“Sorry I’m late,” Zodiac says as he bursts into the room. “I got detained on my way back this morning from Elysium.” He notices the surprised reactions from Spiral, Sunbolt and Cloudstitch and grows confused himself. “What?”
“Where’s Oak Tree?” Spiral asks.
“ ‘Oak Tree’?” Before continuing, Zodiac notices Twilight in the room, jogging his memory. “Oh, you mean Twilight’s young friend! Yeah, I met her yesterday afternoon on my way to Elysium. She seemed nice enough.” Zodiac feels the tension in the room mounting. “Is everything all right with her? Where is she?”
“You mean the little changeling that you allowed to escape?” Sunbolt dryly comments.
“Changeling? That I allowed to …” Zodiac stammers for a response. “What are you talking about?”
“That’s enough, Sunbolt,” Cloudstitch calmly states before turning to Twilight. “I believe, though, that you know more than you’ve let on. Please, enlighten us.”
An uncomfortable feeling grips Twilight as she meekly responds to Cloudstitch’s request. “We … Ocellus and I, we met up with another changeling last night. She asked me not to share that information with you.”
Sunbolt opens his mouth to respond, but Cloudstitch beckons him to remain silent. “This is rather important information; you really felt it necessary to hide this from us?”
“She seemed nervous,” Twilight answers. “More than that … she felt afraid of how you all would react. And judging by how you are all reacting now …” she continues, her eyes narrowing.
Spiral speaks: “Afraid of us? A changeling? Maybe she’s too young to remember what they were like, but we certainly haven’t forgotten.”
“So … you have seen changelings before,” Twilight states.
“Long ago … shortly after these towns’ foundings, and well before the creation of the Alicorn Society. They must have been a reconnaissance crew; there weren’t many, and only a hoofful of us noticed them, but we knew that they knew of us. We prepared defenses for a larger-scale attack, but we were fortunate never to have to use those defenses. All these years later, though, it appears that they’ve returned. And you’re helping them!”
“Wait, wait,” Twilight states. “You’re telling me that you saw a couple changelings many moons ago, then nothing for many more moons, and now that they’re reformed, they’re back with the purpose of attacking you?”
Twilight’s question silences Spiral.
“Once a changeling, always a changeling,” Sunbolt asserts. “Their kind cannot be trusted.”
Twilight turns to Sunbolt as she attempts to keep her temper under control. “And what about you, Sunbolt? Have you forgotten what you and the earth ponies here have been through? How can you of all ponies be so quick to judge?”
“I’m still a pony! You’re comparing apples to poisoned mushrooms by your insinuations!”
Twilight turns away from Sunbolt as she chews on her tongue. She then turns to Zodiac. “The first time I was here, you told me about ‘logic bombs’ occurring in the towns. Tell me; have you had any since Pinkie and I left?”
Having processed the entirety of the conversation, Zodiac responds. “As a matter of fact, yes we have. Not many, really, but enough to question what was going on. We had already acclimated to the presence of the earth ponies and the inclusion of Elysium into the collection of the triple towns, so we had no further explanation … until now, anyway.”
“Then it’s possible that—”
Twilight’s response is interrupted by the presence of a tan alicorn with a dark-brown mane and tail. “Cloudstitch, we just received some disturbing news.”
The fivesome in the room turn to the alicorn. “Go ahead,” Cloudstitch beckons.
“Our pegasus contacts report that an alicorn was found flying toward the Paradise inn, along with a younger pegasus.”
The news causes the other faux-alicorns to murmur concerns. Twilight looks around, confused. “What’s the problem?”
Zodiac quickly addresses Twilight. “It’s a long-standing policy for members of the Alicorn Society not to engage in either flying or magic. A basis tenet of the Society is anonymity regarding pony type; only those in closest confidence with each other may know a member’s true type.”
Twilight recalls her first encounter with Zodiac … and how he swore her to secrecy before revealing that his own wings were fake.
Sunbolt addressed the tan alicorn. “Inform our contacts to surround the Paradise inn; I don’t want any unicorn, pegasus, earth pony, insect, or any other creature to go in or out of there until we rendezvous.” The tan alicorn nods and departs as Sunbolt turns to the others. “We’re ending this once and for all.”
“What do you mean ‘ending this’?” Twilight asks.
“It’s a matter of security and honor … sorry, but some things aren’t solved by friendship,” Sunbolt asserts as he exits the room, the other alicorns following.
“All of you???”
Cloudstitch turns to Twilight as the others exit the room. “There is much animosity towards changelings here … and even though I can sympathize with your plight, I cannot stem this tide alone. But we’ll be hoofing it to Paradise, so you have some time.”
“Time to do what?”
“I wish I knew.” Cloudstitch then exits the room to catch up with the others.
Alone in the room, Twilight ponders the recent events for a moment. With a ‘pop’, she then teleports herself out.
Ocellus smiles sheepishly, accepting of the praise but cautious as to their motives. “Now can you tell me why you’re here?”
“Of course,” Coccyx quickly states, “you’ve more than proven yourself to us. The truth is—”
A loud pop interrupts Coccyx’s response, as the four changelings all turn to a corner of the room. All are stunned to see Twilight staring back at them, displaying a look of determination and fear.
“You have five minutes to explain everything you can to me, before the Society breaks down the door!”
Ocellus, along with Tarsus and Carpus, stare in silence as Coccyx turns to face Twilight. “So they figured me out, huh?”
“The ‘alicorns’ here don’t reveal their true nature; your flying gave you away,” Twilight quickly explains, “but that’s not important right now. They’re on their way, and right now they don’t have ‘friendship’ on their mind.”
Coccyx sighs. “No, I suppose they wouldn’t. ‘Once a changeling’, right? Pharynx was right; sometimes I think it was simpler during the time of Chrysalis.”
The comment catches Twilight off-guard. “So they’re right about you wanting to … drain …”
“NO, no, a thousand times no … it’s their perception of us, just like old times, but it’s not reality.”
“So what is?” Twilight asks of Coccyx.
“The reality is no one respects us changelings anymore. Not the dragons, not the yaks, certainly not the majority of ponies we’ve come across since the Transformation. Oh sure, Thorax has the best of intentions … and bless him if his hopes ever come to fruition … but when Pharynx called the Hive out for being soft, we should have been more heedful.”
“But you’re not the creatures you used to be,” Twilight comments.
“We know that,” Coccyx states, “but ponies don’t have a dark history that goes back thousands of moons. There’s a stigma that we changelings have to overcome. And hey, I tried … I really did. I came back here to foster relations with this town.”
“So you knew of this place,” Ocellus says, finding her voice. “How? When?”
“Before the Transformation,” Coccyx says as he turns to the young changeling. “Indeed, before Chrysalis planned the whole wedding invasion. We changelings have been around long before you came into this world.” A forlorn look comes over the elder changeling’s visage. “They weren’t exactly the ‘good old days’, flying from town to town, draining the life out of sentient creatures … but we did what we had to do to survive.”
“You’ve … invaded this area?”
“No … we came, a number of us, sent here by the queen to seek out possible targets. But as you know, we fed off love and friendship.” Coccyx chuckles. “There wasn’t much of that the last time we were here.”
Ocellus reflects on her trip with Twilight in the balloon. “Twilight told me she thought this whole area was created solely for a textbook on logic. The text referred to strife among the unicorns and pegasi, but I had no idea it would have been that bad.”
“In any case,” Coccyx continues, “I thought of this place after the Transformation took hold. And really, I was fascinated by the idea. I came back here partially due to Thorax’s ideals about spreading our new-found beliefs on friendship, and partially due to the mystique with their logic-obsessed culture.”
Twilight muses for a moment. “… but you weren’t ready for just how severe the effects of logic lapses would be. Were you.”
Coccyx’s head bows. “The first time it happened was right here in Paradise. I figured this place wasn’t ready for changelings, even reformed ones, and as there were so many pegasi around, I thought it safe to become one and tour the area. First time somepony asks, I mention that I’m not from Paradise; next thing I know, the pony up and collapses right in front of us. I panicked and flew off. Days later, I hear the grumblings about my kind. And that hurt … it really did. I returned to the Hive to recruit others to help me out.”
Ocellus turns to Tarsus and Carpus. “That would be the two of you?”
“We were part of the initial scout team, along with Coccyx,” Tarsus explains. “Neither of us thought much about this place, either before or after the Transformation … but Coccyx asked for us to join him after his initial return.”
“He was real sincere,” Carpus adds. “And as events in the Hive were stagnating a bit, we obliged.”
“We’ve been here for some moons now,” Coccyx states, “and we’ve been getting better at figuring out what to and what not to say. But we still hear the grumblings, mostly from those holier-than-thou so-called alicorns. They’ve been isolated from the rest of society for so long, they refuse to even consider that the changelings have actually changed. It’s been a tough stretch.”
A thought comes to Twilight. “What about last night. You must’ve known what would happen by claiming to be a unicorn not from Utopia.”
“I’m not proud of this,” Coccyx says, “but I’ve learned that, should I need to steal away in a pinch, dropping a logic bomb … I think that’s how they refer to it … can let me bear a hasty retreat. I was exhausted after another long day of charades, and didn’t want to have a long conversation, least of all with another member of that ‘society’.” He turns to Ocellus. “I certainly didn’t expect to be called out on my comment, and REALLY didn’t expect to find another changeling … especially the one hoof-picked by Thorax to be sent off to Ponyville.”
“And what about your talk of an incursion,” Ocellus asks.
“We want to make our presence here known,” Coccyx replies. “I’m tired of having to masquerade as so many different ponies. I want these towns open to changelings, as a start to fostering better relations between ponies and our kind. Succeed here, and word could spread quickly.” He then frowns. “But how can we expose ourselves to this populace now? All that would cause is panic.”
“I don’t mean to rush you,” Carpus calls out as he gazes through a window, “but we’re about to have company.”
“Alicorns?”
“They’re on the pathway and close to entering the town proper; we got maybe a couple minutes before they show up at our door.”
“Maybe we should just give up,” Coccyx dejectedly admits. “Fly away and cut our losses.”
“I got a better idea,” Twilight states. “I suggest we converse with them in a language they’ll better understand …”
Sunbolt bangs hard on the door to a room in the Paradise inn. “We know you’re in there, changeling! Open the door, or it’ll be worse for you than it already is!”
He raps the door several more times with his forehoof before turning behind him to address his fellow alicorns. “I’ll give them another minute, then I’m breaking down that door.”
“What about Ocellus?” Zodiac asks with concern.
“Young or old, does it really matter?” Sunbolt callously responds. “We can’t have another changeling invasion. They need to know they’re not welcome in these towns.”
Cloudstitch opens her mouth to respond, but as she does the door opens. Sunbolt rushes in.
“OK, you got 5 seconds to … uh …”
Sunbolt quiets down as he comes face to face with Twilight. Turning to his left, he sees that she is standing next to Twilight, who in turn is also standing next to Twilight. He turns to his right to see two more Twilights.
As the other alicorns file in, Cloudstitch is unable to suppress a giggle as the others take in the spectacle.
“Twilight?” Zodiac hesitantly asks.
“Yes?” All five Twilights answer in unison.
“Ocellus, are you part of this?” Spiral asks. The five Twilights turn to each other, then all face Spiral and nod.
“This is ridiculous,” Sunbolt states, irritation in his voice. “I want the real Twilight Sparkle to step forward this instant!”
“Do you talk to all alicorn princesses this way?” the Twilight on the far left asks. “Where’s the friendship in that tone?”
“In any case,” the Twilight on the far right continues, “the changelings are our friends now, and friends don’t abandon each other.”
“But if it would help to break the ice,” the second-in-line Twilight adds, “the five of us have a test for you.”
“Not far removed from the tests you give others,” the fourth-in-line Twilight states.
The center Twilight grins as her eyes narrow. “Or are you unable to prove your own worth?”
“What?” Sunbolt takes a step back and eyes each of the Twilights as his anger ebbs. “OK, you got my attention. What do you have in mind?”
The center Twilight takes a step forward. “One of us is Twilight, of course, and one of us is Ocellus … and one of us is the one you seek out: Coccyx. All you have to do is figure out which of us is Coccyx.”
The Twilight to the center Twilight’s left steps up. “We will each make one statement. The real Twilight will make a true statement, as will Ocellus. The others will make a false statement. Simple enough?”
“Fine.”
The two Twilights each take a step back to fall in line with the others. From left to right, each Twilight makes a single statement:
“I am Twilight.”
“I am not Twilight.”
“Twilight is on an end.”
“Coccyx is on an end.”
“I am Coccyx.”