The guard standing at the door looked over the letter Spike had handed him. Saluting Spike, he stepped aside. Spike knocked on the door three times. “Melody?” He paused, but no one answered. “May I come in?” Still no answer. He slowly turned the knob and crossed into the dark room. He let the door swing back before reaching left to flip on the lights.

His eyes quickly adjusted to the change in light and he saw her sitting upon the bed closest to the window. In one hand was a notebook, the other, a pencil.The pages were covered in handwritten sheet music to a song he guessed she was writing. She blinked, but otherwise ignored his presence.

“Um, Melody? Can we talk?” He shifted his feet nervously - the atmosphere of the room was crushing. Her frustration was clear and her anger was justified. She finally looked up, gazing directly into his eyes. Her icy glare sent shivers down his spine. She grit her teeth slightly.

“I don’t know Spike, can a monster talk? Cause that’s what you’ve all reduced me to. A boogy stallion, a demon, evil incarnate. My crime, coming here and telling the truth!”

He sighed “Look, I’m sorry for …...”

“Sorry, Spike!?!” She cut him off and leaped from the bed. The notebook crashed to the floor, the pencil was nowhere to be seen. With each word she stepped closer to the panicking dragon. “This was a day I dreamed of and it was anything but perfect!” Standing a mere inch from him she had to look up to stare at him. Each complaint was echoed with a jab to the chest from her finger. “Today I was tackled by guards, cuffed, interrogated, pricked, prodded, blood taken, hair too.” Her wings flared and she pointed to the tip of the left one which was slightly split. “One even tried to cut a piece of my wing. These things are sensitive and it still hurts! I hope he still feels that kick to the jewels I gave him. After that I was left to rot in the interrogation for six hours.” She shivered visibly shaking “Six bucking hours trapped and alone!” She stopped poking him and hugged her arms against her chest to quell the shaking. Her breathing quickened and sweat brimmed on her forehead as the memory of earlier burn in her mind. “I hate being trapped.”

He caught her as she swayed and was quick to connect the dots. “Melody, are you ceithrophobic?” He asked, trying to comfort the panicking mare.

“Yes, you jerk. Fourteen years of imprisonment can do that to you and you might have learned that had you all given me some time to talk instead of attacking me for no reason.”

She pushed him away. “Some great evil plan I had, right? Expose myself and get thrown in jail! Yeah, it’s a great plan!” She threw her arms up sarcastically. Spike stood firmly braving the verbal assault he knew he deserved. He didn't need to be the element of loyalty to know he had betrayed her trust. By exposing herself the way she did she had put her fate in their control and they had crucified her, in a manner of speaking.

“A question for you, Spike.” She said emphasizing his name. “What is the definition of calm?”

Spike quickly listed of the dictionary definition. “Ummm..... Nearly or completely motionless, undisturbed, not excited or agitated, composed.”

“Stop right there.” She interjected. “ So, you gave me a calm reaction this morning. It is after all what you promised. Falling out of you chair and saying that I’m one of those monsters is what you consider calm. So is freaking out a public execution, then?”

“Melody, I....” She ignored him.

She reached to her eyes and with a quick motion removed two small plastic membranes revealing her slitted pupils “As for being a monster, I don’t know. I honestly can’t convince myself I’m not. I mean, look at me.” She motioned to herself. “Thanks to my bucked up half pony half changeling biology neither ponies nor other changelings want a damn thing to do with me other than attack me. I can survive without feeding off of others emotions but without doing so I’m magically stunted. I can’t change or use magic other than telekinesis and I suffer from caster’s fatigue daily cause my messed up body uses most of my energy.” She rubbed her head. “The headaches and nausea are a real blast let me tell you.” She continued her rant pointing to her canines as they extended. “I mean, for crying out loud, I have the fangs that can secrete a paralytic venom.”

She looked down, brushing a tear from her eyes. “I’m just tired, Spike.” She paused. “So tired of running, of hiding, worrying if others will find out what I am. I never asked for this. I didn't ask for a garbage mother who sees me as nothing more than a tool. I didn't ask to be a freak of nature. I didn't ask to be a bastard foal.” A soft pitiful chuckle escaped her lips. “Sometimes I wish I would've managed to kill myself a year and a half ago when I tried to starve myself.” She sat down on the bed again. “Instead I found that unlike other changelings, I could survive without constant feeding, which gave me the courage to plan my escape.” She laid back on the bed, her legs hanging off the side. “Another lousy plan. Should have let that orange dragon eat me. Anyway most of my anger is spent and that is about all I have to say so I guess its your turn.”

“Melody, I realize I messed big time.” He sat down next to her on the bed.

“Oh, really? I didn’t notice!”

“I was an idiot. I had no right to judge you based on what you are. I mean, look at me, I’m a dragon, we’re supposed to be greedy monstrous beasts but I’m not. So to call you a monster just because you're part changeling was ludicrous on my part.” He moved his hand over hers. “Cadance talked some sense into me and I would like to ask for forgiveness.”

She sat up, his hand still covering hers. “Wow she was telling me the truth."

"What do you mean?"

"Never mind. I suppose I can, but I have three conditions. First, never refer to me as a monster again. Two, I want my stuff back from the guards. And three, dinner, since I haven’t eaten since this morning.” She turned to look at him. "Also, I'm sorry for yelling."

He smiled, “You had a right to be angry, Its no problem. And you have a Deal.”

Shining Armor loomed over the paperwork on his desk in front of him. Nothing, absolutely nothing made sense today. Today was supposed to be his day off but instead a changeling, of all things is trying to pass herself off as his daughter. Even worse than that was the fact nothing this changeling did made a lick of sense, it was infuriating. The identity she was using wasn't stolen, she had applied for a birth certificate and citizenship in Dodge City. Other paperwork recovered from her belongings indicated she had slowly over the course of a year and a half worked her way here. Why wait, why didn’t she come straight here? Her interrogation was a failure since she was having some kind of panic attack. He had more questions than answers and not a single way to get any. No longer able to hold in his frustration, he flipped his desk, sending papers flying everywhere.

“What’s your plan, you damn changeling!?” He cried out throwing his face onto his desk.

“She might not have one, you know...” Shining Armor jumped up from his chair in shock. He turned to the speaker. “Cadance you scared me, I didn’t even hear you come in.”

“I know. You were too busy making a mess, throwing your face into your desk, and much too brooding to notice.”

He stooped down, picking up papers, having righted the table beforehand. “Sorry, it’s just that the actions of this changeling are boggling my mind. Why get captured, why get a permanent identity, and why come here posing as my daughter?”

“Unfortunately, she isn't posing.”

“What?” His papers hit the floor once more.

“She really is your daughter. Both a DNA test and a calling of the blood spell have confirmed it. But really, Shining, even without that, she looks a lot like you.” She explained, handing him a manila folder containing more papers. “A messenger just brought this to me a couple of minutes ago.”

Shining looked over the contents of the folder. He took a large breath before falling back into his chair. Despair hung around the stallion like a fog.

“Cadance... I’m so sorry.” He ran his hands through his hair. “I don’t know what to say, nothing I could that would make this right.” He hung his head and covered his face.

“Honey, it's alright.” He felt her caress his shoulders before hugging his neck. “You didn’t know, she deceived all of us except for Twilight.”

“But still.” He held her hand as they draped over his chest and nuzzled her forearms.

“No buts to it, you did nothing wrong and I forgave you the night I married you.” She rested her chin upon his head. “However, Melody is just as much a victim as you or I.”

“But she is still a changeling.” He disagreed

“She is also a pony and your foal as well. She deserves a chance, just like anypony else.” Cadance protested. Shifting her weight to her left foot, she continued. “I spoke with her for a bit after moving out of that interrogation room you had her in. With a more normal setting, she was a bit more talkative. Took her some time to open up to me, but you know, less yelling tends to help out alot. We talked a little bit about music, about why she came here, and about Spike. Talking to her felt no different than talking to our son.”

He took a deep breath. “What if it’s all just and act? If this is all just a ploy. I don’t want to come close to losing it all again”

She kissed his cheek “Then we deal with it. For the moment, though, you are punishing her for a crime she didn’t commit.” She coaxed. “I know you still have nightmares about the invasion but she was neither alive then, nor a part of it. And who knows, maybe getting to know her will help.” She kissed him on the cheek. “I still want you to talk to her civilly and give her a chance... Do it for me, then, if not for her.”

“I could never turn down a request from such a lovely princess.” He turned his head to look at her from the corner of his eye. “Cadance?”

“Yes, honey?”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For everything, for loving me, for supporting me, for picking me up when I’m down, correcting me when I’m wrong, and being the best damn decision I ever made in my life.”

“I love you too, Shining but we need to hurry. I told Spike he should apologize as well and he is taking her to dinner. We’re gonna meet them over there.”

“I am going to regret this, I just know it...” Shining grumbled, eliciting a snicker from his wife.

“Oh, don’t be such a stick in the mud, my dear.”

Melody studied the menu in her hand. She looked at Spike, who was sitting across from her in the booth. “Must have nachos!” She nearly drooled thinking about them.

“I think I’ll go with the calzone” Spike said, setting his menu on the table.

“Spike, what are we waiting on?”

“Our other two guests.” He replied mysteriously.

“Well, they had better hurry up, otherwise I’ll have to eat somepony instead!”

“I hope you’re kidding, because I have great news. They’re here!”

Shining Armor slid into the booth next to Spike, Cadance next to Melody.

Melody looked at Shining. “So what hoofball formation will I be tackled by this time?” The stallion choked for a moment at that. “I apologize for that and for breaking my word. Both were uncalled for. I let past fears get the better of me.”

“I accept your apology if we could get something to eat now. Since I haven’t eaten since this morning I’m starving like you wouldn’t believe...”

Author's Note

ceithrophobic - Fear of being trapped or locked in.
Also Special thanks to Silly Madman I couldn't do this without him.
If you read this think about taking a moment to look at his stuff.
Its pretty good.