After putting my tape measure aside, I took a couple of steps back from the display window. I sat on my haunches and made a frame with my forehooves.
“She will be there.” I moved my hooves to the left. “He will be there.” I made a downward move with my hooves. “The table with the-”
The store’s front door opened, cutting me off mid-sentence.
Piña stuck her head inside. “Hello, Uncle Pin. Can we come in for a bit? We saw you working on something through the window. We don’t want to bother you, if you’re busy.”
“Come on in. I was double checking to see if what I had planned was going to fit in the display window and trying to picture how it was going to look.”
Piña entered the store, followed by Dinky, Noi, Cubitus in his bat pony form, Rumble, and a pegasus filly with a white coat and pale-green mane I did not recognize. Brass and Silent, both of whom were in their full barding followed the foals in.
“You’re missing ponies,” I half joked.
“Pinch and Kevin are helping with getting things ready along with Sis,” Dinky said. “Mister Filter went with them.”
The pegasus filly looked around the shop and smiled. “There’s all sorts of neat stuff in here!”
“Thank you, Gena,” I said, recognizing her voice, and gave her an appreciative bow of my head.
Gena looked at me. “What are you working on?”
“Planning a new display for me and my... hopeful business partner.”
Gena tilted her head. “Hopeful?”
“I haven’t asked Coco to be my partner yet,” I explained. “I’m going to, when she comes back.”
Cubitus’ ears went up. “Is Coco the mare in the pictures on the desk in the room Kevin and I are in?”
“She is,” I confirmed.
Gena gave me a supportive smile. “You miss her.”
I nodded, as my ears fell a touch. “I do.”
“She’ll be here in a couple of weeks,” Piña said in a supportive tone.
“I know, but that feels like a long way off.” I shook my head to clear my thoughts and get my ears back up. “Never mind about that. How’s the tour going?”
“They’ve kept a good pace,” Silent said. “We’ve hit about all the major spots in town.”
I smiled at Gena. “I see you chose to be a pegasus filly.”
Gena grinned and turned a full circle as if showing off a new outfit. “Do you like it?”
“I do,” I told her. “What do you think of Ponyville so far?”
“It’s great! I like it a lot better than Appleloosa. It’s not so dusty and hot and there are a lot more ponies here.”
Good thing Braeburn didn’t hear that, I thought to myself. “I’m glad you like it.”
“Ponyville has one problem for her, though,” Cubitius said. “She’s got serious competition for hugs. She gets jealous when somepony beats her to one too.”
“Me? Jealous? Humph!” Gena stuck her nose in the air. “I don’t have to be jealous. I can get hugs from Dinky or her mom any time I want.”
“Says the nymph who trotted in place and gave Piña’s mom puppy eyes when she hugged Piña and Pinch goodbye this morning,” Cubitus prodded.
“She gave me a hug too,” Gena said. “I just had to wait my turn.”
“What is it with you and hugs away?” Rumble asked. “I thought changelings don’t do hugs.”
“We don’t hug in the Hi-” Gena paused, cleared her throat, and started her explanation again, “I like hugs, because they’re comfy, friendly, and wonderful all around. They’re also one of the best ways to get love from ponies.”
“That doesn’t mean you have to use hugs to get love every time,” Cubitus told her. “You know there are other ways.”
“Yes,” Gena agreed. “They’re not as fun, though. With hugs you can learn a lot about ponies by how they hug and what they’re feeling when they hug you.”
“What things can you learn?” Brass asked, with one of his ears angled out in curiosity.
Gena hummed a contemplative note. “I’m not sure how to explain it. It’s different for each pony.”
“Hug Uncle Pin and tell us what you get from him,” Piña said. “Maybe then we can get an idea.” She glanced at me. “If that’s okay.”
“Sure,” I agreed.
Gena trotted up to me and gave me a hug. I returned the hug, feeling more self-conscious about hugging another pony than I had in a while.
“Relax,” she prompted me and gave me a light squeeze. “I’m not testing you or anything.”
I did my best to do as she asked.
Gena giggled and let go of me. “He’s caring and sweet, but very reserved,” she declared. “I can’t tell much more than that.”
“Sorry for the sub-par hug,” I said, feeling as if I had let her down.
Gena looked up at me and smiled. “That was a good hug, but you were thinking about it too much.” She turned to Piña. “He doesn’t give hugs that often does he?”
“He does, but only to ponies he’s known for a while,” Piña told her.
Gena shook her head. “That’s so sad. Giving and getting hugs is one of the best things about being a pony.”
“I have an idea,” Silent said. “You don’t have to be touching him to sense what he’s feeling when he’s giving a hug right?” he asked Gena.
Gena shook her head. “No, but I have to be pretty close.”
“Let’s try something.” Silent asked me, “Do you have anything cuddly around?”
“What about a blanket from the nest?” Dinky said, turning her head to look toward the back of the shop, before I could answer.
“That would work,” Silent told her.
Dinky asked me with excitement, “Can I go get one?”
“Sure. I folded them up and put them on the counter next to where the nest was.”
Dinky sprinted towards the back.
“What’s gotten under her saddle?” Noi asked.
“No clue,” Rumble said.
“I do,” Gena said and grinned. “There are hugs involved.”
It did not take long for Dinky to come trotting back. “I got the biggest one out of the pile!”
“That’s perfect,” Silent said. “Give the blanket to Pin, please.”
Dinky offered me the blanket, and I thanked her as I took it.
“All right, Pin,” Silent said. “Fold that up to a comfy size and hug it.”
Feeling silly, I folded up the blanket into a tighter bundle and wrapped my forelegs around it.
Silent snorted. “That’s not a hug! Hold it like you would hug Coco.”
Without thinking, I adjusted how I held the blanket so it made more contact with me and I leaned my head as if I were going to touch my head to Coco’s.
“Better,” Gena said, as she moved closer to me. “I still need a bit more.”
“Close your eyes and think about her,” Silent prompted.
Closing my eyes, I did my best to imagine I was holding Coco. I smiled and recalled a time she and I had cuddled on the couch wrapped in her blanket as she told me about one of her favorite plays.
“Whoa, that made a big difference,” Cubitus said. “I could feel something all the way from over here.”
“It sure did!” Gena said. She smiled and closed her eyes as if concentrating. “Now I can tell he’s a big romantic and cuddler deep down too.”
Piña looked at Silent. “How did you know that would work?”
Silent gave her a wistful smile. “I know what it’s like to miss somepony special and want to give them a hug.”
Noi’s ears snapped up, as she looked out the display window. “Miss Sassy?!”
“That would be her.” Silent said, looking a bit confused. “Why did you say her name like that?”
The store’s door opened and in stepped Sassy Saddles. She paused, as those of us who knew her stared at her in collective surprise.
Sassy glanced over her shoulder. “What? Is something going on I should know about?”
“That’s a pretty neat trick,” Piña said.
Sassy turned back to face us and asked Piña, “What trick?”
“Silent was talking about you, and you appeared,” Noi said.
“I didn’t intend to, but I’ll take lucky happenstances whenever I can get them.” Sassy cut her eyes toward Silent and asked, “What has Silent being saying about me?”
“That he knows what Pin’s going through not being able to see Coco, and he couldn’t wait to see you again and hug you,” Piña said.
“Oh?” Sassy raised a teasing eyebrow and told Silent, “Too bad you’re in uniform or I’d give you more than a hug. I-” She paused, as her eyes drifted to Cubitus. She glanced back at Silent and then again to Cubitus. “Silent, why is there a miniature version of you here?”
“Because of me,” Dinky said, holding up a hoof. “I wanted to know if he could copy a bat pony.”
“He can, and he does it well,” Sassy said. “The only thing you're missing are Silent’s eyes, or you’d be a perfect colt sized version of him.”
“Dinky asked me to keep my blue eyes,” Cubitus told her, blushing.
“I can understand why. They are quite pretty.” Sassy held out her hoof to Cubitus. “Sassy Saddles.”
“Cubitus,” he responded and shook her hoof.
Sassy turned to Gena and offered her hoof. “You must be another of the recent additions to Ponyville then.”
Gena nodded and shook Sassy’s hoof. “I’m Gena.”
“Pleasure to meet you both.” Sassy asked, “How did you two beat the rush here?”
Gena and Cubitus glanced at each other.
“We got a head start,” Cubitus told Sassy in a wary tone.
Sassy raised an eyebrow. “Something tells me there’s a bit more to the story.”
“We were on the infiltration teams,” Gena said with a worried smile.
Sassy gasped, “No!” She looked at Silent. “Please, tell me she’s joking.”
“She’s not,” Silent said.
“They sent foals to invade?!” Sassy sounded disgusted and horrified. “That’s monstrous! What were they thinking?! Were they thinking?!”
“I’m good at scavenging for love by blending into crowds, and Gena is small, skilled at acting like a pony, and a hug fanatic,’ Cubitus said. “Me being on the Ponyville support team and her taking Flurry Heart’s place made strategic sense to our superiors.”
“No part of what you said makes sense,” Sassy insisted. “Sending foals is cruel and, no offense, but I would think that it would raise the likelihood of something going wrong.”
Gena looked guilt stricken and looked down.
“Gena?” Cubitus said.
“I’m the one that blew our cover in the Empire,” Gena confessed, keeping her eyes on the floor. “I tried my best, but somehow Sunburst knew I wasn’t Flurry. The others on the team realized what was going on and stuck him in a pod before he could blow our cover.”
Dinky hugged Gena. “It’s okay. If you tried your best, nopony could ask more of you.”
Rumble scooted closer to me. “Is is weird that Dinks is comforting her for failing to take us over or is it just me?” he whispered
I chuckled. “A little,” I whispered back. “But I’m not going to say anything to Dinky. Are you?”
“No,” Rumble admitted.
“If your team got Sunburst before he could warn anypony, who found you out?” Cubitus asked.
“Thorax,” Gena said, as she hugged Dinky back.
Cubitus snorted. “That proves the entire operation was doomed from the start. How did he get involved? I thought he had gone into hiding, or something like that.”
“Our intelligence was wrong,” Gena told him. “He was helping take care of Flurry while disguised,”
Cubitus’ mouth fell open. “You’re kidding me.”
“We couldn’t set things up for one of the support team changelings to take Sunburst’s place fast enough. Thorax came to, ‘help take care of Flurry until Burst gets back,’ before we were ready. He realized what was going on and alerted the Crystal Guard. If it hadn’t been for our team chasing him out of the palace and Spiracle convincing the Crystal Guard Thorax had run off because he had tried to pull a ‘changeling plot from the inside’ they would have caught us sooner.”
“What was Chrysalis thinking when she came up with this scheme?” Sassy said, looking perplexed. “It’s not like the ponies around the most beloved and important figures in our kingdom wouldn’t notice something was off.”
“She wanted to gather as much love as possible, while the replacement teams kept their act up. Even when that part of the plan failed she would still have the Elements and the royals as hostages for ransom,” Cubitus said.
“You mean she realized things would fall apart from the beginning?” Sassy asked, her eyes wide.
“Yes,” Cubitus said with bitterness in his voice.
“She didn’t care what happened to you?” Sassy said, sounding astounded.
“I think losing most of the members of the teams was part of the plan,” Cubitus said. “She picked the softies of the hive to be the impersonators because they were the ones who could act like ponies the best out of all of us. In her eyes, if they were captured the Hive would be losing nothing. For those of us who were ‘friends to traitors’ if we were lost she was getting rid of potential problems. She also made sure the impersonators had connections back at the hive she could leverage to make sure they wouldn’t warn anypony about what was going on or go A.W.O.L. like Thorax did.”
Sassy’s face paled. “When you say ‘leverage’ are we talking about...”
“Sass, she sent a mom and dad here knowing they had an egg back at the Hive,” Silent said.
The unspoken implications of Silent’s statement chilled the air.
“We were fodder,” Cubitus said. He looked to the floor and angry tears went down his face. “No, we were trash to be thrown out.”
Dinky moved toward Cubitus, but froze and looked at Gena, who was still in her forelegs.
Gena gave Dinky a teary, understanding smile and guided Dinky over to Cubitus so they both could hug him.
“Chrysalis deserves to be locked in the deepest pits of Tartarus with all the other monsters,” Sassy said.
“If we catch her, that might be where she goes,” Brass said. “She’s earned it.”
After composing herself, Sassy put her nose in the air and waved a dismissive hoof in Canterlotian fashion. “Let us not speak of Chrysalis anymore. She’s getting more attention than she deserves.” She looked at me and asked, “Is there a particular reason you’re holding that blanket like it’s precious?”
“He pretended to hug Coco so Gena could tell us what he was feeling,” Noi said.
Sassy grinned. “You’ll be able to get his reaction to hugging the genuine article tomorrow.”
I felt elation and panic at her words and hugged the blanket tighter. “Tomorrow?!”
“I think you broke him,” Cubitus said, his ears pinned back in concern.
“That was a weird mix of emotions,” Gena agreed, making a face as if she had tasted something strange.
“Yes, tomorrow,” Sassy said to me. “Coco and I have been telegraphing back and forth, in case either of us got word about what had happened to Rarity and the others. She and I both got a message from Rarity, via dragon fire, that they were coming back today. Suri and the ponies at the Manehattan shop encouraged her to return to Ponyville early since everything is going so well at the shop.” Sassy raised an eyebrow. “I thought you’d be excited, not panicked about it.”
“I am excited!” I glanced towards the window and then towards the back of the shop. “But nothing’s ready!” I looked out the display window and winced. “The sign’s not even finished!” Almost frantic, I used my magic to take apart a section of the display that was in the window. I put the pieces from the display in disorganized piles on the floor. “There’s no way I’m going to get everything set up in time and I can’t miss everypony coming back and greeting the changelings!”
Sassy turned to Piña. “Could you please explain to me why your ‘uncle’ is unhinging?”
“He’s setting up some special plans for Ms. Coco,” Piña said.
“Plans?” Sassy’s ears angled out. “What plans?”
“The long term type,” Silent said. “You can’t tell it from the front, but he had an expansion added to the workroom and upstairs. He wanted them done before Coco got back and they sat down and discussed a long term ‘partnership’.”
Sassy’s mouth made an ‘O’ of understanding. “That kind of partnership!” Sassy put a hoof on my shoulder, making me pause in my deconstruction of the window display. Several items remained hovering mid-air in my magic, as she told me, “Put those down, show me the expansions, and then I’ll help you set up as much as we can get done.”
“I would love the help, but there’s so much I haven’t pulled together I wouldn’t even know where you could start!” I said. “I’ve go to figure out what I’m going to do about the sign and-”
Sassy put a hoof over my mouth. “Stop freaking out and breathe.”
“Es, a’am,” I said with my mouth closed, getting giggles out of Gena and Noi.
“Better.” Sassy lifted her hoof from my mouth and patted my nose. “Focus on the major things we’ll need to do, first. We can fill the rest as best we can after that. I agree, we cannot miss anything today, so you’re going to need to calm down and focus.
I nodded, swallowed, and assured her, “I can do that.”
“According to the telegram Coco sent me, she won’t be coming in until tomorrow afternoon, so we have time to work with.” Sassy turned to the others. “The rest of you, out. I’m sure you have things you need to do.” She made a shooing motion with her forehooves, directing everypony to the shop's door. “We have a lot of work to get done and cute foals or handsome guards can ’t distract us.”
“Are you talking about him or me?” Silent kidded and indicated Brass with a tilt of his head.
“You’re both quite nice on the eyes so you’ll both have to go,” Sassy said.
“Well, if we're going to be thrown out at least she’s complementing us as we go out the door,” Brass said. He went to the door and opened it. “We all heard the lady. Out we go.”
“You,” Sassy said, making eye contact with Silent. “Since I can’t get a hug out of you now, I expect a double serving later.”
“I can do that,” Silent said.
“Would you like a hug right now?” Dinky asked.
“Of course I would,” Sassy said. “I’ll take as many as I can get.”
Gena’s ears snapped up. “From us too?”
“If you’d like to,” Sassy said.
Cubitus chuckled, as Gena pranced in place with glee. “She’d like to.”
Sassy hugged each of the fillies. When Gena gave her a hug, Gena held onto her for a second as if savoring something.
“What are you getting from her?” Noi asked.
“Spicy-sweet and fun,” Gena said.
Silent smiled and nodded. “That sums her up.”
Sassy let go of Gena and turned to Cubitus. “I can’t hug my bat pony, but at least I get to hug one,” Sassy said and hugged him. “My goodness! You even got the texture of Silent’s coat. That’s impressive.”
“Thank you,” Cubitus said, looking pleased with himself, and let Sassy go.
“Dinky, I have a tip for you,” Sassy said. She tickled the tuft at the tip of one of Cubitus’ ears, making him blush. “Go for the ears.”
“Thanks! I will.” As if realizing what she said, Dinky blushed and ducked her head.
Cubitus, his blush a stronger red, stared at Dinky.
“No, we won’t let you live that down,” Piña said, as she motioned for the other foals to follow her.
“Nope,” Noi agreed, as she and the others trotted out the door.
After the door shut, Sassy tapped a hoof on the floor in frustration. “Drat!”
“What?” I asked.
“I just thought of something I should have asked Cubitus.” Sassy shrugged. “It’s all right. I’m sure I’ll get another chance.” She turned to me and grinned. “Now, what about that tour of the expansions?”
*****
“Very nice,” Sassy said, as she made a minor change to how the dress rested on the poniquen. She paused and tilted her head. “She’s missing something, though. The dress makes it apparent she’s supposed to be Coco, but it needs something that would remove any doubt it’s her.”
“A flower,” I said and smiled. “She always has her flower barrette in her hair or a flower tucked behind her ear.” I touched the corresponding spot on the poniquin’s head with a hoof. “Right there. Since the poniquin doesn’t have mane, maybe we could use a headband like the flapper mares used to wear to hold it in place?” I thought about it for a moment and nodded. “A flapper’s hat would work too. We could pin the flower to it or tuck it in behind a hat band.”
Sassy gave me an approving look. “I like that idea. There should be something like that at Carousel Boutique.”
A pair of fillies and the shadows of three flying ponies rushed past the shop’s window.
Sassy leaned, trying to get a better angle to see out the window. “I think that was Dinky and Pinch.”
As if hearing their names, Dinky and Piña rushed into the shop, their steps energized with excitement.
“They’re passing the edge of the Everfree Forest!” Dinky announced. “They sent a Wonderbolt to give everypony a heads up.”
“Sorry, we’d walk with you there, but we’ve got to go tell Sis and Barrel,” Piña said.
The fillies turned and raced out the door, causing Cubitus and Rumble to jump apart to avoid being run over by the fillies.
“I thought we were supposed to be the fast ones,” Cubitus said, sounding winded. “We’re the ones with wings.”
Rumble grinned. “Not when they’re wound up.”
“Looks like all that training has paid off,” I told Rumble.
Rumble puffed up with pride. “Our group has the fastest fillies in Ponyville, no matter what Scootaloo says.”
“Good luck catching them,” Sassy told the colts.
“Thanks!” Cubitus said. “We’re going to need it.” He and Rumble turned, took to the air, and flew after the fillies.
Silent stuck his head in the door and grinned. “We’ll see you there,” he told us, before ducking back out and then taking off after the foals. “Wait up!” he called after the foals. “I’m supposed to be guarding you!”
“I love that goof,” Sassy said. “He’s nothing but a big colt in Lunar Guard armor.”
“Shall we head out to greet everypony?” I asked.
“Let’s,” Sassy said.
After I locked up the shop, Sassy and I walked towards the edge of town.
“You’re a lot calmer now,” Sassy noted.
“Thanks to you. I can’t believe how fast we’ve been able to pull the display together.”
“Fashion in Canterlot is always changing, so I get a lot of practice putting displays up and taking them down. I’m glad I love doing displays, or it would get tedious real fast.”
“Hold on a second!” A voice called from the air. “I’ll walk with you,” Muffins said. A second after her hooves touched the ground, Muffins yelped and stumbled.
“Got you!” Sassy said and caught Muffins with her magic before she could fall.
“Thanks!” Muffins said, as she hovered just off the ground in Sassy’s magical hold. She sighed in relief and patted her saddlebags with a hoof. “I’ve had to pick these up once today, I’d rather not do it again.”
Sassy put Muffins on the ground and gave her a hug. “How are you doing with all the excitement going on?”
“I’m doing great.” Muffins returned Sassy’s hug. “It’s good to see you. When did you get into town?”
“This morning,” Sassy said. “I couldn’t stand it. I had to be here to greet Rarity and the others when they got back.” She smiled. “Seems Dinky and the others found you.”
“They did,” Muffins said.
“I told you we’d catch up to them if we trotted!” Piña told somepony as they approached from behind us.
I turned and saw Piña and Dinky leading Berry, Barrel, Cubitus, Rumble, and Silent towards us at a brisk pace. Dinky ran from the group, up to Muffins, and then gave her a big hug. “Hello again, Mom.”
“Hello sweetheart,” Muffins said. She hugged Dinky back and nuzzled the top of her head.
“Hey, Sassy,” Berry greeted. “I didn’t know you were coming.”
“I don’t think anypony here knew,” Sassy said. “It was a last minute thing, and I didn’t have time to get a message sent in this direction.”
There was some noise from the crowd of ponies down the road from us.
“They must be getting close,” Barrel said, as he and the others trotted closer. “Come on you four. We don’t want to miss this.”
As we all trotted to join the crowd, Pinch waved us over to where she, Coxa, Gena, Matilda, Brass, Cranky, Spiracle, Kevin, and Fitler were standing.
“There’s something strange going on,” Spiracle said. “I’m seeing too much color on those changelings.”
“Are they wearing something?” Coxa asked.
“No,” Kevin said, his ears up. “They’re different. Look! They’ve changed body shapes and everything.”
Turner trotted up to our group from the direction of Mayor Mare’s greeting party at the front of the crowd. “It seems the rumors that the changelings at the center of the event metamorphosed were true.”
Cubitus stared at the approaching changelings. “Do you feel that?”
“Feel what?” Brass asked.
“I can pick them up like I do the ponies,” Coxa said in a tone of surprise.
“I do too,” Spiracle said, sounding as if he was having trouble believing it.
“You’re right!” Kevin said.
“That shouldn’t be possible,” Pinch said. “Changelings don’t give off emotional magic.”
“That means they have changed,” Dinky said.
There were a couple of chaotic minutes as the group of changelings, the royals, the Guard members, and the crowd merged. The dignitaries of the groups exchanged greetings, the Elements embraced family and friends, the Princesses were beset with well-wishers, and the changelings sought out their friends and family members.
“Cubi?!” A familiar voice called.
Cubitus looked around as if searching for the source of the voice. “We’re over here!”
“There they are,” June Bug said, as she led a blue changeling with orange eyes towards us through the throng.
Making eye contact with Cubitus, the blue changeling struck a pose and grinned. “How do you like the new look?”
Cubitus gasped, “Radi?!” He went still as if he had experienced something unexpected.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“He’s happy to see me,” Cubitus said. “I can feel he’s happy to see me.”
“Give him a hug,” Dinky said, and gave Cubitus an encouraging pat on the back.
After a moment’s hesitation, Cubitus gave Radius a stiff hug. For a moment there was not much of a response from either changeling towards the other. After a couple more seconds, they relaxed and the hug became comfortable for both of them.
Gena pranced in place, grinned, and made excited noises. She turned to look at Dinky, who was smiling a smile of her own, and declared, “I need a hug too!” She hugged Dinky, who giggled and hugged her back.
“He’s not holey anymore,” Noi pointed out.
Radius laughed. He held out hoof and then rotated his foreleg as if inspecting it. “Nope. All my holes filled in.”
“What happened?” Cubitus asked, looking up to his older brother. “Why did everybuggy change?”
“Thorax and the princesses are trying to figure that out,” Radius said. “Princess Twilight and Starlight think it might have had something to do with when we interrupted the throne’s ability to pull magic from us.”
“Could we change too?” Kevin asked.
Radius smiled and nodded. “You should be able to.” His smile faltered as if he had thought about something unpleasant. “First, though, Thorax asked me to find you and Gena. He wants to talk with you about something.”
“Okay,” Kevin said. He glanced at Gena and they exchanged uneasy looks.
Radius let go of Cubitus and led the two nymphs away.
“What’s going on?” Dinky asked Cubitus.
Cubitus shook his head. “I don’t know, but it’s not good.”
“How bad?” Pinch asked.
“I don’t know,” he answered.
Dinky took in a worried breath.
“Sassy whatever are you doing here?!” Rarity called out, as she moved through the crowd. She smiled, as her eyes went over our group. “Oh my! Sweetie Belle was right, everypony in town is here to see us back.”
“I was so worried about you!” Sassy trotted up to Rarity, hugged her close, and nuzzled her mane. “Don’t you ever let yourself get ponynapped again!”
“I don’t plan on it darling,” Rarity said, returning Sassy’s hug. “However, I didn’t plan on getting ponynapped the previous times either, so I can’t promise it won’t happen again.” She looked at Cubitus and tilted her head. “You seem familiar.”
“This is Cubitus, a nymph they sent here with their team,” Dinky told her. “He copied Silent for me.”
Rarity gave a polite nod to Cubitus. “Pleased to meet you.” She paused, looked at Dinky, and raised an eyebrow. “Why did he copy Silent for you?”
Dinky blushed. “I wanted to see if he could.”
“They’re coming back,” Noi said. “Something’s not right,” she said and bit her lower lip.
As Kevin walked back with Gena, he stayed close to her as if trying to comfort her. Gena brushed aside his concern with smiles and an upbeat affectation.
“She’s hurting,” Dinky said.
“If what I think has happened, she’s going to need support,” Spiracle said, looking at Dinky and Cubitus.
“What do you think is going on?” Berry asked, her tone concerned.
Before Spiracle could answer, Gena and Kevin rejoined us.
There was an uneasy moment of silence, and then Pinch asked Kevin, “Are you two okay?”
Kevin gave Pinch a worried look. “I’m fine, but-”
Gena interrupted, “I’m fine too.” Her smile became more fragile. She sat down, and her chest rose and fell with restrained emotion. “We’re going to be staying in Ponyville a while longer.”
“That’s great,” Piña said in a careful tone. “For how long?”
Tears went down her cheeks, but Gena continued to smile. “I don’t know.”
“You’re not ‘fine’!” Dinky said and moved towards Gena.
Gena held up a warding hoof, causing Dinky to stop short of reaching her. “Thanks, but,” she said and sniffed. “If you hug me right now, I’ll cry.”
“Gena, we have to tell them,” Kevin said. “You need a hug too.”
“We can tell them later,” Gena said. “This is supposed to be a happy time, I can’t…” She sniffed again and her smile faltered. “I can’t cry right now.”
Cubitus demanded in a kind but firm tone, “Gena, tell us what’s going on.”
Gena sniffed, dropped her hoof in a dejected motion, and let her head fall. “Our parents aren’t coming for us.”
“How could they not come for their foals?” Berry whispered in a horrified tone.
“They’ve joined a group of renegade changelings who want to live like we had been,” Kevin said, as Dinky hugged Gena. “They left us behind.”
Gena wrapped her forelegs around Dinky, rested her head on Dinky’s shoulder, and then broke down into sobbing.
Cubitus looked torn about what to do. He glanced towards Radius, who appeared to be just as uncertain.
“Hold these for me, please,” Muffins said to Turner, as she gave him her saddlebags and mailmare’s hat. Muffins took both the fillies in her wings and hugged them to her.
“We’re keeping her,” Berry said with finality.
Barrel blinked twice and then turned to look at his wife. “I don’t think that’s quite how it works.”
“If I have to march over to the Sisters right now and have them declare it, I will,” Berry said. “We’re keeping her.”
Turner gave a polite cough behind a hoof. “She’s been spoken for. She will be staying with the changelings in the caverns next to Maud’s home.”
Radius told Berry, “We planned things with Mayor Mare, in case something like this happened.”
Pinch turned to Kevin. “Are you...”
“He’ll still be staying with us,” Cranky said.
Kevin looked at Cranky with wide eyes.
Matilda gave Kevin a warm smile. “We’d love to have you, if you’d like to stay, is what he means. We’re the other part of the ‘we’ that Radius mentioned who talked with Mayor Mare.”
“I would love to stay with you!” Kevin rushed to the pair of donkeys and hugged them both.
Cranky chuckled. “We’ll just have to work out how much rent we’re going to charge you to make it official,” he teased.
“Cranky!” Matilda mock scolded, smiling all the while. “We will do no such thing.”
“Radius,” Spiracle said.
Radius snapped to attention. “Sir!”
“At ease, agent. I’m out of a job, if you haven’t heard. You don’t have to do that anymore.” Spiracle made a gesture with a hoof that took in Radius’ form from his hooves to the tips of his ears. “I’d like a more detailed explanation of how… this happened to you and the others.””
“Oh, that,” Radius said, looking down at himself. “Thanks to Starlight and Thorax, we learned how to give love instead of taking it. When we started sharing love, we changed.”
Dinky’s ears shot up. “You can give love now?!”
“Twilight and Starlight think they always could,” Rarity said. “The problem was Chrysalis was draining all the love of the changelings to gain power only to have it taken from her by her throne.”
“Leaving her and the hive always starving,” Pinch reasoned.
“It was more dreadful than that,” Rarity said. “The throne interfered with any life around the Hive. That’s why nothing grows around it. Twilight and Starlight hope that with the throne gone things will grow around the hive so they can produce food of their own. Twilight believes it was also the principal cause of the changeling’s inability to share emotions with each other for so long, but she’s going to need to do a lot of research to prove her theory.”
“How?” Kevin said, with a desperate curiosity in his voice. “How do we give love?”
“You’re pretty close to doing it now,” Radius said and nodded toward Matilda and Cranky. “Keep holding onto them, close your eyes, and, I’m not sure this will make sense, but ‘push’ affection from you towards them instead of pulling.”
Kevin turned back to Matilda and Cranky, held on to them tighter, closed his eyes, and put his head against Matilda’s chest.
“You should feel something uncork and-” Radius smiled as Kevin glowed with an inner light.
I shielded my eyes with a hoof, as the light from Kevin became stronger. There was a hum of magical power, a snapping pop of a noise, and the light faded.
“Did it work?” Kevin said, not opening his eyes.
Matilda laughed. “Yes, sweetheart, it worked.”
Kevin opened his now orange eyes, let go of Matilda and Cranky, and raised his now whole and yellow colored hooves. He studied his forelegs with giddy amazement. “I’m fixed!”
Pinch grabbed Kevin in a hug and, with affection, insisted, “You weren’t broken!”
A flash of light to my left and another snapping pop of strong magical forces dissipating drew my attention to where Cubitus and Radius were hugging.
Cubitus kept his eyes shut. “Please tell me I’m not green.”
Radius laughed. “Open your eyes and see.”
Cubitus sighed with relief as he let go of Radius. “I’m orange!”
“You still have your blue eyes,” Dinky noted.
“Of course you’d notice that,” Sassy teased, which got a giggle out of Piña and Noi and a blush out of Dinky.
“What’s wrong with green?” Gena asked in a faux insulted tone, after taking a sniff and cracking a small smile. “You know it’s my favorite color.”
“According to somepony I know, it’s not a suitable color for-” I cut myself off and grinned, as Rarity gave my shoulder a light slap with a hoof.
“Green is a wonderful color for just about anything, if treated with the care it deserves,” Rarity said.
“I think you would be fine in green,” Cubitus told Gena. “It’s just not for me.”
“Would you like to change too?” Coxa asked Gena.
Gena closed her eyes and sniffed. After a second, she shook her head. “It’s okay. I’ll try later. I can’t focus right now.” Dinky looked upset, and Gena touched her forehead to hers. “Don’t feel guilty. If it weren’t for you and your mom, I’d be even more of a crying mess right now.”
“Why don’t we get you someplace a bit more secluded,” Rarity suggested. “A lady should be able to have emotional moments in privacy.”
“We can take her to Pin’s,” Sassy said. “He and I still have some finishing up to do on the display,” she announced, with obvious enjoyment in being able to be the one to head the conversation in its fresh course.
Rarity looked at Sassy with curiosity. “You two are working on a display?”
“Oh, that’s right!” Piña said. “I don’t think Sis and Barrel know.”
“Mom and Dad don’t know either,” Dinky said.
“Know what?” Turner said.
“Coco is coming in tomorrow,” I said.
“But your surprise!” Muffins said. “You can’t have the sign ready yet.”
“It’s not colored, but Filter completed the design, so I’m going to improvise,” I told her. “I think I have a frame that will fit. If not, I’ll scramble and find one.”
“Would somepony please tell me what is going on,” Rarity said. “I’m feeling more than a bit out of the loop.”
“It may be better if he shows you rather than telling you about it, like he did earlier with me,” Sassy said.
“I would love to know what he has planned for Coco, but I must spend more time with Sweetie Belle and my parents.” She looked towards her sister and her parents, who were talking with Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. “They have been so worried about me, I would hate to say hello and then dash off on them.”
“We could all get together at my place and you could have dinner with us, so we could welcome you back and I could tell you about what I’ve got planned.” I flinched, as I thought about the logistics of what I had offered. “Now that I think about it, dinner could be an issue.”
“Why?” Barrel asked. “It’s not like we won’t have room at your place for everypony.”
Rarity gave Barrel an inquisitive look.
“He’s about out of food,” Filter said. He grinned and chuckled. “Foals and guards eat a lot.”
“One guard more than the other,” Silent said, and poked Filter’s ribs with a hoof.
“I was going to go on a shopping trip, but my plans got derailed,” I explained to Rarity. “I need just about everything.”
“We can help with that.” Silent said. “It’s the least we could do, since we’ve been eating all your food.” He looked at the foals. “You ponies up for a supply run? Filter and I could use your help in getting stuff, since we don’t know what shops or market stalls have what.”
“Sure!” Noi said. “We have carrots for sale, if he needs any.”
Berry gave a snort. “When do you and Golden not have carrots for sale? It would be like the Apples showing up for market with no apples.”
I did my best to keep my expression neutral as I told Noi, who was giving an impolite look to Berry, “I would love to have some of your carrots.”
“Speaking of picking things up,” Sassy said. “Rarity, would you mind if Pin and I went to your shop to get an item or two for the display?”
“Of course not, darling,” Rarity said with a wave of her hoof. “Take whatever you need.”
“Thank you,” I said to her. I turned to Coxa, Spiracle, June Bug, and Radius and told them, “You are more than welcome to come over for dinner too.”
“Thanks, but we’re going to be eating with the Elements, the Princesses, Thorax, and the changelings who are going to be settling in here,” Radius said.
“Can we keep Cubitus, Radi?” Gena asked.
Radius nodded. “If he would like to go with you, he can. It’s going to be a meeting dinner, so it will not be the best event for nymphs.”
“You’re more than welcome to come too,” I said to Matilda and Cranky.
“Thank you, dear, but we were invited to dinner a bit earlier,” Matilda said in a modest tone.
Cranky looked towards the foals and chuckled. “You’re going to have enough on your hooves without us old codgers being there anyway.”
“We behave,” Piña said. “Mostly,” she added, after Berry gave her a look and raised an eyebrow.
“I would love to join you all, but my parents, Sweetie Belle, and I revived the same invitation Matilda, Cranky, and Radius did, which is an invitation cannot not turn down. I’ll come by after dinner to find out what you have in mind for our dear Coco, if that wouldn’t be a problem,” Rarity said.
“Not a problem at all,” I assured her.
“We need to get going ourselves,” Spiracle said to Radius. “Coxa and I would like to talk with Thorax for a minute or two, if we can get his attention.”
Gena asked Coxa and Spiracle, “Are you two going to change too?”
“We might do that somewhere more private,” Spiracle said. “I’m not sure how comfortable...” His words trailed off, as Coxa hugged him. He looked down at Coxa and smiled. “Taking a page out of Gena’s book?”
“You know I’ve always liked hugs too.” Coxa gave him an encouraging squeeze. “I’m fine trying right here.”
“If you’re okay with it, I’m game,” Spiracle said. He paused and looked uncertain about what to do.
“Hug her back!” Dinky stage whispered. She smiled, as Spiracle did as she suggested and he and Coxa both glowed.
“I keep telling everybuggy hugs solve just about anything,” Gena said, as the magical humming stopped and the light from Coxa and Spiracle faded.
Spiracle opened one orange eye and then the other. “That wasn’t bad.” He smiled and touched his yellow nose to the top of Coxa’s head. “Thanks for the inspiration.”
“You’re welcome,” Coxa said. She tilted her head back, smiled, and touched her nose to his. “I love you too.”
Spiracle blushed. “I guess it’s going to be a lot tougher to play the hardshell now that everybuggy can feel I love you.”
Coxa giggled. “I’m sure you’ll manage.”
“I’m not too sure about this,” Spiracle said, looking down at himself.“
You shouldn’t worry about a thing,” Coxa said. “You look quite handsome.”
Spiracle smiled. “And you’re beautiful. Blue’s a good color for you.”
Coxa touched her cheek with a hoof. “Too bad we don’t have a mirror.”
“They’re a lovely carnation pink, if you’re wondering,” Rarity said.
“A mom’s color,” Pinch said.
“Fitting, since she’s one of the hive’s nursery care givers and has a hatchling on the way,” Radius said.
Kevin started as if jolted by a thought. “Dinky, did you take the detector home with you?”
Dinky nodded. “It’s in Dad’s workshop.”
“Could we go get it, while we’re running around?” he asked.
“Sure,” Dinky said. “What do you need it for?”
“I want to test something, if we get a chance,” Kevin said, in an evasive tone. His eyes went to Pinch for a split second, and then he glanced away.
*****
“Piña!” Pinch tossed a bag of carrots to her aunt, who caught them and put them in the refrigerator.
“Send the lettuce my way, please,” I requested.
“Incoming,” Pinch said and lobbed three heads of lettuce towards me.
“Got it,” I said, and caught the heads of lettuce in my magic. I put the lettuce on a cutting board to prepare the evening’s salads.
“They’re crazy,” Gena said, her head following the path of a loaf of bread through the air to Piña.
“Noi!” Pinch called and sailed a bag of sugar to her.
Noi caught the sugar and put it in a cabinet. “Good toss.”
“I think you’re right, but they’re efficient,” Sassy said, as she watched Piña, Pinch, Noi, Kevin, and I put away the groceries using Barrel’s “soar and store” method.
“Next time, I get a station!” Silent grinned, as he watched our organized chaos. “That looks like too much fun.”
Filter shook his head as if not believing what he was seeing. “When Pin said they could get the groceries put away in no time, I thought he was going to use a spell.”
“This is so much cooler!” Cubitus said grinning.
“Five more!” Pinch declared, before tossing the items to the ponies standing in the spots closest to where the items were to be put away.
“Done!” Pinch declared, as Piña put away the baking soda.
Dinky, Gena, Cubitus, and Rumble applauded.
“Way to go!” Sassy said and then laughed. “Few ponies can say they got a show with dinner before dinner.”
Pinch grinned. “Dad taught us.”
“Does your mother approve?” Filter said.
“Sis is the designated tosser,” Piña said. She gave me a grin. “Thanks for letting us help. It was fun.”
“You’re welcome.” I gave her a polite bow. “I should be the one thanking all of you.”
“Now that everything is put away, I’m curious about this changeling detector I’ve been hearing about,” Sassy said, looking at Dinky.
Gena’s ears perked up. “You made a changeling detector?”
“That’s sort of what it does,” Dinky said, as she moved towards the kitchen table. “It makes more sense if you see a demonstration,” she said as she took the detector from her saddlebags.
Dinky and Pinch gave a brief overview of what the detector did and how it worked to Gena, Sassy, and Brass. As they talked, Gena moved closer and closer to the detector until her nose was close to touching it.
“It’s kind of a good thing you didn’t change, Gena,” Kevin said. He grinned as Cubitus tapped Gena’s nose with a hoof. “We can see if the detector does anything different if a changed changeling or a non-changed changeling feeds.”
Gena drew back her head and then stuck her tongue out at Cubitus. “I just wanted to look. I didn’t touch it.”
“Give me a second to get ready to take notes, and we can show what it does,” Pinch said. She took a notebook from Dinky’s saddlebags and put it on the table along with a quill and inkwell. After opening her notebook and dipping the quill in the inkwell, she said, “Ready!”
“I’ll ask Mister Brass this time, since we got a reaction from Silent yesterday and we’ve gotten readings from Mister Pin before too,” Dinky said.
“You got a reaction from Silent?” Sassy asked.
“They asked him to think about you,” Piña said.
Pinch giggled, as Sassy looked at Silent with curiosity. “We got very good readings off of him, Miss Sassy.”
“And Kevin and I got a good snack,” Cubitus said.
Sassy gave Silent a teasing look. “When I get you out of that armor they’ll be able to pick us up from across town.”
The gem on the detector closest to Sassy glowed.
“Oh!” Sassy said. She looked over at Pinch. “I didn’t mean for that to happen. I hope I didn’t throw anything off.”
“You didn’t,” Pinch said, as the light on the detector faded. “You showed it’s still working fine, though.”
“I take it you want me to think about my ladies back home and see if the nymphs can feed off my love?” Brass asked Dinky.
“If that’s all right,” Dinky said.
“Of course.” He closed his eyes and smiled. “I’m thinking about them now.” The detector signaled it was getting something from him. He opened an eye like a colt peeking while playing a game. “Hey! It’s working.”
“Keep thinking about them,” Pinch encouraged, and Brass closed his eye.
“Nibbling,” Kevin said, and the detector chimed and blinked the gem closest to Kevin.
The device stopped signaling anything for Kevin, who turned to Gena and said, “Take a nibble.”
Gena hesitated for a second, then she concentrated on Brass.
The detector chimed and indicated she was taking love with a glowing gem.
“Perfect!” Pinch said, as she wrote. “Thank you, Mister Brass.”
“Glad to help,” Brass said, opening his eyes. “I didn’t feel a thing.”
“You’re not supposed to,” Gena told him. “We don’t need to hurt anycreature to get the love we need and we don’t want to be found out so we can take love from the same pony again and again.”
“Dinks, you’ll need to take the notes for this one,” Kevin said, sounding nervous. He moved around the table, sat down close to Pinch, and motioned for her to sit in front of him. “Would you sit here for me, please?”
Pinch tilted her head at Kevin’s request, and then a look of realization came to her face. “Kevin, you don’t have to do this,” she said.
“I want to try,” Kevin told her.
Piña’s eyes widened. “Is he…?”
Noi nodded. “I think so.”
Dinky grinned and took Pinch’s previous spot and poised the quill over Pinch’s notebook. “Ready!”
Kevin’s hooves trembled, as he took Pinch’s with his. He leaned forward, touched his horn to Pinch’s, and closed his eyes.
The gem closest to Kevin on the detector glowed.
Piña gasped and hugged Noi and Rumble to her sides.
“Cubi,” Dinky prompted.
Cubitus nodded. “Nibbling,” he announced, and the detector chimed.
Noi whispered, sounding amazed, “It’s just like with a po-”
“Ssh!” Piña whispered.
“Gena, your turn,” Dinky said, trying to act and sound professional but unable to hide the fact she was thrilled.
“I can taste it,” Gena said, smiling, as the detector chimed again. “It’s love.”
Kevin opened his eyes and smiled a relieved smile. He touched his nose to Pinch’s. “I told you I-”
Pinch cut him off with a kiss that had enough energy behind it to make Kevin’s ears snapped to their full height.
“Pinch, he needs air,” Sassy teased, after the kiss lasted for a few seconds.
Pinch blushed and released Kevin from their kiss. “You didn’t have to prove that you loved me. I already knew.”
“I know, but I wanted to show you like you have for me,” Kevin told Pinch in a relieved tone. He gave her a giddy smile. “We know the detector works on changed changelings now too.”
“You getting all this, Dinks?” Rumble said.
Dinky grinned and nodded, never stopping in her writing. “I’m getting every detail and word they say.”
“Don’t add that part!” Pinch protested. “Twilight’s going to read those notes, and we can’t publish anything like that anyway!”
“That’s not what you need to be worried about,” Piña teased. “Wait until Sis and Barrel find out you kissed him like that, and in front of everypony, then you’ll have something to worry about.”