Mirror walked through Ponyville ignoring the other Ponies and completely lost in his thoughts. He didn't even try to grab emotions off of others; he just didn't have the appetite.
Flutter Ponies.
Is that what we were? All this time?
I mean the name is kind of lame but really? We used to be so different.
And they never told us.
That thought struck him like a bolt of lightning reverberating through his entire body.
They never told us. He realized, coming to a stop in the middle of town. All this time and none of us even knew.
Anger started to fill him. Why did it have to happen like this? Why can't we just go back to before and stop being monsters?
"MIRROR!"
As if the universe didn't like messing with him enough, he was quickly tackled to the ground by somepony. It was Copycat; in her unicorn disguise, wearing the biggest smile.
"Finally found ya!" She giggled, holding him down. "Let me tell yah; I've been looking for you forever!"
High-pitched giggles could be heard from nearby. Craning his neck he could make out three fillies laughing at him.
"Hey!" He shouted at the three. "What's so funny?"
"It's probably has something to do with you being on the ground and me being on top of you." Copycat happily answered.
"Thank you for explaining." Mirror sarcastically replied. "Now can you get off of me?"
"Nope." She giggled. The three fillies were on the ground laughing hard. Mirror stared at them incredulously.
"Who are these fillies, Copy?" Mirror asked. "Friends of yours?"
"Oh yeah," She jumped off of him and ran up to the three; an earth Pony, a Pegasus, and a unicorn, all mares. "Girls, you should introduce yourselves."
The three started talking, one by one.
"Mah name's Applebloom."
"I'm Sweetie belle, but you've already met me."
"And I'm Scootaloo."
"And we are the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" They said in union, jumping into a group pose complete with applause courtesy of Copycat who immediately after scooped all three of them into a hug.
"Aren't they just the cutest things?" She squealed.
"Hey! Ya'll are ruining our entrance!" Applebloom shouted.
"I am not cute!" Scootaloo yelled insistantly at Copycat.
"Put us down!" Sweetie belle commanded. Copycat obeyed and let them all go, letting them land in a pile with a small thump.
"I found them in the woods looking for you!" She proudly proclaimed, pointed a hoof at him with a smirk. "I was looking for you anyways but they looked like they needed help so I jumped in!"
"No you didn't," Applebloom interjected. "We were walking to Poniville and y'all were lost."
"Details." She scoffed, waving the earth Pony away. The other two ran up and start clamouring around her. Mirror stared with a widening smile at the scene; a Changeling was friends with three fillies. If he had seen it a few days earlier he would have found it absurd but now...
"Oh! By the way Mirror." Copycat broke away from the CMC's and walked Mirror Edge away so only the two of them could hear.
"What is it?" He asked.
"I have a message from the Queen." She whispered, looking back at the Crusaders in case they were listening in. They were.
"What'chall talking about?" Applebloom asked.
"Maybe they're talking about a secret mission!" Sweetie belle wondered. Mirror was surprised how often some of these Ponies were right.
"She wants to see me? Why?"
"She didn't say. All she told me was that 'you will get your questions answered' or something like that."
My questions answered? He thought then suddenly realization hit him again.
She must know! This whole time and she knows?!
Rage started to build inside him, about to burst he took off towards the forest.
"Mirror?" Copycat called from behind him.
"Wait!" Scootaloo yelled. "We wanted to ask you something!"
"Whatever it is you can ask Copycat!" Mirror answered, running off. The three turned to Copycat who offered them a smile which they reacted badly too.
"What? Too much teeth?"
They nodded.
***
Mirror sprinted through the forest, branches wiping his face as he ran. The sun hung low in the sky giving everything a golden glow; it had taken him so long to get there because of the guard patrols still looking for the Queen and her forces.
He finally burst out of the underbrush and found himself in the camp.
"Sir," A drone ran up to him. "The Queen has been expecting you."
"I know." Mirror quickly brushed past him and walked up to the Queen who was writing at a huge desk that a servant had brought in.
"You were expecting me your highness?" He gritted his teeth in rage.
"Ah yes I was." She turned away from a letter she was writing. She had been sending out letters to her forces to converge on Poniville. "I suppose you met my special soldier?"
He nodded swallowing his anger for now.
"Good, can you report his progress?"
He couldn't stop a small grin to come on to his face. "My Queen, unfortunately your 'super soldier' was captured and is being prepared for a trial tomorrow.
He waited for the rage to spread across her face but nothing came. Suddenly she started to cackle victoriously.
"Finally, everything is going according to plan! Soon we will earn our ultimate reward!"
Mirror stared mouth agape at his Queen. "You wanted this to happen?!"
"But of course my subject!" She confirmed while writing out a few more letters. "Don't you know of our plan already?"
Mirror finally snapped. He knocked over the table sending everything flying.
"I know about the Flutter ponies!"
The Queen went silent, her eyes widening in shock.
"Wh-how do you know about that?"
"Princess Celestia talked to me."
Chrysalis looked around at the gathering of Changelings who had heard the commotion. Mirror could hear her quietly cursing under her breath.
"Disperse! I would like to speak to my subject alone." She commanded. The entire swarm quickly walked away leaving Mirror alone with his Queen. She looked at the ground, all of the notes and letters strewn around.
"How much do you know?"
"More than enough your highness, she told me everything." He admitted. He wished that he didn't know as much as he did now. There was a deep silence between them, the sun beginning its departure behind them. Chrysalis watched it set.
"I'm surprised that she even remembers."
"She cares, my Queen and she wants to help us."
"If she wants to help us then tell her to get out of our way!" She snapped at him. After she had done this her expression softened and she turned away.
"This secret was passed down from Queen to Queen," She started to explain. "Eventually along the way we just stopped telling them because it wouldn't change anything."
She made a dark chuckle but not like she usually did, this one was full of irony.
"Isn't it ironic?" She quipped. "Changelings who can't change."
"But surely there is something we can do?" He begged. "Anything!"
She paused and looked off to the setting sun. How symbolic she thought. She turned back to him, a expression Mirror couldn't make out on her face.
"There is one way."
"One way?!" He reacted. There might be one more way to turn them back? "What do you do?"
Chrysalis looked at him with a hint of mirth in her eyes; this lone soldier had done so much in a few days that it astounded her. But her eyes soon clouded over with mist.
"You don't do anything but I..." She couldn't finish her sentence because at that second, a Changeling burst through the bushes.
"Hello boss, I've returned home." He spoke like he was supposed to be rewarded or something for this.
"I'm sorry, who are you?" Mirror asked, feeling like he unfortunately already knew.
The Changeling gasped in mock shock. "Don't tell me you've forgotten the master of disguise?" He clicked his tongue. "Really, you should try harder to remember Ponies like me."
"Wait, you're the special soldier?" Mirror asked shocked. "But you're in a cage in Poniville!"
The Changeling groaned. "How many times do I have to tell you? I can get out of things like that in a snap." He whipped his tail while he said 'snap'.
"Ah yes, finally." Chrysalis walked towards the soldier. "Is everything prepared?"
"But of course." He smugly replied. "The swarm is building and come tomorrow Poniville will be, well, swarmed."
Mirror was about ready to kick this smug snake in the face. "Did you really need to say that pun?"
"Well I could have said 'zerg rush' but the author thought that wouldn't work as well." He shook a hole filled hoof at the sky earning confused looks from the other speakers.
He coughed. "But I digress. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to town wouldn't want anypony wondering where I've run off to."
Without another word he jumped into the bushes leaving them alone again.
Chrysalis sighed. "He's hard to work with but he gets things done. You should probably get back too. Prepare yourself for the invasion and the conquering of Equestria. "She chuckled evilly.
Mirror did feel tired and the moon was just beginning to appear over the mountains. He began walking out of the camp but turned back.
"Wait, you didn't tell me what we need to do to return to normal."
Chrysalis was cleaning up the area, stacking the papers and returning the desk upright. She stopped and turned to him, the expression he couldn't understand on her face again.
"It's simple really, I struck a deal."