//------------------------------// // Chapter 24 // Story: My Little Pony: Morphing is Magic // by Tricondon //------------------------------// Author's Note: Written by Samaru163 and Tricondon. Chapter 24 Marco Jake had released the Changeling from his telekinesis and the creature was seated on Fluttershy’s couch; I found it odd both that Jake had opted to let go of it and that it hadn’t tried to flee at the first chance. “Alright, let’s try again. Why were you spying on us?” Jake asked calmly. “Yeerks talk of Andalites. Say they are here. They not like Andalites. Can tell in voice. I find. Ask for help. Get Hive back.” “Ha, like anypony would help you things!” Rainbow cut in. “After you tried to enslave Canterlot, I’m surprised Prince Jake hasn’t thrown you in the dungeon.” At this, Jake shot Rainbow a shut up look. “No enslave. Feed. We need feed like you do,” it said defensively. “Why it wrong for us to live? Why it evil for us to find food?” “Sounds like a very familiar argument.” Cassie muttered. I nodded slightly, knowing what she was referring to. Aftran, the Yeerk she had found in the body of a little girl. Later she would go on to found the Yeerk Peace Movement on Earth and give up having a host entirely. All because Cassie had taken the time to see her side of the story. I had a brief talk with her Aftran, but at the time I didn’t care to listen. And now - on an alien planet of talking technicoloured horses - we were going through it again. Irony at its fullest. “I wouldn’t mind feeding you,” Fluttershy whispered. I don’t think the Changeling heard her; I was standing right next to her and I still had to strain my ears. “Do you even know what an Andalite looks like?” Jake asked. The Changeling shook its head. “No. Not know. Not know many thing. Only Drone.” It stopped for a moment, looking around the cottage at us. “I attack Canterlot. I help. You ponies try to stop. Purple one smart. She not fooled by Queen. She know about Andalite.” He looked at Jake. “But you not purple one?” Jake shook his head. “No. I may look just like her, but we’re completely different.” “Yeah! Prince Jake is royalty!” Rainbow shouted. “So pay your proper respects!” “Why? He not Queen. Not my leader. Why should I?” He then looked straight into Rainbow’s eyes. “Did you bow for Queen?” “I don’t bow for anypony besides Princess Celestia!” Rainbow retorted. “Um, and Princess Luna...” Fluttershy added, though she was drowned out by Rainbow. “And I only bow for Queen,” the Changeling responded. “Simple. Yes?” “Why you lousy!” Rainbow snarled, then leapt for the Changeling. I shouted, and suddenly Rainbow was being suspended in the air, held aloft in a light-blue glow, barely noticeable against her fur. She turned her head and glared at me. “Marco! Lemme go! I can take him, easy!” “I would, but I don’t know how I’m doing it in the first place,” I said, amazed by what I was seeing. The Changeling, in the meanwhile, had jumped off the couch and was hiding. An odd sight to say the least, since all the Changelings I’d seen had tried to kill me. “Ha, afraid to go against me, Changeling?” Rainbow taunted, still hovering in the air. “I not stupid. One Drone against eight pony. Not good odds.” “Rainbow!” Jake shouted before she could respond. “Calm down and let me do the talking, please.” Rainbow flattened her ears against her head and looked away, mumbling a ‘sorry’. I laughed softly and the glow around her vanished, dropping the pegasus on her rump, which only made me laugh harder. “You wouldn’t be laughing if my wing wasn’t hurt!” she yelled at me, glaring and baring her teeth. I immediately stopped laughing and averted my gaze. “Alright, so, you were spying on us because you wanted to talk to Twilight, right?” Jake asked the Changeling, trying to get the conversation back on track. “Twilight?” he said with a look of utter confusion. “The purple pony you’re looking for. Her name is Twilight.” “Name?” he asked again. “Only Queen has name. Only pony Princess have name. No?” “But...didn’t you refer to yourself as Drone earlier?” I asked. “Drone not name. Drone position in Hive. Is what I was born as,” he said calmly. “Ponies like this. No?” “N-no,” Fluttershy softly said. “We all have names. It’s how we identify ourselves to others.” “I identify. Drone from Breeding Cave Three. Number 937.” From the tone in his voice he’d said this at least a thousand times before. “Geez, it’s like the Yeerks all over again,” Rachel said. At the sound of her voice the Changeling jerked its head towards her and hissed darkly. “I not Yeerk!” it spat. “Not say that!” “Take it easy, I wasn’t saying you were a Yeerk,” Rachel said, motioning with her hooves for the Changeling to calm down. “You just have very similar naming conventions, that’s all.” “We not similar. They take Hive. They enslave colony.” “That is what Yeerks tend to do,” Tobias said. “They enslave every species they come across. Changeling, pony, human. Nothing is safe.” “Human?” the Changeling asked. “How you know Humans?” “We-” Cassie began, but a motion from Jake silenced her. “It’s not important,” Jake said. “What made you sure that Twilight would know where you could find an Andalite?” “Purple pony smart. She know much. She not live life in Hive.” It seemed to be struggling to find the right words. “First time I...see sky is when Queen attack Canterlot. I not know outside Hive.” “Oh, you poor dear.” Fluttershy said and flew over to the Changeling, hugging it tightly. It balked and tried to pull away. “What you do?! Why attack?!” Fluttershy let the Changeling go and it flew up near the ceiling, staring at her warily. Fluttershy looked like she might cry at any moment. “I am afraid your assumptions were in error,” Ax said. “Twilight has no knowledge of Andalites, nor does any other non-Controller on this planet. They are not indigenous.” “Where were you this whole time?” I asked. “I was listening, trying to see if this Changeling was lying to us in some fashion.” “And?” “I don’t think so,” he said with a smile. I sighed and turned back to the Changeling. “So, what was your plan after that? Ask Twilight to lead you to an Andalite and then they solve everything?” “I not know. Andalites fight Yeerks for long time. Hate each other fiercely. Yeerks say they powerful. They help return Hive to normal.” “Give us a moment, please,” Jake said, then motioned for us to gather. We huddled in a circle, talking low. “What do you guys think? Should we trust him?” he asked. “He certainly seems to hate the Yeerks as much as we do,” Tobias said. “It could be a trap,” I said. “Lull us into trusting a possible defector, then he leads us into an ambush. Us, and Twilight if she decides to follow us again.” “I’m with Marco on this,” Rachel said. “Attack us with Changelings and then send one who wants to be our friend. It all seems too convenient.” “We saw how many they attacked us with on the train,” Cassie pointed out. “They probably have more Changelings back at the Hive. And what if he isn’t lying? What if he’s telling the truth? Can we really pass this up?” “What if one of us acquires him?” Tobias asked. We all stared at him in shock, but he just looked back with a fierce stare. “I’m serious. If he really is a Yeerk, he’d never let an Andalite touch him.” He nodded towards Ax. “I am uneasy about revealing our presence at this point in time,” Ax admitted. “If he is lying then we have confirmed the Yeerk’s suspicions that the Andalite bandits are here. And that aside, I think this Yeerk would not react poorly to my presence, Tobias. A spy would not be so foolish as to get caught that easily.” For a moment we didn’t say anything, just going over the situation and options before us. “Hey, guys?” Cassie asked. “What if we get Twilight to use that spell of hers on the Changeling?” “Oh, good idea!” Ax said happily. “I’ll go get her!” Without another word Ax hopped - yes, hopped - out the door and disappeared into the night. We just stared after him. “Well. I don’t think any of us were expecting that,” I dryly said. We couldn’t have been waiting for more than ten minutes before Twilight appeared in a flash of light, along with Ax and Spike. She startled the Changeling - and us - though Ax was incredibly happy. “Do it again do it again do it again! I know it should be impossible but it isn’t! Do it again!” he said between giggles and bounced around Twilight in a circle. “Maybe another time, Ax,” she said gently. She looked around and finally settled her gaze on the Changeling. “Hello. My name is Twilight Sparkle. I heard you were looking for me.” “Purple pony. One from Canterlot.” It eyed her suspiciously. “Are you you, or other like her?” it jerked its head towards Jake. Twilight nodded. “I’m me. Honestly.” The Changeling landed in front of her, staring straight into her eyes. “You help?” Twilight nodded again. “Help return Hive? Even though we attack?” “Perhaps, but first I need to do something to you. It won’t hurt, and it’ll tell us if you mean what you say. Is this alright?” The Changeling nodded in an awkward imitation of Twilight and she closed her eyes, lowering her horn to the Changeling’s head. It twitched at the contact, but didn’t move otherwise. After a moment Twilight raised her head and opened her eyes, smiling. “He’s not a Controller.” The Changeling hissed. “I tell you! I not Yeerk!” “I just needed confirmation,” Jake explained. “You know how they infiltrated your Hive. I don’t want that to happen here.” “Hive? Would somepony like to fill me in?” Twilight asked. “Ohh, ohh, let me, let me!” Ax said happily. Soon he was walking with Twilight to the other side of the room, explaining the situation to Twilight in a really quick and almost indefinable way. “We have got to do something about that kid,” I whispered to Jake. He smiled for a moment before resuming a more contemplative look. “...and then I went to get you and you warped here and then I told you this story and now you’re caught up!” “How did you explain that so quickly?” Rachel asked, her face twisted in disbelief. Ax stopped bouncing for a moment, his face scrunched up in thought. “I dunno!” he shouted after a moment and giggled. “Acting more like Pinkie every day,” Rainbow muttered. “Is that a good thing?” I asked, to which she shrugged. “Well, at least we know our Changeling guest isn’t a Controller,” Jake said after Ax’s giggling had died down. “That just leaves the whole trust issue.” “Trust? I tell you truth,” the Changeling spoke up. “You told us a well-crafted story,” I said. “Other species have allied themselves with the Yeerks before.” “I no Yeerk!” “That doesn’t mean you’re telling the truth. For all we know you’re a voluntary host sent on a mission.” “I no Yeerk!” it said again, much more venomously. I stepped towards the Changeling, glaring. “Say it a third time! Maybe I’ll believe it then!” “Maybe you Yeerk!” it lunged at me, baring its fangs. I reared on my hind legs, ready to strike... “STOP!” Faster than I could blink there stood a yellow mass between me and the Changeling, holding us apart with her hooves and panting for breath. “Nopony here is a Yeerk, alright? Now, we are all going to calm down and sit patiently!” She glanced between me and the Changeling, glaring darkly. As her eyes locked onto mine I felt a strange compulsion to obey and relaxed, backing away from her. “Marco, are you well?” Ax asked. I couldn’t see, but I guessed I had a stunned or shocked look on my face. “Heh, not so funny when you experience it, huh?” Rachel asked with a joyful grin. “Yellow pony scary,” the Changeling said quietly. “I think I should inform the Princess about this,” Twilight said after a moment’s silence. Jake walked up to her, shaking his head. “That won’t work. We already tried to get in to see her, remember? Tobias and Fluttershy said the city’s blocked off.” “Oh, leave the letter-sending to me!” Spike said, finally speaking up. “I can get the message directly to Princess Celestia easy.” “I am curious as to how such a feat could be done,” Ax mused. Spike shot him a slight grin as Twilight gathered some ink and paper in her magic. Quickly she jotted down a letter and rolled it up before handing it to the young dragon. He made a quick dash towards the window and opened it with his free hand. He then held the roll of paper to his face and exhaled a puff of green fire, which quickly engulfed the parchment. I saw Ax was about to open his mouth in question, but stopped himself when the remains quickly formed into a green vapour that traveled along the winds towards Canterlot. “Well, was it what you were expecting?” Spike asked Ax who was still staring in disbelief at the open window. “That...should not be possible,” Ax said disbelievingly. “Ax-man, I’m a unicorn. Rachel’s a pegasus. You’re talking to a dragon. Nothing on this planet makes sense,” I said. “You not from planet?” the Changeling asked. It smiled at this news. “Then you are Andalite? You help me, yes?” “We’re here to help everyone. We’re going to get rid of every Yeerk on this planet,” Jake said, standing proudly. “Or die trying.” The Changeling hopped off the couch and walked up to Jake. “I help. Want Hive back. I follow you until then.” And then - to my utter surprise - it bowed.