A Swift Message
A SWIFT MESSAGE
I had never fully understood the definition of the word ‘anxiety,’ until I entered the room and saw the number of ponies that were there. I knew the wedding was going to be a big event, since princess Celestia herself was conducting the marriage, but I had not thought that so many ponies would be attending the wedding ceremony.
I scanned the crowd, looking for an earth pony mare with a purple mane and a light pink coat. Thanks to the mass of ponies, that task proved itself to be next to impossible.
I could not fly. Taking to the air would attract too much attention. I kept my outward appearance as calm as I could, knowing that more than my own safely relied on my not being noticed. I moved from row to row, hoping I could catch a glimpse of her. To my immense relief, I finally spotted Graceful Lattice. I made my way through the throng. It was maddening, trying to do things quickly while maintaining a pace that would not be noticed.
As I made it to her side, she whispered, “You’re cutting it close, they’re just about to start.”
I leaned close to her ear. “Grace, we have to get out of here.”
She must have thought I had lost my mind. She barely turned her head, when she answered me, “What are you talking about? The procession hasn’t even started.”
“You have to trust me,” I pleaded. “I know that this seems crazy, but something horrible is going to happen. We have to get out of here.” As she started to reply, the music for the procession started. We were trapped by the civilities of society as securely as if we had been put in a cage.
When the bride entered the room, I knew something was wrong. Princess Cadence did look happy, but it was not the kind of joy one would have for going to your own wedding. She had the look that a predator has right before they pounce on some small, fuzzy animal. The ceremony started, and for a moment I thought everything was going to be fine. Then I noticed the absence of the guards. Shining Armor, head of the Royal Guard and husband to be of Cadence, would never have allowed such a breach of protocol.
As if in response to my rising tension, Twilight Sparkle, Celestia's personal student, made a dramatic entrance into the room. She threw open the heavy doors to the courtyard and shouted her objection to the wedding. She was followed by the real princess Cadence. There was no doubt that the princess Cadence standing on the dais was a fake, after the assembled ponies heard Twilight's and Cadence's explanations for their interruption of the ceremony.
Grace was too stunned to move, as was most of the crowd. I started frantically looking for alternate exits in case the guests decided to stampede out of the room. The fake Cadence was suddenly engulfed in a column of green flame. After the flames died down, the true nature of the fake Cadence was revealed. Before us stood Chrysalis, the queen of the Changelings. For a moment, I joined in the collective fear of the crowd. As Celestia confronted the false princess, I discovered the only way in or out of the room was from the main courtyard of the castle or through one of the windows.
Celestia and Chrysalis's powers clashed. Their dueling magic made the air hum and shimmer. To my horror, Celestia fell to Chrysalis’s powers after a brief struggle. Chrysalis revealed to the gathered crowd that she had fed upon Shining Armor's love for Cadence, and now her power was greater than even Celestia’s.
The ponies in the room panicked and stampeded towards the exit. I used the ruckus to pull Grace out of the crowd and toward one of the windows. Her confusion and stress were evident in her voice, but she kept herself collected. “Swift, what is happening? How did you know something was going to happen?”
“I’ll explain everything if we get out of this.” I looked out the window for a landing spot, just as the shield protecting the city fell.
I looked up, drawn by a buzzing noise. “Oh, horse apples.” A good portion of the swarm was heading in our direction. “I was hoping we could leave out the door, but that is not going to happen. Since we don’t have the luxury of option one, we’re going to have to take option two.” I grabbed Grace and flew out the window and towards the gardens.
She yelled over the rush of air, “What in the name of Celestia is going on?”
“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t use that volume. We really don’t want the attention.”
I had no doubt that a few of the swarm had seen our exit. I prayed that they did not think us important enough to come after too quickly.
We landed in the garden, and I immediately started to look for somewhere for us to get out of sight. There was no concealment that would not have been laughably obvious. I turned to Grace. “You know the gardens better than I do, where can we hide?”
She tilted her head, indicating a direction. “The hedge maze, let’s go.”
Taking a dizzying series of twists and turns, she led us to a secluded gazebo tucked away in one of the maze’s dead ends. The structure was adorned with vines with vibrant white blooms that had to be Grace’s work. Her cutie mark of a morning glory growing up a latticework was not on her flank just to look nice.
She gave me a look that I knew meant I was in trouble. “You’re going to tell me what is going on or, so help me, I’m going to shove you so far into that hedge it will take you an hour to get out.”
I raised my hooves in defense. “I got wind that something bad was going to happen during the wedding. I had no clue that these creatures were going to try to overthrow Celestia.”
While technically the truth, she could tell that I wasn’t telling everything.
She leaned towards me and put a hoof on my chest. “And?”
A buzzing sound interrupted her questioning. Part of me was relieved. I would have rather faced the changelings than Grace when she was angry.
We half pushed ourselves into the hedge as a pair of changelings flew over.
“We’re not safe here. They will sense where we are.”
“How could they do that?”
I could not help but blush, as I told her, “My feelings for you.”
She lightly hit my shoulder. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but could you feel a little less for me for a bit, so we don’t get killed?”
I helped her out of the hedge. “I’m afraid not.”
She rolled her eyes. “Why did I have to fall for a hopeless romantic? Just my luck, it’s going to be the death of me.”
“We have to get out of the city. Is there any way that you know of that doesn’t involve going back through the castle? I can’t think of one.”
She started down the path again. “We could just glide down the side of the mountain.”
"There is no way the two of us together would make it.”
She whipped around fast enough to startle me. “Are you saying I need to lose weight?”
The flight with her to the gardens had taken a lot out of me. I was not going to risk a long flight while carrying her. “In no way do I think that. I admire your form every time I can, particularly when you are working bent over in the gardens. If we tried to glide out of here, there is no way we wouldn’t be spotted.”
Amused by my reaction, she turned back and started to lead us again. She asked over her shoulder, “Just how much time do you spend looking at my flank?”
I gave her my most lecherous grin. “I’m fairly confident I can draw your cutie mark from memory.”
We poked our heads around the end of the hedge maze. There were a couple of changelings in the garden, but they were a distance away. We could not risk going through a door and making noise. Fortune would have it that there was an open window close by.
We slunk our way to the palace’s wall, and I carried her through the window with a short flight. We landed in one of the guest bedrooms.
“We have to be really cautious now.” I slowly opened the door, and checked the hall. “You have to promise me, if something happens that you will run and lock yourself into a room or closet somewhere.”
Her fierce look told me all that I needed to know. She voiced, “I’m not leaving you, just like you wouldn’t leave me.”
“You don’t understand, I…” She put her hoof over my mouth.
“Don’t try to be noble and sacrifice yourself for me. I can handle myself.”
I kissed her hoof, and then slowly leaned out the door.
I led as we slunk from room to room, and hid in the occasional closet, deftly avoiding the changelings. We were nearly to an entrance to the kitchens, which would have allowed an exit through one of the delivery doors, when a pair of changelings came around the corner.
I shoved Grace through the nearest door. I hissed through my teeth as I shut it, “Lock it, and don’t open it.”
“Hey, what are you doing?”
I tried to puff myself up and give the appearance that I knew what I was doing. “Just putting one in a room for later, she seemed to be a fine one.” They walked a little too close for my comfort.
The changeling on the left commented, “Filling the larder. I like it.”
I nodded. I kept my mouth shut, and gauged their reactions.
The second asked his partner, “Why is this guy in disguise?”
I volunteered, “They don’t hide from somepony that looks like them, makes them easier to catch.”
The second slid into a fighting stance. “No true changeling uses ‘somepony’ in conversation.”
“Well, buck me.” I lashed out at the first, before he could prepare, and knocked him to the floor. The second was more than ready, he was eager. He parried my clumsy attacks with little effort. I did not have a chance. The two changelings were trained for combat, and what little training I had in martial arts would not have amounted to much against such skilled foes.
The first changeling staggered to his feet, making me take my eyes off the second. My opponent took the opening. He rushed me, using his magic to create a flaming, green wedge that drove me into the wall. I felt something go painfully wrong in my shoulder, as I slammed against the stone.
The door Grace had been behind swung open with violent speed, knocking the still half-stunned changeling to the ground. Grace stepped out of the closet, brandishing a mop handle. She clubbed the fallen changeling hard enough that it made me wince in sympathy. She pointed the handle towards the still standing changeling. “Don’t think I won’t or can’t use this on you. I’ll swat you like the bug you are.”
Despite our predicament, I could not help but be amazed. “Could you be any more cliché?”
She never took her eyes off the changeling, but smiled nonetheless. “You shouldn’t be talking about word choices. Don’t think I didn’t hear that 'fine one' comment.”
The second changeling was re-evaluating the situation, when there was a distant pulse of enormous magical power. He looked to his partner. “We’ve got to get out of here.” He pulled his comrade to his feet, and they both quickly headed down the hallway.
I leaned against the wall with my good shoulder. With the combination of my injury, the fight, and carrying Grace, I was spent.
Grace turned to me, shaking her head in disbelief. “I thought I told you no heroics?”
I smiled at her. “What, you’re going to begrudge me something like this? Particularly after all that, we’ve already been through. Slinking through mazes, hiding in a castle under siege, if I hadn’t gotten into some kind of tussle we couldn’t call this a proper adventure.”
She was about to say something, when a roar of power resounded through the hall.
With a surge, a wave of magic lifted me and slammed me into the opposite wall. I yelled in pain, as my wounded shoulder took the brunt of the blow. I collapsed in a heap. I got a glimpse of my legs as I fell, and fuzzily noticed that my magic had been dispelled.
The last thing that I saw, before I passed out, was Grace’s terrified face.
*****
I woke up as somepony put my hurt leg into a sling. The initial positioning of the limb was agonizing, but with the added support the pain lessened overall. I was relieved to find that I had returned to my pony form. Years of maintaining the disguise had made it instinctual, even in sleep. I was in one of the interior guest rooms. The room had no windows, nor adjoining room doors. I had no illusion; it was a fancy prison cell.
I recognized the doctor. He was one of the physicians that tended the new recruits for the Royal and Lunar guards. “Thanks Splint, how bad is it?”
“Not bad, thankfully, it’s just a partially dislocated shoulder. Painful, but you’ll fully recover with time and rest.” He started to pack up his supplies.
I had trouble finding my voice as I asked, “Was anypony hurt or…”
He patted my good shoulder. “No, just a few bruises and scrapes for the most part. You’re one of the worst ones, actually.”
I felt some of the tension leave me. “Good to hear.”
His hoof reached for the door. He stopped, mulled something over for a moment, and then faced me. “I know what you are, and I have been told to lock you in here as I leave.”
“I’m sorry I hid what I am. I promise I didn’t do anything that helped the attack happen.”
He seemed to weighing my soul, as he looked at me. “From what Grace told me, you risked your life to protect her. I do not care what you look like. You’re still a good pony in my book.” The lock clicked the instant he left the room, making me wonder if he meant his words or not.
As much as I tried, I could not stay awake. I fell into a uncomfortable sleep. I do not remember what I dreamed, but it was unpleasant.
I woke to the sound of the lock being turned. Shining Armor entered the room, followed by Cadence and Celestia. I got off the bed and awkwardly, painfully bowed.
“You have some nerve, bowing when you have been spying on us for years.”
Cadence chided him, “Shining, we’re not here to be combative.”
“Rise, Swift Message.”
I inwardly flinched at Celestia’s calm, commanding voice, and did as I was commanded.
The sound of another set of hooves caught my attention, and I looked beyond the others to see Grace enter the room. I was relieved that she was there, until I saw her expression. The uncertainly she had in her eyes when she looked at me disquieted me more than the other three ponies’ presences combined. I could sense her emotions were in a rolling turmoil. I feared that, despite my efforts, I had still lost her.
“Princess, I swear to you that I did nothing to help the changelings enter the castle.”
“To which princess do you swear, to Celestia, or to my love, whose wedding you helped destroy?”
Cadence poked him in the ribs. “Shining, that is not helping!”
Celestia turned to him. “I agree. Shining, please refrain from making such comments. Think about how this pony feels.”
He grunted. “With all due respect, this is not a pony.”
Grace said, in a cautious tone, “Swift tried to protect me, give him that much.”
“So he could feed off of you.” Shining scowled in disgust at me. His tone making it sound as if he meant that I was going to have her roasted as the main course of a banquet.
Celestia gave Shining a cautioning look. “Shining, I believe that you will find that this soul is just as much of a pony as you, in the ways that count. Complete with all the emotions and fears that go along with that. Remember that anger feeds on anger. I do not want to see anypony hurt, even emotionally, particularly when we are not sure what is going on in this situation.”
Celestia’s horn flared for an instant, and my ability to sense emotions was gone. It was as disorientating as having an unexpected loud noise make it impossible to hear.
There was only one reason that I could think she would take my ability to sense emotions, she did not want me using that ability to manipulate them. I would not have, even if I had been skilled in such tactics. The other ponies looked at Celestia for a moment, as if trying to get some kind of instruction or guidance.
Celestia’s voice cut through my thoughts. “Tell me how you came to be in this kingdom.”
It was to be an interrogation. I knew better than to lie. “I was sent here five years ago to collect information for the hive about Equestria. The hive has been facing hard times without the proper emotions to feed upon.”
Cadence hugged her fiancé close. “You needed love.”
“Yes. For lack of a better explanation, the hive is dying from malnutrition. The hive is exceedingly efficient when it comes to almost all tasks, but at a cost of most emotions and individuality. There is little love there, just hierarchical structure and the struggle to survive. Even children and their parents do not share a bond. Children are considered part of the hive’s future and are taken and raised in a collective group when they are very young. Changelings don’t even get to know their parents’ names.”
I looked down at the floor, remembering the harsh sterility of it. “The lessons and training were unforgiving. Mistakes were severely punished.”
I noticed that my words seemed to have more of an impact on them than what I had expected. “During the advanced training, it was not uncommon for those chosen to be fighters to be killed.”
Shining gently pulled away from Cadence. “While ruthless, that kind of upbringing would make an impressive soldier.”
I shook my head at him. “Not a soldier, just another citizen of the hive. Not every changeling is assigned to the military. Changelings live, serve, and die for the hive. The early training makes changelings strong, but eliminates individually. I was chosen for infiltration duty because I was considered abnormal. I think my report said something about me being ‘far too self-minded.’
I guffawed at myself, thinking back on it. “I had been labeled as expendable, but I had never been so happy. I knew that I was being trained to be sent to Equestria. I redoubled my efforts, and was selected among the first to infiltrate.”
Shining narrowed his eyes. “So, how many ponies did you hurt to get here? What interrogation techniques did you use?”
“None and none, I didn’t have to. I made it to the border expecting guards, walls, garrisons, armies. There was nothing except the open road. I had been assigned to infiltrate Canterlot, and with directions from a couple of ponies I met while traveling I made my way here. The whole thing confused the hay out of me. I had been taught that everything outside the hive lands was hostile, and that any pony would defend their country to the death. Yet, there were no defenses, no weapons, just friendly ponies willing to take a stranger in for the night in return for getting a few chores done in the morning.”
Celestia smiled at my words. “I’m glad that you had that bit of culture shock. My sister and I try to maintain open borders as a sign of trust.”
Shining’s demeanor did not match his ruler’s. “So, how did you manage to weasel your way into the castle?”
I could not help but feel indignant at his comment, and my tone, as I answered, let him know it. “I did not weasel in. I earned my way in the honest way. I got a job.”
Shining paused and looked me over. “You’re serious.”
I nodded sharply. “It wasn’t easy. I had been raised and trained in the hive specifically for my task, so I had no practical skills. I could memorize anything with a couple of readings, make detailed drawings for intelligence, and knew how to get around unnoticed, not what you would call job quality skills for most ponies. Canterlot itself proved to be my first challenge. Ponies were not as willing to let a stranger into their homes here, and my limited supply of bits disappeared in less than a week.”
Cadence tilted her head in curiosity, before asking, “What jobs did you try?”
I winced at the memories. “I tried several things. I arranged to be a chef’s assistant. I had a disaster with the flour on the first day. I was a horseshoe smith’s apprentice. I found out physical work, while keeping my disguise in place, drained me too quickly.”
I wryly grinned at Grace. “That included finding out that I can’t fly in disguise while carrying much at all too. The shoe smith thought I was a weakling, and let me go before I had worked for him a week. I even tried to be a florist. I had the pleasure of learning that I’m allergic to most flowers.” I hung my head in shame. There had been other failures, but I did not want to share them all. Some were just too embarrassing.
Cadence gave a mixed reaction to my woes. She seemed to want to laugh, but she also seemed to sympathize with misery that I had gone through.
Celestia raised an eyebrow and asked, “Did you try a different appearance for each position?”
“No, your highness, I stayed like I am now, just an everyday light brown pegasus colt, with a white mane, and blue eyes. Nothing eye catching by design. I missed one detail in my appearance. I didn’t have a cutie mark. We didn’t discuss marks in my training, so had had no clue how important they were. Several ponies commented that it was odd that I didn’t have a mark at my age. It took me a while to understand what a cutie mark was, and once I did, I didn’t want to choose something that I wasn’t good at. It would make me stand out too much.”
“So, the changeling had to find his cutie mark. How did you ever manage to pick something?” Shining’s voice was laced with sarcasm.
I grimaced, knowing this part of my story would not be taken well. “I was in rough shape one night. I had no bits, it was cold, I was hungry, and I had no place to stay. I saw a detached building behind a house as I was going down an alley. I snuck into the building just to have somewhere to get out of the cold. It was a kind of workshop that I had never seen before. There were frames holding woven wire screens, and stacks of wooden planks with what looked to be cotton sheets pressed between them. I bedded down in a pile of rags that had been left in a corner and fell asleep.”
Grace gasped, as a realization came to her. “That was White Page’s workshop!”
“Grace!” She recoiled from me as if I had struck her. Even Cadence and Shining pulled back from me in in shock at my outburst. I had no idea that I had spoken with such vehemence.
I turned back to Celestia. “I will tell you everything. I just don’t want the ponies that helped me to be punished. They don’t know what I am. All they know is that they helped a down on his luck pony.”
Celestia smirked in amusement. “I don’t plan to. Besides, that would deprive me of the best paper and ink that Canterlot has to offer. I know both White Page and his wife, Ink Stone.”
With her assurance, I continued. “I had been exhausted and overslept. Page came in and found me in his pile of rags, when he started working. He just politely asked me to get out of his work material.”
Shining added, with no small amount of venom, “And then threw you out.”
I smiled at Shining, which confused him. “That’s what I had expected him to do too. Page just gave me instructions, in a calm tone, and the next thing I knew I had helped him in the shop all day. He never asked a question, never raised his voice, he even fed me lunch.”
I must have looked a fool to them, grinning as I remembered that day. “It was fascinating, helping him through the process of make paper out of bits of cloth. Before he closed up shop, he gave me a couple of messages to run for him. I knew Canterlot inside and out, thanks to memorizing it as I walked around and looking over all the maps that I could get. I made it back to their shop quickly. I think it was a test to see it I would come back. Ink Stone was the one who chewed on me, when I got back to the shop. Page had told her everything, and she lambasted me for not knocking on the door the night before so I could sleep in a proper bed.”
A smile finally came to Grace’s face. “That’s when they took you in for a little while.”
I nodded to her, glad to see that she would at least talk to me. “I worked in the shop, or in their storefront, and they allowed me to stay till I got my hooves under me and got a place of my own. I was really good at getting their deliveries to where they needed to go, so I chose a cutie mark that represented that.” I pointed down at my mark, which was a pure white envelope sealed with a plain circle of red wax. “I learned about the messenger position opening at the castle through Page and Stone and applied.”
Shining smiled, as if he had caught me stealing cakes from the kitchen. “So, you infiltrated the castle to get into a position that would get you access to sensitive information.”
I could not help but laugh. “Oh yes, being the messenger for the heads of the kitchens, gardens, library, and housekeepers gives me access to all kinds of sensitive information. Knowing that the larder is low on leeks for soup and that the castle needs more washing powder is certainly key strategic knowledge for the hive to have.”
Shining gave me a withering look. “Then why did you take the position?”
“It paid more than the job with Page and Stone. I liked working with them but, with the pay difference and the opportunity to really do what I was good at, it was a better position overall.”
Cadence’s curious voice broke the chain of questioning. “Wait, how did you introduce yourself all that time, if you had no family name and didn’t know what your talent was?”
I shrugged. “I just introduced myself as ‘Swift,’ after the first bird that I saw when I entered Equestria. I thought I would change my name if I needed to, but I never did. So I named myself Swift Message, after coming up with my mark.”
Shining snorted. “No pony will care what your name is after this.”
I bristled at Shining’s goad. “What the hay is your problem?! I understand why you don’t trust me, but acting like a jerk isn’t going to help anypony.” I stepped towards him, and my voice rose in anger as I spoke. “I haven't hurt anypony. I got my job at the castle as a messenger honestly, with Page and Stone’s referral, after working diligently for two years. I even warned Celestia there was a threat in Canterlot!”
His voice dropped as he said, “You did no such thing.”
“Go to Tartarus! I risked my flank and everything I have worked for just for a chance to prevent what happened!” I was pretty close to being nose to nose with him by that time. “Think! Who else could have put a letter on the throne without the guards noticing? Who else could have sensed that changelings had started coming in and out of the city? It wasn’t a coincidence that I started feeling other changelings in Canterlot as the wedding was being set up. The wedding was the only large event that had been scheduled. I knew that if there was going to be an attack the hive would use the influx of ponies to sneak into Canterlot. Since I was the only one that could do something to prevent an invasion, I took a chance and wrote the letter that put everypony on high alert.”
I could feel his breath, hot with his anger, come across my face. He tensed as if he planned to strike me, but he held back. He stared into my eyes, silently daring me to break eye contact. “Tell me how the letter was addressed and signed.”
I raised my head in defiance, but kept my eyes locked with his. “The letter was addressed, ‘To the benign ruler of Equestria.’ I signed it, ‘A concerned citizen of Canterlot.’”
He still did not give me a break. “Why didn’t you just give me the warning? It would have been much simpler, and we could have done more to prevent this!”
I sneered at him. “Because I feared that you would act like you're acting now. You’re smart. It wouldn't have taken long for you to start putting two and two together. How could I have known about a threat, if I wasn’t somehow involved or knew more than I was telling? I didn’t even dare write the word 'changeling' in the letter in case that set you looking for one. I wanted to warn everypony and still manage to avoid ending up in the dungeon. As I saw it, getting a message directly to Celestia with enough flare to get a reaction out of the army was the only hope I had.”
His next words came with enough force that spittle hit my face. “You could have at least told us that Chrysalis was coming! She imprisoned my fiancé and put me under a spell that turned me into a pawn! That witch nearly overthrew Equestria!”
I could not believe the way he was acting. I shouted back, “I would have, but she is queen of the hive for a reason! Her powers and skills are much greater than the average changeling’s! It would be like comparing your magical abilities to Celestia’s! I had no clue she was here!”
Cadence stepped between the two of us. There was a short break, as she pulled shining back and got him to calm down.
At seeing Cadence’s affection for Shining, I could not help but briefly look over at Grace. Celestia's eyes followed my glance.
Cadence returned to having her foreleg around Shining. That seemed to help him calm down. He looked at me with clearer eyes. “You’re telling me that you had no contact with the hive the entire time you were here in Canterlot.”
I took a deep breath to calm myself, before answering. “No, when I was first here, especially during the times that I was having trouble getting a job, I stayed in contact with the hive as planned. I couldn’t give them any information that they didn’t already have. I had not learned anything, beyond mundane things. I sent back my maps of Canterlot, with a few notes added. I wrote a few personal reports, but it was more to keep myself occupied than anything else.”
I unconsciously started to rub one of my forelegs against the other, as foals do when caught doing something they know is wrong. “When Page and Stone took me in, I stopped sending reports to the hive. After traveling through Equestria, having ponies help me, giving me chances at jobs, and then receiving Page and Stone kindness, I had to stop. I couldn’t risk giving the hive something that could have hurt the ponies that had helped and given me so much.”
Celestia lowered her head to my level, before asking, “Why didn’t you leave, if you thought something was going to happen?”
“This is my home. I wasn’t going to abandon it.” I laughed a short, bitter laugh. “Besides, even had I wanted to flee, I was at the castle when the barrier was raised. I wasn’t going to find out what that thing would do to me.” I knew that Celestia was trying to lead me somewhere, but I did not know to what purpose.
Celestia seemed to sense my unease and gave Cadence a look.
Cadence smiled at whatever had passed between them. The princess drew her foreleg from around Shining, came close, and stood directly in front of me. “There was something else that kept you here.” Her tone made it clear that her words were not meant as a question.
I could not meet her eyes. I had almost come to blows with Shining Armor, yet I could not even look at Cadence. “Yes, there was.”
Cadence motioned for Grace to come closer. “I take it that reason is also the reason that you risked yourself to protect this mare.”
I could only manage to look at Grace’s hooves as she approached. “Yes.”
Cadence lifted my head with her hoof and gently forced me to look at her. “When did you know that you loved her?”
Cadence’s eyes made the words spill. “Not long after I met her in the gardens, a little over a year ago. The first time I saw her I was supposed to deliver a message to the head gardener, but he wasn’t there. Grace took the message for him. She struck me like nopony else has.”
Cadence kept my eyes on her face. “What about her so enraptured you? Was it that’s she’s pretty?”
I shuddered, but kept pouring out my soul. “She is pretty, but that is not what made her special. What attracted me was what I could sense of her emotions. They were bright, happy, strong, and clean. I don't know how to describe it. She felt so alive. She made the world better for me when she was around.”
Cadence still did not let my chin out of her hoof. “Why are you so upset? You’ve handled this all this well, except for that moment with Shining.”
She was being generous, calling it a ‘moment’.
Even with my efforts to be stoic, a couple of tears found their way to my cheeks. “Grace knows what I am now. It’s going to change everything between her and me. She might even hate me now, and with good reason. I never wanted to string her along. I knew that eventually it would all fall apart, but I couldn’t help but want her around. It’s always hurt me that I couldn’t be what she deserved. Now I don’t know if we can even be friends.”
I could see Cadence struggle to keep her own emotions in check. “What do you think she deserves?”
“She deserves a special somepony that isn’t a monster.”
Grace all but screamed at me, “Stop talking like I’m not here!”
I quickly turned to Grace, freeing myself of both Cadence’s stare and her hoof. Tears were on Grace’s cheeks as well. “I’m sorry, I understand if…”
She pointed a hoof at me. “Don’t you dare, don’t say another word!”
I drew back from her, and braced myself for more. I deserved her harsh words and all the rage and anger that came with them.
The suddenly soft tone she used affected me more than if she had walked over and slugged me. “Do you have any idea what you just said? I don’t know what happens back in that hive where you came from, but here no mare is ever told that she is attractive because she has wonderful emotions. You don’t care that I’m a pony, why should I care that you’re a changeling?”
I deliberately dropped my disguise, and Grace’s eyes widened. I brought my hooves up, and shook them as I pointed at myself. “Because this is what I am. Ponies would find out what I am eventually, and I don’t want you persecuted along with me.” I looked towards Shining armor, deliberately sending both Grace and him a message.
Shining Armor stood there as silent as one of the statues in the Royal Garden.
“Look at me!” I turned back to Grace, meeting her blue eyes. She paused to calm herself, and then came closer.
She slowly reached out her hooves, and began touching me as a curious foal would. She started with my ears, and then briefly touched my horn. I closed my eyes as she ran her hooves over my face. Her hooves lingered on my fangs for a second, and then she moved down to my shoulders, then my wings, then my ribs, then my flank, and finally gave a soft tug to my tail. I did not feel any more contact, and I opened my eyes. She had moved so that her nose was so close to mine that we were almost touching.
She held my gaze with her eyes even firmer than Cadence had. “You know what I see?”
I slowly shook my head. “No.”
“I see a pony that loves me because of who I am. I see a pony that turned his back on his own kind, so that he could protect the ponies of Equestria. I see a pony that risked his life to protect me, when the whole world was coming apart.” She hugged me around the neck, taking care with my shoulder. “I wish you had told me about this sooner, but that doesn’t change anything, and wouldn’t have. I love you, fangs and all, changeling or not.”
I pulled her into a hug and cried in relief.
After a little time Celestia’s voice broke through our moment. “Shining Armor, do you fear that this pony is a threat to our kingdom, having heard his words?”
He shook his head. “No, he is no threat.”
“Cadence, do you feel that he should be punished for what he has done?”
Cadence laughed, as if the question was a joke. “As far as I am concerned he has not done anything wrong beyond a couple of social faux pas. He has hurt nopony, worked hard, and even tried to prevent a national disaster.”
Celestia took a moment longer to look at Grace, before asking her next question. “Grace, do you feel that this pony needs to be punished for hiding what he is, especially since his deception has affected you the most?”
Grace did not break her embrace. “No, Princess, he hid what he is, but he never hid who he was.”
Celestia’s horn glowed again and, with an almost physical impact, my ability to sense emotions returned.
Celestia gave me that winsome smile of hers. “Swift Message, I did not merely take your emotion sensing abilities with my spell. I shared and intensified them. Everypony in this room knows that your words were true, they could feel it.”
I gaped up at Celestia. Grace laughed at my expression. She must have known what Celestia was going to do before they had even entered the room.
I looked at Grace. “You felt what I feel about you?” She nodded. I sighed in mock shame. “Well, now you know the full extent of what a sap I am.”
She pulled me to her tighter. “Yep, I won’t let you forget it either.”
“Grace, please release him. There is still something I must do.” Celestia’s tone had turned serious.
Grace reluctantly complied.
Celestia drew to her full height, and looked down on me. “Swift Message, three ponies that your deception has touched have forgiven you. As a ruler of Equestria, I do not have such a luxury.”
Celestia was acting as I had expected. She held the good of Equestria before her own feelings. I could not bear her ill will for it. I shifted back to my pony form. I wanted to face my fate as the individual I had become, not the thing I had been.
Celestia’s eyes betrayed none of her thoughts. “I have decided what your sentence shall be.”
Grace shook her head, and put her hooves to her mouth. “Please no. He hasn’t hurt anypony, he even tried to help.”
Cadence pulled Grace to the side.
I bowed, careful of my shoulder. “I will accept whatever punishment you deem fitting. I only beg that Grace not be present if the sentence is to be execution. I have hurt her enough, without her having to go through seeing that.”
Celestia replied with cool and even words, “No matter what I decide, it will have an impact on Grace.”
My hopes dimmed.
She continued, in her royal tone, “You deceived the ponies of this nation, yet did no harm. You came into my castle by hiding your nature, but performed your duties as any other citizen would have. You chose a veiled way to warn us of danger, but you took that path due to your well-reasoned fear. It seems deception is your only crime, and the damage done was negligible. I therefore sentence you to two years of serving as the Royal and Lunar Guard’s trainer in how to prevent changeling infiltration.” She mischievously smiled and added, “With a slight increase to your current salary, of course.”
I went weak in the knees. Grace quickly stepped in and braced me, keeping me from going to the floor.
Shining walked over, none of the anger and hostility that he had shown was apparent, and he rubbed the back of his neck with a hoof. “I’m sorry for acting like such a sore-headed hydra. I had to make sure that you were telling the truth, and it’s very difficult for a pony to hide something when they’re angry. I set up the tough soldier act with Celestia and Cadence before we came to talk to you, feeling your anger on top of my already raw emotions, made me go a little further than I had intended.”
He extended a hoof. “I hope that, despite my conduct here, we will be able to work together.”
I could not help but feel better about him. “You did what you did to protect the ones you love. I can’t see a reason why we couldn’t work together.” I shook his hoof, putting the matter behind us.
Celestia nodded in approval at our conduct and turned to leave. “This has been interesting, and I would like to speak with you more, but I’m afraid I have other duties to attend to. I hope that you recover quickly. I have a feeling Shining is going to be putting you hard to work very soon.”
Cadence turned to Shining. “We should be going too. We have another wedding to pull together.”
Shining nuzzled her. “Let’s just hope that it’s not quite as eventful as this one turned out to be.” As they left, he gave us some parting words. “You two don’t do anything that will hurt that shoulder.”
To my chagrin, I gave him the satisfaction of seeing me blush.
He shut the door behind them, leaving Grace and me alone in the now quiet room.
Grace smiled, and ran her hoof along my mane. “This feels so real.”
I took her hoof with mine. “It is real. Changeling magic transforms the physical make up of its user so that it is what’s mimicked, on the outside at least. Everything else stays pure changeling.”
“What are you feeling now?”
“What am I feeling, or what do I sense that you are feeling?”
“Both.”
“I’m feeling that I have been unusually lucky. I managed to keep the mare I love out of danger. I survived a fight with two changeling shock troops.”
Grace interjected, “With a little help from me and a mop handle.”
I laughed and nuzzled her cheek. “I can’t argue that. I’ve even faced an interrogation and sentencing from royalty, and came out of the experience with a raise.”
I pulled her close, with my good foreleg, and put my forehead to hers. “I am also feeling very, very lucky that the mare that I love saw me for who I am, and not what I am.”
“Luck had nothing to do with that. Now, what am I feeling?”
I concentrated. I do not know what Celestia did to enhance my abilities to where the others could have felt everything that I had been feeling. Typically the difference between sensing an emotion and feeling one for me was striking. It was much like distantly smelling a cinnamon roll, rather than having that gooey, warm, and delicious pastry in my hooves and in my mouth. I was grateful that I did not have the level of ability that Celestia had given to the others. I would have gone insane around other ponies.
I pushed my skills, to make sure I got as much clarity as I could, and answered, “You’re feeling relief, light hearted, and love for somepony that doesn’t think that he deserves it. Especially after all he’s put you through.”
“That same pony told princess Cadance, the princess of love herself, that he cared for me because my emotions and presence lit up his world. A couple of mistakes will not make me throw away the affections of a stallion like that.”
I leaned in and kissed her. I did not need my abilities to know what she was feeling when she kissed me back.