“Ok, I have a plan. I’m going to sneak past the entrance guards somehow and get into the castle, then I’ll work my way towards Dark so I can speed this process along so the treaty can be signed. Then he and I can get back to Ponyville to meet with the others.” Thinking to myself, the plan wasn’t all too thought out, but the refined details would be worked out along the way. “Do you have any ideas as to how I could get past the guards?” I asked.

A tinkle lit within the changling’s eyes as an idea came to mind. “It’s almost too simple. We’re in the barracks, just borrow one of the castle guard armor sets and you’re set. But you’re also going to need to try and find a way to mask your face. While the armor covers your body, you don’t have our ears nor muzzle. And I’m no good at paper mache.” The cheeky changling declared, a small chuckle escaping his smirk. If you have enough magic to make a clone, then you should be able to conjure up some kind of plan for that.” He turned to his bunk and reached over to grab a small barrel of ale.

“Hmm. This is going to feel weird, this I know to be true.” I clenched my eyes shut and gritted my teeth. A tingling sensation filled my body’s whole to the brim as I channelled my magic into a spell, sending unwanted feelings flowing all throughout it. As the chills and tingling had calmed down to a minimum, I spoke, though my eyes wouldn’t seem to open. “Did anything happen?” Silence hung in the air, “Hello?”

“That... are you... What are you? I thought you were human, but maybe you’re a changling too?”

“Wait, what?” I managed to take control over my eyes once again and gave my body a quick inspection. “Holy... shnikeys.” Where my feet would have been were tattered, sullen black hooves. Following up my legs and upper body, I could see nothing but a leathery, darkened worn encasing of skin. Holes covered my torso as well as my upper arms. I placed my hands against my face and felt major changes in my facial structure as well as definition. My nose had become a muzzle, and my jawline became larger. I worked my jaw around for a moment to get a feeling for it, and it seemed to be rather irritating. Next, I checked the sides of my head for human ears, but found them replaced with that of an equines. “Ahh.... I was only trying to summon a mask, but this? I have to change back!” I shook my head speedily in disapproval. “This just feels too weird, I can’t.” Once again, I closed my eyes and imagined myself human again. I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “Alright, we need to come up with another plan.”

“Well change back then, I thought that was what you were trying to do.” Tooth stated. I gave him a look of confusion. “What?” He asked.

“What do you mean change back? I thought I did!” I looked over my body and none of the features had changed. “What the..” I quickly redone the changing process, but once again, nothing happened. “Oh no... Oh no, oh no, oh no..” My breaths became quicker in pace, as many thoughts rang about my head. “This can’t be happening!” I placed my head in my hands and fell back into the chair.

“Whoa, it’s ok. Being a Changling isn’t all that bad, it’s almost better. Think about it, you won’t have to eat regular food, and you’ll have a constant connection to Queen Chrysalis, so it’ll make figuring out her plans and whereabouts easier, right?” He rested his hand against my shoulder, calming my frightened senses. “It’s going to be ok. I’m sure you’ll figure out some way to return to your normal self somehow, but just remember what you have to do, and what’s at stake. From what you’ve told me, it’s all a matter of getting back to Ponyville. From then on, you’ll have all the time in the world to figure this out. Just stick to the matter at hand for now. There’s a spare castle guard armor set over on the stands. Now go, I’ll just take your human copy with me tomorrow when my shift starts at four o’clock. But since it’s nearly ten in the evening, you should probably start heading for the shift change. It’ll be soon too, so get that armor on and get going!”

I looked to him and nodded, “Alright, you’re right.” I stood from the chair and made my way towards the armor stands, but stopping half way. Turning around, I looked to Toothless once again, “Thanks, if it weren’t for you... I don’t know what I would have done. This may be my last night here, so I hope I see you again someday.”

“That you can count on, I’ve been promoted to another position, a field ranger. It’s much different than what I’m doing now, I’ll be out there in the world exploring to find other sources for us to feed and other places to construct more castles and expand on our way of life. Maybe when we see each other again, Queen Chrysalis will be so happy with my work, she’ll make me a king! Probably not, but who knows. You need to be going, and good travels Condemned. I hope you find this ‘Dusk’ you speak of so frequently. She’s a lucky girl.” With that, Toothless sat down at the table and poured himself a pint of ale, taking a sip and relaxing. A small chuckle followed by a grin emanated on his face, “Hail to the king.” He downed the rest of his glass and looked to the replica, “You’re staying with me. I’ll need a friend in my travels also, but we’ll need to separate your vision from his. Somehow.”

Standing up, Toothless grabbed glass and poured another pint of ale. Handed it over to the replica, he said, “Drink this.” Silent, he did as told and drank. A burning sensation filled my eyes for a moment as my vision began to blur. Pouring another glass, he once again handed it over. Silent once again, the replica downed the rest of the glass and closed his eyes. As his eyes opened once more, my vision became my own. Much clearer than before.

“Whoa, my sight is normal again. What’d you do?” I asked. He looked to me and shrugged.

“I don’t know, I just wanted to see if he had a buzz going on, maybe you’d be forced to focus on your side more than his, but it worked either way. I’m a genious.”

Author's Note

Thanks to AhugeAcidTree for proofreading for me and I hope this has preoccupied your time with a fill of entertainment. I'll see you in the next chapter and thanks for reading.

Keep it cool, Condemned.