Changelings Are-A Changing

by ScarlettDaze

Chapter 4

Sweetie Belle was very worried about Rarity.

As usual, her big sister had decided to overextend herself. Even though she'd gotten some kind of food poisoning yesterday, she'd just gone heavy with her foundation to hide the green tinge, grit her teeth, and gone out for her weekly gem gathering. Granted, it's not nearly as hard since she'd brokered some kind of deal with the Diamond Dogs, but still! And now Sweetie hasn't seen her at all so far today, and apparently there are changelings popping up all over Ponyville!

In fact, she's gathering supplies to go find Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, so they can try to help out anyone in trouble, when all of a sudden there's a knock at the door. And, well, a changeling probably wouldn't just knock politely at the door, right? Although cautious, the thought that it might be someone looking for help makes the decision for her, and-with a frying pan in her telepathic grasp out of view-she opens the door to find a familiar yellow-coated mare.

"Fluttershy! What are you doing here!"

"Oh, hello Sweetie Belle. Is now a good time? I can-"

A trio of giggling pink changelings in the form of a living wheel roll past, making Fluttershy 'eep!' and hunker down until they're further down the street.

"I can come back later if it's not..."

"Oh, no, come in, come in!"

Sweetie ushers her inside, ingrained etiquette from Rarity putting her just about on autopilot, going through the motions of getting the mare in the sitting room and grabbing some tea and snacks as they talk.

"What are you doing here, Fluttershy? Shouldn't you and everyone else be out there, figuring out how to kick those changelings out of town?"

"Oh," Fluttershy's ear twitches, it kind of looks like she wants to itch it but doesn't, for some reason. "Well, all of the chaos with the changelings is... well, a bit much for me, if I'm honest. Rarity said that I could come by and keep you safe so she could focus on helping everyone out. I-if that's alright with you, of course."

Sweetie's first instinct is to get indignant, to exclaim that she's old enough to take care of herself! But, this is Fluttershy, she isn't going to take that in a positive way. (And, if Sweetie is 'Applejack Honest' with herself, she actually is pretty scared about all this.) So instead she just sighs in relief and hidden annoyance as she sets down the tea set on the coffee table between them.

"Well, it's a relief to know that Rarity is alright. When she didn't come back last night I was really worried! I'm just glad that it's the weekend, trying to get back home from school in all of this would have been a nightmare. Feel free to have whatever, by the way!"

"Oh, I couldn't imagine, everyone stampeding around like they are..."

The older mare shivers, wing feathers fluffing up for a few moments before she starts patting them back down.

"But everything should be fine soon, I'm sure Rarity will have everything settled and proper in no time."

That's... something is off with the way Fluttershy said that, but Sweetie can't figure out what it is. Eh, she might just be a little paranoid with all the chaos outside? But, just in case...

"Yeah, I'm sure things will be back to normal in time for you two to have your Spa Day tomorrow. Rose Blossom and Aloe are miracle workers huh?"

Fluttershy pauses mid-sip of her tea, blinking a few times before looking at Sweetie in confusion.

"Isn't it Lotus Blossom and Aloe? And, I'm sorry, but did Rarity mention changing our Spa Day this week? Oh dear, I must have forgotten..."

"Ah, no, just got things a little mixed up in my head, sorry!" Sweetie scratches the back of her head and smiles sheepishly. "I guess all of this changeling nonsense has got me more out of sorts than I thought."

Fluttershy's ear twitches again, and she gives Sweetie a sympathetic look. Soon after, the yellow coated mare has shuffled over to Sweetie's own couch, putting a wing over her back in a classic Pegasus Snuggle. Yep, definitely Fluttershy!

"Oh my, I can't imagine how stressful this all must be for you! But don't worry, I'll be here as long as you need me, I promise."

---

They spend most of the day just hanging out like that. Other than refills on snacks and drinks, they play a few board games
and tell each other stories, only interrupted once by a guard coming to the door a little after lunch. According to Fluttershy, things are still pretty crazy out there, but Rarity and the other girls are hard at work trying to figure out what's going on. The mare doesn't dwell on it though, instead getting right back into her retelling of the time she was a model with Rarity's help.

And wow, Sweetie had assumed that Rarity had exaggerated or downplayed on some points, but apparently she was spot-on! Fluttershy nearly recounts word-for-word when Rarity had told her about it herself, so they must have, like, figured out all the details with each other beforehand. Still a gripping story as always though! There is one odd thing though-throughout the day, she's noticed these glimmering, gold-colored threads ending up here, there and everywhere, glimmering in the slowly fading light of the day. When she asks Fluttershy about it, the older mare actually blushes, which is adorable.

"Oh dear, I'm sorry, I was taking care of some gilded grain spiders before everything started. I suppose some of them most have followed after me and decided to set up in the boutique. I'm very sorry about this..."

Fluttershy starts to retreat into her metaphorical shell, so Sweetie quickly reassures her.

"Oh, don't worry, we can always clean up the webs later! Honestly, with how pretty they look in the light, I wouldn't be surprised if Rarity wanted to commission you and these spiders to make some spools of silk."

She looks around at the half-finished webs in a little bit of awe, almost missing the way that Fluttershy ducks her head down. Thankfully, this time it's in that 'I find it hard to accept praise so I'm embarrassed' way, rather than feeling guilty or anything. She's got a smile on and everything!

Honestly, Sweetie's not sure why. She's not even particularly into tailoring the way Rarity is, but even she can tell that this spider silk could make for some stunning clothes, assuming that they're reasonably sturdy when woven. Ooh, and if they take to dyes well, then that'd be even better! With the way it kind of glitters, she bets that any dyes would make the silk look like different colored gemstones, except as cloth, which would work great for Rarity's favorite fashion centerpiece!

If Sweetie Belle had been looking at Fluttershy while she ranted about the spider silk's potential uses, she might have noticed the smug, satisfied smile on the mare's face, or maybe the oddly possessive look in her eyes. Or maybe not, since every time Sweetie glances back at Fluttershy, she seamlessly switches back to a generic, kind smile.

Comments

[Richer19]

Well it seems like Rarity's subjects are quite good at disguises and it does explain why her pod was growing outside of Ponyvile and not at her business.