“So you’re the one behind Caballeron’s sudden disappearance that Cozy just told me about? What are you planning?”
The ebony-blue changeling approached me with a lick of her lips. Saliva dripped down her razor-like, shark teeth. “It’s simple. As I said, I’m going to steal the love of all the ponies I come in contact with, and then undo the seal on Queen Chrysalis’ bindings, fuse with her, and become the most powerful being in existence,” she said it all so casually as if she was listing items on her Sunday to-do list and giggled, “Hehehe! You have no idea how absolutely braindead Starswirl is. He put up a sign and didn’t tell anypony about this. Some hero of the ponies he is, isn’t he?” Her jet black eyes blinked with an eerie, wet flap sort of noise.
I shuddered. Her entire appearance unnerved me. Coupled with the way she spoke, it really painted a new perspective on the ‘psychotic’ type that I often came across.
“Yeesh...and you think you’ll be able to do all of that? Pfff.” I asked with a scoff, “Everypony has already gotten far stronger since Chrysalis’ last attack two decades ago. And don’t even think about using magic from the portal. It’s being shut down as we speak.”
But this ‘changeling’ brushed it off with a scoff of her own. “Pshaw! I know that! In fact, that’s what I’m counting on.” Her horn lit up, and a sickly green aura was formed. I watched as she absorbed all of the liquid from the lake into her own body. The end result was a harmless pit that was left behind which did inadvertently take care of the problem of sealing it.
Unfortunately, we had a new problem in its place.
When she absorbed the fluid, her eyes changed from an empty black, to a nauseating bright green. “Oooooh yeah! That is the stuff right there! See, I don’t actually give a crap about this little sinkhole. The world at large is going to bow to me...and you get to watch it all go down. Ooh, isn’t it exciting?!” she squealed with a drunken sort of smile.
Yeah, no. There was no way to talk her down from this. This new breed of ‘changeling’ or what have you had totally given herself in to the essence of what created them. I would have no choice but to put her down if I wanted to have a chance of quelling this.
I cricked my neck in both directions to loosen my joints. “So is that why no one has mentioned this wretched pond until now? I see. I’ll have to have a talk with Twilight about that later. For now, you’re coming with me.”
“Hm...nah! I really wish I could come with you, but I’ve got other plans. Let me just…” With a flash of her horn, she cast a spell around the area. Though it didn’t hurt me, it seemed as if she was trying to sense something within me. “Ooooh-hooo...I can see everything right through you. Yup. Okay, so this is how it’s gonna go down.” She leaned forward, and tapped my nose with one of her hole-y hooves, “Boop. The only way to stop me is to kill me.”
I wiggled my nose, and brushed it off just in case she was trying to pull something funny. Also, was she serious? I wasn’t about to jump down that rabbit hole yet again if I didn’t have to. Plus, she...whoever this is had valuable information that couldn’t be taken if she were dead.
That’s when I felt it. My buddy’s aura had made itself known through the earth. Just a few more seconds…
I scoffed, and prepped myself to look as if I was going to fight, “Tch. Not today you’re not.”
But the witch managed to turn it against me pretty fast.
Ghost Ambush leapt at her from the bushes. The cyan earth pony already had potions out, and ready to curse her with everything he had. Unfortunately, she must have seen it coming, because he was quickly subdued by her magic, and caught in a mid-air forcefield of that same sickly green color.
“...! What the--?!” he shouted.
No time to debate it anymore. I had to act. I was about to tackle her, but she had erected a soppy, green substance around my hooves that prevented me from moving. “Wh--! Seriously?!” All four of my limbs were stuck in the forest floor so I pulled, and struggled to free myself. “Grrr! You absolute witch!”
“Nah,” she shook her head casually, as if she was telling a friend what not to eat, “That name doesn’t suit me. How about Abdomenatrix...nah, too much. Maybe Antennabelle? Ooh, that one sounds great. Oh! I remember now! Elytra~”
I grit my teeth, and was about to say something. Until...
SLOSH!
“Pale! Let’s--” I heard another wet, soppy noise from my right! Cozy Glow had returned, but stepped into the changeling’s new trap which caught all of her limbs in the green, sticky substance. “Yeech! What is this stuff? And...w-wait...why is there another dark-looking changeling here?! I thought they were all good now!”
“Pfff,” the new changeling scoffed, “Oh you ponies are such sheep. The fact that Starswirl the Bonehead never bothered to tell anypony about the lake that bred the changeling’s in the first place it’s--” she took a moment to pause, and snort as she laughed. “Heehee-haw! Sorry, it’s just--it’s way too damn funny!”
SWISH!
Daring Do made an attempt to pull off a sneak attack from behind, but wound up in a green, net-like trap instead. “Grr! Are you kidding?” she yelled from inside the trap as she tried to break out, “This is not how it’s supposed to go! It’s like she has eyes in the back of her head or something!”
“Oh I totes do,” the changeling mare replied, and started to lift up her dark green mane, “Wanna see?”
We all nearly threw up.
“NO!” Cozy shouted.
“No one wants to see that!” I cried out.
“We believe you! For real!” Daring Do yelled.
“Hellll naaaaw….” Ghost mumbled with a shudder.
Thankfully, she heard our plea, and didn’t move her mane anymore. “Hmph. Your loss, guys. Anyway. Now that you’re all here, I suppose I’ll tell you what I intend to do in order to take this land over and bring the true, good changelings back into the spotlight.” She cleared her throat, and continued. “Ahem...take all the love and win.”
We waited in silence for a few minutes.
Cozy raised an eyebrow. “Um...is that it?”
“Ahahah!” the changeling laughed while she stomped her hoof in the ground, “You really thought I was gonna explain all the details like I’m some comedic supervillain from some cheesy author’s novels? HAH! Yeah right,” she came down from her laughter, and wiped a tear away from her solid green eyes.
Daring Do coughed.
Okay, I was in the easiest position to escape. My hooves were caught in this disgusting substance, but it was alright. I just had to divert my earth pony magic into my lower body to enhance my physical capability just enough to break free. I just had to…
“But first, I think I’ll make an example of your...big friend here,” she turned to face Ghost, “He looks like he has lots of tasty love to give, hmhmhm.”
His pupils shrank. “Disgustin’. I already got a woman in my life, first off--AGGGHH!”
But the changeling didn’t care. She funneled more of her magic into his trap. “Mmm...shut up. You’re food. Food doesn’t talk.” Through her magic, she was absorbing his vitality like the succubus she was. Ghost’s body became limp in the force field, and we all watched helplessly due to being stuck in traps of our own. “Oh yes! This is delicious! Earth pony love is much stronger and tastier than the others. But it’s a bit harder to digest as a result; though I think I’ll manage. Hehe!” she explained with a satisfied cackle.
“You monster!” Daring Do yelled, “You’ll never get away with this!”
“Oh no. Of course not.” She responded ever so casually once more, “I’m going to leave him within an inch of his life so you all have an example to look forward too. Isn’t that exciting?”
GLCH!
I had freed myself, and lunged forward. I tackled the changeling to the ground, and put my left hoof on her neck with my right hoof reeled back and ready to knock all of her teeth out.
“Ooh, kinky,” she said with an annoying little satisfied chitter, “so, you gonna kill me, then? Go on, daddy! Kill me!”
Part of me wanted to, but I knew that she was too valuable an individual to kill immediately. Plus, I was not going to form a habit of killing again. Not anymore. “I don’t think so. You’re coming with us, and that’s final, understand?”
She laughed with a snidely snort. “Haha! But how do you know I won’t just transform into somepony else? Or escape? I intend to quite literally drain Equestria of all of its life for the sake of my own in order to make a new hive. I think that’s enough of a threat to warrant my death, hm? Hmmm? If you let me go, I’ll just cause more trouble~” she spoke in a teasing tone while she fluttered her eyes at me.
Dammit all. I...I didn’t know what to do. She was making threats against the lives of many, but if I ended her life here, we wouldn’t have any evidence towards her actions, nor could we properly dispense of the magical changeling-creation fluid that she absorbed into herself. But what she also said about capturing her would prove most difficult. Without the use of an anti-change spell, we would have no way to keep track of her, and none of us could cast such a thing. Damn, damn, damn…
My hesitation in that moment was my downfall.
With a flash of her horn, she changed into Cheerilee with a perfect copy of her voice to boot. “I’m sorry, baby.”
SMACK!
With quite the hefty punch, I was thrown backwards, and into a nearby tree. “Oof! Ow...dammit…”
“DAD!” I heard Cozy cry out as she desperately tried to free herself.
The changeling transformed back into her normal form, and looked back at us all. “Sorry to kiss and run, but I have plans to make, and a hive to rebuild. See ya later, guys!” With that, she waved, and flew off into the darkness of the forest.
After a moment, her traps deactivated. Ghost hit the ground with a thud, Cozy was free, and Ms. Do could fly now that the net had been dissolved.
“Dad, dad, look at me!” I watched as Cozy flew over to me. It was a rather nice feeling to know that I was being looked after. “You okay?”
“Yeah...I’m fine,” I replied with a groan, “Ngh...where’s Caballeron?”
Daring Do pointed to some nearby bushes. “I hid him there before I attempted to sneak up on that...whatever the heck she was. Was she really a changeling?”
I sighed, and looked down. I wished that I could have stopped her, but now she was long gone. Likely already making preparations for an invasion of some sort. Dammit. How could I let that happen? What was I thinking? Now everyone was at risk.
Blech. I’d grill myself about it later.
“Okay...get his body, and I’ll get Ghost’s. We need to report to Twilight immediately. This is a Class 7 Emergency,” I explained as I got up. Cozy held onto me to make sure I didn’t hurt myself. I was grateful, but I was nowhere near that old yet.
“Relax, Pale,” she assured me and put one of my hooves around her neck to support my gait, “I’ve got you...no matter what.”
I flashed her a smile, she was a good kid.
What a rough one. But now wasn’t the time to lose my head. After a rough trip back to the Equestrian mainland, followed by a train ride, we arrived in Canterlot that evening.
We took Caballeron and Ghost to the hospital, and notified Moondancer to check up on the former. Both were knocked out completely, but the nature of whatever magical seal that was placed on Caballeron was still an objective that needed to be cleared. Yearling decided to stay there so she could keep an eye on her friend, which was understandable since they had grown closer over the years.
After that, we headed for Canterlot Castle to request an immediate audience with Twilight. So we waited right outside of the throne room doors.
Inside the throne room…
“All I’m saying is...logistically...you made a decision too quickly, Twi. That’s all,” Flash Sentry consoled the Princess.
Twilight sighed into her hoof. “Maybe...but still. No one cared about Svengallop. He was irredeemable, and deserved to face the price for his crimes. He was a murderer, drug dealer, and generally disgusting towards mares. Don’t you think he deserved it?”
“Oh no, absolutely,” Sentry replied, and flew up to stand next to Twilight’s throne, “I wouldn’t want some bastard like that living around either. But at the same time...ordering a detective to make a move like that--even with Vinyl’s help--wasn’t smart. Because now, you’ve only made the situation surrounding his death more suspicious than necessary, you get what I mean? There was no need for that. And now you’ve gone and made him look like he’s the bad guy--the detective, that is.”
“...You really think so, huh?”
The pegasus shrugged. “I can’t answer that for you. I’m just the Captain of the Royal Guard. But right now, I’m not speaking as a guard.” He walked around to the front of her throne so that she could no longer avoid eye contact with him. “I’m speaking as your friend. I know you wanna be more proactive than Celestia was. But there’s such a thing as going too far, you get me?”
Twilight looked down, and recounted her actions. “Is it possible that I’m going too far? I don’t want to end up worse than Daybreaker or someone like Queen Chrysalis. Pony feathers--what should I…” After a moment, she looked up at her Guard Captain. “Flash, I think I--”
He held his hoof up to silence her. “Don’t give me an answer yet. I want you to sleep on this, and really take some time to think about your methods. You’re already doing great as princess, but don’t act as if you have no one to depend upon, okay?”
She was going to say something, but closed her mouth. Instead, she nodded once, and went with a different response. “Alright, Flash. Thanks for the talk. I do have a lot to think about, and maybe it’s...time for some restructuring.”
The pegasus planted a kiss on the alicorn’s cheek. “Good. The first step towards correcting your mistakes is admitting what you did wrong.” He removed his helmet, and let his wild, fuzzy blue mane free. “And with that, I take my leave for the evening. If you need anything, just call. Alright?”
The kiss made her blush, but she didn’t focus upon it for too long. “Got it. Goodnight, Sentry,” Twilight waved as he flew out of the throne room. Just then, she saw a group of ponies at the door who were looking to speak with her. “Enter.”
As soon I heard her say so, we did. Cozy and I walked up to the Princess of Equestria, and explained what had just transpired between us and the newfound changeling-ish pony that claimed she was going to take over.
But when I mentioned the fact that the bug pony brought up Starswirl, Twilight’s eyes shot open.
“What?! He never told us anything about coming across a green oozy lake with bugs and bones! That’s where Chrysalis and her changeling hive came from!” she squealed with frustration, “Augh! But we never knew where it was until now!”
I looked down with shameful sadness in my eyes. “I’m sorry...I wish that I could have stopped her before she got away. She was threatening to end all pony life, and saying that I should’ve killed her. But if I did that then we wouldn’t have been able to gather evidence regarding where she came from.”
Twilight nodded, and stared at me with a stoic expression. “...So you failed to even capture her, then?”
“I’m sorry,” I replied with disappointment in myself, “I shouldn’t have hesitated…”
Cozy tapped my shoulder for comfort. She didn’t say anything, but I knew she wanted to help me feel better.
The purple alicorn leaned back in her throne with a deep sigh. “Whew...okay. It sounds as if to me we’re dealing with Lady Elytra who was a rumored Hive Ruler that supposedly had her own horde of changelings that were dispersed when they all became good under Thorax’s rule. Now she’s trying to get revenge for what she thought was hers.” She pulled out a book from under her throne, and began to flip through the pages. “Yup...that’s about right. Well, the fact that you didn’t kill her was good since we need her alive to find out just how she managed to return. But the fact that she’s escaped and is currently roaming without any surveillance is...troublesome.”
I puffed out my chest with newfound bravery. “Whatever it is, we’ll handle it. I won’t make the same mistake again.”
But what came next was unexpected.
“I’m sorry, Pale,” Twilight said with cold, firm eyes, “but I’m not going to allow you to participate in this case.”
“WHAT?!”