Two weeks had passed since the run in at the tavern, Flurry had finally advanced her studies to her own level of education, though a few things were still missing. History being the largest gap, but when you have a library from over a thousand years ago, history becomes very extensive. She had also floored her magic teachers, she entered the next day levitating every spell book in the Spire, she then cast a shield and teleport spell all at once, while the inhibitor ring was still on. Needless to say, she was now being taught more magical techniques, as well as finer magical control. She started getting along with Shining Armor more as well, while Cadence had still forbid full on combat lessons, the two still ran the Guard obstacle course, as well as some hoof to hoof sparring, without Cadence’s knowledge of course.

Flurry and Midnight also went out a few more times, they visited a few other late night establishments. Flurry keep her ears open as they went, she too heard the same rumors Midnight told her about. They would still end up at Tappers every time, they were quickly becoming well-known regulars. They had also gotten to know Snow Field more, even inviting him to come with them on their next outing. Flurry also vowed to investigate these rumors further, but all of that would have to wait.

Flurry was currently standing on the train station platform, eagerly waiting for the train to arrive. Two days ago a letter arrived informing Shining and Cadence that Celestia, Twilight, and a single changeling would be arriving, Shining and Cadence were not thrilled, but they could hardly refuse two princesses, especially when one was their sister. As the train came into view Flurry became more and more excited, not even the two guards on either side of her could dampen her enthusiasm. With a hiss of steam, the train came to a stop, Cadence and Shining stepped in front of Flurry before the door opened.

“BBBFF!”

“Twily!”

Brother and sister embraced, all misgivings for gotten for the moment. Celestia was next to step off the train, followed by a single changeling who wisely stayed behind the taller alicorn.

“Twilight why is one of those things here?” Cadence demanded.

“Cadence please, this is Glade. We brought her with because we wanted her to talk with you.”

“I have nothing to say to this creature, I do not want it in my realm ether.”

“Princess Cadenza,” Celestia spoke, her words ferm but not loud. “This changeling is under my protection while she is here, I expect you to treat her with the respect due.”

“I will accept that she is your responsibility, you will be held accountable for any and all action it takes.”

“Very well.”

he air on the platform was thick with tension, until Flurry finally spoke up.

“Hello princess, we didn’t really get a chance to meet before, did we.”

“No we did not, I am very glad to see you again Flurry Heart. Shall we take this inside? I’m sure all of us have a lot to discuss.”

The group made their way back to the Crystal Spire, Shining and Twilight talked the whole way, Cadence kept herself between Flurry and Glade, glaring at her whenever she thought the changeling was getting close. Flurry desperately wanted to run over and embrace the changeling, the one she knew for so long as Mom.

~o0o~

The group of ponies and one changeling sat at a large round table eating a late lunch, Flurry knew Cadence didn’t want her talking to Glade, but there was more than one way to find out what you wanted to know.

“Twilight, we haven’t been getting much news up here the past few weeks, what has been happening with the changelings?” She was only interested in one group, but knowing more was never a bad thing.

“We found another splinter hive last week, or rather what was left of one. They had been capturing gryphons, but they got greedy.”

“The gryphons broke out and cut them to shreds, didn't they?” Flurry asked with a dark tone.

“Yes, we only found a few… what do you call them?” Twilight asked turning to Glade.

“Nymphs, the equivalent of a foal.”

“Yes, we found only a few surviving nymphs. With Celestia’s permission I’ve taken them in at my castel-”

“What?!” Cadence exclaimed utterly shocked.

“I have a chance to observe the life cycle of a race never documented before my pony kind. Not to mention having ponies raise them opens the possibility of ensuring they remain friendly.”

Ya not like we ever tried that, oh wait… Flurry thought with no small amount of sarcasm.

“Did you ever consider that they might be using those, things to replace you.”

“Cadence, they are currently incapable of magic. I've already learned that unlike our own foals, changelings are unable to access their magic until they begin to mature. So replacing me is not a possibility.”

Cadence only glared, not seeming convinced.

“Let us talk about other things,” Celestia said diplomatically. “How have you been getting use to the Empire Flurry?”

“It's not hard to get use to living here, all of the crystal, well everything is always so pretty to look at. Not to mention the ponies here are friendly, or at least I think they are.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean by that?”

“My hoof maiden told me about a disturbance the other week, it sounded rather bad, something about a… tavern? And a fight?” Flurry said questionly, tapping her chin.

“Sounds like some ponies simply had too much cider, it happens from time to time, simply be glad you were not involved.”

“Believe me I am.” I am lying so hard right now it's not even funny, I’m sure I’ve got a huge sign above my head to mom, she could always tell when I was lying.

“And what about your education? I’m sure your parents are insuring you haven't missed anything.” Celestia was asking all the questions Glade couldn't, asking them in a way that didn't tip off Cadence, very sneaky.

“Oh yes, it seems I am at an intermediate college level in most things, though history seems to be a bit spotty. Though when you're living in history,” Flurry said gesturing around her. “It's kinda hard not to have missed a few things.”

“What about your magic?” Twilight pipeed up. “You had to much of it when you were a foal, I can only imagine it's gotten stronger by now.”

“I’ve been working on finer control, no new spells yet.”

“That's very good, you can have all the magic in the world, but if you can't use it properly it's just a disaster waiting to happen.” Twilight said with a sage nod.

“Perhaps we could test our magic against one another? It might be-.”

“Absolutely not.” Cadence cut in. “You are not going to be throwing your magic around just so you can get yourself hurt.”

“Cady, this is Twily were talking about here, I’m sure-”

“No Shining Armor, and that is final, she is my daughter and I will decide what is best for her.”

Any further conversation on the matter died, as the meal lapsed into silence.

~o0o~

Flurry was getting her mane done by Midnight in one of the Spire’s private dressing rooms, for some reason Cadence felt the need for Flurry to be made presentable several times a day. A knock came from the door, opening it Twilight poked her head in.

“Flurry? Is this a bad time?”

Flurry looked over to Twilight.

“No not at all, come in.”

Twilight entered the room, taking a seat next to Flurry. Her eyes darted between Flurry, Midnight and the floor.

“What's bothering you? And don’t worry about talking in front of Midnight, anything you say will stay between us.”

“Are you sure?”

Flurry looked over her shoulder at Midnight. “How did I know about the Tavern brawl last week?”

“Because you might have been there, and you might have also punched some scumbag of a pony for trying to a little too close to us, well him and his friends.”

Twilight's jaw almost hit the floor.

“Midnight has my full confidence, anything you need to say can be said in front of her.”

Twilight nodded. “Have you notice anything wrong with Cadence since youve been back?”

“Well it's not like I have some prior experience knowing her, but yes I know something is off. She doesnt taste right.”

Twilight got a funny look at that.

“Oh right, sorry, that must have sounded out of context. I can sense or ‘taste’ emotion like any changeling, I’m sure mom or someone else in the hive has told you by now.”

Twilight nodded. “We thought it was changeling influence at first, even after we saw the memories from the hive members, until I realized it was coming from their aura rather than being added to it. Glade did mention that you were more sensitive than any other pony.”

“We thought it had to do with my magic, since I have so much it boosted my sense, I can also use glimmers like changelings.”

“Glimmers?”

Flurry powered her horn, a ripple passed over her body like that on a still pond. In a moment Flurry was replaced with the pegasus ‘Summer Sun’, Flurry grinned widely before allowing her glimmer to dispel.

“A few unicorns had mastered it in the hive, I was just better at it, again because of my magic.”

“Unicorns can cast illusion magic over themselves as well, perhaps combining the two could yield better results than just one or the other?”’

“Perhaps, we never really bothered learning illusion magic in the hive, never had a need for it. How are they doing?”

“They're alright, they have finished setting up a temporary hive in the crystal mines beneath Canterlot. They fear them as much as we do, some of the changelings there have even agreed to help us track down the splinter hives, they're the reason we found the last hive we did at all.”

“That sounds like them, the original hive founders abandoned the evil Queen, we still do. We knew we would be hunted down if she ever found us, it only makes sense to help hunt them down.”

“And in the end, it wasn’t her, but us that found you, and hurt you like we did, I’m so sorry Flurry.”

Flurry reached out and hugged Twilight. “It's ok aunt Twi, you didn’t know, you had no way of knowing. But now you do, and you're working to make things right, that's what counts.”

“How are all of you so forgiving? After we attacked you? I went to apologize to your entire hive, they did the same thing, they just forgave me.” Twilight was on the verge of crying now.

“We believe in forgiving and learning from our past, but not forgetting it. That has been one of our hives mottos since the founding.”

“Some ponies could learn a lot from you guys.”

Flurry held Twilight as she quietly let out her sadness, Twilight kept uttering apologies in between soft sobs. Even Midnight came up and hugged Twilight. Several minutes passed before Twilight had stopped, recomposing herself Twilight met Flurry’s eyes.

“So now, what is wrong with Cadence? I didn’t detect any magic on her, changeling or otherwise.”

“No she's not being controlled, we were all taught how to tell if someone in the hive was being influenced, I sense nothing on her.”

“Twilight is right, something's not right,” Midnight added. “Nopony would dare say anything, but she's been acting more and more differently over the past several years.”

“Was she acting more so before or after she defeated Chrysalis?”

“Wait, what? Cadence defeated the Evil One?”

“She didn’t tell you?”

Flurry just shook her head.

“Five years ago after we had found her hive, Cadence led an assault force on the hive. We discovered the area around her hive was devoid of all but changeling magic, she had a throne that absorbed all but changeling magic. The attack was all earth ponies besides Cadence, I’m not sure what all happened in the hive, just that she blew off the top of the hive destroying the throne. She fought Chryslisses with her magic after that, eventually killing her.”

Flurry was quiet for a moment, not knowing what happened in the hive was bugging her, but she couldn’t figure out why.

“I never knew that either, she doesn't talk to servants, at least not anymore.”

“That's not like her, I remember how friendly she was with everypony, how much she smiled, I guess losing your foal will do that.”

“I’ve heard stories from some of the older staff ponies, they say she doesn't smile as much, or really at all anymore, she snot filled with love like she use to be.”

Flurry’s head shot up. “She use to be filled with love?”

“Well Cadence is the Princess of Love.” stated Twilight.

“Well she's not anymore, she has emotions and feelings like any other pony, but ‘filed with love’, nope.”

“That's very worrying, perhaps it's something else entirely?”

“I don’t know Twilight, I promise you I’ll get to the bottom of whatever is wrong with her. However, I have something else that I need to take care of first.”

“What is that?” Twilight asked with a tilt of her head.

“Cadence told me it's a princess's job to protect her ponies, right?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve found something, or rather someponies that I need to protect them from.”

Author's Note

A big thanks to all my reader that have been along for the ride so far!