The Hunt for Books

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4

Chapter 1

Scribe would consider himself the model changeling for everyone to look up too. Of course, despite the many skills and talents that both gave him his job as well as his name didn’t give him quite as much fame around the hive as he thought. He wasn’t hated, or bullied, or any number of nasty things that could happen to someling in the hive, but he was a bit of a recluse when he was not performing his duty as Her Majesties Royal Scribe.

Very rarely did he go out into one of the more social areas of the hive such as the Great Chamber or one of the many restaurants or bars that dotted the hollowed out caverns that was the Hive. He didn’t do this on purpose, he just preferred to stay in his cozy little nook in the hive and read one of the few books that were contained within the Hives rather pitiful library.

The library had so few books that it was not even considered important enough to get its own lavishly decorated room like just about everything else did, even the Royal Bathrooms were given the beautifying treatment of the Hives architects and decorators, while the library was left in its dusty little room, with no one besides Scribe even bothering to clean it. Now, this isn’t to say that changelings thought that reading and books were useless, they simply had higher priorities when teaching the young, such as the best ways to get love or how to disguise yourself, and as such only a special few were given the extra classes to become literate.

Scribe was one of the few that was given this opportunity, and he took it very seriously, secretly giving some of his love rations to the Collectors in exchange for bringing him a book, or even a measly newspaper, all added to the Hives library curtsey of the obsessive entity known as Scribe.

Even with the occasional book that was brought back from Equestria, the library only had around 300 books, though the majority of them were old and dusty tomes, very few of which had anything interesting in them. In addition to the tomes, there were also a few books about pony biology, some that were schoolbooks ‘borrowed’ from the Equestrians, which were used to educate the hives youth about the same things pony children were required to learn.

The last section of the library was the part containing the fiction novels, ranging from a single Daring Doo book, to a handful of romance novels (which had been borrowed so many times they were starting to fall apart at the seams). It was these that Scribe loved the most, often finding himself whisked away on a journey through foreign lands, going on great quests and adventures, saving damsels in distress and fighting terrifying monsters. He secretly wished to be one of the characters, to be able to go where no changeling had gone before!

What with the invasion of Canterlot in a few hours, it seemed that he might be able to get more of his greatest love at one of the ponies famed ‘book stores’. He had heard stories of shops that sold nothing but books, the great works of literature stacked and shelved, filling up entire rooms with their black and white wisdom. His wings twitched with excitement as he rode in Her Majesties chariot towards the great pony city. Soon he thought, Soon the Queen will defeat those infernal princesses and I will be able to take as many books as I want from the ponies! They don’t deserve to read them! I must find them and save them from their grubby hooves at once!

“Can't this thing go any faster?”, he asked the driver.

“Only if you want to show up with no army and a furious Queen when our presence gives our plans away to the ponies” he said dryly.

All he got in response was an ‘Hrmph’ from his literate counterpart. Scowling, Scribe went back to his thoughts of all the books he was going to read once they defeated the ponies. Oh I bet I’ll get so many books I could fill my home to the brim with books! No that’s not good enough… he mused silently to himself. Perhaps if the Queen were to let him have one of the rich ponies outlandish mansions, he could fill it to the brim with books, and maybe even make the furniture out of books, if it would get a few more crammed in the mansion. It was with these thoughts that he slipped into the realm of sleep, dozing off with the rhythmic wing buzzing of the changelings pulling the chariot lulling him to a calm slumber.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Several hours later, Scribe woke with a start, something poking him in the side. His eyes fluttered open in annoyance and locked onto the changeling who had woken him. “Oh good; you’re awake” said the rather bony drone.

“What did you wake me for?”

“We have arrived in Canterlot and have begun operations.”

“WHAT??? You started without me??”

“Yes, the generals thought it more prudent to begin on schedule than spend time waking you, which is why I am here.”

“OK. Has the shield been breached yet?” he asked.

Suddenly the sound of glass shattering overwhelmed their conversation, making them both look out at the city below them. The shield protecting Canterlot had just been broken wide open by the thousands of changelings smashing against it, the majority of whom were now swarming into the defenseless city, wreaking terror on the citizens. The rest were making their way toward the palace to aid their Queen in defeating any remaining guards or other obstacles they may have put in place. Scribe watched in awe as the thousands of his brothers and sisters marched into the pony capital, said to be unbreakable, and did as they pleased with both its inhabitants and their property.

“Wow.” Was all Scribe could say to describe the scene unfolding in front of him. His mind suddenly went back to the books just waiting to be found in the city, and said a quick “See ya” to the warrior next to him before taking off and flying down to the rooftops of the grand city. There were several ponies running through the streets, trying to evade the swarm, but it was all in vain for all but a lucky few who escaped into alleyways, away from the terrifying mass of chitin and fangs.

Spying a filly and her mother gallop into the alley just below him, he put together how he would find the holy pieces of literacy he sought. With a sense of stealth that rivaled that of a seasoned Infiltrator, he flew down into the alley, putting the two ponies in between himself and a dead end. He cleared his throat to make his presence known, which may not have been the best idea considering the situation. Both ponies looked back and absolute terror made its way to their faces, though he could see and feel the determination to protect and love for the filly the mother was radiating, so decided to stay out of range for now, should she get the idea to buck him in the face.

“H-hello ponies”, he stammered out. “Could you possibly tell me where the-“ before he could finish, the mother took it upon herself to make her opinion known.

“I WONT HELP YOU! STAY AWAY FROM US YOU MONSTER!” Scribe was slightly taken aback by the hateful sound of the rage filled shout, but knew that the books he sought would be worth one unpleasant conversation.

“I’m sorry if I am scaring you. I simply wanted to ask where I might find a book store in this fine city” Before the mother could reply with a particularly nasty compliment about how the city used to look nice when it was bug free, her daughter spoke up;

“T-t-there’s a b-book st-store on S-solar Avenue” the filly shakily blurted out. Her mother looked at her, horrified that her daughter had told Scribe what he wanted, rather than make the invasion harder in whatever way they could.

Grinning broadly, Scribe walked up to the duo, trying to be as unthreatening as possible. The mother pulled her daughter close to her while breaking into tears, fearing what the changeling would do to them now that it had the information it wanted. Rather than do any of the terrible things running through all of their minds, Scribe ignored these impulses and instead reared up onto his back legs and wrapped his forelegs around the hysterical mother and scared filly.

They both flinched back from his touch, thinking he was going to hurt them, but quickly realized the contrary when he pulled them close to his chest, nuzzling them softly in thanks for the fillies help. “W-why are you h-h-hugging us?” the filly asked.

“Because I want to thank you for helping me! A-and because your fur is really soft…” the changeling said, embarrassed at having told them how warm, soft and cuddly their fur made ponies, well that and it got him close enough to absorb some of their familial love, which was DELICIOUS by the way, but that was besides the point.

“U-um thank you…I guess…are you going to let us g-go?” Hmm he thought to himself. If I let them go, there is a good chance that someling else will catch them and do some…unsavory things to get at their emotions. I could just cocoon them here I suppose, perhaps hide them so I can find them again later. His mind made up, he once again focused of the ponies in front of him.

“Well, you may not particularly like me after this, but trust me it is better for me to do this now and put you in a safe place rather than let one of the others find you and do some rather…unpleasant things to you both.”

“S-so what are you g-going to d-do with us?” the mare asked, growing teary at the thought of what the changeling could do to them.

“I’m going to cocoon you, but don’t worry, it just puts you to sleep, a sort of stasis, nothing bad.”

“P-please don’t hurt my daughter, do this to me but please let her be free!” the mare desperately tried to bargain.

“Please don’t freak out. You will both be much safer in a cocoon than in the city right now. It is a painless process that only takes a few minutes. Its like being put to sleep at a hospital for a surgery, really.” This seemed to calm the mare a little, but she still seemed somewhat reluctant to let him do anything to her filly and herself, but at the same time she knew the bug-pony was right, being on the streets was far worse than being put to sleep in a cocoon with what he was implying would be done to them by his kin.

“A-all right. Please let us out w-when it is safer Mr.…?”

“Oh! My name is Scribe Miss…”

“Derpy Hooves, and this is my daughter Dinky”

“Ah. Well it’s been nice talking too you but I’m afraid we’ve no time to lose chatting. Please stand a little ways away from each other.” They did as they were told, standing a few feet from each other, shuffling their hooves nervously. Scribe decided it would be better to do the Dinky first, to show Derpy that there was nothing to be afraid of during the cocooning procedure. He approached the filly with a calm smile on his face, hoping that she would see his calm demeanor and copy it, and thankfully she did.

Dinky stayed still as he stopped in front of her and began doing some rather confusing things. Scribe stuck his hooves on either side of his neck and began massaging it deeply. He did this for a few seconds until he felt the joints of his jaw pop and his concrete gland open itself. He then opened his mouth as wide as it would go and leant down towards Dinky, who was now very confused and somewhat frightened, but stayed still nonetheless.

Scribe made a noise similar to a hacking cough, and an inch thick strand of Changeling Concrete in its pliable form flew out of his concrete gland, up and out of his throat until it left his mouth and stuck to Dinky's snout. He then gripped her body in his magic and spun her around slowly, the concrete continuing to come out as fast as his body could produce it and coiling around her. When the strand of changeling concrete touched the previous coil, it melted seamlessly with it, making a semitransparent shell filled inside with the gelatinous form of the changeling’s signature goo.

After about 30 seconds Scribe had completely enveloped Dinky in the concrete, which had formed into the regular hard shell outside, with the sleeping filly in the gooey inside, the concrete going into her lungs to provide her with oxygen while she slept. He snapped his mouth shut, his razor-sharp teeth biting the gooey strand so that the end melted into the rest, leaving the filly encased in a perfect cocoon. “I-is that safe for her?” Derpy asked, fearing for her daughter’s wellbeing.

“She is perfectly fine. The concrete brings oxygen from the outside and into the lungs. It may not be the most pleasant thing to cough out when you wake up, but it will definitely keep you alive, even keeping your muscles semi-active so you wont come out of it feeling weak or exhausted.”

“O-Okay then.”

With that, he repeated the process of Derpy, though it took around a minute to fully cocoon her due to her body being bigger than that of her filly. Once he was done, he swallowed the excess concrete, shuddering at the sweet taste it had, and marveled at his handiwork. Both ponies were now sleeping soundly in their green pods, the concrete tending to their bodily needs as they slumbered. Now he only needed to decide where to put them before he could resume his quest for books, but where to put them… he thought silently to himself.

“Ooh I’ve got it!” he exclaimed, gripping the two cocoons in his magic, carrying them up with him as he flew back to the roof of one of the surrounding buildings. He went to one of the corners of the roof, the one that a pony must have been piling spare furniture or something of that caliber on and had left the tarp over them loosely tied down. Scribe quickly undid the knots and lifted the tarp, revealing a couch, chairs and a broken desk underneath. He put Dinky's smaller cocoon underneath the desk in a hollow area just the right size for hers. Derpy’s cocoon was placed gently on the couch in such a way that you could not see the obvious shape of a cocoon and only the outline of the couch.

His work done, he retied the tarp over the furniture and ponies, giving it a quick once over to make sure noling would see the cocoons and ignore the tarp and it's contents, believing it to be just some random junk, though he knew eventually someling would get curious, so he vowed to come back for them as quickly as he could, not wanting any harm to come to the adorable duo.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

His (relatively) good deed completed, Scribe made his way back to street level, though this time he was actually on the street. He walked up to one of the Soldier changelings who were organizing the movement of captured ponies. “Excuse me sir, but could you direct me to Solar Avenue?” he asked politely.

“Huh? Oh, hey Scribe. I think Solar Ave is that way.” He said pointing to a large road going west, just like the path of the Sun, lined with a great many shops.

There were some changelings walking their way, pulling several ponies with them, obviously taking their time, seeing as how they had already captured the city in a matter of minutes. Of course none of them knew that the situation in the Palace and the caverns below was deteriorating rapidly. “Thanks” and with that he way off, an excited blur of chitin rocketing down the street, searching for anything that looked like a shop that sold books. After a few minutes of flying down the lengthy street, passing stores that sold just about anything anyling could possibly want, he saw the store that he had dreamed about seeing for weeks now: the Canterlot Bookstore.

His wings buzzed excitedly as he flew over to the building, stopping just short of the front door so that he could look inside. He nearly had a heart attack when he saw the shelves upon shelves of books inside of the building, though he also took notice of the four terrified ponies at the back of the shop, staring at him in pure horror. Well they’re not going to tell me which of the books are the best if they think I want to hurt them, he thought to himself. He walked into the store, the door swinging freely before it hit the bell mounted at the tom of the doorframe, sending a ringing throughout the store signaling his entrance.

He stared in wonder at the piles upon piles of books around him; the sheer amount of books in this single shop was hundreds of times more than those in the Hive library. There must be thousands of them! He thought as he stared in wonder at the texts that he would normally have to sacrifice massive amounts of his share of love to attain. His thoughts were interrupted by a somewhat pathetic sounding whimper, originating from the back of the store, where he had seen the ponies huddling together.

He forced his gaze away from the books lining the walls and instead focused on the shivering forms of four ponies hiding behind a cashiers counter with their eyes over the top of the table, staring at him. Or at least they were, until they noticed him looking and rapidly pulled their heads back down, hiding against the wooden counter.

“Um, do you own this store?” he asked the ponies, hoping they would not be so afraid to block him out.

“Y-y-y-y-yes w-w-we do” the stallion’s voice came from behind the wooden shield, stuttering horribly in his terror.

“Oh um so could you possibly recommend some of your books to me? I’m not really sure which ones to pick! There’s just so many!” He said, his voice getting giddy with excitement by the time he stopped talking.

“Y-you’re not going to k-kill us?” said the stallion, not believing what the changeling had said.

“No, but could you please show me all of your books! PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE!!!”

“O-OKAY! Calm down please Mr. um…changeling and I’ll show you our best books, if that’s what you want.”

“IT IS!!!

ILOVEBOOKSSOMUCHYOUJUSTHAVETOSHOWMEALL OFYOURSWAITNOSHOWMETHEBESTONESFIRSTNOWAIT SHOWMEDARINGDOOFIRSTIREALLYWANTTOSEE WHATHAPPENSAFTERTHEFIRSTBOOKSOOOOOOOBADLY!!!!” He said, so fast that his words were all blurred together in a very Pinkie-like way, the stallion barely being able to understand him.

“P-please calm down! I-I can get you the whole series if you want! Just please don’t h-hurt my family!” the stallion pleaded from behind the counter.

“I won't.” Scribe said, intending on making his answer truthful.

“O-okay then. Follow me please…” Scribe followed the brown coat and maned stallion to a door next to one of the many bookshelves. He opened the door and gestured down the single flight of stairs.

“The whole series and a lot of our stock is down there. Feel free to read as much of it as you can. There’s a light switch at the bottom of the stairs.”

So excited at the opportunity in front of him, Scribe didn’t waste another moment before rushing down the stairs, turning on the light and gazing in wonder at the piles of literature before him. He was so excited, he didn’t consider that there was a lock on the outside of the basement and certainly didn’t stop to consider weather or not the stallion would try to keep his family safe by locking him down there with both a physical lock as well as a magical one (as he was a unicorn) that would keep everything but a very high level unicorn or perhaps a bodybuilding minotaur inside of the basement until it was lifted.

“Sorry.” Was the only warning Scribe got before the stallion slammed the door shut after him and used the aforementioned locks to seal all but air in the basement.

“HEY!!! LET ME OUT!!!” Scribe screamed as he pounded on the basement door. He only received silence as an answer. He used his magic to probe at the wooden door, and found the magical wards as well as other lock that had been placed on it and knew it was futile to try forcing his way out. Crap. Well I guess it's better to be locked in a basement full of books instead of an empty one I guess… he thought to himself.

He spent the next 20 minutes going through the piles of various books before he finally found the Daring Doo series. He let out a very Fluttershy like ‘eep’ and set himself upon beginning the second book. Scribe was just starting the second chapter when he felt a massive wave of pure love energy rocketing towards him.

Unknown to him, Princess Cadence and Shining Armor had just touched their horns together, Cadence’s love combining with Shining’s shield spell to create a rapidly expanding bubble of love, flinging changelings off in every direction out of Canterlot. Of course, Scribe didn’t know this and was only aware of the massive wave of love, enough that it could power the entire hive for centuries.

Rather than expel him from Canterlot, the love bubble passed over him though was close enough that he still got a massive dose of energy, making him dizzy. The power coursing through his veins felt good, no, more than that, it felt as if the purest of all things was coursing through his body, purifying him from within, and it felt wonderful. Rather than immediately dissipate after getting rid of the invading army, the massive amount of love stayed within the city, love bringing joy and happiness to all the ponies within the city walls.

The lingering energy had a much different effect on Scribe though, as instead of his body stopping when it had absorbed enough love, it kept bringing in more and more, his energy levels increasing to dangerous. The love would eventually dissipate throughout the city over time, but at this moment all of the love in the area was drawn to Scribe, his body absorbing more energy than he should have ever been able to hold. His head was spinning, his vision getting blurred and his eyes had turned from their pale blue color to a deep and beautiful orange.

"W-what’s happening to me?" Scribe asked himself. "This shouldn’t be happening! This is impossible! Only a Royal could hold this much love-" Suddenly, the reason he hadn’t already exploded clicked in his mind. There was a myth in the hive that when a normal changeling absorbed huge amounts of true love, the rarest and most precious of all, they could transform into a Royal, making them an heir to the current king or queen in power or at the very least a Noble. It was exceedingly rare as very few times during recorded history had there been an event where such powerful love was displayed, and even fewer times where the conditions had been perfect for a transformation. As unlikely and crazy as it seemed to him, Scribe had to admit that there was so much love in the air he would not have been surprised had every changeling in the city become more powerful. Sadly there were no other changelings currently in Canterlot to experience the overwhelming power he now felt, though he didn't know this.

As much as he wanted to deny what was happening and believe it was a hallucination, it was the only thing that could explain how he was still alive after absorbing so much love. It was the only reasonable and somewhat logical reason he could think of how he hadn’t simply keeled over and died as he continued to absorb more and more of the sacred emotion.

The last thing that Scribe remembered before he fell unconscious was wondering if he was going to grow to the size Royals were if he was in fact transforming. Most Royals were about the same size as Celestia or any other fully grown alicorn, some being a tad bigger, and some being a bit smaller. The last thing that went through his love-drunk mind (love had a very inebriating effect on changelings) as he slipped into Luna’s realm was: If I do grow as big as the Queen, I hope a certain limb grows with the rest of me.

Chapter 2

“Is it dead, Novel?”

“I’m not sure dear. Should we check, or leave it for now?”

Novel Tale, one of Canterlot’s premier book salesmen, was not usually at a loss for what to do but having a changeling, one of the things that had just invaded his city, either unconscious or dead on his basement floor left him without an inkling of what he should do with it.

On one hoof, if it was dead he needed only to drag its corpse into the street, where the Royal Guard would (hopefully) dispose of it. However, if the changeling was alive he had two options: give it to the guards who would no-doubt do horrible things to it for some sense of revenge. On the other hoof, he could try to keep the changeling in his basement until some of the hype died down, but of course with his family here the changeling would be endangering them, so this option was already thrown out the window.

“Go check it out honey, I'm sure my big, strong stallion can handle an overgrown bug. I’ll stay up here to keep the kids out of trouble”

With his wife's assurances behind him, Novel went down the stairs, stopping in front of the changeling which, to his shock, had somehow grown to the size of his beloved princess Luna, just a tad smaller that the Celestial alicorn herself! After a few moments of absolute silence of trying to process this, punctuated only by Novel’s breathing, he decided that it would be safe to approach the huge body.

When he got close enough he realized that changelings might not have the same internal layout as ponies, so he had no way of knowing how to check the changelings vitals. Deciding to just go for it, he put his hoof over the changeling’s massive neck where a pony’s jugular would normally be.

Through the plates of chitin armor and smooth, leathery skin he felt a strong, rhythmic pulse that went through the bug-pony’s neck. It’s alive! Novel thought to himself. After the shock and fear of having a living and breathing changeling in his home, especially one that had suddenly grown three times it’s previous size, Novel did the reasonable thing: called for his wife to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

“Feather, dear could you please come downstairs for a moment?”

Feather Duster, a maid in the Canterlot Castle, was a very kind and gentle soul, being the peace that often placated the chaos that her husband and foals got themselves into regularly. However, when she left her children to play for a moment to see what her husband wanted to show her, nothing could have prepared her for the sight of him standing beside a massive changeling, looking far different than the one that he had imprisoned here the day before.

“N-n-Novel, what happened to it?”

“I have no idea, but I don’t think it being bigger is going to make it easier to deal with…”

“Well is it dead?”

“No. It’s alive, but still unconscious.”

“Well, should we wake it up or just leave it there dear?”

“I’m not sure. It didn’t seem very aggressive yesterday so it may leave us alone. Then again, the rest of its kind just got flung out of the city, so it may not be in a very good mood…”

“I see your point sweetie. Maybe we should toss some water on it and run? Maybe try to talk with it through the door?”

“That sounds like a much safer idea than being it here when it’s awake, especially after it’s grown so big.”

“How did that happen anyway?”

“I honestly have no idea. Hopefully it can tell us when it wakes up.”

“Ok then, honey. I’ll go get the water, be back in a sec”

After she got a bucket of water from the kitchen, Feather brought the liquid to the basement where her husband was waiting patiently. “Well here goes nothing”, Novel said as he tossed the water on the changeling, Feather and himself immediately galloping up the stairs for the (supposed) safety of their home.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Scribe had found himself in a pleasant dream about the few parts of the second Daring Do book he had started before he had fallen unconscious. He was currently helping the heroic Pegasus fight off her archenemy Ahuizotl’s minions, many of which were creatures commonly found in the Everfree forest. He was suddenly ripped from the dream by the bucketful of frigid water that landed on his face, causing him to wake up, gasping for breath and spitting out the mouthful of water he had gotten.

After catching his breath, he took a look around and found himself in the very same basement he had been trapped in before he had been knocked out by the extreme wave of emotion. His senses still returning to him, he barely noticed the click of the door to the basement being closed, causing him to look towards the source of the disturbance. Through the crack of light coming through the door, he could tell there was at least one pony, if not more, standing behind the door, presumably after throwing the water at him and fleeing.

Curious as to why the ponies would wake him when they could just have easily killed or tied him up, he tried to stand up and make his way up the stairs. Unfortunately, Scribe was both unaware and unused to the size of his new body, so when he tried to stand up, he overshot his target on the floor, making him fall flat on his face.

For a brief moment, all Scribe knew was pain, but it soon faded away leaving only confusion as to why he had fallen. In the dim lighting of the basement Scribe looked over himself, jaw dropping when he saw how much larger he had gotten. “W-what happened to me?” the confused changeling asked himself. Suddenly, the events of the time before his fall to unconsciousness came back to him in a big rush of memory, overwhelming his already confused mind.

It took him a good five minutes to work through all of the things bouncing around in his head, the lifelong scribe finding it hard to comprehend that he had been elevated to the very cusp of godhood, at the same level of reverence of his queen and even the infernal pony princesses (though he knew he was certainly nowhere near their level of wisdom and power).

He knew that his very existence could now be seen as an attempt at unseating his queen from the throne; so going to his brethren for help was entirely out of the question, as he knew what happened to traitors under Chrysalis’ rule. He now had to find a way to get out of his basement both without alerting his brethren, and somehow getting past the ponies who had locked him in.

First things first he thought, Lets see what the ponies want. He carefully stood up, this time taking his increased height into account to successfully stand, his now thicker legs holding his larger frame up with ease. He slowly but surely made his way up the wooden stairs, each one creaking with his much heavier form’s every step, until he came to a stop at the top.

He heard several whispering voices on the other side of the door and tried to give it a knock to gather their attention, but with his increased size came increased strength and what was meant to be a knock ended up smashing the entire door from its frame, sending it flying between the two conversing ponies, and left it embedded it the opposite wall.

Both Scribe and the two ponies looked at the door with shock, Scribe more from having just smashed through a solid door he used to be barely able to dent, and the couple stared at it with open fear, both of the door itself and the creature that had destroyed it with such ease. They slowly turned to look at the looming form of Scribe, who had just shaken off the surprise of his new strength, and stared right back at the terrified husband and wife.

“Um…sorry about that. I’ll fix it, I promise!”

“There’s n-no need for that sir. W-we’ve been meaning t-to replace that door anyway” Feather quickly replied, hoping to keep the changeling who obviously didn’t know his own strength from ‘fixing’ anything in her house.

“Are you sure? That doesn’t look like it will be easy to repair…”

“Oh no worries dearie, no worries! We can have that fixed that up in a jiffy” Feather replied, laughing nervously.

“So would it be possible for either of you two to tell me what happened? I have a theory, but I would prefer to be certain before I do anything…”

“Oh well you see, Princess Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor kind of…defeated your army…” He said nervously, hoping the supersized changeling wouldn’t take his rage out on them.

“That’s impossible. We had already won. The only thing left was to secure the palace and that was nearly complete when I arrived here.”

Feather and her husband looked at each other nervously, trying to figure out the best way to explain what had happened to the supersized drone. Eventually Novel gathered the courage and spoke: “It is possible, seeing as it happened yesterday and everyone in the city saw it.”

“Saw what happen?” Scribe asked accusingly.

“Um well… they used their love to expel the changeling army from Canterlot when they touched horns after Princess Cadenza escaped the crystal caves. They are redoing their wedding today.”

“Prove it” said Scribe smugly, believing the ponies to be bluffing to save themselves.

“Why don’t you take a look outside.” Said Feather while she and her husband inched their way away from the changeling who was no doubt going to freak out when he realized he was alone, with hundreds of guards searching for his kind.

With a huff, Scribe went over to one of the many windows in the shop and where he expected to find his brethren patrolling the streets or pillaging the shops that ran its length, he found only ponies going about their daily routines, albeit looking around at each other with paranoia.

H-how can this be? We had defeated them all, even Celestia! Seeing the numerous guards peering into the crowd of ponies who were no doubt preparing for a wedding, if what his former captors had told him was accurate, he decided to pull his head back into the store where the guards wouldn’t be able to spot him.

“I-if they defeated us with their love, is that love what transformed me?” asked the now terrified changeling.

“It could be, but then again I don’t know very much about changelings, now do I?” said Novel, who was now concerned for what the changeling may do in his current situation, as a cornered animal is the most dangerous. His love of literacy returning to him, Scribe asked Novel if he had any books that could help him figure out what exactly had happened.

“I believe we do have a book about myths and monsters that had something about changelings in it. I’ll go fetch it, be back in a moment.” With this Novel went to one of the many shelves in the store and began searching for the aforementioned book. They put us in a book with monsters? Scribe asked himself. Deciding to ask about his fate with the pony couple and their foals, he turned to Feather to ask his question.

“What are you going to do with me?”

“What are WE going to do with YOU? It looks to me like we couldn’t do very much to you if we tried” said the still uneasy mare.

Scribe looked down at himself, this time paying far more attention to the now massive muscles and several inch thick layer of chitin that now covered his entire body.

“I guess I have gotten a bit bigger and stronger since I transformed.”

“A little?” Feather asked sarcastically.

“HERE IT IS” Came the shout from Novel as he brought back the sought after book in his teeth. After he put the book on a nearby reading table, he beckoned the duo over towards himself and the open book. After they were suitably surrounding the table, Novel started flipping pages until at last he found the page titled CHANGELINGS: SHAPESHIFTING TERRORS.

“Ah here we are, now lets see if there is anything about what happened to you.” He then slowly skimmed the pages, searching for any key words that would indicate the part of text they were searching for.

“Aha!” he exclaimed when he at last found the subchapter labeled ROYAL CHANGELINGS. The three of them awkwardly squeezed against each other, trying to read what was written which ended up with Scribe in the middle with a pony pushing inwards on him from either side. Here is what they read:

Changeling Royals or more commonly known as either King or Queen changelings are the backbone of an entire changeling hive. The king or queen is responsible for leading the swarm both in diplomacy with other hives or species and as the high general during conflict.

Hives will ordinarily have only one Royal, unless there are a King and Queen ruling together. In the hives, a Royal’s word is law and disobeying them can lead to severe punishment, though some Royals prefer to treat their subjects more like the Equestrian Princesses than the totalitarian dictators many of them are.

Royals have powers much greater than any ordinary changeling can ever hope to attain which only increases with the more emotional energy they absorb. This flexible amount of power in their bodies as well as their incredible strength, regeneration and size (about that of an alicorn when fully grown) makes them extremely dangerous advisories. It is thought that at their peak power, a Royal could possibly defeat an alicorn of even Celestia’s caliber, as when given enough love they can be nearly invincible, practically glowing with magic.

One of the few ponies to travel to a changeling hive and return, Sir Winding Wind brought back to Equestria a small tidbit of information regarding the creation of Royals, rumored to have been told to him by a changeling itself! He said that when a hive requires a new Royal to lead it when the current one has become ready to pass on the responsibility, the current King or Queen would become fertile, enabling him or her to mate with a drone of their choice to produce the heir*. Once the heir is born, the Royal will teach it all they know, so that the hive may flourish under the new rule. Once the heir has come to age they will take the crown, their predecessor living out the rest of their life as an advisor or any other profession of their choice with in the hive. It is said to be a somewhat chaotic system that the Royals have to transfer power, but due to their long lives the effect is minimal and the hive will supposedly become stronger with the new Royal in place.

*Sir Wind also brought up a myth/legend he encountered when he was inside the hive, which pertained to another way of a Royal being created. In his words “Those bugs had a strange little legend that they told me one day. They said that if an ordinary drone was to absorb enough pure love, that they would be transformed into a Royal. They told me that it had supposedly happed a couple times in the past, but instances that had the right amount of love and the right drones at the same time were so rare that none of them had ever been able to confirm, nor deny it. I personally think that it could be something along the lines of how ponies are rumored to be able to ascend into alicorns, but as that too has not been confirmed as of yet, I must put this down to a plausible legend for now. Hopefully someday we will know the truth, and be able to get along with this truly amazing species."

Scribe wasn’t sure what he had been expecting to find in this book, but it certainly wasn’t to find the answers he sought so clearly written in a single subchapter. He didn’t know who this Winding Wind fellow was but if the text was any indication he had visited one of the other hives that had let him live for some unknown reason. After all, changelings relied on lies and subterfuge to feed themselves, so it didn’t make very much sense to outright tell a pony so much about themselves, but he wasn’t going to deny it was helpful.

“Well I guess that means it wasn’t a legend after all.” Said a now surprisingly calm Scribe. Feather and Novel looked between each other for a moment before Novel decided to speak;

“So if you’ve become a Royal, does that mean you get you own hive now? Or are you and heir to yours like the book says?”

It was with a depressed sigh that Scribe replied “Probably neither. The swarm may think me to be an heir, but the queen will certainly see me as a threat to her rule and have me executed because of it.”

“Oh” was all that either of the ponies present could say to such a melancholic reply. “W-what are you planning on doing then?”

“Honestly? I have no idea. Could I just stay here for a little while until I can figure something out?” With a look towards his wife for confirmation, Novel nodded at the changeling whose face lit up with a fang-filled smile, further unnerving the ponies.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

After Scribe had gotten settled into a corner of the library that he had made into a near replica of his space in the hive, he had officially met the owners of the bookstore and their children.

“So mister, can you do your transforming thingy on me?” asked the hyperactive daughter known as Sunny Day, a unicorn whose cutie mark labeled her as one whom thoroughly enjoyed making everyone’s day happy and full of sunshine.

“Um I guess I could” With that, scribe focused his magic into his horn and concentrated on becoming the filly. In a flash of crimson flames there was an exact duplicate of Sunny staring back at her with nearly as much glee as the real deal.

“Ooh that’s so cool! Me next, me next!” said the more reserved, but no less excited Steel Shod, an earth pony colt destined to be a great blacksmith if his mark was any indication. With a sigh Scribe did just that, and just as quick as there had been a ditto of Sunny, there were now two Steel Shods staring at each other with excitement.

“Ok kids, enough of that. Give Mr. Scribe some space”

“But moooooom” they whined together.

“No, none of that. Go play so I can have a chat with him.” Receiving many angry looks from her children, Feather turned to the changeling who had just reverted to his regular form.

“So Scribe, is there anything you would like to eat? Besides the love, or is that the only thing you can eat?”

“Love is the only thing we need, and I’ve got that in spades, but we can eat pony food, though the only thing it does for us is go towards concrete production and taste but that’s about it.”

“So would you like to try-“ she was suddenly interrupted by hard knocking on their front door and a gruff voice demand:

“Open up, mandatory search.”

Looking at each other for a moment to confirm that the voice wasn’t imagined, they bolted into action. Scribe rushed down the basement stairs to hide himself among the thousands of books, while Novel and Feather quickly put away the monster book and any other evidence they could find before going to their front door.

Opening the oak portal, they came face to face with a pair of gold-armored Royal Guards carrying both spears and a pair of hoof cuffs each.

“Hello gentlecolts! Do come inside, it’s rather chilly outside.” Feather nervously offered.

“We need to search your home for any signs of remaining or returning changelings. Please step aside.” Came their reply, said in such a dry monotone that they had no doubt this was the umpteenth check they had done on their shift, and it was no longer retaining it’s sense of danger or excitement. The stallions looked tired past exhaustion, the bags under their eyes and the hollow look in their eyes betraying them.

“O-of course! Feel free to check anything you se fit.” After they had moved from their way, the guards stepped into the store/home, and split up to cover the entire store quicker. After searching throughout the store, only pausing to question the wed duo about the corner covered in changeling concrete, to which they excused is as something one of the foul beasts had left before their expulsion, the pair met up to go into the basement.

Turning on the light from the top of the stairs, they began their way down the steps, their tired nature making them stumble a half dozen times.

“See anything?” said the first to the second.

“Not yet. Do you believe them about the goop we found upstairs?”

“I’m not sure. They could be telling the truth, but none of the other houses had anything quite like that in them, at least not to that extent.”

“I agree. Should we let the princesses know we may have possible suspects?”

“I guess so. See anything down here yet?”

“Nope, just books, books and more books. Lets get out of here already.”

“You said it, bro.” With their conversation coming to an end, the pair made their way out of the basement, thanked Novel, Feather and their children for their time, and left, presumably to check more houses.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Shortly after the guards had left, Novel went down to get Scribe while Feather got to getting rid of the goo filling in the corner of the shop.

“Um Scribe? It’s alright to come out now!” as soon as he heard this, Scribe puled himself from a stack of books, scattering them across the floor. Picking them up in his magic to resort them, Novel ushered the disgruntled changeling up the stairs to help Feather clean up his mess. Meeting up with the rosy pony, he set to showing her how to remove the concrete, the only way he knew how.

“See, the only way to get it to return to it's liquid-y form is for a changeling to lick it, as our saliva contains whatever it is that’s needed to break it down.”

“Oh, well could you do that then? This doesn’t exactly make a very good addition to the store, no offense.”

“None taken.” With this, he began to lick at the formation of concrete, his saliva slowly making it enough of a liquid that he could simply drink it, and Feather could mop it up.

“Eww, why are you drinking that stuff?” asked a very grossed out Feather.

“What? It tastes good, try some!”

“Umm, no thanks, I’ll pass.” After this, the conversation turned to what changelings used the versatile material for.

“So do you use this for construction, or for some sort of decoration?”

“We use it for pretty much everything, from making tunnels stronger, to infusing it with love and eating it.”

“You can do that, the putting love in it?”

"Yeah, it absorbs ambient love as well, which is what makes it such a good material for cocoons.” Going pale, Feater asked;

“Cocoons? Those green things that ponies get put into?”

“Yeah! It puts them in a sort of stasis and absorbs their love over time! After it has absorbed it’s maximum, we put the pony into a new one and eat the one with love in it.”

“B-but that’s cruel!”

“How is that cruel?” asked a thoroughly confused Scribe, not comprehending how it could be bad to put a pony to sleep to feed his hive, when it was of no cost to the ponies themselves.

“How? How is it not cruel? You capture ponies from their families and friends and suck the love out of them!”

“You’re making it sound worse than it is. We usually keep them for around a month, with an Infiltrator posing as them the whole time. Nopony notices the difference, and when we put the pony back, we transfer the memories the imposter gained to them, so it’s as if they were actually there.”

“But they weren’t! Cant you see how that is taking away from somepony’s life, somepony who doesn’t deserve to be taken from those they love, and be fed on by monsters?” As soon as she said it, Feather knew she had gone too far.

“Monsters? MONSTERS? You think WE are the monsters? When ponies have hunted and killed us for thousands of years because we need to borrow them for a few weeks to survive?”

“Yes!”

With a growl Scribe turned and stomped off, into the other side of the store, leaving the pink mare alone to think about her actions. Meanwhile, Scribe was fuming inside his head, mumbling random obscenities to noling in particular, and trying to remain calm throughout his mental meltdown.

On the other side of the store, Novel had just returned from the basement, surprised to see his wife sitting by herself, looking enraged, yet sad all alone in the far end of the store. Trotting to his mare, he sat beside her and began to soothingly rub her back to hopefully coax an explanation from her.

“Honey, can you tell me what’s wrong?” She mumbled something, presumably to him, but he was unable to hear what she had said.

“What was that, dear?”

“They…they weren’t putting ponies in those pods to keep them from running, they were using them to suck the love out of them.”

“W-what?”

“The cocoons, dear. Those monsters use them to suck the love out of ponies while they replace them.” With the revelation finally understood, Novel’s face paled like his wife’s had, his thoughts turning to how he could keep his family and himself from suffering that fate.

“Does this mean we should tell somepony about him? Maybe go get the guards while he’s not paying attention?”

“Yes, we should. It isn’t right for us to endanger our lives and our children’s because we cant grow a backbone. Do you want to get the guards, or will I?”

“I’ll get them, Feather. Keep the kids safe while I’m gone, Ok?”

“I’ll do my best, honey.” After an affectionate nuzzle, the pair made their way to the door, intent on getting the assistance of the Royal Guard. However, the one thing they hadn’t considered was Scribe coming over to apologize, and instead hearing their plans for turning him in.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

I don’t believe it! They’re going to turn me in! Thought Scribe, unbelievably outraged at the ponies attempt at betraying him. As the couple made their way to the door, Novel planning to go to the guard and turn him in, only one train of thought thundered through his mind; OH NO YOU DON’T!

He quickly, but quietly made his way behind the pair and lit his horn, not betting on either one of them leaving the building. The concrete producing gland in his throat ready, he leapt from the shadows and grabbed both ponies in his magic, hoisting them both into the air within spitting distance.

Before either could scream for help, he shot two gooey strands of concrete at each of their muzzles, the sticky material splattering all over their faces to make a crude, but highly effective gag. Both mare and stallion now aware what was happening, they began to struggle in his grip and scream through the rapidly hardening concrete, a noble, but futile effort.

Once they had calmed somewhat, Scribe thought it best to apologize in advance for what he was going to do, the ponies eyes widening as he spoke: “I’m sorry about this, really I am, but I can’t let you tell the guards about me. Chrysalis knows they will torture me until I die, or am of no use and get left to rot in their dungeons. Just remember, you forced me to do this, so I take no joy in this."

After he had finished speaking, he began to cocoon the ponies, starting with Novel. After quickly sealing the stallion inside his pod, he left his concrete to dry while he turned to Feather and did the same with her. After both ponies were completely encased in his concrete, he left them to dry a few minutes before setting them down behind a bookshelf. Hopefully, nopony would be able to see the pods through the window while the shelf was there, so he did the next thing on his mental list: find and cocoon his wed captive’s foals.

After about five minutes, he found said filly and colt playing in their room, and to make sure he didn’t scare them during the procedure, he used a sleeping spell on the hyperactive duo, both being fast asleep within moments of the spells casting. Though it affected his mental integrity more than when he had cocooned their parents, he still completed his task, setting the recently cocooned foals beside their parents.

That was not a very fun thing to do. I hope I never have to do that to anypony else again. Wait…somepony else…isn’t there somepony else I’m forgetting about? SWEET CHRYSALIS’ FANGS, I’VE FORGOTTEN DERPY AND HER DAUGHTER! His past deed suddenly remembered due to recent events, he quickly assumed the form of a dull colored Pegasus and took flight through a window to where he last remembered the cutest ponies he had ever seen to be hidden.

Spotting the tarp on top of the building he had hidden them on, he angled his wings to put him into a nosedive headed straight for the building. After pulling up at the last second, he landed safely on top of the building and walked over to the tarp, praying to whatever deity that was listening that the pair were still sleeping soundly under the tarp, safe and sound in their pods.

Untying the rope, he poked his head underneath, and to his joy, the two grey-coated ponies were indeed still in their cocoons, exactly where he had left them. After a little squeal of glee, his thoughts turned to how he was going to bring the two pods back to the bookstore without a hundred guards chasing after him.

He thought back to the basic sleep spell he had used earlier on the foals, as before his transformation he would only have been able to do such a spell with both incredible concentration and a large portion of love, as weak was an ordinary changelings magic is. Maybe if I became better at magic because of this transformation, then I can just teleport there, like the queen can!

He pulled the cocoons from their hiding spots and tried to make himself as well as his passengers teleport back to the store, but only succeeded in tiring himself out. Damn! How is it the Queen does this again? Wait, she doesn’t teleport like unicorns, she makes those portal things! Stupid, stupid, stupid! He thought while smacking himself for not remembering earlier.

Instead of trying to instantaneously transport himself and his cocooned passengers through a rift in the multiverse like unicorns did, he instead tried focusing his magic on creating a flaming portal like the ones that the Queen had often been seen using. Within moments of his mental request, an orange flame rimmed portal appeared in front of himself.

I did it! I actually did it! A look inside the circle of flame revealed the inside of the bookstore, exactly where he had wanted to go. Well, here goes nothing! And with that he hopped through the portal, bringing his pony passengers with him, a strange sensation like being sucked through a straw passing through his body before he and the cocoons popped through, and into the bookstore.

The only thought on Scribe’s mind while he hid Derpy and Dinky along with the others was I am so awesome now! I wonder what else I can do with this new body…

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Canterlot Castle, the Throne Room

“Yes your highnesses, it was in the bookstore owned by Novel Tale and his wife Feather Duster. They have both stayed within their home since the invasion, though Feather is most likely due to report here for work in the morning if you do not give the staff the day off.”

“And you say they were acting strangely?” asked a deep in thought Princess Celestia. Looking between each other, the two guards who had inspected Novel’s home tried determining who would speak, before the first guard gave up with a sigh, and said,

“Yes your majesty. They seemed very nervous, almost to the point that they looked paranoid of our every move.”

Contemplating this new information, Celestia sat back on her throne for a few seconds before replying,

“Send out a squad to do a more thorough check of their home in the morning. Until they return, I shall retire to my bedchambers to contemplate this, unless you have any other news to share?”

“No your majesty” They both replied in unison.

“Very well then, you are dismissed.”

As she stepped off her throne and walked back towards the hallway leading to her room, she could be heard murmuring, “What in Equestria would a changeling want with a bookstore?”

Chapter 3

Scribe was worried, very worried. He was stuck in a house with a half dozen ponies he had cocooned, and he was sure that it wouldn’t be long before the guards came back to find him. Going over his rather limited options, he eventually worked out the best courses of action for his current situation.

Ok so I can either stay here and hope the guards didn’t suspect anything, or I could skip town and find somewhere else to live. A quick look through the window at the uncountable amount of guards watching the crowd and stopping ponies at random was enough to drive the first option from his mind.

The second choice being made, he tried to remember any of the other pony settlements nearby. There’s Manehattan and uh… Damn! What are the other ones? The only place he could remember was that massive, industrious city, his only knowledge of it being from the lone Daring Do book he had read.

Knowing he could probably find a new city to travel to in one of the bookstore’s wares. He looked around the store for about 15 minutes before giving up, as it seemed the one type of book the store didn’t have was one with a map inside it. Though he could probably find the names of more cities in one of the novels surrounding him, they would certainly have no directions for getting there from Canterlot.

How am I supposed to get somewhere else if I can’t find out where that somewhere is? He looked around the room, his gaze eventually settling on the loose pile of cocoons, though more specifically Derpy’s and Dinky’s. Maybe they can tell me where to go. His mind made up, he walked over to the cocooned ponies and pulled Derpy and her daughter off of the pile, dragging their cocoons over to one of the many reading couches.

After inspecting the cocoons for any sign of damage or decay that could have harmed the ponies within, he licked the concrete, which began dissolving immediately after contact with his saliva. Waiting a few minutes for the hard shell of the cocoon to grow soft, he then started taking small bites of the gooey substance to speed up the process.

It was after about five minutes that the cocoons had dissolved enough for Scribe to simply pull the ponies from their prisons, plopping them down on the couches for them to wake on. It took a few minutes, but the pair of ponies were roused from their slumber by Scribe’s insistent poking and prodding. As Derpy opened her eyes, a pair of pupil-less eyes greeted her; scaring her enough that she jerked her head back into the couch cushions.

“W-w-what’s going on? Who are y-you?”

“It’s me Derpy! I’m Scribe remember?”

Derpy moved back a little to get a better view, and got a look at Scribe’s new form. “AHHHH! W-WHAT ARE YOU?”

“Calm down Derpy! It’s me, Scribe! I know I look different now, but you’ve got to trust me!”

“I-if it’s really you, then where is Dinky?”

“Right behind you, actually.”

Derpy looked behind her and sure enough, Dinky was sitting upright on the couch, watching her mother and Scribe. “Dinky!” Derpy shouted before rushing over to her filly, using her wings for extra speed to give her daughter the biggest, bone-crushing hug she had ever received.

“Mom, you’re crushing me!”

“Sorry sweetie” giggled the relieved Pegasus. Turning back to Scribe, they both took in his much different appearance.

“So, do you mind telling us what happened after you put us in those cocoon things?”

“Sure. After I hid you two, I came to this store to claim some of the books. Unfortunately, the owners kind of locked me in the basement, which left me exposed to the love bubble that formed when Princess Cadence and Prince Armor expelled every other changeling from Canterlot.”

Derpy looked at him incredulously before asking: “So there are no more changelings in Canterlot?”

“No. The princess’ love and the prince’s shield combined and it expelled the Swarm. I’m pretty sure I’m the only one left, unless some have returned.”

“But that doesn’t explain why you’re so much bigger now. You look like you could be as tall as Princess Celestia!”

“I might be. I’m not really sure how tall she is compared to me, but I did manage to find out what did this to me.”

“Really? What?”

“Well apparently an old hive rumor about massive amounts of love changing drones into Royals was true. Since I was below the shield when it threw everyling else out, I started absorbing all of the excess love around me when it stopped. I woke up in the basement with the owner of the store and his family upstairs. They helped me find out what happened in this really helpful book, but then decided I was too dangerous and tried to get the guards. That’s why they're in cocoons right now.”

Derpy and Dinky looked over to the four other cocoons on the other side of the room and gulped, fearing what the somewhat trustworthy changeling was going to do with the family. “I-if you don’t mind me asking, what are you going to do with them, a-and us for that matter?”

Truth be told, Scribe had very little idea of what he was going to do with them. He would probably let them go, but wanted Derpy and her daughter’s opinion first. “I’m not really sure. I was hoping you could give me some ideas?”

“So you, a changeling that is now probably as big and powerful as our princess, is asking ME what to do?”

It was with a slight blush that Scribe said, “Y-yeah. I don’t really know what to do now. If I stay here the guards will catch me, but I don’t know enough about this country to find a new place to hide out. That’s kind of why I woke you two up, actually.”

“Oh” was all that Derpy could say before her filly spoke up; “He can stay with us in Ponyville, right mom? He did save us from the nasty changelings, and he even kept his promise to let us out of the cocoon things!” Derpy looked from her daughter’s smiling face to the hopeful look on Scribe’s face, trying to find even a hint of bad intent in his face. After finding none, she turned back to her daughter’s happy face, the cuteness almost overwhelming.

“I don’t know Dinky, he might not want to stay with us.” She then turned back to Scribe and said “If you need a place to stay for a little while, we would be happy to oblige, so long as you don’t try anything fishy.” Scribe lit up like a light bulb, his overjoyed expression betraying his calmer voice.

“I would love to, if you aren’t still mad at me for the whole cocooning thing…”

“That’s what you’re worried about, us not liking you because you kept us safe from your own species? We should be thankful that you had the heart to protect us when you could have just attacked us instead.”

“Oh well when you put it like that…” he said with a very pronounced blush seeping through the black color of his chitin. “

Don’t worry about it. You can stay in our guest bedroom, or even the basement if you like.”

“I’d prefer the basement to be honest. Less light and a lot easier to make it like home when there aren’t any big beds to get in the way.”

“Then it’s settled. Only problem I can think of is how you’re going to get out of here, with all the guards out there.”

“I could just disguise myself as a Pegasus and follow you to wherever you two live.”

“Ok, it’s a plan. We live in Ponyville and it’s only about a 20 minute flight from Canterlot, so we’ll be there pretty quick. It’s not too big, but it’s small enough that new ponies are usually pretty noticeable, so we’ll have to be really careful when we sneak you in or else Pinkie Pie might try to throw you a party, and then everypony will see you.”

“Gotcha. Should we leave now, or is there anything we should get before leaving?”

Dinky took this as her chance and said, “Ooh mom, can we get some—“ She was suddenly interrupted by a loud knocking on the door and a stallion’s voice shouting “Open up, Royal Guard.”

________________________________________________________________________________________

As soon as he heard the knock, Scribe sprung into action. He quickly transformed into a tan Pegasus with large, powerful wings before beckoning over the frightened ponies. “We have to leave, now.”

“B-but what about the guards? Wont they follow us?”

“Not if they don’t see us.” He opened one of the windows facing away from the street and motioned Derpy and Dinky to go first. After Dinky got settled on her mother’s back, Derpy took off out the window, Scribe getting a face full of dust as a reward for his chivalry. He too then took off, rocketing out of the window and into the air beside Derpy.

“Are you ready?”

“Yep!”

“Ok, when I say so, fly as fast as you can out of the city. The guards will probably all follow you; so don’t stop until they catch you. When the guards catch you, say you escaped from me and were trying to get home. Wait for me outside the city, and I will get out through the alleys and meet you there.”

“Ok, lets do it!” she said excitedly, her eyes at last coming into focus because of her rare moment of total concentration and determination.

“Go!” Scribe shouted, and Derpy immediately took to the skies, her daughter’s weight not hindering her flight in the slightest. As soon as the guards saw her taking off behind the house, they too rose into the air, giving chase to the surprisingly fast Pegasus. After he was sure all of the guards had gone after Derpy, Scribe leapt into the air but quickly sank back down into one of the many alleys that branched off of the main streets.

It took him a little bit of searching, but he eventually found the right streets to follow through the backstreets that would bring him out of the city. After about 15 minutes of sneaking through alley after alley, avoiding several patrols as he went, he was able to spot the massive main gates to the walled city.

He quickly changed his disguise to that of a dark blue unicorn with a teal mane. Walking by dozens of guards to get towards the gate, he was immensely grateful that they were more concentrated on those who were entering the city, rather than those leaving it. It took him another five minutes to make his way through the bustling crowd to the heavily guarded gates.

As he approached the line for the exit, he became aware of the several dozen guards pulling ponies over to the side to question them. Please don’t stop me! He repeated over and over in his mind, praying the guards would let him pass with the majority of the crowd rather than bring him aside and find out what he is.

He let out a sigh of relief when the guards ignored him, deciding instead that a vibrant yellow earth pony was more suspicious than himself. After finding a conveniently placed group of bushes, he transformed back into the Pegasus form he had taken earlier. He then took off into the azure sky to search for his grey coated salvation.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Adrenaline pumped through Derpy’s veins as she and her daughter rocketed off into the sky, the squad of guards crying out in alarm before following her. Thankfully, their armor weighted them down more than Dinky weighed down her mother; giving the mailmare a slight advantage in the beginning of what she knew would be a long chase.

Unfortunately for her, the guards, while weighed down by their armor, were used to the extra weight and caught up to her far quicker than she would have liked.

“Land Now!” one of the guards shouted at her. Rather than do as he said, she sped up, rocketing into the clouds she hoped would distract them. The guards too sped up and by the time she reached the clouds, several of them were flying side by side with her. When she saw how close they were to her, Derpy panicked and changed the level of her wings, bringing her into a steep dive with her filly hanging on for dear life.

“AHHHHHHHHH!” was all that came from Dinky’s mouth as they plummeted, her tight grip on her mother with her hind legs being the only thing that kept her from freefalling several hundred feet to her death. At the last moment, when they were a mere hundred feet from the rooftops below, Derpy pulled out of the dive, her speed bringing them close enough to skim the rooftops.

The guards followed them relentlessly, their formation dive-bombing the pair as they came into range.

“Stop immediately or we will use force!” Shouted another one of the guards. Knowing the chase was coming to a close, Derpy gave one last noble effort of evading the guards. She quickly rolled to the left before pulling up into a loop around the guards to bring her in behind them. What she hadn’t considered, however, was that the guards would simply flare their wings to bring themselves back to her side.

The guards now at her sides moved in and grabbed a wing each, stopping the mare in her tracks with a firm tug. The pain of having been pulled to a stop by her wings not lost, she looked around herself to see the entire squad pressing in on her, keeping her from going anywhere.

They pulled her down to a rooftop by her wings, ignoring her cries of protest and Dinky’s squeaks of fear to bring her to a stop. One of the guards pulled a pair of hoofcuffs and wing restrainers from his armor and put them on the grey Pegasus before removing the filly from her back.

“Ma’am, you are under arrest for fleeing a suspected crime scene and resisting capture.”

“B-but you’re changelings!” Derpy said, hoping to bluff her way out of being arrest.

“Excuse me?” Asked one of the thoroughly confused guards.

“I j-just escaped from one of you in that bookstore, and now you’re going to take me back!”

“Um, no we’re not. We aren’t changelings ma’am, they were all thrown out yesterday at the wedding. Are you saying you were imprisoned by one of those bugs?”

“Y-yes. I thought you were more of them, pretending to be guards to trick anypony who came to Canterlot. I’m sorry I panicked; I just wanted to get my precious little Dinky somewhere safe.”

The guards looked between each other for a few moments before the highest-ranking one called the others into a huddle, where Derpy could only hear hushed whispers of what they were saying. After about a minute, they turned back to her, their leader coming up to her directly and saying;

“If you are telling the truth, then we are sorry for further traumatizing you miss. If there is anything you can tell us about the changeling that was holding you captive, it would help us greatly in our search.”

“I was unconscious in one of their cocoon things for most of the invasion, so I cant really say for sure what happened to it. I’m sorry if I’m not much help, but I really want to take my daughter home now, if you would be alright with that of course.”

“I believe that would be alright, however, before you leave we are required to check weather or not you are a changeling. It will only take a moment, so please stay still.”

Doing as she was told, Derpy stood completely rigid while the stallion brought out a glowing green stone and pressed it to her forehead before repeating this process with Dinky. After the stone’s magic had run it’s course and the guards thanked her for her time, she took off in the opposite direction, towards the rendezvous outside the city.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

After waiting on a cloud outside the city for about ten minutes, Derpy started to get anxious, debating weather she should leave with her filly while she could or wait for Scribe. Dinky, being the child she was, was getting incredibly antsy, wiggling around on her mother’s back and often poking at the fluffy cloud they were perched on.

They soon heard the distinctive flapping of powerful wings and looked over in time to see Scribe in his Pegasus form before he barreled past them and into another cloud. Concerned for his safety, Derpy flew over to the mist that had previously been a large cloud and started to look for Scribe.

“Scribe, are you in there?”

“Down here” came a voice from below the flying duo. They looked down and saw that their changeling friend had landed on another cloud about thirty feet below the one he had hit.

“Sorry about that, I haven’t really figured out every part of flying as a Pegasus yet.”

“Oh that’s ok, it’s just a cloud. Did you have any trouble getting out of the city?”

“Nah, they weren’t really focusing on ponies going out of the city, just the ones trying to get in.”

“I guess that’s a good thing, for us anyway. Lets get going, follow me!” Derpy then sped away from him in the direction of Ponyville, her daughter once again having to hold on for dear life to avoid slipping off her mother’s back and to the hard ground far, far below.

“Hey, wait up!” Scribe quickly flew after her, and for a long time, the only thing any of them saw during their flight was the perfect landscape rolling by below, and each other.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

After the roughly 20 minute flight to Derpy’s hometown, the three friends were now perched atop a large cloud, floating across the town. Now, the reason behind this was simple: they were trying their hardest to avoid the unpredictable and inconceivable entity that was Pinkie Pie.

According to Derpy, the Pink Menace had a much harder time finding the new ponies in town when they were airborne, as she was an earth pony. They hoped that by floating towards Derpy and Dinky’s house rather than walking or flying directly to it, they could avoid Pinkie for a little while.

Of course, this led to a stealthy flyby of the town on their wing-propelled cloud before bringing it in lower and to their target house. As they finally stopped above Derpy’s home, they had decided that Pinkie must have been off doing something else, or perhaps still in Canterlot, and as such it was safe to land at last.

They silently glided to a stop at the front door, Derpy producing a bronze key from underneath one of the potted plants in the nearby garden.

“Welcome to our home, Scribe.” Scribe looked around in wonder at the many knick-knacks that lined the walls of the home, which seemed even bigger on the inside due to the vaulted ceiling being designed for Pegasi. There were all of the things that you would expect from a pony dwelling; a Living room, kitchen, bedrooms, and bathrooms. There were even a couple of balconies along the roof that looked to only be accessible to a Pegasus.

“Wow. This is all yours?” Scribe asked in disbelief. He knew ponies had large homes, as the bookstore he had stayed in was proof of that, but this was an even larger living space for only the two of them.

“Yep. You’d be surprised how much you get paid for delivering mail all across Equestria. It’s a pretty fun job too, since you get to see all your friends and all sorts of other ponies when you give them their mail.”

“That is so cool! So where is the basement?”

“Over here.” She led him over to a wooden door while Dinky got off her back and went up to one of the other rooms, presumably her own. When Derpy opened the basement door, Scribe had been expecting a small place with some random storage space inside it. Instead, the basement spanned about half of the house’s length and width, making it a very large and spacious room that was for the most part, completely void.

With the exception of a couple of cardboard boxes filled with spare items, the room was completely bare, leading Derpy to address Scribe’s excited look with: “You can do whatever you want down here, as long as you don’t make the house collapse. Go nuts.”

With her permission granted, Scribe galloped around the room, inspecting it for any cracks and crevices that would be the perfect place to start his remodeling. While Derpy watched in fascination, Scribe spit out a large, 2 inch strand of concrete, letting the sticky substance splatter across the back corner before moving his head around to start building with the malleable material.

He quickly covered the entire back wall with a thin layer of it, before he started to build a compartment of sorts in the back right corner. The structure eventually finished up as a sort of rectangular box that was missing the side closest to the door. With the first part of his renovations complete, Scribe then began the arduous task of making some simple furniture next to his recently completed bedroom.

After he finished his work, Derpy looked around at the transformed basement, taking in all of the new additions. There was the sleeping pod, which Scribe, like every other changeling, slept in. It was because of their somewhat insect-like instincts that every single changeling felt safer and much more comfortable in a smaller sleeping space, rather than the large bedrooms that ponies often had.

Outside of his ‘bedroom’ there was a table that was built into the floor, a set of shelves beside his pod and a large beanbag-like chair filled up with liquid concrete (which made a surprisingly comfortable seat). Derpy was amazed that he could create his own living space inside of ten minutes with nothing but the goo he produced himself.

“Wow, the furniture ponies would be out of business if we could make stuff like that.”

“It’s not really the nicest stuff in the world, but it’ll work.” Before she left, Derpy felt she had to ask about the rectangular slot against the wall he had made.

“So what’s with the rectangle thing against the wall?”

“That’s where I sleep, silly.”

“You want to sleep there? You're crazy, that’s way too small!”

“No it isn’t. Changelings prefer small, enclosed places to sleep. Sleeping in the roomy bedrooms ponies use is kind of scary for us.”

“Oh, um Ok…” Derpy said, getting rather weirded out by the changelings desire to sleep in a claustrophobic space like that. “Well I’ll be upstairs if you need anything.”

“Thanks for letting me stay here Ms. Hooves. I don’t know where I’d be if you hadn’t helped me back in Canterlot.” Derpy was caught off guard by the sudden thanks, and as such it took her a few moments to formulate a response.

“You’re welcome. I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself knowing I ignored somepony in their time of need in front of Dinky.” She then giggled and said: “I’m especially glad you weren’t caught before you got us out of those cocoons, or else we would have been in them for Celestia knows how long.”

“Me too” he said with a smile. Just then, as the overwhelming silence took over, he remembered something he had forgotten to ask about earlier: “Where did Dinky go? She disappeared as soon as we got inside…”

“I’m not sure. She might be in her room, no-doubt up to no good.”

“Should we check on her?” As soon as he said it, there was a loud crash that came from upstairs, the noise gradually making it’s way towards the basement before the source toppled over the top step and rolled down the stairs before coming to a stop before the surprised adults.

Sitting within a mess of blankets, sheets and pillowcases was Dinky, most of her body ensnared within the linens. “Um… little help here?”

“Dinky, what could have possibly caused this?” Her mother asked incredulously.

“I was just trying to get some blankets n’ stuff for Mr. Scribe so he doesn’t get cold down here at night!” she said defensively.

“Well, you could have asked for help instead of getting yourself all tangled up in these.”

“I know mom, can you just get me out of these? It’s kind of hard to do anything like this.”

“*Sigh* Sure honey, hold still.” Scribe watched as Derpy playfully removed Dinky from her fabric prison, the filly being unrolled from the blankets like a rug, with the blankets having to be unrolled very carefully, lest she get tanged even worse. Dinky ended up out of her cotton jailor's clutches a few moments later, albeit with a pillowcase over her head.

Scribe’s last thought before succumbing to the cuteness of the situation was: How is it possible for something to be that adorable? If I could weaponize this moment, I could retake Canterlot, nay, all of Equestria by myself!

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Throne Room, Canterlot Castle

“Your majesty, we completed the search you requested of us, and we are happy to report that there were no changelings inside or otherwise around that bookstore that we could find.”

“Are you sure you checked everywhere?”

“Yes your majesty. We checked the entire building twice, and while we did not find any changelings within the building, we did find a family that had been cocooned by one. It is unknown weather or not they were cocooned before or after yesterdays search and if the ponies yesterday’s patrol saw were really changelings, but we will know more once they have been safely removed from their cocoons.”

“Make sure that they are revived as soon as possible lieutenant. I have a feeling that this may be a far different situation than we previously thought, and they may be the only ones that know the truth about what happened. Is there anything else to report?”

“The only other thing of interest was a Pegasus mare and her daughter who supposedly escaped from their cocoons just before we arrived. We chased her down and questioned her, but her story seems to check out, though I still find it unlikely that she could get out of her cocoon as easily as she claimed to.”

“Who is this mare?”

“Her name on file is Ditzy Doo and her daughter’s name is Dinky. They both live in Ponyville, and we checked them with the stone you gave us, so they definitely aren’t changelings themselves.”

"That is good news, though I doubt that she could have escaped her chrysalis without the help of a changeling, as it has taken us a day to break through one ourselves.”

“We thought the same thing your majesty. Should we send for her so that you may question her yourself?”

“No, no nothing like that. I believe it will be enough to have my student, Twilight, check up on her when she returns tomorrow. I’m sure she is fully capable of finding anything suspicious and bringing it to light. Thank you, Flash, that will be all.”

With her side project having expanded to Ponyville in just a day, she made a mental note to investigate this matter herself, before stepping out of the throne room and turning down one of the many hallways to contemplate the many other things she had to deal with today.

Chapter 4

Scribe was slowly and carefully roused from his slumber by the gentle caress of sunlight making it’s way through the floorboards above. After taking a few minutes to reassure himself that he was indeed awake, he rolled himself out of his makeshift bed, dragging the blankets with him.

After untangling his limbs from the sheets, he stood up and groggily walked over to his table. It took another five minutes of staring at a wall for his brain to convince his body to stay awake, his legs not wanting to move properly so early in the morning. After he had shaken the last bits of sleep from his mind, he turned and walked up the stairs towards the muffled voices above.

When he had ascended the final steps, he took a look around the house, searching for his quirky hosts. He found Derpy and Dinky in the kitchen, the pair working on a breakfast of pancakes, juice and eggs. I thought ponies were vegetarians… he said to himself, wondering why they would be eating one of the things his teachers had said were taboo among the equines.

“Good morning.” Both ponies jumped at his voice, not used to having a third being in their home with them.

“Good morning Scribe, did you sleep well?”

“Yes, it's quite comfortable underground. Maybe you two would like to stay there tonight, just to give it a try?”

Looking between each other to find the same look of distaste on their faces, Derpy politely replied; “Um…no thank you Scribe. I’d much rather stay in my own bed tonight, if it’s all the same to you.”

“Eh, suit yourselves. Why are you two cooking eggs? I was told ponies are strict vegetarians.”

“Oh, well we are vegetarians for the most part, though almost everypony enjoys eggs and the occasional fish, but that’s more to do with personal tastes.”

“So it would be acceptable for me to hunt here?” asked a now excited changeling.

“H-hunt? What do you mean?”

“Well, you just said that ponies occasionally eat meat, so would it be alright if I went out to catch a rabbit or perhaps a wild chicken, or do they sell them in the markets?”

Appalled, both ponies’ faces turned a light green color before Derpy replied: “N-no, they don’t sell it! We don’t eat that kind of meat, just seafood and eggs!”

“But aren’t eggs meat?”

“No! I mean…kind of...I-I don’t know! You’re talking about red meat, right? The kind from living animals?”

“Yes.”

“Well then no, we do not eat or sell that. Why would you even want to eat something like that?”

“These fangs aren’t just for show, you know. Changelings eat meat when there isn’t any love to absorb. It isn’t quite as nourishing, but is definitely a good source of energy for us.”

“S-so you only eat it when there are no ponies to get love from?”

“Exactly. It tastes pretty good, too. Especially if you cook it like the griffons do.”

Disgusted by the mental image of a slab of bloody meat, Derpy turned back to her cooking, trying to erase those thoughts from her mind. Dinky, on the other hoof, had hopped up onto the counter to get a better look at Scribe’s razor-sharp teeth.

“Those look like they would hurt really bad if you bit somepony with them.”

“They probably would. That's why they're also used for fighting with other changelings over things like mates and food.”

“Mates? Are those like a special somepony?”

Looking between the innocent face of Dinky and the death glare her mother was giving him, Scribe decided to simply say, “That’s something you'll learn when you’re older.”

“Ugh, that’s what all the adults say whenever I ask about anything! Mom even said that when I asked about the words Applejack and Rainbow Dash shout at each other!”

“That’s because you’re too young to understand the things they’re saying, young filly. Now shush and eat your pancakes.”

After sitting down next to the agitated filly, Scribe had a plate of food placed in front of him by none other than the esteemed chef Derpy herself. “Eat up, you’re going to need the energy today.” Taking a bite out of the golden-brown stack of pancakes, he found them to have a very pleasant, sweet taste to them.

“Why is that?”

“Well, we thought that since you’ll be staying here for a while, you should get outside to see the town. Dinky offered to give you a tour while I’m at work today.”

“Work?” Scribe asked through a mouthful of pancakes.

“Yes silly, work. I deliver mail to ponies remember?” His memories returning to him, he nodded, recalling that she delivered things all across her country.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea for me to be seen by other ponies?”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine. After all, Pinkie Pie is the only one you really have to worry about. Everypony else will probably just wave, but I can think of a few who might want to actually meet you. Everypony here is so used to meeting newcomers at Pinkie’s parties that they usually don’t even bother to learn new ponies names beforehand. As long as you stick with Dinky, you should be fine.”

“Alright then. Is there anything I could help you with while we’re out and about, after all, I am your guest.”

“The only thing that I can think of is to pick up some apples for dinner tonight, but I can get those on my way home.”

“You sure? I could get them for you.”

“Oh no, it’s fine Scribe, Just have fun with Dinky today. Have you got a specific pony you’re going to look like today, incase I need to find you?”

“I’ll have to think of something new, incase the guards knew what my other ones are.” After a few moments of contemplation, Scribe came up with the perfect disguise to both match his new form’s eye and mane colors, but also work well for sightseeing. “I’ve got it!” he shouted, startling both ponies before him.

Completing the image in his mind, he stood up from the table and, in a flash of orange flames, transformed into this: A Pegasus with an orange coat, dark maroon mane and tail, yellow eyes and clean-shaven hooves. His disguise completed, he did a twirl for the happily applauding ponies in front of him, inspecting every inch of his disguise to make sure there were no flaws.

“Awesome!” Shouted an excited Dinky, running around Scribe to see every inch of his new body.

“Calm down dinky!”

“But mooooom, it’s so cool!”

“I know, but can you please stop staring at Scribe like he’s some sort of science experiment?”

“Fine mom. Can we get going now? I really want to introduce him to my friends!”

"I’m sure Scribe would love to meet some of your friends, preferably the ones who aren’t the little sisters of an element bearer…”

“Ok! I can introduce him to Twist, Featherweight and Pipsqueak! They aught to like you, Scribe!”

“Um, ok…” Scribe said nervously. In all honesty, he was probably the worst changeling he knew of when it came to social situations like this. He hoped with all his heart that he could make it through this tour and pass the trials of Dinky’s friends without alerting them of his true nature.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

It was now nearly noon, and the constant flying around town under the sweltering sun was beginning to take its toll of Scribe, as he wasn’t used to flying this long as a Pegasus. The tour was going wonderfully, the grey filly having taken him all across the area, showing him everything from the markets, to her schoolhouse, to Sweet Apple Acres and everything in between. And he meant everything.

Never in his life had Scribe thought he would become such an expert on a single town, but being directed every which way to see everything, no matter how insignificant, for hours on end, had that effect. “Where to next, Dinky?”

“Well, we’ve seen pretty much everything. The only thing I can think of that you would probably need to know about now is where the train station is, incase you ever need to go somewhere really quick.”

“Ok, lets go!”

“Ok, turn left and head towards the market, its right next to those.”

“I see it.” They then came in for a landing next to the train platform, next to the ticket booth. After looking around at the different things housed there, Scribe noticed a line of smoke traveling towards the station. “Is that one of the trains coming this way?”

Looking in the direction he was, Dinky spotted the column of ash and said, “Yep. Looks like it’s coming from Canterlot, too! You want to see who gets off? Maybe there’ll be somepony I know!”

“Sure Dinky. Do you want to wait here, or on a cloud?”

“Clouds are more comfy, so lets wait up there.”

“Ok” Scribe then took to the air, the filly on his back holding on tightly as they rose, eventually stopping midair to land on a cloud to watch the train from. From the much wider field of view, they were able to clearly watch the train as it chugged into Ponyville, eventually stopping at the station itself.

Rather than the passengers themselves stepping out onto the platform, dozens of guards instead flooded the platform, securing it before six rather important figures exited the royal carriage. “Look Scribe, it’s the elements!”

Taking a closer look at the half dozen mares who had supposedly defeated his Swarm, he took note of their nervous expressions, no doubt because of the escort and the fear of what made that escort necessary. They quickly made their way off of the platform to the local library (one of the many places showcased to him by his hyperactive tour guide).

They disappeared inside, though their guards did not, the presence of the armored pegasi making him nervous, even from the cloud he was hiding behind. “Can we get out of here Dinky? Those guards are making me a bit nervous…”

“Sure Scribe! Do you want to go meet my friends now? I’m sure they’ll like you!”

“I’d love to Dinky. Lets get going.” He then flew off into the sky, the filly on his back directing him to her and her friends’ hangout, where they would hopefully find the other children.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Scribe and Dinky soon approached one of the many houses on the street they had followed there. Dinky insisted that she and her friends always hung out at Twist’s house, the filly’s cellar being the perfect place for a secret clubhouse of sorts. As they approached the front door, Scribe began to reconsider weather or not he should knock, and hope Dinky could bluff her way past her friend’s parents.

“Are you sure I’m allowed to go into her basement with you? Isn’t that a bit weird?”

“Everything is weird in Ponyville Scribe, you just have to get used to it. I’m sure Twist’s mom wont mind, as long as you’re polite.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

They then walked up to the front door, Scribe knocking several times to get a voice from within shouting: “Just a minute!” After a short wait, an Earth pony mare with a red mane with white stripes and a white coat opened the door.

“Hello Miss Peppermint!”

“Oh, hello Dinky! You’re headed to the clubhouse, aren’t you?”

“Yep! Just came over to see how Twist an’ everypony else is doing!”

“Alright then, head on down after you tell me who that handsome hunk of a stallion behind you is.” Scribe blushed at the compliment, his cheeks turning a rosy red color underneath his coat.

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot; this is my cousin Scribe from Cloudsdale! He’s staying with me and mom for a little while to see if he can find a good job here in Ponyville, right cuz?”

Dinky whacked him behind the knee to break him out of his stupor, his hastily thought of response being; “Oh, um yeah. I’m looking for a job at city hall, or anywhere else they may need me.” STUPID, STUPID, STUPID! There’s no way she’ll believe that! He mentally berated himself.

“Well, I heard that Mayor Mare has been looking for someone to help out with the paperwork. Maybe she an help you out.”

“I sure hope so” Scribe said, both relieved that he had fooled her, and that he now had a possible job to add upon his new identity.

“Well, don’t let me hold you two up anymore.” She then took a step to the side, giving them a clear route to a door that Scribe assumed led to this ‘clubhouse’.

Dinky quickly bounced to the door and beckoned him over with a hoof and said “C’mon Scribe, don’t be a slowpoke!” He walked past Peppermint to the now open door, and followed the filly’s excited hoofsteps down the stairs. The first thing that he noticed when he got to the bottom was the smell; the basement smelt distinctly of both mildew and hayfries, the latter being gobbled down by a trio of foals who were shoveling the food into their mouths.

Dinky walked up to who he presumed were her friends and, to his surprise, shoved one of them aside to make room for her to join. Now Scribe was standing, alone, while he watched them all continue their gorging, as if this were a normal occurrence.

“Umm Dinky?” She took a break from the fries to lean over her shoulder and question: “What?”

“Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friends?”

“Oh, right. Hey guys, this is my cousin Scribe from Cloudsdale” Dinky said with a trace of both fear and worry.

The three remaining children took a break from their kingly feast to greet their new guest.

“Hi!”

“Hello”

“’Sup.”

All three of them appeared to scrutinize every inch of him before they apparently came to some sort of unanimous decision within each other’s minds, as they all began to glare at both Scribe and Dinky herself.

“You’re a bad liar Dinky,” said Featherweight.

“Yeah. You remember what happened last time you tried to trick us?” Said Pipsqueak.

“You’re doing the same thing that gave you away last time; acting all nervous whenever you say anything.” Said Twist.

“I-I d-don’t know what you’re talking about!” Dinky shouted defensively, confirming what the other children were saying.

“Suuuure Dinky, we’re not stupid you know. We’re not going to ignore everything besides his looks like mom does, so you may as well tell us who he is.” Looking between Dinky’s look of despair and the curious, yet powerful glares of the other foals only sped up Scribe’s decision.

“Do you really want to know?” Now getting their complete and undivided attention, Scribe used his magic to close the basement door, the glow of his arcane powers being spread around his forehead rather than on his now nonexistent horn. The foals all uttered their own versions of “Y-yes” as they looked between him and their now blocked escape route.

“Promise not to scream?”

“S-sure”

“Y-you bet”

“I p-promise”

Looking at both their faces and their emotions, he decided to trust them with his secret. In a flash of flame, his disguise melted away and he returned to his true body, his body growing larger and his chitin reforming to return him to his base form. As soon as the three children saw Scribe in his natural form, they did what came naturally and freaked out.

They all opened their mouths to scream bloody murder, but Scribe couldn’t have that, so he gripped their lips with his magic and held them closed, their muffled shrieks of terror reverberating around the basement. Dinky ran up to her restrained friends and tried her best to calm them down, saying “Stop Screaming! Miss Peppermint will hear!”

Instead of stopping, they screamed louder, trying to alert somepony who could help them. In response, Scribe put more of his magic into suppressing the sound, the light coming from his horn flaring as he sound proofed the room. With his spell completed, Scribe released his magic from the foals, letting them scream to their hearts content.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” was all that either Scribe or Dinky heard for a good minute before the filly and colts had finally emptied their seemingly never-ending supply of air.

“Are you done?” Scribe asked, hoping the foals would at least be calm enough to let him explain before they freaked out again.

They took a moment to look at each other’s fear-filled faces and then at Dinky’s look of complete exasperation before they come to their decision; “AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

_________________________________________________________________________________________

It took a further five minutes of screaming and gluing each of the foals to the basement wall to finally taper out their lungs and their energy, leaving them panting while they hung in near silence by their forelegs. Scribe and Dinky sat in front of them, chatting idly while they waited for their ‘prisoners’ to catch their breath.

“I didn’t know it was possible for something so small to scream that loud for that long. It just doesn’t seem physically possible to me, given how small your lungs must be.”

Dinky just shrugged and said, “Magic I guess. Maybe so we can call for help easier, but I guess it didn’t help much here.”

“Guess not. Are you guys calm enough to talk with us now?”

He got three “Mmm-hmm”’s from the ensnared filly and colts, and after taking a look at their individual emotions, decided to let them down. Scribe walked closer to his captives and gave each of their bonds a good, long lick. It only took a few seconds for the concrete to begin melting, drops of the sweet liquid patter pattering onto the tile flooring.

One by one, each of them slid off of the wall and back down onto their hooves before they took to scraping what remained of the goo out of their fur. After getting situated, they once again looked over at Scribe with outright fear, a fact they made no effort in hiding.

With a sigh Scribe said; “I know I might look a little scary, but I’m not going to hurt any of you. You can ask me some questions, if that would make you more comfortable around me.” Featherweight stepped forward, a slightly less fearful look on his face than what was on the others’.

“W-w-what are you?” Didn’t expect them to be so upfront about it. Oh well.

“I’m a changeling. We can shape shift into anypony, fly and do magic. That’s pretty much all there is to us, besides having to feed off of love or other positive emotions.”

Next it was Twist who stepped up next to Featherweight, asking “You feed off of emotions? How is that supposed to work?” Sure, ask one of the few questions I can't properly answer.

“I don’t know the exact mechanics of how it works, but my understanding is that we just pull energy from other sentient creatures in the form of emotions. The stronger the emotion, the more energy we get. At least, that’s what I was always told.”

Last but not least, Pipsqueak stepped up with his friends and asked “W-why are you with Dinky if you’re not really her cousin? Is she a changeling too? Are you gonna turn us into changelings like Dinky?”

“Well, I’m with Dinky because I’m staying with her and her mother for a little while. She is not a changeling, and neither is her mother. I’m not entirely sure if ponies can be turned into changelings, but I wasn’t planning on doing anything to you three until you started screaming, so sorry about the whole sticking you to the wall thing.”

They looked between each other for a moment before Twist blurted out “Don’t mention it. I guess we should have listened to you instead of screaming, so can you forgive us?”

Not expecting the filly to apologize to him, Scribe said “Of course, you did nothing wrong, I was the one who scared you so I should be the one begging for forgiveness.”

“Aww, there’s no need for that! You want to just start over? We can forget this ever happened, if you want.”

“Thank you, I’d like that.”

“Ok, so I’m Twist, this is Featherweight, Pipsqueak and I guess you already met Dinky.”

“I did. My name is Scribe, and I’m pleased to meet you all…again.” He then stuck out his foreleg in a gesture he had been told ponies used in greetings, but apparently his instructors were wrong, as the foals ignored the leg and elected to simply tackle him to the ground in a powerful hug.

It took a few moments for Scribe’s mind to process that he was now on the floor, as three foals being able to knock his massive frame to the ground was not something he thought possible. Nevertheless, Dinky soon joined in, jumping atop Scribe and her friends and hugging him the hardest of all.

Still not quite understanding both how and why the foals had felt the need to hug him, Scribe didn’t feel the need to complain as he was already receiving a trickle of delicious affection from each of them, though Dinky’s was by far the most scrumptious.

“Um, can you guys get off of me now?” With a chorus of giggles, the children did as he bid, untangling their limbs from one another and stepping off of him, and looking between each other excitedly, no doubt planning something.

Scribe stood back up, and looked down at the foals, who all had maniacal looks on their faces that could strike fear into the heart of anything, so terrifying that they would send Timberwolves and Manticores scrambling to get away from them. “W-what?” Scribe asked, hoping for the best.

“Well…” Twist started, “I was kinda wondering if you could change into one of us, not for anything bad, just for fun…” He sifted through their emotions, and finding only curiosity and excitement, he decided it wouldn’t be the end of the world if he humored them.

“I can.” He then vanished in a storm of flame, and in his spot a moment later was a miniature Twist, grinning just as much as the real deal.

“THAT’S SO COOL!” They all gave their own versions of this as they rushed up to him, begging him to do them next, with crazed grins stretched over each of their faces. This is gonna be a long day…

_________________________________________________________________________________________

After a good hour and a half with Dinky’s friends, Scribe had finally gotten himself out of the clubhouse with Dinky in tow.

“Aww, do we really have to leave now?”

“C’mon Dinky, they were having me turn into them with different mane styles and as different types of ponies for Chrysalis’ sake.”

“But it’s so cool to know what you would look like without actually having to change anything!”

“I know, but it was getting pretty boring, even with he hayfries you kept giving me.”

“Ugh, fine. Mom might have gotten home early, so I guess we could go check in with her.”

“Good idea. Hop on.”

Dinky then leapt up and onto Scribe’s back with the gracefulness of a three-legged cat, just barely keeping herself from falling.

“You alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Lets Go!” With that, Scribe took off, flying above the rooftops of Ponyville for a few minutes before Derpy’s house cam into view. With a flourish of his wings, he landed on the topmost balcony and went inside. After gliding down to the bottom floor and Dinky had gotten off his back, he took a look around to see if Derpy was around.

“Hey Derpy, are you home?” He got no answer, so he just assumed that she was still out delivering things, and would be home later.

“Hey Scribe, whatcha doing?”

“Nothing really. Do you have any ideas for what we can do while your Mom is delivering stuff?”

“Well, since Twilight’s back, we could go to the library! I’m sure you could find something you like there.”

“But isn’t Twilight one of the elements? The elements that fought in Canterlot, who will probably be very angry should they find out what I am?”

“Don’t worry Scribe, she doesn’t know what you look like, and you just need to act normal and she’ll let you borrow something.”

“I guess I could go, just don’t give everything away like you did at your friends’ house.” He said with a glare.

“Hehe, sorry about that.” Dinky replied nervously. She then pulled herself back onto Scribe’s back and got herself settled, nestling her head into his mane. He hopped up into the air and spread his wings, flying back out of the house and towards the Golden Oaks Library.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After a few minutes of flying around Ponyville, Scribe and Dinky finally landed a little ways away from library, the guards having set it up like a fortress.

“Do you think they’ll even let us in? The guards don’t look very friendly to me.”

“Don’t worry Scribe, Twilight always lets ponies in for books, it’s kinda the only thing she does when she’s not on an adventure with the other elements.”

“Alright then. Remember; if I get caught, your mom will ground you forever.”

“Whatever.” They then made their way up to the library’s front door, but were stopped a little ways away by a pair of guards.

“Halt, no one is to disturb the elements.”

“But we just wanted to get some books from the library!”

“Too bad. Nopony is to bother the elements unless it’s an emergency or—“ He was interrupted by the sound of the front door slamming open, the library’s owner standing in the doorway with eyes of blazing fury.

“I THOUGHT I SAID THAT THE LIBRARY WOULD STAY OPEN, OR DID YOU NOT HEAR ME?”

“But Miss Sparkle—“

“BUT NOTHING! I HAVE ENOUGH TO DEAL WITH RIGHT NOW WITHOUT YOU KEEPING PONIES FROM MY LIBRARY!”

“But they could be—“

“I DON’T CARE! JUST GO PATROLL SOMETHING, AND LEAVE THESE PONIES ALONE!” The guards looked between each other, and then to the furious unicorn before them. They made up their minds a moment later, as they took off into the sky and resumed their previous route.

Scribe and Dinky looked back at Twilight with a bit of fear, the unicorn being a bit terrifying when she was mad.

“Now then, would you like to come inside?” Twilight asked, once again as calm and cheerful as ever. They both nodded their heads rapidly, not wanting to aggravate Twilight further, lest she turn her wrath upon them instead.

“Ok, come on in.” They followed Twilight through the door, past the kitchen, and into the library/living room. There they found the remaining elements of harmony seated around the room, lounging in chairs, or in the case of Rainbow Dash, resting atop a cloud she had brought inside.

“So Dinky, who’s your new friend? I’ve never seen him around town, so is he new here?” As soon as the words left her mouth, the pink pony on the couch sprung from her spot, and into Scribe’s face.

“OHMYGOSHYOUREANEWPONYANDIHAVENTBEENPREPARINGYOURPARTANDINEEDTOGETSTARTEDORELSEIWONTBEABLETOSAYIVETHROWNAPARTYFOREVERYPONYINTOWNANDTHATLLMAKEMESADANDTHENYOULLBESADBECAUSEYOUWONTGETYOURPARTY!”

It took a moment for exactly what she said to register in his mind due to the speed of her speech, though Scribe still accounted for every word and quickly replied, “It’s alright Miss, you don’t need to throw any sort of party for me.”

“Pssh, yeah I do! I’m Pinkie Pie, party planner extraordinaire! Me not throwing you a party would be like Rainbow Dash not accepting an invitation to the Wonderbolts!”

“Oooookaaay…”

One of the other mares, the one with the alabaster coat and a curly purple mane approached him from the side and whispered into his ear, “Just go with it, dear. She’ll throw a nice party for you and that’ll be the end of it, just try not to make a bigger deal out of it, and she wont go overboard.”

“Gotcha.”

One of the other ponies present, this time the orange mare with the blonde mane, came forward and asked, “So jus' who are ya, and why are ya here wit’ Dinky?”

“My name is Scribe Miss…”

“Applejack”

“Applejack. Dinky was showing me around town today and said I could pick up some books here if I wanted too.” This time Twilight came forward, a crazed grin upon her face.

“You sure can! What would you like to borrow? Anything specific?” Scribe took a look around the treehouse, his eyes scanning over the thousands of titles eagerly.

“Could I perhaps borrow some of the Daring Do books? I’ve only read the first one and a bit of the second, and I’d like to continue the series.”

“DARING DO?” The voice came from up above their heads, originating from the prismatic Pegasus who was now peeking over the top of her cloud with barely restrained excitement.

“…Yes…”

“Awesome! I’m her biggest fan! You should really read all of the books, and then tell me which one is your favorite! Mine is the fourth one where Daring Do has to fight past Ahuizotl in the Forgotten Clouds and she—“ her spoiling the book was halted by Twilight gripping RD with her magic and pulling her down to the ground.

“What did I say about spoiling books for everypony else?” Rainbow looked around at everypony else for help, but none came.

“Uh…not to do it…because…it upsets ponies?”

“Ugh, Rainbow, you’re impossible. So Scribe, I’ll go get those for you, so just hang out here for a little while.” She then turned around and left, going into the maze of bookshelves, leaving Scribe alone with her friends.

“So Scribe, how did you end up with Dinky showing you around town?” asked Rarity.

“Oh, I’m her cousin. I’m visiting her and Derpy from Cloudsdale while I see if I can find a job here. If not, I can always work back at the weather factory.”

“I see. Have you gone to Town Hall yet? I hear they are always looking for help with the constant bureaucracy.”

“I haven’t yet, but you’re actually the second pony to suggest that to me today. Perhaps I can stop by later, or maybe tomorrow morning.” Just then, Twilight came back into the room, holding over a dozen books in her magical grasp.

“Here you go; every single Daring Do book, save for the first one.” Scribe looked at the stack of books in awe, as they were the ones he had sought for years, but had never been able to acquire. Instead of a verbal apology, he rushed over to Twilight and gave her the biggest hug he could, so powerful was the hug that he swore he could hear her ribs creaking.

“Hehe, you’re welcome Scribe, but could you stop crushing me?” He quickly released her, letting her front hooves drop back down to the ground while he gave her the biggest grin he could muster.

“Thank you so much Twilight! I’ve been looking forward to reading these for forever!”

“Don’t mention it, just remember to return them!”

“I promise I will! I shall protect them with my life” he said while putting a hoof to his chest and striking a rather heroic pose. Twilight and the rest of the girls chuckled at his silliness, while Dinky pulled herself back atop Scribe, having difficulty climbing through her giggling.

Twilight then used her magic to place the books atop Scribe’s back, right between his wing joints to keep them relatively stable. Dinky had to ride sidesaddle on Scribe’s flanks, the cushy surface making an excellent place for her to lay, though she did have to hold on to his cutie marks with all four legs to keep from slipping much.

“Thanks so much Twilight! See you around in town, I guess!” He took off into the sky to a chorus of goodbyes, and set a course for his new place of residence, loving the way that the day had turned out so far. This town really is as nice as Derpy said! Even my sworn enemies are nice to me!

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Golden Oaks Library,

A few seconds after Scribe left

“He seemed a little strange…”

“Strange? How about just plain weird!”

“Oh shush, I know he was a tad…unusual, but he seemed like a real gentlecolt to me.”

“Typical, Rarity, you always focus on their looks!”

“You take that back Rainbow Dash!”

“Make me, pri—“

“GIRLS!” Rarity and RD stopped their debate for a moment to heed their unicorn friend’s call.

“Yes darling?”

“Will you two stop arguing? I’m trying to talk to Applejack!” Both Rainbow and Rarity looked between each other for a moment before they turned back to Twilight and made a zipping motion over their mouths with a hoof.

“Thank you. Now Applejack, you were saying?”

“Well I was just tryin’ ta tell ya that he wasn’t bein’ very truthful with us.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, most of the time he seemed to be tellin’ the truth, ‘specially about them there books, but when said he was Dinky’s cousin an’ all that about himself, he was lyin' an awful lot.”

“And you would know this…how?”

“Element of honesty, Twi, it’s kinda my thing.”

“Right. Well, lets not freak out just yet, it could mean anything; maybe he just misspoke, or just wasn’t comfortable telling us who he was…”

“Or maybe ‘e’s one o’ those darn changelings, Twi.” Twilight looked between her friends, each with a different expression on their face. Applejack and Rainbow Dash held looks of anger, probably that they could have just been in the presence of something they both wanted revenge on.

Rarity had a look of disgust, no doubt aimed toward mental images of pony-like, chitinous figures. Fluttershy had a combination of fear and curiosity written all over her face, fear of what the changelings had done to them, but her natural curiosity towards all living things was making its presence known.

Pinkie Pie, as per the norm, had her usual look of hyperactive excitement and joy upon her face, drowning out any possible emotions that Twilight may have seen.

“I’m not sure, Applejack. They could have been thrown all across Equestria for all we know, so it would be safe to assume a couple of them might crash here.”

“So we should be out there, tracking those darn bugs down!”

“Lets not be hasty, AJ. For all we know, they were all being controlled by their queen, and with her gone they may be as dangerous as a lost foal.”

“Or they could be waitin’ to attack us again!”

“That’s definitely possible, which is why I think we should write to the Princess about this. She’ll know what’s best, after all she’s seen more than any of us probably ever will. SPIIIIIIKE!”

“YEAH TWILIGHT?”

“C’MERE, I NEED YOU TO WRITE A LETTER!”

“SURE!” A few moments later, Spike made his way down the stairs, bringing with him paper, pen and ink. He set up the paper and inkpot on one of the nearby desks and took the quill in his hand. “Ready Twilight!”

“Dear Princess Celestia,

My friends and myself are writing you to ask your opinion on a rather important matter; what has happened to the changelings. As you know, they were blasted out of Canterlot, but to where is unknown. We have reason to believe that some of these changelings may have made their way to towns and cities such as Ponyville, and ask for your opinion on how we should proceed. There are already some individuals that I would ask your permission to investigate, but I promise not to make any rash decisions without your approval. We await your reply,

Your Faithful Student (and her friends),

Twilight Sparkle,

Applejack,

Rainbow Dash,

Fluttershy,

Pinkie Pie and Rarity.”

“Got it!” Spike then sent the letter in a flurry of magical flames, the letter disintegrating into nothing, as it traveled to it’s recipient.

“Well” started Pinkie Pie “Who wants to go to Sugarcube Corner for lunch!”

“Pinkie, it’s almost 3:00.”

“So?” she said with the same happy smile.

Twilight just facehoofed along with the rest of her friends and said “Ugh, Pinkie, you’re so weird sometimes…”