Sweetie Belle awoke. She was stiff and sore from the stone floor, but had been given a blanket to keep herself warm. The once dark dungeon was now lit with several torches. While this made it appear much less foreboding, the visible emptiness pressed in on her like a polluted mire of filth and fog.
She was not alone, however. No, the voices in her head were quite clear on that point.
It was a near constant babble, a distant whisper of several dozen conversations talking around her. Some were louder than others, but most were incoherent and unintelligible. The one’s she did manage to make out were confusing and vague, seeming like random demands or reminders. None of them seemed to ever direct themselves at her though, even when she attempted to talk to them herself.
She considered the possibility that she was going crazy, or dreaming even. But the voices would stop to correct her on that point if she became too adamant. The voice was always from sompony different, at least that’s what it felt like. They would assure her she wasn’t alone or that what she felt was really happening, but it was never actually comforting to her.
The guards had opted to leave her alone last night after giving her the mirror. She was grateful for that. She hadn’t been in any state to answer questions. The unfortunate thing that she was now beginning to realize was that she didn’t know any more about her being a changeling than they did. She was a pony … or … at least that’s what she’d thought until last night. She didn’t know how she’d looked like a pony before, much less how she’d be able to change back.
Before she could continue that depressing line of thought the door to the dungeon opened, revealing the two ponies who’d come last night. “Feeling better, Little One?”Sweetie felt her ears droop and she looked to the floor.
Plain Sight conceded with a shrug. “I suppose ‘better’ would be a poor choice of wording, but this time we can at least avoid the existential nervous breakdown.”
Her partner coughed, uncomfortably. “Uhh, Boss?”
Plain Sight sighed at this. She disliked interruptions when she was interrogating a prisoner. Fortunately, that was all that needed to be said to make his point, and it was a good point to make. “I’m going to ask you some questions. Can I count on you to answer them?”
Sweetie Belle sat up and nodded. She didn’t know what she could tell them, but she didn’t want to be in jail anymore. She was a good pony, and the guards didn’t put good ponies in jail. If she could show them she was good then maybe they’d let her go, even if she was a changeling.
Sitting down, Plain Sight and her partner settled in to question her. “How long have you been in Ponyville?”
“I’ve lived here my whole …” Sweetie thought about her answer for a moment. If she was a changeling then she couldn’t have been born here. “As long as I can remember,” she answered meekly. Sweetie Belle was starting to piece together the implications of being a changeling. Since she wasn’t a pony that meant she couldn’t have been born by ponies. That meant she wasn’t really her parent’s daughter. She wasn’t really Rarity’s sister.
“How many other changelings are in Ponyville?”
The voices in her head went quiet, as if they too were interested in her answers. “I don’t know.”
The unicorn groused at this response. “We know your kind doesn’t settle down in a place alone, little one.”
“I don’t know.”
“Every time we find a changeling, a few days later several ponies go missing without a trace.” Though Plain Sight talked in a calm and level tone, it was cold and hard.“We aren’t stupid,” she continued. “This will all go a lot smoother if you just tell us.”
“I SAID I DON’T KNOW!” Sweetie bared her fangs and let out a hiss. This instinct surprised her and she cowered away from the sound. She turned her head away and slumped back onto the ground.
She heard the second guard walk away and open the dungeon entrance. Sweetie felt her ear flick upwards as two more sets of hooves approached. Figuring it was just more guards Sweetie Belle remained where she was. She didn’t know anything they wanted, and all she wanted was to go home. No one was getting anything they wanted so there was no point talking anymore. “Ahem,” a dainty voice cleared her throat but she ignored it.
“Dear me, manners certainly aren’t your forte.”
“R-Rarity?” Sweetie Bell turned. Sure enough the white form of her older sister shown through the bars of her cell. Of anything she could have imagined, this was a sight more welcome than Celestia’s own blessed sun. “Rarity!” she bolted for the bars and reached through.
Rarity took a step back.
“Rarity, help me, please.”
Rarity gave a small smile and laid down in front of the cell out of reach of the changeling. “Now, now dear, I’m here. And between you, me, and these agents here,” she said, gesturing to Plain Sight and the ‘Probie’, “we’re going to sort this whole thing out.”
Tears were filling up her eyes as she pleaded with Rarity. “I swear, I didn’t know I was a changeling. I don’t know anything about changelings. I don’t know when we were switched. Please, you have to believe me”
Rarity took a calming breath and carefully reached out her hoof to touch the small changeling’s grey hoof. Plain Sight bristled at the contact, but made no move to stop her. “Well then,” she said, “let’s start with what you do know, shall we?”
Sweetie relaxed a bit and pulled her hoof back to her side of the bars and nodded, “O-okay.” Having Rarity here seeing how she was. It felt like she could breathe again.
“Now, what’s the last thing you remember before you got here?”
“I-” she thought for a moment, “Scootaloo was getting foalnapped and, we were running from some little flying things.”
Rarity nodded. “Yes, and what happened just last week?”
The changeling grumbled at that. “You gave me a lecture because Scootaloo was having a bad day.”
Rarity scowled at that response. “That’s not true and you know it. You weren’t in trouble for helping your friend, you were in trouble for skipping school.”
“I was skipping school so I could help her.”
“Ahem,” the second guard cleared his throat and made a gesture for Rarity to get back on track. Sweetie Belle quirked an eyebrow at this interaction.
“Ahh, yes, right. Well, what about this past summer?” she asked, “Do you remember what happened between you me and Applejack?”
Why is the guard steering Rarity’s questions? She wondered Also it reminded Sweetie Belle that, even though her sister was here, she was still imprisoned. She looked to the guards, “The Sisterhooves Social,” and back at Rarity, still sitting out of reach, not up close like she’d normally do when having a discussion or heart-to-heart. “You got yourself covered in mud because I wanted Applejack to be my big sister instead of you.” Then she remembered there had been a second set of hooves and looked at the other pony. It was Twilight standing off to the side, scribbling furiously on a scroll; but she froze when the changeling made eye contact with her. “We even wrote a letter to Celestia about it, Twilight.”
Suspicion was slowly being replaced with anger as Sweetie Belle started to put the pieces together. This wasn’t a sisterly visit. They weren’t trying to “sort things out.” They didn’t care about her at all. They were doing research to learn more about changelings. They were just trying to find the ‘real’ Sweetie Bell.
“Uhh, wow, yes, umm.” Rarity paused to think. “Do you remem-“
“Save it! Rarity!” snapped the small changeling. “Let me save you the trouble. My first real friends in ponyville were Applebloom and Scootaloo. We met at Sugar Cube Corner when Diamond Tiara was having her cutecinera. Applebloom was trying to hide the fact that she was still a blank flank and was getting teased for it so Scootaloo and I stood up for her. That’s when we formed the Cutie Mark Crusaders and that’s the last memory you’ll be able to remember. You don’t care about me.”
“That’s not-”
“You’re just trying to prove to yourself that you’d notice if your sister was ever switched. Well, I don’t even know, so good luck figuring it out. I don’t know why you even bothered coming at all. I was only ever a child sized ponnequin to you anyway. Most years, if you even bothered, for my birthday you’d wrap up one of the tiny dresses from your shop saying the sizes might not be quite right because “I was growing so fast,” or that you made it too big on purpose “so I could grow into it.” I never said anything because it didn’t really matter to me. Not as much as it did to just have you pretend to care.” Sweetie Belle didn’t know when anger turned to crying but now she wiped the tears away. “I just wanted you there because you’re my sister. You’re my sister. I’m your sister, Rarity, and I still love you even though you’re doing this to me.”
The guards stepped up to Rarity and Twilight. “Okay, that’s enough,” they said and began ushering them out.
“Yes, I believe that’s enough for now,” replied Rarity, letting herself be led out of the cave.
Though Sweetie Belle was angry, the sudden declaration of departure made it feel like her heart was being squeezed in a vice. “No! Rarity!” she yelled. “Don’t go, please. I-I’m sorry. I’ll take it all back, just … just stay.”
“If you’re not going to cooperate then there’s nothing more to talk about.”
“W-what if there’s a way,” Sweetie tentatively claimed, “t-to find her?”
‘Betrayer’
‘Weak’
This statement caused Rarity to stop, pushing back against the guards. “If you can find her then why don’t you?”
“I - I’ve been hearing voices,” she admitted, “ever since I got put in here. I think it might be other changelings. I could try and ask them.” She scrunched her eyes shut, ‘Where is the other me?’ she demanded.
As she did this Sweetie Belle felt as if her mind was being pulled from her body and whisked across a great distance till she was face to face with three sets of glaring blue eyes, each the size of a manticore. From them came raspy voices, echoing through every part of her body.
‘Foolish traitor’
‘You are but a drone’
‘Cease this nonsense, or suffer’
She could still hear the ponies in the jail speaking to her. “Where is she? Where is my sister?”
“I don’t know,” she said, “they won’t tell me.”
“Try again.”
‘Where am I?’ Sweetie Belle tried to look around, but everything was black except for the eyes. ‘Where are you? What is this place?’
‘We are all pieces of the body’
‘We grow and change as necessary’
‘We’ve brought you to the mind’
She could feel sweat forming on her brow. “I can’t see anything,” she said. “They won’t let me.”
“Keep trying,” Rarity implored, “you can do it.”
The Sweetie Belle tried again, ‘Please, tell me where she is.’ A shrill whine that was more felt than heard began to fill her, sending an ache throughout her entire body.
‘You cannot make demands of US’
‘You will cease this’
‘Stop or Suffer’
‘Please, I have to know.’ The ache turned into pain. ‘TELL ME!’
‘Here they are’
A slight glow began to show behind the eyes, revealing several green cocoons with ponies trapped inside
‘You will die slowly, knowing that you’ve failed to betray the hive.’
“I see them, in a cave,” said Sweetie Belle. The pain in her head was almost unbearable. She tried to stop listening to the whine but it coursed through her form. She could feel her body becoming weak and her snout became moist with blood seeping from her nose.
“Them? There’s more? How many?”
“They could be anypony in town?”
“Are they adults, children? Do you recognize any of them?”
‘You won’t find them’
‘Not enough love to even try’
‘They’re right,’ she thought, ‘changelings need love. They’ve got several ponies for that. I haven’t got anyone.’ “I’m … I’m not strong enough.” Her legs buckled beneath her.
“Sweetie Belle,” Rarity cried, catching her through the bars of the cell.
At the contact the changeling felt strength flow in through her heart as she was pulled into her sisters’ embrace. She suddenly felt like she could do anything and focused on her one desire.
‘Where ARE they?’
The eyes suddenly grew very small and the cave lit up. She could see the ponies. The three changelings cast sickly green rays of energy at her form.
‘You insolent’
‘How’
‘KILL HER’
Images flashed by as the beams made contact; a cave, a river, Ponyville, a forest. Her mind tried to sort these out. Put them in order as she was forced back into her body. “There’s cave in the forest,” she gasped. “In the- CAHHH!” Sweetie Belle screamed and clutched her ears as a shrill sound only she could hear forced its way through her brain. Then the whole world started shaking.
“Sweetie Belle! NO!” Rarity shouted as the changeling convulsed, dropping to the floor.
“Stand back!” Twilight leveled her horn at the cell door and telekinetically ripped it off its hinges. “She’s having a seizure.”
A guard was at the jailhouse entrance “DOCTOR! NOW!”
“What grade is this horn lock?” Twilight demanded.
“B-grade. It’s the only kind that wo-”
“That’ll do. Hold her still.”
“What are you-”
“Hold her still or she’s DEAD!” Plain Sight and Rarity held the convulsing changeling as still as they could. Twilight brought her horn directly to the base of the silver plated lock and carefully pressed into the soft metal. She felt the slight give that meant she’d broken the outer seal. “Please work,” she prayed, and began channeling as much raw magic as she could through the puncture.
Horn locks were designed to feed magic back into the caster, disrupting the mana flow and breaking any spell before it could even leave the horn. The effect could leave them dazed or even unconscious, for particularly reckless individuals. That was what Twilight hoped to accomplish here. Lavender magic poured into the small space, charging the conductive alloys leading into the base of the horn. Some fed back into Twilights horn as well, but she had been trained to handle magical feedback for high-level spells. She was able to fight through the fuzz that was burning in and out of her mind.
‘Forsake this one’
‘You cannot save her’
The horn lock began to heat and warp as she continued to pour more and more mana into the small unit. Sparks began to fly from the tip of the lock as the alloys began to break down. Then Twilight felt a hoof on her withers. She stopped and removed her horn from the lock. The changeling lay there unconscious, but still clearly breathing. She looked about the cell and saw two more ponies in medical garb. “Keep her heavily sedated until I can come up with a spell to keep them out of her mind. If she wakes up, they’ll kill her.”
“Are you insane?!” demanded the doctor, “you could have given her brain damage! Or blown her horn clean off!”
“I’m aware of the risks of doing something like that with a unicorn,” Twilight shot back. Leaning down she slid the mangled horn lock off of its wearer, revealing a near perfect replica of Twilight’s horn. “I’m also aware that changeling horns naturally tune themselves to different thaumatic frequencies as part of their shape shifting.”
As the nurse moved to check on the creature’s vitals the horn slowly shifted back into the black and gnarled version that was the changeling norm. “I’m going to work on a spell to prevent her from being executed. Keep her sedated until then.”
“Whoa, whoa, hold up,” It was the probationary officer. “What do you mean executed?”
“It fits, Probie,” said Plain Sight. “That changeling was about to try and help us. She didn’t know how before but finally had incentive to try. We’ve thought it was possible but had no real proof until now. The changelings have a telepathic mind of some sort. They might even be able to use each other’s senses or even memories.”
Twilight perked up at the prospect of having somepony to bounce a brainstorm off of. “And they can use that mind to command or even kill lesser drones.”
“That explains why any captured changeling until now has died. But why not just command her to shut up?”
“The pony mind is pretty complicated, and from what I can tell changelings aren’t all that different as far as our neurological complexity is concerned. I don’t think one, or even several changelings could control everything another changeling does or says even if they wanted to. It’s possible they only communicate that way, and each individual otherwise has complete autonomy.”
“Possibly,” the guardspony conceded, “but changelings feed off of love don’t they? If she’s been living this little girl’s life for as long as she says, how did she not notice that?”
“I don’t know. It’s possible eating food is a less effective means they can use to sustain themselves if they need to and she just didn’t know any better. Or perhaps absorbing love is so innate she didn’t even notice it. They could use the energy from love as a source of magical potential like the Crystal Heart. Or perhaps their bodies just grow out of being able to get energy from food. At this point it’s all conjecture.”
“Ahem,” Rarity interjected herself. “Yes, I understand this is all quite fascinating, but shouldn’t we be gathering a search party?”
“Where would you have us search, ma’am?” asked Plain Sight. “All we know is there’s a cave in a forest with trapped ponies in it. More than likely she meant the Everfree Forest, which is hundreds of square miles and Celestia only knows how many caves to search. She could have meant White-tale Woods, Foggy Bottom Bog, or heck even Sweet Apple Acres looks kinda like a forest to me and I wouldn’t be surprised if it had a cave or two somewhere in there.”
“But … well … surely we’re not going to sit and do nothing?”
“Rarity, it’s going to be okay. Once we find a way to keep the hive from killing the changeling we’ll wake her up and she’ll tell us where your sister is.” Twilight turned to the doctor who was injecting something into the changeling. “Once you’re done with that get her to the hospital and give her a full brain scan and thaumatic profile. I’ll need copies for some of the spells I have in mind.”
“I’m also going to need coffee,” she said to no pony in particular, “lots and lots of coffee.”