> A Changeling to Remember
>  by Blueheartpegasus
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ditto.... it was a nice name in her opinion. It referred to the slang word 'ditto', which meant to agree. It made a bit of sense, but that wasn't why she liked it. She liked it because of the way it sounded; 'di' sounded wonderful in her voice. Her voice was like a snake's, beautiful but deadly. Of course, she herself was not beautiful, nor deadly.

She was a Changeling, a bug-like creature that resembles a pony, but barely. However, she wasn't quite a Changeling, either. All Changeling had horns; translucent, bug-like wings; holes in their hooves; and bright blue eyes. She had been born a mutant with purple eyes and no wings. She was not confident like her peers, so she was singled out as the worst Changeling in the swarm.

She had been bullied a lot as a child, and it was the worst childhood she could even imagine. It resulted in her being quiet and shy as an adult, and even unskilled as a Changeling. In fact, she was a horrible Changeling. She couldn't even transform into a pony right. No matter whom she changed into, her eyes were always the purple she had in her normal form.

She wasn't even supposed to survive. Every once in awhile, a Changeling is born a mutant. Either without wings, without a horn, or without the power to transform. These eventually died off, no matter how determined other members of the swarm were to save them. They had all expected her to die the moment she was born. But no, she had survived her whole life. Queen Chrysalis had even allowed her to come along in the invasion of Canterlot, the capital of Equestria.

Well, she thought as she flew through the air, I shouldn't have accepted. It was the worst mistake of my life.

The spell from two ponies, Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, had tossed all Changelings far away from Canterlot. Of course, once they had found their thoughts, the Changeling were ordered to regroup back at home. They would just spread their wings and fly away. 

Too bad she didn't have wings.

As she reflected on this, she flew through the air, watching her swarm-mates fly away. As she looked around, she realized how high she was. It was going to hurt when she landed, if she even survived the landing.

Calm down, Ditto. she told herself, Concentrate on the good things. Just keep calm.

Good things, good things.... being sure of something was a good thing... what was she sure of? She was sure her name was Ditto, she was sure she could still use magic, but what else?

Nope, she was out of time. She was getting closer and closer to the ground. It appeared she would crash into a tree. She tried to relax, hoping the impact would hurt less if she did so, and waited for the pain to come. Finally, she crashed hard into a branch of the tree, only slightly cushioned by leaves.

"OUCH!" she screeched as she crashed into it. She lay there, surrounded by leaves, for what seemed like hours, thinking. How would she get back to the swarm? She was already injured from the spell, and now she felt as though her hind legs were twisted- if not broken. How in the world was she going to crawl to safety?

Ditto opened her eyes and found the glowing sun shining down on her. She thought of Celestia, the pony her queen had overthrown. Was the sun glaring at her Celestia's way of mocking her pain, her agony? It's my punishment. She thought, My punishment for being involved.

Ditto knew she had to move, she had to leave, she had to get going, she had to find the swarm, but it was so relaxing just to lay here in this tree. The leaves were soft and smelled good, the sun was warm even if it was mocking her, and it seemed nopony could see her. She was safe and relaxed. More so than she ever had felt at the swarm.

There had always been the lingering feeling that she didn't belong in the swarm. So many things were wrong with her. She had no wings, little magical power, she bruised easily, she had purple eyes, wasn't skilled at transforming, and didn't like fighting. No other Changelings liked her, and the only one who had ever believed in her was Queen Chrysalis.

But what did she believe I could do? Ditto asked herself. I was nothing than her slave of war against ponies. We could feed off of Equestrians any day, but Queen Chrysalis wanted to overthrow pony civilization. 

Suddenly, a creak interrupted Ditto's thoughts. The leaves shifted beneath her and there were more creaks. What was going on? She didn't have time to ponder it before she suddenly started falling and hit a wooden floor hard.

Looking around, she saw splinters of the broken ceiling. Evidently, this was a house built into the tree. This was actually quite convenient. It was cozy and it seemed empty.

"I can stay here until I'm well enough to travel!" Ditto croaked out loud. She was surprised at her own voice. It wasn't as beautiful and deadly as it had once been- it was raspy and broken by pain. This thought made her stand shakily and make her way slowly and painfully over to a mirror.  

Wow, did she looked messed up or what? She was covered in long scars and scratches, her left hind hoof was twisted all the way around from the fall, and the right hind leg was snapped just below the knee. She found it hard to even move, so she was happy that there didn't seem to be any enemies waiting for her here. 

She gazed around. She saw many books, so she supposed she was in a library. She had taken the form of a librarian once, and during that time she had found that her eyes weren't just differently colored than other changelings', she could read with them. This is strange, because in their normal form, changelings' eyes can't see the letters properly, making it too hard for them to read. However, Ditto's strange eyes allowed her to read no matter what form she was in. This wasn't of much use, as there were no books back at the hive. Why have books when most can't read?

She also noticed a bed a little farther up. Maybe somepony lived here. It didn't matter though, because she didn't have the strength to care. She gathered the last tiny bit of magic she had left and performed a simple transportation spell to get her up beside the bed. She crawled in and curled up to go to sleep. She might feel strong enough in the morning. 





Spellchecker and prof-reader: glitchhunter5000


> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

By morning, Ditto had decided on one thing.

She was going to die.

She found that she didn't have a bit of power left, she was almost completely starved, she couldn't even move more than a twitch, and her wounds were starting to look infected. She frowned at the wounds when the thought came to her. That was the problem with magical beings- without magic, they become very weak. 'Not just that in comparison to their normal magical self that they looked weak, but their body was born with magic. And without magic, it's like losing its immune system. Now that she had no magic to fight the infection, it was growing rapidly and would probably kill her before hunger did.

She thought of her childhood again. When Changelings were larvae (or children), they were cared for by others. But when they started to grow and become more adult-like, they were sent to a school within the swarm. This school taught the Changelings how to use their magic, how to think like the rest of the swarm, how to transform, and how to tell where there are buildups of love they could feed on.

They called this school, "Changeling Class", if only to give it a name. On graduation day, Queen Chrysalis would check out every Changeling and choose who would be part of the swarm and who would stay in the hive and care for newborns. Everyone expected Ditto to be told to stay back and care for the larvae, but Queen Chrysalis had chosen her to be part of the swarm.  

She had found it hard to be part of the swarm, as she couldn't fly with them. Most of the time, a few older members would hold her up and carry her about. The swarm 'missions' she was sent on were usually to find an excess of love (or loved ponies who were leaving town for a bit), then was left back at the hive while the others did the hard work. 

As Ditto thought this, she wondered, Why is there no love in the hive? We feed off the love of others, but why can't we feel love for ourselves?

Her thinking was interrupted by a growling from her belly. She cringed, and for a moment wished that she was a pony. Ponies could eat anything they wanted and it would fill their bellies and keep their strength up. But when Changelings ate normal food, it didn't do anything. The only food that they actually could eat was love.

I should at least try to eat something. She thought, struggling to move. It might fool myself into thinking my belly is full until I can find some love.

After struggling with her pain and her twisted and broken hind legs, she finally found her way off the ledge that the bed was on and into a room that seemed to be like the kitchen. There was a white case that hummed quietly, and it had a smooth, curvy handle. She limped up to the case, wrapped a hoof around the handle, and pulled. A gust of cold air came, and she saw wonderful, yummy-looking foods.

"I love the taste of carrots." she said out loud, grabbing a few carrots off of a shelf and closing the white case. She limped her way back into the room and sat in the middle, eating her carrots and pondering how she would get back up onto the ledge and into the bed. The carrots tasted good, but they didn't fill her belly.

Something on the shelves of books caught her eye. She limped painfully across the room too look at a big red book entitled, "Changelings, Insects of Evil" She pulled the book out and flipped it open with her hooves. "We're not that evil." she muttered as she read the title page. "We just try to feed ourselves."

She scanned the table of contents. The first chapter was called, "Basic Knowledge of Changelings" She flipped to that page and started reading.

Changelings are bug-like creatures that resemble alicorns. The typical changeling has small, flimsy, translucent wings that have small holes in them, a small and slightly curved horn, oval-shaped blue eyes, hooves with holes in them, a fish-like tail, and a dark blue patch on their backs. They have the ability to transform into somepony you love and feed off your love for them, often kidnapping or exiling the real pony.  

Ditto rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on! Queen Chrysalis locked one princess in a cave and suddenly we're vicious kidnappers!"

Not much is known about the everyday lives of Changelings, but we do know that they live in swarms, gathering in hives and caring for their young at its center. Like ants and bees, the queen of the swarm is the mother of all. It is not certain what happens when the queens dies, but if they are like bees in any way, when another female is born she grows strong then kills the old queen, taking her place.

"Now that is wrong!" Ditto rolled her eyes once more. She finally decided that this book was upsetting her more, and tried to find another book. She left that volume on the floor and limped over to another shelf. She scanned the alphabetized books, and soon found one that interested her. She pulled it out and flicked it open. It was a blue book entitled, "A History of Equestria".

Equestria, it is home to many ponies; Earth Ponies, Unicorns, and Pegasi alike. But do you ever wonder how the great land of Equestria came to be?

It was back in a time when unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies all kept to themselves. They were in their own tribes and often fought. It was a terrible time of disharmony. Pegasi changed the weather, bringing rain and sunshine for the Earth Ponies' crops. In exchange, they wanted food. The Unicorns also wanted food, in exchange for bringing forth day and night. This system seemingly worked well until a terrible blizzard came and ruined the ponies' way of life.  

Ditto continued reading for hours. She lay there, injuries forgotten, as she soaked up knowledge. when she finished that book, she grabbed another book, and another. This is so interesting! Ditto thought. Back at the swarm, there were no books. Knowledge was kept in the brain, and no one cared in the slightest about history.

Ditto didn't even notice the front door open and voices drift in from below. She was so absorbed in the book she was reading- "Phoenixes and Other Great Birds"- that she didn't notice anything bad was about to happen until she heard hoofsteps behind her. She flipped around in just enough time to see the door behind her fling open.





Spellchecker and prof-reader: Glitchunter5000
> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

For a long moment, there was complete silence. Ditto sat frozen in the middle of the floor, a book open in front of her, while three ponies sat in the doorway, jaws hanging open in utter disbelief. One was a yellow pegasus, one was a pink earth pony, and one was a purple unicorn. There was nothing but silence for a long time until the pink one gasped. "It's a changeling!"

The three ponies rushed into the room and surrounded Ditto. the purple one gave her an angry glare, the pink one looked suspicious, and the yellow one didn't look angry at all. In fact, she was eyeing Ditto's injuries.

"What are you doing here, Changeling?" demanded the unicorn. "Are you spying on Ponyville?"

Ditto huddled on the floor in fear. These ponies were going to hurt her- she knew it. She turned her back on the purple pony and tried to run away, but her hind legs collapsed beneath her and she fell to the ground. She tried to continue running away, limping for the open door, but the light yellow Pegasus blocked her path.

Finally, Ditto recognized these ponies. They were the ones that her siblings had fought hard and finally captured during the invasion of Canterlot. She had not been in that battle, however, because she was pretty useless in any kind of fight. She had watched from the sidelines, reporting injuries of her fellow changelings to others so they could be taken safely out of the battle. At least she had some uses.

"Wait, girls. Stop." the yellow Pegasus said, observing Ditto. "It's not dangerous. Look, It can barely move."

Ditto blinked in surprise at the yellow Pegasus, who was now crouched beside her and looking at one of her infected cuts.

"Fluttershy, are you crazy?" the unicorn exclaimed. "This thing is one of our enemies!"

"It's an injured animal," the yellow pony, known as Fluttershy, pointed out. "She also has no wings."

"Hey, Twilight!" said the pink pony, who was looking around at the piles of books. "I think she's been reading your books!" Twilight stared at the books, surprised.

"I didn't know Changelings could read," the purple pony said in wonderment, trotting over to her friend and picking up "A History of Equestria".

"Can it talk?" the pink pony asked, bouncing over to Ditto, who was still being examined by Fluttershy. "Queen Chrysalis could."

"I don't know." Fluttershy helped Ditto to her hooves and asked kindly in a small and gentle voice, "Hello, friend. I'm Fluttershy. Do you know how to talk?"

Ditto mumbled in a small voice, "Yes, yes I can." she looked around and saw that everypony was staring at her, eyes wide with surprise. "Changelings can talk in pony form, can't they? It shouldn't be that surprising."

"Your voice!" Fluttershy gasped.

"My voice?" then Ditto remembered. Ever since her fall, her voice had been more raspy. "Oh, my voice, it... it's kinda like a snake's usually. At least in my opinion. But since I fell in here, my voice has been all weird."

"This is the source." Twilight pointed towards Ditto's throat. In the middle of her throat was a scar. "I've read that when some ponies get cuts on their throats, it can make their voice go raspy like this Changeling's."

"Stop calling me 'this Changeling'." Ditto said, shifting in her position as Fluttershy picked up her broken hind leg. "My name's Ditto."

"Hi, Ditto." the unicorn said, unconcernedly. "I'm Twilight Sparkle." Then she turned to her friends. "We have to get it out of here!" Twilight whinnied urgently. "It could lead its friends back here and they could take over Ponyville!"

"It can't move, though." Fluttershy pointed out.

"Maybe it can communicate with the others through magic."

"But if it could use magic, wouldn't we all be fried by now? Like hay fries?" the pink one said.

"Maybe it's just trying to fool us! Maybe it's just a decoy, so it can send back information to its friends while we're here nurturing it!"  

'"But Twilight, these wounds are terrible," Fluttershy said. "Nopony would herself like this. Look at this."  She pointed a yellow hoof at Ditto's broken leg. "She'll have trouble walking for months."

"You have a point, but we still can't trust it. Think what the Changelings put us and Cadance through, not to mention the rest of Canterlot!"

"We can't throw her out, silly." the pink pony said cheerfully, despite the situation. "That wouldn't be very nice."

"Then what should we do?"

After a bit of discussion, the ponies finally turned back towards Ditto, who Fluttershy had finished examining. The timid yellow Pegasus now waited to know if she should heal Ditto or not. Twilight trotted forwards. "Well, Ditto, we've decided that we should help you."

Ditto just smiled with relief.

"Fluttershy will heal you, and you will live here until you're better," she continued. "We just always have to have Spike watching you to make sure you can't contact any of the swarm until you leave, and you won't be allowed out of the library until we're sure we can trust you."

"Sounds good to m-" Ditto was cut off as she was knocked aside. Fluttershy had flown off so fast that she had knocked the Changeling on her side.

"Oh! oh! oh!" The pink pony leaped up in the air excitedly and pulled a large cannon out of nowhere. "That means that we can throw a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party, right Twilight?"

"Fine, Pinkie Pie."

"Yay!" Pinkie Pie pressed a button on the cannon and party supplies shot out, instantly decorating the room with streamers and confetti.

Ditto looked about in amazement. "But... but... how is that even possible?"

"She's Pinkie Pie," Twilight explained. '"The laws of physics and her don't get along well."' 

The Changeling blinked in confusion, then limped over to where the others were gathering for the party.





Spellchecker and Prof-reader: Glitchhunter5000
> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ditto was getting stronger. It was only the next day, and she already felt stronger. Twilight had found an old bed for her and set it beside a bookcase. It was better that way, Ditto could easily get to it and she could grab the books off the shelves to read them without moving from her comfortable spot. 

Fluttershy also came in every once in awhile to check up on how she was doing. Ditto was amazed by this pony- she never flinched when she healed her and always spoke kindly. Maybe, she thought, she's the only pony who realizes that I'm not going to eat them!

There did seem to be something about her that made everypony afraid of her. Twilight would work in the same room, but wouldn't ever talk to Ditto and kept tossing her suspicious glares. Other than Twilight and Fluttershy, she hadn't seen anypony since yesterday. But, really, after the terror the changelings had unleashed on the ponies of Canterlot, Ditto understood why they would be afraid of her.

Since the only living beings she saw were Twilight, Spike, Fluttershy, and occasionally some of Fluttershy's animal friends, it left her a lot of time to herself. While Spike was always ordered to be watching Ditto when Twilight was out, he never said much, so Ditto had silence to read.

Oh, and how she loved reading! It was so interesting, and there was so much to learn! But aside from learning, she especially enjoyed fiction. Her favorite was a series called "Goldhoof the Magical". It was placed in history, back before Equestria, when the three tribes of ponies fought and feuded. Then an alicorn was born, and, fitting into all yet no groups, was disliked by everypony. Then the rulers of all animals- rulers of ponies, buffalo and zebras alike- hired Goldhoof to spy on outlaws in each pony tribe. Goldhoof then takes the job and investigates crimes, while hiding her appearance by making either her horn, her wings, or both invisible.

Ditto was reading the second book of the series, "Goldhoof the Magical and the Pegasus Race", when there was a knock on the door. She heard Twilight on the floor below go get it, so she continued reading. She was so engrossed in her reading that she didn't notice somepony below talking excitedly to her Unicorn friend.

Goldhoof longed to use her magic to fix the problem, but she had to remember that her horn was invisible. Using magic now would blow her cover! She tried to find another way to fix this by scanning the area, but the Pegasi all sat around in shock, watching the water pour below.

Goldhoof swooped over to the water tower and examined it. She saw where the water was pouring out- a huge hole had been ripped in the side. It was definitely too big to plug with a hoof. She had to find some way to stop the surge of water!


"HEY, BUG-PONY!" Ditto jumped with surprise as a pink head came in between her and the book. She looked up to see the pink Earth Pony, Pinkie Pie, standing in front of her. She had balloons tied around her waist and was floating a few inches above the floor. She also had a cake that she was balancing on top of the highest balloon, which Ditto's confusion got the best of her.

"Happy First-aversary, Ditty!" Pinkie twisted her head around and bit the balloons loose, letting herself fall to the ground. "Since your 'Welcome to Ponyille' party was so small, I decided to give you ANOTHER party! So it's your FIRST-AVERSARY, 'cause you've been in Ponyville for one full day!"

"That cake's gonna-" Ditto tried to say, but was interrupted as the cake slipped off the balloon and plummeted for the floor. Pinkie noticed this, and dived for the cake, catching it on her tongue and eating it whole. She licked her lips. 

"Mmmm, yummy!"

"So, what are you doing here, Pinkie Pie?"

"I said!" Pinkie rummaged around in her mane and pulled out a tiny confetti cannon. She pulled a string in the bottom and there was a huge 'BOOM!' as the whole room was coated in confetti. "It's your FIRST-AVERSARY! And I had an extra cake!"

Suddenly, there was a plate of cupcakes under Ditto's nose. She grabbed one with a hoof and munched on it, although she knew that it wouldn't fill her belly. "I thought everypony hated me." she mumbled through a mouthful of cupcake. "I mean, some love from Fluttershy's kept me strong, but nopony else will even look at me."

Pinkie lifted Ditto's face up in her hooves. "Silly! I couldn't hate ANYPONY! And if I hated you, then wouldn't I have to hate her, too?"

"Who's her?" Ditto asked.

Pinkie's eyes shifted back and forth and she changed the subject. "Hey, Twilight, where's Dashie?"

"Oh, Rainbow's out." Twilight said, looking up from her book.

"Who's Rainbow?" Ditto asked.

"She's one of my friends," Twilight explained. "I came up with the idea for a buddy-system, and paired the six of us- my friends and I- up in groups of two. Rainbow and I were paired up, but she took off just before we got home."

"She's been gone all night?" Pinkie asked.

"No, she came back later and I made her stay downstairs so she wouldn't notice Ditto, but then she flew off this morning again." Twilight sighed, "I hope she'll be back later, there could be changelings all over Ponyville."

----

Ditto's reading was interrupted by a knocking below. She jumped slightly in surprise, the knocking was loud and excited. She assumed it was Pinkie, and when she heard Twilight call, "Spike, can you go get that for me?", she went back to her book.

Pinkie had left only an hour ago, saying that she had to go get something. Ditto hoped it wasn't more guests to the party, she didn't feel up to creating a disguise. She didn't think she had enough power to change, anyway.

For awhile, all she could hear below was Spike talking, and the voice of Pinkie Pie. Suddenly, a piece of their conversation caught Ditto's ears. 

“Hey, who’re you?” Spike asked.

“I-I’m Mirror Match.” a stranger replied.

Ditto suddenly felt something. She had no idea what it was, but it was familiar. It was like a green glow, coming from downstairs. It reminded her of how the changelings communicated- through the magic in their horns. Since she had less power than other changelings, it was hard to reach her, so the generals were usually the only ones to speak with her.

Remembering this bit of information, Ditto gathered all her power, laid on the floor, and tried to reach the little magic she had through the wooden floor to the creature below. 

There was no answer.

But one thing was proven by her magic- the pony below was a changeling. But why couldn't it communicate with her?

Shaking off the thought, Ditto realized that she had almost no magic. She might be recovering, but there was barely any magic left in her system. Without her power, she could be standing right in front of a changeling and not realize it.

She went back to her book, and after a long time, Twilight opened the door as she entered the room. "Ditto, I want you to stay up here." Twilight said, drawing the changeling's attention away from the book. "Rainbow's downstairs."

"Okay," Ditto said, but before Twilight could go back downstairs, she shouted, "Wait!"

"What?"

"There was a changeling." 

"What?!" Twilight gasped, "Who?"

"I don't know, but I sensed a changeling downstairs." Ditto said.

Twilight thought for a moment. "Why would Fluttershy and Pinkie be with a changeling? Unless they were harboring-" Then she growled with anger, "Why would they be harboring a changeling without telling me?"

"They're probably just helping somepony in need." Ditto said, hoping Twilight wouldn't expose whoever the changeling was. She didn't want any of the swarm getting captured. "Besides, you're doing the same thing."

Twilight sighed. "I suppose you're right."


----

"I think she's strong enough to at least walk around the library, Twilight." Ditto stopped reading her book when she heard those words in the soft tone of Fluttershy's voice. This was surprising- she had barely left her bed since she had crashed through the ceiling!

"As long as she doesn't leave the library, it's fine." the purple unicorn told her friend, not lifting her nose out of the book she was reading on Astronomy.

So the yellow mare trotted over to her Changeling friend and said gently, "Come on, Ditto. I want you stretching that leg out, so we're taking a walk around the library." She poked Ditto's side with her nose, and the Changeling rose shakily. She walked carefully out into the middle of the room, balancing on three legs. Her twisted hind leg had been healed, but the broken one was taking much longer to heal properly.

As she walked in circles with only a few stabs of pain coming from her twisted leg when she put too much weight on it, she realized how wonderful it felt to move again. Slowly and carefully, she put weight on her broken leg. It stabbed pain into her whole body, and she instantly tensed, falling on her side.

"Oh, no." Fluttershy murmured, flapping her wings to bring her to Ditto's side. "I'm not sure If I can heal this leg. I've tried the best I can, but It just won't work. I mean, it's not like healing a mouse or a rabbit, is it?" After that, Ditto thought she heard Fluttershy continue quietly, "I healed her's just fine, maybe Dittos' is broken worse." Ditto decided not to ask what she was talking about.

Fluttershy helped Ditto back on her hooves, then the Changeling limped over to the door. "I-I want to look at the books in the other rooms."

"Knock yourself out." Twilight said, waving a hoof in Ditto's direction.

"Oh, I'll come with you in case you fall again." the yellow Pegasus trotted over and opened the door, before adding, "I mean, if you don't mind."

"Actually, it doesn't matter if she minds." Twilight looked from her book and looked to her animal-loving friend. "Keep an eye on her."

"Oh... okay Twilight." Fluttershy and Ditto left the room. As they walked along down the stairs to the first floor, the Changeling was lost in thought. She remembered what Pinkie had said.

"Silly! I couldn't hate ANYPONY!"

"Fluttershy?" Ditto looked up at Fluttershy, walking by her side.

"Yes, Ditto?"

"Do you really think that the other ponies hate me?"

Fluttershy stopped in her tracks and blushed. "I...I don't know. I mean, I don't hate you, but I could never hate anypony. Unless of course, they hurt my friends. I don't think any of my friends would either, they...they're much too nice for that."

Ditto just limped forward. "I should have known better than to ask her," she muttered to herself. I don't belong here, everypony hates me. But... I don't belong back at the swarm either. Where do I belong? 





Spellchecker and Prof-reader: Glitchhunter5000
> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Goldhoof flew over to look the leader of the Pegasi in the eyes. "Commander Hurricane, it does not matter that you don't trust me! It's as clear as day! There is a traitor within the tribe, and they broke the water tower! Now we have no food from the Earth Ponies because they blame us for flooding their crops! You cannot honestly believe the right way to deal with this is to sit back and let the traitor get on with his or her plans!"

"Wow, Goldhoof is amazing!" Ditto murmured while she read the story. She was quickly becoming addicted to the series. Suddenly, she heard a clunk. She looked up to see Twilight muttering as she used her magic to grab a rag from nearby to swab up the ink she had just spilled all over the floor.

"Spike!" the unicorn called to her assistant. No less than two seconds later, the purple and green form of Spike pushed his way through to door. Twilight trotted over to him. '"I need more ink. I've just spilled my last container!" She looked over the list of what she planned yesterday, seeing that she forgot to mark off an item from the list. "Oh, how could I forget to place the order for new quills and ink yesterday?"' 

"Calm down, Twilight." Spike said, turning to leave again. "I'll just go out to the store and get some more." The dragon closed the door behind him, and they could hear his footsteps going down the stairs and crossing the room below before a muffled closing of the front door. Ditto and Twilight stared at the door for awhile after Spike left.

Dusk sun was pouring through the windows, Ditto noticed, as a pretty blue jay flew by outside. She wished she could be outside with it. She was starting to get Cabin Fever from staying in the library for a week. 

Ditto continued reading her book.

Commander Hurricane glared the golden 'pegasus'. "It is my decision how I protect my tribe."

Goldhoof growled deep in her throat. "If you refuse to take action, Commander, then you are a fool!"

Hurricane did not take kindly to being called a fool. She stood and stamped her hoof angrily. "How DARE you call me a fool? I choose when I take action and when I don't, and this is not the time! You, filly, are the fool!"

Goldhoof stuck her face into Hurricane's. "I am the fool, eh? I am NO FOOL! Why must you simply sit back and let this traitor destroy your tribe?" 

Hurricane turned and trotted back to her seat. "Guards, take her away. I never want to see this mare again." As two guards jumped forward and grabbed Goldhoof, who was taken by surprise, Hurricane narrowed her eyes and growled. "We pegasi are smart. We would never accept a traitor like you."

Ditto blinked. She had thought of something. "Umm... Twilight?" 

"Mmm?" the unicorn grunted, not taking her eyes off whatever she was working on.

"Why did you help me?"

Twilight looked up and blinked at the Changeling, surprise in her eyes. "Why do you ask?"

"i was just wondering."

"You would have died if we hadn't helped you. We couldn't leave anypony out to die when we could have prevented it."

Ditto stood and limped over to the purple unicorn. "We're not all that bad, you know."

"No, I'm afraid I don't know. What are you talking about?"

"Changelings. We're not that bad. We're not evil. It's not our fault that we need love to live. We just feed ourselves."

"I've seen you eat, Ditto. You can live off of other foods, can't you?"

Ditto shook her head. "We can eat, but it doesn't give us energy. Without love, we would all die off."

"But..." Twilight put a hoof to her chin and tried to think, "Isn't there possibly another way to feed yourselves without hurting ponies?"

"If there was, don't you think we would have found it?" Ditto pointed out. "You have no idea how hard it is, to find buildups of love, to find where a husband or wife has left for a few days, to come up with an excuse as to why we 'came back'."

"But, I thought you all kidnapped ponies."

"Queen Chrysalis was the only one who would." Ditto limped towards the bookcase. "We used to be very peaceful creatures, some of the older Changelings say. We just slipped in and got some love then left. We never hurt anypony. But when Queen Chrysalis took over, she wanted to rule all the ponies. I think it's some of the generals that convinced her to invade, and that ruling all ponies would help us. We have no choice but to obey her when she gives an order. I never wanted to hurt anypony, but I had to follow her orders." She turned her solid purple eyes back towards the unicorn. "I'm not like Queen Chrysalis, you know. I'm not a monster."

Twilight just sat blinking questioningly at the Changeling, silent.

After a few moments of silence, Ditto continued. "Changelings must seem so evil to other creatures, especially ponies, because of what we have done. But we need love to live. Should we all just die off for ponies' comfort?"

Twilight didn't answer.

Ditto, having found the book she was looking for, picked it off the shelf and limped over to her bed. It was "Changelings, Insects of Evil". She flipped to a certain page in the book and started reading, her Goldhoof book completely forgotten.

"Don't... don't you love each other?" Twilight said eventually.  

Ditto was surprised. First, she had thought this conversation was over. Second, this was her exact thought soon after crashing into the library. She thought about her answer. "I'm not sure. I'm not sure we Changelings can feel love. I know we can feel other emotions- fear, saddness, anger- but I just don't think that we can feel love. Maybe that's why we feed off love, because we can't feel it ourselves. And when we can feel love, it's not the same. We can't feed off of it, and feeling love is unnatural, anyway. When we do feel love, it's considered Empathy Sickness."

"That makes sense."

Ditto was quiet for a bit longer, then spoke once more. "I was born different, you know. I never had wings. I'm a mutant. Most expected me to die off, but I lived. I was also born with purple eyes, which is very unnatural. And I'm not skilled with transforming into ponies. Most of the Changelings bullied me, hated me. I was never... well... accepted. I can't be accepted into the swarm because of who I am." Then she paused and glanced up at Twilight again. "But I can't be accepted here because of what I am."

And with that last statement hanging in the air, Spike threw the door open and ran over to Twilight with a box, most likely full of ink and quills.

----

Twilight sat awake in her bed, hooves folded under her, while she read a book by lamplight. She couldn't concentrate, however. What Ditto had said earlier still haunted her thoughts.

"I can't be accepted into the swarm because of who I am. But I can't be accepted here because of what I am."

The bookmare looked down at Ditto below, who was snoring softly. She had her "Goldhoof the Magical" book under her hooves, having fallen asleep while reading it. 

"Am I being being judgmental? Am I not giving Ditto a chance because of what she is?" Twilight whispered to herself. She hated to think of herself as a mean pony, but the Changelings had done such terrible things! They had deceived everypony, cast spells on her brother, and attacked everpony in Canterlot!

"I'm not like Queen Chrysalis, you know. I'm not a monster."

Maybe she was just different. Maybe she wasn't like the other Changelings, maybe she... was innocent.  

"No!" Twilight said aloud to herself. "I can't trust her, she could still be a spy! I can't trust a single Changeling after what they did to my brother, the Princess, and Canterlot!"

She threw the book down on the ledge next to her bed and rolled over, pulling the blanket over herself. She tried to drift off to sleep, but every once in awhile she would glance down at Ditto. She just seemed so... nice. So.. innocent. Not like the rest of her kind at all.

"Maybe... I should just give her a chance." Twilight murmured. Her horn glowed with magic as she levitated a blanket over to Ditto's bed and laid it across the Changeling. "I guess everypony deserves a chance."





Spellchecker and Prof-reader: Glitchhunter5000
> Chapter 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ditto was absorbed in her book about Goldhoof the Magical again.

The golden alicorn pulled herself out of the cloud on the other side. Who knew clouds were so hard to tunnel through? Now that she was out of the prison, she had to lay low. She flew below the cloud-prison until she found a safe cloud to land upon and think.

"How in the world am I going to figure out who this traitor is?" she wondered. She growled with frustration and dug at the cloud with her hooves.

"Something wrong?" Goldhoof jumped- she hadn't noticed the Pegasus fly up next to her. She turned to take in the stranger. She was a black mare with a black and silver streaked mane and tail, blue eyes, and a moon with two clouds on each side of it for a cutie mark.     

"I saw you were growling. Do you need help with something?" the Pegasus asked.

"Er... No. I'm fine." Goldhoof said, flapping her wings to hover in the air, ready to take off. She didn't want this Pegasus going off and causing a lot of noise- the last thing she needed was somepony to notice her. She had just broken out of prison after all. 

"Oh...okay." The stranger extended a hoof. "I'm Moonbloom. And you are...?" 

"Gold....er...wing!" she said, shaking Moonbloom's hoof. "Actually, you can help me. Have you seen any shifty-looking Pegasi? You know, ponies acting unnatural?"

Moonbloom thought about. "Nope, not that I can tell."

"Oh.. okay. See you later." Goldhoof flapped her wings hard, flying away from the strange pony.

"Ditto! Can you come here for a moment?" Twilight called from the floor below. Ditto dropped her book on the floor and stood, limping away from her bed to the door. She used magic to open it and made her way slowly down the stairs. What could Twilight want?

"Ditto." Twilight said, collecting thing and throwing them into the bag on her back. "I'm going out for a bit, and Spike's busy over at Rarity's. You'll have to be here by yourself for a bit."

"Really?" Ditto was surprised. "You trust me? Since when?"

"You're not going anywhere." Twilight said kindly, glancing at her broken hind leg, which hadn't healed at all. "You're fine for just a few hours."

"Oh.. okay, Twilight." Ditto turned to make her slow and painful way up the stairs again. About halfway up, she noticed Twilight watching her. After a second, Twilight's horn glowed with magic and Ditto was floating into the air. Twilight set her on the landing, then turned and left. The Changeling blinked. Was it just her, or had the Unicorn warmed up to her a bit since yesterday?

Ditto continued to the bedroom and went on reading her book. It was half an hour before anything interesting happened.

The Pegasus Race was about to start, and Goldhoof hadn't found the traitor! The pegasi would never eat again if they pulled another prank on the Earth Ponies!

*Knock Knock*

Ditto jumped to her hooves and winced as she accidentally hit her broken leg to the floor. She had to answer the door, but Twilight wasn't here, and it would be foolish to answer it as a Changeling! What to do?

The Goldhoof book was at her hooves. It had flipped a few pages back, and she saw a picture of a black Pegasus with a silver and black streaked hair and a moon with clouds over it for a cutie mark. She gulped and closed her eyes. She concentrated on what Moonbloom looked like.

There was a pop, and she opened her eyes. She quickly glanced in the mirror. Since she didn't have wings in her normal form,  she couldn't be a Pegasus, so she had chosen to be an Earth Pony instead. Everything else was exactly right down to the last detail- excluding the dark purple eyes. And her leg was still broken.

Ditto limped as fast as she could down the stairs. "I'm coming, just hold on a moment!" she called to whomever was knocking. After making her way down the stairs, she raced over to the door on three legs. She opened the door with her teeth and stepped back to see a gray Pegasus mare standing in the doorway.

"Oh! Hello, I was expecting Twilight! I've never met you before and that means you don't know my name, and I don't know your name, and wow, your eyes look so cool! No whites!" The Pegasus whinnied quickly. She extended a hoof. "Hello, stranger, my name's Ditzy! Ditzy Doo!"

"Um... hi, Ditzy Doo." Ditto said, surprised at the stranger. Ditzy was a gray Pegasus with blonde and slightly messy hair and a bubble cutie mark. "I'm Moonbloom. A friend of Twilight's. What did you need?"  

"Ummm.... Is Twilight in?" Ditzy asked, her yellow-blonde eyes crossing.

"No, she left, that's why I answered the door." 'Moonbloom' said.

"Oh, well, I needed to...um....." She paused for a moment, biting her lip, "Oh... yeah! I needed to return this muffin cookbook!" She reached into some bags fastened to her back and pulled out a book entitled, "Muffins! A Cookbook for Every Muffin-y Need!"

"Um... Okay." Ditto grabbed the book in her mouth and limped over to the bookcase. She found where it belonged and slipped it in among the other volumes.

"Oh! and I also brought some of the muffins I made with it as a thanks for Twilight!" Ditzy pulled out a tray of what appeared to be.... cookies made with muffin batter. "Yeah... they turned out kinda flat... but they're still tasty!" Ditzy trotted over and set the tray on the table. "Well, I'll see you around.... uh...."

"Moonbloom." Ditto reminded her. 

"Yes! Moonbloom! See you!" and the strange Pegasus flew out the door, almost flying into the wall on the way. 

"That was...odd." Ditto said, shrinking to her normal self and using her magic to close the door. She went to limp up that stairs before a thought occurred to her. Nopony around here would have read Goldhoof the Magical, would they? And it had been so easy to transform into Moonbloom...

She shouldn't. Anyway, she had a broken leg, it wouldn't be easy to walk around town. But the lure of the door was so strong. Maybe... maybe she would just go to the hospital and get tips on how to heal a broken leg! Or at least a cast.

She transformed into Moonbloom again with a pop and limped towards the door. She opened it by taking the doorknob in her mouth and turning it. There she sat, on the threshold. She shouldn't, she really, really shouldn't...

But she had to! 

She jumped out into the fresh air and spun on her healed hind leg in delight. It felt so wonderful to be outside again! She dropped down into a sitting position on the ground and watched the other ponies walking by, so happy to breath fresh air once more. Finally, she remembered why she had come out here.

She limped over to a blue mare with an hourglass cutie mark. "Um... excuse me, miss....?"

"Minuette." the mare said. "What do you need?"

"Which way is the hospital?"

"Oh... it's that way." Minuette said, pointing. She stared in curiosity after Ditto, who limped off.

As Ditto made her way to the hospital, guilt poked in the back of her head. Twilight was finally starting to trust her, and now she was betraying her!

Ahead, the hospital loomed. What would her excuse be? Maybe she should just duck in and asked how to heal a broken leg. But they would check her in for at least a week once they saw what bad condition she was in! Twilight would notice her absence and things would take a bad turn. Oh, why didn't she just stay inside?

Ditto turned away from the hospital at the door, deciding to go home, when someone from inside called, "Miss? Did you need something?"

Stupid transparent doors!

"No, I um..." Ditto said quickly, her mind reeling to come up with an excuse. A pink pony with a red cross cutie mark was holding the door open with a hoof and giving her a questioning gaze. She saw the nurse glance at her eyes. Of course her eyes were strange; they were solid purple!

"Your leg!" The nurse gasped. "Did you come here for help? Come inside."

Ditto limped after her and said, "No, really, it's fine. I can't stay here. I have someplace to be." She kept rambling, but nopony was listening to her.

"We'll need to check you in and set that leg. How long has it been broken?" the nurse asked, all business.

"About a week and a half. But I can't stay-"

"A week and a half!" the nurse gasped. "We have to get you into the hospital or that leg will never heal!"

"STOP!" Ditto shouted, making the nurse stop in her tracks. "I told you, I can't stay. Do you have a book or something that tells how to heal a broken bone by yourself?"

"I don't know. That leg may not heal correctly already." the nurse said. "Without medical help, it won't heal at all."

"That's all I needed to know. Bye!" Ditto turned and raced away from the nurse as fast as she could on the broken leg. Once she reached the door, she noticed that the nurse was chasing her.

"Miss! I insist that we heal that leg!" she called.

"And I insist you let me mind my own business!" Ditto called back, racing away. Unfortunately, the nurse was catching up to her. How was she getting out of this one?

Up ahead, she gasped as she saw Twilight clopping through town. Was she returning from wherever she had gone? Ditto had to get home before Twilight did, crazy nurse or not! Ditto was about to ask Twilight for help, pretending to be somepony else, but then realized something. Twilight would put two and two together. She looked an awful lot like a character in a book that Twilight knew Ditto had been reading, her eyes were solid purple, and she had a broken leg.

Ditto swerved away from Twilight, heading toward a big forest. The nurse had almost caught up now, but Ditto stopped in her tracks. She leaned on her forelegs and, when the nurse had gotten close enough, kicked out with her good hind leg. She hit the nurse right in the face then limped off as fast as she could.

The nurse no longer following, Ditto slipped into then Library and up to her bed. She transformed back into a Changeling, and below she could hear the door open and Twilight calling, "Ditto, I'm home!"

The Changeling let out a sigh of relief as she picked up her book again.





Spellchecker and Prof-reader:Glitchhunter5000 (The Reviser/Suggester)
> Chapter 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Goldhoof searched the skies for anypony who looked suspicious. The only strange pony she saw was Moonbloom, who was circling the Pegasi at the starting line for the race. They were in the clouds, but below Earth Ponies and Unicorns gathered to watch the popular event of Pegasus racing. It seemed it was really the only thing that brought the tribes together in this horrible time.

As Goldhoof scanned the crowds of ponies, she saw Moonbloom stop and talk to one of the racing Pegasi. She said something and they exchanged a laugh before Moonbloom flew off to talk to the next Pegasi in line. this happened to all of them, then Moonbloom noticed Goldhoof hiding in the shadows.

"Heya, Goldwing!" she shouted, waving a hoof. She flew over and sat beside the golden mare and smiled. "Such nice weather for the Pegasus Race, isn't it?"

"What were you doing over by the racers?" Goldhoof asked.

Moonbloom looked downcast. "I was trying to cheer them up and get them happy, because I wasn't able to race this time. I wanted them all to be happy for me, you know?"

Goldhoof smiled. This pony was truly a good spirit. The blow of a whistle made her jump as the Pegasi set off. She flapped her wings and flew behind at a slow pace, just in case. 

"There's something wrong with Moonbloom, she just seems too...nice." Ditto said to nopony in particular. Twilight was absorbed in her work as usual, Spike was organizing the books that had been knocked onto the floor earlier when Twilight had been looking for a textbook, and Rainbow Dash was sitting in the corner, reading "Daring Do and the Treasure of Cloud Castle".

"I'm not giving you spoilers, Ditto." Twilight said happily, "You have to read the book for yourself." Twilight had warmed up to Ditto quite a bit, and was treating her decently. Ditto hadn't dared venture outside since her last little adventure had led her to buck a nurse in the face and narrowly avoid trouble with Twilight out in town.

"I know, I don't want spoilers, anyway." Ditto folded her two front hooves over each other as she lay on her bed with the book on her pillow. "It's just at the good part."

"Can't be better than Daring Do." Rainbow commented, apparently only half-listening to the exchange. Ditto decided not to respond, and continued reading. However, before she could, there was a knock at the door.

"I've got it!" Spike said quickly, getting up and running through the open bedroom door and down the stairs. Ditto heard the footsteps as he made his way to the door and the creak as he opened it. Below, somepony greeted Spike cheerfully and the baby dragon replied, "Oh, hello, Minuette! Twilight's upstairs."

Ditto froze. She knew that voice, that pony had helped her when she had gone outside! 

Her heart pounded as Minuette's hoofsteps came upstairs. She quickly used her magic to pull a blanket over herself, hiding from the blue Unicorn. Before the blanket went over her, the Changeling saw a look of panic on Twilight's and Rainbow's faces.

Ditto held her breath and tried to lay still, hoping Minuette wouldn't see the lump on the bed. She heard clopping as one of the ponies in the room raced over to the door.

"Oh, hello, Minuette! Did you need something?" it was Twilight.

"Oh, yes, I was wondering if you had any books on how Ponyville's defended? I've been feeling nervous since hearing of the Changelings." Minuette inquired. Ditto saw a faint glow of light blue magic through the thin sheets and supposed that the blue Unicorn was pulling books out and looking at them.

"Oh, yes, downstairs! Let's go downstairs!" Twilight said in a slightly panicked voice. There was clopping as Twilight led Minuette down the stairs and closed the door behind her. Ditto sighed with relief and tossed the blanket off of her with a burst of green magic.

She saw Rainbow standing beside the bed, looking nervous. "That was close." the Pegasus sighed. "I wouldn't like to imagine what would happen if they found out we were keeping a Changeling here!" Rainbow looked at Ditto. "I think Twi's got it covered. I'm out." she grabbed the Daring Do book, pushed open the window, and flew out.

Ditto used magic to pick up her book and levitated it in front of her face. As she read, she limped around the room in circles, hoping to get used to moving. She had given up all hope that her leg would ever heal since her disastrous visit to the hospital.

Goldhoof felt like they had been flying for hours. And they probably had. They were now flying over what many called The Great Border. It was where Pegasi land, Unicorn land and Earth Pony land met with a huge mountain. Around the mountain in rings were Earth Pony fields, farther up were rows of magnificent diamonds and crystal-lined caves, and at the very top was Pegasus tower, capital of the Pegasi.

This meant the race was half over. Goldhoof sighed with relief and decided that nothing bad was to happen. Maybe she should report to the rulers that all was peaceful, the water tower and so forth had been merely an accident, and that no outlaw lived with these ponies.

Then her wings tightened. She flapped desperately, but it appeared that the feathers in her wings were clamped together and couldn't move. She cried with fear as she started to drop towards the mountain. She noticed, to her worst discomfort, that something similar was happening to the other Pegasi. 

"She's gone." Twilight said, clopping in and slamming the door with a back hoof. "She was hard to get rid of but she's gone."

A bit of stress was released from Ditto's mind and she continued pacing while reading. Twilight returned to her work after scolding Spike for letting Minuette upstairs, and there were several moments of silence where Ditto couldn't focus on her book. The words scrambled and stopped making sense, so she used her magic to pick it up, put a bookmark in it, and set it on an end table.

Instead, Ditto got an idea. She loved reading books, and in her spare time she loved to think of her life as a story. She got up, limped over to drawer, opened it, and dug around inside until she used her magic to pull out a quill, some ink, and a few scrolls.

"Ditto, what are you up to?" Twilight asked, watching her.

"I'm going to write my own book." the Changeling said. She limped back to her bed, placed the scrolls open on the floor, and laid with her hooves tucked beneath her. She picked up the quill with a glow of green magic and started writing.

Ditto.... it was a nice name, in her opinion. It referred to the slang word 'ditto', which meant to agree. It made a bit of sense, but that wasn't why she liked it. She liked it because of the way it sounded.. 'di' sounded wonderful in her voice. Her voice was like a snake's, beautiful but deadly. Of course, she herself was not beautiful, nor deadly.

"What are you going to title it?" Twilight asked, clopping over and attempting to read over Ditto's shoulder.

"I don't know." Ditto pulled a hoof out from under her and rubbed her chin with it. The holes were scratching her chin so she stopped and replaced the hoof underneath her, instead tapping the quill on the page. After a long time of thinking, Twilight gave up and clopped away.

"Oh well." Ditto said, then scribbled 'A Changeling' at the top of the page and continued writing.

Suddenly, there was a crash and all the books fell from the shelves, a few right onto Ditto. Hidden by the books, she peeked out and saw a familiar gray mare.

"Ditzy!" Twilight gasped, tossing all of the books away from her with her magic. "Are you alright?" 

Stumbling around to regain her wits, what little she seemed to have, Ditzy Doo appeared beat up and dizzy. "I-I....crashed." she said, blinking her crossed golden eyes and bit her lip. She gazed around and saw the havoc caused by her crash. "Gee, sorry Twilight. I just don't know what went wrong."

The purple Unicorn looked up at the hole in her ceiling with despair. "We just reorganized!" she sighed.

"I'm sorry, Twilight. I am." Ditzy reached over and picked up a book, but tripped over another pile of books and sent them skidding all over.

"It's alright, Ditzy, are you okay?" Twilight trotted over to the confused Pegasus. "What happened?"

"Umm..." Ditzy bit her lip and her eyes crossed even farther. "First I was out flying with Rainbow Dash, then she went off to practice and didn't want me getting in the way. So I went to the town, then I was talking to Minuette, and she said something about Ponyville and asked when the next storms were due. I said I didn't know, then I flew away. I'm quite sure how I ended up crashing."

"She probably ran into a cloud and fell or something." Twilight whispered while passing Ditto's pile of books. "Ditzy, that bruise looks bad. Maybe we should take you to the hospital."

"Oh, okay." Ditzy spread her wings to fly away, but hit the wall.

"I'll take you." Twilight led the gray mare out the door, and before she left she whispered, "Just stay here, Ditto, I'll be back."

The changeling nodded, shaking a few books off the pile she was under. After the door shut, her horn glowed with magic and she tossed the books away from her. "I guess I'd better clean this up." She sighed. She picked up the nearest book and looked at the cover. It was 'Supernaturals'. She put it on a shelf, then picked up the next. She put that one its correct shelf. She repeated this with every book that had fallen. After a long time of boring work, she was finished.

Despite the hole in the ceiling, it looked good as normal. Ditto settled down on her bed and continued writing. Ditto thought about how terrible she had felt when she had first come. It was probably just panic and hunger. Speaking of hunger, she hadn't been hungry at all since the six ponies had come, as Fluttershy had given her plenty of love, and Twilight was even warming up to her enough to feed her a bit.

Then something clicked in Ditto's brain.

Twilight.

Twilight had gone to the Hospital.

Ditto had bucked a nurse in the face at that same hospital.

The nurse would undoubtedly tell Twilight all about the strange pony with solid purple eyes and a broken leg.

She was doomed.

----

Twilight pushed the door open with one hoof, the other wrapped around Ditzy, who was still a bit dazed after her fall. Well, she was always a bit dazed, that was her nature, but nopony got annoyed about her. Or they all pretended not to be. After all, what kind of land would Equestria be if ponies weren't allowed to be different?

"Oh, hello, Twilight." a pink nurse with a purple and white streaked mane and tail greeted the Unicorn. Although, she now had a huge bruise on her forehead. "What happened to Ditzy?"

"I don't know." Twilight said. "She said she was just flying away from a talk with Minuette and the next thing she remembered was crashing into my library."

"Oh! We should get her checked in right now, that bruise looks bad." the nurse said.

"I could say the same for you." Twilight said, pointing at the nurse's forehead with her hoof. "What happened to you, Nurse Sweetheart?"

"Oh, this?" Nurse Sweetheart pointed at her bruise. "I got bucked by a stubborn patient. Strange mare."

"Tell me about it." Twilight said, helping to lead Ditzy to her room where the doctor would make sure she had no further injuries. This strange pony could have been an escaped Changeling trying to invade Ponyville as well.

"Well," The Nurse said, leading the way up the stairs. "she was a black and silver Earth Pony. Her Cutie mark was a moon with clouds around. She had a broken leg, and a really raspy voice. The voice was probably because of a cut on her throat, but the really strange thing was..." the pink nurse stopped and pointed at her eyes. "she had purple eyes."

"So?" Twilight said, pointing at her own eye. "So do I."

"But these eyes weren't normal, they had no whites or pupils. They were just...solid purple."

Something clicked in Twilight's brain. This sounded a lot like....Ditto. No, she thought, Ditto wouldn't go out and ignore my orders.

"Hey, I saw a pony like that in Twi's library when I stopped by to return the muffin book!" Ditzy said, stopping along with the other two ponies.

At this, Twilight turned and raced out of the hospital, towards home.





Spellchecker and Prof-reader:Glitchhunter5000 (The Reviser/Suggester)
> Chapter 8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ditto limped back and forth, waiting for Twilight to return. She was trying to look on the bright side- maybe Twilight wouldn't suspect anything. Maybe she would think it a coincidence and ignore it. Or maybe the nurse wouldn't even be working. Trying to take her mind off of it, Ditto returned to 'Goldhoof the Magical and the Pegasus Race'.

Goldhoof saw the ground coming closer and closer. She was going to smack right into the side of the mountain, and she knew it would not be pretty. In the few seconds before colliding with the mountain, she looked around and saw the Earth Ponies and Unicorns below looking horrified. Then it hit her.

This was the traitor's doing! 

Then she had a face full of rock and was knocked unconscious. The last thing she heard was strange laughter... familiar laughter.

Ditto suddenly noticed that she could hear laughter in real life, coming from downstairs. She limped to the door and looked down the staircase to see Minuette letting herself in. The changeling hid behind the doorframe and peeked out to see what the Unicorn was up to.

"They've removed the guards from Ponyville!" Minuette was saying aloud to herself. "I was getting tired of those dumb guards, not letting anypony even leave their house without being searched for traces of Changelings! It was tiring." Then Minuette looked around the library and called, "Hello? Is anypony here?"

Ditto closed her eyes as she flashed green for a moment, then trotted downstairs in her Moonbloom disguise. "Oh, hello Minuette." 'Moonbloom' said. "Did you need anything? You were here less than a few hours ago."

"I didn't see you here." Minuette said, staring at Ditto's solid purple eyes. "You have interesting eyes, there."

"Yes, I do." Ditto said dismissively, "Didn't Twilight get you that book?"

"No, she rushed me out, for whatever reason." Minuette started searching the bookcases, using her magic to pull out random books.

"Well, here's a book." Ditto flicked her hoof at the bookshelf, knocking out a small pink volume. She picked it up and set it on the table. "It's called, 'The Security and Protection of Equestria'. I remember you were worried about the Changelings."

"Yes." Minuette surrounded the book with blue magic as she levitated it in front of her. "I can be...a bit paranoid." She turned and trotted out the door. "I'll see you around." she said, then used her magic to close the door behind her.

Ditto sighed with relief and transformed back into a Changeling. She had been seeing a lot of Minuette, and she was worried that the blue Unicorn was getting suspicious of her as well. She had said that she could be paranoid.

BOOM!

Ditto was almost knocked backwards as the door was flung open with great force. Her eyes rolled for a bit before she could regain her wits. She found herself face-to-face with an angry Twilight Sparkle.

"DITTO!" Twilight yelled at her. "How DARE you!"

Ditto immediately knew that Twilight had indeed found out about her little adventure outside. "I-I... Twilight, please calm down!" she said quickly.

"You went outside! I told you not to go outside! Now you've probably gone to tell your little Changeling friends all about Ponyville! I trusted you, Ditto! You little monster!" 

"I would never-" Ditto tried to get a word in, but Twilight just talked over her.

"I bet a group of Changelings is coming to Ponyville right now, about to attack us all! How could you, Ditto? After we were so nice to help you, you go and plan an invasion of Ponyville!" Twilight sighed and turned away from the Changeling, trotting back upstairs. Before she disappeared into the upstairs bedroom, she stopped. "I thought you were different, not like the other changelings, but I guess a changeling is a changeling."

The door slammed behind Twilight, and Ditto was left feeling forlorn on the first floor. She was surprised at how Twilight had reacted- she had been expecting to be thrown out the window or something. At the very least banished from Ponyville. She had even imagined Twilight vaporizing her with her magic, but all that happened was shouting.

And Ditto felt that was worse than any physical punishment. Now she was alone, nopony trusting her, lost in Ponyville and too hurt to find the swarm. And without the bits of love from Twilight and her friends, she would surely starve.

She had now lost all hope.

----

*clink*

Ditto slept in her bed, snoring softly. Her hooves folded under her head, pressing a pattern into her face because of the holes.

*clink*

Beside was 'Goldhoof the Magical and the Pegasus Race', left open from when she had been reading it earlier. All around her bed were the usual piles of books that she just read, tossed aside, then picked up a new one.

*clink*

The ink beside her bed, still there from when she had been writing her novel, twitched and sent a ripple pattern as there was a thump from downstairs.

*CLINK*

Ditto opened her purple eyes with alarm there was another bang from downstairs and a *clink* of glass. She stood to find the source of the noise. Scanning the room, she saw movement beside the window and the hoof clinked it again.

*clink*

It was the middle of the night. Who was knocking on the window? "Hello?" Ditto whispered. 

"Ditto? Is that you?" came a whispered voice from outside.

How did this stranger know her name? "Who are you?"

"It's me, Carbon."

"Carbon?" Ditto gasped. She limped over and placed her hooves on the glass of the window, pushing it open. Once it was open enough, Ditto stepped back to let in the guest.

It was another changeling!

"Ditto, don't tell me you've been hiding out with ponies this whole time?" Carbon asked, landing softly beside her. "You're missing all the fun!"

"Carbon, but... how...why are you here?" Ditto managed eventually.

"Come on, Ditty!" Carbon grabbed Ditto's front hooves and flew out the window. "Let's go have some fun!"

"Carbon, don't!" Ditto gasped as she flew through the air above Ponyville. "We'll be seen!"

"Does it matter?" Carbon asked, flipping the purple-eyed Changeling and setting her safely on the ground. "Look around."

A rock dropped in Ditto's stomach as she looked around. There were Changelings everywhere, the whole swarm, flying around and chasing ponies. There was the odd scream as a Changeling gave chase to a pony, then it went silent for several seconds as it was gagged by green goop. With horror, she saw Pinkie Pie green-gooped to the ground. The earth pony was trying to bite a nearby Changeling, but he swooped away just in time.

"We're invading!" Double said happily, flapping his wings excitedly. "Why didn't you come back to the swarm after the attack on Canterlot?" he added.

"I was stranded." Ditto said, waving her broken leg and wincing as a jolt of pain hit it. Of course, she didn't mention that she had grown close to her captors; she had a feeling that the swarm wouldn't appreciate that fact.

"Oh well, it's not like we had trouble invading without you." Double flew off to taunt Ditzy Doo, who was attempting to fly away but another Changeling had her tail and was pulling her back.

"I have to stop this." Ditto said to herself. She limped as fast as she could back to the library. She had to wake up Twilight and have her help!

Suddenly, she was pinned to the ground. "Ya varmints! We'll get rid 'o you!" It was Applejack.

"Applejack, wait!" Ditto squirmed underneath the orange earth pony's hooves. "It's me! 'm on your side!"

"Really?" Applejack sounded doubtful. "Then why is there an invasion after Twilight told me ya sneaked yerself outside when she wasn't home?"

"It's not me who told them, I swear!" Ditto pleaded, "I'm just trying to go get help!"

Suddenly, there was a huge flash of light and silence fell.

"Woah nelly." Applejack murmured, and she stepped back, letting Ditto up. The Changeling saw the huge white form of Celestia flying above the town, her horn glowing.

Ditto raced to the upstairs bedroom of the library, ignoring the pain in her broken leg, to find Twilight awake and looking horrified. "You did tell then to come!" Twilight snapped at Ditto. "You betrayed us!"

"I swear I didn't, Twilight!' Ditto said, "I was trying to help the ponies!"

"Likely story!" Twilight growled. "I was dumb to ever trust you!"

Ditto stepped back as Twilight's horn began to glow. She closed her eyes. Here would come the vaporizing.

Then, suddenly, she was flying again. As she looked back, she saw that Celestia had flung all the Changelings from town, like Shining Armor and Princess Cadance had done the last time. The only thing Ditto was aware of was stabbing horror that she wouldn't be able to survive this fall.

And a book flew next to her. 





Spellchecker and Prof-reader:Glitchhunter5000 (The Reviser/Suggester)




> Chapter 9
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ditto opened her solid purple eyes. She noticed that she was screaming and closed her mouth quickly. She saw a shadow in front of her, and forced magic into her horn so she could light up a bit and see who it was.

"Who?"

"Oh, hello, Owloysius." Ditto sighed with relief. "Did I wake anyone up?"

"Who." The owl turned his head 180 degrees around and hooted again. Ditto looked around him and saw Twilight looking at her.

"You didn't wake me up." Twilight said quickly, "I was up late studying."

Ditto nodded and laid her head down on her bed. It had all been a dream. The other Changelings hadn't invaded and she hadn't been flung into the air again. She tried to go back to sleep, but her mind was whirling. There was one thing in her dream that she couldn't understand.

What had the book been?

"Twilight?" Ditto asked. Twilight didn't say anything, but Ditto saw her turn her head in the faint lamplight. "Is there a book in this library that is sort of small and pink?"

"That's an odd question." Twilight said. "There are plenty. Did you need one?"

"No, I was just wondering." Ditto closed her eyes and sighed. She decided she would look in the morning, so she tried to drift off to sleep.

----

"Hey, Ditty!" Ditto suddenly jumped backwards, startled. She blinked and saw a pink face in front of her.

"Pinkie Pie! Where did you come from?" the changeling .

"The door, silly!" Pinkie pointed a pink hoof at the open door. "Twilight and Spike had to go out, and since I was nearby, she asked me to keep an eye on you!" Pinkie then lay down on the floor in front of Ditto and stared unblinkingly at her.

Ditto just decided to ignore her and go back to her search. She had woken up early after only about an hour of sleep, and was now searching the library for the small pink volume she had seen in her dream. She had a feeling that it was important.

"Whatcha lookin' for?" Pinkie asked in a sing-song voice, bouncing up and down beside Ditto.

"A small pink book." Ditto said, scanning the shelf in front of her.

"Oh!" the pink mare said, stopping her bouncing and helping the Changeling search the shelf. "I love pink! It's a great color! But it's not the only thing I love; I also love cupcakes! Cupcakes with pink, sugary frosting! Or Rainbow-colored frosting! Oh, I love colorful cupcakes! What if you could make cupcakes out of rainbows? That would taste so good!"

Ditto had stopped listening to Pinkie Pie at this point and had concentrated on scanning the shelves for pink books. Her purple eyes landed on one, and she surrounded it with green magic and pulled it off the shelf. But as she observed it, she realized it was a darker pink and was much bigger than the one she had seen. In frustration, she tossed it against the wall. It landed in a small pile of books that Ditto had already thrown aside.

"Ez eh theh wah?" Pinkie Pie asked, voice muffled through the book in her mouth. Ditto used her magic to float it away from Pinkie and take a good look at it. It wasn't the right one; It was more hot pink than the light pink of the book. The Changeling tossed it into the pile and continued her search.

"Why do you need this pink book anyway?" Pinkie asked.

"I have a feeling it's important." Ditto responded simply. She placed a hoof full of holes on the shelf and looked at another book. It was still not the right one, so she tossed it aside. "Where is this thing?" she growled.

"Did somepony check it out?" the pink Earth pony asked.

"I guess." The changeling sat back on the floor of the library and sighed. "I've gone through almost every pink book in the library and I haven't found it." Her solid purple eyes scanned the room. As her eyes fell on the door, she longed to go out and get some fresh air. She had been cooped up in the library for so long that she needed some sun. 

But she wasn't setting a hoof outside, not after Twilight's scolding. Ditto was surprised it hadn't been worse. Perhaps the purple mare had taken a liking to her.

"Somepony's not SMILING!" Pinkie said in a cheerful singsong call. She skipped over to Ditto and used her hooves to move the changeling's face into a smile. It fell back to a frown as soon as she pulled her hooves away.

"I think I'm just going to go read my book for awhile." Ditto said. She limped away from Pinkie and went to find "Goldhoof the Magical and the Pegasus Race".

----

 "The Pegasi have destroyed our main fields!" the Earth ponies exclaimed. They all ran to their torn-up fields and gazed in horror at the huge holes in the dirt from the crashed Pegasi.

"The Pegasi have caved-in our mines!" The Unicorns gasped.

The leaders of the Earth Ponies and the Unicorns stood on a tall rock, glaring at Commander Hurricane, who was flying a few feet above the ground so she was eye-level with them. "This was planned by the Pegasi!" The Unicorn leader, Princess Platinum, stamped a hoof as she stated it.

"It was not!" Commander Hurricane shouted, "It was an accident! How dare you accuse us?"

Nearby, Goldhoof listened in. She had been unconscious after smacking into the rocky side of the mountain- unlucky enough not to get one of the fertile, soft fields- but had woken up to hear the arguing. This was the traitor's doing!

"I refuse to believe such destruction was an accident!" Platinum said, "They obviously want to get rid of the Unicorns because they are jealous of our magic!"

"They're trying to starve us!" the leader of the Earth Ponies, Chancellor Puddinghead, accused. "Are you trying to start a war, Commander?!" 

"The Pegasi have done nothing!" Hurricane insisted.

"This is bad." Goldhoof muttered to herself. "I need to find who did this." The golden mare looked around and saw all the injured Pegasi, rubbing their heads with their hooves for arguing with Earth Ponies and Unicorns. Suddenly she heard a laughing.

"Oh, Goldhoof, you're a laugh." Goldhoof flipped around. Nopony knew her real name! She blinked with surprise as she saw the mare who had spoken. "Really, you're surprised?" The black Pegasus said, eye glittering with evil humor, "I would have thought the great Goldhoof would have figured it out by now!"

Ditto dropped the book, as suspenseful this part was, and lay on her bed. She almost instantly drifted off to sleep, the last thing she saw before drifting off was the moon shining through the window.

----

Ditto was running. Rain was slashing at her, as if every drop was a tiny sword. In front of her floated the same pink book, but she was not using her magic to hold it up. Someone else was trying to run away with it, but Ditto had to catch up with them. She had to get the book.

Suddenly, her broken leg gave way beneath her and she fell onto sand. She rolled over and looked up. The rain had stopped, and instead everything was burning hot. The sun glared down, as hot as the desert. As she looked around, she realized it was a desert.

Above loomed a familiar figure, but she couldn't place who it was. all she could see was her silhouette. Who was this blue Unicorn? The stranger used her magic to pick up the pink book and waved it in front of Ditto. "Looking for this?" she taunted.

"I need that!" Ditto reached for the book, but it moved and she grabbed at air. She glared at the stranger. "Who are you?" she demanded.

The blue mare didn't respond. She just giggled, and Ditto felt herself being sucked away from the scene. Away from the desert. Away from the mysterious book.

----

Ditto blinked open her purple eyes and found that it was morning. She stamped a hoof in frustration. "Who was that mare?" she asked nopony in particular. "What was the book?"





Spellchecker and Prof-reader:Glitchhunter5000 (The Reviser/Suggester)

> Chapter 10
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ditto stared out the window at the ponies below. They trotted along, carrying saddlebags and chatting with friends. Nopony noticed the Changeling above, carefully keeping herself hidden behind a branch of the tree that covered the window. She scanned each pony, thinking of her dream. What was her dream supposed to be? Was it just some crazy nightmare?

No, Ditto thought, it was no nightmare. It was warning of some kind.

Suddenly, a loud noise startled her so much she nearly fell out of the window. Catching herself just in time, Ditto looked around, trying to find the source of the noise. She saw a stage fold out of small box with a blast of magic and cheering ponies crowded around it.

"Oh, she's back!" one of the ponies in the crowd cheered as another blast of magic revealed a pony. Ditto would have understood what was going on, but the stage was in her blindspot. All she could see was a corner and a part of the crowd, the rest covered by branches. It was off to the right of the window, and the only way to see it clearly would be to either go out there or go out on the balcony. She wouldn't do either, as both would leave her wide open to prying ponies' eyes.

"She's back," someone groaned behind Ditto. The changeling turned around to see Twilight closing her book and standing. "I'm going to go watch this. Stay here." She then trotted out the door. Ditto watched the purple Unicorn walk down the stairs then out the door. 

For a moment, Ditto wondered if she should put on her Moonbloom disguise and watch from the balcony. Then again, if Twilight saw her, she'd probably get banished or locked away, or locked away in the place she was banished to. Ditto always wondered why, if Twilight thought she was so evil, she was still keeping her around. Why didn't she just throw her out on the street?

"Ah, the famous Twilight Sparkle!" called a voice in a dramatic tone. Ditto ran over to the window and tried to see, but saw only the back of a purple robe covered in stars. "Have you come to humiliate the GREAT and POWERFUL TRIXIE once more?" the pony continued, voice obviously a mare's. "Well, you can't! It will take more than a lie to derail The Great and Powerful Trixie!"

"What do ya mean 'a lie'?" Applejack's voice demanded.

"Oh, silly ponies, you certainly don't think that everypony believes Twilight saved us all from the Ursa!" Trixie said smugly. She backed up and for a moment Ditto could see a blue hoof before it was covered by the robe. 

"She did save us from the Ursa Minor!" Ditto recognized the voice of Rainbow Dash, followed by the muttering of the crowd. "We all saw her, and so did you!"

"Oh, poor, misled pony." Trixie said with fake sympathy. "What you don't know is that I was the one who saved you all!"

"Liar!" a few ponies growled at her.

There a stamp of a hoof to quiet the crowd before Trixie explained. "You see, my little ponies, I had set up a deal with Twilight earlier that day. She felt bad that I was superior to her in magic, so she begged me to give her some time in the spotlight. I told her I would try my very best, so I sent these young colts to fetch an Ursa Major." Ignoring the callings of disbelief in the crowd, Trixie continued. "When it came, I pretended I was a hopeless liar so the ponies would turn to Twilight. While she was pretending to do magic, I was really the one saving the day, making it look like Twilight was doing it."

"That was so nice of the Great and Powerful Trixie!" a small blue foal with messy orange hair said.

"That's not how it happened!" other ponies shouted.

"Do you have any proof?" Trixie asked.

"We saw her!" Rainbow said, flying up to Trixie and into Ditto's line of view. "We all witnessed it!"

"You saw what Twilight wanted you to see." Trixie responded, flicking Rainbow's nose with a blue hoof. Ditto almost cried out with frustration. Why wouldn't this pony reveal herself to Ditto? She was blue and obviously an Unicorn- as she kept speaking of how she performed magic-, so what if she was the blue Unicorn from Ditto's dream?

"We saw what was real!" Rainbow growled.

"But you have no proof that Twilight was indeed who did it." There was a flash of purple magic and a dark cloud appeared over Rainbow Dash. A lightning bolt shot out and hit the cyan Pegasus's back, shocking her and making her fall onto the stage. She laid on her back, eyes rolling as she tried to recover from the shock. 

"If you ask Twilight, she will lie." Trixie continued, making no attempt to help Rainbow up. "I have given you a perfect explanation that can't be proved wrong. For all you know, it is true."

"I never agreed to such a deal!" Twilight exclaimed. "I don't do things only for the attention of others."

"See?" Trixie said smugly, "I told you she would deny it!"

"Now that she mentions it," one of the ponies of the crowd said slowly, "I think the movements Twilight were making while facing off the Ursa did look a bit exaggerated."

"Yeah!" another pony said, "and it seemed like she was using a lot of power for picking up a bottle of milk and giving it to a bear."

"And Everypony says how Twilight is the best Unicorn in Ponyville, of course she would feel threatened by The Great and Powerful Trixie!" Trixie said smugly to many shouts of agreement from the crowd. "Out of the good and kindness in Trixie's heart, she helped poor Twilight with her desires for attention."

"That's not true!" Rainbow shouted again, finally recovered from the sudden electrocution. "Twilight doesn't live for attention like you, Trixie!"

There was a brief, tense silence. Ditto finally decided that she had to see Trixie. She could be special- she could be the blue Unicorn from her dream! The Changeling closed her eyes and transformed into Moonbloom with a green flash. Blinking her solid purple eyes, she raced for the balcony before her vision cleared fully.

As she swung the glass door open and galloped out onto the balcony, she quickly closed her eyes. The bright sun had surprised her and burned her eyes. She opened them again, but the sun forced her to close them once more.

"Trixie is tired." Trixie declared, "Her shows will be on this time every day- excluding weekends, of course."

No! Ditto thought. She forced her eyes open and used a hoof to block the sun. However, the only thing she saw was Trixie's purple robe disappearing behind the curtain of the stage. Muttering swears under her breath, Ditto trotted back inside, closing the balcony door with a hoof.

"The nerve of her!" Ditto jumped as she heard Rarity's voice from below.

"She lied!" Applejack's voice said. Ditto heard the sound of hoofsteps below. "Of the things she's done, the worst thing is all her lies!"

"What I can't believe is that the other ponies believed her," Twilight said, her voice sounding closer to the door of the bedroom Ditto was standing in. Ditto quickly closed her eyes and, with a flash of green magic, transformed back into her insect-like changeling form.

The door swung open, revealing Twilight and her six friends. They trotted into the room, each greeting Ditto with a nod.

"Why did they cheer for her when she came on, anyway?" Rainbow asked, landing on the floor and folding her wings to her sides.

"Oh, I'm sure they were happy to see her." Rarity said, to many surprised looks from her friends. She explained. "This is a time of much fear and hysteria, I'm sure they were happy to see an old showpony just to get their minds off the changelings."

Ditto just sat and listened in, half lost in thought about Trixie. Could she be the blue Unicorn that had been taunting her in her dream? She sure sounded like the taunting-type. She wished she could check it out, perhaps she could sneak out once more after Twilight fell asleep. She felt a prickle of guilt, but this was more important than Twilight's suspicion. 

"Where does she stay when traveling?" Ditto asked suddenly. When everypony gave her a strange look, Ditto realized she shouldn't have asked. Now they were all suspicious. She could tell them about the dream, but that would just end up as Twilight saying that it was just a dream and for her to stay inside. Twilight was much too realistic to believe in dreams about the future.

"I don't know where she's staying, why did you need to know, Ditto?" Twilight answered, halfway between confusion and suspicion.

"No reason." the Changeling responded, trying and failing to cover up her statement. "Well, who is this Trixie pony anyway?"

As the six friends went on to explain to Ditto about the last time Trixie had visited Ponyville, the Changeling was thinking up a plan.

----

'Moonbloom' limped out the door of Twilight's library. It was all black except for the shining crescent-moon above. Ditto had had to fake sleep for nearly two hours until Twilight had finally decided to go to bed. Then she had transformed into Moonbloom and slipped out the door.

Trixie's empty stage was off to the left, so Ditto assumed that was where she should start her search. Trotting over to the stage, she could just make out the hoofprints of where the crowd had been earlier that day. The Changeling made her way up a small set of stairs- trying not to trip as she was having trouble seeing in the dark- and onto the stage. Her hooves clicked on the polished wood as she made her way to the curtain.

Poking her head through, Ditto couldn't see anything. It appeared to be an inside room because the moon wasn't shining in. Using a hoof to hold the curtain open behind her, she tried to see inside, but could only see about a foot from where she was standing.

In this form, she was an Earth Pony. She had no magic to light up the darkness in this form. Perhaps, just for a moment, she could go back to her normal form. The only other ways were to wander into the darkness- not a good idea in any way you think about it- or turn into a Unicorn. The second wouldn't matter because she would have to revert to her Changeling self before changing into another form anyway. It takes great skill to go immediately from one form to another, and Ditto barely possessed any skill.

In a small green flash, Ditto turned to her normal self, making sure to flick the curtain behind her closed in case anypony would be on a midnight stroll. Then she gathered all her magic and a small, green light ignited at the end of her horn. The darkness faded and everything was clearly visible.

Ditto limped around, looking for anything that might point to her dream. Maybe even that pink book. The room was nothing more than a normal backstage, random trunks full of magic tricks and costumes, but no pink book or blue Unicorn.

After a thorough search, Ditto decided to go on looking in a different place. She turned back into Moonbloom, making sure to add a Unicorn horn into the appearance this time, and slipped out a door in the back.

*Click*

Ditto turned around, but saw nothing in the darkness. Had she imagined that clicking noise? Ignoring it, she continued on.

The Changeling saw a trailer behind the stage, decorated with light blue stars. At the front was a normal, horse-style door that opens at the top and at the bottom. On the top section of the door was a symbol, a wand with sparkling dust in a half-moon shape around it. 

"I suppose she lives here," Ditto murmured to herself. She suddenly wondered how she was going to go about this. There was only one window on the trailer, and it was covered by fluffy blue curtains so she couldn't see through it. Unless she suddenly became a master of spying, she would have to knock.

Before knocking, Ditto stopped. She suddenly realized how silly this was. How would she explain why she was waking Trixie up in the middle of the night? Of course it was important, but really, what could she say? 

It was too important to pass up. She quickly knocked on the door with a hoof.

There was some groaning noises from inside. "Who wakes up the Great and Powerful Trixie?" a voice called from inside. Ditto didn't respond, she merely knocked again.

There were a few sounds of stumbling, then the click of hooves trotting towards the door. Ditto then did the oldest trick in the prankster's handbook- she hid. Quickly opening the door to the backstage room, the Changeling slipped inside and left the door open only a crack. Peering out, she waited until the door of the trailer opened.

A tired, groggy-looking blue Unicorn opened the door with a glow of purple magic. "Who has knocked on Trixie's door and woken her up?" she demanded. Looking around and seeing nopony there, Trixie growled with frustration and stepped out, exposing herself fully to the night air.

Ditto immediately felt disappointed. This pony was blue with pale blue mane and tail that each curled slightly at the ends. Her cutie mark was the same symbol as was on the door, and her eyes were the same purple as her magic. This was not the Unicorn she had seen in her dream. Although Ditto could not clearly remember the blue mare that had taunted her in the dream, she knew that this was a quite different pony.

Cursing softly to herself, Trixie went back into her trailer and slammed the door shut. Ditto sighed and navigated her way through the dark backstage room, out through the curtains, and to Twilight's library.

*Click*

Ditto flipped around, trying to find the source of the noise. "I know I heard something!" she muttered, "But what makes a clicking noise like that?"

Deciding it was nothing important, she flicked open the door and crept inside. With a flash of green magic, she went back to her normal Changeling form and limped towards the stairs. 

*Click*

----

A light tan-ish white Pegasus colt sat outside the window of Twilight's library, camera between his two front hooves. This sure was an interesting development. 

"Come on, Featherweight," a voice called behind the colt. Turning around and slinging the camera back around his neck, Featherweight trotted to his friend.

"Hey, Snails, I think should visit Trixie after all," Featherweight suggested.

"But she said we shouldn't disturb her." a smaller colt said.

"I know, Snips, but she'll want to be disturbed for this." Featherweight pointed at the camera slung around his neck, then started off, trotting towards Trixie's trailer.





Spellchecker and Prof-reader:Glitchhunter5000 (The Reviser/Suggester)
> Chapter 11
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trixie was comfortably sleeping in her bed. Having been interrupted already that night by some midnight-prankster, she was eager to get back to sleep. Today had been a good day, and she had a feeling her reputation was coming back greater than ever before. But hard logic told her that not everypony would believe that Twilight was a lair- too many trusted her.

The blue Unicorn was drifting off, the wonderful world of dreams slowly floating towards her. She was nearly sound asleep, when...

*knock knock knock*

Trixie tried to ignore the sound, hoping it was her imagination.

*knock knock knock*

Tossing her blanket off her, Trixie stood up and walked angrily over to the door. "The Great and Powerful Trixie is trying to sleep!" she snapped, pushing the top part of her door open. At first, she saw nothing, and thought that the midnight-pranker had come back. Then she looked down and saw three foals staring up at her.

"Trixie, your number-one fans have something you'll want," the tan-white one said. He picked up the camera that was slung around his neck with his mouth and held it up to Trixie. Surrounding the camera with purple magic, Trixie pulled it away from the young colt and held it up to her eyes.

"What is this for?" she asked.

"Look through these pictures." The colt pointed at a button. Trixie clicked it, and the small screen on its surface changed, showing the last pictures it had taken. She flicked through them, face slowly spreading into a smile. "Twilight Sparkle is a liar! She's harboring a Changeling!" Trixie said delightedly.

----

Ditto was absorbed in "Goldhoof the Magical and the Pegasus Race" again. 

Goldhoof stared with surprise up at Moonbloom. "What, Goldhoof?" Moonbloom asked. "Were your eyes too clouded, or am I really that good?"

"You caused this?" Goldhoof choked finally, waving a hoof at the feuding ponies. "But...how?"

Moonbloom grabbed Goldhoof's wing in a hoof. She spread it and pointed with another hoof. Now that Goldhoof looked, she saw many small, worm-like creatures twisting themselves between her feathers.

"They're a special type of parasite." Moonbloom said simply. "They feast on feathers. No Pegasus will be able to fly for a long time, not until they molt." 

Goldhoof suddenly jumped up and waved her wings hysterically, trying to shake off the tiny worms. A few fell to the ground, but others were wrapped tightly in her wings. She looked back to Moonbloom.

"I put them in every racer's wings, and your's. I knew you'd be trouble, so I figured it would be better if you couldn't fly either," the black mare stated.

"Why?" Goldhoof asked quietly.

Moonbloom just smiled and flew off, not answering. Goldhoof tried to follow her, but her large, golden wings were now useless. 

"Uh...oh.." Ditto said to herself while reading. All was silent except for the sound of pages turning as both Ditto and Twilight read.

Suddenly, there was a voice in Ditto''s head. It was familiar, but she couldn't quite place it.

"Ditto? Ditto?"

Ditto blinked in surprise. Someone was communicating to her through magic. It must be another changeling. "It's me, Ditto," she sent back through her thoughts, not saying a thing out loud. In her head, the voice of another changeling answered.

"Ah, Ditto! It's been a long time," the voice said. "It's General Carbon. I need to inform you of an invasion on Ponyville. Many changelings are stationed here, searching for all the stranded ones."

"General Carbon?" Ditto thought back. "There are other changelings in Ponyville?"  

"Yes, there are many. Some haven't been found yet; like Mirror, they've been cut off. Her horn was broken off on landing, and I'm sure it's happened to others. I only found her through pure luck. Oh, you might see me around Ponyville, by the way. I'm disguised as an orange earth pony mare."

"But, wait, what about Queen Chrysalis?" Ditto sent, barely catching the part with Mirror.

"She is dead."

"What?" Ditto asked, stunned. But the only thoughts in her head were her own again. General Carbon had cut off the connection. Ditto sighed.

"Ah ha!" Twilight exclaimed suddenly, making Ditto jump. The purple Unicorn levitated a book in front of her. "I think I've found a way to make these butterfly wings more durable." As the whole conversation had taken place in Dittos' head, Twilight hadn't noticed a thing.

"Great," Ditto responded, not really listening. Other than Mirror, she knew of no other Changeling in Ponyville. In fact, Ditto hadn't even really seen Mirror. All she knew was one day, when somepony knocked on the door downstairs, Ditto sensed the aura of a Changeling. She had told Twilight, and Twilight had been angry with Pinkie and Fluttershy at first for harboring a Changeling, then remembered she was doing the same thing. She hadn't known it was Mirror until Twilight had told her the name, and she just guessed it was the same Mirror she knew.

"You really shouldn't blame them," Ditto had told her. "They're just helping someone in need."

As Mirror drifted to mind, Ditto wondered if she had been told of the invasion, too. She knew that Mirror was dedicated to the swarm and probably wouldn't follow General Carbon without knowing for sure that Queen Chrysalis was okay with it. The queen's word was law- that was the way of the swarm.

Ditto knew she couldn't fight the ponies of Ponyville. She had grown too attached to Twilight and the others, she couldn't just betray them by fighting against them, not after what they had done for her. But she couldn't tell them about the invasion, that would be betraying her swarm, her family. It was a pickle, to say the least.

Suddenly, Ditto was dragged back to reality with the slam of a door. Twilight had left the bedroom, going downstairs. Ditto stood, barely noting how her leg felt better, and crossed the room. Searching the shelves, she found nothing of interest to read. She needed something pleasant to take her mind off of the invasion.

Suddenly, she noticed a long roll of parchment. It was the library's archive of books that have been checked out. It must have gotten misplaced- it normally stayed rolled up in a drawer. But now, It was rolled up in between two books. Horn glowing with green magic, Ditto levitated it off the shelf. She carried it across the room and used a hole-filled hoof to open a drawer.

Suddenly, a knock on the door below startled her and she dropped the scroll as she jumped. Wincing as she fell on her broken leg, Ditto trotted over to the door. Pushing it open a crack, she saw Fluttershy and another, unknown Pegasus standing in the library. Ditto carefully closed the door before returning to the scroll.

The parchment had unraveled and Ditto clearly see the words written on it. A name caught her eye before she rolled it up again.

Minuette- checked out "The Security and Protection of Equestria"  

Suddenly, everything fell into place in Ditto's mind. Minuette was a Changeling. It all made sense now. Minuette had been the one taunting her in her dreams! She had checked out the book on security, she had sounded cheerful when the guard had been removed, and she must have been responsible for Ditzy Doo's crash!

Ditto dropped the book and raced downstairs. Luckily, the guests had left, and Twilight sat alone in front of book, large, glittering butterfly wings on her sides.

"Twilight, I need to go out." Ditto said quickly.

The unicorn looked up from her book and gave Ditto a confused look. "Why?"

"I've just figured out something important, and I need to go confirm it." Ditto's solid purple eyes were filled with urgency. 

Twilight thought for a moment, then pulled a book out from the nearest shelf. She flipped it open to a certain page and dropped it in front of Ditto. "There's an illusion spell that should fix your eyes when you transform," she said.

"You mean, you really trust me enough?" Ditto blinked in surprise.

"Yes, I trust you enough." Twilight turned back to her book but continued talking. "If you were any danger or untrustworthy, we would all be enslaved by Changelings."

Ditto smiled, then she started reading. To her, it was of great relief and pain that Twilight trusted her.  

----

'Moonbloom' -the Unicorn version- gasped in the fresh air, delighted. The outside, it was beautiful! The morning sun was shining brightly and a light breeze ruffled Ditto's silver and black tail and mane.

But nothing could distract her from her mission. Trotting down the road as casually as she could, Ditto looked around. Maybe she could pick up the aura of a Changeling and find Minuette. She vaguely wondered why she hadn't detected Minuette being a Changeling before, but it was probably just because she was low on magic or because Minuette was really a high-ranking Changeling that could hide her aura. Actually, if the latter was true, what was the whole point of this adventure?

Ignoring this thought, Ditto trotted on.

"I'm telling you, there's Changelings about!" Ditto turned as she heard those words. She saw a teal-green unicorn who was sitting in an odd position on a bench. Next to her was a light cream-colored Earth Pony mare with a striped mane.

"What makes you say that, Lyra?" the cream mare asked.

"I haven't seen Applejack or Carrot Top in forever! I bet they were kidnapped!" the Unicorn, Lyra, responded.

"I'm sure they're fine. I saw Applejack just yesterday morning and saw Carrot Top at the welcome party." The second pony sighed. "Now, I'm going to go Sugarcube Corner. Do you want anything?"

"How about a watermelon cupcake?"

Ditto wasn't paying attention anymore. She turned and limped away as fast as she could. She had come to the conclusion that the less ponies who see her, the better. Thank Chrysalis that illusion spell had fixed her eyes.

Suddenly, she sensed something. Stopping in her running, Ditto realized she sensed the aura of a Changeling nearby. Could it be Minuette? She had to know.

Her horn glowed with green magic as she trotted towards the source. It seemed to be in Sugarcube Corner. Trotting towards the cake-shaped building, Ditto pushed open the door to find a huge line of ponies. This is going to take awhile, she thought, frowning, I'll have to look everywhere for Minuette. 

----

Ditto reached the front of the line, trotting up to the counter. She blinked in surprise when she saw the pony behind the counter, shock all over her face. Pinkie Pie was standing at the front of the line, same cheery smile, same cheerful attitude, but it wasn't quite Pinkie.

“Hey, are you new in Ponyville? You must be, because I’ve never seen you before! I love meeting new ponies! What’s your name?” Pinkie asked.

The aura was leading her here. This had to be a Changeling, but who? Ditto dug through her memory, trying to remember who this was. Suddenly, she remembered. This was good old Mirror! Her old friend from the swarm. Ditto almost greeted her old friend by name, but remembered that she was disguised. Thinking quickly, Ditto said, "I’m Moonbloom. You’re Pinkie Pie, right?”

“Yup, that’s me! Pinkie Pie, party pony extraordinaire!”

“Well Pinkie, I have this friend; her name’s Minuette, I’m sure you know her. Anyway, I want to throw her a surprise party, since her birthday’s coming up soon.” Ditto lied.

“Really? That’s great! I’m sure it’ll be lots of fun!”

“Exactly, that’s why I need to talk with you somewhere private. You know, to discuss it?”

Mirror's smile fell. “Well, I’d really love to, but we’re kind of busy right now…”

“Oh, I know! I just want to tell you about my ideas for it. We can plan it later.” Ditto replied quickly. She wanted to talk with her old friend, but couldn't tell her who she was in this crowd. She hoped Mirror would agree, just so she could talk to her in private.

Finally, Mirror nodded. “Alright, let’s go to the kitchen to talk about it.” Then she turned and hopped into the kitchen in a good impersonation of Pinkie's bounce. Ditto followed.

Once they entered the kitchen, Mirror turned away from Ditto and started looking over a list. “So, what did you have in mind for the party? We have to make it as fun as possible, you know!”

Ditto blinked her now pony-like eyes. Did Mirror really not recognize her? But she couldn't help but giggle at how well her old friend was at impersonating Pinkie Pie. “You can drop the act, Mirror. It’s just us now,” she said.

Mirror dropped the list in shock and turned to stare at Ditto. “How…how did you…?” 

Ditto's horn glowed green, undoing the illusion spell. Once the glow evaporated, her eyes were left the normal solid purple. She smiled at Mirror. "It's me, Ditto."

There was a long silence where Mirror just stared at Ditto in shock. As time wore on, Ditto got a bit uncomfortable. Just as Ditto opened her mouth, deciding to speak again, Mirror swept her into a big hug.

“Ditto! Oh, Ditto, it’s you! Thank Chrysalis, you’re okay! You have no idea how happy I am to see you!” Mirror gushed, holding the changeling tight. Ditto struggled in the embrace; it was so hard, she could barely breath!

“That’s… great, but… Mirror… my ribs… crushing me!” she struggled to say. Mirror dropped Ditto, who landed on the floor, gasping for breath.

Mirror blushed in embarrassment. “Sorry. It’s just, well, I’m happy to see a friend after all this time. The last two changelings I’ve met since ending up here haven’t been all that… friendly.”

“Yeah, I heard about that. Your horn broke, so you can’t see any of us unless we reveal ourselves.” Ditto said, pulling this information from her short talk with Carbon. She had forgotten about it until now, no wonder Mirror hadn't recognized her! “You’ve talked with General Carbon already, right?”

“Yeah, I have, but I don’t want to talk about it.” Mirror said, trotting over to the sink and pouring a glass of water for herself. “Anyway, let’s not talk about me. I want to hear about you. How did you fix your eyes? They actually looked pony-like! And where did you get that limp?”

“I learned an illusion spell that makes my eyes look like a pony’s, and my leg broke when I crashed after the invasion at Canterlot.” Ditto said, “Luckily, I met somepony kind enough to help heal it. It’s not perfect, though, so I’ll have a limp until it heals.” Wishful thinking, there was still a chance it would never heal. But that wasn't important right now.

“Huh, both my foreleg and horn broke when I crashed. Fluttershy helped my leg heal, though, so the only problem now is my horn.” Mirror said, “Isn’t that funny? You’re a changeling with a horn but no wings, and I’m a changeling with wings but no horn. Funny, huh?”

“Um, I guess…” Ditto said, unsure on how to answer. It was coincidence, alright. If this was the real Pinkie Pie, she would probably have some silly and impossible explanation on how this happened. 

“So anyway, where have you been all this time? I’ve been staying at Fluttershy’s cottage; are you living with anypony right now?” Mirror asked, taking a drink of her water. Ditto vaguely wondered how her friend was holding the glass so easily with a hoof- she always had to use her horn to levitate things. If she used her hooves, she always held thing clumsily.

Shrugging off the strange thought, she answered, “Actually, I am! I’ve been staying with Twilight at her home.”

Mirror suddenly choked on her water, coughing. Setting the glass down, she gasped heavily for several moments before gasping out, “Twilight?!”

Ditto wasn't sure why she was so surprised. “That’s right. After the invasion, I crashed into her tree house. I stayed there for three days until she came back, but I was unconscious for most of it. I’m surprised nopony noticed and came looking,” she explained. “Anyway, she and Spike came in, she found me, she freaked out and accused me of threatening Ponyville and waiting to ambush her, and I told her that that wasn’t true. There was a lot of shouting that morning.”

“And she just let you stay?” Mirror asked.

“Yeah, she saw how injured I was and how I wasn’t a threat to anypony, so she agreed to take care of me. I didn’t really understand why at the time, but now I do; she was just being a good pony and helping someone who really needed it.” Ditto said, “Of course, she was still a little freaked out over there being a changeling living in her house, so she kept me a secret and confined me to her bed whenever anypony came over and didn’t let me go out. This is the first time she’s let me leave; she told me this morning that I could go out because she trusts me not to do anything bad.”

“Huh, that sounds like what me, Pinkie, and Fluttershy are doing.” Mirror said, laughing nervously. She took another drink of her water.

“Um, yeah, about that…I might have told her that you were also a changeling… ” Ditto said hesitantly. She had a feeling, now having met Mirror again, that her old friend wouldn't appreciate this.

She was right. choking on her water again, Mirror gasped,  “You what?!”

“I just recognized that you had the aura of a changeling! I didn’t know it was you!" At first... "I figured that if Twilight was okay with me living with her, she’d be okay with you being with her friends!” Ditto defended herself.

“And was she?” Mirror asked.

“Well, she did get a little caught up in her friends keeping such an important secret from her, but she calmed down pretty quickly once she remembered that she was doing the same thing.” Ditto said.

“Okay, well, as long as she hasn’t told Celestia on us…” Mirror sighed.

“No, she hasn’t. She trusts me.” Ditto said.

“…So, how’s it been? Living with Twilight?” Mirror asked.

 Living with Twilight... that sounds like it would be an interesting book series! Ditto thought. She then thought,  This is a strange time to be having silly thoughts. 

“It’s been nice. I was never well-liked at the hive anyway; you and Queen Chrysalis were really the only ones who cared about me. But living with Twilight has been nice; she cares enough to keep me fed, she’s got plenty of interesting books for me to read, and, well, it’s been nice. Even though we invaded Canterlot and tried to enslave Equestria, she still trusts me…” Ditto trailed off, the planned invasion in her thoughts. She wondered whether or not to tell her pony friends. She couldn't be a traitor to the changelings, yet Twilight trusted her.

“Something wrong?” Mirror asked.

Ditto realized that her nervous and upset feelings must have shown. “Well, she trusts me. She trusts me not to do anything that’ll bring harm to Ponyville, and I don’t want to lose that trust,” Ditto confessed. “I want to tell her about the invasion, but General Carbon will be so angry with me if I do! Maybe I’ll just hide under a rock while it’s going on-”

Mirror choked on her water again. Ditto wondered why, at this point, the other changeling wouldn't have learned to stop drinking while she was talking. “Invasion?!” Mirror sputtered after she finished coughing.

Ditto winced at the volume of her voice, hoping that no one had heard her. The building was full of ponies! But, when no one came, she answered, “You didn’t know? General Carbon didn’t tell you?”

“No, he didn’t tell me anything! What invasion?” Mirror panicked.

“Keep your voice down! We don’t want anypony hearing us!” Ditto whispered, “General Carbon is planning an invasion of Ponyville soon using the changelings that were blown here by the blast and the ones that were already here undercover beforehand.”

“What? Why? That goes completely against Queen Chrysalis’s orders for a situation like this!” Mirror whispered back.

“… General Carbon is convinced that Queen Chrysalis is dead.” Ditto said.

“But that’s impossible! Queen Chrysalis is immortal; she’s lived for over a thousand years! She can’t be dead!” Mirror said.

“I know, but no changeling has seen or heard from her ever since the Canterlot invasion failed. If she is alive, she’s probably in no condition to lead us.” Ditto said. Of course, Ditto was assuming this- she hadn't had any connection with the swarm until that morning. Anyway, if someone had seen her, Carbon wouldn't have said she was dead, would he?

“But, what about High-General Double? She’s second-in-command to Queen Chrysalis; only she has the authority to declare war! Does she know about this?” Mirror asked.

“General Carbon has been using magic to separate the thoughts of the changelings in Ponyville from the rest of the swarm. Unless she knew about the invasion beforehand, I don’t think so.” Ditto explained, “Besides, most changelings like High-General Double, but a lot don’t approve of her having her position and only listen to her because Queen Chrysalis said to. I think General Carbon sees this as a chance to prove himself over her and gain control of the swarm. He’s got plenty of support; a lot of the changelings here would prefer him as High-General over her.”

“…High-General Double and General Carbon never did get along. Now that I think about it, they were always fighting with each other for power.” Mirror said, “But still, attacking Ponyville so soon, and without Queen Chrysalis! That’s suicide!”

“Maybe, but what can we do? He’s a general, and we’re just soldiers. He has more power than us.” Ditto said.

“It doesn’t matter! The Queen’s word is law, and nothing can overrule it! I have to find General Carbon and make him see that!” Mirror decided, “When is the invasion?”

“I don’t know. Soon, I’d guess.” Ditto answered, “General Carbon said he’d give the signal when it was time.” At least, she assumed.

“Then there’s no time to waste!” Mirror said. She began trotting towards the door. “Where would Doctor Whooves be at this time? He’ll have to follow his schedule if he wants to keep his cover, after all.”

“Doctor Whooves? What makes you think that General Carbon is Doctor Whooves?” Ditto asked, raising an eyebrow. She had seen Doctor Whooves the first time she had been out. She only knew his name because somepony had called him as she ran past. She had also been Carbon before seeing Mirror.

Mirror froze and turned back to the changeling with growing horror. “What?”

“General Carbon isn’t replacing the Doctor,” Ditto said. “He’s replacing-”

A loud, high-pitched beeping noise suddenly rang out, cutting Ditto off mid-sentence. Covering their ears, both changelings turned towards the source of the noise, the oven, which had smoke billowing out from it.

“Ah, the cake! I forgot all about it! Dear Chrysalis, can I not do anything on my own?!” Mirror growled, quickly grabbing the fire extinguisher. She opened the blazing oven and pressed the nozzle, firing white foam inside. The flames were quickly doused, leaving only a ruined oven and blackened pastries behind. Ditto felt bad, Mirror was always part of the swarm, a drone, not as independent as Ditto. She must feel terrible, being cut off from the rest.

“Mir-uh, Pinkie, are you alright?” Fluttershy asked, poking her head inside. Ditto quickly cast her illusion spell over her eyes again. Fluttershy knew her well, but she didn't want to surprise the Pegasus. It may cause an uproar. “What’s going-”

“Everything’s fine!” Mirror said quickly, “We just need a new oven, that’s all! But beyond that, nothing’s wrong! There’s nothing to worry about!”

“…Okay, if you say so…” Fluttershy said hesitantly, going back into the main room.

Ditto suddenly felt a spark of magic in her horn. Touching a hoof to it, she concentrated on what was happening. But it wasn't someone trying to talk to her- it was someone listening to her thoughts! Whoever it was had heard their whole conversation! He or she might have heard about how she was reluctant to fight with the changelings during the invasion! This could mean big trouble.

“…I have to go. Sorry, Mirror.” Ditto said, quickly galloping out the door. Pushing her way through the line of ponies and swung open the door and exploded out onto the street. "I need to find Minuette." she muttered to herself. She continued walking around town, but saw nothing of interest. She sensed no changeling aura, and finally decided to call it a day and go back home.

"I'll look again tomorrow." she told herself, then she trotted towards the library.

----

Morph flew above the town, eyes fixed on the black Unicorn. She was in her Pegasus form, but only so she could keep an eye on the traitor.

Morph had heard her talking with another changeling. She didn't want to fight on the changeling's side in the upcoming invasion. She had Empathy Sickness, so bad that she was going to side with the ponies.

There was no choice. She had to get rid of the traitor. She flapped her yellowish- orange wings and landed on a nearby hill as the black Unicorn trotted out of sight. With a flash of green light, Morph returned to her normal form- a blue Unicorn. 

Now, how would she go about getting rid of the traitor?
 
> Chapter 12
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trixie stretched her limbs the next morning. Today was going to be a good day. She would put on another show, and during that show she would reveal the pictures Featherweight had taken. Twilight would be revealed for harboring a changeling, and everypony would see that she was a liar!

Filled with joy at the thought of her reputation back, Trixie walked over to the small counter within her trailer and picked up her bag of bits. She was going to go to a restaurant for breakfast, this wonderful day deserved a wonderful breakfast. She trotted outside and flicked the door closed behind her.

After Trixie disappeared, another blue Unicorn came from behind the trailer. Horn glowing with sapphire blue magic, she opened the door to Trixie's trailer and slipped inside. 

The interior was tidy. The walls were painted the same blue as Trixie was, as was just about everything else. One end of the trailer was occupied by one big, blue bed with sparkles on the sheets. Beside it was a pretty nightstand with decorations of Trixie's cutie mark.

This nightstand interested this Unicorn. She trotted carefully over to it. She looked down at some objects laying on it. They were pictures, displaying a wingless changeling transforming into a black unicorn. The unicorn quickly surrounded the object with magic and slipped back out of the trailer, closing the door carefully.

She scanned the area, spotting two Canterlot guards down the road. Luckily the guard hadn't actually been removed from Ponyville, or her plan wouldn't work. She trotted down the road to talk with the guards.

"Grimoire, Spell Tome!" she called.

"Yes?" the two guards turned their heads.

"I have something you might want to see." she levitated the photos towards them. Their eyes widened as they took in the images. 

----

Ditto awoke to sunlight shining on her face. She blinked her purple eyes open and stood, sleepily. As her mind woke fully, she saw Twilight standing in the middle of the room. "Morning, Twilight." Ditto mumbled.

"Good morning, Ditto." Twilight said. She trotted out of the room and downstairs, probably to get some breakfast from the kitchen.

Ditto surrounded some of the books near her with green magic and put them back on the shelves. She also picked up the novel she was writing and her Goldhoof the Magical book, setting them on the floor at the foot of her bed. She realized she hadn't gotten very far in her novel (or auto-biography, in a sense). Because of recent events, she didn't have much time for it.

Instead, she thought of the upcoming invasion. She glanced at the door Twilight had disappeared through. Should she tell Twilight? No, because if she told her, she would be betraying her own kind. But if she didn't, she would be betraying the pony who had given her a home; something she had desperately needed. Twilight, although suspicious at times, had helped Ditto through her time of need. When Ditto had been terribly hurt with barely any chance of surviving, Twilight had helped her.

How could she possibly keep this a secret from the pony who had saved her from death?

Suddenly, ditto dropped the book she was holding in shock. Oh, no. she thought frantically, Do I have Empathy Sickness so bad that I can't choose who to put first? What will Carbon, Double, and the others think of me? How can I go back to the swarm now?

Ditto's thoughts were interrupted by Twilight's hoofsteps as she re-entered the room. "Ditto, you have a pony disguise, right?"

"Yes." the changeling replied, turning around to face the unicorn. 

"I don't have the time right now, so I need you to go to the market and buy some food." Twilight sighed, "We're all out."

Ditto blinked in surprise. Before, Twilight wouldn't even consider letting her outside the library. Now she was send her out to buys food? "Of course, but I don't have any bits."

"It's alright." Twilight said, trotting over to her desk and grabbing a small bag of money. "You can use my bits. You don't eat the food, anyway."

Ditto, still a bit surprised, took the bag of bits. She held it aloft with green magic as she transformed into her Moonbloom form. however, she used her unicorn form of Moonbloom, mostly because it would be easier to hold things when she was shopping.

Ditto noticed Twilight over at a chest, using her magic to dig through its contents. "What are you looking for?" the disguised changeling asked.

"You're going to need something to carry the food in." Twilight replied. She finally drew a pair of saddlebags out of the chest. they were a pretty shade of purple and had the six-pointed star of Twilight's cutie mark as the clips. The unicorn stood and walked over to Ditto, dropping the bags over her back.

"They're my bags, but I doubt anypony would care." Twilight said. Ditto nodded and walked over to the door. Just before she could swing it open and trot outside, Twilight called, "Wait!" 

Ditto turned around, wondering what was wrong. Twilight pointed a hoof at Ditto's disguised face. "Ditto, your eyes are still solid purple."

Ditto mentally face-hoofed. "Oh, of course." She gathered her magic, closed her eyes, and cast her illusion spell. When she opened them again, they were the same shade purple, but at least more like a pony's. "Okay, now I'm off."

"Goodbye." Twilight said. After the door closed behind Ditto, she turned and walked upstairs to continue her study.

----

Ditto trotted outside, enjoying any chance to get out of the library. It was a wonderful morning. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and many ponies were out and about.  In all her joy, Ditto felt like she should take her time in shopping. After all, through all the time she had been in Ponyville she had only left the library a few times. Now she was out, enjoying the morning, with Twilight's permission.

The disguised changeling skipped down the street, humming joyfully. She stopped skipping after awhile as she noticed her broken leg still hurt when she put too much weight on it, but she continued humming. 

"This day has been just perfect

The kind of day of which I've dreamed since I fell

Everypony's having fun

playing out here in the sun

who-"

Ditto's singing was interrupted by a buzzing noise. Looking around, she spotted three fillies riding into town on a wagon. An orange filly was on a scooter and seemed to be pulling the wagon while the other two rode. They were all wearing helmets and talking happily.

"What was Featherweight saying, Scoots?" a white filly asked from the wagon.

"I dunno." the orange filly replied, "Something about a changeling. He was probably just making stuff up, he's always full of-" she was cut off as she spotted Ditto and screeched to halt, barely avoiding running into her. The wagon toppled and all the fillies fell on the ground. 

"I'm sorry, are you okay?" Ditto asked, running over to help them onto their hooves.

"I'm fine," the orange filly said, "You guys okay?"

"Ah'm okay." a yellow earth pony stood, taking off her helmet to reveal a red mane. 

"I'm fine." the white unicorn replied, standing easily and trotting over to the first filly.

"Okay then." Ditto sighed with relief and was about to trot away when she heard the orange filly call after her.

"Hey, you look familiar!"

"I do?" the disguised changeling said, worriedly. The less ponies that knew her, the better. She suddenly realized how tricky this trip had been.

"I've seen you before, but I dunno know where." the filly continued. She raced over to get a better look at Ditto. After a bit of observation, she turned to the others. "Do you remember her, Sweetie Belle?"

"Nope." the white filly shook her head. "You, Apple Bloom?"

"Nope." the yellow filly shook her head as well. "Ah don't think so. Where could ya have seen her before, Scootaloo?"

Scootaloo shrugged. "I guess it's my imagination." she raced back to the wagon. "Come on, Cutie Mark Crusaders!"

"Ah might as well stay here." Apple Bloom said, not moving to get in the wagon. "Applejack said ah gotta work the apple stand with her."

"Well, how about we go, too?" Sweetie Belle asked, "there are tons of way we could earn our cutie marks at the market!"

"Great idea!" Scootaloo strapped on her helmet and waited for her friends to climb in after her.

This discussion reminded Ditto of one very obvious fact that she had forgotten until that very moment; she had no idea where the market was. "Wait!" Ditto said quickly, before the fillies could take off again. "I'm new in Ponyville and I don't know how to get to the market. Can you show me the way?"

The three fillies exchanged a glance before they all said simultaneously, "Sure."

Apple Bloom reached into the wagon and pulled out an extra helmet. She hoofed it to Ditto, who took it and strapped it on. The disguised changeling carefully climbed into the wagon behind Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. In a matter of seconds, they were off.

----

Dizzy from the fast ride, Ditto jumped out of the wagon and took off her helmet. "Thanks." she said simply, waiting for the world to stop spinning.

"No problem!" Scootaloo said. 

"Too bad we didn't get our cutie marks in being taxi-drivers." Sweetie Belle sighed.

"Maybe we need tah be drivin' a real taxi?" Apple Bloom suggested.

Ditto stopped listening and trotted away happily, now that the dizziness had passed. She was now observing the stalls set up. There was one selling cherries, one selling carrots, and so many more. It seemed you could buy every type of food here.

Ditto walked over to the first stall in sight. Behind it was a pretty, pink mare with gold hair and two cherries for a cutie mark. There were a few cherries left on the counter next to sign that said 'Two Cherries = 1 bit'.

"Hello," the mare said cheerfully. "I'm Cherry Berry. Would you like to buy something?"

Ditto nodded. "Yes, I'd like to buy a few cherries." Her horn glowed with green magic as she levitated Twilight's bag of bits out of her saddlebags. She also picked up a few cherries with her magic. She dropped the right amount of bits on the counter.

"Thank you." Cherry Berry smiled and took the bits off the counter, sweeping them into a box inside the stall.

"You too." Ditto smiled and trotted away happily, both cherries and bit back in her saddlebags. Much time passed, and about an hour later, ditto's bags were full of food and she was ready to go home.

"You!" a voice snapped from behind the changeling. She turned around to see two Canterlot guards racing towards her. Heart freezing, Ditto almost panicked. what did these guards want with her? Had they found out? did they know? Were they going to banish her? Imprison her? Kill her?

Not sure what else to do, Ditto bolted. Ignoring the pain from her half-healed leg, she ran as fast as she could. Weaving through all the ponies, she tried desperately to outrun the guards. But of course, you know how in every dramatic story or movie, there is a tree root there to trip those who are running for their lives.

The tree root for Ditto was a stray apple that had rolled out from the apple family's stand. Not paying attention in her panic, the disguised changeling accidentally placed her hoof directly on the apple, causing it to roll under her hoof and  plunge her into the ground.

The guard caught up to her, standing on either side. There was no escape now. "Show yourself, changeling!" the first guard spat.

"I'm not a changeling, leave me alone!" Ditto cried back, trying hopelessly to get herself out of this situation.

"We have proof, monster!" the second guard said. His horn glowed with magic as he levitated a few pictures in front of Ditto's face. She gasped- they were pictures of her! One was her in her changeling form in the dark backstage room of Trixie's stage. Another was her, halfway through transforming into her Moonbloom form. The last was her sneaking into Twilight's library. They were solid proof. She had no way out.

"Please, I'm not a monster, just let me go!" she shouted, fearfully.

"You're coming with us, changeling!" the first guard said, levitating a dangerous-looking spear. 

All was lost. Everything. Now Ditto would be taken away, banished or killed. All she had done was for nothing. It was all for naught now, because it was all over. There we no possible way for her to escape now. What she wouldn't give to have wings.

Ditto closed her eyes in an effort to calm herself. Well, if she was going out, she was going out as a changeling. She quickly undid the ties of magic around her illusion spell. Ready to accept her fate, Ditto turned her head towards the guards and opened her solid purple eyes.

“Wait! Don’t hurt her!” someone called.


 
> Chapter 13
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ditto flipped around to find the source of the call. A tan pegasus mare was racing towards her and guards. She stopped in between Ditto and the guards.

At first, Ditto had no idea who this pony was. Then she felt something around the tan pegasus. The aura of a changeling. It was familiar aura; Mirror's!

"Mirror?" Ditto said in utmost shock. However, she was drowned out by Mirror's second statement.

“You can’t hurt her! I won’t let you!” 

Mirror gave Ditto a glance, and Ditto smiled. She was shocked, but she was grateful. Mirror was helping her, and with a hint of luck, they could get out of this situation safely.

Suddenly, Ditto realized something strange. Why is Mirror helping me? she wondered, Why not any of the other changelings here? As Mirror talked to the guards, Ditto quickly cast a spell to check for the auras of other changelings. There was herself and Mirror, of course, but she also detected several others. Some were the ponies standing in the crowd, giving her hateful glares. Why was Mirror the only one helping her? Why wasn't her swarm stepping in and giving her a hoof?

If her swarm had abandoned her, what was she to do? Of course, they had never liked her much, but she was a changeling, like the rest of them! Every changeling was instructed to protect all other changelings; it was like a sacred code. They were all brothers and sisters, swarm-mates, and were always there to help each other.

Gathering her magic, Ditto sent out a short communication through her horn to other changelings. "Why aren't you helping me?" she thought. She waited. She heard no response, but could have sworn she felt enjoyment coming from a few. Was giving away one of their own to the canterlot guards  fun for them? Were they all truly rebels?

Ditto zoned back into the conversation between Mirror and the guards. 

“She is a threat to the citizens of Ponyville and must be-” the first guard, who had been identified as Grimoire, stated.

“But she isn’t!” Mirror cut in, “She’s a mutant; she has no wings and her magic is weak. She can’t even shapeshift properly!”

"Hey..." Ditto muttered indignantly. She wasn't that weak. However, she silenced herself when Mirror gave her a small glare. She decided to let Mirror deal with the situation. She was about to zone out again, but Grimoire's response shocked her deeply.

“…You seem to know a lot about this changeling.” Grimoire said, “But how could you know so much unless you’ve known about her and haven’t alerted the guard, in which case you are aiding a criminal, or you yourself are also a changeling?!”

Ditto heard horrified gasps from the crowd. Looking around at the crowd, she hoped beyond reason that one of them would step in. A disguised changeling, a normal pony, anyone for Chrysalis's sake! They were losing the argument that could decide the fate of both her and Mirror!

Then, Ditto noticed something that made her heart sink. Mirror was glowing a slight green, and only a moment later, she opened her eyelids to reveal solid blue eyes. Mirror was giving herself up as a changeling!

Ditto stepped forward in an attempt to stop Mirror before anything bad happened, or to even protect her, but a hateful glare from the second guard and a wave of his spear told her to sit back and watch the chaos that followed.

“I am Mirror, a changeling, and I will not let you harm another of my siblings!” Mirror said confidently, not a trace of fear in her tone. 

"Mirror, no-" but Ditto's voice was drowned once again by cries of shock from the crowd. She tried to get closer to Mirror, but was forced to jump back as Grimoire tried to attack Mirror with his spear. Mirror dodged, then twisted around and bucked the guard's horn, temporarily  cutting off his flow of magic and forcing him to let go of the spear.

Ditto saw that the spear was was now lodged in the ground, and considered grabbing it and fighting along with Mirror, but knew she had no hope. She was weak and her leg was still only half-healed. She stood no chance against two, strong guards in full health.

She looked up and saw Mirror looking at her. “Don’t just stand there! Run!” Mirror shouted.

Ditto wanted to stay, to fight and to protect the only changeling who came to her aid, but she had to go. She was quickly sinking into panic, and all she wanted to do was to Twilight and hide from this. 

Looking around one last time, tears filled her eyes. It was all gone. Her cover was blown. Summoning all her magic, she cast a quick spell. It was a location spell, she was searching for Twilight. Once she found her, she quickly teleported, leaving the chaos-scene behind. She hoped Mirror would be alright.

----

Suddenly, Ditto landed in the town square. She only got a quick glance at the empty streets before smacking right into a purple shape. She saw Twilight staring at her in shock. "...Ditto?"

She quickly jumped back, and tried to figure out ho to calmly explain the situation to Twilight. But she was in too much of a panic. “Twilight! Twilight, I’m sorry! I am so sorry!”

“Sorry, for what?” Twilight asked. “Ditto, what happened? Why aren’t you using your illusion spell?” However, from the panic in Ditto's voice, she already knew.

“…They found out! Somepony saw me sneak out two nights ago and they took pictures and gave them to the guards! I am so sorry!”

“Wait, you snuck out?” Twilight said. “I told you not to! I told you that you needed to stay hidden!"

“I know, and I’m sorry! I betrayed your trust, and for that I am so sorry!” Ditto felt tears welling up, but she held them back the best she could. “I should have told you everything sooner!”

“Should have told me everything sooner? What haven’t you told me?”

“I promise I’m not a traitor! I owe you my life and I would never to anything to hurt you!” Ditto pleaded. Now the tears were slipping down her face. “I only found out yesterday, and I should have told you, but he would have been so angry with me if I did! Please, forgive me!”

“…Ditto, what have you been doing? What’s going to happen?!” Twilight placed her hooves on Ditto's shoulders and looked into her solid purple eyes.

“…There’s going to be an invasion!” She shouted, closing her eyes as if expecting someone to hit her. She immediately felt Twilight take her hooves off of her shoulders and step back. 

"An... invasion?" the unicorn asked, stunned.

Ditto nodded, cracking open one eye. However, the only thing she saw was a flick of Twilight's tail as she galloped away. However, the unicorn stopped and turned back to Ditto. "Ditto, leave Ponyville. Find somewhere safe to hide. You'll be in too much danger if you stay." Then she left at a speed to rival Rainbow Dash's.

Ditto had to leave. Twilight had told her to, and it would keep her safe. But what about after the invasion? There was no way the swarm would take her back, she had revealed the invasion to Twilight!

But they hadn't helped her. The changelings hadn't helped her with the guards; if it wasn't for Mirror, who knew what would have happened? Were the changelings against her now?

They didn't help me. Ditto thought. But Twilight has always helped me. 

Ditto sat and thought there for what seemed like hours. The only thing that pulled her out of her thought trance was a loud bang.

Flipping around, her purple eyes spotted a missile of green magic. Several changelings were zipping around in the air, and many ponies were running in terror. "The invasion's started?!" Ditto shouted in shock. 

She was answered by a familiar unicorn running towards her. It was Minuette! But she didn't look like a pony in the midst of a terrible fight for her life. In fact, she was giving Ditto and evil sneer. Just as she came to a stop before the mutant changeling, she glowed with green fire. She was left in a changeling form, glaring at Ditto. 

"Morph!" Ditto shouted in shock. She was barely heard through the screaming of the invasion. 

Morph's only response was to hoof Ditto a small pink volume. "How does it feel," she asked, "to know you gave me the book that made this invasion possible?"

Ditto stared down at the book in her hoof. The title read, 'The Security and Protection of Equestria'. Ditto suddenly realized why this book was significant. It could have given the changelings an open door to invade anywhere in Equestria. But she had other things on her mind. "Why didn't any of the other changelings help me, back when I was being attacked by the guards?" she asked Morph.

Morph gave her an evil smile. "There is no room in the swarm for an empathy-ridden fool. You were useless before; when you were just a mutant, but now you are full of empathy sickness. Carbon ordered your exposure, and I was more than happy to give those pictures to the guards."

"You did this?" Ditto growled. She was putting on a brave face, as she really felt like she was going to cry.

"I was just following orders." Morph started the fly off, calling over her shoulder, "For your information, we consider you a traitor now. You will be attacked if you don't seek shelter." However, she didn't say this like a warning. No, instead she said it in a cheerful, happy tone.

Ditto ran. Not to seek shelter or just plain run away from the invasion, but to the library. She ignored the pain from her leg as she ran as fast as her hooves would carry her. I don't care what happens to me. She thought, I have to stop this invasion, and save these ponies!

Ditto had almost made it to the door of the library when she smacked into something solid. Falling back, she shifted into her changeling form. She blinked several times to return her vision before she stood. As she looked around to see what she had smacked into, she was in shock.

It was a changeling. But was it? It was orange and had solid green eyes, but it had the horn and wings of a changeling. It looked like it was a half-changeling half-pony. As Ditto tried to identify it, it stood and rubbed its head. "It's hard tah keep a pony form, ain't it?" it muttered.

Then Ditto recognized it. "Applejack?"

Applejack looked up at Ditto. Barely missing a beat, she leaped at her and pinned her down. "Get outta here, ya overgrown bug!"

"Wait, stop!" Ditto. She gathered all her strength and rolled quickly, catching Applejack off guard. As the half-changeling jumped back, Ditto ran to a safe distance. This had to be the real Applejack; not Carbon. No changeling could be half-pony without serious mutation. "I'm on the ponies' side, I swear!"

"How can I believe ya?" Applejack asked suspiciously.

This was an interesting development alright, but Ditto had other plans. "I don't have time for this." she muttered, and she quickly dashed inside the library. She scanned the room, but saw no trace of the purple dragon she was looking for. "Spike?" she called. After no response for few moments, she quickly made her way up the stairs and pushed open the door.

"Ditto?" Looking up to the ledge where Twilight's and Spike's beds were, Ditto spotted the baby dragon hiding beneath the window. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I do live here." Ditto said. She ran and jumped up to the ledge, barely making it. She was still injured, but she ignored the pain. "But I'm really here to contact the Princesses."

"What's going on out there?" Spike asked. While he spoke he stood and climbed down off the ledge, towards the writing desk.

"Changeling invasion." Ditto responded, flinching at a flash of green magic outside the window. As she peeked out to see who had done it, she saw a group of mares running for cover as they were chased by five or six changelings. Sighing, she hopped off the ledge and followed Spike. "We have to tell Princess Celestia about it!"

As they were speaking, Applejack climbed the stairs and stood in the doorway. "Spike, who is this?" she asked.

Instead of waiting for Spike to answer, Ditto walked over to Applejack to explain. "My name's Ditto; I'm a friend of Twilight's."

"And why would Twilight be friends with a changeling?"

Ditto would have rolled her eyes, but when your eyes don't have pupils or whites, you can't really tell. "It's a long story and now isn't the best time to explain it. I've been living with Twilight since the changeling attack on Canterlot failed."

"Really?" Applejack still looked suspicious. "If Twilight has had a changeling with her the whole time, why didn't she know that Chrysalis was here in Ponyville before ah told her? Or were ya keeping secrets and tellin' lies?"

Ditto just sat still for a moment, stunned. "Queen Chrysalis is in Ponyville?" she said, as if thinking out loud. Then she stood quickly and raced over to Spike. "Spike, send that letter to the Princess, I've got to go find Chrysalis!" 

----
Ditto raced down the streets of Ponyville, ignoring the chaos that went on around her. She had to find Queen Chrysalis! If this invasion was done against her orders, surely she could stop it.

Although she ignored it, it didn't stop the fact as she put more strain on her broken leg it got worse and worse. It was hurting badly, but she couldn't stop. She had to find Queen Chrysalis before anyone else got hurt!

With her mind completely focused on running, she didn't notice a few changelings creeping up behind her. They charged up a blast of magic. The green magic hit just under Ditto's hooves, flinging her into the sky.

Ditto flailed in the air, flipping around and around. This was too long of a drop. She would be unfit to fight even if she survived. She closed her eyes and waited for the painful connection with the ground.

But it never came. Cracking open her eyes, Ditto saw that she was surrounded with green magic, floating in the air. To her surprise, she found that it was her magic. Her horn was glowing with magic, holding herself aloft in the sky. Her magic had never been so strong before! Was it the love from Twilight that had given her strength?

Carefully moving herself down to the road with her magic, the mutant changeling landed safely on the road. She was right next to the part of the market where she had been discovered. She was about to continue running when she saw a familair blast of purple magic. "Twilight!" Ditto gasped.

Trying to reach the unicorn, Ditto leapt into a crowd of changelings that were eager to attack the few ponies in the middle. The mutant summoned some magic and fired a few blasts to clear the crowd enough for her to reach Twilight. Ditto was almost there when her face was pressed into the ground. A changeling had pinned her down from behind and was now hissing at her.

"You silly mutant. You think you can beat us, you empathy-ridden weakling?"

Ditto kicked out with her back hooves, knocking the enemy changeling back enough for her to get up. Then she turned to face the enemy and growled. "There's one thing most changelings don't understand." she told the enemy. "Empathy doesn't make us weaklings. No, it makes us stronger!" Then she spun around, gathered all her strength into her back legs, and bucked the changeling in the face with such strength that it would impress Applejack.

"That was fun." Ditto laughed to herself. "I guess it's more fun when you're actually hurting the enemy and not innocent nurses." Then a cry of surprise came to her attention. Turning her attention back on the center of the crowd, Ditto saw a group of changelings heading for Twilight, who was pinned down by a particularly large soldier. Ditto gathered her magic and fired a strong blast of green fire at the changeling who had Twilight pinned.

The purple-eyed changeling watched Twilight teleport out of the crowd then fire a blast of magic to take out the group that had almost attacked her. She sighed with relief, but was interrupted as Twilight spotted her. "Ditto!" Twilight ran over Ditto and hugged her. However, it didn't last long before she stepped back and gave the changeling a stern look. “What are you doing here? I told you to run! You’re in a lot of danger if you stay here, Ditto!”

Ditto winced at her harsh tone. However, when she spoke she looked Twilight in the face and spoke with a brave tone. “I know, but you and everypony else here are in danger too, and I couldn’t just run and hide while you fought back. You’re one of my closest friends, Twilight; I had to come back and help!”

Twilight's face turned to surprise for a moment, then shifted into a warm smile. She hugged Ditto again, ignoring the chaos of fight going on around them. This scene was interrupted by a loud burst of magic above their heads. They both jumped back to see many changelings falling out of the sky, surrounded in a blue-green crystal. The source of the magic was a white unicorn with a smug grin on her face.

“Honestly, as much as I love watching this heartwarming display of yours, you two really should be paying more attention to what’s going on around you.” she giggled at the shocked faces of both Twilight and Ditto.

After a moment, Ditto looked over at Twilight, who's mouth was hanging open in shock, and gave her a concerned look. “Um, Twilight?”

“H-How did you do that?!” Twilight stuttered, staring at the fallen changelings, frozen in the blueish-green crystals. “I’ve never seen you do that before!”

“Well, I’m not completely sure, but I assume it has to do with Sparkler lending me some of her power before she…left.” the white unicorn replied. Ditto wasn't sure who this was, but from the description Twilight had given her, she figured that this was one of Twilight's friends; Rarity. She also didn't know who Sparkler was, but she honestly didn't care right now.

Twilight thought for a bit, then spoke, “That makes some amount of sense. I’ll look into it some more later, though.” 

Ditto glanced up at the sky, which was full of changelings. “Twilight, Rarity? Maybe we should focus on the battle first?”

Twilight nodded, standing in a battle stance and focusing on the fight again. “Right. Ditto, you can handle yourself, can’t you?”

Ditto nodded. “Don’t worry about me, Twilight. My magic is stronger now; I can fight.” She had to stop herself from bragging about how only minutes ago she had levitated herself; they had to focus on the invasion for now. She could tell her later. But... would there be a later? No time for thoughts like that, Ditto! she thought.

“Good, then I’ll leave you to it, then!” Twilight said, racing over to fight next to Rarity. Ditto turned and dived into the crowd of changelings, shooting blasts of green fire at anyone that approached her.  

I have to find queen Chrysalis. Ditto thought, her now stronger magic stretching out over the crowd. She focused on trying to find Chrysalis's aura, but only found the thoughts of hostile changelings. The only thoughts she caught were things like, "You traitor!" and "Why are you defending the ponies?" 

As she fired blasts of green fire at any changeling that flew at her, Ditto was distracted by a flash out of the corner of her eye. Turning to look, she saw a mare cloaked in a purple and blue suit that had an 'm' emblem on the collar. Before she could see who it was, Ditto was tackled by three different changelings while she was distracted.

"You're putting up a lot of fight for a mutant weakling." one of them sneered. 

"I'll show you mutant weakling." Ditto growled. She gathered as much magic as she could and focused on one explosive blast. There was a boom and a flash of green fire and Ditto was free. Standing on her hooves, she saw that there was now a huge hole in the crowd. From the thoughts of the other changelings she was picking up, they were starting to wonder if it was worth it to attack her.

Now that she had a few moments to think before the other changelings attacked again, Ditto observed the battlefield. There were unconscious ponies and changelings littered about. Most had fainted from either exhaustion or fear, but they were all being protected by their comrades. 

She spotted something interesting. Twilight was speaking with Grimoire, the guard who had attacked Ditto. The other guard who had been with Grimiore was laying unconscious behind them. Grimiore was obviously protecting his fallen friend. But why is Twilight talking with him? Ditto wondered.

Another thing was drawing Ditto's attention; the masked mare was jumping around on the roofs of buildings, smacking changelings out of the air. The thing that Ditto found interesting was a bouncy pink tail that was poking out from underneath the cloak. Pinkie Pie. Ditto thought, But why is she dressed up?

She didn't have a lot of time to think before she was tackled by another changeling. She fired off another blast of magic and sent him flying. She did the same with a few other changelings who had snuck up behind her. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the glow of light blue magic. First taking care of a small changeling solider, Ditto turned around to locate the source of the blue magic.

Grimoire was projecting a magic shield around him, Twilight, and the other guard from earlier who was unconscious. Twilight's horn had the familiar glow of a unicorn charging up her magic, while Grimoire struggled to hold up his magical barrier. This worked for a few minutes until five changelings got the idea to power themselves up with green fire and ram themselves hard into the barrier.

Twilight would be vulnerable while she was charging magic! Ditto quickly bucked a changeling who was about to attack her from behind in the face then ran to go help. The shield was about to break under the force of the attacking changelings, and Ditto had to get there before it did. She was almost there!

*Crack*

The shield shattered and the changelings flew at Grimoire and Twilight. "No!" Ditto shouted. She raced over to them through the chaos of the invasion, ready to save them, when she noticed Twilight had opened her eyes. They were glowing white with power.

A purple bubble of magic started to expand, covering the surrounding area. It grew larger and larger, sending all changelings it hit flying far away from Ponyville. She's trying to perform the spell from the Canterlot invasion. Ditto thought. Instantly she started to panic at the thought of being tossed far from Ponyville and being hurt even more, if not killed this time.

However, she spotted dark blue fabric out of the corner of her eyes and turned to be Pinkie Pie in her ridiculous costume. The pink mare took her dark blue cape and wrapped it around Ditto, protecting her from the spell's effects.

Soon the magic bubble died down Pinkie unwrapped Ditto from the material. Ditto instantly looked up at Twilight. The unicorn had returned to normal, except she looked tired after that extreme use of magic. All around was silence, but Ditto knew it was temporary. The spell hadn't even reached the edges of Ponyville- it wouldn't take long for more changelings to come.

“You certainly live up to your status as the Element of Magic, don’t you?” Rarity praised, walking up to Twilight and smiling. “That was very impressive, Twilight!”

Twilight blushed. “Oh, it wasn’t that big of a deal. I’m not the only unicorn to do it, after all. Your magic was much more impressive!”

Rarity giggled. “Oh Twilight, I’m flattered you think that, but the truth is that I wouldn’t have been able to do half that much magic without Sparkler’s help!” She looked around. “I really do wonder where that unicorn went off to…”

Ditto walked over to Twilight and Rarity, following Pinkie. The party pony pulled down her mask. “Wow, we’re doing great! I haven’t had this much fun since yesterday! Yup, prank extravaganza, good times…”

“Pinkie? What are you doing dressed up as Mare-Do-Well?” Rarity asked.

Who's Mare-Do-Well? Ditto wondered. She scanned around the unnaturally silent town around them. It was like in all the tales of horror; utter silence before the attack. Does it really matter right now, though?

“I thought it would be fun!” Pinkie responded to Rarity's question cheerfully.

Ditto stared in wonder at the pink pony. Wasn't she even worried that they were in the middle of a battle? “There will be more coming, you know." Ditto told the ponies. "They replaced a lot of ponies, and I wouldn't be surprised if there were more hiding out in the Everfree Forest. It won’t be long before more changelings arrive.”

“And we’ll be ready for them when they come!” Twilight said bravely. Determination shone in her eyes.

Ditto smiled. We'll do fine if everypony is brave enough.

Twilight turned back towards Grimoire, who was approaching them slowly due to the fact he was supporting his barely-conscious friend. "How are you feeling?" the purple mare asked.

“The enemy got the best of us, but we’ll live.” Grimoire responded. He winced in pain as he spoke. “Not sure how much longer we can hold out without rest or healing, though.”

Twilight nodded, then turned back to the others. She seemed to be looking them over for injuries. At the thought of injuries, Ditto noticed that her broken leg was aching quite a bit from the constant movement. The others had injuries too; Rarity was limping slightly and had many patches of singed fur, Twilight had many cuts and bruises, but Pinkie appeared to be unmarked except for a few tears in her costume.

“Alright everypony, get close to me. I know a few healing spells that should be able to help.” Twilight said, her horn glowing in preparation for casting. “We’re all going to need to be in top condition, because this battle isn’t over yet!”

"But Twilight, shouldn't you conserve your strength?" Ditto asked, "You just cast an extreme spell!"

"I'll be fine." Twilight said. Ditto nodded an reluctantly stepped closer to the unicorn as she began to cast her spell.

"Don't worry," Rarity told the changeling, "she's a strong pony."

Twilight's purple magic enveloped the group. Ditto could feel strength being returned to her, and the scratches on her carapace instantly mend. It felt great, and when the magic released her, she felt as if she had never had any injuries at all. Except her broken leg, which was still almost beyond healing. Deciding it wasn't the moment to worry about her leg, Ditto focused on the surrounding ponies.

One of the closest ponies was a blue-green pegasus with puffy green hair and baby blue eyes. She had a few scratches on her, but overall looked unhurt. However, another pegasus who was with her looked very hurt. "Come on, Lightning Bolt." the first pony said. "We've got to get you back up to Cloudsdale; it'll be safer there!"

"It's okay, Medley." the second pony said. "I'll be fine. I want to stay and fight."

A pale pink unicorn trotted over to them. "Do you need any help?" she asked. "I can do minor healing spells."

"I don't need any help." Lightning Bolt muttered.

"Lightning, there's no way you can fight with that leg!" Medley insisted. "Come up to Cloudsdale or let her heal you; you need help."

These ponies are so caring and kind. Ditto thought. Well, so are changelings, but only to other changelings. Maybe they didn't help anyone other than the swarm because they couldn't feel love. I can feel love, because of Empathy Sickness, and I want to help them. Lightning Bolt needs to get out of the invasion, I think she's sprained that leg. But I know that even if I offer help, nopony would accept it. Ponies don't trust me because I'm a changeling. I'm hated for being a creature that feeds on love but can't feel it for herself. But I can feel love. Does feeling love make me sick?

Ditto's thoughts were broken the loud sound of buzzing. "More changelings are coming." she told Twilight.

Twilight stood in an attack pose, horn glowing with magic as she prepared for fight. Rarity did the same. However, Pinkie Pie ran off, calling over her shoulder, "I'm going to find Fluttershy and Mirror!"

But Ditto wasn't paying attention. She was focused on the incoming changelings. Something wasn't right; they didn't seem to be hostile. They weren't diving for the ponies at all, but rather for other changelings. The ones that had been on the side of the invasion.

Sending out a magic signal to the changelings of the crowd, Ditto asked "What's going on? Why aren't you attacking the ponies?"

"We've been sent by High-General Double to stop this invasion." one of them sent back.

Ditto turned to Twilight. "They're here to stop the invasion." she told her. 

"What?" Twilight asked, confused. "Why are they trying to stop their own invasion?"

"This invasion was organized against orders." one of the changelings had overheard them and now flapped his wings to flutter above them. "High-General Double ordered that we come to stop it and captured any rebels involved." He directed his attention on Ditto. "Will you be okay? Not having wings could be a great disadvantage in a fight. I wondered if you-"

He was cut off by group of three other changelings, the ones fighting against the ponies, who knocked him out of the air in their pursuit of Medley and Lightning Bolt, who were finally deciding to fly to safety. "No you don't." he growled, taking off after them at top speed.

"It looks like the invaders are back." Ditto pointed out. The town was refilling with rebellious changeings as they spoke. So much chaos was going on; changelings were fighting chagelings, changelings were fighting ponies, injured were being flown or dragged to safety, and random blasts of magic were flying all over.

Ditto fired up a blast of green magic and shot one of the changelings going after the pale pink unicorn from earlier. Nearby, a mint green earth pony reared on her hind legs and kicked a flying changeling in the face. She then flipped around and smacked another with her pink mane. Once she had hit all the changelings away form her, the smiled and yelled, "Nopony messes with Minty!"

Ditto was shot in the side with green fire. She was knocked back, but managed to stay on her hooves. "You should pay attention to the fight." the changeling who had attacked her growled.

Ditto's only response was to fire a large blast of magic directly at his face. He was flung back and only just caught himself by flapping his wings and propelling himself into the air. He looked like he was going to go after Ditto again, but was soon surrounded with Double's troops.

Suddenly, a message was transmitted to Ditto through magic. "General Carbon to all changelings within the immediate area: get out of range, now!”

The message was faint, as if she could barely hear it, but Ditto felt nervous nonetheless. "Maybe we should move-" she started to say to Twilight, but she was distracted by a green spark off in the distance. It expanded into a ring, and Ditto realized what it was as ten fireballs came from it.

"It's Double's magic." Ditto said to nopony in particular. "But who's she attacking?"

The flash of purple magic behind her made her jump. Spinning around, Ditto saw a stunned-looking changeling behind her. "Ditto, watch your back!" twilight reminded her, before turning away to continue fighting with Rarity.

Ditto nodded and decided to focus on the fight instead of her thoughts. I can think about it all when my life isn't in danger. She fired several shots of green fire at nearby changelings, who were about to attack a group of three earth pony mares.

Suddenly, there was a loud "BOOM" sound. It made seemed to make the ground itself shake with power. Ditto turned around to see what it was, and gasped at the sight. A huge ring of rainbow colors was spreading across the sky, gracing the whole town with its colors. From the very center was a cyan blur with a rainbow trailing behind it as it flew.

"It's a Sonic Rainboom!" Twilight said, "I guess that means Rainbow Dash is up to something."

Ditto decided that right now wasn't the best time for questions about what a Sonic Rainboom was an returned to her attacking of the hostile changelings. The battle seemed much more hopeful now that Double's troops were fighting for them, and during the short moment of relief Twilight provided, most of the weak or injured were able to find safety.

Suddenly, so fast, that Ditto would have missed it if she had blinked, a rain-lightning blur flew by, right through the middle of their group. The blur was gone quickly, only leaving behind a trail of hurt, stunned, or unconscious changelings in its wake.

"Was that Rainbow Dash?" Rarity asked. "What is she up to?"

Ditto watched as the rainbow blur finally travel out of sight, then turned to continue fighting. It felt as if she had been fighting for years now. Would this invasion ever end?

After many more minutes of fighting, The entire town square fell silent from a shout of, "ENOUGH!"

Ditto glanced up and saw an unknown unicorn standing near the center of town square. Any pony or changeling near her jumped back, as if dramatically revealing her. Ditto instantly understood who this pony was the instant she heard the shout in her own head as well. This was a changeling, communicating to all other changelings in Ponyville. But not any normal changeling.

"It's Sparkler!" Rarity said happily, but her face fell as 'Sparkler' continued speaking.

“Well, if this is how you’re all going to behave while I’m gone, then it’s no wonder the swarm requires a queen to keep it in line.” she sighed softly. “I must say I’m disappointed.”

A ring of green fire materialized and surrounded Sparkler. Among the flames, Sparkler transformed. Her soft, pony fur was turning black; two insect-like, hole-filled wings sprouted; her horn grew longer and deformed; and her beautiful mane turned blue and hole-filled. When the fire died out, the tall changeling queen stood before them, glaring at them with narrowed eyes.

“Very disappointed, indeed.” 

"It's Queen Chrysalis..." Ditto whispered, almost to herself.
   
> Chapter 14 Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ditto stared with fear up at her queen. She could feel anger coming from Chrysalis. The changelings were in big trouble for this invasion, and they were about to be punished. Chrysalis walked through the crowd, changelings bowing as she passed them. Ditto did the same as she passed her, feeling her queen's gaze on her for a moment before continuing on.

The queen's hoofsteps stopped and she said, "High-General."

Double's here? Ditto wondered. She lifted her head up so she could see. The queen was speaking to a pale pink unicorn. The unicorn looked almost exactly like Twilight, except for the colors. She had purple eyes with a white mane and tail that each had a purple stripe going through them, and her cutie mark was five purple stars. Of course, Ditto knew this to be a disguised High-General Double, but why was her disguise so much like Twilight?

"Yes, my queen?" Double asked, nervousness in her voice.

Her voice is a lot like Twilight's, too. Ditto noted.

“…It’s good to see that you’ve been following my orders, at least. You’ve maintained control over the majority of the swarm in these difficult times, and you took action against those who would not follow you.” Chrysalis praised Double, smiling. “I’d expect nothing less from the second-in-command of the changeling swarm.”

Then she stopped smiling. “However, I’m aware of the fact that you seem to have known of this invasion long in advance. I would have expected you to have struck it down before it reached this stage.” Then the smile was back, mocking this time. “Letting our personal vendettas influence our decisions, are we?”

Ditto heard a nervous chuckle from Double, but was distracted as she saw Twilight with her horn glowing with magic. the unicorn released a flash of purple magic, getting Chrysalis's attention. The Queen turned to face them. Ditto quickly stood and trotted closer to Twilight. If Queen Chrysalis attacked, Ditto would try to protect her unicorn friend.

“Queen Chrysalis! So Applejack was right after all!” Twilight growled.

Applejack? Ditto wondered. Then she remembered. She had met Applejack before the invasion, and had run off to find Queen Chrysalis and stop it. Applejack had been half-changeling, which of course meant that Queen Chrysalis herself must have transformed her, for only the Queen could make the chrysalis that transformed ponies into changelings.

Queen Chrysalis gave a quick glance of acknowledgement to Ditto and Rarity before smirking at Twilight. She fluttered her wings and landed in front of Twilight. The unicorn fired a blast of purple magic at the changeling queen, but a green barrier sprung up in between them. The magic was deflected into the sky.

“Come now, Twilight, there’s no need for hostility; we’re all friends here. Isn’t that right, cousin dear?” Chrysalis said, lowering her magic shield. She looked to Rarity, who stared at her.

"Sparkler..." Rarity whispered, stunned.

Twilight glared at Chrysalis. “You! You were Sparkler this whole time!”

The queen nodded and smiled, not taking her eyes off of her 'cousin'. “That’s right. And I must admit, it was surprisingly…enjoyable, really.”

Ditto felt the traces affection coming from Chrysalis. She really does care for Rarity. But most changelings can't care for ponies.  the mutant changeling thought. Does that mean... she has Empathy Sickness?

There were some quiet whispers from the crowd of changelings, and through her thoughts Ditto could hear their worries. 

"Did she say what I thought she said?"

"Changelings can't feel love!"

"Our own queen..."

A message from Double silenced their whispering and Ditto focused on Chrysalis, who was now standing in the center of town square once more. “Now, I know you’re all just dying to know where I’ve been all this time. Rest assured, my beloved subjects, I have not abandoned you. Quite the opposite, in fact.” the queen began to speak again .“The first thing you all should know is that Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza’s barrier did nothing to strip me of my power, though being hit by such force did hurt…quite a bit.”

Ditto glanced at her own broken leg and thought, 'Quite a bit'? I thought I was going to die when it hitme.

“I formed a shield around myself just before crashing in the Whitetail Wood near Ponyville, and survived with minimal injuries. I soon found that the shock, however, had temporarily severed my connection with the swarm." Chrysalis stopped for a moment, waiting for a response, but when none was heard, she continued. 

“My first instinct was to simply hide out and wait for my connection to reestablish itself, but I soon hit upon an idea; a question, if you will. For over one thousand years I’ve led and cared for the swarm, always giving them proper leadership as we searched numerous lands for food. So I thought to myself: what would happen if I left the swarm to decide and fend for itself? Left in the command of the High-General, would the changelings remain orderly and disciplined like they were trained to be, or would order collapse in a chaotic fight for power?" She glared over the crowd of changelings, her glare centered around where Double sat. Glancing over there, Ditto saw that the Queen was actually glaring at General Carbon, who was right next to Double. Ditto also spotted Mirror, Pinkie, and Fluttershy next to them. "Well, we’ve answered that question, haven’t we?”

"Wait, I don't understand." Next to Ditto, Twilight stepped forward. "Did you not know about the invasion?"

“Oh, I knew about it. That doesn't mean I authorized it, though.” Chrysalis responded. “I assumed the identity of a resident of Ponyville, taking advantage of her being out of town and of the changelings not yet being common knowledge. When you and your friends returned, the idea of feeding off an Element of Harmony was too much to resist. A quick search through Rarity’s memories revealed the perfect disguise, and I took the form of her cousin, the esteemed Sparkler.”

Twilight quickly became angry, glaring up at the changeling queen. “So you’ve been living with Rarity all this time. Did you do anything to her? And what about Applejack?”

"Er, what about Applejack, Twilight?" Rarity asked in a whisper. Both Ditto and Twilight froze at this question.

Chrysalis waved a hoof dismissively in response to Twilight's question. “Nothing as bad as what you’re thinking, likely. Just a simple hypnosis spell to keep her from suspecting I, or any of my children for that matter, could be changelings. Certainly nothing on the level of what I did to your brother.” Twilight unfroze and focused her attention back on the queen, giving an angry snort at the mention of her brother. “As for Applejack…well, let me finish my story.”

Chrysalis turned around a raised her voice so everypony in the crowd could hear her clearly. “Now, shortly after assuming my identity as Sparkler, I took a stroll through the marketplace. You can imagine my surprise at finding not only little Mirror with her horn broken…” Chrysalis glanced over at Mirror, who shrunk back as everypony looked at her. “…But also General Carbon in the form of Applejack, the Element of Honesty!”

Rarity gasped at the news and turned to Twilight, who nodded in confirmation. Everypony else must have known about General Carbon replacing Applejack, because no one else seemed surprised.

“In order to remain undetected by my subjects, I cut off my connection with the swarm.” Chrysalis continued, “For the most part, the severing works both ways. The swarm can’t hear or recognize me, and I can recognize, but not hear, the swarm. That is, unless I focus on their thoughts. A look into the general’s mind told me where Applejack was being held. Imagine my delight at having one of the Elements of Harmony practically gift-wrapped for me; the temptation was too much to resist.”

“So you tried to turn her into a changeling!” Twilight yelled. Nearly everypony in the crowd gasped, horrified.

Chrysalis frowned and rolled her eyes. “Well, technically it never got that far. Half-Changeling is a better term. After all, the process is gradual; it takes over a week to complete, and I cast an illusion spell over the chrysalis to keep any changeling from noticing. Besides, she escaped before a full conversion, didn’t she?”

“No thanks to you!” Twilight snorted.

Chrysalis smirked. “On the contrary, Twilight, her escape was all thanks to me.”

“What do you mean?” Ditto suddenly spoke up, “You changed Applejack. She knew you were here, didn’t she?”

Twilight turned to Ditto, surprised, obviously not knowing that Ditto knew about Applejack being half-changeling as well. Before Twilight could say anything, however, Chrysalis continued speaking.

“Yes, she did, when I came the second time to help her. You see, I caught a stray thought about the invasion shortly afterwards. Naturally, I looked into it, and what I found out made me absolutely furious.”

Anger rose from the Queen, and most changelings looked nervous or frightened. Ditto included, for she took a step back and inched closer to Twilight.

“Such blatant disobedience cannot be tolerated. I would have put a stop to it then and there, but the invasion force was only a small percentage of my changelings, and I needed to see how the rest of the swarm would act in response.” Chrysalis said, “But I anticipated the trouble this could bring, so I arranged for a sabotage.”

Chrysalis held her head up high as she heard gasps from both ponies and changelings in the crowd. “I weakened the chrysalis containing Applejack, so that she could escape and reveal the presence of changelings in Ponyville. Her appearance would have spoiled Carbon’s treasonous invasion and allowed me to personally teach him his place in the swarm!” The Queen ended her speech in a snarl, her wings buzzing angrily.

Chrysalis's anger subsided and she returned to her normal smug attitude. She smirked up at the roof of Town Hall and called, “Well, Applejack? Aren’t you going to come down and thank me?”

The eyes of everypony in the crowd were drawn up to the roof. Applejack's orange head appeared from behind it. She looked completely normal; her usual earth pony form. She hopped down to the ground, carrying an unconscious cyan pegasus on her back.

"Oh, Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy cried out. She flew over to Applejack to help set Rainbow on the ground, followed by Pinkie, Twilight, and Rarity. Ditto stayed where she was, watching the friends uncomfortably.

Chrysalis chuckled at their concern for their unconscious friend. “Ahem. Applejack? Don’t you have something to show us?”

Applejack's head jerked up and she folded her ears back. She looked at Twilight who attempted a comforting smile and motioned with her hoof to go ahead. Applejack sighed and closed her eyes. She surrounded herself in a green, fiery cocoon. When the fire disappeared, she was left in her true, half-changeling form. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy gasped in shock, while Rarity fainted.

Applejack cringed at the unicorn's overdramatic reaction. "Nopony else faint, please." 

Twilight soon revived Rarity from her faint, but the white unicorn seemed to be struggling not to faint again. Applejack sighed sadly and hung her head. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie jumped forward and wrapped her hooves around the half-changeling, to her shock. Fluttershy joined the hug, then Twilight, then finally Rarity. The four were now in a big group hug, Applejack sitting in the middle, confused.

She looked around at her friends in disbelief. “Ya…ya’ll don’t mind?”

“Of course we don’t mind, Applejack!” Fluttershy responded.

“Yeah, you’re our friend, no matter what you look like! No matter what, you’re still you!” Pinkie added.

“We still care about you, Applejack, even if you do look like…this…” Rarity said, grimacing slightly. She quickly covered it up with a smile and added, “But you make a lovely changeling, really!”

“Applejack, we’ve all been through too much together for us to reject you over this. And I promise, no, I Pinkie Promise, I will find a way to help you.” Twilight finished, performing the hoof motions of the promise. At the end she accidentally jabbed her hoof into her eye, letting out a shout of pain then rubbing her eye with an embarrassed grin.

Applejack’s expression changed to a wide smiled of gratitude. She happily returned the hug to her friends. “Thanks, girls.”

> Chapter 14 Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pained groans caught the friends' attentions and they all turned to see Rainbow Dash climbing to her hooves. “Oh, my everything…what did I miss?” she asked, pain in her voice. Then she looked up and focused on her friends, vision blurry. “…Pinkie, Fluttershy, why are you wearing those Mare-Do-Well costumes?”

“We thought it’d be fun! Sheesh, how many times to I have to explain it to everypony?” Pinkie shook her head and sighed.

"Right." Rainbow's legs started shaking beneath her. "Well, AJ, remind me never to fly through lightning again. I think I need a nap." Her legs folded under as she fell unconscious once more. Pinkie and Fluttershy rushed over to make sure she was okay, and Twilight turned to Applejack, raising an eyebrow.

“Fly through lightning?” the unicorn asked.

Applejack shook her head. “Don’t ask me. Ah don’t really get it either.”

Ditto watched the scene with a small smile. Then she caught something out of the corner of her eye; Double was clinging to Mirror and crying. The mutant changeling didn't know what was said (it was spoken too softly), but noticed that the High-General was staring at Twilight. I wonder what's up with her, and what it has to do with Twilight? Ditto thought.

Suddenly, Ditto saw Mirror quickly motioning her head towards the unconscious General Carbon. Ditto watched as Double wiped away tears and changed back to her original form. "Welcome back to the land of the living, General!" Ditto heard the high-general say, now that she was speaking louder. "Well, for now, anyways. And look who's here to see you!"

Queen Chrysalis looked away from the six pony friends, trotting over to Carbon. Ditto crept a few feet closer so she could see the scene better but not close enough to draw attention to herself. She saw the general's look of surprise as his gaze fell upon the queen he had thought to be dead.

“General Carbon, so good of you to finally join us.” Chrysalis said with fake happiness. “It’s a shame you missed the entirety of my explanation, but no matter; it’ll be recounted for all the swarm to hear at your trial.”

“Queen Chrysalis, how-!” Carbon began in a tone of fear and amazement, but Chrysalis slammed her hoof down to interrupt him. 

“Silence!” Chrysalis roared, “You will speak when your Queen tells you to, and only when your Queen tells you to! Is that understood?!”

Carbon nodded, and Chrysalis’s raw anger subsided, but only to the point where she glared down at the changeling with thinly-veiled resentment. “General, you of all changelings should know that in the event of my absence, only the High-General has the authority to issue any sort of militaristic command. Regardless of whether I was dead or not, your actions were a direct disobedience of my established law. That is treason, General.”

“You’re a criminal!” Double told him in a sing-song manner. Chrysalis gave her a glare that silenced her.

Chrysalis turned back to the general. “And in addition, you betrayed a changeling to the Canterlot guards and actively tried to kill another.” Ditto saw Chrysalis glance at her. She backed up a few inches, but stayed mostly in her spot. Ditto supposed that Mirror was the one Carbon had tried to kill, as that was who Chrysalis glanced at next.  “High-General Double is right; you are a criminal. And you know the punishment for criminals…”

Carbon’s eyes widened and Ditto thought for a moment he would flee. However, he closed his eyes and bowed his head before his queen. He's not begging for pity or forgiveness... Ditto thought, surprised. However, instead of surprise, Chrysalis's look was one of amusement.

“Holding onto your dignity, even in the face of judgment. I’d expect nothing less from one of my generals.” Chrysalis praised, her horn glowing brightly. The green light that came from it shot towards Carbon's horn, creating a blinding light. When the light faded, Ditto saw a pile of ash in front of Carbon and a stump on his forehead where his horn used to be.

“Separation from the swarm; that is the punishment for criminals under my law.” Chrysalis declared.

Ditto gasped loudly, but luckily didn't draw much attention to herself. She had known that this was the punishment; it was common knowledge to every changeling. However, as she looked down at the piled of ash, she felt her own forehead where her curved horn was. She imagined what it must be like to lose all control of magic. Most changelings would be worried about separation from the hive mind, but as Ditto wasn't on the same wavelength as the others and it took effort for her to try to talk to other changelings through her magic, she would mostly be worried about losing her power.

Ditto was only pulled out of her thoughts when she heard Mirror speak in a quiet voice.

“Q-Queen Chrysalis?”

Chrysalis turned her attention to the young changeling, an eyebrow raised. “Yes, Mirror?”

“I…” Mirror trailed off, as if afraid to speak to her queen.

Chrysalis came up to her and ran a hoof gently through her mane, a comforting smile on her face. “Yes, dear? What is it?”

From this, Mirror seemed to gather courage and she voiced her question. “You…you seem to care for Rarity, and Applejack too, but…changelings can’t love unless they have empathy sickness, right? So, how can you, unless you also…”

Queen Chrysalis with empathy sickness? Ditto expected the changeling queen to be angry at this thought, but instead, to the mutant's shock, Chrysalis spoke kindly.

"I'm glad you asked that, dear." she raised her voice so the whole crowd could hear. "Changelings, I’m sure many of you are aware of the recent phenomenon within the swarm known as empathy sickness. It is a rare occurrence, and relatively new as well, the first case appearing less than twenty years ago, in our own High-General Double!”

A few shocked murmurs rose up from the crowd. Even Ditto was confused and curious; Double was the first to have empathy sickness?

“Ever since, I’ve searched for the cause of empathy sickness; trying to find just what could make a changeling able to love when a normal changeling can’t form a bond with a pony no matter how much time they spend with them.” Chrysalis went on. She paused briefly, smiling proudly. “And at long last, I think I’ve finally figured it out.”

There was more chatter from the crowd, and Chrysalis waited for it to silence before continuing. “The key was in the two newest cases of empathy sickness; the changelings Mirror and Ditto!”

Twilight’s eyes widened, and she cast a questioning look at Ditto, whispering, “You have empathy sickness?”

Ditto nervously looked down at her hooves. “I…I only found out recently…”

“Ahem…” Chrysalis coughed, catching Ditto's and Twilight's attention and causing them to silence so the queen could continue her explanation.  “The cause of empathy sickness lies in the love of the ponies they fed on. Mirror befriended the Elements of Kindness and Laughter. Ditto bonded with the Element of Magic, as did Double all those years ago as a hatchling. And as for myself, I resided with the Element of Generosity for a time…”

Ditto's mind instantly began searching through itself, the revelation completely blocking what Chrysalis said about Double from her attention. The elements caused empathy sickness...

“Empathy sickness is contracted when a changeling feeds off the love of a bearer of the Elements of Harmony.” Chrysalis revealed, “I’m not sure how much love is required, though I assume that it varies among changelings. For myself, it took a few days before the first glimmers of sympathy arose. However, this explains the rarity of the sickness, as it can only be contracted from six specific ponies, as well as why it is such a new development, as these ponies are the first bearers of the Elements in over a thousand years, excluding the princesses Celestia and Luna.”

Ditto whispered to herself, “So it’s true…my kindness, my being friends with Twilight, it’s all because of an illness. It’s not natural…”

Twilight quickly recovered from her shock to glare up at Queen Chrysalis with suspicion. “So what, then? You’re saying you can feel love now? Are we supposed to trust you now?”

Chrysalis frowned as she thought about it. “No, I suppose not. After all, you ponies can feel love, yet you’re all still remarkably intolerant and fearful of anything different from you. Keep this in mind, though; it’s not the changelings’ fault that we are incapable of empathizing with ponies.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked curiously.

Chrysalis smirked, clearly amused by the question. “I’m surprised how little Celestia’s told you. You see, we changelings were once…”

Suddenly, a blinding ball of light like a miniature sun appeared. Ditto snapped out of her thought and shielded her eyes with her hooves. When she opened her purple eyes again and peeked through the holes her hooves, she saw a tall white alicorn whose multi-colored mane and tail waved in non-existent wind. She was glaring angrily at Queen Chrysalis, as if ready to attack any moment now.

Chrysalis chuckled softly. “Celestia, so good to see you again. Better late than never, I suppose. How’s the horn doing?”

Celestia’s eyes eyes narrowed and her horn lit with yellow threatening magic. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t get rid of you right here and now, Chrysalis.”

Chrysalis mocked a look of suprise. “Such hostility; and to think you and I used to be such good friends. I guess that’s all in the past now, though, isn’t it?” Ditto blinked with surprise, removing her hooves from her face so she could see the scene better. When were Chrysalis and Celestia friends? Why hadn't she ever heard about it?

“But to answer your question,” Chrysalis went on, “It’s simple, really. I have changelings stationed in every major city in Equestria, ready to wreak havoc the moment I give the order. Your guards are stretched thin as it is, and my children will be able to easily overpower them with so few numbers. And finally, there’s only one of you, and Luna will be of no help at this time of day. Do you see where I’m going with this? Equestria will be in ruins before you can do anything about it!”

Celestia opened her mouth as if to say something, but Chrysalis cut her off. “And before you say anything, defeating me won’t do any good. I still have enough power from Shining Armor’s love left over to defend myself, and with the power of the Element of Generosity fueling me as well, you won’t be able to kill me before I give the order to attack. So it’s quite simple, Celestia: you kill me now and doom Equestria in the changelings’ last stand, or you listen to what I have to say. Which will it be?”

Celestia's magic faded from her horn, but her look of anger remained. "What do you want, Chrysalis?”

“Oh, I want a lot of things.” Chrysalis mused, “I want the changelings to be able to walk the streets of Equestria in their true forms without fear. I want us to go back to what we used to be. I want Flutter Valley to return to its former beauty. I want my mother back!”

Celestia winced at the changeling’s anger and rising hysteria. “What happened to Queen Rosedust was not our fault! You were the one who killed her!”

“I had no choice!” Chrysalis shouted, a strong emotion of desperation coming from her. “Mother had given up, she was just wasting away; someone needed to step up and take charge to ensure the survival of the changelings!”

“And you decided to become that “someone” by gaining eternal life at the cost of her own!” Celestia retorted.

“Be quiet! What right do you have to reprimand me?” Chrysalis yelled, “You and Luna brought him to our home and let him change us! You did this to us, and when we needed your help, you abandoned us to our fate!”

Celestia's anger, although not entirely gone, was mostly replaced by a look of guilt. “Chrysalis, I-”

“Wait!” Celestia and Chrysalis both looked up to see Twilight, who had now stepped forward, with wide eyes full of confusion. “I…I don’t understand!” Twilight said, “Princess Celestia, Queen Chrysalis, what happened?”

> Chapter 14 Part 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chrysalis smirked, looking back at Celestia with contempt. “Hmm. So you didn’t tell them. I should have known you wouldn’t own up to your mistakes.” She turned back to Twilight. “Tell me, Twilight, what do you know of the flutterponies?”

Twilight blinked, taken aback by the question. “Flutterponies?”

“Yes, flutterponies. Go on, tell us. What are the flutterponies?”

“…Flutterponies were a mythical race of butterfly-winged ponies whose wings gave them the ability to use magic without a horn. They fed off the love of the land and the love that ponies had for each other.” Twilight spoke in a manner of somepony reciting a line from a book.

“That’s correct. Creatures with insect-like wings and magic that feed off of love…” Chrysalis said, “What other species do you know of that fits that description?”

Twilight was silent for a few moment before realization spread across her face.. “…The changelings.”

“That’s correct.” Chrysalis said. She turned and faced the crowd of changelings around them. “Changelings, listen well to your queen! We were not always like this! We did not always have to hide our true forms in fear! Once, we were a peaceful race known as the flutterponies, living isolated during the time of the spirit of chaos, Discord’s, reign. Until one fateful day…”
Chrysalis spun and faced Celestia. “Until the day Celestia and Luna came to Flutter Valley to find the last piece of the Elements of Harmony and revealed us to Discord!”

“You knew it was necessary, Chrysalis!” Celestia retorted, “Discord had to be stopped! Queen Rosedust understood that!”

“Yes, mother did. She let you into Flutter Valley, cooperated with you even though you knew Discord was after you! He was content to leave us alone, but then mother fought against him to give you time to escape. Discord punished us by turning us into this.” Chrysalis growled, “If you hadn’t come, we’d still be the flutterponies!”

“And Discord would still be ruling Equestria!” Celestia countered, “The Elements of Harmony had to be formed, for the sake of all ponies!”

“And what of our sake?!” Chrysalis snapped, “I had a kingdom, countless ponies that trusted me to save them! When I came to you for help, you and Luna left us! Abandoned us! And worse, you rejected us and left us to rot in the wasteland that used to be our home! We were ponies, too; where was your love then?!”

Celestia’s indignation disappeared and her look turned to one of guilt. “…You’re right. Luna and I were still young at the time; we were foolish and close-minded. I spent many years after trying to find a cure for the flutterponies, and I considered using the Elements of Harmony to break Discord’s curse, but by then, Luna had…I should have tried harder. I’m sorry.”

Celestia regained her composure and looked back at Chrysalis. “But we weren’t the only ones at fault. Even with the curse, you should have tried to peacefully integrate into Equestrian society. But instead, you kidnapped and replaced ponies, stealing love from their friends and families, and just recently, you replaced my niece and tried to take over Equestria! The fear changelings gather from all the other species is your own doing!”

“Hmph, that invasion was justified. I needed to feed my people, and if I could get my revenge on you as well, so much the better. But you’re forgetting one thing, Celestia: changelings can’t love.” Chrysalis replied, “Don’t you understand? Peace was never an option. Our only hope was to find a way to revert back to our previous forms. But you gave up, you refused to help us! Discord may have cast the curse, but ultimately, the creation of the changelings was your fault!”

Chrysalis disappeared in flash of green magic, reappearing in front of Celestia. Their horn crossed as they glared into each other's eyes. Ditto watched, confused as she thought through everything in her head. The changelings used to be ponies, flutterponies, but were cursed. But there isn't a cure... Unless... the elements... Just as the realization came to the mutant, she heard steps behind her. Turning, she saw Spike running towards her and Twilight with a golden book in claw.

When Spike got near, Ditto snatched the book in her magic and levitated it up to Twilight. She remembered Twilight telling her about it once; the book where the Elements of Harmony were stored. "Twilight!" Ditto face grew into a wide grin as she spoke. "The elements! They might work, they made Mirror and I feel love, so they might cure the rest of the swarm!"

"You're right!" Twilight grabbed the book and hid it behind her, turning to her friend with a determined grin. Rainbow Dash had just woken up and we being helped to her hooves by Applejack and Pinkie Pie. She nodded to the five, who had heard her and Ditto talking, then faced Queen Chrysalis and Princess Celestia.

“Everything is your fault!” Chrysalis yelled, “It’s your fault Discord came to Flutter Valley! It’s your fault our home is nothing but a wasteland! It’s your fault mother had to die, and it’s your fault the flutterponies are gone! All of it is your fault!”

“Chrysalis, please!” Celestia said, a hint of desperation showing through. “I’m sorry for what happened, but you need to-”

“Stop it, both of you!” Twilight yelled shocking both royal creatures out of their argument. The crowd quieted as well. Everyone, including Princess Celestia and Queen Chrysalis, looked at the unicorn curiously.

Twilight, suddenly shy in speaking to the two royals, especially as one was her own princess, gathered her courage and hid her worry a determined look. “Princess Celestia, Queen Chrysalis, please listen to me: we won’t solve anything arguing like this!”

“Oh, really? And what do you propose we do?” Chrysalis said suspiciously.

“We make peace, of course.” Twilight said simply.

Chrysalis scoffed at her words. “Peace. And how do you make peace with a species that can’t feel empathy?”

“I believe you already know the answer to that, your highness.” Twilight said. She smirked at the shocked look that came across the queen's face at being addressed 'your highness' by a pony. “I’ve thought about what you said, and I think I’ve figured it out. Discord’s curse is chaotic in nature. But the Elements of Harmony are the opposite of his power. That’s why empathy sickness occurs; the power of the Elements of Harmony cancels out Discord’s magic and part of the curse. Empathy sickness isn’t an illness, it’s a cure!”

“…So is that your plan? Give the swarm empathy sickness? There are thousands of changelings; how do you plan on getting them all?” Chrysalis asked, a little nervous.

Twilight smiled and took the book from behind her back, showing the crowd. 'The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide,'   she opened it to reveal five golden necklaces and one tiara. “With this!”

Chrysalis gasped, fear on her face as she stumbled backwards. “The Elements of Harmony?! W-What are you going to do?”

“We’re going to help you, Chrysalis. We’ll help the changelings to be loved again.” Twilight replied confidently.

“The changelings were never loved,” Chrysalis said, “We were always hated! The only way we could possibly be loved is if we were to become the flutterponies again!”

Twilight shook her head. “No, it’s not, Chrysalis. The Elements of Harmony can turn the changelings into flutterponies, but the truth is that the flutterponies are gone.”

The crowd suddenly began chattering, earning a glare from Chrysalis. Ditto felt her give some command but didn't bother to find out what it was; it was probably just a command to silence. The chatter seized and Queen Chrysalis nodded at Twilight for her to continue.

“The flutterponies are gone; they have been for nearly a thousand years now.” Twilight went on, “Every changeling that was once a flutterpony is long dead now, except for you. All of these changelings here, your entire swarm, they were born this way. Being changelings is all they know. If we were to turn them into flutterponies, it’d be no different from the conversion that you yourselves force on ponies.”

Ditto glanced back at Applejack quickly before focusing her attention back on Chrysalis and Twilight. She could feel an aura of sadness coming from the queen.

“Then what is your plan? It can’t really be to give the entire swarm empathy sickness, can it?” Chrysalis asked.

“But it is; the Elements of Harmony have the power to do that. When you think about it, Chrysalis, it’s really quite clear,” Twilight explained, “The changelings are feared by ponies because they replace their loved ones to steal love, but a changeling is perfectly capable of creating their own identity to make genuine friends. The only reason they don’t is because changelings can’t form bonds with ponies; they can’t make friends. And for a race that feeds off love…don’t you see? Discord’s curse wasn’t changing your forms; it was taking away your ability to feel love! That’s the curse we’re going to break!”

Twilight levitated the necklaces to her friends, who had all walked up to stand by her side. When Applejack's necklace was slipped over her head it seemed to shake like it was unhappy, but settled down after a short moment. The changeling-pony let out a sigh of relief and took her position. Finally, Twilight levitated the tiara onto her own head. The process began; each element started to glow and gales of wind circled around them. Ditto quickly leaped back to avoid being hit by the wind, pulling Spike back with her.

Chrysalis stepped back anxiously again. “But…what if it doesn’t work? We’ve been like this so long; what if the Elements just destroy us instead?”

“They won’t, Chrysalis.” The queen turned to see Celestia smiling at her. “You were right. Leaving you alone when you needed our help most…I won’t make the same mistake twice. This time, we’re going to help you.”

Chrysalis stared at Princess Celestia, a few tears coming to her eyes. Ditto was nearly whipped away when the winds grew stronger. She had to plant her hole-filled hooves firmly in the ground and was thankful that she didn't have much of a mane for if she did it would be in her face.

The six friends flew into the air, hovering above the ground. Twilight opened her eyes, revealing them to be glowing bright, pure white. Colors from the six elements joined in front of Twilight, creating a bright rainbow that turned and twisted around the group. The rainbow then split off into six smaller rainbows, extending over Ponyville and creating a tornado over the entire town.

The wind was now strong enough that every changeling and pony in the crowd was falling over. The winds were warm and, in a way, comforting, but that didn't mean they enjoyed being flung away. Ditto grabbed Spike to stop the dragon from flying off in the other direction, and held him tight so neither of them would fly away.

The mutant looked up at Twilight. Could she really save them all? Could she really free them from such a curse? Ditto smiled. She trusted Twilight; she was a good friend and the changeling was confident. The unicorn was always there to help her, and now she may help not only her, but the entire swarm.

Suddenly, Ditto started to feel sleepy. Her body and mind relaxed, and her eyelids drooped. Looking around, she saw that everyone else seemed to be experiencing the same thing. The changeling gave in to it, slipping into unconsciousness. The last thought on her mind was, They can help, I know they can. When we wake up, this'll be fixed.