It was another lovely day in Ponyville, thanks in part to the pegasi who kept the weather in check. Twilight was trotting through town, waving to ponies and calling out greetings. Everypony was having a great day and it showed. "Now, let's see." Twilight settled in on a bench and produced her special science diary.
Day sixty five: no new arrivals so far today, everypony seems well settled in and the experiment is going ahead well. I observed two fillies playing together and they had every indication of actually enjoying themselves.
Twilight closed the diary as Sweetie Drops trotted past. "Hi Sweetie, lovely day, isn't it?"
Sweetie Drops was surprised that the princess was talking to her but the warm greeting made her smile wider. "It is, Rainbow Dash has really outdone herself today!" She felt the bubbling happiness and warmth of the mare and drank. It was so easy to find meals in this town, the mare she had replaced had gone missing oddly, but she took that as the best of cues and stepped easily into her life.
If Twilight hadn't had the special detection spell up, she wouldn't have felt the changeling feed. Seeing their smile grow a little more it warmed her further. "She really has, I think I mi-" Twilight froze as she saw a new pony walking around town. Her attention focused down on them as she worked a simple spell she had found quite useful for identifying changelings.
"Is something wrong Princess?" Sweetie got a little frown on her snout. An unhappy pony was one unsuitable for food. Plus she really couldn't fight how much she had liked actually being happy lately, almost as if the town was rubbing off on her.
Twilight ached to open her diary and make more notes. The spell had confirmed her suspicion. The experiment was entering the last phase. This was perfect!
Sharp Mind was wandering around Ponyville, taking a keen interest in everything he saw. His Queen had been all kinds of strange since the Great Defeat; the swarm had fed well but Chrysalis' mood had spiraled into the darkest of depths.
Waves of drones had been sent out, to infiltrate and 'do the job right' as some of the brighter drones had said. One dark spot had been Ponyville. Noling was sure how many drones had been sent but there was not a single message coming back and so Sharp found himself here, in this black hole of knowledge. "Hi there!" A pink pony had bounced up to him. "Are you new in town?"
Food, so much food. Sharp had to struggle not to fall down drunk at how easy it was to feed from this mare and the town in general. "Uh, I guess. My name is Sharp Mind." There was no reason to obfuscate his name, the 'ling wasn't known here.
"Sharp Mind, nice to meetcha!" Pinkie Pie bounced in place happily. The mare's mind spun like a dynamo. The pony before her might be another from the hive, but she couldn't be sure. A party would help her find out. Parties were not just the perfect cover to find out about a pony. They were also very fun. "Oh, oh! I need to organize a welcome party!"
Sharp shook his head, definitely either the best infiltrator they had or that was not a changeling. "Uh, sure…" There was only a cloud of pink dust left as the mare was just gone. Then he saw her, and she saw him.
Twilight Sparkle blinked and smiled, deciding that it had worked each and every time so far, why not again. Waving to the new 'pony', she immediately felt the gentle buzz that was her detection spell's alarm that she was being fed from. She really had to stop that thing now, since it was sort of redundant.
Trotting over, Sharp had made the decision to see where this would take him. Had one of his peers already trapped the Princess of Friendship somewhere and was wearing her life? The gentle tug of energy he got from her indicated not. "Princess…" The 'ling bowed before Twilight, according her all the honor he would his own queen.
"Please, please, don't bow!" Twilight had gotten this from nearly all the 'new arrivals', it had been nearly as good an indicator as her spell, that they were a changeling. "You new to town?" She almost couldn't contain her glee, it was nearly complete!
The spike in pleasure in the alicorn almost overwhelmed Sharp but he managed to straighten up. "Yeah, just couldn't stand… Canterlot, anymore." He almost messed up completely, he had fished for a back-story and then stuttered on the name.
"Oh yes, it just… so many pegasi…" Twilight waved a hoof, sounding as if the primarily unicorn-populated city was filled with pegasi instead. "I love it here, so relaxing."
"I should get going. Lyra is waiting." Sweetie Drops excused herself and trotted off. Lyra was a nice pony, a very nice pony. Their friendship was actually something that Sweetie had come to quite enjoy. She almost feared the day when she would be recalled.
"Bye Sweetie!" Twilight waved a hoof to the departing changeling.
"I really hope so too." The earth pony stallion looked around town, trying to throw off how much he wanted to study Twilight, to find out if she was one of his kind.
"That reminds me, I really should plan out that trip to Manehatten…" Twilight mused, almost to herself. This should give the changeling a hook to nibble at.
Joy welled up in the stallion, it was going to be so very perfect. If the Princess was out of town, he could slide into her life and get the lay of the land. "I hear it is delightful this time of year." Smalltalk was easy, but the fact the mare was leaving the target town meant that she wasn't a changeling. Excitement grew more and more within Sharp.
"Oh, you have been there? Maybe you could help me pack? I was going to get a friend to help me but if you do, I wouldn't need to bother them." Twilight put a worm on the hook, a nice squirming worm.
"Of course, I could help." Sharp almost bounced from hoof to hoof. If the Princess didn't tell anypony she was leaving he could do this so much easier. "How long are you going to be gone for?"
Twilight got up and started walking back to her castle. "Not sure, might be quite a while!" It was easy to show the excitement she felt. The changeling was paying so much attention to her all they sensed was a mare excited about something, and a trip would seem the likely reason. "Thanks for helping."
Sharp trotted along beside the princess who had been part of the reason his Queen had failed. Then it hit him, he was going to have to be female for a while. It mattered little, it wouldn't be too long and, once he had finished his mission, he would return to the hive and tell his Queen everything that had happened.
Sharp Mind was standing on the platform, watching the train containing the alicorn zoom away. It was certainly time. Stepping out of sight of anypony, he called the green fire. The world slowed to almost a stop and Sharp felt the fire burn at his hooves. The soft purple started to flow up from the ground behind the rolling wave of flame.
Adept enough to be able to shift rapidly from one pony form to another, Sharp looked down as the purple met his barrel, then things really started to change. The first inkling that his gender was swapped was known to the changeling and even when her tail grew out, even when she sprouted wings, she felt that odd sensation settling over her.
"Ah… ah… oh!" Twilight sparkle, Alicorn Princess. Changeling. She adjusted her voice a few more times to suit and shook herself. Taking her first step out of hiding she felt an instant flow of love and happiness as a few ponies noticed her. Princess of Friendship wasn't just an empty title, it seemed.
The invisibility spell had been tricky but effective. Twilight trotted back to her castle, alongside her imposter. She risked closer inspections and even blushed when she noticed how perfectly Sharp Mind, if that was his name, had cloned her. Her diary was out once more.
The full experiment has begun and we can now see how the town as a whole reacts.
She watched as her 'friends' met up with her doppelganger and entered the castle together chatting.
The door was slammed in Twilight's face and she grumbled quietly. Taking to her wings, Twilight spiraled slowly up to look in on the big round room where the 'thrones' sat. She watched as each of the changelings disguised as her friends, and the one doing an amazingly realistic job of Spike, each took a chair.
Twilight, the changeling Twilight, was stunned as an oddly pleasant magic was triggered, the floor of the room reshaping into a huge round table. Watching as it pushed up, Twilight saw the map grow into being.
"Is that new? I like it." Spike knew his role, he was friend, assistant, but above all, comedic relief. The changeling had felt the roar as magic had rebuilt the center of the room. He had tried to remain ineptly asleep, but it really was a marvel.
The invisible Twilight's quill was working double-time writing down events. It was amazing, her own castle had not only responded well to the changelings, but it even seemed to be revealing to them some amazing new things.
All six changelings exclaimed as their cutie marks shimmered and shook loose, duplicating into the air and swirling, ending up in a little place on the map north and east of Canterlot.
"But, if this is Ponyville," Fluttershy pointed at one part of the map closer to the capital, "why are our cutie marks over there?" The changeling had been the first sent, she had made her way into town without discovery and had taken over Fluttershy's life when the pegasus had gone missing. She had spent so much time as the mare it was hard to even think of her old life anymore. Being Fluttershy was not just second nature to her, it was first.
"I don't know, but it seems like the map wants us to find out." Twilight's mind was spinning with ideas, but something seemed to tremble inside the disguised changeling. They were going to go on an adventure!
Dear Princess Celestia, the new friendship lesson is going well, the changelings are adapting to their new lives with gusto. It is quite amazing just how well they can duplicate a pony, right down to mannerisms. Not a single one has realized that every other pony in town is now a changeling. They have been able to successfully feed from each other and, thanks to them genuinely enjoying being ponies, there is a net gain of energy.
I am going to be sneaking along with them, the 'Elements' are headed for a little town this strange map my castle showed them. I am sure there is a lesson to be learned and taught. This is all so exciting!
Your Student,
Twilight Sparkle