Riding on Luna’s back with Not-Blue’s foreleg held firmly in its clamped mouth, 65536 is waving its see-through forelegs in front of its face. The only thing revealing its own body to itself is a shimmer making its carapace look like twisted glass.
It waves at shiny white ponies wearing gold-foiled steel armors standing at attention and saluting to Luna as she walks through the Canterlot castle. None of the ponies seem to notice 65536’s gestures, although they almost always glance at Not-Blue on Luna’s back.
More saluting. 65536 salutes back.
More armored ponies. 65536 salutes first. They salute back. Victory!
After descending down into castle levels where the hallways are dark, narrow, and no longer have windows, Luna eventually rounds a corner, and 65536 spots two earth ponies and one unicorn sitting on a bench next to a door made of wood reinforced with cast iron, two mares and one stallion. The older unicorn mare is wearing the same armor as the white or grey ponies upstairs and stands up and salutes when she sees Luna approach.
“Your Highness,” is all she says.
The second mare is grey with black stripes all over her body, and she stands up and bows all the way to the floor.
The remaining earth pony stallion stands up and fidgets, visibly nervous. When the mare bows, he follows suit.
“At ease,” says Luna, “Grey Shrine, We thought Sharp made it clear that civilians aren’t allowed to this hearing.”
“With all due respect, Your Highness, I think you might want to hear these two out before interrogating the changeling.”
“Alright…?” Luna raises an eyebrow. Some members of the Royal Guard still haven’t gotten past Celestia being the only princess but this doesn’t feel like this kind of situation. Besides, Grey Shrine was the one responsible for the smooth transition of the Nightguard into the guard ranks after Luna’s return from the moon.
“Your Highness, these two are Zemi and Greyscale,” she glances first at the striped mare and then at the stallion, “They’ve known the changeling for some time and they both work at the brothel with her.”
“Plees, Fether is a good ponee… or shenjeling, prinsess,” pleads the stallion immediately, “Shee even worned us about d udders.”
“Udders?” Luna takes a moment to decipher the stallion’s strange, messed-up speech pattern.
“Your Majesty,” Zemi puts a hoof on the distressed stallion’s shoulder, “If you need any information about Tender Feather, we’re here to share our experience with her. Greyscale here lives with her and has known that she was a changeling for some time. We just wanted to be here to show support,” she looks at the floor for a moment, “She's not just a coworker, she’s a good friend.”
“Shee wudn’t bite anyponee-” the stallion tears up.
“Be quiet, Greyscale,” Grey Shrine interrupts him, “I have no doubt the princess will take your concern into consideration of your friend’s fate.”
The stallion opens his mouth again but Luna stops him with:
“I will. And I will question both of you once I’m done with… her, you said?”
“Yes, Tender Feather is a mare,” says Zemi.
“But shee can turn into enyponee,” adds the stallion, “Shee goes ‘whoosh!’ end den she ken be me! Shee once took mai shift when I wos seek. Shee only wanted to hug and cuddle wit mee for it,” he freezes and looks at Zemi, “Soree.”
“Don’t worry about it,” replies the mare, “So, there you have it, Your Highness.”
“Yes...” Luna pauses, “I certainly have something here,” they feel genuine but could it be just the effect of being under changeling influence for so long? “I have yet to decide what that something is.”
“Umm, wot? Ai don’t understand...” Greyscale hangs his head.
“You don’t need to, at least at the moment,” replies Luna. When the stallion gives her a puzzled look, her horn flashes and the hooves through which 65536 is observing the ponies return to their usual black color.
“A shenjeeling wit a plushee!” Greyscale points immediately.
65536 points back. Finally, someone noticed it!
“Eets pointing at mee!”
“I’m just showing this to you so that you understand what position I’m approaching the situation from,” says Luna, ignoring 65536’s constant shifting on her back, “This one got blasted into my suite by the explosion and so far I’ve only been getting more and more questions with no answers. I’m hoping your changeling friend might be of some help.”
Her horn lights up and 65536 floats into the air, immediately starting to buzz and wave its legs with the plushie bigger than it still dangling from its mouth. When it lands, it immediately rushes towards Greyscale and points straight up at his face.
When the stallion touches its hoof with his own, 65536’s face lights up and it starts bouncing up and down without ever letting go of Not-Blue.
“Ai hev a plushee too,” he reaches into a stuffed saddlebag hanging from his side, pulls out a small Nightguard stuffed toy, and makes its snout boop the changeling, “See? His name ees Steeches.”
“Eeeeeeeeeeeee!” 65536 finally lets go of Not-Blue’s leg and gives the other plush a big hug.
This one is even more filled with love than Not-Blue!
Luna recognizes the high-pitched buzz-screech from the changeling’s previous discovery of bubbles and smiles.
“Keep an eye on those two for me, will you?” she nods to the changeling and the stuffed likeness of her sister, “I will call for you afterwards.”
“A harmless critter that has trouble communicating and is friends with a stuffed toy?” Grey Shrine smirks, “I have some experience in that regard.”
With no more concerns, Luna enters the interrogation room.
***
Two batponies and one unicorn whose barrel is covered with what looks like a bronze-colored changeling carapace are already present. The changeling is sitting in a chair, staring at Luna with eyes filled with fear. She notes to herself that without knowing that the changeling presented itself as female she would have no idea how to recognize it from her current angle.
None of the ponies present salute or greet Luna in any way, showing clearly that this meeting is far from formal.
“How far did you get?” asks Luna.
“The guys outside held us up so we’re just starting,” replies the Nightguard mare standing by the door.
“Alright then, proceed, Sharp.”
“What’s your name?” asks Sharp Biscuit, sitting across the table from the nervous changeling.
“Tender Feather, sir.”
“And your changeling name… or rank?” asks Luna.
“I can’t recall anymore, Your Highness,” she shakes her head, “Somewhere in the first hundred thousand.”
Luna nods to Sharp.
“Were you a part of the invasion?” he continues.
“Yes and no, sir.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’ve lived in Canterlot for three years, give or take. I didn’t want to join the army but...” Tender Feather trails off.
“But what?”
“I’m not sure a pony can understand it, sir. Changelings are connected in here,” she taps her head, “And the queen can send an order which is impossible to resist unless a changeling is powerful enough. I know- knew a few changelings who’ve lived here even longer than me, one of them helped me survive when I first arrived,” Feather sighs, “They died fighting the guards. They did their best to avoid causing harm but your guards just went all out, and I can’t even blame them.”
“How did you survive? You don’t seem particularly hurt.”
“Eeeh,” Feather scratches her head, “I’m not a warrior changeling, I just dance in a brothel and serve clients. I retained enough self-control to warn my friends and co-workers about what was coming while the changeling army was trying to break through the magic shield the Royal Guard set up, so when the queen’s order took over, Deep Dark punched me out and tied me up in the sex dungeon. Hey, don’t look at me like that! It’s a brothel, not a guardhouse. It’s not like we have the gear to lock a pony up other than for pretend reasons. Luckily for me, the explosion tossed me against our ‘tough love’ display. The wooden shelves hurt but the soft silicone toys provided enough padding.”
“Deep Dark, the Nightguard who reported you to us.”
“Yes, sir.”
Sharp looks sideways at the princess.
“Luna? A mission I don’t know about?”
“Just like I gave you the position of the Nightguard commander, I tasked Deep Dark and several others to get the feel of the night life of Canterlot and report to me. I couldn’t possibly go around learning everything on my own, especially with my other alicorn of the Night duties you saw yesterday with your own eyes.”
Sharp only nods.
“Alright, Tender Feather, what do you intend to do next? Presuming the princess allows you to stay in the city.”
“I...” the changeling pauses, “Can I ask a question first?”
“Sure.”
“What do you think I can do?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“It’s simple - what do you think are my options? With all due respect, I’ve lived in this city longer than the princess here. I escaped from the hive with several others and not all of us got this far. I didn’t replace anypony. I… I built my life in Canterlot. If you don’t execute me or something, if you just kick me out then what do you think I can do?”
“Shapeshift into someone else and return, or try the same thing but in a different city where you’ll be forced to replace a pony, at least temporarily, because you won’t have any contacts to help you, am I right?” the strange unicorn with changeling carapace speaks up.
“Exactly,” Tender Feather nods with a hint of respect.
“Hmmm,” Luna taps her hoof against the table in though, “We’ll have to keep you under lock and key for now-” she raises her foreleg as Feather opens her mouth, “Our associate here gave us the gist of how your feeding on emotions works,” she looks at the unicorn, “Positive feelings, right?”
“Love, affection, and lust, in that order,” the changeling nods, “By the way, what is he?”
“Blazing Light, just an ex-janitor unlucky enough to be a target of your queen’s attempt at infiltrating the castle through somepony nopony would notice and who could easily move around,” the unicorn chuckles darkly, “Whatever she did to me turned me from a unicorn into… this.”
“Wow, is that a thing?”
“I was kinda hoping one of you would know how to turn me back.”
Feather shakes her head.
“I doubt that anyone other than the top ranks or the queen herself would have a clue that it was even possible to transform a pony into a changeling, sorry.”
Blazing shrugs.
“That sucks, but other than the explosion setting me on fire, it’s not that bad.”
“Ahem,” Luna clears her throat, “What we don’t know is how long you can last without feeding. It is not the kind of experiment we would subject others to on a whim.”
“Oof,” Feather looks at the low ceiling for a few moments, “It’s been a while since I was starving. I’m not in the best shape because the explosion did… something weird to my love reserves but I’d give it three days before any visible physical problems appear and a week before my body forces me into hibernation. After that,” Feather shrugs, “maybe another month before I starve.”
“You’re awfully calm talking about it,” comments Sharp.
“That’s how daily life in the hive is- was, sir. You fulfilled your orders with the minimum amount of energy necessary, then you got put back into hibernation until you were needed. If you failed, you got recycled via the crusher- don’t ask, it’s way worse than it sounds. Unless you were in the top hundred, of course. Being on the verge of starvation is the default state of a common changeling...” a sad frown sets on the changeling’s features, “I wish more of us got the chance I got. Maybe then we wouldn’t have to be hiding in-” Feather stops herself.
“Continue,” Sharp raises an eyebrow.
“No, sir, this is where I’m drawing the line. If I have to starve in prison it’s still worth it. Changelings have been escaping the hive for a long time. In pairs, in small groups, never in any noticeable amount so that the high ranks couldn’t simply order them to return and recycle the… traitors. That’s going to continue, maybe even quicker now that the queen failed so spectacularly. Even if the survivors return home and start over, more changelings will escape with the chance to live a real life where they’re not just tools for a job. I’m not going to lie and say that everyone will be able to integrate without harming ponies but there are changelings all over Equestria willing to help them. If I tell you where the hive is and your princesses go there and nuke the place, it’s all over.”
Sharp scowls but Luna raises her foreleg.
“No, Luna,” he objects, his calm tone gone for the first time, “While we were busy inside the dreamscape, two Nightguards died in their sleep. Fear-induced heart attack in both cases. I’ll have to ask Shining Armor’s assistant for the Royal Guard numbers. Once this settles and somepony crunches the civilian numbers then there’s going to be fireworks. This is their fault.”
Tender Feather shoots upright.
“Yeah?! And how many changelings do you think died in that explosion? You guys are still clearing the corpses off the streets! Do you think anyone other than a few high ranks and the queen herself wanted to attack this city? 99% OF THEM HAD NO IDEA CANTERLOT EVEN EXISTS!” her outburst is cut short as the Nightguard standing behind the changeling puts a hoof on her shoulder. She takes a deep breath, “Look, I know this is hard to believe but the vast majority of changelings have never even seen a pony before landing in Canterlot. They don’t know where love comes from other than that the higher ranks on occasion give them some,” she shakes her head, “Common changelings don’t hate you. Other than from the scarce hive mind information accessible to low ranks, they didn’t even know what you were before the attack. To non-infiltrators, pony was just a word.”
“Sharp, leave it,” says Luna calmly.
He grits his teeth, takes a deep breath, closes his eyes for a moment, and his calm and collected demeanor returns.
The questions about Tender Feather’s history keep coming for over an hour, Luna making mental notes on events to ask Zemi and Greyscale about later. When they finally run out of ideas, Luna adds one more:
“Since you changelings can seemingly share knowledge, could you give access to your mind to another changeling? Willingly I mean, and only to a certain topic.”
“I...” Tender Feather hesitates, “I mean it’s possible but a stronger changeling could easily access everything I know and-”
“Let me rephrase,” Luna stops him, “Trust me, I know all about things ponies don’t want to share with others or what dwells deep in their unconscious. I would like you to teach ponish to another changeling.”
Tender Feather furrows her brows and it clicks to her.
“You found a survivor. A low rank paralyzed by lost access to the hive mind. Am I right?”
“Too right...” Luna narrows her eyes.
“Your Highness, I’ve been in a similar situation but I was lucky that a mid-rank was with the group when we escaped the hive. The loss was… crippling, but we still had something thanks to him. We knew the language, we knew some of your culture, and we knew where several pony settlements were. Hay, I had no idea what cardboard was for months,” she shakes her head, “I’ll help. I think this is worth the risk.”
Luna nods towards the mare by the door.
“There’s a small changeling with a stuffed toy outside, bring it here.”
The Nightguard leaves and returns shortly after, carrying a Celestia plushie with a changeling in tow, its face locked on the stolen toy scrunched in what Luna can only identify as distressed anger.
“It didn’t want to listen until I took this from it,” the mare puts the toy on the floor where the changeling immediately snatches it by a chewed-up foreleg and scuttles backwards towards the chair Luna is sitting in, glaring daggers at the mare all the way.
Tender Feather closes her eyes.
“It’s been a long time since I used this so it’ll take a minute,” her short horn glimmers green. In response, 65536’s stub does the same.
As Luna observes the two in direct comparison, she notes that they’re almost the same but the longer that goes on, the more she can make out the differences. Tender Feather is about one third bigger and has somewhat smoother features, longer and more slender legs, and a more pronounced feminine figure. Despite that, they’re still creepily similar, almost as if somepony crafted two ponies from clay and only made the most basic changes to distinguish them from each other.
“Done,” says Feather and wipes her forehead, “Whoah, that was a looot more difficult than I thought.”
“Thank-” 65536 clamps its hooves over its mouth, “I can talk again! I can talk again!” it runs over to Luna’s chair and starts bouncing up and down in front of her, “Look, Luna! Look, Sharp Biscuit! I can talk again!” it hops into Tender Feather’s lap and gives her a crushing hug, “Thank you! Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!”
“Oof- my carapace...” Feather’s eyes bulge and she pats 65536’s head in hopes the bear hug stops. She’s wrong. The sudden influx of love she’s getting does wonders for the pain, though, “Ughh… just don’t go around thinking too much this soon or you’ll get a headache.”
“Huh, will I?” 65536 stops.
“Yep,” Feather points at the table, “Tell me, what’s that?”
“That’s… umm… a tay- table?”
“And what’s a table for?”
“It’s for… it’s for- ouch!” 65536 clutches its head, which makes Luna stand up sharply, “Hey, you were right! Why does thinking hurt?”
“Hop off.”
65536 buzzes down on the floor and immediately wobbles over to hug Not-Blue.
“What’s going on?” asks Luna, her eyes flicking from Feather to 65536 and back.
“It’s a low rank drone and the damage it took from being ripped away from the hive mind makes it difficult to share more information at once. It will have to learn and expand its mind on its own. I shared the basics of language with it plus some concepts but I can’t do more. It instinctively tried to access my mind to understand the idea of a table, everything that can be a table, every use a table can be, and it just hurt itself. The pain should pass in a few minutes and the confusion should clear up in a day or two. With the amount of love in that Celestia plush, it’s better fed than I am.”
“And then you can do the information sharing thing again?”
“In theory, yes. In practice, I’d rather not.”
“How come?”
“Knowing about things is way different than knowing things. I’m not good enough with mental stuff to share proper experience.”
“Ah yes, better to learn by experiencing than listening to a lecture, I understand,” Luna nods.
“Not-Blue is Celestia?” asks 65536, holding the toy’s neck protectively under its foreleg.
“Not-Blue?” Luna furrows her brows.
“Blue is Luna. Not-Blue is Celestia?” asks 65536 pointing between Luna and the toy as a way to explain exactly nothing.
“Yeah, Blue, I need some explaining too,” Sharp snickers.
“Tell us, Bluena!” the Nightguard mare by the door joins in, adding devilishly, “Or I will tell the small one that Celestia is really called Sunbutt.”
65536’s jaw drops. It looks at the solar cutie mark on Not-Blue’s flank.
“No...” Luna breathes out, “You are all so fired...”
“Even me?” asks Blazing.
“I’ll demote you back to janitor if you don’t keep those two on a leash!”
Blazing ponders it for the moment before saying:
“Hey, little bugger.”
“Me?” 65536 points at itself in surprise.
“Yes, you. Listen carefully.”
“Listening!”
“Not-Blue’s real name is-”
“No…!” Luna grits her teeth, realizing she called out exactly the wrong unicorn.
“-and has always been Sunbutt the great, devourer of cakes!” he beams at Luna, “Welp, I’ll go grab my mop and bucket.”
“SUNBUTT!” cheers 65536.