//------------------------------// // I never really was on your side... or was I? // Story: My Life as a Changling // by rainbowPOOTIS //------------------------------// "So Gilda, like I said, feel free to go wander about town, me and Trixie have got a show to preform." Yes, after Trixie walked in on me experimenting with combinations of spells we agree that we could, together, achieve extreme levels of awesome... and more bits. "Nah, this I want to see!" Good to see even she's hyped for it. "Trixie is ready, let us begin." Walking out to the front of the trailer, and gathering crowd, Trixie started the show. "Fillies and gentlecolts of Dodge City! Watch in awe, as the Almighty Trixie blows you away with her magical prowess!" Watching from the top of the trailer, my cloaking spell active, I made a burst of fire erupt from behind Trixies, shocking the crowd. She started of simple, performing a few tricks I had shown her, like the ol' bit in your ear routine, before we began the finale. "Now behold, as the All Powerful Trixie, summons a monster most of you are familiar with!" Cue skeptical response from crowd. Still cloaked, I transformed and walked down to the front of the trailer, before waiting for Trixie to fire up her magic. When she did, I caused a pillar of fire to erupt around me, and while concealed by it, disabled my cloaking spell, and activated my shield spell, watching myself turn transparent. "THOU DARES TO AWAKEN THE NIGHTMARE!? SHOW THYSELF AT ONCE, SO WE MAY WELCOME THOU TO THY DOOM!" Ham mode engaged. Also, the crowd is utterly slack jawed at this point, because to them, Trixie had just summoned the ghost of Nightmare Moon "The Great and Powerful Trixie dares, Nightmare!" I spin to her, and fire a weak kinetic blast, which Trixie deflects easily. "The Supreme Trixie is unamused by this..." She fires of a similar kinetic blast, which I fake recoiling in pain from. "THOU MAY PROVE A WORTHY ADVERSARY AFTER ALL! VERY WELL, HAVE AT THOU!" Blocking a flurry of kinetic blasts from Trixie, I slowly began pretending to be pushed back. "TIS NOT POSSIBLE! WE WILL NOT BE BEATEN SO EASILY!" Just a we rehearsed, Trixie momentarily let up on the stream of blasts, only for a wave of fire to wash over, her, and for her to emerge unaffected. She then, using an illusion spell, appeared to fire a Kamehameha sized blast of magic. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooo..." I quickly reengaged the cloaking spell, and after disabling the shield spell, shifted into another from. The crowd burst into an uproar, everypony stomping on the ground, and multiple bits getting flung in front of Trixie, which she quickly levitated into her hat. "Trixie thanks you for your patronage, but it wouldn't have been possible without her sibling and assistant Mir- where is Mirage anyway?" At this point, I uncloaked behind her, and disguised as Fluttershy, snuck up on her. "Right behind you..." Trixie whirled around in fright, Before I shifted into the form we agreed I would use in public, Mirage. I basically looked like Trixie, complete with hat and cape, but I was purple with blue clothing instead of the other way around, and my cutie mark was a crescent moon wand, with a beige flare streak. "As Trixie was saying, this was only possible thanks to the mare of many forms, my sister, MIRAGE!" The crowd burst into applause, except for one pony, who was staring at me intently. It set off warning bells in my head, and I took the time to memorize what she looked like. A pegasus with a neon green mane, cyan eyes, and a white coat, and a cutie mark of a spider web. I gave a short bow. "The Elusive Mirage, gives you her thanks." And yes, I decided to sound like Fluttershy, except not a quite. After we both gave a few more bows, we retired to the trailer, where Gilda was waiting. "So, I see things went well." We both nodded, before Trixie went and deposited the bits she had collected into a sack. "Still, that was one of the most awesome things I've seen!" Returning to my base form, I noticed something... A very faint presence at the back of my mind, and it filled me with joy. "Why you so happy all of a sudden?" I hadn't noticed, but a dopey smile had indeed spread across my face. "I can feel her..." brain, stop, you're freaking me out. "She may not be ready yet, but I can feel her mind forming..." Trixie and Gilda were giving me WTF looks. What the hell was I just saying?! Shaking my head, I exhaled. Keep calm Shinkirō, keep calm... wait, Celestia said I was a Queen at one point... I look like an insect pony... And I'm feeling a mind forming... Oh bloody hell... a hive mind!? Jusssssst greaaaat... I really don't want to start referring to myself in plural. "- Shinkirō! You there?" Trixie was waving her hoof in my face. I blink. "I'm here all right, just thinking about something... you know what, you two go out and buy something, I'm taking a break." Walking to my quarters, I smiled upon seeing my eggs, and curled up in a corner. The sound of somepony knocking on the door, however, caused me to go into high alert. With a burst of flames, I resumed my identity of Mirage, and went to open the door. It was that same pony from earlier. "The Elusive Mirage would think Trixie had established we don't do autographs." "Not what I came here for." "Then Mirage does not want what you are selling." "Enough with the act." I felt myself tense up. "Are you accusing the Elusive Mirage of being a fraud!?" she sighed. "Enough with the pony act." "...Very well, step into my web, said the spider to the fly." The slightly startled look on her face made me smirk. Once she had entered, I shut the door behind me, and watched as she went up in emerald flames, revealing a green maned changeling. She looked quite different from me. She lacked a tail, and had more mosquito like wings, and only had a pair of fangs, more then likely as a holdout weapon instead of for eating. "Ah, you wish to speak to the real me." I let my disguise dissolve, before opening my wings to let my tail unfurl, and yawned, revealing my numerous kinds of teeth to her. I smirked evilly at the look of fear on the changelings face, now that I towered over her. "Wha... what are... what are you doing here? Please don’t eat me.” I managed not to show disgust at that implication, and instead tried to act like it had not fazed me. "Oh, its simple really. Trixie and her friend helped save my life. Between them and me, we managed to construct this here mobile lodging, and shes been so kind as to let me live here, in exchange, I help her with her performances, the question is, why are you here?" "Sc... scouting, for my Q... Queen!" My grin morphed into a full fledged slasher smile, as I let my tail hover menacingly overhead. I was so going to milk her for information. "Your Queen?" “Qu... Queen Chrysalis.” Chrysalis..? Aha! I knew I was forgetting something! The wedding, Chrysalis would invade it! But... I have to tread lightly, lest the butterfly effect bite me in the ass. "Tell me, why would you risk meeting me, when you might get caught because somepony decided to snoop in here?" "As... as soon as I relayed the fact that there was a member of another... another hive to my Queen, she directed me to scare the scout off... B-but you're no scout!" "Alright. You got me. I'm a Queen... OH GROSS!" I apparently just made the poor changeling piss herself. "Now I'm going to have to clean that up!" "DON'T HURT ME!" "Woah there, do you have any idea how freaking hard it is to get rid of blood stains?" Yes, I was taking  the whole 'evil psychopath' thing and going with it. She looked seconds away from fainting, when her eyes suddenly started glowing a sickly green. "So, a Queen, helping ponies? You disgust me." That was definitely Chrysalis' voice coming from the scouts mouth. The bitch finally showed herself, huh? "Oh, so now I'm worth your your time." "Tell me. Why shouldn't I have every single drone within my territory hunt you down?" Oh fuck, gotta think fast! "Because you'd run a high risk of revealing yourself. Now my dear Chrysalis, I have a proposition for you..."