-7 days later-
The loft to Sugar Cube Corner always felt like it was rather large. Twilight had no idea why the cakes decided to have it added when they built the place, and they had no explanation themselves. “It felt right,” they said.
Maybe it was fate. Without this loft, where would Pinkie Pie be living? Could she really stand to live anywhere that wasn’t within ten feet of the bakery?
But it was a great big space. Easily big enough for six ponies to have a sleepover, which was what they were doing right at that moment.
Twilight sat on her sleeping bag in the far corner of the room, away from her other five friends. Well, make that four friends and girlfriend. She glanced down to her left, noting Fluttershy’s own sleeping bag right next to hers. She heard a bout of laughter from the group, and looked up to see Rainbow Dash and Applejack heading her way.
“Hey girls,” she said.
“What’reya doin’ over here?” Applejack asked. “Pinkie’s been workin’ on her standup, and it’s MUCH better than it used to be.”
“As in, it’s good now.” Rainbow Dash elaborated. She yelped as Applejack smacked her across the back of the head. “Hey, you didn’t have to sit and listen to it for an hour last week!”
Twilight’s mind felt clouded; she couldn’t even enjoy two of her friends acting like their usual selves. Something about the whole situation felt off. She should be in on the fun, hanging with everypony and laughing, but something was tugging at the back of her mind. Like she had forgotten something.
“Come on, Twilight,” Fluttershy called. “We haven’t had a chance to all hang out together all week. Why are you sitting in the corner?”
There was a spark in her eyes. Of course. It was Fluttershy, heh. Duh. “Fluttershy, we haven’t told them yet.”
“Told us what?” Pinkie asked, appearing suddenly between Twilight and the two mares in front of her. “Oooh, did you forget something from your story?”
“You don’t mean that you’ve been dating, do you dear?” Rarity asked from next to Fluttershy. “Not only could we all tell when you two walked into town, but it was also obvious when you made that declaration.” She sighed. “To think, Fluttershy found her special somepony before I did…”
Twilight shook her head. “It isn’t about any of that, not exactly. Fluttershy, we didn’t… explain exactly why we had to teleport.”
Fluttershy gasped, understanding the unicorn finally. “What do ya mean, had to teleport?” Applejack asked. “Ya’ll were bein’ attacked by changelings, weren’t ya?”
“But… we don’t know why they attacked them.” Rainbow Dash said. When she got a series of looks, she lifted off into the air defensively. “Hey, I just thought it was weird that four changelings would randomly decide to attack two elements of harmony. I mean, c’mon, all six of us took on like, a hundred, in Canterlot. Why would they attack two with just four?”
“Indeed, they did have replacements for us four before any of us were even missing,” Rarity said. “They also did it during that day when Fluttershy was going to tell us all something. Does it have something to do with that?”
“Ooooh yeah yeah yeah! Twilight called us all up to her house separately, right?” Pinkie continued the thought with ease. “Soooooooo, what did you wanna tell us?”
During the discourse, the four ponies in the room unaware of Fluttershy’s secret had sat themselves down in a semi-circle around the shy pegasus. She gulped, shaking in her hooves at so many stares, but when she saw Twilight walk forward to meet her, her anxiety fell away so fast that even her face showed it, a small smile replacing her nervous ticks.
This caused Rainbow Dash to burst into laughter. “You two are sooooo totally hooked on one another, hahaha.”
“Now now, Rainbow Dash, don’t you be laughin’ at Fluttershy. She looks plum scared. Err, looked anyway.” Applejack turned to Fluttershy and said, “ya don’t have to tell us nothin’ if ya don’t wanna. And know that we ain’t gonna judge ya a cent if ya did somethin’ terrible.”
Everypony else in the room nodded. Fluttershy looked to them, then to Twilight. The unicorn threw a hoof over her girlfriend’s shoulder. “Have faith in them, Fluttershy.”
The pegasus nodded, and without a second thought, a flash of green ran over her body, leaving the yellow and pink changeling Fluttershy in her place. She closed her eyes, expecting some kind of violent reaction, jeers, shouts, something, anything.
What she got was Pinkie Pie hugging her to death. “Ohmygosh-ohmygosh-ohmygosh-ohmygosh! I, know, a, CHANGELING! I’ve never known a changeling before! Well, except for that whole army that tried to take over Equestria, but that wasn’t really knowing so much as getting hit by them, but EEEEEEEEEEE I know a changeling!”
Twilight looked to the other three. Rarity and Applejack were awestruck. Their jaws seemed to stretch to the floor. The surprising reaction was Rainbow Dash.
She smiled. She looked down at Rarity and Applejack, then flew on over to her friend, who had long since been released from Pinkie’s grasp. She landed in front of her and said, “So. You’ve always been a changeling then?” Fluttershy nodded weakly. “You look so… totally… awesome!” She hugged the shy changeling as well, not quite with the same lift-threatening force that Pinkie Pie employed. “This is so cool! Fluttershy, do you know how rad you look like this? It’s like, you could scare off so many ponies looking like this! Oh man, we have to hang out on Nightmare Night, it’ll be a blast! Oh man, and if you can look like anything, the pranks that we can pull off…”
Fluttershy gave a small squeak from the attention, causing Rainbow, Pinkie, and Twilight to all start laughing. Twilight glanced over to the other two who still hadn’t said anything.
“If you have any doubts, Celestia herself knows of Fluttershy’s species. She can confirm that she is, and always has been, a changeling.” Twilight smiled at them. “Come on. She wanted you all to know what she really is.”
With that, Rarity walked forward. She examined Fluttershy all around, running a hoof through her mane, tapping against her side, even inspecting her wings. When she was done giving the changeling a thorough once over, she said, “Well, I suppose there is a certain charm to how you look. Those teal eyes and wings still look so great against your mane, and that yellow is still so much better than that dingy black most changelings look like—”
“Oh, stop tryin’ to quantify it, Rares.” Applejack brushed past her and hugged Fluttershy softly. “She looks like Fluttershy, that’s what, and nothin’ll change that. Ain’t that right, Fluttershy?”
She nodded and said, “I-I really do like this form, more than being a regular changeling…”
Everypony in the room stopped moving, staring at her. Fluttershy immediately become flustered. “Oh, goodness, did I say something I shouldn’t have? I mean, I like being a pony, a pony is just fine. I love ponies!”
The outburst caused Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie to fall over laughing. “I think we were all just taken aback by your voice, dear,” Rarity explained. “We aren’t used to your changeling voice is all. My, it sounds almost as powerful as the queen herself!”
“That it does.” Twilight threw a hoof over Fluttershy’s shoulder. “See, I told you. You didn’t have a single thing to worry about.”
Fluttershy looked out over the room. Applejack and Rarity were both smiling warmly at her, and Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were just recovering from laughing fits. Then she saw Twilight. The most uplifting smile came from her, and it was all she could do to contain herself when she threw her arms around Twilight, hugging her as tight as she could. The act brought out “aww’s” from their friends, but Twilight could hear Fluttershy whispering in her ear:
“They… they really are my friends. They really do still love me. Everything really is going to be all right…”
The six ponies talked long into the night. Their discussions ranging from the usual discourse of six girls at a slumber party, to the nature of their friend, Fluttershy, who—despite revealing that she was a creature that not only needed love to survive, but also often lied and deceived to obtain it—discovered that her friends were more than happy to give her all the love she needed.