Changed

by Dream Seeker

Then Play

Rose Bloom ran to Sweet Apple Acres, hoping to arrive on time to go Crusading. Her childhood as Star Watcher had been boring, and filled with study sessions, magical training, and parents who wouldn't let her go outside for a break, even when she completed all the work she needed to do by the next day. She sprinted to the farm, not looking where she was going, when she hit something with a thud. She blacked out a moment later.

Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo had met at Sugarcube Corner to finish refining the process by which a Cutie Mark Crusader was made. Afterwards, Scootaloo began pulling them to the farm at high speeds with her scooter.

"Hey, is that Rose? Stop!" Sweetie Belle said. "We're going to hit her!"

With a thud, the cart impacted Rose when Scootaloo couldn't stop in time. The Cutie Mark Crusaders gasped, and stared in shock as Rose's body dissolved to black chitin, the black horn on her head cracked and oozing a strange yellow fluid. Quickly, they put her in the cart and took her to their treehouse.

Star Watcher awoke, feeling something off. She opened her eyes, and above her she saw Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle staring at her nervously and curiously. "What happened?" he asked groggily, his eyes widening when he realized that his form had reverted. Instantly she scurried to the corner, curling her body into a ball.

"Are you ah... Changeling?" Applebloom whispered. Her face turned fierce. "What have yew done with tha real Rose?" she asked angrily.

"I am the real Rose!" Star Watcher said nervously. "I arrived yesterday, at the party! We talked, and I was headed here when something happened."

"We, um... Sort of hit you with a wagon, accidentally?" Scootaloo said sheepishly, scratching the back of her head with one hoof.

Star Watcher tried to transform, only to feel a sharp pain in his horn. "OW! What happened to my horn?" he gasped out.

"It's cracked." Sweetie Belle said.

"Now I'm ruined! I'm going to starve to death!" Star Watcher wept miserably.

"How would yew starve ta death?" Applebloom said curiously.

"Without being able to transform, I can't collect love! I'm doomed!" Star Watcher cried.

"Why did you even come here?" Scootaloo asked.

"This was my first mission. Somebody stole a lot of the love from our storerooms in the Hive, so almost all the Changelings were sent out to gather love so we don't starve." Star Watcher moaned. "Now, I won't even live to see the end of my first mission as a Changeling!" Star Watcher curled up tighter.

"Now look here, Rose." Applebloom said.

"It's Star Watcher, actually. Rose is just the name of the pony personality I created." Star Watcher interrupted.

"Star Watcher. Ah don' know if ah can trust you completely yet, but if we care about ya, will ya be able to survive on that?" she asked with a smile, and Star Watcher stopped crying.

"I can't really tell, I can't cast the spell to detect emotions with a broken horn. But, if you honestly feel pleasant emotions for me, I think so." Star Watcher said hopefully.

"What did you mean, your first mission as a Changeling?" Sweetie Bloom asked.

"I was a unicorn first, living in Canterlot. I was turned into a Changeling after the invasion, and now I work with them to survive." Star Watcher replied.

"Wow! I didn't know Changelings could do that!" Scootaloo exclaimed in awe. "What's it like, being a Changeling?" she asked.

"Well, you have to trick ponies into liking you to survive, learn to lie really well, it's not that fun. The only cool part is being able to be any type of pony. I always wondered how it felt to fly." he commented wistfully, buzzing his insect wings gently. His horn felt better already, for some reason. He also felt hungrier.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders gasped. "Your horn! It's fixing itself!" Sweetie cried.

Star Watcher gasped in amazement. "It must be leftover love from the welcome party!" he smiled, then frowned. "But that's making me hungry."

"Now that you're horn is fixed, can you transform into Celestia?" Scootaloo asked, smiling.

"Sure!" Star Watcher smiled, closing his eyes and picturing Celestia. In a flash, he transformed. Casting his love-detecting spell, he noticed the friendship that the ponies felt for him, and how impressed they were with his powers, especially Scootaloo. "Can we go Crusading now?" she asked with a heavenly smile, a smile so beautiful that mortals felt joy welling up inside themselves to behold. Then, it was gone and Celestia shrunk back down to a blank-flank Rose Bloom.

"Of course! First, we have to make you a Crusader." Sweetie Belle said, before pulling out the Crusader cloak she had gotten from Rarity's house. The Cutie Mark Crusaders began their ceremony.

----------Petal Blossom----------

Petal Blossom smiled as she walked with Rarity and Fluttershy. They had just picked Fluttershy, and were now on their way to the spa. Twilight met them along the way, gasping for breath. "I'm so sorry, Rarity!" she gasped. "I was held up creating a spell to prevent dragons from entering and eating the Crystal Empire!"

"It's quite all right, Twilight. Do you want to join us? We were just heading for the spa now. You look like you could use it. Afterwards, we can enchant the gemstones I wanted."

"Okay, Rarity." Twilight finally got her breathing under control. "Let's go."

Soon they reached the spa. Before they could relax, however, there was one more matter to settle.

"I'm paying. My treat." Rarity announced.

"Oh, but I couldn't possibly..." Fluttershy's voice trailed off as Rarity insisted. "Oh, all right." she said in a quiet voice.

"I'm paying for myself." Twilight said, not willing to ask Rarity to pay for so many ponies, especially when she could afford it herself.

"Darling, you don't have to." Rarity said. "Consider it my payment for enchanting the gems later."

"I missed my appointment, and you know that I didn't and won't ask for any payment for doing you a favor."

"And you know that I would insist on paying you anyway." Rarity smiled. "If you accept this now, I promise not to force you to take any payment later."

"Oh, all right." Twilight grumbled.

The group of ponies walked inside, talking while the spa treatments began. "So, what's the deal with this new spell?" Rarity asked, closing her eyes as cucumbers were placed gently on them.

"Petal's daughter Rose helped me. It was amazing! Never before have I seen a filly with that much knowledge of magic structure." Twilight gushed. "She helped me design a spell that will protect the Crystal Empire! It draws power from the crystal ponies and uses it to power the spell! I sent a letter to Shining and Cadence, giving them detailed instructions on how to create it."

Petal cursed under her breath. Rose clearly hadn't been thinking when she had done that, it could have given the whole game away! Petal didn't pay much attention to the conversation, and it didn't swing her way very often. Usually just a question or two for her to answer about her past. Otherwise, the spa visit was relaxing and uneventful. Petal sighed as she relaxed, enjoying the treatment immensely. Afterwards, she headed back to the library while Twilight and Rarity went to the boutique, and Fluttershy returned to her cottage. When Petal returned, she found Rose, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo there... Stuck to each other and covered in tree sap, with a medium-sized log next to them?

"We can explain!" Sweetie Belle said desperately, a dripping hoof waving about until it got stuck on Rose's belly. Petal levitated them all upstairs where a bath was, and began cleaning the dripping sticky sap off.

"You had better have a good reason for this." Petal said, growling.

"We sort of do." Rose said sheepishly. "It all started when we began Crusading..."

----------Flashback----------

"Today we planned to get our hang gliding Cutie Marks!" Scootaloo said, smiling.

"Do we have hang gliders?" asked Rose skeptically.

"Not after last time..." Sweetie Belle mumbled.

"So let's make em!" Applebloom suggested.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS HANG GLIDER MAKERS YAY!" the fillies shouted.

----------At Rarity's Boutique----------

"I think this will work... Right?" asked Rose nervously. She had just put the last piece on the hang glider, but it looked like it would fall apart at any moment. A moment later, it did. The whole thing collapsed into a pile of wood and fabric. "Does any of you actually know how to build a hang glider?" Rose questioned.

"Not... really..." Applebloom muttered.

"Why don't we go to the library to find out how to!" Sweetie Belle suggested.

----------At Twilight's Library----------

"The door's locked! How do we get in now?" Scootaloo moaned.

"Let's knock it open!" Applebloom suggested.

"I don't know if we should..." Rose said nervously, shifting from hoof to hoof while looking down.

"It'll be fine!" Scootaloo said.

"Yeah! Come on!" said Sweetie Belle.

"All right..." Rose sighed, as the others looked at her expectantly. "What? What do you want me to do?" she asked, before her eyes went wide as she realized. "No. Not out here. With everypony around me? That would be suicide! We're going to use a battering ram. To the Everfree Forest!"

----------At The Everfree Forest----------

"Are ya sure this is a good idea?" Applebloom asked skeptically.

"Sure! If anything dangerous comes along, I'll protect you." Rose suggested.

"All right then... Let's go!" Applebloom said, still slightly nervous but not willing to chicken out.

"How about this one?" asked Sweetie Belle, finding a medium-sized piece of wood.

"Perfect!" replied Rose. "Back to the library!"

----------At Twilight's Library----------

"Ready? Run on three." Rose said. "One... Two... Three!"

The Cutie Mark Crusaders rushed at the door, holding the piece of wood they had found. With a sudden bang, the door gave way, and they all tumbled inside... onto the piece of wood they had been using, which was beginning to leak tree sap...

"Uh, oh..." said Sweetie Belle, her hooves sticking to Applebloom's body.

"Here, I'll get it off of you." Rose said kindly, grabbing Sweetie Belle's body and Applebloom's body before pulling at both of them... only to find that she was stuck herself. "Oops." she blushed.

"I got this!" said Scootaloo, moving quickly at them... before getting stuck herself. Suddenly, the library door that had swung shut again opened and let Petal Blossom in.

"We can explain!" Sweetie Belle said desperately.

----------End Flashback----------

"And that's how we got stuck here!" Rose said.

Petal shook her head, sighing. "That story is so ridiculous it must be true. I can't think of a better explanation. Anyway, it's almost bed time. We should sleep now."

"Aww..." the Cutie Mark Crusader whined, giving their best 'please' faces, but Petal closed her eyes.

"That doesn't work if I can't see it." Petal said smugly. "Go to your houses. However, I will let Rose play with you again another day if you go immediately."

When Petal opened her eyes, nothing was there. Walking to her room, she heard Rose's snoring. Smirking, she realized that the Cutie Mark Crusaders had all gone to bed. She kissed Rose's head, before going to her own bed, smiling. "Goodnight." she whispered, gazing at the moon before entering her bed.

Author's Note:

I'm not sure how to refer to Rose/Star when she/he is in the past vs. the present. Should I always use whatever gender term she/he is at the moment, or when in memories should I use the gender she/he was at the time of the memory? Comment your opinion below. Which would be less confusing? Can you even understand what I'm asking you, or is my explanation to confusing?

After work, comes play!

The CMC know the secret now. Can they keep quiet? Or will they spill? To Be Continued...

Comments

[Dream Seeker]

4686732 Looking at my story again... Alicorn Twilight at this point would break canon: How would Twilight become an Alicorn immediately after the Changeling Invasion? If this story lasts long enough, I might have Twilight Alicornate at the proper time.

[Doukzor]

I fear petal is too acted upon rose. She didn`t have to kiss her forehead, if they were in bed. Just a noticing, but I love the story!~

[JazzyWaffles]

She kissed Petal's head

Rose's*

[Dream Seeker]

8245571
Fixed! Thanks.