A changeling is captured and Princess Twilight is tasked with questioning it. Thinking it will be easy, and perhaps finding out what makes these bugs tick, Twilight goes the scientific route, but finds something she did not expect.
Twilight Sparkle gets the chance of researching and questioning the first live specimen of a changeling since the Canterlot invasion three years ago. Twilight goes in with a scientific mind and wants to figure out everything about these evil bugs, as clearly they have shown themselves to be nothing but cruel in the past. However, in an attempt to find a cruel primitive being, she instead finds something she did not expect. A teacher.
Story Tags and notes: There is going to be no explicit sex in this story, but gender, sex, and general reproduction will be a subject, as well as love, affection, morality, society and any other subjects that boggles my mind. This story is something I made out of a combination of my own headcanon for changelings, and with my frustration, yet love, for philosophy, which I study at writing moment at university. This story will have slow updates, but I will work on it. This is as much a work for me, as it is for you. I hope you´ll enjoy.
Twilight was not completely sure how to feel about her situation.
Her first reaction to the message had been shock, followed by curiosity, and finally ending in inquisitive glee that was still hanging on a bit now, even several days later. She could still feel that energy burning inside of her has the message had come across.
They had caught a changeling in Canterlot.
A changeling… in Canterlot… Had been physically captured for the first time since the wedding, three years ago!
And the princesses would like her to be the one to lead the interrogation, and the study of the creature as the first! Any sort of anger or resentment for the creatures had momentarily faded at the prospect of being the first to study an entirely new Species!
Twilight found herself internally squeeing still, even as she was teetering at the door to her basement, waiting for the guards to finish setting everything up. She could be the first pony to study a changeling. She could publish research papers, hold seminars! Maybe even… Publish a Book~
Had Rainbow Dash been here, she would most likely be gagging at the level of egghead Twilight was just radiating everywhere.
A pair of armor clad guards came up the stairs of the basement laboratory, stopping proudly before their princess and bowed with respect.
Twilight did her best to keep her composure, but she was unable to keep her voice from revealing a slight squeaking sound of excitement.
“Is everything prepared?”
“Yes, your highness” The guards confirmed, not betraying any sign of noticing the squeakiness of the princess´s voice.
“Good! Stand guard at the door, and let only my assistant inside. I want to be very thorough in this study” The princess ordered.
“As you wish your highness. Is there anything els-”
Slam.
Both guards raised their heads to see that their princess had slammed the door in their face, and as they could hear, was now squeeing with glee all the way down the stairs. For a while, none of them said anything, until one turned to the other.
“That… Sounded terrifying… Should we be worried?”
“Do you wanna be down there in place of the changeling?”
“No!”
“Then don't think about it…”
------------------------Down in the Basement----------------------
Twilight forsook the use of her wings as she was skipping down the stairs, unable to contain her excitement.
So it was up to the physical world to put a dampener on her. In this case, in the form of there being almost no lights on, so Twilight ended up walking directly into a wall at the end of the stairs.
Shaken out of her giddy mood much a similar to a drunk, Twilight took a moment to compose herself.
“Right! Gotta turn on the lights!”
With almost no effort at all, Twilight lit up her horn and sent a gentle magic pulse through the room, flicking on the switches on the walls and letting the lights come on. Some were magic charged, others were still old candles. But all of them put enough gentle illumination in the room together to get a clear view of everything.
Slightly off to the side in Twilight´s laboratory, a steel cage had been put up to contain the changeling. It had thick bars, and was inscribed with magic runes to contain the beast´s magic suppressed. Twilight was even happy to see that the guards had taken every possible precaution and put the beast in a straitjacket and a muzzle gag on the blasted insect.
“Everything is just perfect!” Twilight said with another small squeal. The guards had been clearly been taking their precautions, which she applauded, but with this excess of safety measures, she could show herself as benevolent and magnanimous to the evil being. Perhaps she could just easily loosen a couple of the less important restraints to warm it up to her and she could get a personal interview!
“The possibilities are endlessssssss~” She almost purred as she was lost in her own little world for a moment.
Clearing her throat, she took a second to compose herself, before she walked over to the side of the cage and peered inside. The creature was completely still. One thing she immediately noticed was the fact that the changeling actually had something you could mistake for a mane. As opposed to the regular drones she had fought back at the wedding, this had a long membrane hanging from the top of its head, kind of like Queen Chrysalis´s mane.
‘Even better!’ She thought. Perhaps this even was some kind of, prince or general! Oh the things she could get out of him!... Her… It… Whatever it was!
With a quick flash of her magic, the gag on the creature clicked and flopped down onto the floor. The creature coughed a moment before Twilight started:
“Hello.” She announced, standing proudly, doing her best to contain the excitement of her voice. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. I am going to ask you a couple of questions, If you don't mind?” She asked with a grin almost reaching from ear to ear.
It took only a couple of seconds for it to drop however as she realized the changeling had yet to move… at all.
“Uhm… Hello?” She asked, raising her voice slightly.
Still no response.
Well that was annoying.
“Hellou?” She tried again, with the same lack of a result. “Oh dear… It´s not dead is it?!” She questioned in momentary panic. Her horn lit up in a gentle purple as a small mist descended over the changeling in a sort of, scanning fashion. Twilight got quite immensely relieved that her spell had been able to at least identify that something was beating inside that thing. So she presumed it was a heart.
“So you are alive… Are you ignoring me?” Twilight asked, not able to hide the slightly offended tone.
The changeling didn't even move a millimeter. It almost looked like it didn't breathe, even if she had just confirmed that it did.
“Listen, you're not going to get out of the cage if you don't talk to me.” Twilight said, inching herself slightly closer to the bars.
Nothing. Bug was still completely still.
This was slowly beginning to grate at the alicorn´s patience.
“You know, I could just send you back to Canterlot, saying that you're uncooperative… And I can’t promise you their interrogation methods are in any way equine.”
…
…
…
“So… It would be nice if you began to talk… right about now?”
…
…
…
“Please?”
…
…
…
“This is ridiculous… I know you can hear me! I am right here!” Twilight grit through her teeth, and glaring at the offending creature, who still refused to respond. “I can't help you if you don't talk to me!” she asserted harshly, almost bordering yelling territory. Though she recognized her own frustration and took a moment.
Deep breath in.
Heavy sigh out.
“Right then… I guess I will have to do this through the scientific method!”
The grand purple alicorn turned on her hooves and went into her cupboard, quickly pulling out, and slipping into a white coat with convenient pockets for her quills. Along with that, she pulled out a clipboard and attached a block of paper to it.
She used a couple of minutes to prepare the page as her ‘Checklist over features of the newly researched changeling race’. She put up a lot of space for extra notes and once she was confident that the list was perfect, she made sure to sign it. Though the research subject made her giddy enough to sign it as ‘Phd. Twilight Sparkle’ and give a little whinny of excitement.
Clearing her throat and turning back to the cage, Twilight´s focus returned to the bug.
“Now, I am going to give you one more chance! You begin to talk to me, and we do this the nice way. Don't, and I do this the scientific way.” The princess stated firmly. Though to be honest, the major difference between the nice way and the scientific way was only really differentiated by the bug´s level of willingness. She was going to need some actual data still.
The changeling refused to respond. It didn't even flinch.
“O-Kay.” She conceded. “Let’s get this started.”
Letting her eyes glance down at the checklist she had made, she took to it one step at a time.
“Name of subject. Currently unknown.” She scribbled down. “Will be referred to, as Subject #1.”
Mentally checking off the name, she went on to the next box. “Sex…”
The quill hovered above the empty space, ready to write the fact, though could not, as Twilight was failing to pull forth a result.
“Uhm… Sex…” She repeated, as she lifted her eyes towards the changeling. Normally you could tell the sex by looking at the general build of the creature, which would give you the correct result at a 9 out of 10 margin, which she could always correct later, in case she was wrong.
But the changeling was different. It looked… Like a changeling… And the only changeling she had confirmed the gender on, was the queen, given the title. Even back at the wedding when she at her friends were in a crazed brawl, she never got any details on this question.
“Sex…” Twilight repeated, fishing for time and walked closer to the cage, eyes scanning over the creature.
Nothing was giving anything away! Beyond the membrane like mane, she saw nothing actually gender defining upon the bug.
The mental notion was raised that perhaps she could just write ‘Unknown’ in the gender box, was quickly shot down. She could not do this half assed! If she wanted to figure out everything about these creatures she would have to begin at some point! And it turned out it would be gender.
“Sex.” Twilight this time said, a bit more calmly, as she was more just reminding herself. She walked calmly around the edge of the cage and got around to the back part, where the changeling was chained to, also the place in which is rear end was closest.
Now, had this been a regular day, of her walking around some random mare or stallion in order to inspect their privates, Twilight would most likely have been glowing red from her muzzle to the tip of her ears. Though this situation was different. This was just science after all. And it was a bug! There was no kind of tension here. It was like seeing Spike in the bath, at most the reaction should be “Aha” or “Huh”.
Getting around to the changeling´s rear, she was disappointed to see the creature had tugged its tail beneath itself. She guessed this was just a regular response of the thing being locked up, so she casually cast a telekinesis spell on the strange tail. It was a strange mix of chitin, but halfway out, it had this flimsy membrane which resembled the maneish membrane.
Tugging lightly at the tail, Twilight´s frustration grew. The changeling wasn't just keeping its tail between its legs out of fear. It was defying her.
“Will you stop that! I gotta check your sex!” She argued at the creature, so thankful none of her friends were around to take that out of context.
The creature refused however. It didn't move as much as a centimeter, but Twilight could feel the resistance on the tail.
“Come on, just stop resisting!” Twilight said, tugging a bit harder at the tail with her magic, still thankful that she had science on her side, and nopony was around to question her words.
Finally able to wrench the offending tail aside, with much applied magical force however, she starred in between the holed insectoid legs, to try and find the creature´s reproductive organs, yet found nothing.
While at first, Twilight was ready to squeal at the possibility of writing down ‘Nongender’ on the list, as that would truly be an interesting concept from a semi sentient biological creature, upon just slightly further inspection, she noticed the chitin plating was closed together. I.E, it seemed there was some kind of protective chitin plate in front of whatever organs this creature had.
“Interesting…” Twilight hmmed, as she inched her head closer and closer to the creature as to study it closer.
This however meant she was too focused to notice what was going on around her. Very specifically, one of the hind legs of the Changeling being lifted just slightly up, and then quickly kicked straight back into her face.
I.E, the changeling bucked Twilight in the face.
Like a stretched out rubber band, Twilight suddenly snapped backwards and fell flat upon her back, grasping her muzzle in pain.
“Argh!” She yelped as the chock ceased and the pain began to really set in. Nothing felt broken, but she could already feel something warm gently drip onto her hooves, and even a tiny bit onto her research notes.
Lifting one hoof up into view, she got confirmed what she suspected. She had gotten a nosebleed.
And it was because of the changeling.
In an instant, Twilight´s attention snapped back and she could feel anger build within her. She flopped back onto her hooves, only using one to hold on her nose to prevent herself from bleeding everywhere.
“You!” She hissed at the creature, which was still just lying un-moving there in the cage, though she did notice a satisfied smirk resting on the bug´s lips. Oh it had been waiting for her eh? So it was going to play hardball!? Well then, Twilight knew how to play hardball as well!
“You know you just attacked a princess of Equestria, right?” She asked almost sinisterly, while walking around to her medical cupboard. This was not the first time she had gotten hurt during her experiments, so it was no surprise to anyone she would keep a first aid kit about.
The creature still didn't react. It allowed Twilight to spout whatever she wanted to spout.
“I am just trying to understand your kind you know!?” Twilight barked at the bug, while stuffing a pair of cotton balls in her nose as to stop the bleeding. “And you're being incredibly uncooperative!” Twilight asserted, holding a hoof to her muzzle for a couple of seconds, letting the cotton stick a bit more properly, before then walking over towards the cage again.
“But you know what? I don't care.” Twilight quipped as she walked over to the cage, unlocking it, opening up the outer door and walking inside. Now within a meter of the restrained changeling, Twilight looked smugly down at the creature.
“Take a deep breath, Subject #1. I think its time I figure out what is going on inside that head of yours!”
Finally, a reaction came out of the bug. It´s eyes snapped open, and it gasped for air. But it was all too late.
Twilight lit up her horn in a very special spell she had read about a couple of years back. A spell which demanded utmost concentration, and recommended the subject´s cooperation.
Keyword being, recommended.
Twilight lowered her head down and touched the tip of her horn against the changeling´s releasing the gathered up magic in one sudden jolt of energy through the entirety of the bug. For just a second, the changeling tensed up in an almost spastic twitch, before the magic returned to Twilight´s horn, giving the go ahead for the second part of the spell.
“Here goes nothing…” Mumbled Twilight, as she closed her eyes and focused her mind onto her magic. But not just as into a spell, but almost as if her mind followed along with the magic she now sent directly into the very being of the changeling. She wanted to know what was going on inside of that buggy head of his.
And she was going to figure it out. Personally.
Everything faded around her, and soon she couldn't even feel her own hooves anymore, as now her consciousness was projected outside of her corporeal body.
Twilight had certain expectations as she had entered the mind of the changeling. She had expected some kind of secret meeting. Maybe a memory of a military training ground. Some kind of animalistic battle between the strongest amongst the colony over food and breeding rights.
Not a classroom.
But that was what she got. Definitely a classroom. It was clearly underground, lit by an eerie green luminescence which reminded her much of the changeling magic she had previously encountered.
The entire class was filled to the brim, multiple changelings even seeming to share their ‘tables’ with others as seats. There were also quite a variation in size of the weird bugs. Some clearly were less developed than others. But in direct opposition to Twilight´s expectations, everything was completely civil. There were groups chatting, some were drawing, others were just sitting in their own thoughts. It reminded her eerily of being back in school. If school had classes across age groups that was.
Suddenly, everything quieted down as a sharp tapping rang through the room.
Twilight turned, as much as she could while experiencing this memory, and saw the changeling. Not just A changeling, the one she currently had locked in her basement, the one whose mind she was scrutinizing at the moment. It was… Smiling?
“Good morning everyling. I am very happy to see you all decided to come to my class. It warms my heart to see your faces again.” Its voice, while in a buzzing and weird clicky way, actually sounded pleasant, and warm. It was genuinely happy.
It then took a step back, picking up a piece of chalk in its magic. “Now, for those of the youngest amongst you, who might not have seen me yet. I am Venerated Zichti, but you can call me ?XcdG?v Zichti.” He said, writing down the name on the board behind him.
One thing that really caught Twilight´s attention was how she could now see through the writing on the board, even if she felt that it wasn't Equestrian, and also the sudden jumble of a word. For some reason it didn't feel… Right. It was as if her brain wasn't giving her the right word, but just the answer closest to it. Which wasn't in any way helpful. Interesting. Also, why this informality? Venerated sounded like quite the title.
“Now.” Zichti started. “Can anyone of you tell me what Love is?”
While Twilight got a sudden rising urge to burst out singing, her confusion and academic curiosity got the better of her.
Zichti turned its head towards a slightly smaller changeling in the front row. “You there, little ling. What is your name?” It asked with a warm smile.
“Cictas…” The younger Changeling squeaked out nervously.
“Nice to meet you Cictas. Now, You're one of our newest here, can you tell me what you think?”
“Uhm…” The young changeling stammered. “F-F-Food?”
Zichti nodded and gave a reassuring grin. “Yes, that is correct...” it stated, beginning to write the word food up on the board.
Twilight was disgusted. How could they possibly take something so special as Love and degrade it to something as simple as-
“But what else is it?”
Both Twilight and some of the youngest changelings was torn from whatever train of thought they had and looked with much confusion onto Zichti.
It however, turned to one of the slightly larger changelings in the class. “Yes, Fletch?”
The changeling lowered his hoof again. “It is a bond. A psychological and emotional reaction that happens between sentient creatures.”
“Mhmm” Zichti nodded. “Elaborate.” it asked, as it continued to write upon the board.
“It’s something that happens amongst Ponies, for example. Usually when they want to pick out a mate. They declare their love for each other.” Fletch explained to the class.
Zichti looked happy with the response, however, he was then quick to point over to another changeling who also had a hoof in the air. “Yes Aethe?”
“But love isn't just a mating thing!” The other changeling threw into the argument. “Its an emotional bond yes, but emotions are, strong things. Its connected to magic as well! So we can't call it completely material”
“But it is also a social and material thing!” Fletch rebutted at Aethe. “It is a prerequisite for many societies.”
“Yes. And yes.” Zichti interrupted the two changelings, halting their cross class debate. “Both of you are correct. It is a material thing. However it is also an emotional thing-”
“But aren't emotions just a psychological thing translated into something physical?” Fletch asked, tilting its head at, what Twilight was slowly coming to realize was, the changeling teacher.
Zichti however smirked slightly, lifting a hoof. “Now, That is an argument you could make. You could be content with the idea of a completely materialistic world. One in which we could equate food, love, magic and emotions, each as different physical elements we could measure with the right tools.” Zichti began explaining. “And that is a fine view to have. But It is my duty as a Venerated, and as your ?XcdG?v, to expand your minds. To tell you that it is possible, both logically and socially, to think slightly differently.”
There was that word again she didn't understand.
The Venerated changeling walked around its desk, leaning calmly back against it for a moment.
“Let me try to explain. We could easily look upon Love as a quantifiable variable. However, this leaves us with some uncomfortable questions. Like say, how does one acquire love? Not as in our way of acquiring it from a pony, but how does it come to be a physical unit? How is it tied together with magic? If love is a material thing, how can it then exist in all sentient creatures we know of? How can it then be stronger in some and weaker in others, Not in difference of race, but in difference of individuals?”
Twilight´s jaw dropped. She was hearing a changeling ask these questions. A changeling… a creature she only knew as a love eating parasitic bug. And here it was, asking questions about metaphysics. These creatures knew philosophy!?
“Also, What would the difference between the different kinds of love be?” Zichti continued. “Could one equate the love a pony feels for their special somepony to that they feel for their mother? Or could you equate that to the love you all feel for Queen Facadé? These questions are not easy to answer. Is it possible to physically measure this?” Zichti asked out into the class.
It then clasped its hooves together. “Tell you what, give me a hoof raise. How many of you believe it might be at some point possible to measure?” Zichti asked, seeing a couple of hooves rising in the class. “A few of you, and don't worry, you aren't directly wrong. There is a reason we are still arguing this.” It said in a reassuring voice. “Now, how many believe we can't?”
A couple more hooves than the other side was raised, but most of the class hadn't even given an opinion.
“And now, how many are undecided?”
The rest of the class promptly raised its hooves, showing both on the number and on their faces, that most was now slowly trying to process the questions themselves. Some were almost despairing, planting their faces directly into their desks in confusion, others were just blinking, trying to get to the answer, as if it was simply a math question.
“Now to all of you… Don't you worry. I don't even know.” Zichti admitted, gaining a couple of gasps throughout the entire class.
“Don't be so surprised. Even Venerated learn new things every day. And one thing I have learned through my life is that, love is important for us… we need it to survive. But I don't think its just physical… For if love is an inherently physical thing, It would be easy to handle, something we perhaps even could grow through predictable patterns in ponies or even amongst ourselves. But we haven't found a way to do that. I am personally of a conviction that this is a much bigger issue.” Zichti explained. “Love has also partly a metaphysical side. It can take physical form in the shape of a spell, nutrition, or even in pain… But much like magic, it is a tricky size and shape.
Something we can't…
quite
get aaaaa hhooooooullld ooooounnnnnn~”
The entire world slowed down to a complete freeze and suddenly dissipated in a white flash.
And just as quickly as she had entered, Twilight was back in the laboratory, thrown onto her back, stunned and silenced.
“What… was… that?” She whispered.
“You tearing my skull open and invading my privacy.”
Twilight´s eyes grew wide and she snapped upright, bringing her eyes, to the source of the changeling who was now glaring at her.
For just a second, the two sentient beings merely stared at each other. The changeling´s piercing glare had softened into one of shock, almost mirroring Twilight´s.
”You understood-” The changeling Zichti chirped in surprise, before snapping its jaw shut, and forcing itself backwards in the cage.
“I understood what!?” Twilight asked rather loudly, her head running wild with all the information she had just pried from the changeling. “Wait, you just spoke Equestrian!” She announced, as if saying it would make sense.
“What!? No I di-“ Zichti snapped his jaw closed again.
“Yes! You just did!”
The changeling leered back at Twilight in defiance, yet held itself back from growling.
“This… You hear this?” Zichti asked hesitantly.
Twilight, while confused about the sudden change of demeanor from the bug-like creature, gave a calm nod. “Yes.” she confirmed.
For a moment, the Changeling looked away, as if contemplating something, before it returned its eyes to the confused Princess. “This is… fascinating.”
“What is fascinating-” Twilight stopped before she could finish as she realized it.
The Changeling´s mouth wasn't matching up to what she was hearing. In fact, thinking back on how the Changeling looked… It didn't look like speaking at all. It looked like… Clicking?
“Say that again!” She needed to know for sure.
Twilight´s command was directly refused, however. Zichti snapped its jaw closed and turned its head away.
Twilight was really not in the mood to be refused right now. She was just over the edge of one revelation, and a second one was so close that she could taste it!
“I said speak!”
The changeling was silent.
“I heard you speak before! Speak!” Twilight ordered with increasing frustration. She needed confirmation of her hypothesis! “Speak!” She glared at the bug. “Speak!”
“Roll over!”
The sudden appearance of another voice snapped away Twilight's attention. Outside the cage stood her number one assistant, the familiar purple and green scaled baby dragon, Spike, holding a file pack in his claws.
“Spike? What…?” She asked in confusion.
The small dragon shrugged his scaly shoulders.
“Well, you seemed to be barking orders at the changeling as if it was a dog, so…” He mumbled.
Twilight blinked a couple of times, taking in the words of her assistant. Her eyes shifted back and forth between him and the bug-like creature in the cage for a few moments, before she could feel a light blush arrive on her cheeks.
“Uhm... Right... How silly of me.” She admitted, trying to laugh it off. Also now she realized she had asked the guards to let Spike pass if he came.
While her laughter was gently dying down, Spike walked closer to the cage, peering inside at the Changeling who only returned a sideways glance at him.
“Wow. They really look odd up close. Not too scary when they're not hissing at you though.” He added with a soft smile.
The smile was actually returned to the assistant, and Zichti looked softly upon the small dragon.
Twilight in the meanwhile, was just trying to gather her thoughts back into coherence.
‘What in the sun and the moon is going on!? - How come I couldn't hear that one word in its head? - Where was the link between a philosophy class, and then invading Canterlot like a parasitic horde? - What is a Venerated? - And who is Queen Facadé?!’
“Twilight!” a pair of claws snapped in front of her, forcing the alicorn back into the real world.
“I… Huh - What?” She mumbled, shaking her head and looking back at Spike.
“You were spacing out again.” he chastised. “Were you just overthinking things?”
“Uuuhmm…” Twilight was tempted to go for the denial, but didn't get the chance.
“I thought so…” Spike said, slapping a palm against his own face in frustration. “You need a break.”
“What!?” Twilight was aghast at the notion. “But I have only just begun, Spike! I can't just stop before I get any real data!” She said, her hooves grasping the little dragon's face. “It goes against everything in scientific theory!”
Spike, however, held onto his cynicism. “And so does going on to research in a state of panic, delusion or theory-bias.” he retorted back to her.
For a moment, Twilight was silent, only responding by blinking a couple of times.
Spike decided to preemptively respond to the unspoken question. “Yes, I do, in fact read some of those books you give me.” He asserted confidently. Though he did fail to mention the key factor of that sentence was 'some'. Two out of a hundred could still be accounted as 'some'. It was no surprise that the second book had been on semantics.
“B-But-” Twilight tried to start, the surprise knocking her authority over some, although was interrupted again by her concerned assistant.
“No buts Twilight! You are freaking out, and you need to take a distance to this. At least for lunch!”
“What? I don't need lunch! I am perfectly full!” The alicorn said, willfully ignoring the low growl she was feeling from her stomach.
That was the last straw.
”That's it. You're taking a break.” Spike announced, as he firmly pushed the princess forwards in the direction of the stairs.
“Spike, I am telling you...” Twilight began, her hooves locking back and pushing against the ground, like a dog refusing to go to the vet. “I am completely fine! And I have more things I need to examine...” She said, her eyes staring almost longingly at the mystery in the cage.
“Well you can ask it, once you have gotten your breakfast! And with me here!” The small dragon casually threatened as he pushed the Princess step for step up the stairs.
“But-”
“No buts!” Spike cut off the alicorn again. “You're getting breakfast, and that's that! Don't make me mail Celestia again!”
For just a second, Twilight remembered countless times she already had been caught neglecting her material form by Celestia, and the disappointed look she had. The mere thought was enough to ruffle the new Princess´s feathers.
“You wouldn't dare...” Twilight hoped to call his bluff.
“Try me.” Spike glared back at Twilight, the two having a momentary staring contest. Neither side wanted to back down, And spike was ready to open the door now, leading out of the cellar. All he needed, was to turn the handle.
The princess lost the initial clash of the starring wars, as spike simply opened the door, and gestured out of the basement.
Twilight sighed in defeat. “Fine! I'll eat, but I gotta get back down there. I am on the verge of a breakthrough!”
“And of a breakdown.” Spike cynically replied.
Opening her mouth for a rebuttal, Twilight found herself unable to give an adequate reply. She couldn't deny her mind was flooding with questions, theories, and concerns for the future consequences.
‘Why did Zichti not just say anything?’ She bemoaned mentally.
Spike did a casual salute at the guards as they left the basement and went on into the long empty hallways of the castle.
While the castle had been spiffed up quite a bit by the girls, the hallways did still have that, ‘You are insignificant’ feel about them. And to remove that, would demand a bit too much work… Most likely involving lowering the ceilings.
Though it the comparison did make entering the specific rooms, that much more of a relief.
With a minimal amount of creaking, they entered the door to the kitchen. The sight of the rustic farm decor was like leaping into a warm bed after having trudged through a snowstorm. A warm sensation just bloomed within her as the two got properly inside, seeing the plaid rags, wooden kitchen counters as opposed to the main crystal, an actual fridge and firefly lighting instead of glowing crystal.
“Right!” Spike announced. “You sit down, and I'll have some pancakes ready for you in just a few moments!”
Twilight rolled her eyes slightly, her mind still stuck on the amount of time she was losing right now. “Spike, I can cook just fine-”
“Letter!” Spike threatened, with a claw lifted at the purple alicorn.
“Urgh” Twilight groaned in frustration. Spike was really determined to get her to sit down and eat. “Fine. But i'll just eat one! I have to get back to the research, and there is nothing you can do to distract me for any longer than ten minutes!”
Half an hour of civilized dinner later:
Twilight sighed in relief as she finally had downed the last pancake.
“Thank you Spike.” She conceded, accepting the dragon´s original proposal had been, the best choice.
“You're welcome Twilight. Now, do you promise me you will try to calm down?” The small dragon pleaded softly, holding his claws behind his back.
Twilight smiled. How could she say no to that?
“I promise, Spike.”
Happy with that, Spike´s face lit up happily, and he pulled his claws out from behind his back, holding a file pack.
“Hmm?” Twilight tilted her head. “What is that?”
“That, is a follow up report on the Changeling in your basement. Courtesy of the Canterlot Intelligence Agency.”
Instantly, Twilight's brain flared up in giddy interest again. She might have been confused by her direct studies of Zichti, but with the help of the CIA-
“Wait, Why didn't I get this report sooner!?” Twilight asked, seeing as this could hold critical information she needed when working on the changeling.
Spike shrugged gently, though gave a slight glare, as Twilight already seemed to be forgetting her promise already.
“Derpy said she heard something about a ‘cock-up’ at the Canterlot Intelligence Agency. But other than that, I don't know.” he said, not knowing anything further himself.
Yet another groan of frustration escaped Twilight as she clasped a hoof against her face. Nothing was going her way today. This was supposed to be one of the best days of her life. In the ideal world, she had just gone down there, examined the changeling thoroughly, figured out what evil it was going to do in Equestria, and she could start to write down her preliminary research notes by 15:45…
Instead she was bucked in the face, her notes almost unusable. And she had seen something she still couldn't believe. Zichti and its class.
Was it all a trick? She had read that it was possible for powerful unicorns to isolate an invader if an opponent tried to reach into their minds. It was possible that the subject could have shown her exactly what it wanted her to see?
All this hypothesizing just, collapsed in on itself, as one little detail returned to Twilight's conscience through her reflexion on the crystal table. She was Princess Twilight Sparkle, princess of magic, and one of the most powerful unicorns in Equestria. She didn't want to toot her own horn, but her own level of magic should be pulled into account. That was empirically provable after all!
Groaning loudly, Twilight dropped her head onto the table in frustration. Everything was suggesting what she saw was true… But… it couldn't be… Why then would they have invaded Equestria? If they had that level of intelligence, it makes no sense for them to attack a food source and ruin their entire race´s chances for ever gaining nourishment again! Revealing the fact that you can disguise yourself as anyone, kind of defeats the point of having that ability.
Clasping her hooves to her face, Twilight snapped out of her thoughts again.
‘One thing at a time, Twilight… One… Thing… At… A… Time’.
She took a deep breath, and shifted her focus to the report, picking it up in her magic and dropping it on the table in front of her.
Flipping open the report from Canterlot, and scanning over the first few pages, Twilight's heart sank.
According to this, the changeling had been impersonating a guest lecturer at Canterlot University. A pony by the name of 'Clear Cognition', aka ‘CC’ and ‘Cog’. So far, the guard has not found the real Cog, nor have they found any evidence of his whereabouts after searching Cog´s apartment. In fact they described it as 'Severely underused'. Interviews with the University staff did not gain much information of Cog as he didn't have many friends on the University itself. Looking down the page, Twilight did catch the names 'Smooth Talk' and 'Light Wing' however. Those were the only two who really counted themselves as friends of Cog. According to the report, both were acquitted of any charges as a detector spell came up negative on both.
'So...' Twilight thought to herself. 'The changeling by the name of Zichti, replaced a pony by the name of Clear Cognition and none of his friends noticed.'
That meant that Zichti was indeed, infiltrating, in some way or another. And if she had to presume the worst, Canterlot university did have…
She couldn't bring herself to finish that sentence.
Sure, Canterlot university was prestigious, but she could not think of ANYTHING there which could be deemed ‘Crucial to national security’. So why would Zichti even replace Cog? And what had Zichti done to Cog?
“Is there even a Cog?” Twilight suddenly mused. She flipped more and more through the file, though the details on this Cog seemed flimsy at best. There was enough information to state that he might have been a pony. Yet now that she was looking at it, looking for any holes a changeling could use, there was also quite a few details supporting her hypothesis. Cog had an apartment, but it was underused. Cog was according to the files, only hired as a guest lecturer, leaving the university at months at a time, and no current, close family to question. At least not within the nearest thousand kilometers.
“This seems… Sloppy.” Twilight mumbled.
“What does?” Spike asked, who had been mainly focused on clearing the table.
“This file. There is just a lot of papers out of place, and the details on Cog seems sketchy at best…”
Spike walked over next to Twilight, the young dragon doing only a quick, half hearted skim over a single page before shrugging. “Maybe the Canterlot Intelligence Agency just got a bit overzealous? Looking for problems where there weren't ones?”
“Or maybe somepony has tampered with the file…” Twilight said suspiciously.
With a frustrated groan, Spike slapped his claw against his forehead.
“Twilight, Not everypony is as thorough as you.”
“But this should exactly be a case where one was thurough!” A thump sounded from Twilight´s hooves hitting crystal. “The last time we saw any changelings, they invaded canterlot!”
“Yes, years ago…” Spike groaned. “Not even the guards who were in the battle for Canterlot is taking it as seriously as you do.”
“What!? How do you know that!?”
“Stand Vigil told me.”
Twilight blinked in confusion. “Stand Vigil?”
“You know, the guard who is assigned along with Sure Guard, who you placed at the door to the cellar?” Spike offered, hoping that Twilight would remember on her own.
However, Twilight's lack of a response and occasional confused blinking told Spike all he needed to know, and he groaned. “Go ask them yourself. Don't get another nervous breakdown just because you forgot to ask the name of someone you wouldn't normally ask the name of.” Spike shooed, waving his claws at the Princess, who was only just snapping out of her frozen state.
“Right! Ask them! Direct information! You're a genius Spike!”.
The little dragon, loved praise, so he allowed Twilight to storm out of the room with that comment. It was only way too late that he realized, that left him alone with all the chores again.
A drawn out groan escaped the dragon. “Well… I guess I got praised…” He chastised himself, realizing he fell for it once more. “Oh well.”
In the meantime, Twilight was already cantering down the hall, her thoughts circling around, and trying to copple everything together. Helped along with one larger framing device now. She had direct witnesses, the Guards.
It didn't take her long to reach the guarded door again.
The Canterlot guard had, as much other military forces, the uncanny ability to appear similar on the surface, yet once you got underneath their skin, they were all their different ponies. Taking off the uniform, and suddenly you found ponies all with different reasons for joining the guard and different ideals to uphold within the guard. Twilight found it incredibly fascinating, this way in which individuality could be retained, even as it was abstracted from on a daily basis.
Yet now, she needed one of these individuals.
She stood before the two guards, who were staring ahead as demanded of their training, yet still being at complete attention.
Twilight cleared her throat. “Which one of you is Stand Vigil?”
One of the seemingly identical guards turned his head to the Princess, bowing his head respectfully.
“Thats me, Your majesty.” He answered, giving a slightly confused tilt of his head as he looked back up at her. “Was there an order I forgot to follow, your majesty?”
“Oh no no no” Twilight shook a hoof reassuringly. “You've both followed your orders admirably. I just would like to ask a few questions which might help me in my study of the changeling.”
Now the confusion was almost painted on the guard´s face. “Questions?” He repeated, only a slight nervous twitch of his tail revealing to his comrade that he remembered their conversation earlier. “What could I add, your majesty?”
“I hear that you were also present during the invasion of Canterlot?” Twilight clarified with a slight tilt of her head.
That did not appear to make things any clearer for the guard. “I was, your Majesty. But... Why is that important?”
“I would just like to hear your opinion on it.” Twilight tried to prod. She wasn't completely certain herself what she was wanting to hear, but perhaps it could clear up her mind.
“My opinion?”
“Like, what did you experience? What did you see of the Changelings?”
Vigil took in Twilight´s question and allowed himself to consider it. He wasn't sure what his princess exactly expected, so he decided to pick whatever popped to mind.
“Well, I was part of a force which was pretty quickly overwhelmed by the bugs. They disarmed us and stuffed some of us into cocoons. I never got to that part, I was simply... glued together with one of my comrades.” he offered.
“What did you notice of the changeling´s behavior?”
“Behavior?”
“Did they appear to have any specific hierarchy?” Twilight clarified.
“Oh... Hmmm.” Vigil thought back. “There was a couple of them who appeared to be clicking more or less at the others. Much like lesser non-commissioned officers in a military force.”
“Did any of them look like they had a mane?” Twilight asked slightly hopefully.
“Hmm...” Vigil brought a hoof to his chin. “Now that you mention it. There was one.”
'Bingo!' Twilight thought. 'I knew Zichti was part of thi-'
“Though it seemed actually rather old.” Vigil added.
Once again, Twilight´s hypothesis was crushed before she even got it out of the gate. “What do you mean it seemed old?”
“Well, it was limping, and was actually supported by two others. Not only that, that mane thing, as you describe it, was pretty flimsy and almost ruined.
“Uh-huh...” Twilight tilted her head in confusion. “What did it do?”
“Well, it appeared to inspect us. Then it coughed quite a bit, and then it hobbled out again.”
Twilight made a very un-princess like groan and dropped her head completely.
Vigil´s eyes widened in slight panic. “I-Im sorry your majesty if that wasn't what you wanted to know-”
“Don't apologize for that, it's alright.” Twilight was quick to clarify. “I just... This doesn't make sense...” Twilight bemoaned. “Why would so many follow along to such an insane plan?”
“Well... If your superior officer gave the order?”
Twilight's head snapped up, attention shifting to the other guard, Sure Guard. “What do you mean?”
The other guard, while slightly uncomfortable by suddenly being questioned by the Princess, but he cleared his throat.
“Well, if it had been us, in the guard, and Princess Celestia had given the order to subdue the entirety of Gryphonstone and occupy the city, we would have done it.” The guard explained.
Twilight blinked in confusion. “What?! Why in all of Equestria would you do that!?”
While taken aback by the raised level of the Princess's voice, Vigil decided to back up his comrade. “We trust the Princess. Whatever she would have planned with such an order must somehow amount up to the best for Equestria.” Vigil clarified.
Twilight's head felt like suddenly a load of cogs were either turning or connecting. She was so close to get some sort of breakthrough here.
“But if that order appears in every way to be wrong?”
“Your majesty. We are guardsponies. We do our duty and follow orders. If we had to consider the moral ramifications of every order we get, considering the limited information we can ever get, the guard could never function.” Sure Guard asserted. “A guard follows without question, and a leader leads without doubt.”
Twilight bit her lower lip to stop herself from bursting at that comment. She didn't come to the guards to argue morality, and she knew if she just exploded in opinions, the likelihood of saying something she had not thought through completely was dangerously high. She just needed more information.
“Did you hear any of the changelings mention the name Facadé?”
Stand Vigil rubbed his chin in thought, before shaking his head. “No, does not ring a bell. The changelings barely spoke a word Equestrian. At least not when I was awake.”
Twilight felt her heart sink slightly along with a small sigh escaping her muzzle.
“Thank you, for your help, guardsponies. Remain at your post.” Twilight weakly commanded, before walking past both of them, onto the stairs leading to the lab, and closing the door behind her.
Stand Vigil and Sure Guard both exchanged a slightly concerned look.
“You think she is okay?” Stand Vigil asked. His comrade only shrugging.
“We can only hope so… I guess studying the thing might be just as hard as fighting it.” Sure Guard offered as his explanation.
“I dont know… I think she´s having it harder. Those things were smart after all. Once they were out in the open, you at least knew which way the bucks are coming from.”
On the other side of the door, the guards’ conversation was nothing more than a muffled mumble to the princess of friendship who had sunk onto her haunches.
And today was supposed to be such a good day.
Twilight didn't know what to do now. The guard had not been any help, and while Spike´s enforced break had been a welcome relief off her shoulders, she was only now right back into the pits of frustration. There was too many unanswered questions, and all the answers lay down in the head of an uncooperative changeling.
Twilight took a deep breath before she ventured back into the laboratory again. She needed to have the right... attitude this time. The correct mindset. A better way of handling this.
Down there was a sentient creature there was no denying that. But it was still dangerous. Too many questions lay unanswered. She would need to get an answer to those to determine whether or not it was to be trusted. One way or another.
Making her way down the steps had never really felt so... jarring before. It was as if she was walking down into a completely different place. Her conscience just made, everything feel off.
She shook her head, she needed to focus to get to the bottom of this.
As the cage came into view, and the form of the restrained changeling forced itself onto her, Twilight felt the distinct pang of cognitive dissonance. She needed to keep it restrained. It was a changeling, it was dangerous, it was a threat to Equestria! But... It was also... A changeling. Something she, really didn't know anything about beyond the invasion, and what she had forcefully dug out of its mind.
Gathering herself and focussing forwards, Twilight stood proudly before the creature again, who still refused to look at her.
“Venerated Zichti. I am Princess Twilight Sparkle.” She announced, pushing her chest forwards to not betray any sort of fear or worry. “I was there during the invasion your kind brought upon our capitol, and I saw the devastation it brought the city.” She spoke slowly, methodically. She tried just as much to convince herself, as the changeling. “A queen of yours brainwashed my brother, kidnapped my sister in law, hurt my teacher, and actually fought my friends… Your invasion was repelled, yet no recorded signs were found of any of your kind, before you were found.”
The changeling´s ears perked up just slightly, and it turned its head just enough to look back into Twilight's eyes with its own iris-less orbs.
This was a good sign, Twilight felt, so she continued.
“Considering Queen Chrysalis admitted she decided and wanted this invasion for the desires of both herself, and your race, this leaves you in the situation of being at best: Considered an accomplice, and at worst: An enemy of the state.”
Nothing. The changeling didn't even blink at her, as Twilight was summing up its situation, it didn't flinch. She didn't want it, but Twilight could feel a small tinge of anger bubble within her again. It didn't make any sense. If it was innocent, why didn't it speak? If it was guilty, why had she seen what she had seen in its head? She could not imagine someone like Chrysalis encourage philosophical discussion.
Shaking her head a moment, Twilight dismissed that train of thought, remembering ‘Queen Facadé’, another question which put a spanner in her theories.
“Now, with all that considered, it is my duty to find out whether or not you are still a threat to Equestria, and considering the last invasion came out of nowhere, the evidence is quite weighted against you, Venerated Zichti.”
Still nothing happened. The changeling refused her yet again… The pattern was repeating.
“And to do that, I will force myself into your mind, if necessary. Your thoughts could hold the secrets to another invasion.” Her words summing up what was going to happen, just as much to convince herself of the good of her action.
“So if you have anything you wish to say. Anything which would acquit you of these charges. Now would be the time to mention them.” Twilight said, her words firm, yet behind the feigned confidence, she really hoped that Zichti would begin to talk. Yet nothing.
She bit her lower lip. The changeling still didn't move or respond. She could not back down. She had to go in again…
“Are you certain you do not want to talk?” She tried one last time.
No response.
She sighed in defeat. Nothing more could be done about it.
“Well… Have it your way then…” She frowned. Her horn lit up again, as the spell prepared, and she towered over the restrained buglike being, ready to dig into its head again, and find something to protect Equestria.
“I better find something better this time…” She mumbled to herself. As she lowered her head, she thought back to the class she had seen in its head. She clenched her eyes shut. No, she could not think back to it. She had to think of this bug as an enemy. Just an enemy…
She couldn't… So she chose another childish way of easing her nerves.
“Besides, your theory about love is bogus.”
“Hey!! That's a ridiculous assertion, You didn't even hear the full extent of my the-”
Twilight’s eyes snapped open, immediately locking eyes with the Changeling who´s eyes grew just as wide as the pony before it, realizing it had just messed up and snapped its jaw closed again.
Thinking she might have found the perfect way to get the changeling talk, Twilight simply glared at the buglike being.
“I don't need to hear the whole thing! You're basing your argument on the point that we can't understand love because we can't quite get a hold of magic, or cannot perfectly understand it. But we do!” Twilight asserted.
“What!?” Zichti almost shouted, inhibitions apparently being thrown away and replaced with frustration. “That is firstly not what I said, secondly, are you seriously claiming you have a perfect understanding of magic!?”
Twilight smirked. “Of course we know what magic is. It is an energy, a field, something which exists around us constantly. Something which we, via will or something intrinsic inside of us, can draw upon to fuel different powers.” Twilight asserted confidently. All her years of studying the practice of magic was surging back into her mind, as the argument began.
“So, according to you, magic is a clear materialistic substance, which contains some kind of substantial existance somewhere?” The Changeling clarified.
“Exactly.” Twilight declared. “After all, magic can be experimented with, tested, changed, create new spells, it must be a material thing in order for material beings to completely interact with it.”
“But then what about friendship?”
“What?” That question felt a bit off and out of nowhere for Twilight, but the Changeling seemed intent on continuing.
“There is a saying, which you as Princess of Friendship, has proven on multiple occasions.” Zichti started, sitting itself upwards, grunting a moment as it was hard moving inside the straightjacket. “The idea that ‘Friendship is Magic’. We just clarified, that magic was material, and that it was something which could be directly experimented with. But if friendship also is magic, which you have shown with your defeat of Nightmare Moon and Discord, then should we assume that friendship also is a materialistic entity?”
Twilight blinked for a few moments, taking in the words of the Changeling. “I,..” She began, but Zichti interrupted her.
“Is Friendship, a metaphysically, and normatively, separate material entity, like your definition of magic, Twilight Sparkle?”
“I… Guess it would be.” Twilight said, deciding to bite the bullet on this one.
“So, by this definition. A magic spell, which would forcefully make you, my friend, would hold the same weight, as a friendship you had gained through interaction?”
Now that, struck a nerve.
“What?! No! I… How even… That's a logical fallacy!-”
“Twilight?”
“-You cannot simply go from questioning the metaphysical existence of love, to suddenly comparing coercion to voluntary action!-”
“Uhm… Twilight?”
“-I was saying that magic was a thing you could achieve in an internalistic way as well, and the same rules apply to friendship, and making the internalistic, voluntary and non coercive way a superior, and more reasonable explanation for the-”
“TWILIGHT!”
Finally the voice of her number one assistant forced itself into her reality, making her turn her head aside, seeing the dragon besides her again, but this time he was looking at her with eyes as wide as dumbbells.
“Why are you shouting at the changeling?... It was just clicking at you…”
Twilight´s booming and excited voice almost caused the entire castle to shiver. This would not have been the first time her shouting had been to the detriment of structural integrity, but this time it was the signal of a good mood. Or, at least that is what Spike was convinced it was. Judging from the grin that was now stretching from ear to ear, making her look like a strange mix between the cheshire cat and an escaped mental patient.
The purple alicorn towered victoriously over the chained up changeling as she pointed at it with a hoof.
“You weren't speaking Equestrian! We have had a Magical Information Transference!” She announced.
Spike tilted his head in confusion.
“A what now?” Spike asked.
“A Magical Information Transference! Or MIT for short!” Twilight started explaining, her smile not wanting at all. “MITns, are magical phenomena which happens occasionally, if a spell connects two or more psyches together in a network, if the spell is either faulty or broken off prematurely, information can end up getting exchanged between the two hosts without actually having to experience it!”
Twilight took a short pause, expecting Spike to be just as excited as her, though it was pretty clear that the young dragon looked more confused than anything else.
“Sorry Twilight, but I got lost around the time you said you had a magical phenomena named ‘Mittens’” Spike just plainly stated.
“It's called MITns. The -ns suffix is how it was written down in the book!” Twilight assured.
“Was the author of the book from Trottingham by any chance?”
“ANYWAYS!” Twilight announced, ignoring Spike´s attempt at ridiculing a scientific term. “It appears that when the bridge between our minds during my previous mind reading spell was broken, an MIT event occurred, shifting information between our neural records without us having actually consciously experienced them!” Twilight's explanation beginning to stretch on. She gestured towards the changeling for emphasis. “The two of us just had a conversation in a language which I had never properly experienced the translation of, as one would during any other linguistic shifts. After all, each language simply is a collection of sounds attributed to logical truths-”
“Oh come off of it.” Zichti scoffed.
Twilight stopped mid explanation as the Changeling interrupted her.
“Excuse me?” She asked, doing her best to not be annoyed by its rude incursion.
“You keep making claims about a supposed metaphysical reality as if it was conventional wisdom.” Zichti clicked away, its tongue only now sounding slightly off to Twilight, as she had been made aware of the difference, much like realizing you were walking towards a mirror.
“I was not done-” Twilight tried to explain, but Zichti would have none of it.
“I don’t need to hear any more! You keep putting your opinionated thesis up as fact-”
“Excuse me!? I was in the middle of explaining, and you were already calling down judgement even before all information was assessed-”
“I don't need to see the entire argument, if I know the premise to be false-”
“But you don't know the premise to be false-”
“QUUUIIIIEEEEETTT!”
The roar that broke the intellectual mud throwing contest had, for once, not been Twilight shouting this, but her faithful assistant instead.
The two fuming (Supposed) academics were both caught off guard and shifted around to see the little dragon tapping his foot in frustration.
“Will you both stop acting like kindergarteners, and instead clarify the situation?” The dragon offered.
“B-But I was-” Twilight began but Spike would not let her finish.
“In Equestrian, please. Try to say something which does not offend the Changeling and start another shouting match."
Reeled in, and taking a moment to compose herself again, Twilight cleared her throat before she started over.
“In essence, My spell let my head get inside of its head, and when I didn't get out of its head the normal way, something stuck on the way out.” She (dumbed down) simplified.
“Ohhhhhh.” The young dragon realized. “Like if you tumble down a hill rather than walking down it?”
While Twilight was much happier with her original explanation, she sighed, and conceded. “Yes… Kind of like that.” - ‘If one were to ignore almost ALL of the details’ She internally grumbled, but decided to let it go, for now.
“So, you speak changeling now?” Spike asked.
“Not really.”
To both his, and Twilight's great surprise, the voice was not the Princess responding, but rather their caged changeling. Both turned their attention to Zichti immediately.
“Excuse me?” Twilight asked, this time more patiently.
“You do not, ‘Speak’, my language, as much as you simply receive a rudimentary translation inside of your head.” The creature spoke in a rather, broken and mispronounced Equestrian dialect none of them recognized. It was as if trying to decipher what someone was saying through their hooves with their mouth full.
“That… was in essence what I was saying before you interrupted me.” Twilight said, her ears flopping down in annoyance.
“No it wasn't.” Zichti simply denied. “It was something completely diff-”
Spike sighed exasperatedly and rubbed his temples. “Are you two going to go back to the yelly-clicky contest?”
While Twilight did not like her heated debate with a different species being called a ‘yelly-clicky-contest’, she did have to admit she was not getting anywhere if she did that.
She turned her head back to give a softish glare at Zichti. “If Zichti here perhaps would answer my questions rather than give me the silent treatment.” She offered.
“If the Princess would let me out of the cage and let me go, we didn't need to have this discussion.” Zichti added, this time returning back into his clicky language, leaving Spike out of the loop.
“We can't let you go Zichti.” Twilight asserted in growing frustration. “Don't you understand our situation?”
“I understand it perfectly well, it is you who do not understand my situation.” The changeling scoffed and rolled over inside of its cage, doing its best to shift its still restrained limbs into something minimally comfortable.
“Well you won't LET me understand!” Twilight threw her hooves in the air. “You just either give me the silent treatment or you begin making all sorts of bogus assertions-”
“NO ATTACKING THE OTHER’S POINT OF VIEW!” Spike was quick to cut in. “I don't want another-”
“Right, another ‘Yelly-clicky-contest’, we get it Spike, thank you.” Twilight groaned. She didn't blame him, but everything was just piling up on top of her here. The only thing she had going for her was the MITn, and it appeared so far to only have caused more grief than gain.
Twilight´s heart rate increased rapidly, as she could feel the lingering anxieties related to potential failure looming over her head. She'd have to do something, and she´d have to think of something fast. If she could not now… perhaps the moment was lost.
So she had to be bold.
She drew a deep breath and lit up her horn.
In one smooth motion Twilight's magic reached past the bars, the damper runes recognizing her magical pattern and allowing her through, and unhooked the straightjacket restraining Zichti. The changeling´s limbs thunked to the floor and it gauged Twilight cryptically.
She replied to the gaze with a calm voice. “Zichti, I want to understand your race. I want to understand every part of it, and I want you to understand that I don't want to hurt you.”
The changeling listened, however it did not waste much time with the jacket. As it was clear it was able to escape the jacket, it wiggled out of the offending piece of clothing. This revealed Zichti´s upper form clearly to Twilight, allowing her to see its holed forelegs and the darker blackened piece carapace on its back. What especially caught Twilight's attention was Zichti´s wings, who now also was released.
Zichti´s wings looked like an almost paper thin membrane, appearing flimsy compared to even its mane, and as Zichti arched its back and stretched it limbs, the wings buzzed with incredible speed. It almost looked like there were three pairs, though that was confirmed to just be an illusion of the eye, as Zichti´s wings went back to being static again.
“So please.” Twilight finished, snapping back to her plea. “Will you cooperate with me?”
She really didn't want to hop back to using the mind reader spell again. Never mind her conscience was bothering her, it was now pretty clear that there was an obvious risk of further MITns. She didn't tell Spike, she didn't want him to worry, but an excess amount of MITns could cause irreparable damage to the neural connectors in the brain, as suddenly information from two different sources would fight for dominance and capacity.
That was a risk. Though only if more sudden interruptions happened mid-spell. But considering that it had already happened once, Twilight knew the risk was high.
'However, if it's for the greater good of Equestria... I'll have to stomach this... I could not forgive myself if my lack of action lead to another invasion'.
Twilight's eyes had dropped to the floor at that thought, and her personal assistant was looking upon her in concern.
And in that moment where no one looked. Zichti allowed a small smirk to flash across its face.
”Alright.”
Twilight and Spike's attention snapped back to the Changeling, who had now sat itself down calmly, stretching its wings a bit again, colour returning to the membrane.
”What?” Twilight asked in surprise.
”I´ll cooperate... At least to clear up this mess.” Zichti grumbled, looking pretty dejected.
That was in almost direct opposition to Twilight, whose wings snapped open at excited attention as all of her problems appeared to have evaporated before her very eyes.
“You'll answer my questions?” She asked, a grin rivalling the infamous Pinkie grin.
Zichti nodded. “Yes.”
One could have suspected Twilight of ceasing to breathe at that very moment as the original excitement of the research potential was re-surging within her. Like lightning, she snapped back and forth in the cellar, grabbing pencil, clipboard, PHD Twilight Sparkle lab coat, extra notepads, extra pencils, and gathering them all together right next to Zichti´s cage.
While this palaver was going on, Spike rolled his eyes.
“Sometimes I wonder why I am even here.” He mused aloud and walked away from the cage. On the side he had himself a little bean bag, for when Twilight wanted him to ‘observe’ her latest findings, which he could recline in. He pulled out an issue of Power Ponies (Volume 3, Dr. Derp Strikes again), and decided to play silent observer.
Zichti observed this go down with a slight inquisitive tilt of its head. Its information on the Princess appeared to be true. Hopefully that would help it now.
Finally getting together every last bit, Twilight returned to the cage, sitting down within a safe, yet respectable distance to the subject, or her interviewee, whichever was most appropriate, most likely something in between the two.
“Alright then!” Twilight said, hovering a pencil a centimetre above her note clipboard. “Let's start with the basics!” She cleared her throat. “Name?”
“Zich-ti.” The answer came simple and calm, The changeling now just sitting upright in a normal fashion, and no longer restrained beyond the damper ring on its horn.
Twilight wrote down the name, satisfied with not having an 'unknown' dirty her research sheet. Though as she finished the dot above the I, a thought struck her. Her original bug like hypothesis had been, placed in a misguided personal bias. So perhaps they were more like ponies than she first expected. She thought to bring this hypothesis to the test.
“Full name?”
Her eyes scanned Zichti carefully as she asked the question. The buglike creature tilted its head for a moment.
“My full name?” It questioned.
Now that was interesting. While Twilight wanted to explode in assumptions and all sorts of ideas as to what this could mean, she had to remove all sources of error.
“You know, family name? Like say, I am Twilight Sparkle. Sparkle is my official surname, though I was named Twilight after my mother, Twilight Velvet.” She clarified.
“So your name is Twilight Sparkle Velvet?” Zichti asked, looking like it wanted to raise an eyebrow if it had any.
“Uhm...” Twilight halted. “No. I am Twilight Sparkle. As in, House Sparkle-”
“So your mother´s name was Twilight Velvet Sparkle?” Zichti asked, the word 'mother´s' switching suddenly and jarringly into its broken attempt at Equestrian again.
Twilight blinked in confusion.
“No... I told you-... Let me start over. Sparkle is a house, but not all members needs to be named Sparkle.” She began to explain, though halted as another thought dawned on her. “Hey I was the one who was supposed to be questioning you!”
“Well you're not doing a good job of it.” Zichti casually replied, and flashed what Twilight was certain was some sort of smirk.
She suppressed the urge to groan in frustration again. It was teasing her. It was just trying to get to her. She'd just need to use some questions which was less ambiguous. (Surprisingly).
“Alright then.” She omitted writing anything other than Zichti in the name box, and moved down to something that should be straightforward. “Gender?”
“Sex or Gender?” Zichti retorted.
“Both.” Twilight was quick to answer. It was not going to catch her off guard with that one!
“Ling and Ling.” It responded.
For a moment, Twilight didn't say anything. She just tapped her pencil against her research notes'. “Which means?”
“What I said”.
“I wasn't asking for your species.”
“I didn't reply my species.”
“Then what do you mean!?” Twilight snapped slightly. This was like trying to get a straight answer out of Pinkie Pie who'd just eaten half of Sugarcube Corner.
“I'll show you mine, if you show me yours.”
Twilight was not sure what she was most annoyed at. The fact that Zichti was clearly teasing her, the content of its teasing, or the fact that she was falling for it. She could feel the anger bubbling within her again, she needed to somehow channel this into her research. She needed clear, unambiguous questions.
'Yes and No Questions' she thought.
“Do you have the capacity to carry children if a suitable mate was provided?”
This caught Zichti in an awkward place. Twilight could see that it was thinking of making another teasing retort, yet for some reason, this time it decided to be serious, and nodded.
“Yes.”
Twilight nodded and wrote down on her note 'Can carry children' before asking again.
“Do you have the capability to inseminate a mate, if such hypothetical suitable mate was provided?”
“Yes.” Zichti responded along with a nod.
“Interesting.” Twilight mused, adding onto her note that information as well. “So you hold the capability and capacity to fill the role of either the typical role of the male or female amongst ponies.” She clarified, though silently hoping that perhaps Zichti would correct her with more detail. Though the Changeling appeared just to sit back and let her make her own assumptions.
“That would make sense, considering you're a shapeshifter. If you had too grounded a sex and gender identity, you might have a harder time with certain disguises.” Twilight thought aloud as she scribbled on a little note pad.
“Or maybe I just have a different view of genders than you do.”
Blinking with irritation, the princesses attention was back again upon Zichti.
“What is your view of genders?”
“They are an interesting thing you ponies got going.” The changeling clicked, laying down in the middle of the cage, careful to not touch any of the bars.
“So you don't have genders?” Twilight asked, the hovering pencil just about to edit all her previous notes.
“I didn't say that.” Zichi sighed, rolling lazily over on its back.
“Then what are you saying?”
The changeling let its eyes wander, casually licking its fangs clean with its slithery green tongue, not answering the question immediately.
Its hesitation was annoying Twilight slightly, but she had a feeling why it was taking its time. They had already been in two 'clicky-shouty' contests, they didn't need another one. Maybe she needed to do a few jabs back at it? It had clearly been taunting her a bit, so why should she not try the same to lighten the mood?
Looking properly at how the changeling had casually laid itself on its back, kind of like a dog lazing out, a strange comment came to her mind, though she was not sure if she could say it.
She swallowed her spit and just decided to 'wing it and be cool'. (Thanks Rainbow!).
“W-Well, If you open up that c-casing between your... l-legs then I could check myself!”
'Hah, got it, now it'll be its turn to flus-'
“My gender is not defined by that. We already defined earlier we were talking about gender, not sex.”
'Oh bumbling breezies it's right.' Twilight thought, but not one to be outdone she tried keeping on the pressure.
“Then show me so I at least can define your sex.” Twilight asserted.
Zichti tilted its head slightly. “I thought it was common courtesy for Ponies not to do that on their first date.”
'It's teasing you Twilight. Zichti is trying to distract you, keep drilling'. The princess thought to herself. She needed to keep up the pressure.
“Nevertheless, you already know my sex, and it's terribly unladylike of you to leave me at such disadvantage.” Twilight pressed.
Zichti appeared unphased, except for a slight buzz of its wings again. The princess was certainly determined to get this information.
'Good'.
The changeling sighed gently. “Very well.”
As if it possessed no sense of modesty, Zichti turned around and let its flank and belly face Twilight. The princess´s jaw dropped in surprise. Her tease had worked, but all too well!
Zichti spread its legs just a slight bit wider in the air, calmly moving muscles that were beneath the hard chitin to pull the- “WAIT!” She borderline shouted.
Confounded, but waiting as requested, the changeling simply stood there, the same chitin plate Twilight had seen earlier that day now staring at her.
She bit her lower lip for a moment before immediately snapping around to the corner. “You can’t show that while Spike is here!” She quickly added.
Zichti´s eyes shifted to the corner where the small dragon was now around halfway through his second comic was now looking up from said comic and blinking in confusion.
“What?” he asked at the two staring at him.
“He's only a baby dragon after all!” Twilight added. “Showing such things to a minor would be... inappropriate!” She continued, grasping at straws to try and backpedal on her previous request. It just felt a lot more awkward asking someone to show you their privates whilst Spike was in the room. And also considering she had less scientific reasoning to back her up.
Spike just rolled his eyes and flipped a page in his comic. “Oh come on Twilight, i'm not that young. I'm not even looking either. I don't mind if you want a changeling to flash you.”
“I do not want Zichti to... 'flash' me! This is science!” Twilight defended, her face scrunching up in a combination of frustration and embarrassment.
“Then treat it like science.” Spike sighed, flipping another page. “It's just biology after all. You talked me through this stuff when I was 6.” He casually added, hoping that it would dispel Twilight's concerns and allow him to return his attention to the Power Ponies.
While it was not much, Spike´s rationalization was enough of metaphorical driftwood for Twilight to cling to. She bit her lip before turning back to Zichti, flipping over a page on the clipboard to get more space for the notes.
“Right then. Go ahead.”
Zichti, who was still laying on the floor, gave a light sigh and continued from where it had left off.
The small chitin plating that Twilight had earlier seen (and gotten bucked in the face for) opened. The plates parted, moving into the changeling's body and revealed what appeared to be a sort of softer, skin like membrane beneath.
Twilight's eyes widened with fascination as she saw the nuances and biological curvatures of this revealed part. Or more precisely, these, revealed parts.
Beneath the plating was what appeared to look remarkably similar to regular pony biology, in what was concerned with reproductive organs. Both facilities of darkly shaded male and female genitalia held places on the being in front of her. While she could not go into absolute details yet, she certainly could clarify her earlier questions with vivid enough details. She also could see that though what was there was remarkably similar, there was also something missing. Specifically half of the ‘male parts’. A few quick mental scans later, helped Twilight come to a potential conclusion. There were several species who did not have the same physiology as ponies on that subject, meaning that there was a lot of potential meanings of this.
“Are they functional?” Twilight asked.
“Do you want to give them a go?” Zichti´s thinly veiled attempt at shaking his verbal opponent for once seemed to completely bounce off of Twilight.
All the embarrassment Zichti had earlier laid upon her, had evaporated by a burning passion for science. And that seemed to power her snark receptors.
“I could, but I think it would be easier for you to just tell me.” She said, taking notes, and what Zichti sincerely hoped were NOT taking sketches.
Not seeing the changeling´s defeated expression, Twilight had quickly written down a couple of potential answers already, putting neat little boxes to cross off when the answer finally came.
“They function.” Zichti conceded.
“Good!” Twilight scribbled down a few more notes. “So that means I can write your sex down as somewhere upon the spectrum of the hermaphroditic.” She said with the sincerest of scientific enthusiasm.
“That’s what she said.” Quipped Spike behind her, flipping a page in his comic book, parroting that joke he had heard a dozen other places.
“Right!” Twilight continued, seemingly ignoring Spike´s inappropriate jib. “Now onto the gender. You seemed to suggest that you didn't have any genders as changelings?”
“Maybe.” Zichti conceded, sitting back up again and closing the chitinous plates.
“Sooo... should I call you 'Mr' or 'Miss' Zichti?” Twilight tapped the pencil against her paper.
“Neither. I am Venerated Zichti, and Che-tin to my little lings.”
“Ahh, Yes. I have been meaning to ask about that.” She was reminded of the title she saw in it´s mind, though also taking a mental note of asking about ‘Che-tin’ later. One thing at a time though. “Venerated is a title?”
“Venerated is my title and responsibility.” Zichti spoke, while through clicking, Twilight sensed a certain amount of pride in it´s words. So it held some sort of office, she presumed, putting a little note about that a the bottom of the page. As the last letter was written down, the dots connected themselves again for Twilight. An opportunity.
“So, how would you introduce yourself?”
Zichti tilted its head, though before it had the chance to derail the question, Twilight continued.
“Like say, if you were to meet with someone on an equal hoof, needing to clarify who you were and your responsibilities?” For a few seconds, Zichti just stared at Twilight, weighing its options. It knew without a shadow of a doubt that mentioning its full name and title would be a lot of information to give to the enemy. Yet, it also knew it would throw the Princess for a loop.
And it would waste more time.
Thus, Zichti lifted its head proudly, bringing its holed hoof over its chest and answered. However, Twilight did not just hear a single voice escape its vocal cord. She could hear the translation, but she could also hear the actual clicking utterance:
