Chapter 1: Interrogations
Rainbow Dash paced back and forth just outside the hospital room, awaiting Redheart. Her mind hadn't stopped racing since they found the changeling. Something just didn't add up in her mind. What was it trying to accomplish? Surely it know that they would find whatever evil spell it put on Midnight.
But then, that was what bothered her. Did it really bring Midnight back to life, or did it just make a zombie puppet or something? If it was the former, then why?
“Ragh! None of this makes any sense! Sometimes I wish I were an egghead!” the pegasus growled in frustration.
“Well, you're not,” Applejack said from her seat by the door to the room. “We're just gonna have to wait 'till Twilight or Sweetie can help.”
“Yeah, well, we need to figure this out! I mean, where the hay is the real Storm Feather, anyway? What if he's dead?”
“Changelings don't kill the ponies they take,” Applejack reminded. “They can't get no love outta ‘em if they do.”
“But we don't know how long-” Rainbow was cut off by Nurse Redheart exiting the room. “Red, what's going on? Can you fix their brains? Is Midnight a zombie?!”
Redheart gave the mare a deadpanned stare. “I can't answer you if you keep yapping!”
Rainbow quickly shut her mouth and sat down.
The nurse looked at her notes held in her hoof once more before speaking. “Okay, I'll start with the easiest to explain. Neither Sweetie Belle or Scootaloo have any signs of mental manipulation. In fact neither of them show any signs of any known changeling victim. As to why they defended it, you'll have to ask them, yourselves.
“Next, Twilight and Fluttershy show signs of moderate emotional siphoning. Luckily, they shouldn't experience any long-term effects, other than disinterest in anything they usually like for a few days.
“Finally, Midnight.” Redheart sighed and rubbed a temple, trying to fight off a growing headache. “I'll be honest, I have no idea what to make of this. If I were to look at just his heart, lungs, and other vitals, I'd ask why he was even here. None of them look like they've had any kind of trauma since the human invasion.
“However, when looking at the ribs, muscle, and skin tissue, it's obvious he suffered serious injuries. It's as if what ever that changeling did, it didn't heal Midnight, but erased his injuries.”
“So... something never seen before?” Applejack asked.
“No,” Redheart answered bluntly. “I have seen it before. When Scootaloo was impaled in the chest, there was no sign that it ever happened.”
“And Storm Feather was there right after,” Applejack finished.
“So...” Rainbow Dash began, trying to wrap her head around everything. “So, what does this mean? What the hay is going on around here?”
“If I had to take a wild guess,” Redheart said, her tone serious. “I'd say you need to have a nice long chat with it, Scootaloo, and Storm Feather's guardians.”
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
“I want to be in there with you.”
Shining Armor and Applejack stood in the observation room, watching the changeling through the wall.
“Sorry, Shining, but you're too close to this, emotionally,” Applejack stated. “Plus, Ah ain't so sure this changelin' is as evil as we think.”
“First, I can distance myself, emotionally,” Shining Armor stated. “Second, you thinking it might be innocent is exactly why you need me. In cases like this, you're going to want two interrogators, one seeking innocence, one seeking guilt.”
“Like the 'good guard, bad guard' shtick?” Applejack surmised.
“Not exactly, but similar enough,” Shining clarified. “Besides, I have a lot more experience with this than you.”
“Good point,” Applejack conceded. “But remember, this is a Dawn Shield case. No getting' violent and no harassin' it.”
Applejack pressed her hoof on the gem along the side of the wall, and the view spell receded, leaving the blank wall once again. The two then exited the room.
“Rainbow,” Applejack called to the pegasus standing guard at the interrogation room. “Shining Armor's gonna be assistin' me. Ah need you to retrieve the others and bring them to holdin' room two.”
Rainbow gave her superior a relaxed salute and, “On it,” and flew off down the hall.
That taken care of, Shining opened the door for Applejack, and the two walked in.
“A regular gentlecolt, ain't'cha?” AJ teased.
“Yeah, yeah. Let's just get this over with,” Shining returned.
He took a seat in a chair across from the changeling, followed by Applejack taking the seat beside him, and started, “First, if you want any chances of this turning out good for you, you'll tell us where the real Storm Feather is.”
The changeling sighed, looking up at them with those yellow cat-like eyes, a ring of blue around them as if encroaching on the whites. “I am Storm Feather. Well, my real name is Storm Blade, but that's not very Equestrian, so I changed it.”
“Can you prove that?” Applejack asked.
'Storm' paused to think for a moment before replying. “I don't know. I might be able to convince you, but there's really nothing I can do to prove it.”
Seeing the expectant looks on his interrogators' faces, he continued, “Well, look at my story about how I got here. I came from Canterlot, where I lost my family during the changeling invasion. Who would have been the only ones to lose family?”
“Changelings, considering there were no pony fatalities,” Shining conceded. “Fine, we'll assume you're telling the truth about that, for now. That would mean you've been living here for several years. Are your guardians aware of what you are?”
“N-no!” Storm said quickly.
“Now, Storm,” Applejack said in a scolding tone. “We can't help ya if you lie to us.”
Storm hesitated, grimacing, before finally admitting, “Yes, they know, but please don't do anything bad to them. They're good ponies. They took me in when I was alone. They fed me, and helped me with my addiction. They gave me a peaceful life.”
“Hold on, sugarcube,” Applejack interrupted. “What do you mean-”
Her interruption was interrupted by the door flying open, and Lyra barging in. “Blow it out your tail, Rainbow!”
“Lyr-” the pegasus' reply was cut off by the door slamming shut.
“Lyra!” Applejack protested, jumping to her hooves. “What the hay are you doin'?!”
“I'm not going to let you starve him,” the minty unicorn replied calmly. “I'm not here to break him out, or cause problems. I know the best thing now is to prove Storm's a good colt, but unicorn inhibitor rings don't even allow changelings to absorb ambient or offered emotion.”
Applejack decided to watch and see what happens, letting the newest member to approach the changeling.
“Look at me,” Lyra demanded, to which Storm obeyed. “Definitely a relapse. Lucky for you, you're going to be here for a bit. Hopefully you'll be back to normal by the time you're released. Has any of your mane fallen out?”
“Not yet,” Storm replied.
“How much did you take?”
“A lot, with a siphon spell. Twilight and Fluttershy passed out, but I stopped as soon as they did.”
Lyra turned toward Applejack. “I'm going to replace this inhibitor with one used to treat changeling addicts. He won't be able to use magic or force feed, but it'll still let him feed on offered love, and love in the atmosphere.”
“Let me see it, first,” Shining demanded.
Lyra levitated a small ring to the stallion, who took it in his own magic. After casting a few analysis spells. “It seems alright, but I want this analyzed by a lab first. You have a lab here, right?”
“'Course,” Applejack confirmed.
He got to his hooves and opened the door to address the waiting pegasus. “Hey, Rainbow Dash. Can you take this to the lab to be analyzed, please?”
Rainbow looked at the inhibitor ring, curiously, before taking it in a hoof. “Yeah, sure.”
“Tell them to have it done within three hours!” Lyra shouted.
When Rainbow went on her way, Shining took his seat and asked, “Since we have you both here, we may as well hear how you two … met.”
“Gladly,” Lyra said, happily. “You want to start, Stormy?”
Storm took a deep breath and nodded. “Well, it started back at the invasion. Since I was still way too young, I had to sneak out when the army left. I know it was stupid, but... the hunger is just so strong. I needed my fix, and I couldn't wait for them to return.
“You see, there are three kinds of love a changeling can feed on; Ambient love, which is more like a snack and not enough to feed on unless you're at a high emotion event like a wedding, stolen love, and given love. Stolen love is by far the most powerful, magically at least, but it's not only highly addictive, but corruptive, as well. Every one of those changelings you saw at the wedding should have looked more like me, with manes and eyes with irises and pupils, but stolen love deforms a changeling.
“Like every other changeling under the Queen, I was addicted to stolen love. So, when the army flew out, I went with them.”
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
The massive lavender sphere covering Canterlot was an intimidating sight to the young changeling. He never knew something like that was even possible. He knew the ponies could use magic, but that was insane.
It didn't matter. In a few moments, they would begin the attack and he would feast on the buffet the city promised. He scanned the area, looking for a good feeding ground. He wanted one away from the palace, knowing the queen would be displeased if she knew he was there. Eventually, he decided on a place in one of the middle districts. Just in time, too. The order was given.
The army threw themselves against the gigantic shield, using their own bodies as siege engines, ignorant to the pain in their need to feed. A few screams sounded from some of the more eager lings as they broke a leg of even a horn in their fervor. It disturbed Storm a bit, but his hunger quickly put him back on track.
Eventually, the shield shattered and the army descended like meteors, bursting into magic flames as they fell. It wasn't something Storm could do, so he diverged from the mass and headed towards a park near his target district.
Once he found a secluded spot, he focused on changing his form. He still wasn't that good, though, so he just formed a simple, generic pegasus disguise. Once the panic reached his district, he used it.
He ran out towards where he saw a lone mare, looking around as if searching. “Mommy?” he called. “Mommy, where are you?!”
Sure enough, the mare headed towards him. “Hey, kid! This way!” she called. “I'll get you out of here, okay. Then we'll find your mommy together.”
“O-okay,” Storm whimpered pitifully.
“Come on, it'll be safer to go down here,” the mare said, gesturing to an alley. “They won’t see us.”
Storm had to fight off a bout of laughter. He didn't think his food would serve itself up so readily.
They had only gotten a short ways in when Storm's patients wore out. He leaped on the mare's back and drove his fangs into her neck. The mare froze, paralyzed by the poison in the large teeth. Through the wounds, the little changeling started draining her of her energy. He ignored the taste of the little bit of blood that leaked from around his teeth. It was a small price to pay for such sweet, fresh emotion.
The sounds of hooves came from somewhere outside the alley. Quickly, Storm replaced his disguise and called out, “Help! Somepony help!”
“Hello?” called a stallion.
“Help, mister! Mommy's hurt.”
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
“Disgusting,” Shining sneered, ignoring the death glare Lyra leveled at him. “You lured innocent ponies, using their desire to help a poor, defenseless foal.”
“I know,” Storm replied, his regret obvious in his voice. “I was a monster. I'm not proud of what I was, but it was all I knew. I had never even tasted given love. Heck, I thought that manes and pupils was something only foals had in changelings. Regardless, karma decided to intervene, then...”
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Storm's third meal discovered him feeding, and tried to run. Unfortunately for her, she ran into a dead-end. Storm rounded the corner and stalked forward, hissing and snarling.
“P-please, don't,” the mare pleaded. “I'll give you anything you want! Just name it!”
Storm ignored her and leaped at his prey, fangs bared.
A flash of light caught his attention, however, and just before he struck the mare, a wall of light slammed into him. It burned with pure, concentrated love energy, both oh-so sweet, yet excruciatingly painful.
The last thing he saw was all his fellow changelings flung into the distance by the upper half of the sphere, while he, being the only one outside the upper city, and thus on the lower half, was spiked into the ground.