Reprogramming

by sunnypack

5 - Adversus Solem Ne Loquitor

I braced myself, taking a deep breath before cracking open the door. Sergeant Wheeler gave me a sympathetic smile, but behind those eyes were an annoyed commanding officer that was itching to chew these two out. I decided in that moment that I’d take it easy on the two, because they’d never hear the end of it from him. As Smirch and Duft rapidly stood to attention, I gestured for the changelings to step to one side.

“Princess, we can—”

I raised a quelling hoof. “I heard you the first time, but I’d like to hear it from Silken and Moth, if you don’t mind.”

Smirch and Duft glanced at each other, but reluctantly stepped back, keeping silent.

Silken shrugged as if to say that it wasn’t a big deal. “Private Smirch was interested in seeing how a changeling extracts emotions.”

I raised an eyebrow at that. “And this would involve…?”

“Varying techniques, of varying efficacy depending on the situation,” Silken replied smoothly. “We were going to show these guards how we could do so—for the purposes of demonstration of course.”

“Of course,” I said dryly. “Then Private Smirch and Duft agreed, I presume?”

“They were eager,” Moth put in helpfully. He coughed after seeing my look and added. “More like morbidly fascinated.”

“I see.”

Sergeant Wheeler cleared his throat, levelling a simmering scowl at Smirch and Duft. “And Private Smirch and Duft were obviously aware of our no-contact policy regarding escorts, informed you of said policy, which is clearly outlined in their training, right?”

Silken and Moth looked confused and shared a look. They began to realise that it wasn’t them we were interrogating, but Smirch and Duft.

Moth shifted. “Ah, yes…?”

“Sergeant Wheeler.”

“Ah, well then Sergeant Wheeler,” Silken said. “Maybe, for the sake of diplomacy, we should put this from our minds and shelve it under ‘cultural mishaps’?”

“We wouldn’t want to get Private Smirch and Duft in trouble, it was our suggestion after all,” Moth added.

They were covering for them, I realised. I shouldn’t be surprised, these weren’t the same sort of changelings that invaded Canterlot. At least, as far as I knew. I had to put my own feelings aside.

Silken took the silence as an invitation to continue. “Princess,” she began in a businesslike manner, “what would you like to discuss?”

Silken was awfully polite. Though I wasn’t much of a politician, I recognised that Silken had conceded the small negotiating advantage she held by letting me take the lead. I smiled and gave her a slight nod of acknowledgement. My estimation of her and changelings as a whole rose with her example. Were the changelings so desperate that they were willing to broker that goodwill? A quick glance to Praegus from the corner of my eye crushed my stealthy preconceptions. No. Maybe changelings were mostly like this and I was just making judgements based on my experience with Chrysalis.

It seemed like every time I wanted to remain impartial, the past raised its head to bite into my objectivity. The subtle way that it infiltrated my perception disturbed me. I wasn’t somepony that jumped to conclusions, was I? Taking a deep breath, I gestured for us to all sit down. A table was moved from the wall to the centre of the room and four chairs were drawn up. Smirch and Duft joined the other guards at the wall, looking miserable. It occurred to me that maybe I had been too harsh on them. I resolved to make it up to them later. When we all settled down, I steepled my hooves and eyed Silken, then Moth individually. “I think you should tell us what your plan is, and we’ll see if we can help you.”

Again there was that shared look between the two changelings. I stifled a frustrated sigh.

Silken saw my expression, then the fog of her confusion cleared and she quickly explained herself. “Sorry,” the changeling mumbled. “We can communicate silently.”

I straightened abruptly, eyes widening in shock. “What? How?”

“What?!” Sergeant Wheeler added for good measure.

Silken rubbed a hoof along the table as she shrugged. “I-It kinda just happens.” She bit her lip, probably because I was practically leaning across the table in excitement. “Please don’t ask me how! It just comes with a crude form of joining! Any changeling can do it if they’re experienced enough!”

Changelings communicating silently? Wow. I never expected that. Maybe, if we could adapt some of our own theories on how we communicate using magic, I could revolutionise the way things were done in Equestria! Long distance relays, silent speaking, no letters anymore! Quick messages with no error in writing or reading? The possibilities seemed endless. Sure enough, though not how I intended, these changelings ended up being a gemstone mine of information.

Hold on, changelings communicating silently? Wait. A trickle of fear wormed its way down my spine. If they could communicate silently then Praegus… I sent the changeling a furtive look. By intention, or by coincidence, Praegus happened to swing around and stare at me. I shivered slightly, even though I had no particular reason to. Yes. No. I was just jumping to conclusions. There was nothing to say that Praegus couldn’t—no, no! That wasn’t important right now, I had to know what these two were after.

Clearing my mind at the same time I cleared my throat, I continued. “You mentioned before that you needed Praegus, what for?” I doubted that these changelings had a nefarious motive, they seemed sincere, but then again, by their own omission, these were different changelings to Chrysalis’. They could still be deceptive. Regardless, I wanted to provide them with a chance to explain themselves, then I would have to decide what to do with them. I glanced out the corner of my eye. It was kind of like Praegus, wasn’t it?

Silken nodded, taking a moment to gather her thoughts. “Well, as we’ve said before, Queen Chrysalis hasn’t been honouring the covenant. Changelings were being brought forcibly into her Swarm. We just want to live by ourselves.” Her eyes were pleading. “When we sensed a blank drone nearby, Moth and I were beyond surprised. We thought we could be protected.”

“Protected?” Sergeant Wheeler asked sharply. “How?”

Under the table I patted his leg. These changelings weren’t the enemy. Yet.

“We wanted to try and join with the blank changeling.”

I frowned at that. “Wait, didn’t you say that you didn’t know how to do it?”

Silken hesitated. “Yes, but we thought—”

“—And you also mentioned the Queens kept this knowledge, how were you going to go about it?”

“I guess I would just try different ways until it worked…”

“And what if they didn’t?” I demanded. “What if something went wrong?”

Silken shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know, we just didn’t consider it—”

I gaped at her. “Are you serious? Would you risk another life just because you ‘thought’ you could link with it!”

“Didn’t you do the same?!” Silken shot back heatedly. “You just shot magic into a changeling without even knowing what it was.”

“It’s not the same!” I retorted, slamming a hoof into the table. They jumped. “That changeling was dying, and I was trying everything to save its life, you wanted to use it to protect yourselves.”

“What could we do? You don’t understand.”

“I understand perfectly well!” I said through gritted teeth. “That you were selfishly thinking of yourselves when you thought to put theory into practice!”

“Princess…” Sergeant Wheeler said. I ignored him, rounding on the changelings.

“It’s one thing to suggest that you would do something to yourself, it’s another to suggest that you would do it to somepony else!”

“You don’t know what it’s like!” Silken yelled back desperately. “Don’t pretend you know!”

I reared back, silenced by the abject fear in her voice. Silken glared at me like I was the monster. I realised once again that I had been leaning over the table, my hoof fitting snugly in the dent I unwittingly made in its metallic surface. I scanned the room, but every guard, including Sergeant Wheeler, Smirch and Duft, were looking at some point above and behind my head. The silence in the room was an oppressive cloud, and I felt the rain of rational clarity wash away my emotions, leaving me ashamed. I returned to Silken and noted Moth’s shaking, but restraining, arm holding her back.

Slowly, I sunk back into the seat, my scrambled mind wondering vaguely how I had lost control so completely. If I was shocked at my lack of restraint, I was terrified that it had felt so… good. Shaking and more than a little perturbed, I sunk my head back into my hooves, and focused on counting the rapid beats of my heart in an effort to calm down.

What was it about Praegus that seemed to bring out my ugly side? Why was I so protective?

“Sorry,” I whispered. “Of course, I haven’t let you finish. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.”

Silken eyed me warily, but in the end she nodded. Moth cleared his throat, catching my attention. He gestured to Praegus, breaking the awkward silence that had befallen us. “We knew there would be a risk,” he said calmly. “You have to understand what was at stake. Our very existence was… is hanging by a thread. If we didn’t try it, eventually Chrysalis would have tracked us down and forced us into her Swarm.” He shivered, his eyes coming up haunted. “Can you imagine that? Losing everything? Listening to her every wish and no matter what having to obey?” He turned his heart-wrenching gaze downwards. “No one wants to live that sort of shadow-life. The joining should be a covenant. An understanding that the Queen would do for her subjects just as the subjects do for their Queen.”

Moth glanced at Silken and released her arm. Silken drew a shuddering breath to steady herself. “The blank changeling—” she swallowed “—Praegus, was supposed to let us gather the individual changelings into a protective Swarm until we could deal with Chrysalis. We searched and searched for the elusive signal of a blank changeling. It seemed to appear and disappear, like it was taunting us. When we finally reached it, the blank changeling was no longer blank. That changeling was gone, and with it, our hope.”

“We had a plan to share with the blank changeling, but that was merely an ends to a means. If…” Silken paused, letting the rest of the sentence die off. She drew another shaky breath to steady herself. “Princess, we want to ask you for something we know no Queen in their right mind would grant.”

I swallowed thickly as I considered the two desperate changelings. I wanted to help them, but I had to weigh that against what they wanted to ask. Now that they explained their situation, I could see why they wanted to use Praegus. I didn’t agree with it, but I could understand.

“What is it?” I said evenly.

Silken and Moth shared one last glance.

“We want to join your Swarm,” they said.

———————

I was dimly aware of the chair crashing down.

“What?!” I shot a look at Sergeant Wheeler. He sat back considering the statement. I turned to Smirch and Duft who didn’t return the look. I suddenly found myself missing my friends’ advice dearly. I hope Rainbow and Fluttershy could make it here quickly.

I shook my head reflexively. “Look, I don’t know why you’d want to join, but even if I could, I don’t know how you could do that? What do you even mean when you say that? I don’t…” I stopped myself when I realised I was babbling. Stop it, you’re a grown mare. With all these surprises what’s a few more? Hysterical thoughts ran circles around in my head. Changelings? Swarms? Joining? Nonsense, nonsense, nonsense! I wasn’t a changeling. I was a Princess, not a Queen!

Silken interrupted by panicked thoughts. “Princess Twilight, we’re not asking that you’d take care of us. We just need to be a part of your Swarm. If Chrysalis comes by, she has to break the link between us to take us into her Swarm. She can’t do that if you’re powerful enough.” She grinned weakly. “We don’t know how an alicorn factors into power, but it’s probably big.” She smiled weakly. “I think that’s the only stroke of luck for us.”

“S-Stroke of luck?” I spluttered, then flushed. “I’m not a Queen, nor am I going to be your Queen!”

“We’re not asking you to be our Queen,” Moth snapped. “We just want to join your Swarm so we can mount an effective resistance against Chrysalis!”

Silken tapped Moth on the shoulder and took over in a reasonable tone. “Look, we’re not asking you do anything in particular for us, you just need to accept us into the Swarm. For a normal Queen, such a notion would be dismissed out of hoof. That would be like asking for a link and not providing anything in return, it would be a twist of the covenant.” She pointed to Praegus, shrugging slightly. “You don’t even have to do anything, just let Praegus do all the hard work. Order your changeling to accept our joining, and that’s it.”

“That’s it?” I said. “Do you know what you’re asking?”

Silken looked confused. “Yes?”

Moth threw up his hooves. “It’s really simple,” he replied with exaggerated patience. “We’ll get out of your mane when we’re done, alright?”

I glared at both of them, quelling Moth’s flippant response and meeting Silken’s worried look. “I may not like being called Queen, I may not enjoy being asked to host a Swarm, but none of that actually matters.” I straightened. “What matters to me are the ponies I’m sworn to protect. I empathise with you, I really do, but what if Chrysalis finds out I’m involved? She might decide to come into Las Pegasus and deal with me. On the way, she could go through other ponies to get at me. You’re asking us to step in and declaring ourselves on one side or another without much knowledge of the current state of affairs.”

Silken looked surprised, as if that thought hadn’t occurred to her, but Moth looked ready to chew steel and spit out nails. “I told you,” he said to Silken in disgust, then he turned back to me with a seething glare. “What are you saying, that you’re going to abandon us?”

Silken looked like she wanted to desperately add something to sway me, but was unable to find the words.

I wasn’t getting through to them, not at all. I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes briefly in an effort to order my thoughts. I had to remind myself that they weren’t able to see the bigger picture.

“No, I’m not saying that,” I replied quietly. “I’m saying that you have to understand what you’re asking of us. Even if Praegus hadn’t been added into this complicated mess and you asked me on any other day to harbour you from Chrysalis we’d need some time to think about it.” I tried to put it gently. “Of course, if there weren’t any danger to any pony we’d of course try to help, but Chrysalis is different, she’s dangerous and I can’t immediately agree to letting you two joining in Las Pegasus. Actions like these have far reaching consequences.”

My explanation was finally starting to take effect. Silken sagged and even Moth subsided.

When I felt sure my words had sunk in, I continued. “If we’re going to do this, we’re going to have to take it out of Las Pegasus.”

Astonished silence succeeded my statement.

“That’s… That’s….” Silken’s eyes widened as it slowly registered. “Y-You mean you’ll do it?”

Despite the recent drama, the suspicion, the hostilities, the uncertainties, I did my best to smile. “You changelings have been causing me trouble left, right and centre. If I do this, outside the official capacity as Princess, I’m merely—” I waved my hoof airly “—investigating the curious changeling phenomenon of linking for, hmm... research.” I rolled my eyes at the surreptitious grins from Smirch and Duft. “Besides, it’s a little of my fault that we’ve started off on the wrong hoof, and I guess I’m responsible for Praegus when I… did whatever I did.” I levelled a serious expression at the both of them. “I don’t want either of you to call me Queen, got it?”

“Yes… uhh… Princess,” Silken said brightly. She shrugged uncomfortably at the last part of my statement. “I’d feel weird calling a pony a Queen anyway. What’s up with you ponies and princesses?”

I didn’t answer the question, merely shrugging in response. “Before I actually agree to anything, you have to tell me where Chrysalis is.”

“Why?” Silken asked.

My smile went from warm to frosty. “Because I’m going to remove that pain in the flank from the face of Equestria. Personally.”

————————

On the way out, I let loose a frustrated sigh. I turned to meet the three guards I’d pulled out. The others were still in the room with the changelings.

“What?” I demanded.

Smirch and Duft looked away, pretending to look at something interesting on the ceiling while Sergeant Wheeler eyed me shrewdly, as if I was some weird enigma to be solved.

“You’re surprisingly scary when you’re angry,” he commented, like that explained everything.

I huffed, releasing the pent up emotions in an exasperated breath. “Oh come on, did you see what they had planned for Praegus? This is a life we’re talking about!”

Sergeant Wheeler looked genuinely surprised. “I honestly thought you would put a pony’s above the life of a changeling.” He seemed to realise what he said and reddened, but it was too late.

I turned my horrified gaze on him. “Of course not! All life deserves to live their own life, as long as they don’t harm anypony. As a Princess, I must treat every case equally, whether they be pony or changeling, griffon or dragon, or anypony else!” I frowned at the Sergeant. “Beyond that, it’s simply wrong to just leave them and to risk the lives of ponies simply because I wanted to remain charitable. The only course of action is to help them and get out of the city to do it. That way, it’s only my life.”

“You shouldn’t treat your own life so lightly,” Sergeant Wheeler said quietly. He probably didn’t intend for me to hear it at that volume.

“I don’t,” I replied as he stiffened. I dropped my voice down a few notches. “I don’t treat my life lightly, but I also believe in doing the right thing. If I have the power to change things in front of me, here—” I smiled “—now, then I should. Even if there’s a little risk.”

“You can’t even take any Guards with you?” Sergeant Wheeler asked.

Already I was shaking my head. “No, this has to be unofficial, off the books. I can’t ask anypony to just risk their lives out there when I’m trying to do the opposite.”

“Even if that risk is to you? You can’t just rush into an internal political conflict with the Changelings!”

I stopped, closing my eyes and taking a moment to clamp down on the number of angry ripostes I had floating at the ready. He was just worried about me, I reminded myself. He was worried. I let the stress go, let it leave with my next breath.

“It’s not like that,” I continued reasonably. “You don’t see the bigger picture.”

I paused when a thought suddenly occurred to me, then looked at Smirch and Duft. “Wait, you two don’t think that too?”

Smirch and Duft shrugged. “I mean I like them…but are what changelings do to each other really our concern? What about Las Pegasus?”

I shook my head. “This goes beyond one city,” I said. “Of course I want to protect Las Pegasus, but taking no action is not the answer. Chrysalis is a bigger threat than you realise. She’s been gathering changelings and worse, forcing them to be a part of her army. Do you know what she’s going to do with that many changelings?”

“No…” Duft replied uneasily.

“Neither do I,” I responded. “But you don’t like it, do you? That’s enough reason to investigate, right? If she’s truly gathering this many changelings, then we might be in trouble. I’d rather see what she’s up to and find out it’s nothing rather than regret doing nothing.”

Sergeant Wheeler stared at me for a few seconds… then burst out laughing. I was so shocked I just stood there like a statue while he chuckled.

“That is why you’re a Princess,” he said approvingly. “Come on, Duft, Smirch, we’re going to protect the Princess while she takes on a changeling army.”

Duft and Smirch were already nodding as I narrowed my eyes.

“No,” I said, “you’re going to stay here and protect Las Pegasus.”

“With all due respect, Princess, I decline. We should stay with you. There are plenty of guards at Las Pegasus. They can cover for three.”

Smirch and Duft grinned, nodding along with Sergeant Wheeler.

“B-But you’re both Guards, that defeats the purpose.”

“Your wings and horns do the same.”

I was at a loss of words, well he had a point there.

“Besides,” Duft put in, “we can just go in ununiformed. You don’t really wear anything extra that identifies you as a princess.”

I regarded them silently for a few moments before sighing.

“I take it you’re not going to be persuaded to stay behind?”

Smirch shook his head.

“No Princess,” Sergeant Wheeler replied.

“With all due respect, Princess, heck no,” Duft said.

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t blame me if you... I don’t know, turn into changelings or something.”

Grinning, the trio followed along as I mumbled some choice things about insubordination. I continued to grumble all the way outside, but I made sure they couldn’t see my little smile.

————————

Silken was giving me little sidelong glances as we trotted along the path to White Tail Woods.

“Yes?” I said, prompting her.

Silken gestured to Praegus. “How’re you feeding the blank changeling?”

I shrugged. “I never really gave it thought.” I just assumed Praegus ate, well, emotions or something.

Silken took another look at Praegus. “As far as I can tell it’s healthy.”

A thought occurred to me. “You also call Praegus ‘it’ rather than ‘he’ or ‘she’. Why do you refer to yourselves with gender-specific pronouns?”

Moth answered for Silken. “We’ve said before that names were complicated around changelings. It might not seem possible to you non-changelings but attributes can be shared among changelings in the same way a foal learns as a parent teaches them.”

I blinked at that. “What, you can learn genders?”

“To us,” Silken said, “there’s not much difference between us. Not as much as you ponies seem to care for, anyway. Our ‘gender’ is merely a preference for specialisation. It helps us get close to our target…” she trailed off at the uncomfortable looks the rest of the guards were sending her way. I waved at them to calm down.

“We’re all friends here, and I’m interested in changeling habits.” Laced in that message was an implicit order that Sergeant Wheeler, Smirch and Duft should go easy on the changelings. Besides, my curiosity had gotten the better of me and I genuinely wanted to learn more.

“So you learn a gender? How?”

Silken tilted her head in thought. “Well, I suppose it’s different to learning in your sense. Everything about me that make me, me, has been given to me by the Queen.”

“I thought you said you didn’t have a Queen.”

“Not now I don’t,” Silken said hastily. “This was before I’d gotten myself a personality.”

“W-What? How is that possible?”

Silken laughed. “See? I told you you’d find this hard to grasp.” She pointed to Praegus. “Though we aren’t blank changelings, those are rare, we don’t develop individual traits unless they’ve been assigned to us. Mind you, it’s up to the Queen. Regular changelings can grow up with their own traits, but that’s really slow in comparison to the Queen deciding then and there.”

“That’s crazy!” I said. “That means your whole identity is something the Queen decided.”

Silken shrugged. “Well yes and no.” She looked upwards as if she could spot the memories floating around her head. “It’s hard to explain, and I don’t know the specifics, but I believe the Queen just accelerates the process of development. I heard that she emphasises trait expressions as we grow. It’s like clipping a shrub, a shrub can take any form you want it to as long as it grows well, but how it does it is specific to the individual plant. Some grow spindly, some grow full, some fail to reach their potential, there’s a sort of random element to it, but you can direct some aspects.” She shrugged. “That’s how it’s always been.”

I struggled to digest the radically different view of the changelings. It just seem so fantastical and far-fetched. Changelings that were accelerated? Determining growth by magic? How did that make any sense?”

Moth turned to Silken and stopped on the trail. “I don’t think the Princess gets it.”

The rest of us stopped with the pair as Silken’s eyebrows drew together in contemplation.

“Okay,” she said, sucking her lip through her teeth. “How about this: you ponies and your cutie-marks.”

Instinctively we all glanced at ours. “What about them?”

“They’re kind of like your life, right?”

I frowned. “I wouldn’t really say that…”

Sergeant Wheeler shrugged. “The symbols aren’t necessarily associated with what you’re going to do, like your job. It just shows what you’re good at, or could be good at.”

“Exactly!” Silken declared. “That’s what it’s like.”

Smirch and Duft nodded thoughtfully. “Now that she puts it that way…”

“But gender?” I spluttered. “Deciding gender?”

Silken rolled her eyes. “Gender isn’t as fixed as you think in changelings. It only matters if you’re a Queen.” With a flare of actinic green light, Silken disappeared, to be replaced by a lookalike of Smirch.

“See?” Fake-Smirch said in the feminine tones of Silken. “Wait.” She cleared her throat. “Better?” This time it was in Smirch’s rich baritones.

I shut my gaping mouth with a click. “Okay… point taken, please never do that again.”

Silken chuckled her voice shifting from the lower registers back to her customary feminine tones. I shivered as she gave me a slight smile at my response.

“The reason why we stick to particular genders is really just for convenience. We get used to certain mannerisms for different ponies and genders have very different behaviours, depending on the circumstances. It’s like specialising in a particular skill.”

Moth smiled. “We’re rather like… actors?” He chuckled. “There was actually a changeling that acted as an actor. He played an actor too, which made us all laugh.”

“Made you all?”

Moth realised his mistake a little too late and pressed his mouth shut.

Silken shook her head at him. “They were bound to find out eventually.” She sighed, then turned back to me. “There are other changelings like us who also would like to live free of Chrysalis. They aren’t going to like the idea of being bound to another Queen, but originally I was going to be the candidate if a blank changeling ever showed up.”

“Others?” I pressed. “Why didn’t you mention this before?”

Silken smiled humourlessly. “In a way, you being the Queen is almost as good.”

I blinked at her. “Why is that?”

“You’re a pony, which makes you equally unaligned to every changeling out there. You wouldn’t be biased against us, necessarily, apart from Chrysalis. We hoped that you would be more tolerant than some other ponies.” She shrugged. “However, these are just our thoughts. There are some, Moth and I included, that are reluctant to just dive into a Swarm. We want to give them all a choice to join, and a choice for you to accept it. We don’t know what happens when a pony becomes a Queen, we don’t know what will happen to us, so that’s why we didn’t willingly reveal there were others. In the event that something happened to us, there wouldn’t be much point in letting you know. They would have to find another way, and their fate isn’t your burden.”

“That’s… surprisingly noble of you,” I said quietly. I suddenly regretted the aggressive tone I had taken against them.

Silken shrugged. “It’s only logical. The difference between a friend and an enemy is their point of view. We aren’t born to fight, just to live.”

I contemplated what she said as we continued along the path. The twisting trees of the White Tail forest stretched out their spindly arms almost as if to snatch us from the path. Sergeant Wheeler scanned the surroundings regularly, his face a grim picture of competence, while Smirch and Duft kept to the sides, also attentive, but more openly apprehensive. Silken and Moth trotted up the path, apparently unconcerned with anything in the woods. They had some form of telepathy and they could sense Praegus, so it made sense that they were able to sense other changelings nearby.

I grew sombre at the though of Silken and Moth fighting for their lives, the basic right to live as free as one could. Truthfully, though I had justified the necessity of checking into Chrysalis’ growing army, I probably would have helped them anyway, even if Chrysalis wasn’t a threat. The idea of it was just wrong. Forcing anypony to fit some form or function without a choice was the same thing as Sombra’s designs of enslaving the Crystal Empire.

I glanced back at Praegus, who was eyeing everything with the same sort of curious detachment I’ve come to be familiar with. The changeling obviously didn’t have much choice in the matter to become, as Silken and Moth put it, linked with me, but did that make me the same as Chrysalis? Was I walking a fine line between necessity and morality? I had saved Praegus’ life, but did I doom it to eternal servitude instead? Conflicting thoughts hardened into a lumpy stone that settled to the bottom of my stomach.

I flinched at the hoof on my shoulder.

“Princess,” Sergeant Wheeler said gently. “We’re here.”

Around us was the greenery of the forest, but there were some wildflowers in bloom shading the surroundings with splashes of red and gold. The ground, littered with the petals, looked like cast off colour pencil shavings. I swept around with awe as the vibrant display filled me with the warm feeling of happiness. I didn’t know the forest had this little haven. Silken and Moth stopped at the centre of the clearing, beckoning me to approach. Praegus followed close behind as my guards flanked me protectively.

Nothing struck me as particularly suspicious about the clearing, but as soon as I stepped closer, something at the back of the mind was nagging me. I scanned the tree line, but there was nothing I could see. Unsatisfied, I sent out a pulse of magic to detect any nearby changelings. With a shocked gasp, I staggered back as the spell relayed back its findings almost immediately.

“Sergeant, I think we should leave,” I whispered urgently. “Now.”

“Princess?”

“There are hundreds of changelings coming towards, in a few seconds, we’ll be surrounded.”

——————

“Wait!” Silken called out. “Let us explain!”

“Do it quickly,” I snapped. “You have thirty seconds.”

“These changelings are with us!” Silken explained hastily. “Remember when I told you about the changelings that wanted to be free of Chrysalis’ influence?”

“Why are they here? I thought you said you wanted to try it out on yourselves first.”

Silken shrugged helplessly. “We haven’t been able to contact them since we’ve met, Princess.”

I shook my head warily. “You both have telepathy, couldn’t you communicate the message across your link?”

Moth chuckled briefly, but a stony look from Silken choked it off early.

“We can communicate silently, but the effective range isn’t very far, and it can’t penetrate walls. The further the distance, the stronger the signal, and the more effort is required; it’s like shouting or talking, there’s only has enough range to cover about the same distance.”

The seconds were ticking down. I sighed. We’ve trusted them this far, it would be a bit silly of me to suddenly stop trusting them out of nowhere.

“Okay,” I said reluctantly. I considered some exit strategies. If it came down to it, I wouldn’t be able to outpace a hundred changelings on hoof, but I might be able to in the sky. I wouldn’t do that anyway. If I flew away, I would be abandoning Smirch, Duft and Sergeant Wheeler.

Oh whatever, let’s just roll with it. It was a little too late to second guess myself anyway.

“We’ll stay,” I told them.

Silken and Moth both looked immensely relieved that I decided to stay.

“Thank you, Princess, you won’t regret it,” Silken said. “They won’t bother us for long, I’ll talk to them.”

As the two changelings headed towards the edge of the clearing, Sergeant Wheeler leaned in.

“Isn’t that a little convenient?” he muttered.

“What is?”

“The fact that they knew the rest were coming. It just strikes me as odd.”

Smirch and Duft shrugged when I cast them a look, apparently, it didn’t occur to them.

“Maybe it’s their telepathy?” I offered. “Could they sense them that way?”

Sergeant Wheeler considered it for a moment, then shook his head as he sighed. “No, I’m not sure. I just have the same sort of bad feeling about all of this since the beginning.”

“Still feel like we’re in the spider’s web?”

Sergeant Wheeler didn’t reply to that, but his laser-like stare into the bushes where Silken and Moth disappeared into was answer enough.

“Sergeant I know you don’t trust these changelings, but are you taking the distrust just a little far?”

Sergeant Wheeler didn’t even look back as he answered. “No Princess, I’m being cautious.”

I bit my lip as I tried to think of a good way to frame my thoughts. “Right, and being cautious is a good thing. We all took the right precautions before stepping into this clearing. I was the one that detected the rest of the changelings.”

Sergeant Wheeler flinched, and still remained silent. Ah, so that was the reason. Did he harbour guilt from his inability to detect the changelings?

“There’s no need to hold yourself accountable for failing to detect them, you don’t have access to changeling detection spells,” I said gently. He started, and I knew I hit it spot on.

Sergeant Wheeler shook his head angrily, his distemper was directed more at himself than at me. “It’s just…” He grunted as he thought furiously of an alternative. “Maybe we should have brought a unicorn along?”

I chuckled. “And teach them a completely original spell I’ve made myself over the course of two months? I don’t think we have quite that amount of disposable time.” I laid a hoof on his shoulder. “I don’t say this often, and I don’t like to flaunt it around, but I have been studying magic my whole life, Sergeant. There’s practically no one more qualified to handle spells of this complexity.”

Sergeant Wheeler took a deep breath. “You’re so capable…” he trailed off as his eyebrows furrowed in contemplative frustration. “It’s like you don’t even need us.”

“That’s not true—”

“I know,” Sergeant Wheeler said quietly. “I meant that it feels like we’re inadequate. You’re… you’re just so versatile. It’s hard to keep up.”

“But I don’t…” Wait. It suddenly hit me. I understood. These were the same feelings that I’ve held for Princess Celestia all these years. Dear Celestia, the irony. Have I been holding her up so high that I could no longer reach her? Had I unwittingly distanced myself for fear of tarnishing that which I thought was beyond staining? And Sergeant Wheeler, he must have felt a little out of joint when he’d gone from the pony in the highest commanding position of Las Pegasus for the last decade, to a simple guard for the Princess. What a change in dynamic for him.

“Princess?” Duft whispered in concern.

I snapped myself out of my stunning revelation. “Y-Yes,” I said softly. “No, I mean—” I straightened and gave Sergeant Wheeler a sympathetic smile “—I understand it, truly.”

Sergeant Wheeler’s eyes widened slightly as he caught onto my sincerity. He flushed briefly and looked away.

“Thanks, Princess, I guess you were right that you are just like a pony like the rest of us. I’ve just been ignoring the signs and just seeing all the crazy feats you’re capable of. You know you have a reputation, right?”

“Uhh…” I thought back to Ponyville and the foals that briefly obsessed over the fact that I was a princess. “Yes, I guess I’m a bit of a local celebrity.”

“Try all of Equestria!” Duft squeaked. “You know how excited Smirch was when he heard—urk!”

Smirch tightened his choke hold on Duft as he grinned nervously at me. “Nothing, Princess. Private Duft sometimes forgets her place. I’ll make sure she keeps her eyes on the tree lines instead of wandering as much as her ears and mouth do.” He blushed when he realised we were all staring at him during his babbling speech.

He cleared his throat and dragged Duft a little off to the side. “We’ll, uhh, do guard things.”

Sergeant Wheeler laughed. “It’s true, Princess, you might not know it, but saving Equestria multiple times, ascending to a Princess and being one of the greatest forces of good for Equestria in last decade alone is sure to earn you notoriety of the famous kind. I thought I might have to play bouncer for you.” He coughed. “When you turned up, you weren’t really what I was expecting.”

Oh, right, I remember. That did explain a lot. When I first arrived in Las Pegasus, I had swooped into the local garrison and practically knocked down the door trying to get to whoever was in charge faster. I was about to start taking down names when the Sergeant scrambled forward, introduced himself and made for the door. He must have thought I was going to follow because he simply left, while I stood there. I was about to lay out the evidence and come up with a reasoned assumption that the changeling was a false report, but Sergeant Wheeler had told me he was sure.

The way he stumbled over the florid greetings and protocol reminded me of the first time I had met Princess Celestia. The Princess never dismissed any concern I had, which was actually the tipping point for me to investigate the matter personally. My reluctance must have seemed typically removed, like somepony who was arrogant in the assumption of their experience. It wasn’t the time to explain to him that I received hundreds of letters from ponies all over Equestria asking for my assistance. At first, I took them all seriously, but most turned out to be monsters under the bed. Imagined or overblown fears. I learned to trust my judgement, but in return, I guess I’d grown condescending.

In the end, I went with him, doubting the request all the way. It goes to show that there was never an endpoint to knowing about a topic, and the appeal of assumption was a seductive mistake.

Sergeant Wheeler smirked at me, as if he could read my thoughts. “For what it’s worth, I was wrong about you. I thought you were an amazing pony that solved problems instantly with the flick of your horn. Then I thought you were a stuck up celebrity that didn’t concern yourself with the affairs of your subjects. Finally, I see the real you. Genuinely. You’re still very much a pony. A pony that cares. Also a bit of a royal pain, but mostly somepony that cares.”

I rolled my eyes at the last bit. “Well, maybe, but I’m not as bad as Puff.”

Sergeant Wheeler pursed his lips. “Now don’t get me started on that.”

Silken and Moth reemerged from the bushes, both wearing a slight smile. I sent another pulse, but already the signals were growing weaker. Looks like they were telling the truth. I nodded to the guards and sagged with relief. I didn’t know what I’d do if something happened. One changeling invasion is enough for a lifetime.

Sergeant Wheeler, Smirch and Duft relaxed slightly at my signal, but still scanned the trees from time to time.

Silken and Moth’s smiles faded as they approached. The mood grew more solemn and their steps slower as they appeared hesitant of what was coming. My anticipation grew with theirs, and I shared a look with Sergeant Wheeler. Maybe I’d relaxed a little too soon? Silken cleared her throat and faced me, only a few feet away.

“Are you ready?” she asked.

To link, she meant.

“Will the answer help me get over my sudden debilitating fear of the approaching unknown?”

 Silken laughed. It was a nervous titter, compared to the hearty one we’d shared on the trail.

“I’ll take that as a no,” she said wryly. “But let’s get started.”