//------------------------------// // Figure.09 // Story: Black Clouds & Silver Lining // by Lucky Seven //------------------------------// Black Clouds & Silver Lining Figure.09 Written by HarimeNui777 As Tenna approached the big tree home she now knew Twilight Sparkle called home, she found herself nervous. That note that had been left on the front door of her home hadn’t explained much, and had only said for her to be here at this exact time. After a couple more seconds, she found herself knocking on the door of the tree with her hoof. She could hear a little bit of shuffling inside before the door opened, revealing a purple unicorn. “H-hello, Twilight. I got a note telling me to come here, do you know anything about it?” Seeming to ignore her question, Twilight rose one of her legs and checked the watch on it. “Right on time, excellent. Please, come inside.” Confused, Tenna did as she was told, and Twilight slammed the door behind her. “So, um, why did you want me here?” Ignoring her again, Twilight went over to a whiteboard and, picking up a marker with her magic, started to write tons of different formulas on it. “You’ve been here for almost four months, right Tenna?” “Um, a little more than that, I think.” “And yet, in this whole time that you’ve been here,” Twilight continued, “you’ve never shapeshifted. Is there a reason for that?” “W-well, I don’t really need to…” Tenna responded quietly. “I know that,” Twilight turned away from the whiteboard to face Tenna. “But seeing as how you hang out with Rainbow Dash, I guess I assumed you might have used the ability to prank ponies.” “Oh, heavens no!” Tenna exclaimed, catching Twilight off-guard. “I’ve never even gone pranking. It’s… mean.” “Hmph, glad to see that someone else agrees. Pinkie and Rainbow have been out of control with the pranking this month,” Twilight frowned at a particularly bad memory. “But enough about them. I have a proposition for you.” “Um, okay…” Tenna muttered, unsure of whether or not she wanted to hear it. “Before I left you that note, I had Spike fetch another pony. He’s going to be our guinea pig in this experiment.” “A g-guinea pig?” “Come on out, Tech,” Twilight called into the basement, and out of the doorway came a green pegasus with a blue mane. He let out a sigh, and turned to Twilight. “So why am I here, again?” “You, my green feathery friend, are here to be the guinea pig in my latest experiment.” “This isn’t going to be anything like the drumsticks experiment, is it?” the pegasus recalled coldly, making Twilight chuckle nervously. “Hehe, no… Rest assured, you’re in no danger this time around. I think…” “You think? Do you have any idea how long it took me to clean my hair after that experiment?” “Let’s not talk about that in front of our friend,” Twilight ignored Tech’s question. “Tenna, does your ability to mimic ponies have any negative repercussions?” “Um,” Tenna put a hoof to her chin, taking a moment to think long and hard about it. “I… don’t think so. We only really use it to feed on love.” “So you’re saying it won’t weaken or hurt Tech Beat over here?” Twilight points at him, and he smiles and waves shyly. “Um… I don’t think so?” Tenna herself was unsure, as she had only done it a few times in her life. “Alright, you heard it, Tech! If anything goes wrong, you can blame her for saying it wouldn’t,” Twilight said, making Tenna go wide eyed. “W-what?! B-but you’re the o-one who called m-me here!” “First question!” Twilight yelled over Tenna, once again choosing to ignore her. The changeling supposed that it was just in the unicorn’s nature, so she couldn’t really fault her for wanting to hurry things along. “Obviously, as a changeling, you lack the basic reproductive organs common in most sapient life in Equestria.” The sheer bluntness of the statement threw Tenna for a loop, and she blushed all the way through her chitin. “Actually, um, I have… those,” she finished, obviously not wanting to say the actual words. “Really?” Twilight asked curiously, writing something else on the whiteboard before turning back to Tenna. “When you take on the form of a pony, do you gain their respective set of reproductive organs?” “N-no!” Tenna yelled at her, blushing even more furiously. “I-it’s just like a, a costume!” “Sorry for being so blunt,” Twilight apologized quickly, turning back to her whiteboard and writing something down. “I just wanted to get that question out of the way right out of the gate.” “No offense, Twilight, but what does that have to do with anything?” Tech asked from besides her, getting a quick ‘shh!’ in response. “Fine then, don’t tell your volunteers what they want to know…” Turning back around, she put her marker down. “Alright, go ahead and mimic Tech, Tenna.” “B-but he’s a… boy.” “And? You said yourself that you only change in appearance, not biologically,” Twilight reminded her, smirking. To that, Tenna had no retort, and she let out a sigh of defeat. “A-alright…” she muttered, her body beginning to glow a bright green. After a couple of seconds, flames of the same color popped up around her, and her body slowly began to change from the legs up. Twilight and Tech watched in awe the whole time, never having seen the transformation take this long. Once her body had completely changed, the flames slowly dissipated and the glow faded away from her body. “T-there. Is that good?” Looking at Tenna, Tech felt as if he was looking straight at a mirror. “Whoa, she looks just like me!” “Not to mention ‘sounds’,” Twilight added in, turning back to her whiteboard. “How long are changelings able to maintain their mimicked states, Tenna?” “Um, I guess it depends on how much love we have. M-my mom used to say that’s what powered it.” “I see. So right now, how long do you think it would be able to last?” “Hm…” Tenna thought for a moment, trying to come up with a good estimation. “About… six years?” “SIX YEARS?!” Twilight and Tech yelled out at once, their jaws dropping, making Tenna giggle. “W-well, I’ve been gathering up love from you guys since I arrived in Ponyville,” she explained. “That’s almost four months worth of love.” “So then, a day worth of love could last you over a week?” “I think so,” Tenna looked right at Twilight, “but it’s hard to tell, really. There’s different types of love, and some are stronger than others.” “What do you mean? I could use this info in my notes!” Twilight exclaimed, getting right in Tenna’s face. The changeling remained calm, though, and began to explain. “Love between friends is strong, but not as strong as love between, well, lovers.” “Ah, that makes sense. Now, I just have one last test to do and we can go.” “A-alright, what do you need me to do?” Tenna asked curiously. Hopefully it wouldn’t be dangerous. Summoning up her magic, Twilight cast a spell and two long, thin objects appeared in the air beside her. “Could you hold these drumsticks for me?” “Run, Tenna,” came the voice of Tech, and Twilight glared at him. “B-but I…” “RUN!” he shouted again, causing Tenna to yelp. As she turned around and ran out of the library, still mimicking Tech, she could hear Twilight berating him. That had certainly been a close one.