It had been two days since the Crystalling. The dinner had gone well, and Shining's parents had gone back home to Canterlot along with Princess Luna via the portal she provided the following day. Only Celestia remained, pleading with Cadance to let her help them.

"We are not going to be those kind of parents!" Cadance said in a huff. "Always too rich and busy to pay any attention to their foals!"

"Nopony is asking you to be," Celestia pleaded. "But please try to be reasonable! You have an entire Empire to look after as well."

"We can do both!" Shining said with a yawn.

"How well?" Celestia asked. "For how long? I have no doubt in your abilities, but you've had four hours of sleep in the last three days."

"Flurry will not be raised by nannies and maids," Cadance said.

"You were helped raised by nannies and maids," Celestia said.

"You weren't my moth-" Cadance shouted, but stopped herself. She didn't say it, but Celestia still winced. "I'm sorry," Cadance apologized. "I know you did raise me and love me like a mother. But I never knew my real mother and it always left a hole in my heart that can never really be filled."

"I know Cadance," Celestia said, putting a hoof on her shoulder. "I know what it's like." Cadance looked up at her. The myths and legends of Celestia's origins varied wildly, and she was never forthcoming about her own past. But it was never mentioned anywhere of Celestia's mother. "You don't need to apologize. You will be the mother in Flurry's life. You know I wouldn't let you out of that!"

"Perish the thought!" Cadance chuckled. She had gotten enough stick from Celestia when she tried to get out of doing magic homework.

Celestia's eyes glistened. "You may never know just how much I pushed aside to prioritize you," she said.

"I know."

"And even with others helping me, you turned out wonderfully, no?"

"Yes."

"And Shining Armor, even your parents accepted help with raising you and Twilight," Celestia said. "A certain foalsitter as I recall." She gave Cadance a smirk. "And look how wonderfully it turned out for all of you."

"Yeah..." he agreed.

"I'm simply suggesting that you accept a few of my personal foalsitters, and embrace the miracle that is wet nurses," Celestia said.

"Okay, a couple nannies to help with keeping an eye on her and changing diapers is one thing," Cadance said. "But I won't have Flurry taking another mare's milk!"

"Cadance, you need your sleep if you mean to rule. The midnight feedings-"

"I'll pump into bottles," Cadance said. "They can feed her with that."

"Have some consideration for your poor teats!" Celestia said.

"I don't care what it takes! I will not have Flurry bonding to another mare's milk!"

Celestia sighed, knowing it was futile in getting Cadance to budge on this. She opened her bag and took out a vial wrapped in a scroll. "I was hoping I wouldn't need this," she said, giving it to Cadance. "This is a potion what will aid your milk production, and the recipe. Take it once a day and you'll never run dry."

"Is it safe for Flurry?" Cadance asked. "You always told me 'no potions while pregnant'."

Celestia scoffed and sneered. "Do not take me for some amateur alchemist peddling stallion enhancement! I would not have even mentioned it if I didn't have absolutely certain confidence in its safety for the foal."

"And me?" Cadance asked.

Celestia pursed her lips. "All the usual side effects of nursing will be a bit magnified with the extra milk production," Celestia said. "Tenderness, leaking. With the increased swelling, your teats become a bit larger."

Shining's ears perked up. "I'm on board."

"It's for Flurry, Shining!" Cadance scolded. "You can help pump and bottle it. Not drink it!"

"Aww!"

Princess Celestia opened the door of the bedroom and leaned out into the hallway, motioning for other ponies to enter.

"Princess Cadance, it is my esteemed honor to present you my, and now your, personal foalcare Secret Service," Celestia introduced. A half dozen unicorn mares stepped inside the room and lined up behind her. "Nannies second to none! Top of their class in foalcare, food prep, and first aid. Highly trained in defensive magic, weapons, and hoof-to-hoof combat. And wet nurses all." All six of the mares turned in unison at an oblique angle extended a leg like a dog marking a tree and presented their heavy teats to the couple before returning to attention.

"Thank you ladies," Cadance said. "But Flurry will be having my milk only." Cadance drank the lactation potion in her hoof.

Celestia looked back at them. "Keep up on your lactation potion regiments for another week just to be sure. You may pump and dump if she doesn't want to accept it."

"Princess Cadance, I'm hurt," one of the nannies said. "You quite enjoyed my milk when you were a filly."

Cadance looked at the older mare. Her eyes lit up at last in recognition. "Cherry!?" she asked. "Cherry is that you!?"

Cherub Whine gave a polite curtsy. "It's good to see you again, little Candy."

"Matron Cherub is a veteran nanny, and your ranking Secret Service mare commander," Celestia said. "Rest assured that her familiarity to you gave her no edge in her selection. She is every bit as qualified as her younger peers in the care and protection of little Flurry."

"And ancillary nourishment," Cherub added.

"Thank you. I appreciate it. But I'm quite sure Flurry will not be partaking."

"It just seems like a waste," Shining said, looking at the row of full teats.

"And I'm quite sure SHINING will not be partaking, either!" Cadance said.

Content that Cadance accepted her elite squad of nannies, Celestia finally returned back to Canterlot. Over the course of the day, Flurry Heart drank her fill, barely draining Cadance of milk before she was full again that evening. As promised, Shining helped her pump her teats into a pair of bottles set by the crib to be given to Flurry over the course of the night by their nanny staff.

"Anything else for the Flurry?" Cherub asked.

Cadance shook her head and nodded at the bottles. "She should have enough milk for tonight."

"And if not?" she asked, lifting a leg.

"Wake me, please," Cadance said.

"As you wish."

Shining watched from the bed as Cherub and her nannies took out their personal pumps out and milked themselves, each filling a bottle and setting it into a rack on a cart, offering it a final time before they disposed of it.

"No thank you," Cadance said.

"The prince, then?" she offered bottles of milk to Shining. Cadance glared at him.

"Well come on. It's not like I'm sucking their tits!" he said. She rolled her eyes and sighed in resignation. "Thank you!" Cherub gave him a bottle and he drank it.

"Candy Cane?" Cherub asked, holding out the bottle she filled to Cadance. "The princess needs to make sure she is taking care of herself as well."

"Cherry..."

"It would honor me to feed the princess again," she said. Cadance gave a soft smile and accepted the bottle, taking an experimental sip. "Candy, you need to finish your milk is you want to grow up into a big strong candy cane!"

"Yes, Auntie Cherry," Cadance said, drinking the rest of it. She gave the empty bottle back to her and she put it in the rack with the other five now empty bottles that Shining drank.

"Ooh, somepony was a thirsty little colt! Who's a thirsty little colt?" Cherub asked, tickling Shining's belly.

"I am!" the full grown stallion giggled. The sheets in front of him tented and bobbed.

"Such a big colt," Cherub teased.

"Shining!"

"Does the royal couple need us to take Flurry for a walk in the stroller and have some alone time?"

"Yes."

"No," Cadance said. "That will be all for tonight unless Flurry wakes." Cherub and the others curtsied and exited the room, leaving the royal family to sleep. "Seriously, Shining?"

"I have no control over it, you know that! But now that we're alone..."

"I don't know how you can be thinking of that. I'm exhausted," she said.

"It's okay. I can be on top."

"AND it still fells like that baby turned me inside out! I need a few weeks to recover, you know." He pouted. "I'm going to sleep. You can go in the bathroom and 'milk yourself' if you need to. Everypony else is doing it."

Cadance was asleep quickly, and Shining shortly after. Flurry Heart cried, stirring them awake, but one of the nannies popped into the room in an instant and saw to the foal, silently changing her diaper and lulling her back to sleep. Shining and Cadance also quickly fell back asleep.

Flurry cried again some time later, waking her parents again. Another nanny was at the side of the crib, giving Flurry a bottle of Cadance's milk before they could even focus their eyes. Flurry was fed and burped and back asleep in a few minutes. Her parents were asleep even sooner.

Flurry cried again. Her parents woke, but didn't even open their eyes. Flurry was tended to and asleep again in minutes. Shining and Cadance slept through the rest of the night.

The next morning, they felt refreshed and revitalized. They had the energy to be the ponies they were meant to be. And that meant that just as they promised themselves and each other: that unless they were explicitly needed as the prince and princess of the Crystal Empire, they were being doting parents to their beloved filly. A bit of help from their nannies didn't change that. Their days were filled with Shining playing with Flurry, and Cadance feeding her directly from her teat for that all-important mother-foal bonding. It was bliss.

At least for a while.

Their little filly had just turned two weeks old. Cadance was able to keep up with her foal's appetite and the nannies had stopped taking their lactation potions, to Shining's silent disappointment. The proud parents snuggled together in bed, sleeping in just a little while longer. Flurry cooed in her crib as she slowly woke. Cadance levitated her over into the bed between them and they snuggled together as a happy family.

...

The door to the royal bedroom was kicked in and Cherub dove inside, looking first in the crib and then in the bed, spotting the foal. "GET THE FUCK INSIDE!" Cherub screamed at the other nannies. "Panic Protocol One! Get the fuck inside, NOW!" The other five nannies were inside the royal bedroom in seconds as Cherub slammed the door shut and locked it. "Secure this fucking room!"

Her blessed foalhood precluded Cadance from ever seeing this side of her beloved Cherry. A far cry from the coddling mare that had tickled Shining's belly the week prior, the older mare barked orders and smashed the wooden dresser with her magic and barred the door, as the other nannies did the same to the windows. Shining Armor already had his family surrounded in a shield as little Flurry Heart cried in Cadance's hooves.

"What the hell is going on!?" Cadance asked, her horn glowing at the ready.

"We have a situation Ma'am! Possible Code Black!" Cherub reported. "Get those fucking wards up!" she shouted at the others. "Arcane! Elemental! Temporal! Dimensional! Seismic! Optic! Psychic! NOW LADIES!" The horns of the other nannies glowed iridescent and singed their manes. They grit their teeth and clenched their eyes, grunting in pain as heavy waves of magic pulsed from their horns. They laid spell after spell into the walls, ceiling and floor. "I want this room fucking MegaSpell-proof yesterday!"

"What's a Code Black!?" Shining asked.

"Changeling spotted in the empire!" Cherub reported, grimacing as her horn glowed brightly along with the others redoubling the wards.

"Changeling!?" Shining asked. His shield thrummed harder.

"Room secure, Matron!" the nannies reported. The air smelled of burnt hair and o-zone.

"Fall in!" Cherub commanded. The six of them surrounded the bed, outside of Shining's shield. "I admire your preparedness, sir. I won't ask you to lower your shield, but I need your help. I need you and your wife to love your foal. Love her just as hard as you can!"

"Of course we love her!" Cadance said. "She the most important thing in our world!"

"We would die for her!" Shining said.

The room practically hummed with love energy. Cherub and the other nannies stepped back into a defensive stance and drew arcane swords. The six of them all eyed each other suspiciously and waited. "Fucking try it BUG, I'll gut you where you stand!" After a tense minute, they let their weapons evaporate and everypony relaxed.

"What the hell was that about?" Cadance asked.

"In the presence of powerful love, changelings go into a feeding frenzy, causing them to lose their disguise," Cherub said. "We needed to make sure everypony in here was who they are. Now we need to establish a Sign/Countersign." She looked at the royal couple. After the Canterlot Wedding incident, Shining and Cadance were familiar with the concept of a Sign/Countersign. A secret, pre-agreed-upon pair of seemingly random words used to know who could be trusted or not.

"Sentry," Cadance said randomly.

"Lane," Shining added.

"Sentry," Cherub said.

"Lane," the other nannies answered.

"As of this moment, in this room, we are the only ponies we can trust," Cherub said.

"I need to get a message to Twilight!" Shining said, lowering his shield to grab a scroll from the remains to the nightstand.

"There's no way to get a message out," Cherub said. "The room is sealed." Shining finished writing the scroll and lit it with the dragon candle. It turned into green smoke and headed towards the boarded window. It struck the ward and fizzled out.

"The room is sealed!" Cherub repeated. "Nothing in or out. No magic messages, no telepathy, no portals! We have a dozen detection wards up ten meters in every direction. Nothing is getting near this room without tripping something! We're a hole in the universe. Discord himself would be hard-pressed to get in here!"

"So what do we do now?" Cadance asked.

"The Crystal Guard alerted us," Cherub said. "A Panic Protocol One puts the royal family on safe-room lock-down for four hours after the first alert, to give the the guards time to do a preliminary sweep, and an Empire-wide lock-down for the citizens to stay indoors, which is being broadcast as we speak. After four hours, we'll effect an exit. The guards should have the hallway clear. Otherwise anything on the other side of that door is going to have a really bad day."

"Twilight is going to be here for lunch," Shining said. "She has no idea what she's walking into."

In the wake of devastating defeat invading the Canterlot Wedding, Queen Chrysalis and her changeling army had been scattered to the winds. Social hive creatures, each changeling, isolated and alone, struggled to survive. Most made their way back to the changeling hive at the fringes of the Equestrian badlands. Many starved. Some were discovered and destroyed. Many that did manage to make it home were dangerously emaciated. A few managed to gain scraps of love along the way. After almost a year, no more changelings returned. The rest that were still missing were presumed dead. And they were right.

Except one.

Thorax had been part of the Canterlot invasion as a last-minute addition. A humble hive drone, he was not an infiltrator, or a soldier, and had wanted no part of the invasion. But after a giant shield surrounded the city, reinforcements had to be called in to throw themselves against it until it finally broke. Thorax, for his part in it, had been little more than a battering ram. From where he hovered and watched, the battle looked like it was going well, until the magical blast wave sent them all flying to the ends of the world.

When he came to, he found himself partly embedded in a snow drift near the summit of Mt. Everhoof. He used a bit of his reserves to turn himself into a yak, to better withstand the cold. He made his way down the side of the mountain. On the way down, he passed by the remains of one of his kin, splattered, and frozen, where they had collided against the sheer rock mountainside.

A bit further down, Thorax spotted a small cave in the mountainside. He staggered inside. It was still bitterly cold, but at least he was out of the elements. He huddled in the corner and rested. He slipped into a deep sleep and hibernated for months, his vitals barely keeping him alive.

In the recesses of his mind, he could feel the Queen's thoughts, broadcasting her return to the hive through the changeling hive-mind, and her command for all those still alive to return. But even if he had the strength to carry on, the changeling hive was very far away, with the entire wasteland of the Frozen North in his way. He laid where he was and waited for the last shreds of his life force to leave him.

The return of the Crystal Empire, with the light and love of the crystal ponies in the defeat of King Sombra sent out a surge of energy across the Frozen North. By the time it reached Mt. Everhoof, it was barely a scrap of affection. But to the starving changeling, it was a sumptuous banquet. He awoke and peered out of the mountain cave. The Empire, massive as it was, was still barely a glitter of light on the distant horizon. But it was there.

He bid his time and waited for the capricious weather. After a couple weeks, the seemingly-perpetual storm let up. He made his way down the mountain and across the arctic tundra. He was close enough to make out the Crystal Palace when suddenly the light surrounding it went dark, and the storm that had been calm came rushing back in. He managed to take cover in a crevasse. Within a few hours, he felt another revitalizing burst of love energy from the Empire, but the storm outside of it was still raging. It was another waiting game before he could make his final approach.

He was able to make it inside the border of the Empire a couple weeks later. The Empire was a bubble of comfortable, warm, pleasant spring weather. Though he was hungry, he was just happy to be out of the cold and storm. There were numerous ponies. He turned himself into a small crystal prominence, like the many others that dotted the landscape. He waited there and absorbed the latent love in the empire. It was enough to survive. But he would need more if he were to have enough to make it back to the hive.

He moved carefully by the night, getting closer to the palace. He could feel it. The source and recipient for the love of an empire. It was just after dawn. A nearby door opened and he quickly turned himself into a shrub.

A couple of early risers exited their homes, conversing as they tended to their flowerbeds.

"Did you hear that Princess Twilight is coming today to visit?" one mare asked.

"Yes! That means that Princess Flurry might be making a public appearance!" the other mare said. A patrolling street guard passed by.

"That's right," he said. "There will be visiting hours shortly after lunch."

"Ooh I can't wait!" she said, smiling.

"She's just so cute and adorable!"

Being so close to so much love after so long, Thorax couldn't stop himself from going into a feeding frenzy. Although that is what it was, a feeding frenzy was a less accurate description than a hissy fit. He lost his focus on his disguise and revealed his true form, hissing at the ponies as he feasted on the love. Their love vanished and transformed into terror, giving him back his wits.

"Changeling!" the mares shrieked. Even the guard was startled but likewise screamed 'changeling' as loud as he could, not just in fear, but also as a call for backup. His horn fired off a blast off magic. Not at the changeling, but into the sky as a signal flare, in a burst of black smoke.

Thorax took the opportunity to change into a cheetah and flee as fast as he could, back to the tundra crevasse outside of the empire. The alarm raised across the neighborhood and back to the castle, alerting the Secret Service.

Cherub Whine took Flurry's favorite toy, a stuffed snail, and created a magical duplicate. She gave the fake one back to her. Flurry loved it just as much as the real one, and her parents just kept right on loving her as much as a parent could. The fake toy acted like an empath sink, absorbing their love energy and concentrating it for the better part of the four hours they were sealed in the room.

"T-Minus two minutes to panic-exit, Matron," one of the nannies said.

"Peytrals, ladies!" Cherub said. They all put on their warded necklaces. Cherub exchanged the fake toy and gave Flurry her real toy back. "Your shield, Your Highness," she directed as she took a step back. Shining Armor surrounded his family on the bed in a magic shield. Cherub looked through the translucent, magenta aura.

"What are you doing?" Shining asked.

"If everything out there is okay, the guards will have the hallway cleared out," Cherub said. "We're going to adjust the ward to think that the door is trying to break in. After the door..." She smirked. "... interacts with the ward, we will exit the room and clear the hallway." The other five nannies got into position by the door.

"The entire changeling army might be on the other side of that door," Cherub said. "But not for long. It shouldn't be anything we can't handle. But, in the event of..." she trailed off and looked at Cadance. "It has been an honor."

"Fifteen seconds!" the other nanny said.

"Oh, and close your eyes, Your Majesties." Cherub said as she grabbed the fake toy in her hoof and took her position with the others, all with their horns glowed brighter and brighter. She clenched her eyes, took a deep breath and screamed.

"BREACH AND CLEAR!"

A lot happened in a fraction of an instant. Their six horns cast in unison at the door, excluding it from the ward. The ward snapped shut through the door. The door interacted with the ward and it was propelled off of its hinges at a significant fraction of light speed.

In crossing the mere twenty-foot width of the hallway, the door super-heated the atmosphere like a meteor to temperatures usually reserved for the sun, instantly dissociating the very matter of both the door and the air into nuclear plasma, bathing the entire hallway in concentrated neutron radiation, and instantly vaporizing everything unlucky enough to still be in the hallway.

The heat pulse sent out a shaped, thermobaric blast wave at hyper-sonic speed down the hallway in both directions, blowing out the windows at either end, along with the molten slag of whatever, or whomever, had been in the hallway when the door was breached.

Like a bolt of lighting, the super-heated air had rapidly expanded, and then collapsed back on itself in a mighty thunderclap as air rushed back into the hallway through where the windows had been.

From inside the bedroom, behind the ward, it looked like the door had silently vanished in a camera flash.

Then came phase two.

In a Panic One protocol, the Royal Guards were trained to keep the hallway to the royal bedroom clear for four hours, even after the the threat had been eliminated. After four hours, they were to re-enter the hallway after they heard a 'bang'. That was what the manual said. A 'bang'. The Royal Guards had been waiting outside the hallway, listening for the 'bang'. They were not expecting the world-ending thunder of Ragnarok to send them tumbling to the floor. They recovered quickly and opened the doors, flooding into the hallway from both ends.

The hallway didn't look scorched like it had been burned. It looked clean. It just had the top layer of atoms stripped away. It shined like polished metal. The door to the royal bedroom was missing. They converged on it.

"FRAG OUT!" Cherub screamed, throwing the replica stuffed snail through the ward. It landed on the hallway floor.

And then it detonated.

In a flash, it released all the concentrated love energy, hitting everypony in the hallway. They fell to the floor, overcome with rapturous euphoria. The love in every goodnight kiss they had ever gotten, in every birthday party, in every passionate evening with their special somepony. All the love of a lifetime, in an instant. If any changelings were present, they would be revealed. As for each guard pony... it meant instantly ejaculating in his uniform. Not even with enough time to get hard first.

The Secret Service nannies dissolved the ward and sprang into the hallway, weapons and magic at the ready. Only to find the floor littered with stallions writhing in sticky ecstasy.

"See!" Cherub said. "This is why you get gelding guards!" The mares secured the hallway as Cherub addressed the lieutenant. "Status report!?"

"Mommy's kisses..." he groaned. Cherub struck his helmet with her hoof.

"Wake up! Give me a status report! Has the threat been eliminated?"

"No, we-

"Form up!" she barked. The guard ponies staggered into formation.

"Matron, my uniform-"

"I don't give a fuck!" Cherub yelled. "There is a changeling on the loose in the empire. You've had four hours and you still haven't found it! So after this is all over, IF you're still alive, then you can go take a shower, grab a mop, and become a damn janitor to clean up your SHIT performance! As of this moment, we are the last line of defense! So open your ear holes all the way and listen up!"

Cherub walked to the bedroom doorway and waved. Shining Armor walked into the hallway, dressed in his old Captain of the Royal Guard armor. Cadance was behind him, staying inside the doorway with Flurry. Shining cleared his throat.

"The sign/countersign is: Sentry... Lane." He paused. "Sentry?"

"Lane," they replied.

"Take a good look around this hallway," Shining said. "Know these faces. Use the buddy system. If you give a sign, and you get back anything other than the countersign, detain them! Even if it's me."

"Princess Twilight will be arriving soon," Cadance said. "We need to secure her and confirm her identity. She has more experience than anypony combating these face-stealers."

"How will we know it's her?" the lieutenant asked.

"Leave that to me," Cadance said. "Summon the Royal Crystaller."

A pair of guards were dispatched to Sunburst's home.

"The Royal Crystaller has been summoned!" they told him and escorted him back to the palace. The rest of them had moved into the throne room. The guards posted at the door stopped them, leveling their weapons at them.

"Sentry," the guards said.

"Lane," Sunburst's escorts responded. The others kept a close eye on him as he was brought before Flurry Heart. All the love around her permeated the room. Sunburst did not transform into a changeling. The whole room relaxed a little, especially Sunburst once everypony stopped pointing their spears at him.

"Your Majesties," he greeted with a bow. "What is going on? Why was I summoned?"

"A changeling has been spotted nearby," Cadance said. "The rest of the Royal Guards are searching the empire. We've devised a plan to flush it out, but Shining and I will need our magic to be ready in case things go sideways. And that is why we need your help."

"Of course!" Sunburst said. "I'll help however I can! What is it you need me to do?"

"We need you..." Shining took a deep breath, "to carry Flurry's bassinet."

"I- I can certainly manage that," Sunburst said.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle's train has arrived!" a guard reported.

"Send two guards down to the foyer to greet her," Shining said. "The rest remain at battle stations in case it's an ambush. Get the Pegasi Division on-"

"Already in position on the roofs," the winged guard reported. "The bug won't get away this time!"

Cadance looked behind her at her Secret Service mares. "Cherry?"

"We'll be close by," Cherub assured her.

"Alright," Shining said. "Let's do this."

Outside, Twilight Sparkle, Starlight Glimmer and Spike approached the palace. They reached the guards who stopped them at the checkpoint.

"Halt! Who goes there!" he said.

"Um, you don't recognize the Princess of Friendship?" Starlight asked, still working on her issues with her blatant disregard for authority.

"Of course we recognize her," the guard said.

"But that doesn't mean it's really her," the other guard said.

"It's okay guys," Spike said. "They're with me. And any friend of Spike the Brave and Glorious is a friend of the Crystal Empire. Am I Right?" Twilight put her hoof on his shoulder.

"Spike, I know you enjoy having your little ego trips when we come to the Crystal Empire," she said. "But how about you reel it in a little bit?"

"Hmm... It does look like him," the guard said.

"Well it would, wouldn't it!?" the other said. "I'm sorry, but we'll need to see some proof of identification!"

"We'll take care of things from here," Cadance said, walking out with Shining and Sunburst with Flurry in tow.

"Cadance, thank goodness! What's going on?" Twilight asked.

"We can explain Twilie," Shining said with a frown. If a changeling had really taken the place of his sister, he'd have it begging for death before the end. "If it... really is you." He nodded to Cadance and she approached her.

"Sunshine, sunshine. Ladybugs awake!" Cadance began dancing.

"Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" Twilight replied, joining the dance. Confident that it really was her, Cadance hugged her.

"What the fuck did I just witness?" Starlight said.

"It's okay everypony," Shining said. "It's her."

"Of course it's her," Starlight said. "What's all this about? Is that the standard Princess greeting?"

"A changeling's been spotted nearby," Sunburst answered.

"A changeling!?" Twilight asked.

"That's not good," Spike said.

"No, it's not!" Cadance said. "Changelings fucked up my wedding, they fucked up Canterlot and they fucked my husband!"

"N- no! That last part didn't happen!" Shining said.

"Okay, but seriously, are we just going to gloss over the fact that two grown-ass adults greeted each other like preschool fillies?" Starlight asked.

"It's an inside joke that only Twilight and I know," Cadance explained. "After Queen Chrysalis invaded Canterlot with her army, we're not taking any chances," Cadance said.

"I mean, aside from this," Shining said, motioning at the assembled group. "Meeting you out here, exposed in the open foyer, all the royalty in one place with our infant daughter. This is a massive gamble. But you know, other than this, we're not taking any other chances."

"Changeling feed off of love," Sunburst said. "And ever since Flurry Heart's Crystalling, the empire is filled with more love than anywhere in Equestria. It's possible they've come for the baby."

"That's why we posted the extra guards," Shining said. "And why we're checking everypony's identity. And for Twilight and Cadance, that means..." he sighed. "The ladybug dance."

"I'm sorry for all of this," Cadance said to Twilight. "Flurry Heart has really been looking forward to see you."

Twilight walked over to the bassinet. "Oh, she's gotten so big!"

"So, at what age does saying, 'she's gotten so big,' go from being a compliment to an insult?" Spike asked.

"Starlight and I will do whatever we can to protect her!" Twilight said.

"To be honest, having you here is already a big relief," Cadance said.

One of the guards whispered to Shining.

Shining smiled. "The Royal Guards were wondering if Spike the Brave and Glorious would like to join in the search for the changeling."

"Really!?" Spike asked.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea, Spike," Twilight said. "It sounds dangerous."

"Come on Twilight, this is Spike the Brave and Glorious you're talking to. Have you ever known me to run from danger?" he asked.

Twilight opened her mouth.

"That was rhetorical!"

"He'll be safe with our guards," Shining said.

"Or will your guards be safe with me?" Spike asked.

Shining opened his mouth.

"That was also rhetorical!"

Spike accompanied the search team into the frozen tundra while everypony else went back inside the castle.

"I know it's bad that there's a changeling around, but is all of this really necessary?" Starlight asked.

"If there's one changeling, there may well be a whole army on the way," Cadance said.

"True. But Starlight has a point," Twilight said. "This is getting a little out of hoof."

"I understand, but I don't know what else we can do," Cadance said.

"So... I realize this whole lockdown thing kinda throws a wrench in our visit plans," Starlight said. "But we could still do something fun while we're cooped up indoors."

"Like what?"

"We could always day-drink."

"Starlight!"

"Ugh, I could kill for a mojito right now," Cadance said.

"Cadie, it's not even noon," Twilight said.

"Alright, a mimosa then, geez!" Cadance groaned.

"Aren't you still nursing?" Shining asked.

Cherub popped into Cadance's field of view, brandishing her own lactation potion.

"No alcohol for me," Cadance resigned.

Spike led the search party into the arctic tundra. "Spike the brave and glorious, you've faced evil changelings before. What can you tell us?" a guard asked.

"Well they are changelings, so they can... change," Spike said.

"You hear that? These monsters can look like any of us. So be on guard, guards. Even more than normal."

"And they could be anywhere, so we should cover as much ground as possible." Spike said. "You search that way, and you search that way."

"Wait, do you mean for us to split up?" a guard asked.

"Wouldn't that be the first thing that a doppelganger would want us to do?" another asked.

"Yeah, that's like, horror movie 101," another said.

"It does seem pretty stupid. It would be like walking right into a trap," another said.

"Yeah but... it's a trap for the changeling!" Spike said. "We all know the sign countersign, so when we all get back together at the Crystal Palace, if the changeling tries to take our place, they won't know the countersign! And we'll have caught them!"

"That actually might work," the guard said.

"Yes," Spike said. "You see? I was only pretending to be retarded!"

The search party split up and left Spike on his own. He then immediately nearly died when nearly fell into a crevasse. But he managed to get himself back out.

Some time later they all regrouped at the Crystal Palace. Shining Armor stepped out of the throne room and closed the door behind him to address the assembled search party.

"Sentry?"

"Lane," they all replied.

"Do you have anything to report?" Shining asked.

"I do!" Spike said.

"What do you mean?" a guard asked. "Did you see the changeling?"

"Did you defeat the evil creature?" another asked.

"Defeating a changeling would be brave, but do you know what would be glorious?" Spike asked.

"Defeating two changelings?"

"Defeating all the changelings?"

"Not having to fight the changeling at all, because I made friends with him!" Spike said. The guards all laughed.

"Wow! For a second I thought you were serious!" a guard said.

"Could you imagine? Friends with a changeling!" another said.

"I am serious! He wants to be friends!" Spike said.

"I get it!" a guard laughed. "You're only 'pretending' to be retarded!"

"Not only are you Spike the Brave and Glorious, you're also Spike the hilarious!" another guard said.

"I'm not joking! The changeling is nice!" Spike said.

"I don't think it's funny!" Shining Armor said. "There's no such thing as a nice changeling! The changeling Queen, Chrysalis, kidnapped me and cast a spell on Cadance!"

The rest of the guards removed themselves from the room to continue the search.

Shining walked closer to the small dragon. "You're still young, so I'll spare you the graphic details of what Chrysalis did to me and Cadance before she left me to die in the caves beneath Canterlot! But I have a daughter now and will be DAMNED if I let anything like that ever happen again to my family! Never again, Spike! Do you understand? NEVER AGAIN!"

"You're right, Shining," Spike said. "I'm sorry. That was a... bad joke."

Spike left the castle to resume searching for the changeling and Shining ended his brief separation from his family and returned to the throne room.

"We could still do something fun while we're cooped up indoors besides day-drinking," Twilight said, glaring at Starlight. "I was thinking more along the lines of working on a protection spell for Flurry Heart," Twilight said.

"Yeah, but you said do something fun," Starlight said, glancing at Sunburst. "You know, like spin the bottle?"

Cadance glared at Starlight and shifted closer to Shining.

"Spell-craft can be fun!" Twilight said. "Spike, take notes for us."

"..."

"Uh, Spike is out searching for the changeling," Starlight reminded her.

"..."

"..."

"So Cadance, you said they had mimosas?" Twilight asked.

Cadance sighed. "There's an ice machine downstairs."

Twilight walked down the hallway towards the stairs to get ice but she found something almost as good coming the other direction, carousing with one of the locals.

"Spike, if you're done searching for the changeling, Starlight and I could use your help. We're working on a protection spell for Flurry Heart. And nopony takes notes like you!"

"Uh, actually Twilight, I uh, wanted to introduce you to my friend, eh, Crystal...hoof. Crystalhoof! My good friend Crystalhoof," Spike said.

"Nice to meet you," Crystalhoof said.

"Oh, well it's nice to meet you, too. How do you know Spike?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, Spike and I go way back," Crystalhoof said.

"To the Equestria Games," Spike said. "That's when we met. We've been pen-pals ever since."

"Oh, well you can come along if you like," Twilight said.

"Crystalhoof promised to take me around the city," Spike said.

"But everypony is supposed to be on lock-down. What are you going to do, tour the vacant streets?" she asked, waving for them to follow her. "Come on." They followed her back to the throne room. "So... your name is Crystalhoof. What happened, did your mother not like you or something?"

"Yeah I definitely have issues with... my mom," Crystalhoof said.

"Every colt does..." Twilight sighed. They returned to the throne room and went inside. "Everypony, Spike is back. This is his friend, Crystalhoof."

"Any friend of Spike the Brave and Glorious is a friend of mine!" Cadance said, waving them closer. Crystalhoof looked at the foal in the bassinet.

"Oh she's so beautiful!" he said. "There's so much love around her! I- I-" Crystalhoof transformed in a burst of green magic, the disguised changeling revealed his true form. "I- I'm so sorry!" he hissed. "I can't stop!"

"Spike get away from the changeling!" Twilight yelled.

"Wait, no! You don't understand!" Spike said.

Shining Armor shoulder-checked Spike out of the way and grabbed Thorax with his magic, pressing him flat against the floor.

"Gotcha NOW asshole!" he growled. He slammed the changeling with a dark hex he learned from King Sombra, causing black crystals to form on the changeling's horn, keeping him from transforming or using magic.

"Good job, Spike!" Cadance said. "The plan would never have worked without you!"

"What plan!?"

"The plan where we lure the changeling out by letting you wandering off on your own and being too trusting," Twilight explained. "And then when you came back with a new friend during a city-wide lock-down, it was obvious that it worked! That was the only reason why we would allow a total stranger enter the throne room during a time of changeling panic, so the love would force the changeling to reveal itself. Don't you see Spike? We were only pretending to be retarded!"

"This thing replaced your friend to get close to the baby!" Sunburst said. "What other explanation could there be?

"No! He's not a thing! His name is Thorax. And he's my friend!" Spike said. Everypony gasped.

"You're friend!?" Cadance said. "Spike, when Chrysalis was disguised as Shining, she used magic to make me think it was him. Psychic magic. You know, the kind that affects your thoughts and perceptions?"

"He's my friend! He's good, I can prove it!" Spike said and then started singing.

♫ "Would you say I'm a hero, glorious and brave-" ♫

"Spike, I will give you exactly one chance to explain, if you stop singing right now!" Shining said.

"But I already rehearsed this sweet ballad and everything!" he said.

"Spike!"

"Alright Shining, let me put this in terms you can understand," Spike said. "You know how when Tirek first came to Equestria, he wasn't alone? He came to Equestria with his brother, Scorpan."

"Uh..."

"Yes, I paid attention in history class," Cadance said. "What's your point?"

"Tirek and his brother Scorpan came here from a distant land, intent on stealing Equestrian magic," Spike explained. "But Scorpan soon came to appreciate the ways of Equestria, even befriending a young unicorn wizard. Scorpan urged his brother to abandon their plans. When Tirek refused, Scorpan alerted Celestia and Luna to Tirek's intentions."

"Scorpan the Defector," Shining said. "Okay I yeah, remember. "Are you saying this... thing intends to defect?"

"Ask him yourself."

"Starlight, check Spike for enthrallment," Twilight said. Starlight scanned Spike.

"He's clear. No psychic spells on him," Starlight said.

Shining Armor leaned down so that only Thorax could hear him whisper. "Thorax, your queen... raped me... and my wife... and led an invasion against Canterlot. So you'll have to forgive me if I don't trust you. Now I'm going to ask you some questions. And if I don't like the answers, or my lie detection spell goes off, I'm going to cut something off of you. And believe me when I tell you, they will be things that you will miss."

Thorax gulped.

"Are you here alone?" Shining interrogated.

"Yes."

"Is there an invasion coming?"

"N-No."

"You seem... unsure."

"I don't know! I haven't been back to the hive since the battle in Canterlot!"

"Is it your intention to defect?"

"I don't even know what that means!" Thorax wheezed from under the pressure of Shining's magic.

"Do you renounce your hive, and swear to embrace the ways of Equestria?"

"I do!" Thorax said. "I swear! It's all I ever wanted!"

Shining Armor stood up and looked at Spike. "You say he's your friend. You know what's at stake. Do you swear on your life, on my family's lives, that he really is good?"

"Yes," Spike said.

Shining looked at the Princess of Friendship. "Twilight?"

"Do we not destroy our enemies by making them our friends?" Twilight said. "Think of all we could learn!"

Shining Armor looked at his wife. Of all of them, Cadance had the most reason to want this thing dead. All she had to do was say the word and he'd incinerate the bug right then and there. She pursed her lips for a moment but eventually nodded. Shining grit his teeth and released Thorax. He picked him up off the floor and gently shoved him to Twilight and Spike.

"He's your baggage, Twilight" Shining said. "Keep him in your custody. And keep him out of the Empire." Shining looked at Thorax. "Maybe we can be friends one day. But trust must be earned, Thorax, and that takes time. This you understand?" he asked.

"Yes," Thorax answered.

"Come on, let's get you back to Ponyville," Spike said. Twilight and Starlight went with him as they went back to the train station to leave the empire.

"Do you think we did the right thing?" Shining asked as he settled into bed that night. "Letting him go?"

"Just look at Trixie, and Starlight. Even Discord! If anypony can make a friend of an enemy, it's Twilight," Cadance said, tending to Flurry Heart in her crib.

"And extract information..." Shining added.

"That too," Cadance said, lulling Flurry to sleep.

She climbed into bed beside him.

He rolled toward her and snuggled. "Cadie... I..." He felt his throat tighten. "I still have nightmares sometimes... about the queen."

Cadance wrapped her hooves around him and held him tightly. "I know. We won't let it happen. Never again."

"Never again."