One

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It had been years since the door's heavy metal bolts had been drawn back, over a decade since the locks unlatched and the hinges squealed. Nopony ever bothered to oil them anymore. Why would they? Nopony ever came down this way. This chamber housed the dirty little secret of the so-called Council of Friendship, after all. Their one great failure. The one threat they had never managed to win over with the strength of Equestria’s ruling morals. The less the populace thought about it, the better. The door swung wide with a protesting shriek, and magical torches around the circular room's perimeter burst to life. Light flooded the chamber for the first time in years, sharply illuminating the room's sole occupying object.

Even though the three ponies had known what was there the whole time, two of them still took a reflexive jump back when the light illuminated the snarling beast that loomed from the dark.

"Ugh." Starlight Glimmer shook off the initial scare and looked to her mentor. "Is she pointing this way on purpose? To scare away anyone who peeks in here when they aren't supposed to, I mean?"

"The best defensive measures are often the most simple." Princess Twilight Sparkle did her best to hide her own minor shock and cleared her throat. She looked at the stallion standing between her and her former student with concern. "Are you alright?"

Shining Armor hadn't jumped back. He stood straight and still as he glared into the stone eyes of the monster that had, once upon a time, enslaved his mind and his heart. "I'm fine." He took in the three petrified figures. "So the spell will only release her? Not the others?"

"Technically, she won't even be released. Not really." Twilight looked over the statues carefully. "They were sealed in there by Celestia, Luna, and Discord, remember? We could only fully release them if he was here.”

“As if we’d ever want to do that.” Starlight muttered, tugging her coat tighter against the cold.

“With just the two of us, the spell will… loosen her bonds. For... ten minutes? Maybe eleven. It’s always hard to calculate my magic against the Sisters. And yes, it will only let her out.”

Shining Armor gave the rounded chamber a once over. "And she can't get out?"

"No chance." Twilight's horn lit and a number of runes sparked to life all around the walls that surrounded them. "These walls are impregnable. I designed this room myself once we decided to move them down from the gardens. Even if by some miracle she did manage to overpower you, the instant she stepped through this door she would be re-petrified." Her magic faded, and the runes followed suit. "She also won't have access to any of her powers. Those are locked up in the sealing spell as well."

Satisfied, Shining Armor nodded. "Okay."

Starlight raised a hoof. "I would once again like to voice my objection to this whole thing. Even with all these safeguards in place, we're still talking about the most dangerous magical foe any of us ever faced. You can take away her magic, but it's her mind that makes her so monstrous." She glared at the snarling face. "That and her malice."

"Shining Armor has more reason than either of us to ensure she stays locked away forever, Starlight." She looked at her brother with concern, noting the grey hairs beginning to show in his mane. "If he needs to talk to her this badly, then it must be important."

"It is." Shining Armor had to look up to give his little sister a grateful look now. Since taking the throne, Twilight had started rapidly gaining height. Her physician estimated that at her current rate of growth, she would be Celestia's height within three years. "Once she's out, are you two going to be alright leaving me alone?"

"Oh, believe me. The less time I have to spend around her the better." Starlight narrowed her eyes as her own horn lit. "Can we just get this over with?"

Twilight nodded as her magic again lit the room.

Twin beams of magic erupted from the horns of the two unicorns and struck the petrified figure of the creature that had, on several occasions, very nearly conquered the whole of Equestria. The magic coalesced and coated the figure, washing away the stone that held her in place. With a tremendous burst of noise and light the magic vanished, taking the stone with it.

With a savage cry, Queen Chrysalis landed on the ground, finally finishing her final defiant dive. She froze and looked at her surroundings with quick, panicking eye movements. "Where...?"

"You're in the lower levels of Canterlot Castle."

Chrysalis snarled at the sound of Twilight's voice and turned her full gaze upon her hated foe. She stopped dead when she saw the changes in the alicorn's appearance, the gained inches and the mane that was just recently beginning to flow with the power of the magic she housed. Chrysalis, no fool, quickly put two and two together. "How long?"

"Eight years." Starlight grimaced at the sound of the changeling queen's voice. How long had it been since she'd heard those grating tones outside of the occasional nightmare? "So you don't remember anything?"

"I remember trying to attack that fool Discord. The next thing I know, I'm standing in front of you three."

"Hmph. That's disappointing."

"What? You were hoping that I'd been awake and aware this whole time? Frozen but conscious? Slowly being driven insane by the flow of time alone?" Chrysalis smirked. "How villainous of you, Starlight."

Starlight ignored her and looked to Twilight. "Can we go now? We still need to go over the budget proposal Sunburst sent."

Twilight nodded and again looked at her brother. He still hadn't moved, was still was staring down at the black hole ridden thing that had caused him so much trauma. "You're sure you've got this?"

Chrysalis looked back at the pedestal from which she'd jumped and saw her still-frozen allies. She took in the terrified look on Cozy Glow's face and the wincing expression on Tirek's. She rolled her eyes. "It's good to know that my comrades went down as defiant as I did." She looked again towards the trio and sat on her haunches. "What is this? Some kind of parole hearing?"

"I've got this under control, Twily." Shining Armor took a deep breath and sat as well. “You can go.”

Twilight nodded and put a hoof on his shoulder. "Remember; ten minutes. Eleven tops. I'll see you upstairs." She cut her eyes at the former queen of the changelings. “I’ll send a guard down to check on you if you aren’t back in fifteen.”

"Thank you. And thank you for doing this."

Twilight smiled and headed for the door.

Starlight made to follow, but a sudden thought made her stop and look back. "One more thing, now that I think about it." She cast the spell with lightning speed, a halo of violently scarlet magic that shot across the room and ringed Chrysalis' horn like a thrown horseshoe. The halo exploded in a rain of red stars not unlike sparks, and Starlight smirked when Chrysalis flinched at their touch. "Now she can't lie. You’re welcome."

"There will come a day when I get free of this prison, Starlight Glimmer." Chrysalis snarled, her wings buzzing menacingly. "And on that day you will bow before me. You or your heirs!"

"Yeah, that's nice." Starlight turned from the threat and followed Twilight from the room. "Next time I'm in town I might come down here and let my daughter paint your face."

"Starlight!" Twilight chastised.

"What?" Starlight laughed as her magic closed the door behind her.

Now alone, the two occupants sat and stared at one another in silence.

A smile split Chrysalis' face. "Ah, I see now. How nice of you to come and offer a conjugal visit to your former beloved." She gave him a once over. "You've maintained your body well enough. And the gray lends you a certain air of maturity. Cadance is a lucky mare."

"Don't talk about her." Shining Armor growled. "And don’t pretend you ever loved me. You violated me. Used me and my love as... as a battery."

"Such is the nature of my kind. Do you begrudge the spider her web?"

"Let's just get this over with. I have some questions." His magic reached into his saddlebag and floated out a rolled up scroll. "Questions only you can answer."

"They must be dire questions indeed for you to come to me." She nodded towards the scroll. "What's that?"

"It's a letter. From King Thorax."

"Ah." Chrysalis' smile faded. "And how is my traitorous spawn these days? I imagine he's running the hive right into the ground."

"Quite the opposite, actually." Now it was Shining Armor's turn to smile. "The changelings are now fully integrated into our society. They're prospering more than even their oldest can remember."

"Hmph." Chrysalis sniffed. "Believe it or not, I’m glad to hear that. That's all I ever wanted for them, you know. Happiness. Prosperity. If I'd have known that the one thing standing in the way of their happiness was me, I would have..."

"Stepped aside?" Shining Armor offered.

"Of course not." Chrysalis cackled. "I would've rooted out the heretics and started anew. It wouldn't have been the first time."

Shining Armor's smile vanished at once and he looked back to the letter. "Thorax has been researching your race's history. There's not much about your kind in the Equestrian record, and you didn't tend to write anything down..."

"Of course not!" Chrysalis snapped. "We would wander for centuries at a time. Do you think we would lug around libraries?" She gestured to herself. "I am the record, as my mother was before me and her mother before that. I am the depository of all the knowledge of our once proud race."

"Great." If Shining Armor was impressed by the boast, he didn't show it. "Then you can answer Thorax's question. Specifically..." He leaned forward. "How exactly do changelings breed?"

Chrysalis hid her giggle behind a hoof. "Oh, my poor naive child. Have there really been no new clutches since my imprisonment?"

"No. He says that many in the hive have paired off, but so far they've been unsuccessful in producing offspring."

"That's because only a queen may produce eggs. Not some mere drone." Chrysalis rolled her eyes. "Has King Thorax chosen a mate by chance?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Once he does, preferably in the old way of a tournament to the death I should add, she should metamorphose into a queen like myself. I say should, because who knows what that ridiculous transformation might have done to their biology?" She sniffed. "After that, she'll be able to produce all the clutches they need." Her eyes flashed green. "With or without her kingly husband."

Shining Armor looked up from the letter. "How do you mean?"

"Thorax is the first changeling king in almost two thousand years. The last, King Cocoon, was thrown down by his bride on their wedding flight. Ever since, it is we queens who have ruled uninterrupted."

"But... how can you make eggs without a king?"

"The king is really only needed to create a queen from a drone. We produce the eggs naturally and fertilize them with harvested love." She examined her hoof and smiled. "When I infiltrated Canterlot, our numbers were the lowest they'd ever been. I spent weeks impersonating various ponies in the city and snatching whatever smidgens of love I could manage in order to build the forces necessary to supplement my drones camped out on the mountains far side and take the city. Of course, the process became that much easier once I swapped myself out for that pretty pink princess of yours."

Shining Armor's magic flared, and the corners of the floating letter began to smolder. "I told you..."

"Our time is short, so why don't we get to the real reason we're here." Chrysalis lowered her hoof and levelled her gaze at her former prey.

"The real...?"

"If Thorax only wanted to know these things, you would have brought him with you. The fact that he isn't here means that the letter you're about to set fire to contains more than you're letting on." Her lips twitched at the edges. She knew, then, what he was here for. "Go ahead. Ask me."

Shining Armor took a deep breath, rolled up the scroll, and returned it to his saddlebag. He gathered himself and looked at her head-on. "Is Thorax my son?"

"Yes." Chrysalis replied with no hesitation.

"But how?!" Shining Armor jumped to his hooves, his horn sparking dangerously. "You said..."

"We changelings are a resilient race, Shining Armor. There are a number of ways that we queens can propagate. Otherwise we would have died out long ago." The grin on her face threatened to cut her head in half. "The preferred method is the production of clutches and fertilizing them with love, yes, but we are also more than capable of breeding with other species. Should the need arise, of course. And if the love is strong enough."

"And did the need arise while you wore my fiancée’s face?"

"I didn't plan on it happening, if that's what you mean." Chrysalis stood and stretched languidly. "Your love for her was so very strong. The strongest love I'd tasted in decades. Your love allowed me to hatch so many newborns in the caverns beneath Canterlot. And among that multitude there was one egg laid that was different from the rest. Fertilized the... what do you ponies call it? The old fashioned way?" She shrugged.

Shining Armor wanted to believe that she was lying, that Starlight's spell had been faulty, but he could feel it; she was telling the truth. “Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

“I never knew for sure. I had my suspicions, of course. He was always… off. Different from the other drones. I had no way of knowing for sure, so I just kept the idea to myself. A little something to keep in my reserves should the need ever arise. How did Thorax manage to find out?"

Shining Armor sighed. "He says that he's had his suspicions for a while. He lived with us in the Empire for months before you were overthrown. He said that all that time, he felt... something. Some deeper connection." He shrugged. "At the time he just chalked it up to the changes he was going through. An internal version of the sparkles on his wings."

"But what made him certain enough that he contacted you now? After all this time?"

"In the course of trying to understand why the changelings weren't producing eggs, he had a number of magical tests done. One of the ones done in the Empire did a measure of his magical signature."

"Ah." Chrysalis nodded in understanding. "And they, of course, had yours on file, being the prince and all."

"They're a perfect match." Shining Armor sat heavily and stared at the ground. "There are a number of other explanations, of course. Maybe our signatures synced up during his time in the Empire. Or it’s a side effect from sharing love with Flurry Heart. That's why he only wrote that he ‘suspected.’ But now there's no denying it. Not when you factor in everything else. Like the fact that the first thing he remembers is the invasion, the fact that he was drawn to the Crystal Empire..."

"And his annoying proclivity for goodness." Chrysalis shuddered. "To think that if I hadn't been so preoccupied with my revenge, I could have snuffed him out early. Maybe then I would still be queen."

Shining Armor said nothing.

Chrysalis’ eyes widened in shock. "...You wish I had snuffed him out back then."

Shining Armor looked up sharply. "I didn't say that."

"My powers might be nullified at the moment, but I can still taste your emotions. They're so bitter..."

"Well how am I supposed to feel?” He snapped. “What am I supposed to tell Cadance? How can I look her in the eye and... and…?" He stopped when Chrysalis started laughing uncontrollably. "Is this funny to you?"

"Oh, more than that, my love. It's delicious." She wiped at her eyes even as she continued to laugh. "I couldn't wish for a better fate than this for you. Thank you so much for breaking me free for this." She laughed even as a bright magical light traced her outline and lifted her back up onto the pedestal. "How wonderful. Now that you know, you can never un-know. From now until the end of your days, every time you look at him you'll be reminded of me. He is your so-called sin made flesh, and you can never be rid of him." Fresh stone spread from where her hooves met the pedestal, but she paid it no mind. She just kept laughing and laughing, even as it reached her chest. Finally, when it reached her throat, she managed to catch her breath and look down at the stricken unicorn. "We have a son, Shining Armor. And he is a permanent reminder for you of me." She grinned as the stone reached her chin. "Of us and what we once had." The stone hardened over her face, framing that last grin in perfect relief.

Shining Armor sat in the silence that followed and stared up at the three figures on the pedestal. Cozy Glow, terrified, scared out of her wits, desperately searching for a way out. Tirek, cowering, lost in inevitable defeat, powerless to stop what was coming.

And Chrysalis, triumphant, thrilled beyond measure, relishing forever her last twist of the knife. Her final, inescapable victory. Looking back, her snarling leap had been far less disturbing.

Shining Armor turned and left quickly.

Once the rusted hinges of the great door had once again locked in place, the magical torches died once more. The statue was once again lost in the silent darkness.

Silent, save for the last echoing traces of a villain’s last laugh.

Two

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Shining Armor never felt more relaxed than when held tight in the embrace of the mare he loved. She held him now in their marriage bed, his muzzle buried in the fur of her chest. He could feel her heart beating, smell the strawberry shampoo she used, and knew that he was home. "So." He sighed against her. "What do you think?"

He'd just finished telling her what he'd learned in Canterlot. On the train ride back, he'd considered keeping the whole thing from her. Wasn't there safety in ignorance? But no; this was going to reach her eventually. Somehow, someway, someone was going to tell her. Better it come from him now than later on, probably from some gossipy nurse at the clinic where the path to the truth had begun.

"This is one of those things where it doesn't really matter what I think." She tilted his head up and smiled gently. "This is all you, honey."

"So... what am I supposed to do? Any suggestions?"

Cadance took a deep breath and settled back against the pillows. "The way I see it, you have to look at this two ways; personally and politically."

"Politics. Of course." He rolled away from her and stared at the wall. "My all-time favorite thing."

"It's unavoidable in this case, I'm afraid. Thorax is a king with a kingdom, a throne, and everything else that entails." She sat up and looked at him hard. "But now he's also the rightful heir to the throne of the Crystal Empire. By all rights, he's the next in line."

He looked back at her and raised an eyebrow. "But it's like you just said; he already has a kingdom. Flurry Heart is still next in line."

"But what if he..." She sighed. "What if he decides one day that it isn't enough? Wars for succession have started over much less than this."

Shining Armor rolled back over and sat up beside his wife. "We've known Thorax for almost a decade, Cadance. What has he ever done that makes you think he'd do something like that?"

"That's where the personal meets the political." She looked at him hard. "Before you decide what you're going to say to him, you have to consider how he might take it."

Shining Armor laughed uneasily. "What? You think that if I say the wrong thing, Thorax is going to gather his forces and... what? Invade?"

"He might not need to." Cadance didn't laugh. "There are always going to be those dissatisfied with how the current monarchy operates. All it would take is a few powerful individuals to start stirring up unrest, pointing out the various disasters only narrowly avoided by the two of us, and contrast those events with the relative prosperity of the changeling way of life."

"But that's them. Not Thorax. He would never..."

"The heart is a complicated thing, Shining Armor. You should never underestimate what someone is capable of when their heart's been broken."

"I'm not going to break his heart!"

"Then what are you going to say to him? Exactly?"

"I don't know!" He fell back, grabbed a pillow, and covered his face. "I don't even know what Thorax expects to come from this. What? Does he want to play catch at the next royal summit? Do I owe him for all these year's worth of birthday and Hearth's Warming gifts?" He tossed the pillow across the room and glared at it. "This would've been easier if he'd just kept it to himself."

"Easier for you, you mean."

He turned his gaze to her. "Easier for everyone."

"But you, especially."

"What do you want me to say, Cadance?! Yes, easier for me. I could've gone my entire life not knowing and been perfectly happy. But now? I feel... I feel..." The anger began to bluster and his focus began fading off. A faraway look stole into his eyes.

It was a look that Cadance knew all too well. "It's bringing it back, isn't it? The invasion?"

Shining Armor took several deep, calming breaths. It was an exercise he hadn't needed to use in years. Not since he'd finally managed to put the... incident behind him. "The last thing she said to me was that from now on, I wouldn't see him as my friend, or even my son. All I would see is a living, breathing reminder of what she'd done to me." He looked at his wife with tears filling his eyes. "What if she's right?"

Cadance pulled him to her and hugged him tight. She felt him sob into her chest and felt the old, familiar hate for the monster that had done this to him. She shushed him softly and rubbed his back. "It's alright, baby. You're past all that now."

Cadance remembered the months of therapy it had taken for Shining Armor to fully get over his ordeal. Unbidden images came to mind of the nights, few but still too many, when she'd awoken to find his horn at her throat, his sleep-addled mind convinced that she was the false image that he'd almost married. Even after coming to terms with what had happened, finally accepting that he'd been the victim and that there was nothing he could have done differently, he'd still nursed a fierce hatred for, and deep mistrust, of changelings.

Until Thorax.

The months that Thorax had spent in the Crystal Empire had been the last piece of healing Shining Armor had needed. It was through him that Shining Armor was able to learn to open his heart once more, to recognize that an entire species could not be blamed for the actions of one. Shining Armor called Thorax friend. But now? What would become of that friendship now?

"What did Thorax ask you for in the letter?"

Shining Armor pulled away and wiped his eyes. "He didn't say. He said he just wanted me to know. Told me that if I wanted to talk about it, to just write back."

"Then you need to ask him what he wants." Cadance brushed a stray gray strand back into the sea of blue. "Before anything else, before you decide anything at all, you two need to sit down and talk."

"But what if..." He cleared his throat again. "What if he wants more than I can give?"

"You have to cross that bridge when you come to it. Right now he just wants your time. And for you to know that he's a part of you. Beyond that...?" She shrugged. "We just have to trust that things will be alright in the end. This doesn't have to be anything painful, right? You two are still two of the best stallions I've ever met. I'm sure that you two can figure this out." She reached for the light. "But that's for later. Right now you need to sleep. You've had a long day."

"You're not wrong." He told her as darkness filled the room. She filled his arms as they lay back on the pillows. Before too long, her soft, rhythmic breaths filled the air... but not his. Shining Armor lay in the dark for a long, long time that night. And when he did finally manage to sleep, his dreams were filled with that terrible laughter, those horrid green eyes, and the leering face of the former queen of the changelings...

...but in his dream the face split and shifted, morphed into the face of Thorax wearing a cruel and mocking expression he'd never seen before.

The laughter of the changeling king was just as cutting as his mother's.

Three

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Shining Armor's office was his sanctum, his strong-hold against the constant issues and responsibilities that came with his position. Here and there on every wall were pictures and awards for his time as a royal guard. Mounted on the wall above the grand window that looked down on the palace grounds was a ceremonial spear that had been gifted to him by Celestia herself following his retirement. Or had it been a promotion? On his expertly carved marble desk were framed snapshots of his wife and daughter. Yes, here he was safe and secure. Totally sure of himself and his position in the world.

That was how it was most of the time, anyway.

Seated on the other side of the desk, going over a summary of notes Shining Armor had compiled following his meeting with his former queen-mother, sat Thorax, the King of the Changelings. His brows creased as he read, the only sound in the room the inexhaustible and never-ending ticking of the clock on the wall. The multi-colored monarch finally finished and looked up. "So... I just have to choose a mate?"

"I know. It seems a bit unfair to the other mated changelings that they can't produce eggs of their own..."

"Oh no, this all makes it much easier. Believe me." Thorax's face broke into a wide and easy smile.

"How so?"

"The eggs are fertilized by love, right? And the mated pairs obviously have great love for one another. The new queen can produce the clutches, and those who wish to have grubs of their own can just take one of those and use their own love to hatch it."

Shining Armor thought about it, and then nodded slowly. "That makes sense. Of course, you’d have to find yourself a queen first."

"That, ah, might not be too much of a problem." Thorax's face went a darker shade of green. "I've been talking to... someone...."

Shining Armor grinned. "Somepony special?"

"I think so."

"That's good."

Thorax cleared his throat. "Is this... is this the part when I ask for fatherly advice?"

Shining Armor stiffened, his smile flickering. "Um... I don't..."

"I'm sorry." Thorax offered quickly, "I was just trying to lighten the mood. Make a joke..."

Shining Armor quickly realized how his reaction must have looked, and he held out a protesting hoof. "No, it's alright. It's just..." He sighed, lowering his hoof back to the desk. "This is why you're here, isn't it? To talk about it, I mean."

Thorax nodded, slowly slumping into his chair.

"Well… let's talk about it then. Stallion to stallion." The unicorn leaned forward and took a deep breath. "What exactly is it that you want?"

"Want?" Thorax looked up quickly. "What do you mean?"

"You obviously had some reason for telling me."

"Well... yeah. I just..." Thorax sighed. "I really just thought you deserved to know. That I exist, I mean. I mean, if I somehow had a child out there that I didn't know about, I think I'd want to know about it."

"You're right. And now I know." Shining Armor held his hooves out in the air. "So… now what?"

"I... I don't know.” Thorax looked lost, like a child in the woods. “I mean, we're still friends, aren’t we? That doesn't have to change at least."

"Of course it doesn't. But..." Shining Armor remembered his wife's words and decided to tread carefully. "I just don't know what you expect to come from this." He saw Thorax's antlers drooping once again and backpedaled. "What I'm trying to say is that I can't lie to you about your... your becoming. You weren't exactly borne from love."

"But I was." Thorax looked away. "It was your love for Cadance that made me happen, remember?"

"That's technically correct..."

"I'm not going to lie to myself, Shining Armor.” Thorax looked up with new conviction. “I know who, and what, my mother was. I know that neither of you meant for me to exist. But even though it was evil and deception that led to my birth... I'm still glad it happened. I’m glad to be alive.” He looked down at the desk’s surface. “And I'm glad that you're my father. You’re the best stallion I’ve ever met. You’re everything I aspire to be. You’re a wise ruler, a brilliant warrior… You take care of your family and friends, and you wouldn’t hesitate at all, even for a moment, to help them or come to their aid. Even before I knew you were my father, I idolized you."

Shining Armor was silent, listening intently.

"And now? Now everything makes so much more sense. I always knew I was different from my brothers and sisters, and now I know why. I'm the first changeling in millennia to have a biological father. Now everything I've done? The metamorphosis? The change in the hive? It has context. It makes sense." Thorax had straightened up in his seat as he continued, and now he sat proud and erect as he looked across the desk at his sire. "All the best parts of me? They came from you."

"Hey, you did all those things way before you knew I was... y'know." Shining Armor hated that he couldn't bring himself to say the words, but he pressed on. "You don't need context. You never did. You're the king you are today because of who you are.” He leaned forward and gestured at the changeling. “Who made you? It doesn't really mean all that much. All I did was give you a start, and then a little help along the way. The rest? That was all you, big guy."

Thorax nodded. "So then... you just did for me what most fathers do. Right? A good start and a nudge here and there?"

"Huh." Shining Armor considered the idea. "You know... I hadn't thought about it like that."

"Can I ask you a question now?" Shining Armor waved him on, and he continued. "Are you... angry that I told you?"

Shining Armor winced. "Angry isn’t the right word. I'm not going to lie; it's a shock. A nasty one. But... there are worse things to be told, I'm sure."

A pause. "Have you told Cadance?"

Shining Armor nodded. "Of course. She's my wife. I tell her everything."

"And how did she take it?"

"She's... fine, I guess. She's mostly worried that somepony could find out about this and use it to their advantage."

Thorax cocked his head in confusion. "Advantage?"

"You're my..." He choked. Again. "You're technically, by your age, the heir to the Crystal Empire."

"But I'm already a king." Thorax laughed slightly. "Or do you really think I'd muster my troops and descend like a great dark wave as we did in the old days?"

Shining Armor had to laugh too. Try as he might, in the light of day he could not see the happy-go-lucky creature before him as any kind of ruthless conqueror. "No, I don't think so."

"I don't want to be your heir. Flurry Heart can have the Crystal Empire. I just want..." Thorax choked up slightly. "I just wanted you to know who, and what, I am. That's all. If no one else ever finds out, then that'll be fine. You're the only one who deserves to know. The only one that really matters."

A thought occurred to the unicorn and he glanced back at the window. Far below, he could see the various dots of his crystal ponies engaging with their changeling visitors. "As it happens, I have a question for you as well.”

“Go ahead.”

“Have you told anyone else?"

"Not really. Just Pharynx."

"Ah." The possibility that Thorax's brood mate might somehow also be his offspring suddenly popped unbidden into his mind. "And...?"

"And he's one hundred percent changeling, to his very great personal satisfaction, I should add. Nothing against you, of course, but he's a proud traditionalist. As far as I can tell, I was the one lucky egg in the whole clutch to get something from you that wasn’t your love."

Something in the way his voice strained pulled at Shining Armor's heart. He opened his mouth to say something, thought better of it, then simply stood and went around the desk to the king's side. "You've got my love too, kiddo. You had it as my friend. That hasn't changed. Not one bit."

Thorax tried to smile, but it looked false.

Shining Armor exhaled and sat down on his haunches. "This... this isn't going to be easy. For either of us. I know that. But..." He steeled himself and met his progeny's eyes. "But I wouldn't be doing right by you to deny your existence. You... you are my son, Thorax." The changeling's violet eyes widened on hearing the word come from Shining Armor's mouth for the first time. "You are my son, and I won't hide it from anyone or pretend otherwise. Not for anypony or anycreature.” He put out a hoof and laid it on Thorax’s chitinous shoulder. “I'm proud of you, and of everything you've ever done. You've saved your kind, given them a better way of life... you're the best leader they've ever had. A stallion would have to be a fool to not be proud of you."

"Thank... thank you." Thorax wiped his eyes quickly. "Sorry..."

"Hey, you being that quick to tear up just shows another way you're like your old man."

The two laughed, and Thorax nimbly jumped down from his chair. "Can I ask one more question?"

"Sure."

"Can... can I have a hug?"

Shining Armor didn't hesitate for a second. He pulled his son into the tightest bear-hug he could muster, one that Thorax eagerly returned. Revealed to each other in the light of day at last, father and son shared their first moment as such and relished it.

"I love Flurry Heart, and you can never tell her this, but the truth is that I've always wanted a son." Shining Armor whispered, trying to swallow the lump in his throat.

"Glad I could help." Thorax laughed, trying his best not to sniffle.

"Speaking of Flurry." Shining Armor pulled away, coughing to clear his throat. "We should probably head upstairs and tell her the good news."

"Good news?"

"That her Uncle Thorax is actually her big brother. She’s going to be thrilled."

Thorax's broad grin matched his sire's, and the two left the office together, side by side.

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A few days later, Shining Armor's office remained very much the same. Save for one small change, anyway. One of those blink and you'd miss it kind of things.

There was a new photo on his desk of a smiling and decidedly not pony-like kind of creature. Should any visitor in the many years to come ever ask why there was a photograph of the King of the Changelings on the desk of the Prince of the Crystal Empire, right next to pictures of his wife and daughter no less, Shining Armor was always quick and sure with the answer.

"Oh that? That’s Thorax. He's my son. And I’m very proud of him."

A Change in Perception

by Jade Ring

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