//------------------------------// // Changeling in the Window // Story: Resonance Change // by Macrophage //------------------------------// Chapter 1: Now You See Me…. Reformed Changeling Hive: 3:14AM Equestria Standard Time Ugh, another night of no sleep. Just staring at the walls. From down the halls I can hear the light sounds of other changelings sleeping as well as the storm outside. The walls insulated well against the noise outside, but inside did echo a bit, despite several attempts to add plants and other improvements. Apparently, it’s just me with insomnia. I get up and walk out of my room into the hall slowly wandering around. Nowhere really to go or be this early in the morning. If there were at least one other here with the same problem at I’d have someone to talk to. I could stand being tired tomorrow, but this is just boring! It’s hard to see in the tunnel. The biolumincescent plants put up inside gave everything a light green glow so there was no chance of running into anything but there was no light really coming in from outside, other than an occasional flash of lightning from the small interspersed windows that were also a feature of the re-design of the hive. The rain and wind were soothing in their own way, just not enough for me tonight. This happened a lot during these storms. I slowly stagger around, hoping the walk will help. Maybe I can talk with Typanus tomorrow to see if there was something that I could take for this. ‘Just try to quiet your thoughts Pinea.’ just wasn’t cutting it anymore, and he wasn’t going to brush me off again on this. It just felt like everything was confused and jittery on these nights. Like a couple ferrets and at least eight bees got in my head and were playing with my thoughts. Bits and pieces of this and that just popped in there at random. Some made sense, but a lot didn’t. Random phrases, pictures, or snippets of songs I’ve never heard, some of it made sense, but a lot of it didn’t. Last month it was a recipe for banana bread, which I guess wasn’t too bad. That had tasted pretty good and had sold well. I never said it was all bad. I end up wandering outside, or at least it was outside now. At one point this had been the queen’s chamber, though most of it was gone now. All that was left was about half of the throne which used to protect the hive against arcane magic. I was never sure if it had been something Chrysalis had created, or it was something that had just been there, and the hive was built around it. Not like anyone wanted to ask her. Besides, the thing had been broken when she’d been defeated, and everyone had changed. I still had memories of the bad old days before, though I suppose everyone had those around. I’d never been a particularly good drone back then. I didn’t have the ‘zeal’ that some did. To be fair though I’m not sure how much zeal I had now, but at least The rain was sheeting off my exoskeleton, but I still liked this area on nights like these, even if the storm was particularly bad tonight. The rain never bothered me anyway. Last storm I’d starting writing lyrics for a song about that. But the buzzing in my head usually wasn’t as bad here. Usually it was a one ferret and 4 bees room. Tonight was bad though. I need to flap my wings to stay in place in here. Ugh, what’s worse is the place is making my head worse tonight. I’m up to a mid-size bee swarm between my ears. It’s hard to even form a thought. I go to leave but the wind gusts in the opposite direction, throwing me into the middle of the room. I yell and try to grab onto anything. I feel myself being pulled up. I’d change to something bigger, but I can’t solidify a shape in my head for the bees. I flap my wings harder, trying to make it to the remains of the throne. A crack of lighting about twenty feet away partly blinds me, my ears ringing from the thunder crack. I keep flapping though, hooves barely latching onto the ruined throne. I pull and flap slowly making more progress. The wind keeps trying to pull me off, but I slowly pull myself down, getting at least a little shelter from the wind. I try to flatten out as much as I can, trying to focus, but it’s a whole hive of bees and a couple overwhelmed ferrets in there now. There’s another flash and crack of lightning. The ferrets become wolverines that really hate bees and I pass out. *** Wednesday 5:11AM CST: Minneapolis Minnesota “Oh man! We got another one? That’s three in a week. What’s the reading?” the shared line crackled. “Hold onto your horn G, this one’s a level four, so we’re going to have to mobilize a couple cleanup teams at least.” “What teams A? We’re still cleaning up the two level threes and W’s still on the injured list. What’s the location?” “Western Canada. At least it’s almost in our backyard. U?” “Yeah, I can get on scene with no port backup. Be there later today.” “OK, but don’t engage anything on your own.” “Aww, c’mon A, I never get any fun!” “What about last week on that lovely trip I….” “Shut up G.” “Level fours can include major magical non-sentient creatures. No individual engagements,” A says, his tone saying no more discussion on the matter. “I can take it,” A monotone voice chimes in. “Thanks O, but we need you on that shipment. Besides, extraction’s going to be a bitch right now. Wrap it up in the next two days with Y if you can then get back to Central.” “L’s got our Level three under wraps, he can finish up. I’m not much good here now. He can port me in.” “You know we usually work in teams, but we need all we can on this. You got the go-ahead Q.” “If they can contain things for now I can back them up.” “No way Y. You’re O’s extraction and backup. That artifact can’t stay in their hands. We got our two agents for now. Finish up and we’ll send you out as soon as we can afford it.” *** Wednesday 3:44PM MDT: University of Regina “Miiiiiike? Helloooo?” Shelia says a few inches from my face, waving a hand. “You going to make it to the end of the day? I need your lab expense estimates in today. What’s going on?” I yawn and shake my head. “Sorry Shelia. Really bad insomnia last night. Then what sleep I do get has some really screwed up dreams, then all the thunder outside. I’ve got the numbers in here. We’re good for most of our chemicals. I worked on a deal with a friend in Chemistry. Getting some of their surpluses at discount.” I get the printer to spit out some papers which she checks. “What about buffers for…” “Simple substitutions in the formulation. Should be fine for student labs, don’t let the researchers grab any of it though.” “This is pretty good. Nice work. Damn Mike, just go home and get some sleep! You’ve got everything here.” I get up, working on the lab’s fridge, shaking my head. “I’m going to get the test samples done today for Ag so I can take tomorrow off and try to catch up some sleep.” She nods and walks out, “If you get that done, take a few days off. Just don’t drive yourself crazy before you do.” I nodded and got down to work. Insect test samples for an agricultural researcher. Protein and DNA extractions. I sighed. When you were a kid and thought about going into science this was never what you thought. It certainly was never what they told you was where you’d be spending most of your time. Like press gangs they were. Arrgh! After another five hours and no breaks I call it a night. Work’s done, I’m famished, and about ready to crash. I rub my face, eyes bleary a little as I close up and head to the car. Seatbelt on. Maybe I can hit a drive-in on the way home. I adjust the rearview mirror, catching a glimpse of an alien eye as I do. “AAAAGH!”/” AAAAGH!” *** Chapter 2: How Much is That Changeling in the Window Wednesday 9:09PM MST: University Parking Lot I fall back in my seat, head whipping around to look behind me. There’s nobody in the car. What I saw in the mirror though… It looked like an alien. Oh man, way too little sleep. I’d better get home. I check the back seat again and then drive home. I don’t use the mirror the rest of the way, still on guard for anything after the hallucination. I grab a couple burgers and a drink and head home. When I finally get in I turn on the computer and TV and sit back with supper. I still need some time to wind down before bed and find myself still a little jittery and wired after earlier. I scratch the back of my neck. I hope I didn’t accidently touch any chemical earlier. I’m cautious about that stuff, but it’s been hard to focus today with the lack of sleep. I get up to go to the bathroom, turning on the light and looking in the mirror…. I plaster myself up against the wall and fall hard on the tiles for my efforts. The thing I saw earlier is back and in the room! I reach for the toilet plunger, grabbing it like a weapon looking around quickly. Nothing here. I look up to the counter now above me. I don’t know what I’m thinking really, looking over the edge ready to smack whatever’s there with my mighty club. I know it’s just a mirror there, but I want to be ready to smack it too. I peak over cautiously. Its peaking over back at me as we both lower our heads a bit. Teal face. Vaguely horse like, if a horse had a sordid tryst with a rainbow beetle. Big dark purple eyes with no apparent pupils and sort of a unicorn-like horn. I think it may be shaking a little, which would make two of us. Its leg and hoof are wrapped around a plunger. I raise another hand as it raises a hoof. Are we doing a mirror comedy bit? I look at my raised hand. It is a hand. That’s good. Check all the bases. “What the hell are you?” we both say. “Stop doing that!” “I’m not doing that, you are!” “Arrrgh!” “Okay. You can’t possibly have the same name. Say your name in three, two, one.” “Pinea!” “Mike!” We stare at each other a minute pacing a bit, sizing each other up, still matching moves. They’re a little de-synched now, by perhaps less than a second. Maybe the copying moves wasn’t a choice? They didn’t seem to be getting anything from doing it, and they seemed like they were copying my expression, which was me being annoyed at all this. It… Pinea, I guess it called itself didn’t seem to be dangerous, just a really weird looking thing. Maybe another different answer. We look at each other, determined, at least if that was its expression. “Okay, let’s try what are you? Three, two, one,” We say. “Changeling!” “Human!” “What the hell is that?” we both say again, but they get it out a second or two before I do. We both catch ourselves at that, both smiling. Time for twenty questions, as long as all the answers are proper nouns. It’s perhaps about twenty minutes later. We probably also know quite a bit about each other now, if they’re not a hallucination. If this is a hallucination though then my brain really deserves applause for some of the answers. Then again some of the names ‘Pinea’ gives sound an awful lot like a trip through a biology textbook. Then again if my brain thought up this tedious trial to get to a simple conversation, I had a Q-tip with its name on it. I hold up a hand, and they don’t follow it, so I try again to have a conversation with a reflection of something not in the room. Totally sane here. “Okay, let’s try this now… Pinea is it? What are you doing in a mirror in my house?” It looks like they go to start to make the same gesture, then stop themselves. Yes! “I… I don’t know. This is a dream I think. I was outside in a storm. I had just got to a safer spot and there was a flash and I was dreaming, here. I think I maybe got knocked out. This could be a hallucination.” “I’m starting to wonder the same thing for me. Couldn’t sleep last night.” “Me too. Really bad insomnia.” “Maybe we should try to wake up, or go to sleep and see if this is still a thing in the morning?” Pinea nods. I like it when hallucinations are amicable like this. I mean it’s still my first experience, but a solid four stars. “Can you turn around though? I need to relieve myself here,” I say. *** Wednesday 10:48PM MST: Regina, SK U dropped down out of the clouds at the designated meeting area. By the tiny bridge was a small stone monument surrounded by benches. Sitting on one of the benches furthest from the streetlight in a confluence of several shadows was a man, older looking with fedora and a trench coat biding his time, staring at the sky. “Wow! That’s got to be the most conspicuous inconspicuous getup I’ve seen.” “Says the black pegasus. What sort of mess are we looking at here?” he says, getting up slowly and walking over into the edge of the light, his new companion taking to the shadows. “We’ve got at least eight spikes. Four out of town, four in.” “Anything else?” “One of the pings in town is intermittent, it may be a sensor ghost.” “Hope so, that’s a lot of targets.” “Sweep in, work out,” she says, nodding, with a bit of a smile on her muzzle. “Up for a fight? A said not to engage alone. I’m not alone now.” She adjusted the grasping augment device attached to her foreleg. “U-ie, I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship.” “Okay, THAT was actually one of your better jokes Q. Just so you know where the bar is set.” *** Chapter 3: Changeling Hardware is Ready to Update. Please Hit Restart Thursday 10:30AM MST: Mike’s house. I get up, rubbing my eyes blearily. That was one hell of a freaky dream last night. I can’t remember the last time I had a lucid dream like that. I get rid of a hair in my mouth and scratch my side. Kind of itchy today. I hope there wasn’t anything weird with those last samples I got. I’d just given myself a four-day weekend, and I’d like to enjoy the time off. Sure as hell better not be bedbugs. I stagger into the bathroom to use the toilet. “Okay, so that didn’t seem to work,” Pinea says. I jump again, smacking against the wall and falling on the floor. “You okay Mike?” he asks, walking closer in the mirror, looking down as I pull myself up. It feels like my stomach wants to drop out of my body. “O…O…Okay This isn’t a dream. So it’s crazy time?” “It could be magic. Mirrors always seem to be a thing with magic,” the changeling offers, looking up at the sides of the mirror. “There’s no such thing as magic.” “That’s crazy.” “Says the mirror image talking to me.” “You’re the image,” Pinea says, looking as if he’s going to snort or something. “How do you feel today? I’ve been feeling sort of off today. I don’t know how to describe it. Like last night I didn’t feel much of anything, but today I feel kind of itchy and on edge.” “Yeah, me too. But I work with some chemicals so it’s probably that. Hmm, maybe I should look up neurological interactions of the stuff I was working with yesterday?” I say, scratching my arm. It’s a little more intense there. Skin feels like some inflammation was coming on. I can see Pinea scratching his foreleg. “Quit making fun of me,” I grumble, “Or…are you doing this?” “I don’t even know what ‘this’ is,” Pinea replies testily. “If I could I’d get it to stop. This is kind of annoying you know.” I walk out throwing my hands up. “Oh, I know. Screw this, I’m getting breakfast.” If this is going to be a regular thing, I’m finding a way to charge the changeling thing rent. I go and finish off some leftovers in the fridge, sitting down, trying not to think of the itchiness. With a little effort I can distract myself to watch the TV for a bit, but after a while I need to go to the bathroom again. “OK, turn around, I need some privacy again,” I say as the changeling turns around. As I go, I can see their back move a little, then catch the hint of a wing. “Do those work?” I ask, as Pinea gives a tentative half turn, making sure I’m done, but nods. “Interesting. Anything else you can do…? Sorry, don’t mean to pry. I guess I’d like to get to know my delusion a little better.” I don’t know how he manages to roll his eyes when I can’t really make out any pupils, but he does it pretty well. “Some basic stuff… OH!” he says, turning and grinning at me. “So, no magic huh? Try THIS on.” The mirror flashes around him and he’s gone, replaced by a deer about twice his original size. “My hallucination can change shape. I guess that’s impressive.” “Magic Mike,” He groans. “You’re just determined to not believe this are you?” “I told you not to look at me when I went,” I grin. “What?” “Nothing.” I guess my hallucination doesn’t know that movie reference. “I will grant if you were actually here that would be impressive. Clearly what you did would violate laws of conservation of mass. But you have to be a product of my imaginat…. Aaaagh!” I scream as I look down at my arm that I’ve been scratching but ignoring. In the background Pinea turns back to his original shape and nears the mirror face. “What is it Mike?” I hold up my arm, the color has shifted to teal blue in a small spot and the skin there has got hard and smooth. Pinea leans in as if trying to examine it. “I’m guessing that’s not normal for humans?” He then looks panicked for a second and checks his corresponding leg. It’s the same as it was before, but the color is a match. “What are you doing to me?” I shout. “Nothing!” he shouts back, “I have no idea what in Tartarus is going on! I still don’t know where I am, because this isn’t like anywhere I’ve ever seen! Besides, wasn’t it you that said I couldn’t do magic because I was just a hallucination?” I don’t like getting outmaneuvered by my own delusions, but here I was, with some new fresh hell to contemplate. My brain is already racing to diagnose the problem. The color doesn’t quite match a bruise, and there should be redness. The hardness though is the scariest part. It feels like a plate, and I know there’s nothing that causes that. There’s buildups of keratin or calcification, but those are longer term processes, and the texture doesn’t fit either. What’s worse is I think it’s got bigger in the minutes since I first discovered it. “Mike?” I turn to the mirror. “Mike, if there’s anything I can do to help tell me. This isn’t like anything I know about. You seem like an okay guy. If it’s something I can make stop I will.” “Umm, thanks,” I say as I wander out. If this is a delusion, then wallowing in it isn’t going to help. I grab some swabs, a small container, and a knife. I go back to the bathroom and size up my arm. Gritting my teeth, I nick the skin where I can get something to come off. The center is too hard but the edge works. My audience looks confused. “OW!” Pinea yelps, “What the heck?” I mumble an apology and leave, grabbing a coat and heading for the lab, though that reaction leaves even more questions. *** Thursday 2:12PM MST: Mike’s house I walk back in. I’ve been giving this delusion as many chances as I could to end but I don’t think I can anymore. I walk back to the bathroom where my new roommate is waiting. I probably don’t look that happy, as the only thing in the mirror is the changeling looking at me silently. “Mike? Are you okay?” “I tested that sample I took,” I said, pulling back my sleeve, showing the patch has spread to much of the arm now, and I know the other one has started to go the same way. I can see him pull back a bit, looking surprised. It’s kind of weird seeing this from something so alien. “It’s chitin.” “What’s that?” “That is something that makes up the carapaces or exoskeletons of things like shellfish and bugs, but humans don’t produce it. I can’t exactly get a sample from you Pinea, but I’d guess it similar to your shell or exoskeleton or skin? The color match seems to be too much of a coincidence.” “Couldn’t this still be a delusion?” I laugh and smack my head. My would-be delusion is now asking if it’s a delusion? How meta. “I got someone else to run the test. Randomized several samples so I’d not know which was my sample. If this is a delusion it’s an incredibly complex one. I was going to take the remainder of the sample over to a friend at the hospital afterwards, but I passed after the test.” “Then what does that mean?” “I think we’re somehow linked here Pinea. The synched movements last night. This. Then when I took the sample and it hurt you? Not that that makes any more sense here. I’m either quite insane or this all is actually happening.” “Want to sit down and try and figure it out Mike?” I nod and go and get a drink, dropping the seat on the toilet to sit down and work this out. If I am still hallucinating, might as well make it a really good story for whoever gets to analyze me. *** Thursday 5:25PM MST: Still Mike’s House We spend about three hours going over our last nights, but it doesn’t give much to go on. I just got up and went to work as usual. We both had insomnia that night. Pinea’s experience with the storm is a bit more suspicious. Combined with the artifact it’s close to an origin story. There was also a local storm here that night, assuming the timeframes were the same. I’m willing to entertain magic at this point because quite frankly nothing else is making sense. By this time we have also tried a few stupid things to slow down whatever was happening, but really we’re just flailing in the dark here. Trying to ‘re-sync’ ourselves by giving common answers had been the dumbest idea, but we tried that too. It’s also at this time it occurs to us that while we could see the other in the mirror, neither could see themselves. Were we using vampire rules now? No, I had garlic for lunch and blood still made me squeamish to think about. “So, know any other magic?” I ask, but he shakes his head. “We’re not really good at it. The shapeshifting and some basic telekinesis to grab some things is about it. The old queen was good at it but…” I shudder and nod. We’d spent fifteen minutes on her alone at one point. She profoundly creeped me out by the descriptions. “Arrgh!” Pinea knocks his head against a wall on his side of the mirror. “We’re no closer than we were three hours ago. Stupid head! You can do better than this. Come up with something. Anything. A muffin recipe. A story about mice making it in a new world. Anything!” “I just don’t get why I’d be changing into you,” I say, as we’re pretty sure that’s what’s going on. The shared pain and the color match up seem to be clear on that. “Multiverse theory? We’re all connected? Circle of Life? I mean I’m getting the ‘despair and hope’ part right now and looking forward to hyperventilation soon.” “Is it still spreading?” I look, pulling off my shirt. The arms were pretty involved in the first hour but are now completely covered. The new ‘skin’ makes it harder to move my fingers, but everything still was working. There were changes in color into my chest now. I nod but we both can see it. At the rate it’s going, everything could be covered today. I’m quietly trying not to freak out here, but that ball of anxiety has been slowly building as time goes on. “So where does this end?” It’s kind of a rhetorical question. Neither of us have a damn clue. The last three hours had proved that. “Full change?” Pinea asks shrugging his legs. “By what you said of where you live that might even be better now. At least if it went all the way you might be able to change shape and look like your weird self again.” “You’re one to talk.” “I’m serious. You could maybe return to sort of normal if you could….” He pauses, his expression changing to fear, “I…I mean what happens to ME if you do though? Do I still exist? If I’m still unconscious something must be really wrong. Did…did I die?” “Hey, no going thinking like that Pinea. We’re both going to be fine,” I say. With whatever was going on, I’ve dropped the idea of him being a delusion. He seemed stuck in this as much as me. This does bring up another line of thought though. “What do you see on your side of the mirror outside this room?” I ask. “It’s dark. Very dark. I can’t see anything. I tried walking that way once, but it was like I didn’t get anywhere,” he says, head tilting like a dog that was confused by something. “What about when I went to the lab?” “What about it? You left for like a few second and were back.” I shake my head, “I was gone about three hours.” Pinea takes a couple steps back, head pulling back. “No, I mean, it seemed really short.” “What about when you tried to wake up?” “A couple minutes maybe. I can’t really tell here.” This just keeps getting odder. It’s like his whole world is the room, and almost only when I’m present. The ‘synchronized’ thing seems like it goes deeper, but now I’m wondering if he’s right. “Is…is there a ‘both’ at the end of this?” he asks, his voice cracking. “What?” “Are the changes physical or also mental? Does one of us end up getting ‘erased’ by this? Do I stay here?” I hadn’t thought of this, but now that it’s brought up an extra dread falls on me. I look to the mirror. Pinea’s eyes have started to tear up. “Hey! Take it easy. Nobody’s going anywhere here,” I say, trying to fake a bit more confidence than I have right now. I kind of want to hug the guy. I think we could both use it right now. I hold my hand up to the mirror surface, though I test it to see if it’s become something I can push through. That was always a thing in stories and movies. It’s still cold and hard though. “How about a deal then? If either of us have any control over this, we don’t let the other be erased, trapped, or anything. Whatever comes we face it together?” I say. When I say it like that I even sort of convince myself to relax a bit. Pinea comes closer on his side and puts a hoof up to the glass, sniffing a little, but nodding. “Agreed. We get through this together. Not letting anyone go. Not giving up.” I can feel a tingle on the glass as we both pull away as if it were on fire. “What was that?” we both say, then chuckle a little, testing out if we’re re-synched again. Sadly, no. I order in take-out as I’m not sure how much I want to be outside. No changes in the face yet, but the expansion rate didn’t seem to be slowing. I order quite a bit to have extra leftovers for tomorrow, figuring if I planned for tomorrow maybe things would be normal. As I grab my order from the delivery guy and close the door I notice my reflection in the window. It’s not of me. I check my face again but things don’t feel like the reflection. “So, you’re in every reflection?” “This is a different reflection?” Pinea says, tilting his head. I shake my head. I guess it’s a reflection thing somehow. I set up the dressing mirror in the living room by the computer and TV, behind the couch. It takes a while before I realize that I must be ‘in frame’ for Pinea to see anything out. “So, I guess we ride this out,” I say, looking over my shoulder. “I guess. Together. Unless we can think of something else. What’s that?” he says pointing a hoof towards the TV. “Really? Whoo boy. Well, umm, think of it is my realm’s magic. Science and technology.” I turn it on and watch him jump a little, then stare ahead. “Wait, so a mirror talking to you was ridiculous, but THIS is perfectly normal?” “I, well, I mean those are just movies. It’s not real, just staged. Kind of like a story told with moving pictures.” “Still seems kind of magic-y to me.” “Arthur C. Clarke said that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” “Fine, then can you technology our problem?” “That’s how I found out about the chitin.” “So, you can do technology?” “Science,” I correct him. “It’s a set of rules for attempting to understand the universe. A way of approaching problems. So, I guess, yeah, I kind of can. I work in a lab. A place that does science. But this is far beyond what we know of.” “Okay, so you’re a kind of mage? Odd, you don’t have a horn.” I double over laughing as he looks at me a bit annoyed. “Nono. No horn. Just crushing debt from years spent learning. I almost was able to work as a ‘mage’, but…” “Hmmm?” “It didn’t work out. There’s a lot of people that want to do that, and I…wasn’t quite good enough.” “I’m sorry Mike. I shouldn’t have brought it up.” “Hey, no worries Pinea. You didn’t know. If we have some time here so I thought maybe I could share a few movies with you. I don’t exactly want to spend hours watching myself. I don’t think you do either.” “Yeah, though I do like talking with you.” “You too,” I say to easily the weirdest friend I’ve ever had. “So, this first one does have some magic and technology in it, and some comedy. All about hunting ghosts. And hey, we can still talk through it.” *** Thursday 7:36PM MST “Okay, so still getting readings off this place, but it looks clean. Told you, just a sensor ghost. Bigger the storm the greater the chance,” U said, hovering over the house, nodding to the crow beside her. “Just a normal guy inside. Nothing else. Let’s check out the next one.” *** Thursday 8:45PM MST: Yup, Still at the Same House It’s a few hours later and we’ve gone through a couple movies. Thankfully Pinea seems to have some similar taste in movies as I do, but I do have to explain a few things here and there about technology. From what I’m gathering where he’s from is perhaps seventeenth or eighteenth century and more agrarian. Shame. A steampunk universe would have been so much cooler. “Steampunk?” he asks, tilting his head a little. “What?” “I know what steam is. Steam engines. What’s steampunk?” Pinea asks. “I…I…didn’t say that.” “Yes you did. I heard it.” “I didn’t SAY anything. I was THINKING It though,” I say, more stress creeping in to lay on the large ball of stress I’d been building up today at a rapid rate. That ball was approaching boulder in Raiders of the Lost Arc levels now. The reflection takes a step back. “Oh no…” “Yeah,” I gulp. Being a scientist (sort of) though I must test it. I think hard about half a song lyric…. “Ghostbusters!” Pinea answers and then jumps. Now I have an image in my head of a very pink looking pony with a big smile on her face. “Pinkie Pie?” I say, never having seen this before. Pinea nods in confirmation. “Well this is creepy,” we both say. “I guess it does go further,” I say, looking down at myself, pulling off my shirt and sweats. My body seems to have been busy the last hours. As we thought might happen, I’m matching Pinea’s colors exactly. The changes are all the way to my feet now. It looks like a lazy animator re-skinned me for a different background character. As I can’t actually use a mirror now, I feel up my head. My cheeks and nose are hard, but that’s as far as it’s got. I look down at my shorts. Am I up for this? No, but I got to know. I really could have stood not knowing. I’m at full Ken doll. I can see something like a space between a couple plates but that’s it. It’s still very jarring. I feel a pit open in my stomach. I’m naked at this point but it doesn’t exactly matter anymore does it. “I can tell you what I see,” Pinea offers, seeing as I can’t use the mirror anymore. I just nod, still stunned as I flop back numbly on the couch, which results in a pain shooting through my spine. “OW! What the…” I reach down, and regret that too. You’d think I’d have learned that from seconds ago. There’s a projection off my tailbone as a, well tail. The structure is kind of thin and feels fragile. Feeling down I can feel a crinkly surface. I stand up immediately and pull it to the side as I crank my head around. Yup. The same sort of insect wing-like thing like Pinea had. I start to feel faint and pass out as the stress ball passes my carry capacity and rolls over me. *** Chapter 4: Zen and the Art of Changeling Re-layer “Miiiike. You there? Mike? Are you OK?” I hear. I’m anything but OK. I’ve got a front row seat for a screwed-up version of Metamorphosis, and I’m watching everything change before my eyes. I thought I was ready for how far this would go, but I’m not. “Mike. We’re going to get through this together. Remember?” “I’m tapping out. I think my brain is broke already.” “I’m not letting your brain break while I’ve got a cottage there Mike.” I kind of chuckle at that one. “Don’t know if you have a choice in it Pinea. I’m not ready for me looking like this, let alone anything else coming up.” “Well, you couldn’t have got stuck with anyone better then.” “What do you mean?” “Duh, I’m a changeling. We’re used to taking different shapes. Some in the bad old days would impersonate ponies or others for YEARS. You know what you learn? The shape can matter to some, but in the end it really doesn’t. It’s still you at the heart of it Mike.” “Current me is strange and unusual and getting worse….and I just realized I’ve not moved my lips through this whole conversation.” “I had noticed that. I didn’t really want to bring it up.” I pull myself up and walk to the other side of the couch and turn and look at the mirror. “So, what do you see?” I ask. “You were out like that a few hours Mike so, ummm. I have some good news…? Surface is all done,” He says. “Go me,” I say with all the enthusiasm of someone that’s just decided for whatever reason to read the comments section on an online video. “That, umm, means your hair and eyes too,” He says, hesitating a bit more. At this point some numbness has set in so I just nod. I’m kind of glad the mirror isn’t working for me right now. The eyes would certainly freak me out. At least if I’m looking at Pinea I can still think that that’s him. As I speak, I notice the blockage in my field of vision between my eyes. Crossing them I can see a teal protrusion. As I touch it I jump back a little as I feel my small snout now there. I feel something move against my back. The mental map in my head says the couch but I’m too far away….so I look. I JUST had two opportunities to avoid doing this exact thing and regretted it, but noooo… There are wings on my back that are out and fluttering. I decide to take another small impromptu nap. “Miiiiiiiike!” “Please no more. I need a break,” I say, laying flat on the floor. “Get up! You need to deal with this at some point, and this is the second ‘break’ you’ve had. I’m through the first two of the Star Wars movies so far.” “Oh, those are the best ones.” “Don’t tell me that with seven to go! Mike, if it’s too much just get up and look at me. Talk to me. I don’t want to be alone in this either.” He sounds more worried than I think I’ve ever heard him. Against my better judgement I raise up my front on my arms. It feels a little weird to do so, like my arms aren’t quite right. I don’t focus on it though. “Why don’t you want to be alone in this? I thought shapeshifting was normal for you. Plus you’re not even changing by what I can see.” I say tiredly. He nods, looking down, “It is, but…. I don’t know what happens to me at the end of this. You’re becoming me right in front of me. As far as I know I’m just here in this dream I can’t wake up from. Is this it for me?” “No. No it’s not,” I say touching the mirror, a thought entering my mind. “It could be me that doesn’t exist at the end. You’re clearly the dominant force here somehow, re-writing me. Why should it stop just at the outside? The brain is just more tissue. No reason for it to be special.” “No Mike. No! I’m not letting this happen to you! I don’t care if this is it for me. I won’t have you gone because of me. I can’t have that happen!” “Maybe….” I say softly, something desperate entering my head. “Huh?” “If this is magic, and it’s got to be, maybe we can will it along some lines WE want!” “I told you I don’t know anything about spells. I’ve been interested in it, but I couldn’t do it. Most all of us can’t. Besides we tried those things earlier.” “Nono, I know. But perhaps something else. There are no human mages but there’s stories about people being able to do amazing things by concentration and focus. If we can find one thing to change or protect, focus on protecting that single thing together, same time, same image….” “We may be able to control it. Like diverting a stream!” he says, with a smile. “Okay so how do we do this?” I say, looking around. “I did meditation a little bit. We should focus on a single sound. I have a book!” I rush to get to my feet and quickly faceplant into the rug. “Mpppph!” “I wasn’t going to say anything…. Just focus on getting the book! I don’t want you fainting again. I don’t think we have time for another nap!” I nod and push myself up, getting to my feet and falling over again. I need look now. Yup, this is NEVER a good idea. My back legs have gone full changeling pony-like thing on me. Full hooves and the foot and knee bends are in very new places. In the process of getting up I can see the middle digit of both hands has expanded a lot, the nail growing thick while the other fingers are retreating back along the midline. So, single toed ungulate bugs. There must be a fascinating evolutionary tree…. FOCUS! I feel faint again, but I push it down. This is speeding up and I need to get this before I, before WE run out of time. I push my back legs up and push, crawling with my arms on the rug. Screw dignity. “Physical may be too late Mike. We should focus on ‘us’!” I hear Pinea shout, as I nod, crawling with front arms. There’s the book! I knock it down and paw at the pages to flip them. Exercises, yes! I read. Yup. Single sound, single image. Start by holding hands… Crap! Okay. Yes, yes…. Improvise! I really doubt they wrote this for this precise situation. I do my weird walk over to the mirror, “Alright. I’m going to imagine you and me when we first saw each other, hand…er hooves to the mirror with a protective bubble around us. Got that image?” “Got it!” “Book says to hold hands, so maybe touch the mirror?” “Something happened last time. Seems like a good guess!” Pinea nods, sitting on his haunches, getting into position, booth hooves on his side of the glass. I put my quickly transforming hooves on, and there is a tingle again. “OK, so we should close our eyes and focus on the image, using the sound to center our thoughts. Try to be as in sync as possible. Nothing else should exist in our thoughts. I’m going with ‘doh’ for a sound because if this doesn’t work it’s going to be an appropriate final sound.” “Mike?” “Yeah?” “We get through this together right? I don’t want to lose you.” “Not going anywhere without each other here,” I smile weakly as I close my eyes and start. “doh” We’re a little out of order but I can feel, I don’t know, something in my…hooves I guess. “Doh” Timing is much better. I can feel a flow from where the mirror should be. I ignore it. Concentrate on the image and sound. “Doh!” the sound syncs perfectly and I can feel the mental image as if it were in two places at the same time. “Doh!” Both images collapse into one. *** Friday 4:13AM CST: Minneapolis, MN “Damn! Q? U? Report in! We just got another level two disruption on your site! Did you see what caused it?” “That’s a negative A. Sky’s clear. Taking another reading. We were checking out six readings. Neutralized one chimera. We’ve got…. Shit, ten pings. So four more probably minor problems. How’s the assist coming? We’re going to have to get some sleep here sometime.” “L and G are done and can get out there. L go rendezvous with G and port to Central for some traps. If M wants to go take her along too.”