Princess Flurry Heart, Alicorn of… something (she’d get her cutie mark someday! Mom promised!) knew lots of things. She knew Mom and Dad loved her. She knew her aunt and all her friends – who were also her aunts, even if they weren’t related, no matter what Brilliant Emerald said at school – loved her less, but still did. She knew where foals came from. She knew she didn’t want to know where foals came from. And she knew her brother, Early Dawn, was tired, no matter what he said.
“But I’m not tired!” the young pegasus protested, yawning.
“Really, it’s past both your bedtimes,” Sunburst said, reaching up with his hoof to push his glasses further up his snout.
Flurry Heart liked Sunburst, even if he was a silly pony. He was always nervous whenever he wasn’t talking about magic, even though everypony liked him. And he was really nervous around Starlight Glimmer, even though he liked her best of all. It was silly. Why would you be nervous around somepony you love, especially when that somepony loves you? But whenever she tried to ask him about it, he always got embarrassed and changed the subject.
Sometimes, Flurry Heart worried she would never understand grown-ups.
“I’m not going to sleep,” Flurry Heart said, fluffing up her wings. Everypony always said they were too big, but she thought they were just the right size. Like for poking her little brother while she was way out of reach of his wings. “But you should,” she said firmly to her brother.
“But I want to see the baby!” He stomped his hoof on the fancy rug Great Aunt Celestia gave her from somewhere. “And you’re staying up!” He pointed his hoof at her accusingly.
“I’m seven and a half,” Flurry Heart said, straightening up to her full height. “You’re only six.”
“Six and a half!” he said defiantly. “I’m not a baby like Gleaming Melody!” He jabbed his hoof down the hall towards a door almost entirely covered with construction paper and crude crayon drawings.
“Well, she’s not a baby anymore either,” Sunburst said. “I mean, she’s already almost four years old! And she went to bed early.”
“Yeah, and I didn’t get to see her being born.” Early Dawn crossed his hooves and pouted, tucking his wings in close against his sides. It was always a sore spot with him.
Flurry Heart lifted her head primly. “It was gross.”
“You said there was lots of blood!” Her brother whirled on her.
“Yeah. Gross blood.” She wrinkled her snout. “You really wouldn’t like it. And Mom hurt a lot. And she was cranky.” Flurry paused, tilting her head. “But she loved us anyway. Even when she was shouting at Dad.”
“Yes, well, Princess Cadance was, well…” Sunburst shuffled.
“ ‘Pushing out a bowling ball,’ ” Flurry Heart quoted.
Sunburst coughed into his hoof. She never understood why ponies did that; it was always obvious what they were feeling. “Yes, yes, right. That’s what she said.”
“But I want to see!” Early Dawn grumbled, yawning again.
“Well, I’m sure you’ll be able to see them in the morning.” Sunburst pushed his glasses back up his muzzle again. He really needed to find glasses that actually stayed put. Maybe she would ask Mom about getting him a new pair for his birthday.
“But what if it’s like the last time Mom was going to have a foal?” Early Dawn was trying to sound brave, but he wasn’t very good at it.
“O-oh.” Sunburst shifted on his hooves. “I’m sure they’ll be fine. Really.”
“But what if they’re not? What if I go to sleep and I wake up and Dad is looking all sad again and Mom is crying and they tell me I’m not having another baby brother or sister again because I was asleep?” He wasn’t even trying to hide his fear now.
Flurry Heart swept her wing over her brother’s back, pulling him into a hug. Brilliant Emerald was wrong; her wings were just the right size. “That won’t happen.”
“That’s right.” Sunburst pushed his glasses back up his muzzle. “That was a miscarriage. Ponies usually lose their foals in the first trimester.”
Early Dawn sniffed. “But what if it happens again?”
Flurry Heart rested her hooves on her little brother’s shoulders and looked him in the eyes. He was crying, and his nose was dripping snot, but he was still her brother. “Mom and Dad promised it would be okay. You don’t think they’d break their promise, do you?”
Her brother rubbed at his nose with the back of his hoof, wiping away some of the glistening snot as he gave her a weak smile. She knew no matter how sad he was, he loved her and Mom and Dad and Gleaming Melody, even if he was jealous sometimes.
“Nuh uh,” he said.
Flurry Heart nuzzled her brother cautiously, avoiding his wet nose. “You want me to tuck you in?”
Early Dawn shook his head defiantly. “You’re too little. Only grown-ups can tuck you in.”
She rolled her eyes. “Fine. Sunburst can tuck you in then. Right?” She looked up at the larger pony.
“Yes, well, I can. I mean, I do sometimes.”
“And I’ll help.” Flurry Heart tugged on her brother with her wing, guiding him down the hall for a few steps before he pulled away.
“I’m not a baby. I can walk myself.” Early Dawn lifted his head high, flaring his little wings before another yawn escaped his lips. He shook his head, blinking a couple times, then stumbled down the hallway.
“He really is tired,” she whispered to Sunburst. “He let me go a whole five steps before he walked away.”
Sunburst chuckled, his horn glowing as he turned the door handle to Early Dawn’s room and pushed it open.
“Aw, you should have let me do it!” Flurry Heart said, pouting.
Early Dawn scowled. “I want my door to stay on my room.”
“I only pulled it off once!”
“Twice. And I had to sleep in your room both times.” Early Dawn grumbled to himself as he stepped into his room, spreading his wings and flying over to his bed, avoiding the many toys strewn across the floor.
Flurry Heart took one look at the mess and stomped her hoof. “Early! You’re supposed to pick these up!”
“Yeah! Well, Mom and Dad aren’t here to make me.” He stuck out his tongue at her as he landed on his bed. “Besides, you can fly.”
“But Sunburst can’t!”
“It’s alright,” Sunburst said, setting a hoof on her back. His horn glowed and, one by one, the toys floated up and over to Early Dawn’s open toy box, where they neatly landed inside, slowly making a path for him to her brother’s bed.
Flurry Heart glanced between Sunburst and her brother. “But you shouldn’t have to,” she said, her voice quieter.
“It’s fine. I don’t mind, really.” Sunburst smiled as he floated Early Dawn’s model of the crystal train onto its shelf. “Besides, it isn’t his fault that Princess Cadance and Shining Armor aren’t here to tuck him in. He’s probably a little jealous, that’s all.”
Flurry Heart leaned into Sunburst’s leg. Normally, when Mom and Dad had to pick up their toys, they were angry. Why wasn’t Sunburst?
She sighed. She really would never understand grown-ups. Still, Sunburst was right: her brother didn’t have enough love tonight. Squaring her shoulders, Flurry Heart stepped and sprang into the air, flapping her wings once before she touched down on her brother’s comforter.
Early Dawn looked at her suspiciously. “I told you, only grown-ups can tuck you in.”
“I know,” she said, pointing her horn at him.
“H-hey! Didn’t mom tell you not to use magic on ponies?” Her brother scrambled backwards against his pillows, lifting one up in his hooves as a shield.
Flurry Heart’s snout crinkled. “She said I shouldn’t use magic on ponies without adult supervision. And Sunburst is right here.”
“I think you should leave the magic to me,” Sunburst said, hopping over the last few toys to join them by the bed. “Not that you aren’t good at magic, but I don’t think he needs a spell to get to sleep.”
“Yes I do! I’m not tired at—” Early Dawn yawned, “—all.”
Sunburst chuckled. “Nevertheless.”
“I’m not casting a sleep spell,” she said, poking at the pillow with her glowing horn. “I’m just making sure he doesn’t feel lonely.”
“With magic?” Early Dawn wrinkled his snout.
“You could just give him a hug,” Sunburst said as he lightly rested one hoof on her head.
Flurry Heart sighed, her horn dimming as she fell back on her rump. “Okay.” She tried not to pout too much when Sunburst ruffled her mane; she knew he was trying to give her love, too.
Early Dawn watched her as he cautiously lowered his pillow. The young pegasus fluffed his wings a little as he put the pillow behind him, then wiggled under his blankets. He peered at her for a second before he looked over at Sunburst, kicking his sheets back off of him with all four hooves. “There. Now you can tuck me in.”
Sunburst chuckled, his horn glowing as he drew the rumpled sheets up to the colt’s shoulders. “Goodnight,” he said, reaching down with his hoof to gently tussle Early Dawn’s mane.
“Goodnight, Sunburst,” Early Dawn said through another little yawn.
“Goodnight, featherbutt,” she said, leaning forward to give her brother a kiss on the cheek, her horn flashing.
“Hey!” Early Dawn squirmed under the blankets, pressing back into his pillows again. “Sunburst said no magic!”
“I was trying to make you feel better!” She stamped her hoof on his blankets, then tilted her head. “Well, did it work?”
“No.” Early Dawn frowned. “And I’m not sad anyway.”
“You don’t feel warm? Like, here?” She poked at his chest through the blankets.
“No.” He looked down at her hoof. “Maybe? A little? I think it’s just the blankets.”
Flurry Heart’s ears drooped. “Oh.” She sighed again, spreading her big wings as she turned around to fly back across the room.
“Weirdo,” Early Dawn muttered as he buried his face in his pillow.
Sunburst gave the young pegasus another pat on the head before turning back towards the door, picking his way back along the path he’d cleared. “He doesn’t really mean that,” he said quietly.
“Yes he did. I made him feel uncomfit… uncomfort… I made him feel weird.” She prodded at the floor with her hoof.
“I’m sure he’ll have forgotten all about it by tomorrow.” Sunburst looked down at her for a moment, his glasses sliding down his snout before he caught them with his hoof. “What were you trying to do, anyway?”
Flurry Heart drug her hoof across the floor. “I was trying to share some love with him. I thought it might be my special talent, like Mom and Aunt Twilight.”
“You’re kind of young to be worrying about your cutie mark, aren’t you?” Sunburst glanced into the darkened room behind him, his horn glowing as he closed the door with a quiet click.
“I’m not jealous that Brilliant Emerald got her cutie mark first!”
“Uhm, that isn’t what I—”
“I’m supposed to be an alicorn, but I can’t do anything!” Flurry Heart only barely resisted stomping her hoof again; her brother was trying to sleep, no matter what he said.
“Of course you can! You do all kinds of things. You’re way ahead of the rest of your class in magic.”
Flurry Heart scowled. “There’s only one unicorn in my class.”
Sunburst chuckled nervously. “Yes, well, you’re very good at magic. You’re better at it than I was when I was your age, and I went to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.” His smile quickly faded, his ears pressing back against his mane; he always got sad when he talked about it.
She hated it when Sunburst got sad like this. He knew as many spells as Aunt Twilight did, and he wasn’t even an alicorn. It wasn’t his fault that he wasn’t strong enough to lift more than a few books with his magic.
This was her chance to make somepony feel better! Lowering her head and sticking her tongue out of the corner of her mouth, she powered up her spell again, pointing her horn at the stallion’s chest as her horn began to glow.
“Uhm, are you trying to cast your spell again?” Sunburst asked, fidgeting.
“Yes.” She could feel it flowing out of her, the power flowing into the older pony’s chest. “Is it working?”
Sunburst looked down at himself. “Well, I seem to be glowing a little.”
Flurry Heart gritted her teeth. “I meant, are you feeling any better?”
“Well, uhm…” Sunburst looked down, then to the side, reaching up to adjust his glasses even though they hadn’t slipped. “I’m glad you’re trying?” He smiled weakly.
“Ugh.” Her horn stopped glowing as she fell back on her haunches. “I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”
“Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll figure it out someday.”
Flurry Heart glowered. Sunburst was smiling that dumb smile that grownups always had when they thought you were being cute. “How do you do it, then?”
Sunburst blinked. “Uh, do what?”
She rolled her eyes. “Give ponies love! You and Mom and Dad and Aunt Twilight and Aunt Pinkie and everypony else are always giving ponies love. How do you do it?”
“You just show you care about somepony. You don’t do it with magic.” Sunburst adjusted his glasses with his hoof. “Or at least, not with the kind that comes out of your horn. I’ve never really been clear on what Princess Twilight does.”
“Nevermind,” Flurry Heart grumbled as she set her head against the wall, her horn clicking as it made contact with the shiny surface.
Sunburst gently set his hoof on her shoulder. “Look, you should get some sleep. Maybe you could even try to talk to Princess Luna in your dreams.”
Her frown deepened. “That never works. She only shows up when I’m having a nightmare. And I’m not tired,” she added belatedly, before her stomach rumbled. “And now I’m hungry, too.” She threw her hooves up into the air.
A new voice cut in. “Well, I could bring you down to the kitchen to get some food, but I thought you’d like to see your new baby sister first.”
“Dad!” Flurry Heart whirled on her hind legs, rushing past Sunburst to attach herself to her father’s white chest. “Is the baby here yet?”
Shining Armor laughed, the sound making his whole body shake. “They just got her cleaned up. You want to come see her?”
“Mmm-hmm!”
“Here, let me take you.”
Flurry Heart squirmed as she was wrapped in her dad’s magic and deposited onto his back. “Hey! I’m not a little kid anymore!”
Shining Armor smirked. “Of course not. But that doesn’t mean I don’t get to carry you.”
Flurry Heart frowned for a moment before draping her legs on either side of him as she leaned forward into his mane. She always loved the way he smelled – sweat, armor grease, and vanilla cologne, with a hint of her mom’s perfume and a touch of her love clinging to him. Not that she’d ever tell him. “How’s Mom?”
He chuckled. “Tired. But she’s a lot better now than she was earlier.”
“Well, that’s good to hear,” Sunburst said, reaching up with a hoof to catch his glasses before they slid off his snout again.
“Oh, Sunburst. Thanks for looking after the kids.” Shining Armor smiled at the crystaller, before glancing at Early Dawn’s door. “Everyone else asleep?”
Sunburst nodded. “We just put him to bed. Gleaming Melody went to bed hours ago.”
“Good. It is pretty late,” Shining Armor said before glancing back over his shoulder at Flurry Heart. “Honestly, I’m surprised you’re still up, Flurry.”
“I’m seven and a half now,” she said, lifting her snout like Aunt Rarity did. She was a princess, after all.
“Heh. You still have a bedtime, squirt.” He ruffled her mane with his hoof, then glanced back over at Sunburst. “You coming?”
Sunburst glanced from side to side. “Me?”
“Who else?” Shining Armor grinned. “You are our crystaller, after all.”
“Oh, no, I couldn’t impose on your family.” Sunburst lifted his hooves to wave Shining Armor off.
Shining Armor stepped forward to set a hoof on Sunburst’s shoulder. “You are family.”
“Yeah! You’re basically our uncle, like Spike,” Flurry Heart said from behind her dad’s mane. “You aren’t just some lame babysitter.”
Sunburst turned his head to the side, blushing and smiling in the way he did whenever anypony complimented him. “I appreciate that. But you four should have some time on your own. I’ll be by tomorrow to say hello to the little one. If that’s alright with you, that is.”
“Of course.” Shining Armor gave him a quick hug before pulling back, drawing a roll of the eyes from Flurry Heart.
“You know, you don’t have to pretend like you don’t want to hug somepony, Dad.”
Shining Armor laughed. “It’s just a stallion thing,” he said as he waved to Sunburst, who nodded and turned to walk away.
“You hug me all the time,” Flurry Heart said, scrunching her nose to show the proper amount of disbelief.
“Well, that’s different. I’m supposed to hug my daughter. It’s part of the Stallion Code.” Shining Armor’s hooves clopped against the hard floor as he walked down the hall towards their bedroom.
“There’s no such thing.” Flurry Heart’s grip tightened around her dad’s neck.
Shining Armor glanced back over his shoulder at her and grinned. “Sure there is. I’ve got the manual and everything. They send it to you when you turn eighteen.”
“Then you can show it to me.” She poked his mane with her hoof.
“Can’t, sorry. First rule of the code.”
Flurry Heart scowled. “Oh, yeah? Fine. What are the rules about hugs, then?”
“A stallion can give an awkward hug to another stallion for one second, or two if they’re family. No exceptions.”
“You hug Early!”
Her dad smirked. “That’s because he’s still a kid. Once he gets his copy of the Stallion Code, it’s awkward hugs from then on.”
She rolled her eyes. “Is telling lame jokes part of the Stallion Code, too?”
“Oh, no. That’s part of the Dad Code. I got that a few weeks after you were born.”
“No you didn’t. There’s no such thing as that, either,” Flurry Heart said confidently.
“What? Are you saying I’m lying? That’s a very serious charge, young lady.” Shining Armor’s eyes sparkled with mischief as he turned the corner, walking past the expensive vase that the Duchess of Maretonia gave them.
“Yes. It’s wrong to lie.” Flurry Heart pointedly avoided looking at the vase. It didn’t count; hardly anypony ever noticed the cracks from when she’d knocked it over anyway.
Shining Armor laughed, his shoulders shaking as he turned his head to give her a warm nuzzle. “Twilight must be rubbing off on you. You used to believe everything I told you.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t have told me that Rainbow Dash invented color when she was six.” She stuck out her tongue at her dad.
“Oh come on, the Sonic Rainboom is a well-documented historical event.”
She bopped him on the head with her hoof.
“Okay, okay! Maybe I fibbed a little.” He chuckled, stopping in the hall and reaching up with one hoof to rub the spot where she hit him.
“You made me look dumb at school!” Flurry Heart sat up on her father’s back, crossing her hooves and looking away. “Brilliant Emerald wouldn’t stop laughing at me!”
“Hey, we all looked dumb when we were in school. I remember when I was your age, my dad told me that when you wanted a kid you just go to the hospital and pick one out, and I told all my classmates.” Shining Armor sat back on his haunches. “I didn’t find out until Twilight was born where they really come from. I just thought your grandma was getting fat.”
“That doesn’t make it okay to lie,” Flurry Heart said, puffing out her cheeks.
Shining Armor looked down at the floor, then his horn began to glow. Flurry Heart kept looking away even as purple magic surrounded her, pulling her away from her dad’s back only to deposit her into his hooves. “You know I wouldn’t lie to you about something really important, right?”
She glanced at him suspiciously. “Like what?”
“Like that I’m your dad, and that I’m very proud of you, and that your mom and I love you very much,” he said, pulling her in against his chest and squeezing her with his hooves as he draped his head over hers.
Flurry Heart stared up at her dad for a few seconds before huffing and leaning into the hug. “I know. I can tell every time you hug me.”
“Oh, really?” He reached up to muss her mane with his hoof.
“Of course I can. It’s easy.” She squirmed under his hoof, eventually pulling herself out of the hug. “Why do you always do that?”
“It’s good luck to rub the head of an alicorn. But your mom doesn’t like it when I do it to her.”
Flurry Heart snorted and turned away, marching down the hall past the ugly brown banner the Yaks sent them last year. Why did they even put it up? “I thought you were taking me to see my new sister, not bringing me along for good luck.”
“It can be both,” Shining Armor said, smiling again in that grown-up way as he followed her.
Flurry Heart rolled her eyes again, not breaking stride as she marched straight for her parents’ bedroom, making a beeline for the space between the two pegasi standing guard outside.
A pair of wings flared in front of her. “Halt!” the guards said in perfect unison.
Flurry Heart grumbled. “Flash. Glam. It’s me.”
“Well, of course you’re a you. But are you the you? Even a changeling would be themselves.” Flash Sentry peered down at her in his best attempt to look suspicious.
“Aren’t you not supposed to smile?” she asked, scowling. “How do I know you aren’t a changeling?”
“Oh. That’s new.” Flash Sentry rubbed his chin with a hoof. “Of course, that’s exactly what a changeling would say.”
Flurry Heart stamped her hoof. “Why do you two always do this? I can tell you know it’s me!”
“Gotta keep the Princess safe, er, Princess,” Gilded Glamor said.
“Of course, posing as a princess is exactly what a changeling would do. That way they keep their wings and horns.” Flash Sentry nodded sagely.
Flurry Heart sighed. Loudly. And then did it again, just to make sure they heard. “The password is ‘bananas’.”
“Aha!” Flash Sentry pointed at her with his hoof. “We changed the password last week. It’s ‘pineapples’ now.”
“Is not! You never told me!”
“She has a point. We never told Princess Flurry Heart,” Glam said, nodding. “A changeling wouldn’t know that.”
Flash Sentry nodded his head, pulling his wing in against his side. “Hmmm, I guess you’re right. In that case, you can pass, Princess.”
“You’re as bad as Dad,” she growled as she stomped past them.
“Thanks for keeping watch,” Shining Armor said, wearing his best serious face. “Gotta make sure no changelings get in.”
“Not even Thorax?” Flash Sentry asked.
Shining Armor’s eyes narrowed. “Not until he returns my croquet mallets.”
“Yes, Sir!” Glam saluted.
“Hey!” Flurry Heart glowered at the pair. “Why don’t you two ask Dad if he’s a changeling?”
“Hm. The Princess is right.” Glam stared straight at Shining Armor. “What’s the password?”
“‘Pineapples’, of course. We just changed it last week.”
Glam bowed. “Thank you, Your Highness. You may proceed.”
“Hey! That’s no fair! You heard it from him!” Flurry Heart pointed accusingly at Flash.
“Now, now, no yelling. You’ll upset your new sister,” Shining Armor said, his horn glowing as he pulled open the door with his magic and herded her through.
Flurry Heart pouted. “Why do you make them stop me?”
“I don’t, kiddo. They were just teasing you.” Her dad leaned down to give her another hug around her barrel. “You know they love you.”
“I know,” she grumbled even as she leaned into the hug. “That doesn’t mean they have to be so annoying all the time.”
Shining Armor smiled. “Sure it does. They aren’t allowed to annoy anypony they don’t like.” Straightening up, his horn glowed again as he closed the doors behind him before turning to the second set of doors on the far end of the entryway.
Flurry Heart sighed and turned towards the second set of doors, glancing at the various gifts and trinkets her parents had set up in the entryway while she tried not to think about why her parents had two sets of doors on their bedroom. She really shouldn’t have asked her mom about that.
“You alright there, kiddo?” Shining Armor asked.
“Just looking forward to meeting my new sister!” she quickly replied.
Shining Armor nodded his head, his horn glowing as he pulled open one of the doors and stuck his head through the narrow opening. “Hey. You two still awake in there?”
“Of course. Come in!”
Shining Armor took a step back, pushing the door open wider with his magic. Flurry Heart took a hesitant step forward and peeked into the room.
The first thing she noticed was how tired her mom looked. Her mane and tail stuck out in clumps, and she looked like she’d just run a race. The air in the room smelled like the stuff mom put on her knees after a crash landing, and the sheets on the bed were rumpled, like they had just been thrown on without being tucked in.
But when she looked at the way her mom was smiling at the little bundle in her hooves, she could feel the love even from across the room.
“Hi, Mom,” she said, shifting awkwardly from hoof to hoof as she stood in the doorway.
“Flurry!” Cadance looked up from the swaddling to meet Flurry Heart’s gaze. Her mom’s eyes might have had lines under them, but no amount of tiredness could hide their warmth. “You want to come meet your new sister?” She nodded down at the filly nestled between her hooves.
Flurry Heart nodded, spreading her wings as she fluttered across the room, landing at the foot of the bedspread. Slowly, she padded across the blankets, her eyes locked on the tiny creature between her mom’s hooves. “She’s so small.”
Cadance giggled. “She’s the same size as Gleaming Melody was when she was born. You’re just a lot bigger now.”
“It’d hurt a lot more otherwise,” Shining Armor said from across the room, closing the door behind him before he walked over.
“Oh, you’re one to talk. You’re not the one who had to push her out.”
“Yeah, I just get to have my hoof crushed.”
Cadance rolled her eyes good-naturedly before her gaze fell back to Flurry Heart. “You okay?”
Flurry Heart nodded. “Sorry I got quiet. I was just looking at her.” She leaned forward to brush back her sister’s blue mane with her hoof, revealing her smooth forehead before she cupped the filly’s cheek in her hoof. “Can I hold her?”
Cadance smiled and nodded, lifting the foal up away from her chest. “Just be sure to support her head.”
“I’ll be careful,” Flurry Heart said seriously as she reached out, gently pulling her little sister away from her mother’s hooves, letting her rest against her own chest. “Hi there. I’m your sister,” she said, leaning down to give the foal a kiss on the tip of her snout.
The foal giggled.
“She doesn’t have a horn,” Flurry Heart said, looking down at the filly. “Is she a pegasus, then?”
“Like your brother.” Her dad scooted up onto the bed behind her and set a hoof on her back.
Flurry Heart frowned. “And Gleaming Melody is a unicorn.”
Cadance and Shining Armor exchanged a glance. “And?” her mom prompted.
“Why aren’t they alicorns too?”
Shining Armor shifted on the bed behind her. “Nobody knows,” he lied.
Shining Armor’s legs trembled as he looked down at the smoldering corpse that had once been Queen Chrysalis. Smoke rose off shattered chitin, her diaphanous wings now little more than tattered stubs rising from her iridescent shell where she lay on her side. Her neck was twisted at an unnatural angle, her head fetched up against the curved wall of the cave.
In his dreams, when he imagined bringing the changeling queen to justice, she had always bled ichor, a foul, green substance the same color as her evil magic that would mark her for the monster she was. But looking at her now, she looked all too much like a pony. Crimson blood flowed down over her face from the base of her shattered horn, staining her mane as it pooled on the floor beneath her head.
Shining Armor felt bile rising in his throat as he examined his handiwork; he hadn’t meant to hit her that hard. She was sickly and exhausted; there was no need to kill her. But when her horn smoldered a sickly green,when her voice echoed in his ears, when her burning gaze had met his… she had given him no choice. He couldn’t let her take him again. Couldn’t let her into his mind to do with him as she pleased. Not again. Never again. He would not be her slave.
Nor would anypony else, now.
Chrysalis’s body hung limp as he pulled the queen away from the wall, gently laying her out on the scorched rock. He stepped forward, stretching out one hoof to touch the side of her neck, but even as he did it, he knew he was only going through the motions. Queen Chrysalis was dead.
Shining Armor’s ear twitched at the sound of a high-pitched wail coming from deeper in the cave. Another changeling? His horn burned violet as he made his way into the cave, lighting his way with his magic.
Another cry. Shining Armor jerked his head towards the sound, his hoof-falls echoing off the water-worn walls as he made his way towards its source.
Chrysalis’s makeshift camp was a major step down from her accommodations at Canterlot Castle. The “Queen” seemed to have gathered little for her abode here. The tattered canvas of an abandoned tent was stretched out across one corner of the cave. In front of it was a small fire pit, a circle of scorched stones surrounding a thick pile of ash. A makeshift bindle lay nearby, a small, solitary lump of what might have been an apple – the only sign that the place hadn’t been completely abandoned. On the opposite side of the cave, far away from the tent and fire, sat a soaking wet pile of rags. They stank of blood, sweat, and worse.
A high-pitched wail pierced Shining Armor’s skull, drawing a wince from the stallion as he pinned his ears back against his head. Turning his head towards the tent, he carefully made his way over towards the source of the sound, his horn humming with arcane power. Stepping forward, he swiftly peeled back the side of the canvas and pointed his horn inside.
The sleeping quarters were meager. A lantern hung from a branch set up against the wall, the fireflies inside dormant for the moment. A pile of old blankets made up what might have passed for a bed, but more closely resembled an uncomfortable nest, barely large enough for a mons—a pony of Chrysalis’s size. But it was the tiny bundle in the center of the nest that caught Shining Armor’s attention. Far too small to house a changeling, it moved and wiggled as its occupant cried out for care and attention.
His guts twisted as he reached forward with his hoof to turn the small bundle around to face him.
A foal.
Shining Armor clenched his jaw. Violet light flickered across the cave walls as he smoldered with impotent rage, his hoofs trembling against the stone floor of the cave.
Chrysalis had stolen somepony’s baby.
To feed on.
Another sharp cry brought Shining Armor back to reality. The tiny filly wriggled in her swaddling, tears running down her white cheeks as she cried out for her mother.
“There, there,” Shining Armor said, his jaw relaxing as he carefully picked up the baby in his magic. “I’ll find your mom and return you soon enough.” He reached up to carefully pat her curled mane, his fetlocks brushing against her oversized horn. “Heh. You’re going to have a lot of magic when you grow up, you know that?” He did his best to work his face into a smile, but the foal only cried all the more loudly.
“Shh, shh.” He stroked the filly’s head slowly with his hoof as he glanced around the cramped quarters. “What has she been feeding you?” he asked the filly, doing his best to keep his voice light as he glanced around the sparse tent for a bottle.
Nothing.
What kind of monster didn’t feed a baby?
Grinding his teeth, he pulled the infant in close to his chest, wrapping one hoof around her swaddling as he held her. “It’s alright. I promise we’ll get you something soon.”
Holding the infant to his chest with one hoof, he pulled two of the blankets out of the “nest”, tying them together to form a crude sling. Tying the assembly around his midsection, he carefully set the infant onto his back, tugging the blankets in around her before he carefully made his way back outside. He took one long, slow look across the cave, wrinkling his snout at the stench of the blankets in the corner, before he started back towards the entrance, the baby’s wails growing all the louder as she was removed from her temporary home.
“It’s alright,” Shining Armor repeated lamely, the stallion wincing at his own words. Of course it wasn’t alright; she’d been foalnapped. And there was only one pony who knew where the filly had been taken from.
Chrysalis’s corpse lay where he left it, the queen diminished in death, little more than a black, crumpled heap near the mouth of the cave. Scowling, Shining Armor made his way over towards the corpse, prodding her with his hoof.
“I hope you’re happy.”
The filly’s cries rose in pitch, driving Shining Armor’s ears back against his mane in a futile attempt to muffle the sound. Lighting up his horn once more, he gently pulled her out of the sling, bringing her up to face him as he sat down on the cold floor.
“It’s okay,” he said, reaching out with his hoof to touch her mane once more. “Everything will be okay. You don’t have to cry.”
The filly wiggled against her swaddling, pulling her head away from Shining Armor’s hoof. A streak of red marred her purple-and-blue mane, tears shimmering in her eyes as she struggled to escape her cozy confines.
Shining Armor stared at his hoof. A splotch of blood marred his gray hoof, gleaming wetly in the violet light of his horn. “Great.” He carefully lowered the filly to the floor, then pressed his hoof against the stone, trying to scrape off the blood. “Perfect. Now I’m going to have to clean your mane.”
The filly’s horn sparked as her carefully-wrapped blankets pressed outwards, then burst, revealing a pair of pristine white-feathered wings. The surprised filly rolled over onto her side in the blanket, then onto her stomach, squirming against her blanket as she tried to get her tiny hooves under her body.
Shining Armor slumped back on his tail. An alicorn. Where did Chrysalis find a baby alicorn? How was that even possible?
The filly paid no mind to his shock, her cries quieting as she tried to drag herself over next to the dead changeling. The filly nosed insistently at Chrysalis’s flank, paying no mind to the pooled blood as it stained her coat red. She cried out again, a high-pitched whine that set Shining Armor’s teeth on edge.
His gut sank as he watched the filly try and crawl under Chrysalis, dread certainty rising within as he stepped over to roll the dead mare over onto her side. The filly wasted little time in crawling forward against Chrysalis’s belly, her mouth latching onto one of the changeling’s full teats.
Shining Armor staggered away from the feeding baby, his battle with the changeling queen flashing back through his mind. That awkward, stumbling step. The bags under her eyes. Her desperate, flailing attempt to take control with her suddenly-weak magic.
How long had it been since the wedding? Shining Armor paced. It was before Twilight’s coronation, which was before the last Summer Sun Celebration, but after Hearts and Hooves Day… a bit of mental calculation made him wince, the migraine that he thought was forever gone after his last encounter with Chrysalis returning in full force.
Eleven months. It had been eleven months. Just long enough to…
He gritted his teeth and made himself look back at the nursing foal. “Hey, there,” he said, slowly walking back over to her. The foal ignored him, continuing to suckle on Chrysalis. Was she even getting any milk? Shining Armor shuddered.
He should have seen it before. The foal had an electric blue stripe in her mane that matched his own. The rest of her mane was the familiar violet of his own mother’s mane. Her white coat was equally damning. And with a long spiral horn like that, there was only one pony who could be the father.
What could he do? Her wings were too big, her horn was too long… even a casual glance would reveal that something was wrong. Even if he took her to an orphanage, was there anypony who wouldn’t suspect he was the father? Would they think that he and Cadance had given up their foal to live a life as a young couple that much longer? Would they guess the truth – that her wings and horn came not from a pony, but from a changeling?
Did she have to feed on love? Had Chrysalis loved her? How would that even work? If the changelings could feed off of each other, why would they need to siphon off ponies? Or was it just a way for them to steal power for themselves? Would she try to feed off him, just because he was close? Had she already? If he brought her to the Crystal Empire, would she try to steal his and Cadance’s love?
Shining Armor staggered, his mind reeling. Cadance. What would he tell her? He had told her everything. She forgave him. But would she forgive him this? It was one thing to have slept with Chrysalis, believing she was Cadance. But a foal?
A sickness rose in his mind. She didn’t have to know. He could leave her here. He wouldn’t even have to do anything. Nature would take care of things. She wouldn’t last long, alone, with nopony here to protect her.
A piercing wail brought him back to reality. The filly had stumbled, fallen onto her side, and was presently trying to crawl over Chrysalis’s legs, cowering in the changeling’s ratty tail in a futile attempt to hide from him even as she cried.
Shining Armor could feel the bile rising in his throat once more, his belly heaving, trying to reject the filth that had found its way inside. No. She was a child. His child. He wouldn’t do that even to a full-blooded changeling, much less his own foal. It wasn’t her fault her mother was a mon—a bad pony.
“Come here,” he said, his eyes watering as he stumbled towards the filly, who quickly stuck her head under her mother’s tail, cowering in the tattered green strands. “I’m not going to hurt you, I promise.” Not that she could understand him, but voices were supposed to soothe foals, right? What had Cadance told him? What had his mother done with Twilight?
“Come on,” he said, slowly walking around Chrysalis’s limp form. The filly nosed at her dead mother, as if trying to urge her to rise up and protect her. A reedy, desperate whimper escaped the filly’s throat.
Shining Armor took one final look at Chrysalis’s too-thin face before his horn glowed, plucking the filly out from behind the corpse and pulling her towards him in a cloud of blue magic. The filly cried out, her half-scream, half-cry reverberating painfully off the cavern walls.
“Shh, shh,” Shining Armor said as he sat back on his haunches, pulling the squirming filly into his front hooves. “It’s okay. I’m going to keep you safe.” He pulled her in against his chest, running his hoof over her mane.
The filly squirmed, turning around to look at him. Pale blue eyes all too similar to his own looked up at him, and he bent down to nuzzle at her face, his eyes focusing on her face and not the red splotch he had left in her mane earlier. “Daddy’s here.”
The foal’s wailing slowly trailed off as he nuzzled at her, slowly turning into softer, incoherent gurgles. A few seconds later, she awkwardly pulled her oversized wings in against her sides and pushed her face into his neck, her warm, tiny body nestling in against his chest.
“Now, let’s see about getting you home.”
Shining Armor paced across the carpeted floor of the bedroom he shared with Cadance, his hooves thumping dully against the expensive Maretonian rug. His daughter lay asleep on the bed, wrapped in her swaddling. Should he have ordered the guards find him a crib? No. He didn’t even know if he would be staying in the castle tonight. Sure, technically he had a room here as the Captain of the Royal Guard of the Crystal Empire, but if Cadance was upset…
He shook his head. He was thinking like Twilight. She wouldn’t kick him out into the cold, not with a foal to take care of.
But it wasn’t Cadance’s responsibility to raise a daughter who was not her own. Sure, they’d been talking about whether or not to start trying now that they had gotten settled into the Crystal Empire. But how would she feel about raising a filly who had been born to a mare who had imprisoned her in a cave and bedded her fiancé?
“Shining Armor?” The door glowed blue as it creaked open, Cadance sticking her head through the door.
He always forgot how beautiful she was.
“Cady!” he shouted, running across the room and throwing his hooves around her neck.
His wife giggled musically, leaning into his neck. “Missed me that much, huh?”
“Like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Well, maybe you’ll just have to convince me, then.” She gave him a playful nip on the side of the neck that made his heart race, before giving him a light shove in the chest with a metal-shod hoof. “Later. You did interrupt a public meeting. I have to admit, the way Flash Sentry burst into the throne room and said you needed to see me right away, I thought it was going to be about Queen Chrysalis.”
Shining Armor slumped, his hooves sliding off his wife as reality flooded back in. “About that…”
Cadance tilted her head. “Are you alright? You look exhausted.”
“Well, there were some… complications.” Shining Armor grimaced, rubbing the back of his neck with his hoof.
“Oh? Such as?”
His ears pressed back against his mane. “Cadance, Chrysalis is dead.”
“Oh.” Cadance’s ears fell to match his. “Did you find her body?”
His voice trembled. “I killed her.”
“What?” Cadance took a step back, looking him in the eyes. “What happened?”
He licked his lips. “I picked up her trail near Hoofington. She really was hiding in the Everfree Forest.”
“I remember the reports,” Cadance said, putting her hoof on his shoulder. “The ponies there said she was draining so much love she could barely move.”
“They were wrong. When I found her, she was in really bad shape. Even thinner than she was in Canterlot.” He shuddered. “She didn’t put up much of a fight. When I found her, she tried to control me.” The words spilled out of his mouth. “I could feel her pushing into my mind. It was like she was standing there whispering in my ear. I think she even tried to imitate your voice.”
“It’s alright.” Cadance wiped his cheek with her hoof, her hoof glistening with moisture. He’d really have to get the windows in here checked; it wasn’t supposed to rain inside.
“She, uh, tried to grab me with her magic, and I blasted her right in the horn. I wasn’t trying to kill her. I was just trying to stun her. But when she tried to take me over again, I couldn’t… I didn’t…” He sniffed loudly. “She hit her head on the wall. She was dead before I could even try to help.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Cadance said comfortingly, her hoof caressing his cheek, the bridge of her snout rubbing up against his jawline. “She attacked you. You defended yourself.”
“It isn’t just that,” Shining Armor said, lifting a hoof to rub at his other cheek. “It gets worse.”
“How?”
As Shining Armor opened his mouth to speak, a quiet gurgle came from the bed behind him.
Cadance blinked. “Is that a baby?” She leaned to the side, peering around Shining Armor towards the small bundle lying amidst their sheets.
“That’s what I need to talk to you about,” Shining Armor said. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. This was it.
“Where did you find her?” Cadance asked, her tail brushing past his chest as she stepped around him, stepping over to the bed to get a better look.
Shining Armor opened his eyes and sighed.
“You know how we were talking about having kids?”
“Yes. After we spent a year getting settled in here, we’d start trying to…” She paused, her hooves stretched halfway to the filly. “Don’t tell me you adopted her?”
He flinched, his ears pressing back against his mane. “She was with Chrysalis when I found her.”
“With Chrysalis? You poor thing!” Cadance scooped the filly up in her hooves, cradling the bundled-up foal against her chest as she leaned forward to nuzzle at her face.
The baby gurgled.
“Aww. You have a big horn. You’re going to be quite the wizard someday.” She glanced up from the filly towards Shining Armor. “Did you find her parents?”
Shining Armor’s hooves felt like they’d been dipped in lead as he plodded over to his wife. “I mean, I found her mother, but she’s not exactly…”
“Not exactly what?” The baby gave another little gurgle, drawing a brief smile from Cadance as she bent down to give her another nuzzle. “Don’t tell me Chrysalis did something to her.”
His guts twisted. “No, not that either. It’s... uh… gee, how do I put this?” He brushed his hoof back through his mane. “She’s not exactly normal.”
“Oh? Is there something wrong with her?” Cadance’s horn glowed as she began to unwrap the baby’s swaddling.
Shining Armor chewed on the inside of his cheek for a moment. “I wouldn’t call it wrong, exactly.”
The filly squeaked, reaching out with her hooves towards Cadance’s face as the swaddling fell away, revealing her broad, feathered wings, larger than those of any pegasus baby.
Cadance’s breath caught. “An alicorn?”
“A changeling,” Shining Armor said, sighing as he stepped up next to his wife to look down at his daughter.
“She doesn’t look like a changeling.”
Shining Armor could hear the skepticism in his wife’s voice. He swallowed. “Half-changeling. Half-pony.”
Cadance’s eyes widened. “Are you sure? Is that even possible?”
He gently pulled the filly from his wife’s nerveless hooves, pulling the filly in protectively against his chest. “After I killed Chrysalis, I heard her crying back in the cave. I couldn’t find a bottle or anything, so I thought Chrysalis had been starving her, but…” His eyes fell away. His wife didn’t need to know about what happened when he brought her back to the body. Nopony should bear witness to a scene like that, not even in words. “She had been nursing her. It was obvious.”
“I see.” Cadance’s voice trembled as she looked down at the foal. “So she’s…”
“My daughter.” Shining Armor’s hooves shook as he gently set his daughter down on the bed. “I know we were planning on waiting, but apparently Chrysalis had other plans. Or maybe she didn’t, and it was never part of her plan to get pregnant. I don’t know. I barely even remember half the things we did while she was controlling me before the wedding. But I remember…”
He rubbed at his snout with the back of his hoof as he stared down at the foal. “I didn’t want to think about it at first, but she has the white coat and that little stripe in her mane and the right eyes and a big horn like Twi and I did—” He sniffed again. “—but even bigger, because…”
Cadance’s warm body pressed up against his side. “It’s alright.”
“No, it isn’t!” His hoof cut through the air. “It isn’t fair to ask you to help raise my daughter, I know that. But I have to. I love you, Cadance, but I can’t just put her in an orphanage or give her up for adoption. That’s wrong. And I know we were talking about trying but—”
Cadance draped her wing over his back. “Don’t be silly. Of course I understand. Though there is just one thing.”
Shining Armor blinked. “What’s that?”
“She’s not your daughter.” Cadance lay down on the side of the bed, sweeping the baby up in her hooves and tugging her against her chest, her wing stretching out to cup around her. “She’s our daughter. Aren’t you?” She smiled down at the foal.
Shining Armor stumbled, only barely catching himself on the edge of the bed with his hoof. “Really?”
Cadance nodded her head. “Of course. She needs a family, and she has one, right here.”
“That’s… amazing. You’re amazing.” He threw his hooves around her shoulders. “And to think I was worried.”
“You would have done the same thing for me,” Cadance said as she nuzzled up under his chin. “Besides, she was meant to be mine anyway. Weren’t you?” She gently tickled the filly’s belly with her hoof, drawing a giggle from the baby as the filly flailed at her with all six limbs. “It isn’t her fault she had the wrong mom.”
“Chrysalis.” Shining Armor’s face fell. “What are we going to tell everypony else?”
“Hm?” Cadance glanced up from the giggling baby. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, half the ponies in Equestria are terrified of changelings.” Shining Armor slid away from his wife and began to pace. “You remember how everypony was acting at Cranky’s wedding? The ponies from Canterlot would probably be ten times worse! Ponies will worry that everypony they know has been replaced by changelings. After all, if it happened to us, it could happen to anypony!”
Cadance carefully set the filly back down on the bed. “Shining, have you been reading Loose Change’s books again? You know she’s a bit…” Her hoof circled in the air.
“I know.” His ears fell. “But you know ponies are going to worry about things like that.”
“I’m pretty sure that nopony other than Loose Change thinks that every alicorn in Equestria is secretly a changeling queen.” Cadance smiled wryly.
Shining Armor cleared his throat. It was a good thing he’d never told her some of the questions the guards had asked him before they moved to the Crystal Empire.
“What was that?”
“Nothing!” He smiled far too broadly, but the effort quickly failed. “But even if everypony doesn’t freak out, the other foals would still all pick on her. Being the child of the pony who attacked Canterlot won’t be easy.”
“Hm.” Cadance slide up onto the bed, crawling up next to his – no, their daughter. “Who says we have to tell anyone?”
Shining Armor shook his head. “We can’t just pretend like she came out of nowhere.”
Cadance laughed. “We could just pretend like she came out of me.” She smiled down at the filly as she draped one of her wings over the baby. “Couldn’t we? You want me to be your mommy?” She gently tapped the baby on the nose with her hoof.
“Uh, one problem – you were never pregnant.” He paused. “Well, more than one problem, but that’s kind of a big one.”
“I don’t have to be.” Cadance slowly stroked the baby’s mane. “All we have to do is go down to Ponyville one day and make a big deal out of it with Twilight and her friends, while keeping it ‘quiet’ so the press doesn’t pick up on the story.” She smirked slightly. “You know how they love to run stories like that.”
“That would never work. They’d…” His eyes widened. “Wait, is that how you got everypony to think we were going to spend our honeymoon in San Palamino?”
Cadance giggled musically as she snuggled up with the baby.
“Oh come on. They’ll check a story like that.” Shining Armor climbed up on the bed next to his wife, throwing a hoof across her shoulders and leaning against her back. “Besides, nopony is going to believe that you got pregnant and gave birth without anypony noticing. Ponies will get suspicious if you just show up with a baby out of nowhere. They’ve got pictures of you from this week!”
“That’s why we say we’re going to have a baby. Then I spend a month or two hiding, and then…” Cadance smiled down at the filly, cradling her between her wing and chest, “We bring you out.”
Shining Armor frowned. “But won’t she be too big by then?”
“No alicorn has ever had a foal,” Cadance said, leaning back into Shining Armor’s chest. “It’s not like anypony knows what a baby alicorn is supposed to look like in the first place.”
“But she’s not a—oh.” Shining Armor sighed and nuzzled at the side of his wife’s neck. “You know a million things could go wrong.”
Cadance smiled, fluffing her wing as the baby yawned. “Oh, I know.”
“And it is going to be practically impossible to keep her a secret. Flash Sentry and Gilded Glamor already know I brought a foal home with me.”
“I’m sure we can work something out with them. Rosey has a lot of great blackmail material on poor Glam, and Flash knows how to keep his mouth shut.” She giggled. “Especially if you threaten not to let him take me to Ponyville again.”
Shining Armor fell silent, just listening to his wife and the quiet gurgles of the filly under her wing. There was one other thing. He had to ask. “Aren’t you worried about our other kids? I mean, growing up with an alicorn for a big sister probably won’t be easy.”
Cadance slowly rolled over onto her back, pulling the filly up onto her chest as she lay against her husband. “Maybe a little. But we won’t love any of them any less. Will we?” She smiled down at the filly on her chest before bending forward to give her a kiss on the horn. “Besides, who’s to say they won’t be alicorns as well?”
“If that happens, I’m pretty sure we’ll have bigger things to worry about.”
A knock sounded on the door.
“Princess?” came the muffled voice of Gilded Glamor.
“Yes, Glam?”
“You have an appointment in ten minutes. Just thought I’d let you know.” He coughed loudly.
“Duty calls.” Cadance rolled over to face her husband, her horn glowing as she gently pressed the filly onto his chest. “You can look after her, can’t you?”
“I’ve made it this long,” he said bravely, grinning.
“Good.” She leaned forward to give him a kiss on the lips before slowly rising from the bed, sliding onto the floor and quietly walking towards the door as Shining Armor wrapped his hooves around their daughter.
“Cadance?”
“Hm?” She glanced back over her shoulder.
“What if she starts having magic surges or something when we finally ‘have her’? Won’t ponies get suspicious?”
Cadance laughed. “Well, nopony knows what to expect from a baby alicorn.” She winked broadly. “Besides, I’m sure we can handle it.”
“Nopony knows isn’t an answer,” Flurry Heart said, crinkling her snout.
Cadance slid her hooves around both of her daughters, pulling them up against her chest as she leaned forward first to nuzzle at Flurry Heart, then the foal in her hooves. “You’re a very lucky filly.”
Flurry Heart smiled as she leaned back into her mom’s chest, cradling her little sister between her hooves. “Anypony who had you for parents would be lucky.”
“Even me?” Shining Armor asked, smirking.
“Even you. Even if you aren’t as funny as you think.”
Her dad pouted.
“That’s very sweet of you to say,” Cadance said, giving Flurry Heart a kiss on the forehead.
“It’s true. I don’t think anypony in Equestria is more lucky,” she said matter-of-factly. “Brilliant Emerald can’t stop telling me that,” she muttered.
Her parents chuckled. “Well, she’s right. Not to toot my own horn.” Shining Armor grinned.
“Mmm-hmm.” Flurry Heart gently stroked her little sister’s mane, staring down at the baby. “You mind if I stay with you tonight?” she asked.
“Of course you can,” Cadance said, squeezing her gently with her hooves.
Shining Armor tilted his head. “You sure you don’t want to go get something to eat first? You mentioned you were hungry earlier.”
Flurry Heart yawned. “I’m not hungry anymore.”
“Just be careful with your sister,” Cadance said, leaning down to give her another nuzzle.
“I will be.” Flurry Heart snuggled up against her mom’s chest, resting her chin against her neck as she gently cradled her new sister in her hooves, carefully draping one of her wings over the bundle. She smiled as she felt her dad slide into bed behind her, draping one of his big hooves over her back.
Yawning again, she closed her eyes, letting the love of her parents flow into her as she slowly drifted off to sleep.
Author's Note
I'd like to thank my editors for their assistance with this story:
ChappedPenguinLips
Chryssi
Eppie Genetic
Southpaw
TuxOKC
Winston
