“Are you able to turn into Princess Celestia?” Sweetie Belle asked Sky.
“Theoretically yes, it’s possible for a changeling like me to physically change to Princess Celestia’s shape but I would never be able to imitate her magic abilities like a changeling queen hopped up on the love of a newly-wed spouse could. Alicorn magic is a whole different animal to normal Pony magic,” Sky answered.
“How?” Sweetie Belle inquired.
While Sky answered Sweetie Belle’s question, with small understanding on Sweetie’s side, Applebloom and Scootaloo were conversing with Redwind.
“So you’ve known him for your whole life and you didn’t know?” Scootaloo asked Redwind.
“Nope, he was very good at keeping us from not knowing,” Redwind answered.
“But he doesn’t really seem that good at it at all from what Sweetie told us, I reckon that he had luck on his side for all those years,” Applebloom interjected.
“His entire life has basically been just like a pony though, it can’t be that hard to blend in with a bunch of ponies you grew up with, right?” Redwind rebutted.
“Perhaps, I reckon we should ask Princess Twilight about that when we reach her castle,” Applebloom relented.
“Good idea,” Redwind agreed.
“Wait a minute, if Sky’s your brother, doesn’t that mean that you are a changeling too?” Scootaloo asked.
“No… well… hmm… I never thought about it that way, I mean, why would he be one and not me or Stardust, right?” Redwind wondered.
“Yet another question to ask Princess Twilight, right?” Applebloom suggested.
“I think so,” Redwind said.
Several minutes of conversation and walking later and the four Crusaders and Sky finally made it to Twilight’s Castle.
“-just like Zecora then?” Applebloom asked as they entered.
“I guess you can say that, it certainly seems like when the townponies of Ponyville are scared of something they usually either just hide in their homes or just stand and stare in awe, which is interesting considering how often crazy things seem to happen in this town, at least since Twilight moved to Ponyville,” Sky answered, “And there are differences between Zecora and me.”
“Like?” Applebloom asked.
“Well, she’s a Zebra, and unlike Changelings they haven’t ever really posed a threat to ponykind, so any fears of Zebras are completely unfounded while I can get why there’d be fear of changelings considering the only kind of contact these ponies have had with changelings would be from the Canterlot Invasion and that would be a terrible first contact scenario for anypony,” Sky explained.
“Did somepony say first-contact scenario? Twilight said walking into the main hallway. She took note of Sky’s “extra baggage” and said, “I see you got some Crusaders to be your escorts to the castle, Sky.”
“Yeah, they wanted to ask you a little something so I decided that they might as well come with me here,” Sky replied.
“Well, what is this question you guys wanted to ask me?” Twilight asked the Crusaders.
“We wanted to know if, maybe, you’d, perhaps, allow him use of his shape-shifting abilities? We could use the opportunity as like a learning possibility and maybe even he could help us find our cutie marks,” Redwind said hoping that Twilight would say yes.
“Redwind, I already told you about that whole cutie mark thing,” Sky said smiling and rolling his eyes.
“I already told you Sky, as a Cutie Mark Crusader I am sworn to forever follow the path of the Cutie Mark until I get it. Besides, I have a lot of fun with it. Sure it gets kinda messy,” Redwind replied.
“And goopy,” Sweetie Belle added.
“And gooey,” Applebloom also added.
“And awesome!” Scootaloo excitedly added drawing the eyes of everypony.
“Anyways, don’t worry. We have our bases covered, it’s not like we jump on run-away pumpkins for a living,” Redwind finished.
“You guys did that though,” Sky said unconvinced.
“Besides the point, you don’t need to worry about it Sky,” Redwind replied, “Trust me, if they were to come up with something too dangerous then I’d pull out.”
“What about the high jump?” Scootaloo asked.
“We already said no to that, Scoots,” Redwind said before whispering back, “Don’t worry, I’m still getting the materials on that.”
“Alright then, Redwind, I believe you,” Sky said not truly convinced.
“Good, now back to the question at hoof. Please Princess Twilight; can we please use that ability of his?” Redwind said getting back to the question to Twilight.
“Well, I guess it might be possible to take some time away from Twilight time perhaps, and I’m certainly not doing anything, and since only Rarity and I can cast the spell, plus the other Princesses, perhaps some time with her…” Twilight said before ending in thought.
The five other ponies sat in wait while Twilight thought, and their wait didn’t last long as barely a minute later she said, “Alright, I have an idea. I’ll allow him usage of his transformative powers for you guys but either Rarity or I have to be there to keep watch over the proceedings, or at the very least close-by.”
The Crusaders cheered in excitement before all asking Twilight, “How about now?”
“I don’t see why not, besides I’m sure Sky would love to keep using that power of his,” Twilight answered.
“You have no idea, Princess. It’s the same feeling that a Unicorn would have if they lost their horn, a Pegasus their wings, and an Earth Pony their… um… strength, I guess,” Sky said.
“Actually, I think I do get what you are talking about,” Twilight said thinking of the revival of Discord, the poison joke episode, and the Cutie-Markless town.
“Oh ok then, I’m glad you understand then,” Sky said a bit surprised and relieved to at least have that bit of understanding.
“Alright, I’m sure you understand the process by now,” Twilight said as she warmed up the spell.
“Indeed I do,” Sky said as Twilight began to cast the spell.
The Crusaders looked on in awe as a swirl of magic escaped from Twilight’s horn and wormed its way to Sky’s changeling horn and the magic limiter ring on it. The spell was simple in looks, but the power behind it, the ability to control another being’s ability to use magic, it’s quite amazing when one thinks about it.
“Alright, there we go,” Twilight said as she finished the spell.
“Cool,” Sky said before disappearing into a ball of green flame. The flame ended and in its place was a Twilight-clone. Then that disappeared into grown-up clones of each of the Crusaders (Cutie Mark-less to the chagrin of the Crusaders) before finally Sky’s normal Pegasus form appeared. “Don’t get me wrong, doing this for Rarity is cool enough but it’s nice to have some freedom with this for the first time in, well, ever! I don’t usually get to play around with this.”
The Crusaders ooh-ed and aww-ed at the display as Sky changed into look-a-likes of the rest of the Mane 6 before returning to his Pegasus form again. Scootaloo practically had a fan-gasm when Sky changed into Rainbow Dash, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were impressed by accuracy of the imitation of their sisters, and Redwind particularly enjoyed the Fluttershy imitation.
“I can certainly see you’ve done some research on them,” Twilight said amazed at the display, despite her knowledge before-hoof on Changelings.
“I may be a bit of a klutz and a bit derpish at times but imitation is something I am legitimately good at. Changelings are naturally able to take a pony’s personality, with some observation and a bit of talent, and imitate it, but to do it well enough to be considered a success takes a bit of talent, which I’m glad, despite the rustyness, I still have. I’ll be honest though, it’s a bit weird whenever I change into a mare, the cool kind of weird but still,” Sky replied.
“What do you mean?” Twilight said as the group exited the main hallways and headed towards the dining room.
“Well… you know, there are external differences in anatomy that always take some differences, and the hormone injection one feels when they change between the two. A mare’s body and chemistry is different in quite a many ways from that of a stallion’s. Differences in anatomy, estrogen vs testosterone, and all that,” Sky said as scientifically as he could, considering it’s the only way he can somewhat comfortably talk about the difference between a mare and a stallion.
“I see,” Twilight said cataloging the information in her mind for use in the book.
“I don’t think anypony could quite understand the other side of the fence until they spent some significant time on that side,” Sky replied.
“I can’t imagine what it must feel like,” Twilight said.
“I doubt anypony could, really. It’s very strange that moment of change from a testosterone-fuelled stallion body and mind to the estrogen-ized mare anatomy and mental way of thinking,” Sky stated.
It was then that the group reached the dining room where Spike was waiting. Spike was about to ask about the Crusaders before Twilight said, “We’re gonna need a few more plates, Spike.” She turned to the Crusaders and asked, “You guys do want to stay for dinner, right? It’s already getting around that time anyways.”
The Crusaders had a quick meeting between the four of them huddled up before Redwind finally said, “We would love to,” in a profession tone before quickly giggling in glee and hugging Sky and yelling, “We’re gonna eat at the same table as a Princess! Sure there was that one time at that one Hayburger joint, and seriously Scootaloo the poses kinda gave it away, but now we’re eating at her table. There’s a difference between Twilight Time and now, Sky.”
“I already told you I look sad in pictures if I don’t pose,” Scootaloo said which caused the rest of the Crusaders to roll their eyes.
The next hour went by quickly as the Crusaders, Twilight, Sky (who was allowed to continue using his shape-shifting ability and so was able to eat whilst in his Pegasus form), and Spike (who was not too happy having to make four more plates but was used to such situations) at dinner. After the meal, the Crusaders tried to convince Twilight to let Sky go with them to the Crusader Clubhouse (presumably to continue seeing Sky use his ability) but Twilight was adamant that Sky stay as he had a full schedule the next day, as did she.
After the Crusaders left, Twilight asked a quick question, “This has been on my mind for the past few days but what need do changelings have of food? Are you guys able to solely sustain yourself on emotions or do you also need food to fuel your metabolic processes?”
“Actually it is possible for me to sustain myself on emotions alone but it’s not all that healthy and it’s very hard to get the same energy level as one would get with food. The biggest use for emotional energy is its use for long-term storage. Where most types of food would spoil probably after a few months or even several months, emotional energy when being stored could last several years before losing its potency,” Sky said as the two reached the bed-chambers hall.
“Very interesting, I need to get all of this in my notes before I get my hours of studying in,” Twilight said before turning to get to her bed-chambers.
“Alright, how is the book going by the way?” Sky asked.
“It’s going fine, it’ll be a while before I finish it enough for publication though,” Twilight answered before heading into her room.
“Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow then,” Sky said knowing that Twilight was likely going to be held up in her room for the rest of the day.
Sky entered his own room and grabbed a book from a near-by bookshelf. It was titled “A Treatise on the Changeling Parasite by Professor Starlight Rays” Sky rolled his eyes upon seeing the title, but he opened it anyways, he needed to see every book that ponies had produced so that he could remind himself of what the book Twilight was working on represented.
Ponies love laughter. Changelings do not understand joy and fear it.
Ponies are honest. Changelings tell only lies.
Ponies are loyal. Changelings will stab you in the back.
Ponies are generous. Changelings are selfish and greedy.
Ponies care about each other. Changelings care only about themselves
“I could swear this was stolen from somewhere,” Sky said as he read the first page of the book.