Twilight Sparkle was not having a good day. There had been so many things she'd wanted to get done today, all carefully organized on a very large scroll that Spike had dictated for her. Although gone were the days that she considered her work and studies more important than friends, she was still a notoriously hopeless workaholic.
All that had changed when Fluttershy appeared at her door.
Through no small series of events, the terrified pegasus had appeared at her door and insisted that Changelings were in her cottage. Twilight had since returned to said cottage with her, intending to get to the bottom of this.
"Can we just get this meanie head out of my head, place?' Her yellow friend squeaked.
"Of course. Stand back."
"Oh!" Fluttershy slipped around to cower behind Twilight. "Be care-"
Twilight charged through the door, horn a blaze with magic, looking around suspiciously.
"Fluttershy, take inventory of all your animals, let me know if you see anything unusual." She ordered.
"Right." Taking to the skies, Fluttershy disappeared into the back. Twilight slowly stepped further into the room, her foreleg kicking a large metallic bucket. She frowned. She didn't like seeing things where they weren't supposed to be, it made her twitch. "Fluttershy, why is there a bucket on the ground?"
"Oh!" The pegasus called. "Well I didn't want the Changeling hurting my animals so I asked it very nicely if it could be unconscious until I got you." She explained.
Twilight facehooved. "You knocked it unconscious with a bucket."
"Um... yeah." Came the squeak.
A small clatter came from the closest, Twilight immediately whirled around and approached it, horn glowing. She flung open the door, only to find...
"...Spike?" She asked in confusion.
The little dragon waved to her.
Twilight wasn't buying it. She'd left Spike back at the library, he'd never be irresponsible by leaving without telling her. Or at the very LEAST sending her a scroll. "Nice try." She said, and though instinct told her to grab the thing, her voice lessened to one of concern.
"Are you alright?" She asked. Spike shook his head. "What's wrong?" A claw was pointed in the direction of Fluttershy, and the clone rubbed his head. "Aw, did Fluttershy hurt you?" There was a set of words she never thought she'd put together in one sentence. "Fluttershy! Come out here!"
The pegasus soon appeared, and immediately squeaked, scooping up the dragon. "Oh, hello Spike!" She said.
"That's not Spike. That's your Changeling."
"Eee!" She dropped it instantly, and Twilight caught it before it hit the ground. "Fluttershy! Stop beating up our witness, please." Fluttershy squeaked.
"Sorry..."
"Now come on, let's get back to the Library and figure out where it came from."
Fluttershy rubbed her head. "Um... can I stay here? If that's okay? I need to calm down my animals, they're so frightened from all the noise, and-"
Twilight held up her hoof. "Alright, alright, you can stay here. I'll take this thing off your hooves. She left the cottage with "Spike" holding onto her mane, and after a bit of a walk soon approached her home. She heard noises inside, and quietly approached the door. It sounded like Applejack. Twilight slowly cracked the door open. Her lights were on. She burst into the room with a defiant yell of surprise.
"Gotcha!"
Pinkie barely moved. "Hi!"
Rarity shrieked and jumped into Applejacks hooves, who promptly dropped her on the carpet.
"Git off me." She said, annoyed.
Rainbow Dash bounced back and forth on her hind legs near the door, her front legs in the air. "Twilight! I coulda knocked you to Canterlot!"
"I doubt that." Twilight said, and dropped Spike near the Changelings. "I see you four have been busy. Excellent work."
"Thanks Twi." Applejack said proudly. "But what's Spike got to do with this?"
"It's not Spike, it's a clever attempt at a facade."
"What's a faucet got to do with this?" Applejack asked.
"Not faucet. Facade. A disguise. SPIKE! Come down here!" She yelled. The little dragon came sliding down the banister of the spiral stairs.
"What's up, Twilight? I stayed here just like you- whoa!" He looked at the clone in the center of the room, poking at it. The Changeling retaliated by dropping the disguise. Spike jumped backward. "Dude, that's creepy."
"That's a Changeling, Spike."
"I know what it is, I was the ring dragon!" He said proudly.
Twilight looked over at her friends. "Have they hurt any of you, caused any damage, or made any threatening behavior?"
The answer was a unanimous no.
"Then for Celestia's sake, untie them. They haven't done anything." Twilight explained, and turned her attention to the four Changelings. "You guys just want to help, don't you?" Her guests seemed to consider this, then nodded.
"Good." Twilight said. "Perhaps we can all learn something today. Girls, go back to your homes. I will send you each a Changeling later today, and perhaps with a bit of luck, we'll all learn something."
The mares seemed reluctant, but knew Twilight had good intentions, and slowly filtered out, leaving Spike and Twilight alone with the shape shifters.
Spike found it much more entertaining than Twilight did, and was already playing with one of them, staring back into his own face. "Now do me with a mustache!"
"Spike!" Twilight scolded.
"Aw, alright." Spike wandered back upstairs, mumbling. "Never lets me have any fun..."
Twilight circled the four of the creatures, looking them over. "I'm expecting good behavior from all of you. You'll stay here for a few hours while I run some tests, then I'll send you out to see how you get along with the others. I don't want any trouble. If there is, I'll hear about it. Got it?"
They nodded.
"Good."
Twilight smiled a bit more confidently, and made her way upstairs to hopefully locate a book on Changelings. "Maybe there's hope for you guys yet."