Princess Twilight Sparkle is undertaking the grandest and greatest experiment of her life, and it all involves getting changelings to teach themselves friendship.
Studying the ponies of Ponyville, Twilight is sure the last piece of her ultimate plan for friendship lessons has fallen into place with Sharp Mind's arrival. Can changelings be taught friendship?
I guess it should be added: this starts at the beginning of Season Five, and many chapters will show parts or all of the episodes from that, just with 100% more changelings. I would highly suggest watching that season before reading. Or not. Up to you!
Working on more ideas for this before I continue it.
It was another lovely day in Ponyville, thanks in part to the pegasi who kept the weather in check. Twilight was trotting through town, waving to ponies and calling out greetings. Everypony was having a great day and it showed. "Now, let's see." Twilight settled in on a bench and produced her special science diary.
Day sixty five: no new arrivals so far today, everypony seems well settled in and the experiment is going ahead well. I observed two fillies playing together and they had every indication of actually enjoying themselves.
Twilight closed the diary as Sweetie Drops trotted past. "Hi Sweetie, lovely day, isn't it?"
Sweetie Drops was surprised that the princess was talking to her but the warm greeting made her smile wider. "It is, Rainbow Dash has really outdone herself today!" She felt the bubbling happiness and warmth of the mare and drank. It was so easy to find meals in this town, the mare she had replaced had gone missing oddly, but she took that as the best of cues and stepped easily into her life.
If Twilight hadn't had the special detection spell up, she wouldn't have felt the changeling feed. Seeing their smile grow a little more it warmed her further. "She really has, I think I mi-" Twilight froze as she saw a new pony walking around town. Her attention focused down on them as she worked a simple spell she had found quite useful for identifying changelings.
"Is something wrong Princess?" Sweetie got a little frown on her snout. An unhappy pony was one unsuitable for food. Plus she really couldn't fight how much she had liked actually being happy lately, almost as if the town was rubbing off on her.
Twilight ached to open her diary and make more notes. The spell had confirmed her suspicion. The experiment was entering the last phase. This was perfect!
Sharp Mind was wandering around Ponyville, taking a keen interest in everything he saw. His Queen had been all kinds of strange since the Great Defeat; the swarm had fed well but Chrysalis' mood had spiraled into the darkest of depths.
Waves of drones had been sent out, to infiltrate and 'do the job right' as some of the brighter drones had said. One dark spot had been Ponyville. Noling was sure how many drones had been sent but there was not a single message coming back and so Sharp found himself here, in this black hole of knowledge. "Hi there!" A pink pony had bounced up to him. "Are you new in town?"
Food, so much food. Sharp had to struggle not to fall down drunk at how easy it was to feed from this mare and the town in general. "Uh, I guess. My name is Sharp Mind." There was no reason to obfuscate his name, the 'ling wasn't known here.
"Sharp Mind, nice to meetcha!" Pinkie Pie bounced in place happily. The mare's mind spun like a dynamo. The pony before her might be another from the hive, but she couldn't be sure. A party would help her find out. Parties were not just the perfect cover to find out about a pony. They were also very fun. "Oh, oh! I need to organize a welcome party!"
Sharp shook his head, definitely either the best infiltrator they had or that was not a changeling. "Uh, sure…" There was only a cloud of pink dust left as the mare was just gone. Then he saw her, and she saw him.
Twilight Sparkle blinked and smiled, deciding that it had worked each and every time so far, why not again. Waving to the new 'pony', she immediately felt the gentle buzz that was her detection spell's alarm that she was being fed from. She really had to stop that thing now, since it was sort of redundant.
Trotting over, Sharp had made the decision to see where this would take him. Had one of his peers already trapped the Princess of Friendship somewhere and was wearing her life? The gentle tug of energy he got from her indicated not. "Princess…" The 'ling bowed before Twilight, according her all the honor he would his own queen.
"Please, please, don't bow!" Twilight had gotten this from nearly all the 'new arrivals', it had been nearly as good an indicator as her spell, that they were a changeling. "You new to town?" She almost couldn't contain her glee, it was nearly complete!
The spike in pleasure in the alicorn almost overwhelmed Sharp but he managed to straighten up. "Yeah, just couldn't stand… Canterlot, anymore." He almost messed up completely, he had fished for a back-story and then stuttered on the name.
"Oh yes, it just… so many pegasi…" Twilight waved a hoof, sounding as if the primarily unicorn-populated city was filled with pegasi instead. "I love it here, so relaxing."
"I should get going. Lyra is waiting." Sweetie Drops excused herself and trotted off. Lyra was a nice pony, a very nice pony. Their friendship was actually something that Sweetie had come to quite enjoy. She almost feared the day when she would be recalled.
"Bye Sweetie!" Twilight waved a hoof to the departing changeling.
"I really hope so too." The earth pony stallion looked around town, trying to throw off how much he wanted to study Twilight, to find out if she was one of his kind.
"That reminds me, I really should plan out that trip to Manehatten…" Twilight mused, almost to herself. This should give the changeling a hook to nibble at.
Joy welled up in the stallion, it was going to be so very perfect. If the Princess was out of town, he could slide into her life and get the lay of the land. "I hear it is delightful this time of year." Smalltalk was easy, but the fact the mare was leaving the target town meant that she wasn't a changeling. Excitement grew more and more within Sharp.
"Oh, you have been there? Maybe you could help me pack? I was going to get a friend to help me but if you do, I wouldn't need to bother them." Twilight put a worm on the hook, a nice squirming worm.
"Of course, I could help." Sharp almost bounced from hoof to hoof. If the Princess didn't tell anypony she was leaving he could do this so much easier. "How long are you going to be gone for?"
Twilight got up and started walking back to her castle. "Not sure, might be quite a while!" It was easy to show the excitement she felt. The changeling was paying so much attention to her all they sensed was a mare excited about something, and a trip would seem the likely reason. "Thanks for helping."
Sharp trotted along beside the princess who had been part of the reason his Queen had failed. Then it hit him, he was going to have to be female for a while. It mattered little, it wouldn't be too long and, once he had finished his mission, he would return to the hive and tell his Queen everything that had happened.
Sharp Mind was standing on the platform, watching the train containing the alicorn zoom away. It was certainly time. Stepping out of sight of anypony, he called the green fire. The world slowed to almost a stop and Sharp felt the fire burn at his hooves. The soft purple started to flow up from the ground behind the rolling wave of flame.
Adept enough to be able to shift rapidly from one pony form to another, Sharp looked down as the purple met his barrel, then things really started to change. The first inkling that his gender was swapped was known to the changeling and even when her tail grew out, even when she sprouted wings, she felt that odd sensation settling over her.
"Ah… ah… oh!" Twilight sparkle, Alicorn Princess. Changeling. She adjusted her voice a few more times to suit and shook herself. Taking her first step out of hiding she felt an instant flow of love and happiness as a few ponies noticed her. Princess of Friendship wasn't just an empty title, it seemed.
The invisibility spell had been tricky but effective. Twilight trotted back to her castle, alongside her imposter. She risked closer inspections and even blushed when she noticed how perfectly Sharp Mind, if that was his name, had cloned her. Her diary was out once more.
The full experiment has begun and we can now see how the town as a whole reacts.
She watched as her 'friends' met up with her doppelganger and entered the castle together chatting.
The door was slammed in Twilight's face and she grumbled quietly. Taking to her wings, Twilight spiraled slowly up to look in on the big round room where the 'thrones' sat. She watched as each of the changelings disguised as her friends, and the one doing an amazingly realistic job of Spike, each took a chair.
Twilight, the changeling Twilight, was stunned as an oddly pleasant magic was triggered, the floor of the room reshaping into a huge round table. Watching as it pushed up, Twilight saw the map grow into being.
"Is that new? I like it." Spike knew his role, he was friend, assistant, but above all, comedic relief. The changeling had felt the roar as magic had rebuilt the center of the room. He had tried to remain ineptly asleep, but it really was a marvel.
The invisible Twilight's quill was working double-time writing down events. It was amazing, her own castle had not only responded well to the changelings, but it even seemed to be revealing to them some amazing new things.
All six changelings exclaimed as their cutie marks shimmered and shook loose, duplicating into the air and swirling, ending up in a little place on the map north and east of Canterlot.
"But, if this is Ponyville," Fluttershy pointed at one part of the map closer to the capital, "why are our cutie marks over there?" The changeling had been the first sent, she had made her way into town without discovery and had taken over Fluttershy's life when the pegasus had gone missing. She had spent so much time as the mare it was hard to even think of her old life anymore. Being Fluttershy was not just second nature to her, it was first.
"I don't know, but it seems like the map wants us to find out." Twilight's mind was spinning with ideas, but something seemed to tremble inside the disguised changeling. They were going to go on an adventure!
Dear Princess Celestia, the new friendship lesson is going well, the changelings are adapting to their new lives with gusto. It is quite amazing just how well they can duplicate a pony, right down to mannerisms. Not a single one has realized that every other pony in town is now a changeling. They have been able to successfully feed from each other and, thanks to them genuinely enjoying being ponies, there is a net gain of energy.
I am going to be sneaking along with them, the 'Elements' are headed for a little town this strange map my castle showed them. I am sure there is a lesson to be learned and taught. This is all so exciting!
Sharp Mind was confused. She had stayed in perfect cover, she had even helped and been helped by the ponies she was with and they hadn't noticed a thing.
She had also helped defeat what would likely become a menace to Equestria. She had also had… fun.
The train ride 'home' was immensely satisfying, she sipped gently at the ponies with her, tasting happiness and exultant joy at having saved the day. She struggled with the concept and realized she had to just go with it, since the others might pick up if she wasn't actually feeling it. Taking a deep breath she focused on how good it felt to have helped. And it felt good!
"Hay Twi, is that thar a changeling?" Applejack lifted a hoof and pointed at the sad-looking little drone getting on the train. "Shouldn't we, you know, attack?"
Every instinct shouted at Sharp to defend her kin. "Well, that wouldn't be very friendly, would it?" She got up, rustled her wings and started to walk over. "Hi there, can I ask who you are?"
The 'ling looked up. He wasn't an infiltrator, he could barely take a form and every time he did it slipped off moments later. He shouldn't have been sent on a mission like this! "Uh, I am Neat Pile." He looked up and suddenly wet himself with shock. Twilight Sparkle. THE TWILIGHT SPARKLE. Princess of Friendship. Banisher of Changelings. Destroyer of Hives. Crusher of Nymphs. Twilight Sparkle was right in front of him. "Please don't kill me!"
Twilight Sparkle, both the doppelganger and the invisible one watching, were shocked at the poor changeling. The fake Twilight reached out a hoof to gently stroke the little drone's cheek. "I am not going to kill you, I was wondering if you might want to be friends?" What was the Queen up to? This drone was NOT the kind you send on a mission like this.
"Would being your friend mean you don't kill me?" Neat was still shaking but having your cheek rubbed like that was something changelings knew. It was instinctive. It was how they shared pheromones from their queen.
"Of course not, silly." Pinkie Pie pronked up and had the little 'ling cowering again. The changeling disguised as the pink pony rubbed her chin. "This won't do at all, we are going to need to have a party for our new friend!" She loved her role, really loved it. Making ponies happy was just about the best thing a changeling could do, it was practically farming!
"Right, a party for our new friend, then you can tell us all about who you are." Twilight kept rubbing that cheek, knowing it would sooth a worried 'ling.
Neat Pile leaned into the rubbing, giving happy little clicks. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad infiltrating Ponyville, particularly if all the ponies there were as kind and tasty as their princess.
"Phew! Thanks for helping me get them so fresh and clean, Twilight." Fluttershy was admiring her friends, looking around at the gloriously clean animals. She had always had a thing for creatures, even in the hive, for some reason they just tasted better to her than ponies did.
"No problem, happy to do it!" Sharp was filthy, her mane full of gunk and she loved it. Helping her friend not only made her feel better, but Fluttershy was just so happy when around her pets.
The yellow mare grinned. "You probably can't wait to get back to your castle and take your own bath, huh?" It was getting late and nice as it was to have the nerdy alicorn around she really just wanted to climb into bed and have a good sleep.
Panic set in to Sharp, she looked around. "Aren't there more animals that need cleaning?" She really wanted to keep helping, it had become a bit of a nervous habit. Besides, it wasn't like helping wasn't in character for her disguise.
"I think you and I are the only ones left, and I can't wait to get the mud out of my mane." Fluttershy was dropping all the hints her soft-natured guise would allow. She watched as Twilight knocked Angel Bunny into some mud. Princesses…
"Oh, no! Angel got dirty! I'd better stay longer to help give him a bath too!" Twilight thought her deception had gone off without a hitch, after all, this was Fluttershy and definitely not another 'ling. She was sure all the other former Element bearers were real ponies, they just acted so… nice.
The real Twilight was feeling the strain of her magic. The day had been an amazing one but keeping herself invisible for days at a time was becoming a stretch. She would need to visit the 'camp'. Leaving her doppelganger to stumble around getting a clue, she trotted off to get speed and then took to her wings. Soaring, she flew north over town and out into the countryside. The moment she was within the bubble of no-sight, she saw. Ponyville.
Well, it was MOST of Ponyville. Everypony was being paid for their time, some had even scattered further deciding it was a full holiday.
"Password?" A gray mare flew up with mighty flaps of her wings, confronting Twilight.
"Uh, Muffins, it is me… oh, uh, Pinkie Pie Pastes Pony Plots." Twilight sighed when the pegasus relaxed her pose and leaned in, grabbing her from the air. The alicorn was shocked at how strong Muffins seemed to be.
"It's good to see you, Princess!" Muffins gestured down. "The other Princesses are here!" Twilight followed the outstretched leg, spotting Celestia on the ground among the townsfolk.
Spiraling down, Twilight landed nearby and ruffled her wings a little, getting them to close.
"Twilight!" The loudest whisper ever was shouted and a yellow mare was suddenly hopping from hoof to hoof right in front of Twilight. "How are my friends, is Angel okay? Are they feeding them all right? They seemed nice but-"
"Fluttershy, the changeling who took your place is doing a wonderful job, I just left her after she was washing everyone." Twilight decided to leave out what her own doppelganger had done, it would only panic the pegasus.
"Oh, okay…" Fluttershy looked heartbroken but lifted her head back up from the slump when a purple wing hugged her.
"It is amazing to watch, she is showing the highest percentage of integration of anypony. In another few weeks we could probably go back and enter phase three with her, and you could take her place." Twilight gave her friend a little squeeze.
"Twilight?" The voice addressing the purple alicorn of friendship could not be denied. "What do you have to report?" Celestia had blindsided Twilight, planned it even. She had been trying to help calm Fluttershy, but talking to her had left the pegasus trembling and ordering her to be calm was not right at all.
Twilight kept hold of Fluttershy with her wing. "I am happy to report their first adventure was a complete success. None of them dropped their disguise for a moment and even in the face of danger involving having their cutie marks removed, they still pulled it together and saved the day." Presenting her notes to Princess Celestia, Twilight was practically dancing with happiness.
"You were not detected?" Celestia reached over to her chariot and opened a hidden side door with her magic. A plate of cheesecake floated out and began serving itself to her. Dealing with half a town of stir-crazy ponies was a test to her leadership that only cheesecake could solve.
"I wasn't! They have no clue what is really going on. The first subject is nearing phase three." Twilight finally let go of Fluttershy and the pegasus turned and bolted, her nerves wound too tight to handle the situation.
"Then proceed, Twilight, and we will see how well these changelings adapt to pony life. Who is the first subject to be phase-threed?" Celestia took another bite of cake, feeling it calm her down with the cool, soft texture.
Twilight beamed, her time spent as the ruling Princess' student had taught her that when Celestia was eating cheesecake, all of Equestria could be falling apart and she would accept it. "Fluttershy, actually."
"Perfect." The white alicorn mused that maybe the cheesecake hadn't been needed… scratch that, it was exceptional cheesecake and such was always needed.
"You know how much we appreciate all you do for us, and we simply adore having you around... but... we worry you might be," Rarity cleared her voice carefully, "avoiding something else?"
Twilight sighed, she had been doing her best to be a good friend, absolutely everything she could in fact. The problem was, she might have been taking it a little too far. She needed an excuse and looked around the room. "Oh, has it been that obvious? I've been… the thing is… I know it's silly, but I… I've been avoiding… this place." Perfect, she had worked out that the castle had appeared recently, anxiety about it would be perfectly in character and explain everything.
Rarity gasped. "Why in Equestria would you want to avoid such a gorgeous castle?" The 'ling masquerading as the fashionista gestured around. It made some sense to her, as a changeling, but only because there weren't enough friends in the place. A hive needed more ponies. Changelings. Whatever.
"Yeah, this place has everything! Big, tall ceilings that make you feel tiny! Shiny new floors that are cold to the touch!" Pinkie shivered and shuddered. "And it even has long," she stretched out the word as her cover required, "empty hallways!" The echo of her own voice back made the changeling slump a little, getting into her role further. She liked having friends nearby. "Okay, I get it." It took a lot of extra acting to really BE Pinkie Pie, but she was more than up to it!
Some conversation among the seven friends later and the decision was made, Twilight was going to the spa to relax while her friends would 'spruce up', as Applejack put it, the castle. Walking out the front door, Spike on her back, Twilight heard singing from inside. "Why do they like singing so much?" She mused aloud, forgetting her passenger.
"Don't ask me, ponies are like that." Spike shrugged and shoved another pancake in his snout, chewing it only briefly before gulping it down. He had to keep eating this stuff, it had been odd at first but Twilight had caught him not eating regular food. Keeping up appearances was not easy.
"Why do their voices sound different while singing? Am I being too critical, Spike?" Twilight hoped that she wasn't being too nosy. Time to play the trump card. Flicking her magic, the disguised changeling made a scroll and quill appear and start scribing. "Maybe I should make a list of these odd little things."
"Oh, uh, sure…" Spike was half panicking. If she started paying attention to the odd little differences, she might just notice him! "But first we need to get a super-deluxe mane blow-out! That will make you feel more yourself again."
Sharp… or Twilight as she thought of herself, was delighted at the idea. Feeling more like 'herself' was just what a master infiltrator should do.
Twilight was having trouble. Sneaking into the spa was not easy and worse, the steam played havoc with her spell. She sat in a corner watching as her duplicate had the changelings of the establishment fussing over her.
Subject Twilight Sparkle settling in well. Had a manic episode the previous day, but such is within norms. Seems well-fed, relaxed and settling in to their new life well.
About to add more, Twilight was halted when Spike trotted into the room.
"Spike, you're back!" Twilight the changeling turned her head, the odd hair unit maintaining its work on her mane. "How do I look?"
The real Twilight almost coughed, blushing and slamming both forehooves over her snout. Surely that wasn't the current 'in style'?
"Great!" Spike was lying through his teeth.
"And more importantly, how does the castle look?" Twilight turned her head this way and that, spotting her reflection in a mirror. The hair was odd to have, a changeling drone only had a mane-fin, but this was… nice.
"Great!" The lie came hard to Spike, the only thing that stopped him from telling the truth was when he remembered his 'soul-mate', Rarity. He gave a little sigh at the thought of the unicorn. Something that reminded him of his actual best friend. But she had been sent out on assignment just before he had.
"I can't wait to go home and see it!" Twilight the changeling said, but Twilight the pony was thinking it too.
"Great!" Spike said it again before realizing how bad an answer it was. "I mean, no! I mean, uh, I'm not… quite ready to go yet. Uh, why don't we have a massage?" Spike had grabbed Twilight's tail but let it go when he realized what he had done. His claw fumbled behind him for something that might save him. An invisible alicorn gently nudged a brochure just beside his claws. "I was really hoping to get, uh… this thingy!"
The real Twilight smiled, maybe their lessons did need a little nudge from time to time. There were so many variables in this experiment, she had no hope of isolating them all and decided to just let it play out.
"Are you sure you are ready for this, Fluttershy?" Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship and master manipulator of changeling swarms, looked to her good friend. "You will be in a town full of changelings, just… try not to treat them any different."
Fluttershy peeked around the edges of her wings, slightly lifting up from her cowering position. "T-T-Twilight, I am terrified, but… I am always terrified." Fluttershy's voice was so soft and hesitating that Twilight almost felt her heart break. "But I really want to make sure my little friends are okay."
"Hold still then, time to settle you back into the town." Twilight recited the spell in her head, extending it with her alicorn magic to wrap both Fluttershy and herself in the invisibility. "Fluttershy, are you still there?"
"I'm scared, Twilight…" Fluttershy was trembling. But something seemed to bite at that terror in a way she hadn't felt before. She blinked and realized that, like this, she was hiding from everything. "I… I will be okay…"
Reaching out a wing, Twilight meant to give her friend a gentle hug with it, but completely missed. "Uh, right. So, let's meet at your house and meet up with the nice mare who has been learning how to be so kind." She spread her wings and launched into the air. There was something liberating about flying while invisible, leaving so little behind in tracks. Although having to dodge birds, was less than fun.
Landing near the little house just on sunset, Twilight looked around for her friend before clonking herself on the forehead. "Of course I can't find her, she is invisible."
"Twilight." Fluttershy startled the alicorn. "Twilight, I am here. Are we going to wait out here?"
Getting her heart-rate down was taking Twilight a moment, how Fluttershy of all ponies had managed to scare her had the alicorn almost as shaken as the actual shock had been. "Inside, we want to make it hard for her to run." Twilight trotted along to the door and watched it open before her. Slipping in, she let the spell drop the moment they were both inside.
Fluttershy immediately realized she wasn't hidden anymore and drooped a little. "We aren't going to be invisible?" She trembled a little, the prospect of maybe fighting a changeling didn't seem like her idea of a good time at all.
"You can stay hidden, I will make myself known first. Come out when I ask you." Twilight settled herself at the nice little table, ready to wait.
Looking around her home, Fluttershy was quite amazed at how normal it looked. The place was clean, the food bowls of her various friends showed signs of recent use. "O-Okay." No sooner did Twilight hide behind her stairs than the door opened.
A veritable flood of animals rushed around Fluttershy as she entered her home. "Come on, Angel, stop bullying the skunks." She trotted to her kitchen and started preparing food. Then her brain registered there was an alicorn sitting at her dining table. "Twilight?"
"Hi, Fluttershy." Twilight reached out with her magic, casually sealing the doors and windows closed. "How are you doing?"
The yellow pegasus, feeding her friends, blinked a few times at some confusion. "I am fine… how did you get here so fast? I was just at your castle and then-"
"That wasn't me at the castle." Twilight smiled. "It was a changeling, and you know it." Slipping from the chair, Twilight stepped toward the disguised drone. "And you are one too, aren't you?"
The words rocked Fluttershy, she was a changeling, but her time spent as Fluttershy was… imprinting. She felt comfortable, happy. It was certainly better than having a stupid queen yelling at her. "I… I…"
A blur of yellow and pink rushed out and Twilight was surprised to see the real Fluttershy hugging the changeling version of herself. "Twilight, can't you see she is scared!"
Twilight blinked, unable to comprehend this reaction, in either of them. "Uh, Fluttershy-" when both heads shot up and looked at her, Twilight revised her approach, "changeling Fluttershy, what is your name?"
"F-F-Flutters-" She couldn't believe how tight and warm it felt, when the mare she had disguised herself as hugged her. Comfort and empathy poured from the yellow mare in a flood. "Dry Wit." She gave a sigh and let down her disguise. "My name is Dry Wit. Uh…" the 'ling gently nosed at a wing still wrapping her up, "you are meant to run in terror now…"
"Is that what you would have done, if you found somepony scared and alone?" Twilight couldn't keep the smile off her face as her pegasus friend showed the changeling just how well caught she had been. "Just hug her back, relax."
When the dark, hole-filled legs wrapped around her in return, Fluttershy looked up at the 'scary' face of the drone. She smiled. The fangs were smaller than some of her forest-friends', their face no more scary now than when Harry got upset at something. She lifted a hoof up and booped the changeling on their nose.
A soft chittering sound proved to both ponies that changelings could laugh. "I don't know, I might have… alright, I would." Dry gave the mare a little more of a squeeze before letting go, finding the wings letting her go too. "So you caught me, what now?"
"What do you think we would do? But you are forgetting some more important questions." Twilight let go of the door and windows, instead using her magic to start preparing some tea.
"You said you know you were replaced by a changeling…" Dry found a chair and sat down, feeling a little naked without a disguise and outside the hive. "How did you find out?"
"Good questions." Twilight took her chair again, pouring the hot water into the teapot. "I found out easily, I arranged it." The alicorn floated the teapot over and started pouring. "Fluttershy," when she said the word two heads lifted to her, "how do you want your tea?"
"Black with a sprig of mint." Both changeling and pegasus spoke together, then one giggled while the other chittered. "That would be fine, thank you." Dry Wit finished up, watching as the Princess served them. "Can I ask more?" Twilight nodded. "If you arranged it, then… the queen is sending more changelings? How many have been replaced?"
"All of them." Twilight's words heralded the cup that she had just set neatly into the changeling’s green magic to rattle alarmingly. Grabbing it and steadying the cup, she waited for the drone to calm.
"A-A-All? The whole town? How can that…" Dry's worldview exploded, she ran over all her recent interactions with her 'friends'. "It wasn't real?"
"How real did it feel?" Twilight sipped her tea, letting the changeling have her own cup back. "I can promise you, I am amazingly proud of you all."
"Proud? Proud of us?" Dry wanted to rage and scream, but she could feel what it meant to be a pony, it was a heavy weight, but a welcome one. "Why?"
"You saved the ponies of that village. You gave everything you had to protect them." Twilight watched dawning comprehension form on the drone's face. Reading Changeling Expressions had been a hard book for her to get through, but it wasn't anywhere near as helpful as actually seeing the expressions on a live pony. "So yes, proud." She nodded her head.
"We did it? How many of us were… we all were, weren't we?" Dry gulped down some of her tea, finding the slightly minty camomile to be just what she needed. "Spike too? Of course, Spike too. So what now?"
"Do you want to go back to the hive?" The moment the words left Twilight's snout, she knew the answer. Those expressive ear-ridges tucked back sharply, the 'ling's crest folded down. If she hadn't seen the clues, Fluttershy's wing spreading out to hug the changeling defensively would have given it away. "Relax, you don't have to. The spell we cast over you all, stopping the pull of the hive, it can be made permanent."
"That is a spell? I thought I was just too far?" Dry shuffled her chair, moving a little closer to Fluttershy. "Can I stay here? Of course I can't, we can't have two Fluttershys."
"No, we can't have two Fluttershys until everypony is happy. Your friends are working really, really hard to try to be the ponies they are disguised as, how long before you think they will be this far?" Twilight realized how important this was, bringing their doppelganger back to meet them. Or maybe it was just Fluttershy.
"If you let me come back, from time to time, I could try to read them… well, taste them." Dry grinned and sipped her tea.
"You could do that, I am sure Twilight can help more." Fluttershy sipped her own drink before looking down at the ground. Sure enough, Angel Bunny didn't look impressed at missing his dinner. "Oh, just wait a few moments, Angel." Fluttershy lasted nearly two whole seconds before she got up and started preparing salad for the rabbit.
Dry watched the event with a little smile, a tear rolling down from her eye. Twilight caught sight of the raw emotion and gave a nod. "Yes, you can help me. We have a… interim town, you can come and live there, if you wantm Dry Wit"
The changeling blushed a little, telling a pony her real name was just about the biggest rule to break for a changeling infiltrator. "I am sorry if I have caused any problems…"
"Dry, no, you helped spark the idea for the biggest experiment ever. And at the same time, you are the first success from it." Twilight held out a hoof across the table and got a hesitant tap back from the drone's own. "Drink up, we have a long flight ahead of us." The moment Twilight said it, she realized her error. A tingle ran through her, warm and like silk; Dry was drinking, but it wasn't what the alicorn had intended.
"Thank you, Your Highness." Dry finished her snack, feeling full of happiness and soon tea both. The honorific, spoken with full intent, warmed Twilight back up from the experience of having been openly fed from.
"That is the first time I felt… quite that much. Do you normally drink more," Twilight blushed, "circumspectly?" Dry nodded, blushing a little. "You have my permission, that so long as it won't harm me, you can drink whenever you need to."
The words meant more than any promise or command her queen had ever given her. Dry felt better than she had even as she had hugged the ponies she thought… who were, her friends.
"Lyra's Lying Lips Leak." Twilight sighed. "Muffins, it is me."
"That was yesterday's password!" Muffins stood her ground, frowning. She could clearly see the changeling beside Princess Twilight, and it put her on edge. "Wait, or is it tomorrow's?"
"It is today's password, Muffins. Please?" Twilight spread a wing over Dry and gave her a little hug. "Come on." She stepped forward, guiding the drone through the protective wall around the village.
Dry blinked, over and over. "Wow…" She had been impressed with a pony able to make themselves and others invisible, but this was amazing. "How is this all…"
"Princess Celestia, of course. And you know who she is doing it for?" Twilight drew her wing back, advancing into the makeshift town full of ponies, and now one changeling.
"For you?" Dry got some odd looks, ranging for surprise to panic. She cast about with her senses but for the life of her she felt no fear.
"For you." Twilight put her foreleg over Dry's withers and gave her another hug. "Let me find some ponies who really want to meet-"
"SUPRISE!" The words assaulted alicorn and changeling together, along with about ten pounds of high-grade confetti. "Welcome to the town!" Pinkie Pie had somehow produced a cake and was wheeling it in, dumping a party hat over both Twilight and Dry's horns; the latter going a little cross-eyed as they tried to focus up and on the colorful spiral.
"Is this her?" Princess Celestia strode out of one of a nearby building.
Twilight nodded. "Everypony, please welcome Dry Wit, the newest pony in Equestria." A cheer went up.
"Don't cry, Dry." Celestia's wing reached forward to dry the changeling's cheek. "Twilight gave you your choice?"
Dry nodded, her throat having seized up. She was standing before Princess Celestia herself. She nodded more for good measure.
"And you want to stay with us?" Celestia got another, shyer nod. "Then you shall, let me finalize that spell for you." Bright gold haloed the changelings head, the power of the Princess of the Sun channeling and helping a changeling forge herself a new destiny. As her magic eased back, Celestia had to catch the little black pony. "You are now a citizen of Equestria, Dry Wit."
"What's this all about?" Shifty Eyes had only recently taken this role. Foals were not usually his thing, fillies even less so, but when the opportunity arose he was up for the challenge. After all, the alternative was making his way back to the hive and telling his Queen he had failed. Shuffling about, the changeling tried to act as he had seen the filly known as Sweetie Belle act, which was usually a little clueless.
"Oh, nothin'…" Gray Sleek, well into her role as Apple Bloom, had the voice of the filly she replaced down perfectly. "Except this letter from Babs Seed sayin' she's got her cutie mark!" She had been pen-pals with the other filly for over a month now, she knew Babs' life almost better than she knew Apple Blooms. And she knew Apple Bloom very well indeed.
"What?" Both the other fillies scream at once, staring at Apple Bloom. Each knew that the filly that was referred to was a friend of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and was one herself, if in another city.
"She says it's a pair of scissors!" Apple Bloom poked at the place on the letter where it said just that. Gray's heart actually felt a tingle of happiness for Babs, she knew cutie marks were important to ponies, but to a filly yet to get one, it was the most important thing in the whole of Equestria.
"So… she's good at cutting stuff?" Black Terror, disguised as Scootaloo, had been a member of the CMC for a full two weeks, and was still trying to work out just how important a cutie mark was, or how it affected a pony. She certainly was not minding this role, but not a shred of information had filtered down to her and it left her a little confused as to what she was doing.
Gray's mind drifted a little, it wasn't so much of an act anymore as just another side of herself. She knew full well that the best of infiltrators could slip a role on and merge themselves into it in days, she wasn't that good, but this was certainly good practice.
Hush now, little sister You're loved by all you know
Gray could certainly feel that, Applejack practically pulsed with the love she held for her little sister.
You'll never lose their friendship No matter where you go
There ain't no call to worry So don't you cry or fret A cutie mark won't change you No matter what you get
For some reason the words felt heavy, full of meaning for Gray. She looked up at her 'big sister' and smiled, even as the light turned off and she was alone with her own thoughts. Giving a yawn, the drone squirmed into her bed a little more soundly. "No matter what I get…"
Gray's head snapped up, the sound of a rooster crowing breaking the oddly thick dream-memories from her head. Yawning and stretching, she twists her spine in just the right way to make a little filly's muscles stretch. "Hoo-ee! Nothin' like a good night's sleep." Slipping from her bed, the changeling—still in her disguise of course—trotted to the kitchen.
"Breakfast!" The yell of her sister came moments before Apple Bloom reached the kitchen and she trotted in. "You were right, Applejack! I feel much better. I don't know what I was so worried about last night."
"See? Now what did I tell you? A good night's sleep'll fix just about an-" Applejack tilted her head, looking around her little sister's body. "Well, no wonder you were so worked up!"
Gray was in shock, she looked around outside the windows, seeing nothing out of order. "What… what is it?"
"Looks like somepony got her cutie mark!" As soon as Applejack said it Gray felt terror slip over her. This was really wrong, really really really wrong. REALLY WRONG!
Marshaling her senses, Gray Sleek quickly pulled excitement and shock onto her face like a mask. Even if a changeling shouldn't have this happen, didn't mean it actually couldn't… she hoped. "I can't believe it! I got my cutie mark!" It was exactly the response she knew the real Apple Bloom would have. "I got my cutie mark!" She got entirely carried away with even more cheering but then froze and turned to her sister. "What is it?"
"I have no idea what it means." Applejack studied the cutie mark that looked like some kind of pump contraption.
Coming out of nowhere, like the corniest jump-scare from a bad play, a masked pony shoved his head into the kitchen, over the half-open dutch door. "I know what it means." The sound of rasping breath through the big mask was heard. "It means I retire!" The mask was yanked off, revealing an old stallion, his teeth old and bent, cackling like a foal.
As the stallion explained to Gray exactly what was required of a 'Pest Pony', she couldn't help but shudder, but not at how odd it seemed. Images of giant robot ponies, driven by Pest Ponies, sucking up all the changelings in Equestria had the drone terrified.
Sucking up her terror and shoving it down inside, Gray made it through the stallion's training and, well, it felt right, good. It was like there was a light inside her and this was the thing it was pointing to, that she would be the best at. She was shocked as the stallion seemed to make a hasty retreat, but more shocked by the voice she heard. "Well, well, well! Look at the new bug pony!" Spinning, Gray could see it was Diamond Tiara staring at her, her flunky Silver Spoon tittering behind a hoof.
"It's 'Pest Pony'!" Gray felt terror at being called 'bug pony'. Did they know?
"Ew, it sure is! Ew!" Silver Spoon walked past the horrible excuse for a pony that was Apple Bloom.
"I might've known you'd end up with the worst cutie mark ever!" Diamond Tiara paid extra emphasis to the word 'worst', knowing just how to drive the nails in. Both the bullies chortled at this, finding much mirth. "But look on the bright side, whenever you need a friend, you can just go out and catch one!"
Gray felt tears welling in her eyes. It was so mean what some foals did to others and what was worse, sunk into her role as she was, it hit her really hard. "That's not funny…"
"Heeeere, friendfriendfriendfriendfriendfriend!" Diamond Tiara lifted a hoof to her snout, miming yelling the hurtful words out, barely stopping herself from laughing at her own jest.
"Stop it…" Gray felt something tighten in her spine, Apple Bloom wouldn't take this quite so hard. She tried to stand a bit straighter.
"Here, bug! Here, bug!" Silver Spoon was in fine form, but her particular phrasing of the hurtful joke bit extra deep. "Will you be my friend, bug? Because nopony else will!" Both the bullies were once more consumed in gales of laughter.
"You know what?" Gray felt tears in her eyes now, real ones. Why did it have to hurt so much? "My cutie mark isn't the worst! You two are!" She turned and ran, shucking off the Pest Pony gear, wanting it all to go away with the nasty fillies. Their laughter chased her far and soon she was in a forest, not knowing how she even got there. "I hate to think that Diamond Tiara is right, but…" Giving a deep sigh, Gray looked back at her own flank, at the much-anticipated mark. "This cutie mark sure isn't what I… or Apple Bloom, was hoping for." Gray fell to her belly in the small clearing, tears running hot down her cheek.
"Why should you have to keep it, then?" The voice was raspy, creepy. Gray lifted her head to look around, seeing only shadows moving through the trees.
"Who's there? What do you mean?" Gray shuffled up to her hooves, hoping against hope that the stranger didn't hear her break her disguise when she mentioned what should be her own name.
"If your cutie mark bothers you so much, get rid of it!" The voice sounded sharp, derisive. Gray looked back to herself and willed her body to shift. To heck with it all, she thought, time to give up. But no flames came, no cleansing green fire to burn away her disguise. Trapped, she was trapped!
Gulping, Gray tried to ignore the real terror she felt at the possibility of being stuck as a filly for the rest of her days. "Well, if you know how to wave a hoof and erase a terrible cutie mark, you go right ahead!" Still in her role, still clinging to the one raft she had left, Gray stomped one of her little hooves.
"As easily said as done." The voice sounded pleased and there was a rush of wind around Gray and, when she looked back, the hated cutie mark was gone. Looking around, she couldn't see where the odd creature in the woods had gone.
"Huh. Now that is some serious magic." Gray turned and blinked, freezing. Somehow she was on the edge of Ponyville, no forest around, but there were ponies bolting in all directions, panic rising from them as their ingrained herd-mentality spread the madness to others. "Hey! Where's everypony goin'?" She had to shout and before her eyes a house practically got destroyed in a blast of electricity. She spotted a pony who should be in charge. "Mayor! What's goin' on?"
Mayor Mare was barely keeping herself together, now she had a filly to worry about. "Apple Bloom, you've got to get your family out of town!"
Just as Gray was about to mutter some very un-filly-like words regarding not answering questions, she saw the answer. "Twittermites!" She found herself gasping dramatically. She spotted just what she needed, though, the disguised changeling pouncing onto the Pest Pony gear and quickly shucking into it. Just like her training, she chased around the smaller swarms of twittermites as they seemed to lead her to Sweet Apple Acres. Every time she got close, however, Gray got zapped by the bugs.
Coming from nowhere, Applejack tried to stop her, pulling on her and shouting arguments at her. But Gray could see what was going on, the bugs were spreading out, just like the Pest Pony warned. Spreading out and…
ZAP
The house, the barn, most of the surrounding land. All gone.
A rooster call sounded and Gray shot upright, her heart beating a million miles an hour. She closed her mouth, realizing she had been yelling. It was all a dream, a bad dream, a really bad one for Apple Bloom. Gray sighed and relaxed a little.
"Breakfast!" Applejack's voice was coming from the kitchen and Gray shot out of bed and began to trot down.
"Applejack, you are not gonna believe the dream I just had!" Gray reached a hoof up to rub the last of the sleep still there, from her eye. "I guess I just needed more sleep than I thought."
"See? Now what did I tell you? A good night's sleep'll fix just about an-" Applejack tilted her head, looking around her little sister's body. "Well, no wonder you were so worked up!"
Gray was in shock, she looked around outside the windows, seeing nothing out of order. "What?"
"Looks like somepony got her cutie mark!" As soon as Applejack said it Gray felt terror slip over her. This was really wrong, really really really wrong. REALLY WRONG! The moment the thoughts cleared her head Gray shook herself. Something was indeed really wrong.
"Again? I mean…" Gray felt a chill pass over her. "I did? Woo-hoo!" She examined her own flank this time, looking and seeing the flask filled with bubbling liquid. "Potion making! Now that's more like it!" And it was. Gray had been learning a lot of amazing stuff from Princess Twilight, it had been a huge catchup at first, but the drone was nothing if not a quick study.
"More like… what?" Applejack narrowed her eyes, looking suspicious.
"Never mind! I'm just glad Princess Twilight's lessons finally paid off!" Gray did a little dance of joy, turning in circles. If nothing else, this was a skill she could take back to her hive, teach other drones.
"I expect you want to run off to the clubhouse and tell your friends all about your new cutie mark. But-" Applejack was talking to herself, of course, Gray was already racing out of the house, breakfast ignored as the filly that she was living as wanted to share her new amazing cutie mark with her friends. Gray mentally closed her eyes, reveling in the feeling of just being happy.
"Well, you can't be a Cutie Mark Crusader if you've already got your cutie mark." Scootaloo looked to the side, having the good grace to at least look a little ashamed at herself.
The ground fell away from Gray. The filly part of her was left almost numb, in shock. "Oh, yeah…" She fell back on her more stiff acting to get by. "Just like Babs Seed… Well, I could just sit quietly in the corner 'till you two figure out what you're gonna do…" It was just about the most stiff and wooden Gray had been in weeks.
"Well…" Sweetie Belle clearly had a new nail, ready to drive home. "Technically, the clubhouse is for Crusaders only."
The fact it was her treehouse, on her sister's farm, went right past Gray. Then something odd distracted her from the shock of betrayal by her friends. She really thought of Applejack as her sister…
Slamming behind her, the clubhouse door was not only closed, but boarded up. "What…" She turned again and was in that forest.
"More trouble with cutie marks?" This time the voice had a slight chitter to it. Gray turned and looked at her flanks.
"No… I mean… well, I don't know what I mean." As Gray said the words something seemed to jolt and twist, the world felt a little off-kilter. "Well, I got mine, but my friends didn't get theirs, and now there's all kinds of trouble." Her heart wasn't in this anymore. Gray liked her friends, really liked them. It hurt when they hurt her. Why did they hurt her?
"Sounds to me like cutie marks and trouble are two peas in the same pod." The voice was a little different, less chitter and more derision. It was enough for Gray to lift her little head.
"I guess so… I mean, if I was a blank-flank again, there wouldn't be a problem!" Gray curled around herself, gently brushing her snout over the cutie mark. It had seemed like such a good one, too.
"Your command is my wish." The voice had the chitteriness back in it and a chill wind blew past Gray, causing her to look up.
"Hey, Apple Bloom. Why'd you want to meet here?" Scootaloo looked from Sweetie to Gray, giving the changeling an oddly creepy vibe. Part of her wondered what happened to the moments where the world seemed to jump and skip—that part kept getting silenced.
Gray found herself bouncing excitedly. "Well, us blank flanks have to meet somewhere!" She turned to the side, showing her awesome potion-related cutie mark was gone.
A look of embarrassment flooded both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle's faces. "Um, actually," Scootaloo scuffed the ground with a hoof, "Apple Bloom, we… both, sort of got our cutie marks."
Terror and shock passed through Gray, but something blew that all away. It was something warm, something nice. Gray smiled wide at her friends and couldn't help but bounce a little. "You did? What are they?" Genuine excitement flooded the changeling, pride and delight for her friends grew inside her.
"Oh," Scootaloo waved a hoof, "we don't have time to go into that." She gave a little emphasis on the last word.
"And we certainly don't have time to hang out at an old clubhouse." As Sweetie Belle said it, Gray turned and saw the clubhouse she had come to think of as safe, home… fell apart.
"Yeah, we've got responsibilities now." Scootaloo seemed to somehow draw away from Gray, without really moving. The poor drone still hadn't seen her friends' cutie marks.
"But maybe we'll see you later." Sweetie Belle was doing it too now, both the fillies seeming to fall away from Gray.
"Much later." Scootaloo seemed miles away now, almost as far as Canterlot, although somehow she could still see them.
"Wait! Hold on! I can get my cutie mark back… I think." Gray tried to gallop after her friends but the faster she ran the further they got. "I got it once, right? Oh, just wait a second!" She started to scream for her friends, tears staining her cheeks.
The sound of a rooster crowing had Gray jerking upright, she felt like she had run a marathon.
"Breakfast!" Applejack's voice came from the kitchen, like clockwork.
"I'm not so sure sleep is the cure-all Applejack things it is." Gray slowly got out of the bed, landing on shaking hooves. She made her way to the kitchen to find her close family all present. "Uh… Applejack? I know you said sleep is supposed to make me feel better, but I'm pretty sure it's makin' me feel worse." Gray was lost, confused, and felt every bit the small filly she was supposed to be infiltrated as.
The world seemed to get worse, moving in like a timber wolf when it sensed the changeling's mind weakening. Gray's family seemed to have gone mad, swirling around her, talking nonsense.
"Weeell, what do we have here?" Granny Smith looked at Gray's flank, seeing something.
More crazy words spun around the drone, resolving into her brother, Big McIntosh, leaning in and pointing at her blank flank "Truth is, Apple Sleek, it's your cutie mark."
Applejack leaned in out of nowhere. "Eeyup."
The delusions got worse and worse. Gray was told she wasn't an Apple, her cutie mark seeming to change over and over. "I just want to go home!" Gray screamed the words."
The sound of a rooster crowing, followed by somepony falling into mud, woke Apple Bloom from her sleep. The filly looked around and scooted up out of bed. "Alright, this is getting ridiculous." She walked over to the mirror to check her flank and saw it completely clean. "Whoo-ee! I never thought I'd be so happy to not get a cutie mark. What…"
Then when she glanced back at it herself, she saw. "Flowers?" Apple Bloom shook her head and checked herself again, inadvertently checking the other side. "Lollipops?" She began to look back and forth between her flanks, seeing a different cutie mark each time. A glance at the mirror that had betrayed her showed a changeling reflected back, winking.
"I don't wanna see another cutie mark as long as I live!" Apple Bloom stomped a little hoof and suddenly felt a chill breeze. She was back in the forest.
"Back so soon?" The voice was chittery again.
"All right, whoever you are! I dunno what spell you went and cast on me, but I want it to stop, right now!" Apple Bloom's tolerance for this mystery was at its end and she followed the strange shape that skirted around the shadows.
"I didn't cast a spell, on you or anypony else. I only did what you wanted." The voice was mocking, still sounding like… like a changeling. Apple Bloom was scared and furious now.
Screaming her rage, the filly clopped her little hoof down over and over. "Why would I want you to torment me with nightmares?"
"You didn't want to catch bugs, and I helped." The voice seemed to move quickly, shifting through the forest silently. "You didn't want to lose friends, and I helped. If there's a problem with your family," Apple Bloom suddenly had a mental image of Applejack, Granny, and Big Mac, "I'm sure I can help with that too." The voice was identifiable now, it wasn't just a changeling's voice, it was her Queen's.
"I don't want you, I don't want your help! Just get away from me!" Apple Bloom felt tears sting her cheeks, she pushed and shoved at the shadow-shape in the forest, trying to get it away.
"Oh, Gray Sleek, you can't get away from your own shadow." It was a new voice, a warm voice. Apple Bloom looked up and saw the moon itself coalesce into a pony, a huge pony that floated gently down to her.
"P-P-Princess Luna?" Apple Bloom shook her head, the words the princess had used confused her somehow. "My shadow? What do you mean? It's just me?" She blinked and in that moment, Gray's mind restored, her form flickered and she was once more a changeling, a changeling with a long shadow. "You mean I've been doin' all this to myself?" Her voice sounded just like anyling else, but she still had Apple Bloom's drawl.
Luna watched the filly change, realizing what she was again. "Of course, Gray Sleek. It's your dream."
"I've been dreamin' this whole time, why don't I just wake up?" Gray didn't question why a princess was in her dream, nor why the mare seemed to be helping her. It was clearly a dream, facts were not consistent and, apparently, she might be a bit crazy.
"Some times we can worry about a thing so much, the fear can make us feel we're trapped in a nightmare." Luna turned her gaze to the trees, watching as the creature that had been stalking the poor changeling's dreams flowed down, shrinking into just her shadow. Something was still out there, Luna knew exactly what. She smiled to the pony she had brought to the dream, just once, before banishing her back to her own. "I don't suppose there's anything you're particularly afraid of, is there?" The world seemed to fade into the moonlight and Gray was suddenly standing on nothing, floating in the stars. With Luna.
Gray scuffed her hoof on the ground, mimicking an action she knew Apple Bloom used. Of course she had nothing to hide now, she was found out. "Yeah… I guess I've been pretty worried about getting' my cutie mark."
"More pony than you know." Luna's words were so soft only she and the wind itself could hear them, she raised her voice. "Well, that is the same as worrying about who you are." She saw the changeling look intensely introspective. "That is all a cutie mark is. If you cannot accept who you are, your life might seem like a bad dream."
Hovering in nothingness, with just the alicorn before her, Gray tilted her head a little. "But… if I like who she is, do you think other ponies will like me?"
"Of course." Luna smiled.
"Then it doesn't matter what my cutie mark is, or who I am!" Gray felt a freedom of her very soul that was so profound she began to cry at the beauty of it.
Luna leaned down and gently kissed the drone on the forehead. "Indeed."
"But…" Gray's eyes flew open, gazing up at the alicorn, "that's so simple! I must be the only changeling in the universe this worried about who she is!"
"Oh…" Luna began to summon the dream plane's entrances, pulling them into being with her will. "I wouldn't say that."
A door opened and a scene played out for Gray. A changeling, comically wearing a mask of Sweetie Belle, was standing before a whole mess of ponies. "Is she going to do anything?" "Look, she is breaking character." "Can't even slip into disguise properly!"
The drone slumped and looked terrified.
Luna closed that door and opened another. Scootaloo, or at least a changeling dressed up as Scootaloo, with adorable little fake wings, was trying to balance on a scooter and… failing. "I just wasn't good at this kind of thing!" The drone was terrified.
"They… they're both changelings too?" Gray's eyes were wide open, she hadn't even remembered when she had slipped back into Apple Bloom as a disguise.
"It's been a busy night for us all, but I think it's time to bring it to a close. For you." Luna found three new doors, opening them. Gray froze, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, the real ones, trotted out of those dreams.
"Hi!" Apple Bloom waved to the changeling disguised as her, somehow she knew they were. Must have been a dream thing. "Princess Luna told us we would be meeting a new pony tonight."
"You look so awesome, can you do Rainbow Dash?" Scootaloo ran up beside the changeling, bouncing.
Sweetie Belle just walked up and lifted a hoof. She waited a moment before gave a smile and waved.
The Princess of the Moon was standing with all four of them, the three Cutie Mark Crusaders all spotting her at once. "Princess Luna!"
"I know you've all had a lot on your minds tonight, but I think Gray has something she'd like to share before you wake." Luna leaned down and gave the disguised changeling a little nudge.
Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo all looked to the drone.
"Well, I guess I should call this dream meeting of the Cutie Mark Crusaders to order…" Gray Sleek looked down and scuffed a hoof.
"Go on!" "Woo!" The changeling got a few cheers of support from the fillies, clearly accepting her membership.
"I know we all got pretty anxious when we found out Babs got her cutie mark, but I-" Gray didn't get any further.
Three little voices shouted out in unison. "Babs got her cutie mark?"
The dream snapped, the shock of it breaking not just the three fillies from Luna's care, but Gray as well.
Apple Bloom, or Gray Sleek, was sitting in the far corner of the farm. She had seen an odd note on her pillow when she woke and had practically raced down here.
"You followed my message?" Dark, huge, smiling. Luna stepped from out of Gray's view, accompanied by Twilight Sparkle. "Gray Sleek, you are a very special pony."
Gray blinked up at the two princesses. "I… I am?"
"But you need to stay here a little longer." Twilight reached out a hoof to clear a little bit of sleep from the filly's eye. "You see, I am doing something amazing..."
"Kevin, you definitely needed a new name, we can't go using changeling names around here, it would be silly!" Pinkie Pie, beamed at the little drone. "Now, again, what's your name?"
"Nea…" Neat inhaled deeply, for a pony town, it smelled a lot like home. "Kevin!" He was bowled over by a blast from a hidden cannon that was, apparently, loaded with confetti.
"Yes!" Pinkie set off another cannon for good measure. "How are you doing with a disguise?"
Kevin looked at the mare in confusion for a moment, just staring at her, not saying a word until… "There, did it work?" He smiled, going cross-eyed as he tried to see if his snout had changed.
"Not quite…" Pinkie rubbed her chin. "I know, what about if-" The pink pony, or rather the changeling disguised as her, stood stiff as a board as her back leg started to twitch, then her tail turned at right angles and finally she bounced three inches to the right. "Somepony is spying on us!"
Drat, thought Twilight. She was huddled in the corner, invisible. But apparently Pinkie-Sense could see through such magic. Using a teleport spell she left Sugarcube Corner and stood just out front. Lifting up a hoof, she activated the little spell there. "Operative ay bee, do you copy? Over."
Gray froze, she had been pouring some volatile mixtures together, under the strict watch of Twilight, or rather, the changeling Twilight. "Aw shucks, look at the time!" The filly looked up at the clock. "Princess Twilight, Ah gotta run home!"
Sharp Mind smiled widely at the filly. "Of course, Apple Bloom. But you will be back tomorrow to finish, right? We are only halfway through the list!" She gave a little tremble, something about the alicorn's life had just snapped in, perfect. Organization, regimented, good friends to feed off, even some little ponies to teach. She shook her head. "I'll just put all this away for you."
The changeling disguised as Apple Bloom frowned a touch, she hated lying now, it still came easy, but it felt wrong. "Bye Princess Twilight!" She got out of the castle and lifted her left forehoof up. "Ay bee here, what's up Twi?"
The invisible mare sighed. "Gray, can you confirm target princess zero zero one is busy? Over." Twilight waited.
A giggle came over the magic spell. "Sure Twi, she is busy helping target filly five nine eight with rebuilding her scooter. I took a part and hid it, they should be busy a while."
"That's… actually pretty clever. Thanks Gray." Twilight sighed in happiness. A quick glance around revealed nopony watching, so she dropped the invisibility spell and sauntered into Sugarcube Corner. "Hi there, Pinkie!" Twilight was used to changelings, she had dealt with enough on a personal basis now that she didn't flinch. "Hi Kevin!"
"Princess!" Neat smiled, remembering the kind pony that had treated him so well on the train. "Pinkie was helping me remember my new name!" He leaned into the attention when the alicorn trotted up and hugged him with one wing. "Hi, I'm Kevin!"
"So you are!" Twilight had run so many calculations, built so many huge functions and graphs to map the town's transition, and then Kevin had arrived. "When is that party?"
"What party?" Pinkie Pie blinked, her eyes wide with innocence.
"Pinkie, the 'welcome to your name' party, for Kevin." Twilight heard the pink party changeling gasp in shock. "How are you going with your disguise?"
Neat hung his head. "I still can't get it right." The sudden sadness in the lost 'ling was intolerable not just to changelings who could taste emotion directly. Twilight gave him a hug.
"You will get the hang of it, just keep trying." Twilight squeezed 'Kevin' tight and let him go. The changeling looked from Pinkie to Twilight, tasting a feast before him. There was nothing for a 'ling to do but smile. "There you go, just remember, nopony in town will hurt you, I promise."
Twilight's magic communications spell bleeped, trying to get her attention. "What was that?" Pinkie stared past Twilight, trying to find the source of the sound.
"Oh, uh…" Twilight tried to think of what to do. Of all the changelings disguised as her friends, Pinkie was the only one who had thus far seen through any of her tricks. "Oh! It must be my new spell! I was working on it and set a timer!" She held up her foreleg, showing the communicator off. "Yup, I better go back to the castle and check on it…" She didn't wait, panic had gripped her. With a 'blap' of sound and a puff of smoke, she was gone from the shop.
"A portable timer? I gotta get me one of them." Pinkie pondered the idea as she got a pair of cupcakes out, passing one to Kevin.
Twilight appeared in the upstairs room of Fluttershy's house. She looked around and couldn't see anypony. Except Apple Bloom. "Hi!"
"Gray?" Twilight watched the filly nod. "Perfect, what did you need to ask?"
"Ah thought you might want some tea." Gray pointed with one yellow hoof at the floor. "Fluttershy and I were going to… Twilight, are you okay?" She waved a hoof in front of the mare, who's left eye had started to twitch. "Twi?"
It was impossible to get actually mad at Apple Bloom, even if it was a changeling disguised as her. Twilight calmed herself. "Things seem to be going really well, I was thinking Pinkie Pie might be the next one." She turned and started heading for the door, Gray following.
"Ah could try to talk with her more, she really seems into her role." Gray had had more and more of that drawl enter her voice, since the dream. She just didn't fight her urges to be a good pony, and felt better for it. "Maybe get the other girls involved, get her to have some kind of party!"
"That could work. Oh, she is going to be throwing a party for Kevin soon." Twilight walked down the stairs slowly only to find Fluttershy had a guest. "Oh! Uh, hi Rainbow Dash."
"Hi, Twilight." Easy Glide loved some aspects of her disguise as Rainbow Dash, but hated others. "So, Flutters, you want to help with bringing out winter this year?"
"Oh my!" Fluttershy looked to Twilight, realizing that she was the real Twilight Sparkle, and not a drone like the changeling disguised as Rainbow Dash. "I have a lot of things to take care of, all my little friends need their homes reinforced."
"Ah could help!" Gray bounced up to Rainbow Dash. "If'n you got any low clouds I could buck!" to show off her performance, the filly lashed out at the chair, thankfully just after Twilight managed to grab it and hold it steady. "See?"
"I'm sure you can, pipsqueak, but most of these clouds will be up high." Easy gestured up to the ceiling. "Although it would be pretty awesome if we could get an alicorn to help this year" To Twilight, it sounded just like her friend, but the changeling disguised as Rainbow Dash was the first ever she had seen that had tipped her off so quickly.
"I…" Twilight knew she was stuck, if she said yes, her doppelganger would get in trouble for not knowing anything. If she said no, that same changeling would be getting ragged on by the blue pegasus for no reason. "I'll think about it. Swing by the castle tonight and ask me again."
"I'll put you down as a maybe." Easy shuffled a touch, still not used to wearing the shape of a mare. "Anyway, I'll see you at the party tomorrow."
Twilight blinked. "What party?" She looked between Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.
Pulling out a card, Easy showed it to Twilight. "This one. Pinkie gave it to me just as I got here. Apparently that doofus changeling finally worked out how to remember his own name."
Gray and Twilight shared a little look; while a little ribbing was Dash's style, that level of insult was a bit beyond. Not for a second did Twilight question how Pinkie Pie, well, the changeling disguised as her—who had apparently developed Pinkie-esque powers—had managed to get the invitation out here before she could teleport with magic.
"I better get going, who knows what Stormwalker is going to mess up next." Easy got up and trotted for the door, spreading her wings and shooting off into the sky. Closing her eyes a moment, she enjoyed the simple act of flying in a body that was built entirely for it.
"What are you going to do about her?" Gray looked up at the alicorn. "Ah mean, if she don't want to be friends?"
"Oh my, she certainly seemed friendly to me. It was only when you came down." Fluttershy drew back, half hiding behind a chair that was between her and Twilight.
"She is nice to you, Fluttershy?" Twilight didn't move the chair, but she did address her friend, who nodded. "Then of course she stays. I certainly don't expect this to all work overnight, that I have had two successes already only makes me more determined to see this through."
The acceptance of her shaky friendship with the changeling perked the worried yellow pegasus right up. "So you aren't going to send her back to the hive?"
Twilight turned and looked to Apple Bloom. Gray stared back, her eyes unfocussed a moment as she remembered what it was like in the hive.
"Where is my lunch?" Chrysalis spat the words, looking around the huge hall, as if there were changelings hiding everywhere. "And it had better not be apples again!"
Ducking out from behind a chair, a drone bowed before his queen. "Your highness, it is being brought down, we caught you something very tasty!"
Chrysalis narrowed her eyes at the changeling. Just a drone. "It had better be fast, I am famished." She leaned back into the hard corners of the chair. "And you know what I eat when I don't get served something tasty?"
The drone was bolting for the door and had made his escape before his queen had finished the threat. "Grind! Where is that useless nymph? GRIND!"
From around the corner, just the drone Sever wanted to see came, flanked by a whole squad of other changelings. "Grind, is that the meal?"
"Yes! I got one!" Grind did a happy dance. "You just watch, she is going to be so pleased she will let me lead the next invasion!"
"I don't think you understand what happened to the first 'lings in the last one…" Sever spoke under his breath. "Young? Healthy?" His questions were loud enough for the other drone to hear.
"Definitely, both! I found them doing work, trotted up as a cute filly and, before he could think to move, I snared him and got him into the pod!" Grind turned the corner into the Queen's Chambers. "Your Highness!"
"Ah, lunch is here… one way or another." Chrysalis raised her eye as the pod was brought closer and hefted up onto her table.
"Of course, Your Highness, I found the most tasty pony I could and, rather than drinking him dry, I thought just how much my wonderful queen would like such a prize." Grind gesticulated wildly with his hooves. "With less drones in the hive lately, I figured such a dish would be perfect for you to sample first."
That her drone hadn't even properly tasted the pony, Chrysalis was more than a little touched. "Drone, come here." She pointed to the ground right beside her chair and waited for Grind to take the spot. "Do you mean to tell me, you only had the barest taste of this pony? Not even one gulp?" Her slit eyes narrowed to the barest line.
"No, My Wonderful and Amazing Queen." Grind felt his heart bubbling with happiness, he had worked so hard for his queen.
Chrysalis' eyes widened. Honesty, and such devotion. She almost drank from her drone she was so delighted. "Grind, you are going to g-" She froze, having pulled the pod closer, close enough to see inside. "Grind…" Chrysalis' tone was icy cold, her delight had drained away and left less compassion than she had felt at the wedding. Pointing into the pod with a hoof, she lifted her voice well beyond even what the Royal Canterlot Voice was capable of. "WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT BRINGING ME APPLES?"
Inside the pod, Braeburn looked out at the furious changeling queen, he really knew he shouldn't talk to strange ponies so much, but he promised himself that if he survived this and got home, he never would again!
"So what am I going to do with you?" Chrysalis was alone with the podded pony who, without even trying, she knew would have that sweet bite of apples about him. "I can eat you all up, but you will give me indigestion."
Braeburn tapped on the inside of the pod a few times. He opened his mouth to talk and more of the goopy liquid flooded into him. The Queen of the Changelings tilted her head at him and reached out with her magic, freeing him. Coughing up the goop, Braeburn couldn't stop himself from thanking her. "Thanks… Ah guess…"
"Oh don't be like that. The hive barely needs any ponies at all anymore." Chrysalis got up and stretched. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to have a little…" She leaned forward and looked directly into Braeburn's eyes.
A feeling of warm lethargy grew in Braeburn's head, spreading quickly out to his body. It felt oddly nice and a silly grin found its way to his face.
"Not nearly as fruity as I feared." Chrysalis reached out a hoof and booped the pony on the nose, watching as his eyes crossed to watch her hole-filled hoof. "You can stay, for now. My drones don't need anywhere near as much as I do, to eat."
"S-Stay?" Braeburn's wits were a little scattered from the royal attention. "But Ah have ta go home…" He looked around to try to work out where the exits were from the strange dining room.
"Home? You couldn't just live here? I am sure you will like it." Chrysalis put a little force into her words. The stallion's eyes seemed to glaze over a little. "Hrmm, not too much…"
Braeburn relaxed climbed down from the table. "Ah guess Ah could stay. Where are all the changelings?"
"Funny you should ask that." Chrysalis patted the couch beside her, inviting the stallion over to sit beside her. "You see, I worked out a wonderful plan, a plan that is working."
Walking with a bit of a wobble, Braeburn couldn't help noticing that things were a little more green than they used to be. "A plan?"
"Yes, it is quite simple and works amazingly well. You see, I send all my drones, one by one, to be looked after by the ponies." Chrysalis knew what effects her feeding had on ponies and put a leg around the stallion as he flopped against her side. "Not that you will care… asleep already?" Tasting the love and happiness of a pony always endeared them to her a little. "Maybe I should send some more… starting with those useless drones from before."
She wasn't the sharpest horn in the hive, but the changeling mare known as Squeak could certainly pull off a disguise well, and the one she had slipped into suited her nicely.
"Hiya Derpy!" Gray trotted up to the pegasus, looking up at the form her hive sister had taken. "Done with the mail already?"
"I am!" Squeak had gotten over the headaches of having two wandering eyes after a few weeks, now it just seemed normal. "Want to go to Sugarcube Corner to get some muffins?"
Apple Bloom wouldn't say no to that, and Gray was certainly good at matching the filly's tastes. "Sure would!" She turned and drew in beside the bigger changeling. "What type do you like to eat the most?"
Derpy Hooves' wings ruffled and gave a little flap as she got completely distracted by thinking about muffins. Before Squeak had come to Ponyville, she had never had a muffin before. Now they were her favorite food, even better than drinking emotions. "I like apple and blueberry!"
"Apple huh?" Gray couldn't help but smile, she genuinely liked the mare, even if she was working within her disguise, it was easy to tell that she enjoyed it. "Ah think muh sister brought a new batch of zap apples in for them to use…" Gray blinked, there was a pegasus-shaped cloud beside her, vaguely resembling Derpy. When she turned to look toward Sugarcube Corner, she just caught sight of a blonde tail disappearing inside.
Laughing just like the filly she resembled, Gray jumped into a gallop and raced toward the shop only to dig her hooves in at the last second. "Derpy!" She opened the door and trotted in to see the pegasus she had chased already halfway through a muffin that Pinkie had just sold her. "They better not be the last!"
The door opened again and Twilight Sparkle trotted in. "Hi girls." She wore a big grin and trotted over to the counter. "What is that amazing smell?"
"Muffins!" Derpy sprayed crumbs everywhere, but the adorable pegasus gained no ill-will for it. "Zap apple and blueberry!"
Twilight's eyes danced. "I haven't had a zap apple muffin in-"
"Yesterday!" Gray cut in, giving what she now knew to be the real Princess' a kick in her fetlock. "Remember, Princess Twilight, you came in yesterday and got a huge order of apple and blueberry muffins." The filly was poking the alicorn sharply in the leg now.
Catching on, Twilight searched for a way out. "Oh, yes! I mean, with how amazing they taste, I am sure I forgot how-"
Pinkie cut in on Twilight's rambling. "You aren't the changeling Twilight, are you?" She looked the mare up and down. "Derpy is, Apple Bloom is… but you are a pony."
Shocked, Twilight blinked with her magic, locked the door, then blinked back. "How…"
"How did I know? Pinkie Sense." Pinkie nodded as if that explained everything. When she noticed it hadn't, Pinkie Pie decided she would have to go into detail. "Whenever a changeling is talking to me, my tail goes a little stiff and jerks to the side." It made perfect sense.
"But… how did you confirm… Kevin?" Twilight summoned a scroll and quill, quickly taking notes.
"Kevin." Pinkie beamed. "But it was you who surprised me, until I went to see Fluttershy about Gummy's sore foot, then it didn't happen with her too, and I talked to Angel Bunny, but of course he didn't talk back, but he did make some sounds, and my tail didn't twitch then. So I knew it only twitched for changelings, then I noticed it twitched for everypony in town and why isn't Apple Bloom surprised about this?" She didn't question Derpy's acceptance, after all, the mare had muffins to eat.
"Princess Twilight told me already. I prefer being a pony." Gray smiled up at Pinkie. "Gray Sleek." She lifted her little hoof, offering a bump to Pinkie.
"Trick Leg." Pinkie actually had to think a moment, shrugging off the difficulty of remembering her own name as she clopped hooves with the filly. She turned to Derpy.
"Squeak!" Derpy giggled and held up a hoof, half chewing on another muffin.
Pinkie rushed the pegasus and wrapped her up in a hug. "Squeak, I didn't know they had sent you." She felt a warm delight for having met back up with her friend.
Hugging back, Squeak had to think hard. "My… it is hard to remember the hive. I like being Derpy…" and she did, it just made life easier, and she had a job that suited her.
"That's okay, Derpy, you can keep the name." Twilight smiled at the obvious affection between the two mares. "Both of you seem quite well adjusted, want to visit the other town and I can bring back the real ponies?"
"Other town?" Derpy blinked at the offer. "What other town?"
"All the ponies are changelings, Squeak," each time Pinkie said her real name, Squeak felt a little more of her life come back, realized a little more how much she preferred being a pony, "the ponies have to be living somewhere." Pinkie fed her friend another muffin.
"But then who would deliver the mail?" Squeak shrank a little, snout barely nibbling at the new gift of muffiny goodness. "I need to be here."
"I want to meet the real Pinkie Pie." Trick Leg gave a nod. "I need to apologize and thank her." She saw the shocked look on Twilight's face. "What? I need to apologize because I messed up one of her baking trays, and thank her for letting me borrow her life."
Twilight had a sudden panic. Two Pinkie Pies, each capable, apparently, of using Pinkie Sense. What else could they do? "Uh, sure. I could bring her…"
Squeak had her forelegs wrapped around Trick, hugging the pink pony tight. "I don't want to lose you again, Trick!" It was both heart-wrenching and adorable, particularly how the pegasus managed to cry, hug, talk, and eat a muffin, at the same time.
Trick wouldn't let go of her friend. "Princess?" Twilight looked at her. "Could you bring Pinkie to visit, if I hid upstairs or something? I really want to meet her, but I can't leave Squeak alone with all these changelings."
"Don't look at me." Gray shook her little head. "I am just a filly!" She gave her best clueless look, even though Twilight didn't seem willing to buy into it.
"This experiment has too many variables… sure, I can bring Pinkie. Tomorrow, okay?" Twilight reached down and rubbed Gray's head, the clueless look earning some affection from the alicorn.
A knocking came from the shop's door. "Pinkie? Are you here?" It was Sharp Mind, of course, but clearly speaking in Twilight's voice. "If you don't open this door I will teleport in there…"
The real princess quickly cast her spell, blipping out of view instantly. "Let her in before she-" Twilight stopped talking as her doppelganger appeared with a puff of purple smoke.
"Why is the door locked?" Sharp looked around the ponies, using that inquisitive yet focused look she had copied from the real princess. "Pinkie Pie, what is going on?"
Opening her mouth to reply, Trick felt something round and very hoof-like shove into it. Twilight's voice was soft, so soft, and in her ear. "Don't tell her about changelings."
Trick blinked and turned to thin air, performing the actions of a supder-duper special and secret Pinkie Promise. When she turned back to face the bewildered changeling disguised as Twilight, she just smiled.
"We was planning a special birthday party, and didn't want to ruin it for anypony who might come in." Gray wasn't under quite the moral code that Trick, as Pinkie Pie, was. "It is-"
"Big Mac's birthday next week!" Trick cut in on the filly, her own internal senses had quickly picked up on whose birthday was when, the huge calendar she kept helped too.
The changeling disguised as Twilight blinked at this dubious reasoning. "So you are throwing Big Mac a surprise party?"
Gray nodded quickly. "Sure are!" Not that she minded this, she liked Big Mac, she even seemed to like the changeling disguised as him.
Trick turned her pink head to look at Apple Bloom. "This is going to be awesome, we will have cakes, and balloons and… oh, right, what would you like, Twilight?" She turned to the visible Twilight.
"Just some muffins, please." Sharp's distracted mind completely forgot about the party and locked doors, she had had some of these muffins yesterday and found herself completely addicted.
"Okie dokie lokie!" The pink pony quickly bagged up some muffins and, taking a few bits, passed them over.
Twilight followed her visible doppelganger to the door and locked it behind them as they left. "Phew, that was close. Gray, you really are the best!" Her happiness spilled over as she gathered the filly into a hug.
Gray giggled at the show of affection, drinking some happiness Twilight was radiating. She was sweet and delicious. "Aww, shucks…" The filly blushed a little, but hugged back.
Noticing the sensation, Twilight didn't overly care. "So now you have to plan a surprise party for Big Mac?" She looked to Trick, seeing the pony face she recognized so well bend into a huge smile.
"Yes and no." Trick bounced a little in place. "I mean, I already had been working on planning a party, but now I get to make it a secret surprise party! Oh, oh! Who should I invite?"
Squeak listened to the conversation turn to party planning, and felt her gaze shooting off in different directions. Grabbing another muffin, she carefully nibbled the top off. She didn't really care about being a little lost in her disguise, after all, she got to eat muffins!
Princess Twilight Sparkle was seated on a park bench, right beside Lyra Heartstrings. Well, not that it was the real Lyra, but she sure acted like the real one. Above the invisible alicorn's head, she heard Rainbow Dash chatting away at her pet.
Thoughts about Easy Glide, the changeling disguised as Rainbow Dash, soured Twilight's mood a little. She looked up at the pegasus to see her talking with her pet. The apparent delight taken with Tank made Twilight quickly scribble notes down about the mare.
Easy Glide (code: Rainbow Dash): Seems more open with her pet, less confrontational. Keep observing, take careful notes of any changes in pony-to-pony interactions.
As she lowered her head back to Lyra, Twilight saw something in the distance. "Cloudsdale is here?" The moment she said it both her hooves shot up to her snout to try to cram the words back in. Looking around carefully, she breathed a slight sigh of relief.
"Shh, or they will hear you." Lyra kept looking ahead, smiling, but she somehow managed to talk out of the corner of her snout. "Are you another changeling?"
Alarm bells were going off, things were getting far out of hoof for the project. "Uh, n-n-no…" Twilight spoke as quietly as she could, but she noticed Lyra's ear twitched as she did.
"Good. Let's go to my place, I want to know what is going on here." Lyra promptly pushed forward, her hips jerking from that odd position she loved to recline into the regular pony 'four on the floor'. "Hi there Bon Bon!" Lyra trotted over to her best friend. "Would love to chat, but I need to go home and wait for somepony."
"Did you hear?" Bon Bon, or secretly Sweet Delight, asked. "There are some new ponies in town, Derpy said they looked a little funny."
Lyra laughed. "In this town? They will be friends with everypony in ten minutes flat, you just watch!" She began to trot off toward her home. "Let me know when Pinkie has planned the party!"
"Will do, Lyra." Bon Bon trotted off on her own errands to run.
"New ponies in town?" Twilight risked speaking, but got a sharp 'shh' back from Lyra. She held her silence until the unicorn was inside her own house, having left the door open long enough for Twilight to sneak in as well.
"Drop the disguise, now." Lyra's horn glowed, a little threat in her tone. Both her slight frown and her magic faded when she beheld the alicorn that appeared in her living room. "Twilight?"
"Hi!" Twilight smiled at the changeling. "Now you." She gave a smirk and waited.
"Now me what? Look, if that is the real Twilight Sparkle, prove it, do something a changeling couldn't!" Lyra still looked highly suspicious.
"Uh…" Twilight blinked across the room. When she looked at the unicorn, Lyra was shaking her head. "Oh, that's right, they could probably do that. When we were in school together, we didn't talk much, but then you showed me that place that does milkshakes and we-" Twilight was cut off as she was wrapped in a tight embrace. She hugged the other pony back.
"I was so scared at first, but then… everypony was just acting normal. Like they weren't all changelings." Lyra pulled back, her look much more open. "Is everypony okay? Are they all in pods?"
"No! I mean, yes, everypony is doing fine. I… I'm sorry, Lyra. I was sure I had everything worked out but apparently I forgot one of my best friends. You see, I am running an experiment, all the changelings here don't know they are all changelings, they are feeding each other, learning friendship, and doing it with very little pony interaction at all." Twilight got over her worry about not telling Lyra by engaging science mode. "There are already successes! If you want to talk to a pony, go and see Fluttershy."
The aquamarine unicorn blinked, taking it all in. "Twilight Sparkle, you left me in town with a swarm of changelings?" Lyra stood up on two legs, shoving her forehooves into her hips. "Well, what are you going to do about it? Did you see there is even an undisguised changeling here now? What happens when more arrive…" She trailed off, her eyes going wide.
"The new ponies!" Both exclaimed together, staring at each other with shock.
"There, now it is just us here. The whole hive is empty." Chrysalis settled back on her bed and watched the stallion. They just looked at each other, neither knowing what to say. "Well, this is far less exciting than having an army of hundreds to feed. What do ponies normally do when they are alone together?"
Braeburn's brain went a little haywire. "Uh, well… we could go and see a movie, but that would need to be in Appleloosa-"
"Then let's go!" Chrysalis' wings chirped a little as she flicked them in excitement. "This really was the best plan ever, Twilight Sparkle will take care of my hive and I can finally just relax and have fun!" She trotted to the doorway that led out into the empty hive. "Are you coming?"
The stallion tilted his head to the side and thought about his options, the idea that he could be friends with the Queen Chrysalis was pretty amazing, and the alternatives at the moment seemed to be staying here alone. "At the risk'a sounding like my cuz, eeyup." He trotted off, leaving the dark hive behind him.
"I still don't like this, who will care for the Queen without us there?" Grind looked around Ponyville nervously. "Who should we look like?"
Sever bopped the other drone on the back of the head. "Would you shut up about that, you are going to give us away… Hi!" The last was spoken aloud as an aquamarine unicorn trotted up. "My name is Sev-ven Ten!"
"A bowling pony? We have a bowling alley. My name's Lyra Heartstrings, pleased to meet you!" Lyra knew the Princess was close by, but it was one thing to see an alicorn at your side, and another to hope they were still there. She lifted a hoof, holding it there, awaiting the return clop. Leaning forward, she cupped her hoof up to her cheek conspiratorially. "You are supposed to lift your leg and clop against it, what kind of changelings don't know that?"
"You're a changeling?" Grind all-but yelled. "Oh queen I was so worried we wouldn't be able to blend in, it is so good to know that… that…" Grind looked at the new unicorn and Slice, both staring at him like he had lost his mind. "What?"
"What is the first rule of being a changeling?" Lyra took a stab in the dark, she hoped this would work. If they thought she was a changeling, maybe she could help Twilight.
Grind blinked a few times, then tilted his head. "Wash your fangs after each meal?"
Another bop on the head came from Sever. "Idiot, Grind, it is 'never break character'." He lasted all of two seconds before he looked at Lyra, a worried look on his snout. "Isn't it?"
"At least one of you has some brains. Okay, if anypony asks, you are working for Lyra Heartstrings, got it?" Lyra looked around the two drones and what was likely to be their four flunkies. "So what are you doing here?"
"Hunting!" Grind bounced up and down excitedly, until he got bopped again. "Uh, working for… for Lyra Heartthrob?" Another bop of a hoof connected with his head. "What?"
"Heartstrings, she is Lyra Heartstrings." Sever beamed up at Lyra and the mare felt a pang of disgust with herself for lying to them, followed by shock that she would feel that for changelings.
"Good, and yes, Lyra Heartstrings. So what, did our queen start sending the bottom of the barrel?" Lyra looked between the four quiet drones, not getting any words from them.
"Err, yes." Sever looked down. "Literally. I know I am not the brightest 'ling, but she sent us away, all of us. The hive is empty." His head shot up when he heard a gasp, but all he could see was Lyra's face. "We left her with a pony, for food, at least."
"She sent you all?" Lyra blinked at that and turned to look at the empty air where she was sure Twilight was, based off the gasp the alicorn had given. "Why would she send all the drones… sorry, I was one of the first, they never tell us anything!"
Grind bounced in place, like a filly in class who realizes she knows the right answer to a question. "She said she had won at last, that her whole hive would be well fed, and all she had to do was send them to Twilight Sparkle." Another gasp, this one slightly to the side of Lyra, caught the drone's attention. "Is someling there?"
"'Somepony!'" Lyra stepped forward, looking around nervously. "You can't keep using 'ling-slang out here, you need to blend in, listen more, work out how ponies talk."
Sever blinked and smiled at the obviously much smarter mare. He preened his wings a little. "Yeah, you listen to Lyra here, she is our boss now." And like that he gave up the responsibility that his Queen had given him, but it was in two good causes. He didn't have to worry about being squashed for the stupidity of others. He really liked how smart and clever Lyra was. A pang in the drone made him ask, "What is your real name?"
Lyra blinked a little. "It… it's hard to get out of character, hold on…" She coughed and spluttered. The softest whisper came to her ear. "My name is Gray Sleek!"
"Gray Sleek." Sever felt tingly just saying it. "But of course, your name is Lyra." He smiled, she smiled. He felt even more tingly.
"Muffins, I don't know the password… ugh, something stupid about Shining Armor?" Twilight was in a rush, she had important things to do. "Just let me in!"
"That is the correct password…" Derpy, or Muffins to her friends, gave a confused smile and lowered the spear. "Hi Twil- Bye Twilight…"
Twilight landed in the nice camp, her eyes scanning around. She saw a changeling, Dry Wit smiled when she saw the Princess. "Hi Twilight, anything interesting happen in town?"
Trotting up to the drone Twilight was clearly looking upset. "Lots, but one of particular interest was Lyra Heartstrings-" Twilight was just about to explain when an aquamarine unicorn walked up to the pair.
"What's up Twilight?" Second Skin was smarter than his kin, when the other drones were taking over the town he slipped out with the ponies, leaving the real Lyra behind. "Anything I can-"
Twilight had the disguised changeling wrapped in a bubble of force. "Exactly who I wanted to see. Drop your disguise." She blinked when the changeling did just as asked. "Uh… what are you doing here?" Trapped in the bubble, Second shook his head and spoke, keeping his voice low so the shield muffled it. "I can't hear you!" Twilight yelled back at him. He spoke a few more nonsense phrases in a whisper before the bubble popped. "Okay, now, tell me what you are doing!"
"My name is Second Skin, I identified a target I could infiltrate as and took over from one Lyra Heartstrings, leaving her behind in your experiment while I could relax out here and not have to worry." Second closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "It feels really good to be able to just say it, to not lie."
"He's sincere." Dry didn't take her eyes off the other drone. "But he is a changeling, don't trust him."
"What? But you are a changeling too!" Seconds pointed a hoof at Dry. "Why should she trust you any more than me?" The words felt right to say and, lately, Second had found doing so much better than just lying.
Twilight spoke up before Dry could. "Because I trust her, my friends trust her." She looked at Second. "Why should I trust you in any way?"
"Because the hive sucks, living in your little pet ant colony seemed like an even worse idea, and here I have all the love I can drink, so long as I do some work. Being a pony is a pretty sweet deal."
Feeling stern and resolute for a few more seconds, Twilight suddenly trembled in surprise. "Oh, this can be perfect!" Stacks of paper started appearing around her as her magic was lashing out to get things. "If you stay here, you can be our control group!" Both changelings stared at Twilight with awe, delight, and soon, satiation. Both nodded. "So, first thing, baseline, how do you feel about ponies?"
Second smiled wide, his insides tingling, his belly feeling full. Still, he drank. "I love them!" He dropped his haunches down, grinning. "Yup, particularly when they taste this good!"
Dry couldn't fight it, an alicorn in her element was just about the most potent form of love in Equestria. She slumped down beside Second. "I second that!"
"I'll just check my mail…" Braeburn was in a moral quandary. Chrysalis seemed quite nice once she didn't have a swarm of changelings to feed, and quite curious about all the things that existed in Equestria. But she was Queen bucking Chrysalis. THE Queen Chrysalis. She had invaded Canterlot. She had disrupted the royal wedding and… she seemed nice.
Trotting to his front door Braeburn opened it and found a stack of mail waiting for him inside. "Bill, bill, AmNeigh? What is that?" He was halfway through opening it when he found one that looked like it had been there a few days, and it smelled of apples. "Applejack!" He beamed at the thought of his famous cousin, ripping it open to find out it really was from her. "Rodeo? Coming to visit…"
The floor seemed to drop out of Braeburn's world—if Applejack brought her friends to visit they would totally find out that Chrysalis was here. He read on and breathed a sigh of relief when it mentioned nothing about bringing her friends. "Oh, little Bloom is coming, that'll be…" The world was against him, where Apple Bloom went, her friends went. And the letter clearly said he was going to be taking care of them.
Turning around, the stallion felt defeat sneaking up on his fun plans. "You don't taste so nice anymore, why?" Chrysalis, disguised as a very leggy unicorn, blinked at Braeburn. "Do you require more nutrients?"
"My cousins are coming to visit and I don't… what day is it?" Braeburn picked back up his mail and shuffled through the bills, finding the latest post-mark; if there was one thing you could rely on, it was bills being delivered fast. "The rodeo is today!"
"What is a rodeo? And stop that, your mood is itchy." Chrysalis lifted a hoof to rub her cheek. "I can help if you wish? Just a little something to calm you down…" The changeling queen trailed off, her eyes starting to glow green.
"No!" Braeburn looked away; many were the stories of how she had completely brainwashed Shining Armor with her eyes. "You don't understand, they are family, I gotta take care of them and-" Braeburn stopped. The magic glow had gone out of Chrysalis' eyes, she had half slumped in place. "You do know?"
"I have over two hundred children. I invaded Princess bucking Celestia's home city, her very castle, just to try to feed them all." Chrysalis half smiled. "I had to send them all away, for their own good." The big mare stepped forward, plucking the letter from Braeburn's hooves. "So yes, I understand how family are important, more important than queens and princesses."
It made entirely too much sense. "I guess you do." Braeburn was thinking on the invasion, on everything he knew—which wasn't much. "Okay, but I still want to get to know you better." The moment he said it the stallion blushed. The mare at his side was pretty, but he found himself remembering Chrysalis as Chrysalis.
"There, you taste much nicer now. Very well, from what I understand of pony culture this would be called a 'first date' and you, of course, have to pay." Chryssi gave a nod. "But I get to pick and I pick a movie."
"And lunch." Braeburn recovered from his shock at, apparently, being asked out on a date by Chrysalis. "Actually, lunch first, then a movie, then we have dinner."
"Already ate." Chrysalis booped Braeburn on the nose. "So, what is the issue with your family? They need taking care of?"
"Kinda, Applejack has-" Brae didn't get any further.
"Applejack? The bearer of the Element of Honesty?" Chrysalis shot to the door, lifting the letter flap to peek outside. "She is coming here?"
"Well, yeah. She is bringing my other cousin, Apple Bloom, and her friends. They are young fillies and have a tendency… more a duty, to get into as much trouble as possible." Braeburn picked up the letter Chrysalis had dropped when she raced back to the door.
"They could look after themselves?" Chrysalis gave up her watch post and turned to see Brae nodding. "Then you can keep an eye on them every now and again, make sure they aren't in huge trouble. If you want I will even mark them so if anything happens you can track them down. I lost three clutches of drones before I worked that trick out."
Braeburn couldn't help but snort at that. "I guess that would work, AJ is going to expect me to really watch them."
"Tell her you have a date?" Chrysalis batted her eyelashes, Braeburn had to admit they were at least classically pretty; but he shook his head. "What about if you were injured?" Chrysalis grinned, more than enough to have Braeburn take a step back. "I am joking! I mean, what if you told her you were injured?"
"Applejack?"
"Yeah."
"Miss Honest mare of the Year for her whole life running?" Braeburn had reached the point where he felt he needed to inject drollness into his voice, and did so with liberal abandon.
"Good point. What if I helped?" Chrysalis reached a hoof up and tapped her eyes. "Just a little bit, I promise, nothing more."
It was both frightening and a little exciting. It would get Brae out of his little problem of being double booked. "You sure? Just make me think… I dunno, my leg is lame?"
"Would that be enough?" Chrysalis' eyes traced down the stallion's front legs, he certainly looked solid. "What am I saying, of course it would be. Little ones run and run and if you can't keep up, next thing you know there is slime all over the hive."
"I am sure if Apple Bloom could make slime, Ponyville will have drowned by now." Braeburn took a deep breath. "Okay, let's do it before I chicken out." A hoof pressed under Braeburn's chin, tilting his head up. He blushed hotly, it was almost as if Chrysalis was going to kiss him. Then he saw a whole mess of green and gulped.
"Not much, just a little and…" Chrysalis blinked, drawing her magic back from the stallion. "How do you feel Brae?"
"My leg hurts…" Braeburn looked down at his foreleg, he had pulled it up. "I mean, it really feels like it hurts but then, it doesn't feel like it is broken, or strained, or anything."
"A 'thank you' would suffice." Chrysalis beamed and got a single-legged hug from the stallion. "Now, let's get something appropriate to make it really look sore, then you can find out when your cousins will arrive." Chrysalis looked around for anything obvious. "A sling? Maybe some bandages?"
"I have bandages!" Braeburn hobbled through to the kitchen of his house, pulling out the first-aid kit. "Here, we could- Whoa!" The bandage rolls floated away from the kit in green-glowing magic. One begun to unwind and approach him. "Not too tight."
"Ah can't keep y'all around here with no outlaw on the loose!" Straight Wing was torn, she didn't want her sister to get hurt, or her sister's friends; but at the same time it would ruin the little holiday they had been so looking forward to.
Chrysalis couldn't blink, she couldn't twitch. She was disguised as a large wardrobe, but even with such a disguise—thanks to changeling magic—she could see and hear what was going on. Like her "date" slowly succumbing to the tiredness of their journey to reach Appleloosa.
It was astounding, she had never seen three little ones so content to play a long waiting game, she had to admire them. Braeburn finally lost his struggle with sleep and, as the fillies climbed out the window, Chrysalis put her mark on them, magically.
Green fire coiled and burned away the disguise. "Braeburn?" Chrysalis stepped over to the stallion who had done his best to go through with the date. "Braeburn? The grubs got loose."
"Huh? What?" Braeburn snapped out of his dream to see the changeling queen, in all her dark glory, standing over him. "What? I can't let them get away!"
"I can find them." Chrysalis beamed, showing a little fang. "So let's go and track them down." She hoped to salvage something out of the day. Traipsing around in the woods, alone with a cute stallion. Just then, Braeburn threw the door open and bolted out. Into the rain. "He better be a good kisser." Chrysalis sighed and summoned her disguise again, stepping out into the wet night.
Braeburn had to fess-up to Applejack, it wasn't right to lie to kin and he felt bad about lying about his leg, still. As his hooves pounded in the mud, chasing the orange mare's form, he was joined by a very sad-looking unicorn. "Sorry about this, Chry-" Brae froze, knowing he dared not use Chrysalis' full name in front of Applejack. "Uh, Christine!"
"Clever boy." Chrysalis hated the rain, it dissolved her goo almost as quick as she made it, it got into your mane and chilled you. It was ten times worse when disguised, though. "Tell the sheriff I can track them down, it shouldn't take long."
Chrysalis was shocked when she got the kiss. It was wet, thanks to the rain, but it was accompanied by a swelling of affection she could taste. "Thank you. You were right, kin are important."
"Of course I was right, now let's find those fillies of yours." Chrysalis felt pride and a sense of justification in her actions she hadn't had for a long time. Protecting Braeburn's kin felt almost as if she were protecting her own drones.
Chrysalis clopped her yellow hooves together and leaned in beside Braeburn. She had used a different disguise today, one a little more suited to Appleloosa. Yellow fur and a bright green mane, she was one of the prettiest earth ponies at the rodeo and loved the looks she got. But she had, more and more, forgotten to even gloat in them. "Woo! Go Applejack!" Too carried away, but she didn't care, she cheered on Braeburn's cousin enthusiastically.
"You did it!" Braeburn whooped and yelled when he saw his cousin's team had beaten all the out-of-towners. "Wooo!" From the corner of his eye he saw the dark queen of the changelings, apparently enjoying the events every bit as much as he did. "Sorry about the movie, Christine…"
Surprising even herself, Chrysalis shook her head. "It's okay Brae, family is more important, we both know that." She lifted a hoof to put it around his back and maybe get a little closer when a stray hay bale came flying out of the air and landed on Brae. Chrysalis started giggling, her eyes shifting back to events. A rodeo clown was doing the most amazingly uncoordinated things.
Everypony seemed to stop and start accusing the poor clown. "Well that isn't nice, they were laughing a moment ago, what has gotten into them?" Chrysalis flinched a little when a pitchfork and a torch appeared. Why did it always have to be torches and pitchforks with ponies?
"It's Troubleshoes, he… well… he seems to bring bad luck everywhere he goes." Braeburn pointed at the stallion. He has ruined every rodeo this year."
"Ruined? But, he was hilarious." Chrysalis pointed a hoof to where, far below, the stallion, Applejack, the adorable little fillies, and some of the crowd were talking things out. "Besides, look, it will all be better in a few minutes. Honestly, why you ponies don't resort to discussing problems first I don't know."
Shucking his way out of the bale of hay, Braeburn shrugged. "Well, mostly we do, it is only when some big villain comes our way that we tend to herd up and lash out." He poked Chrysalis in the shoulder. "Like somepony I know."
"Not so much of a big villain anymore, my drones are all miles and miles away." Chrysalis looked down at Applejack and the fillies, the latter getting a good talking to and starting to work at cleaning up the mess Troubleshoes made.
"No they're not." Braeburn reached a hoof over. "They're here." He poked Chrysalis just below her neck, approximately where her heart would be. "Come on, I bet the movie theater is still open. You should totally tell me about your little ones."
Twilight was scribbling as fast as she could. She was hiding, hanging off the back of the stand right behind Braeburn and the changeling Queen; invisible of course. With the target of her studies leaving, the alicorn couldn't help but giggle with nervous energy. "This is going so much better than I planned. Friendship is magic!"
"Why did you put so many onions in this?" Sharp Mind chewed away at the "rock stew" Spike had made. She suddenly had to stop and coughed, producing an emerald. "Spike! This isn't rock stew at all, you used gems!"
"Maybe a few, I thought I got them all…" It hadn't been easy for Smooth Horn to "fit" with the Spike way of life, but once she had really embraced the ideals of her guise, it had become easier. "Are you going to eat that… oh no, not with the onion-" He burped, once, twice, and then tilted his head back and let out a gout of flame and expelled a scroll. "I thought we asked not to send things during meal-times?"
Sharp caught the scroll as it flipped through the air.
"And you are going to go ahead with the gala?" Twilight Sparkle blinked at Celestia. A dozen scrolls materialized around her and she started trying to find what she was after. "I just don't know if Sharp is ready for that. What are you going to have her do?" Twilight found the one she was after, reading her notes on Sharp Mind.
"But I have to have my gala." Celestia closed her eyes as she said the words, deeply regretting that she had even started the gala all those years ago. "Besides, I think having a changeling organize it will make it a lot more fun." She suddenly imagined sharing a dance with Chrysalis while all the snooty "no fun" ponies were trapped in pods. Princess Celestia started to smile.
"Organize it? If she is doing things properly she will… well, do a very good job." Twilight reread her notes. "But I suggest against having Smooth Horn along… Spike that is."
Princess Celestia pondered that. "But it would look wrong if I just said not to bring him… what about if we sent Spike on an important mission to the Crystal Empire?" Sending a changeling to deliver something to Cadance. This could be an even better gala than last year's.
"Where are you sending me?" Spike wandered into the little house that had become his recent home. He was, of course, munching on a gemstone.
"Not you, Spike, changeling-Spike." Twilight was terrified, she was delighted. Could this work? Of course it would work!
"You know I am a changeling, right… uh…" Easy Glide was sitting in a tree on the edge of town, with the town's local "friendly changeling" sitting at the foot of the tree.
"Kevin." Kevin looked up, he had done it, he had remembered his disguise name! Now if only he could actually pull off the disguise. "And yup!"
"I hated this at first. She has a stupid pet, stupid friends, lives in a stupid house… it is nothing like being back in the hive." Easy gave a deep sigh. "But Fluttershy really seems to care, Tank is… well, he is asleep now, but he is pretty cool in his own way."
"Your friends aren't all stupid." Kevin tilted his head back, looking up into the branches of the winter-whited tree.
"That's the thing, they really aren't. I thought this town was full of caricatures, ponies pretending to be what they weren't." Easy stretched her blue wings and flicked the rainbow-colored mane she sported to one side. "But Twi is actually pretty cool, figured she was just another egg-head."
"You like living here?" Kevin remembered what the Princess… the real Princess, had said. "I like it. No queen telling me what to do… not that Queen Chrysalis even told me what to do, she told other changelings to do things and they told me what to do."
Easy poked her head down, looking at the changeling. "That… I can see why you would like it here. And don't worry, I think I have convinced nearly everypony that you are no harm. I liked the hive… a little. It was good to have a place and not have to worry about something pushing you from it. Here… I work every day to be me…" Easy froze at that thought. She wasn't even her here, she was Rainbow dash. Not that that wasn't pretty cool.
"You weren't very nice when I first met you." Kevin looked up at the mare above him. Anew he marveled at her disguise. "You were nice to me, but other ponies…"
"I was a bit horrible, wasn't I?" Easy shook her head. "I think I realized what did it. Everypony here actually cares about me, not just the role I fit into. I don't have a role in this town-hive, but it is okay, ponies don't like me for what I am, they like me for who I am." The words tumbled from Easy's snout, she stopped talking and just stared away into nothing.
"I like it when ponies like me, they taste nicer and seem more friendly." Kevin started to inspect a hole in his hoof, blowing into and across it.
The words were so simple, they were things any filly or colt learned while growing up. For Easy, however, noling had taught them to her, but she liked to think she was slowly picking them up. A soft, moaning melody started to rise in the air, it haunted and bounced through the wind. Easy looked down and saw the most astounding thing. Kevin was literally blowing a tune out on the holes in his foreleg, like some odd set of pan-pipes.
Easy kept her snout shut, closing her eyes and focusing on the seed of an idea the other changeling had planted in her. And the music. The haunting and happy music. Maybe my hive is just the ponies I make friends with?
Sharp got off the train and turned to wave to spike. It wasn't because it was expected, but she just felt a little alone without him. "Bye Spike!" A small shiver ran down her spine. "Better you than me in the Crystal Empire…"
Turning as the train pulled back out, Sharp Mind looked up at the huge castle and shivered. She had been here before, and last time… hadn't been so fun. Putting one hoof in front of the other, the disguised changeling made her way through the streets and toward the center of Equestria.
"Twilight!" A unicorn mare bounced up and halted beside Sharp. "Don't tell me you forgot all about me?" Minuette giggled. "Remember, from school? Minuette!"
"Oh!" Sharp moved to give the other mare a hug, it feels like a hugging situation, and got it returned.
"What are you here for? 'Princess things'?" Minuette felt something was a little off about Twilight, but wasn't quite sure what. "You look a little pale, are you alright?"
"Uh, sure! Sure I am, err, Minuette!" Sharp looked around for an exit, realized she was outside and beside the castle. "I really should go, Princess Celestia sent me a letter requesting my help!"
Minuette blinked at the rapid-fire explanation and the fact that Twilight had almost vanished in a puff of pony-shaped cloud. "Huh, guess she is okay… same ol' Twilight Sparkle!"
Sharp panted, she had panicked and just run from the unicorn that likely, even now, was contacting the royal guard. She trembled a little in fear before she heard hooves, heavy hooves, approaching from behind. "Twilight Sparkle." Sharp Mind knew the voice, she had heard it when they invaded.
"Yes, Your Highness?" Sharp turned to look at a smiling Princess Celestia. "You sent me a letter?"
Celestia smiled. The drone was doing an excellent job. If it were the real Twilight she likely would have had a panic attack by now. "As you know, the Grand Galloping Gala is next week and I thought, 'Who better to organize it than the best organizer in all Equestria?' " The eye that Sharp could see twinkled with mirth, the alicorn clearly finding something delightful in all this.
"M-M-Me?" Sharp almost let go of her disguise in panic. Ruffling the feathered wings on her back, the changeling inhaled deeply and dipped her head. "Of course I will, Princess Celestia." She almost had to jump back when Celestia lifted both forelegs and clopped them together.
"That's wonderful, Twilight." Celestia approved of the drone's initiative and presence, if she was half as good at organizing a gala as Twilight would be, this would be great. If she were terrible at it, it would be even better. Celestia had to keep from snorting at her own joke. "So, first thing we need is a guest-list."
Sharp had been training herself to be Twilight Sparkle. She had driven her changeling senses to their limit to embrace the alicorn and not just emulate, but really feel her every emotion. A scroll appeared in a flash of magic, Sharp beaming in delight. A quill was just as quick to appear and started scribing a title for the list. "Ready!"
Smiling, Celestia began to read off ponies she knew would expect to be invited. While reciting the list, she kept watching the drone, smiling at the enthusiasm they showed for taking down a list, for getting to do her job. She didn't even realize she had stopped talking and just sighed.
"Your Highness?" Sharp looked at the melancholy expression on Princess Celestia. "Is something the matter?"
"Just remembering an old foe that I really wish hadn't been. Where was I?" Celestia had read the report Twilight had written, about Chrysalis. She had packed it up and sent it on to her niece. Cadance had some issues to work out with Chrysalis, and hopefully hearing such an honest account of the changeling's life might help.
"You were… Fluttershy." Sharp looked down the list and smiled. "I wonder who she will bring, probably Discord?"
Something tickled Celestia in just the right way, it was one of the little jolts of premonition she sometimes got. "No, add Discord to the list, make sure he gets a 'Plus One' ticket."
Sharp was pulled up short by the insistence. "But Discord is… he will likely…" She looked up at the beaming white alicorn. She wanted to press, wanted to ask what Princess Celestia was thinking. "Yes, Your Highness."
"She is doing admirably. Remind me when this is over, to offer her a job." Celestia was relaxing, sipping some tea with a little tray of cakes.
"You would hire… well, of course when it is over she will be more pony, but still, a changeling?" Twilight was incredulous at the thought of it. "I thought you said she was too meek?"
Celestia levitated a little plate of cake over to her former student, taking another for herself. "She is only that way because she is a lone changeling infiltrating Canterlot Castle and having to deal, daily, with 'Princess Celestia'." Using a dainty fork, Celestia fetched some cheesecake into her mouth. "This really is amazing, Twilight."
Twilight's snout was open, she was staring at Celestia in amazement. "I… I know, when Princess Luna told me Gray had been ready-"
"No, Twilight." Celestia giggled. "I mean the cake."
Realizing she was the butt of a little joke, Twilight decided to at least test her mentor's theory. She tried some cake and sighed. "Oh… wow…"
"See!" Celestia ruffled her wings and shifted in place. "And you know who made it? Who spent the time to make the most perfect cheesecake I have ever tasted?"
Trying to keep up with Celestia's mental bounds, Twilight had a guess, "A changeling?"
"What? No. It was a young pony who had thought himself useless. He is now my head pastry chef. He had been a farm worker, thought his cutie mark had been a cart-wheel." Celestia devoured the next mouthful slowly, letting the sweet desert dissolve slowly. "His fate was stolen from him with the misinterpretation of his cutie mark. From your notes, and with a little digging, I see there was another filly out there who thought her destiny was to defend her family and fight for them."
"Chrysalis?" Twilight hoped she had gotten it right this time.
"Yes, Chrysalis. Hearing of her affection for a pony, her confiding in him and even helping him, it is a very different side of the queen that attacked Canterlot." Celestia sucked another load of cake off her fork, letting it dissolve slowly on her tongue.
"Your Highness?" A masculine voice belonging to a royal guard intruded on Twilight and Celestia's tea. "Princess Twilight is here to see you."
Celestia looked to Twilight. "Is she ready to be outed?" Twilight shook her head as she cast the vanishing spell. The plate of cake and her cup were gone a moment later as she pulled those into the shadows that eyes couldn't see. "Guard? Let her in." Celestia smiled.
Chrysalis practically bounced. She was helping Braeburn herd some cows into a new pasture and, just as she thought "what the heck am I doing?" she caught sight of the stallion and felt warmth flood her. It wasn't just the tingle of love he felt at seeing her, even in her disguise, but the love he felt for life. "Wooo! That way!" She bounced for real now, grabbing the hat Brae had given her in her teeth to get their attention.
"That's it Chryssi!" Braeburn whooped and cantered along behind the cows. "Move it ya varmints! This paddock needs a rest." He wove along behind the cows until he met up with Chrysalis, the pair of them pulling the gate shut. "Phew, that was some good work, Chryssi." He leaned in and stole a kiss from the changeling queen's cheek.
The kiss came with a spark of love that made Chrysalis blush more than the close attention. "Anything else to do today?" She tossed her hat back on her head then looked up, trying to judge how late in the day it was. Almost evening.
"Nope, I expected that to take a lot longer than it did, you are such a big help." Braeburn pointed to the homestead. "Let's get cleaned up, we have the night to ourselves. I heard there was a new movie at the cinema."
Real joy poured through Chrysalis, she set her hooves to a trot and was matched by Brae. "Is that the one with the monster attacking Canterlot?"
"Eeyup!" Brae grinned wide.
"Ah, I really want to see that, I still wonder what will have happened if I had won… I don't think I would have been happy." Chrysalis took a deep breath and let it out. Oddly, she was happy. Her foals were all being taken care of, she knew for a fact once Princess Twilight Sparkle took on a job she would not fail at it. It was freedom to just… be.
"Then Ah think we will!" Brae's voice strayed into a little more drawl than usual as they reached the house. It took the pair no time at all to get all cleaned up after their work and be ready for an evening together. Dinner was at the saloon, in the back area where they had some dining tables. "You enjoy eating?"
"Of course!" Chrysalis surprised even herself with the happiness with which she said it. "I mean, if I had to eat real food alone it would be a lot less fun, I-" She halted as a waitress walked past. Waiting until the mare was gone, she stuck her tongue out at Brae's knowing grin. "You know how it would go if I dropped this," she gestured to herself, "first there would be screaming, then fainting… I like it when ponies are happy…" Totally just for the food reason, yeah...
"Well, why don't you try?" Braeburn gave the mare a grin. "Ah'm willing to bet you that… okay, there might be a little screaming at first, but if you don't make with the hissing and stuffing ponies into pods, it would all be fine."
"Tomorrow, but if I get chased out of town, you have to come with me." Chrysalis picked up her drink and sipped at it. She could have fed on the happiness around her, but she just didn't need to. Without the urge to lay eggs, and without a whole hive to feed, she was just one changeling. One full changeling.
"Ah'll hold you to it." Braeburn gulped down the last of his oat-cake, smothered in hot-sauce. "You'll see, it is all about how you treat folks that matters. A pony is just a pony." The taste of loyalty and love soothed any harshness Brae's words inspired. "What time is that movie?"
"When I am done, I will tell you." Chrysalis chewed delicately at the oat cake in her mouth. She grinned at Brae around it, before swallowing. The little game was a fun one and she loved watching him squirm a bit. "Okay, we have nearly twenty minutes. Relax, Brae."
With the stallion more relaxed she was able to finish her meal, not realizing how good it felt to just do "normal" pony things. At last, they got up and made their way next door to the cinema. " 'It Came from Across the Sea' Well, at least it wasn't from the Badlands." Braeburn was looking up at the title above the entrance. "Come on, I bet it will be scary."
"The queen of the changelings does not get scared." Chrysalis trotted in beside Braeburn. Of course Brae paid for the tickets, Chrysalis might be a queen, but that didn't mean she was made of bits, or had any at all. "Besides, I bet they do it all wrong."
"What do you mean?" Braeburn led the way in, buying up a big tub of popcorn and a soda.
"Well, it isn't easy planning to attack Canterlot. I thought about using the crystal caves under it, but there was only one exit to those and it would be a huge choke-point. Then there is all the unicorns. Have you any clue how surprised I was-"
"Tickets!" At the call of the nearby stallion, Chrysalis snapped her mouth closed.
"Here you are." Braeburn couldn't keep the grin off his face, honestly, hearing her talk about planning and such reassured him rather than scared him. She wasn't stupid, she had planned and had an army, but had been beaten. He made sure to squeeze in next to her as they walked past the ticket booth.
"It was Shining Armor and Cadance in the end. I had even planned for the six ponies of Ponyville… although my intelligence had missed out that Shining was Twilight's brother. Who would have seen that one coming?" Chrysalis turned into the correct room and saw there were a few ponies scattered among the seats. "Okay, at the back."
"The back?" Braeburn's eyes widened, but he didn't argue. Trotting along after the green tail in the dark room, he followed Chrysalis until she was right at the back row, then along to the middle of it. "Wow, I gotta admit, these are perfect seats."
"Shh!" A pony from the front of the room seemed to be enjoying the pre-roll.
"We are going to have to whisper." Chrysalis grinned and leaned across the leg-rests on the seats to be closer. "So, yeah, I really want to see what they did wrong."
"So you can try again?" Braeburn couldn't help but giggle.
"What? Buck no!" Chrysalis actually felt a slight chill at the words. "But it will be fun to poke holes in the-"
"SHH!"
Both Brae and Chrysalis giggled as they settled in to watch the movie.
"Lists, lists are my saviors!" Sharp would have dived into her lists, if there was more than four of them. "Now, I have everypony invited, custom invites sent, with priorities for those in outlying towns." Sharp picked up the "main list" and ticked off invitation. "Now, the catering is organized." Another tick. "And that leaves decorations and music."
A gentle knocking at the door stole the drone's attention from the lists. Quickly double checking she was in disguise, Sharp called for them to come in. The door opened and, sure enough, it was Celestia. "Twilight." The alicorn princess greeted Sharp. It was harder to look at her and see the dread princess of Canterlot. She is nice.
"Princess Celestia." Sharp couldn't help but smile, the princess was leaking affection for her, but only a little. It was more than enough for a 'ling to live off. "I have all the invitations done, and the catering sorted!" She almost squealed when Celestia's horn lit and a huge white wing reached forward.
"That is wonderful news, Twilight." Celestia saw the panic at first, but then the changeling relaxed and actually leaned into the white, feathery embrace. "So what is left?" She knew all about Sharp's discovery of Twilight's "list system", mainly from Twilight herself.
"I need to organize some ponies to help with the decorations, the decorations themselves. As well as getting some music." Sharp looked down the main list. She quickly reached out for the sub-list and held that up in her magic. "We need streamers, balloons, some nice fancy things…" She felt a glow of extra love and looked up at Celestia. A sudden worry hit Sharp that Celestia knew and would reveal it all at the gala.
"There will be a cake?" Celestia's eyes danced and then widened. "Oh, you passed out? Twilight?"
"I don't know, what happened?" Twilight stepped from the cover of her invisibility spell, stepping over and gently poking her doppelganger. A fizzle of green flame later and the changeling was revealed. "This could be-"
"Princess?" Sharp lifted her head and looked up, seeing Celestia first. She smiled. Then she spotted the other princess. "T-T-Twilight…" She peeked, quickly as a drone does, to make sure her disguise was up. "Icanexplainpleasedon'tsquishme!"
"Well, bother." Twilight inhaled deeply. "She isn't ready." She looked up to Celestia, who had taken the time to reach her wing back out to support the changeling; and stop her from making a run for the door.
"I think she is. She was the last in, wasn't she?" Celestia looked directly at Sharp, examining her. "What do you think, Sharp Mind, are you a pony?"
The question took up all of Sharp's thoughts. Was she? She liked doing things like managing stuff, but that was also a changeling trait. Something jumped out from the back of her mind. "I need to meet with the caterers!" It might have been a little of Twilight's own manic nature, but Sharp couldn't rely on that, a pony's mindset should fade the moment a changeling's disguise did. She pulled up her fire and became a perfect copy of Twilight Sparkle again. Then froze.
"Told you." Celestia turned to her student, looking Princess Twilight right in her astonished eyes.
"I need to document this…" Twilight's magic flashed and her notebook devoted to Sharp appeared. Two quills. Princess Celestia started giggling, watching both the mares grabbing up supplies.
"Sharp, please keep taking care of my gala plans, as you can see my normal organizer is busy." Celestia curled her wing, urging the changeling up and out of the room. "Now, who is it you have an appointment with?"
It was crazy, it was mad. Sharp stood beside Princess Celestia, watching over the Grand Galloping Gala. She was an imposter, a changeling hidden as the Princess' peer. But nopony noticed, the only ones who knew didn't care. Even Twilight Sparkle herself seemed more interested in asking her questions than actually fighting her, locking her up… or even just telling her friends about Sharp.
"How did I get caught up in this?" Sharp's words didn't surprise Celestia, but it did make her cock an eye at the disguised changeling. "Why aren't you blasting me?"
"Because you are a good pony. Look at this party you organized. It will make a lot of ponies happy." Celestia gestured with a wing. "You made this happen… it might need a little livening up, but that isn't your fault and it certainly is in progress."
Sharp turned to the princess. "What do you mean?" She was getting a bit confused. "I thought you wanted a stately and sober party?"
"No, Sharp Mind, I wanted a fun party, with Pinkie Pie dancing in the fountain, with Rarity hiking up her amazing dress to dance. But it will come. You see, the Gala is required by the gentry," Celestia gestured with the wing toward a large group of ponies on one side of the room, "they need events they can claim to have been personally invited to-"
"But I invited them, not you!" Sharp had to keep her voice down, lest anypony hear the little argument.
"They don't know that, and even if they did, then it would be 'Oh, the Princess of Friendship herself invited me…'." Celestia grinned at Sharp. "Oh, here comes Discord."
Smooth Horn slumped into the soft couch in his bedroom. "Without Twilight around I can relax." It was about the tenth time he had said it, he was firmly of the opinion at this stage that it had to be the truth because he had said it so much. So why do I miss her?
It wasn't like the Crystal Empire had needed him, he wasn't even sure what happened with that. "I turned up, nopony knew I was coming…" Smooth's thoughts floated back to when the ponies had seen him. He had almost passed out drunk at all the love. "Nice place though."
Looking around, he spotted an odd sight. "What are all these dice and things?" Bouncing up from the couch, Smooth reached up with his little arms. "Cool, and what is this? Ogres and Oubliettes?" He carried the book back to the couch and settled in.
When a wave of "Smooze" poured through the hall, messing with magic and fashion both, Twilight Sparkle was panicking at first, but apparently the goop didn't tear away changelings disguises. She watched as events unfolded, as her doppelganger tried to handle things in a very—at least to Twilight—competent manner.
It was a surprise when Tree Hugger, Fluttershy's friend, saved the day. Twilight got so distracted focusing on the strange mare that she had missed some words that Sharp and Celestia were sharing. The mare was new to Ponyville, which meant that she was actually a pony. Twilight was about to cast a spell to inspect the "chakra" that Tree kept talking about, when she remembered she was invisible and maybe it would be better done another time.
"All your friends are pretty wild, like, their auras are really troubled." Tree looked around the big gala hall, her relaxed gaze taking in all of Fluttershy's "friends"—that all happened to be changelings. "Your Princess-friend is way on edge and needs to relax more." Tree looked up at Sharp.
Not a dishonest bone—muscle, or any other part—in her body, Fluttershy blushed a little as she looked around at the changelings. "Twilight" was acting quite manically, but that was normal. She focused on each of the other changelings. Applejack seemed almost completely natural, as did Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy couldn't help but give a giggle at considering her most random of friends to be acting normal. Rainbow Dash was still a little troubling, but-
Tree watched Fluttershy, taking in the mare's almost meditative nature. When the pegasus spun on her, Tree smiled wider. "You find what you were looking for? They need to totally relax their chakra and just be themselves."
Fluttershy looked around suddenly. "Did you just hear giggling?" Tree seemed completely oblivious to any sounds at all from possibly invisible alicorns.
"So are ya going to do it tonight?" Braeburn raised an eyebrow at Chrysalis. "Are ya goin' to see if anypony goes crazy if ya turn into yourself?" They were on their way to the third… or maybe it was fourth, date.
Chrysalis tilted her head back and looked up. Daytime was slowly surrendering to night, Princess Luna would soon take over guarding the sky. "Do I really have to? I like this," she gestured with a hoof at the town, finally pointing at Brae, "I like us. If I reveal myself-"
"Hi Chrysalis!" Twilight Sparkle was right before the pair, smiling brightly, holding a clip-board. "Sorry to interrupt, but I have some extra changelings from your hive and I am not sure what to do with them."
For the disguised changeling, nothing could have shocked her more. Her form quickly crackled with fire and braced a shield waiting for the Princess' first attack. Then her memory clicked. "Extra?" Chrysalis blinked at Twilight and dropped her shield. "What do you mean, extra?"
Twilight practically bounced in place. "Oh, I guess you wouldn't know. Okay, so, I noticed you were sending your drones to Ponyville, I assume to spy?" Twilight got a nod from the changeling queen. "Okay, so when they took the place of ponies in town, I got an idea. Princess Celestia helped with the spell and we put a block on them, severing their ability to sense you-"
"And mine to sense them." Chrysalis blinked, a few little blocks settling into place. "And then you tortured them to find out everything they knew about my hive?"
"What? No! We… am I interrupting something?" Twilight blinked between Braeburn and Chrysalis.
"Dinner." Braeburn was a little shocked, but managed to get the word out. Ponies were looking at the gathering, but it was understandable with Princess Twilight Sparkle here. "Uh, you are welcome to join us, I guess?"
At first, Chrysalis hated the idea. At second, her opinion didn't change. But she really wanted to know where her drones were and how they were doing. "I guess we can put our date off until later."
Twilight blushed, but certainly wouldn't turn down the chance to explain her plan to a whole new audience. Besides, she had questions to ask Chrysalis. "If you don't mind, I would love to take you up on that. Now, those first were the earliest step. We had to spirit the real ponies away, make a place for the drones to settle in."
Chrysalis heard something in Twilight's voice that nopony had ever felt for her little ones before. Compassion. "What about Easy Glide? He never got on well with anyling."
"Easy Glide disguised as Rainbow Dash, and while it seemed a poor fit at first, she is taking to the role well now. Why, just a few days ago she and Scootaloo… uh, Black Terror, had this great moment where they were… I am getting distracted."
"You think?" Chrysalis wore a smile, however. There was no love greater than that a mother has for a foal that doesn't make friends easily. "Hold on to the rest until we are having dinner or you are going to fill me up before we are even seated."
Twilight giggled at the idea, having spent some time with changelings now she knew their consumption of love and happiness to be mostly harmless. Unless they were specifically trying to drain a pony, the pony felt nothing from the consumption. Together the three made haste to the restaurant and were soon seated.
Chrysalis couldn't hold it back anymore. "How are my foals doing? Are any hurt? Are they getting enough to eat? Where… you are going to tell me in detail, aren't you?" Twilight nodded enthusiastically. "Okay, go ahead."
First, Twilight slipped a piece of paper over to Chrysalis. "This is the names and the disguises each of your drones is wearing. This one," Twilight poked at Dry Wit, "has completely passed and gained citizenship. She is living with the other ponies at the hidden town."
"Hidden… citizenship… What exactly are you up to with my foals?" Chrysalis reached and tasted, but she found no malice, no anger. It made things more confusing, not less.
"I am helping them teach each other friendship. Every pony in Ponyville got replaced in the end… well, except Lyra, that was an anomaly. The whole town of changelings are ponies… except Kevin."
Chrysalis quickly went through the list and found "Kevin". "Neat Pile…" Chrysalis felt her heart tug at her. "If you hurt one little piece of his chitin… you didn't though, did you." It certainly wasn't a question, something about Twilight Sparkle was rubbing off as being the type of pony that couldn't hurt another. "What is he doing? How is he fitting in?"
"There is a whole town full of changelings, none of them aware of each other, and one lone drone who can't shift." Twilight gave Chrysalis a significant look. "Every single drone in town treats him well, each of them trying to convince the others that he is no harm. To put it bluntly, everyling loves him to bits."
The knot in Chrysalis' stomach let go and she relaxed. "I want to see them." She looked at Twilight. "I want to make sure my little foals are fine."
Part of Twilight wished that the queen had displayed this tender side when she invaded. "That can be arranged, but there will be a requirement. Just a little one."
Chrysalis' eyes narrowed. "What would you require of a mother, to visit her foals?"
"Disguise." Twilight grinned at Chrysalis. "If you wanted to move in, I would be fine with that too, but that brings me to the reason I came. How many more drones do you have to send?"
Braeburn was about to talk, had his mouth open and everything, just before he got a nudge under the table. "Ahem, sorry…" He gave his marefriend a quizzical look.
"I have nearly two-hundred more." Chrysalis saw Twilight's eyes widen. She really wanted to keep the joke going, but the alicorn hadn't actually done anything bad, and she was caring for her foals. "I am joking, Princess. You have all my foals."
Twilight blinked and quickly leafed through her notes. "All of them?" Chrysalis nodded to her. "So the last five are it?" Another nod. "Well, that is a weight off. I was worried you were going to be sending more and more."
"Are you ready to order?" A young mare, barely past the title "filly" looked around the table, showing no fear at all, of the changeling queen, although she paused and stared a little at Twilight.
"A light salad, please." Twilight beamed at the mare. "And if I could get a glass of water, too?"
"Of course, and you, sir?" The earth pony waitress scribbled something on a notepad.
Braeburn poked something on the menu. "Ah think somethin' special tonight, how about a double helpin' of the taters and mash? And how about two long glasses of cider, Regal." The mare beamed at the stallion remembering her name.
"If that is it?" Regal Pose looked around the diners and trotted off when it seemed to be so.
"She didn't ask me?" Chrysalis blinked. "She… she knows full well, doesn't she?"
"A'course she does, she has served us three times before this." Braeburn lifted his hoof over to rub at Chrysalis' hole-filled one. "She didn't even bat an eyelid at you."
Chrysalis had lost the bet, but she figured it was totally cheating. Having a princess in town stole all the attention and, if anypony saw her with Twilight Sparkle, they would just think "the princess has it under control"… It irked Chrysalis a little, but that was the truth. "She was too busy going all googly at the alicorn princess." Chrysalis looked at Twilight.
"Me?" Twilight blinked, not having noticed the attention at all. "But I am just…" Things clicked, Twilight's brain made sense of the situation. "They think I am protecting them from you, or that I am here to keep you under control. Sorry Chrysalis."
The two words hit Chrysalis in the face, hard. The Princess of Friendship had apologized for such a little thing as messing up her big reveal. It hit her hard. "I am sorry too, Twilight." Chrysalis felt the big clock-spring of guilt inside her unwind just a little. "I totally did some mean things to you and your friends…"
"You should go to the Crystal Empire, find my brother and Cadance." Twilight realized how bad an idea that would be the moment she said it. "Err…"
"If you came with me." Chrysalis smiled. "Don't get me wrong, I would still be scared stiff. Princess Cadance was… a bomb. I didn't see her coming, I thought I had won with capturing Princess Celestia…" A leg reached around the big queen, not all the way, but it was there. She turned to see Braeburn had leaned close.
"Ya learned a good lesson, right?" Braeburn gave the mare his best grin. "Right?" Chrysalis nodded and was rewarded with a squeeze. "And what did you learn?"
Twilight was in awe, absolute awe. Chrysalis was getting a friendship lesson. Her magic summoned a quill and it began to scribble notes all over the closest available paper—a napkin.
"Not to go against a pony stronger…" Chrysalis grinned as her coltfriend frowned. "Just joking! Everypony deserves to be treated as… a pony. I really messed that up, but I felt cornered and I couldn't see another way out." Chrysalis turned to Twilight. "I was blind, and apparently stupid to boot."
"But you did it for the right reason, Cadance and Shining will see that." Twilight's quill had gained a friend, they were both almost setting napkins on fire with their speed. "I will make sure of it." Resolve set in for the Princess of Friendship; she had a mission.
Chrysalis felt a strange kinship, and a lot of emotional warmth, coming from the princess at her side. On her other flank, support and love flowed. "I was such an idiot…"
"So now you squish me and Princess Twilight goes back to Ponyville?" Sharp sat in dejected self-torment. "Just send me back to the hive, at least." Sharp hung his head, looking at all the checklists he had made. Picking one up, the main one, he crossed out the last item "gala complete".
Celestia watched the drone, watched them carefully finish off the list. "No, Twilight still has her own tasks to do, which means there is a vacancy at the Castle of Friendship."
Sharp blinked and looked up. "Vacancy?"
"It means that Twilight would like you to go back to the castle and keep trying to fit in." Celestia couldn't help but reach a wing out to the little drone. "She has these crazy experiments sometimes…"
"I'm just an experiment? Did I mess it up when I…" Sharp was named well. "I'm not the experiment, am I? What… who, is the real target?"
"How about we have our own experiment. In one week I will send for you to return and you can tell me." Celestia couldn't stop herself, she booped the changeling on the nose with a hoof.
Lifting his forelegs up to protect his face, after the booping. "What… what will happen to me if I fail?"
Celestia grinned wide. "Then you have to go back and keep trying."
