//------------------------------// // Unwanted Attraction // Story: The Swarm Returns // by Digital Ghost //------------------------------// Thinking about it now, perhaps it was a bad idea to go out without a disguise. "Hey! Stop!" Yep. Siren figured one day she would eventually be chased down by a mob of ponies. "We just want to talk!" Although she imagined it with more pitchforks and torches, and fewer roses. "Please, we just need to talk to you!" One of the mob ponies shouted. "Get lost!" She shouted back. The trouble began when she browsed through the floral section of the market place. A young stallion approached her carrying a rose. He offered the flower to her, and she accepted the gift. But she soon saw that it was a big mistake. Like a flame attracting moths, a horde of stallions suddenly appeared and pushed flowers in her face. It was amusing for a while. Free love to feed on without exerting any effort to get it? That was every changeling's dream! But oftentimes, dreams were better left for sleeping, as she had just learned. She enjoyed the fact that they'd fight over who'd be the one to pay for the brooch she picked out. Of course, when their fighting got out of control, she ended up paying for the jewelry and left before the stall got demolished by the overzealous party. But the fun didn't end there. Seeing her trying to avoid them made the mob think she was stepping up her standards, and so their antics... well... lets just say that half a dozen shop owners won't have much to sell on the next day. So now Siren was frantically weaving through a sea of ponies in hopes of losing her pursuers, but the more determined of the lot were still giving chase. Siren was running out of market fast and she needed to get away from these crazy ponies. Flying would have been a viable option, if she hadn't stumbled over a barrel of water when she first decided to run for it. Who even puts barrels of water by the road these days? Even though she could have flown even with her wings wet, the risk of them tearing mid-flight was just not worth it. Besides, she kind of enjoyed the adrenaline. But she knew she had to quit while she was ahead. She needed a distraction, and a conveniently placed mannequin at one of the stalls proved to be the perfect medium. She levitated her helmet off her head and plopped it down on the mannequin. With a quick and simple illusion spell, she turned the mannequin into a splitting image of herself. Siren got out of the market area and let out a joyous laughter as she heard the series of crashes from the mob falling for the decoy. But then... *WHAM!* She body slammed into Applejack and Rarity. For a moment, she saw stars floating around her, but despite that she got to her hooves and continued her run. "Now wait just a gosh darn minute!" Applejack shouted angrily. "Hey! -- What in tarnation?!" Siren looked back and a heavy sense of dismay fell on her. The mob of admirers were still at it. "Would you just leave me alone?!" She screamed as she jumped the hedges to the castle gardens. It was already too late when she noticed a yellow mare in her way, and tripped when she attempted to make a connecting jump over her as she landed the first time. Siren fell on the flowerbed, her chin making first contact. With a prayer she cast a spell that shape-shifted her into a little squirrel. A flurry of hooves passed by and faded, along with the shouts trying to convince the mare they thought they were still chasing to stop. Siren heard a whimper and saw the mare she had just stumbled over. She was shaking like a leaf in autumn, but the sight of a squirrel looking to see if she was okay calmed her considerably. But when the squirrel burst into green flames which then revealed a changeling, Fluttershy quickly retreated. "I won't hurt you!" Siren said quickly before she was given away. "Sorry I scared you." "That's okay." Fluttershy squeaked. Before Siren could say anything else, Rarity and Applejack trotted up. Rarity was the first to speak her mind. "You... you... Do you realize how expensive this pendant was?" She angrily held out a cracked opal necklace. "Uh..." "Now now, Rarity, you bought three more of those. Exactly the same as that one." Applejack interjected. "I'm sorry about your pendant." Siren apologized. "Here, take this. It would just remind me of this nauseating day anyway." She levitated the brooch from her neck over to the unicorn. Siren didn't really plan on staying long, but she could still feel the love from those stallions, which meant they were too close for her to get away without being seen. "Do you really think that a simple compensation would-- Oh my, that's one fascinating piece of jewelry." Rarity swiped the brooch out of the air. The brooch was a butterfly adorned with exquisite gems of varying sizes. It flaunted a silver frame with golden accents, polished to shimmer under the sunlight. Rarity fell in love at the sight of it. She wouldn't admit to it, but Siren played a part in getting Rariry's attention to divert to the brooch using a spell that amplified any feelings on a certain object. And for somepony who was attached to anything fashionable as Rarity, it proved to be more than enough. While Rarity was busy trying on the gift, Applejack walked up to the mareling. "You're Siren right?" "You recognize me?" Siren looked surprised. "Of course, you were the only girl in Chrysalis' posse." "Hm, at least you could tell the difference." Siren rolled her eyes and turned to make her quick leave, but Applejack was quick to pull her back. "Hold on now. Would you mind telling us what made those stallions come runnin' after ya?" Siren tried not to act too embarrassed or annoyed. "Well this colt came and gave me a flower. Next thing I knew, they were fighting over me." "And you had nothing to do with that?" Applejack asked suspiciously. Well of course she had something to do with that. She was the one running for her life! But she knew what the earth pony meant. "If I had anything to do with that fiasco, don't you think I could have called it off?" Siren contested. "Magic spells go haywire all the time. Wouldn't surprise me at all if you blundered up and got more than you bargained for." After all, two out of two love-manipulating spells Applejack knew of went through all levels of crazy. Siren stomped her hoof and harumphed. "You give us too little credit, pony." "Hey there she is!" Came the voice of one of the love-starved admirers. The sense of dread returned to Siren's gut. "Not again." She turned around and saw three of the cretins who chased her around the marketplace. She was too drained to even think of trying to outrun them again, and her wings were still soggy, so still, flight wasn't an option. The stallions weren't going to give up any time soon, Siren knew that, so it was either she gave in, or cast a spell at the three elements and let them be lambs to the slaughter. Or maybe... juuuuust maybe... She looked mischievously at Fluttershy, a viable third option in her opinion. "Hey, sweetie. Could I borrow you for a moment, I need your help with something." ===== "So you're telling me, you had absolutely nothing to do with this mess?" "I already told you, no! We just got here!" "Oh really?" "Yes. Besides they said it was a female changeling who was being chased by a horde." "Eh, could have fooled me." "So you're saying I look like a girl?" Back in the wake of destruction brought forth from a single act of affection, the other party of ponies and changelings were in the middle of a confrontation. Rook and Cross felt a huge disturbance coming from the area, and went to investigate the sudden concentration of love. When they arrived, Rainbow Dash grabbed Cross and began interrogating him while Pinkie Pie dealt with Rook. As words were thrown around, Rainbow Dash and Cross' conversation threatened to escalate into a fight. They had already started their stare-off and it was only a matter of time before the contest would devolve into who could trample the other. Meanwhile, Rook was showing off his illusions and shape-shifting skills for the amusement of Pinkie Pie, who was calling out the things Rook would change into. "Can you do a chicken cow?!" Pinkie shouted gleefully. "Pshh, easy." With the green flames flickering, Rook took the form of a bipedal cow with a rooster's head, feet and wings. "Cluck. Cluck. Moooo." Pinkie laughed out loud. "That's so silly-looking!" A crowd had gathered around both parties. The crowd surrounding Pinkie and Rook were mostly made up of foals who took turns telling Rook what to change into, while the one surrounding Rainbow Dash and Cross were stallions and guards who were waiting to intervene should the two get into a brawl. The market was damaged enough as it was already. Luckily the fight never got underway as a green flare fired up from the tower. Vigil was summoning them back. "Let's save this for next time." Cross sneered as he took to the skies. "Rook! Quit making a fool out of yourself, it's time to go." ===== "I can't believe you used Fluttershy like that!" "My word, I think you broke the poor girl." Before Siren's admirers got to her, she grabbed Fluttershy and planted a kiss on her cheek, casting the same spell she used on Rarity's brooch, and broke three stallions' hearts in doing so, as well as making the other two mares to want to break her bones. Fluttershy was so too shocked to do anything but whimper and sob, and no amount of Rarity's coaxing drew the mare out of her state. "I... admit, I may have overdid it." Siren expected to get some amusement for her antic, but instead she genuinely felt bad for what she did. "May have!?" Applejack neighed. "Fluttershy doesn't like being that close to anypony she doesn't know, let alone being kissed by a complete stranger. Why would anypony even do that?" "It was either that, or I hexed them to chase you around instead. I had more options, but I didn't want to cause the queen any trouble." "Why couldn't you have just told them off?" "I already tried that, but they just wouldn't leave me alone." "So the only thing you thought of was to kiss Fluttershy? Look what you've done to her!" As if she needed a reminder. Siren took a step towards the shaking ball of yellow, but that only caused her to shrink smaller. "Look... I... uhm... I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking, okay. Just..." A green light shot to the sky and descended slowly. It was time to go. Siren expected to feel relieved, but only regret hung around her mind. "I have to go." Siren hung her head and walked passed the three mares to the entrance to the castle, avoiding eye contact with any of them. As Siren climbed up the tower, she heard Cross and Rook coming up behind her. "She practically called me a girl!" She heard Cross cry out. "I swear if she insults me again, I'm going to plaster her to a tree somewhere nopony will find her, perhaps lure an Ursa over there." "That's going a bit extreme, don't you think?" Rook commented. "You should really work on your anger management, buddy." "Whatever. Oh, hey Siren, we heard you caused quite a ruckus." Siren waited for the two to reach her so they could walk together. "You have no idea." She sighed. "Felt like I'd drown with all that love. It's crazy, these ponies are crazy." "You're telling me. That rainbow-maned one was just rearing for a fight." Anyone could tell that Cross was still fairly peeved. "I don't know, some of them are fun." Rook cut in between them, "Like miss Cotton Candy for example. She's a fun mare to be with." "Cotton Candy?" Siren and Cross asked. "Yeah, you know, the one with the puffy mane." "Ooooh, looks like somepony's got a crush." Siren teased to get her mind off what happened in the garden. "Call it what you will, but if things work out, I'd be set." The three shared a moment of laughter before they reached the top, where Vigil was waiting for them. "Good, you're all here." He started. "I hope you had fun with your time off. Alright, let's arrange our shifts for tonight as well as our positions for tomorrow." ===== Celestia was already notified about the changelings before Twilight wrote to her on their train ride to the empire, and she told her apprentice that she had no jurisdiction in the empire, so the choice on what to do with the changelings rested solely on Cadence and Shining Armor. Celestia expressed her approval on allowing the changelings to be assimilated into pony society, but she instructed Twilight to send her a report on their behavior nonetheless, since neither she nor Luna could make it to the banquet due to visiting foreign royals. Twilight was sitting with her friends around the circular rug in the middle of their room. They talked about how their day was with the changelings and what they learned. Spike was there with a quill and a few scrolls to take down notes for the report. Rainbow Dash was the first to accuse the changelings of being trouble and told the girls (and Spike) about the chaos they caused in the market. Applejack and Rarity had to agree, telling them that Siren used Fluttershy as a degrading tool to get rid of her admirers, but they refused to disclose exactly how she was used, for Fluttershy's sake. Fluttershy, although still emotionally hurting from her experience, defended the changelings and suggested giving them another chance. "They didn't physically hurt anypony on purpose. And the actions of some shouldn't speak for all." She said to them. Pinkie Pie was also with Fluttershy, saying that they were fun to be with, and that "They would be great at parties!", given their entertainment potential. Twilight held off telling the group about what she learned from Chrysalis until everypony got to say what was on their mind. When she finished relaying the summary of the changelings' history, the girls were more inclined to give them another chance. If the empire really was the changelings' historical home, then who were they to keep them out? Their discussion went on for a while longer before they called it a night and had Spike send the report to Celestia. The air felt so tranquil that night. It was as if a lullaby passed over the entire empire and plucked the troubles from everyone's mind. Even those who were fearful of the changelings' presence rested easy. Back in the tower, Vigil found himself on the balcony, blankly staring at the calm vastness. Gentle clip clops of approaching hooves momentarily distracted him. "Can you feel it?" Chrysalis said as she walked beside Vigil. "Its like my worries had just ceased." The queen nodded. "It's the heart. It's welcoming us back. It's telling us that everything will be okay." Vigil took in the peace and quiet. The night didn't feel like any other night. It felt special. "Yeah... I think it will."