“Your highness!” I shouted, barging through the throne room’s doors. “I have urgent news for you!”

Princess Celestia, in all her radiant splendor and majesty, sat upon her throne waiting for another petitioner to Day Court. The solar alicorn had a tired look in her eyes at first, which livened up a bit upon hearing my announcement.

“Please share, lieutenant,” she asked, her tone as tired as her expression.

“Certainly,” I said with a nod. “This morning, a changeling was discovered in Trottingham and apprehended by the local guard garrison.”

“Really?” the princess replied, clearly shocked. “What was it doing?”

“According to the report, it was found sleeping in a bush outside somepony’s front window by the homeowner,” I explained. “It was immediately detained and is now being held prisoner in the city’s jailhouse.”

Princess Celestia nodded. “Good,” she said. “Has any useful information been gleaned from it regarding the recent changeling activity in Equestria?”

I let out a small sigh and shook my head. “Attempts have been made, of course, and all of them proved fruitless.” I couldn’t help but stomp my hoof in frustration at having nothing substantial to report to the princess. “Apparently, the damn bug is too scared to speak, even in its native tongue.”

I watched as Princess Celestia seemed to mull over everything I had said. The look in her eyes made it clear she was drawing upon all her centuries of experience dealing with foreign species to put together a plan for extracting information from the captured changeling drone. Of course, the changelings were completely unknown prior to their invasion of Canterlot, to which I assumed her highness found herself stumped trying to determine the best course of action for interrogating one, since there’s still so much about them ponies know nothing about.

Eventually, Princess Celestia retrained her gaze on me and spoke. “Prepare the Royal Chariot,” she ordered. “I wish to speak with our prisoner myself.”

I bowed. “Yes, your highness,” I replied, before rushing back through the throne room doors.

“You all did a magnificent job, minions,” I said, looking over the completed swimming pool. “Better than I expected, which was a lot to start with, so consider me overjoyed with the results.”

A chorus of happy chirps erupted from the drones behind me in response. I turned around and waved them off. “Get some rest, all of you,” I commanded. “We’ll be getting clients by the droves soon enough, and I’ll need all of you at my beck and call to please them.”

Dozens of salutes were given before the group retreated through the door back to the sleeping room, all except for one. Instead of following its fellows, one changeling approached me with a nervous frown in its features.

“Is something wrong?” I asked it.

The changeling nodded its head and proceeded to explain that its neighboring drone hadn’t returned from the recent scouting mission. This shocked me severely and I asked why it hadn’t told me earlier, to which it said they wanted to wait in case the AWOL drone had run into trouble and would only be late to return.

I rubbed the bridge of my muzzle when the drone finished explaining. “This is bad,” I said, exasperated. “If the missing drone gets caught and spills everything . . .” I took a moment to suppress my worries under a mask of nonchalance, hoping the changeling would fall for it. “Don’t tell anyling else about this, and if they ask where the AWOL drone is tell them they’re currently scoping out the Crystal Empire. Understand?”

The drone nodded.

“Good,” I replied, and waved the drone off.

Once I was alone, I slumped to the ground and sighed. Hopefully, if push comes to shove and Celestia learns what we’re doing, she’ll see things my way. I sighed again, settling my head between my fore legs. I hope.

“Right this way, princess,” the prison guard said, heading down the hallway at a slow trot.

I nodded and followed him with a guard on either side of me. Much as I sincerely doubted a lone changeling would be much of a threat, let alone one that was apparently scared stiff, I’ve learned the hard way how good changelings are at deceiving people so the extra protection I felt was warranted.

After passing by dozens of cells, most of which were empty but a few did house criminals, we arrived at one which housed a black mass in a corner of the cell, hidden in the shadows but there was no mistaking that it was the captured changeling.

“It hasn’t moved from that spot since we first put it in here,” the guard said. “Bloody insect won’t even use the bed or sink.” He snorted. “So uncivilized.”

I ignored what he said and took a long, hard look at the changeling. Despite the shadows camouflaging its black form, I could tell it was curled up with its head facing the wall, its ‘arms’ wrapped around its head like how a foal might when cowering in fear. It remained completely motionless as I watched, almost like I was looking at an oddly-placed statue. Seeing it made me realize nopony was exaggerating when they said the thing was too scared to do or say anything.

Poor thing.

“Are you sure you want to do this, princess?” the prison guard said. “After all, we don’t know if this is a trap set up by the changeling queen to make another attempt at taking over Equestria.”

I smiled and shook my head. “I’ll be okay, and besides,” I gestured to my guards, who snapped their gaze from the changeling to me and saluted, “that’s why I have company.”

“Very well,” the prison guard said, hesitance clear in his tone. He pulled out a key ring and flipped to one in particular before inserting it into the cell’s keyhole and turning. He then held the door open for me, keeping his eye on the changeling to make sure it didn't attempt escaping. “Good luck, princess.”

With a nod I trotted into the cell, my guards following behind me with their hooves clutched firmly around their spears, ready to defend should the changeling suddenly strike. The prison guard waited until the three of us were inside before shutting the door and re-locking it, then made himself comfortable to watch my attempt at gleaning information from the prisoner.

I motioned for my guards to keep to either side of me and remain looking away from the changeling to avoid intimidating it any further. My guards complied, keeping a firm grip on their spears and turning slightly away toward the wall, yet still keeping their attention focused on the changeling. How they manage to do it, I wish I knew so I could better tune out the idiotic ramblings of uptight snobs during Day Court.

I knelt down in front of the changeling and softly whispered, “Hello.”

I received no response from it. I repeated my greeting once, slightly louder yet still soothing, but was met with the same lack of response. For my third attempt at communication I reached out and wrapped a wing around the fear-stricken creature’s black carapace.

This time I got a reaction when the changeling flinched and slashed his front appendage across my wing, drawing a slight bit of blood to which I winced in slight pain. The guards, understandably, instinctively pointed their spears at the changeling with raging scowls.

“At ease, you two,” I said, pushing aside both spears with my hooves. “It was merely startled by my sudden touch and didn’t mean to cause me any harm.”

Both guards retracted their spears, letting out low growls as they narrowed their eyes towards the prisoner, who was now visibly trembling as it stared up at me with wide, frightful eyes. I don't know why the dreaded insect didn't react to my voice, but I didn't care since I now had its attention. I gave the trembling thing my warmest smile and retracted my injured wing from its body, which had already begun healing.

“Hello,” I greeted, again in a soothing tone.

The changeling didn’t say anything in response though it visibly relaxed. It shifted its eyes from me to each of my guards, then to the cut on my wing before making what I assumed was a changeling’s version of a sheepish smile.

“Don’t worry about my wing,” I assured it. “It’s just a scratch.”

The changeling let out a soft chirping sound which I assumed was a sheepish chuckle.

“Now for why I am here,” I continued. The changeling tensed up and a look of panic flashed across its face, to which I placed my hoof on its ‘shoulder’ while shaking my head. “I have no intention of punishing you, rest assured.”

The changeling visibly relaxed again, though the fear in its eyes remained.

“Quite the opposite, in fact,” I continued still. “You’re being pardoned.”

“What!?” all three stallions shouted. Even the changeling itself seemed bewildered in response to my proclamation.

“Princess!” the prisoner guard exclaimed. “What logic is there in letting this monster go?”

“The only true crime committed by this single changeling is trespassing on private property,” I replied, turning back to him. “A single day behind bars is a fitting punishment for such a meager crime.”

“B-b-but princess-”

“My decision is final,” I finished. I charged my horn and initiated a long-distance teleport, taking the five of us all the way to southern Equestria, just a little ways away from the border with the Badlands.

“Princess,” one of my guards said, coming out of his teleport-induced daze. “I must protest.”

“Me too,” the other one said, also coming out of his daze.

“Miiii suuuuriiii,” the prison guard slurred before fainting.

“I understand your concern quite well,” I replied to my guards while lifting the unconscious pony onto my back. “But we risk incurring the changeling queen’s wrath by keeping one of her subjects locked up within our borders, and our prisoner hasn’t done anything truly deserving of such.”

“But what about-”

“Fly along now, little one,” I cooed, doing a ‘shoo’ gesture with my hoof. “And, for your own sake, never come back.”

The changeling looked curiously at me for a moment before lifting into the air with its buzzy wings. It began backing away slowly in midair while keeping its eyes trained on me, to which I returned its gaze with a kindred one of my own. Only when the shapeshifting insect was about twenty or so meters from us did it hightail away, moving as fast as its wings would allow it, all while never turning back.

“Your highness,” one of my guards said, stepping to my side. “Far be it from me to doubt your decisions, but why did you release the bug so readily? If another invasion is forthcoming we must exploit every venue provided to us for information.”

“Technically speaking, the changelings already invaded Equestria again when they smuggled cargo across our borders,” I replied. “As for why I let that one go,” I let a coy smile spread across my muzzle, “I did more than just touch that one’s shoulder.”

The guards exchanged a confused, and slightly unnerved glance in response, to which I giggled to myself.

“I’ll explain once we’ve returned to Canterlot,” I promised them, and turned to look at the unconscious pony perched upon my back. “For now, let’s bring our friend here back home.”

After a moment of silence, both guards nodded their affirmation. Nodding myself, I charged my horn for another teleport.

Whatever you’re up to, queen, it won’t stay a secret for much longer.

It took me about a half hour to reach the Love Hotel, by which point I felt like my wings were gonna fall off. Once I landed in front of the cave entrance I immediately collapsed to the ground and began panting heavily. As I regained my strength, my thoughts went back to what had happened back there.

I had no idea why Celestia decided to let me go so readily, but truthfully I didn’t care. I was back with my fellows and Queen Chrysalis, which made me beyond happy after spending half a day locked up in pony jail. And aside from an uncomfortable itch where Celestia touched me, I was no worse for wear.

Once I felt fully energized I stood up and made my way into the cave, eager to continue servicing depraved ponies.

Author's Note

All will be explained when I put up the next part tomorrow.