Out of the Loop
Silence hung over all the ponies in the throne room of Twilight’s castle, none of them wanting to cut the tension in the air.
After looking all around her, Applejack decided to speak up and say what all her friends were thinking. “Does anypony know why Twilight told us to come here?”
“She sounded quite nervous,” Rarity pondered, placing a hoof on her chin. “I do hope everything is okay with her.”
“I hope nopony is in trouble,” Fluttershy worried.
Slowly, the doors to the hallway creaked open, causing every head in the room to shoot towards them. Even more slowly than she opened the doors, Twilight backed in, keeping an eye on the hallway the whole time to make sure her secret meeting was not being spied on.
“Twilight, dear, is everything alright?” Rarity asked, eyeing the alicorn with concern.
“Everything's not alright!” Twilight whispered loudly as she ran up into Rarity’s face, causing her to scoot back in her personal throne branded by her cutie mark.
“So?” Applejack questioned. “Out with it!”
Twilight slithered into her chair, then looked out over the table. “I’ve discovered something important about Starlight Glimmer, something that could have serious implications for us, Ponyville, and potentially, all of Equestria!”
“Which is?” all her friends asked, leaning in impatiently.
Out of nowhere, Twilight procured a single manila folder and levitated it over the Cutie Map that served as her meeting table. “It’s all in here.”
“Just tell us already!” Rainbow Dash demanded.
Throwing the folder open, Twilight levitated all the pictures out and showed them to her friends.
Silence fell over the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony as they stared at the pictures, then to Twilight, then back to the pictures.
“…that’s it?” Rainbow Dash asked, puzzled by the revelation Twilight was presenting before them.
“‘That’s it’?” Twilight echoed, her eye beginning to twitch. “‘That’s it’? That’s all you have to say?”
“Twilight,” Rarity began, “I don’t really see what the big—”
“Starlight Glimmer is a changeling!” she exclaimed, slamming her hoof on the table.
All sound drained from the throne room; not even anypony’s breathing could be heard. Twilight’s friends all looked at each other worriedly.
“You mean you didn’t know?” Fluttershy weakly spoke up after a few long moments.
“You knew?!” Twilight yelled, jumping on top of the table and staring Fluttershy down.
“Of course!” Applejack defended. “Spike didn’t tell you?”
“Spike?!” Twilight exclaimed, turning her attention to Applejack. “Spike knew, and he didn’t tell me that we had a changeling living right here in the castle?” Gritting her teeth together, she turned to the door leading out of the room. “Spike, get in here right now!”
“Of course, Twilight!” Spike yelled from elsewhere in the depths of the castle, the sound of his clawed feet sprinting across the crystal floor soon following. When he arrived, he poked his head through the door meekly, fearing what was next. “Is everything okay?”
“I’m very disappointed in you, Spike!” she yelled, jumping off the table and walking towards him. “You knew Starlight Glimmer was a changeling, and you didn’t tell me?”
“I thought I told you?” He tried to recollect his memories, fidgeting his claws together in the process. “Well, let’s see. First I told Pinkie Pie, because she’s great at keeping secrets.”
“‘First’?” she repeated, tilting her head in ire. “Who else did you tell?”
Spike put a claw on his chin to think, then pulled it down to start counting on it. “Well, then there was Applejack, then Rainbow Dash, then Fluttershy. Then I told Rarity, but she said she had already heard.”
“Rarity, how did you hear about this?” Twilight yelled back, not taking her glare off Spike.
“From Sweetie Belle, of course!”
“Oh, right!” Spike proclaimed, memories rushing back. “I told Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, but I remember Sweetie Belle not being there with them. So I went looking for her, and on the way I told Cheerilee, DJ P0n-3, Derpy the mailmare, Time Turner, Bon Bon, Matilda and Cranky, Lily Valley, Roseluck, Steven Magnet…” He stopped, then looked up at Twilight. “Wait, who did you want to know about?”
Frustrated, Twilight walked back to her throne and sat down. “Okay, so suppose I knew about Starlight all along. Why did none of you say anything about the fact that I haven’t done anything about it?”
“Anything?” Pinkie Pie asked. “Like what?”
“Like try and kick her out, or tell Princess Celestia, or something at all so we don’t get taken over by changelings?”
More uneasy silence fell over the room, which Twilight grimaced at. “Oh, just tell me already!”
“Why would you think she would do anything like that?” Fluttershy asked. “I mean, I know she can be a little harsh, but I really think she’s making a lot of progress with you!”
Sighing, Twilight placed a hoof on her temple. “No, I mean that she could be trying to infiltrate us to let the rest of the changelings into Ponyville! And the fact that she’s gotten this close to us without me finding out, who knows how many other changelings there are in Equestria? Some of Princess Celestia’s highest advisors could be changelings! They could be trying to execute a high-level infiltration of the entire Equestrian government, and at any given moment, they could strike! And if that many changelings across all of Equestria could strike all at once, our entire nation could crumble! By this time tomorrow, Equestria could be no more!”
Every pair of eyes in the room grew at Twilight’s ferocity. “Twilight?” Pinkie Pie asked, raising her hoof.
“Yes, Pinkie?” she answered through gritted teeth, annoyed at not being taken seriously by any of her friends.
“What do you have against changelings?”
“What do I have against them? What do I have against them?! Don’t you remember the changeling invasion of Canterlot during Shining Armor and Cadance’s wedding? They kidnapped Cadance, brainwashed my brother, captured Princess Celestia, and were about to enslave all the ponies in Equestria as food for them! Now do you know what I have against them?”
“That was just a few of them, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash spoke up. “You’re really saying you don’t like all changelings based on what the ones at the wedding did?”
“Even if it was just a few, they all have to do things like that! They change form and take over the lives of those you love, then leech off your love for them! They leave you weak and incoherent, and if you’ve had one after you a long time, you virtually become brain dead!”
“Well yeah, that’s if just one is after you specifically,” Pinkie interjected. “Otherwise, it’s not really like that. You’d hardly notice one if they’re one of your super-close friends and they’re also friends with your other super-close friends.”
“You seem to know a lot about changelings,” Twilight said with suspicion, narrowing her eyes at Pinkie Pie.
“Well, duh!” she said, sitting back in her own personal throne. “Of course I would know about changelings. I am one, after all!”
“You’re a what?!” Twilight exclaimed, slamming her hooves on the table again. “Since when?”
“Since I was born, silly!” A bright green flash of light started at her head and quickly moved down her body until the insectoid body of a changeling remained. “Actually,” she mused, putting a hoof on her chin, “I guess when I was an itty bitty little Pinkie inside Mama Pie’s belly, I was a changeling then, too.”
“And you planned on telling me this when?”
“I thought I told I told you.” She stared at the ceiling, deep in thought. “I know I told Spike, weren’t you there?”
Spike blushed as Twilight snapped her head back to him, daggers flying out of her eyes.
She brought her head back down and started shaking it. “No, now that I think of it, you weren’t there when I told Spike. But I could have sworn I told you at some point!”
“What difference does it make?” Applejack asked. “She’s still the same Pinkie Pie you’ve always known.”
“Yeah!” Pinkie added. “Why did you think I always try to make everypony so happy? If they’re happy and a lot of love is flying around, nopony gets hurt when I have to feed!”
“But you love sweets!” she insisted. “Changelings don’t need to eat pony food!”
“That’s because they’re soooooo goooood…” Placing her hooves on her cheeks, Pinkie began licking her lips, drool falling all over her throne.
“Applejack,” Twilight began, looking to the other side of the table, “aren’t you and Pinkie Pie related? Do you have any changelings in your family tree?”
Applejack scratched her head. “A couple here and there, now that I think of it. And I don’t know if Pinkie and I really are related, but I guess someone in her family could have married somepony in my family. But any relation would have to be pretty far back, because—”
“Fine!” Twilight exclaimed, sulking back into her throne. “Anypony else like to admit they’re a changeling, while this is all coming out?”
Sheepishly, Fluttershy raised a hoof. “Um, I’m a quarter changeling…”
“Really?” Pinkie Pie beamed. “That’s so cool! I always thought there was something familiar about you, but I never would have guessed! Well, I would have, and I did. But there were so many things it could be, and being a changeling wouldn’t have been at the top of my list. The toppy-top, at least. It definitely would have been up there.”
Opening her mouth wide, Fluttershy pointed to one of her fangs. “See? I know it’s not really big and it’s the only physical thing that’s like a changeling, but it’s still there.”
Twilight studied it intently. “But Fluttershy, I thought that was leftover from when you accidentally got transformed into a bat?”
“Twilight,” she smiled, “now that’s just silly.”
“And why did you think she was able to change?” Rarity questioned further. “No normal pony be able to go through to go through such a massive body modification like she did, so it was obviously her changeling heritage that allowed her body to change form!”
“That…!” Twilight cut herself off and put a hoof under her chin. “That makes a lot of sense, actually. Why didn’t I think of that earlier?”
“Twilight,” Fluttershy asked, “why are you so upset that Starlight is a changeling?”
“I just...well, when you think about it…” She turned to face Fluttershy. “Why wouldn’t it be a big deal? Changelings are pretty bad, you’ve seen that! You’re really telling me that Pinkie Pie, a changeling, would fight against her own kind in Canterlot?”
“That’s because Queen Chrysalis was leading them,” she scoffed.
“So you only fought against them because of Queen Chrysalis?” Twilight confirmed.
“Queen Meanie’s more like it!” she yelled back. “She’s super-duper mean!”
“I’ll give you that, but what about her followers? She’s a Queen, wouldn’t that make you one of her subjects?”
“Nope!” she shook her head.
“So are your family traitors? Do you need protection?” Eyes growing wide, she shot out of her throne and planted her front hooves on the table. “Are you in danger? Will she be coming for you?”
“Twilight,” Rarity asked uncomfortably, “you really don’t know much about changelings, do you?”
“No,” she moaned, laying her head on the table. “Turns out I don’t. And please don’t tell me you’re part changeling, too.”
Rarity bit her lip. “Well…”
“Oh, come on!” she screamed, throwing her hooves in the air. “Are all of you changelings?”
“To be fair, Twilight,“ Rarity explained, “I’m not a changeling per se. But my mother was adopted by changelings, so I have plenty of changeling cousins and the like!”
Twilight simply groaned.
“And I think what Pinkie was trying to say was that she’s not the queen of all the changelings, just some of them. And none of the ones in Equestria listen to her.”
“My grandfather fled from her kingdom,” Fluttershy joined in. “He would tell me all the time of all the terrible things she would do, and how almost none of the changelings like her! They all think she’s really harsh and aggressive.”
At that moment, the doors to the room were thrown open, bright yellow magic engulfing them both. “Twilight, is everything alright?” Princess Celestia panicked as she barged in.
“Oh no,” Twilight muttered to herself under her breath.
“Yup!” Pinkie Pie beamed. “Nothing wrong here!”
“Then why did Twilight tell me it was urgent?” she wondered, walking up next to her prized pupil.
“Starlight Glimmer is…” She placed a hoof on her forehead. “...Starlight Glimmer is a changeling.”
There was silence once more, and Princess Celestia looked all around the room, reading the ponies’ faces for any clues.
“...And…?”
“And what?”
“She is a changeling, and…”
“And that’s it!” she erupted, throwing her pictures into the air. “But it turns out almost every pony in all of Ponyville is a changeling, so it’s not relevant at all!”
“You called me all the way from Canterlot just to tell me the race of your student?” Celestia lowered her head down to Twilight’s level in worry. “Twilight, are you feeling okay?”
“Did you know she was a changeling?” Twilight asked, irritation clear in her voice.
“I figured she was when it listed ‘Changeling’ on her birth certificate, yes. And I had no reason to investigate any further when she continued to check the ‘Changeling’ box on the census.”
“I’ve never seen this box!” she exclaimed, suddenly being hit with a bolt of energy. “Why have I never seen it?”
“Most of your life you lived with your parents, so they were filling it out for you. And during the most recent census, you were a Princess.” She giggled lightly to herself. “The census ponies feel sending the Princesses a census form is unnecessary since they already know everything about you.”
“So how many changelings are there, then? And why have I never heard about them before?!”
“In Ponyville?” Celestia mused, trying to recall some figure from deep within her memory. “I would say...ten percent of the population is changelings? A little bit lower, I do believe.”
“Is everything okay?” Starlight’s voice came from the open doors, looking in on the throne room with shock and perplexity.
“Twilight’s just made a few…discoveries,” Rainbow Dash said, skirting around the issue
“Discoveries?” she repeated, taking a few timid steps in. “What discoveries?”
“She knows you’re a changeling!” Pinkie Pie blurted out.
“Spike!” Starlight yelled, smacking the dragon upside the head while turning a deep red. “I told you that in confidence!”
“Hey, I didn’t tell Twilight!” he defended. “I may have told some other ponies, but not her!”
“Oh my gosh.” She sat down, burying her face in her hooves.
Hesitantly, Spike placed a claw on her back. “Hey Starlight, uh...we’re still cool, right?”
“Darling, it’s quite alright!” Rarity comforted. “None of us think any less of you because of such.”
“We clearly have already made friends with changelings,” Applejack said, gesturing towards Pinkie Pie. “Believe me, none of us have anything against changelings.”
“Yeah, what kind of friends would we be if we stopped being friends with you just because of that?” Rainbow Dash asked her.
“And my grandfather was a changeling, so I have nothing but respect and love for the changelings,” Fluttershy smiled.
“Thank you,” Starlight smiled painfully, taking her hooves off her face. “It’s just that I grew up near Canterlot, and almost everypony there hates changelings for no good reason.”
Subtly, all pairs of eyes in the room but Starlight’s shifted towards Twilight.
“I was just worried nopony would accept me here, like they did back home,” she continued. “So I didn’t tell anypony, hid my secret. I told Spike because I hoped he would know what it was like to be an outcast in Ponyville, but when I saw how well everypony treated him, I didn’t put it together that ponies here are much more accepting than other places in Equestria.” She took a moment to collect herself. “Pinkie Pie, if I had known that everypony knew you were a changeling, I would have told them my secret sooner. But I just figured you were keeping it hidden like I was.”
“Wait, how did you know she was a changeling?” Twilight questioned. “If she told you, why wouldn’t you have told her?”
“Changeling bond!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “We all can feel it when another changeling is in disguise around us, and can even feel it when they’re not actually a changeling but have some in them!” Out of nowhere, she appeared from behind Fluttershy’s throne and squeezed her friend's cheeks together with her front hooves, startling her. “That’s how I knew Fluttershy here was part changeling!”
“Oh, I get it!” Twilight beamed, shaking off all her gloom. “It’s like some sort of insectile hive mind, or perhaps some pheromone system!”
An uneasy tension instantly grew in the room as all eyes looked at Twilight. “Oh, just spit it out already!”
“‘Insect’ is kind of a rude term for us,” Starlight informed her. “It’s like ‘hornhead’ or ‘featherback’, but for changelings.”
“Hornhead or—” Instinctively, Twilight placed a hoof on her horn. “Oh. I see.”
“You’ve really never been called the ‘h-word’?” Rarity asked skeptically.
“And you have?” Twilight asked back with a similar level of skepticism.
“Yes, and…” She pursed her lips together. “You can understand that I’m not exactly in the mood to talk about it.”
“Fine.” Twilight turned to Starlight, who was viewing her with concern. “Starlight, I’m sorry for overreacting that you’re a changeling. I guess I’ve only ever met them under really bad circumstances, so I had some wrong views about them.”
“It’s okay,” she smiled back. “So long as you’re willing to accept me.”
Twilight laughed nervously. “So, you probably want the pictures of you in your changeling form back, right?”
“Yeah,” she nodded. “I guess there’s really no reason to have them around anymore.”
Smiling, Twilight used her magic to gather up all the photographs on the floor and place them in her manila envelope which was levitated over to Starlight.
“Um, Twilight?” Starlight asked, opening up the folder to inspect the photos.
“Yes?”
Starlight turned the folder around to show the pictures to everyone else in the room. “Why are all these pictures of me in the tub?”
“Because…”
Twilight began sweating furiously as she could feel everyone staring at her.
“...That’s irrelevant!”