A change of heart

*Beep!*
'... change... bandage...'
*Beep!*
'No... danger...'
*Beep!*
' Drop the shield...'
*Beep!*
'No.'
*Beep!*
'Do... mister...'
*Beep!*
'... shy, why... looking at me...?'
*Beep!*
'Do it.'
*Beep!*
'Alright!'
*Beep!*

I... it smells delicious! This is kindness! I have to eat as much as I can!

"Get back!"

Blegh! Hate! Wait, the kindness is gone!

'Please, no!' I try to say, but I can only cough. Why is my throat so sore? I feel like I'm on fire. What is that beeping and why is it getting faster?

"What's wrong?" I heard somepony ask.

'I'm starving!' "Hun-hung-..."

"Hungry?"

I try saying something, nod, scream, anything! I can't!

"She's crashing!"

"Starv-" Work, mouth, work!

"She should have all the nutrients in the IV!" Some other pony says.

"Lo- lov-!" Come on! I-I can't hold on much more... i-if I faint now, I will never wake up again!

"Love?"

"Yes!" The word shreds my throat like red-hot iron blades, but I need love!

"See? It's evil!" I hear a male say. "It won't get anything!" No! Please no! I don't want to turn into a drone!

"She is crying and very obviously in pain!" Please... not like that...

"Sir, she will die if you don't let us act!" Whoever you are, please help. "As a doctor, I will not allow you to kill somepony through negligence!"

"Fine! But at the first sign of danger, I'm taking action!"

"Eagh!" Blegh! The hate is tainting everything! I have to do something! Argh! My leg! It hurts!

"Why is she screaming?" The owner of this voice... is feeling... sad...

"Hat-hate... spoils-..." I can't go further.

"Shining, stop!" Being hated to death is just as bad; it's poison for my body.

"You stop having pity on a monster!"

"... please." I say... might be the last thing I say...

Just as suddenly, the hate stops. I breathe deeply, trying to take in as much kindness as I can. I-I haven't felt something like this before!

"Twilight!" A male yells, I think I know the voice. "Take this down!"

"You are killing her!" A mare yells back.

"It deserves it!"

"Sir! Captain or not, I will have you removed from the hospital if you do not stand down!"

I... I feel better. I think I feel worry, compassion, and yes, a little pity. There is also dedication, duty... what's that? Oh, I think that's the smell of cleaning products. Hospital, huh?

The beeping is slowing down, and just now I'm noticing that it's synchronized to my heart. Kinda hypnotic. I think I can rest for now.

*****

The doctors and nurses hurried to remove the bandages around the changeling's foreleg and chest, her trashing while restrained having aggravated the cracks on her chitin and causing her to bleed profusely again. There was little they could do beyond staunch the bleeding with magic, having no knowledge about treating the armor with anything other than time and disinfectant.

"You will never, ever say something like that again! You hear me!?" Fluttershy was Staring right at Shining Armor for the second time in as many minutes, the hardened soldier finding it surprisingly difficult to ignore her eyes. "Forget about the answers we could get, forget about how we feel about them, it doesn't matter! I will NOT allow you to hate somepony to death!"

Shining Armor tensed, trying to overcome the feeling of dread that rooted his body to the spot.

"All life is important!" Fluttershy yelled at his face, never taking her eyes from his. "What they did was wrong, but that doesn't mean you can kill them! You will not- I repeat- you will! Not! Hurt! Her! Understood?!"

"But it could-"

"She." The yellow pegasus corrected, and the white unicorn felt his will buckle under the strain.

"She could try to hurt us." He managed to get out. He felt... upset, just upset - the mare half his weight having somehow dowsed his anger - over the fact that everypony seemed to be against him.

"She will do nothing more energetic than wiggle in her restraints." The doctor chided him once more, changing a bandage around the sleeping changeling's head. "That is, if she doesn't want to lose her leg and bleed to death."

Fluttershy broke eye contact, and the stallion shook his head to regain his bearings. Shining Armor gritted his teeth, ears pressing against his head, feeling like the only pony with a whit of common sense in a madhouse.

The medic threatened to expel him, the guards and the Elements of Honesty and Loyalty promised to help, Fluttershy doing... whatever the hell she had done.

And his sister -his sister- had momentarily encased him in a forcefield.

That was the one that stung the most. He was trying to protect her!

"Shining, please, princess Celestia asked us to learn what we can from this changeling. You can't just kill i-her." Twilight corrected herself at the last second, though she could have done without the knowledge that the doctors had 'inspected' the changeling prisoner that closely. And she wished she could forget about the comments about her 'bits'.

"I'm trying to protect all of you!" He hissed, leaning forward slightly but retreating quickly when he saw Fluttershy's ear twitch.

"You can't do anything with that attitude." Twilight shot back. "And unless you forget, we are many more than her."

"What about her magic?"

"Even if changelings could get through the suppressor, and she were skilled to do so even if she weren't..." The doctor gently patted the changeling in the head, close to the jagged, sharp horn surrounded by a bandage and a rune-engraved silver ring. "She is in no condition to cast anything; her horn is nearly completely broken at the base. In unicorns, recovery could take weeks, if not months. We have determined that changeling horns are made of alicorn, just like a unicorn's, so the treatment is the same."

"Shining. Stop, that was just grasping at straws." Twilight demanded. "You're being irrational, ever since you heard about the changeling in here you've been too aggressive and short with everypony; I know you are still hurt, but revenge isn't going to help anypony."

Shining Armor... sighed in defeat. "You're right. This is an opportunity we can't waste. These green bugs-"

"Red." Rainbow Dash interrupted.

"What?"

"This changeling is red." Dash pointed at the small part of the barrel what wasn't covered. Indeed, red chitin could be seen peeking through. "You mean you've been so set on taking your anger out on her that you didn't even notice her color? It's been three days."

The Captain of the Royal Guard-turned prince did a double take.

"I didn't see any red changelings in the attack." He said dumbly. "Or any color that wasn't green and black."

"And yet ponies said she came from the direction of Canterlot."

"Fine, I-I'll calm down." Shining Armor sighed and released tension on his shoulders that he hadn't realized was there.

Twilight smiled sadly. She loved Shiny, she truly did, but she knew he shouldn't really be here. She couldn't understand why Celestia hadn't ordered him to go away yet, or stopped him from virtually bullying his way through the guards already assigned. He simply was too emotionally involved to think clearly.

Not that she wasn't involved, too, but at least she wasn't spouting death threats and saying that the changeling deserved to bleed to death on a hospital bed.

*****

Uh... I don't feel too good. And the beeping is back. Joy.

"Easy there, you have lost some blood." I hear somepony, and felt a light touch on my shoulder. I feel a trickle of... care.

OK.

I try opening my eyes, and I'm pleased to say that there is no blinding light there to greet me. It's covered by the shadow of an unicorn stallion.

"Don't move, you are injured; we don't want you to hurt yourself further with your restraints, either."

I'd say I'd rather not be here, but other than a little bit of apprehension I feel honest concern from him so... what the hell, I'll take it easy. I can't feel any more changelings in the area, so I must be blocked off from the exterior by something semi-magic-proof, be it on my horn or in these sterile-white walls around me.

There is still a flow of hate fouling up everything, but I don't feel like it's going to make me sick just yet.

I blink and... notice one of my eyes isn't opening.

"Band-age?" I manage to say. He thought about it for a second, trying to catch the meaning of my words... err, word.

"Around your horn, head, torso and foreleg." The caramel-colored stallion said. That explains it, I must have a bandage over my eye. I hope. I can still feel it's there, at the least.

Speaking of eyes, I think I can retract my lens - it's not like I'm going to use a disguise anytime soon.

The move earned a gasp from the doctor.

"Look at that, she has eyes like the queen's!" Some other pony said.

I turn and see... the six mares that were captured while running towards some build- oh! Right! Shining Armor's sister and her fr- aww, drat. Wait, that white and blue unicorn...

Friggin' hell...

No wonder everything is tainted with hate.

"How... long." I break into a cough, and the unicorn doctor helpfully gives me a glass of water, placing a hoof on me to stop me from moving. I must be quite the mess.

"You have been here five days." No wonder I was so weak.

"Others?" I ask, and he just shook his head. So I'm the only one that was captured? Embarrassing.

"Start talking, changeling." Shining Armor barked, and I could feel the hate radiating from him.

"You hate me... you're poisoning me. Why should I give you... anything?"

"Because he's going to control himself and hear you out, right, brother?" A purple unicorn with a starburst cutie mark said, glaring slightly at the recently-wedded unicorn.

"Fine." He said, but he did not even try to reign in his emotions.

The lavender mare made a bunch of signals... I think she's asking for everypony to be quiet. She pulled out a quill and notepad and prepared herself.

"Why did you invade?" Well, nopony can say that was unexpected.

"I... I think the power went to her head." I said. "We've been at the edge of starvation for so long... I think Queen Chrysalis got it in her head that we could get more."

"Starvation?" A canary yellow pegasus asks, and I think that my interrogator must have thought the same thing, since she didn't do anything.

"For love, yeah... more and more changelings are turning into drones lately." I sigh.

"And... that is bad." She said, obviously wanting me to go into further detail.

"Food helps keep our bodies healthy, but without love? The body consumes what it can to support itself. Our Spark degrades into nothing." I said, and a brief silence comes over. I need to explain this? "We lose our minds and wills."

That shocked... pretty much all of them; Shining Armor forgot to hate me for a moment there. The yellow mare starts tearing up, and a pink earth pony hugs her to console her. The pegasus then released huge waves of compassion, directed at me, and radiating everywhere.

This is crazy! Everypony felt the same! Even Shining Armor gave a wisp of pity. The prize still goes to the crying yellow mare, though.

"I-I had no idea..." The lavender mare... Twilight something... nearly dropped the notepad.

I was feeling better by the minute - sure, if the way the doctor acted was any indication, I was a mess... I don't dare to move. Nope, I won't move until I'm told it's safe.

"The name of the changeling queen is Chrysalis?" She asked, trying to steady her trembling quill.

I nod. I miss being under Queen Concordia...

"And... yours?" I.. huh... I guess that with all the excitement we forgot the introductions.

"Iridescence." Then the unicorn (Twilight Sparkle) presented herself and her friends. A rainbow-maned pegasus called Rainbow Dash, an orange earth pony mare called Applejack, a pink earth pony called Pinkie Pie, a white unicorn called Rarity, and the pink-maned pegasus that was supplying me with kindness was called Fluttershy.

She pointed at her brother, but I spoke before she could say it.

"Shining Armor. Chrysalis wouldn't shut up about how sweet he was." He snarled at me, and a wave of hate made me gag.

"Big brother, stop..." Twilight pleaded, and he just huffed and turned away slightly, but kept an eye on me.

Like if I was in any condition to do anything.

The door opened, and in strode Princess Celestia.

Oh goodie, as if I wasn't in deep enough trouble.

Twilight beamed, and warmly greeted the princess of the sun. And then she returned the greeting and said 'my faith student' and I felt dizzy with the implications.

The white, regal princess turned to look at me... and her face was neutral. Her emotions were very neutral too, but I could feel a little disapproval coming from her. She stood to full height and her wings opened to hit me with the entirety of her imposing presence.

"So this is the red changeling? I hope you are feeling better." She sa- wait, red? Oh... right, I don't have a connection anymore, so Chrysalis's magic must have ran out inside of me.

"A little." I manage to squeak out.

"I am princess Celestia, what is your name?"

"I-Iridescence." I am dead. I am so dead!

"Is your foreleg better?" She asks with a little genuine concern in her voice.

"I-I don't know, I don't want to look."

She hummed. Gulp. "Well, it seems your armor there broke quite severely, and so did your chest and horn."

"M-my horn?! I thought I was just-just blocked!" I-I can't- I mean, I am going- I need to breathe, I can figure out how long it'll take- STUPID BEEPING!

"Calm down!" She said, actually a little worried. "It's partial!"

"I- partial?" I must resist. I must not look.

"Your horn did not break off." I- alright, breathe. Deep in, slow...

She cleared her throat, so I focused my attention back on her. She gave me a few moments to recover.

"Why is it that there were no reports of red changelings, yet you flew in from Canterlot?" S-straight to the point! S-she is- I hope I'm not getting into any more trouble.

"I-I wasn't born under Chrysalis's house." I said, and the princess raised an eyebrow. She looked over to Twilight, and she whispered 'the name of the queen'.

"Is Chrysalis queen of all changelings?"

"No."

"You have a queen of your 'house'?"

"Yes."

"So, why follow another?"

"Uh... well, Chrysalis's house started gaining more power, so the other five sent her workers so that we might get more resources, and also in exchange of love so neither we nor the rest of the houses have to starve."

Twilight passed her notes to the princess, and I could feel the horror that she felt! She gasped and her eyes widened upon reading the fate that befell so many of my brethren, her demeanor changing drastically for those few moments.

"So... When I was taken in, we had to change our colors to hers, but I guess I ran out of her magic." I shuddered. "I nearly starved there."

I felt... a little compassion coming in. I guess we were wrong about most things about ponies, then. Princess Celestia sighed, then regained her composure. I can still feel her emotions a little bit... she's good at hiding them, it seems.

"So, this 'Queen Chrysalis' acted of her own accord?"

"I... I think? The whole 'invasion' thing was done five days before the wedding, so I guess?"

"You planned a whole invasion in five days?!" Twilight screeched, making me wince.

"T-the plan to feed off them was older, and didn't involve anypony getting hurt or anything!" I said, and Shining Armor's hate rekindled.

"Then what happened!?" He yelled at me, and I-I think I'm going to vomit...

"Shining Armor." The princess made him stand back just with his name.

"I-I think she liked it... a lot... I mean, even queens run short on food lately. Going from scarcity to such abundance so suddenly must have been too much for her, and she got greedy. Every house had to rotate their gatherers." I shake my head lightly, and can feel a restraint tugging my neck, but it was placed over bandages so I didn't notice before. "I was sent scouting from time to time, and got drafted for the invasion! I-I wasn't supposed to leave the hives! I just- that's not what I do!"

I think- AGH! My leg! I can't even bring my hooves to my face! The chain is too short!

Twilight levitates a paper tissue to me and wipes away my tears... I can't even do this? Why not throw me in a dungeon already?

"What did you do?" Princess Celestia waited until my sniffling died down to ask things again, how considerate.

"Ponies might not be comfortable discussing most of those things." I reply. And it's true, I doubt they want to learn about changeling... what do ponies call it? Birds and... something, I think it's a bug.

"Hmm... what could you tell us?"

"Uh... I sometimes took care of the young... I recounted the old tales, and sometimes even scary stories, like about Discord."

The ponies shuddered... is that a hint of disgust coming from the princess?

"Well, I'd tell them he was sealed by the Elements of Harmony, and invariably some would ask me what would happen if he were to return..."

"Ha!" Dash scoffed. "If he returns, we'll just get the Elements and seal him again!"

Why is the princess feeling panic? And why is Dash so confident?

"You talk as if you could just go fetch them at will - they've been lost for nearly three thousand years! They got scattered through the world when Queen Harmony died using the Love Crystal and the Elements to defeat Discord!"

"Liar!" Shining Armor yells again! Stop it with the hate! "Princess Celestia and her sister defeated Discord!"

"Shining Armor! Stop!" The princess ordered, and Shining Armor was taken aback... but...

Wait... wait! "No... that can't be..."

"Iridescence..."

"You were there." I said, and even through her stony facade I can see the anxiety in the princess's eyes. "The reason we never found them was because, when Queen Harmony died... you stole the Elements from her."