Goldhoof flew over to look the leader of the Pegasi in the eyes. "Commander Hurricane, it does not matter that you don't trust me! It's as clear as day! There is a traitor within the tribe, and they broke the water tower! Now we have no food from the Earth Ponies because they blame us for flooding their crops! You cannot honestly believe the right way to deal with this is to sit back and let the traitor get on with his or her plans!"
"Wow, Goldhoof is amazing!" Ditto murmured while she read the story. She was quickly becoming addicted to the series. Suddenly, she heard a clunk. She looked up to see Twilight muttering as she used her magic to grab a rag from nearby to swab up the ink she had just spilled all over the floor.
"Spike!" the unicorn called to her assistant. No less than two seconds later, the purple and green form of Spike pushed his way through to door. Twilight trotted over to him. '"I need more ink. I've just spilled my last container!" She looked over the list of what she planned yesterday, seeing that she forgot to mark off an item from the list. "Oh, how could I forget to place the order for new quills and ink yesterday?"'
"Calm down, Twilight." Spike said, turning to leave again. "I'll just go out to the store and get some more." The dragon closed the door behind him, and they could hear his footsteps going down the stairs and crossing the room below before a muffled closing of the front door. Ditto and Twilight stared at the door for awhile after Spike left.
Dusk sun was pouring through the windows, Ditto noticed, as a pretty blue jay flew by outside. She wished she could be outside with it. She was starting to get Cabin Fever from staying in the library for a week.
Ditto continued reading her book.
Commander Hurricane glared the golden 'pegasus'. "It is my decision how I protect my tribe."
Goldhoof growled deep in her throat. "If you refuse to take action, Commander, then you are a fool!"
Hurricane did not take kindly to being called a fool. She stood and stamped her hoof angrily. "How DARE you call me a fool? I choose when I take action and when I don't, and this is not the time! You, filly, are the fool!"
Goldhoof stuck her face into Hurricane's. "I am the fool, eh? I am NO FOOL! Why must you simply sit back and let this traitor destroy your tribe?"
Hurricane turned and trotted back to her seat. "Guards, take her away. I never want to see this mare again." As two guards jumped forward and grabbed Goldhoof, who was taken by surprise, Hurricane narrowed her eyes and growled. "We pegasi are smart. We would never accept a traitor like you."
Ditto blinked. She had thought of something. "Umm... Twilight?"
"Mmm?" the unicorn grunted, not taking her eyes off whatever she was working on.
"Why did you help me?"
Twilight looked up and blinked at the Changeling, surprise in her eyes. "Why do you ask?"
"i was just wondering."
"You would have died if we hadn't helped you. We couldn't leave anypony out to die when we could have prevented it."
Ditto stood and limped over to the purple unicorn. "We're not all that bad, you know."
"No, I'm afraid I don't know. What are you talking about?"
"Changelings. We're not that bad. We're not evil. It's not our fault that we need love to live. We just feed ourselves."
"I've seen you eat, Ditto. You can live off of other foods, can't you?"
Ditto shook her head. "We can eat, but it doesn't give us energy. Without love, we would all die off."
"But..." Twilight put a hoof to her chin and tried to think, "Isn't there possibly another way to feed yourselves without hurting ponies?"
"If there was, don't you think we would have found it?" Ditto pointed out. "You have no idea how hard it is, to find buildups of love, to find where a husband or wife has left for a few days, to come up with an excuse as to why we 'came back'."
"But, I thought you all kidnapped ponies."
"Queen Chrysalis was the only one who would." Ditto limped towards the bookcase. "We used to be very peaceful creatures, some of the older Changelings say. We just slipped in and got some love then left. We never hurt anypony. But when Queen Chrysalis took over, she wanted to rule all the ponies. I think it's some of the generals that convinced her to invade, and that ruling all ponies would help us. We have no choice but to obey her when she gives an order. I never wanted to hurt anypony, but I had to follow her orders." She turned her solid purple eyes back towards the unicorn. "I'm not like Queen Chrysalis, you know. I'm not a monster."
Twilight just sat blinking questioningly at the Changeling, silent.
After a few moments of silence, Ditto continued. "Changelings must seem so evil to other creatures, especially ponies, because of what we have done. But we need love to live. Should we all just die off for ponies' comfort?"
Twilight didn't answer.
Ditto, having found the book she was looking for, picked it off the shelf and limped over to her bed. It was "Changelings, Insects of Evil". She flipped to a certain page in the book and started reading, her Goldhoof book completely forgotten.
"Don't... don't you love each other?" Twilight said eventually.
Ditto was surprised. First, she had thought this conversation was over. Second, this was her exact thought soon after crashing into the library. She thought about her answer. "I'm not sure. I'm not sure we Changelings can feel love. I know we can feel other emotions- fear, saddness, anger- but I just don't think that we can feel love. Maybe that's why we feed off love, because we can't feel it ourselves. And when we can feel love, it's not the same. We can't feed off of it, and feeling love is unnatural, anyway. When we do feel love, it's considered Empathy Sickness."
"That makes sense."
Ditto was quiet for a bit longer, then spoke once more. "I was born different, you know. I never had wings. I'm a mutant. Most expected me to die off, but I lived. I was also born with purple eyes, which is very unnatural. And I'm not skilled with transforming into ponies. Most of the Changelings bullied me, hated me. I was never... well... accepted. I can't be accepted into the swarm because of who I am." Then she paused and glanced up at Twilight again. "But I can't be accepted here because of what I am."
And with that last statement hanging in the air, Spike threw the door open and ran over to Twilight with a box, most likely full of ink and quills.
----
Twilight sat awake in her bed, hooves folded under her, while she read a book by lamplight. She couldn't concentrate, however. What Ditto had said earlier still haunted her thoughts.
"I can't be accepted into the swarm because of who I am. But I can't be accepted here because of what I am."
The bookmare looked down at Ditto below, who was snoring softly. She had her "Goldhoof the Magical" book under her hooves, having fallen asleep while reading it.
"Am I being being judgmental? Am I not giving Ditto a chance because of what she is?" Twilight whispered to herself. She hated to think of herself as a mean pony, but the Changelings had done such terrible things! They had deceived everypony, cast spells on her brother, and attacked everpony in Canterlot!
"I'm not like Queen Chrysalis, you know. I'm not a monster."
Maybe she was just different. Maybe she wasn't like the other Changelings, maybe she... was innocent.
"No!" Twilight said aloud to herself. "I can't trust her, she could still be a spy! I can't trust a single Changeling after what they did to my brother, the Princess, and Canterlot!"
She threw the book down on the ledge next to her bed and rolled over, pulling the blanket over herself. She tried to drift off to sleep, but every once in awhile she would glance down at Ditto. She just seemed so... nice. So.. innocent. Not like the rest of her kind at all.
"Maybe... I should just give her a chance." Twilight murmured. Her horn glowed with magic as she levitated a blanket over to Ditto's bed and laid it across the Changeling. "I guess everypony deserves a chance."
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