Chapter 5 - The Scholar and the Beast
Flitter
Chapter Five
The Scholar and the Beast
As Flitter and Morning Rain walked into Ponyville, it became increasingly obvious that simply walking into the town without any disguise was a far better choice than any hare-brained scheme they could've come up with. They got a lot of odd looks, but nopony seemed to go looking for torches and/or pitchforks.
Of course, they were well aware that Ponyville had been a bit of a weirdness magnet over the course of the last few years. Most likely, the inhabitants had simply seen stranger things.
Like the strange pink thing that was currently blocking their path, and was giving them a look of intense internal conflict.
The pair looked at Pinkie Pie and waited, wondering what on earth she wanted.
"Yes?" Flitter finally asked.
Pinkie rubbed her chin with a hoof. "Can I... give you a welcome party?" she said, an unsure look on her face. "I've never given a welcome party for a changeling before." She suddenly frowned. "But maybe changelings don't like welcome parties. Or, maybe you don't want everypony to know you're here. No wait, that's silly. You're a changeling. Then you'd be, uh, changed. Right?"
Morning Rain and Flitter both blinked.
"So... can I?" she said with a big pleading grin.
Morning Rain gave her a friendly smile. "Please don't. We're really just passing through."
Pinkie deflated a bit. "Oh. All right." She immediately perked up again, and suddenly her grin was right in Flitter's face. "Hey! Change into me!"
Flitter recoiled in a mix of surprise and dread. "No. Just... no."
"Aw," Pinkie said, a sad look on her face. Again, she perked up right away. "So, where are you going?"
Flitter looked at the pink party pony. "We're actually looking for Twilight Sparkle. We're hoping she can help us with something."
Pinkie stared at him intently, "Mmhmm," she said, nodding gravely. Somehow, she'd conjured up a monocle and a bubble-blowing pipe. "Let me guess. You can't transform. A grave affliction indeed, for a changeling! Yes, Doctor Sparkle will help you, she's the most powerful wizard in the village!"
Flitter rubbed his forehead with a hoof. "No, I can transform perfectly well."
"Then why didn't youuu?!" Pinkie moaned at him right away, giving him a really sad look.
Morning Rain decided this silliness had gone on for quite long enough. "Look, Pinkie, he has an issue with changing genders. That's all. Now, we really need to speak to Twilight."
"Oh," Pinkie said. "Right, that makes sense, I guess. Changing genders must be rather odd." She pointed at the tree-shaped house behind her. "Twilight lives right there!"
Morning Rain smiled at her, and nodded. "We know."
The pink obstruction finally let them pass, muttering something about wondering what it'd feel like to be a stallion, and throwing a curious glance between her own hind legs. Flitter shuddered as they walked on to the library tree.
* * *
Twilight Sparkle looked up from her book as she heard a knock on the door. "Spike, can you open that?" she asked her number one assistant.
The baby dragon gave her a mock salute. "I sure can!" he said.
A moment later, Twilight heard a terrified shriek, and saw a blur of purple and green dive past her and rush up the stairs. "They're back!" Spike yelled, before disappearing into the bedroom, slamming the door shut behind him, and locking it with an audible click.
"Hello, you must be Spike," Flitter said to the empty air. "What an honour to meet the number one assistant of Celestia's prized pupil." He looked at Twilight Sparkle, who was sitting a bit further in the library. "That's what I wanted to say to him, anyway." He looked up at the stairs where the young dragon disappeared. "Also, not very nice of him to lock the door behind him."
"You're a..." Twilight started. Flitter cut her off.
"Oh come on," he said. "Of all the ponies, I didn't expect you to do the whole 'stating the obvious' thing. It's getting old."
Twilight blinked. "Right. Sorry."
Morning Rain appeared in the doorway next to Flitter, and looked at him. "I told you I should've gone in first." She looked at Twilight. "Can we come in?"
"I... guess?" Twilight said. "Who are you people?"
"My name is Morning Rain," Morning Rain said, "and this is my husband, Flitter." They walked into the library, and closed the door behind them.
"Flitter?" Twilight repeated. "That's a mare's name."
"Agh!" Flitter yelled. He looked at her, exasperated. "Not for changelings!"
Twilight gave him an uncomfortable look. "Um, okay. I'll take your word for it."
"Anyway," Flitter continued. "I've recently been chased around with torches and pitchforks, and that was a rather unsettling experience. Since they never bothered actually arresting me for anything, I've decided to seek out legal channels myself, to sort this madness out once and for all."
Twilight frowned. "Go on."
"I want to turn myself in, and prove my innocence in court," Flitter continued. "The only problem is that not a single village around here actually has a guard house."
"Innocence?" Twilight said. "Um... what about the whole invasion?"
"Do you honestly think I'd come here for help if I was involved in that?" Flitter asked. "The only thing I might be guilty of is twenty years of impersonating a pony who got himself killed despite my best efforts. And I'm willing to take my chances on that charge."
Twilight shook her head, and frowned. "So why did you remove your disguise, anyway?"
"I didn't ask for any of this!" Flitter said. "One moment I was having a snack and a chat at Donut Joe's, the next I was blown out of Canterlot by your brother's shield, and was stripped of the form I'd held for the past twenty years." He frowned, and realized how that sounded. "Not that I, uh, blame him for saving everypony."
"And... you can't change back?" Twilight asked.
"Changeling disguises copy a pony's aura," Flitter said. "Rather hard to do with somepony who's been dead for twenty years."
Twilight nodded, as she finally got a clear look on the whole situation. "So, what do you need me for?" she asked. She walked around Flitter, throwing curious glances at the way the changeling was built. "Mind you, it's fascinating to see a changeling who isn't trying to buck my face in, and I'd love to take a closer look. Those wing structures look incredibly interes..." A glare from Morning Rain made her stop. "Right, never mind that! So anyway, why me?"
"Well," Flitter said, "I hoped you could report local changeling activity to the Princess."
"To... get you arrested," Twilight said, clearly not convinced that was in any way a good idea.
"I just want my life back. And I can't do that unless everypony knows I'm not the enemy."
Twilight shook her head. "I really don't think that's the way to handle this." She looked at her guests. "But it's probably better if you two tell me the full story first. Acting on incomplete information tends to cause embarrassing misunderstandings and ridiculous situations."
Morning Rain raised an eyebrow. "That sounded like it came from experience."
Twilight smiled softly. "You have no idea."
"Actually," Flitter remarked, "we met Pinkie Pie on the way. I got a fairly good idea."
Twilight laughed. "I can imagine." She floated up a notebook and a pen. "Anyway, your story."
* * *
Twilight Sparkle raised an eyebrow. "So wait. Does that mean there's a changeling hive in the Everfree Forest?"
Flitter and Morning Rain shared an uncomfortable look. They'd tried to keep all mentions of Flitter's hive out of the story, but the clever unicorn needed surprisingly little information to figure it out.
"Um, yeah," Flitter said, sheepishly. "We just visited the place, actually."
Twilight nodded, and scribbled some more in her notebook. "And they follow these... Old Ways?" she asked, without looking up.
"I learned them there," Flitter said. "You don't seem too concerned about having a changeling hive right next to the village."
Twilight shrugged, and looked up from her notes. "It's not like we don't know the Everfree is full of dangerous beasts anyway. I actually expected the invading changelings to come from there, but some more thorough research showed that they most likely came from the Badlands."
"Oh?" Morning Rain asked. "How do you figure?"
"Cadance and Shining's eviction spell was made up in the spur of the moment, and I kinda feared it just threw them out of Canterlot, spreading them all over Equestria. So I asked them about it. It turned out the spell's purpose was to 'throw all changelings back where they came from'. That just made it a matter of gathering some eye witness reports and doing some simple ballistics."
Flitter blinked. "So that's why I was blown back to that accursed ravine."
Twilight nodded. "That seems likely, yes. It was the point where you decided to join pony society, after all."
"So..." Morning Rain asked. "Now what?"
"That hive," Twilight said. "I'm curious. What did you do there?"
"Um... changeling stuff," Flitter said. "Well, family stuff. Somewhat. Not really important right now."
He exchanged a quick look with Morning Rain. "The Hive Queen is afraid her changelings will be hunted, though. There must be a lot like me, leading pony lives without causing any harm."
"Wait..." Morning Rain said. She turned to Flitter. "If ponies know about Twilight's findings, that'll never happen. If everypony knows they're all thrown back to the Badlands, they won't go looking for them." She turned to Twilight. "Please tell me you told somepony about that."
Twilight gave them an unsure look. "Uhh... I only finished the calculations this morning. I spent most of yesterday helping to clean up after my brother's wedding party."
Flitter looked rather glum at the mention of the wedding party. He still hadn't quite gotten over the fact he missed what would surely be the event of the year.
Realizing what he was thinking, Morning Rain gave him a dry look. "Focus, Flitter," she said. "There'll be more weddings."
"But—" Flitter started.
"Impending doom for your entire hive?" she cut him off. "I'd think that's slightly more important than petty jealousy over a missed wedding party."
"Bah," the changeling grumbled. "I should've let Pinkie throw me that welcome party after all."
"You know," Twilight said, "that might not even be such a bad idea. I mean, to introduce you to everypony, and get all misunderstandings out of the way."
"Yeah, but we kind of live, uh, lived, in Canterlot," Flitter said.
"Don't tell Pinkie that!" Twilight said, looking somewhat worried. "She'd take it as a challenge! And she just got a taste of a city-wide party, too."
Flitter nodded. "Yeah, okay. Give the poor city a chance to recover."
Twilight shook her head. "I'm more worried she'd invite the whole city over."
Morning Rain gave them both an annoyed look. "Can we go back to the whole impending doom topic now?" she asked.
"Yes, yes," Twilight said. "I'll, uh, contact the newspapers, make sure the facts get published." She frowned. "Hmm... how about you let them interview you? That might—"
Twilight never managed to finish her sentence. The next moment, the door of the library was blown inwards by a pair of powerful hooves. Five royal unicorn guards swarmed into the room.
"There's one! Contain it!" their captain yelled, nodding at Flitter. "And check the others!" The three were quickly subdued, and the unicorn guards performed a spell on the two ponies.
"Clear," the guard holding down Twilight Sparkle said.
"This one too," said the one that had subdued Morning Rain.
The captain stepped forward, and nodded to the two guards, who let go of the ponies. "My apologies, miss Sparkle," he said to Twilight. "We had to be sure. Your assistant sent an emergency message to Princess Celestia about a new changeling threat."
Flitter, still held down by two guards, once again sorely missed the ability to roll his eyes. "Yes, because I'm oh so dangerous," he grumbled.
"Silence!" the captain yelled at him. He looked back at Twilight, but noticed her glaring angrily up the stairs.
"SPIKE!" she yelled. "Get your scaly tail down here this instant!"
"A-are they gone?" the baby dragon's voice came weakly from the bedroom.
Twilight rubbed her forehead with a hoof. "If you mean the royal guards, then no, but I was just about to send them away."
"Excuse me?" the captain said, looking somewhat confused. "The Princess is waiting outside!"
Twilight Sparkle gave him a baffled look, which was quickly mimicked by her two guests. "She's here?"
As if on cue, the majestic winged unicorn walked into the library. "Yes I am," she said, smiling. She looked at Flitter, who was still being held against the ground by the two guards. "Ah, there we have Spike's changeling threat."
"Ah, my nefarious plan to impersonate myself has been thwarted," Flitter said sarcastically. "Whatever shall I do?"
"Flitter!" Morning Rain yelled, horrified. "Don't make light of the situation!"
To their surprise, the Princess laughed softly. "There don't seem to be any changelings out in the village, so I suspected Spike might have been overreacting." She looked at the guards holding Flitter down. "Well, he may not have been the only one that overreacted. Let go of him, please."
The guards nodded, and stepped aside, leaving Flitter sprawled onto the floor.
Celestia raised an eyebrow. "Could you... help him up?"
The guards gave her an embarrassed grin, and helped the changeling onto his hooves.
"So," she said, giving the changeling a curious look. "Your name is Flitter?"
Flitter nodded nervously. "Yes, your highness."
Her voice took a more serious tone. "I take it you're not affiliated with the changelings that invaded my capital city?"
"Oh, no, your highness," Flitter said. "I was just having a snack and a drink with my wife when they attacked."
Morning Rain walked to Flitter's side, and smiled meekly. "That'd be me. Morning Rain. Uh, nice to meet you, your Highness."
Flitter gave Morning Rain a sad smile. "I'm really going to have to explain all this yet again, aren't I?"
"Well, Twilight took notes, but... yeah. I'm afraid so," Morning Rain said.
"Fifth time in four days... sheesh."
Before Flitter could start his fifth repeat of the story, though, they were interrupted by a creaking door. Spike had finally come out of the bedroom, and started making his way down the stairs.
"Um, hi, Princess," he said. Twilight shot him an angry look.
"Spike," Celestia said. "I believe you owe someone an apology. It's not nice to send the Royal Guard after Twilight's guests."
"Oh," Spike said, dejected. He looked at Twilight. "Um... sorry."
Twilight rolled her eyes. "Not me," she said, and waved a hoof towards Flitter and Morning Rain. "Them!"
"But he's a changeling!" Spike yelled back, dramatically sticking out both his arms towards Flitter.
"So I've heard, yes," Flitter said dryly. "Several times in the past few days, in fact."
"Well, you're a dragon," Morning Rain retorted.
"Ahem," Celestia said softly, looking at Spike. Despite the fact her interruption had been barely audible, the room immediately fell into complete silence.
The baby dragon suddenly realized he'd been arguing over something Celestia had asked him, and blushed in embarrassment. "Oh," he said, and he looked at Flitter. "I'm sorry?"
"That's okay," Flitter said. "This was kind of my Plan A anyway. We just hoped to find a Plan B to switch to."
"You wanted to be caught by the Royal Guard?" Spike asked, a look of incredulity on his face.
"Yeah. Well, or maybe throw a party," Flitter said. "Or do interviews with some newspapers. We hadn't quite figured it out yet."
A royal guard suddenly stormed into the library. "Your majesty!" he yelled, visibly distressed. "An army of changelings has come out of the forest right next to our encampment!"
"Oh, by all the demons in Tartarus," Flitter groaned.
Princess Celestia's face hardened, and she gave Flitter a glare. "What do you know of this?"
Flitter glanced at his purple host. "Twilight?" he said, looking rather intimidated by the angry Princess. "This would be a wonderful time for you to share that little tidbit of information you discovered this morning!"
Twilight's head shot up. "Oh! Right! Um, his hive is kinda in there. And they're not the ones that attacked Canterlot."
Celestia gave her a pensive look. "I see." She gave a short nod towards the guard. "Lead the way." She turned her head to the assembled ponies, the changeling and the baby dragon. "All of you, follow us. Twilight, please tell me everything."
Twilight nodded. "Just a moment. I made notes." She grabbed the notebook with Flitter's story in her telekinetic glow.
"That will suffice," Celestia said, taking the notes in her own magical glow and walking out of the library.
Flitter gasped as he took in the sight outside of the Ponyville Library. Royal guards were patrolling everywhere, and suddenly he realized Celestia's remark about overreacting hadn't been about the rough guards, but about herself. She had brought an entire army into the village.
One of the guards approached the Princess. "Your majesty. We gathered the rest of the Element Bearers. I thought it prudent to send them straight to the camp."
Celestia glanced away from Twilight's notes to give the guard an approving nod. "Good thinking," she said. "Let's go."
As they walked out of the village, Flitter saw the tents set up by the Royal Guard on the plains between the village and the Everfree Forest. Coming even closer, he noticed the black shapes fluttering around the forest itself. He frowned. Clearly, they weren't concealing themselves.
His eyes widened as the full scope of the situation hit him.
"Oh no," he said, looking at Morning Rain. "This is all about me."
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Morning, what did you do!?!
GOD
ING DAMNIT, SPIKE.
THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS
i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/353/279/e31.jpg
1610244
Yes, it really got out of hoof, fast, didn't it?
Love how Celestia brought an entire army with her!
1610231
Um, what? She didn't do anything.
1610244
1610256
Can't really blame Celestia for acting that way, with the way she was cocooned during the episode
Oh Spike, what shall we do with you??
1610261
Nope! Can't blame her at all!
I hope Tia and the Everfree Changlings can came to some sort of peaceful resolution. It's not like the Everfree Changlings hurt anypony, ever. Not their fault the Queen of another hive was a massive moron of evilness. 
A changeling hive is just like a huge family, mess with one of them and you mess with everyone!, great job spike, it looks like Twilight and Celestia have to do damage control about this misunderstanding, before it escalates anymore
Well. I am unsure of what the changelings are doing.
But this is sure to end well.
Oh dear...
Awaiting further releases.
Oh no. I hate cliff hangers.
1610231 (thewookie1)
In the words of another mare;
"I just don't know what went wrong!" - Ditzy Doo/Derpy Hooves
I see a Pinkie Pie "Welcome to Ponyville"-party for the Everfree hive coming up.
And the thought fills me with dread!
Well....this is going to get worst before it gets better that's for sure.
...so Flitter's Queen sensed that he'd been captured or was in "danger" and so she roused all her changlings? ...or... oh so many things!
Yay! 
I love a good story! Looking forward to the next update! Loving your story! 
And oh Spike... you just love to jump the gun don't ya?
Hmmm....How big of an army did Tia bring? I mean, Ponyville isn't that big, so probably 1/3 as many guards as she had in Canterlot....
Well...... this should be interesting.
Hmm...seems like he unintentionally signaled his distress and anyone in range of his mind(like the Everfree Hive) would pick it up. Thus a mob of Changelings(he is highly respected in the Hive) went to go save him.
F
KING CLIFFHANHERS
It could be a whole army arriving, IS kind of noticable, when your not a worried couple and a bookworm, and given that the Changeling queen knows what happened ...
MOAR!!!! WE DEMAND MOAR BECAUSE OF....jrodstrength.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/cliffhanger_1.jpg
1597973
Mendacity -> Yeah, that's the one "other" story I meant.
It's a good read in its own right, although it's clearly a different approach to the subject of "how will [relationship partner name here] react?" ... well, mainly since there are other things to worry about at the time.
"They won't meet any, but the issue of more existing in his situation will definitely be addressed"
...
Oh dear Celestia, now I have the mental image of a group of Changelings all sitting on chairs in a circle, giving short introductions for the weekly meeting of the "Anonymous Changeling Self-Help Group".
That might even make for some funny one-shot, or at least a one-panel comic.
@Twitter: WTF LOL. ^^;;;
Look out, it's the human spell-check....person!
very very nice my friend
1610434
Psychic contact with the hive, after 20 years? I don't think so, lol.
1610528
Well, Celestia took no chances and kinda went blitzkrieg on their ass, so it did all happen quite fast
(But, yes, this. So completely this.)
Well, once again Flitter and Morning Rain discover that no plan survives contact with the opposition. In this case, things were going reasonably well until they encountered the one individual in Ponyville who could not only panic at seeing a changeling, but also has a direct line to Princess Celestia and isn't afraid to use it.
I really feel for Flitter, he's got a reason to be tired of reeling off his history every time he and his wife have a new encounter. Hopefully this will be the last one, or at least he'll be able to have the town printshop run off a set of informational pamphlets that he and Morning Rain can pass out at need. He probably doesn't know how lucky the timing of the Guard's arrival was, though. I suspect that Twilight was just shy of suggesting a detailed study with him as the subject (that's probably still in the works, though with more changelings nearby, maybe he dodged that bullet as well.
And speaking of the sudden arrival of a changeling force, I'm guessing that at least part of that's response to the fact that Flitter was just feeling a tad bit threatened, though the speed of the response suggests that this unit was already reasonably close by. I wonder if this is a group of (relatively) young changelings looking to test the waters with an open visit to a pony settlement after getting a look at Flitter and his example? Given that we all know what a weirdness magnet Ponyville has become ever since the Elements manifested, I can even see where this was a case of SNAFU as per everything else that happens in that little town.
Hopefully, with Flitter and Morning Rain there, this situation can be kept from boiling over. If that works out, Pinkie might just get to throw a party after all; the first ever Ponyville/Everfree Hive welcome party and social mixer. dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/lolface_Queen_Chrysalis.png
dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Cloudchaser_dealwithit.png
Edit: Actually, looking at the description of things here, I'm reasonably sure that even if there was an advance guard looking over Ponyville for a non-hostile visit, that got reinforced pretty quickly when what sounds like a pretty hefty combat unit of the Royal Guard showed up, complete with mobile artiller... er, alicorn Princess. Looks like Flitter is going to get to play diplomat very shortly.
encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQXqGCVxIqWAm6m_K1E8GB15cqZvcg7s1R5_JELbcdmGjmPSjAWzg Can't... Hold... On... Much... LONGER!
*readreadreadread* ... *readreadread* ... Damn it spike!
1610669He just was reunited with them recently and is still very close. The way I see Changeling 'telepathy' is that it is a natural unconscious process of a Changeling's brain and when the Changeling is in contact with his Hive, he becomes connected to it(so long he is in range of the hive). The more changelings there are, the greater the range of the Hive. Well, you are the author and not me so it is your choice in the end.
Another possibility is that Chrysalis attacked the Everfree Hive and is now attacking Ponyville.
1610231 Nonononono its about Flitter. Not morning.
It's seems the changlings in the hive have followed Morning because they pretty much worship her or something
1610678
Actually, if you read carefully, you will see she tried, but got a Stay Off My Hubby Glare Of Doom from Morning Rain
1610781
Augh. Thanks! Fixed.
Haha, it is time for DIPLOMACY to safe the day.
I m supriced how well Celestia and Twilight amd every pony in town took a changeling in they town walking around without disquise, considering that they invaded Canterlot not so long ago, in many other fanfics they would react very hostile and suspicius with a dungeon and trail with guilty until prove innocent.
But I quess this version here is more of MLP canon and less realistic, with make sense.
Keep up the good work with updating.
Ok, where do I report you for the murder of a perfectly good plot cliche?
Nevermind! Still alive!
1610985
Next time, please remember to edit your post instead of resubmitting at the bottom
1610261>>1610797>>1610299
She didn't do anything. But lets spread the blame a little more, poor Flitter is a blame magnet.
This ain't gonna be pretty.
You mess with Flitter, you get the hoard .
well considering that Spike just kicked the hive into "All for one and one for all" I vote we hand him over to the CMC to try to get their dragonslayers Cutiemarks. Ive really liked him much anyway even though Ive always liked dragons. I love Pinkies reactions, I doubt there are FEW situations she wouldnt at least try to find something fun in any situation
1610678
Yeeah... personally I don't really see how that was all that much of a cliffhanger
So just what are the changelings doing, then? If they're not there to rescue Flitter, did they get the idea that all ponies will love them and just came out to feed?
Randome Typo I noticed.
The l in Canterlot is missing.
And I love that story, keep going
Well done. when will the next chapter be up?
1611232
Blargh. Fixed, thanks. In my defense, spellcheckers don't recognize that either way
1611252
Release schedule is Tuesday-Friday.
1611029
I suck! :D
iambrony.steeph.tp-radio.de/mlp/gif/173250%20-%20animated%20animation%20Artist-Doomy%20changeling%20pinkie_pie%20starcraft.gif?1344079763
Relax. Pinkie's got this sh*t...
1610244
The correct quote is, "Boy, that escalated quickly."
Spike, you redeem yourself in the season 3 opener and this is how you throw your glory away?
Well fuck.
>:/ I hate cliffhangers... 1611253 Do me a favor and blink...
In Spike's defense, he did *exactly* the right thing. "Look, there's a changeling and Twilight is talking to it normally, she may be mind controlled, I should contact the Princess NOW." Admittedly, he probably should have phrased his note to Her Solar Eminence a bit differently, but he is only a baby dragon after all...
1610256
The time frame needed between story and guards busting in couldn't be more then an hour or so. Then the changling reaction was pretty fast. All proves that Finagle's Law is strong in this story, shits rolling faster than the fan can blow.