//------------------------------// // Establishment - Part 7 // Story: Saving Equestria // by Damaged //------------------------------// Twilight pulled the desk through the under-hive, it was just a little too heavy to lift and carry completely, so she made do with dragging it. About halfway through to the nursery, she heard a soft chitter behind her and turned. "Oh, hello." The changeling looked bigger than the others she had seen, their fangs didn't drip with any venom. "Is there something I can do to help you?" Twitching their tail-fin in excitement, the underling couldn't reply, but they certainly could understand that the nice and tasty pony offered to help them. They shook their head and stepped over to the desk they had watched her drag. Trying to work out the changeling's intent, Twilight was surprised when they energized their horn and lifted one end of the desk, grabbing the other with their forelegs. "Oh Celestia, that… this way!" She blushed brightly and quickly trotted ahead. Leading the way, Twilight soon guided the underling to set the desk down beside a particular cluster of eggs. "Just here, thank you." Setting their load down, the underling practically melted into the love the pony heaped out, even giving a little chirp of delight. Something connected in Twilight's head and she lifted up a forehoof, offering it to the strong changeling. "I take it you are one of the underlings?" They responded by pushing their snout into her hoof, nuzzling it. "You can understand me?" They nodded against her hoof. "These are going to be your new siblings." She kept rubbing the underling's snout, the soft chirps coming from their wings, along with their nuzzling, showing how much they enjoyed the contact. "Your mother doesn't even know what they will be like, but I think they are going to be big and strong, like you." Turning their attention from the nice pony, the underling looked at the ten big eggs. Instead of approaching them, they leaned to the little one and gave an inquisitive chirp. "That is somepony special as well. A new type of changeling, a dreamling." Twilight giggled at the caring nature the simple changeling displayed. "Queen Chrysalis said that they would grow faster and better with some pure love around, so I figured I could do my paperwork down here." She gestured to the desk. "Do you have a name?" Looking back to Twilight, the underling shook their head. "Would you like one?" The reaction was so fast Twilight barely saw the creature move, one moment they were looking at her passively, the next she was on her back getting nuzzles and licks. "Whoa, slow down, please! I need to-" she giggled as they just dropped down to lay on top of her. "Well, you are strong, friendly, and caring… Gentle Midnight. You love your family, and your chitin is so… can you hop off me, Middy?" Gentle's eyes were wide, they didn't get off of Twilight but did give her face another series of licks. At last they got up and shook themself. Gentle Midnight. They smiled widely and considered pouncing back on the nice pony that had given them a name. Righting herself, Twilight opened her saddle bag and lifted out a ream of pages with her magic. Setting them on the desk she climbed up on the seat attached. "Now, first thing, form one-one-eight-C, Queen Evaluation to be completed by Princess of Balance. I still can't believe they made me a princess…" She worked some ink onto her quill and began. "Or that I get to fill these out weekly." "Excuse me, Princess." The words shook Twilight from her flurry of work. She blinked and looked up from the seventh page of her report. "Oh, yes?" Gentle was parked beside her desk still, but the new drone was carrying two big casks of something. "Oh, what is that?" Not expecting interrogation, the changeling set down both the casks she carried. "This is honey, direct from Queen Chrysalis. She wants this batch to be as strong as they can be." The drone froze. "Forgive my manners, Your Highness-" "Just Twilight is fine, please. And what is your name?" Twilight smiled, in her time in Ponyville she had become much better at making friends, a good greeting being the first important part. "Tender Glow, Your…" Tender trailed off, distracted from her words by the warmth coming from the pony. "Sorry Twilight," she had a slight pause to see if it really was okay, "but you surprised me. A pony princess, with one of our underlings cuddled up at her side, spilling love for our eggs?" Twilight beamed and gave a little nod. "I was just doing paperwork, I always enjoy that. Queen Chrysalis said it would be best if they could have some love nearby, and I figured it would be best to do the things I enjoy doing here, and then Gentle came and helped-" "Gentle? You named them?" Tender started pouring one of the casks over the first big egg, the golden stuff having a slightly green tint to it. "They look to like you a lot, normally I would have to tell them to return to the central hive and find more things to do… but if a princess told me I can't…" Catching on quickly, Twilight couldn't help but giggle at the way the changeling found a way around a rule. "If Gentle has work to do, I won't stop them, but it is relaxing having them…" She cleared her throat. "I require underling Gentle Midnight to be at my side." The giggle after her first real proclamation as a princess stole a little of the authenticity, but she didn't really care. "Good enough for me." Tender blinked at the egg she was pouring honey on. "You are feeding these quite well, won't even need a full jug on them." "That is honey, you said?" Twilight investigated the cask nearest her. "Why do you just pour it on?" Without a word, she dipped the edge of her hoof in, lifting out some goop so she could examine it. "It carries love, pure and refined. This is all from mom." Tender finished tending to the eggs. "I don't know what else it is good for, but since I spend most of my time down here tending to eggs I don't get my love in other ways… well…" A soft green blush covered Tender's cheeks. "Except for you being down here, that is." "I really have to work out a way to find out when I am being fed on." Twilight mused, absently bringing the honey to her snout to sniff. "I don't mean in any negative way, more so I can study it properly, and work out how to maximize your food." Tender grabbed up both casks with their magic, lifting each up. "Hold on, please." Twilight absently licked her hoof clean. "Could you bring a jar of that, I am sure I can repay it by feeding them more directly." She gave Tender a smile. "These were both meant for them, they should have gobbled it up, but look how it stays smeared on the surface? They are full little eggs." Tender reached a hoof up and gently petted one of the big eggs. "I am sure this nearly-empty one could stay." "Thank you, I will leave it here when I am done." Twilight turned back to her paperwork, absently licking the last of the honey off her sticky hoof. "Now, where was I?" ~~~~~+++++~~~~~ Apple Bloom reached up and crossed off "Mayor Mare" from the chalk board. "Who are we going to implicate next?" She studied the names remaining with much consideration. "What about Mr. and Mrs. Cake?" "We didn't need to do them," Sweetie Belle was in her element, crusading and messing things up was definitely her cup of tea, "remember at the start of the week? Pinkie Pie accused them when Mr. Cake put raisins in some cupcakes by mistake." Scootaloo giggled at the memory. "They sure looked tasty, though… Oh, I know, we make Princess Luna look like the changeling!" Both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle stared at their fellow crusader. "This will be the best one ever." Sweetie started hopping from hoof to hoof in excitement. "Cutie Mark Crusaders, Confusion Cutie Marks!" Apple Bloom raised a yellow hoof into the air, soon getting a white and two black ones clop against it. "Cwusaders!" Bright's little wings buzzed as she hovered in the air, high enough to meet the hooves of the other fillies. It was plain to see that in a week she had grown more than a filly should. "Somepony's coming." Swift Stride banged on the door from outside, warning the fillies. "ARE YOU GIRLS READY FOR YOUR TRAINING?" Bulk's voice was easy to relax into, even if it did put a strain on his throat. "Yeah, yeah. Keep your hooves on." Apple Bloom rolled her eyes and turned the blackboard around, revealing a list of cutie mark-related activities. Turning back to her friends, she saw both Bright and Scootaloo looked like ponies again. "What'n tarnation are ya doin' out here, Bulk Biceps?" Applejack trotted up to the clubhouse. "You said somethin' about training?" She narrowed her eyes at the big stallion. "YES MISS APPLEJACK! I THOUGHT IT A GOOD IDEA TO HELP TRAIN SCOOTALOO AND HER FRIENDS IN CASE THEY SEE A CHANGELING!" Bulk wasn't lying, he was greatly bending the truth. It also helped that he wasn't actually a pony. "AND JUST BETWEEN YOU AND ME, I DON'T THINK IT IS SAFE LETTING THEM BE ALONE ALL DAY!" AJ blinked a few times at the thundering voice, her normal sense of horse-apple detecting not able to locate anything in the noise. "Uh, well that's right good of you, Bulk. Ah didn't honestly think about any of that myself." "IT'S OKAY! YOU'RE WORRYING ABOUT EVERYPONY." Bulk gave his best awkward smile. Just then, the door behind him opened and four fillies bounced out. "Howdy big sister!" Apple Bloom trotted right up to her sister and hugged her. "We were just going to do some training with Bulk! We might even get our cutie marks!" "Ah just needed to check with you fillies, are you sure you saw Mayor Mare carrying a big box to the mail-train?" Applejack looked from her sister and around to her friends. "Well, it might have been Luna…" Scootaloo lifted a hoof up to her chin. "It was a bit dark…" She tried to look a bit confused, but something was wrong, she knew Applejack wasn't buying it. "Alright, what is really going on? You fillies have been playing the slippery eel all week." AJ looked from one to the other, ignoring Bulk almost entirely. "Grab her!" Sweetie Belle shouted and jumped at the same time, landing on Applejack's leg. "Get her other legs!" She clung-on for dear life. "Sweetie." Apple Bloom looked at her friend, then up to her sister. It was small comfort that Applejack looked more amused than angry. "We gotta tell the truth. I told you we couldn't keep this up." Scootaloo looked to Bright, then up to Bulk. "It's okay girls, I'll fess-up." She stepped down the ramp, walked up to AJ as if it were her final march. "You see, Applejack, I'm-" "Ah know you're a changeling." Applejack smiled and lifted a hoof up to rub Scootaloo's mane. "Ya think y'all could keep this hidden, on my farm? What Ah don't know is what is really goin' on. Are you girls really doing all this mayhem?" Staring up at the mare as if she were somehow magical, all three fillies were speechless until Bright Smile trotted up and stood beside Scootaloo. "You no hurt!" Bright leaned and stuck her snout under Scootaloo's little wing. "As good as an admission. So why are y'all doin' it then? Is there an invasion force coming, like Princess Luna said there would be?" Applejack couldn't honestly be worried about the little fillies being those odd creatures. "And as long as the real Scootaloo is alright Ah got no beef with ya." "But I am the real Scootaloo. Chrysalis turned me into a changeling so I could have a little sister." She spread her tiny wing to show Bright's worried little face, before tucking the wing back down around her. "And we are only doing it, I guess, to keep the Princess from finding her… and me." "Wait, so she made you into a changeling, who did she make into little Bright?" Applejack reached out a hoof to the tiny filly, trying to show she wasn't dangerous. "She really is a changeling." Bulk walked up to the little meeting. "And I am too. I am the one the Princess is really trying to find. I sent the Elements of Harmony to Canterlot. Mom… Queen Chrysalis, she just wants ponies to be able to live as they please. This is all a giant mix-up!" The stallion's voice completely threw AJ for a moment but she recovered. "Ah think we need to have this talk somewhere a little more private. But first, all three o' ya Pinkie Promise me not to do this anymore." Applejack looked around, adding Bulk to her glare. "We promise not to do it." All three fillies gave a sigh. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." "Right, now come on. You too Bulk. If'n that is your real name." Applejack's eyes narrowed a little. As the mare started to walk, Bulk said, "Swift Stride, ma'am." He smiled. "But Bulk is fine." He turned to walk with them. Once everypony was in the barn, with the door closed of course, Applejack started over. "Right, so yer the real Scootaloo, Bright is a changeling, and Bulk is too. Bulk took the Elements and sent them to Canterlot. Y'all were responsible for causing all the madness over the last week." She looked around at each of the fillies. "Ah got it all?" "Please," Bulk stepped forward, lowering his big head, "if you have to take anypony to Princess Luna, let Scootaloo and Bright go to Canterlot and I will face her wrath." "Dagnabbit, see, now that is just the sort of thing a pony would do. Ya had to make this hard on me didn't ya?" Applejack was smiling, making her words seem a bit odd. "How am Ah meant to give you over when Ah hear you say things Ah'd say?" She held up a hoof to forestall any reply. "Okay, Ah got the little ones in a Pinkie Promise, how long have you been here, been Bulk?" "A year. I know what a Pinkie Promise is." Bulk was both worried and resigned. "Then Ah want you ta Pinkie Promise all you will do is protect ponies." Applejack's look was deadly serious. "You promise that and Ah can say Ah trust everypony in town." "You know changelings lie, it is like our best trick?" Bulk looked right at Applejack, her death-stare had turned into a half-smile. "Well, I better do this right," Swift dropped his disguise, "I promise you, Applejack, that everything I do in this town is for those two fillies, and I would not have any real harm come to a single pony. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." Of course he finished with a hole-filled hoof pressed to his eye, but the other one saw Applejack's smile really fill out. ~~~~~+++++~~~~~ Twilight had the honey arranged on the bench in various test-tubes, some with different colored substances mixed in, others with crystals. Some just had notes stating what magic was used on it. "I just don't get it, it seems mostly to just be like honey… delicious, though." She blushed and looked to her empty plate, moments ago it had held a honey sandwich that had been positively delicious.