Twilight felt tears fall down her face, despair and dismay in her now blue eyes. Her feelings were made worse by the mixed feelings emanating from the room. Was this what Skid had felt when she had found out what he was? Suddenly Cadence’s horn glowed, and a cloak of love wrapped around her, and suddenly she couldn’t sense their emotions anymore and had stopped crying. In fact, it was hard not to break into open joy despite the current situation.
“Sorry I’ll turn it down,” the pink Alicorn spoke, and suddenly the feeling went from oppressive to a layer of interference, she relaxed and sighed. Gazing to her friends, who wore different looks of emotion she couldn’t decipher behind the veil, she turned her gaze to Celestia.
“Is there any way to reverse it?” Celestia opened her mouth to answer, and then closed it and merely shook her head. Twilight knew she should be feeling worse then she had recently, but all she could feel was a meek sense of loss.
“Oh” she replied, sitting up and giving her body a once over. Twilight was relieved to see she was still the same gender, but other than that she looked exactly the same as Skid. She shivered, just like Skid was too much like Skid for comfort. Suddenly Celestia walked over and gently touched Twilights horn with a frown.
“At the very least, my spell still works. However, there is the problem of going out in public…” Twilight gazed to her friends, and for a brief moment she could feel their sadness, disgust, was that guilt from Rainbow Dash-love, suddenly all she could feel was love. Rainbow Dash smiled, and stood proudly.
“So what if she’s a changeling, she’s still Twilight.” Twilight felt the love around her grow in strength, and tears of happiness began to fall down her face as each of her friends spoke up.
“You can hide that ugly appearance once you figure out how to use their powers easily; you’ll be back to normal easily.” Rarity was ever concerned about appearance, but Twilight felt she meant good.
“Not that that matters, you are Twilight no matter if you are a changeling,” Applejack spoke next, honest and straight to the point.
“Oooh with the new powers you’ll be an expert at knowing what people want if they come to you for help, or for parties. They’ll probably be put off by the fact you’re a changeling but-“Pinkie Pie stopped herself and gave a exited smile, happy to have a new toy to play with.
“Um, y-you could help with the animals…”whispered Fluttershy. Twilight stood up, a little shaky at first, and walked off the bed and over to her friend and gave them a big hug. She failed to notice Cadence holding a spell around her; sweating slightly at the strength she had it over Twilight. Being close to emotions herself, she knew if Twilight felt about how they really felt, things would go downhill quickly.
“I happen to have dug up a changeling book that might interest you Twilight; it details the process of a transformation spell that is quite similar to the changeling one, but not quite. As for returning you to normal, I and Luna will see what we can do.” Twilight turned and nodded determinedly to her mentor.
“What will Cadence be doing?” Twilight looked to Cadence, not noticing anything out of normal as she smiled.
“She will be keeping a watch in case Changelings come after you. They must have done this for a reason.” Twilight nodded, happy with the answers and turned to her friends, who smiled happily.
“Well, I for one could use some fresh air, what about you guys?” All five nodded enthusiastically, and Twilight began following them out of the room. Cadence followed, weakening the shield around Twilight as she no longer needed to have it so strong. She glanced to the two princesses as she left, and a silent agreement passed between them. They needed to fix Twilight and quickly.
“It was nice of the guards to set up a whole picnic for us” Twilight remarked as she enjoyed a quiet afternoon with her friends. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash were having an eating contest, and Pinkie was easily winning. Rarity was quietly eating in her usual refined manor. Fluttershy sat in a corner watching the three chug down the food like water sipping a juice box. Cadence was resting under the trees, tired for some reason. When Twilight had asked about it, she had said it had been a long night.
“So Twilight, how’d you learn the spell so fast?” Rainbow Dash asked after the food contest, tapping her stomach with a satisfied sigh. Twilight shrugged, it had been a really simple spell, almost as if she had already known it.
“It was like I already knew the spell before I tried casting it, must be an innate changeling thing.” Twilight sipped her drink, her eyes closing as she failed to notice once again the gazes of the others as they thought about what she was now. Opening her eyes she began to smile when she noticed something different. Suddenly the shield of love around her, what was ensuring she remained happy and carefree, fizzled and died. Twilight turned her head to Cadence, whose eyes had been watching them until a few moments ago, as her head fell down and she became unconscious from strain.
“Twilight” spoke one of her friends, but she couldn’t tell who. It was hard for her to sort through the sudden information overload she was experiencing. The air thrummed with a certain level of emotion, more of a pleasant air than anything else. Fluttershy was scared of her; Rainbow Dash was fighting with his loyalty and his desire to destroy every changeling, Rarity was hiding her open disgust at the fact she was such a horrid colour, Pinkie Pie was nervous about how to treat the situation, and Applejack was warring with her desire to be truthful but not want to be cruel. All of that information came into Twilight and she realised one thing.
“Racist”