Following the touching moment Angel and Comet shared, they returned to the castle where the princesses Celestia and Luna were just waking up. Several ponies had gotten through the fight with little injury and were in the process of checking on other, more wounded ponies. One was a night guard by the name of Shutter, who had a peculiar limp he swore was nothing to be concerned about. Another was a pegasus named Moonshield, who had gone to the aid of Princess Cadence and had a rather large black eye from a magical bolt that impacted against a statue, dropping a big chunk onto his face. Several other ponies wandered around, tending as best they could to those hurt. It didn't take the Princesses long to summon doctors from the medical wing of the castle, as well as staff to move those hurt to the wing.

Comet and Angel found Valyrie, who was weakly breathing but still alive, and rushed her to the wing. As the doctors rushed about, both Comet and Angel took a crash course in medicine, setting Valyrie's broken limbs and stabilizing her condition under the watch of a nurse treating a badly burned pony next to them. All in all, nopony had died, but some were hurt or scarred for life from this fight, mostly those being burned from Philomena's fire wave. Shining came to the infirmary personally to collect both Comet and Angel while seeing his soldiers. The three of them marched along in silence, past the ruined ballroom which had become a temporary infirmary as well, up to the Princess's chambers.

The door was unguarded as they approached it, but before they could enter, a wave of blue magic washed over all three of them. Angel yelped and grabbed onto Comet, but the magic didn't hurt them. "It's a spell to ward off changelings," Shining stated tonelessly and they proceeded into the room. In there sat Princess Celestia, Luna and Cadence, all around a table. They all turned their gazes to the newcomers and Cadence squealed at the sight of her husband, whom she greeted with a large hug. The solar and lunar princesses, however, stared at the pegasus and bat pony like they were expecting them to turn into changelings at any second.

Luna was the first to speak up. "DOTH THOU KNOWEST WHY THINE ART HERE?"

Comet gulped hard and Angel found interest in her forehooves. Celestia sighed and said, "Sister, not the time for that."

Luna looked at her older sibling, but cleared her throat and tried again. "Ponies of the Guard, dost thou know why thy are here?" she spoke in a much less intimidating tone.

Neither Angel nor Comet responded and Luna continued. "Thou were part of the invasion this night, were thy not?"

Comet looked away and Shining spoke up. "I believe the bat pony here, Angel, was the one who rallied the real guard to rescue us."

Celestia's eyebrows raised at that and she mused, "Well, I never thought a pony loyal to my sister would save me."

"Yes, we can underst-- WAIT! WHAT DOTH THAT MEAN?!" Luna responded.

"I also seem to remember this stallion being posted to guard me at the entrance, were you not?" Celestia continued, ignoring her sister. Every eye in the room turned to Comet and he felt a shudder run down his back.

"Er, I don't remember, my princess," Comet stated with a quivering voice.

"WHAT DOTH THOUT MEAN, 'THY CANNOT RECALL'?!" the lunar princess demanded.

"Yes, I too am curious," the white alicorn agreed, narrowing her magenta eyes at the stallion, "My captain, Shining Armor, was under the control of another changeling queen, but he could recall almost everything that happened."

"If I may, auntie," Cadence chimed in, drawing both stares of the princesses, "I was with a guest who said he saw the changeling attack you. He says one of the stallions eyes were glowing green when it happened. If it was this stallion, then he would not remember any of it, just like Shining didn't."

"AND WHO WAS THIS GUEST YOU DOTH SPEAK OF?" Luna thundered without meaning to.

"That would be me," came a new voice, thickly accented. Behind all of them, a powdery blue unicorn with a white wavy mane and a red jacket stood proudly as everypony looked at him. Luna gasped, Shining tensed and Celestia chuckled.

"Oh dear," she mused, "It would seem you had a hoof in things again, Doctor."

"I REMEMBER THOU!" shouted Luna, "I SAW THEE RIGHT BEFORE THE ATTACK!"

The unicorn rubbed his ear and responded, "Er, yes, I believe you did. It has been quite a while, Luna, but I'm glad to see you too."

"Wait," Shining interrupted, "Just who are you?!"

"I'm the Doctor," the unicorn replied comfortably.

"Doctor who?" Shining demanded.

"Exactly," he beamed. At that, both Celestia and Luna burst out into laughter, catching Shining off guard.

"My dear captain," Celestia said between laughs, "He is a very trusted member of Equestria. Do let him speak." The white unicorn remained tense, but allowed the Doctor to continue.

"Yes, well, you see this stallion here," he began, waving a hoof at Comet, "Was an important part of the attack, but not in the way you think. My companion, Paradox, was temporarily knocked out by the changeling force. I tailed him since he had stopped giving me reports on Artron energy readings around the castle, and I found that the changeling was manipulating this stallion against his will."

"How can you be sure, though, Doctor?" Celestia asked with concern.

"I noticed, as I'm sure his gryffon friend will confirm, he blinked quite often when he was forced to do something he didn't want to. I believe he did so with you, Shining, when he told you of the threat."

Shining recoiled for a second, but thought back to the day Comet told him about the fake threat. "Yeah, he paused several times and blinked a lot."

The Doctor beamed happily and stated, "There you have it. This fine, upstanding stallion was forced to do things against his will, whether he remembers them or not. I have been helping investigate changeling magic since the first attack and I now have a theory as to their mind controlling magic. The victim of such magic has his memory wiped to erase any trace of the changelings. The way it works eludes me, but now we have solid proof of my theory. I do believe, however, the changeling can manipulate how the spell works, allowing the pony affected to remember certain things, like Shining Armor's case."

Shining blushed slightly, but kept his composure.

"So, I do not believe either pony here is responsible for aiding the enemy. In fact, since the bat pony here marshaled the real guard in time and the stallion drove off the biggest threat, I think they deserve promotions," the Doctor stated with a confident smile.

The princesses stayed quiet for a while and looked at each other before turning to Shining. "I would actually like to have the stallion as part of my personal guard," Celestia said.

"WE WOULD ALSO LIKE TO ADD THE BAT PONY TO OUR OWN GUARD!" Luna shouted.

Shining bowed his head and said, "It will be done, my princesses."

On the other side of the room, and what felt like the world, Angel's eyes widened and a large grin split her face. Comet stood there, completely dumbstruck. The solar princess, Princess Celestia, wanted him as part of her personal guard?!

"In fact," the solar princess continued, "Didn't you say you were considering them for a special role not too long ago?"

"Yes, my liege," Shining responded, "With your permission, I would like to make them the new commanders of your personal guards."

Comet literally thought he was going to throw up. Angel almost squealed with delight.

Celestia nodded and Luna grinned. "THOU HAS OUR PERMISSION!"

"Sister, please."

Shining returned his gaze to the two ponies near the door. "You are dismissed," he stated brusquely. The two ponies saluted and left the chambers, Angel exploding with delight and Comet attempting to understand what had just happened. Back in the chambers, Shining rounded to the Doctor.

"Okay, now tell me, who are you?"

Celestia laughed and said, "It's quite a long story."

In the days following the attack, Comet and Angel busied themselves helping wherever they could. As Valyrie recovered, Comet and Angel spent time with Shining Armor, going over various things they would need to know as the commanders of the princesses personal guards. Several others were promoted as well, namely Shutter and Moonshield to the Lunar Guard. With the Solar Guard lacking, Comet found a couple fresh guards who had protected several fallen comrades, Holly Stalk and Wild Fire.

The days melted into weeks as the guards recovered. The wounded changelings seemed to disappear once they got better, but thanks to the Doctor, the rest of the guard was sure they left the castle. Soon, with about eighty percent of the guard back to full health, Shining decided it was time to promote Comet and Angel officially. However, a lingering thought in the back of Comet's mind still tortured him. He still had to choose between Angel and Valyrie. On the day of the ceremony where Celestia and Luna would personally welcome them into their service, Comet sat alone in Philomena's Tower. The phoenix had burned itself to ashes in the attack, but had shown up two days later, full of health and vigor. The phoenix had warmed up to Comet considerably, now sitting on his shoulder as he sat in the silence.

He had much to think about as he sat in the stillness. Angel was a beautiful bat pony who had effectively ruined his life in a good way. He loved her big golden eyes, her bubbly personality and her obnoxious behavior. The only problem was, now he'd hardly see her anymore with her captaining the Lunar Guard. Valyrie, on the other hoof, was a wonderful gryffon who needed a pony to look after her, something Comet was good at doing. She had a wonderful personality buried beneath her hard exterior and had openly shared everything with him. However, as he thought about it, the answer slowly came to him. Once he told Philomena about his decision, the phoenix cawed happily and gave him a gentle peck on the head.

Angel shuffled nervously behind the stage, itching from her new dress armor. It was pretty much the same as the armor she wore at the Gala and subsequent attack, but just with more points and shine. As she waited, she heard hoof falls behind her and sighed heavily. "Comet, you know you;re almost la-"

She was cut off by a pair of lips meeting hers.

Utterly stunned, it took a couple seconds for her mind to register what was happening. Comet's eyes were closed with his muzzle against hers. Angel thought her heart had stopped as she slowly returned the kiss. Everything around them just seemed to melt away as Angel and Comet stayed together, enjoying the moment and each other. Finally, after what would normally be deemed an excessive amount of time, Comet and Angel finally broke away, staring into each others eyes. Angel wasn't sure how to react, but a white light from behind her drew their attention. Angel's flank was shining.

Gasping excitedly, Angel leaned over and pulled up the side of her armor, which was metal plated over a thick wool coat. On her flank appeared the image of a heartbeat line. Angel's initial excitement gave away to confusion as she turned to Comet.

"What does that mean?" she asked.

"You didn't have a cutie mark this whole time?" Comet asked at the same time.

Angel chuckled at that and said, "Bat ponies usually don't have cutie marks. When Luna was banished, Celestia tried to gain our loyalty by making us more like normal ponies. She lessened our vision sensitivity, made us Royal Guards and attempted to give us cutie marks. Instead, the spell didn't work well with our natural magic, so many never get cutie marks. Only those who know for certain everything about themselves get them. So," she paused, looking back at her flank," What's it mean?"

Comet laughed softly and wrapped his hooves around the bat pony. "Why don't we find out together?" Angel's gaze turned back around to him and she kissed him again. She loved his strong frame, his gentle touch and how he always distracted her from whatever she was doing.

"Private Comet Burst, Private Angel Beats!" boomed Shining Armor's voice from somewhere. The couple stopped and looked around worriedly, but realized he had just announced their names from the platform in the other room, "Report for duty!"

Getting promoted was the best feeling ever. Getting tackled by a happy bat pony as the crowd was cheering, however, was not.

Afterwards, Comet walked along with Angel to his new office, one only three doors down from Shining's. Comet was still embarrassed and mad she had tackled him, but it sparked a question he had wanted to ask her.

"Hey," he started lamely, "That day in the alley, why did you tackle me?"

Angel paused at that and thought.

"I dunno," she said happily, "But I'm glad I did!"

Author's Notes:

Here's the official ending to The Golden Armor. Hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did!