//------------------------------// // Chapter 30 // Story: Jumper // by lollipopchica //------------------------------// Adelpha regarded the changeling woman in Equestrian custody. The room they occupied was stark and empty aside from the table and two chairs the two sat in. The Canterlot Investigation Bureau was an agency that handled crimes that had the potential to not only affect the nation’s security but also Equestria’s strict stance on magic. With help from her brother in law, Adelpha was able to work out a plan of action to deal with the woman who was abusing her changeling heritage and making the worst kind of waves for her office and his citizens. Before her laid a PDA, a legal pad and a manila envelope with the information Ichra had acquired about the woman. Her colleague watched from the other side of the two way mirror ready to take notes and fact check anything the other woman said. Amethyst Sahara was a bombshell dream. With her slim waist and curvy hips, the changeling princess had no doubt she morphed her body to suit her needs. Everything about her seemed too perfect to be natural. Flawless skin, luscious hair, full lips, sensual eyes and with a pastel coloring the people of this land associated with class and royalty. “You like walking around like that?” She asked casually studying the stylishly dressed woman seated comfortably across from her. “It helps,” Amethyst answered with a smirk. Adelpha hummed, before leaning forward and clasping her hands. “Do you know why you’re here?” “Haven’t the faintest idea.” Amethyst shrugged. “So the name Jett Blaze doesn’t ring any bells?” A finely arched brow twitched. “I may have hung around him once or twice.” “Only once or twice?” Adelpha tilted her head. “Word around is that you were in a serious relationship with him.” “I wouldn’t call it a serious relationship.” Amethyst waved the insinuation away. “No? His friend seemed to think so.” She opened the folder that sat in front of her and began to rummage through it. “It says here that he signed over quite an extensive list of assets to you.” She began to pull out random sheets. “Title for a car, deed of a property in another city, checks written out to you... Sounds like a lot for someone you only hung out with ‘once or twice.’” Amethyst snorted and took a hand through her hair. “So maybe we hung out a lot.” “I bet.” “I’d like to know why I’m being held here.” “We’ll get to that. Where are you from?” “Manehatten.” “Try again.” “I’m from Manehatten.” She maintained with a glare. “So you didn’t immigrate here from the Changeling Collective three years ago?”Adelpha sat back. “You must have me confused with someone else.” “Are you sure?” “I’m not a leech!” She defended. “Jett Blaze’s condition speaks for itself.” Adelpha noted the flash of panicked emotion that flittered across the other woman’s face. “I don’t want to talk anymore. I want a lawyer.” Amethyst stonewalled. “That’s too bad, ‘cause you don’t get a choice.” “I said-“ “I don’t care what you said!” Adelpha snapped back forcefully. “I’m sure Jett said a lot of things too and you just bulldozed right over him.” “You listen to me-“ Amethyst hissed shooting to her feet in a display of anger. Adelpha’s eyes flashed a bright white as her magic did her bidding. “SIT.” Amethyst’s eyes widened in horror as that white aura seized her body causing her knees to creak and buckle. “Who are you?!” She cried out as fear overcame her. “BOW.” Adelpha commanded watching intently as the other sprawled forward onto her knees with her hands outstretched. “What’re you doing?!” Amethyst breathed as her heart rate spiked wildly. She tried to resist the other’s commands but her body was not her own. “What you did to Jett.” Adelpha took her time standing and approaching the trembling woman before kneeling down beside her. Her voice was low as she spoke to her. “How does it feel for your body not to obey you? LOWER.” Amethyst’s forehead touched the ground and the younger girl began to sputter. The Princess continued. “To have no control over anything you pride yourself on. REVEAL YOURSELF.” She watched as the soft and curvy looks of Amethyst Sahara melted away and the form of a changeling was revealed. “That’s much better,” she cooed. Adelpha stood and released the girl from her control as she returned to her seat The changeling shot up and fell backwards, panting and crying. The girl before her wasn’t nearly as shapely as she pretended- her clothes looked a size too big now. Her dark skin was dusted with freckles, her pastel hair was shorter and snow white. Still pretty, just not a knockout. Adelpha motioned for the other to reclaim her seat. She did so shakily. “Now let’s try this again. Who are you?” “You seem to have everything you need in that little folder.” The other woman spat scornfully. “Have you been here so long that you don’t recognize your sovereign?” Only changeling royalty had the ability to command other changelings with such an invasive display of magic. There’s was the only magic potent enough. The girl paled and swallowed her pride. “My name is Jade Trill.” Adelpha had known that already too. Jade had been born to a working class family whose parents had passed away in an accident years ago. She had studied to be a geologist. The princess had wanted to hear her story in her own words. “Tell me about your time here.” Jade wet her lips and haltingly spoke of her first few years in the country. “It was impossible to get a job. People somehow found out I was from the Collective and would only give me menial jobs. So I took someone’s place.” “Through a harvest den?” A harvest den was an underground network where people sought to make dubious arrangements for all sorts of unsavory services. It was highly illegal as all arrangements were exploitive in nature. Illegal adoptions, assassinations, mercy killings, fraud, sex rings, and human trafficking were just a few things the harvest dens were known for. Its contracts were usually taken up by desperate or unscrupulous changelings. Amethyst nodded. “A girl I knew told me about a soft contract.” Something unethically harmless. “So Amethyst was an actual person?” “She was a recluse dying of cancer. It was pure luck honestly. She’d inherited money from her dead parents but the cancer took that too. We struck an arrangement and when she passed, I executed her wishes and took over her life. She had nothing, of course, but being no one was preferable to being a ‘leech.’” Her lips curled as she said the word. “Why do you refer to your people as such?” “Leeches?” She rummaged in her designer purse, pulled out a cigarette, lit it and took a long drag. “It’s what the pony people say anyway. Can’t not blend in if I don’t use their lingo.” Adelpha kept her emotions in check as she continued her interview. “Why not get a normal job now that you had a normal identity?” “At first I did. Back in the collective I was a geologist but Amethyst wasn’t. Her background was basically useless, may she rest in peace. Eventually, I started to realize the affect I had on people. It was subtle at first and when I figured out I could give faint suggestions to get what I wanted... Starting from the bottom didn’t seem so appealing anymore.” She took another drag. “Besides, why disappoint the masses?” “Did you ever actively feed on Jett?” Jade looked uncomfortable. Rightfully so as everyone knew it was a stipulation that carried dire consequences. Adelpha repeated her question. “Yes... but it was an accident!” “An accident?” Her disbelief was palpable. “Whenever we were intimate...” Jade nervously fidgeted with her cigarette. “It was easy to get carried away. The first time it happened, I didn’t realize it until it was too late. He was out for a few hours. After that I’d buy potions to keep it under control.” “From who?” “A girl from one of the dens.” “The same girl?” She nodded. “Her name’s Dahlia.” Adelpha took notes in her PDA. “And now that you have what you want, what about Jett and his family?” “I’m waiting for him to get better. Dahlia said its best to let him recover.” “His mother? Sister? What about them?” “They take advantage of him.” Jade rolled her eyes. Adelpha fixed her with a look. “It’s true!” she defended, “I may be a ‘leech’ but I don’t emotionally blackmail him. His family is awful. Worse than anything I’ve done to him.” “Worse than stealing his health and time?” The other woman at least looked guilty. “Did you know the effects your magic would have on Jett?” “What I did to Jett wasn’t personal. I like him. He was a decent enough guy but a girl’s gotta eat. Back in the collective I was a respected professional and here I can barely get a job to push a broom around. It didn’t seem like a bad idea at the time.” “Earlier you said something about people finding out about your changeling origins. Your records should be sealed once you come here.” Jade snorted. “Keywords being ‘supposed to.’” “Did you not convert your background?” “I did.” “When?” She told her the year and month. Adelpha jotted something else down in her PDA. “I’m going to need a list of all your past employers.” She slid the legal pad and pen across the table to the girl. After catching it, Jade reluctantly did as she was asked. “Do you hate being a changeling?” Adelpha asked as she watched the girl scribble on the pad with one hand and hold her cigarette in the other. “No...” Jade looked up and held her gaze. “I just hate people thinking I’m harmless because I’m forced to wear this sheepskin. Everyone knows what a changeling is capable of and yet they aren’t afraid because they think this land with its laws has us tamed.” The Princess swallowed her thoughts and left the room to speak with Ichra. “What will happen to her?” Ichra asked as she stared at the opportunistic shrew in the room. “She’ll be deported naturally and punished by the Collective.” Adelpha looked tired. “She won’t stand trial here?” “It wouldn’t be fair and based on what she told me, sounds like Equestria has been breaking its own laws. They have no legal ground to stand on.” “The CIB will agree to this?” This was an interesting development, but then again Adelpha was always too curious for her own good. “No,” she sighed, “but I don’t need them to.” “I guess it pays to be royalty.” Ichra whistled. “It shouldn’t have to. See that his assets are returned and his medical expenses are covered. I’m going to personally handle this case.”