Chapter the Only:
Fluttershy stood in her doorway, staring out fearfully as she raised her hoof from her floorboards, hoping to move it past the Threshold, but found herself unable to muster the courage to take a step... despite Angel pushing forcefully against her hind legs.
"M-maybe it was a bad idea…I mean, my throat feels a little dr- eep!" she yelped, as the small Rabbit gave her a swift kick to jolt her off that train of thought.
"I'm serious, Angel. I don't think this was really…that good a idea..I mean... D-does it really matter that I'm hiding this tiny white sec-" Angel kicked her again, this time in the flank, but she was expecting it this time and only flinched. "Okay a large, black secret."
Pacified by the admittance, Angel resumed his attempts to dislodge the mare, who continued to slowly tap the floor nervously. She turned to the tiny ball of fluff and gulped. "Angel... you promise they won't abandon me, right?" Angel’s only response was a pause in the shoves and a tiny thumbs up. Fluttershy turned around again and this time when she raises her hoof, a sharp pinch hit her right flank and she jumped out the door with a yelp, Angel spitting out a mouthful of yellow fur.
She lands on her hooves, and turns to face the Bunny with a soft glare, "Angel that hurt! Why did y-" she stops mid Sentence, realizing she is outside now, and her glare melts into a giggle. "Oh you tricky little Bunny you" she says with affection, before glancing around to ensure nopony is watching, before looking at her Flank, at the tiny patch of missing hair.
Fluttershy's eyes began to glow a soft emerald green, as the same hue enveloped the tiny spot and it solidified into the identical yellow fur which she had lost.
"There, no harm done," the timid 'pony' said softly, as the white bunny bounded onto her back, taking his usual place upon her back, giving it a light kick to get her walking down the street to the meeting with her friends at the Library, as she herself requested.
"Well, here we go Angel... for better or worse, I'm going to..." she said, as she dragged her hooves forward, down the Road to Ponyville. "…Admit that I am not a…P-pony," she said, to herself more than Angel.
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"Well I for one think it's obvious why she called us here," said the bombastic blue mare, bringing herself to a rest atop a bookshelf, rolling onto her back.
Applejack rolled her eyes, looking up at the winged pony. "And what would that be?" she asked, her already heavily accent thickened with sarcasm.
As Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to speak, Pinkie popped out from between the books on the same shelf. "She's going to admit her feelings for Big Macintosh!" She said with a giggle, causing Applejack's eyes to widen.
"Uh, no, I was going to s-"
"Pinkie! Why are you in my bookshelf!?" scolded the purple princess pony to the pink party pony, her wings ruffling softly in agitation.
"I shelved myself between Picking Pickles and Pinweel Preperation, duh!" She said, rolling her eyes as if it was the single most obvious thing in the world, paying no mind to the princess slapping her hoof into her face over the answer.
Rarity paid little mind to the shenanigans surrounding her, as she continued what she has been doing since her arrival: sitting at the center table, glancing at Twilight, and scribbling hurriedly in her sketchbook, occasionally ripping out a page, scrunching it up and propelling it into the trash.
"SO.." huffed Rainbow. "As I was saying it's obv-"
She was interrupted this time by the Library door opening, and a timid muzzle poking through, peeking at the libraries occupants.
"Oh buck it," muttered Dash, giving up on her idea—Fluttershy having secret feelings for Twilight's brother was silly anyway.
"Oh there you are, darling!" Rarity said brightly, setting her notebook down and standing up, giving the buttery Pegasus a warm hug, as Dash hopped down from the bookshelf to face her longtime friend as well. Pinkie remained in the bookshelf, but was provided Fluttershy with ample attention anyway.
Fluttershy pulled herself into the Library... or was rather steered by the bunny setting upon her neck, using her ears like reins until she was inside, then hopping off and pushing the door shut.
The group stood and watched as Fluttershy shrank back from them with unusual shyness, to them at least.
"Well, Fluttershy, we're all here like your letters asked.. if everything all right? The letter said you needed to speak to us…it sounded…urgent," spoke Twilight, breaking the silence a second before it got awkward, but sighed as Dash decided to make it awkward again: "Yeah, whats the deal? You call it urgent and then you show up late?"
Flutter looked away and bit her lip, as Rarity took a step forward, a comforting smile on her ivory face. "You seem troubled. Please dearie, whatever it is, you can trust that we'll help you through it...". Fluttershy looked back at Rarity, a soft smile dangling precariously under nervous eyes.
"W-well, the thing is... well.." she began, glancing at all her friends in turn, smiles ranging from comforting, to wider-than-ones-head, raining compassion, bolstering her confidence...
"It's... I...I'll just have to…show you," she said, putting her hooves over her eyes, and before anyone could ask why she was doing this, she relaxed in a way she had not done in a long time. Green energy roiled across her body like flames, her sunny yellow fur dissolved into slick, hard, black skin, and her feathery wings fade into translucent membrane.
Her limbs filled with holes as her pink mane shifted to a pinkish Grey and tiny fangs peeked past her lips. She kept the whole section of her hooves over her eyes, her ears swiveling just in time to hear the gasps coming from her five friends
"Well, shucks, kind of beat me to the punch, eh?" She heard Applejack comment with a chuckle and lowered her hooves just in time to see the orange pony walk between Fluttershy and her other friends... and then bursting into emerald flames, revealing a Changeling female much like herself, save for her hair being a yellowish-grey, and still in a AJ's normal style, and her eyes being a solid orange, opposed to her own light pink.
"Y-You... what did you do with-" Twilight began, her horn glowing as she prepared a spell, anger flashing across her face as Fluttershy just stared blankly at where Applejack stood, who gave Fluttershy a hug.
However, the Changeling hug was not what stopped Twilight mid-accusation, but rather a duo of laughing to her sides, Rainbow dash leaning against a shelf for support with one hoof, her other grasping her chest in a attempt to not suffocate from laughing.
Rarity was the other, laughing in a rather less uproarious manner, and becoming the first to find enough air to speak, sitting her flank softly upon the floor. "Oh- oh dear me, and here I was worried you were in trouble dearie... This is not exactly a problem at all," She said and her body was immediately replaced with a green burst, followed by a Changeling with a stylish, purple-grey mane, and brilliant purple eyes, followed shortly by the remaining Pegasus enveloping herself in emerald fires, adding a Fourth Changeling to the room, her eyes now a solid red, and her mane less faded then the rest.
Fluttershy's face went from shock to a broad smile, as all her friends came and gave a group hug, emotions filling her body with warmth, as she hears mixed words of joy and praise for her bravery.
"Geeze if I knew you were ALL changelings, that... well.." Dash said, forgetting where she was going with that as a faded, pink-maned, blue eyed changeling popped out of the middle of the group hug."Ohmygosh i need to plan a "We-were-all-actually-Changelings-all-along Party!".
"Yes we-" Rarity paused, looking away from the others to the princess standing across the room on her hind legs and pressed against the wall, eyes wide and pupils like pinpricks.
"T-twilight, just…calm do-" Applejack said, breaking the hug to go and console her friend, when Twilight inhaled deeply and began to scream, before cutting herself off.
"Oh forget it." She slumped to all four hooves with an annoyed sigh.
Green energy enveloped the Princess.
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"Dearest Princess Twilight
Goodness, your previous letter was worded rather... harshly. It hardly sounded like you!
Yes, I was aware of your friends' true nature, and not just theirs my dear, but all of Ponyville as well.
You see, some generations ago, I had noticed a large concentration of immigrants of your kind gathering in Equestria. Refugees really, Changelings who had managed to escape their Hives for various reasons or were banished for not submitting or sharing their Hives beliefs.
I constructed Ponyville as a safe haven for these refugees to live and flourish in Equestria away from any possible persecution or resistance and gave them all the support I could without drawing unwanted attention to their plight.
It does seems that in my zeal to prevent the truth of their origins from being exposed, I not only neglected to inform the rest of Equestria that most of Ponyville was populated by Changelings but Ponyville itself as well.
Terrible oversight there but these things do happen when you run a kingdom entirely on your own for a thousand years...
Sincerely Apologetic, your Fellow Princess, Celestia.
P.S.: I most certainly did not fail to inform the Changelings because I found it humorous to observe their desperate madcap attempts to conceal it from each other, truly!"
~~~~~~End~~~~~~~
