The eyes of a Pegasus are better on average than those of other ponies. The main cause is the meridians running through them, which tend to be well-developed from birth and trained by the Pegasus in question through their flying; Rainbow Dash started with sharp eyesight that got even better thanks to her pushing the limits of her awareness with her stunt flying.

Due to a quirk of genetics (or so it's figured), Fluttershy had a high concentration of magic IN her eyes. Most of it didn't make her eyes any better, although it could be argued that it helped her 'see' things that cannot be seen easily, like emotional states...

Not only that; magic reacts to the emotions of the wielder, and Fluttershy just so happened to be one of the most magical ponies of her generation; she was almost matching Rainbow Dash, in fact (the cerulean mare had most of her magic in her feathers and wing muscles, of course). The eyes are the window of the soul, as the saying goes; there are times when Fluttershy's emotions simply... overflow.

All of her determination, and her anger, too; she could radiate her psychic imprint - like ponies are wont to do in times of extreme emotion - but focalized into a single point by passing through her eyes. Not truly a spell, not outright, and actually much closer to Changeling style magic in that regard; an emotional taser, of sorts, further enhanced by her connection to the Element of Kindness, instead of because of it.

Rather than use many instant effects like unicorn style magic, changelings conserve energy (and compensate the fact that getting anywhere near the same kind of power as a unicorn was hard) by using spells that work over a period of time or depend on/alter the emotional state of the target.

What Forest was doing was considerably similar; a primal, instinctive use of magic of the mind. The coating of magic that would usually be used to hide her predatory nature, the gathering of magic in her eyes, as well as her nature as a Blacklight being, produced a slightly different final effect, however.

It was a mix of hostility, confidence, and the certainty that slaughter would ensue should she so desire - compounded with her experience in enacting terrible violence, mixed in with the blood of past battles, her intent to kill and the arrogance of the super-powered... on the more mundane side, there was also intimidating body language and her (lack of) scent. Her changeling imprint shifted, aligned more towards Blacklight than a pony.

In short, she looked just about ready to pounce like a wolf or lion, ears held back, teeth bared, and with eyes that said that she would uphold her threats from back at the street.

Now, a normal pony or even a rookie guard would have found her scary; somepony whom they would be glad to never see again, perhaps to the point of sighing in relief when rounding a corner to find ANYPONY who is not her - once the shivers stopped and the fear of an imminent death ran its course. A guard with more experience and better awareness would have quickly come to the conclusion that the mare in front of them had actually killed before, and had just angered her enough to make her consider doing it again, on top of recognizing that she was a very credible threat; their training would allow them to keep their wits enough to make at least a cursory analysis. Shining Armor was a level above still, on top of being privy to certain information that helped him draw a more accurate picture. He thought about Twilight and how her best (and first) friends were there to help against Nightmare Moon, one of which did not end up being an Element of Harmony - a mare tough as nails who just wanted to travel the world. First sign. A lone mare, orphaned and not educated in magic to boot, would have to have other skills and mentality just to survive, and given the 'incident' not an hour before, he concluded that she had had to defend herself from others with decisive force more than once.

(He would not have thought to think of private military contractors or psychopathic killers with shape-shifting powers that should theoretically be on her side, however.)

Due to the nature of the 'incident' (and her reaction to it), he had a good idea of what kind of lowlifes she had had to put up with on the way to where she stood right that moment (a reasonable, if inaccurate guess). The glare that made his blood freeze and curdle in his veins gave him an idea of the kind of method she employed to make a problem stop being a problem (spot on). He, as many of the guards in high positions, had his arrogance - that was completely normal, since one would not be where they were without skills and the understanding that one usually did things right - and yet, he knew (knew!) that nasty surprises could spring from just about anywhere.

This mare was a 'nasty surprise' by sheer value of her eyes.

Not to mention that he had been tackled by Twilight from about the same range. If the mare now mad at him had little experience with magic as per his sources (the princess and Twilight's letters), that meant that magic would not be her first option - which meant that she was used to 'dealing' with 'problems' with her own four hooves. Hooves which, according to Twilight, knew a thing or two about brawling and were fast, dexterous, and precise; likely with some experience against magic users or at least those with some form of ranged option. Shining didn't even bother to consider that emotions would cloud her judgement, at least not in a way that he could exploit should a fight actually break out; that the mare stood in front of him, without a single scar, making him feel like he was about to face a dragon completely naked (which he was - naked, that is), told him that a similar tactic might have been tried before - to detriment of the opponent. Magic resistance... he was willing to give her a generous rating, given the sheer force of will now making his throat and lips feel awfully dry.

As such, Shining Armor understood, perhaps a little too late (which he hoped not, for the sake of his 'twins'), that he should have stayed for longer and apologized more sincerely instead of running off to avoid keeping his sister waiting. She would have understood perfectly the cause for delay, in any case; she always allotted an error margin for him in case of 'guard business' anyways.

In short, Shiny's brain came with some rather rational conclusions: 'I done goofed' and 'GET THE BUCK OUT OF THERE!'

Twilight Sparkle drew similar conclusions.

"Eh... he he he..." The tension was palpable, thick enough to cut with a knife. Twilight gulped, and then fidgeted a little. "I see you've met my brother before!"

The fake cheer was too high-pitched and the fake smile a little too wide, but Twilight noted that an ear flicked in her direction.

"Oh I'm sure he got a good look at me." Forest growled, teeth clenched and huffing.

"I am deeply sorry for the misunderstanding and shall work on my situational awareness to avoid repeating such a distressing set of circumstances." Shining's (political) training kicked in and his mouth blurted out the words in a surprisingly even, smooth tone. He still did not move anything that wasn't a part of his muzzle, though. "Please accept my apologies along with my offer to repay you for any damages that might have occurred as a result of my inconsiderate actions and compensation for causing you to feel such anxiety."

She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes; she held her breath for a few seconds before exhaling slowly.

She inhaled deeply again, and repeated.

A third time, and she simply opened her eyes, turned in the direction of the closet, calmly strode towards it, calmly opened it with her hooves, stepped in calmly, calmly closed it, and let out long, loud groans/sighs of frustration in a way that was decidedly not calm.

"HuuuuaaaAAAAAUGH!"

Shining Armor sighed of relief, hindlegs simply letting go and making him sit down.

"GraaAAH!"

Twilight pouted and her ears drooped.

"FUCK HIM! Sideways forever!"

Shining understood. Visitors to Canterlot would be too distracted fantasizing about the glamorous life that obviously everypony in the city lived, while most Canterlot citizens would be too concerned about their political games, the stratification of the social circles, and as such would simply ignore anypony they believed to be 'beneath them'. Shining saw a mare that had had just about had it with the manure thrown her way; either too tightly wound and ready to blow up, or emotionally burnt out and sick of everything.

Either one was bad. Both would be a nigh-unpredictable incident waiting to happen; one caused by rage or stress going past the breaking point and making her lash out in certain ways, while the other could end up being suicidally depressed and making her lash out in different ways culminating with at least one death.

Either would hurt Twilight, his soft, loving little sister, immensely.

"I'll talk to her." Twilight stated, unsure of what to feel right then, and slowly ambled towards the cussing doors.

Soft knocks on the door.

"Forest? Can I come in?" Twilight spoke softly, trying to push as much honest concern into her heart as possible.

The vocalizations stopped, replaced by slow, loud huffing. A few moments later, the door opened; Twilight stepped in and closed it behind her.

Before her eyes go the chance to adapt to the almost-total dark, a blue light washed over what must have been Forest. After making her horn glow just about the same as a lit match, she saw a black-and-blue shape huddled on the corner, facing it and huffing again.

Forest's natural form, at least as far as she knew.

The way she was sitting, Twilight figured that she was pulling her tail to the front and hugging it - although the clear gray shape on the floor told her that Forest let her tail fin out of the bundle of hair.

"Forest?"

No response.

Forest was beating down the memories of New York, particularly those that related in any way to the crash. It would have been trivial - it should have been, but her changeling magic had turned against her again, this time in a spiral of anger and frustration rather than-

"Please." Twilight tried to hug her from behind, but her fin made it awkward; she settled for leaning on her and trying to nuzzle her, extinguishing the light. The skin was tough, yet its distinctive smoothness was still there; the muscles felt strong under it, and Twilight found out that Changeling Forest had less body fat than Unicorn Forest...

"I don't know what the hay I am doing." Forest said flatly. She was using her pony voice, instead of the weird dual-voice thing of a changeling. "I don't belong here."

Consuming a changeling did not do her any favors. Changelings could imitate ponies, yes, but only to an extent; a changeling trying to imitate Rainbow Dash and her intense acrobatics was flat out impossible for more than a few moments, and that was if they knew how to fly well - oh sure, the original blue changeling Forest was taking the place of was much better (perhaps able to show a convincing training session), but unless she actually was Rainbow Dash (or managed to replace her for a long while without having to engage in sports), she would not have anywhere near the magic reserves to fly with that kind of intensity.

Changelings were dangerous for being cunning and deceptive, for their coordination, their skills - not outright power. Additional love and all of those DNA samples would get rid of that weak point, but the lifestyle was looking increasingly difficult.

Meanwhile, Blacklight... what was there to say? Forest had to talk herself out of consuming ponies, the only reason she didn't tear Shining Armor a new one was because she was in the bucking middle of the friggin' capital city and she might give herself away by mistake, and these cutesy and overly expressive ponies annoyed her if she paid too much attention because of the mild information overload from the Blacklight-Changeling combination's near-instinctive dominion over body language. In fact, had she did not had obtained the empathic extra sense, things might have gone very differently.

She was discreet, changelings were excellent at it, too. What was she doing? Having tea with princesses in the middle of the d-danged capital city.

She was more comfortable covered in owlbear blood in the middle of a deadly forest surrounded by manticores than walking around town surrounded by ponies, and now she was hiding in a closet with a cuddly girly unicorn pony.

Hell, the idea of being romantically pursued tied her brain in knots. That, and she was much more comfortable in the role of a mare than she had ever been in any previous disguise.

"I don't think you really believe that." Twilight said.

"I threatened your brother and caused a huge scene; every stallion within earshot - and believe me, I was loud - flinched simultaneously." A small spike of emotion told her that Shining was listening.

"I might not like that you did that, but, as the princesses said, that is a product of your past." She stroke her mane - that silky, flowing mane that looked high-maintenance, yet just a small flip would send stray strands back into alignment. "Learn from it, but do not let it define you or limit you."

"It's a little late for that."

"Why would you think that?"

"It doesn't matter. I belong to a very different place; I don't fit."

"So what? We are all different; Rarity dreams of high society, Pinkie loves throwing parties for foals, Rainbow Dash is highly competitive and almost seems like she would rather live high in the skies, Fluttershy is very introverted and prefers the company of her animals, Applejack is down-to-earth and loves her very extended family..." Twilight paused for a moment, shifting a little. "And... and I was very antisocial and blind to friendship."

Twilight gave herself a moment. 'After just a single day, I still cannot believe I spent that much time thinking friendship was a waste of time. All after just a single day.'

'Twilight... is right.' Forest's ears twitched. 'A hermit bookworm, a Blue Angels fangirl, a stubborn apple farmer, a half-cake-half-cotton candy party animal, Edna Mode, and a shrinking violet Disney princess... what a rag-tag bunch of mistfits. And yet they dealt with Nightmare Moon in less than twenty-four hours.'

"I don't compare very well, Twilight." 'An Eldritch abomination technically-a-zombie with an occasional slight sadistic streak; yeah, I fit in so well. Wait a second, possessed or not, what would that make Luna and Nightmare Moon?'

"I can't begin to imagine what you've been through, but I will help you." Twilight stated, free of any uncertainty. " I know all of these changes might be overwhelming, but... you're in good hooves. It's not the end of the world."

*****

The police officer finally let him down; she was panting after running the most she had in her life - and carrying a kid to boot.

A friend of hers, from another unit, stumbled into the alley, adrenaline having helped him run despite his injury.

Gunfire and explosions, the rumble of vehicles hitting concrete... at the very least, the sound coming from the creatures seemed distant.

"Kid." She rasped, hands on her knees as she tried to keep herself upright. "You hurt?"

Forest shook his head, hand still grasping the gun he had taken from the second officer. He didn't even get the chance to fire it - even though he might have broken his arm from not knowing anything about using them.

"Ahh!" The second officer grunted and puffed as he inspected his arm; some debris or piece of a car -hard to tell at that speed- had hit him rather hard. "Stupid piece of- Ahh... hah... It'll make an ugly bruise, but it ain't broken."

"Kid. Kid, look at me." She looked him dead in the eye, hand wrapping around the unused gun to take it away. "You're still alive, alright? You're gonna be fine. We'll take you to a safe place and you're gonna be fine. You'll be in good hands. It's not the end of the world."

*****

"I heard that before." Her mood had, predictably enough, turned somber, yet felt a little less hollow than before. "Why would you even say that? What prompted it?"

"I... I kind of... noticed that you act like the world did end." Twilight didn't know how close she got with that. "Like you've walked through Tartarus and expect to wake up there again."

'Or the sun, or as a pile of ashes.'

"I do expect that, yes."

"Why?" Twilight, it should be noted, had not moved much.

"I would rather not say..."

Twilight, however, was perceptive. The princess had more than once told her that what ponies didn't say could far outweigh what they did say in importance.

'You have all the pieces' indeed. If a mare went through hell, she'd be more willing to do things to escape it; perhaps Forest felt guilty, perhaps depressed, either way, it was clear that she didn't feel like she belonged into such a warm place as Equestria.

And yet, Forest kept talking with a hollow voice! No matter what she threw at it she d-

Oh no...

Some ponies built walls or made distance -much as she had done- to keep themselves from harm... but if there was nothing, nothing would get hurt.

...

It... it changed nothing.

She- she was princess Celestia's student. She knew things. She might ignore where did Forest come from, but she knew that there were lands beyond Equestria with 'problems'. Heck, the mountain griffins tried to make 'survival of the fittest' into their societal guide! She'd seen a griffin or two from there, like the ambassador! She knew he had some military experience - perhaps even bloodied talons.

"I still don't care."

Forest huffed, but had no strength behind it. For somepony with strong apathy to suddenly gain strong empathy the only option was to go with the flow. She didn't know how to fight it, neither could she do anything that might give her away as not-a-changeling.

'Let them help.'

She... she didn't care anymore. All she wanted was to stay alive; it's all she had - well, not all, but it was the largest thing that remained. Death... scared her, and yet, now that Mercer was a whole world away, it sounded like rest.

But mom wanted Forest to stay safe.

"Fine. You win. I'll even forgive your brother, so long as he doesn't give me reason to follow up on my promise." Forest felt a smidge of satisfaction from the small wave of nervousness that her words made Shining Armor feel; referring to it as a promise rather than a threat must have helped.

Twilight smiled. It would be long and hard, but the Elements of Harmony were the most powerful magic they knew for a reason, and she herself was Magic.

It could be done.

Author's Note

Shining's brain did not spontaneously combust because, unlike Fluttershy's "The Stare", Forest didn't want to intimidate him; she was debating whenever or not to make the bonfire right there in the middle of the suite, deposit be d-darned*. Putting her intent behind it would have made it stronger by a factor of at least two.

If the pair DID fight, particularly as they were right then, I'd say Forest has the better odds thanks to the surprise factors she's hiding. Different circumstances would mean different odds, but at this point in time it would be hard for Forest to get the upper hand against a prepared Shining without having to play a few suspicious cards, if not having to outright blow her cover.

For someone in her situation, Forest managed to hold on surprisingly long. Remember, her original plan was to stay on the move for a reason. Various reasons, actually.

No, I don't know why some chapters come so much faster than others.

* No, Celestia didn't make them pay a deposit, but hey, New Yorker.