The Betrayed

by Thadius0

Chapter the Second - Two new questioners

Twilight Sparkle, Bearer of the Element of Magic, personal protegee to Princess Celestia, was confused.
She did not like the sensation.
Sitting in one of the interrogation rooms in the castle was the changeling she formerly knew as Balanced Books, though he also went by the name of Abel. And apparently he had other names besides.
All the other changelings had been angry to the point of violence and had to be sedated and moved away from Equestria so that nopony was at risk, but this one seemed...placid. Calm. Accepting of his fate.
It was like he was an entirely different species.
Then again, considering his coloration, that wasn't too far of a stretch.
He was even willing to answer questions about the Hive, though apparently he'd been exiled from there since birth.
Still, the report the interrogator had given her made mention to a very curious thing.
Not only did changelings have a hive-mind, but it could store information.
And somehow, he'd gotten a copy of everything in his first few moments alive, and it was a lot.
He even said it went back to before written history.
The thought was nearly overwhelming to the poor violet unicorn.
Just think of all that knowledge! If only he could find a way to share it with her.
She managed to gain control of herself by taking deep breaths.
Focus, Twilight. You can pick his brain later. He said you would want to be here for the next bit, so you need to act professionally and not let your curiosity get in the way.
Of course, when Shining heard that Twilight wanted to be present for some of the changeling's interrogation sessions, he had adamantly refused to allow her access at all.
Then she made the counteroffer of him coming in with her so that she wouldn't be at any risk.
Shining hemmed and hawed, but finally agreed.
She certainly hadn't threatened to call him Shiny in front of the entire Royal Guard to help him make up his mind.
Or reveal any embarrassing stories. A good mare would never do such a thing!
Then again, all is fair in love and the pursuit of knowledge, and to Twilight, this was both at once.
Er.
Not to suggest she loved the changeling, mind. But she did love to learn new things.
Lunch had just finished, and apparently nopony thought to bring Bal-, er, Abel, anything.
Then again, considering the normal changeling diet, it was understandable. Love wasn't something anypony would want to give away to the species that had just attacked the capital.
But then again, he hadn't exactly joined in, had he?...
Twilight could barely make up her mind about which questions she wanted to ask Abel first.
A good thing, too.
Abel knew exactly which information needed to get out first, and really would not tolerate any interruptions in his flow.
Not that the ponies would notice. He was good at this sort of thing.
He'd only been doing it for years, after all.
Now Shining, on the other hoof, knew which information he wanted. And he was just as stubborn as his sister about things like this.
The two would probably not get along well, especially considering one was the Captain of the Royal Guard who had failed in his primary duty of keeping all of Canterlot, and especially his wife, safe, due to the machinations of the Changelings.
And the other one was a changeling who'd been living in Ponyville for three years.
Oh yes, they'd get along great.
Like a house on fire.
-----
“Miss Sparkle, so glad you could make it. And you brought your brother as well...”
Abel sighed and looked at the table in front of him while idly moving one of his chained-up legs.
“Regrettable, but I suppose precautions must be taken around the dangerous changeling that has done nothing but give you information and not even attempted to escape or attack anypony.”
Twilight flinched at that, as though she'd been struck, whereas Shining merely narrowed his eyes, taking note of one small detail that was missing.
“Where is your ring, prisoner?”
Abel smiled at that. “Oh, that old thing? I convinced the guards to take it off after I proved it was useless in restraining lil' ol' me. And if they had left it on, well, it'd just be on the floor by now. And yet, I remain sitting here. Though the chains do chafe a bit, I don't want to escape. Think about that, Captain, while I have a more stimulating conversation with your sister, if you'd be so kind.”
Shining merely gaped a few times, trying to take in the meaning behind everything the changeling had just said. Twilight, meanwhile, was brimming with questions, and this seemed like as good a place to start as any. “Useless in restraining you? But those rings work on changeling and pony alike to block their magic. How are they useless against you?”
Abel merely grinned. “They'd be more effective if my horn was my only means of channeling my magic through my body. I have a few abilities that don't require me to cast them out into the world. One such thing is my 'passive feeding' ability, where I take in energy from the world around me directly into my body. This gives me an internal reservoir of magic that I can use in short, small bursts through the ring. And all these rings operate on a frequency. Find the right one and overload it...”
“...And the ring falls off. You're right. They are useless against you. Unless we make one that constantly modifies its signal, and does so at unpredictable intervals.”
“Plan B, then, I change into an Earth Pony, ring falls off, magic is no longer blocked.”
Twilight and Shining merely stared, though Shining had finally found his voice. “When you say 'convinced'...”
“I meant I told them what I'm telling you, and they realized their current tactics were not designed to deal with one such as me, and the fact that they were still conscious was a sign that I meant no trouble. So they took the ring off and asked if there was anything they could do to make me more comfortable. Which is why I now have an open window.”
Shining's eyes briefly flicked over to the window, calculated that the changeling could not have made it to the window in his chains, and realized the story was probably true. It'd be easier to accept if he'd left the ring on, though.
“Passive feeding? Do you feed on something...other than love, then?”
Abel grinned so wide it made both of the unicorns slightly wary.
“Miss Twilight...that was...the right question.”
Now the two fidgeted, but Abel wasn't done.
“The long story made short is that Albino Changelings can feed on the very magic in the air. I can still sense your emotions, and there's no need to be that wary. Or that hate-filled.”
The two exchanged a glance, one that promised a Talk later, but Abel still wasn't done.
“Our transformations are also a bit more...involved than that of the 'normal' changelings, which is why transforming into anything but a unicorn would result in a ring falling off. However, there is a downside.”
The two were paying attention now, one for academia purposes, and another looking to exploit any weaknesses in his newfound foes.
“The other sort of changelings have had time, a long amount of time. They have a gland at the point where the brain attaches to the spine. Whenever they change, they get a shot of natural painkiller. I...don't have that good fortune. I am, in many ways, an evolutionary throwback of my kind. But frankly, I think Albinos would find it easier to live in modern-day pony society. Too bad I'm the only one that I know of.”
“So wait, if you feed on magic, then-”
“Neither you or your sister are in any danger, Captain. It's why I asked for a breeze. The very magic in the air? What better way to replenish it than to make sure I'm not entirely locked up in the castle? I can pick and choose what I feed on, and I have made a promise, the unbreakable kind. I will never feed on a pony, or anything vaguely pony-shaped.”
Twilight tilted her head to the side. “Unbreakable pr- PINKIE KNOWS?!”
Abel nodded. “Has ever since that Ursa incident. She wanted to check up on 'the only pony that can keep up with me and keep me all organized and stuff.' That day is still an amusing memory for her. Less so for me.”
-----
“Bookie! Are you home? Nopony's seen you all day, and I normally see you in the bakery by now!”
Pinkie Pie had somehow bypassed all the magical and physical locks on the doors to Balanced Book's modest home. Being a part-time accountant was well and good, and paid decent bits, but he was always so careful about his home. Even when he wasn't here, he kept it locked! Nopony besides Bookie did that!
In fact, Pinkie couldn't remember throwing him a housewarming party...
Her train of thought was abruptly interrupted by the sound of a pony vomiting somewhere in the house.
Pinkie began following the sound, from the foyer to the living room, when Balanced Books spoke up. “Pinkie? Is that you?”
“Yupperooni! Are you sick, Bookie?”
“After a fash - urp – ion. It's just a stomach bug, it should pass by the end of the day.”
“Bugs in your stomach? That's silly. What you need is a hospital, Bookie! I'll carry you!”
By now, Pinkie had found the stairs to the basement. What an odd place for a bathroom, she thought.
And as she opened the door to the basement and heard Balanced Books cry out for her to not do what she was about to, she had a very different thought.
Namely, what a weird bathroom and pony! But where was Bookie?
-----
It had taken a full hour for Abel to finish vomiting into the barrel he had 'acquired' overnight.
Hey, he paid for it. After a fashion.
If anypony was actually missing their rainwater barrel, they would have to see the bits he left.
Pinkie was seated in his dining room, looking at the weird pony across from her.
Thankfully, Abel remembered to close, lock, and cover his windows this time. From a distance, with magic.
It was bad enough Pinkie saw and would have to know. He didn't need a mass panic on his hooves.
“Pinkie, this'll go a lot easier if you let me explain first, and if you still have any questions, you can ask them afterwards. Also, if I ask you any questions, try to keep the answer as...small, as possible. Okay?”
Pinkie nodded.
“First, do you know what a changeling is?”
Pinkie shook her head, then tilted it to the side. “Is that what you are? Now I can stop calling you the weird-pony and call you the changeling instead! What's your name, changeling? And how do you know me? And why do you sound like Bookie?”
Abel sighed and facehooved. “Pinkie, I AM Balanced Books. Always have been. Changelings can hide this about them, but I was REALLY sick and needed to be in my natural form for it. Which is why I wasn't out and about today.”
“Oh, okay. So why were you sick, Bookie?”
Abel merely sighed, he wasn't in control of the conversation at all. That wouldn't stop him, though, from saying what needed to be said. He decided to ignore Pinkie's question. “Normally, changelings imponynate someone, or come up with an entirely new identity, and try to blend into pony society, so they can try to get their main food source.”
Pinkie for once did not interject.
“Normally, changelings eat love, Pinkie.”
Pinkie gasped.
“I'm not a normal changeling though, Pinkie.”
The gasp cut out in the middle, as Pinkie tried to figure out what to say. Eventually, she settled on a simple “You're not?”
“Nope! Albinos, or white changelings like me, can survive by drawing in the very magic in the air. It's...inefficient, though. It's something like...if a pony had gone weeks without drinking, but sipped the dew off the grass every morning. They could get by, but only for so long. Albinos can absorb the very magic out of living creatures, though, just by being close enough. And...Albinos have a bad history of sucking the magic out of ponies.”
Pinkie genuinely looked sad now. “Have...have you been draining the magic out of anypony?”
Abel shook his head. “I have a different solution. Once a week, I go out into the Everfree, and find the nearest mean monsters that I can, and I drain magic from them before they ever get to Ponyville. I never take enough to do permanent harm, but for the next few days, they're really woozy while they take in nearby magic to set themselves right.”
Pinkie nodded but still appeared thoughtful. “Why do you do it like that?”
Abel merely looked at Pinkie. “Because you all are my friends, Pinkie. And while I need to eat, same as anypony else, I also don't like that when I eat, I hurt something. I try to keep a stockpile so that I don't have to do as much when I do go, and I ration how much magic I use so that I can make it last as long as possible.”
Pinkie finally appeared satisfied, except for one final question. “So what were you doing down there?”
Abel groaned. “Those two idiots, Snips and Snails, woke up every single monster on their way to the Ursa cave. I was hiding in the treeline, trying to make sure that none of them had enough energy to stand, let alone come into Ponyville. Taking in that much magic at once is not good for me, so I had to get rid of it. But I didn't want to waste it...”
Pinkie made a face at the very thought. “Hey, none of that, now! I'm not actually going to eat what I threw up! That's not what this mouth is for! I don't even have to touch it to reabsorb that magic back into me, and I'm not going to let it go to waste. What I took in last night will probably last me a few months if I use it wisely.”
Pinkie grimaced before smiling. “Okey lokey. Let's exchange promises, Bookie. I'll promise not to tell anypony about this, and you'll promise to never feed on anypony.”
Abel merely grinned. “Cross my heart, hope to fly...”
“Stick a cupcake in my eye!” Pinkie finished, the both of them undertaking the motions of the sacred vow, narrowly missing poking their eyes.
“By the way, Pinkie, if you're sure we're alone, then feel free to call me Abel. It's my changeling name.”
“That's a silly name for a pony!”
Abel merely shrugged. “I'm not a pony, your argument is invalid.”
The two laughed for a good, long while at that.

Author's Note:

The word count is only going to go up from here...
'S a bad habit of mine. I don't know when to stop writing chapters.

Comments

[cosmosain]

I'm not a pony, your argument is invalid

pinkie's first experience with logic

[JunebugTheBug]

3800907

pinkie's first experience with logic

logic

denver.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw7536-134352753042.png

[Ikujekon]

cut off gasp and pinkie *urk vomit reconsumption* thought were the best parts

[light snow]

I like this chapter

[smolbep]

“Miss Twilight...that was...the right question.”

I, Robot

[ookacha]

GOODBYE COMMENTING HELLO STORY AAAAAH

[LostArchivist]

Nice answer to several interesting questions in canon. I can't decide what was more amusing: that that particular promise was assumed to be the unbreakable vow, or where it turned out to be correct.

[Asolem2]

The two would probably not get along well, especially considering one was the Captain of the Royal Guard who had failed in his primary duty of keeping all of Canterlot, and especially his wife, safe, due to the machinations of the Changelings.
And the other one was a changeling who'd been living in Ponyville for three years.
Oh yes, they'd get along great.
Like a house on fire.

Which one is the house and which one is the fire, because one wears down the other after a while, leaving only the foundation... and sometimes not even that

[Vaalintine]

Seems like both a shortsighted and cruel thing to make someone promise to not eat. How are they even considered friends?

[DerpTape]

9626942
He already said he didn't feed off of ponies, but rather the everfree residents, which had a duel purpose of keeping him healthy and the monsters too weakened to attack Ponyville. The promise was just a guarantee.

[flutterboot]

I wouldn't say writing long chapters is a bad habit

[Enderstorm]

Really want to read this, but, uh... The lack of paragraph spacing is kind of hurting my eyes.

Half tempted to just copy-paste the entire story into Docs and space it out myself.