Claws Scratching on A House of Glass

by Wise Cracker

The Gift of Fortunate Encounters.

“What are you doing here?” Starlight Glimmer asked, approaching the table.

“Same as you: helping with the research,” Sunburst said. “We’ve already got the list of relevant spells lined up.”

“Relevant spells? Relevant to what?”

Starlight now noticed the pile of paperwork on the table: scrolls, stamped reports, hastily drawn sketches, a few arcane symbols here and there, nothing that stood out to her.

“Our allies have brought it to our attention that Chrysalis may have had a long-term plan, something beyond mere territory acquisition or feeding,” Celestia explained.

Sapphire nodded. “We surrendered what knowledge we had, and… some experts are starting to think she lied to all of us, including her own changelings.”

“How so?”

“Some spells she asked me to develop, and a lot of the artifacts we stole, they don’t really make sense from a strategic or a tactical perspective. She either asked for small alterations to things that already existed, different variations of what we already had multiple versions of, or things that were, well, incomplete by design. The Hives we sacked, the incursions into naga and panda lands, her overall approach to things doesn’t seem to be consistent with a tyrant looking for new weapons. We’re not entirely sure what it is consistent with,” Sapphire said.

“Then there’s the attack on Canterlot,” Celestia added. “Chrysalis made sure to have her minions block access to my vault, but she sent more of her forces to my library.”

Starlight squinted, thinking. “That is weird. Wouldn’t it make more sense to just infiltrate thelibrary?”

Celestia nodded. “It would, unless she were looking specifically for something in the restricted section, where a mere infiltrator cannot pass. There is nothing she could have stolen from us here that would prove dangerous on its own, but...”

The penny finally dropped. “But they could be pieces of a more dangerous spell.”

“Indeed. That is why I called for you. Sapphire Gaze is the most powerful mage the changelings have. She has an instinctual knowledge of what powers they possess innately and how they would react to any acquired magic. She is also well-versed in the limits of their genetic memory. As for Sunburst, he is one of my most clever students.”

“Clever dropouts, you mean,” Sunburst corrected. “I did flunk nearly all my classes, if you’ll recall.”

Sapphire licked her lips and made a face as if she’d tasted something sour. It was only after Starlight noticed that reaction that she realised she felt sorry for her friend.

Uh oh. She’s reading my emotions. Keep it together, Starlight, you don’t want anyone to know what you’ve been up to.

“Be that as it may,” Celestia continued, undisturbed, “your grasp on the theoretical concepts are second to none, and while you may lack depth in your studies, you do have the broadest range of magical knowledge I could ask for. Between the two of you, we can get a complete picture of everything Chrysalis has at her disposal. What we lack, however, is a pony who can put such knowledge together and predict what she will do with these resources. That’s where you come in, Starlight.”

“Most of my work is based on emotions fueling magic, like changelings. And I know how to combine spells, with a little chaos magic. I know what spells are made of, or could be made of.”

“Exactly. Many of the Queen’s experiments revolve around knowledge-based magic: sending and storing information. Your experience with lethemancy and conceptual magic will be valuable there. As for the rest… it’s rare to find a pony who knows chaos magic and who’s actually useful in these situations. I believe you may be such a rare find, if you don’t mind me saying so. Do you think you can help us?”

Starlight took a deep breath, looked from Sunburst to Sapphire, and nodded. “Okay, let’s start with the list first. I think we’d better start trying to order everything by domain. Chrysalis isn’t much of a scholar herself, is she?”

“Definitely not.” Sapphire scowled.

“Good. Then we should use the system she’s most likely to be using herself: the Eight Schools of the Lorebinding Shore.”

“The Sorcerers of the Shores? But we just arranged everything by power source,” Sunburst said.

“Sources don’t matter, not for this” Starlight took a paper in her magic and put it aside. “It’s the sinks that matter, where you’re pouring power into. Speaking of which, Sapphire, there’s something that’s been bothering me. I read in the papers that most changelings are brainwashed at birth, is that true?”

“Yes, it’s true,” Sapphire explained. “Stunted growth from an early age makes it easier to manipulate them.”

“But you still form families like ponies do?”

“To the extent that we’re allowed to, yes.”

Starlight rubbed her chin, thinking. “Okay, we should write that down as a separate element, too, if you haven’t already. That’s relevant.”

“Why?” Sapphire asked.

“Because with all due respect, it doesn’t make any sense. If you want to brainwash ponies, you don’t need to be there at birth. You can just zap them with magic once or condition them the regular way, they won’t break out of that as long as you’re thorough.”

The blue-eyed Archmage stared at her for a moment. “Changelings.”

“What?”

“If you want to brainwash changelings you don’t need to go that far. You said ‘ponies.’”

“Did I? I meant changelings, of course.” Starlight let out a nervous chuckle.

“I’ll go get you some coffee,” Celestia said. “I’m sure my sister won’t mind if I pilfer some of her personal stock for the sake of the nation.”

–

Gytha wandered into Ponyville aimlessly. The local residents turned to her as she passed by, but none made a move to speak to her. She didn’t think she looked that scary, truth be told, she was smaller than most adult griffons, even the females. Her headfeathers were long enough at the front to form a minor barrier for her deep green eyes, and her claws were blunt little things, not at all like most of the predatory creatures under King Alberic’s rule. Her face, while she still possessed the sharp beak of an eagle, had the black and white markings of a magpie, completely out of place with her grey panther-like body.

She patted her bags with her black wings and sighed. Looking around, she realised she was quite lost. Pegasi flew overhead, pushing clouds around. She thought she might ask one of them about where to find her target, but quickly decided against it, as she didn’t want to interrupt anyone doing important work. Gytha tried to pick out a pony who seemed likely to be helpful, but it took her a few blocks before such an opportunity presented itself.

When it did, Gytha breathed a sigh of relief. In sight was a dark pink pony lacking both wings and horn, meaning this creature would only be able to speak with her and not use magic to signal the alarm or fly away and make a scene. On top of that, it was a mare, and one with several smiling flowers stamped on her flank. Gytha figured this would mean the mare in question was, by nature, accommodating even to a griffon, and no doubt would be able to point Gytha in the right direction.

The mare was perusing the wares of a fruit stand, sniffing the apples at a cart managed by an older, green mare. Gytha briefly reconsidered her course of action, as the older pony spotted her before her target did. If she made too sudden a move, she might cause a panic. The Pegasus ponies might go into their emergency protocols and try to blow her away with a miniature tornado. It would draw quite the attention to her.

Still, if she didn’t act now, she wasn’t going to get anywhere today.

Stealth and tact be damned, she approached the pink mare and introduced herself. “Hello, Miss. My name is Gytha.”

The pony, thankfully, didn’t panic at the sight of her. “Oh, hello, you must be here for Bastion. My name is Cheerilee.”

They were expecting griffons. Of course they were. Gytha felt very silly in forgetting. “I’m looking for the mayor of this town, actually. Do you know where she is?”

“She’s waiting for you in the park, I think. I’ll drop off my groceries and take you.”

“Oh, you don’t need to go out of your way for me.”

Cheerilee chuckled. “I’m the local teacher. Bastion is in my class.”

“Oh.”

“I assume if you’re talking to the mayor about Bastion, you’ll want to talk to me about him, too? Or is one of your colleagues meant to do that instead?”

“No, no,” Gytha lied. “Please, lead the way. I’d love to hear your opinion of the boy.” She smiled as best as she could and nodded. “Tell me everything, and spare no details.”

---

“Well, we’ve certainly found a method to her madness,” Sapphire started. “But still no clue as to where it would lead.”

Starlight sighed. “It’s progress, at least. Sunburst, if you’d do the honours?”

The stallion brought up a stack of papers in his magic, the ones that had been filed under ‘Divination.’ In the old system of arranging magic by school, this field was mostly specialised in the acquisition of knowledge. A second stack, filed under ‘Enchantment,’ quickly joined it, which listed all the different forms of mental manipulation the Queen would have access to. “She’s been trying to progress three things, that we can tell. The first, which is in these two piles, is a form of transference magic.”

Sapphire hummed in agreement. “To both increase the amount of power we can gain from absorbing love and to start draining other things. Looking at the general trend, she means to absorb knowledge as well as emotional energy.”

“That’s where her most recent raids on the naga come from: the pearl she tried to steal wasn’t the target, but the magic it contained was. That attack was a simple experiment to see if her drones could carry that type of magic, and to produce stronger, more efficient means of communication. That’s probably why she targeted the Canterlot Vault as well: she wanted to steal the magic from the artifacts there, or at least try. It’s consistent with her attacks in panda lands, targeting paper makers.”

“Which brings us to point two: she’s been stealing the ability to steal. She’s made numerous incursions into panda territory all aimed at their knowledge of life energy,” Sunburst continued. “There were reports of a water devil near Beargundy that turned up dead about a year ago. Given the abilities those creatures have-”

“Stealing the memories of a lifetime contained in a dying breath,” Starlight added.

Sunburst nodded. “We can reasonably assume Chrysalis killed that one in an attempt to fine-tune her own draining skills.”

“She didn’t,” Celestia said, before sipping some coffee.

Silence fell over the room.

“That one died at the hooves of a pony, actually. We’ve kept the details sealed, though,” Celestia explained. “But there was, indeed, a dead water devil sighting more recently, a month or so ago. That one was haunting Alherda. And that attack was consistent with energy-draining magic that the pandas are so fond of.”

Sunburst whistled, impressed. “Alherda, though? That’s rough. Lots of places around to hide in, and lots of other things to run into in the mountain caves.”

“Indeed,” Celestia said. “Assuming that was her. And you had no knowledge of this, Sapphire? You weren’t aware your kind was capable of stealing memories?”

Starlight heard the clatter of changeling teeth, along with buzzing wings. “Feeding off of emotional energy of our own kind is not a trait we’re fond of, so no. We have done it before, but there are limits, mostly by family ties. I couldn’t drain the skills of an Archmage from another Hive, but they could cannibalise on certain memories to preserve their knowledge, assuming their rightful heir was the one doing it. If Chrysalis is trying to get past that limit, she has to have an end goal in mind. She’s trying to improve what she can steal, and she’s trying to improve what she can send, then. But send to where? Why bother with divination magic at all if she can just suck out knowledge for herself?”

“And that’s point three: she’s had a long-term focus on plant-based magic, and on crystal magic. She got most of that from the rival Hives she destroyed,” Sunburst added. “That’s a little less cut and dry, but if we combine it with what Sapphire told us of changeling communication methods, it’s possible Chrysalis wants to make some sort of magical network or receptacle for whatever it is she’s going to steal.”

“A Hive Mind,” Celestia said. “To link up the receptacles containing stolen knowledge. Which still begs the question: what stolen knowledge would these receptacles contain? What could be large enough to require a network? And what would be the point of doing it at all? She can wipe the minds of her subjects easily, why go through all this trouble?”

“Trial and error, perhaps?” Sapphire suggested. “It’s always possible she didn’t get what she wanted on every attempt.”

Starlight squinted. “You mentioned the War Engineer knew some spells Chrysalis didn’t know yet.”

“Not a spell exactly, a variant of our innate transmutation magic,” Sapphire replied, wincing as she contemplated it. “He figured out how to shapeshift into a swarm of insects, and then change the nature of those individual insects. He didn’t tell any of us until shortly before he, well...”

Celestia hummed to herself. “Yes, that is an old legend. It’s a type of power attributed mostly to vampires and the undead. Why let another changeling research it, though? Would she not simply take that power for herself?”

“Even attempting to get that power comes with risks. It’s extremely dangerous to the wielder’s sanity,” Sunburst said. “At least, according to some sources. Very old sources, that is.”

“I’m not sure Chrysalis was even aware he had that power. If she was, she didn’t want Faux Pas to know her plan,” Starlight reasoned. “She didn’t want any changeling to know her full plan, so she never allowed any of her free-thinking changelings to have all the pieces. Sunburst, what kind of control spells require an empty mind?”

“Err, you mean from the pony casting it?”

“No, from the target.”

“Well, none do. That’s the whole point of a control spell: you override the target.”

“You still think she wanted to use the drones for experimentation?” Sapphire asked. “That’s why she kept them suppressed?”

“It’s a theory. But what was the goal?”

Celestia sighed. “And more importantly, what is she missing to achieve it now?”

Starlight shook her head. “This isn’t getting us any closer. Okay, backing up to what we’re absolutely sure of: whatever she intends to do requires a transfer of knowledge, of energy, and it somehow requires a degree of conditioning, of an empty mind. There can’t be that many spells that would benefit from that, are there?”

“None that exist, no,” Sunburst said. “There’s a lot of spells that are dangerous to the one casting it, so if anything you’d rather have a drone do it. Except, of course, she can already teach her army new spells, and she doesn’t need to blank them at birth even for that kind of spell, so why bother? It has to be something new, if she’s willing to go that far for it.”

“That would be your department, Starlight Glimmer,” Celestia remarked.

Starlight sighed. I don’t see it. Why can’t I see it? This should be right up my alley, why is this so hard? “The knowledge and feeding is one piece. The other piece is her drones. She’s keeping them empty-minded for a reason, that kind of control has to be for a purpose.”

“Why do you keep insisting that’s on purpose?” Sapphire asked.

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Because Chrysalis is cruel,” Sapphire explained. “She does not need a reason to treat us like inferior creatures.”

“Maybe. Still, I say it’s too sloppy. You said she… she blanks changelings at birth, slowly corrupting them and suppressing their growth, right?”

“Yes, and?”

“And, even if you’re being cruel, that’s a horribly inefficient way of doing it. If you’ve already decided someone has to be a mindless drone, you only need to hit them once with a simple spell, you can wait and see how strong they turn out before you potentially waste one. You can get other changelings to be cruel and loyal if you want to. And why allow little changelings to bond with their birth mother at all if you’re going to imprint yourself as their mother later? Or their Queen, or whatever? It’s too risky, and the regular way is easier. Even if the goal is to keep others from controlling them, a simple blanking spell still gives you the same protection, better protection, even, because you’re not leaving any back doors open.”

Sunburst stroked his goatee, thinking out loud. “We’re still not sure if she needs them in a certain state of mind to have them cast a specific spell. This whole thing could be to improve her army.”

“Okay, maybe, but if she’s willing to risk losing free-minded changelings to their imprinted personalities, that means there’s a specific degree of control she wants, she needs. Let’s assume Faux Pas did get that swarm form behind her back. Let’s say that’s not something she wanted. Why would you need to experiment with different levels of brainwashing magic?” Sapphire asked.

Starlight groaned and looked down at the piles, at the eight classical schools of magic, defined ages ago. “It would help if we knew what school she was aiming for.” She went over the list in her mind: evocation, divination, conjuration, enchantment, illusion, transmutation, abjuration, and… Of course. “How familiar are you with necromancy?”

Sapphire quirked an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“Death magic. Making zombies, vampirism, mummies, that kind of thing. How much of it do you know?”

“Well, I suppose our draining love would count as necromancy, technically, but I don’t see how Chrysalis ties into that. She’s trying to drain knowledge, not more life.”

“It’s not the life draining that concerns me. She’s trying to drain both life and knowledge, memories. Transferring life and memories to a receptacle, that doesn’t ring any bells to you?”

Sunburst held up the papers. “Whoa, you’re right. If you put it all together, then it almost looks like...”

Celestia sighed. “Chrysalis is a prospective bodyhopper.”

Sapphire looked back and forth at the ponies, confused. “I’m sorry, what?”

“The griffons have suggested it to me several times now. I wanted to get confirmation from an unbiased source, because… well, this type of thing is more common in their lands, they have it embedded in their culture as a result. They see signs of it everywhere, even when they shouldn’t.” The alicorn’s hackles rose up, the shimmering form of her mane quivered. “With disastrous consequences, sometimes. But your assessment seems to confirm their suspicions.”

Sapphire Gaze shook her head. “I’m sorry, I really don’t follow. What’s a bodyhopper?”

“It’s a form of death magic,” Sunburst said. “One that allows for a… primitive form of immortality, if you can repeat it often enough. Several rites exist, but the basic procedure is always the same: at the time of death, eject the soul into a new vessel, both your life energy and your memories. The most common and reliable way of doing it is to do it with an unborn child as the vessel. The closer the bonds of blood, the easier it is to gain access to the body. Needless to say, the ones that do it like that are usually male, and their method is, typically, umm, messy.” He blushed and looked away.

“Chrysalis can’t be a bodyhopper, though: both of her parents were alive when she was born. They only died in the war with the rival Hives, that’s what the papers said,” Starlight noted.

“Obviously she’s never reincarnated before,” Sunburst said. “But that doesn’t mean she can’t try it. It fits the pattern: females can’t do it that easily, as a rule, but species that lay eggs have an advantage, since the egg can survive without the mother. There are records of it, confirmed cases of ponies incarnating into, well, other adults, even, but I guess at that point it’s debatable if that’s reincarnating or just possession. Thing is, even the legendary ones lost pieces of themselves.”

Sapphire shuddered. “What do you mean by ‘pieces,’ exactly? Memories?”

“Mm, primarily, but not exclusively. The point of bodyhopping is to preserve your self, both your personality and instincts as well as the memories of your past life. Without some way to link both memories and innate instincts, it’s a flawed process.”

“Cutie marks link instincts,” Starlight added. “Personality traits, talents, even certain magics.”

“Exactly. Pony bodyhoppers are an exception, though, exactly because we have cutie marks that give us magic and store at least part of our knowledge: they don’t appear at birth, so anything you carry over can be overwritten. Of course, that does mean any pony bodyhoppers could carry that knowledge in their cutie marks in the first place, but that’s a long lost knowledge. I’m pretty sure no pony’s even tried to do that kind of thing since Ivory Tower was destroyed two centuries ago. The mare, I mean, not the location.”

Celestia shuddered. “Don’t remind me. That filly absolutely refused to learn her lesson, even after five deaths. Still, with no more pony bodyhoppers around, that means Chrysalis can’t jump-start her plans by stealing bodyhopper cutie marks, and it does shed some light on why she would want to keep her Hive the way it is. She can’t blank her drones entirely because she hasn’t calibrated her spell yet. She’s testing the limits of her imprinting powers, preparing to imprint and possess someone, or simply reincarnate.”

“That’s why she wanted to start implanting personalities instead of letting me do it,” Sapphire said. “I never had any problem with changelings forgetting who they were, but Chrysalis...”

“Chrysalis was mimicking a possession every time she tried,” Celestia said. “She wanted to know how much she can preserve of the original, and how much free will is too much to let the new memories stick. She’s working up to the ultimate theft magic: to take a whole life’s worth of power away and take it over. To think she’d use her own kind for such experiments so callously...”

“Classic ascension scheme,” Sunburst said. “It doesn’t matter what you sacrifice if the reward is absolute. Every magical villain in history’s tried it at some point.”

Starlight suppressed a chuckle. Almost every magical villain. I never planned on immortality.

Forced though it was, Celestia smiled, at Starlight in particular. “Good work, everyone. I’ll inform our allies, they’ll know where to tighten security with this information. Any region with a history of vampiric magic will be a target. So will any pony with powerful innate magic. If she’s been blanking her drones on different levels like that for generations, then she’s obviously hoping to take over a powerful pony and reap the rewards of their life. Every Unicorn of a high level will be a potential target.”

Starlight shuddered. “Including ponies like me.”

“I’m more worried about the ones in the public eye, yes, but you should take your precautions. If you are correct, and I have no reason to assume you’re not, then she steals the ability to steal. You have the medical background to take away cutie marks. If she takes your powers, if she takes over your life...”

“But she can’t take my powers yet,” Starlight said. “She doesn’t have the skill for it. All she could do is steal energy, and maybe some memories if she manages to use that water devil magic. She’d have to choke me for that, and she wouldn’t be any closer to possessing me. As long as she can’t steal cutie marks, we’re safe, right?”

Celestia went silent.

Starlight blinked. “Right?”

“I received word… while I was fetching coffee. It seems Chrysalis did find a creature capable of stealing magic, and even cutie marks. She waylaid it, and given what we know, she stole its ability to steal,” Celestia admitted. “Presumably using her new water devil magic to do so.”

Sunburst wiped his glasses, and looked confused at the Princess. “But water devils steal through breath. Did this… creature do the same?”

“No,” Celestia said. “It stole by inhaling. Hence the water devil magic: she stole the breath that steals. Or tried to, at least, we don’t know if she was successful.”

“Was it a powerful monster?” Starlight asked.

“Weakened from lack of feeding, but yes, powerful at full force. Beyond powerful if left unchecked.”

Starlight made a mental note that while she did fully intend to rid ponies of their restricting and damning cutie marks eventually, other creatures were already unburdened by such arcane brands and it was probably a good idea to think of countermeasures before she made any drastic decisions. Still, she remained calm at the prospect. “Okay, but that’s still not a big concern,” Starlight said. “Stealing magic doesn’t follow the same rules as stealing vital energy. At the bare minimum, she’s going to have to steal a cutie mark next, and those are hard to hold. You can’t contain a cutie mark just like that, you need a…”

“A receptacle?” Celestia asked. “Like, say, a crystal or a magical plant? The type of thing she went to war with the other Hives for? Or perhaps a changeling who’s been blanked at birth? Maybe one with a small degree of free will, just enough to use the stolen power but not enough to resist a command?”

“I was thinking a glass bottle, actually,” Starlight replied. “You need a thick jar, but you can hold a cutie mark in place pretty easily if you have glass.”

“The changeling Hive doesn’t have glass,” Sapphire Gaze said. “We never did. Chrysalis said it was too much of a civilised thing, and we had no need for it. But, knowing the whole picture now, she probably didn’t want any of us experimenting on our own. It’s a lot harder to hide when you have to use drones. Still, she does have those aplenty, still. If she comes after a pony, she’s not going to put any magic in a jar, it’s going to be used right away.”

“Yes,” Starlight replied. “I think I see your point. But still, this is Chrysalis we’re talking about here. She doesn’t have the capacity to just possess a pony and take over their life. That kind of knowledge is long lost, and there aren’t any ponies around for her to steal it from anymore, even if she does have that stealing magic.”

“I appreciate your optimism, but you are forgetting: she doesn’t need to be successful to be a threat. The mere attempt can cause enough suffering. Be careful, Starlight Glimmer. You are harder to find than the likes of Sunburst, but I do not know how deep the changeling threat goes. You have a power that can reach cutie marks as well, and she may be able to take that much from you, I fear. If Chrysalis gets you in her sights, I trust that you will defend yourself as best as possible, or that you’ll arrange for other, more drastic measures to be put in place.”

For once, fear gripped Starlight’s heart. “I don’t really know if I can.”

“I’m sure you can think of a few options.” With that, Celestia walked off.

“We’ll deal with that when the time comes,” Sapphire said. “In the meantime, I’m up for lunch.”

“And I am late for an auction,” Sunburst said.

“You go to auctions now?” Starlight started.

“Of course. Can you believe somepony’s actually selling a traditional mask worn by one of Mage Meadowbrook’s apprentices?”

“No, can’t imagine that,” Starlight joked. “You should run, then, if you want to get it.”

“Well, it was nice seeing you again, Starlight. If you want to catch up, you know where to find me.”

The dagger that went through her heart at that was almost palpable. “Yeah. I know exactly where to find you. Have fun at the auction!”

He was already gone, galloping through the palace with reckless abandon and complete disregard for protocol.

All those years, and he’s still weird. Silent as the night until he spots something he likes, then a one-pony stampede.

Celestia had left. Sunburst had left.

Sapphire Gaze had not. “Care to join me for lunch? I’d love to hear your stories.”

“Oh, I don’t have many stories to tell, really.”

“You could start with the one between you and Sunburst.”

“That’s personal.”

“Or the one about you trying to take over Equestria. That strikes me as something of more public interest.”

Starlight froze. “Excuse me?”

“I’ve been trying to feed on your emotions all morning and frankly, you’re giving me heartburn in both hearts. Us changelings don’t just feed off the love of good ponies, you know. I know the taste of an evil mastermind when I get it, and you, Starlight, have a very distinct bitterness of illegality to yourself. And while Princess Celestia may be more oblivious, or more forgiving, I’m mostly just intrigued.”

Starlight gulped. “What do you want?”

“I just said what I want, did I not? You seem like an interesting pony, and I could do with a distraction. Unless you’re so evil you’d rather strike me down where I stand?”

“Don’t tempt me.”

“Come now. What’s the harm in talking?”

She sighed. “How much do you know?”

“Only the emotional responses: joy at seeing an old friend again, sadness when he mentioned his failures, nervousness at interacting with him, and then… a core of guilt wrapped around self-importance, sense of righteousness, and lust for vengeance. In short: tell-tale signs of evil intent. Very lingering, too, years worth of it, decades, aged like wine into vinegar. And about as nauseating, if you’ll pardon me saying so. Hardly enough love in you to feed crickets.”

“Then why not report me to the Royal Guard right now?”

“Because one, I’m not tasting any satisfaction, and that usually means it’s only ever gotten as far as scheming, no actual acts. Second, I’m only going by taste and body language, and that’s not a completely accurate way to tell. But most importantly… well, you still have enough guilt and shame to taste. A pony who is too far gone would not, I imagine. So, shall I be having lunch alone? I’m dying for some ginger ale to get my stomach back in order.”

Starlight bit her lip, her horn glowed. She was ready to teleport out. A few quick hops through Canterlot and she could catch a train. A sprinkling of a trace-eraser spell and even Sapphire wouldn’t be able to track her.

She could leave. She could go right back to building her village, like nothing happened.

“No. No, you know what? I’d love to talk, and I think I want to hear your take on it, too. You know, as a changeling and all.”

“Perfect. We can gossip about all the things Celestia isn’t telling us as well.”