//------------------------------//
// Chapter 42: Friendly Meet Up 
// Story: Converted 
// by Shaded Changeling 
//------------------------------//

	“So you are telling me,” Sunstreak said as he and Lockup walked out of the castle, and into the courtyards. “That while I was gone, the Royal Guard led a surprise investigation, which succeeded but because of Darkblaze’s mother, they broke out and managed to keep themselves hidden.”
“Pretty much.” Lockup replied. “I’d been working there for nearly two years now.”
“So how did Ceymi take over your Hive?” Sunstreak asked. “I always figured that Ceymi had a small group…a battalion or two… I never expected the entire Swarm.”
“They attacked during the night, swarmed into the Hive, taking everypony by surprise. Haze managed to get out, but not before getting roughed up. Last I heard she had the entire thing enslaved to her.”
“Damn… They aren’t…They aren’t…Loyal to her are they?” Sunstreak asked.
“What? No. We would never turn our backs on Acari.” Lockup replied. “The only way we would turn our backs is if both Acari and the Princess were to die.”
“oh… Phew…” Sunstreak said, wiping his forehead. “I thought I was going to have fight through them too. That’s a load off my plans.”
Lockup looked at the saddlebags, they had maps and charts placed inside them, various quills, and notepads. “What plans are these?”
Sunstreak placed his wings over the bags. “Just… a backup plan…just in case…”
“In case what?”
Sunstreak looked at him with a small smile across his face. “That’s for me to know, and you to hopefully never find out.”
Lockup rolled his eyes as they came to a table that they agreed would be the meet up point, it was out of earshot of any possible guard patrols, and if any did come near, they could plan for it.
“Looks like we’re the first ones.” Lockup said, as they walked over.
“Good thing too.” Sunstreak said, pulling out one of the maps with his wing. He placed it on the table and unfurled it. “Now…Where was I?” He muttered to himself.
Lockup looked at the map, and to him, it looked like a detailed map of Ponyville and the surrounding area. “What are you doing?”
“Again… Plans...” Sunstreak replied, pulling out a notebook and a pencil. “Shut up for a minute. I need to focus.”
Lockup would argue, but he was too busy trying to figure out what Sunstreak was writing, it wasn’t Equestrian writing, it looked more like claw marks drawn onto the paper, but there was some kind of pattern to them.
“Do you mind?” Sunstreak asked, noticing Lockup looking. “It’s difficult to focus with someone looking over your work.”
Lockup rolled his eyes and looked away, focusing instead on the Royal Guards flying overhead. They remained that way for a few minutes before a bright yellow flash brought Lockup’s attention to the other side of the table.
“Well…” Lyra said as she teleported in. “That was rather…interesting.”
“You told Acari?” Lockup asked. “That can’t have gone well.”
“It didn’t.” Lyra stated. “I was afraid she would kill me.” Lyra looked over at Sunstreak. “What is he working on?”
“Plans…” Lockup said. “He won’t say for what.”
Lyra looked over the map, but Sunstreak pulled it away and rolled it up, and pulled out another chart of weather patterns. “If they go here…”
“What are you-?”
“Shh…” Sunstreak said , placing his free hoof over Lyra’s mouth. “Focusing…”
“On weather maps?” Lyra asked. “What in Acari’s name are you…”
Two pegasi landed on the other side of the table. “What is this about?” Tornado Dust asked. “Mustard only told me…” He looked at Sunstreak. “What’s he doing?”
“Tornado!” Sunstreak said happily surprised. “Just the Pegasus I need. Now if a storm cloud were to be carrying say… seventeen lightning bursts, how long would it take to move a few miles?”
Tornado tapped his chin. “Well… probably depends on who you get to move it… Though that is a pretty big cloud… Why?”
“Planning stuff.” Sunstreak said, moving back to his work. “That’s out of the question…” He mumbled.
Tornado Dust looked confused at Sunstreak for a moment. “So… Why was I brought to the castle?”
“Our hive was attacked.” Lockup said. “By Ceymi.”
“You’re kidding me!” Tornado Dust said surprised. “She didn’t.”
“She did.” Lyra replied. “And now Haze is in the hospital.”
“Damn… That’s… That’s irresponsible…” Tornado Dust said. “There… Okay… Chrysalis was a bit power hungry, but she would never do something this stupid.”
“Well, her daughter didn’t get the memo.” Lyra hissed. “And now Acari is trying to get a hold of a new general to help with the attack.”
“Alright… so now I’m still confused. Why was I needed here?”
Sunstreak looked up from the charts. “We’re going to get the Bearers.” He rolled up the chart and placed it back in the saddlebag.
Tornado Dust stared with his mouth hanging open. “In Ponyville?”
“No…” Lockup replied. “They’re inside a cave a few miles from Canterlot, we managed to get them out of the village. We need to get them.”
“Wait…” Tornado Dust said. “Why didn’t you…”
“We’ll explain on the way!” Lyra said. “Sunstreak, I hope you have another form to use.”



Meadow began to stir again, when she heard a small groan from next to her. Looking to the side, she saw the small filly beginning to wake up.
“daddy…?” The filly said weakly.
Meadow watched the filly open her eyes and look around. “Ooo…” She said looking at the purple crystals. She turned to Meadow. “Hi.”
“Hi…” Meadow replied. “What’s your name?”
“My Daddy calls me Sunspot.” The filly replied. “Mommy calls me Echo,” Her ears drooped “well… Used to.”
“I’m Meadow.” Meadow replied.
“Oo! Are you Meadow Song?” The filly asked happily.
“Yes.” Meadow replied. “Do I know you?”
“No…” Sunspot replied. “But you know my Daddy!”
“Who?” Meadow asked.
“Sunstreak!”
Hearing the name, Meadow’s ears dropped. “So… He just… Forgot about me…”
Sunspot looked at Meadow. “No.” She said. “Daddy saved me from some ponies. But I kept hearing him talk about you.”
Meadow hung her head. “Maybe talking about how he tricked me…”
Sunspot tilted her head. “I don’t think Daddy would do that.” Sunspot replied. “He seemed worried whenever they talked about you… I think he was scared for what happened.”
Meadow looked up at the filly. “How do you know?” Meadow asked curiously.
Sunspot was covered in a green flame, and was replaced by a small Changeling. “Daddy showed me. When he fed me, I saw how nervous he was.” Echo looked around the room. “I’m sure Daddy wouldn’t forget about you.”
Meadow was still unsure.
“Hey… Don’t look so sad…” Echo said. “I’m sure Daddy is coming up with some way to rescue us.”
“I hope so…” Meadow replied. “I don’t know how much longer I can stay here…”



“Rarity would ya stop fussin’?” Applejack said. “There ain’t nothin’ we can do but wait.”
The white unicorn in question was complaining about having to be left in the ‘Dark icky Cave’ instead of follow Lockup and Tornado Dust to Canterlot. “Well I still don’t see why they had to leave us here.”
“I don’t know Rarity…” Fluttershy replied. “BonBon looked pretty bad…”
“And you heard ‘im, the Mare needed to get to Canterlot. They’ll be back faster than a Rattler from Winona.”
“I hope she’s alright…” Fluttershy said.
“I’m sure she’s fine darling.” Rarity replied. “I’m still trying to figure out why we were dragged from Ponyville.”
“Ah reckon it had to do with whatever happened to BonBon.” Applejack replied. “Probably nothin’ good.”
“Do you think something lives in this cave?” Fluttershy asked, looking around.
“Consarn it… I wasn’t thinkin’ bout that!” Applejack replied. “Let’s just hope whatever does live in here ain’t hungry.”
A growl from the cave entrance made all three of them look towards it, they backed away from the entrance, which was a far enough that they couldn’t see the light coming through it.
“Timber wolves…” Applejack whispered, not wanting to get their attention.
“I suppose this would be a bad time to point out we have nothing here to help.” Rarity replied.
“Oh…Where is Lockup?” Fluttershy said. “I don’t think I can…”
There was a loud thud from the front of the cave and muffled shouting could be heard. A couple explosions were heard before the sound of hoof steps reached their ears.
“I think I found them!”
The group looked up to see a shadow running towards them, as it stepped into the light, they could see its sleek black carapace.
“Changeling!” Applejack said, bucking the insect.
“OW!” The Changeling replied. “I try to help and get kicked in the face!”
“Oh suck it up.” An Earth pony guard walked into the light. “I told you to keep your disguise on.”
“Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.” The Changeling said, rubbing his face. “If Snake-Eye hadn’t riled up the Timber wolves, it would have been easier to get through.”
“Are you two done complaining in here?” Lyra walked up to them. “If so, than we need some help out here.”
The three ponies looked towards the new entrants. “What in Tarnation is goin’ on here?”
Lyra looked at the three of them. “We’ll explain in a minute. Just help us out here.”
Applejack eyed the Changeling suspiciously as it rubbed it’s jaw. “Alright then, but I’m keepin’ mah eye on you.”
“Noted…” The Changeling replied.
The group moved back towards the entrance to see Shade riding on the neck of one of the Timber wolves, while it shook and jumped, trying to toss him off. While a second Timber wolf was bearing down on a white and yellow Pegasus.
“Oh no you don’t!” Shade said, firing a bolt of magic into the Timber wolf he was riding, causing it to break apart. His horn blew bright green as a green gas flowed from the shattered pieces into his horn. When it was absorbed, he aimed his horn at the second Timber Wolf and fired a large green beam at the wooden wolf.
He looked up at his smoking horn and breathed the smoke away with a sustained breath. “That felt good… You okay?” He asked the Pegasus.
“Yeah…Yeah….Just shaken…” The Pegasus replied. “I’ve never had a Timber Wolf that close to me before…”
“Hopefully you won’t ever again.” Shade replied, helping her up. He turned to look at the Changeling. “What the hell happened to you?”
“Applejack happened…” The Changeling replied. “At least I know that my cover is secure…”
“Oh… Wow… I warned you about that.”
“Shut up Snake Eye.” The Changeling said. “I see you dealt with them alone.”
Shade shrugged. “I wanted to kill something, cleared my head too.” He looked at the three mares. “So… What’s up with you three?”
“What the hay are you doin’ with a Changeling?” Applejack asked pointing at the one she kicked.
Shade walked up to her. “Okay… to spare some time. Darkblaze, Blackout, Lockup, he has no name.” Shade said pointing to the ponies in question. “Darkblaze is Tornado Dust, he’s a friend.”
Darkblaze flew out of Applejack’s reach, so as not to get hit again.
“Yah’ve been keepin’ a Changeling with yah!” Applejack said.
“Applejack, I know you’re mad.” Shade began. “But stick with me here, they aren’t against Equestria, they want to help.”
“How in Equestria can I trust somepony that tried to kill us twice!”
“Hey! I never tried to kill you!” Darkblaze retorted. “I was on the other side of the city during the invasion, and I’ve been in Canterlot for the past week.”
“Shut up you two!” Shade said. “My headache is bad enough already, I don’t need you two making it worse.” Shade turned to Applejack. “Again… Short version, Darkblaze is a friend, he’s been helping me find Spine, and now I need your help back at the city.”
“Why?” Fluttershy asked.
“Well… for one, you are three of the few that actually saw what we are up against in Ponyville, secondly you are my friends, and C. I need some more level heads before I kill someone…again…”
“Say what?” Applejack asked.
“I’ll explain later, we need to get back to Canterlot. So… Let’s get going.” Shade said, turning into Sunstreak. “I’ve got plans to make.”
The group began to walk through the forest, Lockup in the lead; Lyra following behind him, with the white and yellow Pegasus flying above the tree line, Sunstreak was hanging back a little, with Darkblaze flying above them to stay out of reach of Applejack.
“You sure we can trust this varmint?” Applejack asked Sunstreak. “Ah’m still not too keen on seein’ yah in yer normal body. No offense.”
“None taken,” Sunstreak replied. “And I’m sure we can trust him. He hasn’t shown any signs of lying to me.” He looked at Applejack. “He’s taught me to control my powers, told me everything I needed to know, and never once made me question whether he would return to Chrysalis. He wants to stay here, and so does his mother. I’m not asking you to trust him, just… don’t put him in the same place as the rest of them.” Sunstreak looked back forward. “Besides… It’s not like you ponies haven’t had a few bad apples.”
Applejack thought it over, and she still wasn’t too keen on trusting Darkblaze, but she would at least give him a chance. “Fine… But if he gives me a reason, Ah’m gonna make sure it’s his last.”
“You hear that Darkblaze?” Sunstreak asked. “Don’t give her a reason.”
“I haven’t yet have I?” Darkblaze asked, transforming into Tornado Dust.
“Now hold on.” Applejack said. “How can you be Dusty, if he’s been in Ponyville fer the past week?”
“That was our mutual acquaintance.” Tornado said, pointing up at the white and yellow Pegasus. “He helped cover for me so that I wouldn’t lose any more of my off days.”
“Um… Tornado…” Fluttershy said. “If you don’t mind me asking, how long have you been living in Ponyville?”
“Five years.” Tornado replied. “I’ve been living on and off in Equestria for nearly fifteen years. I took the identity of Tornado Dust when he killed himself trying to stop a Tornado by himself.”
“Well that is rather morbid.” Rarity replied. “You took his life after he passed.”
“He wasn’t using it.” Tornado replied. “Besides, I spared his family a lot of grief.”
“But… it can’t be right to use it…” Fluttershy replied. “Shouldn’t his family know?”
Tornado sighed. “I’ll tell them… Eventually…”
“Does Twilight know ‘bout this?” Applejack asked.
“Yes.” Sunstreak replied. “She knows, so does Rainbow I think… Pinkie… I’m never sure about her. I got called by Princess Celestia before I could talk to any of them.”
“What did Celestia call you for?” Fluttershy asked.
“A Royal Summit, she wanted to ask me some questions about what happened since the Invasion. She also wanted to make it so that the Nobles weren’t afraid of me, but I think it was more so she could ask for my help with interrogations.”
“Interrogations?” Rarity repeated. “On what?”
“They had a raid two days ago on a Changeling outpost,” Sunstreak explained. “They captured a bunch of Changelings and I was supposed to help with interrogating them. Then I met one of those from Spine’s group, and lost my temper.”
“Well, what’d yah do?” Apple jack asked.
“Well… I used an ancient dark form of magic that I read about in the Fiords, then I just began a psychological terror show for him, and he told me where Meadow is.”
“That’s wonderful darling.” Rarity replied. “Not the dark magic part of course.”
“It would be…” Sunstreak replied. “Except that they attacked Ponyville, took over Queen Acari’s hive, and killed Sunspot’s mom.”
“Sunspot?” Applejack repeated.
“A small Changeling filly I saved from some ponies,” Sunstreak explained. “Rarity knows her, and when they took Echo and killed her mom, I just…Snapped. That’s when I used that dark magic I told you about.”
“So is this a mission to save Meadow or this Echo?” Applejack asked.
“Both of them.” Sunstreak replied. “I limited my ways of getting information so that I could keep myself out of trouble, but after what Spine did, I didn’t care about my own wellbeing anymore. I’m here to save Meadow, and I’m not going to let some wannabe Changeling Queen stop me, but Echo wasn’t involved, so now it just pushed me over the edge.”
“So what?” Tornado asked, “You giving up on rules now?”
“All’s fair in love and war.” Sunstreak replied. “And this is definitely war.”



“General Spine!” A Changeling soldier called, flying up to his commanding officer. “We have news from Torch.”
Spine turned to look at his soldier. “Is that Nymph finally dead?”
“No sir.” The Changeling replied. “Torch is dead.”
Spine looked down at the soldier. “What?” He said angrily. “How?”
The Soldier shook slightly. “We are unsure, but he hasn’t returned, and any attempt to contact him isn’t working. We received word from Sergeant Shifter that he was killed by the target.”
Spine stood up. “What do you mean, ‘he was killed by his target’? Nymph is nowhere near as strong as Torch.”
“Sir… He… Completely destroyed him…”
“Show me!” Spine ordered. “Show me the scout’s memory.”
The Changeling’s horn glowed, and a nearby crystal cluster burst into life, displaying an aerial image of the waterfall’s clearing.
Torch was walking up to Shade, before getting punched backwards, where the smaller Changeling jumped on top of him, and began slicing through the Carapace, the green flames along Shade’s forelegs turning to a blood red, as the grass was stained blue.
Spine watched, his anger rising. “How long does this continue?”
“Quite a While.”
“Leave.” Spine ordered. “I have much to plan.”
The Changeling saluted before flying out of the chamber.
“It appears as though I underestimated you Nymph.” Spine said to himself. “However, that won’t be enough to save you.”



As the group of ponies began to exit out of the tree line, they walked up to the cities gate.
“You sure we can’t just fly over the wall?” Tornado Dust asked. “I mean… They are still checking everypony that comes into the city.”
“We’ll just have to tell them the truth.” Lockup replied. “We are here to warn of an attack, and we helped escort civilians out.”
“That work last time?” Sunstreak asked.
“Well… No…” Lockup admitted. “It only worked because Pupa came by…”
“So… We’re screwed?” Tornado asked.
“No… if things get bad I’ll just wipe their memories.” Lyra replied. “Although… If it is the same guards as before… that might not be possible… Over exposure to memory spells can have very bad reactions…”
“Well then I guess we let Celestia decide what happens to us.” Lockup replied. “You three should be fine though.” He said to Applejack. “Unless one of you is secretly a Changeling.”
“Can there be a third option here?” The still unnamed changeling asked, “One that involves no chance of getting caught preferably…”
“Worried about something?” Sunstreak joked. “You aren’t from any hive, period. So they can’t exactly do much with you.”
“I still don’t like getting caught…”
“None of us do.” Lyra replied. “But it’s the only way for them to trust us, if we fly in, we could be seen as hostile.”
“I don’t like this…”
“Don’t worry,” Fluttershy replied. “We’ll stand up for you. Won’t we girls?”
“Of course darling.” 
“Ah suppose so.” Applejack replied.
“Well… Let’s get this over with.” Sunstreak said. “Come what may and all that.”
The group began to walk towards the gate, Sunstreak slightly more confident than some of the others, especially ‘Mustard’ who was currently in the back of the group, trying to make herself as small as possible.
“Afternoon gentlemen,” Sunstreak said as they walked up to the gate, “I don’t suppose you would let us through without a pointless check?”
The Guards shook their heads.
“Well it was worth a shot.” Sunstreak replied. “Let’s just speed this up for all of our convenience. Me and four of my compatriots here are Changelings, we have no intention of causing any kind of trouble, and only wish to warn the Princesses of an attack against their nation.”
“What are you doing Exile?” Lyra hissed at Sunstreak.
“Expediting the inevitable,” Sunstreak replied. “Don’t do anything aggressive, and we should be fine.”
The Guards lowered their spears.
“Still sure about that?” Tornado Dust hissed.
A unicorn guard lowered his horn, and in two wisps of green flame, two of pink, and one of yellow, all of the Changelings were revealed, with ‘Mustard’ rushing behind Fluttershy.
The Guards held their spears up to the Changeling’s throats. “Hey now!” Shade said. “Is that anyway to treat Prisoners of War?”
“What in Tartarus are you doing Snake Eye?” Darkblaze asked through gritted teeth.
“Well…Getting us into the city… What does it look like?”
“Quiet Changelings!” One of the Guards shouted.
“Fine. Fine.” Shade said. “At the very least can you let me give back all the maps and charts I borrowed from the library.”
“No.”
“Well then…” Shade replied. “Ass.”
“Hold up you two.” The Unicorn Guard said. “I recognize this Changeling from somewhere…”
“Is it the eye?” Shade asked. “It’s probably the eye…”
“What in Tartarus are you talking about Scepter?” One of the guards asked.
“Didn’t you two get the notice from Celestia?” Scepter asked.
The two guards looked at each other. “What notice?”
The Unicorn rolled his eyes and pulled out a rolled up parchment, levitating it up to the other guards. They looked at the parchment, then up at Shade, then back to the parchment, then did that a few more times. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Nope, official seal of Celestia, magically enchanted. It’s legit.”
“This is insane.” One of the guards said. “Are we sure that nothing happened to Celestia during the invasion?”
Shade and the other Changelings looked between each other, each one equally confused.
“The seal can only be used by Celestia, and she is far too powerful to have a mind control spell placed on her.” Scepter replied. “This is an order directly from Celestia. So…” He motioned to the Changelings.
The Guard sighed before saluting to Shade. “Sir.”
“Hold up! What?” Shade blurted out.
“Captain,” Scepter said. “Celestia needs to see you at the Castle.”
Shade stood there for a moment as his brain was still comprehending what he had just been told. “Captain?”