The cloud of changelings moved to be above Canterlot, and Marketh grinned. "Well, this is an...interesting sensation. Let's see how much control I have..."
Before anyone could interject, the cloud shot a bit higher into the sky, and then the changelings moved in a pattern. It took the ponies a minute before they deciphered it, but when they did, they were not put at ease.
After all, seeing a changeling swarm spelling out the word HI! over your city is about as relaxing as waking up to someone's face an inch away from yours before they loudly say 'GOOOOOOD MORNING!'
"Excellent," Marketh said. "Control is in place. And...yep, that's going on as well! Now all I need is somewhere suitably dramatic and- oh hey! Shining, you don't mind if I borrow the training grounds, do you?"
"Well actually I-" Shining began to object.
"Great! I'd advise that you lot either stay well away or merely come close enough to hear. Changelings, come! Take me to the training grounds!"
Before any pony could get off an interjection, a small swarm of the black forms crashed through the window, grabbed a hold of Marketh, picked him up, and flew him through the still-wrecked window. There was silence for a beat, and then Rarity asked the question that was in the back of every pony's head.
"Why haven't we fixed that thing?"
-----
By the time Celestia and Luna had made their way to the training grounds, they saw it had been completely taken over.
Packed.
Filled.
In essence, it was swarmed by the changelings.
Normally this would be cause for concern. After all, they had just invaded not a day ago.
However, they were all looking to one spot. Namely, they were all looking at Marketh. He noticed the alicorns coming in and winked at them, then raised his arms.
"Changelings! For too long, Chrysalis has had you under her control. And when I returned what was rightfully yours to you, that position transferred to me. However, she kept you weak, dormant, unaware of anything save her will. Now is the hour when you will look back and say one thing."
He raised his right hand over his head and finished his dramatic speech. "That this was the hour of your awakening."
There should have been something, the sisters would later ruminate, that indicated that the changelings would change to such a degree. A flash of light, an explosion of wind. Something to punctuate that statement.
What they got instead was every changeling closing their eyes, opening them, and rushing Marketh in a changeling version of a pony-pile.
Apparently they were grateful.
The sisters sighed and tried to get at Marketh, but the sheer mass of changelings clinging to him made it difficult to find his form underneath them all. Eventually, they found his face, and managed to get a word in edgewise.
"We need to talk," they said.
"Probably so, yes," Marketh agreed. "However, I seem to be a bit...stuck right now. I'm sure it can wait until this isn't a thing that is happening to me."
The sisters looked at the mass of changelings and sighed. "You have five minutes," Celestia informed them.
After the changelings voiced their disappointment with the idea of letting go of Marketh, Luna pitched in. "It could be worse. You could have no time."
That shut the changelings up very quickly, and they resumed hugging their newest friend.
-----
"So essentially," Marketh said while sitting in one of the meeting rooms, with a changeling to his left that he was absently petting, "Chrysalis kept them all...dormant, for lack of a better word. They did her will, gathered intelligence...they were extensions of her. She could have changed that. She could have given them just one spark more of power, and they would have 'woken up,' but she never did. What I did was give back to them everything she took, along with everything she had, and a bit of my own strength, just a bit, to make sure every changeling would 'wake up' and form their own personalities."
Everypony present, which was the Sisters, Cadence, Shining, and the Bearers, nodded slowly as the statements sunk in. "However," Celestia interjected, "I get the feeling you're leaving out some steps of that."
Marketh sighed and motioned for the changeling to sit on his lap, which complied readily. "To go from 'extensions of Chrysalis' to 'comatose' to 'fully awake' would have been damaging to an extreme. Along with the fact that I had to help them deal with the memories of her rule. I had to pick. Cutting them out? Making it seem like a dream? Letting them be fully aware?"
"In the end," the changeling stated, "He decided to give us a warning, that we may not like the memories, and let us choose how to deal with them. As of right now, every changeling has decided to treat it like a dream. It won't make up a part of who or what we will become, but neither will we forget it."
The ponies had recoiled when the changeling spoke, but Marketh nodded and resumed petting the creature. "And there's still a connection as well, and seeing as how I currently am the ranking member, technically, you lot are dealing with a changeling king here. 'cept I'm not a changeling."
"Like you need any more help blending in, sir," the changeling said while rolling its eyes.
There was silence for a moment, and then Twilight spoke up. "So...what now?"
The changeling and Marketh blinked at that, before Marketh smiled. "Well, for now, I think the changelings could do with some time to discover who and what they are and want to be. That'll take a while, though. So for now..."
The sound of a thousand pairs of droning wings filled the air, and every pony present realized it was the sound of changeling wings. Looking out the window showed the ponies that the changelings were flying away from the mountain, towards the Everfree. All of them, that is, save the one on Marketh's lap. After the sound of droning wings died down, Marketh picked up the line of conversation again.
"For now, they'll live in the Everfree while they work out all those little issues."
The ponies in the room slowly came out of their shock and looked at the changeling on Marketh's lap. It merely smiled at them before replying. "I'm sticking around with him, I've already decided."
"And a fine choice it is, my young apprentice." Marketh poked the changeling in the side, causing it to wince, before looking back at the ponies. "Now, unless I miss my guess, the rest of this meeting is going to be things I don't want to deal with, so..."
A pocketwatch appeared on the table, let out a tiny ring, and then, Marketh was gone.
-----
Ah, Time Trap. It never gets old. Now to make my way out of this place, and-
"Marketh."
I turned to see that Celestia and Luna were looking at me, their hair not flowing in the non-existent breeze like it normally would. Shit. That's right, they're the closest thing to a divine on this plane. They can break through my Time Trap if they try. Though it would appear the effort does at least drain them somewhat, if the hair is anything to go by...
"Princesses," I replied while picking up the changeling that had elected to stay with me. I reached the door, turned it, and began walking out when I heard them talk again.
"You need to talk to someone, Marketh."
I paused at that and sighed. "Yes. Yes I do. And the only ones who I can talk to about this are you two, your niece, your student, and your captain. Tell Pinkie she's allowed to tell you where my house is, and she will. Just...give me a week? To sort out the changelings?"
And with that, I kept walking, not waiting for a response from them. Time Trap only lasts for so long...
-----
I lay against the wall of my base, humming to myself. I'd gone light on the training for the recruits as of late, but that hadn't stopped them from improving. Whispered Secret had finally made Member, and I was happy enough with the last Dog to say he could step up and join his friends as well.
These days, they trained themselves with the facilities I'd provided and continued to update, which was busywork, really.
The hum of the Hive Mind was something that I was trying to drown out, and I never really could. Today, I was experimenting. Maybe accepting it would make it annoy me less. Or at the very least, hurt less.
I'd finally started to make headway into this when the sound of massive wingbeats from above jolted me out of my meditation. Knowing who it would be, I merely started to hum to myself. The sound of two ponies walking up towards me only confirmed which alicorns I would be seeing. Namely, the sisters.
I opened my eyes to find Cadence and Luna sitting in front of me, which caused me to raise an eyebrow. Huh, guess I was wrong. "And you two are here because..."
They exchanged a look with each other, then looked back to me. "Luna's here to lead me in, and then we're hoping the three of us can find your memories."
I blinked at that. I hadn't considered that someone would actually be able to help me. "If you two can do that, I would be extremely grateful to you."
I sat down against my base, the two alicorns came close to me and touched their horns to my head, and all the world went white again...