Ocellus heard no sound from the house, and sensed nothing from the human’s mother that suggested she might be about to wake. Marie had begged her not to get her into more trouble, but Ocellus no longer cared. Is this how other creatures felt about old changelings? We seemed smaller, harmless. But we were one of the most dangerous things Equestria ever faced.
They’d only been the warm-up.
Ocellus locked the bathroom door behind her, then crossed to the window. She could see why there was no security spell on it—it was only two hooves tall, the entire thing opaque so she wouldn’t be able to see messages through it. But Ocellus wasn’t restricted to what humans could do. She pulled the window open all the way, and felt the cool night air begin to rush in.
“Have you been—” But she wasn’t even listening. Ocellus changed swiftly, back into a raven. The opening near the window was large enough for that.
It was a good thing she could copy their clothes too. Nothing in her books had said it explicitly, but it had been almost a full day now and she had never seen a human without their clothing. She reformed into Marie, complete with boots, dress, and jacket. “Easier than whispering through a window.”
Both humans jumped in surprise, though the girl was clearly more confused. “Blimey, about gave me a heart attack. You just… right through the window. Christ.”
David rested one hand on her shoulder, trying to be comforting. “Ocellus… sorry, it’s just a little weird to be looking at Marie when I know she isn’t. You just flew through a window.”
“Through an open window,” she corrected. She took in their emotional states in an instant—mostly fear and concern for Marie. A little of that bled off on her, but only a little since they knew she wasn’t the real thing. “A unicorn could teleport through it. But teleportation is hard, and I’d have to look like a unicorn to try a spell like that.”
“Of course she’s talking about magic.” Helen had apparently recovered enough to be angry again.
David glared back at her. “We’re here because we weren’t sure you knew,” David said. “And to give you this.” He held something up in one hand—a magical tablet, like the ones they used. It was a little thicker around the edges, and looked heavier, but it was still strange and interesting enough for Ocellus’s fascination with the new and different to rise up through her anger. She took it, and it seemed to know it was being held, because it lit up. There were lots of little squares, each one with tiny writing underneath. No pony hoof could’ve manipulated it, and the delicate screen felt like a claw would’ve torn right through. But her soft pink hands were perfect, and it obeyed her.
“This is how we stay in touch,” Helen said, begrudgingly. “If you go to the messenger, you’ll see group text. You, me, David are all there. Marie too, once we get her a replacement. That’s one of my old phones, so it doesn’t matter if you break it. But not until we get our friend back, please.”
“Stop it,” David hissed. “This isn’t how you get somebody to help us. Be nice.” Then he turned back to Ocellus. “Have you been following the news? About your country?”
Ocellus shook her head. “I was locked in a room as soon as Marie’s mother took me in there.” It was the worst thing in the world. Changelings aren’t supposed to be alone. But unlike Helen, Ocellus could keep her mouth closed when she had something mean to say. “My country… you mean Equestria? I saw that it appeared in the ocean, that’s all I know.” She also wasn’t going to point out that it wasn’t her country. Given what she’d just read, the less these humans learned about them, the better.
David folded his arms, radiating smugness. His companion turned away, muttering something she didn’t quite catch. Sounded like an excuse, whatever it was. “We just… wanted to be sure you knew.” He took the phone from her gently, showing her how to get to “news.” It opened, and suddenly there were moving pictures in front of her. Vast metal ships, as big as an entire town, and metal birds as big as the one she’d seen over the cave. “NATO MOBILIZES FOR DEFENSE OF NORTH SEA” read the text.
Here we go. It was exactly what she had feared from her reading, confirmed by the human foals without even an invitation. “They’re going to attack us,” she said, voice weak. “They’re going to invade Equestria just like they invaded Poland.”
Ocellus expected a harsh reaction from these humans—she was finally confronting them, after all. Even young ones could be dangerous, and they were certainly telling her about dangerous things. But to her astonishment, they both started laughing. David more than Helen, who seemed to be more laughing along because he thought it was funny.
“You mean the Nazis?” David asked, still on the edge of breaking down into hysterical laughter again. “Ocellus, we, uh… we beat them. They’re gone.”
What? Ocellus thought she understood, but much about that war hadn’t made sense to her. “They looked like you, didn’t they? Same tribe of humans? Don’t try to tell me you aren’t—” But the more she thought about it, the more of what she’d read no longer made sense in her mind. It had been a terrible war all right, but there had been no mention of any other tribes. “You mean you didn’t build… camps?”
“No.” Helen rested one hand on her shoulder, forcing her to meet her eyes. “Fairy, listen to me. I think you’ve gone and gotten yerself right confused. Whatever you read—it was real. All those bad things happened. But not here. Ones who did it ‘re dead. Why don’t you… take a few deep breaths. David loves old stuff, I’m sure he can help you understand.”
They couldn’t go far—not when Ocellus might need to slip back inside at any moment. They couldn’t be too loud, lest they be overheard through the wall. But she could still ask her questions. After talking for so long that Helen got bored and slumped against David to doze, she was satisfied that she understood.
Of course, they might still be lying to her. But David never felt once like he was manipulating information. His feelings for her were entirely confusion, concern, and that recurring amusement.
But when she understood, it wasn’t like she thought all the danger was gone. It had just been focused. “That thing you showed me, on the… ph-one.” She held it out, so David could demonstrate again. She wasn’t a quick learner with magical objects. He had to move his finger along the surface a little more this time, showing off how to move further back past newer stories about “coastal evacuation centers.”
“So this headline…” That much was easy to understand. It was like a newspaper in Equestria, but instant and delivered to everyone. “What does it mean?”
“That people are scared of you. Equestria—it just sorta showed up. It appeared in water everyone thought was safe. People died. I know there are people who will see it like an attack.”
“Our leaders are trying to talk to yours,” Ocellus said, before she realized what she was doing. No use trying to hide it. Marie knows everything the message said. I wonder if the others would hide things from her if I asked them to.
But now she had slightly less reason to be worried. Humans weren’t any less dangerous, but their violence wasn’t going to be targeted at random. They could be made to stop, maybe. If they understood. We were the ones who scared them when we got here. They didn’t use weapons until Smolder shot fire at them.
“I think we need to get back,” Ocellus muttered. “Or… at least to call Equestria. That emergency scroll… I need to tell Twilight what I’ve learned with it. Her note said that ponies would die if we asked for her, but even more are going to die if we don’t stop this. Maybe we could… give them a way to talk to you. Does the phone say they’re fighting?”
David shook his head. “Nothing about an invasion. They just want to be in the water nearby in case anything bad happens. At least—that’s what they’re telling us. No way to know if it’s the truth.”
“My friends can’t do this,” she said. “But I can. I’m going to have to go to them.” Ocellus felt a wave of guilt at what she knew this meant. She was going to make things worse between Marie and her mother. I already saved your life. I’m sorry I couldn’t save your relationship too.
“I’m going to them,” Ocellus declared, loud enough that Helen jerked suddenly into a sitting position from where she’d been resting against David.
“You, uh…” Helen trailed off. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? Marie’s cover—”
“I’m sorry about Marie,” she answered, rising from where she’d been sitting in the bushes, plucking a few twigs from her hair. “But ponies could die. We need to call Twilight Sparkle here, and I need to help her understand humans. Maybe give her some of your magic, so she can talk to the… NATO… in the water.”
If she expected more of an argument, she was disappointed. “That makes sense.” David sounded wistful. “Hopefully you’ve got a couch or something Marie can use in Equestria, because her mother is going to want to murder her after this.”
“I guess I should call the car.” Helen yawned, stretched, then started fiddling with her phone. “Come on, end of the street. That mad bitch inside knows what the engine sounds like, and I swear she’d come runnin’.”
They didn’t try to send her back inside, where the real pajamas she’d been wearing were still lying on the locked bathroom floor. Ocellus didn’t even want to imagine what Marie’s mother would think of that.
At the end of the lane was another one of the magical human carriages, though this one seemed to be one of only a few on the road so late at night. It pulled to the side of the huge stone road, and a taller human woman got out. “Where are we going now, miss?”
Helen barely even seemed to see her. “I dunno. Ask Marie. Err… ask not-Marie.”
Confusion from the woman, who clearly hadn’t expected that response. She glanced between them, eyes eventually settling on Ocellus. “Where are we going?”
“Uh… that way.” She pointed in the direction she could feel Marie, even if the human was asleep. The only other changeling in this part of the world was impossible to miss. “I don’t know how far. But that way.”
The woman looked desperate, and her confusion was thick enough on the air to taste. “Y-young miss, are you quite certain…”
“Yes.” She didn’t even hesitate. “Just do your best I guess. But, uh… maybe some ice cream first. If it’s on the way.”
Ocellus climbed in along with the others, and the woman returned to her seat at the controls. There was another separator like in the car the “MI5” agents had used, so once again the mysteries of how to operate one of the mechanical carriages were not shown to her very clearly. But at least these seats were comfortable, instead of the hard plastic from before.
Despite her confusion, the woman operating this vehicle proved to know exactly what she was doing. Their great speed didn’t send them tumbling off the edge of the road into the void.
Ocellus needed little sleep, but her human companions swiftly began to doze. She let them rest, answering the occasional questions from up front, and watching the human country she now knew was called Great Britain blur by outside.
Now we only need to get back in time to make a difference.