The door to Cheerilee's home glows green for a moment, swinging open to allow Cheerilee and Big Mac inside. As they walk into the darkened house, Cheerilee's horn glows again from her place on Big Mac's back, first flicking the light switch next to the door to bring visibility to the room around them and then pushing the door closed behind them.

Big Mac stops in the middle of the room, smiling slightly as he turns his head to look at the changeling holding on to him, "So are you gonna get off, or were ya plannin' on ridin' me all the way to yer bed?"

Cheerilee blushes at his words and allows her grip to loosen, sliding down the left side of his barrel to land sprawled on the floor next to him. Big Mac watches her stretch and let loose an enormous yawn from her place on the floor, his amused smile fading into neutrality, the ends of his mouth sloping slightly downwards. Standing, Cheerilee looks over at him, however he averts his eyes uncomfortably, instead looking at the photos adorning the wall to his right.

"Mac?" Cheerilee asks uncertainly, "Is something wrong?"

Big Mac glances down at the floor then back at her, "Ah was just thinkin'. You know, with everything that's happened and how our relationship has been progressin', maybe… maybe it would be a good idea if we took a bit of a break."

Cheerilee's chest tightens, her ears drooping along with her mood, "I-I guess… if that's what you want… " She pokes at the floor, "Do you know how long you'll need before you decide if you-"

"Wait, hold on," Big Mac interrupts embarrassedly, waving his hooves in front of his chest, "that uh… Ah may have chosen mah words poorly." He inhales deeply, then exhales, "What Ah mean is, we've been movin' forward with our relationship and Ah'm fine with that, but things are different now what with you bein' a bugpony and all. And Ah don't mean to say anythin' about that one way or another; what Ah mean to say is that there's a whole 'nother side to you that Ah didn't even know existed, and Ah want to learn about that part a' you before anythin' else happens."

Relieved, Cheerilee smiles and nods, "Alright, what do you want to know?"

Big Mac shrugs exhaustedly, "Ah'm not even sure yet, but what Ah do know is Ah'm dead tired and we're gonna need as much rest as we can get for meetin' with the Princesses. Speakin' a which," he gestures at the green loveseat along the wall behind Cheerilee, "d'ya mind if Ah take over yer couch for the night?"

"Err… why?" Cheerilee asks, her brow attempting to knit in confusion though her chitin mostly prevents it. "I mean, it's not a problem, but wouldn't you rather sleep on your own bed at Sweet Apple Acres?"

Big Mac's eyes harden, "Because Ah saw how some ponies were lookin' at you when we were leavin', and it wasn't too friendly – kinda the opposite in fact."

"I didn't notice," Cheerilee says sadly, glancing out at the town through her front window. "You can use my bed instead of the couch if you want."

Big Mac shakes his head, "No, this is your house; you should sleep in yer own bed."

"I don't actually use it much any more," Cheerilee replies, looking back at him. "Would-um… would you like to see where I really sleep?"

"Well… " Bug Mac yawns and rolls his shoulders, curiosity taking the opportunity to overrule his tiredness. "Sure, why not? Ah figure Ah've got about half an hour before Ah keel over and start snorin' on yer floor, might as well use it."

Cheerilee giggles as she heads towards her bedroom, "It won't take half an hour, I promise."

Following Cheerilee into her sparsely decorated bedroom containing little more than a neatly made bed, a nightstand, and a lamp, Big Mac stands with her in front of her closet. Cheerilee's horn glows green for a few seconds along with the closet door, the two sources of green light vanishing after a heavy clunk signals the closet has been unlocked. The door opens and the pair walk inside; the unusually large closet housing a couple dresses, two sets of three horseshoes, a few pairs of earrings in an open jewelry box, a necklace hanging from a pants hanger, and a tunnel big enough to fit a pony through in the center of it all.

Big Mac blinks, staring down the hole, "Huh."

Cheerilee laughs, "Yeah, not exactly what you were expecting, I'd imagine."

Big Mac chuckles, "Eenope."

"Well come on," Cheerilee says, entering the tunnel with ease.

Following her, Big Mac lowers his head and bends his knees so he can fit, the added friction from the tunnel's crampedness becoming a benefit as his hooves slip on the smooth black material it's made of. Almost immediately after he fully enters the tunnel it turns sharply to the left, sloping steeply down for another 20 feet before turning left again and opening up into a decent sized room made from the same dark material as the tunnel.

Big Mac stands and decompresses himself, his mane rubbing up against the ceiling as he looks around. A weak breeze moves across his body and pushes at his mane, the gently flowing air cool, but not unpleasantly so. Four glowing green globs of goo draw his immediate attention, the luminescent material wedged into the seam between the wall and ceiling to provide the circular room with warmth and a dim light, each one placed an even distance from the two on either side. Against the wall to his right are two plain black jars seemingly made from the same material as the floor, walls, and ceiling, the elongated cubes a little wider than his hoof and nearly as tall as Cheerilee's shoulder. Across the room from him is a small alcove carved into the wall holding several books, a shelf-like table extending from the wall next to it and two smaller glowing green half-spheres fused to the wall about a foot above the table. Between him and the books the floor rises slightly with what appears to be a sliced open pod placed in its center, the hard blackness of the floor covering its outside suddenly changing to an unlit green material on the inside.

"Kinda dark," Big Mac comments. "And… green."

Cheerilee exhales sharply, "Yeah, we can see better in the dark than most ponies, and I was the only one who was ever meant to be down here."

"Interestin'." Big Mac experimentally taps the floor with a hoof, "Did ya make this all yerself?"

Cheerilee shakes her head, "No, I got it as a reward for… uh… " she looks at him hesitantly, "for being a very successful gatherer. B-But I wasn't using you for the reward or anything, e-even in the beginning. We just started seeing each other, a-and that was wonderful, and then the builders just showed up one day and they were half done before I got back from the schoolhouse and-"

Big Mac steps in front of her, raising a hoof to her lips to interrupt her run-on sentence, "Ah understand. Well, kinda. Honestly though, if Ah was gonna be upset about the whole emotion eatin' thing Ah already woulda been." He chuckles, lowering his hoof, "Ah'm a bit flattered, actually. Ah really made so much of a difference that they sent some ponies to dig out this room for ya?"

"Oh, um, yeah," Cheerilee replies, a bit flustered. "We can feed on ambient emotions well enough, but emotions that are specifically directed at us, that are… for us, are much more potent."

Her mouth opens as if to say something else, however after a moment it closes instead and she frowns. Big Mac raises an eyebrow, waiting patiently.

"How are you so… ok… with this?" Cheerilee asks eventually, waving her hoof at the room, "All of this. I mean you've just found out your marefriend is secretly a changeling who's been feeding on your emotions to the point that she even got a whole room built for her as a reward, and you're just so… calm."

"Well," Big Mac says, sitting down, "the way Ah figure it, ever since you came into mah life Ah've felt a lot of things that Ah wouldn't a' felt otherwise, and Ah'm happier for it. Wouldn't trade it fer anythin'. So if you need to take a bit a' that back so you and yer family can survive, then Ah can't rightly think of a reason to object. Ah am-" a yawn breaks into his sentence, and he stretches before continuing, "Ah am a bit disappointed you didn't feel like you could tell me, but-" he hold up a hoof to prevent Cheerilee from speaking, "but we can talk about that another time. Ah may have over-estimated myself when Ah said half an hour."

Cheerilee smiles and nods, "Right."

She walks over to her sleeping pod and turns to Big Mac, "Good night, McIntosh."

"Night Cheerilee," Big Mac replies, bobbing his head before walking into the tunnel.

Stepping into her pod, Cheerilee's hoof sinks into its soft insides, the surface glowing and warming slightly to the pressure. With a sigh she lowers herself into its gentle embrace, pushing her shell into one side while the other holds her hooves snug against her barrel, the soothing heat seeping through her chitin as she drifts off to sleep.

Consciousness returns to Cheerilee seemingly an instant later and she rolls in place onto her back, stretching her legs towards the ceiling and letting out a contented chirp as the cool air passes through the holes in her appendages to quickly bring them to room temperature. After lying there for a few minutes dozing on the edge of sleep, she stands, regretfully leaving the warmth of her pod behind. Heading over to the room's exit, she walks up the tunnel and back towards the surface, her hooves holding onto the smooth, sloped surface easily despite the opposing pull of gravity. Exiting her closet, she cocks her head at the empty bed then rolls her eyes and makes her way into the main room of the house; however she is unable to find Big Mac there either, her couch entirely unoccupied and lacking so much as an indentation to indicate he had ever lain there. Frowning, she leaves her home, squinting in the bright light of the noonday sun.

Desertion greets her, not a soul in sight as she scans the small part of Ponyville in front of her. Tasting the ambient emotions of the town goes no better, an utter void greeting her instead of the usual pleasant background emanations. Desperate to find the slightest hint of leftover feelings, she closes her eyes, her horn glowing ever so slightly green as she attempts to forcibly drain any residual emotions towards her. And yet, she finds nothing. Opening her eyes, she looks around at Ponyville again, shivering as a sense of foreboding settles inside her. The town is empty.

Emotionless.

Dead.

And silent. She stiffens and stands taller, fear coursing through her as she realizes the quiet of her own mind, the constant background hum of her distant brothers and sisters only now unmistakably missing.

Alone.

Suddenly a cloyingly sweet voice calls out from her left, "Hey look, it's the bug!"

Her head jerks towards the source of the voice, and she sees Silver Spoon standing not ten feet from her.

All alone.

The door to her house slams shut behind her and she jumps nearly a foot in the air, whirling around in time to hear it lock with an unusually loud *click*. Trembling, Cheerilee turns back to look at Silver Spoon, only to instead find a large crowd forming a 180 degree arc in front of her. Screeching in surprise she stumbles back, however instead of falling against her sturdy wooden door she passes through empty air. Looking up at where her house should be, she instead finds the other half of the circle, a wall of ponies now surrounding her entirely. Reaching out once more, she attempts to get a sense of the crowd's intent, but again she finds nothing. Then, for the first time, she notices their faces.

Expressions emotionless.

Eyes empty.

In unison they step forward, shrinking the circle as they unblinkingly focus on one thing.

Her.

Cheerilee's breath hitches as she waits for them to advance further, however they simply stand there, as if waiting for something. Without warning a cinder of hatred appears behind her, no more than a spark, yet blazing like a star within the pitch black of an empty universe. She gulps, the sensation of the poison burning at her mind disturbingly pleasant against the backdrop of the void surrounding her. Slowly, she turns around, her eyes resting on its source.

"Hi Cheerilee!" Diamond Tiara greets her, grinning maliciously, "I just thought you'd like to know that the Cutie Mark Crusaders finally got their cutie marks."

Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Applebloom fade in from the crowd to flank Diamond Tiara, her grin becoming impossibly wide, "And would you look at that, they fit the situation perfectly."

Cheerilee's eyes slowly move to Applebloom's flank, flicking next to Scootaloo's, then Sweetie Belle's, each one emblazoned with the cutie mark of a pest pony.

The three fillies walk towards her, as emotionless as the rest of the crowd as they pull out their gear – Applebloom a can of bug spray, Scootaloo a bug zapper light, and Sweetie Belle a finely woven net.

Diamond Tiara facehoofs, shaking her head, "No, no, no! That won't do at all!"

The Cutie Mark Crusaders pause at her words as their equipment fades and warps; Applebloom's bug spray turning into a pressurized cannister of acid, Scootaloo's bug zapper transforming into a branding iron, and rusted barbed wire snaking itself into Sweetie Belle's net.

"Much better!" Diamond Tiara says gleefully, clapping her hooves together. She points at Cheerilee, "Get her."

The crowd jerks into motion, closing in on her just behind the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

"Sorry Miss Cheerilee," Sweetie Belle apologizes.

"Yeah," Applebloom continues, "but unfortunately we can't just let bugs like yerself infest our town."

"But if it makes you feel any better, this will hurt you a lot more than it will hurt us," Scootaloo finishes.

As the words leave Scootaloo's mouth, the situation finally, truly, registers in Cheerilee's brain and she screams. Bending her knees she jumps into the air to fly away, however instead of feeling the wind rushing against her face she crashes to the ground, her wings missing. Switching gears, she tries to transform, focusing with all her might on the form of Rainbow Dash, however the green flames flicker and die rather than consuming her body to leave her crumpled and flightless on the ground. The Crusaders stand impossibly tall above her and raise their weapons, smiles flitting across their faces as they watch Cheerilee's mouth open in a silent scream.

"BE… GONE!!!"

Pure white light blazes across her nightmare, annihilating everything to leave her floating in a sea of ethereal calm. As her awareness fades, she vaguely feels another presence hovering next to her while something else looses a horrible, alien wail, the sound shoving her over the edge and into oblivion.

Cheerilee's eyes snap open and her coiled legs thrash about, popping her out of her pod and onto the floor. Her freed wings automatically buzz to life and she quickly rises into the air – only to smack into the low ceiling, the blow dazing her further and upsetting her already tenuous balance. Swerving to her right she careens straight into the wall, the impact stopping her wings cold and letting her crash back to the floor.

Lying panting on the floor, rationality finally manages to reassert itself and she takes stock of her surroundings, her body giving small involuntarily twitches from the leftover adrenaline coursing through her, the utter calm of her room a welcome change from the nightmarish scene she had just escaped. Listening carefully, she can once more hear the hum of her family as well, their worry obvious. An electric tingle spreads through her body as she feels her queen also take notice.

I am fine, Cheerilee thinks to herself, doing her best to send calmness back across the link.

Her queen's attention lingers, clearly not convinced, but eventually Cheerilee feels her queen's focus shift elsewhere though her confusion remains.

Raising herself into a sitting position, Cheerilee reaches out to sample the emotions in the air, sighing in relief when she feels something instead of nothing. As she sits basking in the wonderfulness of normalcy, another emotion tingles across her senses and she absorbs it greedily, the familiar love a delightful counter to her fading memories of the nightmare.

Standing unsteadily, she follows it up the tunnel, fear pulsing through her as she sees her bed is again empty. However as she continues into the main living area her fear subsides, her eyes resting on Big Mac's softly snoring form on her couch. Buzzing her wings, she rises into the air to hover over him, gently worming her right front and back hoof between him and the couch as she carefully lowers herself. Her cuddling maneuver successful, she rests her head on his neck just above his shoulder and closes her eyes.

One of Big Mac's eyes opens after a minute and he glances back to watch Cheerilee's breathing calm and deepen, a small smile dancing on his lips before his barrel expands in a deep sigh and he shifts slightly, his eye closing as sleep claims him again.

Big Mac's ears twitch, the telltale slap of two thick liquids impacting each other drawing him from his dreamless slumber. His eyelids rise lethargically and he glances around the room, unable to even work up the motivation to raise his head to better survey his surroundings, the grey and washed out colors of the world around him matching his state of mind perfectly. The noise repeats itself, though the spark of curiosity it brings is quickly buried under vague concern as he realizes that dawn has already come and gone. Force of habit alone gets him off the couch, and once standing he pauses before languidly making his way towards the only other place his clouded mind can think to go.

Following the source of the noise to the kitchen, Big Mac's eyes drift over to rest on Cheerilee, disinterestedly observing her head hanging over a black jar identical to the ones from her underground room. Noticing his presence, she attempts to say something, however her body interrupts her and she clutches the jar tighter as more fluid is ejected from her mouth to join her previous upheavals.

Once she finishes with the latest round of vomiting, she rests her head on the rim of the jar, light glinting off fresh tears, "Mac… I'm s-so sorry."

Big Mac frowns at her words and at the scene in front of him, the colors of the room around him seeming to brighten as worry filters through his sluggish mind, "Do you… need anythin'… ?"

"Water," Cheerilee croaks, her throat parched despite liquid having recently passed through it.

Big Mac nods, trudging over to right a large cup lying toppled on the counter beside her from which water drips down the cabinets and onto the floor, refilling it to the brim before offering it to Cheerilee. Unable to maintain enough concentration to hold the cup in her magic, Cheerilee grabs it desperately with her hooves, water sloshing over the sides as it trembles in her grasp followed by even more overflowing from her mouth as she chugs the entire thing. Dropping the cup roughly to the floor, she almost immediately begins puking again, more green slime leaving her to join the rest at the bottom of the jar while Big Mac refills her cup and holds her mane out of the way.

After nearly 20 minutes Cheerilee's symptoms ease and she leans back tiredly, panting and surrounded by puddles of splashed water as she rests against the cabinet, eyes closed. Big Mac sits calmly next to her, exploring his newfound state of emotional numbness with detached interest while he waits for her to speak.

A few minutes later Cheerilee inhales deeply and opens her eyes, the resulting sigh interrupted by a wet cough as she stands and expels strands of green-tinged phlegm into the sink.

Sitting heavily, she turns to Big Mac, guiltily glancing at him then dropping her gaze to the floor, "H-How… how do you feel?"

Big Mac's brow knits as he considers the question, "Ah feel… less. Like a sponge that's been squeezed too many times."

"I-I'm sorry," Cheerilee apologizes, her voice quavering and ears splaying. "I-I didn't – I never m-meant to… "

Big Mac looks at her expectantly, voicing his unasked question when it remains unanswered, "What happened?"

"I had a nightmare. At least, I think I did; it matches what I've read about them but I've never had a dream before, I shouldn't be able to, but I don't know what else it could have been," Cheerilee shivers as bits and pieces filter through her hazy memory.

Big Mac looks at her oddly, "You've never had a dream before? Ever?"

Cheerilee swallows, shaking her head, "I-I – we – that is, Changelings, have a link we share with each other. We can't send words or thoughts or anything like that, but we can always feel what the rest of the hive is feeling, we know that our Queen is watching over us, and when we sleep we kind of… it's like the hive is an ocean, and I'm submerged just below the surface. There's no light though, or sound, or anything, but there's still… something. Something really important. I'm not sure how else to describe it. This though, this was horrible. I thought I had woken up, but the house was empty and the town was empty, and then I realized I couldn't feel the hive anymore and I couldn't feel anypony's emotions either and I was so alone." Tremors wrack Cheerilee's body, tears streaming down her face, "And then ponies started showing up, but I still couldn't feel their emotions and you still weren't there, and then there was… something… hatred… but everything else I-I don't… remember… "

Big Mac attempts to put a leg around her shoulders, but she shrugs him off. He persists however, embracing the smaller pony and pulling her up against his chest while she sobs, the colors of the room around him seeming to warm as he comforts her.

"And then… I woke up," Cheerilee eventually manages to continue. "Really woke up, and I could feel the hive again and I could sense your love and I just wanted to feel something else, anything else. A-And I didn't mean to, but I took more than I should have. More than either of us could handle. I'm sorry."

"So, the way Ah am now, is it permanent?" Big Mac asks after a moment.

"No," Cheerilee replies, sniffling. "It'll get better over time, and strong emotional triggers help. You should be fine after bucking apple trees for a few hours and some sleep."

Big Mac nods and sighs, relieved.

Gently extracting herself from Big Mac's forelegs, Cheerilee returns to the black jar, putting its lid on and shoving it into the cabinet under the sink with a grunt.

Big Mac watches her curiously, "So what're you plannin' on doing with all a' that, anyway?"

"It'll be picked up and sent back to my hive at some point," Cheerilee replies, the cabinet door clicking shut as a pair of magnets, one on the top corner and one on the bottom, pull it out of her hoof and across the last centimeter of space. "In about a week, I think."

Big Mac gestures at the closed cabinet, "So the green stuff you were pukin' up, that was all the emotions you took while Ah was asleep?"

"Well, not all of them," Cheerilee answers, wincing but silently grateful for the lack of accusation in his voice. "It's kind of similar to bees, if that helps. I'm a gatherer, so I eat some of the emotions I collect, but everything extra gets digested and stored in my second stomach. Then every day or so I uh… regurgitate it into one of these jars, which is then picked up and sent back to the hive."

"Huh," Big Mac says simply, after a few seconds giving her a once over then exhaling sharply, smiling.

Cheerilee frowns, "I'm serious, that's what happens."

"Wasn't that," Big Mac replies, shaking his head, "Ah was just thinkin'. So goin' with yer bee analogy, you're the bee."

"Yes," Cheerilee confirms.

"And mah emotions are the nectar."

"Yes."

"Which would make me the flower."

"That's uh… not a word I would usually use to describe you, but I suppose."

A snicker worms its way from Big Mac's mouth, "So, Ah feel Ah have to ask; you aren't plannin' on coverin' yerself in mah 'pollen' and spreadin' it around to other 'flowers', are you?"

Cheerilee slowly blinks once, then again, her entire face lighting up a bright green by the third blink as the pieces of Big Mac's question fall into place. She shakes her head rapidly and crosses her forelegs to form an X in front of her chest, embarrassed chittering making its way out of her mouth instead of intelligible words. Big Mac's laughter meanwhile reverberates through the house, a grin remaining plastered across his face even after it fades to an occasional chuckle.

"The similarities don't go that far," Cheerilee eventually manages once her brain recovers enough to speak Equestrian. Delicately, she absorbs a small amount of his emotional outburst, "How are you feeling?"

"Better," Big Mac responds, wiping leftover tears from his eyes. "Tired, but better. Ah guess laughter sometimes really is the best medicine. Still," his smile fades somewhat, "this isn't somethin' that's gonna keep happening, right?"

Cheerilee straightens, "No! No. Never again. It should never have happened in the first place, for a couple of reasons, but it'll never happen again and I'm really sorry that it happened this time."

"Ah'm glad to hear it," Big Mac says with a nod, his smile growing again. "You can stop apologizing though. We both learned from it, it won't happen again, and honestly it seems like you were worse off than Ah was – Ah just had ta laugh a bit ta get better."

Rather than argue with him, Cheerilee just nods, one of her hooves restlessly tapping the floor, What did I ever do to deserve a stallion like you?

Standing resolutely, Cheerilee lights her horn, a couple cabinets, a drawer, and her refrigerator opening from which she pulls various ingredients and places them on the counter.

"Ah'm not sure what all that's for, but shouldn't we-" Big Mac yawns, "shouldn't we be headin' back to bed? Usually yer not even awake this early."

"You've done more for me in the last 12 hours than I ever expected anypony to do in my entire life," Cheerilee replies determinedly, "so I'm going to do something for you, even if I can't do a whole lot right now. Besides, I have so much energy at the moment I don't think I could lie still long enough to fall asleep anyways."

Choosing not to press the issue, Big Mac watches her fill a mug with milk. Levitating the mug above her, Cheerilee warms it with a small green flame before stirring in a small amount of cinnamon, a pinch of nutmeg, and some sugar. Returning it to the counter, she unwraps several squares of milk chocolate, holding each above the mug one by one and melting them into the spiced milk below, levitating it over to Big Mac once she stirs the thick concoction together.

"Fancy," Big Mac comments, another yawn escaping him as he holds the beverage in his hooves. "Smells nice though." He takes a sip, "Tastes good too."

"Thanks," Cheerilee replies, smiling. As Big Mac takes a second sip of his hot chocolate, Cheerilee looks out the kitchen doorway and through her front windows into the town outside. A group of Royal Guards march past while she watches, their presence reminding her of what difficulties the day ahead still holds. Thoughts of what questions the Princesses might ask and how she should answer them play out in her head, increasing in complexity to form the theoretical basis of entire conversations – all of which she eventually dismisses as unrealistic or unhelpful.

She sighs, I don't… I just don't know. I don't want to get kicked out of Ponyville or put in a dungeon, but… I don't know. Whatever happens though, I know we'll be able to make it work. Somehow.

*snore*

Waking from her internal deliberation, she glances at Big Mac, the stallion leaning lopsidedly to his left as he slumbers, his empty cup of hot chocolate resting on the floor between his hooves.

Opening her mouth to wake him, she pauses, instead gritting her teeth and drawing on her overflowing magical reserves to lift Big Mac a few inches into the air. Moving slowly, she carefully floats him through the kitchen doorway and over to the couch, her horn sparking as she raises him a few more inches then gently lowers him onto the green cushions. Turning, she heads to her bedroom, coming back with a blanket which she draws up over his shoulders and a pillow which she sneaks under his head.

Movement in her peripheral vision catches her attention and she looks up from her sleeping coltfriend to see another group of guards marching past. As she watches, one member of the group glances directly at her and he does a double take, anger and disgust twisted his features. Breaking formation, he begins to walk towards her, but before the guard makes it two steps the rest of the group stops and an older stallion shouts something at him. The younger guard points at her and attempts to say something, only for the older one to talk over him. After a heated, though one-sided, exchange, the younger guard stiffly returns to his position and the group continues towards their original destination. The leader of the unit pauses for a moment – just long enough to shoot Cheerilee a withering glare before turning on his heel as well.

Shakily taking a step away from her front window, Cheerilee releases a breath she hadn't realized she was holding and retreats to her kitchen, her earlier worries revived and now joined by fear.

*knockknockknockknock*

The pounding on the door wakes Big Mac and he stretches, forgetting the fact that he's not in his own bed just long enough for the motion to push him off the couch and onto the floor.

Cheerilee exits the kitchen as Big Mac stands, freezing halfway between the kitchen and the front door as her eyes flick to the windows and then back to the door. She gulps and lights her horn, the door opening to reveal one Royal Guard standing in her doorway – and another ten flanking him. Big Mac is beside her immediately, all sleepiness banished as he watches the guards warily.

"Princesses Celestia and Twilight Sparkle have requested the presence of the Changeling Cheerilee and her… coltfriend… McIntosh Apple," The guard says disdainfully, standing aside curtly. "We will escort you to them. This way."