Lyra hummed happily, bouncing her way up the street in a manner very much resembling Pinkiepie. 'My first date in months!' She mentally screamed in delight as she rounded he last corner before arriving at Amber's new home.
Skidding to a stop she took a deep breath, doing her best to calm down and not appear to overeager. Unfortunately she had stopped to ask a friend what to do on her date and they had wound up drinking coffee together as they talked. 'I really should have told the Batista I was joking. I hope 12 shots of espresso isn't a deadly dose.'
The second she felt calm Lyra trotted down the street slowing down for a few moments in confusion as she spotted Amber with Scootaloo of all ponies. The two appeared to be practicing martial arts, each was squared off against the other, and wielding what looked to be a blunted wooden spear. Lyra remembered Scootaloo being interested in learning how to fight, and she assumed that Amber knew how to, but the real question was much more simple. “Scootaloo, when did you learn to stand like that?”
Scoots yelped as her name was called, the distraction allowing Amber to get a jab in and knock her onto her left flank. “Ow! Ah, pony feathers...” She cursed.
Amber shook her head, and held out a hoof to help Scoots back up, “You need to focus better. Also dodge. Learn to dodge.” Turning her head to face Lyra, Amber smiled and plopped down onto all four hooves, “Hey! You're all ready to go out then?”
Lyra nodded, “Yep! But seriously Scoots, when did you learn to do that?”
“Amber taught me.” the orange pegasus replied, “It really dose make fighting easier to know how to balance like that. I could probably make the Canterlot University boxing team if I could just get stepping back on two legs down.”
“You'll get used to it. Oh and for the record Lyra knows.” Amber informed, levitating the gear the two had been using to practice back into her storage box.
“Oh. Well that's good.” Scoots grinned and closed her eyes in concentration, a thin line of green flame rippling over her fur as she pushed her joints back into the normal shapes for a pony.
Lyra grinned, “You taught her how to shift properly? That's awesome!”
“I know right?” Scootaloo grinned widely.
“She has a ways to go still, but it looks like she was given the full shape changing capacity. She just lacks the instinct to control it. Hold on, dose the whole town know you can do that?” Amber asked curiously.
“Yeah. I found out I could do it at a party Pinkie was throwing. So word spread like wildfire. Took a week to prove I wasn't a changeling. I guess I should let you two go then. More practice tomorrow?” Scoots asked.
Before Amber could reply a cyan pegasus with a rainbow colored mane and tail dropped from the sky, landing with enough speed to be missed if a pony blinked. “There you are Scoots! Since Twi's still out of town I figured we could go get dinner at the Hay Burger tonight.”
“Sure mom! Oh! This is my new friend Amber, she's teaching me a fighting style from her home country.” Scootaloo replied.
Amber winced, Scoots earlier description of her mom as being able to beat the crap out of her seemed quite accurate. 'There's no way I could visually track that pegasus at her top speed, and a punch from her at even half her full speed could likely go clean through my skull.'
Rainbow Dash looked over her shoulder at Amber, turned around and offered her a slim smile, “Oh, hey there.”
Amber held her hoof out to shake, but quickly pulled it back in holding I to her barrel and offering a bow. 'That was close! What the fuck brain, yes just shake hands with a princess's wife.' “I am most honored to meet you, your highness.”
Dash blinked, “Um, I'm not royalty.”
“You are wed to one of the rulers of this Kingdom. While I understand that Duskvale's nobility has a different hierarchy from Equestria's, I assume that being wed to a monarch is still a mater of status. As a former Royal Guard I have to respect your position.” Amber explained.
“Well when you put it like that I guess you have a point,” Dash said giving Amber a smile, “But well we are pretty chill in Ponyville, and Twi actually made it illegal to refer to her by her title within city limits unless it's official business. So you don't need to bother with the whole 'praise the royals' thing. Besides, I'm awesome on my own merits.”
Lyra cleared her through, “I don't mean to be rude but the two of us have plans for dinner as well.”
Scootaloo leaned over and whispered something to Dash who grinned lewdly. “Oh! Heh. Well have fun you two.”
She and Scoots walked off down the street, talking about each others' day as they went. Amber smiled as they went, “That was the most refreshing encounter with nobility I have ever had.”
“Twi and Dash are just regular ponies.” Lyra explained, “Twilight was appointed to her position, and she married Dash for normal people reasons not some horse-apple of a reason like most nobles do.” Giving Amber a smile and a little eager bounce Lyra asked, “So what are you in the mood for? There are all kinds of places in town to go eat at... I mean I know you can't eat much but you have to like some pony foods right?”
Amber nodded, “I like soup. We do eat physical food sometimes, you know, if there isn't enough to go around. I've never found a pony food like Broth, but soup is close and some is even halfway decent.”
“There's a cafe on Stirrup Street which has good soup, it's not too far way.” Lyra said excitedly trotting off in the direction of the restaurant.
As the two walked they did their best to keep up a simple conversation. Lyra did her best to avoid any subjects which might accidentally get Amber to say something somepony shouldn't hear but after a short while she couldn't help but ask, “So you're teaching Scootaloo how to fight. Where did you learn?”
“Why are you asking?” Amber counter questioned.
“Well, almost no pony in Equestria really can fight. Even the guards are a little poorly trained. It's interesting to know somepony who can.” Lyra explained.
“Well, I was trained to fight since I was five. Pretty normal for my species really. High Queen Polygyne did make a few changes to the standard training for my brood though. The idea was to try and train us to more easily take over territory. She was gearing up to drive some of the monsters out of her mountains to allow a Batpony village room to expand. That sort of thing is necessary where I'm from. In Equestria you are perfectly safe aside from the odd creature attack. You've tamed your kingdom almost completely, and well since your ruler can simply hit any nation she docent like with solar flares no one dares make war on your country.” Amber sighed.
Looking at Lyra she continued, “It's not very fun. I guess you read about battles and stuff in school or for fun. But it really isn't fun. There is a primal joy to it and I have always loved wining a duel, but an actual fight for your life sucks. Especially if you get injured.”
Lyra nodded, “Well yeah... but still, it's a rare skill to me. That's interesting. Besides knowing somepony who could save me from a timberwolf is pretty cool!”
Amber nodded in agreement. “Yes. It is nice to protect your home and people. That can have an element of fun to it. But the actual fighting is horrible. Especially in mass combat. I only was in a real battle once, and well um, it didn't end well for us.”
“How bad was it?” Lyra asked in morbid curiosity.
“I got goomba stomped by a dragon, and probably got my Queen killed because I couldn't delay the beast long enough.” Amber answered in a flat tone.
“... Oh...” Lyra's ears drooped sadly.
“It's fine, that was a really long time ago. It is the worst thing that's happened to me recently sure, but I've had worse.” Amber said trying to cheer her date back up. “How about a less depressing topic? I invented a spell which modifies your normal telekinesis to enhance your hooves grip using a five fold manipulation point system.”
Lyra made a face as she attempted to understand what Amber meant. Suddenly she beamed a massive grin, “You made a spell which lets you use your magic like hands?”
“Yeah. I figured you might like it. You saw me playing my guitar, that's the spell I was using. There are a few advantages over normal telekinesis, you can put your own muscle strength into the motion and it's less mentally taxing... but well you know, touch range.”
“You totally have to teach me how you do it!” Lyra informed, she opened her mouth to continue speaking but stopped, frowning deeply as she spotted two ponies at the cafe they were headed to.
“Ugh... let's find someplace else.” Lyra mumbled.
“Why? Is that it up ahead? It doesn't look buis-”
Lyra pointed with one hoof towards a cream colored mare with a blue and pink curly mane and tail, “That's my ex, and her replacement for me.”
“Oh, I'm sorry.” Amber looked where Lyra was pointing, stopping in surprise. “Hold on a moment...”
Lyra lowered her hoof, “What?”
“Stay here if you like, I need to get closer. Something smells.” Amber answered starting to trot foreword.
“What do you mean? Nothing looks-”
“No Lyra, I meant smells literally. I'll be back in a second.” Amber slowly trotted down the street, doing her best to look inconspicuous and thus failing horribly at it.
She moved closer to the mare Lyra had pointed out and her blue friend. Amber sniffed the air as she walked, trying to see if she really smelled what she thought she was, or if she simply was remembering the scent. As she got within a dozen yards of the two ponies Amber nodded to herself, 'Yep. That's a changeling sent trail.' she confirmed. 'But who made it?'
The trail led directly to the blue furred mare. She didn't look out of place, just a normal earth pony. She had the standard pony build, strait banged, shortly cut green mane and tail, green eyes, a cutiemark in the shape of a green bean pod. But the smell. It came from her. Amber narrowed her eyes, ether she had recently spent a few hours with a changeling in her natural form or...
Amber looked down at the street for a moment, shutting her eyes tightly in the hopes of preventing any of the tell-tell blue glow of a hive link from showing. She opened herself up, searching for an active hive mind, and found one. 'Thorn? How the hell is she still alive? Did her majesty make it out then?' A smile formed on Amber's face as a small spark of hope filled her heart.
The blue furred mare sputtered, some of her drink splashing Bon-bon's cheek. “Amber?” The mare choked, her head twisting to the side to look directly at Amber. Bon-bon didn't react at all.
Amber blinked, severing the connection before trotting over to the table and sitting down, “Hey Thorn. Long time no see.”
“You're telling me! I thought you were dead. We should talk later, my marefriend and I are on a date.” Thorn smiled, her eyes flashed green. Bon-bon nodded dumbly.
'Crap. She's infiltrating... I wonder if she has more then the one puppet.' “Sure. When and where?” Amber asked.
“Sunset, our house on Oat way. It's number 19.” Thorn decided.
“No problem, I'll be there... Just one question, I'm moving in here. I'm not encroaching on any territory am I?” Amber asked trying to sound casual.
Thorn winced, “Oy... Look Amber, deception isn't your strong suit. Maybe take some acting lessons sometime ok? I'll tell you everything later. I just want to enjoy lunch now.”
Amber nodded, “Ok. See you later.”
Turning around Amber trotted back into the street doing her best to merge with the crowed before looking about for Lyra, jumping a foot in the air when she appeared right beside her. “Ah! Don't do that!”
“Sorry... I um...” Lyra pursed her lips for a moment before asking, “What was that about?”
“Oh, the blue mare is a friend of mine. Why don't we go to my house? I'll tell you everything.” Amber offered.
“I really couldn't care less about that love steeling meanie.” Lyra huffed.
“You kind of hit the nail right on the head there Lyra.” Amber said giving her a serious look, “Trust me, you want to hear this.”
“Fine...” Lyra sighed.
The two went back to Amber's house and as soon as Lyra was inside Amber shut the door, looking out through the glass to make sure they had not been followed. “Ok. We should be clear.” Turning to Lyra Amber informed, “Thorn, the blue mare, is a changeling. Also your ex is currently her puppet.”
“What?” Lyra asked her eyes narrowing.
“I'm not joking. I swore I smelled a sent trail, so I followed it in case someling other than me lived here. Turns out one dose. Her pony name is Rose Thorn, she was one of the Royal Guards too.” Amber sighed.
“What?” Lyra's lips pulled back in a snarl.
Amber held up her hooves, “Don't get mad at me!”
“I'm not mad at you! I'm mad at that brainwashing dungheap!” Lyra shouted, she slammed one hoof into the ground, “I am going to go squish that bug right now!”
“Don't do that!” Amber warned, “At least not yet.”
“Why not? I've had one of you controlling me before, I know what it's like to be trapped in your own head while you do things you aren't wanting to do.” Lyra's eyes widened for a moment in realization. “Maybe Bonnie didn't break up with me! I'll bet that cockroach made her do it!”
Amber's eyes narrowed, “Hey! Knock that off. We aren't even insects!”
Lyra growled, “Sorry! But-”
Amber paced the room as she spoke. “I know, stay mad. You can use that later, but we need to know what's going on. Thorn was always a good warrior, but she lacked initiative. If she hasn't changed in the last decade, which she might have, she is probably working for someone else.”
“What so changelings are attacking again?” Lyra asked.
“Maybe. Or maybe it's just a few of us trying to survive.” Amber bit her lip, “Look... If it's just Thorn here I'll help you get your marefriend back. If it's more than that well that depend son what's happening.”
“Wait, you found her by smell. If we go around town you could smell if there were others.”
“No I couldn't. I found her because she was laying a scent trail. Which is bad, that's usually ment to direct Drones around a hive. Also our shapeshifting is complete, I smell like a unicorn right now not a Changeling. Besides Thorn is a Harvester, she's very adept at taking shapes and creating identities. She could just go to ground now that she knows I'm here, assuming she thinks I'm a threat.” Amber kicked one hoof against the floor in thought.
“So what do we do then?” Lyra asked eager for some sort of plan.
“I need to know why she is here, then we can plan. She asked me to meet her at sundown at a house somewhere in town. Can you show me where 19 Oat Way is?”
Lyra growled, “That's Bonnie and my home. I could take you there with my eyes shut.”
“Good... Because I'm trying to retire, and I'm also really rusty at military operations. Tell me everything about the house. If this is a trap I want to know where the exits are.'
Lyra nodded and began to fill Amber in.