The purity inside us all.

Shadow had no idea. He couldn't leave equestria, it was too peaceful, too welcoming. Why was he being treated like this? "Forgive me, Your Majesties," Shadow pleaded to the princesses, who gave the changeling a startled look. "I have done no wrong and refuse to be treated in such an unfair manner! I might be a changeling, but I demand a chance to prove myself worthy of living in equestria!" He shouted, tears welling up in the corners of his big, blue eyes.

The sudden wave of shock that hit the princesses caused Twilight to not only fire magic at Shadow, but tackle him as well. "After what your kind tried to do, you expect anypony to trust you?!" Twilight yelled, no longer able to keep calm. Shadow scrambled out from beneath her and hid behind Lavin before crying.

"I never did anything to you ponies! I was disowned 19 years ago for feeling emotions! I'm only 4!" Shadow yelled, crying and stomping. He couldn't stay calm, his tears wouldn’t stop flowing, and his racing mind would not cease. There is no force on this earth that can explain why what happened next did, but he simply passed out.

***

A few hours later, Shadow woke up in a soft bed, yet was too tired to open his eyes. He felt peaceful, tranquil, serene. But he had to escape. He knew where he was and had no idea what happened, but it was wrong. It was all too much. He launched himself out of the bed, yet found himself suspended in midair by magic as an unknown pony entered the room, whispering something. His dampened hearing was returning and his sight was coming back to him as he noticed that it was night-time. A form appeared to him, though it was hazy. As it cleared up, he found it to be Princess Luna.

"Calm down, little one... If you age like I think, you have a long time before my sister can execute you. Until then, I will care for you."

"But why, Pr--"

"Call me Mother. It is the least I can do. You did say you were disowned, correct?" she said sternly, cutting off Shadow's sentence. He simply nodded and smiled. Luna had helped coax Shadow to sleep by singing softly. Afterwards, Luna had tucked Shadow in and left the room.

The next morning, Shadow woke up to find that Luna wasn't in the room. Instead, he saw strange guards in front of the door. They weren't normal guards. They had fangs, strange eyes, and their wings were like those of a bat. "Who are you? Where's Mommy?" He asked.

Both of them snickered and flashed their fangs at Shadow, and grew slightly angered when that yielded no response. The one on the right stepped closer, obviously calmer than the one on the left. "I'm Echo. Your 'mom' said that we could have a little snack, so you stay asleep until night-time~," she said lustfully, letting her glistening fangs elongate. Seeing this unfold, Shadow scrambled to back away from the guard. He didn't want to get hurt, so in a vain effort, he jumped to fly over them. Being bat-ponies, their predatory senses were aroused by the sight of fleeing prey. With blinding speed, they both immediately lunged for Shadow.

By the time Shadow had awoken again, he was weak. He couldn't remember much after the bat-ponies had tackled him. Shadow could tell that the sun was setting, so he tried to get up, not accounting for the amount of blood he had lost. As his hooves touched the ground and he tried taking a step, he fell forward onto the floor. His vision was blurred and his mind obfuscated. He could scarcely manage picking himself up. He waited into the evening until the sun had finally set completely. Shadow was still laying there, vulnerable and unable to use his magic.

As the minutes, and soon hours, passed, Shadow was able to muster up enough strength to stand. Walking was still difficult, but Shadow soon traversed the room and made it to the door. When he managed to open the door, the two guards from before were on either side, awaiting for the end of their shift or for Luna to give them new orders. As Shadow slowly made his way through the door’s threshold and into the hall, the guards walked on either side of him, there in the unlikely case that he would somehow cause trouble in his current state.

Echo was the first to speak, her tone sarcastic and mocking. “Well you took that well, bug. Where are you trying to go?” she finished, stopping him from going any further by standing in front of him. She knew he was too weak to run, use magic, or even fly, but Echo wasn't going to move until she got some answers.

Shadow looked at Echo, trying to look frustrated, but only capable of managing a look that convinced them further of his exhaustion. “I’m going to find Mom. I want to talk to her.”

Shadow continued down the halls and throughout the castle’s corridors, and found himself before the doorway to Princess Luna’s chambers. “Can I have some privacy please? I… I just need to talk to her alone,” he said, turning to face the guards who had followed him the entire way there. But Shadow was unaware of the fact that Luna had opened the door and was standing behind him.

“You could have just asked us, Shadow. We find nothing wrong with asking for privacy,” Luna said, startling Shadow, “but there must be a matter that you felt you had to approach us about, so come in, little one.” And so he did. Shadow trepidatiously stepped inside of the lunar chambers, casting one last perturbed glance at the guards that ‘escorted’ him there. A shimmering, blue aura from Luna’s horn took hold of the doors and shut them behind the changeling.

“Well, child? What troubles you so that you may only speak of it in secret?” Luna inquired. Shadow opened his mouth to speak, but quickly shut it again and averted his eyes to the floor. Luna waited patiently for a response, arching a brow after only receiving silence. “Child?” she asked warmly.

Shadow looked in her eyes with tears beginning to brim. Feeling that he was in pain, Luna reached out to him with her magic and picked him up, setting him down on the bed. She came to sit beside him and placed a wing around his shoulders. “Why do I have to die?” Shadow whispered. “I did nothing wrong… I was thrown out from my home. I didn’t have anywhere else to go. I didn’t have a choice. Why must I be executed for that?” Shadow begged to know tearfully.

Luna felt his inner anguish when she looked into his eyes, all the fear he held inside. She could not bear it, and looked away. “I am sorry, my child… but the law is the law. I cannot undermine my sister’s decision. Even if I could make her understand, there would be so many restrictions for you.”

Shadow sat there, dumbfounded; he couldn’t think of how to get her to understand his plight. He pulled away from her, a twinge of pain fueling the response. “There has to be something, Mom! You have to be able to do something!” He said in a panicked tone, not knowing what to say to Luna.

She turned away and spoke coldly this time, “Shadow, there is no earthly thing I could do to persuade my sister’s decision. Unless she changes her mind, which the likelihood of is nigh nonexistent, you are either going to leave on your own, or face the executioner’s axe. Now please, go to your room. Do not stay awake past dawn.”

Shadow nodded, and despite the things he wanted to say and the urge to cry, he slid off the bed and left his surrogate mother’s quarters. The rest of his night was spent next to Lavin, holding her close as she slept.

Several hours later, Shadow still lay awake in his bed, the luminescence of the sun transcending through the window above his head. The sight of the sun’s light brought to his mind thoughts of how something so warm could be controlled by a pony with such a cold heart. Shadow stood up again and kissed Lavin. He knew that he couldn’t leave equestria, but there was nothing he could think of other than to escape. He left his room and started to walk along the halls. There were so many things he could have done on that day; he could have ran, left Equestria, stayed hidden where nopony could find him, or even concealed himself as a pony indefinitely.

But he didn’t. He stayed true to what he was and intended to stay what he was. He was never going to lie to anypony like the others of his kind. Shadow would speak his mind no matter what happened. He continued through the maze of halls and rooms, thinking about the things in those rooms. These were the rooms that would occupy his mind for the rest of his life. There was nothing he could do now but think.

When he returned to his room, Lavin was waking up. He managed to get her to lay back down, but because he needed her until he fell asleep. Soon, Shadow started to cry, but this wasn’t just sadness in his tears, it was everything. He was crying for every dragon, changeling, pony, and any other creatures who were delivered an unfair punishment. He cried for every time that he would see the ponies in the town below being happy. They were enjoying themselves while he was confined within the walls of the castle. Despite this, he heard a whisper in the back of his thoughts, telling him sweet things. Telling him that it would all be okay, that no matter what happened, it would all end well.

He walked the halls every day, thinking of the objects that he had seen, thinking about the history and everything that had happened in that castle. He was oddly happy on his walks, but when he returned to his room, the dark and sad thoughts intruded into his mind again. When this happened, the sweet voice returned, soothing him and keeping him stable.

***

One day, the voice left. It was the same day that his dear wife died. Lavin was so… Perfect. She was his life outside of being taught by Princess Luna or being scolded by Celestia’s guards. She helped him when he couldn’t help himself. She kept him safe. The last night Shadow had seen her, she was leaving the castle to go check on the hive that was made in the catacombs. He had wanted to go with her, but remembered what had happened. He couldn’t bear to see any more visions of his slaughtered family. Lavin had built graves for every single changeling born and killed in those catacombs. They hadn’t been given the time he was, but Shadow knew that they would not feel it.

He knew they had made it quick.

Lavin had been leaving when she fell down the steps. Her old, frail body could not take it. She was in the hospital for two hours before flat-lining. When news reached Shadow, he lost control. He had not only destroyed his room, but said destruction had put several ponies in the hospital. Celestia did not punish him, though. She had talked to him to help calm him down and, for that time, Princess Celestia had been somewhat motherly to him. She actually cared about his sadness. She cared about him.

This all ended in the last 10 weeks before his execution.