This was it, this was the day when Cynthia and Stanley find out what the hell is happening on this island, this was the day of answers, it took Stanley over a month of hard work but it was finally going to pay off.
The Doctor, or as the changelings like to call him: Banka (which in his language meant “glasses”) knew enough of their language to barely communicate and Stan knew enough of his language along with intention reading to be confident enough to take this step.
It was a crazy month for everybody, Banka settled down and got used to the peaceful day to day life he had with the changelings, he wasn’t going to come back to the camps anytime soon, they didn’t send any search parties after him so they must have assumed that he had died on the minefield along with everyone else, he lived from day to day, hunting the little rodents across the island for food, for the changelings it was a feast of emotions from the rodents whereas for the Cerberus… well he liked his grills, life gave him everything he needed, he didn’t even have to go too far away from the cave (Stan made sure of that)
The Protective spell that was set around their hideout wouldn't last more than a few days at a time so Stan would regularly top up the mirage spell he had set up around the cave so that they wouldn’t be bothered by Cerberi or by any other intruders whilst using the opportunity to work on taming his condition… he was still rough but considerable progress could be seen compared the first time he set up the spell that was so powerful they couldn’t find their way back inside.
Unfortunately, not everybody was getting along right away, at first Cynthia had some trust issues with Banka but those issues wavered as she got to know him better... she found that he wasn’t like most Cerberi on this island, certainly much more mild and civilized in his manner of behaviour
After the changeling duo opened up to eachother, they began to get along considerably better and would spend most of their free time discussing and enjoying eachother's company though Stan never got an answer to that kiss on the cheek that night on the beach, it’s as if it had never happened and he wasn’t too fond of that because now, he didn’t know what he stood on, he had no idea where they were headed, were they still just friends? or wey there something more... but making an advance on her based on a wrong presumption would only ruin everything they built thusly in their friendly relationship... besides, is he really into her? she always seemed like sort of a jerk and somewhat ill-mannered but now that he began to undertand her better, more and more of her behaviour began to makes sense... she was like that because she never learned how to act in front of others due to her past (One could only assume how "normal" one could end up being raised by the god of chaos himself) and she acted tough because she always felt intimidated by others.
Stanley had to know about that kiss, however every time Stanley try and steer the conversation towards this topic, Cynthia would steer it away, of course intention reading didn’t help too much here as a changeling can’t sense another changeling’s emotions (that’s how changelings knew who was a pony and who was a changeling in disguise in the past) and he had far too little experience in intention reading to figure this out by sheer body language.
All in all, everybody was much happier than when they had first been dumped on this island.
So how do you want to do this?
“Well, considering we’re in an entirely different world altogether asking Banka where we are, isn’t going to tell us much… I think we’ve got a lot of other questions to ask as I’m sure he does too”
Stan and Banka gathered for the conversation.
Maybe ask him who they are first.
Stan began with his broken cerberian and replacing the parts of the language that he didn’t know with his own, hopefully Banka’s broken up knowledge of Stan’s language will fill in the blanks.
“We need to talk” began Stan
“Yes” the Cerberus replied.
“We were stranded on this island”
“Yes, I understand, we thought you were secret people…”
“Spies?”
“YES! spies”
“Why would we spy?”
“You don’t know?”
“We don’t”
Banka sighed, he factored in this situation and now he was a little hesitant in revealing to the changelings what was going on, despite being against the methods of his kind he did agree with their goal.
Stanley sensed the hesitation, but he knew that Banka doesn’t have any bad intentions.
“This place different from where you from? It is because you come from other world”
“You know about us from another world?”
“No, we don’t know anything about your type but we know the world you are from, we lived there”
“What?”
“it’s have to for every Cerberus to know our heytage and history-“
“Heytage?”
“Yes, heytage”
“I don’t understand”
“You know like history, where you from”
“Oh, HERITAGE, yes I understand”
“Much time ago, we lived in your home, but, we argue with other creatures that don’t want us in home, they are scared of us, not like other animals we are strong, fast, killer… some think that there is no place for us at home so they trick us and throw out us here with all others they don’t like”
“It sounds like you’re talking about Tarta- are you telling me this is Tartarus?”
“I do not know what you call this place, we call it prison world”
“That sounds… horrible”
“The land is difficult the soil empty and the things living here… for the first time in our lives we understand that those that throw us out feel like with us, we’ve had to live here, for many generations, trying to come back… until not long time ago we have to live here, after many difficulties we got key, it will let us come back”
Stan could tell that there was a but coming soon.
“Buuut?”
“But, those in high don’t want to live together anymore”
“So a war?”
“More like takeover”
“You mean invasion?”
“Yes, invasion but I don’t want invasion”
“Me too”
“But how can we fix?”
“I think we can only do one thing”
“???”
“We take the key, the three of us go back home and convince everybody to bring you all back”
“But my kind wait for war”
“I… I don’t know your kind, I don't know how to convince them for no war, I can talk to my kind, you talk to your kind”
“They don’t listen to me, I am not high, I am small”
Their kind probably have a hierarchy, he must be pretty low in the ranking
“Hmmm… and you said you’re going to get back to our world? When?” asked Stan
“We plan going soon but I am doctor and you have me, they cannot go without doctor I think it takes longer”
“Need more time, need to stall them”
“Stall?”
“Make them wait longer”
“Oh, maybe the key? We can take key, go to our home talk to your type to let us in, then we go back and talk to my type”
“Risky”
“Yes, some want revenge very strong”
“You know, we have stories about group of friends, could turn any enemy into a friend”
“Maybe we can use those friends for help”
“…”
“What?”
“It’s not…”
“Not what?”
“we’ll go get key, go home and talk to everybody... and if there is going to be a war...”
“Then we have problem, my type is very good in war”
“Ok but after my kind togetherness with many kind, we have many species of animals on same side, ponies, changelings, griffons, dragons... I think this will be bigger problem for your kind than my kind”
“What? Dragons with Griffon? That is problem, my type only want revenge on griffon”
“Griffons? they sent you here? they have no magic”
“Yes, they trick unicorn to send us away, we find out because griffon type so proud, they tell us everything before we are throw away because they want my type to know it is them to take credit”
I don’t doubt it, griffons are so proud they can’t even stand each other without some schmancy idol to keep them together.
“So what is plan? Idea?”
“I have a few, you no go back to camp because they think you dead”
“Dead, why?”
“Because they did not find your body, last time they see you it was on place with boom, it is obvious they think you dead”
“So plan?”
“Capture Cerberus guard, take control of Cerberus-“
“How control?”
“Ah ok, you don’t know my kind, I forget, we are able to use magic to control other life, we can change, look like other life”
“Wow, very good for much use, so if you can control, you control guard to take in you, friend and myself stay and look at camp if any problem”
“And I change into Cerberus, he will take me to the place where key is and I steal it”
“Good plan”
And how do you suppose you’ll handle transforming and using manipulatory magic if you’ve got practically no experience?
“I’ll have to rely on my instincts”