Tornado Dust was moving clouds around the sky, his mind busily processing his situation. So far Antenna had been brought to Acari’s hive under the cover of night, and he had heard very little about Shade recently. Topped off with the fact that now his Queen was dead, and he had a difficult time focusing his mind on anything else.
“Tornado Dust?” A lime green Pegasus flew up to him. “Are you alright? You seem kind of distant?”
“I’m fine Morning Dew.” Tornado replied. “Just…have a lot on my mind…”
“Does it have to do with that trip to Cloudsdale?” Morning Dew asked.
“No… It’s not that.”
“Are you sure?” Dew asked. “It’s just that you haven’t been yourself recently.”
Tornado sighed. “It’s nothing… Just some personal stuff.”
“Does it have to do with the surprise inspection?” Inspection?
“What inspection?” Tornado Dust asked.
“You didn’t hear?” Dew asked looking surprised. “The Royal Guard is doing a surprise inspection of the weather Patrols to check for any Changelings.”
Oh Sweet Chrysalis I’m doomed… “When is the inspection supposed to be?”
“Umm…I’m not sure…” Dew replied. “It was supposed to be earlier today… I think it was rescheduled for-”
A whistle blew across the area. “All Pegasi land and line up!”
Oh Chrysalis… “Right now it seems…” Tornado replied, trying to hide his nerves.
“Well we should probably do what they say.” Dew replied as she headed for the ground.
Tornado Dust audibly gulped, before flying down and standing in line in front of the Royal Guards.
“We have intel that suggests there’s a changeling in the Weather Patrol.” One of the Earth pony guards stated, walking up and down the line of them. “Sergeant Silver Shield will be administering the disillusionment spell. If there are any Changelings here, do yourself a favor and reveal yourself now.”
Tornado Dust stood there, not wanting to give away anything, but he was sweating slightly.
The Guard walked up and down the line again, eyeing each individual pegasi. “No takers?” He asked. As the Pegasus began whispering among themselves. “Alright, Sergeant, check them.”
One of the Unicorns stepped forward as his horn began to glow a deep red color, he walked up and down the line, hovering his horn over each Pegasus before moving on.
After each Pegasus, Tornado began to feel more desperate. I should just run… This isn’t going to be good… I’ll be thrown in prison! Just like Snake Eye…
As the Unicorn came to stop at Tornado Dust; he was still contemplating whether to run or accept his fate, when the Pegasus next to him, dark grey stallion with a white Mohawk jumped out of the line and fell in front of the Guard.
“I confess!” He exclaimed, taking both the guard and Tornado Dust by surprise. “I’m a Changeling! Please just don’t hurt me!” He curled into a fetal position and began to rock himself back and forth.
“uh…” The Guard replied, clearly shocked by the Pegasus. “Okay then…” His horn glowed as he waved it over the Pegasus, there was a wisp of yellow flame and the Pegasus turned into a Changeling, its dark yellow eyes staring unblinking at the Unicorn.
“My Queen, forgive me…” The Changeling said as it kept rocking back and forth on its backplate. “Please forgive me…”
Tornado Dust felt conflicted. He was safe, but the ponies could now know about multiple hives. While he himself wasn’t in the cross hairs anymore, this may just put an innocent hive in danger.
“Thunderlane…” Tornado Dust replied in shock. “You- you…”
“I’m sorry Tornado!” The Changeling replied. “I-I wanted to tell you. But...”
“Save it Insect.” The Unicorn Guard said attaching a suppression ring to the Changeling’s horn while magically attaching cuffs to its legs. “You have a lot to answer for.”
With that the Changeling was led away by the guards, leaving the Pegasi alone. A few of them went back to work, but Tornado Dust just stared blankly, trying to figure out what had just happened.
“Dusty?” Morning Dew said, walking over to him. “Are you okay?”
“Huh?” Tornado Dust replied. Only now noticing he had been sitting in that spot for a few minutes now.
“Are you alright?” She repeated.
“Yeah…Yeah.” Tornado Dust replied. “I-I just need… To…I need to go.” Tornado Dust flew off, heading towards Everfree. I need to talk to Acari. He thought as he flew. Maybe I can…
“help” Tornado Dust stopped and turned to look up at Canterlot.
A nymph! What is it doing in Canterlot? Tornado Dust thought, but he shook away the thought. “I’ll deal with it later…” He said to himself as he continued to fly towards the Hive.
“Halt!” Tornado Dust stopped flying as two changelings flew up to him. “You are entering Acari’s territory. State your business.”
“Infiltrator 75, Darkblaze, Here to warn Acari about a possible security breach in Ponyville.”
The Changelings looked at each other. “What security-”
“I don’t have time for this. Move!” Tornado Dust removed his disguise and flew through the two Changelings and into the Hive, which looked like a large hole in the ground. While this wasn’t the main Hive entrance, it was the fastest way to Acari. So he would make due.
As he flew through the Hive, he was aware of the odd looks he was being given by some of the Drones and Workers that flew around the hive, but he ignored them as he rushed for Acari’s throne room.
“Darkblaze!” Blackout called out to him. “What are you doing in here?” She asked as she caught up with him.
“There’s a security breach.” Darkblaze explained. “The Royal Guard had a surprise inspection of the weather team.”
Blackout’s eyes widened. “Did you…?”
“No!” Darkblaze replied. “I wasn’t caught. Just before I was checked, another Changeling revealed himself.”
“What? Who?”
“I’m not sure…” Darkblaze replied. “He wasn’t from my Hive, so that means they could find out about other Hives.”
“But… That means that…” Blackout replied. “They could come right here!”
“That’s why I need to talk to Acari.”
Blackout stared, before flying ahead of Darkblaze. “Follow me. I know a shortcut.”
Darkblaze followed Blackout to a small tunnel. “This is a direct tunnel to the Queen’s chamber.” She explained. “It’s usually reserved for Caretakers but I think this is important enough.” She flew into the small tunnel, followed quickly by Darkblaze.
The tunnel was very small, only really big enough for Darkblaze to open his wings comfortably, but not really deviate too much from the center. There were no light crystals in here, only the faint luminescence of a few shards to show where turns were, and after about a minute of flying through the tunnel, the two of them shot out of it and into Acari’s throne room.
The room was as large as the other throne rooms, but had much less in the way of intricate aesthetic designs, Acari’s throne was made out of purple crystals, and the walls held memory gems of a few important Changelings. When they entered the room, Acari was looking into a crystalline pool, where a blue gem was held suspended in the center. When they flew in Acari grabbed the gem from the waters with her magic and turned to look up at the tunnel.
“Darkblaze?” Acari asked. “Aren’t you supposed to be-”
“At work? Yes. But this seemed important.” Darkblaze replied as he landed in front of Acari. “There’s been a breach of another Hive.”
“What?” Acari replied. “Darkblaze… What happened?”
Darkblaze explained about the surprise inspection of the weather team, how the Changeling had thrown himself in front of the guard and begged not to be hurt.
“Then as soon as I could, I flew over here to warn you.” Darkblaze concluded.
“It was wise of you to come to me as soon as you could, this incident could cause horrible backlash on the Changeling community.”
“So what are you planning to do?” Darkblaze asked.
“I need information…” Acari replied. “We have no records of any Yellow Eyed Changelings living in Ponyville, which means he either snuck in, or went rogue. I need to find out which.”
“Let me. I can…”
“HELP!”
“AH!” Darkblaze clutched his head. “Chrysalis damn it!”
“Darkblaze what’s wrong?” Acari asked.
“A Nymph… It’s crying for help… From Canterlot. And it hurts!” Darkblaze shook his head. “I’m good…I’m good.”
“If you wish to speak with this Changeling, I will allow it. However, Blackout must accompany you.”
“Of course My Queen.” Blackout replied with a bow.
“I expect you back in one hour.” Acari replied. “But this time…use the door.” Acari replied as Darkblaze and Blackout walked out.
As Tornado Dust and Lyra entered the prison at probably the worst time, there were groups of ponies trying to get to see the Changeling, a few of which Tornado recognized as Thunderlane’s family.
“So how do we go about this?” Tornado Dust whispered to Lyra.
“How do you think?” She replied walking up to the counter.
“Oh Lyra…” The Guard replied. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Yeah. Yeah.” Lyra replied. “Listen, we have to talk to the Changeling. It’s urgent.”
“I don’t suppose you two have any possible credentials to show me?” The Guard replied.
Lyra’s eyes flashed pink while Tornado’s flashed green.
Lyra leaned in to the guard. “This is urgent Lockup.” She hissed, “Queen’s orders.”
Lockup nodded before leading them into the back of the relatively small prison. It didn’t look much like a prison at all, much more a small building converted into one on short notice. As they walked, Tornado noticed a lack of any guards near the back of the building.
“Where are the guards?”
“They are all dealing with the possible Changeling reports through the town.” Lockup turned to look at Tornado Dust. “I had bits on you getting caught by the way.”
“Gee… Thanks…” Tornado Dust replied. “I’ll remember that when I get thrown in here.”
“Anytime.” Lockup replied.
The group walked in silence before they came to a rather small cell in the very back of the building where the Changeling was shaking with his back facing the door and curled up in a corner.
“I’ll keep an eye out for you.” Lockup said to Lyra before walking down the hall.
Lyra hit the bars with her hoof. “Brother.” The Changeling didn’t move. “Changeling.” Still nothing.
“Thuderlane.” Tornado Dust said with an uncertain tone, the Changeling turned to look at him.
“Tor-tornado Dust.” He replied. “What…What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to ask a few questions.” He replied. “First being, where is the real Thunderlane?”
The Changeling got up and turned himself to face the two ponies in front of him. “He’s…He’s in Everfree…”
“Where?”
“The Castle of the Two Sisters… I-I was going to let him go. I promise! I just…”
“Save it!” Lyra said as she slammed her hoof against the bars. “You are in direct violation of several Changeling laws. Be lucky that I do not skin you myself!”
“Blackout!” Tornado said in surprise. “We’re trying to talk to him, not scare him witless.”
The Changeling looked between the two of them. “You- You aren’t ponies either?”
Tornado Dust shook his head. “No. We’re not.” Both of them returned to their natural forms.
The Changeling’s eyes widened at the sight of Darkblaze. “You-You were…You were in Canterlot…”
“Yes… My hive was in Canterlot… I regret what my Queen did.”
“You betrayed us!” The Changeling shouted. “You betrayed the ancient codes! You are never supposed to reveal yourself!”
Blackout slammed on the bars again. “Shut it!” The Changeling slinked back. “You broke one of those codes yourself! ‘Warn the dominant Hive before you take a Pony’s place.’ And If I remember properly, I never saw your flank in the Hive.”
“Blackout… Calm down.” Darkblaze replied. “Yes…I was in Canterlot… I saw what my Queen did, and I’m not proud of it. That’s why I left. Now please… We want to help you.”
“You don’t care about me!” The Changeling shouted. “You only care about your precious hives!”
“No! I want to help. You didn’t do anything wrong… You shouldn’t be punished.” Darkblaze replied calmly. “Please… Just answer our questions, and we’ll see about them letting you go.”
The Changeling blinked. “You…You would really…”
Darkblaze nodded. “There’s no reason for you to-”
“SOMEPONY HELP!”
“Son of a-!”Darkblaze said as a sharp pain shot through his head. “You ask why I hated Nymphs… it’s they’re stupid mental link.”
Lockup ran down the corridor. “I suggest you two get out of here.”
“Why?” Blackout asked as Tornado Dust rubbed his head.
“They caught one of Cytes’ Changelings.” He replied. “They're bringing her here. Go!”
Without a second thought, Blackout grabbed Darkblaze and charged up her horn, in a flash of pink fire, they were gone.
The group of three guards walked down the hall at that time with a second Changeling, from Cytes’ hive. “You don’t have the right to do this!” The changeling said to the Guards. “I am a legal citizen of Equestria!” The Guards threw her into the cell. “When my boss hears about this…”
“Where is Lotus?” Silver Shield growled at her. “I know you are holding her somewhere.”
“If you really must know, she is relaxing for the day. Running the spa can be a very stressful thing. I suggested that she take the day off a while ago, but she wanted to keep going until Sunday. And look what happens. I cover for her once and get thrown into a cell.” The Changeling replied laying down on the small bed she had.
“Don’t lie to me Insect.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it Sergeant.” The Changeling replied. “I studied physical therapy treatments for four years. But to answer your question, she is at home. Relaxing. She deserves it, worked herself to near death while I was handling a problem at the Hospital.” The Changeling turned away from the Guards. “If you had any decency you would just let her take the day off. Now go be brutish somewhere else.”
The two of them reappeared inside of the Golden Oak Library. Both of them had put their disguise back on the instant they reappeared.
“Why would you bring us here?” Tornado Dust questioned. “This is one of the worst places you could bring us.”
“I’m sorry.” Lyra replied. “Would you prefer if they caught us back there?” She replied. “I didn’t have much time to come up with a location.”
“So you bring us here?” Tornado Dust asked.
“It’s better than-!”
“Uhh…?” Spike replied, seeing the two of them. “What are you two arguing about?”
“Nothing Spike.” Tornado Dust replied. “Lyra here just wanted my help testing her skill with teleportation.”
“Didn’t you say you were going to-?” Spike began to say before he was hit with a pink beam.
“That was easier than explaining.” Lyra said as the two of them walked out of the library. “Short term Memory drain. He won’t remember us teleporting in there.”
Tornado Dust looked around the street for any Royal Guards. “You know that if they start checking anypony they come across, we may be in trouble. I mean…Two birds with one stone.”
“You’re right…” Lyra replied. “We need to warn the Queen.”
“What’s the plan here Lyra?” Tornado Dust asked.
“Hold on…I need to connect with her. Just walk like nothing is wrong…”
The two of them walked around the town, trying to avoid the Royal Guards while looking inconspicuous, which wasn’t difficult for the Changelings, but the fact that Lyra was supposed to be in Manehatten for a concert, made that difficult.
“Got her…” Lyra whispered. She stared off into the distance for a few seconds before shaking her head. “I warned her…”
“So? What is she going to do?” Tornado Dust asked, looking around the corner of a building to make sure the Guards weren’t walking this way.
“She is going to try and…Oh Acari damn it….” Lyra looked across the street to see BonBon, the two of them were usually inseparable. “I didn’t think she would be here…”
Tornado Dust took off from the ground and grabbed Lyra before flying up to the top of the nearest building. “Tell me you can disguise as somepony else.”
“I can…but I only have Lyra’s personality nailed down.” Lyra replied. “If you have somepony I could…”
Tornado Dust leaned in and whispered something to Lyra. “You are kidding me right?”
“You want a pony disguise. That’s a pony disguise.”
“Ugh… Fine…” There was a flash of pink flame, and lying next to Tornado Dust was a white and yellow version of Pinkie Pie with Pegasus wings. “I will end you if you joke about this.”
“No problem…” Tornado Dust replied with a smirk. “But I hold no promises about later.” Blackout stared daggers at him. “Oh come on, don’t look at me like that, at least you can fly.”
“Whoopee.” Blackout replied sarcastically
“So what is she going to do?”
“Right… We were talking about that… She is planning to contact Celestia to have them pull out, and right before then, we need to plan a small raid on the prison and get the Changelings out.”
“Why do we need to plan anything? There is only two of them.” Tornado replied. “I could probably get them out on…”
“No Tornado!” Blackout replied. “We need to do this by the book. This is why our hive has them.”
“Alright. Alright.” Tornado replied. “I’m just saying…”
“Meanwhile. We need to get back to the hive.”
Tornado was going to argue, but Blackout stuck her hoof in his mouth. “No arguing. We do this By. The. Book.” She said poking Tornado in the middle of his forehead with every word. “Got it?”
“Lead the way ma’am.” Tornado Dust replied.
Blackout opened her white wings and flew up to a cloud, quickly followed by Tornado Dust. She scanned the ground to make sure that no Guards were waking around. “Think you can stay on my flank?”
“I’d prefer not to. But I’m sure I can manage it.” He gave a small smile.
“You’re an idiot Love moth.” She replied. Before jumping off the cloud and gliding across the sky for a few seconds and flapping to keep herself above the clouds. She was followed shortly after by Tornado Dust.
“Shouldn’t we find Thunderlane? He is in Everfree after all.” Tornado Dust asked.
“Ugh… We’ll deal with him later. I’ll inform Acari when we return to the hive, an Insertion team will handle it.”
“Even so…”
“Look…Just focus on getting back to…”
At that moment two Pegasus charged at them from nowhere knocking them to the ground. The two pegasi held down the two Changelings, making sure they didn’t move.
“Going somewhere?” One of the Pegasus asked.
“To save my friend from a changeling cocoon!” Tornado Dust replied. “Now get off of me!”
“Not a chance.” The other pegasi replied. “Silver! We’ve got two of them over here.”
The White unicorn Tornado saw earlier that day walked up to the two of them. “So…thought you’d get away didn’t you?” His horn glowed red as both of their disguises vanished. “Looks like we have a family here.”
“We aren’t a couple!” Both of them replied disgusted.
“It doesn’t matter to us. You’re both criminals. And you’ll be treated like that.”
Deep in Everfree, Antenna was beginning to stir. “Ugh…” She groaned as she pushed herself up. “Where am I?”
“I’m glad to see you recovering.” A polite voice said.
“Who?” Antenna asked. She focused her vision to see a pink-eyed Changeling looking over her. She instantly tried to back away. “Please… I-I-I Didn’t lie… Please…”
The Changeling looked confused for a second. “Oh…No don’t worry. Queen Acari cleared you.”
Antenna relaxed a bit. “She- She did?”
“Yes…You weren’t lying to her, so she allowed you to come here and heal. And it looks like that leg is fixed.”
Antenna looked around. “Where’s Darkblaze?”
“I’m...Uh…I don’t know whether I’m-?”
Antenna ran up and grabbed the Changeling. “Where is he?” She said through clenched teeth.
“He…Uh…I…” The Changeling teleported out of her grip. “He’s in jail.”
“HE’S WHAT?”
“So glad to see you awake Antenna.” Acari said as she walked in. “And I see you found out about Darkblaze.”
“What happened to him?” Antenna asked.
“I believe this can only be explained fully.” Acari said walking over to Antenna, while her Changeling flew behind her. “The nearby town recently had a surprise inspection through it by the Royal Guard, they captured a few other changelings including one of my own, one of Cytes’ and one that shouldn’t be here.”
“Darkblaze was trying to find out the location of the Pegasus that the changeling was replacing, doing so he revealed himself to the changeling, that told the guards about his form, then the guards captured him and one of my own while they were coming back here.”
Antenna looked at the Queen angrily. “So what are you going to do about it?”
“My plan was to have a small raid party infiltrate the prison and get them out. However… The fact that the Guards captured two more…it makes it much more difficult than that…”
Antenna looked up at the Queen. “Let me handle it.”
The Queen raised an eyebrow and looked over the Caretaker. “And just why would I?”
Antenna walked up to Acari, staring right up at her. “I have been a loyal Caretaker to Queen Chrysalis for well over fifteen years, I have been there during battle plans, strategies, even rescue missions. I know how to handle this.”
Acari thought it over for a moment, weighing the risks, eventually she decided the loss of one other Changeling would be acceptable instead of sending her best team in. “Very well. Do you need anything to accomplish this plan of yours?”
Antenna looked behind Acari. “How good is she at flying?”