Fluttershy walked slowly down to her basement as soft relaxing music played over the stereo. She adjusted her shirt and the pack of pens in her left pocket as she walked leisurely toward the shelves of video games and began to look at them, deciding which one she would be playing today. After pulling out a couple of games, the mare shook her head, and after putting them back, she went to another shelf. But as she approached it, she saw the distinctly equine form taken on by Angel Bunny, in the gap between the shelves.

"Eh… What's up, Shy?" He said in a high-pitched voice, sounding a lot like Pinkie Pie, before throwing a video game box in her face and knocked her to the floor.

"Ouch! Wow, it's been a while since I've seen you," she said, rubbing her nose sarcastically as she approached him. "What game did you hit me with?"

She looked at the box tossed to her.

"Oh, Rabbit's Mad Castle," she frowned as she read the name of the game. "I can't wait to play this…"

She stood up on her haunches and tried to kick him, but the rabbit deftly beat off her hoof and immediately smacked her forehead with his paw.

"Ouch! What was that, Angel? I've told you a hundred times it's not polite to hit other ponies. Especially the one that feeds you!" She said and made another attempt to hit the rabbit, but this time she was out of luck too. Angel promptly gave her a lot of slaps and sent her back to the floor before pushing the game box in her direction.

"Play the game, Shy," he said.

"I'm not playing this shit!" She kicked it back with her wing.

"Come on, Shy. Stick it in the Coltendo," the rabbit said, opening the box and tossing her the cartridge.

"Hey, what are you ordering me to do? Which one of us is the pet? I'm going to punish you and stick it down your rabbit hole!" Fluttershy was indignant and tried to beat him again, still with the same result.

"You've been playing Angel's Birthday Blowout, Shy. You've got unfinished business," he said, knocking her to the floor again. "Well, play it for two minutes and then maybe you can punish me."

Fluttershy nodded somberly and finally inserted the cartridge into the console, then took hold of the joystick with her wings.

"Oh, ha-ha! I can't!" Rainbow Dash chuckled, watching the whole thing on her phone.

She and her friends were standing in the square in front of Canterlot Castle, listening to the Equestrian ruler's speech along with the ponies and changelings that had gathered there. Or rather, she should have. What princess Celestia was telling them was too boring and uninteresting, and the pegasus decided to distract herself a little and watched a newly recorded video of the Angry Video Game Mare.

"Do you like it?" Fluttershy asked, standing beside her. "Pinkie and I filmed it all day and didn't even take a break."

She shuffled her foot modestly.

"We did try tea once, though, but then we realized that Mrs. Cake's chocolate balls looked a lot like rabbit shit and decided to use them in a future skit."

"Hee-hee, oh yeah, that's just awesome!" The blue pony giggled as she watched Fluttershy put down the joystick after a couple of minutes, and after saying that she'd rather stick her head up a bear's ass than play that game, she attacked the dressed-up Pinkie Pie again and with superimposed sounds of kicking and punching, she fake-punched and strangled her. But it didn't last long at all. Soon the rabbit got the better of her again, and after throwing a few punches, threw her straight onto the couch.

"Sorry, Shy, you're ain't done yet. Looks like you got another game!" Angel said, handing her a console with a mini-cartridge.

"Rabbit's Mad Castle 2?! There's a sequel?!" She groaned. "How could this be possible?! I'm not playing this!"

"But you wanna play it," Angel said.

"No, I don't want it!" Fluttershy snorted angrily.

"You do wanna!" The rabbit insisted.

"I don't wanna!" She wouldn't give up.

"You do wanna!" He pestered.

"I don't wanna!" The pegasus stammered.

"You don't wanna!" Angel said suddenly.

"I do wanna!" Shy said.

"You don't wanna!" He continued.

"I do wanna!" The mare said loudly.

"You don't wanna!" He stomped his foot.

"I do wanna! And you're gonna stop me!" The pegasus finally declared and took the console for herself. Then, realizing she had been cheated, held up a lollipop that said Sucker.

"Oh, that's hilarious!" Rainbow Dash giggled again. "How could real Angel let you pull that off?"

"Actually, it was his idea," said Fluttershy. "He was a little mad at me for that episode about Angel's Birthday Blowout and said it was the only way I could make it up to him."

"By letting him beat you up? Yeah, he's a real..." The blue pegasus began, but was interrupted by an angry hiss:

"Quiet, girls. Have you forgotten that the princess is making her speech and going to make official peace between ponies and changelings?" Twilight said.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Twilight," said Fluttershy guiltily.

"You haven't forgotten how important this ceremony is, have you?" Twilight reminded them.

"Except it's all for show," said Rainbow Dash. "She and the queens had already signed everything when Celestia invited Ashaisha to her castle. So this speech is nothing more than a formality."

"Maybe, but it's very important. So try to keep your voices down, or else..." said Twilight a little louder.

One of the stallions a row ahead of them shushed her:

"Quiet; I can't hear," he said.

"What?! But I just..."

"Twilight, shame on you," Dash giggled. "Princess Celestia's making such an important speech, and you're making all this noise and not listening to her."

"Grr!" The unicorn growled angrily.

While they were debating, princess Celestia had already finished her speech and gave the floor to queen Ashaisha, who was standing on the tower balcony with Chrysalis and her family.

The Spider Queen stepped forward and, glancing at the audience gathered in the square, sincerely thanking everyone for their trust in her; For accepting her and giving her a second chance.

This ceremony took place six months after the events in the desert. The changeling queens met several times to discuss the details of the reconciliation, and afterwards, arranged an audience with the princesses of Equestria, who gladly accepted their offer of peace and began discussing further cooperation between the ponies and changelings.

As Ashaisha gave her speech, Chrysalis stepped discreetly toward the beautifully dressed Cadence and playfully pinched her with her telekinesis.

"Ouch, what are you doing, Chrissy?" She whispered, embarrassed. "We're on public."

"I know, but I can't keep myself. You look so beautiful tonight," said Chrysalis languidly.

"Hee-hee, I know," the princess smiled.

"And you have such a cute tummy," she furtively stroked the mare's slightly enlarged belly as she waited. "I can't wait for the baby to come out."

"Me, too. I wonder who that will be? Maybe a filly?"

"Oh, no. I want the colt," said Shining Armor, sneaking up behind them. "I've already named him Noble Blade. It's the name of a real hero! As soon as he grows up, he can attend Canterlot Academy."

"Now, now, now, dear. He'll have to grow up first. And he needs to be born too," Cadence said. "And then, even with a filly, we can always have another little one."

"Agreed. But the next one will be mine," said Chrysalis.

"Of course, my love, but only one. We do not need eighty foals," warned her unicorn.

"One? Just one?" The queen snorted. "I'll be laughed at by all the queens. They'll say I've lost my fertility. How about forty?"

"I don't think so. No more than two," Shining conceded slightly.

"Well, how about ten?" Chrysalis asked pitifully.

"No, three at most. And that's my final word," the stallion insisted.

"All right, you win," the queen agreed, whispering to herself: "Let's see how you sing when I show up in that cute maid's outfit I bought last Thursday. It will excite you so much that we'll populate a small town in no time."

"And now, I give the floor to queen Chrysalis, who first made peace with us and thereby proved her true nobility and the greatness of her people," said Celestia. Chrysalis, quickly fixing her dress, went to the microphone and addressed the watching ponies and changelings from both hives. They all watched the ceremony with rapt attention, including a group of a few changelings who whispered quietly amongst themselves.

"Ah, it's great that our mother was able to persuade queen Ashaisha to make peace with everyone," said Thorax, one of the changelings.

"And she convinced her that ponies and changelings could live together," said his older brother, Pharynx. "It made all the difference in our lives. Right, princess Ocellus?"

He turned to their mutual friend – the Hive's Crown Princess.

"Yes, she's good. She's got a knack for a double wedding," Ocellus nodded. "If she hadn't, it might easily have gone wrong, and we might never have made peace with the ponies or the warring hive."

"Yeah, and then who knows where it would have gone," Pharynx added. "Surely something terrible could have happened to our mother. We might even have lost her and that would have been the end of the hive."

"Don't exaggerate, losing the queen doesn't mean the end of the hive," Thorax protested.

"Oh, really? And who would take her place?" Ocellus asked.

"I don't know. One of her daughters, for instance, or maybe the ponies could appoint a drone to take her place and run the place."

Ocellus and Pharynx looked at him with smiles, before laughing merrily.

"Pfft, nonsense. You're a dreamer," Pharynx laughed.

"Yeah, that's as silly as they come," said Ocellus. "You'd think we'd all be colored after that, wouldn't you?"

"Yeah, we'd all be rainbow colors," said Pharynx chuckling.

"No, I wouldn't do that," said Thorax with a grin.

"I wonder how that drone of yours would carry on our kind?" Pharynx added.

"Like a queer porn film, that's how," said Thorax sarcastically. "Except with a sci-fi twist."

"Ugh! Creepy," snorted Ocellus. "Well, you could always have a queen in charge of changelings, not a droning dodo."

"That's true," Thorax said, sighing softly in his heart.

Meanwhile, the ceremony had come to a close. Everyone in it had made their speech, and princess Celestia stepped forward.

"Well, ponies and changelings, the performance is over, and I am pleased to announce the beginning of a new era in which our two kinds can come to terms and live in peace. And may this day be remembered in our shared history as the day when we overcame our old divisions once and for all and began to walk side by side toward a bright future!" She said loudly to the joyful clatter of hundreds of hooves.

"And now I invite you all to come to my castle, where the greatest chefs of Equestria have already prepared a grand feast, which we will celebrate today," ended the Sun Queen, and all the guests gathered in the square headed to the door to the great hall, where six months ago the party was held to celebrate the Nightmare Night.

***

And so ended that momentous day, after which the lives of the two nations changed fundamentally, playing with new colors. The ponies, albeit not immediately, were able to accept the changelings into their society and lived with them in perfect harmony, giving them their love and helping them to get used to such an unfamiliar environment away from their home hive.

Queen Chrysalis even sent some of the young changelings to pony schools so that they could make new friends there. The colt that went to Ponyville proved to be the best. Not only was he able to fit in with the ponies, but he also showed them that not all changelings are monsters, including one young filly who didn't want to acknowledge him at first. But after a brief incident in which she herself was turned into a changeling, she fell in love with them, and nine years later married at him.*

Ashaisha, having been forgiven, left the desert and built a new hive near Manehattan. The locals were wary of her at first, but it didn't last long. They soon befriended her and became good neighbors, who began to visit her hive from time to time, which quickly made it the main tourist attraction in Manehattan, where ponies from all over Equestria flocked to see the culture and life of the changelings, thereby improving their image and helping to enrich both cities. As for the queen herself, a couple of years later she found her love in a young kirin artist who came to Manehattan looking for inspiration and fell in love at first sight with the wild and unusual spider queen, to whom he dedicated several of his paintings (and painted her naked a couple of times). Eight months later they were married, and Chrysalis attended their wedding with her family and friends.

A month after the ceremony, the ponies and changelings sent their ambassadors to Rohara, the last feuding queen of the werewolves, with an offer of peace. Although she was reluctant for a very long time, they still managed to convince her to visit Canterlot, where Rohara saw ponies and changelings living peacefully in the same city, and because of this she finally agreed to ally with Equestria, thereby ending the feud between the two races forever.

As princess Celestia's most loyal student and history buff, Twilight had some amazing adventures that led to Celestia's decision to reward her for her efforts and make her an alicorn. The newly converted princess of Equestria was over the moon, though she wasn't immediately accustomed to her new wings, which often took her into the treetops or other pony's attics.

Family life for Cadence, Shining and Chrysalis was going great. A few months later, Cadence gave birth to a filly who turned out to be an alicorn, which greatly surprised everyone she knew and relatives, as it was the first time in pony history that such a baby girl had been born.

The newborn pony grew up very lively and energetic, as a true alicorn should, and her parents had great difficulties with her upbringing at first, especially Shining, who was physically unable to manage such a strong filly. However, thanks to Cadence and Chrysalis (whom the little pony took as her own mother), they still managed to take care of her and bring her up decently. They decided to name the filly Flurry Heart for her violent and all-destroying temper.

After the baby had grown a little older, it was Chrysalis' turn to have children, and against Shining's wishes, she gave birth to ten cute changelings, which, like Flurry Heart, came into the world rather unusually. When they hatched, they each had a white shell and dark blue wings similar to Shining's mane. In addition, seven of them were princess mares, and only three were stallions (a very rare occurrence with changelings). But Chrysalis was not at all surprised, saying that this sometimes happens when their father has very strong and high quality genes.

So the stallion began a new phase of his life. He became a father, and at first he was very nervous about it, until he realized that being a dad wasn't so bad, especially having two powerful and caring wives. Soon, Shining stopped being afraid and truly loved his wonderful children.

In the meantime, life in Equestria was going on, and many amazing things were happening around it. A few years later, the Crystal Empire and its evil King Sombra returned, threatening the ponies with war. Luckily, thanks to Twilight and her friends and the entire army of changelings supporting them, they managed to overthrow King Sombra and free the Crystal Empire from his oppression without much trouble. Once the empire was saved, it needed new rulers, which became princess Cadence and queen Chrysalis and their loving husband. It wasn't easy for Chrysalis at first, as she often had to go away to watch over her hive, and one day she took all the newborn changelings that were larvae with her and went away with them for a week, and when she returned, they had all acquired legs. But a year later, she handed over her powers as queen to the rising Princess Ocellus and was able to move completely into the Crystal Palace to join the couple, where they began raising children together and ruling their new kingdom.

The H...

Uh, no, it's not over yet.

Epilogue.

Sixty years after the Royal Wedding.

Queen Ocellus's Hive.

"Hi, Mom! Welcome home! I'm so happy you decided to stop by on your way to the Crystal Empire!" Queen Ocellus said cheerfully as she greeted Chrysalis and Cadence, who held her hooves and carefully stepped out of the expensive carriage, embossed with gold and precious stones.

"Of course, my daughter. Do you think we would have missed such an opportunity if we had not been there?" Chrysalis said with a smile.

"Of course not. So, where is your husband?" Ocellus asked, looking behind their backs.

"What you mean? Isn't he in the back?" Cadence turned around and then added with a sigh: "Oh, it looks like he's asleep."

And she climbed back into the carriage, where she gently wiggled the elderly stallion sitting in the corner.

"Wake up, dear. We're here," she said affectionately.

"Huh? Already?" Said the old unicorn, hardly opening one eye, getting up from the seat and slowly moving to the exit of the carriage.

"May I help you?" Cadence asked.

"No thank you, darling," said Shining, stepping gently down the first step. "I may be old, but I can still move my hooves."

He hesitated a few steps forward, then stopped as his hind legs began to tremble.

"Of course, hubby," said Chrysalis, seeing this, gallantly offering him her leg. "But we're your wives, after all, and we want to take care of you. Nothing to be ashamed of."

The stallion hesitated a little, but then he took her leg and slowly lowered himself to the ground.

"And besides, we love you very much and don't want to neglect you," she added, gently smoothing his graying mane.

"Yeah, that's why you're all so worried about me. Like I'm made of glass," the old stallion grunted, taking a couple of deep breaths.

"Sort of," said Cadence, who followed him out the door.

"So, where's that surprise you were talking about?" Shining asked, squinting slightly.

"You'll see, hubby, in time," said Chrysalis. "But first I would like to discuss something with Ocellus."

And with these words she approached her daughter.

"Tell me, how are you?" Said Chrysalis, looking at her former hive, which had changed greatly in her absence and now looked much more modern. "How are my subjects? Oh, sorry, I meant your subjects? I hope you continue my work of making peace with the other races with dignity?"

"Of course, mother," smiled Ocellus. "My ministers and I have just recently made peace with the griffins of the Misty Mountains, and today we are hosting their ambassadors, who have come to us for diplomatic negotiations."

She showed her to one of the outer courtyards of the hive, where several representative-looking griffins were strolling by a pool, accompanied by changelings. One of them had a white trim torso and dark blue wings.

"My first advisor, Noble Blade, is just giving them the tour, telling them of the advantages of trading with our hive," the queen said pointedly. "By the way, he's the one who suggested the deal and was the first to go to their capital."

"Yes, well done, son. You can see this is my roots," Shining said, coughing faintly, as the white changeling looked on proudly.

"By the way, how are the preparations going?" Chrysalis whispered, peeking furtively at him. "Is it all ready?"

"Of course it is, mama. Twilight's helpers and I prepped the pool and heated it to the right temperature. According to the research she did, everything should go perfectly."

"Twilight? Sis?" Smiled the old stallion. "Is she here too? I haven't seen her in a while. Ever since she started ruling Equestria six months ago."

"No, darling. It's been twenty years since then," Cadence corrected him softly.

"Has it really? How time flies!" The Shining marveled.

"And it's only been three months since you saw Twilight," added Chrysalis. "Remember?"

"I guess, though I'm not sure. Sorry, darlings, my memory's been failing me a lot lately," he shrugged. "So this is your surprise? Will I see my little sister again?"

"Not exactly. I mean, you'll see her again, but not right now," she promised him. "She hasn't left yet, has she?"

"No, mother. She said she couldn't miss such a momentous occasion for the family and is resting in the guest room for the time being," said Ocellus.

"That's wonderful. So you will be seeing her very soon. But first we'll show you our surprise. You don't mind, do you, my dear?" Said Chrysalis turning to her daughter.

"Of course not, mother. I'll assign someone to guide you right away," said Ocellus, turning to summon one of the changelings standing at the entrance.

"Thank you, but that won't be necessary. Though I haven't been here in years, I haven't forgotten where the hatchery is," said Chrysalis, saying goodbye to her daughter and walking with Shining and Cadence to the gate.

"The hatchery?" The old stallion repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Yep," she nodded. "That's where we're going."

"But why?"

"You will find out soon enough, my dear. That will be our surprise," the queen replied vaguely.

Once inside the hive, which, despite its wild appearance, was furnished with beautiful furniture and expensive modern equipment (like a large TV set, which was watched in the reception room by griffins, or panels with holographic signs, telling where and what is located), the couple reached the elevator and went down several floors. After passing through a couple of richly decorated halls, which, thanks to the efforts of Ocellus, had been visibly transformed and now looked very modern (just chrome tables with a circular screen in the center of them), they finally reached the lower level of the hive and came to large double doors, which looked very old and a little neglected. However, they were guarded by two sturdy changeling warriors, who immediately stepped aside at the sight of Chrysalis and, bowing low, unlocked the gate with their telekinesis.

Chrysalis was the first to enter.

"Careful, my love. There are some high steps," she said, carefully supporting her husband and helping him down.

"Thank you, dear Chrissy, but where are we, and what are you going to..." he stopped in surprise when he saw before him a huge stone hall and a pool in the center of it, which was filled with a strange greenish liquid. Around the pool were numerous desks with computers and all sorts of lab equipment, adorned with badges bearing Twilight's cutie mark. "Wow, what is that?"

"This? Our Incubator," said Chrysalis. "The pool contains a special secretion of changelings, in which the queen must dip her larvae so that they grow legs and the next stage of development begins."

Shining looked at her incomprehensibly.

"Yes, it's hard to explain, but that's how we complete the larval stage, after which we acquire our adult appearance," she added.

"But that's far from the only usage of this fluid, isn't it, Chrissy?" The princess said.

"That's right, Cady. As Twilight recently found out by studying an old alchemical book, our secretion can be made into a special compound that the ancient ponies used for a special purpose."

"Oh yes? For what purpose?" The stallion asked.

"For rejuvenation," said Chrysalis.

Shining finally realized why he had been brought here.

"So you want me to..." he began.

"Yes, hubby. All the years we've had with you have been the most wonderful times of our lives. But time passes, Cadence and I don't age, but you..." she sighed sadly, "I'm afraid so. We have been talking it over with Twilight and decided we don't want to lose you."

Both mares walked over to him.

"We want you to be your old self again, young and strong, and so we brought you here," the princess said. "Twilight has spent three whole years researching, experimenting, and calculating to make this solution as described in the book. And now it is finally ready. All you have to do is dip into it once, and you'll be rejuvenated in no time."

She paused for a moment and looked hopefully into his eyes.

"Well? What do you say, my love? Do you agree? Do you want to be like you were when you were young again?"

Shining looked intently first at them and then at the green gurgling liquid.

"Do I want to? To be young again? To return to the days when you and I were together as husband and wives?" He said thoughtfully, remembering his younger years and the last couple of years he'd spent in the Crystal Castle's private room, leaving it only sometimes to stroll about town.

"Well," he said at last. "It's certainly very tempting. To get rid of the pain in my bones. To have smooth skin and sharp eyesight again. To be strong again, to be hardy."

Both mares moved toward him with the same hopeful smiles.

The stallion stared at the pool for a moment before stepping resolutely back from the edge.

"But you know, I think I'll pass. I'm sorry, my dears, but I've lived a happy and adventurous life as it is, and I don't want to change anything. After all, that's nature's way – a pony is born, lives, and when his time comes, he..."

But he wasn't allowed to finish. Suddenly he was shoved by two legs, and Shining stumbled and tumbled straight into the green slop.

"No way! I'm sorry, hubby, but we didn't have to go through all this planning to have you spinning tales of life and death," said Chrysalis, standing up on the edge of the cove.

"Yeah. We'd hoped you'd be more life-like. But since you're not ready to make that important choice..." said Cadence.

"We'll have to do it for you," ended Chrysalis.

Shining breached the surface, slathered in the goo. His face appeared visibly younger, the blue in his mane much brighter.

"Kha-ha! But-but-but," he protested. "This isn't right. It's not natural!"

"Oh, you're wrong, my dear. It's perfectly natural. At least for us. And you... well, you'll see in time how beautiful immortality is," Cadence said.

"Yeah, and we'll take it easy on you, as we promised, and let you rest now and then, as we've done for the past twenty years. And now it's time for you to take your place beside us again," said Chrysalis, looking at him from all sides. "Look, Twilight's lineup is working great. Well? Had enough of him?"

"No. He looks a little over forty years old, and I want to see a cute twenty year old version of him," Cadence declared and put her foot forward and dunked him again.

"Ugh!" The stallion gurgled loudly.

"Just don't overdo it. We don't want him to become a foal," the queen cautioned her, and Cadence, after waiting a few more seconds, magically pulled the Shining out of the pool.

The unicorn was covered in slime, but even so, she could see how much younger it had become.

"Perfect," Chrysalis said with a smile. "Our sweet, sweet stud is back to us again."

She licked her lips a few times.

"A stud that hasn't satisfied us physically for several years now," Cadence backed her up.

"Celestia dear; Not again," The stallion lowered his ears sadly.

"Yes. And now that you're young and full of energy, I suggest we go up to my old bedroom to catch up," said Chrysalis with a giggle.

"No!" said the Shining pleadingly.

"Yes!" said Cadence enthusiastically. "Oh, darling, we've waited so long for this."

"Yeah, many years, in fact," said Chrysalis. "We've been longing for your hard little friend."

"Indeed we have," she winked at the alicorn. "Of course, Chrissy's been filling in for you in your absence. But she needs a stallion, too, which means it's time our sweet Shiny was back in business."

"I was so sure I'd had enough," the unicorn exhaled, frightened.

"No, we're not letting you go that easily," Cadence said, grabbing him by the legs like a cave mare and mounting him on her back. "We're not going to let some miserable old mare with a scythe take you away from us. You will be with us from now on."

"Forever," Chrysalis smirked.

And they both headed for the door, dragging the struggling stallion behind them.

***

"And here we have a recreation area where you can rest and gather your strength before you meet the queen," an adult changeling with white armor and blue wings told the griffins as he escorted them into the spacious courtyard, where there was a flowering garden and a bar with refreshments.

"Thank you, kind sir," one of the ambassadors thanked him with a bow.

"I hope you enjoyed the tour?" Noble Blade asked him.

"Oh yes, it was very interesting. I did not think that I could be so interested in the culture of another race in my old age," the gryphon said, taking a seat in the easy chair beside the table.

"Glad to hear it," the changeling smiled. "Can I offer you anything else? Perhaps you'd like a little snack while you're resting?"

"Well, now that you mention it, I wouldn't mind a bit of a grub, if that's possible. Say, don't you have any meat? I've been craving meat since my recent visit to Canterlot."

"Certainly, Mr. Ambassador," Noble said, waving to his brother in the black shroud who had just lit a large roaster and was arranging sausages on the grill.

"Just a couple of minutes and you can enjoy our signature hot dogs," promised the white changeling.

At that moment there was a slight rumble and sounds of struggle from the side of the hive.

The stallion turned around and saw two tall mares, one of whom was his mother, in one of the crystal windows. They were dragging a struggling young unicorn up the steps.

"Oh, mother. I see she did manage to get daddy to take a dip in the pool, or else..." he grinned as he watched him cling to the crossbar, and both mares had to work hard to get him off, "She did it against his will. Yeah, I don't want to be on his shoes."

Soon the stallion's loud sighs and desperate cries began to be heard from the side of the high turret.

"No! No!" He cried.

"Hey, how are your hot dogs coming?" Asked the gryphon. "I am very hungry."

"Not much longer, Mr. Ambassador," the changeling chef answered. "They are almost ready, but I will turn up the heat now so you don't have to wait long."

He twisted the knob of the brazier and made the flames fly through the grate.

He slipped one of the sausages into the hot flames just as Shining let out his loudest and most desperate "No!" which was quickly drowned out by the soundproof barrier of pink and green waves around the tower.

"Have a good night, Papa," Noble wished him one last time, and turned to the ambassador with a smile.

Now it's really The Hot End.

*A reference to a fanfic titled: "A Changing Perspective: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Shell", in which queen Chrysalis turned Diamond Tiara into a changeling. I saw it three years ago, and I liked it a lot, for which it deserves a mention in my story.

Author's Note

Well, that's the end of this story, which I really hope you enjoyed. It wasn't easy to write it in my non-native language, but thanks to my own diligence and the invaluable help of people like Centurion Pike-Wall and nioniosbbbb, I made it, for which I am truly grateful, as well as all of you for your comments and support. Thank you so much, friends, for reading Family harmony and remember – Friendship is Magic!!!