Author's Notes:

Edited on 11 May 2016

Originally The Way They Change

It does not take long for Shining Armor to complete the necessary paperwork to get Rainbow Dash out of jail, and when it is done he sends the order down a chute near his desk. He knows Fuller won't like it, but as far as the Captain is concerned that unicorn can sit on a horn and spin. He takes a deep breath, and then pulls out a bottle of Scotch and takes a massive gulp from the bottle without thought. The pleasant flame gives him the shivers, and when there is a soft rapping on the door he quickly puts the bottle away and wipes his muzzle and eyes.

“Door's open,” says Shining Armor.

Case Study walks in and closes the door as gently as she can before approaching her superior.

“Is Vinyl Scratch in our custody?” says Shining Armor.

“Yes, sir,” says Case Study. “She is a, um... a character.”

“I know. Is she guarded?”

Case Study nods. “Lieutenant Flash Sentry was around, so I asked him to guard her while I informed you.”

“Who?”

“Flash Sentry. The one in charge of this place's security.”

“Red hair and scars?”

“Blue hair and handsome. Crimson Blackheart was other one and he retired, remember?”

“Oh. Good. He was creepy.” Shining Armor slides from behind his desk and gathers up the contents of the folder, the yearbook and his copy of the New Yoke Times as well as other files from his safe, which contain other articles by Quill Pen. “Relieve Flash Sentry and guard Vinyl Scratch until I get there. Dismissed.”

“Yes, sir,” says Case Study with a salute.

When she leaves the office Shining Armor casts a shield around his safe, and for good measure he puts up another one. He then heads straight towards the interrogation room holding Quill Pen. Upon reaching the room observing where the journalist in question is being held he sees L. Roy in his casual uniform, staring at Quill Pen, his presence being hidden from her by the one way window. He also notices that Major Fuller is there, overseeing some ponies in lab jumpsuits installing a weird, blocky object into the wall.

“Fuller, what are you doing here?” says Shining Armor.

“Installing the new intercoms, sir,” replies Fuller.

“Okay, but what are you doing here?”

“Overseeing.”

“Well you can oversee later. Take you and your ponies out of here. This section is off limits. Besides, don’t you have a ceremony to go to?”

“That won’t be for another three weeks, Captain.”

Major Fuller then orders his technicians to stop their work and they file out with their tools, and before Fuller leaves he wishes the two stallions a good day. They don't return the gesture and once all the extras are out of the room Shining Armor puts a shield around the area the observation and interrogation rooms.

“How long was he been here?” asks Shining Armor.

“A few hours,” replies L. Roy.

“How long have you been here?”

“As long as she has,” answers L. Roy, his gaze noticeably hardening.

“Where’s your partner?”

“Targe Shield is sleeping since our shift doesn’t start for another eight hours.”

“Targe Shield? What happened to Colt?”

“He got discharged because his cutie mark said he was better at botany than guarding. Now I’m stuck with a tool who is about as interesting as a wet carrot.”

Shining Armor hums. “I thought you didn't like Colt.”

“Colt can be annoying, but he is at least interesting to be around. The kid I got now is a walking text book afraid to get his hoofs dirty. All day its about regulations and proper diets. Plus, that little shit ratted me out to IA when my methods of subduing an unruly goat went against protocol.”

“Right.” Shining Armor focuses on Quill Pen. “Has she said or done anything, yet?”

“Besides demand her lawyer and threaten to sue us? Nothing much.”

Shining Armor nods. “Okay, I got it from here. You can go home and get some rest before you have to report back.”

L. Roy sniffs and leaves without another word, but he does keep his glare on Quill Pen until he can no longer do so. After a couple of minutes pass Shining Armor goes into the interrogation room and Quill Pen stares at him harshly with her hoofs planted firmly on the table. Shining Armor takes a seat across from her, pulls out his folders and sets them in front of the journalist.

“This is illegal, you know,” says Quill Pen. “This completely goes against my rights as stated in the Solar Doctrine.”

“‘Ponies and their property, including self, estates, documents, and related effects, are only to be obtained by the State by decree of Warrants. Any and all Warrants are to be issued only upon probable cause, backed by strong evidence, which must be supported by affirmation of a Judge, and any and all Warrants must have specific descriptions of what is to be seized’,” recites Shining Armor.

Quill Pen stares at Shining Armor, eyes wide and mouth sealed to a line.

“Do you know what Article that was?” asks Shining Armor, his voice cold and unforgiving.

Quill Pen shakes her head.

“Article Four,” says Shining Armor. “But with the martial law in place the Solar Doctrine has no power, which is what you wanted, correct?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” says Quill Pen. “Wait until I get my lawyer. She is going to have a field day with this.”

“Maybe you didn’t hear me. The Solar Doctrine has been suspended. I can keep you here for as long as I want to with no legal representation for you or repercussions for me. I can have you taken away to Singsong or Snowflake or any prison I want with a simple clop, but I won’t do that. Not yet, anyway.”

“Why? Because you’re so nice?”

“No, because I want answers, and I will get them one way or the other.”

Quill Pen forces herself to smile. “Is that so, Captain?”

Shining Armor narrows his eyes as he levitates copies of Quill Pen’s articles out of their folders for her to see.

“Just about every article you have done recently have shown support for the martial law and have tried to humiliate me and the Royal Guard while praising the EIB.”

“So? A mare is entitled to her own opinion.”

“So you wouldn’t mind if I locked you away for a year or two for writing misleading articles, then?”

“What? You can’t do that!”

Shining Armor shows her the most recent article she did, and she makes an audible gulp as she shrinks in her seat.

“To print misleading articles is a violation of the Honest Journalism Act, passed in 950 Post Rebellion. So I can, and I will, arrest you, your editors and the board at the New Yoke times for purposefully misleading the populace and send all of you to the Snowflake Gulag. That is unless you start talking, right now,” says Shining Armor.

Shining Armor and Quill Pen stare at each other, with the former's stare cold and unforgiving and the latter trembling and sweating. When the seconds tick by with the only noise being the clatter of hoofs on the table and the beating hearts, Shining Armor snorts and grabs his files.

“Okay. Have it your way,” says Shining Armor.

He starts towards the door, but stops and turns when Quill Pen calls him. Her head is lowered and she looks sick, but a few seconds later she gulps and lifts her wet eyes.

“What do you want to know?” asks Quill Pen, her voice quiet and shaking.

Shining Armor sits down with the files out again. “Who told you about Pinkie Pie and where you got the idea of me sending her and Dash on a suicide mission to kill EIB agents?”

“I said that the idea of you ordering that was a stupid thought.”

Shining Armor uses his magic to grab Quill Pen’s head and slam it on the table so that she is looking at her most recent work. Then he rounds the table, still keeping her pinned, and kneels next to her so that he’s right by her ear. He can hear her whimpers and feel her trembling under his wrath.

“Don’t play with me, Pen. I am not in the mood,” snarls Shining Armor. “I am not in the mood. Now who told you about Pinkie Pie?”

“I can’t say. It was anonymous.”

Shining Armor lifts Quill Pen’s head up for just a moment to slam her back down on the table with a defined BANG that leaves Quill Pen sobbing in pain as her ear bends at an unnatural angle. She squirms under Shining Armor and he keeps her still when he presses his hoof against her head, not caring for the small trickle of blood escaping from under her broken ear.

“It was Fuller wasn’t it!” accuses Shining Armor. “Fuller told you about Pinkie Pie and Brisk Wind told you to write that article!”

“I-I- Please don’t hurt me!” sobs Quill Pen.

Shining Armor throws Quill Pen to the ground, and she backs up to a corner, shaking violently as he towers above her, shoving one of the photos of her college years to her face.

“You, Lock, Brisk Wind and Fuller have been friends since college. And Brisk Wind has been trying really hard to destroy Equestria while you have been her little puppet trying to ruin me and the Guard. What’s Fuller’s angle in all of this?”

“It wasn’t supposed to happen like this! We have nothing against you! I have nothing against you!”

“Lair!” Shining Armor wraps his magic around Quill Pen’s throat and hoists her up the wall, ignoring her desperate gasps and kicks “You want to destroy Equestria!”

“No, it's not like that!”

“And I am the only one in your way!”

“We want to save it from itself!”

“You mean you and Brisk Wind?”

Quill Pen closes her eyes, whimpering and begging through her choking sobs as she weakly attempts to free herself. In response, Shining growls, pulls her away and then rams her back into the wall, getting a wail of pain from her.

“Quill Pen, you better start talking or so help me I will snap your fucking neck,” says Shining Armor through gritted teeth/

“Please, you have to understand! If I tell you anything he'll kill me!” sobs Quill Pen.

“He? He! Its Fuller isn't it?”

Quill Pen shakes her head. “No! No! Its not him! Its not him! I-I barely know him. I swear!”

“Then who is it? Who are you Brisk Wind working for?”

“I-I don't know who he is. I've only ever seen his disguise, but Brisk Wind knows. She has- No! Never mind. I-I spoke too much.”

“You didn't speak enough.”

“Please! I don't want to talk anymore.”

“Then you are going to have a lot of fun in Snowflake.”

A burst of energy signaled by a blinding light suddenly hits Shining Armor in the side, sending him crashing into the wall and landing with all the air knocked out of his lungs. After regaining his air through a series of painful coughs and gasps, and blinking the globs of colors out of his eyes, his ears folded back and he shrinks down.

“Your Majesty,” says Shining Armor in a quiet voice.

“Captain Armor, I expected better from you,” says Celestia as she finishes forming herself into a solid figure between Shining Armor and Quill Pen. Then to Quill Pen in a much softer tone: “You can go home, and you will be compensated.”

Quill Pen doesn’t need to be told twice. The terrified mare bolts out of the room and when the door shuts Celestia puts another shield, this one golden colored and thick so no one can see inside or out. She then takes a deep breath and looks at Shining Armor, her posture weighted by disappointment.

“Are you going to need another break?” asks Celestia.

“No, Your Majesty,” answers Shining Armor, fighting a losing battle to keep his eyes on the Princess.

“You threatened to snap her neck!”

“But, Your Majesty, I have reason to believe that Brisk Wind’s network goes farther than the EIB and that she is working for somepony. I was trying to get answers from one of her associates.”

“It sounds like paranoia.”

Shining Armor shows her the yearbook, and although Celestia holds her poker face, he is certain he has peaked her interest in the matter.

“Is this yearbook why you had Vinyl Scratch detained, as well?” asks Celestia as she flips through the pages.

“Yes, Your Majesty. Brisk Wind, Lock N. Key, Glimmer Fuller, and Quill Pen all knew each other and went to the same college and graduated in the same class, all having some degree in Political Science. Those two know something about this, too, and I need to know what they know.”

“And you think that a highlighted yearbook and college friends having similar degrees is cause for your paranoia?”

Shining Armor feels his hope and patience for Celestia taking a nosedive off a cliff.

“It is not paranoia! Quill Pen herself admitted to wanting to ‘save Equestria from itself’ and has admitted that she and Brisk Wind are working with somepony to destroy this nation from its foundations!”

Shining Armor takes a moment to catch his breath while Celestia closes and returns the yearbook to him.

“Equestria is falling apart, Captain, in case you haven’t realized, and if what you are saying is true, then the suspension of the Solar Doctrine will be in our favor,” says Celestia. “Many have suffered in the recent years, and without the Solar Doctrine to get in our way we will have greater efficiency in figuring out who our real enemies are. As for your concern with Brisk Wind, she has been suspended until further notice and is being investigated by Major Fuller in regards to the Griffin Enclave Incident. She has no power.”

Shining Armor’s jaw drops. “But, Your Majesty, Fuller and Brisk Wind have the same agenda. They are playing you and using the suspension of the Solar Doctrine to move their pieces. Why can't you see that?”

“If the Solar Doctrine was still in effect then our hoofs would be tied. Without it, however, we are free to move and counter the threats and restore Harmony. There are plenty of enemies that are very real and without the Solar Doctrine we will be able to use our unrestricted power to remove them.”

“But you wrote the Solar Doctrine to restrict power.”

“I am fully aware of what I did, but I cannot protect my people if I am restricted in my powers to guide and defend them.”

Shining Armor takes a deep breath, then exhales slowly, doing his best to contain his anger. However, despite his best efforts, his gaze still hardens and he forces himself to look away just so he would not look at Celestia with those eyes.

“I know it is hard for you to hear, but when this is all over then things will return to normal,” says Celestia.

“So you'll restore the Solar Doctrine, dismantle the EIB and CDA, and release everypony that conveniently disappeared after expressing their disdain?” Shining Armor shakes his head disbelievingly. “If you are so obsessed with protecting us from threats you should’ve just let me continued my interrogation instead of interfering.”

“An interrogation you were able to perform only because the Solar Doctrine is no longer in effect.”

Shining Armor's throat and chest tightens, and Celestia's expression softens.

“Captain, I interfered because no matter what you may think, I still don’t want to see anypony hurt, but in this day and age I am constantly failing,” says Celestia. “You must understand that I am doing these things to protect Equestria and those I care about from harm. I already lost Blueblood, and I am losing the love of my people and family because I am trying to protect them. Please understand that all that I do I am doing out of love.”

When Shining Armor doesn’t reply Celestia sighs heavily and looks at the ground.

“You should thank Major Fuller for alerting me of this interrogation, if I hadn’t shown up you would have made an irreversible mistake,” says Celestia. “And from a mare with many to a stallion with none, trust me when I say it is a burden you do not want.”

“I will thank Fuller personally, then,” grumbles Shining Armor. “I’m assuming Vinyl has been released.”

“By my orders, yes.”

Shining Armor nods, silently gathers his things, then slams the door on his way out without a farewell. Not that he desired to give one to that backstabber.

He marches down the hallway with the fires of Hell in his eyes and his stomps echoing over the steps of other ponies. Everyone that is in his way is smart enough to move aside and not talk to him. All but a certain high ranking military official, that is.

“Captain Armor, sir,” says Major Fuller while approaching him from seemingly out of the blue, “I hope you aren’t too upset about me bringing Princess Celestia in. I was just worried about our prisoner’s safety. You haven’t been yourself in the past few months, and I fear you are getting worse.”

“Thank you for that, Major,” responds Shining Armor, his tone the polar opposite of grateful. “By the way, while we are here, is there anything you want to tell me?”

“About my friendship with Quill Pen, Brisk Wind and Lock, you mean?” Shining Armor stares at him suspiciously, but the Major is showing no discernible expressions. “We had our fun in college, and we shared political science classes, but my dreams differed from theirs, as do all dreams.”

The two walk by an elevator and Major Fuller pushes the “Up” button. The device makes a small ding and they wait patiently for the elevator to come to their floor.

“What if I wanted to ask you something else?” says Shining Armor coldly.

“Forgive me, Captain Armor, but I had assumed that you had wanted. I realized you figured out my connection with Director Wind when you brought in Quill Pen with that yearbook in your saddle. You want answers, and an investigation requires all avenues to be explored, including past relationships.”

The elevator door opens and Shining Armor steps inside, but Major Fuller remains outside.

“It is sad that it had come to this for our nation. It is as though such things as honesty and loyalty are but things of the past,” says Fuller.

“But you're an honest and loyal pony, right?” says Shining Armor skeptically.

Fuller smirks. “My old friends considered me to be the honest one. If you have any questions about my affiliation with Brisk Wind and Quill Pen, or anything of the like I will be more than happy to answer them. We are in this war together, after all.”

Shining Armor’s eyes narrow on the Major until the door blocks him from view with a loud clang. When that is said and done, a whirring noise overtakes everything and the elevator begins its ascension.

Shining Armor then snorts out hot air and turns his focus to the dial as it gradually moves up the numbers. As the numbers go up, his patience dissolves at a more rapid pace and he finds himself muttering and pawing at the ground. He can feel his energy surging and he slumps to the ground, clutching his head. When the elevator door opens Shining Armor looks up to see six Royal Guards standing in front of him, and he quickly gets himself under control. There was a flicker of surprise from them, but they are quick to regain their stoic composure.

“Sir, Pinkamena Pie has escaped from the hospital,” says one guard.

“And we apprehended four League of Justice fighters in her room. Worse for wear,” says another.

“And the Royal Bank has been robbed in a very dramatic way,” says the third.