In response to the threat made against Canterlot and in order to secure the upcoming royal wedding, the Princesses requested the mobilization of as many guards in the city as possible, to help keep order and provide a calming presence to the public. Since we had already used up our reserve officers covering every corner of interest, we turned to civilians to occupy low-priority spots. Our volunteers consisted mainly of interns and undergraduates from the Academy, but many came from ordinary civilian backgrounds, too. After a shortened course, they were ready to take their positions. They were given uniforms and non-lethal spears, to grant them the appearance of a proper guard in the eyes of the public. We plan to remove them from our lines as soon as the threat is dealt with, before their limited combat training and other skills are put to the test.
Report snippet from the Royal Canterlot Guards’ Bureau.
***
Shortcuts are rarely worth it. The second I saw the flier, advertising the guard backup program, I should have let the wind carry it away. Instead, I allowed my lifelong dream to get the better of me again. I got to hold a short spear and stand next to a locked door for hours on end with an uncomfortable helmet, cursing myself for my weak self-control. When I had received the official dismissal letter, just after my first year in the Academy, detailing my shortcomings, I should have taken the hint. Ponies like me don’t belong amongst the Royal Guard.
I was paired up with another temporary recruit, a few years my senior, but with even less experience. His presence at my side was a testament to how short on guards the Academy was. Glancing up against the sun, I saw the giant shield the Captain was sustaining, and, clinging to the outside, all the little black dots this whole effort has been taken for. Why was it that he’d chosen this very day to hold his wedding? One would think that keeping a shield up that encompassed the entirety of the city would be difficult enough, without worrying about your big day.
I let out a sigh and glanced at my partner for the day. He was drawing a figure-eight in the air with his horn while leaning against his spear so hard, I had to admire that the wood hadn’t snapped yet. His helmet was lying on the ground at his hooves, as was mine, though he didn’t seem to be having the headache I was suffering from. In the sun, the metal headpiece had felt like an oven and a vice, and taking the thing off only helped a little. To add to my discomfort, I couldn’t lose the feeling of anticipation. Something was going to happen, a little voice in my head was telling me, and it had nothing to do with my job. Not that my job had much to involve.
“Hey, did you see that?” my fellow guard said, perking up. I looked around. He was pointing at the palace’s main chamber, or at least what was visible from it above the rooftops. We were quite a way from the city center.
“What was it?” I asked, fishing for my helmet on the ground, keeping my eyes on the ornate windows.
“Something flashed inside. Isn’t that where the ceremony is going to be?”
I squinted, and I thought I saw the windows light up again for a moment. “Maybe it’s a light show. A Princess is marrying the Captain of the Royal Guard. I would expect something flashy.”
“I guess so...” He eyed the castle some more, then turned his attention to the sky.
I went back to my thoughts, then he spoke again. “Do you think the shield has more of those black things now? There were less in the morning.”
I grunted in frustration, but a look at the shield gave me pause. Now that I focused on them, the dots did seem to have multiplied. I felt a shiver running down my spine, but I couldn’t tell why. The shield was as strong as ever, by the looks of it, though an earth pony such as myself might not be the most capable of judging such things.
“Maybe. Let’s hope the Captain doesn’t forget about his spell while saying ‘I do’.”
We fell silent and watched the castle. The ceremony continued inside with multicolored lights flashing. I shuffled my hooves. Something was wrong. I was missing something.
“Is everything okay?” my partner asked, quirking an eyebrow at me.
I forced my legs to stay still, but I couldn’t lose the feeling that I forgot I had somewhere to be. “I’m fine. I... might need to visit the facilities soon.”
He nodded. “No problem. I don’t think this door will feel lonely if you pop out for a minute.”
I didn’t really need to go, but I grabbed my helmet anyway and looked at the castle and the shield above once again. Was it just me or were there faint cracks appearing along the top? I rubbed my eyes, almost dropping my spear. I wracked my brain for whatever important thing had slipped my mind, but I couldn’t put a hoof on it. I was fine ten minutes ago, but now, it was as if the ground was opening up below my restless hooves.
“I’m telling you, nopony is gonna miss you if you take a break. Just looking at you makes me want to go too.”
I put a hoof to my forehead and closed my eyes. My spear hit the pavement, but I barely noticed. The urge to go somewhere got stronger by the second, and finally it was taking shape. I recognized it, and the pressure subsided somewhat. It was familiar. I’d felt it before.
I put my hoof down. “I have to go.” Not even waiting for my partner to acknowledge me, I grabbed my helmet and put it on. The metal was hot under the sun, but it didn’t matter. I had to go to the Academy. I had to become a guard. I had to finally fulfill my childhood dream.
He grabbed my foreleg before I could take a step. “Hey! Are you sure you’re okay?”
I yanked my leg free, but his concerned eyes made me stop and do a mental step back. I’ve already tried becoming a guard, and failed. I’d told myself again and again that I must move on, but as I looked at my armored reflection in my partner’s eyes, the pony looking back at me was still chasing his lost dream. A dream that wasn’t mine.
It was then, with a deafening crack, that the shield fell.
***
We dashed across the street into an alley. I crouched low and pulled his head down to mine. “Can you fight?”
He nodded, clutching his spear like a child might hug his wooden sword. I spared a glance and pulled him behind a garbage can. The headache was subsiding, but my anxiety was not.
“Listen, don’t try to defeat them. Use your spear only to repel them, then run as fast as you can. I need to reach the Academy—”
“Why? What are they expecting from us there?”
“I don’t know. I must get there, but you don’t have to come with me. Do you know a safe place to hide?”
“There… there is a bakery…”
“Good. I’ll drop you off there. Where is it?”
“Near the center. I can lead the way, I think. Why do you need to go-”
“Sounds good. Get ready.”
I watched a green fireball slam into the ground just a few steps from us. I spun around and gave it a good buck before the flames died, and the changeling sprawled out on the cracked ground. He gulped and nodded.
“Let’s go.”
We ran, dodging incoming changelings and concentrating on progress, engaging in combat only if we needed to shake them off. The streets were wider than the ones near the center, and the invaders took advantage of their aerial skills whenever they could, though most of their tricks involved dashing for us in a straight line while another one circled around from behind. It was an obvious tactic, and with my headache receding, I was able to keep us clear of them.
The many turns threatened to throw off my sense of direction completely, but the castle’s towers kept on getting closer. The Academy was only a minute from there. I almost forgot that I was supposed to follow my partner to safety, and not the other way around.
Reaching a back alley, we slowed to a trot to catch our breaths.
“All right,” my partner said, glancing around in the temporary calmness. The excitement had done wonders for his nerves. “We made progress. What do you reckon they’re here for?”
I shrugged. “They’re changelings. I could think of one particular reason.”
“Obviously, but attacking a whole city, the capital, no less, is just stupid.”
“I’m not making assumptions. Are we close to that bakery?”
Another changeling dropped from the sky, but my companion was quick with his horn. He looked at the twitching body of the creature with regret, but didn’t comment on it. “We are closer than before, but I can’t say by how much. Are you sure you have to get to the Academy?”
I hesitated for a moment, unsure of my motive myself. It wasn’t as urgent as before. “Yes,” said, shaking my head. The reason probably just slipped my mind. With all the madness, I wouldn’t have been surprised. “I must reach it as soon as possible.”
The next corner hid even more of them and this time only I remained standing after a brief, but painful fight. Wiping blood from my cheek, I knelt to my partner, who suffered a serious bite in his left foreleg.
“Come on,” I said and tried to lift him but he waved me off with his good hoof.
“Go right at the corner, then left at the next.” His voice swayed from the pain. “The bakery is just a few blocks down, if you can’t find the Academy. I’ll try and get there on my own.”
I hesitated but he pointed at his injured leg. “I will only slow you down with this. Go, and be careful.”
I looked at the downed changelings twitching in pain. One of them turned his head towards me, with pupils that sent a shiver down my spine. I gauged the pony's girth then reached under his belly and without a warning, threw him across my back.
"I'm sorry," I said as he cried out in pain and surprise, “but I can't leave anypony to these things.”
I set off in the direction he had indicated, trying not to exhaust myself before I reached that bakery. The Academy would have to wait. He quickly realized he was coming with me and clutched my back from behind. A wise choice, as my hoofing wasn’t entirely stable.
The thumping of my heart and the fall of my hooves drowned out his pained hisses, but not the distant cries and the ever present, irritating buzz. I followed the road leading to the castle, a wide avenue connecting the warehouses to the rest of the city. In the open, we were easy to spot, and several green-flamed impacts around us proved it. I had to give everything my body had to dodge the bugs, but managed not to get cornered. The ones that weren't shot down gave chase to the ponies not already defeated or captured. My unicorn ally pointed left and I scrambled not to lose my hoofing as I rounded a corner, followed closely by two creatures.
The walls around us grew closer, which proved to be to our advantage, since the bugs lacked the agility of pegasi and had to resort to running. I caught the eyes of ponies hiding behind drawn curtains and cracked doors following us with fearful eyes. The more courageous ones took stands against the oncoming attacks, but from what I saw as I sped past, most of the population choose to hide.
The tight corners let me pull ahead of our pursuers, but it also threw off my sense of direction. I gave my load a shake but he just moaned and hugged my neck tighter. I slowed to a trot, looking over the brick walls. The castle was completely obscured from view, but I didn't want to waste time trying to get to the top of one of the buildings to get my bearings.
"Hey! Over here!"
My ears perked up at the voice from my right and I whipped my head around to see a stallion waving at me, indicating an entrance next to him. Figuring this was the place the unicorn had told me I took the stallion's invitation, giving him a thankful smile as I dashed past him. There was something off about him, but I had to concentrate on turning.
I skidded to a halt at the wall right across what I had thought to be an alley. Suspecting I made a mistake somewhere, I looked back at the pony who was still looking the way we came, as if expecting others. He looked at me just as I realized what was wrong with him. He had no cutie mark.
He grinned and turned my way just as two changelings appeared behind him, no doubt the ones that have been chasing us. Two of them blocked the exit while the third hovered above them. I shook the unicorn off of my back and lowered him to the ground as gently as I could, then readied myself for battle. The fake pony shed his stallion disguise in green flames and the trio closed on. This was going to cost me precious time.
The creature lit its crooked horn with green magic and I readied myself to dodge. Battling a magic-wielder with bare hooves was a losing battle from its inception, but I only had to get close once to deliver a hit.
His shot grazed my foreleg as I managed to jump in time, avoiding the full force of the blast, but my tired legs collapsed on hitting the ground. Instead of a second blast, though, the changeling merely sent a tendril my way that followed my movements as I cringed back. My fur stood on end as its touch, but it didn’t hurt. The changeling stepped closer, tilted his head, then exchanged a look with one of the others. Their faces showed no emotion I recognized, but given how equine their bodies were, I had the feeling they were confused.
One of them opened his mouth and I was surprised to hear distorted, sort of alien, but still Equestrian words.
"Must be his orders."
The one in the middle dropped the magic altogether. I rose to my hooves, following their movements, hesitating.
"Probably being watched. Can't break character."
Their heads turned upwards, as if looking for something on the roofs. I glanced up too, but there was nothing there. The middle bug said something I didn't catch and the trio flew off, leaving me and the unicorn behind.
It took me a while to process that they were gone. What was that about? I didn’t have time to dwell on it, though. The unicorn behind me blinked slowly and made a noise as I lifted him onto my back once again.
With every jump and sharp turn I made, I feared my companion was going to fall off. I wasn’t the best in the physical activity lessons in the Academy to begin with, despite being an earth pony, and I was nearing the end of my capabilities. I could only hope I was heading in the right direction as I made one unplanned turn after another. I looked for any sign of a shelter now, bakery or not. The Academy’s importance lost even more of its weight, too.
The street I just entered had a few changelings lying on the ground in front of a barricaded door, with a sign above advertising a bakery. I skidded to a halt, ready to turn tail at the first sign of movement, but the bugs remained still. I saw greenish liquid pooling under several of them.
"Over here!"
From the cracks of the barricaded door something glimmered in the dark. It was a pair of eyes that definitely didn't belong to a changeling, but I wasn’t eager to repeat the same mistake again. I almost bolted but I heard the buzz of wings him behind me, then soon after from the other way as well. My unicorn nudged my head weakly and when the pony, a foal, opened the door for just long enough for me to slip through, I did.
My entry into the badly lit interior halted the murmur of the ponies inside for a couple of seconds, before it gave way to the sound of shuffling hooves, as the crowd tried to compress itself away from the door. In the little sunlight that came through the blinded window I saw the fear and accusation in the eyes as they studied me and the unicorn on my back. A few of them had aimed their horns at me, and I thanked the darkness and the lack of space to aim properly. Behind them some foals were making use of the vicinity of the counter.
A form dashed out from the dark and the foal, who let me in yelped, as he was drawn into a protective hug.
"Sweetie, what were you thinking?" the mare scolded him. "He could be a changeling!"
The little pony let his mother hold him, but his voice was full of conviction. “He’s no changeling. Why would he have run from them with a pony on his back?”
My eyes have adjusted to the dark enough that I could count the small crowd of ponies pressed against one another in the cramped interior. There were more than I initially thought. The bakery was hiding the whole block.
“It might be a trick, darling,” the mother said, then took a closer look at the unicorn on my back. “Wait, is that Sweet Seed from…”
She was cut off as the windows exploded inwards, bathing everyone in shrapnel and green magical glow. In the chaos of ringing ears and pained cries, a few ponies were enveloped in green levitation fields and began to float out. I grabbed a pony’s leg but instead of holding her back, the magic enveloped me too. In the bright aftereffect of the explosion I couldn’t see where my unicorn friend had fallen, but there was now something else to focus on. A small army of changelings had surrounded the little hideout, and all had their horn aglow. Alone, they might have not been as potent a magic user as a unicorn, but their joined effort was undeniably effective. To my surprise, I was separated from the others midair and was put down behind the row of changeling facing the building. The closest one to me gave me a salute.
“Good job. The Queen thanks you, soldier.” He turned back to the victims, missing my dumbfounded expression as I stared at him. Was there something in me that made the bugs think I was different from the other ponies?
Not sure what to do, I looked back at the ponies fighting the changelings’ hold with little success. I locked eyes with one for a second, enough to let me know she heard what the changeling had told me. I opened my mouth to assure her it was not true, that I wasn’t working for them, but she was carried away with the others. I turned and ran away.
I galloped through the streets, choosing a random direction at each corner, the Academy and my job to reach it forgotten. I just wanted this nightmare to be over and things to start make sense again. The sight before my eyes gave me no hope, though. All I saw was the hoof-work of the invaders, ponies lying on the ground, some unconscious, some not, most held in place by some green goo. Their eyes pierced the back of my head like accusing needles. Even the guards, ponies I admired the most were no match to the horde of changelings. I tried to free them by nagging at the goo, but there were changelings everywhere and they interrupted me each time, only to give me confused looks and utter apologies as they let me go. They didn’t spare any foal or mare. Only I was left alone.
I threw myself into the next street and found blissful emptiness. I slowed my pace to a trot then a walk, glancing all around me with frantic eyes. I would have run even from other ponies now, fearing they’d demand an explanation.
The alley was edged behind a shop of some kind. The ground was littered with trash and the walls were full with graffiti. Looking up, I got an almost perfect view of the castle’s main hall above the rooftops. The flashing inside had stopped and it was too far away to make out any movement, but judging from the number of changelings orbiting the whole building, something was still going on inside.
Something moved behind the windows, then the swirling of black dots sped up as every window lit up from within. I raised a foreleg over my eyes and watched as the light bled through the walls and the roof, taking the shape of a giant bubble with a pink hue. I watched it with my brain on hold as the grand display of magic expanded in every direction slowly first, then gaining speed as it grew. In its way, the changelings turned tail and tried to outfly it. A few tried to fight it, only to fall from the sky like swatted flies. In that enormous spell, I, as no doubt everypony else in Canterlot, saw long awaited salvation. The Princesses did keep us safe.
The pink bubble passed through the walls with no apparent resistance while carrying changelings who couldn’t fly away from it. They were stuck to the surface. The spell finally reached my alley and was speeding towards me. I sat down and waited for the nightmare to be blown away.
The wall reached me and slammed into me with the force of a sledgehammer. The somewhat soft but firm surface lifted me from my hooves and carried me with it, just like the changelings. I squirmed, trying to get my hooves between me and the spell, barely paying attention to the burning sensation wherever my body met the surface. But the bubble swirled and twisted, rendering my efforts futile. When I opened my mouth to cry for help I almost choked on the thick taste of magic. Realizing that the only thing left to do was to hope it was all a mistake, and I wouldn’t end up dead, squashed against a wall, I craned my neck to get a glimpse of where the spell was taking me.
I was moving down a long street, gradually losing height as I watched ponies stare at the bubble and me. They barely flinched as the spell rushed past them. By the time they would have had any chance to help me, they were gone. I felt my body rise and looked ahead just in time to see a multi-story building in my way. Though the pain and the flames from the spell clouded my vision, I could make out massive windows and barred doors, but the most alarming thing was the realization that my ascend wasn’t fast enough. I was going to hit the wall or, if luck decided to shine on me a bit, a window. I curled up in a ball and braced myself for the impact.
The top of my head hit a window and it exploded inwards with a deafening crash, showering me with glass shards. Just as I thanked Celestia that the spell took me through the window instead hitting the outer wall, I reached an inner one, and the real torture began.
I cried out as the spell pressed me against the surface, the shards trapped between it and myself piercing my skin. I couldn’t keep my legs tight against myself and they shot out in all directions, allowing the spell to press me even harder. But the worst was the fire.
I was unable to open my eyes, but could still feel the flames eating me. The pressure reached its maximum and now was tearing my very flesh away. My helpless body thrashed and my own wail was inaudible to my ears. The magical flames ate through my flesh, my blood, my bones, my brain, my very soul. In its way, it left nothing, only the memory of the immense pain it caused.
Then it passed me completely.
With the pressure gone I slumped to the floor in what I suspected was a ghoulish, smoldering heap of roasted flesh, that was somehow still thinking. I felt no pain, but truth to be told, even a broken bone probably wouldn’t register after being burnt alive. I opened my eyes and blinked a few times to bring the room into focus. Even the colors seemed different as the sun shone through the broken window. I lifted my trembling hooves. Yes, they were blackened by the fire, but I was still alive.
I tried to push myself up to my hooves but my legs felt weak and wrong. In fact, as the seconds passed and feeling was returning, my whole body began to have an alien feel to it. Giving up on standing, I looked over myself as I lay on the dirty floor amongst the glass shards, but only saw the same scorched body. The dust in the air didn’t let the sun light me well enough to get a proper look. I turned my eyes up at the spot where I had hit the wall, but aside from the glass shards still embedded into the slightly dented surface, it was clean. No marks of a fire whatsoever.
The room was an abandoned place with thick dust everywhere that swirled in the sun shafts coming in from the broken window. It was completely empty. It reminded me the cellar I’d fallen into as a foal, to be rescued by a Royal Guard days later.
I attempted a sitting position. My body felt stiff, but responsive. My skin was hard against the parquet. There was a strange feeling in my head, an unusual presence. Attached to my back there were two things that brushed against the floor, kicking up more dust, flat, as a...
My muscles flared up, propelling me upward as my prodding hooves found the thing attached to my back, something with a soft texture and sturdy frame. I whipped my head around to take a look and confirm my suspicion. They were wings. With holes in them.
With a terrible suspicion fighting growing denial, I examined my hooves more closely, and it only got worse. What I mistook for charred flesh was a hard substance, coated in dust, that covered my entire body and flexed with every movement. It certainly wasn’t skin, and every leg had holes in them as well.
I ran my tongue across my sharp teeth and four fangs. I craned my head to take a closer look at the rest of myself and bumped something on my head into the wall.
The spell, that was supposed to clear the city from changelings, had turned me into one.
I stood on wobbly legs, staring at the city outside, feeling the weak air currents in the wings and the weird awareness in my forehead. It was unclear for how long I stood there as I tried to absorb what happened. My trance was broken by a noise behind me that my ears were keen to swivel towards. Whether I was a real changeling or just looked like one, others will have no doubt about it when they see me.
I pushed shock and panic back and prioritized hiding. The empty room offered no cover, only one door, with forms casting shadows visible under it. I retreated to the window, the shards crunching under my hooves. There was the unfamiliar something in the air, like noise, but without any sound, and getting stronger. It was chaos, with a pattern emerging for a split second. I struggled to focus on the tangible world before me.
A lock clicked and the door creaked open, and I locked eyes with a very dirty pony for a split second, before she made a noise and pulled back. I considered the drop beyond the window but the door swung open and a stallion with a glowing horn and also unkempt coat stepped into the room. I scrambled to the side, to avoid and spells he might have shot at me, but misjudged my movements and ended up on the floor.
The stallion didn’t cast any spells, but when he spoke it made it clear he was just inches away from doing so. “Why is one of them still here? Hey, bug, why the hell are you still here?”
My first words were reduced to coughs, but I managed to get my throat working. “Please, don’t hurt me,” I said in a changeling’s trademark doubled-over voice. “I’m not what you think I am. That spell changed me to look like one! I’m a pony!”
In hindsight, I could have chosen my words so that didn’t sound exactly like what a trapped changeling would say, but I wasn’t in a state for much thinking.
“Go and call the guards,” the pony said to the mare who was peeking into the room again. “I’ll hold it up.” His eyes flicked back at me and his horn flared up. His magic took hold of my legs with telekinesis, but right before it did, the air around him shifted in a way I’ve never experienced before.
“That spell was cast by the Princesses,” he said, struggling to keep up the magic. “It got rid of the changeling queen and the others. Why would it change a pony into one then leave it in some random building?”
I heard his words but the sensation in my head made following them difficult. I felt the weight on my hooves but also in my horn. The constant noise assembled itself into a pattern that originated from the stallion’s horn and matched the one holding my legs to the ground. I felt like I was supposed to recognize the pattern, and there was a way to counter his magic. Either a changeling’s instincts or somehow my own, it was telling me something I didn’t understand, but which was a basic task, like raising your leg to protect your head.
“… they will take care of you. Just stand still and nopony will get hurt.”
The door was still open. Two jumps and I’d be out of this room. My heart was beating at a high pace and I focused on that voice in my head. There was a noise outside and the pony’s eyes were drawn to the door, and I took my subconscious’ advice.
My horn burst into life with a strength drawn from the very air around me. The stallion jerked his head back at me just as his spell fell, and I tackled him to the floor. He stared up at me with the same fear and surprise I felt.
I left him behind and burst through the door. The mare wasn’t there anymore, but I saw her tracks on the dusty floor. After some more tumbling, I set off in the other direction. My new legs were no match for an earth pony’s legs, but they did propel me through the corridor’s many turns with respectable speed and only one fall.
Winded from the exertion, I stopped at a bathroom with no door and tried the taps, but they remained silent and dry. Muttering a curse under my breath, I ran my tongue across my dry lips and turned in a circle, looking for a functional sink. What I found was a changeling looking at me from a mirror.
I stared into those dull eyes and the creature held my gaze. I half-wanted it to move on its own so I had a reason to believe it wasn’t me, but it followed my every twitch. I shuddered and watched the familiar equine reaction giving the changeling an uncanny air.
I left the bathroom and wandered through what had been a lounge in the past. The guards were no doubt busy restoring order on the street and tending to the injured, but none of it reached me, even the noises of the homeless ponies had vanished. If they really sent guards after me, they didn’t make themselves known either. The Princesses were probably preparing a statement to the public, which will explain how their spell wiped the city clean of the invaders and that we should be safe now. I chose a dusty old couch to sit on and put my head in my hooves.
Were it for not the trick I had pulled on the unicorn, my state could have been a mere cosmic alteration, I told myself. If that had been the case, things would have had a much better chance to work out favorably. Since I had wings and a horn that I could use without even knowing the first thing about magic, I was just as much an enemy in my own city as the ones that had tried to claim it, with no way of knowing what happened or why, and how to fix it. The best think I could think of was to leave the city altogether and find a way to make ponies let me explain my situation before they threw me into the dungeons, or whatever they planned to do with the remaining changelings.
The awareness — that I guessed was ambient magic — shifted again, and I got up without thinking, looking around for a way to the roof. I had wings, so I might as well use them to escape. I found a staircase and immediately heard hooves striking the floors beneath. Taking a breath, I began climbing.
Reaching the door at the end of the stairs — in much shorter time than I would have with my normal, heavier body — I slammed the handle of the door and stepped into the sunlight. The hinges let out a piercing shriek that would have made my fur stand on end. Right on cue, I heard shouting from below. I slammed the door shut and looked for any way to bar it, but the rooftop offered only an old broom to stick into the handle.
I stepped to the rails and looked down the streets. As I had thought, guards were marching everywhere while medical ponies tended to the downed ponies laying on the ground at every corner. The spell that cleansed the city from changelings also cleared out the icky stuff the bugs had used to hold their victims in place. If one were to take a look at the city now, oblivious to the events of the last hour or so, they’d have had trouble guessing what had happened.
Or so I thought, until I spotted two guards carrying something that only resembled a pony. The changeling appeared to be dazed, protesting the treatment with lazy swipes of his legs. A second, more focused look revealed more incapacitated changelings. Some of them were being carried but some were still laying in corners. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one that was picked up by the spell then ended up pinned against an obstacle, but I seemed to be the only one on his hooves. Because I wasn’t a real changeling, I added with a somewhat hesitant afterthought. I might have had their appearance and skills, but I was essentially still a pony, wasn’t I?
Sweeping my existential concerns aside, I stepped back from the railing. The Academy sprung into mind again but it had lost its insistence, and I was beginning to think that it was not a good idea after all. My ultimate goal was to get my body back, and for that, my best bet was finding the pony who had cast the spell. Getting to whom were probably the Princesses themselves would be troublesome even as a regular academy dropout — let alone one who looked like a changeling — so I had to come up with something else.
The ethereal magic shifted again, feeling like a breeze against my horn, indicating a spell being cast nearby. Useful thing, that. I trotted to where the next building joined mine and judged the distance as impossible without wings. Lucky me, it wasn’t a problem. Rolling my eyes at the irony, I buzzed up my new appendages and leaped.
My cry of fear died in my throat as I landed safely on the other roof. I glanced back at the gap then walked to the next edge. Another big breath, another leap, and I skidded to a halt on the tiled roof of the next building. I made my way towards the eastern walls, careful not to rely on my wings too much. After the first couple of jumps my sides were starting to ache and the unfamiliar sensation didn’t fill me with confidence regarding my range. Before each short flight, I checked the surrounding rooftops for pegasi patrols and I even had to duck behind chimneys on some occasion.
What I should have done is watch my back.
A strange clicking sound behind me made me turn around and I almost stepped off the railing I was currently balancing on. Four pegasi were gliding silently my way in what I assumed was a “catch the bug” formation. The noise came from a net one of them just detached from his belt. The touch of panic gave me the necessary push to dare to stress the new wings more. I turned ahead and shot into the air with speed never felt before. I didn’t dare to look back, but I knew my pursuers increased their speed as well.
I was grateful for taking the time to get the feel of my wings during the short flights. Flying in a somewhat straight line, with only my wings carrying me and no safe landing surface before me, proved to be a mixed bag. It was scary and difficult, but not without a touch of thrill. My sides hurt from the dozen or so flaps each second, but the leaps had acted as a warm-up and I managed not to plummet to the ground, especially when the air currents changed near the edge of the city.
By some miracle, they missed me with the net and it wrapped around a chimney I just circled. I didn’t dare to go much higher. My flight muscles, who knows actually how strong, begged for rest but after a few more pushes, I was finally over the wall. Passing over a few gaping guards, I made the mistake of looking down.
The drop just over the wall had given many vertigos to ponies ever since the city was built. Though most of the times height anxiety only affected earth-bound ponies, I heard that pegasi also got their head spinning on a few occasions when they looked down the abyss beneath, which found myself staring into. I clutched my rear legs together and looked back at my pursuers.
They fanned out with multiple nets dangling between them and were closing in on me fast. I had only seconds to make a decision, and saw only one that wouldn’t end with me finding out if I was going to live in the dungeons for the rest of my life. So I dove.
It was terrifying. The air tried to rip my wings from my back as they desperately tried to save me from an uncontrolled plummeting into the ground with terminal velocity. My eyes closed to slits against the rush of air. I could just make out the general shape of the mountainside getting closer with the second. Through clenched teeth, I managed to turn my initial free-fall into a steep glide of some sort, which made the pain in my wings increase. I stretched out my legs and banked ever so slightly to follow the curvature of the mountain in a downward spiral. The jagged rock formation offered plenty of hiding space, but I was going way too fast to use any of them.
The seconds that felt like hours passed and the ground just got closer and closer. The air's whine in my ears was gradually losing pitch, though, and I stretched out my legs even more to every direction to catch as much air as possible. The wind whistling through the holes made for a very weird addition to the list of new sensory details. I risked a glance back, both to look for any pegasus still in race and to check on my wings. I saw nopony in pursuit. There could be some on the other side of the mountain for all I knew, but I consoled myself with the thought that they would have cornered me already if there were.
My wings were shaking badly, but still cut through the air like organic blades. I was astonished that the fragile-looking things were still attached to me, let alone working. Looking ahead, I caught a glimpse of a town in the distance. I was nearing the base of Canterlot Mountain, which meant the final trial. I didn’t want to end up a big green splash against a tree. Aiming at the buildings past the massive forest beneath me, I straightened my flight and angled my wings a bit more against the wind.
Sharp pain shot through my whole body, like knifes were stabbed into my sides. I was thrown into a wild spin, every bit of control yanked from me in a heartbeat. Obeying my old instincts I attempted to regain some of it by pedaling my legs, but it made no difference. All I could do was shield my head with my hooves and prepare for an impact.
It came soon. I tore through countless trees, snapped off many branches and leaves before coming to a much feared and painful stop in a crater in the dirt. For several minutes all I could do was shake and moan with every hurting breath. I could no longer tell my hurting wings from the other parts of my body. I was one big ball of agony.
After my breathing and heartbeat calmed down somewhat, I unfolded myself one limb at a time, and turned my head to take a look around, starting with the path I had made through the trees. It was uncanny that I made it in one peace. I expected a few broken bones at least, but the changeling body held up. My legs were all functional, albeit not very eager to move, and the wings responded as well. Everything ached, but didn’t think I'd broken anything.
The forest around me slowly recovered from the disruption. The birds started chirping and other animals moved about, and I felt a calmness wash over me. I raised my eyes to the sky, but the pegasi with their nets were nowhere to be seen. For a proud moment I basked in my triumph, having evaded the Canterlot guards, then realized they weren’t going to let me off the hook that easily. They no doubt followed my descent and were coming for me, once they landed safely.
I made an attempt sit up and drew a sharp breath as pain ran through me again. I rolled over to fresh grass to free my other wing and craned my neck to do an inspection. It looked fine to me, as fine as having holes in your wings could be considered fine. It lay flat against the ground and radiated a steady supply of pain in the joint, but twitched when I tried to lift it. I rolled to my belly, then with careful motions, stood up.
I used my fangs to pull the leaves off me, then took a ginger step forward, and when I didn’t fell on my face, proceeded in the general direction to where I remembered the town was. A short while later I altered my course and followed the sound of trickling water until I found a stream with blissfully cold water. It was small but clean, at least up until I dunk my whole body into it. I sighed a relief as the coldness washed over my aching body. I lowered my head and remedied my long overdue thirst as well, then watched the water swirling around my forelegs, washing the dirt from the holes and wrinkles. Apart from a few deeper scratches that would have left nasty wounds on a pony, my new skin looked healthy. I rolled onto my back and moaned when the coldness enveloped my wings.
Behind closed eyelids, I kept seeing the pink bubble rushing towards me. Its purpose was to clean the city and reveal any disguised changelings, not turn ponies into them, and I thought I would have known if I was a changeling wearing somepony's skin.
I stood and swept the water from my frills and wings with mechanical movements. I needed a plan that culminated in answers and with my life back on its track, but first, I had to find food and shelter.
I tried to change into my usual body, but couldn’t figure out what I needed to do, and no instinct rushed to my aid. As a pony, even if imperfect in appearance, I would have had it easier if discovered. For the time being, I had to make due with what I had. I counted myself lucky to have escaped in one piece.
The darkness that fell upon the land after a few hours found me still free and in a makeshift nest I had made from sticks and leaves on a tree, with thick enough branches that I could be fairly certain I wouldn’t fall off mid-sleep. My belly was full of berries and flowers, but my mind wouldn’t stop milling about. Shuffling around a little to take the weight off of my hurting wings, I set off to have my first night as a changeling.