//------------------------------// // Night of the Living Changelings (Twilight) Part 2 // Story: dC/dt ≠ 0 // by I Thought I Was Toast //------------------------------// Discord, damn it all! I can’t take it anymore! I’m sorry. I’ve been holding in my excitement about this report for too long! I wanted it to be more of a surprise, because no pony besides me and my friends knew exactly what happened that magical, magical, Nightmare Night, but I can’t keep it in anymore! Buck what I said earlier about committing to the costume! Buck the fact that it was Nightmare Night! Buck the night everypony basically plays changeling! None of that is the real lesson here! “Ponies of Ponyville, your votes have been counted, and I am ready to announce the winners of the Best Costume Competition!” Mayor Mare stood behind the podium with all the grace and decorum one would expect of a professional politician. It was somewhat overshadowed by the glittering, sequin dress and the enormous, faux peacock wings and tail, but she managed it nonetheless. “But first, let’s give a round of applause to our judges!” “Oh, my….” Fluttershy shrunk in her seat as the mish-mash of gathered ponies began to stomp their hooves – the large orange afro acting as her lion’s mane all but swallowing her up in the process. “Can y’all believe they asked us to judge, girls?!” The dangling eye stalk, ‘rotting’ flesh, and mass of scars pegged Applebloom as a ghoul. “Yeah!” Sweetie Belle squealed, shuffling in her clanky metal costume. “I mean— Beep! Boop! They usually only let adults do that! Bzzrt!” “I can believe it…” Scootaloo grumbled. She was dressed in black, plastic armor with a number of holes in the hooves. Her helmet and blue goggles had long been abandoned. “They have enough flies buzzing around without me adding to everything.” I paused in my applause to giggle at that, casting my gaze over the assembled ponies. There was a lot of black, hole-filled plastic this year. “How did you even get the materials for all these?” I turned to Rarity, and gestured to a nearby gaggle of foals coated in the faux chitin. “I may not flaunt it, darling, but I have been making connections.” Rarity fluttered her eyelashes at me. “There’s also a lot a mare can do when she’s one of the few with access to changeling silk.” She turned to Morpheus. “Thank you so much for that, by the way.” He shrugged as the applause began to die down. “It was the least I could do.” “First, the winner of the best foal’s costume is…” Mayor Mare opened the envelop with all the fanfare one would expect of a peacock, “...Errant!” “I won?” A small, white unicorn with a blue mane in plastic purple armor poked his head out from the veritable sea of black plastic that was his friends. “I won! I won! I just knew Shining Armor would beat a swarm of changelings!” They— He? I wasn’t sure at the moment. He – at least, until I asked Mo – galloped up to the podium where the mayor pinned a blue ribbon holding a small, black medal in the shape of the former Mare in the Moon onto his faux peytral. “Look, Uncle Mo Mo! I won!” He waved to us, beaming as the crowd applauded – well, most of the crowd, as there were a few ‘changelings’ who were muttering under their breath. “I’m don’t know whether to be relieved or not….” Rarity sighed, sheet billowing slightly as she momentarily slumped. “On one hoof, I didn’t have anything to do with his costume – despite how well-crafted it is. On the other, every single foal that wanted my help this year asked to be a changeling. It was quite… draining to make each and every one with a smile on my face. “You—” Rarity tittered, “—mister Prince Charming, are very popular indeed.” “Is it his costume?” I pondered aloud, looking up at the moon. “I mean, he’s normally a them, so that might suggest it’d be their costume, but—” I turned to Mo, “—you don’t really protest when I use feminine pronouns for Snow Flurry.” Mo thrummed. “Well, technically, it should be he as he is disguised as Shining right now.” “Really, you’re just ignoring the popular comment?” Rarity huffed. Mo shrugged. “Ve don’t think it’s me everypony is interested in. Errant’s really popular with almost every foal in town by now, so it only makes sense they’d all emulate them. The Echo triplets and Webber have also been doing a lot, so it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s why some of the adults went for it. Me? I’m just the big, scary son of Chrysalis who’s in charge of everyling.” Rarity laughed – not manically, or with reserved, ladylike grace, but normally for once.  It was a laugh full of silver bells. “What did I say?” Morpheus tilted his head slightly. “Darling, you really are clueless sometimes. The things I hear during fittings… I can assure you that at least half the stallions I made changeling costumes for are pretending to be you right now.” There was a snort from Mo. “Oh, really?” “Yes, really.” Even as a sheet, Rarity’s smirk was somehow fabulous. “And that’s not even counting the orders some of my other boutiques received. Did you really think you could steal the heart of fair Twilight here and not make the blood of every stallion in the nation boil with envy?” One could hear the tongue sticking out childishly, even if she was too proper to actually follow through on it. “This is a night for many a stallion to pretend to be as lucky as you, Morpheus, dear.” I felt my own blood start to boil as I blushed. “Well, too bad for them!” Mo sidled up next to me, entwining his tail in mine. “The fairest mare in all the land is mine and mine alone!” Then he brushed his lips against my cheek, and my heart hammered against my chest. Everypony around us froze at the sight, the silence so great that I could hear each muted gasp of surprise – pins driving themselves into my burning ears. “Did he just?” “He did! He did!” “But they never…” “In public?” “Oh my gosh, look at her face! That’s headline material there! Tell me you got that!” The loud crunch of metal and plastic as Hera dropped from the sky broke me from my trance. I turned to find Prince Char— Wicked— Mo waiting with azure eyes, cautiously studying my reaction. Say something… anything! I opened my mouth to speak. “Mo—” “Well,” the voice of Mayor Mare called out, derailing my thoughts, “I guess we have a new winner for the couple’s contest, folks! Sorry, Lyra and Bon Bon, but it seems you’ve just been upstaged! Judges!” “Oh my! Oh my! Oh my!” Fluttershy was a small, red and pink vibrating ball. “Yes!” Suddenly shooting into the air, she did a loop, before seeing that everypony’s stares had shifted to her. Fluttering down with a sheepish smile, she quietly hid under the table. “Well, Ah don’t know…” Applebloom smirked, “...it was an awfully little thang. Maybe… if you show us some more sugar?” “Oh, hush, you.” Sweetie slugged her fellow crusader in the shoulder. “That moment was perfect, and you know it.” “Meh… I’m with Bloom.” Scootaloo waved a hoof noncommittally. “I mean, what are they? Twelve?” I began to giggle nervously as they looked at me expectantly. “Heheh— woah!” Morpheus on the other hoof, did not hesitate. Sweeping me off my hooves, he twirled me round and round, my flared wings letting me glide through the air around him. His lips didn’t actually meet mine, but our heads were so close that I doubted anypony could tell.  He stared into my eyes – his own dancing with mischief. This was totally payback for teasing him about all his worrying, wasn’t it? Some weird passive-aggressive changeling way to say, ‘I know how to have fun,’ wasn’t it? I was so going to think of a way to get him for this. As soon as enough blood made it back to my brain to think straight, that is. Between the burning blush over my whole body and my heart nearly bursting through my ribs, I was probably lucky that I was coherent enough to even think about vengeance. I really should have been a quivering puddle of pony right now. Oh. Nevermind. There went my legs. “The winners!” I felt a small prick on my chest. A medal? When had I made it to the stage? How had I made it to the stage? “Sorry, everypony!” Ah, Mo’s comforting thrum. Why was it beneath me? “I guess I turned up the charm a bit too much.” Would it sound the same after I throttled him? Still, everypony giggled at his stupid joke – even me. Why was I giggling? I didn’t know. Clearly, I must be broken. “So I may have just taken things a little too far,” Morpheus was whispering to… somepony…. “I dare say you didn’t go far enough!” Rarity – yeah,that’s who it was – tittered. “I saw how your lips were but a hair’s breadth apart.” “Hive-forsaken eye for detail,” Morpheus muttered. “I swear, if you ask for something more, I’ll kiss you and drag you down with us.” Rarity gasped. “You wouldn’t dare! The scandal alone—” “Isn’t anything Twilight and I haven’t already dealt with.” A dangerous yet inaudible purr vibrated up from beneath me. “You, however, have managed to mostly avoid things by having your connections push that there’s no proof.” “You— You—” Rarity huffed. The soundless purr progressed to a low, menacing thrum. There probably wasn’t anypony other than myself and Rarity close enough to hear it. “I can play the game just as well as you, Rarity. Don’t assume you’re the only pro just because you’ve caught me by surprise so far.” I felt Mo arch his back beneath me – his soft, furry back. How much time and magic had he put in the illusions for tonight? The tactile aspect of his disguises was rarely this complete. “Anyways, I think I’m going to take Twilight back and let her relax before the party. “She’s probably had enough of you crazy ponies for now.” It was more that I’d had enough of a certain changeling, but when I tried to point that out all I could manage was some strangled squeaking. “Twilight? Twilight?! Please wake up, Twilight!” I felt myself being set down on something soft. Had I been asleep? It was so hard to tell. My thoughts were still foggy for some reason. That had to be important, but… mhmm… warm, soft bed with a cool, hard changeling. “Twilight! Twilight, listen to me!” I closed my eyes again to dream of all the things I could do with a nice, hard changeling. “Alright, Twilight! You asked for it!” My lethargy was suddenly burned away by a warm, slick, and extremely long tongue sticking itself down my throat. My eyes snapped open to meet Morpheus’, and I had an agonizingly long moment of déjà vu as memories from the Everfree flashed before my eyes. Without thinking, I bodily yanked him away from me – flinging him into the wall with my telekinesis. “Wha— Wha— Wha— What are you doing?!” “Oh, thank the hive, you’re back to your senses.” Morpheus groaned from his new groove in the wall. “Ve were half-worried the transfer would make things worse.” Breathe. Breathe. Go through Cadance’s exercise. There was bound to be a logical explanation if I waited long enough. Now. Calmly question the situation. “What the buck?!” Yes. The Royal Canterlot Voice seemed appropriately calm considering I wanted to use the ‘To the Sun’ voice. The walls cracked, and Morpheus fell to the floor, cowering – cringing away from me. Maybe… maybe that was too much…. “I’m so, so sorry….” He shivered, tears dampening the ground before him. His echo fractured like broken glass scraping into my soul. “Please believe me when I say I didn’t mean to. I didn’t even realize I was doing it! You were just so… so... k’re-t’ched….” “C-calm down, Mo.” I hesitantly set a hoof on his withers, but he flinched away. “Just… just tell me what happened.” He squirmed beneath me, and I tried to smile to make him feel better. “I—” He took in a deep, shuddering breath. “I fed on you— No, I overfed on you. The only way to fix it was with an… enzyme exchange.” “I-I’m sorry…. What?” I blinked. “I don’t…” He looked at anywhere but me. “You’ve been having little… pseudo-crushes ever since we went to the Crystal Empire. I didn’t want to say anything, because they weren’t anything really substantial, but tonight… you were just so… k’re-t’ched….” That was— I didn’t know how to— K’re-t’ched? I had to ask. “Morpheus… what does that really mean?” “Beautiful…” his voice was a soft hiss that made my ears burn. “You think I’m… beautiful?” I bit my lip. Must. Not. Panic. “How long have you felt that way?” He closed his eyes and sighed. “I don’t know. Ve want to simply say it was an anomaly tonight, but the truth is I’ve been struggling to figure this out for a while. Who can say when it really happened?” I felt the panic rising. “I… I don’t…” “I know.” He smiled – Discord damn it all, he smiled. “Why do you think I never said anything? No reason for both of us to freak out.” “But you said I had crushes!” I was hyperventilating. “Nothing more than buds – not even a full bloom.” He finally looked at me, only for me to be the one to look away. “It was never enough to mean anything, especially if you didn’t even realize you had them.” “I— I— I—” The room was spinning. “Twilight, calm down. Breathe.” His voice washed over me. And I breathed. “Look at me.” And I looked – deep into his eyes. “Talk to me.” And I talked. I poured all the jumbled feelings rushing through my head out as I stared into his eyes. Silence pervaded the room except for our occasional sniffles. My heart went on and on. I didn’t even know what I was saying to him, just that I needed to say it and he was willing to listen. Finally, he shakily rose to his hooves, and crossed the room to the edge of my bed. There, he touched his horn to mine, and it glowed with that shade of verdant green, the one I had once been foalishly frightened of. The taste of daffodils and daisies danced over my tongue – my favorite – and without thinking I parted my mouth for more as our lips met. Our tongues glided over each, and orange blossoms joined the daffodils and daisies already waltzing across my taste buds. Was that what I tasted like to him? Did I taste like oranges? Or was I the daffodils? The taste of oranges increased, and his tongue pushed forward in response – the taste of daffodils and daisies growing stronger in kind. Part of me was freaking out – anxious and afraid things might go too far – and icy cold lemonade poured from his throat to mine. As time went on, and I failed to find a hint of leather, the frigid beverage slowed from a deluge to a trickle, eventually fading from existence. It was just me and him, sharing our feelings with one another. Eventually, though, we had to part – gasping for breath. “Just…” I couldn’t. “Wow….” he finished. My bedroom was quickly littering with room keys as the lights flickered on and off, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. “Twilight…” Mo whispered in a hiss almost too soft to hear, “…thank you. I don’t think I can ever really say it enough after tonight. Ve’ve… ve’ve been so worried that all my progress was just a lie, but now I can see just how close we’ve gotten over the past few months…. I—” he choked a bit, “—I can imagine something more….” He bit his chops. “And, if I can imagine something more with you... then everything I’ve done – all the friends I’ve made – must really mean something.” There was a flash of light and a cackle. “Oh, by the First Father, do you see that, Twilight?” As the light cleared, he pointed to his flank: to the rune etched into his chitin. I gasped. “Is that?” “It’s the Chi’tri symbol for love and friendship.” He was cackling madly now. “The exact meaning depends on the intonation, but I just know Mother is never going to let that go when she finds out.” Small strands of silk began to stretch out of the holes in his hooves with a life of their own, and they clung to everything around them: the wall, the floor, my bed. On and on, Mo cackled as he was glued to my bedroom and slowly wrapped in a slightly pulsing, green cocoon. At some point, I started laughing too. He was entering the next Chrysaling, after all – that greatest of moments only comparable to the day I got my cutie mark. Hay, he had sort of gotten one of those too, although that was just part of the process this time. This was a time for joy. As the silk reached his neck, he stopped cackling at the ceiling to look at me with a grin. “Promise me you’ll be here when I come out.” “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” I smiled softly, going through the sacred motions. “See you on the other side.” “See you on the other side.” The last things I saw before he was completely cocooned were his eyes staring deeply into mine.