Itinerant Kingdom

by Istaran

Chapter 24: Smoke and Mirror

Mirror got off the bed, and trotted to the shower, making a mental note to clean the sheets afterwards. He got the water going as cold as possible before stepping in. Due to circumstance and distance, he was the only member of the Itinerant Kingdom not present for the orgy, but that doesn't mean he was entirely left out. For one thing, Midnight had allowed him to share in her physical experiences, even taking control of her body for a time in much the same way she frequently controlled his. Now that he wasn't actively experiencing the orgy he could reflect a bit on how it felt reversing their roles like that. But even when he was 'in control', she had been whispering ideas into the back of his mind, and guiding the experience overall. It was clear which of them was the more dominant by nature.

But now he was closing himself off from such thoughts, taking a refreshing cold shower, and preparing for another day at school, and another entry exam. He was a bit startled when Midnight Oil's presence entered his mind just as he was cleaning the most intimate bits of her borrowed form, especially when she mentally yelped a bit at the sensation of cold water suddenly hitting her awareness.

[My that shower's cold! Did we get you a bit too hot and bothered back there? I'm sorry we couldn't include you in person,] she said when she could think straight enough.

He imagined her presence felt like a warm, intimate hug from behind, wrapping around him like a warm blanket. He felt so much safer with her around, even if the level of danger he was in did not meaningfully change. He was still securely hidden by his disguise, while living in the single most anti-changeling city in Equestria. [It's alright, I'm just glad you are okay, and finally away from those crystals. Now.. let's go take on the day!]

The beginning of the school day went like any other. They socialized, they breezed through the schoolwork, while keeping each other entertained by commenting mentally on every little thing the other students did. Having Mirror there as her avatar instead of being there in person meant that they could use the changeling's natural empathic senses to get some extra insights into all the foalish emotional drama taking place around them on a daily basis, which was fun.

Finally, the examiner arrived and came to the front. "I am Professor Bulging Biceps," the most well muscled unicorn Mirror had ever seen announced. He was deep orange in fur, with blonde mane, and a bit small of a horn, and he had a little crystal figurine of a bulging forehoof dangling form his neck that glowed with the orange of his aura, and a matching cutie mark on his flank. "Who here wants to be strong?" he asked, while flexing his forehooves. One of the fillies actually fainted. "At the Academy of Transcendent Flesh, we will teach you how to become strong! Or sprout wings!" He did so in a dramatic flair, both a feathery pair and a leathery pair. "Or even the claws and scales of a strong dragon!" And in moments he was a dragon, complete with a small gout of flames to make his point before returning to being an overly muscular unicorn. "Exercising is for earth ponies! We unicorns can rewrite our own flesh as easily as other unicorns rewrite the rest of nature. So if you have a strong horn and a strong sense of your self, come take my entry exam!"

Mirror was a bit intrigued.. such flesh altering magic was exactly what Stud Muffin needed to learn, as his impacted horn would probably never be able to target anything but his own flesh. As a changeling, backed with the power of the kingsblood, he had a major jumpstart on that track of magic. But it also made him a bit nervous, for a reason he couldn't quite place. When most of the other unicorns went out to at least try to place, however, Midnight wouldn't let him stay in his seat.

Bulging Biceps took a moment to review the applicants before getting started. Mirror held very still under the stallion's gaze, which remained on him longer than it had on any others. "I see somepony already knows a bit of body magic. Yeah! But let's start from a blank slate, shall we?" And with a brief pulse from his horn, the magic was dispelled and suppressed.

Everypony stared at Mirror, and it cost him what head start he could have had trying to realize why. But when a gentle breeze flowed over smooth carapace instead of ruffling fur, he knew he had been revealed. And then, just as it hit him, several fillies screeched out in terror at once, while Bulging Biceps called out for the guards and wrapped Mirror in his telekinesis.

Mirror shook off the magic with a burst of his own power before taking flight. He tried, but he couldn't change again! Something the professor had done was preventing any form of transformational magic from taking hold! And from up here, pegasi guards could see him far too easily and were converging at an alarming rate! Mirror took off flying, keeping low to zoom between buildings, cutting through alleys at second floor window height.

I could feel the panic in him, but did my best to guide him remotely. He couldn't go back to the safe house for fear of compromising it, though his broken cover as Midnight was already going to make it harder for us. So he zigged and zagged, searching for an impromptu hiding spot.

He came around a corner, only to find a pegasus guard waiting in ambush with a charged thundercloud. He tried to dodge, but his connection to the rest of the Kingdom suddenly went dead. I could still feel the flow of love between us, so I knew he wasn't dead, and did the only thing I still could.. forced as much love into him as I safely could.

Meanwhile, Mirror dropped into a state of sheer terror. The burst of love helped him break away from his pursuers, but his mind was foggy and.. lonely. No words of guidance from me, or encouragement from Midnight. Even Rorrim itself was completely silent, the most oppressive thing of all. Even though the lightning bolt had missed him, the electromagnetic pulse from it had knocked his subnet completely offline. He didn't want to think about what the long term repercussions might be. For now, he was an extra heavy changeling with an overflowing tank of love to burn through and an entire city's guard force out to catch him and get revenge for his former queen's ambitious overreach.

Mirror flitted rapidly from alley to alley, breaking windows with the force of his passing and careening off walls. It was the most unsubtle the changeling had been in his life, but at least it kept the guards from getting a clean shot on him. Finally, he broke free of the city proper and zoomed down under it. There were a bunch of small cave entrances here, and he hid himself swiftly in one of them. It looked like none of his pursuers had seen him enter, and the solar pegasi lacked in dark vision so he would hopefully be well hidden in the shadows here.

Catching his breath, he took a moment to try changing again.. and succeeded on taking on the form of Moonbeam, the lunar pegasus mare that had just joined the Kingdom. Suddenly, a hoof wrapped around his shoulders, in what could have been an affectionate grasp if its owner's mind wasn't dripping with threat. "Why, hello there little changeling. Did you take on this disguise just for me?" the lunar pegasus stallion who owned the hoof asked.

---

There was nothing more I could do for Mirror from where we were except send Fog Dancer and the real Midnight Oil back on the first train to reclaim their identities and feign ignorance about the changeling imposter. Meanwhile, we had some cleaning up to do in Citrus Hills.

Exploring the tunnels, my changelings found that there were a dozen houses in town with secret passages in the basements leading to and from the tunnels. One of them, unsurprisingly, was Oak Breakers. We salvaged what we could from the houses before setting up for our plans. When the new recruits awoke from their fevers, I had to quickly catch them up with what we were doing while they struggled to get used to their newly augmented minds. They would have time to get to know themselves better in the days ahead, but first we had something to do.

Once the sun went down and night began, so did our exit strategy. In each of the houses, we set a fire in the hearth, with a trail of firewood to lead the flames out and a closed flue to let the smoke flow inside. We exited through the secret passages, closing them partially behind us so they could be found later. In the caves below we left a desk covered with most of the documentation pointing to what had gone on here. It was written obliquely, and could be mistaken for more innocent endeavors if you didn't know that, for example, employees 'quitting' meant they passed away from exhaustion while 'being fired' meant killed. We took with us a note with the address where deliveries were to be made, and Wind Chaser, null and I took on the forms of what we believed were the couriers, taking to the road with the wagon at the cave's only open air exit.

Whoever was receiving shipments from this 'mining' operation needed to be put down. I'm sorry. 'Fired'.

Meanwhile, the rest of the changelings and the new recruits made their way out the abandoned well, and headed swiftly to the other, currently functional well. As calls of "Fire! Fire" rang out, they quietly took their places in the bucket brigade, preventing any of the other buildings from going up as well. As soon as the flames were dealt with, they just as quietly took their leave unnoticed, scattering into the night to distant towns in groups of four or less.

And down below, at the bottom of the pit, Cherry Blossom covered herself up with stone and debris. In her new form she could live off of rock, and so she did, while slowly growing and expanding, putting out roots of machinery covered in a thin veneer of artificial flesh. As her form expanded, so did her mind. She kept connected to all of us at once, easily processing everything we did and keeping a high level view of it all. And in her own way, living vicariously through us.

She still had to remind me constantly not to regret what I had done to her.

Comments

[Dravkwn]

What that teacher did was NOT acceptable without student consent, I mean what if they were like Fast and used TF to avoid a medical condition and teacher poofing it away caused them injury or worse?

[Istaran]

5978964
it seems to have caused some pretty severe problems for the student in this case!
Did Bulging Biceps have the skill to differentiate between medically necessary TF and non? Or did he use his power without thinking through the possible consequences?
He is a colleague of Professor Thetics, which may bias your guess!

[Dravkwn]

5979088 I can't imagine it is considered polite to undo another unicorns spells without asking them, at least if the unicorn is present to undo it themselves.

[Istaran]

5979097
Definitely not, but she was a blank flanked filly, surely such politeness was unnecessary?
Perhaps he deserves a dressing down from the dean, though it won't be forthcoming. Instead, perhaps a medal for his valiant contribution to the war on changelings?

[Amethyst Blade]

Well, I'm hiped to know what will happend next.
Will Mirror escapes or be rescued?
Will the kingdom grow strong and poweful?
Will the king and Wind Chaser find out how to make more eggs without special circumstance?
How will the prince/princess become?
Find out on next chapter of Itinerant kingdom.

[Istaran]

5980590
Some of those are answered already in Kingdom in Shadows. One of the oddities of writing the sequel in parallel. Others will have to wait until I write some more!

Thinking of declaring an end to this 'story' soon and start up the next part under a new title. There are a few things I am going to wrap up first tjough.