"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Changeling! Somepony get the royal guard! Burn it before it lays eggs!" the ponies suddenly screamed. Fireheart gulped as the whole street went into chaos with hundreds of ponies running left and right in panic. Within moments he was alone in the street… and then surrounded by hundreds of royal guards.
"Halt! In the name on Princess Celestia surrender!"
Looking around him the stallion looked down at the child who had now also turned into her original form again. Putting her into his mane he called out.
"I surrender!"
Fireheart looked down at the guard who was leading him through the seemingly endless halls canterlot. The ponies around him didn't say a word since he had surrendered to them. The baby changeling was completely quiet either asleep or afraid of the ponies. The group finally stopped in front of a door before pushing it open.
Almost immediately the chattering inside had stopped. Fireheart looked inside to see around ten ponies, probably nobles inside staring at him with wide eyes. On the opposite side of the halls sat a certain who was still filling out papers.
The stallion instantly recognized her rainbow mane and tail which were floating through the air. Her bright white coat shinned in the air showing traces of deep care. 'Princess Celestia' he thought.
The mare didn't look up speaking "I thought I said that I didn't wish to be disturbed until this meeting is over."
"I do not think this can wait my princess." One spoke in a monotone voice making the princess look up.
"What can be so importa…-" that was when her gaze fell on him. Almost instantly Fireheart felt the room turn cold. Princess Celestias stare turned into an ice cold glare full of hatred and despair which made him want to cower in fear. He knew full well what she was able to do with him and even worse, nopony would care since he was a changeling now.
"Everypony out now."
The nobles looked at each other before getting the message and running outside. The remaining guards, also the ones in the room left it with only Fireheart and the princess now inside. A loud *clank could be heard as the door behind him shut close and lock itself with magic. Gulping he turned to the mare who sat up marching to him.
"Good, now may I know who you are?" she asked, keeping her glare.
"Uh… I am Fireheart… I… was looking for your help."
"My help? Well, if you wanted my help then your precious queen shouldn't have exchanged my niece and tried to take all off Equestria." Celestia said now circling him like prey… now that he thought of it he probably was prey right now.
"No, you misunderstand I am not really a changeling." He tried to reason making her raise her eyebrow.
"Of course you aren't you are just a stallion painted in black which made him look like he carrying scales, along with vampire like teeth who just so happens to suck on love."
Love… That's it!
"Wait, I can prove to you that I am none!" he shouted making her stop. The mare turned to him and charged her horn.
"Do it then or I throw you down the dungeon."
Fireheart gulped as he reached behind his neck to pull out the small baby changeling. The mare glared at the child with even more coldness than before and stared at the stallion waiting for his prove.
Pulling the small child in a hug he exhaled a breath as he began to rub her head. The filly seemed to have woken up and rubbed against his chin buzzing. A moment later a bright pink light shinned from him. With his breath becoming shaky he looked down at the filly to see her smiling up to him.
"Daddy." She said rubbing up against him. No matter how serious this situation was he couldn't stop himself to smile pressing her into his neck. Taking a deep breath he took a peek at Celestia to see her mouth open with eyes widened and her magic seemingly fading from existence. Shaking her head she spoke again now in a much less threatening tone.
"You have a lot to explain."
Finally after 1 hour full of explaining, death threats and moments where he was almost banished to the moon Fireheart was done with his story. Celestia sat on one of the chairs with a hoof on her mouth apparently thinking. The stallion sat on one opposite of her with the filly playing near his legs. He kept his gaze at the small changeling letting a smile come to his feet. Celestia looked in between the two.
"So Discord is behind this? I should have known he likes to make everything difficult" she mutters. He didn't listen as he picked up the foal letting her rest in his lap and burry herself in his chest.
"So, Fireheart was it?" she asked making him turn to her.
"Yes, my princess." Using the term to be more save. It seemed to have fulfilled its purpose since for the first time while he was in the throne room she smiled.
"We need to speak about what we are going to do now." Celestia said making him turn to her.
"I do not think that I will be able to help you." She said making him sigh. "However I can also not let you go."
"What?!" Fireheart shouted.
"Will you be quiet already, somepony could hear us. You do know that Queen Chrysalis had been banished right?"
"Yes and?" he asked.
"With that… gift of yours, she could use it to breed a seemingly infinite army of changelings to overthrow the kingdom. I cannot let this happen." She said making him stand up. The stallion still carried the baby changeling and put her in his mane.
"You… you are not thinking about… killing me are you?" he asked feeling worried. The mares eyes widened as she shook her head.
"What? No, no, no, no, I am sorry if it sounded that way. I do not plan on hurting you or… your foal." she said.
"Then what?"
"I plan on keeping you here in the royal castle, disguised as one of my guards." Fireheart blinked.
"A guard?"
"Yes a royal guard, this way I can keep an eye on you and Queen Chrysalis wouldn't know where you would be. Because of this it is very important to make sure that nopony knows of your existence."
Fireheart blinked his eyes. "But the royal guards…" he started only to be interrupted by a slam of the door. Turning to Celestia he saw her horn shining in a bright gold as a flash of light went into his direction. Reacting out of instinct he grabbed the child and shielded her using his own body.
As soon as the magic touched his body everything went black.
Fireheart woke up with a startle. Looking left and right he saw Celestia sitting on a chair next to him smiling at him. Jumping from the bed he laid in he looked left and right searching for the changeling baby.
Celestia instantly knew what he was looking for motioned to a crib nearby. Wasting no time he ran to it to see the small changeling in her filly form sleeping inside. Sighing in relief he turned around snarling.
"What was that for?!" he shouted.
"I had to make sure everypony thought you were dead." The mare spoke sternly. "Now we can start with your cover. You can change into different pony forms yes?"
Fireheart looked down to the ground. "Not really, before becoming a changeling I was an earth pony so I don't know how to use magic."
Celestia took in the information and nodded "I see this could prove to be a problem. How come you got through the gates?"
Pressing his hoof against his horn he tried to do the same touch like the filly did, rubbing his horn with his hoof. Not a moment later a bright green light followed and Fireheart lost in height transforming him in his old form. Celestia looked him up and down smiling.
"This will do." She said collecting some papers from a table which was nearby.
"Alright, as I have told you already, you will be a new recruit who has been taken into the personal royal guard of mine due to outstanding performances. The changeling filly there is your daughter Vulcan Heart. Your wife had left you due to a crisis between you two that you do not wish to speak off, leaving only you and your child in the house. You will be given a residence next to the royal palace where you can have your child. I have made sure that one of the maids will take care of her while you are on guard duty. Do not worry, she is informed about your forms."
Fireheart nodded to the mare "Anything else?" he asked.
"Yes, only you, I and the maid know about your changeling forms. You mustn't let anypony know of this. Not even my sister."
"Not even princess Luna?" he asked making the mare shake her head.
"No the less ponies the less the chance you get found out. I know that I am suppose to be truthful to my sister but… now is the best time for silence." Celestia spoke lowering her head a little before looking at him again.
"That would be all for now, I will see you tomorrow then Fireheart." She said heading for the door.
The stallion stood still before giving her a salute. "Of course princess!" he shouted.
Celestia smiled and shook her head. "Days are going to be more interesting from now on."
With that she headed outside leaving Fireheart to explore the house. It was nice really. A bathroom, kitchen living room and a bedroom where the crib for Vulcan slept in. Fireheart however faced a new problem. He was getting hungry.
'Hold on what am I suppose to eat?' he thought getting into the kitchen. Can he even digest normal food? As far as he knows normal changeling can't but he doesn't exactly fit the description. Deciding it would be best if he just tried he walked over to the living room and grabbed an apple from the basket there. Taking a bite out of it his eyes widened and he ate the rest in a single bite. Before he could even stop himself he emptied the rest of the basket not leaving a single one there.
'The hay?' Fireheart asked himself. What as that? He didn't know he was THAT hungry. Perhaps his body needs this to produce love? He had no idea but his hunger was sated for now with around 15 apples in his stomach. He didn't want to know what he would eat if he would be REALLY hungry. Eat more than Celestia could in cake? No that wouldn't be possible. Snickering slightly at the small joke he heard slight babbling from the bedroom. Walking inside he saw Vulcan now on her feet. As soon as she saw him she smiled reached up to him with her hoofs. Chuckling slightly he picked her up and walked to his own bed laying down with her beside him. Sighing softly he pressed her against his chest slowly succumbing to the darkness.
The next day Fireheart woke up as a knock came on the door. Was this the maid? How early do they get up? It's still dark. That was when he realized something was on top of him… Oh now that makes sense. Picking up the object he saw Vulcan giggling and struggling against his grip. Rolling his eyes he stood up pressing her against him so she can feed. He waited till she was done before placing her on the ground and opened the door.
In front of him stood a mare who looked like she was halfway through her life. Some wrinkles are beginning to show especially near her eyes. She had a green coat along with yellow mane and tail. He was about to look at her flank before turning his gaze up again. 'Get a hold of yourself, you can't just stare at flanks like that.' he thought blushing faintly.
The mare seemed to giggle at this. "Wow, I didn't think a young stallion would still look at me that way."
Coughing awkwardly he asked "Are you the maid which is supposed to watch…- ugh!" he exclaimed as a certain somepony seemed to have crawled on his head blocking his vision. "Her." He grumbled making the mare giggle again.
"Yes I am, you can call me Light Duster or just Light. Now then, have you fed her already?" she asked on which he nodded. Smiling the mare picked the filly off of him walking past him. "Okay, you can go to the royal castle now I will take care of this little bundle in the meantime."
Fireheart was about to step out but something prevented him from doing so. Looking back he saw the filly already playing on the ground while the maid was in the kitchen. Running back he gave the filly a kiss before running out towards the castle.
As arrived at the doors one of the guards seemed to notice him. This one seemed to be different from the other guards. He still carried the same armor as the others but with some protection for his shoulderblades. He had dark a dark blue coat and green mane.
"Are you the new recruit?" he asked making Fireheart nod.
"My name is Sargent Nightstar You are early, good keep it up and you won't ever get in trouble. Walk to the armory, get a set of armor and a sword. Then get your flank to the throne room. What didn't you understand me? Move!" he shouted as Fireheart bolted off towards the destination.
Making his way inside the armory he grabbed the first armor which came into sight and armed himself, strapping his weapon to his side. Walking back to the castle he marched inside through the halls to the throne room. Opening the doors it he looked left and right to see nopony but Celestia inside. She, having heard the sound of it opening looked up from her papers smiling.
"Ah, you are early, I hope no problems have arrived." Fireheart shook his head.
"No princess." He said bowing down. The mare shook her head keeping her smile. "May I ask where the remaining guards are?"
"Yes of course, the yearly funfair of canterlot is about to begin and I wanted to attend to it. However I cannot leave without my personal guard of course."
"Hold on, don't tell me I am it." Fireheart spoke worry flowing into his voice.
"Yes you are, the nobels told me countless times to organize a guard for my protection and now I can have my peace from those requests." This made Fireheart tilt his head.
"May I ask something? Why should a few guards make the difference, compared to your power level they are worth nothing." The mare giggled.
"Well, I suppose you are right. However we now need to depart to the royal carriage. It should be already waiting for us." With that she left the room, followed by the stallion.
The ride with the chariot was mostly quiet as Celestia looked outside of the window. Fireheart was silently looking at his hoofs then back at the mare. She didn't seem to mind him that much waving her hoof at passing ponies.
Finally it stopped letting her get out. Instantly she was swarmed by hundreds ponies which were held back by other guards forming a circle around her. Fireheart walked beside her always keeping a hoof on the sword in chase anything happens.
Celestia soon stopped near who would have guessed a food stall selling cake. He was more than sure that she was going to reside there all day so he just stood nearby leaning against a wall, observing the whole crowd. The group of ponies had departed leaving her to plunder everything. However that was when he looked down an alleyway and saw what appeared to be arguing down there. Making his way there he spotted three stallions standing opposite of one.
"Alright gramps give us your bits and nopony gets hurt." The leader spoke. Turning back to the mare then down to the remaining ponies Fireheart pulled out his sword.
"You there halt!" he shouted down the alley. The bandits turned to him chuckling. "Oh look a guard, perhaps he has more bits then this pony doesn-… Hey!" The bandit seemed to not have noticed that the blackmailed pony has already fled the scene leaving only the guard and the bandits.
"You are going to pay for that." he spoke turning back to him.
Fireheart was about to step backwards when he noticed a fourth bandit had blocked his escape. Turning to the bandits they took out daggers themselves pointing it at the stallion. Fireheart used his sword to keep the remaining ponies away but forgot about the last one... and was rewarded with being grabbed. Trying to get him off he punched him with his elbow full force backwards in an attempt to free himself, however it did not only seem to free him but also to send the stallion flying backwards out of the alley the chattering outside stopping.
The other three bandits stared at the guard with absolute fear who was still busy to realize what just happened. One took the initiative and ran forwards to cut his throat making Fireheart evade it in the last moment. He looked at his sword for a second before tossing it away and grabbed the bandit by the chest slamming him against a wall. The remaining two bandits ran over to help their comrades but one of them was grabbed and slammed against the other, knocking both out.
Fireheart looked at his hoofs shocked by this seemingly enhanced strength. Has his changeling body done more to him than he thought been possible? A moment later several fellow guards swarmed the alley grabbing the bandits and putting them in chains. Some began to stare at Fireheart who was sitting down a little more than shook up at what just happened. That was when he saw a hoof being held down to him. Looking up he saw that it was Nightstars. Accepting it, he was being picked up and handed his weapon which he fastened to his hip again.
"Well done kid, those were some bandits that we were searching for a long time. Didn't think you would recognize them though." The stallion said placing a hoof on his shoulder. "Now then, we should get you back to the castle, the first bottle of Cyder goes on me." he patted the back of the young stallion. With both getting out of the alley Fireheart looked to the right to see the four bandits sitting together with several photographs taking pictures of them. Upon seeing him some lowered the cameras.
"Hey isn't that the guard who defeated them? Yes he is, you there stop please!" they called him over. This made him gulp and he was about to walk off only to be stopped by the sargent.
"No need to be camera shy kid you earned this." he grabbed Fireheart and dragged him over so they are standing behind the bandits. Moments later flashes came from the devices and Fireheart could only think of a single word.
'Buck'