ScionOfTorgue: Hey, Shadowfax, who is **Changeling**?
RiderOnTheStorm: Yeah, I thought that were were putting a freeze on new additions until after the guild changed hands.
Shadowfax: She's an NPC I rescued from a mob.
RiderOnTheStorm: ...Seriously?
Shadowfax: Seriously. I just had a short conference with the guildmasters: Odd stuff is happening all over. It seems I accidentally triggered a special event.
ScionOfTorgue: Interesting. I wonder what would happen if I sent her a PM. The option is there, after all...
RiderOnTheStorm: Really? Huh. Well, knock yourself out.
Shadowfax: I've harvested my goods, and made the potions. I'm walking to Ponyville with the NPC in tow. When I get there...
RiderOnTheStorm: What?
Shadowfax: It's nothing. Just be ready to receive the potions.
GrimmShado: *A portal opens in the sky, and the incredibly cool and powerful Sorcelator, GrimmShado, jumps out, landing on his feet with the skill that comes from many hours of practice in the art of portal jumping. While surprised to find himself suddenly a pony, his incredibly well-honed self-discipline prevents him from expressing that surprise as anything other than a slightly raised eyebrow.* So, it's ponies today?
RiderOnTheStorm: Grimm! Now it's a party!
----------------------------------------------
I am having a conversation with a changeling, Princess Twilight Sparkle thought to herself, more than a little surprised. I'm walking with her to Ponyville, and we're having a conversation. This day cannot possibly get any weirder.
To be fair, this was more or less a first, as far as she knew: While the queen of the changelings was known to be quite talkative (Although she tended to prefer to speak in the language of Gloat), the common changeling had never been found to talk to anyone outside of their own kind while in their true form. Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Applebloom had stated that, when they had been foalnapped by changelings, the queen had conversed several times with one of her minions, so it was known that conversation was possible. Instead, it simply wasn't done.
And what a conversation it was turning out to be...
"After we were ejected from Canterlot," the changeling continued, as she followed Shadowfax down the road, "We had ended up in Lovey-Dovey Land. The place was populated by a bunch of adorable little creatures which seemed to be a blend of cat and rabbit. They were... extremely loving, and accepted us in spite of our appearance. I had hoped, upon seeing them, that we might have found a new home, someplace we could be something other than monsters. Instead..." She paused, seeming to be unwilling to speak.
"The queen ordered you all to take the place over, and turn the residents to snacks?" Applejack asked bluntly.
"Yes," the changeling admitted, unhappily. "That was when I realized that the queen was insane: Here we were, someplace where we could potentially live out our days in peace, and the queen's only thought was of revenge. Revenge on all of you, in spite of having promised to look after us first and foremost. I knew the queen could be petty and selfish at times, but I never imagined..." She paused, then continued, "That was when I decided it was time to leave. I couldn't do anything to help the 'cabbits', since I was just one, and the swarm could easily overpower me if I tried to stop them. However, I could use the distraction of the conquest of the land to slip away without being noticed." She cleared her throat, then added, "I'd... heard that you had captured the queen, and liberated the cabbits. How are they?"
"Doing well," Twilight answered, nodding. "There were... losses, due to what the queen and others had done to them, but the ones who weren't drained too badly more or less walked it off, and the ones who were severely drained recovered after a little TLC." The princess paused, and asked, "So, what have you been doing all this time?"
The changeling shrugged, and admitted, "Exploring: I'd not seen much of the world, outside of what the swarm had visited. I decided to go and see some more of it. I'd gotten pretty far before I'd heard of your ascension. That was when I decided I'd come and pay you a visit."
An eyebrow raised, Applejack asked, "And why would you want to do that?"
"For the first time in more than a thousand years," the changeling answered, "new magic had been created. Not since Starswirl the Bearded had anyone created a new spell. I was curious to see if her highness might be willing to try for two in her lifetime."
"A second spell?" Twilight asked, confused. Well, it wasn't impossible, she supposed, but there were so many spells already out there already. The main reason why new spells were no longer developed was because no one really thought that there was anything else that a spell could be used for. Starswirl's last completed spell was one that involved mass producing pottery, and there had been a few who considered that as an act of desperation: He had created that spell since he couldn't get his unfinished spell to work, and the elderly wizard had wanted to be known for creating 'something' original...
"Yes," the changeling said with a nod, "a new spell. I spent some time in libraries containing spell books, particularly spells on transformation. There are spells that can change ponies to griffins, minotaurs, hydras, nagas... almost any creature you can name, and spells that can work the other way, changing other creatures into ponies. There are spells that can change a minotaur to a griffin, a dragon into a chimera, practically any combination you can imagine... except changelings. No one wants to transformed into a changeling, and no one can change a changeling into something else."
"And you want to be turned into something else," Applejack deduced.
"Exactly," the changeling admitted. "As long as I'm a changeling, there's a risk that the queen might find me, and if she does, she'll do something... drastic, unpleasant, and permanent to me. If I'm no longer a changeling, then I would no longer have to worry about it."
Twilight rubbed her chin in thought, and said, "I... may be able to come up with something, but it'll take time. A lot of time."
"I'm over a thousand years old," the changeling said with a shrug. "I have an overabundance of time."
Suddenly, in the air in front of the changeling, there appeared an image. It was reminiscent of the display that Twilight had used to explain what had happened to Fluttershy during the vampire fruitbat incident, but instead of images, it displayed words, reading 'ScionOfTorgue has sent you a private message. Would you like to read it? Yes/No'.
"What in the world?" the changeling whispered, surprise clear in her voice.
"That's the name of one of the ponies that's in Ponyville," Applejack stated. "If I remember right, he's got that 'Riders Of Rohan' thing under his name, too."
Twilight's jaw, which had dropped at the appearance of the message, closed back with a click, and she said, "This could be huge. This is the first time we've received any sort of a communication from the 'Strangers'. Could you open it, please?"
The changeling hesitated for a moment, then raised a hoof, and placed it on the 'Yes'. The image changed, displaying the words, 'Welcome to the guild! If you would like to talk, feel free to come to the guild chat, **Changeling**. We're all interested in meeting our guild's newest member. You can find all of us in Ponyville if you'd like to meet face to face.'
Before Twilight could make any sort of a comment, Shadowfax suddenly erupted in an explosion of golden light, momentarily blinding her. When her vision cleared, the earth pony was suddenly clad in golden armor, with a pair of massive swords strapped to his back...
"Whoa..."
---------------------------------------
Rainbow Dash, still in Ponyville, pulled herself up off of the ground from where she had crashed, then looked around her as her eyesight cleared, taking in the sight of dozens, if not hundreds, of suddenly armed and armored ponies dancing around, running about and hopping up and down for no reason, and just plain acting goofy for no reason at all. Their now-very-definitely martial appearance was completely at odds with their behavior. It was as if Equestria was being invaded by warriors whose primary means of attack was through the time-honored art of getting down and/or funky, and by acting like total goofballs.
"This is the weirdest thing I've ever seen," Dashie said, bluntly, "and I've been hanging around Discord AND Pinkie Pie..."
"Yeah," said Pinkie Pie, standing beside her. After a moment, she turned and looked at Dashie in annoyance and said, "HEY!"