//------------------------------// // Double Take, Changeling for Hire pt 1 // Story: Princess Pile Drinking Games // by GaPJaxie //------------------------------// A lot of my stories involve OC's, and I sometimes feel that means I don't get enough time with the Mane 6. To try to remedy that, I had an idea for a story called Changeling for Hire. It was about a changeling named Double Take who moves to Ponyville and sells his shapeshifting talents for fun and profit. The fic was supposed to be a series of scenes spread out over time where we see Double Take interact with the Mane 6 in ways that reveal a lot about them they wouldn't otherwise show. The problem with this fic was Double Take. I liked him, but he felt way too much like Siren Song Tick Tock Mirror!Twilight some other characters I write, and the whole thing started to feel really derivative. Maybe I'll fix it someday, but if I do, it'll involve nearly a total rewrite. So for now, enjoy! My name is Double Take, and I am a changeling scout. Now, “scout” means something different for changelings than it does for ponies. It’s a little closer to “spy,” but that’s not quite right either. Pony spies are still usually part of some big organization that tells them what to do. Changeling scouts—we’re independent. We drift around and have a lot of freedom in how we gather information. Some of us sneak, some of us infiltrate or scheme or stuff, but some of us just settle down and report what happens. After all, that information’s useful too. That’s me, by the way. I can sneak, and I can scheme, but it always seemed so unnecessary. Deep down, ponies are social creatures. They’re herd animals. They want to open up. They want to trust. I once got into the Equestrian Royal Mint by just by saying I always really wanted to see how coins were made. I spent the next two hours snapping pictures of all the entryways and weak points while a guard talked to me about how terrible it was that there were so many cutbacks in combat training for Canterlot’s guards. I’m still proud of that one, even if the invasion didn’t exactly go well. But, the invasion didn’t go well, and that means we scouts suddenly had a hard time of it. Everypony turned suspicious, and spells to detect shapeshifters were suddenly in vogue. A lot of my wingmates turned to refuge in obscurity—turn into somepony unimportant who's just sort of always around, and never draw attention to yourself. It’s a good strategy. Me, though? I decided to take another bet on ponies’ good nature. I wrote in anonymously to a guard captain I knew was a big softie, and told him I was a changeling still in Equestria, and that I’d like to appear before the Princess and seek forgiveness. He routed it up, and next thing I knew, I was in the palace. I’m not going to say it wasn’t a risk. A changeling ruler who heard about a spy like that would freely accept the offer—and then have them hauled off to the rack as soon as they were dumb enough to appear in person. And I’ll admit, when I first stepped in front of Celestia, I smelled like a very particular emotion, and it wasn’t war pheromones. But it was a calculated move. There are things you can’t learn if you’re afraid of getting caught. There are advantages to being out in the open. And anything I could do to make ponies get over the changeling scare faster would make life easier on my fellow scouts. So I took the bet, and it paid off. Celestia asked me a lot of questions, but she did it without the rack, and when it was over, I was free to go. She said that she didn’t quite trust me, but that she wasn’t going to condemn me just for my race. So she decided to send me to Ponyville, where her student could look after me, and decide if I was trustworthy. That was a few months ago. Twilight and her little band are quite vigilant, I’ll give them that. They were always watching me, waiting to catch me in the act of kicking a puppy or some other vile deed. But I’m a patient sort, and after awhile, they got used to me. I got used to the town too. It’s a very convenient place to learn a lot that Queen Chrysalis might want to know, including the whereabouts of the Elements of Harmony. I even found a way to make all that information come to me, and I didn’t need informants or hired goons or any of the things other scouts sometimes mess with. I just needed the ponies of Ponyville to get used to having me around, and one little wooden sign. Double Take Professional Shapeshifter Impressions Theater Roleplaying Events Private sessions available on request. And let me tell you, the things I learned about ponies with that little sign.