I have never slept that well! Shade thought to himself as he got up, which was relatively quick. No nightmares, no weird phenomena, nothing waking me up, awesome.

He stretched his back before transforming into Sunstreak, not that he needed to, he just preferred it to walking around as a Changeling. Looking at dresser he found a map of the castle placed underneath the curved horn. Then looking out the window, he saw the sun beginning to rise into the sky. Good not late for anything…

He was about to start trying to figure out more about the plans when the door was thrown open by Crimson Lance, causing Sunstreak to jump into the air.

“Rise and shine!” She shouted into the room. She was wearing a whistle around her neck alongside her normal armor.

“Where’s the fire?”

“No fire. Just training.” Crimson replied, pulling Sunstreak down to the ground with her magic. “And since this is your first day, expect the same treatment as the rest of them. And that starts with Roll Call.” She blew a whistle around her neck. “Get moving!”

The morning was an…interesting affair to say the least. Not for Shade, he was used to the rigorous tasks of the military, after all, three hundred years of routine tends to stick with you, it was more interesting for the recruits to see a Captain alongside them, let alone a Changeling.

So that led to a lot of interesting complications… Such as the standard military nicknaming, while Shade was never really a fan of these, being called ‘Bug Boy’ really just made him prove that they had nothing on him. By the time the standard military drills were over, Shade was barely working a sweat, while the same could not be said about the rest of them.

“I’m impressed Shade.” Crimson said. “No wonder Celestia made you a Captain.” She blew her whistle. “Pegasi! Get flying! Goes for you too.”

“Of course Ma’am.” Shade replied transforming into Sunstreak.

“I want Five Laps around the castle exterior! Get going!”

“You heard the Unicorn!” Sunstreak shouted. “Don’t let me catch you slacking off or I’ll make you fly till those wings fall off!” With that, he jumped into the air followed by the rest of the pegasi.

“Captain!”

Sunstreak kept flying, but looked towards the sound, and found an orange Pegasus flying up to him. “Who are you?”

“Lieutenant Sunglider.” The Pegasus said flying up to him.

“Glad to see you out of the Hospital bed Lieutenant.” Sunstreak replied. “Every soldier we can get will be useful.”

“Actually sir, I’m still on recovery leave.”

“Then what the hell are you doing here?” Sunstreak asked looking back at the other Pegasus. “Swift Wing! Keep those wings moving!”

“I came here to speak with you sir.” Sunglider replied. “I wanted to talk to you myself.”

“Well I’m sorry to disappoint you Lieutenant,” Sunstreak replied, “But I’m going to be spending all day alongside Miss Lance, so unless you agree to be a training partner, I will have very little time. Speaking of which.”

Sunstreak turned around to look at the rest of the Pegasi. “Come on boys! You’re not going to let a bug beat you at flying right? My daughter flies faster than you lot!”

Sunstreak turned back to Sunglider. “I’ve got another few minutes of flying around in a circle if you want to tell me what’s up now.”

“Listen… This is going to sound crazy.”

“I’ve been living with Pinkie Pie for four days, try me.”

“I would like to be a part of the main assault force against the hive.”

Sunstreak stopped in the air, followed by Sunglider. “Listen I… KEEP GOING!” He shouted back at the Pegasi that had started to slow. He then turned back to Sunglider. “Listen Sunglider… I can’t make that call.”

“But you…” He was cut off by Sunstreak holding up his hoof.

“Sunglider, I’m not in charge of the main attack force, I was made a Captain in order to give me enough power to actually make the plan and stay here without fear of being attacked. If you really want to try and get yourself into the attack plan, you may want to bring it up with Shining Armor.”

“Sir with all due respect…”

“You owe me nothing.” Sunstreak replied. “I was a part of the invasion force, I sent you into a comatose state for quite a long time. I made up for that second one by helping give you back what I took. Now I’m making up for being a part of the attack by helping protect Equestria. I’m doing it not only for that, but because ‘general’ Spine made it highly personal to me.”

Sunstreak looked back towards the squadron of Pegasus. He sighed. “Swift Wing is slacking off again… I need to go Lieutenant, if you want to talk about this more, wait until I’m done, or sign up as a training partner. I need to catch up with the rest of them…”

Sunstreak flew off, rushing to catch up to the rest of the Pegasus. “Swift Wing! Pick it up!”

An hour or two later, Shade hadn’t been keeping track, the other Guards had left from morning Drills to eat breakfast, while Shade remained outside alongside Crimson.

“Explain to me why we have to train outside,” Shade said, “When there is a room specifically made for this.”

Crimson put on her helmet. “Because in a battle, specifically against Changelings, we need more than just a quiet room, Changelings will use everything they have available in a fight, but first we need to train you in normal combat.”

“Define ‘Normal’.” Shade said.

“Lance skills.” She replied.

“Is the lance used often?” Shade asked.

“Well…sort of… depends on divisions and preference.” Crimson replied. “Most use the Lance, keeps your hooves free, can be latched onto a war saddle, and are designed to be efficient, however some use swords, mostly clutched in their teeth, but Unicorns can use magic. The Lunar guard have their own weapon, I’ve never seen it though…”

“So using your hooves isn’t the standard?” Shade asked. “Could have fooled me…”

Crimson giggled slightly. “Yes… Often the Guards use their hooves. We aren’t always armed, so knowing to fight without it is always useful.”

“So when do we…” Shade said looking towards Crimson, to which he rolled out of the way of a lance.

“Right now.” She said with a smile pulling the Lance back.

Shade had barely enough time to pull himself up before the lance was being thrust at him again, he jumped up into the air and hovered above the lance, landing on top of it, causing the tip to be stabbed into the ground.

Crimson pulled it out of the ground with her magic pulling it back and wiping it around, smacking Shade in the side, sending him against the ground.

Shade groaned as he pulled himself up. “Couldn’t wait could you…”

“What’s the point in waiting?” Crimson replied. “I’ll tell you what, disarm me, and I’ll stop.”

Shade rubbed his side, checking to make sure that there was no damage to his chitin. “Don’t you think you should train me to…?” Shade felt the lance go through one of the holes in his foreleg, with a quick flick; he was flipped onto his back. “Guess not…”

“The best training is experience.”

“Experience means nothing in the face of Educated bolts.” Shade replied standing up.

“Touché.” She replied. Attempting to repeat the flip move, but Shade was ready. Right before she flicked the lance, Shade flipped himself over so that the lance corrected him, making him land on the ground on his four hooves.

“You know the whole magic thing kind of makes this unfair.” Shade said stabbing the lance into the ground again.

“Well you have it too. So why not use it?” She replied.

“I could… But I prefer to do this with it instead.” Shade teleported away.

Crimson pulled the lance out of the ground and looked around. When she looked up, she saw Shade hurtling towards her, surrounded by green flames. Defensively she raised the Lance to block it.

Gotcha. Before Shade hit the Lance, he slowed himself and teleported behind Crimson Lance, his right foreleg surround by flame as he pulled a silver ring from it and quickly jammed it onto Crimson’s horn before he raised his hind legs and pushed her to the side causing her to fall to the ground.

The Lance fell onto the ground where Shade left it and walked up to Crimson Lance, his foreleg transformed into a long blade, the tip of which he held up to Crimson’s throat.

Shade smirked. “Checkmate.” Shade transformed his foreleg back and helped pull Crimson up.

“You always keep a suppression ring in your leg?” She asked.

Shade shrugged. “I thought that in case Twilight’s spell didn’t hold I might as well be prepared for anything.”

“Smart.” Crimson’s horn glowed red and the suppression ring was pushed off her horn. “Too bad I’m a Queen.” She said, levitating the silver ring back to Shade.

“Well I disarmed you didn’t I?” Shade asked.

“Yes… You did.” Crimson replied, pulling her lance from the ground. “When did you learn to teleport? Acari never told me you could do it that accurately.”

Shade rubbed the back of his neck. “Umm… I can’t… I kind of just focused on the air, and then on being on the ground, me being in the correct places was just random… I had no real location in mind.”

Crimson pulled up her visor. “You lucky Love sucker.” She punched him in the shoulder. “So you’re a tactical fighter?”

“Whichever one keeps me alive the longest.” Shade replied. “Usually that turns out to be the tactical approach.”

“Acari tells me you were in the military before.” Crimson replied. “Mind if I ask your rank?”

Shade sighed. “We don’t exactly have the same ranking system, but sure. Warrior Class: Spec Ops Berserker, First Class. Skilled in tactical insertions into foreign territory, assassinations, Intelligence gathering and swordplay. I’m not too bad with a crossbow either.”

“What kind of tactical insertions?” Crimson asked.

“Well… Standard stuff, insertion of troops, short-term sabotage, assassination prevention, just a few things.”

“Interesting… I’ll see what I can do about getting you a crossbow, after breakfast you should head to the training room, Lieutenant Star Dust has a group of training partners for you while you learn standard hoof to hoof fighting.” She placed her lance back onto her armor and pointed it’s tip up. “By the way, after lunch we are reconvening in the war room. You have about forty five minutes left of breakfast time left, and I don’t know how much time you are going to have to get that gem thing for Anvil.”

“Will do.” Shade replied, transforming into Sunstreak. He took off from the ground and began flying off towards where he knew his friends were. Boy have I got a story to tell Twilight…

“I’m not kidding.” Sunstreak said as Twilight led him through the Museum. “You are officially looking at the first Changeling Captain of the Royal Guard.”

“Why did Celestia keep this from me?” Twilight asked herself. “It would have been amazing.”

“Probably because of Pinkie Pie.” Sunstreak replied. “Think about what she would do if she found out.”

Twilight’s face changed to one of fear. “You’re right… We can’t let her find out. She’ll probably destroy the castle with the idea of a party that big!”

Sunstreak chuckled. “I don’t think she would do that. Besides, the Guard could probably handle it… Hopefully.”

The two of them stopped outside the particular display they were looking for. Sunstreak pushed open the door, and his jaw swung open.

Inside were three of Ceymi’s Changelings, each one clad in the chitin armor.

Sunstreak took up an aggressive stance. “You have twelve seconds to either buzz off, or tell me what you are doing here before I crack your skulls open like that assassin.”

The three Changelings hissed at them.

“Cracked skulls it is then.” Sunstreak transformed back into Shade. “Let’s have some fun boys.”

The three Changelings charged at him, so he dragged his horn across the ground and green fire spouted up. “Twilight.” Shade said. “Could you go and gather my fellow guard for me while I deal with these three eggshells?”

Twilight nodded and teleported out of the room. Leaving the four Changelings alone, the wall of green fire separating them.

“Now then…” Shade said. “Who sent you?”

One of the Changelings hissed.

“We will never follow Ceymi’s rule!”

Shade’s eyes widened. “Hold up. What?”

“Ceymi is a fool!” The Changeling replied. “She will kill us with this idiotic plan!”

“You are against Ceymi?”

“We would never follow one so stupid! To attack a Peaceful hive, even with the promise of endless love, is insane!”

Shade loosened his muscles. “We have a common enemy then.”

“Lies!” The largest of the three replied. “None of our Hive is this far from the swarm!”

“The Queen will fall!” The Changeling fired a magical beam through the wall of fire, scattering the flames. Shade was unprepared for the following attack, he was pulled off the ground by one Changeling, while another began to pound against his chest, knocking the wind out of him whenever he got a chance to breathe.

I don’t want to do this… But I have no choice… Shade quickly charged his horn with magic, sending a bright flash into both Changeling’s eyes. He fell to the ground, and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry for this…” He focused the breath into a very specific path through his throat, before letting out a spout of fire, burning one of the Changeling’s wings.

Shade rushed up and grabbed the second Changeling, the one that had been holding him back, and slammed it against the wall, causing it to fall to the floor. All that was left was him and the other Changeling to deal with. “Listen to me!”

“Never! I will give my life for Chrysalis!”

“I’m not following Ceymi!” Shade shouted. “Shade, Captain of the Royal Guard stand down now!”

“Your lies cannot trick me traitor!”

“I don’t want to harm you.” Shade said, “But if it is the only way for you to listen, I will try to make it painless.”

“I give you no such comfort!”

Shade and the Changeling walked around each other in a circle, each one waiting for the other to make a move. Eventually, the other Changeling jumped at Shade, fangs bared and ready to bite down on him, Shade sidestepped the attack and bucked the Changeling in the side, sending him into the wall.

Without thinking, Shade rushed up to him and crossed two bladed forelegs against the Changeling’s throat. “Now you are going to listen to me. Or I am going to leave a third Corpse in this city.” Shade hissed at the Changeling before moving the crossed blades closer to his throat. “Now, I do not follow Ceymi, for all I care the cunt can burn in the pits of hell. My name is Shade, I am a Captain of Celestia’s Royal Guard, and I promise if you tell me everything I want to know, I can make sure that you are not treated the same as those who follow her.”

The Changeling hissed at him. “How do I know you do not follow Ceymi?”

At that moment the sound of Hooves slamming against the stone floor drew their attention. A few seconds later and a few Royal Guards entered the room, alongside Twilight.

“Bout time you decided to show up.” Shade said to the guards.

“Sir.” The Guard saluted. “What happened here?”

“These three happened here.” Shade replied. “I want these three brought to the Castle as soon as possible, and get Dr. Sapphire on the line, I need to talk to her about something important. This one,” Shade motioned to the Changeling currently between his bladed forelegs “Is to be placed in the interrogation room until further notice.”

“Yes sir!” The Guard replied, the unicorn of the group walking over to the wingless Changeling, still squirming from the heat.

“These three are to be separated from the other Changelings.” Shade said. “Bring those two to the infirmary.” Shade pulled his bladed forelegs away from the Changeling’s neck. “I’ll speak with you in a few minutes.”

Shade watched as the Changelings were placed into small cages and led out of the museum, when he was sure they gone, he looked over at Twilight. “I think we just found our group of soldiers.”

“What do you mean?” She replied.

“They were against Ceymi… They thought I was one of hers…” Shade said. He shook his head. “That’s not why I’m here.”

“You never really explained…” Twilight replied.

“It’s… Important to me…” Shade said, flying up to the armor in the center of the room. “Promise me you will not tell anyone about what I am about to do.”

Twilight nodded and Shade changed his hoof into a claw, running it along where the cutie mark should be. His claw found the familiar notch, and pulled it off, he looked in the compartment where the orange crystal still lay in its spot.

“What is that?” Twilight asked.

“It’s my secret weapon.” Shade replied, pulling the orange crystal from the compartment. Even though he knew it wasn’t where the crystal needed to be to activate fully, he could feel the energy flowing through his claw. “I hope that it still works….”

“What are you going to do now?” Twilight asked.

“I’m going to talk to that Changeling, he says they defected from Ceymi, but I want to be sure…”

“I meant about the crystal.”

“Oh… Well I plan to keep it safe, until I need to use it…” Shade replied, placing the crystal into one of the holes on his leg. “Now… I need to get back to the Castle, royal duties and all that.”

“I’ll see you around Captain.” Twilight replied, “I’ve got to go research more on the various Changeling societies. Having three different Hives is going to be a wonderful learning experience.”

Shade rolled his eyes. “Have fun Twilight.” Shade replied as the lavender Unicorn walked out of the room. Shade transformed back into Sunstreak, and as he did, he felt his hoof still flowing with energy. At least I know it still works… Shade replaced the cover and flew back out the door, giving a last look back at the room, Shade let out a sigh. “I hope I’m making the right choice here…”

After Shade dropped the crystal off with Anvil and told him how he wanted the indent made, he began walking towards the interrogation room. He looked up at a clock, telling him he still had ten minutes before he was needed in the training room, which meant he had just enough time to speak to his guest.

“Sir,” One of the Guards said to hm. “We contacted Dr. Sapphire; she said she will be coming by to check on the Changelings before transporting them to the Hospital.”

“Good.” Shade replied. “Give her whatever help she needs and make sure those Changelings are restrained.”

“Sir, are you alright?” The Guard asked, noticing Shade wobble slightly.

“I’m fine…” Shade replied. “They just surprised me… A few bruises, that’s it.”

“If you say so Sir,” The Guard replied.

“You’re dismissed.” Shade said, walking up to the interrogation room. The Guard saluted and continued down the hall, leaving Shade outside the room.

Shade pushed open the door to the interrogation room, noticing that the crystals he placed there were now mostly gone. The Changeling from earlier was placed on the far side of the replaced table, his forelegs cuffed on the table and a suppression ring on his curved horn. His armor having been confiscated by the guard.

“So…” Shade said walking in. “How is it,” Shade said sitting down, “That a group of three Changelings managed to sneak into the city of Canterlot without being detected?”

The Changeling hissed.

“Alright…” Shade replied. “Too soon, I understand. So who are you?”

The Changeling remained silent.

“Alright, I’ll start. My name is Shade; I am a failed conversion from a Dragon by Queen Chrysalis, now a captain of the Royal Guard, and currently the planner for an attack against Ceymi’s location. How about you?”

“…..”

“Alright… Still nothing?” Shade sighed. “Here’s the deal buddy. I can’t help you, if you don’t talk to me. So you can either tell me your name, or I can just have you thrown in the dungeon alongside the rest of Ceymi’s followers.”

“I do not follow Ceymi.” The Changeling replied.

“Aha! So you speak!” Shade said. “Wonderful! Progress… So what is your name?”

“Why should I tell you?” The Changeling replied. “You could simply be a spy for Ceymi.”

“Oh… well I could be, yes…” Shade said tapping his hoof to his chin. “Although I would probably be the worst spy in all of existence…” Shade looked back towards the Changeling. “While we’re on the subject of the Parasite Queen, why not tell me why you and your buddies decided to turn against her?”

“Chrysalis’ orders.” The Changeling replied.

“What are these orders?” Shade replied.

The Changeling shook his head. “To disclose the Queen’s orders is to endanger the rest of our Swarm.”

Shade pulled his hooves up and laid them on the table. “Listen… I’ve witnessed firsthand…or hoof… Whatever… the kindness of these ponies, they will not harm those that are not a threat. If you tell me, I promise you we will ensure the safety of every Changeling civilian. All I want is to end the reign of Queen Ceymi.”

The Changeling glanced behind Shade. “Tell them to leave, and then I’ll tell you.” Shade looked back at the one-way mirror, and indeed did see a flicker of emotions from behind it.

“Give me a moment.” Shade said, walking out of the room, he walked around and entered into the back room where Shining Armor was.

“You can’t trust him on his word.” Shining Armor said. “We don’t know if he is lying or not.”

“True…” Shade replied. “But if it is true that Ceymi doesn’t have complete control over the Swarm, then there is a chance they will join us in taking out Ceymi.”

Shining Armor thought about it. “The plan is supposed to be put into action in two days,” He replied, “If you can find them by then, I’ll consider letting them help.”

“Just a few minutes are all I need.” Shade said. “After that, I’ll leave it up to you.”

Shining Armor sighed. “Alright, but I expect a full report by tomorrow.” He replied.

“Send the papers to my room and I’ll finish them when I have time.” Shade said. With that the two of them walked out of the room, Shining Armor staying out of earshot while Shade reentered the interrogation room.

“Done,” Shade said. “Now talk.”

“Very well, Captain.” The Changeling replied. “My name is Mandible; I am a Major in Chrysalis’ army, loyal to only the Queen.”

“Pleasure to meet you Major,” Shade replied. “Now what about your allies?”

“Scouts, placed alongside me while we gather information on the attack of Ponyville.” Mandible replied. “We planned on placing our own into your ranks before the attack and assisting if necessary.”

“So how many of you defected from Ceymi?” Shade asked.

“We did not defect!” Mandible hissed. “We were obeying Queen Chrysalis’ orders!”

“And those were?” Shade asked, leaning in to Mandible.

Mandible sighed. “Weeks before the Invasion was meant to take place, Chrysalis called her highest officers to a meeting in the war chamber.” He explained. “In that time, we were instructed on what to do in case the Invasion failed. ‘Remain within Equestrian soil until contacted by her’. So we did, many of our best remained within Equestria, hidden among the populace.”

“We remained there for quite a while, until we were given a call in the middle of the night, telling us of our Queen’s death.” Mandible snorted. “And just like that the Princess believes herself to be the new Queen! She is too young, she could not understand. Neither did a majority of our Hive.”

“They blindly followed her, but those of a higher mind refused to follow, the Queen gave us a very specific order. We intend to follow it to the letter. We were told if the Queen falls ‘We must return to the Ancient Hive, and attempt to repair relations.’ We were never told to attempt a second attack. Ceymi’s actions will doom all of us!”

Shade listened closely to the Mandible, but something was still wrong. “Where is this Ancient Hive?”

Mandible smirked. “Ask the Princess of Love.”

Shade stared at Mandible for a few moments, before hopping off the chair and walking out the door. “He’s all yours Captain.” Shade said before walking down the hall towards the training room. Ask Cadence? What does that mean?

“Captain, you’re late!” Star Dust said as Shade pushed open the door to the training room.

“Apologies,” Shade replied. “I was having a rather riveting conversation with one of our newest prisoners.”

“Well you kept us waiting.” Star Dust replied. “So I hope it was worth it.” Star Dust blew a whistle. “We only managed to get you two other sparring partners, but we will make due.”

Shade looked at the other two ponies in the room, one he recognized as Sunglider, he didn’t know the other, the other guard was a dark purple Earth pony mare, her pale purple main was tied into a ponytail.

“This is Lance Corporal Void, she will be helping me with your ground combat training.”

“Void…” Shade repeated. “Sounds like a Unicorn name…”

“I’m part unicorn, on my mother’s side Sir.” Void replied. “I wanted to see Changelings in action sir.”

“Well you came to the wrong place to see trained Changelings corporal.” Shade replied. “I was never trained in the Hive. So I don’t know standard combat. Though it would be a pleasure to train with you.”

“And you already know Lieutenant Sunglider. He will be training you in aerial combat.”

“Consider it a rematch for last time.” Sunglider said opening up his wings.

“Lance Corporal Void, start by showing the good captain here how to fight like a real soldier.”

An hour or so after they had begun, Sunstreak and Void had begun a small sparring match, in which Sunstreak couldn’t use his wings as the two of them circled each other before Void made the first move, charging at Sunstreak, who ducked down and head butted her right in the chest, flipping her over his back before bucking her in the stomach, sending her across the room.

Before she could get up, Sunstreak dashed over and pinned her to the ground. “You done yet?”

Void tapped her hoof on the ground three times, prompting Sunstreak to get off. “How are you so quick to learn this?” She asked wiping a bit of blood from her snout. “Took me a while to perfect that move.”

Sunstreak shrugged. “Two Hundred years of combat training don’t tend to leave you easily. I didn’t hurt you did I?”

“Nah…” She said. “I’ve had worse.”

“Void… You should probably see somepony about that…” Sunglider said, looking at her hind leg. “Looks kind of… beat up…”

Shit… “I knew I should have turned into Fluttershy for this…” Sunstreak said. “Then it probably wouldn’t have hurt… Then again… I’ve never seen Fluttershy fight…”

Star Dust blew his whistle. “Sunglider, you’re up.”

Sunglider took to the air. “Pay attention Changeling,” He said. “Cause I’m only showing you these once.”

“Yes sir!” Sunstreak said taking to the air next to him.

Sunglider began performing various aerial maneuvers, which as Sunglider told him, ‘Looked a lot more complicated than they were.’ Sunstreak just watched, analyzing movement, muscle contortion and change in wing beats.

“Now you try.” Sunglider replied when he was finished.

Sunstreak took a deep breath and tried to repeat what Sunglider did, with terrible results, Shade was not used to having feathered wings when he attempted any kind of precision flying, so he ended up eating stone way more times than anything else.

“Damn… I’m out of practice…” Sunstreak said as he changed back to his normal form.

“How in Tartarus did you manage to take me out when you fly like that?”

Shade looked up at him. “More precision flying with these from what I’ve seen.” Shade opened his insect wings. “Besides… my training with my wings doesn’t exactly transfer, Scaled wings are heavier, more powerful, and more sturdy, changing to two wing types where one is the same as tissue paper, and the other one isn’t quite as powerful, makes it very difficult for precision flying.”

Shade flew back up with his insect wings, hoping they would be a little more accurate, but trying to do any kind of extreme moves caused him to face-plant into the ground again.

“Maybe you should stay on the ground…” Sunglider said landing next to him. “I’m still not sure how you did that move before.”

“I hunted Phoenix rays for my whole life,” Shade replied. “I know how to down a flyer easily. I just… can’t fly through hoops. I was a warrior, not a stunt flyer.”

“So you can fight in the air, you just can’t accurately fly?” Sunglider reiterated.

“Exactly.” Shade replied. “My training was in taking down flying targets, never really focused on keeping targets in the air.”

Sunglider looked at him in a challenging way. “Prove it.”

Shade smiled back. “Your Funeral.”

The two took off into the air, and within a few moments, Sunglider was pinned to the ground, a bladed foreleg up to his throat. “Told yah.”

“Alright, get off of me.” Sunglider replied. Shade obliged and pulled the bladed foreleg away from Sunglider’s throat.

“I told you, downing a flyer is in my training.” Shade said.

Sunglider rubbed the back of his head. “Well… I guess I don’t have to teach you much…” He said. “Given that you seem fine in combat…”

Shade smiled. “Tis what my training was for.” He said.

“But your dodging could use some work.” Sunglider replied. “Star Dust could you pull that lever over there.”

Star Dust used his magic to pull down a lever marked “Storm Training”

From hidden panels in the walls and ceilings, cylindrical wooden structures came out and began swinging across the ceiling in sporadic patters, a few wall panels opened to reveal large fans that began to spin, creating large torrents of wind to blow across the room at random intervals.

Sunglider motioned for Shade to fly through it.

Shade looked at him like he was crazy, trying to voice his concerns when a bolt of lightning slammed into the ground in front of him. Shade gulped before transforming into Sunstreak and taking off.

He was pushed around by the wind very easily, flying into the wooden obstacles, getting smacked around by everything, including the lightning strikes, luckily they weren’t like real lightning, more like static shocks, but they still threw him off course.

“SHUT IT OFF!” Sunglider shouted over the gusts of wind. Star Dust pushed the lever back to it’s inactive position, causing the various hazard to stop moving, and causing Sunstreak to crash into the ground.

“What part of ‘I’m not a flyer’ didn’t you understand!” Sunstreak shouted pushing himself up.

“Okay so maybe…”

“What!” Sunstreak shouted, his ears still ringing from the lightning strike.

“I said that…”

“WHAT!” Sunstreak said, placing his hoof in his ear to try and clean it. “I can’t hear you!”

Sunglider rolled his ears. “I SAID IT WAS A BAD IDEA!”

“Why didn’t you just say so!” Sunstreak replied, pulling his hoof out of his ear. “And stop whispering!”

“I’m not whispering!”

“Sure you are!” Sunstreak replied, hitting the side of his head to get some spare water out of it. “There we go, much better. What were you saying?”

“It was a bad idea… we should probably teach you to-”

“I thought I heard the storm training system turning on.” Cadence said, looking into the room. “I hope nopony got hurt.”

“A Changeling did…” Sunstreak said under his breath, changing to his natural form. “Sorry to disturb you Princess.”

“Not at all Shade.” Cadence replied. “I came to check up on our newest Captain, and ask you something…in private.”

“Of course Princess.” Shade replied, buzzing his wings to fly over to the door. “Give us a minute Lieutenant.”

Sunglider saluted as Shade flew through the door and closed it. “What did you want to ask?”

Cadence seemed a bit nervous. “What did you and the Changeling talk about?”

Shade held back the urge to laugh. “You’re pretty wound up for this given how many Changeling prisoners we have.”

“Yes… But the fact that you are treating them differently is surprising me.”

Shade’s eye twitched. “Do you know them?” Cadence asked.

Shade shook his head, then looked down the hallway to make sure nobody was coming. “Listen… Cadence… I believe these three Changelings are part of a group that still owes allegiance to Chrysalis.”

Cadence looked surprised, and the neon yellow flame proved that. “What?”

Shade looked back towards the training room. “Cadence… Can we move this somewhere a bit more… secluded?”

Cadence looked unsure for a moment, but nodded. Shade poked his head back into the training room. “I’m sorry Lieutenant, but something urgent has arisen, I will contact you when we can continue with training.”

“No problem.” Sunglider replied. “You go do your Captain duties.”

Shade nodded and quickly turned back to Cadence. “Follow me…” Shade began to lead Cadence towards his room, for the pure purpose of it being unlikely anyone would try to reach him there given his planned schedule. When they got there, Shade opened the door to let Cadence in, before slamming it closed and locking it.

“Ugh… I knew this would come to bite me in the ass eventually…”

“Captain… What did you mean by them still having allegiance to Chrysalis?” Cadence replied. “If the Queen is still alive…”

“She can’t be… Antenna was there when she…” Shade turned to see the confused look on her face.

“Antenna?” She asked.

Shade’s eye twitched, he took a deep breath. “Remember how I said that I did meet other Changelings at that Royal Summit?”

Cadence nodded.

“Well…” Shade began to explain the real story to her, Darkblaze, Acari, Blackout, everything he needed to tell her. As he continued the look of shock only became stronger.

“But… I heard about the magic you used on Shifter… how did you do that?” Cadence asked.

Shade sighed, and levitated the curved horn over to her. “This… Used to belong to a Changeling named Mirror, the mother of Echo, a small Changeling I saved from attack by ponies. Two days ago, she was killed, and… I lost it, I gave up on doing things in a stealthy, law abiding way, I want to find both of them, and now… Major Mandible just gave me a way to get a few hundred soldiers on our side.”

Cadence’s eyes widened. “How?”

“He said that those still loyal to Chrysalis gathered in some ‘Ancient Hive’ and apparently you were there before.” Cadence began thinking about when she had ever been to a Changeling hive.

She let out a gasp. “The Crystal Caverns!”

Shade was confused. “Come again?”

She grabbed the Changeling. “The Crystal Caverns! It’s where Chrysalis was holding me during the Invasion, it’s right underneath Canterlot! And there are enough winding paths that anypony could get lost there easily! That must be what he was talking about!”

“Crystal Caverns? So that’s where you were while that whole thing was going on.” Shade said. “So… How do I get in there?”

Author's Notes:

Oh NO!!! I almost did it again!
Ugh... Sorry for anything that looks odd in this chapter... It's late... I'm tired... And I just transcribed everything, so there may very well be errors rampant...

I'll try to be better about this in the future...