We need to talk.
DarkSparkle
I know. I was waiting for this to happen. I know I wasn't supposed to connect, but I just wanted the ponies to relax. They needed it and I knew how to get them to calm down.
PaintDrop
I'm sure you did, buts that's not the issue and you know it, Luminescent. Or should I call you Vertex?
As much as I, furious and fascinated by what you've done to PaintDrop, there are some things I need to discuss with you. So far I've managed to learn a bit, despite her condition.
One: You're unreformed, though not linked to Chrysalis
Two: You're some sort of artist or bard (I personally would go with emo or goth)
Three: you managed to get PaintDrop into the mess she is now.Since it was your initiative to let us know, I won't waste time telling you what state she's in. Yesterday she finally managed to swallow some soup without throwing up. Usually that would be a good thing. At the slow rate she's recovering, however, it isn't. By my rough calculations she's at the risk of starving to death months before her stomach learns to cope.
DarkSparkle
I thought you had magic that could make her better?
PaintDrop
We do, but nopony was meant to live on magic alone! She needs food, real food. If she can't start eating in the next few weeks no amount of magic will help her. Do you understand? She's incredibly strong and an earth pony, but after what you've put her through (what she has put herself through) it might not be enough.
DarkSparkle
I know. It’s my fault. Sadly, there's nothing more I can do. Not a day passes without me thinking that I should have let someone know sooner. Maybe she wouldn't have been so far gone by then. Maybe everything would have been better. That is a regret that will remain with me for the rest of my life.
PaintDrop
Look, we don't have time for theatrics. (And I say this kindly as one whose best friend is a drama queen.) I really need your help right now. PaintDrop needs your help, rather.
We have a theory that small doses of draining might trick PaintDrop’s body in being more receptive to food. There is some risk involved—we have to get the dosage right, and PaintDrop must be conscious or she might relapse, but the theory is sound. All that's required is for you to get there.
DarkSparkle
… at you sure it'll work?
PaintDrop
Oh there's a very high chance. Definitely! The theory is very promising and there seem to be precedents of a sort.
The only issue is you, though. It'll be Canterlot. And you are unreformed… I’ll guarantee your safety, of course, but… Memories are still fresh and the things Chrysalis did… Well, it's a bit complicated.
DarkSparkle
I need to think about it.
PaintDrop
I know this is difficult, maybe even terrifying, but PaintDrop really needs you. Literally. As I've outlined, if you don't her health will deteriorate.
If this works as expected, PaintDrop might even make it to the convention (which would be positive for her from a healing perspective). Also, if I everything goes well and I manage to convince Cadence and Princess Celestia to let you go under my supervision. Just a temporary measure, I'm sure.
DarkSparkle
You're very manipulative.
PaintDrop
What? There's no such thing! You know I could have easily just tracked your aethernet address, teleported there and taken you by force? Really, who do you take me for? :/
DarkSparkle
You could do that and all you’ll find is the stallion of your dreams standing there.
But you're right. The only one suffering here is the only innocent one. How is she? Did she… say anything?
PaintDrop
She cries a lot. When she's not having in her nightmare phase or vomiting she sometimes talks about you. A few times she genuinely wanted you to be there and not as a changeling.
Doing some research on changelings I know everything she says can't be true. You've probably showed he what she wants to see. Have you appeared as her dream as well? Or did you chose something from her life?
DarkSparkle
If I go I'll be asked to reform, won't I? Cast out at best.
PaintDrop
No. I've discussed this with the Princess. Help us save a life and an exception will be made. You can return to wherever you were hiding and everything will be as it was. Once PaintDrop is fully healed we’ll remove her memories of you. It will be as if it never happened.
I'm sorry, but I don't think there’s another way. You're not a threat. We’ve faced far larger dangers, but… almost all of the villains have been reformed. It's not much of a choice, I know, but look at things our way. You caused harm to a pony you liked and without even trying.
I didn't mean what I said about capturing you. I don't want to do that. I'm just afraid. You're just too different for me to be comfortable around. Maybe in time ponies will feel different, but now…
DarkSparkle
And by the time they do, PaintDrop will be long gone.
Did she tell you I told her to go away? When we first met I didn't want to have anything to do with her. I could smell she was hurting, so I decided to help a bit, the same way I help forest animals. I so hoped she'd go when she was better, but she stayed. She was so useless and annoying. Even when she was tried to remain silent I could taste the emotions bursting from her.
You say you're good at hiding emotions. You're not. Changelings only humor you. The more a pony hides them the brighter they burn. PaintDrop was used to hiding her emotions a lot. She wanted someone to noticed them and her. Nopony could.
Now I miss her aroma. Everything has become bland…
I'll think about it. If i go to Canterlot you’ll know. If not, I'll leave for the outlands so there will be no need to banish me.
PaintDrop
Okay. I'll be waiting. And I'm sorry.
DarkSparkle
I'm sure there's a third option. Not sure what it is at present, and Paintdrop's deteriorating health comes first, but I am certain there is a third option.
8336254
If Vertex does care about Paint as much as he claims, it's possible that he'll metamorphose without meaning to. I wouldn't bet money on it, but it's possible.
Well fuck this was a lot more depressing than I thought it would be....
Fuck
Why don't he want to be reformed? It seem like there no downside to being reformed aside from looking a little silly. Which wouldn't really matter to a shapeshifter anyway.
Okay, I know Twilight would take this route and she has to keep her word, but *yay* me! This guy needs to be imprisoned. Why doesn't Twilight just teleport to him and capture him? "All you see is the stallion of your dreams" he says. So what, Twilight knows he's a changeling. Teleport in, see the stallion of your dreams, stun him! See a Crystal Pangolin, stun it! Just Stun everything until a changeling is revealed, job done. Then you could just expose him to Paintdrop in short bursts (he'll drain her to avoid starvation, might not even be able to stop himself if he's hungry enough), stunning him when you need him to stop, and once she's cured throw him the deepest darkest dungeon you've got, simple. I know this sounds brutal, but what this guy has done is brutal too. Plus he refuses to reform, why? What's the downside, unless he enjoys living like this.
8338222
Is there any evidence that he's actually committed a crime? He didn't deceive PaintDrop about what he was, he didn't drain her without permission, and he was probably justifiably unaware of what the consequences would be. Being unreformed is itself likely not a crime as long as he's not harming ponies, but there would still be significant social pressure that would justify him being hesitant to inform authorities about himself even after the symptoms of PaintDrop's addiction started showing, and she may very well even have started blackmailing him herself if he had tried to cut her off.
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The issue is that he doesn't want to not drain love, he just wants to do it responsibly. Sort of like fluttershy. If he takes a little he won't harm it feel hunger. He's just afraid that too much would change him into something he doesn't want to be, thus the refusal to reform :)