Author's Note

The audio reading for this installment can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FWzARen_2s

Entries 8 and 9

Entry 8 – October 9th, 1122, 16:00

Starfall preemptively told me she didn’t know a good recipe for bread and informed me that she’d sent all the blueberry stuff to Jackson and that he, in exchange, left a pretty goblet replete with a red, metallically scented liquid for me on the table. I can’t believe that I believed her. I actually rushed to the pantry to see if all the jam was still there, not bothering to check for the goblet along the way. The hidden blueberry things were actually on the side porch, but, not knowing any better, I hurried into the kitchen to see the goblet. When I found that the goblet was absent, I knew that I had been played. She had apparently bought herself a camera during her outing and took the opportunity to try it out on my reaction to seeing no goblet.

She’s lucky that I don’t have a short fuse for her antics and lucky to have magic to stop my rampage if she goes too far.

This is what I get for a grazing telling of Starfall’s personal life to you. She reminded me yesterday that I don’t need to write in here every single day, and she utilized the extra time I devoted to potion development to read you.

I want to instill that, although what I may write of her may seem to antagonize her, I am wholly grateful that she is an ally and that I am not actually Starfall’s prey. I am proud to say I have a friend in her; these past months have forged an immense comradery in us.

What’s also fortunate is that the formula worked as intended with some modifications I incorporated at the end of the day yesterday. Today has been spent trying to discern the consistency of the results, and the signs are promising: the effect doesn’t seem to fade from use to use on the same Changeling. Tomorrow will be spent further corroborating this. I’ll also have to see if traditional formulae used to neutralize flavors don’t influence the potion’s effect. Princess Luna will hear from us very soon, if all goes as planned.

I think it goes without saying, but still I’ll mention that Starfall also partakes in the experiments. Not only is there a certain level of objectivity of results to be obtained by her, but there is also information to be had regarding whether the formula affects her differently as, being a unicorn, she has somewhat different physiology. More tests will have to be done for other equestrian races, but, knowing the properties of the materials I’m dealing with, there’s slim chance it’ll affect them differently.

I’m so anxious to see this through. I’m not sure I can really sleep, so I have prepared a potion to curb my restlessness, and Starfall is on standby to magically induce my sleep if it still evades me. I think I have a big day tomorrow.

Entry 9 – October 10th, 1122 14:00

I could just sing. It works! I’ve made several samples, and along with my notes they are currently being sent to the Inquisition’s authorities for examination. Word will not be spread yet of it, but we’ll see it perform soon. The test will be set much sooner than I had imagined.

I gaze at a phial of the fluid I keep on me. It is not blood-red like the one of my Cutie Mark, but it’s crimson. It’s fairly opaque stuff, and a sort of glistering precipitate from the flavor neutralizer continues to eddy when I whirl it in my hoof. I look into it, and my past hardships seem to melt. I see my family smiling at me for doing well in my pursuit and doing good for ponykind.

Starfall formally authorized me to neutralize my first two Changelings. I bottled 651 and 652’s vital fluids in several jars upstairs. Perhaps this station will resume its previous interrogative purpose. Until the Inquisition wants it back, though, it’s mine; I wouldn’t trade this place for anything but Chrysalis’s head itself.

Starfall is pacing in the study, and so would I if I wasn’t currently occupied. I want to get in some final details before I relinquish this book. The Inquisition has expressed interest in keeping a “living copy” of this. Basically, they’re going to enchant this book and another like it so that, whenever I write in it, the writing appears in the other book. Sounds like means for forgery, but it’s something. Starfall’s going to watch them perform it so that she can do the same for another copy and stick it in the library here. I already feel honored.

The book’s supposed to come back to me when they’re ready for us to depart from here. I’ll give you the basic setup. They’re presently waiting on a few ponies to finish up raids and duties elsewhere in the world. I suppose Princess Luna doesn’t want us dead, because they said that, should I slip up, there needed to be a team capable of bailing us out. So we shall wait for the good things to come to us. Well, rather that we wait to go to the good things.

Manehattan’s mayor is going to be throwing some sort of ball in one of the recreational towers to celebrate Nightmare Night and will be expecting a number of rich guests, one of whom is suspected of being a disguised Changeling. The tip the Inquisition was provided didn’t have a specific pony mentioned, so this is where the potion comes into play. With it mixed into the refreshments and provided that it functions properly, we will be able to identify and isolate the Changeling threat during the course of the party.

The subtlety, time, and number of operatives it would otherwise take to successfully enact a measure to the same effect upon such little information would hardly be worth it. I know this potion won’t give us any false alarms that an investigation might yield, and at the very least we’ll debunk the rumor with a calculated expenditure of resources.

I’m so glad we have this substance in our hooves. If there really is a threat on the mayor, I doubt we’d be able to act on the information to stop it. Starfall says that she’s never embarked on a mission, given such minimal information, without months of prior investigation into the profiles of the attendees, and even then the Inquisitors involved didn’t know exactly who at the party was really compromised.

The mayor knows of the possible plot against him and will know that the Inquisition’s eyes will search the party, but he and we operatives haven’t met yet, obviously. Once Starfall and I can see the Changeling, we are not to indicate to him which pony it is. I doubt he’s a Changeling sympathizer, but a pony never knows. They might just be worried about loose lips or the panic that comes from knowing, but it would strike me as equally likely that a pony would panic from not knowing. Still, he’s an elected official whose profile has been scrutinized a hundred times over by different pony analysts just for this cause.

Well, it’s time to join hunter Starfall in pacing. There’s no telling just how deep each of those ponies is into their assignment, but we’re anxious both the same.