//------------------------------// // Chapter 27 // Story: My Little Pony: Morphing is Magic // by Tricondon //------------------------------// Author's Note: Written by Samaru163 and Tricondon. Chapter 27 Jake “Prince Jake, are you related to Princess Celestia?” “Prince Jake, have you come to ask for Princess Luna’s hoof in marriage?” “Prince Jake, can your army help us against the Changelings?” “Prince Jake, would you like a muffin?” The questions came so fast I barely had any time to answer them. I looked in shock as ponies crowded around me, bowing and shouting their questions. Some were worried about the Changelings that had invaded Ponyville - Rarity had quickly filled us in - while others seemingly didn’t care and were more concerned about my appearance. Plus, this pegasus who crashed through the wall kept asking about muffins and simply would not leave. The others were all remaining in the upper stories, since we didn’t need any more unwanted attention. I glanced out the front door; at least three more ponies were trying to squeeze in, held back by a particularly frazzled Rainbow Dash. “All right, that’s quite enough of that!” Twilight shouted, silencing the room. Everyone turned to look at her as she continued. “The Prince and I need to convene to plan our next move.” Obediently the ponies flashed me an apologetic look and organized themselves neatly around us. I awkwardly scratched the back of my head. “Look, I know all of you are concerned about what’s been happening, but we can’t work properly like this. So - if you wouldn’t mind - could you please give us some space?” I smiled as politely as I could as the ponies nodded and silently filed out. Once they were all outside Rainbow slammed the door shut and turned towards me, a strange fire flashing in her eyes. “Well, what do we do now? Ponyville’s in danger and we’re just supposed to sit here and talk?! Why don’t you use that changing power of yours to turn into dragons and save everypony?” Rachel said in thought speak. Most likely she was in some form of insect morph. “The only dragon we know is Spike. He’s hardly big enough to be a serious threat, and I don’t enjoy the idea of hunting a full-grown dragon just to acquire it,” I said as Rainbow was busy looking for Rachel. I shook my head, trying to ignore Rachel and Rainbow as I ran through everything that had happened. “It doesn’t make sense. Why attack Ponyville now? Why out in the open? That isn’t the Yeerks’ usual method of operating,” I mumbled to myself. “It is for the Changelings,” Rarity pitched in, interrupting my thoughts - I hadn’t even realized she was there. I looked up at her in confusion and she explained, “Some time ago they attacked Canterlot quite openly. They would nearly have won, if Shining Armor and Princess Cadence hadn’t saved us.” More questions flooded my mind, but I nodded slowly. “If the Yeerks and the Changelings have an alliance, then maybe this is part of their plan. The Changelings probably still want to invade the capital, and with the Yeerks’ help they might succeed this time. I can’t figure out why they’d attack Ponyville right now, although...” I trailed off, my gaze floating to the ceiling. “That Changeling we have. Maybe he knows something that he hasn’t told us yet.” I frowned and glanced around the house. “Say, where is he anyways? Wasn’t he supposed to stay with Fluttershy and Rainbow?” “You have a Changeling? Here? How? When did this happen?” Rarity asked, clearly shocked. She snapped her head around in disgust. “Ugh, I hope it doesn’t try to copy me. Not just anypony can pull off my good looks you know.” Rainbow looked towards me, having long since given up on her search for Rachel. “Oh, right. Fluttershy was with him last. I dunno where she went, though.” “I bet she went outside with all the other ponies,” Spike said. “She probably thought you meant to exclude her from your talk.” “I’ll go look for her,” Rainbow said with a snort and headed outside. Once she left I decided to morph Twilight again so as to avoid any more unwanted revealings. Ax asked. “Rachel, please tell Ax that they can come out of hiding now,” I said to the air, hoping Rachel was still within earshot. she asked back. “Please, just do it.” A few moments later I heard the sound of hooves descending the stairs as the others came down in their pony morphs, with the exception of Tobias who was perched on one of the many bird rests on the walls. “So, how did the reception go?” Marco asked, a wry grin on his face. “I hear royalty have the best parties.” “It wasn’t that bad,” I replied. “You sure? It seemed pretty chaotic to me,” Spike said in a matter of fact tone. I was about to respond when the front door swung open, smashing into the wall, and an irate Rainbow walked in with Fluttershy walking beside her, holding her head up high. “I found her,” Rainbow announced. “Where’s the Changeling?” I asked. “I don’t know, I didn’t see him with her,” Dash replied dryly. My attention was drawn elsewhere by some humming; I looked around and blinked in surprise as Fluttershy walked into the room from the kitchen, a small white rabbit on her back. Marco looked from her, to the Fluttershy beside Rainbow and back again, then to Tobias, still perched on one of the wall mounts. “Uh, am I seeing things?” Tobias said back. Not a moment later the Fluttershy with the rabbit saw the other and let out a small shriek. “That’s Fluttershy,” Twilight said, her voice eerily devoid of emotion. The other Fluttershy gave a frustrated snort and was consumed in green fire. When it died down the Changeling was standing in her place. “How you know? I look like her exactly.” “Big difference between looking like Fluttershy and acting like her,” Twilight explained, her voice still emotionless. “That’s one thing the Yeerks can do better than you.” At the mention of the Yeerks the Changeling hissed again. “I better than any Yeerk!” It said defiantly. “Hive better than Yeerk Hive!” “Alright,” I interrupted before the Changeling could get any more excited. “You want us to help you get the Yeerks out of your Hive? Then start talking. Tell us what you know about the Yeerk’s plans. Why are they attacking Ponyville?” All eyes swung towards the Changeling and, surprisingly, he seemed to shy away from the attention. “I not know much. Orders were to attack Ponyville. Keep royal guards busy when they arrived. Then real attack come.” It shuffled a hole-ridden hoof along the ground. “Told to capture ponies. For Yeerk host.” At this I heard Rarity give a small gasp. “And...what else?” Twilight asked. “Nothing else. I supposed to be in Ponyville now. I not know what comes after. I only drone. I do as told. Not tell me anything more.” I frowned, deep in thought. There was something nagging at my mind, but I couldn’t quite figure out what. Tobias said after a time. I looked to him in confusion, but was met only with a hawk stare. “If they haven’t already,” Ax added. “We do not know how long the Yeerks have been invading this planet. It is likely that at least one leader has been infested.” “It probably isn’t Luna,” I said. “We saw the power she can command, and she saw you as an Andalite. If she were a controller at the time none of us would be here right now.” “You think Celestia is infested?” Rainbow asked. “No way! There’s no way the Princess could ever be controlled by some filthy alien slug!” “Even if she cannot be infested the Yeerks will still attempt to eliminate her from the equation. Assuming her power is comparable to Luna’s.” “Oh yeah! She’s super-duper powerful!” Pinkie shouted, bouncing into view from seemingly nowhere. “She raises the sun each and every day for over a thousand years!” “Impossible!” Ax cried. “Your sun is comparable to that of Earth’s. Negating differences due to slightly altered size, it would weigh approximately two times ten to the thirty kilograms and be nearly nine hundred thousand kilometers in diameter. There is no power known that can move such a massive object!” “Celestia can. I’ve seen her do it. Oh, and Nightmare Moon kept it from rising that one time. Oh, and Discord made it go up and down at random like a yo-yo. I love yo-yos, but I don’t think it’s safe to play yo-yo with the sun. Night would only last like five seconds, and nopony would get enough sleep. Day would only be five seconds, too, and nopony could ever get any work done.” “Pinkie!” Twilight shouted and the pink pony stopped bouncing immediately. “Thank you.” I rubbed my head with a hoof - it still amazed me that these ponies were flexible enough to do that - and cleared my throat. “Alright, so Celestia is as powerful as Luna, if not more than. That means the Yeerks will be targeting her.” “If the Princesses are in danger, than we’ve got to go protect them!” Rainbow shouted, flaring her wings. This was followed moments later by a pained groan. “Aw, ponyfeathers. Fluttershy, can you fix my splint again?” “Of course, Rainbow,” Fluttershy said, quickly walking over to a cabinet and bringing out some bandages and what I assumed was a splint for pegasus wings. She headed over to Rainbow and carefully removed the existing bandages and set the new splint up against Rainbow’s wing. She then wrapped it in bandages and stepped back. ‘There you go.” “Thanks Fluttershy,” Rainbow said before turning back to us. “So what are we waiting for? Let’s go save the Princesses!” “We can’t just go running blindly into danger, Rainbow,” Marco said. “We need some idea as to how we can hinder the Yeerk’s plans.” “What if we caused a distraction of our own?” Cassie asked. “Something that would draw the Yeerks away from the capital.” “Perhaps, but what would be a sufficient enough distraction?” Ax inquired. “Simple,” Rachel said. I blinked, wondering when she’d demorphed and morphed into her pegasus form. “We hit them where it hurts. We attack what they desperately want to defend.” She gave a sadistic grin. “We hit the Changeling Hive. Take out their local help and they’re sure to come running.” “Oh, wonderful,” Marco whined. “Instead of running blindly into danger, we’re going to go in screaming and yelling at danger.” “That sounds much more fun,” Pinkie said happily. “I not tell you where Hive is,” the Changeling said. “Hive is home. Hive is sacred. I not let you find it. I not let you destroy it.” “Destroy it like the Yeerks are already doing?” Rainbow taunted. The Changeling spun, hissing and flaring his own wings. “Rainbow, enough.” I said authoritatively. “If he won’t tell us, he won’t. And if he won’t, we’re done here.” I snorted and looked at Marco, giving him a subtle wink. “Alright, Marco, let’s go. The Yeerks can have this planet, since we can’t do any more.” Marco, thankfully, got the hint and nodded slowly. “Alright, Your Highness. I’ll go prepare for our departure.” He turned and began heading back upstairs. “Wait!” The Changeling cried. Marco paused and glanced at me. I turned slightly to look at the Changeling. “...please, not go. Need your help.” It sounded so pathetic, like a lost child crying for its mother. “You want our help? Tell us where the Hive is.” The Changeling closed its eyes and seemed to be arguing with itself. Finally it opened its eyes and looked dead into mine. “I show you. I take you to Hive.” “Alright!” Rainbow pumped a hoof into the air. “You go attack the Hive, we’ll head for Canterlot.” “No,” Twilight said. We all looked at her. “Shining...they got my brother. The Yeerks. He’s the Captain of the guard. If he’s a controller, then there’s no telling how many other guards are infested as well. We-” she broke off for a moment. “We may be led into a trap. And if any of us are captured, infested, then we’re no help to the Princesses.” “Why don’t you send Princess Celestia a letter?” Fluttershy asked, but Twilight shook her head. “I’ve sent twenty-two letters since last night. I haven’t gotten a response to any of them.” “Don’t send any more,” I warned. “If Celestia is a controller, then she doesn’t need to know where we’re headed right now. The last thing we need is the Hive getting advance warning of our arrival.” I thought for a moment. “That is, assuming the letters are even reaching her. For all you know, she hasn’t sent a response because she hasn’t gotten any of them. Someone may be getting to your letters before her and making sure they’re never found. It’s fair to assume that whoever that is is a controller.” Twilight nodded slowly, though I could tell she didn’t like the idea. “But I send the letters straight to the Princess herself. How could anypony intercept them?” Spike asked concernedly. “Then Celestia is a controller. There can be no other explanation.” Ax said softly.