The Day the Darkness Died

by lunabrony

Morning/Rarity 1

Rarity would have loved to sleep in, beauty sleep was desirable for a pony of her brilliance. She was deep in slumber, dreaming of the perfect marriage with the perfect stallion, one who would cater to a lady and be respectful of both her looks and talents. However, with the rising of the morning sun, her favored pet had other plans. Opalescence, a finicky feline of purebred heritage, rubbed her face against that of her owners.

Rarity mumbled, barely awakened. "Five more minutes, Sweetie..."

Opal, seeing that primitive measures were not working, arched her back and hissed, her claws digging into the fashionistas foreleg.

Rarity sprung awake, the soothing slices of cucumber falling from her nightly facial mask. "Goodness! I'm up, I'm up!" Opal looked pleased with herself, and Rarity stumbled out of bed. "Would it be too much to ask to sleep in once in a while, darling?"

"Mow." Was Opal's response.

"I thought as much." Rarity made her way to the kitchen in the back of the lower level of the Boutique she cared so much for. "We really need a servant to do these things. Or Sweetie Belle. Or a robotic Sweetie Belle." She blinked at the thought, and burst into laughter. "A robotic Sweetie Belle, as if THAT would ever catch on." The cat was fed, and Opal was distracted enough for Rarity to move to her cleaning station, to remove her facial. Upon completion, she moved to her workroom, where several of the ponyquins she'd been working on the night before lay dormant. Her attention, however, was not upon them, but upon the pampered cat sleeping atop the nearest one.

"What..." She slowly approached it. "But... I just... you were..." She poked at the cat hesitantly. "Opal?"

The cat opened its bright blue eyes. Rarity stared in confusion. "What..." The cat sat up, its body shimmering. Like a ripple in a lake, it assumed a form known all too well to the fashionista.

"Oh, no, no, not again." She whispered.

The Changeling did not attack, however, and simply sat up, staring at her. Rarity narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Are you going to be trouble?" She asked firmly.

The Changeling shook its head.

The Element of Generosity stared at it for a good long while, then finally relaxed. Opportunity before Opposition, that was as good a philosophy as any. "Good, then you can help me. Sweetie Belle is off on a sleepover with her little friends, and I need a model. You'll do!"

Her guest protested, but was quickly being fitted for a filly sized dress. "You want to prove yourself, you'll help me. Otherwise, you and I are going to have a confrontation." The Changeling relented in defeat. Rarity looked at work, and hesitated. "Still something not quite right, wait here." She left the room to pick up her phone. It was a large clunky thing, and very expensive. But most businesses had them, even if they weren't used all that much in favor of regular mail. Rarity, however, despised the mail system, partly due to the pegasus mailmare's tendency to always get the mail mixed up.

A babbling nonsensical gurgle met her ears on the other end after several rings. "Akka!"

Rarity sighed. "I'm afraid I'm not in a position for shenanigans, Pound Cake. Put your father on." It didn't seem to occur to her that the foal had no idea what she was saying.

The response was equally distorted. "Ibabwa!" The phone quickly changed hooves. "Sorry, Rarity. He's a bit faster than I am. What can I help you with?"

"Is Pinkie available?"

"I believe so, she's downstairs making cupcakes with the missus, as usual. I don't know where she puts it all." Mr. Cake said cheerfully.

Rarity hesitated. "Rainbow Dash wasn't around earlier, was she?"

"Not that I know of, why?"

"No reason. Just an unsettling dream I had once. Would you please tell her to come over immediately?"

"I'll do just that, she'll be over shortly. Is it a matter of urgency?"

"Yes, it is, in fact. Thank you, darling." Rarity hung up, and returned to the workroom, where the Changeling was still waiting patiently. A measuring tape and ruler floated into the air. "You'll be just the model I need for-"

Pinkie slid through the door, scaring the daylights out of the poor unicorn. "HI RARITY!"

"Agh!" The measuring devices clattered to the floor, Rarity clutched her chest. "But... how did you... I JUST called..."

Pinkie snorted. "I know! Sorry I'm late! I used the chimney!"

Rarity stared. "The... never mind. We have a problem." She stepped aside, where the Changeling stood awkwardly in the half finished dress.

Pinkie's eyes went wide. "Whoa! That's a doozy of a problem, alright!"

"Thank goodness you understand. You see what I mean?" Rarity asked.

"I sure do! You're using a back-stitch instead of a cross-stitch, silly!" Pinkie said cheerfully.

Rarity rubbed her horn with a foreleg. "That is NOT the issue, Pinkie. I was referring to, you know, the Changeling wearing it?"

Pinkie gigglesnorted. "Ooooooh. That's not a problem. That's Jeffrey."

"....What."

Pinkie tilted her head, as if Rarity had just asked her why two plus seven equals chair. "Doesn't he look like a Jeffrey? Or maybe more of a Simon."

Rarity sighed. This was going nowhere fast. "The things name is not a matter of importance."

The party pony looked stunned. "Of course it is. If you don't have a name, then who are you?"

"Um... nopony?"

"Exactarundo! And since this Changeling is here, its obviously somepony, which means its not nopony, and if its not nopony, its got to have a name! Easy-peasy!"

Rarity facehooved. "But what do we DO with it?"

Pinkie faltered. "Oh. Why didn't you just say so? Well Jeffrey is already helping, so if he doesn't cause trouble, why not keep him around?"

"I suppose. But we absolutely must keep an eye on him."

"Well, duh. If nopony is watching him, how do we know he's there?"

Rarity facehooved again. This was going to be a long day.

Comments

[Cold Spike]

I love you Pinkie! MOAR!

[Skeeter The Lurker]

I can believe that the changelings aren't evil. After all, they are, by popular consensus, a hive mind.

With Chrysalis out of the picture, they're akin to children, I'd wager.

~Skeeter The Lurker

[That One Guy]

This only gets better and better...
Plus you update every, like, five hours. How could it possibly get better :D?

[lunabrony]

2469628 I regret that there might not be an update for a day or so, I'll be on the Enterprise fighting Gorn :D I write when I can!

[Perteks]

2 references in one short chapter, heh not bad. I hope for some longer chapters

[lunabrony]

2470423 Regrettably the chapters are not going to be that long, this is just a fun side project I do in my spare time.

[SuperChaosKG]

2469427

Hive mind? I say Doomie defys that mentality.

[Saerwen]

Sweetie-Bot from Friendship is Witchcraft and Cupcakes references. Despite the Changelings here are depicted as incapable of speech(That does make it more unique to me though) I'm liking the looks of this. It shall entertain me for the next hour or two. I also like that I haven't noticed any grammar mistakes.

[Leila Drake]

Pinke logic. You just gotta love it.

[JazzyWaffles]

"No reason. Just an unsettling dream I had once."

Oh dear

[WhalenJP]

A babbling nonsensical gurgle met her ears on the other end after several rings. "Akka!"

That's 'Hello!' in baby, lol.

[erictheblue]

2663907
reminds me of the "Freeport Venture" stories, where some changelings had a Hivemind and some were "freeminds" who could think for themselves.
they have a habit of calling themselves "this one" instead of saying "me" or "I".