A mad scientist using displaced humans to create new pony life faces the monster she created.
The Soul Reclamation Society exists within the shadows of pony society. It's seemingly noble goal: to fill the holes left by ponies who have departed before their time. But there are many dark secrets in both their methods and motivations, and their founder, Dr. Fetlock, is still haunted by the shadow of the monster she unleashed on Equestria in her hubris.
(note: Reading David's "Soul Reclamation Society" is pretty much necessary. I mean, you ain't gotta, but you may be pretty lost if ya don't)
“Heya, big guy!” A dirt colored earth pony sidled up to the eldest Apple sibling, praising him with dull eyes, the color of dead salmon. “What’s your name?”
“Big MacIntosh,” the huge blonde stallion responded with disinterest.
“No, no, no…” The scrawny earth pony laughed and shook his head. “I meant your human name.”
“E-ee’nope!” Mac’s eyes went wide with alarm and he quickly backed away from the smaller pony.
“It’s okay, big guy.” The new pony flashed an oily smile. “There’s more of us than you think. I know what it’s like… that bitch Fetlock took everything from me too. Didja have a family back home?”
“Ah got a family right here in Ponyville, mister!” The crimson giant hissed, fighting to keep his voice down.
“Yeah, you got a ‘family’... they bought you fair and square, didn’t they?” The pony’s caustic mirth was cut short by the crack of a hoof across his chin.
“You leave them outta this, ya hear!” McIntosh scowled, receiving only a bemused grin from the subject of his ire.
“Hey, no problem, big guy.” The pony massaged his aching jaw, smiling broadly. “If you wanna play pony-big-brother… well it’s not like she can send you back…”
“You should leave now, mister,” Big Mac spit on the ground, “Before I lose mah temper proper.”
-=-Manehattan, Present Day, Present Time-=-
“How was it?” Vinyl nearly glowed, basking in the excitement. Her first real public performance as a DJ Pon3 cover artist. She pranced in place waiting breathlessly for her colt-friend’s response.
“Babe! That was amazing!” Robert Aqua, a light blue pegasus with a tri-colored mane and tail smiled brightly. “You were amazing.”
The Vinyl look-alike kissed her stallion affectionately on the snout. “I can’t believe I finally got my big shot!”
“One chance. One shot.” The bitter voice sent chills down Roberts spine, as they both turned to face new pony, also wearing the face of DJ Pon3. “That’s all any of us ever got.”
“How did you get in here!?!” Vinyl demanded of the new comer. “This is our home! What are you doing here?”
“Just stay back,” Robert whispered in abject terror, “Y-you’re still alive?”
“Poor little pony… don’t try to sound like you cared.” The manic mare grinned with malice. “After all, I was obviously easy enough to replace.”
“Robert… who is she?” Vinyl’s voice was laced with a mixture of fear and hurt.
“Ahhh, he didn’t tell you, did he?” The new mare laughed coldly. “I mean, obviously you weren’t his first choice of mares. But I guess you always knew that, didn’t you?”
“Robert summoned me here because he wanted a special pony he could learn to love!” Vinyl snapped, agrilly, “I CHOSE to look like Vinyl Scratch! ME! This is my fantasy as much as it is his!”
“But, hey, second place isn’t bad, right?” The mare shook her head and smiled. “Except, you weren’t his second choice. No, no, no… you were just the replacement Felock brought in after she disposed of a defective product.”
“Robert, what is she talking about?” Vinyl’s mind raced to put the pieces together, but the picture she kept seeing was just so... ugly.
“It wasn’t my fault!” Robert stammered. “I didn’t know what Fetlock was going to do to you!”
“But you didn’t stop her did you?” The wicked mare hissed. “Oh, no, so long as she could deliver a Vinyl Scratch that you were happy with, you just kept your mouth shut and you let it go.” The mare turned to Vinyl, and laughed. “He really didn’t tell you at all, did he? Secrets and pretty little lies. Well, don’t you worry your dull little blue head, ‘Aqua’, you’re not even on my list. But maybe your marefriend should know she’s not the only copy… but wait… you’re not even a copy, are you…”
“Leave him alone!” Vinyl angrily stepped forward shoving her muzzle into the face of her colt-friend’s accuser.
“Poor little Robert.” The mare rolled her eyes. “Just a would-be identity thief. You went from taking advantage of a grieving mare, to pony trafficking to get yourself a copy of her best friend. Too bad when you make a copy of a copy… well it’s just ever as sharp as the original.”
“Get out!” Vinyl screamed, as Robert fell to the floor limply sobbing in self-recrimination. “Get out of our house!”
“Oh don’t worry,” the mare replied with a smile, “I was just leaving. Ol’ Bobby’s not even worth my vengeance. And honestly, if you can be happy with a pony like him, you’re not worth my time either.”
“Who are you?” Vinyl asked as the mare made her way to the door.
“Oh, I am no one,” the mare replied casually as she made her way to the door. “I am no pony at all. But if you need a name, you can call me Legion, for we are many…”
-=-The Changeling Hive, A Long Time Ago-=-
“They’re our children.” an emaciated brood queen smiled gently on thirteen changeling adolescents.
“Our children.” A raggedy changeling stallion, with a bright cyan mane returned his mate’s smile, his pointed teeth flashing.
“And ultimately, our vengeance.” The queen chuckled darkly. “On Chrysalis, on the ponies, and on all of Equestria.”
“It is time, your grace.” The couple’s musings were interrupted by the entrance of a no-nonsense leader caste changeling. “The invasion is about to begin. Queen Chrysalis herself has left the hive to oversee her plans for the royal wedding personally. We will not get another chance at this.”
“You have done well, Stand In.” The brood queen smiled warmly.
“We are putting our faith in you both,” the changeling replied gravely, “If our race is to survive the mad queen, we must adapt and evolve.”
“Yes,” the stallions said with a contemptuous sneer, “The changelings have to change. I’ve seen it… it’s in the spoilers. My brood will mark an end to the changelings starvation. Why should a race that inspires fear feed only on love, after all?”
“Madame Butterfly…” Stand In’s tone was hushed and worried. “Nopony is as mad as Chrysalis ever was! Please… be careful. Don’t ever trust him!”
“I am standing right here, you know.” The male changeling laughed derisively. “You just make sure you’re drones bring my brood through Canterlot safely. We will rendevu in Fillydelphia as planned. You don’t have to trust me. Just believe me when I say that when the Silver Sky falls, the changelings will never have to worry about starvation again.”
“W-where am I?” The frightened pink filly was barely recognizable as a changeling. The basic shape was there, but she was covered in wickedly barbed spines, and her mouth split her skull like a Nightmare Night jack-o-lantern, full of rows of shark like teeth.
“Welcome back, Diane,” Fetlock said as she absently bew a strand on blue and black mane from her face, “your sister’s have missed you very much.”
“M-my name’s Debbie!” The little changeling ran in a quick panicked circle. “It was only supposed to be a game! I want to go home now!”
“We’re gonna take you home, don’t worry.” A pair of changelings face her, one blue, and one red, each bearing the bloated head of a fly. The blue one spoke rapid and confident words of encouragement. “Wow, you look just like you did before you killed dad!”
“W-wait… killed?!?!” The little changelings eyes went wide, pupils dilated in panic. “I want to go home! I want to see my parents!”
“Like Blue done said,” the read changeling replied with a drawl, “We’re gonna take ya back home. As far as our folks are concerned… don’t worry, dad got better.” Perhaps with a note of bitterness she continued, “Like he always does, Ah recon.”
“I… don’t understand… I’m not… this!” The filly was sobbing uncontrollably. “I’m a human girl! I have parents! I have real human parents! My name isn’t Diane! It’s Debbie!”
“Those damned ponies done filled yer head with nonsense while you was in Tartarus!” Red stamped an angry hole-pocked hoof. “Stupid dreams of human families! Giving you some stupid made-up name! Well don’t you worry none. Nopony can ever name you in the shadow hive. I reckon yer the one who taught us that.”
-=-Canterlot, A Long Time Ago-=-
“Switch shift!” The sobbing changeling pulled her sister’s limp form into the relative safety of the alley’s waiting shadows. “Wake up! Please, you have to wake up!”
“Swing Shift!” The grief ridden changeling looked up in time to feel her sisters hoof connect with her jaw. “We were supposed to stay with the escorts! YOU caused this!”
“Night Shift!” A kinder voice interrupted. “The escorts are gone! Everyling is fighting! We have to find shelter!”
The assembled changelings scuttled into a waiting storm drain, but Swing Shift was shoved harshly aside. She could barely hear her sister, Night’s words over the sound of her own sobs. “Not you! You were supposed to be better! You got Switch Shift killed! From now on, I’LL protect our sisters! You can just run away and rot in a hole!”
“You did a bad thing sis…” Graveyard Shift, still wearing the form of Pinkie Pie couldn’t even meet her sister’s eyes as she slunk away to safety.
-=-Ponyvale, Present Day, Present Time-=-
“And if you look to your left, you will see ‘Discord’s Hole’ one of the famous Seven Gates of Tartarus,” the light tan earth pony tour guide droned on in a bored monotone, “This entrance was actually discovered after the Great Nightmare Night School fire that destroyed Celestia’s School for Special Foals. Seven pony lives were tragically lost in the blaze including…”
“Are you sure this tour was a good idea, Hondo?” Cookie Crumbles asked her husband as the tour guide droned on. “I had no idea the history of this town was so… well… terrible. Do you think it might be too much for little Sweetie?”
“Wow!” Sweetie Belle gushed, eyes a’sparkle. “This is the coolest ‘educational’ tour EVER!”
“Oh my Celestia!” A pony in the tour group shouted. “What are those foals doing over there!”
“It’s the ghosts of the lost students returning to take their revenge!” A flowery mare panicked. “The horror! The HORROR!”
“Wow!” Sweetie Belle pranced with excitement. “History is coming alive!”
Meanwhile in the hole in question two pony foals climbed carefully over the jagged rocks. The larger, a sky blue pegasus cot with a bright cyan mane looked to his companion, a red and pink unicorn filly and remarked dryly, “Okay, Diane… that was pretty fucked up… like one hundred percent of all of it. Just remember, from here on out out I’m Dayglow Neon and your…”
The filly only took a moment to respond to her companions prompting, tossing her straight, pink mane out of her eyes and smiling broadly. “I’m Strawberry Shortbread! Jeez, Charlie, ONE of us has experience pretending to be ponies. And I’m your cousin… your second cousin! And we’re about the same age, so it’s totally not weird for me to have a crush on you!”
“It’s still weird Diane.” The colt rolled his eyes. “It will ALWAYS be weird!”
“Hey!” The pairs bickering was interrupted by the flustered tour guide. “Get away from there! That hole leads straight to Tartarus! It’s dangerous!”
“Really?” Dayglow rolled his eyes. “You don’t say?”
“Where are your parents?” The tour guide pressed. “You two are in a lot of trouble!”
“You don’t know the half of it…” The colt sighed only to be interrupted by the unicorn filly.
“We don’t have parents, we’re orphans.” The filly admitted, eyes as big as saucers. Noting her friends skeptical look she quickly rolled said eyes and sarcastically continued, “What Dayglow? We ARE orphans. Both are parents are as dead as the theory that the sun goes around Equus. Honestly, I didn’t think it would be a sore spot at this point!”
“Just what’s going on here?” Hondo Flanks pushed his way into the conversation. “I thought this was a family friendly historical tour! How did these foals get so close to a gate to Tartarus for Celestia’s sake! Don’t you ponies have safety measures!”
“It’s our fault really, sir,” Strawberry explained, “My cousin and I were on our way Ponyville to find our aunt, and I just thought it would be SO cool to see the gate up close! They say you can actually see Tirek if you look close enough…”
“You can see Tirek???” Sweetie Belle rushed over to the hole, only to be blocked by Dayglow.
“No! No, you can’t see Tirek, and trust me, Tartarus smells like feet and tacos.” The colt proclaimed with authority.
“You were going to Ponyville?” Cookie Crumbles cut in.
“Yes, miss, you see, we’re orphans, and Aunt Pinkie Pie is the last family we have left!” Strawberry pleaded.
“We HAVE to take them back with us!” Sweetie Belle insisted. “It’ll be that thing Rarity likes so much...generosity!”
“‘Aunt Pinkie Pie’?” Dayglow raised an eyebrow.
“What, technically she IS my aunt by adoption,” Strawberry argued in a hushed whisper, “Besides, I just got us a ride, do you have a better plan?”
“Yes…I understand…” A pale orange mare with an orange mane and a cutie mark of five orange pips paced restlessly across the Mayor’s office in Ponyville talking to apparently nopony at all. “Well please tell her majesty I respectfully disagree… Yes, Samantha, especially if HE is involved again!”
“Honestly,” a pink, blank flank fily with a painfully straight even pinker mane leaned against Mayor Mare’s desk and said with a wide grin, “when I do that, they talk about ‘treatment options’, it’s totally not fair.”
“Agent Moth--” the grey maned mare smiled worriedly at her older guest, her eye’s flickering nervously toward the filly, “--is there something I should be worried about?”
“Yes,” the orange mare replied absently, only to go back to arguing with the empty space in front of her, “No not you, Samantha, I was talking to the Mayor. The answer is still no, I DON’T think an extra unit of the royal guard will be sufficient to safeguard the Pastel larva! I KNOW she has Pinkie Pie watching over her, but tell her majesty that we both know the element of laughter is going to be involved in other business!”
“Yeah,” the pink filly examined the back of her hoof, “Looks like we’ve got work to do.”
“Well, you honor, it has been a pleasure working with you.” The orange mare strode casually towards the door. “But it appears her majesty, Princess Luna, believes our services would be better utilized in Manehattan at the present time. Come along Thirteen.”
“It’s been loads of fun!” The pink filly flashed a friendly smile and followed obediently.
“Wait!” The flustered public servant trotted behind the pair, shuffling back to a respective distance at a warning glance from the filly. “You said there was something I should be worried about!”
“Yes, there are several things,” The orange mare spoke in a bored tone, “For starters you should talk to the Pastel girl about the new safe words. Make sure all new guards are cleared by the Element of Laughter before they’re given the safe words, and watch out for new ponies with names that sound like they literally mean ‘alias’.”
“Agent Moth…” The mayor was quickly cut off.
“That should pretty much cover it, at least as far as any pony here is qualified to deal with it.” Moth waved a dismissive hoof. Before talking into the air again. “Honestly Samantha, you could ask your son that yourself if you really wanted to know! Well I’m annoyed! Yes I understand that studies agree that it’s important to give a colt their space, but it defeats the purpose if you just have me spy on him for you! Well, I’m sorry, but would you believe I just got the worst news from my job JUST NOW!”
“Yeah, it’s gonna be one of THOSE days.” The pink filly rolled her eyes. “Aunt Moth, can I at least say by to Z before we skip town?”
-=-=-=-=-
“It’s a big train, Pip.” The giant pale horse of a stallion glared at the much smaller mare. “There’s lots of other seats… lots of whole other cars too, now that I think about it.”
“Hey!” The pink filly scowled mightily at the giant. “You can’t call Aunt Moth, ‘Pip’! Nopony gets to name you in the Shadow Hive but you!”
“See, Pip,” The giant said with a cold smile, “that’s why I trust that little psychopath more than you, at least you always know what side she’s on.”
“It’s alright, Thirteen,” Moth reassured her ward, “Mr. Deadlift and I were friends before I took the name Moth.”
“I wouldn’t exactly say we were ‘friends’.” The stallion rolled his eyes. “I worked for your cousin, the Goat, and we got along okay. Trainwreck was my friend. And the last time I saw you in Canterlot, you were headed off with his daughter to keep her out of too much trouble. We all saw how that turned out.”
“I did what I could, Deadlift.” The orange mare shook her head sadly. “I will be the first to admit I failed.”
“Well that’s good, cause you won’t be the last, I can promise.” Deadlift leveled a cold stare on the mare. “Diane’s in tartarus right now. You’re mare-friend, last I heard was heavily medicated and in the care of a ‘Professional Friend’. Half the Shift sisters are still unaccounted for! But you and that witch Shadefire came out smelling like a pair of roses that grew in a dung pile!”
“Yes,” Moth replied in a hollow voice, “Miss Shadefire, I underestimated her.”
-=-=-=-=-
“You pulled a Surprise Pastel?” The hollow voice echoed with mirth. “I underestimated you Miss Shadefire.”
“Umbrum are frequently underestimated.” The tiny school teacher bowed respectfully.
“A replacement for our little prodigal filly. And produced by The Society no less.” The voice’s laugher echoed through the compound. “The green whorse thought she was so clever, capturing one of us… turning him against our purpose. She nearly destroyed all we’ve worked for… but what you’ve done, Miss Shadefire, that is art.”
“The simulacrum should be ready as we speak.” The Umbrum only shuddered slightly as the fractured crystal hoof caressed her cheek. “We missed two chances… but there is one more.”
“The Pony of Shadows?” Shadefire knew the answer, but still her body quivered in anticipation.
“Yes, little monster.” The torso of a changeling hovered out of the darkness, like some broken statue given horrible half life. “The Pony of Shadows… one more chance to show this world what ponies really believe… and beyond the Silver Sky…”
“Darkness and fear shall reign eternal!” The tiny unbrum embraced the head of the horrible construct as it’s broken hoof caressed her gently.
“Do I know you?” The mayor of Fillydelphia scowled at the dark blue unicorn mare, dressed in a frankly ridiculous dress that would only be appropriate if one were the ringleader of a traveling circus or carnival.
“I don’t think you do, Miss Bridle.” The newcomer grinned coyly at the old grey mare. “And you see, that’s the problem, because you should.”
“Guards!” The mayor snapped in annoyance. “Whoever you are, you picked the wrong pony to hurrass! Guards!”
“Guards!” The blue mare shouted even louder, before dropping her voice to a fetching sing-song. “Oh pony mob thugs? Your boss is mortal danger! Let me try yelling again… GUARDS! MURDER! RAPE! FIRE! Huh, I guess nopony cares if those thing happen… in fact one of them already has… four times, just now…”
“Who are you?” The mayor’s pupils dilated in fear.
“Oh, I am no pony important, no pony at all really.” The mare’s laugh was like ice scraping across a blackboard. “But you can call me ‘Madame Alias’, and as I said, you having to ask that very question is where my problems start. But the good news is, it means your problems are almost over. Isn’t that nice?”
“Please! I-I don’t even know what this is all about!” Mayor bridle scrambled backwards.
“Well I WAS going to ask why my faithful little drone, Worker Bee, would go and change the zoning laws in lower Fillydelphia when I very specifically told her we needed that district to remain zoned industrial…” Alias smiled and shook her head in disapproval.
“I-is that all? I can rezone the southern district for you right now!” The panicked mare pleaded, before something clicked. “Y-your drone?”
“Yes, the diligent little changeling I replaced the real Mayor Bridle with years ago. She was such a sweet obedient little bug.” With a flash of cyan flames, Alias assumed the sleek form of a well groomed changeling queen. “Which brings us to our real problem. I know for a fact you’re not Bridle, She’s been fish-watching out in the harbor for years. And I also know your not a changeling, because, well you know, we can tell.”
“Please! I was just city clerk! I took a few bribes!” The pony sobbed uncontrollably. “They told me if I came over here… if I became a specific pony, the human police would never find me! Please, I just wanted to stay out of jail!”
“Was that so hard? Doesn’t it feel good to tell the truth? So dear Doctor Fetlock is still playing her little games?” The changeling sneered. “I can’t imagine Legion will be very happy about this… but then, she’s rarely very happy about anything, to tell you the truth. But don’t worry, I will honor Fetlock’s promise. You will never see a jail cell for the rest of your life.”
Two clown-faced changeling drones stood stoic guard until the screaming stopped and their queen stepped out. “Roustabout, you get to be the new Mayor of Fillydelphia, Roxo, help him clean up the mess and meet me outside. We still have a meeting to attend in Canterlot.”
-=-=-=-=-
General Scorched Earth paced the floor of the sub-basement of the CDC. Nations had fallen, but Trotlanta had survived, evolved, and thrived under his watch. The earth hadn’t lost it’s humanity, it had been taken. The human race would survive, albeit… changed. But they had lost so much. HE had lost so much.
“Each of you are here because we all share a certain… outlook that is not shared by our current government.” The General’s eyes were as uncompromising as his voice and his very soul. “We have all seen the ravages of this plague… of this Pink Sin… and we have all been either it’s victims or it’s slaves. And we have all languished, bitter and helpless that the aliens, the enemy, the PONIES that did this to us, live safe, happy lives. They live in “magical harmony”. They never have to wake up at night screaming at the loss of everything they were. They never have to face the horror of what they did to THEIR loved ones, under the sway of the plague THEY unleashed!”
The general pausd to appraise his troops. To make sure he could see the reflection of his own hate in their eyes. “Because before today, we had no way to get to where they were. And even if we did, we had no hope to ever bring them any kind of retribution for what THEY did to US!”
“Today that changes!” Scorch Earth’s smile was as cold as the fires of hell. “Because THEY reached out to US! They sent a message. And do you know what that message was? Do you think it was, ‘We’re sorry’? Do you think it was, ‘How can we fix what we did to your lives, you’re families, and your whole FUCKING PLANET’?!?! NO!!! They reached out to us and they asked us ‘Do you want to be a pony?’”
“Those mother fuckers…” Scorched Earth didn’t bother to discipline to soldier for the outburst. He approved.
“We have one of our own to thank for this. A changeling, like all of you.” The general leveled his gaze on his men… no soldiers… male and female, but none even remotely human. Not anymore, not thanks to them. “All the teams we’ve lost trying to contact the in the hopes of peace, only for them to open the door to bring us to their very doorstep, only to enslave us for their own perverse needs. You will answer their call. And you will be the tools of our vengeance. They will try to tell you that you can be happy, that you can have a new life, but all I ask is that you remember what they took from you!”
“Some of you will be sent among the beta teams, and some of you will answer the call they have put out. Some of you will doubtlessly arrive in dramatically different times in their history, but our agent on the other side WILL find you. You will know him by his name. Whatever name he gives you, it will be no one.”
“Well, the bad news is Big Red Applewood’s not one of ours,” The dirt colored earth-pony snorted a line of dubiously yellowish powder from the table in front of him, “The good news, news is that we have really done a great job at accidentally infiltrating the pony mafia!”
“Please,” The changeling ringleader rolled her slitted pink eyes as she replied drolly, “Fetlock is causing more than enough problems in my command structure to make up for the number of moles she’s unknowingly implanting in her own.”
“I can’t believe she’s actually outright replacing living ponies now!” a mare that could be DJ Pon3, but wasn’t scowled angrilly.
“Oh come now, let’s not pretend like we didn’t all know what depravity these little ponies were capable of.” a great hollow voice rang out through the meeting room, as a broke animated crystal statue of a changeling levitated into the room, green tendrils of magic trailing from it’s missing lower torso like viscera.
“Geez!” The dirty stallion flinched a the sight of the Anomaly. “Can’t you warn somepony before you just float in like that!”
“You will show respect for the one true Nopony, miscreant!” A tiny Umbrum mare shouted angrily from for position on the fiends withers.
“Hey, I thought we agreed no minions and no hookers in these meetings!” The dirty stallion protested, drawing eye-rolls and looks of annoyance from his peers.
“Do you HAVE to be so juvenile?” The circus changeling replied, her voice dripping with scorn.
“Yes,” The earth pont answered cheerfully, “Yes I do.”
“Iam’s right, you know,” Would-be Vinyl Scratch said dully, “I mean, I’m not even allowed to bring in more than one of me. Shadefire’s not only not one of us, she’s actually from THIS world. You can’t just bring her into our meetings like this, especially now!”
“She DOES know we’re trying to destroy the world right?” The dirt colored stallion with eyes the color of dead salamon asked absently, “Because that’s really awkward to plan with someone who lives in said world SITTING RIGHT THERE ON YOUR SHOULDER!”
“Honestly?” The changeling queen pulled out a long cigarette, lighting it with her magic. “Is that still the plan? Because it’s getting dull, if we’re honest, and since Nopony’s little feud with the traitor has stripped us of our connection with the text…”
“Alias makes a good point,” the dirty little pony said with a smirk, “I DO like the fire works, but the plan was always that we wouldn’t be here when the show was over.”
“You short sighted fools!” Shadefire snapped, “Do you think there won’t be any world left after the Silver Sky falls? Just because none of YOU had the courage to stay behind to see what wonders would grow from the ashes?”
“Charlie did…” The pony who would be Vinyl mused thoughtfully.
“DO NOT SPEAK THAT TRAITOR’S NAME!” The abominable construct lashed out with a bolt of magic, knocking the white unicorn mare helplessly into the wall. “I have taken everything that he was! I have stolen his destiny! I am the Undestructable! I have waited a millenia on the moon, broken beyond repair! I have seen beyond the end! And I will see it again!”
“Yeah… sure big guy…” The dirty pony moved slowly to aid his fallen compatriot to he feet. “Come one Lee… we’re all the same page here… right? You promised that bitch, Fetlock she’d see the world burn. It’s cool.. We’re all on the same page…”
-=-=-=-=-
“He’s insane.” Alias hissed in a hushed whisper after the dire council had adjourned.
“Yeah, but what else is new?” Iam grinned lazily as he replied, “It makes sense… he got what ol’ Charlie had. He died, he came back from some freaky alter-ego timeline. Hell I’m him, you’re me, Legion is… I dunno, sulky and in crush with her pony-frankenstein maker?”
“Why are we still doing this?” Legion Scratch sat to the side, alone and dejected. “The pink step plague? The ‘Pink Sin’? We were on the verge of destroying ourselves… I never even liked my home. Sometimes I wish I’d just stepped in front of that train… maybe Charlie was right, maybe WE’RE the real plague.”
“Never forget dear,” Alias laid a hole-pocked hoof over the sad mare’s shoulder, “THEY did this… ultimately, it was ponies who made us.”
“I’m better at this than I thought.” The blue pegasus colt grinned as he laid the coin-purse on the seat between himself and his companion.
“You robbed Sweetie Belle’s parents?” The Pink unicorn filly protested, “We used to be friends! Not close friends, but still! Dammit Charlie!”
“Heads up, you’re not Diane, and I’m not Charlie,” the colt scowled in reply, before taking a softer tone, “We’re fugitives, Shortbread. We broke out of Tartarus. You had a good plan, you got us a ride, but we’re gonna ditch this train at the next stop.”
“Sweetie was my friend!” The filly argued angrily, “She was there when… when mom died…”
“And it’s hard,” The colt’s eyes grew hard. “I know. But we’re not taking enough to hurt. And we both know you can’t go back there. We’re escaped criminals. The best we can expect is that by the time they realize your gone, we’ve got a new gig set up. We were never going back to Ponyville.”
“Look, Ch… I mean ‘Dayglow’,” the unicorn responded in a state of agitation, “I get what you’re trying to do, really. But THIS isn’t the way. If we’re going to start over, can we at least start over as not-criminals. Look, I’ll take the coin purse back to Sweetie Belle’s folks and say we found it in the aisle…”
“That sounds like a pretty good start.” The two were interrupted by the voice of a young unicorn filly. “And maybe you can tell me who you two really are, because I’ve known from the start that you aren’t Pinkie Pie’s niece and nephew. Pinkie has two nieces, both adopted, and both changelings.”
“S-Sweetie Belle!” The pink unicorn shuffled in her seat. “Look, I’m really sorry about the coin purse… Dayglow’s not a bad pony but we needed the bits and…”
“Save it, missy,” Sweetie responded flatly, “We already agreed you found the coin purse in the aisle and returned it to me. I won’t even tell mom and dad you were involved at all… IF you come clean and tell me who you really are, and why you lied about it.”
-=-=-=-=-
“Heh, well if it isn’t big bad ‘Princess’ Diane.” A bloated, spider-bodied changeling scuttled in front of a terrified, and terrifying spiny mockery of pink changeling filly. “What’s the matter, ‘princess’? Did Tartarus take some of your edge off?”
The filly was flanked by two other malformed, fly-headed changelings, one red and one blue, all huddled in a gently swaying baggage car. The blue changeling stepped forward boldly, “The Fetlock pony said she wouldn’t remember everything quite right. She said we have to remind her who she really is.”
“Those danged ponies scrambled her head good, Ah recon,” Red replied with a thick country twang, “She thinks she was part of some human human family! They even changed her name, Night!”
“Oh, that’s rich!” The bulbous changeling known as Night Shift rocked back on her boated haunches in laughter “How the mighty have fallen, Diane, the Canterlot Mangler, cowering in fear and can’t even remember her own name!”
“Please,” The spiny filly begged, “I’m not who you all think I am! I’m a human girl! My name is…”
“Oh shut-up!” Night shift silenced the filly with hoof to the face, “I thought this was going to be more fun, but you’re just pathetic! I can’t take you back to Shadefire like this… no, we gotta toughen you up first. Red! Blue! New plan! It’s playtime, the game is ‘Train Robbery’! Disguise yourselves as guards and move up into the passenger cars. I’m gonna explain a few things to our sister here. Wait for my signal.”
As soon as the two fly-faced changelings were gone, Nightshift turned turn on the smaller, spiny changeling and spoke in cold, measured tones, “I know you’re telling the truth.”
“What?” The filly backed away carefully.
“I said I know you’re not Diane.” The changeling’s smile was venomous. “But if you want to survive, you better learn to fake it. If the other shifts learn you’re not really one of us, they will tear you apart. Now, we’re going to play, ‘Train Robbery’. You get to be the escaped monster, ‘Diane Pastel’. You can’t shapeshift yet, but that’s okay. All you have to do is smile, smile, smile, let big sister Nightshift do the talking, and you *might* survive. And remember, it was pretty little ponies just like the ones out there that took you away from your family and turned you into that.”
-=-=-=-=-
“Okay… you’re right…” Dayglow stammered quickly. “We lied. The truth is, we’re just trying to get by. We weren’t even going to Ponyville, we just needed to catch a train out of Ponyvale, and you guys were going in the right direction and…”
“So why bring Pinkie Pie’s name up at all?” Sweetie Belle’s face scrunched adorably in deep thought, “I mean, that means you had to know who Pinkie Pie is, and I’m pretty sure Strawberry used that name because she knew I’D know who Pinkie Pie was. And that means you somehow know who I am…”
“We better tell her the truth, Charlie,” The pink, straight-maned unicorn who called herself ‘Strawberry Shortbread’ sighed heavily, “She’s on the verge of figuring it out anyway. Sweetie, I’m sorry we lied to you, the truth is my name is…”
“Diane!?!?” It took only half a minute for pink unicorn to realize that Sweetie wasn’t referring to her, but to the pair of monstrous changelings who had just entered the car.
“Oh good,” That larger, spider-bodied changeling stepped in front of a smaller, pink changeling who seemed to be all spines and teeth and smiled nervously from behind the larger changeling, “it looks like at least one of you has heard of my little sister. That means you’ve heard what she does to ponies who make her angry. Everypony just hoof over their bits, and no pony has to die.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t bet on that,” Shortbread’s smile stretched unnaturally from ear to ear. And her whispered voice carried like ice scraping a chalkboard.
“By the twitching of my hooves,” an energetic pink Filly with painfully straight mane and a manic smile recited, “Something wicked this way moves…”
“Thirteen,” Moth replied to her young ward with genuine concern, “Is there anything we need to know about?”
“It’s just my Shift sense…” The filly’s eye’s darted about the train car, “Somewhere on another train, the shit just went down.”
“When the shit goes down,” the massive Pale horse sitting across from the pair intoned gravely, “You better be ready, Pip.”
“They’re HEEeeerrrrreeeeee....” Thirteen singsonged with a smile.
“Jimmy Jack,” a white unicorn mare with a two toned blue mane and a music note on her flank spoke nervously as she approached the trio, “We need to talk.”
“I had hoped you were dead,” the pale horse spoke in a flat voice.
“I… deserve that…” The not-pony who called herself Legion Scratch replied. “Look, I don’t know for sure whatever happened between you and Charlie, or you and Alias…”
“So your seperate entities now,” Moth mused aloud, “Interesting. I’d wondered what had happened with that…”
“Stow it, both of you!” Deadlift scowled and poked the newcomer painfully in the chest with a massive hoove. “Let’s get one thing straight, I don’t know what to believe about you anymore, except for one thing… you were never uninfected and you were never immune! We kept you in isolation for 12 hours watching for any change! After it all went down, when you were leading us out, every one BUT you turned! One by one! And we thought you were immune to the pink step, but you weren’t, were you? You weren’t immune. You were a damned changeling plague royal the whole time, and you led us into situations where one by one, we would get infected so you could get inside our heads!”
“Wait… what do you mean? Infected?” Moth snapped to attention in sudden interest.
“Our world… there was an outbreak of Equestrian Magic… It turns humans into to ponies… and sometime into freaks.” Deadlift explained.
“Yes, my cousin explained the particulars of your situation… but I was given to understand you had been cured on your world, at least as much as possible, before you came to Equestria.” Moth leveled a thoughtful stare on the newcomer. “But you had no reason to cure someone you thought was uninfected… possibly immune…”
“And he disappeared into thin air before we could ever make it to the Center for Disease Control.” The pale horse nodded his massive head. “And when we met Noone here in this world, it never even occurred to us that they might be the same person. Not until after Train Wreck and the Circus. Train Wreck was him…””
“The Train Wreck was never one of us.” Legion smiled sadly. “Maybe he was better for it. He was never pushed into the mashed up ball of evil that Fetlock turned us into to.”
“Who is this ‘Fetlock’?” Moth’s voice turned cold.
“She’s a pony who steals human souls to create pony life,” when the mare spoke, her voice dripped with hate, “Me, Alias, Noone… we’re just one mistake that she tried to make go away away again and again across countless worlds. An eternity of watching the same pony refuse to learn, refuse to show compassion… all in one moment of time until we all forgot where we each began and where the others ended.”
“NO!” The pink filly suddenly vanished, only her menacing smile floating in the air, mere inches from the ivory unicorns snout, she spoke with an uncharacteristic gravity, without a hint a mirth in her voice. “You are NOT the victim, here! You are a monster! Me, my sisters, and the whole wide world are the victims! We’re just trying to get by in a world where you exist! You don’t get to be the victim, missy! Not now, and not ever, because you made too many victims, and that train is full and there’s no room for you anymore!”
“Thirteen,” Moth spoke in soothing tones, “Control yourself. She can help us to…”
“No, Aunt Moth!” Thirteen cried, “We don’t need her! I get it! There’s another monster that made her just like she made me and Diane! But I don’t get to stop being a monster! And. Neither. Does. She!”
“You’re Graveyard Shift, aren’t you? One of N’s brood, the assassin?” The mare aske absently. “I’m sorry, the details between our memories can become rather fuzzy at time you understand.”
“I am Pinkie Pie Number 13.” The near invisible changeling hissed. “Because I CHOSE that name! I am a super fun, and super cute little grub who is super great at cuddles and I know because my colt friend, Rock tells me so everytime we get to hang out! I am NOT Midnight Shift! My name is what *I* say you get to call me. And you should really leave now… because Aunt Moth can’t really stop me right now, and I think she knows it.”
“This is where Alias says you can find her,” The mare passed a slip of paper to Deadlift and turned to leave before replying reluctantly, “I’m sorry… for everything.”
“Thirteen,” Moth admonished as she watched the mare slip into the next train car, knowing they would have no hope of finding her again. “I understand your anger, you know that I do, but you have to learn to control your feelings.”
“No Pip,” Deadlift shook his heavy head, “The kid’s right. We’re none of us close enough to the good side of right. We don’t need her.”
“I just thought about what big sister Diane would say, about what Surprise would say.” The pink filly faded sadly back into existence. “We can’t control the monsters who come into our lives. The only monster we can control is the monster in the mirror, and we have to live with the decisions that monster makes. So we better make sure those are good decisions.”
“Oh good,” Diane Pastel had never been so angry in her relatively short life, as the bloated mutant taunted Sweetie Belle, “it looks like at least one of you has heard of my little sister. That means you’ve heard what she does to ponies who make her angry. Everypony just hoof over their bits, and no pony has to die.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t bet on that,” Every muscle and every cell in Dianes small frame tensed.
“We gotta play this smart, Shortbread.” She wasn’t listening to the stupid blue colt who was choosing the exact wrong time to call her by the wrong name. “They still haven’t spotted us. Let’s just play this cool and cooperate. It’s not even our money.”
“Diane!” Sweetie rushed from her seat to confront the changeling she thought she knew, fearless in the face of Night Shift’s imposing presence. “You’re better than this! You’re NOT a monster! I don’t care what they say in Canterlot, I know you!”
“And there goes the smart plan.” The blue colt who called himself Dayglow sighed with heavy resignation.
For one brief moment as the larger spider bodied changeling scowled, it seemed like Sweetie Belle’s words resonated with the smaller, spiny changeling. And then she said the wrong thing, “Diane, please, just listen. What would your mother think of what you’re doing right now…”
The words shot a bolt of pure ice through the disguised heart of Diane Pastel, but the spiny imposter’s face contorted with sudden rage as she sprung forward to strike the little white filly in the face with a jagged, hole-pocked hoof, “Don’t you DARE bring my mother in to this! I’ll never see her again because of you stupid little ponies!”
“D-Diane!” Sweetie Belle sobbed as a bruise formed, on her cheek.
“I’M NOT DIANE!” The creature screamed, “My name is Debie! And I loved you stupid little ponies, even though everyone in my class said the show was for little kids, and you kidnapped me! You took me away from my parents and you turned me into a monster, and you can’t even call me by the right name!”
At the other end of the car, to unicorn guards entered and simply watched the unfolding scene with thoughtful expressions. Wasting no time, Nightshift grabbed Sweetie Belle in her front-most legs, holding her firm in a vice-like grip. “You want to join the game, little one? You can play the hostage! You get to sleep in a pod while your sweet nightmares feed the Shadow Hive. If your lucky you have rich parents who can pay the ransom before your an emotionless twitching husk! Red! Blue! Status!”
The Guards resumed they’re chromatic, fly-faced forms and snapped to attention before Blue Shift answered, “Easy peasy, the ponies up front have handed over all their valuables for ‘safekeeping when we told them there were reports of rogue changelings on the train.”
“Ah reckon we should get our sister back to the hive,” Red Shift shook her head, “She’s confused enough without these danged ponies making it worse.”
The remainder of the passengers cowered in their seats, with only two notable exceptions. Strawberry Shortbread rolled languidly into the aisle and sauntered coyly towards the monstrosity holding Sweetie Belle. “I thought for a minute there I was gonna have to kill a drone for doing such a bad job impersonating me, Night. I mean honestly, didn’t you even have a recent photo? They were all over the papers in Canterlot.”
“That voice… it can’t be…” Nightshift suddenly scuttled back, leaving the sobbing mass of spines unprotected.
“You’re lucky,” the pink filly cooed, stroking the spiny mess gently across it’s cheek with one hoof, “You dropped just enough spoilers to save your life today.”
“Red! Blue! Stop her!” Night Shift screeched, but a mere glance from the pink horror wearing a mask of innocence stopped them dead in their tracks.
“They’re not your drones, Night.” In a flash of pink changeling fire, Strawberry Shortbread was gone. The changeling’s sleek chitin was a deep burgundy, with tiger-like stripes of bright chartreuse. Two goat-like spirals erupted from her brow, divided by a crimson pink painfully straight mohawk of mane that fell lazily over one eye. Her snake-like, segmented tail twitched in agitation, the wicked stinger on its end dripping pink venom in anticipated as long, graceful dragonfly wings twitched almost spasmodically. The monster smiled like a shark with rows of razor teeth and spoke in a whispered scream, “They’re mine.”
“Dammit, Diane,” Dayglow rolled his eyes, as he rose in a huff to move beside his companion, “we talked about this. We literally had a long talk about how you weren’t going to do basically anything you’re doing right now.” The blue colt raised an eyebrow at the pair of nightmare changelings hold Sweetie Belle. “Huh, that’s weird. Why’d they go to the trouble of recruiting an imposter you if she’s just going to run around in your old natural form. It’s the least recognizable version of you they could pick. I mean, at least lose the spines… Diane never wore her spine’s in public. You’re pretty shitty at disguises for a changeling, you know that?”
“Stay back! Brat Queen!” Night Shift sputtered, hiding behind the counterfeit “Diane”, holding Sweetie Belle as a pony shield, “I still have your friend!”
“Please! Don’t hurt me!” The imposter pleaded for her life. “The big one said if I didn’t pretend to be Diane, the hive would tear me apart!”
The angry chittering of the Doppler Twins was not lost on the Shadow Hive’s true queen, her spoke in amused, ocking tones, “So, basically, Bloaty Mc Big Bottom made you pretend to be somepony you weren’t? Against your will? So basically… Nightshift named you?”
“Red! Blue! Why are you just standing there!” Nightshift fumed in abject terror. “Do something!”
“Please, I just want to go home!” The imposter’s words cut through the drones confused fog. Red Shift kicked open the train doors while Blue moved in a blur to the spiny changeling’s side, hissing defensively at Nightshift, and the pair of Sweetie Belle’s would be rescuers.
“Red! Blue! Stand down!” Diane’s order was ignored, as the crimson drone tensed.
“She’s just protecting the kid, Diane,” Dayglow held his companion at bay with a single hoof, “We don’t need a fight here. We’re just standing in the way of their way out.”
As the colt moved his reluctant companion aside, Blue seized the spiny changeling and disappeared with her sister out the side door in dash of speed.
“Too bad I just couldn’t make enough room for you to flee to safety as well.” The blue colt didn’t sound sorry at all as he shrugged. “But if you let Sweetie Belle go, I can prolly talk Diane into leaving at least a few of your legs attached to that fat torso of yours.”
In a burst of purple flames, Sweetie Belle fell to the train floor as a massive swarm of flyders formed in the air and fled for the open door. The white unicorn looked at the pair wide eyed, “Diane? Is it really you this time? What happened to you???”
“Freeze!” The Royal guard burst into the train from the previous car, spears leveled. “Step away from the filly and keep your hooves where we can see them!”
Sweetie Belle thought back to when she had first met the adolescent changeling, Diane Pastel…
-=-=-=-=-
“We’re gonna get in trouble,” Sweetie pleaded with her friends.
“No, WE’RE not,” Apple Bloom replied, “Ah am. We all know my sister’s the only one who has any problem with Trainwreck OR his family… and it’s mostly just Trainwreck, and we’re not gonna be talkin’ to him.”
“Actually Rainbow Dash and Jake hang out with him a lot at Berry Punch’s tavern when he’s not with Surprise,” Scootaloo interjected helpfully, “And your sister was one of the first ponies to really warm up to Train Wreck. Admit it Sweetie, you’re just scared of Diane.”
“Well… she’s scary, alright?” Sweetie squeaked defensively, “I mean, have you SEEN her teeth?”
“Sweetie, she just a filly, just like us,” Apple Bloom drawled, “And… her mom… Surprise… she ain’t gonna be with us much longer.”
“I know…” Sweetie Belle slumped down in guilty defeat. “I shouldn’t judge a pony… or a changeling by appearances. And they live with the Cakes and Pinkie Pie… and nopony who Pinkie Pie likes that much can really be a bad pony, right?”
“Look, I’ll go talk to her first.” Scootaloo volunteered. “I mean, he uncle’s buddies with Jake and Rainbow Dash so… uh… Sweetie Belle?”
The little white filly was already moving. Marching against her fear right up to the sad, shark toothed changeling filly, he held out a friendly hoof and said, “Hi, I’m Sweetie Belle. Wanna be friends?”
-=-=-=-=-
“Diane? Is it really you this time? What happened to you???” Sweetie Belle stared in awe at the horror before her, the changeling was nearly unrecognizable… but that smile…
Diane shrank back at the filly’s inquiry. She knew there was no explanation she could offer. At the end of it she knew she could never tell her the truth. Diane Pastel knew all too well how fragile innocence could be, and she couldn’t tarnish that.
“Freeze!” Diane was saved by the Royal Guard bursting into the train-car. “Step away from the filly and keep your hooves where we can see them!”
“Sweetie!” Cookie crumbles swept her daughter into a bone-crushing hug as Hondo moved between his family and the surrounded couple.
“Okay… I know these words get thrown around a lot.” The bright blue pegasus colt flashed a greasy smile at the assembled guards. “But I can explain…”
“Mom! That’s Diane! Diane Pastel!” Sweetie said in a rush. “You remember? Surprise’s daughter? From Ponyville?”
“Or Sweetie Belle could just blurt out everything.” The colt rolled his eyes in clear annoyance. “That’s okay. It’s no like I just broke Diane out of pony-hell or anything. Oh no, we’re not in hiding at all. So let’s just all reveal our true identities and drop as many names as possible.”
“They’re not the bad guys!” Sweetie insisted. “They actually stopped the train robbery.”
“How does a train robbery even work,” Dayglow mused softly, mostly to himself. “I mean, it’s a train. Given they could fly, but still… I’m sure if you hurried you could catch them… but you’re not hurrying… I guess this is how a train robbery works…”
“D-Diane Pastel?!?!” The head guard stammered. “As in the Canterlot Mangler?”
“Oh come on!” Diane protested, “I just killed invading changelings! Nopony calls Pinkie Pie ‘The Canterlot Mangler’!”
“Not helping Diane!” The bright blue colt rolled his eyes.
“Oh come on Charlie…” Diane started to argue only to be cut off.
“It’s ‘Dayglow’, Diane.” The colt insisted.
“Seriously?” The little changeling huffed, “In case you haven’t noticed, Charlie, the gig is up. It’s not like there’s much use in keeping on with the fake names.”
“Well, I happen to LIKE the name ‘Dayglow Neon’, thank you very much!” Charlie sapped back. “Besides, I thought one of your big fat hairy dels was nopony getting to make you use any name but the one you chose?”
“Fine,” Diane sighed, while the guards looked around awkwardly, “You can be ‘Dayglow Neon’, but I still get to call you Charlie, alright?”
“Uh, sir,” one of the guards timidly asked his commanding officer, “Should we arrest them… or…”
“You can’t arrest them!” Sweetie pleaded, “They just stopped the train robbery, and totally didn’t steal my parents bit pouch that I found lying in the aisle when I came back to their car to see if they were okay!”
Hondo raised an eyebrow at his daughters comment, but remained silent.
“Actually, we will surrender ourselves peacefully to Twilight Sparkle,” Dayglow smirked.
“Wait, what?” Diane asked incredulously.
“Diane has been falsely imprisoned in Tartarus while awaiting her hearing for her completely justified actions defending her hive, city, and loved ones, by the upstart changeling regent Stand In.” The young colt smiled as the guards looked on slack jawed. “The Crown in Canterlot has shown complicity in this injustice, and as the rightful heir of the Unspoken Prince Trainwreck Pastel, Princess Diane wishes to plead for sanctuary with the Kingdom of Friendship.”
“I don’t think Twilight actually has literal Kingdom,” Sweetie Belle said under her breath.
“I thought we weren’t going to Ponyville, Charlie?” the little changeling raised a skeptical eyebrow.
“Well, that was before all the loli waifus on this train made it impossible for us to keep our cover.” Dayglow responded dryly.
“Dammit Charlie!” Diane fumed. “You can’t just call the Cutie Mark Crusaders ‘waifus’, it’s weird!”
“It’s only weird if you make it weird, Diane.” Dayglow responded.
“What’s a waifu?” Sweetie Belle looked confused.
“Well… protocol DOES say we should report Tartarus escapes to the nearest available princess…” The guard captain mused.
“Does it bother anyone else that this little colt is pleading for diplomatic immunity in the company of a known serial killer?” One of the guards whispered to his comrades.
“Mass murderer, dammit!” Diane snapped angrily, “‘Serial Killer’ makes it sound all weird.”
“Seriously, what’s a ‘loli waifu’?” Sweetie Belle’s face scrunched in thought as she pondered the unknown turn of phrase.
It was a broad, empty, and ill-lit chamber, one of many rooms in the Castle of Friendship that Twilight never used. But it seemed, with the most unexpected guests delivered to her doorstep by the royal guard, the room would finally serve a purpose. There were grave and private matters to be discussed, and questions that needed answers. Some answers that the princess herself could provide, and some that she would learn before this day was through.
“I’m glad you decided to come here, and not just go into hiding, Diane,” Twilight smiled at the young changeling queen and her companion, “It gives me a chance to… try to explain what happened.”
“The Royals threw me in Tartarus,” The pink, insectile abomination said with a scowl, “what’s there to explain? I was already in the dungeon, they couldn’t even wait for me to stand trial?”
“That’s not what happened Diane, I’ve explained that already,” the colt, Dayglow Neon, explained, drawing a pointed look from the Princess of Friendship, “Stand In acted behind Celestia’s back to have you exiled. That’s why they disbanded the Caterlot Hive.”
“We’ll get to how exactly you know that little fact in a few minutes, Mr. Neon,” Twilight huffed, before continuing in gentler tones, “He’s not wrong though Diane. Celestia and Luna never intended to have you banished. You were supposed to be sent here. They wanted you to recover the spark of love and friendship that we all know is inside you. They wanted you to be healed and made whole again.”
“Then why did they leave me in Tartarus?” Diane’s scorn gave way to genuine hurt.
“None of us wanted that, Diane.” Twilight shook her head sadly. “But once it was done, and once the word was leaked to the noble houses…”
The bright blue colt cut in when Twilight paused, “She caused too much political unrest, that was it, wasn’t it? The changelings she’d killed were masquerading as Canterlot nobility, hiding behind their own security. Diane demonstrated, without even realizing it, that she could walk straight past their guards and take any of them, out any time she wanted. And once Diane was banished, they wouldn’t stand for her to just be let back out, not knowing the threat she posed to them personally.”
Twilight winced, “Again, you’re not wrong… Diane, I need to talk with your new friend, and there’s someone here who very much wants to talk to you.”
“D-Diane?” A timid, buzzing voice echoed throughout the chamber. “Has Z-978’s sister really come back? Why does she look the way she looks? Diane should not look so scary! She will frighten her niece, the Zillia!”
“Z… I…” Were the only words the little changeling had time to utter before all response was lost in her sister’s warm embrace.”
-=-=-=-=-
“Who, and or what, are you?” Twilight cast her suspicious gaze of the blue colt. “A quick scan of thaumatic web seems to indicate that you’re just an adolescent colt, any pony who didn’t have reason to suspect otherwise probably wouldn’t bother looking any closer.”
“But you did… look closer, I mean…” The colt sat calmly, reclined in his chair in singularly peculiar pose.
“The tells are pretty obvious, to any pony with any experience with transformed humans,” Twilight responded coolly, “an your kind aren’t nearly as rare in Equestria as they once were. But that’s the problem. Transformation magic leaves traces, scars if you will. Your thaumatic web, at least on the surface seems to indicate you were born a pony. But you weren’t born in that body.” It wasn’t a question and Twilight didn’t wait for an answer. “No… you didn’t just run astray of any common transformation spell. But that’s not what bothers me the most.”
Twilight pulled a journal from nearby shelf, “No, I’ve seen this kind of transformation, before. And unless I miss my guess, if I look into the matter deeply enough, I’ll find a colt listed as either missing or deceased matching your description exactly.”
“I dunno, probably?” The colt shrugged. “But you said yourself that wasn’t even what really bothered you.”
“I said it wasn’t what bothered me most, “ Twilight corrected, “Which is a far cry from my being ‘okay’ with a certain pony abducting humans to exploit other ponies grief… but that’s already being taken care of by other ponies.”
“Come out and say it, your majesty.” The colt waved a hoof impatiently. “I’m not exactly qualified to play twenty questions on the subject of magical anomalies.”
“Unlike Canterlot politics?” Twilight nearly snarled. “It’s a funny thing about humans, your ‘prophecies’, your ‘spoilers’ as you call them, are always colored like the future history of a foals story book. You may know future in sometimes shocking detail, but humans don’t come with subtle, nuanced insight into our nation's politics. ‘Twilight and her friends defeated a horrible monster’, yes. ‘The disgraced changeling princess was exile for these specific political reasons’, not so much.”
“Yeah, my spoilers are on a whole ‘nuther playing field.” The colt flashed a wicked grin.
“Which brings me to the one big thing.” Twilight looked on the colt with undisguised suspicion as she spoke. “There’s a second layer to your thaumatic web… on the surface it tells me, ‘Hi, I’m a perfectly normal pegasus pony’. And when I look deeper, instead of what I SHOULD be seeing, the complex deep-web of a normal pony, or even what I might EXPECT to see, the scrambled web of a human soul crammed into the body of a pony… I just see words. Thousands and thousands of words. Do you even understand the implications?”
“I highly doubt it.” The colt shrugged. “I’m kinda dense. But it doesn’t really surprise me all that much. I’m not sure what you should see, but it makes sense you’d see words.”
“MAKES SENSE?!?!” The irate purple alicorn screamed. “I should be gazing into your very soul, and instead it’s like reading a detailed description of what a soul SHOULD look like! WHAT ARE YOU?”
“You’re asking the wrong question, your highness.” The colt smiled coyly. “Honestly, you missed the most obvious question from the very start…”
“How did you get Diane out of Tartarus?” Twilight asked numbly, realization beginning to dawn.
“Simple, I asked her where she wanted to go,” the colt-thing replied easily, “and then I asked what she wanted to take with her.”
Twilight Sparkle's mouth moved, and though no sound emerged, the words were crystal clear, “The Text.”
“The Text,” Twilight’s words were more an admission than an accusation, but still the colt flinched beneath them.
“‘A’ Text really,” he admittedly sheepishly, “Not ‘The’... there have been at least three of us in just your universe alone. I was probably the least.”
“You.. brought the humans here?” The princess watched warily as she spoke.
“Some of them… It’s probably safe to say the worst of them were mine.” A tension seemed to escape with the admission, and the colt’s attitude dissolved. “I’d like to lie and say I mean well… I wish I could lie more and say and didn’t know it was really happening somewhere.”
“But you can’t?” Twilight just couldn’t bring herself to feel smug.
“I came here of my own will… Fetlock still has to obey that rule anyway…” The blue colt’s eyes shone with a guilty weight that belied his apparent age. “I made the deal… I of all people knew what it entailed. I knew what I wanted, and I didn’t care what it cost… I said the words and something heard me.”
“But you can help now?” Twillight Sparkle graped for some straw of friendship.
“Spoilers?” The colt shrugged listlessly. “Secrets and pretty little lies? No… I’ve already done enough… too much really.”
The colt met the eyes of the princess of friendship with a guilty gaze, “No, I don’t think I that I can help you, your highness. I think your better off to figure it all out on your own. No, I think I’ve done enough. I think the last gift I can give my Diane is my absence.”
Twilight blinked, and then blinked again. There where the colt had sat was a blue rag-doll and and a book. Picking it up, she read the title, “Dear Diary” the name signed was to no surprise, “Diane Pastel”.
“Can I have Charlie back now?” Twilight blinked yet again as the changeling filly darted back into the room, her sister close in tow.
“Oh… of course,” the princess replied absently her eyes never lifting from the journal and the blue rag doll sat on top of. For one moment she wondered if the doll’s right eye had always winked like that.
“Z, this is Charlie!” Diane gushed as she hugged the doll, presenting it to Z, “He helped me get out of Tartarus.”
“Z-978 is happy to see her sister,” The changeling smiled warmly, but cast Twilight a worried glance, “But she is worried… perhaps the Charlie has only told the Diane what Z’s sister would tell herself?”
Twilight tried to listen but her attention was drawn to the book. Carefully, she grasped the tiny tome in her magic and flipped through to the last written page.
“I’ve stretched myself as far as I could to protect her,” the words read, cleary written in the script of an adolescent filly, “I can’t help her anymore. I suspect the only reason we can talk at all is because you’re the princess of friendship, and imaginary friends still count.”
Twilight dropped the book as if it were a hot coal that had somehow burned her through her magical grip. “Diane… we still need to talk, and I need to arrange a formal hearing for you and… uh… Charlie… just to establish the conditions of your asylum, of course! In the meantime you and Z can spend some time getting reacquainted… I need to make a copy of your journal, if you you don’t mind, for research?”
“Yeah, sure, whatever,” Diane replied with a wave of her hoof, before turning back to her sister, “Don’t worry, sis, Charlie takes some getting used to, but he’s a lot like Uncle Trainwreck used to be. Trust me, it’ll almost be like having him back!”
The older sister tried unsuccessfully to hide a pained flinch casting one last worried look towards Twilight as the pair exited.
