In the days that followed, I managed to make shape-shifting almost primary nature to me. When I used the regular and simpler metamorphic spell, I could rapidly change between vastly different bodies. I also succeeded at adding indicators for spells out of the user’s field of view, which would pop up close to the border of my peripheral vision. I managed to also increase the range to twenty meters and add more spells to the recognition library.
Though that wasn’t the end of my plans.
Not long after noon, maybe even just a few minutes, I was taking a break and playing with Frost when I heard a knock on the door. I did the usual changeling check and it seemed to be Cordial, which was suspicious. He never came to my house before and if he wanted to, it’d be for business and he’d plan it with me.
So I answered the door as usual and Cordial left no time wasted as he blurted out, “Chrysalis came to Celestia’s court!”
After that, I was a flurry of emotions but I simply told him, “Get in," in a calm, collected tone.
He entered the apartment unit and right after I closed the door I asked, “What’s she there for?”
“Likely not anything that she claims she wants. She’s full of lies and deceit, but somebody will eventually find out.”
“Is there anything else?”
“Not much else. She brought a squad of soldiers to defend her and I wouldn’t be surprised if she brought infiltrators as well.”
I gave a slight smile at the mention of more hive infiltrators, though Cordial knew what I was thinking. He poked me on the chest and told me, “Don’t intervene too much with them," in a stern tone. “I have no doubt the negotiations are going to be a delicate situation and no one can afford you inadvertently starting a war.”
“I want to find out what happened to me and get Blitz back, but not if other ponies get hurt. I’ve been being as careful as I can.”
Cordial sighed and calmly told me, “For your sake, I hope so," as he went to the door and left.
~~~~~~
An hour later, I left the apartment to take a trip for some odds and ends. Though before I left the premisses, a Guard approached me with my neighbor behind her. I sensed my neighbor’s suspicion and irritation and the Guard’s feelings of exasperation beforehoof so I was pretty sure of what to expect.
“Sir, I’ll need to cast a few dispels on you," she said.
I mentally rolled my eyes. “Yeah, go ahead.”
She cast quite a few spells on me, but not even one caused an anomaly in my appearance.
Turning to my neighbor, she said “See, ma’am? He’s not a changeling. Half the guard knows this and several of us know exactly what he looks like.”
She responded with a deadpan face of irritation and came up close to me to quietly say, “I know you’re a changeling and I know you’re doing something to keep that disguise up through those anti-infiltrator spells.”
After she left, the Guard apologized for her paranoid behavior and I went on my way. She didn’t really bother me all that much and I was happy to have my metamorphic spell go through the official checkpoint dispels with no problem. So with that being established, throughout the day I thought on how I’d infiltrate the royal castle.
I thought that I’d need my best disguise spell to get past any royal castle checkpoints. I also thought I needed to find out where negotiations were usually being held, while when was more of a bonus. Getting a copy of the castle layout would be easy and help immensely.
I also needed a hiding place to possibly change disguises and to start the invisibility spell once at the appropriate area. The listening spot would have to be discreet and not too close to any patrol routes, probably where only pegasi can go, so it would involve either climbing or flying. Flying would involve too much movement to keep myself invisible enough with the best invisibility spell I can cast, and even at night it was probably not discreet enough.
Climbing in a pegasus disguise was likely the best option, but I’d need to scout out a route to the spot next to the room. A telescope makes it much easier and discreet if used correctly. Even then, the climbing would best be done at night because of lower visibility, but that would mean I'd have to stay awake and camp out for several hours while staying alert.
But then I realized that I didn't have to use my changeling magic to disguise myself. I could use pony transformation spells and potions! If I had memorized the right areas of the castle, I could try turning into a very small animal to get past the checkpoints and easily listen in on the negotiations without needing counter spells for the possible privacy enchantments. Though this would keep me from being able to take notes of any physical sort, and the methods for turning into the right creature may give me a limited time that's too short. I also realized that the transformation spell I found in the Castle of the Two Sisters could have been a huge help in this if I practiced the spell earlier, so I did that for other reasons.
An hour after sunset that same day, I made my way to Canterlot Castle and approached the entrance checkpoint. The Guards asked what I was there for and I told them I was going to the royal court, so they used their dispels and I passed through with no problem.
My next step was finding a bathroom close to the restricted records section. After passing a few more checkpoints, I entered a bathroom, went to a stall, and took a half minute or so to charge and cast the dragonfly transformation spell. Because of my insignificant size at that point, I had to be careful in a different way. Somebody could step on me by accident or something, even though most ponies actively try to avoid that sort of thing, so I needed to stay out of reach and remain high up. I also had to keep away from the dispels used at the checkpoints, least they find a half-breed landing on them.
Though the advantage obvious to me was that I was easily able to wait above the door to the restricted records. After an hour or so of waiting, somebody opened the door and I immediately flew in. While I was waiting on top of a light fixture, she didn’t take any longer than ten minutes to find what she was looking for and promptly left. At this point I flew to the ground, canceled the spell, then changed to a throwaway disguise and started my search.
I didn’t know of many changelings that had connections to the one I was after, but if one was suspected of being in Equestria, the information was likely restricted to higher ranking individuals. So while I didn’t find anything about those changelings, I did find some interesting intel about Rabble Rouser.
This pony was a basket case, but let’s start with the fact that he seemed to cause troublesome uproars just because he was good at it. How was I so sure about his talent? The novel sized file they had on him included the picture of a crossed torch and pitchfork that was his cutie mark. He claims it’s for nocturnal farming, but he’s never even been seen near a farm before.
And the troublesome uproars themselves were of varying subjects with no identified patterns of logical reasoning across each uproar. It was clearly no help in identifying his morals, though the file said that he was likely in it for attention, which I could believe.
His social connections were weak, with his family connection seeming to be the weakest, while he had few friends. I read that his employment was just as varied as the subjects of his uproars, though it had looked like he had finally found a job he could stand. Unfortunately it was for a newspaper called The Horses Mouth, which someone described in a quick side note as “a crackpot lunatic conspiracy-theorist tabloid rag.” Though his latest and most bothersome pursuit was his protest of changelings being allowed into the Royal Guard.
About ten minutes later, while reading another file I heard someone opening the door. I immediately thought to use an easier transformation spell, though the first easy one I thought of that would suit the situation at all was a walrus. Few ponies kept them as pets, so it was strange but not quite overly so.
With all haste, I charged up and cast the spell before anybody noticed the accompanying light. While sitting there, waiting for them to find their documents, I heard one of them get close to the isle I was in.
I can’t believe the first pet spell I thought of is the most ridiculous one I know.
Thankfully, she went to the isle next to mine and started rustling through the papers in the cabinets, quietly saying “This place really needs to be more organized... It’s not like it’s a public library. Not to mention how some of this intel going missing can be detrimental.”
After a few minutes, she went to the end of the isle and proceeded the end of mine, looking at me with confusion just as severe as the suspicion that she should and did have as a guard.
“Who thought it was Bring Your Pet to Work Day?!" the guard yelled.
“What?" the other guard called back.
“There’s a freaking walrus in here Pole Vault!" she said as I started waddling over to her.
“A statue of one?" Pole asked as I heard him make his way over.
The mare responded with, “No! An actual living walr- Agh!" right before I got to her and bunted my head on hers. Though I accidentally gave it more force than needed and she scrambled a bit to move out of my reach.
Just as she was scrambling and I was looking down in shame, Pole said, “Is this some kind of j-," until he came into view and made a face just as confused as the other guardspony.
The mare was clearly angry as she continued to stare at me and sternly said, “The walrus attacked me! Stay away from it!”
Which prompted the stallion to give a deadpan look and say, “First we get deadly shape-shifters as guests, and now this. What is my life?”
“You can have your midlife crisis later. Right now we need to move this thing," she said as she looked back at him.
Amused by the absurdity of the situation, he asked, “With what, Trebuchet? A pallet jack?”
“Yeah, something like that. It’s not like we can do this.” Trebuchet then turned to me, made a sharp whistle noise, and said, “Come here, boy!" while motioning for me. “See?”
But I decided to act as though I had some training and started to waddle towards her, even though it made her slowly back up out of the isle in fear. So instead I came up to Pole and gave him a lighter bunt, which he reciprocated with, “Awww… you’re not so bad, are you?" in a voice you’d usually use for a dog.
“Well seeing as you two like each other, you can be the one to take him to an unused room and guard him. I’ll find the document then figure out what to do with him.”
“Eh, fine by me," Pole said without looking at Trebuchet. “Come on, buddy. Lets get you some place safe until we find your owner.”
So Pole left the room with me, and we found a Guard who insisted that he take a spot behind me out of suspicion, though Pole didn’t seem to pick up on that the entire way to my room. All the while, the castle staff, guests, and even a few other Guards gave me odd looks.
Two times I tried sneaking off when it seemed like no one was paying close attention to me, but the two escorting me always had their ears on me. I was too heavy to sneak around, but it was worth a shot as no one would suspect me enough to try any dispels. Speaking of, we thankfully found an unused room before having to go through any checkpoint, and I went in alone while my escorts guarded the entrance.
It seemed to be a large meeting room of some sort. There was a large round table in the middle with several cushions, and some shelves filled with books and scrolls. The ceiling, which was moderately high, had a fancy silver chandelier hanging from it.
I took a closer look around but there was nothing in the room that was useful for escaping, which meant that I had to continue with only using magic. After thinking for several minutes on what other transformation spells I remembered, I decided that the dragonfly one from earlier was my best option.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t any good place to hide while switching transformations so during that I just stayed on the other side of the room. After that, I flew up to the chandelier and waited for somebody to come in.
Once a pegasus Guard opened the door she didn’t see any walrus. She became very suspicious, then closed the door and searched around for a minute. Once she was thoroughly irritated, she opened the door and said, "Pole Vault! Where is the walrus?!"
Pole awkwardly said, "Uh... It's not in there?"
He then took a quick look around while saying, "We put it in there twenty minutes ago."
Pole's superior walked into the doorway and stopped, saying, "Is this some sort of prank?"
Pole turned and looked at her. "I swear this isn't a prank! Trebuchet saw it and the Sargent isn't trying to prank you either."
"Nopony but you three saw it, and as soon as I get here, it disappears? We're on high security right now, Pole. We don't have time for chasing imaginary disappearing walruses!"
Pole's superior then emitted suspicion towards him and gave a look to match.
"Why are you staring at me like that?"
She ignored the question and told him in a serious voice, "You're coming with me, right now."
"... why?"
"Don't asks questions. If you want to keep your job, you'll do it. Stand in front of me and go."
"...okay?"
So the two walked out in said fashion, telling the other Guard to come with her in the same tone while closing the door. I presumed that she was taking them to a checkpoint to make sure that they weren’t changelings, which meant that I had an opportunity to escape.
The door was shut and the room was in a public section of the castle, so I decided that slipping out as a pony was my best option. I wouldn’t get dispelled and at worst they would merely question why I was there if I was caught slipping out of the room. I did think about pulling the same escape method as in Manehattan, but I didn’t find any air vents big enough and I didn’t want to change into a dragonfly to get roughly tossed around by the possibly strong air currents inside.
I didn’t know if anybody who was there when Pole and the other Guard was escorted was standing guard anywhere near the door at this point. Because of this I decided to turn back into a random pony, start the mid level invisibility spell, then lightly push the door open a few inches. This caught the attention of the Guard close by who started towards the door while I did a fast scan of the hallway, which was otherwise empty of Guards, though I remembered he was here while I was being escorted.
If he caught me in the room, he would think that I was somehow behind the walrus. This wouldn’t do for me and I had to quickly hide in a corner with the spell still going until he was done with his quick inspection of the room. After that I had to wait three gruelingly boring hours as a dragonfly before he started getting anxious and left for either the end of his shift, lunch break, or the bathroom.
I was then able to slip out under a random disguise and leave the castle with nobody the wiser.
Once I arrived home, Frost greeted and followed me to wait in my bedroom while the half-ling was pretending to sleep on the couch. I say pretending, because somebody sleeping always had either significantly reduced emotions, which means they’re not dreaming, or abnormal combinations directed at random ponies or things, which indicates the opposite.
The half-ing wasn’t trying to mimic either, nor would he have likely tried to mimic the rapid eye movement that often comes with dreaming. He was also getting slightly more nervous the closer I got to him, and was recently feeling guilty about something having to do with me every time he noticed my presence. By it’s self, the former was a little odd in general, while the combination was moderately troubling to me.
Despite that, I continued into the bathroom to get ready for bed. While brushing my teeth I locked the door and after using some mouthwash I shed my disguise.
Taking a good look at my leg holes and their chitin, as well as the rest of my changeling features, I realized that I didn’t mind them much anymore. I thought it was interesting that what I partly became had a common ability that pertained to my greatest talent and that it was an aid in my search.
I even smiled.
After putting on my disguise again and going back into the bedroom, I jumped right in bed and Frost laid beside me while I tried to remember something.
What was that old saying? I think it was, “Liars can not smile in the face of their own reflection.”
~~~~~~
The following day I took a shot in the dark. At about ten in the morning I infiltrated the castle with the same method as before with no trouble. The difference that time was that I was going for an eavesdropping attempt at the peace negotiations.
I drank my potion in the bathroom closest to the Solstice Hall to change into a small fly, then flew over there and waited near the door to eventually see three armored changelings and their Guard escorts approach it.
Chrysalis isn’t with them. This probably isn’t good unless she’s already in there.
The Guards opened the door and I immediately flew in, perching myself among the higher placed plants while listening to the row of changelings speak. The middle one who stood in front was the first, his snout held high just as the nobles frequently do with others.
“The Queen has declared that she shall not participate in any negotiations so long as Equestria continues to insult Her and the hive in such a shameful fashion. There will be no negotiations until Equestria has properly apologized and made amends for this insult.”
I'm definitely missing something here.
In general, their words were met with shock and surprise. Some of the ponies quietly exchanged words with each other while I specifically noted the royal sisters’ reactions.
I had to admit that Celestia was good at keeping her outer self level through her own irritation and disappointment. As for Luna, her difference was that she had far less disappointment, but much more anger. Yer she kept herself level to a diplomatically sufficient extent. I was expecting it, but I could only imagine how taxing it would be for me to deal with this in either of their positions. I would likely take this whole negotiation ordeal in a manner close to Luna’s.
So with the calmness she usually displays, Celestia asked the hive changelings, “What insult is it that you speak of?”
“The Queen had requested that Nictis appear before her before any negotiations commence, a request which has been coldly ignored by Equestria," the front one answered. “She demands to know if Equestria intends to make amends and negotiate in good faith, or if you intend to waste Her time with this demeaning farce.”
Sounds more like a demand. Celestia as well as Nictis knows that pony princess authority doesn't include this, even under these circumstances. Your queen isn't getting it if he won't be willing.
Nictis suddenly had a surge of guilt and fear at those words, yet as he recovered he stood up and barely opened his mouth before Celestia spoke for him in a matter of fact tone. “Nictis had prior commitments that demanded his attention, commitments your Queen was well aware of before her arrival.”
At this, the hive changeling gave Nictis a regarding look that immediately made him feel like retreating in some form or another, though he did not. As Nictis likely expected, the hive changeling responded with a tone that they would have used on me. “Yes, the Queen is quite well aware of how he has shunned his duty and commitment to the hive. It was hoped that he might still have shown some sliver of dignity or respect, but clearly that was too much to hope for.”
Too much respect for another leaves you with little for yourself and not a shred of dignity.
Celestia spread her wings, which prompted Twilight and Luna to stand up as Celestia took a few steps forward. Yet with all the fear the changelings had of her, they did not take a single step back.
When Celestia spoke, her voice was gentle yet it had a slight warning undertone. “Nictis has committed himself to a noble cause, one which can benefit your hive far greater than his prior duties. He does not deserve your scorn.”
The hive changeling quickly became irate at her words and sharply responded with, “The Queen is not interested in excuses! If you wish these negotiations to commence, you will present Nictis to her. If not, we have nothing further to discuss.”
I could sense Celestia’s irritation slowly rise, though it was still slower than Luna’s. “I will not compel any of my subjects to appear before Chrysalis against their will. If she wishes to speak with him, you should be asking him, not me.”
With an arrogantly uncaring tone, the hive changeling gave a retort to Celestia’s words with, “We have delivered our message. What is your answer?”
Opting to speak louder than words, Celestia tried shifting his attention to Nictis with the gesture of a hoof while I flew to the door frame of the entrance they used. Though the hive changeling was stubborn about even looking at Nictis, he did. All that he communicated to Nictis with was his pure contempt and disgust, which was already clear to everyone.
Nictis didn’t say anything for a second or two, until he managed a, “I’ll go.”
This is all the more reason to loath Chrysalis.
Just barely satisfied, the hive changeling gave Nictis an unnecessarily short, “She will be expecting you soon. Alone.”
Once the hive changelings turned around and started towards the door with their Guard escorts right behind, I flew out and left the castle. After finding an empty public bathroom nearby, I entered a stall and used the potion’s mental dispel command. This left me as my real self, as I expected, though I fixed it by taking on Modus’s appearance so I could also enter my home without arousing suspicion.
Once I got to the front door, I already knew that the half-ling wasn’t in the living room thanks to the detection spell. In fact, he was in my bedroom doing what looked like petting and playing with Frost. I immediately changed back after closing the door and started up the stairs to my room, the sound of which made the half-ling stop what he was doing and begin to exercise, expecting me to be fooled. I found it mildly amusing, though when I entered the room I casually picked a magic analysis tool I forgot to return to my lab and left to work on the usual potions and spells.
~~~~~~
In the early afternoon I left the apartment to head off to Cordial’s store. While on my way I decided to play around with my long range detection spell, testing it’s range at differing charge levels until I noticed something particularly interesting.
The spell revealed green line highlights in the area around me, which was an indication of a potentially complicated spell, and my detection spell confirmed this. So my next move was to charge up the spell again, as much as I could. Unfortunately after I cast the spell it wasn’t there anymore, though it did prompt me about another detection above me.
It was another line, though it was straight this time and seeing as it had the same properties as the spell from earlier, it was likely the same exact spell. The most interesting thing about it was that it looked like it was originating from, or had established a connection to something or somebody in Canterlot Castle. I didn’t know if I’d have time to infiltrate the castle fast enough nor be able to get any definite reason behind it on that end, so I went after the other end of the spell.
I galloped as fast as I could, though the link died out before I detected it’s end. At this point I was unlikely to find a definitive answer as to who or what it was connected to, but a probable answer was better than nothing. Based on the spell’s direction, it ended in what looked like an unused building which prompted me to use the long range detection again.
It picked up three changelings at street level, outside my view. One was sitting at a restaurant and the other two, using a pegasus and unicorn disguise, were walking down the street together. I decided to go with the two on the street. The area wasn’t especially crowded, but I still had to get within ten meters of them to detect their emotions clearly enough. After a few seconds, what I found was the usual signs of an infiltrator.
Unfortunately, something alerted them, and Nictis of all changelings suddenly flew to a small group of Guards and ordered them to capture the two. I decided to pointedly avoid getting close to him and the Guards, as the two infiltrators split up and made a break for it. At first I thought that I had to choose one to follow, but I quickly realized that I could follow both as long as I could still detect them. In order to do that I had to constantly cast the long range detection, and keep a relatively equal distance between the two.
Fortunately enough, the Guard managed to capture the fake pegasus not fifteen seconds after I started running through alleyways and streets. This left me with needing to take care of only one, so I continued to follow that one infiltrator in the same manner until he stopped galloping. By then, he changed into a pegasus and I started the shorter range but continuous detection spell while following him through the streets for a few minutes. He eventually went into a furniture store, but there was a problem.
The long range ping spell isn't continuous, so in the time between detections the infiltrator could have unknowingly thrown me off his trail by doing something like passing by or, if the infiltrator was extra lucky, fire-portaling near another disguised changeling.
What I decided to do was quickly find a place to change into one of the guards Nictis was ordering, go to the store’s entrance, and open the doors. By that time I had taken the mentality of a guard looking for a runaway, as well as a deep breath.
I then yelled, “Surprise Guard inspection!”
The changeling responded with a slight spike of anxiety and began to nonchalantly sneak to a place that was likely secluded, like the bathroom. Though this was fruitless as my detection spell showed a green silhouette of him. Shrugging, I acted as though I didn’t see him, though I headed right to the bathroom as though I needed to use it.
The infiltrator arrived at it’s door first and opened it, which revealed it to be a single-pony bathroom, then entered while starting up a fire-portal spell. By the time he almost shut the door completely and was almost half way to completing the spell, I stopped the door and hit his head on the wall with my magic. This disrupted his concentration on the spell, stopping it, and let me enter while he was momentarily dazed.
After quickly locking the door behind me, I explicitly said in my interrogation voice, “If your horn lights up at all, I will strike it. Hard.”
“Who are you?" the infiltrator asked in a demanding tone.
I responded with, “Stop playing stupid," which was when he lit up his horn. Unfortunately for him, I wasn’t bluffing.
As soon as I noticed the glow, I took his head in my magic and gave his horn as hard of a hit as I could. Putting a hoof to his horn the infiltrator’s anger and irritation slipped out, and in more ways than one.
"You pajama wearin', basket face, slipper wieldin', clype-dreep-bachle, gether-uping-bile-maw, bleathering gomreil, jesse oaf-lookin' stoner, nyaff plookie shan, milk drinkin, soy-facedshilpit , mim-moothed, snivelin' worm-eyed hotten-blaugh, vile stoogic, cally-breek-tattie!"
I’ll admit that during his eighteen second long insult, my sadistic side came out and I slowly gave him the biggest manure eating grin he’s probably seen in months.
Still grinning and emitting amusement and joy, I told him, “I don’t know what half those insults meant, but sweet Celestia that was great! So I’ll assume that was a yes, and if you didn’t know already, I have never worked with the Guard.”
“If you expect me to have any information on the changeling that’s seen your disguise during the invasion, you’ve been sadly mistaken," he irately told me. “And don’t even think about helping the bumbling idiots you call the Guard, or your Guard friend will die.”
I went back to my usual interrogation demeanor and said, “I’m not looking for that changeling anymore.”
“Then what do you want?" he asked.
“I want to know everything that’s been going on with the negotiations.”
The infiltrator slightly narrowed his eyes at me. “That’s none of your business, you freak.”
As I suspected, I had to convince him. I narrowed my eyes more than he did and got uncomfortably close to his face. “I can make it my business. I can go right to the royal court and show Celestia how I can help with rooting out infiltrators. It would destroy your way of life. If I had to I’d even reveal myself to them before doing so in public.”
Despite bringing that to his attention the infiltrator still remained confident, and with plenty of venom in his voice he told me, “If you do that, your friend gets wasted.”
At that point I had enough of the hive’s games.
“Your capture of my friend is something I will never forget or forgive. Even before that, I was working on a set of tools meant to find and capture you and your friends. I can see through your disguises like you're completely naked, and you can not hide all of your emotions from me either. I don't even need a line of sight to find you.
“You've made yourselves an enemy to the only one who can throw off the infiltrators you assign to stalk, who can reveal all Canterlot safehouses you have in a day, and even find your infiltrator princess out if she's near. To top it all off, you don't even know for sure who I'm usually disguising myself as. Blitz is willing to give his life for Equestria, and if you underestimate a Guard’s loyalty you won't have any chance left to keep your terrible ways.
“If I know you’re trying to kill or capture any of the princesses or high government officials, or be involved in a large number of killings, I will consider my friend's life and any other Guards you've captured honorably sacrificed so I can do what I must to directly help the Guard in saving more lives than you end. You got that?”
When they took Blitz, they didn’t just make it personal. It was a statement to all of Equestria. They thought that they could fillynap whoever they wanted, but they underestimated my capabilities and now the hive was in its tightest spot yet. Granted it would be hard for me to let Blitz die, even if it was a part of his personal vow to the Guard, but if other ponies started to die I would not hesitate to do it.
Seeing and sensing my dedication, confidence, ferocity, and passion, the infiltrator wasn’t able to suppress his fear enough to even hide it from a pony. “I-I’ll tell you, but it’s not much. I-It’s going poorly because Celestia’s been constantly offending the queen.”
Despite already knowing that, I told him, “Very well. You will fire-portal out of the city with me. I want to see you leave until I can’t any longer. Until you’re so far that the Celestia damn horizon blocks you from my view. Furthermore you will never again return for infiltration on behalf of the hive.”
“Yes, o-of course," was what the infiltrator said before he lit his horn up.
My detection spell confirmed that he was casting a fire-portal before he could have had time to cast an attack, so I wasn’t worried in the least. Once the spell’s ring of fire was complete, it formed a hemisphere of fire that surrounded then lowered us into the ground. After the fire hemisphere completely emerged from stable ground on the upper face of Canterlot Mountain, it quickly dispersed. No other changelings were detected in the area, so it was unlikely I was going to be quickly ambushed.
“Leave," was all I said to him, and he started flying away.
I did this for multiple reasons. The most important one being the delivery of my message with the context of my genuine emotions that only an infiltrator could give. Therefore they would not believe that I was bluffing. Additionally, they’d do a passive part in keeping my existence from the Guard unless I lose Blitz.
Now, I didn’t actually stay to see him fly past the horizon. The discovery of those two infiltrators by the Guard could have been something exceptionally important to the negotiations, so I rushed to the castle.
Once I arrived at the Solstice Hall doors with my usual method, I waited for another meeting between the hive and Equestria. Unfortunately, after an hour or so of waiting, it was apparent that the discovery of those two changelings weren’t as important to discuss as I thought.
~~~~~~
Before I went to the Fairly Odd Pub that night I made sure that the half-ling was still home. It seemed like he was acting decently and knew the full extent of his situation by then.
I then left to meet up with friends, but unlike almost every other meet up with them, I had to break some terrible news. I was nervous. I never disappointed Modus as much as I thought I was about to, but I had to tell him or he’d just be even more disappointed in me.
Once I arrived in the pub’s doorway, I noticed that Modus and Gallery were already at a booth waiting for Blitz and I. As I approached the table, Modus knew I had some bad news, and as I sat down his expression changed from relaxed and content to worried and surprised.
“Shape, what happened?" he seriously asked.
My first statement was a soft, “He… They took Blitz. The hive did.”
Gallery wasn’t all that surprised, both because she already knew about it and that I’d likely tell Modus the news. Though Modus was far more surprised.
“You did something to anger the hive, didn’t you?" Modus asked with an almost horrified face.
Instead of answering the question, I lamely told him, “We need to go to some place far more private.”
“I want to know now, Shape," he said with an undertone of anger and irritation.
I simply said, “We’ll go to Cordial’s store then," as I got up and the two followed me out of the pub.
After a few minutes, Modus got close to me and asked, “Should you really let Gallery come with us? We’ve already lost enough ponies in this group. She could even be an infiltrator.”
I didn’t look at him as I said, “It’s fine. She already knows," though that caused Modus to be moderately suspicious of Galley and I.
Once at Cordial’s store, we went right to the back where the office was and I knocked on the door. Coridal opened it with a slightly confused look.
“Shape? I thought the next batch was going to come in tomorrow.”
“It will," I said. “But I need a place to tell Modus about some of the things I’ve been doing.”
I sensed an emergence of mild suspicion in Cordial that he directed at me, but he still let me in, opening the door all the way and gesturing with a hoof. I took the invitation and the other two followed me in while Cordial said, “I’ll be somewhere in the store if you need me.”
Gallery was the last in and the one to shut the door, after which I immediately began.
“I’m… not really a pony… I’m a half-ling.”
Modus wasn’t as surprised as I thought he would be, though he still said, “Prove it. And who you are.”
Seeing as I’ve gone though proving it a few times by now, I knew exactly what to do. Firing up my horn, I picked up Cordial’s desk and filing cabinets with my magic and set them down, then with my horn shining brighter I cast a spell on Gallery to change her into a dragonfly and undid it.
Slightly dazed by the unexpected transformation, Hamartia irately said, “Don’t cast those kind of spells on me again.”
Cordial wasn’t as surprised at Gallery turning out to be a changeling as I thought, but he was still confused about why Hamartia was disguised as her. So right as Modus opened his mouth, I told him, “He was always Gallery, but I didn’t know it for years.”
Satisfied with the explanation for now, Modus let me continue proving what I was with me firing up my changeling magic to change into Cordial’s disguise and back again.
The first question Modus had was, “I believe you, but what have you done to invoke the hive’s wrath?”
“For the last several months I’ve been finding out, capturing, and interrogating several hive changelings.”
Hamartia was stunned. “That’s what you’ve been doing?! Sweet Celestia, Shape! I thought you were just getting into contact with changelings that are still with the hive!”
“Never mind how for now!" Modus interrupted. “Why would you do that?!”
“I don’t remember how I became a half-ling," I explained. “I was trying to find out by finding the changeling that knows, by infiltrating and interrogating my way to him. Messing with the hive’s infiltrators was… something I considered a bonus. I also had a contact in the hive that wanted justice to be served to who was probably the same hive member that knew what happened during the Canterlot attack. In order to get the memories I wanted I had to work with him to expose the changeling.”
“He could have been lying to you," Modus said with all seriousness.
“I can sense emotions like a changeling," I said. “Even the ones not directed at me with a significant sensitivity.”
Hamartia responded with moderate surprise. “I had a suspicion you did, but I had no idea yours was tuned like that.”
Going back to the previous subject, I said, “My contact wasn’t even an infiltrator, and I’ve managed to find someling to get infiltrator training from in those past months.”
“Was it the changeling we worked with in trying save Blitz?" Hamartia asked.
I answered lamely with, “Yeah.”
But before I could say anything else Modus gave Hamartia a scrutinizing look and cut in with “What else did you help him with?”
“Nothing else," Hamartia seriously stated.
“And what’s your real name?”
“Hamartia.”
Modus then turned to me with a slightly irritated look and asked, “Why didn’t you tell me about all of this sooner?”
Though Hamartia responded instead. “I thought Shape was going to tell you right after we failed to save Blitz.”
“I… forgot," I ashamedly said.
Both Modus and Hamartia facehoofed at that.
“I can see why your name’s Hamartia," Modus said, which prompted him to say, “Shut up," in a deadpan tone.
After Modus removed his hoof from his face, he said, “So how have you been finding those changelings so easily? And how are you able to get past Canterlot Castle’s checkpoints?”
Hamartia’s anticipation in hearing about it became apparent to my emotional sense, though he still remained serious.
I felt some guilt as I said, “I created pony spells that notify me of any changeling magic in the area, and a metamorphic version of my own changeling shape-shifting spell.”
During that statement, Modus started giving me the most disapproving glare I’ve ever seen him do. “You’ve been poking a sleeping bear," he said. Turning around, he stated, “I should go," and did so.
His disappointment wasn’t the only thing that worried me. It was merely the most clear part of the torrent of emotions he had towards me at the time.
Feeling like I was scolded by my parents, I unenthusiastically told Hamartia, “I’m going home… and I guess you don’t need to use the disguise anymore.”
As I started to leave the store Hamartia followed right behind me, though my sixth sense couldn’t give me a good reading of how he felt about me. It wasn’t as much of an emotional jumble as Modus was, but he saw me right after I failed to save Blitz. I even confided in him and he confided in me. I just hopped that Modus wasn’t too angry with me to do the same.
As I went on my own way back home, I started to reconsider what I was doing.
Is it really right of me to invade the privacy of disguised changelings like I have, even if it helps me catch a few of the malicious ones?
I never told anybody if a pony was actually a malicious changeling as long as I didn't know for sure so I didn’t think it was that bad. Also, with only me knowing, and nobody else knowing the fact that I know, there was still next to no chance of that knowledge getting out without the changeling's okay. But sometimes I did technically stalk one if I suspected one. Though I was usually right about it when I suspected it. Still, the stalking was pretty creepy...
And the whole royal castle infiltration thing. I didn't tell anyone about what I found, not did I tell that I had it or how I got it, as long as they didn't have a perfectly solid reason. It was almost impossible for anyone to even know that I specifically had the information, so I thought that it was safe with me.
...And there's what I did to the infiltrator that replaced Blitz.
When somebody does something brutal to me and my friends, I try to take enough control to give any punishment I see fit. The infiltrator was involved in abducting my best friend, so I tried to give him a lesson in prejudice.
I don't regret anymore, because why regret something when you can't redo it? But I do accept where my decisions land me and what they teach me, and I can still feel guilty about it.
But where will my past decisions put me if I see that infiltrator again?
I changed. I almost never invaded someone's privacy, even when there was a good reason to. I never wanted to be capturing dangerous shape-shifters. At that point in time I was doing it all to get answers from some changeling that's difficult to get to, and if I didn't play my cards right, Blitz could die.
Is it even worth the slimmest chance of Blitz dying to get my answers?
Once I arrived home, I trotted by the couch which the half-ling was sitting on and Frost was sitting next to. As Frost got up to greet me, I noticed that the half-ling was still feeling guilty about something having to do with me. He was also reading the dictionary of all things. It was then that he decided to tell me, “Your cat regurgitated some demon vomit in your room.”
Ignoring Frost for a moment, I told the half-ling, “Frost isn’t possessed," in tone expressive of both exasperation and irritation. I then turned my attention to Frost and greeted him back with a still exasperated but happy, “Hey, Barfy," because he was barfing more than usual. After I gave him a quick head rub, I headed to the laundry closet and pulled out some cleaning supplies, then went to my room.
Frost made just as much of a mess as usual, though from the size of it you’d think that I’d have a dog. So with that being said, it took some time. Even with the cleaning products I had and the spells I searched for after I adopted my first cat. And as usual, while cleaning the mess up, I pondered why I didn’t give him the name Ralph.
Once done with cleaning up, I put the supplies away and decided I was getting sidetracked from Cordial’s order for too long, so I made up for lost time despite wanting to make further improvements to my spells. Advanced spell creation tools don’t pay for themselves unless you’re a Star Swirl.
During my potion brewing, my mind wandered to how the half-ling was doing at the time. He wasn’t annoyed about living in my apartment anymore. He was even starting to like it! But I was also wondering why he was feeling guilty towards me. He hadn’t done anything that I knew about to cause such a feeling, yet there was still my suspicion of him telling the hive what he knew.
Then in the middle of my brewing I heard somebody open the unlocked lab door. I responded with starting the detection spell, which indicated that it was the half-ling.
“Shape?" he nervously asked.
“Yeah?" I said, while continuing to work.
“I know… Even though I’m not part of the hive anymore, I’m sorry that they took your friend.”
That caught me slightly off guard as I didn’t think he’d apologize for something like that at the time. I also sensed something new from him, so I said, “I know that you feel more embarrassed than sorry, but I guess that’s progress.”
“What progress?" the half-ling asked in a confrontational tone.
“Reform.”
“That’s ridiculous. I don’t care about ponies, except for you, if at all. And even if it’s true, once you get me my body back I’m going right back to the hive!" the half-ling said, right before he turned around and left in what might have looked like anger or irritation.
Though as he talked I cracked a slightly sly smile as I could sense his growing turmoil over the idea, further proving my claimed progress. So not long after midnight, I went to bed and thought about how it felt nice knowing that I finally convinced him to not hate all ponies. Though a few minutes later I thought on my overall situation and decided that an explanation on something that mattered little to me wasn’t worth Blitz’s life.
I had to stop.