An Audience of Darkness is Set

Sunrise sighed as he sat beside his mother watching the ponies of Equestria who had the privilege of their request for audiences accepted. He spotted the Changeling Queen in the far back and he didn't lift his gaze from her frail form. He spotted his aunt in the corner of his eye coming to her spot on his mother's right, while he was to the back left. He watched as Luna bent her head close to his mother's to whisper into her ear. Celestia's eyes widened but she quickly hid her surprise at her sister's words. She glanced quickly at her son and followed his line of sight to the Changeling Queen; she made sure no pony saw her as she looked to the next pony in line waving them forward.

"Your highness, I come before you to raise a case for my family, we have been wrongfully evicted from our home, we have paid rent on time and we have committed no wrong on the landlord" The earth pony that had been waved forward made his case as a unicorn came forward to refute the argument "Your majesty, in Equestrian law it states a landlord may evict the residents of his property as he sees fit" Celestia thought for a moment before she turned her head to her son "What do you think my son, who is in the right here and who is?"

Celestia had thought to catch him in a bind, not to be mean, but to get his attention away from the Changeling Queen. She did not expect what he would do as he kept his gaze on the frail changeling queen as he answered. "The unicorn is right, the law states that a Landlord may evict the residents from the house, but he is also in the wrong for it states in law revision subparagraph eleven that a landlord must prove a valid reason for the eviction of the tenets and must provide them with at least three weeks to find a new home, so in this case of wrongful eviction I would give favor to the earth pony and his family" He did not break his gaze and his mother was surprised that her son new that much detail in Equestrian law, he had never shown interest in it before.

The Changeling Queen looked up and saw Prince Sunrise looking at her. She blushed and her heart beat faster than ever. She looked away just as he broke his gaze and turned to his mother who had just called for attention. "I will meet with only one more subject today, so now I call forth Queen Metamorphia, come forward and speak your case" The call to the Changeling Queen got a large gasp from all the ponies in the audience chamber.

Metamorphia looked up in shock as the entire crowd parted to let her by. One thing no pony ever did was question Princess Celestia's judgment on the most important matters. As Metamorphia approached the throne she glanced at Prince Sunrise and saw his expression as one not of encouragement but a diplomatic one, she did not know Prince Sunrise as well as some of the ponies in the crowd. Sunrise didn't let his feelings show unless he was in a private setting and most ponies knew the look he held now as his passionate public look.

Celestia looked at her son before she spoke to Metamorphia "Why have you come when your kind is not welcomed in this hall anymore, I was kind enough to only banish your people from just this city" She said not in an aggressive way but a way that told Metamorphia that she was on fragile ground. "I have come to beg your forgiveness Princess Celestia, my people are starving and if we remained cursed or cannot feed we will die out, I come to beg you to release us from your curse" Metamorphia bowed her head and waited for the decision. "Your kind was welcomed to my halls we trusted you with our own and you repaid us by betraying us to that foul beast; you expect mercy when you showed none to us" Celestia roared out in the royal voice "Yes my kind betrayed you but not all of us wanted that, many of us wanted to stand beside you, Our old queen chose against the Changelings wishes." Metamorphia was completely truthful as far as Sunrise could tell; he had his mother's natural ability to tell when ponies were lying to him.

Sunrise looked into his mother's eyes and saw the anger he only saw when some pony tried to mess with his feelings. He knew what would come next and he wasn't going to allow it. He tensed as his mother roared out "Oh and what did you do about it nothing yo…" Celestia was unprepared for what happened next as her son moved from his spot and placed himself between his mother's rage and the changeling queen. "You condemn an entire race because of the foolishness of one of their kind" Sunrise had on his mask of disappointment to hide his terrible sadness and anger at the reasons his mother had done this to a race they were allies with, "One pony does not answer for another, even if the pony happens to be the ruler, yes as a ruler you are responsible for eveypony under your rule but they each have their own opinion, the old Queen decided against the judgment of her subjects, so she acted on her own"

Sunrise looked calm but his mother knew better, she had seen her precious son hide a raging emotion with ease before. She could feel the anger in him and she sighed "My word is final Prince Sunrise, the curse is to stay until their queen has learned that the actions of the ruler is seen as the actions of all the subjects under them" Celestia rose and every pony bowed as she left the room in a hurry.

Sunrise growled in annoyance before he turned to Metamorphia "Sorry it didn't go as I had hoped, the least I can do is give you some company while you prepare to leave" He looked annoyed but most of all he looked sad "Oh I will not be leaving, I promised my subjects I would fix my mother's mistakes even if it takes me forever" Metamorphia smiled sadly and it tore at Sunrise's heart. He waved for her to follow him.

"Hmm alright then allow me to treat you to dinner or I can just accompany you for the day" Sunrise wasn't going to take no for an answer for both offers. Metamorphia smiled still sad but she did feel a refreshing sense of joy in her heart, if she could stay long enough for Prince Sunrise to take the throne then her changeling subjects would have a chance, but more than that she just felt like she could tell this Royal Alicorn anything. "Hmm I can't eat real food, but having your company will be a pleasure" Sunrise hoofed himself in the face; he had completely forgotten the workings of the curse placed on the changelings.

Sunrise smiled hiding his slight embarrassment with a mask of calm regality. He walked straight out into the gardens that were empty now. He walked over to his favorite spot it over looked the Everfree forest and the Thundering Hooves waterfall. "I am sorry your case didn't go so well, Metamorphia" Sunrise spoke with his private voice, the voice that held every emotion he had in a strong and royal tone. "Its alright Sunrise, I didn't expect it to go well, my kind we did the worst thing possible, we tried to destroy your family's home, half of us did not want it but we did nothing we let the other half of our Kingdom rampage about when we could have stopped it, its my mother's fault we were cursed and being her daughter I am to blame as well" Metamorphia looked so depressed it hurt Sunrise to see her this way so he turned her face to his "Your wrong, a pony is not defined by their parents they are defined by their own spirit" He smiled and for the first time he didn't mind letting his feelings show, he was tired of hiding his feelings but everypony save his mother and aunt only wanted his approval. That was until Metamorphia came into the picture, he felt something stir in his heart and he didn't try and hide it "You only treated me kindly when we first met because you were afraid to anger me, the only son of Celestia, or that is what many ponies would say, tell me why you were kind when you knew my mother had cursed your kind, you could have used me as blackmail if you could match my power that is"

Metamorphia flinched at Sunrise's words but she knew that her actions could have been seen as fear and she knew lying wouldn't work , after all the royal family were famed for being able to tell when others lied "Well, huh to be honest I intentionally placed myself in your path, it was just you looked so sad I wanted to help, you see we Changelings are attuned to the emotional make up of others and some of us use that for personal gain, while others use it to help out those who need a shoulder to cry on you have so many doubts in you so much anger and much more sadness, I couldn't help by try and help even though you could easily have caused more torment for my kind," She blushed as she said the next part "and I umm I thought you were umm, handsome"

Sunrise raised his eyebrows in a questioning tone; he knew she was telling the truth "Really, you think I look handsome, a changeling thinking an alicorn handsome now that's a new one" He chuckled which made Metamorphia blush even more "but it isn't unusual this is the time of year we stallion Alicorns call Fatal Attraction, where we become so irresistible that every mare wants us, but I am not going to go for that, I am a single mare guy, oh if only there was somepony who understood me, she would be a great filly" Sunrise sighed and Metamorphia felt his depression with a clear and hurt heart, she realized that he was sadly trying to reach out to her.

"Be yourself and that special somepony will love you for your true self and I bet you will find them some day" Metamorphia sighed a little sad but she knew it wouldn't work, she was a changeling he a royal alicorn, they were too different. She would love to be his special somepony but she couldn't because she didn't want him to get hurt or ridiculed for being with her. "Hmm Metamorphia I think I am in love with yo…"

"No! Sunrise step away for her now" He looked back to see his mother and aunt both with a glare in their eyes aimed straight at Metamorphia "Go to your room I will speak with you later privately, for now I need to make sure Queen Metamorphia is shown out of the city"

"NO! I AM TIRED OF THIS I NEVER GET TO MAKE MY OWN DECISSIONS YOU ALWAYS WANT TO PROTECT ME BUT HOW AM I TO LEARN IF I DON'T MAKE MY OWN MISTAKES" Sunrise roared out in the royal way of speaking "Umm its alright Sunrise I need to go anyways" Metamorphia said with a twinge of sadness

"Mother I hereby claim Queen Metamorphia as my personal guest all previous statements or banishments placed on her are void until her business or any business I have with her is finished" Sunrise shocked the three mares with this, being of the royal blood line made it so he could do exactly what he had just done and not even his mother could stop him. "Metamorphia I would like to have a private audience with you in my quarters this afternoon after you are settled into your new accommodations in the royal palace, Mother, Aunt I expect you to treat my guest with respect, Spitshin please escort Metamorphia to her room and tell my assistant to help her with anything she needs"

Sunrise turned and left the gardens without another word as the guard Spitshin took Metamorphia towards the guest wing. "Oh no, what have I done Luna" Celestia was still in a little shocked state as she looked back at her sister. "I do believe we have just made a big blunder" Celestia did not know what to do she had just been screamed at by her precious boy.

To Be Continued

Author's Note: Well here is the first straw on the camel's back that brings it closer to breaking. I hope you followed the little romance and fear that is played out in this chapter.