//------------------------------// // 9: Not at All According to Plan // Story: Reformation of the Hives // by law abiding pony //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash stood within one of the two medium sized dry-docks normally used for freighter construction. The yawning well-lit chamber was alight with activity as drones of all colors worked on the metal beast housed within. Sadly for Rainbow Dash, it was the mostly fangless tender vessel known as the P.R.N. Breadbasket that had only two light defensive guns on the ventral and dorsal sides. Like its sister ship the Cornucopia, it was painted with inverted colors of purple and blue trimmings on brass colored primary paint compared to the actual warships. The ship was several meters shorter than the Deception and thinner too. What set it apart from the Cornucopia, however, was the primary cargo bay that ran the entire center of the ship had both of its port and starboard doors pulled open with large docking booms extending outward making the ship look like a cross. Twilight studied the Breadbasket from not only her eyes, but that of the shipwrights putting the modifications through the tests for deployment. “You can’t help but to see the irony in this,” Twilight half teased her resolutely stoic sister. “Converting a tender vessel to a gunship carrier even after always saying the Longshot is a miserable warship?” She cast Rainbow a wry smirk. “What would Aegis say to this?” Rainbow arched an extremely sardonic eyebrow at Twilight while flicking her tail in anxiety. “She wouldn’t dare say a word. You know as well as I do that until the Deception can be repaired the gunships are our biggest weapons.” “Still don’t trust the bi-planes to get the job done?” Twilight asked with more seriousness than Rainbow expected. She had to take a moment to remember that Twilight really trusted her on such matters. Even if it should have been expected, it still helped Rainbow’s mood and pride. “No, I don’t. They’re fast, I’ll give them that, but there will always be a need for big guns.” “To beat back any big things Polybia or Grogar might throw at us?” Twilight said with more statement than question. “That, and it’s the perfect deterrent.” Rainbow gazed out to the west staring past the dry-dock’s walls. “I don’t think the chimp-cats would have backed down at the sight of a few gnats.” Thinking on it for a bit, Twilight eventually nodded. “I can see the logic in that. How soon will the Breadbasket be ready?” “Tonight actually,” Rainbow replied with a touch of pride. “The engineers have been pulling triple shifts, so we’ll be able to fly out at first light tomorrow.” “Good… good,” Twilight said at length while rubbing her chin. “The sooner we take care of Grogar and Polybia, the sooner we can fully focus on the P.C.E.” Both queens stood in silence for a few moments, simply to take comfort in each other and enjoy the ever present sounds of industry. Yet the moment didn’t last when Blitz pinged both of them. Rainbow was always happy to hear her royal daughter’s voice and wished she was there to physically hug her. she half growled at the recent sabotage of her favorite warship. Twilight added. Even through the hive mind, Twilight’s fatigue was painfully evident. Blitz replied with a note of good humor. Twilight’s ears perked up at the name of her friend and smiled. Twilight locked in on her son’s voice in the Link and slipped her consciousness on through. Rainbow Dash was about to leave it at that, but ended up shrugging. Meh, since Flare’s already there, I might as well see what this favor is. The dock crews got it handled. The two queens found themselves in Twilight’s old condo within Canterlot Castle. Much of the old architecture was the same as it had been for centuries; marble walls and floor, grand windows, the massive timewheel, and the sheer scale of books upon books. The early morning sun cast light on several recent additions, namingly Blitz’s worktable covered in minor gadgets that she tinkered with to distract herself from the P.C.E. issue, and a few clockwerks were scattered about, standing at attention or carrying various items for their creators. Sitting on a sofa in that awkward style that Twilight knew her for was the familiar mint green unicorn Lyra Heartstrings with her blue and pink maned earth pony friend (whose name escaped Twilight at the moment). The instant Lyra saw Rolled Scroll’s eyes change she ran over and hugged the puppeted drone. “Twilight! Ah, it’s been forever, you silly bug you, how’ve you been?!” Twilight took a moment to recover from the hug attack, but managed to return it before separating. Rainbow Dash snickered at the whole thing from Blue Flare’s position a few paces away in a chair. “About as well as can be expected given recent events.” Lyra’s beaming smile weakened a little. “But fine otherwise, what’s up?” “It’s always so weird hearing you speak with a stallion’s voice,” Lyra snickered, earning a mildly impatient half frown from her old friend. “Anyway, I know you’re busy these days, and I wouldn’t call you up like this for just a social visit.” Lyra faltered a bit as if her carefully planned sales pitch was useless. It didn’t help her that she only just realized Twilight had asked her a question. “Well, you know, my life’s about as normal as it gets for me.” “So not at all?” Twilight teased with a growing smile. “Ha! Don’t you know it!” They both giggled for a few moments, causing Lyra to fall into small talk. “I just finished up a concert tour from Fillidelphia and the like.” She turned to the earth mare. “You should have seen Bon Bon when she got so drunk she clambered onto the bar that night and danced with a shot glass in her-” Bon Bon shoved her way into the conversation, bumping Lyra enough to derail her story, and gave Twilight a friendly smile and nod. The two were more friendly acquaintances than actual friends, but that wasn’t a free pass for social embarrassment. “Good to meet you again, Queen Twilight Sparkle,” Bon Bon bowed and repeated the greeting to Rainbow Dash. “Likewise,” Rainbow added briefly. Twilight said much the same before returning her attention to Lyra. “I’d love to catch up, but as you guessed, I’ve been way too busy lately. What did you need?” Lyra rubbed her foreleg nervously, but made a valiant attempt to keep her expression positive. “I’ve seen Aegis and Blitz walking around on two legs for a few years and I was hoping you could do your changeling transformation stuff to give my hands back.” Both queen stared wide eyed at first Lyra, then each other, then back at Lyra. “What do you mean ‘give them back’?” Twilight asked with confusion written all over her. Lyra took a deep breath to steady herself for possible rejection. “You know that mirror you keep under lock and key in your castle? I’m originally from the world on the other side of that.” For the longest moment, Twilight stared at Lyra with a blank face only blinking once. “What?” Her head jerking back and her eyes shrank. “Wait, what?!” “I know you’ve at least been researching the mirror, if all that equipment around it is any indication,” Lyra added with a knowing tone, yet kept her face friendly. “I figured either you or one of your kids had to have found a way to go through at least once, am I right?” “Aahhh…” Twilight sweated a bit at the question. That was supposed to be classified! “This is what I get for giving you nearly free reign in my castle,” Twilight glowered. “Yes, I’ve been to Canterlot High and beyond several times now. But! I also saw that world’s version of you at the school, and that Lyra acted like she’d never met me before the first time.” “That’s because we switched places, like, a long time ago before we started at the School for Gifted Unicorn. You remember that time I asked you to help me relearn how to use magic after an accident? You even got Moondancer to help with that.” It took a few moments, but Twilight remembered the incident quite clearly. “Yeah, you just said you got zapped by some bad guy. It was like teaching a foal, a weird experience, since I was barely a filly myself.” Unlike her sister, Rainbow Dash was giving Bon Bon far more attention. The cream colored mare had none of the surprised expression Rainbow expected of her. So she’s here for support rather than truth dumping on everypony at once, eh? “So why did you and your clone switch worlds?” Lyra let off a nervous giggle and fumbled with her hooves as she sat down. “Well, it may seem silly to everypony, but it’s a common thing for girls that were my age back then to love unicorns and ponies in general. So when I stumbled my way into this world and became a unicorn, I was ecstatic. Long story short, I bump into this world’s Lyra and she had a thing for hands, so she went to my world.” “What about your friends and family?” Blitz asked with sudden worry about Lyra’s seeming abandonment. “You gave all that up?” “Not by choice,” Bon Bon jumped up in her friend’s defense. “She didn’t know about the thirty moons thing.” Lyra nodded sadly. “The two of us bounced in and out of the portal for those two days, she brought bits and a couple of magic trinkets to that world and I brought some of my father’s engineering books to show off tech I couldn’t carry with me. After the portal closed, I thought I was stuck here forever, so I took up my other self’s life, and I bet she did to mine.” Now I get what she meant by getting her hands back. “Well I set it so the portal can be activated at will,” Twilight announced with a reassuring smile. “I wish you had asked me sooner, I wouldn’t have kept you from going back home.” Lyra teased a lock of her hair for a bit. “I would like to see how my original family’s doing, but Equestria is my home now.” She smiled a Bon Bon. “Besides, I couldn’t leave my new friends and family.” What understanding Rainbow had gotten from her sister’s offer was now totally blown away. “If you want your hands back, but don’t want to go home, then what do you want?” She can’t possibly be asking for what I think she is. Here goes nothing, Lyra mused worriedly as she turned to face Blitz. “I want to be reborn into a biped like her.” The room went dead silent. Lyra tried to act like she wasn’t nervous while both queens were dumbstruck by the request. For her part, Blitz was caught between surprise and a touch of flattery. However the reality of it all put a damper on her mood. “Sorry to tell you, Lyra, but that would probably be a bad idea.” “I already thought it over for years since seeing you and Proto-Queen Aegis running around for the past couple of years. I-I’ll pay handsomely, of course, I know it’s expensive.” Lyra glanced at Bon Bon for support. Her confidence returned at her friend’s nod. “It’s not that simple,” Twilight explained as she tried to let her friend down easy. “The rebirth process can only create a changeling, it’d be impossible for you to remain a pony.” “I’ve already thought it over with both my parents and Bon Bon here,” Lyra countered with a stoic grimace. She still glanced at Bon Bon for support, and was thankful when her friend nodded. “Besides, I already went through one species change, I think I’ll do even better a second time.” It helped that my parents in both world are hippies. Twilight half-glared at Lyra’s attempt to be dismissive. “And what of the memory loss I told you about? Putting it all in memory crystals isn’t the same, and I’m not in the habit of having unplanned princesses.” Rainbow was snickering so loudly she got a chastising glare from her daughter and sister. Rainbow just rolled her eyes and let Lyra say her piece. “Y-yeah, that’s a problem, sure,” Lyra stumbled a bit after Rainbow’s outburst, but she had been working on this pitch for years. “But I know you’ve been working on that problem. You’ve fixed it at least a little right?” I don’t remember telling her that. Twilight’s glower soured, but ultimately she didn’t deny it. “A little. The research is embarrassingly frustrating. The brain is so enormously complex that the rumors from the Imperial thestrals kinda scares me as to what the royal family of the Moonlit Empire were doing to their test subjects. However…” Twilight briefly debated with herself on whether or not she should even say this next part. “I’ve managed to get it so a drone rebirth can still retain one year’s worth of memories.” More like stumble on it, she mused irritably. “Everything else is wiped clean.” Blitz remembered being part of that research team. “You can put everything else into memory crystals of course, but it’s just not the same.” “I know the risks,” Lyra pleaded towards Twilight. “Come on Twilight, you know me! You really think I’d ask for something like this without knowing what was involved?” She was inches from getting on her knees to beg, and Twilight saw that in Lyra’s misting eyes and slightly quivering lower lip. Even so, Twilight studied her old friend for a long minute of silence before sighing sadly. “Lyra, because it’s you, I’m going to try to ignore the fact that you hid this from me for so long.” The mint green mare’s ears wilted at that. “You aren’t the first person to come to us for rebirth or some form of body modification after Aegis revealed her current incarnation.” Twilight tried to say this next part as gently as possible with an expression to match. “But I’m going to have to tell you the same thing I’ve told everypony else: no.” Lyra forced herself to remain strong, hoping for some argument to come to mind. To buy time, she tried looking to Rainbow Dash who vigorously shook her head. “Uh uuuuhh, no way. I’m not fighting Twilight on this one.” To the surprise of the changelings and Lyra herself, Bon Bon stepped up towards Twilight. “Memory isn’t the only problem, you’re worried about political backlash aren’t you?” Lyra curled her lip in a sneer at no one in particular while Twilight nodded sagely. “Exactly. We just got attacked by the P.C.E. Rebirthing a pony is the worst thing we can do right now.” Rainbow gave a dismissive snort. “I can just see the headlines now of the Pony Inquirer: Changelings Advance Conspiracy to Convert Equestria.” She started rubbing her temples expecting a headache to pop up at just the thought of it. Lyra gave Twilight a stern glare of steel. “You’re not really going to let those punks dictate what you do, are you?” “It’s not a question of-” Twilight started but Lyra stomped her hoof for her to stop. “It is, Twilight! You can say you’re not negotiating with those terrorists all you like to the press, but everypony knows that you tiphoof around trying not to anger the P.C.E. Why do you think they’ve grown so bold lately? They’ve got you running scared of them!” Rainbow Dash was thrown into dark brooding by the scathing statement while Twilight tried to remain diplomatic. “Maybe we should be, Lyra,” Twilight added with a glint of steel in her tone. “They brought down my flagship in a single act! We need to be more careful now more than ever, and poking the beehive by rebirthing you would be like shooting ourselves in the hoof! And believe me, it would be front page news for somepony.” Bon Bon hugged Lyra trying to get her friend to calm down and try again later when Rainbow Dash jumped off the couch and marched over to properly join the conversation. “No. Actually, I think that’s the last thing we need to do!” Everyone, even Blitz was rendered confused. “I’m not one for politics, but I know battle. The P.C.E. is just like another army. What little we’ve gotten out of the interrogations have told me they’ve wised up since the monastery. They’ve built up, they’ve planned, they’ve recruited, they’ve done it all right under our noses. I say provoking them is exactly what we need to do, and rebirthing Lyra would be perfect for that.” Twilight gave her sister a bewildered head tilt. “I don’t think I heard you correctly. Are you saying we should do the exact opposite of what we’ve been doing for the past decade, a plan that Celestia herself said was the best plan!?” “Times change, sis,” Rainbow countered with a sidelong smirk. “Everypony who’s level headed enough to see we’ve got the best interests of the Alliance at heart is cool with us. The ones left are die hards who will never see the truth.” Lyra and Bon Bon felt the two queens were inadvertently pushing them out of the conversation as Twilight pressed a hoof against her sister’s chest. “They’d say it’s about rutting time we showed some backbone!” Rainbow rebuked by shoving the hoof off before begrudgingly switching to the hive mind. Twilight countered weakly. Rainbow snorted in distaste. Twilight felt like she was punched in the gut. Some part of her wanted to believe her hive’s actions over the years had at least put some inkling of doubt in even the worst members of the P.C.E. Rainbow stated firmly, making Twilight wilt. Rainbow gave Twilight a smirk somewhere between sarcastic and revulsion. Twilight admitted to herself that she hadn’t listened in on the prisoner questionings. Rainbow’s words struck a chord with what she really hoped wasn’t true about the P.C.E. mindset. “Just-just give me a moment, please, I need to think.” Twilight shuffled over to the couch, her eyes unseeing as she mulled over some additional information Rainbow shared with her covering the interrogations. Knowing how her sister could get, Rainbow Dash decided to leave her sister to her thoughts. As much as she loved the idea of provoking the most reviled of enemies, a position Rainbow originally assumed only Chrysalis would ever occupy, her honed military mind knew she had to plan carefully. That’s assuming Twilight does continue to try and do it all herself again. Rainbow stepped away from Twilight to speak with Lyra. The unicorn’s worried yet hopeful face belied the fear of rejection. “Yo, Lyra, let me just get this straight, for the record.” Lyra nodded quickly while Blitz intently watched on since she had been out of the loop during her queens’ argument. “You’re seriously hard core on getting hands and two legs back, knowing full well that there’s more to being a changeling than getting wings and wall walking right?” Seeing her chance, Lyra put on a brave face, only glancing at Bon Bon for a brief moment for her approval. “I am. I’ve talked with a whole bunch of your drones over the years. I know I’ll most likely have to be connected to the hive mind, and be rather dependent on it.” Rainbow Dash looked back at her sister who started half listening. “You will, yes. My sister and I have a reputation to maintain, and while you may be an old friend of Twilight’s, that doesn’t give you a free pass to start acting like a fool.” Lyra nodded, having already long since accepted that condition. “There’s the compulsive loyalty that goes with it, cause I guess there’s no chance of me being a queen is there?” Rainbow’s thoughts darkened, but kept her outward expression neutral. “Do you want to be a queen?” “Pah, Lyra’s already a drama queen,” Bon Bon joked in a poor attempt to lighten the room. While Rainbow let the corner of her lips turn up, it was Lyra’s exasperated ‘stop it’ face that made her cringe. “Well, I mean… I’ll be quiet now.” “Anyway,” Lyra started again, “no I don’t.” She couldn’t help but to sweat under Rainbow’s scrutiny, knowing full well the queen was probing her with her empathy. “I’m sure you two find it rewarding, but I really want to avoid having foals.. or nymphs in that case.” Good. If that’s what she wanted I’d give her the door, pissing off the P.C.E. or not. When Rainbow didn’t show any disapproval, Lyra felt her hopes rising. “And then there’s the compulsive loyalty every drone has,” she counted off out of a very old habit with her hooves. “But everypony knows you guys are in tight with the princesses, so it’s not like you’d ever betray Equestria. Well, everypony with half a brain knows that anyway,” she added with a short lived chuckle. “Plus there’s the love feeding, and where a female drone makes wax, and then-.” Lyra paused when Rainbow Dash gave a mildly bewildered look. She couldn’t help but to fume a little. “Hey, I did my homework here, I know what I’m asking for here.” “It’s true,” Bon Bon added in as she stepped up to be beside her long-time friend. “I made her wait and think on it for the past two years to make sure she wasn’t being impulsive.” Twilight cut her musings short after hearing Bon Bon. “Really?” She turned to Lyra. “Even with Rainbow’s idea sounding better the more I think about it, I was still going to say no. You always jumped at things and forgot about the details too easily, Lyra.” “Well not this time!” Lyra flared with surging hope. “I admit Bonny here,” she wrapped the earth mare into a squeezing side hug, “made me really do some research on it, but even with all the other stuff, I still want to go through with it.” Twilight mulled over the idea some more while meeting her sister’s gaze. A conversation passed between them that needed no words, not even the hive mind. It lasted barely a minute before Twilight eventually faced the thus far silent proto-queen. “Blitz, since Lyra is a musician, I think it would be best if she was reborn under you.” “So you’re really going along with this?” Blitz had to ask. Her eyes danced between her two queens before throwing her hands up in surrender. “Alright, sure, but you gotta be willing to work outside of music,” Blitz directed at Lyra in some hope that she could persuade the unicorn away from this plan of action. “You can do what you want in your free time, but we don’t operate like ponies. You’ll be free for about a year or so, but after that Aegis and I will be starting to build our hive. I won’t be able to spare anypony to take up a career in music until Tradewinds is on it’s hooves. Are you sure that’s what you want?” I half hoped I’d be allowed to keep living in Ponyville, or at least Phoenix's Roost where I could still focus on music… Lyra forced her ears to stay upright, refusing to let the changelings catch even a whiff of doubt. “If that’s what it takes to stay in this work and get my hands back, then I accept!” Sensing that one of the changelings might use some other means to dissuade her from her course, Lyra summoned a rolled letter, her trump card. “And before you say it, I already got signatures of endorsement from both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!” Everyone, even Bon Bon was startled by the revelation. “When did you do that!?” As Twilight unfurled the letter to read, with Rainbow Dash hovering over her shoulder, Lyra gave Bon Bon a smirked with half-lidded eyes. “Just a little extra insurance, you’re the one who gave me two years to think on it and build a case.” Bon Bon pulled in to hiss into Lyra’s ear. “And you never thought to tell me you were bothering the princesses about this!? Why didn’t they tell Twilight or Rainbow?” Lyra rebuffed her friend’s exasperated frown with a playful grin. “I asked them not to, and that I wanted the reveal to wait until your two-year waiting period was up.” Twilight said to Rainbow with an impressed tone. Rainbow Dash took the letter as the final straw needed to put her plan into motion. She looked to her daughter and Lyra. “Alright, we’ll do it, but,” she warned before Lyra could jump for joy, “are you willing to play this up to the media and likely become a target of the P.C.E?” Even with the warning, and Bon Bon’s surge of worry to the point where she huddled near her partner, Lyra didn’t wilt from her manic grin and swishing tail. “You’re going to use that to give them a good thrashing right? Payback for the Deception and all that.” “That’s right,” Twilight reluctantly confirmed even though the plan made her nearly sick with worry. Rainbow countered before giving Lyra a firm nod. It was a dark and stormy night, as planned. The Harthworth Estate’s normally cheery atmosphere of carefully manicured rose bushes and trees cut into various animal shapes was subdued by a brooding depression that Stopwatch and Pear Butter could feel even without their innate empathy. A small number of carriages were trotting around the long circular courtyard where servants waited with umbrellas to whisk their high society guests in and out of the rain. From their hiding place in one such carriage across the street, the two mares cradled the sleeping nymph who was being kept that way by a spell. “Even the lights of the front porch feel moody,” Pear mused aloud as she turned away from the scene after closing the carriage’s curtains. The downpour made it difficult to hear the coming and going of ponies thanks to the distinct noise the rain made on the roof. “Then we’ll give them the perfect gift to brighten their day,” Stopwatch replied mechanically. With her deeper connection to her queen, Stopwatch pulled the necessary information she needed to fulfill her goal. Taking the pendent Polybia had given the quasi, she formed a unicorn mare disguise with a deep red coat and black mane and tail. “You’re originally a pony, how does this look for the princess’ disguise?” Pear Butter cringed at the sight of it. “You’ve been spending more time among ponies than me, why can’t you make the guess?” “Because I only deal with adults,” Stopwatch snarked with a superior tone. “We have to make the child look appealing to increase our chances.” “Ah see…” Pear Butter gave the changeling a once over before shaking her head. “Ah don’t like it, but Ah’ve always been a fan of purplish blue fur on fillies. Just makes them so cute,” she mused aloud, giving herself an all too brief escape from her trapped reality. “You remember that much?” Stopwatch asked as she cycled through various shades of color until Pear waved for her to stop at a dark shade of purplish blue. “Well, not directly, no, but Ah remember seeing this one mare yesterday that had a fur color Ah’d die to have.” Stopwatch gave her a sour look, making Pear's ears wilt. “Well, if Ah had a foal, Ah’d love that color all the same.” ‘Hmfph, fair enough. Now, what about a mane?” “Ahh…” Pear started at Stopwatch, trying to think of a good combination. “Maybe navy blue? Solid color.” Stopwatch adapted her disguise to match and tweaked it until Pear Butter was satisfied. “There, that should do.” Pear Butter watched in fascination as Stopwatch held the pendent close to her chest with her horn glowing faintly. Her disguise seemed to liquefy and poured into the bright ruby within the pendent. Stopwatch’s chitin started to show through as the watery magic dripped off of her only to be soaked up to the very last drop by the now glowing ruby. She waited a minute or two for the glow to shift from the dark purplish-blue of the fur to the standard acidic green of typical changeling magic. “There, now it’s ready for her.” Stopwatch gently placed the golden chain around the nymph and pressed the jewel onto the base of the princess’ horn. Both jewel and horn glowed together before the liquid magic burst forth again to completely cover the child. “Alright then, with the queen’s modifications, not even the archmage or Twilight Sparkle herself could sense this disguise, let alone defeat it.” “What about a cutie mark?” Pear asked as she subconsciously rubbed her flanks. “How will she get one if she’s a changeling?” “Simple, the spell is designed to wait until early adolescence and takes what she subconsciously desires or is passionate about and pull a relevant image from her memory.” “But…” Pear Butter was crestfallen and looked at the poor nymph with pity. “It won’t be real.” Stopwatch stopped working the final steps on the permanent enchantment to give her quasi companion a flat, almost annoyed face. “No, but otherwise she’d, at best, live her pony life as a blank flank, or worst, be discovered and killed.” “Right…” Pear Butter decided to push the possible future out of her mind and refocused on the estate. By now, all of the guests had arrived and there were no guards or servants keeping watch outside. The only thing standing between them and the door was a large gold painted gate and the hammering rain that made detection unlikely. Pear Butter idly watched lightning crackle above, and took a simple pleasure in the sound of heavy rain. There was a strong whiff of natural scents about it that sang to an old memory that she desperately tried to bring to the surface. Any part of her old life was precious, and she knew that the more she remembered, the more independent her will became. Ah was able to bend the rules Po-Po- mah queen, try as she might, Pear was having difficulty thinking of Polybia as anyone other than her queen. She put down, Ah just need to break free enough to try and rescue Paint Brush from it next. “Keep watch,” Stopwatch announced just loud enough to startle Pear Butter. She wanted to pout at the drone, but Stopwatch had already wrapped the nymph up in cloth along with her pendent. The drone slipped outside after disguising herself as a pegasus stallion. Pear Butter watched on as Stopwatch crept forward and bounded over the gate with a few flaps. She raced over to the front door, and checked the windows to see how close any servants were to the front doors. Stopwatch waited under the dense downpour waiting for a passing servant to walk towards the next room. At that moment she canceled the sleep spell on the disguised nymph and gently laid her down on, of all things, a welcome mat. Enchanting her hoof, Stopwatch proceeded to bang on the door so loudly Pear could hear it over the rain. Cold and hungry, the princess started wailing and thrashing around as Stopwatch raced off to hide in a bush. It wasn’t long before the pegasus maid responded to the noise and opened the door. She stepped back in astonishment at the foal she found on the ground, and scanned the front courtyard for the parents, and upon seeing none, she scooped the princess up in a wing before sequestering her inside. Stopwatch waited almost half an hour for anyone inside to lose interest in watching from the windows to sneak her way back into the carriage. “There, now we wait to see if the child is kept or sent to an orphanage.” Pear Butter gave her superior a towel and watched the estate as she had been. “Let’s hope it works out. It’d be suspicious if we had to hypnotize a family to adopt her from the orphanage.” Stopwatch lifted the front seat up and withdrew a small basket with cucumber sandwiches. “True, but if it comes down to it, we need to find a home for her, one way or another.” She gave Pear Butter her half of the meal while falling into silence as she ate. There they waited. And waited. And waited some more. Eventually the rain briefly lessened enough so that the tolling bells announcing the late hour from deeper in the city could be heard. The road was barely visible, save for the spots of yellow light cast from the streetlamps. Their usually bright candles, dampened by the wind and rain, truly only served to illuminate themselves. Through it all, the guests at the Harthworth Estate had not left yet, and the window lights flickered in the distance. “Well no pony’s gone out to take the princess to the orphanage, or kicked her back onto the curb, so that’s a good sign, right?” Pear Butter looked to Stopwatch only to find her asleep on the seat. Pear slumped in her seat, more out of exhaustion and boredom than anything else. Pear wanted to rest too, but she felt the geas compelling her to stay awake, to make sure the princess was secure. Stupid spell. It’s strong enough to make me do stuff, but too weak to make me like it. She felt as if it was almost time for the bells to resound again when at long last, the front doors opened to let the first of the guests depart. Pear quickly sat upright and tried to identify what was going on, but her night vision was as poor as most ponies. So she jostled Stopwatch with a hoof, making the love collector awake with a jump-start. “The guests’re leav’n. I reckon the new mother will be hold’n the baby.” Stopwatch pulled herself up to watch. “That’s what Ah’d do if Ah were her.” “Most likely,” was all Stopwatch said in return. It didn’t take very long before a worried scowl crossed her face, making Pear fidget with concern. “What’s wrong?” She tried to peer out there, the streetlights were making her naturally poor night vision even worse. “Could be nothing…” “But…” Pear trailed off. “I see the new father at the door, but he looks more like he’s bowing and apologizing to the guests as they leave. The wife isn’t there.” “Maybe she’s asleep with the princess,” Pear offered hopefully. “Ah know for a fact that new mothers will sleep with the baby, bonding and all that.” “You would know?” Stopwatch inquired with a disbelieving tone. Pear Butter stopped trying to look out the window and slumped in her chair. “Ah don’t remember their names, but Ah know Ah had been a mother back before…” She scowled at her body, the act entirely missed by Stopwatch, “all this happened to me.” Stopwatch stopped paying her much attention as she continued her observations. It wasn’t long before her ears fell and her wings involuntarily buzzed. “Oh no.” Chills ran down Pear’s spine, even without the geas causing it. “What? What’s wrong?” She tried looking out at the departing nobility, but all she could make out were grey blobs. “One of the guests has the princess, First Mother curse them!” Stopwatch slammed a hoof on the carriage wall, growling all the while. “They didn’t accept her!” “H-how?!” Pear was floored by the news. “Did the disguise fail or something?” “Damned if I know.” Stopwatch put on a earth pony mare disguise and got ready to start pulling the carriage. “All I could see is the nymph was still covered in the blanket. We have to follow the purple stage coach. We can’t let them dump the princess off the side of a cliff or give her over to an orphanage.” “They wouldn’t actually do that would they?!” Pear called out as Stopwatch threw herself outside and tried to hitch herself up without being suspicious to the departing nobles. With the rain in the way, Pear was left without answers. Even if she’s a mind enslaving royal, that girl still deserves a chance ta’ be a better person than that bi- my queen. With nothing else she could do besides worry herself into a stupor, Pear moved to the front of the carriage to watch the princess-takers’ stage coach as Stopwatch followed after them at a distance. While Pear Butter was still quite unfamiliar with Canterlot’s layout, especially during a rainy night, even she could put some of her fears at ease when she noticed the nobles’ carriage was not headed for the sheer drop on the side of the city. Instead it was heading closer to the mountain. Seems like they’re headed deeper into the royal district. Her mind exploded with worst-case scenarios. What if they’re going to the palace to turn her over to the alicorns!? They must have discovered the princess isn’t a pony! Stopwatch seemed to come to a similar conclusion and the carriage started to speed up, only to fall back again when the nobles turned off the main street towards some of the more aristocratic manors. Even with her weaker empathy, Pear Butter felt confusion waft off of Stopwatch, which mirrored her own. After passing several houses, the nobles finally pulled up to one of the manors. Stopwatch made note of it and continued pulling the carriage until they could turn a corner before unhitching herself out of sight. Pear Butter stepped outside as the drone waved her towards the manor. “Come on, we need to see what’s going on.” Nodding, Pear joined Stopwatch in running through the thunderstorm. “Maybe the Harthworths were too distraught, and this family adopted her instead?” “I can count the number of ‘noble’ families who would do that on one hoof, and that included the Harthworths. The other families on my list would have needed some blackmail or hypnosis to take what they’d see as a street rat. That or too dangerous to the princess.” This time, there were two well armored guards posted just inside the closed gate. However, Stopwatch didn’t need to get up close to know who they were, and stopped dead in her tracks. “Oh come on! Why them? Why?!” She stomped on the slightly flooded street, splashing enough water to draw the attention of the guards, but she didn’t care anymore. “She’s going to disconnect me for sure when she finds out!” Pear Butter sheepishly waved at the distant guards and pulled her irate superior away from the brick walls to placate the guards. “What’s wrong? Is the family evil or anti-changeling or something?” Stopwatch slumped in defeat and let the quasi drag her back to the carriage in her magic. “I don’t know if this is better or worse than that, but it seems that the princess was just taken in by the Sparkle family.”