"Er...Captain...what--what's going on?"
Claymore glanced to the doorway of Carapace's bedroom, where a young stallion in little more than practice armor stood. His blue eyes were bugging out of his head at the sight before him. Granted, he had a right to be a little shocked--it wasn't exactly normal for the captain of the Amore guards to be on a bed amid piles of rumpled sheets, crouched over an apparently dead Changeling.
Actually, Claymore realized, adjusting his position slightly, it could look downright horrifying.
"The beast has gone dormant," he said abruptly. "I have no idea what it thinks it's going to accomplish, but I'm guarding it. Just in case."
"Do you...want me to get the princess?" the stallion ventured, backing up slowly.
"The situation is under control," Claymore replied. The stallion nodded, then trotted rapidly out of the apartment. He sighed, and moved so that he was sitting beside Carapace's prone form. It would probably be wise to expect a visit from a suspicious Cadance soon.
He bent his head so that his muzzle was right next to one of the other Changeling's stiff, ragged ears.
"The connection's broken," he murmured. "You are free. She knows, in the back of her mind, that you are dead. And that won't change when you wake up at midnight."
There were deep cracks in the natural armor on Carapace's neck, and he knew that the connections beneath would be temporarily severed. But even now, they were rapidly healing. Using up whatever energy she would have stored.
"I'd help you, if I could," he murmured, eyes flicking over the small, haphazard braids in her mane. "But as much as I wish I could feed you, I feel nothing useful for you."
Claymore paused, then laughed softly. "Or maybe I do. I've been a pony too long."
He knew that. He hadn't returned to his true form in months, and instinctual alarms were going off. He didn't think of himself as Elytra anymore--he barely even thought of himself as a Changeling. He felt something akin to loyalty when it came to the prince and princess. And Carapace...he considered a she. A sister. Despite the fact that that, in this form, she was definitely neither mare nor stallion.
"Maybe you wonder why I pretended to be dead--why I ran away," he said. "But I doubt it. Curiosity isn't very strong in us; there have never been any great Changeling researchers.
"Still.
"I found out what we are, Carapace!" he whispered, some of the old excitement coming back now that he had somepony to talk to. "I found out what we're for, and what Chrysalis did wrong. I found out what we're supposed to do."
He laughed again. "But I should probably wait until you're awake to tell you that."
There was no answer, of course. Claymore wondered if she was dreaming--something that the sentient drones were theoretically capable of. He didn't remember much from his own dormancy, but then again, he had willed himself into it over a period of weeks. Nopony had broken his neck for him.
"I wanted to say something to you," he sighed, glancing at Carapace again. Who knew, maybe she could hear him. "But the time was never right. I couldn't give myself away."
He didn't mention the immediate shock and revulsion that had come over him at seeing one of his own kind again after so long. He hadn't felt anything as strong as that before or since--but the reaction had definitely startled him. Almost enough to make him shed his equine form for a few hours and sleep as a Changeling...but not quite.
"We can talk about what to do when you wake up," he said. "Perhaps we should just stay here. You could become anypony you wanted in this city. But Gossamer..."
Claymore hesitated at the thought of their brother. With two of the three presumed dead, Chrysalis would be watching him closely. Or maybe she would just leave him alone--figure that it wasn't worth protecting the last and weakest of her sentient drones. But they couldn't count on that.
"Captain?" The princess's tired voice broke into his thoughts. He sat up straight, casting a guilty glance towards the less-comfortable aspects of his armor, which were piled in the corner.
Claymore swallowed hard as Cadance entered the room with the young guard from before and Twilight Sparkle. Irritation, suspicion, paranoia, indignation, nervousness, uneasiness. Not painful, but it was a mixture sour enough to make him nearly gag. Anymore, it was rare that he really noticed the flavor of the emotions around him; these feelings were very strong.
"What happened?!" Twilight cried, running forward. "How...oh, my Celestia..."
"Is it...dead?" Cadance asked, her eyes flying immediately to Carapace. There was relief in her voice, but Claymore tasted a tiny seed of regret, as well.
"Dormant, Princess," he replied, ignoring Twilight's shock. "It slipped into hibernation sometime during last night. I am watching it, in case it wakes up."
"Hibernation. Of course," Cadance said, her gaze still fixed on the Changeling. "When will it--"
"I have no idea, Princess," Claymore answered. "It may wake up tonight, or sleep for months. There is no way to tell."
"Maybe we should move it..." she began to suggest.
"Cadance, I think she's fine where she is," Twilight cut in. Claymore tasted something bitter emanating from her.
You've made an ally, he thought, discreetly glancing at Carapace and raising an eyebrow. How did you manage that?
Cadance barely batted an eye at Twilight's tone, stifling a massive yawn with her wing. "I appreciate what you're doing, Captain. Please, tell me if there's any change." She turned to go, then hesitated, glancing back over her withers. "Um...do you know where Shining Armor is, by any chance?" A wave of borderline-panic washed out from her.
He frowned. He knew that the prince had remained among the Amore guards after he left him, but he had been traded through so many divisions that nopony was really keeping track of him anymore. "I don't. My apologies."
The princess's emotions darkened, and she left without another word, taking the other guard with her. Twilight, however, stayed behind.
"You'll make sure nopony hurts her while she's asleep like this, right?" she asked, nodding to Carapace.
"An interest in the beast's welfare?" Claymore asked out of habit. Twilight scowled.
"She saved me. I just want to make sure that she'll be alright."
"She saved you?" he asked, an uncharacteristic note of curiosity working its way into his voice.
"From the creature," Twilight clarified. "The hybrid thing. It attacked us in the gardens, and Carapace protected me."
"Why?" He honestly wanted to know. This was odd--both his behavior and Carapace's.
"Well...I...guess because it was the right thing to do?" she offered. Claymore tasted confusion. It shut his weak feelings down.
"I assure you, Ms, Sparkle, no prisoner of the Crystal Empire will come to any harm under my care," he said stiffly. Her confusion soured into dull anger.
"Wonderful. Thank you, Captain." Twilight turned and trotted swiftly towards the door. He called out to her.
"You don't want to oversee my watch?" His tone was wry. Apparently, whatever was left of Elytra was taking the day off.
"No." She left the room, nudging the door halfway closed with a flick of her tail. "I have to deal with Cadance," she added under her breath.
Claymore folded his legs under his torso as soon as she was gone, the mattress sinking under his weight. Green flames flickered momentarily at the edges of his hooves and horn, then died as he decided that this wasn't the best place to revert to his true form. Somepony--a maid, a guard, a hopelessly lost noble--could walk right in at any given moment.
He shook his head in something like self-disgust and looked at Carapace again.
"I keep coming up with excuses," he murmured. "I haven't been Elytra the Changeling in months. I feel like...I have a duty...
"I did not kill the real Captain Claymore. When I came here, as a generic young stallion, the Amore guards were hiring. It was a good place to hide. But I didn't count on my superior becoming attached to me. The captain said that I reminded him of his son." He paused to laugh. "Yes, Claymore has a mate and offspring...I've been able to pass here, where he never got overly acquainted with anypony but me, but I'm dreading meeting them. Even though he wanted me to--back before I was imponyating him, I mean. He...I guess he felt sorry for me, Carapace. I tasted pity coming from him often enough. I had told him that I had no family, save for a brother and sister left behind in my home country. Which, thankfully, he never asked the name of.
"'I'm going home on leave soon.' He mentioned that one night in the barracks. 'You would like my wife's cooking.' I knew him well enough by then to deduce that it was an invitation. I accepted, because I couldn't afford for him to become my enemy.
"We were attacked on the journey, though. Golems. Apparently common monsters here. Claymore fought, and I..." He hesitated. "I was a pegasus. I flew away, and they killed him. Sometimes I think I regret that."
Carapace didn't move a muscle, which was to be expected.
"I hid his body and took his form. Absolutely nopony questioned me when I turned around and came back, and told them that the young pegasus--me--had been killed by golems and I didn't feel like going home. And they've barely noticed me since."
Claymore (or maybe Elytra) sighed and lowered his muzzle onto his hooves.
"I have heard the Lunar guards have come into a shortage of kirin lately, Carapace," he said in a low voice. "Nopony notices a lack of emotion when it comes to them. And you could definitely do the wings..."
He fell silent, and waited.
A/N: Enjoy the (non)feels.
I needed a minor fluff scene between the two Changelings, but I wasn't sure how to write both of them, and how that would even come about. Keeping one of them clinically dead through the whole thing solved the problem.
On another note. Your thoughts about Elytra's backstory (which I know could have been better)? And is Twilight's concern for Carapace indicative of a Mary-Sue OC?
Those are my only specific questions, but please, comment on anything else you see fit.