//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 // Story: Single Parent Seeks Special Somepony // by angelofrombelow //------------------------------// “A changeling? In Ponyville?” Rainbow Dash swallowed her shock and geared herself up for action, instantly realising Surprise’s true identity. “You’re a changeling?” She rounded on the other pegasus aggressively, her hooves raised but holding herself back. The brief time they had spent as friends coloured her judgement. Berry found her voice. “Dash, we have to get to the boutique. Twilight’s in danger. We’re all in danger.” Dash looked at her incredulously. “You knew about this, didn’t you? What were you even trying to do?” She didn’t wait for an answer. Her concern for her friends suddenly took over and she was off in a flash, headed for the Carousel Boutique. Surprise lay curled up in a ball, hiding her face with hooves. “I thought I had more time. I thought they’d wait until nightfall, that it was too dangerous to attack in daylight.” Berry was in a quandary, desperate to race after Dash but unsure what to do about Surprise. The changeling was obviously remorseful but this mess was her responsibility. If she had been upfront from the start, the three of them could have contacted Twilight first and spent the day with her. But the hive came first. Surprise’s allegiances lay with them. If there was any possibility the changeling race could come out of this with nothing, Berry now felt certain Surprise would betray her to prevent it. Even with that in mind, she wasn’t happy leaving her to her own devices. Surprise would have to come with her, if only so she could keep an eye on her. She took the changeling by the leg and shook her. “Come with me. Now.” The forcefulness of her tone told Surprise that disobedience was not an option. Although she was much stronger than Berry, the way she had fallen to pieces was a clear indication that she was unused to confrontation. She took to her hooves and Berry urged her onward, staying behind her to ensure she didn’t try to make a break for it. As they approached the boutique, Dash burst out through the doors, saw Surprise, and pounced on her. “They’re not here!” she cried. “Where are they? Where did they go? And what have they done to Rarity?” “Dash!” Berry tried to pull her away but she resisted her efforts easily. “Calm down! She’s on our side!” The thunderstruck pegasus stared at her in astonishment. She probably would have laughed if the situation wasn’t so serious. “She attacked me last night,” Berry said. “She attacked me but she couldn’t go through with it. The changeling race is starving, close to death, and we decided to try to find a peace accord.” The rainbow-maned mare went to interrupt but Berry stopped her. “It’s either peace or war. They’re desperate. They’re planning to hypnotise Twilight and use her magic on the rest of us, enslave us. If we don’t act fast, they’ll take over Ponyville and we won’t even be aware that it’s happened.” She pointed at Surprise. “She’s against the plan. She’ll help us. We need her.” Dash gritted her teeth and came to a decision. “She’s on our side? Right.” She flapped her wings and lifted herself off Surprise, then pulled the changeling to her hooves and started dragging her towards the boutique. “If you’re really on the level, then you’ll have no problem in helping Rarity.” The three of them went inside. The white-coated unicorn was lying in a catatonic state next to a chest of drawers, her eyes open and unblinking. “Wake her up,” said Dash. “A changeling did this to her. You can set her free.” “It’s not that easy,” Surprise said, then reared back as the other two ponies glared at her. “I’m being serious! The only way to break a changeling’s hypnosis is to for the victim to fight against it themselves.” Berry looked at her suspiciously. “There must be another way.” She grimaced. “Yes, but it’s not recommended. I might be able to overwrite Shadow Dancer’s mind control with my own hypnosis. It all depends on who’s the strongest.” “Then stop stalling,” said Dash. “Get to it!” Surprise quickly walked over to Rarity and met her gaze, her own eyes turning a shade of green. The unicorn stirred briefly as the changeling’s power began to take effect. She whimpered in pain as two outside forces fought for the right to take control of her thoughts, then fell still as Surprise proved victorious. “Come back to us,” the pegasus said. “Act on your own volition.” Rarity blinked blearily as the effects faded away. She looked at Surprise in a state of confusion, and then caught sight of the other two ponies in the room. Memories of what happened to her immediately before she went under came back to her, and she flew into a panic. “Changelings!” she cried. “There was a changeling here!” She scowled in a mixture of anger and embarrassment. “Oh, I can’t believe it. I can’t believe I fell for it. He came in here, into MY boutique, and started sweet talking me, telling me I was pretty and then BAM!” “Rarity, they’ve got Twilight!” Dash interrupted, flying over to her. “We’ve got to tell everypony in town, get search parties out. If we don’t find her soon, they’re going to turn her against us!” The unicorn forgot her own problems immediately and followed Dash outside, who beckoned for the other two to come with them. “Rarity, get the gang together. We’ve got to be ready to fight,” she said. “I’ll spread the word and get a posse together. They could be anywhere!” She turned to Berry and pointed at Surprise. “Do you reckon you can handle this one?” “I’ll be fine. Get going, hurry!” the earth pony cried, and the two friends got to work. They quickly began accosting other ponies and spreading the news of the invasion. Dash flew at high speed from group to group, outlining the situation in a matter of seconds before moving on to the next area. Panic started to spread like wildfire. Surprise watched the unfolding chaos with obvious trepidation. She flinched when Berry tapped her on the shoulder, so lost had she been in watching the scene before her. “Surprise, you’ve got to help us,” Berry said. Her anger had faded now and all she felt was fear. “You’ll be much more adept at spotting them.” “I didn’t want this,” she replied. “I was frightened before I even set out on this mission. The very act of attacking you made me feel sick. My mother’s protected me my entire life and I couldn’t stand the thought of conflict.” “She always taught me that we were superior, that it was our right to feed off you. I never really believed it and now I know it isn’t true. I almost believed that peace was possible, but now…” She clenched her teeth, forcing herself to build up courage. “I’m going to fix this. You’ve been nothing less than a friend to me and any moment now, all your memories of that could be taken away. Nothing would be real any more. Ponykind would be our slaves. I won’t let that happen.” She flapped her wings and took to the sky, hovering over the roof tops as she took stock of the situation. “What are you going to do? What can you see?” called Berry. “There are ponies all over, search parties everywhere,” the changeling responded. “In town, out of town. All the way from the forest to Ghastly Gorge.” She held a hoof to her head, trying to fight down her panic. “This is all happening so quickly. There would barely have been enough time to slip Twilight the potion before Dash was upon them. There’s no way they would have stayed in town once they’d guessed I’d told you everything – all the buildings are being searched right now. So they’re outside somewhere, but there are too many ponies around for me to work out who they are.” “What about the library? They could have gone there.” “Doesn’t look like that’ll be any good. There’s a whole bunch of ponies over there now and they seem to be accusing a young dragon of being a changeling. We can’t shrink ourselves down, so unless he’s under hypnosis then…” She broke off briefly as there was a sudden commotion. “Um, situation update. They’ve pushed past him and they’re ransacking the library. If she’s there, they’ll find her. But Shadow Dancer wouldn’t have been that stupid.” She flew down to Berry. “He’d have taken her somewhere quiet, isolated. Is there anywhere near here like that, close to the boutique?” The earth pony shook her head, a deep sense of unease falling upon her. “It wouldn’t even have to be nearby. Twilight can teleport – they could effectively be anywhere.” Surprise’s expression fell and she slowly dropped from the sky onto her hooves. A strange sort of calm seemed to pass over her, a kind of resignation, and she stared off into the middle distance as Berry continued talking. “We have to do something!” she said. “Can’t you… can’t you sense them somehow? You said that you’re part of a hive mind.” “No.” Surprise shook her head. “No, we’re not psychic.” Berry began to pace. “Then how about sending up some sort of signal? Summon your allies, get them on your side. Ask them to help you.” She shook her head again. “We’re under strict orders to stay incognito. If I sent a signal flare, no-one would respond.” “Then what are we going to do?” Berry asked frantically. “There’s no time! How effective is that potion? Will Twilight be able to fight it?” The pegasus didn’t reply, and that didn’t do her nerves any good. “Surprise, for pity’s sake,” said Berry, placing a hoof on her shoulder. “Answer me. Do something!” “If your friends were going to find her, they would have found her by now,” she said sadly. “If Shadow Dancer got to her, and everything we’ve seen indicates that she did, Twilight’s mental defences will be shot. She won’t stand a chance.” The earth pony fought down a rising urge to be sick as this information slowly sank in. All of Ponyville was possibly moments away from being conquered and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Worse still, she was responsible for it. She should have turned Surprise in at the first chance she had – in her desperation to avoid war, she had merely ensured defeat. She looked out across the town and saw her friends and acquaintances dashing around in search of Twilight. They’d need nothing short of a miracle to find her in time. Everything she knew was about to change. Her daughter would be coming back to a race enslaved. “Berry.” Surprise’s voice brought her back to reality. The changeling was looking at her solemnly, unflinchingly. “Berry, do you trust me?” The question staggered her, leaving her momentarily mute, then she felt a surge of sudden, unfettered rage. “Do I trust you?” She almost spat the words out. “Do I trust you? You have the gall to ask me that? After what you’ve done? You’ve doomed my kind!” “The fight needn’t be over just because we’ve lost one battle. Even if just one pony remembers, you’ll still have a chance.” Her eyes turned milky blue, with flickers of green visible. “Look at me,” she said. “Look at me and focus. I’m making a gamble here. A hypnotism spell can be overwritten by one more powerful, but if there’s a strong enough emotional connection then nothing can assail it. Look into my eyes.” Berry instinctively looked away, a sense of nausea hitting the back of her throat. “You just want it both ways, don’t you?” she asked. “The changelings have won but you still want my friendship. You want me as your pet.” “It’s not like that. You’ll remember as much as I want you to remember, and I want you to remember everything,” she said, moving close. “If this works, you’ll retain knowledge of everything that’s happened. We’ll still have a chance, however slight, of making this right again.” The earth pony’s hopes didn’t rise even a fraction. “One pony against a nation of changelings?” “With their princess by your side.” Surprise spoke in a low voice, seeking to reassure her. “Look at me. There’s no time.” Berry realised she had no choice. Tears rose, making it difficult to see, and the thought crossed her mind that this what Surprise had intended to do to her when they first met – though the circumstances were now different. This thought, along with all others, faded as the hypnosis took hold. All sensation began to leave her and she felt as if she was floating. She could not feel the ground beneath her hooves, or the wetness on her cheeks. She did not even hear what came just a few minutes later – the roar as a wave of magic washed mercilessly over the town of Ponyville, sweeping away with it all thoughts of a changeling invasion. In its wake came a mental fog that clouded the perception of its inhabitants. Where once there was apprehension, came acceptance. Suspicion was replaced by obliviousness. And where there had been self-determination, there was now obedience.