//------------------------------// // Credit the Prisoner // Story: Forever a Shapeshifter // by MidnightInkpaw //------------------------------// Twilight trotted out of the Chanterlot dungeon and to the royal dining area where Celestia, Luna and the rest of her friends were found eating pancakes. Twilight's presence caught the attention of everypony in the room "Good morning, Twilight. How was the visit?" Celestia asked cheerfully. "I made sure to save some pancakes for you." "Wheah! Am who mew fah pwrinsess waf a good cook!" Pinkie exclaimed with her mouth still full. "Pinkie dear, please have some manners. I know that this is a breakfast buffet and all, but please!" Rarity gagged. Twilight chuckled at both of her friend's antics. "The visit went fine, you could say. I didn't get any information on the whole Rainbow Dash situation, but I was able to, in a way, befriend it." As Twilight said the last part of the sentence, everypony reacted in their own ways. Fluttershy cocked her head and looked at her, confused. Pinkie simply smiled at her. Applejack spewed and spilled her drink. Rarity gasped and fainted on her chair. Both The Princesses just stared at her as if they knew it would happen. Applejack was the first to recover. "You what?!" "I know, I know. Iris did replace Rainbow and all, but they're really not that bad!" "It's a changeling, Twilight! An' we know better than tah' trust that- wait, 'Iris'?" Twilight blushed lightly at her carelessness for not explaining first. "I kind of named the changeling 'Iris' since I wouldn't want to keep calling it that all the time." "Twilight, dear. You do know that once you name something, you get more, ehh, how do I say this, attached to it." Rarity commented. "Well I for one saw this coming and I must say that I'm quite delighted for her to have made a new friend." Celestia smiled at her former student. "It just shows that we must not be divided by our species. And that not to judge anypony, or changeling, by how they look." "Yeah! Who knows, maybe Iris could help us look for Dashie!" Pinkie exclaimed and, for some reason, had gotten used to the name instantly. "What?! That's crazy talk! The changeling could just lure us intah' a trap! We can't afford tah' trust em'." Applejack argued. "Umm, I-I'm sorry to interrupt, but we don't even know where they took Rainbow, much less how to save her. Our only hope is the changeling. Or Iris, if you don't mind me using the name." Fluttershy explained. "Yeah, what Fluttershy said! And by the way, what I said was not crazy talk. Cause I think it would sound more like; kabluhbluhbluh hablehblehble blehblehbleh holhohlholholhol-" Pinkie's 'crazy talk' example was interrupted by an orange hoof. "We get it Pinkie." Applejack grumbled, clearly annoyed. She was replied by a muffled 'Sorry'. "Anyway," Rarity said sharply. "I think we should go with Fluttershy's idea. They might know how to find The Changeling Hive and help us save Rainbow." "I'm in!" Pinkie cried out as she jumped up about 7 feet in the air. Luckily the ceiling was high enough or Pinkie would've been stuck on the roof. "Me too." Twilight declared. "Yay." Fluttershy cheered then turned her head to look at Applejack who had a thoughtful look on her face. "What about you, Applejack?" "Hmm," Applejack hummed as she held a hoof to her chin. She looked up at her friends, each one of them had hopeful expressions. After a while, she sighed. "Ah' guess ah'll have tah' go with yer' idea. S'not like ah' have a better one." At that, everypony smiled, including the Princesses. "Good to hear. I shall arrange for each of you to visit 'Iris' and see how well you interact with them." Celestia announced. "Oh, and one of you might want to ask what their gender is too." Twilight added with a sheepish smile. "Yes, now all of you are free to do your own things, except you Twilight. I want to inform you about something." Celestia explained. Twilight just looked at her, confused. Once everypony but her, Celestia and Luna left the room, Celestia started. "My sister, Luna, believes to have spotted two suspicious ponies wandering Chanterlot. They might be a danger to you and your friends. So I advise you to be cautious." "Suspicious? What gave you the idea that they were suspicious?" Twilight asked. "I don't know how to explain it, yesterday, during my nightly patrols, I saw a bright green flash of light from one of the ally ways. I flew towards the source and saw two ponies. I tried to catch them, but they were too fast." Luna stated. "Oh, do you know how they looked like?" "Not really, one had a white coat and grey eyes, the other had a grey coat with blue eyes. I didn't see their manes." "Nothing else? How about their race?" "Oh, the white one was a pegasus, the grey one was an earth pony." "How about their cutie marks?" "I was not able to see them." "Ok, thank you, Luna." Twilight spoke. Luna simply nodded in response. "Once again, I advise you and your friends to be cautious at all times. That is all we wanted to inform about. You may go rejoin your friends." Celestia smiled as Twilight nodded and left the room. Four ponies were trotting through the hallways having a conversation. As they talked, they noticed that the hallways seemed more guarded ever since Rainbow's 'disappearance'. "What reason do ya'll think the Princesses held Twilight back?" Applejack asked in her usual southern accent. "Maybe she just wanted to inform the dear about something. There could be more changelings throughout Ponyville or Chanterlot." Rarity suggested. "But wouldn't they have attacked by now? Ah' mean, we're outta Ponyville and tha' Princesses have just know about this for two days. Ah'm goin' against yer' idea." Applejack stated, Rarity just huffed in response. "You may never know what may happen." "Girls! Wait for me!" An all too familiar voice called out. The four ponies turned to look behind them to see Twilight expectedly running to them. "Twilight!" They all shouted in unison. "What did Celestia inform you about?" Applejack asked. "She warned us to stay cautious around Chanterlot. She said that Luna saw two ponies yesterday night that might be a danger to us and other innocent ponies." As Twilight finished, Rarity flashed Applejack a smirk which drew out a groan from the farmer, Twilight wore a confused expression as she looked at her two friends. "What's going on with you two?" "Oh, nothing you should be worried about dear." Rarity insisted while stifling a giggle. Pinkie heard the conversation and laughed uproariously with Fluttershy giggling along.