Chapter 20: Change
Bolts of green fire splashed against the floor around the three fillies as they galloped away from the apparent alicorn.
“I told you.” said Sweetie Belle, leading the retreat.
“Save y' – breath – running!” said Applebloom, in the middle of the group.
“If I had my scooter...” panted Scootaloo, in the rear.
Behind them, Red Dawn grinned. She'd hit them with a couple of slightly-painful-but-harmless bolts at the start, but now she was missing on purpose. It was always a delicate balance, feeding from ponies, but with a bit of care she could have a good meal in just a few minutes...
With another few bursts of harmless green light, she herded the Crusaders into a nearby room(1), and closed the door. Then green fire flared around her as she changed shape, back to the buffalo mare they'd met earlier. She counted slowly to ten, and then strolled towards the shut doorway.
“Hello?” she asked. “Did I hear something?”
There was a muffled squeak from inside the closet. Dawn opened it, and smiled at the Crusaders hiding inside.
“Dawn?” asked Sweetie, recognising the buffalo.
“Indeed I am.” she said. “Why are you hiding in here?”
“There was this alicorn filly...” Scootaloo said, peering out from behind a bucket. A moment later, Applebloom's head poked up from in the bucket.
Dawn made a point of looking both ways down the corridor. “No, no alicorn fillies around here.” she said.
The fillies relaxed and, in that moment, their earlier fear of the alicorn changed into delicious relief, tinged with gratitude, for the buffalo they saw in front of them.
Dawn smiled. Children's emotions were so easy to manipulate...
* * *
It had taken him several minutes, and a few close scares; but with the little laser-firing pony inexplicably no longer in sight when he left the bathroom, Frem had managed to work his way down to Engineering. He closed and sealed the door, and breathed a sigh of relief at the thought that no inexplicably appearing fillies could possibly get to him down here.
Unless... they're already waiting for you in here. whispered a treacherous part of his mind. Engineering, he could not help but notice, was full of places big enough for something filly-sized to hide. Or worse... something Spike-sized...
Frem took a deep breath, and raised the stun rifle. He stepped cautiously into engineering and began to nervously check every nook and cranny...
* * *
“There you are!” Flam called out, noticing a buffalo and three fillies ahead of him in the corridor.
Dawn looked up, and smiled; the smile of a changeling on the hunt(2).
“Here we are indeed.” said Dawn. “I am so glad to see you up and about again.”
“Indeed.” said Flam. “Why was I asleep, by the way?”
“Those Ferengi guys shot you with something!” said Scootaloo.
“Yeah, some sort of magic wand that fires sleep spells.” added Sweetie Belle.
“We had no idea how long you were going to be out.” said Dawn. “So, since we were locked in a room with a bed, we thought it best to leave you somewhere... comfortable.”
“Yeah, an' then we sneaked out though the air vents!” said Applebloom.
“All of you?” asked Flam, looking in surprise at Dawn. She didn't look small enough to fit in the vents, after all.
“Not Dawn.” said Scootaloo. “I don't know how she got out of the room, I mean, we barely fitted in the vents!”
Dawn looked down demurely. “A lady must have her secrets.” she said, firmly.
“Hey, d'ya feel that?” said Applebloom, suddenly, as the corridor began to vibrate. “Ah think they got this thing movin' again!”
“Hmmm...” said Flam. “And our little dragon doesn't appear to be around to mess with it this time. Tell me, do you think you can tell where the vibration's coming from? Perhaps we can permanently disable their engines, so that at least we don't drift any further from home.”
“Sure!” said Applebloom. “It's comin' from over that way!”
(1) A small closet filled with cleaning supplies
(2) That is to say, a warm, welcoming smile which hints that the smiler might very much enjoy going on a date with the smilee, and a distinct lack of sinister overtones. A changeling who can't get the smile right often goes hungry.
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I imagine an Earth Pony would be particularly good at tracking the source of vibrations in the ground. :)
I'm liking how Dawn's an ambiguous ally - she's on the Equestrians' side, but mainly because she's on her own side and they're very helpful to her. She seems like a decent person but always have to keep an eye open.
3828442
Not to forget, they're the only reliable source of food she knows of anywhere nearby. (Theoretically she can feed from the Ferengi, but getting a Ferengi to feel love towards anything that's not money can be tricky...)
3831255 If she could convince them that she's worth a crapton of money to the right buyer, they'd feel love toward her.
Or perhaps Sweetie Belle could give her the idea to try the gilded look.
3831354
That might work. Until they sell her, and she has to figure out another alien's emotional triggers to survive.
Nice gif, by the way.
I like how you keep each party's goals slightly misaligned. Unreformed good changelings are interesting to see.