Chapter 3: Cause and Effect

Shining sat sadly looking at the floor as Cadance paced around the room, silently debating whether or not to give him a lecture for what he did. She looked over at him, almost feeling sorry him, but a quick look at the letter filled her with anger again. The thought of him and Chrysalis doing, that, together, it put a chill down Cadance's spine. As she continued to pace a wild thought entered her head. What if the foal was just a normal pony? Cadance entertained that thought for a few moments before remembering that Twilight had mentioned that the foal did have some Changeling characteristics, namely the wings and horn, but for all she knew it could also have the ability to change it's appearance at will...

"Cadance...?" Shining asked sheepishly, getting a glare back from Cadance, "Can we talk about this?"

"Talk about what?" Cadance asked, sounding harsher than she had planned, "You slept with her before we got married!"

"I thought she was you!" Shining protested before crossing his forelegs angrily, having gotten the feeling that this was going to be a big fight because of how mad she had sounded. Cadance softened up when she realized how she was acting towards him and decided to go sit back down to read the note again. Shining watched her carefully as she read it again, a somber expression slowly appearing on her face.

"Shining, this is your foal..." Cadance said slowly, staring at the note like a statue.

"I know, and I'm sorry about how I..." Shining trailed off, not finding it in him to talk about what he had done. Cadance watched him as he squirmed while trying to figure out what he could say that would calm her down, but he wasn't able to. Eventually he just gave up and let out a long sigh.

"I'm sorry Cadance" Shining said pitifully, his normal masculinity completely gone as he almost begged Cadance to calm down. She felt her heart tug as she continued to watch him, which made her reach a hoof out to him. He looked up suddenly, his eyes full of hope, which she gave him with a smile.

"It's okay Shining, you didn't know what you were doing" Cadance said somberly, "And this is your own foal after all, we can't just ignore it"

"Are we going to go to Ponyville now?" Shining asked with confused look, not sure if Cadance actually wanted to go to the foal or not.

"Yes, now go get your things packed up..." Cadance trailed off, leaning forwards to give him a kiss on the lips, "On the double"

"Yes ma'am!" Shining said happily as he skipped away, stopping when he reached the door, "Does this mean you're not mad at me anymore?"

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"Meta, get down from there!" Twilight shouted as she tried to coax Meta down from her hiding place in the roof of the library. Twilight silently cursed herself for living inside an old tree, but just as she did Meta fell down from the roof, just barely being caught by Applejack, who had been trying to help.

"Whew, that was a close one" Applejack said calmly as she put Meta down, the tiny foal quickly running up behind Twilight for protection. Twilight sighed as she stepped to the side, pushing Meta forward with her magic so Applejack could get a good look at her.

"So this is the foal that Chrysalis left on your balcony?" Applejack asked as she lowered herself down to get a better look at Meta, "She doesn't look all that much like a Changeling... Well, apart from the wings and horn" Twilight groaned when the door opened, introducing Meta to Rainbow Dash rather suddenly.

"So what's all this about a mystery f-" Rainbow was beginning to ask as she walked into the library, freezing when she saw Meta staring at her with giant eyes, "What's her problem?"

"Rainbow, your mane is multiple colors" Applejack said flatly, receiving a shrug from Rainbow.

"It just shows how awesome I am" Rainbow said mockingly, throwing her hair back with ease, "So what's up with this little brat?" Applejack moved to tell Rainbow that she shouldn't call Meta a brat, but Twilight stopped her, which caught her off guard. Twilight then proceeded to tell them the story up until then, ending with how she found each of them and asked them to drop by.

"Why were Rarity and Fluttershy already here?" Rainbow asked, looking over at her other two friends, one of which was hiding behind Spike, and the other was still out cold after fainting. Pinkie Pie meanwhile, was drawing on Rarity's face, finding it amusing that she had fainted for so long, and not really seeing anything surprising in Meta.

"They came to ask if I wanted to go to the spa with them, and then somepony-" Twilight paused to look at Spike, "-let Meta out of my room so she could come fly around down here" Applejack and Rainbow looked over at Spike in surprise, finding it odd that he would do something against Twilight's wishes.

"I said I was sorry..." Spike grumbled as Fluttershy squeaked behind him because Meta had looked their way. Rainbow rolled her eyes before flying over to the foal, looking her straight in the eyes to see what she would do if somepony got really close to her. All Meta did was cock her head to the side and look at Rainbow's mane, completely entranced by how colorful it was. When she had stared at long enough for her liking she decided to try and give it a taste, grabbing it with her hoof and pulling it towards her mouth.

"Ow! Hey! Let go!" Rainbow shouted as Meta continued to try and eat her mane. After some struggling she pulled away, the end of her mane now a mess because of Meta's saliva.

"Looks like you made a friend Rainbow" Applejack laughed before turning to Twilight again, despite Rainbow's angry groan, "Have you told Shining Armor and Cadance about this yet?"

"I sent them a letter about it, but they haven't-" Twilight was saying when Spike suddenly belched, his flame turning into a scroll. Twilight quickly grabbed it and saw that it was from Cadance, so she opened it as fast as she could. When she was finished she looked up at everypony worriedly.

"What is it Twi?" Applejack asked.

"She said that I shouldn't tell anypony about it, but know that she isn't going to like this place" Twilight said as she looked at the letter one last time so she could make sure she read it right, "She told me to not tell anypony, including you guys"

"Why would it be us?" Rainbow asked affirmatively, sticking her face right up against Twilights.

"Well, she said she didn't want anypony to know about this for what ever reason, but I'm s-"

"Twilight, help!" Spike cried as Meta jumped at him, pulling him down to the ground because Fluttershy had run away. Him and Meta rolled around for almost a minute before they ended with Spike holding her up. When she was kept still for a few seconds she managed to poop self while in Spike's arms.

"Seriously, I just changed you!" Twilight said angrily as she put Meta on the main table, preparing to change her diaper out yet again. Next Chapter: Chapter 4: Father Meet Daughter Estimated time remaining: 5 Minutes