I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Light from the suns rays warmed the field of flowers on the outskirts of Ponyvilles outskirts. Butterflies fluttered about from flower to flower and gathering the nectar from within before taking off to the next.
Nearby, at the base of a tree and on a blanket, sat Twilight who was once again going over the scroll she had on changelings. Nearby was Rainbow Dash, who was up in the branches of the tree and relaxing the day away while Twilight continued to go over her ‘Science stuff’.
“So…” Rainbow dragged off, lazily swinging a fore hoof as she laid on the branch just over her friend, “What have you been up to?”
Not looking away from the text, Twilight told, “Mostly research on some effects magic has with a ponies emotional state.” Scrolling down some she continued, “From what Masquerade told me, unlike us ponies, changelings only have one color for their magic. The reason for it was that most of emotion that mixes with the magic is taken out, leaving more refined magical energies.”
Smiling up at her winged friend she told, “I think this happens to be the key to figuring out how to make that green fire he always makes…Changeling Fire he called it.”
Dash smirked at Twilights excitement and grind, “You don’t say.” And began to devise something in her mind, “And he helps you with this?”
“Not yet, but I did convince him to do a demonstration later tonight, and a few other things.” Twilight said with a smile, unaware of Rainbows growing grin.
“And it will be the two of you?” Getting a nod from the unicorn she pressed on, “Alone in that lab of yours while doing experiments on magic?” Another nod and a 'yep' came from the mare at the base of the tree.
“Sounds like a nice date for eggheads!”
What almost became another yes quickly turned into splutters of confused words and fully flushed face. Rainbow Dash held her hooves to her face and snickered at Twilight overly embarrassed state.
Shaking hear head to free herself of her flushed face, Twilight glared up at the pegasus that was getting close to laughing off her branch saying, “I thought you didn’t like him?” Watching as the blue speedster calm down.
After regaining her breath she airily said, “Eh, not really. I mean, the guy is too much of one of those secret agents that you might find in a book.” Looking down at Twilight’s imploring eyes, she told, “I tried to follow him now and then.” Crossing her hooves and huffing, “Slips away every time.”
Smiling at this and looking back at the text before her, the unicorn absently said, “Well, I wouldn’t be surprised at that.” Knowing that Dash was more than likely staring at her now, “He did say he was the best at infiltration.”
With her jaw hanging open Rainbow shouted, “You mean he‘s a spy!”
Looking up at the pegasus, then back down to her scroll, she said, “Something like that, yes. It‘s a roll that some changelings can take on to not only spy on others, but act as police with greater investigation skills.”
With a silence falling over the two, Dash finally spoke, “So, they are like secret agents?”
“It‘s not that simple Dash.” Twilight shook her head, taking a moment to think on how to explain, “To be a ‘Master of the Cloak’ is to become a…” Taking this moment to look at the scroll real quick she said, “Individual that sacrifices trust for the safety of their families and clan mates. Thus, only those of his or her clan will trust the Cloak welder, where none else will.”
Looking up at Rainbow Dash who was stetting upright now, rubbed her chin slowly in thought before nodding to herself, “Yea, so totally a secret agent!”
Twilight face hoofed.
“Well, what do you think?” Masquerade asked from his spot in the grass, laying down as if to take a nap. The way he had his eyes closed and remind nearly motionless would fool most into thinking he was in a deep snooze. Or dead, if he would to hold his breath.
On either side of him were his two cousins, who were looking at the three flower ponies Rose, Lily and Daisy. The two sisters watched the three interact in such harmony, that it almost felt wrong to spy on them like this. But with the tail-tell signs of one of them being changeling, they understood why Masquerade had asked for them.
“They are certainly a well knit group.” They responded to his question, “We would dare say they were sisters, if you did not tell us otherwise.” The pure love the two earth ponies gave off was very much hard to resist to take. To know that one of them was having an all you can eat meal, and also sincerely liked the company made them all the more curious as to who it was.
Feeling the spike in both twins, Masquerade peeked an eye open saying, “Patients you two, we need to gather what information we can before initiating contact.” This was quickly fallowed by disappointment that would only fade away moments later.
He closed his eye again and refocused on his surroundings with his ears, nose and sixth sense that allowed him to feel and taste emotions. In his minds eye he could see nearly every pony that was a hundred feet away, and could just barely taste their current emotion.
The thee they were spying on were just on the edge of his range, making it next to impossible for him to have a accurate fix of what they were feeling. But one thing was for sure, they dearly loved each other.
It was a marvel to the changeling heir at how caring ponies were compared to most other races. griffins had a tendency to challenge one another to fights due to prideful ways and honor bound blood.
dragons were greedy jerks most of the time, unless they had time to mature some and actually be wise, in which case, become windbags instead of jerks. And minotaur’s were more than not blunt brutes that got by with more physical force than creative thinking. The last was rather ironic, as they were very good and imaginative smiths.
“What of the others though?” Ivory asked, glancing about for any other ponies that could be changeling. “When do you plan to make contact with them?” Ebony voiced, following her sisters example to take a quick look around.
The stallion took his time to think about that and consider everything he currently knew of them. Goldengrape would be difficult to approach, as he works mostly alone in his little garden of assorted grapes. The best way to know his habits is by getting more information from Berry Punch, who buys most of his produce for her wines.
Serenity will also be a challenge, only in his case, he’s constantly surrounded by ponies. pegasus ponies, that he knows very well. The best course would to possibly trick him into fallowing a pretty face before making contact.
Roma will be a simple case of using some key words to get his point a crossed, while not making a scene. So far the mare has shown to be assertive and stubborn, true, but also shown to slip up on her thinking.
Toe-Tapper would be another simple matter, perhaps even more. Rarity and Big Macintosh know him and practice in a singing group they have come to call ‘Ponytones’. Contact will be quick and easy, and maybe speed relations with pony and changeling.
Rain Dance would be a more moderate challenge, likening to have time alone and with a select few friends. Getting close for contact with her will call for the twins help possibly, so until then, he was going to aim for the others.
“I‘ll think of something, but for now, Daisy should be the first one we make contact with.” Masquerade told stretching his neck out some and laying his head back down. Admittedly, he was feeling a tad drowsy with the sun warming up his back as it did and making his muscles relax. Didn’t help that the twins loved to cuddle with others, and would seize the chance to do so with him if he took a nap.
Why do pegasi have to be so soft? He questioned in thought as he felt the two lean more on him. He peeked an eye open in time to watch them lay their heads over his neck and pin him down. He gave a groan at this, but did nothing to shake the two off.
Hearing his weak protest at this, the two mares merely giggled at him and snuggled into him more and bring out a wing each to act like a blanket.
It was at this moment that the three earth mares got up and walked off while engaged in another conversation. While they got away, Masquerade just stayed where he was and let the two sisters take a nap on either side of him. With a resigned sigh, he closed his eyes and let himself drift a bit into rest.
He could always track his quarry latter.
Rainbow Dash held a slow speed next to Twilight who was carrying her things back to the library, while she continued to think over what she was corrected on more than once, “So, he‘s something called a Master of the Cloak, which is a fancy title for master Infiltrator.”
Looking down to find Twilight nodding she continued, “And to be an infiltrator in the first place is like saying no pony can trust you, because your known for not playing by any rules or being fair?” Once again she got a nod. Seeing she was on a roll so far, she went on, “Only family, friends and even others of your clan can trust you, because they know you.”
Thinking for a moment she said, “I think I got it.”
Twilight beamed up at the robin blue Pegasus, proud that she finally was able to hammer in the facts. “A changeling clan is like one big group of super secret spy agency!” And abruptly faceplate into the road from tripping on her hooves from the sheer surprise and absurdity.
Rainbow Dash stopped in place and looked down at the unicorn who’s face only showed a somewhat irritated blank stare. Giving a huff and getting back up, she brushed her coat off some and picked up her dropped things.
Twilight could continue to wage war on Dash’s unique way of seeing Masquerade’s skill set and its proper name, but it would be futile. After all, she spent the last half hour trying to get her to say it right, going as far as to explain it as much as she knew.
“Was it something I said?” Dash asked, somewhat bemused at her friends reaction to her statement. It wasn’t the fact she was doing it to annoy ‘Twinkles Egghead Sparkle’ but how she truly saw it all.
But she had to admit, being a secret agent of sorts was rather cool. But I still want to have a little chat with that guy, she reminded herself, still remembering Twilights state of mind when she told them all about changelings.
She had to corner the slippery stallion first though, and so far, that was proving to be a big hassle as it was. It was nearly impossible to keep track of the guy, even more so when she remembered that he could be anypony passing by.
As much as she wanted to tackle the suspect pony, she knew doing so would not only draw a crowd, but also make her out to be less cool for pinning down the wrong pony.
I’ll catch you yet, you son of a donkey, and when I do you better tell me everything I want to know! Rainbow Dash never viewed herself to be a pony to hold grudges, or one to be overly suspicious of others. But this ‘old friend’ of Twilights rubbed her wrong when he put her through with what he did.
True things have seemed to have fixed itself between the two, but she wasn’t going to let it go until she knew why. Friends came first, so for the coolest pegasus in Ponyville, she had to make sure this faux unicorn would not come to hurt Twilight any more then he’s already done.
All this was pushed aside in her mind as Twilight shook her head after some moment of silence saying, “No, its alright Rainbow Dash. I guess I‘m a little worked up still from what I found out recently.”
“And what’s that?” The athlete asked, doing a roll over the unicorn and landing to her left to trot right next to her.
Casting a quick glance around for any ponies nearby, Twilight quietly told, “Masquerade thinks he‘s found more changelings around town.” This made Dash halt for a moment in shock.
She shook herself free of this a moment latter and caught up with the unicorn saying, “Seriously, how many, and how does he know?” It was unnerving to know that she knows of three ponies that can change form at will and be anypony any time they pleased. It was even more so when you find out one of them is apparently a master at it, and can fool even the best.
However now, she wasn’t sure what was more frightening. The point there were more changelings wandering about without their notice, or the fact Masquerade noticed them and not get noticed by them.
“He gave me a small lesson when we got back to the library on a changeling types.” Twilight said while thinking over the recently new information that she had gotten, “First, are the heirs. Masquerade with his cousins, Ivory and Ebony, are heirs. This makes them the most strongest, fastest, smartest and even toughest of changelings. They are meant to take leading roles in their societies, or clans.”
Casting a quick glance at the pegasus to make sure she had some time to absorb the information she continued, “The next type are known as common‘s, as they are more or less, common everyday changelings. They are weaker, slower and not as smart compared to an heir. Masquerade said that to compare the two, would be like comparing a common wasp to a giant hornet.”
Giving the slightest of shivers, Rainbow said, “Eh, don’t remind me, those things are huge!” She had seen a giant hornet before. Fluttershy had found one rather hurt, and being the kind mare she was, took it in and helped it heal back up.
Dash, however, was not nearly as thrilled when it decided to land on her during one of her visits. That things stinger was one-forth of an inch long, and having it on your snot buzzing didn’t help much on the fear factor.
“Yes well, anyways.” Twilight coughed a bit at the other mares thoughts on the subject, “This is part of the reason Masquerade could find them, they are not as strong, so can't hide nearly as good either. This also means that they wouldn’t notice him, as he could hide the fact he was changeling.”
Made sense to Dash when put like that. Thinking about it, she could almost see it in different terms like pegasus and griffon. griffons were great at long-distance flight, had greater strength, better eyesight and wings meant for soaring.
While somewhat weaker in these areas, The Pegasi were faster, more agile, had much greater control on weather in general and having different wings made for quick take off. The difference in this case, is that one is common, making the other less common?
She didn’t have time to ponder it much longer as Twilight went on with her teaching voice, “The last group are the Drones, that are essentially the lowest point a changeling can be. According to Masquerade, they nearly have the mentality of foals, meaning that the only way for them to complete a task is through sheer numbers, or good instruction. And apparently, they come in greater numbers because of this reason, and can be seen as honey bee's compared to the other two.”
“Hold up, how many are we talking, because this is sounding like some sort of swarm of bugs.” Rainbow Dash cut off at this, trying her best to keep all the information in check.
Thinking on it for a moment she told, “I‘m not completely sure on numbers, but from what I have been told, most changeling clans have a one or two percent of heirs, thirty to forty percent for commons, and the rest would be drones.” For Twilight, this implied that commons would hold a rather significant role in the clans to help support and lead the drones, while the heirs kept the commons in line.
She didn’t hold the smile that formed on her face as Masquerade put it when she point this out as he told, “It’s rather like how you ponies work on some level, you and most ponies would be the drones, making the bulk. The nobles would be the commons, having higher standings and keeping order. Then, at the top, would be the heirs, or in this case, Celestia and Luna, who keep the commons in line and make sure things get done.” To think that the nobles would be equal to something common just left the unicorn wanting to laugh.
“So…a lot right?” Rainbow asked, scratching her head and thinking the numbers over. She knew the Apple Clan had something around thirty members, not including the newest generation that she didn’t know yet. So if she were to line that up with what Twilight told her, that would mean Granny Smith would be an heir, and her progeny would too, making Big Mac, Applejack and Apple Bloom all heirs.
Seeing as thirty to forty percent would be commons, that would mean about ten of them would be commons. That leaves what, fifteen or something left? She asked in her mind a tad confused. She was sure she missed something, but that was how it all added up to her.
“I can‘t say for sure how many, but I‘m thinking around fifty or more in one clan, with about seven of them being heirs at the most and two at the least.” At these words form the more learned unicorn, Dash could see it in her mind and feel almost small at the idea.
Sure she loved the attention she got from others and even crowds, but there is always some anxiety from seeing so many expectant eyes on you. If Rainbow was honest with herself, she would almost feel nervous of being in Masquerade’s horseshoes.
Having the knowledge that everything you do reflects on the clan you would one day lead, it was possibly something terrifying of its own accord. And if she was further willing to admit it, she would see that this puts the Infiltrator in a hard position, as his skill set calls for distrust from others around him. Even if his clan were to trust him, it still put strain on his image as any slip up would be a big hit to it, regardless of status.
Unknown to the pegasus, these were thoughts Twilight had come to at some point, and knew there was even more to it. Ever since she reunited with him that faithful day, he was all but exiled from his home. He left on his own, making him separated form his family and clan, who were the only ones that could support him. If she had not met him when she did, he would possibly trying to make it on his own without any help.
But he’s not alone. She told herself, Masquerade has me, and my friends, and even his two cousins. As long as he is honest with himself, he can always come to use for help. But if anything, he won't. She knew this for a fact, ever since they were little. He did not talk about his problems to others and bottles them up.
Scrunching up her face some, Twilight decided there and then that she would make sure that he would get the help he needed. Willing or not, he was getting it, and there was nothing he could do to stop her!
Then I could come out and initiate contact. Masquerades face scrunched up just the smallest bit before discarding part of the idea, no, if I came out of a shadowy place it will possibly put Rain Dance on the defensive. Could initiate contact by being a close friend will only cause later mistrust.
Numbers of first contact scenario’s played through the master infiltrators head again and again, as he worked out possible ideas as to contact the unknowns and find their motives.
So far, none have shown the most basic behavior for undercover agents. They didn’t seek targets or enter other homes without the owners knowing. They spent a good amount of time around certain ponies to feed on love in general, but seem to do good on any free flowing emotions that the town had generated over time.
Each has some form of a job and willing do so when needed. They all have homes, buy food, have livelihood’s, loving friends and even shy romantic interests in the ponies. This all says permanent stay, and was possible they just liked being around the ponies and have no malice intent.
But I’m an Infiltrator, and it is my duty to make sure they are not a treat currently. No matter what, it came back to that. He could not afford to make any mistakes with new changelings in the immediate area. With the Invasion looming closer by each day, he had to forage alliances, send warnings and prepare for the inevitable.
But this all meant noting if he didn’t know where the whole swarm might strike first. Being changeling helps with infiltrating and replacing others, to do quiet invasions to get a strong foot hold. Or they could all sneak deep into enemy lines and suddenly attack without warning.
He gave an internal hiss at getting ahead of himself again and thinking of things he could not work on just yet. Focus on the here and now, he reminded himself, then I can worry about such things when Sham gets back, he should have the information needed by then.
His ear twitched as one of the two sisters still leaning on his side gave a slightly distressed whimper. Calming himself, Masquerade knew they felt his irritation and thought about more happy things in his life.
The things he enjoyed, like the challenge of sneaking around without being caught. The amusement he got from successfully tricking another. The accomplishment he felt for every successful infiltration. The thrill of being followed or chanced by another before pulling a fast one and escaping.
Then there was those who he cared for. His older sister Eml and her uptight honor that made sure all ran smoothly and made sure her siblings grew up right. Watching them when they were young and giving discipline when needed.
Or Copper and his insistent training with wooden weapons, using a halberd to make sure his sneaky younger brother would be ready to fight. Then when worn out, would play games that tested his mind and challenged him to lead those that would be under him.
Grove was a patient sibling, always teaching him how to cook and make potions with the surrounding flora and fungus, and get him into using illusions and acting. He missed his brother that smoothly rhymed like the tribal Zebra’s.
Trick and Treat, though annoying, were a laugh to be around. So imaginative, so creative and even fun to hang out with if they weren't playing a prank on you. He did miss his younger sisters too.
And little Lily, that oh so adorable baby sister of his that seemed to take after fellow bookworms with curious wonder of the world she lived in. Masquerade almost longed for the day to hold his youngest sister and stroke her silky mane, telling her all the missions he had gone on.
With some sadness, he also missed his Mother. Despite the argument they had parted with, he still missed her. He missed her loving embrace. He missed the comfort she gave when he was downhearted. He missed her counseling when he was not sure what to do. He missed his Mother for who she was, and owed everything to her.
The twins at his sides seemed to make him smile some, as they were also precious to him. They were like the overly touchy sister that didn’t know the meaning of personal space. But you could not help but love them all the same.
Then there was Twinkles.
Both Gem sisters seemed to snuggle closer when Masquerade thought about the one pony he would actually protect, even against his own kin if it came down to it.