The sun was shining, and birds were chirping happily in the sky. It was a cool morning, but promised to warm up later in the day. It was a beautiful morning to any pony in Equestria. For a certain changeling, however, this was not true. Her plan had gone awry, and her queen and hive had banished her, branding her a traitor. How could she possibly enjoy a day after going through such a disasterous one? Even with the sunlight warming her through the bush, and the birds singing merry songs all around her, Cicada could find no comfort. She closed her eyes and willed the world to be silent, so she could go back to sleep.
Suddenly, the bird song stopped, and the rhythmic clatter of hooves and wagon wheels came to the changeling's attention. She had been so despondent about the previous day's events, and so eager to return to her slumber, that her sensitive hearing had failed to pick up on the noise. With her instincts and her guard training kicking in, Cicada quickly assessed her situation. She was all alone, with little cover around her, save the bush she was in now, and there was some strange pony -no make that ponies- who were getting closer to her every second. If they discovered a changeling, there was no telling what they'd do.
Peering out of her bush, Cicada looked for the source of the noise. In one direction was the winding road that lead down the valley to Ponyville. In the opposite direction, the road went over a hill that she couldn't see past. That was where the sound was coming from, she was certain. It wouldn't be long before those ponies crested the hill, and she was sure to be seen hiding under the bush. She didn't have the time or the cover necessary to get to a better hiding spot, so she did the only other thing she could. Thinking hard about her target, Cicada channeled her magical energy into her small, jagged horn, and performed her replication spell. In a flash of green fire, her body was changed. Her hole-riddled hooves filled out, her wings and horn vanished, and her chitinous, armored body became soft and pink. At the completion of her spell, she did a once-over of herself, making sure she hadn't neglected any important details. Fangless teeth, check. Three balloon cutie mark, check. Mane and tail? Pink, but not adorably poofy. She sighed, there wasn't time to be picky about minor details. A straight mane would have to do.
Stepping out of the bush, and onto the road, it seemed she had completed her spell just in time. The ponies she heard were just now coming over the top of the hill. Now that she saw them, Cicada was glad she hadn't tried to fly away, or stay hidden. Walking towards her were two of Princess Celestia's royal guards. They were easily recognizable from their poise and armor. The wagon they were pulling appeared to be a jail wagon. It was a simple, but sturdy in design. Four heavy, wooden walls, a couple of small, barred windows, and a door with a strong metal lock on it.
With her head held low, Cicada trotted along the side of the road, up the hill. She hoped the guards wouldn't pay her any attention, and that she could slip by unnoticed. They barely glanced at her as they walked past. Cicada snuck a quick peek into the wagon, out of sheer curiosity, as she walked by. Laying inside was a white unicorn with a red and magenta colored mane. She also noticed the captive's cutie mark, a crescent moon, with red stars around it. Not recognizing the prisoner, she continued up and over the hill, out of the guards' range of sight.
Letting out a breath she hadn't known she was holding, Cicada relaxed slightly. Those guards terrified her before the invasion, and even after the successful, if short lived, occupation of Canterlot, they were still intimidating. She had heard rumors and stories within the hive of them hunting down the scattered changelings, and taking them away somewhere.
Cicada stopped walking. Tears came to her eyes. She had been banished. Everyone she knew, everyone she cared about, she would never be able to see them again. The changeling stood still, trembling for a moment, fighting back the tears. No. This was not the time or the place to cry. She had something important to do, even if she didn't know it yet. She thought back to what her old friend, Aphid had said to her before leaving her at the edge of the Everfree. 'Go find someplace you can live for a while,' she remembered him saying, 'I have a feeling we'll be needing you soon.'
She wasn't sure what her friend had meant, concerning the last part of his statement, but the first part was clear. She had to find someplace where she could survive. She could live in the forest, but then she would barely be able to sustain herself. Changelings required more than tangible food to survive, they needed loving emotions to feed on. The only way Cicada would be able to obtain those was to enter an Equestrian town, and obtain it from other ponies. That was easier said than done. She sat at the edge of the road, and pondered a solution to her survival issue.
Eventually, two ponies neared the hill, approaching it from the Ponyville side. A white unicorn with large, oval goggles, and a grey earth-pony with a pink bowtie were pulling a small open cart. In the cart were turntables, a stereo system, a large cello, and a sheet music stand. The two had been arguing about who could play bass better, when the unicorn told her companion, "Hey, Tavi, you hear crying?"
The earth-pony replied, "What? Don't change the subject, Vinyl. I'm going to win our little debate this time, and you'll just have to mare-up and live with it. Now, as I was saying-"
Vinyl cut her off, "Cause all I'm hearing is you crying about how my music's more popular."
Octavia gave her an indignant look. "Now see here, just because your 'music' is popular doesn't make it good. If anything, that makes it mainstream. Unoriginal. Now MY music..."
She would have gone on, but as they made it over the hill, they noticed a pink mare sitting along the edge of the road at the base of the hill. The two musicians trotted over to her and stopped to say hello. "Hey, Pinkie!" Vinyl said. "I see you straightened your mane out again. Very nice."
Cicada was startled out of her thought, and turned to see who was talking to her. She didn't recognize either of the two ponies, but they knew her. Which meant she would have to do her best to act like Pinkie, so her disguise wouldn't be easily found out. "Oh, uh, hey there! It's been a while, hasn't it?"
"Yeah, I haven't seen you since that crazy night at the Grand Galloping Gala. How've you been?"
"I've been good," she answered plainly.
"Just good?" Vinyl asked, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.
Before Cicada could respond, Octavia tapped Vinyl and said to her in a hushed voice, "You remember the last time her mane was down like that? It was when she was going all crazy," She reminded the DJ, emphasizing the last word by circling a hoof around the side of her head and making her eyes spin in opposite directions. "I'm not sure now is a good time to be talking to her."
She just waved a hoof in a dismissive manner. "Nah, she's not all crazy this time, right Pinkie?"
"Of course not," Cicada said, slightly confused about what she meant.
"There you see? Not crazy."
"I wasn't saying she was, I was only saying-oh, nevermind. So, Pinkie, what brings you this far out from Ponyville?" Octavia asked.
"Oh, uhh," Cicada looked around, trying to come up with something to say. "Well, it's for baking, of course!" she said, smiling uncomfortably. "Yeah, that's it. I was headed to Canterlot to try and come up with some new recipies."
"Really? That's cool." Vinyl said. "Why don't you travel with us? We're headed that way, ourselves."
Cicada couldn't let this opportunity pass her by. It was a good way to get into a town and begin a new life for herself. Of course, she wouldn't be able to use her Pinkie disguise forever, but she would cross that bridge when she got to it. First thing's first, she had to get there, and traveling with other ponies wasn't nearly as suspicious as traveling alone. "I'd love to!" She said, in a cheery manner identical to the way Pinkie would have.
"Oh, well the more the merrier, I suppose," Octavia muttered to herself. She didn't like when Vinyl 'took the reins' as it were, and seemed to make all the choices when they were together.
"Go ahead and hop in the back, for now. We can switch off if one of us gets tired," the unicorn said.
"Okay!" Cicada bounced to the back of the cart and found herself a comfortable spot behind the DJ's turntables. "Okey-Dokey! I'm all set!"
"Alright, let's get this show on the road!"
At first, the trio went in silence, the two musicians having little in common with the pink pony riding along, and not feeling comfortable enough to address more serious issues with their current company. Eventually, though, the awkward silence was broken by a soft, melodic humming. Octavia had been thinking about the song she was to perform at a royal ball, and had begun singing the music out loud. As she went on, Vinyl joined in, creating a beat to go with it, and essentially mixing the cellist's tune as it was made. Doing her best to ignore her companion, the gray mare focused on the piece in her mind, rather than stopping her. The resulting combination felt upbeat and fun, from Cicada's point of view. She happily listened as they went on like this for a while. She even added her own lyrics to the mix, thinking them up on the spot. "You can travel the wo-orld! But no one can groove like the girls with the ho-oves!" They continued this song until it's completion, and they all laughed at the end, surprised at how well it had turned out, and how fun it had been.
Once the giggling stopped, they fell back into silence again. Once again, Octavia broke the silence and asked, "so, tell me, Pinkie, what kind of music do you prefer? The brutish, mish-mash of sound that Vinyl plays, or more sophistocated, classical music?"
"Hey, my tunes aren't brutish, or just some 'mish-mash'! It's more like a collage of sound put together like an artist makes a painting. Or maybe, controlled chaos. I like the sound of that better," the unicorn retorted.
"How in Equestria is that awful sound relatable to art?"
The two began to argue, and Cicada laid her head down, and closed her eyes. She began to doze off as the two musicians continued to debate how each one's music was a form of art. Before she could completely fall asleep, however, she noticed something strange. It was that familiar feeling of her hunger being filled, but it was so unexpected that it took the changeling a few moments to figure out where it was coming from. As she focused, Cicada realized that the love feeding her was originating from her companions. It was spilling over from them much like Fluttershy's love of animals had spilled over at her critter picnic. Only this time, it was different. Not a motherly sort of love, or a sisterly love, but something else. Cicada mused on this for a moment and could only draw one conclusion. Lust. That was it! It had to be! Strange that it was between two mares, but there was no mistaking it.
Cicada giggled at the thought of the two mares being attracted to each other, and not even knowing it. At her laughter, Octavia turned back to look at her. "What are you laughing at?" She demanded, obviously frustrated about some good point made by Vinyl.
"Oh, nothing... Tavi," Cicada said, giggling once more at the cute little pet-name she had overheard Vinyl using during their discussion.
Now it was Vinyl's turn to look back at the giddy pink mare. "Hey, only I'm allowed to call her that!"
"What!?! What's that suppose to mean?" Octavia, or 'Tavi' asked Vinyl.
"I know what it means!" Cicada sang out. "You like each other. But you silly fillies don't have to worry, your secret's safe with me."
"What secret? I have no idea what you're talking about." Octavia said, turning her head to hide her blush from the other two.
"Yeah, me either," Vinyl declared, mirroring Octavia's gesture, hiding her own blush.
"Aww, you two are so cute! Maybe you should talk to those other two mares. What are their names again? Lyra and BonBon, I think? Well, anyway, I'm just gonna have a little nap, since you're probably gonna get all quiet on me now. Wake me when you need a swap-out, okay?" Then she layed down and fell asleep to the hoofsteps and gentle rattle of the cart, letting the other mares wonder about what she had said in silence.
Running. Cicada was running for everything she had. Her wings had been injured, and her magic was depleted. Something was chasing her, and while she couldn't tell exactly what that was, she knew it would destroy her if she was caught. So she kept running. Ahead of her was a cliff, and she skidded to a halt at its edge. She peered over it and saw a roiling pond at the bottom. She glanced behind her and knew she didn't have much time. It was either jump or be caught. Taking a deep breath, Cicada tried to jump, but something grabbed her tail and dragged her back at the last moment. She cried out, terrified. It had her. She was going to die.
Then she opened her eyes, and saw it was Pinkie Pie. She didn't understand, why had she been so afraid of Pinkie? A moment later, she figured out why. The pink mare gave her a happy smile. It was too happy. Then she said something terrifying. "Aww, come on now, I only want to play. Why don't you just let me out, and you can take a nice long rest." That smile turned into an evil grin, and Pinkie shoved Cicada over the cliff.
"NO!" she cried, sitting straight up in the back of the wagon. The sun was still out, but it was hanging lazily above the treetops and mountains. It would be dark soon. She searched around desperately for that horrific Pinkie, and finding none, she let out a sigh of relief. All she saw was the music equipment around her, and the two ponies pulling it, looking back at her with concern.
"Are you alright, Pinkie?" Octavia asked. "You've been tossing and turning back there for quite some time now."
"Uh..." She wasn't sure about that herself, so she answered truthfully. "I don't know."
"Aww, did somepony have herself a bad dream?" Vinyl teased.
Octavia was not amused. "Vinyl, hush. Dreams have very deep psychological meanings, and whatever is troubling her enough to give her nightmares must be extrordinarily important to her."
"I know, I was just trying to lighten the mood, that's all," Vinyl said. Then, to Cicada, "Hey, you gonna be okay?"
"Yeah, I think so." She replied. In truth, she was very worried that she wouldn't be. A dream like this wouldn't have much significance to any regular pony, but to a changeling, it was very serious. When a changeling dreamt about the pony she was replicating, and that pony instilled a deep, irrational fear in him/her, it was a bad sign. It was an early stage of an identity crisis, which could be life threatening to changelings. It meant she was forgetting who she truely was, and was beginning to become her target in more than just the physical sense. She remembered stories of old changelings, and changelings who had been through traumatizing experiences losing themselves, and becoming their targets, mentally. While this may not sound like such a bad thing, it became one as soon as the changelings forgot to maintain their replication spells. If something like that were to happen to her, in Canterlot of all places...
Her thoughts were interrupted when Vinyl announced, "Well, we're here!" Before them stood the capital of Equestria. Its proud spires rose high above the valley. Beautiful streams could be seen running through the city, before falling off the cliffside in roaring waterfalls. Cicada remembered the last time she was in the city. It was during the queen's invasion and occupation. Much more took place during that day than most ponies realized. Even the Elements of Harmony themselves were unaware of the hidden battles that were fought within the changeling ranks. She made a promise to herself that she would tell someone about it, someday. Walking through the main gate, Cicada couldn't help but hide under the turntables as they passed the guards. There was no way they would recognize her as a changeling, but she didn't want to take any chances.
Once inside, it was a short time before the group made it to the tower they would be staying at. Where Vinyl and Octavia were going to stay at, anyway. The changeling would need to find her own place to stay. With the help of a baggage pony, the musicians began to unload their cart. "Pinkie, are you going to be alright staying in Canterlot alone?" Octavia asked.
"Of course I will," Cicada replied in a chipper and cheery manner.
'First thing's first,' Cicada thought to herself. 'I need a new disguise.' After what she had seen during Pinkie Pie's visit to the Grand Galloping Gala, she knew that there were going to be a lot of ponies recognizing her. With this in mind, she sifted through her mind to come up with another form, and she was taken back to one she had seen on her way to Canterlot. Once she had the image set in her mind, Cicada found a small alley between two shops, and focused her magic. In her familiar flash of green, she was changed. Her pink coat turned white, and her mane and tail became a deep red color with a magenta highlight. A horn became visible on her head, and her cutie mark transformed into a crescent moon with red stars around it. When she was finished, Cicada checked herself to ensure she hadn't missed anything. Satisfied with her appearance, she left the alley.
Strolling through town, the changeling thought about how she would be able to obtain the love she needed to live. Before that, though, she needed a place to stay, and in order to get that, she would need a place to work, and even before that, she would need to create a background for herself, as well as a cover story in case she ran into someone that knew who she was. She started her cover story. If anypony confronted her about anything, she would feign amnesia. It would be easy to do, since she truely had no knowledge of this pony, save the fact she had been in the custody of two royal guards. She wouldn't even have to come up with an explaination as to how she got amnesia, that was the nice thing about it. Of course, that would make it hard to come up with a convincing background story. As a result, she decided to say she was passing through town, and needed a job and a place to stay for a while. Nopony would ask her many questions, and if they did, she could make up answers to those on the fly.
Now with that essential step taken care of, she could move on to finding a job and a place to stay. Cicada had been ambling along the entire time she was thinking and ended up at Pony Joe's. It was a small doughnut shop, if her memory was correct. In the store's display window was a 'Help Wanted' sign. "Huh. Convenient," she thought out loud, and walked through the door.
A small bell rang as she entered. The pastry diner had a friendly, welcoming atmosphere. There were a few ponies sitting at one of the tables. They glanced at her, flashing a friendly smile, then went back to their conversation and doughnuts. At the back, near the counter, was the store owner himself, Pony Joe. She remembered him from the time she followed Pinkie Pie there, after the Grand Galloping Gala incident. Cicada walked up to him and he said, "Well, hello there. What can I do for you, miss?" His voice had a gruff quality to it, which surprised her a little.
"I heard you had a job opening, and was wondering if it was still open," Cicada explained.
"Oh, you're here about the job? Great! The doughnuts have been popular recently, and I need somepony who knows a little about baking to help meet the demand. Are you any good in the kitchen?" He asked.
"Well, I've never worked with doughnuts before, but I'm willing to give it a try if you teach me."
"Of course I'll teach you! You'll need to learn the batter recipe anyway. So, does that mean you want the job?"
"Yes! When can I start?" She asked, bouncing up and down, excitedly.
"Right now," Pony Joe said, retrieving a small bakers hat and apron from under the counter. He tossed them to Cicada, who reacted in time to catch the hat on her head and the apron in her hooves. "Come on back to the kitchen and we'll get started. There's an order that needs to be filled, and we need to get started if we want to make the deadline." Cicada pulled on the apron, and followed Pony Joe as he headed through the back door, into the kitchen. "Now," he continued, "I've already got a fresh batch of doughnuts sitting on the counter over there, I just need you to take them out to the display case, if you would. I'll go ahead and get the ingredients together for the next batch."
Cicada grabbed the large tray of pastries and took them out of the kitchen. The sweet scent of sugary glaze wafted to her, and she took it in with glee. Even if she was a changeling, she could still appreciate good food when presented with it. When she finished placeing the doughnuts into the glass display case, she set the tray on the counter and called back to Joe, "All finished!"
"Good, good," Pony Joe replied, walking back out to the counter. "You know, I don't think I caught your name. What did you say it was?"
Cicada was caught off guard. She had thought of everything, backstory, explainations, responses to any question concerning who she was, or where she was from, but she had forgotten the simplest, most important thing. Her name! She put on an uncomfortable smile, and stammered out, "M-my name? Oh, o-of course! Everypony has a name! Um, well, my name is, uh-"
The bell over the door rang at just that moment, and two unicorns walked in. One had a light blue coat, with a blue and white mane, and an hourglass cutie mark. The other had a pink mane, ivory coat, and three blue stars for her cutie mark. "Moondancer, there you are!" The blue one exclaimed. "We've been searching for you all day! Where have you been?" They trotted over to her and Pony Joe. "Me and Twinkle were just getting ready to head to the meeting without you!"
"Colgate? What are you doing here? I thought you were back in Ponyville," Cicada said. She recognized the blue and white maned unicorn from some of her reconnaissance missions in Ponyville and was surprised to see her in Canterlot. Especially after what had happened to her during the changeling occupation.
"I'm here for the same reason you always come to Ponyville, the meeting." She paused and noticed for the first time what Cicada was wearing. "Why do you have on a baker's outfit?" She asked.
"I was here about the job opening," she said.
"Job opening? I thought you worked for the Bureau of Magical Affairs Investigation."
"I, um, it's a cover?" Cicada offered, hoping it would get the two ponies off her back.
They seemed satisfied for now. "Alright then. Well, I'm glad we found you." Colgate directed her attention to the store owner now. "Pony Joe, could we get a dozen doughnuts to go?"
The gruff pony shook himself and nodded. "Yeah, sure. Just give me a second to get it all together." He quickly set to work filling a box with the treats, then passed them to the unicorn over the counter. "That'll be six bits," he said.
Colgate took the box and passed the bits to him, then turned to leave. "Come on Twinkle, we've got a meeting to get to. Come on Moondancer, it's at your place, after all."
"Uh, yeah, sure thing," she said, uncertainly, removing the uniform she had put on just minutes ago. "Sorry Pony Joe, I guess I forgot about my previous engagements. Um, I'll try to come back and help out if I can." She really felt sorry for leaving the storekeeper, especially since she just offered to help. She trotted after the other two unicorns as they left the store, leaving a somewhat confused doughnut maker in her wake.
"So, where are we going again?" Cicada asked. She needed to figure out what was going on, and fast.
"We're heading over to your place, for the meeting. About our two visitors, remember?" Twinkle responded, putting emphasis on 'visitors'.
"Oh, of course. How could I have forgotten? It was those two ponies," she said, trying to get some information while being nonchalant about it.
"Right, well, apparently they've been waiting for you to come back all day, after you took them in last night," Twinkle went on. "Colgate and I went looking for you after we found out you left those two alone at your house. Is something going on that you aren't telling us?"
There was so much more going on with their friend than they knew, like how she had been in the back of a jail wagon, but Cicada couldn't say that. It would give her away, and raise a lot of difficult questions. Instead she replied, "No, nothing's going on. Lets just get back to my house and we'll sort all this out."
They walked in silence until they were standing in front of a two story house. It was nothing fancy, and blended in with the rest of the homes on that particular street. The front was symmetrical, with a window on either side of the door, and three windows above that. In the lower windows, two ponies were peering out through the curtains. Cicada and the others went to the door and entered the home. Inside it was cozy and inviting. Off to one side was a kitchen and dining room, straight ahead was a staircase to the second floor, and on the other side was a living room. That's where the two ponies were waiting. When Cicada saw them, she couldn't believe her eyes. They were the ponies she had rode in with. "Octavia? Vinyl? What are you two doing here?" She asked.
They looked around and seemed confused at first, as if they didn't recognize their own names. "You know these two, Moondancer?" Twinkle asked.
"Well, yeah, I rode in with-I mean I saw them ride into town with Pinkie Pie this afternoon. How long did you say they've been here?" At the question, the two musicians shuffled their hooves a little in discomfort.
"Since you took them in last night. I thought you didn't even know who they were. And how could they have rode in this afternoon, if you invited them in last night?"
"You're right, that doesn't make sense." She turned her attention to the ponies who seemed to be getting more nervous by the second. "Which one of you was Octavia again?" She asked.
It was a simple question that should have been answered with ease. The two glanced at each other and hesitated in their response. After a moment of thinking the gray mare pointed to the DJ and said, "she is." There was uncertainty in her voice, but only Cicada seemed to pick up on it. That confirmed her suspicions.
Cicada nodded, she wouldn't give them away, not before she knew how Colgate and Twinkle would react to it. "Girls, what do you know about changelings?" she asked. The question seemed completely out of place, but it got some interesting reactions from everypony in the room. While Colgate and Twinkle only seemed somewhat surprised, the other two responded with looks of fear.
"The same as you, Moondancer," Twinkle said. "Just that they need ponies to hide them from the royal guard." She moved closer to Cicada and lowered her voice. "We want to help the changelings just as much as you, but I really don't think this is the proper time or place to talk about it. There are two strangers standing in your livingroom right now, in case you've forgotten. Just what are you trying to get at?"
"It's okay, girls. This is going to surprise you, but you have to trust that I know what I'm doing," was all she replied, before preparing a spell. Her horn glowed green, and she sent a beam of magic to the ponies before her. The two musicians were engulfed in green fire briefly. After the flames dissipated, two changelings stood before them. The one on the left was taller than the other, and took a step in front of the smaller one.
The two real ponies were stunned. Colgate and Twinkle stood with their mouths hanging open, while the changelings appeared to be deciding if this was a fight or flight moment.
After a few tense seconds, Colgate was the first to recover. "H-how did you do that? I mean, you said you were studying them, but I never thought you were so serious about helping them."
Twinkleshine was next to speak up. "Oh, Moondancer, what have you gotten us into?" There was a slight tremor to her voice. "Do you have any idea how bad this is? How much trouble we could get into? What if the guard comes by to do a search? We can't possibly hide two changelings from them! We'll be thrown into prison if anypony finds out about this."
"Nopony's going to find out about it." Then, addressing her two siblings, Cicada said, "You two have nothing to worry about. I'll keep you safe."