A Changeling That Changed

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight Sparkle shouted as she burst through the door to the Princesses' bedroom. "I need your help!"

She stood there for a moment before starting to breathe heavily, as she realized just how tired and winded she was. The young alicorn had just raced across half of Canterlot as fast as she possibly could, and was understandably exhausted.

The recently awoken Princess was immediately attentive to her old student, and even though she sluggishly rubbed the sleep from her eyes she was wide awake the second the mare had come through the door.

"Twilight." Celestia said in a worried and stern voice as she arose from her bed. "What seems to be the matter?"

The Princess paused for a moment.

"And why are you sweating so heavily?"

The purple alicorn continued to breathe heavily for a few seconds before responding to the question.

"P-Princess..." Twilight stuttered out, still tired from her sprint

"R-ran here..." She slowly got the words out between each breath, swaying side to side as she was exhausted. "M-Merrick... N-need.. Need Princess Luna!"

She continued to breathe heavily before flopping to the floor, and Celestia walked over to her with a concerned look.

"Twilight, I can't help you if you don't calm down and explain." Celestia said in a calm and comforting voice. "Please, take deep breaths and then tell me what you need to say."

She paused for a moment before thinking about what Twilight had managed to say.

"I'll send a message to my sister asking her to come immediately."

"Th-Thank you." Twilight said, slowly feeling her heart rate slowing down to a normal pace."

"Tell me Twilight, why in Equestria are you so exhausted? And what is going in that you would be here in such a panic this late at night?"

"It's Merrick Princess." Twilight said, finally seeming to have caught her breath. "I think there might be a problem with Merrick."

She paused for a moment.

"And I'm winded because I sprinted all the way across Canterlot so I could inform you immediately."

"Why did you run when you could simply have flown?" The Princess smirked. "You do have wings my faithful student."

*                                                                            *                                                                                              *

Princesses Twilight, Luna, and Celestia sat together around a small table decorated with tea and small snack foods within the Canterlot castle, preparing to discuss that which had Twilight concerned.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice sister." Princess Celestia said to Luna.

"It is nothing." Luna replied. "Watching over the night can get rather boring at times, and it seems nothing is happening I need or be involved in."

She paused for a moment and took a sip of the tea cup sat in front of her.

"Now, I would like to know why I was called."

"I am unsure why Twilight needed you and I here, but it seems to be something urgent."

The sisters look at Twilight, who had been sitting there dropping sugar cubes into her tea and seeing how long it took them to dissolve.

"Oh? Me?" Twilight said startled. "Sorry, I got distracted."

She quickly pulled out the notepad she had been scribbling on and reviewed what she had written.

"As you know Princess, Merrick has seemed to be... ill recently, for reasons we are unable to determine." She flipped the page. "While everypony else was content on wishing him well and heading out for a night in Canterlot, I spent some time writing theories of what could be wrong with him, and the change in his pattern of behavior."

She showed the note pad to the two princesses sitting across from her.

"As you can see illustrated there, I've come to the conclusion that he's been acting more sad, nervous and generally shifty. It seems as if there's something going on he doesn't want to tell us about, either due to fear of backlash, or because it's... something more."

Twilight sighed loudly before flipping the note pad once more, revealing the two theories she had crafted.

"I decided that there were two main possibilities as to what the problem with him is." She sighed once more. "This is where my extreme worry comes in."

"Merrick is my friend now. A good one too, which is something I would never expect to be able to say about a Changeling. However I've grown concerned for his mental health, and I fear he is experiencing some kind of emotional problems with his discovery of love."

"Changelings aren't supposed to be able to do that, and the fact that he can makes him very... special, something different. The fact that he's learning to love could be the cause of his nervousness, fear, sadness, and suspicious way of acting." She took a sip of her tea, trying to slow herself down to make sure the Princesses would hear everything. "I believes he is having a type of emotional overload, one which is causing him to act differently, with love being the centerpiece of the problem."

She flipped the note pad again, took a bite of one of the small snack foods on the table and then continued with her speech.

"That is only one option however." Twilight said. "The other one is more grim and worrying, which is why I hurried here as soon as possible."

"I believe that it is possible that Merrick is working with the Changeling Hive again, as an inside soldier." She stopped talking, and breathed a heavy, shaking breath.

There was silence than, one that accompanied a tension so strong you could almost reach out and feel it, a silence so deep that it was like the dark, and neither Princess responded for several moments.

"Let me just say that this theory has a very, very, very small possibility of being true." She said. "Merrick speaks so low of the Hive and there ways, and with great remorse of the attack on Canterlot, and I don't believe he was simply trying to trick us. The chances of that being true are so slim it may not even be worth acting on whatsoever."

"But the chance is still there." Princess Celestia said. "Both of your theories are very possible. I would send guards to his room immediately, yet it seems as if you trust him. I would like to leave this situation up to you for the most part as he is your friend, and thereby your responsibility."

"Thank you Princess" Twilight said with a bow. "I already have a plan in place on how we can discover what is going, and possibly help him if he is indeed experiencing emotional problems."

"Princess Luna, I would like you to monitor his dreams, and see if you can deduce how he is emotionally by viewing them, as well as try and help him thought them. I am aware you are busy, but I feel as though this is important."

"Fear not purple one, for I shall assist you with this Changeling dilemma." Princess Luna said with enthusiasm. "Dream monitoring is my  specialty, and I will discover if he is having any emotional issues, or possibly see if he has any connection to the Hive."

"Thank you Princess Luna." Twilight said gratefully before returning her attention to Celestia. "I have one more step before the plan can start. This is a test if sorts for Merrick, a test of his loyalty, and a chance to assist him."

"Princess Celestia, do you think you can call Cadence here?" Twilight said. "I feel as though she may be able to help him learn how to deal with the overload that learning to love is causing. And if he is still with the Hive... he would attempt to drain her of her love, which would reveal his true nature."

Princess Celestia thought for a moment.

"I believe it can be done Twilight."

*                                                                            *                                                                                              *

The next morning came quickly for Twilight who had fallen asleep very shortly after the theory crafting meeting.

So far nothing eventful had happened in the investigation, but the largest thing that happened was Merrick actually leaving his room in the morning.

The six friends were sitting around at breakfast, without Merrick however as he had refused to come out of his room once again, claiming he still felt ill, yet he might feel healthy enough to come out of the room shortly.

Not thirty minutes later while they sat around the breakfast table he greeted them with a smile, acting more floaty and happy than ever, seeming as giddy as a filly who had just received her cutie mark.

He sat with them at breakfast, joining in the merriment as he usually did, and of course playing around with Pinkie Pie for most of the time.

After they had all finished eating however Merrick's attitude had shifted from the happy-go-lucky and giddy attitude he had when he came out to breakfast, into a rather nervous and panicked state.

He seemed to be scared of something and was extremely on edge, even getting upset with Pinkie Pie for pulling a lesser practically joke on him that had scared him even more than it would have a pony like Fluttershy.

Merrick quickly left and ran back to his room with little explanation of the sudden attitude change besides muttering something about not feeling well.

Twilight found the situation peculiar, and wrote down his emotional problems in her notepad. The mornings even had bolstered her theory that he was simply experiencing problems with his emotions.

*                                                                            *                                                                                              *

After breakfast five of the six ponies had left to go and explore Canterlot once more, and partake in several things they had wanted to try out since their arrival in the city.

All of them but Twilight Sparkle went, as she had "Royal Business" to attend too, in her next meeting with Princesses Celestia and Luna, with whom she discussed any new revelations regarding Merrick.

"I explored the sleeping mind of the young Changeling." Princess Luna said in a stern tone to the other two Alicorns in the room. "I have nothing to report about his dreams that would reflect upon and or effect the actions he takes in his waking state. I will try again tonight when I have the time, and hope that my investigation comes up with more than merely disappointment."

The Princess of the Night solemnly bowed her head.

"I apologize deeply that I am unable to assist you in your investigation as of yet."

"Do not be upset with yourself little sister." Celestia said, lifting Luna's head back up. "This investigation mainly belongs to Twilight, and if you or I cannot do much to help it there is no point in either of us being upset at ourselves."

She smiled at her younger sister in a warm and loving manner.

"Try again tonight, and perhaps you will see the truth of the matter." She paused for a moment to think of her next words. "If you are unable to see it, than perhaps the rest of Twilights plan will uncover what we need to now."

The white alicorn Princess than turned to her former student.

"And on that topic I have news to report." The Princess withdrew a piece of parchment from a nearby drawer, and levitated it to Twilight Sparkle. "Princess Cadence has responded to our request she come to Canterlot. She says if everything goes as expected she should be here by tomorrow."

Twilight lit up at this new development.

"Good! With Princess Cadence here we're one step closer to clearing Merrick's name and getting to the bottom of this situation!" She pulled out her notepad, rapidly flipping through pages. "Speaking of, I have a development based on Merrick's behavior this morning."

"Oh?" Celestia said, slightly cocking her head to the side in curiosity. "What might that be?"

Twilight found the page on her notes and then quickly launched into detail of Merrick's apparent mood swings, and how they could be evidence that he was indeed experiencing emotional problems.

"After watching him carefully at breakfast this morning it appeared he was indeed going through emotional changes, the speed of which are unknown." She said before flipping the notepad towards the Princesses, and showing them some of the things she had written down, specifically pointing to a graph. "After he left I drew this up as fast as I could, as it detailed his mood changes throughout the meal."

"As you can see, his mood slowly shifted throughout, going from extremely happy like he normally is to a slow descent into a nervous and panicked state, as if something was bothering him." She pointed at the last part of the graph. "As you can see here, by the time he left to go back to his room he seemed almost scared, and also seemed to sound very depressed and upset."

She paused for a moment.

"There is no clear pattern to these emotions, as if something inside of him is out of place."

The three Alicorns than discussed intensely what could be going on within the Changelings mind, and Luna vowed to find out more that night.

*                                                                            *                                                                                              *

Merrick tossed and turned within his sleep, struggling intensely with his emotions even within the sacred realm of the dream world, which normally seemed to protect ponies and Changelings alike from whatever it was that ailed them.

For Merrick however, the dreams only seemed to intensify the struggles he felt within, at least that night.

The past nights since he had started to feel so emotionally confused his dreams had been a place of refuge, which is why he had remained so solitary within the room he had been given to sleep in.

On this night however the dreams seemed to reflect what he was feeling, feelings of intense love that he couldn't seem to control.

It was almost as if he was falling in love with everypony around him, and he couldn't control it, and then as soon as this romantic feeling had come it would dissipate in an instance, as though it had never even existed.

In this particular dream Merrick found himself in the halls of Canterlot, coming out of the room he had resided in.

Of course the Changeling was unaware he was in a dream, allowing his mind to play tricks on him based on his emotions of love, and it had seemed that in this particular dream his brain decided to latch onto Rainbow Dash in the form of love.

He had never felt romantic emotions for the pony before, so when he saw her standing there in from of him he didn't understand why he was so excited, but he didn't question it as he didn't know any better in his dreaming state.

There she stood in front of his room. The brave and adventurous pegasus had seemed to be waiting for him.

"Took ya long enough!" She said happily before trotting over to him.

Merrick was confused.

He was unaware he had some reason to be in a hurry, nor did he remember making any arrangements with Rainbow Dash.

Of course this was merely a trick of his mind, creating a situation around him that would only cause him further strife regarding his emotional situation.

"When you ask a mare out on a date you're not supposed to keep her waiting silly!" Rainbow Dash said, before giving him a peck on the cheek.

Merrick couldn't help but think her behavior struck him as odd, but he couldn't quite place his hoof on anything entirely wrong however, besides the fact the mare was acting more cutesy than she normally would, so he ignored this fact and followed her lead.

"C'mon, I wanna go to my room for our date!" She said excitedly. "I ordered food and everything, we can even snuggle!"

Merrick grew even more confused at the pony's attitude.

She was acting entirely different from how she normally did, even seeming excited at the prospect of snuggling.

As they entered the door to her room he started to feel his sudden feelings for Rainbow Dash fade, and the world seemed or wash over him in a sudden flash of white light.

When Merrick opened his eyes once more he was in a whole other mildly romantic situation, the other one seemingly disappearing without a trace.

This time the mare that stood in front of him was the quite, cute, and shy mare named Fluttershy, who gently flipped her hair and looked Merrick in the eyes with a blush.

"Are you ready for our date?" She said softly, kissing him directly on the lips after the words left her mouth.

Merrick was confused by her sudden action, as the mare had normally seemed to be quiet, shy, and too afraid to perform many actions out of her worry she would upset somepony.

He realized that the situation did not make sense, and his feelings for her seemed to drop away as quickly as they had with a Rainbow Dash, and the second she removed her lips from his he opened his eyes to yet another romantic situation, this time with Pinkie Pie.

This continued several more times in a row, each time his feelings for each pony seeming to diminish as quickly as they came.

Luna watched on in curiosity, slowly starting to understand.

Eventually however the Princess grew tired of watching, and decided to intervene on the Changelings dreams, bringing a stop to his endless cycle of false romances.

Merrick was in the middle of receiving a hug from Twilight Sparkle when everything around him seemed to stop, and the world his dreams had built around him crumbled into what was merely a realm that he could not describe as "dreamlike".

Princess Luna than revealed herself to the frightened Changeling.

"P-Princess Luna?" Merrick said in shock before bowing.

"Oh no, I'm not going to have a romantic dream about somepony I've never even met am I?" Merrick said in an exasperated tone, clearly tired of the endless cycle.

The Princess of the Night couldn't help but smile slightly at the way he said, but quickly reassured him.

"Do not fear young Changeling, I am merely here to intervene on the cycle you seem to fear." The Princess said while approaching the Changeling. "If allowed I would also like to assist you with what you seem to be feeling."

Merrick lit up at the last words, and quickly started begging the Princess to tell him what was happening.

"Please do tell Princess!" Merrick said in a begging tone. "I'm desperate to know what's wrong with me! I don't understand why I seem to feel such strong emotions towards my friends!"

"I cannot say for certain what ails you," the Princess began solemnly.

Merrick frowned at this.

"But I can say this: You seem to be experiencing some form of problem relating to love. Perhaps it stems from you newly acquiring the emotion."

"You seem to be experiencing problems with it, as the emotion seems to be overpowering the others within you, almost as if you're overflowing emotionally."

Merrick smiled at her.

Finally it seemed like somepony understood.

"Y-yes Princess!" He managed to stutter out. "Th-that seems to describe exactly how I feel!"

The Princess moved towards him.

"But, even thought the emotions are false towards many of the friends you have made it seems like they are true for one of them." She said in a more hushed and knowing tone.

Merrick blushed, and seemed to become flustered.

"Wh-what do you mean by that?" He said, quite clearly embarrassed.

The Princess of the Night giggled to herself.

"As I monitored your dreams I kept track of how you acted in each one." She said. "There was one pony however where the feelings seemed more intensified than with the rest."

She looked down at the Changeling and stared him in the eyes.

"Do you believe this to be true?" She asked.

Merrick looked back into her eyes for several seconds, thinking of a response.

He thought back to what Applejack and Rainbow Dash had said to him on the train.

"I-I'm not sure yet..." He said softly, in a hurt tone. "It could be real... or merely just part of my mind."

He paused for a moment and his eyes began to tear up.

"I just don't know." He said. "And even if I did, it wouldn't matter."

Princess Luna's ears perked up.

"Oh?" She said. "And why is that?"

"Because I'm a Changeling, and she's a pony." He said sadly, tears beginning to slowly trickle from his eyes.

Luna smiled.

"Love can bloom between the most different of people young Changeling." She said.

"I believe there is someone who can help you soon enough." The Princess said with a smile.

"When you awake tomorrow, expect your struggles to be over with soon." She said in a reassuring tone.

Her horn lit up with magic, and she gently touched the Changeling with it, the magic streaming from her to him.

"Now sleep peacefully young one." She said. "You will be better in due time."

*                                                                            *                                                                                              *

The next morning Twilight Sparkle awoke with a large smile on her face, her excitement obvious.

Not only had Princess Luna visited her in her sleep and informed her that it appeared Merrick was indeed experiencing emotional problems and not the more sinister alternative, but that he also might genuinely be in love.

These things excited her greatly, as she loved occasionally watching other ponies find romance, and he apparently had a quite possible crush on one of her best friends.

Of course she was slightly annoyed that it might not be the truth, and could just be a part of his emotional struggle.

Even though these things excited the young alicorn, the more important thing that was putting so much pep into her step was the fact Princess Cadance would be arriving in Canterlot soon.

Twilight quickly went through her morning routine, but rushed from the castle without stopping for breakfast, trying to hurry to the train station as quickly as she could.

"I get to see Cadance, I get to see Cadance!" She sang to herself softly as she glided along the streets.

She soon arrived at the train station, and not a moment too early as the train from the Crystal empire arrived almost as soon as she did.

A red carpet rolled out and two guards exited the train, standing at attention as the Princess exited, seemingly ready to stop any threat that may come after the Princess.

"Princess Cadance!" Twilight exclaimed with a smile as the candy colored Alicorn exited the train.

They both rushed over to each other, and bowed to one another.

They were only able to do so for a moment before giggling a little to one another.

"I don't think I'll ever be used to the bowing." Twilight said.

"I don't think I will either." Princess Cadance said with a smile. "And I've been a Princess for a decent bit longer than you."

They both laughed a little, even if the conversation wasn't a comedic one.

When they were together, the two Princesses couldn't help but be happy. Together the mood always seemed light, and memories of the past always caused a smile.

"Maybe instead of bowing we could do the dance?" Twilight said in excitement.

Princess Cadance was quiet for a moment before giving Twilight a reprimanding look.

"Twilight!" Cadance exclaimed with a gasp, putting on the most fake pretentious voice she could. "We can't do such silly things in public! You're a Princess now!"

Twilight began to apologize, seemingly not getting the joke.

She stopped when Princess Cadance smiled at her and began to giggle, as she realized that the older Princess was just playing a prank on her, and began to laugh along with her.

They began to walk towards the castle together, before Cadance leaned in and whispered into Twilights ear:

"We can act as silly as we want when we get to the Castle."