Interview with a Changeling

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 6

Chapter 1

(Disclaimer: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is copyright to Hasbro. This is a non profit work of fanfiction, so please don't sue.)

Shining armor sat in his office, going over report after report from his division of the 'Day' guard. Reports littered his desk, ranging from jaywalking to murder (of which there was thankfully VERY little of in all of Equestria). However, there was a very large pile that was in it's own separate bin, marked 'Changeling sightings'. Or at the very least, supposed changeling sightings. Ever since the disaster that his wedding had nearly became, Equestria was caught in the grip of Changeling paranoia. Any time anypony did anything remotely out of character suddenly everypony thought that pony was a changeling.

This general paranoia was making it impossible for Shining to do the one thing that would have set everypony's mind, his own in particular, at ease about the whole thing, Finding leads to the truth of what had happened to Chrysalis and her army after the love empowered spell had literally cast her and all the other changelings not only out of Canterlot, but out of Equestria completely. Nopony could say if she or any of her evil kind had survived, or if they were trying to sneak back into Equestria, or anything regarding them for that matter. It was as if they had just vanished off the face of the earth.

The phone rang. A brand new invention by a pony inventor named 'Bell Tone' out of Manehattan. This being Canterlot, it had everything that bits could buy, and instantaneous vocal communication between the guard posts back to their commanding officers had been top priority as soon as word of this invention reached the princess's ears.

Shining picked up the phone with his magic and held it with the earpiece and mouthpiece in the proper locations... instead of reversing the thing like he had the first two times he'd tried to use the thing. “Captain Shining Armor's office, Shining Armor speaking.”

Of course, the guard weren't the only ponies with phones in Canterlot.

“Shining!” the lovely, cheerful voice of his wife, Princess Cadence, piped through the line and into his ear. “Oh, good, I was worried I'd miss-dialed this silly thing again.”

A small smile came to Shining's face. “Hey honey! Everything ok at home?”

“Oh, everything's fine. Actually, I just got in, was out at the Canterlot Foal's hospital all day. I got to read stories to a bunch of yearlings. They're all so cute! Seeing the poor things smile left me feeling lighter than air!”

The smile on Shining's face broadened. “I'm sure they loved every minute of it. I mean, they did have 'Equestria's best foalsitter' reading to them, after all.”

Cadance giggled. “Oh, stop!”

Shining chuckled. “Was there anything else Cadence? Much as I love hearing from you, I'm kinda at work, so...”

“Right, sorry. I just wanted to make sure you remembered our dinner plans for tonight, at Linguini's?” Cadence asked.

“I haven't forgotten. I'll meet you there at five o'clock. Promise.”

“Great! Love you Shining. Bye!” Cadence said.

“Bye hon.” Shining said, then hung up the phone, and sighed.

* * * * *

To say that dinner that night didn't go well would be a colossal understatement.

It had been several weeks since that disastrous dinner. Things between Shining and his wife were admittedly strained, blowing up at her over her concern for his late hours and distant behavior had not been his finest moment. He'd made several attempts to make it up to her, but they didn't seem to be working as well as he'd hoped.

It had been another late night, pouring over reports of 'Changeling' activity all over Equestria, taken from every division of the day guard, in every city. Even the reports from the night guard passed through his scrutiny, looking for any signs of truth to the stories. Anything that would show if there was a resurgence, any encroachment... or some news that would finally put his mind to rest, whatever that might be.

He now lay in bed, opposite from Cadence, their backs to each other. In the days since he'd at least gotten better at hiding his restless nights from Cadence by forcing himself to lay still. He would listen to Cadence's breathing as she lay next to him, close enough that he could just barely feel the warmth of her body. It was reassuring, knowing she was there in the same bed as him, warm and soft and alive. She was safe there. It should have brought him comfort, but instead, all he could feel was a cold rage at the creature that had hurt her. That had imprisoned her in a cold, barren cave and left her there to starve to death while it had come to take her place at his side. The creature that had taken what should have been the happiest time of both their lives and turned it into shambles.

* * * * *

The phone rang downstairs. The sound was muted through the stone walls and the heavy wooden door and the distance that separated the master bedroom from it's place in the study, yet it was still enough to wake Shining from the sleep that he had finally managed to find. He opened his eyes still bleary and unfocused. It was dark, no light in the room save for what came from one of the streetlights outside. After listening to it ring about half a dozen times he forced himself to get up, carefully, hoping not to disturb the pink alicorn that was asleep next to him any moreso than the phone was, and carefully crept down the stairs so his hooves tapping on the stone floor wouldn't disturb her either.

The phone was easily past it's twentieth ring by the time he finally picked it up. “H-hello?” he asked, dumbly.

“Captain Armor?” the deep and resonant voice of one of the night-guard, transformed by princess Luna's magic along with the rest of their bodies, came through the line.

“Yeah... yeah, is something wrong soldier?” Shining said, his brain waking up.

“We've got a bit of a situation sir.”

Shining groaned, and looked over at the large grandfather clock “It's... 3 in the morning, soldier, Don't you have a C.O. on duty?”

“Sir, the 'problem' is asking for you. By name. Refuses to talk to anypony else.”

“Asking for... me? Who is it soldier?”

“It's... it's a changeling, sir.”

Shining groaned. “Soldier, if you're bothering me at this hour over some civilian freaking out because he noticed a neighbor doing something strange-”

“Sir, this changeling is in it's natural form. We verified it wasn't a prank with a battlemage lieutenant. We brought it to an interrogation room on our captain's orders, but it refuses to answer questions, and just keeps asking for you, by name, over and over.” The nightguard on the other end said, quickly, to stave off any anger from the captain who also happened to be a prince.

Shining's jaw suddenly decided not to work. “Ah.. uh?” He shook his head, clearing it enough to speak. “Where is it being held?”

“We're holding the changeling in Interrogation room three at southgate garrison, sir.”

Southgate was essentially the main entrance to Canterlot, and not a short trot from his home. Shining grimaced. “I'll be there... soon.” he said. Better not to give an actual time. He needed to clean up and get into uniform... and down a couple mugs of coffee.

“Very good sir.” Shining heard the night guard say before he hung up.

Shining stood there for a solid minute while he let the reality of what he'd just been told hit home. A changeling. An actual, unmasked changeling, had been captured, and was now refusing to speak to any pony but him?

Shining didn't know if he should be elated at his good luck, fearful of the fact that changelings were apparently still present around Canterlot, or enraged that one, or perhaps more of those filthy monsters had just brazenly approached his city.

“Shining? Is everything okay?” Cadence's sweet voice came from behind him, tinged with worry. Shining turned around to see she had descended the stairs after him... when she'd got there he didn't know.

“Go back to bed sweety... I have to head out.” he said.

“Official guard business?” She asked, sorrow creeping into her beautiful voice.

“Yeah....” he said, then walked past her, headed to the master bath.

Cadence stood there, watching him, worry wracking her heart.

* * * * *

An hour later, Shining armor arrived at southgate, wearing his full suit of enameled armor. A brief shower and a cup of coffee at home, and another, much stronger one he'd grabbed from Pony Joe's doughnut shop on the way over had his brain fully functional by the time he arrived. He still wasn't any closer to understanding the situation though.

The purple and blue armored, creepily transformed night guards greeted him with smart salutes as he arrived. “Glad you could make it sir. Right this way.” One of the over sized, bat winged, needle fanged, cat-eyed frea- ah, ponies, said to him. Shining still wasn't quite used to the nightguard. Devoted guards-ponies who had accepted Luna's blessing and duties to protect Equestria while others might sleep, they were technically an ancient order, but having been gone for a millennium and then reintroduced abruptly with her return made them at best curiosities, at worst... best not to think on it too much.

“I know my way around Southgate soldier. Thanks. Interrogation room 3, right?”

The wicked looking fincrest helmed head nodded, and the transformed pegasi opened the doors to the garrison keep with their wings.

Shining trotted in, barely glancing at any other ponies that were up in the keep at this hour... all either night guards or attendants. A strange feeling washed over the unicorn as he walked through the perpetually busy lobby. Southgate garrison's keep was the main hub for Canterlot's guard, and by extension, all of Equestria. Sure, they reported to the offices up in the grand citadel in the city's center, and those ponies to the princesses, but this was where everything happened on a day to day basis, and Shining had spent his days as a lieutenant here. He knew the place like his own hooves, and seeing no familiar faces was disconcerting.

Pushing such melancholy thoughts out of his head, he focused and picked up his pace to a fast trot through the halls, heading for the interrogation rooms. This being Canterlot, they were usually used on jewel thieves and other high caliber criminals looking to rob the wealthy manor homes of the nobility, or those crazy enough to steal something from the palace. Shining wasn't sure they'd ever been used for something like an invading monster.

When he got there, he ignored the main door into the actual interrogation room, and instead slipped into the observation room, behind the enchanted one way mirror. Inside, one of the captains of the night guard -Shining couldn't remember the pony's name- was standing, watching as one of his subordinates tried to get the changeling to talk... without success, it seemed.

The creature was about halfway between the size of a mare and a stallion, and its face was rather androgynous, carrying features of both male and female ponies, though perhaps leaning a little more to the male aspect. Pockmarked diaphanous wings half as long as its forelegs sprouted from a iridescent dark purple shell covering a large portion of it's back, a bit different from his memories of the attack on Canterlot, where every changeling's back plate had been iridescent blue. A frill of grey membrane stretched between twitching carapaced struts replaced a mane, and it had a short, curved, sharp edged horn with no spiral to it whatsoever sprouting where a unicorn's should be. Its eyes were pools of blue, deeper at the edges and lighter at the center... where a normal pony's iris and pupil would have been. The changeling's tail was a strange thing indeed, now that he had a chance to actually look at it. Tattered grey filmy looking strands that seemed to mesh into shimmering diaphanous material near the base. It's lower legs and weird hooves were full of gaps, instead of fully fleshed out, it's limbs were apparently carapace over each individual bone, with just enough extra space for musculature.

The thing was so... so alien, and yet so pony-like at the same time.

Looking at it made shining either want to be sick, or fly into a murderous rage.

He forced himself to calm down and spoke to the night guard Captain... who's name he didn't know. The day and night guards didn't mingle much.

“Anything yet?” he asked.

The night guard captain shook his head, not taking his attention off the changeling in the other room. “Every once in a while it'll say it wishes to speak to you,” the other officer said. “But beyond that, nothing.”

“And how did this thing get captured again?” Shining asked.

“It wasn't.” The nightguard captain said, turning his golden eyed gaze on the suddenly even more confused Shining. “I can hardly believe it myself, but it walked right up the main road to southgate, carrying and waving a white flag.”

“You're joking...” Shining said, flabbergasted.

“Wish I was Armor, wish I was.” the other captain said with a snort. “Think you could take over? My lieutenant's been at this since the thing was brought in and he hasn't gotten squat out of it.”

* * * * *

The door opened in the middle of one of the night guard lieutenant's demands for answers, cutting him off. All three occupants of the room, the changeling, the lieutenant, and one extra guard who was there just to make sure the changeling didn't try anything, looked up as he entered.

“Stand down lieutenant, I'll take it from here.” Shining said, walking in.

The lieutenant let out a snort, nodded, and quickly exited the room.

“Greetings, Captain Shining Armor.” the changeling said before Shining could get a word in. The beast's voice was calm and even, not betraying any emotion whatsoever.

“You know me?” Shining asked, startled.

“Every changeling on the continent, at the very least, knows what you look like Captain. You made quite the impression.” The changeling said, fluttering it's diaphanous wings.

Shining's eyes widened. “How...?”

“I'll explain that detail later... Please, sit down. It's late and you must be tired. If I could have put this off till morning, I would have, I assure you.” the changeling said, gesturing with one hoof at the vacant chair opposite it... him. It's voice did seem to have a masculine quality to it.

Nonplussed, Shining took the advice and pulled the chair out, sitting down. “Alright, you came here to talk. Let's talk.”

Chapter 2

When princess Luna had first returned to Equestria, the mare of the starry sky had spent the first month in her sister's private chambers, almost never leaving, and hardly interacting with any other pony besides a series of unicorn doctors who charted her magical levels and prescribed therapeutic regimens and potions to help restore the now foal-like goddess's powers.

Then, almost a year to the day past her cleansing by the elements of harmony, and only a few weeks after the escape of Discord from his stone prison (why on earth her sister had decided to place his petrified body in the gardens of her new castle, Luna had no idea) the moon princess had regained, while not ALL of her power, enough to validate resuming her traditional royal duties.

The castle staff had thus been given new routine duties. At sundown every evening, the tapestries, carpeting, and even the throne in the main audience hall were to be replaced with decor more suitable for the princess who would hold court there during the dark hours. Indigo, purple, and black replaced brighter, hotter colors to better mirror the princess who held court through the darkest hours of the night. There were still, obviously, banners with the national emblem of Equestria and a few token pieces of Celestia's symbolism but they were mostly closer to the door. Back by the throne it was all about the princess of the night, so no-pony would forget who's time this was.

The first midnight court had been silent as a tomb. From the moment it started to the moment it ended, not a single petitioner had come forward. This was despite her having made a proclamation backed by her sister's signature as well that had been posted in every public gathering place in Canterlot to inform the citizenry and nobility of the change.

The next month... saw very, very few petitioners indeed. And then only those bureaucrats who needed a princess's yea or neigh on a matter of some importance immediately.

On her own initiative, she went about reforming her social image on a festival devoted to her endarkened alter-ego. The results had been a success... after some initial setbacks, and now she was seen as an approachable -if a little old fashioned- princess of the common pony. Perhaps not as much as the lovely Cadence, but still...

In any event her midnight court now saw almost as many petitioners, and even sporadic well-wishers and gift bearers, as Celestia's day court.

Now if only she could get everypony to accept her beloved nightguard as easily. Their bodies altered by a magic ritual to give them greater prowess and night vision made them more than a little intimidating to normal ponies.

Case in point: Two and a half hours into her court, Luna looked up from the face of the noblestallion Jet Set -who was trying to get her approval on clearing part of white-tail wood so he could build a chateau- as a wave of gasps and startled whinnys of fright from every noble, commoner, and bureaucrat alike down the line leading to the door to the audience hall sounded as a transformed pegasus galloped up, through the open door, and down the hall to the steps leading to the dais upon which her throne (styled in the same fashion as her carriage, naturally) sat, and bowed deeply before her, fanning his wings out over the stone in a deep bow, placing the scroll on the smooth marble floor. “News from the guard captain at southgate, your majesty.” he said, voice deeper than any normal ponys would ever be by at least an octave.

Luna gripped the scroll with telekinesis and levitated it before her, unrolling it and scanning the contents. Her eyes widened slightly in shock, but she maintained most of the rest of her outward composure... at least till she got to the end.

“Captain Armor has been made aware of this as well?” she asked, for confirmation.

“Yes, your majesty, Captain Pavise considered it imperative that we begin gathering information, and the.... subject refused to speak otherwise.”

Luna frowned as she rolled up... and summarily incinerated the scroll with a small burst of magic. No need to let anyone who didn't have to know see the contents. She then turned to her Majordomo, Inkwell. “We are afraid that there is a matter that requires our immediate attention elsewhere. Please offer apologies to the remaining petitioners, and tell them we shall speak to them on the next midnight court, if they wish, or they may take their case up with my sister come noon, should they wish.” she said before turning to walk towards the nearest balcony door.

The pale cream colored unicorn nodded, his red mane bobbing slightly as he did so. “Very well your majesty.”

“B-but what about me! Princess, you can't just leave in the middle of my audience!” Jet set exclaimed... or maybe it was whined. The tone certainly grated on Luna's nerves.

“Jet Set... tell me, did you bring this topic up previously with anypony?” Luna said, pausing

“Ah...” Jet set suddenly balked.

“According to the minutes, he brought this plan to the attention of your sister, Princess Celestia, two days ago during noon court.” Inkwell said, flipping back a few pages in the tome he and his daytime counterpart used to record the goings on of the court.

Luna perked her ears. “Oh really? We are most interested to know how our sister reacted to this plan.”

“Well, she....” Jet Set fumbled.

“After listening to his plan to clear a large swath of whitetail wood, which just so happens to be a wildlife preserve, your sister's decision was to deny Jet Set his request to purchase the acreage to be cleared and his 'country house' be built on the land.” Inkwell paraphrased from the minutes.

“And thou thought to try asking us in hopes that we might unknowingly countermand our sister's decision?” Luna stared at Jet Set with a look of growing anger.

Jet set started to look decidedly nervous. “Ah... well, you see, I hadn't quite figured out all the details when I spoke to your sister... princess Luna...”

Luna raised a hoof to forestall any further speech. “Be silent. My sister's decision stands. I will not grant you what she would not. Leave.” Luna said. The fact that she dropped the royal we during official business a clear indicator of her ire.

Jet set swallowed convulsively, made a rapid bow, then turned and left as quickly as he dared without galloping away in fear. Luna may be friendlier and more approachable. But she had gained a reputation for having a nasty temper when riled.

Satisfied that the situation was dealt with, Luna walked to the nearest balcony and leapt out into the open air, her wings snapping open. Behind her, four pair of very different, leathery wings snapped open as several members of her nightguard accompanied her in formation.

“Is there trouble princess?” The closest of her guards asked.

“There may very well be, if a certain pony lets his pain rule him.”

* * * * *

“Alright, you came here to talk. Let's talk.” Shining said, giving the changeling across from him a hard glare. “You can start by telling me why you dared approach my city, or my country, at all, Changeling.”

“Maxillus.” The changeling said.

Shining blinked. “What?”

“My name. It's Maxillus.” The changeling gave a wry grin... a very fang filled one at that. “I find it easier to converse if both creatures know each others names, don't you?”

Shining snorted. “You smug sonofa...” he thought darkly. “Fine then... Maxillus.” Shining spoke the changeling's name through gritted teeth, as if distasteful. “I repeat the question. Why are you here?”

“Straight to the point, then.” Maxillus cleared his throat. “I am here at the behest of my queen to open peaceful negotiations between our hive and your kingdom.”

Shining almost laughed at this. “So since we sent her running with her tail between her legs like a scolded diamond dog Chrysalis wants to make nice all of a sudden? You can go tell that witch-”

“Chrysalis is not my queen.” Maxillus interrupted him in a voice that was as cold as hardened iron.

That actually gave Shining pause. “What?”

“I serve queen Diaphene, and our hive and Chrysalis' has never shared blood ties, let alone political ones.”

Shining's pupils narrowed to pinpricks as realization washed over him like a tidal wave. “There's... more than one hive of you monsters?”

Maxillus cringed at the last word, but forced his expression to return to neutrality with a visible effort. “Did you seriously think that the group that attempted to overthrow your city was our entire species?”

“For a while, yeah, I kinda did.” Shining armor grumbled under his breath.

Maxillus shook his head. “Crysalis is insane. She's always been power hungry, every good changeling queen has to be. But our species's very survival depends upon our ability not to draw attention to ourselves. We live as myth, a bogey under the bed. Chrysalis did the unthinkable, she exposed the truth of our race's existence to the entire world. There is no going back.” he sighed. “So, rather than wait for fear to turn to hatred and a war of extermination, My queen deigned it necessary to extend the first hoof of understanding. Hence, here I am.” He said, spreading his hooves for emphasis at the end.

Shining blinked as he processed everything the changeling said, then frowned. Peace? Between ponies and a race of love-sucking emotional parasites?

“Assuming I believe you mean any of that...” Shining said, rubbing under his horn with the back of a foreleg. “I still want to know how you managed to get all the way to the gate of Canterlot without sending half of Equestria into a panic.”

“I would not be so foolish as to travel through a territory fearful of my natural visage undisguised.” Maxillus replied.

“So you crept your way from... wherever it is your hive is, using the same tricks Chrysalis did to infiltrate Canterlot, to evade every local garrison of guards across half of Equestria, just to drop the act at Canterlot's doorstep.” Shining said, tapping his hoof idly on the top of the table.

“I.. wouldn't put it so crassly, but yes.” Maxillus replied.

“And I haven't heard of any cases of actual changeling being spotted in any province in Equestria, so I can only assume that you basically proved that my guards, even on high alert, are once again completely useless against your kind.” Shining said, glaring at Maxillus. “You play all of us for fools, and then after you get exposed and beaten back you try and come begging for peace? Why, so you make us even more vulnerable?”

“I told you, mine was not the hive that attacked you. My queen would never have tried something as insane as attempting to conquer and enslave an entire kingdom. Even if you didn't have the means to decimate an entire hive in a single blow!” Maxillus shot back.

Ignoring the changeling, Shining continued, voice raising to a shout. “And what's to stop you creatures from kidnapping ponies out of their beds and impersonating them, the same way Chrysalis did to Cadence!”

The changeling regarded him with a measured expression. “I'm going to be completely honest with you, Captain.”

“If it's even possible for you things to be honest.” Shining grumbled, expecting any number of hollow platitudes from this ting to try to get on his good side.

The changeling took a deep breath. “You terrify me.”

That had not been one of them.

As Shining stared at him, Maxillus continued. “I'm sitting across a table from a stallion who single-hoofedly turned love, a thing that we need to feed on to grow and thrive, into a weapon that killed three quarters of a hive of over six thousand changelings, and horribly maimed those who managed to survive it. And yet, his attack didn't even so much as ruffle the coats of his own kind. I know if you wanted you could have me executed by any number of your guards, or crush me between a wall and your shield spell in a heartbeat. Yet here I sit, for honor and duty and a commitment to my own people that demands that I seek peace. And I will do everything within my power to achieve it.”

The conviction in the changelings voice almost moved Shining, almost. Part of him, the old Shining Armor from before all of this wanted to believe this creature's words. But he couldn't. Not after what they'd done to the love of his life, what they'd tried to do to his kingdom. What these creatures were, deep down.

Vile parasites.

A loud knock sounded at the door.

As the three occupants of the room turned to look, it opened, admitting the starry maned visage of princess Luna, head held high as she surveyed the interior of the room as she entered. “Ah, good, I see you've not executed this one yet, captain.”

“Princess Luna!?” Shining boggled, then quickly got to all fours and stepped before her. “Your majesty, what're you doing here?”

“I was alerted by the commander of my guards of our 'visitor' and came to see for myself.

Shining shook his head. “Princess, you shouldn't be here. I'm trying to determine if there's a threat-”

“I've no doubt about that.” She interrupted him, walking forward.

Shining jumped out of his seat and lifted a hoof high, at the alicorn princess's chest level, to prevent her from coming any closer. “Wait! Princess, I'm still not convinced he isn't a threat.”

Luna turned her gaze on Shining. The stallion looked up at her, his hoof firmly planted on the front of her gorget as he held her back.

“Well then, perhaps you can tell me what you have discovered.” Luna said, lowering her hoof to the ground and standing still.

“Very little princess... I need more time.”

Luna turned her gaze on the changeling... who looked back at her in a steady gaze that while not challenging, didn't give any ground either.

“Please, Captain, bring me 'up to speed' on this situation.” she said, sitting down on her haunches where she stood.

Shining grunted, and sat down. “This is breaking all sorts of regulations, I just know it...” he sighed. “Princess Luna, this is 'Maxillus'. He apparently slipped past all the defenses I’ve put in place to try to prevent changeling incursions, and appeared at southgate a couple of hours ago... waving a white flag I was told?” he looked at the nightguard soldier in the corner.

The bat winged pegasus reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a heavy, rough broken tree branch with a white hoofkerchief tied onto it to make a crude flag of truce.

“That'd be the one...” Maxillus said.

“And then when they brought him in here, he refused to talk till I got here.” Shining snorted. “Since then, he's told me he's been sent here to negotiate with us to prevent us from using the spell me and Cadence discovered we could do by combining our love to destroy his species, of which there is apparently more than one hive, because HIS queen isn't Chrysalis.”

“So basically introductions and my mission, nothing really important yet.” Maxillus said, waving a hoof dismissively.

Luna examined the changeling from across the table. “I can't decide, Maxillus, whether I should call you bold, or foolish. You are speaking to a warrior, the captain of my sister's guard. He is no diplomat-no offense, captain- his duty is the safety and security of all ponies in his realm. Your species has proven a threat to them. Why speak to him? Why not my sister, or myself?”

Maxillus grinned. “A good question, Lady of the moon.” he looked at Shining Armor in that cool, even gaze he'd maintained since shining had arrived. “I suppose I wanted to take a measure of the one my kind now think of as a living weapon.”

“Pardon?” Luna said.

“Excuse me?” Shining said at almost the same instant.

“To my kind you're as big a bogey as Nightmare Moon ever was -no offense to you princess Luna- however, all I know of you is hearsay. I wanted to know what you really were, and what better way to get the truth than to face you as myself?”

Princess Luna and Shining both stared at the changeling for a long moment, but the indigo alicorn broke the silence. “Bold, I think, shall I judge thee, Maxillus. For now, at least. Captain Armor, I would speak to you privately.”

Shining looked from the rather smug looking changeling, to the princess, and back, several times. Before he snorted, and forced a neutral expression. “As you wish, your majesty.”

* * * * *

“What the buck was that back there!? I don't know what things were like back in your day princess, but you do not simply barge into an interrogation!” Shining snapped at the much larger mare.

“An interrogation that was not, captain. That is what one does with a criminal. Last I checked, neither I nor my sister passed any laws stating 'twas illegal to be a changeling within the borders of equestria, despite pressure from the stable of lords to do just that. Sitting in yon chamber is an envoy of a foreign nation seeking to make peace.” Luna said stoically.

“You cannot actually be thinking of letting him into the palace, after what Chrysalis did!”

“The instant my sister hears of this come the morn, I am certain she will say as much.”

“The entire species lives off deception and treachery, this has to be some kind of a-!” Shining shouted, but went quiet when Luna raised her hoof.

“This is why I am glad this occurred during my watch, and not hers. I am able to shape some of these events without her interference.”

Shining tilted his head. “Princess...?”

“My sister, the great benevolent matriarch of the sun, is a very kind and forgiving creature in many respects. She always holds out hope for there to be the presence of a better nature in a creature she does not know. Discord she knew only too well, and wasted no time in attempting to re-seal him, and chrysalis declared open war on us, and she reacted accordingly. This creature? He professes a willingness to negotiate and bring harmony, and she will attempt to embrace the possibility of peace with even the enemy if they professed a willingness to talk.”

Shining looked away. “I'd think Celestia would be a bit wiser than that, Your majesty.”

Luna shook her head, sending ripples through her starry, ethereal mane. “Be that as it may, I know my sister too well. She only wishes for harmony not only amongst all her little ponies, but throughout all the world as well. And the opportunity to extend it may blind her. I, however, am not so optimistic as to completely drop my guard, and thus I wish to give you my orders for this situation, Captain armor.”

Shining's ears perked and he looked back at the princess.

“Continue your vigilance. Your mission is to discern if there is any plot, any threat to Canterlot or Equestria as a whole. How you do this I leave up to you, but you have all of my resources added to your own if you have need of it.

Shining began smiling. She was on his side! She understood!

“However, I want you to let evidence and logic rule this investigation, not personal vendettas, so no brash, poorly founded claims.” she added.

Shining's expression dropped.

“Do not give me that look, captain. I too wish for the possibility of peace. 'Tis all any pony can wish for. I merely will not completely lower mine shield and sword at the prospect of it."

Shining sighed. “I suppose, your majesty.” he grumbled.

Chapter 3

A cheap brass alarm clock came to life in the darkest moments of pre-dawn. Its shrill, rapid ringing filling the previously quiet, serene atmosphere of the bed chamber of one of the most powerful beings in the world.

A pale golden glow wrapped around the device and several spots around it's edge began to indent, before the entire thing imploded, crushed into a tiny ruined ball by magical force.

“I have got to stop doing that...” Celestia said as she sat up, blinking sleep from her eyes. Having some of the strongest magic of ponykind, she should know better than to use it while half asleep. She yawned before she rolled out of bed, her bare hooves meeting the plush carpet with a soft sound. She walked over to the doors to her balcony and stepped out into the pre-dawn dark.

As Celestia took in a deep breath of the last of the night air she was glad her tower was so high up. Everypony but guard pegasi were restricted from flying up here, so no-pony could see how awful she looked before sprucing herself up. But, this task was all important, and couldn't wait for even her morning ablutions.

She looked over to the west and saw that Luna had lowered her moon. She could barely see the last sliver of it as it dipped down under the horizon. With a smile, Celestia turned to the east and, with far less show and fanfare than she did at the summer sun celebration, channeled vast magical energies through her long stately horn and reached out to a massive sphere of burning gas billions of miles away from their world. Tethering it she gave a mental tug and moved so it's rays shone over Equestria's hemisphere of the planet, bringing life giving light to her precious little ponies, their crops and the land. Luna's night was beautiful, restful to those who needed it, and in this era also played host to a great number of revelers, but her day would always be needed.

Celestia smiled as she watched the dawn commence. Once she gave her sun a proper nudge it would continue on its course for the next twelve hours untended, allowing her to do what else she needed to do during the day.

With that thought she sighed, turned away from the glory of the rising sun, and headed back inside. With a much less intricate or powerful tug of telekinesis she rang the call bell for her hoofmaidens. The princess of the day needed to look the part for her little ponies, and it was too time consuming to do it all alone, even with one's own magic.

The door to her suite of chambers opened.

“Feather touch, Jewel.” she said, looking to the door. “I've another long day ahead and...” she ground to a halt as she saw one of her sister's guards standing there. Confusion writ across the goddess' muzzle.

“Apologies, your majesty. Orders from your sister, you were to be appraised of the situation immediately upon waking.” he said, pulling a scroll out of his saddlebags.

Celestia levitated the scroll over and unrolled it, her eyes narrowed as she read the contents... then shot open wide.

“The changelings have sent an ambassador!? My goodness! Why didn't she wake me sooner?” Celestia said, looking at the bat-winged pony.

“I believe your sisters words were 'she'll need all her wits about her to deal with this, so let her get enough sleep.” the dark armored stallion said with a little lopsided grin.

Celestia couldn't help but giggle. “Oh Lulu...” she said quietly, re-scanning the contents of the scroll. “Thank you sir. Now if you'll allow my attendants to enter, I have an extra pressing need to get ready quickly this morning.”

“Of course, your majesty.” The nightguard said, bowing before he turned and left, allowing a pair of unicorn mares, one a light cream color with a reddish brown mane and tail, and a brilliant sapphire blue coated mare with a emerald green mane to enter.

Celestia clapped her hooves together once. “Right girls, the usual, and let's hurry. It's apparently going to be a very important day.”

* * * * *

The door to the northwest tower -one of the most well appointed guest suites in Canterlot castle- swung open to admit Maxillus, who was closely followed by Shining armor. Outside the door were the six night guards who had followed him as an escort, along with the dozen or so day guard pegasi that had just been coming on shift who Shining had rounded up to accompany them as well hovering in the open air around the tower.

“So these are my quarters?” Maxillus said, trotting in and glancing about.

“What, is it not good enough for you?” Shining asked, rubbing his eyes. His interrupted night's sleep was starting to catch up to him, but he refused to lower his guard till he was sure that security was up to snuff with a changeling inside the palace.

“Actually, I expected to be in a prison cell right about now, so this is far better than I'd hoped.” The changeling said as he opened the door to the bedroom, then smiled and trotted over and rearing up to place his fore hooves... if they could even be called hooves, on the bed and pressing into it before hopping up onto it and rolling around on his back with a pleased coo. “Mmm... goosedown mattress, this is luxury.”

Shining let out a low, seething whinny. “The princess will call for you when she's ready to begin talks. Until then, do not leave these chambers. I have unicorn guards at the doors, and three squads of pegasi circling the tower. If you attempt to exit, via the door or the windows, in any form, you will be taken and escorted to a more secure location. Have I made myself clear?”

“Perfectly, I assure you.” Maxillus said, rolling off the bed and continuing his circuit of the suite.

“If that's everything, I need to take my leave.” Shining said, fighting the urge to yawn... and barely winning for the moment.

“Before you go captain, one question.” Maxillus said.

“Wha-” Shining lost the battle and let out a loud yawn. “What is it?”

“I heard that when she was disguised as your wife, Chrysalis spent a lot of time in a certain room in Canterlot castle. An isolated, private room for guests. That wouldn't happen to be this room, would it?”

Shining blinked, his tiredness being replaced by suspicion. “Y... yes, yes it was.”

Maxillus nodded, then glanced around the room. His eyes settling on the large vanity along one wall. He walked over to it,, and with a heave of effort moved it away from the wall a couple of degrees, and stuck his head behind it. “Ah-ha! Knew it.” he said, one foreleg coming up behind the mirror. “I'd avert your eyes if I were you, captain.”

There was a tearing sound from somewhere on the back of the mirror, and suddenly a series of sparks crackled across the mirror's face. Shining barely had time to shield his eyes with a foreleg before there was a brilliant flash and sizzling pop that was very distinct. An enchantment being broken by brute force.

The unicorn guards that were standing outside came dashing in, horns aglow and ready for anything,

“What's going on sir?” the unicorn at Shining's left asked.

“Nothing to worry about, my good stallions. Just finishing cleaning up some-changeling else's mess.” Maxillus said, before tossing a small, faceted light blue stone with remnants of gooey changeling resin at shining's hooves.

“What the...?” Shining said, stunned and confused.

“A little remnant of Crysalis, Captain. I heard she was able to communicate with your sister in the caverns under Canterlot, so I did a little research.”

“Research into what?” Shining asked. The guards at his side easing their postures slightly, and powering down their horns, but not going completely at ease.

“The nature of the crystals of course. That chip there is taken from the caves directly below the castle. The crystals are magnificent arcane focus stones, so they're very easy to manipulate. Crysalis was never particularly known for her spellcasting abilities, but even a simpleton with a lick of magical ability could communicate with someone in the caverns with a mirror linked to a stone taken from there.”

Shining stared at the light blue crystal fragment. It really was tiny, about half the size of a marble. It must've been stuck into a very inconspicuous spot indeed to avoid the searches done after the changelings had been cast out.

After a long moment, Shining levitated the crystal into his saddlebag and gave a curt nod. “Thank you for the information.” he said, before turning and trotting quickly from the chamber. The guards slowly backed out onto the landing at the top of the steps and closed the door.

* * * * *

Cadence awoke to mid morning sunlight streaming into the master bedroom of Shining Armor's Canterlot home. The place was still most definitely a bachelor pad despite the pink curtains that they'd hung at her insistence. The plain white walls with prominent wooden supports and stone floor were almost military in their drabness. Not to mention all the suits of armored barding on poniquins and weapons mounted on displays on the walls. The homy wampth she wanted to bring to this military style dwelling wasn't quite there yet, but it was coming.

Though the warmth of the stallion she'd come to love had lately cooled, and it worried her.

She reached out with a foreleg to the opposite side of the bed... and found it empty. The sheets were cool as well. Sighing, Cadence thew the blanket off her and rolled out of bed, then proceeded to the bathroom to prepare herself for the day.

Once she was looking her usual best, Cadence went around the house, searching for any sign of her husband. He wasn't sleeping on the couch, nor was he in the study, nor was he in his personal armory, which she'd feared to find him sharpening his sword on a grindstone.

Sighing sadly, Cadence left the house and took to wing, flying to Canterlot castle.

* * * * *

Princess Luna sat at the table eating what was, for her, a late dinner of grilled vegetables and a baked sweet potato as her sister entered the smaller, private dining room reserved for the use of the royal family, and close, personal friends. The attendant stood by waiting as Celestia took a seat at the table opposite her sister.

“Eggs, sunny side up. Waffles with strawberry topping and whipped cream. And Earl Grey tea, please.” Celestia said to the attendant, who bowed even as the quill pen in his magical telekinetic grip wrote down her order on a notepad before he turned and went into the kitchen in the next room.

“So, you had a busy night.” Celestia said to her sister.

“Indeed I did sister.” Luna said, taking a sip of red wine.

“I appreciate you handling the matter while I slept.” Celestia said, smiling at her sister. “But I really do need to know what happened last night, so I'm informed before I go into talks.”

Luna nodded. “To begin with, this Changeling is a... curious individual. He seems to have a fair deal of intelligence, but he has some... odd concepts about how to go about being diplomatic.” Luna started, then chuckled. “He demanded to speak to Shining Armor before anypony else because he wanted to meet the stallion that's got his whole race running scared. I'm still not entirely convinced he isn't utterly mad. But he is fairly well spoken.”

Celestia blinked. “He... spoke to Shining Armor?”

“Indeed sister, can thou believe it? Forget you or I, forget any of our diplomats, he goes for a leader of our armies and confronts him in some kind of test of bravery. As I said, I still think he might be mad.”

“And... what did Shining Armor do?” Celestia asked.

“Little more than raised his voice to the changeling. He's uninjured, or was when he was escorted from southgate to the guest quarters here at the palace. The tower room has been surrounded by guard pegasi all this morn.” Luna pointed out the window with a hoof.

Celestia turned to look out the window that happened to have a distant view of that particular tower... and true to Luna's word there were distant, gleaming gold and white figures flying around the tower in circular patterns thick as a flock of crows.

“Well... I suppose I can't fault Shining for thoroughness...” she said.

After a minute of silence, Luna glanced around. “Curious. Captain Armor I know to be resting in the barracks, but where art our niece and nephew this morn?” Luna asked.

“Cadence, I'm not sure. It is odd for her not to be here for breakfast. But Blueblood can't have large breakfasts like he's been used to anymore.”

Luna raised an eyebrow. “Hmmm, I thought him to be in fine condition. He always looked quite well sculpted, why need he control his appetite so?”

“His trainer's orders. Oh! Thank you.” she said, directing the last of this to an attendant who had just brought out her tea. A full teapot's worth, and an already full cup. Celestia levitated the delicate piece of china to her lips and took a sip. “Mmmm...”

“Trainer? Whatever for?” Luna asked.

Celestia rubbed her chin with the back of her foreleg in thought. “Well, in the morning it's fencing lessons, and in the afternoon he's taking classes at the magic academy. Entry level magic dueling. Quite adventurous for him, considering his mother kept him out of anything violent all his life.”

“Interesting... well, any way that colt can better himself would be a dramatic improvement.” Luna said, sipping her wine.

“Luna!” Celestia gasped, shocked.

“What? From what I hear he's never once tried to be a useful prince in his life. And the things they say about him in all those weekly publications aren't exactly flattering either. 'Tis good of him to better himself beyond all that.” Luna said.

Celestia snorted. “Alright, alright, he's not been the most shining example of nobility, but that doesn't allow you to speak of him like that.”

“Very well sister, I shalt hold my tongue.” Luna sighed.

Celestia gave a small wry smile and shook her head as her breakfast was brought out.

“So, when does thou plan on meeting with our guest, Sister?” Luna asked, finishing her supper just as Celestia began to eat her breakfast.

“Well, first I have to tell Ambassador Swift-talon why I'm having to cancel our meeting today, and that could take a while. You know how griffins get.” Celestia said, giggling and waving a hoof.

Luna smirked. “Quite.”

“After that's done I think I'll spend most of the afternoon speaking with our changeling guest... if all goes well, anyway.”

* * * * *

Noon rolled around, and a cadre of the best guards in Canterlot escorted a black carapaced figure through the corridors of the palace. The path they took was conspicuously devoid of servants, nobility, dignitaries, or anypony other than armed and armored guards for that matter.

Maxillus continually glanced about as they went. The palace was a grand place. Very little was utilitarian. Everything was made artistic in some fashion. Stonework, gilding, flowering plants, tapestries. And it was all arranged artfully so nothing clashed. He had to admire the pony race's natural tendency to beautify things.

Shortly, they arrived at a large double door set with a golden replica of the solar princess' cutie mark emblazoned on the heavy wood. The guard in the lead knocked on the door, then waited for a distant call from the other side of the door to open it a crack and stick his head in. “Ambassador Maxillus to see you, your majesty.”

“Good. Send him in.” came a gentle voice.

The doors opened wide, and the guards entered, still flanking the changeling. As they entered, Maxillus, as ever, quickly scanned the room he was in. The floor was geometric tile in an ivory marble. The walls were covered with shelves full of books, personal treasures -some of them he assumed were probably centuries old- and the occasional small potted plant. The cream colored walls were hung with portraits of ponies of all three races that maxillus couldn't immediately identify, though most of the figures in the paintings were smiling, so they added a certain extra warmth to the décor. Lastly, there was a gilded book stand at a height that was level with the face of the figure who was laying down on her belly on a soft rug in the middle of the room.

Even if the view was from between the armored backs of two guards heads, the visage of the princess of the day was every bit as impressive as her sister's had been. Her mane sparkled as it flowed in an ethereal breeze, and it sparkled, though not with stars as her sister's had. Her fur was the purest white Maxillus had ever seen, and violet eyes gazed at him with a gentle, serene warmth.

“Thank you my loyal guards, but I wish to speak with my guest privately. You may leave us.” Celestia spoke with a voice as gentle as any mother's.

“Your majesty, is that wise...?” the lieutenant that had led the way here asked the princess.

“I am not going to have an ambassador from a nation seeking peace feel like a criminal by having my guards watch him like a hawk. Besides, I can handle myself, captain.” Celestia said, shifting her hooves under her and smiling at the lieutenant indulgently.

The captain looked like he wished to dispute that claim, but held his mouth shut and gave a low bow, before turning and exiting the room, the rest of his command following. The door swinging closed gently as they left.

“Come, Maxillus. Sit.” Celestia indicated a standard sized pony sitting pillow near the rug she lay upon.

“I... thank you, your majesty.” Maxillus said with a brief bow before coming over to the offered seat.

“My sister didn't mention you had a courtly manner.”

“One must when there's a queen to appease living nearby. When necessary, I can be as courtly as you'd like me to be. Your sister just caught me somewhat off guard. ”

Celestia smiled. “She does have a habit of showing up when she's least expected.”

Maxillus smiled politely, resisting the urge to chuckle.

* * * * *

Cadence sighed. She'd gone from their house, to Shining's office up in the Citadel, and even called on all of his friends in the guard trying to find where her husband had gone. No luck. It was like he'd just vanished. Nopony seemed to know what kind of special 'guard business' would have been urgent enough to call him out of bed at that hour of the morning, nor where it might have been.

She had one last resort for answers now, as she cantered through the halls of Canterlot palace towards the private study of her many, many times removed relative.

The hallways were oddly heavy with guards today, standing at attention at every juncture in the east wing. However, the look on Cadence's face was a no-nonsense one that brooked no interference from the simple guard stallions as she approached her destination.

Cadence paused outside the doors. She could hear Celestia's voice emanating from across the heavy wood, along with an unfamiliar voice. She gritted her teeth. Whatever it was her aunt was doing it could wait a few moments while she asked her little question. Gripping the doors with her magic she swung them open and stepped inside.

“Aunt Celestia, I have a prob... lem...” Cadence said, grinding to a halt as she took in the scene before her.

The two occupants of the room had stopped talking and were now staring back at her. Her aunt, laying placidly on a rug, and the shiny black form of a Changeling sitting barely a few feet away from the large white alicorn.

Cadence screamed.

* * * * *

Several minutes prior, the handsome, perfectly sculpted prince Blueblood was returning to the castle still wearing most of his fencing uniform, and his foil and mask carried upon his back. Standing at the door to the palace were a pair of Unicorn stallions in servants garb. One was Black with a white mane and tail, the other the reverse.

“Welcome back sir.” the two greeted him as he returned to the palace.

“Thank you Prim, Proper.” Blueblood said to the stallions. They were brothers, Prim was white with black, Proper was black with white. The two were some of the most dutiful and pleasant servants a pony could find, which was why he'd snapped them up by offering them the highest pay any servants in canterlot had ever heard of to have them on his own retinue. However, while he was away the princesses also made occasional use of them. They were that good.

“Allow me to take your things, my Prince.” Prim said, lighting his horn. A pale grayish-white glow enveloped the mask and foil and lifted them up into the air.

“Thank you Prim.” Blueblood said, rolling his shoulders. “Is luncheon almost ready?”

“Quite, sir.” Proper answered.

“Good, I'm starving. My instructor really worked me to the bone today.”

“Do you wish a bath, your grace?” Proper asked.

“That would be heavenly. I'd hate to arrive to lunch and be all sweaty, especially in front of my aunt.”

As Prim and Proper escorted Blueblood back to his private chambers, Prim broached a subject that had been on his mind. “Your grace, pardon me for asking, but why are you putting yourself through all this? Combat lessons and magic, didn't you go through all this during your college years?”

Blueblood sighed. “A fair question, Prim. But I didn't do particularly well in either one, and my mother didn't push me to. I never thought much about it since. But then... do you remember what happened a few months ago, at my cousin's wedding?”

“Quite, sir. You gave us leave that day to attend.” Proper answered.

Blueblood nodded. “Well, the painful truth is, I was spending the day with my mistress. We were having a lovely time in the park, away from all the ceremony of Cadence's wedding when those nasty changelings broke down Shining's shield. When they attacked us, I'm afraid I proved quite powerless against the fiends.” Blueblood looked quite downcast at that. “My former lady called me a coward and a weakling for hiding in the bushes while they tried to abscond with her, and said she never wished to see me again.”

“Terrible, sir!” Prim said. “Simply terrible!” Added Proper.

Blueblood nodded, then raised his head and grinned at his servants. “Which is why I promised myself I would never be caught defenseless again. My mother kept me from learning the skills I needed to protect not only myself but those I care about, and now I’m making up for that lack with all due haste.”

“Very wise of you sir.” Prim said.

“Most exemplary.” Proper said.

Blueblood smiled at the praise. “Quite. Though I wish I was making as much progress in fencing as I was with magic. My teachers say I’m quite naturally gifted, with my royal pedigree-”

A somewhat distant feminine scream reached all their ears.

“Good heavens, that sounded like Cadence!” Blueblood said, before turning and galloping off towards the source.

* * * * *

“Cadence! Cadence, calm down!” Celestia said as she rose to her hooves.

Cadence's legs were frozen, her pupils narrowed to pinpricks and her eyes wide as saucers. “C-ch-ch-change...!”

“Yes, Cadence, a changeling. But I promise he's not going to hurt or abduct anypony, now please, calm down.” Celestia tried to speak soothingly to the much younger princess.

Cadence seemed to be completely ignoring Celestia as her legs began to twitch, then she started to backpedal.

“Cadence, calm down!” Celestia said forcefully, casting a serenity spell on the smaller, younger, and less powerful alicorn. Officially she forbade the use of mind altering magics without something like a court order, but she herself used them in extreme circumstances. Cadence drooped slightly as her entire body relaxed along with her mind.

“I'm sorry Cadence. I forgot you haven't been told.” Celestia said, her voice drawing Cadence's almost sleepy gaze. Celestia swept a wing out and pointed with it to the changeling, guiding her attention. “Allow me to introduce Ambassador Maxillus, he hails from the hive of queen Diaphene, and he's here trying to show that not all changelings are like Chrysalis.”

Maxillus bowed his head politely.

“Now I'm going to nullify my spell, Cadence, but you have to promise me not to panic. Maxillus isn't here to take you away, or impersonate somepony you love, or anything like that.”

“On my honor, I swear I won't.” Maxillus said, placing one hoof over his chest.

Cadence looked from him, to her aunt, and back. Then finally nodded, very slowly, in a half stupor.

Celestia concentrated, and with a brief gold flash, Cadence found herself properly in control of her own mind again. She shook her head, sending her long, tri-color mane into a bit of a tizzy.

“You're an... ambassador?” Cadence asked, looking at the changeling.

“I suppose I am. My kind never needed one before but, well... times change, no?” Maxillus said with a wry grin.

“And you're here to... make peace with us?” Cadence asked, trying to process everything she'd just heard.

“As per my Queen's orders.” Maxillus said.

“And she's not Crysalis?” Cadence asked, taking a step closer, curiosity, and her aunt's presence giving her courage.

“No, I serve Diaphene, queen of the Underhall, and she-” Maxillus was saying when a set of galloping hooves screeched to a halt at the wide open door.

“Get away from my family you monster!” A white unicorn stallion with a golden blonde mane and tail bellowed before pointing his horn at the changeling, and with a brief, fierce upsurge of light blue magic, fired a great arcane burst which lifted the changeling off the pillow on which he sat and sent him careening into a bookcase, which sent every book in it spilling out onto his stunned form, covering him.

“Blueblood!” Celestia gasped. Cadence was backing away in alarm from the sudden violence.

“Aunt, cousin, are you alright? I came as fast as I could when I heard the scream.” he said, then got a smack in the face with a huge white feathered wing. “OW! What was that for?”

“You just blasted an ambassador across my study!” Celestia fumed.

“Ambassador? Auntie, that was a changeling, he had you under his spell!” Blueblood exclaimed.

“He was an ambassador from the changelings, sent here to make peace, and you just zapped him!” Celestia shoved her snout up against his as she explained to him in a growl that would've made a manticore flinch.

“Oh...” Blueblood said, shrinking away from her.

Cadence, meanwhile, was inching closer to the motionless pile of books. Reaching out with her hoof, she moved one off of a carapaced, gap filled foreleg and hoof, which confused her momentarily as it seemed considerably larger up close than it had a moment ago. It twitched, and a moan came from within the pile.

Suddenly worried, Cadence ignited her horn and lifted the books off the prone form underneath and moving them aside... only to drop them with a gasp a second later, drawing Celestia and Blueblood's attention.

With a groan, the figure of a changeling rose off the floor. But what had formerly been a nearly androgynous male drone of intermediate size was a much different creature.

Unlike Crysalis who was able to look Celestia in the eye, he was only an inch or two taller at the shoulder than the average stallion, and quite the physical equal of any of the burly guard stallions who by now had flocked to the door. A heavy, rectangular head which carried a rather rugged look to it replaced the short snouted, almost bulbous round head of the average drone, and instead of the short black crest frill he had a long mane of orange material, tattered at the end, with a few split 'strands', much in the same manner of chrysalis' had been, with a matching tail which dragged on the ground even as he stood at full height. The short, blade-like horn had been replaced by a longer one that now more resembled a knife with a wicked, reverse hook behind the tip, and the fangs jutting out of the corners of his lips at the end of that mouth were slightly more pronounced.

The changeling put a hoof to his head and rubbed his temples. “Ugh... ok, that hurt.” he said. Maxillus' voice had gone from being vaguely male to very clearly male, and a few notes deeper along with the resonant tone that only Crysalis had seemed to have. He opened his eyes and blinked them several times to clear them... his bright, two-tone orange, reptilian slitted eyes, which replaced the glassy blue ones he'd had moments ago.

All three noble ponies, and all the guards cramming into the doorway gaped at him.

“What?” he asked.

“Y... your mane... and your eyes!” Cadence said, pointing at him.

Maxillus blinked, then reached up with a forehoof and felt for it, and easily found his mane of rich orange. Bringing it in front of his snout he stared at it for a long moment, before looking back up at everypony staring at him, and giving a sheepish grin. “Ah... heh...”

“Oh dear...” Celestia said, facehoofing.

Chapter 4

Celestia, her niece and her nephew sat in a half circle in her study as the servants were busy repairing the bookshelf, and performing damage control on Celestia's books and personal belongings. Maxillus, still stunned from being walloped by Blueblood's spell, sat out in the hallway under guard, still in his newly revealed true form.

Cadence was almost shaking as she spoke. “Aunt Celestia... what's going on? You said he was here to make peace, and then...”

“I'm sorry about all this Cadence, I should have made sure you knew about this. I know it's a shock, but we're trying to make thing better.” Celestia said, stroking Cadence's back with her wing.

“Auntie Celestia, I know you're about harmony and all that but if what I’m hearing is right our little changeling friend has been wearing a disguise since he showed up! That he was making himself look like another changeling is bizarre, but still highly suspect.” Blueblood said.

“I know what it seems like, nephew, but this opportunity is too great to be destroyed so easily.” Celestia said, standing up to her full height, and walking out the door.

“Auntie, you can't be serious! He's been lying since he got here!” Blueblood exclaimed. Celestia shot a look back at him that made him close his mouth with a snap, and then gulp.

Celestia sighed. “He appeared as a changeling to us from the moment he appeared at our gates. Now, he appears to be a slightly different kind of changeling. If he was trying to be subversive, it's not much of a disguise, Nephew. I will hear from him an explanation before I decide.”

Tentatively, Cadence got to her hooves and followed her aunt. Shaking his head, Blueblood followed as well.

The Guards nodded as Celestia approached, and stepped aside at a gesture from her wings.

“Maxillus.” Celestia said. The Changeling lifted his orange maned head to look up at her from where he lay on the marble floor. “You have my apologies for my Nephew's unwarranted attack on you, he was merely reacting to his cousin's scream.”

“I understand, your majesty.” Maxillus said, nodding his head.

“However.. there remains the matter of your... transformation.” Celestia continued, and Maxillus averted his eyes. “Please explain why you appeared to us as a different form of changeling than you truly are.”

The changeling sighed. “When one hive sends a delegation to another, and are visiting a stronger hive, the delegation always assumes the form of drones when within the territory of the greater power.”

Celestia tilted her head. “Why, exactly?”

“To appear less threatening.”

“I thought one was more likely to win concessions from a stronger position in negotiations.” Blueblood commented.

“If we are on equal footing, we show our strength, if we know one of us is definitively in the weaker position, we appease by taking a more harmless form. You ponies have a spell that can destroy us, if you wished. You are the stronger party, so I came as a drone, and not... as you see me now.” Maxillus explained.

Celestia nodded, then turned around to her niece and nephew. “There, you see? Just a cultural misunderstanding.”

“Likely story.” Blueblood mumbled under his breath.

Celestia shook her head. “More than you'd think. I've seen wars caused by one side not knowing the ways of the other. Like that little debacle recently down in Appleoosa.” Celestia explained.

Blueblood snorted. “A land dispute is one thing, the buffalo made their grievance known and negotiations broke down. This thing's kind made an underhanded attack on us with no provocation whatsoever, and-”

Cadence suddenly perked up. “Buffalo in Appleoosa? Wasn't Twilight down there when that happened?”

Celestia nodded. “Indeed she was, she sent me a lovely friendship report detailing the importance of sharing, understanding and...” Celestia ground to a halt, her eyes going wide, before a smile creeped across her muzzle.

“In any event, I have some thinking to do on this matter, and some experts to consult. Ambassador Maxillus, again I apologize but our meeting must be postponed. Guards,” She said, causing the pegasi in gold armor to snap to attention. “Please escort the ambassador back to his accommodations.”

Maxillus got to his hooves a little shakily, but followed along with the guards as they began to move off back to the tower.

“Oh, and Ambassador,” Celestia called after him. “Please refrain from disguising yourself in any way while you're here... it may be changeling etiquette, but it's not how ponies do things.”

Maxillus glanced back and nodded. “I understand your majesty.” he said, before continuing on with his escort.

Celestia watched the guards escort him off, then sighed. “Well, it looks like I have some extra work to do. I'll see you both later.” she said, nodding at her niece and nephew before teleporting off.

“Celestia wait, I-!” Cadence said just a hair after her aunt was gone.

“Cousin, are you alright?” Blueblood said, stepping up next to her.

Cadence shook her head. “I'm sorry Bluey...” she said, using an old foalhood nickname. “I completely forgot, I came to ask Celestia where Shining was and never got to ask.” she chuckled, though there was little mirth in it.

Blueblood smiled and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Well, then, as I think I need to speak with your husband as well, allow me to aid you, cousin.”

Cadence blinked. “Really? Oh, thank you Blueblood, I really appreciate it.”

“Oh, pish! It's nothing Cadence.”

* * * * *

Shining Armor, captain of the Canterlot guard, had spent most of the morning conked out in a borrowed bunk bed in the palace guard barracks. Now that he'd woken, and properly bathed, he was down in the guards mess hall having the first meal he'd had since dinner the previous evening.

As he was working his way through a large lettuce, cheese and tomato hero, the door to the mostly empty mess hall opened, and in stepped two ponies he'd never expected to see down here. The Duke of Canterlot, and the princess of love, his wife.

“Shining! There you are!” Cadence called out, her face perking up into a smile at the sight of him. She cantered over quickly, while Blueblood snorted, an indulgent smile on his face as he trotted over more sedately.

“Oh, hey honey. What brings you down here?” Shining asked.

“Looking for you, silly.” she said, then looked at the table before him. A bowl of salad, a bowl of Asparagus soup, and a huge sandwich levitating infront of his muzzle. “Hungry much?”

“I kinda never got to have breakfast this morning.” he said, taking a bite.

“Can we sit down?” Cadence asked.

“Go right ahead.” Shining said, gesturing with a hoof. Cadence smiled and immediately sat down on the bench opposite her husband. Blueblood snorted, levitated a napkin over to wipe down a spot on the bench next to Cadence before he sat down himself. Shining rolled his eyes at that. Typical Blueblood, 'upper class' through and through.

“So, we met your little changeling friend.” Blueblood said, just as Cadence was about to open her mouth.

Shining froze in the middle of reaching to take another bite of his sandwich. “You did? When? I thought I gave my guards orders to keep him contained.”

“It was during his meeting with Celestia-” Blueblood began.

“It was my fault, Shining.” Cadence broke in. “I was looking for you, but couldn't find you, with the way you've been acting, and having to leave in the middle of the night last night I got worried, so I thought I’d ask My aunt. Only I wasn't expecting to find a changeling there with her, and then I screamed, and Celestia had to calm me down rather forcibly, and then-”

“Wait, what? Are you okay Cadence, did he do anything to you?” Shining asked, suddenly highly concerned.

“No, nothing. I just... was surprised to see a changeling, really. He was being a perfect gentle-stallion, but then...” Cadence trailed of and looked at Blueblood.

The white unicorn stallion sighed. “I heard her scream and came 'charging in to the rescue'. Let that shape shifter have it too, with the old arcane horn burst.” Blueblood tapped his horn gently with a forehoof. “My teachers say I'm doing quite well with that combat spell.” Blueblood said.

“You? You blasted him?” Shining asked, blinking incredulously. Blueblood using combat magic? That was one he never thought he'd hear.

“Yes, well, after I knocked him into a bookcase, Aunt Celestia gave me a scolding. Thing is, my spell did more than just knock him about.” Blueblood leaned over the table. “Apparently, he's been shapeshifted since he got here.”

“What!?” Shining snapped.

“Oh, quite. Once we dug him out of the pile of books we could all see him for what he really was. Looked like a male version of Crysalis, Only about your height and build. Slitted, bright orange eyes, and long, dirty looking ragged orange hair. Ugh, so uncouth.” Blueblood sounded like he wanted to gag describing it.

Shining stared forward blankly for a minute before he gritted his teeth. “That lying, scheming little-”

“Shining, wait! It's not like that, he was just following some weird changeling formal protocol!” Cadence interrupted.

“Protocol?” Shining asked, his head spinning by this point.

“Something about the weaker party in negotiations appearing non-threatening physically, to reflect how non-threatening they are at the conference table. I don't know. After she heard his explanation, auntie Celestia called it a 'cultural misunderstanding'.” Blueblood said, waving a hoof dismissively.

“Cultural misunderstanding...?” Shining said incredulously. “And she believed him!? He's been deceiving us since the instant he got here, he's revealed as a liar right infront of her, and she calls it a misunderstanding!”

“Auntie Celestia is known to be highly... forgiving, Cousin-in-law.” Blueblood said. “Some of my own ancestors even have criticized her for being so.”

Shining nodded, Luna's words the previous evening coming back to him.

“Shining, please, there's no reason to suspect him. He's from a different species. We all work differently. We need to accept and tolerate our differences to work together.”

Shining facehoofed. His beloved wife could be so infuriatingly naive sometimes.

* * * *

Luna flew through her beautiful night sky, the air was warm and smelled of spring, the stars twinkled and her moon shone full.

But she only had eyes for the pegasus stallion who flitted before her.

A marvel of his species, fully muscled and with great, broad wings, every feather a glossy raven black, matched by his gleaming coat as his hide moved over his glorious musculature, the stallion danced through the air before her, playing hard to get as Luna flew after him, the two of them laughing giddily as they danced through the air.

Finally, after an interminable amount of teasing, the stallion allowed her to catch him, and she chased him to the ground, where they tussled and pranced about each other before coming in close to nuzzle at each others necks and drink in each others scent...

* * * *

Bang-bang-bang! The 'gentle' knock of a armored hoof on a wooden door ripped Luna from her favorite dream with all the subtlety of one of those new construction backhoes.

“Uuuugh... what?” she called out.

The door creaked open. “A thousand pardons, Your majesty.” one of her personal guard said, bowing. “But Captain Armor insists he must speak to you, urgently.”

Luna sighed. “Send him in.”

* * * *

“A cultural misunderstanding! I can't believe her! Their true nature's staring her in the face and she lets him off the hook after a paper thin lie like that!” Shining ranted as he paced back and forth in front of Luna’s bed.

The night princess sat up against her pillows, her thin summer blanket still covering her hind legs and waist. “Captain, calm thyself.” she said, frowning. “Why are thou so sure 'tis a lie?”

“Oh not you too princess!” Shining snapped. “You weren't even there and you're taken in just the same as her!”

“Neither were thou, captain, and I am not agreeing with either you or my sister.”

Shining blinked. “You're not?”

“No. I am remaining objective.” she said, fixing him with a hard look. “Thine problem is corroboration.”

“Excuse me?” Shining said.

“Surely thou knowest this word? 'Tis used in thine work regularly.” Luna said.

Shining blushed. “Oh, yeah, sure... I just wasn't expecting....”

Luna sighed. “Thou cannot know if Maxillus was telling the truth or not about this because culture is subjective. Thou need a reliable expert on changeling culture, of which, thou does not have available. Maxillus may be lying about why he was disguising his true form, or he may not. Thou cannot know.”

Shining groaned. “So what am I supposed to do!? What if he starts doing... things like this, but keeps claiming it's 'his culture' or something!?” he snorted. “If this isn't actually 'culture' and he's just using that as a cover, he could get away with who knows what!”

Luna snorted. “Captain, calm thyself. You may not have one available, but I have not exhausted all of mine own resources yet. I shall see what may be done.”

Shining relaxed visibly as soon as she said that. “Thank you princess, that means a lot... heh, I guess I did kinda lose my cool.”

“See you keep thine head temperate. Thou will need it, I should think. Now if that is all, thou should return to thine duties, captain. I must get back to sleep in what remains of my sister's day if I am to pursue this matter come sunset.”

“Ah, right, sorry, princess Luna.” Shining bowed.

“Tis alright, I am glad to be of assistance. 'Tis a trying time for all concerned.” she said, settling back under her covers. “Good day, captain.”

“And to you, Princess.” He said, quietly exiting the room.

As soon as he was out of the room one of the day guard came cantering up the hall and stopped before him, snapping a smart salute. “Sir, Princess Celestia would like to speak with you in the audience hall, sir!”

Shining nodded. “I think I know what this is about. Thanks private.”

* * * *

“Ah! Shining Armor, there you are.” Celestia said as Shining entered.

“Here as you requested, Princess.” Shining said, throwing a salute.

“No need for that, Shining. You're a prince now, remember?” Celestia said with an indulgent smile.

“Habit, your majesty.” Shining replied with a grin.

Celestia giggled. “In any case, Shining, since we know next to nothing about changelings or their culture, and differences to ours are at the heart of the matters between us, I've decided to call in a specialist to study them as much as is possible with only one representative here. It's short notice, but I'd like you to be there at the train station to meet and escort her to the palace in two hours.”

Shining bowed. “Of course, your majesty.” he said, which made Celestia smile and shake her head slightly. “Will there be anything else?”

“No, that is all Captain. Thank you.”

* * * *

Spruced up and in full court plate, Shining stood with a quartet of pegasi flanking him in the canterlot train station as the train rolled in.

“I really hope this 'expert' isn't some snooty old professor. Had to deal with enough of those back in college.” one of the privates commented.

“Or some genius who thinks everypony else is some kind of dimwit. Escorted one of those once. Got on my nerves so bad I wanted to either smack them or gallop in the opposite direction.” another guard said.

“Cut the chatter fellas.” Shining said as the train's passengers started to disembark.

There was a long flow of the crowd as ponies got on and off the train. Families,
business ponies, nobles on holiday. It was so mundane and normal that it actually started to soothe Shining's mind just to watch. He even smiled when he saw one a middleclass unicorn family with two young foals getting on the train with a picnic basket.

Then he noticed a unidentifiable shape moving along inside one of the train cars, which materialized into a slowly plodding mass of books and bags that attempted to exit the car and got wedged in.

“Oh come on... rrrrgh!” the mass strained and groaned before it burst through and spilled out of it's carrier's... claws? “Whoah!”

With a crash and clatter, a load of books, bags, and other items went scattering across the platform... revealing a familiar purple baby dragon who'd tripped and fallen on his face and lost his luggage.

“Spike!? What're you doing here?” Shining exclaimed.

“Spike! I told you to be careful!” came a familiar feminine voice as a young purple unicorn mare emerged from the traincar. “Oh, hey Shining! Glad you could make it. I just got Celestia's letter and had to run to catch the train.”

Shining Armor's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. “TWILY!?”

Chapter 5

Four o'clock in the afternoon, The shadows were already starting to grow longer in Canterlot. The darkness cast by the tall towers creeping over the land like long claws. The streets were filled with nobleponies on their way to cafes and house parties for tea.

A quartet of rank and file guards, their saddlebags bulging out to their sides filled with what appeared to be large books, struggling to keep up with the prince-captain, Shining Armor. In between all of them, still carrying a moderatly sized stack of books, was a young purple and green dragon whelp. Shining Armor, with his sister, Twilight Sparkle headed up this procession. The young unicorn mare was speaking at him animatedly, drawing attention from everypony they passed on the streets, however, curiosity turned to concern when they saw the rather deep scowl Shining armor's face was set in.

“... could practically do a thesis on this! Can you imagine? Professor Twilight Sparkle! I'd get to teach in a university!” Twilight said, giggling excitedly as she pranced along at Shining's side as he marched forward.

“Uh-huh.” was Shining's only reply.

“I mean, it'd fit perfectly with the work I've been doing in Ponyville. Did you know I finally categorized my friendship studies? It's sociology! Silly me, I read books on the subject for three years straight as Celestia's student and I don't recognize it for what it is when I'm in up to my eyeballs in 'friendship' research! Talk about being too close to the issue to see it.”

“Uh-huh.” Shining replied again.

“I seriously can't wait to sit down and talk to this ambassador! I mean I get to delve into a culture we've only just discovered actually exists, and isn't some ancient myth! I can't wait to meet him, seriously.” Twilight continued.

“Uh-huh-wait WHAT!?” Shining exclaimed, coming to a sudden stop, eyes going wide as dinner plates.

Twilight paused and looked back at him. “What's the matter Shining?”

“I... I thought Celestia was just calling you here as an expert...” he said dumbly.

“Well of course I'm the expert. I've collected every tidbit of data I could find from all over Equestria. Really stretched my stipend ordering this stuff in.” she said, nodding at the bulging saddlebags on the soldiers and the stack in Spike's arms.

Shining glanced about, spotting an alleyway between a cafe and a boutique that looked pretty empty, he put one hoof around his sister's withers and dragged her along into it, gesturing briefly to his men to keep the entryway covered.

“Hey! Shining, let go! Shining!” Twilight whined.

Shining dragged her until they were pretty far into the alley, and things seemed quiet. Once he was satisfied no-pony could hear them, he let her go and rounded on her.

“Geeze, what was that for?” Twilight said, shaking her mane out.

“Twiley, sis, please, PLEASE tell me you're not planning on being in the same room as that... that changeling!” Shining nearly begged her.

Twilight tossed her mane to straighten it out again. “Of course I am, how else would I find out anything?”

“B-but all those books you brought! I thought...” Shining said, lifting one hoof to point back at the guards covering the alley's entrance.

“I brought a lot of books here, true, but even these don't tell me that much about changelings as a whole.” she admitted.

Shining goggled at this. “Those things don't tell you much? The heck is in those things? They're huge! And there's so many of them!”

“They're collections of ancient travel journals, stories, myths and legends. Each one has only a few entries talking about Changelings... sadly, it's about all I could find on the subject. If I'd had time I would've transcribed everything down into one very thin book. It'd be a short read, trust me.” she explained with a little grin.

Shining pressed his hoof to his temple.

* * * * *

Celestia found herself sitting on her throne looking down at the ambassador from the griffin kingdom. An argumentative, prideful, and conflict seeking species, their kind and her little ponies had clashed a number of times in the past, but there had been a stable peace for at least two generations now, enough so that a small number of griffins even now resided within Equestria... relatively peacefully. There was even a number of Griffin consuls in the various cities where griffins lived. However, this was the first time she'd ever personally met with this particular ambassador. And she had to wonder how the griffin had gotten the job as peace-talker with her country.

Marshal Gerald Swift-Talon was as grizzled a veteran as you could imagine. A patch covered his left eye, which she had been briefly informed had been lost in an old battle, he had one missing talon on his right hand... the middle one, his tail was permanently kinked from an old injury... and he was practically covered in scars. A less likely candidate for calm discourse she couldn't have imagined.

“Thank you for meeting with me Princess, I know you said you had business come up this morning.” The griffin said in his gruff voice.

“Quite, though my schedule has opened up again, due to... unforeseen circumstances.” Celestia explained vaguely.

He grinned. “I'm told you had a bit of a ruckus with that 'envoy' earlier, princess. Might that be the reason?” Gerald said.

Celestia momentarily wondered how he'd found that out. The only ones around had been her guard, Cadence, Blueblood and his servants. Still, he knew, no use denying it. “Oh, that. Nothing more than a bit of confusion really.” The princess giggled, trying to gloss over the incident.

“Which ended with him being slammed into a bookcase by your nephew, I hear.” Gerald pressed.

Celestia took a deep breath, she'd figure out his sources later. “Those who did not need to know were not informed of Ambassador Maxillus' arrival. When my niece saw him, she... well, she shrieked. I had just managed to get her to calm down when my nephew burst in, he tried to play hero and attacked the ambassador. Thankfully without resulting in permanent harm.”

Gerald chuckled. “Brave, but hasty. If he wishes to be a warrior, he needs to learn restraint.”

Celestia blinked. Blueblood a warrior? There was a concept she never thought she'd hear.

“To my point, however.” Gerald said, before taking swallow from a glass of water. “I come from my homeland, sent by my king to speak to you of the new weapon you ponies now possess.”

“Weapon, ambassador?” Celestia asked.

The general ran his talons through the feathers on his neck. “The one you deployed when... mmm... ambassador Maximus you said his name was?”

“Maxillus.” Celstia corrected.

“Right.” Gerald said. “The one you used when his people attacked, rather than your usual signature defense, the elements?”

Celestia sighed. “That... Ambassador, that was a spell cast in desperation, it's not like it was planned!” she said.

“Planned or not, princess, you now have the recipe for a mind bogglingly powerful spell. One that no other species can hope to match.” he chuckled. “True love turned into a force of destruction, it chills me to my bones, princess.”

Princess celestia smothered the urgh to let out an exasperated sigh. “I've already had delegations from the Minotaurs talk to me about this, and even the diamond dogs approached me to beg leniency from our new 'love bomb' as thy so charmingly called it.” Celestia shook her head. “My little ponies and I are not vengeful, Ambassador, even if one of their queens decided to-”

Celestia was cut off as the great doors to the hall swung open and hit the walls with a heavy bang. “Princess! I need to talk to you!”

Celestia lifted her gaze to see Captain Armor stomping down the red carpet towards her throne. The general twisted his body around and snapped his head over to look towards the door with his good eye.

Shining came stomping up so ferociously that even the grizzled Griffin stood and sidestepped to get out of his way. “What the buck are you thinking, calling my little sister up here just to stick her in with that monster!?”

Celestia's eyes went wide, and her jaw dropped. “Shining Armor!” she said, aghast. “I will not have you speaking that way of an honored guest!”

“That 'honored guest' wasn't even showing his real form till Blueblood disrupted his spell! He and his whole kind are a race of liars.”

Celestia slammed her golden shod hoof down so hard the marble under the red carped cracked. “CAPTAIN ARMOR!” Celestia shouted, falling into the 'royal canterlot voice', which she hadn't used in nearly eight hundred years. “YOU WILL CEASE SPEAKING OF THE AMBASSADOR IN THIS WAY, OR I WILL HAVE YOU DRUMMED OUT OF THE GUARD AT ONCE!”

You could hear a pin drop in the audience hall for well over a minute after that.

Shining Armor was staring at her, jaw agape, as were all her other guards, her hoofmaidens, and her Majordomo. Ambassador Swift-Talon, meanwhile had one eye-brow raised.

Finally, Celestia had composed herself and spoke again. “Captain Armor, I dearly hope that outburst was not fueled by some sort of specism.”

Shining's brain worked at rainboom speeds to try to come up with an answer to that. Luna's warning about keeping rational came back to him, and he worked from there. “Princess Celestia... I'm... still not entirely convinced that Maxillus isn't a security risk. And I'd much rather not have my sister be left alone with him. I mean...” It suddenly clicked in his head. “I mean, he's male, Twilight's female. What if that makes her susceptible to his kind's spell? He could coerce her... if he has any plans to do something underhanded, the way Crysalis did to me, and my sister is a VERY powerful young mare...”

Celestia actually thought about this for a moment. “As I cannot say you are wrong on any of those counts, Captain, I'll let your previous outburst slide. If you are that worried about Twilight, then you may assign a small guard detail to her while she is conducting research.” she then actually gave a wry grin. “Though I am fairly certain your sister doesn't have a special somepony for him to take the form of to begin with.”

Shining blinked, then chuckled, though it sounded forced. “You've uh... got a point there princess, I guess. But still, we don't know a lot about changelings. I can't just throw her into the manticore's den like this!”

Celestia let out a small sigh through her nostrils. “I understand you are concerned, Shining. This is your sister. However, I might remind you that she and her friends took down several score changelings during the invasion before being overpowered. I'm certain she can handle herself against a single changeling.”

“But...”

Celestia looked thoughtful. “If you are still concerned for your sister's sake, Shining, perhaps you should sit in on her sessions with the ambassador. You could learn about him and his people alongside her, and protect her at the same time.”

Shining's eyes went wide and he started to stammer. “Ah-well, about that, I have duties, I can't just play bodyguard.”

Celestia's expression changed from neutral, to a slight frown, which, to anyone in the service, knew this to be a sign of something very serious. “Shining Armor, the greatest bane to tolerance and forgiveness is an unwillingness to learn. You are the captain of my guard, and a prince now, besides. It would be most... disappointing, to find out you posses this... flaw.”

Shining gulped. “Ah... I... I...”

“Yes, captain?” Celestia asked, tilting both her ears towards him.

“I... I guess I could... sit in on Twiley.... my sister's talks with... with the ambassador.” He stumbled over his own tongue as he tried to appease the princess.

Celestia nodded. “Thank you captain.”

Shining bowed quickly, then turned around and trotted out as fast as he dared.

“Oh, and captain!” Celestia called out after him.

Shining flinched. “Y... yes, your majesty?” he asked, looking back.

She smiled warmly. “Please tell Twilight she's welcome to join us at dinner with the rest of the royal family.”

Shining bowed briefly, then hurried out. The Gryphon ambassador rubbed the underside of his eagle beak in thought as he watched the retreating form of the unicorn.

* * * * *

Shining opened the door to the palace library with a push of his fore hoof. Twilight was standing at a book stand, a single quill levitating in front of her, jotting down notes while she also held a cloud of open books floating around her, all held firmly in her magenta colored magical aura. Holding up multiple objects with magic simultaneously was a basic skill for unicorns, holding them up for as long as she could, while also finely manipulating one or more in different ways the way she did was a rare feat, and just another reason Shining was so proud of her. Watching for a second, he couldn't help but smile.

“Shining! Hey man, been a while.” Spike 's voice called out. Shining looked up to see the dragon was standing at the top of a very tall ladder, pulling select books out of a high shelf.

“Spike! Hey lil' dude, how ya been?” he called back, then tilted his head, looking at him closely. “You're looking a little taller than I remember.”

“Oh, you noticed?” Spike said, flexing an arm. “Twilight figures that if I build a hoard very, very slowly I probably won't end up turning into a three hundred foot tall monster in a day and wreck the town again. I've got a little treasure chest back at home to fill with gems for hoarding, and not eating... really hard not to go dipping in there every time I get hungry.”

“Figure there's got to be a reason those teenagers at the dragon gathering were only a few times larger than spike here, and not all behemoths.” Twilight said, looking over her shoulder at her big brother.

“That... that's great, that's just great spike. Really.” Shining said, focusing on his sister. “Twily, sis, can we talk?” he asked, coming over to her. He peered at what she was writing.

“Can it wait? I'm making some condensed notes. Can't go into an important meeting with a huge pile of books now, can I?” She smirked at him.

“I... I suppose not.” Shining said, tapping his hoof against the marble floor a few times. “Look, Twily, about this whole business Celestia has you here for...” Shining pawed at the marble floor.

“Yes?” Twilight asked, her eyes still focused on copying down passages from books that hovered past her head onto the blank parchment in front of her.

“Are you sure you're ok with this?” He asked, coming closer, and lowering his voice. “I mean... you'll be talking to a changeling.”

“Yeah, that's kinda the point.” she snarked.

Shining facehoofed. “Ugh. Twily, that's not what I meant.”

Twilight turned and looked at him with an expression... that he couldn't read. “And what did you mean, Shining?” she asked.

“I'm... I-it's just...” He stumbled over his own tongue.

“This is more of what had you spooked in the street earlier, isn't it?” Twilight said, stepping forward, her books and quill setting down behind her.

Shining lowered his head. “That obvious, huh?”

“You're my big brother. It's obvious to me.” she said, stepping closer. “C'mon, tell me what's wrong.”

Shining sighed. “It's just... I feel like the princess is putting you in danger.”

Twilight raised an eye ridge. “What, by having me sit down and talk to someone?”

“Yes!” Shining snapped, then groaned. “Look, I’m having enough of a migrane trying to keep Canterlot and the princesses safe, and now Celestia's got you up here and wants you sitting in there with... with him! I don't know if he can be trusted, if any of his kind can be trusted, and she's putting my little baby sister in there with a member of a species that's made my entire guard look like a bunch of foals!”

“If you're so worried about some kind of subterfuge, why don't you put your shield up?” Twilight asked.

Chining snorted in irritation. “Celestia hasn't asked me to, and it doesn't look like she's going to either. Probably worried it'd make us look 'inhospitable' or something.” he grumbled.

Twilight cocked her head quizzically. “What's stopping you from just putting it up?”

“Doing that without an official proclamation in advance would put every pony in Canterlot into a panic. I can't just go and do it without authorization!”

Twilight nodded. “Makes sense. I know if I saw Ponyville get suddenly enveloped in a shield I’d think something was really wrong.”

Shining sighed. “Yeah, so... I’m on edge for a lot of reasons right now.”

“Well, really I shouldn’t be your big worry. I can handle myself. I mean, it's just one changeling, and this one hasn't even been feeding much lately, I mean, if Blueblood can knock him for a loop, I've got nothing to worry about, right?” she giggled.

“Where'd you hear about that?” Shining asked.

“Celestia told me in her letter.” Twilight grinned. “Quite a shock huh? I remember back in the academy, Blueblood barely got down Levitation. He wanted a 'servant' to do it for him. Can you imagine? Being so lazy you want somepony else to do your magic for you!” Twilight laughed.

Shining gave a wry grin and shook his head. “Blueblood's something else alright.”

Twilight giggled. “Yeah, well, in any case, I’m pretty sure I can handle our ambassador if he does try anything... not so nice. Satisfied?” she asked.

“I guess so... unless of course you found a coltfriend in the last few months that you haven’t told me about.”

Twilight blushed. “Shining! Why would you...” she snapped at him, then paused. “Oh, right, changeling.”

“And a male one at that.” Shining shook his head. “Since you didn't send me any letters telling me you'd found one I’m assuming you haven’t... but then we haven't exactly been keeping each other up on what we've been doing, so...”

Twilight looked sheepish. “Yeah, sorry about that...” she shook her head.

“If you're wondering, no, I haven't seen her making googly eyes at any stallions lately, unless you count the covers of those trashy romance novels she reads.” Spike said, walking past the two of them with a stack of books in his claws.

“SPIKE!” Twilight yelled at the young drake, blushing furiously under her thin facial fur.

“I swear, half the colts on those things look like Blueblood on steroids.” Spike continued, dumping the pile of tomes on the table.

“Spike...” Twilight growled dangerously.

Spike suddenly donned a look of comically exaggerated deep thought. “Though maybe that's the reason she's been giving that white and blonde bodybuilder pegasus the occasional glance-” he was saying, right before a book bounced off his scaly head.

“Huh, he really is a few inches taller.” Shining mused with a grin as he watched the fleeing -and laughing- dragon work harder than he remembered he used to to dodge a hail of small objects that his sister was launching at him.

Once Spike had disappeared into the stacks Shining turned to a panting, blushing Twilight.

“Got a thing for beefy blondes, then?” Shining grinned, poking Twilight with a forehoof.

“Shining, I'm going to cast a month long spell of silencing on you if you don't SHUT UP!” she threatened.

Shining held up a hoof defensively. “Whoah! Ease up there Twily, I'm just kidding.” he said, grinning broadly at her.

Twilight snorted, an annoyed look on her face as she turned to the stack of books spike had placed down before she'd sent him packing.

Shining shook his head. “Well... anyway. Celestia wants me in there with you during the interrogation so-”

Twilight's head jerked around to look at him so fast Shining was surprised he didn't hear her neck crack. “Shining!”

Shining blinked. “What? What'd I say?”

Twilight facehoofed. “Nnngh! Shining, this isn't a criminal investigation! I’m here to learn about his culture, not grill him about some wrongdoing!”

“Sorry, sorry! I'm.. not used to this kinda stuff, you know?”

Twilight sighed through her nostrils. “Yeah, I guess you wouldn't be.” she turned back around.

After a moment's uncomfortable silence, Shining cleared his throat and spoke again. “Anyway... Celestia told me that you've got an open invitation to have dinner with her tonight. We could catch up?”

“That sounds wonderful, but I'm not really hungry and I've got a lot of work to do for tomorrow.” She said before glancing briefly over her shoulder at him. “Tell Celestia I'll join her, and the rest of you, for dinner tomorrow evening.”

“I'll let her know. Good night Twilight.” Shining said as he trotted over to the library's entrance. When he got there, he paused and looked back at the fuchsia mare and a grin crept across his muzzle.

“Hey Twily?” he called out to her.

“Yes Shining?” she replied, looking at him over her shoulder.

“How was the train ride?” he laughed, then ducked out of the room just in time to avoid a projectile book and a string of invectives.

Chapter 7

Sergeant Iron Shield was widely known around Canterlot as the single most boring, and un-interesting guardspony in the service of the princesses. He was a plain white, blue eyed pegasus with a blue mane and tail, the same as every other pegasus in the guard. The same since he used standard blue contact lenses and went, once every month, to the barber to have his mane, tail and coat cut to regulation length, and then dyed regulation colors. Every day at mess he always took the same thing. Cream of mushroom soup with a lettuce and tomato sandwich and a glass of ginger ale. The one time the other guards had tried to spring a surprise birthday party for him at his private quarters, they'd found his pantry stocked with nothing but cream of mushroom soup.

That, along with being an absolute bore at his own party made them rethink doing anything other than a 'sheet cake in the break room' party at the palace for years to come.

That isn't to say Iron wasn't good at being a guard, no sir. He could stand perfectly immobile at any doorway or other point that needed guarding without flinching at anything, unless of course somepony tried to enter who wasn't allowed. He also made an excellent escort and patrol stallion, and on several occasions he'd even made arrests and saved the lives of ponies that were in trouble. Like this one group of earth ponies that had been transporting a load of produce up to Canterlot along the mountain roads. They had nearly fallen off when part of the road had given way. Things like that had seen him given a few commendations, and even one medal of bravery.

Iron Shield was a guard of little ambition but admirable ability, and little in the way of social skills, but he seemed happy enough that. After those around him got used to him, they let him be.

But that suited Iron, that suited him just fine.

Every other Friday -his day off- Iron did the one thing that could be considered 'interesting' by his peers. He went hiking in the woods around the base of Canterlot mountain. He didn't go flying, like most pegasi would, he'd land on the ground, and go for a long, all day walk. He didn't go with any other pony, just by himself.

The few times any of his comrades had imposed themselves on this activity, it ended up being so awkward and uncomfortable they never bothered to try again. Leaving him alone on his bi-weekly walk in the forest.

But that suited Iron, that suited him just fine.

Several months ago, Iron Shield was part of the rank and file of the guard buildup in Canterlot at the request of the princess to secure the city against an unknown threat that Celstia had sensed coming. This didn't bother him. Greater numbers of guardponies, fresh faces brought in from all over Equestria? At least two guards on every corner, and marching in ranks five to ten ponies deep down the street? Checkpoints at all the city entrances, and a great big magical barrier surrounding the entire city? It was a minor change in routine for him.

He was out on the street in the market the day of the wedding, standing on a corner along one of the main avenues of the city that was expecting to see the post-nuptial parade come by when it happened. The sound like cracking glass, but far 'bigger', it seemed to come from everywhere.

Like everypony else in the streets, he looked up, to see many, many small, black objects beating against the rapidly cracking Magical shield, just before it shattered, the shards of solidified magic collapsing in on them even as they vanished into thin air.

And then the air was filled with descending forms, sheathed in neon green magical light as they crashed into the street, into buildings, into carts and stands, ponies were hard pressed to avoid being hit themselves.

This did not suit Iron, it didn't suit him at all.

But not for the reason every other pony and guard in Canterlot had.

The invaders immediately attacked the guards in their gilded heavy plate barding, Spitting globs of sticky resin at their hooves and binding them to the ground, then going after the hapless citizenry.

However, when they tried to attack iron, he danced, side to side, jumping and flapping out of the way of the gluey wads with practiced ease, not that it diminished the expression of confusion and panic on his face, though it did confuse his attackers.

With the sky full of attackers barring escape by air, Iron Shield escaped into the alleyways as he moved away from the chaos of the open street. They gave chase, he dodged this way and that around corners, over piles of garbage waiting to be collected.

Iron Shield galloped and leapt and briefly flew as fast as he could through the twisting alleys as fast as he could, familiarity with the area the only thing that allowed him to put some distance between himself and his pursuers. Finally he came to a dead end, his pursuers were near enough that he could hear them, but far enough he knew he couldn't be seen. He then did the only thing he, and he alone, could do to get out of this situation.

He reached inside himself, and brought forth magic a Pegasus simply should not have had.

This situation did not suit Iron, it didn't suit him at all.

* * * * *

A few seconds later, Iron's pursuers rounded the bend and screeched to a halt. Before them, in the dead end alleyway, with all the doors securely bolted around them, there was no sign of a golden armored, pure white pegasus. Instead, there was one of their own, sitting on his flank, and rubbing his head with a pained expression.

“Hey, you! Where'd the pony get to?” the one in the middle asked, pointing a hole filled hoof at the one sitting on the ground.

“I don't know, something ran up and hit me on the back of the head!” the unfortunate one whined.

The leader of the trio grumbled. “He's not here. Let's go. You, get yourself back to the warband, get patched up.” he said, before the three of them took off down another path in the alleys.

Once they were gone, the 'injured' changeling stood, brushed himself off, and with no sign of pain or unsteadiness that one would expect from recent head trauma, took to the air on buzzing diaphanous wings. But once in the air, the Changeling took off like an arrow for the edge of canterlot, dodging and weaving through changelings who were much too busy with hunting down love filled prey to bother noticing him, before he flew out into the peaceful air just outside the conflict, and went into a dive, heading straight for the forest.

This changeling's name was Protonus, it was from an ancient language which translated into modern Equestrian as 'shield'. And not five minutes ago, he had been the boring, dutiful Canterlot guardian who had ran from invaders through the alleyways of the wealthy, fancy, and currently under attack capital city. Now, he was making a beeline for the woodland at the base of the mountain.

Once there, he darted through the trees, dodging around familiar trunks, and upsetting not a few woodland creatures before he zipped into the mouth of a cave, far from the commonly used walking paths through the forest. He went to an otherwise unremarkable stone wall and immediately began rubbing his carapaced 'hooves' over the surface in a panic.

“Come on, come on... come ON!” he shouted at the stone, before, suddenly, a click, and the stone wall suddenly seemed to develop a crack around a circular hole, though it was more that one was revealed to the naked eye. The stone swung open on a well maintained hinge, revealing a hidden vault. Inside was a sphere of polished, flawless quartz the size of the average mare's head, set upon a bronze stand. Several arcane runes were etched into the sides of the base.

Protonus pulled the crystal ball out of the vault and placed it on the ground. He then lowered his blade-like horn and channeled neon green magical energy into the runes. One by one they became charged and began to glow without further feeding by the changeling.

Once all four were lit, the crystal pulsed once, before an image appeared, a long legged, large changeling female not unlike the changeling queen who even now gloated over her victory in the palace of the royal pony sisters high on the mountain, though this one's horn curved in a different pattern, and the mane was a deep, dull green, the slitted eyes powder blue, and just barely noticeable, right at the very edge of the pupil was a striking ring of magenta. She was lounging over a Stone shelf that had been carved into the shape of a throne, with a thick but tattered cushion under her.

She was also looking a little surprised.

“Agent Protonus?” The noble female asked, raising an eyebrow. “Your report comes early this week.”

“Queen Elytria, Changelings attack Canterlot!” he blurted. Confusion, panic and terror writ across his face and heavy in his voice.

“Attacking...? My eyes and ears in Canterlot, We have not...” Elytria started, then ground to a halt, her eyes narrowing. “What color was their back carapace?”

“Dark blue, Majesty.”

“Chrysalis...” Elytria growled, her wings buzzing fitfully in short spurts.

“The queen of the Red Wastes Hive?” Protonus said, cocking his head.

“If all the drones had dark blue dorsal shells, yes.” Elytria hissed, her wings buzzing fitfully as she made a 'krik-it-ik' sound in frustration. “Damn that upstart! We warned her in council-” she said, just before a tremendous sound from outside the mouth of the cave overwhelmed her voice.

Protonus whirled around and looked... his eyes widening, the faint whiteness that masked his pupils narrowing down, and his jaw dropping open.

Time seemed to slow down before his eyes.

A rapidly expanding sphere of purplish-pink colored magic expanded out from the heart of Canterlot, and scattered before it the cloud of dark specks. Even at this distance, though, he could hear clearly... the voice of a female noble changeling, higher in pitch than a drone's, screaming as it was catapulted off far, far to the south.

And then he saw the expanding bubble of purple-pink energy coming, as it did to everything else, towards him.

His legs, his wings, his mind failed him as his doom approached.

He screwed his eyes shut as it came...

And then struck him... not so hard as he'd feared, but still pretty hard.

Protonus was tossed backwards, certainly, but only a couple canter-lengths into the cave behind him, and came to a clattering landing as he tumbled head over flank on the dirt floor of the cave mouth until he smacked into the distal wall of the cave.

When the wall of force hit him next, for an instant, the life was being crushed out of him, sandwiched between the wall and the wave of magical energies... then as it passed through him, he screamed in agony as he felt something.... several somethings infact, give way within his body.

Finally, it passed. He fell to the ground and sucked in a ragged, heaving breath, and yelped in agony as he felt what could only have been a cracked rib, or perhaps several... not to mention what felt like a concussion probably meant his skull wasn't exempt from the trauma.

Minutes passed before his senses returned to him, adrenaline and endorphins finally taking the edge off the agony in his chest.

It was then that he heard his queen's voice.

“Protonus! Protonus, answer me! Protonus!”

“Uuuugh...” he moaned, but dragged himself towards the sound with one good foreleg. “I'm... here, your majesty.”

“Protonus, my agent, what happened?” His queen asked, semi-relieved, but still panicked.

The changeling flopped down in the mouth of the cave, still within audible range of the crystal ball, and tilted his head as he lay there, gazing towards the city perched on the mountainside.

The cloud of black specs that was the changeling army was gone. The distant towers gleaming in the direct sunlight.

“I... believe the ponies... just repelled Crysalis' invasion.” Protonus wheezed, before passing out.

“Protonus...? Protonus! Damnit, someone get to him, now!”

* * * * *

“Well I'm glad THAT'S over...” Shining grumbled under his breath as he and his sister left the northwest tower. The sun was setting and Maxillus was now awaiting the arrival of his supper, which a unicorn servant carried up in a telekinetic field in a silver platter past them.

“What was that Shining?” Twilight said, only half paying attention to him as she looked over all the notes she'd taken down.

“Eh... just glad we get to head to dinner finally.” Shining said. His small lunch of a cheese, lettuce and tomato sandwich had given up the ghost hours ago and he was starving again. The rest of the day's chat had covered more basic ground, academic questions about changeling society. It turned out that most of the magic generated from stolen love energy went into rather mundane things, such as construction and agriculture.

The royal family was, for once, all gathered in the private dining hall. Celestia and Luna sitting at opposite ends of the relatively short rectangular dining table. Cadence and Blueblood were seated opposite each other, and Spike was even seated there, waiting for them. As soon as they entered Cadence's eyes lit up. “Twilight!” The pink alicorn said, before hopping out of her seat and galloping over.

“Cadence!” Twilight beamed before she pranced over to meet her sister in law and former foalsitter halfway. The two grown mares immediately broke into their foalhood greeting song and dance, which had Luna raising an eye ridge. Celestia just smiled indulgently.

The gleeful ritual of meeting completed, Cadence accompanied twilight to the table.

“Welcome, my faithful student, nephew.” Celestia said, nodding her head to them.

Shining sat down next to Cadence after giving a brief bow to the princesses of the night and day.

“Evening princess Celestia, princess Luna.” Twilight said as she hopped up into the only available remaining place at the table... the one next to prince Blueblood..

Spike sniggered briefly, but when Twilight shot him a look he suddenly found the ceiling tile VERY interesting...

Shining shook his head. That dragon must be going through puberty, if he was constantly pushing Twilight's buttons like this.

“So, Twilight, how did things go today?” Celestia asked as the servants brought out the repast. In favor of Cadence's background, the meal's theme was heavily based on pasta.

“Well, I learned quite a bit about Changeling biology, anatomy, and a little bit about how their powers work. We'll be starting on culture one I have the basics down.” Twilight said.

“Oh?” Celestia said, levitating up a knife and fork and cutting off a bite sized piece, which she then lifted to her mouth. “Anything you'd like to share?”

“They eat meat.” Shining grumbled.

Everypony gave him an odd look.

Twilight grumbled under her breath before clarifying. “Actually, he's an omnivore. Plants and meat, like gryphons.”

“You shouldn't hold what a species subsists on against them, Nephew.” Celestia said.

“Quite true. I remember living on such fare for years during our youth while the windigoes continued to make a nuisance of themselves in Equestria.” Luna said.

Everypony in the chamber besides Celestia snapped their attention to the princess of the night with looks of horror.

Luna glanced about, then snorted. “Oh come now, surely ponies have not forgotten...” she started, but seeing the looks continuing she glared at Celestia. “Sister...”

Celestia rolled her eyes at her sister and sighed before speaking. “It's true, my little ponies, we are omnivores, though we do lean very heavily towards plants.”

“Auntie!? You mean to tell me you ate...” Blueblood started turning green when he tried to finish that sentence.

“You were young once?” Twilight asked, looking at her teacher with rapt attention.

Celestia gave a wry grin. “Despite popular thought, my sister and I have not existed since the dawn of time, though that's an entire story in itself. Suffice to say that in our youth, before equestria became quite as... prosperous as it is now, we had trouble growing enough fruits, vegetables, and grains as we needed to feed everypony purely on plants. We often had to 'supplement' our diets the only way we could. Especially since, unlike dragons, we can't eat gemstones.”

“Heh, more for me then.” Spike commented.

Luna smiled indulgently at the young dragon. “Quite, more for you, young whelpling.” She looked back at Shining. “Though I’m surprised you would not know of this basic fact about ponies, in our time 'twas standard in military survival training to learn about the appropriate time and place to shift to a meat based diet. For instance, sister, you remember what the early explorers who investigated the frozen reaches of the north took as provisions, or those that first crossed the san-palomino?”

“Aunt Luna, seriously?” Cadence said, rubbing her forehead with a gold shod hoof.

“What?” Luna asked, looking at her distant relative, her head cocked to the side.

Celestia cleared her throat. “I believe what Cadence means is that this is hardly proper subject matter for conversation at dinner. Suffice to say, it's taboo to eat meat at a civilized table, but it has it's uses in extreme circumstances.”

“As you say, sister.” Luna smirked at her sister, and noted that in the back of the dining room one of the serving mares was looking decidedly unwell, swaying on her hooves. “In any event, is there anything you would like to share with us about changelings, Twilight?”

Twilight nodded. “It turns out changelings can't generate their own magic.”

“They can't?” Cadence asked.

“No, actually. They absorb projected love energy and convert it into mana inside their bodies. The ambassador wasn't able to explain exactly how they do this.” Twilight said, at which Shining snorted and lifted his wineglass to his lips to take a drink. “Which is why I'd like to take him down to Canterlot university hospital tomorrow.”

Shining nearly choked on his drink.

“Shining!? Are you okay?” Cadence asked, patting him on the back with a forehoof

After clearing his throat, Shining looked at Twilight. “Why in Tartarus do you want to take him down to the hospital?”

“They have a full body Thaumic-Resonance-Scanning center there. State of the magical art. It lets you see all the body's internal structures in incredible detail, you can even manipulate the image to focus on one structure or another. Not to mention the other biological processes it can take readings of. I was hoping it'd let me figure out how a changeling converts the absorbed energy. Why, is there a problem?” Twilight asked.

“'Is there a problem?' Twilight, the country's still paranoid of changelings, if we suddenly take one out and about in broad daylight, there's going to be a panic!” Shining said.

“Strange, he's hardly a secret among the castle staff.” Blueblood said.

“I issued strict orders that his presence not be discussed with anyone outside of the castle.” Shining said.

“What about when he arrived here? Surely somepony noticed.” Blueblood pressed.

“The only ponies that saw him were myself and the nightguard. We brought him from the gate to the palace in a covered sky-wagon.”

“I see...” Blueblood said.

“All well and good, captain.” Celestia said calmly, raising another mouthful of her supper to her mouth, pulling it off the fork with her teeth daintily, chewing and swallowing before continuing. “But this isn't how we treat Ambassadorial visitors.”

“Oh no...” Shining groaned as he realized what was coming.

“As long as it's under proper escort, I see no reason why Maxillus shouldn't be allowed to be seen by the public.” Celestia said.

“Sister, is this wise?” Luna asked, dining on her separate breakfast of Prench toast.

“Something wrong Luna?” Celestia asked.

'YES!' thought Shining, 'somepony who can actually talk some sense into Celestia!'

“'Tis as Captain Armor has said, to suddenly just have a changeling walking down the streets of Canterlot will most likely cause panic amongst our citizens.” Luna said, cutting up her meal.

“True. However, Luna, You haven't yet become familiar with the news media in the modern day.” Celestia said, opening a counter argument.

“How so?” Luna asked.

“I'm still not entirely sure how, but reporters and investigative journalists are like hounds, they can smell secrets and do their utmost to uproot them. And anypony who prevents them from doing this is likely to get bitten.”

Luna's eyes widened. “We wouldst be attacked?” she asked.

“In a manner of speaking. Just be glad you haven't yet had to learn the meaning of the term 'PR disaster'.” Celestia said with a self deprecating chuckled. “I know I wish I never had to.”

“So thou are saying we should be open with our ponies?” Luna said.

Shining's hopes started to plummet.

“The longer we keep him a secret, the worse it will be when we finally reveal him, or his presence is leaked.” Celestia explained.

“Then what should we do, sister?” Luna asked..

Twilight cleared her throat. “The typical thing for breaking news to the public these days is to hold a press conference.” She started.

Shining's shoulders slumped.

“Oh?” Luna said, raising her eye ridge again.

“Yeah, you summon reporters from each of the major news agencies to the main hall, set up a stand, and make an official statement. Sometimes you allow questions to be asked and answered, but not always, depending on the situation. I used to help Princess Celestia draft statements to be put to the press before I moved to ponyville, you know.” Twilight said.

“Ah, a proclamation!” Luna said, comprehension dawning on her face.

“More or less.”

“And it sounds like precisely what we should do here.” Celestia said. “We'll let everypony know that there's a new ambassador here, and that no-pony should panic over his presence.”

Luna nodded. “Sounds reasonable, I suppose.”

“Oooh! And I can draft the statement!” Twilight squealed, clapping her hooves together excitedly.

Shining put his face in his hooves.

“Shining, are you feeling alright?” Cadence asked.

Shining just groaned.

Author's Note

Ah, my first time using one of these things...

Well, first, i really, reeeeeally hope i didn't just alienate half my fans with that bit about meat eating ponies, but after doing my homework, i found out it's a real thing in certain places. Please understand it supports the narrative and i won't be having ponies chowing down on steaks and the like anywhere in the fic.

Also, A multitude of minor edits will be coming to the preceeding chapters in the coming days, nothing major, just a few things to keep continuity straight, and a slight adjustment to one or two minor characters visual designs.

Chapter 8

Deep under froggy bottom bog, the day of the Chrysalis' invasion of Canterlot.

The marshland in the southwestern reaches of the Everfree forest hid a subterranean labyrinth of tunnels and caverns, saturated with moisture and fungal growth. Light sources were sparse, and consisted mostly of glowing fungi. Deep within this labyrinth existed a tenuous community of approximately six thousand souls. From infants to those so aged and infirm that death was surely just around the corner, they all lived here in secret, rarely ever heading to the surface unless necessary.

All of them were changelings.

In the center of the complex was a cavernous, shadowy hall. In the center of this hall was a throne, carved out of a naturally forming stone pillar of a conjoined stalagmite and stalactite, naturally occurring luminescent fungi decorated the sides and back in a slightly random fashion. There, seated in the throne was a changeling queen who was at once alike, yet very unlike queen Chrysalis. Her horn was heavily curved, A short prong turning abruptly forward to come to a point just between her eyes before it swept back and over in a delicate curl. Her eyes were teal with flecks of gold near the slitted iris', and her dorsal plate mirrored this coloration. Her mane was kept short, but long tendril-like fibers hung around her head, and at the ends of those tendrils were oval shaped nodes that glowed with a pale greenish-gold light, and her wings, rare in the changeling world, were shaped like a Butterfly's, edged in black and filled with iridescent blue.

Mid afternoon in this changeling court was, surprisingly, quite the same as court in Canterlot or most other royal courts. Petitioners coming to see the ruler to solve problems, the queen of this changeling court, the bizarre beauty who sat upon the throne. Flanking her throne were a pair of warrior drones in armor painstakingly crafted from large boring insects, the chitin a perfect match for the color of the hive, which like it's queen's dorsal color, was gold flecked green.

Before her were two unadorned worker drones, both of them looking fresh from a brawl, dents and scuffs on their chitin, one of them with a bruised eye that was swelling shut, and the other had a painful looking bent wing.

“Let me get this straight...” The changeling queen said. “You two came to blows over what crops the other grows... in their own property?”

“Queen Carapace, his blasted Moon Berries keep casting their light over my mushroom racks! The plots on the east side can't grow for all the glow!” The one with the black eye said, pointing his left foreleg angrily to the changeling beside him.

“I caught this jerk in my field ripping up my plants, what the heck was I supposed to do, just stand there and watch?” the other retorted.

“I wouldn't have had to do that if you'd just moved the blasted plants!”

“You could've asked you know!”

“I did ask!”

“No, you demanded that I rip up my valuable produce, not move it! Which, by the way, is nearly impossible to accomplish without the plant dying! Do you have any idea how long those things take to fruit?”

The two of them continued in that vein for a solid minute, the entire time the queen's lower left eyelid started to twitch worse and worse before finally, she stomped a hoof loudly on the stone rest on the side of her throne. “ENOUGH!” Carapace snapped.

The two changelings stopped shouting at each other and snapped their gazes over to their queen.

“If light is the problem, the solution is simple, 'children',” the queen said, putting a heavy inflection on the last word that made the two petitioners flinch. “all you have to do is block the light from reaching the mushrooms.”

“But... how?” The mushroom farmer asked.

“Build a wall, or if that's too much, put up a tarp or something! There's no reason you two can't produce your crops next to each other. All it takes is a little planning.” The queen said.

“Ah... of course, your majesty.” The berry farmer said.

“Of course, your majesty.” The mushroom farmer said.

“If that clears the dispute between you two, I believe this is no longer a matter to take up my time. I do have other things to concern myself with.” Carapace said.

“Of course, your majesty, your wisdom in this matter is most appreciated.” The berry farmer said, bowing and turning to leave the audience hall.

“Yes, I’ll begin construction immediately.” the mushroom farmer said, before turning and heading out along with his neighbor.

“Oh, no-no, I’ll build a wall to keep the light out of your farm. It's my fault this happened.” The berry farmer professed.

“True, but I want to make sure my crops are properly protected.”

“Are you saying I can't build a decent fence?” The berry farmer said, looking sideways at his neighbor.

“Well you certainly can't plan out a farm with your neighbors in mind, why should I trust you to keep the light off my crops?” The mushroom farmer replied.

“Why you...” was the last Carapace could hear before the two of them were beyond the doors. She sighed and sank back into the cushion of her throne.

“Two generations and several thousand bits to get drones trained as educators within equestria's school system and somehow my subjects STILL can't reason these little problems out for themselves...” She huffed, rubbing her forehead.

“Your majesty, the next petitioner is waiting.”

Carapace nodded. “Very well, send them-” she started to say, when another drone in armor came running in.

“Your majesty! A message for you from Queen Elytria, she waits to speak to you on the communication crystal!”

Carapace raised an eyeridge. The other queen was younger than her, ruled over a smaller hive in another swamp in a much less well to do area, and had long been an ally of hers on the council of queens. They conversed somewhat frequently, but only at set times on a regular basis. Contacting her out of the blue like this was strange indeed...

“Elytria? Did she say what it was about?” Carapace asked.

“No, your majesty, I asked but she refused to speak about it with any changeling but you. However, she seemed... distraught.” the warrior said after a moment's hesitation.

Carapace frowned. “I'll be there momentarily.” she turned to the changelings who had just been about to enter for their audience. “Court is postponed for the moment, I'm afraid. Return later and I will hear your pleas to me, my loyal subjects.” Carapace said, before she got up and walked into one of the side tunnels off behind her throne. The sound of disappointment from the drones followed and rang in her ears.

* * * * *

In Carapace's private chambers stood an elaborate bronze podium topped with a sphere of clear, smooth pale blue crystal.

As Carapace entered the opulently appointed chamber, she saw the face of a younger queen of another hive gazing into her room from across the distance of several hundred leagues through the stone.

“Carapace, good. We must speak.” Queen Elytria said without preamble.

“Has Empress Nepodea finally died? I cannot fathom a more pressing issue that would have you interrupt me at court, Elytria.”

“If that were the case, I'd be celebrating with a bottle of wine and a handsome concubine.” Elytria snorted. “Sadly, it's not. No, I'm afraid it's Chrysalis.”

Carapace scoffed. “That little upstart. What trouble has she caused now?”

“Worse than you could imagine, Cousin.” Elytria said, then took a deep, steadying breath. “She's attacked Canterlot.”

Carapace almost let loose an insult to the mentioned queen before what Elytria said actually hit her. “The little Maggot did... what?”

“I only received the report scant minutes ago, Cousin. My agent was in his cover identity during the wedding that was supposed to take place there today when apparently Chrysalis' hive attacked. He managed to get word to me through the chaos.”

“W-what!?” Carapace repeated, still in shock. “How? And... how did he even know it was her? Did he see her?”

“He saw her subjects. And identification was easy.” Elytria fixed Carapace with a stare. “They were in their natural form, cousin. Unmasked, all of them.”

Carapace's jaw hung open. Her fangs, which were unique to her bloodline in that they more resembled those of a viper, sheathing and unsheathing from hidden pockets in her gums in the bridle gap in a nervous tic Carapace was known for. “Her subjects... in broad daylight... in Canterlot... undisguised...” She said, her brain not wanting to process this absurdity... this atrocity.

“There's more I'm afraid. Chrysalis' attack was... not successful.”

Carapace blinked. “What do you mean?”

“As my agent was reporting to me... something happened in Canterlot. I'm not sure, I didn't see, but something apparently cast all of Chrysalis's changelings out of the city quite violently... and, perhaps others. Whatever it was, it... hurt my agent, badly, and he was nowhere near at the time.”

“An anti-changeling weapon?” Carapace said, her mind racing. Damn and blast, she had her own operatives in Canterlot making ready to supplant several beloved members of the nobility! “No... no, it has to be some sort of Unicorn Sorcery...” Her lips curled into a snarl. “We must find Chrysalis. She has broken our most sacred tenant. The ponies... no, the entire world knows of us now.” She paused and shook her head, before placing her face in her hooves and rubbing at her leathery eyelids in despair and frustration. “Centuries of secrecy... wasted...”

“She swore she'd change the future for changelings, and she has.” Elytria said, her wings buzzing agitatedly. “And now I'm going to strangle her for it.”

"Yes, now we'll be hunted like monsters, a fine future. Canterlot... ugh... how dare she. I've had my own agents deployed there for nearly a year! She knew of my plans to infiltrate the aristocracy. The love and respect that the members of high society receive would have fed my hive to excess...” She let out a moan of rage. “Tell you what Elytria, you can strangle her after I rip her wings off and shove them down her throat.”

“If there's anything left of her once the council gets through with her. The instant word reaches the Empress, she'll call a council session, then there will be a hunt for her.” Elytria said.

“Better not to wait, lest she escape. Chrysalis is an idiot, but even she wouldn't abandon her hive entirely. She'll have to return there to gather her subjects, then flee. I'll take my warriors down to the wastelands and-”

“Cousin, remind me, how many changelings did Chrysalis have in her hive, last census?” Elytria asked, calmly.

“Six thousand, not counting the eggs and juveniles... her hive rivals my own in many ways...” Carapace began, then ground to a halt, and raised an eyeridge at her younger cousin. “Why do you ask?”

“Canterlot is a city of nearly twenty thousand ponies, and it had a surplus of guards because of a 'percieved threat'. If Chrysalis used anything less than every able bodied drone she had available, I'd call her insane, and frankly, from what I could gather, she was winning up until whatever-it-was hit. If my guess is right, she may very well flee into hiding this day... if she survived the blast at all.”

Carapace paused. Her whole hive thrown at the ponies? Even with all the changelings on the continent, she'd only be able to hold one, maybe two pony cities for a few months!

“Then we are wasting time. Contact the Empress, let her assemble the council, I will do what I can, see if I can locate our brash little traitor. If I cannot, I will join you and the rest of the council soon.”

“Carapace, wait.” Elytria said.

“What is it now?” Carapace's butterfly wings flapped and her tail swished in annoyance.

“Carapace, your hive is the closest one to Canterlot. My... agent... I don't know what happened to him. When the whatever-it-was cast out Chrysalis, I heard a burst of power, and my agent screaming. He said a few words to me after, letting me know that Canterlot was free from attack, but then he went silent. Please, he's a good male. He's served me faithfully for years, I don't want to abandon him. Please, if you could, send him aid.”

Carapace frowned. “In a time like this I should be closing my hive off, not sending out more of my subjects into potential danger...”

Elytria looked downcast. “Cousin, please... He's hurt, and alone. He may even now be...”

Carapace sighed. “Very well, let it not be said that I abandoned a changeling in need. I will see who I can spare to send to your agent's aid. Where may he be found?”

“He was in a cave in the woods at the base of Canterlot mountain. It's a known safe haven for operatives.”

“I'll send a team immediately.” Carapace said.

“Thank you cousin.” Elytria said, bowing her head in respect.

Carapace mirrored the gesture, and the image in the crystal faded.

* * * * *

The rest of the dinner passed without Shining saying a single word. Twilight and the two ancient alicorns discussed the particulars of the statement Luna was about to make, while the captain of the guard fumed and ate mechanically, not wanting to seem put-off by not eating.

The last thing he wanted to do was give Celestia any more reasons to 'punish' him.

Finally, the meal was officially over when Celestia finally couldn't suppress a yawn. The plates of every pony and dragon in the room -long since cleaned- were taken away as the princess of the sun retired.

“It's late, but I think I should at least help you two with drafting the statement for this press conference, sister. I know you want to gain experience with these things but I'm not just going to throw you to the wolves.” Celestia said, stepping out into the hall.

“There are going to be Lupines there too?” Luna asked. Half the room couldn't contain themselves and giggled.

Celestia smiled and shook her head, walking off down the hall.

“Captain.” Luna said, glancing over her shoulder as Twilight and Spike walked out the door ahead of her, the little dragon jotting down Twilight's ideas for the statement on a piece of parchment as they went.

“Yes, princess?” Shining said.

“I will be postponing tonight's midnight court in favor of this 'conference', but I do wish to speak to you before you depart for the night.” she said before turning to follow the others.

* * * * *

“Well, that was a meal I won't forget anytime soon, as much as I want to.” Blueblood said quietly to Cadence and Shining as they walked towards the palace's main entrance. “I know my aunts have been around a very long time and have seen and done a lot of things, but talking about... that...” he gagged slightly. “At the dinner table?”

“I get why they talked about it, at least.” Cadence said.

“Why's that?” Blueblood asked.

“Well, it's not fair to judge any creature based on what they can or can't eat. It's just their nature.”

“Next you'll be arguing that we shouldn't be afraid of the changelings for being love sucking parasites.” Shining grumbled. “I should get going. Probably a ton of paperwork I never got to today I need to do before heading home.” Shining said.

Cadence looked like she wanted to say something to that, but bit it back and looked at the floor dejectedly.

Shining sighed. He hated seeing her get depressed. “C'mon Cadence, I'll get one of the on duty guards to escort you home.” Shining said.

“I could do that.” Blueblood said.

Both Cadence and Shining jerked to a halt at that.

“Wait, you?" Shining said incredulously.

“Yes, I just offered to escort a lady home. Please stop acting like It's such a shock” Blueblood said with a snort.

“Are you taking Etiquette lessons Cousin?” Cadence asked, a small smile playing on her face for the first time that night.

“Well... yes, actually.” Blueblood admitted.

“Etiquette...” Shining grumbled to himself.

Cadence giggled.

* * * * *

Shining grumbled as he walked through the halls of the citadel. The fortified, far less grandiose 'district' of Canterlot. set off just to the east of the palace. The octagonal village sized fortress had runes sculpted into the outer walls designed to accept and enhance shield spells of the type Shining could cast, but had been designed to help less powerful unicorns to set up the spell. The citadel also had several guard barracks, and a number of very old blocks of residential housing. A history lesson he'd had once during a tour as a young colt reminded him that, sometime very long ago, the citadel was in fact all there was of Canterlot. The rest of the city had slowly grown up around it over the centuries, with a particular boom starting approximately one millenium ago.

Concidering that back then, this place was the closest pony settlement to the old palace of the sisters down in what was now the everfree, it wasn't such a mystery anymore why that had happened.

Where the palace and most of the rest of Canterlot, with the exception of the artisan quarter, was fancifully designed architecture with gleaming gold and ivory and flamboyant accent colors, the Citadel was utilitarian, practical, and was primarily colored gray and brown.

The center of Equestrian military strength, just like the rest of the guard during the changeling invasion, had ultimately proved completely useless. No-pony had managed to get the defenses raised in time once his shield had gone down, and the citadel had been overrun just as quickly as the rest of the city.

Shining shook his head, dispelling such thoughts as he walked in under the heavy wood and bronze portcullis and past the vestibule that led into the fortress keep where his office was.

It was shift change. Stallions were clocking out, and clocking in. Shining got greetings and nods from stallions he knew (mostly day guards) and stallions he didn't know (mostly night guards) alike. He nodded in return to all of them, even if he didn't have a clue who the night guards were.

He headed to his office, the desk out front where his secretary worked was empty. She'd probably gone home hours ago. He looked at her desk and levitated up a note that was sitting on it in front of the chair. A list of callers he'd missed being out all day. He was still reading it as he opened the door and walked into his darkened office.

There was a resounding crash in front of him which had him rearing up in alarm.

“What in- who's there?” he shouted, horn blazing furiously with prepared combat magic.

“Gah! Damnit you practically scared me outta my horseshoes... Captain?” A voice said as a regulation gray coated, gold armored Unicorn with a white mane and tail picked himself up off the floor from behind Shining's desk. His eyes going a little wide.

Shining recognized the voice instantly. “Strike?” he said, his magic turning on the lanterns in the room and bathing the chamber in yellow light. “Lieutenant, what're you doing in my office?” he asked the unicorn.

The unicorn, more appropriately addressed as Lieutenant Swift Strike, Battlemage first class, gulped. “Uh... just... just delivering some forms to you sir! They came in late today and Breezy gets nervous around the night guards so she asked if I could deliver them for her...” the lieutenant said in a rush.

Shining's Secretary, Mint breeze, a unicorn mare with a peppermint pink coat and a pale green and white mane and tail, was, admittedly, a little skittish at the best of times, but she was organized and helped him keep the paperwork part of his life from getting out of control. And he had, indeed, noticed her flinching reaction to Luna's newly re-instated branch of the guard. He sighed, then chuckled and shook his head. “At ease, Lieutenant. I'm not gonna punish you for coming in here just to deliver a stack of papers.”

Swift Strike Breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you sir.”

Shining walked around behind his desk, picking up the dropped papers with hooves and magic. The lieutenant pitching in to help.

“Crazy stuff happening lately, huh captain?”

“Mmmhmm...” Shining said absently.

“Half the kingdom's afraid of it's own shadow, neighbors watching each other just in case one of 'em turns out to be a pony-bug in disguise... what we need to be doing is investing in some kinda new magic to see through their disguises. Just wish the Princess would approve the funding and the resources from the mage council. If we had all that we'd have the filthy roaches ferreted out in no time.” he continued, dropping the papers he'd gathered on Shining's desk in a neat pile.

Shining blinked and looked at the other stallion. “You think so?” He said, half looking at the other unicorn while he sat down and started to scribble his signature on the various requisition forms with a pen held in his telekinesis.

“I know so. Lousy bugs, like their sorcery could hold up to pony magic if we actually applied ourselves to figuring out how they work.” The lieutenant suddenly seemed to remember he was talking to a superior officer and blanched. “Uh, sir.”

Shining kept his face neutral, but inside he was smirking. Quick Strike had spent his career as a private, and then as a sergeant working the 'Everfree border patrol'. Handling the odd and unusual creatures -commonly referred to as monsters- that would occasionally creep out of the forest and start terrorizing the surrounding countryside. He was amazing when it came to handling eldritch threats. Not the best with a sword or spear, perhaps, but if you confronted him with a magical foe, he almost couldn't lose. Even moreso when he understood what he was up against.

Though, admittedly, he wasn't nearly as powerful as Shining, or his sister.

“Lieutenant, I said 'at ease'.” Shining chuckled.

“Sorry sir.” Strike said.

Shining shook his head and continued working his way through the mercifully short stack of papers.

“Of course, the whole problem is we don't have any changelings to study, so, it's kind of a moot point.”

Shining blinked, then remembered that the only ponies he'd let know about the ambassador's presence were the castle guard. Much as he was friends with the lieutenant, the warm gray unicorn was a patrol guard, and worked the city beat rather than spent any time in the palace.

Shining chuckled mirthlessly.

“What?” Strike asked.

“Ask me that again tomorrow.” Shining said, making his signature on one last form, then put it into the 'out' pile on his desk before standing up “Now, you're off duty, go home and get some sleep. Trust me, you're gonna need it. Me, I've still got business to take care of with Princess Luna.”

“If you say so sir.” Strike said with a nod.

Shining exited his office after the lieutenant, gave him a friendly smile, then trotted down the hall.

Strike walked the opposite direction down the hall, towards the armory to turn his armor in before heading home for the night along with the rest of the day guards... or at least, he started to. Once he was around the bend in the hallway he peeked back around and watched Shining's retreating form till the other stallion turned a corner.

The Lieutenant retraced his steps to the Captain's office, then lit his horn before opening the door and walking inside the once again darkened office. He walked straight over to the desk and picked the top form off the 'out' pile from Shining's desk and placed it down on the hardwood surface. He then lifted his own barding and slipped out another official looking document and placed it down on the desk next to the one he'd taken from the pile. His horn lit in a pale blue aura as he focused his magic onto the parchment where Shining had just placed his signature. A moment later, a precise copy of that signature appeared on the previously unsigned document Quick Strike had smuggled in on him.

The unicorn checked both the original and his copy, then, nodding to himself, he placed the original document on top of the pile where he'd gotten it from, and placed the paper he'd used back under his armor, and quietly let himself out of Shining's office.

Author's Note

Things on the day of the invasion and the night of the press conference both continue to progress slowly.

Edits on previous chapters upcoming. mostly minor grammar and capitalization edits, with a few alterations to certain character's visual designs.

Also, thanks to Tyelle a personal friend and pony enthusiast for the use of some of his characters and a concept we both came up with jointly beginning in this fic. Queen Carapace and Empress Nepodea belong to him, used with permission.

Content in his Furaffinity gallery may be NSFW, particularly if you're signed into an account on the site with mature filters turned off. You have been warned. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/tyelle

Chapter 9

Two pegasi buzzed the treetops of the woods surrounding the base of Canterlot mountain. The stallion, pale blue with a even paler blonde mane and tail with a Music note cutie mark was looking at a map while trying to keep up with the yellow coated mare with the blue mane and tail and raincloud cutie mark ahead of him, who was searching the ground below them as they flew.

“Any clue what we're looking for?” the mare called back.

“She said there's supposed to be a safe-house somewhere around here.” he said, tilting the map several ways, though he was flying so fast the paper kept flapping mostly closed. “Bah, useless thing...” he groaned, shaking it to try to get it to stay open.

The mare looked over at him. “Wait, safe-house? You mean the fallback cave? Damnit Stinger, why didn't you say something?”

“Will you please not call me by my hive name while we're in the open?” The stallion snapped. “I thought you were supposed to be a professional!”

“This airspace's clean, no ponies around for miles, and I like it better than 'High Note.” she retorted.

“That's still not...” 'Stinger' groaned, then stuffed the map into his saddlebag. “If you know where this place is supposed to be, can you just lead us there? The queen said this is urgent.”

“Yeah yeah, hold your horseshoes.” the mare said, then looked around. “Ah, there's the tree that was split by lightning, and the horizontal half is pointing that way so...” she said, before she banked and flew north-easterly, beginning to descend.

The mare darted in a zigzag through several trees before she landed on a hidden path. Sting landed right behind her, panting.

“Love of the Gods, Switch! Would ya slow down?”

“You're really outta shape Sting.” Switch shook her head, trotting up the path.

Stinger shook his head, then snorted, following her. A minute later, they came upon a well concealed cave entrance, hidden from sight from the air by a cluster of trees and bushes, but having a level view straight out the front that let one see straight to Canterlot without being seen in return.

“Wow, place is invisible unless you're right on top of it.” the stallion commented.

Switch nodded, trotting in. “That's why they set the place...” she came to a sudden halt. “...up.”

“What is it?” Stinger asked, coming up beside her. His eyes widened at what he saw.

A changeling, drone form, was laying on his side just within the shadow of the cave, limbs bent in ways they shouldn't be, eyes closed, and tongue lolling out onto the dirt floor. A few feet away from him on the ground sat a communication crystal.

Stinger pushed the mare forward. “Go on! You're the blasted healer!”

Switch stumbled at the push, but it knocked her out of her shock. She stepped forward and the image of the pegasus mare fell away in a flash of green flame, revealing a female drone changeling with solid light green eyes, and a green dorsal plate that shaded to purple at the edges. Her horn lit up with the same flame-like magical aura and a similar glow appeared over the prone changeling's body.

“Oh... gods...” she breathed in the resonant natural tone of a changeling. “Stinger... he's in really bad shape...”

“I can see that, do something!” the 'pegasus' said.

“No, I mean... his skull's cracked, half the bones in his legs and his ribs are broken, might even have a punctured lung, and he's got soft tissue bruising almost everywhere in his body. I don't know if I can heal this.” She said

“What do you mean you don't know?” Stinger said.

“I mean I've never seen anything this bad before. I know how to heal all these things individually, but it'd take an awful lot of energy, I don't know if I have that much...”

Sting looked at the female's expression. Fear and sadness in equal parts. He glanced back out the cave mouth to check if there was any ponies within view. Seeing there weren't, he transformed, turning into a slightly more masculine looking drone, his eyes and dorsal carapace identical to Switch's, only on a slightly bigger frame.

“Use mine.” he said.

Switch jumped. “But that's the energy you gathered from that mare who's coltfriend we replaced, you can't just-”

“Our queen gave us an order, and I'm not going to stand here and hold back what can save this changeling's life. Now take it and get to work!” Sting snapped.

Switch took a step back at that, but recovered, swallowed hard, and bowed her head.

Sting stepped forward, and touched the tip of his knife-like horn to hers. A brilliant green glow surged up his horn, and then crossed over into the female's, flowing down it's length and into her head, and her body. A minute later and the transfer was complete.

Sting swayed on his hooves, and stumbled over to the cave wall, where he sank down to his side on the ground. “Oof...”

“Are you alright?” Switch asked.

“I'm fine, just... being completely empty on magic isn't exactly pleasant.” Sting grunted. “Just heal him before he's too far gone to save.” he gestured at the downed changeling with a forehoof.

Switch immediately started channeling energy at the changeling's head, carefully working with the structures beneath the carapace. “Ugh, I must be out of practice, why is it so hard to visualize his internals...?” she grumbled.

While she was doing this, Sting looked the patient over from where he lay. “I thought Queen Elytria's drones had Magenta dorsal plates.”

Switch blinked, then peered more closely at the downed changeling before her, her own eyes glowing with stolen love based magic. “I knew there was something weird about what I was feeling from his body.” she tapped the dorsal carapace. “The dorsal plate is dark blue.”

“Wait, this is one of Chrysalis' drones?” he asked, confused.

“No, he's disguised as one. We were told he escaped when they attacked. He made himself look like one of them. Blended in till he could get out. It's what I'd do. Now, let's get this transformation off...” she said, her horn lighting up again.

A brief flare of green filled the chamber. When they could see in the dark again properly, they both paused.

“Well what do you know, he's a prince.” Stinger said.

Laying before them now was a noble caste male changeling, as large in his natural state as an above average sized pony stallion. The deep purple mane and tail were both long, and with ragged edges and holes near the end as was normal for most members of that caste.

“Why in Tartarus would Queen Elytria send one of her sons out on a scouting mission?” Stinger asked.

“Just 'cause he's noble caste doesn't mean he's the queen's offspring. Cousin of mine birthed a noble male nymph three years ago. It's princesses only a queen can birth.” Switch said, focusing her intricate healing magics on the purple prince's head, and healing the most grievous of his hurts first.

“Really? Then why hasn't Carapace had any?” Stinger asked.

Switch buzzed her wings and made a 'Krik-it-ic' noise in frustration. “How should I know? Look, there should be some emergency camping supplies in the back of the cave. Be useful and set it up, ok?”

Stinger looked back into the cave, and saw nothing. “Where?”

Switch dropped her spell for a moment to facehoof before she turned to look at him. “There's a trio of stalagmites, the center one is double the height of the two on either side. Reach around behind the one on the far left, there's a switch that'll open the compartment with the gear in it. Now go get them out and set it up already, I don't want this guy convalescing on the cold, hard ground.”

Stinger grumbled, forcing himself to stand.

* * * * *

Protonus slowly came back to consciousness. He cracked open bleary eyes and took in the environment about him. Plain, tan canvas walls and ceiling, with wooden poles holding everything up. He closed them again and focused on what he felt. A softness under his head, and a warm weight gently resting over the rest of his body.

He also felt incredibly sore everywhere in his body.

A groan brought activity from elsewhere in the tent.

“Hey there big fella, you with us now?” a changeling female's voice asked as a gentle hoof patted his forehead with a damp cloth.

“Ughh...” he moaned. “Gods... what happened?” he asked. He looked up at the face of a female drone as she worked.

“We were hoping you could tell us. We just got orders to head out here and find you and, well... you were dying. Had to spend almost everything we harvested to get you back from the brink.”

“Mmmmhhhh...” he moaned, closing his eyes again. “Canterlot... was attacked... I ran... to send word. Then something... something came from the city... threw Chrysalis' army far away... it hit me and... then the wall...”

“Hmmm...” the female changeling said.

The tent flap waved open as another figure walked in. “Well, I scouted the woods,” a male changeling's voice now. “A few flight groups of royal guards heading out into the distance but no ponies looking into the forest. Oh! Hey, you with us now princey?”

“Princey...?” Protonus asked.

“I had to forcibly remove your disguise so I could heal you.” the female said. “Oh, my name's Switch, and this is Stinger. What's your name?”

“Protonus...” The purple maned noble said.

“Wow, fancy name he's got there. You Elytria's?” Stinger asked.

“Stinger!” Switch snapped.

“What? I'm just curious.”

“My... my mother is the queen, yes.” Protonus said.

“Knew it. You owe me a drink.” Stinger said.

Switch grumbled.

“What...?” Protonus said.

“Nothing, I was just convinced you weren't... you know, blood royalty.” Switch said awkwardly. “Was sure I’d heard that Elytria was close with her offspring.”

“Can't be that attached to her brood if she sent him into a manticore's den like Canterlot.” Stinger commented.

“She didn't send me... I volunteered.” Protonus said, opening his eyes again.

“Ahhh” Stinger nodded. “Too boring stuck in the hive all the time eh?” Stinger chuckled, then blinked. “Huh, purple hair, dorsal plate, and eyes. He's all one color isn't he?” Stinger said.

“I've seen a few others like that, it's not that unusual.” Switch said, her horn lighting up again as she probed him gently. “The healing spells are doing their work. You should be ready to move again in a few hours, and you can go home... well, our home anyway. It's closest, you can lay low there for a while, finish healing up, then when the heat dies down you can go back to your hive.”

“No, I need to-” Protonus said, struggling to sit up. His movements were shaky and uncoordinated, and the cot he was lying on was narrower than he expected. As soon as he started to right himself he abruptly rolled out of the cot and onto the ground. Every fiber of his mending body yelping in pain at the sensation of landing hard on his side.

“Whoah! Slow down there your highness!” Stinger said, grabbing him with his forelegs and hefting him up.

“Prince Protonus please, calm down.” Switch said, helping heft the prince back into the cot. “You're still recovering, you need to lie still. If something's wrong, we can help. Please, just take a breath and talk to us.” she urged gently.

Protonus struggled against their hooves for a moment before he finally gave up and laid back against the pillow, taking a deep breath.

“My cover identity was a pegasus, Iron Shield. A Sergeant in the Canterlot guard.”

“Oh, so you need to go let the real one out of storage then?” Stinger asked.

Protonus groaned. “I've been in the persona of Iron shield for nearly six years now. There's no pony to release-” he started to explain.

“Whoah!” Switch burst out, stunned. “You mean you actually converted a pony? By the gods, sir, that... isn't that really risky? I mean...”

“Will you two stop interrupting me!?” Protonus snapped before clutching at his chest with both forelegs. His healing ribs protesting against him raising his voice.

“S-sorry, sir...” Switch said, her ears going back.

Protonus took a few moments to breathe slowly until the pain in his chest subsided. “There is no pony to release, because there never was a 'real' sergeant Iron Shield. I made him up.”

“You transformed into an imaginary pony?” Stinger asked. When Protonus nodded, he let out a sliding whistle. “Impressive. Usually I have to see a target before I can turn into them.”

“But... why?” Switch asked.

“My Queen's idea... have a permanent observer planted in one of Equestria's biggest cities, keep an eye out for particularly potent, loving relationships between the residents and report about them as they happen, rather than spending the time and effort on sending out scouting teams. I've kept a fairly low profile, and until today... it seemed to work.”

“Ok, that's... impressive, but what do you do for power?” Switch asked.

“It's not nearly the same as what you get from love, but there's a surprising amount of energy to be had from the respect and admiration the uniform brings.” Protonus chuckled, then winced.

“So... why do you need to go back?” Stinger asked, plainly confused.

“I need to find out what happened, if the ponies are gearing up for a cleansing...” He grunted, trying to sit up again.

“STOP!” Switch shouted, pressing her hoof on his chest.

Protonus blinked up at her.

“Prince Protonus, please, stop. The healing spells are working as fast as they can and you're only going to hinder them if you keep moving around, and besides...” She paused and looked aside. “Your queen begged ours to send us out here to save you. She wouldn't be happy if we let you go back there, not like this.”

Protonus stared at her for a moment, then looked away.

Stinger looked thoughtful for a moment, then went over to a small pile of assorted bits of camping gear, and pulled out of it the heavy quartz crystal ball by the bronze stand with his mouth, and walked over to the other two. “Uz-iss.” he mumbled around the object.

“What?” Switch asked, turning around.

Stinger groaned, and placed the crystal ball on the small folding table. “Use this.”

“What for?” Switch asked, tilting her head at him.

“So he can talk to his queen for cryin out loud! Let her decide what he does. He wants to go back up there so damn much, let her talk some sense into him.” Stinger snapped.

Switch blinked, then turned and looked at Protonus. “If she says no, will you calm down?”

Protonus nodded. “I will do what my Queen commands.”

“I guess that's about all I can expect here.” she said, then channeled energy into the crystal ball's base.

The runes came to life, and the crystal flushed with the changeling magic. A moment later a face appeared, green hair framing a slender, black carapaced muzzle, and two tone blue-and-magenta slit pupiled eyes.

“Protonus! Protonus, are you alright!?” The queen on the other end asked frantically... and apparently was examining the image of her offspring in the crystal closely, because suddenly all they could see in their end was one of her eyes.

“Mother, calm down! I'm alright, I've been healed.” Protonus said.

“Oh thank the gods...” Elytria's eye retreated till they could see all of her face.

“No, no you are NOT healed! I've been trying to get that through your thick noble caste skull for the past five minutes!”

“What!?” Elytria snapped, alarmed.

Protonus rubbed his forehead with one hoof. “I'm doing a lot better than I was, and I'll be perfectly fine in a short while, that's how the spell works, right?”

“Well, yes but-” Switch tried to say.

“Which means, I’m practically good to go.” Protonus said.

“It's where you want to go that's making this a bad idea.” Switch grumbled loudly.

“Excuse me?” Elytria asked.

“My Queen, this is important, please tell them to-MMF!” Protonus started, but Switch shoved her hoof in his mouth.

“Make him go home! PLEASE!” Switch nearly shouted.

Protonus struggled to get the hoof out of his mouth.

Elytria tilted her head. “Ok, seriously, what?”

“Please, your majesty, he's gone nuts or something! He keeps saying he has to go BACK to Canterlot! Please, just order him to go home so we can get out of here!”

Elytria shifted her gaze slightly. “Protonus, are you serious?”

Protonus tried to speak, but more muffled sounds were all he could make. He tapped Switch's foreleg, and glared at her. The female drone blushed and removed her limb from his mouth.

“Thank you.” Protonus said, continuing to glare at her for a second. “Your majesty, my cover was never blown. If I get back fast enough, in guise, I can slip back in and find out what's going on up there, if they're planning a 'cleansing'...” he left the rest unsaid.

Elytria looked frightened at the very thought. “I admit that has been a concern...”

“Which is exactly why we need to scram!” Switch said. “Going back up there now is suicide!”

“Look, all we know right now is that the army was there, and now it's gone! We need intelligence on this situation! What if they captured Chrysalis, or one of her drones? The locations of our hives aren't a secret to our own kind, how long before they get the information out of one of them?” Protonus argued.

“Listen to you! IF-if-if! It's a huge bunch of unknowns and you wanna just march right back in there, it's STUPID!” Switch snapped.

“And how else are we supposed to fix THAT little problem if you won't let me go there?” Protonus snapped back.

“SILENCE!” Elytria roared, the crystal glowing almost white for a second. The two arguing changelings in the tent froze, staring at the crystal.

“You, drone, how long before he is fully healed?” Elytria said, fixing Switch with her gaze through the crystal.

“My name is Switch, Your majesty, and I’m not sure, an hour, maybe two, before he's fully restored."

Elytria blinked. “Truly? You must be a very gifted healer.”

“Not really, your majesty... I just dumped a lot of power into the healing spells... nothing else would've saved your son.” Switch looked away.

If it was possible for changelings to go pale through all their thick hide, Elytria would have. “W... what?”

Protonus stared at the female drone.

“When we got here... Protonus was... I've never seen any living thing so damaged. Broken bones everywhere, bruising in every muscle and organ... even...” she shuddered. “Even his brain wasn't... untouched. I used our entire harvest worth of power to bring him back from that. Enough power to support our entire hive for the next two seasons and even then I was worried he wouldn't wake up! That's the only reason he isn't dead right now!”

“I...” Protonus tried to speak, but words failed him.

“The fact that your son is able to hold an intelligent conversation with us is nothing short of a miracle, even with all that power! If he goes back there, and he gets caught... you know what other races do to us!” A tear fell from Switch's eye. “We came out here to save a life, and despite everything, we did it... and I'm not going to let him throw it away!”

Protonus placed a hoof on Switch's withers.

She looked over to see him giving her a gentle smile.

“Thank you.” was all he said.

Switch gave a weak little half smile back.

“Yes, you have my thanks as well, young Switch, and your sacrifice will not go unrewarded.” Elytria said, at which the drone smiled a bit brighter. “However, Protonus is correct. We need to know what is going on.” she said, and Switch's face fell.

“B-but your majesty!”

Elytria raised a hoof for silence. “Enough, your concern for my son's well-being is touching, but the safety of our species is far more important. We must know what is transpiring in Canterlot now more than ever. So I ask you, Switch, servant of Carapace, how long before Protonus is fully healed?”

Switch's shoulders slumped and she lowered her head. “Two hours...”

“Will he have enough energy to transform?”

“He should, your majesty. He'll absorb all the spare energy from the healing spells once their work is done.”

Elytria nodded. “Then in two hours time, my son will re-infiltrate the ranks of the Canterlot guard, and you shall return to your queen and deliver my thanks to her.”

* * * * *

Canterlot, present day.

* * * * *

Shining Armor paused outside Luna's chambers and announced himself to her guards. The two dark, bat winged pegasi nodded and opened the door for him. Celestia, Luna and Twilight were both laying on a plush rug in the main room, their legs folded neatly under them as they worked together on a parchment.

“Captain Armor to see you, your majesty.” one of them said.

Luna raised her head. “Ah, good of you to come Captain. Please, enter.”

Shining stepped closer. Twilight was scribbling things down, and crossing them out. She and Celestia were talking to one another, discussing something intently between the two of them.

“You wanted to speak to me, Princess Luna?”

“Indeed. Sister, Twilight Sparkle, I shall return shortly.” Luna said standing and walking into her bedchamber.

Twilight nodded briefly before going back to what she was working on, as did Celestia.

Shining shook his head and followed Luna.

The door closed gently behind him from Luna's telekinesis.

“What's this about, princess?” He asked.

“My... friend, has replied to my query about the changelings from the other day.” Luna said.

“About their 'culture'?” Shining said.

“Quite.” Luna said.

“And the answer?” he asked, lifting a hoof.

“As of the last time he knew of them, he remembers that custom, at least, to be true.” Luna said.

“The last time... Princess, who is this 'friend' of yours?” Shining probed.

“I... cannot say.” Luna said.

Shining blinked. “What?”

“He is a private individual, and would rather his name and other... specifics not be discussed outside his personal friends for frivolous purposes.” Luna said.

Shining frowned. “So I'm supposed to trust the word of someone who I don't know anything about, just because he's a friend of yours?”

“I trust him implicitly.” Luna said.

“Nice as that is, princess, it doesn't help me...” Shining paused for a second. “And what do you mean 'he remembers' anyway? How old is this 'friend'?”

Luna glanced away and said something Shining couldn't make out.

“What was that?”

“He's thirty thousand years old.”

“Oh, so he's...” Shining started to say, then blinked. “Thirty... thousand?”

“Yes, and 'tis all I can say. Even then I stretch my promise to my friend, so please, do not press me further.”

Shining gaped for a moment, before he shook his head violently. “Okay, okay, not important, I talk to immortal alicorns every day, this is nothing...” he thought.

“I guess you're telling me, though, that his experience with changelings isn't 'recent' though?” Shining said, irate again.

Luna blushed. “Well... the intelligence may be a little outdated but-”

“How outdated?” Shining pressed.

“A... few centuries?”

“Right, and culture doesn't change over the course of centuries.” Shining facehoofed.

“I am well aware of how things can change over the passage of time, Captain.” Luna said, frowning.

Shining blinked, then folded his ears back as he realized what he'd just said.

Luna sighed and shook her mane out. “It is alright. My apologies that the information wasn't quite what you were hoping for, captain. Sources on changeling information are rare.”

Shining glanced back at the door to where Twilight was. “You're telling me.” He turned back to the princess. “If that's everything, I'll take my leave.”

“There is, one thing, Captain.” Luna said.

“Yes, princess?”

“I wish to speak to you about... the dream, thou had this morn.”

Shining's eyes widened. “Ah... my dream, princess?”

“Indeed.” Luna said.

“Did Cadence talk to you? I told her it was nothing but-” he started before Luna held a hoof up.

“She did not need to say a word. I saw thine dream myself.” she explained.

“Wait, WHAT?” Shining exclaimed.

“'Tis my nature, Captain. As the princess of the night I am also a walker of the land of dreams, be they pleasant or terrifying. And yours... I could feel thy fear. Please, speak to me, thy mind is troubled.”

Shining snorted angrily. His dreams were being watched? That was seriously overstepping some boundaries. “I can't believe this. Look, princess, it was a stupid bad dream, okay? It didn't mean anything, it wasn't real. Can we please drop this?”

Luna gave him a pointed look, but eventually shook her head. “Very well captain, it did only happen the once. But thou art family, and it worried me.”

Shining rubbed his temples. “I... I appreciate the sentiment, princess, I guess.” he stifled a yawn. “Look, it's late, I'm tired, and I’m betting tomorrow's not going to be an easy day with this whole 'big reveal' thing happening. I need to get home and get some rest while I can, okay?”

Luna nodded. “As you say, captain. Be well, and we will see thee on the 'morrow.” she said.

* * * * *

Unicorn Battlemage Lieutenant Swift Strike, his coat regulation gray and his mane and tail regulation white, took a sedate walk through Canterlot's perpetually busy artisan quarter. Having removed his barding he now only sported a pair of saddlebags, tied securely around his barrel.

Canterlot was the center of magic in Equestria, considering the city was host to the royal magic academy, the school for gifted unicorns, and the royal guard academy, most who lived here used magic heavily, and the local industry was as rife with magic as everything here. Magitech devices were designed and built here, at the very least as prototypes, before mass production would begin in any number of other cities. But there were also plenty of small businesses here that made enchanted items individually, either as signature pieces or custom orders.

The ponies who shopped here regularly had very deep purses indeed.

Or a government budget to back them up.

Swift entered an aged book shop. The walls were dark, heavily varnished wood, and the air was slightly musty. Tomes, both of spells and of various types of knowledge or fancy lined the shelves, and the unicorn clerk hardly lifted her eyes as he walked in. He ignored her completely, and went to the back of the shop, around behind several large sets of shelves, and came to a door. Glancing around to make sure there was no-pony else in the shop besides the clerk, he knocked gently on the door three times with one forehoof.

There were two taps back from the other side.

“And the sun and moon yet rise and set.” Swift said in a hushed tone, hoping it was loud enough to be heard through a keyhole.

There was the sound of several locks and latches being undone from the other side of the door before it opened. A Pegasus stallion, also in regulation guard colors was on the other side of the door, wearing full armor. With barely a nod, he stepped aside and let Swift enter, before closing and locking the myriad bolts, latches, and key locks on the door. On the other side of the door was a small chamber, at the far end of which was a newly dug vertical shaft, heading straight down. A square spiral staircase ringed the pit, and there was a gap in the middle that allowed one to see straight down.

The Stallion immediately began to descend into the mountain, before long reaching a level where the staircase's walls gave way to open space, and clear blue crystals gleaming in the light cast by Swift Strike's horn.

Once at the bottom of the stairs, and on the cave floor, he turned and followed a well worn path through a few slight twists and turns in the crystal caverns until he came to a rather improbable sight.

A large, brand new looking concrete building in the middle of the cavern.

Two gold armored royal pegasus guard-stallions armed with spears stood at either side of the main entrance to the huge, rectangular box-like structure. As soon as he came into view, the guards bristled and leveled their weapons at him.

“Calm down fellas, it's just me.” Swift said as he and his companion approached.

The pegasi lowered their weapons then saluted.. “Good to see you Lieutenant.” one of them said.

“Thanks. I've got orders here for the C.O.” Swift said.

“Yes sir.” the Pegasi said in unison, then opened the door.

Just beyond the door was essentially a large, square metal cage, large enough for three average stallions to walk in shoulder to shoulder and have a few inches to spare on either side.

“Appologies sir, new security measure.” one of the pegasi said.

Swift nodded and stepped into the cage and the door was closed behind him. Outside the cage, two unicorn guards pointed their horns at him and bathed him in a wave of arcane light.

Nothing happened.

“It's him, open the gate.” a voice said.

The gate on the far end of the holding chamber unlatched and swung open.

Swift nodded briefly in passing to the unicorn guards standing outside the cage before he trotted down the main hallway. The interior of the blank concrete building had a tile floor and whitewashed walls. There were solid metal doors to his left and right as he went, numbered odd on the left, even on the right. At the end of the hall was a pair of double doors, which he entered and then took an elevator up three levels. Once there he stepped out into another hall that was nearly identical to the first level, only the doors here were all wooden, and had ponies names and ranks on them.

The lieutenant came to the last door on the right and knocked briefly. A moment later the door opened to reveal an out of uniform guard.

“Lieutenant, please, come in.” The pegasus said.

“Thank you Commander.” Swift said, stepping into the simple office.

“Do you have it?” The pegasus asked, hopping into the air and winging briefly back over to the other side of his desk.

Swift strike opened his saddlebag with magic and levitated out a neatly folded document. “Signed, sealed, delivered.”

The commander took the document with a sweep of his wing and laid it out on the desk, briefly examining it before nodding. “This should pass. We needed the funds this is going to give us. The last batch of testing hasn't been going well, though R&D keeps telling me they're making some progress.”

“If nothing else they're learning what doesn't work.” Swift sighed. “That escapade with the love potion was a disaster. We had a fully trained Unicorn battle-mage and a level headed unicorn mare, and the two of them can't find enough sense to keep their mind on the experiment ten seconds after drinking the bucking stuff.” He rubbed his forehead. “We're never going to have a viable 'love shield strike team' at this rate.”

“I still don't see why you had to abandon that potion altogether.” the commander said.

“High Dive, my friend, please, leave the magic to the experts on this, okay?” Swift chided, gently. “You really, reeeeally don't want to mess around with magic potion recipes. You change one ingredient, one ratio, and the potion's suddenly doing a drastically different thing than the original, and it can be kinda hard to predict the result.”

Commander High Dive snorted. “Well at least we're making some progress on the 'illusion visor'.”

“Oh really?” Swift asked, eyes wide and hopeful.

“Yeah, they've figured out how to make it visualize 'magical fields', only apparently every pony in equestria has their own unique magical field and they all come up as blobs of color, so we can't figure out if we're seeing a natural aura or an illusion field with the blasted thing yet, not that it's been easy to test. Unicorn based illusions look almost the same as their natural auras, so we don't know what we'll see if we actually use the thing to try to view a changeling... On the bright side, apparently there's a low level magical energy in every object in equestria, including walls, plants, and the ground so the fellas in R&D say it'll do wonders for normal guards who need some augmented night vision.”

Swift actually grinned at that.

High Dive folded the forged document and put it into an official envelope. “I'll see to it this gets to where it's supposed to go.” he sighed. “Gotta tell you, I hate this Swift. Skulking around behind the Captain's back, not to mention the Princess.”

“We've been over this Diver,” Swift said, shaking his head. “The Princess, bless her kind heart, may believe we're safe, but it's up to us realists to do what's necessary. She and the elements of harmony weren't able to save us last time. The captain's spell was a lucky fluke, nothing more. We need back up plans. It falls to us to protect our land where she won't.”

“I know, I know!” High Dive snapped, slumping in his chair. “Doesn't make this any easier.”

“We do what we must, my friend.” Swift said, turning and heading back out the door.

* * * * *

Cadence walked down the road, heading towards Shining Armor's home, head hanging low. Her cousin kept pace at her shoulder, glancing at her from time to time.

Blueblood knew he wasn't a particularly great pony. He'd thought himself one, once, a long time ago. But after not one, but two public humiliations -the first coming at the hooves of a national hero (who he swore he didn't know was one at the time, and not some gold digging prince chaser like the dozens of pretty, overdressed mares he fended off every week) calling him 'un-charming' among other horrible things- and the second by his own true heart's desire, his lady love, calling him a spineless coward. He'd finally decided to do something about it.

And now, here, right next to him, was a mare, his cousin, who even though she was an alicorn, and as far above him in power and importance as he was above a commoner, looked as though she'd just about burst into tears right there next to him.

He sorely wished his etiquette teacher had taught him about comforting a depressed mare.

But, being chivalrous meant helping others, even if it was difficult, even if you don't know quite what to do, you have to try.

At least, that's what his teacher had said.

“Cadence?” He broke the silence.

“Hm?” Cadence barely acknowledged him.

“Cadence, are you alright?”

“I'm fine Blueblood.” Cadence muttered.

“Cadence,” Blueblood said, stepping in front of her and placing a hoof gently on the front of her chest to stop her, her head jerked up in surprise and she looked him in the eye. “You look worse than that time in magic kindergarten when that bully started calling you a fake Alicorn.” he chided.

Cadence averted her gaze.

“Please cousin, tell me what's wrong.” Blueblood pressed.

Cadence was about to deny it, but as she tried to summon up some excuse, Blueblood lowered his hoof to the ground.

“It's your husband, isn't it?”

Cadence lowered her eyes again. “Yes...”

“Want to tell me about it?”

Cadence sighed. “Ever since I met him growing up, Shining's always been there for me. Always listened when I had something to say, always made me feel special, loved, wanted. By the time he proposed to me, he practically worshiped me like a goddess... it was almost getting embarrassing just going out on the town with him. When he finally popped the question... I was so happy...” She said, then slowly started walking forward again.

Blueblood turned and kept pace with her as she walked.

“When Chrysalis abducted me, and imprisoned me in the crystal mines... I thought I'd lost him. She told me what she was planning, what she was going to do to him, and to Equestria... I was down there for over a week... you have no idea how weak I actually was when I finally got out of there with Twilight.”

“I heard you were quite heroic, charging in.” Blueblood said.

Cadence shook her head. “Alicorn blood, if I was anything else, I wouldn't have been able to walk, let alone race through a mine, outmaneuver a bunch of mind controlled mares, and make it to the royal chapel in time...” she sighed heavily. “When Twilight and her friends were dragged back in, defeated... I thought that was it. My life, my love, was over... I was sure Chrysalis had won, and so was she or she wouldn't have sent away so many of her swarm. When Twilight told me to go to Shining... and I finally managed to snap him out of his trance, I thought that might be it, you know? The last moments I would have with my love... but even then, he wasn't going to give up, he tried to save us, even though it wouldn't have worked, he was going to try to protect us... somehow. When he said he had no strength, I thought I'd give him what little magic I had left, but when our horns touched... something happened. My soul touched his, and between us, we had all the power in the world. We actually became one being Blue Blood, we shared thoughts, emotions, sensations, everything. Right down to the core... and we cast out what was trying to force us apart.” Cadence smiled at the memory.

“That's... amazing, Cadence.” Blueblood said, eyes wide.

“It was. I've never felt like that, before or since, so in tune with another pony, so close... the wedding that came after that was like a dream. Everything went perfect, better even.” She grinned. “Twilight's friends are such amazing ponies, they made the event better than I could have ever dreamed. And the Ceremony, the kiss, the dance...” Her smile became dreamy.

“And then...?” he asked.

Cadence's smile faded down to a flat line. “And then... we came back from the honeymoon. He was all smiles and nuzzles that morning. I made him his favorite breakfast, helped him get into his armor, and kissed him goodbye at the door as he went to work. Everything seemed fine.” her face fell and she looked at the sidewalk in front of her again as she plodded along. “And then he came home that night.”

“What happened?” Blueblood pressed.

“He... he asked the other Guard captains... about the changelings. He asked them how many they'd captured, what information they had on Chrysalis, where her hive was, what the changeling's numbers were... and they... they couldn't tell him anything. Not because it was secret, but because there wasn't anything to tell. No sightings, no captures, no leads. It was like they'd just vanished off the face of the earth.” she stopped walking. “That's when...” she sniffled. “That's when it started. The irritability, the late nights at work, the arguments...” she choked back a sob. “Fifteen years I’ve known that stallion, and in the span of a few months it's like suddenly he's a completely different pony! What happened to the kind, honorable, loving captain of the guard I gave my heart to? That I shared so much with?” she sat down on the cobblestone and started sobbing openly. “Oh stars, Bluey... it's like I'm losing him all over again!”

Blueblood stared at his crying cousin for several heartbeats before he forced himself to step to her side. He sat down in front of her, and extended his forelegs around her neck and shoulders, gently patting her back and letting her cry into the crook of his neck.

Author's Note

This took longer than anticipated. sorry about that, and i hope this was worth the wait.

I've got a number of edits i need to make on the previous chapters before i go any further, but it's mostly minor things, in particular the physical description of some background ponies (color-schemes mostly) need adjusting. Pony creators are wonderful for making sure you've got the right basic look for a character, at least.

Chapter 10

* * * * *

One month after the wedding of Princess Cadence and Captain Shining Armor...

* * * * *

“Hey Iron! Congratulations on the promotion big guy!” A pegasus in a suit of padded training armor greeted the disguised changeling as he crossed the citadel's main yard.

Protonus snorted. “That's Lieutenant Iron Shield to you, private. Now get back to work before the drill sergeant alters your cutie mark.”

The trainee in question blushed, then snapped a salute, before heading back over to the training ring. It was only a few moments before that colt was leaping about, dodging projectile streams of magically augmented sticky tree sap.

Pointedly, Protonus turned his head from the training and marched into the keep. The training was a close approximation for a changeling's 'glue spit' ability, the key to Chrysalis' army's swift victory over the guard during the wedding.

Why he'd given the ponies the means to combat the one thing in the battle that had let his kind win was a matter of sheer necessity. He needed to live off base, and non-com officers weren't allowed to do that. The reason? The council now demanded far more in the way of reports from him than his mother, queen Elytria, ever had on her own. The consensus amid the queens council was simple, get him a private residence, and he'd be able to report to them directly on a daily basis, if need be.

His arguments that he didn't gather enough power to send messages on even as much as a bi-weekly basis fell on deaf ears (though Queen Elytria, at least, tried to argue for some leniency on his behalf). He was ordered to acquire private lodging, and the rest would be seen to.

The problem he then faced was proving himself valuable enough to the guard to earn a promotion. The only expedient way to earn accolades was simple: Help them feel more prepared for changelings.

And so, Protonus had delved into his early childhood history lessons, and introduced the modern ponies to a lost training method designed to simulate changeling 'glue spit' as it was currently referred to by the soldiers of Canterlot. A technique designed millenia ago, in the last 'great purge'.

The last time the races of the world had tried to exterminate his own.

As soon as he'd been promoted, he took his not inconsiderable savings from his years working as a guard and purchased a house in the lower residential quarter, the lowest ring of structures on the nearly vertical city. A team of changelings, from a number of different hives, had been sent to meet with him and then began work on a hidden project, beginning in the basement of Protonus' new house, and working all the way down through the crystal encrusted cavernous bowels of Canterlot mountain. A relay system of enchanted crystal balls were ensconced in hidden recesses in the stone walls of the caverns, working down to the very base, where a magical transmitter lay, obscured from the magical senses of the potent unicorns, and even the Alicorns who resided within the city, by the cavern's natural resonance. This took more magical power than the old system had used, but it meant he didn't have to find an excuse to leave the city. If necessary, he could just pop into his own house whenever need be, and deliver a report. However, this left him with one real problem.

Where to get the extra power.

As it stood, Protonus couldn't use the system more than once every two weeks, and that was going on energy estimates from how he'd harvest the much fainter energies of an admiring public. At the moment, he'd managed to get his queen to placate the others on the council, with a promise that he would use the new system the instant anything of grave importance came up. But it still didn't exactly satisfy some of the more paranoid queens.

Protonus was rounding a corner in the corridors of the keep when something collided with him. He held his ground as easily as if he'd been hit with nothing more than a strong breeze, but the other pony fell backwards, and a large pile of documents that had been held in a magical aura suddenly exploded outwards as the caster was startled, papers scattering everywhere.

“Ack! Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry, I didn’t mean to... oh no!”

Protonus blinked as the storm of paper dispersed, revealing a unicorn mare, average height and build, with a peppermint pink coat, and a short, faintly curly mane she kept in a simple, loose ended 'ponytail', her mane and her tail were mint green with a few white highlights. Her green eyes flashed around as documents fluttered down to the ground, and she flailed at them with her hooves to catch them, her horn sparking but there was too many of them to catch all at once.

“Oh no, no, no, no! Augh! I just got all this organized!” The poor mare whimpered, looking around at the huge mess she'd just made of the hallway.

Protonus looked at her for a few heartbeats, then, without a word, he stooped and, using his feathered pegasus wings with the dexterity of a gryphon's claw, began to pick up the papers, one by one.

“Oh! T-thank you sir, I didn't want to impose...” the mare said.

“It's alright. I should've been paying more attention to where I was going, miss...?”

“Minty. Or Mint Breeze if you want to be formal.” The pink and green unicorn mare said, hurrying to help gather up all her papers.

“Pleasure to meet you miss Breeze. Lieutenant Iron Shield.” he said, then spared a glance at her haunch. A peppermint candy, complete with wrapper. “You work in confectionary?” he asked.

Mint breeze gave a short laugh. “I wish. My talent's in candy making, but it's not nearly good enough to make it here in Canterlot, not with all the world renowned artisans here in the city hoping for royal favor. And my parents are both jewelers, hah, talk about the apple rolling away from the tree huh?”

“Really?” he said, raising an eye ridge, picking up the last document in his half of the mini disaster zone. He spared a glance at the thing; an incident report, signed by... captain Shining Armor? He blinked, then checked the date, several weeks ago, just before he'd left on his honeymoon.

“Yes, really. I just work in the secretarial pool.” she said, gathering up the last of the papers. “It gets me a roof over my head. Sure, I’d like to make money making and selling candies, but it's just not feasible. Hence why I'm here, filing. Today, I'm clearing out old documents from my boss's office and transferring them down to records.”

“Do you make candies at all?” he asked.

“All the time, even if it's only a hobby. I even have a little garden in the backyard where I grow some little plants I use.”

“You have any on you?” he asked.

Minty blinked. “Uh... is there some kinda rule against carrying candies around on base or something? 'cause, honestly, they never mentioned during orientation...”

He let out a snort of laughter. “Oh, no no no! Nothing like that. I was just wondering if I could try one.”

Mint Breeze blinked. “You... want to try one of my candies?”

“I did just say that, yes.”

Minty blinked once or twice more, then giggled. “Oh! Well uh, in that case... I keep a few in my desk drawer for when my sweet tooth acts up... which is like, all the time...”

“Well then, may I try one?”

She smiled at him, and Protonus nearly gasped as he felt a short burst of real, personalized affection radiate from her to him. “I don't see why not.” Minty said,walking past him. “First though, I need to get these things down to the archives.”

Protonus turned and followed her, keeping the stack of papers on his back, held between his wings, a faint smile playing at the edges of his lips.

* * * * *

Present Day

* * * * *

Cadence sat at the table in the kitchen of the house she shared with Shining Armor. Her eyes were red from crying, and her throat was a little raw. But she still gave an earnest smile as a teacup, filled with steaming hot water, a bag of calming herbal tea steeping within, was levitated over in a pale blue aura and placed down before of her.

“Thanks Blueblood. I appreciate this.” she said as the unicorn sat down across from her.

“It's just hot water and a teabag, Cadence.” he said, blushing.

She smiled a little broader at that. “It's from you, it means something.”

Blueblood closed his eyes and shook his head, chuckling. “I suppose I'm not particularly known for my generous nature, am I?”

“You're changing that, though. I'm honestly impressed.” Cadence said.

“Change seems to be the word lately.” Blueblood said, glancing out the window, and up towards the palace, not that he could see anything, mind. It was dark out, and the light from the candles inside was bright enough that the window looked like a faded mirror, their view of the outside obscured. He couldn't even see the lights from the palace.

“Things are certainly different.” Cadence admitted. She used her magic to move the teabag around in the hot water idly.

Blueblood looked at her for a long moment. “You know, Cadence... you surprise me.”

“Hmm?” Cadence said, lifting her gaze from the teacup.

“You and Shining Armor. Honestly, after what you two went through, I'm surprised you aren't the emotional wreck, and he's the one acting normal.”

Cadence narrowed her eyes slightly, her ears flicking. “What's that supposed to mean?”

Blueblood looked down at the table. “Well... I mean it's just... after what you went through, I’d expect you to be having nightmares, jumping at shadows, having flashbacks, that kind of thing. But you're not. Shining... he's paranoid, but with good reason, he's a military type, but he wasn't aware anything was going on till it was practically over. He came to his senses seconds before you two cast the changelings out. Is your... mental fortitude another part of being an alicorn?” he asked.

Cadence stared at him for a moment, processing what he'd just said, before she shook her head. “I'm not that tough.” she said.

“But you've carried yourself so well all this time, I've heard even hardened soldiers can become unbalanced after an experience like that.”

Cadence raised an eyeridge. “How do you know that?”

“Erm...” Blueblood fidgeted, then said, weakly “I heard about it from some of the guards...?”

Cadence frowned at him. “Blueblood, the last time there was a real war in Equestria was decades ago.

Blueblood looked like he wanted to come up with another excuse, but finally just snorted. “My mother scared me off any notions of joining the military when I was a colt with horror stories. Graphic, detailed horror stories, complete with bibliographies, of which, the references came from the last grypho-equestrian war. Happy?” he grumbled.

Cadence blinked.

Blueblood snorted. “My question stands.”

Cadence stared at him for a moment, then looked back down at the tea. It'd finished steeping, she levitated the teabag out of the water, squeezed it out, then simultaneously opening the cupboard with the trash in it, tossed the used teabag in.

“I did have nightmares.” she admitted.

“When?” Blueblood asked.

“After the wedding. For a week they wouldn't stop. I kept seeing Chrysalis, laughing at me, dragging shining away from me, and my hooves were stuck to the ground... usually in green slime, or I'm stuck in the crystal caverns, and chrysalis's face is on all the walls, laughing at me as I'm running, trying to find a way out...”

“And they just stopped?” Blueblood asked. Usually soldiers who went through horrific experiences were plagued by these things for years, if not the rest of their lives. A week though...?

“No. Somepony helped me.” Cadence admitted.

“Shining?” Blueblood guessed.

“No.” She replied, then looked up and met Blueblood's confused gaze. “Aunt Luna.”

“Auntie Luna? But... you were off in the Gallopagos islands, weren't you?”

Cadence smiled. “Blueblood, aunt Luna is a dreamwalker. She goes into the dreams of others, like a guardian. If some pony is having nightmares repeatedly, she goes into them and helps that pony confront the fear and defeat it.” She said, then took a sip of her tea.

Blueblood blinked, his ears flicking this way and that as he processed the concept of another pony walking into one of his dreams.

“Ok, ok...” he finally said. “Still though, you were really far away at the time, how did she know-”

“Blueblood,” Cadence interrupted him, laying a hoof atop his on the table. “We keep calling her 'aunt' even though she and Celestia are both centuries, if not millenia, older than we are. But still, we are related. By blood. It wouldn't have mattered how far away I was. She sensed I was troubled, and came to me. And helped me work past my fear.”

“That simple?” Blueblood said, looking mystified.

Cadence blushed.“Well... no, not really. It was only two weeks ago that aunt Luna last showed up in a dream of mine-” Cadence was suddenly cut off by the telephone in the next room ringing.

Both Cadence and Blueblood snapped their heads over to look towards the ringing.

“Who could that be at this hour?” Blueblood wondered.

Cadence said nothing, simply getting to all four hooves and walking into the next room. A moment later, Blueblood stood and followed her.

Cadence picked the phone up in her pale blue aura. “Hello? Oh! Shining!” she said, her ears perked up. “Is everything ok?” she asked. She was silent for a moment, then her ears drooped. “Oh... oh, I... I understand. Goodnight...” She placed the phone back down on the receiver.

“What happened?” Blueblood asked.

“He's staying at the palace tonight.” she said.

“Did he say why?”

“Something about what Twilight wants to do tomorrow, but...” her head and neck drooped down close to the floor.

“Cadence, cousin.” Blueblood said, walking over and bringing his head down to the same level as hers to nuzzle her briefly. “Don't worry about a thing. I've got an idea how to help ease your poor husband's mind.”

“Really?” Cadence asked, looking up at him.

He smiled. “Quite, however, if you'll excuse me, I've got something to do and not a lot of time to do it... especially if I want to get any sleep in what remains of tonight.” He nudged her head up, then neck nuzzled her for a brief moment. “Goodnight cousin.” he said.

Cadence couldn't help but smile. Blueblood, promising to help her, with this? She never thought she'd hear him offer. “Thank you Bluey.”

* * * * *

Dawn in Canterlot was -with rare exception- a glorious thing to behold. The pinks and golds played on the alabaster and gold towers, creating a breathtaking atmosphere in the early light.

In the north tower, a black and orange figure stirred with a groan as the light of dawn worked it's way through the occupant's eyelids, before he turned over away from the window and pulled the covers up over his eyes. A headache buzzed inside his skull, the same one that had been there the entire previous day, and had begun the evening before. He'd hoped that having a few decent meals would make it go away -and admittedly, they had helped slightly, but this headache was persistent. It also seemed to be sapping his strength, he knew he should probably get up, but his limbs just felt so heavy...

* * * * *

Princess Luna walked into her bedchamber, the shutters were closed, the blinds were drawn, and the only light in the chamber came from a single candle the princess herself carried in a telekinetic aura, which she set down upon the nightstand next to her empress sized bed. She then stepped out of the silver hoofguards she wore, and then levitated the ebony tiara and peytral of her regalia off, before setting all the pieces on her vanity. She then went into the bath chamber to brush her teeth.

After completing her pre-slumber ablutions, Luna settled down into her grand bed, blew out the candle, and pulled the bedcurtains closed about her, then settled her head down onto her pillow, and fell smoothly into slumber.

There was a twofold reason why Luna slept during the daylight hours. First, her duties of running the kigndom were at night, and second, her duty as guardian of the dreamworld was something she usually did while conscious and awake. Though, sometimes splitting her consciousness between the real world and the one of dreams could be difficult to manage. She blushed again as she thought of how panicked the royal treasurer had been when she'd apparently grown glassy eyed in the middle of her meeting with him last week. Then his irritation when she explained the situation.

This morn, however, as she drifted off to sleep and found herself in her own personal dreamworld, she felt something rather odd. The pull of another dream realm not far from her, and it was not that of one of her nightguards. She could sense them all, bedding down in their barracks in the lower levels of the palace. She gave them leave to dream their own dreams, unless of course one was afflicted by a dream terror. She expected all others to be rising at this hour, especially as, even in this era with it's much more active nightlife, few stayed up all the way to dawn and slept during the day outside of herself and her guard.

No, this one came from one of the towers, not far from where she lay in slumber at all. Had she been awake, she could have flown to it and found the dreamer with a few wingbeats. She examined the sensation and found it had a peculiar feel, but while peculiar still slightly familiar. It felt like the dreams of another species, and yet strangely ponylike at the same time. She'd come to know how other species dreamworlds felt over the centuries. She'd peeked in on the dreams of gryphons, minotaurs, Diamond dogs... and even on a few occasions, dragons. This one felt like none of those species.

“The ambassador?” Luna thought to herself.

Abandoning the half formed dreamscape her subconscious had barely begun to put together for her, Luna's spirit launched into the ether. The physical world had no meaning here, there was only flows of thought and power. She spread her wings, but there really was no point, sheer will moved her through the space between minds.

The green fire of changeling magic showed her the border of the ambassador's dreamscape as she approached. She laid a hoof on it's side, the 'flame' moved and flickered, yet to her touch it seemed solid... or perhaps, liquid, as with the impact the 'surface' rippled.

With a smile, Luna's dream body became a deep blue sparkling mist, and she passed through.

* * * * *

Protonus was awoken that morning by the ringing of an alarm clock. He reached over with a pure white foreleg, and tapped the thing on the top, turning the ringing off before he sat up. He then rolled his tongue around a somewhat parched mouth before he slipped out of bed and walked into the bathroom to brush his teeth.

Ever since that chance meeting in the halls of the citadel keep, Protonus had been having to take extra care of his teeth. All the candies he'd started packing away would've rotted them -even the real ones under the transformation- if he hadn't.

After brushing his teeth, Protonus went to the den of his little house and began doing pushups. The other drawback to having a fillyfriend who had an undeniable talent in making candy. Changelings were supposed to have a more difficult time putting on weight, but after a routine checkup up at base told him he'd gained ten pounds, he'd gone home and transformed into his real form in the privacy of his bathroom and checked himself in the mirror.

His formerly sleek carapaced form was sporting a noticeable paunch in the belly.

“Not my fault... she pours so much... love into each... batch of candies...” he grunted between situps. This wasn't exactly literal, he couldn't get any kind of power from her creations, but he could simply tell each time he popped one of her sweets into his mouth, that this was something that she truly loved to do. And it showed.

Of course, that wasn't to say Mint Breeze was a slouch with other kinds of cooking. She'd cooked dinner for the two of them a few nights ago, and between the energy she radiated at him and the amount of food he packed away, he felt like he was about ready to explode by the time he'd headed home. The poor filly, being awkwardly talented in a town full of master craftsponies and the daughter of ponies who's only claim to fame was the fact that they worked for a famous jeweler -famous enough that Celestia sent her sister to them for her new regalia after her return from the moon- she'd been so... so convinced no-pony wanted anything to do with her, so she'd settled for doing menial clerical work for the guard, rather than nurture her talent.

After one taste of those candies though, Protonus couldn't help but encourage her.

The overwhelming surge of affection he got from Minty whenever he pushed her to better herself in what she loved doing, it filled him with energy. He felt as full of vigor as he'd been since the last time he'd been home to the hive and shared in the communal energy stores.

And yet... for all that, there was something... different, about what he got from his new fillyfriend. He felt differently every time he was with her, feeling her love energy radiate through to his core, filling him up. The thought that he, himself, had made this happen with her, and not some other male that he was stepping into the hooves of...

His stomach rumbled. He shook his head. All this thought of love and food was making him hungry.

Half an hour later, after a breakfast of a mushroom omlette the disguised changeling walked out his front door, gave his transfigured blue furry mane a shake out, then trotted up the road. One of the benefits of being a ranked officer, he had a free choice in his schedule. Afternoon shift gave him plenty of time to meet with Minty, and even wander the city if he wanted. Because in addition to protecting the populace as part of his cover identity, his mission was to keep a hoof on the pulse of public opinion.

In particular, opinions about changelings.

The months since the wedding hadn't been particularly easy on the disguised changeling's nerves. The day of the wedding, after his healing by the drones from the hive of queen Carapace, he'd slipped back into Canterlot to find it strangely jubilant, a palpable sense of relief (particularly for him, one couldn't be a psionivore without having at least rudimentary empathic senses) suffused the entire city. As far as the ponies were concerned, in that moment, the changelings were gone, their city and kingdom were safe, and it was time to finally celebrate the wedding of the real princess of love to the captain of the guard.

Sadly, time had eroded those good feelings. The military had tried to search for evidence of what had happened to the invaders from Chrysalis' hive, but came up empty handed. Protonus himself was actually rather surprised, as was his queen when he'd reported this intelligence back to her.

'Iron Shield' waved to a passing foal who was trotting alongside his mother, probably on his way to school that morning. The dyed coloration of a royal guard made them easily identifiable, even out of their armor. He could feel the admiration for his position radiating off the little foal, clear across the street, like he was standing near a hearth fire. The energy tingled as it worked it's way through his essence where it would automatically be processed into raw mana. A nice little charge, but still nothing compared to what true passion and a deep personal connection could do.

The disguised changeling trotted down the road, transfigured feathery white wings tucked at his sides, he noticed the general air of the adults of the city that walked the streets was... rather distracted. Besides the little foal he'd met just outside his house, he got very few friendly waves, everypony seemed to be in close, quiet conversation.

His minor empathic sense was giving him strange signals. Oddly, the focus was not on him, whereas it had been of late. The guard themselves had been regarded with far less than the usual respect from most adult ponies. Their inability to ward off, even when amassed in full strength, an invasion of decidedly mortal foes had the public viewing them rather askance. Nightmare Moon, Discord, those two were deities run amok, there wasn't anything anypony could have expected the royal guard to do about either of them, especially after reports spread on what had happened to Celestia's escort during the fateful summer sun celebration two years ago. But the changelings?

The guard had been mocked, openly, by numerous members of the aristocracy and quite a few members of the media for how utterly useless they had been when, for the first time in the past decade, an actual threat -that by all conceivable means they could have fought back against- totally overpowered them. Citing the 'element of surprise' and 'unexpected abilities' cards as reasons why the guard had been taken out so quickly were dismissed as excuses. Even his own contributions weren't quite enough to help alleviate these feelings amongst the citizenry.

Working closely with ponies on the guard force, Protonus was able to read their emotions in regard to the situation. It ranged from depression and self loathing at their failure, to a seething rage, and not only directed at the invaders who had shown them up, but at the nobility who rather than support them, berated them. Practicing how to prance around while avoiding getting stuck to the ground by tree sap seemed to do little for morale. Some even commented that that was little more than window dressing on the utter incompetence of the guard as a whole, even if Protonus himself knew just how dangerous this simple lesson could be for his own kind.

In the end, though, Protonus' mission here was to find unrest in pony society.

He'd found it in the last place he'd hoped it would rear its ugly head.

The military.

“Can you believe it?” An earth pony mare in a maids dress was saying to a gaggle of other ponies outside of a bakery as he walked past.

“I know, so long without a peep and now suddenly the princess proclaims that there's one in the palace, and that we shouldn't be concerned?” a stallion in servants clothes.

“I wonder what it looks like, there wasn't a photo in any of the papers.” A pegasus stallion in a courier's uniform with a satchel over his neck mused.

“You can be sure that we'll see a special edition once the creature pokes it's head out long enough for the press to take a snapshot. Not that anypony would want to, one of those ghastly things attacked me that day, and it was utterly horrendous! Empty, glassy eyes and no fur at all!” another mare said.

He paused, then picked up his pace to a canter, heading for the nearest newspaper kiosk. Tossing a few bits down he snatched up one of the papers at random, and read the headline on the front page.

His brain momentarily didn't want to process what he was reading.

The headline read: A Changeling in Canterlot.

“Crazy stuff, ain't it?” the kiosk owner said, leaning over the narrow countertop.

Protonus nodded dumbly.

* * * * *

Shining Armor sat at his desk early that morning, glaring at the newspaper on it's surface.

Luna had gone ahead with the plan to announce the presence of the changeling 'ambassador' in Canterlot. According to the papers, she'd gone on to explain to the reporters that the changeling's mission here was peaceful, that no-pony should feel alarmed or threatened by his presence, and that if he should be seen in the streets of Canterlot (presumably under heavy guard) he was not to be accosted, berated, or attacked.

His morning thus far was little more than a string of requests for further information on the 'ambassador' from both officials in and around Canterlot, and every media outlet in the city.

He expected it to be worse tomorrow.

Shining looked up from the short pile of paperwork on his desk when a gray and white unicorn in guard armor burst in, the door swinging over to bash into the wall. He looked angry, and the unicorn at the secretary's desk Shining could just see behind the fuming stallion looked alarmed.

“You knew!” Lieutenant Swift Strike spat. “You son of a basilisk! You knew, and you didn't tell me!”

“S-sir Strike! The captain-” the pink and pale green unicorn mare stammered.

“It's ok Minty, I want to talk to the lieutenant anyway.” Shining said, giving her a gentle look.

Mint Breeze glanced at the gray and white unicorn for a second, then sat back down, pointedly turning back to her work.

Using his magic to swing the door closed, Shining fixed his subordinate with a hard look. “Lieutenant, you will adjust your attitude and address me properly, or I will have you scrubbing out the recruit barracks restrooms for a month.” Shining said. He shared the lieutenant's sentiment, but he couldn't have the attitude.

With a snort, the battlemage drew himself up to full height and threw a very, very stiff salute. “Sir, if you wouldn't mind, could you please tell me why an enemy of the kingdom is currently sitting in a guest suite in the palace, sir?”

'Been asking myself the same question.' Shining thought to himself. “The official story was published in the newspaper today, Lieutenant, did you not read it?”

“Sir, I did read that, sir.”

“Good, because all the answers were right there. He's officially an ambassador on a peaceful mission here in Canterlot.”

“But sir-” Swift started to say, but was cut off by a raised hoof from the captain.

“His behavior has been unusual for something saying it's an envoy, and princess Luna has tasked me with keeping an eye on him. Princess Celestia wants us to learn as much about him and his race as we can, and my sister has been brought in as an expert and a researcher to that end. I have been further tasked with security on that end. I'm not about to let us get caught unaware again, lieutenant.”

Swift strike snorted, then nodded. “As you say, sir.”

Shining gave a half smile. “As it stands, I need some volunteers for some special duty today, lieutenant.”

One of Swift's eyeridges raised. “Sir?”

“How'd you like to personally escort our 'ambassador'?”

Both eyes widened. “Sir?”

“My sister wants to take the ambassador down to the hospital to use some full body scanning equipment they have later today. I need a few good stallions on hand to keep him from wandering off. Stallions I know I can rely to watch him like a hawk.”

Swift Strike grinned. “I think I can find a few of those, sir.”

* * * * *

Twilight Sparkle, flanked by the juvenile dragon Spike, approached the base of the stairs leading to the north tower. Spike carried a collection of scrolls and a couple of quills, while Twilight levitated along her book of changeling notes. Shining Armor was arranging security for their trip across town today, but he'd sent her a message explicitly telling her not to go near Ambassador Maxillus alone. She'd rolled her eyes at this, but agreed, if only to let him rest easier.

“So what's this changeling like Twilight?” Spike asked.

“Hard to say.” Twilight said. “Yesterday was the first time I met him, and that's hardly enough time for me to get a full picture of the stallion... goodness, are male changelings even called stallions?” she asked nopony in particular. “Spike, make a note: Ask what titles each gender of changeling has.”

“Got it.” The young purple and green dragon said, scribbling onto the scroll in his claws.

Twilight rounded a corner as they arrived at the base of the stairs leading up the tower, and paused so suddenly that spike walked into her rump, smashing the paper he was writing on between his face and twilight's tail, before he fell onto his back. “Oof! Twilight, why'd you stop!”

Twilight was looking ahead and didn't respond. Spike, grumbling as he picked himself up and looked at the smudged, still wet ink on the parchment before wiping his face with a paw and coming away with a few streaks of ink. He groaned, then walked around the unicorn mare to see what the problem was.

Standing at the base of the stairs, arguing with a pair of guards, was a white unicorn stallion with a black mane and tail in servant's dress, his horn glowing a faintly grayish white as he levitated a pair of brown paper bags full of... what appeared to be groceries. A two toned gray Gryphon with a rather impressive mustache sticking off his beak -Spike marveled at the incredibly manly facial hair for several heartbeats- who was wearing a red cloth around his neck and a chef's hat.

“Gustav Le'Grand!” Twilight finally said.

“Who?” Spike asked.

“That gryphon, I've met him before.” Twilight said, then started walking towards the group, coming within hearing range.

“Really, I must insist.” the servant unicorn was saying.

“He's not one of the usual servants, and we haven't had any orders come allowing you access.” the guard on the left of the stairwell said.

“Ambassador Maxillus has no embassy staff, you cannot seriously intend to deny him his basic needs!” the servant unicorn exclaimed.

“Last I checked, he doesn't have an embassy either.” The other guard grumbled.

“He's an ambassador in a foreign land, the fact that he does not have his own building allotted him for the purpose does not change the fact that he needs a staff, servants, a cook, guards even! Do you know what his grace Blueblood had to go through to convince Ambassador Swift-Talon to loan us his personal chef for this?” The servant unicorn gestured at the admittedly annoyed looking gryphon with a hoof.

“Uhm, excuse me, sirs?” Twilight said, gathering the attention of every pony -and gryphon- present. “What's going on?”

The unicorn's eyes raised slightly and his mouth set in a neutral line. “Ah, the lady Twilight Sparkle, a pleasure to meet you. Perhaps you would be kind enough to assist?”

“Maybe if I know what's happening.” Twilight walked up. “Hello Gustav, I didn't know you worked for the gryphon ambassador.”

The gray gryphon twirled one half of his mustache between two talons idly. “Oui, My homeland calls for my services, and I answer, Madame Sparkle.”

“Geeze, Gilda sounded like she came off the streets of Manehattan, this guy sounds like he's from Prance...” Spike commented.

“Spike!” Twilight exclaimed.

Thankfully, the gryphon chef merely chuckled at this. “It is alright, madame Sparkle. Zee Gryphon kingdoms, we are a very large and diverse place, little dragon. Zhere are many languages and dialects, just as here in your Equestria.” The gryphon explained.

“Really?” Spike asked, one eyeridge raised.

“Oui, sometimes more zan one in a single kingdom, if zey are large enough. I assume zis 'Gilda' came from one of our coastal regions. My family hails from a province deeper in zee mainland.” Gustav said.

“That is fascinating!” Twilight said, taking down a quick note, plucking a piece of parchment and a spare quill from Spike's supplies.

The more vocal of the two guards cleared his throat. “I'm sure this is very interesting, Lady Sparkle, but seriously, can you just make them leave? They've got no clearance, so it doesn't matter what deal the prince made with ambassador Swift-Talon, we can't let him pass.” The guard said.

“What deal?” Twilight asked.

“His Grace, Prince Blueblood, spoke with Ambassador Swift-Talon early this morning,” The servant unicorn said. “He discussed the fact that ambassador Maxillus, having no personal staff for his embassy, and trust me, good sir,” He said, looking at the guard with a hard expression. “that is exactly what the tower he has been delegated to is. It has all the amenities, including a full kitchen and servant's quarters behind a few doors. All he lacks is a staff that can see to his particular needs. One of which is a chef that understands how to prepare meals for an omnivore.”

Twilight's eyes widened. “So Blueblood got the gryphon ambassador to loan Maxillus one of his staff! Wow, that's... that's really generous!”

“Whoah, whoah whoah! Omnivore!?” The guard on the left said, his stoic expression changing to one of confusion, then mounting horror. “Is that...?” he gestured at the levitating brown paper bags with a shaking hoof.

“Yes, meat, harvested according to the guidelines of equestria's carnivore food preparation regulations.” the unicorn servant said.

The shaken guard started to turn green and held his hoof over his mouth to stifle the sound of a retch, backing away from the parcel as though it were carrying plague.

“Oh don't be like that, it's not like he has any choice in what his species has to eat to survive.” Twilight said.

The other guard, who had remained impassive even as the other one suffered a minor panic attack, rolled his eyes. “As nice a gesture as that is, I've got no orders, so I can't let them pass, Miss Sparkle.”

“Not to worry.” Twilight said, shooting a smirk to her assistant. “Spike, take a note please.”

* * * * *

A wisp of smoke flew into the throne room just as Celestia was sitting down to start going over paperwork that morning, her assistant, a white unicorn with her mane styled into a 'beehive' jerked backwards in surprise at the appearance of a scroll.

“A little early in the morning for a friendship report.” Celestia said, raising an eyeridge. She unfurled the paper with her magic. It was a short letter, and she scanned it in a moment. Her eyes widened in surprise, before she smiled.

“My goodness, that's some initiative my nephew's showing.” Celestia said, pulling out a fresh sheet of very official paper and writing something down on it, before rolling it up,putting a red wax seal on it, and teleporting it away with another surge of golden magic through her horn.

The princess turned back to her assistant. “Now, where were we?”

* * * * *

The guards stoically kept their mouths shut as they marched up the stairs, leading Twilight, Spike, Gustave Le'grand, and the servant unicorn -whom Twilight had come to learn was named Prim- to the door below the main suite. Prim and Gustave stopped while one of the guards unlocked the servant's quarters with a key, allowing gustave and prim to enter, along with the bags of special groceries. Twilight meanwhile progressed up to the top of the tower.

At the main door, one of the guards held out his wing to gently block her. “Allow us, Ma'am.”

Twilight snorted in irritation at the guard, but stepped back, waiting while they entered first. A moment later they beckoned her and spike in. However, the foyer of the suite was empty, aside from the party that had just entered.

“Ambassador?” Twilight called out without raising her voice particularly high. “Ambassador Maxillus? Hello?”

* * * * *

“Ambassador Maxillus, hello?” the querying voice penetrated through the hazy dream that the changeling had been having and jarred him back to consciousness, his eyes blinked open.

“Nnnngh...” he groaned as the brightness of the room, bathed in the light of mid-morning assaulted his retinas.

“Ambassador maxillus, are you- oh!” The voice of Shining Armor's sister from the previous day, he was dimly aware, became sharply louder as she stepped into the room. “Oh, I’m terribly sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“Nngf...” he grunted, bringing his hooves up to rub at his temples, attempting to banish the headache with a massage, a fruitless gesture.

“Are... are you alright?” She asked.

“My appologies, miss Sparkle... this blasted headache doesn't seem to want to go away.”

“Well, it's a good thing we're going to a hospital today then, isn't it?” a new, immature male's voice piped up.

“What...?” Maxillus said, blinking. His vision finally cleared and he saw another being alongside Twilight Sparkle.... At least, the only one other than the two guards that were with her. He couldn't imagine either of them having a voice like that. He blinked to clear the blurryness from his vision. Then, he saw the only creature in the room that he could feaseably envision having had such a voice.

A tiny dragon.

* * * * *

The changeling noble stared at Spike in abject confusion for a span of a quarter of a minute before he finally found his voice.

“Wh... who is that?” he asked.

Spike snorted. “Name's Spike the dragon, number one assistant to the most powerful unicorn in equestria.” The little purple and green scaled creature said, puffing his chest out.

“Assistant?” Maxillus said, blinking, and finally sliding out of bed, his four hooves landing with a dull thud in the plush carpet. “He wasn't with you yesterday.”

“He stayed up really late the night before, so I let him relax yesterday.” Twilight said, reaching over with a hoof to rub the little dragon's back. “He is only a baby dragon, and needs his rest.”

“Aw geeze Twilight, do you have to be like that in front of everypony?” Spike huffed.

Twilight giggled. “Calm down Spike. The ambassador understands that young creatures need their rest if they want to grow up right.” Twilight said, smiling before she turned back to Maxillus...

And paused, the expression on the noble changeling's face was one of depression and longing. His eyes held a far-away look to them as well.

“Ambassador... are you alright?” she asked.

The ambassador blinked as he seemed to return to them. “Oh, I'm sorry, miss Twilight. Just... you reminded me of something.”

“What?” she asked.

The changeling paused, before he let out a sigh.

“Home. Family.” he said.

Twilight blinked once, before her face broke into a warm smile. “Would you like to tell me about them?”

“Soon, perhaps... now, what was this about a hospital?” he asked.

“I'll tell you over breakfast.” she said, sniffing the air as the first wisps of scent of gryphonic cooking began to waft in through the window.

Maxillus caught the scent too, and his stomach rumbled.

“Sounds delicious.” he smiled, then winced. “But first... I don't suppose you could send for some aspirin?”

Twilight snorted a chuckle. “I think that can be arranged.

Chapter 11

Changeling agent Protonus, in the guise of the pegasus Iron Shield, came flying full tilt into the citadel's main courtyard at a little after ten o'clock in the morning, still an hour earlier than he was supposed to arrive. Rather than alighting nimbly with a backwing, he hit the ground at a gallop, and charged up to where a group of guardsponies were hitching themselves to one of the V.I.P. Carriages. Built in a similar style to the guard chariots, this one was fully enclosed, and had upholstered seats. The siding was armored, however, to protect the occupants.

That was the last thing on his mind.

“Strike! Swift Strike!” He called out to the other lieutenant, his former superior officer, drawing his and the attention of every other pony in the grounds as he came to a screeching halt that had his armored hoofshoes sending up sparks.

“WHOAH! Iron, what in Tartarus-?” Swift strike said, rearing back slightly, along with the other guards in the courtyard, those who were being hitched up, and the others nearby.

“Hah... whoo... gimme a second...” The out of breath lieutenant gasped out, taking in big gulps of air.

Recovering from his surprise, swift strike settled back down to the stones and looked at the winded pegasus with a level gaze. “Let me guess. You just heard the news.”

“Yeah, about that,” the pegasus form changeling said, lifting himself back into proper posture. “beg your pardon but WHAT THE BUCK IS GOING ON!?” he snapped. One would imagine a guard who just learned that a known enemy had been secreted into where they were supposed to be protecting would be surprised and upset at learning this, but Protonus' anger and irritation were no play act.

“Seems the changelings sent an 'ambassador', and he's got the princess's blessing, for the moment. They've got him up in the palace, and they brought in the element of magic to begin talks with him.” Swift summarized.

Protonus was going to have quite a lot to say to the council tonight when he got home from work.

“Great...” he groaned. “I'd better go get my marching orders from the captain then.” he said, moving to trot past Swift.

“He's at the palace.” Swift said, without turning his head to follow the pegasus lieutenant.

He paused. “Already? Why?”

“Turns out the princesses have arranged a little tour of canterlot for the ambassador today. He's going to be heading it up.” Swift turned and looked at his compatriot. “And I could really use the genius who devised our anti-glue-spit training on the escort detail. Care to come with?”

Protonus blinked. He wasn't sure if he should get too close to this 'ambassador' when he hadn't been alerted to this beforehoof. This could very well be a trap, his paranoia (a healthy thing to have in small doses when one is a spy) was telling him.

On the other hoof, if this was the actions of another rogue hive, or gods forbid, Chrysalis trying something again, he needed to get in close to verify just who it was.

He came to his decision in under five seconds.

“Count me in.”

* * * * *

The carriage rolled out, passenger-less, from the citadel at 10:22 AM, and moved swiftly through the side streets of Canterlot. Armored guard carriages weren't exactly a normal sight out on the streets, and they wanted to keep ponies from getting panicked by seeing it go down the main thoroughfares. It was a curious sight, an empty carriage being escorted by five unicorns, and five pegasi, and not a single one below sergeant in rank.

They arrived at the gates to Canterlot palace to find a crowd of civilians being held back from the vicinity by a wall of guardstallions.

Both masses of ponies the carriage needed to get through to get into position.

“Dis-perse! All civilians to make way immediately!” Swift Strike called out over the milling crowd, flying in over their heads..

“Official guard business! Make way!” 'Iron Shield' belted out as he came up with his squad, trotting just in front of the four burly earth pony guards-they were quite necessary, the armor plating on that carriage weighed a near literal ton- as they moved towards the crowd, with no intent to slow down.

The civilian ponies, more than half of them nobles, looked up sharply, and grumbled as they stepped aside. The way clear, the carriage and its escort moved up through the suddenly parted ranks of guardstallions to the center of the front gates, where Captain prince Shining Armor was waiting.

“Secure transit and escort for one 'V.I.P.' captain, as ordered.” Swift Strike announced with a salute.

Captain Armor nodded. “Just in time, here he comes now.”

Protonus turned his head as he hovered in place above the carriage to get a look at the party that was just exiting the palace.

He missed a wingbeat and nearly fell out of the air before he caught himself.

'You gotta be kidding...!' he thought, shock and recognition passing through his mind as the orange and black changeling prince walked alongside the purple unicorn mare with the purple dragon hatchling riding on her back towards the portcullis.

“Iron, you ok?” One of the other pegasi asked.

Memories of playing hide and seek in a forest of giant mushrooms flickered through his brain. “Sorry, just... didn't expect him to look like that.”

“Ready to go ambassador?” Shining armor was saying, his posture as stiff as his tone.

“Yes, captain. Thank you.” 'the ambassador' was saying.

Shining stepped aside to allow him to enter the carriage, then the purple mare and the little dragon, then the captain himself entered and the door closed.

“Move out!” Lieutenant Strike called out, and the team of heavy earth pony guards began trotting up the road, and the escort moved along with them.

'Max... they sent you, and you didn't tell me. Why?' Protonus thought as he kept his place in formation.

* * * * *

The carriage ride was silent at the start. Maxillus watched the view out the window, this being the closest he'd come to seeing the city since he'd arrived, even if the view was partially obstructed by a pegasus guard who was keeping pace with the Carriage. Shining sat there with a small scowl as he watched Maxillus with a sideways glance every few moments. And Spike was just sitting there kicking his heels idly.

“So! What do you think of Canterlot Ambassador?” Twilight finally broke the silence.

“It's very bright.” he said, rubbing his head, the aspirin was helping, but perhaps gazing at the brilliant white and gold architecture of the noble district of Canterlot while you had a simmering headache wasn't a good idea. That was a lot of white walls and gold roofing. “It's almost overpowering.” Maxillus responded.

“Big, shiny and impressive. That's Canterlot alright.” Twilight agreed with a smile.

“What's your home like?” Spike asked.

Shining's ears flicked in Maxillus' direction intently.

“Dark.” Maxillus said, chuckling as he turned to look at the little dragon. “But then, it's a cave after all.”

“Is that normal for a Changeling kingdom?” Twilight asked.

He shifted his gaze to her. “They're called hives, Miss Twilight. And yes, most of the hives are subterranean. There are a few exceptions though.”

“Really? Can you give me an example?” Twilight asked.

Maxillus was about to answer when the driver called out “Arriving at Canterlot hospital!” just as the earth pony guards who were pulling the thing pulled up and brought the carriage to a neat halt.

Shining Armor snorted at the bad timing. That was actually starting to sound like something he could've used.

As they stepped out of the carriage, Twilight looked around. “Huh, that's funny.”

“What is?” Maxillus asked.

“Princess Celestia herself arranged our visit. There should be somepony here to greet us.” Twilight said, glancing around uncertainly at the conspicuously vacant main entrance to the hospital.

“Eh, it's probably nothing.” Spike said, walking ahead of her.

Maxillus raised an eyeridge, but said nothing and followed. The pegasi and unicorns fell in two ranks on either side of him, Captain Armor bringing up the rear himself. Maxillus acknowledged this with a small sigh, but said nothing as they advanced in a group up to the glass doors of the main entrance to the hospital. Lieutenant swift strike opened the doors with his magic and stepped through first, followed by the changeling ambassador and the lavender unicorn mare.

The decibel level rose to a normal pitch as the group entered the main lobby of the hospital. There were ponies, so many ponies, all milling about. Earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns all. There was even even a pair of gryphons -an adult and a cub- sitting in chairs in the waiting area amongst the equestrian natives. Doctors, nurses and orderlies were going about their business, and half a dozen mares sat behind the desk opposite the main doors. Perfectly normal for a major medical center in a large city.

At least, things were normal, until one of the receptionist mares looked up and saw who was walking through the door, and let out a shriek.

“CHANGELING!”

In less than five seconds, every other pony in the lobby had either fled down the halls, or were pressing themselves against the walls trying to get as far away from the ambassador as possible.

“Wha-hey! What're you- He's not going to- if everypony could please just-” Twilight balked, whirling around, trying to catch the staff and patrons as they all scrambled away.

Shining Armor snorted in annoyance and, with a flash of magenta light, every single frantically fleeing creature was encased in a bubble of magical force.

“Citizens of Equestria, your attention please!” he spoke loudly and clearly as the bubbles returned everypony to approximately where they'd been when they'd come in.

Once he settled them down, Shining glanced at Twilight. “This is your show Twi, you explain this to the good citizens.” he said.

Twilight glanced around at the still very fearful looking ponies -and two gryphons- encased in mini bubble shields, blinked, and had to visibly compose herself. The terrified reactions of the populace had alarmed her, and her heart was beating so fast...

She cleared her throat. “Yes, well...” She looked around... no handy newspapers laying about. “As you may have seen in the papers this morning, the changeling nation has sent an ambassador here to Canterlot for peace talks. The ambassador has sworn not to harm, or do anything, to Equestria's citizens, while he is our guest. He is here now on Celestia's invitation. So, really, there's no need to be afraid of him.”

Shining stepped forward once his sister was done speaking. “Now, if everypony-” there was a grumble from the gryphons in their bubble. “is done panicking, I can let you go, and we can all get on with our day.”

There was a wave of nodding heads, and after a breath, shining dispelled the shields, and everyone in the hospital lobby glanced around, then, with looks of extremely forced nonchalance, went about their business... pointedly NOT looking at the group of royal guards and their changeling charge.

Twilight suppressed a groan, then turned back to the extremely embarrassed receptionist. “Now, if you don't mind, we have an appointment.”

* * * * *

The 'imaging center' was on the hospital's sixth floor, and the group was faced with a problem. There simply wasn't enough space in the elevator for every one of the guards who were escorting the ambassador to be in there at the same time as Maxillus, particularly with Twilight and Spike at his side.

Needless to say, Shining had insisted on them taking the stairs. The long trip up those flights of stairs quickly started to show on the ambassador, as he kept stumbling as they climbed the steps.

As soon as they finally emerged into the sixth floor, a dark colored pony in a white coat looked up, with a smile on his face, and briskly trotted over.

“Ah! Welcome! You must be the ambassador. Princess Celestia sent word this morning. We had to bump an appointment to fit you, so we're a little pressed for time.”

Maxillus glanced at Twilight and raised an eyeridge, and the unicorn mare giggled. Maxillus grinned and turned back to the doctor. “You must be Dr. Scalpel, the receptionist told us you'd be meeting us.”

“That'd be me. And, can I say, it's so exciting to be the first pony to examine a new species!” the doctor said, sounding almost giddy.

Shining leaned to one side, taking in the doctor properly. Dr. Scalpel was a dusky blue unicorn with a gray mane and, what else, a scalpel for a cutie mark. The fact that it was backed by the red cross mark established that he was a surgeon.

“Wow, you're taking this a lot better than everypony we saw downstairs.” Spike commented.

The doctor's smile fell for a second into a confused and concerned frown. “Was there a problem?”

“Oh, nothing much, just a moment of mass hysteria as soon as they saw me.” Maxillus said, rolling his eyes.

Dr. Scalpel blinked. “Oh, well... I guess they just weren't expecting to see you up close. If I recall the article I read during my coffee break this morning, princess Luna wasn't particularly specific on where you might be seen about Canterlot.”

“That seems readily apparent.” Maxillus said, glancing back at the stairs they'd climbed. “Anyway, as you said, we're wasting time. Doctor?”

“Ah! Yes, of course, follow me.” The doctor said, then turned and clip-clopped as he walked down the hall, the group, and the guards all falling in step. “You'll have to forgive me, I'm not typically the doctor involved with these kinds of things, but they needed somepony well versed in anatomy to oversee this scan and the usual doctor wasn't feeling well today. When the director explained what he needed in a replacement I leapt at the chance.”

Maxillus cocked his head and looked at the Doctor. “Why is that?”

“Because 'exotic' is my specialty. I'm Canterlot's premier surgical expert on many other species. Gryphons, Minotaurs, Cows, Sheep, if it talks and isn't a pony then I'm your stallion.”

Maxillus smiled. “Well, I know who to go to if I need medical help while I'm here.”

“Not exactly.” Dr. Scalpel said.

Every pony in the group, even the stoic, blank faced guards, blinked when he said that.

“Why's that?” Spike asked.

“I'm an expert on a lot of other species, but changelings? No offense, but I didn't even know your kind existed until a few months ago Ambassador.”

“We're here for a scan though, wouldn't that help?” Twilight asked.

“It's a starting point, my lady.” Twilight blushed at the formal address. Here in Canterlot, at least, she was technically nobility, what with being the princess's protege, and sister in law to a princess. But it had been so long since someone had showed her such deference that it caught her off guard. “A single scan will help us learn any major differences, but a single sample isn't exactly conclusive. I'd need to do such scans on several dozen different changelings just to get started and...” The doctor stopped walking, and the whole group paused as well. “If I'm not mistaken, he looks very different than the changelings that were running around the streets a few months ago.”

“Drones, Doctor. Those were Drones.” Maxillus said.

“What, like ants or termites?” The doctor asked.

Maxillus nodded. “Yes. There are two kinds of changelings. Drones and Nobles. I happen to be Noble caste.”

“Are there any differences you know of between the two?” the doctor asked.

“A few, some are superficial, others... not so much.” Maxillus said.

“Hmmm...” The doctor rubbed his chin with the back of a foreleg briefly. “Well, we'll discuss this further once the scan's done, and we have something to look at, eh?”

With a nod the group followed the doctor through the double doorway that led to the brand new T.R.I. Facility at the end of the hall, and into the main chamber.

Maxillus stepped into the chamber and stopped, looking around. There were large... machines, were the only descriptive word one could think of. Machines the size of large china cabinets-several rows of them- on either side of the room, with banks of of flashing lights, dials, switches, buttons, and rolls of magnetic tape. Deeper into the chamber, past all these large machines, beyond a glass wall and a set of glass doors was an even larger, albeit lower to the ground, machine. The machine was a half circle with it's flat side on the floor. About ten feet wide, ten feet deep, and eight feet high, with a tubular gap about two and a half feet wide in the middle. Extending out infront of this was a rather thin, ergonomically padded 'shelf' that looked to be on rollers, able to slide into the opening in the machine. The outside of it was encased in smooth metal, painted white.

“Ok, this is rather impressive...”

“Thank you, now if you'll come this way.” Dr. Scalpel said, gesturing for Maxillus to follow.

Maxillus did, and the group as a whole followed., Dr. scalpel looked back at the group of guards and paused. “Ah, captain, could you please have the guards wait outside? There's a lot of sensitive equipment in here, and we do need some space to work.” he said, gesturing with a foreleg to the areas of the room with the racks of machines... and several technician ponies Shining hadn't noticed at first.

Shining snorted in annoyance, but he could see that arguing was not going to help him here. The turned around. “Stallions, take up positions out in the hall. Keep an ear out though, if I call, you come charging, am I clear?”

“Sir yes sir!” the unicorn and pegasi in gold armor said, snapping smart salutes.

“Good, now get to your posts.”

The guards all smartly about faced and trotted back out into the corridor.

“Right, let's get this over with.” Maxillus said, tossing his mane.

Dr. Scalpel led Maxillus in to the machine itself. “Very good, Now, if you'll just lie down on the table here...” he said, indicating the padded shelf.

Maxillus trotted up to it, looked it and the machien over for a moment, sighed, then hopped up onto the shelf and laid down on his back, his head resting on the pillow and all four legs in the shaped depressions in the padding.

“Now when the scan starts, just close your eyes and try not to move too much.” Dr. Scalpel instructed.

“Do I need to hold my breath or something?” Maxillus asked.

The doctor chuckled. “No, as long as you don't yawn or cough while the scan is being taken that should be fine. Now, just relax.”

The doctor's horn lit up with a pale pink glow and the table slid into the tube in the machine. There was two hoofspans of space between the changeling and the walls of the machine on all sides. Satisfied, the doctor turned and trotted over to the control room, where Twilight was looking over the equipment.

“Have an interest in medical science, Lady Twilight?” he asked, hopping into a chair in front of a console where he started to turn dials, press switches and buttons, and move levers to control the device.

“In most sciences really.” She said candidly. “Also, about the whole 'lady' bit.” She started to say as a resonant hum started to come from the device in the next room, the sound reverberating through the air, the machinery, and everypony there.

“Is that normal?” Shining asked, his voice raised over the sound. His enchanted barding was starting to feel distinctly uncomfortable.

“Oh, completely!” Dr. Scalpel replied.

“Is this as loud as it gets?” Spike asked, covering his ear fins.

“Not quite. But don't worry, it doesn't get that loud, really!” he said, slowly working the controls to bring the machine up to full operating power.

It took Twilight a minute, and it was rather hard to make out, but after focusing on the noise for a few moments, she was able to make out that there were infact a number of different distinct droning magical noises coming from the T.R.I. Machine. Over a dozen if she wasn't miscounting. That fit with what she'd read in the magazine 'Science and Sorcery' almost two months ago. Numerous visualizing, scanning, and probing spells, layered over each other via a crystalline lattice that surrounded a pony on all sides, investigating their bodies and magical signatures on every level. The point of this to show where things were, how they were doing, and what, if anything was wrong.

Once the droning cacophony of magical hums reached it's zenith, the doctor turned to Twilight. “And now we simply wait for the scan to complete. Now, it's a full body scan, and we usually analyze various bodyparts individually, so this scan is going to take a bit longer than normal.”

“How long, exactly?” she asked.

“Well, I’d estimate about an hour, approximately.” The doctor said.

“An hour of this noise? Ugh, Twilight, can I go out into the hall, or something? Please?” Spike said.

“Oh, wow... the noise must be really bad in there... not to mention the magical resonance.” Twilight said, standing up on her hindlegs and resting her forehooves on the glass and looking in at the device itself, with the changeling laying on his back within. “You can go wait outside Spike. I don't think I'll need a notetaker right now. Just don't wander off. I don't want you getting into trouble.”

“Feh, you act like I can't take care of myself.”

Twilight frowned slightly. “No griping mister. This is a hospital. Promise me you'll behave.”

Spike sighed. “Fine, I'll stay close.

* * * * *

An hour later, Maxillus's head was pounding. As the table withdrew from the scanning aperture of the now thankfully silent machine he rolled off the ergonomic padding and hit the ground with wobbly, shaking legs. The lights of the scanning room hit his eyes and he winced.

“I don't understand, the image is nowhere near what it should be.” Dr. Scalpel was saying as Maxillus tottered towards the voices.

“Well it's new technology, it probably doesn't have all the bugs worked out yet.” Shining said.

“If there was something wrong with the equipment, captain, the image we got back would've been garbled, distorted in some way. But this?” the doctor was saying as Maxillus stepped into the room. “This is just... oh! Ambassador, I'm terribly sorry, I should've gone to fetch you as soon as the scan was done.”

“I think I need some more aspirin...” Maxillus said, then stumbled heavily on his forelegs, nearly falling onto his face before he was caught in Twilight sparkle's magic.

“Oh my goodness! Ambassador! I didn't think it'd gotten that bad, here, let me help. I actually do know a few headache remedy spells.”

“That bad...? Is something wrong?” The doctor asked as twilight cast a spell that caused a glow to settle around maxillus's forehead for a moment.

“The ambassador woke this morning with a headache. He took some aspirin before we left his quarters in the castle.” Twilight said. “Is that any better?”

“A little...” Maxillus admitted, blinking.

“Hmmm...” The doctor rubbed his chin with the back of a foreleg. “I think we should move this discussion to one of the general exam rooms anyway.” The doctor said, turning around and going over to one of the machines, and removed a small glowing crystal, which was apparently projecting an image of Maxillus, in three dimensions, showing every internal organ in his body -a rather disconcerting image, to be sure- and popped it out of it's socket, whereupon the glow ceased, and the image vanished. “Please, follow me.”

* * * * *

A few minutes later, with the entire escort squad now taking up positions outside of a small, cookie cutter exam room, and Maxillus now siting up on a basic exam table, Dr. Scalpel began looking him over in a more common fashion. At the moment, he was shining a little light into maxillus's eyes, which was getting him a distinctly changeling hissing reaction. “Gah! That hurts!”

“Sensitivity to light, is that normal?” The doctor added.

“No! I've got a migraine you....” Maxillus snapped, then ground to a halt as Shining suddenly snapped into a broader stance, his horn lighting up. Maxillus froze.

“Shining, what are you doing?” Twi said, her voice cold.

“Uh...” Shining faltered.

“Put the combat spell away Shining. We're in a hospital.” Twilight almost growled.

Shining looked away, his aura winking out as he allowed what he'd summoned to disperse harmlessly.

The doctor blinked, looking between the captain and his sister. Then shook his head. “I, ah... I apologize for that, Ambassador... perhaps it's better if you just tell me the symptoms.”

Maxillus had been staring at Shining Armor wide eyed and rigid. The doctor's prompt seemed to snap him back to reality, and he unfroze and shook himself slightly. “Uhh... well, I've had this low grade headache for a couple days now... I'm shaky on my hooves, and, yes, bright lights are getting difficult to handle.”

“Any nausea? Loss of appetite?” Dr. Scalpel asked.

“No... infact, I’ve been pretty hungry.”

Dr. Scalpel blinked. “Uh, when you say hungry-”

“He eats normal food like anypony else, doctor... or gryphon for that matter. They're Omnivores.” Twilight explained.

“Oh?” Dr. Scalpel said, raising an eyeridge. “Then the 'eating love' bit?”

“It's how we charge our magic, not how we feed our bodies. There's a difference.”

“Quite a large one, I'd say.” the doctor admitted. “Out of curiosity, how many other rumors of your species are wrong?”

“I don't know, I haven't heard a lot of what ponies are saying about us, to be honest.” Maxillus admitted, then winced at a throb in his temple. “Ugh, but can we please save that for AFTER my diagnosis?”

Dr. Scalpel blinked. “Oh, yes, well... your symptoms mirror something seen occasionally in unicorns. Typically it's not anything threatening, in and of itself. It's called 'caster's fatigue'.”

“Caster's fatigue?” Twilight asked.

“Didn't you used to get that while you were at the school for gifted unicorns Twilight?” Spike asked.

“For a while, when princess Celestia started teaching me the advanced spells.”

“Pardon?” Maxillus asked.

“Caster's fatigue happens when a unicorn casts too many spells in a short time. They drain their mana reserves and their bodies start to show negative physiological symptoms until they recharge-oh!” Twilight exclaimed, a hoof going to her mouth as she suddenly realized what she was saying.

“Wait, you mean he's got a headache because he's got no magic?” Shining asked, tilting his head.

“Well, he's been here for days without absorbing love energy. Ambassador, how long can changelings hold onto a mana charge after absorbing love?”

“Depends entirely on how much love is gathered, and how much of it we're forced to use. But there is a constant slow drain. Our bodies do use the energy for certain things automatically.”

“Hey!” Shining snapped. “I thought you said you didn’t need love to survive!”

Maxillus gave Shining a cool look. “You were asking about food and basic nutrition, and I answered. But look at you, apparently the same thing happens to unicorns when they're drained. You just happen to have the good fortune to regenerate your mana reserves naturally. We don't.”

The doctor hummed, rubbing his chin with the back of a hoof in thought. “Well, if you were a unicorn, I'd tell you to go home, take some aspirin, get a good meal in your stomach, and go to bed early, and that you watch the spellcasting for a few days. That's typically all it takes. But in your case... I suppose you need a proper recharge.”

“Oh that's IT!” Shining snapped. “We are not handing him a pony just so he can suck the love out of them!”

Both other ponies, the changeling, and the young dragon in the room gaped at Shining's outburst.

“Now I didn't mean-” Dr. Scalpel started to say.

“Shining, dude, calm down-” Spike said, holding his paws up.

“I'm sure there's some other way-” Twilight stammered.

But when Maxillus started to speak it was with such vehemence that he silenced the other three. “As if I'd WANT to forcibly take a pony's love! Ugh!”

All four other creatures in the room froze, and turned to look at him.”

“Uh... Ambassador?” Twilight ventured.

“Yes?” Maxillus replied.

“You can forcibly take love from a creature?”

Maxillus sighed. “Technically, yes. But it's expressly forbidden to do so except under very explicit emergency conditions.”

“Why?” Twilight asked.

“First, you get a fraction of the energy you'd get from simply letting a target passively give you the love as you mask yourself as their loved one. Second, the process can make a target emotionally numb for up to several months. Third...” he trailed off for a moment, looking down at his knees and shuddered.

“What?” Twilight asked. Everyone in the room waiting with baited breath for the last reason.

“The sensation of ripping the love energy from another creature is... intoxicating. It's a sudden rush of power, and the temptation to pull out everything contained within can be hard to deny once you've started... and if that happens... if all the love is torn from a victim... the victim is converted.”

Shining felt his blood run cold. A memory of Crysalis-as-Cadence's horn glowing green before she cast a spell at him flashing before his eyes, dredged up from the dark recesses of his mind where it had been suppressed.

“C-converted?” Spike asked, voice shaking as much as his knees.

“Transformed into a changeling drone.” Maxillus said, looking down at his knees. “With none of their own love remaining to protect them, our magic residue transforms the victim.” Maxillus said.

Shining Armor stood rigidly, staring at Maxillus with a slackjawed, horrified expression for a full ten seconds.

“WHAT!?” He then shouted at the top of his lungs, causing the changeling to wince. He then lunged forward, slamming his forehooves down on the exam bed as he nearly locked horns with the changeling. “Who? When? I want names!”

“Shining!” Twilight yelped in alarm, Reaching out with her magic and pulling her brother off the ambassador.

Maxillus blinked and flinched back in alarm, then his features twisted into a glare. “Apparently I didn’t make myself clear enough. I've never, ever 'converted' any pony, or any other thinking, feeling creature, in my life. Infact, no changeling, in my hive, in my lifetime or several generations back has either, and I'll tell you why. Converting ponies leaves you with the problem of another changeling to worry about in the hive who was never there before, one who doesn't know how to get on by itself. They become a burden. And you sure as Tartarus can't leave them where you found them. It'd expose us. And even if you do take them in, there's a missing pony report, a search you have to avoid, and then there's the mental and emotional trauma the new changeling has to deal with.” Maxillus snorted angrily. “So no. I have not and WILL not forcibly take what I need from a pony, or anything else. I will not risk dooming them to my own kinds cursed existence!”

Everyone in the exam room was silent for a span of heartbeats, Shining staring at the Changeling, Twilight still holding her brother in her magic aura, and Dr. Scalpel looking back and forth between them. Finally, Spike broke the silence.

“Whoah, heavy.”

“Yes... that's...” Twilight started, searching for what she wanted to say.

“I've had enough.” Shining practically growled.

“Shiny...?” Twilight said, looking over at her brother, her magic grip on him dissipating.

“I've had enough of waiting. I want to know every sick, twisted 'power' you changelings have, and how I can protect my ponies from your kind right now. And don't think you can weasel you way out of it either. We're not leaving this room until I'm satisfied you've told me everything.”

Maxillus snorted. “How convenient then, that I just went through that scan. It should help. Doctor?”

Dr. Scalpel blinked. “Ah, right... now, there was... some concern over the image quality...” he said, taking out the crystal and putting it in a machine that was attached to a ornate device that looked like a projector without tape reels. The instant the stone clicked into place, a miniature three dimensional image of Maxillus' body appeared about a foot in front of the projector'. It was however transparent, and rather faint... and blurred somewhat. All in all it was rather ghostly looking. “Now, the ability to visualize the body's internal structures is intended, but even so, it's normally it's a lot more opaque than this. However, now that we've discussed it, I think it has something to do with you not having a proper magic charge. The scan relies on the natural magic found in most ponies bodies to take the image and readings. If you're low on power, then, well... apparently you get this faded, fuzzy image.”

“You're probably right about the fading... but as for the fuzziness, that's probably got more to do with what we changelings are.”

Twilight, who had been looking at the projected scan image, turned to face the ambassador again. “Explain.”

Maxillus returned her look. “What are Unicorn illusions like, Miss Twilight?”

“Light and sound, constructed by magic to make something that isn't there appear to be there.” Twilight replied instantly.

“And what happens when you touch a unicorn illusion?”

“Nothing, you just go right through it.” Shining answered before she could.

Maxillus nodded. “Now... what happens when you touch a changeling illusion?”

Shining's eyes widened. “Oh my stars... you can feel them! Chrysalis felt exactly like Cadence, right down to the fur when she touched me after the rehearsal!”

Maxillus nodded. “Our 'illusion' is a form of transformation, enabled because our very bodies are more malleable to magical energies than any other species in the world. We literally reshape our flesh and bones into any form we need it to be.”

“How?” Twilight asked, fascinated.

“I'm no theorist, myself. But I've been told, in layman's terms, that a small charge of energy rearranges our beings, and can hold us there almost indefinitely. But release the charge, and we snap back into our original forms.”

Twilight's eyes widened. “A thaumic instability, it has to be! No wonder the image is all fuzzy!”

“Twilight!” Shining snapped.

Everyone whipped their heads around to look at him.

“Don't get sidetracked, I need to know what else they can do.”

“Uh... question...” Spike said, raising his claw.

Maxillus sighed. “Go ahead.”

“Is that the only way changelings turn other creatures into changelings?” Spike asked.

“No. There's one other way.”

“And that is...?” Shining prompted, a dangerous edge to his voice.

“Cocooning.”

Twilight blinked. “Wait, you mean like the cocoon princess Celestia was in?”

“Suspended from a ceiling, made of smooth, semi-opaque green hardened gel, filled with a viscous fluid?” Maxillus asked.

“That's... about right, yeah...” Twilight said.

“That fluid is changeling royal jelly, and it takes a good bit of magic for us to produce it. When a creature of another species is submerged in it, they fall into a coma and the magic in the jelly sustains their bodies. They no longer need to eat, drink, breathe, or answer calls of nature. They essentially go into stasis. At least, that's what happens for the first four months.”

“And after four months?” Twilight asked.

“They begin a six month metamorphosis into a noble caste changeling. A queen or a prince, depending on the gender of the creature you put into the cocoon. Releasing early can have... complications, especially the further you go on into the transformation.”

“Why the delay? Why doesn't it start transforming the subject immediately?”

Maxillus shook his head. “I honestly couldn't answer you there, Twilight, I'm just glad it doesn't.”

“Why's that?” Dr. Scalpel asked, breaking back into the conversation.

“Because that's our primary, ethical method of keeping the replaced target out of the way while we gather love energy. Our harvest agents couldn't work without it.”

“But... Cadance wasn't in a cocoon, Crysalis just locked her in the crystal caverns.” Twilight said.

“You just told me Celestia was in a cocoon, right?” Maxillus prompted her.

“Yes...” Twilight said.

“I'm not surprised then. It takes a good deal of magic to make royal jelly. Chrysalis probably didn’t want to waste any power she didn't need to. And if she was going to put Celestia in storage...”

“She didn't want to have to do it to Cadence too. That makes sense.”

“It makes SENSE that she stuck my fiance in a cave to starve to death!?” Shining snapped.

Twilight glared at her brother. “Shining, I'm every bit as angry as you are at what Crysalis did to Cadance, but can we please focus and try to learn something here?”

Shining was taken aback at his sister's tone, but she struck a chord, and he subsided.

Dr. Scalpel had been half listening to the explanations, and half examining the ambassador's T.R.I. Scan, attempting to clear up the image. He'd succeeded, he thought, and cleared his throat to gain the others attention. “Ah, ambassador...?”

“Yes Doctor?”

“I notice much of your internal anatomy follows basic pony anatomy, but these...” he said, his horn lighting up and manipulating the image to focus on the head, neck, and upper barrel, then highlighting a set of pouches in the thorax that fed tubes that led up to the mouth. “these don't correspond to anything on pony anatomy... and then there's these:” he highlighted a pair of smaller sacks in the upper cheeks, apparently backed by muscle, that fed into tubes that lead straight into Maxillus's oversized canine teeth. “I've never seen anything like it, it's almost like they're-”

“Venom glands, doctor, you're thinking of venom glands.” Maxillus said.

“Venom!?” Shining snapped.

“It's a harmless Paralytic. Does nothing more than make a pony fall into a deep sleep that they won't wake out of for a few hours, and disrupts the conversion of short term to long term memory, effectively blanking out the previous hour. It's how we catch the 'replacement' target in a couple.”

Dr. Scalpel looked at Maxillus with wide eyes. “C... could you repeat that?”

Maxillus sighed. “Our venom is a paralytic, shutting down conscious motor function for several hours without overly suppressing the autonomic body functions.”

“So it's... like an anesthetic?” Dr. Scalpel asked.

Maxillus blinked, then nodded. “Yes...”

“And do you know how much of a dose do you usually use on a pony?” Dr. Scalpel asked attentively.

“Doctor?” Shining said, looking confused.

“Well... since our agents don't actually bite their targets anymore to dose them with venom, I can tell you one of the darts they use typically holds about two cc's or less than half a teaspoon for the average adult pony, male or female.”

“And how long does it last?” Dr. Scalpel asked.

“About two hours.” Maxillus replied.

“And they never wake up within that time?”

“Yes... it's a very potent substance.” Maxillus admitted, shifting his legs slightly, confusion growing on his face as much as Shining Armor's.

“And you're sure they don't remember anything that happens just before or while they're dosed on it?”

“Doctor, what're you-” Shining tried to break in.

“Yes, I'm sure. No memories of the event of being dosed are formed, and by the time the drug wears off, they're in the royal jelly sleep, so they never know anything even happened, which is essential for our gatherers. Once the mission is over, they remove the replaced creature from the cocoon, wash them off, then use a bit of magic to simulate a minor head injury -a bruise on the temple usually- and stage an assault which the released subject 'escapes' to go run back to their loved one with a case of 'concussive amnesia'. At least, that's how our operating protocols state it's supposed to work. Some more advanced magic users know how to alter memories, but that's a rare skill. Chrysalis literally broke every rule we have when she attacked you.”

“You have rules for this?” Shining said incredulously.

Maxillus nodded. “We wouldn't have stayed secret for two and a half thousand years if we didn't have official guidelines, Captain...” Maxillus broke off, a faint chuckling was coming from the doctor.

“Dr. Scalpel, are you ok?” Twilight asked.

“Am I okay? Am I OKAY!?” He nearly shouted. “I just listened to the ambassador tell me that his entire species naturally produces what amounts to the perfect surgical anesthetic! Safe, potent, long acting, and it even prevents memories from forming while it's active. Do you have any idea what kind of a nightmare it is when I have a patient wake up in the middle of a procedure while we've got them under our current drug? It's an expensive cocktail of several different herbs that half the time I swear doesn't even work. And sometimes, even when I'm certain they never woke up during a procedure, I hear later that they had dreams disturbingly similar to what was happening in the operating room.” the doctor turned to the by now wide eyed changeling. “Please, Ambassador, I'm begging you, you HAVE to give us some of your venom. If you're right, we need to begin testing immediately. The benefits a compound like that could have for modern medical science is astronomical!”

“You're not serious...” Shining said, disbelief painted across his face.

“Of course I'm serious!” Dr. Scalpel said with a huge smile plastered across his face. “We've been searching for the next breakthrough in anesthetic technology for the past fifty years, and it practically just fell out of the sky and landed at my hooves! I am NOT going to turn this down!”

Maxillus chuckled at that. “In that case... do you have a clean glass jar?”

“I've got some sterile sample containers.” he said, whipping one out of a cupboard and levitating it over to the changeling.

Maxillus opened his mouth, bared his fangs to the fullest, and lipped them over the edge of the container, then flexed his facial muscles. A transparent yellow-green fluid poured down the side of the container to pool in the bottom. Shining could actually watch the muscles in the changeling's cheek, just under the thin facial carapace, flex before a spurt of venom emerged from the tips of his fangs. At least the first few were spurts, then they turned to individual drops, before they ceased altogether.

“About twelve cc's. That should be plenty for a proper chemical analysis. Thank you ambassador.”

“You're welcome.” Maxillus said simply.

“What about those other organs though?” Twilight asked.

“Oh, those produce the royal jelly, and our cocoon material.”

“Just out of curiosity, how does the cocoon get so strong?” Twilight asked. “Most of the guards that were in the battle that day were stuck to the ground by it and they couldn't move, and they've got pretty intensive strength training regimens.”

Maxillus looked at the unicorn surgeon. “Doctor, can I get one of those tongue depressors?”

“What?” Dr. Scalpel said, looking up from where he was sealing the container of venom. “Oh, of course. Here you go.” his horn lit up and one of the small strips of wood levitated over to the ambassador.

Maxillus took the thing in the crook of his foreleg,, then after studying it for a moment, made a motion like he was spitting, and suddenly a long, thin, slimy looking strand of green goo stretched from his mouth to the tongue depressor. The ponies and dragon in the room flinched at this, but stared in disgusted fascination as Maxillus continued to produce a long, two millimeter thick strand of gooey gel which he slowly wound around the tongue depressor by turning it with his other hoof carefully. After about a minute, he had a mass of gel the size of a golfball that looked like it was made out of green slimy string.

Finally, he clamped his mouth shut, cutting off the strand, and he finished wrapping that up into the ball. He handed the stick to Spike, who cringed even as he accepted the stick, keeping his claw well away from the ball of green goo.

“Let that dry overnight, without touching anything else, then boil it for about five hours, skimming the gel off the top and you'll end up with a ball of changeling silk strands.”

“Silk?” Everyone else in the room said, almost in unison.

“Yeah. The fibers are in the gel to add strength. When you extract it from the gel it can be refined into thread, and then cloth.”

Maxillus then turned to Shining armor. “Transformations, forced power drain, royal jelly, venom, and sturdy cocoon building material. Besides that and a few physical differences on the surface, that's all there is to know about us, Captain. Are you satisfied?”

Shining armor glared at him for a second, before he looked over at the surgeon. “Is there anything else 'unusual' about the scan that catches your eye, doctor?

“Well... besides what I've already pointed out, there are a few things. Firstly, it is a bit odd that the ambassador's mane and tail showed up as clearly as they did on the scan... it usually doesn't pick up dead protein very easily.”

“That's because my mane isn't made of hair.” Maxillus said.

“It's not?” Twilight asked.

“No, it's a cluster of fleshy ribbons. Like the fins on a fighting fish, only much thinner and longer. They can sometimes merge into a shape, but other times split into individual strands or bunches. They act like hair, they aren't, exactly...” he chuckled. “Why else do you think I have 'holes' in my mane? It's not like I can go and get a manecut. Taking scissors to this stuff hurts like Tartarus.”

Twilight nodded. “I suppose not... Is there any way you can control how it looks?”

“Not really. Genetics determine how it ends up looking. For instance, one queen I know has an extremely short 'mane'. It's basically just a bunch of little pink spiky tufts on top of her head.”

Twilight giggled. “Oh dear, that sounds like something that'd make Rarity faint.”

“Rarity?” Maxillus asked.

“She's a friend of mine.” Twilight said.

Shining snorted. “Was there anything else doctor?” he asked, loudly.

Dr. Scalpel looked over at him. “Huh? Oh! Yes, well... there are these glands ringing the inside of these very curious 'holes' in the ambassador's limbs, but they're very small...”

“That's because princes don't use those much. And drones only have vestigial ones.” Maxillus said.

“What are they?” Twilight asked, examining the image.

“Pheromone glands.”

“Pheromones? For what?” Dr. Scalpel asked.

“Fertility.”

“Fertility?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, so we can have offspring.”

“That's what fertility means?” Spike asked.

“When relating to animals, yes Spike.” Twilight said quickly.

“Wait, children? Doesn't the queen just, you know, pop out a bunch of eggs?” Shining said.

“Excuse me?” Maxillus said, one eyeridge raised.

“You know, big eggsack, loads of eggs, something like that.”

Maxillus's eyes went wide. “What in the... UGH!” he made a retching sound... several infact. “Where... where in Tartarus did you get an idea like THAT from!?”

“So you guys don't reproduce like termites?”

“NO! Gods no! UGH! That's disgusting!” Maxillus exclaimed, then put his hoof to his mouth as his cheeks puffed up, then forced whatever it was back down. “Ugh.... now I feel even worse...”

Twilight turned to glare at her brother, but stopped before she could say anything. For once, Shining looked mollified, or even a little embarrassed that he'd done that.

“For the record, Ambassador, could you explain how these glands work?” she asked a minute later, after Maxillus had composed himself.

Maxillus was taking careful, even breaths to contain his budding nausea. “A mature female noble caste changeling, a queen, produces a cloud of pheromones. They are long lasting, and spread far in a contained system. The pheromones affect both male and female drone changelings, unlocking their fertility, and allowing them to breed.”

“And without these pheromones?” Dr. Scalpel asked.

“Without the pheromones, we're sterile. And like the royal jelly, a queen cannot produce the pheromone aura without an adequate supply of mana, which as you know, we can't get without going out and absorbing love.” Maxillus sighed. “So there you have it. If we don't go out and get love energy, and give it to our queen, we can't have children. We can't have children, a hive can die out in the span of a generation.”

“That's... wow, that's...” Dr. Scalpel said, trying to process it.

“What about the rest of the noble caste?” Twilight asked.

“What about it?” Maxillus replied.

Twilight rubbed her chin with the back of a hoof in thought. “Well... you're a prince. Does that mean you're supposed to be a queen's mate?”

“A prince mating with a queen has only a marginally higher chance of producing a noble nymph than a queen mating with a male drone. And princes themselves sometimes are born randomly from pairings of two drone parents, so our role is negligible. Infact, if not for a slightly greater aptitude for transformation and greater physical strength, princes wouldn't be any more valuable to a hive than a regular drone male.” he shook his head. “No. The driving force behind every queen is to produce a proper heir, a female noble nymph. The best way to do that is for her to load up on as much magical energy as possible, which greatly increases the change the offspring will be a 'princess'.”

“Ambassador...” Twilight said, looking very thoughtful. “It sounds like there's a whole array of factors going against your species when it comes to reproduction, especially if everything hinges on those rare queen foals... What happens if a queen never has any princesses?”

“I think we already know.” Shining said, his voice almost a growl.

“We do?” Spike said.

“You heard him. Leave a pony in a cocoon long enough and they turn into a queen!” Shining snapped.

“Now, shining...” Twilight started.

“The captain has the right of it, Miss Sparkle.” Maxillus cut her off. “At least, if there are no excess princesses from other hives to fill the role, and no room in the other hives to take in the drones of the queen-less hive.”

“Well.. it sounds like you have quite a few safety nets to prevent all that from being necessary.” Twilight said.

“When was the last time changelings manufactured a queen like that?” Shining said.

“Thirty years ago.” Maxillus answered, instantly, before Twilight could object to the aggressive question.

“Only thirty?” Twilight said.

“Yes.”

“What's this queen's name? What's she like?” Twilight asked.

Maxillus started laughing.

“What? What'd I say?” Twilight asked.

“Oh, you already met her, Miss Sparkle. A few months ago at your brother's wedding.”

Shining's jaw went slack.

Maxillus nodded. “Queen Crysalis was once a pony.”

Author's Note

Ok... I've been trying to think on what to do with these ideas for a long time, and how to get them all out. I think this method works well, shining finally gets to interrogate a changeling, in a weird way, and gets a whole lot of information. Deciding if i wanted to use the last idea in this chapter was giving me fits. I'm still not 100% sure about it, but I'll reserve judgement till I see what you guys all think of it.

I've long been wary of the 'alternate universe' tag, but honestly, considering how things went in the official comic, i don't see any other thing i can reasonably use for this story. also, slice of life just started to feel too 'weak' the last few chapters, and things are probably going to heat up in later chapters, so, yeah, adventure. even if it's mostly been in canterlot, this is a journey of discovery.

Anyway, enjoy (i hope).

Chapter 12

Twenty years earlier, deep in the san-palomino desert, a carriage rumbled along the rough path through the wilderness, drawn by a team of six earth ponies. Two more sat in the driver's seat, and yet two more sat on the rear, guarding their backs with a pair of crossbows. Inside, were two unusually tall unicorn mares. With them were two colts, also unicorns.

Every single one of them had a coat of dark gray.

All the common sized ponies on the left side of the carriage had green manes and tails, striped with purple, an odd coloration to be sure, even for ponies, even more so for five different individuals to have the same color. Those on the right had a rich magenta for mane and tail, another oddity, in at least that the color was so identical.

One of the mares inside had a rich leafy green colored mane that flowed in long locks, the other had a short bright teal mane that barely hung down past her jaw, and was kept in a very neat fashion. Of the two colts, the larger, and most likely older one sat next to the short maned mare. His mane was deep forest green, streaked with dark gold. The smaller one, which sat next to the long maned mare, had a shock of rich purple for a mane and tail.

“Mama, it's too hot, why do we have to come here?” the smaller colt whined.

“I've told you before, mommy needs to go to her meeting.” the colt's mother said.

“Why's it gotta be so far out in the desert? It's too hot, it's too bright, it's too dry...” the little colt continued.

“It's in the desert because that's where your great aunt Arista lives, and she's hosting the council. Now settle down.”

“He still hasn't gotten used to sunlight?” The other colt, a few years older than the first said, raising an eyeridge.

“This is the first time he's come up to the surface.” The smaller colt's mother said.

“And he's how old?” the other mare in the carriage asked.

“Six.” The smaller colt's mother admitted.

The other mare shook her head. “You've been coddling him cousin.”

The smaller colt's mother said nothing, instead she hid her snout behind a hoof in embarrassment.

The older colt snorted. “It's my first time out this far too, but you don't see me going on like that.”

The other colt glared back at the other at that. “Mommy,” He said, looking away from the antagonistic older colt. “Why do I have to come along?”

“Well, you need to meet the rest of your family sometime.” his mother said.

“But I already met one aunt Carapace and cousin Lampyris” he said, gesturing at the other occupants of the carriage. “Why'd I gotta come all this way?” the colt said, pointing at the other two occupants with a hoof.

“Because we have a much bigger family than just who's in this carriage. And it's time you met them.” his mother said firmly.

The purple maned colt grunted and flopped down on the seat on his belly.

A short time later, the two colts were asleep, though the younger was fitful.

“You're seriously bringing him along just to meet our relatives, Elytria?” Carapace asked.

“They're his relatives too.” Elytria responded.

Carapace snorted and looked out the window.

“Why are you bringing Lampyris then?”

“He's acting as my adjutant.” Carapace replied.

Elytria blinked in surprise, glancing from the other mare to her offspring. “B-but... he's only eleven!”

“That's well old enough to start learning.” Carapace retorted.

Elytria looked aghast. “Cousin, he's only a colt, he should be running and playing with other little ones.”

“And where'll that get him? I'm preparing him to do the important work and be worthy of admiration of the hive denizens. He's only a male. If he doesn't work to make something of himself, no-one will carry him.”

“He's still just a child...” Elytria said quietly.

Carapace snorted at that. “You really are soft on them, aren't you?”

Elytria nodded slowly. “They're only princes... but they're still family. I love my little Protonus.”

“Fat lot of good that does him when he can't get energy from it.” Carapace grumbled, looking out the window at the desert scenery.

* * * * *

The carriage continued on through a rocky mountain pass in the distant desert, so very far from civilization that even bandit gangs and the native buffalo herds never ventured here. This was a place of killing heat and infinite dryness. Beyond that, for many generations, the buffalo spoke that all those who foolishly ventured there were plagued by demons, and in recent decades, ponies who had tried to explore there reported strange occourrances. However, this being so far from equestria's borders, it was deemed better to just leave well enough alone by the authorities.

Bandits who ventured there came back with some rather impressive ghost stories... those that weren't too terrified to start gibbering like mad beasts as soon as they were asked about their time there.

The carriage emerged into a massive open valley with red-brown soil,, ringed on all sides by mountainous cliffs. The broad expanse of flat land was interrupted by several dramatic mountains rising straight up out of the valley floor, with broad, sloping bases, then pillars of red stone towering into the sky.

The carriage rolled up to the base of the largest mountain, and up a disused path towards the mouth of a cave.

The purple haired colt was nearly hanging out the window as they approached.

Standing just outside of the mouth of the cave was a greeting party. And though they were shaped roughly like ponies, they clearly weren't. The gaps in their legs looking like swiss cheese, the way their manes and tails shimmered in an unusually glossy fashion, and the sun gleamed off their bodies as if they were cut from polished black marble.

The carriage rolled up to the mouth of the cave, and the common looking ponies who pulled it unhitched themselves. Then, they, the drivers, and the guards went to take up places in two lines, stretching on either side of the door of the carriage.

In a flash of green fire that was mirrored by one from the interior of the carriage, all the ponies were revealed to be changeling drone. Half of them had dorsal plates of green edged in spotty purple, and eyes of light green fading to white. The other half had dorsal plates of bright magenta, with rather common blue-to-white eyes.

The two furthest from the carriage door cleared their throats, then spoke in unison: “Presenting their Majesties, Queen Carapace of Swayback Caverns, and Queen Elytria of Mosslight Marsh.”

The door opened, and the occupants, now revealed to be a set of four noble caste changelings, exitited. The two adult females moved with grace and poise, the older male, with a mane and tail like patinaed bronze, and eyes and dorsal plate looking like freshly burnished bronze plate, exited with a somewhat stiff, but admirable air of importance.

The youngster, pure rich purple everywhere he wasn't covered in black carapace, leapt out of the carriage and bolted into the cave mouth, to the alarm of the changeling greeting party with a cry of “SHADE! COOL SHADE!”, whereupon he threw himself down on the cool stony floor of the cave entrance.

“Charming.” A very mature female voice said, hiding a hint of a chuckle. “Yours, I take it, Elytria?”

Protonus blinked, then looked up.

And up.

And up some more.

Standing over him, with a length of rich blue, hole pockmarked gossamer changeling mane cascading nearly to her mid cannon-bones, was the tallest noble caste changeling queen he'd ever seen, looking down at him with pale yellow eyes that twinkled along with her small indulgent smile. A long, long, incredibly straight and unmarred horn stretched from her forehead, and at the end, branched out to either side in a pronged pattern. Fanning out to either side of her was the largest pair of diaphanous wings Protonus had yet to, or would ever see on any changeling. Twice her body length, and broad, they glistened and shimmered iridescently as she gently fanned them.

“Yes Empress, this is my little Protonus.” Queen Elytria's voice came from behind the riveted little changeling colt. “Dear, do stand up.” she said, trotting forward and nudging him in the rump with a forehoof.

Protonus snapped up in an instant. Empress? This was the Empress!? He started to internally panic.

Before it could really get anywhere though, the empress gestured to her left. Standing there was a trio of other noble changelings, two of them female, one male. The two females were both obviously younger than Protonus' mother or Queen Carapace.

The taller one was a rather shocking orange gold color all over, rather than the typical black body carapace. Her dorsal plate was a rich sparkling emerald green, and this was mirrored in her eyes, while her mane and tail were A deep purple, just a shade or two darker than Protonus's own. She was dazzling... and perhaps a touch garish looking, but she carried herself in a very haughty way, hardly deigning to glance at the arrivals.

The slightly shorter second female had the typical black body carapace, and then a pair of strangely opaque wings, fuzzy and pale green, in the shape of a lunar moth's. Her hair was a queer color for a changeling, tan, though the eyes and dorsal plate were a fair enough green color, going with her curiously colored wings. This young noble female looked mildly bored, where her sibling looked like she considered herself above their company.

And lastly came a noble changeling colt the same height as Protonus, but everywhere Protonus was purple, this other male was a vibrant pumpkin orange. And where Protonus had sleeker, thinner features, this other colt was larger and had the makings of being a rugged, sturdy sort.

Carapace and her son bowed. “Greetings Princess Rutelina, Princess Actia.” she said, nodding to first the golden haughty female, and then the disinterested black. She didn't say anything to the little orange male.

“We do this every visit, cousin. We're all family here, surely we can relax a little, can't we Auntie?” Elytria asked the grand empress before her.

“Would that we could, but...” the empress started to say.

“Paradoxa's already here.” Princess Actia grumbled.

“And already making everyone around her miserable.” Rutelina said, with a toss of her mane. “If I were in charge, and she anything less than a queen, I'd keep her confined to the guest chambers till the council meeting.”

Arista turned her gaze on her offspring. “Now now, child, do not speak so in front of guests, it's not polite. Maxillus,” she turned to the orange colt, and the little orange prince's ears perked and he turned to the empress. “Go and make sure our guests things get to their quarters.”

“Yes mother.” The orange colt said, then started to move forward with a couple of the drones from his hive to meet the drones taking the two chests off the back of the carriage.

“Auntie, not you too...” Elytria said, a note of sadness in her voice.

“Hmm?” Arista blinked, looking at her grandniece in confusion.

“My estimable cousin has it in her head that young colts should be frolicking rather than working and learning.” Carapace explained.

Both of the princesses at the empress' side raised eye ridges at that, and glanced at their younger brother, who had frozen in mid step, realizing he was the subject of discussion.

“Oh really?” Arista said, voice neutral.

“Auntie, they're just foals, the young of every race gets to spend their childhood in play. You have so many attendants as is. Do you really need to make your son work too?”

Arista appeared to consider that for a moment, then gave a smile. “Maxillus, Why don't you show Protonus and Lampyris the gardens. The drones can see to our guests things.”

The orange changeling colt beamed at his mother. “Oh, yes mother!” then turned to his counterparts. “C'mon, follow me!” he beckoned with a hoof, before turning and cantering off into the caves.

Protonus glanced at Lampyris and grinned, then took off after their host.

Lampyris glanced up at his mother, who shrugged. “Oh, whatever. Go on, have some fun I guess. We'll be alright.”

With a nod, Lampyris turned and cantered after the other colts, leaving the queens and princesses to chat as he tried to catch up.

* * * * *

Canterlot, Present day...

* * * * *

“Queen Crysalis was once a pony.”

These words caused reality to fade from Shining Armor's sight. Images of the queen of changelings that had hurt his wife, and nearly enslaved the city of canterlot, flashed through his mind, along with images of a strange, gray mare with green eyes and cyan hair. His mind conjured up images of the queen and the horrors she would have inflicted upon the citizens, and a common, innocent mare.

Deep inside him, a faint mote of green magic flickered across his mind, striking and sparking against a mote of pink. Neither of these magics were Shining's own. They had been grating against each other for some time now, but strong emotions made the two more active.

This cascade of anger, confusion, and shock, however, set the two off like nothing before, dancing sparks crisscrossed Shining's mind.

He didn't even feel it as his eyes rolled back into his head, or as he collapsed onto the floor. Nor was he aware of the alarmed cry of his sister's voice.

* * * * *

Protonus, along with the real guards, snapped out of their statuesque state at the thump and clatter of an armored body hitting the ground inside the room they were guarding, along with a feminine shriek. There was a mad dash as every one of them tried to get through the door at once, but after barely a moment of confusion, mot of the guards stepped back to allow swift strike, the head of the unicorns, and the greatest offensive power in the group, to slam the door open and charge in first, the others flanking him.

What they saw was maxillus, sitting on the exam bed, looking rather shocked, while the doctor was trying to do... something to the captain, and Twilight sparkle hovering nervously over her brother form of their commander. Spike had backed off to the side to give the ponies more room.

Shining, meanwhile, was twitching and thrashing about on the ground.

“What's going on in here?” Swift demanded.

“Damnit, get out of here and get one of the nurses! The captain's having a seizure!” Dr. Scalpel shouted back at the unicorn lieutenant.

Swift backed off at the doctor's forceful order. If there was one universal, it's that soldiers respected a medic. “Iron, get down to the nurse's station and get one of them here, double time!”

Protonus snapped a salute, and took to wing, shooting down the hallway.

* * * * *

“And you're certain that the... ambassador, did absolutely nothing to captain Armor?” Swift Strike asked the little green and purple whelpling.

“Look,” Spike said, glaring a little at the guard unicorn, “Twilight told you,” he gestured at the purple unicorn mare that was sitting, “Dr. Scalpel told you,” he pointed down towards the exam room down the hall, “and even the ambassador swore to you” he now gestured to where the black and orange changeling was sitting, ringed by the rest of the guards, “that he didn't do anything besides talk to us! It's the truth! I mean, sure, he made that little goo glob on a stick, but Shining didn’t start doing THAT till later.”

“We have to be thorough, you were there and we need to know what you saw.”

“I saw the same thing as everyone else. Max was just talking, and then suddenly Shining starts looking funny, then his eyes roll back and he falls over and starts shaking really bad...” Spike shuddered. “I really could've done without seeing that... like, ever.”

Dr. Scalpel walked out of the exam room, and used a bit of magic to re-order his white coat. Twilight teleported right up to him a second later.

“Is he alright doctor?” Twilight asked, a pleading tone in her voice.

“Your brother is going to be FINE Lady Sparkle. He's already starting to come around. The seizure only lasted a little over a minute and a half.”

“B-but Shining's never had one of these before! I read that non-epileptic seizures can be indicative of a major problem!”

Scalpel raised an eyeridge. “No, Lady Sparkle. Your brother's attack was stress induced, I believe. Considering the way he was behaving during the discussion. I think the ambassador's last revelation was too much for him to take.”

Twilight tilted her head at the doctor. “Stress?”

“The way he was reacting to everything the ambassador said? I think it's obvious.” he shook his head. “We're giving Shining the care he needs, but after this I think he should be off active duty for a few days, and definitely keep someone close by to keep an eye on him, should he have another episode. And definitely have him schedule a more in depth examination as soon as possible. I personally think it's just stress, but one can't be too careful with these things.”

Twilight nodded dumbly.

* * * * *

“A seizure!?” Cadence gasped, one hoof infront of her mouth in shock.

“Yes, it's not that bad though Cadence, it was a short one, and he woke up pretty quick afterward.” Twilight explained.

Cadence glanced over at the stallion who was laying on his belly on the sofa, with his head held up with one hoof and a scowl on his face. Spike was sitting on a easy chair nearby, neatening up the notes from the day's interview, and occasionally glancing at shining... probably making sure the stallion was still alright.

“Now, you just need to watch him for the time being. The doctor said he can return to duty in a few days if he has no more episodes, and that he should try to relax.”

“Alright Twilight. Thank you.”

“Don't worry about it Cadence. He's my brother after all.” Twilight smiled at her former foalsitter, and newest sister in law.

“Of course, we're all family, but I still appreciate it.” Cadence said, leaning forward to nuzzle Twilight.

Twilight returned the nuzzle, then turned her head. “Spike, come on, we need to get back to the castle.”

“Coming Twilight!” Spike said, hopping down off the chair and jogging over to her side.

Twilight smiled, then looked at Shining. “And no straining yourself for a while, take it easy, okay BBBFF?”

Shining grumbled something angrily.

“Shiny?” Twilight pressed, looking yet more concerned.

“I said sure.” he said, not sounding any more chipper.

Cadence saw the expression that twilight gave after that, and gave a forced, painful looking smile. “Oh, he's just angry he looked bad in-front of the troops. He'll get over it.”

Twilight gave a smile of her own, equally forced. “Aheh... yeah, ok. Come on Spike, let's get going.” Twilight said, then turned and started trotting down the road. “Bye Cadence!”

“Bye Twilight! Bye Spike!” she waved to the two retreating purple forms.

* * * * *

Twilight Sparkle was walking down a corridor in the royal palace, her head hung low, and her ears back. Spike was sitting on her back, riding her as she slowly walked through the corridors. His legs dangled down beyond level with her stifle, which she noted in the back of her mind clearly meant he was growing. But this was not what had the unicorn mare's mind occupied.

“Twilight, don't worry. The doctor said Shining's fine, he just had a little fainting spell.” Spike said from his seat on her back.

Twilight's mind flashed back to Shining's eyes rolling back in his head right before he collapsed on the floor in the exam room an hour earlier. The other guards had rushed in at the sound of the thump of a body and the clatter of armor. It'd taken her standing between them and Maxillus and the doctor shouting at them to make them stop and take in the situation, and assurances from her, spike, and Dr. Scalpel to believe that Maxillus hadn't just attacked their captain.

But that wasn't what troubled her.

What did trouble her, was what had brought him to that state.

Anger, shock, alarm, near panic at every single thing they'd learned about changelings that day... oh ponyfeathers, everything they'd learned about changelings since they'd first sat down with the Ambassador the previous day had just constantly made her brother angrier and less rational.

“I guess.” she lied. “Look, Spike, I need to go do something. Could you head back to the library tower and collate everything from today?”

“Uh... ok.” the dragon whelp said, before turning and sliding off Twilight's back. “Will you be long?”

Twilight forced a smile. “I'm not sure, but at the least I'll see you at dinner, okay?”

“Okay Twi.” Spike said, then gave her a brief hug before turning and jogging off towards their temporary residence in the archives.

Twilight watched him go, carrying all the notes they'd taken during their time in the hospital. The records stopped abruptly at the scribbled detail that Queen Chrysalis was, in fact, a converted pony, turned into a noble caste changeling. As soon as that little detail came out, Shining had had his attack.

After that, Twilight decided to call off any further questioning for the rest of the day.

Twilight needed to clear her head, think clearly. Something was wrong with her brother. And as an element of harmony, and his sister, she needed to help him.

But how?

Unsure, Twilight continued her slow walk through the palace, her mind unusually slow in coming up with a plan. She was usually the go-to pony when it came to problem solving, so why couldn't she come up with anything to help her brother?

A sudden tingling sensation ran up her horn, and she jerked her head up, just in time to see a flash of blue magic at the tail end of a unicorn teleport just up ahead of her.

And a familiar white unicorn stallion with a blonde mane and tail standing in front of her, facing away from her.

“Ah-hah! Glorious! All the way to... wait, these aren't my chambers. Prim? Proper? Are you there?”

“Prince Blueblood?” Twilight asked, incredulously.

The prince whirled around, eyes going wide. “Lady Sparkle! I was practicing my teleport at the academy. I'm terribly sorry if I'm trespassing on your chambers...”

“We're in a hallway.” Twilight said flatly.

Blueblood glanced around. “That we are... which hallway exactly?”

“East wing, ground level. The gates to the gardens are just a little further down that way.” She said, gesturing behind Blueblood and down the corridor.

“Ah, in that case, I think I can manage my own chambers now that I know where I am. Thank you.” he said, then charged his horn up for another teleport.

Or at least he tried to. His horn kind of sputtered at first, then, blushing and grinning in a forced, embarrassed way, he tried again with more force, but the glow wouldn't keep and he ended up panting from the exertion.

“Oh dear... I seem to have drained myself.”

Twilight shook her head. “Teleportation takes a lot of power, I do it all the time, sure, but I’ve got a lot more magic than most unicorns.”

“Ah.... point taken, Lady Sparkle. Perhaps we could walk together? My chambers aren't that far.”

“I guess.” Twilight said, her voice falling into her depressed tone again.

Blueblood blinked at her as she started plodding past him again, her head lowering. He sighed. If he was going to change himself, he had to help all those he encountered that needed it.

“What's the matter, Lady sparkle?” he asked, falling into step alongside her.

“It's nothing.” She answered.

“Lady sparkle, I can tell just from looking at you, it's hardly 'nothing'. Now please, tell me what troubles you so.”

Twilight raised her head and looked at him. “Since when do you get involved in other ponies problems?”

“It's a startling change, I know, but I'm trying to be a better prince. Really, I swear.” he said, his tone somewhat annoyed. “Now will you please tell me what's the matter?”

Twilight blinked, then looked away, her ears pinned back. “It's my brother...”

If she'd been looking at Prince Blueblood's face, she would've seen a look pass over it that would've strongly indicated he'd suppressed an urge to facehoof.

“What happened?” he asked a moment later.

“Well... we were at the hospital today, like we'd planned. We had the ambassador in a full body scan, and learned a lot about what the changelings can do, and why they do it, but then... well, Shining didn’t like what he was hearing from the ambassador. I mean, like, he REALLY didn't like what he was hearing. He was starting to get violent, and then...”

“Oh no... he didn't... strike him, did he?” Blueblood asked, fearful.

“No, no he didn’t hit Maxillus...” Twilight answered, which had Blueblood letting out a relieved breath. “He had a seizure.”

“A what?” Blueblood asked.

“A seizure. He started shaking uncontrollably, lost consciousness, and fell on the floor.”

“Oh dear... what caused it?” Blueblood asked.

“Stress.” Twilight said, then looked up at the stallion. “He got so worked up from everything Maxillus... the ambassador was saying, that he couldn't take it anymore and... well, it happened.”

“Good heavens...” Blueblood said.

“And... and I've never known my brother to behave like that. He's always been incredibly just and fair, I swear he could've made a good judge if he wasn't a guard, but... I've never seen him react like that.”

“That is troubling.” Blueblood said, eyes going unfocused as he thought.

Twilight perked up. “Oh, I know! Silly me, I need to talk to princess Celestia! She'll know what to do!”

“I wouldn't.” Blueblood said.

Twilight blinked, stopped, and looked at Blueblood. “Huh? Why not? She's the princess, she knows how to solve everything...”

“And she's the one who ordered shining to personally attend all of your meetings, and put him into a situation where his uncontrolled feelings caused him to have an apoplexy.”

“An apoplexy is a stroke, not a seizure.” Twilight automatically corrected him.

“Oh, whatever. Look, Celestia isn't who you should be talking to. I know this might sound like blasphemy, but I don't think my esteemed many times great aunt is the right individual to speak to on this problem.”

“Then who is?” Twilight asked, looking and sounding quite lost.

Blueblood smiled. “Follow me.”

* * * * *

“So there I am, blood streaming down my face, and this bovine bastard says, perhaps he'll take the other eye, and balance my face, just before Gareth's spear comes flying through the air and nails him quite firmly to the ground. When I turn to look, I see my squadmate standing nearly a hundred paces away!” the gryphon laughed. “Most damned spectacular throw I'd ever seen.”

“It certainly sounds like it, and if I ever meet this gryphon, I should thank him, if he'd not acted, we wouldn't be able to share in your fine company, sir.” Blueblood said to the grizzled gryphonic ambassador.

Twilight sat in the chair next to Blueblood, both of them opposite Ambassador Swift Talon, as the gryphon ate. Watching the avian/leonine hybrid work his way through a ham steak, half a dozen mushrooms with some kind of spiced ground meat filling, and a small pile of potatoes, flavored with a sauce that apparently had 'bacon' in it at once. The smell, quite like the quiche that ambassador Maxillus had had for breakfast that morning, surprisingly enticed her own appetite, despite her knowing it was meat from an animal.

Luna probably was right about ponies and meat, then, she thought. Not that she'd had any real doubt of the princess's veracity, as Celestia had backed her up.

“Sadly, that'd be quite impossible.” The ambassador said.

“Why so?” Blueblood asked.

“Gareth took a crossbow bolt only a month later. Poor lad, was dead before he hit the ground... which is a mercy, since he was flying at high altitude when he was hit. Never had a chance.”

Twilight and Blueblood both cringed, again, though this time with sadness.

“Oh, aye. I was a wreck for months after that. Gareth and I were close. As brothers really, we latched onto each other in training, and war forged us together. I broke after he was taken from me, but my country still needed it's warriors, and I couldn't simply give up. Threw myself into the work. Still, I kept breaking down at the oddest times, and I wasn't the same. If that war had happened today, they'd have shipped me back home and ordered me to get therapy, and rightly so. Soldier needs his head on straight.” he shook his head, then lifted his goblet. “To friends waiting for me beyond the pale gate. I miss you all, you crazy birds.” He said, then drained the rest of it's contents.

Twilight had sat bolt upright as soon as the ambassador had started talking about his breakdowns. And she latched onto one word. “Therapy? Head on straight... Ambassador, are you saying you went insane?”

“Oh, aye young lady. I believe the term our doctors use for it is PSD.”

“P.T.S.D. Sir.” one of the attendant gryphons clarified.

“Yes, that.”

“What does that mean?” she asked.

“Post traumatic stress disorder.” The attendant elaborated.

“What're the symptoms? The treatment?” she asked.

“I'm no expert, but the symptoms are irrationality and instability following a conflict. Our soldiers suffer from it. Oh, it's not a new thing, it's just it's only recently been identified and categorized. I suspect warriors have been suffering from it... well, since the dawn of war.” the ambassador said.

“Uh... Ambassador, you're a soldier... what would you do if you suspected a soldier of yours was suffering from 'PTSD?'”

“Relieve him of duty, give him an honorable discharge, and send him home to get one of those mental doctors to take care of the lad.”

“What... what if he wasn't able to be taken off duty, and his duties had him taking him close to the... 'enemy'?” Twilight asked.

The ambassador's one eye fixed her with a hard stare. “Who is it?” he asked.

“What?” twilight asked.

“Who is it you're asking for? What happened to him?”

Twilight blanched. “I don't-”

“It's as plain as the horn on your head girl.” the ambassador shook his feathery head. “No, I think I already know the answer. Your brother, Shining Armor, isn't doing well when he's forced to be near the changeling, isn't he?”

Twilight's ears flicked back, and she lowered her head in a bare nod.

Ambassador Swift-Talon sighed. “I thought so. You want my advice, girl?” he asked.

Twilight looked up eagerly. “Oh, yes, please. I don't know what to do, I mean, princess Celestia ordered him to be with me during the interviews, but it's affecting him so badly...”

“Tell your teacher to order him to duty, any duty, other than being shoved in a room with his enemy. Because, yes, that is exactly how your brother sees the changeling ambassador. No amount of reason will change that view of his right now. He needs time, and special help to work through this, not some brute force 'lesson' learned by being forced into proximity with something like what hurt him....” The gryphon shook his head. “I still can't stand being anywhere near minotaurs.”

Twilight nodded. “I'll try that, thank you.”

* * * * *

Celestia was in the midst of day court, mediating an argument between two shopkeepers, one who claimed the other was driving him out of business. When, to her and everypony else's surprise, Twilight Sparkle burst in to the room.

“Princess Celestia, we need to talk!”

Author's Note

Oh. My. God. i am SO sorry about taking so long on this.

My life has been just one huge change after another of late. I'll go into more detail about this in a journal later, but for right now, i just wanted to get a chapter to all my wonderful readers as soon as possible. i hope you enjoy it, and forgive (yet bring my attention to) any gramatical or other errors you notice in reading. i'll correct them when i have more time.

Chapter 13

(Disclaimer: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is copyright to Hasbro. This is a non profit work of fanfiction, so please don't sue.)

The valley of Ghosts, thirty leagues south by southeast of Los Pegasus, San Palomino desert. Twenty years ago.

* * * * *

The laughter of young males rang out in a cave, high in the uppermost reaches of the tall volcanic mountain. The 'private garden' was a large cavern, pleasantly warm, humid, and filled with glowing lights from various giant fungal structures. Humungous squat mushrooms, their caps wider than a king sized bed, tall stalks of hardened lichen stalks, topped with widespread, drooping glowing lichen tendrils that looked like some kind of subterranean tree dotted the cavern's expansive interior in a breathtaking array of colored, glowing lights. Feeding this environment were gently babbling streams that came from great patina encrusted bronze pipes, fed from a underground river.

There were several other caves like this, but they were all strictly managed, as that was where the bulk of the hive's crops were grown. But this one? This one was intended for the private use of the hive's royal family. And now, one of it's members was having a grand time with his newly discovered cousins.

The games went from bouncing high into the air on the giant mushrooms, their wings clamped tight against their dorsal shells, To tossing a oversized spore around like a leather ball, to that most classic of childhood games: tag.

“Tag, you're it!” Protonus laughed as he slapped out at Maxillus' tail with his forehoof just grazing it enough to have the other colt feel it, then he immediately wheeled around and went haring off in the opposite direction.

“Hey! No fair! My tail's longer than yours!” Maxillus shouted after the purple prince.

The trio went careening around the garden, ducking under fronds, dashing around the trunks of the great mushrooms, and bobbing and weaving through thickets of the lichen-trees, laughing and raising a happy ruckus. Tagging, tag backs (Even though they were clearly against the rules) and even a couple full body tackles ensued, getting the formerly gleaming carapaces of the three princes quite dirty.

Until little Maxillus ended up nearly crashing into a pair of brown, hole filled legs.

Digging his hooves into the ground hard enough to leave furrows, he came to a halt, but that only left Protonus to come crashing into him from behind, causing the two of them to tumble over each other and leaving them at the hooves of the one Maxillus had attempted to avoid.

Dazed, the two of them looked up into the frowning face of a mature female noble changeling.

This one was very unlike the others.

Her carapaced hide was uneven, covered in small bumpy protrusions. It was colored a mottled, somewhat stripy mix of brown so dark it was nearly black, and deep mahogany. Her mane and tail were a dirty, mottled brown with streaks of firey red orange scattered through it. Her eyes had a frightful coloration, black sclera, with irises so red they nearly glowed. And her horn... it was twisted, gnarly, and folded over itself in weird ways. If one was to ask a carnivore what they thought it looked like, the answer would have been 'a strip of burnt bacon.'

Beyond all this, though, this queen had one other rather distinguishing feature that immediately drew attention.

She was fat.

Changelings didn’t normally get fat. Changeling queens less so. Their lives were so stressful and busy they burned off anything they ate.

This queen was different. She had a physique one more associated with a cow, than an equine. Her torso was easily twice as wide as that of any of the other queens that Protonus had met earlier that morning. And her face was different too. Whereas all the other females had slender, narrow faces, hers was thick, the cheeks puffed out slightly, and almost soft looking, if not for the texture of her hide.

“Hmph. And here I thought my guards were just spreading rumors.” she said, her voice dripping with scorn as she looked down at the two colts. “Princes gallivanting around the empress' garden like they owned the place, and not attending their queens like they're supposed to.”

“B-b-but the empress said we could-” Lampyris stuttered, the two younger princes frozen like deer in headlights at her scowling visage.

“And lying as well! Your queens shall hear of this.” She said, her misshapen horn lighting up with green magic and grabbing all three of them in her neon aura before she lifted them off the ground and turned around, walking off with them following behind her in the air, much as they were trying now to desperately escape.

“He's not lying! The empress said we could play in the garden!” Protonus cried, before the fat queen turned her head around and spat a glob of gel at his muzzle, precisely splattering over his mouth and sealing it shut, while leaving his nostrils open.

“I don't want to hear it. Now let's find someone to take care of you brats while I speak with your parents.” She growled as she stalked off into the hive proper.

* * * * *

Canterlot, present day...

* * * * *

Mint Breeze, or Minty as she was known to her family and friends, was a unicorn citizen of Canterlot. Not one of the prominent citizens, no, those were the lords, ladies, and other royals. No, she was one of those ponies that lived and worked in the city and kept the whole glitzy, glamorous, regal place running. Like most ponies in her position, she liked routine. Get up in the morning with the rising of Celestia's sun, go to work, have lunch on schedule, go back to work when lunch is over, leave at quitting time. Go have a little fun with your friends under Luna's moon, and get in bed at a decent hour so you could wake up refreshed the next day, and do it all over again.

Another thing ponies like her liked, was having other dependable souls in their lives. Ponies who they could count on to be where they said they were going to be, when they said they were going to be there. Like a strong, caring, notoriously on time pegasus guard stallion.

So it came as a bit of a shock when she found herself sitting, alone, at the table that she and her coltfriend had reserved for their dinner date a week ago, an hour and a half past when he was supposed to arrive.

“Madam, would you like to order...?” The waiter was saying for the third time.

“No... I'm sorry, I was supposed to meet someone here, but they're really late...” she fidgeted, trailing off.

The waiter rolled his eyes briefly while she wasn't looking. “I'm certain your companion merely got held up, miss, but you've been here a while...”

“I know... I know...” she sighed, then stood, pushing the chair she'd been sitting in aside before she started walking towards the door.. “Look, if a pegasus, shows up, guard colors with a gray heater shield cutie mark, tell him I went to his house to see if he was there. And if I'm not there when he gets there, I went home, alright?”

“As you wish, madam.”

* * * * *

For the second time in his life, Agent Protonus was confused and alarmed beyond measure at the actions of his own kind. The first time had been when one whole hive had broken millennia of secrecy laws and traditions to wage full scale war. This time, it was the fact that a peace delegation had been sent to the city he'd been placed in to keep an eye on, and he hadn't been informed beforehand.

As the disguised changeling headed to his home and safe house after a long, confusing, and exhausting day of work, myriad thoughts swirled in his head. All of them focused on his cousin, who even now was in the palace, undisguised, telling the ponies gods knew what.

These thoughts also kept him from remembering the fact that he'd arranged a date with Minty that evening, over a week ago.

He arrived at his private residence in the lower quarter, unlocked the door, entered, and locked it again, then went around the house and painstakingly closed and locked all the other doors and windows, then went into the storage room in the back, and moved aside a bookshelf, to reveal a hidden sliding door. Without stopping to do more than close the door most of the way behind him, the changeling transformed back into his natural form, and trotted down the stairs to the brand new basement, where the only contents were a wooden stand with a crystal ball set upon it.

Channeling energy through his twisted horn, Protonus triggered the communication spell set in the crystal ball, causing it to glow green.

A few moments later, the face of his mother, Queen Elytria, appeared in the crystal.

“Oh! Greetings agent. What have you to report?” she asked, almost conversationally.

“Funny, I was hoping I’d have a report from you, mother.” Protonus said, his tone reflecting his shock and anger.

“What's this tone about?” the green maned queen asked, raising an eyeridge, her voice growing slightly dangerous. Caring as she was, she didn't care for insubordination, even from her offspring.

“Oh, I was just thinking it would have been nice to be warned before the council sent an envoy to speak with the pony princesses.”

There was silence for the span of eight seconds.

“What?”

Protonus sighed.

* * * * *

Far to the north of Equestria, hidden deep in the unicorn range, was a valley between the mountains. Long ago, this valley would have been easily seen from overhead by Pegasi. Somewhere around twenty five hundred years ago, however, a powerful working of magic by a large group of individuals had grown a layer of ice over the valley, that when completed, looked to be a massive glacier, making it appear as no more than another mass of ice in a land full of the stuff.

Below this shield of ice, was a palace sculpted out of yet more ice, and a populace that was inured to the cold, as well as forcing themselves to adapt to it. However, the adaptation had taken centuries, and the reason they originally settled here remained: A geothermal cavern below the foundation of the palace, which necessitated the occupants to enchant the ice they used to build their cities, as not to have it all melt and collapse upon them.

These caves were rarely visited, though the hotsprings they fed were frequented often by the locals for relaxation.

The palace itself was a sight to behold, gleaming blue-green like a giant carved piece of jade, the castle of glacial ice was the home to a creature of great influence and power, though the ponies, the dominant race upon the continent, had no idea she existed.

Nepodea, Queen of the northern wastes hive, High queen of the council of queens (A position that had come to be known as the Empress) was a creature of deep, dark midnight blue, her mane and tail -both so long they dragged on the ground- were nearly pure white but had a faint tinting of pale blue around the edges if one looked at them long enough. Her eyes also were a white with a pale blue tinting at the outermost edges of the iris, while her dorsal plate was a true blue with a speckling of white at the edges. Her wings were butterfly shaped, and had a shimmering, iridescent cyan-blue color covering most of them, though the typical holes pockmarked the edges of the grand wings. Her horn was a long straight thing from her head to where a 'tip' should have been, where it branched off into several 'spikes' that curled around in a ringlike shape, artfully twisting and curving around till the very nearly met directly behind her head, like a dark halo.

Taking tea in a salon on the southern face of her palace, Nepodea was disturbed from her relaxation by a knock at the door. she growled and rolled her eyes. Never a moment's rest for a queen. Her magnificent horn was enveloped in tongues of magic fire, like slowly rolling blue flames where most others of her species had green. The giant wheel of ice covering the chamber door rolled into its pocket in the wall. "Come." she said with the slightest air of displeasure before taking a sip of her tea.

One of her guards entered, deep blue in body like her, his eyes were like blue-green glacial ice peering out from his helmet, which mimicked the general dorsal plate color of the drones of this hive, true blue with royal purple speckling at the edges. His tail was a slightly lighter shade of blue than his torso, and the very end of the tail, instead of being filled with holes, instead faded to white where the fleshy strands split into dried points, looking like nothing more than icicles at a glance. "Your majesty, Queen Elytria of the Mosslight marsh hive desires to speak with you most urgently on the communication crystal."

Nepodea snorted softly, "Hmm, fine. Please tell her that I shall be with her shortly. I have been waiting for this tea all day and it will grow cold quickly in this climate. I am not wasting it."

"As you say Empress." he said, bowing before retreating from the chamber.

Elytria was left waiting nearly ten minutes before Nepodea finally arrived at the communication crystal in the throne room of her palace, the green maned queen of a hive far to the south and east of her frozen domain gazed out at her with displeasure at having been kept waiting. "I apologize. You needed to see me?" Nepodea asked.

Elytria fought the urge to growl at her empress. "Quite, i have a question, Empress, when was the last time the council had a conference call?"

Nepodea blinked at that, then thought, "Not since before we all graced each others presence in the flesh last month, I believe. Is there new business?"

Elytria snorted. "Right, so you're telling me there haven't been any major decisions made without my presence, then?" the green maned queen asked.

"I can sense the hostility in your voice, Elytria." Nepodea said, "Are you fearful that something unsavory has happened without your knowledge?"

"Oh, I know something happened, Empress." Elytria said.

Nepodea drank the last drop of her very rare -that far north anyway- milkweed tea, "Tell me what troubles you then, and why it warrants the other queens being included."

Elytria scowled, a rare thing for her. for once she'd hoped the emperss could be a little more concerned. "I was just informed that one of our number sent an envoy, entirely unmasked, to the very gates of Canterlot. I had hoped this was a council decision, but now, apparently, it seems one of us ignored the council's directive."

Nepodea's naturally dropping ears stood erect, "What?" She finally seemed to have caught her attention, "Are you certain?"

"Oh yes. They've got him staying in the north-east tower guest suite of the royal palace, and took him on a short tour of the city today. Apparently it was all over the front of the Canterlot chronicle."

"I am...truly without words." She suddenly groaned, "Paradoxa doesn't know about this, does she?"

"You're the first I've called about this, so I don't know... but honestly, I'm certain Diaphene does."

"Has there been any hostility shown towards this soldier? I am...gauging which queens should be notified about this little upset." Nepodea pondered.

"Well, not per-se, though they did take him to a hospital today... oh, and it wasn't a soldier. it was a prince."

Nepodea put her face in her hole filled hoof. "Oh good." she said sarcastically. Then she lifted her head in sudden realization, "Wait, from whose hive does he come?"

"Diaphene's. You know, Arista's little nymph? the female who gave you her old job?"

"The little queen? Yes...yes, I think we shall be leaving Paradoxa out of this unless needs be. Even I can only take but so much of her flapping her jowls the little one's position." Nepodea sighed, "especially now that she'd have a point."

"Much as I wish we could leave her out of this, empress... my cousin has... has committed an offense. she's broken a decision made by the council, and the council must decide what to do about this."

"Sadly, I must agree." Nepodea sighed, "And it was such a peaceful day too. Contact the others. I shall retire to my salon with my viewing crystal so this can at least be done in privacy instead of a large, echoing throne room." Nepodea's tone of voice was not a happy one. This was definitely not something she had planned on, nor was truly prepared to deal with.

“As you command, Empress.” Elytria said, bowing her head. The crystal blanking out.

Author's Note

Holidays. They're a heck of a thing. fun as all get out, but god do they knock my creativity for a loop. Here's hoping I can get back into the swing of things now.

A shortish chapter for now. Next one will make up for that, I promise.

Chapter 6

Shining Armor was walking through the stacks in the Canterlot royal library. The general wing. Rows upon rows of shelves of books seemed to go on without end.

“Twilight? Twilight, we're late, where are you?” Shining called out as he wandered the stacks of the canterlot royal library. He stopped calling out 'Twily' some time before.

“Hours past breakfast and my sister's nowhere to be found... gah, where is that filly?” he shook his head. “Twilight Sparkle! I know you're here!” he called, winding his way through the stacks.

The previous night had been uncomfortable, to say the least. Eating dinner at the same table with princess Celestia when you were on notice was horrible. Every time he'd opened his mouth, Celestia had looked at him with this expression that let him know that if he said anything she disagreed with... it didn't bear thinking about.

The whole atmosphere had been unbearable, and the fact that Twilight had declined to dine with them had apparently put the princess in a worse mood. His little sister could always defuse situations like that, particularly where Celestia was concerned.

“Twilight, we need to get going, we've got that stupid interview thing to do today!” he called out, not caring at all who heard him speaking like that right now. He was angry.

“Twilight! Twilight Sparkle! Where are you!?” he called out, turning a corner.

He froze.

Standing before him, his back turned, was the black, dully gleaming form of Maxillus, in the form he remembered him from the last time they met, only larger...

“What...?” Shining gasped, coming to an abrupt stop.

Maxillus turned his head to look back at Shining from one glassy blue eye... there was a dark red fluid streaking his face and muzzle... dripping from that wickedly sharp horn. A slow, wicked smile crept across the changeling stallion's features as he stepped to the side.

In front of where Maxillus had been standing, encased in a cocoon of dark green gel, was Twilight Sparkle, her eyes closed. Beside it, was Spike, the baby dragon, laying in a pool of dark red fluid, identical to what was dripping from the changeling's horn.

* * * *

Princess Cadence awoke minutes after her aunt raised the sun over the horizon. She blinked, raising her muzzy-maned head to look out the window at the sky, a thin layer of clouds covered part of the sky, catching the barely risen sun's light and casting the whole sky in a glorious orangey-gold color. She smiled, whoever on the weather committee had arranged that needed to be commended, it was beautiful.

Gently turning over, she looked down at her husband's sleeping face. She smiled at first, glad to find he was there this morning, but then frowned with concern. He looked almost worse now than when they'd went to bed the previous evening. He must've been awake all night, or at least had a very broken sleep. It'd been getting worse and worse since they'd gotten back from the honeymoon. After what had happened yesterday...

Cadence blinked, raising her head. “No, no, Celestia was right.” she thought. “Yesterday was... traumatic, but it's the start of something good. If everything goes well, Shining won't have to be so worried about changelings anymore, and he can relax... and then I'll get the Shining Armor I love back.” Cadence looked down at him again, smiling gently, before she quietly slipped out of bed and into four teal fuzzy slippers and a matching robe (it was turning to fall, so the mornings were kind of chill) and padded down stairs to the kitchen.

Cadence had been raised in Canterlot mostly by her aunt Celestia who -while she herself made full use of all her appointed servants- had decided to make her alicorn niece learn how to be both independent and dependable from a young age. Along with the foalsitting job Cadence had also learned how to cook, clean, and even do some basic needlework. Sometimes Cadence thought her cousin Blueblood could have used some of that kind of practical learning, it probably would have made him a bit more down to earth. Pity it had taken a violent invasion to make him wish to make himself more self sufficient, at the very least.

She quickly filled the kettle with water and set it on the stove, then went to the pantry. “Coffee pot, coffee filter, Shining's personal favorite blend...” she rattled off a mental list, pulling said objects out of a high cupboard with telekinesis, her bright sky blue magic aura surrounding each object as she placed them out on the counter, ready to start brewing a pot as soon as the water boiled.

Cadence then levitated over a cook book and flipped through the beginning, the pages on various breakfast dishes earmarked for easy reference. “Waffles... Prench toast... I think I'll just go with pancakes this morning.” she said, before turning to the refrigerator and levitating out the cold ingredients.

It was just then that a blood curdling scream from the bedroom caused her to freeze, before, dropping everything she was holding with her magic, Cadence galloped up the stairs and burst into the bedroom. Shining was sitting upright, panting, eyes wide, darting around the room till they settled on her.

“Shining what's wrong!?”

Shining looked up at her, blinked, then suddenly leaped out of bed so fast he got tangled in the sheets and fell. Cadence charged over to help get him untangled, using hooves, mouth, and magic. The instant he was free though, Shining shouldered past her in a violent rush as he charged downstairs.

Cadence reared, spun around in a circle and overbalanced. She landed heavily on her rump before falling over on her back. “Ugh, ow... Shining? Shining!” she called after him.

She heard the telephone jangle and clatter, before the thing was dialed. The rotary whirring. Cadence picked herself back up and went down the stares as quickly as she could.

Shining was, indeed, at the phone. The business end levitated up next to his hear and mouth. “Hello? Is this... damn!” he snorted, slamming the thing back down onto the receiver, then picking it up and re-dialing.

“Shiny...?”

“Hello, Palace guard?” Shining said frantically as the pony at the other end of his call picked up. Then his ears pricked forward. “Thank Celestia! Who is this? Sergeant Barrel Roll? Good, I need a status report on the changeling and my sister... Twilight Sparkle.” He suddenly frowned. “This is Captain Shining Armor... Yes, seriously, I’m Captain Armor...”

“Shining...?” Cadence said, stepping closer and tentatively touching his shoulder with a forehoof.

Shining brushed her off with a hoof of his own. “Not now Cadence. Sergeant, my voice sounds different because I’m on the phone at my house... This is not a prank call!” He snorted. “Sergeant I swear if you don't get me a status report on Ambassador Maxillus and Twilight Sparkle immediately I will have you demoted to private so fast your head'll spin, now MOVE IT SOLDIER!”

Shining sat there glowering as he apparently waited for the report to come back. Cadence tentatively approached again.

“S-Shining?” she asked, extending a hoof.

“Not now Cadence!” Shining snapped at her. She recoiled as if struck.

Shining didn't even turn to look at her, almost straining to hear the faint sounds coming through the phone line. This went on for several minutes before his ears perked up again. “Report soldier!” he said. Cadence could faintly hear the sound of another pony's voice on the phone.

“You're sure?” Shining said. Then a moment later, visibly relaxed. “Thank you sergeant... No, that will be all. Return to your duties.” he said, then hung up the phone, and let out a relieved sigh.

“Shining, what was that all about?”

Shining armor shook his mane out. “Nothing you have to worry about Cadence... I need to get ready for work.” he said, then turned and plodded tiredly up the stairs.

Cadence whimpered as she watched him go... then looked back into the kitchen and the mess she still had to clean up.

She sighed. “I guess we won't be having breakfast together.”

* * * * *

“Morning big brother!” Twilight's shining, smiling face greeted him when he arrived at the Palace library later that morning.

An instant later she was enveloped in a near bone crunching bear hug.

“GRK! Big bro... I can't... breathe!” she wheezed.

Shining let her go and backed off. “Sorry Twiley, I'm just... I'm just glad to see you.”

“Yeah, I got that part.” Twilight rubbed at her ribcage with a hoof where he'd squeezed her. “Look, Shining, is there something wrong? One of your guards woke me up real early. He came barging into my room with no warning, scared me half to death!”

“It's nothing, sorry. Just... tighter security for the moment.” he said, trying to brush it off. “You uh... wanna get breakfast?”

“I ate already.” she said, then grinned. “Thanks to your stallion, I managed to be awake in time to join the princesses at breakfast. Celestia was pleasantly surprised. We spent more time talking than eating.”

“Ah...” Shining said, now regretting that he'd skipped breakfast.

“So! Shall we get to it? I really can't wait to sit down and start asking questions. I even made up a list in case things slowed down, see?” she levitated up a clipboard with a thick stack of papers on it.

“Well, you're certainly prepared, I see.” Shining said, raising an eyebrow. The questions he glanced at on the sheet ranged from questions on music and culture to biology.

He snorted. “Well, I suppose there’s no putting it off any longer. Let's get to it.” he said, turning and leading the way towards the north tower.

* * * *

“So where's Spike?” Shining asked as they ascended the stairs to the tower chambers. The long walk with his sister had served to spark his appetite, now evidenced by the occasional twinge of hunger, which was unfortunate, seeing as lunch was some few hours away.

“Still sleeping.” Twilight said. “We were up really late last night, and being interrupted by that random security check didn't help.”

“Hey, I said I was sorry.” Shining said as they approached the secured zone and the gold armored day guards.

“Sir! Good morning, Captain Armor sir!” one of the pegasus guards at the door said, both of them snapping a salute with their wings.

Shining returned the salute. “Anything to report?”

“Sir no sir!” the pegasus at the left of the door barked his report.

“The subject is still present in his chambers sir!” the one at the right elaborated.

“Where else would he be?” Twilight asked, glancing from the soldiers to her brother, who cleared his throat behind a raised hoof.

“We're entering.” he said simply. The pegasi nodded and opened the doors for them.

Shining put a hoof infront of twilight, who snorted at him in annoyance, but stood by as he stepped first into the chamber. His eyes darted around warily. Maxillus wasn't present in the main chamber.

“Ambassador?” Twilight called out. Not sensing any response, they progressed in to the inner room.

“Ambassador Maxillus?” Twilight called out again.

The door to the bedchamber opened and Maxillus, in his true form, stepped out. It was the first time Shining had gotten a proper look at the changeling since hearing about his unmasking.

A long tattered orange mane cascaded off his head and neck in a wave, and his long tail dragged it's ragged tip on the ground behind him as he walked. His horn had gone from a simple knife blade to something he'd seen gryphons carry around to help with cleaning hunting kills in the wilderness. And his eyes... which were currently rather tired looking, gazed back at him not with the glassy blue he'd seen the previous night, but with a deep orange iris surrounding slitted, catlike pupils.

“Captain?” Maxillus asked, blinking owlishly, glancing from him to the purple mare beside him.

“Ambassador Maxillus!” Twilight said brightly, trotting past Shining before he could reach out and stop her. “My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I’m here to talk to you about your species today!”

“Twilight... Sparkle?” he asked.

“That's me! Element bearer of Magic, Personal student to princess Celestia!” Twilight beamed.

“And my little sister.” Shining Armor chimed in.

Maxillus's eyes widened in surprise, darting between the two of them.

“Right.” Twilight said, frowning at her brother before she grabbed a table and a trio of chairs from elsewhere in the room and set them down in the middle of the chamber. “Take a seat please.” she said in a pleasant tone.

Maxillus, somewhat stunned, walked over to the table, and took the single seat that had been placed at the side closest to him. Twilight trotted over and almost bounced into her seat, placing her clipboard, quill, ink pot and a little notebook down in front of her.

“So, shall we begin?”

* * * * *

Shining Armor's stomach was twinging with hunger pangs. It had been for the last half hour as Twilight worked her way through a list of basic questions which were, in fact, so dull he started to tune them out. He knew Celestia wanted him to learn about the changeling so he could get over this 'fear of the unknown' or however she put it, but by Tartarus, his sister was turning this into the most boring-

Urrrrrrrrriiik!

Shining blinked and sat upright. Somepony's stomach had just growled, loudly. “Oh, I...” he glanced at his sister...

She was staring with a raised eye ridge, but not at him.

Shining followed her gaze to Maxillus, who was currently blushing so fiercely it came through his black muzzle carapace.

“Ambassador... are you ok?” Twilight asked. Shining blinked.

“Ah... sorry, it's just... the last thing I had to eat was a little over a day and a half ago...” Maxillus admitted.

“Oh! I'm sorry...” Twilight said.

Shining Armor stood so fast the chair he'd been sitting on skitterd backwards then fell over. “Where is she?!” he demanded.

“W-what?”Maxillus stammered, eyes going wide and pupils going narrow as papercuts.

“Don't play stupid with me! The Mare you 'fed' on before you came to Canterlot, where is she?”

Maxillu regained his composure. “I didn't foalnap any mares, captain Armor. There's no pony stuck in a cucoon, and I didn't displace any stallions either.”

“Don't insult my intelligence, Maxillus, I know how you changelings 'Feed' on us!” Shining retorted.

“SHINING!” Twilight snapped at her brother so sharply both males jerked their gazes back to her. She was glaring at her brother so fiercely that the warrior stallion actually hesitated long enough for her to speak again. “Ambassador Maxillus, could you please tell me, for the record, what you last fed on?”

“Physically, or for energy?” Maxillus asked.

Both ponies in the room blinked. “Physically?” Shining asked, confused.

Maxillus apparently took it as an answer to his question though, and said “Well, lunch the day before last was a blueberry muffin.”

Shining blinked. “A muffin?”

“Yes, a muffin.” Maxillus responded.

“With... actual blueberries?” Shining continued, but Twilight interrupted him when she pressed her hoof to her forehead and groaned.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid! I was right there when she did it and even I got stuck thinking the same thing!” she moaned.

“What?” Shining said, looking at her.

“She didn't seem to enjoy it, but Crysalis did eat solid food, right in front of me. Took one of Applejack's apple tarts, put it in her mouth, bit down, chewed, and swallowed.” she picked up her questionnaire clipboard, flipped down several pages, and X-ed out an entire question that read: how do you convert love energy into caloric intake?

“Wait, if you guys eat real food, what in Tartarus do you do with the love?” Shining asked.

Maxillus tilted his head. “We convert it into mana. I thought that was obvious.”

Twilight pounced on this like a hunting panther. “Really? Please explain.” she said, bringing up a blank parchment and her quill and inkpot.

Maxillus took a deep breath. “We're not as fortunate as you unicorns. Yes, we're all gifted with wings for flying and a horn to use magic with... but unlike you, we don't simply regenerate our magical reserves through rest periods. Our magic has to be fueled by an outside source. Whatever gods there are saw fit to curse us by having to acquire our mana by first absorbing projected, strong positive emotions... in a specific area of the emotional spectrum. Once we have absorbed it, our bodies then convert that energy into useable magic power.”

Twilight was scribbling rapidly in shorthand. “So without absorbing love energy...”

“We can't use magic, no.” Maxillus clarified.

“But you don't need love energy to survive?” she asked.

“Can you live without your magic, Twilight Sparkle?” Maxillus asked.

Twilight paused. “Uh... wow, what a question... I guess I could. I mean, I’ve got lots of earth pony friends, and they don't have magic spells to help them.”

Maxillus shook his head. “It's fairly common knowledge, miss Sparkle that they can't cast spells, but they have it. Their powers are tied to the earth, their strength and the growing of plants. Yours you focus into discharges called spells. Even pegasi use magic to manipulate clouds.” He sighed. “Weather control, manipulation of reality, and vastly enhanced crop yeilds. Take away all of that, everything becomes dependent on your natural strength and physical ability, un-augmented by anything. So tell me, Twilight Sparkle, could you.... no, could Equestria as a whole survive without magic?”

Shining's eyes darted back and forth between Maxillus and Twilight. The changeling's eyes were set in a serious, piercing stare, and Twilight was looking a little harried as she looked down at the table, her eyes darting this way and that as she thought very, very hard.

“Uhm... non-earth pony crop yields are typically 47% smaller than earth pony farms of equal size... wild weather damage in the zebra nation calculates into roughly three and a half million bits per year...” she trailed off, murmuring to herself.

Shining turned to glare at Maxillus, who caught the look, blinked, then looked sheepish.

“Apologies, Miss Sparkle, I didn't mean to-” he paused as Twilight held up a hoof, using her quill to scribble feverishly some kind of... Shining took a closer look, some kind of complicated series of equations.

A minute later, Twilight stopped with a pronounced ending slash of the quill tip. She then proceeded to stare at the paper for half a minute, before she visibly shuddered, then pointedly pushed the paper to the side. “Yes, well... It would definitely be a very different life for ponies here in Equestria without magic, Ambassador. But... I suppose that means you don't need magic to survive... biologically?” she continued.

“No. The Love energy is used to replenish our magic reserve. We need to eat real food just like any other creatures.”

Twilight nodded, jotting that down on her main clipboard. “Interesting, what kind of foods do you like to eat?”

Maxillus blushed, and skuffed his pockmarked hindhoof on the carpet under the table. “Well... I've eaten both pony dishes, and Gryphon cooking in my times out of the hive.

“You eat MEAT!?” Shining snapped.

“Sometimes...?” Maxillus said, flinching away from the unicorn stallion.

“Wow, so those fangs aren't just for combat then?”

“Uh, yes, they're-” he started, when suddenly the changeling's stomach issued another angry growl of hunger. Maxillus's eyes darted to his midsection, then back up at them with another embarrassed smile.

“Wait... you've been here for a whole day, why hasn't anypony fed you?” Twilight asked.

Maxillus blinked. “I... I thought this was punishment for scaring princess Cadence...”

Twilight's eyes went wide, then she groaned and facehoofed. “Ambassador, we don't punish for silly little things like that. You should've asked.” she sighed, then turned to her brother. “Shining, would you mind asking one of the guards to have some early lunch sent up for the ambassador?”

Shining snorted, then stood up and walked out of the room, across the foyer of the guest suite, and to the door leading out to the tower stairway.

“Captain!” the guards on duty snapped their wings up into another salute.

“At ease boys. I need one of you guys to run down to the palace kitchens and get somepony to send up a early lunch platter.”

“Sir?” the one to his left said, confused.

“It seems our ambassador hasn't eaten in several days.” shining explained.

“I thought they ate love.” the one on his right commented.

“That too, apparently.” Shining shook his head. “Just get them to bring a big platter of something... oh, and a Lettuce, tomato and cheese sandwich.”

“Must be one hungry changeling.” the one on the right commented.

“Actually, the sandwich is for me.” Shining said, then looking at their expressions, shook his head. “I missed breakfast, now hop to it soldier!” he said, pointing at the one on the right.

“Sir yes sir!” the pegasus snapped another salute, then took off and glided down to the wing of the castle where the dining hall and the main kitchen were.

Shining closed the door behind him and returned to where Twilight and Maxillus were.

He ground to a halt and stared in shock at what he saw upon returning.

“Fascinating dental structure. These fangs are coming right out of the same spots where a pony's upper canines would be, and all the other dental features seem a perfect mirror of pony anatomy, though the wolf teeth are a bit more pronounced... heh, you'd probably have a hard time handling a bridle.” Twilight said as she peered into Maxillus's wide open mouth... as the changeling laid back on a dentist's chair that had somehow appeared in the room in the time of Shining's absence.

“What... the...” Shining said haltingly.

Maxillus's eyes darted over to him, and Twilight raised her head from where she'd been poking at the ambassador's mouth with a miniature mirror and a tooth probe. “Oh, hey Shining!”

“Twiley, w-what are you doing?”

“Cataloging the differences between pony and changeling dental structure. It's clearly indicative of a more meat based natural diet, but definitely still an omnivore. On a side note, you keep your teeth very well tended Ambassador, I'm impressed. Not a single sign of tartar or decay I could see.”

“Ah, thank you...” Maxillus said, getting up off the chair and hopping to the floor all fours again. As soon as he was off it, the dentist's chair snapped back to the shape of a dining table chair with a flash of magenta light, typical of Twilight's spell casting.

“If you'll excuse me though, I need to wash up.” Twilight said, pulling rubber hoof covers off her forehooves, then proceeding into the suite's bathroom.

Left alone for a moment together, Maxillus turned to Shining and asked; “Is she always like that?”

Shining shook his head. “You have no idea...”