Converted

by Shaded Changeling

Chapter 12: Benched

A few hours had passed since the Elements of Harmony had gone into the Everfree forest. They had gone out to try and find Meadow on their own, hoping to find some evidence of where she is.

Meanwhile, Sunstreak and Tornado Dust promised them they would look after things while they were gone. Mostly Fluttershy, Pinkie and Twilight, the only thing that the two of them had to agree on with Rarity was that they would watch out for Sweetie Belle while she was away… Which involved many bad feelings for an… earlier incident.

The two of them agreed to take turns with Fluttershy’s animals, mostly because both of them agreed that the rabbit she named Angel, was a little devil. In the few hours Shade had with him, he had to try very hard not to bite down on his throat. Needless to say, Darkblaze took over control for Fluttershy’s animals, while Shade kept his eye on the Library and Sugar Cube Corner. Mostly because Darkblaze already had a job with the weather control, so they split the responsibilities.

The first day of working was pretty standard; the Library basically took control of itself, having Spike watch over it mostly, but Shade still promised to check up on him. Sugar Cube Corner was much more interesting, with the fact that Shade had no idea what he was doing… Up until Mr. Cake actually told him he did a bit better than Pinkie does normally.

The first day, Shade returned to the house with a small box of rainbow cookies and a rather pained ear from the one time he messed up an order. So that didn’t feel to good when he flew up, grabbed the annoying stallion, and bucked him out the door. It was rather cathartic, but Shade doubted that it was acceptable.

He pulled the blinds and screens down, before returning to his changeling form. He decided it wasn’t too bad to lay down on the couch and just think about everything he could remember/found out. According to what he remembered, Meadow Song was kidnapped by a group of Changelings that can use love in their magic and erase sections of a creature’s memory… And he discovered from his freak-outs from earlier that he needed to work on his back-story a little, or rather…work on his family’s names. So that if he was asked, he wouldn’t need to come up with something stupid.

When the door opened, Tornado Dust walked in and looked towards Shade. “What are you doing with that knife?”

“Huh?” Shade replied.

“What are you doing with that knife?” Tornado Dust asked. Motioning at his front leg.

Shade looked down at his leg to notice that he was unconsciously tapping the side of his leg with the flat edge of the knife, making a small chink as he tapped it. But the weird thing is that Shade was holding it in a green aura. “Uh…” Shade replied. “Just something to distract me…” Shade was looking at the green aura. “Well, clearly my horn is fixed now…” Honestly Shade never even tried to use his magic up until now…given the disaster that caused.

“Well, at least your Unicorn disguise is a little more viable now…” Tornado said. “Or at least it would be if Sweetie Belle hadn’t seen you transform.”

“I needed to get away! Any longer and I may have blown a few holes in some ponies’ roofs” Shade wasn’t going to argue about the very problem that got them in this situation in the first place. “What time is it?”

“It’s about…2:45 why?” Tornado Dust replied.

“We promised to take care of Sweetie Belle while Rarity was away. remember?”

Tornado Dust clearly didn’t but luckily Shade did… “It may be better if I put it in her own words…” He changed his voice to sound almost exactly like Rarity “Oh, I simply cannot allow Sweetie to be on her own for such a long period. I simply insist that you take care of her while we traverse the…” Tornado Dust placed a hoof in Shade’s mouth.

“I get it… You can stop…” Tornado moved his hoof from Shade’s mouth. “Fluttershy’s animals were little devils today…I’m not in the mood.”

“I’ll get her.” Shade said turning into Sunstreak. “Maybe I can…subtly apologize for kicking her in the stomach…”

“Keep on dreaming.” Tornado Dust replied. “Unless Comet himself comes here, there is no possible way you are going to apologize.” Sunstreak shot him a glance before flying off into towards the school.

At least I’m getting used to the village. Pretty soon I won’t need to judge everything by the town hall.

Since this was the first time he was flying around the school, he decided to stand on top of the building and wait. A few minutes later, the bell rung and the foals ran out of the building. Now where are you three?

He was looking over the crowd of foals taking in how each of them looked, a few of the more strange ones stuck out in his mind. He noticed the two fillies he saw harassing Meadow before. He followed them for a few seconds before seeing them walking towards Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo. He was just out of ear shot, so he flew up to a nearby cloud to listen in.

“I didn’t see your loser friend again today.”

“Maybe she left because she couldn’t stand to be in your loser club.”

Wow…I haven’t heard an insult that bad since I was called lizard eye.

“She’s just not here right now Diamond Tiara.” He guessed that was Sweetie Belle. Given the small squeak he heard near the end.

“Yeah. She’s probably sick or something.” Scootaloo replied.

“Or maybe she just didn’t want to put up with you and your crazy schemes.”

Okay…I agree with that…

“Or maybe she was just embarrassed to be around you three weirdoes.”

Okay…this is getting out of hand. He looked up into the sky, looking for someway to interrupt them… Ooo…this could be fun

The two little fillies continued to antagonize the Crusaders, and Sunstreak was silently moving a small black cloud up behind them. When he was close enough to be seen by the Crusaders, he popped up above the cloud and waved to them, placing his hoof in front of his mouth in a ‘stay silent’ motion.

Scootaloo winked at him before whispering something to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.

Sunstreak floated next to the cloud and gave a nice strong kick with his hind leg, causing a large crack behind the two fillies, making them to scream and rush off down the street.

Sunstreak landed back on the cloud, laughing a little on his back. He could hear the three fillies below him laughing along with him. When he looked over the cloud, Apple Bloom was looking up at him.

“Mr. Sunstreak?” She asked.

“What’s up?” He replied.

“Ah thought yah were Rainbow Dash at first.” The filly replied.

Sweetie Belle looked up. “How was Cloudsdale?”

Oh yeah…that was my cover wasn’t it.... A wedding right?

“Eh…It wasn’t bad.” He said, kicking the cloud away, luckily avoiding any more thunder blasts. “Though it was kind of boring. I almost wished that a Changeling would show up to break up the monotony.” He landed down on the ground. “Though what happened with you? I heard you had a changeling encounter.”

“Who told ya that?” Apple Bloom asked. “Didn’t ya just get back?”

“No I got back a few hours ago. Tornado Dust filled me in on what happened while I was gone.” He tried to put a disappointed tone in his voice. “Leave it to Ponyville to have the Changeling in it while I’m off at a wedding.”

“Who got married?” Sweetie Belle asked, she seemed really happy. “Did they look nice? Did Rarity make the dress?”

“My cousin, Blade Carver. Don’t ask…you don’t want to know. They looked fine. And I have no idea…I’m pretty sure that it was an heirloom.”

“What does your cousin do?” Scootaloo asked.

“You three are really curious about this wedding aren’t you? Weren’t you three at a Princess' wedding and the site of a Changeling attack?” Sunstreak asked. “There is no possible way my cousin’s wedding was in any way better than a Princess' …well I guess there were less Changelings… And more clouds…so maybe if that’s your thing.”

“If yah don’t mind me askin’, what are ya doin here?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Oh right…Well…you have no doubt realized that Meadow isn’t here…” The fillies nodded. “Well…apparently she vanished…”

“Vanished?” all three fillies replied.

“Well Fluttershy, Rainbow, Applejack, Twilight, Pinkie, and Rarity all went into Everfree in the hopes of finding her.”

“Well, Ah kind of figured yah would wanna go out with em.”

“Yeah…” Sunstreak replied. “I really want to…But…They can handle it.”

“Uh…” Scootaloo responded. “That still doesn’t explain what you're doing here.”

“Ah yes…” Sunstreak said looking at Sweetie Belle. “While Rarity is away in Everfree, she insisted that Tornado Dust and me take you in and take care of you. So I’m here to pick you up…or rather to tell you all this as the Boutique is currently locked…” Sunstreak rubbed the back of his neck with his hoof. “Come to think of it…If I didn’t return today you wouldn’t have been aware that Rarity had left…huh…”

“Well…I guess we had better get going then.” Sweetie Belle replied. “We’ve got Homework to do…”

“We do?” Both Scootaloo and Apple Bloom replied. Bringing a face…hoof That’s what they call it right? From Sweetie Belle

“Don’t worry…” Sunstreak whispered to Sweetie Belle. “Their inattentiveness will bite them in the flank later.”

“You have no idea…” Sweetie Belle replied.

---

A few minutes later, the two of them were just talking about the week, or rather, Sunstreak was trying to think about what would pass as a ‘normal’ wedding for ponies while Sweetie Belle talked about their newest attempts at getting Cutie marks. And if Sunstreak heard correctly…three of those attempts involved catapults.

“And as we flew over the pond our hang gliders hit a cloud and fell into it.”

“So you got stopped by a cloud?” Sunstreak asked pointing out that this was the third of their plans foiled by inanimate objects that could easily be avoided given that one of them was a Pegasus…even if she can’t fly continuously, she can at least change altitude when in motion.

“Yeah…well… I never said our plans were perfect.” Sweetie Belle replied, blushing slightly…

“Just promise me that you won’t try anything at Dusty’s place. He’ll kill me if the place is trashed.” He probably would. That was the scary part. “Speaking of which… Here we…are…” The door looked like something had bashed in. Given from the fact it hung on one set of hinges. Sunstreak turned back to Sweetie Belle. “Wait here for a minute…”

Sweetie Belle gave a little nod as her jaw was hanging open, Sunstreak flew into the house and looked around.

“Dusty?” Sunstreak shouted. “Where are you?” He flew around the house quickly, trying to find any sign of the Changeling, and from the looks of it, the place was searched.
After he looked around the house for the fifth time, Sunstreak had figured he wasn’t going to find any thing new and tried to think about where Darkblaze was. How am I going to find-Oh! I’m stupid!

Sunstreak flew into the basement and turned back into a Changeling “I hope this works…”

He began to try and send his thoughts to Darkblaze…which felt extremely weird.

“Darkblaze! Can you hear me?”

“Chrysalis damn it, Snake Eye, not so loud!”

“Sorry…I’m new to this…. anyway where are you?”

“Fluttershy’s. Why?”

“I’m coming.”

Shade broke off the connection, and now had a terrible headache. He quickly transformed back into Sunstreak and flew off out of the house, stopping in front of Sweetie Belle. “I need to head to Fluttershy’s. Make yourself at home, just…don’t go into the basement.”

“Why?”

“Because that is where I keep all the artifacts I’m studying right now. Just promise me you won’t go down there.”

“I promise…”

“Great thanks gotta go bye!” Sunstreak zoomed off towards the cabin, leaving a small trail of fire behind him. Artifacts my right eye…Stupid intruders, breaking everything. Why was there crystallized goo down there in the first place?

Another question he would have to ask Darkblaze when he got the chance, but right now he had to figure out why someone wanted to search their house…there was no one that knew about them being Changelings, Darkblaze ensured him that there was no magical or physical way to tell their house apart… So either they knew they were changelings, or it was just a random theft…but given how it didn’t look like anything was taken…he doubted that.

When he managed to get to Fluttershy’s cottage out by the edge of Everfree, which constantly questioned in his mind why the shy mare would do that, he flew down and came to a stop outside the door. “Tornado it’s me. Open up.”

“Alright Angel. I’m giving you one last chance to apologize before I use that Stare on you.” Ah yes…Another thing Shade had learned from Darkblaze was Fluttershy’s secret weapon…“The Stare” a look that quite literally asserts her dominance over others. Seemed like a neat trick…Too bad it didn’t really work on him. The Stare was nothing compared to looking right up to a Phoenix Ray as it tries to pry your wings off your back with a razor sharp beak. Well…almost nothing. “Why you dirty little…”

Sunstreak knocked on the door again. “Yo, Darkblaze!”

The door opened and Darkblaze was holding the small white rabbit with his magic. “What?” Quickly Sunstreak shoved him inside the cottage.

“The house was…” Sunstreak began before he heard Angel fall to the ground and saw Darkblaze’s jaw hanging open.

“What happened to my house!” he said with surprise. “I was just there five minutes ago!”

“Apparently that was long enough for someone to sack the place.” Sunstreak replied. “Everything was thrown around, the door was bashed in, and the basement was trashed.”

“Did they take anything?” Darkblaze said, grabbing the Pegasus in front of him. “Snake Eye…Did they take anything!”

“Not that I saw.” Sunstreak replied changing back to a changeling form, much to the dismay of a few squirrels. “But I haven’t lived there long enough to make a mental map of everything yet. So it is possible.”

“Did you pick up anything?” Darkblaze replied. Still not letting go of Shade’s carapace. “Any ambient emotions, pheromones, ANYTHING!” He vigorously shook Shade, which was impressive as Darkblaze had nothing to hold onto.

“No…” Shade replied, as his left eye was still shaking slightly. “I’m still new to the whole tracking using emotions thing too, remember?” Then a thought came into his head. “Why did you come back here? I thought we were done with it for the day?”

“I had to get Angel to eat something.” Darkblaze said levitating a carrot up. “But the little devil just threw it at my eye!”

“Can I try something?” Shade said, looking towards the rabbit who was now sticking out his small pink tongue.

“Knock yourself out.” Darkblaze said letting go of Shade and pacing around the room nervously.

“Angel…I am going to try something I learned years ago in the Fiords…an old trick of mine. Very similar to Fluttershy’s Stare…so if you could just turn this way. That would be great.”

The Rabbit turned his head and stuck out his tongue, but didn’t open his eyes.

“Very well… Then I’ll just leave you up on the roof of the house. See how long it takes for a hawk to find you.”

The rabbit turned with a look of ‘you wouldn’t dare’ on his face, he just managed to open one of his small blue eyes…but it was all Shade needed.

He turned his head so Angel could see his right eye, and he snapped it open, causing it to recede to a slit as it glowed orange for a split second, Angel was forced to stare towards it, not wanting to look away. And Shade could smell a very strong liquorices scent. He wasn’t good at telling emotions via smell yet, but he knew it was fear. He couldn’t keep it up for long, only about five seconds before he had to stop because of a mixture of headache and dried out eye. Looking towards the rabbit, he saw the small white ball was trying to stay as far from Shade as possible.

“Now then…" Shade said, pushing the carrot closer to the rabbit. "Eat the God damn carrot, or it gets much worse…”

---

After they made sure that Angel actually ate the carrot and didn’t spit it out, the two of them flew back to the house so that Darkblaze could get a good look at the damages.

“What did you do to that rabbit?” Tornado Dust asked as they flew.

“Well…I’m not exactly sure…” Sunstreak replied. “I was reading about the Elements of Harmony, or more specifically Loyalty, because I think the Fiord Dragons were the protectors of it originally.”

“So?”

“In what I read, there was an account from a unicorn warrior, the best in Canterlot. He said that he saw those dragons turn some of the most fearless men into cowering foals with a look. They called it ‘Dragon Fear’.”

“Never heard of it.”

“Well, you wouldn’t.” Sunstreak replied. “It’s a very difficult thing to learn. But some Fiord Dragons could sense and use fear to their advantage. Much like Changelings…except they don’t feed on it. They just kind of… utilize it.”

“And you can do that?” Tornado Dust replied.

“Not…really.” Sunstreak replied, slowing down as they neared the edge of town. “It is an unconscious thing…sort of like…instilling that primal fear into them. I can’t do it for very long…that was actually the first time I attempted it in a while.”

“How did you know you could do that?”

“I had no idea… Just decided to try it. Think of it like Fluttershy’s stare…only instead of a dominance thing…it is just filling them with straight fear.”

“Weird…”

“I know right…I’m still learning things about the Fiords.” Sunstreak said as they landed. “These visions can be helpful…but also some of the scariest things ever.”

Tornado Dust was looking at the door, “Ugh…that won’t be easy to fix.”

“The inside is only slightly better.” Sunstreak replied as the two of them walked in. Sweetie Belle was sitting at the table, holding a pencil in her mouth while she wrote onto a piece of paper. She looked like she didn’t mind everything strewn around, likely she was just used to this kind of thing.

“No no no no!” Tornado Dust rushed off upstairs. Leaving Sunstreak and Sweetie Belle confused.

“What’s wrong with him?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“No idea…” Sunstreak replied. “Maybe he’s worried about something being taken.” He flew over to where Sweetie Belle was sitting, looking at the sheet of paper. “What are you working on?”

“Math…” Was all Sweetie replied with, looking very bored.

“Need any help?” Sunstreak asked, looking over the sheet at the various scribbles placed around the paper in frustration.

“Well this is advanced stuff for my grade. You sure you’ll remember this?”

Sunstreak looked over the sheet, while he was never the ‘best’ student, he was good. At least in math and Science, writing was never his shtick. “Well let’s take a look.”

A few minutes later, Sunstreak was left very confused. He remembered why he hated those years of learning, the really stupid problems. The most recent one was measuring an orb of magic based on the light projection. Which Sunstreak found kind of stupid…why would you measure the distance the light travels instead of the orb itself…

“So the problem isn’t exactly logical in anyway…” Sunstreak said looking at the problem again. “Then why would you ever need to use this? When I was in school they used actual useful problems that made sense. What ever happened to just figuring out the volume of a sphere?”

Sweetie Belle shrugged. “No idea.”

“These questions are weird….” Sunstreak said as Tornado Dust walked down the stairs. “Well find what you were looking for?”

Tornado shook his head. “They took it…” He seemed sad.

“Whoa…Tornado…what did they take?” Sunstreak said flying over to him.

“They took it!” He reached over and grabbed Sunstreak and began crying into the Pegasi’s coat. “Those bastards took it!”

Sunstreak was kind of uncomfortable with this very uncharacteristic sadness coming from Darkblaze, and the random crying hug…that was uncomfortable. “Slow down…what did they take?”

Through the sobs and Sunstreak’s coat he could hear him saying. “Her horn…they took her horn…”

Sunstreak had a bad feeling he knew where this was going… “Whose horn…what did they take?”

Tornado raised his head to look at Sunstreak, his eyes were solid blue, “They took my sister’s horn!” he planted his face back into Sunstreak’s coat making way for the sobbing to continue. All Sunstreak could do was give him helpful pats on his back.

“Shh…Shh…It’s alright, Dusty… just get it all out.” Sunstreak said patting the sobbing Changeling. Looking back Sweetie Belle, he could tell she was very confused, whether that was from the math or from the fact that a Pegasus just said their sister had a horn, Sunstreak wasn’t sure.

A few minutes later, Sunstreak had managed to calm down Tornado enough to get him to stop crying, Sweetie had made tea using some of the packets scattered on the floor. Sunstreak had managed to get Sweetie to head upstairs and stay there, it took a lot of persuasion, but she did agree to stay there until they were done.

“So what happened?” Shade said, sipping the tea he had poured. Darkblaze was hanging his head, not even bothering to hide his emotions. The blue flame coming from him was overpowering everything else. But there were some other emotions mixed in, Shade could pick out desperation, fear, a little anger, and finally he saw the small flame of hope he normally had was reduced to a spark.

“I went upstairs… Looked through my room…” Darkblaze stopped. Then took a deep sigh. “I couldn’t find it…It wasn’t there…” He was sobbing slightly. “Why would they take it?”

“It being your sister’s horn?” Shade asked, taking another sip of tea.

Darkblaze just nodded.

“This wouldn’t be the same sister you said was completely disintegrated would it?”

Darkblaze nodded again. Shade didn’t want to over step his boundaries, but he needed to figure this out. According to Darkblaze, his sister had been caught trying to befriend a pony, Chrysalis didn’t like that idea, and so she drained her and forced her to take the appearance of a princess, causing her to burn herself out of energy and disintegrate. So how did the horn survive?

Darkblaze clearly knew what Shade was going to ask. “She broke it off.”

“Huh?” Shade replied, he wasn’t expecting a response.

“Queen Chrysalis broke her horn off, it cut the mental connection between the other Changelings… However…it didn’t work for me…” He was staring at the now cold tea. “We had…a much stronger connection. Being my twin, we could hear each other’s thoughts even if the main connection went down. That’s what made us great Infiltrators. However, the Queen broke my sister’s horn so she couldn’t use magic or impact the minds of the other Changelings…except me…”

Shade understood, there was no worse fate than being forced to feel a death, the pain itself would drive most mad…but watching…that is even worse.

“Do you…still remember?” Shade asked. Looking seriously at the Changeling.

“Yes…I…Why?” Darkblaze asked.

“I know this is a touchy subject…but the mental connection…could you send memories through it?”

Darkblaze stopped and stared at Shade, a confused look of both concern and contemplation. “Perhaps… Do you think it would help?”

“It may help me get a look into where it is… if I knew the powerful emotion you feel towards it…than maybe they are imbedded into it?”

Darkblaze’s eyes widened. Looking quickly along the ground. “I…You’re right…I never felt it…but maybe you could… It can still store energy, but I couldn’t feel it.”

“So are you willing to relive the memory?”

“I do almost every night…” Darkblaze replied. “Look right into my eyes… This is the only way it will work.”

Shade complied…looking directly at Darkblaze, within a few seconds, Darkblaze’s horn began to glow with a strong green aura, and Shade fell to the ground.

---

‘Darkblaze! Help!’ came a mental connection. There was a single Changeling in the middle of the room, a Changeling was restrained by a strange looking pod, holding her up to her head,

He noticed Queen Chrysalis looking over him. “If you interfere. You will suffer the same fate.”

“What did she do?” Darkblaze’s voice came from his own mouth.

“She betrayed our ancient methods. She revealed herself to a city. This nearly doomed our Hive. If I did not send Infiltrators to follow her, she may have doomed us.”

Through the mental connection Shade heard another voice. ‘She’s lying! Don’t believe her!’

“SILENCE!” Chrysalis hissed. Walking over to the pod. “This is what happens when you betray our hive.” She placed the Changeling’s horn within one of the holes on her hoof, quickly snapping the curved horn off, leaving a small nub.

Shade felt a pain in his skull, a little like the dream he had before but without the lingering effect.

“You know what must happen don’t you?” Chrysalis said to the Changeling. “For betraying your family, your hive, and most importantly, your Queen.”

‘NO! DARKBLAZE! DON’T BELIEVE HER! I’M YOUR SISTER!’

“The penalty is death.” Chrysalis tapped her horn to the head of the Changeling. Creating a flash of green fire, and a nearly exact copy of Celestia was where the Changeling was before.

‘HELP ME!’

Shade was forced to close his eyes, the screams of pain coming from not only the Celestia clone, but from himself. He was clutching his head, screaming at the same pain the two of them felt. All he heard through it was the laughs from Chrysalis. “You should have thought about that before you tried to reveal us to the world.”

“At least…let…Darkblaze…free.”

“I suppose that is fair… No point in losing another useful Infiltrator.”

A second later Shade stopped feeling the pain, when he opened his eyes; he saw a green bubble around him, cancelling out the Mental connection fully. As he stood up, he saw the Celestia clone was beginning to fade green. Her wings were already burning. And she looked in pain.

“Thank…you…”

“Those ponies rubbed off on you far too much my dear. A true Changeling would accept their punishment. No matter what happens to those linked.”

“I think…you’re right…” The Celestia clone said as her horn began to burn, the holes throughout her body were growing in size. “You could do with a little help from them…”

“I’ll think about that dear…” Chrysalis said leaning in to look at the Celestia clone. “However…I believe your time is nearing an end. So this is where we bid adieu.”

The memory began to blur, unable to hold it together. There was a single scream of pain.

---

Shade found himself on the floor, fangs stabbing into the wood; apparently he had fallen unconscious when he was in the memory. Darkblaze seemed to be doing better, managing to stay in his chair and getting a headache.

“I don’t know how that would help.” Darkblaze said, not noticing Shade was currently stuck in the floor boards. “But if you really think it will…”

“Uhh…ihtle elp…” Shade said as he tried to pry his fangs out of the ground. He could hear Darkblaze laugh slightly before using his magic to pull Shade out.

Shade had to lick his fangs to make sure there wasn’t any saw dust or cracks in them. Finding none he looked back over at Darkblaze. “Alright…so now that I know what the emotional connection is.” Very depressing, mixed with anger, and pain… “We just need to find a reason for taking it…”

“There isn’t any…” Darkblaze replied. “Ponies can’t use it, It is worthless to others. And it can’t do anything.”

“So it isn’t worth anything…” Shade replied. “So what could have happened with it?”

---

The very next day, Shade decided it would be a good idea to take on Darkblaze’s responsibilities. Darkblaze needed a break while he figures out what happened at his own home. Shade regretted it immensely.

“Sorry, Mr. Cake.” Sunstreak replied, having been forced to leave early from Pinkie’s job. “I’ve got to go and create a storm over Sweet Apple Acres. I’m sorry.”

“Isn’t that Tornado Dust’s job?” Mr. Cake asked before Sunstreak could get out.

“He’s…going through a tough patch.” He leaned into Mr. Cake. “Somepony stole something very personal to him yesterday, so he’s…having trouble… I’m trying to cover for him while he calms down…but it is rather difficult.” Sunstreak looked up at the clock. “Can’t talk. Gotta Fly!”

Sunstreak took off before Mr. Cake could try and hold him back. He had already ditched the Library that day in favor of getting a few pegasi to move some clouds over to the orchard, while he handled Fluttershy’s animals. Again…he found no better pleasure than ‘accidently’ pushing Angel into a mud puddle after the rabbit had thrown a radish at Sunstreak’s head.

“Ugh…I hope I can find something out about this soon…I’m not going to be able to keep this up without someone noticing I’m draining someone.” He flew over the city, looking down at all the ponies walking, hoping to find some kind of clue. Like a pony was just going to be wearing the horn of a changeling. That would make it about twenty times easier.

As he flew over Sweet Apple Acres, he saw the clouds that he had requested…Courtesy of Rainbow Dash being out of town… There weren’t many, but they were something. Before he began to move the clouds around, his ears caught something.

“Can you believe what she is doing with that horn?”

“No. She turned it into a necklace? That must look horrible.”

“You would be surprised, it’s held by magic, making it just stay there.”

“But still…wouldn’t the guards question her?”

“They did at first. But they just figured it was from the storm and nopony saw it before.”

Sunstreak decided it would be a good idea to get closer…less to be rude…more because he was curious. “Um excuse me, ladies…”

The two mares in question turned to look. They were both pegasi. One was purple with a pink straight mane, while the other was green with a curly yellow mane. Both of them looked surprised. “I’m sorry,” Sunstreak apologized when they looked. “But I couldn’t help but overhear, did you say somepony was wearing a horn?”

“Yes, we did.” The purple Pegasus replied. “There was a filly walking around with a Changeling horn floating in front of her.”

“I still think you’re lying.”

“What was the filly’s name?” Sunstreak asked. He was fairly certain he knew who it was.

“I think her name was Diamond Tiara…” The purple Pegasus said.

“You mean Filthy Rich’s daughter?” The green Pegasus replied.

“Yes I think it was… It was either her or Silver Spoon….”

“Isn’t that dangerous?” Sunstreak replied. “What if the Changelings come back for it?”

“You don’t think they will. Do you?”

“That would be just horrible…They would probably kill her.”

“Nah…” Sunstreak replied. “If anything they would just capture her and feed off the love her family feels.” Wow…that got dark real fast…

“You don’t think they would do that to a filly.”

“I’m certain they would.” Given my experience. “Only if she resisted it… They don’t seem like the type to take no for an answer.”

As the two pegasi in front of him began to talk about Changelings again, Sunstreak went to work, hop on a cloud, kick it, and move onto next cloud, repeat until rain. After about twenty clouds, the entire orchard seemed to be covered with the raining clouds. Looking up, he saw the Sun was starting to descend, which signaled he was needed at the school.

In order to make sure that the orchard didn’t get flooded while he was gone he flew back over to the two mares from earlier. “Hey!” he shouted, trying to be heard over the rain. “I’ve got to go do a thing. Can you two keep an eye on the rain?”

“No problem!” the Purple mare replied, Sunstreak gave a small salute before flying off towards the school.

So…Diamond Tiara…That little brat…Where did she get the horn, why was she flaunting it, and how should I deal with it… Well… because of the gravity of this situation…Might as well have some fun…

---

As the school bell rang out over the plain, the foals all ran out of their classrooms and into the bright day. A few fillies remained at the schoolyard. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were talking about their latest schemes to get their Cutie Marks when the two local bullies, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon walked up.

“What do you two want?” Sweetie Belle asked completely bored. This had been an almost daily ritual lately, ever since Sweetie Belle had said she found a Changeling, Diamond Tiara had kept on telling her she lied about it. And with the discovery of that Changeling horn Diamond Tiara had been wearing on some kind of magical necklace, the claims that she found one were spreading around fast.

“I just wanted to make sure you losers saw what happens when you actually have a cutie mark.”

“Yah become a pain in the-“ Apple Bloom had started.

“Good things happen to you.” Diamond Tiara butted in. “I bet none of you Blank Flanks would ever have a Changeling try and take you.”

“Yeah because they realize it would be a terrible idea to take a filly.” Sweetie Belle replied.

“Nopony would ever see any difference. You already act weird.” Diamond Tiara responded.

From behind the two of them, the sound of hooves on dirt was heard. Sweetie Belle could see a dark green stallion walking up behind them with a purple mane. “What’s going on over here?” The stallion asked.

“Nothing mister.” Diamond Tiara replied turning to look. And finding herself staring into two bright yellow eyes both of which were focusing on the black curved horn around her neck.

“Nice necklace.” The Stallion replied. “Mind if I take a closer look at it?”

“Get your own Mister. I’m the one who got this.” Diamond Tiara replied. Looking away to antagonize the Crusaders.

“That wasn’t a request…” Diamond Tiara found herself whirled around to look at the same dark green stallion, but with two fangs jutting from his upper lip. “Hand it over.”

“No way!” Get your own horn!” a flash of green fire and the green stallion had a curved black horn jutting from his head. It hissed at Diamond Tiara before grabbing the horn around her neck and pulling it off.

“Changeling!” Sweetie Belle shouted as the dark green stallion ran across the field. When it was halfway across the field, a green flame enveloped him and where it stood, there was an exact copy of Rainbow Dash.

“Hey! You can’t turn into her!” Scootaloo shouted as the Changeling took off and started to quickly fly towards the Everfree Forest.

“Well…” Apple Bloom said as the fake Rainbow Dash flew out of sight. “At least we can say we all met a Changeling now.”

---

This has got to be the single stupidest plan I’ve ever come up with! The false Rainbow Dash thought as she flew towards Everfree. The illusion spell she cast on her eye had long since worn off, giving her a single slit eye. What the hell was I thinking? She thought as she began to lower herself into Everfree.

When she finally came to a stop, she was in a patch of blue bell shaped flowers. She spat the curved horn out into her hoof. “How the hell does Rainbow Dash fly like this?” A green flash surrounded her and Shade was standing there instead.

“What the hell was I thinking? Turning into a mare?” Shade shivered. “Never doing that again.” He took a look at the horn in his hoof. Noticing the small pink fire coming from it. Well at least it wasn’t a total waste.

Shade turned his attention to the blue flowers, at the instant he tried to move his hoof, it made a very strange sound. He was sure he saw them before…maybe it was on a book he was reading at the Library… What was it called? Why can’t I remember it…? Eh it probably wasn’t important. he decided, walking towards the edge of the forest.

Now how do I explain this….

---

An hour or two later Sunstreak opened the door to the house. “Hey, Tornado Dust! I’m home and you will not believe what I found!”

He looked towards the table to see Sweetie Belle looking at him. “Where were you all day?”

“I’m sorry, Sweetie…I know that I was supposed to bring you home. But I had too much stuff to do.”

“Like what…”

“I took over Tornado’s jobs, so I was busy at Sweet Apple Acres making sure the rain fell, then I had to check up on Fluttershy’s animals for a bit.”

“We got attacked by a Changeling.”

“You were what?” Sunstreak replied surprised. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah…it just grabbed a horn that Diamond Tiara found and flew off.” Sweetie Belle was clearly annoyed with Sunstreak.

Sunstreak sighed. “I’m sorry I didn’t come to help…Angel was being… difficult.”

“Whatever…” Sweetie Belle replied, going back to her work.

“I’ll try and make it up to you later.”

“Well…” Sweetie Belle said, tapping her chin. “There is something you can help me with.” She said this with a slightly malicious smile.

“Why do I feel like this involves physical pain…?” Sunstreak said lowering his head.

“Me and Bloom are planning a special Cutie Mark Crusader attempt.” She explained. “And we need a Pegasus.”

“To do what exactly?” Sunstreak asked.

“I can’t tell you…” Sweetie Belle said smiling. “It’s a secret.” She said in a sing song voice.

Sunstreak facehoofed. “Where’s Tornado Dust…?”

“He’s still upstairs…I haven’t seen him leave his room since I got back.”

Sunstreak looked at the makeshift bag he had made from a rather small tree he found. “Promise me you will stay down here.”

“Alright…I’ve got enough homework to do.”

Sunstreak nodded appreciatively to Sweetie Belle before climbing up the stairs and walking over to Darkblaze’s door and knocked. “Dusty? You okay?”

There was a faint clopping of hooves as Darkblaze walked up to the door. When he opened it, Sunstreak saw that he had been crying quite a bit. His normally blue eyes had been turned to a shade of purple, his carapace had a slight sheen to it as if it had been watered briefly and he hung his head a little. “I’m fine…” Darkblaze replied as he wiped a tear from his face.

“Have you been in here all day?” Sunstreak asked walking in and closing the door.

“More or less.” Darkblaze sniffled. “So what’s up?”

“Well…You will not believe what I found out by Everfree.” Sunstreak said as he pulled the bag off of his back and placed it in front of Darkblaze. “Open it.”

“Snake Eye, I’m not in the mood for-”

“Just open it…” Sunstreak said rolling his eyes. “I went through a lot of trouble to get this for you. The least you could do is open it.”

Darkblaze rolled his eyes briefly before using his magic to open up the bag. “I still don’t see how…” When he opened the bag, he looked down at the contents for a few seconds before jumping onto Sunstreak causing him to drop his disguise. “Thank you!” He said as he pulled Shade into a hug, which considering that he had been crying all day was very strong. “How did you find this!?”

“Can’t…Breathe…” Shade said through the Changeling’s iron grip. “Crushing…Wings…”

“Sorry…” Darkblaze said, letting go of Shade, who immediately began gasping. “But how did you find this?”

“Like…I said.” Shade said calming himself down, looking at his wings to make sure they weren’t broken when he was satisfied, he turned back. “I found it by Everfree.”

“Don’t lie to me, Snake Eye.” Darkblaze said elbowing him “I know when I’m being lied to.”

“I’ll tell you when Sweetie Belle isn’t arou…” Shade stopped for a moment… “Actually…why not let her tell you…?” He turned into Sunstreak. “Come on.”

Darkblaze quickly closed the bag and pushed it underneath the bed in the room, he then turned back into Tornado Dust and followed Sunstreak down the stairs.

“Hey, Sweetie Belle.” Sunstreak announced down the stairs. “Look who finally left his room.” Tornado Dust elbowed Sunstreak.

“Does this mean you two are free tomorrow?” Sweetie Belle said happily.

“Not quite…” Tornado replied. “I still have to do Weather patrol and Sunstreak still needs to help the Cakes.”

“I kind of told her I would help the Crusaders tomorrow…with another one of their.” Sunstreak coughed. “Attempts.”

“Well, have fun with that…” Tornado replied. “So Sweetie, Sunstreak tells me you had an interesting day.”

With that Sweetie Belle began to tell them about the Changeling incident. Tornado Dust looking towards Sunstreak with a raised eyebrow. When she finished Sunstreak looked back.

“Did you say it flew near Everfree?” Sunstreak asked.

“Yeah…why?”

“Weird…I think I saw it…it was disguised as Rainbow Dash… I figured it was hit by something when it went down… I went in after it but didn’t find anything.” Sunstreak explained. “I was wondering what it was doing.”

A knock on the door made all three of them turn to it.

“I’ll get it.” Sunstreak replied walking over to the door. He was surprised when he opened it to the small purple dragon. “Oh hey, Spike. What are you doing here?”

“I need your help with something.” Spike said, walking into the room, he waved at Sweetie Belle. “Princess Celestia sent Twilight a large shipment of books from the Royal Library. And…I need your help to sort through them all…”

“Well how many books are we talking here?” Sunstreak asked grabbing the reference guide.

“Um…so far it’s about fifteen boxes of around ten to twenty books each.”

Sunstreak whistled at the sheer number. “That’s quite a lot of books… What does Celestia hope she’ll find?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.” Spike replied with a shrug. “She’s actually sending more tomorrow as well.”

“Alright, hold on a second…” Sunstreak turned to Tornado Dust. “I’m going to spend the night there, and possibly tomorrow, if I’m not back by noon, tell the Cakes I’m busy.”

“Will do.” Tornado replied as Sunstreak walked out the door with the baby dragon.

Comments

[Razzy]

... That's just sick, wearing a sapient being's horn as jewellery. Even changelings don't wear pony body parts as jewellery.

Yeah, unless proven otherwise, I'd say Chryssie did what she had to.

[Cursed Quill]

feel to good

too

what your doing here

you're

Hand glider

hang glider

that a Pegasus just said their sister had a horn

eh, Cake twins.

Were it anything else that had been stolen, one would wonder why DT isn't turned in. Not that Filthy couldn't buy her out of anything, I suppose.

[fractalman]

Looots of plot threads.

[Black--Soul]

How the hell did Tiara get in posetion of the horn...