> The Mummers' Dance
>  by The Hat Man
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> 1. Amazing Chest Ahead!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Starlight Glimmer stepped off the train and onto the platform at the Crystal Empire railway station, shivering in the brisk northern wind as she scanned her surroundings. She smiled as she spotted the orange and white mottled coat of her friend even before he managed to call her name.

“Starlight!” Sunburst cried as he galloped over to her.

“Sunburst, it’s good to see you!” 

The two of them shared a brief hug as she levitated her luggage and began trotting alongside him as they began making their way into the city proper.

“So, you said you had a ‘magical favor’ you wanted to ask of me?” she asked.

He nodded, loosening his glasses enough that he had to push them back up his muzzle. “And I promise it’s a small one. After that, we can spend the whole weekend just hanging around, talking magical spells, and playing Dragon Pit.”

“No age reversion spells this time,” Starlight said with a smirk. “Promise.”

Sunburst chuckled. “Sure thing. I actually have a few more adult games we can try too!”

Starlight froze. 

“I’m sure you’ll love them!” he continued, not noticing Starlight’s uneasy expression. “We could try ‘Settlers of Catrot’ or ‘Agricolta’ or ‘Terra Mysticanter.’ They’re really fun!”

“Ah, right,” Starlight said, heaving a sigh of relief. “So, what exactly did you need me to do?”

“Well, I was antiquing right here in the Empire, and I came across this amazing chest that—”

Starlight slowed her pace, her smile fading.

Sunburst noticed this and turned around. “Uh, something wrong, Starlight?”

“You know, if this was going to involve antiquing, you could have just asked Twilight to come instead, right? I’m sure she would have jumped at the chance.”

Sunburst blinked. “Oh,” he said. And then he rushed forward and took her by the hoof. “Starlight, I know I neglected you and geeked out with Twilight that one time, but I know it’s not your thing. I want to be sure to spend time with you this time; that’s why I didn’t ask Twilight - I know you can do this just as well as she can and then we can forget about the dumb old thing I bought and just, well, hang out!”

She smiled. “Well, when you put it that way, how could I refuse? Besides, your hobby did help us save the Pillars of Old Equestria, so I guess I can indulge in a little antiquing.”

Sunburst grinned. “That’s great! And the best part is, you just have to look at one thing with me, and we’ll pretty much be finished!”

“So, where is this thing you’ve bought?”





As it turned out, Sunburst hadn’t actually bought it yet. And the item in question turned out to be a large, wooden coffer with silver accents in the dusty backroom of a certain antique shop in the Crystal Empire.

Starlight raised an eyebrow as she looked over the old coffer. “This is it?” she asked. “It looks like somepony’s luggage.”

“It could be!” Sunburst said, his enthusiasm not remotely dampened. “It could be old artifacts from a bygone age, it could be jewels and gold, or it could be magical tomes written by the mages of the Akhal-Teke Empire!”

"Or it could be a pile of thousand-year-old underwear," Starlight muttered.

"Oh my gosh, do you really think so?!"

Then the shop owner coughed behind them, practically startling both of them out of their hooves. “As I told the young stallion, miss,” he said, “this treasure coffer was found in the catacombs under Hollow Shades a few years ago. And several past owners have vanished without a trace under mysterious circumstances.”

“I already agreed to buy it,” Sunburst huffed, “just as soon as my friend verifies there’s no magical curse on it! You don’t have to hype it up any more than you already have!”

The shopkeep rolled his eyes. “Typical collector. You tell them you’re selling an item associated with the probable deaths of a previous owner - or several of them - and they think you’re just being a salespony.” He looked over to Starlight. “You look like a smart mare, Miss. I’ve got no concrete reason not to sell this coffer, but I’ve never tried to pry it open. Your friend is the only pony brave or stupid enough try, so I’m selling it at a steep discount. You tell me it’s cursed, I’ll have it chucked into the nearest fissure in the ice fields and forget about it. You say it’s not, and you can have it for the price I quoted him earlier.”

Starlight glanced back at Sunburst, whose eyes had glazed over. “Ohhh, can you imagine finding an item like this at the bottom of an icy chasm… the mind boggles!”

The shopkeep sighed. “Please, spare us the suspense, Miss. Is the item cursed or are its previous owners just profoundly unlucky?”

Starlight took a deep breath as her horn lit up. She tried to concentrate, though it wasn’t easy between the exasperation of the shopkeep and Sunburst’s giddy anticipation.

“Let’s see… I’m picking up a small amount of magical energy, though it’s mostly dormant… but dark magic or hexes or curses? Hmmm…”

Sunburst bit his lip, watching as she held her horn over the ancient chest.

“...hmmm… nope!” she exclaimed suddenly, raising her head. “No, no curses here! Not a hint of dark magic at all!”

“That’s fantastic!” Sunburst exclaimed. 

“So, you’ll take it?” the shopkeep asked.

“Absolutely!”

The shopkeep heaved a sigh of relief. “Great. If you’ve got the bits now, you can haul it away. Right after you sign a waiver. No refunds, by the way. For you or your next of kin.”





The coffer was heavy, to be sure, but Starlight couldn’t help but notice that it didn’t really seem to rattle much when they finally hoisted it into Sunburst’s attic. His hypothesis was that it was so full of artifacts that there was no room for it to move. Her own hypothesis was that it was probably just filled with dirt and rocks that some long-dead jerk had left there to troll future adventurers. (In fairness, it did actually sound like a pretty good gag.)

Strangely, though, she felt defensive at the thought and wanted to tell the ghostly jerks that Sunburst could probably make his money back by selling the chest itself as an antique or just for scrap. So there, you ethereal bastards!

“All right, Sunburst,” Starlight grunted as she released her magic and set down the chest with a heavy thud. “I did you your magical favor. Can we maybe get some lunch and then maybe you can show me around town or—”

“Oh, the anticipation is killing me!” Sunburst bubbled, practically dancing on the tips of his hooves. “I can’t wait! I have to see what’s inside!”

Starlight narrowed her eyes. “Sunburst. You promised.”

Sunburst bit his lip. “I… I did, yes…” He glanced longingly at the chest. “We’ll just go get some lunch over at the Thunder Crash Diner and… and…”

Starlight watched him as he trailed off, his eyes glazing over once again. She groaned. “Fine, let’s just open it and you can rant about what an amazing find it is for 15 minutes and THEN we can get lunch. Deal?”

Sunburst beamed and instantly swept her up in a tight embrace. “Ohhh, Starlight, thank you! I promise, just 15 minutes, that’s it!”

Starlight chuckled as she patted him on the back. “I’m holding you to that,” she said.

He brought out a set of lock-picking tools from a nearby drawer, levitating them over to the chest as he started to fiddle with the lock. “Hmm… this is a tricky one. Starlight, could you go down to the library and look up a spell of unlocking for me? It’ll be under ‘U.’”

“Why would it be under me?”

He gave her a withering look.

“Oh!” she exclaimed, blushing. “R-right, the letter U. For ‘Unlocking.’ Got it.”

Starlight trotted hurriedly down the stairs from the attic and made her way to Sunburst’s library. It was far less expansive than Twilight’s, but still big enough that she needed to scan the shelves closely to find the book Sunburst needed. She had nearly found the tome in question when she heard a guttural roar followed by a blood-curdling scream from the attic above.

“Starlight, help!!”

She instantly teleported back to the attic.

When she got there, however, the room was silent and Sunburst was nowhere to be seen. She looked around in a panic and shouted his name, but was greeted only with silence.

The chest they’d bought still stood in the corner. But she couldn’t help but notice that it was in a slightly different position from where she’d left it. Not only that, the wooden planks of the floor around it were covered with a thin layer of green slime.

“Sunburst?!” she called again.

Then she noticed a slight, almost imperceptible rattling from the chest, and her expression darkened. A trap!

Her horn lit up as she bellowed, “Let him go!” and blasted the chest’s lock with a magical bolt.

The chest suddenly popped open and Sunburst reached out from within. He was covered with green slime and the lid of the chest, she realized, was lined with sharp teeth like the serrated edges of a saw.

Starlight seized Sunburst in her magic and yanked him free as the chest emitted a roar and began bouncing loudly after him with a roar.

The chest’s lid chomped up and down ravenously, revealing its meaty, organic insides as arm-like appendages - most likely arms - sprang from the wooden sides.

Starlight froze for just a moment in utter horror and disbelief at the sight bounding toward her. The chest then horked up a veritable wave of disgusting green slime that almost instantly glued them both to the floorboards. Now that the two ponies were rendered immobile, the monster licked its toothy mouth with a lolling purple tongue in anticipation of its impending meal. 

But then Starlight’s instincts took over and she blasted the chest with another massive bolt of magical energy, sending it hurtling back against the wall with a clatter.

The roars subsided and the creature gurgled as slime slowly leaked from its “mouth,” the lid agape as it fell backward.

“What in Equestria is that thing?!” Starlight shouted as she tried to pry herself free of the floorboards. “That treasure chest almost ate you!”

Sunburst was still panting as he stared at the monster that had swallowed him a moment ago. Then he began to laugh.

“Sunburst?” Starlight asked. “What in the name of Celestia are you laughing at?!”

“A mimic, Starlight!” Sunburst exclaimed, shaking her by the shoulders. “It’s not a treasure chest, it’s a mimic! I thought they were just a legend! Quick, Starlight, we have to get Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor! And have them message Twilight! This is the find of the century!”

Starlight heaved another long sigh. So, she wearily concluded, there goes my cozy weekend of board games and magic study.

“Fine,” she said aloud. “Let me see if I can teleport us out of this glue. It’ll be tricky, but—”

“No time!” Sunburst cried. “Besides, I think I can just pull myself free if I—”

“No, Sunburst, wait!”

There was a loud RRRRIP sound and Sunburst sprang to his hooves triumphantly. He then collapsed to the floor in a decidedly untriumphant manner as he howled in pain.

“...Right. So once I get myself free and notify Cadance, I’ll find a doctor and see if we can find you some pain killers and hopefully a potion to regrow your hair and tail.”
> 2. Roll with the Changes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was only a day later in the throne room of the Crystal Empire when one of the Crystal Guardsponies strode in. “Your Majesties, I know you said not to be disturbed while you debated the fate of the mimic, but there is a foreign dignitary who is demanding to speak to you about it!”

Cadance, Shining Armor, Twilight, Starlight, and Sunburst all exchanged glances.

“How did someone outside of the Crystal Empire know about the mimic?” Cadance asked.

“Well, I didn’t tell anyone but you, Princess Cadance,” Sunburst protested. “I mean… I suppose there were guards who heard me frantically yelling ‘Mimic, mimic!’ as I ran through the castle doors.”

“Yes, and then they all got confused, thought you were playing some sort of game where they were supposed to mimic you, and started running after you and yelling ‘Mimic, mimic!’ as well,” Starlight said.

The guard said nothing, only giving a sheepish grin as his crystalline cheeks colored.

Starlight gave him a flat look that she then turned toward Shining Armor. “No offense, but you should really train them better.” 

Shining Armor drew himself up. “Hey, I trained them exactly as well as I trained the Canterlot Royal Guard!”

Starlight opened her mouth to speak again but Twilight covered her mouth with a hoof and shook her head. 

“Listen, that can wait later,” Twilight said. “What matters is that somepony else knows about that monster Sunburst found. Let’s find out what they want.”

Cadance nodded. “You’re right, Twilight. Guard, who is this visitor and where are they now?”

The guard suddenly smiled. “Actually, I can answer both of those questions right now…”

There was a green flash of flame and the guard was replaced by a new creature with purple eyes, a dark green chitinous hide, and red, pincer-like horns rising in a V-shape from his head.

“Pharynx!” Starlight exclaimed.

“Ha ha! Exactly, Starburst!”

Starlight visibly drooped. “Um… it’s Starlight,” she said, forcing a smile.

“That’s not important,” he said, waving a hoof. “I am here on behalf of the Changeling Hive and my brother, Thorax, and I demand to see the mimic!”

Cadance cleared her throat. “Well, Prince Pharynx,” she began, bowing graciously, “let me welcome you for the first time to the Crystal Empire.”

“Ugh, don’t call me ‘Prince’ under any circumstances!” Pharynx snarled.

“But I thought your brother was King!” Sunburst said. “Doesn’t that make you Prince by default?”

“At first, but I’ve renounced that title because I have no interest in ruling; my only goal is the protection of the Hive.”

“Oh,” Shining Armor said, nodding thoughtfully. “So you’re the Changeling formerly known as ‘Prince?’”

“Yes. I don’t want to be compared to my brother by some misguided foreign politician.”

“Oh, don’t be silly, Pharynx,” Starlight said, “nothing compares to you!”

“Look, I didn’t come here for royal puffery!” Pharynx growled, his insectoid wings flaring. “Just tell me one thing: where is the mimic?!”

Shining Armor stepped forward. “Pharynx,” he began calmly, “not to be disrespectful, but how did you even know about it? We hadn’t really publicized this and the only ones who knew about it were the ponies in this room and our top security.”

“As I told my brother,” Pharynx said with a smirk, “the best way to stay in the game is to have a piece on the board.”

Shining Armor blinked. “Wait… you mean you have changeling spies in the Crystal Empire?!”

“Let’s just say that I like to keep an eye on our neighbors,” Pharynx replied with a smirk.

Cadance joined her husband, matching his scowl. “That is a direct violation of our peaceful agreement to—”

Twilight suddenly appeared in a flash as she teleported between them. “Okay, okay, let’s all calm down and see if we can get to the bottom of this!” she said, forcing a smile.

Pharynx took a step back as Cadance and Shining Armor shared a look and likewise calmed themselves.

“Regardless of how I know,” Pharynx said, placing a hoof to his chest, “I heard that some bumbling idiot bought what he thought was a treasure chest only to get himself devoured by it. Sorry for your loss, and please send my condolences to the idiot and his stupid family.”

“Hey, that idiot was me!” Sunburst exclaimed. “And I was only nearly devoured by it!” He shuffled his hooves as his cheeks colored. “I was just lucky Starlight was there.”

Starlight raised her head. “And I almost blasted a hole in it trying to save him, for the record.”

“So, it’s… still alive?” Pharynx asked.

They all nodded.

“Then, I would like to see it,” Pharynx said. “Please,” he quietly added after a beat. “This is very important to me and to my people.”

Cadance nodded, smiling at him. “Very well, Pharynx,” she said. “After we recovered it, we placed it in a cell in the castle dungeon. It’s being closely guarded as we speak.”





In contrast to the gleaming crystal of the Imperial Palace, the dungeons were made of darker crystal, the cells' alcoves carved in a rounded shape from the rock. In such a peaceful time, they’d fallen into disuse and all the cells were empty save one that was being watched intently by a pair of guards with sharp spears at their side.

They both raised their heads when they saw Cadance, Shining Armor, and the others approaching.

“Your Majesties!” the senior guard said as they both saluted.

“Has there been any change in its condition?” Shining Armor asked.

“No, sir,” the guard replied, pointing into the cell. “Once it regained consciousness, it reverted to its disguised form and hasn’t moved at all for the last 14 hours.”

They all approached the bars slowly. The mimic was sitting there, looking for all intents and purposes like the humble treasure chest that Sunburst and Starlight had hauled back from the antique shop.

“Why would it bother to keep pretending?” Twilight wondered aloud, stroking her chin.

“Because it’s hoping that you all will doubt what Sunburst and Starlight told you,” Pharynx said, narrowing his eyes. “If you think they’re hallucinating, it assumes, you might put it somewhere else where it can find more prey. But now that I’m here, I can tell you what it is for certain.” He grinned. “And you know what I am too, don’t you, monster?”

There was a deep guttural growl that emanated from the chest and the lid suddenly moved as the mimic snarled. Its hidden eyes appeared through its wooden planks as it glared back at Pharynx.

“You two can sense each other?!” Sunburst gasped. “Wait… I think I understand now! You’re both shapeshifters! It’s like you’re, well, related!”

Pharynx grimaced. “Not something we like to advertise,” Pharynx said. “But you’ve got the right idea. We know each other instinctively… I’ve never seen one myself, but I felt it as soon as I saw it.”

“This is so incredible!” Twilight exclaimed, sharing in Sunburst’s intellectual zeal. “We’re learning so much about a new species! Or, well, a forgotten species, I guess. They’re incredibly rare!”

“More than you know,” Pharynx said, not taking his eyes off the mimic. “What you’re seeing might very well be the very last mimic in existence.”

Starlight swallowed. “And I nearly blasted it to pieces,” she muttered. “If I’d used just a little more magic, I’d have blown a hole right through it and wiped out the entire species!”

“True,” Pharynx said. Then his horn began to glow as magical power began to build in it. 

The mimic’s snarling became more vicious.

“Well, since you failed to kill it, it falls to me to finish the job!” Pharynx shouted. He reared up on his hind legs and prepared to fire a concentrated beam at the mimic. “For the Hive!”

There was an audible gasp from the group as Twilight stood firmly in front of him, instantly blocking his magical bolt with a magical shield.

“Pharynx, stop!” she screamed. “Monster or not, it’s still a living creature!”

“Yes, I know, that’s what I’m trying to fix!” 

Sunburst rushed to Twilight’s side. “But why would you want to destroy it?!”

He tilted his head to the side, regarding them both with a mix of amusement and pity.

“I don’t think you ponies understand the situation,” he said. “It's a mimic. They are vicious monsters that are a threat to every sapient creature around them. But more than that, they are the mortal enemies of the entire changeling race. The one you’ve found might be the very last one, and I will not be denied when I am so close to finishing the Hive’s great work!”

“Pharynx, you can’t expect us to—”

A sharp, shrill sound split the air as Starlight put her hoof to her mouth and let loose a whistle that set them all to covering their ears.

“Okay, everypony, time out!” she shouted. “Look, why don’t we all sit down and talk this over like civilized creatures? Pharynx, I’m sure if you tell us what you know about the mimic and why you want it dead, then maybe we can all talk about the best thing to do next.”

Pharynx heaved a sigh. “Very well,” he said. “It is your prisoner, after all. Let’s find a place to talk and I’ll tell you about our shared history, and then maybe you’ll see why it’s time to consign that species to oblivion…”


To be continued...

> 3. In Post-Undead Equestria, Loot Nabs YOU!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The group of them retired to a small meeting room in the castle where a group of servants prepared some tea and crumpets.

“Hm,” Pharynx said as he sipped his tea. “So this is where Thorax got the idea.”

They all gave him an inquisitive look.

“No changeling knew anything about tea, let alone how to make crumpets, but now it’s a thing every changeling has around 3:30. I should have figured he picked it up from his time in the Crystal Empire.”

“Oh… well, do you like them?” Cadance asked.

Pharynx sighed. “I do. I hate that I do, but that’s how the Hive is these days.” He took a crumpet and munched it thoughtfully. “Speaking of which, none of us really knew what ‘3:30’ meant when he was trying to get it started. The Hive’s first trade policy was literally started so we could get clocks so we’d know when to have tiny cakes and hot leaf juice.” He rubbed his face. “By the stars, we used to be one of the most feared races in all the land…”

Twilight cleared her throat. “So, about the mimics?” she urged.

Pharynx nodded. “Well, start by telling me what you know about them, and I’ll fill in the blank spots.”

Starlight raised her hoof. “Actually, now that you mention it, I know practically nothing about them,” she said. “With all the chaos and one almost eating Sunburst and everyone yelling about it, nopony’s actually explained what it is other than a monster that looks like a treasure chest.”

Sunburst winced. “Ah… sorry, Starlight, I should have taken the time to explain earlier,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Well, it’s a type of creature that takes the form of inanimate objects and when a pony gets too close to it or is fooled by its disguise, it eats them. Because they can't move very fast, they often spew a sticky substance that glues their victims to the spot so they can't escape.” He looked back at his bandaged flank.  “I guess we learned about that part the hard way. Anyway, I’ve read about them looking like umbrellas or chairs or things like that, but most of them seem to like pretending to be boxes, especially treasure chests for some reason.”

“Oh, there’s a reason,” Pharynx said.

“Ah! I think I’ve read about this!” Twilight exclaimed, her eyes lighting up. “There aren’t many studies on mimics, but according to my research, mimics were designed by sorcerers to catch burglars, and so they made them look like the one thing that would be irresistible: a treasure chest!”

Pharynx nodded. “You have the right idea, both of you,” he said, “so let me fill you in on what you don’t know…

“For one thing, we changelings believe that mimics and we were descended from the same species,” he began. “We aren’t sure about our own origins, but we believe that either one species split off into our two species, or else the mimics were a group of changelings that broke away from the Hive themselves, and that’s how they inherited similar transformation powers to our own.

“Either way, though, some pony sorcerer over a thousand years ago experimented with them and used them as living traps, just like you said, Princess Twilight. But eventually they grew independent, rebelled from the sorcerer’s control, and started hunting on their own. Unfortunately, they kept their taste for flesh, and soon they were hiding all over Equestria, devouring unsuspecting ponies and then immediately resuming their disguises to patiently wait for their next victim.”

“Wait a minute,” Starlight said, furrowing her brow. “If they were free to hunt whatever they wanted, why stalk ponies? Wouldn’t it be easier to just pretend to be a tree or bush and stalk animals in the wild?”

“Ooh, ooh, ooh!” Twilight exclaimed, raising her hoof and waving it wildly.

“Are… are you waiting for me to call on you like some school filly?!” Pharynx asked.

Twilight froze. “Nnnoooo?” She slowly lowered her hoof, grinning sheepishly. “Anyway, Starlight, it’s believed that mimics are ‘sapiovores.’ They only eat intelligent, thinking creatures.”

“That’s correct,” Pharynx said, ignoring the satisfied grin on Twilight’s face, as though she were expecting a gold star. He then noticed the smug Sunburst wore. “And ‘intelligent, thinking creatures’ is relative to ordinary animals. A lot of their prey are merely foolhardy and reckless and blinded by curiosity.” 

Sunburst lowered his head abashedly. 

Satisfied with sufficiently dampening Sunburst’s mood, Pharynx smirked and carried on with his explanation. “In the same way changelings devour a pony’s love - or used to, that is - mimics feed on a pony’s greed. Their lust for riches, or even just their anticipation of treasure, gives their flesh a flavor that is irresistible to any mimic. They can eat any kind of flesh, of course, but it’s the greed that ‘seasons’ their meals.

“Ordinarily, they would have been fairly rare throughout Equestria… they live a long time, they don’t need to eat that much, and one meal every few years will keep them fed, since they conserve energy by remaining stationary.”

The others nodded along with his explanation.

“Okay, that all makes sense,” Starlight said. “But it doesn’t really sound like they were any real threat to the changelings. It’s not like changelings were that interested in treasure, so why are your species enemies?”

Pharynx drew in a breath. “How many of you are familiar with the Necromancer’s War of 210 CYP?” he asked.

Twilight and Sunburst raised their hooves as the others looked like history students caught off guard.

“Well, since it’s just the nerdiest among you, I’ll fill you in,” he said, ignoring Twilight and Sunburst’s obvious irritation. “The long and short of it is that a powerful necromancer raised an army of undead and waged war on Equestria about 800 years ago but was eventually defeated. Actually, a few of our kind secretly joined the fight… zombies feel no love, so it wasn’t exactly in our best interest to see our primary food source turned into a bunch of mindless, shambling corpses.”

“Oh my gosh, I could write an entire research paper about this!” Twilight bubbled. “Quick, does anypony have a notepad so I can write this down?!”

“Yes, yes, there will be time to answer your incessant questions later,” Pharynx continued. “Look, the point is that there were a lot of ruined lands that needed to be reconstructed and repopulated. Lots of abandoned towns with abandoned buildings and a sudden rush of ponies wanting to either salvage whatever was left behind or even try to move back in. And there were enough of them so if a few scavengers and homesteaders suddenly went missing under mysterious circumstances, it didn’t result in a particularly exhaustive search for the cause.”

“Of course!” Sunburst breathed. “Mimics love ruins, so they moved into the abandoned towns and fed off the ponies who came back after the war!”

“And by that time, there were enough well-fed mimics to easily blend in when the areas fully recovered. They could hide as ordinary objects in ponies’ houses for years… until they got hungry enough, that is.” He smirked and made a chomping noise that made them all flinch. “And this time, ponies took notice. A few mimics were found, and a panic started. It’s hard to go about your day when you’re terrified of any random thing in your house suddenly devouring you and your family.

“Which is where my kind finally comes back into the picture: ponies were so paranoid, they started erecting large magical fields across the nation designed to do one thing: nullify transformation magic so they could detect the mimics and get rid of them. The only problem was that it didn’t just detect mimics; it also detected us. Thanks to those mindless eating machines, our whole strategy was in jeopardy! They essentially were ruining things for the rest of us transformation-based hunters.

“The revealing spell was difficult to cast and maintain, but ponies were willing to keep it up as long as they felt threatened. Therefore, we changelings decided to eliminate that threat. The Great Mimic Hunts of Eld,” he said with enough pride for them to hear the capital letters in his voice, “united changelings like nothing else had before, and we swept across the land to take down every single one we could find. We even developed an innate ability to sense them when transformed… but they quickly did the same for us, and it wasn’t long until they developed an instinctive fear of changelings as their primary predator.

“Once we eliminated them all - or almost all of them, it seems - we snuck certain operatives into Equestria’s ranks to convince them that the danger was over and the revealing magic fields could be taken down. Over the years, the spell fell into disuse, allowing changelings to once again feed on the hapless, ignorant equines of Equestria.”

He wiped a wistful tear from his eye before noticing the sharp glares from the ponies around the table.

“Well, not that we feed on ponies now, of course,” he said. “And that’s good!” he added quickly. “But regardless, that should tell you everything you need to know about our shared history. With that out of the way,” he said, getting to his hooves, “I’d like to finish my business in your Empire and destroy that monster you’re keeping in your dungeon, if you don’t mind.”

“Hold on,” Cadance said. “Just because your species were enemies a long time ago doesn’t mean—”

“Ugh, this is a waste of time!” Pharynx shouted, slamming his chitinous hoof on the table. “Mimics rarely reproduce, but they can do so asexually… so leaving even ONE alive is a risk of their population bouncing back. They’re a threat to your species as well as mine, possibly moreso, so let’s do away with it and move on with our lives!”

“Pharynx, we appreciate what you’re talking about,” Shining Armor said, standing alongside his wife, “but even so, ponies don’t believe in killing a creature unless it’s absolutely necessary. And it's not just one creature, it's the last of an entire race!”

“Well, the Hive has determined that it is absolutely necessary!” he snapped. “But very well… I’ll give you 24 hours to change your minds about this. And if you still won’t see reason, then I will have to go back to my brother and report that our Equestrian ‘allies’ have sided with our mortal enemy.”

Cadance and Shining Armor looked to each other, exchanging an uneasy glance.

“You have 24 hours, ponies. Hopefully, you’ll have seen the light by then.” He spread his insectoid wings and took to the air with an audible buzzing. “Farewell!”

He his wings hummed as he flew to the nearest window… and smacked into the glass with a loud thwack.

Then he backed up and smacked into it a few more times. "What the—" Thwack! "I can see the outside there—" Thwack! "Bah! Maybe if I try a little higher—" Thwack!

"Do they not have glass windows in the Hive?" Twilight whispered to Starlight.

Thwack!

"No, no they do not," Starlight whispered back.

"Pharynx," Twilight said, "maybe we could—"

"No, no, I've got this figured out. I'll just—"

Thwack!

"Gah! If you ponies think I'll be—" Thwack! "—intimidated by your attempts to keep me here, then you are gravely—" Thwack! "—Dammit!"

After smacking into the window hard enough to daze himself and fall to the ground, Twilight finally used her magic to undo the latch and open the window for him.

With a grumble, Pharynx got up, shook his head, and flew out the window with what he hoped looked like dignity.

“24 hours,” Twilight breathed. “What should we do?”

“Well, this sounds like a Royalty decision,” Starlight said, clapping her hooves together decisively. “In the meantime, since we’ve got 24 hours to kill…”

Her horn lit up and a box suddenly appeared on the table, landing on it roughly as its contents rattled.

“...Who’s up for a game or two of Dragon Pit while we wait?” She grinned and looked at Sunburst expectantly.

“Starlight,” Sunburst groaned. “Just… no.”

“Ugh, fine,” she grumbled, sending the board game back to wherever she’d summoned it from. “Stupid international interspecies genocide is always ruining my vacation plans,” she muttered sulkily.


To be continued...

> 4. A Box-ing Match
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A pair of Imperial Guards stood at the bar’s of the mimic’s cell. It had been hours since their shift started, and the silence had grown tiresome. It was not helped by the fact that the mimic, which continued to sit in its inert, chest-y form, was showing a level of motionless silence that put even the best of Equestria’s guards to shame and could give actual statues a run for their money (if they ran or needed money).

Thus, the two of them had started to lapse into idle conversation.

“Hm… what time do you think it is?” asked the first of them. “2, maybe 3 AM?”

“No idea; I left my pocket watch back at the barracks,” the second replied.

“Why’s that?”

“No pockets in the armor.”

“Oh. Right.” He coughed into his foreleg, the sound echoing through the empty crystalline walls of the dungeon. He glanced over his shoulder at the mimic, assuring himself once again that it hadn’t moved.

“Though about getting one of those kinds that you wear on your foreleg. You know, around your pastern?”

“Oh yeah. Amazing stuff they’ve come out with in the last thousand years. So, why haven’t you bought one? Pretty sure they make cheap ones.”

“Eh,” the guard said with a shrug. “You wait long enough in this job, somepony tells you what time it is. Usually when your shift is over.”

A solitary guard strolled down the stairs and into the dungeon. “Your shift’s over,” he said.

“Finally!” the first guard exclaimed.

“Wait, where’s the other one?” the second guard asked.

“It’s just me,” the newcomer said.

“What? It’s supposed to be two of us at all times.”

“Well, the Princess decided that we only needed one. It’s just a stupid box, and it’s not like it can wedge through the bars.”

Just then, the mimic began to growl, hopping backward with a loud clatter.

“Oh, hey, it’s awake,” said the first guard idly.

“And it’s grouchy,” said the second.

“It’s not the only one,” the newcomer quipped. “Look, I don’t ask questions. Orders are that I come down here so you guys can go hit the bunk. But if you two want to stay here, I’ve got no problem going back and getting some shuteye instead…”

“Pfft, buck that!” the first guard said. “Have fun watching the box!”

The second guard gave a shrug and a sloppy salute as he followed his comrade out, leaving the newcomer with the mimic.

Once he was alone, he smirked at the snarling box through the bars.

“All too easy,” he chuckled, tossing his spear aside as his horn lit up and began to charge.

The mimic bounced around, clattering even louder as it searched for some sort of hiding spot in the empty cell, its snarls turning to loud roars.

“Hold still,” the guard said, narrowing his eyes. “It’ll hurt a lot worse if it takes more than one shot.”

Then he heard the sound of someone clearing their throat in the empty hallway and his eyes went wide.

“Twenty four hours, eh?” asked a feminine voice from the empty air.

The guard sniffed the air and made a sour face, the magic in his horn dissipating. He turned his gaze toward an empty patch of air just a few meters away and heaved a sigh. “All right, Starlight Glimmer. Show yourself.”

The air shimmered as Starlight removed her invisibility spell.

“Nice of you to remember my name this time, Pharynx,” Starlight said with a smirk.

The “guard” vanished in a puff of green flame and the dark green changeling stood in his place.

“I actually remembered your name from the start,” Pharynx said. “But pretending to forget it seemed like a good power move. In a situation like this, it’s good to keep your opponents on their hooves.”

“I’m not sure if I’m glad to know you remembered me or annoyed that you think I’m your ‘opponent,’ but either way, why tell me now?” she asked.

“You were smart enough to know I’d try to sneak back in here on my own,” he replied. “I think you’ve earned a small bit of my respect for that. That’s why I’ll ask you to leave and forget that I was here while I finish this monster off by myself. Enjoy your plausible deniability.”

Starlight sighed and shook her head. “Sorry, but I can’t do that.”

“Oh? Did you already tell the princesses you would be down here waiting for me? Are they going to jump out and arrest me for sneaking in?”

“No! I decided to cast an invisibility spell and come down here alone so we could talk one-on-one. As far as the others know, I’m asleep in my room.”

“I appreciate the thought, Starlight Glimmer, but I’m not here to negotiate.” He turned away from her and began charging up his magic once again. “Go back to bed and try to look surprised tomorrow when they find a hole blasted in this mimic.”

Starlight swiftly moved in front of him, blocking his aim as the mimic continued to snarl.

“I’m sorry, Pharynx, but I can’t let you kill it.”

“Oh for the love of the Hive, why do you even care?!” he shouted. “It’s a monster! It would eat you and everyone you love without a second thought! It has no purpose other than being a monster!”

“Ponies used to say the same thing about changelings.” Starlight looked him dead in the eye. “You were supposed to be killed on sight in Equestria.”

“Please. The only thing you ponies can execute is choreography. You couldn’t even kill Thorax. Think about that: Thorax! My brother is a lot of things, but a physical threat is not one.”

Starlight winced. “I was hoping we could talk this out, but if you won’t listen, then—”

“Then what, exactly?!” Pharynx scoffed. “You’ll stop me yourself? You ponies talk tough, but as my brother’s continued survival proves, you don’t have it in you to use force! So stand aside and leave it to someone who can!”

Starlight heaved a sigh. “If that’s really how you feel, then I’m going to have to give you the boot.”

“Pfft! You think you can just throw me out?!”

Then Starlight grinned as her horn lit up. “That’s not what I said.”

There was a flash of magic and a gigantic leather boot appeared directly over Pharynx.

“What the—?!”

The boot came down with a mighty whump as it squished Pharynx under its heel. He lay in a heap, groaning as Starlight polished a hoof on her chest.

“I don’t usually get to use my Visual Pun Spell,” she said, leaning down to address him. “But anyway… we tried using force like you wanted; maybe you feel like using words now?”

Over her shoulder, she swore she heard a noise out of the mimic that sounded like snickering.

Pharynx grunted as he tried to look less like a squashed beetle, but the angry snarl in his throat died when he saw Starlight’s expression (and her hoof which was pointed up at the giant boot that she continued to hold over him).

“...Fine. Let’s talk.”

Starlight smiled. The boot disappeared in a puff of smoke as she helped Pharynx to his chitinous hooves.

“What I don’t understand,” he said, once he’d steadied himself, “is why you actually care. As I said, it’s a monster. Leaving it alive has no benefit for either of our kind. Even if you keep it in captivity, there’s always the chance it could escape and reproduce. How could you rest easy then, knowing that sooner or later some poor creature would end up in its belly?”

Starlight sighed and sank to her haunches, staring at the mimic as it sat passively in its cell. “Honestly, it’s hard to argue with you,” she said. “If I were in your position, I think I might do the same thing you’re trying to do. But the thing about us ponies is that we feel like we’re responsible for everyone and everything in the world… or at least in Equestria. We farm the land, we take care of weather, and we use our magic to shape the world to our will, but from the day we’re old enough to talk, we’re told that ponies are the stewards of the land. To let a species go extinct, let alone cause it to die out, is just unthinkable for us. So to ask Cadance or Twilight or Sunburst to let it happen is going against centuries of pony history.”

Pharynx scoffed as he fixed his eyes on the mimic and sat down as well. “So it comes down to some sort of pony savior complex,” he surmised. “Ridiculous. Sentimental and ridiculous.”

Starlight glanced over at him. “It really is,” she chuckled. “I didn’t understand it myself when I was younger. Instead of looking at possibilities, instead of thinking of what could be, most ponies are too caught up in rules and feelings. They never question if what they assume is ‘good’ is actually worth anything. I decided that I would figure out a better way to be happy on my own and to Tartarus with any preconceived notions other ponies had about what was important.”

“And now you don’t feel that way?” Pharynx asked.

Starlight smirked. “Well… no, I still feel that way a lot of the time,” she said. “But at least now I’m not as quick to dismiss what other ponies figured out a long time ago. And something else I figured out is the value of giving ‘monsters’ a second chance. Twilight gave one to me, Spike gave one to Thorax, and I’m giving one to you.”

“I don’t need your—”

The boot reappeared above Pharynx’s head.

“...Point taken.”

Starlight nodded as the boot disappeared again.

“So… you want to give a ‘second chance’ to this mimic?” he asked.

“I do,” she said. “Pony- or changeling-eating monster or not, it’s still the very last of its kind. If we kill it, then any possible future it might have, any potential there is in letting it live, disappears. Something could be lost from the world, and if it is, then it’s lost forever. I think we should be absolutely certain that it’s the best choice before it’s too late to take it back.”

Pharynx regarded both her and the mimic silently for a few long moments.

“...Why do you really want it killed?” Starlight asked, breaking the silence.

“What? I told you—”

“I know what you said,” Starlight said. “You acted like not killing that mimic would start some sort of international incident between the Hive and Equestria. Or at least the Empire. But unlike everypony else who was there, I know your brother pretty well. And none of this sounds like something he’d want. Does he even know why you’re here right now?”

Pharynx grimaced. “I elected not to tell him.”

Starlight chuckled. “I thought so.”

“By the Queen’s spinnerets, you’re insufferable!” he snapped.

“I get that a lot,” Starlight said. “Well… I mean, not in those words exactly, but still. Anyway, why is killing the mimic really so important to you? Do you really hate them that much?”

“Hate them?” he scoffed. “As far as I knew, the last mimic was hunted down generations before I was even hatched. I can sense mimics by instinct, true, but it’s not like I’d ever seen one. I just grew up hearing the stories about them and learning about the standing edict from Queen Chrysalis that they were to be eliminated when I became head of the Changeling Guard. Other than that, I never even gave them a second thought.

“No, this… this is about my brother.”

“Thorax? What about him?”

Pharynx narrowed his eyes. “Like you said, you know my brother. You know what he’s like. He’s—”

“A huge wuss?”

“A huuuuge wuss, thank you!” Pharynx exclaimed. “I’ve heard of being ‘thin-skinned’ before, but Thorax has an exoskeleton made of paper mache! And that’s another thing I know about because of him and his ‘Arts and Crafts’ initiative! We’re an officially recognized nation on Equestria’s border now, and he cares more about building ugly sculptures out of pulped up paper than he does about establishing diplomatic relations with the massive nation on the Hive’s doorstep! If ponies think we’re just a bunch of candy-colored ‘love bugs’ obsessed with daisy chains and chanting positive mantras in a circle, how will we ever get taken seriously when it matters?!”

Starlight listened to him and rubbed her chin. “I see,” she muttered quietly. “It’s not about the mimic at all… it’s about taking a stand.”

“And being taken seriously!” Pharynx added. “It doesn’t matter if the policy is outdated, we have orders in the Hive that mimics must be destroyed; so if I can get the leaders of Equestria to give in to our demands, that will establish that the Hive is to be taken seriously, and we won’t be ignored when something truly important matters!”

Starlight nodded slowly. “That… actually makes a lot of sense, Pharynx. I think I get it now.”

Pharynx caught his breath after his outburst. “So… you agree that the mimic has to die?”

She was quiet for a moment. She watched as the mimic, its box-like lid slavering and snapping, continued bouncing around its cell as it watched them agitatedly.

Then, after a long sigh, she shook her head. “No,” she replied.

A growl built in Pharynx’s throat.

“Just hear me out!” she said quickly as she got to her hooves. “I admit it: your brother is a huge touchy-feely wimp, and he needs you to make the tough calls for the Hive that he just doesn’t have the guts to make. That’s fair. But give him some credit: he’s got guts. Out of all the changelings, he’s the only one I’ve ever heard of to defy Chrysalis.”

“The only one to do it and live,” Pharynx added. “But fair point. He even surprised me a bit with that.” He smiled, and this time it was without irony. “He knew what would happen to him after leaving the Hive if he ever got caught… he knew what the Queen would do to him, and knew it would be messy and very public. He knew that and still left. Knew that and dared to risk coming back to help his new allies. Then he took over for her and overturned centuries of changeling society. So, fine, he’s got guts sometimes. Your point?”

“First, if he had the guts to stand up to Chrysalis, then why are you so sure that he’d be too afraid to stand up to Equestria or another nation if it was for the Hive’s best interest?” she asked. “And second, don’t you think what you’re doing will make it harder for your brother in the future? How could anypony in Equestria trust the changelings’ word when they make demands without compromising and murder creatures in Equestrian custody?”

Pharynx stared back at her. “All right, fair on both points,” he grumbled. “So, what do we do instead?”

“Well, you gave us 24 hours. We still have plenty of time left until your deadline, so why don’t you sneak back out of here, come back when you said you would, and maybe by then we’ll have an actual solution that doesn’t involve killing the mimic? If so, then the Hive will come off as a good neighbor to Equestria.”

“And if you can’t come up with a better solution?” he asked, raising what might have passed for an eyebrow.

“Well, if we can’t think of something better, then fine, kill it! I’ll even help you take it out myself!”

The mimic snarled again.

“Oh shut up, you!” she snapped, rolling her eyes. “You tried to eat both me and my oldest friend; I’ve got principles, but I never said I liked you.”

The mimic made a sound between a whimper and a grumble.

“Fair enough,” Pharynx said with a tiny smirk. He then turned and began to walk away. “I look forward to hearing your suggestions.” He paused and looked back at the mimic. “Enjoy your stay of execution, monster. For your sake, I hope these ponies can come up with a reason to spare you…”


To be concluded...

> 5. A Trunk Unpacks
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was the next day and Starlight found herself waiting impatiently in the throne room of the Imperial Palace alongside Twilight, Cadance, Shining Armor, and Sunburst. It had been nearly 24 hours since Pharynx’s declaration, and he was due any minute.

She hadn’t told the others about her and Pharynx’s discussion the previous night, and that was for two main reasons. Firstly, she reasoned that it wouldn’t look good for Pharynx if it were discovered that he'd snuck back in to attempt to assassinate the mimic under their muzzles ahead of his deadline, and this international kerfuffle was kerfuffly enough as it stood. Also, she figured Pharynx would be more cooperative and receptive to their proposal if his pride wasn’t at stake (which it would be if it were made public that she’d conjured a massive boot and whumped him into submission).

“I thought he’d be here by now,” Sunburst muttered as he paced back and forth.

“He said 24 hours,” Starlight said. “It looks like he meant it.”

“I appreciate that he’s a changeling of his word,” Cadance said, keeping her eye on the clock. “He’s got about one more minute to go, though, so hopefully he won’t keep us waiting too long.”

"I'm sure he'll be on time, honey," Shining Armor said. Cadance sighed, nodded, and planted a kiss on him.

“I just hope he’s willing to give our idea a chance,” Twilight said. Then she frowned, her forehead creased with worry. “I’m not sure what we’ll do if he refuses.”

“Probably let him kill the mimic,” Starlight said with a shrug.

“Starlight,” Twilight groaned.

“Hey, I'm just stating the obvious. It’s not like we have a backup plan, and personally, I don't want to risk an international incident over the evil treasure chest that tried to eat Sunburst and me.”

“Just the same…”

They were startled out of their thoughts by a loud knocking at the chamber door.

“Enter!” Cadance called.

A guard came in, and he wore a decidedly befuddled look on his face as he looked over to Shining Armor.

“Um… Your Majesties… Prince Shining Armor is here.”

Cadance and Shining Armor glanced at each other, then back to the guard.

“Uh, yes, I am,” Shining Armor said, placing a hoof on his chest.

“No, I mean…”

At that, a second Shining Armor trotted into the chamber, a sour look on his face.

“Oh,” Cadance sighed. “Pharynx, this really wasn’t necessary. You could have just entered in your true form. We told the guards to expect you, so there’s no need to disguise yourself as my husband.”

The newly-entered Shining Armor’s expression turned into a snarl. “Tell that to him!” he snapped and pointed an accusing hoof at the Shining Armor at Cadance’s side. “What kind of game are you playing, Pharynx?!”

The Shining Armor standing next to Cadance smirked before reverting to his true form in a flash of green flame.

Cadance gasped. “What?! But when—”

“I switched places with him when he went to the bathroom a few minutes ago,” Pharynx said with a smirk. He trotted over to the real Shining Armor. “I’ve disguised myself as a dozen different ponies in the last hour to see if your guards would catch on. They didn’t. Starlight’s right: you really need to train your guards better.”

Shining Armor’s face reddened as Pharynx gave an approving nod and wink in Starlight’s direction.

“I think you’ve made your point,” Shining Armor growled as he took his place alongside his wife.

"Also, your wife is a lousy kisser," Pharynx added.

"Oh, that is it!" Shining Armor roared as Cadance turned bright red.

"Okay, okay, everypony calm down!" Twilight exclaimed hurriedly as she teleported herself between the grinning changeling and her murderous older brother.

“Actually, aside from helpfully pointing out the holes of an allied nation’s security,” Pharynx said, “there was another point to this deception: I could have just come back here and put down the mimic without your interference, and nothing could have stopped me. Well, unless one of you were vigilant enough to stick around and guard the little monster box.”

Starlight saw his purple eye twitch in her direction for a split second and allowed herself a subtle smile. Well well well… I think I might have just earned his respect, she thought to herself.

“Instead,” Pharynx continued, “I’ve chosen to honor our agreement. And, on that note, I’ve had a change of heart: while I still think you should just kill the stupid thing and be done with it, if you have a solution to deal with the mimic without killing it, then I will hear you out.”

The others all exchanged a look. “That’s… very reasonable, Pharynx,” Cadance said.

“Hmph. Don’t sound too surprised about it, Princess,” he grumbled.

“Well, not that we aren’t grateful, but you seemed dead set on either allowing you to eliminate the mimic or declaring war. We do have an idea, and we’re glad you’re willing to listen, but if you don’t mind my asking, what changed your mind?”

Pharynx snorted. “Let’s just say a… a friend gave me good counsel.”

“A friend?!” Twilight exclaimed, rushing over to him.

“Yes, one who would prefer to remain anonymous.”

Twilight visibly sagged. 

“Now, if Princess Twilight isn’t too disappointed by the fact that I don’t want to gush about fwiendship—” he said, sarcastically making big wet googly eyes for emphasis “—then let’s quit wasting time and hear this solution of yours.”

Then Twilight smiled. “Actually, Pharynx, the solution in this case is friendship!”

Pharynx blinked at her.

“If you are going to suggest that the mimic and I have some sort of playdate and bond over our mutual ability to transform, I will be forced to ask what sort of weird pony drugs you’ve been putting into your crumpets. And then ask for a few to go, because they sound fun.”

“No no,” Twilight laughed. “What I mean is that, well, as far as we know, the mimic is just a monster with no thought other than eating anything it can catch. But what if we could prove that it was intelligent? What if we could reason with it and get it to agree to not attack ponies or changelings or any other sapient creatures?”

Pharynx rubbed his chin. “I suppose, but as far as I know, no one has ever communicated with a mimic before. It’s difficult to have a conversation with something that’s actively trying to devour you.”

“Well,” said Sunburst, “didn’t you say that mimics and changelings used to be the same species or that mimics were changelings that broke away from the hive?”

Pharynx nodded.

“In that case, wouldn’t it stand to reason that mimics have the same kind of intelligence as changelings?”

Pharynx shook his head. “No. Their minds deteriorated as they devolved into dull beasts. Whatever intelligence they had is gone now.”

“Are you so sure?” Starlight asked. “I’ve seen it act in ways that make it seem like it can understand us and what’s going on around it.”

She didn’t say it aloud, but she was thinking of the snickering sound the thing had made when she’d hit Pharynx with the boot last night. It could have been her imagination, but still…

“I think you’re projecting,” Pharynx said. “Ponies' ability to empathize is well known to us; a pony would project a personality onto a rock if they wanted to…”

Sunburst leaned over to Starlight. “We should probably not tell him about Maud Pie,” he whispered. 

“...But, for the sake of argument, let’s pretend for a moment that mimics are intelligent. Even if that’s true, how would we find out?” He snorted. “What, do you ponies have like some miraculous expert on talking to savage beasts or something?” 

He chuckled at the thought until he saw them all exchange an infuriatingly knowing glance.

“Oh… of course you do. Well, where is this expert of yours?”

Just then, the doors to the royal chamber burst open and a yellow pegasus skidded to a halt in the middle of the room.

“Oh, Twilight, I hope I’m not too late!” Fluttershy cried. “I got on the train as soon as I got your telegram this morning! And I can’t believe I get to meet a real live mimic! I thought they were extinct! Oh, I hope I can get it to talk to me, or else Mr. Pharynx will make it so they really are extinct!”

Twilight cleared her throat. “I’m glad you’re here, Fluttershy,” Twilight said, going over to her and giving her a small hug. “And, um… speaking of Mr. Pharynx…”

“Please, just ‘Pharynx,’” he said, walking over to her. “No ‘Mister.’”

“Oh,” Fluttershy said bashfully. “Um, well… if it’s okay with you, I’d like to try to talk to the mimic.”

“You are welcome to try,” Pharynx said. “But I think you’re wasting your time.”

Fluttershy drew herself up and smiled at him. “Well, there’s only one way to find out!”





They stood in front of the cell that contained the mimic. The creature was strangely still, once again demonstrating the perfection of its disguise, as it could easily have been taken for just a simple chest.

“It looks so peaceful,” Fluttershy remarked.

“It’s a very good disguise,” Sunburst said. “Starlight and I even carried it back to my home before it attacked me, and we never suspected a thing!”

“Fluttershy, I know you have experience talking to all sorts of creatures,” Twilight said, placing a hoof on her shoulder, “but this one is very different. If you’re not sure about trying to talk to it, then you don’t have to.”

“But, Twilight, if I don’t try to communicate with it, then we… oh, I can’t even say it!” She shook her head vigorously. “No! I can’t turn away! Not when the fate of an entire species is depending on me!”

Pharynx looked down at her. “Before you go in there, I want you to know that I think you’re very brave.”

Fluttershy smiled. “Why, thank you, Pharynx!”

“You are welcome,” he said. “After it eats you, I will tell my people to build a memorial in your honor.”

“That’s… um, nice?”

Starlight elbowed him in the ribs. "Pharynx, can you please try to be positive?"

"I am. I'm positive that thing's going to eat her." This earned him another sharp jab in the ribs. “Ow! Fine, be optimistic, but when she's mimic chow, just remember that I told you so.”

Fluttershy drew herself up. “Okay, I’m ready. Open the cell door, please.”

Shining Armor nodded to a nearby guard who obliged, letting the cell door swing wide as Fluttershy calmly strode in. She gave another nod and the guard locked it behind her, albeit with a notable look of hesitation.

Fluttershy walked right up to the mimic.

“Hello, Mr. Mimic! My name is Fluttershy, and I want you to know that we mean you no harm, and that we—”

The mimic suddenly gave a loud roar, revealing its jaws as it lunged forward, snapping up Fluttershy and swallowing her in a matter of seconds, leaving just her tail hanging out of its lid.

“Fluttershy!” Twilight shrieked.

“Fluttershy!” Starlight also shrieked.

“Ha! Called it!” Pharynx shouted.

The others all turned their horrified faces toward him.

“Er, sorry for your loss. I mean, you could still blast that thing.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice!” Starlight shouted, her horn flaring to life.

But then the mimic began to rattle and pulsate before spewing Fluttershy forth in a cascade of slime. It immediately began making a series of gagging sounds, its tongue lolling as if it were utterly disgusted.

“Quick, get her out of there!” Shining Armor yelled to the guard.

But before the guard could unlock the cell door, Fluttershy raised a hoof and managed to gasp, “Wait!”

They all froze as she unsteadily got to her hooves and shook the excess slime from her mane.

“Fluttershy, are you all right?!” Twilight cried.

“I’m fine,” she said. “Just a little slimy. But it’s okay, I thought that might happen, so before I left, I asked Discord to cast a spell on me that would make me taste disgusting. He said that I probably wouldn’t taste very good to it because I’m not very greedy anyway, but I said that he should cast it anyway just to make sure, and then to make sure it worked, I asked all my animals to lick me - and Rainbow Dash showed up right when they were and looked a bit freaked out, but she flew away before I could explain - and I felt so bad when all the poor critters started gagging, and—”

“Could we please focus on the matter at hoof?!” Pharynx demanded. “Just get out of the way so we can destroy that thing!”

“No, wait!” Fluttershy exclaimed, turning back to the mimic. “Please, Mr. Mimic, I know you must be hungry, but I can’t help you unless you try to communicate with me!”

At first, the mimic said nothing. But then, as its slatted wooden sides creaked, it began to speak in a strange, guttural language unlike anything they’d ever heard. (To say it sounded ancient and profound like the eldritch song of a bygone era would be accurate, though it also wouldn’t be wrong to compare it to the sound of someone repeatedly trying to shut a suitcase filled with tapioca pudding.)

After a moment, Sunburst leaned forward and asked, “What’s it saying?”

“Shh,” she said firmly. “I think I’m getting it…”

After a few moments, she nodded. “I see, I see,” she muttered. “All right, do you think you’re ready to talk to them?”

The creature made more guttural sounds that seemed somehow more amicable than before.

“Okay, it’s going to talk to us, but we have to promise to keep… it keeps saying ‘the child’ from attacking it.”

They all exchanged a look of confusion.

“What child does it mean?” Cadance asked.

Fluttershy spoke to the mimic and it groaned a response.

“It says, ‘The one like us.’”

Slowly, their eyes all fell on Pharynx. After a moment, he saw they were watching him and his wings flared angrily. “Me?! Who does that chattering murder box think it’s calling a ‘child?!’”

“No, it… hang on, I’ll just translate it directly.”

Fluttershy stood at the mimic’s side as it began to speak, and she in turn told them what it said, word by squelching word:

“The child," the mimic said, "changes like us, for he inherited our power.”

“Inherited?” Pharynx repeated. “Stupid creature, your kind and ours split off eons ago! We didn’t inherit a thing from you!”

“No. You imagine that we share an ancestor. Or that you were the first, and we your wayward progeny. But it was our kind that first hunted the ancient wilds, and yours that came after.”

“Ridiculous!” Pharynx snarled.

“You say that, but your kind lives short, energetic lives, while ours spans centuries… before this empire’s first foundational stone was laid, I sprang my trap on its ancient ancestors. I know of your kind’s birth from the ancient hunters because I was there to witness it.”

Pharynx gawked. “You… you what?!”

The mimic rumbled, groaning in exertion - or so Fluttershy explained - because it was so unused to speaking at all or doing much other than lying in wait for unsuspecting prey.

“In ancient times, we lured ponies in by posing as valuable caches or delicious fruit, long before we hit upon our most cherished form of the treasure coffer. But among our number were hunters - mimics, you call us - whose transformation powers were swifter than our own. And rather than lie in wait to feed their ravenous appetites, they took on new forms: those of our prey themselves. To ease their transformations, they began to adopt a base form that mirrored their body shape. Why else do you think your kind resembles the ponies so?”

Pharynx gawked at the mimic, then slowly sank to his haunches. “The reason we resemble ponies… was to mimic them?” he breathlessly wondered aloud.

“Our kind has always been solitary, but we do occasionally become mobile, and we seek each other out once in a rare while to exchange information. And soon the tales went from those of strange variant children to tales of new hunters, ones who craved a taste for love rather than greed and posed not as objects of desire, but the loved ones of their prey.

“Though we admired what our progeny had wrought for themselves at first, we experienced their ravenousness for ourselves when they turned on us, their forebears, fearing that our prey’s new techniques for detecting us would be their downfall.

“And so, we hunters became the hunted by both our prey and our own offspring. It has been centuries since last I encountered another of my kind, and if what you say is true, then I am the last of us. And I would have kept myself better hidden were I not forced to feed by circumstance.”

As the others fell silent at the mimic’s tale, Starlight stepped forward. “So, even though you knew I was still around, you attacked Sunburst because you thought you had to? Why? What circumstance do you mean?”

The mimic gurgled in response and Fluttershy gasped.

“Oh! Oh, how wonderful!” she cooed, gently stroking the mimic’s wooden lid as it moaned appreciatively.

“Uh, Fluttershy?” Twilight asked. “What did it say?”

“Oh, Twilight, it’s wonderful!” she exclaimed. “The mimic is pregnant!”

“It’s what?!” Pharynx exclaimed.

“Well, you did tell us that they can reproduce on their own,” Sunburst said.

“But I didn’t think it was about to occur now!” he said.

Fluttershy cleared her throat. “Well, Mr Mimic… or Ms. Mimic, is it? I’m not sure, it doesn't quite seem to understand what I’m talking about… anyway, the mimic says it needs food soon in order to give birth. If it doesn't, then its whole species could go extinct, so it was desperate enough to attack Sunburst. And me too, actually.”

Cadance slowly turned to Pharynx. “So, Pharynx, what do you think? We proved that it is intelligent. Do you still want to eliminate it?”

Pharynx shut his eyes and rubbed his temples. “This changes things a bit… I never dreamed that this thing could actually be our oldest living ancestor. It knows the history of changelings in ways even we didn't know ourselves.” He sighed and stood to his full height. “Just the same, if it’s still a danger to ponies and changelings, and especially if it’s about to give birth to even more potential threats, we can’t just leave it to its own devices!”

“Well, I think I have a solution for that too,” Fluttershy said. “Twilight, could you go upstairs and get the bag I left in my room?”

Twilight did as she was asked and handed a small satchel over to Fluttershy, sliding it through the bars of her cell.

Fluttershy reached in and took out something that resembled a dog biscuit that was, strangely, in the shape of a pony.

“Here, try this!” she said, offering it to the mimic.

The mimic curled its lid-like lip, almost as if it was sniffing it, then quickly snapped on the biscuit and gulped it down. It then gave another guttural moan of pleasure and opened itself wide.

“Oh, good, it loves them!” Fluttershy exclaimed, tossing several more of the items into its hungry maw.

“What exactly are those, Fluttershy?” Starlight asked.

“Well, after I explained everything to Discord, he helped me create these biscuits that taste just like greedy ponies! He said he wasn’t sure what that would taste like so he just used his magic to make treats that tasted like those investment bankers in Manehattan.”

“And how did he know what they tasted like?” Twilight asked.

“He said I probably shouldn’t ask.”

“But… but—”

“He said you shouldn’t ask either, Twilight.”

Twilight threw up her hooves in exasperation. “You know what, fine! Look, if we promise to keep the mimic safe and keep feeding it biscuits of questionable origin that taste like greedy ponies, will it stop attacking living creatures?”

“And teach its offspring to do the same?” Pharynx added.

Fluttershy spoke again to the mimic. She frowned, but then nodded.

“Well, I offered the mimic and its children a chance to live in my animal sanctuary, and it has no problem living out the rest of their its own life there being fed by ponies, but that’s because it's very old and just wants a place to live out the rest of its days. It says it has lived a full life, but it wants its children to have a different life. If mimics can’t be hunters feeding on greedy explorers, then they need a new role in society. They wouldn't be happy just being fed like animals in a zoo.”

Sunburst stroked his beard in thought. “A new place in society? For mimics? What could they possibly do?”

Then Starlight’s eyes lit up. “Wait, I've got it! Pharynx, do you remember what you told us about a pony sorcerer using mimics as living traps?”

“Well, based on this mimic’s story, that’s probably false, but—” Then he froze. A smile appeared on his face. “Ah… I think I see where you’re going with this…”






Epilogue


Starlight sat at the breakfast table of Twilight’s castle in Ponyville. Twilight herself was in Canterlot by that time, along with Spike, leaving Starlight to mostly have the run of the place. It was more space than she needed, but Twilight returned frequently and often held events there, and Starlight was happy to have friends over quite often.

That morning, she was finishing a nice brunch and reading the morning newspaper when she heard the buzzing of insectoid wings and a tap at her window. She opened it, and in flew Pharynx carrying a basket.

“My brother suggested I bring you some mushrooms grown in the hive,” he said, giving the basket to Starlight. “I told him about your omelets.”

“Oh, that was nice! Thank him for me!”

Pharynx nodded and sat down across from her at the table. “I heard the news from a couple of scouts. Is it true?”

Starlight held up the newspaper. It was a copy of the Manehattan Times. 

Pharynx took it and read the lead article’s title: “Cat burglar spree ended by guard mimic.”

“Heh,” he chuckled. “Looks like someone’s earned their keep.”

“I’ll say,” Starlight said, pouring him a cup of coffee. “The mimic disguised itself as the Horsetensia Diamond’s display case in the museum. It latched onto the thief the instant he tried to remove the glass and held him until the police arrived.”

Pharynx nodded and continued to read the article. It recapped the ongoing success stories of ponies working alongside mimics and deploying them as guardians to catch and hold thieves. The mimics no longer ate the would-be burglars, but were rewarded with more of the treats devised by Fluttershy and Discord. Granted, there were a few instances of young mimics hungrily chomping on a few bankers and politicians here and there, but a few minor injuries paled in comparison to the plummeting burglary rate across Equestria.

It turned out, the old mimic’s offspring grew rapidly and reproduced much faster with a steady supply of food, and most of them were glad to take up a role as a sort of live-in guardian. Most had even taken to learning Ponish and would rent their services out as freelancers. Starlight had even heard of one that had grown legs and was working as a piece of living mobile luggage (and occasional bodyguard) for somepony named Two Flowers on his travels. 

Of course, mimics weren’t to be treated like guard dogs, and some mimics instead returned to the wilderness to hunt other animals, and that was fine so long as they didn’t attack any ponies, changelings, or other sapient creatures.

“I know I've said it before, but every day it seems what you said about the mimics having some potential is proven true,” Pharynx said. “Giving the mimics a chance to be something else was worth it. And now the Hive’s historians have centuries of history to unpack from what the Matriarch told us.”

The old mimic Starlight and Sunburst had found was often called “The Matriarch” by its descendants, despite not technically being female. It had lived in Fluttershy’s sanctuary peacefully before passing away earlier that year, apparently satisfied that its kind would endure.

Starlight held up a coffee cup in her magic. “To the Matriarch?” she asked.

Pharynx held up his own cup. “Yes. To the Matriarch,” he said and clinked his mug with hers.

They both drank their coffee and chatted quietly about the newfound role for mimics in society in addition to what was going on in their own lives. Starlight discussed running Twilight’s school, Pharynx related a few amusing stories about running the Changeling Guard - which now had a few mimics in its ranks - and they shared a few crumpets between them for brunch.

“Well, thanks for the brunch, Starlight,” Pharynx said, getting up from the table. “Same time next month?”

“Well, actually, do you have to go right now?” Starlight asked.

“Hm? I… guess not. What did you have in mind?”

Starlight grinned. “Sunburst has the day off too, and it just occurred to me that I’ve never taught you to play Dragon Pit…”

Pharynx sighed in resignation and rolled his eyes. “Keep feeding me crumpets and you’ve got yourself a deal.”


The End