Changed

by Dream Seeker

Running Errands

Twilight smiled at Rose over breakfast. The news she had received from her brother excited her.

"Guess what, Rose? The spell we created yesterday worked!" she said, grinning from ear to ear. "Also, Shining and Cadence want to meet you! You get to meet the Princess and Prince-consort of the Crystal Empire!"

Rose froze. A moment later she relaxed, smiling. She knew that this could turn out very, very badly for her, but she didn't want to give it away. "Great!" she said, smiling as well. "I'd love to go! When can I go?"

"Tomorrow. I'm heading there myself, you can come along. Petal, do you want to come?" Twilight asked politely.

"No thank you, I have to get started with my work. Rose can tell me about it when I get back." Petal smiled as she rejected the offer. She would rather not meet the ponies responsible for nearly committing genocide, especially as they would kill her if they found out. Rose, on the other hand, was more experienced with being a pony and more likely to survive an encounter.

"Look at this." Twilight said frowning as she levitated her newspaper to Rose and Petal. "They've caught some Changelings in Hoofington. They're imprisoned for now, it says that Princess Celestia will choose what to do with them once she gets advice from ponies close to her."

Rose and Petal gulped. Their very lives could depend on the verdict. Who even were these ponies Celestia consorted with, they wondered. The results could vary from a nation-wide Changeling hunt to an alliance, depending on who Celestia listened to. Suddenly, Spike burped and released a scroll. He coughed into his hand before reading it aloud.

"Dear Twilight Sparkle, I regret to inform you that Changelings have been caught in Hoofington. I am still unsure as to what I should do with them, and I would appreciate your thoughts on the matter."

Twilight's mouth dropped. "She wants me to help the her, the immortal Princess of the entire nation, decide?"

"Of course she does!" Rose said, smiling. "You're her personal prodigy!"

"Well, I have a question." Twilight said nervously. "Will you... becomemypersonalprodigy?" Twilight blurted, blushing and looking down.

"I'd be delighted to!" Rose said.

Twilight smiled with joy. "Thank you! The first thing I would like you to help me with, is deciding what I should tell Celestia!"

Rose froze again. If she said the wrong thing, it could reveal who she was. If she said the right thing, it could influence Celestia towards being nice to Changelings, so when she was discovered herself she would be safe. "I think that before Celestia does anything to them, she should talk to the discovered Changelings. What's their side of the story?" Rose said carefully.

"I never thought of that." Twilight said, her eyebrow raised. "What if they have a reason to do what they're doing?"

"You'll never know until you ask them." Rose replied. "That's what I think you should tell Celestia."

"What if they're lying?" Twilight asked.

"Use a lie-detector spell." Rose replied.

Twilight smiled cheerfully. "I'll keep that in mind while I talk to my friends about it. Afterwards, we can study some magic together!"

"I look forward to it." Rose smiled. "In the meantime, I can run errands for you while you're talking to your friends and my mom is at work."

"I have a list ready. Thank you so much! I was going to get behind on my schedule, and then I might even have had a breakdown..." Twilight shuddered, whispering, "I remember the last time that happened..." before smiling again, "Thanks again!" and levitating her checklist and quill over to Rose, where her green Changeling magic took over for Twilight's magic. "See you!" Twilight smiled as she trotted out the door.

Petal smiled. "You handled that wonderfully, Rose." she said.

"Not for you or the rest of the Changelings." Rose growled. "I'm still mad about you forcing me to do this."

"You'll grow to like it." Petal replied. "Now, I'm going to work for Rarity, you can go run Twilight's errands. I think I see money in the list, it looks like she keeps the necessary amount of bits with the list. Clever, really. Remember not to break character."

"Okay. See you!" Rose replied as Petal left. Rose finished her food, before picking up her saddlebags and leaving the house to complete her chores. Walking to the market at the center of town, Rose saw Twilight talking to Applejack out of the corner of her eye. She could guess what they were talking about. Rose put the life-or-death situation out of her mind, reaching the first stall she had to go to, and began buying groceries. Next on Twilight's list was cupcakes, to be found at Sugarcube Corner. Rose smiled, humming to herself, and a pony standing near her's eyes widened. The pony motioned to an ally, where nopony was. Confused, Rose shrugged and went down the ally.

"What happened?" the pony asked Rose.

"What do you mean?" Rose asked, uncertain.

"Look, we're both Changelings, it's safe to tell me. Only part of your message was in your song." the pony, now known to be a Changeling replied, sighing.

"What message?" Rose asked, clueless. The Changeling facehoofed.

"Have you not learned the Changeling humming language yet?" the Changeling asked.

"There's a Changeling humming language?"

"Yes, and I'd think that anybody who was sent out would know it! It's designed to allow Changelings to communicate without alerting anypony to their presence."

"The Hive had a large supply of emotional energy stolen from it, and now everypony capable has been sent out. Did you not get the messenger?"

"Mine must have defected, I haven't had a message in months."

"Ah. In that case, you probably wouldn't know about me either. I am a pony who was turned into a Changeling."

"Willingly?"

"No. Forcefully."

"That's not right." the Changeling said, frowning.

"Everybody expects me to just go along with it, and I have to for now, but still. I wish it didn't have to be this way." Rose sighed.

"Well, that's not good. If anything happens, here's my contact information. I'll help." the Changeling replied. "See you!"

Rose walked out of the ally, back to Sugarcube Corner. She promised herself never to hum again, until she knew this 'Changeling humming language', despite her pony upbringing that made her want to hum all the time. After purchasing the cupcakes, she left the building, waving to Twilight as they passed each other, presumably Twilight was about to ask Pinkie about the Changeling dilemma. Rose purchased some quills from the Sofas and Quills store, wondering why they only sold Sofas and Quills. Especially because the Sofas were out of stock. Soon, Rose had finished the errands, and to her surprise some bits were left over, with a note:

Thank you Rose, for helping me. It wouldn't feel right to get free work out of you like this, so I left ten bits for you. Save it, spend it, it's your choice!

Your Teacher, Twilight Sparkle

Rose smiled at Twilight's generosity, electing to save it for now. Maybe I can buy something in the Crystal Empire! she thought to herself. Exhausted, when she returned to the Library she slept. Soon after, everypony else returned from their day. Petal smiled as she saw Rose already asleep, and Twilight wrote a letter to Celestia, one that determined the very fate of the Changelings...