Not much had been said between Shining Armor and the two changelings that had been escorting him to wherever the rendezvous point was. Though it irked him, he understood there reasoning, even if they themselves hadn't explained.

If there really was a rebellion in the works, it wouldn't do to discuss such a thing out in the open—at least while they were still in the city. Shining himself had been trapped down in that dungeon for years, complete unaware of how the world was changing around him.

What he had found strange was that Sombra had only bothered to speak to him only once. The only time Shining had even seen Sombra since his imprisonment, had been when he was first thrown in that dungeon.

He had gloated over his victory, and when Shining had asked what had happened to his wife, his sister, and her friends, he only received mocking laughter in response.

After that, Sombra had apparently been content to let Chrysalis handle him, not that Shining knew it was Chrysalis at first.

Five years.

For five years Chrysalis questioned, tortured, and mocked Shining under the guise of Luna herself. The experience had left him feeling angry, betrayed, scared for his loved ones, and for awhile... completely broken.

He had been separated from the love of his life, he had no idea of what had become of his sister. and the last thing that had sent him over the edge had been the news that his parents had not survived Sombra's siege on Canterlot.

It was when Chrysalis had told him of his parents fate that she had finally revealed herself for who and what she really was. The revelation had been enough to render the stallion completely numb.

But more years passed, and eventually the numbness had given way to bitter resignation. He had all but given up on ever getting out of this place, and indeed wondered why they kept him alive at all.

At that point Sombra had already weeded out any Equestrian dissenters Shining was trying to hide, and the stallion wasn't really needed anymore... or so he believed at any rate.

But then something began to change.

Chrysalis began to change.

It was gradual, but with nothing to do, and really nopony else to talk to, Shining couldn't help but take note. The Bug Queen's demeanor became less arrogant, mocking and cocky.

The venom and scorn was still there, but it was more subdued. Shining noticed there was a sort of forced air about it, and a tiredness in Chrysalis' eyes that hadn't been there before.

She also began to look much worse for wear. It got to the point where it looked as though Chrysalis had been the one trapped and nearly starved for food.

But as beaten down as he was, and as plain as Chrysalis' deteriorating condition was to see, Shining held onto his own hatred and scorn for the Queen.

At one point, Chrysalis had come down to the dungeons, sat down in front of the stallion's cell, and simply stared at him with a contemplative frown.

She sat like that for nearly half an hour and neither she nor Shining said a word—that is, until Chrysalis finally spoke. When she did, it was with a heavy sigh and eyes that showed she carried some kind of immense burden.

She had admitted that his sister had been alive this entire time, and even that he'd get to see her again. So ridiculous was the claim that Shining laughed in her face and continued laughing long after the Queen had left.

She just left without another word.

She hadn't bothered to communicate with the imprisoned stallion since then, only sending down one of her changeling underlings every so often to check up on him.

This went on for several weeks... until she came down and freed him from his cell.

She had said several things that even now Shining was struggling to believe. He had many questions and not enough answers—one of them being how there had been a secret passage within the dungeon and how long it had been there.

Most of his questions however, had to do with what Chrysalis had said about Cadence. He had given up hope of ever seeing her again, and had even assumed she was long since dead by Sombra's hoof.

If Chrysalis was implying what Shining thought she was implying however, then apparently that wasn't the case.

This, and Chrysalis' promise that his sister was alive more than anything else was what kept Shining from simply galloping off into the city to hide away from Sombra.

And so it was that he continued to follow these two changelings further and further towards the eastern edge of the city. Shining himself was somewhat awed by the changes that had taken place over the many years he had been imprisoned.

Much of the city was far more advanced than when he had first arrived. Many of the structures looked similar to those one would see in a city life Manehattan or Detrot.

Though he couldn't help but notice that the citizens—crystal ponies, Equestrians, and even a few griffons here and there—were anything but happy and content.

If anything they looked just as beaten down and broken as Shining himself did. He and the two changelings stayed hidden as they moved for the most part to avoid Sombra's guards patrolling the streets.

During the times they did cross into a crowded street, not a single creature paid them any heed. They didn't bother to look in his direction, simply keeping their heads down and opting to go about their business.

That wasn't to say he didn't get a few conspicuous glances. When he turned to look however, the offender would quickly look away and move on.

This happened despite the heavy cloak he wore—a cloak the changelings had somehow procured for him beforehoof. He decided not to question it, as it was doing a fairly good job of keeping him warm and he'd need it if they were traveling outside of the city.

As they moved, he took the time to mull Chrysalis' words over in his mind... as well, as wonder about Chrysalis herself.

She had come down there to practically beg for his help, and even in his anger and bitterness towards her, Shining could see that she had been the most genuine and sincere he had ever seen her before.

He actually found himself feeling bad for Chrysalis despite everything.

He shook his head and put that out of his mind, focusing more on the hope that he would soon be reunited with his wife—assuming Chrysalis was telling the truth.

Towering diamond walls had been erected around the entirety of the city at some point, and they were regularly patrolled by more of Sombra's guards—something Shining saw for himself as they neared the eastern gate.

He eyed the guards warily and was about to say something to the two changelings—long since disguised as two nondescript crystal ponies—but had no need, as they veered off the main path and into another alleyway.

The narrow passage lie between two buildings that were pressed up against the wall, and led to a dead end a bit further back.

Shining looked to the two changelings, who had reverted back to their blackened hole-ridden insectoid forms and motioned for him to stay where he was.

Shining frowned slightly, but complied with no complaint, sitting himself down behind a large dumpster and away from the prying eyes of those outside the alley.

He looked on curiously as the two changelings trotted up to the back wall and stood there. For a few long moments, nothing happened... then both changelings began making an odd chittering noise and their horns glowed a sickly green.

His eyes widened in surprise as one of the changelings stepped through the wall, causing it to ripple as though it were made of some kind of liquid.

The other changeling looked back to Shining and motioned for him to follow before stepping through himself. Shining shook his head and followed after them, hesitating only a moment before trotting through the wall.

Rather than the biting winds and the heavy crunch of the snow beneath his hooves that he was expecting beyond the wall, he instead had trotted into another dark tunnel.

The tunnel walls were made of stone and were dimly lit by sconces placed at regular intervals on either side. Blinking in confusion, he looked behind him, only to find yet another stone wall.

Furrowing his brow, he placed a hoof on it and raised an eyebrow when he felt nothing but completely solid stone.

"It really is an ingenious bit of magic if I do say so myself," came a feminine voice from somewhere behind him, "tricky to work out, but worth it in the end."

Shining whipped back around to face the sound of the sudden voice, his old instincts as a Guard causing him to crouch into a battle ready stance.

His glare faltered and completely fell away into a look of bewilderment as he saw the pony standing before him.

For a moment, his breath caught and he had to bite back a cry of joy as he saw his sister... but the cry quickly died in his throat when he got a better look at the mare.

Beneath the dark grey cloak was a coat of yellowish grey, not lavender. Though the mane style was completely identical, the color of the mane itself and the highlights were different—almost inverted from his sisters.

Not to mention that Twilight didn't wear thick full rimmed glasses. Her eyebrows weren't nearly as thick either. Now that Shining took a minute to actually look at the mare, he didn't know how he had mistaken her for Twilight at all, really.

"Who are you?" Shining demanded, once more taking a battle stance and lighting his horn, "I'm warning you right now, if this was a trap—"

"Oh come on, Shining, do you seriously not remember me?" the mare said with a huff, "well, I guess it's not that surprising. After all, Twilight and I haven't seen each other in ages, and I never stayed over at your house all that much when we were little anyway."

Shining furrowed his brow, setting his confusion aside to parse the mare's words. For a moment neither of them said anything as his mind worked to put a name to the increasingly familiar face.

The two changelings that had escorted him here stood on either side of the mare and didn't say a word as the mare and stallion stared at each other.

After several seconds Shining's eyes widened in recognition and he took a step back—the aura around his horn fizzling out completely.

"Moon Dancer?"

"Took you long enough," the mare in question replied with a roll of her eyes. She gave the shocked stallion a wry smirk, "I'm the lucky mare sent to officially welcome you to the as-of-yet-to-be-named resistance."

Shining shook his head and took another look around before settling his eyes back on Moon Dancer.

"So this tunnel leads to the resistance then," he surmised, "and you're going to lead me to its leader?"

"That's what I'm here for," Moon Dancer replied as she began trotting the other way, "I imagine you'd like something to eat and a place to sleep after you've been cooped up in your cell for so long."

"Yeah, you're not wrong there," Shining agreed, following after the mare and the two changelings, "really though, you were the last pony I expected to be all the way out here."

"You'd be surprised," the bespectacled mare replied with a nod, "we're not very big yet, but a lot of the ponies here are from all over Equestria," she gave a small chuckle, "who knows, you might just recognize a few of them."

Shining remained quiet at that, frowning slightly as he thought about the two ponies he wanted to see the most.

"Hey... Moon Dancer," he began, "I was told that... well, it was implied that Cadence was part of the resistance... is that true?"

Moon Dancer slowed her pace and turned to look back at the stallion. She thought about being coy and dancing around the question, but ultimately decided against it.

The sheer worry and earnest hope in his eyes made her reconsider and she turned her attention back to the path ahead as she answered—her voice soft and reassuring.

"She's here, Shining... and she can't wait to see you again."

Shining chapter ahoy!

...You know, it's only now that I realize I have three separate stories that have specific chapters that, every so often, revolve around Shining Armor in some way.