Gilt moved forward out the main door of the castle and held it open for their little group.

"Whoa, look at the tail they let into the guard… wait, that isn't the Royal Guard armor." The stallion's voice made Gilt frown a little. Her cold blue magic held the door as she straightened to look at the stallion. "Hey, where you blow in from?"

Shining Armor and Cadance marched out through the door and Gilt had the distinct pleasure of having her queen step to the side with her. "Name?" Shining smiled wide at the stallion who he had quite clearly heard. "I said 'name?' "

"S-S-Sir! Sorry Sir! I…" The loudmouthed stallion stood dead straight and blushed a little. "Private Swing, Sir!"

"Private Swing. I would ask you to report to Princess Celestia at your earliest convenience and tell her exactly what you told my Royal Crystal Guard." Shining could see the poor stallion now looked in a panic, but lessons were required. "The guard's fellows are their family, you just insulted mine. Think first before you talk that way to a cousin."

Gilt's heart melted then, if she hadn't already decided to throw her lot in with her new queens, this one event would have.

"Lieutenant Gilt, lead on please." Shining stepped back beside his wife, tasting the love and admiration pouring from her. "Sorry about that, Cady."

"Don't you dare apologize for what you just did, Shining Armor." Cadance wore a smile almost as wide as Gilt's. "Besides, the day is young and there are plenty of things we can do that we will need to apologize for."

Closing the door after his queens, Bright joined Gilt before them. "Sir, ready to move." He got a nod from the other stallion and, with trained perfection, they began to march.

Marching along a few blocks into the big city, Gilt finally paused. "Y-Your Highnesses?" She turned to look at Cadance and Shining. "Which way is it to your parents?" She couldn't stop her giggle, not when both her queens started laughing. "I didn't want to look foolish in front of the guards at the castle…"

Cadance got hold of her mirth first and pointed a hoof. "Mostly in the right direction, but it is two streets over. We are headed to the home of Twilight Velvet and Night Light, Shiny's parents." She spared a look to her husband, watching as he managed to secure his laughter and settle back down. "A mother deserves to know about such things."

A deep blush colored Shining's cheeks. "I would have, but I-"

"Had a lot of things to worry about that we don't talk about here." Cadance finished for him, leaning over to kiss him. She realized her mistake when she drew back and turned to see both Gilt and Bright looking a bit woozy. "Sorry, lead on."

"Lieutenant, permission to stop… stop feeding…" Bright had to blink a few times to get his vision to clear.

"Bright, you don't need to ask about that, come on, march it off." Gilt started moving, her smile coming back when she saw her hive-sister moved in perfect lock-step.

"It's this disguise, I swear, Sir, it is a bad influence on me." Bright might have moved perfectly, but he was definitely feeling a touch love-drunk.

Going to have to come up with training to avoid this. Gilt mused on her problems, the instincts of her disguise guiding her hooves perfectly.

Cadance's voice cut through the 'ling's distraction. "This is it, Gilt." Cadance stepped forward but was cut off by Bright. "Bright dear, this is Shining's parents-"

"Your Majesty, you have royal guard, let us do this." Bright smiled and was already lifting his hoof and knocking. The astonishment on Cadance's face relaxed into acceptance.

"I swear, Shining Armor, if you crack a single joke about a princess being out of her element I will-" Cadance's little tirade against impending jokes was halted by a kiss on her cheek and then the door opening.

"Shining? Cadance?" Night Light's face brightened. "You have some friends?" He looked at the two guard, his expression betraying curiosity. "All of you, come in." He turned and left the door open for his visitors to follow. "Twilight is in… Darling! Shining and Cadance are here!"

"We don't need protection in here, you can relax." Cadance herded the two drones in behind Shining and closed the door. "In fact, it might be best if you just show them. I cannot countenance lying to my mother and father-in-law."

Gilt and Bright looked to each other and, shrugging, both dropped their disguises. "They are hive?" Bright looked to the pink alicorn, and got a nod. "Then they are hive."

Cadance could see both changelings relax visibly. She spread her wings a little and gave each chitinous body a slight brush with them. "Shiny, I was just telling the girls to relax." She found her husband awkwardly trying to hug his mother with the armor on.

"You have grown more?" Twilight Velvet leaned back from her son, looking up at him. "When am I getting grandfoals?" The question was completely out of left-field, but so very much a mother's prerogative.

"Uh, well, that is part of why we are here, mom." Shining lifted a clanking hoof up to rub the back of his head. "I don't know how to explain it…"

Cadance immediately moved up beside her husband, her magic picking over the helmet and unfastening the straps. "There is the easy way, Shiny." She leaned in and kissed her husband's cheek.

"No, no I need to do this right. Mom, remember when we were getting ready for the wedding?" Shining's tone had his mother taking a seat.

"That was not an easy time for a mother, when it should have been. Chrysalis was quite… controlling and demanding of your time." Twilight lit her horn, floating a cup of tea across to sip at.

Shining looked down, the pain of what Chrysalis had done to him flowing back. He had a moment of not being able to talk, or more to the point, not being able to start.

"I'm sorry dear, that was a little hard of me. You are already dredging up painful things, I think." Twilight Velvet rubbed her son's cheek, removing the tears that were there. "I really didn't mean to add to them."

"You didn't add to them, she did." Shining took a deep breath, thankful he could talk again. "When she had me she… did something, something that took a while to start but…" His green magic lit up and he lifted his helmet free, revealing his naked black horn. "It is spreading. Two days ago I didn't have this." He rolled his eyes up.

Twilight's eyes narrowed. "If I ever meet that mare again, there will be words." She sipped her tea and took a deep breath. "What is going on, are you turning into-" her words faltered, she spotted the two changelings behind Cadance.

Without a word, Night Light reached to the cabinet at the side of the room with his magic, levitating a small bottle over. Delivering a small amount of the liquid within first into Twilight's cup, then a double-measure into his own. "Son, are you alright?" He spotted his son's gaze focused on his mother and knew what he needed.

Sipping from her infused tea, Twilight stood up and leaned forward again, stepping against her son and wrapping her forelegs around him. The floodgate opened and Shining's eyes filled. He cried like a foal, like a little colt who had been hurt by something he didn't understand. But he had his mother there, her forelegs not able to wrap around his big form, but delivering the contact he needed nonetheless. "Shiny, you are alright."

Shining's heart felt flayed, bared and open to the pain that had been festering around it. Then another pair of forelegs wrapped around him, pink and strong. "Cady…" He felt like he was drowning in her love, but he didn't care; he was suddenly thankful for the magic that let him feel, let him know just how much his wife loved him. His father took the remaining spot and hugged Shining. The poison and pain that had been infecting him felt suddenly so weak and ineffective; with so many ponies caring for him, despite the changes, he had to believe in himself again.

The last surprising feeling, for Shining, was the two warm bodies that pressed to his back. My hive. He tilted his head to the side, catching Cadance in a kiss. Our hive.

"So my son is turning into a changeling fully? Or is this the extent? Are your little friends here to carry you away?" Twilight wiped and then kissed away her son's tears. "Well?"

"I'm their queen." Shining couldn't hold anything back, mothers were not to be lied to. "We… we are fairly sure it will keep going, but I am not going to become their equal."

"He is already our queen." Bright stuck her tongue out at Gilt. "Him and Cadance."

Both parents turned their gaze to Cadance now. "You too?" Night held a slight quirk to his snout, he already could clearly see that Cadance wasn't changing at all.

"No!" Cadance glared at her two drones and just as suddenly softened to them. "The first time we found a changeling in the Crystal Empire, it was Careful Step. Our love for each other did something to him, broke him of his bond to his hive, bound him to us."

"I see." Twilight backed away from Shining, stepped around the stallion and took stock of the two changelings, her status as matriarch of the house firmly intact. "And they did this to you, too?" Both nodded respectfully, each had seen how much their queens respected this pony. "Would you have wanted this?"

"No." Bright gave a deep sigh. "But please, ask the other question."

Twilight caught the smile and knew what they wanted. "Are you happy it happened?" The moment she asked she saw the creature's face light up with a big smile.

"I love my queens, they broke me of old Queen Fuddy-duddy's hold, they don't make be do bad things and… they share." Bright couldn't not think of her queens, not with Cadance radiating enough love to feed a hive right beside her.

"And you? Sorry, I missed your names." Twilight turned to the second drone, her eyes narrowing to try to make out features to pick them apart. "You are both mares?"

Two nods met the question, but Gilt opened her snout. "I am Gilt Wings, this is Bright Flash. I… didn't like what they did at first, it felt odd, different." She inhaled, recalling the confusion.

Twilight moved for the verbal opening. "And what was the difference? What do you feel now?"

"The difference was in the way I was treated, how much I was loved. Until last night, I have never just been full, not needed more. But the feel is different, way different. I can taste my queen's love, I am very good at reading such. She loves her stallion so much it blinds me, she loves you so much I could live the rest of my life from just a sip. But she loves me, us." Gilt closed her eyes, exploring that amazing sensation. "She really does!"

"And you are content with them?" Twilight's persistent questions had more than the changeling's attention, Cadance was watching her with much interest.

"Content? No, I could never feel content again. I feel compelled, I want to work, I want to fight. I would do anything for them, because they love me. They are my hive." Gilt felt a foreleg reach around her as Bright gave her a hug. Hive.

"Do you like tea? I made plenty." Twilight turned back, levitating two cups over for the changelings. "I put a little honey in them, I hope you like sweet things." Twilight made her way back to her seat. "Now, let's get to the bottom of this. The word 'queen' was bandied about. Shining, queens are mares."

The implied question was one Shining had been facing of late, with his wife's assistance, quite well. "That… is a chance." He opened his snout to show off his fangs. "R EER HV FWNGS WI IS." He caught a look from his mother, blushed, and tried again. "A queen has fangs like this. Also, a horn like this." He took a deep breath, a little worry slipping into him.

"So I may have another daughter?" Night grinned at his son. "I am proud of everything you have done, Shining, and nothing will change that."

Shining suddenly realized two things about his wife. She knew what he needed, always; and she was really sneaky about making sure he got it. "If it comes to that… well, there is one benefit." He inhaled deeply; somehow, making a joke of this was helping to deal with it. "You may end up with a whole lot more grandfoals than you thought." He wore the lopsided grin he always did when telling a joke. At his parent's blank looks he giggled. "I might be laying eggs, a lot of them." He caught the moment when his parents caught the joke, their snouts twisting as they had to hide their giggles. Really sneaky indeed, he felt a weight fall from his shoulders.

Author's Notes:

"How does it feel?" Shining reached one hole-filled hoof up to rub his mane. "Well, it..." He closed his eyes and focused, with his eyes still closed he added, "It feels amazing. It took a lot of work for Cadance to persuade me that she actually liked me back, but with this I really feel it. Love is like a tornado, a thunderstorm... the waves of the ocean." His face cracked a big smile, looking for all the world like he was miles away, probably with a pink princess at his side.

---

So I do this "Ask x" thing, x can be any pony within the story. You can ask them anything and I they will definitely hopefully reply. Keep the questions appropriate to the age-rating of the stories and of course, I They will answer the best question(s) in the author notes of the next chapter. The more votes a comment has the more likely I will get it to the right pony to answer, try and keep it to one answer per post! I They will pick one question per chapter.

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