2 Tell it to my heart

Yards found Delta in her room. Her saddle bags were on the bed and she was sitting in the floor, crying. The room was a wreck. Clothing was strewn everywhere. There were books piled up around the bed, but the shelves were empty. Posters and pictures covered most of the walls.

“I can't take the books, they're too heavy.” She turned to look at Yards. “When did I get so much stuff? It's only been like, what? I've never had so much stuff in my life. I didn't realize, I thought I had a home...”

Yards walked over and put his hoof over her slim shoulders. Softly he nuzzled her while she pulled herself together. She sighed. “I've got to hurry, maybe they don't know I'm me yet.” Clothing and personal knick knacks began to float to her bags.

“I want to take you to the shop. We're going to meet with Toffee there after her party to find out what more she knows. If it's bad enough, then I'll fly you out of here before dawn. Okay?”

“I can fly myself.”

“But they're looking for you. I can fly faster than most pegasi that they'd have tracking us. I could drop you off somewhere safe. Lunari have other safe houses.”

“But, it wouldn't be with you. I would be with somepony else. Somepony that might not feed me like you do.”

“You don't need me, Delta.”

“I do.”

He arched his eyebrow. “Are you trying to tell me changelings really are that easy to domesticate?”

“Shut up.” She sighed, then hefted her bags over her back. “Alright, I've got the essentials.” They walked out of the house and over to his barn. He opened the door and ushered her in. Closing the door behind them he walked over by her old palette. Levitating the bookshelf he pressed his horn into a small hole in the wall. The floor opened up with a lift underneath.

“Get on. I”ll see you down there in a little while, kay?”

“What if they're waiting for me down there?”

“There's only four ponies that can get in here. Only one of them would have anything to do with the Inquisition, and if you've pissed off ol' Sun Butt herself then we've got bigger problems.” The floor began to sink down into the access way. “Don't worry,” Yards shouted, “I'll be down when everypony gets here. Just make yourself comfortable.”

The unicorn looked around at his work station and began to clean it of anything that wasn't directly related to the farm. Anything that was even remotely a special project was purged. Then he began a series of mana cleansing spells to block any psychometry in the area. While he was sweeping the area with a few auguries, trying to make sure he'd gotten the last few fragments, the mares arrived.

“Yards, what's going on?” Apple looked around concernedly.

“I'm making sure you and Rhu are safe.” Happy with the readings he received, he ushered the mares over to the lift. “Alright, let's get to safety.” He signaled the lift once more and it again carried them all down to the underground complex. “Where's Rhu?”

“I put her to bed. She was tired and something tells me this is going to be a conversation not fit for filly ears.” The white earth pony looked back at her friend. Toffee pawed guiltily at the floor.

“So did you enjoy your party?” Yards asked the birthday girl.

“Yes, it was lovely. Thank you.”

Yards was about to continue, but they reached the bottom of the shaft. Delta was waiting for them. She had transformed into her natural form. It had been a while since Yards had seen it. She was almost as tall as he was now, but her legs and neck were disproportionate, giving a gangliness about her. Her mane had grown out. The bangs still poofed out, but the back and sides were longer than they'd been. Her horn seemed to be slightly longer too. She was wearing one of his lab aprons.

“Good evening, Honey, I hope your day went well.” She gave him an exaggerated smile, her eyes closed. The tiny fangs were poking out of her lips.

“Goober.” He took the mares down the corridor. The first couple rooms along the way were storage. Personal stuff, books, dried food, water, seeds, and tools that he used both upstairs and here. There was a T intersection. To the right were the enchantment and chemistry areas, including the library. To the left were the stables and mechanical area, as well as one of the areas he'd converted into a den, for him to relax, eat, and unwind when he needed away from all the estrogen in his life.

This was where he took them. There were two chairs and a sofa in the room. Yards took one of the chairs. Starfall chose to remain standing by the door. Toffee took the other chair. Apple and Delta took the couch.

“Sure you don't want to sit?” asked Apple.

“No, I'm still getting used to a still floor. It helps me to stand. May I start?”

This caught everypony's attention.

“I'm not sure what's all going on, and I'm still kinda new here. So, can I ask a few questions?”

This meant that they didn't have to deal in the horrible truth of the moment. Any of them would have given anything to not have to have the conversation they needed. They were desperate for any diversion. Almost in unison they nodded.

“Okay, so Apple, you own this place, right?”

She nodded her red and pink mane.

“So, Yards works for you?” He nodded as well. “But this place,” she waved her hoof around. “This is SO not a normal farm thing. Are you two working for some crime syndicate or something?”

“No,” answered Yards quickly. “I work for Princess Luna. Amongst other things I'm working to solve problems in Equestria. I work with Apple to design devices that allow for farms to be more productive.”

“So, what else? What does a changeling have to do with farming?”

“Test Subject Delta was an earlier project. I was working on expanding our knowledge of changelings.”

“So,” interrupted Toffee, “Do you call her Delta because it's the symbol for change? I never understood that.”

“Well, that's a happy coincidence.” He looked away. “She's the fourth changeling I've had in my possession. Calling them by designations, helped.”

Toffee looked mortified. “Fourth, where are the other three?”

“Dead. For real dead. Alpha and Bravo starved to death. It took us a while to figure out a feeding schedule for keeping them in captivity. Charlie was eaten by a hydra that got loose in a lab I was working at before.” Delta blanched at the horrors she'd barely averted.

“Okay, so...are you dating any of them?” the dark violet pegasus asked bluntly.

Yards froze. Maybe it would be better to discuss Toffee's problem at this point.

“No,” answered Apple for him. She then looked over at Delta.

“He feeds me, but he's stopped himself from anything else. There was a time when I was wondering if he even liked mares, but I can tell you he's even less interested in stallions.”

“Well, if it's not going to hurt anypony else's feelings, then I'd like to throw my hat in.” Her right wing reached out and pushed her hat forward, causing her silver locks to spill out. Yards swallowed hard. “You see,” she reached into her bag and pulled out a notice. “Cloudsdale has put a bounty out on foals. 5,000 bits a year, 10,000 if it's a pegasus.”

“What?” asked Toffee.

“Yeah, since somepony decided to crash a whole pegasus city and kill everypony, not to mention all the deaths from the war, and natural fatality rates, and they're not going to be able to manufacture weather in about ten to fifteen years. So they're asking pegasi mares everywhere to try and find somepony to have foals with.”

Yards slipped out of the room while his future was plotted without his consent. He grabbed up his armor and a polishing rag before heading back to the room.

“I'm sorry.” Starfall said as he returned, “I didn't think a stallion would complain about getting to sire.” She held her head low in supplication.

“There are things going on you don't quite understand.” He did his best to keep his tone even.

“Such as?”

“Old business before new business.” Absently he began to don under layers to protect himself from wearing the plates. He had a feeling that things were going to be very bad soon and he was going to have to take Delta to safety. He was certain that it was an overwhelming sensation of imposing dread and not fear of what they were discussing that was the cause of his trepidation.

“Yeah, Toffee, thanks for warning me about the Inquisition being in town. I don't know how you knew, but thanks for the warning.”

Toffee's lower lip quivered and she looked down. She mumbled something into her chest.

“What was that?” asked Apple.

“I-I called them.” There was no sound underground.

Yards redoubled his polishing. “That was sooner than I figured.”

“YOU!” Delta was buzzing up in Toffee's face. “WHY would you do that?”

“Because you're dangerous.” Steel was creeping into her voice. “You killed six ponies!”

“To save us!”

“Six highly trained ponies.” Toffee wasn't going to back down, her anger had been riled. “Six heavily armed and armored ponies.”

“But, you and Apple, and, and, Star, you were all in trouble. I had to do something-”

“So you killed SIX ponies. I was doing something too, you know. I had them willing to not kill us. I'd almost disarmed he situation without anypony dying.”

“Like the unicorns? Do you know what they did to the unicorns on the train?” The confusion on Toffee's face told Delta all she needed to know. “They tortured them to death. They didn't just kill them. They made them suffer.”

“Like how you set two of them on fire to burn to death?”

Delta's face softened, before becoming a mask of anger. “I thought we were friends, Toffee. I thought you moved past this.”

“I did.” Her eyes softened. “We are friends. That's why I didn't turn you in there at the train. That's why I warned you tonight. Delta, you're dangerous. You killed six soldiers who were fully equipped and all it did to you was put you on pain killers for two weeks. Tell me if somepony had been able to kill six changelings that easily you wouldn't do something to protect your species.”

“They did.”

“I know. And you have the way to protect them around your hoof.” She pointed at Delta's repurposed Martyr's Charm. The charm Yards had modified to protect changelings from Equestria's abilities to find them. “I expect changelings have artisans. I imagine it wouldn't take them long to start handing them out to all the changeling forces. Then how would we protect ourselves?”

“But...but...don't you trust me?” The pain carved deep lines of woe on her face.

“I love you. You know that.” Toffee answered. Delta closed her eyes and nodded. “We've been through a lot together. You've really helped me grow and learn as a person, and I'll always appreciate that. But when it comes to the safety of others...I, well, I guess it's a matter of 'if you can do this with what Yard's has given you, I don't know what other changelings could possibly do too.' I'm sorry. I really am. Oh, Celestia, I'm so sorry, Delta.” She reached out for her friend, but Delta pulled away.

“How could you?” asked Apple.

“Because it's who she is.” Yards came into the argument. The mares turned to look at the unicorn. Toffee smiled at him.

“A pig headed xenophobe?” asked Delta.

“No, the Element of Honesty.” The second bomb was dropped for the night. Everything was quiet again.

Yards took in a breath, held it, exhaled then breathed in again before addressing his boss. “You remember your second cousin, what she was like? How she couldn't lie. How even withholding information was difficult for her? Toffee has the potential of replacing her as the Element of Honesty.”

“Me, an Elemental?” Toffee's voice was low. “But, I'm not...”

“It's not official. But part of my duties was to be on the look out for possible new Elementals. With us being able to summon the Fires of Friendship, I suspected that the powers of friendship for you two were possibly deeper. Her turning you in was the cinch I was waiting for.”

“Two?” asked Apple.

Yards nodded. “You're on the short list too.”

“What about me?” Delta piqued up. “Am I- oh. Oh. Sweet Sarlock, I'm Spike.” Her ears lowered and her crest fell as she looked over at Apple. “I clean your house. I'm even wearing an apron.” She pulled at the cloth with her hoof.

“So, that's why the Princess said it was so important that I make friends with Starfall?”

“What?” Yards and Starfall both exclaimed at Apple Rhubarb.

“The night after the train trip. Princess Luna came to me in a dream and told me it was important that I make friends with Starfall.”

“So what do we do?” asked Toffee.

“I guess I should go bake something, or maybe make some tea? Anypony need a book?” sighed Delta.

“Well, if we've got the replacement Elementals, I guess we could either go to Canterlot and meet up with Rarity and Pinkie or go to the Everfree to try and find Fluttershy. Make friends with them, then save the world from something.”

“Something like a rogue changeling?” A new voice came from the hall.