The next day, in the late afternoon I met up with Blitz at the castle to try archery. While heading to the training grounds I asked Blitz, “Are you sure that I’m allowed to use the Royal Guard’s weapons, even with a Guard watching me?”
“Well, not really," Blitz casually answered.
“What?" I asked in a confused and surprised tone.
“They never made it quite clear to me but if anyone gets in trouble for this it’ll be me.”
I just simply said, “Okay.”
Once we got to the training grounds, we entered a long room that was mostly made up of the actual practicing range while the rest was for weapons and ammo storage. It was obviously not part of the original castle’s design seeing as it was mostly made of wood and stone, and had a large area on one wall with metal plating.
Blitz showed me where everything was, including the medical supplies, then decided to practice with the bow while I started with the crossbows. Ten minutes later, Blitz mentions that there was a point in history where it was commonly believed that crossbows were an immoral weapon because of how deadly they are. It was interesting, but not as much as when he asked me something another half hour or so later.
“Hey, Shape?”
I put my crossbow down after firing the bolt already in it. “Yeah?”
“You want to see something absurd?" Blitz asked.
I was always up for absurd stuff so I said, “Sure.”
While walking to the weapon storage lockers he told me “We have this crossbow that no one except the princesses, and few others can draw back all the way.”
He got to one of the locked lockers and put in the combination to open it up and took said weapon out, then came back with it and tried giving it to me for some reason.
I was genuinely confused. “Why are you giving it to me to even look at? Isn’t this the most deadly weapon in here?”
I noted it’s features while Blitz was speaking. It had four abnormally thick prods, the stock was made from what seemed like a different metal, and the draw string looked suspiciously like Celestia's mane. It also had four spots on the stock where the draw string looked like it could rest, for those who couldn't pull it all the way.
When Blitz said, “Besides, this is a weapon that depends on the user’s strength to work. I don’t think you’ll be able to get it drawn back even half way," I took it as a challenge, knowing that he wanted me to.
I nonchalantly took the crossbow and asked “Can I have some ammo for this?" to which he hoofed me some that he was already holding, which was further proof. I also noticed his doubt, and rising anticipation and joy.
Though I decided to take a closer look at the crossbow and the ammo for several seconds and asked, “What’s this even made of?”
“The weapon it’s self is made of steel and some other metal that’s not used all that often called tungsten. The bolts that it uses at full strength are made completely out of metal, though no one told me which one.”
I then pointed to the draw strings. “Why does this look like Celestia’s mane?”
“That’s cause it is. It’s treated with a potion that uses the mane hair’s ethereal magic to massively amplify it’s tension limit.”
“Okay, I’m gonna try and see how powerful this is in my hooves… or rather, magic," I said with a hint of a cheeky grin. Blitz had a skeptical look on his face, but my sixth sense told me that he was excited and hopeful.
I fired up my magic on the weapon, then concentrated as hard as I could on giving my telekinesis as much power as possible with the intention to draw it back all the way.
Despite my best efforts, I got the draw string far enough to only rest at the middle point. Though I was close to the third. Then I went to the targets, put the bolt in, aimed as best as I could and fired.
The bolt seemed to go right through the wood target and disappear through the wooden wall. It was so powerful that I snickered, until Blitz asked me, “How far back did you pull it?” in a worried tone.
I turned to see him looking at where the bolt fired towards with this slightly distant look and I said “Half way," in a similarly worried tone. “Why?”
“That was a four hundred fifty kilogram draw weight crossbow," Blitz said before galloping out of the room.
The implications Blitz gave were obvious to me so I started panicking a bit while he was out. Once he came back at a walking pace he told me, “It went through the metal plating on the wall's other side, and got stuck in a chariot that's not supposed to be there.”
Despite most of his fear having subsided, I still had my ears pinned back and asked “Did it… go through anyone?”
“It didn’t, thank Celestia. You won’t get in trouble, but I’ll still have to explain why a bolt is stuck in the chariot.”
I stated “Well, at least I didn’t hurt anyone.” Then went to put the absurd crossbow away. “I’m gonna just use one of the less ridiculous ones now.”
After another half hour or so and many more shots that wouldn’t pierce metal plating, Blitz told me some interesting news. “So apparently the Crystal Empire’s returned after about a thousand years of completely disappearing and the Element bearers defeated it’s oppressive king named Sombra. Maybe even killed him.”
I gave him a slightly confused look. “I’ve never heard of that place before.”
“Most if not almost all of everybody hasn’t. It reappeared in the frozen north, right where it was before. It’s protected from the region’s weather by a shield projected from a magical artifact that absorbs ‘the love and light’ that the ponies have for the Empire and maybe certain other things, too.”
If their culture is a reflection of that artifact, then if changelings existed a thousand years ago, this is where they’d likely get most of their food. They could have had the highest chance of encountering them, and therefore information of some kind may be there. I need to go there to be sure that they have nothing I don’t already know!
So I said “It sounds like the kindest place in Equestria.”
“It probably is," he said. “And arguably the most beautiful.”
A minute later Blitz seemed to realize something important.
“I just realized that you’d probably want to leave before you’re caught in the middle of me explaining the bolt in the chariot to a superior.”
“Sounds like a good idea," I said while starting towards the weapon storage.
After putting my current weapon and ammo away, we said bye to each other and I headed to the train station to see if I could travel to the Empire tomorrow. After looking though their schedule I noticed that they had planned for just one train to travel through Canterlot then all the way to the Empire early in the day. Unfortunately, their ticket booth wasn’t open at the time so I went home.
The day after, I woke up early and asked Modus if he could look after Frost while I was at the Empire for up to a few days. He said that he could and I told him that I owed him a favor for it, so I was officially free to travel. Next I went to the train station, bought the ticket, then went home to pack some things including the research I’d need.
I have one large briefcase that I can always pack everything I need for a trip into. It’s interesting to see someone’s reaction to it when they see me pulling a lot of things out of it because it always looks like I can pack far more than it can hold. But that’s because it can. It could also be really heavy, but I could always handle that well enough.
Once I was done packing I went to wait for my train, then got on and departed. Nothing particularly interesting happened on the train ride over, but once the train arrived my sixth sense started to feel something consistent in it’s background noise. It was undoubtedly positive emotion and it all seemed to be going in one general direction.
I decided to pay attention to it, while finding the Empire’s biggest library, to find out if it would get stronger. After a minute to check that I still had everything, I asked one of the Guards if they knew where the biggest library they had was. She told me that it was in the castle which was at the center of the Empire, so I thanked her and went on my way.
I took in the sights as I headed to the castle, which was all crystal. And by that I mean everything was crystal, even the ponies!
Though I was still paying attention to the anomaly in my emotion sense, and the closer I got to the castle the more obvious it was to my sixth sense. Both it’s strength and direction were becoming far clearer until it almost drowned out all other emotion and became a bit more of a distraction than I thought it could be. The oddest thing about it was the way it did so, because it somehow seemed naturally distracting.
Thankfully, after I climbed up a few flights of stairs at the castle it died down enough to not be a bother. Which meant that I was able to research in peace at the library.
I first came up to a librarian that had a purple coat who was just reading at a counter.
“Excuse me.”
She looked up with a smile and said, “Yes?" in a sweet voice.
“Do you have anything on changelings?“
She tapped her chin in thought. “We have one or two books, but that’s about it. They’ve only been discovered recently, so I wouldn’t expect a lot on them yet.”
“Hmm… What kind of stuff does the book have on them?”
“The books aren’t a long read and focus mostly on their biology. There’s barely been any useful studies at all on their magic.”
“I think I’ll take a look at them then.”
The purple mare stood up. “Alright then. Follow me!”
This mare looked like the kind of mare that I’d date, seeing as she was working at a library and seemed to be enjoying it, but I had more important things to do at that time.
We walked past several rows of shelves, then took a turn and went through a few more until she stopped to search a certain shelf. She didn’t take long to find it and hoof it over to me.
“I suppose we should go search for the other one, right?”
I confirmed, so we went down another few rows, then started searching for it.
After a minute of searching the librarian told me, “I think that one’s checked out right now or someone else might be reading it.”
“Alright, this will for now then. Thanks!”
“No problem! I’ll be back at the same desk if you need me.”
I found a table somewhere to read at and started, but I soon found that I already knew all the info the book had on changeling magic. So instead of searching for books entirely about them, I started searching in less obvious books with the aid of a keyword search spell. Depending on the user’s proficiency in magic, it could be cast on anywhere from one to entire shelves of books to search the entire text of each. It also had a variant I knew for easily searching entire shelves of books for just titles or authors. It was useful when I was in school.
I started with making a list of keywords and terms to use, marking some down for viable use in book titles. Once I was done with that I pretty much ended up searching for books about encounters of odd and unknown magic. My first few title keywords turned up a lot of books, but none of them even had one single mention of changeling magic that was useful for my research.
By the time I was done it was nighttime, so I left to first find a hotel. It wasn’t hard to find one in general, but I wanted to stay in a cheaper hotel so I took some time to look around. I found a decent place that gave me a room with the entrance right in the middle of the hallway on the second story.
Once that was done I went back to the castle to start my investigation of the odd emotional anomaly that was likely to be close by. It didn’t take long at all to find the likely culprit. A single, large, crystal heart slowly spinning in between two similarly radiant outcroppings on the ground and castle above. It also had two guards stationed nearby to keep an eye on it.
Normally I wouldn’t want to get close to it if it was guarded, but the closer I got to it the more interested I was in it.
I never noticed how interesting the Heart was. Entirely made of gorgeous crystal and it seems to be powered the same way as changeling magic. I need to study it now.
I started to slowly walk closer to it, staring at it for a different reason that I didn’t understand.
I need to know everything about it. The intricate way that it wedged it’s way into the lives of everyone here. The way that it shines and glimmers.
Once I was only a dozen or so meters away from it I started to lose my composure.
It doesn’t deserve to be here. They do not understand it’s nature, unlike myself. Unlike changelings. It’s power could be mine for the taking. I can easily take it away from here and never have to go hun-
No! That’s not- I can’t do that! …unless- No, it’s immoral! Why can’t I think straight?! It’s the ponies trying to mess with my mind so they can capture me! But they have no reason to! Unless they’ve already found me out… Which would be highly unlikely. Maybe the changelings already have the Crystal Empire in their control!
I started my detection spell and quickly scanned the area. The guards looked a little nervous about me, yet they had no green silhouettes, nor was there any at all anywhere.
So that leaves me with one last possibility: it’s the artifact. I might- No, I must get away from it as fast as I can!
So despite the two nervous guards nearby, I suddenly turned and galloped away as fast as I could. The guards called for who I could only assume was me, but I didn’t stop or slow down until I was at the hotel’s front door. They didn’t follow me so I tried to get my composure back, which I wasn’t entirely successful at.
When I headed in, a stallion asked if I was okay so I said that I was fine. He didn’t believe me but he let it go anyways and I continued to my room.
I was still in a panic once I got there, but I figured out what was likely happening. The Heart was probably drowning out all other emotions from my senses and majorly drowning out even my own, as well as pulling at my emotional hunger. All it took was me standing close enough to a widely beloved figure, living or inanimate.
I wouldn’t be able stand within several meters of either royal sister while they’re in public without having the burning urge to fillynap them with the intention of feeding off of, yet also worshiping them. The thought terrified me into avoiding the Heart and other said entities as much as I could.
Though the second and most important thing I learned was that my sixth sense’s background noise was, in fact, emotions not directed at me. The next thing I realized was that emotions not directed at me were harder to detect the further away I was to the physical space in-between the two entities in question. Though it almost never seemed to be more than moderately difficult until I was at the range that emotions directed at me would start to fade.
This would explain why it took a close range to the Heart for me to go into a near trance, though the exception I speculated on in that instance was that the Heart and/or the crystal ponies had a special emotional link that didn’t ever degrade in any way as long as it entirely remained in the Empire.
I was able to recompose myself while lying under the bed sheets, despite feeling like I was mentally violated. I also felt like I was forgetting something and soon realized, from two changelings disguised as mares while I was in the halls, that I didn’t deactivate my detection spell. I could still see them and presumed that they rented a room together by estimating how far away they were using their green silhouette and likely body type.
I figured that it would be worth it to watch the two for a while, so I kept the spell on and monitored their emotions while casually reading a book. After ten or so minutes I couldn’t keep up with that kind of multitasking while enjoying a book, so I put it down and closed my eyes.
This didn’t stop the spell from showing their silhouettes, which was a second unintended part of the spell but welcome just the same. So I kept my eyes closed, looking like I was taking a nap on the bed. Their emotions towards each other strongly indicated that they were comrades keeping a very close eye on each other while their emotions towards others and objects seemed to be suspicious.
Yes, I could even sense emotions towards objects, yet not as well as emotions not directed at me. I didn’t exactly know when I got this ability, whether it was during the accident or not, but it was very useful. Infiltrators wouldn’t suspect that anybody could sense that and, judging from these changelings, they seemed to let their real emotions towards individual objects slip for far longer periods of time than emotions towards others.
Both of them mostly had slips of loathing and vigilance, which objectively supported my suspicion of them being infiltrators. So when they left the hotel about an hour later I followed them in the same fashion I’ve used at night as a mare to know more. While the two were trotting down the road I analyzed their disguises.
I don’t trust my ability to guess the age of somebody from looks alone but at the generally young age their disguises are, their parents would let them go out of town. They’re likely no younger than eighteen, probably no older than twenty-one. The only kind of story I can think of for an infiltrator to use with a non-crystal pony disguise, at that age, in the Empire is that they’re researching for a big project.
As I was discerning their intentions they walked to the crystal castle, passed by the Heart, then went up a flight of stairs to go in. I assumed that they wanted to go to the royal library, because what better place to go to know about an entire civilization that just practically traveled into your present time from a thousand years ago?
I dispelled my invisibility, went into the castle at a different entrance and went right for the library.
They're here to gather intel on the Crystal Empire for the hive. If they figure out that the Heart uses and stores massive amounts of emotional energy, they might try to take it for that. I'm not going to let them think that it'll be as easy as they think it is to even make off with that info without their cover being blown, let alone taking the Heart it’s self.
Upon entering the library the two disguised changelings were in the history section, as indicated by the position of their green silhouettes. They were probably going to look for info on the Heart seeing as their desire and disgust briefly slipped out at it upon first realizing what it likely contained.
I needed to keep track of their location with my detection spell, which required them to be in my viewing angle. This meant that I needed to have something to look at while they could see me and, seeing as I was in a library, the solution was trivial.
After finding a book on advanced magic I went to an almost adjacent table within viewing distance of the changelings’ and started pretending to read. My proximity gave me a chance at knowing the names of the books they were looking at through their hushed voice even though I had to be as discrete as possible.
At first they only seemed interested in the Crystal Empire’s history, which wasn’t all that useful for the hive to know, until one of the two started bringing books on artifacts to their table. There was one in particular that I noticed immediately. It was the exact one I read before that had a picture of the Heart on it.
I decided to change into another female pegasus in the bathroom, which wasn’t far from the library at all. I then picked a new book, then moved to a close spot behind the changeling that I presumed was going to read the artifact book. Once he started on the book and eventually reached the Heart’s section, he let out bits of the same emotions as when they passed the actual thing. He also let out a little too much surprise for a pony who just learned what the Heart did. I was sure that they were hive infiltrators by then.
The book had a well rounded section on the Heart, but it didn’t contain anything on it’s inner workings. It would be pretty bad to let just anybody have the knowledge required to modify it. For all I knew, the changelings could use that knowledge to craft a compatible mass mind control spell. Nevertheless, they’d definitely try to return with the info from that book as soon as possible so Chrysalis could decide on what to do.
I decided that it would be best to give them more of a scare by capturing and interrogating them for any leads as to why I was a half-ling, then trapping them somewhere that would take a few days to escape. They wouldn’t know how good I was at finding out infiltrators nor if I lived in the Empire, so their comrades going there would try to be more careful.
I also thought about implanting the idea that the hive may know about the Heart into the Empire’s population. The Guard may tighten up security at that possibility.
Once the two changelings were done researching, they decided to go back to the hotel and I decided to change disguises in the bathroom again, keeping my gender as female. I then followed a safe distance away from them in the castle, using the detection spell to know the path they were taking without being in their line of sight. Once they were outside I followed in my usual aerial way, waiting for a good opportunity to catch them in relative privacy.
My chance came when they decided to take a shortcut through an alleyway. So I quickly swooped down and landed at the other end to approach them. This wasn’t the best way to seem inconspicuous to them, but seeing as they thought that no one could detect changeling disguises they’d think that I was far more likely to rob or attack them.
Though, in this case, I was hopeful as I was approaching them so they wouldn’t think I’d do anything the sort.
“Hey, do you mares know a cheep place I can stay for the night?” I asked the faux ponies as I got closer. “All the cheep ones I’ve found are full and the next train out of here doesn’t come until a few days later.”
Both of them became confused and one asked “But shouldn’t there be a train tomorrow?”
By then I was within a leg’s length away so I restrained and brought them even closer with my magic to tell them something you’d expect to hear in an action movie.
“Not for you two.” I said, while they tried to cast a spell because I let my entire emotional facade go by then.
Though they didn’t finish the spell as I was quicker at giving both of them a hit on the horn with my hoof and casting the stun spell on them so they couldn’t try it again. Next I told them, “I know you’re both hive infiltrators.," in a deeper and more distorted variant of my real voice that I shortly decided to use as my go-to intimidation voice. I then cast the disguise dispel, and lastly the invisibility spell on all three of us so I could take them to a good interrogation spot.
It wasn’t fun for me to find one, not only because of the time it took, but also because I had to put a lot of extra effort into flying to carry the changelings and my magic consumption rate over that time was causing me a headache. In hindsight it might have been better to transform them into something smaller for that time. I swear I searched all of the Empire and the best spot that wasn’t out in the frozen wilds was a warehouse that looked unused, so I flew down for a closer look.
After putting the infiltrators in one of the few unused crates, I let the invisibility spell on them go but kept it on myself so I could find a window to look through. To my dismay, there weren’t any which meant that I’d have to actually go in. It was just a bit risky for me to do so, but worth it. So I went to one of the back doors and tried slowly opening it.
With relief I realized that the door was unlocked and the entire building was empty, so I brought the infiltrators in and set them lying on the wall while I told them, “If you make any loud noises I will serve you to the Crystal Empire’s Guard undisguised.”
I pointed to one particular changeling and stated, “I know that you let a bit of surprise and disgust at the knowledge you read about the Crystal Heart. And yes, I’ve read that book before, I could tell what section you were reading at that moment. So why else are you here? Why are you looking up magic artifacts in a thousand year library?”
I then cast a slightly different stun spell on them. This one canceled the first one and let the subjects move their faces so they could communicate effectively. The guard used to use it when they still officially did interrogation but that was hundreds, maybe thousands, of years ago. I was no history buff.
Anyways, the one that I pointed to defiantly told me, “We are willing to die to keep hive secrets from every pony, and your voice distortion spell won’t hide you from us. We’ll find you.”
I smirked, let out a quiet and short chuckle, laid on my side in front of them, and casually said, “As infiltrators you should know that everything is not always as it seems.”
After taking one of my hooves and resting my head on it I continued. “I was not hired by the Guard to capture you and despite what you may think, I’m not as I seem even to you two. Paint me like one of your shellac queens?”
The two just gave me an infuriating glare.
I smirked again and said, “Oh, right. You can’t move anything but your face," with as flat of a tone as I could.
Putting on a serious face again, I continued. “But on to what I actually want to know. Do you know of any hive changeling that’s seen a pony with a mostly winter color to him during your Canterlot invasion?”
Both of the infiltrators remained silent and they didn’t show any micro expressions. Though their emotions towards each other betrayed them, as I expected. They seemed eager to get away now more than ever, seeing as I gave them a lead as to who I was. But I could handle making it seem like a dead end, besides, I’d find it entertaining.
As for their knowledge on the changeling I was looking for, it seemed that they had none. Both asked if the other knew through emotion, but they both responded back to each other with neither indignation or worry. They likely knew nothing.
“I am disappointed," I said, acting as though I was their mother and that I didn’t get an answer. “I was thinking of just letting you go if you were going to be exemplary, but seeing as you are not I will make you into a warning instead.”
The infiltrator that I haven’t singled out yet decided to speak up. “Killing us is only going to make you look bad, and you won’t be able to manipulate the hive.”
Unfortunately for him, what he said gave me an idea.
“I will take that as a challenge," I said with a serious face. “You’ll deliver a message or two to the hive for me to start.”
The infiltrator that gave me the idea said, “We aren’t going to deliver any of your petty messages” with full defiance in his voice.
“Oh, but I think it will interest the hive greatly sometime in the coming months. I’ll also need the names of your disguises.”
Both said, “And why would we tell you that?" in impressively synched stereo.
So I gave a wide and slightly devious smile while saying, “You are not leaving this frozen climate until the hive finds you first.”
This convinced them to give me their disguises’ names, which meant I was able to hint at their location to the hive without the Guard knowing it. At least as long as the Guard didn’t find the two first.
After casting the full body stun spell and the invisibility spell exactly as before, I flew off with them again. I took one or two hours to look for a spot in the Empire that no one would find them at without a hint, but I didn’t find anything suitable. They seemed to use almost exactly as much space as they needed. No land in the Empire and nearly no building was unused.
I would’ve used a graveyard if it weren’t for the fact that it would be a huge risk to dig up or bury anything in them, even when posing as the grave keeper or a Guard. It might seem a bit odd to say that but, for the most part, ponies don’t bury their dead. They usually cremate them, so there’s usually no graveyard in smaller urban areas and they’re usually only reserved for historically significant ponies. Even the one in Canterlot is small to many other species.
Which meant that I only had one place left. It was a pain to do for a few reasons, but still worth it.
I landed next to the shield and went through it, trudging through the cold and snow. There wasn’t any blizzard at the time so I was able to spend as much time as I needed without practically freezing to death. Once I felt that I was just far enough from the shield and found what I presumed to be a frozen river, I began the real work.
I closed the two infiltrators’ eyes and started out with transforming into a changeling. Next I made the more gelatin-like outside of two cocoons with changeling resin and set the changelings inside them. After that, I filled them up with the sleep inducing goo, which I filled with a few weeks worth of emotion and enchanted it to generate enough heat for that same time span so they wouldn’t freeze to death.
They were there to gather intel so it wouldn’t take any longer than a week for the hive to realize that something’s wrong and to get somebody to the Empire by then. By the time that somebody gets there they wouldn’t take any longer than another week to find them.
I then made two semi-hardened slabs of changeling resin, and engraved a popular song quote onto each. The first being "Cast out, reject the plague in all your hearts", and on the other "If not yourself, then you have naught. To say the things you truly feel, and not the words of one who kneels", on the other. After hardening them I stuck one to each of the infiltrator’s backs then sealed the cocoons. Finally, I melted a section of the river so I could lay them a few inches beneath the water and let the cold refreeze it.
After making sure that they didn’t float up before the water froze, I went back to the Empire, making another disguise change well before entering the shield. I’ll admit that my nerves were a bit wracked after trapping the two, but I managed to get rid of the feeling before arriving at the library again. They were going to close soon, so I quickly wrote the letter to the changelings that would come looking for the ones I trapped.
We've somehow been roped into helping some weird ponies look for something called a yeti. If we don’t die by becoming ice cubes we’ll be back the day you arrive. If we don’t get back by then assume that we’re trapped and need help. I don’t completely trust them, but we have to right now.
After changing to one of the infiltrator’s disguises in the bathroom, which was as empty as could be at that time of night like I expected, I went back to the hotel. When I gave the pony at the desk the letter I told her to give it to the pony or ponies that would come looking for the two unless they came back.
I then headed back to my hotel room, still in one of the infiltrator’s disguises. No one would notice a pony entering the wrong room considering how few ponies there would be in the hallway so late at night.
Once back in my room I went to the bathroom to change back to my default disguise, then went to bed.
~~~~~~
I woke up in the middle of the dark night to what sounded like the sounds of upset ponies. So after a minute or two of the sound not stopping I got up, moving some of my mane out of my face with a hoof, and listened for where it was coming from. It wasn’t that hard to find, and in a few seconds I went to the room’s window to take a look.
My apartment unit was in the corner of the building that was closest to the adjacent intersection and there was no fog of any kind at all, so I was able to examine two of the roads from my window. I saw a group in the streets so I left my unit to scan the other direction of each road and found that there were was another group of ponies going the opposite direction on the same road.
Both groups sounded like they were singing the same odd thing. It wasn’t like the subject of the song was odd. It was, in fact, that I couldn’t understand them at all. The best way I could describe it was that they were singing in a completely different language that used an additional communication medium I had yet to figure out.
As they walked closer to the intersection another odd thing caught my eye. The street names on the signs were in another language that I didn’t know. The only thing I could read on them that was useful was that they were both boulevards. If it weren’t for that I would’ve thought that I forgot how to read and write.
But that got me thinking on how many other things might be in another language that shouldn’t be, so I scoured the area for Equestrian. I winded up finding that everything from my apartment’s front sign to the display menu in the candy shop less than a block away were all in this unknown language. By then I would’ve decided to ask the ponies about all this, but after reading the candy shop’s menu I noticed that my real eyes were showing.
Taking a look at my full reflection, I saw that my entire disguise was gone!
After rushing to a hiding spot I tried to apply my disguise again, but I couldn’t.
They saw me without my disguise! Why can’t I conjure it back?! ...why do they not seem to care? Why are they even here singing? Something is seriously off about all of this.
The only thing I thought to do was carefully watch them and as the two groups met at the intersection. As they conversed in their odd language I could see their faces change from frowns to glad smiles and feel their moods lift. Despite the language barrier I could tell that all the ponies were making new friends with the opposite group. After which, two leaders stood on top of some wooden boxes. I could only make out that one was a changeling while the other was a pony, as if some kind of light-warping fog was around them. After announcing something, the two then started down the other road, marching and singing something cheerful together with everybody else doing the same behind them.
By then the circumstances of the entire event perplexed me, the feelings of which I carried with me to my waking after the group was a block or so away.
~~~~~~
While trotting back to the castle’s library in the morning, I tried deciphering the dream. I played the entire thing over again several times in my head, but something felt wrong about it.
It doesn't make any sense! It seemed like the dream meant that I need someone who understands my problem, yet I'm probably not going to be able to find someone who's got the same problem as me for years! I'm not going to some kind of support group as it is because no pony or changeling even half understands my problem. It'd be a waste of time.
So what am I missing? Is there something missing in the dream it’s self?
Once I was close to the castle I started to sense the Heart’s anomaly again. After what happened with it last night I was admittedly scared of the thing so I stayed as far away from it as I could while still entering the castle. Because of that thing I completely forgot about the dream while I was researching.
After a half hour the same cute librarian from yesterday grew confused and interested in something about me.
“You look like you’re really intent on getting any changeling knowledge you can.” she stated professionally. “Can I ask why?”
I realized that she was fascinated with my research’s topic but still more interested in me, but I wasn’t interested in dating her. At least, not at the time.
Without looking up from the books I had I said, “I’m an expert on changeling shape-shifting and this place seems like the perfect environment for changeling infiltrators to gather food. If it’s any place in pony society that changelings and their magic would’ve been noticed a thousand years ago, it would be here.”
She looked and felt skeptical about it. “Changelings weren’t something we knew about at that time so they may have never been here until now.”
I countered with, “They’re masters of disguise and can blend in with any pony society. Someone could have noticed it but either ignored it or covered it up out of fear or something similar.”
“If that’s true, wouldn’t it be easier to discover everything through examining them yourself?”
“… that’s probably true.” I then closed the book I was currently reading and told her, “I’m going to do a little reading on the Crystal Heart instead.”
I actually ended up doing that research for a few hours, though I wished I had access to the more in depth material. I then went back to the hotel to study and play with whatever changeling stuff I could with the tools I brought until late at night, and went to bed a little early.
The next day I signed out of the hotel and left for the train station to leave for Canterlot. I didn’t have to wait long before the ride arrived, and once it was on it’s way to my home I started reading a novel.
The next time the train arrived at a station I took a look out the window to be sure I didn’t miss my stop for any reason. Apparently it was in Ponyville, which reminded me of the Castle Of The Royal Sisters. It had a library that was almost never visited anymore so there had to have been some lost knowledge in it.
I didn’t waste any time leaving the train to find a hotel for the coming night and leaving my luggage there. Neither did I hesitate to run right into the Everfree Forest, though that was a small mistake. Though not because I couldn’t fend of the monsters in there. I was perfectly capable of that. My problem was that I realized I’d need all the energy I could to quickly find it.
This led to me galloping out of the forest and back into Ponyville for the first coffee shop I could get to. I approached the counter and asked for the darkest coffee they had and payed the pony. In a few minutes I had my brew, which I filled with a mound of sugar and a long pour of cream.
A blue coated mare next to me at the ingredients counter was a bit disgusted by this so she said “Jeez. Need some coffee with your sugar?” in a tomboyish voice.
I knew the voice but she didn’t really know me, so I completely ignored her and chugged my coffee down. Once I was out of the shop I galloped back to the Everfree and by then the coffee was working. This let me race though the Forest as fast as I could, with my mind going just as fast.
Only after a few minutes I realized that, despite encountering the castle a few times, I didn’t know where it was for sure. So I sat down and thought about it for a minute.
I could ask somebody in Ponyville, but it’s highly likely that the only ponies who know of it’s location are the Element bearers. Even if I asked around, everyone who wouldn’t know would probably tell me to ask Twilight Sparkle or her friends anyways. I think it’s best that I find it again myself.
After several minutes of running through the forest, my sixth sense started picking up vigilance and anticipation. Something or somebody was following me and waiting for me to do something. A few more minutes later I was still remaining vigilant myself but something hit me and when I landed my face was met with that of wood and two glowing green eyes.
It tried to swipe at me with it’s claws but I instinctively took the timberwolf in my magic and threw it aside at a tree where it fell to pieces. Though it wasn’t done with me, as it slowly reassembled with the intent to try again but by the time it picked it’s self back up I had started a small campfire sized fire with my magic. While holding it in the air between the two of us I told the fowl beast “I know how to deal with you.”
Regardless, the timberwolf tried to slowly move closer. I responded with turning the fire’s intensity up to half a bonfire, which convinced the creature to back up slowly then run off. I stopped the fire and made sure that I didn’t let any other fires remain, checked the time with the sun, then went on my way again.
~~~~~~
After what felt like three hours I finally found the castle, but before entering I took a look at the sun. From it’s position I found that the timberwolf attack was actually just one hour ago, so I was making good time so far.
After excitedly entering the castle’s library, I started going through it all with my word search spells. The coffee was still definitely working as my work speed was at least doubled compared to my time in the Crystal Empire, and by the time I was done I found some useful information. Though it wasn’t on changeling magic.
I discovered a few new transformation spells that I managed to copy down after finding some old, unused parchment and a quill, and an unconventional replacement for ink. Unfortunately, the ink replacement I used was blood from the same cockatrice that I got the quill from. Yes, it was that important. Almost entirely because of an immensely complicated spell that would let me change into any creature the magic could reach. I immediately decided to learn how to cast it, because if that’s not one of an infiltrator’s dream spells, then I dare you to tell me why.
Anyways, by sunset I had gone through all the relevant books and started back towards Ponyville. Once I entered my hotel room I went to lie down on the bed and read a novel, but before I started I noticed that my chest was hurting a bit. I assumed that it was the coffee because sometimes it would induce a small, dull pain in what I could only assume was my heart if I have more than a cup or two of the stuff.
Though it wasn’t ever all that concerning for me so I started reading and, even though I was still caffeinated, I eventually started to feel tired so I went to sleep.
~~~~~~
The next morning I got up and went to a Hay Burger for breakfast. After getting my meal I sat down and heard two changelings talking to each other about some kind of play made and preformed by changelings.
“Oh come on! Making the main character a changeling that can’t shape-shift would be hilarious!”
The other changeling gives his friend an unamused look. “And how would they explain that?”
The first changeling thought for a few seconds then told the other, “The character’s probably got some kind of injury. I’ve heard it can happen.”
“Well, if it’s going to be a comedy I’m not going to see it. It’ll be far too painful to watch him constantly fumble with keeping his identity a secret.”
“You just have terrible taste in comedy.”
“No. I used to be an infiltrator so watching anyling mess up infiltration is painful.”
At that point I stopped listening and made a mental note to ask Act or Cordial if that kind of thing can happen. It was possible that my shape-shifting wasn’t working right because of an improperly functioning changeling organ, or one that I didn’t have all together.
Once I was done eating I signed out of the hotel and left to buy a ticket to the next train back to Canterlot, which turned out to be several hours later. I didn’t have much to do so I just waited there, thinking of something productive to do to pass the time. I eventually had a fantastic idea.
I could infiltrate Twilight Sparkle's home for her changeling magic research!
I'll need to find out if Spike and Twilight are there. It would be ideal if Spike was the only one home, seeing as he's a little more gullible. Twilight would probably be in the middle of doing the research I'm looking for, so it might be trickier to make copies of it.
I should try to first see if either of the two, or anyone else for that matter, are at the library, so I'll enter and ask if I can get some help from Twilight with changeling magic. If Twilight's not there, it might be easier to ask Spike for her research. I might be doing this more than two or three times, so I'll want to make a solid alter ego beforehoof. I'll claim to be a changeling that's studying changeling magic in depth while traveling the world, so that it'll explain my long absences and why she won't be able to contact that persona.
By the time I thought of this it was noon, but I still had plenty of time before the train. I decided to head out to the Everfree to change into a random changeling persona and trot over to the Golden Oaks Library. I’ve been seen entering that forest several times by ponies in the village well before the discovery of changelings and I’ve been accused of being one before but the dispel didn’t work so no one would suspect a thing.
Once at the front door of the library with my briefcase I knocked and Spike shortly answered, looking at my persona’s face then legs.
Spike looked at my face again. “Sorry. I can only tell changelings apart by their leg holes.”
“It’s fine," I stated and shrugged. “I know most species do it that way.”
“What are you here for?" Spike wondered.
“It’s actually who," I corrected. “I’m here for Twilight Sparkle.”
“She’s out helping a friend with some kind of stunt. You can stay here while you wait if you want. It’s a library, after all.”
I picked up some curiosity from Spike, but I still told the little dragon, “I think I’ll stay," and walked in to look for a book on transformation spells that I didn’t have.
Spike followed me and casually asked, “So why are you here to see Twilight?”
“I’ve heard that she’s doing research on changeling magic. I’m specifically here for her findings on the transformation spell. She might have something that I don’t know yet.”
“Well, you’ve come to the right place for that.” I looked back from the shelf I was at to Spike because of the way he said it. He was giving me an unamused glare and continued with, “She has an obsession with research…”
I just went back to looking through the books and decided on reading the description to The Guide To Minimally Improvised Transformation Magic, which was about how to add modularity to transformation spells.
This confused him and made him suspicious of me, which drove him to ask, “Why would you need to read that?" in a slightly suspicious tone.
“Changeling magic seems to be built for vastly superior modularity. At least in our transformation magic, which I want to make even more modular.”
This only increased Spike’s suspicion and confusion. “But changeling magic is different from pony magic.”
“Yes, but despite the intricate differences that make them incompatible, their overall construction concepts are the same.”
Spike just stared at me for a few seconds in thoughtful confusion then said, “I guess that makes sense. I’ll be in the front room if you need me.”
Spike waddled off while I took a look at the book’s table of contents. It indicated that I found what I was looking for, so I sat down at a different table in the same room as Spike to read it.
Two hours later, the front door opened and I took a quick glance to see that Twilight came back looking tired.
“I’ve never been more happy to be back at a library," she exclaimed as she unpacked some physics books and gave them to Spike to put back on the shelves.
While doing so he asked, “Isn’t that the third time in the last month you’ve said that?”
Twilight sat on a cushion in front of a desk, which she rested her chin on. “I’m pretty sure that was the fourth in total, and the third time it has to do with Rainbow. It makes be wonder why I keep saying yes to helping her with stunts.”
Spike asked, “What did she break this time?” in a tone that seemed a little too excited to suggest that he had as much concern for her as he really should. Though my sixth sense told me otherwise.
“She forgot one of my warnings again and this time she broke the town windmill. She was going to use it to make pulling back from a dive easier, but she went too fast and the sails came off.” She then lifted her head up and threw her hooves in the air. “It ended up cartwheeling off and almost hit the school!”
“But… don’t they have the day off today?" Spike asked in confusion.
The only response she had to that was mild contempt, which was the response I expected from her.
“What? I’m not saying you should’ve let it destroy the school.”
Twilight sighed and told Spike, “Our biggest problem was that the sails broke so we had to repair them and put them back on with AJ’s help. It’s why I’m an hour late.”
I made a snort of amusement, which was apparently a little too loud as Twilight suddenly noticed me.
Spike then spoke up to tell her, “Oh! I almost forgot. He’s actually here to talk with you on your changeling research.”
This elicited some excitement from her, though also some suspicion. I unburied my head from my book and turned my head towards the two to see Twilight get up and approach me while looking at my persona’s legs. “I don’t believe I’ve seen you around Ponyville before. What’s your name?”
I got up and said, “Metamorphosis, and I already know yours, Twilight Sparkle.”
“Ah, good! Spike says you’re here to talk about changeling research. What part of it do you want to know about?”
“I was hopping to see the magic portion of it.”
“Alright, but I’ll need to cast a spell on you first. It won’t hurt or anything like that.”
I knew what spell it was, so I casually said, “Go ahead. I know it’s the changeling transformation dispel.” Though a small voice in the back of my head told me that she could have improved it recently in a way that could dispel or visually disrupt my disguises.
She then concentrated on me and the spell while her horn lit up, and by then I felt something pulling on my disguise in the same way as the standard dispel. This ended up with nothing happening as usual, so Twilight’s suspicion fell to almost nothing. Next she said for me to follow her and told Spike that she may need him soon, to which he happily responded with, “I’ll be ready whenever you need me as always.”
Twilight had me follow her to a study room on the second floor, which had a few desks to work at and shelves filled with notebooks. At one desk there was a stack of papers that I thought might have been some of her research.
While she was looking for some of the notes I wanted, I decided to take a look at the ones on the desk. It was Twilight’s research, though it looked to be about some kind of pool.
I didn’t get to read much before I noticed a spike of panic directed at me and a pink aura yanked the papers from my hooves.
I immediately dropped my briefcase and looked to Twilight, who literally teleported from the filing cabinet to me and said “How much did you read?! Promise me your not going to go looking for it!" in horror.
I tensed up, not sure what to say “I… uh…”
Her fear started to turn into anger as she said “Promise me that your not going to!”
“I-I promise.”
Twilight noticeably calmed down and told me “Sorry. Between the problem that thing caused recently and what you probably heard downstairs, I’m not in the best mood.”
We sat in awkward silence for a few seconds, then I spoke up. “Maybe… taking a look at my notes will cheer you up?”
She got right in my face with a look of joy, the degree of which I’ve never seen on her before. “You have notes, too?! How much?”
Even with as much of a changeling buffet as she was giving me, I backed up a few steps to both get an appropriate distance from her and set my luggage on one of the desks. “All my research is in this briefcase.”
Turning my attention to the briefcase, Twilight sidled right up next to me sparing no room in her excitement. I thought it was cute but a bit awkward, so I tried to ignore that while turning the briefcase’s numbers to their right combination.
Upon opening it she immediately took several of my pages in her magic, though she quickly became confused. Yet she didn’t ask about anything so I guessed that she was trying to find a good place to start in my moderate mess of notes.
I stood there looking at her for several seconds until I decided that she was too focused on my notes to remember that I was there. “Can I take a look at your notes yet?”
She didn’t take her eyes off the pages, but in response she pointed to the filing cabinet she was going through before and said, “It’s in there, second lowest drawer.”
I went right to it and shortly found the notes, which I went through for several minutes at one of the desks. During that, Twilight became confused for a minute, then curious and worried.
“Meta?" Twilight asked in a more gentle tone, still not taking her eyes away from my notes.
I turned my head to look at her. “Yeah?”
“When you transform does it… hurt in any way?”
I had no problem telling her some half-truths. I just had to leave out the right context clues to keep her from finding out. “Yeah, but only during the transformation. You found the anesthetic effect I patched into it?”
Taking some paper and a quill in her magic, she said, “I did, but I didn’t know you could do that, or that changelings had medical spells!”
“They don’t.”
Twilight gave me an intrigued look, so I elaborated. “I went through a lot of text on medical spells ponies use, then studied the innate magic that takes effect when we become injured as a starting point. From there I had to craft the spell with nontraditional methods by drawing parallels and guessing a lot of times. Though I’m still trying to find what’s causing the pain by mapping out and documenting the whole spell.”
Twilight thought for a few seconds with her hoof tapping on her chin, then blurted out “Biology! It could be any number of things from missing organs to an injury that never fully healed.”
“Missing organs?” I asked with worry. “I really hope I’m not, but I’m pretty sure it’s not anything to do with injuries.”
Twilight became nervous at that as she slowly said “Well, from what I know and your notes, I don’t think our combined findings have an answer any better than ‘missing organs’.” She then gave an awkward smile and said “At least if you’re missing any they don’t seem vital," though it seemed more like she was asking a question.
“I’m not as worried about it as it may seem. Can we get back to discussing magic?”
Her worry subsided at that, though she became worried about the notes as she asked, “So is it okay that I copy all your notes?”
I hated to give her a time constraint on that, but I really needed to get back to Canterlot, so I made my excuse. “Yeah, but I’ve got a train ticket for a late night ride tonight that I have to catch for something important.”
Twilight starts to look a little panicked and immediately calls for Spike, who shows up in seconds.
“What do you need?” Spike happily asked.
“I need you to help with copying down all these notes," Twilight said, while gesturing to my briefcase and the folders she pulled out from it.
Spike gave me a short and mildly irritated look at that, but started the work regardless. At that, I decided to start copying everything from Twilight’s notes that I didn’t already find out.
An hour later I found her examining my briefcase, mumbling about something not being right with it’s size, so I came up behind her and said, “It’s bigger on the inside.”
Twilight jumped at that, put a hoof to her chest, and said “Please don’t scare me like that.”
In my embarrassment I said, “Sorry, I have a bad habit of doing that by accident.”
“It fine. Just try not to do that again. So where did you get this?” she said, digging through my briefcase.
“I found it in an oddity shop in Las Pegasus. It was nowhere near cheep but I was saving up for that kind of thing for years, hopping to find one at a decent enough price, which it was.”
Though the truth was that I found it in a niche enchanted comic shop, being sold for about half the average going price.
By then, Twilight got to the bottom of it. “Seems like it’s three times larger on the inside. What about the weight reduction?”
“That’s where it falls a little short. It’s only cut in half, but I can still carry it with no problem.”
“If I had one of these I’d be pretty protective of it," she stated.
“I am. I’ve had a few times where I told ponies handling the luggage roughly that if they break or make a hole in it, it would collapse into a singularity that could destroy the entire world.”
She giggled at that and playfully told me “Well you’re a devious little dung beetle.” Though she immediately realized what she said and stumbled on her own words in an attempt to apologize, while I quickly went from snickering to waiting for a complete response with my ears lying back.
Once she finally managed to say, “I didn’t offend you, did I?" I told her, “It’s fine. I can tell how you feel about me.”
I immediately realized how what I said could be misinterpreted, but I tried to ignore that fact.
From her feelings I could tell that she wasn’t exactly sure what I meant, while her slight blush only helped to confirm it. “Oh, um, right. I still sometimes forget even though I have a local changeling friend.”
After some seconds of awkward silence, I broke it with, “We should probably get back to work.”
“Right.” Twilight said, and we both went back to copying each others research.
Once I had an hour before my train ride, I was done with copying Twilight’s notes long ago and was reading the book I previously read before she arrived. Twilight came up to me and I looked up to her as she asked, “Is there any way that we could keep the notes for at least a few days then send them back to you?”
“I don’t really have what ponies would consider a proper home. More specifically I’d be described as a nomad, seeing as I live my life in constant travel. So it wouldn’t be easy to give you my only copy of the notes and have them returned. On top of that, my schedule is unpredictable and I’ll need the notes far sooner than when I can come back.”
She sighed in disappointment. “I just wish that I could make copies of everything.”
At that I felt even worse for lying about the importance of my on-time departure, but I had to if I wanted my secret to remain exactly that. Though just as sudden as her disappointment came, her face lit up and I felt feelings of epiphany from her.
“I think I have a plan for whenever you come by here next!”
“Please tell me you’re not excited enough about that to use that pool in your plan.”
Her face quickly shifted to one of slightly distant horror as she said “No, never again. Not after Pinkie-” She shook her head to clear her thoughts. “Never mind, but trust me, I have a plan that can’t possibly go bad.”
She had a lot of confidence in that, especially for a mare that constantly questions herself, and she didn’t seem to have any desperation about the problem either. “Well, I’ll see if I can come back sometime, but if I were you I’d get back to copying the research. I’ll want to head out in thirty minutes or so.”
“Right," she said, and went back to her desk to continue her copying frenzy until I told her that I had to go.
After packing everything up I told Twilight, “Next time I find myself in this village, you’re going to be my first stop," as she saw me out.
“I appreciate that," she responded, as we arrived at the front door.
I opened the door and left as we said our goodbyes. I went right to the train station and waited until the train arrived. It was apparently ten minutes behind schedule, but it didn’t really matter that much to me. I just wanted to get back to Canterlot by the next day.
Though when I started reading a novel with a large love subplot to it to pass the time, I had a realization of my own.
What did I just do... I passed up an opportunity to intentionally flirt with the Twilight Sparkle. The most beautiful and smart mare I've ever seen! I got all the info she had on the spell, and I currently don't want all my notes on the shape-shifting spell to be known, so I can't return to the library as Meta until everything is over. How disappointed could she get over Meta not returning for months, maybe years? Is she more interested in the notes than Meta? If I ever date her, whether or not I do it as myself, how would I tell her that Meta is me? Can I even keep a long distance relationship?
...why am I thinking this far ahead? It's not like it's probable. But something about the thought of dating her is far more welcoming than I previously thought.