Max, Crystal, and Crack walked back to the dining room in silence. The smaller changeling, called a drone according to the sub-queen, was carrying their list in his hip-pouch while Crystal worried her lip in thought.

The information discussed had been interesting, giving Max several more things to think about. For one, Crystal had taught him how to call on the magic of their race during a water break. That meant that while he didn't know any spells, Max could now light his horn with the green burning glow of changeling magic. With a little practice while they were working on the list, Max soon discovered that a changeling's entire body was capable of channeling the magic.

'Makes sense in a way. Not only do we basically live off of magic, but being a shape shifter we need to be able to alter every bit of ourselves. I wonder if that's why Luna and Celestia could hold onto me better after I'd been feeding on their emotions...'

It would likely explain the resistance to other magics as well. With changelings being so reliant on magic, the active magic rolling around in their bodies may have been the reason for the magical resistance.

"Luna really didn't realize how close she was to the truth," the stallion muttered. "Like reacting to like. The emotion in my body was mostly from her, so even as magic it still had enough of an imprint of her power that it would allow her to affect me."

"What did you say?" Crystal asked, picking up her pace to catch up to him.

"I said the magic that rolls around in our body may be what grants the resistance. With most of our emotion coming from Luna, it allows her to cast spell that wont just bounce off our shells. The magic in our forms recognizes it as similar to our own and doesn't outright reject it as foreign magic. It's something to keep in mind. If you're spying on another town or something, you may have to be careful with feeding as it would probably allow the local unicorns to affect you."

Crack hummed thoughtfully at the idea, turning it over in his head as Crystal scowled.

"Wonderful. Perhaps that is why Mother preferred to harvest energy from those who were already incapacitated. Any time we feed on a unicorn we allow them to use their magic on us."

"It's not so simple, Crystal. I think it has to do with the amount. Right now you and I have been pulling most of our emotion from Luna. That means that most of the energy we're running on is similar to her magic, so our shells don't reject it like they do with everyone else's magic. It's not a bad thing. Do you think Luna would hurt you?"

Crystal quickly shook her head.

"Then there's no issue. It's possible it would take a long time for a pony to be able to move you with levitation. I mean, the two of us are using Luna almost exclusively. If we started spreading out our energy harvest, or used emotion gel processed by other changelings her spells may stop working. It's just theories at this point, Crystal. I'm taking what I know and guessing at what I don't.

"On the one hoof I find it kind of odd that changelings don't know some of these things, but I also have been getting a feeling for the kind of leader you were working with. The Queen didn't want you guys to become smart enough to survive on your own. She, literally in Crystal's case, made it so that you couldn't continue your race without her. She needed your dependence."

"I think we'll figure it all out in due time. It's just going to take a little while to put everything together," Max assured them as he opened the door to the dining room.

It had taken a bit, but he was finally starting to remember the routes through the castle. He wouldn't count on his memory if there was an emergency, but he was fairly certain he could make it to the training yard, the dining room, Luna's room, and the gate. Celestia's room he'd only seen...once? Twice? that wasn't enough for him to memorize the route just yet.

Luna was already present, a few sandwiches on her plate while a small platter in the center of the table was filled with more of them.

"Good afternoon Crystal, Max...Crick?"

"Crack, Princess. Flick was the other changeling, the female drone," Crack corrected.

Luna giggled in embarrassment.

"Ah, our apologies. We have yet to see the differences in individuals for changelings. We are certain it will come with familiarity."

Max went to his seat at the table but stopped just shy of sitting down.

"Uh, is your sister still sleeping?"

"Oh dear," Luna muttered, rising to her hooves. "We shall return shortly. Sometimes Tia becomes difficult to remove from her bed."

"I do not blame her," Crystal said, sitting down on a cushion beside Luna's seat. "A warm, dark room can be very enticing."

"Agreed, but if you sleep too long it can be hard to go to bed when you actually need to. I wonder how ponies would react to that, Celestia becoming the nocturnal one? That would throw them for a loop," Max said with a laugh.

Luna soon returned with a sleepy sister in tow. The white mare was rubbing the sleep from her eyes, moving to her place at the table without a word.

"We trust your time was well-spent?" Luna asked as she began to levitate sandwiches to everyone present, including a confused Crack. While Crystal tried relaying Luna and Max's reasoning for changelings to eat, Max turned to answer the lunar alicorn.

"Well, we managed to consolidate a bit of information. Mostly we were just talking about what we know and we became distracted a few times, but it turns out Crack may be able to heal my eyelid. Oh, and I've gone from blowing up my face to setting myself on fire."

Luna looked horrified for a moment before Max burst into laughter.

"And this is an improvement...how?" Celestia asked in confusion as she finally shook off the last holds of sleep.

"Changeling magic favors fire. It's easier to do fire spells and the like. We also have the ability to move the magic through our entire bodies. I assume it has to do with the shape-shifting. As such, it's not hard for me to light myself on fire. It's kind of an energy burn and I don't think it actually does anything but it's intimidating as hell if you don't know much about changelings."

"That, we could see it being useful. Ponies suddenly bursting into flames would be a terrifying sight to be sure," Luna acknowledged. "But of course it would waste energy fairly quickly, correct?"

"It would depend on the type of flame." Crack replied. Most changelings use what's called a Ghost-fire spell. It's not actually hot, it just looks like it could burn you. When the being you're facing suddenly bursts into flames...on the other hoof we can use more energy to add heat, though I remember treating a few burns on warriors that were learning that trick. It takes practice."

"The flame trick is a bit energy intensive in my opinion, but it's still cool," Max added. "As much as I'd like to mess around with the spells and learn more, I'd also like to conserve what energy we have access to. I'll wait until we get things settled before I start really getting into the spells. I'm curious just how far changeling shape-shifting can go if you have free time to just practice with it and spare energy to burn."

As the group was in the middle of their meal someone knocked on the door, drawing everyone's attention. It was Luna who responded first.

"Enter"

"Apologies about this your highness, but there's a pony asking to speak with you and since there hasn't been much of a court lately-"

"No, it is alright. In fact pass the news to the rest of the guards that my sister and I would prefer this kind of forewarning. We will eventually return to holding court, but there's much to do right now and little can be accomplished by holding court," the dark alicorn said. "Please issue a proclamation to the ponies outside our walls as well. If the peasants require something, they may speak with a guard who will either pass the news to our ears or bring them to us directly, where Celestia or I shall hear their case. Is the pony present?"

"She is, princess. Shall I send her in?"

Looking around the table to the still occupied plates Luna nodded.

"Yes, please do so."

"Luna, we are not so certain that inviting the ponies into our dining room is proper," Celestia whispered across the table as the knight left.

Luna giggled at the older alicorn's concern.

"That's silly. We are attempting to connect with the ponies, are we not?"

"I'm with Sunny on this one, Luna," Max added. "It could come across as a bit too casual. I'm all for rubbing elbows with ponies, but I don't think I'd invite a stranger into my dining room when I'm eating. Maybe if I didn't have a receiving room I'd use a dining room instead but in your case-"

"Do we have a receiving room?" Celestia wondered aloud.

"Is that not what the main hall, the throne room, is for?" Luna asked in response.

"Not quite the same. A receiving room is also a room that guests can use while waiting for you to speak with them. Good to have if you're busy with either court or the individual wishes to speak with you privately. I know we used one for our meeting, but it would likely be a good idea to have more than one," Max offered. "There must be at least one or two spare rooms somewhere. I mean, you already had a few spare rooms in the castle for visitors, right?"

The alicorns frowned in thought.

"We actually didn't expect so many ponies to arrive," Celestia muttered. "Between knights and nobles, the number of rooms has rapidly decreased. I think the serving ponies also use a few rooms, so the number of remaining rooms is even lower."

"Add to this the need for additional storage and I believe our keep is, er, filling rather quickly," Luna added with a giggle. "It is a surprising and not altogether unwelcome problem. We, I have never seen so many ponies as there are gathered both in and outside our walls."

"It's a nice change I'm sure but there are problems that also arise from increased population density. We'll talk about that later though," Max counseled before nodding his head to the door.

Both mares straightened up as a guard admitted the petitioner. A nervous looking earth pony mare walked in the door with two knights on either side of her. She looked over those present at the table before laying out her request in what the changeling could only describe as a terrified, stuttering manner. The bit that stuck with him though, was that none of the fear was directed at him or Crystal.

"More bandits. Shall we never be rid of these wretches?" Celestia swore, tapping a hoof against the table in irritation.

"And Coltsvale again," Luna added, her own irritation spicing the air. "Duke Silverblood continues to lounge in his keep while the commonpony suffers."

Max's eyes widened.

"Wait, this village is under the rule of another pony? A duke? Then why are they coming here?"

"Duke Silverblood refuses to raise a hoof in their defense, preferring to sit in his keep while sending his guards out only to gather taxes."

"But he rules that area, even if he's a, even if he's not nice right?" The changeling pursued, catching himself before he insulted another being in power. Luna seemed to catch his save, giggling even as she nodded.

"In that case, don't you need his permission to do something?"

"He doesn't grant passage to anypony, not without charging them for it," Celestia told him, her irritation hidden but palatable. "Not even to those who defend innocents."

The stallion scowled as he worked the information over. Something was just striking him as...

"Something's not right. You did this before, was it before or after you became rulers of your own keep?"

"What does that have to do with-" Celestia started, only to be interrupted by a giggle from Crystal.

"We would often bait traps if the defenses of a town were well entrenched," the queen said with a fond smile. "A lost filly, a band of bandits well outside the town. I seem to remember one instance where my soldiers and I took a caravan by surprise and used it to enter a city unnoticed. We then proceeded to take out a few of the watchponies from inside the town under cover of darkness. The town was defeated before they knew we were there."

"I am in agreement with Max on this. This smells foul. Even the pony's attitude is questionable. She fears something, but it is nobody in this room. If I were to be in the presence of strange and powerful creatures I would be nervous, but at least a little of that attitude would be directed towards the beings present. She fears none who are present, not even Maximus or myself. For entering a room filled with beings like ourselves, she is too scared of something else to have any fear left for her situation."

Standing up and walking over to the shaking mare, the queen leaned in, moving her muzzle inches from the petitioner's face.

"Why do you taste of desperate fear. Bandits do not inspire this kind of fear, nor is your fear directed at any of those present. Is it someone else?"

The mare's anxiety spiked and Crystal's irritated scowl became a wicked smirk.

"Hmm, I'd heard that Crack over there petitioned the crown under false pretenses to attack a few bandits that had captured another changeling, but this is something more. Perhaps it's not you that is in danger."

The ponies emotions began swerving erratically between fear and despair, letting the changelings know Crystal was on to something.

"Your family," Max stated, looking at her with a hard stare. "Your family or village is in danger, but it's not the bandits. Bandits don't target a specific household unless its personal, do they?"

Luna shook her head.

"That makes no sense. If bandits are not the source of her fear, the only logical source of danger would be Silverblood or his soldiers."

Sensing the terror the mare emitted at the guess, Max began tapping the table in thought. What would the duke gain by threatening the mare's family and making her go to another keep?

"It's bait. He wishes to engage you either on his own territory or to strike while you are away," Crystal Wish declared, causing the pony before her to shiver. "It's well thought out, but in his arrogance he used a pony that had no training in deception and too much at stake."

"Why though?" Celestia demanded of the changeling queen. "Why would the duke seek to strike at us? We have aided the ponies of this town before and he did nothing."

"Did you two have ponies outside the gates before or knights of your own?" Max asked, drawing a shake of Luna's head. "You've advanced into his game now. You have something he wants, power. If he defeats you or gets you to surrender, all the power you've been amassing is his to take."

As the earth pony collapsed on the ground, begging them to do something to save her family, Max could only shake his head in disgust.

"Welcome to the game of thrones, princesses. Where everyone's a piece even if they're not a player and the goal is to control as much of the board as possible before someone kills you."

"You do not truly believe that Silverblood would actually-" Celestia began before cutting herself off, disgust warring with confusion in her expression.

"Such lovely pieces they would make as well," Luna whispered darkly, anger starting to radiate from her in a budding inferno. "If they die on the way, it is no loss. If they die to us, it is no loss. If he has to lose a few to prove himself, it is no loss. He stands to lose naught but a few peasants, but stands to gain a second keep for his own. We shall wring his corpulent neck for this travesty!"

At her final declaration, Luna slammed her hoof down on the table, shattering it and sending dishes and leftovers clattering to the floor.

"Calm, Luna," the larger changeling soothed, running a hoof over Luna's back. "We're only guessing right now. I'm not going to take the mare's grief as proof we're right and I won't dismiss any possibility, but for now we need to keep calm and learn what we can. We gather information first, then act."

The dark alicorn breathed in deeply through her nose, nodding before motioning a dismissal for the guards and the petitioner. Celestia called after them, asking the knights to see the mare cared for after her journey before turning her gaze back to those present.

"So Maximus, you say we require information. How would you suggest we go about this."

Crystal chuckled, looking around the table before realizing the alicorns weren't asking in jest.

"You, you are serious? You are asking how to gain information with four changelings living in your castle, one of which is an infiltrator and another of which is a warrior queen? Flick could likely bring you the Silverblood's nightgown if she knew where it was, while I could bring down the gate before they knew I was there."

"I think we're aiming for a little less destruction here, Crystal. Even if we assume her anxiety as being proof that Silver's up to something, we still don't know what. It could be as simple as getting another ruler to take care of his issues for free. Maybe he wants to see the bandits removed without paying for the troop movements, so he throws a threat at a pony and sends them here. Luna and Celestia have already proven they want to help the peasants, so why would you spend the time and money if you didn't have to?"

"If you believe this then why did you mention the possibility of Silver being involved in a plot against us?" The white alicorn asked him. "This seems much more realistic."

"I don't know what's going on, I'm throwing out ideas. The plot idea was to stop you from agreeing to help without knowing all the details. I'm sorry if I came across as manic, I'm still working things out myself," Max groaned, rubbing his muzzle with a hoof. "I'm certain you three are perfectly capable of paranoia on your own, but Crystal doesn't like contradicting Luna when she's set on something and you two have prior experience with the town. That alone makes me nervous. Back home there would be a public outcry over the duke's knights being unable to protect their own cities, the duke would face public humiliation for this and if it turns out to be a trap no one would ever trust him again. Not any leaders of other cities or states, anyway. When someone's willing to use such methods, would you trust them? Information travels faster on earth, so the idea of something like this happening in such an obvious manner is unsettling. Some leaders are accused of it, but at least they use methods that are harder to track back to them than their own knights sending a peasant to another ruler."

"We understand. And we appreciate your concern, but we need to see this issue corrected. I shall personally check for bandit activity near Coltson."
Luna held up a hoof as the other three opened their mouths, forestalling any arguments.

"If they are as numerous as we fear or it is a trap I shall return posthaste, and I shall approach the town under cover of darkness in either case so as to hide my presence."

Celestia shook her head, casting a cautious glance to Crystal who seemed to be growling of all things.

"I do not care for this idea, Luna."

"Neither do I," Max agreed, "You could very well be sticking your hoof into a bear trap just to see if it is a trap."

Seeing the mares look at him curiously, Max rolled his eyes.

"It's a circular ring of metal that activates when the switch inside it is touched. When it is tripped, the two sides slam up, catching whatever stepped in it in a heavy and often secured ring of sharp metal. Stronger ones were powerful enough to actually shatter bones, and meaner varieties had lots of sharp teeth that would also bleed the victim. The point I'm making is you're walking into what could be a trap to find out if it is one. I don't like the idea; nobody here does."

"The alternative is either ignoring a plea for assistance or bringing a large force of knights into Silverblood's territory," the blue mare retorted. "In this way, we shall know for certain what the truth of the matter is. While for most pegasus ponies the journey is three days, we shall be capable of making it in two, perhaps even in a shorter span of time. We shall scout the town and return before the mare has even retraced half her journey."

Luna smiled happily, pulling Max to her barrel while using a quick burst of levitation to drag a squawking Crystal to her side.

"I find your concern for my wellbeing most endearing, but I cannot sit idly by when my aid is required. I wish for the two of you to take care of Tia while I'm gone. Crystal, you-"

"I am aware, Maximus is my keeper in your absence. Listen to him and your sister until you return," the changeling queen muttered, crossing her hooves over her barrel in a pout.

Luna giggled at her grumpy attitude, nuzzling Crystal's cheek before stealing a kiss from both of the shape shifters.

"Very well. I shall return as soon as I am able. I don't want my flock getting lonely, after all."

Max watched as Luna flew off for Coltson that evening. He was still incredibly nervous about the entire situation but the mare only seemed to find his concern endearing. She tapped him on the muzzle with a hoof, stating that until recently the two alicorn mares had to take care of everything themselves. That this was something she'd done before, that she was no stranger to pain or danger. That Luna, the Alicorn of the Moon, was completely capable of completing a scouting mission without being seen. So he'd let her go.

That wasn't the word for it. He didn't choose, he just stopped questioning her choice. He accepted her decision to see this mission through, to find out where the danger was and in what form it existed. He accepted that without the knowledge of how to use his wings, he would be unable to keep up with her. Actually even if he did know how to use them, he likely wouldn't be able to keep up with the mare. She was born with wings and had been flying her whole life.

He'd approached her with a small jar of honey, as it was all he was certain he could spare. He' was catching a lot more from the knights and even Celestia, but it was like adding rainwater to his pond. A pond Luna easily filled, apparently. To everyone's surprise Crystal had taken the jar from him and stormed off, returning later with a much larger container that was full of even more potent honey than he'd seen before.

Luna had pulled the smaller mare into a crushing hug and kissed her deeply, likely restoring a good portion of what the changeling queen had deposited in the jar in the process. She'd bid all three of them farewell, and with a quick hug to Celestia she'd departed.

"Do you think you could start me on flying lessons?" Max asked, tapping Crystals shoulder and drawing her eyes from the slowly fading dot in the distance.

Crystal looked back to Luna's previous position, buzzing her wings in agitation before nodding.

"I will. So that you can be stronger. So that we can keep her safe."

The stallion grinned as they walked to the training yard, shoving Crystal with his shoulder.

"Now you're getting it. You teach me how to shape-shift and fly, and I'll teach you how to act inconspicuous. Then we'll be able to infiltrate places like Silverblood's keep with out anyone knowing we're there."

"And then she won't have to taste sad," Crystal whispered. "I do not know why, but it makes me feel...bad."

"She's sad because she has to say goodbye," Max explained, drawing a faint smile from the mare. "But she'll return. And when she does, you'll get to feel her happiness at seeing you again. You'll get to feel all the longing and love she's saved for us in her absence. And we'll treat her to a bath and a brushing, letting her relax while she tells us what happened on her trip."

"I'd rather treat her to a rutting," the queen said, her smile turning hungry.

The stallion grinned back.

"After this we'll have some fun to ourselves. And if you're willing to let me have some of that love back we can have fun for a lot longer."

Crystal's smile fell at the request. He knew she was fighting her instincts to horde the emotions, a tough habit to break after being hungry for so long. Still, the queen nodded. He wasn't going to keep it from her. He wasn't going to take the emotion and run off somewhere. What was his was hers, as he'd shown already. If giving some of the emotion back allowed them to have more fun, perhaps she'd be willing-

"I shall. Most of it was yours anyway, before you...gave it to me," she said, her smile returning. "If allowing you to have some of that emotion back in the form of honey means that I can feel that sensation a bit more, then I suppose I can allow such a transfer."

"Damnation! Use your barrel to keep yourself straight. Your wings move too fast to actively think about each individual flap, a changeling reacts!"

The instructions didn't help Max that much as he lost control of his hovering flight, nor had they helped the last seventeen times the mare had thrown them at him. The wings were unlike anything he'd ever even thought of, a set of muscles that moved too fast for him to really think about much more than the tilt of the wings while they were extended and the speed at which they were moving. A few more moments of flailing his hooves and he was hitting the ground, rolling uncontrollably with the impact and checking to make sure the diaphanous wings hadn't been damaged in the roll the moment he regained his hooves.

"Pull your wings in when you hit the ground," Crystal barked, marching over with an angry scowl. "You need to keep them safe. If you keep trying to flutter them even while you're rolling on the ground you'll damage them."

"I know! I'm using a set of muscles that has no analogue in my old species, Crystal. It's a bit harder than relearning how to walk because I don't have anything to compare it to!"

Buzzing his wings and holding them out for a final check, he began slowly buzzing them again, this time keeping them to a pace he could track while he ran through the different wing beats.

'Up, left, right, left twist, right twist, hover...'

"I told you to not do that, it's instinct. You should be-"

"I might not have those instincts, Crystal. I didn't have instincts for anything else since I was changed by Discord, why would flight be any different? You said that the queen would throw changelings into a hole, right? And not all of them survived? I'm certain I can fly with practice but it's just going to take some time. Time and effort the queen wasn't willing to spend on her drones!"

The mare shrunk back at his outburst and he sighed.

"I know it's frustrating, but not everyone learns the same way. You're asking me to learn the way you did, but there are a hundred differences between us. I appreciate the advice, especially the wing-thing. I just need to get used to reacting faster. Besides, I didn't expect to learn this in a single day."

Crystal's face twisted in thought as an idea occurred to her.

"Perhaps we can teach you another way."

She nodded, her smile growing brighter. Walking back to the castle, she motioned for him to follow with a bob of her head before leading him back through the hallways to the flock's bedroom.

"I am uncertain how it will work, so please remain calm," Crystal said as she hopped on the bed, motioning for him to do the same.

Max looked to the sub-queen with a bit of uncertainty as he joined her.

"Uh, Crystal? Not to be a downer, but what exactly is it you want to do?"

"We wish to join with you. To become one," she answered simply, pressing her cheek against his own.

"I really don't think sex will teach me how to fly."

As the mare's horn lit he felt his own horn, currently touching hers, react and begin to glow.

"I do not mean mating. This is a part of what you are now. Join with me."

His eyes locked on hers, a spike of panic shooting through his mind at the intensity of her gaze. The power increased as his own magic reacted, and her eyes seemed to pull him in. There was a flash of garbled words and images flashing through his mind and-

Author's Notes:

Got up early to watch the inauguration, so I figured I had the time to finish patching this up and shipping it out. What happens when you introduce a human mind to a mental-connection?