//------------------------------// // Exploration // Story: Does it matter if I am a changeling or not? // by General Sparky //------------------------------// Ponyville streets "So who should we target first?" Sparky asked. "I don't know." Thorax replied, while walking slowly behind Sparky. "Thorax, is something wrong?" Sparky asked, noticing that Thorax seem not himself lately. "Nothing Sparky, it's just that I'm thinking of... nah, it's nothing important." Thorax replied, not wanting to involve Sparky in his own thoughts. "Are you sure it's not important?" Sparky asked, concerned for what is bothering Thorax. "Yes." Thorax replied, while trying (and failing) to maintain a positive attitude that Sparky had. "You do not look and feel like 'it's not important'. Do you need something to cheer you up?" Sparky asked, trying to cheer up Thorax. "Feel? Really Sparky, I thought you knew better than to resort to that." Thorax replied, showing a slight smile on his face. "What are you gonna do about it? Remove my need to know what you feeling deep down inside?" Sparky asked, trying to lighten up the mood. Thorax was about to reply but was cut off by Sparky, "Before you reply, you cannot remove that concern I have for you, Thorax. So I will ask you again, are you sure it's not bother you?" Thorax stood there, deep in thought about what Sparky had said. Meanwhile, Sparky started to give a comforting glance to Thorax, mentally reminding him that he is not alone in dealing with it. "It just that everything is happening so fast, I am confused by everything and yet you seem so optimistic about what is going on and it looks like you know how to handle the situation better than I do. I am just wondering if my presence here is just hindering yours." Thorax explained. Sparky was taken aback by Thorax statement that she nearly tripped on her hooves. Thorax looked at Sparky, wondering how she will react. "Thorax, how could you say such a thing? You are not hindering anything. It is natural for you to be confused. If it makes you feel better, I myself did not expect us to flee the hive successfully and yet here we are." Sparky paused to point to their surroundings and continued, "I look like I know what I am doing but the truth is that I am just as confused as you are." "You don't look that way." Thorax rebutted. "We are changelings, what we appear is not what we are inside." Sparky replied while pointing to her disguise. Thorax gave an understanding nod and did not reply. Sparky gave Thorax some room to think while keeping a lookout for any victim to prey on. Thorax stare at Sparky and started to wonder if her time in captivity has made her wiser. Sparky did not catch Thorax's stare and spotted two ponies going into an alley. Sparky signaled Thorax to follow her. Thorax's thoughts was abruptly halted and quickly ran to keep up with Sparky. Sparky stalked the couple to the dark alley and stopped to hide behind a building's wall and continued to monitor their actions. They were talking about something that she could not hear. Out of the blue, Thorax, unable to stop in time, crashed into Sparky, exposing her to the two ponies she was monitoring. "Um, hi?" Sparky said, before she started to run away but got levitated by a unicorn. "What do we have here?" An earth pony asked. Sparky mentally yelled and try desperately to escape. Thorax could do nothing but stand there watching Sparky getting caught. The unicorn has a blue coat and grey mane while the earth pony has a yellow coat and blue mane. "What are you doing here? Are you monitoring us?" the earth pony asked. Sparky quickly replied, "No." "Then what are you doing here?" the unicorn asked angrily. Instead of replying, Sparky stare at the unicorn and sense what he is feeling. Sparky thought, 'He is feeling mainly anger at this point, better not anger him further.' Sparky purposely say, "I am here because I like you?" "You like me? That disgusting." the unicorn replied. Sparky look at the earth pony and saw that her face was filled with shock and disgust. The unicorn release her magic and place her on the ground. The unicorn said, "Go away, I never want to see you again." "As you wish." Sparky replied, and quickly ran back to Thorax and grab him and ran as fast as she can. After she got a distance away from the alley, she release her hold on Thorax. Sparky saw Thorax trying to recover from her forceful run and smiled. "Sparky, are you insane? You could have get us captured!" Thorax yelled. "I am not insane! I did what I have to!" Sparky shouted. "Are you sure?" Thorax asked, doubting Sparky's statement. "Yes. I have manage to capture some positive emotions during that incident." Sparky said. "Say what now?" Thorax asked, not believing that Sparky could do that. "During the standoff, the unicorn was showing care for his mare friend. That is why he was angry for me to intrude on it. All I had to do was secretly absorb his love for the mare while being levitated. After I had enough, I said that I like him, so they would want to release me, and that is how they did not find out that I have gotten some sweet love energy from them." Sparky explained, her eyes gleaming with pride that she was able to consume some yummy love energy from the couple despite the situation being a bit tense. "Wow. I never thought of that, how can you think of that in such a short amount of time?" Thorax asked, amazed at what Sparky did. "I did not think of it, I react to the circumstance and making it to my advantage." Sparky said. In the midst of her statement, Thorax's stomach gave a short rumble, signalling that he was still hungry. Sparky took note of this and look at Thorax with her eyes full of of concern and ask, "Are you hungry?" Thorax look away from Sparky to hide his face in shame and said softly, "Yes. Very hungry." Sparky put a hoof under his face and turn it such that Thorax's eyes were looking at her. Sparky asked, "Thorax, do you mind if I give you my love energy?" "No. But that would mean that you need to..." Thorax replied, but was cut off by what Sparky did next. Sparky brought their heads together and gently kiss Thorax, transferring most of her love energy to Thorax. Both Thorax and Sparky felt a bit tingly due the fact that love energy is being transferred for both changelings. This lasted for a whole solid minute, but for the both of them, it felt like hours before their lips were separated. Sparky look extremely exhausted by the action while Thorax look recharged and full of energy. Thorax and Sparky stare at each other, both enjoying the close comfort of each other. Neither of them wants the moment to end but fate has other plans. The sun started to rise high in the sky, which signal that it was noon. Upon seeing the sun high in the sky, Sparky and Thorax broke eye contact with each other and step one hoof back away from each other. "So, are you full now?" Sparky asked while she was starting to blush. "Yes. No matter how many time you do it, I will never get used to that feeling." Thorax said, while he is also starting to blush a little. "So, I guess we better head back to Derpy's house." Sparky said. "Do you want to do it just like old times?" Thorax asked, while showing a grin on his face. "You mean...." Sparky said, hoping that what he said was real.. "Yes." Thorax replied. "Then what are we waiting for? This ling gotta fly!" Sparky exclaimed. Thorax quickly got on Sparky's back and grip her tightly. "Let's take to the sky!" Thorax said and Sparky flew to their destination. Meanwhile...... Derpy has just finish delivering mail and is now waiting for her daughter to come out from school. While she is waiting, she took a muffin out of her bag and ate it. As she finish eating the muffin, the school bell rang and all the students ran out of the classroom, excited that school was over. After a pile of fillies and colts passed her, she finally saw DInky. Dinky ran towards her mother and managed to land in Derpy's hooves. "Mum, how your day?" Dinky asked while hugging Derpy. "It's great, all the letters went to the ponies homes on time! So how your day at school?" Derpy asked. "It was great, I even made this nice family painting in class!" Dinky took out a painting of her and Derpy on a plain field with a rainbow at the top of it. "It's wonderful, Dinks!" Derpy exclaimed while putting the painting in her bag. "I wonder our new visitors are doing." Dinky said. "I think they did fine, so let's see how are they." Derpy said, being optimistic about the changeling situation. Dinky hopped on her mother's back and they flew to their house. Derpy's house Sparky landed at Derpy house and waited for Derpy. Sparky planted her hooves and the ground and ask, "How was the ride, captain?" "It was spot on! I don't think I could get used to be on your back and getting a free ride." Thorax said. "Next time it's your turn Thorax." Sparky teased. "How dare you!" Thorax joked. The two changelings broke up laughing. They laughed so hard that Thorax almost fall off Sparky. "What is so funny?" Derpy asked as she landed with Dinky on her back. Sparky and Thorax continue to laugh without noticing Derpy. "Let's leave them to it, they seem pretty happy." Dinky suggested. Derpy gave a nod in agreement. Derpy open the door and enter inside, leaving the two changelings outside to laugh till their hearts content. After a while, Sparky and Thorax stop laughing and Sparky noticed that the door was open. Sparky ran inside and quickly closed the door behind her. Derpy had already dropped her bag and Dinky on the sofa before two changelings were inside. "Sparky, how was your day?" Derpy casually asked. "It was great!" Sparky replied. Since she is now is an enclosed environment, Sparky asked, "Is it okay if we drop our disguises?" "It's okay." Derpy replied as she went upstairs to take something. Sparky and Thorax drop their disguises, revealing their chitin coat. "It feels so great to be out of disguise again." Sparky stated. "I agree, I feel do bad to be lying to ponies. Now that we are out of it, I feel so much better." Thorax added. "What does it feel like to be in disguise and out of disguise?" Dinky asked, intrigued by the way that changelings could disguise as anything . "Well, it like putting on clothes that cover your entire body. I don't normally do this but do you want to experience it yourself?" Sparky asked. "Can I?" Dinky asked, excited to experience it herself. "Yes." Sparky replied confidently. "Then I would like to experience it." Dinky said, internally screaming with excitement of what is going to happen. "Stand still." Sparky said, as she prepare and fire the spell. Dinky's body suddenly was surrounded by purple flames and changed to a mare which is taller, have misaligned eyes and a golden mane and grey coat. "Woah." Dinky said, it's feels great to put on a disguise, even if it is her mom. "I am changing you back...now" Sparky said as she fired a second spell. The second spell changed Dinky from her Derpy disguise back to Dinky. "Oh, come on, I was just enjoying it." Dinky complained, only having a few seconds changing disguise and staying in that disguise. However, Sparky did not reply. Sparky crawl to the sofa, dropping Thorax and panted. "Do you think a spell like that doesn't take energy? I use almost a day worth of love energy to do it." Sparky said, almost collapsing entirely. 'clank, clank, clank' Sparky, Thorax and Dinky look alarmed, the clanking sound only got stronger. 'clank,clank,clank' 'Is that the clanking of armor?' Sparky thought, despite being physically too tired to do anything about it. The first clue as to where the clanking came from is the golden horse shoe coming down the stairs. 'Is that... no it can't be.' Sparky thought, whereas Thorax and Dinky could only stare at the pony coming down the stairs. As the figure walk down the stairs, more clues were given. The figure had grey hooves and a golden chest plate. Thorax and Dinky stare in awe as they try to tell themselves it is not real, while Sparky gave a faint smile, knowing what was going to happen. "Derpy, is that you?" Sparky asked to lighten the mood. "Yes." Derpy replied. Derpy halted midway down the stairs. "Promise me that you will not be scared of me in armor." Derpy said. Dinky couldn't believe it was actualy real but replied that she promised anyway. Thorax also cannot believe that this was real, so he also promised anyway. Sparky promised as well. Sparky already knew roughly what Derpy was gonna look like since she saw the figurine but for the other two, their only thought is 'How scary could Derpy be?' Upon receiving their promise Derpy ran down the stairs and right in front of the trio. Derpy timidly asked, "So how do I look?" Thorax and Dinky hug each other in fear of the pony standing right in front of them. Gone was the clumsy, caring mother and muffin loving pony. It was replaced by a pony that was serious, having a ready to kill look and definitely not a muffin loving pony. Derpy sighed, she knew this would happen. Derpy said, "Whether are you scared of me, I promise to explain why I am a royal guard and I am going to fulfill that promise now." Sparky smiled and thought 'This is gonna be an long day, isn't it?' By the way Royal Guard Derpy look like this: