The carriage touches down in the castle's courtyard, coming to a halt near the entrance. Forge waits for Celestia and Luna to exit the carriage before getting out himself. "Time to show that I at least have a semblance of chivalry." He thinks as he follows the princesses into the castle entrance. Forge finds himself admiring Luna's flank, shaking his head. Celestia looks back with a raised brow. Meanwhile Luna is oblivious to this as she looks around in wonder, having not seen this new castle before. Forge takes to observing his surroundings as well, since he's actually IN the ACTUAL Canterlot castle, and to take his mind away from Luna's moon. That glorious, glorious moon.

Celestia halts the group, turning and whispering to a guard, who nods and walks up to Forge. "Come with me, I will take you to the blacksmith." The guard says. Forge follows, waving back to Celestia on his way.

The castle's corridors are really something to marvel at. The ceiling is high up, having extremely excess height and a good amount of width to prevent bottle-necking. Tapestries adorn the walls, with a matching carpet extending to the end of the hallway, perpendicular segments stretching in either direction dotting the halls at every intersection. Forge takes mental note of the path the guard leads him down.

Eventually, the guard stops in front of an open doorway leading into a large room. The floor is entirely made of smooth concrete, with exposed stone gray brick walls. Furnaces and kilns line the right wall, all with chimneys to expel the smoke and to keep the room from becoming overheated. Next to the furnaces lie large troughs of coal, with some additional tools such as pokers and shovels. Anvils, grindstones, stone tables, and wooden crates are placed around in the room forming numerous workstations. Each anvil has a hammer set on top of it, with a small kit for engraving and stamping on each table. Forge gawks at the room in awe, as the guard goes to resume his post elsewhere.

Forge notices some ponies, and a griffon in the workshop, mostly paying him no mind. That is, except for a fairly large (not fat) built earth pony stallion with a pale, dark red coat reminiscent of sun faded bricks, charcoal grey mane and tail, and amber eyes. His mark consists of a central flame with what appears to be a welded piece of metal above it. The stallion extends a hoof.

"Hello there, I assume you're the new guy?" The stallion asks with a hearty grin.

Forge shakes his hoof in return. "Yep, I'm Turner Forge. Who are you?" He asks.

"Solid Weld, welcome to the royal blacksmith." Solid says, gesturing to the room. "Would you like a tour of our facilities?" Solid asks.

"No thank you, I can see where everything is already. Thank you for the offer though." Forge says, looking around. "Uh, on second thought, where's my station?" He asks, a sheepish look on his face.

Solid chuckles. "Follow me then." He says, showing Forge to his workstation.

"Alrighty, time to put my vague knowledge from Forged in Fire to good use."

-<>~--*--~<>-<

It's sunset, the warm orange glow filtering through the stained glass windows in the throne room. Celestia sits patiently on her throne, entering her vision plane and checking up on everything. She notices something peculiar in the visions. An insectoid creature of some sort? But... something about him is familiar. It's those eyes. Despite the difference of shape, she can see the same look in the bug pony's eyes as the one Forge has. Another screen confirms her suspicions, as he changes his form. Celestia ponders on how to go about this situation. She decides it would be better to get the confrontation out of the way sooner rather than later. She gets up from her throne, heading to go retrieve Luna.

-<>~--*--~<>-<

Forge enters his assigned quarters, thanking the guard for showing him there. He shuts the door, flopping onto the bed and reverting. As much as he'd like to keep the pony form on all the time, it cost him energy to do so. He sighs, relaxing in the soft bed. Just then, there's a knock on the door. Aurelic stiffens, donning his disguise once more.

"Just a second!" He says as he makes his way over to the door.

When Forge opens the door, his jaw drops. "Hello Turner, may we enter?" Celestia asks with a smile, Luna standing by her side.

"Of course your highnesses." Forge says, opening the door the rest of the way and standing to the side.

Celestia and Luna both enter, with Celestia closing the door behind them. "There's something I need to ask you Forge." Celestia asks in a calm tone.

"Okay, go for it." Forge says, sitting down on the floor.

"What are you?" Celestia asks, her face and emotions stoic. This sets off Aurelic's 'mom is angry' senses.

"Uh... what do you mean?" Forge asks, unable to keep a hint of worry from gracing his face.

"You know what I mean Forge." Celestia says.

Luna gives Celestia a confused look. "What is being kept from us sister?"

"I know that's not your true form. Just be honest, and you won't be in any trouble. If you continue to lie to my sister and I, I will personally shove you out of the castle." Celestia says, her demeanor unchanging.

Aurelic reverts back to normal. "Okay, okay, you found me out. But, I only changed forms to keep ponies from being afraid of me, and so I could be accepted in society easier..." Aurelic says, his ears splayed back as he stares at his holed hooves.

Luna goes slack jawed, looking between Aurelic and Celestia. Celestia approaches Aurelic, putting a hoof on his withers. Aurelic looks up, guilt present on his face.

"I'm sorry for lying about what I really am, your majesties..." Aurelic says meekly, dread permeating his thoughts.

Celestia just gives him a calm smile. "Don't worry Forge, you're fine just the way you are now. I will admit it will take some time getting used to though."

"What, art thou?" Luna asks.

"I am a changeling, a race of equine like insects that feed off of positive emotions, ambient or directly. We can shapeshift as well, usually taking the place of a loved one to feed. I've never done it myself, nor do I have any desire to. Passive feeding has kept me fed well enough, though it limits the amount of time I can hold my pony form, and use magic in general. Turner Forge is the identity I crafted to help fit in, but my actual name is Aurelic. I don't have any kind of connection to the other changelings, since I'm not part of the hive. A rogue, if you will." Aurelic explains.

Celestia and Luna sit, processing this new information. "So, why are you here?" Celestia asks.

"That's an easy one. To put it frankly, I'm just here because it's the easiest option I have. I mean, the rest of the changelings have no positive emotion to give. I just want to live a relatively normal life here." Aurelic answers. "And before I forget, I want this to stay between us, alright? I don't want ponies treating me like a freak because I'm a changeling."

Celestia thinks for a moment. "I suppose that would be fine for now. But I hope you'll reveal yourself once you're comfortable with it." She says.

"Hah, says the one who forced me to reveal myself just a minute ago." Aurelic thinks. "Is there anything else?" Aurelic asks.

"I'm through, but I can't speak for Luna." Celestia says.

"We do not have any more questions sister." Luna confirms, standing back up.

"Then we should be on our way. Farewell Aurelic." Celestia says matter-of-factly, turning to leave.

"Wait, I still have some questions!" Aurelic yells nervously.

"Yes?" Celestia turns her head back.

"Could you please just stick with calling me Turner Forge for now? I don't really want to risk a slip-up..." Aurelic trails off.

"I suppose that makes sense, very well then. Farewell Forge." Celestia states, exiting the room alongside Luna.

"My god I need that moon pie. Someday Aurelic... someday..." Aurelic can't help but think as he flops back onto the bed. "I wonder how soon Luna begins dream walking again... You'd better not screw me over brain." He thinks, eyelids heavy as he yawns. It doesn't take long for sleep to find him.

Author's Note

For any readers that are curious, the Forge part of Aurelic's disguised name has two meanings. The first being the obvious blacksmith talent, but the second part is in the vein of Forgery, as that form was created for the sole purpose of blending into pony society.