Chapter 28
Specs was pissed. No, pissed didn't begin to describe how she felt. Her brother had been caught. His capture had in all likelihood endangered every changeling at the restaurant. How could he be so stupid? He didn't try to use any of his skills to beat Playtime. He just went berserk like some levi recruit who had never tasted fear before. To make matters worse the pony had survived. The bastard had survived and the ponies were doing everything within their power to make sure that that psycho made a full recovery. If there was anything she missed about the changelings, it was their ability to deal with psychopaths.
Luckily she still had her disguise and could go and visit her brother under the guise of scientific research. Hopefully nopony checked the basement of where her brother worked. In light of this, she figured that they'd just dump the body out of caution. Hopefully in a good place. Dropping it off the waterfall would make sense since nopony would recognize it when it hit the bottom. Specs took a deep breath and decided to take it one day at a time. First thing she was going to do though, was go and see her brother. She figured that her employer would let her know if she wasn't allowed to. Provided that the bastard wasn't behind this to begin with.
Getting into the prison and to her brother were easy enough. She showed her ID and stayed in character; nopony questioned her guise. Then she was escorted through the prison until she reached the cell where they were holding the new changeling. The most remote chances of freeing her brother were cut down as she observed all of the security measures. Guards working in pairs, multiple checkpoints with safety questions, all visitors being escorted. They most likely fixed the vent so that the parasprites wouldn't work and in all likelihood she would be under observation when she went in to see Shift.
They had changed some things in the cell since Ancro had been there. For starters, there were bars instead of a shield bubble. Then there was a magic canceling ring on her brother's horn. With Ancro they most likely weren't sure if it would work at all and with his degenerating condition it wouldn't have made any sense, it would be similar to putting shackles on a foal. After all, changelings in their base form without any power are frail and easily broken.
Her brother emotionally perked up when he felt Specs' presence enter the room. He maintained his disinterested and distant look though.
“He's just like the rest of them,” the guard said, “hasn't said a word since we brought him in here.”
'That's because he is being smart and conserving energy,' Specs thought. If he was really smart he wouldn't move for the next few weeks until things calmed down and she could hypothetically convince her fellow deserters that freeing her brother was a good idea. Then all she had to do was come up with a functioning plan to break Shift out. “I don't need him to talk, I just need to take some measurements.”
The guard nodded in response and walked over to the cell to unlock it. He had shackles ready for after he opened the doors. For a moment Specs considered taking a shot at the guard and seeing if her and her brother could make it out with him disguised. She quickly removed any thoughts of that plan as he wouldn't get past the security posts.
Shift didn't even move as the shackles were put on him. He didn't even acknowledge that they were there. He continued to sit stone faced, staring at a corner. Somewhat shyly, his sister approached and took out several tools for taking measurements. Quietly, she took the measurements as the guard boredly watched for the slightest bit of movement from the changeling. While not having a spear he did have a nightstick and could probably beat him to a pulp.
“I'm sorry,” her brother whispered. It was just loud enough for his sister to hear it.
Once the measurements were done she left. She was escorted out the same way she came in and as soon as she was clear of the prison she found a secluded place and broke down into tears.
---
Firecracker lay on the bed in the infirmary. It looked like she would pull through with a full recovery, ironically, because of the changeling's first aid. Hoplon had been there as long as he could; he’d tried to get the day off but it was denied. The changeling that they captured had sent ponies into a tizzy. He was needed to help reassure ponies that everything was under control and that changelings were not killing ponies in the streets. If what he thought happened happened he'd like to give that changeling a medal.
Hoplon's small command patrolled the streets. They were supposed to keep ponies calm and look for trouble. So far the streets seemed deserted, except for a few brave ponies who were walking around. They made it a point to be seen and to avoid being mistaken as anypony but themselves. Changeling hysteria hadn't been this bad since the invasion. At least nopony was being beaten in the street under suspicion. He hoped this would settle down soon rather than blow up further.
Hoplon hoped if Firecracker ever got over it he would be able to joke that he was right. The changeling comment was meant as a joke though he never figured he was right. He just thought that Shift was a lying dirt bag who was hiding some alternative motive, not an actual changeling doing the last thing he expected a changeling to do.While Shift had saved her, there were unanswered questions: They didn't know if he was part of some grander plan to infiltrate the palace. They didn't know his motivation and if he would tell them that, or give them anything, ponies may be willing to help him, for all they knew he could've been sent there to spy by gaining trust. They had questioned the ponies who owned and worked at the restaurant and they said that his behavior had been unusual lately. They had consistent records going back for years so they had no reason to question their stories.
There was a shout and scuffle up the street a ways. Hoplon took a deep breath, he was here to protect ponies, not worry about changeling conspiracies. He galloped to the commotion.
---
Ancro had been sent back to his room after it became apparent that this, like most injuries, would heal best when he was near his friends. By the time he woke up in the morning his horn was already halfway grown and the majority of his dorsal fin that had been lost had grown back as well. To increase the healing speed an agreement was reached: Ancro could keep the ring off his horn, as long as he didn't do anything to bring harm to another pony. This, however, didn't explain why he had gone into Scott's room while the griffin slept.
“What are you doing?” Scott asked groggily when he awoke to Ancro lifting a decorative vase from his room.
“Target practice,” Ancro stated plainly.
“Not only no, hell no,” Scott said, rolling out of bed. “You put that vase back. We just got them to trust us and now you’re screwing it up. Besides, you’re a piss poor shot.”
“That's why I need the vase,” Ancro joked. “I need to practice.”
“Why don't you get Specs to fix your eyes so you can actually tell how far away something is?”
The changeling paused. “Scott I'm scared, you keep having good ideas. Is everything alright?”
“Just give me the vase.”
“But I need it to replace mine.”
“You already blew up a vase!” Scott squawked, “What the hell is wrong with you! How can you be so stupid!”
“Well it was collateral,” Ancro added, shrugging.
“Collateral? What the hell were you aiming for!”
“The bathroom door,” Ancro said shyly.
“You missed the bathroom door and hit the vase?” Scott said then looked into his friends eyes. “What else did you hit?”
“Have you ever tried to use a sawed-off sho-”
“How bad is it?” Scott said cutting him off. “On second thought, I don't want to know. I want plausible deniability. You broke it, you fix it.”
“Good choice,” Ancro said, continuing out with the vase in his jaws.
“And give me that!” the griffin said. “It’s like I'm dealing with a five year old.”
---
“Well, this room is Fubar,” Stigandr said. The central room that Ancro had been living in was a mess of scorch marks and various debris covering everything on one side of the room. Luckily he had avoiding setting it on fire by removing the books from the bookshelf and piling them in front of the door.
“Thank you, I'm well aware of it,” Ancro said rolling his eyes. “Can you help me fix it?”
“Sorry. I don't have a broom and dustpan cutie mark, do I?” Stigandr said making a show of turning around and looking at his two pugil sticks.
“I'd prefer it if you didn't,” Ancro said, “they have a habit of trying to kill me.”
“Yep,” Stigandr responded, “after seeing this mess I can't blame that changeling maid for trying. Maybe she could see the future?”
“What happened in here!” Twilight said, coming in through Stigandr's room. A quick glance revealed that his room was full of the bronze clad guards.
“Stigandr did it!” Ancro shouted and received a quick kick to the ribs for his trouble.
“Oh no,” the unicorn said. “I walked in here and saw this, this was all you!”
“Scott did it?”
“What did you say!” The griffin shouted as he shuffled into the central room to defend himself.
“He's got some good ears,” Ancro said to Twilight, who was looking like an impatient mother.
“I want the truth,” she said.
“I was trying out fireballs with my new horn, but I'm not the greatest shot in the wo-OW!” Ancro recoiled from the shaft of a spear wrapped in purple coming down atop his head. Ancro couldn't say anything, he probably had this coming for a while.
“What is your problem?!"Twilight shouted. “Do you not think before you do something?!"
“I'm sorry,” Ancro said, hoping it would keep her from hitting him again. It didn't.
“No,” Twilight said flaring her nostrils, “I'm going beat some sense into you.”
“Should we help him?” Stigandr asked.
“No, he's had this coming for while,” Scott replied and Stigandr nodded in agreement.
“Is that truly necessary?” Ancro said with smile before the pole came down on his head again.
The lavender unicorn punctuated every word of her next sentence with a hit to the head. “You. Do. Not. Shoot. Fireballs. And. Damage. Property!”
Taking a deep breath she looked at Ancro on the ground. She knew she didn't actually hurt him. She hit him hard enough to sting, but not enough to do any actual damage. It was to make a point and she hoped it got across. “Princess Celestia wants to see you three in the throne room.”
“Feel better?” Ancro smirked, forgetting she was still holding the spear. Twilight made sure the next hit actually hurt.
“Yes, as a matter of fact I do,” she said with a smile as she walked out of the room with guards right behind her, “we'll be waiting outside.”
“I think she might be mad at me,” Ancro replied.
“Ya think asshole?” Scott said, his southern accent making known how mad he was. The griffin looked around the room, “I didn't even think it would be this bad. That vase wouldn't have done shit to fix this.”
“No, I was just going to use it as a comedic last thing stand,” Ancro replied, “hopefully to soften the blow.”
“Luckily you are into that freaky masochist stuff,” Scott replied.
“Yeah but I think I'd draw the line at ponies,” Ancro said. “I mean I love the show and all but there are limits.”
“Yes but Rule 34 is present and inescapable,” Stigandr said.
“Except in Equestria, where no internet exists,” Ancro smiled, confident in his defense.
“I'm not gonna lie,” Scott said, “I could imagine you, as you are now, taking that from domme Sparkle.”
All three burst out laughing at the absurdity of the image as they headed out the door. Ancro stopped and spent thirty seconds levitating everything but his fez. Then he saw brown engulf it and fly onto his unicorn friends head.
“Adapt and overcome huh?” Ancro smiled and Stigandr put a hoof to his mouth and made the shushing sound.
“Are you ladies coming?” Scott shouted through the door.
“Just a second,” Ancro grew fingers, grabbed the fez Rarity had made for Stigandr and swapped them. He finished by putting his own fez on his head and they walked out into the hall.
“Scott, think what thou will,” Ancro said, “but fezzes are cool.”
---
“It is good to see you are recovering Ancro,” Celestia said in her motherly voice. Ancro could sense that she was obviously relieved that the spy had been captured. However, he could tell something else was bothering her. There was pregnant pause as Celestia waited for a comment from Ancro. After nothing came out she continued.
“Ancro, I require another favor from you now,” she said. “We know that there are changelings in Canterlot and most likely all over Equestria.
“We caught one last night, disguised as a waiter in a restaurant. He revealed himself after a pony was attacked. All he told us was how he no affiliation to the queen.”
“Wait a second,” Scott said, Ancro sighed on the inside. “He just risked his life for you guys and now you want him to do it some more? Why should he?”
“Because I'm too nice for my own damn good,” Ancro said.
“I mean the least you could do is try to negotiate some money out of it,” Scott said. Ancro could tell money wasn't why Scott was worried. Scott was worried for his friend's safety and well being. Two things Ancro didn't care about when it came to himself.
“Why? So you could have something to remember me by?” Ancro joked.
“No, I just don't think you should be risking your life for no reason,” Scott replied.
“Can we discuss this later?” Stigandr said, being the only one of the three who seemed to realized that they were still in the throne room with Celestia watching. “I swear, you two can argue like an old married couple.”
“That came to my mind as well,” Twilight said, “It's mildly disturbing.”
“You should see us when we're running late and I'm trying to get him out the door,” Ancro said in a more serious tone. “It's a pain.”
“Hey I'm sorry if I try to dress and look nice while you just roll out of bed,” Scott replied.
“Ahem,” Celestia said again, grabbing everypony’s attention. “Scott, I assure you I would not put Ancro in any more danger than I would feel comfortable putting him in.”
“How safe will he be?” Stigandr asked. “And how can we help?”
“He will be allowed to disguise himself and you three will be given room at the palace.” Celestia said, “you can aid him in anyway he needs you.”
“Thank you,” Ancro said. “Does this mean Stigs gets his ring taken off too?”
“Of course,” Celestia said then smiled wisely at Stigandr. “If you will do the honors my little pony?”
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked, “the ring prevents magic from even...”
“I think Stigandr may have mislead you as to his true talent my faithful student,” Celestia chuckled.
“Wait, how did you find out?” Stigandr said taking the ring off with slight effort.
“Luna watches your dreams, even if she doesn't make her presence known,” she said. “She noticed what your actual talent was.”
“And you kept it a secret?” Ancro said smiling. “Excellent gambit Celestia.”
“Hopefully this one pays off as well,” Scott mumbled under his breath. “So what happened that you want Ancro to sniff out changelings?”
“Like I said, a changeling defended a pony,” she said, her head dropping. “He was defending a guard from a very dangerous pony.”
“Okay,” Scott said, “now you want us to go and find all of the changelings and let them know we won't put them on stakes?”
“Less gruesome, but yes,” Celestia said. “I'm hoping that with a changeling telling them it will be easier to believe.”
“Aight, sounds like a plan,” Ancro said and then surrounded himself with green fire. “How do I look?”
“Like someone put a pegasus and a changeling in a blender and set it to puree,” Scott said, chuckling.
“I think you may still need to rest,” smiled Celestia.
“You'll probably scare more ponies than a regular changeling walking around like that,” Twilight added.
“Aight,” Ancro shrugged, “I'll go rest up.”
The triumvirate left in much the same manner that they had came except Ancro was adamant to continue looking like that.
“Princess Celestia,” Twilight said looking to her teacher with a question, “why didn't you tell me that they lied about Stigandr? That seemed dangerous.”
“Not really, as he said Stigandr is the one who reigns the other two in, besides his magic didn’t truly become strong enough to remove it until today,” Celestia said. “I would never put you in any unnecessary danger without letting you know the risk. Tell me Twilight, have you made any headway with your study on geass?”
“None princess,” Twilight replied crestfallen. “I've checked everywhere that comes to mind but nothing about a geass powerful enough to repel princess Luna from a dream.”
“It may have been how they worded it then,” Celestia said. “Yesterday I had your friends ask them questions about how they met and there were no problems. I'm sorry to put you six in this position. Did Rarity and Rainbow Dash get what they needed from Ponyville?”
“Yes,” Twilight replied, “I hope Spike isn't doing anything silly.”
“Well you can ask him when he gets here,” Celestia replied.
---
Playtime recovered inside an ICU room. His foggy mind was trying to put together what happened. He thought the black bug ponies were his friends. They did, after all, help him get out of the prison so he could play again. Maybe he got the bug pony angry by tagging his playmate? No that didn't make sense, the bug pony should've been willing to share, and everypony knows if you tell somepony before hurting them if they are playing with your toy. Besides, he had her first!
There was a click as the door opened and some voices talking distantly. Playtime ignored them. They were from the prison so they were going to tell him he was broken. He wasn't broken! He was perfect the way he was, and was happy that way too.
“Where did the changeling come from?” A whisper in his voice asked. He realized it sounded like one of the black bug ponies so he ignored it. They were mean and wouldn't let him play. He had her first! Playtime hadn't realized he said that last part out loud. He tried to move to cover his mouth but his legs were stuck in the casts.
“You'll have your playmate back,” the voice whispered again. “We just want to know where he came from.”
“He was bad,” Playtime replied.
“Yes he was,” the voice said again, “and we are going to make sure him and his friends get punished. We need to know where to find them.”
“I don't want to be here,” Playtime said, “I just want to play.”
There was a pause before the voice came back, “We'll take you to a place where you will have all the playmates you could want.”
“Really?” the glee evident in his voice.
“Yes really, all we need is to know where his friends may be hiding.”
“He worked at a restaurant,” Playtime said. “It was funny cause I watched that place all day and nopony took a break, or ate.”
“Thank you,” the voice said then left. Playtime relaxed and thought about all the new playmates he was going to have. Maybe the black bug ponies weren't so bad after all. There were always a few meanies with the good ones.
---
“Does anyone taste that?” Ancro asked out of the blue, stopping in the hallway and licking his lips.
“No,” Scott said, “I can't taste anything.”
“It tastes really good.” Ancro said, “Like fresh doughnuts, Swedish fish, pumpkin pie, and oh god I can't describe it.”
The other two looked at each other and were glad that Celestia had dismissed the guards following them and that they were alone in the hall. Ancro stumbled down the hall like he was drunk. It wasn't long before he was leaning against the wall heading in some random direction. Eventually Scott and Stigandr walked over to him and saw that his blue eyes where a deeper shade of blue, a far deeper shade of blue, more akin to a darker purple.
Ancro had fallen onto the ground and was now creeping along mumbling about the sweetest taste he had ever known.
“We'll have to ask Specs about this,” Stigandr said, levitating the changeling onto the griffin's back.
“Well if you ask me he's acting like he's high,” Scott said. “Can changelings get high? I mean they feed on emotions so certain emotions could get him baked.”
“That's what I was thinking,” Stigandr added. “Still I'd like to know how to get him sober. Hey Scott you know that he's...”
“Yes I know,” Scott grumbled. “Do you mind levitating him the room instead?”
“Yeah I got this,” Stigandr said effortlessly levitating his friend. “I need to flex my magic a bit.”
---
Discord rolled back laughing. He thought that using Sombra's horn to prank the praetorians was fun. Their discipline was melting as they tasted the fear leaking off the horn. Ancro's reaction was by far the best. He was straight up wasted. His friends had put him on the bed and would occasionally check up on him. It was absolutely hilarious every time the changeling opened his mouth and absolute gibberish came. However, like most pranks, Discord eventually grew tired of it and sealed the artifact for later use.
The draconequus watched with intrigue as Ancro came off the high and watched events unfold.
“Son of a bitch,” Ancro groaned. “I hate that feeling.”
“What, coming down?” Scott asked.
“No, going up and losing control of my faculties,” he replied. “Why else do you think I never get drunk?”
“I thought it was because of your, ahem, high tolerance,” Scott said making air quotes with his talons.
“Partially,” Ancro said. “What did I do?”
“Nothing much, just kinda vegged out,” Scott replied as Stigandr walked in.
“You are going to have to share what you've been taking,” the unicorn smiled.
“I have no damn clue,” Ancro said, clenching his teeth. Not a lot of things bothered the changeling, however, something actually messing with him like that was towards the top of that short list. If something did that to him he wanted to know what it was so he could avoid it in the future.
“When Specs gets back we'll ask her,” Scott said, trying to calm down his friend with a pat on the shoulder.
“I just hope that it doesn't happen again,” Ancro said. “How long was I out?”
“Few hours,” Scott said. “You were gone.”
“All the more reason to not want it to happen again,” Ancro said. “Who cleaned my room?”
“The cleaning crew, most likely,” Scott said.
“They also left this,” Stigandr said, levitating a note over with surprising speed. Ancro wasn't sure if it just seemed that way because he hadn't seen it for a few days, the still brain numbing effects of whatever hit him, or that Stigandr's ring had acted like resistance training and now his magic did in fact lift.
Ancro looked daftly at the note then confusedly handed it to Stigandr.
“Here you go my literate friend.”
“It's from Twilight, it says ‘don't use your room for target practice’,” Stigandr said.
“Yeah I'm probably going to have to see if they have a range for that,” Ancro said.
---
“Finally,” one of the pegasus guards said, “we get to check this place out.”
“Yeah, I've heard good things about it,” a unicorn added in a tone that was nearly regal.
“Yeah, sucks that the others couldn't be here,” an earth pony said. “This is gonna be good.”
The trio entered Choix and were seated immediately. Their menu's were brought out to them and they waited patiently for their server, making idle chat and jokes about the day including one very convincing Shining Armor impersonation. A unicorn waiter made his way out. He took their orders and left with a small joke that caused the trio to laugh. Soon the food was brought out to them.
“Hey waiter,” the pegasus said, “what do you think of all these changelings popping up all over the place?”
“Its kinda scary actually,” he responded with a nervous smile. “I mean, one of our best waiters was abducted by a changeling and we still don't know where he is. Poor colt.”
“Yeah, that is unfortunate,” the unicorn said somberly.
Then almost out of the blue the earth pony said, “I actually heard a guard talk about desertion today. What's your opinion of it?”
“Well I'm not a guard,” he laughed nervously, “but definitely doesn't sound good. I mean if the guards start deserting who would be left to defend Equestria?”
“Yeah that's what I was thinking,” he said between bites as he dug into the salad. “It'd be crazy to desert your post and leave the gates wide open. What if you are needed? What if it's a rough time and you just run away rather than help your own kind? It's awful.”
The waiter realized at that moment that he hadn't tasted a thing all the while they were eating.
“Yes I agree,” the unicorn said happily, levitating the fork to his mouth. The waiter was trying to hurry back to scream to warn the others but he felt like he was anchored to the ground. He watched in horror as the blinds shut and the doors locked. The last thing to happen was the sign flip from open to close.
“You know,” the earth pony said keeping the charade going, “I heard changelings could taste emotions. I wonder what pure fear tastes like, I wonder if it's sweet.”
Finally, the waiter gathered himself enough to scream, “Quit toying with me and just do it!”
“Well that's the thing,” the unicorn smiled as the rest of the staff filed in to see what the commotion was, “we're off duty, and have a long time to unwind and relax.”
“Excuse me, can I help you?” the apparent owner said, walking up to them. He was either trying to buy time for the rest to escape or was trying to just toss one under the bus to save the rest of them.
The praetorians didn't answer, they only looked to each other and smiled. They were supposed to check in with their commander in four hours. That would give them plenty of time to enjoy this.
(Thanks for reading! As usual feedback is always enjoyed whether if in PM form or a comment. Thanks to my editors Lone Spartan, Soulstorm65, Tsujin Rilauco, Billahsaurus101. Going to be moving out over the next few weeks so hopefully it doesn't throw off my writing but as long as I have my laptop and my music it shouldn't be a problem though.)