“Hey!” Thomas objected loudly, getting off the couch and glaring at Lyra. “What do you think you're doing?!” Lyra threw him a look of disbelief.
“Okay, you must not know what this thing is. This creature-”
“Is called a Changeling. Yes, I know.” Thomas interrupted and finished. “Why did you attack her?”
“I was protecting yo- wait, her? How do you know it's a she?”
“The same way you can tell your genders apart. Plus it helps when you're neighbors to them and have grown up around them.” Lyra's jaw dropped.
“You live around Changelings back home?!” Thomas nodded.
“Don't you? I admit that I didn't think you had them at first because all I saw was your kind and not one of them in their natural forms, but then, they can fly, and I've seen several birds here that I know from home too, so-”
“They walk around in this form all the time?!”
“Well no, but they normally only changed their shape when they needed a different body shape to pick something up or if they wanted to go swimming, or-”
Their conversation ended abruptly when Bonbon, a guard, and the mayor mare came back and the guard tromped in with hoof-cuffs dangling from his mouth. His eyes narrowed hatefully at the Changeling on the floor and immediately set to work cuffing her legs together. The Changeling on the floor whimpered pitifully, and Lyra couldn’t help but feel a small twinge of pity for it. Still, it had come into her home, impersonated her best friend, and-
And what? Her mind whispered. She talked to the Human. So? She didn't hurt you, she didn't steal any of your possessions, and she didn't hurt him or Bonbon either. She shook off that line of thought. It was possible that the Changeling being dragged away by the guard had put some kind of spell on him to make him say those things...or worse, (and this idea she hated to consider) he himself might have been replaced by a Changeling while she was out, or could have been one all along!
It was not a thought she liked to consider, but a necessary thought for caution's sake, given what had almost happened during the last Changeling incident. It's getting late, but I'm going to have to pay Twilight Sparkle a visit before I go to bed tonight. I have to know first!
@ @ @ @ @
Hrm. It would seem that Echo was careless and has gotten herself captured. The queen thought as she watched Echo being dragged away from Lyra and Bonbon's house by the guard through Echo's own eyes. Yet another thing for my plate.
“Assemble, my children!” She called to the Changelings nearest to her. “I need five volunteers to take on Human form and learn how to use it.” Sooner or later they're going to try testing some sort of transformation-detection spell on Thomas. When they do it will be too late to help him, and once two Changelings have been found in town they'll probably conduct a full-village sweep for more. I can't let that happen.
__ __ __ __ __
Lyra rapped a hoof on Twilight Sparkle's front door and waited.
“Who is it?” Came a male's voice. Given that Twilight Sparkle lived alone with the exception of her baby Dragon assistant and to Lyra's knowledge had no coltfriend, it was probably Spike.
“It's Lyra Heartstrings. Is Twilight home?”
“Yeah, but she's showering right now. Do you mind waiting?”
“Not at all. May I come in while I wait?”
“Sure. Hang on.”
The sound of something being pushed across the wooden floor grated through the window nearest to her, and after a few short seconds the door's latch clicked, followed by more grating. Finally, the door swung open, revealing a small purple and green Dragon with a stepping stool behind and to the right of him. Lyra walked in, and Spike shut the door behind her. After a brief look around and seeing that it looked pretty much the same as it had the last time she'd been inside the library, minus the owl being missing, took a seat on the floor and asked Spike how his day had been. He replied that it had been busy as usual, but nothing that he could not handle. “So what brings you here so late?”
“A Changeling was impersonating Bonbon for the last few days.” Spike's eyes bulged. “But when we found it, it was talking to Thomas and he to it like it was nothing out of the ordinary. I wanted to ask Twilight if there was a way to see if he'd had a mind-spell cast on him, or if he himself is a Changeling. When it- she was being dragged away, he spoke against our actions. I just want to be sure.”
“Yikes! Do you know where the real Bonbon is?” Lyra nodded.
“That's how I found out that a Changeling was impersonating her to begin with. Bonbon had gone on a trip, but came back earlier than she'd planned, and we ran into one another on my way home.”
“Who was impersonating who, now?” Came Twilight's voice from the other side of the room.
Twilight Sparkle, a lavender-bodied Unicorn, entered the room while still toweling her mane off. Her tail was a frizzy mess, and her hide was at the moment a bit fluffy from being toweled off, which made her look a bit comical in Lyra's opinion. Spike explained the situation. “Oh my!” Twilight set the damp towel on her back and let it hang. “I think I might have something to help you test if he was, or still is spell-bound, yes. As for detecting a Changeling, I'm afraid I don't know how to do that yet, if there even is a way. I suppose I can ask the princess, but it's kinda late right now.”
“Thanks, Twilight. I appreciate it. I remember being spellbound by a Changeling before, and it wasn't fun.”
“Oh, it's no problem; I know how you feel.” At Lyra slightly puzzled expression, Twilight elaborated that her older brother had also had his mind tampered with a bit and then told Spike to retrieve the yellow spell book on shelf 2B. Spike nodded and headed for the stepladder, then pushed it where he needed it to be, then retrieved the book and brought it to the librarian Unicorn.
“Here you go, Twilight!”
“Thanks, Spike.” She replied, smiling at him before returning her attention to Lyra. “On page forty three you'll find the spell you want. I must caution you on something first though, so you know not to jump to any conclusions. That spell will only tell you if his mind has been tampered with. It won't say who or what did it, or in what way. The more advanced version of that spell is in a book that's currently out on loan, and I haven't read it yet myself because I haven't had a lot of free time recently.”
“I'm sure it will work just as well, Twilight.” Lyra said, accepting the book in her own colored telekinetic magic cloud. “I only wanted to know if something had been done to him anyway. Thanks again, Twilight, and good night.”
“Good night, Lyra.” Twilight bade the mint-green Unicorn.
“Night!” Spike said simply in a friendly voice before he shut the door.
Lyra arrived back at her home to see Thomas sitting on the large stone step outside her door with his chin resting on a fist and the rest of his body sitting like she (and many other fans of the Icarna series) normally did with his back against her mailbox. He gave a half-hearted wave as she trotted a stop in front of him and asked him whilst wearing a puzzled look on her face what he was doing outside.
“Bonbon kicked me out.” He replied, sighing. “She told me I smelled funny, looked creepy, and that I'd 'encourage your fanfilly tendencies', and then she told me to leave at once. I left the house, but...” He shrugged looked down the main road and shrugged. The road kept going onward until it left town.
“But you have nowhere else to go, really.” Lyra finished. He nodded. Lyra sighed and told him not to go anywhere. “I'll have a talk with Bonbon. If she still refuses to let you stay I know a few of my friends who'd have no problem with you staying with them.” Of course they'll probably try to keep him, and I still don't know if he's a Changeling or not, but he's done nothing to start trouble or to harm me so far. If he is a Changeling he's at least a friendly one. Or a very good actor, but Lyra wanted to give him the benefit of a doubt. After all, not all Ponies were the same, so surely not all of the shape-shifting critters were the same either.
Lyra walked inside, and Thomas stayed on the step as he'd been instructed, but sadly the real Bonbon would not allow Thomas to stay. She too, had seen him sitting on the couch with a Changeling, and in her mind that was proof enough that he could not be trusted. Lyra tried arguing that his mind might have been tampered with and she had gone to Twilight's to see if that was indeed the case, but Bonbon argued back that this was an even greater reason to not let him stay. If his mind had been tampered with and Twilight's book of spells could not reveal what specifically had been done to him how could they know that he wasn't a living time bomb just waiting to go off?
“But Bonbon-”
“No. Buts. He can't stay here.”
Lyra tried her cutest puppy-dog face on Bonbon, but Bonbon, predicting she'd try exactly that, closed her eyes and turned her head away, and Lyra's 'attack' failed.
“You only met him yesterday, Lyra. Even if his mind hasn't been messed with you have no idea what kind of Pony-”
“Person.” Lyra automatically corrected. At Bonbon's frown and eye roll, Lyra gave an apologetic smile.
“-what kind of person he is.”
“And I'll never know if you throw him out!”
“You're being over dramatic, Lyra. I'm sure the other members of your little fanbase would be more than happy to take him under their roof, and I've heard you talking with a few of them here in town several times. Let them.”
And that was it. She'd lost and he'd have to stay with somepony else. It's not the end of the world, but it is a disappointment. Lyra sighed and exited her house to where Thomas was still waiting on her steps. When the door opened he looked up expectantly and Lyra shook her head and told him he'd have to stay with somepony else. He nodded, looking a little disappointed on his own, but replied that this was what he'd expected.
“I am a stranger to her, after all.” He shrugged. “So, any ideas where I could go now?”
“A few, if you're willing.”
“Sure, why not?”
Lyra led Thomas around town looking at the windows of several houses in hopes of still seeing lights glowing in the windows of Ponies she knew and might be willing to lend him a place to stay. Most did not, but there were two houses with a light in their windows. The first house had sounds coming from the windows that led Lyra to blush and quickly walk away pulling a confused Thomas along behind her, but the second door opened to a sleepy-eyed Pegasus with a splotchy color scheme. Most of her hide was a very dark blue that was almost black, but the splotchy parts were a bright yellow. Her mane and tail bright pink. Her parents, masters of stating the obvious, had named her Color Clash. Because of this, she had been made fun of a lot more in school than most others had when she was younger.
“Yeah, Lyra?” She said while yawning. “What do you need?”
“I don't need anything, actually. It's Thomas here,” Lyra pointed a hoof at her short Human friend. “who needs a place to stay. Bonbon kicked him out.”
“She did, huh?” Color Clash asked while she looked him over. Color Clash enjoyed the Icarna series, but she didn't go nuts over like several other members of their club did. She might have shown a bit more enthusiasm had it been still daytime, but when Lyra had knocked on her door she'd been just about to go to bed. “If you trust him and it's only for a day or two, I suppose he can.” She yawned again. “Have you already eaten dinner?” she asked, but did not wait for an answer. “I hope so, because I was getting ready to go to bed and I'm not going to be cooking anything else tonight. If you want anything I've got some pears on my table in the kitchen. If you're not hungry you can sleep on my couch.” Turning back to Lyra, Color asked how long he'd be needing a place to stay. Lyra replied that she didn't know.
“Well just to warn you, in two days I'm going to be leaving on the twelve o'clock train and will be out of town for the next few days on family business. If he hasn't found a new place by then he'll be on his own. I don't mind having guests, but I'm not leaving a stranger in my house by himself.”
“That's fine, I can get another club member to house him when that time comes." Color Clash nodded.
"Good night, Lyra, Thomas.” She yawned and sleepily made her way to her bedroom. Lyra meanwhile turned to Thomas and bade him good night as well, apologizing once more for him having to move.
“Oh, don't worry about it, Lyra. I don't blame you for it, and given the differences in our cultures concerning Changelings I can't really hold it against Bonbon either. I don't like that Echo was imprisoned, but-”
“Echo?” Lyra interrupted.
“That's her name. Echo. That one is a common name among Changelings back home, so I'm not really surprised to hear it here too.”
“Well, do yourself, and me a favor, and keep that piece information about your homeland to yourself, okay? Changelings, as I'm sure you've noticed, are not well-liked around here.” Thomas nodded. “I'll see you later tomorrow, okay?” Lyra said, turning herself around but still looking at him. “Good night.”
“Good night.” He repeated back. Lyra shut the door, and went home.
First thing the next day Lyra plopped the spellbook down on their breakfast table and began to study the page that held the spell she'd wanted. While she was doing so Bonbon entered the kitchen, mumbled hello and went for the coffee machine, her eyes sporting several wrinkles beneath them. When the smell of fresh coffee filled the room Lyra sniffed a few times and looked up. Seeing her friend looking just as tired as when she had come home, she asked if Bonbon's sleep the previous night had been lousy. Bonbon gave her a 'are you nuts' look.
“Sleep?! how can anypony sleep knowing that there could be Changelings hidden all over town?! Hay, how can you sleep when you were one of those that were mind-controlled by them at the Canterlot wedding? I would have thought that you'd be more freaked out than I am!”
“So...that's a 'yes' then?” Bonbon frowned and poured herself a cup three quarters full of the dark foul-tasting liquid and poured in two tablespoons full of sugar, and filled the rest of the free space with cow milk before stirring it and placing a straw within from which to drink it. While she tasted it Lyra shrugged. “I guess that I'm just more used to weird stuff happening from living here. I mean, this is the town Pinkie Pie lives in. Even without the Ursa Major that stomped through and the return of Nightmare Moon this place can be more than a bit crazy sometimes.”
Several other incidents ran through her mind including, but not limited to, the Parasprite swarm, a masked and caped vigilante that had briefly adopted their town as its patrol zone, an Ursa Minor that the village idiots had lured into town on purpose, Applejack's older brother hauling an entire house and its contents halfway across town, and of course, their town's latest resident. 'Normal' in Ponyville was the opposite of normal almost everywhere else.
__ __ __ __ __
Given that there was little else to do, Echo paced in her cell, occasionally stopping to either glance out of her one barred window, or to briefly gaze at the two Ponies standing guard by her barred door. Ponies that glared at her every time they noticed her watching them. This time one of them spit at her, his saliva landing on the floor a meter away. Echo blinked once, and then continued to pace, her face expressionless.
Hm. I should have asked one of my hive mates to keep an eye out for Bonbon in case she came home early. These Ponies aren't golems, after all. Not everything they do happens according to their intended schedule. Though one particular purple Unicorn in town certainly tried to have her life run in such a way.
Echo sat down on her backside. I wonder how 'Thomas' is doing. Obviously he wasn't caught or else he'd be in here with me, but he's still young. He hasn't had much interaction with Ponies when they're stressed. If he allows their emotions to infect his own he might panic and lose his form. Such things had happened among their brood before. Because of this the young ones often were kept hidden away until they could be trained both mentally from the experiences of the previous generation, and in the here-and-now. Due to recent events, however, this obviously could not be done in Thomas' case. He'd just have to manage until the queen arranged for him to leave. She'd never abandoned her children before unless the rescue would lead to loss of life, and normally the worst the Ponies would do was escort them to the badlands, which was the only vague location of a hive they knew of, and deposit it there.
Echo made a face. I'd rather not have to explain my presence to Chrysalis and her brood. While I doubt she'd actually kill me, she might try to add me to her hive in order to learn where our hive is hidden. The free will her mother had granted her would amount to very little if a queen tried to exert its will on her when Echo was outside of her mother's mental range. It'd be swept away like a sandcastle with the rising tide. Granted, she'd have to focus her mind on overriding my thoughts on my every waking hour lest I try to escape or assault her, but that would hardly be an issue for a queen of many hundreds of children.
Her own hive was not even close to numbering half of what Chrysalis had amassed over the last decade. Less offspring meant less chance of being discovered, and less mouths to feed. Less offspring also, unfortunately, meant that if a rival queen got it into her head that she thought that she wanted their feeding grounds for herself, that they'd be hard-pressed to keep them away. Especially with a hive as large as hers. Even with having been weakened from their defeat they still outnumber us, and we operate more on stealth than strength.
“Looks like it finally got tired. 'Bout time.” One of her guards said as her companion, one of the few males in town that had not been born there (most of them that visited from outside of town found the place to be too be a bit too girly for their liking. Given that the place was, for the most part populated by females, what did they really expect?), rolled his eyes.
“'Finally got tired'? Wow, I'd have never guessed that without your help. Thanks.” he muttered under his breath. The mare gave him a sharp look, but he stared straight ahead and pretended he'd not said anything.
“I heard that, Smart Cookie!” Smart Cookie gave her a quizzical look.
“Heard what, Keen Sight?”
“You know darn well what!”
“Hmm....” Smart tapped a hoof on his chin while his twin sister glared at him with her red eyes. “Nope! Not a clue!” He declared with a grin, meeting her glare with his mismatched blue and gold eyes.
“You- you pest!”
“I love you too, little sis!” He replied, still grinning.
“We're twins, you ox! We're the same age!” Smart waved a hoof in front of his sister and shook his head, no longer grinning, but kept a smile.
“Same hour, yes. Same time, no. I was the braver of us two!”
"And yet you scream like a foal when a mouse runs by!”
Smart's smile dropped and became a frown, to which Keen's face became smug.
Freaked out from just a mouse, eh? Echo thought, a plan beginning to form.
A very girly scream pierced the relative calm of the town, followed by a full-grown stallion running out of the town's small jail followed by a mare trying to get him to come back into the jail.
“You idiot! It's not real! It's the Changeling!”
“GIANT RAT! GIANT RA-HA-HA-HAAAT!” He screamed, the end coming out sounding like a despairing whine.
Meanwhile, back in her cell, Echo's giant rat form burned away and was replaced with a foal that could have been Fluttershy's if she'd had offspring, and squeezed through the bars and let herself out, smirking.
She snickered, followed by the snickers and laughter of her hive mates in the back of her mind as she made her escape into an alley, and the approval of her queen for her cleverness and once more changed her shape. This time she became Diamond Tiara, whom had a habit of skipping school and would not really be noticed other than by disapproving adults.
Well, I haven't yet discovered how the 'author's note' thing works yet, but that aside, I'M BACK!
It took freaking forever to get through the mental blockage, but now It's almost completely gone, and I can actually sit down and write again! *Squee!*
For all of you that patiently waited, you're awesome!