A soft blue glow surrounded a page and turned.

With little reason to sleep, Forest instead dedicated the night to reading and practicing what spells she had. Equestria had two kinds of writing: The normal letters Forest was accustomed to (some form of parallel development? The language was already startlingly similar), known as 'Equestrian Standard' and 'Equestrian Glyph', colloquially referred to as 'Cutey-Form', which was syllabic.

Another glow marked another page.

'For services rendered to the crown.' Well, that was a good reason to get a house. It was still a little unreal - sure, she had walked with the others on a quest to prevent a world-wide catastrophe that threatened to end all life... oh alright, maybe she could have pushed for more than just a house.

Another page turned.

The serpent's scale had an interesting effect. It was magical, obviously, but it was the effect it had on his skin what was interesting. His changeling powers latched onto the magical system he had gained from the serpent, and with a little concentration, he could switch it on even if he did not cover himself with scales - though for a reduced effect. It was more or less a minor Armor upgrade for the most part, meshing very well with the protection he already got from the changelings' magic. The only problem being that the changeling magic circulation system drank the magic faster that he could generate it, and he guessed that he now had a singular pool of energy... that he still had to fill with love... d-dang it.

One more page... And that was it for Equestrian History; now, where was that book on creatures?

Oh, well. Energy problems because of changeling nature were a touch easier to solve than most; she now had... friends.

A short pause.

Friends.

Friends.

Fri-ends.

Frieeeeeeends~.

No matter how much she mulled it over, it felt weird to even sound it out. Really? Well, she didn't know them that well, but they had faced Nightmare Moon together. She shivered; thank God she wouldn't have to see her again. She needed the energy, and they did get her hide out of hot water, so the least she could do was be agreeable and keep up her act.

Who knows? Being friends with a wizard meant she'd get to practice the good stuff, like teleportation, or maybe even a little something thrown in by Celestia herself.

Celestia looked- alright, thanks to empathy, she knew that Celestia truly was that compassionate, but man, could she be sneaky. The last conflict with the minotaurs was resolved when Celestia managed to discover the root of the problem and twist the situation in her favor.

Copious amounts of blackmail may or may not have been involved - not that a history book would have anything but vague conjecture.

But that was to be expected; those literal bull-heads couldn't see that their aggressive society, consisting in great part of the law of 'I'm bigger and stronger that you and I'm not afraid to prove it', was what was truly causing the trade problem - no Equestrian involvement whatsoever. Really, wanting a soft and probably mushy pony merchant that behaved -for example- like Fluttershy to take part of that? What a laugh! Fluttershy would curl into a ball as soon as she heard 'Hey you!' and miss the entire sales pitch... although... seeing a muscled bull-man, posing like a super macho bodybuilder or wrestler, shouting at the top of his lungs about the superiority of his tomatoes 'grown with love' over his competitor's 'pathetic excuse for produce', and have the whole thing devolve into good ol' fisticuffs that sends the whole market into an outdoors barfight sounded like something she'd pay good cash to see.

Hmm... as for her spells... a static, semi-invisibility spell (more like instant camouflage) that was quick, with the benefit that it didn't leave as many magical traces as the full-blown invisibility spell; useful. Signal lights and flares... well, for group explorations of the forest, maybe. Standard magical bolt and a sort of magic-charged tackle, her very best was on par with a seventy miles-per-hour baseball (that roc bird from the Everfree found out the hard way, but even if it was hard and draining at least she got chicken) and the second was the perfect cover for when she had the need to ram things and crush them utterly. Minor charm spell, enough to provide a distraction, change of topic, or make a little 'suggestion' to a sentient; it could also dominate a small creature. Want-it-Need-it spell, which made witnesses focus on the target - the more he or she already wants it the better, useful to distract a mugger by enchanting a coin and tossing it- but, being so quick due to its intended defensive use, most of its strength came from the perceived threat to the caster's life and/or way of life... it would take her some concentration and time to get the boost needed to make something more than a cheap distraction or annoying desire (which beats the point of casting it, since it's supposed to be fast and not so mentally-intensive). Voice and sound projection, to misguide, or provide the best vetriloquism show. What looks like the start to a proper illusion spell...

Her list was rather short, and discrete - most of the changelings' training consisted on other skills (the blue one was good at hoof-to-hoof and conventional sneaking, for example). Not too surprising, but that just meant additional work for her. Not that it mattered, since she'd need to gather quite the resources for a world-round trip, all things considered - transportation both for herself and her stuff, lodgings, supplies...

And Celestia was going to keep a watch on things around the whole country, in any case; might as well practice magic the normal way.

Hey... her own airship... that would make things easy! Yes... maybe there was a mission or the like that Celestia needed done? Whack some goons, spy on political enemies, infiltration on criminal organizations... then bam! Flying through the air, with lots of bars ready for conversion and some space for herself and her stuff. Like an RV! Only better.

Alright! Goal set: Get an airship!

No need to get the fancy yacht-like model, just something for her person and her stuff.

*****

"I already told you, but I'm going to repeat it." Forest said to the six mares in front of her, in her living room, with every possible window to the exterior blocked in some way; candles and starfly lanterns (like fireflies) providing light. "No one, absolutely no one can know about this - Not. One. Soul. Understood?"

"I still don' like it. Why would somepony lie about their face? I dun' get it." Applejack said, and Forest was glad she did not have to pretend that the question annoy her - because it did. Forest was pretty much letting the changelings direct this meeting.

"That's right, you don't get it." She answered harshly, making the others flinch as her tail whipped about. "This is an apocalypse."

Her scowl and almost-growl made the point very clear - This they were asking was more complicated and far more serious than they had thought.

"Ah... you mean it as a revelation, right?" Twilight asked sheepishly - she knew that when the dramatic words started flying, she had just bitten more than she could chew.

"Changelings don't just absorb feelings because it's an easy source of magic - it's a necessity for everything from physical strength to as far as mental health." She said in answer, and made the apple farmer feel uncomfortable.

"Heck, the only reason I'm going through with this instead of just ignoring it is because I owe you big for saving my life from Nightmare Moon." She shuddered, and was authentic. Gulping, she continued. "I-I can honestly say that I was- I was scared."

'Don't cross me.' She heard Mercer's voice in her head and flinched again, as if trying to make herself smaller.

A pair of hooves was soon around her neck, Fluttershy was so calm it was hard to freak out. Mercer was out; out of her view, out of her head, and out of her life.

"Thanks." She patted Fluttershy to let her know she could let go. "This is big- no, larger than big! You cannot let this out, and if you find another changeling, you have to keep their secret, too! Just one bad case will wreck things; actors like myself could have their careers ruined! It gets to the point that thousands will lose everything they have worked for!"

Applejack began to really feel the pressure... she just thought it was somepony lying to her face about who they were! Now she had to live with the knowledge that she could ruin the lives of thousands all across the country?!

"Changeling foals need additional love to grow healthy, and changelings can't feed each other - it's just an exchange - so, can you guess what would happen if something goes wrong?"

Applejack swallowed hard, and trembled slightly. Now she had the life of unborn foals on her hooves?! Family was everything to her, and now she had to deal with the knowledge that, just because she didn't like that some ponies go about doing business with a face they weren't born with, she was but one slip away from having the blood of foals staining her. Foals. Babies! That haven't even had the chance to see their parents' faces or make a choice in their lives...

"Ah... Ah dun' want that kind o' responsibility." Applejack muttered, starting to tear up.

Forest shook her head.

"You already know that I am a changeling, and so you need to know what even knowing just that implies." Forest said, neutrally. Applejack was taking it the hardest, to the surprise of absolutely nobody; it was her insistence that got them on that point, and now they had families riding on their shoulders - the hives completely at their mercy.

Fluttershy, in sharp contrast, was the most resolute and calmest, with Rarity a close second. They would not take away that from anypony, and they wanted to give them the most they could give them with that knowledge.

They wanted to give the changelings... a chance for a future.

Pinkie was oddly somber, and even though it looked like she wanted to cry almost as much as Applejack, she was still smiling. If she could hurt that many changelings if she did things wrong, then that meant that she could help them if she did things right! Making everypony happy would mean that the changelings would have lots and lots of love! And there would be many little changelings running out and about and many happy ponies.

Rainbow Dash... Rainbow Dash was pretty much unaffected - not truly so, but she understood. Those guys were counting on her, right? Even if they didn't know it. They needed her to keep their secret, because things could get bad if she didn't... She was reminded of Fluttershy - of how the gangly filly was picked on because she didn't fend for herself, of how she was singled out for being different, for being perceived as weak and an easy target.

There was no need to think it, and no real pressure (that she had not put herself into before). She would do it.

Twilight... thought, and thought, and thought. She was still new to socializing by herself, but she knew politics, and knew them well, having been under Celestia's wing all this time - hay, Spike, for all of his occasional vocabulary shortages, could communicate 'well enough' in another two languages! She now knew... what she felt for her friends, others felt it for theirs, and nothing that could hazard destroying something that beautiful was going to happen if she could help it.

"No touching, alright?" Forest said, and she let the light wash over her.

Her skin was tough and her coat stiff, and there were chitinous plates on her barrel and back, where a pair of translucent wings similar to a cross of a dragonfly's and a wasp's buzzed in discomfort. Her mane was blue, in the same cut as her pony form's, and riddled with holes. Her eyes and her fangs caused more impression, though.

"No comments about my form, capiche?" She said as she turned back into a pony (curiously, minotaur language corresponded nicely to Italian). And being naked was starting to get on her nerves, so she let the magic flow out a second time and made another tracksuit. "Not. One. Word."

Twilight and Pinkie were antsy, but she didn't need more than five seconds of being Pinkie's acquaintance to know that her questions would be annoying.

"Alright... Twilight?" Forest looked at the librarian impassively.

"Are... are changelings omnivorous?"

"Yes." 'Me more than any others, though.' "I've heard fruit bat is a delicacy worthy of the queens."

Applejack and Rarity were pretty much the only ones that reacted, while Fluttershy, even though she flinched, just accepted it because of the many, many critters she cared for. Twilight, as an academic and Spike's sisterly figure, knew of the topic, and griffins liked to eat fish and such at the royal table. Rainbow had seen a friend of hers hunt.

Pinkie, while a little queasy, just accepted it.

Rarity's tip-hoof dancing was more for melodrama than anything, since Opal still liked to bring mice too her doorstep.

Applejack was the only one honestly dizzied by the revelation.

"Now that we are on this topic, I remember I skipped breakfast." Forest said, remembering that she had gone through books nearly all night, then kept going right up to the minute the girls knocked at her door.

"It-it's too much ta take." Applejack said, overwhelmed.

"What did you expect? You leap without thinking, Jacqueline." Forest said, making Applejack flinch at the use of that name... Forest thought she was bordering on picking on her, but that mare just kept pounding on the wrong buttons! Forest jabbed Applejack's chest with a hoof - gently, for a Blacklight. "You demanded that I reveal my secret to you, just because you didn't like 'liars', and this is the price you have to pay - suck it up, filly. You didn't think about how it would affect anypony but yourself; did you think there would be no consequences from making a race whose way of life completely depends on keeping our identities a secret reveal it? Sure, maybe there will come a time when a changeling can be in natural form in public, but non-changelings can't tell us apart with the senses they've got; it's just trading one problem with another."

"How can you take it?" Rarity asked and... d-dang, if Forest had to act like a changeling, that meant she had to act like a pony too. That feeling was so annoying.

"Because of trust. Changelings know that they have one another and whoever they love, even when things are getting desperate." The feeling was growing, and she'd have to let it go if she was ever to fit in long enough to get anything done. "If everyponies' identities got revealed..."

She sang.

♪"This is the end
Hold your breath and count to ten
Feel the Earth move, and then
Hear my heart burst again~"

The girls were not used to a song this... wistful.

"For this is the end
I've drowned and dreamt this moment
So overdue, I owe them
Swept away, I'm stolen~

♪ Let the sky fall, when it crumbles
We will stand tall
And face it all together ♫
Let the sky fall, when it crumbles
We will stand tall~
And face it all together
At sky fall

At sky fall

~ Skyfall is where we start
A thousand miles and poles apart
Where worlds collide and days are dark ♪"

Forest opened the windows, letting in natural light. It was strangely reddened, and the uneven lighting from inside made it dance around like fire.

"You may have my number
You can take my name
But you'll never have my heart!"

Something outside was falling in such a way that many shadows danced around the room, and she supported herself with the voice projection spell.

"Let the sky fall, when it crumbles
We will stand tall~"

The many lights gave Forest many shadows, all standing one next to the other.

"And face it all together ♫
Let the sky fall, when it crumbles
We will stand tall~
And face it all together
At sky fall~"

Some of the girls added to the chorus.

"♫ Let the sky fall, when it crumbles
We will stand tall
Let the sky fall, when it crumbles
We will stand tall ♪

♪ Where you go I go
What you see I see
I know I'd never be me without the security
Of your loving arms keeping me from harm
Put your hoof in my hoof
And that is proof...

♪ Let the sky fall, when it crumbles
We will stand tall~
And face it all together
♫ Let the sky fall, when it crumbles
We will stand tall
And face it all together
At sky fall~

♫ Let the sky fall
We will stand tall ♪
At skyfall."

"Let the sky fall. We can take it." Forest figured she shared the sentiment, even as a fake changeling. Whatever comes will be met and overcome, regardless of what it is. "Is there any place for lunch?"

"Ooh! Let's go to Sugarcube Corner!" Pinkie piped in, bouncing back to happiness.

"The bakery? Hmm..." And how was Forest supposed to know that that guy had so much of an interest that he learned to make every recipe? Forest would have never expected a guy like that to be such a fan. Well, this would count as 'being nice to Pinkie' (if Friendship was a real power in this world, she was not going to risk karma or broken promises to a higher power). "I have a small favor to ask..."

*****

"It looks like a field in there." Carrot Cake, a tall and slim yellow stallion with an orange mane, said while eyeing the table covered in greens from the other side of the door.

"She said it was for a special, pretty bread baked a lush green." Fluttershy answered the unasked question.

"A bread green on the inside?" Cup Cake began pondering.

"Oh no." Fluttershy corrected. "It's going to be bright green on the outside too."

"Wait, what?" Twilight eyed the mare working on the mix. "I'd understand it if it was steamed bread, but unless she uses magic, baked bread will darken."

"Oh, you know how to make bread?" Carrot asked, overjoyed that so many ponies took interest in his profession.

"I have read about the subject." Twilight proudly declared.

"Silly filly, she said she doesn't know that much magic!" Pinkie balanced a lollipop on her nose, before tossing it into the air and catching it in her mouth.

"She did say that she had a secret ingredient to go with a 'special technique', and was surprised to find it here in the bakery." Rarity pursed her lips in thought. Something for a special bread technique, but that bakeries don't usually carry?

The other patrons heard about the mare working on something special, willing to let this be a sample before she took a decision on what to do for bits around town. They were waiting with great curiosity, anxious to see what the hooded mare was baking - as soon as somepony heard the words 'special baking request' the gossip started.

"... That bread has been in the oven for a while." Carrot commented as he rang up another costumer, glad that they had done a little extra baking while Forest waited for the yeast to work it's magic.

"It's not done yet!" Pinkie said, an enormous grin on her face, waiting for that little feeling that told her when the bread was ready to leave the oven. "I wonder how is she going to use that stuff? I didn't know you could use it for more things than just candy apples!"

"The secret ingredient is candy?" Rarity asked, while Applejack just shrugged and ate muffins.

"Done!" Both Pinkie and Forest called out at the same time.

Forest stepped out of the kitchen, levitating trays of her 'test bread' behind her.

Everypony swarmed her as they saw that the breads were shaped like coiled snakes, turtles, frogs and parrots.

And every last one of them was as green as the ingredients used to make them, with a nice shine to them that made them look like jade.

The secret, as Pinkie would learn once everypony had left, was to bake at a much lower temperature than normal, preventing the bread from making a browned crust, and using a starch syrup coating to prevent the bread from being too dry from the extra time. All she had to do now was find a taste and color combination that she liked.

That day, Forest walked out of Sugarcube Corner with a big bag of bits.

Author's Note

I'd pay for that, too.

"I HAVE TEN PERCENT OFF ON ALL WARES!" Chair to the face!

"MY SPINACH IS GREENER AND FRESHER!" Ladder smack! "THE TASTE IS SUBLIME!"

"I'M JUST BROWSING!" Lariat! Followed by German Supplex-ing the garden-supplies guy into submission!

(Also, shameless anime reference! Songs! Additional Spike background info! Explanation for changelings!)