"They give me more hope than ever." Shining was laying beside Cadance in the big "royal carriage," watching Twilight and Gilt—the unicorn and changeling surrounded by notes—chatting away about magic.

"It certainly seemed to have become a great friendship, once they weren't terrified of each other." Cadance shifted, reaching her head over Shining's back and resting over him while looking out into the sunset. "What of Chrysalis?"

Shining tensed and felt all his muscles make ready for a fight. "What about her?" His new body felt all kinds of anger for Chrysalis, he even felt himself baring his fangs; but managed to stop before he actually hissed.

"You honestly think we aren't going to have to go up against her again? Once she finds out what we are doing she will come with as many of her hive as she can bring." Cadance saw the huge gorge fly by. "Let's say we can take all her drones, every last one. What then?"

"It depends." Shining lowered his head down to the couch-seat. "If she is really sorry? I…" He stopped and really thought on the idea. "She did bad things to me, Cady."

"I know she did. I have been fighting to keep you together after she did them. I held you, my Shining stallion, when you cried in fear of her coming again." Cadance felt inside her the huge shift in power as the evening progressed from daytime to night: Luna's domain.

"She will come again." Shining remembered the terror those thoughts had held for him. "She took something from me, she replaced it with something else. I guess it really will depend on why she did them. I wouldn't blame another soldier fighting me because he had been ordered to, or if he thought it was the only way he-"

"Or her." Cadance poked her husband's side with a hoof.

"I already conceded to you on that one." Shining chuckled regardless.

Cadance leaned a little, sneaking a kiss against Shining's cheek. "I may be graceful in victory, but only so far as it pertains to my mane and tail."

"Fair point, but so is mine. I need to know why she did what she did before I can hope to forgive her. I really hate this armor." Shining tilted his head, unable to turn enough to kiss Cadance without displacing her from his back.

"Then learn to transform. You could have spent this time with Gilt and Twi, working on your magic." Cadance kept teasing her stallion, kissing him on the cheek again and again. A green flare of magic poured from Shining's horn and Cadance found herself lifting up into the air. "Hey, this is cheating!"

"I know, I am becoming a changeling," Shining rolled to his back, the heavy armor barely inhibiting his movement, "cheating is what we do." He lowered Cadance back down, so she was beside him. He leaned up and kissed her soundly on the lips.

"Uh, my Queens…" Gilt surprised both Cadance and Shining out of their kiss. "We are here… sorry to intrude…"

Lifting her head, Cadance saw Twilight standing off to the side, her pack full of the notes she had been working on with Gilt. "So we are. Welcome to your new home, Gilt." Cadance stretched.

Watching his wife arching her back and stretching, Shining felt a complete lack of interest in moving. He studied Cadance's every line and suddenly found a great need to move. "Well, we are home. I wonder how things went for Careful?" Shining kept his eyes away from Cadance for the moment, not wanting to embarrass himself in front of his little sister.

"Is Careful the other changeling? The first one?" Twilight pulled out her notebook, flipping through it. "Ah, here… yes, he is the first one and—at least according to Gilt—quite a clever 'ling." Cadance looked to her husband and got a nod from him; both giggled. "What?" Twilight looked between them.

"Twilight, 'Ling'?" Cadance looked at the mare with mirth pulling her snout up at the corners.

Not seeing the full humor, Twilight entered lecture-mode. "Gilt used it. It is shortened from 'changeling' I am sure. Which is itself an interesting word, you see-"

"It was cute, Twily." Shining reached a foreleg up to ruffle his sister's mane as if she were still just a little filly. "Let's go see what Rarity has done for the guard."

"So this is where she got to?" Twilight used her magic to try to put her mane back into order. "She disappeared, telling Derpy she had a fashion emergency, and to tell me what was going on." Stepping down off the train, Twilight blinked at all the guards gathered around the platform at the late hour.

"What's going on?" Shining looked around the guard, immediately pulling his attention to Sergeant Dancing.

"Sir!" Dancing stepped forward. "Password?"

"Really?" Shining raised an eyebrow at the stallion. "Okay, Snow Flurry." The moment he said it the guard all relaxed. "Now if you could tell me why you are preventing us from leaving the train?"

"We found a changeling, sir!" Dancing stood as tall and proud as he could. "They arrived earlier today, disguised as you, sir."

Sudden fear filled Shining. What did they do with him? Was Careful okay? Would I feel it if he was hurt? "Excellent work, where did you secure them?" Shining spared a glance toward Cadance and saw his wife had a smile on her snout. Relief flooded him.

"In the tower cells, sir." Dancing saw now, the mare wearing the odd new armor, behind Shining. "Sir, you went recruiting?"

"Something like that." Shining started walking forward, trusting his rank and sheer mass to carve a path for his family. "Dancing, have all the guard assembled at dawn watch-change. All of them." Shining was surprised when Gilt pushed her way past the assembled guard and took her place before himself and Cadance. "Take us to the castle, Gilt."

There was a little murmur going around the guard as this mare in armor began leading the royal couple back to the castle. Gilt ignored it all, flicking her hooves in a half-prance.

"Laying it on a bit thick, Gilt?" Shining waited until they were out of earshot of the guards. "I mean, Dancing is a bit thick, but the rest are mostly good sorts."

"I am a royal guard of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor. I am also escorting the Prince's sister and personal student of Princess Celestia, Diarch of Equestria. I have a duty to be laying on everything thick." Gilt kept her prance going until her senses picked up on the Crystal Heart. "Uh… my… what is… oh…"

Blue magic gave Gilt and Shining a little shake each. "Both of you, snap out of it. That is the Crystal Heart, Shining, Gilt. Both of you have to keep back from it now." Cadance discreetly guided the pair toward one of the entrances to the castle.

Following along, Twilight took notes of how her brother and Gilt reacted to the Heart. Putting her quill and scroll away, she had barely a moment to work out she was in the great hall of the castle when a white blur suddenly attacked.

"Darling!" Rarity hugged Twilight close and squeezed her friend. "I am sorry I couldn't tell you everything, but you have to understand it was an emergency. Your brother needed new armor and…" She suddenly pulled back, slamming her forehooves over her snout.

Cadance looked at her sister and then around the hall and took note of the ponies. "Twilight Sparkle, this is Gleaming Shine." She gestured to the guard. "And I believe everypony here knows my husband's secret. So please, let's relax a little."

Twilight looked to Rarity first, and got a nod. "Am I the last to know?" She looked at her BBBFF, feeling a repeat of what happened before his wedding.

"Twily, I couldn't have come to visit you without this armor. I had to get Rarity in to make it. As for Gleaming, she is helping Rarity, and will be one of my first new Royal Crystal Guard." Shining spared a look to Gleaming, noticing her eyes widening. "But of course she will have to follow her new Captain, Gilt Wings."

Gleaming looked at the unicorn wearing the odd guard armor. "Uh, sir?" She blinked a few times, not quite understanding things. "Is there anything I can do to help… uh, organize?"

"You could lead us to this dastardly changeling that the Royal Guard seem to have captured. I hope you are keeping a close eye on them, changelings can be extremely sneaky." Gilt projected every bit of confidence and command.

"Sir!" Gleaming responded to the authority and started marching for the stairs up to the cells. Only Gilt followed, and it surprised her at first but—after reaching the right floor—she relaxed shortly. She is the new Captain of the new Guard, I guess she is trusted by the Princess and Shining Armor... "This floor, sir. There is an old gaoler, but he isn't a bad sort."

Gilt decided that the best way to handle this was to just push forward and ignore anything as below her authority. "Where is this changeling?"

"Ma'am!" The old stallion got up from his game of cards. "We put it in the magic-resisting cell at first, but apparently they needed feeding… a lot of feeding." He coughed a little, quite loudly. A mare's head poked out of an open cell door.

"And its cell isn't locked because?" Gilt strode towards the cell and looked inside. Careful Steps sat on the bed, with a slightly disheveled pegasus sitting beside him. "Ah, here we are. Very lucky that the Princess has returned, she wishes to interrogate him in the main hall, apparently a public showing is just what she wishes. She even invited the Element Bearer Twilight Sparkle, Slayer of Changelings, just to help." Gilt gave the most evil look she could manage. "I don't care who manages it, but have the prisoner follow me." With that she turned and marched back down the stairs, not once looking behind her.

Reaching the main hall again, Gilt looked across and saw her queens both staring at her, Twilight Sparkle, and Rarity too. She is every bit the "destroyer" Twilight was, maybe she is a master of arcane magics too?

"Your Highnesses!" Careful got to the bottom steps before spotting Twilight Sparkle. His eyes were wide as he took in the calculating look on the mare's face. She will take me apart to work out how I tick...

"Hey, Careful?" Gilt dropped her disguise. "Next time you find a new hive, bring your old buddies along, please?" The confused look that Careful gave her had Gilt giggling madly.

"Gilt Wings?" Careful looked from the changeling at his side back to the royals, noticing that Twilight Sparkle was right in front of him. "Uh… oh…"

"Go easy on him, Twilight," Gilt reached a hole-filled leg up and over Careful's withers, "he seems a little fragile at first, but you will find Careful is a clever 'ling."

"Hello Careful. I am Twilight Sparkle. Pleased to meet you!" Twilight lifted her hoof to offer a little clop. He looks almost exactly the same as Gilt. I wonder how their genders differ?

Reaching up a hoof, Careful bopped it against Twilight's hoof. "P-P-Pleased to meet you. Your Majesties!" Careful shook himself and ran out from under his hivemate's foreleg. "Your Majesties, I messed up. They caught me before I even got into the city."

"It's okay, Careful." Shining unbuckled his helmet and lifted it free. "It is time to announce things to the guards… maybe not all the things. But I need you to teach me something." Shining knew his words were flowing past Careful, the drone's eyes were locked on the crooked, black horn that protruded from his head. "I need you to teach me how to shape-shift."

Author's Notes:

Twilight blinked at the question card. "I am sure he can feel all kinds of love now... oh, I wonder if he can feel other ponies' love for each other? Or if he can feel it when a pony hugs their pet? Or when a..." Two scrolls appear, accompanied by two quills. "Excuse me, I need to write some notes!"

~~~~~+++++~~~~~

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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