Blind Spot
Princess Twilight Sparkle was seated on a park bench, right beside Lyra Heartstrings. Well, not that it was the real Lyra, but she sure acted like the real one. Above the invisible alicorn's head, she heard Rainbow Dash chatting away at her pet.
Thoughts about Easy Glide, the changeling disguised as Rainbow Dash, soured Twilight's mood a little. She looked up at the pegasus to see her talking with her pet. The apparent delight taken with Tank made Twilight quickly scribble notes down about the mare.
Easy Glide (code: Rainbow Dash): Seems more open with her pet, less confrontational. Keep observing, take careful notes of any changes in pony-to-pony interactions.
As she lowered her head back to Lyra, Twilight saw something in the distance. "Cloudsdale is here?" The moment she said it both her hooves shot up to her snout to try to cram the words back in. Looking around carefully, she breathed a slight sigh of relief.
"Shh, or they will hear you." Lyra kept looking ahead, smiling, but she somehow managed to talk out of the corner of her snout. "Are you another changeling?"
Alarm bells were going off, things were getting far out of hoof for the project. "Uh, n-n-no…" Twilight spoke as quietly as she could, but she noticed Lyra's ear twitched as she did.
"Good. Let's go to my place, I want to know what is going on here." Lyra promptly pushed forward, her hips jerking from that odd position she loved to recline into the regular pony 'four on the floor'. "Hi there Bon Bon!" Lyra trotted over to her best friend. "Would love to chat, but I need to go home and wait for somepony."
"Did you hear?" Bon Bon, or secretly Sweet Delight, asked. "There are some new ponies in town, Derpy said they looked a little funny."
Lyra laughed. "In this town? They will be friends with everypony in ten minutes flat, you just watch!" She began to trot off toward her home. "Let me know when Pinkie has planned the party!"
"Will do, Lyra." Bon Bon trotted off on her own errands to run.
"New ponies in town?" Twilight risked speaking, but got a sharp 'shh' back from Lyra. She held her silence until the unicorn was inside her own house, having left the door open long enough for Twilight to sneak in as well.
"Drop the disguise, now." Lyra's horn glowed, a little threat in her tone. Both her slight frown and her magic faded when she beheld the alicorn that appeared in her living room. "Twilight?"
"Hi!" Twilight smiled at the changeling. "Now you." She gave a smirk and waited.
"Now me what? Look, if that is the real Twilight Sparkle, prove it, do something a changeling couldn't!" Lyra still looked highly suspicious.
"Uh…" Twilight blinked across the room. When she looked at the unicorn, Lyra was shaking her head. "Oh, that's right, they could probably do that. When we were in school together, we didn't talk much, but then you showed me that place that does milkshakes and we-" Twilight was cut off as she was wrapped in a tight embrace. She hugged the other pony back.
"I was so scared at first, but then… everypony was just acting normal. Like they weren't all changelings." Lyra pulled back, her look much more open. "Is everypony okay? Are they all in pods?"
"No! I mean, yes, everypony is doing fine. I… I'm sorry, Lyra. I was sure I had everything worked out but apparently I forgot one of my best friends. You see, I am running an experiment, all the changelings here don't know they are all changelings, they are feeding each other, learning friendship, and doing it with very little pony interaction at all." Twilight got over her worry about not telling Lyra by engaging science mode. "There are already successes! If you want to talk to a pony, go and see Fluttershy."
The aquamarine unicorn blinked, taking it all in. "Twilight Sparkle, you left me in town with a swarm of changelings?" Lyra stood up on two legs, shoving her forehooves into her hips. "Well, what are you going to do about it? Did you see there is even an undisguised changeling here now? What happens when more arrive…" She trailed off, her eyes going wide.
"The new ponies!" Both exclaimed together, staring at each other with shock.
"There, now it is just us here. The whole hive is empty." Chrysalis settled back on her bed and watched the stallion. They just looked at each other, neither knowing what to say. "Well, this is far less exciting than having an army of hundreds to feed. What do ponies normally do when they are alone together?"
Braeburn's brain went a little haywire. "Uh, well… we could go and see a movie, but that would need to be in Appleloosa-"
"Then let's go!" Chrysalis' wings chirped a little as she flicked them in excitement. "This really was the best plan ever, Twilight Sparkle will take care of my hive and I can finally just relax and have fun!" She trotted to the doorway that led out into the empty hive. "Are you coming?"
The stallion tilted his head to the side and thought about his options, the idea that he could be friends with the Queen Chrysalis was pretty amazing, and the alternatives at the moment seemed to be staying here alone. "At the risk'a sounding like my cuz, eeyup." He trotted off, leaving the dark hive behind him.
"I still don't like this, who will care for the Queen without us there?" Grind looked around Ponyville nervously. "Who should we look like?"
Sever bopped the other drone on the back of the head. "Would you shut up about that, you are going to give us away… Hi!" The last was spoken aloud as an aquamarine unicorn trotted up. "My name is Sev-ven Ten!"
"A bowling pony? We have a bowling alley. My name's Lyra Heartstrings, pleased to meet you!" Lyra knew the Princess was close by, but it was one thing to see an alicorn at your side, and another to hope they were still there. She lifted a hoof, holding it there, awaiting the return clop. Leaning forward, she cupped her hoof up to her cheek conspiratorially. "You are supposed to lift your leg and clop against it, what kind of changelings don't know that?"
"You're a changeling?" Grind all-but yelled. "Oh queen I was so worried we wouldn't be able to blend in, it is so good to know that… that…" Grind looked at the new unicorn and Slice, both staring at him like he had lost his mind. "What?"
"What is the first rule of being a changeling?" Lyra took a stab in the dark, she hoped this would work. If they thought she was a changeling, maybe she could help Twilight.
Grind blinked a few times, then tilted his head. "Wash your fangs after each meal?"
Another bop on the head came from Sever. "Idiot, Grind, it is 'never break character'." He lasted all of two seconds before he looked at Lyra, a worried look on his snout. "Isn't it?"
"At least one of you has some brains. Okay, if anypony asks, you are working for Lyra Heartstrings, got it?" Lyra looked around the two drones and what was likely to be their four flunkies. "So what are you doing here?"
"Hunting!" Grind bounced up and down excitedly, until he got bopped again. "Uh, working for… for Lyra Heartthrob?" Another bop of a hoof connected with his head. "What?"
"Heartstrings, she is Lyra Heartstrings." Sever beamed up at Lyra and the mare felt a pang of disgust with herself for lying to them, followed by shock that she would feel that for changelings.
"Good, and yes, Lyra Heartstrings. So what, did our queen start sending the bottom of the barrel?" Lyra looked between the four quiet drones, not getting any words from them.
"Err, yes." Sever looked down. "Literally. I know I am not the brightest 'ling, but she sent us away, all of us. The hive is empty." His head shot up when he heard a gasp, but all he could see was Lyra's face. "We left her with a pony, for food, at least."
"She sent you all?" Lyra blinked at that and turned to look at the empty air where she was sure Twilight was, based off the gasp the alicorn had given. "Why would she send all the drones… sorry, I was one of the first, they never tell us anything!"
Grind bounced in place, like a filly in class who realizes she knows the right answer to a question. "She said she had won at last, that her whole hive would be well fed, and all she had to do was send them to Twilight Sparkle." Another gasp, this one slightly to the side of Lyra, caught the drone's attention. "Is someling there?"
"'Somepony!'" Lyra stepped forward, looking around nervously. "You can't keep using 'ling-slang out here, you need to blend in, listen more, work out how ponies talk."
Sever blinked and smiled at the obviously much smarter mare. He preened his wings a little. "Yeah, you listen to Lyra here, she is our boss now." And like that he gave up the responsibility that his Queen had given him, but it was in two good causes. He didn't have to worry about being squashed for the stupidity of others. He really liked how smart and clever Lyra was. A pang in the drone made him ask, "What is your real name?"
Lyra blinked a little. "It… it's hard to get out of character, hold on…" She coughed and spluttered. The softest whisper came to her ear. "My name is Gray Sleek!"
"Gray Sleek." Sever felt tingly just saying it. "But of course, your name is Lyra." He smiled, she smiled. He felt even more tingly.
"Muffins, I don't know the password… ugh, something stupid about Shining Armor?" Twilight was in a rush, she had important things to do. "Just let me in!"
"That is the correct password…" Derpy, or Muffins to her friends, gave a confused smile and lowered the spear. "Hi Twil- Bye Twilight…"
Twilight landed in the nice camp, her eyes scanning around. She saw a changeling, Dry Wit smiled when she saw the Princess. "Hi Twilight, anything interesting happen in town?"
Trotting up to the drone Twilight was clearly looking upset. "Lots, but one of particular interest was Lyra Heartstrings-" Twilight was just about to explain when an aquamarine unicorn walked up to the pair.
"What's up Twilight?" Second Skin was smarter than his kin, when the other drones were taking over the town he slipped out with the ponies, leaving the real Lyra behind. "Anything I can-"
Twilight had the disguised changeling wrapped in a bubble of force. "Exactly who I wanted to see. Drop your disguise." She blinked when the changeling did just as asked. "Uh… what are you doing here?" Trapped in the bubble, Second shook his head and spoke, keeping his voice low so the shield muffled it. "I can't hear you!" Twilight yelled back at him. He spoke a few more nonsense phrases in a whisper before the bubble popped. "Okay, now, tell me what you are doing!"
"My name is Second Skin, I identified a target I could infiltrate as and took over from one Lyra Heartstrings, leaving her behind in your experiment while I could relax out here and not have to worry." Second closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "It feels really good to be able to just say it, to not lie."
"He's sincere." Dry didn't take her eyes off the other drone. "But he is a changeling, don't trust him."
"What? But you are a changeling too!" Seconds pointed a hoof at Dry. "Why should she trust you any more than me?" The words felt right to say and, lately, Second had found doing so much better than just lying.
Twilight spoke up before Dry could. "Because I trust her, my friends trust her." She looked at Second. "Why should I trust you in any way?"
"Because the hive sucks, living in your little pet ant colony seemed like an even worse idea, and here I have all the love I can drink, so long as I do some work. Being a pony is a pretty sweet deal."
Feeling stern and resolute for a few more seconds, Twilight suddenly trembled in surprise. "Oh, this can be perfect!" Stacks of paper started appearing around her as her magic was lashing out to get things. "If you stay here, you can be our control group!" Both changelings stared at Twilight with awe, delight, and soon, satiation. Both nodded. "So, first thing, baseline, how do you feel about ponies?"
Second smiled wide, his insides tingling, his belly feeling full. Still, he drank. "I love them!" He dropped his haunches down, grinning. "Yup, particularly when they taste this good!"
Dry couldn't fight it, an alicorn in her element was just about the most potent form of love in Equestria. She slumped down beside Second. "I second that!"
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So Chrysalis is unintentionally cooperating.
Now to start cross-integration testing!
Keep going! ;)
so passive feeding interesting
Lazy Chrysalis is hilarious!
recline in to the - recline into the
leaving her bind - leaving her behind
you anymore than me - you any more than me
*****
What a twist!
I almost sympathize with Chrysalis, but she is dumping her responsibilities on someone else, so that's still pretty self-serving, even if Twilight is a willing, albeit unknowing pawn in her plan.
And thank you, in turn for your kind words.
7525940 Well, she tried it her way, she invaded Canterlot, tried to get all her 'lings fed... it didn't work because of Twilight and her friends. So, time for Twilight to deal with the problem... oh, this stallion tastes not terrible...
7526212
I wonder what that ship would even be titled... Braesalis? Chrysburn?
Eheheh perfect usage of Lyra's character xD