> Changeling For Hire
>  by Someguy458
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1: Best Friends
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"...and this one's my personal favorite: Joe Nuxhall, of the Cincinnati Reds," Rove held up an old baseball card. "He was the youngest Major League player in history, at the age of 15. And he was left-handed, just like Mrs. Ferguson!"

The rest of the class clapped, even Mrs. Ferguson herself. Rove inhaled to say something else, but he was interrupted when the lunch bell rang. As the kids rushed out, Mrs. Ferguson called after them, "Don't forget, the Spring Social is this Saturday!"

Meanwhile, Rove headed back to his desk to pack his stuff up. As he put the card back in its binder, he heard someone clear their throat behind him. He turned to find a young blonde kid standing there, his arms behind his back insecurely.

"What's up?" Rove asked.

"I, uh, really liked your cards," he said nervously. "Where'd you get them?"

"Oh, thanks!" Rove smiled back. "I got most of them for Christmas."

"Really? I got most of mine for —" The kid suddenly covered his mouth, as if he hadn't meant to say that.

"You collect cards, too?!" Rove got excited.

The kid stammered, "Well, they're not the same kind, but...." Then he sighed, "Promise you won't laugh?"

Rove raised an eyebrow. "Sure?"

The kid then pulled out a small stack of MLP cards from his pocket and showed them to Rove. Rove, while he hadn't had any interest in the show at all, still knew what it was. "Oh, neat! My sister likes that show."

The kid's eyes lit up at the fact that Rove hadn't immediately made fun of him. "Really?"

Rove nodded. "I didn't know they made cards, though."

"They're so cool!" The kid began to get excited. "This one, for example, is of the episode where they climbed a mountain in order to get a dragon to leave."

He showed off the card, labelled "Dragonshy". Rove looked at it, and was surprised. "Wow, this episode is almost as old as I am!"

"I know, right? I'm Os, by the way."

"Rove."

And so they spent the entire lunch break discussing their cards.





Rove slowly blinked himself awake. The remnants of his dream were still on his mind, making him somewhat nostalgic for back then.

He slowly rose to a sitting position, taking in his surroundings. For just a brief moment, he was confused when the sight of his room didn't greet him. But then he remembered where he was, and he began to smile excitedly. He rushed over to the nearest window, threw back the curtains with his hooves, and shouted:

"GOOD MORNING, EQUESTRIA!"

A few voices floated up to his ear, mainly complaints about how he was yelling at 7 in the morning. But he didn't care; he was too excited for today. He rushed out the door and into the hallway of the Castle. Remembering last night's tour, he made his way to the nearest washroom and began to get ready. He took a shower, brushed his fangs, and disguised his mane to look like it did before his metamorphosis two and a half years ago.

As he was finishing up, there came a knock at the door. Rove opened it to find Os herself, looking pretty tired. "Morning, Rove," she mumbled.

"Hey, Os!" Rove grinned as he stepped out of the bathroom to let her in. "You excited for today?"

"Mhmm," she grunted as she entered the bathroom and closed the door.

While she got ready, Rove hung around nearby. That dream had gotten him thinking about how much things had changed in the 9 years since they first met. They'd met Lily and moved up to high school, before their bodies suddenly changed, Os transitioned, and they started dating. It wasn't how he'd thought things would go, but he couldn't really complain.

The sound of the door unlocking drew Rove out of his thoughts. He waited for her to come out, but instead, he heard the shower turn on.

Then Os peeked her head out of the door, a sultry look on her face. "Hey, Rove? I'm having a little trouble with the shower. Could you, perhaps, help me?"

Rove, picking up on the lust in her aura, blushed. "O-okay," he complied, then stepped into the bathroom after her.





Twilight was helping Spike plate pancakes when Lily came into the kitchen, looking frazzled. "Good morning, Lily," the Princess said. "Are the others up?"

Lily replied, "Yeah, but judging from the noises coming from the bathroom, they won't be coming down for a while."

Spike raised an eyebrow. "What, did the toilet get clogged again?"

"....sure," Lily conceded.

"Sounds like it's going to be just us three for a little," Twilight observed as she finished dishing up the pancakes. She grabbed the syrup in her magic and began to pour some on hers.

Lily watched Twilight's skillful telekinesis with fascination. The way she knew how much pressure to apply and the deftness she used to evenly coat the pancakes awed her, and even brought forward a little twinge of envy.

Twilight took notice, and began to dress Lily's pancakes, performing little tricks with the bottle as she did so. She twirled the bottle to the left, rolled it to the right, and even spun herself 360°, all while dressing the pancakes perfectly. Once she was done, both Spike and Lily clapped.

"Impressive, Twilight!" Spike cheered.

"That's amazing!" Lily stated. "I wish I could do proper magic, too."

Twilight raised an eyebrow teasingly. "Oh, you do, do you?"

Lily gasped. "Can you...?!"

Twilight raised a hoof. "I can't make any promises, but I think I've read something that can help you."

"Woohoo!" In her excitement, Lily's wings accidentally flared out, knocking Spike down. "Oh, sorry!"

Spike got back up. "Nah, it's fine; I'm still not fully used to my wings, either. Let's just go already!"

So Twilight quickly jotted a note for Rove and Os, and the three left for the library.





Rove and Os both had to get cleaned up after their shower, so it was a little while before they finally made their way into the kitchen. "Where is everyone?" Os asked, noticing the pancakes that had been left out for them.

Rove found and read the note:



To Rove and Os: Spike, Lily and I will be in the library doing research for most of the day. Rarity will be here at roughly 11:30 to show you around Ponyville; please try to be back around sunset. Have fun — Twilight.



Os moved a plate to an open seat and sat down. "Well, she's the boss." With that said, she dug in. Rove shrugged, and grabbed the syrup in his magic. He turned the bottle upside down, then pushed it against his hoof to squeeze it. It wasn't perfect, but it worked.

Os watched him do this with a frown on her face. "Why not just squeeze the bottle with your magic?"

Rove thought back to the last time he tried that. He'd gotten so absorbed into applying as much pressure as he could, that the bottle completely broke, spilling syrup everywhere. It took almost the entire day to clean it up. "No reason..." he deflected.

But Os wasn't buying it. "Is it what you said yesterday? That you're afraid you'll lose control?"

Rove hesitated, then nodded.

Os moved closer to him and put her hoof on his shoulder. "You won't."

"But how could you possibly-?"

"You won't," she reaffirmed, staring straight into his eyes until Rove relaxed. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek for good measure, then resumed eating.

Rove, with newfound confidence, lit his horn.





Two minutes later, they were both scrubbing the table with soap-covered sponges.

Os tried to salvage the mood, "Well, at least the bottle's still intact... Somewhat...."

Rove groaned in embarrassment.





Lily closed yet another book, setting it atop the now waist-high pile. "How many books was that?" she asked, rubbing her eyes. "I've lost count."

"Twelve," Twilight recounted, not even looking up from her own reading. "Fourteen if you count each volume of Onyx Star's Encyclopedia of Non-Pony Enchanters as a separate book."

"Which I do," Spike grumbled from atop his portion of the books.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm really thankful that you're helping me do this," Lily clarified. "It's just, I didn't fully realize how many books you had on this subject." She glanced at the shelves, which still held roughly three dozen more books.

"And that's not even counting the books she has in storage," Spike commented.

Twilight sighed. "I know it's a lot, but it's a complex subject - especially when it comes to dragons. We only just recently got on good terms with them, so we still know very little about them."

"There's gotta be a better way to do this!" Lily groaned.

Spike thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers. "Let's just ask Ember!"

Twilight gasped. "Why didn't I think of that?!" She then rushed out of the room, only to return a moment later with a scroll, quill, and ink in her magical grip. She handed them to Spike, then began to dictate:



Dragon Lord Ember,
I am writing to you with a few questions. My friend Lily is interested in learning magic. However, as a dragon, she is unsure if she can. We were hoping you could give us some clarity and/or advice on the situation.
Hope to hear from you soon,
Twilight Sparkle



As soon as it was signed, Spike rolled it up and sent it. "Alright, it's sent. Now, all we have to do is wait."

Twilight nodded. "And while we're waiting, we can keep looking through more books!"

Spike and Lily groaned, prompting Twilight to roll her eyes. "Fine, we can take a break."





By the time Rove and Os finished cleaning up, it was 11:34, so they only had to wait a few minutes before someone knocked at the door. They both opened it to find Rarity, accompanied by Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Rarity looked

The two little ones were immediately enamored with the new faces. "Woah," Sweetie gaped. "Who're you two?"

"I'm Rove, and this is Os," the changeling greeted. "You must be Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, right?" The two kids nodded.

"I've never met a thestral before!" Scootaloo admired. "Your wings are so cool!"

Os, flattered by the praise, spread them out to her sides, prompting some "Ooh"s from the little ones.

"I'm so sorry I'm late," Rarity apologized. "Scootaloo's staying with me until her aunts arrive, but their train's been delayed. I hope you don't mind if they accompany us for the tour."

"Not at all!" Os smiled, inadvertently showing her fangs. Scootaloo squee'd a little at how cool they were.

Meanwhile, Sweetie was focused more on Rove. "Are you two new in town?"

"Yeah, actually. We have an internship with Twilight, so we're staying with her for the summer."

Sweetie nodded. "Where're you from?"

"Akron, Ohio."

Sweetie and Scootaloo both gasped. "You're from the human world?!"

Os nodded. "Yup, you're looking at two former humans."

The response was immediate: Scootaloo started fan-girling, while Sweetie started to ask sympathetic questions ("Did it hurt", "How have you adjusted", etc.).

Rove and Os were starting to get a little overwhelmed, but thankfully, Rarity stepped in. "Alright, you can ask more questions later; right now, we have a tour to go on."

"Aww, okay..." Sweetie and Scootaloo bemoaned simultaneously, but they relented.

Rarity then turned to the two former humans. "Now, is every creature ready?" The two nodded eagerly, so Rarity turned back towards the town. "Then off we go!" With that, the five of them began to head into town.





Spike was idly stacking books into a pyramid when he felt something building up in his throat. Fortunately, he was able to turn his head away from the flammable books before he burped out a scroll. Twilight, who was lounging on a chair reading a book, caught and unfurled the scroll, and read the reply inside.



Twilight,
You're lucky I was with my Dad when you wrote; he's been studying this topic on the side ever since I was young.
He says that, while most dragons' magic can only be expressed through their fire, a few have the ability to produce other types of breath, and even fewer can channel magic through other means, such as their spines or wings. It all has to do with how developed that dragon's magic sac is.
Spike, for example, can perform standard dragon feats such as breathing fire and casting minor spells with it (namely the mail delivery spell).
The easiest way a dragon can cast spells above their ability is through the Bloodstone Scepter, which is why whoever holds it becomes the Dragon Lord. Otherwise, it can take years of practice to strengthen the sac enough.
That's all my dad can remember off the top of his head; he'd need to visit the Archives to remember anything else. I hope that helps!
-Ember



As Twilight read the letter, Lily began to get more and more excited. If she worked hard enough, she could learn magic? And judging by the look on Spike's face, she could tell he was excited at the prospect as well.

"I never even considered casting other spells with my fire!" Spike wondered out loud. He then turned to Lily, "Do you think I could learn something with you?"

"Heck yeah, dude!" Lily grinned, and they high-fived.

Twilight, however, was more reserved. "Hold on a second; we still need to determine what level Lily's at. Give me a bit to set up a couple of tests." Lily and Spike nodded in agreement, and Twilight trotted out of the room.

A moment of silence passed.

Then Spike turned towards Lily. "You wanna play some Ogres and Oubliettes?"