If there was a way to paint the very concept of contentment, odds are that painting would resemble Fluttershy in the changeling nursery. The way she eased from cradle to cradle, coddling each hatchling to sleep before putting it to rest with a little kiss to the forehead flew in direct contradiction with the previous days of rushing between cradles like her life depended on it. Between this and the daycare, her love supplies were certainly taxed, but that didn’t change the fact that she was doing what she knew was right: caring for those she knew couldn’t care for themselves. Of course, the fact that she had a large stallion at her side who threw himself protectively over her if so much as a ladybug farted in her direction certainly helped.

“Switch!” She giggled. “I’m fine this time, promise!”

“I saw it! I saw it turn its butt right at you!” He said, still pinning her to the wall as his wings spread protectively around her. Behind them, perched atop the slimy lining of one of the cradles, sat a tiny ladybug. It tilted its head curiously.

“Hey, don’t gimme that look!” Switch turned from Fluttershy to level an accusing hoof at the bug. “You know what you were doing!”

“Switch please, you’re going to startle the foals!” Fluttershy whispered, picking up one of the hatchlings just as it began to stir.

“Ah…sorry, Flutters,” he sighed, lowering his head, though he shot a few more glares at the clueless ladybug out the corner of his eye. In lowering himself, he was now almost to Fluttershy’s eye level, but still he looked like a wounded puppy. “I…didn’t mean for any of that.”

“I know. But it’s okay because you’re sorry,” she said with a firm nod, tucking away the hatchling in her hooves. She sighed, gazing down at it contentedly, as Switch trotted up to her side.

“Y’know, I never really paid much attention to the hatchlings and nymphs until now,” he said, running a hoof absentmindedly over the edge of the goo-covered cradle.

“Oh, really?” Fluttershy asked, an ear perking as she turned to look at him.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’d defend ‘em to the death if needed, but for the most part I left them in the capable hooves of the nurses, y’know?” He shrugged, his gaze still locked on the hatchling. “I didn’t really give much thought to ‘em. It’s kinda like that bat I found: I’d give a helping hoof if I saw one in need, but I wasn’t going out of my way to have them around. Now, I’m kinda wondering if I should be asking for more nursery duty.”

She tilted her head at him. “That’s quite a difference, what changed?”

At that, his ears folded back. He cringed as if struck, and finally, he lifted his gaze from the hatchling, meeting her eyes. “You.” He said quietly.

Her heart stopped for a moment when his pale eyes (or eye, more specifically) locked with hers. There was something more in them, far more, than she’d seen in the eyes of any other creature. Even the warm love of friendship she saw in her friends fell short of this.

“Switch…” she said, moving in close with the massive stallion.

Before either could figure out what they were doing, Switch had fanned a wing over her shoulders. The translucent, insect-like wing on most changelings had struck fear in her before, but Switch’s wing was different. Comforting. Like a safe blanket she’d pull over herself during a thunderstorm.

“Fluttershy…” he whispered back, the wing now physically curling around her, pulling her warm, soft, fuzzy body to his carapace. They gazed into each other now, looking at one another again, really looking. Their snouts were tantalizingly close. Warm breath washed over their faces. Switch’s eyes drifted shut. Fluttershy’s followed suit. They slowly closed in.

“Switch!” The door slammed open. “I got it!” Bait grinned obliviously, his wide smile not even flinching as every hatchling in the nursery went into full nuclear-meltdown mode.

“Ohmygoodness…” Fluttershy gasped, immediately slipping from under Switch’s wing to tend to the nearest hatchling, cooing gently as she rocked it.

Rage could not begin to describe what Switch felt in that moment. If somepony had slid in, riding his mother’s dead corpse, praising Sombra while masturbating into an underaged filly’s face, the hatred he’d feel then still might not have equaled the raw fury coursing through his body in that moment. If the hatchlings around him hadn’t been crying before, they certainly would have been sent into tears by the aura of hatred oozing from every inch of chitin on his body. Gritting his teeth, he turned to the happily-smiling little changeling standing at the door, one eye twitching, flames spurting randomly from his leg-holes while he trembled. In a few steps, he loomed over Bait.

“YeS, litTlE buDDy, LIttLe frieND, LiTtle pal Of MiNE!?” He asked.

“I got approved for my own private investigation squad!” Bait replied, still smiling.

In a flash, the red faded from Switch’s eyes. His legs stopped spurting flames. The little demons in his head telling him to crucify his friend returned to the hopeless pits from whence they came. “Yo, for real?” He gasped, eyes wide.

“Yeah, for real!” Bait replied.

Switch’s face lit up. “Holy crap, man! That’s great! Someone’s finally taking you seriously on this stuff!”

“Not just someone! The Queen herself approved it!”

“Holy crap, dude! Holy crap!”

“And,” at this, Bait moved in closer, his grin spreading across his face. “Guess who I want on my special investigative squad?”

The grin spread like Hayseed Fever to Switch’s muzzle. “Dude, I’d love to…” Rather suddenly, he trailed off. His grin faded. He turned from Bait to peer back to Fluttershy, still tending to the hatchlings. “Uhhhh…”

Bait’s grin wavered. “What’s wrong? I thought you’d wanna be the first to catch those pricks!”

“Yeah, I do, and I wanna be there for ya, but…” he trailed off again, again turned to look at Fluttershy. “B-but…”

Bait’s brow furrowed. He followed Switch’s gaze. The moment his eyes fell on the butter-yellow pegasus, understanding bloomed in them. “Ohhhh…” he nodded. “Uh, do you have a moment where we can talk outside?”

Switch gulped loudly, “Hey, Flutters? I need t’step outside for a second, okay?”

“Sure, sure,” she said passively, her attention totally devoted to the swaddled hatchling in her hooves.

Nodding, Switch ushered Bait just outside, back into the hallway, quietly shutting the door behind him. “Okay, that looks good for now…so dude, I can’t really leave right now. I mean, I’d love to, buuutttt…”

Bait smirked. “Ahhh, I see, almost got her, you think?”

Switch looked away. Bait just smiled.

“Man, you gotta work faster than that, I’ve beat you there.”

Switch’s jaw dropped. “You and Pinkie…!?”

“Oh yeah!” He grinned. “I rocked her little pink world.”

“Shit man, you move fast! One date and suddenly you’re…”

At the mention of a date, Bait suddenly looked away. His hoof started rubbing bashfully into the ground. Switch blinked at the sudden change. “What’s wrong?”

“She…didn’t really see it as a date, and she thought the sex was just that.” He shook his head. “Sex.”

Switch’s jaw dropped. “And you let her!?”

“I mean, if that’s how she wants to look at it…”

“Dude, a mare like that is literally thrown at you, expresses an attraction in the most blatant way possible, and you’re gonna let her slip away!?”

“Well, what about you, tough guy!? How long’re you going to take to—“

“Oh, don’t you turn this around on me!” Switch interrupted, waving his hooves and letting out a hot breath through his nose. “Bait, you have everything you need for Pinkie! Everything is practically laid out for you!”

Bait looked away, scowled, and finally met Switch’s eye. “Everything but time.”

“What’re you—“

“When this is all said and done, whaddya suppose is gonna happen between her and me?” He asked, nose twitching to keep from twisting into a grimace. “We’re not gonna occupy the Crystal Empire forever, remember? We’ve almost got what we came here for.”

Switch’s legs dropped. His eyes widened.

“Yeah, didn’t think about that, huh?” Bait spat. “The only way we’re gonna get to be with them after all this is for the Queen to decide to take them with us as prisoners, and even if they’re not immediately traded as part of some negotiations deal, you think they’ll want anything to do with us? Even if all that happens and we, somehow, can still spend time with them, someday, they’ll get traded back, or their friends’ll bust ‘em out, or Equestria will step up the pressure to get them back, and you think they’ll choose our ugly mugs over all their family and friends when that happens?”

Switch’s head sank with every word. His massive shoulders slumped. “I just…” he started, swallowed, and tried again. “She’s everything I dreamed of in a mare…”

Bait’s expression softened as he took a seat in front of his friend. “I know,” he whispered. “But you had to realize from Day One that this wasn’t meant to be. They’re Element Bearers, and we’re changelings.”

“I did, man, I did…I just…I hoped…” he shook his head. “Pipe dreams.”

“Yeah.” Bait put on a thin smile, adding a playful jab to Switch’s shoulder. “But hey man, you got me! Just means we gotta go back to what we know, right?”

“Yeah…and just forget about them, right?”

Bait’s thin little smile faded. “Right…just, forget about ‘em.”

“Yeah,” Switch let out a long sigh that heaved his entire massive body, then he finally stood. “Alright, well, you gotta get to your investigatin’.”

“Yeah, I guess I do.” Bait said, standing with him. “I’ll…see ya when this is over, okay?”

“Okay.”

Bait turned and started trotting away. Switch watched him go, and cursed himself. Today was meant to be a special one for his friend, where all his dreams were finally going to come together. Instead, thanks to his own stupidity, it would just be a crushing disappointment. He shook his head. The damn thing was, Bait was right. Anything he could dream of with Fluttershy was bound to end with them being split up. He couldn’t ask her to leave behind her family and friends for a stallion she hadn’t even kissed yet. Maybe he should just gallop after Bait…

Nah. Maybe he could just enjoy what time he did have left with her. He nodded to himself. Sure. Sure, why not. He chuckled and finally got off the ground, turning back to the nursery. He had to force his hooves one in front of the other to carry him inside. Had he been paying attention, he would have noticed a few things off, like the fact that the hatchlings had all apparently fallen asleep again. That was a half-hour job for Fluttershy at least, and he’d been chatting with Bait for five minutes at most. Still, while the sheer eeriness of it all didn’t strike him, the fact that every hatchling was now snoozing away in their cribs eventually did.

“H-hey Flutters,” he said, looking around with the beginnings of a smile on his face. “You got them down fas—“

There was a blinding light. A purple flash. And then, nothing more except darkness.

Fluttershy knew she wasn’t a brave mare. Sure, she was on record for sticking her neck out for her friends, but those were extreme circumstances. Most other days, she knew just a loud noise would be enough to make her quiver in fear. Take now, for instance. One loud roar from a chunk of the floor collapsing, and she was still quivering in fear, even five minutes later, while being hugged by one of her best friends in the whole world.

“It’s okay, Fluttershy,” Twilight insisted, hugging the other mare to herself. Her horn still smoldered from the knockout bolt she’d just fired at Switch’s head. “It’s alright. You’re safe now, I promise.”

Fluttershy peeked up through her hooves. Rarity smiled back at her, alongside a whole host of stallions she thought she recognized from a very, very long time ago. “Girls?” She asked, finally peeking up from Twilight’s grip to see Rainbow Dash offering an encouraging smile. “What’re you doing here?”

“What’s it look like we’re doin’? We’re saving you!” Rainbow said. “This is a rescue mission, we’re gettin’ everypony out of here!”

“Oh-oh…” she blinked at that, turning at the minor tug at her wings as Twilight started pulling away the goop around them with her magic. “Oh-oh, w-wait…the hatchlings!” She gasped, turning to the nearest crib. “What did you do to the—“

“Just a sleep spell, Fluttershy,” Twilight said. “We just needed them to be quiet for a little bit while we made our escape.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow snorted. “Because busting in here through the floor was some super-spy stuff, Twi.”

“It is with the noise-muffling spell I cast on this room,” Twilight insisted, looking all around. “Unfortunately, I can’t keep it up while we go for Pinkie, I want all my magic focused for anything we might find, so everypony be quiet from this point on, okay?”

“I know how we could make sure these bugs stay quiet.” A mare Fluttershy recognized from town said. What was her name again? Flowers? Stem? Either way, the mare surveyed the room in a way that made Fluttershy nervous, and she unconsciously maneuvered herself between this newcomer and the nearest crib.

Twilight only shot a concerned look over her shoulder. “That…shouldn’t be necessary, Petalgrown. Just please take Fluttershy back to the warehouse. You’re the only other unicorn the group’ll have while the rest of us go for Pinkie, so please just go.”

The mare sneered, but nodded while Fluttershy’s ear perked.

“You’re going after Pinkie?” She asked while Twilight finished peeling the last bit of gunk off her wings.

“Just the rest of the Bearers,” Applejack insisted, scanning the hallway for anymore guards. “We’re the best and bravest in this bunch, so we’re the best t’find Pink and the Princess.”

“She’s right about that,” a stallion wearing a T-shirt that read “MY NAME IS STU” said.

“Especially on the ‘brave’ part,” another stallion insisted.

“Wait…then shouldn’t I come too?” Fluttershy asked.

Twilight turned to her, biting her lip. “Fluttershy…I appreciate that, really, but you’re still traumatized by what that monster—“

Before she could finish, Fluttershy’s teeth grit, her eyes blazing. “His name is Switch, Twilight. And he is not a monster.”

Twilight’s eyebrows shot up into her maneline. “Okay…Fluttershy…regardless, we just got you back. We’re…not taking any chances on them stealing you from us again.”

You didn’t have to be Applejack to see the lie there, or to notice Twilight mutter “Stocksholm Syndrome” out the corner of her mouth. But just then, Fluttershy had a thought: she would have to fight changelings if she went along with this. She would have to fight them all the while wondering if any of them were as big, as friendly, or as loving as Switch. She tried to envision herself swinging a punch at Switch’s face, and found it impossible. At least, not without tearing up.

She bit her lip and sniffled. “O-okay…you girls go on ahead. Save Pinkie.”

Twilight nodded. “Follow me girls,” she said to the others, then turned back to Fluttershy, her eyes big and moist. “We’ll be back soon, and we’ll all be together then, don’t worry.”

With that, the four mares all galloped out into the hallway. Fluttershy let out a shaky breath, her eyes lowering, falling over the unconscious changeling.

“Alright, c’mon,” the mare Twilight had called Petalgrown insisted, pushing her head roughly against Fluttershy’s side. “We got some ground to cover before we’re safe.”

“Wait…” she whispered. Petalgrown looked at her with her brow furrowed. Fluttershy carefully flapped over to the massive, unconscious changeling on the floor. She bit her lip. This was not how she envisioned her first time doing this with a stallion to go, but if he wasn’t awake for it, she supposed…

“Bye Switch,” she whispered, planting a kiss on the changeling’s forehead. “I hope I’ll see you again…and not have to fight you to save Equestria or anything.”

She pulled herself away, choking back tears. She turned, and the flash of anger on Petalgrown’s face when she looked up was almost enough to startle her into a terrified yelp. It was gone in an instant, not enough for the others to notice. Still, Fluttershy had to resist the urge to back away when the other mare inclined her head to the dark hole.

“Get in.” She said plainly. Fluttershy quivered, nodded, and eased her way into the hole with the stallions’ help. She cast one forlorn look at one of the hatchlings’ cribs, then she turned away down the darkened hall, swallowing her tears the entire time.