Chapter 5
Questions roiled in Scootaloo’s mind. Who was this colt? Why was he here? What did he know? Why did he have to be in the little filly’s school bathroom?
Apparently Ms. Cheerilee had some of the same questions. “Stop right there, Mister!”
This prompted the unicorn to jump into the bathroom and slam the door, locking it shut. “Apologies, your highness,” he said, turning towards the filly changeling. Without further preamble he touched his horn to Scootaloo’s similar appendage and magic sparked between them.
A flash of green flame enveloped her chitin form and she morphed back into the orange pegasus everypony was familiar with. “What-” she looked at her hooves to confirm her suspicions. “How did you-”
“No time to explain,” he interrupted, “we have to make this look good.” The door shuddered as Ms. Cheerilee bucked against it. “That means you have to scream.”
The door bucked again, cracking the frame around the hinges. At this the colt turned on the soul entrance and loosed a beam of magic, blasting the door off its hinges and right into the purple pony. Having been about to buck, the teacher was thrown off her two front hooves and slammed headlong into the wall. She tried to right herself. However, her already blurred vision dimmed as she slumped back to the ground unconscious.
“Nooo!” Scootaloo rushed forward past the colt to her teacher’s side. “Ms. Cheerilee, get up.”
She only had a moment to see the blood streaming out of the earth pony’s face before a magical field scooped her up. “My liege.”
“NO! Let me GO.” Scootaloo flailed and kicked the air in a futile attempt to free herself. “She’s hurt. Put me down.”
“Very good,” he commended, “that’ll be quite convin-”
“Stop! Let GO of me.”
“Alright, I think that’s enou-”
“Get. OFF!” Scootaloo’s wings buzzed in attempt to move closer to her captor which allowed her bucking feet to just reach the back of his head. This caused the magic field to dissipate and they both tumbled to the ground. Scootaloo recovered first and tried to run. “HELP!” but she was quickly tackled to the ground and the colt covered her mouth with his hoof.
“That’s what I’m trying to do. Now, if you’ll please just let me explain, I will let you go.” After a brief pause he decided it would be prudent to add, “I promise,” on the end of that.
Scootaloo had never been more scared or confused in her life. She had no idea what was happening or what this pony wanted. Baser nstincts told her she had to fight, that she had to get away and get help. But as she looked into the eyes of her foalnapper she couldn’t help but feel … curious. He had shown up only moments after her “transformation.” What’s more was he had somehow changed her back. That meant he somehow knew about what was happening to her. Was he really trying to help her? Or, if she went with him, was something very bad about to happen?
She nodded.
In a swift motion she was picked up and placed on his back as he galloped into a cornfield. “I know you’re scared,” he said. “It’s natural for a changeling’s initial rebirth to be somewhat” he paused a moment to find the right word, settling on “stressful.”
“With a royal’s natural separation from the hive mind it’s only expected that you would have some questions.” He glanced back over his shoulder to indicate that now was the time.
“How can I be a changeling? I’ve never changed before in my life.”
“Grubs are naturally able to keep a pony form on into maturity if they are infused with enough love or raw emotion, Your Highness.”
Scootaloo nodded, not quite really understanding how, but getting an idea for why it worked that way. “Why do you keep calling, me that?”
“Because you are my superior” he explained, slowing his pace to a canter. “In fact you’re a full royal. Set apart from the hive.”
Scootaloo jumped off the pony’s back and glared at him as he turned around. “What the hay is that supposed to mean.”
“It means that you are a naturally dominant member of the hive. You are a changeling, connected to the hive, and yet … separate.”
“I don’t get it.”
The colt motioned for them to keep walking. “Every drone in the hive is connected to one another,” he explained. “When I have a thought or an idea, all of the drones beneath me hear it on some level. At the same time I hear all of my superiors’.”
The filly raised an eyebrow at this. Having hundreds of different ponies chattering away inside your head at the same time seemed a little counter-productive. “That sounds exhausting.”
He nodded at this. “It can get … overwhelming, on occasion. But it allows us to accomplish combined tasks much more quickly and efficiently.”
“Okay,” she said, thinking she started to get the picture. “So, why can’t I hear you?”
He smiled at this. “Have you ever tried to listen in on somepony’s conversation while you were yelling at the top of your lungs?”
“No.”
“And why is that?” he asked
“Because …” after a moment it dawned on her. “So … I can’t hear you because my brain is just so loud that I drown out what everypony is saying?”
He nodded. “And even greater still, your mind-voice carries power over weaker ones. Your will can change the will of a drone, or even the hive itself if you grow strong enough.”
This was when they exited the cornfield and found themselves a few yards away from the Everfree Forest. Scootaloo paused, wary of the gangly twisted branches of the trees that grew there that looked distinctly claw-like. Only able to see a few feet in, to her the darkness seemed to consume the light that Celestia’s sun provided. This somehow made it seem a lot scarier than it did that night they went searching for Fluttershy’s chicken.
“Come,” said the unicorn. “We need just a little more time and this is the only way we’ll have it.”
The orange filly swallowed hard and followed. “W-where are we going?”
“I’m going to show you where to meet me next time,” he said. “Changing shape takes conscious effort and maintaining it requires a lot of energy. I’ll cast a spell that should hold your current form for the next few days. That will give you time to meet me so you can learn to change yourself.”
~~~~~~~~~~~
“Ms. Cheerilee, wake up,” cried Sweetie Belle, shaking the unconscious teacher for all she was worth. “C’mon, you have to get up.”
Diamond Tiara came and pushed the white unicorn. “Get off her. That’s not helping.”
“Well, what am I supposed to do?”
“She needs a doctor,” the pink pony stated not missing the chance to regain her pompous air. “So go to the hospital and fetch one.”
“But what about Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle demanded, “That colt just foalnapped her.”
Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes. “Tch, go call the guard then,” she said waving a dismissive hoof as she walked back to the classroom. “That’s what they’re there for.”
Her reentry was impeded briefly by the appalled form of none other than Silver Spoon. Their eyes locked for a moment before Sliver Spoon shook her head. “What is wrong with you?” and passed into the hallway where the rest of the class was huddled around Ms. Cheerilee’s unconscious form. “Alright everypony, there’s no time to lose,” she said, gaining all of her classmates attention. “We need to get the adults here as quick as possible.”
Nods of assent were seen all around and she continued. “Snips, Snails. Go to the school bell and ring it as loud and as hard as you can, and don’t stop until the adults get here. Featherweight, go to the hospital as fast as you can and get a doctor. Archer, go with him and get anypony you see on the way to come here as quick as possible. Sweetie, Pibsqueak, you and I are going after that foalnapper. Everyone got it?”
Shouts of affirmation rose up from her fellow students. There was one purple filly who hadn’t been assigned a job, and she gently prodded Silver Spoon to get her attention. “B-but, what do I do?”
“You get the most important job,” she said. “You stay here and tell the adults what happened, and help Ms. Cheerilee if she wakes up.” At that the kids all scattered off to their respective tasks.
As the three of them galloped off in the direction of the older unicorn Sweetie was the first to voice concern over this plan. “Hey Spoon?” she asked, having some trouble speaking through her running breaths. “Even if we … catch up … what are we … going to do?”
“Keep a safe distance and follow him,” she said. “If he sees and tries to catch us we split up and run in different directions. He can’t catch all of us.”
This may have belayed Sweetie Belle’s fears, but Pibsqueak wasn’t so convinced. “But what if there’s more?”
“Well then you’ll just have to run faster than them, won’t you?”
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Interesting... I wonder if this means Scoots will hear or figure out what really happened with "her father", and what this will mean for his future: Will she defend him?... It would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, without revealing the whole truth, yet revealing the whole truth would require her revealing herself as a Changeling--probably a bad idea if she wants to live. -or not "take 'her father's' place" and be imprisoned for life (probably until starvation sets in...). If she's successful, though... this would rock the equestrian justice system to its core! -hopefully with an ultimately better-than-before result...
On another note, I'm really hoping this doesn't result in Scootaloo rejecting her real self and legacy. I've seen so many stories with that premise, many of them automatically assuming "Changelings are evil! -except the protagonist because PONIES!"... while usually ignoring that they set up the lore so that this "replace a pony at infancy" has been used for generations of Changelings. Oi... It doesn't seem so far as if you're going this way! -but one never knows if an author has an unpleasant surprise waiting...
This should say they're.
Edit: Oops, it appears that I am unable to read. My bad. The author (as well as everyone who down voted this) is entirely correct in saying that I'm incorrect.
2832905 so it should be "that's what they are they are for"?
2832905 Actually, no, it shouldn't. She's saying that's why they're there. She wouldn't say They're(The compound of they and are) when she's already said it.
If i haven't already, let me take a quote from Six Queens by Princess OtakuGeek...