Author's Note: Written by Samaru163 and Tricondon.
Chapter 24
Marco
Jake had released the Changeling from his telekinesis and the creature was seated on Fluttershy’s couch; I found it odd both that Jake had opted to let go of it and that it hadn’t tried to flee at the first chance.
“Alright, let’s try again. Why were you spying on us?” Jake asked calmly.
“Yeerks talk of Andalites. Say they are here. They not like Andalites. Can tell in voice. I find. Ask for help. Get Hive back.”
“Ha, like anypony would help you things!” Rainbow cut in. “After you tried to enslave Canterlot, I’m surprised Prince Jake hasn’t thrown you in the dungeon.” At this, Jake shot Rainbow a shut up look.
“No enslave. Feed. We need feed like you do,” it said defensively. “Why it wrong for us to live? Why it evil for us to find food?”
“Sounds like a very familiar argument.” Cassie muttered. I nodded slightly, knowing what she was referring to. Aftran, the Yeerk she had found in the body of a little girl. Later she would go on to found the Yeerk Peace Movement on Earth and give up having a host entirely. All because Cassie had taken the time to see her side of the story. I had a brief talk with her Aftran, but at the time I didn’t care to listen. And now - on an alien planet of talking technicoloured horses - we were going through it again. Irony at its fullest.
“I wouldn’t mind feeding you,” Fluttershy whispered. I don’t think the Changeling heard her; I was standing right next to her and I still had to strain my ears.
“Do you even know what an Andalite looks like?” Jake asked. The Changeling shook its head.
“No. Not know. Not know many thing. Only Drone.” It stopped for a moment, looking around the cottage at us. “I attack Canterlot. I help. You ponies try to stop. Purple one smart. She not fooled by Queen. She know about Andalite.” He looked at Jake. “But you not purple one?”
Jake shook his head. “No. I may look just like her, but we’re completely different.”
“Yeah! Prince Jake is royalty!” Rainbow shouted. “So pay your proper respects!”
“Why? He not Queen. Not my leader. Why should I?” He then looked straight into Rainbow’s eyes. “Did you bow for Queen?”
“I don’t bow for anypony besides Princess Celestia!” Rainbow retorted.
“Um, and Princess Luna...” Fluttershy added, though she was drowned out by Rainbow.
“And I only bow for Queen,” the Changeling responded. “Simple. Yes?”
“Why you lousy!” Rainbow snarled, then leapt for the Changeling. I shouted, and suddenly Rainbow was being suspended in the air, held aloft in a light-blue glow, barely noticeable against her fur. She turned her head and glared at me. “Marco! Lemme go! I can take him, easy!”
“I would, but I don’t know how I’m doing it in the first place,” I said, amazed by what I was seeing.
The Changeling, in the meanwhile, had jumped off the couch and was hiding. An odd sight to say the least, since all the Changelings I’d seen had tried to kill me.
“Ha, afraid to go against me, Changeling?” Rainbow taunted, still hovering in the air.
“I not stupid. One Drone against eight pony. Not good odds.”
“Rainbow!” Jake shouted before she could respond. “Calm down and let me do the talking, please.” Rainbow flattened her ears against her head and looked away, mumbling a ‘sorry’. I laughed softly and the glow around her vanished, dropping the pegasus on her rump, which only made me laugh harder.
“You wouldn’t be laughing if my wing wasn’t hurt!” she yelled at me, glaring and baring her teeth. I immediately stopped laughing and averted my gaze.
“Alright, so, you were spying on us because you wanted to talk to Twilight, right?” Jake asked the Changeling, trying to get the conversation back on track.
“Twilight?” he said with a look of utter confusion.
“The purple pony you’re looking for. Her name is Twilight.”
“Name?” he asked again. “Only Queen has name. Only pony Princess have name. No?”
“But...didn’t you refer to yourself as Drone earlier?” I asked.
“Drone not name. Drone position in Hive. Is what I was born as,” he said calmly. “Ponies like this. No?”
“N-no,” Fluttershy softly said. “We all have names. It’s how we identify ourselves to others.”
“I identify. Drone from Breeding Cave Three. Number 937.” From the tone in his voice he’d said this at least a thousand times before.
“Geez, it’s like the Yeerks all over again,” Rachel said. At the sound of her voice the Changeling jerked its head towards her and hissed darkly.
“I not Yeerk!” it spat. “Not say that!”
“Take it easy, I wasn’t saying you were a Yeerk,” Rachel said, motioning with her hooves for the Changeling to calm down. “You just have very similar naming conventions, that’s all.”
“We not similar. They take Hive. They enslave colony.”
“That is what Yeerks tend to do,” Tobias said. “They enslave every species they come across. Changeling, pony, human. Nothing is safe.”
“Human?” the Changeling asked. “How you know Humans?”
“We-” Cassie began, but a motion from Jake silenced her.
“It’s not important,” Jake said. “What made you sure that Twilight would know where you could find an Andalite?”
“Purple pony smart. She know much. She not live life in Hive.” It seemed to be struggling to find the right words. “First time I...see sky is when Queen attack Canterlot. I not know outside Hive.”
“Oh, you poor dear.” Fluttershy said and flew over to the Changeling, hugging it tightly. It balked and tried to pull away.
“What you do?! Why attack?!” Fluttershy let the Changeling go and it flew up near the ceiling, staring at her warily. Fluttershy looked like she might cry at any moment.
“I am afraid your assumptions were in error,” Ax said. “Twilight has no knowledge of Andalites, nor does any other non-Controller on this planet. They are not indigenous.”
“Where were you this whole time?” I asked.
“I was listening, trying to see if this Changeling was lying to us in some fashion.”
“And?”
“I don’t think so,” he said with a smile.
I sighed and turned back to the Changeling. “So, what was your plan after that? Ask Twilight to lead you to an Andalite and then they solve everything?”
“I not know. Andalites fight Yeerks for long time. Hate each other fiercely. Yeerks say they powerful. They help return Hive to normal.”
“Give us a moment, please,” Jake said, then motioned for us to gather. We huddled in a circle, talking low. “What do you guys think? Should we trust him?” he asked.
“He certainly seems to hate the Yeerks as much as we do,” Tobias said.
“It could be a trap,” I said. “Lull us into trusting a possible defector, then he leads us into an ambush. Us, and Twilight if she decides to follow us again.”
“I’m with Marco on this,” Rachel said. “Attack us with Changelings and then send one who wants to be our friend. It all seems too convenient.”
“We saw how many they attacked us with on the train,” Cassie pointed out. “They probably have more Changelings back at the Hive. And what if he isn’t lying? What if he’s telling the truth? Can we really pass this up?”
“What if one of us acquires him?” Tobias asked. We all stared at him in shock, but he just looked back with a fierce stare. “I’m serious. If he really is a Yeerk, he’d never let an Andalite touch him.” He nodded towards Ax.
“I am uneasy about revealing our presence at this point in time,” Ax admitted. “If he is lying then we have confirmed the Yeerk’s suspicions that the Andalite bandits are here. And that aside, I think this Yeerk would not react poorly to my presence, Tobias. A spy would not be so foolish as to get caught that easily.”
For a moment we didn’t say anything, just going over the situation and options before us.
“Hey, guys?” Cassie asked. “What if we get Twilight to use that spell of hers on the Changeling?”
“Oh, good idea!” Ax said happily. “I’ll go get her!” Without another word Ax hopped - yes, hopped - out the door and disappeared into the night. We just stared after him.
“Well. I don’t think any of us were expecting that,” I dryly said.
We couldn’t have been waiting for more than ten minutes before Twilight appeared in a flash of light, along with Ax and Spike. She startled the Changeling - and us - though Ax was incredibly happy.
“Do it again do it again do it again! I know it should be impossible but it isn’t! Do it again!” he said between giggles and bounced around Twilight in a circle.
“Maybe another time, Ax,” she said gently. She looked around and finally settled her gaze on the Changeling. “Hello. My name is Twilight Sparkle. I heard you were looking for me.”
“Purple pony. One from Canterlot.” It eyed her suspiciously. “Are you you, or other like her?” it jerked its head towards Jake.
Twilight nodded. “I’m me. Honestly.”
The Changeling landed in front of her, staring straight into her eyes. “You help?” Twilight nodded again. “Help return Hive? Even though we attack?”
“Perhaps, but first I need to do something to you. It won’t hurt, and it’ll tell us if you mean what you say. Is this alright?” The Changeling nodded in an awkward imitation of Twilight and she closed her eyes, lowering her horn to the Changeling’s head. It twitched at the contact, but didn’t move otherwise. After a moment Twilight raised her head and opened her eyes, smiling. “He’s not a Controller.”
The Changeling hissed. “I tell you! I not Yeerk!”
“I just needed confirmation,” Jake explained. “You know how they infiltrated your Hive. I don’t want that to happen here.”
“Hive? Would somepony like to fill me in?” Twilight asked.
“Ohh, ohh, let me, let me!” Ax said happily. Soon he was walking with Twilight to the other side of the room, explaining the situation to Twilight in a really quick and almost indefinable way.
“We have got to do something about that kid,” I whispered to Jake. He smiled for a moment before resuming a more contemplative look.
“...and then I went to get you and you warped here and then I told you this story and now you’re caught up!”
“How did you explain that so quickly?” Rachel asked, her face twisted in disbelief. Ax stopped bouncing for a moment, his face scrunched up in thought.
“I dunno!” he shouted after a moment and giggled.
“Acting more like Pinkie every day,” Rainbow muttered.
“Is that a good thing?” I asked, to which she shrugged.
“Well, at least we know our Changeling guest isn’t a Controller,” Jake said after Ax’s giggling had died down. “That just leaves the whole trust issue.”
“Trust? I tell you truth,” the Changeling spoke up.
“You told us a well-crafted story,” I said. “Other species have allied themselves with the Yeerks before.”
“I no Yeerk!”
“That doesn’t mean you’re telling the truth. For all we know you’re a voluntary host sent on a mission.”
“I no Yeerk!” it said again, much more venomously. I stepped towards the Changeling, glaring.
“Say it a third time! Maybe I’ll believe it then!”
“Maybe you Yeerk!” it lunged at me, baring its fangs. I reared on my hind legs, ready to strike...
“STOP!”
Faster than I could blink there stood a yellow mass between me and the Changeling, holding us apart with her hooves and panting for breath.
“Nopony here is a Yeerk, alright? Now, we are all going to calm down and sit patiently!” She glanced between me and the Changeling, glaring darkly. As her eyes locked onto mine I felt a strange compulsion to obey and relaxed, backing away from her.
“Marco, are you well?” Ax asked. I couldn’t see, but I guessed I had a stunned or shocked look on my face.
“Heh, not so funny when you experience it, huh?” Rachel asked with a joyful grin.
“Yellow pony scary,” the Changeling said quietly.
“I think I should inform the Princess about this,” Twilight said after a moment’s silence. Jake walked up to her, shaking his head.
“That won’t work. We already tried to get in to see her, remember? Tobias and Fluttershy said the city’s blocked off.”
“Oh, leave the letter-sending to me!” Spike said, finally speaking up. “I can get the message directly to Princess Celestia easy.”
“I am curious as to how such a feat could be done,” Ax mused. Spike shot him a slight grin as Twilight gathered some ink and paper in her magic. Quickly she jotted down a letter and rolled it up before handing it to the young dragon. He made a quick dash towards the window and opened it with his free hand. He then held the roll of paper to his face and exhaled a puff of green fire, which quickly engulfed the parchment. I saw Ax was about to open his mouth in question, but stopped himself when the remains quickly formed into a green vapour that traveled along the winds towards Canterlot.
“Well, was it what you were expecting?” Spike asked Ax who was still staring in disbelief at the open window.
“That...should not be possible,” Ax said disbelievingly.
“Ax-man, I’m a unicorn. Rachel’s a pegasus. You’re talking to a dragon. Nothing on this planet makes sense,” I said.
“You not from planet?” the Changeling asked. It smiled at this news. “Then you are Andalite? You help me, yes?”
“We’re here to help everyone. We’re going to get rid of every Yeerk on this planet,” Jake said, standing proudly. “Or die trying.”
The Changeling hopped off the couch and walked up to Jake. “I help. Want Hive back. I follow you until then.” And then - to my utter surprise - it bowed.
They finally informed Celestia.
Let's hope she and Luna are still on our side. Then again they probably would have used they superior power already.
Oh snap!
I can't wait for more, you magnificent bastard!
Cheers
GM
I wondered why Spike suddenly returned to the Script. I'm surprised Marco hasn't suggested acquiring Spike... Though I'm sure he would be shot down on account that unlike the ponies, it would be uber suspicious if there were more than one baby dragons running round. Maybe he could suggest Spike instead!
Wonderful! I love this story. It's actually in my top favorites.
want more
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Oh, Drone BC3#937, you so crazy!
1294771
It can be strongly reasoned Luna is safe - her encounter in the woods suggests so.
Celestia has been kept conspicuously out of contact for the entire story, although Chrysalis is just as strong a contender for the 'Prime' host right now.
1295827
Hmm... BC3#937..... Aha! I hereby name this changeling, "Becket"!
1296009
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Once you think about it the Yeerks and the Changelings have a lot in common. First of, evolutionally-wise they both get the short end of the stick. Changelings need to feed off positive feelings from ponies while Yeerks require Kandrona rays every three days. They both find themselves at odds with other species due to their practices. Noone wants to just give up their happy feelings just to feed a Changeling and yeerks want bodies as they loathe their own form and want the freedom that comes with it.
The more I think of it, I find myself hoping that Chrysalis is Visser Seven as having Celestia be the Visser would be pretty predictable and quite frankly it's time for the cosmic space wedgie/story element to affect someone besides the Solar Princess.
Wow. The Stare. Original.
Just once I want Fluttershy to try it on someone, just for them to point out that she's trying to stop trained killers with a not-even-intimidating glare. 80 dozen fanfics out there just make The Stare some arcane, eldritch power, and I'm rather sick of all of our favorite ass-kicking characters getting humiliated by a little yellow doormat.
Frost, Fluttershy is NOT a doormat! Don't ever insult her. By the way, I bet Chrysalis is the Visser. Bet you all three bits. Who's in? I also say that the good guys not only win, they OWN.
Things are getting interesting. What happens if a changeling copies one of the morphs?
1296317
I've read a fanfic where that happened. King of dragons, Spykoran the old laughs off the stare, then greets his old friend *SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER*
It's called "The Elements of Harmony and the Savior of Worlds"
1296918 I'll be sure to give that a read.
1296317: Well, my thought is, she intimidated a cockatrice, who was turning her into stone as she stared. Since no cockatrice should be that afraid of a staring contest, it seems much more plausible that there's some mystic element to it. Although to be fair, you're right, it shouldn't be a sort of catch-all: with enough force of will, there should be beings that resist it, and if a being doesn't feel fear to begin with...
Yup, the Animorphs have a Changeling ally now. Who will doubtless either get killed or become the new Hive leader to maintain Animorphs canon.
I must also say, I'm getting slightly worried about Ax...
1297539 nothing in Equestria seems to have the same grim determination we see in a lot of the characters that cross over-- if a Dragon cried because he was scolded, an angry glare is just as likely to work. However, I've read of God of War crossover where the Stare worked on Kratos, who makes killing gods an art and a sport. Most people made of tougher stuff would laugh in Fluttershy's face when she did the Stare.
Uh-oh, Ax cannot handle the -ness, can he? XD
1294771
'Our' side? What Universe you from, amigo? Kin I be taken there too? Just drop me off near your world's version of the Stonehenge. I need to take a quick trip to Tamriel.
:1298150
Think that's bad? Wait 'till he visits Sugarcube Corner!
1300456 The side of Justice!
I registered for the sole purpose of telling you this:
The Yeerk Cassie befriended was Aftran! Aftran 942! Not Aldrea! Aldrea was the Andalite who was involved in the war on the Hork-Bajir Home World, fell in love with Dak Hamee, and became a Hork-Bajir nothlit.
I recommend you fix that before my young self fully breaks through and strangles you for getting an unimportant detail incorrect about the first fiction I ever geeked out over.
1297697: Your argument about the dragon is a bit confusingly worded. Are you saying that basically the dragon's a wimp? If that was so, shouldn't he have backed off after Rainbow kicked him? That said, I absolutely agree that Kratos should not be affected by the Stare to the same extent. As I said, there probably is a mystical element to the Stare, but Kratos and the like should easily be able to resist it.
1302818 I'm saying that the dragon wasn't physically weak, obviously, but it was emotionally weak. It broke down in tears because she yelled at it. The average sixth grader has more fortitude than that
1303415
Considering how fast Spike grew in The Secret of my Excess, that red dragon probably was only about six years old...
-Tricondon
1303471 point being that the fandom very much exaggerates the effectiveness of The Stare. This instance isn't as bad as some i've seen, but it's still there.
The changeling bowed?! Welp, dat poop just got serious.
1296009 Becket....I like that. Ya hear that Tri? We got a name for Mr. Shifty-Bug!
1296566 don't know if you've noticed bro, but she kind of is a doormat.... Or was at least. (That is, she was a doormat till she got some assertiveness training from good Ol' IW). Honestly she still kind of is. But it seems she's getting better. But, yea if she wasn't "Green isn't your color" very likely wouldn't have happened.
(the episode where she got pushed into becoming a fashion model, in case you don't know the names of every episode )
1300526
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Either you Wiki'd that for some unkowable reason, you're memory is tha bomb-diggity, or you really, really love the animorphs. Either way, that's kinda cool (and pretty damn funny) that you can just pop something that obscure outta nowhere.
1303497 I read a fic once where Fluttershy was trying to stare down something like a Dalek, but it wasn't one, because it wasn't a Doctor Who cross over. It just hit her in the face and knocked her out. It would've killed her if it hadn't been for Twilight teleporting the thing away.
1308466 in Article 2, it's some magic mind rape power somehow
1308979 Ha. I could see that, honestly. I don't want to start a flame war or anything, but I like the description used in Past Sins. That's it's a defense mechanism of sorts.
1305527
Never underestimate the amount of useless trivia known to a geek with an obsession!
In all honesty, I've forgotten most of those little details by now. But The Hork-Bajir Chronicles was a masterpiece that outclassed everything else in the series, and there's no way I could forget who Aldrea is. Plus The Sickness was one of my favorites, so I read it over and over. Aftran is just a little important there.
1310053
In my defense, I'm primarily the idea-man and dialogue writer. Sammy usually handles the descriptions and making sure I don't break Animorphs canon/continuity. And this was all him. He mixed up the names.
That's not to say that I don't write descriptions and Sam doesn't write dialogue; we share the tasks, though I have a knack for making realistic dialogue so a lot of that falls to me. Similarly, Sam's better at descriptions and such, so most of those go to him.
Anyways, my point is that Sam wanted to reference Aftran while I couldn't recall who that was. And he referred to her (it?) as Aldrea. And me, being the naive idiot I am, thought he was right.
We're human. We're bound to make mistakes here and there. Read the other comments for this story; I've made my share of mistakes along the line, and other users have nicely pointed them out and I obligingly made the required changes.
Still, nice to know this one error is what prompted you to sign up. I feel like I've accomplished something for some reason.
-Tricondon
1310053 To my continuing horror and shame I never really finished the seriese. I don't know why, it was an amazing seriese... Just never got around to it I s'pose 3=
1296918
Here's a thought. We know natural morphing, like that of a butterfly, resets the morphing clock. Changelings can morph at will. If they acquire changelings, they never need to worry about being stuck in morph ever again.
Ax is getting Pinkiefied. Poor kid will have to go through lotsa therapy back home
1310053
The Hork-Bajir Chronicles was amazing! It's a good thing you caught that first, I probably would have had the same reaction
1303497: Yes, it's almost certainly exaggerated. I've never denied that. But what are we going to do about it? It's not as if we have a lot of data on it; for all we know, it really is that magical. On the other hoof, it could easily be that everything she's intimidated with the Stare is just easily intimidated. Where there is ambiguity, people will run in whatever direction they will with it. If you're really so fussed about it, you could try writing a fic where it doesn't work to show an alternative to popular fanon. But in the meantime, you can't fairly go after other people for writing that in, because there's nothing to directly contradict it. I will grant that it's often a sign of lazy writing, but we can't dismiss that whole possibility out-of-hoof.
I'm gonna get a lot of guff for saying this, but RD is my least favorite character. She's cute and even respectable at times. She knows when to hold back...half the time. But this chapter and the chapter where she immediately attacks Ax and doesn't forgive him for defending himself? Well, "that's just Dash" doesn't cut it for me. Same thing with the season 1 dragon episode.
On other news, nice giving changeling a personality.
1854141
I actually agree with you on that one pal.
3679030
1854141
You two failed at life. You are disappointments.
Nuff said
Jake should have approved that message before it went out. And this is the only story I've read where changelings are given numbers instead of individual names.