Forever a Changeling

by Scootaloo-009

Bonus Chapter 1

There is a continuation of this ending story line that can be found here.

        "Sister, it is time to switch control," Princess Luna said as she strolled into the throne room. Princess Celestia got up and Princess Luna took her place on the throne. The sun was setting through the window behind it, casting long shadows.

        "It was a busy day," Princess Celestia said idly.

        "I heard there was an execution this morning. First one in... two hundred years?"

        "At least. It couldn't be avoided. It was a changeling queen with the ability to turn ponies into changelings," Princess Celestia explained.

        "That's interesting but what did she do to warrant such an extreme punishment?" Princess Luna asked while stifling a yawn.

        "I wanted to stop her from laying eggs but it just couldn't be done. I had no other choice,” Princess Celestia said solemnly.

        "Why did you have to do that?"

        "Imagine what a mess it would be if anypony could just start over in a new, changeling body."

        "I know a lot of terminally ill foals would jump at the chance," Princess Luna said.

        "Yes but it would be a nightmare trying to manage any number of ponies who can instantly shapeshift into anypony else. How could you ever control that? If just one turned into a criminal it would be a disaster. There are enough changelings out there now," Princess Celestia said. "In the end I had to pick the solution that would cause the least amount of problems."

        "I don't think many would see it that way, but I agree. Good night, sister,” Princess Luna said.

        “Good night.”

        "Why do you think Scootaloo called a crusader emergency?" Sweetie Belle asked.

        "Ah'm not sure. It must be something important," Apple Bloom replied. Scootaloo had woken them up in the middle of the night, telling them they needed to get to the clubhouse right away. Apple Bloom had always suggested they create a system of reaching each other easily but Scootaloo had always been against the idea. Probably because she didn't want them to know where she lived.

        As they approached, they noticed that Scootaloo had easily beaten them there. The lights were on in the club house. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle walked inside but didn't see Scootaloo anywhere. Suddenly a pony jumped down from the loft.

        "Hey, Cuz," the brown earth pony said.

        "Babs!" Sweetie Belle said in surprise.

        Apple Bloom took one look and snorted. "Just who the hay are you?"

        Babs looked hurt. "Don't ya recognize me? I wasn't gone that long."

        "Really, who are you? You're not Babs," Apple Bloom said. "Babs isn't that brown, she's stockier, and most of all, she doesn't sound like Scootaloo trying to do a Manehatten accent."

        "Darn. I thought I did a good job," Babs said.

        Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle leaped back as Babs erupted into blue flames. They were gone almost immediately, leaving Scootaloo standing where Babs had been.

        "This isn't an exact science," Scootaloo said.

        "What just happened?" Sweetie Belle asked.

        Apple Bloom leapt into action, tackling Scootaloo. She throttled her while shouting, "What did you do with Scootaloo?!"

        Scootaloo kicked her off and got back up. "I am Scootaloo."

        "If you're Scootaloo then do our secret hoofshake," Apple Bloom demanded.

        Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "We don't have one, remember? We couldn't make one we could remember so we gave up."

        “That’s right,” Apple Bloom agreed.

        "What's going on?" Sweetie Belle asked, looking back and forth between Apple Bloom and Scootaloo.

        "Girls, I just found out that I'm not just a pony," Scootaloo began. She burst into flames again, eliciting a yelp from Sweetie Belle, and shifted into her changeling form. "I'm a changeling too!"

        "Ah don't buy it. How could yah not know?" Apple Bloom asked.

        "Apparently my hive is made up of changelings who think they're ponies. I don’t really know everything yet,” Scootaloo explained.

        “So when did you find out?” Sweetie Belle asked.

        “I just bumped into Rainbow Dash earlier. Suddenly she was all like, ‘I think you’re a changeling’. We discovered I was so she taught me how to shapeshift. There’s a lot more to it but I wanted to show you right away.”

        “And she could just tell?” Apple Bloom asked.

        “Yeah. I’m not sure how. I’ll have to ask her. I guess we can just tell,” Scootaloo said.

        “Ha! So we were right! She is a changeling!” Apple Bloom declared.

        “But she’s also a pony like me. At least we were ponies.”

        “Huh?” Sweetie Belle said.

        “That’s what she said but I’m not sure what she meant. Like I said, I just found out.”

        “I bet that’s how you ended up abandoned! Your mom must have been a changeling that wanted you to grow up a pony,” Sweetie Belle suggested.

        Scootaloo shrugged. She knew she was wrong but she couldn’t correct her. “Makes sense.”

        “Ah think Ah just have one last question,” Apple Bloom said. “What about the crusaders?”

        “Well Rainbow Dash still got her cutie mark even though she’s a changeling,” Scootaloo said. “Actually...”

She focused on an earlier form, her first one. It came to her almost immediately. She shifted, causing Sweetie Belle to gasp again. She gazed at her flank but it was plain blue. She focused again and tried to envision Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark. She shifted but nothing changed. Her flank was still blank.

“So I guess I can’t just shapeshift a cutie mark,” Scootaloo said.

“Cool! Do me, do me!” Sweetie Belle urged.

“Fine,” Scootaloo agreed. She stared at Sweetie Belle to make sure she would get it right., then-

“Wow!” Sweetie Belle said. She stared at her duplicate.

“How come yah got her and not Babs?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Because I’m looking at Sweetie Belle,” Scootaloo said. She turned to Apple Bloom and shifted into the earth filly’s doppelganger. “And now you. It’s harder to do this by memory.”

“And you just learned how to do this?” Apple Bloom asked, surprised at how easily Scootaloo seemed to be shapeshifting.

“It’s getting the look right that’s hard," Scootaloo told her.

"So... um... what do we do now?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Let's go crusading!" Scootaloo declared.

"It's the middle of the night," Apple Bloom pointed out.

"Right..." Scootaloo said.

"Colt the other foals at school are going to freak out when they see you," Sweetie Belle said.

“We probably shouldn’t tell them,” Scootaloo said nervously. “Not a lot of ponies like changelings...”

“Okay, we’ll keep it secret,” Apple Bloom said.

“Who can we talk to?” Sweetie Belle asked.

Scootaloo rubbed her chin. “Just Rainbow Dash for now. She’s the only one who knows except you two.”

Apple Bloom yawned loudly. “Ah don’t know bout you two, but Ah’m bout ready tah fall asleep right now. Ah’ll see yah in the mornin’.”

Sweetie Belle joined her in walking out. “Me too. See you tomorrow?”

“I’m just going to turn off the lights,” Scootaloo called back. “Night girls. Cutie mark crusaders:”

“Friends forever!”