It just didn’t make sense, Bunsen Burner thought to himself. The visor couldn’t possibly lie, but the traditional Modus Operandi of Changeling infiltration was not being satisfied either. Normally, Changelings would disguise as young fillies or colts as a means to account for their limited individual intelligence and unfamiliarity with pony culture. Children, however, could prove to be useful meals for a Changeling, as their emotions were almost always unhindered by ignorance of social etiquette. If she were one of them, it would explain her sympathy towards the arsonist Changeling that she had been found with by Trixie. Still, she could be just a compassionate mare, just as Officer Blue Badge had made her out to be. Three possibilities existed now: the visor was malfunctioning and needed repair, the school teacher was a common Changeling, possibly unfettered from the Hive’s control, or she was something worse; a Royal Candidate acting on advanced detail for other Changelings to be easily integrated into Ponyville’s population.
Making his way to the library, he noticed a familiar bird flying from out of the window. Philomena soared across the skies above as she soaked in the sun’s rays, gliding serenely on the wind’s currents. He knocked firmly on the door four times, and waited patiently for Twilight Sparkle to respond. In no time at all, the door was opened, but not by the one he expected.
“Bunsen Burner?” Spike greeted the stallion. Though he wasn’t surprised to see him on his doorstep, he knew for a fact he wouldn’t be here on a social call, “What do you want?”
“Master Spike, I was wondering if I could perhaps have a word with the Antrozi bodyguards.”
The little dragon allowed him entry, and he walked idly to the door that led to the basement of the library, “You do know that they are sleeping right now, right?”
“Yes, but I have need of their services as readily as possible: I want their opinion on something.”
Spike was puzzled by Bunsen Burner’s cryptic attempts to keep information from him, “Does it have something to do with the Changelings?”
“Yes it does. Having been driven into the Everfree hundreds of years ago by medieval ponies, the Antrozi herd may have legends pertaining to them, and perhaps some new useful information.”
Spike’s eyes grew wide and he nodded his understanding. He then unlatched the door to the darkened room below, “Watch your step.”
So cautioned, Bunsen Burner was careful to take the stairs one at a time, and made it to the bottom easily. In the dim light, he noticed that his movement was being track by two sets of reflecting yellow eyes. Umbra and Nox detached themselves from the ceiling where they had been sleeping, and came to the old earth pony.
“I suppose you heard me coming,” he asked.
“Yes, we heard you knocking,” Umbra replied curtly.
“What is it you want of us?” Nox asked, his ears twitched as he winced at the light coming from upstairs.
“I have my suspicions that a well-established member of Ponyville is a Changeling double-agent. However, there is not enough concrete evidence for a public accusation. I have need of your services to affirm my thoughts, or too help dismiss them as paranoia. Will you help me?”
Umbra looked to Nox. Wordlessly, they came to their decision together. Turning back to Bunsen Burner, Nox declared, “We will.”
There was a spring in Big Macintosh’s step today. Work at Sweet Apple Acres was done for the day, he seen to that, which meant there was time tonight for a date with Cheerilee. Although he hadn’t ever had his eyes on her in a romantic sense before Hearts and Hooves Day, she was a wonderful mare, and he enjoyed spending what free time he could spare with her. After making his way to her house, he had taken a walk around town with her, talking about anything at all that came to the two of them. After a nice meal at a simple restaurant, they found their way to a quiet place near the Apple property close to town. There was a little stream that ran near Ponyville which had formed an ox bend, and had subsequently been filled in by the Apple family in years past. The two of them sat down near the stream and watch the fireflies come out as dusk fell.
“Thank you for taking me out tonight, Big Mac,” Cheerilee said, and she gave him a peck on the cheek, “You always know how to make me feel special.”
“Ah’m glad ya liked it,” he replied in his gentle, deep voice, and he smiled deeply at her.
The two of them sat watching the skies darken, and the night become bright with the flashing glow of dozens of fireflies. It was a remarkable sight, watching them lazily swoon about, bringing amber tones to the purple and pink colors of the night.
“Have you thought at all ‘bout the future?” Big Mac asked all of a sudden, “We’ve been datin’ a while now.”
Cheerilee looked with surprise at the big, red stallion, “You don’t leave much to subtlety, do you?”
“Nope,” Big Mac shook his head.
Cheerilee looked down into the water at her own reflection, “I..I don’t honestly know what to say. I mean, I want to be with you, Big Mac, but are we really ready to go to that next step? I-“
“Cheerilee,” Big Mac interrupted, “Ah didn’t ask for a ‘yay’ or ‘neigh’ right now, just asked if you’d thought ‘bout it.” He was pleased to know that she did in fact want to be with him at some point.
“I just think we should wait until this ugly war is over,” the school teacher sighed, as she gently touched the water, “The future just seems so murky with everything that’s going on. Who knows what’s going to happen even a day from now? Should we really commit to something big like that, if we don’t even know how others would react to-“
She stopped abruptly, laid her head down on her forehooves, and sighed heavily into them.
Big Mac looked silently into the river along with Cheerilee, unsure of what to say to ease her mind. Eventually, the right thought came to him. He wrapped his right hoof around her and pulled her close, “There’s a lotta things in this world that need plannin’,” he said as he kissed her cheek, “but eventually, everything needs’a leap of faith ta start.”
Cheerilee looked up to her stallion slowly, and within her eyes was a rekindled twinkle. “I suppose that’s true,” she whispered.
She leaned towards Big Mac and offered him a passionate kiss. Big Mac returned her offering with kisses of his own, and the both of their lips parted for each other to explore. Cheerilee breathed in the faint smell of apples as she kissed Big Mac, and it seemed as if everything from the sounds of the creek, to the texture of the grass beneath her, was new. The smells, sounds, and touches she felt all seemed sharp, all were crystal clear; it was an amazing solitude the two of them shared in that moment.
In a few minutes, they separated. The both of them looked ecstatic. Cheerilee glowed with delight and Big Mac seemed to be reinvigorated by their few shared hours.
“I need to get home,” she whispered happily, “I still have papers to grade.”
Big Mac nodded; he would have chores that needed doing early in the morning, so he supposed that the evening’s events had to come to an end. It was a wonderful end all the same, though. The gentlecolt escorted his mare from their hideaway to walk her safely home, where her niece Scootaloo was already tucked in for the night.
A few minutes passed, and with expert skill, Umbra and Nox descended silently from the trees above to touch down on the soft grass below. The two of them looked to each other, wordlessly confirming with each other what they had both witnessed. The night was young, but it was just dark enough that they would not be seen as they made their flight overhead to the library, so they spread their wings and took to the clear skies above.
“Her scent changed?” Bunsen Burner asked pointedly to the two Antrozi, “That’s the best you can give me?”
“It was not a smell that you would find on a mare interested in a stallion,” Nox said as he snorted in mild agitation, “The smell that replaced Cheerilee’s usual musk was something unlike anything we’ve experienced before.”
“Apart from one,” Umbra interjected, “During the first appearance of the Changelings at the time of the Royal Wedding, one of their number was sent to assassinate Princess Luna; a large, intelligent one who wished for battle rather than subterfuge. She had the same smell.”
The older stallion had been walking around the dimly lit basement of the library, passing the seated Trixie Lulamoon and Mr. Black, but upon hearing this account, he stopped and turned to the two of them, “I know the one you speak of. If you have the capability to take down a Changeling Candidate, our odds of successful termination are ever increased in our favor.”
“ ’Termination?’ “ Trixie bristled at the word.
Umbra and Nox stiffened at its uttering.
Mr. Black continued to thoroughly clean his knife.
Bunsen Burner nodded affirmatively to Trixie, before looking back to the Antrozi, “Changeling drones are not called such for their individuality. Destroying the link between the officers and the foot soldiers puts greater pressure on the other Candidates, making each of the drones easier to pacify. A Changeling Candidate is too dangerous to be left alive, and with their deaths, our enemy is less capable of hiding easily and effectively.” He did not share with the others the possibility that ‘Cheerilee’ may in fact be something new, a possible sapient drone. Whatever she was, she was a grave threat to the ponies around her. “The target has been embedded for a long time, making her capture and exposure much more difficult. Tomorrow is Friday. The children will be out of the way by three in the afternoon, giving us the space and the chance we need for the operation to succeed without unnecessary attention. I will fill you all in on your specific part of the plan by tomorrow morning. For now, dismissed.”
With the briefing adjourned, Bunsen Burner, Trixie, and Mr. Black made their way to their own inn rooms in due time just down the way from the library. Umbra and Nox took to their vigil outside the library.
Hiding in among the tree branches, their luminous eyes scanned the night, looking for any unusual ponies. Inevitably, though, they turned to each other.
“Are we going to allow this to happen?” Nox hissed quietly in the Antrozi tongue to his brother.
“I don’t know,” Umbra screeched back, “Even if the school teacher is a traitor, does she deserve death? Is she innocent in all this, or is she preying on the young ones like a dragon on a phoenix’s chicks?”
“I hate what this conflict is making us do,” Nox chirped forlornly as he settled into his post.
“So do I, little brother,” Umbra wheezed glumly, “So do I.”