATTENTION!" The spear pulled back, pointed to the sky. "Good work, soldier, but you just pointed your spear at a visiting Prince!" He pointed to Points Made. "Corporal Points, how would you resolve this situation without causing a major diplomatic incident?"
"Sir! I would beg the dignitary's forgiveness and offer any and all efforts to repay the slight on their honor, sir!" Points Made hadn't heard Shining's full voice unleashed since his training, and the former Captain certainly hadn't lost any intensity. "And speaking as the Private's commanding officer, sir, I offer all apologies and we put ourselves at your disposal." His hooves clacked on the pavement as his stance stiffened further.
"I give that a solid pass." Shining turned back to Shimmersphere. "You still have a lot to learn, I will be having words with Princess Celestia about your performance." And recommend him for extra training. A clever stallion. "You can both assist me by escorting this changeling to the Castle, let them know there are going to be more coming in. They are to be given a cozy cell and left to their own devices."
Careful leaned up and whispered to Shining. "Don't forget, my queen, we don't want any slipping away once they come to."
"Of course." Shining leaned forward, his snout close to the ears of both the Royal Guardsponies. "The anti-disguise training will be needed." Both stallions stiffened at his words, but saluted.
When the two guards trotted off, carrying the changeling with them, Careful gave a sigh. "Well played, Your Majesty." Careful loved using the title he felt was proper for his queen.
Shining was more than a little disturbed by how easy it was to spin the lies, but it got the job done. I am a changeling now, after all. The moment the thought hit him, Shining froze up. I really am. I am not a unicorn. I am a changeling. He opened his senses and reached out into the world; he felt Cadance. And she still loves me. I am the luckiest changeling on Equus. "I wish I didn't have to lie—that I could tell them all—that they would still treat me like that if they knew."
Careful looked to his queen with a little worry. "Give it time, Your Majesty. Once changelings are accepted, then we can all walk in the light. Besides, all the important ponies know." He winked to Shining's look of shock. "It's true. Your family, your wife, and your hive; they all know."
Focusing his mind, Shining felt for the next target. "They're moving…" Shining could tell both direction and distance, which was all he needed to know. "Heading to Canterlot Castle. Must have been picked up by guards."
"Shimmersphere was smart, just not wise." Careful broke into a trot at Shining's side as the Prince began off in a new direction. "Another?"
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Straight Horn started to get her wits back. She felt odd—as if she had been force fed love for hours and then run over by a train. Something pinged in her head, a sense she hadn't expected to feel here in Canterlot: her queen was near. Looking around, she spotted pink legs and tracked them upwards with her eyes.
"Hello. You are Bright and Gilt's friend, aren't you?" Cadance smiled at the changeling, ignoring their look of shock and panic. "Relax, nopony is going to hurt you; you are safer than you know."
"I really don't think I am." Straight looked left and right, her mind racing to evaluate the best way to get away from one of the two ponies that had repelled the entire changeling swarm. "So… squishing now, or squishing later?"
"No squishing. Shining would never let me hear the end of it if one of you got squished." Cadance turned her eyes to Slick Dive for just a moment, but it was all Straight needed to try her escape. Wrapping a deep blue bubble around herself and the changelings, Cadance sighed. "Can you speak some sense to her, Slick?"
"Your Imperial Majesty." Slick Dive bowed deeply, his eyes flickering with mirth. "Straight, hive-sister," where her name didn't get her attention, the title did, "please show some decorum before one of our queens."
After a moment of scrabbling at the shield, Straight turned and squinted at Slick. "You were in on this." In a moment of anger she was about to launch herself at her hive-brother, when she realized that her hive was close, the center of it right before her. She blinked and walked up to Cadance. Each step made the love sloughing off the alicorn seem stronger, and soon Straight was fighting with every breath not to be overwhelmed by the power. "Not squished?"
"Not squished? Of course not squished. I am not Chrysalis; haven't you heard about the laws we passed in the Crystal Empire? You will be coming with us, but you are free once we reach there." Cadance had had enough of the talk of squishing. "But why would you? I offer you as much love as you want, for as long as you want it, and a hive where you aren't at risk of being squished."
"But Queen Chrysalis will find us!" Dropped Ball struggled to his hooves. "She is mighty, and she will hunt us down and squish us all!"
"No she won't." Gleaming Shine's voice startled all the changelings, and earned her a smile from Cadance. "If you come to the Crystal Empire, you will be under my protection, and the protection of all the Royal Crystal Guard. You pretended to be in Princess Celestia's Guard, why not stand with us and protect your queens?" She had picked up the lingo various changelings used in reference to Shining and Cadance, and figured it couldn't hurt.
"Queens?" Dropped looked from Gleaming to Cadance, then to Slick Dive. "What do they mean, 'queens'?" He rubbed his wings together, chirping his annoyance with the situation.
"Don't you feel it?" Slick Dive buzzed his wings and trotted around Cadance, closing his eyes and still maintaining his distance from her. "Queen Cadance promised me this—promised me a safe home to live in. I was scared at first, really scared." The chirp his wings gave was reassurance: safety, hive.
"He's right…" Straight Horn looked at Cadance. I don't know how they did it, or why, but I can't feel Chrysalis' hive anymore. I am bound here, to her. Despite herself, the prospect seemed a step up. When no one seemed to cut in on her mental examination of the situation, Straight Horn bowed down. "My queen." Joy filled her, it flooded her, but it wasn't hers. She looked at Cadance in wonder, never for a second realizing that a queen could show so much love.
Slick giggled and booped Straight Horn on the nose. "Someling realized!" He giggled more and realized he was horribly over-full of love. It felt too good to be upset about. "Isn't it aweshum?"
Straight looked at Slick, blinking in surprise. "You're drunk." The problem with the accusation was, she felt her own mind turning a little squishy, and giggled. Freezing, she gasped in surprise. "This is your fault!" She pointed at Cadance with a hoof. "This is too much love!"
Cadance looked at the seriously-delivered accusation, watching as the changeling's stony look broke into a giggle then laugh, before falling down and rolling on her back. "And is not being hungry so very terrible?" Cadance reached a hoof down and couldn't resist rubbing Straight's belly—which earned more giggles.
"Yesh!" Straight Horn went limp at the gentle belly-rub, the touch of her queen and primary source of love paralyzing her with bliss. "So gooooood…" She trailed the word out and closed her eyes.
Not stopping her rubbing, Cadance looked to Gleaming. "I like this method better than squishing. For a start, it is a lot cuter." She couldn't stop smiling, even with the other changelings staring at the odd behavior.
"I will never know what it is like. Being threatened every time you do something wrong would be terrible. How would we get any of our recruits through training if we squished every one that failed at something?" Gleaming looked at the other curious changelings. "You can come closer, Empress Cadance doesn't bite."
" 'Empress'?" Cadance glared for a second. "You know that isn't how this works. I am a princess first and foremost."
"But an empress out-ranks a queen." Gleaming winked to Slick Dive. "Besides, he said it first, Your Imperial Majesty."
"I bet Princess Celestia doesn't get this." Waving a hoof to indicate Gleaming's explanation, Cadance dispelled her shield and revealed Princess Celestia herself just outside. "Your Highness." She bowed her head, but glared to the sides—at Gleaming and Slick. "We found the changeling nest; however it seems there might be a few that slipped away. Prince Shining Armor is gathering them up."
Celestia smiled warmly, for the first time since all the mess started she actually had a feeling of safety—strange given her present company. "Yes. Flash Sentry reported what happened, and our small Royal Guard jail is filled to bursting with confused changelings. Please see to them as soon as possible. As one head of state to another," her phrasing earned a gasp from the guards, although Celestia was pleased to see Cadance hadn't, "you have done Equestria a great favor today."
"Thank you, Princess." Cadance gave a bow. "Let me find my husband and we can empty your cells of our citizens."
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Trixie rode the train again. She both disliked and loved it. Of course it meant she didn't have to pull her wagon, but it also meant she didn't get to smell the air, and take her time. "If only Trixie weren't quite so rushed, she would definitely like to walk this path one day." Her hooves itched, if only to walk around.
Rising to her hooves, Trixie took a step before the train gave a shunt, the big locomotive changing its relentless power from pulling, to slowing. Looking out the window to the side nearest her, Trixie watched as a little town appeared in the distance. "This is silly. Princess Twilight…" the name still stung a little to say, "knows what Trixie is now—her friends too. But," Trixie levitated her hat up, planting it firmly on her head, "that is why the Great and Powerful Trixie was chosen."
The train slowed further, stopping at last beside an old station midway between Canterlot and Ponyville. Stepping down from the train, Trixie watched as her wagon was unloaded from the train. "Careful with that. The Great and Powerful Trixie will not have her goods jostled!"
Two burly unicorns gave the showmare a wave that she returned once she realized her wagon was intact.
Careful Steps preceded Shining and Cadance, marching down the steps to the Royal Guard training and practice area. He followed closely on the hooves of Flash Sentry. "You have them all, Lieutenant." Careful had been discussing the capture of the changelings with Flash, telling him that they were now bonded to the hive. "We can tell, they are all bound to us." It was a lie of convenience and one that defended Careful's Queen, so it wasn't really a lie at all.
"That is extremely convenient. Why didn't you do this 'bond' thing to find them?" Flash turned before heading to the practice grounds, leading the way to the little row of covered cells the guards used to take care of ponies who had drunk too much hard cider, or who enjoyed roughhousing a little much.
"Because they weren't part of our hive." Careful's logic was perfect. He had his disguise on, mostly to keep others calm; Flash knew he was a changeling. Careful looked in on the mix of ponies, rocks, extra beds, and the odd changeling (apparently defiant enough, or resigned enough, to not bother with a disguise).
"Every one we could find, and that you gave us the details for. Really tricky, one disguised as a barrel for nearly ten minutes until one of the other guards leaned against them. It was good training, if nothing else." Flash halted and stood to attention. "Sir!"
Shining Armor stopped and showed off a perfect salute. "You don't need to salute me anymore, Flash. But I am glad to see your training stuck." The first changeling on the end of the row was glaring at Flash first, but when Shining was in their view their eyes went wide as saucers. "Hello there. Name, rank, intention."
"Flick Wing, you and I both know you aren't an infiltrator. You are clever, but you aren't up to full infiltration. Who signed you up for this job?" Careful let fire cover him, sweeping away the guard-disguise he had been wearing.
Several gasps left nearby cells, more changelings quickly shed their disguises to look at Careful. But Shining was the first to speak. "Flash, if you could make sure we have some privacy?" He looked at Flash Sentry, and interpreted the annoyed expression as a desire to learn new interrogation techniques, especially those that were effective on changelings. "Sorry, but this is the business of our hive."
"Yes, sir." Flash Sentry snapped off his salute, intending it to show his annoyance with Shining through the act of distancing him.
Once the Equestrian Guard was out of sight, Shining nodded to Cadance, and dropped his disguise. The gasp was much louder this time, and nearly every changeling in the lockup was poking their head through the bars to see. "I am one of your Queens." Shining buzzed his wings and walked down the row of cells, making sure each changeling saw him. "Your old queen, Chrysalis, tried to make me into a drone. It almost worked." He grinned, showing off the fangs of a queen. "But I am not alone. You all know of Empress Mi Amore Cadenza, Princess Cadance." He paused as a few of the heads nodded. "She is your queen, too."
Every changeling was silent. Each one reached to that little tendril that bound them—metaphysically—to their hive, and checked it. "You are…" Flick's voice trembled in awe. "What about my mommy?"
The question hit Shining like a brick. It impacted against his morals and sense of rightness; he had discussed this with Cadance, but no further. "If I can do anything to help Chrysalis, I will. But she is not fit to run a hive." His words got a few chirps from other drones, not the least of which was Careful. "Can I trust you, Flick Wing?"
Flick shook a little more, her world having been shaken. "A queen should be the hive's mother." She glared defiantly at Shining Armor. "You are no mother to the hive!" It took every ounce of Flick's willpower to go against her instincts towards Shining.
"Not yet." Shining tried not to hang his head, but it was hard to deny that it still hit hard that—at his very core—he was turning into a mare. "But these changes are not superficial. I am every bit your queen." His voice was even, but firm. "And you have my lovely wife. It was her love that ripped your bond to Chrysalis free. It is her love that feeds you."
"You would starve us to death if we didn't agree to… to…" Flick buzzed her wings in annoyance. "Join you or die?" The moment she said it she saw terror on a changeling queen's features for the second time ever. The first had been Chrysalis realizing what was happening in the throne room at the recent wedding. "I'm sorry…"
"No, I am. I didn't…" Shining flopped down to his belly. "I am new at this, alright? I want you all to be safe and happy, but not if it means everypony I protect is put at risk." I need to get to know them. They are ponies, I need to know that. Taking a deep breath, Shining looked up at Flick Wing. "I am sorry. We got off on the wrong hoof. My name is Shining Armor, who are you?"
"It…" Flick chirped her wings in confusion. "My name is Flick Wing."
Shining smiled. "How did you get that name?" With the changeling mare so nervous he could already see why.
"My wings tremble a little when I am worried about something." Flick was suddenly conscious of performing the act. "How did this," she gestured with a hoof at Shining, "happen? Queen Chrysalis wasn't very… explainy."
"Cadance is going to thump me for admitting this, but for the first few hours of Chrysalis' act I didn't suspect anything." Shining flicked an ear and tilted his head to glance at Cadance.
"No comment." Cadance poked out her tongue.
"I was distracted. I was about to get married, and we had received a threat against Princess Celestia. What I first noticed, was the way Chrysalis kissed. It was uncaring, as if it was just an act—which it was. 'You're not Cadance,' I said. I had barely a moment of free thought before her magic flashed and trapped me." Shining shook a little, unable to suppress the shiver the mere memory brought back. "She made me do things, she… she seemed intent on doing them, even giving herself away to her bridesmaids before she…"
"Mind control." Flick shivered. "Queens and a few drones can do that. It is…"
"Terrifying." As Shining said the word, he saw Flick nod in reaction. "I was lost in the world she built for me; I couldn't even start to break free, and she made me enjoy it. But then she produced some… gunk. It tasted horrible, but because she told me to, I ate it."
"That 'gunk,' " Careful cut in, reaching a hoof to his Queen's shoulder, "is an old poison. It kills ponies, and there is no cure. But if combined with changeling blood, it does something different. It changes the pony."
"Careful Steps was the first changeling I got to know properly." Shining looked up at Careful. "I found a pony. A smart stallion who wanted to do good things, who liked being free and well fed." He turned back to look at Flick. "I am sorry if I implied we would starve you. You don't have to join us directly, or do what we say as queens. But you do have to live in the Crystal Empire."
"Do you promise to help my mommy?" Flick Wing looked back at Shining with all the certainty of a filly who was lost and alone. "Please?"
"She hurt me a lot, Flick." Shining felt a soft wing touch his back, and felt Cadance press against his side. "If she lets me help her," it cost every ounce of his willpower to say, "I will try." Without realizing when he had screwed his eyes closed, Shining felt tension leave him, and opened his eyes to see Flick Wing standing in her cell, crying as much as he wanted to.
"Queen Shining Armor? Q-Queen Cadance?" Flick looked between the two, the changeling almost-queen on the ground, and the alicorn pony comforting him. She felt pulled to them, drawn like a moth to a flame, because she had let herself be. "Please let me help save her."
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
"Come one! Come all! See the Great and Powerful Trixie perform feats that will amaze you!" Trixie cavorted, letting off fireworks. Part of her wished that she could have Gilt Wings perform with her again, but the Commander was likely busy… and almost a day by train away. "See her astound and amaze! See her produce magic unlike any you have seen before!"
"Can you do anything like Princess Twilight's magic?" Rainbow Dash sauntered up to the stage during Trixie's rehearsal; wearing more of a smile than the sneer she had the first time Trixie had put on a show in Ponyville. "Of course you can't. You do a completely different kind of magic." Rainbow leaned to one confused colt at her side and whispered—loud enough so that all the young ponies watching could hear— "She is actually pretty awesome, you should see what she did in the Crystal Empire."
Trixie blinked at Rainbow Dash, her act pausing for just a moment. Not a heckler. She beamed. "Yes indeed! Watch well and witness the spectacle that Trixie performed for Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor themselves!"
"Who's My Armor Cadenz?" Pipsqueak lifted his hoof, as if he was at school.
"She means Princess Cadance." Rainbow used a hoof to rough up Pip's mane so it wound up everywhere.
"Ahem. Trixie thinks she might need to revise some of this for the younger audience." Tapping a hoof to her chin, Trixie grinned right at Rainbow Dash. "For this next part, the Great and Powerful Trixie will require the help of an audience member." She turned her head, scanning among the fillies and colts, but her eyes were focused on Rainbow Dash. "Somepony fast. Somepony strong. Somepony… like you!"
"What? Me?" Rainbow Dash was moving forward, her wings spread in surprise. "But I…" She climbed the stairs onto the stage. "So what do I do?"
"Try to keep up." Trixie's eyes flashed. She sent a burst of fireworks shooting into the sky with her magic, and dropped a smoke pellet.
Rainbow Dash felt a shove from the side and stumbled. Coughing a little, she felt something settle on her back and head. "Hey, what…?" The smoke cleared and revealed Trixie sitting in the audience, and Rainbow Dash stuck on stage, wearing the magic hat and cape.
"So, 'Great and Powerful Rainbow Dash.' What makes you think you're so awesome, anyway?" Trixie gave a grin at Rainbow as she got the quote just right, with just the right inflection.
"Uh…" Rainbow Dash floundered a little. "What…? Oh, yeah. Have you heard about how I defeated an ursa major?" She tried to do a repeat of a classic Trixie pose, gesturing into the sky. Her wings shot up in shock when actual magic shot out of her hoof. "Alright, that is pretty cool, Trixie."
"Trixie appreciates praise. It was a little rude of you to heckle Trixie the first time she was here, and the second… Trixie messed up pretty badly. Are we even?" Holding her hoof out, Trixie blinked at Rainbow not doing the same.
"No deal, Trixie." Fluffing her wings down, Rainbow Dash stepped back. "Because you totally saved the Crystal Empire's… and my… bacon with that Games Inspector. What are you doing down here again, anyway?"
Blinking in surprise, Trixie realized how good it felt to receive real praise for something, particularly something she was proud of. "Oh, Trixie just wanted to visit Ponyville and make up for that… amulet-thing." She gave her raised hoof a little wiggle. "Please don't leave Trixie hanging."
Rainbow Dash thrust her hoof out and connected with Trixie's, giving it a sound clop. "Oh hey, Twilight wanted to talk to us all a bit later, did you want to come too? I am sure she will want to meet you again."
And give me the chance to tell her what is going on. It will be perfect! "Oh, Trixie should do that. Twilight is the princess of this town now." A new inspiration hit Trixie. "It would be perfect, actually. Trixie could have Twilight demand a show, then it could be a Royal Command Performance!" Dancing from hoof to hoof, Trixie felt more excited than she expected she would. Turning around, Trixie raised her voice. "You will have to excuse the Great and Powerful Trixie, she has an engagement with a princess!"
A round of "Awwww"s came from the fillies and colts.
"But don't fear! Trixie will put on a special, foal-only show, after her Super Special Princess Show!" Trixie let off some more fireworks, and was reminded of why she got into show business. The cheer from all the foals energized her, lifting her spirits higher than ever. "Trixie will return!" A smoke pellet hit the ground and she broke into a gallop.
"That is pretty awesome. A show just for all the foals?" Rainbow Dash was flying along easily at Trixie's side. "What happened to the angry Trixie that came back here for revenge?"
"She took the amulet off and saw how not-Trixie-like her world was. Princess Luna helped, but a changeling helped me more." Trixie managed to hide the tear in her eye as she galloped right to the library in the middle of town. Slowing down, she drew herself down to a trot.
Rainbow Dash watched as Trixie trotted all the way around the library before stopping at the front door; it was a recognizable wind-down from the furious run she had just made. "Huh, she really isn't that stupid…"
"What was that?" Trixie turned and glared at Rainbow Dash. Lifting her hoof, she started to knock on the door, except it didn't "knock." Turning her head back, Trixie realized she had just booped Princess Twilight Sparkle twice on the snout.
You might have noticed that my comma-splices have been reducing in number, it is all thanks to a wonderful reader who mails me a list of everything wrong with my stories. Well, he decided to turn things around and write something for me to proof read, and it fits right here. It is optional, but he has granted me the right to use these characters, and I intend to.
The train wheels rattled on the tracks from time to time, and Shining marked the distance traveled by the itch of the last few members of his hive coming closer—or as was really the case, he was getting nearer to them. "How much longer, do you think?" The only pony he trusted for this particular task was using her magic to lift his tail.
Cadance leaned in and kissed the underside of her husband's dock. "Not much longer, love. You aren't very big at all now, and there is a definite pair of lips forming." She nuzzled down past his tail hole and kissed the slowly forming feminine lips. Lapping at the spot, she closed her eyes and remembered the clone of herself, and how well Shining could squeal.
Shining groaned instead of the squeal his wife expected him to make. Closing his eyes, he arched his back into the attention. With his senses relaxed and spread out, Shining Armor felt the incredible flood of love from behind himself. "C-C-Cady… not like this…" He struggled for every word, every breath.
After a few more loving licks, Cadance subsided. " 'Not like this'?" She gave her husband a lick along those black, puffy lips. "Or did you want to try something else?" Nuzzling back up, she pressed her snout in under his dock and wiggled her nose.
"Cady!" Shining did squeal this time, flopping forward onto the fold-down bed of the sleeper car. Rolling and squirming, he ended up on his back. An expanse of dark chitin rolled out before his eyes: his body. "Come on. I want to cuddle properly."
"A stallion who just wants to cuddle?" Cadance's teasing tone was only a little chiding. She slid up Shining's body—keeping her own belly pressed to her husband's—until she was above him and looking down into his eyes. Studying the slit pupils, Cadance relaxed her forequarters and rested upon Shining. "Your eyes are amazing. Did I tell you that already?"
"No, but you can tell me again." Shining wrapped his hole-filled legs over Cadance and rolled gently to the side. "Yours are still as wonderful as when I first met you." Shining kissed Cadance. "But to say I appreciate what is behind them more now, would be an understatement." He ached to lean in, to push into her and reaffirm their bond with physical lovemaking, but that wouldn't work as he was now.
Cadance watched the flash, watched Shining change not a bit. "Shiny, what are—" Her words were cut short into a happy squeak as a hefty, thick shape pressed against her belly. Groaning and leaning against Shining, she pressed her lips up to one dark ear. "You are ever the stallion for me. Take me."
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Flick's eyes were fixed ahead. Her disguise was down—which was disconcerting in pony lands—but it wasn't being exposed that had her blushing and fighting her urge to feed.
"They are at it again." Bright Flash squirmed in place. "Are you okay? You can disguise in here if it would make you more comfortable." The waves of warm love poured over Bright, reminding him why it was so awesome to be a stallion.
"How are you so calm? All this love and we aren't allowed to drink it!" Flick almost sobbed, but her anger kept back the tears. "It just isn't fair!"
Bright was struck dumb a moment, but managed to rouse himself. "Drink. You are allowed to, Queen Cadance prefers we drink off her than other ponies." He watched the anger turn to terror on Flick's face.
"But… she is our queen. We can't do that!" Flick struggled against her loyalty. She had already drunk Queen Cadance's love—it was what made her part of this hive after all—but that had been forced. The temptation to stop fighting was great, but she was a good drone.
"I bet you will, eventually." Bright turned to his side to watch Flick. "Our queens are…" he fished for a word, waving a hoof around in the air, "ravenous. I promise you, they fully intend for you to drink."
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Shining rolled to his back, lifting Cadance up atop him. He stared up at her and took in every aspect of his wife.
"Oh, so this one is all on me, is it?" Cadance's tone held no reprimand; she loved being in control of things just as much as she loved giving it to Shining. Bracing her legs, she leaned up and forward. The world slowed down, and Cadance felt every inch of Shining's hefty shaft slide out except for the very tip. Looking down at Shining's face, she couldn't believe she ever saw a hint of Chrysalis in his looks. "I don't plan to disappoint."
"Oh horse-apples…" Shining's eyes stared up at Cadance; stared into her with all his being, and saw the pulsing furnace of love for him. She was an inferno, a firestorm of emotion that he hoped he could reciprocate. She slid down his shaft, forcing each inch of him back into her body greedily; Cadance only stopped when her plot landed on his groin.
Cadance relaxed a moment. She let go the tension in her legs so that she was pressed as tight against Shining as gravity would let her be. She relaxed her pelvic muscles so she could feel all of him inside her. She relaxed her throat and let the sounds her body needed to release, go free. But Cadance couldn't relax like this forever—much as she wished she could—a deep seated need for more took hold and she began to bounce her back end. In and out. Out and in.
Shining's spine bent each time Cadance fell onto him, meeting her body with a thump. He found a rhythm and focused on his part in it. The more Shining drank from Cadance the more stamina he had, and when it came to love, Cadance could feed him all night. A surprise took Shining's attention away from his pace. He looked up to see Cadance's horn glowing brightly, and could taste the sudden, intense waves of love radiating from her.
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Flick's eyes went completely wide and she fell from the seat she was on. She couldn't hold back anymore, her mental shield went down and the energy poured through her. "What are… oh… by the egg…" Her words were stilted, almost starting to slur. She looked to Bright Flash—opposite her in the sleeper car—and was surprised to see her hivemate was not incapacitated by the rush.
"Even Misty Dew admits she can't compete with that, but I do enjoy drinking from her. Feel that white-hot burn? Feel the way it seeks out your core and wraps it in energy? I did some experiments, each time our Queen does that it increases our power." Bright flopped to his side on the soft cushions, then rolled to his back and waved his hooves in the air. "Aaaannnndddd I'm drunk too."
"Drunk?" Flick giggled at the other changeling, laughed when his disguise melted under the assault. "What do you mean, 'drunk'?" Even Flick could tell she was slurring.
"That! Exactly that!" Bright waved her legs happily, watching the play of light through her holes. "I have seen Careful Steps shrug this off… he has had more practice." Despite the slight disappointment at Flick's giving in, Bright Flash was still as drunk-happy as any changeling could ever get.
The waves subsided back to the previous "torrent" of energy, for which Flick was thankful. She still couldn't aim her eyes in the right direction, nor get her hooves under her. "How long until it wears off?" The slurring in her voice was quite pronounced now.
"Wear off? Give them five minutes and we will be giggling at our hooves again." Bright curled her legs to her belly, stared up at the roof, and waited.
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
"You're too much for me, my stallion." Cadance was slumped against Shining's belly, every nerve spent in release, and her mind barely clawing back to all the sense the real world had to offer.
"Too much?" Shining gripped Cadance tightly and rolled her first to her side, then all the way over to her back. His hips didn't need any prompting to pull back and thrust home. "Cady, we are just getting started."
Cadance cried out in pleasure when Shining slipped free of her body. Panting, she watched him slide his body down hers until his head found her belly.
"Do you think anypony has found out yet?" He nuzzled her belly, looking up at the mare of his dreams. She was flush and apparently completely unable to say a word; Cadance shook her head. "They will have to wait." He nuzzled her flat belly a little more, then drifted lower.
"SHINING!" She got a word out, but had no way to control her volume. She screamed Shining's name for all she was worth, while he nuzzled her teats and the flat udders they were attached to. He took one of her sensitive nipples in his mouth and squeezed. Cadance's mind locked up and she knew she was thrashing on the bed—she just didn't care.
Suckling at one of Cadance's little nubs, Shining reached to the second with his magic and gave it a squeezing-pull, a motion that called forth the most amazing scream of pleasure from his wife. Shining drank down the love she pulsed out and drew his mouth back, pulling on her teat gently before letting it go with his teeth. "We aren't even halfway there yet, Cady."
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
"Again?!" Flick had just managed to regain her legs, and lost them again. She rolled around on the floor, rubbing her cheek against the carpet, the bunks, and anything else she could get near. The whole world was awash in love, and it unwound all her tension inside. The worry about her new hive faded. The worry about her new queens faded. Flick smiled and leaned up to rub her snout against one of Bright's hooves.
"O'course again. I told you!" Bright giggled at the rub against her hoof and used the limb to gently rub Flick's ears. "I can't barely remember being hungry anymore." Flick was completely out of it, butting her head against Bright's hoof constantly now. "And gone already." She smiled down at her hivemate.
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Shining turned on the bed, pushing something right into Cadance's face. She stared up blankly for a moment or two until she realized that not only was it her husband's back-end, but he had changed a little more. "I think… Shining hold on." But Shining kept nuzzling around her vulva, doing everything to stimulate and distract her but touch the sensitive folds. "Sh-Shining. You are changed more, like more than since before."
The words did slow Shining's enthusiasm a fraction, and he used only his magic to nuzzle the soft flesh under her clitoris. "I am changing, Cady. I know that, I have accepted it." Shining leaned over his magic to nuzzle Cadance's outer lips gently. "How much of me is—" His words cut off as Cadance nuzzled him and pushed her tongue into him. He knew what it felt like to be given pleasure as a mare, and this was definitely that.
Cadance's actions spoke louder to Shining than her words could. She lapped up and along the split folds of flesh, working her tongue into his body each and every time. When she spotted Shining's clitoris wink out, she quickly reached for it and missed. The second time he winked she got it, trapping the little nub of flesh in her lips and sucking it gently. A moment later she lost her focus again as Shining returned the favor.
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Even Bright Flash was losing her focus now. She cuddled up against the other changeling, wrapped her forelegs around them and just hugged. She was full to bursting with love, she had her hive-mates close, and nothing could be going wrong. As more waves of love washed over her, she gave a happy little chirp of her wings and closed her eyes.
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Shining was tangled in legs, wings, and his wife. He looked down at their bodies and admired the color mix of pink and black. Outside the window, the last of Galloping Gorge flashed by in the train's race to reach the Crystal Empire. "I'm a mare now. A queen changeling for my hive. I am not a st—"
"You are always my stallion." Cadance pressed herself tighter against Shining, making sure her belly pressed into his. "I have our foal growing inside me, Shining." She gazed up into his eyes with undeviating love. "Besides, is being a mare so bad? I heard you squeal just as loudly as I did."
"Nopony squeals as loudly as you do, Cady." Shining felt the last vestiges of his worry about his masculinity slide back—sure to return, but that was for later. "I am surprised the driver didn't stop the train, thinking there was another blowing its whis— OW!"
"You ninny." Cadance drew her hoof back from the booping she had given her husband. "I don't shout that loud, do I?" Her heart sank when Shining nodded. "What must they think of me?"
"They must think you are a lucky mare to have such an attentive husband to cater to your every wish and desire." Shining waited for the "punishment boop" again, but it never came. Opening his eyes, he watched Cadance's mouth move in and press to his own—"her" own.
"What is it, Trixie?" Twilight had to fight not to use her drollest tone; Trixie had shown her and her friends up in the Crystal Empire, but she had done the right thing. Getting booped on the nose—twice—hadn't improved her disposition towards the stage performer, however.
"Oh!" Trixie lowered her hoof before she accidentally booped a princess a third time. "The Great and Powerful Trixie," of course she struck a pose, how could Trixie not, "thought she best come and speak to the princess of the town before she puts on her first show. There were some other things Trixie needed to speak about…"
The final few words were what got Twilight's attention. "I…" she trailed the syllable off, "think we should go inside to discuss this." The instant relief on Trixie's face told her she had done the right thing. Ushering Trixie and Rainbow Dash inside, Twilight closed the door of the library behind them. "So what did you need to talk about, Trixie?"
Trixie looked around, scanning the room for potential threats—as she was trained to; all she saw was Twilight's other four best friends already present. "Changelings." As she said the word, Trixie scanned the ponies present. Each of Twilight's close friends looked surprised, but none looked actually evasive. She breathed a sigh of relief. "Prince Shining and Princess Cadance have discovered plans to send a group of changelings to Ponyville."
"And how do we know you aren't a changeling?" Applejack's eyes narrowed as she accused Trixie. "I mean, this could be something to throw us off before we leave for the Princess Summit."
"Oh, she's the real deal alright." Rainbow Dash stepped up beside Trixie. "She knew all kinds of things about the first time she was here without me telling her." She gave a nod of satisfaction.
"And how do we know you aren't a changeling too, Rainbow Dash?" Again Applejack jumped in. "How can you both prove to us that you are the real ponies?"
Trixie smiled. "Trixie is most glad that somepony is taking this seriously. You are right to distrust Trixie in this, but she is not just a school filly with some fancy ribbons." As she said the words, she watched Applejack blush. "And Trixie can verify that Rainbow Dash is real too."
"Well, good enough for me, I guess." Applejack felt the bite of more than a little embarrassment at being proven wrong.
"But it was a good sentiment. Trixie proposes that we choose two words; when somepony says the first, always react to the second." Of course it was a good idea, it had been standard fare in the Royal Crystal Guard. Trixie trusted changelings to come up with ways to fool their own systems.
"That is brilliant." Twilight lifted a hoof to tap her chin. "I guess the two words shouldn't be related, and shouldn't be common. We don't want to be accidentally saying them. What about—"
"Trixie already has the words for you, her commander came up with them." All eyes were on Trixie as she cut Twilight off, she sensed a little annoyance at her move. "The commander that came up with this system. The first word is Sombra. That should be easy for you to remember."
"That is actually a good one. With him gone we won't need to be talking about him anymore, but talking about him won't be completely strange." Twilight looked around her friends with a smile. "What's the reply word?"
"Hug." Trixie smiled. "So if Trixie started talking about how things had changed in the Crystal Empire, and how nice it was now Sombra was gone…"
Pinkie Pie bounced up and down, raising her hoof. "Then I could say how awesome it is that ponies are allowed to hug again?"
"Huh, that is kinda neat." Rainbow Dash put in her own thought on it. "So if your boss told it to you, who else knows it?" She looked to Trixie.
"Trixie knows it, of course, as does Prince Shining and Princess Cadance, Commander Gilt, and Careful." Trixie watched as various of Twilight's friends showed recognition of the names used. "So, with that out of the way, have any new ponies arrived in town recently?"
Applejack started giggling. "I just knew there was somethin' up with that family. Ya see, a few days ago some ponies arrived and wanted to settle their own farm nearby. They said they was from Appleoosa, but they didn't have the right accent, ya know?" Six heads nodded back to Applejack. "Was two ponies and three foals, or so it seemed. Guess they was all changelings?"
"Well, if they are, we can deal with them when we get back from the Princess Summit." Twilight ruffled her wings a little in apprehension; she still didn't think of herself as a princess, not completely.
"Or you can leave it to Trixie to handle it." Trixie grinned. "Being here to put on shows is Trixie's cover—not that I won't put on shows—Trixie is actually here to protect you, Your Highness." Accepting that Shining Armor and Cadance were worthy of bowing to had been a hard lesson, but it was one that let Trixie lower her head to Princess Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight was shocked on two counts. Firstly she was unable to reconcile this Trixie with the one who had challenged her to a duel and been so full of herself. Secondly to have somepony she knew bow to her, like she was a real princess, made her head spin. "Trixie, please stand up straight…" She realized a moment later that this was a command and it would do nothing to change the situation were Trixie to follow it.
Trixie lifted her head. "Prince Shining Armor himself commanded Trixie to come and protect Princess Twilight Sparkle. Trixie holds her Prince in high regard, and trusts his word that his sister is equally worthy of trust."
"This is all really sudden, and strange." Twilight stepped back from the situation, literally and figuratively. "I don't understand why I am so important. What have I done that would make you… this!" She pointed at Trixie with a hoof.
"Darling," Rarity had been keeping quiet for most of the events, but felt it was her time to chime-in, "this is how ponies are going to see you now. You are a princess, you have saved Equestria from disaster more times than I can count." She walked over to Twilight and lifted a hoof to pull Twilight into a hug. "And you are one of my best friends."
"If it would help, Trixie can wear her official armor? It will make the covert parts of her mission harder, but it is very shiny." Trixie saw Twilight's eyes roll at the over-the-top suggestion. "Then leave this to Trixie. Finding out who the changelings are is important; the next time Prince Shining and Princess Cadance are in town they will likely pick them up."
"You still have your armor? How is the fit? Does it ride comfortably?" Rarity brightened right up at mention of one of her creations. "I was simply overcome with delight when I was asked to design that armor. I do hope Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor will invite me back next year. It would be dreadful if they found another designer." When everypony stared at her, Rarity felt duty-bound to defend herself. "Well come on! It would be horrible to have a complete style redo from one design season to the next. It just won't do! Standards must be maintained!"
"We can talk about all of that when we get back." Twilight was dearly hoping she could get some sleep. With all her friends so worked up, her chances weren't looking good. "We will be leaving tomorrow morning, Trixie. With changelings snooping around, I would rather stay here and take care of them, but knowing somepony my brother trusts is here is reassuring."
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
"Your highnesses?!"
Shining's head rattled at the yell, but it was thankfully still muffled by the door of their cabin.
"Prince Shining Armor, Princess Cadance?!"
With barely a thought, Shining took his disguise and slipped into his white-pelted, male self again. He had to remind himself that he was a prince now, and Cadance a princess: the world would wait for them. Leaning in, he kissed Cadance's cheek, nuzzling her soft fur again and again.
Outside, the sound of more hooves approaching the door made Shining's ears keep flicking to the distraction. "This had better be important to wake the Princess and Prince." Bright Flash's voice sounded firm and demanding.
Shining could have kissed Bright then. "Wake up Cady, I don't know if our loyal guards can keep back the day." When Cadance's lips pressed up to his, Shining almost purred. "Come on." He nuzzled her cheek and coaxed her on.
"But sir, there was an accident last night. Commander Gilt sent me to fetch the Princess and Prince as soon as they were in." The voice outside sounded relieved that somepony with more authority was around.
Pushing to his hooves, Shining Armor clopped to the door and unlocked it. "What is going on? Is there a reason for all this yelling?" His eyes flicked to Bright Flash, taking solace in the perfect stallion disguise he wore. He turned his head to look at the guard who had been sent to fetch them. "Well?"
"Your Highness. There was an incident last night, your quarters were… they were ransacked."
Shining's blood ran cold, and he quickly had to go through his memory to think of anything incriminating in there. "Was anything taken? Do you have any suspects?"
Sliding up beside Shining, Cadance leaned up and gave him a nuzzle on the cheek. "This sounds like something that should be discussed in private." She lifted her eyes and set them on the guard. "Please let Gilt know we will be at the castle shortly."
"That was a dismissal, Private." Bright Flash didn't need to use his talent to send the guard running. "Sorry," his eyes danced in delight, "your majesties, but I tried to intercept him. Do you require an honor guard to escort you to the castle?"
"One pony for an honor guard?" Shining smiled at Bright, but his expression turned hard when a second guard moved up beside Bright. This one was a pegasus that he had seen before. "Straight Horn, you haven't earned the right to wear that armor." Pausing until a flash of green revealed Straight's chitin, Shining added, "Yet."
Slick walked up next, still in his raw chitin. "Your Majesty, allow me." He shifted into the big crystal pony stallion he loved disguising as. Moving down the corridor of the train, soon Bright and Slick stepped out onto the platform, their queens following behind them.
Changelings were everywhere: wandering around on the platform, some buzzing their wings as they flew above, and yet others just sitting and waiting for their queens. Shining closed his eyes and reached for them all, finding the touch returned, he sensed all the drones at the train station, a few up at the castle, and one back in Canterlot. Memories of the self-styled "life of the party" made him smile. "Form up, lead us all home, Bright."
"Yes, sir!" Bright snapped to attention, facing away. He didn't even need to look to know that Slick Dive was beside him; the presence of the big stallion made Bright wanted to grow to match him, but relaxed and discarded the thought. "Move out!"
Cadance moved up beside her husband, giving him the naughtiest look she could drum up as a tease for future fun like their train trip had been. Behind them the flying drones landed and fell in, and soon dozens of sets of hooves started clopping as their new hive followed them back to the castle. "Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are due to arrive around midday."
"I know, Cady. And then Twily and her friends in the evening." Shining rolled his eyes and leaned in to nuzzle Cadance. "You can guess which I am happier about." The pulse of love Candace gave off almost had him stumble. "I love you too."
"You are reading me entirely too well, Your Imperial Highness." Cadance giggled, but turned her head sharply when she heard somepony fall down. Behind her, most of the changelings were swaying on their hooves, the one that had fallen down had started giggling. "I hope you all know that I don't intend to stop loving my husband, so you had better get used to full bellies."
Shining looked as well, and saw two more drones buzzed their wings in shock when Cadance giggled, falling down to roll around and chirp. "Okay. The rest of you use your magic to lift the ones that have fallen, burning off love will help. You can trust me—there will always be more to eat."
Bright looked to Slick. "Are you handling it okay?" He spoke softly, trying not to make a scene. It almost worked until Jade Wings walked past. He watched Slick's eyes land on the mare and follow her as she walked past them. "Slick?"
"Not so well, but I need to be a good 'ling if I want to have a hope of her loving me again." Slick didn't feel good. His legs wobbled, his body felt too big to support, so he locked his knees. It took a few moments for him to get some measure of composure back. "I think I can go on now."
"This is our new hive?" Flick looked up at the castle—up and up and up. "The hive in The Badlands isn't quite so…" she fished for a word, "nice." Before she said anything else, she started walking towards the spinning Crystal Heart.
"Hold on!" Cadance's first reaction was to fly between the Heart and Flick Wing. "We are going to need to put up a fence or something. The Heart will sap your love away, faster if you get close." She looked around the partly-drunk changelings. "Tasty as it looks, it will harm you or even kill you if you approach further."
It was a double-sting for Shining. He had felt the power of the Heart as a pony, its majesty and awe, but as a changeling he knew it would be a very sudden end if he touched it now. Watching Cadance herd Flick away from the turning artifact filled his heart with warmth. "When can we expect Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?"
"They are probably already on the train here." Cadance reached a wing out to cover Flick's back, and felt the changeling practically slump against her; each and every one of them sparked a mothering instinct in her that hadn't even been drawn out fully. She thought to her own body, and the new life growing inside. "Once we are inside and have our little ones settled, we should probably send somepony to greet them."
"We won't wait ourselves?" The moment Shining said it, he knew why.
"Of course not. They are visiting us, Shiny. They do everything around our schedule." Cadance couldn't help but give a laugh. "Princess Celestia probably thought this would be another chance to see how we are progressing, but I wonder if she thought how much control it gives us?"
"She would, Cady. She has been playing this game a lot longer, you know." Shining had to snap a salute in return to two Royal Crystal Guards. "Good day, gentlecolts, not feeling timid today, I hope?"
"Sire, the day is simply daisies."
Shining and the guards relaxed a fraction as the code-words were exchanged. "It is good to be back. We have a lot of new citizens looking for a home." He made a gesture to all the changelings. "I will have them use the staff entrance, and they will be taught the common codes."
The doors were opened, letting Cadance and Shining walk side by side up the stairs and into their own castle. "You can change back now, Shiny." Cadance drew her wing back from Flick, revealing a slightly dazed changeling.
"My queens!" Careful lifted his head from the little desk he preferred to work from in the throne room. "Things went well, I see?" He smiled at all the drones gathered behind Shining and Cadance.
"C-C-Careful Steps?" Flick stumbled forward on her hooves. "What… when did you come here? Queen Chrysalis said you were dead!" She stared at Careful in undisguised shock.
Shining relaxed, called his magic and undid his disguise. "Careful was the first to join us. He…" Shining trailed off at the slight tone-shift in her voice, but nopony would cut in on her mid-sentence. "He is the pony I trust most, beside my immediate family." She smiled at Careful.
Careful bowed deeply to his Queen. "You honor me, Your Majesty." He grinned as he stood up straight. "Did you get all of them?" He looked among the changelings, recognizing some of them from the hive—mostly just the ones he had done training with.
"Every single one in Canterlot. Oh, there is one more following… at least we hope he is following. Apparently thinks himself the 'life of the party.' " Cadance could still remember the catchy song the unicorn had sung to her intended. "He has matters to tie up in Canterlot."
"Wonderful." Careful gestured to the stairs leading from the throne room. "Up here for now, there are enough rooms for all of you." He turned his focus on two of the drones in particular. "Straight, Dropped. Wonderful to finally have you on our side."
"You!" Dropped Ball stomped forward, his expression dire. "You are the reason all these changelings were sent to Canterlot! You were the reason we were sent to Canterlot!" Panting hard, Dropped stared at Careful, trying to get a read on how he was taking the furious accusation.
"Of course." Careful glanced to his queens, then back to Dropped. "The first was an accident, or maybe something Sneaky cooked up. I walked in here a half-starved drone and was shown a new way, a better way. The second one was baiting. We wanted Chrysalis to send more drones. Just two or three changelings here? Not enough by half for two queens growing in power."
Shining couldn't help gulping at the "growing in power" bit, but worse still were some implications that popped up from Cadance's earlier questions. She looked to Cadance and only saw reassurance and love—love she could feel. "What do you think Chrysalis will do next? How many drones does she have?" She hadn't meant the question for Careful, but the drone's head snapped to her anyway.
"The hive hosts nearly twelve-hundred changelings normally." As Careful delivered the words, he watched as Shining's slit eyes narrowed down to vertical lines. "Give or take. When we invaded Canterlot, the hive itself was stripped to nearly a quarter that number. Nearly all of them made it back, but there are a few unaccounted for."
Cadance recovered from her shock first. "How are they all fed? How are we going to feed them all?" She turned to look at Shining. "Love, how are—"
Rubbing her black hole-filled hoof gently down Cadance's jaw, Shining smiled. "We will work it out. As for how she is feeding them, that is a good question." She turned to look at Careful.
"Ponies as food are a luxury. The hive is underfed, and has been for a long time. The Canterlot invasion was more than just for Chrysalis' fun. It was a matter of survival for the hive." Careful bowed deeply to Shining. "There are animals, mostly ones that are easy to keep happy. Goats are the largest part of it, but they herd cows and sheep as well."
"You didn't have to try to run the hive when that stupid invasion happened." Flick found her voice, and was surprised at the vehemence in it. "I didn't have enough drones to look after our fields; an unhappy cow won't feed a single 'ling." She took a breath and was about to continue, when she realized both her new queens, one a "real" changeling queen, were looking right at her. Preservation instincts kicked in, and Flick Wing dropped to her belly.
Shining looked to Cadance, who shrugged at her in reply. Huffing a little, Shining Armor lay down on the ground in front of Flick. "You still argued for us to save Chrysalis, even after she inspires this kind of reaction?"
Flick lifted her snout from the floor and opened her eyes, and then she froze. A changeling queen, one she could feel was burning with power, was lying down in front of her. "Sh-Sh-She is still my mommy."
"She is, but she needs to learn how to be a pony before she can be a queen." Shining was still getting used to just how much mass she had now, she was actually larger than her wife, and on par with Princess Celestia; to say Shining was dwarfing Flick was a gross understatement. "You have experience with managing farms, but is it something you enjoy?"
The concept was foreign to Flick. "Enjoy? I…" She froze and tilted her head to the side, as if contemplating Shining's offer. "I was good at it, it… it made me popular with the others… I think I enjoyed it more than infiltrating."
"We have a lot of land around the city that is protected by the Heart, and we now have more mouths to feed. Do you think you could start farms and organize ponies into helping you?" Shining smiled at Flick.
"Why would ponies help me?" Flick blurted the question before she even realized she was still talking to a queen. "Uh, Your Majesty…" Tacking the honorific on the end was always a good idea with her mother, and she hoped it wouldn't offend Shining.
"Because they will want food, and we will pay them. Of course, if some other changelings help, that might make things a little easier, and it would be great for morale." Solutions slotted into place in Shining's head. Sure she didn't know how to farm, or how much it was going to cost, but it was another food source and would grow the city. "Will you do it for us?"
"It… It would be an honor, Your Majesty!" Flick shot to her hooves, excitement burning through her. She looked from Shining to Cadance, seeing two smiling faces. "I will need ten assistants." she turned to the other new recruits, her eyes fell on three changelings she recognized from the farms back in The Badlands. "Craft, Sloppy, Grate…" She looked between the rest.
"Volunteers would be best." Cadance leaned against Shining after her mate stood back up. "Would you three rather be doing something else?" As Cadance had learned, looking into a changeling's eyes was always the best way to make them act honestly. Two stood proud and shook their heads, but Grate lowered his head. "Sorry Flick, you still need eight. In the Crystal Empire, ponies only do the work they are best at and enjoy."
Grate Hole looked up at his Queen and was shocked. He looked around for help with what to do or say, but none was forthcoming. "T-Thank you, Your Majesty!" The moment he said it he knew it was just the right thing, he could literally taste his Queen's happiness.
Flick was starting to get the hang of what her queens wanted, and working off intuition—which hadn't gotten her squished yet—she gave a little chirp to get all the drones' attention. "I need eight volunteers who want to work on a farm and carry things. Simple work, but work our queens need us to do." She had to take a step back. "Just eight!"
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Jade hadn't been needed after the Prince and Princess led away the new changelings. She watched Slick leading them beside Bright Flash, and wanted to hide. He was everything she liked in a stallion, when he was disguised: big, bold, and devoted to her. "He lied to me." The fact was damning in her own mind, and she was thankful when the group had marched away towards the castle.
"Well, it was his job to lie." Gleaming Shine walked up beside Jade Wings. "Nimbus was asking about you, I told her about the special duty." She planted her spear on the platform and half leaned on it.
"Don't you start trying to put us together as well." Jade huffed, and pondered taking flight. "And Nimbus isn't much better." She discarded the idea of flying off; no doubt Nimbus would be looking for her anyway. "I just—"
" 'A year and a day,' is what Misty Dew told him. To give you space for a year and a day and then pursue you again." Giving her spear an impressive twirl, Gleaming started going through the impressive show-routine she had been working on.
"I… I did tell him to straighten up, to be a good stallion and I would think about it." Jade watched the unicorn's spear twirl through complicated turns, at speeds far faster than her magic could do on its own.
The spear was launched up, still spinning, and then caught again in Gleaming's magic. "So what's the problem? Did he say he was sorry?" Jade nodded to her. "Did he show that he is dedicated to not lying to you again?" This time the nod resulted in Jade half hanging her head.
"Why are you doing that?" Jade struggled to change the topic to something less likely to make her think about changelings.
"Commander Gilt has come up with ideas. She wants some of us to be able to put on a show, twirling spears, feats of magic, that kind of thing. If you want my opinion, she spent too much time talking to Trixie." Gleaming spun the spear even faster, glad that the station was deserted of any passengers.
"That showoff? What in Equestria could we do with that kind of nonsense?" Jade was glad of the distraction, because she was sure if she talked about Slick some more her resolve would crack.
"Flashy military displays." Gleaming spun the spear from one side of her body to the other, the heavy weapon singing through the air now. "But mainly as a distraction. It works well, too." Turning to look right at Jade Wings, Gleaming stopped the spear and slammed the butt of it down against the platform. "Distracted you from really thinking about Slick Dive, didn't it?" She winked.
"Damn you." Jade spread her wings. "Damn, damn, damn!" Leaping up into the air, even in her armor, Jade launched herself skywards.
"Please, I don't really have anypony else, my Queen." Slick stared at Shining's blue hooves. The parade ground was busy, but that just meant there was plenty of noise. "I just don't know what to do!"
Shining stopped in his search for Gilt and turned to Slick. "I am your queen." Slick's ears flicked backwards and Shining watched his stance wilt. "So of course you can talk with me. Let's find somewhere less infested with alicorns." He threw a worried expression up to the castle.
"Is something wrong, Your Majesty?" Slick's trouble was weighing on him, but if his queen needed help he would gladly give it.
"Female problems." Shining's brain did a few mental somersaults as he realized that technically that meant him too, now. "How about we go and have dinner somewhere quiet and talk?"
Realization that mares were the basis of both their problems made Slick smile a little. "Of course, Your Majesty." He trotted along beside the bigger form of Shining Armor, and when Shining stopped he did as well. Of course it was the coffee shop where all his problems had come to light.
"It wasn't all that long ago, really." Shining took a booth in the back of the shop, walking past all the other customers on the way. Sitting up, he reached out his senses and felt all the ponies' emotions; love, happiness, and a general feeling of warmth permeated the establishment. He didn't need to drink from them—he was still full from the last time Cadance blasted off her emotions—but he took the tiniest taste.
"Your Majesty?" Slick watched as his queen smiled wider and wider. "I guess I need to explain." He got comfortable on the seat and looked down at the table. "I really loved Jade, and she loved me. I couldn't help the lies, though, it… it was all just how changelings lived. Drones would go their whole lifetime among ponies, and never tell the truth to the mare or stallion they loved."
"You didn't realize that it was wrong?" Shining waved down the waitress. "Just a coffee for each of us." He fished out some bits and put them on the end of the table. "She took it hard."
"Yeah, she did. I guess I didn't realize how much the absolute truth meant to her. I just—" Slick's senses tipped him off to the waitress' return.
"Here you are, coffee." She set the cups before Shining and Slick. "And a nice gentlecolt asked me to give you this." She passed a note across to Shining, and then left them.
"She needs me to be perfect now." Slick looked into the drink.
Setting the note down, Shining pretended to sip at his coffee—he had worked out that drinks were easier to deal with than solid food. "And it isn't working?"
"No." The word took a lot for Slick to say, but once it was out he slumped in the chair. "What am I supposed to do?"
"What do you want to do?" Shining studied Slick intently, wishing he could sample the drone's emotions. "Do you—" Having idly unfolded the letter, Shining stared at the words scrawled on it.
We know what happened, we found the journal. If you are still able to think, come to the back of the building alone.
"M-M-My Queen?" Slick saw panic and terror plain on Shining Armor's face. "What's the matter?" With his queen looking in a panic, Slick scooted around the table, and read the note. "By the First Egg…"
"Somepony ransacked our bedroom last night, and now this. They found Cady's journal of my changes. They know what I am." Looking at Slick, Shining Armor had never felt so afraid. "What am I going to do?"
"They are ponies, not changelings." Slick's mind rushed into overdrive, he plucked the note from Shining's magic with his own. "Quill work is not terrible, and hastily done, so it wasn't a unicorn." He looked up from the paper to Shining. "You are not going, Your Majesty."
"I'm not?" Shining blinked at the intensity of Slick's look. "But they are going to reveal everything if I don't."
"Has Careful trained you how to do inanimate things yet?" Slick folded the note closed again and slipped back to his side of the booth. When Shining answered his question with a quick shake of his head, Slick moved on. "We go to the bathroom, one after the other, and I will leave as you. Is there a pony you have been disguising as that won't stand out too much?"
Shining stared at Slick for a few seconds and shook his head. "Not really, is there somepony you would recommend?" He stood up and walked casually to the bathroom. With his heart racing, Shining waited in the empty room for Slick to enter after him.
"Well, since you are going to stumble into the middle of this to rescue me, pick somepony powerful enough that they would run rather than fight." Green flame poured around Slick, reshaping the changeling drone into a perfect copy of Shining Armor. "How do I look?"
"Perfect…" Shining was a little lost for words as he stared at his doppelganger. "S-S-So what…" He gave a bark of laughter. "Okay, this should be somepony that fits the bill… and is a little creepy for me to do." He pulled up the image of the most powerful pony he could think of that would forgive him.
Green fire swirled around Shining Armor, starting at his hooves and rushing upwards. Slick Dive watched as the green fire left only soft purple fur in its wake, and a much smaller frame. When the green finally left Shining's form, the spitting image of Princess Twilight Sparkle stood in his wake. "Very good choice, Your Majesty." He gave a salute sharply. "Teleport a block away, and give me a few minutes to grab the journal."
Shining Armor felt very strange, and it wasn't just being female anymore. Her thoughts raced with ideas and plans, ways to flip the situation around and then the thought of paper sparked something else in her head—books. "Oh, wow. I promise I will not mess this up, Twily." Her voice was so perfect it almost made her jump.
Slick turned from his Queen and walked out of the bathroom. Heading for the front of the little shop, he looked around. "Excuse me," he managed to secure the waitress' attention, "may I please ask, who delivered the note?"
"Well isn't that just the oddest part of all this, it was one of the Royal Guard themselves. Was the message urgent?" The waitress' attention seemed to be squarely on getting good gossip, rather than helping her prince.
"Nothing so exciting." Slick stepped for the door and made it outside before any further questions were asked. Looking left and right down the street, he pulled out the note as if he were reading it for more information.
From one side of Slick a soft voice said, "On your left is an alleyway; walk slowly and calmly or we all fade into the shadows."
Shining Armor charged her magic and brought up the memory of the walk to the coffee shop. Flashing purple magic, she felt the chill and rush of teleportation occur. It was amazing! Shining had never actually consciously teleported herself before, but she knew how great her sister's aptitude with it was. Looking at the streets, she ruffled her wings and turned to look back at the shop in the distance, and waited for Slick to move away from the front of the shop.
Following the instructions, Slick stepped left and walked to the side of the building. Sure enough there was an alley, and he could hear the hoofsteps of the pony that had given him the directions. He lit his horn with Shining Armor's pink light and stepped into the alley.
"Cut the light, Sir!" Dropper practically snarled the words. "Your Highness, it's good to see you aren't completely under her sway!" He backed up to let the bigger form of Shining Armor's to move further into the alley.
"You found the journal?" Slick felt nervous, he didn't recognize the two pegasi at all, and severely disliked that one had walked up behind him. Turning his head, he looked at the pony that had given him directions at the shop. "What is this all about?"
"He doesn't know…" Dropper gave a little snarl. "Those damn bugs are just ripping Equestria apart! I can't believe they have infected a princess this much!" He pulled out the journal. "I found proof, Captain Shining, that your wife is… that Princess Cadance is turning into a changeling!"
Slick felt the moment perfect for a gasp. "But… but how?"
Dropper puffed his chest out a little, and fetched the book from his pack with a careful wing. "It's all in here. You wouldn't believe this stuff—I could only get into the start of it when the better part of me kicked my gag reflex again and again until I was forced to stop or cover your wife's precious diary in my bile. That bitch Chrysalis put something nasty in her, poisoned her. Now your wife is under Chrysalis' control!"
The gig was almost up, and so Slick lit his horn and reached for the book. "I need to see it, please…" His magic wrapped around the book and pulled it free. Flicking it open, he gave a feigned cry of shock.
"Big Brother?" Shining Armor stepped to the alley way that was barely wide enough a pony to fit, and she was suddenly so glad she was in her sister's lithe form. "What are you doing, Shining?" She lit her horn, the glow of her magic illuminating the whole alley.
"P-P-Princess Twilight! Perfect!" Dropper looked past the form of Shining Armor, to the alicorn at the entrance of the alley. "We were just telling our Captain what happened. We have proof that Princess Cadance is turning into a changeling!"
Shining Armor stared at Dropper, incomprehension plastered all over her face. "She… Princess Cadance?" She remembered herself before using any of her normal terms for her wife. "That is terrible. Shining, is this true?"
"It seems to be." Slick was pretending to read the book, while keeping a close eye on the pegasus in front of him. "This is everything?" He looked to Dropper. "We must take this to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna at once!"
"Of course!" Shining backed out of the alley and looked around for anypony who might be watching. "Come on, there is no time to lose!"
Slick, flanked by the two pegasi, and with his Queen leading the way, trotted along with the book held tightly in his magic. "I can't believe all this, but it is all right here." He looked to Dropper. "Where did you get this?"
"We had to infiltrate your room at the castle." Dropper blushed a little, remembering the state he had left the royal suite in. "Sorry, Your Highness, but it had to be done."
The sun was setting by the time they reached the castle, and Shining led them to the guards who watched the main stairs. Her mind spun through what to say, but gave up and just walked forward as if she were Princess Twilight Sparkle.
Both guards on the door saluted and pulled to the sides to let them past. Racing up the stairs, Shining rushed forward into the throne room and spotted Cadance, Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna. She breathed a sigh of relief that her sister was not present. "Princess Celestia!"
"Arrest that traitor!" Dropper stood in clear view and pointed at Cadance. When his command was not immediately obeyed, he tried again. "Princess Cadance has been taken over by a changeling!"
Celestia looked to Shining Armor, and then Slick Dive. The source of a knowing wink came from her student, and not the Prince, however. "What is the meaning of this?"
"We have delivered evidence to Prince Shining Armor," Dropper gestured to Slick, "that reveals that Princess Cadance has been turned into a changeling, and she is under the control of Queen Chrysalis!"
Clamping her snout shut, Luna was doing her utmost to keep from breaking into wild laughter. The tears rapidly forming in her eyes threatened to ruin the deception, however. "Present the evidence." She put on as stern a voice as she could, falling back on the Royal Canterlot Voice to impart the measure of seriousness she hoped was expected.
Slick stepped forward and floated the book forward, passing it to Princess Luna. "Your Highness, I can explain—"
"Shiny!" Cadance dismounted her throne and bounced down the steps from it, trotting right up to Slick. "I was just telling Princess Luna about my manuscript. 'A Pony Lost,' is the title I am working with." She leaned in to nuzzle her husband, and immediately sensed something was off. "Sombra."
Shining put on an appropriate amount of blush, and stepped up to her wife. "BBBFF! Really, hugging at an important moment like this?!" She looked at Cadance, and as their eyes met she saw recognition.
"Twilight," Slick was putting on a show, and wanted it to be convincing, "Cadance and I are married now." He gestured at the book that Luna was now perusing. "So this is what you were writing about, Cady? Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't want you to laugh at my plot! ... I mean theme!" Cadance turned back to face Princess Luna.
Luna barely stifled a laugh and ended up making a choking cough instead. "Oh, this is quite graphic!" She ruffled her wings a little.
With a blush, Cadance remembered some of the other details she had put in the journal, and had a renewed urge to retrieve it as soon as possible. "It is all research. Just a mare's distracted musings on what it would be like to be turned into a changeling." Cadance looked to the mare she was sure was her husband. "Remember, Twilight, this was the book I was telling you about."
"It was?" Shining blinked, fighting to keep up with the charade that was going on. "Oh, that book!" Trotting up to Princess Luna, Shining reached out for the journal of her transformation. "May I take a look, Princess Luna?"
Luna was quite intrigued with the descriptions, and wondered how the two pegasi could have thought that it was anything but the details of a stallion transforming. "Of course you may, Princess Twilight." Luna floated the book back. "So what was all the shouting about, again?"
Even through the echoing halls of the Crystal Empire's castle, Shining Armor couldn't fail to hear her little sister's cry of distress. She looked up at Cadance in a panic, and then between Celestia and Luna.
"Go. Quickly." Cadance saw the panic so like her husband solidify into decision at her words. "We will follow."
Shining Armor couldn't even think straight, and using Twilight's own instincts—thanks to Shining still wearing her form—she teleported as close to where her little sister was as she could. Purple magic, disguised love energy, let out Twilight's trademark POMF sound, and Shining was suddenly in a dimly lit room. Something flew over her head, but it was the two mares struggling on the floor that had her attention. "Guards!"
Instead of guards, Twilight's friends from Ponyville piled into the room and stared at the situation. "Which one's the real Twilight?" Pinkie Pie looked between Shining and his sister.
"Ah don't care, but somepony needs to help stop that unicorn!" Applejack pointed at the orange unicorn that one of the "Twilights" had tackled.
Sunset Shimmer, resplendent in her amber fur and red/yellow hair, froze in momentary confusion and stared between Twilight Sparkle and the disguised-as-Twilight Shining Armor. When the crown went bouncing through the portal, Sunset grinned. "Sorry it had to be this way." She energized her horn and teleported—with a sharp snapping sound—behind Shining Armor. She took a step towards the mirror portal before something knocked the flame-themed unicorn away from it.
Shining's hooves lowered from where she had employed them to buck Sunset away from the mirror. "What are you doing here?" Her disguise dropped in the rush of adrenaline that was carrying her. She stood over Sunset and stomped a hoof to cow the rousing unicorn. "Guards! Where are my—"
"Sir!" Gleaming Shine galloped into the room, having to dodge Twilight's friends to reach Shining. She could clearly see that her "Prince" was trying to detain a unicorn, and reached under her armor with a hoof to pull out the special restraints.
Grabbing hold of Sunset's horn, Shining pulled her head back while Gleaming Shine pushed the bridle up and over her head. It pulled tight around her muzzle and cheeks, tugged past her ears and with a loud click, Gleaming fastened the lock on the back. "Got her."
Staring in shock at the turn of events, Sunset tried to channel magic only to feel the bridle around her head grow warm. Her heart sank as the teleportation spell she tried to cast failed to manifest.
"BBBFF!" Twilight rushed forward to grab her brother in a tight grip. "You got her! You're really are the best… but my crown!" In the panic she had forgotten what they had been chasing the thief for. "Where did it go?"
"Prince Shining Armor," Rarity bowed exactly as deep as was socially required of her, "I can only assume you were in some sort of disguise just now for a reason, and by the sound of hooves rushing towards us you really should—" She cut off her words as Shining burned with fire to become a second Twilight Sparkle again. "Darling, not to contradict you, but you might want to choose a more unique form." She gestured to the real Twilight Sparkle.
Panicking still, Shining's thoughts raced and settled on another pony she remembered recently that she knew wasn't in the Crystal Empire. Green fire swirled around her as the large form of a changeling queen was replaced with a blue unicorn in Guard armor. As three alicorns charged into the room, Shining raised her voice. "The Great and Powerful Trixie has captured the thief!"
Keeping her voice low, Gleaming Shine turned her head to Shining. "Overdoing it. Leave it to me." She rolled her eyes and stepped past Shining Armor, and pointed at Sunset Shimmer. "We captured the thief. She has been secured."
"Has anypony seen my crown?!" Twilight was rushing around the room, remembering seeing the Element of Magic collide with multiple things before disappearing.
Pinkie Pie pronked up to her manic friend. "That's easy. It went in here!" She poked her foreleg through the mirror portal. "I can go get it if…" She trailed off as she was levitated back from the mirror by cobalt magic. "Aww…"
"This," Luna stepped up to the mirror, and her eyes drifted back to Shining as she gave her explanation, "is no ordinary mirror. It is a gateway to another world." She turned to look at the assembled ponies. "A gateway that opens once every thirty moons."
Twilight cut in on the explanation, an urgent feeling rising in her. "Then I will just—"
"I cannot allow that." The eyes of all the ponies in the room turned to Gleaming Shine as she cut off the youngest princess. "Your Highness," she looked to Cadance, doing her best to ignore Shining Armor at her side, "please allow me to go and retrieve the crown. I am sure that it shouldn't take long."
"She could be a changeling too!" Dropper stomped up and squeezed into the room behind Princess Celestia. "Your Highness," he turned to face only Celestia, "I request to be sent to retrieve the crown!"
"I can assure you, Dropper, neither Princess Cadance nor Guard Gleaming Shine, are changelings. Moving the mirror here might have been a mistake, but this is Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor's realm to govern," she added some steel to her voice and stared down Dropper, "and protect."
Cadance's heart skipped a beat at the admission by Celestia that the Crystal Empire was truly its own sovreign entity. "Gleaming Shine, is there anypony you would like to take with you?" She knew full well that Trixie was in Ponyville, and deductive reasoning narrowed down who the "Trixie" present was.
"Me." Rainbow Dash stepped forward, looking between Shining Armor, Cadance, and Gleaming Shine. "You know having a fast flier would be the best to team up with a unicorn. I am the fastest flier there is!"
"Take her." Shining nudged Gleaming in the side. "She isn't boasting… this time." She kept her voice as low as she could, but she could tell that the others could hear it. "The Great and Powerful Trixie has worked with Rainbow Dash before," Shining used the superior half-smile that Trixie Lulamoon was known for, "she will be adequate."
"Your Highness, I would have Rainbow Dash with me on this," Gleaming looked at the small and lithe pegasus, "if you allow it?" She got only a nod from Cadance.
"You have three days, and when the moon rises on the third day," Luna gestured to the portal, "it will close again for thirty more cycles. Be quick."
Gleaming turned and looked at Rainbow Dash. "If I could get you some fitting armor on short notice I would." She lifted her hoof and offered it to Rainbow.
"Pfft, I fly fast enough that nothing can catch me." Rainbow returned the gesture with a clop of her hoof. "But this is really important, huh?" She flicked her wings and dropped to the ground before the mirror. "Last one through's a rotten egg!" Not hesitating in the slightest, Rainbow Dash jumped forward.
"I am starting to regret my—" Gleaming Shine trotted up and stepped through the portal. The world didn't so much turn as spin, spiraling their elongated bodies further and further. "I. Hate. Magic. Portals!"
Rainbow Dash fell out on the ground, and coughed a few times. "Ugh, what was—" Honed instincts caused her to roll to the side in a body that wasn't quite moving right. A heavy thud sounded as Gleaming Shine hit the ground beside her.
"What is this, rock?" Gleaming pushed what she thought was a foreleg down and froze. "Rainbow Dash?"
"Yeah, I see it too." Rainbow picked up the slight measure of panic in Gleaming's voice and knew from the wiggly fingers where her hooves should be, that something was wrong. "But it's okay, I'll fly up and…" Her eyes narrowed down to pinpricks. "M-M-M-My wings?"
Gleaming sympathized with Rainbow, feeling not a trace of magic. "We look strange, a little like minotaurs, or strange dragons. And what is up with all this clothing?" She remembered back to the minotaur she had once seen and tried to stand up on her "back legs."
"What are you doing? This is no time for… oh." Rainbow Dash mimicked Gleaming and stood up. Unlike her companion, Rainbow had a much better sense of balance and awareness, and managed to stay standing without grabbing on to the statue behind them. "This is pretty cool, takes some getting used to though. Is that our way home?" Rainbow pointed at the square base of the statue.
Close enough to reach her "foreleg" out, Gleaming pushed her limb into the portal, and could see her pony limb as a glowing ghost image. "Right, we have our way back and three days to—"
"Hey, what's this?" A nasally voice got both Equestrian "diplomats' " attention.
"That isn't yours!" Rainbow Dash was quicker than Gleaming to spot the lanky, upright creature grabbing her best friend's crown. "Give that back!" Running before she could walk would have been impossible for any creature except for Rainbow Dash. Her legs started pounding and she was off after the creature taking the crown.
Looking at the creature Rainbow was charging, Gleaming started to walk after them as well. "Stop in the name of the Guard!" The creature yelled and ran from them.
"It's the cops!" The nasally creature was trying to run, and had it been anyone but Rainbow Dash they might have gotten away with it. "I found it! I ain't done nothin'!"
Rainbow Dash dove and grabbed the legs of the fleeing thief. "Gotcha!" She grabbed hold of their waist and held on as best she could while help arrived.
"Why don't you just calm down there." Gleaming was still a little shaky on her feet, but she hid it well by putting on her best glare. "Let me see it." She got a definite vibe of "young adult" from the creature. "And what's your name?"
"Spot." Spot glared up at Gleaming's blue uniform. "I found it fair and square!" Pulling the golden crown closer to his body, he folded his arms around it.
"That belongs to somepony else." Gleaming reached down with her hand, holding it open. "And I am going to take it back to her." She saw stubbornness in Spot's eyes, but it was fading by the moment in the face of her confident air of authority.
"It's not fair! I just wanted something for me!" Spot slowly unfolded his arms to reveal the bright gold crown. "I—" He gasped as the crown glowed brightly then let off a pulse of light.
"That's it, let's get out of here." Rainbow let go of Spot and grabbed the crown. "There's no reason we have to hang around here any longer!" She got to her feet and brushed the dirt from her dress.
"Yeah, you're right." Turning around with Rainbow at her side, Gleaming Shine froze as she found herself staring at her own double. "Huh, well I didn't expect this…"
"Hold it right there!" Sergeant Shine held one hand up to her doppelganger, while the other reached for her microphone. Before she pressed the PTT switch, she took a deep breath. "Explain this in a way that won't have me seeing a psych' tomorrow, or I am dragging all of you down to the station."
"G-G-Gleaming?" Rainbow looked between the two identical humans, and of course both turned to face her. "Okay, explanation, got it. We are from another world, and were sent here to recover this crown. We will just be leaving and nothing will bother you or your princesses here." She started to take a step but had a restraining hand put on her shoulder by both Gleamings.
"You can't expect a Guard to accept that, Rainbow." Gleaming turned to look at her human-world duplicate. "This is going to take a lot more explaining; can we sit down somewhere and talk about it?"
"What about me?" Spot shrank back from the glare of two people from different worlds who shared a great deal in terms of their tolerance of thieves. "Got it; run again." Putting one foot in front of the other, he took off as fast as he could go.
"He runs a lot faster to get away from you two than from me…" Rainbow tried to shrug off the grip on her shoulder. "Look, relax, I am not going to run back to Equestria without you."
"Glad to hear it." Gleaming Shine gave a sigh. "So where are we going to tell you this grand story?"
"Come on back to my cruiser, I know a great place that is open all night." Sergeant Shine pointed to her police car, and turned to head for it. Part of her really hoped the unexplainable two—and their very expensive-looking crown—were gone by the time she walked all the way back to her car, but unfortunately they were still there. "Get in."
Gleaming stared at the odd chariot. Reaching for the door that was outlined in the side, she pulled at the obvious handle. "Huh, this is pretty well made." She climbed into the front seat beside her clone. Rainbow Dash climbed in the back and both of them pulled their doors shut. "Where do you hitch up—"
Sergeant Shine started the engine and turned on her lights. "Seat-belts on, please." She was getting a vibe from the two strangers like they didn't know how things worked, so she demonstrated by pulling her own belt on. Once each had copied her to her satisfaction, she checked if it was safe and drove off.
"Whoa…" Rainbow Dash watched as the world suddenly sped past faster than she had been able to run. "This is totally cool!"
"I believe what my friend is trying to say is, 'Why yes, we really aren't from around here and you should be really suspicious of us.' " Gleaming used her best deadpan voice, and rolled her eyes at the Sergeant. "Not that I don't find this pretty amazing as well, but you know how it is…"
"Yeah. Everything can seem like magic until you see that it is just the same old stuff we have everywhere." Sergeant Shine turned a corner and pulled her cruiser up at the all night diner. "This is the place. You might want to leave that crown in the car."
"I'll take it, if you don't mind." Gleaming reached out a hand for the crown and took it when Rainbow passed it to her. She tried to use her magic to hide it, before realizing how stupid it was. "Actually, I might take you up on that offer. This… this chariot is safe?"
Sergeant Shine barked a laugh. "No one is going to steal my cruiser, don't worry."
Gleaming's thoughts about the crown ran wild, but there was one thing to fall back on. "It's my duty to bring this back." She gave the gem a little tap with a finger. "I can't let it go…"
"Pfft." Rainbow Dash scoffed at Gleaming, and got a well deserved glare from each of the doppelgangers. "You already have a hat on; put the crown on and pull your hat down over it." Both Gleaming and Sergeant Shine glared at Rainbow until she was on the verge of thinking she had said something stupid, then Gleaming did just what she suggested.
"It sits a little crooked, but I think your friend is onto something." Sergeant Shine opened her door and climbed out of the cruiser. "Best twenty-four hour eatery in town… only one out this way." She stared across at Gleaming for a moment, seeing the spitting image of herself—complete with uniform.
"Hey! My door isn't opening!" Rainbow scrabbled at the handle in the back seat until the police officer (the real one) opened the door for her. "Why don't those open normally?" She jumped out energetically, and felt a small pang of loss for her wings.
"Now I know you are from a galax... uh, a place, far far away." Stepping up to the shop, the sergeant opened the door and stepped inside. She knew it was another chance for the pair to just run, and part of her hoped they would, but every time she looked in her clone's eyes she saw someone just as much a stickler for the law as she was. She walked past the counter, waving to the single waitress working the late shift. "Hiya Coco, still working here I see? Not made it to the big time with your fashion internship?"
"Ugh, don't remind me." Coco Pommel rolled her eyes. "How are you doing Gleam?" She froze a moment later as the doorbell chimed again. "W-W-What… G-G-Gleam?" She did a double take between Gleaming and Sergeant Shine. Gently, Coco set her steaming coffee pot down on the bench, closed her eyes, and started to faint.
Rainbow Dash was fast. She was faster than sound in Equestria, and even without her wings she could really move. Diving across the bench and shooting across the floor behind the long counter, she caught Coco just before the woman hit the ground. "Whoa! Hey, are you okay?"
Sergeant Shine had seen people run before—it was practically her job to chase people—but the speed that the young woman had just displayed blew her mind. She blinked at something else, something that seemed strange about her.
"Rainbow, how'd you get your…" Gleaming looked around needlessly—there was only the three of them and the waitress in the dining area—and then back to the girl, "… wings?"
"What?" Rainbow looked over her shoulder and almost dropped the unconscious Coco in the process. "Awesome! I can fly again!" She buzzed her wings, more a show than attempting to get lift. In her arms, Coco started to rouse.
Groaning a little, Coco blinked and looked up at Rainbow standing over her. Her eyes widened, and then closed again.
"Well that is new." Sergeant Shine leaned over the bar to make sure the waitress was unharmed. "The strange stuff is barely registering anymore. This is either a good thing, or really bad." She reached over and poured some of the coffee pot's contents into a big paper cup, and started adding sugar.
Coco came around again, and kept her eyes closed this time. "There is two of you, Sergeant?"
"Yes Coco, I am about to get the explanation for it too." The sergeant started pouring more coffee out, one for each of them.
"And this girl caught me before hitting the ground, she has… pony ears…" Coco's mind raced back to when she was at Canterlot High, and had her own Wondercolt ears and tail. "And wings, I can't forget the wings…"
"I hadn't actually noticed the ears myself. Are you sure they are pony ears? Look a little dog-like to me." Sergeant Gleam sipped her coffee and sighed. "Coffee is good tonight, Coco."
Coco's eyes snapped open, and she politely dismissed Rainbow Dash still holding her. "T-T-Thank you, but you can't be back here." She straightened and made a shooing gesture at the blue-skinned girl.
"Sorry about all this." Gleaming studied how her clone's hand held the cup, and mimicked her to lift her own up. "Oh this really is good stuff." She took a long sip of the scalding liquid. The coffee had the desired effect, and she knew the trick of providing food or drink to a prisoner to encourage them to talk. "First, my name is Gleaming Shine, Junior Lieutenant in the Royal Crystal Guard of the Crystal Empire."
"That's a mouthful, and sounds like it has a lot of meaning all by itself." Sergeant Shine reached to her pocket and pulled out a pad and a pencil.
Gleaming caught the inference. "Okay, starting from the end. The Crystal Empire is mostly one huge city in the north of Equestria. Prince Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza are the two rulers there, and have recently been working on seceding from Equestria proper. They created the Royal Crystal Guard so that the Crystal Empire would have its own military force. I was one of their first recruits."
The sergeant just folded her notebook closed and put it—and her pencil—back in her pocket. "Let's move this forward. How did you get here?"
"How: there is a mirror in our world that seems to link to the statue in front of the building you found us near." Gleaming sipped her coffee. " 'Why?' is a more obvious one. I didn't know the mirror was a portal—or it would be under guard—and while a thief was misappropriating the crown of one of Equestria's princesses, it happened to bounce through."
"And you were sent to get it back. Reasonable enough." Sipping her own coffee, Sergeant Shine almost kicked herself for even thinking that this was reasonable. "So this mirror and statue are portals between worlds?"
"Something like that. I guess there is a copy of each of us in the other's world. Strange I guess, and a little surprising." Gleaming looked at her counterpart. "This isn't a coincidence, is it?"
"Another coffee please, Coco." The sergeant pressed a twenty across the counter. "If we are just ourselves from another world, I guess it fits that you are in this Royal Crystal Guard. But there is a name I am going to say and I want you to tell me if you recognize it." She took her notepad out again and flipped it open—not to a blank page, but one that had been dog-eared as important. "Sunset Shimmer."
"Can't say it does. Do you have a description of her?" Gleaming's eyes kept drifting to a cake that was missing two slices, behind the counter. Before she could even ask, Coco glided over to the cake and cut three big pieces free.
"She is about five foot eight, amber skin, red hair with orange stripes through it..." as Sergeant Gleam read the details, her eyes flicked up to see recognition on both her guest's faces, "You do know her."
"Our thief." Gleaming was surprised when Coco set a plate with a slice of cake before her. She looked up at Coco with a questioning look.
"You looked like you could use it. I have worked here long enough to see when a police officer needs something to remind them why they do their job." Coco set another plate before the sergeant, and a last one before Rainbow Dash.
"Whoa, I'm not part of any guard or anything!" Rainbow nonetheless fumbled at the fork on the side of the plate, finding her hands to be quite useful.
"Thanks to you I am not wearing a nasty bruise." Coco smiled widely at the looks of gastronomical delight on her customers' faces.
"It would seem we both have an interest in this perp' of yours." Sergeant Shine chased a broken-off piece of cake around her plate. "She stole a young woman's identity here, and has been running up quite the debt under her name."
Gleaming groaned. "This is a problem." This had become a lovely little international… inter-dimensional… incident. "We have her in custody back in the Crystal Empire. I can only assume she was our Sunset, and not yours."
"That would seem the case, although it sounds like she did a lot worse in… the Crystal Empire?" The sergeant waited until she got a nod before continuing. "And I don't think this is something that can be passed on for an extradition." She rolled her eyes.
"How many bits was it? I can't make any promises, but I can ask my Prince and Princess to provide compensation." Gleaming didn't want to bribe her opposite, and quickly put in, "For your Sunset, of course."
"Of course. The money wasn't significant, just under five thousand dollars." Sergeant Shine assumed correctly that Gleaming was asking about restitution. She didn't need a mind-reader to interpret the blank stares from the other two.
Rainbow shrugged to Gleaming, and got a shrug back. "Ummm..." She hated the idea of asking an "egg-headed question," but figured it would be important. "... exactly how many gold bits would that be?"
Now it was time for Sergeant Shine to blanch. "I... I'll get back to you on that." She took back control of the conversation, and continued from the interruption. "There were some other things she did, going so far as to use Ms. Shimmer's name to enroll in the high school you were at. I had traced down the apartment where the perp' was staying, and found it empty."
"And you figured on checking the school." Gleaming finished her cake. "I can't promise you the restitution, but I can ask."
"You know what, I have no idea how we would even approach Ms. Shimmer about it. That is my Sunset Shimmer, not yours." Finishing her own slice of cake, Sergeant Shine stood up. "This is the most believable crazy story I have ever heard, but it is believable."
Gleaming stood up and followed the police officer outside again, with Rainbow following her. "So…?"
"I'll take you back to the school. If you go through the statue, or mirror, or whatever it is, then I guess all is well." Sergeant Shine unlocked and opened her cruiser and climbed in. A blue streak flashed past and zoomed into the dark night sky. "Hell's bells!"
Rainbow Dash was flying, and although her body was really odd for it, she didn't care. She was flying again. "Woo!" She cut a tight loop and then dove back down towards the ground. At the last second she pulled up at a sharp angle, and hit the wall she loved to break just above the buildings around the diner.
"Show off!" Gleaming was smiling from ear to ear at the sight of Rainbow Dash, legendary flier of Equestria, doing a sonic rainboom. Waves of light shimmered and spread into the sky and kept both Gleaming Shines staring upwards, neither noticing Rainbow Dash land beside the cruiser, and climb in the front.
Sergeant Shine shook her head at the display. "It's okay Gleam," she said to herself, "they aren't from around here. Their ways are…" she couldn't fight the word now, and said it, "magical." At the same time, both Gleaming and the sergeant climbed into the cruiser and took their seats.
Turning to the muttering police officer, Rainbow Dash shook her head. "No way, that was just good flying. She," she jerked her thumb to point over her shoulder, "is the magic one. Unicorn and all that."
"Unicorn?" Sergeant Shine froze, then turned to Gleaming. "Unicorn?" She pointed to Rainbow. "And she has wings and pony ears… pegasus?" Gleaming nodded to her. "Right, back to the school. No more questions I don't want answers to." She pulled on her seat belt and started the car.
"How fast can this thing go, anyway?" Rainbow Dash patted the dashboard of the cruiser. "Wanna race?" She smirked widely.
"No, I don't know how you did that thing, but I am pretty sure you were going faster than this old crate can." The sergeant got the cruiser moving dangerously close to the speed limit, and in no time pulled up at the school. "Here we are."
Gleaming waited patiently in the back until Rainbow opened the door for her. "Thanks." She climbed out of the car. "I really would like to hang around and chat more, but you have work, and I have work."
"Work that is important." Sergeant Shine argued with herself a moment, then stepped closer to Gleaming and pulled her into a tight hug. The arms of the other woman pulled around her and squeezed back, and the sergeant felt herself having to wipe away a tear. "Sorry, I just…"
"Mom and Dad not around anymore here, either?" Gleaming watched her doppelganger nod. "Maybe I could make visits here a regular thing. I think Princess Luna said thirty moons… so two and a half years?"
Sergeant Shine blinked in shock. "W-What would we talk about? What would we say?" She had been disarmed of her police-gruff, and she had no way to find it again.
"Stuff, work, life." Gleaming smiled at the human who was practically her twin. "I will be back tomorrow night with information, or something to pay for our thief's… mistakes."
"Are you coming or what?" Rainbow Dash was poking her hand in and out of the concrete base of the statue. "Wait 'till Twilight hears all about this!"
Gleaming smiled to the police officer, as the sergeant started putting her emotional armor back on. "Tomorrow night!" She walked up to the statue and followed Rainbow Dash into it.
The spiral of reality twisting their shapes spun them, and Rainbow spread her wings and tried to fly through it. Stumbling as she hit a wall, she realized she had all four legs again, and jumped into the air. "Wooo!"
Gleaming Shine blinked as she landed back in the Crystal Empire as a unicorn. "That was…" She stopped talking, and stared at four princesses and a prince staring at her. "What?"
Twilight Sparkle giggled and stepped forward. "Could I have my crown, 'Your Highness'?" She reached out a hoof to Gleaming, her eyes dancing as she looked to her crown atop the unicorn's head.
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Adagio Dazzle gasped and reached her fingers up to the red gem at her throat. Staring out the window at the widening circle of rainbow spreading through the night sky, her eyes widened in shock. "Did you two feel that?"
Sunset Shimmer sat in the prison cell, with the bridle still firmly locked over her head, although she had the mouthpiece freed at least. At first she had been shaking with fear, then rage, and finally she realized that things had definitely gotten way out of hoof. What had really shocked Sunset, however, was the strange creature that had tackled her. Magical disguises were not overly hard, but they tended to leave tell-tale markers. She huddled into the corner of the cell and looked down at her forelegs.
Careful Steps leaned against the cell door, and lifted one forehoof to gently tap the metal bars. He very specifically didn't bring anything with him but his carapace. "Do you want to tell me what you were doing?"
Keeping her snout shut, Sunset huddled down a little more. She kept her eyes away from the odd creature, but despite her best efforts there really wasn't anything else to do but look at Careful.
"Going to keep quiet? Well, you can stay here then. For the rest of your life." Careful started to turn and walk away, when he heard movement in the cell.
"Wait, forever? All I did was take her crown, and she got the stupid thing back!" Sunset's anger flared and she grabbed the cell bars with both forehooves, testing them with a shake.
"Assaulting a princess." Careful turned and looked at Sunset. "Then you assaulted our queen… Prince Shining Armor. And I might add the two ponies who put their lives at risk to undo your little stunt were put in danger as well."
Sunset frowned and shook the bars some more. "That's ridiculous! Equestrian law wouldn't hold me accountable for them putting themselves in danger to retrie—"
"Equestrian law?" Careful chuckled and tapped the floor with a hole-filled hoof. "What makes you believe we are in Equestria? This is the Crystal Empire, and we will hold our own court." He saw the mare's face drop from anger to fear, and could even taste the waves of emotion she was putting out. "So talk to me. Tell me your side before we hear Princess Twilight's at court tomorrow."
"You really don't know?" Sunset stared at Careful for a moment in surprise. "Well, okay… My name is Sunset Shimmer, and I was Princess Celestia's special student. While things started off well, we didn't see eye-to-eye." With her thoughts trailing back to one of the happier moments in her life, Sunset smiled. "And then I started to see ways that her plans weren't working, and she told me she knew best. Then things got out of control."
"You didn't get along, I can understand, but what happened with the mirror?" Careful turned and fully faced Sunset, then sat down.
"I was stupid, young, and had no clue what I was messing with." Sunset spread out on the bed and stared at her forehooves. "I was trapped. If I quit the school I would have been seen as a loser. If I had waited for Celestia to kick me out it would have been worse." She looked up at Careful. "I did research—I found out about the Elements of Harmony, and the mirror…"
Careful sensed a mare with very distracted thoughts, and sought to guide her story. "Start with the Elements first. What did you find out and do about them?"
"I read about the world through the mirror; it has no magic at all. I tried to find the Element of Magic to take with me. Celestia wasn't using it anymore." Barking a harsh laugh, Sunset shook her head at her own hubris. "It was just a lump of rock. But that gemstone—"
"That crown is not yours and never will be yours. And you certainly are not going back through the mirror." Careful made the words as plain as he could so that Sunset could absorb them all. "You are a pony, a unicorn, and if you are on the level with me then maybe your cause isn't lost."
"What?" Sunset stared at Careful. "What do you mean?"
"Keep going with the story; leave nothing out about your time with the mirror." Careful's tone brooked no arguments.
Sunset looked at Careful for a full minute, before she realized that he wasn't going to continue. "I found out about the portal mirror in an old book by Star Swirl the Bearded. It told of a terrible place that was cursed to have no magic. I thought even without the Element of Magic I could hold on to my own." Just to test out the restraint-bridle, she tried to channel magic—and failed completely to make even a spark. "It was worse than wearing this thing." She pointed at the bridle with a hoof. "I can feel magic with this on. I can channel it, but it sucks it all away. On Earth, there is just nothing to channel."
Careful narrowed his eyes a moment in thought, then opened them back wide to watch Sunset. "How did you find out about the Element of Magic in the Princess' crown?"
"The last time I came back, Twilight Sparkle had just defeated Nightmare Moon. I worked as quietly as I could, and almost got caught on the second day. With the information I needed, I fled back to Earth." Sunset tapped her hooves together slowly, the sound echoing out of the cell and down the hall outside. "I just wanted some magic, and to be away from Princess Celestia…"
"You need to face your crime of theft. And from what we understand, you 'borrowed' bits from somepony in the mirror world?" When Sunset nodded, Careful continued. "You will need to pay that back to Prince Shining and Princess Cadance. I will have a word to Gleaming and Rainbow Dash about their own part in retrieving the crown."
The way Careful spoke to her shocked Sunset into interrupting. "You… you mean I will—"
"You stole one of Equestria's greatest treasures." Careful gave the words the import they commanded. "You caused two other ponies to risk their lives, and they will have to again to repay your debts there. You will owe the Crystal Empire a debt, and you will have to face your day in court."
Sunset jumped to her hooves and raced to the door of the cell. "Please, just don't make me go back to—"
"You will not be extradited." Careful smiled warmly. "The Crystal Empire happens to need unicorns right now."
"Please, one thing?" Sunset tried to regain some semblance of control and took a deep breath. When Careful nodded to her words, she continued. "What is your name? And what are you?"
"My name is Careful Steps. I am a changeling of Queen Shining Armor and Queen Cadance's hive." Careful stood, proud of his position in the Crystal Empire. "Please rest. I am sure somepony will see you tomorrow."
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
"Hey." Gleaming Shine, with Rainbow Dash at her side, approached the prison cell. Looking at the mare within, she narrowed her eyes. "Why did you do it?"
"Yeah, what was the big idea attacking Twilight like that?" Rainbow Dash stomped up beside Gleaming and pointed a wing at Sunset. "We had to go and clean up your mess, and I missed half a night of sleep!"
"I didn't exactly sleep well myself." Sunset had no say about when ponies could come and talk to her, but it seemed like the pair there now were somewhat familiar. She recognized Rainbow Dash from her counterpart at Canterlot High, and Gleaming Shine's colors seemed familiar. "And I did it because…" She paused and reminded herself that she had spilled everything the previous night. "Because of an argument." Any wind she had left in her sails left her and she slumped a little.
"An argument? Must have been a good one." Gleaming parked herself in place. She had come to the cell before donning her armor for duty, and bumped into Rainbow on the way. "You see, we had to go to that other world and recover the crown."
Rainbow Dash nodded to the assessment. "It kinda sucked at first, but then I got my wings working and—"
"Wings?" Sunset's attention focused on Rainbow Dash. "How did you get wings? What did you do to get them?" She stared hard at the pegasus, searching for answers.
"Well, when I had to catch someone who was fainting. I remember thinking that I couldn't make it without flying, without really flying." Rainbow Shrugged. "What can I say? I am that awesome!"
Gleaming grunted and rolled her eyes. "And modest. So who was the argument with, and what was it over?"
"Princess Celestia, and I guess it was over nearly anything we could talk about." Sunset hung her head, realizing the two ponies before her were a part of her crimes. "It was stupid I guess. I didn't mean for you to have to risk yourselves."
"What do you think we would have done if you had gotten away with it?" Rainbow Dash stepped closer to the bars. "You know what would have happened, right?"
"Uh… Princess Twilight would have come and gotten it?" Sunset looked between the two, a little confused.
"Stupid." Gleaming stamped a hoof angrily. "Maybe a year ago. Prince Shining Armor has changed, and the Crystal Empire has changed. You could have started a war." She turned and stomped away, leaving Sunset in her cell.
"It really was stupid, but kinda cool too. You don't get on with Princess Celestia, huh? That is pretty stupid too." Rainbow shared a grin with Sunset. "I do stupid stuff too sometimes, like flying through the sky of a place with no magic. But sometimes you have to do the stupid things." She squinted a little in thought. "I don't know where I am going with this, but next time you do stupid stuff, make sure it is for the right reasons."
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
"So what do you think?" Shining waited for Rainbow to come down the stairs before addressing Gleaming. He yawned widely, and tried to hide it with a hoof. "I got a sense of deep remorse from her, and something like a flame of anger. It seemed to be directed in two places: one is inwards—"
"And the other is Princess Celestia." Rainbow Dash cut in where Gleaming would not have. "Sunset's really angry about something, it's pretty stupid of her to cause all this mess over not getting along with somepony."
"How does she know the Princess, anyway?" Looking up to her Prince, Gleaming tried to keep telling herself he is just like anypony else, but she knew more secrets about him than the average guard; Shining Armor was not like anypony else.
"Sunset Shimmer was Princess Celestia's student before Twily was… Princess Twilight." Shining rolled his eyes at the need to clarify. "I spent all night watching over her, and listened to Careful's debriefing." He grinned. "I was disguised as the guard, of course."
For a moment Rainbow Dash was confused, then the figurative light bulb came on, and she remembered he was now a changeling.
"Your Highness?" Gleaming left the question open, wanting to give her ruler a chance to focus without Rainbow Dash cutting in all over him.
"Her motives haven't changed since she left." Shining gave a deep sigh. "She is a mare with the motives of a filly. There are more questions, but I think I will need to ask those at Court." He lifted a hoof and offered it to Rainbow first—of course she gave a clop back. "Thanks, both of you. Are you sure you are alright to take the payment back tonight?" After being left hanging for a moment, Shining finally got a second clop against his hoof by Gleaming.
"I think we can handle it…" Shifting her eyes to the side, Gleaming lifted a hoof and poked Rainbow Dash in the shoulder. "Unless you think it is too boring?"
"Ha!" Rainbow Dash shoved back, almost hitting a brick wall when she tried to push Gleaming. "As if, I am totally going back. You never know, we might run into the other me there!"
Chrysalis stared around the train car, her eyes studying every pony, her brain evaluating them for weaknesses she could exploit. She was on a mission, and it would be an even more important one than when she met her Shining Armor.
The thought of her darling stallion drew a deep sigh from Chrysalis, and she thumped her head against the window, staring out at the rolling countryside passing her by. "Why are you so far away?"
"Sounds like a filly missing her colt." Granny Smith had chosen the seat beside the depressed-looking mare. "If'n you ask me, nopony should end up like that. Either he comes back to ya, or ya gotta chase 'im!"
In her earth pony disguise, Chrysalis turned to face the green-furred ancient pony. Barbs and slurs came easily to her thoughts, but so too did Shining Armor. She gave a soft whine. "He can't come back to me…" It was completely true. She knew Cadance had her hooks so far into Chrysalis' intended that he would never escape her without help.
"Well Ah'm thinkin' you have just two choices then." Granny Smith wavered a little and closed her eyes. She wasn't asleep, she was just resting her eyes.
"What are my choices?" Chrysalis practically screamed the words, but when everypony in the train car looked at her, she froze. This was not the way to avoid suspicion like a top-class infiltrator. "What choices?" She gently poked Granny Smith to wake her up from her eyelid-resting.
"Huh? What's'at?" Jumping nearly two inches into the air, Granny Smith looked around wildly. "Are we under attack?" She squinted at the mare beside her. "What're we talkin' about again?"
Chrysalis was surprised by the antics, but figured it was still more entertaining than just staring out the window, plus she really needed to know the venerable mare's suggestions. "I am having colt problems, he can't get to me, and you said there were only two choices."
"Well you actually got three, but one o' 'em we don't talk about in polite company." Granny waggled her eyebrows at Chrysalis, which only made Granny's eyes wobble around in their sockets. "But if'n you don't have any of the rubber hose for that'un, you only have two choices. Either you hunt down that stallion and show him what he means t' ya, or you move on to another that can goose yer clock just as good."
"Another stallion? But Sh…" Chrysalis mentally slapped herself. "But Bright… Shield is the only stallion for me…" Focusing so much on the topic had her despondent again and Chrysalis slumped down. "And now my family need me in Ponyville, and I can't even go to him…"
While waiting for Chrysalis' stilted speech to finish, Granny almost nodded off—totally rested her eyelids—again. "What's yer name, anywho? Ah'm Granny Smith."
Chrysalis knew of the Apple family, there were some in Appleloosa, and one of Twilight Sparkle's friends was in the widely-sown family. "Granny Smith? From the Apple family?" The surprise on the old mare's face was enough for Chrysalis to glean the truth of it. "I'm Cinnamon Stick! My family moved out of Appaloosa a few years ago, I wanted to visit the place and… we used to be good friends with the Apples there!"
"Cinnamon Stick? Well, good t'meetcha!" Granny Smith reached out with a hoof to shake one of Chrysalis'. "So where ya headed, Cinnamon?"
Chrysalis saw much potential in cultivating the mare's friendship, and so she figured it was worth the risk of telling her. "Ponyville. I was—"
"Hot dang, ya just gotta come and stay with us Apples then. No," Granny shook her head when Chrysalis tried to interrupt, "arguin' now. It's already settled." Lifting her wiry old leg up, Granny spat on her frog and held it out to Chrysalis. "And while yer there we can get all this colt business sorted out. Nopony leaves a friend of the Apple family in the lurch!"
Knowing the custom, Chrysalis couldn't stop a slight shudder at exchanging fluids in such a manner, but she dutifully spat on her hoof and clopped it—wetly—against Granny Smith's.
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Dismounting the train, Chrysalis looked around Ponyville in a bit of a daze. She suddenly realized why sending a dispatch of changelings that apparently numbered about one tenth of the town's population was a bad idea. "So, any new ponies around? Apart from me that is!"
"Oh ponies come 'n go, ya know? There is that new family of farmin' folk. Not sure about their rutabagas, but heck, anypony who works a farm is a good pony!" Stretching her legs, Granny Smith hobbled from the train. "Ah hate them trains, get yer limbs all stiff."
"Any juicy rumors about them?" Chrysalis knew the game of rumors, but importantly she knew that in a town this small, everypony would know something about a new family.
"Well, Ah heard from my little Applejack that they might be crazythings." Granny Smith's eyes narrowed. "Crazythings though? Ah never heard about it. They said they was Turnip kin, but ah ain't never heard of 'em!"
"Somepony new in town? How interesting." Trixie insinuated herself (and her body) into the conversation between Chrysalis and Granny Smith. "Anypony Trixie knows? She has been all over Equestria." Inwardly, the unicorn wished she had a spell she could cast that would only blast changelings, but nopony she knew had been willing to teach her one.
Chrysalis' heart sped up, and she felt panic begin to rise. Considering dropping her disguise and blasting her way past the nosy unicorn, she was shocked when a spindly old leg thumped her on the back.
"This 'ere is Cinnamon. She isn't an Apple, but Ah know her kind, and they go great with Apples. She's just visitin' our farm for a while, aren't you deary?" Granny Smith looked at Chrysalis with a gap-toothed grin.
Trixie narrowed her eyes at the brown-pelted Chrysalis, and then switched her gaze to Granny Smith. "Well, somepony said there might be some changelings about. Trixie wonders if you know anything about that?"
"She ain't one of them crazythings, or whatever you called 'em." Granny Smith stomped closer to Trixie; it wasn't that the old Apple didn't have any respect, she just didn't have much time for it when a friend was being accused of something. "An' how do we know you ain't one? You just arrived in town too!"
Blinking in surprise, Chrysalis realized just how lucky she was to have met the old war horse on the train. "They told me Ponyville was a nice town…" The waterworks were easy, all Chrysalis had to do was think of her little nymphs all being squished. Anger colored her sorrow, and she glared at Trixie. "Why don't you just leave us alone!"
Taking a step back, Trixie kept her snout closed while the two earth ponies marched off. When Granny Smith and Chrysalis were well out of earshot, she turned away from them. "Trixie is going to have to come up with a better way of doing this."
"We could help if you want?!" Scootaloo was standing right behind the blue unicorn, and swore later that the mare actually teleported a one-eighty degree turn. "Can't we, girls?" Beside her, flanking Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom cheered and exclaimed in the affirmative. "Right! So… what are you doing?"
"The Great and Powerful Trixie has no…" She was about to blow the fillies off, but then Trixie had her best plan ever. "The Sneaky and Loyal Trixie actually is a secret agent!" She held a hoof up, faking muffling her voice. Nearby, two ponies who heard her secret rolled their eyes at somepony stringing the Cutie Mark Crusaders along. "And she is in town to uncover all the monsters that are hiding as ponies!"
Three little shocked gasps echoed after Trixie's words. "What are you gonna do about it?" Apple Bloom recovered first, and got agreeing nods from her fellow Crusaders. She squared up a little more. "And what can the Cutie Mark Crusaders do to help?"
Trixie smiled. "Well, there are a lot of new ponies in town lately, and Trixie would bet Twilight's crown on a bunch of them being changelings. Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadance sent Trixie in, secretly," Trixie tapped the side of her snout, "to find out about them."
"And kick their flanks?!" Scootaloo reared up on her back legs and threw a quick one-two punch with her forehooves.
"Shh!" Trixie pressed her hoof to Scootaloo's muzzle. "Do you remember Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadance's wedding, with the changelings that disguised as ponies?" Three solemn nods affirmed the Crusaders' memories of the wedding. "There are twenty of them somewhere in town."
Sweetie Belle gasped in shock. "What are we going to do about them?" She rubbed one foreleg against the other, suddenly nervous once she found out they were outnumbered over four to one.
"Trixie has been charged, by the Prince and Princess themselves, as well as by Princess Celestia and Princess Twilight, to find them and keep an eye on them." Narrowing her eyes, Trixie looked between the three fillies, fake suspicion painted liberally on her face—once she had spent time in show business, overacting ceased to be a thing to Trixie. "How does Trixie know you aren't changelings?"
"We aren't!" Scootaloo was obliged to yell it, and defend her best friends.
"We aren't?" Sweetie Belle looked at her friend. "That would have been exciting. What if we were really changelings our whole lives, and our sisters just never told us?"
Apple Bloom stared at her friend. "We aren't changelings, Sweetie Belle." She rolled her eyes hard enough to dislodge them—figuratively speaking. "But we aren't changelings. How would we prove that we aren't?"
"We need to know!" Scootaloo clung to Sweetie Belle. "I don't want to be a changeling my whole life!" She paused as her friends stared at her. "What? I would have to be mean and stuff…"
"You could be mean to Diamond Tiara. She kinda deserves it." Sweetie Belle covered her mouth quickly. Pulling a hoof away, she looked at the accusing stare of Apple Bloom. "She does!"
Trixie was amazed at the three fillies. Their ability to take a topic and just derail it on tangents so quickly that the original thread was lost to time was amazing. She didn't dare interrupt, just in case anypony realized that what the three adorable fillies were talking about was real. Well, the original conversation was.
"Diamond Tiara does not deserve to be stuffed in a changeling pod!" Apple Bloom looked between her abashed friends. "She is just a filly like us." Lifting her voice, Apple Bloom felt the world start to align just right.
"No songs!" Trixie finally cut in. "We don't have time for a song, and it might give away what we are doing."
"What were we doing?" Scootaloo looked between her friends, and then up to Trixie.
"We are finding out if we are changelings." Sweetie Belle looked up at Trixie. "You… You said you had a way to be sure?"
Apple Bloom interrupted Trixie. "Well of course there is a way to be sure." She gave a firm nod, and paused a while until everypony started glaring at her. "Oh, well it isn't easy, but we have to foalnap them, and take them to the Crystal Empire, and get Princess Cadance to do that big love-magic-blasty thing!"
"Wait here." Trixie gestured at the Crusaders to not move, and marched over to an apple cart, complete with a big red Apple behind the counter. "A bag of apples, post-haste."
"Eeyup." Big Mac had heard every word his little sister and her friends had shared with the unicorn and loved that the performer was keeping the "terrible trio" occupied. "Here y'are." He plucked up a dozen-apple bag and passed it over. Trixie floated some bits towards the stallion, but he shook his head. "Yer a good pony, eeyup." He knew full well that Applejack would be mad at him, but he liked Trixie's magic shows.
"Oh!" Trixie blushed at the stallion, the attention enough to cause her to stumble in her plan. "Well… uh… if you would like to come to Trixie's next performance, she might just invite a certain stallion on stage to help." Her eyes traced down and up all she could see, and though he seemed slow, Trixie knew that looks were always deceiving.
As the unicorn turned and walked away, Big McIntosh was immensely thankful for the cart he was standing behind. Watching the mare's tail and plot sway from side to side put a grin on his face that made him want to buck a thousand trees.
"Now, this is quite an easy way to prove somepony isn't a changeling." Trixie passed an apple to each of the fillies, and took one for herself. Lighting her horn, she cast a simple trigger-based illusion spell. "Changelings cannot eat normal food without being violently sick. The little spell Trixie cast will light up if it detects any sneaky teleportation magic." And with that, Trixie bit into her apple, and chewed the wonderfully juicy fruit repeatedly, before swallowing.
Each filly dutifully took a bite, chewed, and swallowed. "Is it meant to make us feel sick?" Sweetie Belle screwed her face up.
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. "Sweetie Belle, all this week you have had the green-apple sp—"
"She is sick. But it won't come up. That is what you meant by 'violently sick,' right?" Scootaloo looked up to Trixie, and got a nod back. "Well, we definitely aren't changelings, although I would get Sweetie Belle to wash her hooves and horn before handling any more apples."
Sunset Shimmer was led, with the bridle still fastened on her head, into the throne room of the Crystal Empire's castle. The architecture of the castle, that had been a minor distraction when she was trying to steal the Element of Magic, confused her a little—the way she could almost but not quite see between rooms. She looked around at the small gathering of ponies.
Princess Celestia looked upon her former student, and although she wanted to just be happy Sunset was back and not causing trouble, she felt the old bile rise just at the sight of her. She wanted to look away, she wanted to leave, but thousands of years of rulership had taught her that sometimes you had to swallow a bitter pill.
Sitting on her throne with Shining Armor at her side, Cadance looked down at the very small-looking unicorn in restraints. "You have made it very hard to find somepony impartial to oversee your trial." Cadance lifted a hoof and gestured around. "Princess Celestia was your former teacher. Princess Twilight was assaulted and stolen from by you. Prince Shining Armor arrested you. And I… I am sister, wife, and niece to the three aforementioned ponies."
"We don't believe we were even on Equus when this started." Luna stepped forward. "And while we are, of course, related to one of those parties; we find ourselves not attached to the actual crimes." As she looked up to Princess Cadance, she got a smile and a nod.
"The Crystal Empire recognizes Princess Luna's right and impartiality in judging this case." Cadance leaned a little to the side and nuzzled Shining. "Please, can we get this over with. I do not enjoy such things."
"The old ways of Equestria," Luna began, "were filled with rigid court requirements and procedures. But while we would enjoy seeing them reinstated, this is the Crystal Empire, so we thought something less formal would be more appropriate." She gestured to a table to one side. "Come."
Sunset was a little dazed, and looked between each of the alicorns, as well as the "Prince" that she still didn't know the full story of, and settled with following Princess Luna. When gestured to, she sat in the middle of three seats on one side, while Luna sat on the other.
"Who will be speaking the facts?" The moment Luna spoke, Gleaming Shine stepped forward. "You know the full details of what transpired?"
"I do, Your Highness." Gleaming took an offered seat at Sunset's right. "I have reports here from myself compiled from my own time investigating the matter, as well as one Rainbow Dash, and Sergeant Gleaming Shine, a human... uh... guardspony." She mused briefly on her return through the mirror.
"Very well, and will anypony here speak on Sunset Shimmer's behalf?" Luna looked around the chambers, eventually fixing her eyes on a single raised, black hoof. The hoof was filled with holes. "Identify yourself."
"I am Careful Steps, Adviser to the Empress of the Crystal Empire." Careful loved using his queen's full title. "And I have spent time speaking with the accused." At Luna's nod, Careful stepped up and took the seat at Sunset's left. A look at the flame-themed mare revealed shock at his sitting there.
"Let us begin. Gleaming Shine, please read aloud the chronology of Sunset Shimmer's activities as revealed by your reports." Luna focused her considerable attention on Gleaming, not wanting to risk distraction in this weighty matter.
"Sunset Shimmer of Equestria arrived in Canterlot—the human world's Canterlot—some five years ago." Gleaming was reading her notes verbatim, but kept her ears perked for any questions from Princess Luna. "She took some time establishing herself, and assumed the identity of the human Sunset Shimmer already living there. She accessed the bits—I am translating here, they use a different name for bits—of the human Sunset Shimmer, and used her reputation and bits to gain entrance to various institutions and living arrangements."
"Please." Luna cut in when Gleaming paused. "Could you clarify? Did she steal the bits of this other mare?"
"Not as such. Because she was identical in form as the human Sunset Shimmer, in their world she could legally ask others to give her the human Sunset's bits. Their law structure does not distinguish between their citizens and inter-dimensional copies. Also, that world has an odd promissory note system as an acceptable substitute for physical bits." Gleaming struggled to understand the system herself, but hoped that would appease the Princess. Luna gave her a nod. "I did, working as an agent and ambassador of the Crystal Empire, repay the debts incurred."
"Very well, that sums up the crimes committed abroad." Luna smiled a little to Gleaming, welcoming a reply in kind. "Now, we would like to hear accounts of events that transpired the night before last."
"If," Careful Steps cut in, smiling to Princess Luna, "you would permit me, may I give the account of this one?"
"You may not." Luna smiled back, equally as much as Careful had. "Officer Gleaming Shine, please continue."
Gleaming blinked in surprise as the way her friend had been denied to talk. Clearing her throat, she continued with the next section. "At or around sundown, two nights ago, Sunset Shimmer returned to Equus through the mirror portal to seek out Princess Twilight Sparkle's room. She did enter the room, and tried to replace Princess Twilight's crown with a fake. Sunset Shimmer was caught in the act, and chased back to the storage room containing the mirror."
Not receiving any questions, Gleaming looked around those present. "Prince Shining Armor, at hearing Princess Twilight's cries of alarm, teleported directly to the chamber and stopped Sunset Shimmer from escaping back to the human Canterlot. With my own aid, we subdued her and placed her into custody."
"We will hold any questions until the end." Princess Luna gave a slight nod. "Please continue."
"The crown had, apparently, rolled through the portal. Rainbow Dash and I volunteered to retrieve it, whereupon we learned—from a fellow officer of law, Sergeant Shine—what had transpired there. We were allowed to leave with the crown, and promised to secure compensation for the human Sunset Shimmer's losses to both reputation and bits." Gleaming lifted out a scroll with the amounts paid listed.
Luna paused and read over the invoice. "This is very serious. The immediate reasons for all… this…" Luna gestured to the gathering while looking directly at Sunset Shimmer, "is that you have managed to annoy so many princesses that it was a struggle to find one you hadn't." It was as candid as could be, but Luna would not let it intrude and lighten the situation too far. "Princess Twilight Sparkle, what do you wish done about the attempted theft of your crown, the Element of Magic?"
"Your Highness, Princess Luna," Twilight was a little startled by the sudden focus on her, but she was a princess now. "I don't think I could be a princess and still hold this against Sunset Shimmer. But before I decide, I want to hear why she did all this." She gestured to the report that Gleaming had set on the table before Luna.
"Your Highness?" Careful cleared his throat a little and waited for Princess Luna to nod to him. "I could make up all kinds of fantastical stories, I am a changeling after all, but the truth is a simple matter. As a mature filly, Sunset Shimmer showed as much talent with magic as a unicorn was capable of. She excelled in her classes, and caught the eye of Princess Celestia herself."
Celestia blinked at how the story was going. "I don't—"
"Sister, this is a court in session, please do not cut in. Hold all questions for the end." Luna had no smile for her sister. "Adviser Careful, please continue." There was no pleasure to be had in cutting off Celestia, not during something as important as this.
"Sunset's dream came true. She became Princess Celestia's personal student. Things started well, with both Sunset and Princess Celestia divining the secrets of magic together, but I wouldn't be telling this if that was it." Careful gave a slight tip of his head to Luna. "They didn't get along. It was easy to ignore each other's faults at first, but the closer they had to work as mentor and student, the worse it became."
Luna's eyes scanned those who would have been present in Canterlot Castle at the time. Her sister looked livid, but was glaring at Sunset; the moment Princess Celestia noticed Luna looking at her, her mask of impassive calm was back. Princess Twilight's mouth was slightly open in shock. Cadance wore the most interesting look of the three—she was intrigued.
"I imagine this as nopony's fault. Princess Celestia had never had a student whose personality so clashed with her own, and Sunset," Careful turned his head to look at the magic-locked mare to his side, "she was literally just a filly. And she was trapped. Sunset could have dropped out, and started all sorts of rumors about her abilities, or she could stay and deal with daily reprimands by the Princess of Equestria."
"A new start was in order, or so she thought. Sunset studied hard despite her situation and discovered Star Swirl's mirrors. In a new land, with a new reputation, she could prosper as her own self." Careful looked into Sunset's eyes, and saw tears there. "This filly did it. She made the decision a princess would not and banished herself to a place where there was no magic."
"That would be horrible!" Twilight choked the words out before she realized it, but although she had broken protocol, all she got was an even look from Luna. "It would be! I withdraw my charges." She had had enough. Although Twilight couldn't understand how two ponies could clash quite so badly, she could see that the others seemed to accept it as true.
Nodding to Twilight, Luna turned next to Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor. "Of the bits you paid to correct her debts in the human world, we find Sunset Shimmer liable." Her next look was to Gleaming. "Of the danger she caused you and Rainbow Dash, I find her liable."
"We have no charges against her, Your Highness." Gleaming Shine smiled to Luna. "We considered it our duty to our friends and rulers. We have established friendly relations with another world and even communications." She turned her head to Twilight. "It was Princess Twilight's idea to give Sergeant Shine Sunset's linked diary."
"Sunset told me about it." Twilight blushed a little at the attention. "She knows a lot about Equestrian magic and…" She trailed off, realizing she had gone a little too far.
Luna looked thoughtfully between Twilight and Gleaming. "In that case, the court recinds Sunset's liability for putting Rainbow Dash and Gleaming Shine in danger. Then with all that accounted for, Sunset Shimmer is remanded to Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor to pay off her debt." Luna clopped a hoof on the table three times, the traditionalist in her unable to hold back all the old rules.
Gleaming Shine bowed her head to Luna, content with the solution. She really is barely a mare, she thought. "Princess, Prince," Gleaming bowed as Cadance and Shining approached the table, "I trust everything is satisfactory?"
Giving a nod to Gleaming, Shining took his duty in hoof. "Sunset Shimmer, do you promise not to leave the Crystal Empire?"
Sunset was in a daze. She had looked at Princess Celestia just once during the proceedings, and it had scared her witless. All the old anger at her, the shouting, even the calm times when she was just ignored; it all came rushing back to her. "Leave? Where would I go?" She looked at the Prince that wasn't a prince. Nopony said a word, and she realized they were still waiting for her reply. "Alright, I will stay here, as long as I don't have to ever go to Equestria!"
"Done." Shining reached with his magic, and touched a special keystone to the lock at the back of the bridle. Reaching up with his hooves, he pulled the device off Sunset's head and freed her to use her magic as she willed. "Don't ever make me chase you, Sunset Shimmer."
Cadance bit back the apology she felt like she should give, for not being the one to help Sunset out of her bad situation. She realized she was just a student at the time too, and wouldn't have dared challenge Princess Celestia on anything. "What would you like to do to work off… that sum." Cadance waved her hoof in the direction of the table and the invoice still on it.
"I…" Sunset froze and looked through Princess Cadance, her eyes unfocused. "I think I would like to learn music. It was an old story, but I remember reading about a mare who befriended a timber-wolf with just a wonderful song."
"A fair choice." Shining grinned. "But I am afraid I won't leave the decision up to you for my task to serve the Crystal Empire. You were trapped with Princess Celestia, you were trapped in that other world," he pointed to Gleaming Shine, "and while you might feel trapped here, I would like you to learn discipline to pay for your debt. You will be under Gleaming Shine's personal supervision, and will be starting in the Royal Crystal Guard immediately."
"Th-Th-The Guard?" Sunset's eyes were like saucers. "But I…" She choked back the snarky reply she was about to deliver. "Yes, Your Highness."
"Your days will be in shifts. Your mornings will be spent training with the Guard, your afternoons will be spent studying music, and your evenings will be spent tutoring students in magic. You will be paid for the tutoring and the Guard work, and once established you may choose how quickly to pay off your debt." Cadance saw dawning surprise on Sunset's face. "Gleaming, what am I to do with you now? You solve more problems than you create, so you are hardly an officer, but you have reached the highest rank we have before you can take on an officer's duties."
"Your Highness?" Gleaming snapped to attention, realizing something life affecting—apart from having to take care of another "odd sock" (as she called the strays she was bid to guide)—was about to happen.
"You are hereby promoted to Lieutenant, Gleaming Shine, in charge of special duties, and answerable only to Commander Gilt, and us of course." Shining Armor drew himself to attention, and waited for Gleaming to snap off a salute. "Congratulations, Lieutenant."
"Thank you, Your Highness!" Gleaming felt proud as could be, but realized she was going to need to have her armor fitted with another set of rank markers.
"I will find a teacher for music, and I already know of a school that can send students for extra study. You will start tomorrow, Sunset." Cadance turned to look at Shining. "I think I am done with all this formality. Let's both go to the spa and relax."
"We still need to discuss the rest of the business for this summit." Shining reminded Cadance, and booped her on the nose affectionately. "I will invite Twily, Princess Luna, and Princess Celestia." He chose to ignore his wife's groan.
"Cady." Shining Armor was sprawled on their big bed, and something was bothering him. Leaning around, he nosed at his midsection. "Cady?" He lifted his head up to look at perfection. Cadance always eased any mental anguish he had ever had. She had been the shield that guarded his heart, as he was the embodiment of the physical aspect of protection. But right now, Shining felt profoundly uncomfortable.
"Shining Armor, you are never going to find out what is wrong like that." Cadance flicked her mane and looked at her husband while still brushing her mane. "Drop your disguise, Shiny, and let me take a look at my wonderful lover."
"Oh yeah…" Shining cleared his thoughts and pushed his magic through his horn, banishing the shape he had worn since birth. Green fire swirled around him, and his magic revealed the changeling queen that Shining Armor truly was now. "Oh!" She groaned and arched her neck, pushing back instinctively with muscles she had not known she had.
"I was not prepared for this." Cadance blinked rapidly. At the angle she was seeing her lover—and with Shining's tail raised—she could see exactly what was happening. "You silly colt, you have an egg to lay." Working fast, Cadance used her magic to levitate a parade of towels from their bathroom closet, and began to pack them thickly under Shining's back end. "Push when you think you need to…" Getting ready for a birthing mare was one thing, but Shining was a changeling now, and was going to be laying an egg. There was likely going to be differences she could not anticipate.
Shining had a few moments between each contraction. When the next came, she bunched her muscles and pushed. The shape inside her didn't feel hard, but it felt absolutely huge. "Cady! Cady!" She whimpered and turned, spotting her wife watching her from behind. "Cady! Get one of the drones, surely one of them knows what to do!"
"None of them are queens, Shiny. Oh, it's pushing out of you!" Cadance watched the egg, about the size of a small squash, crown her husband's black folds. "Next push. Good girl, Shiny! PUSH!" Shining's groan echoed through the room, and the egg pushed out more and more until finally the thickest part broached Shining's entrance. The egg fell into Cadance's magic, and almost right away it started to swell out. "Sh-Shiny. You laid…" Cadance stared at Shining's body, able to see muscles rippling.
"There's more!" Shining groaned deeply, and pushed back with the next contraction.
Cadance quickly gave up trying to keep their bed sheets clean. Green goo seemed to leak out with each egg, staining everything it touched. When she put the seventh egg down beside Shining, she watched her husband visibly relax. "Shiny? Any more?"
Shining Armor was totaled. She had run other ponies into the ground over long distances, she had made shields of force that even alicorns couldn't break, and she had held up for days under the mental assault of a changeling queen. But Shining Armor had just added "laid seven eggs" to the list of great accomplishments, and it had cost her every ounce of strength. "No more… please…" She tilted her head and froze. Staring at the eggs, Shining felt a connection and a link to them that she hadn't been prepared for.
"You are beating me to the punch all over the place. I can't believe you told Princess Celestia to bug off at the Summit." She was a little weary, certainly enough to collapse on even a goop-stained bed. "But one thing I never thought you would do, Shining Armor, is beat your wife to having offspring."
"I didn't mean to." Shining looked up at Cadance, her eyes taking in the beauty of her wife as if for the first time. She studied the swell of Cadance's belly. Green magic flared, and Shining lifted Cadance up and carried her closer. "I am sorry little one, but at least you will have some brothers and sisters to keep you company." She nuzzled the bulge in Cadance's belly.
"Put me down so I can snuggle you properly, Shining Armor." Cadance didn't mind the attention, but she was spent and wanted to relax. Shining put her down on the cleanest part of the bed, but she ignored the mess and scooted closer to the little cluster of eggs in the middle. Leaning forward, Cadance kissed Shining's nose, only to get a snore back from her husband. "Typical."
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Careful Steps had waited at breakfast—not that he had eaten himself, but she loved spending time with Nimbus while she ate—and hadn't seen hide, hair, or chitin of his queens. In a bit of a lull after the Summit, he honestly didn't begrudge them a morning off.
"Excuse me, Careful?" Grate still felt decidedly exposed being around ponies without his disguise on, but his queens had made it clear that they didn't need to disguise themselves here, and he didn't want to waste love on keeping a disguise when he didn't need to. "I was going to clean the royal chambers and…" He chirped in excitement at what he had seen, but he couldn't say it aloud here in the dining hall. "Queen Shining and Queen Cadance need your assistance as soon as possible." He chirped twice more, face split into a big smile.
"I'll follow you there right away. What has you so excited?" Careful's eyes studied his fellow changeling. There were no bursts of happiness that would suggest his hivemate's state was food related.
"You will see, sir." Chirping again, Grate turned and started to trot.
Careful was both happy to see the new changeling fitting in so well, and intrigued at what had the other 'ling so happy. Keeping silent as he trotted after him, Careful ruminated on what might have his queens so secretive.
Grate Hole stopped at the big double doors, and looked both ways. Raising a hoof, he tapped three times, then once, then three times again. "Okay, sir."
Opening the doors, Careful slipped into the royal suite and closed the door again behind Grate. A hum of green magic came from the door, and he knew that Queen Shining's power had secured it again. "Your Imperial Majesties?" The sitting room was empty, as was the bedroom when he peered in. A scent caught in his nose.
"You smelled them!" Grate giggled when Careful's wings chirped loudly. "Come and look! Our hive grows!" He walked to the stained bed, ignoring the green goop that had hardened on the bed sheets overnight. "Seven for her first clutch. Our queen is mighty!"
"Seven…" Careful Steps gazed in awe at the eggs clumped on the bed. "Seven! The records said Chrysalis had—"
"Two. And her mother before her had just one in their very first clutches." Grate bounced in place, chirping his wings over and over like a huge cricket. "Seven new drones, and more to come!"
"More?" Shining froze on her way out of the bathroom. Her mane and tail were both wrapped in soft towels, and she was soon joined by Cadance at her side. "I don't…" She trailed off, her voice sticking in her throat.
"You can't finish that thought, can you?" Cadance nuzzled Shining's cheek, and threatened all the changelings present with overwhelming waves of love. "I am glad you are here, Careful. You too Grate. You did well." She giggled as the chirpy changeling chirped again at the praise.
"More…" Shining parked her plot on the floor and stared at Cadance. "More." Her tone of shock drew the attention of her wife, and Shining felt Cadance's forelegs wrap around her neck. "More?" Her tone now was not just resigned, but inquisitive.
"Definitely more." Cadance nuzzled Shining's neck, offering what comforts she could in her touch, her words, and her scent. "I always wanted a big family, Shiny." She raised her voice. "How many changelings does a hive typically have?"
"That's just it," Careful had to fight his instincts and keep his tone respectful around his sensitive queen, "a hive can have upwards of a thousand drones, and will typically grow depending on how available love is around it."
"A th-th-thousand?" Shining clung to Cadance now. "Cady, I don't want to lay a thousand eggs…" She shook her head no. "How will I choose names for them all?"
Cadance froze, fighting her need to laugh at her husband's silly question. She focused herself and renewed cuddling and stroking Shining's mane. "I will help, and the more we have in our family, the more that can help us. We already have a lot more than other pony couples—what is a few orders of magnitude more?"
"But if the amount of food limits how many eggs a queen lays," Grate Hole's mouth—and mind—were running off on a tangent that neither Cadance nor Careful wanted him to go, but they couldn't stop the train wreck that was about to happen, "wouldn't having Queen Cadance so close…" He finally worked out that what he was saying shouldn't be said around a sensitive new queen.
"What does that mean?" Shining spun around to look at Careful. "What is he saying and what does it mean?"
"It means, Shiny, that this will be a natural thing from now on." Cadance kissed Shining, tickling her husband's lips with her tongue. Knowing it always broke his train of thought. She watched Shining's eyes widen a moment, then her slits narrowed back down on themselves. The kiss deepened, and both queens expressed their love for each other in one of the most traditional ways possible.
Grate's eyes widened and he started to wobble on his hooves. "They are so amazing…" His wings chirped a few times, until even that seemed hard to focus on.
"Still not used to this?" Careful waved a hoof in front of Grate's face, and noticed no recognition of any movement at all. "And done for a bit." Careful was not struggling in the wave of love pouring from Cadance. He simply let it pour through and around him. Something Grate was going to need to learn to do if he was to remain their personal maid.
"Will it get easier?" Shining was relaxed now. All her stress was smooshed to nothingness by her wife. She was full in a way only a changeling could be, and only a changeling this near the Princess of Love. "It probably isn't, I know, but can you tell me it will?"
Cadance laughed at Shining's logic. "It will get easier to lay each one, Shiny. I am sure it is like foaling in that respect." She turned to Careful and Grate, only to see the latter pushing themselves around on the floor like a cat on catnip, wiggling their plot around playfully. "I was going to ask him to clean up the… uh… nest. Will he be okay?"
"He will when he can burn off love faster than he is getting it." Careful reached a hoof over Grate's belly, and immediately Grate grabbed it with all of his, giggling. "I will help him recover. Would it be best to have a bed and a nest to lay in? Maybe something attached to the bathroom for ease of cleaning?"
Shining blinked at the suggestions. "That would be good, thank you, Careful." She felt things reach an equilibrium. "What… what happens when the eggs hatch?" Things couldn't stay in balance of course, not when Shining's imagination was working in overdrive.
"The eggs will hatch into larva. When depends on the ambient love." Careful was fighting with his memory for every scrap of information. "With Queen Cadance nearby, I am sure they won't be spending long as larva or egg."
"We will need the guest suite beside ours, then. A nursery needs to be set up," Shining's training stood her in good stead, and she started putting her logistics training to work. "How often will I be laying?" She looked at Careful, and saw the shocked look on their official adviser's face.
"She is in full control of her emotions again, Careful. You best help her when she gets in this kind of mood, because if you aren't helping, you are another problem in the way." Cadance kissed Shining's cheek. "I am going to go and have breakfast. You three can plan out our extensions."
Shining watched Cadance as she tossed her towels away and grabbed a brush to work on her mane and tail as she left. The last sight she had of her wife was Cadance's plot, tail swishing. And now I am horny again, Shining had to shake her head to banish the thought. "Okay, so I need somewhere comfortable to lay these eggs, somewhere that can be washed down easily at that. Do these eggs need to be kept warm? Do they need to be… I don't know… rotated?"
"Y-Your Imperial Majesty," Careful kept his tone as neutral as he could despite his own sudden panic, "I am going to find a changeling who has worked in the nursery." He bowed, waiting for a wave of dismissal from Shining.
Gesturing for Careful to go about the task, Shining looked down at Grate. "Well, I think I have a way for you to burn off some energy…" She waved a hoof above the drone, and saw their rapt expression when they spotted it. Without realizing it, Shining was leaving herself open for her maternal instincts to adopt her hive properly. I need to be their mother, I need to be the best mother I can be for them, and for myself.
Cadance frowned. She didn't often frown these days; the continued wonder of building her empire had her smiling even when she was stuck with reams of paperwork to get through. Changelings, she had found, loved paperwork. "Shiny, why is our bathroom this… big?" She gestured with a hoof at the bath that was now sized for nearly ten ponies.
Shining gave a little buzz of her insectile wings. "Well, we were making the plans, and there was the whole next suite. It would have been silly just to use the bathroom but nothing else." Shining was explaining her way through the reasoning. "So now we have a huge pool to relax in, and snuggle in. And the runoff leads to that area where I can lay eggs." The thought was still a little alien to Shining, but she couldn't deny now that she was a changeling queen—and this was something she did. All it took was a glance at the eggs and warm feelings filled her.
"This bathroom isn't taking up the whole suite." Cadance stepped into the empty bathing pool, and walked slowly across to the laying area. "It does look quite well suited to what you need. You can lay here, then climb into the bath to relax afterwards." The thought agreed with Cadance, and she felt her frown ease to a smile again. "So we can stop using the bathroom across the hall?"
"Yes, Cady." Shining leaned up and kissed Cadance. "We get our bathroom back. And from what Light Touch said, I will be laying more in a few more days."
"Your Imperial Majesty?" Light Touch had been in the new room adjoining the bathroom from the other side—what had been the bedroom of the other suite. Upon seeing her queens kissing, she blushed and bowed her head. "Sorry, I will—"
Cadance broke the kiss and chuckled. "Light Touch?" She raised an eyebrow towards Shining in inquiry. "You have experience in dealing with the… implications… of being a changeling queen?"
Light chirped her wings at being addressed by Cadance. "Yes, Your Imperial Majesty!" It was exciting and terrifying to be talking to the pony who had ejected most of the hive from Canterlot, the same mare that fed the new hive. She found herself struggling not to chirp continuously like a cricket. She stared at Cadance, lost in the mare's gaze, until she realized Cadance was expecting an answer from her. "Oh yes! I was the overseer for the changelittles in the hive."
"Changelittles?" Cadance looked to Shining, her expression a mix of puzzlement and mirth.
"Nymphs and larvae. Larvae grow up and their first shapechange is into a small form of their adult selves, a nymph." Light Touch was off on her favorite subject: taking care of young changelings, or changelittles. "We have this wonderful chamber here for Her Imperial Majesty's egg laying. Then we transfer the eggs to the next room. It shares a wall with your bedroom, and a door eventually, so that the little ones can get the most amount of love from you."
"You have put a lot of thought into this." Cadance was delightfully excited at the fact. "Can I see the rest of it?"
Cadance and Shining followed Light Touch as she practically pranced into the adjoining room. Inside, the room was only lit by the light outside filtering through the crystal walls, but it was more than enough for Shining and Light's eyes. A humid warmth poured over each as they passed into the room, and they were all quickly warmed up to a toasty heat.
"This is the incubation room. Normally, two changelings would be assigned to each egg to keep it warm, but with this room I can take care of all your changelittles myself." Light Touch chirped again at the thought of taking care of a new queen's young.
"It is really warm in here." Cadance was fluffing her wings in no time, but suffered the heat to inspect the room critically. "This is all for your eggs?" She saw the seven eggs already present, and a new question poked into her thoughts. "With ponies, a stallion… uh…" She waved a hoof, not sure how to actually ask who the father was.
"Oh?" Light's wings buzzed when she realized what was being asked. "OH! Nothing like that!" The heat of the room contributed greatly to her intense green blush. "The queen feeds off the most potent and strong love they can, and it quickens the eggs inside them."
Shining stared at Light, then turned her shocked look on Cadance. The true nature of the creation of the eggs she had laid made them all the more precious in Shining's mind, and made her grin at Cadance with possibly the silliest expression any changeling queen had ever attempted.
"So I am the father?" Cadance couldn't keep the titter out of her tone. "Shiny, they really are ours then, aren't they?" Her twitching wings reached out and wrapped Shining up in their feathery softness, and she pulled her husband into a tight hug.
"They will all be ours." Shining squeezed Cadance back, her black forelegs creating an interesting counterpoint to Cadance's pink fur. "You will want to see the rest. A full nursery, a little schoolroom, and…" She trailed off, grinning.
Cadance pulled back from Shining a little, but kept her wings tightly folded around her husband. "What?" She didn't honestly care what had been done now, her mood was so high that it could not be brought down even had Sombra stepped into the room.
Light watched Shining lead Cadance into the rest of the suite, and slowly tilted to the side, then fell down onto her belly. Chirping in contented bliss, she couldn't wait to see how her new queen's changelittles would grow.
"Close your eyes, Cady." Shining led Cadance through the little dormitory that had been built for the nymphs, and then to the last room where their young would grow up. "Okay, open them." Shining waited a moment. "A room for our other little one."
Slowly opening her eyes, the first thing Cadance could notice was pink—very, very pink. "Oh Shiny…" She was at a loss for words. The room had a little bed, a chest of drawers, a toy box, and all the things a foal would need once they had grown up a bit. "But this is for somepony a little older than—" Silenced by a kiss, Cadance was led back through the various rooms, her unasked question unanswered until Shining led her into their sitting room. Similarly pink, a cot sat in the middle, with more drawers and a table to one side. "You thought of everything."
"I had help." Shining nuzzled Cadance's cheek. "Light Touch with the changeling side, and Misty Dew." At Cadance's look of puzzlement, Shining explained further. "Misty was from a big family, she was the third born of seven. She knows a lot about planning ahead."
"We are going to have more than that." Cadance drew back a touch, so only their noses rubbed together. "A lot more. When you lay your next clutch we will go to Ponyville and warn Twilight. And on the way through Canterlot, your parents too."
" 'Warn'?" Shining giggled at the use of words. "What do you mean, 'Warn'?"
"Light Touch?" Cadance lifted her voice. "Could you come and settle a little dispute for us?" A startled chirp of wings from the egg-care room preceded the drone's arrival. The look on Light's face was a mix of worry and pure bliss. "Light dear, how many eggs is Shiny likely to lay on her second clutch?"
Relieved at the problem being well within her purview, Light Touch tried to keep from listing to the side at the rush of love pouring over and around her. "S-S-Seven on her f-f-first." Light struggled with her words, having to focus on getting each one around her big fangs. "Usually at least that many on her second, more likely a few extras, and it should be in a few days."
"More?" Shining had prepared herself for "more" but to hear "more" was going to be "soon" was enough to frazzle her somewhat. The softest of snouts pressed to her cheek in a warm nuzzle, and it broke away any shock like the bow of an icebreaker. "More." She smiled and kissed Cadance.
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
In her weeks living on the Apple farm, Chrysalis still hadn't made contact with her drones. Ducking away from encounters with Trixie had become common, to the point where it was almost a game to both of them. Every time Trixie would find an excuse to visit the farm, or Chrysalis had to go into town, Chrysalis made sure to have any one of the three adult Apples with her.
What Chrysalis hadn't expected was having to do so much work, let alone finding it relaxing. Whether she was bucking apples, watering the orchard, or helping Big Mac get his harness on to plow a field, Chrysalis was content in the knowledge that her drones were safe on their own farm.
"Hey, Cinnamon!" Applejack called to their new farmhoof, "Grub's ready!" She gave the triangle beside the front door of the Apple family home a good thundering kick.
Food. Chrysalis actually felt bad about wasting it after a while. "Coming!" She was surprised at how genuine the lilt was in her voice. Using her teeth to grip the big red valve, Chrysalis slowly turned the water supply off, causing the sprinklers to stop their fake rain.
The walk to the farmhouse was without incident, but Chrysalis' thoughts churned. She needed to contact her drones, if only to make sure they were okay. No matter what, she had to get her babies safely back to her hive, even if they seemed safe as they were. Opening the door to the house, Chrysalis stepped inside and almost froze; Twilight Sparkle was sitting at the kitchen table, chatting away with Applejack. "Your Highness." Chrysalis was still sporting some mud on her coat, and despite knowing she could drop her disguise at a moment's notice and fight, she felt a little fear.
"You must be Cinnamon Stick." Twilight smiled at the work-stained pony. "Pleased to meet you. And please, just call me Twilight." She held up a hoof in greeting, defiant of the fact she was probably going to end up with some mud on her.
The reply to Chrysalis' greeting had the changeling queen off balance for a moment. Lifting her forehoof, Chrysalis gave Twilight's hoof a sound clop in greeting. "Sorry Your… Twilight… I need to clean up before lunch." She noticed a blob of mud that had landed on Twilight's fur. "S-Sorry!"
"It's nothing to worry about." Twilight lit her horn with magic and started to remove the little blob of dirt. At the last moment, though, she aimed the spell at both her own fur and Chrysalis'. With a flash of purple magic they were both clean. "There, all done!"
With a rush of happiness from the Princess of Friendship, Chrysalis was almost full. She blinked a little in surprise and tried to shake the feeling coming from her body. It was past her time to lay eggs, but after years of practice she could manage to keep her body from laying indefinitely. It just wasn't comfortable. "Thanks!" She meant the word, but intended it to mean for cleaning her and the free meal.
"That's our Cinnamon, Twi." Applejack brought the big apple pie down to the table carefully and set it in the middle. "Ah'd swear she was an Apple at how well she works." The words were high praise coming from Applejack.
"Eeyup." McIntosh was already sitting at the table, his bright coat all clean and dry after his dunk in the water trough. "Really helpful, she is." Despite having another earth pony around the farm helping, Big Mac was a little more distracted by things away from it. Unicorn things. His mind quickly thought back to Trixie Lulamoon, and the world seemed to blur and melt away for a little while.
"You gotta stay fer lunch, Sugarcube, we're having a pie." Applejack gestured at the table where McIntosh and Apple Bloom were already waiting.
"Yeah, Twilight!" Apple Bloom put in her one bit. "Granny Smith baked it special!"
"Ah what-now?" Granny Smith tilted her head to Apple Bloom. "You younguns can't prove that Ah was even there!" She looked between Big Mac and Apple Bloom, narrowing her eyes.
"I really shouldn't, I have a pile of work to get through." Twilight teetered on the edge of accepting when she remembered something Trixie had told her. "Oh what am I saying? Granny makes the best pies in all Equestria!" She took the offered seat to the cheering of Apple Bloom.
Taking her own seat beside Big Mac, Chrysalis knew how things were meant to roll. She reached out with a hoof and used the pie server to dish herself a thick slice of the pie. "This looks great, Granny."
"Oh? OH! The pie!" Granny Smith finally worked out what was going on in the conversation. She had noticed over the last few years that a late-morning nap helped her keep focused for the rest of the day, and she had missed hers today. "Ah hope y'all like it, worked some o' them blackberries into it."
Chrysalis had a dirty little changeling secret: the Queen of The Badlands Hive liked tasting food. She scooped a spoonful of the pie up and slipped it into to her mouth. The flavor was beyond compare. The blackberry was a tart mix with the sweet apples, but it danced among her taste buds like a Saddle Arabian mare with a veil and a bridle on. Just as a normal pony's urge would cause them to swallow, Chrysalis flicked her magic and sent the delicious mouthful to the slop trough for the pigs.
Twilight froze at the slight buzz of magic. She felt it again as she slowly chewed some of the apple pie, and knew by the time she felt the third just what it was. "Hey Applejack, you remember that time we had to face off against Sombra?"
Applejack, just having swallowed a mouthful of pie, squinted at Twilight for a full two seconds before her brain caught up. "Uh, that was the time we all hugged after it, right?" It wasn't even a lie, they had been so happy to have survived that they had all hugged together.
"We did at that." Twilight relaxed, knowing she had an ally. The flash of magic came again, and her eyes glanced around the ponies. She spotted just two who could have had a full mouth at the moment the jolt of magic came. Two more jolts and she narrowed it down. Giving Applejack a wink, Twilight continued eating her slice of pie happily, savoring every mouthful. She didn't need to track the blips of magic anymore, they were only coming from one changeling, and that, she knew, was definitely "Cinnamon Stick."
The meal progressed, and each of the ponies finished their piece of pie and settled back in their chairs. Chrysalis acted the same, full of the love and contentment the ponies around her felt. The taste of the pie still lingered in her mouth, and while she knew she would need to gargle some water to get rid of the last bits of food, she decided to relish the taste a little longer.
"Well, I should be going." Twilight had to fend off offers to stay with her hooves. "I really must. Princess Celestia has started sending me real princess work to do." Just thinking about doing paperwork had her tingle in delight. "It's great!"
"We all should be gettin' back to it too." Applejack looked around the table, eyes flicking to her brother and Chrysalis. "Ah'm sure it is Apple Bloom's turn to clean up." It was, which was fortunate.
Twilight waited for Applejack to reach her before giving her friend a hug. "Cinnamon is a changeling." The words were soft, as soft as could be, and spoken right beside Applejack's ear. "Oh, I had meant to tell you, my BBBFF is coming to visit tomorrow."
"Shining Armor? That's great Twi!" Applejack led the way out the front door, leading Twilight outside. "How is he doin'? I heard there was some kinda thing goin' on between the Crystal Empire and Equestria."
"Shining, Cadance, Celestia, and Luna have agreed to establish the Empire as its own sovereignty." Twilight almost bounced, remembering the reams of paperwork she had to work through to find evidence of the Crystal Empire's previous status. "Shining and Cadance are going to be crowned as emperors." The title was as grand as any she could imagine, and it had made sense to use.
"Emperor?" Chrysalis left the house, intrigued at the conversation. Her brain had finally put together that Twilight was her beloved's sister, and she just couldn't stop herself from slinking out to ask some pertinent questions.
"Yes." Twilight turned to Chrysalis, her horn flaring to wrap the changeling in a purple bubble of force. "My brother and sister-in-law might have nicer ways of asking a changeling their intent, but all I have is this." Twilight gestured at the sphere. "Don't deny it."
Chrysalis had no idea where she had gone so wrong. "So you caught me." She started to prepare her spell that would unravel everything and restore her back to queen-dom. Chrysalis needed to be ready for a fight.
"I am a princess." Twilight gave a sigh. "So you can believe me when I swear you can go free if you tell me exactly what Queen Chrysalis is up to?"
The question ripped away the plans Chrysalis was making. She stopped the initiation of plan "Burn Everything and Escape," and instead focused on "Lie Like Crazy." Letting the Cinnamon Stick disguise fail in a burst of flame, Chrysalis still kept her drone disguise up. "She is back in the hive. I don't know what she is doing! I was sent here to spy on Shining Armor's sister!"
52 - Adjustments (bet you are glad it wasn't an egg pun, those crack me up though)
"… and we have the Equestria Games two months away." Careful read the itinerary to Shining and Cadance while the latter ate breakfast, and the former pretended to. Careful liked his simple disguise—a light blue unicorn with bright orange mane and tail, with a cutie mark of a quill and book—not that anypony in the Crystal Empire mistook him for a pony anymore; Careful Steps was the Chief Adviser after all. "And we will be holding your coronation next week, I trust you haven't forgotten that?"
Shining ate little, or appeared to, for breakfast. He didn't dislike the food, but he greatly disliked wasting it. "I think it's time to tell everypony." When Cadance's eyes met his, he saw curiosity more than anything else. "What I am. I don't want to be their… are we really meant to use these titles?"
"Emperor Shining Armor." Careful gave a slight bow. "I think it suits you. You command loyalty and respect with it already, not that anypony doesn't give those to you willingly."
"If I have to be Empress Mi Amore Cadenza, you have to be Emperor Shining Armor." Cadance spooned some more oats into her mouth, savoring the sweet honey mixed through them. She chewed slowly, letting her husband think about her words.
"And of course, Empress, you have your visit with Twilight tomorrow." Careful expended some magic to put up a shield. Predictably enough, milk-soaked oats caused the green shell to flare brightly. Cadance gulped hard, getting what little of her mouthful that remained down. "I trust you didn't forget? You told me to send a letter to her agreeing to a whole day together."
Cadance quickly used her magic to clean up the mess she had made. Part of her realized with a foal on the way she would be doing such cleaning often, and another part reminded her they had eight foals on the way. "But the schedule? You said we were busy for the next month and a half!"
"This is one of the things in the schedule, Your Imperial Majesty." Careful kept using the titles as often as he could, not only did it make all the drones in their hive perk up, but even the ponies of the Empire seemed to prance a little when they heard them used. "So don't you worry, after you are done with business today, I have arranged for you to have an early night so you can catch the early express to Ponyville. Of course, there is a blue unicorn there I am hoping will have some information for you, too."
Shining leaned a little closer to Cadance, one hoof reaching to the swell in her barrel. Gently stroking the proof that she was carrying their foal, he found himself the target of a kiss. Their lips met, and Shining felt a hurricane of love from his wife. His eyes met hers, and each deepened the expression of love, tongues pushing and gently wrestling.
Careful rode the wave of love. It was enough energy to blast away a whole swarm of his kin, even enough to found a hive. When Nimbus set a tray down beside him at the table and leaned against his side, he gave a chirp of surprised delight. "How is my favorite pegasus?" His foreleg reached around her back to hug her, and despite his efforts to avoid most of the love from Cadance, he got enough that he chirped more in bliss.
"Doing better now she has her favorite bug beside her." Nimbus leaned against Careful and spread her wing around his back. Mirroring the rulers opposite her, she claimed a kiss from Careful, but unlike Shining and Cadance she didn't linger too long. "Anything happening that I am needed for?"
"Princess Cadance has her trip to Ponyville tomorrow. She needs an honor guard…" Careful gently nuzzled Nimbus' jawline. "But if you do that, we will be apart for a day." They were in public, so he couldn't do what he really wanted to, but Careful touched his lips to Nimbus' neck again and again, laying a line of kisses down her throat.
Cadance broke the kiss with her husband only after she was sure that he knew how much she loved him. Her attention broke and she noticed Careful and Nimbus sitting opposite. They were a symbol to her. The couple was a sign that even without an existing relationship, ponies and changelings could love and be loved.
"You're staring." Shining could feel the warm glow of Nimbus' love for Careful like a candle next to the sun that was Cadance. But despite the intensity difference, he knew it was no less pure. "What am I saying, of course you can't help it." He nuzzled Cadance a little more. "I want everypony in the Empire to know before the coronation."
"You want them to accept you, Shiny? They already do." Cadance dragged her eyes away from Careful and Nimbus, looking into Shining Armor's eyes. "You want them to accept a changeling as their ruler. You have accepted that yourself."
"Yeah. I… I asked Twily…" Shining blushed a little, and hesitated to continue. Taking a deep breath, he forged on. "I asked Twily if there was a spell to change me back. She said there were spells that could change species… but they are only temporary." He huffed a breath. "And worse than that, these are spells intended to turn ponies into other things, not the other way around."
"But you are a pony, Shiny. So is Careful, and Gilt, and all the others. A pony isn't what you are on the outside, but what you feel." Cadance stood up. Looking around the room with an air of authority gained Cadance the attention of every pair of eyes. In here were personal staff, workers at the castle, and friends of Shining and Cadance. "Love, please stand up. If we are going to do this, we do this first with those we love most."
Shining's heart raced and leapt in his chest. Having a day and time scheduled to announce this was a lot different than making an announcement right now. But he did stand up. "Everypony, I have an important announcement." A wing folded over his back, and Shining turned his eyes to Cadance.
"Kiss her!"
Unable to see which wag of a changeling called out, Shining gave a chuckle. "I will at the end." The words got a chirp and a cheer from a few members of the crowd. Though changelings didn't need physical food, being near their queens for breakfast was a great way to get a top up for the day ahead. "When Queen Chrysalis had control of my mind, and before Cadance broke that control and we were married," Shining looked at Cadance for support, and got it, "the queen started something changing in me."
The gasps among the ponies present were tangible signs that this was news to them. Shining had to keep going; he wouldn't stop because he felt scared. "She used a poison on me. There was no cure, and it worked until it replaced every last bit of me with... with this." With that, Shining Armor dropped his disguise.
Cadance watched each and every changeling in the room bow to Shining. Her heart was in her throat as she watched for the reactions of the ponies present. Not daring to look at Shining. She gave the slightest of nods to the crowd.
Gleaming Shine nudged Sunset Shimmer in the ribs. The other unicorn stared at her incomprehensibly as Gleaming bowed her head, and dipped to one knee. "My Queen!"
"He was poisoned?"
"That is really Shining?"
"Is this why there are so many changelings?"
"What happens now?"
Snippets of questions passed through the quiet room, until Nimbus Cloud climbed from her chair to stand beside Careful. Lowering her foreleg, she spread her wings daintily forward and bowed. "My Queen."
Another, then another, and finally a cascade of ponies in the room bowed to Shining and Cadance. Shining looked at them in shock, and her heart swelled at the feeling of pride in them. "Please stand." She waited for the sound of shuffling hooves to stop. "I will be announcing this to the rest of the Crystal Empire at lunchtime. I ask you not to reveal it until then…" Shining trailed off, tears of relief starting to flow and cloud her sight. "If… If you…" She didn't get any further. Everypony in the room, changeling and pony alike, pushed forward to support her.
"It wasn't your fault."
"We will keep your secret!"
"For our Queen. For our Princess!"
The latter of the cries started to echo around the room, bolstered with each repetition, and buoyed Shining's pride higher and higher. At last, she had to gesture for quiet again. The excited ponies and changelings took a few moments to still, but finally they all noticed that Shining was trying to continue.
"Thank you, thank you all. I couldn't take office… I couldn't let you crown me Emperor… without making sure you all knew who you were crowning." Shining's voice stuttered and faltered, but the look of every single member of the crowd was one of unwavering support. "Please, keep eating."
"You promised a kiss!"
Laughter rang around the room, shattering the tense atmosphere and starting little conversations here and there. Shining rolled her eyes and turned to Cadance. She studied her wife's face, traced her eyes over every feature. "I love you, Cadance." The words came easily, but were never spoken lightly. Shining closed her eyes and waited.
Cadance's lips pressed to her own, and Shining felt as light as a feather. She let Cadance's love wash over and through her. She chirped her wings in bliss as the culmination of their trials seemed to make her feel complete.
"Hold it!" Pinkie Pie looked left and right, then stared back at the reader. "What? You thought, 'Shining becomes a changeling, they kiss, the end'?" Pinkie's head rolled back and she laughed riotously. "By now you should know how crazy the writer is, there is nearly three chapters of the original story—that's the one this is a sequel to—to go."
Shaking her head, Pinkie Pie continued. "Don't get me wrong now. You just know they could round up Chrysalis, who is doing remarkably fine where she is, and fetch the rest of the hive in no time flat. But do you really think it would be that easy? With this author?"
"Pinkie Pie? What are you doing here?" Discord blinked into being from nowhere. "You aren't meant to be here! Twilight made me promise you would never get in…" He stopped and turned slowly to face the reader. "Oh, hello there. Please ignore all this." With a wave of his claw, Discord, Pinkie, and the previous two paragraphs disappeared. Oh, and this one too. Plus one of the [hr] tags. Just gone! For-evvvvveeeeerrrrrr...
"Darling, please hold still." Rarity had a dress pinned on her model, and was carefully adjusting it to fit just-so. The mare's careful magic worked pins into seams to hold them in just the right places. "Almost there…" She added two more and finished securing the last seam. "There, you can relax now."
Chrysalis was still a little unsure how this had happened. She, Queen of the Changelings, should not be reduced to acting as a costume model for a unicorn seamstress. She was about to open her mouth and give Rarity that thought as a well constructed and scathing observation, when a rush of happiness flooded her. She blinked a few times, unable to look away from Rarity.
Using her magic, Rarity carefully plucked the dress from Chrysalis, although the dress was not designed to fit a changeling. At that moment, Chrysalis was disguised as Princess Cadance. Her love for her work burning within, Rarity gave a little twirl as she set the dress on her work-desk. "You are such a wonderful help, Cinnamon. You don't mind if I call you Cinnamon, do you, darling?"
The love of a mare for her life's work was a heady meal for any changeling, and Chrysalis immediately rethought her "destroy pony verbally" plan. "I… I don't mind." Free of the gown, she let loose her fire and returned to her drone form. "Did you need me to model more?" She only asked, of course, because she liked the taste of the unicorn's love.
"Perceptive and helpful. You are correct, I have another dress for her after that one. You would not believe how many outfits a mare needs when being crowned…" Rarity almost fainted as the word seemed to bubble up from deep inside. "… empress." Fireworks went off in Rarity's mind, and she fell dramatically.
Chrysalis moved fast, her magic yanking a fainting couch to slide under the overwrought mare. If the love she had felt from her was delicious earlier, now it was almost overwhelming.
"Empress…" Chrysalis was still shocked at the title herself.
"I know, darling! I will literally be the first mare in hundreds of years to have made an outfit worn by an empress." Rarity nearly glowed she was so happy. Tilting her head back, her smiling mouth was raised to the world. "Can you imagine it? And she will be here tomorrow to see Twilight!"
The news hit Chrysalis like a hammer. All thoughts of feeding off the ecstatic unicorn faded, and plans started forming. She would get her revenge, and free her beloved stallion.
Shining Armor closed her mouth. The main stage for special occasions held only Shining and Cadance, the former of which stood without a disguise. The speech had been simple and similar to what Shining had given to the castle's staff.
A moment of silence dragged on, unbroken by any sound, then one lone pony stepped from the group: a messenger and crystal pony, both. "Your Highness." Priority Delivery bowed her head to Cadance and then Shining. "And Your Highness. Few crystal ponies have had any dealing with changelings outside of the Empire, but I am one that has. I have seen the good side," she gestured towards Shining, "and the bad, and I see none of the latter in you." Priority smiled. "Why did you keep this a secret?"
Murmurs ran around the crowd, and Shining knew she had to answer any and all questions honestly to have a hope of keeping her title. "I was scared at first. I was changing into what I thought was a monster. You have all at least heard of Careful Steps, our adviser; Careful held his own honor so high I was forced to see that being a changeling wasn't as terrible as I thought it might be."
"As things progressed we realized that to stop Chrysalis' latest machinations, we would need to maintain our secrecy longer." Shining felt regret at having hidden so much now. "The time for secrecy is past. Any gains hiding this," she pointed to her chest with a hoof, "are outweighed by the pain in my heart from keeping it a secret from the ponies I love."
Shining stood amazed at the effect of her heartfelt words. Heads bowed before her, and she stared in disbelief as it seemed like the entire plaza lowered themselves. Tears came quickly, and she jumped down from the stage to be among the ponies of the Crystal Empire. Love abounded, enough love to almost compare with that of Cadance.
Soft murmurs came from all around Shining, but she was looking for ponies that weren't bowing. There were some. Brave ponies, none of them crystal, glared at the changeling queen walking among them. Each time she made her way towards one, Shining watched them duck into the crowd and slink away.
At last Shining found one who remained standing. She recognized the former Royal Guarsponies, of course. "Dropper." She sighed, turning to the first. "Say your piece."
"You are a liar and a monster." Dropper felt as if his heart was broken. Shining wasn't some blushing young mare that would break his heart with her looks but the commander he had looked up to for the latter years of his career. "You kicked me out of the Guard. You let me accuse Princess Cadance of being a changeling." His head swung to glare at the stage across the plaza. "And worst of all, you are destroying the Crystal Empire."
Silence reigned across the crowd. Dropper faced Shining in a sea of watching faces.
Dropper continued. "You sabotaged the last year of my life to make me look a fool, and—"
"Shut it, sir." Gleaming Fire stood a little straighter. "Sir, I… I wanted to stick with you so you were safe. I like you, Dropper, you're a great commander. But you are letting your anger blind you."
Dropper stared at Gleaming Fire. The shock of having the only pony to always be at his side to suddenly go against him forced him to back away. "What is this? You're siding with them?"
"I am trying to help a friend." Gleaming ruffled his wings. "But my friend is pushing me away." Tight pain gripped at Gleaming's heart. "Dropper, I love—"
"Don't you dare." Dropper turned and stormed away. He didn't want to see the Crystal Empire or its rulers again, and he definitely wanted to leave his former best friend behind. "I don't need them…" he muttered under his breath.
Shining stared at Dropper as he left. The departing pony was both a stab to her heart and a relief. But pain welled from outside, and she turned to look at Gleaming Fire. "Sergeant Gleaming Fire?" Pain, in the form of emotional despair, lanced at Shining from the pony, and she reached to put a foreleg around them. "Would you like to go somewhere private?"
Gleaming Fire couldn't stop the tears from coming. He stared at the ground and leaned against Shining Armor. No sooner did he nod than green fire pooled around the both of them. For just a moment he looked around, and saw no other ponies but him and Shining in a plushly appointed room. "I can't believe I finally told him…"
More than a little lost, Shining did all she could think of; she hugged Gleaming Fire to her side. "What made him this… angry?"
"You." Gleaming gave a sob at the memory. "When he found out what Queen Chrysalis did to you he swore an oath before our squad that he would never let it happen again. This…" Overwhelmed, Gleaming could only sob as more tears came, and the stallion clung to his former commander.
"Shiny?" Cadance had finally found them. She was teleporting to and poking her head in every room she could think of. When she spotted her husband and the former Royal Guard, she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Is it always going to be like this, Cady?" Shining was getting ready for bed. Her body felt natural now—right. "I can't believe Dropper got so out of hoof." She folded back the covers and slipped into the warm bed beside Cadance.
"Pride!" Cadance blew a huff out of her nose. "It is perfectly fine in little amounts, but some stallions seem to want to carry bucket loads of it." With a warm body in the bed, Cadance's attention shifted to snuggling up to Shining.
"So what are we going to do next?" Shining pressed her snout in against Cadance's and stole a kiss before Cadance knew it was coming. "Coronation, Equestria Games…" She nuzzled along Cadance's neck. "And then, I think it is time we dealt with Chrysalis."
Chrysalis felt tiny. The ponies of Ponyville had continually been nice to her, feeding her comfortably, but there was no food to be had right now. All the ponies of the town were slumped and almost colorless, and the reason for that was in a field outside town.
"Get them to safety." Her drones didn't recognize her as the queen of the hive, of course, but when a fellow 'ling gave a command it meant they knew what they were talking about. When there is a huge magic-sucking creature as big as a mountain doing battle with an alicorn, you either run or do what someone says. She directed her drones to guide or carry ponies away from the town.
A beam of pure destructive force swung over the rooftops, and Chrysalis knew real terror. If the beam—she didn't know which of the two it had originated from—had lowered just a little, it could have wiped Ponyville off the map.
A glance back showed her Twilight's friends, and Discord, all in floating bubbles. Buzzing her wings in distress, all Chrysalis could think to do was get all the ponies away from the fight, but those trapped in the bubbles were on their own.
"They're just food. They're just food." Despite how much Chrysalis was saying the words, they still didn't feel completely right. It was nice to have ponies to feed on who actually didn't mind it, and she had grown connected with some of them, despite their strange habits.
Galloping away from what she thought was a doomed town, Chrysalis saw her drones herding the ponies ahead of them. Of course her changelings hadn't dropped their disguises, not like Chrysalis had, which made it look odd that some of the "ponies" weren't washed out. "This should be far enough."
Tirek, in the distance, looked to be taking out his aggression on the Everfree Forest. Huge groves of trees were ripped up and destroyed by his blasts. Chrysalis had a sense that he was searching for something. "Princess Twilight…"
Turning from the terrifying sight, she studied the huddled masses, and saw just as much terror in her changelings' eyes as in the ponies'. A dawning realization came to her, and Chrysalis gave a deep sigh. "Wait here."
"Wait? What do you mean, 'wait'?"
Chrysalis didn't have time to answer her drone. They might not recognize her as their queen, but it didn't mean she wasn't. "If the area around Ponyville isn't clear of fighting in ten minutes, start running again."
Striding back towards the town, Chrysalis called her fire and donned the most dangerous disguise she had worn in her life. The fire swirling around her faded, leaving a familiar purple coat, a dark mane with two stripes through it, wings, and a horn.
With an exact disguise, Chrysalis could draw some measure of Twilight's competency into herself. Flashing power to her horn, she teleported back towards the monster. "Hey!" She looked up at Tirek, feeling stupid beyond belief. "Hey, stupid? I bet you can't catch me."
"What?!" Tirek swung his head and spotted "Twilight Sparkle." The ball of power between his horns energized. "I don't know how you got your magic back, pony, but I will take it again!" Suddenly, lightning lashed out from the ball of power.
"Oh shoo—" Chrysalis' reactions wouldn't have been quick enough to save her, but combined with Twilight's smarts, she was teleporting away again. Where she had been standing was now a gouge in the ground nearly as deep as she was tall, and twice as wide. "I bet you totally can't hit me."
Fast reactions saved Chrysalis again and again, but with each teleport she was quickly burning through her changeling magic reserves by recreating the powerful pony magic. Minutes passed, and despite blasting at her over and over, Tirek seemed to always have more ready to go.
"Stop that! What do you think you are doing? You are just tiring yourself out." Tirek's mind started to catch on that something wasn't right. "You're just distracting me from something, but what?" He started to look around, only to see a rainbow shooting out of the ground itself.
"That, you big dummy." Chrysalis let her disguise fade and slumped to the ground. Revealed as a changeling queen, she was spent of magic. Tilting her head up at the rising ponies in the bright light, she wavered a little. "Stupid bug, trying to save your food. And for what? Princess Twilight and her friends are going to stomp him like…" Her tirade was interrupted as Tirek, now focused on the real Twilight, started blasting them as hard as he could.
Turning her head from the intense light, Chrysalis shielded her face with a foreleg and looked through the holes to see what was going on. Princess Twilight and her friends weren't dodging at all. She stared in shock as the deadly magic dispersed on the bubble around the six mares.
Then it happened. A beam of light lanced back, hitting Tirek squarely. Then more, until all six beams—a rainbow—slammed into the monstrous centaur. Staring in wonder, Chrysalis watched as Tirek shrank away, and with a final puff of the rainbow he was gone completely. Energy poured off the ponies, some of which Chrysalis could glean for her own. In moments, while Chrysalis was slumped on the ground, she found enough energy to survive; the stress of her "fight" slowly dragged her into unconsciousness.
"I thought that was Cinnamon Stick?" Twilight was done with the fight. She and her friends had triumphed over Tirek, but something struck her as odd. Wandering closer to the changeling in a shallow crater, she gasped. "That's not—"
"That's Queen Chrysalis!" Rarity, still pumped with the power from the Tree of Harmony, braced her hooves.
"Wait!" Trixie's voice in the distance stole some of the thunder of Rarity's revelation. "Trixie has… Trixie needs to learn that teleportation…" Pumping her legs, Trixie galloped as fast as she could to where the fight had finished.
Twilight had her horn lowered at Chrysalis' unconscious form when Trixie reached the group. Puffing, Trixie took a few moments to recover from her mad dash.
"The Observant and Surprised Trixie saw it all." Trixie pointed to the downed changeling queen. "Chrysalis ordered her drones, the farmers, to move all the ponies away from your fight. But when the monster came after you in the forest, she… she came back to distract him."
So shocked that she turned her attention completely away from Chrysalis, Twilight gaped at Trixie open-mouthed. "But… why would she do that?"
"Trixie has no clue, but there are two possible outcomes of this: we stay here and when she wakes have to fight her or capture her, or we leave and pretend we didn't see her like this so we can keep an eye on her actions." Looking directly at Twilight, it was clear who she considered the decision maker in this.
On a personal level, Twilight Sparkle wanted to capture Chrysalis, to have the changeling punished for what happened to her brother. She had to fight the urge to just summon a gallon of water over Chrysalis' head. But if the Queen of the Changelings escaped them, she would go to ground somewhere and be harder to find later. "Come on, girls."
"But Twilight!" Rainbow Dash looked between Twilight's retreating form and Chrysalis. "She's a baddie! We aren't supposed to let them get away!"
"It's more complicated than that, sugar-cube." Applejack looked at the black chitin of Chrysalis' body. "Twilight has to think of what'd be best for Equestria."
"Besides," Pinkie Pie giggled and turned to start bouncing off after Twilight, "she makes really good brownies. I want to learn that recipe before we get all 'accussy' with her."
"And… and now we know who she is…" Fluttershy hovered up with Rainbow Dash, her wings working to keep a perfect hover that Rainbow made look effortless. "And knowing who she is means we know where she is."
When Chrysalis finally woke, the first thing she realized was she had a headache. The second was that her disguise, all of it, was gone. Looking around, she quickly rebuilt Cinnamon Stick the changeling back up. Oddly, she felt more exposed as a changeling queen than being disguised as a regular changeling drone. "This place is messed up." She started walking back towards Ponyville, only to see a castle risen from its skyline.
An announcement and a coronation were shortly followed by an invasion, and although Shining had been strangely unaffected by Tirek's magic-draining attacks, many others were not so lucky. But the Crystal Empire, with its growing population of changelings, fared better than Equestria itself.
With their empire secure, the Emperor and Empress had finally gotten to their planned outing to visit Twilight and Shining's parents.
Trixie's letter arrived the day Shining and Cadance were setting off for Ponyville. Careful had rushed the letter to them while they were on their way to the train station, but Shining and Cadance didn't open it until they were in the privacy of their train car.
Shining was getting used to remaining in his changeling form for long periods of time, but for now he chose the disguise of his old self. "I wonder what she has to report?" He opened the letter and unfolded the thick sheaf of paper. The first line shocked Shining to the point where he almost dropped the papers. "C-C-Cady?"
The air of panic in Shining's voice cut through Cadance's complacency. All her attention turned to her husband. "What's the matter?" His magic shoved the papers to her. She read aloud, " 'My Queens, Chrysalis is in Ponyville.' " Cadance had to fight her own panic. She turned to her husband. "We can't stop in Canterlot, we must go straight to Ponyville."
Planning, Shining could always do planning. "Right. Ponyville. Prepare for battle, but I wonder why Twilight hasn't…" He trailed off. "If she has hurt—"
"Slow down, Shiny." Cadance's eyes were flicking down the page. "Keep reading. This could be more complicated than we thought."
Shining and Cadance read the letter together. It recapped a lot of what they had already gleaned from previous reports, but reading Trixie's account of Chrysalis distracting Tirek stunned both of them.
"Was she only doing it to protect her food?" Shining was desperate to wrap his head around why Chrysalis would put her life in danger to save ponies. "Or is she planning to capture the town?" The panic inside Shining calmed as two forelegs and a pair of wings closed around him. "Thank you." He leaned into the hug, nuzzling his snout into Cadance's neck and inhaling her smell. Immersing his senses in every aspect of Cadance, Shining could think properly again.
"Better?" Cadance knew her husband well enough to help him through his panic. "This is an opportunity. We get to observe her and interact with her. Cinnamon Stick seems to be a good way to get to know her and learn her intentions."
"So long as she isn't lying through her fangs the whole time." Shining gestured to the pages detailing how Cinnamon acted with the new information coloring the interactions. "We can give her a chance to do good, but if she shows any inclination to hurt anypony…"
"Then we work together to subdue her." Cadance nuzzled against Shining's nearest ear, wrapped her lips around it and nibbled her mate into further relaxation. The tense readiness in his body shifted from "fight or flight" to something much more up Cadance's alley.
By the time the train reached the station in Ponyville, Shining and each of the changelings in their Personal Guard were topped off with love. Cadance slid from the couch where she had been hugging Shining after having a quick clean up from their lovemaking. "So, the first day we observe only, the second we push her to see how she acts, and the third…"
"The third is still a complete mystery. If either of the first two days turns her out to be her wicked self, the choice is simple." Shining couldn't help but feel pride and hunger with Cadance in such close quarters. Sex had left him wanting more, which he definitely didn't mind. Shining adored wanting more of Cadance, and he doubted he would ever not want more of her. Giving Cadance a warm kiss on the cheek, he stepped out into the corridor of their assigned sleeper-car.
"Make way for the Empress and Emperor!" Gleaming Shine's voice echoed down the aisle, and a half-dozen sets of hooves clacked sharply. "Your Imperial Majesties." She greeted Shining and Cadance with a smile that spoke more of friendship, and put her previous stiff words into a playful refrain. "We are ready when you are."
Shining's critical eyes ran down the corridor of the car, picking out the guards of the Royal Crystal Guard. His eyes focused in on Sunset Shimmer, but moved to the other new recruits who were getting experience. He gave Gleaming a nod and started marching towards the end of the long hall.
Sunset's heart was beating heavily. She had broken her promise to herself; she was in Equestria again. Pride grew enough to shove panic away when Shining Armor and Cadance walked past her. Snapping her hoof into a salute, she almost shed tears of pride at seeing the pair. When Shining stopped, an edge of worry entered Sunset.
"Relax. This is a state-announced visit. You answer to nopony but us while here." Shining had felt Sunset's nervousness. "And if by some chance Princess Celestia does arrive, you have my full permission to ignore every word she says. You followed our rules to a 'T,' Sunset, loyalty given earns loyalty."
Pure joy replaced the worry in Sunset. She stood a little straighter in her bright uniform. "Yes, Your Imperial Majesty!"
Shining made a promise to himself to invent some title in the Royal Crystal Guard, just so they could call him "sir" again. "As you were." He marched on, sparing a word or two for each of the ponies in his Guard. Nimbus Cloud. Bright Flash. Jade Wings. Soft Glow. Slick Dive. Each of them had stories, and each of them looked ready to do what Shining feared they would have to.
"Cady." Shining waited at the end of the hall for Cadance to reach him. "If things turn bad—"
"I won't run, Shining Armor." Cadance's tone was firm. "I will stand beside you."
"Not what I was going to ask. I gave up trying to protect you, Empress Mi Amore Cadenza; that is why I formed the Royal Crystal Guard. I was going to tell you about what I had planned for Twilight." Shining explained his plan for a treasure hunt through Ponyville. "And setting all this up gives us time to ask about Cinnamon Stick."
Four of the guards stepped off, followed by Gleaming Shine. Stepping to one side of the train car, she lifted her voice. "Announcing the arrival of Empress Cadance and Emperor Shining Armor!" Pride for the titles and their owners filled Gleaming, when nearby ponies all gasped and looked towards their honor guard.
"Lieutenant Gleaming, this was supposed to be a quiet day. Can we avoid the yelling?" Shining smiled to Gleaming and walked up beside her. "We have some things to get done before meeting Twi, and I was hoping to get them done as quietly as possible."
Seemingly from nowhere, Trixie Lulamoon scooted up beside the royal couple. "Why don't you have them take your things up to the castle while you take care of what you need to? Trixie can make a more complete report as well."
"Trixie Lulamoon." Cadance felt delight at seeing the unicorn. "We heard there was some excitement here recently?" While she guided Trixie away, she gave Shining time to issue orders.
"Take our things up to the castle in about an hour. Until then, I want you to mingle. Pairs or more at all times. Keep on your hooves. There are potentially hostile changelings in the area." Shining had the guards' attention. "If in doubt, or if anything happens, make your way to the castle immediately."
Gleaming saluted. "Yes, Your Imperial Maj—" Gleaming's reply was cut short by Shining's hoof on her nose.
Shining drew his hoof back from Gleaming's snout. "And stop yelling, Gleaming." He turned and trotted after Cadance and Trixie. When he reached the two mares, Shining slid up beside Cadance and made sure their cutie marks were touching. "Good work on the report, Corporal Trixie."
"Things have changed a little more since Trixie's report." Trixie waved a hoof in greeting to a passing pony she knew. "Cinnamon Stick doesn't suspect that we know."
" 'We'?" Cadance couldn't stop fluttering her wings, reminded with each step how close Shining was. "Who else knows of it?"
"Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends. It was unavoidable. Trixie gave Twilight the choice in the situation, and she is pleased that the right choice was made. Cinnamon is…" Trixie held out her hoof.
Shining and Cadance both frowned as three well-known fillies lined up beside Trixie. "Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle." Shining grinned at them. "Three of my sister's favorite friends. How are you doing?" The oddest thing about the fillies, however, was what they were wearing.
"We aren't here." Apple Bloom pulled her duster tighter around her, and lowered her hat brim.
"Right." Scootaloo narrowed her eyes at the two rulers. "And we didn't say nothin'!" Her own cloak jumped a little where it settled on her back, her wings buzzing against it.
Sweetie Belle froze, looked to Trixie, then to her friends. "Uh… what's my line, again?"
"Sweetie Belle!" Scootaloo and Apple Bloom both lamented their friend's messing up the rehearsed meeting at the same time.
"How are we going to get our cutie marks in spy work now?" Scootaloo threw her hooves into the air, sending her hat flying.
"But we got our cutie marks, remember?" Apple Bloom turned and pushed back her duster to reveal her "Apple Heart" cutie mark.
Cadance cut in on the fillies, her excitement building. "You got your cutie marks? What are they?" It was an exciting moment in any foal's life, and everypony who encountered a foal who had just gained their mark typically relieved a moment of that thrill.
"We got them all at the same time." Apple Bloom turned a little to show hers off. "Mine's an apple with a heart-shaped shield behind it."
"You all have heart-shaped shields. This is amazing, girls!" Cadance was almost bouncing from hoof to hoof. It would have been hard to suppress her mothering instincts, and the Princess of Love didn't even try. "What did you get, Sweetie Belle?"
While Cadance's attention was focused on the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Shining Armor wandered off. "Now, where first?" He pulled a notepad out of his saddlebags. "Right, the…" He paused. An itch ran down his spine. An itch he remembered from Canterlot when he had claimed a bunch of changeling drones for his hive.
"Aww shucks, Cinnamon." Big Mac was standing behind his apple cart, selling apples to the fine ponies of Ponyville. Beside him, pressed close from her flank to her shoulder, was Cinnamon Stick. "Ya didn't have to go and make me that…"
Chrysalis had spent weeks telling herself that Big Mac was a means to an end, that the big stallion was nothing to her. She passed him one of the apple slices covered in cinnamon. "I was just helping Mrs, Cake prepare for a big event." She was surprised when Big Mac's big lips pressed to her cheek first instead of the apple treat.
"Howdy, Big Mac, Cinnamon." Applejack couldn't believe what had happened to her brother, but she could also feel all the way down in her cutie mark that Chrysalis wasn't lying about her love of the big red stallion. "How's the apples sellin' today?"
Mild worry flooded Chrysalis, as it always did when she was around Big Mac's sister. Applejack was the one element perfectly matched to catch her out. She unconsciously leaned a little closer to Big Mac, and his huge foreleg reaching around her filled her with confidence. "They're selling great, Applejack. McIntosh was just telling me if this keeps up, he will have to go back for another load."
Big Mac could feel the tension in Cinnamon's frame and squeezed her a little more. He didn't blame the changeling for being scared of his sister. When she got a bee in her bonnet she was downright scary. "Eeyup."
"Hi there." Shining couldn't keep out of the conversation anymore. Stepping out from behind the stall, he gave everypony a smile. His blood was running like ice water and real fear boiled inside, but for once his changeling instincts carried him. "How much for three apples?"
Chrysalis' heart stopped. She stared at Shining Armor, and despite everything she had felt for Big Mac, a yearning flared. For a second the Queen of the Changelings let that flame persist before she turned and poked her snout into Big Mac's neck. One breath. Two breaths. On the third, the big stallion's musk cleared her head and smothered that flame. The leg around her squeezed a little again, and she gladly accepted the closeness.
Shining tried not to stare at Chrysalis. The earth pony before him was leagues from the dominant and overpowering queen that had hurt him. She had turned from him, and something stung at the fact that a powerful mare who had proclaimed she wanted him would disregard him so quickly. Shining's ego ran wild for nearly half a second before his logic kicked it a few times and told it to shut up.
"Two bits." Applejack gestured to McIntosh. "Ah'll be goin'. Twi's got something big she wants to tell us."
"I really had a thing for him." Chrysalis didn't want to pull her snout away from Big Mac. Each breath was pouring McIntosh into her senses and soon there was no room for Shining Armor.
"Eeyup." Big Mac had already guessed something of the like, but it was him she turned to. He didn't care about Cinnamon's chitinous body, or the holes in her legs, or even the history of the changeling race. He nuzzled along the crest on top of her head and smiled at the chirp of surprise she gave.
It was easy for Chrysalis to become completely distracted with Big Mac; there was just so much of the big stallion to be distracted by. "When he was… when Queen Chrysalis had him…" Part of Chrysalis jerked back from the memory of what she had done.
McIntosh nuzzled at his fillyfriend's face, clearing up the tears that had leaked down her cheeks. Several customers came, left their bits, grabbed some apples, and left again. Big Mac knew each and every pony that lived in town and trusted them. "What did I say?" His voice—seldom used for anything but "eeyup" and "nnope"—was deep and rumbled at Chrysalis' ear.
"I'm not just Cinnamon Stick." Chrysalis remembered her pledge to McIntosh; she had told him she wouldn't lie, and he had promised never to ask for more than she was willing to share. She couldn't seem to stop her mouth, words were tumbling out.
Big Mac lipped gently at Chrysalis' ear, enjoying the way her autonomous nerves tried to flick it out of his grip. "I knew that."
Chrysalis drew back a little and stared into McIntosh's eyes. "I am Chrysalis." The words were impossible to take back once they were out. "I was the one who did… who hurt Shining Armor. I did so many horrible things because I thought what I was doing was right."
"Would you do them again?" McIntosh's thoughts were racing. Everything he had heard about Queen Chrysalis had been about a terrible tyrant and invader—foalnapping and generally being a bad pony. He watched her shake her head, loosing more tears down her cheeks. "Ah want to know everythin' you did."
Cursing inwardly at herself, Chrysalis moved to stand next to McIntosh, pressing against him for comfort. "When I was hatched, I was obviously different from the other nymphs. Right from the start mother… she cheered when I beat up another changeling to take something I wanted." Words tumbled out, and despite being terrified of Big Mac's reaction, she felt that telling each horrible part of her life eased that terror.
"No." Big Mac cut in after hearing about Chrysalis' youth. "Tell all of it. The nice parts too."
A customer distracted McIntosh from her for a moment, and it let Chrysalis reflect on her nymphood. She reached for an apple from the little stash they had behind the counter, and bit into it. Flavor burst in her mouth, and Chrysalis closed her eyes to think.
Her youth hadn't been all nastiness, and one drone in particular was to thank for it. "Chitter." Just saying the changeling's name made her smile. "Chitter was the first drone I ever knew. She brought me my meals, she chirped softly to help me sleep…"
Finished with his customer, Big Mac turned to the mare he had taken a liking to. "She sounds nice." Simple words, he knew, but he was trying to prompt Chrysalis to continue.
"She… she didn't like my mother… her mother." Chrysalis reflected on the revelation. "Mother wasn't nice. She was worse than me… than I was."
McIntosh was happy to watch the day go by as they talked. As usual, more than a little commotion seemed to follow the usual six mares as they roamed around town together, and it made Big Mac smile to see his sister having fun with her friends. "Did you have other friends?"
"Not really. Mother…" Memories of the horrible things her mother had done flashed in Chrysalis' mind. "Mother didn't like me having friends, so Chitter started to tell her I had become withdrawn… Which was true. Do you really want to know everything?" Big Mac nodded, drawing a sigh from Chrysalis. "You aren't going to like me when I am done."
The stallion didn't say a word. "I warned you…" Chrysalis started over, describing all the things that happened, and all the horrible things her mother had done, and taught her to do. The day wound onward, passing by until Chrysalis got to the part where she had locked Cadance away and mind-controlled Shining Armor. "He will never forgive me… nor should he." Strong legs wrapped around Chrysalis and pulled her against Big Mac. Crying like she hadn't been allowed to as a nymph, she lamented having told McIntosh everything.
She just wanted to keep crying, to lock herself up and stay in Big Mac's hug forever. Then she got hit rather suddenly, but not by any attack she could defend against. Love poured around her, and she turned her head to face the source.
"What's wrong?" Big Mac couldn't discern what was the matter, but Chrysalis had practically turned to rock in his embrace. Unable to see any physical attack, he followed her gaze. "Sugarcube Corner?"
Chrysalis could only nod, but as she struggled to fight off the intense wave of love pounding against her defenses, Big Mac was already in motion. Grabbing her and throwing her onto his back, he began to gallop in the one direction she wanted to go the least. Her mouth opened, but words failed her in the face of stronger and stronger waves of love.
Heavy hooves carried her to within shouting distance of the shop, and Chrysalis saw them. Princess Cadance, Princess Twilight, all of Twilight's friends… and a changeling queen. "N-N-No…" Everything came crashing into focus. Chrysalis now knew why all her drones were missing, why no information had returned from her attempts to spy on Shining Armor.
"Stop!" Big Mac glared at the assembled ponies. "Stop now, please!" He rarely raised his voice, but this was a special occasion.
Cadance froze at the look McIntosh was leveling at her. "I… What do you mean?" She had, of course, just started releasing powerful waves of her love that were washing across town and the surrounding area. "We need to do this, McIntosh." Glancing to Shining for support, she couldn't get over the anger in Big Mac's eyes.
Shining's eyes were locked on just one target. She ignored Cadance's quick glance, and walked up to face Big Mac. "We have to do this. Either she gives in and joins us, or she leaves here. Whatever she has told you is a lie—"
Big Mac was looking between Shining and Cadance. "Nnope!" McIntosh was ready to do whatever it would take, but a single black hoof reached up to his head and brushed one ear. Spinning his head to look at Chrysalis, he saw a smile on her face.
"Ish okay…" Chrysalis had lost. She couldn't stop the love from beating down the defenses she had thrown up and now it filled her to capacity. Flopping all four legs down, she got two on each side of McIntosh's back, straddling him. "Ah'm glad I gots to know ya, Mac." Lifting her head, she looked at the other queen. Chrysalis' mother had been adamant about how face offs with other queens always turned out—kill or be killed.
"Queen Chrysalis." Shining saw a mix of terror and acceptance on his nemesis' face. "You mistreated your hive. You mistreated my wife. You mistreated me." Shining saw confusion blossom on Chrysalis' face now. "What are we going to do with you?"
Drunk as she was on Cadance's love, Chrysalis still tried to make sense of what she had just heard. Narrowing her eyes at Shining Armor, she looked from her to Cadance, then back. "Wife… You…" Her eyes flew wide and she pointed a hoof. "Shining Armor?!"
Shining blinked at the accusatory tone. "You did this to me! Of course you know it's me. Stop playing games!"
"Wait!" Princess Cadance stepped between Shining and McIntosh—and Chrysalis by dint of her not being able to move on her own. "She is actually shocked. Chrysalis, what did you think your trick was going to do?"
"It was meant to turn him into a drone. He was going to come back to the hive and… and…" Chrysalis sighed and slumped her head down to McIntosh's back. "It was wrong…"
Big Mac, throughout the encounter so far, stood his ground against an empress and a changeling queen with firm resolve. He held a steely look in his eyes, and turned them from Shining Armor to Cadance. "She is sorry."
"I need to hear that from her." Shining had never spoken words so true in her life. She looked at Chrysalis and saw a changeling defeated. Even more, Shining could feel Chrysalis was now connected to her hive.
"I'm sorry…" Chrysalis felt a knot deep inside start to weaken at the two simple words. "I'm sorry. I wronged all of you. It was stupid and I… I didn't think it—" She was grabbed and choked, she was sure of it. She didn't blame Shining Armor, not considering what she had done to them. Looking up at her attacker, she expected it to be her last sight.
Cadance watched as Shining hugged Chrysalis. She looked to Big Mac and saw surprise on the stallion's face too. "Oh you should see her at weddings. I am lucky if she doesn't hug the cake and cry."
"She was lonely." McIntosh sat down and watched the two hug. He didn't need to be a changeling to tell both were crying for different reasons. "What will you do with her?"
"We have so many stray changelings that one more wouldn't be a problem, but being away from the few friends she has made would not be good for her." Cadance looked away from her husband, turning her full focus on Big Mac. "I hear she has some friends here?"
When the Princess of Love pays such close attention to you, you either have a special somepony or you soon will. Big Mac blushed and turned his attention back to Chrysalis. "Eeyup." He caught Chrysalis' gaze over Shining's shoulder, and couldn't stop himself smiling more.
"Change back, Chrysalis. You don't need to hide yourself." Shining could still feel distress in Chrysalis. "Come on, let me see your true form." He set her down and stepped back. Fire pooled around Chrysalis. The flames roared with all the power of a changeling queen, but when they faded she was not fully restored to the shape of a changeling queen.
"I… what in Tartarus?" Chrysalis looked at herself. She was larger than a drone should be, but her stature wasn't close to what she would have as a queen. Her mane and tail were still there, but she also had a fin tucked inside each, too. She looked directly at Shining Armor. "You did this to me?"
"I don't think so… Can I do this to somebuggy?" Shining looked to Chrysalis, finding her diminished stature more acceptable than if she had been a queen in body. "Cadance?" Shining turned to her wife. "Did you do this to her?"
Chrysalis stopped listening a moment as her eyes locked with Big Mac's. They were eye to eye now, rather than her being far smaller. A little pulse of love—not as massive as what Cadance had used to snare her—thudded into her, and she gasped. Love freely given was the tastiest, and Chrysalis almost melted at the love that McIntosh sent her way.
"Cady?" Shining looked between Big Mac and Chrysalis. "Cady, I think we need to give them some time." She backed off to kiss Cadance on the cheek.
"Huh." Applejack and her friends had been standing nearby, but for once the big event wasn't anything to do with them. Except possibly Applejack herself. "Ah guess the family's got a new addition…"
The filly was tiny. Shining Armor, in all her queenly glory, was glowing with happiness beside Cadance. The mother of the filly, her mane looking a little flat and drained, was grinning from ear to ear.
Tiny compared to the Empress and Queen, Princess Flurry Heart was a perfect little blend of her parents' looks. Soft pink fur already covered her tiny body, and she sported a tuft of cerulean hair on her head, and a matching one on her tiny tail. The little princess already had a straight unicorn horn, but even the old picture showed little pits in it. Piercing, opal eyes looked tiredly at the camera, and the little tiny filly had spread her large, insectile wings.
Star Gaze, a young, yellow furred and blue maned unicorn stallion, held up the baby picture in his magic. "You were pretty cute even then." His complement was as open and from his heart as it was predictable and campy. "Shame you grew up to be so ug—" He didn't get any further; a large stuffed pony was launched at him.
"You are the worst, sometimes." Flurry, nearly twenty full years older than the picture her coltfriend was looking at, was already reaching for another stuffed animal from her bed. Light green magic wrapped around the stuffed dragon, and she was already lining up on Star's head as he recovered from the first, stealth attack.
Thrusting his magic into the stuffed pony, Star Gaze animated it and made it charge towards Flurry. "Only sometimes? I need to step up my game!"
The plush pony was joined in battle by the dragon, and the fight was on. A tiny spear appeared in the little pony's magic—an extension of Star's—but despite being armed, they had to dodge and dive away from the mighty, plush toy dragon.
Flurry was having a ball. Moments like this one made her appreciate how much Star "got" her. She wasn't just "the first hybrid" or "the next great ruler of the Crystal Empire." She was Flurry Heart. She was just a young mare trying to walk in the shadow of two of the greatest parents in Equestria, an aunt who was literally the nicest pony on all Equus, and two aunts who were immortal and had powers beyond her ability to fathom.
Yet here she was, playing foal games with her coltfriend, and just being Flurry Heart. Distracted from the combat by her thoughts, she didn't notice the brave pony knight race past the dragon's defenses and, to her shock, grab up her toy, turn it sideways and tilted the wyrm backwards in a classic, amorous pose. "You are such a romantic!"
Star noticed that despite her outrage, Flurry wasn't having her dragon fight free of the embrace. The pony leaned down, and the knight's snout brushed the dragon's. He shot Flurry a wink, but was shocked when the dragon turned the tables, rolling her big body and pinning the pony knight under her. "Well. A very forward dragoness, are we?"
Green light flared in the large room, and Flurry grinned a fang-filled mouth at her coltfriend. "Maybe she… Maybe I am." Her tongue snaked out and she gave a little hiss. "What would our brave knight do— Urk!"
Pressing himself against Flurry's scaled body, Star Gaze pushed a little until she was off balance. Rather than a show of strength, his advance had far more sinister intentions.
Flurry's heart beat fast as Star twisted, turned her to her back and bent her down slowly so that his face was above her own. His snout pressed down and their lips touched. The power of their kiss melted all her resistance, and she reached up to curl her arms and leathery wings around Star's shoulders. He was warm beyond belief, and at that moment he was everything she wanted in life.
Green fire licked upwards from Flurry's draconic body, leaving the halfling gazing up at him along her small, dainty snout. Her lips were much softer, but Star found himself enjoying kissing her in either form; it was the same Flurry Heart after all.
Moments passed, and the mare and stallion stared into each other's eyes until both wanted to move things along. Kissing they had done plenty of times. Star broke the kiss, but followed up with a little nuzzle to make sure Flurry knew he would have liked it to last longer. "You know I love you to bits, Flurry of my Heart?"
Of course Flurry knew, but she liked to be told all the same. She lightly tasted Star Gaze's love, and gave a happy sigh. "Me too. Let me show you how much."
If Star's words had made Flurry's heart beat faster, hearing her reply was all kinds of stunning. anticipation and trepidation filled him to near bursting. Using his magic, he righted Flurry from her reclined position and eased her gently onto her hooves. "Show me?"
Flurry's wings chirped, a deep note from such large appendages, but she kept her excitement under wraps. Stepping as slowly as she could—while her heart told her to run—she tried to make her plot sway as she climbed up onto her bed. "Yes. Show you. Brave knight, you have defeated the dragon in combat…"
Things back and low in Star's body stirred, but being a gentlecolt, he would never draw attention to them. Something poked at his thoughts: pride. Lifting his chin, Star Gaze gave a little shake and turned to the side. He watched Flurry's eyes drawn to him, then along his body and down a little.
"Wow…" Flurry hadn't seen a stallion in so intimate a moment before. She had been to sexual education classes—classes for both ponies and changelings—but to see a stallion's penis up close was entirely new. It certainly looked like the slides of the penises she had seen in her classes, but there was more; the only reason Star was so worked up was because of her.
The word combined with that look was everything a stallion could ever want. Confidence built in him that he had done the right thing, and with confidence came more hardness. By the time Star was by Flurry's bed he was aching. "Wow?" He lifted his forelegs up to the covers, bent so that he was simply kneeling on them, and started easing his weight up. "All I get is a 'wow'?"
Flurry wasn't content to sit back. She crawled towards Star on her belly, eyes locked on his. "On your back." A surge of self-assurance projected in her voice, and she could see by Star's hungry look that he liked it too.
Climbing fully onto the bed and rolling to his back, Star felt Flurry's lips touch his mouth again. He looked up at his own special princess, and melted under her gaze. But her lips drew back and down, kissing down his neck and to his chest. Down further they reached just between his forelegs and he had to fight not to groan. Tossing his head back, his horn pierced the covers of the bed.
Ignoring the ripping sound, Flurry kept nuzzling and kissing the front of Star's barrel. He squirmed and started to moan at last, just how she wanted him. She continued a moment longer, just enough time that she was satisfied everything would be ready for her further along his body. Kissing along his barrel, she gave away her target as her attention got closer and closer to Star's shaft.
It was every bit as big as Flurry had first seen, and more. She muttered another, "Wow," under her breath and kissed his tip. Flurry's barrel was grabbed by Star's forelegs. He pulled her closer and to her side so he could return the favor.
The angle was not just wrong, but Star couldn't reach Flurry's vulva at all. He gave a soft whine as more kisses came, and a slow lick. Trembling in bliss, he pushed his snout forward and by luck found somewhere sensitive.
Flurry gasped at the touch to her teats. She squirmed a little at first, but when Star nuzzled and then licked along one little bud, she arched her spine and chirped loudly. Egged on by the attention, she opened her mouth and wrapped her lips around the end of Star's shaft. Heat and intense, musky flavor assaulted her senses. Flurry Heart closed her eyes and focused on Star's body, running her tongue along the base and edging forward, slowly, to take more of him.
Too blinded by pleasure to keep focused on Flurry's body, Star trembled and shook. Snapping his eyes open, he realized that he had been a little over-eager. His body pumped once, twice, and then bliss overwhelmed him.
With little warning, Flurry almost laughed around Star's shaft. She gulped down what he did release to keep cleaning easier, and found the flavor to be strange, but not unappealing. When his issue reduced to nothing, she pulled her mouth from him. "Little quick on the trigger, Star."
"Yeah? Well, you deal with that for the first time then!" Star, being a rather typical stallion, was already getting ready for more.
"Is that an offer?" Flurry chirped her wings and looked down her body, seeing Star look down his at her.
Star's thought's flickered a moment, before settling in on wanting Flurry for herself. "No, but give me a moment and I will see if I can return the favor another way." His shaft was already hard again, but Star scooted along the bed a bit further, pulling at Flurry's hips with his forehooves until he could reach her properly.
"Star!" Flurry's gasp and shout of surprise dissolved into a sigh. The second lick along her folds made her eyes cross. The third just started her chirping again. She wrapped her forelegs around Star's croup and pulled him against her. There was no room to get down to his shaft, but there were two delicate things before her snout.
Aroused beyond belief, Star had his shaft sandwiched between their bodies, and was doing a good job of licking Flurry into bliss. When her mouth closed around one of his testicles, he gave a bass moan into her. He saw her first wink, then another, and on her third, Star captured the nub of supersensitive flesh carefully in his lips.
Flurry tried to deny her pleasure. She wanted to hold back and prove to Star that she had more staying power, but his slow suckling of her clitoris was just too much. Squirming, she arched her neck back and gave a high-pitched squeal as lightning raced through her. Trapped by her body's responses, she drank love from her lover and clung to him as tight as she could.
Both ponies lay still, Flurry coming down from her climax, Star glowing in a job well done. Some moments passed as each took in the new level they had taken their relationship to.
"More?" Both asked at exactly the same time, and each giggled at being so equally matched.
"If you want, Flurry. I don't want to push you." Star wanted to be talking to his fillyfriend, and not her dock, so he eased back, rose up on his knees and hocks, and turned.
Flurry's heart sped as she felt Star move on the bed. She rolled a little towards him. On her belly, she looked back and up at Star and, as if making the point of him "pushing" her, she tilted her tail to the side and drew her long wings away from her back. When her coltfriend seemed to freeze, Flurry decided to give him a push. "If you don't 'push' me soon, I might have to do the pushing myself."
Part of Star wanted to test her word, and wanted to see if she would take charge like that. Thankfully, that part was not in full control, and instead he moved towards her, shaking like a leaf. "Just… Just tell me if I hurt you."
"If you hurt me, you will know about it." Flurry looked back over her shoulder and found the terrified, excited look on Star's face to be adorable. She wiggled her rear, and he lowered himself to her waiting back. The feel of a stallion on her was amazing, and Flurry wanted to snuggle and stay just like this.
Star was so nervous about the big event. He pulled himself backwards, sliding his shaft along Flurry's back until it fell free behind her. Excitement overwhelmed him and he bucked forwards.
Flurry's head jerked up in surprise. "Ow! Hey, do I need to tell you that isn't a hole? To the left, stud."
"Sorry!" Star wanted to say more, but he felt magic wrap around his hardness. This time he couldn't stop, he bucked, and speared into Flurry's clutching, fiery-hot depths, guided by her magic.
He was in Flurry, and despite any misgivings she might have had it did hurt just a little. She bit her lip, remembering the talks she had been given; this was how it was meant to be. There was a brief moment when the pressure and fullness was uncomfortable, and suddenly it wasn't. A switch flicked in Flurry's head and she opened her mouth and sang.
Hearing Flurry's moans—in time with his thrusts—Star felt the nervousness eaten away by the pleasure they were both experiencing. Each thrust took him deeper, and in no time at all he felt his barrel fully connect with her croup. Completely in control physically, but lacking it mentally, Star was guided and encouraged by the raised voice of his fillyfriend.
The word "intense" did nothing to describe how Flurry felt. "Sex" was such a small word, and "love making" too seemed inadequate. She and Star Gaze were connected on a physical and emotional level that defied belief, and as he bucked into her again and again, she felt her magic build along with her arousal.
His earlier release had granted Star a little extra stamina, but it had also raised the bar on the use of his delicate shaft. Trying to hold back his release as best he could, he knew he was fighting a battle that he would lose. Gloriously, happily lose.
When Star lost his fight for the second time, Flurry groaned in frustration. Even the hot rush of wet fire inside her body wasn't enough to push her past the edge. She whimpered and looked back at Star. Her changeling side latched onto her stallion just as she laid eyes upon him. His pleasure, his release fed into her through her feeding and it was enough.
The bond suddenly forged with Flurry shoved Star from coming down right back into full arousal and more. He climaxed hard a third time, and reveled in the clutching tightness milking at his body. He gave everything he could to Flurry, both emotionally and physically, and regretted doing neither.
With Star slumped down on her back, Flurry finally had some time to get comfortable with having his size inside her, and it felt great. Pleasure came not just in the echoes of their lovemaking, but also in the knowledge that it was something very special for both of them.
"Sis! Mom said to—" Chirp didn't knock, he just threw Flurry's door open and froze. The remnants of green fire circled a shape on the bed. "Oh. Hi, Star!" He took in Flurry's coltfriend, straddling a huge stuffed toy on the bed. "Have you seen Flurry?"
"N-N-No!" Star looked from Chirp to the "stuffed toy" under him. "Have you tried the guest rooms the yaks are in?" It was all the way across the castle, and would give them time to get decent before Chirp came back.
"Huh, don't know why she would be there. Thanks, Star!" Chirp closed the door and took off at a run, his wings buzzing.
Flurry released herself from her soft and snugly shape. "I am going to—" Her promise of revenge was cut short by Star's lips. She melted, as did her anger.
"She isn't there!" Chirp poked his head back in, blinked at the position his sister and Star were in, and slowly closed the door. Taking off at a gallop, only Chirp's hoof-beats could be heard.
"Murder…" Flurry mumbled the word through Star's lips. "Brothers… Need a… Lock..."
