"I have my drones looking, they are… tentatively, tasting the waters." Glint looked across at Deathly Stare. "From information I understand this vampony doesn't taste of anything at all. At least that makes her easier to find in a crowd."

Shining looked to her guard captains. "Other measures have been taken?" She got a nod from each.

"I have moved most of my daytime shifts to evening and night." Flash Sentry looked like he had grown up faster than he should have, with the various recent attacks on the Empire he had quickly risen to captaincy thanks to his clear head. "I have been coordinating with Captain Bright Eyes on that."

Bright nodded to his fellow captain. "Patrols have been raised to thee ponies plus a changeling," he gave a nod to Glint, "last thing I want is for them to get hurt, and each patrol has a unicorn. The shifts are long, though, and a lot of the ponies aren't used to the hours."

"And there have been no more reported attacks?" Shining braced, she knew that none had made it to her own desk, but that didn't mean one of the guards didn't get one just before the meeting.

"Uh, my queen?" Deathly had the sense to blush as he tried to get Shining's attention. Shining turned a smile on the drone. "If Mademoiselle fed, she shouldn't need to again for a week…" He blushed a little at this information. "That is, if she isn't having to use her 'powers'."

Shining gave the chef a smile, the poor drone was in on this meeting if only for such information. "Well, then we have to keep on with this, keep looking, until she makes a mistake and we can grab her. You have the… less fortunate population under your wing?" Shining got a nod from Glint.

"My Prin- Shining. My drones are mostly working with the guard, but of course we protect our own." Glint's angry expression was clearly not for anypony in the room, and a few of them sighed to realize this.

"How did the talks go with them?" Shining lightened the mood, she knew full well that the homeless ponies living in the city had flocked to the changeling kitchens and dormitories.

The change in expression was like a dawning clear day after a stormy night, Glint smiled. "They are doing well, most really want to help but just didn't know who to talk to about it. We have been extending the city, as our permits will show. There might be plenty of room, but getting ponies working, getting them farms and orchards to grow food, it gives them hope and a future. Projections from Miss Stripe show that we can start inviting more to the city soon."

"And more ponies means more drones." Shining smiled, showing she had no malice accompanying the thought. "The Empire grows, it remains its own, you serve your changelings and the city well." Hooves clopped firmly against the floor as the other ponies in the room supported the proclamation. Shining thought back to how she… as a he, would normally have taken to all this, realizing that she had changed, but certainly not in any bad ways.

A lot of ponies were packed into the huge hall. Night Light looked down from where he stood, at the front, beside his former son. "I know I shouldn't be, but I am nervous."

Shining reached a wing over and down, patting her father on the shoulder. "You know you shouldn't be, it is always this way with mares." She hadn't realized what she said until she felt a magical poke from Cadance. "It's true, even I have started spending more time than usual primping."

"That is because you have wings now, Shiny." Cadance was about to lean down and kiss her wife when the music flared. On the other side of the little dais, Rainbow Dash stood, shaking like a leaf and gazing down to the back of the hall.

Both pegasus and unicorn froze, their breath catching.

"Mom's beautiful…" Shining gave a sigh that had little to do with any part of her that had been a stallion. Crying at weddings used to be her thing, now she was fighting not to faint at the emotions that ran through her.

Twilight Velvet had Velvet walking beside her. They escorted each other up the hall. But Rainbow Dash barely noticed them. Her eyes were completely locked on Muffins. The alicorn took slow steps after the two other ponies. Dash's eyes drank in the sight. She got closer with every step, but it wasn't until her lover was right beside her that Muffins leaned in to whisper, "Close your mouth, Dash."

The other ponies on the raised platform heard Muffins' words and giggled.

"Ponies," Cadance looked out over the crowd, "we are all gathered here today to witness the joining and creation of families." Every face was turned on the Princess of Love. "I ask you all to join in the celebration of this event, where Velvet Touch will be wed into the loving family that Twilight Velvet and Night Light already have, and where Rainbow Dash and Muffins will be creating a new one."

At the back of the hall, Shining spotted a pony trot in and up to Glint, whispering in her ear before the pair retreated. It caused no stir in the crowd, but Shining knew the mare wouldn't leave this unless it was important. Her attention snapped back to the main event.

Cadance kept going. "Twilight Velvet, Night Light. First let us reaffirm your bonds. Twilight, will you continue to love your stallion, will you keep him always in your heart and in mind?" Twilight nodded, her throat closing up with a happy sob. "Night Light, will you keep this mare always in heart, mind, and wrapped in your love?"

"Forever." Night's voice was a little broken up by the feelings of the big event too.

"May that love last as long as you both do. But we are here for more than just binding two loving ponies. Velvet Touch," the changeling stepped up a little closer, her attention flicking between Twilight, Night, and Cadance, "will you step beside these ponies, will you walk with them, with their hearts beside yours, with their love matched by yours?"

"I will, always." Velvet's tears started, she couldn't stop them.

"Night, Twilight, will you bring this mare into your loving family? Will you show her the love you have shown each other? Will you keep her heart as safe as you would your own?"

The couple jumped the gun, neither could stand to see Velvet crying, be it in happiness or sadness. They moved beside her and hugged the drone as tight as they could. "Of course we will." Night's words were first.

Twilight Velvet cut in almost on top of her husband's declaration. "Always, forever."

"Then it is my delight to declare you three married, husband, wife, and wife." Cadance's smile was radiant. The three ponies were staring at her with shock, each slowly trying to come to terms with their now being bound. "This is normally the part where you kiss."

The laughter of the crowd boiled up around the room, rolling over the event of the three cementing their vows in the most traditional of ways.

Cadance let the crowd cheer and go on for as long as the three kissed.

Velvet ignored the room. She ignored even the princesses in attendance, she ignored the other couple about to be wed. There were only three ponies in the room then. There was Twilight, there was Night, and there was her. Tears still fell, but she was kissing both her… her mates. She opened her eyes and saw Night still had his closed, but Twilight was watching them both. It took two lifetimes for their lips to part, the moment they did the sound in the room filled back in.

"We have more to attend to." Cadance spoke the words and by the time she was halfway through the crowd was quiet again.

Rainbow Dash felt like she wanted to fly, to grab Muffins and just get away from this. A glance into her… her fiancee's, eyes, told her that she had better not. She managed to pull her attention to the mare seemingly in charge of everything.

This wasn't right for Muffins, either. She was a spy, she was a good one. Ever since she had gotten tangled up with Gel and Twilight Sparkle, things had gotten more complicated in her life. She broke her attention from the other ponies being wed to look at Dash. Delight flooded her. She saw Rainbow look back at her and saw the flightiness of the pegasus vanish, suddenly wondering what the other mare saw in her that demolished all that panic.

"Rainbow Dash, a hero of Equestria, and the Crystal Empire, not to mention the whole world. Many times, when ponies were in danger, you flew directly at the danger, rather than away. I know few ponies who would be able to do half of what you do." Cadance realized her ego-stroking was working when the pegasus puffed her chest a bit. "Muffins. Guardian, protector, the first princess to encompass changelings in her ascension." The phrase caused Muffins to jolt and stare at Cadance. "We have two ceremonies for you today. Muffins, will you take this mare's heart along with your own, keeping her feelings and her love ever in your thoughts?"

Muffins blinked, the question was just as she expected it, but she almost didn't trust Cadance now. "I would want for nothing else."

Cadance could tell the mare would fight her with her plans, she had neatly evaded her auntie in all things official. "Rainbow Dash. Will you fly ever beside Muffins. Will you provide the wind she needs to fly. Will you align your heart with hers?"

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes. She had agreed to this, her heart was in it, she suddenly realized. "I already am and already do. Nothing will stop me from continuing."

"Then you are both bonded, wife to wife. Heart to heart." Cadance beamed at the pair. "And there is more, one last step. Muffins, you have defended the Crystal Empire, with your actions, as surely as you defended Equestria. Rainbow Dash, you too have thrown yourself between my ponies and the darker things in this world."

Muffins knew it was coming, she gave her head a little shake.

"You are an alicorn, Muffins, it is tradition among ponies to make such a princess. But you don't want that, do you?" Cadance saw surprise on the gray mare's face. "We," the pink alicorn gestured to Shining and herself, "have instituted an old tradition, one that is a promise between a princess and a pony, to support each other almost as surely as the vows you both just took. Muffins, Rainbow Dash, would you do the Crystal Empire the honor of letting me knight you both?"

It wasn't what Muffins had thought. Not even close. This was the dream of a filly, a filly who bounced around inside her in joy at the old title. She turned and looked to Rainbow Dash, seeing just as much excitement there. Leaning over and kissing her wife's cheek, Muffins inhaled. "I think that would be suitable. We are protectors, not leaders."

"Shiny?" Cadance turned, taking the first of the naked blades from her wife. "Kneel for this part," Cadance waited until Muffins did so, "Muffins, your word has ever been your honor. You protect ponies with every beat of your heart and I ask you continue." She brought the blade over, the flat touching Muffins' shoulder. "I knight you, take this as a symbol of our bond, and your promise." The blade reached over and tapped the other shoulder, then the first again. At last it came before Muffins and she had to grab it with her magic.

"Rainbow Dash." Cadance had another blade and Rainbow quickly knelt, her eyes wide. "I knight you, take this as a symbol of our bond, and your promise. Keep everypony safe." Cadance repeated the action, setting the weapon to Dash's side, where her wing could reach up and balance it. "I think this is the part where you all cheer again."

The crowd had been dead silent, they had witnessed old ceremonies, new bonds, and they exploded. Stomping, cheering, and even whistling was called for in full measure. Muffins and Rainbow's eyes met then, and the two leaned in and began to kiss. The world fell away, they could both still hear everypony yelling and cheering, but their hearts were so bound that nothing was between them.

Shining had done well. She had kept back the tears this long but seeing the two mares married and knighted had become too much. "Cadie… I can't…"

Cadance reached a wing around her wife, pulling Shining in to her side. A box of soft tissues appeared from nowhere, wrapped in the most recent alicorn's magic. "Weddings, Shiny, are the perfect place to cry."

"Missus Dash…" Muffins was staring into her wife's eyes, her whole attention on Rainbow. "Here we are, in an exotic castle, hidden away in the bedroom and… I got you a present."

Rainbow Dash was just as focused on Muffins, but mention of a present got her wings to flare up. "A present? Let me think… A real Wonderbolts uniform?" The alicorn shook her head. "Princess Celestia, mounted on a big cake, bound and gagged?"

Muffins giggled. "Close." She stepped up to the doors of the bedroom in the quarters they had been given, throwing them wide. On the bed, smiling into the gag in her mouth, strapped down to the bed on her back, was Sunset. "I was going to wrap her in paper, but I didn't have time."

Rainbow took one step forward before there was a knock on the door. If looks could kill, the tree the door was made from would have died and never existed. "Who is it?"

"Ma'am, a guard. I am looking for Sunset Shimmer? The princesses need to talk to her." The stallion outside almost trembled, he had heard of Rainbow Dash, the mare who could command the weather, who could destroy a pony with just a single thunderbolt from a clear sky. "I heard she might be in here?"

Muffins sighed. "Yeah, we'll send her out in a minute, she is… in the bath." Green-yellow magic flared around the rubber straps binding the alicorn down, it took no more than a minute to have Sunset free and she was about to trot to the door when Rainbow lifted a hoof to stop her.

"The gag." Dash grinned and leaned in, unfastening it with her teeth. But she grabbed Sunset's ear in her teeth. "Be back when they are done with you, you get a whipping for each hour it takes."

Sunset gasped and trotted for the door, tugging her ear free. Looking back over her shoulder, she felt her heart start to slow down. Rainbow looked hungry. "I look forward to it." Her personality seemed to flip and spin, she pushed the door open and slipped out. "Sorry, can you believe I thought it was my room? This place is a maze…"

"Follow me, please." The guard turned and started trotting down the hall, leaving Sunset to follow. The military thing was one aspect of the pony world Sunset would never get used to, being beholden to another pony like that gave her a chill.

The guard led the way down to the room he had been told to bring her. "In there, ma'am." Sunset gave a forced smile and opened the door with her magic. Three alicorns, two big changelings, almost half a dozen guards in fancy uniforms… and that was just what she saw at first scan.

Gel saw the door open and turned. "Sunset." He reached out to a chair and patted it. "Sorry that we had to pull you away from… your friends."

"Sunset Shimmer, we have reason to believe you, well, embody the sun?" Cadance was not quite sure where she stood with the mare. She remembered her from the castle in Canterlot, but only peripherally, as another of Celestia's students, her projects.

"I… yes." Sunset closed her eyes a moment, she had been practicing this, since she returned. Light poured from her horn as it turned bright white. The glow filled the room almost to blinding, before she suddenly cut it off. She looked to Twilight. "You told them about… the games?"

"We have a problem, Sunset, and you might just be the solution." Twilight Sparkle smiled at her friend. "You might laugh, but this isn't a joke. There is a vampony stalking the Crystal Empire."

"They were hiding under my nose." Glint banged her hoof down. "A soup cook? How could we have missed that?"

"Your ponies accepted a pony who was willing to help, there is nopony to blame." Shining caught the eye of the changeling queen. "But now we have a sure-fire way to find her, even in the darkest night."

Mademoiselle looked down on the body. It was drained of blood, the neck snapped and was discarded. She sneered and looked around the house. There was a distasteful sneer on her snout as she began to search through the pony's belongings.

"This is his house, he didn't come down to say goodnight… he always does." The voice was far, at the bottom of the stairs that led to the floor Maddie was on. "Please check on him!"

"We will!" The second voice was more masculine, Maddie identified it as a stallion. She heard hooves clopping up the stairs. It was near to dawn and the cornered vampony was not happy with how the evening had gone. Rushing to the window, she waited until they were opening the door to smash it and start to leap out.

"Somepony's inside… I can't feel them!" The sound of a chittering voice caused the vampony to pause just a moment.

Maddie knew of changelings only peripherally. They hadn't caused problems in many years, that she knew of. She jumped out of the house, spreading her big, bat-like wings and soaring into the night.

Author's Note

Celestia bound and set upon a cake is clearly Twisty's second favorite meal with her favorite on top!

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