Oh, you just leave that to us
By Lucen Aurora
Castle Canterlot was always a busy place, full of chatter of every sort. But the day after the fashion show, all anypony seemed to be talking about was the Changelings. Nopony had seen a Changeling in Canterlot in living memory; though a few wry souls noted that just because they hadn't recognized them that didn't' mean they had not seen them.
Princess Celestia had been meeting with Lords and Ladies since the previous evening, most were demanding that something be done at once, that the changeling Synthect be found and jailed at that her whole family be rounded up as well. Others wanted to know how much the Princess's knew, since it was clear from his own admission that Prince Lucens knew Synthect was a changeling. A few even wanted the whole the the guardspony reserves called up to deal with the 'serious and persistent threat' of invasion.
Rumors where flying everywhere, who was a changeling, who wasn't, what they wanted; some correctly thought they ate love, others thought they ate your ability to love, and an alarming number thought they cocooned you like a spider and sucked out the juices with their fangs. It didn't help matters that one of Princes Blueblood the elders servants had died just last afternoon; Princess Blueblood the senior was claiming her servant was poisoned by the changelings for knowing too much.
For their part, Princess Celestia (and also Princess Luna, who was none too happy to still be awake the next afternoon) has resisted any sort of rash decision. They had (repeatedly and with no small bit of exasperation) assured their little ponies that they were safe and that, no, changelings did not kidnap ponies, cocoon their victims and 'suck their juices out'. But with Princess Blueblood the younger still missing and Princess Blueblood the senior loudly calling for a thorough investigation for which the noble houses seemed to be leaning towards, Canterlot Castle was a very busy place.
Outside the castle it was much calmer. The vast majority of Canterlots ponies simply went about their business as normal. To be sure they where talking about the revelations of changelings mucking about the populace, but by and large the screaming headlines had been met with a shrug. This was canterlot after all. And nobles getting their fancy knickers in a twist was as about as extraordinary as grass growing. As far as most where concerned, the Princess' had said not to worry, and absent any clear and present threat, nopony saw any reason to.
"And that's about the best synopsis I can give you at the moment," the Prince said solemnly.
"Umm, thank you, your highness?" the nervous looking unicorn guard replied as he peered down the winding, crystal lined passageway.
Ahead of the young unicorn guard was Prince Lucen and ahead of him, a older pegasus guard gave a snort.
"When Private asked why we where down here, it was a rhetorical question, and what's more that didn't even explain why we are down in these old crystal mines," the pegasus said, looking around apprehensively at a passageway he found far too narrow and enclosed.
"Oh, I thought he meant in general, sergeant," Prince Lucen replied.
"What did happen to Princess Blueblood the younger?" the private asked tentatively.
"Oh, I sent her off to a private villa out in the Crystal Empire," the prince replied airily.
Captain Sergeant stopped mid-stride.
"It's Skyline, Lucky, SKY-LINE," the barked grumpily, his voice echoing off the tunnels.
"Sorry, Skyline," the Prince replied, "And if you really want to know..."
The pegasus guard cut him off.
"I know why we are down here, the Changeling meeting hall is down here, somewhere," he replied, frowning and looking ahead at a fork in the path.
"Really?" asked the second guard, "It's down here? Where!?"
Captain Skyline turned and looked at the private; he had heard the note of eagerness in the privates voice.
"Wheren't you the one complaining about having to come down here? Why so gung-ho, private?" he asked with a frown.
"He was complaining about coming down here?" the Prince asked, looking curiously at the private.
The private began went flush in the muzzle and coughed.
"He kept on asking, what kind of nasty hole are we going down into, and I bet it's full of worms and has a nasty, oozy smell," Captain Skyline replied, "Never mind we are descending into a bucking mountain. Made of rock."
The privates muzzle flushed even more.
"Don't worry private," the Prince said paternally as he put a hoof on the other shoulder, "Changelings do NOT cocoon their victims and suck out their juices."
This didn't seem to make the private feel any better, because he began to tremble a bit.
"So," the captain went on, turning the prince waving a hoof, "Which way?"
"Well, if you would let me lead," the prince began.
"Out of the question, we move in formation, your protection is our priority," the Captain said severely.
"Yeah, yeah," the prince replied, rolling his eyes
"Don't 'Yeah, yeah' me, lucky," the captain said in an exasperated voice, "Honestly, I think you forget your royalty sometimes."
"Yes, Mom," he replied.
The captain shook his head and grunted, "Left or right."
"Left,"the prince replied and no sooner than he did, they were off again at a brisk trot, Captain Skyline in the lead.
The went on like that for a good three quarters of an hour, occasionally stopping for branches in the path and once when they came into a large cavern with several branching tunnels. They knew they were getting close when they started to hear the murmur of voices ahead of them; they slowed to a walk and tried not to make any sound.
They crept slowly forward, close to the ground and fairly soon could see flickering lights ahead of them. Lucky head them up to a small ledge with an opening only a few feet wide, so that a small stallion could only barely wriggle through and they saw them. Hundreds of Changelings gathered in a great hall lit by torches. Down in the back of the room was a raised dais on which a large oval wooden table sat, surrounded by about a dozen changelings. The rest of the floor was was covered with changelings sitting and talking, somewhere in the form of ponies, most had taken their natural insect form, with their curved horns, gossamer wings and glowing blue eyes. Behind them, the private gave s little gasp of fright and began to back away. The prince turned to look at him and regarded him with a serious look.
"Going somewhere Private," he asked, as the private started to turn, looking like he might bolt at any minute.
"I just, I thought I would," he stammered.
"Bolt back the way we came and go straight to Princess Blueblood, maybe?" the prince asked nonchalantly.
"Wha? No, I mean," he stammered out, wide eyed, and continued to back away.
"It wasn't a very good illusion, you know, I saw right through it, that day at Wimpys, you and your sister Bluecoat," the Prince said quietly, standing up and walking towards the private.
"The buck..?" the captain muttered.
"You've been spying for Princess Blueblood, you even found the hiding spot for that red book, the one that the Hat Mare and the Dress Mare dropped off, " the prince went on calmly as he walked toward the private who had backed into a wall.
"Thankfully, I was able to get to it before they did. Saving everypony a great of trouble," the prince went on, sitting down a few feet from the private, "What I didn't anticipate, was that Princess Blueblood the senior would stoop to murder to further her agenda."
"W-what?" the private gasped.
Prince Lucen smiled sadly at him, "The servant that the princess claimed was killed, that was your sister, Parts. I'm truly sorry."
"Y-you can't, y-you!" he gasped, shock gripping him, he started to shake.
"Ah, but, sadly I can, Parts. That book I swapped for the real thing, it was enchanted, it records everything that happens in it's vicinity, and the Princess Blueblood the elder has kept it with her right along. And everything it records, is copied into a second book, that I have. Rather interesting thing, those books, very old magic, got them from the castle vaults."
"No. NO!" he shouted, and sobbed.
Right away, the background murmur stopped, and there was a loud buzzing sound.
"Whelp, they know we are here now. Might as well go down," the prince said crisply, turning around to look at a now thunderstruck captain skyline.
There was a loud pop and the three of the teleported right to the base of the table. A roar burst out from the assembled changelings, but the prince took no notice, the pulled out a small, beaten looking luggage bag and levitate three chairs that were far too large for the bag out of it. These he set side by side at the table and took a seat in the middle chair, using his magic to plant the agitated captain and stunned private on either side. Then he turned to the rest of the table, whom were all on their feet, and gave them his most calm, this was the most ordinary thing in the world for me to be there smile.
They stared at him in disbelief for several tense minutes, while the roar of voices and wings behind them rose, and then, one by one, sat slowly down, the sound in the chamber dying out with them. After several more tense minutes of silence, the prince spoke in a cheerful voice that didn't seem to belong.
"Good evening, Elders, I hope it finds you well,"
They all exchanged befuddled glances, then the elder changeling in the opposite middle of the table spoke.
"Good evening," he said slowly, in a raspy voice, "I will have to beg your pardon, Prince, but what brings you here."
"You needn't beg my pardon, I always give it freely," he replied in a chipper tone, "Not that you have done anything wrong, Elder Mustachio, but as to what brings me, I would guess it's what this meeting is about."
The elder regarded him for a short while before finally answering.
"As I understand it, you knew of one of our number, she has gone missing, do you know where she is?"
"Oh yes, somewhere safe at the moment," he replied politely.
"If I may ask, how did you find this place," the elder said, his eyes fixed now on the private who was squirming uncomfortably in his chair.
"Oh, my mother told me." the prince replied.
"I see." the elder said, his eyes back on the prince.
"And how long, has she knows of us," asked the elder.
"Oh, since after the invasion," the prince replied with a smile.
A murmur rose from the crowd behind them, and Captain Skyline shifted in his seat.
"The Princess has known all this time?" the elder asked, not able to hide the astonishment in his voice.
"Of course," the prince replied pleasantly.
The murmur from the crowd became louder.
"I find that hard to believe," piped in a changeling to the princes left.
"And why is that, elder Rosebud," the prince asked politely.
"Because she did not drive us out," elder Rosebud replied.
"What's more, we have always been careful since that day not to give ourselves away," said another elder changeling to the princess right.
The prince smiled serenely as the crowd began to buzz.
"What makes you think she would drive you out?" the prince asked
"You have to ask," cried a voice from the crowd behind them.
"We are changelings!" cried another voice.
"You are equestrians, and citizens of the kingdom," the prince replied, raising his voice ever so slightly.
"Your nobles do not seem to think so," replied another elder.
"The nobles think everypony outside of canterlot and manehatten use outhouses, and I distinctly overheard one noble emphatically insisting that the moon is made of cheese and that's what how my aunt was able to survive a thousand years of imprisonment without starving. What the nobles think isn't of much worth nowadays." the prince replied in a bemused voice.
"You seem convinced that we are loyal citizens of equestria, how can you know that," asked another elder.
"Are you saying you arent?" asked the prince, feigning shock.
"Of course we are!" replied a different elder.
This proclamation was met with a great babble of agreement from the crowd behind them.
"But how," asked the slow and wheezing voice of the head elder, "Do you intend to convince the ponies of this."
"Oh, that's easy," the prince said in a dismissive tone.
"Easy he says!?" the private practically shouted as she struggled, "Don't you know what those nobles can do!? They intend to wipe out the lot of them! Even now, they are planning to use this as an excuse to overthrow you mother and aunt! There is nothing you can do about it!"
The prince threw back his head and laughed. The private slumped back, stunned by this and it was several moments and more than a few tears of mirth from Prince Lucen before the conversation could continue.
"Overthrow my mother and my aunt he says! Ha! If I had a bit for ever half baked plot from the nobles to overthrow the sisters, I would be richer than I am now."
"I-it's true," the private stammered, "You said they almost got the book, and they, they, they killed my sister."
The private broke down, weeping uncontrollably, and the crowd behind them began to babble furiously. The elder changeling pounded a hoof on the table for silence but it wasn't until the prince rose and spoke that the hall became still.
"WE DEMAND SILENCE!" the prince roared in the canterlot voice.
In the stillness that followed he sat calmly down and turned to the elders.
"What is he going on about, " elder Rosebud asked, "what book does he speak of."
"Ah, that would be this book," the prince replied, pulling the red leather bound book from out of his bag and passing it with magic to her.
The elder opened the book and began to flip through it, her eyes became large and she gasped as she looked through it.
"This, this is, where did this come from," the elder changeling asked
"What is it," asked another elder form across the table.
"A list," she replied, in a shaky voice, "Of every changeling in canterlot, their public identities and even descriptions.
The princes horn lit up as if he was casting a spell.
"How did you get this," asked elder Mustachio as he took from elder Rosebud.
"Oh, I nicked it from the drop site," the prince replied calmly.
"The dropsite?" asked another elder to Lucens left.
"Yup," he replied happily.
"But where did it come from?" asked elder Mustachio, clearly not satisfied with the answer.
As soon as he asked, two changelings floated out of the crowd, pulled by the princes' magic and where plunked down in the middle of the table. One had a large oversized hat with a colorful bird on it, the other, a tight, slinky dress that constricted her wings.
"These two," he replied simply.
The elders stared in disbelief at the two changelings who where thrashing about in the princes magical bubbles.
"Hortensia, Desdemona, YOU created this book," Mustachio asked, his lower jaw trembling as he stood up, his front hooves on the table, his back on the wooden chair he had been sitting in.
"Er, Elder, we didn't," the hat mare began.
"It's all a misunderstanding," the dress mare cut in
"Just ask Private Parts here," the Prince said, as he looked down at the still blubbering unicorn in the chair next to him, "The fashion show was just a convenient excuse to get into the castle at the same time as Princess Blueblood the younger."
The private looked up, terrified.
"And what role," Mustachio asked grimly," Does this fellow have?"
"Oh, he and his sister were being blackmailed by Princess Blueblood the senior. They think their parents died owing the senior Blueblood a great deal of money. She took them in as foals and kept them as servants, even though they are both nobles in their own right."
"They didn't own her any money?" asked Mustachio, his lower jaw twitching.
"Oh, fates no, she owed THEM a small fortune, but murdered their parents to cover it up." he replied.
"And how do you know this?" demanded Mustachio.
"The same way I know Blueblood the senior murdered his sister, I swapped that book you have with another. It's linked to a third book. Anything said or done around the second book, is recorded in the second and third," he replied.
"I've never heard of the like," Mustachio replied.
"Oh, nopony nowadays will have, but they where common as dirt once upon a time. Got 'em out of the castle vaults." the prince said.
Mustachio sat down heavily in his chair.
"This is ridiculous," the hat mare screeched.
"Please tell me you don't believe this, elders?" the dress mare implored in her not so sultry voice.
"Did you know before now that Princess Blueblood had murdered his parents?" elder Mustachio asked.
"Well, no. Not until last night, actually. All three of their deaths look like a heart attack, turns out, the elder princess was CRUSHING their hearts in their chests."
The private gasped, then slumped down further into his chair.
The hall went quite again, nopony or changeling made a sound, they all seemed to be mulling the revelations over, all but Prince Lucen, he sat as still as a statue, smiling. Finally, Elder Mustachio cleared his throat.
"This is distressing news indeed, our identities compromised, betrayed by our own and now, outcasts in our own land," he said slowly.
The Prince snorted; the elder turned to look at him.
"You disagree?" he asked a noticeable ire in his voice.
"I told you before, I and the rest of the royal family consider you loyal citizens of the realm." the replied, sounding a bit annoyed himself.
"Yet you cannot prove it," elder Mustachio rejoined, the anger rising in his voice.
The prince rolled his eyes and jerked the hat mare and dress mare into the air, "Look at their flanks, what do you see?"
The prince unceremoniously ripped the dress off the dress mare to expose her flank, they two squirmed silently in their magic bubbles.
"A spool and thread cutiemark and a ladies hat cutiemark?" asked an incredulous elder Rosebud.
"Exactly! Cutiemarks! And do you know what that means!?" a murmur now rose from the crowd, as the prince turned to look at them.
"Each and every one of you has a cutiemark, and that's not an accident. Not just anypony can get a cutiemark, or any changeling for that matter." his was facing the crowd and had raised his voice.
"In order to get a cutiemark, you would have to be loyal to the sisters, it's part of the divine magic they impart to all their subjects. It's a guide, it tells us what our talents are and to an lesser extent imparts a purpose to all our lives. While its true that somepony could TURN against the sisters, " and now he looked up at the two changelings on display, "By and large it's a mark of loyalty. It's proof of your citizenship and your faith in the sisters."
"But what are we supposed to do!?" cried a voice from the crowd.
"Oh, you just leave that to us," the prince replied, then turned to the elder council and winked.