Chapter 3 - Title
Welcome back those of you who are here.
If you are confused as to why this chapter is here now, I have a blog up talking about it in full right here:
Right here
Hope you enjoy this mess 
“I knew it!!”
Twilight´s booming and excited voice almost caused the entire castle to shiver. This would not have been the first time her shouting had been to the detriment of structural integrity, but this time it was the signal of a good mood.
Or, at least that is what Spike was convinced it was. Judging from the grin that was now stretching from ear to ear, making her look like a strange mix between the cheshire cat and an escaped mental patient.
The purple alicorn towered victoriously over the chained up changeling as she pointed at it with a hoof.
“You weren't speaking Equestrian! We have had a Magical Information Transference!” She announced.
Spike tilted his head in confusion.
“A what now?” Spike asked.
“A Magical Information Transference! Or MIT for short!” Twilight started explaining, her smile not wanting at all. “MITns, are magical phenomena which happens occasionally, if a spell connects two or more psyches together in a network, if the spell is either faulty or broken off prematurely, information can end up getting exchanged between the two hosts without actually having to experience it!”
Twilight took a short pause, expecting Spike to be just as excited as her, though it was pretty clear that the young dragon looked more confused than anything else.
“Sorry Twilight, but I got lost around the time you said you had a magical phenomena named ‘Mittens’” Spike just plainly stated.
“It's called MITns. The -ns suffix is how it was written down in the book!” Twilight assured.
“Was the author of the book from Trottingham by any chance?”
“ANYWAYS!” Twilight announced, ignoring Spike´s attempt at ridiculing a scientific term. “It appears that when the bridge between our minds during my previous mind reading spell was broken, an MIT event occurred, shifting information between our neural records without us having actually consciously experienced them!” Twilight's explanation beginning to stretch on. She gestured towards the changeling for emphasis. “The two of us just had a conversation in a language which I had never properly experienced the translation of, as one would during any other linguistic shifts. After all, each language simply is a collection of sounds attributed to logical truths-”
“Oh come off of it.” Zichti scoffed.
Twilight stopped mid explanation as the Changeling interrupted her.
“Excuse me?” She asked, doing her best to not be annoyed by its rude incursion.
“You keep making claims about a supposed metaphysical reality as if it was conventional wisdom.” Zichti clicked away, its tongue only now sounding slightly off to Twilight, as she had been made aware of the difference, much like realizing you were walking towards a mirror.
“I was not done-” Twilight tried to explain, but Zichti would have none of it.
“I don’t need to hear any more! You keep putting your opinionated thesis up as fact-”
“Excuse me!? I was in the middle of explaining, and you were already calling down judgement even before all information was assessed-”
“I don't need to see the entire argument, if I know the premise to be false-”
“But you don't know the premise to be false-”
“QUUUIIIIEEEEETTT!”
The roar that broke the intellectual mud throwing contest had, for once, not been Twilight shouting this, but her faithful assistant instead.
The two fuming (Supposed) academics were both caught off guard and shifted around to see the little dragon tapping his foot in frustration.
“Will you both stop acting like kindergarteners, and instead clarify the situation?” The dragon offered.
“B-But I was-” Twilight began but Spike would not let her finish.
“In Equestrian, please. Try to say something which does not offend the Changeling and start another shouting match."
Reeled in, and taking a moment to compose herself again, Twilight cleared her throat before she started over.
“In essence, My spell let my head get inside of its head, and when I didn't get out of its head the normal way, something stuck on the way out.” She (dumbed down) simplified.
“Ohhhhhh.” The young dragon realized. “Like if you tumble down a hill rather than walking down it?”
While Twilight was much happier with her original explanation, she sighed, and conceded. “Yes… Kind of like that.” - ‘If one were to ignore almost ALL of the details’ She internally grumbled, but decided to let it go, for now.
“So, you speak changeling now?” Spike asked.
“Not really.”
To both his, and Twilight's great surprise, the voice was not the Princess responding, but rather their caged changeling.
Both turned their attention to Zichti immediately.
“Excuse me?” Twilight asked, this time more patiently.
“You do not, ‘Speak’, my language, as much as you simply receive a rudimentary translation inside of your head.” The creature spoke in a rather, broken and mispronounced Equestrian dialect none of them recognized. It was as if trying to decipher what someone was saying through their hooves with their mouth full.
“That… was in essence what I was saying before you interrupted me.” Twilight said, her ears flopping down in annoyance.
“No it wasn't.” Zichti simply denied. “It was something completely diff-”
Spike sighed exasperatedly and rubbed his temples. “Are you two going to go back to the yelly-clicky contest?”
While Twilight did not like her heated debate with a different species being called a ‘yelly-clicky-contest’, she did have to admit she was not getting anywhere if she did that.
She turned her head back to give a softish glare at Zichti. “If Zichti here perhaps would answer my questions rather than give me the silent treatment.” She offered.
“If the Princess would let me out of the cage and let me go, we didn't need to have this discussion.” Zichti added, this time returning back into his clicky language, leaving Spike out of the loop.
“We can't let you go Zichti.” Twilight asserted in growing frustration. “Don't you understand our situation?”
“I understand it perfectly well, it is you who do not understand my situation.” The changeling scoffed and rolled over inside of its cage, doing its best to shift its still restrained limbs into something minimally comfortable.
“Well you won't LET me understand!” Twilight threw her hooves in the air. “You just either give me the silent treatment or you begin making all sorts of bogus assertions-”
“NO ATTACKING THE OTHER’S POINT OF VIEW!” Spike was quick to cut in. “I don't want another-”
“Right, another ‘Yelly-clicky-contest’, we get it Spike, thank you.” Twilight groaned. She didn't blame him, but everything was just piling up on top of her here. The only thing she had going for her was the MITn, and it appeared so far to only have caused more grief than gain.
Twilight´s heart rate increased rapidly, as she could feel the lingering anxieties related to potential failure looming over her head. She'd have to do something, and she´d have to think of something fast. If she could not now… perhaps the moment was lost.
So she had to be bold.
She drew a deep breath and lit up her horn.
In one smooth motion Twilight's magic reached past the bars, the damper runes recognizing her magical pattern and allowing her through, and unhooked the straightjacket restraining Zichti. The changeling´s limbs thunked to the floor and it gauged Twilight cryptically.
She replied to the gaze with a calm voice. “Zichti, I want to understand your race. I want to understand every part of it, and I want you to understand that I don't want to hurt you.”
The changeling listened, however it did not waste much time with the jacket. As it was clear it was able to escape the jacket, it wiggled out of the offending piece of clothing. This revealed Zichti´s upper form clearly to Twilight, allowing her to see its holed forelegs and the darker blackened piece carapace on its back. What especially caught Twilight's attention was Zichti´s wings, who now also was released.
Zichti´s wings looked like an almost paper thin membrane, appearing flimsy compared to even its mane, and as Zichti arched its back and stretched it limbs, the wings buzzed with incredible speed. It almost looked like there were three pairs, though that was confirmed to just be an illusion of the eye, as Zichti´s wings went back to being static again.
“So please.” Twilight finished, snapping back to her plea. “Will you cooperate with me?”
She really didn't want to hop back to using the mind reader spell again. Never mind her conscience was bothering her, it was now pretty clear that there was an obvious risk of further MITns. She didn't tell Spike, she didn't want him to worry, but an excess amount of MITns could cause irreparable damage to the neural connectors in the brain, as suddenly information from two different sources would fight for dominance and capacity.
That was a risk. Though only if more sudden interruptions happened mid-spell. But considering that it had already happened once, Twilight knew the risk was high.
'However, if it's for the greater good of Equestria... I'll have to stomach this... I could not forgive myself if my lack of action lead to another invasion'.
Twilight's eyes had dropped to the floor at that thought, and her personal assistant was looking upon her in concern.
And in that moment where no one looked. Zichti allowed a small smirk to flash across its face.
”Alright.”
Twilight and Spike's attention snapped back to the Changeling, who had now sat itself down calmly, stretching its wings a bit again, colour returning to the membrane.
”What?” Twilight asked in surprise.
”I´ll cooperate... At least to clear up this mess.” Zichti grumbled, looking pretty dejected.
That was in almost direct opposition to Twilight, whose wings snapped open at excited attention as all of her problems appeared to have evaporated before her very eyes.
“You'll answer my questions?” She asked, a grin rivalling the infamous Pinkie grin.
Zichti nodded. “Yes.”
One could have suspected Twilight of ceasing to breathe at that very moment as the original excitement of the research potential was re-surging within her. Like lightning, she snapped back and forth in the cellar, grabbing pencil, clipboard, PHD Twilight Sparkle lab coat, extra notepads, extra pencils, and gathering them all together right next to Zichti´s cage.
While this palaver was going on, Spike rolled his eyes.
“Sometimes I wonder why I am even here.” He mused aloud and walked away from the cage. On the side he had himself a little bean bag, for when Twilight wanted him to ‘observe’ her latest findings, which he could recline in. He pulled out an issue of Power Ponies (Volume 3, Dr. Derp Strikes again), and decided to play silent observer.
Zichti observed this go down with a slight inquisitive tilt of its head. Its information on the Princess appeared to be true. Hopefully that would help it now.
Finally getting together every last bit, Twilight returned to the cage, sitting down within a safe, yet respectable distance to the subject, or her interviewee, whichever was most appropriate, most likely something in between the two.
“Alright then!” Twilight said, hovering a pencil a centimetre above her note clipboard. “Let's start with the basics!” She cleared her throat. “Name?”
“Zich-ti.” The answer came simple and calm, The changeling now just sitting upright in a normal fashion, and no longer restrained beyond the damper ring on its horn.
Twilight wrote down the name, satisfied with not having an 'unknown' dirty her research sheet. Though as she finished the dot above the I, a thought struck her. Her original bug like hypothesis had been, placed in a misguided personal bias. So perhaps they were more like ponies than she first expected. She thought to bring this hypothesis to the test.
“Full name?”
Her eyes scanned Zichti carefully as she asked the question. The buglike creature tilted its head for a moment.
“My full name?” It questioned.
Now that was interesting. While Twilight wanted to explode in assumptions and all sorts of ideas as to what this could mean, she had to remove all sources of error.
“You know, family name? Like say, I am Twilight Sparkle. Sparkle is my official surname, though I was named Twilight after my mother, Twilight Velvet.” She clarified.
“So your name is Twilight Sparkle Velvet?” Zichti asked, looking like it wanted to raise an eyebrow if it had any.
“Uhm...” Twilight halted. “No. I am Twilight Sparkle. As in, House Sparkle-”
“So your mother´s name was Twilight Velvet Sparkle?” Zichti asked, the word 'mother´s' switching suddenly and jarringly into its broken attempt at Equestrian again.
Twilight blinked in confusion.
“No... I told you-... Let me start over. Sparkle is a house, but not all members needs to be named Sparkle.” She began to explain, though halted as another thought dawned on her. “Hey I was the one who was supposed to be questioning you!”
“Well you're not doing a good job of it.” Zichti casually replied, and flashed what Twilight was certain was some sort of smirk.
She suppressed the urge to groan in frustration again. It was teasing her. It was just trying to get to her. She'd just need to use some questions which was less ambiguous. (Surprisingly).
“Alright then.” She omitted writing anything other than Zichti in the name box, and moved down to something that should be straightforward. “Gender?”
“Sex or Gender?” Zichti retorted.
“Both.” Twilight was quick to answer. It was not going to catch her off guard with that one!
“Ling and Ling.” It responded.
For a moment, Twilight didn't say anything. She just tapped her pencil against her research notes'. “Which means?”
“What I said”.
“I wasn't asking for your species.”
“I didn't reply my species.”
“Then what do you mean!?” Twilight snapped slightly. This was like trying to get a straight answer out of Pinkie Pie who'd just eaten half of Sugarcube Corner.
“I'll show you mine, if you show me yours.”
Twilight was not sure what she was most annoyed at. The fact that Zichti was clearly teasing her, the content of its teasing, or the fact that she was falling for it. She could feel the anger bubbling within her again, she needed to somehow channel this into her research. She needed clear, unambiguous questions.
'Yes and No Questions' she thought.
“Do you have the capacity to carry children if a suitable mate was provided?”
This caught Zichti in an awkward place. Twilight could see that it was thinking of making another teasing retort, yet for some reason, this time it decided to be serious, and nodded.
“Yes.”
Twilight nodded and wrote down on her note 'Can carry children' before asking again.
“Do you have the capability to inseminate a mate, if such hypothetical suitable mate was provided?”
“Yes.” Zichti responded along with a nod.
“Interesting.” Twilight mused, adding onto her note that information as well. “So you hold the capability and capacity to fill the role of either the typical role of the male or female amongst ponies.” She clarified, though silently hoping that perhaps Zichti would correct her with more detail. Though the Changeling appeared just to sit back and let her make her own assumptions.
“That would make sense, considering you're a shapeshifter. If you had too grounded a sex and gender identity, you might have a harder time with certain disguises.” Twilight thought aloud as she scribbled on a little note pad.
“Or maybe I just have a different view of genders than you do.”
Blinking with irritation, the princesses attention was back again upon Zichti.
“What is your view of genders?”
“They are an interesting thing you ponies got going.” The changeling clicked, laying down in the middle of the cage, careful to not touch any of the bars.
“So you don't have genders?” Twilight asked, the hovering pencil just about to edit all her previous notes.
“I didn't say that.” Zichi sighed, rolling lazily over on its back.
“Then what are you saying?”
The changeling let its eyes wander, casually licking its fangs clean with its slithery green tongue, not answering the question immediately.
Its hesitation was annoying Twilight slightly, but she had a feeling why it was taking its time. They had already been in two 'clicky-shouty' contests, they didn't need another one. Maybe she needed to do a few jabs back at it? It had clearly been taunting her a bit, so why should she not try the same to lighten the mood?
Looking properly at how the changeling had casually laid itself on its back, kind of like a dog lazing out, a strange comment came to her mind, though she was not sure if she could say it.
She swallowed her spit and just decided to 'wing it and be cool'. (Thanks Rainbow!).
“W-Well, If you open up that c-casing between your... l-legs then I could check myself!”
'Hah, got it, now it'll be its turn to flus-'
“My gender is not defined by that. We already defined earlier we were talking about gender, not sex.”
'Oh bumbling breezies it's right.' Twilight thought, but not one to be outdone she tried keeping on the pressure.
“Then show me so I at least can define your sex.” Twilight asserted.
Zichti tilted its head slightly. “I thought it was common courtesy for Ponies not to do that on their first date.”
'It's teasing you Twilight. Zichti is trying to distract you, keep drilling'. The princess thought to herself. She needed to keep up the pressure.
“Nevertheless, you already know my sex, and it's terribly unladylike of you to leave me at such disadvantage.” Twilight pressed.
Zichti appeared unphased, except for a slight buzz of its wings again. The princess was certainly determined to get this information.
'Good'.
The changeling sighed gently. “Very well.”
As if it possessed no sense of modesty, Zichti turned around and let its flank and belly face Twilight. The princess´s jaw dropped in surprise. Her tease had worked, but all too well!
Zichti spread its legs just a slight bit wider in the air, calmly moving muscles that were beneath the hard chitin to pull the-
“WAIT!” She borderline shouted.
Confounded, but waiting as requested, the changeling simply stood there, the same chitin plate Twilight had seen earlier that day now staring at her.
She bit her lower lip for a moment before immediately snapping around to the corner. “You can’t show that while Spike is here!” She quickly added.
Zichti´s eyes shifted to the corner where the small dragon was now around halfway through his second comic was now looking up from said comic and blinking in confusion.
“What?” he asked at the two staring at him.
“He's only a baby dragon after all!” Twilight added. “Showing such things to a minor would be... inappropriate!” She continued, grasping at straws to try and backpedal on her previous request. It just felt a lot more awkward asking someone to show you their privates whilst Spike was in the room. And also considering she had less scientific reasoning to back her up.
Spike just rolled his eyes and flipped a page in his comic. “Oh come on Twilight, i'm not that young. I'm not even looking either. I don't mind if you want a changeling to flash you.”
“I do not want Zichti to... 'flash' me! This is science!” Twilight defended, her face scrunching up in a combination of frustration and embarrassment.
“Then treat it like science.” Spike sighed, flipping another page. “It's just biology after all. You talked me through this stuff when I was 6.” He casually added, hoping that it would dispel Twilight's concerns and allow him to return his attention to the Power Ponies.
While it was not much, Spike´s rationalization was enough of metaphorical driftwood for Twilight to cling to. She bit her lip before turning back to Zichti, flipping over a page on the clipboard to get more space for the notes.
“Right then. Go ahead.”
Zichti, who was still laying on the floor, gave a light sigh and continued from where it had left off.
The small chitin plating that Twilight had earlier seen (and gotten bucked in the face for) opened. The plates parted, moving into the changeling's body and revealed what appeared to be a sort of softer, skin like membrane beneath.
Twilight's eyes widened with fascination as she saw the nuances and biological curvatures of this revealed part. Or more precisely, these, revealed parts.
Beneath the plating was what appeared to look remarkably similar to regular pony biology, in what was concerned with reproductive organs. Both facilities of darkly shaded male and female genitalia held places on the being in front of her. While she could not go into absolute details yet, she certainly could clarify her earlier questions with vivid enough details. She also could see that though what was there was remarkably similar, there was also something missing. Specifically half of the ‘male parts’. A few quick mental scans later, helped Twilight come to a potential conclusion. There were several species who did not have the same physiology as ponies on that subject, meaning that there was a lot of potential meanings of this.
“Are they functional?” Twilight asked.
“Do you want to give them a go?” Zichti´s thinly veiled attempt at shaking his verbal opponent for once seemed to completely bounce off of Twilight.
All the embarrassment Zichti had earlier laid upon her, had evaporated by a burning passion for science. And that seemed to power her snark receptors.
“I could, but I think it would be easier for you to just tell me.” She said, taking notes, and what Zichti sincerely hoped were NOT taking sketches.
Not seeing the changeling´s defeated expression, Twilight had quickly written down a couple of potential answers already, putting neat little boxes to cross off when the answer finally came.
“They function.” Zichti conceded.
“Good!” Twilight scribbled down a few more notes. “So that means I can write your sex down as somewhere upon the spectrum of the hermaphroditic.” She said with the sincerest of scientific enthusiasm.
“That’s what she said.” Quipped Spike behind her, flipping a page in his comic book, parroting that joke he had heard a dozen other places.
“Right!” Twilight continued, seemingly ignoring Spike´s inappropriate jib. “Now onto the gender. You seemed to suggest that you didn't have any genders as changelings?”
“Maybe.” Zichti conceded, sitting back up again and closing the chitinous plates.
“Sooo... should I call you 'Mr' or 'Miss' Zichti?” Twilight tapped the pencil against her paper.
“Neither. I am Venerated Zichti, and Che-tin to my little lings.”
“Ahh, Yes. I have been meaning to ask about that.” She was reminded of the title she saw in it´s mind, though also taking a mental note of asking about ‘Che-tin’ later. One thing at a time though. “Venerated is a title?”
“Venerated is my title and responsibility.” Zichti spoke, while through clicking, Twilight sensed a certain amount of pride in it´s words. So it held some sort of office, she presumed, putting a little note about that a the bottom of the page. As the last letter was written down, the dots connected themselves again for Twilight. An opportunity.
“So, how would you introduce yourself?”
Zichti tilted its head, though before it had the chance to derail the question, Twilight continued.
“Like say, if you were to meet with someone on an equal hoof, needing to clarify who you were and your responsibilities?”
For a few seconds, Zichti just stared at Twilight, weighing its options. It knew without a shadow of a doubt that mentioning its full name and title would be a lot of information to give to the enemy. Yet, it also knew it would throw the Princess for a loop.
And it would waste more time.
Thus, Zichti lifted its head proudly, bringing its holed hoof over its chest and answered. However, Twilight did not just hear a single voice escape its vocal cord. She could hear the translation, but she could also hear the actual clicking utterance:
“Ke Zic-thi, Qiet Moc-ter Chry-sa-lis, Kaet Jet Mi-de. Tsoe-ket g Het-tet Chet-tin Moc-ter Fa-ca-dé.”
“I am Zichti, Spawn of Mother Chrysalis, honoured be her memory. Sibling and proudly Venerated of Queen Facadé”.
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Christ on a unicycle it updated! Best day ever!
9098837
Holy shit, apparently yes!
Well, this should be interesting! Especially if Chrysalis died in the invasion!
i.imgur.com/DGEoPl3.gif
Update! Awesome work!
After 3 long years it has returned
Glad to see Twilight is treating this 'ling as more than a lab rat. But for the sake of development I can see why you wrote Twilight as a scientist lording over an oversized bug.
And thanks for the update !
This is a unique story :-)
un tiempo.por fin llego el capitulo esperado
good ,el proximo plz 
If my changing OC was any cage for Twilight study section she will have a brain aneurysm. Because of his power being annoying.
Example:
Twilight: sex?
OC: nope never did the deed... no wait your mother.
9117649
That and sibling to a Queen explains the different appearance from the usual drones.
none of this really makes the fact twilight invaded another's mind okay.
Oh yes! More than pleased that it got updated!
Incredible!!! Wasn't expecting that! Hurrah!!!
You know, I found your plot very interesting, than after a full year just sitting there, I said to myself. "Dang! Another bite the dust..."
But glad you didn't forget about it.
Thanks.
There's something oh so satisfyingly and appropriately "child who is growing up in a family of academics" about Spike having the skill and vocabulary to be a useful debate moderator, even as he still struggles with spelling said words.
The changeling is right even if twilight still gets her subpar subtitling with oter changeling. She would not be able to communicate with them since she would still be not understandable.
Hah! And they said checklists are not foreplay. I showed THEM!
As someone with people perfectionism issues of my own let me say I saw no errors. The writing style/direction of the plot is not what I would have used, but I can not call that an error, or at least not without seeing a LOT more of this story. Even then it would depend.on minutiae of your goals in writing this.
I hope.I have managed to succeed in MY goal of being encouraging.
Zich-ti is seemingly enjoying theirself quite a bit. Their teasing indicates a switch in manipulation method, or perhaps moving on to the next phase. Between that and their willingness to suffer indignity from exposure (though, it probably serves more importance from the pony perspective), we'd think he might possibly start fostering an infatuation...
Now if only they could stop talking over each other maybe actually significant progress and truth could be made... Nah, that won't happen, they're delaying (intentionally or not) so well that Twilight will become a missing pony before long.
Keep going! ;)
In those stories where Spike gets turned into a pony, his cutie mark should be for keeping neurotic unicorns from going off the rails.
Alwise nice to see a long lost story get an update. Additionally, I wish more authors would spend the time to update their audience to there status. Even if the news isn't especially good, it's good to have closure.
Hope your rebirth goes well. And thx for the world you shared with us.
Ho-ly-shit..... Call me surprised. I was certain this was dead and hell if I ain't happy I was wrong. 3 years... You go and give me this great, really different take on Changelings and the way they go about their lives and vanish for 3 years. *Deep breath* *sigh*, well, welcome back. Hope I don't gotta wait another 3 years for the next chapter.
Edit: Damn, went back and read the blog post I probably should have led with. Well such is life, as someone that has been struggling with severe anxiety for the whole of my life, I'm with ya' in this. While I can't say I'm not a tad disappointed that this is likely to be the end of this story it was fun while it lasted. And hey, if you do happen to want to keep with it and want an additional insane person helping with editing I'm here for ya' if you need me. Keep on keepin' on.
Wow, I forgot this even existed. I had to go back and read the first two chapters to remember what was going on. Good story, though now I suppose most of it is AU given canon knowledge of changelings.
I am loving this story, I hope it's still being worked on?
Hm
good story start. Sad that it's dead.
I respect this.