Converted

by Shaded Changeling

Chapter 31: Meet the Neighbors

As Twilight suggested, today was a dedicated Research day, specifically on Changeling Paternal responses and physiology of both the Child and adult forms. To test the full extent of Shade’s natural protection reflexes, he was placed on the far side of the room, while Twilight was going to use her magic to pick up Sunspot, who was still scared of Twilight.

Pinkie and Rainbow meanwhile would continue looking for anything outside. Though Shade didn’t hold his breath.

“You sure about this?” Shade asked as he looked at the various devices stuck to his carapace, each one monitoring something different, exactly what Shade wasn’t sure. “Shouldn’t you be wearing some kind of armor…just in case?”

Twilight, who was busy attaching the same devices to Sunspot without magic, waved her hoof dismissively. “I’m sure you wouldn’t do anything too drastic.” After a short pause though she turned to look at him. “Right?”

“Well…you wanted to see the full extent of these instincts, so I’m not going to hold anything back.” Shade replied, which was a lie, he would definitely hold back if he ended up endangering her life.

“On second thought… maybe I’ll just put up a shield…just to be safe.”

Shade just rolled his eyes. “Please do…I don’t want to be the one to explain why you have seventeen stab wounds to the chest…”

“Cold…” Sunspot said as Twilight placed the last monitor on her horn.

“I know Sunspot. It’s almost ready.” Shade replied. “You are almost ready right?”

“Just about… I need to put up a small shield.” Her horn began to glow slightly, and a faint purple shied appeared around Twilight. “You ready Shade?”

“As ready as I’m gonna be.” He replied.

Twilight looked over at Shade, while her horn glowed and she picked Sunspot off the ground a few inches.

“HELP!”

Shade rushed forward, his forelegs turning into blades without input as he began stabbing at the purple shield, trying to get at Twilight, who was recording everything on a clipboard in front of her.

Shade’s forelegs burst into green flame as his blade arms stabbed through the shield, he began to pull them apart, opening up a hole in the shield. As the hole became big enough, Shade hopped through, killing the green flames, he held the blade up to Twilight’s neck.

Now came the hard part, not killing her…

“Twilight! Stop!” Shade said as Twilight’s horn dimmed and the shield around them fell as Sunspot was released. Shade let out a tense sigh as his forelegs changed back into hooves, which he moved away from the Unicorn’s throat.

“Interesting.” Twilight said, as though her life wasn’t just at risk. “You said you didn’t know how to do something like that.”

“I don’t.” Shade replied, walking over to Sunspot. “I just let my instincts take over, they did the rest.”

“Do you feel any weaker?” Twilight asked.

“It’s noticeable, but not by a lot. That flaming arm trick took a bit out of me…” Shade replied, sitting down next to Sunspot. “Then again…I haven’t fed off love substantially for quite a bit. I’m trying not to hurt any of you. Though…I guess I could always fly over to the park and feed there?” He began contemplating this. “Would that technically break one of the rules?”

“I don’t think so…” Twilight pulled a flash card out of her Saddlebag. “No combat magic, no leaving the city, no other disguises than Sunstreak unless directed, we have to be around you. Nope.” Twilight said placing it back into her Saddlebag.

“Daddy.” Sunspot said. “Can we go to the park?”

“Maybe later Spot.” Shade replied. “So what’s next Twilight?”

“Well…I was kind of curious about your ability to modify an existing ponies form.”

Both Sunspot and Shade looked at her confused. “Come again?”

“Well…I was curious how precise your control over your transformations is when you have a pony that already exists.” Twilight explained again.

“Daddy?” Sunspot asked. “What is purple saying?”

“I think she wants to see how precise we can be with our forms.” Shade replied. “So you want me to use your form?”

“That would be the easiest, so that we could see the exact changes and have a form to compare it to.” Twilight replied.

“Alright…” Shade said uncertain. There was a wisp of green flame, and Shade turned into Twilight. “How’d I- I forgot about this.” ‘She’ said when ‘she’ heard ‘her’ voice.

“Fascinating…” Twilight said walking around the clone of herself. It’s very accurate.”

“Thanks I…Hold on… This is going to be very confusing for me…” Shade replied.

“Well might as well start off small.” Twilight said. “Try and turn me into a Pegasus.”

Shade tried, and after three failed attempts, he decided it would just be easier to, instead of getting rid of the horn and growing wings, do it one at a time. Then it turned out to be much easier.

“So…How’d I do…” Shade replied, slightly tired from the failed attempts. ‘She’ opened up the purple wings ‘she’ now had attached to ‘her’ side.

“Very interesting…” Twilight replied. “Now try and fly.”

Shade flapped the wings, but she didn’t manage to get too high off the ground. “It’s a lot harder than it normally is…” Shade replied. “Bone structure probably…”

Twilight nodded. “That does make sense, Pegasi are naturally lighter boned than Earth ponies and Unicorns…” She was scribbling onto a notepad. “But you can modify your bone structure, so that is a great bit of magic, strange how you still don’t have teleportation down.”

“Focus Sparkle.” Shade replied. Knowing how prone she was to going on tangents. “So how much more are we going to do this?”

About an hour later, Shade had transformed into a unicorn version of Pinkie Pie, an earth pony Rainbow Dash, and was currently struggling to turn into anything else.

“Ugh… This headache is killing me.” Shade said rubbing his temples. “We may need to head to the Park soon…” He said.

“Park!” Sunspot said bouncing. Around him.

“Please stop Sunspot…” Shade said, laying down on the floor. “How am I going to go anywhere with this kind of-”

There was a knock on the door, causing all three of them to look at it.

“Rainbow and Pinkie aren’t supposed to be back yet are they?” Shade asked.

“No…They aren’t…” Twilight motioned for the two of them to get into a side room, with difficulty, Shade managed to push Sunspot into the room and close the door.

When Twilight opened the door, the only thing there was a small box, with a card placed onto it reading. “For Sunstreak. From A Friend.”

Twilight looked at the package for a minute, trying to figure out who sent it, the hoof writing wasn’t anyone she was familiar with, and it didn’t seem to have anything bad in it… In fact…nobody even knew they were there aside from her friends, so who sent it…

“Twilight?” Shade asked through the door. “Who is it?”

“Nopony… It’s just a box…”

“A box?” Shade replied opening the door. “Well what’s in it?”

“I’m…I’m not sure… But it’s for you.” Twilight brought the box into the apartment while Shade held Sunspot back from the box.

“Sunspot…stay back until I know what’s in there.” Shade replied, while he was pushing the eager filly away with his hind leg.

“Awww….” The filly replied.

Shade grabbed the box in his hooves, looked at it for a moment and began to slowly open it, then once the box was punctured, his eyes widened and he tore into it.

“Shade…What are you doing?” Twilight asked.

“em moumenning de hack-“ He spat out a rather large amount of paper. “I’m opening the package what does it look like?”

“But…Why?” Twilight asked.

Shade tore off the rest of the top layer of paper to show a box of small spherical crystals, underneath which was a green crystalline tray. “These.”

“Well what are they?” Twilight asked, holding one up in her magic.

“Love crystals.” Shade explained. “And that tray is how I’m supposed to make more of them.” Oo wait… “Except…I was never taught how to…”

Twilight smiled at him happily. “Well this will be an experience for both of us then.”

Shade picked up the card and began to read it.
Dear Sunstreak,

We are your new neighbors, we wish to speak with you privately. Do not show this note to anypony, it is important, meet us behind Donut Joe’s, midnight tonight.

~A Friend

Shade finished reading the letter and looked up at Twilight.

“So what was on the card?” Twilight asked, looking at one of the small crystals.

“Just a note from the sender…” Shade replied. “There’s no name or anything…”

“Strange…” Twilight replied, placing the crystal down as Shade grabbed one and placed it in his mouth. He broke the skin of the crystal with one of his back teeth and let the warm feeling flood through him. His headache receded, and he felt ready to start testing again.

“Daddy… Can I have some?” Sunspot said nudging Shade’s leg.

“Of course Spot.” Shade replied, to which Twilight grabbed her notepad and watched while Shade fed Sunspot. This time he stopped when his head began to hurt a little, but Sunspot still seemed to be fine with it.

“Thanks Daddy.” Sunspot said happily hugging Shade.

“No problem Spot.” Shade said to the changeling filly. “So Twilight, what’s next?”

Next they tried to find out how good Sunspot was at transforming, which caused Shade to end the day with a raging headache. Apparently children use more energy to transform, or can’t control it as well.

Sunspot was clearly new to transforming, she could really only copy other ponies, and they usually had to be near her, she couldn’t exactly modify her appearance, but she could transform into her Sunspot disguise effortlessly, now all they needed to do was wait for Rarity to help them modify it.

“You okay Shade?” Twilight asked after Sunspot fed off him for the fifth time.

“Yeah….Yeah…Brain just…Give me a minute…” Shade held his head in his hoof, the world just kept spinning. “I…Just need…To Sleep for a bit…” He fell onto the floor.

Sunspot giggled. “Daddy funny.”

“Yes he is.” Twilight replied. “Sunspot, we can wait a bit until he wakes up.”

“Okay Twilight.” Sunspot replied, jumping onto Shade’s back and curling up. “I’ll just take a nap with him.” With that Sunspot closed her eyes and the two Changelings stayed there.

---

“Are you sure that was smart?” Lyra asked Tornado Dust. “This could end very badly if he doesn’t listen.”

“Have some trust in him.” Tornado replied. “I’m sure he’ll show up.”

“And if he doesn’t?” Lyra asked. “This is not only a major breach of our own security, but we may just damage our only way in and out of the city.”

“Oh come on… he isn’t in any danger.”

“Not directly, he can resist a disillusionment spell, as can most of our Guards… However, I fear they will attempt to deduce where we came in, or do a full search of the guard. Pupa won’t forgive me twice.”

“That’s your fault.” Tornado replied. “look…I’ll take the blame if this goes south. But your little memory trick should help us here.”

“It’s difficult for me to do to a lot of ponies. Maybe one or two. I’m a scout, small single targets. I’m not a Cleaner.”

“Well we are going to do it at midnight. So there shouldn’t be too many ponies out… Aside from the Lunar Guard.” Tornado replied. “If you really are worried, then why didn’t you tell me to change the location?”

“Candy Floss would have my carapace if I kept her away from the Nymph.” Lyra replied. “You saw how she was last night, we had to practically pull her into the room.”

Candy Floss was the name they gave to Antenna, granted it wasn’t too good of a name, but it was the only one they knew about that wasn’t taken by anyone else they would run into. She is also currently tied up in the room, as earlier today she almost burst through a wall, a door, and several ponies’ skulls in order to save the Nymph. So both of them decided that it would be best to restrain her for a bit.

“Yeah… I don’t think she would let you do that…” Tornado replied, to which Lyra rolled her eyes.

“Yes… I would enjoy my carapace to remain where it is.” Lyra replied, as the two walked out of the building. “I have to report to Private Clear Wings. You…just stay out of sight of anypony that could recognize you.”

“Not a problem.” Tornado replied. “I can sense Pinkie a hundred yards away, it will be easy to convince Rainbow, and Twilight’s in there with Shade.”

“So long as you’re sure.” Lyra replied. “We’ll meet up in a few hours. Don’t keep me waiting.”

“You know I wouldn’t darling.” Tornado replied mockingly causing Lyra to look at him uncomfortably.

“Ugh…You are enjoying this far too much.”

“Yup.” Tornado Dust replied with a pleased expression on his face. Because of how much Acari’s hive messed with his life, such as taking his sister’s horn, and wiping Shade’s memory, while both of them were short issues. They caused him to cry his eyes out, and fear for his life, respectively. Because of this, he enjoyed every moment of time they spent acting like they were a couple, for the pure reason of it annoying Blackout.

“And I’m going to continue to enjoy it until we’re done here.” Tornado replied, taking off from the ground.

Lyra sighed. “I hate that stallion…” She said under her breath before walking towards the castle.

---

“Private Clear Wings!” Captain Shining Armor had entered the barracks and called to the sky blue Pegasus. “Get down here!”

The Pegasus in question flew down and saluted to the Captain. “Yes Sir?”

“You were on Watch duty last night correct?” Shining Armor asked.

“Yes sir.” Clear Wings replied. “I was guarding the west perimeter all night.”

“Well… I have reports from some of the Lunar Guard saying you left your post. Are these reports true?”

Damn it… “Sir. I would never leave my post unless given a direct order.”

“So are you telling me the Lunar Guard lied to me?” Shining Armor replied, raising an eyebrow.

“Quite the opposite sir,” Clear Wings replied. “You know full well the capabilities of Changelings.”

“That’s strange Clear Wings,” Shining Armor replied, “because I heard from the Lunar Captain himself that he witnessed you letting three unknown ponies into the city.”

“Sir, I checked them myself, I am familiar with one of them, Lyra Heartstrings. She was with a pony from Ponyville and his cousin. They didn’t have enough to afford a trip to Canterlot in order to visit his father.”

“I don’t suppose you have somepony who could-?”

Shining Armor was cut off by a voice calling from outside. “Clear Wings?”

“As a matter of fact Captain, I do.” Clear Wings replied with a smile. “Follow me sir.”

Shining Armor thought over the situation before beginning to follow the Pegasus out of the barracks. Outside was a mint green unicorn with gold eyes. “Clear Wings!” Lyra ran up to them. “I just wanted to thank you for letting me do this on such short notice and-” Lyra looked at Shining Armor. “Sorry… Is now a bad time?”

“No…No Lyra.” He motioned to Shining Armor. “Captain, this is one of the ponies I helped enter the city, Lyra.”

Lyra’s eyes widened. “Ohmygosh! Prince Armor!” Lyra rushed up happily and looked over Shining Armor. “I’ve been dying to meet you! Ever since the whole Brainwashing thing wore off and I was able to meet up with Bonnie again! I wanted to thank you for getting me out of that cave! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! I mean, I know you weren’t really involved in my rescue, and you didn’t stop me from mauling nearly Twilight and the Princess, but you were there!”

Clear Wings was laughing. “Lyra. I think he gets the point.”

“What?” Lyra asked, looking away from Shining Armor. “Oh yeah…sorry.” Lyra walked up towards Clear Wings. “So…Like I said. Thanks for helping me get them in here. I know it was a report disaster.”

“Oh…It was.” He said under his breath.

“Sorry about that.” Lyra replied. “But I just wanted you to tell you that I’m planning a get together tonight. Are you able to come? I’m sure that Tornado and Candy Floss would want to thank you personally.”

“I’m sorry Lyra,” Clear Wings replied. “I… Have an obligation to the Guard I need to handle tonight. So I’ll be up all night.”

“Well you can’t blame me for asking.” Lyra said with a shrug. “I’ll talk to you some other time Clear Wings.” Lyra said before walking away.

Shining Armor was still in a bit of shock about Lyra, she acted almost exactly like Twilight did when she was younger.

Clear Wings looked at his captain. “I believe that clears up my story.”

Shining Armor shook himself out of his surprise. “Yeah… I still expect a full report from you.”

“Been working on it all day.” Clear Wings said. “Now if that is all, I need to get back up to writing up that report I owe you.”

“Yes. That is it Private, you’re dismissed.” With that Clear Wings took off from the ground and headed back towards the barracks.

Meanwhile Lyra was still nearby. “Twat.” She mumbled to herself as she started to walk away from the castle. “Clear Wings, you could have warned me.”

“Sorry Blackout. I had no idea. Thanks for saving my flank. That entire situation could have ended poorly.”

“Yeah. Yeah. Just do your job. Make sure our meet up point is clear tonight around midnight. We are going to speak with the Changeling then.”

“Will do Ma’am.”

“You better…” Lyra mumbled. “If I get caught here, I will ensure Acari knows about it.”

“Of…Of course Ma’am.”

Perks of being on a mission like this, she could push around the soldier Changelings, granted all of them understood their missions were top priority, however a mission directly given by the Queen has top priority second only to the Queen herself.

“Darkblaze… You better be having an easier time than me.”

---

How long is this mare going to be on my tail?

Tornado had been flying away from the bright yellow signature he knew was Pinkie Pie. How does she know? While Tornado knew Pinkie had short bursts of predictions, more specifically her tail twitching, which signifies something will fall, but never was she able to use it to find ponies.

“Pinkie… How in the Hive are you following me?”

---

“Pinkie! Who are you chasing?” Rainbow Dash asked, flying a little behind Pinkie Pie.

“I’m not chasing anypony Dashie.” Pinkie Pie replied. “I’m just running after that cloud.” Pinkie pointed up at a dark gray color that looked like a pony. “It looks funny.”

“Pinkie…” Rainbow Dash slapped her forehead with her hoof. “I will never understand you…”

---

Damn it Pinkie! Stop! Following! Me! Tornado Dust turned around to see the cyan Pegasus he recognized as Rainbow Dash following behind Pinkie. “For the love of…” Tornado Dust stopped and landed on a nearby building, far enough away that he wouldn’t be seen, but close enough that he could still clearly make out the two.

Rainbow Dash had just facehoofed and few in front of Pinkie, stopping her. While he couldn’t make out what they were saying, he did clearly see that they were arguing.

After a few moments, the two of them began to move back towards where Tornado knew they were staying, no doubt going to talk to Twilight about something. Which signified two things, One: she hadn’t been following him, and Two: He needed to get to the hospital…quickly!

He took off and flew over to the building in question, the tall building had a red glowing cross on it. He flew down and landed in front of the sliding glass doors, which opened as he got close to them, and walked into the reception area.

He looked around the room, seeing a few families around that had foals being comforted by mothers, fathers, or other siblings. The sadness coming off them was very pronounced. The Guards must be starting to die off… Hiding a pang of guilt, Tornado walked up to the receptionist.

“I’m here to see Sapphire.” Tornado Dust said to the gray earth pony behind the desk.

“Name?” The mare asked.

“Tornado Dust.”

“Do you have an appointment?”

“Yes.”

“Credentials?”

“Really?” Tornado replied, looking at all the ponies around him. “We’re doing this here?”

“No credentials, no meeting.” The mare replied.

“Ugh…fine…” Tornado Dust’s eyes flashed green getting not even a startled reaction from the earth pony. “Now can we go… Preferably before I get caught.”

“Of course.” The Earth pony replied, getting up from the desk. “Follow me.” The Earth pony led him to one of the elevators in the building, walking in, she pulled out a small blue crystal and placed it into the small keyhole under the floor numbers. She pushed it in with her hoof while the elevator began to move down. A few seconds later, the doors reopened to show the hidden hive, the Changelings flying around were still just as hectic as before.

“Keep your disguise on,” The Earth Pony said, “You might rile up some of the patients.”

Tornado Dust nodded. “I only have one question. Have the Guards begun to die off?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“I saw a few groups of ponies, all of them were radiating sadness, I want to know.”

The Pony sighed. “Yes, some of them have started to die. We are doing the best we can, but some are beyond help.”

The two of them walked past room after room, each one holding another Changeling, but one caught Tornado Dust’s attention.

He was a large Changeling, his backplate shattered with the pieces inside of a nearby dish, his carapace had cracks running all the way around it, and he seemed to be comatose, even if he was conscious, there was no way he was moving with the amount of cracks on his carapace.

“Is that Bloodpool?” Tornado asked surprised. “What the Hive happened to him?”

“Queen Ovi happened to him.” The Earth pony replied.

“Oh…” Tornado Dust replied. “He deserved it.”

The Two continued to walk until they reached a room marked “Holding Cocoons.”

“Is this where Cytes wanted me to meet her?” Tornado asked. “This doesn’t seem like a very welcoming chamber…”

“Regardless this is where she requested you.” The Earth pony replied, walking through the blue membrane, followed by Tornado Dust, when he stepped through the membrane, his disguise dropped.

“My Queen,” The Earth Pony called into the room. “The Infiltrator has arrived.”

“Thank you Callsign,” From the back of the chamber, a blue unicorn walked up to Darkblaze. Her red-rimmed glasses sat on her snout as she looked over the Changeling with her purple eyes. “So you’re the one Acari told me about?”

“Yes Queen Cytes.” Darkblaze replied bowing. “I’m still confused as to the nature of this meeting.”

“Please… Just Cytes, you aren’t one of my subjects.” Cytes motioned for him to follow her. “Now I’m sure you noticed where we are.”

“Holding Cells, yes I realized.” Darkblaze replied. “But why?”

“You saw the Assassin, he led us to a few other Changelings, and they have been…less than cooperative.”

“Makes sense.” Darkblaze replied.

“They are actually how I knew there was a Nymph in the city.” She stopped in front of two pods, one holding a female, the other a male, he couldn’t make out the pheromone trail, and so he had no idea what their jobs were. “Wake up!” She commanded to the female.

The female opened her eyes, saw Darkblaze, and slammed her hooves into the side of the chrysalis. “Where is she? I know you have her! Tell me where she is!”

“I have no idea who ‘she’ is.”

“Liar!” The changeling shouted. “What did you do to her? I can’t hear her anymore! What did you-?”

“He did nothing.” Cytes said, interrupting the Changeling. “The Nymph is fine, she is under the protection of a Changeling who has proven he wishes to protect her.”

The Changeling glared at Darkblaze. “Traitor.” It hissed at Darkblaze.

“Yeah. Sure, Whatever.” Darkblaze replied. “Why was I brought here?” He asked Cytes.

“I wanted you to reassure her that the child is safe,” Cytes replied. “And see if there is anything we can get out of her, such as the location of any other Nymphs in the city.”

“I’ve told you everything you needed to know.” The Changeling replied. “I told you the deal, let me see her to be sure she is safe, and then I’ll tell you more.”

“So…What do you think I’ll be able to do again?” Darkblaze asked, still confused on the reasons for him being here.

“I just want you two to talk for a while.” Cytes replied, lowering her glasses. “Try and get some kind of information out of her.”

“Forget it Cytes.” The Changeling replied, turning away from them while crossing her forelegs. “I have no intention of giving you any information.”

“Well it’s a good thing you won’t be giving it to me then.” She replied, adjusting her glasses to look at the Changeling. “You’ll be talking to Darkblaze here.” She turned back to Darkblaze. “Now I have some important matters to attend to up in the main Hospital, so I am going to just leave the two of you to talk for a while.” She gave a small smile before walking out of the room, “I’ll speak with you later.”

As Cytes walked through the blue membrane separating the room from the rest of the Hive, Darkblaze looked up at the pouting Changeling. “So…” Darkblaze said after the awkward silence filled the chamber. “What do I call you?”

The Changeling hissed at him before turning away again.

“This is going to be great….” Darkblaze said sarcastically.

---

Night fell quickly over Canterlot, the sun had set, and been replaced with the dark blue of the night sky. All the ponies lay asleep, almost all.

Shade hadn’t slept at all, he was worried. Worried about these strange ponies that wanted to meet him, worried about Meadow Song, worried about getting caught. But he had to know what they wanted, and how they had emotional gems with them.

He lifted his head to look at the clock, 11:45 PM. Time to go… He looked on his back, where the small changeling named Sunspot was sleeping, curled up on his backplate. He delicately lifted her up using his magic, and got up before placing her back down on the couch. He walked over to the counter and grabbed the knife belt that he hadn’t touched since it was given back to him, however now, it seemed like a good idea to carry something in case this meeting wasn’t so friendly.

He quietly walked over to the window in the room, pushing it open enough for him to squeeze through. Once he was outside, he clung onto the wall of the building and slowly eased the window closed, leaving just enough of an opening so that he could get back in, before a wisp of green fire surrounded him and he became Sunstreak.

This better not take long. Sunstreak thought as he let go of the building and began to fly across the city, he had to be careful though, getting spotted could be bad for him, so he stayed slightly above the small clouds that dotted the sky, using the night to his advantage.

Eventually he found where he was going, a Donut shop that Meadow had shown him on their first day back. It was strange to see it without any lights on, but that wasn’t important. He flew down into the dark back alley that laid behind the establishment. It was dark and dirty, contrasting against the beautiful white and gold of the rest of the city.

“Hey. I’m here!” Sunstreak said when he landed in the alleyway. Looking around him. “What did you want?” Sunstreak looked around the dark alleyway, not seeing anything of any real notice, until he heard hooves from behind him.

“Who’s there?” Sunstreak asked, turning to look towards the sound.

As the owner of the hooves stepped into the moonlight, Sunstreak couldn’t believe who it was. “Hey Snake Eye.” Tornado Dust said.

Sunstreak was shocked at first, but that was quickly changed to anger. He charged at Tornado Dust and pinned him to the wall with his hoof up to Tornado’s throat.

“Whoa! Whoa!” Tornado Dust said surprised.

“What the hell did you do to him?” Sunstreak asked angrily.

“Who?” Tornado Dust replied.

“Where the hell is Darkblaze?” Sunstreak nearly shouted.

“Snake Eye…” Tornado Dust sighed. “I am Darkblaze.”

“Don’t you fucking bullshit me!” Sunstreak grabbed the blade from his side and held it up to Tornado Dust’s throat with his spare hoof. “Now where is he?”

Tornado Dust looked scared. “Snake Eye! It’s me! I’m Darkblaze.”

“Prove it…” Sunstreak replied, there was a wisp of green flame and Darkblaze was standing with the knife right up to neck.

“It’s me Snake Eye!” Darkblaze said nervously.

“Darkblaze?” Sunstreak replied pulling away from the wall. “What the hell are you doing here?” He asked while placing the knife back into his belt.

Darkblaze transformed back into Tornado Dust. “Damn it Snake Eye, how many times are we going to meet with you threatening my life?”

“Sorry…” Sunstreak replied. “I just didn’t expect you to be here…Given… Yah know…”

“Yeah…I know…” Tornado Dust replied, steadying himself. “Listen…I’m not alone here.”

“What do you-?”

“Love moth.”

Sunstreak whirled around to see a mint green Unicorn. “Blackout?”

“Yes… Acari told me to keep an eye on him.” Lyra relied motioning to Tornado Dust. From behind her, a light blue unicorn with a curly pink mane walked up to him.

“Who are you?” Sunstreak asked, looking at the unicorn. Her Cutie mark was that of a purple child rattler, “I don’t recognize you.”

“Should I assume this is Shade?” She asked.

“Yeah… I guess I should properly introduce you two, Antenna, this is Shade. Shade, this is Antenna, or Candy Floss.”

“Sunstreak.” He corrected. “My name is Sunstreak, at least like this.”

“Where is the foal?” She asked.

“Uh…” Sunstreak was taken aback by the question, mostly because she said it so simply. “She’s… back at the apartment, sleeping.”

Tornado Dust spoke up. “Yeah… She was brought here to look after the Nymph.”

“Well… Then how did you guys get here?” Sunstreak asked, “The city is on full lockdown.”

“Friends in high places.” Lyra replied. “We were let in.”

“Um…yeah… Listen… I’m glad that you are here.” Sunstreak replied. “But…I’m not supposed to be out here…”

“What does that mean?” Lyra asked. “Aren’t you technically free?”

“No…” Sunstreak replied. “Technically I am being used for research into the physiology and magical capabilities of the Changeling race.” He said in an authoritive tone. “Or rather, I’m being watched by Twilight Sparkle and are currently breaking three of the rules set on me by Shining Armor. So I would prefer if I not get thrown back in a jail cell.”

“What rules did they put on you?” Tornado Dust asked.

“No going out by myself, No other disguises unless directed to, No leaving the city, No shady behavior, No combat magic, and Twilight has to report to Shining Armor everyday to make sure that I don’t screw something up.” Sunstreak replied. “And I’m fairly certain this is breaking a few of those.”

“Well what do you want to do then?” Tornado Dust replied. “We were told to keep ourselves off the Guards radar.”

“Ugh…” Sunstreak groaned. “That makes this a little more complicated…” He began thinking over the possible ways to break this to the others… and with Rarity coming around tomorrow…Oh Fuck. “Rarity is coming tomorrow…”

“Why?” Tornado Dust asked.

“Sunspot, the child, has taken to using my form a lot, so we are hoping Rarity can…modify it so that she looks more like my daughter than like… a smaller version of me.”

Tornado Dust was biting his lip. “She…She…She thinks you’re her…” He laughed, rolling on the ground. “That’s hilarious!”

“SHHH!” Lyra hissed at Tornado Dust, her horn glowed a golden color as a small bubble formed around Tornado Dust’s head, stopping the sound from waking everyone.

“Yes…She thinks I’m her father…” Sunstreak replied. “Now then….How should we handle breaking the news to the Element Bearers?”

“You aren’t really thinking of telling them about us are you?” Lyra asked.

“I…I don’t know…” Sunstreak replied. “This is…going to be difficult to explain otherwise.”

“How?”

“Well for one, how do I explain Candy Floss over here being cool with a changeling foal?”

Lyra opened her mouth before closing it again “Good point…”

“I honestly don’t care what you do.” Candy Floss replied. “I’m here to look after the foal, and that is all.”

Tornado Dust composed him, so Lyra dropped the bubble around him. “Snake Eye, they already know about you, so just try to think about how they could react to finding out about us.” Tornado Dust replied. “Remember, we are just across the hall.” He placed his hoof on Sunstreak’s shoulder, “Now…you have to think on it, and get back before one of them notice you left.”

“Yeah… You’re probably right…” Sunstreak replied. “I’ll think about it… Now I have to get going.” Sunstreak said, opening his wings.

“Any way you choose to handle this Snake Eye, I’ll understand.” Tornado Dust replied. “We’ll wait until then.”

Sunstreak waved back at him as he took off, flying back towards the Apartment he came from, now with a few more weights added onto his mind.

---

Report #3: Changeling Transformative Capabilities and Paternal Instincts
Today I tested the capabilities of Changelings to modify their disguises even slightly. As well as the Paternal Instincts. I have discovered that they have the ability to break through a magical shield by imbuing their forelegs with some kind of magical fire, allowing them to pierce through the barrier. I also found that when the foals are in danger, they have very quick reaction speeds, often during the tests only ever going above one second when Shade is placing his focus on something else.

Along with that, they can modify the disguises into any other race, however he refused to try and turn into an Alicorn, I don’t know why, but it seemed important. The foals cannot modify the appearance of their disguises, but they seem to require more energy to transform, probably from lack of experience.

From,

Twilight Sparkle

Comments

[Razzy]

Jeez, talk about complicating matters.

[Cursed Quill]

A Twi experimenting chapter

Aww, they stopped.

anything to drastic

too

an existing ponies form.

pony's

few in front of Pinkie,

flew

Guards radar.”

Guard's

[Black--Soul]

Pretty messed up... But how do the Changeling Hives will reveal themself to the idiotic Ponys? I cant see how they could hold the secrets up. Somebody need to get the Ponys xenophobe behavior under control and make peace with em...