Study Material

So far, it had been a very busy day. Fluttershy had started her morning before the sun rose, seeing to her animals. Feeding them was normally quite easy, she simply grabbed the food from her shed and made quick trips to each critters house. Unfortunately, today hadn’t been that simple.

Each new trip brought a small emergency to her attention: the bat’s decided on a new, and already occupied, belfry; the beavers’ dam gained several leaks over night; and Henrietta lost one of her eggs. The emergencies had assaulted her all morning, keeping her frantically moving from one problem to the next. And that’s all forgetting the pouring rain that had been soaking her all throughout. Finally though, she had managed to secure some time to herself.

With a contented smile, she relaxed in a chair as some tea slowly cooled to the temperature she liked. She was dry now, and Angel bunny was asleep upstairs; he would be out for a good two hours or so for his afternoon nap. Luckily, she had managed to find a cherry that met his overly specific demands before it was his lunchtime. Then she had dealt with the unfortunate egg incident. Thinking about those poor chickens made Fluttershy frown for a moment. At least it was all sorted out now. Henrietta would be more careful in the future.

She casually read about halfway through the morning newspaper to an article on some strange phenomena discovered yesterday. Some ponies found a perfectly hemispherical hole burned out of the ground in the town square in the middle of the night. They weren’t sure if it was a crater or something else entirely. Luckily, nopony had been hurt by the incident.

Fluttershy wasn’t incredibly invested in the article, but it was still odd news. It looked like Mayor Mare had tasked Twilight with investigating the vandalism due to it likely being magical in nature. Maybe she should invite Twilight over for dinner? No. She didn’t want to impose. Especially if Twilight had other, more important plans. Fluttershy took a sip of the perfectly cooled tea. Mint was her favorite tea. And it was so relaxing. It helped cool her thoughts as she mused over her friends.

Fluttershy loved her friends dearly, but she wasn’t sure how they managed to put up with her. She wasn’t smart like Twilight or elegant like Rarity. She was nowhere near as strong as Applejack or as fast as Rainbow Dash. And nopony was like Pinkie Pie. Whatever plans her friends had for tonight would surely be more important than a quiet dinner alone with her. She would just wait for them to invite her over. Fluttershy took another calming sip of tea as she mused. It was safer this way.

Still, that left her afternoon and evening open. She would have to feed the nighttime critters, but that could be done later. She surmised that Angel would be much less grumpy when he woke up from his nap. Perhaps they could have a nice tea party. Lost in thought, she barely noticed a surprising sound from her door - somepony was letting themselves in. Fluttershy quickly turned to see who her unexpected visitor could be.

She reeled in confusion as she watched herself push open the door, gracefully stepping inside to shake off the soaking rain. This was a new experience for her. She was already sitting inside her house and having some nice tea when the door opened and another Fluttershy stepped in. While Fluttershy had been previously enjoying her relaxing minty tea, this new out of body experience became simply too much for her to deal with. She calmly put down her tea, blinked twice, and fainted with a slight squeak.

Fluttershy’s identical twin sighed and calmly walked to the teapot to pour another cup for itself, drinking as soon as the cup had been filled. It began to softly hum as it prepared for Fluttershy to wake up.

()()()()

Fluttershy opened her eyes and found herself in an odd position. Her arms were bound to something, keeping her dangling in the air. She could see her other self sitting at the table drinking tea. The other pony was reading the newspaper, seemingly absorbed by whatever was written in it. The pony looked exactly like Fluttershy. Surely there was some explanation for what was going on.

“Excuse me...” Fluttershy mumbled quietly.

The other pony just continued reading the paper and sipping tea. While the situation made Fluttershy uncomfortable, she decided that she needed to be more assertive. This was her own house, after all. She took a deep breath and squeaked out just a little louder, “Um... Excuse me...”

The pony glanced over its newspaper and gave Fluttershy a passive, appraising stare. Fluttershy winced as the other casually set down the newspaper and the teacup. This other pony moved cold and confidently. It was scary.

Keeping her eyes closed, Fluttershy heard a soft voice as the other walked slowly closer. “I’m sorry. I didn't mean to ignore you. I just didn't hear you the first time. I know you're scared, but it's important we do this. He is coming, and He needs us to bring Him back. You don't know what I mean yet.” Fluttershy peeked from her closed eyes as the other pony smiled and gently kissed Fluttershy on her forehead. It sweetly continued talking and looked Fluttershy in the eye. “But you will soon enough...”

Fluttershy's eyes opened wider as she realized what the pony had said. Whatever this thing was, it was confused. Its voice sounded like hers, but it acted bold and more driven. The oddest part was that what it was saying sounded like crazy pony talk.

Fluttershy knew why it looked like her. This was a changeling. Changelings were awful creatures that pretended to be somepony you loved. Once they gained your trust, they would slowly drain your love to feed themselves. This would leave you an empty husk. Flutters started to hyperventilate. Was it going to drain her? Or just kill her and drain her friends?

“Awww.... It's okay.” The creature warmed up immediately, its motherly side coming out as it gave Fluttershy an awkward but comforting hug. “I promise that you'll like it. More than anything.” The other giggled and relaxed against Fluttershy. It’s voice was soft and distant as it spoke. “I wish I was in your place right now.” It pulled away and looked at Fluttershy with an odd gaze, searching Fluttershy's eyes with wonder. “About to receive the Lord's Smooze for the first time, and then reliving the experience over and over again. If you knew what I knew, you'd be so happy right now... I am.”

Fluttershy gulped. She needed to stop this. This thing was dangerous, and had invaded her house. It seemed to be confident, but it was clearly crazy. And it sounded like it wanted to hurt her or something. Maybe it was lost since their evil queen had been defeated? Or maybe it was here because the evil queen was looking to get revenge.

She needed to be assertive. If not for her, then for her animal friends. She puffed up and stared at it with intensity. “No. Let me go and get out of my house. Please. If you don't mind.” Fluttershy felt her brief bout of self assurance fade away as the crazy pony stared back. Fluttershy had to break eye contact, the other pony's gaze made her nervous.

It was trying to scare her. How did changelings work again? Hadn’t the evil queen gotten to Cadence and Shining armor somehow? It had convinced Shining Armor that it was Cadence, and it had tied Cadence up under ground. Fluttershy dreaded the idea of being abandoned underground while the changeling fed off of her friends and family.

“Oh Fluttershy... aren't you tired? Tired of being ignored, of not being important?” The monster smiled warmly and its features seemed to ripple in an odd and unnatural way.

“Please let me go...” Fluttershy was getting increasingly uncomfortable, this creature was bad. She could tell. She was good at reading others, and this monster made her feel very unsettled. This was not a good pony who had made some bad mistakes. This was a bad pony. There was something very wrong with it, some unidentifiable thing that scared her deeply in a primordial way she didn't understand. Fluttershy was absolutely terrified of this pony.

“I know you’re scared, Fluttershy. I really do. I know these things.” It leaned close and forced her face to face as it studied her. “I know exactly how you feel. And you’re going to share that with me.” Fluttershy’s panic reached a crescendo as her eyes seemed to forcefully lock with this monster’s. It was clearly not a pony, its pupils were slightly the wrong shape and quickly flickered back and forth as it searched her.

Fluttershy whimpered. This monster was going to eat her, and then eat her friends. She couldn’t let it do that. She had to save them. Her friends were too important to become just a meal for a changeling. Fluttershy forced her eyes shut for a moment and reigned in her fear. She needed to be assertive, so she opened her eyes and glared forcefully at the monster. They had beaten the changelings once, she could do it again.

“Now listen here! I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but you can’t just come into some other pony’s house and tie them up!” Fluttershy stared unblinking at the faux pony. She had to convince it that it was in the wrong. “I don’t know what you want from me, but this is the wrong way to get it. You can’t treat ponies like this!” She kept up her stare, fixing her eyes on the changeling. “Now, are you going to let me go?” Fluttershy’s voice took an almost threatening tone.

It froze for a second, all of it becoming perfectly still under her glare. It’s eyes were locked with hers, and had stopped their frantic flickering. Fluttershy spoke up louder, “Well?”

It kept staring at her, silently trapped in her gaze. Then, it did something abhorrently strange. The black pupils in its eyes shrank to nothing, and its green irises grew larger. Its eyes looked very assuredly not like a pony’s when it frowned and tilted its head to respond to her question. “No.”

Fluttershy redoubled her efforts, and refused to blink. “Don’t you realize how wrong this is? You are being a very bad pony!” She had to do this.

“Do you think so? Because I don’t. I’m doing what I need to.” It sounded determined, and Fluttershy began to worry. “What if I could help you?” The pony stared back into her eyes, unblinking as it’s eyes became fully green. It’s tone had shifted to hopeful, but what it said hadn’t made Fluttershy more comfortable.

She gulped, straining to keep it locked in her gaze. It’s eyes were so strange and distracting. They made her feel nervous, and her voice began to falter. “I... Don’t want to be helped like this...” Fluttershy started sweating, the strain getting to her. “Can you let me down so we can talk? Please?”

“No. It has to be this way. I’m sorry Fluttershy.” The strange pony’s frown warped into a determined smile, and it placed a hoof on the wall next to her head as it leaned in closer.

Fluttershy strained as her stare faltered. She blinked. It hadn’t worked. “Please... don’t.” She was terrified, and her eyes nervously refocused on its arm, planted firmly next to her head.

“Please don’t what, Fluttershy?” The changeling licked Fluttershy’s cheek, taunting her.

Fluttershy forced the words through her mouth. She didn’t want it to end like this. “Don’t... Don’t eat me.”

“Oh, Fluttershy.” The creature spoke dismissively as it used its other hoof to force Fluttershy to face it again. She locked eyes with it unwillingly, feeling trapped in its bizarre stare. “I’m sorry, but I am going to eat you!” Fluttershy felt lost in it’s eyes and she understood. It was going to eat her. It had told her exactly what it was going to do to her with a maniacally happy grin. And she wouldn’t be able to stop it.

It kept talking as she was locked in its gaze, the fear cascading through her like a river. The changeling licked its lips and grinned insanely wide as it cheerfully spoke. “I’m going to eat you again and again.” The creatures smile faded into a more caring look as it lightly kissed Fluttershy’s nose, and then spoke in a low tone. “You’re going to love me.”

Fluttershy started to shake uncontrollably as her terror found no outlet. She couldn’t break from the creatures commanding gaze.This wasn’t just a changeling, it was a hunter. And she had been caught. She couldn’t even breathe. It would drain her of love, and use her to get to her friends, consuming each of their emotions. Fluttershy’s burning eyes were stuck wide open, her body frozen in terror as tears flowed freely from them. The monster, and her fear, wouldn’t allow her to blink.

“But that’s later. For now, I just need to prepare you. So Let’s think for a moment. I have a proposition. What if you never had to bury your friends again? What if there was some way you could keep them with you forever? I can give you that. I want you to think about it. Angel bunny is your closest friend, and when his time comes, are you going to bury him like all your other friends? I sure didn't. I saved him. He helped me.” The monster stared at her intently, smirking slightly.

Fluttershy’s eyes stung sharply, and tears were staining her face. The monster blinked. When it opened its eyes they were normal, just mirrors of Fluttershy’s pretty aqua eyes. Fluttershy gasped for air, finally free to cry. She clenched her burning eyes tightly closed and looked away from the monster. It watched her curiously as she sobbed.

“Well, you can think what you want. I don’t know... everything. But I know this much.” The creature pulled away from her, smiling from a few steps away. “You're scared. Terrified, actually. I want to give you what I came to give you. I want to give you the Smooze.” The monster puffed up a little. “And once I’m done with you, you won’t ever have to be scared again.” It seemed quite satisfied by saying that.

The other pony frowned a bit in thought after a moment. “But you're not ready yet. First, I have some lessons for you. Once your mind and body are ready you will be His vessel, too.” The other pony closed her eyes and shuddered for a moment. From this close, Fluttershy could see an odd ripple run through its body. The changeling looked like some bizarre jello mold of a pony, and the sight made Fluttershy’s heart ache with despair. A monster had caught her. “But first, we have to learn some things...”

Author's Note

Experiment Go! Also, what do you guys think? I know it's not the end of my other story, but it's got... elements from that other one. Sorry I'm not very creative with this. It's mostly practice for me writing with two identical characters in the scenes for now. I'll change it later. I'm also doing shorter chapters. Let's see how that works out for me. OOh! And, Hopefully I got somebody to pre-read this sucker first. We'll see.