Field Trip

by dungeonguy88

Chapter Three: Watch for Strangers

“So, are you always a huge sourpuss or something?”

“Only when I'm not pretending to be a pony.” Phyll, disguised as a stallion once more, calmly retorted to the low flying Rainbow Dash.

Though, once again, the resident changeling didn't seem bothered by the remark, Twilight still had to send a mildly disapproving look towards her pegasus friend.

Unsurprisingly, this netted little more than an unapologetic shrug from the airborne speedster. Giving a shake of her head at this, Twilight settled for turning her attention back to disguised changeling at her side. Briefly inclined to make an apology on the behalf of her friend, the young alicorn couldn't help but be stymied by the impassive expression being sported by the normally familiar face of Davenport; it really was quite apparent just how different a changeling could be from their assumed persona.

Really, it was altogether unsettling.

“Ya ever think that you might be part of why folks sometimes seem so sour, Dash?” Applejack chimed in from the back of their little group, sending her own mildly reproachful look towards the pegasus.

“Nope.” Came the easy reply.

“Oh? And jus' why don't ya think that's the case?” The Earth pony pressed, giving a skeptical tilt of her head at that.

“Because she's awesome.”

“Hah! This guy gets it!” Rainbow Dash crowed, as she darted over to the changeling, clearly pleased by the blandly delivered remark “How could anypony be feeling sour when there's this much awesomeness in the world?”

“Heh. That or he just knows enough about ya to know exactly what ya would say.” AJ smugly countered.

“That would be it.” Phyll calmly agreed.

“Pfft! Sure it is.” Rainbow Dash replied with a dismissive wave of her hoof.

Again, without sparing a glance for the pegasus, Phyll gave his carefully measured reply “It is.”

Applejack's own quiet snickering at this earned a wry look from the pegasus, while Twilight made a point of matching the pace being set by the changeling. Furtively glancing towards Phyll once more, the young princess once more found herself internally sorting through the long list of questions she wanted to ask the changeling.

It was a list she had yet to make much progress on so far.

After Phyll's curious declaration concerning post offices, he had been rather insistent on setting out quickly. Presumably, he had a schedule that he too intended on keeping on this particularly unusual day; why his schedule was leading him, and by extension Twilight, to the post office was a mystery that had yet to be unraveled. Along with Applejack and Rainbow Dash, they were now making their way through the slightly dusty streets of Ponyville. True to his word, Phyll didn't offer any objections to their accompanying him or really anything that Twilight had asked of him. Not that she had been terribly willing to ask too much of him, as his standoffish demeanor seemed to stifle attempts to interact with him. Even though he had resumed his appearance as Davenport, the changeling very much did not seem inclined to continue acting like the normally affable stallion.

It was rather off-putting.

It turned out to be a rather fine reminder for Twilight, that there was a great deal more to most ponies than surface appearances. And also indicative of how much effort the changelings must put into blending into pony society; it was no wonder that investigations following the Canterlot Wedding incident didn't actually uncover any hidden changelings.

The young princess wasn't sure if the changeling had failed to notice her scrutiny or if he just didn't care, but she couldn't help but be eager about finding out more. Just how did the changelings infiltrate Ponyville so long ago? Surely they had to deal with things like paper trails, right? How did Phyll come up with the pony known as Davenport? How were they dealing with the issue of feeding without going noticed? Why were the changelings even in Ponyville? What was so important about the post office?

Sparing a glance behind her, Twilight quickly confirmed that AJ and Rainbow Dash were chatting amongst themselves, teasing one another and posing questions to one another.

Facing forward once more, Twilight took in a breath before slowly letting it out. Turning towards the disguised changeling, careful to keep one eye on where she was walking, the young alicorn briefly cleared her throat to get his attention.

“Excuse me, uh-...” Twilight was given some brief pause, as she recalled that they were currently in public right now. Glancing about quickly confirmed that nopony was within earshot, but the purple pony still made a point of lowering her voice a bit “-that is. Can I ask you a few questions, Phyll?”

“Of course, Princess Twilight.” The changeling responded, sparing a brief nod for the pony at his side.

“Great! Err, I mean, thank you.” Twilight quickly corrected, briefly concerned by how her little outburst of excitement could have been construed. Clearing her throat for a moment, Twilight channeled a small amount of energy down her horn, causing a notepad and the worn down quill from before to appear in a magical pop. Taking a hold of both with her magic, she briefly brought the quill to her chin in thought “Alright, where to start...?”

“The beginning?” Phyll calmly offered.

Blinking at the suggestion, the princess briefly glanced skyward as she mulled the thought over “That seems fair. So, what is our starting point?...Oh! Is it alright if I ask why exactly it is that Chrysalis sent you to Ponyville?”

“That will take some explaining, but yes.” The stallion nodded, before focusing his gaze back upon the road.

“Alright, so...” Twilight eagerly prompted.

Giving a brief glance glance her way, Phyll briefly cleared his throat before speaking “Well...originally I came to Ponyville just as a matter of routine. When it comes to our long-term arrangements, we make a point of rotating out the personalities we have hiding amongst ponies. And it was about time to retire Uncle Bridgewater.”

Twilight nodded along, as she used her magic to take a few notes “I see. That makes sense, but what exactly is the point of these long-term arrangements? Are you collecting energy or-”

The disguised changeling cut-in with a shake of his head “Not usually, no. That sort of thing is reserved for our more-...short-term infiltrators. They're the ones that make the forays out to collect energy to take back.”

“Uhm, what exactly does that entail?” The princess asked, frowning a bit at the shift in topic. It wasn't that she wasn't intrigued, but it was a topic that basically framed ponykind as a source of sustenance to another species.

“Usually it entails them breezing into a town, being very charming and affable, and then breezing back out of town. Meanwhile, those in my position go about providing them alibis and-...” Phyll trailed off for a moment, before looking to one side “...-we point out ponies that might be receptive to being fed upon.”

“I see...Uhm, I-...I understand that feeding can be stressful on a pony?”

“Correct. Good health is something we usually look for when pointing out ponies to love-collectors.” The changeling nodded, apparently intent on powering through any awkwardness “They come into town, usually claiming to be only there for a short while, and sweep up the targets in an exciting friendship or a whirlwind romance and then...leave.”

Twilight had to furrow her brow at this matter-of-fact explanation “It sounds like you've got this sort of thing down to a science.”

Phyll merely shrugged “You could say that. Anyway, once they've gotten close to a pony they can then collect what they need and return back to our home. In the end, most ponies simply attribute the negative side-effects of the feeding to depression from their departure.”

“I suppose that makes-” Twilight began.

“So, what yer sayin' is that not only are ya drainin' ponies dry, yer also-” Applejack abruptly interjected, sidling up between Phyll and Twilight.

Before she could carry on, the changeling came to an abrupt halt, so that he could hold up a hoof to stop her “We do not drain them dry. Overfeeding could lead to all kinds of severe problems. The kind of severe problems that are much more noticeable than a pony being mopey and lethargic for a couple of weeks.”

“Alright, I get that. But what Ah'm hearin' is that you folks have basically made a policy out of lovin'-and-leavin' ponies. Or am Ah misunderstandin' something here?” AJ demanded, not dissuaded by Phyll's reply.

“It's not always a romantic interaction, but yes. It's what we do. What we've had to do to survive.” The stallion firmly replied.

That gave the farmpony some brief pause, as she was reminded that the rather unsavory practice was somewhat vital to the survival of their species “Ah-...well, Ah suppose you do have to do what ya gotta do. Just kinda comes off as a bit...cold.”

AJ's own abrupt turn around in attitude did seem to have a brief effect on the disguised changeling, with Phyll briefly glancing to the side before using his hoof to brush the back of his head “Yes, well...it's been said by some changelings that a certain amount of callousness is needed too.”

“Pardon?”

Phyll let out a sigh at that “Quite a few love-collectors are perfectly aware of the effects they have on their targets. But they know that if they don't do their jobs their fellow changelings will suffer even worse fates. So they find their own ways to keep doing it...”

An uncomfortable silence overtook their small group, as everyone present came to a pause in the middle of the street, each one parsing over what had just been said. Twilight, in particular, was struggling not to fidget overly much, as she was reminded of what she had learned about changelings and what happens when they starve; Chrysalis had made it quite clear, that to starve as a changeling was to feel your own body slowly dying all around you.

Applejack had to tilt her hat back a bit, as she turned her gaze towards her own hooves for a moment “Well, shoot. That's gotta be a heavy burden for any-”

“Princess Twilight?”

The young alicorn had to keep herself from jumping in surprise, as she was overtaken by anxiety at the possibility of somepony having overheard their conversation. Turning so quickly she almost tripped over her own hooves, Twilight soon recognized the pony that had approached her unseen “Ms. Cheerilee! So nice to see you!”

“Uhm, it's nice to see you too.” Cheerilee hesitantly replied, a bit thrown by Twilight's shouted greeting.

“Sorry, I-” Twilight brought a hoof up to her mouth, before clearing her throat “Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you, Ms. Cheerilee.”

“Well, it's alright, Princess Twilight...Is everything alright?” The local school marm asked, clearly confused and concerned by the purple pony's responses.

“You can still just call me Twilight...Oh, and everything's fine with me- I mean, us.” Twilight quickly replied.

“Smooth, Twilight.” Rainbow Dash called over, earning an annoyed glance from the young princess.

Still rather skeptical, Cheerilee leaned to one side to take in the sight of her companions now “Is that Mr. Davenport with you?”

“...Yes?” Twilight slowly replied.

It was at this moment, the supposed stallion decided to step forward “If you don't mind my saying so, Ms. Twilight, I don't think it will harm anything if we let Ms. Cheerilee in on your little secret.”

“You don't?” Twilight blurted out, her eyes going a bit wider.

To which Phyll, or perhaps Davenport, nodded before replying “Certainly. I don't think Ms. Cheerilee is the sort to go about ruining the surprise for everyone.”

“What kind of surprise? Is there something going on?” Cheerilee asked.

“You could definitely say-” Rainbow Dash began to mutter, before being given a nudge by Applejack.

Being used to those kinds of antics in her classrooms, Cheerilee easily spotted this subtle interaction “I'm not quite sure what's going on here, but-”

Davenport, once more, interjected himself into the conversation “There's nothing to be concerned about. Ms. Twilight is just trying to make some preparations for her friend's upcoming birthday.”

“I am? I mean, I am!” Twilight quickly agreed, as she realized that Phyll wasn't about to reveal himself to the cherry-coated mare.

Cheerilee blinked at that “Oh?...I would normally think Pinkie Pie would be handling that kind of thing.”

“She will be. But, for Ms. Rarity's birthday, Ms. Twilight wanted to get her something special. So, she came to me to look into acquiring a new fainting couch.” Davenport easily explained.

“Oh. Well, that's very kind of you, Twilight. I just hope Mr. Davenport here is giving you a good deal; we can't have him taking our newest Princess for a ride.” Cheerilee teased, content to accept this explanation.

“Of course! Nopony's going to find a better price outside of my store, of that I can assure you.” Davenport affably replied. Stepping a bit closer, before gesturing with his hoof “And you can be certain, that if anypony is getting a good deal with me it's going to be my most reliable customer.”

Cheerilee smiled at that “Alright you, no need to pull out the full sales-pitch.”

While that was going on, Rainbow Dash leaned down towards Applejack, before covering her mouth with her hoof “So...when exactly is Rarity's birthday?”

AJ quickly gave a sour look at that question, before lightly pushing the airborne Rainbow Dash away with her hoof.

“What? I just wanna figure out how many bits I'm gonna need to save up!...I gotta get her something cooler than a couch!” The pegasus tried to defend.

Cheerilee let out a laugh at the antics carrying on in the back of the group, before turning back towards Twilight “Anyway, I just wanted to say hello and check in on everypony. You all seemed a bit down there for a moment.”

Twilight gave a smile at that “Rest assured, there's nothing to worry about.”

“But if you could, do try to keep this between us. We wouldn't want Ms. Rarity finding out early.” Davenport added a moment later.

“No need to worry, Davenport. She won't hear a word from me.” Cheerilee genially replied, before turning to continue on her way “I'll just be on my way then. This is just about the only time I can get away from the school house and take care of my shopping.”

Just as Twilight was about to let out a sigh of relief at the school teacher's departure, Cheerilee's voice again called back “Wait...isn't your store in this direction, Davenport?”

The young princess's mind stalled for a moment, as part of her started to panic at the notion that their ruse had been uncovered.

“It is, Ms. Cheerilee. But I don't have the exact couch Ms. Twilight here was looking for in stock. We were just heading down to the post office to make arrangements for it to be shipped here.” The disguised stallion explained, while gesturing a hoof in the direction they had been heading in.

“Oh, that makes sense. Take care then.” Cheerilee easily conceded, before turning back to head down the street.

“And you, as well.” Phyll called after her with a wave of his hoof. Once the mare was out of earshot, the stallion's whole posture reverted back to his earlier, less approachable stance, before turning towards his temporary traveling companions “We should be on our way.”

There was a brief pause as the ponies marveled at the abrupt shift, one that was soon broken by Rainbow Dash “Huh...that was actually pretty smooth. Smoother than Twilight anyway.”

“Thank you.” Was Phyll's brief reply, before he started once more marching down the street, evidently expecting the three mares to follow.

Twilight had to go in to a brief canter to catch up, but found herself openly staring “That was-...how did you manage that?”

“Manage what?”

The young princess briefly struggled to put her thoughts to words “I mean, it's just so-...you seemed so different a moment ago.”

“Yes?” Phyll hesitantly agreed, not understanding Twilight's point.

To be fair, Twilight herself was having a hard time articulating her point without sounding foolish.

AJ took this moment to step forward, adjusting her hat as she openly scrutinized the changeling “Ah gotta say, Ah'm seein' where Twi is coming from here. Talkin' to Ms. Cheerilee like that, you seemed completely different. Ah mean, ya looked and sounded the same and all, but it's like someone threw a switch or something inside ya.”

“This is what I do.” Phyll replied with a shrug.

“Ah guess it is.” Applejack conceded after a moment

“Incidentally...” The disguised changeling said, before turning his attention towards a certain pegasus “...you still have a few weeks left before her birthday.”

Rainbow Dash gave a confused stare at this for a moment “What?...Oh, right. You mean Rarity.”

“Indeed.”

“Uh, well, thanks...I guess.” RD haltingly replied.

“Ah still can't believe you can't be bothered to remember a friend's birthday, Dash.” Applejack admonished.

“Oh, come on! I just let Pinkie Pie remember that kinda stuff. Then whenever she starts talking about planning a birthday party, I know I gotta go pick up a gift. It's not like I don't care.” Rainbow Dash huffed out, a bit annoyed that she was being criticized over this kind of thing.

“And what exactly is so hard about rememberin' few days out of the year, Dash? Ah mean, he seems to have managed it just fine.” The farmpony pointed out, while gesturing a hoof towards the bemused Phyll.

Rainbow Dash crossed her arms at that, before muttering aloud “Pfft! He's probably more interested in remembering Fluttershy's birthday anyway.”

Twilight tilted her head at that “What? Why would he-”

“I know all of your birthdays and major anniversaries.” Phyll exclaimed, demonstrating a mild amount of annoyance for the first time.

“How's that now?” AJ immediately chimed in, cantering a bit to drop up alongside the changeling.

Closing his eye briefly, Phyll let out a light sigh before re-opening them “...Part of my role here in Ponyville is to monitor each of you.”

“Monitor us? Why?” Twilight asked from his other side, one of her eyebrows arching up at that revelation.

“Because you are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony.”

Applejack blinked at that simple response, before giving a shake of her head “Alright...how 'bout before Ah go assumin' there's something sinister about that, you explain why you're keeping tabs on us?”

Phyll had to turn and give a look at the Earth pony's question “Is there someone else that could have stopped the likes of Discord or Nightmare Moon?”

“You're...here to protect us?” Twilight asked, putting the pieces together fairly quickly.

“Not just myself. The overarching orders for every changeling in Ponyville is to ensure your continued health. Both physically and emotionally.”

“Since when?” Rainbow Dash demanded, as she darted a bit ahead to lean down in front of the changeling.

Briefly pausing, as the pegasus obstructed his path, Phyll easily sidestepped her before responding “Since before Princess Twilight arrived.”

“How's that now?” Applejack asked, clearly as skeptical and dumbfounded as her hovering friend.

At that question, the disguised changeling came to a pause, before pointedly glancing down both ends of the street they were walking down. This quickly lead to the ponies present to take note of the other pedestrians that were now in-sight along their path. His point made, Phyll abruptly turned and started walking towards one side of the street, making a beeline for the shady area beneath a tree there. Glancing amongst themselves briefly, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack soon followed, each apparently intrigued enough by recent revelations to hear this out.

Phyll stopped for a moment before speaking, watching as the three mares stepped under the shade of the tree “This should help limit any casual eavesdroppers.”

“What? Standing under a tree?” Rainbow Dash queried, as she landed beside Twilight.

“Actually, yes. Here, we're clearly engaged with one another and seeking a degree of privacy.” The changeling replied with certainty. Seeing the doubtful look he was being sent by the pegasus, he let out a sigh before elaborating “On the street, anypony passing by might listen in. Most would ignore such conversation, but with you three so tense and clearly focused on what I'm saying, passersby will assume we're talking about something...juicy. You don't look casual.”

“That makes sense, Ah suppose...But what's sittin' under a tree gonna do? Can't anypony that's curious just sneak up and take a listen?” AJ reiterated the point of Rainbow Dash's question.

Phyll gave a shake of his head “They could, but they won't. Most ponies want to ferret out gossip, but don't want to be accused of such things. Eavesdropping on us here would mean going out of their way to listen in. Plus, we're clearly speaking privately here and most ponies feel uncomfortable intruding on the space of others without good reason.”

“Huh...You guys have actually got this stuff down to a science.” Rainbow Dash noted, leaning back a bit in surprise at the in-depth answer.

“Yes, we do.” The changeling easily agreed, as he moved to stand in front of the three mares. Clearing his throat briefly, he looked back up before speaking “Now, as I was saying...Yes, we've been here since before Princess Twilight's arrival, on the look out for you all.”

“Uh, right. So, what's that about?” Applejack supplied.

Nodding briefly at AJ's question, Phyll gestured with his hoof as he explained things “Our Queen knew about Nightmare Moon's return through Princess Celestia. She presumed that, upon her return, she would gravitate towards familiar grounds, the most likely of which being the Castle of the Two Sisters. So, our Queen assigned extra changelings to the towns bordering the Everfree forest in preparation for Nightmare-”

“Luna.” Twilight suddenly interjected. Giving everyone some brief pause, Twilight briefly swallowed before speaking again “Princess Luna.”

AJ and Rainbow Dash raised their own eyebrows at this, before turning expectant looks towards Phyll. For Phyll's part he seemed only momentarily off-balance “...in preparation for Princess Luna's return. We were to monitor the situation and provide assistance, discrete or otherwise, if we thought it could tip things in your favor.”

“So...wait a second. Did Chrysalis actually know that we were the ones that were gonna find the Elements?” Twilight eventually asked, giving a tilt of her head as she did so.

“No. Our Queen presumed that you would be involved somehow, Princess Twilight, but other than that we weren't certain who the eventual bearers would be.” Phyll clarified.

Rainbow Dash pursed her lips at that, before taking to the air to cross her forehooves “Kind of annoying that Chrysalis knew all that, but we didn't know squat.”

Applejack gave a pointed look towards her hovering friend, but Phyll spoke up before she could say anything “We were operating on a lot of unknowns at the time. In any event, I was already stationed in Ponyville before all of this, so I stayed in the area. As we got more information on the six of you, more changelings were assigned to Ponyville long-term to keep an eye on you and...here we are.”

“Huh. And that Queen of yours has you watchin' us because...?” AJ prompted once more.

“Because the Elements of Harmony are the most powerful defenses against chaos and darkness known to anyone. And because, as far as we know, without their chosen bearers they are useless...so we have some fairly good reasons to make sure you and they are safe.” Phyll tiredly explained.

The farmpony just shrugged at that, picking up on how perturbed the changeling seemed “That's all fine, Ah guess. Just didn't feel like yer folks were all that concerned about our good health during that whole invasion business.”

“Were any of you hurt?” The changeling pointedly asked.

“Er, well...Not really. Except that Queen of yours did pull a number on Twilight, which Ah'm still a bit-” AJ began.

“She imprisoned Princess Twilight and ordered you all captured, yes?” Phyll reiterated.

“Basically.” Twilight agreed a moment later, defusing things before they could tense up again.

The disguised changeling gave a nod at that “And despite the fact that the Elements of Harmony could have been turned against us, no changeling was ordered to steal them away or hide them, yes? Rather they remained securely in their vault.”

Rainbow Dash hovered down a bit lower, waving her forehooves back-and-forth to bring a pause to the proceedings “Hold on! Hold on, hold on, hold on...You're telling me all those changelings were going easy on us during that whole thing?”

“I suppose so. I wasn't there myself.” Phyll replied, leaning back a bit from the pegasus as he did so.

“Awwww, you've got to be kidding...And I here I thought we had kicked all kinds of flank.” Rainbow Dash griped, bemoaning the thought of one of her accomplishments being undermined.

“In any event, that is the sum of it. More than anything else, we were sent here to make sure the six of you were kept healthy. You and your immediate associates.” The changeling summed up for the mares.

Applejack raised a hoof to her chin, as she parsed it over “Well, Ah suppose there's a certain amount of sense there...But if you folks have been lurkin' around all this time, why haven't we ever seen ya helpin' out? Not like there haven't been cases where we couldn't use the help.”

“Hey, yeah! There's a bunch of times you guys could of lent us a hoof!” Rainbow Dash quickly seconded.

The stallion briefly glanced between the two, before letting out a sigh “Well, frankly, you six tended to solve most of your problems before we could begin to help.”

“How do you mean?” Twilight queried, leaning in a bit.

Phyll visibly thought about it for a few moments, before gesturing with his hoof “There is a certain...balance we try to maintain here. If we can render assistance without exposing ourselves, that is considered ideal. And if there's reason to believe we can't render helpful assistance, we don't bother taking the risk of exposure.”

“So, what? You're just gonna let the end of the world-” Rainbow Dash began.

“No. Our policy is to offer whatever help we can in those instances, preferably without revealing ourselves. But if it was required we would have.” Phyll quickly interjected, seeing the direction they were starting to go down. Stepping to one side, the changeling seemed a bit restless as he continued “But in all but the most immediately pressing issues, we try to plan accordingly before acting. And it just so happens that you and your friends tend to address the issue before we can put our plans into motion.”

The purple princess of the group visibly thought that over for a moment, before turning back to the changeling “What kind of plans have you made in the past?”

“Off the top of my head...you recall the Flim-Flam brothers?” Phyll asked of the apple farmer to his side.

Applejack blinked at the question, apparently surprised by it “Ah- Ah mean, yeah. But what do those two snakes have to do with what we're talkin' about?”

“Well, at the time, we had already received reports of their...reputation and that they were on the way towards Ponyville. Given that Cider season was starting and that they were riding what was explicitly a cider-making machine, we suspected an incident might take place.” The changeling elaborated easily enough.

“Okay. So what exactly were you guys gonna do about it?” Rainbow Dash prompted.

“We weren't sure, initially. Their reputations preceded them, but we didn't know what form the problem would take...then you agreed to that wager.” Phyll explained, before turning to the farmpony again.

For AJ's part, she certainly looked sheepish at the reminder of that foolish bet, but cleared her throat and pressed on “Alright. Ah'm followin' so far.”

“We suspected you wouldn't be able to legitimately win against their machine- not to say that you and your friends did not perform admirably.” Phyll interrupted himself, holding a hoof to forestall the expected objections from AJ and Rainbow Dash. Seeing that they seemed placated for the moment, he lowered his hoof to continue “By the time the contest started, we thought the best means would be to simply turn the town against them.”

Twilight furrowed her brow at that, before taking a step forward “But...the whole town did turn against them.”

“Indeed. The Flim-Flam brothers did a lot of the work themselves, but your supporting the Apples helped stir the emotions of quite a few of the townsfolk. At that point, we just needed to ensure that their cider got some loud complaints and things took care of themselves.” Phyll eventually concluded.

“Hold on. I thought you said that you guys never got a chance to help us.” Rainbow Dash reminded the changeling.

“I didn't say that, though in that case our help was minimal. I said that we often aren't needed.”

“Huh. Well, can ya offer any examples of when ya couldn't help out?” AJ prompted.

Phyll thought about it for a few seconds “There really wasn't much we could do about Discord.”

“Yeah, that doesn't really count though.” The hovering pegasus pointed out. Dash gave a wide gesture of her hooves, as she spoke “I mean, there wasn't much anyone could do about Discord.”

“Fair enough. Then...I suppose Trixie's return is a better example.” Phyll conceded.

AJ tilted her hat back up with her hoof at that name “That was a pretty dicey situation, Ah'll be the first to admit. What were ya plannin' on doing for that varmint? And why didn't ya?”

“Put simply, we didn't have the means to separate her from the amulet she had acquired. We were looking into ways to sneak in some changelings that were practiced in mind magic, but Ms. Trixie had made that rather challenging.” The changeling explained.

“You were going to use magic to alter Trixie's mind?” Twilight abruptly asked, visibly concerned by the idea.

If Phyll noticed the Pony Princess's discomfort he didn't show it “If we could get the changelings. We didn't really have anyone with the level of expertise needed already stationed here. It was a serious enough situation that we were concerned that we would have had to have left it to our Queen or Princess Celestia.”

“Alright, but just how were you planning on altering Trixie's mind?” Twilight pressed, thinking of her own past experiences with mind-altering magic and changelings. Considering the effects that were already influencing Trixie's mind at the time, she couldn't help but worry about what the mingling of those magics could have resulted in.

Phyll considered the question briefly, tilting his head one way then the other “We probably would have used flattery and subservience to get them close to Ms. Trixie. At that point, it would be up to the changeling in question. But I would imagine that they would plant whatever idea they had in casual conversation, something that would have appealed to her anyway, then used a bit of magic to nudge her into disregarding her suspicions.”

“They'd nudge her?” Twilight asked, still not convinced.

The disguised changeling gave a shrug and a nod “I understand that it tends to work better when the subject thinks it's their own idea. It's all rather moot at this point, though.”

“Right...” The young alicorn unenthusiastically agreed.

Letting Twilight trail off for a moment, Phyll spared a glance for the other two mares before giving a tilt of his head “So...are there any more pressing questions you have for me? Or can the rest wait?”

There were several seconds of silence as the mares glanced among themselves, before Rainbow Dash raised up a hoof “Hey, yeah! I just remembered!”

“Yes?”

“What's up with the post office? Why are we heading there of all places?” Rainbow Dash asked, her question also managing to break Twilight from her own thoughts, having recalled that to be something she too wanted to ask about.

Phyll thought about it for a second, before turning away and starting to make his back to the road “Very well, we can talk about that on the way.”

“Hold up! Aren't ya worried about somepony overhearin' us?” AJ quickly asked, as she trotted alongside the changeling.

Phyll gave a shake of his head at that, as he was about to set hoof down upon the dusty road again “Talking about the post office garners far less attention than talking about world-ending threats, conspiracies, or changelings.”

“Or all of the above, am I right?” Rainbow Dash lightly joked.

AJ just gave a shake of her head at her friend, before focusing back on the disguised changeling “Alright. So Ah guess go ahead spill the beans then.”

“Yes, please do. Why is it the post office that's considered so important?” Twilight added, her own mood restored, as she gave an ear to the explanation.

Phyll gave a nod at that, before speaking “There are a number of factors, the foremost being that a lot of information passes through the postal system. Information that can be quite important.”

“So, more spying?” Applejack summed up.

“Not just spying.” Phyll replied with a shake of his head, before giving a brief pause in his gait “It also serves as an excellent way for us to pass our own information and messages to one another and back to our home.”

Twilight gave a nod to that before giving a tilt of her head “That makes sense, I suppose. But don't you run the risk of exposure if you're passing message along that way.”

“All of our correspondences are encoded. We make sure that, without knowing what to look for, nopony would be able to discern anything unusual about them.” The changeling explained.

“You use ciphers? Cryptography?” The princess quickly asked, which earned a nod from Phyll.

Applejack ended up pursing her lips at this, glancing between the changeling and her alicorn friend “Uh, what exactly is he trying to say, Sugarcube?”

“Oh. He means that the letters they send look like normal letters, but if you read them in a certain way they make up a different message.” Twilight explained for her friend.

“Well, that's kinda neat, I guess. Still sounds mostly boring though.” Rainbow Dash observed.

Phyll gave a tilt of his head at that, as he resumed his earlier pace “It is. And I would say that's another reason for why we find working in the postal system is so appealing.”

The athletic pegasus gave a skeptical look at that “Wait. You guys hangout there because it's boring?”

“Boring is good. Boring is safe, predictable, and calming. Stable routines, a hallmark of the postal system, give an easy start for those of us that are still not used to life in Ponyville.” Phyll asserted without looking her way.

Rainbow Dash couldn't help but let her face twist up at that, almost entirely incapable of reconciling those ideas with how she liked living her own life “That's just...weird.”

“Also true. For some reason, ponies expect a certain amount of weirdness from postal ponies. Not sure where that comes from personally, but it does help too.” The changeling again agreed with RD, eliciting a wry look from the hovering pony.

“So, the post office is a good place for blending in and gathering information, is what your saying?” Twilight supplied, before Rainbow Dash could add anything else.

“Also, for magazine subscriptions.” Phyll added with a tilt of his head.

“...Are you joking?” The princess had to ask, her brow furrowing as she looked his way.

“No.”

“...Alright. Was there anything else about post offices that change- your kind likes?” Twilight asked, quickly correcting herself while glancing about to make sure nopony overheard her almost slip.

The changeling visibly thought about it for several moments, before looking towards Twilight “It's good a way to inconspicuously meet a lot of different ponies in a given day.”

“And that's considered a positive?”

“It is when you need to discretely spread out your feeding to avoid notice.”

“Hold on a sec, Ah thought you said y'all didn't collect love while you were here?” AJ interjected.

Phyll gave a shake of his head “We don't collect energy for taking back to our home, but we do need to take in a bare minimum for our own sustenance. And diversifying who we take from minimizes the most of the side-effects.”

“So, taking on roles that let you regularly meet with many different ponies...” Twilight supplied.

“Let's us support ourselves without revealing our presence or causing lasting harm.” Phyll finished.

“Well, hold on. If y'all can get by on this bare minimum why don't you and yours just all live among ponies?” Applejack continued.

“We have to spread out our feeding on a lot more ponies to meet that bare minimum without causing too much harm. And keeping to that bare minimum means not over-exerting ourselves, using magic, flying, recovering from getting hurt, having children-”

“You need to feed on ponies to have...babies?” Applejack interrupted, a bit taken aback by that one.

Phyll came to a full stop, before turning and nodding towards the farmpony “It takes quite a bit of energy for us to reproduce, and more still to actually raise them. It's part of the reason we are so careful about controlling our population.”

“I, uh-...Ah didn't know that.” Was all that Applejack could manage to bring herself to say.

To that, he just shrugged “There aren't many ways you could have known that...In any event, any more questions will have to wait.”

“What?”

“We're here.” Phyll replied, gesturing with his hoof to draw the attention of the mares to the nearby building. And, true enough, they were standing just outside of the Ponyville Post Office, a surprisingly tall wooden building with a larger section around back for storing mail and packages. Looking up would reveal a small, open tower meant to serve as a quick landing and take-off point for any pegasi making deliveries, from which one could easily spot the nearby train station with the naked eye.

“Huh...you know it's kinda easy getting all caught up in these weird conversations.” Rainbow Dash observed.

“Yes, well, any further conversations will have to wait.” Phyll reiterated, before turning and starting to make his way to the front door of the building, passing under the post office's sign as he did so.

Rainbow Dash naturally darted after him, slipping in through the open door as he passed through it, while Applejack and Twilight trailed along at a more sedate pace. They were both given a brief moment of pause, as they realized that Phyll was holding the door for the two of, though they were both quick to give nods of appreciation.

“So, what exactly are we here for anyway? We gonna meet up with a bunch of changelings or something?” Rainbow Dash rather loudly asked, as she cast her gaze about the inside of the building.

Giving a rather noticeable frown at the pegasus' lack of discretion, Phyll let the door close behind them before speaking “Not exactly, no. We are here to meet someone however.”

“Pfft! Good luck with that! No one's even here.” Dash pointed out. And, indeed, there was not a soul in sight, neither postal worker or customer.

“That is a bit odd. Or is it?” Twilight asked, turning to the back of the group to address Phyll.

“It'll be more quickly explained if we just head up to the counter.” The disguised changeling said, before pointing a hoof to the also quite vacant counter.

Twilight shared a brief, questioning look with AJ before they both shrugged and started a trot towards the counter, with Rainbow Dash following through the air. Approaching the counter didn't seem to reveal much more than what they had already seen, until Applejack caught sight of a note laid out on the counter.

Carefully scooping it up with her hoof, the applefarmer quickly perused the missive “Let's see here...Our apologies...and-...huh. Apparently, everypony's out with the flu or somethin'. Tells us to just ring the bell and someone'll be along as soon as they can.”

Hearing that, and recalling the topics they had discussed earlier, the three mares all turned back to look to Phyll for some guidance on what they were supposed to do.

Returning their looks briefly, the changeling didn't speak, but instead settled for nodding towards the counter and the bell.

“Welp, that's good enough for me.” Rainbow Dash declared before flying over the counter and slapping her hoof across the bell, sending out a loud chime through the room. Glancing around briefly, RD looked back to the bell before hitting it again. Then again. And again. And-

“Ya havin' a good time there, Dash?” AJ asked while sending a wry look the pegasus' way.

“What? The note said to ring the bell.” Rainbow Dash countered.

The Earth pony rolled her eyes at this, before focusing back upon Dash “Might help if ya waited a few seconds between rings. Ya know, give'em some time to actually hear it?”

“Fine...” The pegasus replied with a puff of air, before looking around the room again. After a scant few seconds of patiently waiting, Rainbow Dash flung her hooves up in the air “Guess they didn't hear.”

What followed was a rapid fire series of chimes, as RD repeatedly slapped down on the button that sounded the bell.

“Dash! There's no need to-” Twilight began.

“Just a second! I'll be right there! Please don't leave!”

Rainbow Dash sent a self-satisfied grin towards Twilight “See? Now we got somepony that can-”

Before she could really lean into her gloating, a door on the other side of the counter slammed open, startling the three mares. Their surprise was all the more complete by the sight of what appeared to be an ambulatory pile of brown boxes and letters. A moment later, they all collectively leaned back as this moving collection of packages fell forward, sending it all toppling into a small avalanche.

“...Ow.” Came a mare's voice from the haphazard mail pile.

“Oh my goodness!” Twilight exclaimed, before taking to the air and flying up and over the counter. A moment later, the princess was using her magic to carefully lift away packages in an effort to free the presumably trapped pony “Are you alright?”

“I'm alright, just trying to move these packages up front...” The mare called out from the heap. A few letters and envelopes shifted revealing a grey hoof waving about now.

Twilight gave a rueful smile at that, as she re-focused her efforts “You really should be more careful. You could have been really hurt trying to carry such a load.”

“Sorry. It's just with so many ponies out today, I- Oh! Princess Twilight!” The buried pony exclaimed, as a hefty brown package was levitated away, clearing her view of the one lending her help.

“Ditzy?” Twilight blurted out immediately afterwards. Giving a shake of her head, the young alicorn used her magic to finish freeing up the mare, before lending her a hoof up “I wasn't expecting to find you here today.”

Pulling free of the pile, the wall-eyed mare gave a smile at that and a laugh “Yeah, we're kinda working on a skeleton crew today, so Exact Postage called me in for the day...Oh! And I'm sorry, but you haven't gotten any new mail.”

Twilight blinked at this change in the conversation “Uhm, that's alright. I'm actually-”

“And I made sure to double-check all of our incoming stuff for anything from Ms. Trixie, but we still haven't gotten anything new.” Ditzy explained in an apologetic tone.

“Er, why would ya be gettin' any mail from Trixie, Sugarcube?” AJ asked aloud.

Glancing between her curious friends and the bemused mailmare in front of her, Twilight looked a shade embarrassed “Uhm, well, I've been..exchanging letters with Trixie...for a while now.”

Applejack gave a tilt of her head at that revelation “Err...why's that, Sugarcube?”

“I-...well, I wanted to kinda keep tabs on Trixie, after last time. She ended up writing me back and-” Twilight began to explain.

Before Twilight could explain the long-distance, sort-of friendship that had taken root with the traveling showmare, Rainbow Dash darted down while crossing her forehooves “Hold up, Twi. Not that I'm not super-curious about all of this, but I don't think anyone's here to talk about Twilight's private mail.”

“Agreed.” Phyll clearly called from across the counter.

At that, Ditzy leaned to one side to look past the purple princess standing in front of her, before letting out a smile “Phyll! It's good to see you.”

“Likewise, Ms. Doo.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at this, before setting down and gesturing with her hoof “Right. Everyone's said hello to everyone now, so do you mind maybe going somewhere else, Derp-...”

The brash pegasus drew to a pause, as she went over the most recent bits of conversation in her head. Clearly struck by a thought, Rainbow Dash turned towards the disguised changeling, a questioning look on her face, that failed to elicit a response from the stallion.

Looking back towards the Ditzy, she saw the grey mailmare smile and give her a wave of her hoof.

“Wait...did you just-” Rainbow Dash blurted out.

Only to be brought to a pause by an orange hoof settling over her shoulders. That hoof was connected to the very healthy Applejack, who was now sported a very pleased grin on her face “Let me stop ya right there, Dash. Ah think ya might be about to say somethin' kinda dumb.”

Twilight hadn't failed to notice what had just happened either, though her reaction was a fair bit more measured. Looking back to the stoic changeling on the other side of the counter, she asked the most pertinent question “Ditzy knows your real name?”

Phyll easily nodded.

This lead Twilight to turn back to the upbeat, grey pegasus “So, that would mean that you're...”

Ditzy Doo gave a slightly embarrassed look, before using a hoof to rub the back of her head “Uhm, I'm gonna need a few minutes before I can lend a hoof...Kinda falling behind on things around here.”

Author's Note:

So, there's an update in a more reasonable time frame. Anyone that has any questions is welcome to post them in the comment; I understand that I fit in a fair bit of exposition about my take on the changelings in this chapter, so I'm sure it's raised some thoughts.

And, yay! It's Derpy!

More than meets the eye and all that is kind of an ongoing theme here.

Comments

[saiavinn]

Heh heh. It's a simple kind of story, but still definitely worth reading.
I look forward to incoming chapters.

[dungeonguy88]

7422217 Yep. It's not a grand adventure spent fighting monsters or discovering lost worlds. When you get down to it, it's a story about everyone finding out more about their neighbors, while in the middle of helping them move.

[saiavinn]

7422244 Except all the neighbors are shapeshifters
Ah, cultural differences...

[D48]

Well, that was interesting, and your logic definitely makes sense. Chrysalis definitely has a vested interest in keeping the Elements online for situations like Discord, and the combination of feeding and spying you described makes perfect sense.

[ForSpite]

Hah, nice to see my suspicions confirmed. "Weird" indeed.

It was a very exposition heavy chapter. Little bits of humor helped carry it but it's probably best if we don't have too many that are this heavy in the story as a whole. Variety is the spice of life and all that.

7422244
Well, it does have the Slice of Life tag, after all.

[dungeonguy88]

7422951 Yeah, after this chapter things will be focused more on current events, lighter, more current events. Just felt like the right time that Twilight and the others would want to get their questions out of the way. After this, they'll be focused on what's up with Ditzy, going around town meeting with changelings and dealing with minor issues relating to that, with some looks at what's going on back at the library, as more changelings head there and encounter the Pinkie-Party waiting for them..

[dungeonguy88]

7422944 Yeah. As I've mentioned before, I like finding ways to reconcile things in the show with a bit of realism. Why didn't Chrysalis, a supposedly cunning and ruthless villain, simply take out one of Twilight's friends permanently to disarm the Elements of Harmony? Maybe because she recognizes that they're about the only thing that can stand up to individuals like Discord.

[dungeonguy88]

7422465 Yep. Despite not being very big on art, my take on the changelings does endow them with their own culture, with its own differing values and mores. They do have some fundamentally different takes on certain things than ponies, despite their ties to ponykind.

[D48]

7424320 Yeah, I'm the same way. Unfortunately the writers don't seem to be terribly interested in logic or continuity lately, but at least the way they ended season 3 does give me an easy way to write everything after that off by assuming Twilight died and everything after that isn't real.

[Spamotron]

Awww, I thought it would have been way funnier if Derpy/Ditzy/Muffins was the only member of the post office who wasn't a changeling.

On another topic how many writers a rushing to get their changeling fics done before August 20th and a canon nuke drops on them?

[dungeonguy88]

7425087 Hm? Oh, I've already accepted that my stories have heavily diverged from canon. I've embraced it. I still enjoy the show, but it's not gonna interfere with long-term plans I have for these stories.

And, like I said, there's more than meets the eye here.

[harts fire]

vary worthy of a up vote.
I like this story ark

[Cheshire_Jackal]

This is awesome and hilarious, can't wait for more!

[Razzy]

Huh, that actually makes a lot of sense, there were tons of opportunities fire Chryssie and her changelings to get rid of the threat of the elements.

The Derpster cometh!