Fun With A Changeling

Fluttershy observed her surroundings carefully as she walked through the market that morning.

Three days ago, Pinkie Pie had let her in on the secret that she'd captured a changeling spy and was keeping him locked in her basement.  Now Fluttershy was helping Pinkie to collect information from said changeling and, as much as she was afraid to admit it, she was actually starting to look forward to these daily visits to the Sugarcube Corner.  The only problem was the paranoia that  her and Pinkie Pie's secret would be found out, so she had to be very careful about who saw her.

She stopped at a certain stall where a certain pony was selling carrots.

"I'll take five of those, please," she said shyly.

"That'll be eight bits."

The yellow pegasus slowly counted out the money, keeping an eye on the vendor as she did.  Supposedly this mare was the leader of a team of changeling scouts, but Pinkie had suggested watching her and others suspected of being changelings for a while before reporting them to the princess, just in case the information they had turned out to be false.  Fluttershy was't exactly sure why her friend wanted to continue keeping their captive changeling secret, but she was secretly glad of it.  Now that she had spent some time around him and was used to his presence, she didn't much like the idea of him being locked away in a dungeon in Canterlot; it just seemed too cruel for the kind pony to accept, even for a changeling.  She felt a strange emotion building up inside of her when she thought about it, but she wasn't able to identify the feeling, so she simply ignored it.

The vendor smiled, and Fluttershy gave her the eight bits for the carrots and continued on her way.

When she arrived at the Sugarcube Corner, Mrs. Cake was standing behind the counter.

"Hello, Fluttershy dear," she said in a friendly voice.  "What can I do for you today?"  The past few  days, the Cakes had not been around when Fluttershy had come to visit Pinkie, but still she couldn't help but fear that the older mare had discovered their secret.

She swallowed and asked "Is Pinkie Pie around?"

"Oh yeah, she's upstairs in her room."

"Thank you," she said as she backed slowly away, then headed quickly up the stairs.

When she got to Pinkie's door, she knocked twice and waited for an answer.

"Who is it?" called a high-pitched voice from the other side of the wood.

"Umm... it's me, Fluttershy."  She slowly pushed open the door and stepped into the room.

"Hey there, slowpoke," said the pink filly-mare enthusiastically.   "I've been waiting for you all morning; where ya been?"

"Oh I just went to the market to pick up some-"

"Nevermind; you can tell me on the way to the basement,"  said Pinkie quickly, pulling her friend along with her.

"oh, umm...  okay."

By the time Fluttershy was ready to speak again, the two ponies were already in the basement, and Pinkie Pie was re-locking the door.  Fluttershy removed her saddlebags and placed them next to the stairs, then leaned down to unpack the vegetables she'd bought at the market earlier.

The changeling stallion who now resided in the basement got up from his place in the far corner of the room and walked toward the ponies.

"Pinkie Pie.  Fluttershy."  He greeted each of them by name and with a small nod.

"Hi," said Fluttershy softly, not making direct eye contact with him.  "How are you today?"

"Well, aside from being bored, hungry, and being kept prisoner here, I'm fine," he said.  "How are you?"

The pegasus suddenly took a great interest in some invisible thing at her hooves and did not respond.  Pinkie Pie broke the awkward silence by suddenly appearing beside them and suggesting that they all take the day off and play board games together.

Fluttershy agreed, but the changeling tilted his head to the side and said "I've never played a board game.  What's it like?"

"Oh, it's fun," said Pinkie, suddenly producing an already-set game board from who-knows-where and placing it in front of him.  "Each pony gets a game piece, and you gotta roll the dice to see how many squares your piece moves each turn.  When you land on these spaces here," she indicated various differently-coloured tiles on the board with her hoof, "you  have to draw a card from the deck and do what it says."  Then she turned to her pegasus friend and said "Fluttershy, you go first."

"okay."  Fluttershy took the two dice between her hooves and dropped them onto the center of the board, landing them on four and five.  She picked up the tree-shaped game piece in her teeth and moved it forward nine squares.  "Now it's your turn, Pinkie."  Pinkie Pie rolled her dice in a similar fashion, moving her cupcake piece forward twelve squares.  The tile her piece landed on was blue, so she pulled a card from the top of the deck and read it  out loud.

"'Your apple pie wins first prize at the county fair.  Move your  piece forward  an extra space.'  Wow, that's lucky!" she said cheerfully as she moved the cupcake once again.

Then it was the changeling's turn.  Slowly, he took the dice from the pink pony and looked at them for a moment before dropping them on the board.  One die showed four, and the other showed  six.  Using his magic, he picked up the only remaining piece, something that slightly resembled a castle, and set it one square ahead of Fluttershy's piece on the board.  It was a red square, so  he picked up a card from the top of the corresponding deck.

"'You forgot your hat at home,'" he read out loud.  "'Move your piece backward one space'?  Umm...   okay."  Obediently, he scooted the castle backward so that it was on the  same square as the tree.  He and Fluttershy looked at each other, and a light blush appeared on the changeling's face.  "I guess the game wants us to stay close," he joked.  Fluttershy smiled politely and then took the dice between her hooves once more, continuing the cycle of the game.

After about twenty minutes, Pinkie Pie was so far ahead of the other two that there was no question her piece was winning.  Sensing that her friends were getting bored (she and Fluttershy were both starting to feel comfortable enough with the changeling to consider him at least a friendly acquaintance, if not an actual friend), she made another sudden suggestion.

"Who wants sundaes?" the pink pony asked enthusiastically.

"Oh, a sundae would be lovely," said Fluttershy.  They both looked at the changeling to see what he would say.

"I don't know," he said slowly.  "I've never actually eaten pony food before.  I mean...  I guess I could try it."  He shrugged.

"You've never had any pony food before at all?" asked  Pinkie Pie in shock.

"Not a bite," he answered.  She gasped and leaped to her hooves instantly.

"This is unacceptable," she said in mock firmness.  "You simply must have a sundae, right now!"  Then she grinned and put her arms around both of the other equines. "Come on, guys, let's go to the kitchen and make some."  She started dragging them toward the door.

"Wait," said Fluttershy to Pinkie, pointing toward the changeling with her hoof.  "What about him?  We can't let anypony see him."

"I don't have enough energy to shapeshift," he admitted.  "Besides, aren't you afraid I'll, like, run away or something?"  Pinkie stopped and thought about it.

"Do you promise you won't  run away?"  she asked him, staring intensely into his eyes.

"I, uhh...  yeah.  I won't.  promise."   He shied away from her intimidating gaze, but she seemed satisfied enough with his answer.

"Oki doki loki," she said.  "I'll just have to trust you then.  Wait here."  She motioned with her hooves for them to stay while she ran up the stairs and out of the basement.  Only a moment later she returned and said "The coast is clear.  You two can come up now, and go straight to the kitchen."

When Fluttershy stepped into the kitchen, she noticed that Pinkie had flipped over the sign on the front door so that it read "CLOSED" on the outside of the shop.  The changeling stepped in after her and looked around at everything as if he'd never seen a kitchen before.  Maybe he never had, she thought.  Pinkie went over to the freezer and pulled out three big tubs of ice cream.  Then she zoomed around the kitchen, gathering up other ingredients and placing them all on the counter.   Finally, she produced three ice cream dishes and set them neatly, one in front of each equine present.

"One for you, one for you, and one for me," she said cheerfully.  "There!  Now we can make our sundaes."

The two ponies dished out heaping scoops of ice cream into their dishes and piled the toppings on like crazy.  Pinkie gave herself chocolate ice cream with chocolate syrup and rainbow sprinkles.  Fluttershy got strawberry with whipped cream and crushed nuts and a cherry on top.  The changeling wasn't sure what to do, so he opened the third cold tub and peered at the white substance inside.  Carefully, he picked up the scoop and put a small amount of vanilla ice cream into his dish.  He then picked up a bottle of cherry-flavoured syrup and drizzled a little bit of it over his ice  cream.  Finally, he chose some pink, heart-shaped sprinkles to go on top.  He smiled at the joke  he'd made before finally leaning over his creation to sniff it, and finally, to taste it. The two ponies looked up from their half-eaten sundaes to see his reaction.

"So...  how's it taste?" asked Pinkie.  "Do you like it?"  The changeling's eyes grew wide.

"This...  stuff," he said slowly, "is the most amazing thing I've ever tasted!" He gulped down the ice cream as quickly as he could, eager to taste more and more of the sweetness.

"Careful," said Fluttershy.  "If you eat it too fast it'll give you a headache."  But her voice was so quiet that she couldn't be heard.  The  changeling scooped more ice cream into his bowl and was able to scarf it down as well before the aforementioned effect  hit him.  He clutched the sides of his head and closed his eyes tight.

"Ow, ow ow ow owowow!  This hurts!  Why the buck does it hurt?"

"I'm sorry," said Fluttershy, placing a hoof on his shoulder.  "I tried to warn you."

After his headache had subsided, the changeling stood up and said "Well...  I'm never doing that again."  All three equines laughed out loud and headed back to the basement to finish their board game, apparently forgetting to clean up their mess in the kitchen.