//------------------------------// // Death? // Story: Changed // by Dream Seeker //------------------------------// Rose gasped in alarm. Petal was dead? How would Rose learn now? Giving out a half-real sob, she questioned Pinkie. "Where is she? How did it happen? Who hit her?" "Just outside Twilight's library, and the body hit something flamable and caught on fire afterwards. We don't know who hit her, but even though the body has not been recovered, we think the body was charred to a crisp. There's nothing left." Pinkie said sadly. "That's quite astute of you." Twilight replied, blinking in surprise. "I don't have time for silliness right now, it would only hurt. The sooner she cries out, the sooner I can make her feel better." Pinkie replied in a dull monotone. Rose burst out crying. "She's dead. Who will I live with now? How will I survive?" Twilight hugged her gently. "You can still live with me. I'll pay for everything you need." Rose hugged her back. "Thank you..." she whispered quietly. "Now, time for bed. Everything will be fine." Twilight whispered back, ushering her to her bedroom. Rose sobbed on the bed. Who could teach her how not to get caught? Who could bail her out if she needed it? She picked up the pillow to sob into, and found a note beneath it. Rose, this paper is enchanted so anypony other than you touches it, it will vanish. That includes contact of magic. I have faked my death. This was because in the event that you were caught during your little outing to the Crystal Empire, I would be found out as well. This allows me to have a fresh start, so if one of us is caught, the other remains safe. Downsides to this include me not being able to help you learn to be a Changeling. For this purpose, a Changeling named Bugze will be able to help. Bugze has a condition that prevents him from keeping disguise for too long, so he will leave notes for you at dead drops. The first dead drop is just outside of Ponyville, under a rock. The picture of said rock is included below. Bugze should be able to help you learn to be a Changeling, but a word of warning: He's quite eccentric, and has a lot of stories about distant relatives. However, I would not have put him in charge of training you if I did not trust him. Listen to him, he will (usually) know better than you. My new name is Tulip Bulb, contact me if anything comes up. Use Bugze to contact me under most circumstances, I don't want our contact to be discovered if one of us is caught. Good luck. Rose raised an eyebrow quizzically. This, she was not expecting. She moved her precious crystal to a shelf, and quickly burnt the letter with green fire. She sighed, cursing the fact that she would now have to act mournful for Petal, despite Petal still being alive, just in a different body. Rose supposed that she could try weeping for the death of the character Petal, but it felt like crying over a book. It wouldn't be easy, but it was all she could do. She slept soundly, dreaming of her crystal and the time spent with Twilight. Rose woke gently, Twilight using her magic to shake her awake. "It's already 10:00. Even Spike's up." Twilight whispered. Rose lept out of bed. "Oh no, I slept in! Do you have breakfast ready? I need to start studying!" she panicked. Twilight chuckled. "Spike made breakfast, and we'll start studying later today. Don't worry, I planned on you getting a late start. It will be fine." Rose sighed in relief. "Thanks. I was worried I would be... Tardy." she said, shuddering before she smiled. "What are we doing today in class?" "Mostly working out a schedule. Without an organizational system, I wouldn't be able to get any work done!" Twilight said. "Great! I can't work well without a schedule either." Rose commented as they walked down the stairs to the stairs to the kitchen. "Hey Rose, you're finally up." Spike said as he delivered several plates of pancakes to the table. "I was beginning to think you'd sleep all day!" Twilight rolled her eyes. "Spike, I've seen you actually do that." she muttered audibly. "Hey! That was once, and you had kept me up really late the night before!" Spike yelled, blushing. "So what are you doing today?" Rose asked Twilight curiously, in between bites of her pancakes. "I've got to finish enchanting gems for Rarity." Twilight replied. "That should keep me busy until class starts. Remember, today is scheduling only." Rose smiled. This was perfect! She could go out, train with Bugze, and come back before class began! "See you tonight!" Rose waved as Twilight trotted out the door. "You too!" Twilight waved back. Rose waited a few minutes, finishing her stack of pancakes, before getting up to leave. "Bye Spike!" Rose waved after finishing breakfast. "I'll be back before class!" Spike scowled. "Oh no you don't! Twilight told me to come with you if you left." Rose hummed thoughtfully. If Spike came with her, she couldn't meet with Bugze without revealing her Changeling nature. "How about I bring you a gem every day I leave while Twilight is gone, and in return you tell Twilight I stayed inside reading?" Spike's suspicious glare turned into a greedy grin. "Fine by me!" he smiled, waving. "Pleasure doing business with you. See you around!" Rose walked out the door and through Ponyville, finally coming to a halt near the Everfree, where she saw the rock pictured in the note Petal left for her. She was about to lift the rock to search for a message underneath it, when she heard a tune whistled. Startled, she stepped back and faced the forest. A Changeling emerged, whistling the tune once more. "And that is how you say, 'Hello, I am a Changeling too' in Infiltrator." the Changeling said. "By the way, I'm Bugze. I presume you're Star Watcher, disguised as Rose Bloom?" "Yes." Rose replied. "So you're the Changeling in charge of teaching me? What's Infiltrator?" Bugze's face turned panicked for a moment as Rose stepped forward, causing him to declare, "Don't move! I've set traps all around the perimeter so nopony can catch us here!" Rose froze in place and looked around in worry as she asked, "You do know where all the traps are, right? Right?" "Uh... Yes! Totally." Bugze said uncertainly, "Relax, I know this place like the back of my hoof. Now, let me come over there and guide you through the web of traps safely-*click*" Bugze took a few steps forward before he heard a small click, and his eyes widened in alarm. "Curse you Lady Luck." he commented just before a net came out of seemingly nowhere and hung him from a nearby tree. Rose giggled. "So you know this area like the back of your hoof, huh?" Bugze rolled his eyes. "Laugh it up while ya can, I'll be down in a moment. Coincidentally, I don't see the back of my hoof particularly often." Bugze's horn glowed and the net opened and fell down, causing him to land on his face with a dull thud. He groaned and rubbed his injured face before saying, "To answer your earlier questions; Yes, I will be training you and Infiltrator is how disguised Changelings communicate without blowing their cover." Bugze replied. "I'll begin teaching it to you today. During the second half of today's lesson, I'll teach you how to make a flamethrower out of a few bottles of alcohol and a roll of duct tape." he said with a grin. Rose raised an eyebrow. "Why would I need to make a flamethrower?" she asked. "You never know when it might be useful! Why, my Grandbuggy told me about this one time when he used a flamethrower to stop a horde of Timberwolves from overrunning an entire town." Bugze replied. "I guess it could be useful." Rose conceded, not wanting to waste too much time in a pointless argument. "How exactly does Infiltrator work?" "Infiltrator uses a series of pitched tones to represent words. This way, if somepony overhears Changelings conversing they'll just think that it's regular humming." "Interesting." Bugze began to translate useful words into Infiltrator, and Rose caught on quickly. Ponies have a strange affinity for music, and Rose had kept her instinct through her transformation. After Rose could say a few sentences in Infiltrator, and had learned how to best make a flamethrower, she began walking back to the library, making sure to avoid any place Twilight might be. Only steps away from the door, she realized that she had forgotten to get a gem for Spike! Casting a spell she had learned years earlier, she found one embedded in the ground just in front of the library door. As she walked in, she hoofed the gem to Spike and began to re-read a book she had read years earlier. If Twilight asked her questions about it, she would already know the answers, and her cover would not be blown. Only a few minutes later, Twilight arrived, opening the door with her magic. "Ready, Rose?" she called out as she levitated two schedules and a quill with ink out of a drawer. "Yes!" Rose smiled as she closed her book. "I was wondering, what would go into a schedule other than our magic lessons?" she asked curiously. Twilight grinned. "I'm glad you asked!" she said enthusiastically, a too wide smile on her face. "Everything from breaks, errands, playtime with friends, reading time, study time, lectures, quizzes, tests, bedtime, mealtime, practical magic lessons and magic theory lessons, what to do if something unexpected comes up, and anything else we can think of!" Rose gulped, her smile fading. Even when she was in Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, her schedules weren't that intense. She was beginning to understand why Twilight had scheduled scheduling for an entire day. "Tomorrow, we will be doing preliminary testing. I want to see your maximum magic power." Twilight said, writing on both calendars simultaneously. One calendar said 'Twilight' above the month, and the other said 'Rose'. That was how the exhaustion that was Twilight's version of scheduling began. Rose flopped into bed, exhausted. Nothing could have prepared her self for the sheer intensity and detail required in Twilight's scheduling. She went out like a light, falling instantly into a deep slumber.