"Not just yet, though." Thorax focused on her new talent, trying to reinforce what safety and support her hug was giving. "You all have classes today, new ones. Now that you can drink as a changeling, you can finally learn to use that love inside you."
"Magic?" Scootaloo looked to Apple Bloom. "We get magic?" Her wings gave a curious chirp in her excitement.
"Well o'course we do. We're changelings, remember?" Apple Bloom drew back from Shining a little and faced Scootaloo. "We are also going to learn to fly, eventually." She looked over to Thorax. "Right?"
"You can probably fly already. There will be a class on it after shapechanging, if you still haven't worked it out. By this time next week, however, I want us marching out of here with as many nymphs as we can get." Thorax looked around, particularly at the nymphs. "Each of you need to pick a new friend or two, try to get them to come to this cave to sleep."
"How are we going to do that?" Sweetie Belle was still hugging Shining, keeping one foreleg wrapped around her.
"Sweetie," Shining gave the former filly a squeeze, "we have been getting lessons on that for weeks. We make things up, we lie if we have to." She surprised herself a little with it, but ultimately shrugged. "We have to help as many as we can."
"She…" Sunset paused a moment and looked at Shining. "Would you rather I refer to you as a stallion?" She smiled to show she meant no offense.
A bit taken aback by the question, Shining looked around at the others and realized they were all mares. "I don't really… I don't really care either way." She shrugged. "But I just realized, are all changelings mares?"
"Physically? Yes." Thorax stepped over to the spot where the hole was just about to open. "But some 'lings prefer their pony gender. It is easier to just call everybuggy as they want to be called. Asking can sometimes be its own argument."
"I only asked because you seemed comfortable with it." Sunset's face fell as she remembered their original topic. "Come on. Food first, then class. If you are doing shapechanging today, you will need a good start of love."
The hole leading out of their little pledge's sleeping quarters opened, stopping all further treasonous conversation. Shining watched as Sunset and Thorax fell in beside each other and led the way out. The walk down, into the depths of the hive, was much the same as the previous day. Eventually the huge caverns filled with mushrooms opened up, and made each of the nymphs feel tiny by comparison.
"Hi there."
The group of changelings turned to the three crystal ponies who advanced on them. "Uh, hi." Shining stepped forward, holding out her hoof in greeting.
"I am Jade Diamond, these are my sisters." Jade pointed to each of her sisters in turn. "This is Emerald, and Garnet." She pressed her hoof forward to give Shining's little hoof a bump. "Are you hungry?"
"Where's Bright Hope?" Apple Bloom stepped up beside Shining. "He was very rude to one of my best friends yesterday!"
"Somepony told him he was being chosen to be a changeling. Now he won't stop bugging," Emerald leaned on the word with a little rolling of her eyes, "changelings for more information. So you get us today."
Sweetie Belle stepped forwards and looked up at Garnet (the only of the three yet to speak). "Ex-Excuse me." She folded one foreleg over the other, rubbing them together. "May I please have some wubs?"
Garnet froze in utter panic at the adorable filly. "Of course you can, you little darling." She reached down and picked up Sweetie. "What's your name?"
"Sweetie Belle." As she said it, Sweetie did as she had been taught and drank lightly. A heady rush of love poured into her. Love for her sisters. Love for Sweetie herself. Even a more distant love that the nymph couldn't name. "You taste really nice!"
"That's because I have a cute nymph to hug." Garnet was true to her word and hugged Sweetie Belle. "I used to hug my little sisters when they were still small."
Frozen, Sweetie couldn't stop the tears that threatened. She started to shake and without warning, bawled loudly. "I want Rarity!" She gripped Garnet tightly and cried, her face pressed to the mare's shoulder. "I hate this, I hate it! I want to go home and be a filly again, and I want my SISTER!"
The yell snapped Sunset out of her slight daze. She moved forward first and reached out for Sweetie Belle. "Come on, come on." She used her magic and hooves to pull the little nymph free of Garnet and to her own chest. When her snout was by Sweetie Belle's ear, she whispered softly to her. "A week, two at the most."
When she heard the words, Sweetie's sobs cut off immediately. With a loud sniff she pulled back enough to look Sunset in the eyes. Of course they were blue oceans—like her own—but she watched as they studied her face. "You mean that?"
"I do, even if I have to do it myself." Sunset kissed Sweetie on the nose and felt part of herself slot back into place. "Come on now, you need to finish feeding, little nymphs need to be big and strong for anything that is going to happen."
Sweetie nodded, trying to wipe her eyes dry with a forehoof. She turned back to look at Garnet. "Sorry, I… I really miss my big sister."
"Looks like you have a new one." Garnet looked pointedly to Sunset. "Do you still need some more to eat?" Her heart still ached for the nymph, but for a different reason now. She felt when Sweetie drank again, the gentle touch feeling like a soft lick along her aura.
"Thank you. All done now, I think." Sweetie felt full, but was still getting used to being full without eating actual food. "Did the changelings catch you and trap you in here?"
Shining walked up to Emerald, but had one ear cocked to Sweetie and Garnet's conversation. Her attention snapped back to her own presence when Emerald giggled. "Oh, sorry. Hi, my name's Vinyl Scratch." It wasn't even a lie, not for a long time. "May I drink, please?"
"Only if you promise to remember those manners for the rest of your life." Emerald bowed her head in acquiescence.
Taking that as permission, Shining drank while Garnet started talking.
"A long time ago, a pony did a very bad thing." Garnet relaxed, and waved other nymphs over. "And she became a changeling queen. It is a curse, you see, and she bore it well." She felt two little tingles from other nymphs, but knew she could provide for three. "We promised ourselves to her—my ancestors that is—and begged their families and friends to forgive them. The queen needed love, and without us she would wither away, or worse, would hunt ponies for their love."
Shining was trying to make head or tail of the story. In the end she just relaxed and took it and the love of Emerald in.
"We believe, you see, that one day the pony's curse will be ended, and her children will be free of the curse. Until then we are strong for her children, we keep them fed and trust them to guard us. It is our duty, and we would not shirk it." Garnet's cutie mark—ostensibly a green gemstone, just like her sisters'—flashed brightly for a moment before settling back down.
Finishing her meal, Shining looked up at Emerald and despite her (and her sisters') coloration, couldn't help but seeing Cadance. That is how much bigger than me she will be now. She had to fight her own tears.
Bigger, but if we can shapechange like the others, we could be bigger. Vinyl's voice in Shining's head was faint, but it filled her with hope. Enough to keep away the tears.
"Are you okay?" Emerald looked at Shining Armor, watched the nymph fight to not tear up too. "Go back to your friends. Maybe having mares here really is a bad idea." She turned to look at Garnet, making sure her voice was loud enough to be heard by her sister.
"Is everybuggy done?" Thorax looked around. "Golden?" She waited for the nymph to give a little chirp of surprise and run over to the group. "Okay, let's get to a new class today: shapechanging." She ruffled Golden Beet's mane and led the way back into the ever-shifting caves.
Every time Shining opened her mouth to ask about their plans, another changeling would walk from a side passage, or be glimpsed nearby. By the time they reached the class she was almost paranoid that they were being watched. Thorax and Sunset turned to leave, the latter having spotted the expression on most of their faces.
"We'll be back when class is over. I wish one of us could teach you, but we just aren't the best at disguising." Sunset gave a wry smile. "I will have you for magic lessons, later on." The look of relief stung Sunset, and she realized how much of her life she had been missing.
A pang of realization hit Shining, that her magic—her unicorn magic—was gone. She looked up at Sunset and nodded. "Yes ma'am." When the wall closed between then, she turned and walked over to take a seat.
Articulate waited for the last few nymphs to take their seats. "Welcome everyling, today I am going to teach you how to really be the alternate selves you have been describing to me. First thing, how many of you chose a different pony tribe to your old one?"
Watching as nearly half the class raised their hooves, Articulate smiled. "A good showing. Pretending you are something you aren't is literally what we do, but today I will show you how to back up your honeyed lies with a perfect disguise."
"You," Articulate pointed a hoof at Shining, "describe what you look like, Floating High."
"Tall and wiry, light gray fur and a big wingspan, golden-yellow mane and tail—left long and flowing—and a cutie mark of a wing with little speed lines coming off it." No sooner had Shining stopped describing the alter-ego than Articulate burned with green flame, becoming the living image of the made up pony described. "Deep voice, yellow eyes bleeding to a soft green." Another flash and the teacher's eyes were perfect.
"Is this you, Floating High?" Articulate felt a slight tension ease. Every time he slipped into a stallion's body he felt just a little thrill. "Come up here then, might as well use you for the demonstration. Nice description, remember, the more you fill in the more consistent your forms will be."
Shining walked to the front of the class, looking up at the big pegasus. "Okay, what do I do?"
"Eager? Good. Look at me, picture Floating High in your head. Don't worry if I am different than exactly how you imagined him, I want you to focus on your own pony. Got it?" Articulate waited until Shining gave a nod. "Right, pull that image deeper into your mind, hold on to it and work it until it is near your gut. You want it right about where you feel the love go when you feed."
Following the instructions, Shining pulled the image down and to where the love-magic boiled inside her. "Got it."
"Now, open your magic a little, let it shine through the image you have built." As Articulate said the words, he stepped back.
Shining felt the fire that she let go swirl around her, cloaking her from sight for a fraction of a second. Then he blinked at the crowd of nymphs in the room; he looked down at them, literally. He felt the wings on his back shoot up in alarm and surprise, heard his deep voice gasping in shock. "Wow."
"Next." Articulate pointed to Scootaloo. "You now, Light Speed. Describe your other self and then Floating High, here, is going to try to copy it. Once he has it worked out you can come up and do it."
Scootaloo blinked in panic. "Uh, sky blue fur and wing. A lightning-zap cutie mark, and r…" She froze, not wanting to make a perfect clone of Rainbow Dash. She gulped. "He has a little pink cyclone as his cutie mark."
Rainbow Dash as a young stallion, with a cyclone cutie mark. The image was an easy one for Shining, as Vinyl he had seen Scootaloo's idol many times. Fixing the image in his head, he flashed it with his magic and, again, felt the swirl of fire and his body change. "How is this?" His voice was a little feminine, having accidentally gone with the real Rainbow's, but in a smallish stallion it wouldn't be ignored.
Trotting up to the front, Scootaloo stared at Shining Armor. "That is totally awesome!" She bounced a little as she drew up beside her fellow Crusader. With the image Shining had given her, it was so easy to change to the stallion Rainbow Dash that she didn't have to think about anything but the magic itself. Green fire, a shiver of magic, and she was not a black-carapaced changeling anymore. Scootaloo spread his new wings out, and couldn't help but dive against Shining for a tight hug. "This is awesome!" His voice was almost the same as his idol's, but just a touch lower.