//------------------------------//
// Something Something 
// Story: The Royal Audience: A Mole Cricket Story 
// by Bucking Nonsense 
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"So... explain this whole 'Morphic Resonance' thing to me one more time."
Twilight Sparkle chuckled as she and Cricket sat at a table in a cafe in Canterlot.  Across the street, Fluttershy had taken Miss Bunny Wunny Cuddlewumpus into a darling little store that sold clothing for pets.  She'd insisted, since a little bunny that adorable needed at least one dress.  Cricket had suggested that Fluttershy pick it out, instead of himself, since the commander had admitted he had no sense of fashion.  They had an hour to spend before the train to Ponyville pulled into the station, and while they watched, through the store window, as the little rabbit put on dresses with surprising enthusiasm, Cricket asked about his new favorite subject.
Twilight Sparkle said, in a somewhat scholarly tone, "Well, 'Morphic Resonance' is the tendency of a creature to maintain, to some degree, the qualities they naturally possess, even when changed into another shape.  It's part of why most transformation spells aren't permanent.  Your body knows the shape it's supposed to be in, and will immediately rebel against anything that tries to change it.  I once accidentally changed a frog into an orange.  The frog was back to normal before the day was out."
Cricket nodded.  He understood that part well enough.  "But an incredibly power spell," he asked, "like the one that Sombra cast, can overrule that?"
The princess rubbed her chin in thought, then nodded, saying, "In a manner of speaking.  If Sombra had cast his curse upon the ponies of the Crystal Empire when they were prepared to fight against him, it wouldn't have been as effective, because they didn't feel like monsters.  However, because it was cast when they had been forced to abandon their fellow citizens..."
"...it worked," Cricket finished, "because at that moment, they felt like monsters for doing something so terrible, even if, for nearly all of them, it was against their will."
"Exactly," Twilight answered, nodding.  "How you feel can have a major impact on how effective a spell like this is.  And now, a thousand years later, that curse is so interwoven with who you are that your body is preventing the curse from being truly broken.  After all, you've been a changeling your whole life, so your body is under the impression that it's supposed to be that way.  However..."
Cricket snorted, amused, as he said, "...If, according to Celestia, I can become enough like a pony on the inside, my outsides will change to match, all on their own."
That was the real purpose behind the "One Year Probationary Citizenship": to see if it might be possible for the curse to be broken if he just immersed himself into pony society.  Supposedly, it was to see if it could cause his inner-"pony"-ness to come out, and break the curse naturally.  It seemed a little ridiculous, but then, magic was often ridiculous.  If, even after gaining full citizenship, he did not change into a pony, the princesses believed that the curse would be weak enough that the four princesses working together could break it.  And if it wasn't, they'd keep trying, year after year, until it worked.
Fluttershy waved to them, holding up Miss Bunny in an adorable blue dress for them to see.  The princess and the changeling waved back, smiling.  After a moment, Cricket asked, "If it's not too much of a burden, would you mind not telling Fluttershy?"
Twilight was surprised, and couldn't help asking, "Why?  I would have thought..."
Cricket chuckled and said, "Look, I appreciate what you and the other princesses have done so far, and are willing to do for me.  But I've learned, from experience, not to get my hopes up too much: things have a bad habit of going wrong if you build up too many expectations."  Cricket's face turned a little sad as he said, "If she decides that she wants to hang around with me even though I look like this, I wouldn't have a problem with that.  Obviously.  But, if she decided to stick around in the hopes that I became a handsome pegasus, and it never happens... well, I'd rather she be happy with somepony else than miserable with somebuggy like me."
Twilight Sparkle rolled her eyes, and said, "Right.  Look, I think you're being a little melodramatic, but if that's what you want, I guess I can keep it a secret.  For now.  But you are going to have to tell her, sooner or later.  Especially if the two of you become an item."
Cricket nodded.  He supposed he could live with that.
As Fluttershy rejoined them with a shopping bag full of little dresses, Cricket took the little bag, along with the bunny, then lifted up his travel bag and said, "Well, I've got my things together.  We can go anytime."
"I'm surprised you aren't taking some of that stuff your admirers gave you," Fluttershy said with a friendly smile.
Cricket chuckled, and admitted, "I was tempted, but until I have a home of my own, it would just be so much extra weight that I'd have no place to put.  Besides, I've always been in the habit of traveling light.  I can send for the other stuff once I have a trophy room to hang it all up in.  At least Celestia was nice enough to open up a checking account for me to deposit all those bits into, so at least I'll have some pocket money when we get to Ponyville..."
Pocket money was an understatement, but Twilight wasn't going to go into that right now.  Even after a year in the Crystal Empire, Cricket wasn't very well-versed about the ways of the world outside of the changeling military life.  While he was certainly knowledgeable about laying low, blending in, and making quick exits, he knew little about what might be called high society, or economics.   Otherwise he'd have realized by now that, in addition to more than twenty king's ransoms worth of bits, the various titles he had been given meant that he could walk into any bank, almost any place in the world, and ask for infinite credit, and the king, queen, empress, what have you, of that realm would willingly hoof the bill for whatever he needed, or wanted.  Twilight would have to sit down and have a long talk with him about all of the privileges that he now enjoyed, not just as a citizen, but as one of the most heavily titled individuals in the world... when she was certain that he was, you know, actually capable of handling it.  He was still having trouble coming to grips with the fact that, as a citizen, he would be able to own a house, and vote in local elections.  If she suggested to the commander that he could afford a mansion, or even ten mansions, and fund a campaign to get himself elected to any high office in Equestria... well, his head would probably explode... and then explode again.
Small steps.  She'd let him get comfortable with the idea that he could, in spite of being a changeling, live a normal life, before she started explaining to him that he could afford to live a much more interesting one.
Fluttershy asked Cricket, "We'll be in Ponyville before you know it.  Are you excited?"
"Honestly," Cricket answered, "I'm a screaming ball of nerves inside.  I've spent my entire life living, like any other changeling, on the edge of survival.  But I was familiar with that, strange as that sounds, so it never frightened me.  The prospect of living a peaceful life like... well, like any other creature in the world, scares me, like nothing on the battlefield ever has.  But I'll deal with it.  I'd have never gotten as far as I have if I was too afraid to jump into the unknown."