//------------------------------// // The Pony Who is Adapting to Changing Circumstances // Story: The Temporal Manipulations of a Victorious Timekeeper // by Rodinga //------------------------------// Darkness took me, and I drifted through thought and time. Texture whirled through existence ahead of me both indescribable and intangible, approaching and then seeming to morph as it came closer before slipping away again. Part of me wondered if I was seeing four dimensional space, time, or just the random firing of concussed neurons creating a poor optical effect in my mind. Another part of my mind suggested opening my eyes to see if it changed anything, experimentation being the key to reason. With supreme effort, my eyes opened to reveal even more darkness. A thought occurred, had the eyelids actually opened? A neuron sent a ‘please explain’ to the muscles surrounding the eyes which in turn explained that the eyelids had indeed opened, and had promptly closed again because the Central Neural Bureaucracy had failed to submit the request in duplicate for both eyes. The response was that the request had been filed in septuplet to be sure, and that it wasn’t their fault only one request had arrived, and in any case it wasn’t the fault of the CNB that the union didn’t agree with the result of the last pay dispute. The other questioned what the former was even talking about and yet another pointed out that things hadn’t been this bad since the last time the CNB had decreed that those mushrooms had been safe to eat. Not wanting to attract management, everypony agreed it was time to ‘get on with it’ and the eyes were opened properly while other systems were awoken to bring the consciousness back to the fore. The darkness remained, though at this point I thought I could make out solid texture in the distance. Still unsure of what had happened I asked aloud, “Anypony here?” The only response was a cry of pain from somepony, it sounded female and I assumed it was Colgate. “Where are we?” I asked. The first response was another hiss of pain. “Don’t talk,” Colgate’s voice whispered hoarsely at me. “It hurts. Magic migraine...” she trailed off painfully. Oh, I thought internally. Since I wasn’t in such good shape myself, I didn’t bother to move or speak. Some more time passed and I drifted in and out of sleep. I was still disoriented to the point that I couldn’t keep my normal track of time, and remained so until sounds of an argument drifted through door. A muffled voice made a point and finished more clearly with, “He is my brother.” A different voice objected, though I couldn’t make out the argument. The first voice replied saying, “He’s not going to give up, not until you prove we’re not holding my brother against his will. Anyway, as it is said, ‘the truth shall make ye free.’” More clearly the dissenting voice retorted, “Truth isn’t such a plain thing to this one.” The first voice, definitely female, clicked in disapproval. “Don’t fret so much, he’s a good pony, and it’s making your character slip.” The dissenting voice paused before continuing, “I hope you’re right.” The polite rap at the door got a squeak of pain out of Colgate before the room was opened, bathing us in light and getting a cry of pain from Colgate. “Put it out, put it out!” A shadow ducked in quickly before shutting the door again softly. A soft sound of hoof falls came toward me, walking without rhythm, until the shadow stood over me. “Are you awake, Time?” asked my little sister’s voice. “Page?” I mumbled back “Where am I?” “An empty room backstage, it’s normally used for visiting acts,” she replied, and before I could respond a pair of hooves seized me, pulling me up from the bed and into a crushing hug. “Uh?” Something felt off as my sister’s head laid itself across my shoulder and around to the nape of my neck. Page Turner sighed before stiffening slightly. “Page, why are you hugging me?” I asked flatly and Page dropped me back onto the mattress. Taking a step back, Page answered, “It’s just so good to see you again. It feels like I haven’t seen you in forever, Time.” “My eighteenth birthday actually,” I replied flatly. “I left home as soon as I was legally an adult. Considering the big deal I made about it I’m surprised you don’t remember.” That said, I swung myself to the edge of the bed and made myself ready to stand, despite the number of aches from the all the abuse I’d suffered. On the other side of the room, Colgate lifted the pillow from her eyes and watched from across the room. Not noticing my sister replied, “Mum was dejected for a few weeks after that. She even lost an apiary because she forgot to prepare it for winter.” I smiled briefly. “Yep, Mum loves her bees, but despite that we were never the most affectionate family; what with Mill trying to beat Dad at his own game, and you being completely absorbed with your books.” The smile fell off my face as I glanced up at Page’s and I added, “You must have discovered the Magic of Friendship or something while I was gone because I don’t think you’ve hugged me before.” Then just for a moment Page froze. A dim light filled the room and Colgate added, “She’s not pregnant either.” Colgate still held a pillow against her head so she only winced slightly in the light, but she had a hoof on the dim lamp mounted beside her bed. My ‘sister’ tapped a hoof against the ground in frustration. “Shoot. I didn’t think anypony would call me out on that, it’s not easy pulling that extra mass together.” “And the hug you gave me?” I asked. She shrugged. “Couldn’t resist a taste.” She pointed a hoof at me and added, “And you’re wrong about your sister, she’s very affectionate.” The doppelganger looked over its shoulder, “Page, you can come in now.” The door creaked open and more light filled the room – getting a hiss from Colgate – as the real Page Turner stepped into the room. As expected, Page had the kind of swollen under-barrel you only really see on mares in their twelfth month, and she had some serious baggage under her eyes. She smiled weakly at me and said, “Long you no see.” “So,” I said as I stood up from the bed, “I know I probably got a heck of a concussion back there, but…” I paused to point out both Pages “…I don’t think I should be seeing double like this.” The Pages shared a glance and the pregnant one admitted, “We were just being—” “—cautious,” the other finished. “We’re in the last month of pregnancy here, we don’t want—” she stressed the end of the last word. “—to risk it,” pregnant Page finished. My eyes shifted between them. “Cute. So, what kind of shapeshifter am I looking at here: a doppelgänger, an illusionist, some talented costume-work, or perhaps an elder dragon?” Colgate lifted up her pillow and groaned, “You forgot daemons and barghests.” I nodded at the inclusion. “Well, neither of them has tried eating my heart yet, but I’m sure they’ll get around to it.” The two Pages shared a glance, the pregnant one shrugged and without warning the other burst into green fire – getting another yelp from Colgate. The black insectoid thing revealed by the fire looked toward me with solid blue eyes and announced, “This one’s species is broadly referred to by the name ‘Changeling’.” I stared at the eyes, which looked back at me with their deep blueness. “Haven’t I seen you before? I could almost say…” Page looked at me. “Are you okay, Time? You’re looking a little wobbly.” Then everypony started watching me, Colgate even shifted her pillow to get a better look. I blinked and shook my head to wake myself up more. “It’s nothing. Probably just need some coffee to wake up properly,” I said before giving the bridge of my forehead a good rub. “So, you’re a Changeling,” I began again, “a shapeshifter, and you’re in the theatre?” The black face of the False Page split into a fang filled grin, which was mildly disconcerting. “This one believes you would be hard pressed to find better actors, or anything better suited to filling a designated role.” “They’re amazing, Time,” Page added, “Give enough characterization to a role and they can slip into it perfectly.” Page’s hoof circled in the air for a moment before she said, “Foil, can you do the princess?” Without warning the changeling burst into green fire again, dazzling my eyes for a moment. As I blinked my vision back I found the Princess of Love smiling at me. The physical form was good, but it was the mannerisms that sold it: that slight friendly smile Cadance always wore with a mix of big sister and mother, the slight tilt of the head, and the intensity of youth she’d never manage to lose. My heart sped up a little bit. “Foil, that’s the wrong princess,” Page mentioned. “I meant Princess Celestia.” Cadence’s smile widened. “Well, you could have been a little more specific, Page. Besides, the Princess of Food is easier to copy.” Cadence leaned my way and held up a hoof to stage whisper, “It’s the height.” There was a groan from the other bed. “Please stop the lights.” Cadance looked over her shoulder and winced. Looking back to Page and I she said, “Let me just see to that,” before backing out of the conversation to see to Colgate. My eyes followed Cadance as she crossed the room until I got a tap on my shoulder. “That’s my somepony, Time,” Page chided me. I snapped back to Page. “Sorry?” “You were staring with your mouth open.” I blinked. “Uh, I was just catching my breath…” Then for a moment my eyes lost focus on Page, but a quick shake of the head brought it came back. “…and…” I trailed off. “Sorry, I’m still trying to make sense of what in Equestria is happening here. You’re here,” I pointed at Page, “and you’re pregnant to what I’m guessing is that… changeling over there,” I pointed over Cadance who was offering a strip of cloth to Colgate. “Which Mum and Dad don’t know about, and I got…” I trailed off. I felt my head, which still had a sort of lightness to it. As I brought a hoof to my left temple I found something wrong, I felt around some more to size out the mass. “…A very big lump on my head.” “Uh, about that…” Page began. “The Knight said he was trying to take your horn off to stop you talking to the hive mind but… you didn’t have one.” “Well it’s growing in now… wait a minute,” I stopped to think. I couldn’t actually remember properly; we’d gotten into the theatre, opened a few doors until we found Page, got discovered, and then… things got really fuzzy after that. I looked around, trying to remember something that was right on the tip of my tongue. A green flash got my attention as the changeling impersonating Cadance returned to its basic form. Thankfully this time Colgate was wearing a cloth over her eyes to stop the light hurting her. The changeling uttered, “An improvement” before lighting its jagged horn with green light to open the blinds and bathe the room in sunlight. My eyes studied the changeling in the new light and something came back to me, the Black Knight with its helmet off had looked the same. I looked back at Page and asked, “That’s not the Knight is it?” “No that’s Foil.” “So there’s more than one changeling here?” I asked. “Four if you’re not including the Black Knight,” Page replied, “there’s another thirty or so, but they’re all on tour right now in Manehatten.” “Thirty!” I looked back at Foil, who was rummaging around in a box of clothing, with its body made of what looked like beetle style chitin it couldn’t be any more conspicuous. “Why doesn’t everypony in Trottingham know about them?” Page shrugged. “The Bards keep to themselves, they’re just the weird theatre ponies to everypony else. Besides,” Page said with a nod toward Foil, “they don’t usually sit around in that form, normally they pick a character they know and live in it for a while.” While we watched, Foil pulled a lab coat out of the box and burst into green flame again. This time Foil became a unicorn stallion with a soft-yellow coat and put on the coat before adding a pair of thick glasses to complete the look. Foil stepped toward Colgate and announced, “Good morning, Miss, I am Dr Foil and I’m going to examine your horn for you.” I gave my chin a scratch. “Not bad, he even sounds like a real doctor.” “Foil’s been practicing the medical routine,” Page added while gave her pregnant barrel a rub. “He wants to be prepared. They all do it, diving deeper into their characters by learning the skills they’re supposed to have. They join harvests, take craft lessons, a few even went to college lectures and disguised themselves as students who normally slept in. They just do everything in disguise and nopony’s the wiser.” Over on the other side of the room Foil told Colgate, “I’m going to apply pressure to sections of your horn, let me know when it starts to hurt.” “I still think it would be easier to work out in the open,” I said in reply to Page. “Maintaining all those identities must be harder than creating just one and using it for everything. I caught a grimace cross Page’s face. “It would be, but they’re afraid of drawing attention.” “What from the townsponies?” I asked with some amusement. “They’d welcome them in with cake and biscuits once somepony tells the panicking florists to calm down.” I smiled at my own joke for a moment before adding, “Ponies have always been welcoming no matter where I’ve been.” “It’s not ponies they’re worried about,” Page added cryptically. Raising an eyebrow I asked, “Then what—“ A yelp from Colgate interrupted us. Dr Foil tutted, “mild infirmata magicae coupled with classical hypersensitivity.” Foil’s horn lit with green – which I noted did not match his eye colour – and drew a pair of wraparound sunglasses from the costume box. “I prescribe these to reduce photosensitivity, a temporary increase in fluids and glucose imbibed, and avoidance of magic use for a two day period.” “I’m a dentist,” Colgate complained through the muffling of the pillow. “I can prescribe myself.” Foil harrumphed and replied, “A dentist is not a real doctor,” before pulling the cloth away and putting the sunglasses over Colgate’s eyes without warning – earning another yelp. As Foil turned away from Colgate I found myself trying to picture the fire in Colgate’s eyes as her gaze followed the disguised changeling across the room. Foil paused and dropped its disguise with another flash of green – this time without a yelp from Colgate – and looked toward Page and me to say, “With these two mobile again, this one suggests moving on as the mayor will likely be losing his patience soon.” Page and I shared a look and I replied, “Dad’s version of patience usually involves finding a bigger rock.” Foil stared at me for a second or two before saying, “This one does not understand.” “He’s mixing his metaphors,” Page added quickly. “But we should probably get over there before Dad does something… Dad.” “What does he want?” I asked. Foil continued to stare blankly at me and replied, “The mayor brought a number of what he termed as being ‘goons’ to the theatre this morning to demand the return of both of his children and his son’s ‘giggling tag-a-long’.” “I’m a what?” Colgate objected. “You’d both better get down there,” Page said while giving me a nudge.   We moved through the backstage areas of the theatre towards the stage. I could already hear an argument taking place on the other side of the curtain. One of the voices doing a lot of the arguing was the distinctive snarl of Sod Turner, which meant he’d be winning the argument sometime soon. Foil had us wait a moment while it got an update from somepony standing by the stage left curtains – probably another changeling. The rest of us milled around uncomfortably while the argument on the other side of the curtains continued, where Dad was busy going through a list of his favourite insults. Looking around I noticed the huge library of costume choices maintained by the theatre, organised by role and shelved by individual positions in the role. For example the ‘Law Enforcement’ role had two sets of royal guard armour with the shelves named day and night with additional shelves holding the additional rank sets, officer helmets, and a pair of trumpets. Another set of shelving labelled ‘Academic’ held a graduation outfit, sets of eyeglasses, and a set of quills. Another shelf set held the role ‘criminal’ with hoof-cuffs labelled ‘escapable’, black and white striped clothing, and a big bag with a $ sign on it. Foil came back to the group, transforming herself into the non-pregnant look alike of Page mid stride. “We have to go out there,” Foil said, “Dad’s starting to get petty, Face is starting to run down, and I don’t think the Knight’s going to be discouraging enough.” I glanced over at Colgate, she was looking around for something, and then I asked, “What exactly do you want us to do?” Foil smiled a little and stood straighter. “We go out there together, Page will stay here, and we’ll tell Dad nothing is wrong and then you all leave so Page can get some rest.” Colgate looked at the space between me and Foil – it occurred to me that she couldn’t see anything in the dark from behind the sunglasses – and said, “So we call everything off and pretend nothing happened?” Foil responded with a fast “Yep” while the real Page looked a little unsure. Over by the curtain the disguised changeling watching the commotion outside waved at us. “We’d better get a move on,” Foil announced and started leading us towards the stage left entrance. So it’s going to be a cover-up, I thought and then sighed internally. Whenever ponies are in some trouble they haven’t planned for the first response is always to take the first escape route they see. It doesn’t matter which escape option is better or which improves Equestria more, it’s whatever option can be reached with the minimum amount of effort or cost. The more predatory races call this herding, so I was asking myself, who’s the griffon in all this? as we were led towards the stage. As soon as Foil stepped around the curtains she paused to look dramatically across the room and called out with, “Daddy!” before bolting off. I managed to round past stage-left in time to see Foil hug her ‘father’ enthusiastically. The lookout who’d been watching the events from stage-left muttered, “Foil always gets all the love…” “Hey, Dad,” I said as I made my way over. Mayor Sod Turner had clearly called in a few favours, standing down in the audience pit with a dozen ponies to back him up. Among Dad’s hired goons was Ollie, Smoke Stack the train driver, a few neighbouring farmers I barely remembered, his secretary, and a few construction ponies who’d come with hard hats and power tools. In opposition was a pony standing on the edge of the stage, who I assumed was ‘Face’ and a solitary figure in polished black plate armour standing in the shadowed half of the audience pit, the Black Knight. Dad returned my greeting with a raised hoof and called back, “Good to see you, Time, and you too, Giggles – nice sunglasses.” Foil continued to hug dad. Crossing the stage I looked down toward a set of stairs that would lead down to the audience pit and completely misplaced a hoof. One moment I was walking normally, the next I was falling face first onto the stage floor. Colgate darted forward toward me as I stood up easily and gave my muzzle a rub. “Are you alright?” Colgate asked. “I’m not sure…” I replied as I took in the faces looking up at me curiously from the audience. I’ve fallen down stairs before, that would have been understandable, but I hadn’t even made it to the stairs yet. I looked behind me for any loose floorboards on the stage. Colgate asked, “Did you want to…” she finished by rolling her head backward. “Yeah, reset.” Time reversed, and I climbed back down on the floor to rest my face before spontaneously flying back up like I’d been holding a preloaded spring in my mouth – everything is funnier in reverse. As time resumed I simply came to a stop, just in time for a dizzy spell to hit me and for my balance to disappear. I didn’t fall over on my redo, but it felt for a moment like the stage had been slanted thirty-eight degrees to the right. Colgate walked up to me again while asking, “Still unsure?” I blinked my eyes and focused on the end of a floorboard. “I think I’m going to have to get my head looked at.” While everypony else had been distracted by Foil and Sod’s reunion, Sod himself didn’t miss my sudden pause. “Time, you alright?” he asked, and before I could reply he started to lay into Face, “What have you circus freaks done to my son?” “We haven’t done–” ‘Page’ began before shutting up when my father’s baleful glare turned to her. Face tried to take up the slack by saying, “What miss Page was trying to say–” “Don’t put words into my daughter’s mouth, signpost!” Sod interrupted, “when I care to know the bloody distance to Canterlot I’ll get back to you.” Sod turned his attention back to ‘Page’ and pulled himself out of the hug he’d been in and calmly asked, “What do you mean ‘we’ and what’s wrong with Time.” “Uh…” ‘Page’ trailed off. “It’s just a concussion,” Colgate said helpfully. “It’s nothing,” I hurried to add. “A concussion is not bucking nothing,” Sod rolled on as more steam started to build. “Now which of you poncy twats used that signpost,” he said while pointing at Face, “to get through my idiot son’s thick skull?” “Hey!” I said. “T’was I,” echoed a voice from the side of the audience as the Black Knight finally spoke. “And I was starting to wonder if you’re just an advertisement for armour polish,” Dad quipped before raising hoof up and deliberately pointing toward the Knight. In a brief, if undisciplined, clatter everypony from outside the theatre turned to face the Knight, some even taking threatening poses. “Dad! Seriously? I’m not damn hostage.” I called down before somepony did something stupid. “And did you have to bring every stallion in town with you?” “Oh forgive me for caring about my children,” Dad shot back. “I expected you and Giggles back by breakfast with Page in tow, your mother even got extra honey out of hives so she could make a large enough breakfast. To my absolute bucking surprise nopony showed up, not even that feathered excuse for a guard of yours or my Millie.” Dad was starting to breath more heavily, but didn’t stop glaring at me. “Honey and I waited two hours while the waffles went cold.” The theatre fell into an awkward silence. “Uh…,” the false Page began, “…we could go have breakfast now.” “Explanation first,” my Dad said flatly. “Well,” False Page began, “I was working on a screenplay when Time came bursting in–” “That doesn’t explain why I haven’t seen you for a year,” Dad said with a slight growl. “I had deadlines to meet?” False Page said weakly. “I kinda panicked when Time showed up and so the Knight came to protect me. That’s all.” Dad sighed. “That’s it then? You had deadlines to meet and you summoned a guard because your long lost brother came to see you.” False Page nodded and Sod Turner seemed to lose all the fire holding him together as he brought a hoof to his forehead. “This has been a complete waste of time then.” “Didn’t you get my last letter?” False Page asked while Dad’s platoon of goons started milling around and talking to each other idly. I made my way down the stage’s centre stairway with help from Colgate and we made our way over. “Dad,” I began as we came closer, “where’s Mill?” Sod turner looked at me wearily. “We don’t know, she disappeared with your guard during the night sometime. She’s probably sharing a haystack or grain bin with him. Must be the only colt in town that isn’t scared of pissing me off.” I just stared off into the distance, trying to think. There was something nagging me, but I couldn’t put my hoof on it. “Did Mill say anything about Lightning Flash waking up?” I asked. “It’s Flash Sentry,” Colgate corrected. I tapped the ground in satisfaction. “I was calling him Hurry-Up-and-Wait wasn’t I? Not much of a guard if the Black Knight was able to knock him out so quickly…” I pointed across the room and stopped as my eyes focused on the Black Knight. As I stared at the Knight, he looked back and began to stare back at me, but what really caught my attention was the blue abyss of his eyes that you could only see through his visor at just the right angle. The eyes were the same as Foil in her native changeling form, and I could just remember seeing them on the Knight just as he was about to kick my head in. “Ow,” I winced to myself just from thinking about it. “Are you still–” Colgate began while moving to steady me. “I’m fine,” I interrupted and waved her assistance away. “Does anything about the Knight strike you as being strange?” “Apart from being a changeling?” Colgate said quietly. “You noticed?” I said quietly with surprise. Colgate shot me a worried look. “You don’t remember? You pulled his helmet off during your fight.” “I…” Thinking back, I did remember doing that, and it still slipped from my mind. “I do, it’s just there’s something not quite…” I looped a hoof around in the air while I thought and my eyes drifted back toward the Black Knight, who was still watching me intently. Fake Page was giving dad a description of what she’d been doing over the last year, the goons were collecting into groups and chatting idly, and Face was standing on the stage looking for attention. “…right.” I rubbed my forehead trying to get my brain to work, only to have to slam it back down to the floor to steady myself as my vision blurred again. “Could Flash Sentry be a changeling?” a blue blur asked quietly. Suddenly my vision came into focus, on Colgate’s face: she looked back at me over her sunglasses, her ears folded back, her horn looked like it needed a bit of filing done, and her mouth was pinched a little on the left. She turned her head a little to the left and asked, “Uh, Turner, why are you looking at me like that?” “That’s it!” I kissed her and then yelled it out, “Flash Sentry is a changeling, and has been the whole time!” I spun around in celebration. Everypony was shocked: Dad’s mouth was open before briefly turning to a snarl, Fake Page was absolutely flabbergasted, even Colgate was staring at me with surprise on her face. “Minuette,” I said to Colgate’s surprised face, “this entire adventure was a setup, we were supposed to be a cover for Flash so he could get in here and…and…” I pointed at Fake Page “…why would another group of changelings want to get in here for?” “Another group?” Dad asked. Foil-Page looked for side to side before saying, “Are you okay, Time? Because nopony understands what you’re talking about. Changelings are only a myth.” Colgate moved to stand beside me and retorted with, “Nightmare Moon was a myth too, and so was Discord.” The mention of both sent everypony into collective muttering, much of it directed at the more recent menace. “Page,” my father began as he put a hoof over Foil-Page’s neck, “you can tell us the truth, even if these changelings don’t want you to.” A serious look crossed dad’s face and he added, “If you feel threatened I can always summon a detachment of guards.” I was about to make a point about the authenticity of this Page when I was interrupted by a deep echo, “They would likely be more changelings.” I nearly fell over when I saw the Black Knight standing right beside me. “The situation has evolved beyond subtlety, Foil. The Changeling Queen would be aware of our existence now.” “You can’t be certain of that,” Foil-Page replied, which caused my Father’s face to return to a scowl. The Knight was visibly unmoved. “The Queen directed a plot toward the troupe, and while the attempt upon us was blunted she has likely inferred our location already.” “But it was just one—” “It is never just ‘one’ when changelings are involved,” the Knight interrupted. “I can no longer defend the four of you effectively, seek assistance.” His piece said, the Knight turned away and moved back toward to his spot in the shadows. Before anyone could question the situation, Dad moved the hoof he had on Foil-Page’s shoulder up around her neck and leant a little closer in to ask, “Now, I may be an old fool that dotes on his daughters too much, but even I know when to ask, what the buck is going on!” Foil winced at the volume on her ear. “Your theatre’s run by a secretive clan of shapeshifters,” Colgate answered aloud, “and there’s another group of shapeshifters trying to find them. The one you’re holding is your daughter’s…” Colgate trailed off for a moment. “Well marefriend isn’t quite right… Turner?” “Hmm,” I gave my head a scratch, “transfriend or morphfrend might be more correct, but I wanna say love-bug.” Colgate giggled. “Yeah, we can go with love-bug.” “Love-bug is insulting to us,” Foil groused. Colgate smiled and pushed her sunglasses up her nose. “And I’ve got a bad headache that says I don’t care.” I glanced over toward Colgate. “Oh you think your headache is bad? I’m lucky my skull is in one piece.” I emphasised the later with a nod, but that just sent my vision blurring again. “Actually I’m going to sit down,” I said before plonking myself on the ground. Dad rolled his eyes. “If this,” he gave his leg a squeeze around Foil, “is my daughter’s love-bug, then where’s the real Page?” Colgate lifted a hoof to point behind her at the stage and said, “She’s uhh…” Colgate glanced down at me. “Anypony got a camera?” I asked aloud. “Anypony got a camera? Anypony?” I looked around for any press-ponies, or that pegasus colt that was everywhere back in Ponyville, but didn’t see any likely volunteers. I gave Colgate a shrug and called out, “Page, come on out!” The room was silent in anticipation and the slightly heavy hoof-steps of my sister echoed as she came out from behind the curtain. I made sure I was watching dad’s face as everypony in the audience gasped when they saw a young mare in the last few weeks of pregnancy; dad didn’t gasp, but his teeth clenched a little and I could swear that I could see the veins in his eyes as he turned his full bale-filled glare at Foil. His captive seemed to shrink in size as she said, “Uhh, Congratulations?” Then the shouting began.   Most of the argument between Page, her love-bug, and Dad was a blur to me. Some of the highlights of the argument that I actually managed to remember was Page saying, “All the time, and in every method possible,” and her threatening to shut herself inside the theatre for the rest of her life. I believed the threat, the Page I remember from foalhood was a very shy shut-in that reminded me somewhat of Fluttershy back in Ponyville; though looking at Page now made me think more of Twilight and the way she’d become more socially active since meeting her friends. As Page made her way through Dad’s objections, Foil stood beside her throughout while mimicking Page’s movements and expressions, which I found rather disconcerting but still kinda sweet in a pseudo-romantic fashion. Eventually Dad relented once he’d got an apology from both Page and Foil for their duplicitous conduct, and extracted a promise for them to go home and visit Mum. All of them seemed better for having gotten some pressure off their chests. When Colgate asked about the second group of Changelings and what they wanted, Foil responded with, “It’s a long story, give me a minute to talk to with others.” Foil led Face backstage and there was a hurried conversation. Then a drum roll began. A spotlight lit up and hit the curtain on the stage, while pulled back to reveal Foil in her disguise as Page. She stepped forward, cleared her throat, and announced, “The Bards of Trottingham are proud to present, A Brief History of the Changeling Bards.” Then Foil exploded. There were gasps, which were quickly repeated at the sight of Foil’s true insectoid form. As openings for plays go, it was a fairly good way to get the audience’s attention. “This one is a changeling, it is a statement of fact,” Foil continued once everypony ran out of gasp. “To be a changeling is not to be, a that, a question.” Foil burst into flame and emerged as Princess Luna – but shorter than the real one. “A changeling can be via minor effort anything, but while still naught.” Foil returned to her native form again, opened a set of transparent wings and buzzed over to the side of the stage. “There is but one among changelings, the Queen.” The curtains opened again to reveal another changeling, this one wearing a green wig and gaudy golden crown. The Queen stepped forward and the curtains closed behind her, then two more changelings raced out from behind both curtains and took places beside the queen. “All others are drones carrying out her will,” Foil continued to narrate as the Queen lifted a hoof and the two drones copied her every move. “The Queen sent them forth to collect fear,” narration continued as the queen pretended to roar, making the drones change form into a manticores to duplicate the movement. “And despair,” followed by the drones changing into depressed looking ghosts. “But the emotion she demanded the most was the most powerful of all, love,” which caused the two changelings to become ponies, meet in the centre of the stage and kiss passionately. “But one mind could not easily seek love when she must control so many.” The Queen changed her position on stage, neither drone followed so the Queen coughed loudly. The two drones broke up their love fest, but as they began following the Queen one began to slowly walk in circles until the Queen returned for it. “So for the want of more love the Queen created new, intelligent drones.” The Queen hit the misguided drone on the head a few times and gave it a hat. Then the hatted drone asked, “What do you ask of this one, my Queen?” “Go forth and bring me love, Infiltrator, so I can grow my hive further,” the Queen hissed in reply. In response the drones went behind the curtain and soon two hat wearing drones returned with a throne, chocolates, and strawberries. With these tributes the Queen sat and began to feast while the two drones looked on, joined by Foil wearing a beret. “Look at that,” a cap wearing drone groused. “We do all the work, and she consumes it all.” The Queen then very deliberately tipped the whole plate of strawberries into her mouth. “This should not stand,” the second drone – wearing a top hat – said. “We are intelligent, sentient beings, are we not entitled to the sweat of our own brow?” “Yeah,” said the cap wearing one. “I would like a strawberry at least,” groused the beret wearing Foil. Top-Hat snorted. “Neigh, we should have chocolate as well.” Cap snorted in support and said, “She could easily share that much with us, if we’re better fed we might be able to get more food, and get more infiltrators to help us.” Top-Hat tapped a hoof in support, “Indeed, but if we simply cut her out of the loop we could all have more without having to work harder!” “We don’t need to cut her out,” Beret added. “If she didn’t eat as much we wouldn’t have to work as hard and she still gets her piece.” Top-Hat stomped a hoof. “This one is sick of having to provide for the hive, it simply sits around consuming resources. What purpose does it serve except to look after the Queen? It doesn’t collect its own food. Infiltrators are the means of production, so why don’t we control it?” “Uhh,” Beret began, “because they outnumber us twelve to one?” “Pish posh,” Top-Hat countered, “She could not maintain them without us, and we’re the superior changeling so we could take on twenty-to-one easily!” Top-Hat lit its horn and a soap box was pulled from behind the curtains. Top-Hat stepped onto the box and declared, “This one dreams of a world where a changeling is free to make their own fortune, to make their own rules, to be whatever they want to be, and to be enriched by their own efforts.” “This one would like to be rich,” Cap said with growing enthusiasm. “Could this one have its own nest?” “You can have a mansion for that nest if you join us!” Top-Hat replied. “This one declares a revolution. We shall be free of the queen and take the hive for ourselves! Are you with us?” “Yeah!” said Cap. Beret looked worriedly over at the mighty Queen on her throne. “This one would like to be free, but we can’t fight her, she’s too powerful.” “You are an infiltrator,” Top-Hat countered, “The Queen would see you as a traitor and kill you anyway, and so you might as well join us. Viva la Revolution!” following his declaration, Top-Hat and Cap charge toward the Queen while Beret remained behind. The three combatants chased each other backstage while Foil removed her beret and returned to the side of the stage to narrate. “So the Changeling Civil War began, and despite their best efforts the infiltrators only manage to make a few gains. But as the fighting continued it began to spill over into the streets of Equestria, revealing the Hive to the Pony Princesses.” Then the Queen crawled out from beneath the curtains and fixed the wig and crown back on her head. Then two small versions of Princesses Celestia and Luna flew out from behind the curtains before pelting the Changeling Queen with bouncy rubber balls, forcing the Queen to flee backstage to the laughter of the audience. “Both the Hive and the Infiltrators were forced out of Equestria, returning the land of ponies to peace once more.” I leant over to whisper into Colgate’s ear, “I don’t recall any mention of the Princesses fighting changelings in any of the history books I’ve read.” “Me neither,” Colgate replied. “There used to be a stain-glass window of the Princesses defeating Discord, and a few other monsters nopony seems to remember, but I didn’t see any changelings when I went on the tour.” “I wonder why not,” I said as I scratched my chin. “But there was one changeling infiltrator left within Equestria,” Foil continued to narrate as a changeling emerged wearing a beret. “Branded a deserter by the other infiltrators and unwilling to follow the Hive, the deserter fled to the coast taking ships to remote ports and eking out an existence in inns and taverns as it constantly moved in the hope of avoiding attention.” The bereted changeling wandered around the stage, constantly looking back over her shoulder and changing disguises. “When the Equestrian Civil War broke out, the deserter sought shelter in the Unicornian city of Tall Tale, before being forced to flee again as griffon raiders sacked the undefended city.” A pair of griffons dive bombed the Deserter as she ran across the stage. “The Deserter and the refugees that fled with her were soon found by Red Robin the Wingless, a former Pegasopolan Scout and resident of Trottingham.” The deserter was met by a changeling in the form of a red earth pony with fake wing stubs, and the pair fought off a griffon carrying a knife and fork. Robin slammed the griffon into the ground using a Krav Pega strike I’d seen Cloud Kicker do once – though not against a griffon, unfortunately – before the Deserter stuck the fork in the griffon’s flank which got a loud screech and a delighted audience. Then the pair kissed over the ‘body’ of the defeated griffon as the crowd stomped their hooves in approval. “After the battle of Trottingham, and at Robin’s advice, the Deserter was introduced to Spear Shaker the pony that built, and rebuilt, the Horseshoe Theatre.” The changeling acting as the griffon stood up and took on the disguise of a balding and moustached earth pony before shaking hooves with the Deserter. “And so the Deserter stayed in Trottingham, taking on the name Patsy as the first of the Bards, and lived happily ever after.” Foil joined the other changelings centre stage as they dropped their disguises and all four bowed to the audience. I clapped my hooves together, while everypony else clapped and stomped. There was a contented sigh from a few of the changelings and one fell over with a happy look on its face. “The fast is over,” the grounded one said with a contented sigh. Foil cleared its throat. “We thank you for the applause and positive feelings, this one’s troupe mates haven’t been exposed to such feeling since we grew aware of the Queen’s presence in Equestria a few weeks ago.” Colgate put a hoof up, and Foil pointed out at it. Colgate stood and asked, “You’ve covered a good bit of your history, but you haven’t really answered why this Queen wants to find you.” The changelings glanced at each other. “We’re not sure,” the one second from the left answered. “Perhaps it wants to remove rivals, or any changeling it doesn’t control.” “She might want to take us back, re-enslave us,” the one second from the right added. “Does it matter?” Foil replied. “We wanted to avoid contact and retreated in hope we would not cross paths with the hive, yet here we are.” Dad massaged his head with both of his fore-hooves. “Right, you’re all a bunch of shapeshifting monsters that get high on love and applause, and ya big mummy with the entire hive of the same is coming to get you, and I’ll bet you’re hoping that the town can protect you from said hive of shapeshifting monsters.” “It’s just the one shapeshifting monster actually,” I added from my seat beside him. “Well buck the bucking bells,” Dad groused. “We can defend ourselves,” Foil replied, “We still have the Knight,” she pointed over at the steel statue at the side of the audience. I leaned towards Colgate and noted, “It’s the turtle approach, curl up in a defended position and wait for the attacker to give up.” Colgate hummed. “That doesn’t help your sister.” I shrugged. “Knowing Page, she’s probably fine with it.” “I meant Mill, your other sister.” I blinked. “Oh yeah, I totally forgot about her. But,” I said while giving my chin a scratch, “we don’t necessarily need to rescue her, we were here to rescue Page. I’m sure Mill is fine. Probably about to drive poor Flash out of town, it wouldn’t be the first time,” I noted darkly to myself. Dad gave my flank a kick. I yelped and then Dad pulled me closer to say, “You’re not running away from this again. Your mother expects three children at the dinner table tonight, with at least one guest, so get to it.” “Yes, Dad,” I said as I rubbed the sore spot. I leant back over toward Colgate and said, “So, we need to find a shapeshifting creature that could be anypony, has a portable food source, and probably has all the time in the world to carry out its mission. Guess how we can do that?” Colgate’s nose scrunched up for a moment before she asked, “How then?” “We don’t.” “Uh.” “What I mean is, without some obvious hint we’re never going to find it if it doesn’t want to be found.” I shrugged. “It’s a creature explicitly designed to hide, we’re not going to win that game so we’ll have to get it to play our game.” Colgate’s mouth slowly opened and she tapped a hoof on the ground. “You want to set a trap for it,” she finished with a growing smile. “Providing we can find the right bait for it,” I added. Tapping my chin as I thought, I considered my options: we did have the troupe of bards, but I couldn’t think of anything else. “Those ponies might know,” Colgate said while nodding toward the stage. I looked towards the side of the theatre. “The Black Knight probably knows a few things too, and he owes me for the concussion.” I started to push myself back up onto my hooves, with Colgate watching me cautiously. “Can you make it over there?” I looked down at my legs and my head didn’t start spinning immediately, so I said, “Probably.” Colgate stood up as well and followed me as I moved through the crowd toward the Black Knight. As we approached the Knight I started to feel a little apprehensive, he had this sort of looming aspect to him. The Knight’s armour was impeccably maintained, you’d almost think it was just one of the old Unicornian suits just sitting on display in a gallery somewhere rather than one that was actively being worn. After a moment of staring I caught my own reflection in the Knight’s breastplate, and that of Colgate looking worriedly at me. I snapped myself out of it and said, “Sir Knight… I wish to ask after strategic advice against our foe.” There was a slight movement of metal before it answered, “That which you must always be aware when fighting changelings: there is never one alone, they might be anyone, and they are entirely of one mind so never assume you can remove one without all others knowing.” “What if I wanted to bait a trap?” I asked. “Difficult. The Old Mind of the Hive has made many and been caught before, it would not be easily fooled. However, changelings are instinctively drawn to major sources of love and affection.” A grin crossed my face. “Like the ‘Tunnel of Love’ in Applewood?” The Knight nodded, and in his flat-echo added, “Or mid-tier restaurants, cafes with more than one variety of coffee, cinemas showing romantic comedies, and maternity wards in hospitals.” “Ew,” Colgate uttered. “They are also fond of Weddings,” the Knight continued. “The amount of love usually thrown around during the ceremony would draw the hive’s attention from miles away. They would target lonely ponies, and draw them away while the pony is drunk on love in the air.” “Drunk on the love in the air?” I mused aloud. “Sounds like Hearts and Hooves Day, lots of desperate ponies trying to find—ack.” A hoof to the side interrupted me. Colgate glared at me over her sunglasses. “What did you do that for?” I asked while rubbing my side. “I have a concussion, remember?” Colgate pushed her sunglasses back up and corrected her mane a little before asking, “If the changelings are all sharing a single mind, is it possible to disrupt it?” She gave her horn a tap. “Many have asked that question in ages past,” the Knight echoed. “Their bond is empathic and magical, but while it does have a frequency – to borrow an inaccurate term from radio broadcasting – any disruption simply causes the Hive Mind to switch to other frequencies. Archmagi have tried disrupting it before and have never succeeded.” A smile began to cross my face. “It has a frequency, hmm... I might have an idea there,” I said while glancing at Colgate’s horn. I bowed my head toward the Knight. “Thank you for your assistance, Sir Knight.” “Good hunting,” the Knight echoed and began ignoring us. “So,” I said to Colgate as we turned away from the Knight. “Minuette, will you marry me?” Suddenly all the gears in her head came to a grinding halt, I almost expected a spring to fly out of her ear as it flicked up. “Wha?” She looked over at me. “Why would we do that?” “Good point,” I said before scratching my chin. “The changelings wouldn’t believe it. I guess if they literally pull love out of the air, then they’d realise it’s not a genuine ceremony.” I smiled to myself, “I guess it’s fairly hard to find a premade couple, currently in love, ready to be married just when we need them to be bait.” My eyes wandered across the theatre toward Page and Foil. “We could make it genuine,” Colgate said out loud, and I snapped my eyes back; it wasn’t really the response I was fishing for. She tapped her chin thrice before continuing, “It’d be as if we’d eloped if we did it here, so add some alcohol, a few hours in a bedroom, and it could be genuine enough.” She giggled to herself. “We wouldn’t even need to provide a reason if we annul it within the next two days.” “Minuette,” I said flatly to get her attention and pointed a hoof at the real couple on the stage. “Hmm?” Colgate looked where I was pointing, then back to me, and then back to where I was pointing. “Oh. Yeah. That might work.” She started brushing her mane with a hoof. I leaned over towards Colgate. “You know that was a joke right? I wasn’t being serious.” Colgate smiled awkwardly. “I thought you were. Adventures are where you do stupid stuff right? Like getting married in Los Pegasus while drunk, swimming with sea-ponies, and hunting monsters.” A satisfied smile crossed my face. “Can’t say I got married while drunk,” I said before pausing to add, “At least I don’t think I have. Getting into the spirit of the adventure then?” Colgate looked over her sunglasses and smiled at me. “I’m hunting love-eating, shape-changing, bug-pony monsters in a dreary old town with a pony foalish enough to fight a storybook villain. How do you think I feel?” She turned back to the stage before I could answer. “Oh, and you kissed me first,” she added and set off walking with a very deliberate sashay of the tail. I paused for a moment to think about that one, I didn’t even remember doing that. Blaming my short term memory loss on the concussion, I followed carefully after Colgate before another dizzy spell hit me. We made our way through Dad’s herd of hired goons, most of which had gathered around a coffee cart that must have been wheeled in from the square outside. The show had finished and everypony had started drifting back to normal routines. Sod Turner was up on the stage alone with Page, Foil, and a few of the other changeling bards. Colgate beat me up there and congratulated Foil on a good performance. I gradually made my way up the steps, fully expecting the concussion to come back with a vengeance at any moment. That’s when Colgate asked, “So was it mare and stallion, or mare and mare when you got married?” The answer was a loud, “wha?” from multiple parties and I nearly missed a step on the stairs. Colgate shrunk a little and folded her ears back. “Oh I’m sorry, it’s just I thought you would have gotten married before having a foal.” I doubt anypony would have noticed unless they were looking for it, but a slight smile crossed Colgate’s face. I was probably thinking along the same lines as Colgate was; we now had viable bait for the Changeling Hive. “Hey Dad,” I said teasingly, “looks like your first grand-foal is going to be a bas—” Dad didn’t waste time, “Why haven’t you two hitched yourselves together already?” A slight growl underlined the question. Page and Foil looked at each other and Page admitted, “I wanted family around.” Foil flatly added, “We don’t really do weddings, it causes trouble and attracts paparazzi.” “But you are marrying the Mayor’s daughter,” I added while moving to stand next to Dad. “A certain level of propriety is kinda demanded.” A smile crossed my face before I added, “It’s that or people start using the word ‘gate’ in unusual contexts.” “You’re getting hitched,” Dad ordered and before they could object he added, “Before foaling.” “Page is due next week!” Foil protested. “Well it’s only…” I glanced up at the sky “… eleven-thirty-ish. Why wait?” Dad gave me a suspicious look and quietly said towards me, “I want you to find Mill first,” he nodded towards Page, “we need a bridesmaid.” I leaned over to whisper, “Changelings are attracted to weddings, and it’s a trap to get Mill back.” Dad blinked and thought for only a moment before saying, “Tonight then.” When they started to protest again Dad reared back and stomped. “Don’t make me get the Hooffield’s down here because I could make this a sling-shot wedding, and I’ll bet their tomatoes are just about ripe! “And you,” Dad said as he pointed at Foil. “Mare, Stallion, or Hippogriff, pick one, I don’t care which. Then get down to Thread’s and take the first dress you see that Thread can put a pregnancy patch on and send me the bill. Get it done in the next four hours, or so help me, I’ll make it rain pumpkins!” Colgate, lips pursed and looking very directly at the ground, lightly added, “Have they proposed yet?” Dad glared at the pair before pointing at Foil, “Kneel.” Foil then got down before Page and recited a lyrical proposal I vaguely remembered from a play. Once done Dad went over to the edge of the stage, tapped his hoof a few times and announced, “Fillies and Gentlecolts, I’m thoroughly delighted to announce that my daughter Page is getting married!” There was stomping and clapping from the members of the audience gathered around the coffee cart. “Given the,” the visibly glanced back at Page, “impending joy of the situation, the ceremony will be here tonight!” There were gasps. “The entire town is invited,” smiles crossed everypony’s faces, “and the reception will be open bar!” The crowd cheered. “Now everypony spread the word and get ready, because this is only going to happen once, be back here by six!” It didn’t take long for everypony to start moving, even the coffee cart left so it could restock for tonight. “That goes for the rest of you too,” Dad said as we wandered back over to us. “I’ll arrange the rest of the wedding, and set a bleeding record for doing it in six hours. I’ll see you all tonight, be ready.” Everypony else split off, leaving me with Colgate. “So, what do we do?” she asked. “A little bit of shopping,” I said as I reached up for my hat. It took me a moment of feeling around to remember I’d left it at home last night in favour of the meagre caving gear. “Ah, my bits are back at the farm.” “My purse was in the satchel I brought,” Colgate replied, “should still be in our room, back in a minute.” She turned and darted off backstage. Alone, I looked around the open air theatre. If the entire town was going to be here for the wedding it’d be a little tight, and all the elevated seating up on the walled arms of the theatre’s horseshoe shape would have to be used. Naturally the ceremony itself would have to take place on the stage, and the musical accompaniment to the ceremony could be performed by the Phantom’s organ if somepony could lift it up from the under-stage storage. I was contemplating whatever mechanism was used to lift that organ up when I noticed the stage curtains moving. A flutter travelled towards me before a sudden breeze of air came out from under it, blowing past me and getting stronger. A point of light began to shine in the air, growing and brightening to a dazzling intensity in mere seconds. I’ve seen this before, it was only the 76th time I’d witnessed the phenomenon. I was about to have a guest from the future. The light fell to the ground and burst. I opened my eyes and instead of a future me I found a future Colgate instead. Except she wasn’t Colgate, but she was definitely Minuette. The coat was the same, but her muscles had been a little more toned, the tail quite similar, but it was the mane that was the main difference: it was longer and curled, held back by a blue headband sitting behind her horn which also seemed longer. She walked toward me with a very confident stride, her mane bobbing as she moved, and her smile was still perfect. “Hi Time.” She smirked. “Don’t look so surprised, it’s all your fault.” Her horn lit with a glow and she leaned forward to touch it to my head. Whatever spell she was casting fired on contact, sending a warm feeling through my head like a bubbling hot spring. Minuette giggled and whispered in my ear, “You’re drooling.” I rapidly brought up the cuff of my left hoof to clean my muzzle. “Sorry.” “Don’t worry about it,” she replied, “It’s probably a side effect of healing the concussion.” “Huh?” I looked down at the hoof I was using to clean my muzzle and realised I’d been standing on three legs without any trouble. “When did you learn to do that?” “About eight months from now, I opened up my old textbooks after this adventure,” Minuette said while looking around. “It’s amazing how much faster you learn when you have a practical component,” she smiled at me again. “Thank you for that, by the way.” “Caught up with Twilight yet?” I asked. A grimace crossed her face. “I don’t think I’d be quite able to do that; not without a pair of wings anyway.” That comment raised an eyebrow (and won me a substantial wager a few months later). “You’re beating her at time travel at least,” I replied consolingly. “And writing the book on it,” she added. “I’ve got two more things to do before I go: the first thing was to relay a message you told me to tell you, ‘Mill is where she belongs’.” “That’s not very nice, and the second?” I asked. Minuette immediately stepped forward, and brushed a hoof gently across my face. When I opened my mouth, she leant forward and locked her lips onto mine. Her tongue entered my mouth and we both leaned into it. It lasted another thirty-three seconds before the wind returned and carried her back forward in time. I was left standing there until the sound of galloping reached me, and Colgate slid out from behind the backstage curtain and asked, “What was that blast?” For a moment I couldn’t help but stare at Colgate and picture the mare she was going to become. Colgate looked back at me and asked, “Are you alright,” with an unsure note in her voice. “I’m okay. In fact I’m feeling a lot better.” I nodded to myself. “How’s your horn?” “A little better,” Colgate said before putting a slight glow up it. “I hope it gets better soon, picking this stuff up without it took forever.” Colgate nodded at her cargo, her satchel, the length of rope we brought, and the two helmets we’d worn in the caves below. “I wouldn’t worry too much, you’ll get it back.” Colgate smiled back at me. “Yeah, best part is that when it comes back it’ll be even stronger.” I returned the smile, thinking of Future Minuette. “Come on,” I said while nodding back over my shoulder. “We’ve got a wedding to prepare for.”