Changed

by Dream Seeker

Regrets

Twilight cast the tracking spell. Immediately, the crystal tugged ever so slightly towards the Everfree Forest. For the sake of convenience, Twilight had created a small hole in the crystal and put it on a piece of string, so she could wear it around her neck as it guided her and her friends. "Come on, let's go!" she said excitedly to her friends as she followed where the crystal was leading her. She levitated a previously written note on the table to tell Spike where she had gone just before she exited the door. Soon they were treading deep into the Everfree, and Twilight was glad she brought a map to guide her back out after she got Rose back. She had to miss the interrogation of the Changelings because of it, but Twilight didn't mind. All she wanted was her apprentice back.

---

"Greetings." Celestia said coldly to the Changelings as she entered their prison cell. Luna and Cadence followed her entrance, each just as upset as Celestia. Luna's face was livid with rage, while Cadence hid her emotions behind a cold, unfeeling mask.

"We have a few questions to ask." Cadence said. "First of all, a pony named Rose Bloom is believed to be taken by Changelings. Do you know anything about that?"

The Changelings sat thoughtfully, before one of them remembered. He snorted. "I remember."

"Where is Rose being held? Why did you take her?" Luna asked.

The Changeling who remembered whispered into his partner's ear, and they both burst into laughter.

Celestia's eyes lit up in anger and her horn began to glow. "Where is she?"

The Changelings sobered up at that. "Princess Celestia, there never was a pony named Rose Bloom to the best of our knowledge. A Changeling was sent into Ponyville with that as his alias, however. His mentor who was sent with him used the alias Petal Blossom, but he was forced to create a new alias due to the possibility of discovery. Changelings Star Watcher and Silent Whisper. That is all we have clearance to know, if any more is known about them you will have to ask a higher ranked Changeling."

The Princesses' eyes opened wide with shock, and Celestia's horn stopped glowing. They had not expected this. "How do we know we can trust you?" Luna asked.

"Well, considering we are captives and at your complete mercy, and there is no reason for us to lie right now, why would you think we would lie?" the Changeling reasoned.

"This could be a ploy by your Queen." Celestia commented.

"It couldn't be, for reasons we are not at liberty to speak." the Changeling replied.

Cadence raised an eyebrow. "Why can't you say? After all, you are completely at our mercy. What harm could it do?"

"We would rather die than let the rest of our Hive be destroyed!" the Changeling snapped. "If you were captured by another race who was hostile to Ponykind, would you reveal sensitive information about your leader and Equestria?"

The Princesses looked shocked at this. "What makes you think we would destroy your hive?" Cadence asked, concerned.

"You of all ponies should know, Princess Cadence! Remember the shield at Canterlot? What do you think happened to Changelings who were shot off at a high velocity? When they hit the ground..." the Changeling fell silent and the Princesses stared, horrified at what the Changeling implied.

"We... Didn't think about that..." Celestia said weakly, her face growing slightly green. She screwed her eyes shut, desperately trying not to picture the Changelings' impacts. "I need to use the filly's room. I'll be back shortly." she said, exiting the room as her face grew still greener.

"Let's... Switch to a different topic." Cadence suggested, her own face gaining a green tinge. "We'll believe that Star Watcher is Rose Bloom for now. Why did you hide in secret?"

"We've always hid like that. We need emotion to survive, and there have actually been several instances of Changelings revealing themselves in an attempt for peace. The ponies' reactions have always been negative, either they are afraid or angry or horrified. At one point there was even a program trying to find ponies who would be accepting of Changelings. Queen Chrysalis, may she rest in peace, stopped this program because it posed a threat to the lives of infiltrators."

Cadence and Luna understood what he meant by 'may she rest in peace', and it made them feel sick. Cadence and Shining Armor had killed their very Queen. The Princesses were surprised that the Changelings hadn't started an all-out war because of it!

Celestia reentered the room, and Luna whispered the developments to her. "I would have vouched for peace, if you had come directly to me." Celestia said.

"But how would we know that? We thought you were just like the rest." the Changeling replied. "If not worse! Often the subjects of a nation try to act exactly like their leaders would."

"We would be willing to begin negotiations for peace now, if you would like."

"You would have to let us go then. We could take the message to our Queen."

Celestia nodded slowly. "Yes. I will send Twilight a letter immediately about Rose always being a Changeling as well. You are free to go."

Celestia levitated the key into the lock on the door and twisted. The door swung open, and the Changelings looked surprised.

"You're not... going to send any guards with us to make sure we tell the Queen or something?" the Changeling said tentatively.

Celestia smiled. "I trust you. I will inform the guard that Changelings in their natural forms should not be captured any more as well."

The Changelings flinched noticeably. "That... Isn't a good idea, but I'm not at liberty to say why."

Celestia frowned. "I'm guessing at least one Changeling is going against the Queen's wishes. How about we document every Changeling you bring us, and if a Changeling enters with another Changeling known to be good we let them, but if an unknown or multiple unknown Changelings attempt to enter we stop them."

The Changelings smiled. "Good. Thank you!" They walked free, ready to deliver the message to the Queen.

---

Spike woke up groggily. Twilight had let him sleep in today, something was up. He stumbled downstairs, finding the note on the table. "Yes! Twilight's gone!" he cheered. "I can eat all the ice cream I want and Twilight will never know!"

Just then, Spike felt a message from Celestia coming. He burped it up, and read it. "Oh no! Rose was always a Changeling?" he cried, shocked. "That means I let a Changeling go free in Ponyville multiple times! Who knows what he did when I was supposed to be watching? Also, how will Twilight learn that? She's looking for Rose in the Everfree! What if this 'Star Watcher' does something bad to her?" Spike sat nervously, wondering what would happen

---

Star Watcher awoke to the sound of familiar voices. "The tracking spell says that Rose is in here." Twilight said.

"Wake up!" Star Watcher whispered, shaking Bugze back and forth. "We've been found!"

Bugze woke up. "Are you sure?" he whispered back, listening for a few seconds. Hoofsteps against the rock floor of the cave confirmed. "Well, my old grandbuggy always said, if you're about to be caught and you really really really don't want to be, either hide or hit them with a rocket launcher. And we've all out of rocket launchers."

"... So we hide?" Star Watcher raised an eyebrow.

"Exactly!" Bugze grinned. "Behind a rock, or use an invisibility spell, or transform into an insect, or something!"

"Why don't we fly out as insects while they enter?" Star Watcher asked.

"Good idea!"

Bugze and Star Watcher transformed into flies, flying under Twilight and her friends. "They're in a cave below us! They're moving her!" they heard Twilight panic. "Her connection to the crystal should wear off if she hasn't touched it in several days, so this might be our last chance to find her!"

Star Watcher and Bugze managed to escape the cave, but Twilight's level of stress over Rose haunted Star Watcher. I wish I hadn't forgotten that gem for Spike... No, I wish I had never had to be trained by Bugze... No, I wish I never became Twilight's... No! I wish I had never run away from those guards! I shouldn't be a Changeling right now, hiding and running for my life... I did have some fun times though. The Crystal Empire with Twilight, being her apprentice, flying as a pegasus... Star Watcher sighed. I don't know what to think now.

Bugze and Star Watcher transformed back into Changelings. "We can't stay still for long." Bugze noted. "Twilight will find us."

Star Watcher sighed. "Now what?"

"Now we invent new lives, send the info to the Queen, act like this never happened."

"But I can't just forget this!" Star Watcher objected.

"You're right, we can't forget this. However, the rest of the world can't know that we had any correlation to Rose Bloom, apprentice to Twilight Sparkle."

"So after all that, we just move someplace else, leave everything from our old life behind and start anew?" Star Watcher said disbelievingly.

Bugze sighed. "This is the way it's worked since the dawn of time. Every time we try to reveal ourselves, the ponies freak out and the Changelings get imprisoned and die of starvation. Or they're executed."

"It's just... Everything was going so well. Then I had to forget to bring a gem back for Spike, which made Twilight get mad at me, which made me try to outdo myself, which made me reveal my Changeling form..." Star Watcher sighed.

The sound of approaching voices made Bugze and Star Watcher start moving again. "Where are we headed?" Star Watcher asked.

"Manehattan. Large city, plenty of ponies go in and out every day, we won't be noticed. I'm going to be Lucky Charm, a unicorn. You choose your own name and race."

"Sky Slicer, pegasus." Star Watcher replied almost instantly.

Green fire surrounded Star and Bugze, replacing their black carapaces with fur as they approached the city. Tall buildings loomed overhead as they came within eyesight of the entrance... which was being guarded by two unicorns who were scanning ponies as they entered with what looked like a Changeling-detection spell.

Author's Note:

All Twilight has to do is go home to learn what has happened to Rose. All Star Watcher has to do to go back to Twilight is talk to a guard and stay still. Unfortunately, those actions would be considered 'giving up' to both of them. Neither wants to give up.

On another note, I'm running out of my stockpile of chapters.

Comments

[user123]

This should be interesting.

[Dream Seeker]

5101755 The Queen's a busy Changeling, she doesn't have much time for meetings. However, I would make that scene longer if I rewrote the story.