Sunglider woke up, strapped to a bed, his head pounding, with a muzzle over his snout. What in Tartarus? The last thing he remembered was being launched to the ground by a Changeling, after that he could have sworn a Unicorn stopped his bleeding and ran off. So why did he have a muzzle on?
A second later two Royal Guards burst into the room, one of them he recognized as Silver Shield, his brother, but he didn’t recognize the other.
“Alright Insect.” Silver growled at him. “What did you do to Dr. Rose?”
“Dr. Rose?” Sunglider replied there was a strange distortion in his voice which he chalked up to the muzzle. “Who is that?”
“Don’t play dumb with me.” Silver said. “You know damn well who it is.”
“Wingless what’s going on?” Sunglider asked. He knew his brother was always a bit weird, but this was taking it a little far.
“Don’t call me that changeling.”
“Changeling?” Sunglider responded. “What in Celestia’s name is going on? I’m not a changeling.”
“Really now?” Silver replied. Levitating a mirror up to Sunglider. “Then explain this.”
Sunglider rolled his eyes and looked into the mirror, and he couldn’t believe what he saw.
He was looking at a Changeling, the sleek black carapace startled him, but having a horn was what really got him. His left eye was solid blue, while his right was a normally rounded blue “Okay wingless…” He said with a nervous laugh. “You got me. That was a good trick. Now tell me what’s going-“
Silver Shield stared daggers at Sunglider. “You think this is a joke? If we didn’t hit you with that spell you would have bitten Dr. Rose’s neck off.”
“What!” Sunglider said. “I would never do that!”
“You would, and you did.” Silver said. “Luckily she got off with only minor injuries. But you just attacked a civilian.”
“Listen to me. Wingless.” Sunglider said. “You’ve known me practically your whole life, when would I ever attack a civilian?”
“I have only known you for a few days Changeling. And you have no room to talk to me like my brother.”
“You Celestia damned magic user!” Sunglider shouted. “I am your brother!”
“Prove it!” Silver replied, staring Sunglider directly in the face.
Sunglider lost his angry look and sighed. “When you were a foal, you used to have night terrors, and the only way we could get you to shut up was to take you flying.” Silver didn’t show any sign of letting up. “When you were three, I flew you to the top of the waterfall. When we were up there you nearly fell off the cliff but were busy using that horn on your head to float yourself in place, gave me a heart attack.”
Silver’s eyes widened in shock. “Sunny?”
“Wingless.”
“What in Tartarus happened to you?” Silver asked, looking at the Changeling that was apparently his brother. “How are you here?”
“Last thing I remember is being kicked down to the ground by a Changeling. After that everything is a blur.”
“But that doesn’t make any sense...” Silver replied. “How are you in the body of a changeling?”
“If I knew I would tell you.” Sunglider replied. “I just woke up.” Then he realized something. “How long have I been out?”
“A little over a week.” Silver replied, still shocked at what was happening.
“Damn… How are the others holding up?”
“Not too good…” Silver replied. “We have suffered a total of twenty-five known deaths. We were afraid you were next up.”
“I’m not going to let a little fall kill me.” Sunglider replied. “It’ll take a lot more bugs than that to take me out.”
Silver smiled. “Well now I know it is you.”
“So…where’s Bat brain?” Sunglider asked.
“He’s busy helping Shining Armor look for Changelings in Ponyville.” Silver replied. “They should be back tomorrow if you want to talk to him about getting-”
At that moment, Sunglider felt a voice in his head.
“Snake Eye!”
“OW!” Sunglider said as the voice spoke to him.
“Sunny?” Silver replied. “You alright?”
“Snake Eye?”
“Who are you?”
“Sunny?”
“Identify yourself…” Sunglider managed to say to the voice. “This is Lieutenant Sunglider of Celestia’s Royal Guard. Identify yourself immediately.”
“Snake... Oh…you’re not…”
Sunglider could feel the connection between him and the voice get cut abruptly. “Aw…How do Changelings deal with this?” He said as his head began to pound.
“Sunny, what just happened?” Silver was looking at Sunglider with concern…no Sunglider could see the concern.
“There was something trying to talk to me.” Sunglider said. “Through my mind…” just as he finished, he heard another voice, but it sounded more like it was coming from himself.
“Get out of MY HEAD!”
The horn on top of Sunglider’s head began to glow dimly, Silver backed away in response. “Sunny? What’s going on?”
Silver watched as Sunglider’s right eye changed from blue to orange, and as the pupil exchanged itself to a slit.
“The hell?” Shade said as his eye returned to normal. “Why am I wearing a muzzle?”
Silver looked at the guard on the other side of Shade, who was equally confused. “Sunny?”
“No.” Shade replied. “My name is Shade. I asked a question. Why is there a muzzle on my face?”
“The Doctors are going to have a field day with this…” Silver said to himself, looking at the Changeling in front of him.
Deep underneath the Everfree Forest, unknown to the residents of Ponyville, a Changeling Hive busily works on preparing for the patrols of Royal Guards who may find their hidden nest. The green walls decorated with purple crystals, creating a variety of images on the walls of the hive.
Deep near the Queen chambers, a single outsider falls to the ground, breathing heavy from the energy required to contact Shade.
“That…Hurt…a…lot.” Darkblaze said to Blackout, who was rubbing her horn.
“Then maybe you shouldn’t have cut the connection before warning me.” Blackout replied. “It isn’t easy to be used as a transmitter.”
Blackout seemed scared by the offer, but Darkblaze hadn’t been fully connected to his hive for more than a week, so he had gotten used to having an empty mind. Though he had to admit, at times he did miss the chatter of his family. But Infiltrators usually weren’t connected to the hive unless it was an emergency; usually they required their own mind to be able to focus on the task at hand.
“Love sucking moth…” Blackout replied in Changeling, hissing while vibrating her wings.
“Scout 256!” Acari shouted.
“At least I don’t need another Changeling for my cover.” Darkblaze hissed.
“SILENCE!” Acari said through both of their minds. “I will not have such behavior in my hive.”
Darkblaze bowed. “My apologies your Highness. My emotions got the better of me.”
Acari looked at Blackout. “You should know better Blackout. If I recall, this is not the first negative relation you have made with another hive.” Blackout seemed to be embarrassed by this. “Pupa still refuses to allow passage through her Hive.”
“My deepest regrets my Queen.” Blackout replied, bowing. “I only did what I thought was necessary.”
“Next time run it by me before you act.” Acari said as Blackout rose. “One rival Hive is quite enough for us.”
Darkblaze stifled a laugh before remembering that he himself was part of a hive now hated by almost every other hive. “How are the negotiations with Chrysalis going?”
“We haven’t found her…” Acari replied. “She just vanished from every Queens’ notice. Even her Hive was abandoned.”
Acari looked at the worried expression on Darkblaze’s face. “Do not worry Darkblaze.” She said calmly. “I have informed the Queens that individual Changelings are not to be harmed; we only wish to learn why Chrysalis decided to attack. It is so unlike her. However I feel your worry is not aimed at yourself.”
Darkblaze nodded. “Snake Eye… Somehow there was a Royal Guard in his mind.”
“A Royal Guard?” Acari repeated. “Are you sure?”
“Positive, Lieutenant Sunglider of Celestia’s Royal Guard. I was forced to sever the link before he found out.”
“That explains why Blackout is so testy at the moment.” Acari said, looking between the two of them. “Severing a mental link is not easy to do, especially between hives.”
“I did what I had to…” Darkblaze replied. “But Queen Acari. How is this possible?”
“Hmm…” Acari replied in deep contemplation. “There are three possibilities. Either somepony on the Royal Guard is so adept at magic that they breached the neurological gap residing within his mind. They somehow got him to believe that he is a Royal Guard… or…” Acari’s eyes widened. “I need to look back at his memories…”
“My Queen?” Blackout asked, slightly frightened. “What is it?”
“The Canterlot invasion. Did Shade drain anypony?”
Darkblaze rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not sure… We never really talked about the Invasion…”
“My Queen…you are not really suggesting that…”
“I’m afraid so Blackout.” Acari replied. “I just hope I’m wrong.”
Acari flew out of the chamber, while Blackout looked slightly scared, and Darkblaze just looked confused.
“Did I miss something here?” Darkblaze asked Blackout. “What was up with her?”
Blackout scowled at him. “I wouldn’t expect a Love feeder like you to understand.”
“Hey! I just wanted to know what’s wrong with my friend you filthy little-” Darkblaze had to stop himself from finishing that statement. “Listen…I know that we got off on the wrong hoof. But I just want to know what’s happening to Snake Eye. If you won’t tell me, I’ll find someone who will.”
Blackout moaned. “Very well.” She replied in Changeling. “The Queen believes that your ‘friend’ absorbed not only the emotions, but the traces of emotions inside of his target. Thereby fully absorbing not only energy, but the personality of the pony.”
“Totally lost.” Darkblaze replied.
“Typical love moth.” Blackout replied. “It means your accomplice has the mind of that Guard attached to him.”
“Well you could have just said that.” Then he realized what that meant. “What?”
“Acari damn it…” Blackout said facehoofing. “The Guard…Is currently a split personality of Shade.”
“You’re kidding.” Darkblaze said. He had been told stories about the dangers of full emotional drains, but never thought there was any truth behind them. “That’s only a story.”
“It is not.” Blackout replied. “We are all trained to limit ourselves, your accomplice” Snake Eye hates being called that. “Never got that training, he didn’t know when to stop!”
“Hey!” Darkblaze said. “It’s not like we were perfect on our first attempts. Don’t blame him!”
“What did I tell you two?” Acari said through the mental link. “I can still hear you through Blackout.”
“Sorry my queen.” Blackout replied.
“I…I want to see him.” Darkblaze said.
“No!” Blackout replied. “Canterlot is under enough of a security lockup already. We don’t need them thinking there is another changeling there! We already have the threshold too high!”
“What are you talking about?” Darkblaze asked. “What haven’t you been telling me?”
Blackout was trying to find a way to tell Darkblaze without releasing the information she didn’t trust him. Not yet anyway.
“Tell him Blackout.” Acari said to her.
“But my queen…”
“That means now. Or do I need to demote you again?”
“No my queen…” Blackout shivered, she hated dealing with the Nymphs, all the slime and acid puke.
“Well?” Darkblaze said, tapping his hoof. “Your Queen gave you an order.”
Blackout sighed. “Half of the ponies in the hospital are Changelings.”
“WHAT!” Darkblaze shouted, causing a few nearby drones to look into the cave entrance. “Are you telling me, that we have over one hundred and twenty five changelings in Canterlot? Right now.”
Blackout nodded. “They are under the surveillance of Queen Cytes. She insured that the doctors looking over Changeling patients were replaced.”
“Replaced meaning?”
“They are contained… We must retain full secrecy of hives that were not involved in your Queen’s little power trip.”
“Don’t you dare talk about my queen like that!” While Darkblaze wasn’t exactly a fan of his queen’s plan, she was still his queen.
“Oh please.” Blackout said rolling her eyes. “Your queen nearly doomed all of us! If we hadn’t used emergency plan thirty-five, one hundred and fifty nine changelings would be dead! All because of your queen.”
A sizeable crowd of the Changelings had stopped what they were doing to watch the two of them.
“That’s it!” Darkblaze shouted as he tackled Blackout, the two of them rolled across the cold stone chamber before coming to a stop a few feet away, some of the larger Changelings had already flown down to stop the two of them.
“Let me go!” Darkblaze shouted as two of the large Changelings were pulling him off Blackout. “I’m going to tear that Nymph a new ovipositor!”
“You filthy little love sucker.” Blackout replied as another two Changelings held her back.
“ENOUGH!” All of the Changelings in the room stopped dead, looking towards the source of the shout. Acari was hovering above them, her normally peaceful eyes alight, her mane had come apart and was floating, small blue fire was at it’s tips. Every time she spoke, the words echoed throughout the entire hive. “I expected better of both of you!”
Blackout was squirming away from her Queen, while Darkblaze stood at attention. He was used to Chrysalis’ outbursts, and he understood trying to hide was only prolonging it.
“Both of you know full well that I do not condone that type of behavior!” She looked up to the drones that had stopped. “This matter does not concern you!” All at once the drones flew off, leaving only Blackout, Darkblaze, Acari, and four rather large Changelings.
“Now then.” Acari said looking at Blackout. “Scout 256, what is rule forty-five?”
“Do not make judgments until the full story is known.”
“And Darkblaze. I know that Chrysalis taught you not to attack unless provoked.”
Darkblaze saluted on instinct. “Your Majesty, she directly antagonized my Queen, I was merely-“
“Not in my Hive.” Acari cut him off. “I know Chrysalis endorses violence among drones. But I do not. Is that clear?”
“Crystal.” Darkblaze replied, lowering his hoof. “With permission, I would like to attempt another Mental-link with my Hivemate.”
“For what purpose?” Acari’s mane had stopped flaming, and was now simply lying flat against her neck.
“I believe we may be able to determine whether he is truly suffering from the ailment you wish to determine.”
Blackout was looking at Darkblaze in surprise. He stared down a Queen, her Queen; it made her think about what Chrysalis must have been like for this to be standard for him.
Acari looked Darkblaze up and down. “Very well…however. I wish to contact the Infiltrator I placed to monitor him to ensure he has returned to normal before you attempt it.”
“Of course Ma’am.” Darkblaze replied. “I will await your decision.”
“At ease.”
Darkblaze slouched slightly, but still remained in a military position.
“I thought you were an Infiltrator?” Acari asked. “Why are you acting like a soldier?”
“We must be prepared to do what is necessary to protect the Hive at all times. Every Changeling from Medical to Caretakers know at least basic combat in case of attack.”
“Well…that’s good to know about her hive…” Acari made a mental note to bring more soldiers when they found Chrysalis. “I will get back to you when it is alright for you to contact Shade. In the meantime.” She looked at both Blackout and Darkblaze. “No trying to kill each other.”
“Cross my heart and Hope to fly, Stick a cupcake in my eye.” Darkblaze replied doing the required hoof movements.
“I still don’t understand that…” Acari sighed. “You four make sure they don’t try anything.” The four large changelings saluted as Acari flew out of the room.
Darkblaze walked over and held out his hoof to Blackout.
“Were you telling the truth about your hive?”
“Sadly, yes. We are militarized. It only happened around forty years ago, at least, that’s what my father had always said.”
“Forty years?” Blackout replied accepting the hoof. “What made her change?”
Darkblaze shrugged. “No idea. She just changed one day, she was her normal self, and then she was angry and distant. She has been that way my whole life.”
“That must have been horrible, being forced to fight.”
“Nah… I was an Infiltrator, I only fought a few others, and you don’t usually have any reason to if you are a good Infiltrator.”
“Maybe I underestimated you Love bug.” Darkblaze knew they had a long way to go, but it was a start.
“So is there a way to fix Snake-Eye?”
“If I’ve told you once. I’ve told you twenty seven times, I. Don’t. Know!” Shade had been conscious for around ten minutes and was already being asked stupid questions.
“Why was my brother talking to me?” Silver asked for the fifth time. He was determined to get an answer out of the changeling.
“I! Don’t! Know!” Shade replied. “Take! A! Hint!” Shade really wished he didn’t have a muzzle over his mouth, if he didn’t then maybe this horse could tell his teeth were bared and he was willing to bite down on this pony's neck to get him to stop asking questions, or at the very least the same question.
A second later the door opened and a different doctor walked in. It wasn’t Rose; instead it was a light brown Earth pony stallion with a short messy brown mane. “Alright all of you soldiers out. I need to be alone with my patient.”
“But Doc-“
“Out!” the Stallion demanded. “I will allow you back in when I am certain he can handle it.”
Begrudgingly Silver and his fellow guard walked out of the room.
“Hello…” He looked down at the clipboard. “Shade/Sunstreak. My name is Dr. Hooves.”
“What happened to Rose?” Shade asked.
“She has minor wounds. A near bite mark on her neck.” Shade lowered his head, his ears against the side of his head. “But she will survive.“
“Oh…” Shade sighed. “I guess I really am a monster.”
“Now, now.” Dr. Hooves replied. “Don’t you worry about a thing, I’ve seen much worse than that in this hospital.” He walked up and placed the clipboard on he end of the bed. He got close to Shade before his blue eyes became tinted pink. “Do not be alarmed.”
Shade couldn’t help being alarmed. You don’t just do that.
“Acari sends you a message.” Dr. Hooves said. “Your accomplice will be contacting you.”
“Darkblaze?” Shade said surprised. “Why is-“
“Be silent.” Dr. Hooves hissed. “Are you attempting to blow my cover?” Shade lowered as he loosened up. “Are you the real Shade?”
“Who else would I be?”
“Your accomplice will explain. I am here to ensure that the connection stays constant.”
Shade nodded. While he wanted to correct this Changeling, that might cause them to realize something, so he was just silent.
“Snake Eye?”
“What’s up Darkblaze?”
“We have a problem.”
“I know…Meadow is missing…”
“What?...How?” Shade could hear hissing coming through his mind. “Right not important. Listen Snake-Eye, did you drain anypony during the attack?”
“Yes…why?”
Shade heard more hissing through his mind. “Yes I remembered Blackout. Was it a Royal Guard?”
“Yes…”
“Well…In short, you now have a split personality of the Guard.”
“WHAT!” He shouted out loud, getting a dirty look from the pink-eyed stallion. “Sorry…”
“Ow…Snake Eye listen, I’ve got to go. I’ll try to find some way to fix this…and maybe find out where Meadow is.” Shade felt the connection between the two of them break.
“Am I okay?” Shade asked Hooves. “Like…am I going to suddenly turn into a pony now?”
“My knowledge on this ailment is not the best.” Hooves replied. “But that is unlikely. A Changeling cannot simply, become a pony, at least not fully.”
“But what will happen?” Shade asked.
“From what I understand, every so often you will switch between being Sunglider and Shade. We will monitor your brain waves and check for any changes…” He grabbed the clipboard with one of his front hooves and walked towards the door. “I will also see about removing that muzzle of yours.”
“I’m sorry Acari.”
“But he needs more help.” Acari was speaking into a blue crystal, inside which was the image of a blue unicorn mare, her long gray mane was lying flat behind her. Her purple eyes contrasted the sapphire blue glow in her horn.
“Acari you know the dangers.” The unicorn replied. “We simply cannot risk spreading ourselves out any further. The ponies already know about his hive, but we need to protect the others.”
“But Cytes,” Acari said to the unicorn. “You understand the condition he is in.”
Cytes sighed. “Acari, you know full well that I hate to do this… But I must assist the others. Many of them are in worse conditions. Ovi is on her deathbed right now!”
“I suppose you are right…” Acari replied.
“You are going to have to trust Rose Petal on this.” Cytes replied. “She is a smart mare; she will treat him with respect.” Cytes lowered her red rimmed glasses. “But that requires that you remove your Scout from the Hospital.”
Acari was about to say something, but Cytes raised her hoof. “I know that you don’t want to hear this… but you have my word as a Queen that I will inform you of his condition. Goodbye Acari.” The image of the unicorn vanished from the crystal, which Acari placed inside of its blue box.
At that moment, one of her guards walked into the chamber. “My Queen.” He said bowing, “The Infiltrator has news.”
“Very well, I will hear him out.” The guard bowed again before walking out of the chamber.
“Are you satisfied my Queen?” One of the caretaker drones flew up to her.
“I am fine Biome.” Acari said to her Drone. The caretakers looked after their Queen, the Hatchlings, and eggs. But Acari did admit they were annoying at times. “You do not need to worry about me.”
Darkblaze walked into the room. “Queen Acari.” He bowed. “I’m afraid you were correct.”
Acari waved at the caretaker, a signal that they should go. “How so Darkblaze?”
“Snake Eye did indeed drain a royal Guard during the invasion.”
“This is distressing news…” Acari replied. “I was just speaking with Queen Cytes, I am sorry to inform you that she cannot risk placing a Changeling as his doctor.”
“What does that mean your majesty?”
“It means that both of us must trust the pony doctor, Cytes has made clear that she will inform me of any changes to his condition. But aside from that, we can only hope. However I feel that is not all you wished to tell me.”
Darkblaze nodded. “Snake Eye has informed me that Meadow Song is missing.”
Acari’s eyes widened. “How is that possible?”
Darkblaze looked towards Acari. “He did not have a chance to tell me, however I believe it has to do with Commander Spine.”
“And who is Spine?”
“He is- was my commanding officer, Snake Eye’s too. But he has a grudge against Snake Eye since he saved Meadow.”
“What makes you believe this Commander is who has Meadow?” Acari asked, her judge mind taking control, she wanted to know the reasoning.
“Snake Eye mentioned that Spine was in Canterlot last time we connected. That is why he was captured. I believe that Spine is the one who captured Meadow.”
Acari was thinking through protocols of Chrysalis’ Hive, while the times have changed since they last had contact, she normally didn’t sanction revenge missions. “Do you know if the Queen gave him her approval?”
“I have not had contact with my Queen since Canterlot, but I doubt she would allow a mission on such flimsy reasoning. The only time she allows revenge missions, are if your direct family was killed or betrayed.”
“So he is acting on his own…” Acari said out loud. “That makes locating him much more difficult… I am sorry Darkblaze, but we cannot search for them now. The medical situation takes precedent.”
Darkblaze had to agree, while he would like to help Shade personally, but from what Blackout told him about the Medical situation, over one hundred and twenty changelings wounded, including a Queen. Until he heard of the Lust Queen’s condition, he didn’t see any reason why he wouldn’t be allowed into the city.
“Queen Acari,” Darkblaze replied. “Permission to leave the Hive?”
“For what purpose?” Acari had told Darkblaze he could leave the hive, granted that he inform her of the reasoning. This was the first time he asked to leave the hive since he entered it.
“My job.” Darkblaze replied. “The Element Bearers have yet to suspect me of being a Changeling; I wish to ensure they do not suspect me by continuing my duties for the weather patrol.”
Acari thought about the offer, while personally she would feel safer if one of her Changelings handled this mission, she didn’t want to reveal that Darkblaze had been taken. “Very well… But I expect you to return before sunset.”
“Very well Acari.”
Shade was glad that the guards eventually decided he wasn’t a big enough threat to warrant keeping the muzzle on over his face, mostly because his fangs were beginning to dig into it and were very uncomfortable. However it took a little more persuasion to get them to allow his hoof to be free from the clamp.
Though he did wish that his headache would go away, it had been growing steadily since he got into the hospital, starting as a small nuisance, and then slowly turning into a feeling of sunburn inside his head. It couldn’t have been merely from him thinking too much, as he had periods of complete blackouts in which his headache seemed to get worse.
After what Shade believed to be about six hours since Darkblaze had communicated with him, he heard the sounds of an argument going on outside his room.
“You can’t be serious about this?”
“I am. I would like to see him.”
“Listen, we are not letting you in here unless you are a Doctor, or a guard. Since you look like neither, we aren’t letting you in.”
“He knows who I am. At the very least let him know I came.”
“Listen mare, I don’t know how you found out its room number, but just saying you know it doesn’t mean we are going to let you in.”
Shade listened as best he could to the argument, owing to the fact that the machines next to him kept beeping and blocking out parts of their speech. He did want to know who exactly was trying to see him.
“Princess Cadence told me this is where he was. I want to talk with him.”
“Really? Princess Cadence?”
Shade was trying to piece together what was going on, but instead decided to look at the door with his left eye, hoping it would shed some light on who was out there.
He saw the two small flames of the guards, one of which was full of annoyance, a strange deep blue color, while the other was very bored, his flame was a dull grey. But the third flame was…orange.
“Candlelight?” he called out, hoping to get a reply. “Is that you?”
The arguments outside stopped. “Yes. It is.”
“Hey boys! Last time I checked I still had visitor rights.” Shade said to the guards, “And since I know her, she isn’t going to try and kill me...” hopefully.
It took a moment, but the Guards eventually decided she was alright and let her walk into the room; she was carrying a small package with her blue magic. “Hello Shade.”
“Hi…” Shade replied looking at the package. “What’s in the box?”
“I’m not sure…” Candlelight replied, floating the package over to Shade. “I don’t make a habit of looking through other ponies’ mail.” She placed the package down on his chest. “It came for you this morning, but I couldn’t get it to you earlier because Silver Shield refused to tell me where they moved you.”
Shade looked at the package while trying not to knock it off his chest due to only having one hoof. “Did you happen to see who it was from?”
“Yes I did.” Candlelight replied, lifting the package and turning it so Shade could see the sender.
On the bottom of the package was a bright pink sticker with three balloons on it. ‘Pinkimena Diane Pie’ was written onto it with crayon.
“Friend of yours?” Candlelight asked placing the package back down.
“Pinkie Pie?” Shade replied. “I just thought she was friends with everybody. Hey do you think she could manage to befriend Chrysalis?” Shade began picturing Pinkie Pie throwing Chrysalis a surprise party at her Hive.
Candlelight giggled a bit “knowing that mare, she will find a way.”
Shade began looking at the package, trying to find some way to open it without damaging anything inside of it. Eventually he decided to use his fangs to pull the brown paper off of it, once he did, he saw a pink box underneath.
Opening it with his hoof, which involved him stabbing through the tape holding it together, he found the inside had a cupcake, a sealed envelope with three balloons stamped on it, a second envelope with paper inside, a quill, and a book entitled Daring Do: Quest for the Sapphire Stone. Shade reached in and grabbed the envelope, using his fang to open it again, pulling out the letter he began to read it, which was difficult as Pinkie wrote it using twelve different colored crayons and a glue stick from the looks of it.
Dear Sunny or Shady (I don’t know which one to send it to),
This is Pinkie Pie. I haven’t seen any letters from you yet. Did you find Meadow’s Mom? Are you coming back soon? Why haven’t you been writing? That’s not important. I sent you a care package! I got the idea from when Rainbow went to the Wonderbolt’s academy for a bit. But THIS time I won’t be going to give it to you because Mister and Mrs. Cake have me busy at Sugar Cube Corner.
And I thought that since you haven’t sent a letter in a while, maybe you were out of paper. So I sent you some paper and an envelope, along with a quill in case you don’t have that. Oo! Oo! And the Cupcake! I made it SUPER spicy, mostly because I used pure Rainbow Water for the filling. But I also put peppers in the frosting. I call it “The Dragon Tongue!” I was going to put some milk in here too but I couldn’t find a small enough spatula.
Write back soon! I want to hear all about your trip! Bye!
From,
Ponyville’s Personal Pink Party Professional: Pinkie Pie.
“Wow…nice tongue twister.” Shade said as he re-read Pinkie’s title.
“So what is it?” Candlelight asked.
“A care package from Pinkie Pie.” He turned the letter over to see more.
P.S. I included the first book of Daring Do for you. In case you got bored.
Pinkie Pie Statement. Try not to damage the book, Twilight would be mad.
P.P.P.S. I found my Spatula.
Shade placed the letter down, and grabbed the book. “You ever heard of this?” He said showing the cover to Candlelight.
“Yes I have.” Candlelight replied. “It’s a series of popular adventure books. I don’t know if you would like them…”
“Eh…I’ll give it a shot. I’ve got nothing better to do.” Shade said as he placed the book on a small table on his right. Then reaching for the envelope and quill. “Well…I guess I have one thing to do. Um…. Can you help me with this?”
About an hour later, Candlelight had left the room, holding onto the letter she would send to Pinkie. Shade meanwhile was starting to read through the Daring Do book, it wasn’t exactly his favorite genre, but he was currently a prisoner of Equestria, so he would make do.
He was enjoying the read, mostly because it gave him something to actually do aside from sit still and twiddle his non-existent thumbs. But also because it provided him with a way to actually get a chance to read what ponies considered award winning literature. Which was actually rather good, granted it wasn’t on par with some of the more…action oriented books he had read from the Fiords, but it was at least decent.
The next time he looked up from the book was when the door opened and Dr. Rose walked in talking to the Guards. “Really I’m fine. It’s just a scratch. Now I just need to talk with him for a minute.” She closed the door before either of the Guards could retort.
“Are you okay?” Shade asked guiltily, he still felt bad about the whole attempted murder thing, even if he couldn’t control himself.
“Yes. Yes. You didn’t break the skin.” Rose replied, but Shade could tell she was lying, mostly because he knew the smell of blood, and he could smell blood.
“Listen…I’m really sorry about that.” Shade replied. “I… Wasn’t trying to kill you… my body was just moving on it’s own.” Shade felt like he should slap himself, there is no way she is going to buy that.
“I believe you.” What? “You warned me to back away. I should have listened. I just didn’t expect you to try and bite my neck off.” Shade rubbed the back of his neck. “But I should have figured something bad was going on when both your eyes turned solid blue.”
“My eyes… turned blue…”
“Well…your single eye anyway. Your left eye is already solid blue…” She was looking at Shade “Kind of like it is starting to now…”
Oh shi-
“AH!” He shouted as it felt like someone was ramming a railroad spike through his head. It was so sudden, almost like when Blackout had swarmed his head with her hive mind…almost is the wrong word.
Rose looked on scared. “Shade? Shade! Shade talk to me. What’s going on?”
“Pain!” Was all Shade could reply before he wasn’t in control of himself anymore.
He stopped screaming and looked around for a moment before noticing Dr. Rose. “Oh hello. Who are you?”
Rose was surprised to see that Shade’s eye had completely changed, no longer the orange lizard like slit, it was a pony’s eye, rounded pupil with a blue iris. “I’m Dr. Rose.” She replied. “What happened to Shade?”
“Shade?” he tapped his chin. “Oh! That must be the Changeling.” What is going on? Rose thought. “My name is Sunglider.”
“WHAT?” Rose shouted.