"Thanks, for talking." Umbra could turn an ear back at him without turning the rest of her. "You must be really scared."

"Kinda..." She could hear hooves rubbing. "I don't quite get why you're not, really, um... So... I don't want to hurt the ponies, really."

"Good, me neither." Umbra considered a moment. "Can I turn around?"

"Huh, sure." Umbra turned to see a nervous black bug pony sitting in the snow. "Uh, hi? You must think I'm hideous now..."

"Girlfriend, changeling?" Umbra rolled her hoof with the reminder. "Sure, she's a bit more colorful in a stripe, but mostly the same. You remind me of her, but less of a girl bug, which is still mostly bug, if we're being honest."

The new changeling pointed at himself. "I'm Thorax, um, nice to meet you, miss..."

"Umbra." Umbra managed a smile. "And it is nice to meet you. Glad we're past that awkward first part. So, if you could have anything, what is it you're hoping for?"

Thorax leaned to the left and the right. "I didn't think that far! I just... I was hoping I could... I was running! Away from her!"

Soft tapping coud be felt. Even if her tiara was busy blocking any outgoing messages, they came just fine. Tap tap... Umbra went still, her mouth moving as she labored to translate it as it came. "Twilight is... here. Oooo, did she bring Starlight? Spike? He's alright..." He was not a wizard and would give Umbra no rematch.

Thorax watched Umbra with undisguised confusion. "Are you alright?"

"Hm? Oh!" Umbra perked up with a smile. "Just a message from Shining or Cadance." It was quite impossible to tell which was which. Umbra hadn't learned what each of their taps felt like to try to tell them apart. "A friend just showed up back at the Crystal Empire. You know, my other friend, the changeling, was also running away from her."

"She was?!" Thorax's wings buzzed on his back as he fretted. "Did they catch her?"

Umbra hiked a brow. "She's still my girlfriend, so gonna go with a no on that. Now, you. I say we Adult the heck out of this and just walk right in there. No more sneaking."

"Does your friend not hide?" Thorax peered at Umbra suspiciously. "I didn't hear of any changelings, besides me."

Dang it, called out. "She's still hiding... But I'm not going to shake you both today, so I'll start with you." She leveled a hoof at Thorax. "Let's go and I'll vouch for you. You seem like a nice changeling to me."

"Well, more brave when they're not, um, related to you." He laughed nervously as he rubbed one hoof against the other leg. "You sure that's a good idea? I'll know if you're lying!"

Umbra had no idea if Thorax had any lie detecting ability, still... "I'm telling the truth. If they get prickly, they'll have to go through me to get to you." She started back towards the Crystal Empire. "You seem nice to me, which deserves at least a chance. I want a more up to date review on Miss Jerk anyway, so if you want to share, not arguing."

"Miss Jerk?" Thorax quickly caught up with her, confusion in his eyes. "Who's that? Wait! Do you mean..." He glanced left and right as they hiked. "Her?"

"The one you're running from. Oh, let me tell them." She took a deep breath and blew it out in a whistle that pierced the snowy wastes. It wasn't long before ponies began to appear, dressed in armor. They noticed the changeling with Umbra quickly, undisguised as it was.

The leader of the unit was looking between Umbra and Thorax. "Uh, ma'am... there's a changeling right next to you... Do you need us to help?"

"Point for asking." Umbra inclined her head at Thorax. "This is a lost changeling, not part of any hive. He needs help, not chasing. He is under my protection until after he and Cadance have a nice chat. If she still doesn't want him around, I will walk him out of the city, like civilized people."

Thorax paced in place. "You'd really do that? Even if she was... super mega angry to see me?"

"Especially then." Umbra booped the nervous changeling. "I'm not letting you get hurt or in trouble until you've gotten your chance. If she says no, the chance only ends when you're kicked out, not before then." She glared at the guards. "And you aren't officially kicked out until you actually leave. So you're safe, promise."

"That's... really kind of nice of you." Thorax allowed a bit of relief to peek free of in a little smile. Maybe a pony would give him a chance?

The guard raised a brow. "That's against orders, ma'am."

Umbra curled a hoof at herself. "I don't pull rank often, but one of us is involved with the princess, and it isn't you. She -- " Oops! "He's under my care until I say otherwise, either with their blessing, or without it and seen to the border of the empire."

The guards were not willing to elevate things into a proper brawl with the shadow crystal princess they had recently learned liked a good sparring match and was a local hero. "Shining Armor will hear of this." If all else failed, trusting in their superior to know the answer seemed like a safe bet.

The group marched towards the city with the guards close around Umbra. Their eyes kept wandering back to the changeling they were supposed to capture and subdue, not walk along with. But there he was, just... being there. "Excuse me." One of the guards came in closer to Thorax. "But you are a changeling, aren't you?"

"Um, yes." Thorax grinned with a fang on display at the pony that asked. "Why?"

"Just making sure... Don't changelings eat ponies?" He raised a brow at Thorax.

"Oh no!" Thorax covered his mouth in horror. "Ponies are not hamburgers, um... We eat love, not ponies." He began to wilt, but was keeping up. "It's, uh... different?"

The guard shuddered softly. "You eat burgers of ham?"

"What's wrong with that?" Umbra scowled at the guard. "So long as what you're eating didn't ask not to be eaten before, it's a valid target." She extended a wing suddenly, thumping against Thorax. "Want a ride?"

"Huh?" He looked at the wing with new confusion. "A ride? My legs work..."

"I can protect you easier up here." She tossed her head back towards her top. "Some ponies are on edge and I want you safe. Promises are promises."

"I appreciate that." But he kept right on hiking alongside her. "I'm alright... Are you being nice to me becau--" He didn't get to finish with the wing that had been offered instead covering his mouth. "Mmmf!"

"In part." She didn't need to hear the rest, nor did the guards. "But I think everyone deserves a fair shot. Besides, what's the big deal?" That got a lot of strange looks from the guards. "What? So he nibbles on love. Big deal. Does that actually hurt anyone involved, or just creep people right out?"

The head guard frowned softly. "I'm... I don't know, ma'am. I heard from Shining Armor that it hurt him. It's my job to ensure that no ponies are hurt under my watch." He stood tall, even if still walking. "If he begins hurting you or anypony else, I will have to act, with or without your leave, ma'am."

Thorax's ears sagged at the admission. "That's fair, I guess... I don't want to hurt anypony though, really..."

"There you go." Umbra thumped against him from the side. "I'm right here, promise. Let's go!"

Thorax smiled timidly. "You're really nice..." It didn't help that he felt a trickle of love coming from her, sustaining him with adoration. How had he earned that? He was still a changeling. Ponies were not known to adore insects... She had a girlfriend, a secret one. Was that the difference? Oh no! He gaped with dawning realization. He had found a pony with a changeling fetish! He was literally getting a snack from her impure thoughts regarding insects. That was... refreshing and also horrifying.

"You alright?" Umbra was peeking at him from the side. "You look like you might not be." He looked horrified. Creatures of Equestria were pretty bad at hiding their emotions more often than not. "The offer for a ride is still open."

She would like to give him a ride! Thorax blushed at the awkward thought. "I-I'm fine!"

As a unit, they marched into the city. The guards closed even tighter to keep any other pony from seeing exactly what they were escorting hastily down the roads. They made it up the stairs to the palace before Shining Armor came into view.

The head guard saluted sharply. "Sir! We have located the spy, sir."

Umbra rolled her eyes. "He is not a spy." She turned to Thorax. "This is Thorax. He's a lost changeling that needs a helping hoof."

Shining frowned in quite the scrunch. "Umbra, you are... new to this world. You don't know how changelings are. Please step away from 'him'."

"Nah." She lowered a wing over the top of Thorax protectively. "I know he's running from a jerk and he deserves to be heard out before we decide how good or not he is just because he's a changeling."

Thorax smiled with growing hope. Even with somepony in charge, Umbra was standing up for him. "Hello, um, sir! Are you... Shining Armor, sir?"

"I am." Shining examined Thorax without coming closer. "And you are Thorax?"

"That's me." Thorax dared a little smile. "Sorry for the surprise, um, sir... I wasn't sure how to say hello without freaking everypony out..."

Shining applied a hoof over his face. "That mission was failed. Umbra, are you certain?"

"Umbra!" Twilight as approaching the scene with Spike at her side. "--and a changeling?!" Her horn began to glow with the promise of power. "Stand back!"

"Hey." Spike put out an arm in front of Twilight. "She doesn't look like she's being attacked... right?"

"Right!" Umbra made a mental note that Spike was an alright person. "This is Thorax." She pulled him in closer with her curled wing. "And he needs our help, not random magic lasers."

Thorax retreated into the safety of that folded wing, perhaps frightened of the war unicorn on display. "I'm not hurting anyone, promise!"

Twilight and Shining shared a look that was speaking words silently. Twilight took a step forward. "Far be it for me to... speak against friendship, but do you actually know this changeling? They're pretty good at matters of deception."

Umbra squeezed her temporary ward. "He could have attacked me. He could have tried a spell. He could have done a lot of things, but he didn't. We had a nice chat, and nobody got hurt. I'd like to keep that trend going if I can, hm?" She flashed her sharp teeth at the two of them. "Hey, where's Cadie anyway? I promised he could make his case with her before any final decisions were made."

Twilight raised a hoof. "If she says he has to go, will you stand in the way?"

"I will be super upset." Umbra sat with a huff. "But! This is her empire. I'll pout with him all the way to the edge of it and let him go off and be a bug somewhere else. He will not be hurt. I promised he'd be safe." She reached a hoof to draw Thorax ahead of herself instead of to the side. "And I keep my promises. Cadance will understand that, and that isn't a big ask, I don't think. He didn't hurt anyone, so he has no crimes to answer for, other than you not liking what he is, and he didn't get a lot of choice in that."

Few did, in the end. Umbra would not let anyone suffer for what they were born with.

Thorax enters the palace where nothing will go wrong at all and happy endings will begin!

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