“I look more ridiculous than the last one,” Charlie grumbled.
“That’s perfect, now hold this,” I handed him over a black umbrella with the iconic parrot head along with a carpet bag. “And luckily for you, I’m nearly done anyway with this painting.”
“But looking like this? You’re mad.”
“Why thank you.”
The doorbell rang, “The door’s open,” I called out. I heard the front door open along with a few footsteps and told her that I’m in here. Soon enough, Sunset and Fluttershy came into the room; of course, the first question they had was towards the Mary Poppins impersonator in the middle of the studio.
“My good ladies,” I said, “allow me to introduce you to Charlie, a genuine Changeling spy that’s assisting me at the moment.”
“You have a Changeling!” Sunset exclaimed. With a snap of my fingers, I let my paintbrush float in the air to paint over the sketch I've already made.
Fluttershy asked what a Changeling is, “A creature that could change into anyone and it feeds on love, it’s something like a vampire only instead of blood it eats love.” Sunset explained while looking at me with a concerned look while adding “And you do know that they’re dangerous right?”
“Not to me, (Eh, hold up the umbrella just a little higher, thanks) when I caught him, he seemed to be terrified of me. How can something be so dangerous when it’s scared of you? Besides, he’s been very helpful too.”
“Peinlich wohl eher,” Charlie muttered. *
“What was that?” I asked.
“Nothing sir,” he said, still looking cross.
“So what are you planning to do with him?” Sunset questioned.
“Not too sure,” I confessed. “Since you’re from Equestria, I figured that you might have some idea.”
“How did he get here anyway?”
“Yes Charlie, explain to them how you got here,” and he did. He explained that he was spying for some queen, that his mission was to figure out what a train was carrying in which he found the mirror. He told of how he fell right through and followed the crusaders until he ended up on my front lawn.
“So, what do you actually look like?” Fluttershy asked.
“Just give me a moment,” I told her. “I’m nearly done with the portrait.” After the final touches of Mary Poppins being submerged underwater, I gave the guy the order to drop the disguise and placed the painting next to the other ones that he’d modeled for.
As soon as the guy combusted and Fluttershy ducked behind Ms. Shimmer, the Changeling returned to its Swiss cheese self. Both she and Shy took a few steps back.
“M-Maybe we should tell Twilight about this,” Fluttershy said to Sunset.
“What did you say?” Charlie asked. “Did you say Twilight? As in Princess Twilight?”
“Um… yes?”
“So there is a connection,” he muttered. Charlie glanced over to the glass door leading to the back yard and tried to make a run for it. With a wipe of my hand, the Changeling ran into a solid wall.
“Tisk, tisk Charlie, and here you were being so good,” I told him, shaking my head in disapproval. With a snap of my fingers, he found himself being chained to a seventy-pound ball. I turned to the girls, “So, any ideas on what to do with him?”
“I could send a message to Twilight to have some guards waiting from him on the other side,” Sunset said. “But what to do with him as of now, I’m not really sure.”
“Okay, and also, have any of you figured out about our field trip?”
“Oh, yes we have,” Fluttershy said. “We decided that we should go on this Saturday, well, all of us except for Sunset.”
I gave Sunset a confused look, “You’re not coming?”
She shook her head, “As tempting as it is, now that the portal is open, I’m… don’t feel ready go to back there yet. If I go over, Celestia would certainly know and I can easily predict that it won’t end well.”
“Alright, this Saturday huh? Well, I think I can do that. But that’s only a few days away, so in the meantime, what are you gonna do with him?” I pointed to the Changeling trying to drag the heavy metal ball around.
“Do I have a say in this?” he asked.
“Will you be good for now on?” I asked him like how a parent would ask their children after they've done something bad.
“Yes, yes, now would you let me out of these chains?”
“Oh very well, as long as you promise to behave yourself,” I heard him groan before agreeing to my request, thereby making the ball and chain disappear.
“Um, excuse me,” Fluttershy said, stepping out from her hiding place. “Are you sick?”
“Me? Sick?” Charlie asked clearly confused.
“Y-Your arms are full of holes.”
He looked down, “So? I've always had holes. And what are you anyway?”
“Um, a person.”
“So, is that what I am? A person?” he sighed. “This is turning into a really weird day for me.”
“Hmm. You know,” I cut in. “I think you should let Twilight know about this and tell us when it’s convenient for us to hand over Swiss cheese boy over to them. But until then, I think I might use our prisoner of circumstance for my classes tomorrow.”
“Like an assistant?” Fluttershy asked.
“Why not? The guy can change into anybody, and I don’t think we've got around to doing portraits yet. So how about this, you go tell Twilight while I’ll keep him here so he doesn't do any harm to anyone.”
“You sure you can handle it?” Shimmer asked.
“My dear, I have superpowers now, I think I could handle a spy.”
After all, is said and done, I turned back to Charlie, “So what do you eat anyway?”
“Just as one of them said, I feed on love.”
“But how do you do that? It’s not like you can suck it out of a straw or anything.”
Charlie face-palmed, “Ugh, this is going to be a long night.”