The Sunset Trilogy

by ocalhoun

Book 3 - Chapter XLII

Book 3: Equestria Abides
Chapter 8

“We not take them to hive!” The bug Twilight had taken to thinking of as Tweedle Dum insisted. “Is secret hive!”

“Don't wanna be tied up and starve!” Tweedle Dee hissed back, and gave a worried look back at Splints, who was following near behind. “Don't wanna have anatomy lesson.”

“You not gonna have anatomy once the hive done with you!” The less cooperative of the two changelings spat, “You have holes in your head? Think they let you live?”

With that, the changeling drone seemed to give up, and just sat down where it was. “Am dead changeling already. Let die in peace.”

The other changeling said nothing, but also stopped moving, with a look of triumph on its face.

Pebbles continued on, dragging both a short distance out of sheer determination before remembering that she had no destination unless there was a cooperative changeling helping. She looked back at Twilight with a helpless look on her face... the big mare really did like Trigger a lot.

Twilight Sparkle walked up to the despondent changeling, still clinging to the cobblestones of Las Pegasus's streets, and sat down next to it. “We won't let the other changelings hurt you. Just point us in the right direction, and we'll let you go free without them even seeing you. You could come back later and pretend you knew nothing about it.”

Tweedle Dee didn't seem enthusiastic about the idea though. “Bad ponies magic us and tie us... Bad ponies lie to us and kill us later.”

She sighed... this didn't seem to be going anywhere... she looked back at Apollo and his crew for help. They all looked variously doubtful, confused, or hopeless... except for Splints, who smugly walked up to Tweedle Dum.

She sidled up next to it, causing it to lean desperately away, trying to gain distance without breaking some internal promise to not move any further. She just leaned in close and asked in a soft, cold voice, “How many bugs does it take to lead us to our friends?”

If possible, the changeling's composure broke even more, before it slowly replied, “...Two?” It looked back at the too-close pink pony staring him in the face, putting on its best imitation of sincerity and hope... which wasn't very convincing given the current conditions.

Splints only continued her chilling stare, “Hm... I thought maybe we could do with less... Maybe we could just pick which bug was least helpful, and open it up to see how it works inside, since we have a spare and all...”

In a flash, Twilight found Tweedle Dum next to her, begging, “We go this way!” It pointed down a side street with its perforated hoof. “Is helpful changeling! Must keep bad pink pony away from helpful changeling! Let bad pink pony cut other changeling!”

Tweedle Dee shot up to its feet in an instant and began walking, not to be outdone. “Follow! We go to hive now! Look how helpful!”

While she was normally off-put by Splints's vitriol, Twilight had to begrudgingly admit that it had worked wonders. The two changelings who had been so uncooperative just a moment ago were now eagerly competing to show how helpful they could be, and the group was on their way again, even making better time than they had before. She supposed she shouldn't be surprised that the changelings could be turned on each other so easily and viciously... Feeding on love, they never really knew it themselves.

* * *

Sunny Daze flinched away from where she remembered the door being, as she heard a loud crash from outside. What horror would be coming now? She wished she could turn around and see Trigger, but she was still glued back to back with him... for that matter, she wished there was light so that she could see anything at all.

Despite herself, she let out a little whimper of fear. “What's going on?”

Trigger though, didn't seem afraid at all, even though the noise outside grew to a cacophony of hisses, smashes, thuds and a hundred more unidentifiable sounds. “It's them!” he shouted.

“Huh?” Sunny asked, confused. “It's who?”

Her question was answered not by Hair Trigger, but by Twilight, who appeared in the doorway as it burst open with a flash of violet light.

It was the first expression of hers that had been visible in quite some time now, due to the lack of light, but even if she had tried, she couldn't have come up with a better one to greet the light with than the look of shock and delight that filled her face now. “Twilight! It's really you!” she said, still half in disbelief as the purple unicorn rushed over and blew the sticky glue away with magic. She immediately became as attached to Twilight as she had been earlier to Trigger, not by glue this time, but by her own clinging hug.

She watched over Twilight's shoulder as Trigger impacted into the mass of ponies trying to squeeze through the door all at once. Crammed into a small doorway might not have been the best place for a group hug, but it happened all the same, with even Splints joining in. For the first time since she had been lost, Sunny giggled, wondering how they would ever extricate all the ponies now jammed into the doorway.

* * *

“You were good changelings,” Twilight said happily, as she stood with the rest of Apollo's crew in the abandoned building where Pebbles had been left to keep an eye on their little helpers. – And a good thing, too, she supposed; she hated to think what that hug in the doorway would have been like if the huge earth pony mare had tried to participate! “So now we're going to let you go. Just no more stealing our friends and imitating them, right?”

Both changelings nodded nervously.

“Are you sure it's such a good idea to let them go?” Apollo asked, “They need our love to live... They'll be back.”

“I told you!” one of the changelings shouted out, “Bad ponies lied! Now bad ponies kill us!” It started chewing at the rope still looped through one of the holes in its back leg frantically.

Twilight looked at Apollo reproachfully. “We made a promise.”

He sank down a little. “Fine.” With a nod to Shimmer Spell, the ropes came loose all of their own accord, and the two changelings wasted no time in escaping, nipping at each other's heels as they flew out and away. “I hope we don't end up regretting that,” he commented sourly.

Twilight wasn't sure where it came from, but she laid a hoof over Apollo's back. “No act of kindness is ever wasted,” she said, looking at the open door where the changelings had made their hasty exit. “Remember that for me, okay?”

He just leaned in closer, wordlessly, but Twilight could still tell he was worried about the implications to his crew of the changelings still going free.

* * *

Comments

[Bulder]

And then everyone was knee-deep in changelings

[-Key-]

1989730 lol

I think I see a Sunny/Trigger ship coming up, and I'm confused is the sun back to normal or is it still all weird and if it is weird you should make Sunny and Teigger the new Celestia and Luna, I mean Sunny's name kind of suits it.

[ocalhoun]

1983429
Just wait and see... just wait and see.
Twilight's comment pf 'no act of kindness is ever wasted might just prove prophetic.

1989730
Indeed.
I totally promise that someday I'll finally manage to post a fic that dorsn't involve changelings at all.

1989941
Not far off there... but not entirely right either.
I think I'll let you discover it later though, rather than spoiling it now.