A meeting at the lonely appleby breezearkChaptersChapter 2: A precipice in front, changelings behind.Chapter 3: of cabbages and kingsChapter 4: A new face, or two.Chapter 1: the meeting.Chapter 2: A precipice in front, changelings behind."Look to the hill!" shouted Ivy upon reaching the borders of Ponyville, many ponies looked out their windows for a few seconds, before dismissing the cries and closing them again. Those on the street, however, looked up to see several blue-grey blurs in the trees, before bursting from the canopies. Ivy tried her best to count the changelings, but they kept coming and were darting around in the sky. Many of the ponies who had looked from their windows moments before heard the screams and buzzing and came out into the street. many of those immediately retreated back into their homes, but one, a mint coloured unicorn, began to gallop towards Ivy "Ivy!" she yelled, struggling to be heard. She had been, Ivy turned her head, before darting into one of the houses, Tracer and the unicorn in tow. Before closing the door, she hesitated and glanced outside, indeed, most of those in the swarm were closing on the door, Ivy's suspicions were confirmed, she closed, locked and bolted the door, before turning towards the two guests in her house. "Who's this, Ivy?" the unicorn smiled, gesturing towards Tracer. "Oh, that's Tracer, he's a-" She hesitated, and noticed Tracer running a hoof along his throat, "-Friend, I met him in the forest, just now," The unicorn glanced mockingly between them both, "Is that so? I wondered why you kept slipping away." Both Tracer and Ivy began to speak in unison "Wait what? No! It's not like," they stopped and glared at each other. "Aaaaw, you two are so cute," The unicorn teased. "Shut up!" They said to each other... Ivy inhaled and exhaled heavily, to calm herself down. "Ok, you done?" she asked Tracer, who nodded. "Ok, well, Tracer meet Lyra, Lyra, Tracer." "Hello Lyra," Tracer extended a hoof. "Also, changelings, in case you forgot," Lyra tapped a hoof five times, and nodded as a Changeling threw themselves against the door. "Yeah, thanks, Lyra," Ivy tapped her own hoof. Tracer just stared, surprised at the Unicorn. "Tracer?" Ivy glanced at him. "How, huh?" "What?" "Damn good timing." Lyra laughed, "You know what, I can see why you like him, Ivy" Ivy glared at her "Shut up. We're friends, that's all." "Oh come on! I saw it in the way you looked at him just then." "Yeah! I like him, he's a friend!" Lyra raised an eyebrow "oh really? Ivy? Yeah, like Discord likes Celestia 'as a friend?'," "Lyra..." "Or, princess Twilight Sparkle likes Rainbow Dash 'as a friend?'," "Lyra..." "Or, Octavia Harmony likes Vinyl Scratch 'as a friend?'," "Lyra..." "Or, Fluttershy likes Angel Bunny 'as a friend?'," "Whoa." "Or..." "Ah, mares?" Tracer began, the door shook as a changeling outside threw themselves at it. "...Rarity Belle likes-" "Lyra!" Ivy shouted. "Yes?" "I told you about those magazines." "It's not a magazine." "Still, every possible couple is in there, I'm sure there is one of me and Tracer, but it's not grounded, got it?" "It's not a-" "Lyra!" "-magazine, it's a-" "Lyra!!!" Ivy screamed, Tracer also tried to, but his voice doesn't do that. "Oh, ok." "We need to-" a thud at the door Ivy looked at Tracer "anyway, Tracer's right, we have to get out of here" "Any secret passages? Or tunnels, that you know of, preferably one that would get us closer to Canterlot?" "Why Canterlot? I had bad experiences in Canterlot with Changelings," Lyra asked nervously. Tracer looked at her, his face suggested he was trying to remember something "Lyra Heartstrings? Sorry about that, might have-" realizing what he was saying, he immediately stopped himself, "-ah, nevermind. We need to go to Canterlot because, well, it's complicated." Lyra looked at him suspiciously "Ok... Explain?" "Ok, I'm going to show you something, promise you wont freak out" Tracer looked at her, stern faced. "I promise, no freaking out," Lyra made a mouth zipping motion. Tracer dropped his disguise, "here it is, don't worry, I'm not one of, them." "Lyra? Are you ok?" Ivy looked at her friend, whose eyes had become wide with shock. "Yeah," Lyra stepped back "yeah, just fine." "Well, she's taking it better than expected," Tracer said to Ivy when the door to the back room slammed closed. Tracer sighed "She's gone." "Good job," Ivy glared at Tracer "Sorry! I told her to not freak out," Tracer coiled back. Ivy knocked on the door "Lyra? It's ok." The door opened after about a minute of trying to persuade Lyra to get out of the room. "So, you're a changeling, what were you gonna say?" Lyra asked the changeling. "Well, I am rouged, but, I'm still connected, partially, in the back of my mind. What I'm saying is, I can know their plans by thinking about it," "and what is their plan?" Lyra asked. "well, let's just say we need to warn Celestia." "They're going to attack Canterlot!?" Ivy's eyes widened "Celestia's calling a council in a few days, all the world leaders will be there!" Tracer turned away, "And here is where I make my choice, fronte praecipitium a tergo lupi. Canterlot or the Changeling race." "What?" Lyra stared at him, head cocked "Canterlot of course!" Tracer sat down, his head dropped "I wish it were that simple," he said slowly "once we lived among ponies as equals." Lyra caught an angry look from Ivy "sorry, Tracer, I didn't mean to-" Tracer shook his head "sorry? Sorry? I'm beginning to think sorry is the master key in pony language." "Apologies are, the greatest virtue." Ivy tried to find words of wisdom. "No, far from it." "Apologies, rebuild bridges." "Apologies only cure guilt." "Apologies remove, ah, antagonism?" Ivy fumbled her words. "Only hope can start a broken heart, Ivy." Tracer had little of this problem, he stumbled less now than before. "Is. Your heart broken?" "Only hope." Tracers' sadness became anger, he growled "only hope..." "It's true." Lyra smiled. "What?" "What he says, it's true." Tracer chuckled "well, I hope so." The ponies smiled "so, what were you saying?" Ivy urged him to continue. "I was saying I could either help Canterlot, or help the Changelings," "Are you still on our side? Tracer." Ivy became cautious. Tracer smiled "of course I am, but if I destroy the Changeling mind, we'll be free, but I will have to leave Canterlot to fend for itself." "Why don't we just, you know, write a letter?" Lyra asked. Ivy cocked her head "do you really think the Ponyville post is running right now?" Lyra smiled awkwardly "well, no, to Canterlot, I guess." Ivy ran a hoof through her mane and sighed "now, how are we going to get to Canterlot?" "No idea" Lyra perked up, revelling in her glorious display of unhelpfulness. Ivy buried a head in her hoof "thanks, Lyra, that's really helpful." "No problem," she chirped "I'm here all week." She looked to the side and smiled. "You will be if we don't find a way out, and I'm not particularly happy about repopulating Equestria with you two," his voice became quieter, he no longer addressed the mares "if only you were Luna, maybe, or Fleur, or..." Lyra's jaw dropped "really? Now is the time you choose to fantasize about-" She hesitated "Stallions! I swear to Celestia one day I'll," she stopped herself. Tracer snapped back into reality "hm? What will you do?" he caught annoyed glances from the two mares "what did I do? Was it something I said? Don't look at me like that!" The mares shook their heads in unison "I guess you're right," Ivy sighed "I still don't know how we'll get to Canterlot." At that point Tracer's eyes grew wide "I might just have a plan," he trotted to the far wall, a bookshelf was carved into the wall. He picked out a green covered book, "Unicorn magic: the art of locomotion," he read the title aloud "teleportation?" he smiled, before opening the book. Lyra glanced at Ivy, who smiled awkwardly "I thought you said-" "let's not, start that, in the presence, shall we?" Ivy interrupted Lyra "that was just a bit of fun." "yeah, but I've got to have a word with you later," Lyra glared. "ok, ok," Ivy said, before turning back to Tracer "I don't think that's a good idea, teleportation is finicky at the best of times." Tracer moaned "of course it is," he stopped, then put his hoof to the page "but it's all we have right now, so it's our best shot." Lyra grumbled "just a bit of fun," before she realized what they were talking about "whoa, teleporting to Canterlot! from here! You're crazy!" she exclaimed. Ivy was too busy looking down at the book to notice Lyra "however," "a psychological interference, when focused, can significantly increase the possible load, the range and the reliability of a teleportation spell, a weak interference, such as that from another Unicorn, could allow for two to four ponies to be carried, while a strong interference, from an Alicorn or an incredibly strong Unicorn, could move fifty to one-hundred ponies. Even more can be moved by interference due to spirits or star-beasts, even some towns were said to have been accidentally teleported by unicorns during Discords reign," Tracer read aloud "so, if I infiltrate your brain, I should be able to get us to Canterlot, who's the more powerful of you here?" he asked the mares. Both the mares said the others name in unison. "well then, this might be more difficult than expected, don't worry, I wont look at anything in there," Tracer gave a mocking smile. Ivy raised a hoof, "I am more powerful than Lyra, at least in locomotive fields of magic, I specialize in telekinesis and illusion, but I did study Teleportation and," she paused "in Canterlot academy." "well, you're our best shot, try not to teleport us into the floor!" Tracer joked, his horn began to glow. Ivy felt him this time, it felt like thousands of worms wriggling into her head, she focused, which seemed easier than normal surprisingly. The familiar buzz of teleportation magic bounced around in her head, she closed her eyes and pictured their destination "Here goes nothing!" she thought, before letting the spell go "or rather, here we go, into the nothing." Chapter 3: of cabbages and kingsIvy opened her eyes, slowly, she felt dizzy, when her eyes focused she became afraid, she saw only blackness, she felt as if she was dangling in mid air. "are you ok?" a stallions voice beside her asked "you're sweating." Ivy felt a hoof on her back, she shook it off "we're here, in the nothing," she muttered defeated "we'll be stuck forever." Ivy heard Tracer "hm?" he shook his head "what? We're in Canterlot Ivy, we got here, Lyra's here." Lyra butted in "I'm here." Upon hearing Lyra speak, light seemed to return to her eyes, sure enough, she was in a familiar part of Canterlot, next to Tracer, who had become a Pegasus again. And Lyra, who had managed to acquire a drink, and was slurping what looked like milkshake through a bendy straw, typical Lyra. Tracer, once he had left Ivy, turned his attention to the cup and cocked his head "where did you get that?" "hm?" Lyra looked confused "oh this, you know what, I think it's a curse, it always happens, spontaneous conjuration of strawberry milkshake, I don't complain." Tracer was even more confused "spontaneous conjuration of strawberry milkshake? Well, doesn't sound too bad, anyway, to the palace!" A nearby Pegasus foal heard this and appeared behind them "you're going to the palace? Why? Who are you? Are you going to meet the princesses?" he hopped around a navy blue trail following his path. Tracer raised a hoof "stop, who are you?" he asked, his voice had become deep. The exited foal stopped "Midnight sir, Midnight Shadow." Tracer recoiled "wait, Shadow?" he seemed to recognize this name. "yes sir, Midnight Shadow," Midnight's face became slightly afraid "why?" "do you know Serenity Shadow?" "yes sir, she's my big sister, or was." Tracer's head dropped "she was?" "but she disappeared, a few weeks ago." Tracer raised his head "good, say, Midnight." "yes sir?" "where are your parents?" "over there," he pointed down the street. "got it, Ivy, Lyra. Come on," he gestured towards the palace, the three began to trot down the street. "can I come with you?" Midnight appeared beside them. Tracer shook his head "sorry, as much as I'd love having another Pegasus around, where we're going is dangerous." Midnight sighed "ok," and walked back to his parents. "I know this place," Ivy said suddenly "we used to come here from the academy." Lyra nodded "it is, the academy is just over there," she pointed down the street "and the palace," she looked at Ivy, who nodded "follow me, I know a," she hesitated "short cut." "A short cut to a Palace? You sure?" Tracer asked. Lyra trotted past him "yep, I'm sure." "we used to sneak in, we've a hideout in the outer wall so we can watch the Ponies going in at out" Ivy told him, following Lyra. Tracer sighed "never slow down do they." "That one especially," a voice in his ear said, but when he turned, he saw only the surprisingly empty street. He trotted off after the mares. *** Ivy enjoyed this path, she always imagined being like Daring Do when she took it, leaping from windowcil to balcony across the walls in the many alleys. They reached the palace wall, and sure enough, a small hole was at the base, Ivy pointed to it "there, that's the way," she called to Tracer, who was walking calmly along the ground. "Why are you up there?" he called back. "Because it's more fun up here," she replied, beginning to climb down to the floor. "It's also more dangerous, and slower," he whispered when they had reached the base of the wall. "It would be quicker if you fly," Tracer visibly jumped, Lyra had appeared behind him. She burst out laughing. Ivy chuckled "yeah, it would be," she glared. Tracer swallowed his heart, which had found its way into his throat after he jumped, and answered "I would, but I'd buzz," he began to hover, sure enough, a droning buzz filled the immediate vicinity "see, might make ponies a little suspicious, don't you think," he finished. "Yeah ok," Lyra walked past him and looked into the hole. "Ok," Tracer landed and followed her "we should go around, the guards'll be suspicious if we go in through here." "Yeah, but logic and Lyra don't mix," Ivy muttered. "Just let me do the talking," Lyra remarked, before hopping through the hole. "That's not good," Ivy followed shortly after. "Oh, so we're going this way, then," Tracer followed shortly after. "Halt, who goes there?" The guards at the first point crossed their spears. "Hello sirs!" Lyra chirped, before following with a random string of words at speeds impossible to keep up with, that in some way described their quest, from what Ivy could tell, the guards just glanced at each other and said nothing. Tracer appeared between them, the guards glanced at him, before returning to their pose "the Princess is not receiving visitors." Tracer dropped his head, looked at Lyra and muttered through his teeth "I think I'll handle this," Lyra stepped back, noticing a green glint in his eyes, he turned to the guards "of course, but we have a, message from a political, associate, of hers." The guards seemed to believe him "well, I need to escort you," he nodded into the distance and opened the spears. The group walked through the guards up to the castle. The room was beautiful, stained glass windows showed every triumph of Equestria, which was quite a lot, for a Princess who's philosophy is love and tolerance, the patterns projected onto the carpet along the ground, at the end of the hall stood a figure, silhouetted in the light of the two windows behind him, the figure, easily recogniseable as discord was suddenly directly before the group "leave us," he glanced at the guards, who hurried away, the doors shut, the thud seeming to trigger a fit of maniacal laughter "Ivy! You don't remember me? Of course you don't, or Blade, or Breeze, or-" he stopped when he noticed her expression "And, ah, you," his head span upside down, and only then actually aligned with his body, which was upside-down in mid-air. He drew in close and whispered in Tracer's ear "so, how's Chrysalis these days?" He grinned "is she still hot?" "Umm. I don't." "Yeah you do! Don't try to hide from me," he glanced around "Changeling." "Ahem!" Somepony cleared her throat from the end of the hall "Discord." "Visitors," Discord pulled an imaginary cloth from them, but of course, Discord's imaginationlmost knocked the three ponies onto the floor. "I'm not receiving visitors, nor is my sister." "Ma'am," Tracer stepped forward "if I may," he dropped his disguise "I bring word from Ponyville." "Worst, secret, identity, ever," Lyra muttered. "Do you present an ultimatum?" She stepped forward "where is Twilight? What have you done?" "I do not speak for the hive, nor for the Queen." "What is your purpose, Then?" The Princess glared into the eyes of the Changeling before her. "I seek the freedom of the Changeling race, and an end to the hive mind." Celestia was obviously shocked "then, if you are as you say, you have my full support." "Honestly, that was easier than expected." "So, is that it?" Celestia asked, her gaze lightening. "No, your majesty," Tracer bowed slightly "Chrysalis places no ultimatum, she seeks to simply attack Canterlot, to take to by force, I suggest you close the gates, or, at least, be ready when they arrive." "You are certain?" "I am." "Then I shall give the order once you are gone." "Then we will be going," Tracer regained his old form and turned to leave. "Before you go!" Celestia called after them "if you speak true, thank you, should you succeed, you will be rewarded." "Yes ma'am," he opened the large doors and immediately ran into a large stallion and caused him to recoil, causing him to collide with the pony behind him sending green orbs tumbling down the steps to the palace. "What are you doing peasant!?" The stallion was an Alicorn, the second, who was carrying the vegetables in two baskets from each side of his middle. "I, well, I was talking to the princess, and, ah, I'll pay for your cabbages." Discord could be heard laughing from the palace, Tracer looked back to see Celestia trying to shush him through her own laughter. The Alicorn, who was certainly royalty, glared at Tracer, who smirked and retreated "you better, I am king Refice, and you will pay for my Cabbages!" He called after the pony. "He definitely will!" Ivy shouted as she left his sight. "So what now?" Ivy asked. "Train station," the leading pony, Ivy, redirected their path. "Where exactly is the hive?" "I'll get us there, don't you worry about it." The three reached the train station and immediately realised how broke they were. "I have a card," Ivy smiled "I'm fine." "Where?" Tracer stared at her. She conjured a small booklet "I'm not from Equestria, so I've been here before, to visit my family, every month, so!" "Please say it's a plus two." "Possibly." "What's that mean." "Yes, yes it is." "Really?" "I don't know! Let's find out!" The three ponies trotted up to the ticket inspector, though Tracer hung back a little, because he does that. Ivy gave the stallion the booklet, he looked at it carefully, before nodding "you, and one," he was foreign, that much was obvious "go, not three." "Oh, well," Ivy turned to the other two "I guess you draw straws, then." "No, you mares go on, I'll, catch up." The stallion gave this some thought, but stepped aside, Tracer disappeared from view as Ivy boarded the train. Chapter 4: A new face, or two.The train doors opened as it was about to leave, two ponies hopped on board, two mares, the first was a pink Unicorn, her slender figure moved gracefully through the carriage, blue eyes matched that of the mare beside her, who's silver-blue coat seemed to glisten in the sunlight, her chrystalline mane remained static as she moved. The two scanned the carriage in Unison, before approaching Ivy and Lyra. "Excuse me," the pink mare began, her voice was sweet and relaxing, Ivy glanced up "is this seat taken?" she gestured to the seat opposite them. "No, I, I guess not," Ivy wasn't sure, if Tracer somehow managed to catch up with the train, well, she sighed. "Sorry, thank you," she sat dThe train doors opened as it was about to leave, two ponies hopped on board, two mares, the first was a pink Unicorn, her slender figure moved gracefully through the carriage, blue eyes matched that of the mare beside her, who's silver-blue coat seemed to glisten in the sunlight, her chrystalline mane remained static as she moved. The two scanned the carriage in Unison, before approaching Ivy and Lyra. "Excuse me," the pink mare began, her voice was sweet and relaxing, Ivy glanced up "is this seat taken?" she gestured to the seat opposite them. "No, I, I guess not," Ivy wasn't sure, if Tracer somehow managed to catch up with the train, well, she sighed. "Sorry, thank you," she sat down. The second mare approached "can I-" she paused to see Ivy nod, "thanks." "No problem," Ivy sighed. "What's wrong?" the pink mare leaned closer slightly. "A, never mind," Ivy forced a smile onto her worried face and turned to Lyra, who smiled. "What?" Lyra grinned. "Where do we get off? We didn't plan for this," Ivy whispered. Lyra nodded agreement, she didn't know either. "I'm getting off at Manehattan, you're welcome to join me," the Crystal pony sprung into life. "Uh, no thanks, I'm fine." Ivy glanced at her. "I, also depart at Manehattan," the pink pony announced. "That's nice, but-" "Oh come on Ivy! We've got nothing better to do!" Lyra exclaimed. "What? N-, oh fine, but I-" "I'm Lyra! This is Ivy, and you?" "Slipstream," the Pegasus answered first. "Oh? Uh, names? I'm, Sketch," the other mare extended a hoof. Ivy hesitantly took her hoof, Slipstream reached in to join and Lyra's giggling intensified, before Lyra herself joined in. "What's so funny!?" Ivy turned to her friend. "It's like the three musketeers." "There are four of us," Sketch corrected as Ivy buried her head in her hoof. "Actually," Slipstream butted in "there are four musketeers." "Slipstream," Lyra smiled, "I have to say, I think we're going to get along." "Uh, thanks." The mares engaged in idle converse as the train rocked and shook, until they reached the Manehattan station. Ivy sighed as she stepped off the train at Manehattan, thoughts about Tracer span in her mind, where was he? How would he find them? What was the Changeling planning? And, most importantly, could she trust him? She recognised that she had trusted him easily before, he, if he was lying, would have a disadvantage, she would not be his puppet. "Hey! Follow me!" Slipstream snapped her out of the daze, she waved her silver blue wings in front of Ivy, her wings shimmered in the light "Sketch has gone ahead." Ivy glanced over the crowd, sure enough, she saw the pink unicorn wading through the ponies, Lyra in tow, though her mint coat was less obvious through the crowds of blue and green ponies. "Lyra!" Ivy shouted, before pushing violently through the crowd to a chorus of angered grunts and shouts at the hurrying mare "Lyra!" Lyra glanced around "come on!" she called back to Ivy. Ivy reached her and began to whisper "Lyra, we don't know these ponies." "Really? What's the worst that could happen?" Lyra had a different idea, and made no attempt to keep quiet. "Shh, plenty could happen, too much to list, so..." "So?" Lyra smiled "you're too tense Ivy, not everypony's an interuniversal super demon 3000 of doom." "But some are," Slipstream smirked as she trotted past, Lyra picked up speed, and Ivy was left behind, well, that's sad. Ivy's words hung on her tongue, but all she could say was "inter-what? Universe? But," she paused, sighed, and trotted after Lyra "Lyra," she muttered "I hate you, and everything about you..." "No you don't," a voice beside her said matter-of-factly. "Tracer!" "Uh? What?" the stallion smiled nervously. "Oh come on, don't play dumb." "Sorry, I-" "Ivy," Slipstream appeared beside her. "Yeah?" "That's my dad." "Oh, um, ok. Sorry." Ivy hurried off. Leaving Slipstream to explain. "Um, ok, so," Slipstream said nervously. "Who is that?" her father was intimidating at the best of times, never mind when he was grumpy, and that he was. "Ivy, she's a friend." "What were you doing on that train?" Slipstream hadn't informed him of going to Canterlot, the stallion was worried about his daughter, and about his work, and his marriage, everything stacked up quickly. "I'm fine, I met friends in Canterlot, and brought them here, sorry." "You know what I have to do now?" "Uh oh. Not..." Slipstream knew all too well what he was referring to. "I'm sorry, Slip, but she does this." "All of them?" "All three." "Oh no." Slipstream knew there was one way this could end. "Yes." "She's not gonna, you know?" "Of course she will, especially the pink one." "Oh, I'm so sorry, Sketch..." *** Tracer trotted along, stiff and pained, things like this were easy to hide, not so easy to use elegantly. "What are you doing? I'll catch up? Ha, not likely, it's a train, oh well." he smiled in his disguise "I've done it now, I'm here, and, well, I don't know, I can't go strait there, Ivy'll be, rather confused, anyway, she's already probably confused. I tell her I'll catch up, with a train? Ivy will be either worried, or suspicious." A pony tipped his hat to the Mare trotting across the street, Tracer shook his head, though ducked into an alley, soon after, a Stallion emerged moments later, two mares dodged past him and into the alley, he smiled at them briefly, and chuckled "mares..." *** Ivy emerged in a busy street, she reared over the crowd, no, no Sketch "darn." "What?" Lyra chirped. "We lost Sketch." "Oh, oh dear, that means we're stuck forever?" "Well no, we could always just, like, go back." "Girls?" Slipstream appeared beside them. "Yeah?" Lyra chirped again. "Where's Sketch?" "You've got to be kidding me." Sketch peeked out of the alleyway. "Oh, ok." Ivy sighed relief. "Girls." "What?" Ivy groaned. "I, uh, need to, well, ask you something." "What?" "I'm sorry, but, well..." "Get on with it!" A pony in the crowd exclaimed. "Uh, thanks." "Get on with it!" (Iwantedtowriteasongbuticantdolyricsonawhimandicantthinkofanyanywaysoyeahimaginethesong.) "They do that here to? I thought that was a Ponyville thing." Ivy muttered to a dazed slipstream. "Umm, ok, so," Slipstream muttered. "Get on with it!" Slipstream shrieked and lowered herself "Ineedtoinviteyoutodinneratmyhouse." "Uh, what?" Ivy had not heard anything discernible. "Ivy!" Lyra however, had "Slip is inviting you to dinner." "Wait what!" "I'm sorry, my mother is, like this with new ponies, so sorry." "Sounds good," Lyra just realised how hungry she was. "I have time," Sketch smiled "from what I understand, Ivy does also." "Well," Ivy moaned, she knew this was a lost cause, dinner was unavoidable now. The ponies trotted away, Slipstream lead them through winding streets of Manehattan. Chapter 1: the meeting.Ivy sat in the small clearing she had found. She often came here to just, talk to herself, no one could hear her, and it was quiet. "the town is peaceful enough," she said to the air, sitting in the shade of 'the lonely apple' which, she thought, she would name a bar the same if ever she ran one, "most of the time," she continued, thinking about the more extravagant residents of ponyville "the famous five" she had taken to calling them "number one, the pink earth pony, what's her name? The one that stands on the flagpole every morning and shouts "wakey wakey ponyville! it's morning", pinkie pie? Rings a bell." "Number two, Rainbow Dash, the Pegasus, I might forget her name if I was not reminded of it every Celestia darn day. I'm yet to see any of these fancy tricks I've heard so much about," she thought for a second. She stood and began to pace in the clearing "perhaps I sound racist, I've listed a Pegasus and an earth pony, no unicorn, oh now I've done it, but that white unicorn is pretty AND annoying, never mind pretty annoying, hmm... The something six... Anyway, then you have the three foals, I know they mean well, oh hay, ALL of these mean well, but when they knock on your door every Celestia darn day, at the same time, such that you can set your clock by it, asking if they can help you, kinda distracting, and you need to focus in my line of work especially when you're this close to finishing something that could mean your future." Before she could finish, a rustle in the bushes beside her caused her ears to prick up, before she could ask who it was, a galloping mass of grey and blue burst from the bushes. The changeling noticed her and adopted an attack posture, its eyes narrowed, its wings beat to fill the clearing with a terrifying buzz and it bore its fangs. Ivy wasn't about to back down from a single changeling "a single changeling?" she repeated in her mind "that can't be right." She turned her ears, then glanced around, nothing, when all shared senses failed, she began to prepare a detect life spell, causing her horn to glow a dark green. "Well, it was worth a shot," the changeling sighed, defeated. "hm?" Ivy was struck by a sudden wave of confusion, this changeling spoke, and furthermore, it sounded like a stallion, about her age. The changeling chuckled "My enhanced changeling senses are detecting confusion," he smiled sarcastically. Ivy didn't trust him for a second, she let the detect life spell go, but found nothing but birds, animals and the changeling before her, who chuckled again, "you don't trust me? Why ever not?" His sarcasm grated on her mind. "Shut up," she replied, this time he burst into laughter, The tip of Ivy's horn began to shine, a white glow that ignited an area air around it, she winced, she wasn't a fan of fire, but she knew changelings weren't either. The changeling stopped laughing, "uh oh," Ivy let the fireball go, scorching the ground just in front of the changeling, he only looked, wide eyed, at the smoldering grass at his hooves "now look at that," he responded after a while "what did that grass ever do to-", Ivy started again. "shutting up," he said, nervously raising a hoof. This time, Ivy laughed "you are the strangest changeling I've seen in a long time," she retracted the fireball. "When have you seen a STRANGER changeling?" he smiled, "I'm rouged, I'm not connected to chrysalis, first one in years." "Well, never, I've never seen a stranger changeling than you... I'm Ivy" she extended a hoof. "ah, names?" the changeling reached a hoof to his head, "I don't, yeah..." "Oh? I thought you were, called rouged... You don't have a name?" "No, I am rouged, I am a rouge, as for names, naturally, we don't need one, all changelings know each other through the hive mind, and when we're out, we use the name of the disguise." "Ok... Then, do I need to think of a name?" she looked around, for inspiration. "Well no. But if you want to call me anything but "changeling" it would be helpful" "hmm, tree? Tree... tr, tra, tro, track? Trag? Trace, Tracer! Hows that?" "Tracer? Sounds like a Pegasus name, lets see here..." a green light came over his face and he slowly changed, in a few seconds, before Ivy stood a proud Pegasus stallion, he supported a light blue coat a darker blue mane and tail, and brilliant blue eyes, he spun around, revealing a flaming wing cutie mark, for speed in flight. "So, how's Tracer look?" Ivy stood in shock for a while, "Oh, I forgot you could do that," she smiled, embarrassed "why would you say that?" she thought, "of course he can do that! It's in the name!" Tracer smiled "well, I am still a changeling, I can, believe it or not, change." "shut up." Ivy glared at him, but was still smiling. "Shutting up." he was still smiling, but his eyes were cautiously focused on her horn "Well, I've got to be going, nice meeting you, Miss Vines" he began trotting out of the clearing, just before he left he muttered to himself "don't say the second name, that tends to freak them out,". "You know my name? Did I tell you my second name?" Ivy asked, her face becoming an angry scowl. "Ah, no." he turned to see her advancing, he tapped his hooves together "I, ah, I, guessed?" "Sure you did," suddenly, the gentle unicorn that had been there before became a monster, she seemed to grow to twice his size, her eyes became vacant, only balls of light in her head the sky seemed to turn blood red as her crimson mane blew in a new, strange wind, blocking out the sky "damn good guess," her voice echoed though the clearing. Tracer shrugged, an unconvincingly "I'm a good guesser.", she didn't let up "changelings have subconscious psychic magic!" he finally broke, "sometimes we just, you know, learn things, it's so we know the name of a disguise. And some basic traits, make it a bit more convincing." Ivy wasn't satisfied "what do you know about me!?" she was enjoying this, though she didn't show it. "that you are, smart, ah, you, poet?, an author! You're foalish, you-" he stuttered "Foalish! How dare you!" She was, she knew that, she just enjoyed watching him squirm. "ah, sorry, I've got nothing more," he decided it would be best to forget that she was sadistic, more for his own sake. "Aww, I was hoping you had more for me" she instantly returned to her normal, not angry, self. "You were? Never-mind, I need to go, goodbye, miss Vines." he started to walk away again. "so that's it?" Ivy said after him, "you burst from the bush, scare me half to death, ask for a name, show off your superpowers, then leave?" Tracer looked around "yep, sounds about right." "wait!" Ivy shouted after him "I want you to meet someone." This time Tracer turned "Why?" he cocked his head. "because, I think you'll like her" "What are you trying to prove? That changelings are ponies too?" Ivy smiled, "well, I still don't trust you" her horn began to shimmer. Tracer smiled back, nervously "I think what you're doing here is ille-" She glared at him. Tracer said nothing, but watched her horn. "Not gonna say it? Come on, please," she looked at him pleadingly. "Nice try," They heard a faint buzzing in the distance, and glanced in the direction of the sound, suddenly his smile faded, "changelings, lead the way, miss Vines, quickly." And with that, they both galloped down to ponyville...
Chapter 2: A precipice in front, changelings behind."Look to the hill!" shouted Ivy upon reaching the borders of Ponyville, many ponies looked out their windows for a few seconds, before dismissing the cries and closing them again. Those on the street, however, looked up to see several blue-grey blurs in the trees, before bursting from the canopies. Ivy tried her best to count the changelings, but they kept coming and were darting around in the sky. Many of the ponies who had looked from their windows moments before heard the screams and buzzing and came out into the street. many of those immediately retreated back into their homes, but one, a mint coloured unicorn, began to gallop towards Ivy "Ivy!" she yelled, struggling to be heard. She had been, Ivy turned her head, before darting into one of the houses, Tracer and the unicorn in tow. Before closing the door, she hesitated and glanced outside, indeed, most of those in the swarm were closing on the door, Ivy's suspicions were confirmed, she closed, locked and bolted the door, before turning towards the two guests in her house. "Who's this, Ivy?" the unicorn smiled, gesturing towards Tracer. "Oh, that's Tracer, he's a-" She hesitated, and noticed Tracer running a hoof along his throat, "-Friend, I met him in the forest, just now," The unicorn glanced mockingly between them both, "Is that so? I wondered why you kept slipping away." Both Tracer and Ivy began to speak in unison "Wait what? No! It's not like," they stopped and glared at each other. "Aaaaw, you two are so cute," The unicorn teased. "Shut up!" They said to each other... Ivy inhaled and exhaled heavily, to calm herself down. "Ok, you done?" she asked Tracer, who nodded. "Ok, well, Tracer meet Lyra, Lyra, Tracer." "Hello Lyra," Tracer extended a hoof. "Also, changelings, in case you forgot," Lyra tapped a hoof five times, and nodded as a Changeling threw themselves against the door. "Yeah, thanks, Lyra," Ivy tapped her own hoof. Tracer just stared, surprised at the Unicorn. "Tracer?" Ivy glanced at him. "How, huh?" "What?" "Damn good timing." Lyra laughed, "You know what, I can see why you like him, Ivy" Ivy glared at her "Shut up. We're friends, that's all." "Oh come on! I saw it in the way you looked at him just then." "Yeah! I like him, he's a friend!" Lyra raised an eyebrow "oh really? Ivy? Yeah, like Discord likes Celestia 'as a friend?'," "Lyra..." "Or, princess Twilight Sparkle likes Rainbow Dash 'as a friend?'," "Lyra..." "Or, Octavia Harmony likes Vinyl Scratch 'as a friend?'," "Lyra..." "Or, Fluttershy likes Angel Bunny 'as a friend?'," "Whoa." "Or..." "Ah, mares?" Tracer began, the door shook as a changeling outside threw themselves at it. "...Rarity Belle likes-" "Lyra!" Ivy shouted. "Yes?" "I told you about those magazines." "It's not a magazine." "Still, every possible couple is in there, I'm sure there is one of me and Tracer, but it's not grounded, got it?" "It's not a-" "Lyra!" "-magazine, it's a-" "Lyra!!!" Ivy screamed, Tracer also tried to, but his voice doesn't do that. "Oh, ok." "We need to-" a thud at the door Ivy looked at Tracer "anyway, Tracer's right, we have to get out of here" "Any secret passages? Or tunnels, that you know of, preferably one that would get us closer to Canterlot?" "Why Canterlot? I had bad experiences in Canterlot with Changelings," Lyra asked nervously. Tracer looked at her, his face suggested he was trying to remember something "Lyra Heartstrings? Sorry about that, might have-" realizing what he was saying, he immediately stopped himself, "-ah, nevermind. We need to go to Canterlot because, well, it's complicated." Lyra looked at him suspiciously "Ok... Explain?" "Ok, I'm going to show you something, promise you wont freak out" Tracer looked at her, stern faced. "I promise, no freaking out," Lyra made a mouth zipping motion. Tracer dropped his disguise, "here it is, don't worry, I'm not one of, them." "Lyra? Are you ok?" Ivy looked at her friend, whose eyes had become wide with shock. "Yeah," Lyra stepped back "yeah, just fine." "Well, she's taking it better than expected," Tracer said to Ivy when the door to the back room slammed closed. Tracer sighed "She's gone." "Good job," Ivy glared at Tracer "Sorry! I told her to not freak out," Tracer coiled back. Ivy knocked on the door "Lyra? It's ok." The door opened after about a minute of trying to persuade Lyra to get out of the room. "So, you're a changeling, what were you gonna say?" Lyra asked the changeling. "Well, I am rouged, but, I'm still connected, partially, in the back of my mind. What I'm saying is, I can know their plans by thinking about it," "and what is their plan?" Lyra asked. "well, let's just say we need to warn Celestia." "They're going to attack Canterlot!?" Ivy's eyes widened "Celestia's calling a council in a few days, all the world leaders will be there!" Tracer turned away, "And here is where I make my choice, fronte praecipitium a tergo lupi. Canterlot or the Changeling race." "What?" Lyra stared at him, head cocked "Canterlot of course!" Tracer sat down, his head dropped "I wish it were that simple," he said slowly "once we lived among ponies as equals." Lyra caught an angry look from Ivy "sorry, Tracer, I didn't mean to-" Tracer shook his head "sorry? Sorry? I'm beginning to think sorry is the master key in pony language." "Apologies are, the greatest virtue." Ivy tried to find words of wisdom. "No, far from it." "Apologies, rebuild bridges." "Apologies only cure guilt." "Apologies remove, ah, antagonism?" Ivy fumbled her words. "Only hope can start a broken heart, Ivy." Tracer had little of this problem, he stumbled less now than before. "Is. Your heart broken?" "Only hope." Tracers' sadness became anger, he growled "only hope..." "It's true." Lyra smiled. "What?" "What he says, it's true." Tracer chuckled "well, I hope so." The ponies smiled "so, what were you saying?" Ivy urged him to continue. "I was saying I could either help Canterlot, or help the Changelings," "Are you still on our side? Tracer." Ivy became cautious. Tracer smiled "of course I am, but if I destroy the Changeling mind, we'll be free, but I will have to leave Canterlot to fend for itself." "Why don't we just, you know, write a letter?" Lyra asked. Ivy cocked her head "do you really think the Ponyville post is running right now?" Lyra smiled awkwardly "well, no, to Canterlot, I guess." Ivy ran a hoof through her mane and sighed "now, how are we going to get to Canterlot?" "No idea" Lyra perked up, revelling in her glorious display of unhelpfulness. Ivy buried a head in her hoof "thanks, Lyra, that's really helpful." "No problem," she chirped "I'm here all week." She looked to the side and smiled. "You will be if we don't find a way out, and I'm not particularly happy about repopulating Equestria with you two," his voice became quieter, he no longer addressed the mares "if only you were Luna, maybe, or Fleur, or..." Lyra's jaw dropped "really? Now is the time you choose to fantasize about-" She hesitated "Stallions! I swear to Celestia one day I'll," she stopped herself. Tracer snapped back into reality "hm? What will you do?" he caught annoyed glances from the two mares "what did I do? Was it something I said? Don't look at me like that!" The mares shook their heads in unison "I guess you're right," Ivy sighed "I still don't know how we'll get to Canterlot." At that point Tracer's eyes grew wide "I might just have a plan," he trotted to the far wall, a bookshelf was carved into the wall. He picked out a green covered book, "Unicorn magic: the art of locomotion," he read the title aloud "teleportation?" he smiled, before opening the book. Lyra glanced at Ivy, who smiled awkwardly "I thought you said-" "let's not, start that, in the presence, shall we?" Ivy interrupted Lyra "that was just a bit of fun." "yeah, but I've got to have a word with you later," Lyra glared. "ok, ok," Ivy said, before turning back to Tracer "I don't think that's a good idea, teleportation is finicky at the best of times." Tracer moaned "of course it is," he stopped, then put his hoof to the page "but it's all we have right now, so it's our best shot." Lyra grumbled "just a bit of fun," before she realized what they were talking about "whoa, teleporting to Canterlot! from here! You're crazy!" she exclaimed. Ivy was too busy looking down at the book to notice Lyra "however," "a psychological interference, when focused, can significantly increase the possible load, the range and the reliability of a teleportation spell, a weak interference, such as that from another Unicorn, could allow for two to four ponies to be carried, while a strong interference, from an Alicorn or an incredibly strong Unicorn, could move fifty to one-hundred ponies. Even more can be moved by interference due to spirits or star-beasts, even some towns were said to have been accidentally teleported by unicorns during Discords reign," Tracer read aloud "so, if I infiltrate your brain, I should be able to get us to Canterlot, who's the more powerful of you here?" he asked the mares. Both the mares said the others name in unison. "well then, this might be more difficult than expected, don't worry, I wont look at anything in there," Tracer gave a mocking smile. Ivy raised a hoof, "I am more powerful than Lyra, at least in locomotive fields of magic, I specialize in telekinesis and illusion, but I did study Teleportation and," she paused "in Canterlot academy." "well, you're our best shot, try not to teleport us into the floor!" Tracer joked, his horn began to glow. Ivy felt him this time, it felt like thousands of worms wriggling into her head, she focused, which seemed easier than normal surprisingly. The familiar buzz of teleportation magic bounced around in her head, she closed her eyes and pictured their destination "Here goes nothing!" she thought, before letting the spell go "or rather, here we go, into the nothing."
Chapter 3: of cabbages and kingsIvy opened her eyes, slowly, she felt dizzy, when her eyes focused she became afraid, she saw only blackness, she felt as if she was dangling in mid air. "are you ok?" a stallions voice beside her asked "you're sweating." Ivy felt a hoof on her back, she shook it off "we're here, in the nothing," she muttered defeated "we'll be stuck forever." Ivy heard Tracer "hm?" he shook his head "what? We're in Canterlot Ivy, we got here, Lyra's here." Lyra butted in "I'm here." Upon hearing Lyra speak, light seemed to return to her eyes, sure enough, she was in a familiar part of Canterlot, next to Tracer, who had become a Pegasus again. And Lyra, who had managed to acquire a drink, and was slurping what looked like milkshake through a bendy straw, typical Lyra. Tracer, once he had left Ivy, turned his attention to the cup and cocked his head "where did you get that?" "hm?" Lyra looked confused "oh this, you know what, I think it's a curse, it always happens, spontaneous conjuration of strawberry milkshake, I don't complain." Tracer was even more confused "spontaneous conjuration of strawberry milkshake? Well, doesn't sound too bad, anyway, to the palace!" A nearby Pegasus foal heard this and appeared behind them "you're going to the palace? Why? Who are you? Are you going to meet the princesses?" he hopped around a navy blue trail following his path. Tracer raised a hoof "stop, who are you?" he asked, his voice had become deep. The exited foal stopped "Midnight sir, Midnight Shadow." Tracer recoiled "wait, Shadow?" he seemed to recognize this name. "yes sir, Midnight Shadow," Midnight's face became slightly afraid "why?" "do you know Serenity Shadow?" "yes sir, she's my big sister, or was." Tracer's head dropped "she was?" "but she disappeared, a few weeks ago." Tracer raised his head "good, say, Midnight." "yes sir?" "where are your parents?" "over there," he pointed down the street. "got it, Ivy, Lyra. Come on," he gestured towards the palace, the three began to trot down the street. "can I come with you?" Midnight appeared beside them. Tracer shook his head "sorry, as much as I'd love having another Pegasus around, where we're going is dangerous." Midnight sighed "ok," and walked back to his parents. "I know this place," Ivy said suddenly "we used to come here from the academy." Lyra nodded "it is, the academy is just over there," she pointed down the street "and the palace," she looked at Ivy, who nodded "follow me, I know a," she hesitated "short cut." "A short cut to a Palace? You sure?" Tracer asked. Lyra trotted past him "yep, I'm sure." "we used to sneak in, we've a hideout in the outer wall so we can watch the Ponies going in at out" Ivy told him, following Lyra. Tracer sighed "never slow down do they." "That one especially," a voice in his ear said, but when he turned, he saw only the surprisingly empty street. He trotted off after the mares. *** Ivy enjoyed this path, she always imagined being like Daring Do when she took it, leaping from windowcil to balcony across the walls in the many alleys. They reached the palace wall, and sure enough, a small hole was at the base, Ivy pointed to it "there, that's the way," she called to Tracer, who was walking calmly along the ground. "Why are you up there?" he called back. "Because it's more fun up here," she replied, beginning to climb down to the floor. "It's also more dangerous, and slower," he whispered when they had reached the base of the wall. "It would be quicker if you fly," Tracer visibly jumped, Lyra had appeared behind him. She burst out laughing. Ivy chuckled "yeah, it would be," she glared. Tracer swallowed his heart, which had found its way into his throat after he jumped, and answered "I would, but I'd buzz," he began to hover, sure enough, a droning buzz filled the immediate vicinity "see, might make ponies a little suspicious, don't you think," he finished. "Yeah ok," Lyra walked past him and looked into the hole. "Ok," Tracer landed and followed her "we should go around, the guards'll be suspicious if we go in through here." "Yeah, but logic and Lyra don't mix," Ivy muttered. "Just let me do the talking," Lyra remarked, before hopping through the hole. "That's not good," Ivy followed shortly after. "Oh, so we're going this way, then," Tracer followed shortly after. "Halt, who goes there?" The guards at the first point crossed their spears. "Hello sirs!" Lyra chirped, before following with a random string of words at speeds impossible to keep up with, that in some way described their quest, from what Ivy could tell, the guards just glanced at each other and said nothing. Tracer appeared between them, the guards glanced at him, before returning to their pose "the Princess is not receiving visitors." Tracer dropped his head, looked at Lyra and muttered through his teeth "I think I'll handle this," Lyra stepped back, noticing a green glint in his eyes, he turned to the guards "of course, but we have a, message from a political, associate, of hers." The guards seemed to believe him "well, I need to escort you," he nodded into the distance and opened the spears. The group walked through the guards up to the castle. The room was beautiful, stained glass windows showed every triumph of Equestria, which was quite a lot, for a Princess who's philosophy is love and tolerance, the patterns projected onto the carpet along the ground, at the end of the hall stood a figure, silhouetted in the light of the two windows behind him, the figure, easily recogniseable as discord was suddenly directly before the group "leave us," he glanced at the guards, who hurried away, the doors shut, the thud seeming to trigger a fit of maniacal laughter "Ivy! You don't remember me? Of course you don't, or Blade, or Breeze, or-" he stopped when he noticed her expression "And, ah, you," his head span upside down, and only then actually aligned with his body, which was upside-down in mid-air. He drew in close and whispered in Tracer's ear "so, how's Chrysalis these days?" He grinned "is she still hot?" "Umm. I don't." "Yeah you do! Don't try to hide from me," he glanced around "Changeling." "Ahem!" Somepony cleared her throat from the end of the hall "Discord." "Visitors," Discord pulled an imaginary cloth from them, but of course, Discord's imaginationlmost knocked the three ponies onto the floor. "I'm not receiving visitors, nor is my sister." "Ma'am," Tracer stepped forward "if I may," he dropped his disguise "I bring word from Ponyville." "Worst, secret, identity, ever," Lyra muttered. "Do you present an ultimatum?" She stepped forward "where is Twilight? What have you done?" "I do not speak for the hive, nor for the Queen." "What is your purpose, Then?" The Princess glared into the eyes of the Changeling before her. "I seek the freedom of the Changeling race, and an end to the hive mind." Celestia was obviously shocked "then, if you are as you say, you have my full support." "Honestly, that was easier than expected." "So, is that it?" Celestia asked, her gaze lightening. "No, your majesty," Tracer bowed slightly "Chrysalis places no ultimatum, she seeks to simply attack Canterlot, to take to by force, I suggest you close the gates, or, at least, be ready when they arrive." "You are certain?" "I am." "Then I shall give the order once you are gone." "Then we will be going," Tracer regained his old form and turned to leave. "Before you go!" Celestia called after them "if you speak true, thank you, should you succeed, you will be rewarded." "Yes ma'am," he opened the large doors and immediately ran into a large stallion and caused him to recoil, causing him to collide with the pony behind him sending green orbs tumbling down the steps to the palace. "What are you doing peasant!?" The stallion was an Alicorn, the second, who was carrying the vegetables in two baskets from each side of his middle. "I, well, I was talking to the princess, and, ah, I'll pay for your cabbages." Discord could be heard laughing from the palace, Tracer looked back to see Celestia trying to shush him through her own laughter. The Alicorn, who was certainly royalty, glared at Tracer, who smirked and retreated "you better, I am king Refice, and you will pay for my Cabbages!" He called after the pony. "He definitely will!" Ivy shouted as she left his sight. "So what now?" Ivy asked. "Train station," the leading pony, Ivy, redirected their path. "Where exactly is the hive?" "I'll get us there, don't you worry about it." The three reached the train station and immediately realised how broke they were. "I have a card," Ivy smiled "I'm fine." "Where?" Tracer stared at her. She conjured a small booklet "I'm not from Equestria, so I've been here before, to visit my family, every month, so!" "Please say it's a plus two." "Possibly." "What's that mean." "Yes, yes it is." "Really?" "I don't know! Let's find out!" The three ponies trotted up to the ticket inspector, though Tracer hung back a little, because he does that. Ivy gave the stallion the booklet, he looked at it carefully, before nodding "you, and one," he was foreign, that much was obvious "go, not three." "Oh, well," Ivy turned to the other two "I guess you draw straws, then." "No, you mares go on, I'll, catch up." The stallion gave this some thought, but stepped aside, Tracer disappeared from view as Ivy boarded the train.
Chapter 4: A new face, or two.The train doors opened as it was about to leave, two ponies hopped on board, two mares, the first was a pink Unicorn, her slender figure moved gracefully through the carriage, blue eyes matched that of the mare beside her, who's silver-blue coat seemed to glisten in the sunlight, her chrystalline mane remained static as she moved. The two scanned the carriage in Unison, before approaching Ivy and Lyra. "Excuse me," the pink mare began, her voice was sweet and relaxing, Ivy glanced up "is this seat taken?" she gestured to the seat opposite them. "No, I, I guess not," Ivy wasn't sure, if Tracer somehow managed to catch up with the train, well, she sighed. "Sorry, thank you," she sat dThe train doors opened as it was about to leave, two ponies hopped on board, two mares, the first was a pink Unicorn, her slender figure moved gracefully through the carriage, blue eyes matched that of the mare beside her, who's silver-blue coat seemed to glisten in the sunlight, her chrystalline mane remained static as she moved. The two scanned the carriage in Unison, before approaching Ivy and Lyra. "Excuse me," the pink mare began, her voice was sweet and relaxing, Ivy glanced up "is this seat taken?" she gestured to the seat opposite them. "No, I, I guess not," Ivy wasn't sure, if Tracer somehow managed to catch up with the train, well, she sighed. "Sorry, thank you," she sat down. The second mare approached "can I-" she paused to see Ivy nod, "thanks." "No problem," Ivy sighed. "What's wrong?" the pink mare leaned closer slightly. "A, never mind," Ivy forced a smile onto her worried face and turned to Lyra, who smiled. "What?" Lyra grinned. "Where do we get off? We didn't plan for this," Ivy whispered. Lyra nodded agreement, she didn't know either. "I'm getting off at Manehattan, you're welcome to join me," the Crystal pony sprung into life. "Uh, no thanks, I'm fine." Ivy glanced at her. "I, also depart at Manehattan," the pink pony announced. "That's nice, but-" "Oh come on Ivy! We've got nothing better to do!" Lyra exclaimed. "What? N-, oh fine, but I-" "I'm Lyra! This is Ivy, and you?" "Slipstream," the Pegasus answered first. "Oh? Uh, names? I'm, Sketch," the other mare extended a hoof. Ivy hesitantly took her hoof, Slipstream reached in to join and Lyra's giggling intensified, before Lyra herself joined in. "What's so funny!?" Ivy turned to her friend. "It's like the three musketeers." "There are four of us," Sketch corrected as Ivy buried her head in her hoof. "Actually," Slipstream butted in "there are four musketeers." "Slipstream," Lyra smiled, "I have to say, I think we're going to get along." "Uh, thanks." The mares engaged in idle converse as the train rocked and shook, until they reached the Manehattan station. Ivy sighed as she stepped off the train at Manehattan, thoughts about Tracer span in her mind, where was he? How would he find them? What was the Changeling planning? And, most importantly, could she trust him? She recognised that she had trusted him easily before, he, if he was lying, would have a disadvantage, she would not be his puppet. "Hey! Follow me!" Slipstream snapped her out of the daze, she waved her silver blue wings in front of Ivy, her wings shimmered in the light "Sketch has gone ahead." Ivy glanced over the crowd, sure enough, she saw the pink unicorn wading through the ponies, Lyra in tow, though her mint coat was less obvious through the crowds of blue and green ponies. "Lyra!" Ivy shouted, before pushing violently through the crowd to a chorus of angered grunts and shouts at the hurrying mare "Lyra!" Lyra glanced around "come on!" she called back to Ivy. Ivy reached her and began to whisper "Lyra, we don't know these ponies." "Really? What's the worst that could happen?" Lyra had a different idea, and made no attempt to keep quiet. "Shh, plenty could happen, too much to list, so..." "So?" Lyra smiled "you're too tense Ivy, not everypony's an interuniversal super demon 3000 of doom." "But some are," Slipstream smirked as she trotted past, Lyra picked up speed, and Ivy was left behind, well, that's sad. Ivy's words hung on her tongue, but all she could say was "inter-what? Universe? But," she paused, sighed, and trotted after Lyra "Lyra," she muttered "I hate you, and everything about you..." "No you don't," a voice beside her said matter-of-factly. "Tracer!" "Uh? What?" the stallion smiled nervously. "Oh come on, don't play dumb." "Sorry, I-" "Ivy," Slipstream appeared beside her. "Yeah?" "That's my dad." "Oh, um, ok. Sorry." Ivy hurried off. Leaving Slipstream to explain. "Um, ok, so," Slipstream said nervously. "Who is that?" her father was intimidating at the best of times, never mind when he was grumpy, and that he was. "Ivy, she's a friend." "What were you doing on that train?" Slipstream hadn't informed him of going to Canterlot, the stallion was worried about his daughter, and about his work, and his marriage, everything stacked up quickly. "I'm fine, I met friends in Canterlot, and brought them here, sorry." "You know what I have to do now?" "Uh oh. Not..." Slipstream knew all too well what he was referring to. "I'm sorry, Slip, but she does this." "All of them?" "All three." "Oh no." Slipstream knew there was one way this could end. "Yes." "She's not gonna, you know?" "Of course she will, especially the pink one." "Oh, I'm so sorry, Sketch..." *** Tracer trotted along, stiff and pained, things like this were easy to hide, not so easy to use elegantly. "What are you doing? I'll catch up? Ha, not likely, it's a train, oh well." he smiled in his disguise "I've done it now, I'm here, and, well, I don't know, I can't go strait there, Ivy'll be, rather confused, anyway, she's already probably confused. I tell her I'll catch up, with a train? Ivy will be either worried, or suspicious." A pony tipped his hat to the Mare trotting across the street, Tracer shook his head, though ducked into an alley, soon after, a Stallion emerged moments later, two mares dodged past him and into the alley, he smiled at them briefly, and chuckled "mares..." *** Ivy emerged in a busy street, she reared over the crowd, no, no Sketch "darn." "What?" Lyra chirped. "We lost Sketch." "Oh, oh dear, that means we're stuck forever?" "Well no, we could always just, like, go back." "Girls?" Slipstream appeared beside them. "Yeah?" Lyra chirped again. "Where's Sketch?" "You've got to be kidding me." Sketch peeked out of the alleyway. "Oh, ok." Ivy sighed relief. "Girls." "What?" Ivy groaned. "I, uh, need to, well, ask you something." "What?" "I'm sorry, but, well..." "Get on with it!" A pony in the crowd exclaimed. "Uh, thanks." "Get on with it!" (Iwantedtowriteasongbuticantdolyricsonawhimandicantthinkofanyanywaysoyeahimaginethesong.) "They do that here to? I thought that was a Ponyville thing." Ivy muttered to a dazed slipstream. "Umm, ok, so," Slipstream muttered. "Get on with it!" Slipstream shrieked and lowered herself "Ineedtoinviteyoutodinneratmyhouse." "Uh, what?" Ivy had not heard anything discernible. "Ivy!" Lyra however, had "Slip is inviting you to dinner." "Wait what!" "I'm sorry, my mother is, like this with new ponies, so sorry." "Sounds good," Lyra just realised how hungry she was. "I have time," Sketch smiled "from what I understand, Ivy does also." "Well," Ivy moaned, she knew this was a lost cause, dinner was unavoidable now. The ponies trotted away, Slipstream lead them through winding streets of Manehattan.
Chapter 1: the meeting.Ivy sat in the small clearing she had found. She often came here to just, talk to herself, no one could hear her, and it was quiet. "the town is peaceful enough," she said to the air, sitting in the shade of 'the lonely apple' which, she thought, she would name a bar the same if ever she ran one, "most of the time," she continued, thinking about the more extravagant residents of ponyville "the famous five" she had taken to calling them "number one, the pink earth pony, what's her name? The one that stands on the flagpole every morning and shouts "wakey wakey ponyville! it's morning", pinkie pie? Rings a bell." "Number two, Rainbow Dash, the Pegasus, I might forget her name if I was not reminded of it every Celestia darn day. I'm yet to see any of these fancy tricks I've heard so much about," she thought for a second. She stood and began to pace in the clearing "perhaps I sound racist, I've listed a Pegasus and an earth pony, no unicorn, oh now I've done it, but that white unicorn is pretty AND annoying, never mind pretty annoying, hmm... The something six... Anyway, then you have the three foals, I know they mean well, oh hay, ALL of these mean well, but when they knock on your door every Celestia darn day, at the same time, such that you can set your clock by it, asking if they can help you, kinda distracting, and you need to focus in my line of work especially when you're this close to finishing something that could mean your future." Before she could finish, a rustle in the bushes beside her caused her ears to prick up, before she could ask who it was, a galloping mass of grey and blue burst from the bushes. The changeling noticed her and adopted an attack posture, its eyes narrowed, its wings beat to fill the clearing with a terrifying buzz and it bore its fangs. Ivy wasn't about to back down from a single changeling "a single changeling?" she repeated in her mind "that can't be right." She turned her ears, then glanced around, nothing, when all shared senses failed, she began to prepare a detect life spell, causing her horn to glow a dark green. "Well, it was worth a shot," the changeling sighed, defeated. "hm?" Ivy was struck by a sudden wave of confusion, this changeling spoke, and furthermore, it sounded like a stallion, about her age. The changeling chuckled "My enhanced changeling senses are detecting confusion," he smiled sarcastically. Ivy didn't trust him for a second, she let the detect life spell go, but found nothing but birds, animals and the changeling before her, who chuckled again, "you don't trust me? Why ever not?" His sarcasm grated on her mind. "Shut up," she replied, this time he burst into laughter, The tip of Ivy's horn began to shine, a white glow that ignited an area air around it, she winced, she wasn't a fan of fire, but she knew changelings weren't either. The changeling stopped laughing, "uh oh," Ivy let the fireball go, scorching the ground just in front of the changeling, he only looked, wide eyed, at the smoldering grass at his hooves "now look at that," he responded after a while "what did that grass ever do to-", Ivy started again. "shutting up," he said, nervously raising a hoof. This time, Ivy laughed "you are the strangest changeling I've seen in a long time," she retracted the fireball. "When have you seen a STRANGER changeling?" he smiled, "I'm rouged, I'm not connected to chrysalis, first one in years." "Well, never, I've never seen a stranger changeling than you... I'm Ivy" she extended a hoof. "ah, names?" the changeling reached a hoof to his head, "I don't, yeah..." "Oh? I thought you were, called rouged... You don't have a name?" "No, I am rouged, I am a rouge, as for names, naturally, we don't need one, all changelings know each other through the hive mind, and when we're out, we use the name of the disguise." "Ok... Then, do I need to think of a name?" she looked around, for inspiration. "Well no. But if you want to call me anything but "changeling" it would be helpful" "hmm, tree? Tree... tr, tra, tro, track? Trag? Trace, Tracer! Hows that?" "Tracer? Sounds like a Pegasus name, lets see here..." a green light came over his face and he slowly changed, in a few seconds, before Ivy stood a proud Pegasus stallion, he supported a light blue coat a darker blue mane and tail, and brilliant blue eyes, he spun around, revealing a flaming wing cutie mark, for speed in flight. "So, how's Tracer look?" Ivy stood in shock for a while, "Oh, I forgot you could do that," she smiled, embarrassed "why would you say that?" she thought, "of course he can do that! It's in the name!" Tracer smiled "well, I am still a changeling, I can, believe it or not, change." "shut up." Ivy glared at him, but was still smiling. "Shutting up." he was still smiling, but his eyes were cautiously focused on her horn "Well, I've got to be going, nice meeting you, Miss Vines" he began trotting out of the clearing, just before he left he muttered to himself "don't say the second name, that tends to freak them out,". "You know my name? Did I tell you my second name?" Ivy asked, her face becoming an angry scowl. "Ah, no." he turned to see her advancing, he tapped his hooves together "I, ah, I, guessed?" "Sure you did," suddenly, the gentle unicorn that had been there before became a monster, she seemed to grow to twice his size, her eyes became vacant, only balls of light in her head the sky seemed to turn blood red as her crimson mane blew in a new, strange wind, blocking out the sky "damn good guess," her voice echoed though the clearing. Tracer shrugged, an unconvincingly "I'm a good guesser.", she didn't let up "changelings have subconscious psychic magic!" he finally broke, "sometimes we just, you know, learn things, it's so we know the name of a disguise. And some basic traits, make it a bit more convincing." Ivy wasn't satisfied "what do you know about me!?" she was enjoying this, though she didn't show it. "that you are, smart, ah, you, poet?, an author! You're foalish, you-" he stuttered "Foalish! How dare you!" She was, she knew that, she just enjoyed watching him squirm. "ah, sorry, I've got nothing more," he decided it would be best to forget that she was sadistic, more for his own sake. "Aww, I was hoping you had more for me" she instantly returned to her normal, not angry, self. "You were? Never-mind, I need to go, goodbye, miss Vines." he started to walk away again. "so that's it?" Ivy said after him, "you burst from the bush, scare me half to death, ask for a name, show off your superpowers, then leave?" Tracer looked around "yep, sounds about right." "wait!" Ivy shouted after him "I want you to meet someone." This time Tracer turned "Why?" he cocked his head. "because, I think you'll like her" "What are you trying to prove? That changelings are ponies too?" Ivy smiled, "well, I still don't trust you" her horn began to shimmer. Tracer smiled back, nervously "I think what you're doing here is ille-" She glared at him. Tracer said nothing, but watched her horn. "Not gonna say it? Come on, please," she looked at him pleadingly. "Nice try," They heard a faint buzzing in the distance, and glanced in the direction of the sound, suddenly his smile faded, "changelings, lead the way, miss Vines, quickly." And with that, they both galloped down to ponyville...
